Well, things are shaking up- again- and you get to learn a little bit more about one of the characters. Enjoy.
Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed
Chapter 13
July 20, 2005
"It sounds as though things have died down up there."
"Eye of the storm, Bui," Toguro warned.
"Perhaps he passed out. Should one of us check on Jaganshi?"
"I doubt anybody else has, what with the way they ran for cover. Cowards. Knock yourself out."
"What do you think they're talking about?" Kuwabara muttered. Keiko shrugged, Yusuke didn't even answer.
It'd been odd. Earlier they'd heard a great calamity above their heads, some sort of frenzy- crashes and the steady tattoo of footsteps. An exodus from the house. What'd gone down, they didn't know.
Bui unlocked the door to Hiei's room, went inside. Almost immediately, he was knocked to the ground with great force. "What the-!" Bui was cut off as something was wrapped around his throat and tightened.
"Who the hell are you?" Hiei growled. "And what's going on?" Bui made a choking sound. He heaved a sigh of annoyance and loosened the piece of broken tether.
"My name is Bui," the gangster rasped. "I came to make sure the Yoko hadn't harmed you in place of Karasu. It sounded too quiet." Bui observed the billionaire. His clothing so torn from Karasu's advances that it hung from his frame in strips, he reminded Bui of the provocative focal point of some visual work of erotica. Torn length of rope hung from his limbs, he must have broken his bindings.
Hiei glowered at him, the expression in his eyes as lethal as that one, in their final moments, might see in Karasu's or the Yoko's. Or Toguro's, Bui mused, if he ever removed his sunglasses. "Are you going to kill me now?" he asked.
The length about his throat tightened even more, but then it loosened. "No," Hiei said, standing up. He stepped out into the hall. "It's empty."
"Yeah," Bui said, rising and massaging his throat. "A lot of them work for the Yoko in name only; Karasu's their true master. He's been expelled from this house, from this gang. They're too frightened to remain here."
"Where is the Yoko?"
"I don't know. Perhaps in his room."
"And that'd be?" 'I could have killed you,' Hiei thought irritably.
"The master bedroom, largest in the house. Right next to yours." The billionaire blinked. "You didn't know? One can hear his and Karasu's disputes from downstairs even."
"Hn." Then who'd been crying on the other side of the wall? Bui hadn't moved. "What do you want?"
"You could have killed me," Bui said.
'Don't make me regret it.' "So? If you want to repay me or something, leave me alone. Go away." His tone was blunt, but he didn't want this odd gangster following him around like a puppy.
Bui studied him a moment. "Alright," he said at last. "But be cautious. He's much more vicious than his appearance gives him credit for."
The billionaire shrugged, and waited until Bui had left. 'Odd one,' he thought. Now that he thought about it, he recalled seeing this Bui before, the few times he'd been out of his room. Always with Toguro when Hiei saw him, always silent. He'd overlooked him until now.
Hiei tried the door Bui had pointed out. It was already slightly ajar; he pushed it open further.
The room was cluttered, to say the least. Boxes and crates were stacked four, even five high against the walls. Hiei could only guess what they contained. The floor was hardwood, adorned with Oriental rugs. The furnishings were in fine taste- mahogany wood, silk and velvet upholstery. It rivaled the décor in Hiei's own home at Makai Estates.
Sprawled out on the king-sized canopy bed, out cold, lay the Yoko. Hiei quirked an eyebrow. He approached the bed, and then slipped, landing on the mattress. He looked behind him; an empty liquor bottle rolled out form under his foot. Karasu's vice; or the Yoko's? He supposed the unconscious redhead was answer enough.
The cross-dresser rolled over in his sleep, mumbling. 'You're not so dignified now,' Hiei thought, though he didn't feel at all triumphant. In fact, despite himself, he felt a little sorry for the Yoko.
Hiei suddenly felt the impulse to touch him. He acted on it, running a hand over his gaunt face. Despite the taunting he'd heard from Karasu that first night he'd spent in the Yoko's house, the redhead was quite the opposite from fat- he supposed he could go so far to say that the Yoko was emaciated. Did he ever eat, or was the drink his only nutrition? The skin was sallow, perhaps due to the consumption of excessive alcohol, but still not unpleasant to look at. He wagered it must have been flawless when the Yoko was younger.
