Servant By: OtakuSailorV
Chapter 7:: DisturbanceYuhi was once again talking with Kai and Gin in the dank basement late that night. Their eyes glowed from the tiny slivers of light that escaped toward them, their black pupils wide as they gathered light from the impenetrable darkness.
The hanyou, after hearing Kagura's words had decided that she needed someone to confide in, though she doubted Kai would want to hear her feeble voice anymore. She was fully aware of what the kitsune's thought of her Lord, but she appreciated Gin's silence and acceptance and resented only slightly Kai's harsh words, though she often told herself that they deserved to be angry and she had no right to tell them otherwise. With this in mind, she had come down tot hem, half-expecting to hear Kai's hate-filled voice fill her ears in outrage as she bespoke them from beyond their prison.
". . .And that's why I'm worried, what do you think, Gin-san?" Yuhi raised her eyes in a pleading manner to her friend. Her eyes did not move to Kai, for fear of her harsh tone, but she felt the aching need to look in her direction if only for a moment to see her reaction. Realizing that if she had a bad reaction, she would be yelling, Yuhi tried to quiet the need to look up at the fiery redhead.
Gin sat, as always in a respective manner, knees bent under herself on the ground, her shoulders held back in a proud manner, her spine ram-rod straight, and her smooth, delicate hands clasped lightly in her lap. Her silver eyes blinked once during the story, true interest showing in them as she listened intently to Yuhi's words. After a moment of silence, she smiled softly at Yuhi, a small quirk of her lips upward.
"I think it is nothing to worry about. Naraku knows what he is doing and will not want a reoccurrence of what happened last time, ne?" She smiled more genuinely, in a comforting fashion for the dread-filled hanyou girl. "He won't do anything rash. So you can just calm down, Yuhi-chan."
Yuhi did calm, her tense form slouching as she gave Gin a thankful smile. "You always know just what to say, Gin-san." She complimented softly, her brown eyes glowing. "Arigatou."
Gin smiled as the hanyou bowed to her. "Oh, no need to thank me, Yuhi-chan. Your burdens are mine."
Kai grunted at the giggles and smiles passed between them, herself completely forgotten in this charade. Her sudden noise captured the other two's attention and they looked over questioningly at her.
Yuhi's ears perked forward in curiosity as she looked on at the redhead. Kai lay, her legs crossed and propped up on a small stone while she leaned against the wall, her arms folded behind her head. Her purple eyes were closed, the tanned lids squeezing slightly as she noticed that she was being stared at. Opening one eye lazily, she gave them a grumpy look. "What?" She demanded.
Gin hid a grin at her sister, and Yuhi just gave her an innocently questioning look. "Are you mad at me, Kai-san?"
Kai became instantly flustered. Yuhi acted like such a child sometimes when she asked questions that it hit home in her. Kai had always liked children, but found their innocent gazes and questions flustered her, and Yuhi was a master at the technique. "W-what?" She spluttered, opening both eyes and sitting upright in a rigid, tense movement. Her bushy hair seemed to stand on end as she tried to explain her self in a loud, hurried manner. "Why should I be mad at you?"
Yuhi dropped her eyes to the ground, furthering the childlike effect. "Because I'm worried about Naraku-dono again, and I know how strongly you hate him. Gin-san too," She quickly added, looking at gin over her shoulder with an apologetic look in her eyes. "But I thought you would yell when you heard me say those things. . ."
Kai shifted uneasily, folding her arms over her chest and crossing her legs underneath her. "Hmph, well Gin told me to try and control myself and. . ." She mumbled, dropping off into rambling.
Gin giggled softly, covering her mouth politely to hide her mirth from the flushing Kai. Yuhi still seemed perplexed; the words lost on her ears as she tried to understand them. Though she easily dropped the subject with a withdrawn sigh.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you two." She gave them both a smile.
"Nah, it helps to pass the time." Kai grumbled from her corner.
