Bloodlust

by Moonraker One

A/N: This chapter has taken me very long to get to as I had a lot going on. I figured I'd upload this now instead of making you wait any longer. The downside to giving you something to read now is that this chapter is short.

CHAPTER FIVE - "It's a learning experience."

Yusukecould not stand the pain of watching his best friend endure her pain any longer. She had never experienced such a trying situation in her life; how long, he wondered, could he passively stand aside and watch her scream and writhe in pain? The chains held firm as her energies swirled about, mixing with each other to attain their final position and form within her soul, and she knew it was now that she would come into her final form. Even so, it felt as though invisible hands were tearing apart her insides, and that electricity was flowing through her the entire time. She worried not about the pain, but rather, what her parents would do when they found out—for they inevitably would—about her becoming a demon. After a few minutes of the worst sort of agony she had ever endured, she could actually feel her flesh beginning to change; the twisting of the cells into demonic and the energy forcing itself upon her skin made her feel as though she'd been lit ablaze. Her hair began to lengthen to about Yusuke'slength, and it was the only aspect of her that did not hurt.

"KEIKO!" Yusuke screamed; Hiei and Kurama had a hell of a time trying to hold their ally back as his level of power greatly exceeded theirs, and to hold him back was equivalent to a man trying to hold a door shut with a jet plane pulling in the opposing direction. "Leggo of me!" Regardless of his yellings, his friends knew if they did not prevent him from getting close to Keiko during the procedure, she was doomed to die.

"YUSUKE!" Kurama shouted, trying his best to calm down his struggling friend. "If you DON'T calm down, she'll die!"

"Yeah," Hiei added, "if you get close to her, your energy countermixing with hers will cause her to die from within!"

Finally, after a few minutes of attempting to break free of his friends' grasp, he realized that they knew better than him the proper course of action. It pained him to watch his best friend suffer, but she had asked for this and as such he would do best to stay out of her experience and let her naturally transform. It was a bit of a blurred image, but through the thick wall of aura surrounding her, he could actually see her demonic form taking its final shape. His chest and arm markings were present on her, as well as his huge bundle of hair, which were symbolic of his blood and energy. She had, on her forehead, Hiei's jagan eye, which made the fire apparition in question slightly jealous; he had to endure an excruciatingly painful procedure—vastly more painful than Keiko's demonification—yet she received it with a fraction of what he had to endure. Kurama's fox ears were at the top of Keiko's head, symbolic of the youko's blood and energy, although they were as black as Yusuke's hair, instead of gray like on the youko. All in all, each of the demons were, in a way, surprised, as they all knew that the demon form taking shape on her was of her own choosing, and although it provided wondrous variety, each demon figured a Yusuke-esque form was what she would pick.

Just as the aura and the blood surging through Keiko was aligning itself into its final position, the last bit of transformation took place, causing one final surge of pain to fly through the girl at lightning speed. This caused her to jerk her arms upward against the thick chains holding her to the rock, very nearly breaking both her arms. Afterward, the aura had finally settled down and the transformation complete, which allowed her to slump back down to a flat-out horizontal position where she could relax. Yusuke was the first to notice that the sun was directly overhead as she came to the end of the process. Holy crap! He thought. Is it noon already? Six hours have passed?

"Yusuke..." her voice faltered slightly as she blinked her new eyes. "Everything's so bright..."

"Keiko!" he shouted, preparing to run, but Hiei stopped him.

With an impressed nod, he informed them all, "Keiko, you're finished with your demonification ritual. I will say this: you did damn good for a human girl. I've never seen someone as brave as you."

Keiko interrupted him with, "But, everything's so bright, and...it seems like I'm experiencing all my senses a lot..." she struggled for a word, "...higher.. or something."

"That's perfectly natural," Kurama entered the conversation with. "Demons have heightened senses compared with humans. Also, can you feel twinges nearby?" he waited for her to reply with a yes, "Yes, that's our aura signatures. Demons have far higher sixth senses than humans do. You'll get used to them in time."

"Yusuke," she uttered, as he came running up to her. "Yusuke?"

"I'm here, Keiko, what is it?" he answered instantly, worried by her tone.

"Are you wearing that scented anti-perspirant?"

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Yes, why?"

"It stinks."

Kurama belted out a laugh as a reflex, then tried his best to conceal his amusement after one of Yusuke's death glances. Even Hiei began to chuckle as he had noticed it too; their friend's anti-perspirant did have a bad odor to it. Inevitably, the young demon gave in and began to laugh as well, as soon as he made a mental note to change brands. One by one, the bands holding Keiko to the rock were removed, and the young demoness was allowed to dress herself in private before anything else was done. Her demon form was out in the open as she had yet to learn the technique of disguising it with her old human form, and almost all of the demons were amazed with her level of power. All except Yusuke, as he knew that if she endured the sheer level of pain that she had to, something big was waiting at the end.

My god! Kurama thought to himself as he analyzed the ki signature of Ms. Yukimura, because he was not expecting the end result that was displayed. She's already three-fourths as strong as Hiei and myself? With only a few weeks' training, she'd be at the same level as the fox demon and the fire apparition. Such was unheard of for a human female becoming a demon. Hiei, at that moment, shared nearly the exact same thought, except his concern was her usefulness to the group now that she was very close to his power level; where she was at, she'd make a fine addition to the team and could eventually become quite a powerful being.

"Alright, then," Yusuke announced, taking her by the arm. "before we do anything else, we have to teach you how to control your demon and human-looking forms."

Keiko nodded; she was ready.