The hair, too; he had to touch the hair. It was so soft, and silky, like the sheets the gangster slept atop. Hiei found himself admiring the vibrant coloring, though upon further inspection he did find strands of silver strewn in here and there. It surprised him; the Yoko looked too young to already have silvering hair. He wondered just how old this man, or whatever he identified himself as, really was.
A hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, twisting it. Before he cold stop himself, Hiei uttered a cry of pain. "What are you doing?" the Yoko demanded coldly. "You're not even supposed to be in here."
Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Your tethers weren't strong enough, I guess." He caught a whiff of the Yoko's breath. Vodka. "You're drunk."
"How kind of you to notice," he sneered, sitting up. "If you managed to get in here, then I assume the house is deserted?"
"It appeared that way." The redhead growled a string of profanities. "Aren't you supposed to be in charge around here?"
"Shut up!" he snarled. Pushing Hiei aside, he got to his feet and walked (rather unsteadily) to thewardrobe. "I suppose you'll want new garments that aren't little shreds of nothing?"
"What do you plan to do with me?" Hiei demanded.
"Excuse me? Nothing's changed."
"You forget that your house is empty."
"Good!" the Yoko retorted. "I like it that way. I don't need it being trashed by all of Karasu's minions. Hell, I don't need him, either. Alone or with company, I still run downtown. Besides, you forget that my partner in your fate is Sakyo, not Karasu. Like I said, nothing's changed." He burrowed about in the armour, and tossed Hiei a new change of clothes. "I've no idea if those are the correct size, or do I care. Take them or leave them." Hiei caught the clothes, and just stood there, unsure of what to do. "Well, don't just stand there!" he barked.
He scowled. "I'm not changing in front of you!"
The Yoko smirked. "Sweetie," he crooned, his tone so faux-sugary it was toxic, "whether you get naked or not, you're pretty much exposed already." He turned around to the vanity, began brushing the tangles of sleep from his hair. At an offhand glance in the mirror, he saw that his captive had gone ahead and begun changing. He let his eyes slide down to the reflection's crotch. Green eyes widened. 'Karasu has nothing on this guy,' he thought, quickly averting his eyes before he was caught and accused of staring.
Hiei tightened the belt as well as he could, and then looked at his reflection in the vanity mirror. He frowned.
"You look like a small child playing dress-up," the Yoko chuckled. Hiei glared, rolling up the sleeves of his new shirt so that his hands were actually visible. "Careful now, don't trip over the pant legs or anything. It must suck for you, huh? I hear that all the Koorime are rather petite…. Good thing you have all that money, eh? The ladies might not be so interested other wise."
He earned a glare. "How do you know I'm a Koorime?" Hiei demanded. "And you saw for yourself that I'm not so petite everywhere," he added accusingly.
The transvestite attempted to conceal a guilty smile, failing. "I gathered you might be Koorime because one of Makai Enterprise's attributes is their monopoly of the Hiruseki stones. I know that this monopoly did not always exist. I thought that perhaps if one of the Enterprise members were Koorime it would make obtaining that monopoly much easier. Now that I've seen you, I know that you have to be. They say that only Koorime have those dark red eyes." He paused. "Or perhaps you're only part," he mused. "Your coloring's rather dark- in the pictures I've seen of Koorime, they're all fair." The redhead raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "You know, now that I think about it, the Koorime in the pictures all appeared to be women, too- are the rumors about them true?"
"Maybe they all just have your taste in clothing," Hiei shot back jokingly, forgetting for the moment that he was a prisoner and that the Yoko was his captor, a gangster who'd undoubtedly killed numerous people in the past and just as easily kill him anytime now. "What rumors?"
"Oh, that the Koorime are all female, stuff like that." He shrugged. "Though I suppose that can't be true, huh?"
"Yes and no," he replied quietly.
