A/N: Hello once again, Denizens of the FanFiction World!
Still dealing with a very sick kitten, hence the bit of early posting, but no recap for you all, sorry. This chapter is, however, the proper length.
Hope you like it!
Symbols Guide:
* : Written by CM; She writes for Akari and Hiei
3 : Written by Star (supposed to be the 'heart' symbol, but FF doesn't like the 'less-than' sign, so it's a 3 instead); She writes for Toriko/Shikiyoku and Youko/Kurama
~!**!~ : A universal transition between scenes or characters, sometimes used to indicate a passage of time, but most often used to transition between major scenes that are happening. As the story progresses, this will evolve into mainly separating the (usually two) scenes happening between authors/characters.
As a general rule, anything in italics is thoughts.
Unless it's used in a sentence like this, which merely indicates emphasis.
[Anything written in italics inside square brackets is Youko speaking to Shuichi/Kurama inside their mind and is private conversation, unable to be picked up by telepathy.]
{Anything written in italics inside curly brackets is inner dialogue by Shuichi/Kurama to Youko, and is also private conversation, unable to be picked up by telepathy.}
"Quotations are usually reserved specifically for telepathic dialogue being transmitted from one being to another, but sometimes this can also mean a character isn't being careful about what they're thinking and anyone with telepathy in the nearby vicinity can listen in without taking any effort."
The only exception to that last rule is for the Shiba Inu dog, Nabu. All of his "spoken" dialogue will be in italics and quotations, but is communicated through body language or dog-like noises, so unless a character is able to translate those they are unlikely to pick up on what he is saying any more than the average person might understand his general moods like aggression (bared teeth, ears back) or excitement (wagging tail).
The above rule also applies to Akari's old friend Isamu when he is in his dog-form.
Taka stretched his wings a bit, glancing at the carnage in front of the rift.
What the hell is this thing anyway?
He had his arms crossed over his chest, surveying the damage they had done and unsure if Kit's 'plan' was really to drive them back or simply kill them all.
Taka snorted, finding the lack of cunning in the cat's straight-forward approach to be uncharacteristic of the apparition.
Giving a sigh, Taka glanced one last time down at-
His heart jumped up into his throat.
Who is that?
Without even the pause to consider the answer, Taka dropped out of the air, tugging at the dark sphere over his core desperately as he watched the energy swirl higher on the demon standing not fifty feet from Shikiyoku, his hands coming up as if he could still brandish the very earth to save her.
Time seemed to slow for him as he dove closer, moving faster, straining as if to outrun the energy that shot from the demon's mouth and he knew there would be little time for...anything.
It was all he could do to drop onto his feet in front of Shikiyoku and block her body with his, pulling her into his arms as he brought up his wings to embrace her in them, ducking his head over hers just as the shriek of power ripped into him, tearing through his wings and into his body.
As the pain seemed to dull in lieu of the monstrousness of the attack-his brain too overloaded to make sense of it-he considered with mild amusement how easily this attack had ripped through his feathers. To tear apart the earth, to shred it to pieces and cause it to bleed was no simple task. And he knew from personal experience that they were not as weak or easily injured as those of his clan.
He considered this as he felt his body dropping to the ground, vaguely aware of some voice screaming his name, and then another's-Did she say Kit? Or Youko? I guess it doesn't really matter-and then he had hit the grass, momentarily wondering where all the blood was coming from, because man was that a lot of the stuff staining the lovely grass, and surely it wasn't his, though now that he considered it, his heart was beating rather fiercely and didn't that flow kind of match the rhythm pounding in his head?
Only when he felt a drop of something hitting his cheek did Taka find his attention gathering from the scattered thoughts he had been having to the awareness that his head was being lifted slightly.
"I would have switched and killed him, bird-brain."
Taka blinked, trying to clear his sight which had kind of gotten fuzzier as the moments passed, and he realized it was Shikiyoku leaning over him, her face splattered with blood-his blood?-and tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Is he dead?"
He saw her shake her head, and he glanced over as far as he could, seeing that the demon appeared to be frozen in place.
"That's weird."
"The Himei Banshi technique renders him immobile." Shikiyoku meant to go on, but her breath caught in her throat and Taka thought she was finished.
"Mm." He turned back to look at her, "How do I look?"
"Terrible."
"Ha! Ow." Laughing hurt pretty much everywhere.
…
"Seriously?"
She nodded.
Another pause.
"You know, it doesn't feel that bad."
Shikiyoku didn't take her eyes from his, refusing to acknowledge the brokenness of what was left of him.
"You let me switch earlier-" She choked out.
"Yeah, so I could finally get to kiss you back."
The memory of her kissing him all those years ago, the catalyst that led to her and Kitoushi leaving the city, flashed through Shikiyoku's mind, for she knew it was that kiss, the nigh-accidental one, to which he referred.
"And I didn't know you were that sick, or I wouldn't have risked it in the first place."
She tried to say something else, but as she blinked in the midst of her crying, nothing coherent formed in her mind.
Taka reached up with his right arm, the only one he found able to respond, and cupped her cheek in his hand. She reached up to place her own over it.
"I never wanted you to have to switch." His stare grew suddenly more sharp in that moment. "I always wanted it to be a choice."
And Shikiyoku knew there was no single other desire he had that held as much purity as his admittance, feeling the salty water from her eyes dripping over their hands.
"...Taka..."
He closed his eyelids for a moment, struggling to open them, "...Shikiyoku...will you do me the honor of removing your Mark?"
Her grief softened if only slightly and after a second he grinned.
"I don't want anyone else to get it."
That managed to pull a weak chuckle from her, and he felt pleased.
He turned his head to reveal the marking, but as she leaned down over him, her lips met with his lips instead and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"What was that for?" He asked when she finally pulled away.
"Because I love you, you stupid bird."
"I...never loved you back." He replied sadly. "I never knew how."
"I would have taught you."
"Really?"
She nodded.
His gaze shifted to the side, "You wouldn't have picked me."
