Children more than Adults,
Loneliness more than Crowds,
Side Streets more than Main Streets
A-R-E D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S!" -Excerpt from King of Bandit Jing, book four.
Ne, so many reviews, so much love (and so little scurvy).
Halloween is upon the group (strange to say that in February...) and we have mysterious exposition from some mysterious exposition-giving man! But is he an ally or another one of those pesky villain-types? Ne, enjoy yourselves.
Touya fluff for Ryuu-chan, since she hasn't been around for months.
True to the schedule Rachel set for herself, it was little surprise school wasn't called off for Halloween. Still, that didn't mean that he almost found himself wishing for the old headmaster (whom he heard was exceptionally lenient) when he found out. The one good thing, however, was the willingness of most of the teachers to make up for it with relative all-around good cheer.
So as he walked between classes, munching on some free candy corn, Hanabi watched some of the younger kindergarten-age students played some sort of Halloween-themed game of capture the flag. More less-than-amusing memories dislodged themselves from the depths of his mind, and he quickly brushed them away with artificially flavored goodness.
Perhaps he should stop watching sports... or separate himself from the lower grades. Young children and childhood games didn't mix well with his past experiences. Then again, the silence in his head was also unnerving. Once ecstatic for any sort of peace, when Hanabi had heard the lack of His voice, he had become worried.
After all, although a truce had been made with Jin, there was still the matter of Holly... and He had already planned it all out. Whoever these plans had been made with, Hanabi didn't know, but he could already tell the other one wasn't too happy about it. Even now, the white-haired teen could pictorially imagine Him sitting in a dark corner, tinkering around with his emotions or poring over some plans. A mentally captive mob boss? Perhaps... and the current predicament he was caught up in was his own pair of custom-fit cement shoes.
"Hey, what's with the dazed look?" Holly drifted down to earth, hopping off her broom and swinging it onto her shoulder as soon as her toes touched the ground.
Well, knock him unconscious and toss him in Tokyo harbor...
"Hanabi, hey!" She ran up to the boy, snagging a piece of candy corn from the little plastic baggie that he held, and smiled. Said smile gave him more of an adrenaline rush than any sugary candy ever could. Too bad he couldn't convert the energy into human speech at the moment...
"Uh, I was wondering, do you have any plans tonight? There's a big party going on downtown..."
Hanabi nodded dumbly, faintly aware that in the traditional roles of boy and girl, he should technically be the one asking this question. Not like he ever would have had the nerve... perhaps it was better to leave it to the witch. She seemed to be doing fine on her own; the girl was still smiling, no sign of a blush on her face. Such confidence – nevertheless he was a bit jealous of it.
Was that why she always seemed to be so much closer to Jin? Because the demon was equally at home among strangers as friends?
You're getting ahead of yourself Hanabi-kun. Take it easy.
For once, he was glad of the advice. When was the last time that other, purer, half of him had gotten through and provided any means of hope for him? Years, it seemed. All this time he had been getting a bit darker, he admitted. He wasn't stupid; he could see the physical evidence of Him whenever he looked in the mirror – that one little flash of orange in his eye.
But, back to the present, to Holly.
"Anyways, I was wondering if you'd like to get out for once. My friends are all coming, so it'd be nice to hang out in a larger group, for once. You know?"
A larger group..? Eh, he might have to rethink his answer, but...
People aren't scary; it's loneliness that batters at you. Get out for once. Live a little!
Inwardly, he sighed. He had always complained of never having anything to do. What harm could a party do, anyways? Knowing that it would lead to him to quite the uncomfortable evening, the boy nodded. For the greater good, this all was, really.
"I don't see why not."
"Oh, awesome!" She gave him a quick one-armed hug, and stole another orange and yellow-striped piece of candy before leaping back onto her broom and rushing through the sky. With baleful golden eyes, he watched her go.