"What?" He opened up one drawer after another in the dresser, pulling out several pieces of clothing. He began to undress. "Don't be a prude," he lectured, noticing Hiei's reaction. "It's nothing you haven't seen before, I'm sure." The Yoko stacked up the clean clothes. "Come here." Hiei hesitated. "Come here," he said impatiently. Hiei did, not letting his gaze slip from the Yoko's face. The gangster opened a door, revealing a bathroom adjoined to the master bedroom. "Stand here," he ordered. "I'll leave the door partially open."
The billionaire heard bathwater running, and then the sound of the redhead submerging himself. "Well?" the Yoko asked. "Go on. What do you mean, Yes and no?"
His tone was no longer arrogant, it sounded genuinely intrigued. "The Koorime live in a remote region in the mountains," Hiei began. "The population's relatively isolated, and so over time most families have interbred."
"Incest?" guess the Yoko.
Hiei furrowed his brow. "I suppose you could say that," he said slowly. "But generally not between siblings. But anyway, yes, I suppose that over time and due to the lack of new genes coming in, given the isolation of the Koorime, the DNA of most grow pretty similar. As the result of this recurring incest, the majority of the offspring were female."
"So did the men practice polygamy or something? How did the Koorime population remain steady?"
"I was getting to that. For some reason- I myself have tried researching the source but have never turned up much of anything- in addition to the baby girls born, some were also… neither gender. Or both. Take your pick."
"Hermaphrodites?"
"Yes. Generally they were women with male genitalia. Which brings me now to your question regarding the Koorime population? These Koorime hermaphrodites could not bear children- I think that perhaps they didn't have all the necessary female organs, but I don't know for sure- but they could fertilize the egg of an able Koorime woman."
"So, chicks with dicks took the place of actual men as fathers of the Koorime," the Yoko said crudely, sounding amused.
Hiei nodded, though he knew the Yoko couldn't see him. "As I said, actual sons were a rarity, but these hermaphrodite daughters made up for it."
"A world without men. It must be a female paradise."
"Hn. Have you a place in that paradise too, then?" Again he heard that sweet melodic laughter, and had to remind himself that it came from a kidnapper and a killer. "Of course, this alleged paradise is situated in the ice and snow and freezing cold- and let's not mention the mines…. Anyhow, it's not like the Koorime never came in contact with men. Though their location is remote, the Koorime do get visits from outsiders.
"It was outsiders who come and told the Koorime that thought they'd lived on that land, cold and barren and forsaken as it is, for so long that no one could recall a time when the Koorime had lived else where, the land was not theirs. It was the outsiders who came and tore up the landscape and made it uglier than they already were in search of metals and minerals. And when they discovered the Hiruseki stones, gems that the Koorime revered, that were almost sacred to them in a way, the outsiders told the Koorime that they would mine the stones for export to the rest of the world.
"But did the Koorime receive any of the income for their labor? Of course not. No, it was the outsiders who profited while the Koorime were treated as slaves, animals."
"Like the Natives were treated when the 'righteous, moral' Europeans journeyed to the New World and discovered the gold and such. Or the similar way that the Africans were exploited."
"Precisely," Hiei replied bitterly.
"And did the outsiders exploit the Koorime in… other ways?"
"Yes," he answered. "The men from the outside world were greedy in many ways. The Koorime came to despise men, as battered women sometimes do, and over time it became some sort of unspoken rule that a Koorime kill herself rather than allow an outsider to defile her."
"Kind of like Lucretia…" the Yoko mused, remembering the tragic Greek heroine. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Your complexion's too dark to be pure Koorime. Is there an outsider businessman or someone of that sort of ilk somewhere out there whom you call 'Daddy'?"
Hiei bristled. "Not all the outsiders came to the Koorime villages to satisfy their greed. A small few came in the pursuit of knowledge- to document the history and culture of the Koorime, though I don't think they normally churned up much. By now the Koorime had grown so distrustful of any outsider, the ones who did so little as to simply offer a meager interview were often shunned."
"You didn't answer my question. Were you fathered by a Koorime hermaphrodite or a man from the outside?"
