Standard disclaimers apply.

Chapter 13

Yu-Baaba could hear Haku's anguished cry as she moved away from his rooms. They had hoped that the infusion of Haku's spirit energy into the potion would revive Sen, but it seemed to have quickened the pace of the poison through her veins. She was gone, which was unfortunate but now all that needed to be done was deal with the traitor. Yu-Baaba thought of using 'fire seed' to remove Ki from her sight but she didn't particularly want to be jailed for possession of the illegal poison.

Yu-Baaba settled herself in her room. Haku and herself had made an agreement, that if the potion did not work then they would deal with Ki in a manner that would best fit with what she had done. Sen was a skilled dancer; Yu-Baaba would lose a fair amount of money due to her death, as Haku would loose the one true love of his long life.

Soon Yu-Baaba could hear Haku stalking his way to her room, his anger at loosing Sen evident with every step, which seemed to echo in the too still hall. His anger seeped through the closed door and the entire bathhouse must have felt it. He slammed the door open with such force that it was nearly ripped from it's hinges. His aura spiked and burned, he was ready to kill.

"Where is she!" he growled, his teeth clenched, canine teeth glistening.

"She's here Haku. Do not worry you will have your time with her, but first I need some time with her."

"No." Haku reached out into the shadows and grabbing on to something and ripped it out.

There on the floor was Ki. A sickly pale green creature with what looked more like weeds then hair, in patches on her head. A dirtied kimono hung from her bony shoulders. The only redeeming factor, were her eyes, the steel grey giving her strength even when her body had none.

"Haku we agreed that I would deal with her in the best way possible!"

Haku glared at the fallen creature. "Get up." He ignored Yu-Baaba's voice and pointed all his attention to Ki. Reaching down he grabbed a handful of hair and pulled Ki to an almost standing position. "What do you have to say for yourself? You worthless animal?"

Ki watched Haku, fear creeping into her eyes. What had she done wrong? She had freed Haku from his human and now he had a chance at a life with someone more worthy. "B-but master Haku. I did all this for you. How can you live happily with a human if they would eventually die?" Ki's voice became stronger as she found her determination, "it was all for you, I would be a better lover then she ever could be. I will not age, I will not scar. You and I were meant to be. Not that little useless human that could barely do anything when she first came here."

Haku's anger flared and he threw Ki in to the wall, her body falling limply. "How dare you. I loved Chihiro, she was my life - is my life! There is no one that I would rather spend my days with. And if you hadn't interfered I would have been able to. That potion was to give her immortality. Life times that she wouldn't have had otherwise. And you ruined it!" Haku reached down and grabbing her neck picked her up by it, his grip tightening. "I should kill you for what you have done. What you have stolen from me."

Ki sputtered and tried to struggle against Haku's grip but found that it was useless. There was no way of freeing herself from his deathlike grip. She had spent so much of her time wondering what it would have been like to be held by Haku that now that she was there she found herself fascinated by the feel of his hands wrapped tightly around her neck. Even in the ending of her life she was still obsessed with Haku, even the fact that it was Haku that was going to kill her gave he comfort. At least he was gracing her with that gift.

Yu-Baaba unable to stop him remained at her desk and watched as Haku took out his despair on Ki. There was really nothing that she could do. It was devastating to lose a loved one. If she had really lost baby those many weeks ago she didn't know what she would have done. And the fact that Haku had quite literally, given part of his soul to save Sen was another mark against Ki.

Once Haku became angry there was no way to stop him. Yu-Baaba simply had to wait it out. She sighed, if Sen were alive then she might have been able to stop Haku's outrage, but the fact that it was Sen's death that caused it made his rage all the more powerful.

Haku was about to finally squeeze the life out of Ki when he heard faint scuffling in the hall. He paused wondering what could be causing the disturbance when the door swung open.

"STOP!"