Like so many stars, paper lanterns and other brilliantly colored lights were stringed across the narrow winding streets. Squares and intersections became stages for partiers and performers of all sorts; the water that flowed from the fountains was dyed a deep wine red, with strobe lights and lasers flashing from underneath the spray; bats and crows flew freely about, gracefully winging their way through throngs of decorations and people. From somewhere on some store roof, a band played and giant bubbles of varying colors drifted down into the streets.
Down among the people was one huge enthralling mass of costumed and masked actors. Some costumes were more elaborate than others; some partygoers could have scared off young children without the faintest scrap of a disguise. Despite the gruesome appearance of quite a few characters, however, sheer happiness and the thrill of a celebration ran rampant throughout the town.
Maybe that happiness was all that kept the darker, truer, forces of All Hallows Eve from appearing. Even costumes and masks, those that were viewed as childish or harmless traditions of Halloween, had once served a purpose; it was said that when the devils and ghosts roamed the earth on this day, they would become confused, mistake you for one of their own, and your soul wouldn't be sucked away to the realm of the dead with them.
As he calmly sipped some of the hot apple cider, Touya realized that the only harmful spirits here were cheap beer. Also, the loud music hurt his sensitive ears, and those godforsaken bubbles were plain annoying as well. Normally, if he had a choice, he would have found somewhere a bit less hectic to enjoy tonight, but...
"Well, that's where you've been sulking all this time! I never quite pictured you as one to enjoy a drink."
The ice master turned to the speaker, cider still in hand. "I'm not. But it does do a good job of dulling the senses."
Yukimi sighed, and tried her best not to play with the collar of the rather extravagant kimono she wore as a costume. A geisha... whose idea had it been for her to be a geisha for Halloween? Oh, wait - she paused and mentally backtracked - hers.
To tell the truth, it was a rather nice bash, and she could sense from Touya's mostly concealed aura that he was enjoying it much more than he claimed he was. He always seemed to put on this act: to play the pessimist. Why, she couldn't fathom. A way to keep his own hopes from being crushed, she guessed. In either case, it was just as smooth and unthawed of a lie to keep her wondering; as long as she had lived with him the moments he let down his guard were rare.
At one time, she had looked at his eyes, empty of any pupil, and pondered just what had closed him off and guided him down the path to his current self. Always so rigid, quiet but unrelenting, controlled... a medley of traits that could easily confuse her.
"In any case, are you enjoying yourself?" The question snapped Yukimi out of her reverie, and she smiled. "Of course. It would be nicer to have a buddy to party with, though."
Touya shrugged the hint off, turning back to the stall. "I think Chuu might be willing to dance some, if he's not too out of it."
"If you think I'm going dancing with that drunkard, you have another thing coming." Yukimi playfully poked Touya's shoulder, but the ice master only shrugged. "I suppose you're just out of luck, then." There was a rough tugging on his arm, and the ice master soon found himself being hauled away from the makeshift saloon and into the teeming mass of varied rabble, his cider left behind on the countertop. The noise increased a hundredfold, and colored lights assaulted his eyes.
"Geisha aren't supposed to be this rough," he muttered, and Yukimi seemed to not care at the comment. One glare from her, and he sighed, making a show of taking her hand and leading her the rest of the way into the crowd, in hopes of finding a spot where they wouldn't be crushed to death while they danced.
He grumbled something incoherently, and shifted his weight among the tree branches. They had brought him to this horrible place. No, he had to correct himself: they had physically dragged him, against his will, to this event. A party, they had said.
He hated parties.
"Maaaaaaa!" Mara happily chirruped and unfurled her over-sized wings, her head swaying up and down on the end of her long neck; tiny claws clung onto his hair, and the tiny dragon carefully balanced so as not to tear the roots from his scalp. Hiei could feel her center of balance always moving, as the dragonling constantly took in her new surroundings. The city and people weren't new, per say - the fire youkai had brought his draconic cling-on with him down here on many an occasion - but the unusual decoration and costumes were enough to send her little mind reeling.
