A Short Yomi-centered Fanfic

by Ky

Summary: A look at Yomi's flashback in episode 101, and how his role model, Youko Kurama, helped him to cope with his blindness.

Genre: General/Angst

Rating: PG

Warnings: Mild violence and one word of mild language.

"Look upon me!" Yomi's attacker cried, leaping into the air. Foolishly, the demon thief obeyed.

"Wuh? Wa-aaaaaah!" Yomi screamed as his opponent's twin blades slashed across his eyes. Hot blood trickled down his cheeks. He couldn't see the other demon, although he knew he must be close by.

"Life is more than the reward," the voice of his assailant jeered, somewhere in front of him. This was followed by steady, retreating footsteps.

"Wait! What does that mean?" Yomi demanded, taking unbalanced steps in the direction the voce had come from. His injured left arm hung limply at his side, and he waved his sword searchingly in front of him with his right, poking at the air.

Suddenly, he felt the earth crumble beneath his foot. He lost his balance, and then he found himself falling through the air. His sword slipped from his grasp, and as he landed on solid ground again with a bone-jarring thud, he heard it fall some ways away.

The proud, reckless demon thief, right-hand man to Youko Kurama himself, lay sprawled in the dirt, battered and bruised. Blood was drying stickily on his arm and face, and, no matter how hard he tried, he could not force his eyes open. His wounds burned and stung. He groped for his sword, but couldn't find it.

Grinding his teeth to hold in a wail, he resigned himself to lie still and wait for help to arrive.

Yomi didn't know how long he waited. Without the position of the sun, the lengths of shadows, or Makai's two moons as references, he had no way to accurately mark the passage of time (1). He could have waited for hours, perhaps days, or maybe only for several minutes. After what felt like eternity, he had not heard anyone pass by him. "Kurama!" he called. Slowly, he struggled to his feet.

I won't wander far. He must be looking for me, and I'll be easier to find if I don't move, he thought, moving in careful, shuffling steps, arms feeling their way in front of him. "Kurama!" Kicking, and then tripping over a long object in his path—his sword?—he fell to his hands and knees. "Kurama!" Shoulders shaking with emotion, he dug his fingernails angrily into the dry earth beneath him. "Kurama! Where are you!" He felt utterly defeated and abandoned. Desperate tears cleared salty trails in the dried blood and dust that clung to his face (2). "Why aren't you here? Can't you see I need you! You're supposed to be here! You're supposed to help me! I don't know where I am! I don't know what I'm supposed to do! Without you, I don't know anything!"

Listening to his helpless screams echo back at him, Yomi was struck by a new thought. He was blind. What the hell could a blind man do, besides beg for food and money on a street corner? (3) He could never go back to being a bandit, not if he couldn't see. He couldn't tell time, he couldn't read signs, he couldn't scavenge for food… He couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face! He couldn't live like this. There was no way he could possibly find his way out of this forest without someone taking him by the arm and leading him out.

I'm going to die here, he decided. I'm going to die in a pitiful heap, lost in this endless darkness. His hands found a tree trunk in front of him, and he punched it furiously. "This isn't how it's supposed to end, Kurama! There's so much more that I want! So much more that I could have!" He swallowed. "…That we could have. Where are you! If you were here, what would you want me to do?"

Advice came to him instantly. The beautiful silver fox spirit appeared in his mind's eye, ready to reprimand him again.

"Get up," Youko Kurama snapped. "Your wallowing will get you nowhere."

Gulping back tears and wiping an arm across his face, Yomi climbed to his feet and nodded.

"Now walk. I said walk, don't shuffle along like you have something to be afraid of."

Every time he took a step, Yomi imagined Kurama standing behind him, gently pushing him forward. It made it easier to walk with confidence, knowing the most powerful bandit in all of the Three Worlds had his back. He lifted his foot, only to turn his ankle on a rock. He knew it was a rock not because he could see it, but because of the way it felt beneath the soles of his shoes.

"Kurama, I can't do this. I'll never find my way out of here without my eyes. I don't even know where here is!"

"Get up. Tell me, how do you expect to amount to anything, behaving like this?"

"I can never be a thief again. I'll never become powerful."

"Life is more than the reward," the Youko of his mind replied, smirking.

"Kurama? What does that mean? I don't understand! Kurama!"

But it appeared that Yomi's mind's phantom of Youko Kurama had nothing more to say, for he had disappeared. The young demon was left alone again, but with new determination. I will get out of this forest. He took a step forward. Kurama wouldn't give up, so I can't, either.

Endnotes:

(1) – In the flashback in episode 101, the moon appears ring-shaped, which would make me guess that there are two moons, one bigger and one smaller, and at that time their orbits overlapped.

(2) – I spent a long time trying to reason through this with my sister, and we concluded that his tear ducts wouldn't have been damaged. These things would be so much easier if Yomi had scars.

(3) - No offense is meant to anyone who is blind. Yomi is, obviously, ignorant.