A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, things were happening in Real Life and that's all I have to say.
Character Death in this chapter, but it is a necessary death. I don't think no one's too hung up on said character, and it makes sense. Though, don't hate me for how the character died, I'm not all educated on such illnesses that can kill you fast and stuff. Haha.
Oh, also forgive me if I screw up any honorifics or if there's any OOC-ness, school's starting soon and I'm trying not to mess up things.
Enjoy!
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Green eyes stared at the sleeping body that was surrounded by a faint glow. The room was mixed with two emotions; satisfaction and shock. Satisfaction was coming from Akito while shock was coming from the new Cat; Chiyo. Katsu's body lay in the middle of an empty room, in an undisturbed silence. He was still breathing, though without his soul, he was just a shell; an empty body with nowhere to go and nothing to do. The body was given to Akito by Devilyn as a gift, and this day he figured out that this man's body was another reason to keep the former Death in line. Not if something were to happen to her most cherished item.
It was working, much to Chiyo's aggravation. The new game for Akito was 'Chiyo's Mental Breakdown', which he enjoyed very much. His actions were unpredictable as every day she was called into his private room. The woman had no idea what she was going to go through once she went inside. One day it would be the normal bait and torture; where the conversation would start casual but then move into picking at Chiyo's personal life (Akito gotten a profile on it by Azrael) when he would choose a topic and twist it into something that made him get a reaction that he wanted. Another day, he would start a battle of sanity; just having a quiet cup of tea and Akito just watching her, waiting for her to shout out from the horrible tension. Sometimes it would be entirely switched, or otherwise something completely new. It kept Akito amused and entertained to see his new toy start to break down. He wanted to get her as insecure about her life as the other ones were, before that Honda girl had any interaction with them. It was only sad to see that what took so many years for them, was only taking weeks for Chiyo. He laughed, knowing all along that the woman was weaker than she put on. Without the title of Death and the ability to take life, she was only a pitiful excuse for a human being…no, not a human anymore, more of a monster now.
A while after he had implemented his game, he now allowed the girl to interact with the rest of the Juunishi that lived within the walls. It was nice to see their reactions at the now subdued and nervous woman. He began to wonder how she would react to the rat and who he carried in his body, but then that would come later.
He had the entire extended time in his life to lengthen the game.
As for Chiyo, she had no idea what to think anymore. This whole torture-fest that he had planned for her was becoming something that she didn't even want to wake up for in the mornings. Despite the niceness of the maids and her exquisite room, living inside the gates was more of a Hell than the Underworld. Even the hospitality seemed like a mind game now, and his change of moods started to make her wonder if everyone else would start to flip-flop on her in a snap as well. She became nervous and soon couldn't sleep at night, as his reminders of her past 'job' began to spark memories of her old life. Her dreams would soon be filled with something she didn't want to re-live. She had taken to wandering the grounds more often at night, starting to notice Hatori sometimes. She began to wonder if he enjoyed seeing her so unstable – she did almost kill him, so it seemed like a twisted sort of karma.
The stars outside were brightly shining in the sky, Chiyo stood on a pathway near a garden, wrapped in a powder blue blanket as she watched the sky intently. She hadn't seen this display since the night she died…
The woman shivered. Yes, the night was cold as she was left to die in a clearing, a knife wound causing her to bleed out. She hadn't remembered why she was killed, though she doubted she wanted to get to that part. All she remembered was feeling the warm liquid seep out of an area in her side, her life draining away slowly and all she could do was watch the sky above her. The bright stars on a black satin canvas, such a beautiful thing shouldn't make anyone so depressed. She couldn't help watch them though, anything at this point was better than going to sleep. Sleep only made her re-live everything more clearly.
"This is the sixth night you've been out here." Chiyo turned around to see Hatori standing a few feet away from her. His face impassive as usual, though the tone of his voice seemed a bit concerned.
She didn't know if it was the true emotion anymore, he ruined her certainty.
When Chiyo wouldn't answer, he continued, "Lack of sleep isn't good for the body."
"I'll manage." Chiyo replied silently, turning her eyes back up at the sky. The view became disrupted though, as a hand took her arm and pulled her with a firm grip. Green eyes looked back down to see Hatori dragging her down the pathway; she had to skip in order to keep herself from falling. "What are you doing?" She almost shouted.
"I'm taking care of this now instead of leaving you to give me more problems in the near future."
No amount of struggling could get the woman free of the doctor's grip. Chiyo now felt like a child that had gotten in trouble by her parent and let herself be dragged unwillingly into his office. He directed her to lie down on the couch as he looked through a cupboard, taking out some sleeping pills and getting a glass of water. "Take these." He held out two pills in his hand and the glass in the other, staring at her with a stern look until she finally gave up and took the pills. The look always got his patients to do what he wanted, no matter how stubborn they were.