"You don't know that."
"Yeah." His eyes closed. "I do. I think I always knew."
Shikiyoku shook her head as he looked back at her, but her throat had tightened and she found she could not speak.
Taka turned his face away again, the heart on his neck in plain sight and after another few seconds Shikiyoku bent over and placed her lips on it this time, the both of them closing their eyes as it shimmered in place, then lifted, swirls and all, from his skin to dissipate into the air.
Her eyes came open first in time to see the last of it disappearing, and as he felt the absence of it entirely, he turned and tried to focus back in on her face again.
"You know..." Is she still there? "I think..." His eyes started to wince, "I could have loved you...sweetheart."
The light in his eyes went out, leaving Shikiyoku to sob silently alone over his body. 3
~!**!~
Hiei's feet moved with a speed he hadn't accomplished in too long, driven purely by the tunnel vision that was locked onto the demon ahead, markless. Defenseless. And completely unaware of the threat until the fire demon was within a step's radius of the other.
"This," he hissed, images suddenly flashing across his mind as his very core began to tremble, his blood boiling to a new degree, a new level of rage that was almost blinding, "is for," his sword swung, striking too many times for even he to count, the flames around it suddenly taking on a lighter hue as he felt the most subtle of change in his mark- one he didn't mull over, "her."
On some level or another, he became aware of the glow beginning at the center of his mark, aware of the shift in his own attack that caused an odd energy to swirl about the blade, around and around the fire that continuously reigned down on Otento.
With each blow came another image, came more anger, came more power. With each blow he issued, the energy around his blade began to brighten, turning from a light, pearlescent yellow-ish glow to a bright, vibrant gold that began to mingle with the fire of his own energy, turning it a much lighter shade of orange as the flames moved away from his blade and began to strike on their own, moving through the demon that hadn't even made a single sound before the eyes that had widened at him were no longer seeing him.
Hiei suddenly stilled, sword paused in the air as the very atmosphere around him shook with the dragon's loudest screech yet, before the creature dove for the demon who fell apart into the smallest of bits that Hiei had ever achieved in his lifetime.
And he stared with no small amount of satisfaction, breathing heavy, as the dragon swooped within mere centimeters of his own body, swallowing whatever remains had been falling through the air.
Burn in hell.
He remained the way he stood for a few extra moments, staring at the spot now devoid of another as the dragon gave another loud call and took to the skies, swooping over an approaching horde of demons.
Filthy, vile scum.
His eyes focused on his blade after another moment, alighting on the glow mingling with his own energy and he found the widest smirk coloring his features before he turned and dropped to the ground, deciding to utilize the power before it left him.
Because he knew Shikiyoku was too far away to have lent her personal store of energy.
This… This was all his. The energy he used now had been lent to him long ago.
And he wouldn't waste it.
Instead, he used it to tear his way through the creatures from the riff again, eyes aglow with her energy as he moved towards the opening, dragon in tow and ready to strike at the opening itself. *
~!**!~
"I-ro." The unfreezing started at the top of his head, slowly working its way down, steadily freeing his movement until he began walking towards her. "Iii-ro."
Her tears still fell over to kiss the face of the bird-demon on her lap and she did not even look up.
"Who do you love?" The question passed tauntingly over the air between them.
The whisper pulled from Shikiyoku's mouth was strained, her lips moving as if she were compelled to respond.
"You."
"What was that?"
She did not answer him, her shoulders no longer shaking.
"I didn't quite catch that." He was closer now, putting a hand to his ear, "What did you say?"
Shikiyoku started to lay Taka's head down on the grass. "You."
"Louder, Iro. For old-time's sake. For me."
She rose up from the ground.
"I-"
Her skin grew ashen, pale scars, deep or craggy or wicked or faded, began appearing on her skin.
"Love-"
Her head snapped up, locking him in her cold, black gaze, her voice haunting and hollow, raspy and other-worldly.
"You."
A blast of dark energy shot towards him, paralyzing him in place with pain and she followed right after in a dash between the layers.
As soon as she made the rush for him, in near-flight, thousands of strands of energy erupted seemingly from nowhere from her back, streamlining behind her until she wrenched herself out from the layers and grasped at the front of his shirt with both hands right where his shoulders met his chest, slamming him flat on his back into the ground underneath her, still holding his shirt as she squatted over him with her toes firmly planted in his stomach and her knees resting against the outside of her elbows.
The strands of energy filled the air about her then, writhing as if alive, and every single one of them twisting so that the tip pointed in his direction.
Her eyes were wide, completely devoid of color as she leered into his face, head tilting almost grotesquely to either side as she considered him.
"Do you want to know something, Champion?" Her lips were parted to reveal wicked fangs as she asked him the question with a raspy tone settling into her voice.
With the air knocked out of him, pain ravaging his mind, it was all he could do to stare at her.
"I can't hear you." She hissed.
He nodded.
"Answer me." Her head tilted the other direction, "For old-time's sake."
"Y-es."
"Sometimes," She stuck her face in his, her nose nearly touching his own, "Love hurts."
She pulled back about a foot from him, head tilting back the other way before she straightened it and started to close the distance between their faces once more.
"And I love you," She almost made as if to kiss him, getting her lips centimeters from his, close enough that he could feel the breath from her mouth which sent a chill down his spine like nothing he had ever felt before as she dipped her head to the lift, leaving a breathy trail from her parted lips over his cheek to his ear, where she whispered, "A lot."
He cut his eyes over to see her staring right at him and the strands of energy paused in place for a single moment as they locked gazes before diving into his very pores from every direction, piercing deep into his body like so many needles from all sides, and then ripping him apart, turning him inside out underneath her and cutting the scream of anguish he had just started to release into the air.
Before their work was even finished, Shikiyoku had mercilessly released his shirt and planted her feet on the ground on either side of his body as it shredded below her.