Yuhi turned toward her, and gave her a soft, understanding smile. Bowing, she turned to pick up her lantern. "Arigatou, Kai. Arigatou, Gin." Her smile was always contagious and quickly lilted on Gin and partially on Kai. "Oyasumi."
Bowing again, she exited without another word, her bushy light-brown tail swishing slightly as she walked.
The last of the lingering light fell on them briefly before she was gone, and the pair turned to each other, Kai wearing a knowing smirk. "Think she'll be upset?"
Gin sighed in the same withdrawn manner that Yuhi had, her silver eyes pooling with a number of deep emotions that she dared not show to the coyote hanyou. Letting her long silver hair spill over her right shoulder, she turned her hair into the sweet-smelling silver locks, her eyes narrowing with untold sorrow. "I do hope not." She whispered, her voice aching with the need to change some future that she did not yet accept.
Kai got to her feet and came over, sitting by her sister and giving her a tender hug, trying to take on some of her pain. Gin moved her head from her silver locks and nuzzled her sister's hair affectionately. "I understand." Kai whispered, hugging her sister tightly.
Gin smiled softly, her silver eyes pooling still with her tormented inner emotions. "I understand." Kai whispered again, releasing her sister and giving the first genuine smile since they had been imprisoned. "Don't worry, Yuhi will be fine."
The words seemed to come from both lips, though it was Kai who had spoken. Being twins, they often thought the same things at the same time, though only one would actually speak the thought. And there would be no need for the other to agree, for they already knew without being told.
Gin smiled and gave a small nod, a brief flicker of hope and understanding shining in her eyes. "Yes, she will be fine."
There was a moment of silence before Kai spoke up again. "You think she'll understand?" She asked a little gruffly, her moment of emotion passing.
Still, gin could sense Kai's concern for the hanyou whom they had come to know so well. Smiling softly at her sister, she nodded again. "She might not at first, but she perceptive enough that she will someday. . ."
Kai was silent again. ". . .But is that good enough? Is 'someday' good enough?" She questioned aloud.
Gin shook her head softly, the silver hair barely moving, shining like silk in what little light was still illuminating them from the brassieres on the wall. "I do not know, my sister. . .I do not know. . ."
Yuhi was perfectly fine after that, the thoughts and worries from before pushed behind her with Gin's reassurances. Humming some unknown tune, she went about her menial tasks with a slight spring in her step.
Her heels bounced off the wood as she smiled to herself. Nothing could have gone wrong that day, nothing at all. Or so she thought.
From some part of the castle suddenly came the sound of someone's muffled yell and a blast suddenly rocked the castle floors, soon followed by the roar of some bestial animal in pain.
Yuhi was puzzled and frightened for a brief moment before her mind registered what was happening and she recognized the roars and whom they belonged to. The only person who could make such a loud noise in such a gruff tone was Kai. Terror washed over her, giving all her muscles life as she suddenly tore down the hallway, forgetting her duties in her fright for her friends. Cold sweat poured down her body, and her lungs seemed to burn as she gasped for air, turning corners and tearing through rooms until she was close enough that she could hear someone talking.
Her ears twittered in every direction, trying to pick up some piece of the words, but they were lost on her as she continued to race toward the noise.
Suddenly, her feet left the ground and a sinking feeling fluttered in her heart before she felt her body crash into the ground. The force knocked her a decent portion of the way down the hall, and she lay in a heap sweating and panting for breath before she heard Kai's voice to her right. Her head instantly popped up, forgetting about her sore body as she opened the screen just enough for her to look in with one eye.
Her eyes widened as she saw that Kai was clawing at her constricting collar, her purple eyes void of any emotion but some immense pain and anger that Yuhi could never have felt toward any being. Gin was there also, though she stood behind the writhing Kai, her silver eyes void of emotion as well, though they were fixed on someone who stood out of Yuhi's line of vision.
Turning her head, Yuhi peered at who was fighting her friends; who was causing them pain. Her eyes widened further when she saw Naraku smirking, a dark look in his eyes as his crimson gaze locked with the silver pools of the kitsune. He was sneering at them, their pain becoming his pleasure.
