The group sat grimly
staring at the walls of their confines.
Another portal appeared
over their heads, and to their relief, a tall, lithe shadow landed
nimbly, rolling to a stop and leaping to its feet.
Mads scowled, "Do you always have to make such an entrance?"
Reaper's scowl was a familiar one as she stood glaring down at the young elemental, "Get through the damn portal."
Mads stood up, following the others as they stepped through a remarkably convenient portal on the side wall, "Oh, gee, no hug?"
The last of the originals to go through was Kurama, a serene half-smile on his face as he glanced back at the assassiness, "You're late."
Reaper's reply was sharp, "You're slow. Move."
Mads stepped through, into a familiar, albeit different, scene.
"Raja!"
His purple hair shifted in front of his eye as he stood, "Ah. Mads, my sweet. No hug?"
Mads was propelled forward, into the prone body of Genkai-sensei. Grimm lay sprawled against the far wall, trying to untangle herself and an irate Tier from her whip. Yusuke and Kuwabara stood to her left. Turning slightly to better evaluate the situation in which the little elemental had found herself in, she found Hiei glaring intently at the puppet master.
Kurama came through next, and after looking around, placed himself carefully next to Hiei.
Hearing one last pair of footsteps, and the portal close,
Mads opened her mouth.
Only to be cut short by Reaper, "Raja.
What the hell--?"
"It's time, little cat, that you
finally finish playing mouse."
Finding his voice, Kurama spoke up, "Are you instigating that this is just another of your two's little games?"
Stepping up next to the kitsune, Reaper spared only a glance into his questioning green eyes, "Only in his head."
Hiei slowly drew his katana, Kuwabara's spirit sword following suit, "Then what, onna, is this?"
At that moment, six things happened,
Reaper's forehead split with white hot pain, and she cried out; as
Kurama stepped forward to help her, the distance between every
individual seeming to grow, Raja leapt forward, and threw him back,
taunting him, "You think your little bird has been faithful?
Tell me, kitsune, do you know how warm her skin can be?"
Kurama's cry of dismay sent his loyal friend, Hiei, launching
forward, only to be restrained by Yusuke; simultaneously, Grimm
wrenched herself free, only to be yanked back by a somber Kuwabara.
Seeing instantly the encumberments of the others, not bothering to
wonder about the reason behind the sudden turn of events, Mads dodged
past the wrestling youkai and detective, only to trip by the old
sensei's grip on the former student's ankle.
Reaper cried
out again, her body rising into the air, and her wrists pulled back
by an unseen force. Kurama's whip lashed out repeatedly at the
taunting demon, aware of his love's pain, yet unable to act.
Kurama's grunt of frustration went unheard as Hiei struggled with
Yusuke for control. Skimming the young man's mind, the Jagan could
find no traces of Raja's influence.
Mads twisted around, kicking at the hand of her old teacher frantically, her exhale of panic drowned out by the furious cry of the young neko pinned in the corner by Kazuma.
Perhaps they were all so preoccupied in
their own private struggles that they could not notice Tier's
movements until the last minute.
Until it was already too late.
The dagger in Tier's hand glinted in the dim light. Dismay closed around Kurama, and fear clutched the two women each struggling with their captors.
Her eyes locked with her only love's,
Reaper's crimson lips curled up in a small, bittersweet smile. In
that brief, fleeting moment, she allowed herself for the first time
in years, to wonder...
What if...
A little girl with
shining copper curls and tears running down her cheeks looked up at
her mother, "Mommy? Why do people do bad things and hurt each
other?"
Somewhere, a little boy with brown hair and haunted
green eyes looked up at the sky, and spoke quietly, "Daddy, what
if everyone loved, and nobody lied?"
If everyone cared and
nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone
shared and swallowed their pride
A tear slid down a young
students cheek, as she sat softly stroking the sheathed scythe at her
side, thinking over the events of the night, of the friend she had
never really had, and yet in a sense still lost.
A young assassin
with ebony locks of hair pushed behind one ear looked out into the
night, thinking about the young man in the next room...
What
if he could be my everything?
Her vibrantly yellow eyes still locked onto emerald green ones spilled over, as her best friend from too many lifetimes ago tore into her abdomen with the bright dagger- her happy dagger.
Crystal spheres of water
tumbled down her cheeks as her eyes grew glossy, her lips frozen in a
bittersweet smile of good-bye, the last realization running through
her head as a large yellow crystal was wrenched from her body with a
sickening suction-
He already was her everything.
From
underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for
satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are,
we're here tonight
Singing Amen,
I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
If everyone
cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If
everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day
when nobody died
And I'm singing
Amen I, Amen
I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
And in the
air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the
world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Singing Amen,
I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)
If everyone
cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If
everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day
when nobody died
And as we lie
beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could
love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be
If everyone
cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If
everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day
when nobody died
When nobody died...
We'd see the
day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd
see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died
She may have been a killer... But that doesn't mean no one cried, on the day she died.