I walked up to the door slowly and cautiously, wondering who it could be at this time in the day. Kuwabara wasn't off of work yet, and I knew that Yukina was still abed for sure. Beside me, Keiryi watched warily. Inside, I could feel some spark of demonic energy rising to the surface. "Stay back," I told her. "I'll get it." Ready as ever to defend both myself and my daughter, I opened the door and then had to look down.
"Hello?" I said, looking around to see who it was. Finally, I looked down and saw Hiei. He wore his long black cape and a white bandanna around his forehead. Crimson eyes stared at me furiously and I resolved to keep my eyes as blank as possible.
"Greetings," he said irritably, tilting his head, making himself look even more annoyed. Someone must have been forcing him to do this. "Where's the child?" I gasped and sank back into a fighting stance, daring him to try and take my daughter.
"You're out of practice, you fool," Hiei said matter-of-factly, and brushed right past me. "You don't scare me." Infuriated, I relaxed and followed him back to Keiryi.
"What do you want?" I demanded. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck bristling as I tried to think of a threat that would faze Hiei.
"I need to take her away," he said quietly, "now."
My heart almost broke in two at that moment. How could he take away my child days before she was due to leave? Couldn't I have a little more time to cherish my daughter before she was taken from me? "Why now?" I asked. "Why can't you wait until the time when you were supposed to take her!"
"She'll never learn fast enough if I wait that long," Hiei replied. "Beside, we have a longer journey than expected. We need the extra time." When he looked toward Keiryi, she shrank back, unwilling as I was.
"No," she said stubbornly. "You said one week. I haven't had a chance to say goodbye yet."
"Well say your goodbyes and let's go," Hiei said, giving his least sympathetic answer.
I growled under my breath, wishing all sorts of curses on this dark man so that he would have to leave and let someone else train Keiryi. "Goodbye, Mother," Keiryi said, turning to me. I saw the pain in her eyes and the tears that were welling up. For the last time, I wrapped her up in my arms and let her cry. How could I let my child, my only child, leave without assurance that she would return?
"Be strong, Keiryi," I whispered, reiterating the words Kurama had spoken to me. Those words would always mean more to me than any other sort of comfort, and I felt that Keiryi understood.
"Carry on, Mother," she said softly, looking up at me. I bent down and kissed her, stroking the hair back behind her ear. Her emerald eyes gazed at me in their foreseen loneliness, and I had to let her go, before it became impossible.
"Can we go already?" Hiei grumbled, and Keiryi nodded, packing a bag and joining him at the door. They walked out and that was the last I thought I would see of Keiryi. Knowing Hiei, he would drive her into the ground to the point where she wouldn't be able to move anymore. How was it possible to let your only child go at such a young age? I knew I would miss her, but there were other things I could do.
Once I knew they were gone, I stood in the center of my bedroom, surrounded by the sparse furniture and pictures of Kurama. A certain energy radiated about the entire room, and I searched within to remember the place where I was headed. The energy signal had moved, and now it was in Hell's Grove...that made sense. She had loved him too, though in a different way. In addition, she had understood that he would never love her as much as he did me.
Slowly, since I hadn't done it in a while, I focused my own energies and fed off of those in the room. A dark green window opened up, and I stepped through, into the place that I had known as home.
Once, a protective barrier had guarded this one grove, but now I felt that it had expanded. Memories flooded back to me. The ony disturbing thing was that not all of them were my own...
He was wounded, lying on the ground with the one he loved the most on top of him. She tried to stop the flow of blood, but instead, he soothed her and let her hold him. Little by little, life drained out of him, but he wanted to live for as many more hours as possible...if only for her. Sadness hit hard, reminding him that they wouldn't be able to hold each other anymore, young and in love. Hiei would no longer be able to chide him for throwing away his heart. That man had always thought that apathy was a panacea. No matter what the problem, if it was ignored, then he seemed to believe it would go away.
As the last drop of blood ran out of him, he smiled up at her and said his last farewell. It was right that he had died with her by his side, but not so right that she had to live on with the grief of losing her first and only love...
...Awakening from the dream, I gasped in shock. It was Kurama's death through his own eyes! It had been so real, though, and I could feel his every emotion, his every thought. Why could I remember his memories, and why were they not coming back sooner? "Kaiina?" It wasn't until she acknowledged me that I realized that I had reverted to my demon form.
"Yuki?" I replied, looking up to see a short, green-haired woman.
"Nice to see you again, too," Yuki said with a smirk, helping me up. The time when we had first met seemed so far off, and now I knew that we were friends, not rivals.
"Likewise," I muttered, letting my hair down from its unruly bun and allowing its dark brown beauty to flow down my back.
"Would you like to come in?" Yuki asked, gesturing toward the cottage that she had built here. No trees had been used here. Instead, mosses and leaves seemed to hold themselves together in the form of a house.
We walked into the house, and it was homey, with an earthen floor and magic holding the cool air out. None of nature had been harmed here, and I knew that nature was the source of Yuki's power. "What's wrong, Kaiina?" she asked, sitting me down in a cushioned chair. "I can sense some sort of loss on your mind, and...something more."
"Hiei had to take Keiryi away to train her," I said bluntly. "How could I refuse my daughter the chance to explore her powers?"