Yuhi shuddered at the look in his eyes. She had only seen him one other time before, and that had been several months ago, and then she had not feared him. This time the looked frightened her and she feared for her friends. Frozen, random thoughts rushed through her mind as she watched, not one of the thoughts making any sense to her in her befuddled state. The only thing she comprehended was that her Lord – whom she had so trusted – was hurting her friends and most likely intended to kill them.
"You. . .scum. . ." Kai growled, sweat running down her forehead as she managed to get to her feet. Her pupils had come back into her eyes, and all that shone in them was a deep loathing and a pinprick of some knowledge that Yuhi could not decipher.
Gin stood behind her sister still, her pupils returning as well. Yuhi briefly wondered if the twins had somehow shared the pain of Kai's constriction.
As Kai got to her feet and braced herself, Gin's eyes narrowed in anger, an emotion that Yuhi had never seen on the kitsune girl before. Smiling darkly, showing all her fangs, Kai growled at Naraku. "Fight me like a man you coward!" She spat at him. "Or are you too weak to fight me when I am in my true form you disgusting hanyou?!"
Her voice was a roar, some inner self trying to break free from her body as she growled at him deep in her throat. Blood ran from one corner of her mouth, an effect caused by the collar around her throat. Her tongue was red and teeth were dyed red with it, and the look of the red fangs grit in anger made Yuhi fearful again.
Naraku raised his head in a pompous manner, the smirk on his lips opening to reveal his teeth only slightly. "The removal will make no difference in the outcome." He informed her with a sneer.
Kai bristled; jumping toward him with such speed that Yuhi almost missed it entirely. Still, there was the streak of red in the air that was unmistakably Kai. As she whisked through the air, there was the sound of metal clicking, and something gold dislodged from the blur of red which instantly stopped it's assailment.
Kai dropped to the ground, two clawed fingers touching the spot on her neck that had been rubbed raw by the collar that was now missing. Yuhi gasped as she noticed that her purple orbs had become more acute and sharp, her ears had pointed into youkai ears, three long, orange tails tipped with white hung from her backside, and her fangs and claws had grown back out. The collars truly had been suppressing her power, which now clung to the air in waves.
Yuhi turned to Gin who had not torn her yes away from Naraku's, even when her collar had fallen. She too seemed to have acquired all her old youkai traits, with the exception that she had six tails instead of three. Yuhi understood this as a sign that she was stronger than Kai, though she wasn't sure how that could be. From what she had been told, and seen, Kai was obviously the stronger one.
Yuhi envied slightly their flawless beauty. They seemed to shine, their hair looked soft as silk, as if it had never had a snarl or knot in it before. And their eyes were deep and dark, telling a tale of their own. Of lost innocence, and forgotten love.
She felt instantly useless. There was nothing she could do for them, was there? She was weak, for a hanyou she still was no good at fighting. She had tried when she was young to fight off the humans and demons, but since they reminded her so much of her own family, she had never had the heart to harm them. Something she knew was a guaranteed weakness that would someday get her killed. And these two had been brought up fighting, or at least Kai had. She could do nothing for them, she would only get in their way.
Bowing her head, tears started to form in her eyes. She was useless, absolutely useless.
Kon'nichiwa, minna-san!! Miss me much in the past two weeks??
Hmm, hope I left a bit of suspence there. . .I was trying to add more detail about Gin and Kai in their human-youkai transformed states, but nothing really came to mind after what I had written. So if you have a hard time visualizing, they have an ethereal glow to them. (Does that help at all??)
Ah, anyways, thanks for your reviews as always. It's nice to see what you guys think of the characters. Tee-hee. I can't help but think of their reactions to your comments and it makes me laugh sometimes. (Do I sound crazy saying that?)
Well, thanks to you all again and I hope you enjoyed! grin Ja'ne, minna-san!
Review please!!