From his gloom, Hiei managed at least a small half-smile. At least one of them was happy tonight.
The mysterious and dark mood he had no doubt been casting over the tree and part of the street was suddenly shattered when the snow-white dragon that had nestled in on his head suddenly leapt forwards, wings flapping and claws still clutching onto his hair, to catch one of the gigantic bubbles that lazily drifted downwards. Said bubble lazed on down, and the demon swore loud enough for many a head to turn and chuckle.
Laughter - that was the last straw. With a harrumph, he gave a forceful retreat into the safety of the foliage, where Mara squeaked and clung on for dear life, forgetting the bubbles as her surrogate "mother" leapt into the air in search of another post.
The fox chuckled as Hiei leapt from one tree to another. He hadn't seen what had happened to the point, but he suspected it had something to do with Mara's fascination of the oversized bubbles floating over the crowd. How many times he had told his fire demon companion to play with Mara, he couldn't count. Suffice to say, it was fair payback for Hiei's unrelenting battles of pride that kept him from breaking down and playing with his young charge.
"Oi, fox boy, wake up!" Yusuke waved a hand in front of Kurama's face, and the redhead shifted his attention from the patches of star-spotted sky to the crowds surrounding him and his friends. "Ah, sorry. I just saw Hiei up above us, and he isn't too happy."
It had all been the girls' idea to go to the citywide celebrations during Halloween. Besides having a good time, however, he always kept a fragment of his mind keep an eye out for any signs of trouble. All Hallows Eve... when the dead walked the earth. To say that there wouldn't be any complications to the night was a mere hope.
Lyra's blue eyes widened, and wrapped her gauzy shawl tighter around her shoulders; the girl had dressed up as a sea spirit, which was more than fitting to her abilities. "Maybe we shouldn't have forced Hiei to come?"
"Oh, no, no. Mingling with civilization is good for him, in the end."
"If you're really sure..." She toyed with the sea green ribbon choker about her neck, but grabbed her younger sister's sleeve just in time to keep Lark from wandering off. Said younger sister grimaced, and carefully plucked Lyra's fingers off of her jacket.
"I saw a friend of mine over yonder."
"I'd still rather prefer it if we kept close. You never know what could happen in a gathering as big as this."
Lark looked over the costumed crowd, and waved hello to a pair of cross dressing young men, calling them by name and, for the most part, ignoring her sister. "Oh, come on, Lyra. We live near and know most of the people here." A girl with an impossibly large hot pink Mohawk and the entirety of her face pierced started to make small talk with the younger Admarant sister. Yusuke and Kuwabara sweatdropped, while Lyra murmured, "That's small comfort."
Kurama chuckled at the scene, but, as usual, his face was merely a mask for the thoughts racing through his mind. If greater caution had been taken earlier, then the crowd that surrounded them on all sides would have been their only worry. With that one painting in his possession, Givanni had turned from an irritating (but weak) obstacle to someone they would be wise to be wary of.
"Hey, have you seen Holly around? She ran off nearly a half hour ago."
Speaking of someone to be wary of...
Kurama made a quick scan of the crowd surrounding them, and shook his head to Hanabi. "She might be airborne, I'm afraid."
Hanabi sighed and ran a hand through his white hair. "I should have kept a better eye on her, anyways. But thanks for the help."
"Help? Well, if you're looking for Holly, I heard she went over to the piers. She said that Kyuro wanted to stop by there, for whatever reason." The speaker clapped one hand on Kurama's shoulder, and proceeded to try and lure the fox a bit away from the group. "Uh, if you don't mind, we kinda need to move along..."
"Oh, of course, Rogerik. Sorry to bother you guys." The smaller teen ducked into the crowd, and was lost in the blink of an eye.
Within seconds, the fox found himself behind a caramel apple stand, the blond thief leaning against a makeshift wall of milk crates. When the psychic didn't make the first move, he calmly asked, "What's wrong?"