Yuki didn't seem to think it was so black-and-white, though. Her eyes shot open, and I backed away a little bit. "That job should have been yours," she said. "Keiryi is your child, and that prat Hiei should have no part in raising a child that's not his own!" Completely baffled at her response, I allowed her to rant. "Now that she's gone, you can't do anything, but if that son of a bitch ever kills Keiryi, wait until I get my hands on him! He doesn't deserve a sister like Yukina!"
"Calm down, Yuki," I finally said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He made a vow with Kurama before his death that if anything ever happened to Keiryi's father, he'd look after the girl. So, he's trying to make good on his promise."
Breathing heavily, Yuki stared at me and soothed her own mind. "So," she panted, "what else is on your mind?"
"Yukina's very sick," I said demurely. "Keiryi said Yukina told her I had something to do with it, and the poor girl's been abed for a few days now."
"That's not good," Yuki admitted. "If you want, I can go look at it."
"That would be great," I said. "You worked wonders for me. All you can see is a few scars now."
"Good," she said, flashing her haughty smile and waving her hand through the air to create a brightly-glowing white portal.
The journey through this portal placed us in precisely the right place...next to Yukina's bed. "Do you know where she's in pain?" Yuki asked.
"No," I admitted, and stared in awe at how sickly Yukina looked. The last time I had seen her, she had been in perfectly good health, but now her eyes were clenched shut, and I could see that something was taking its toll on her. "Are you just going to look her over," I asked, "or is there something else you can do for her?"
Before my companion could answer, Mikari walked in and started in shock. "What are you doing here!" she shouted at Yuki. "Get away from Mom!"
"Shut up before you wake her," Yuki hissed under her breath, and waved her hand, pinning a confused Mikari to the wall. Without distraction, she proceeded to run her hands lightly over Yukina's body, wincing when she found her way to the center of her chest.
"It's feeding off of her demon energy," she breathed, staring down at the prostrate body on the bed. "The energy signal...it reeks of yours."
"Thanks," I growled sarcastically. That really wasn't helping anything to know that it seemed like my energy signal.
"Ask your old servant to come and see it," Yuki suggested. "She might know if it's one of your family members. I honestly can't do anything more here." With a wave of her hand, she disappeared into thin air, and Mikari fell to the floor, clutching her throat.
"Who was she?" Yukina's daughter whined, trying to take in too much air and choking on it. "Did she hurt Mom?" At mention of her mother being hurt further, tears welled up in Mikari's eyes.
Uncertain what else to do, I rested a hand on Mikari's petite shoulder and stared into her eyes, still in my demon form. "Who are you?" she asked.
"It's me," I replied, "Kai...I mean Katie."
"Are you sure?" she asked me, looking up with her sad, crimson eyes.
"Just go back to sleep," I muttered. "You need it after worrying this much. You're sleepwalking, and good little girls should be in bed." She leaned on my hand a little and I took up her little frame, fondling her as if she were my own child...
Ly, ly, ly ly, ly ly
Ly ly, ly, ly, ly...
Hush your little whispers
And calm your petty fears.
Don't worry about tomorrow...
Mother is here.
Ly, ly, ly ly, ly ly
Ly ly, ly, ly, ly...
Have no silly qualms,
Reap no fruitless grain.
Sleep upon my shoulder
While outside falls the rain.
Ly, ly, ly ly, ly ly
Ly ly, ly, ly, ly...
Calm your nervous heart,
And soon your mind shall know
The secrets of tomorrow,
Then we'll all go home.
Ly, ly, ly ly, ly ly
Ly ly, ly, ly, ly...
Listen closely now
And take of me heed.
Nervousness worry
And hate does breed.
Convinced, she fell asleep, and I slowly slid her onto the floor. Now it was time to call her and see if we could get to the bottom of this. Once more, I focused the demonic energies inside of me and sent out a green streak that flew out the window and toward the sky. Jakiri should be here within the day, and then we could sort it all out.
Waiting was the worst part of the entire operation. For a few hours, I lay on the Kuwabara couch and hoped that Jakiri wasn't lost, or worse, busy with Terry. At around six, Kuwabara came home, and he was blushing a little. "I didn't know she was still around," he said, gesturing toward Jakiri, who was wrapped up in a scarf.
"Finally!" I shouted, ignoring Kuwabara. I jumped up and ran over to hug Jakiri. "You need to see Yukina," I said. "Yuki said that the thing that's infested her...it has the trace of a family member of mine, perhaps a distant relative."
"Alright," Jakiri said, allowing a slight laugh and a flippant wave of her hand.
We went upstairs, and there was Yukina, and Mikari sleeping on the floor. Upon seeing how bad our friend's condition was, Jakiri ran over and pressed a hand to the spot that Yuki had pointed out. "It's definitely feeding on her demon energy," she confirmed. "It does feel like one of your relatives...Ithrana...Lokeira...Jhaamin...no...it can't be..."
"Who?" I demanded, figuring that I would be able to take the news, whoever it was.
"Fehreil."
A/N-Yay! Another chapter finished! I'm loving how this story's turning out, and I promise you'll get to see what's happening with Keiryi soon. First off, I have a devious plot-twist cooked up for her, so I can't wait to write it and watch it play out cue evil laughter. Thanks to my...one reviewer...yeah...sobs
Miari