Disclaimer: I dun own it. Please stop trying to make me feel bad!
Chapter 6: A Promise
Criss paced the red carpet under which was the plywood that led into Shuichi and JD's room. How could she possibly have said that to him? He just told her, not half an hour ago, that he was protecting his mother from the start. His friends. His allies. Why did she say she wouldn't protect them with his help?
"That would mean telling them," she whispered to herself. Criss rubbed her arms, despite the sweltering heat of the August night. "I can't tell them. I can't tell anyone."
So why did she suddenly feel like she had to tell Shuichi and JD everything? Not Jun, though. Not Jun. She didn't trust Jun. Jun had a dark aura about her. It whispered to her, haunted her. Told her not to go near Jun.
But she slept five feet underneath her. How could she not go near Jun? And she'd promised Shuichi she'd give Jun a month. No matter what, Criss kept her promises. If there was anything she prided herself on, it was that she kept her promises. No matter what got in the way.
She closed her eyes tight. More memories. Bad memories. Why did she have to always remember the bad and forget the good? It was like a curse on her head. Her head started spinning against the pacing. She sank onto the red couch.
"Why am I so stupid?" She cried.
A shuddering gasp ripped from her throat. Slowly, Criss sank onto her bed and pretended to sleep when Jun came in. She waited until Jun was fast asleep, then crept back up to the roof. No one was there. She could end it all now.
But she couldn't. She'd hurt him. Again.
She'd hurt more people than she'd help.
That was the only thing. It was the only thing that kept her from diving off of this roof and forgetting about everything.
"I see you're back again."
Shuichi was back. Criss could hear his deep, soothing breaths. She could sense his power, even though he'd smashed it substantially since she'd first met him. She turned away from the waning moon to face him. His hair swished across his face in the light wind, coming from the southeast.
"The winds have changed again," she said softly. "Not good."
"I'm sorry if I upset you," Shuichi said, standing just behind her. So close, she could feel his breath tickling her ear. Or was that the wind? "You left before I could tell you that I'm not human, either."
"No need. I heard. I stuck around behind the door, Mr. Kurama Youko. I'm the one who should be sorry."
"Why is that?"
She sighed. "I've got things in my life that I can't explain. I can't tell anyone. And when I want to tell someone, I get really mad at myself… And I take it out on someone else."
"Why can't you tell someone?" Kurama asked.
"I made a promise. I always keep my promises."
Kurama leaned against the railing at her side, staring up into the stars. "When I was still Youko, my partner Kuronue and I promised each other that we would do everything in our power to stop the other's capture or death if it came to that. We were professional thieves, the two of us.
"About twenty years ago, we decided to rob a high security sector of Spirit World. We got out of the building all right. The guards came after us, throwing knives and spears. Both of us could dodge those pretty easily. However, one of the knives managed to slice off Kuronue's pendant.
"He went back for it. I told him not to, but that pendant was precious to him. He didn't move fast enough. The guards caught and killed him in front of my eyes. In his dying breath, he told me to escape. I had to break my promise that day because I didn't have the power to stop him or the guards."
Criss was silent as Kurama stopped his story. The moon shimmered down on both of them and the stars sort of whispered in the sky. Even the crickets seemed to have stopped singing.
"Thank you," she whispered. "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell Jun? I…I don't trust her."
"I promise. And that's one I'll keep," Kurama said.
Slowly, she began her story…
"My dad was always a little off. He was a professor here on campus. He taught the sciences and secrets of the psychic arts. Most people, except his students, thought it was just a big joke. I often came here after school and trained with the other students. I was strong enough to defeat even the boys. People who'd been training for years and years and a little four-year-old could beat them up.
"I grew up without friends. I was always teased because of who my dad was. I never stopped my training, though. I was thirteen when we moved to Virginia. Norfolk, to be exact. We packed up in a hurry and I barely got to say good-bye to the other students I'd beaten just the week before. They were the closest things I had to friends up till that point in my life.
"I always wondered why. Three years of wondering why we moved away so fast. I found out when I was sixteen. Dad had been training me still up till this point, but I was stronger than him by now. I came in through the front door one day after school. An eight-foot-tall monster with glowing green eyes was devouring my father's legs. He wasn't dead, not yet. I fired my most powerful punch at the monster. He vanished.
