Disclaimer: Don't own YYH or the real person Katrina Kon, but the storyline of this tale is all mine.
Chapter 26: I Rescued A Brat
As the admitter promised, there was another demon that showed you to the room where you could dump off prisoners. He's particularly creepy looking,despite his human shape. I mean, having stripedorange and yellowleggings plus a polka-dottedpink and orange would makeMadonna faint. I mean, I'm not into fashion that much, but I at least know not to wear what's he's wearing. Even for a demon, he has a particularly poor fashion sense.Calmly, he points me to a brown, moldy door. Strange. I'd be very self conscious looking like that.
I open it cautiously and see the same guys I had seen being admitted right before me. Their prisoners have been slung into a pile in a corner, next to a large cart, giving off a stench that would kill people in gasmasks,and their demon captors are sitting on the brown-boardedfloor quietly, not talking. They are all hodded in filthy garments.They also have have human-ish forms, more or less. I dump my dude in his loincloth on the pile, trying not to gag, andI imitate the demonsand the tight, pinched way they are sitting, and sit down a little apart from them.
Minutes later, the silence is killing me. I can hear my internal clock ticking and ticking and ticking, again and again, so I am seriously ready to kill myself. My god, I wish I had my Commir to at least talk to someone, althought that would kinda get me discovered....
"Hey, you guys, you wanna tell me something?"
One with a hooded face like mine nods.
"Well, I was just wondrin' where the pris'ners would be taken." I'm combining every bummy accent I know of. If I speak like a commoner, I won't stand out.
The one who nodded before speaks up. "To the…ehehe…pantry room, or so He calls it. All prisoners go there eventually. That way, they die scared.His Majesty has a right big appetite, and He thinks that they taste better if their final moments are spent in terror."
I don't want to ask what kind of torture they are undoubtedly subjected to.
"Where'd that be? The pantry, I mean."
"Why?" He drawls suspiciously.
Think fast, think fast! "Erm…I'd like to save His Majesty the trouble of coming up here 'n' draggin' 'em all down, so I thought I'd take 'em up meself."
"Right noble cause, even though it's his servants that do the dirty work. See, ya go down dis cor'dor, and then ya see a sign pointing you towards the pantry room. Follow it and you can come inside, so long as yeh've got food with yeh."
"Thanks," I grunt. I stand up, stretch my cramped legs, andcrossing over, I wince as I pick up the bodies and put them on that cart. Then I drive out the cart, creaking horribly,and I follow the directions, like the demon said. I do see a sign that looks like it had been carved directly from a tree, byone who was none too skilled with a chisel. Though not very big, it looks like it has long been suffering.
Finally, Ifind a door labeled the pantry and cautiously open the door. I don't know what to expect. There might be demons that do the torturing, and I really don't feel like getting on their bad side and blowing this whole test.
I glance around. The room is surprisingly lit well, and there are no demons to my relief. But something catches my eye immediately.
A weird bright orange circularcontraption is whizzing around the room, in nauseatingly fast circular motions. From my science class lab projects,I can tell that it is moving almost asfast as the speed of sound.I can't look at it or I get dizzy, but from what I can tell from the corners of my eyes, it is a solid disc with a hole in the middle.Something is within this circular cubicle in the disc,something long and with a brown top, but it is moving too fast for me to really take it in.However, very once in a while I hear a scream. Followed by a clap of laughter.My ears follow it and I locate him,shrouded in shadow, moving his appendages into the light now and again.
Then the insane person leans into view. Phew! He's not Sensu! "Well, stop staring, fool! Whadaya want?" I am instantly reminded of a toad; a very large, frightfully ugly toad. His speech oddly resembles Eddy Murphy's, pronouncing "th" like "d".
"Um…um…I am delivering more food, sir."
"I know dat! Butcha acting down there like yeh never seen a here Whiris before!"
"Can't say that I have, sir. I'm new."
"Where yeh been, kid? This is just the way we play wit' humans. We think they might as well have fun before deir deaths!" He snaps his fingers/claws/phalanges and the machine freezes instantly, suspended in air. I see the long lanky thingy in the center.A young girl; no more than 9, is trying to catch her breath, her mouse-brown hair all in her face. She must be the target.
"See, look what FUN she's havin'," he laughs, as the girl starts to cry. "This one's going is the bait."
What's that supposed to mean? "Ummmmm…ummmmmm…uh…that, sir, is what I came here for! I am to deliver this fine specimen to His Majesty. Raw."
"Ain't seen you 'round here before. And she isn't to be eaten."
"Like I said, sir, I'm new. And the human is to be eaten after all."
He scowls, angry that I have taken away his source of amusement. The result makes his toad-like face seem even wrinklier than before. "Gowan, take 'er. Worthless chit." Stretching his body over the edge, he grabs her and throws her to me roughly. I catch her and lead her out saying harsh things to her, to make my masquerade seem more believable. As soon as we are out the door, I shove her under my tunic; urgently hissing "I'm on your side! Don't move!"
She actually does stop crying, and only huddles, shaking, under my tunic. So I take one step, then another, very slowly, to prevent her from falling out. We slowly go up through the corridor, ever slow. It's hard to move with her. Some demons that have just entered and give me funny looks, whispering "Ka kii ka son rah."
"I'll give you khakis on rye." I mutter, all too aware of the fact that i have a strange bulge under my robe.