"We should get out of here." Rogerik's voice was strained, his gray-green eyes unfocused. Kurama crossed his arms, perplexed at the sudden change in his evening plans.
"Any reason why..?"
"There's trouble heading our way. Koenma left me a voice mail telling us to keep away from any large gatherings of people, and, well." Rogerik waved a hand at the mass outside. "He heard that Givanni might make a move tonight, it being Halloween and all. It would be easier to deal with it if there aren't civilians in the way."
A message from Koenma... perplexing. So that had been why the thief had excused himself just twenty minutes before. The junior lord of Spirit World had made a good point, however. A group this big could just as easily panic as it could party; although, if anything happened, he was just as fearful that some drunken "innocents" would attack them instead of whatever the former headmaster had in surprise.
"I take it you aren't telling the others about this, then?" A silent shake of the head as a reply, and the fox let a mirthful laugh escape him. "Yusuke won't be too happy about that."
"I'm hoping that it blows over, and no one will have to know."
"But better safe than sorry, eh?"
A wry grin for Rogerik, which seemed sadly misplaced by the bags under the young man's eyes. "Yeah." Kurama nodded in understanding. The friends he had come with were dear to him. He would protect them if necessary, but he hoped that it wouldn't come to that.
The back door of the caramel apple stand opened up, bathing the two students in harsh white light. Both blinked owlishly as a heavyset ogre-like demon hollered out at them.
"'Ey, you punks, go find yerselves somewhere else to plot! This alley is property of my stall, and I don't like trespassers."
Youki flared about the stall-owner's form, and both thieves scurried out from the alley, spouting forth apologies as the fountains did water.
Compared to the rest of the city, the piers were fairly quiet.
A saxophone shrieked off-key, and Hanabi winced. Perhaps he should rephrase that last bit.
Besides the boats moored in, all decorated and place of residence to many a stay-at-home Halloween fan, and the makeshift stage set up at the opposite end, it was fairly quiet. Maybe if the saxophone player in the skaa band was better, the audience wouldn't have been so rowdy and the night would be even quieter.
The waves rolled gently, lapping against the pier supports. Gulls either bobbed up and down with the ocean current, or stood post on the tops of streetlights and rooftops of ocean view apartments. No one wandered the darker upper side of the pier, and Hanabi turned golden eyes to the equally hued harvest moon. Out here, away from all the bodies, it was chilly, and he was glad he had worn his jacket. He stuffed his hands into the pockets, heard the crinkling of plastic, and pulled out the half-finished baggie of candy corn.
"Care to share?" A bodiless voice asked. Hanabi looked around, confused, until green eyes opened and the tiny speaker yawned. It took a moment for him to place the name with the cat, as the feline arched his back, sat down, and tucked his tail about himself (all while balancing on the pier railing), but the voice made something inside his mind click.
"What, are you deaf? I would like some candy corn," Kyuro asked, sharply. Hanabi glanced at the package of aforementioned sweets in his hand, blushed, and held out the baggie for Holly's familiar. While the talking kitten rooted about in the bag and scooped himself out some candy kernels, the white-haired teen wondered why Kyuro was wandering around without the witch.
"Hey, do you know where Holly is?" It was certain that Kyuro would know; Holly was only followed by the cat 24/7. Kyuro gnawed on a piece of candy, his jaws working furiously as the sugary substance stuck to his gum and pearly whites, but managed to mumble out something. "I dunnomph... Agh. Sticky," He swallowed the food down and pawed around in the bag a bit more. "She said she was meeting someone, but she took her broom. Doubt you'll find her here."
"Really..."
"Uh-huh..." More chewing of the candy corn from the cat, and Hanabi raised an eyebrow. Hang out with her friends, his foot; for all he knew, she was just passing the time on some lonely rooftop, looking at the moon with... Jin.