"My father told me that he wouldn't live. I put a tourniquet on his legs anyway, refusing to believe it. As I did so, he told me everything. He told me how these creatures were after him and now, they'd be after me. He told me to come back to Jefferson and face it head-on, to show the same courage I'd shown that day.
"He made me promise to never tell a human soul about myself. No humans could find out that I wasn't exactly like them. That I was psychic. I was strong. He made me promise to never reveal my energy or my identity to the enemy."
For a moment, Kurama didn't say anything. Criss bit her lip, a tear at the very corner. She hadn't told anyone for two years and now, she'd broken her first promise.
"You know," Kurama said. "He told you not to tell any human souls. Am I correct?"
Criss blinked for a moment. "And you're not entirely human… So that means I haven't broken my promise after all."
"Jun informed JD and myself that she, too, wasn't entirely human," Kurama said suddenly. "However, she has yet to reveal her identity. She says that she and I met in Philadelphia when I was still Youko." He paused a moment. "This monster you saw, what did it look like?"
"Like I said, glowing green eyes. It had a spike of white hair, but other than that, it was like a black reptilian style of skin. He bore a large scar over his left eye. Other than a black pair of slacks with white stripes, he was entirely inhuman."
"An E level, then," Kurama murmured. "Stupid creatures, really. They only take orders, nothing else. The reason I was sent here is because there exists a sword that can turn anything into one of these low class demons. Anything with event remnants of life, like a bit of wood. It is similar to the one that Hiei stole from the vault, except this one will only change something if the wielder is forced into it."
"Forced? You mean, like, someone takes his hand and shoves it down or something?"
"Yes. It's a strange limitation. The monster that you fought was much weaker than you, I take?"
"Duh."
Kurama smiled. "I would be willing to bet that you were at least a D level by that time.
Which means you would have easily beaten an E level creature spawned by that sword."
"What's this letter level thing you're talking about?"
"It's the ranking of demonic power from the Spirit World. Prior to a catastrophe approximately three or four years ago, it was widely unknown. Now it is a demon's household system. If you're curious, you are a lower C level at this time. JD has a little more power than you, but not by much. I am an upper B class."
"You're sure movin' on up, then," Criss smirked. She turned around to walk back inside, but stopped short. "Oh, by the way. Thanks. For listening to my story."
She walked down the rickety fire escape stairs.
Should we ask potty pants who her father was?
Yes.
Kurama waited patiently for the "cell phone" to connect. He noticed that it was midnight already. Koenma picked up almost instantly.
"How did things go?"
"I talked to all three of them. JD is ready for training. Jun said she'll be ready if we ever need her. I think she's going to be another Hiei on this one. Criss, on the other hand, is a little shaky. I need all the background you can give me on her and her father. Send it via regular mail."
"I'm glad we have one dependable person," Koenma sighed. "Yusuke and the others are here. They waited up for you."
Kurama smiled, seeing Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Yukina, Keiko, and Botan wave at him over the little screen on his phone. It felt strange, but he was already admitting to himself that he missed them. Yusuke had somehow managed to get himself into the video game business, co-managing two shops with Kuwabara. Keiko had an upstanding job as a local restaurant entrepreneur and was attending Tokyo University for a degree in law.
And Hiei had yet to inform Yukina that he was related to her.
"Hey, Kurama," said Yusuke. "We're all dead relaxed over here. All Kuwabara and I got to do is wait for these new systems to come in. We're going to hire another hand for the south shop."
Botan pushed him out of the way. "That can wait! Kurama, guess what? We are going to come visit you this weekend! I'll open a portal near Wichita and we'll take a bus out to Jefferson. Sound good to you?"
"Of course," Kurama smiled. "Hiei, you are coming, right?"
Hiei's mouth twitched upward followed by a grunt. Kurama took that as a yes. It would be difficult to get a straight answer from him, anyway.
"Well, we know it's late," Keiko said. "We'll see you on Saturday!"
The screen cut out. Kurama walked down the two flights of stairs and fell into his bed, not bothering to get undressed.
…
…
…
Criss's connections are getting more and more strange. I think I like this story too much…but now that it is complete, I can sit back and smile at myself. I finished another story after working on a sequel to another. So, now I can go and start work on a NEW story, which I will be calling "Roadside" until further notice.
Anyone imagine Kurama riding a horse?
Hey, Kirei! Where is everyone? Did the suddenly abandon me in favor of Wolf's Last Cry?