The billionaire furrowed his brow. "I would like to thing that it was a documenter that she had an affair with. Or that if it was a corporate outsider, that she was raped- I know that must sound awful, to want that to happen to someone-"
"I understand," the Yoko said. "Go on."
"Anyways, at my birth, they took one look at me and knew I wasn't pure Koorime. My mother was shunned, viewed by most as a traitor, by all as an adulterer."
"Come again?"
"I guess she was in a relationship with another Koorime, the father of her other child, my twin sister. It's possible for twins to be fathered by different men, of in this case, man and hermaphrodite. My mother must have produced a second egg after the first was fertilized- an occurrence that is rare, but not unheard of. My mother's mate took my twin sister to raise, while my mother was shunned. I too was cast out, my mere existence viewed as a symbol of my mother's treason. I think, though I was very young at the time, that we lived on the outskirts of one of the villages, in makeshift housing. The other Koorime would tolerate her while at work in the mines, as most were basically forced to do so, but socially speaking she was dead to the mass.
"And she did die, just a couple of years after my birth." He paused a moment. "I really don't remember too much of her, aside from the name she gave me and the name of the sister I occasionally caught a glimpse of, Yukina."
He paused, allowing the Yoko a chance to comment. For a moment he didn't even hear any movement of water. Then, "So she died when you were barely older than a toddler. How'd you manage to survive?"
"I received some pity from friends of my mother. Though they were angry with her alleged betrayal, they did feel grief when she passed on. They would give me bits of food and clothing, though I think it was more out of guilt over her than care for me. As I grew older I learned how to hunt the sparse game and prepare my food and sew my own clothes from the fragments of cloth discarded by the village Koorime. I think they knew that, because the clothing I would retrieve from the refuse heap was always dark, but the Koorime always donned light colors."
His face clouded. "My clothes were primarily black. I think they planned it that way. Black like my hair; black to make me stand out; black like some bad omen. A constant reminder that I was an outcast, unwanted."
When he heard no comment from the Yoko, he continued. "One day a plane landed near our village, bearing wealthy outsiders, as the planes often did. But there was something odd about these outsiders. All the other ones feared them, but the very strange part was that at first glance they did not seem so frightening. One of the two was veiled head to toe at all times, and never spoke. The other was a blind man.
"I do not know how they first came to know of me, or why they first approached me, but one morning I awoke to discover these two at the door of my shack. They wished to speak with me, said a man accompanying them- I would later come to know him as Shigure- your gangsters killed him the night you ordered them to ambush my limousine." He narrowed his eyes, forgetting that the Yoko could not see him, and did not bother to disguise his anger. "He was armed, and so were they, even the blind one; I thought it best to heed to their wishes. After all, what had I to lose by talking to them? I was already condemned by the Koorime just for drawing breath.
"They took me back to their plane- no, it was a jet, I remember. When I stepped inside, I felt warm for the very first time in my life."
He heard water splashing, the tub draining. The Yoko emerged, wearing a green bathrobe. "Continue," he said. "I can dress and listen at the same time."
Hiei blinked, and then looked away as the other removed his robe. "They asked me my name, I gave it to them. They then told me theirs. The veiled one was Mukuro, the blind man Yomi."
The Yoko dropped his boot. Hiei ignored him and continued.
"I spent all day with them, and all of that night. We just talked for the most part- well, by we, I mean Mukuro and I. Yomi would come and go; he appeared to be busy with something. There were times when Mukuro too disappeared, but only for a bit. Any idiot could see that they were conspiring.
"We all soon learned just what they were conspiring. These two were rich, very rich. I think there were wealthier than all the other outsiders who invaded our village put together. And they were more hostile than the others- but not toward the Koorime; the other outsiders.
"These two, they were very blunt. They wanted control of the Hiruseki mines, and they didn't want to share with anybody else. I recall there was a gargantuan dispute, though that may be too friendly a word, between them and the other outsiders. People were killed. But looking back on it, I'm not so surprised. They shared a common slogan: do anything to seize power, do anything to maintain it. I think Machiavelli was something of an idol to them."
