Servant By: OtakuSailorV
Chapter 8:: Sayonara!
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.
Yuhi knew that she was weak as a hanyou, but she had never thought that she would ever feel the need to defend someone else against her own Lord!
Watching helplessly through the slit in the door, she saw Gin's eyes flicker her way for a brief second as Kai jumped toward Naraku, one fist raised as she roared. Their eyes locked, and Yuhi felt tears sliding down her cheeks, mouth parted.
Kai's long red hair and tails seemed to become one as she dashed toward the still-smirking Naraku. He seemed to have dropped his guard, but his red eyes were full of malice as he watched the kitsune rush him. "Die you bastard!!"
There was a flash of light, but Yuhi only saw it out of the corner of her eye, for Gin was holding her eyes with her own, forcing her not to watch the ensuing violence. And in a secret, way, sparing her some heartache, though Yuhi was oblivious to what kind of spell she had been put under.
Out of Yuhi's line of vision, Kai fell to the ground, limp, and blood seeping from a large wound from her onto the floor. Her purple eyes were wide in shock, misted over with death, as she stared blankly into nothingness. Still, there was no fooling Yuhi's youkai senses, and more tears sprung from her eyes, though she could not tear her gaze from Gin, she knew what lay just out of her sight. Kai was dead.
Gin's heart sang out in misery at the loss of her most beloved sister, and with her death Gin felt a piece of herself go as well. There would always be a gap there as long as Kai was gone, she knew that, and her pain was only made worse when she saw the look in Yuhi's eyes. The girl seemed so frightened, so lost and confused. She had experienced this kind of pain before, Gin could see it in her brown eyes, but still it hurt Gin to see her reliving such pain again.
"You will not tell me what secret you know of the Shikon no Tama?" Came Naraku's silky voice.
Gin's eyes did not leave Yuhi's for a moment as she replied in a cool tone: "No."
There was a cold laugh from Naraku, something that sent a chill running down Yuhi's spine. Suddenly, she was on her feet, reaching out for the doorframe; she was still locking eyes with Gin the entire time. As Yuhi had risen though, Gin's eyes had widened and flashed dangerously with warning. The hanyou froze in her steps; her hand still half-reached out toward the doorframe.
Uncertain of why she could no longer move, Yuhi was partially aware that somehow time had stopped. For everything seemed to be moving slower as gin gave her a warm smile. "Do not mourn us. We knew our fate long before we met you, Yuhi. Please, forgive me this."
Time speeded back up again, and the screen in front of Yuhi snapped shut, the force of which knocked Yuhi back to the ground on her butt. Wincing, she had fallen on her tail, crumpling it beneath her weight. There was no real harm done, and even there was, there was nothing that would stop her as she got to her knees and went to the screen doors. She opened her mouth, tears starting to flow from her eyes again as she got ready to yell for Naraku to stop, if she could not get it.
Her voice was silenced as Kagura's fan snapped shut behind her. "Do not make a sound." Kagura whispered, getting down beside her. "You don't want him to hear you now."
Yuhi blinked at her, but was too frantic with the need to help to care. Looking from the doors to Kagura, she hopped up, her ears at attention. Kagura was on her feet before Yuhi though, and shoved her back down. "I order you to be still, fool. Do you wish to be killed as well?"
Kagura knew the hanyou would not obey her in this state of mind, but her part in the deal would be over soon anyway. Grabbing a tight hold of Yuhi's shoulder, she forced her to remain still as the sound of a scuffle ensued inside of the room.
Yuhi fidgeted, squirming under Kagura's sharp claws. "Mistress Kagura, Gin-" Yuhi started but was abruptly cut off when she heard the sounds of the scuffle suddenly die as a ray of light burst from the room and faded away into nothing.
Naraku's shadow had been the only one traced on the screen doors, and Yuhi felt more tears streaming from her eyes as she spied that Gin was nowhere to be seen. "-Is no more." Kagura finished for her roughly getting to her feet and releasing Yuhi's shoulder.
Looking down, she saw Yuhi weeping silently into her hands, her shoulder's shaking. The first sense of pity she had ever felt hit her and she fiddled inside of her robes for a moment before brining out her hand, it was cupped over something and she offered it to Yuhi brusquely. "Here." She said, not looking at Yuhi, frowning.
Yuhi looked up, her face smeared with tears. Reaching up, she took what was offered to her curiously and tentatively. Bringing her hands back down, she peered at what was in them with a mixture of sadness and understanding. Clutching the object to her chest, she sniffled, nodding at Kagura. "Thank you, Kagura-sama."
Kagura scoffed, trailing off down the hall. "They wanted you to have it. Don't thank me."
Yuhi smiled softly as she looked down at her hands, in them was clasped very tightly one of Kai's small, golden earrings. Reaching up, she placed it on her own left ear timidly, fingering it thoughtfully. New tears threatened to brim to the surface, but she forced them away again. Gin had told her not to mourn, and she would honor that request.
Naraku looked down at the nasty mess in his compartments. The kitsune twins' warm blood was sprayed all over his body, dotting his arms and face. Frowning, he looked to where their slain bodies had lain. After he had beaten that silver-haired one, they had both disintegrated in a flash of bright light.