His blood splattered upon her, coating a pant leg here and soaking her back there before she could take so much as one step away from him. It was impossible to tell if the blood dripping out of the side of her mouth was his or her own, or if the tear-stained cheeks that had wept for Taka were beginning to have their paths cut anew with blood that leaked from the corners of her eyes or if that was her former Champions blood starting to trickle down her face.
Because there was no distinguishing one red hue from the other.
As she calmly walked back towards the fighting, the mass of tendrils at her back doubled in number, creating a sort of yellowish-black aura extending for yards in any direction that appeared to hover like a cloud unless one stopped to take note that the cloud was writhing insanely in the air.
There was no hesitation from her as she pierced through the ranks of the demons, the tendrils tearing her a path of bodies as she stalked meticulously for the rift itself, the absolutely mind-consuming rage clear even in her deadened expression as she marched solemnly onwards for a few steps more until she finally let out a scream of anger and dashed forward, ripping through the demons like an unholy terror come to life. 3
Hiei tore through creature after creature, the dragon moving ahead of him and taking out countless more without making a single sound. He directed it towards the rift, the tear in the dimensions, and felt immense satisfaction in seeing a path cleared towards the hole, the dragon turning away from it mere seconds before diving inside and instead taking to swirling around the opening, no longer allowing many to get by.
And the few groups it missed, Hiei aimed scorches at, ridding the world of the entities before they even knew there was a second threat.
But the air seemed to freeze and Hiei paused, eyes turning to look over his shoulder as an ear-piercing screech unlike any he'd heard before ripped through the other sounds in the area.
His eyes alighted on Shikiyoku, and he wasted no time in moving out of her way, though he did not let up his dragon or his own attacks. He waited until she was closer, looking to see what she'd do.
Because he had no idea what had caused the scream, the anger, and the…
Tear streaks. Blood. Dirt.
He looked to the skies, searching for the demon who had been keeping her safe, out of harm's way. The demon who was supposed to keep her from the center of trouble and-
His expression changed and the fire demon stood back, eyes turning to Shikiyoku again. Moments after, the dragon left the rift and took to consuming creatures elsewhere, while the glow around him dimmed, settling into a very less noticeable color to the marking on his skin before it melted into its usual swirls, as if he'd never utilized it. *
Each Marked demon slowly came to a halt as the air around them grew cold, feeling as if they were rooted in place, and the demons they fought suddenly began turning, swarming back towards the rift, back towards...something there.
Uryo stood up from his fighting stance, sword lowering towards the ground as he looked off over his shoulders where his eyes could make out a dark yellow cloud.
He took note of two sets of approaching feet, specifically that they seemed to be in no rush whatsoever.
"Who wants to kiss 'er?"
Sending a brief glance to his left as he shifted to face the rift, Uryo saw that Horu held his two shorter blades at a standstill, remembering that the guild leader had an interesting method of twirling the blades in that hand as he attacked simultaneously with the longer sword in the other. The white-haired demon sheathed them as he came to a standstill.
Kafu walked up to flank Uryo's other side.
"Uryo's the fastest."
Horu nodded as Uryo barked out a laugh.
"Ha!...hic. You're the one with twelve handsh. You do it."
Raising his eyebrows, Kafu's expression became a rather mild one considering the situation before them.
"Yes, but I have to get close enough. The range is limited."
Uryo gave Kafu a dry stare.
After a few seconds of continuing to watch the haze of energy advancing on the rift, Kafu blinked and returned Uryo's stare.
"Hm?"
"And I don't have to get closhe enough?"
Kafu was grinning at the two of them from Uryo's other side and Uryo shot him a jesting glare, causing Kafu to raise his hands in surrender.
"Don't look at me." His grin remained in place, "This is between the two of you."
Uryo turned back to Kafu with a lofty expression.
"I shay we make him distract her."
"Hey!"
"Fine by me." Kafu dashed forward as Uryo gave Horu a teasing smirk.
"You're up, shmart-aleck." Uryo disappeared back into the crowd of attacking undead demons.
Horu heaved a sighed and drew his swords again as he followed the other two into the fray, "If you honestly think I'm going anywhere near that, you're gravely mistaken."
Shikiyoku made it mere feet from the opening, the only thing on her mind to 'go in there and get him back' as Uryo reached in through the maddening cloud of her power and grabbed the back of her shirt, almost throwing her backwards into Kit, who had sprinted after him, passing Kafu and Horu, and changed forms just as Shikiyoku came into his arms, her power blipping out of existence as she appeared to faint.
A few of the demons near Uryo began fighting back just as Kafu and Horu made it through the swarm and the three of them started to hold the line while Kitoushi began backing away, Uryo circling around behind and cutting him a path.
They only stopped moving just as Youko joined them, Kitoushi suddenly dropping to one knee, Shikiyoku's body convulsing in his arms.
"I-I don't have the cure yet." His words to the fox were not exactly frantic, but his eyes were wide with something akin to it. "My body- I can't-"
Youko couldn't tell where her blood stopped and her enemy's blood began, but he reached out to her anyway, "I can help stop the bleeding, but-"
He concentrated for a moment, passing his hands over her eyes, nose, and ears, Kitoushi's own hands glowing where he held her.
Youko leaned over and kissed her after a moment, but nothing happened and he pulled back, confusion clear on his face.
"I tried that." Kitoushi insisted, Youko only giving a shrug in response.
"Get. Moving." Uryo ordered, his sword continuing to flash from his side, the smell of alcohol from his breath much less than it had been moments before.
The demons were streaming around them now, not bothering to stop and fight, though Horu and Kafu and Uryo all took pot-shots at them as they passed. The demons appeared desperate to retreat back into the rift.
And once anyone bothered to look, it was easy to see why.
The rift was closing. 3
Hiei remained standing for a moment longer before his eyes narrowed and he turned to the dragon, Jagan glowing brightly again as he transposed his message to the creature before his blade shifted and he moved, flanking Uryo's side and covering the few who tried clamoring over one another, the dragon quickly taking up where Hiei left off so the fire demon could turn and join the others.