"You okay, kiddo?" The cat tilted his head at Hanabi, and the teenage boy blinked in surprise. The low growl in his throat petered out, and he mentally panicked a bit. Was He getting even more of a hold?
With a sigh, Kyuro sat down and began washing his paws and face, licking his lips. "Alright, I lied – a bit. She went up to some rooftop... nearby." The last remark was a mumble, but Hanabi caught it.
A rooftop... Jin... geez. He had hit it on the spot, likely.
"How nearby?" He noticed the edge to his voice, and could almost see Him smirking in satisfaction. All this time, He had really tried to get him upset... this time, it didn't even take His nagging or quiet whispers into his subconscious.
Hanabi supposed that wasn't the best of signs, but at the moment, he could care less.
Yellow eyes searched the rooftops, and there - a silhouette against the muted golden glow of a lamp, which was still lit from the window of a nearby apartment. A female figure with a broom propped up against the wall of the building, and the poofy hair and elven ears of the wind master. And, with the roaring rush that filled his ears, the supposed peace with Jin was swept from his mind.
Let me come out... I can help.
Fine, he would. He didn't care... make everyone disappear, make him disappear.
Make this night disappear.
Even as he stepped out onto the roof, he knew it was too late to stop. Things had been set into motion, there was no way he could intervene and save everyone now.
It really should have upset him more; well, it would have years ago, maybe. He had learned since then: you take what you can, earn your keep, and move on. One couldn't always be a hero. Not like others thought of him as one, but still.
He chuckled slightly. Hero or villain? It was a fine line too easily crossed. He supposed that tonight, he could play hero for a bit. Keep the wall between the living and the dead sturdier than it was supposed to be on this night, disrupt the growing energy as much as possible, put an end to a supposed all-powerful weapon… Nothing much, really - just the usual.
Ah, now he could see the cause of his problems. Following the energy hadn't taken much; two distinct powers, each on opposite sides of the infamous extreme-left-and-right meter, all poured into one fragile human frame. Over time, however, such warring powers would change whatever was human in the boy to... well, he didn't rightly know. Such a case he had never seen before. Now wasn't the time for a thorough inspection of this catalyst, though; he had work to do.
While he chanted an incantation, keeping a careful eye on his surroundings , he noticed the shape of the target of the boy's seething anger.
Teenagers... he almost detested the fact he had once been among them. So emotional, they were. If the white-haired boy below him had controlled some of the powers of that pesky demon inside of him, he could have overheard the girl and youkai on the roof and this whole mess could have been avoided.
Oh well... nothing to be done about it now.
The sky was turning red.
In all three-hundred-plus years of his life, in makai and ningenkai, even he had never seen it this color. A gentle soothing umber, yes; but now darkness clouded the air, and the stars were slowly but surely fading from view. While they traveled up the street, away from the majority of noisemaking, a chill ran up his spine.
"This certainly doesn't bode well," he murmured, green eyes turning to an expanse the color of dried blood. Lyra joined his gaze, and Yusuke swore under his breath. No, this didn't look good at all. Even the once unshakable partiers had looked up, noticed the unusual sky above them, and were quickly dispersing. A few foolhardy idiots stayed out in the streets, but for the most part, stalls closed their shutters and citizens quickly made their way to some sort of shelter. They scurried through the streets, like mice looking for a hole, headed for home.
"Figures the warning would be too late." Kurama heard the thief clearly, although he was certain that the others weren't paying attention. So far, all had been accounted for; Hiei was most likely moving his dragonling to a safer locale (perhaps teleporting her back home) and Jin was perfectly capable of defending himself.
Right about now, he pitied anyone who was stuck outside for much longer. Nothing good came of a bleeding sky.
Hanabi, you want them gone, right?
Yeah, yeah he did. End it. That's all.
Are you willing to help?
Hadn't he said so? Of course he did...
Then let everything go. I'll take care of it all.