"To them, and most other people with power," the Yoko said. "What? I can read, you know. I read The Prince when I was in elementary school."
Hiei tried picturing the Yoko as a student. An image of the redhead in a schoolgirl's uniform came to him. "Uh, right. Anyways, this power war of theirs raged on for some time, over a year at least. And over that time, I grew to know Mukuro quite well."
His audience snorted. "This mogul took an interest in you? Figures."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," he replied, shrugging.
The billionaire quirked an eyebrow. "Anyway, one day Mukuro came to my home, saying that I was to be tested. I had no idea what this test might be; I was only twelve, I think, and every wild thought my imagination could churn out raced through my mind."
He paused again, as though reminiscing. "On every occasion that we conversed, the 'mogul' as you put it was always hidden beneath a veil. This time though, the veil came off."
The Yoko began chuckling. "It wasn't like that!" Hiei growled.
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say. Sure, most corporate slime bags fly to Thailand or wherever when they want sex with young foreign boys. I guess Mukuro didn't like conformity, huh?"
"Shut up! We never-"
"Okay!" The Yoko threw up his arms as though in defense. "Alright, Mukuro wasn't some pervert out for young boy flesh. If you say so."
There was something about the cross dresser's grin Hiei didn't like. "Mukuro was a woman," he stated flatly. "I'd never guessed; before her, no women came to us from the outside. I was startled. To me back then, Mukuro was the strangest-looking creature I'd ever laid eyes on. She wasn't entirely… real."
"Well, in this day in age, a lot of people are fake. Botox, lypo, implants…."
"That's not what I meant. I mean, about half of her body was mechanical, prosthetics. Even part of her face. She did it to herself, she told me, to escape a fatherly love that was more physical than it should have been. It must take a lot of will, or desperation, to do that to one's own body, to intentionally make it that way, an odd combination of flesh and metal. I suppose most people would show fear or disgust to such a revelation. But I didn't. I mean, yes, I was startled- but I'd come to know Mukuro, so it didn't matter so much. In truth, I was more shocked to discover she was female than that she was a cyborg.
"She asked me what I thought of her now, and I told her basically what I just told you. And she told me that that was the test, to see my reaction. And I passed.
"We shared similarities, her and me. Our childhoods were hell, and though she had a companion in Yomi, we were both lonely. She confessed to me that it was her with that when she and Yomi and their, ah, employees, returned to the outside world, I'd go with them."
"And you did."
He nodded. "I don't think I'd have lasted too long had I remained there. Mukuro and Yomi eventually won the battle over possession of the Hiruseki stones, but that didn't prevent other outsiders from coming in pursuit of other goods. I didn't trust them.
"Mukuro saw to it that I received a proper education. I read a lot, though I didn't particularly care for reading. This was how I found my name. I was reading up on the evil eye, the Jagan. The different signs made to ward off the evil eye reminded me of the signs used by the Koorime against me."
"Your company logo is the evil eye," said the Yoko.
Hiei shrugged. "They needed a logo; Mukuro let me design it. She made me her heir, her representative. By now the company had expanded. Whenever there was a meeting or an appearance, I accompanied Yomi in her place. I don't know just why, whether it was personal because she didn't want her disfigurement to be seen by strangers, or practical because she thought no one would question the Hiruseki monopoly if they saw me, an actual Koorime. As time went by Mukuro herself was generally forgotten by outsiders in the business world; they all though I was Yomi's partner."
At this the Yoko raised his eyebrows. "What? You're not Yo- not his partner?" 'Was there no point to abducting him?' the redhead thought. If he couldn't sign those papers Sakyo had….
"I am now, officially. Mukuro died a little over a year ago."
"I sense bitterness," the Yoko said, checking his reflection in the mirror.
I didn't know she was sick. Yomi didn't know. She didn't tell anybody. We didn't find out until after…."
"Hm," the Yoko commented. He appeared thoughtful, in Hiei's opinion. "Oh, what the hell!" the gangster shouted angrily when the door to his bedroom burst open. "Ever heard of knocking!" he exclaimed to Toguro.