The dragon released its normal screech as it tore through the demons in massive numbers, circling overhead before diving down and snatching up more.
Hiei himself took to standing near Youko, jaw flexing as his eyes stared at Shikiyoku when she didn't shift at Youko's lips touching hers.
No.
The fire demon's eyes flashed as he watched, nose twitching as he began thinking, watching the demons carefully. He looked up briefly, but down to Shikiyoku's writhing form again.
What… can we do?
What can I do, if anything?
He ground his teeth together again and his hand shoved his sword into its sheath.
It wouldn't hurt anything.
He moved forward with deliberate steps, centering himself as he moved, concentrating on the markings on his body and hoping like mad they would glow, and somehow it might help. His lips moved to issue a single word: "Move."
Glow, change, do something.
Come back. You can't leave.
Hiei stepped up to the female and pressed his lips to hers, his eyelids shut tight as he willed something, anything to happen to change her back. *
Kitoushi almost said something sharp to the fire demon who insisted on pushing his way through them.
What can you try to rid her of the disease that I cannot do myself?
As Hiei bent over Shikiyoku's body, the last of the invading demons disappeared through the rift that snapped shut, leaving no trace of itself in the air or that it had ever existed, save for the legions of incapacitated bodies that did not disappear from the ground where they fell.
The change in Shikiyoku happened haltingly, but it was a change nonetheless that peeled away at the scars on her face and stilled her body as the shift crawled along.
By this time, the others had turned to see her stop moving, to feel the dark aura of her presence transform into the one most of them knew better.
Her eyes slowly came open, and though they were no longer pitch black, the green within them was dark with grief and for a moment she did not move. 3
Hiei waited and waited it felt like, but the moment she began to shift, he knew. His muscles relaxed just a little and his eyes came open to watch the color return to her grey skin, to peel away the scars agonizingly slow. And he didn't remove himself until he was certain she'd completed the transition, at which point he pulled away and placed a hand at her head.
He could not only see the grief, but he could feel it, palpable in the air, and it made his lips turn down and his gaze soften before his eyelids slid close.
He wanted to say something.
But, what was there to say?
So he remained where he stood, a silent pillar. *
"Shikiyoku...where is he? Where is Taka?"
She didn't seem to particularly see anything, not even the fire demon who had just pulled away from her, but she blinked as if processing the question, and her eyes finally moved to look over at Kitoushi who still knelt near her, and as soon as she saw him, his black ears pivoted back with worry, his heterochromatic eyes wide and glassy, Shikiyoku glanced beyond him, eyes looking towards the park from which she had emerged.
When Kitoushi's head jerked slightly as if to follow her gaze, suddenly Shikiyoku was upon on, her arms around his neck and her weight leaning heavily against him.
In the moment before she collided with him, Kitoushi saw feathers clutched tightly in her hand, and his eyes searched around her neck for the strip of leather that had once held the pendant the bird demon crafted for her, but he did not see it as she slammed into him.
He could feel her almost shaking as if to cry, but he heard nothing from her as she let him take her up in his arms. He began moving for the park with the others trailing silently behind him.
It did not take them long to find what was left of the bird, and with Shikiyoku's arms wrapped around Kit's neck and her face buried in it she did not see how Kitoushi completely missed the bloodied bits and remains of her first Champion, only stepping passed it to crouch next to Taka.
One wing was intact, which had been the one on the other side of Shikiyoku, but the rest of him appeared to have been shattered in some manner, unexplained lines cutting across his entire body, which appeared broken.
Without words, Kitoushi shifted Shikiyoku around in his arms and reached out to close Taka's empty eyes.
"We should...get him back to his people." Uryo finally said.
Kitoushi shook his head, finding he could not speak.
"They wouldn't take him." Youko spoke up. "Or they'd dump him somewhere."
Uryo didn't understand and opened his mouth to say as much.
"He was an earth demon born of an air clan who worshipped the wind." Kafu replied calmly before Uryo could speak. "He has had no people since his birth. They cast him out."
There was no way of missing the abrupt change in Uryo's face at that information, as if the knowledge struck him to his core, and he fell silent.
She made no sound, but Kitoushi could feel Shikiyoku's tears running down his neck and she reached up to rest her fingers near her lips just where Kit remembered seeing a heart-shaped scar earlier. A new one. Too reminiscent of the markings he had along his skin for him to not think her scar likely came from her being the one originally responsible for Otento's death.
Horu and Kafu exchange glances.
The two of them had made the journey to the First Layer with the intent to ask Shikiyoku to remove their markings, for neither of them felt as if they could offer her a worthy life, and they both recalled the conversation they had engaged in earlier.
"As honored as I count myself for being among her chosen, I would not wish for her to be forced to remain cooped up in a ridiculous bar for the rest of her life."
"Aye. I don't think I could honestly feel comfortable having her work for me. It just doesn't seem like what she was meant to do."
Kafu slowly blinked at Horu and they both knew it would be unlikely for them to be asking anything of her in the near future. 3
Hiei had followed silently after the group, his eyes never leaving Shikiyoku as they moved in a silent group. Still, he felt as if there was something he should say, something he should do, but he honestly had nothing. Absolutely nothing.
When he realized the dragon had been trailing along above him, he paused and turned his eyes to the oddly silent creature, calling for it, his arm raising to accept its form over his skin where the bandages had earlier hid it. Without another thought, he continued, arriving to the scene a little late, and taking a moment to look at his surroundings.
Taka, still and battered on the ground. He'd already known as such.
But what surprised him- rather, interested him- was the body of a demon he thought he might vaguely recognize. From… somewhere.
An image flashed in his mind, and his eyelids slid shut. The first one.
He turned his eyes away and to Shikiyoku again, frown deepening as the others picked up conversation, information about the deceased bird demon.
The first words that caught his attention were 'they would dump him'. It brought the fire demon's gaze to the fox, who continued on, the next words being 'cast out'.
