Disclaimer: Don't own YYH.
NOTICE: You may be wondering why I deleted They Used To Be Friends. Well, I think I'm gonna either completely reface it or make a new InuYasha story. So, it's not definitely gone yet, but it may well be. Give me advice on this. LPR and RebelWriter, thank you for the encouragement, but in the end, it was just taking up space. I will put it back up if I deem the idea a good one, though.
Chapter 54: Mie's Mother
I stretch and cry out. Every bit of me is sore. Even my soggy brain. I feel like I was run over 50 times with no less than a cement mixer. And the only thing that woke me up was the trickle of light pouring in from the slightly ajar door. Other than that I am bat-blind.
I sit up painfully. I perform some exercises, and the crick in my neck finally goes away.
I glance over to see Botan. I almost go crazy, thinking, "What is she doing here?" But I remember how I totally…
I groan and sit down again. Am I no better than Sensu? I corrupted one of my allies. Well, not corrupted, but I certainly made it possible. Botan said she was only non-corrupted because there was nothing in her memory to use against her, but I've totally negated that. (In fact, that was probably why Genkai was caught off guard: Corruption).What possessed me to do that to her? I had no right. Instead of a perky weirdo, now I have this Amazon warrior queen that probably isn't the type to listen to me at all. What have I done to you, Botan?
I would change her back, but I have no idea how to recall all of those memories into that one trapped space again. And I would once again be violating her personal thinking space, which I can't bring myself to do again. What if I mess her up further?
Oh, if only my life had a rewind button!
I shake myself. Think of the positives.
Botan will now be a valuable warrior partner. She certainly fits the bill for skill and character. And she will also have a more down-to-earth mind, which will help in battle plans.
Come to think of it, if she had all of that skill, why did she give it up? All of the fight scenes, all of her training, basically her personality…what was the point of letting it all waste away? Was it really that memory of the lady (that looked uncannily like Mie) getting killed that pushed her over the edge?
Stupid. I should have looked further in her memory, to see what horrible things had made her make that choice. Though it could have been anything in there…
I gaze at her sleeping form, trying to resist the temptation. I could go in there one more time…
It would be for the good of mankind...Hah. Who am I kidding? This is for my own sick curiosity which I have no right to quench.
But I SO want to…
DAMMIT, I DON'T KNOW!
I have to know. I'm evil. I admit it. I have to know. Isn't that one of the seven sins? Lust?
I astro-project, silently begging God not to leave me for the devil when I die, and dive into her head once more.
I feel a rapid sensation, like going through a windy tunnel in New York. Then I nearly faint at the change in her mind.
It's nearly as dark as Hiei's and Genkai's were. This is horrible. And I did it all…
The memories are strewn all over the place. It's hopeless to find them all. I'll talk to her directly. I head for her soul room. I remember the way.
I enter it. The soul room is gray. That means her soul is sagging with the weight of the memories, but has by no means fallen negative yet.
Since she is asleep, Botan materializes in front of me. This is the new one still, not the one I preferred, with that hard look in her eyes. She stares at me and cocks an eyebrow.
"Botan?" I whisper.
"Who else? Why are you here, of all places?"
"I'm...I just wanted to apologize for what I did."
"Why should you be sorry? Sure, you invaded my privacy, but you freed me."
I shake my head. If only she knew why I was really here."What I really came here for was to ask you something."
"Why not just wake me up?"
"Cuz, I thought I could find it myself, but I couldn't bring myself to violate you again. So I came to ask you about some of the memories you were holding back all those years."
"Go on."
I can't read her expression. I lose my nerve. Of course I can't ask her why!
I do anyway."Well, my question was why you decided to toss your personality."
"Oh. That."
She and I are silent. "Well?" I finally ask.
"My best friend, Maritsi, was killed by her own kind. She fought with us in the last great war even though she was a demon."
"Whoa. What?"
"I was fighting demons at the time. There were a whole herd of them, trying to get to Enma. We had to hold them off until he was finished charging his Spirit Energy in his pretend pacifier...never mind. You don't need to know about that. It'll take too long to explain." She takes a deep breath. "Maritsi tried a tricky maneuver involving a kind of hyper-pitched spirit gun, and even though she knew the risks of such a beam..." Botan sighs. "The beam sucked away her life force along with the spirit energy, even though it killed most of the enemy. Her body was so obviously dead, and it lay there."
"Wow. Could something like that really do that?"
"Oh yeah. It did. I can still see them, the remaining demons, running Maritsi through again and again with their claws. She was dead, and they permanently maimed her anyway. It was cruel and sick. I thought...I don't know what I thought. I had my own battle wounds to worry about. But with her death came this huge tornado, whipping out of her body. I was blown to the other side of spirit world. My oar couldn't defend against it. It was that powerful. Then, Enma came out and trashed them like they trashed Maritsi." She sighs. "But it changed nothing. Maritsi died there, that day. Her body was so destroyed that it just...well, we had to cremate her. If you die in the Spirit World, there's no hope for your reincarnation. She left behind her daughter and husband, who later shot himself right after sending her to boarding school." She looks at me meaningfully. "Do you remember what Mie told you?"
