Chapter Five : The Mysterious Yoko Kurama
Wait...roses?
Sora was suddenly on alert. She had had a past experience similar to this. She had inhaled the sweet aroma of roses...and the next moment she had been on the ground with a rose whip pressed up against her neck.
"Come on out Yoko," she crooned to the night, "I know you're there!"
Stepping forward, with all the grace and dignity of a fox, Kurama slipped out of the trees, and smiled. "So my guess was correct," he said calmly, allowing his rose whip to turn back into an 'ordinary' rose, "You are a demon."
"Ah. You recognize me at last. I am touched."
Kurama drew back as if her words burned him. She had said them rather violently, but the anger burning up inside her was almost too much for her to bear. She could almost feel her blue eyes turning red.
"Please," Kurama said weakly, "Allow me to explain. I am not who you think I am."
"You have my full attention, Yoko."
"I am not Yoko," Kurama said, "Or at least, not any more. I have left that part of myself behind me. Memories, thoughts, power...it's all gone. I will no longer allow myself to reach it."
"Sick of your past trying to catch up to you?"
"Essentially, yes."
"Lucky you."
There was a pause, while Kurama digested these words. "What?"
"I said, lucky you. You can forget about it. Lock it away in a place where you will never have to think about it again. I, however, still have to think about it. I still have to remember the first time you attacked me, your rose whip at my throat. I still have to remember the way you blinked at me in surprise, and whispered, 'An ice maiden? What are you doing so far from home, little one?' I still have to remember the way I used to sneak out every night just to run with you and the others. I still have to remember our son."
The air was still between them as Kurama contemplated the meaning of these words. The silence stretched on. Sora listened to the hooting of an owl in the distance, the high pitched chirping of the crickets, and the sound of her own tears rolling down her cheeks, turning into precious jewels, and crashing to the forest floor. Another mark of an ice apparition.
"I am sorry," Kurama said finally, true genuine sorrow coming clear in his voice, "Truly sorry for your loss. But I cannot...I cannot remember you."
There was silence again. Sora felt much of the anger leaving her, dissolving in the hopelessness of the situation. Part of her had always dreamed of the moment when she would discover that Yoko had not been killed, and that he still loved her. That part of her was now ebbing away into the darkness.
"I can forgive," Sora said softly, "But unlike you, I cannot forget."
She pushed past Kurama, moving towards Genkai's house. She didn't know how long she had been standing out there thinking. It must have been quite some time; the party had cleared out, and it looked like most of the guests had left for the night.
"Do me a favor," she said to Kurama, turning to face him. "Don't tell the others that I'm a demon just yet. I'm not quite ready for them to know."
Kurama hesitated, and then nodded slowly. Sora smiled at him, "I do forgive you, Kurama. I will not hold it against you."
Kurama smiled back weakly, and followed her in silence up to Genkai's house.