His eyelids slid shut again, this time remaining that way.
It certainly explained a few things… Shed a new light on the bird he'd loathed. And yet, it left him with unanswered questions.
Questions he wouldn't explore.
And, oddly, he found the death of another like him to take a toll on his core, an unexpected solemnness falling over him.
He never would have so much as guessed at it. *
Kitoushi barely heard Shikiyoku whisper, "Iro...take me home."
He stood up, eyes still trained on what was left of Taka's body.
He glanced at Uryo, "Would you...burn him? He shouldn't be left laying around like the others." His eyes flashed viciously. "They don't deserve to share in his death."
For the first time, Uryo hesitated, even as Kitoushi started to walk off, and Uryo closed his eyes.
I...I can't...he's like...
He clenched his jaw together and looked down at the bird apparition, aware of Horu and Kafu turning to Youko and murmuring something at the fox.
As Kitoushi kept his steady pace in the direction of Shikiyoku's house, he glanced down at her, searching more thoroughly for the necklace.
It...must have shattered. Linked directly to his life force.
...stupid bird.
His search did yield the confirmation that the hand balled up in a fist at his shoulder held three feathers, the same three that had been a part of the necklace.
Closing his eyes, Kitoushi felt Shikiyoku's heartache as if it were his own, and it was his as well, in a way.
He would have never wished this on that stupid bird. Never in a million years.
Youko heaved out a sigh, arms crossed over his chest as he flicked his gaze once to watch Kitoushi and Shikiyoku's retreating forms.
"You...understand the concern." Horu said, drawing Youko's attention back to him.
"Of course." Youko replied easily.
"We are..." Horu's eyes also followed Kitoushi for a moment, "Returning now, I think. If you would care to join us and find out for yourself."
Horu and Kafu looked at one another and Kafu nodded.
"We both have worked to get back to." Kafu explained, "And...well, our original intentions for coming can wait."
"Should wait." Youko's tail swished behind him. "This makes the second rather major one she's lost in less than a day."
"Second?"
"Major?" Kafu raised an eyebrow.
"You know Rae's brother..."
The other two demons exchanged glances again.
"He hasn't been heard from in...over a decade?"
Horu nodded at Kafu's guess.
"Well, there's no need to be concerned about hearing from him any longer."
Kitoushi and Shikiyoku had disappeared from sight, but Youko's eyes trailed after them anyway as he continued, "She took care of him. Has the scar to prove it. Ah, you might be careful about any killing you do from here on out as well."
"Oh?" Horu appeared amused.
Youko nodded, "If they're marked, you'll die."
"Fair enough." Horu said after a moment.
"You all go on ahead." Youko started to move in the direction Kit had gone, "I'll meet you there."
Horu gave the fox a nod and put a hand on Kafu's shoulder, pulling them down through the layers.
Uryo still stared down at the body of Taka, appearing to have few thoughts going through his mind.
He finally sighed.
Only because...it is likely the cat was his family.
Before he could change his mind, Uryo waved a hand and Taka erupted into white-hot flames that quickly consumed his flesh and left nothing but ashes.
When a breeze blew by, it did not so much as stir the remains, which instead began sinking into the earth itself, leaving Uryo to watch with a half-smile on his face that did not reach his eyes.
He looked back at where he knew Shikiyoku's house to lie and hesitated, instead pulling the layers around himself and disappearing from sight.
~!**!~
This time when Kitoushi sat on the couch, the television was not on, and yet he still stared forward blankly as if the pictures were moving across the screen, Shikiyoku in his arms where he did not have any intention of letting go of her for a long while.
Youko stepped out from the layers to see his cousin holding Shikiyoku and moved gracefully around the edge of the couch before seating himself on Kitoushi's left, the side where Shikiyoku had buried her face into the cat demon's neck, pulling one of his legs up onto the couch and laying it down bent at the knee with his foot near his thigh so that he might better face them.
"Yoku...there are a few things I need to see to-"
She started shifting around.
"-but if you want me to stay here, I will." He finished quietly as Kitoushi's grip on her loosened and she turned to face him, holding out her arms and climbing into his lap as he turned his hands palms up to invite her in.
Similarly to how she had embraced Kitoushi moments ago, her arms went around his neck and he found her hug tighter than normal, though he returned it in kind.
After several seconds she pulled away and looked him in the eyes, leaving him bereft at how so very dark her stare appeared.
Entranced by her gaze, he was not prepared for her kiss, which lasted long enough to set him blinking just as she ended it and removed her lips from his.
"...just..." She shifted and put her hand on his ankle that had been underneath her moments before, on the heart marking there, which started to glow, sending a brightness and warmth up his leg, "...come back to me..."
Her voice was quiet and difficult to hear but for the absolute silence of the room.
Youko put a hand up to her cheek, sliding it back into her hair and leaning forward to plant a kiss on her forehead as she stared down.
"I promise."
Shikiyoku gave the barest of nods and released her arms down to her lap as he started to stand up, scooting her gently onto the couch.
He watched for a second as neither moved until Kitoushi blinked and looked up at him.
Youko...could think of nothing to say and only gave a small nod in goodbye and wove himself in-between the layers, blurring out of sight.
Kitoushi didn't think he had the strength to move, so when Shikiyoku's arms encircled his neck and started to pull gently at him, he gave in and followed her down as she lay them on the couch together, facing one another.
It was only then that his arms wrapped around her and pulled her away from the edge of the couch and closer to him, and he did not know how long he lay there until he finally fell asleep.
~!**!~
Youko materialized on the couch next to Kitoushi, who had taken up staring at the television screen again.
The kitsune threw his arms around Kit's neck, the cat only appearing mildly annoyed at the silver-haired demon.
"Did you miss me?"
"Not hardly."
"Hmph. Well, I'm only back for a little while, so you better enjoy it while it lasts."
"Enjoy the noise? I dunno. It's been blessedly quiet around here since you left."
"What a pity! I should have returned sooner."