The reek of blood filled his nostrils and he grimaced, striding toward the shouji doors, he opened them, smearing blood on it in the process.
To his surprise, he found Yuhi sitting on her knees, the smell of salt and water coming off of her in waves. Narrowing his red eyes, he looked down at her questioningly. "What are you doing?" He demanded.
Her head shot up, and he could see her eyes were red and puffy from crying. So, she knew what had transpired, did she? His crimson eyes narrowed further as he sensed her pain.
Yuhi bowed immediately, shocked that he had appeared so fast. "N-Naraku-dono, I-" She started, but he cut her off abruptly with a sharp order.
"Yuhi, leave, now." His voice was icy, and Yuhi cringed slightly. She nodded and was immediately on her feet. Without meeting his eyes, she walked steadily away, though there was a need for a faster pace in her stride.
Naraku watched until she disappeared around the corner before looking to his blood-spattered form again. There was o way she could not have noticed it. Shaking himself, he glared. Why should he care if she saw or not? It did not matter. . .
Yuhi turned the corner and immediately leaned against the wall, pressing one hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. The smell of gin and Kai's blood filled her senses, and she felt her stomach churning in a protesting way as she remembered what had been covering every inch of Naraku practically.
Blood. The kitsune twins' blood was all over him. His hands and clothes were stained with it, and he reeked of death.
Yuhi choked, gagging slightly with the horror of it all. Nausea began to overcome her mind and body, and she stumbled toward her compartments, her hand still clasped over her mouth.
Fine beads of sweat were starting to form on her forehead as she slid open the shouji door to her small room and went inside, sliding it back behind her.
Kneeling, she choked down more fitful sobs and tried to fight off the nausea, but her body would not have it. She had sick inside of her and it wanted it out. Leaning against one wall, she breathed heavily, not wanting to get sick all over her room.
From one corner of the room, Kagura glared and came forward. The earring she had given to Yuhi hung from one of her large, furry ears, and it jangled every time that the girl moved. At the moment, it was jumping around in an ecstatic fashion due to Yuhi's ears twitching as she tried to force herself to calm.
Coming beside the girl, Yuhi wasn't even aware of Kagura's presence until the Wind Sorceress went past her, in her line of vision. Yuhi raised her face to show that her complexion had paled. She opened her mouth to speak and struggled to get to her feet, but she stopped when Kagura gave her a hard look. "Don't move."
Yuhi watched her, her vision wavering as she focused on Kagura in hopes of forgetting that she was sick.
Kagura opened the screen to Yuhi's room, revealing the hall on the other side and glanced down it. There was no one to be seen. Frowning, Kagura went back into the room, shutting the screen softly behind her. Going to the corner she had come from, there was the sound of liquid being poured before she came over and kneeled by the girl.
Yuhi still looked pale and sick. Kagura could tell the girl was going to wretch, but maybe she could help that out. Frowning further, she grimaced inwardly. "Here, drink this. It'll settle you're stomach."
Yuhi shook her head, trying to pull away in protest to Kagura's help. But Kagura held her shoulder roughly in one hand clawed hand. Digging her nails in, she gave Yuhi a steady look, locking her crimson eyes with Yuhi's brown ones. "I said drink."
The hanyou swallowed hard, the thick feeling still clinging in her throat as she took the cup carefully from Kagura's hands and pressed it to her dry lips.
The liquid was disgusting in taste, and made her want to wretch all the more, but as she swallowed, it pushed down all her sickness and made her stomach slowly start to quell.
Sighing, she leaned back against the wall and turned thankful, shy eyes on Kagura who was still glaring at her. "T-thank you. . .Kagura-sama. . ." Yuhi said softly, her chest heaving as she tried to fight off what little remained of the sickness.
Kagura made a face, showing visibly that she was annoyed with all of this. "Teh, they told me that I was to make sure you didn't hurt yourself over this." Kagura took the cup from her and released Yuhi's shoulder without even meeting her eyes.
Yuhi's small hand went up and touched the single golden looped earring that now hung from one of her ears. "Kai. . ." She whimpered slightly, sadness starting to envelope her again.
Kagura's red eyes met hers sharply, daring her to shed even a single tear. Blinking, Yuhi dropped her head, thoughts pouring through her mind at a rapid pace, no longer sure of anything.
Kai and Gin were dead now, gone, she knew that. Naraku, her Lord, whom she had trusted, had been the one to kill them, proving that he was also capable of destroying their village. The twins had left her with an earring of Kai's so that they would always be with her. Naraku had left her with her life.
But how could she trust him now?
Sorry this update took longer than the others. It seems like every time I get on to work on fanfics, someone comes down and kicks me off the computer again. growl
At any rate, yes, I killed off Gin and Kai. I had been planning this from the start, and actually found some songs for this chapter. There were a hoard of songs from the new Twelve Girls Band CD. Including Reel Around The Sun, Freedom, and Shangri-La. And from the Wolf's Rain soundtrack there's Shiro. No songs with words for this chapter, unfortunately. Sorry.
Well, thanks for the reviews as always. See ya soon, minna-san!!
Ja'ne!
Review please!!