Toguro didn't apologize, but instead shoved the Koorime girl Hiei recognized from before into the room. "She has something to tell you, Kurama," the giant said grimly.
The redhead groaned. "Sakyo's not backing out now, is he?"
"Sakyo's dead," she said quietly.
He blinked. "What?"
"Karasu killed him."
Now the cross dresser let out an infuriated roar. "And you stood by and allowed it!"
"I wasn't armed!" she protested. "I've never had to be armed in Sakyo's home!"
"Why the hell not!" he demanded. "Never mind. Sakyo's dead. Brilliant, that was probably the last thing I needed right now. Where's Karasu? I'm gonna shove a knife up his ass!"
"He's coming here," she told him. "I don't know how long it'll take him to arrive. I ran out of the house right after he shot Sakyo. He's plotting against you."
The lead gangster snorted. "He's always been plotting against me," he scoffed.
"No, Kurama, you don't understand…."
She proceeded to tell the Yoko the plan she'd heard Karasu elaborate to Sakyo. Hiei widened his eyes as he listened; he hadn't realized just how insane Karasu was.
The Yoko merely smirked and shrugged it off. "Leave it to Karasu to devise a crazy half-assed scheme like that," he declared. "Well, I tire of him. This, on top of everything else- he's too much of a hindrance anymore. I should have dealt with him a long time ago."
"You've finally come to your senses," Toguro observed. "But let me handle him."
"You always make that offer, and again I refuse."
"I had him first," he pressed firmly.
"And if he wanted to pull some forced sex change-marriage-murder-right-out-of-a-soap-opera number on you, you'd have my permission to do as you would with him. But he's interested in me, so you stay out of it." He spoke cordially enough, but the look on his face clearly told Toguro to step off.
"What are you doing!" Hiei surprised himself by exclaiming as the Yoko began applying make-up.
"Giving Karasu something pretty to look at while I kick his ass," he replied vaguely.
"You already are," Toguro tried.
"You're not doing it." He set down the eyeliner pencil and stared Toguro in the eye. "You're going to take Yukina-"
Hiei blinked. Yukina? He stared at the Koorime assassin.
"- and your brother, and Bui, and run for it."
"What?" the giant snapped, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Yukina saw Karasu kill Sakyo- she could be a target herself now. And though she's probably quite capable of defending herself, the chivalrous thing to do would be to accompany her and make sure she's safe."
Everybody heard a sudden explosion downstairs and jumped. "It seems Karasu has found some new toys," the Yoko muttered. He narrowed his eyes at Toguro. "Go," he ordered. Toguro glared; the redhead glared back. This glaring match persisted for a few seconds, and then Toguro turned away, defeated.
"Just don't let him kill you," he muttered, gesturing to Yukina.
He rolled his eyes. "It'll take more than Karasu to kill me, rest assured. Take the fire escape," he called after them. "I think he blew up the front door." He walked toward the closet, and then stopped mid-step. "Shit!" he said. He'd forgotten about the kids in the basement. He ran back to the hallway, ignoring the crashes from downstairs, but Toguro was gone. 'Damn it, he finally decides to listen….'
Hiei watched the Yoko run to the closet, then back to the hallway, then back to the closet again. The alcohol was still in his system, the Koorime wagered, as he appeared to have trouble maintaining his balance. "Should you be handling those?" he asked, seeing him sorting through a stock of weapons in the back of the closet.
"Excuse me?" was the irritable response.
"Perhaps I could help…?"
The Yoko snickered. "Right. You're my captive, and I'm going to let you around my weapons. That's funny. How stupid do you think I am?" He gritted his teeth. "Where the hell are my bullets!" He got up, grasping one of the larger guns by the barrel. "Why can't I find anything around here?" he grumbled. "Damn you, Karasu."
"Damn me, say you?" a familiar voice inquired. Hiei and the Yoko both looked at the doorway, their gaze resting on Karasu, and the gun he had fixed on the other gangster. "I told you drinking was bad for you, Foxy; why, look at you now- you didn't even notice me come up."