After the woman hesitantly swallowed, he sat down at a chair beside the couch and stared at her. The gathering tension between them made Chiyo groan and stare at the ceiling, "You know, I'm not going to sneak out of the room now that you forced me to take sedatives."
"You snuck out on me before."
"I wasn't even that sick! It was a damned cold."
"You ended up with a fever and I had to make sure you stayed in bed for the whole day. You can't just keep yourself wandering around the gardens at night."
You try not having to sleep for centuries and then suddenly breaking your routine. Chiyo shrugged. "I prefer the night."
"Then I won't try to help you if you foolishly decide to sit outside in the cold and become ill again." Hatori replied curtly.
Silence passed between the two after his statement, and the woman's eyes began to droop as the pills started to work. She yawned and relaxed against the couch. "Ryuu-san…" She murmured, "If it means anything, I'm sorry that I almost killed you that day…I guess I should apologize now if I plan on living here for now on. I hope you forgive me." She sighed before falling asleep.
Hatori sighed inwardly, getting up and going over to lay a blanket over the now sleeping woman's body. The phone rang, breaking the peaceful silence and the Dragon groaned, knowing who it was. He walked to his desk and answered the ringing phone, "Do you know what time it is?" He said with annoyance.
"Sorry Haa-san, but it's Yuki again. He tried to go get Chiyo-san and I had to put those sedatives in his tea. I need another bottle." Shigure said worriedly over the phone.
"I see. How is Yuki's state today?"
"He's not doing well; it's becoming more frequent that we can't tell Yuki from Katsu-san. Our little flower is doing worse; she is still worrying about Kyo! She's planning something and I don't know what, but she keeps talking to Yuki when Katsu-san is in control."
"Tell her to calm down. I don't want to give out more sedatives than I carry. We will figure this out; you're right when you say Aikto has gone too far."
The receiving end was silent until Shigure spoke up, "How is Chiyo-san?"
Hatori looked at the sleeping form on the couch until averting his eyes, "She's getting worse. I caught her outside again and almost had to force her to sleep. I'm afraid he's gotten to her."
"Why do you say that?"
"She finally believes that nothing can save her."
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Laylah twirled her hair with a finger as she watched Kyo battle with their instructor during their combat training course. Beside her was her 'brother' Zeru, a handsome man with long dark green hair wrapped in the back and bright brown eyes. He watched the training along with the rest of their class and rolled his eyes, inwardly making comments about Kyo's form and technique.
"Oh, Zeru, can you walk with us when the class lets out?" Laylah broke his concentration, looking up at him with her blue eyes while her finger un-curled and re-curled the same lock of hair. Zeru nodded in reply, folding his arms and watching as Kyo was thrown off the mat and hit the wall.
"Idiot." Zeru smirked.
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"This was a stupid idea." Kyo groaned as Laylah pulled him down the hallway and to an empty room. "I'd rather jump in the river of fire."
"I'd love to see you do that," Said a cool voice from the other end of the room, "You'd be the first idiot who would swim Phlegethon willingly. It would be in the morning paper."
"Zeru!" Laylah scolded, "Leave Hadyn alone. He wants to ask you something, politely." The girl glared at Kyo while emphasising the last word. "Honestly, you two." She murmured afterwards.
Kyo refused to look at Zeru as the ladder of the two waited for Kyo to ask his question, slowly growing impatient as the room stayed silent save for the sounds of the girl that was growing agitated.
"HADYN! ZERU! Pride is a sin so stop it!"
"That rule doesn't count here," Zeru reminded her, "It was Hadyn who wanted to ask me the question in the first place, so either he just became too stupid enough to talk or he is just wasting my time. Which is it?" He glared at Kyo, who had stiffened and shot a glare at him in return.
"Who are you calling stupid?" Kyo shouted.
"I only call it like I see it." Zeru folded his arms.
Before Kyo could charge at the green haired man, he felt a hand grab his hair and yank him back, "HEY!" He snapped his head back at Laylah but stopped at the sight of pulsing red eyes, "Wait—"
"Ask. Him." She growled. "You keep bugging me about it though first class and I will NOT go though this again."
Kyo nodded and slowly backed away from the girl. Laylah was prone to bouts of sadistic rage if her buttons were pushed the wrong way, which would make her the only one that could scare Kyo – though not that much. He's seen people on the receiving end of her rage bouts, and it didn't seem like a fun place to be. Sadly, it meant that he had to deal with her chipper and bubbly side more often.
Kyo soon remembered that he wasn't even her friend on purpose. One day the dead girl just walked up to him and declared that he was her friend from now on and never stopped bugging him since. He had wanted to start screaming at her and tell her to leave him alone, but when he witnessed her 'other' side for the first time, he decided that it was best to keep himself in one piece.
For example, a boy that she was dating some time ago had broken it off with her, and he's still trying to find his head.