Mie. I knew she looked exactly like Mie! "You mean Maritsi was Mie's mom?"
"Yes. Mie doesn't know, poor thing."
"Why?"
"Koenma thought it was better if she didn't know the truth. He was afraid she would come after her mother's killers. And well, she isn't he most gifted demon, being a half-blood, and Maritsi was nothing special either, so she'd be killed instantly, trying to take on as many demons as we did."
I nod. It does seem like the kind of thing rash Mie would do. "So you rid yourself of everything bad after Maritsi?"
"Yes. I couldn't--well, I didn't want to take it. Shows how weak I was." She smiles sadly.
I don't deny it. "But Mie thinks her mother merely abandoned her."
Her face tightens. "That's too bad. Maritsi died a heroine's death."
I sigh. What a sad story. No wonder Mie's so weird. "Another question."
"Shoot."
"What other memories do you have relating to Sensu?"
"Really, I have just the one about the Beast in the Fog you asked me about earlier."
"Ah, okay."
"Okay."
"Thanks, Botan."
"Yeah, you too. Can you go now?"
"Uh, sure."
I fly out of the soul room and back into my rightful body.
Later, Botan wakes up. I don't hear her though. I'm way too deep in thought.
How could Koenma think Mie thinking her mom was some bitch that abandoned them for adventure was the way to go? How could he even think that the right choice? That is so wrong, I could scream.
But really, how is that so much different from my own case? Maybe Kurama really is right and that my dad really did just go to save the Spirit World. But both of our parents did it in very sloppy, painful fashions. Would it have killed them to tell their spouses where they were going?
Well, how would you tell your human spouse something like that? 'Oh, honey, after work, I'm going to stop around God's place and take on some powerful demons!'
'Okay! Have a great day, honey!' Hah. As if.
Botan's cold, long-fingered hand on my shoulder startles me into oblivion. After suppressing the urge to scream like a girl, I turn around to face her.
She smiles at me. "How are you?"
"Uh...good. And don't ever do that again. That really shaved years off of my life."
"You baby. Maybe you scared me entering my mind like that. But did you care?"
"I just wanted to ask a question! I didn't sneak up on you!"
"Yeah? Well now I have a question for you."
"You do?"
"Yep. How long have you been here?"
"Awake, you mean?"
"No, I mean how long have you had those blue horns?" she says dryly, laughing as I pat my head worriedly. "What do you think? Seriously, I mean just in the castle grounds. How long have you been here? In terms of days."
"Um, well, I think about, like... I dunno. Two days max. I have no sense of time."
"Really?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Is there some reason why you are not fighting Sensu yet?" She asks sweetly.
"Uhh…?" The smile on her face is now dangerous.
"I asked you, why aren't you fighting Sensu?"
"I dunno. First there was my shrinking, then there was fighting Hiei, then there was you and entering peoples minds…I guess I got sidetracked." It sounds so lame. I got way more than sidetracked. A selfish corner of my brain really does not want to fight him. She'll never get me to admit it though.
"Well, why didn't you just come back here to grow up again?"
"Because I had to fight everyone in sight!"
"Really."
"Yes, really."
She's silent, and I suddenly realize what she's trying to do. She's really only trying to bully me into fighting him already. I resent that.
"Well, can we at least start? Instead of lounging?"
"LOUNGING? Did I hear right? I have not been LOUNGING! I have been doing a lot more than you, for example. You didn't even try to get out on your oar!"
"Hell, the door was closed. There was nothing I could do at this height."
"Same for me!"
"If you were being truthful, you'd really be a lot farther than you are now, then, right? Aren't you the Daughter of Kon?"
I can't answer that. I'm too enraged. I also have no comeback. I can't deny blood relation. She really fights dirty.
"Hah. Gotcha there. You really are just lounging. You're not even making an effort to find him."
That is so not true!...Right? "Botan," I say slowly, taking my temper back under control, "There is no more Growth Potion up here. I checked last time. The only other bottle was eaten whole by a nasty demon, and the other one was cracked."
"C'mon, are you saying you checked every bottle on the top of the shelf? Before you were taken? From what you've told me, that wasn't the case at all."
"No…"
"Then let's go already!"
Before I can protest, Botan made a monster leap and is already to the top of the shelf. I grudgingly follow, only I scuttle instead of jump. She thinks she's so cool. I wonder how easy it would be to push her right off…
Then I hear a trace of that old cheery voice. "The drinks come with brand names, Katrina! Would you like it from Arm and Hammer, Lysol, or I Told You So?"
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A/N CYA FOR NOW! And anyway, do you like the murder of Maritsi touch? Heh, I wrote this months ago, and when I revised this, I realized how corny her original death was. She died protecting Botan (bleah). I was so cliche back in eighth grade... And this murder is only the beginning. It gets worse, I promise you. It will get very worse. I always wanted to tie up Mie's mom, you know? I'm so glad I did! And review if possible! I've got about 850 hits on this but only 500 some reviews! REVIEW ME!