Alive
Eri glanced over to see Yomi with his son talking together as she released her grip out of Hiei's hand and walks over to them. Yusuke noticed that she was walking over to the direction where Yomi and Shura were as he glanced over at Kurama and Hiei to head gesture them.
"Eri?" Hiei called out her name as she continued to approach them.
"H-Hi…" Eri greeted me a little shyly.
"Hm? What is your business child?" Yomi asked, glancing down at the girl standing in front of him.
"I...I noticed how sad you were while you were over here. I-I wanted to come by and make you feel better." Eri said, holding her candy apple starting up at the tall male.
Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei watched Eri talk to the demon king in a kind and gentle tone.
"Here. I got you a candy apple." She said in a sweet tone. "Would you like a hug to make you feel better?"
Yomi glanced down at the girl offering her kindness to him. He couldn't see her but he could sense the little demon's girl's presence, but he knew that this was a cursed child and she didn't seem like a threat or a trick to be played by a fool.
He forms a small smile on his lips, "I would like a hug."
Yomi got on one knee as Eri wrapped her arms around his neck to hug the demon king. Yusuke smiled at the sight that Eri was trying to make him feel better after losing the match. While Eri and Yomi shared a hug the demon king felt so different that was happening in his body. His eyes that remained shut were twitching as he urged to open them!
"F-Father!" Shura exclaimed.
The demon king looks up at his son Shura, then glances over at Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei. Murkuro leaning against the wall stood there puzzled that she couldn't believe what she was seeing. He pulled away from Eri taking a glimpse down at Eri to see her horn was glowing. She held her candy apple staring up at the kind innocently.
"I-I can see…" Yomi gasped. " My eyesight is healed. H-How did you…" The king was lost with words and was quite bewildered for what she did.
"It's called rewind." Yusuke let out a small chuckle as Yomi gazed over at him. "It's her spirit energy. To reverse the state of living things."
"Rewind?" Yomi repeated.
"So, Eri reversed the loss of your eyesight to give it back. It was quite startling for us to witness that." Kurama faintly smiled.
Yomi blinks in surprise after hearing the rumors about the demon child's claiming to be a "curse"; it wasn't what he expected. He looks down at the girl clutching her candy apple faintly smiling.
"A blessing. Thank you, Eri." He said, giving her another hug before releasing her out of his grip.
"She still isn't used to her spirit energy quite yet." Yusuke approached her placing two hands on her shoulder as she looks up at her friends and back at Yomi and Shura, "But when she starts training, I'm sure she'll be quite useful in the future." Yusuke said
Yomi grins, "If she is willing to be useful I guarantee there is a bright future for her. Train her and raise her well."
"Will do," Yusuke said.
Luckily, Eri's horn stopped glowing just as Hiei stopped her before it got out of control. Eri glanced over at Mukuro as she came over to her.
"Y-You can have a hug too." Eri held her arms out as Mukuro genuinely smiled. She crouches down to hug the little demon child.
'A polite child with a kind heart…' Mukuro thought. 'I see why Hiei made his decision...he wants to protect this girl that brought him into the light.'
"You be good, Eri. If Hiei is thoughtful enough to come by and visit the demon world for some time." Murkuro said.
"I will!" Eri smiled.
Yusuke P.O.V.
Just when we were ready to go back I felt Eri tugging my pant leg after I changed out of my training gear into casual clothing. I glanced down at her and smiled as she was still eating the candy apple.
"What's up, Eri?" I asked.
"Yusuke? Can I ask you about something?" Eri asked.
"Yeah, go ahead." I grinned as I took a seat next to Eri.
"Remember after you defeated Sensui you changed?" Eri inquired as I knitted my eyebrows together. "There was a different side of you which explains the markings on your body that I saw when you fought Yomi. Was that you or someone else?"
I let out a sigh, "I knew you were going to ask about that eventually." I pick her up to set her on my lap giving her a sad smile. "The person who you saw was the ancestor that called out to me. He was the one that took over my body and gave Sensui an ass-whooping."
"Ancestor?" Eri tilted her head to the side.
I nodded, "Yep. His name is Raizen and he's a good guy...a good dad too."
"He's your dad?"
"Well, he is like a dad to me. Even though he passed away 4 days ago when I announced the Dark Tournament." I explained to her as she rested her head on my shoulder as I rest my head on top of hers.