"Fine." Kyo shrugged, "Tell me about this Chiyo person." He said flatly.
The reaction Kyo didn't expect from Zeru was him to become rigid, as if Kyo just brought up something that he really shouldn't have brought up. His suspicions were heightened when he looked at Laylah, who had replaced her wrathful expression to one of pure amusement – sadistic amusement really.
"Did I mention that dear Zeru was obsessed with Miss Chiyo?" She said innocently to Kyo with a smile that was sweetly evil.
"I—I am not!" Zeru's composure slowly crumbled, a sight that Kyo never had seen in the other dead man but felt privileged in causing such a thing. He grinned at this new piece of information.
Zeru flushed once he saw Kyo's reaction to his sudden nervousness and glared at Laylah, "You're such a hypocrite! You don't want Hadyn to pick on me yet you're making it easier for him!" He shouted.
"Zeru, dear, I don't want him to be mean to you because I want to join in on the fun." The brunette said simply, still smiling.
"Sadist."
"You know me too well. Now speak."
Zeru sighed, "Chiyo…" He made a fist and stared at the floor, "What do you want to know about her? Ever since she arrived, she caught my attention. Always the confident and mysterious woman, I think she was the best embodiment of Death that I have ever met. Perhaps that is why Azrael asked her to become his successor."
"Why in the hell is she so special?" Kyo groaned. He soon wished he hadn't, because before he could blink, Zeru ran over to him and grabbed him by the collar. "Why? WHY? She's special because she was the first one ever to get her soul back. Doing such a thing is damned dear impossible!"
"Wait—huh?" Both Laylah and Kyo stared at him with confusion.
"You wouldn't know about this." The green haired man shook his head, "Only the eldest of us would know that we all have our souls locked away only because Azrael wants to keep us…under control." He said the last two words in a harsh whisper, his eyes darting to the doorways. "Don't tell anyone, but there are some of us who know what really happened to Chiyo and why she had left. Azrael wants no one to know of how she really left, because it would disrupt the order that he had set up around here, some of us only know because Devilyn has a mouth just as big as her ego."
"Conspiracy!" Laylah gasped, "Wow, a real mystery right in our midst! So what happened?"
"Well you know Devilyn had her sights on Azrael ever since she was made one of his closest demons. Well, rumour is that Chiyo had been acting strange for a long time. When she was discovered that she fell in love with a mortal, Azrael apparently became very enraged. Devilyn was part of the group that was sent to destroy the mortal and taking the souls of mortals before their time is looked down upon by the Underworld. Something happened though, and Chiyo was captured instead and taken under custody. One thing that is still hard for me to believe is that the mortal came down here to retrieve her and by that she was able to get her soul back in the process. Azrael is hiding something, I just don't know what. This thing between those two is bigger than what I know."
"A mortal?" Laylah clung to Kyo, who then tried to push her off of him. "That sounds impossible! You need to be dead to enter the Underworld!"
"Not unless they had the weapon that belongs to Death." Kyo growled while kicking Laylah away, "It takes a dark weapon to rip open the earth, and if one was able to get a hold of it, then it's possible. It just takes a very stupid human to actually go for it."
"It's nice to know that you actually pay attention in class." Laylah mumbled.
"I'm amazed." Zeru smirked. Kyo glared at him and tried not to retaliate – that and Laylah had a firm grip on his arm.
"I wonder what went on between Chiyo and Azrael that he would go out of the way to destroy the mortal?" Laylah thought to herself.
There was a small silence of pondering before a bat came flying in the room and screeched over Kyo, it was holding a piece of paper in its claws.
"Mail!" Laylah watched it circle over Kyo and drop the paper, flying away after screeching again.
"I hate those damned rats." Kyo grumbled after the screeching bat and then opened the piece of paper. "I'm have an assignment."
"Aw! I wanted one!" Laylah whined. "Damnit, I want to go back up there and have some playing time."
Zeru sighed and patted Laylah on the head. "There, there." He said without any enthusiasm behind it. "Go now before she steals your list."
Kyo left without replying.
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"Haa-san!" Shigure smiled as he answered the phone. "Any updates on the situation?"
"No, nothing now. The woman keeps wandering around at night and it's making me want to drug her evening meal, though. Why have you called?"
"There's a little problem over here. Tohru-kun was called with some…heavy news." Shigure sighed, "I want to know if you can drive her to the hospital."
"Is something wrong?"
"It's her grandfather, he's dying."
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"Kyoko-san…" Tohru's grandfather slowly opened his eyes as he smiled softly at the young girl kneeling next to the bed. Tohru stared at her grandfather with wide, watery eyes; trying to fight back a large series of sobs that were trying to break though. "Ojiisan…" Tohru sniffed.