It had been three days since the rift had opened and Taka had died protecting Shikiyoku.
Kitoushi could not honestly say that he remembered much about that time, other than the fact that he and Shikiyoku had hardly been apart, had hardly moved if he was truthful.
"I suppose there is one good thing about you being here now..."
"And what is that?" Youko tore his eyes from whatever bland programming he hadn't really been watching to look over at Kit.
"I have a question for you to answer."
Youko waited.
"What...what were you thinking about when you kissed Shikiyoku? In front of the rift?"
Youko blinked, then shrugged, "Nothing, I suppose."
Kitoushi grunted and it was Youko's turn to ask.
"Why?" He teased, "What were you thinking about, dear cousin of mine?"
Kit did not answer for a second.
"I-" He made a small sigh of resignation, "I was trying to remove more of her sickness, so I was thinking about that."
Youko appeared amused, "Is that so? Did you succeed at all?"
"Perhaps."
"Oh, come on, you can tell me."
"I doubt it."
"And why not?"
"Because you'll go blabbing your mouth about it and get me in trouble."
"How much did you get?" Youko's eyes gleamed.
"I didn't say I got any."
"You just as much admitted to it."
"Well, I'm not confirming or denying it."
"I'll tell her that I have my suspicions." Youko threatened.
Kitoushi clenched his jaw, "You'll tell her either way."
"Maybe. Maybe not. But I will tell her if you don't tell me. How much?"
"Over half." Kitoushi grumbled.
"Impressive!" Youko praised mockingly.
"Shut up. It went dormant as soon as I got it."
"So, couldn't you just take it all from her? Would that not be, in a way, curing it?"
"Why do you think I stopped kissing her?"
Youko blinked at him.
"The rest of it was too ingrained in her system. Wouldn't budge."
"There goes that plan." Youko fell back into the couch and the room grew quieter.
"Where is she, anyway?" Youko piped up again after a moment, looking around as if he might have missed her.
"Out." Kitoushi told him. "For fresh air."
"Alone?" Youko raised an eyebrow.
Kitoushi shrugged, "Do you really think I could stop her?"
"Mm. Likely not."
~!**!~
"You're not Iro."
"My good sir, I beg to differ."
"She's Iro."
Kitoushi blinked at Taka, then glanced down at Shikiyoku standing by his side, their arms linked. Her eyes glittered with amusement at this bird-demon who had approached them in the middle of negotiations with others at the extravagant ball and dragged them away.
Taka crossed his arms over his chest, "Though, if you want to continue the masquerade, I won't stop you. I'll even keep calling you Iro, if you like." He grinned wickedly, "But you should know that I know."
"And what good exactly was it to tell us that?"
The music in the air swelled, the rustle of dresses on the dance floor behind them growing quicker.
"Why are you pretending to be the Iro in the first place?"
Shikiyoku sighed, staring up at the clear, blue sky above her from where she leaned against the light-pole.
Humans passed her by on the busy street, none of them appearing to take any notice of her, or those that did only giving her a brief glance before going along their merry way.
It had been like this all day, really: wandering aimlessly, finding herself lost in memories of Taka, being brought back to the real world...
Kitoushi hadn't complained when she left this morning, though she knew the both of them could likely stay stretched out on the couch together for a week if they so chose, given the circumstances.
He had been the only person-the only marked demon-she had seen for these past three days, but the truth of the matter was she had hardly given any of the others a passing thought.
"I'm not...hic...inchur...rupting anything, am I lady?"
Shikiyoku blinked and realized that someone had taken to leaning up against the pole on the opposite side that she claimed.
She closed her eyes, her head lowering until her chin was nearly at her chest and a small smile covered her lips.
"Not particularly, Uryo."
"I feel ash if you should already know, but my deepesht condolenshes on reshent eventsh...hic."
"I did know. But it means a great deal to me that you should seek me out to say them."
"Mm." He nodded.
The pause in the conversation between them was not awkward, merely a pleasant enjoyment of the other's company.
"I don't know how qualified I am for thish. For attempting to take my place by your side as your conshort."
Shikiyoku noted that he seemed to have sobered up a little even within the last minute or so, and though she could smell the alcohol on him, she could also feel his desire to be as cognizant as possible for...whatever he felt the need to share.
"I don't really think...hic...that my sort of life would shuit you."
"And what sort of life would suit me, do you think?"
He appeared to consider it, "Not the short where you're forced to follow a drunken old fool around for the rest of his life."
"That really sounds rather exciting."
"Ha."
"Do you really think I might be better suited working in a bar? Or a guild? Or even as a thief's accomplice?"
"I think that'sh up to you, lady." Uryo replied carefully.
"Then so should deciding whether or not I want a drunken old fool chasing me the rest of my days."
Uryo did not reply, taking very deliberate note of the way she had him chasing her instead of following him.
"The bracelet is nice." He noted after a second. "And I assume the flower is from Youko Kurama?"
His question had her thinking briefly to the three brown feathers she had stowed away in the drawer of her desk in her bedroom, but she turned her thoughts away from them.
"What did you really seek me out for?" She asked kindly.
She felt him lift away from the pole and he turned, taking a few steps to stand in front of her, though a good six feet away from her, one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other buried in the opening of his coat where she assumed he coveted some flask or another.
He wouldn't look at her as she raised her chin and opened her eyes, questioning expression on her features.
The hand in his coat came out and was thrust in her direction and it took a second for her to catch sight of something round and shiny dangling at the end of a dark piece of string or leather.
It was blue, the jewel. A deep blue that Shikiyoku immediately recognized.
She lifted her attention back to him, the necklace still swinging a little from the force of his presentation.
"Uryo," She started, just as kindly as before, "I'm not sure if I feel that way about you just yet. It's such a deep sign of affection and...well..."
"What?" That got his attention and he peered at her from slightly glazed-over eyes, "No! Oh! Eheh." His hand lowered a little and the other one came up to scratch at his face self-consciously, a little bit of blush unrelated to the one across the mask of his face creeping up his neck, "Not yet, indeed. This isn't exactly mine. I was hoping to give it to you!" He held it out sharply again, casting his gaze to the side, "So you might get it back to whom it belongs."