"I saw him." She said as I let out a snort.
"Funny. He said the same thing too." I grinned to myself remembering when Raizen and I had our talk when I first came to his territory.
"I have to say from what I intel of the child you were protecting, she had incredible power for a young girl her age," Raizen said.
"Yeah. But to be fair, I was only borrowing her to defeat the guy to combine my demon energy with hers and it almost killed me." I explained to him as he responded with a "Hn" grunt.
"I can tell." Raizen said eyeing me stoically, "I never felt that kind of power before, and it's so strong that she lends that much power onto you. I may have taken control over you, but I can tell she knew something was wrong, and using her spirit energy trying to prevent me to connect to you was another thing."
"Yeah, but I feel bad though. She uses too much over her power almost ending me back there and I don't blame her. She was scared and pleaded with me that I don't die." I replied as the memories of Eri losing control and begging me not to die really hit hard. Now, she was in the hospital with a high fever and being quarantined for now.
"She's a strong girl and she'll get through," Raizen reassured. "I might even talk to her in her dreams. If you don't mind me asking. What is her power?"
"It's called Rewind. She can rewind living things back to their natural state, and there's a chance if she can rewind the 4 stages of death and she can heal your bones back into place." I said as I remembered Sensui claiming the girl to be called a curse back at the cave that pissed me off as I sighed. "What makes this more upsetting is because some demons around here might think she's a curse. They haven't seen what she could do besides rewinding all of those demons; it's because she hasn't had any training or guidance, so she is completely lost and is being quarantined for now."
"Interesting. I never heard of that power before and she must be having trouble learning it. Correct?"
"Yeah, but all I can say is that Eri is going to have a bright future with that kind of power."
Raizen grunted forming a small smirk on his face saying, "A bright future, indeed. A true blessing."
"I think a trip to the beach sounds fun," I suggested.
"The beach?" Eri raised her eyebrows confused as Hiei knelt beside her.
"The beach is a huge land filled with water surrounding the place." He explained as Eri gapped her mouth.
"What's it like on the beach?" Eri asked.
"You'll find out once we get there. It'll be fun." I chimed.
At the beach, the whole gang was going to spend the day and Eri was excited. Hiei had bought her some clothes to change into and wear a white t-shirt, black leggings, and had her hair tied up in a bun letting out some of her way that was wavy.
"Whoa…" Eri said as her eyes widened to see the huge land hearing the sound of waves crashing on the surface.
"Come on!" Kuwabara picks up Eri running towards the water as he sets her down.
Eri tilts her head dipping her foot in the water letting out a small squeak. She then felt herself being lifted to see Hiei carrying her in his arms.
"Too cold for you?" He asked.
"I didn't expect it to be that cold." She replied with a small smile.
Hiei chuckles and picked up the little girl in surprise that he brought her in the water making Eri squeal about how cold it was. She laughed as Hiei splash water on the girl not too rough, he wanted to play safe because Eri is so small and she could drown. The smell of saltwater was around her as she looked up at Hiei that her bun was untied to release her long hair as I came behind her picking her up.
"Having fun in the water, Eri?" I inquired.
"Yeah!" She said with a light giggle being held in my arms.
"Well, you're in trouble now because we're dealing with a shark!" I shouted as Hiei pretended to be a shark making Eri squeal and laugh. I then hoist her up on my back as she let out happy laughter that filled our ears making me smile more and it surprised me a lot to see Hiei smiling too. In the end, Eri was exhausted that she fell asleep in my arms after I wrapped her up with my jacket.
"I can't believe she's smiling so much right now," Kuwabara said.
"I knew my idea would work. She had a great time and made lots of new friends too." I chuckled.
"But what now? Who's going to be taking care of her?" Botan asked.
I shrugged as I glanced down at the sleeping girl in my arms replying, "I don't know. Koenma hasn't said a word about what will happen to Eri since she can't live in the hospital for her entire life."
"She needs a home," Botan said with a sad smile petting Eri's head.
I took Eri back to my apartment after washing her up and letting her change out of her clothes. She wore one of my large shirts to keep her comfy and slept in the same bed I was going to be sleeping in for the night as I smiled to myself. I was glad everything turned out just as I planned to make the girl happy and the ghost that haunted her was gone forever.