"Please don't worry about me, Kyoko-san; I lived a very happy and eventful life." He reassured the young woman. The others around the two were silently crying as they were listening to him, and the heart monitor was beeping in the background.
Tohru found out that her grandfather had suffered a very serious illness and was taken to the hospital, it had left but the illness had affected his lungs and heart; giving him only a short time to live. After the phone call, Hatori had driven Tohru over to the hospital and was now in the waiting room.
Tohru placed her hand on her grandfather's and tried to smile, "Please tell Okaasan and Otousan that I miss them, and that I love them very much."
The crying became noticeably louder as Tohru stopped talking, and she cried as the hand in her grasp became limp and the heart monitor had began to make a flat noise. She raised her head once again at her grandfather, who looked as if he was sleeping peacefully; the tears flowing down her cheeks heavily. She looked back towards the other members of her family and forced a hopeful smile, "Do—don't cry everyone, he's in a better place now…with Okaasan and Otousan."
Everyone was crying even harder now, the undying hope of Tohru hitting them hard. It was amazing that such a girl could have such a bright outlook even though she had lost almost everyone that loved her. Though, they had no idea that inside this girl, she wanted to scream and cry out, but not for her grandfather. She felt really terrible that on the day of her grandfather's death, she really wanted to cry for Kyo.
It was at that moment that amongst the crying siblings, Tohru saw a new person in the room – a familiar person. It was Kyo!
Tohru widened her eyes at Kyo as he walked past the others and over at the bed where her grandfather lie. He held up the scythe he carried in his hand and mumbled some words in Latin, reaching his hand out just in time to catch the glowing soul that came out of the recently deceased.
"Kyo-kun…" Tohru whispered.
The orange haired man heard the familiar voice and looked over to her, his eyes widening at the beautiful mortal that was staring at him in shock. "Tohru…" He found himself saying before he realised it. The two stared at each other for a few moments, Kyo couldn't help but frown at the tears she was letting fall from her eyes. He moved around the bed, the soul still floating next to him, and reached out to touch her with a gloved hand.
Tohru sniffed and watched as he reached over to wipe the tears off of her cheek, "Kyo-kun." She whispered again.
"Tohru, who are you talking to?' One of her cousins spoke up, causing Tohru to look away from Kyo to answer him, "Oh, I—" She turned back to look at Kyo but he wasn't beside her anymore.
He wasn't in the room at all.
"…nothing, sorry." Tohru sighed. Was I only imagining things? She thought to herself. However, she couldn't see that Kyo was watching her from the doorway. He smiled faintly at her before leaving.
She wasn't a dream after all…
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"You saw Kyo take your grandfather's soul?" Yuki asked with widened eyes. Katsu had fully taken control after he heard Tohru tell them and Shigure about what had happened. "This wasn't your imagination! He's working for the God of Death now!" He kept himself from shouting, but the information was just too much. "If he remembered you, then that means he can be saved still."
"Wait—remembers me?" Tohru asked.
Yuki stood up from the table and walked around, his hands making expressions, "From what Chiyo told me, the God of Death likes to erase the memories of the chosen to direct them. It keeps them from wishing to contact anyone from their old life and it also helps them to detach from life so they could do their work more efficiently. Though in Kyo's case, it makes him oblivious as to how he ended up dead in the first place. If he remembers enough, then we may have a chance to get him back."
"How did you rescue Chiyo-san?"
Yuki looked over at Shigure, "I snuck into the Underworld to steal her soul. It was after he sent demons to capture Chiyo and take her back. Her scythe was broken and a piece was left behind; I was able to use it to rip open a hole in the earth. Dark weapons that Death is in possession of are spelled to do that. Also, they regenerate when parts break off. I find it very interesting and have been trying to make something out of the broken piece I have—"
A light bulb lit over Tohru's head and she raised her hand, "Excuse me, Katsu-san, but do you have that piece still?" She asked urgently, staring at him as a plan started running though her head.
"Oh?" Yuki paused and started to think, "Yes…I have it, but it's in a bag at my host family's house. I don't know what happened to it now that I haven't been there for quite a while." He sighed.
Tohru nodded, she knew where the host family lived after hearing Yuki have a conversation with Katsu over going there to retrieve his things. It was strange at that time to see Yuki have a 'one sided' conversation with himself. In fact, it was very abnormal to see Yuki talking now but being controlled by Katsu while he did it. She guessed with the current fiasco, they hadn't put much thought into Katsu's growing prominence in Yuki's body. He was getting settled in and soon he wouldn't be able to free himself.
Tohru had to work fast. She just hoped that this plan of hers could work.
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A/N: Okay the climax is coming! Yay. Next chapter I will explain how the Underworld works and you will know what brought Chiyo into pissing Azrael off so much that he gave her to Akito. Personally, I'd think that'd be a fate worse than death also...either that or I really enjoy making Akito into a fate worse than death. Haha.