Well, at least I am making progress. I am almost to the door---
"Hey! You!" What I suspect is a demon policemen blocks my way, jumping in front quickly. At least, it seems to be wearing some kind of orange uniform, which contrasts oddly with his green-blue skin. Heis holding a littlecontrol that is blipping red and making noises like a radar sensor."My sensor picked up that you are really two people concealed as one! So fess up! What are you hiding?"
Oh shitake mushrooms. Gotta make this one really believable. "Wa-al, I do have a pet here," I take her out from under my tunic. I hear many gasps of revulsion and surprise from other demons surrounding me.
"Keeping human pets is against the law, sir!" Oh perfect. Could this day go any less smoothly?
"Sir?! I, weakling, am a lady."
"Lad---" He doesn't finish his sentence. I leap up and slash at him, my hood falling off. Everyone hisses "Human!" And charge. Damn, and I was so close to getting free!
The problem with this fight scene is that I have to avoid stepping on the squirt, so I'm doing a kind of tap dance around her. She's watching me in awe of my power. I also see fear mixed with the reverance, and she is talking to herself.
So an elbow here wham and a punch therepow and a kick there BOOM and I'm golden. The demons aren't very powerful at all. But I do have to get out before Sensu gets here first. I think he'll probably notice all of the dead.
Speaking of Sensu, shouldn't my dad be around here? Is there some chance I could do a double rescue?
I hold the little girl's shaking hand, and look around all of the various rooms at high speed. Specimen room…pantry…dissecting room…c'mon, c'mon…dungeon, where's the dungeon…Damn, he's probably either above or below this level, knowing the bad guys of anime shows...
My fruitless searching is cut short by monstrous footsteps that shake the ground. It could only be…
She starts to scream, although thescreaming sounds fake, or hoarse, or something,but I cover her mouth and run like hell to the door. Lucky the last room I checked was the right next to the door.
I fling it open. "Sorry, Dad." I mutter. If I go back for him, it will not only be my life that is lost, but this girl's also. I carry her in a piggyback into the outdoors. The air seems cleaner, probably because of all the demon trash I snuffed in there. But I don't care. The only thing on my mind is putting as much space between that demon and me and my parcel as possible.
I run and run, as a panther with the Brownie scout on my back, until not even my demon form can withstand anymore. I drop the girl to the ground and collapse upon it myself while morphing back.
"Are you all right, girl?" I ask.
"My name's Lahri, not girl." She says very matter-of-factly. I laugh. What memories that brings back of Hiei/Genkai and I!
"What's so funny?"
I stop laughing. "You just reminded me of myself. Quite a while ago."
"Quite a while ago?! I'm 12!!"
I look her up and down again. I still say she looks nine, but I do see something in her eyes. A hardness is within them. She's seen a lot of bloodshed. I can tell because that's the look Genkai always wears on her shrunken face. That haunted, deadened look. And this girl's but 9!
"Oh, I pity you! You've seen so much bloodshed and you're only 9!" I bend down to hug her.
She pulls away. "I told you, I'M 12!"
"You were serious? Oh c'mon, how dumb d'ya think I am?
"Pretty dumb," she growls.
"So then you are 9?"
"I'm 12!"
I roll my eyes. She's making no sense. "Kid, I just saved your ass. You aren't thanking me for your life!"
"What's that got to do with anything? And it's Lahri!"
I realize we're shouting at each other. I don't need this. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you, all right? I just rescued you, and I'm under a lot of strain, okay? So I'm sorry."
"Like hell you are." She must have seen my fist curling, because she quickly added, "T-Thanks for rescuing me, even though you should have been slower in taking me out. Where are we? I want to go back."
"We're in the Spirit World. We are not going back. Speaking of which, how'd a human like you get here? Got lost from the girl scout troop into Demon World? Huh? Well? What? Start talking, kid."
"You are too."
"What?"
"A human."
"Only half human. Other side's demon panther."
"REALLY? So that's how I was riding on a panther! I thought I was hallucinating! Can you show me how? You know, to be a half demon too?"
LAHRI'S POV:
So she is the one Sensu was looking for.
KATRINA:
"If you haven't got the genetics, no. Are you part demon?"
Silence.
"Lahri, I asked you a question."
"I dunno. Sometimes I make stuff happen," she answers evasively.
"Okay, whatever." I'll get it out of her eventually. I know better than to press people mercilessly. Eventually they say something totally untrue just to end the interrogation, and I don't want that. "How'd you get here?"
"Dunno." She is obviously lying. She moves her right hand, and I notice something in it.
"What's that there in your hand?"
"What?"
"Lahri, what's that there in your right hand? Hey!" I clap my hand tomy forehead. "The King did say you had something inyour fist!"
"IT'S NOTHING!!!!!" I see her pupils contract with sudden fear.
"Don't lie to me, freak. Hold out your hand." She holds out her left. "The other hand, Lahri."
"Fine, take it!" She yells, and chucks something at me that hits, with impressive force, my forehead. It falls to the ground in front of me, and ironically, she tries to snatch it back again. But I'm way too quick for her. I grab a handful of her hair, despite her loud, screechy protests, and pick up the shiny object.
It's my missing Commir.
A/N WOOHOO! I am getting so into this, you know! Review! Thanks to all my previous reviewers!