He vaguely remembered hearing something along those lines last spring, when he had been accepted into this messed-up school. He had been the headmaster, and was particularly stern about the fact that Hanabi should go – No, that he must go.
Somewhere along the lines, he didn't remember meeting that headmaster, Givanni, again.
Don't be afraid of what I'm about to do. You panic, and it all collapses. This type of stuff takes serious effort here, kiddo.
It almost seemed as if He was worried about him. It couldn't be true, just couldn't be; in all of the twelve or so years since He had first taken residence inside his head, there hadn't been anything more than sneers and constant jeering.
Suddenly, it was if a ton of bricks had been dropped upon his shoulders; torture to stand, torture to breathe... And They were nowhere within the reaches of his mind. Freedom, at last...
And solitude. Lonely, aching, solitude.
He almost panicked at that moment, when he felt nothing from the Two, but remembering His instructions, kept still and composed. He even managed to keep standing.
Hope you can ... can take it...all...
Him. But He was tired, beyond recognition. Where He had once been powerful and always lurking about everywhere in his head, He was now about ready to collapse from exhaustion. Hanabi had never known Him to rest.
His mind burned, the ground seemed to dissolve and turn into mush below his feet. Cobblestone gave way under some enormous chasm of energy. But, whatever was crushing stone seemed to keep him on his feet. Through all the searing pain, through the gravity that kept him tied to the wrecked earth, he somehow opened his eyes and took it all in. This was power... pure, unleashed energy.
So how come it was leaving him so quickly? He had promised power enough to change it all.
More seemed to leave him than the meager pool he had began with. It took shape; indistinguishable, at best. He might have been able to make it out if he wasn't currently feeling his eyelids drop, his vision weaken and become blurry.
If he had stayed awake, he would have seen the monster he had created.
Red... dried blood. Rust. Stillness. Death.
And then, it came. A mess of greasy gray fur and decaying rope. Shackles and bindings. Horns sprouted from the skull of a goat-like head, but all that it reminded him of was a centaur. Some strange, deranged centaur wearing the skin of a goat. Cloven hooves struck the rooftop tiles, and it towered above him.
But then the fur had split open, along the belly of the upright torso; not entrails spilled from the seamless wound. No blood. Just a pair of bony arms with bloodless gray palms and spindly fingers. The skin had peeled away in places, mostly where the bones showed through; there was only a strip of connecting the skin of the hands with that of the arm – all of its wrist was bone and brownish-black flesh.
And the smell... decaying meat. That smell alone had been so effective in its assault, he hadn't even had the time to retaliate. No time to protect her.
And she had been snatched away by those rotted hands, nearly pulled back under the goat-hide cloak as whatever it was had sprinted away. The clouds rippled and warped, and then it had disappeared, and she along with it.
While the sky slowly returned to normal, and he slowly regained the use of his brain, Jin continued to stare at the night sky where the beast had vanished.
And the witch with it.
. And Holly is :gasp: kidnapped! And Hanabi, weeelll... :stares at Hanabi's body and pokes it with a stick: ...he's not doing to good. What has our poor Hanabi-kun done..?
Oh, yes, I have been slacking in Wheel of Torture. I know this. So, to make up for it, I'll do a quick little Q A thingy for you guys... Well, I won't. He will. :jerks head at Rogerik:
Rogerik-;; I didn't want to do this, you know...
Now, folks, stuck on the plot? Lost? Trying to remember who's who? Need some personal advice? Turn to "Ask Rogerik!"
Rogerik: Or ask advice from someone who cares.
Oh, but he does care! Don't you, Rogerik:nudgenudge:
Rogerik: ... Why not ask Yusuke?
Because Yusuke is... Yusuke. -.- No other words for it, really.
Rogerik:grumbles, but logs on computer: Okay, make this job quick and painless for me, folks.
That means to dig out any question you have, even if it really sounds quite stupid.
Rogerik:eye twitches: And review or the writer will make me do this again.