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." She said seriously with a frown.
"It, uh. Well, you see, I, um. How do I put this?" He muttered under his breath. "It came into my possession entirely by accident, if rather ironically in hindsight." His hand had come back closer to his side again and he appeared to be staring at the jewel with a bit of nostalgic tenderness, his voice lowering. "It actually got me through the trial of flamesh. The one where we either go crazy and incinerate ourselves or make it out stronger on the other side. Fire demons, I mean. I wouldn't have survived without it."
He appeared to snap back to the present, "But, it's high time that this trinket return to its rightful owner."
"I am not the owner, Uryo." Shikiyoku told him wisely.
"Well...no. But you're rather closely associated with the owner." His eyes grew far away again and he murmured, "His mother would want him to have it. His sister too. And honestly, I would like him to get it back as well. It's his after all."
Shikiyoku's eyes took in the white mark in the midst of his dark hair a few inches behind the black hairline at his forehead that, if his hair stood straight up, would form a sort of star, and she gazed into his crimson eyes, eyes she had recognized from the very beginning, back in the Niiro Kaga all those years ago, for they also belonged to a certain Koorime and her ferocious twin brother.
In the pause of the conversation, a light wind picked up and moved the loose strands of hair about their heads, and also carried a faint scent of cinnamon to Shikiyoku's nose, originating from the demon across from her.
Uryo's gaze focused back in on Shikiyoku and he held out the necklace again.
"So, if you don't mind..."
"I do mind, actually." Shikiyoku reached out and put her hand on his, pushing it and the necklace back towards him and shaking her head at his look of consternation. "It's not my place to give this to him. For many reasons. It is your responsibility to see that it is returned to its rightful owner. Not mine."
Uryo appeared to consider her and then gave a sigh of resignation, lifting the necklace a little to inspect it and reaching into the gap at the front of his clothing to pull out a flask.
He took a long swig from it before putting it away, and a bit of glaze returned to his expression.
"I shupposhe you're right...hic." He gave her a look. "It'sh not gonna be eashy."
"You think it would have been easier for me?"
"What am I shupposhe to say? I'm no good at thish short of thing."
"Tell him he's terribly fierce." Shikiyoku replied with a straight face after a moment.
Uryo raised an eyebrow at her, "I don't think that'sh going to help." He stuck his hand back in his coat and gave another sigh, "Thanksh anyway, I guessh."
Shikiyoku reached over and put a hand on his arm, "Everything'll turn out alright in the end."
"If you shay sho." He shrugged, "I guessh I'm gonna go think about thish shome more."
"Sometimes you have to stop thinking and start acting." Shikiyoku advised.
Uryo nodded, "Well, if you shee him...hic...tell him I'm looking for him."
She gave him a nod in turn and he swirled out of sight, inbetween the layers and then too far away from her to follow. 3
~!**!~
Hiei stared down at his left arm, lips turning down into a frown as he saw a definite lack in what he'd been trying to do. A definite lack in yellow energy among the swirls. A lack of Shikiyoku's power coming forth to him. And it had been like this for three days now, which made his frown deepen further into his features.
How had that happened?
It was almost infuriating that he could replicate the events that had lead to yellow energy mixing with his own.
The image flashed in his mind, recalling the exact moment he'd become aware of the tendrils of energy that had swirled around and around the flames on his sword as he'd attacked. How those tendrils had practically melted into the flames and conjoined with his own energy to create an attack like no other he'd issued before.
Or since.
His hand fell to his side and he looked up at the sky, frown lessening.
Perhaps…
Perhaps it was the motivation.
It wasn't that he lacked it here. He simply.. had no threat. No demon on the third layer challenged him, but he didn't wish to go any higher, any further from the layer that he knew Shikiyoku to be on.
Grieving.
The memory of Taka's beaten and battered body flashed briefly across his mind's eye, accompanied by the words the bird had said to Shikiyoku about him, and then Youko's words of the bird.
He still didn't understand why Taka-
It doesn't matter.
The bird was gone, and Hiei..
'I'm going to roast a bird'
His own thoughts from that day resurfaced, creating a type of guilt as the image of Uryo putting Taka aflame flashed along his mind's eye.
The fool.
He pushed the thoughts away, his eyes coming down to the area he'd destroyed in his quest to figure out something, anything about the glow of the mark. About the power he'd borrowed. And the only thing he'd accomplished was mass-destruction of a bundle of trees.
Good thing he'd been… hired to clear the area.
It made for the perfect excuse, really, to destroy all he wanted. Without being stopped.
Without holding back.
He stepped between the layers, only unfolding himself from between when his feet landed in the middle of the encampment, the demon he approached smiling gratefully.
"Thank you, fire demon." The female bowed her head in respect before coming upright again, extending a hand and dropping a small bag within his. "Your payment for your hard work."
Hiei stared at the bag before dropping it back into her hand, the coins hitting one another and causing a slight ruckus. "No need."
He disappeared from her sight, landing in a tree of the first layer, where he'd spent each night to rest, a good mile or two from Shikiyoku's home.
She needed space, after all. And he'd given it to her.
He leaned back against the bark and crossed his arms over his chest, not even bothering to lower himself to sit as his eyelids came closed, mind whirring with more thoughts and suspicions.
There has to be a motivation… But what kind?
From where?
Apparently, no simple minor threat would do. Neither would simply concentrating on the mark.
He'd have to keep trying. *
~!**!~
Shikiyoku leaned back up against the light-pole once Uryo disappeared, thoughts stirring in her head and a smile doing the same on her lips as she considered just how awkwardly the exchange between father and son might go.
She doubted she would be present for it.
She doubted anyone would be present for it.
And she half-wondered if Uryo would actually even tell Hiei about his demonic parentage. It would be just as simple to hand off the tear with little explanation, but then how would Uryo know to whom the necklace belonged?
As Shikiyoku lifted herself from where she leaned on the pole and started to slip between the layers, she couldn't actually imagine the interaction that might soon occur, wondering how long Uryo would put it off, and snorting as she considered the length of time it had taken for him to even get up the courage to approach her about it.
Shikiyoku pulled the hood of her red cloak up over her head as she started to move forward, descending lower between.
As if she was going to let that old demon get off so easy.
...as if she would want to face the fire demon's possible wrath at her having possession of the thing.
..at least Uryo was fireproof. She did not have such a luxury. 3
~!**!~
Hiei leaned against the tree, both shoulder blades digging into the bark as he lowered his chin a little, eyes still closed as thoughts spun around and around in his mind. None of them even viable for even the simplest of attempts, since the more complex attempts he'd made hadn't worked in the least.
Also, curiosity bubbled.
Why had she changed back for him, but not Youko or Kitoushi? Not that he was complaining, but he wondered if there had to be specific motives there too.
He thought back, recalling the only thing on his mind being purely of Shikiyoku, of her switching back, returning to who he knew her to be.
Was that it?
His eyelids came open and his lips twitched.
Has to be.
He brushed that thought away too, eyes lifting to look in the direction of Shiki's home. Where he knew she wasn't, at the moment, stationed.
Maybe he'd return today.
He glanced down at the shirt he'd grabbed before he'd taken his leave three days ago. Simple white, and left his arms free of sleeves.
Okay… so he'd torn the sleeves away. It wasn't like Shikiyoku would use this shirt. It had still had tags in it from…
Some time ago, he assumed.
It hadn't even been touched.
She wouldn't miss it.
He moved suddenly, dropping to the ground almost lazily and sliding his hands into the pockets of his pants.
Yes….I'll go back. *
~!**!~
Shikiyoku clutched at the bundle in her hands and waited for a moment inbetween, knowing that the next step would determine her proceeding course of action.
She let herself free to land on the last layer of the world and self-consciously swallowed as if to drive back her rising anxiety, then took a single step forward, seemingly only a step towards the crimson tree in front of her that looked like all the others surrounding her at the moment.
Freezing in place, she hardly dared to even breathe as her cloak rustled about her ankles, but there came no sudden warning of her trespassing, no emergency lights or loud shout.
She took another step and crossed over the invisible boundary line, eyes lifting to the spires of the castle of her former home that from this close she was able to make rising out of the trees above her.
If they knew she was here, they did not appear to be driving her back.
With that semi-comforting thought in mind, Shikiyoku stalked forward through the trees and underbrush as if still afraid to be seen, reaching up to pull a little at the hood of the cloak which threatened to slid off her head, getting it far enough to keep her face in shadows.
After two whole days of laying next to Kitoushi a bloody mess-both physically and mentally-she had finally gotten herself clean, which had been a trying process as it involved not only removing the blood of the demons she had slaughtered, her first Champion among them, but also removing the blood of Taka from her skin.
...
Needless to say, the rest of the day had been spent in Kitoushi's arms once more.
Shikiyoku out a huge breath of air and slipped between the layers again.
If they were here, they knew she approached and she would not take them by surprise.
She had no difficulty in traversing quickly across the palace lands, making her way to where the ground was clear of the trees, up the stairs, and finally into the castle itself, searching for an energy signature she felt she knew almost as well as her own.
Mostly because it felt exactly like her own.
At least, exactly like hers now.
He was not in the Grand Hall, where he usually like to lay about on the throne, but it made little difference, for Shikiyoku located him in one of the many rooms and cautiously unfolded the layers about herself to stand behind him a few feet away, self-consciously shifting her weight back and forth and feeling awkward as she kept her gaze on the smooth, red-marbled floor beneath her toes.
Renai turned his brilliant blue eyes upon her and a smile broke over his lips, "My love!"
He immediately closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, her own arms still clutching at the bundle and now stuck between them against his chest.
"She's not here is she?"
He could feel the apprehension in her shoulders and he pulled away a little to try and look into her face.
"If she was, don't you think you would have been attacked as soon as you set foot on these lands? She's still rather put out with you, you know. No longer only a demon of pleasure."
Shikiyoku supposed that was likely true, but, "It's your fault."
"Mm." He rested his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes, tone lamenting his next statement, "And don't you think she's already seen to it to pay me back ten-fold for my dabbling?"
Shikiyoku could practically feel his grin and she refrained from asking him exactly how his mate had seen to paying him back.
Renai released her and held her shoulders, putting her at arms-length as he inspected her, throwing back her hood after a moment.
"That's better." He gave her a crooked smile and nodded at what she held. "Something for me?"
"No." Shikiyoku replied hastily, fingers wrapping more firmly around the material. "I-" Her eyes shifted to the side. "I haven't the means to clean it myself."
He held out his hands and she reluctantly passed it to him.
"Not properly anyway." She added.
He made a grunting noise that didn't particularly mean anything as his fingers expertly found the source of the stiffness in the sleeve.
"Rare thing, this."
Shikiyoku nodded as Renai eyed her for a moment, but she appeared to be unwilling to say anything else about it.
After a moment longer of his inspection, she finally spoke up again.
"So, will you let me-"
"Of course you can." Renai assured her, throwing the dark fabric over one arm and wrapping his other over her shoulders, starting to lead her away. "As long as you tell me everything that's happened in the meantime." 3
~!**!~
Hiei meandered along, not particularly in any rush to get to where he was going. In fact, half of him really didn't want to walk into the house and make himself at home in her room when Youko could very well-
No, was there. Kitoushi too.
Likely Uryo, who… Hiei hadn't seen since the rift's closing and Taka's death.
Again, he pushed the thought away.
And instead of going inside the house as he approached, he flitted up to the highest branches of the trees outside her windows, deciding he'd stay there until her return.
Where he'd likely go undisturbed if he decided to nap.
Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off! -Star