It wasn't hard to track down Tomosuke. It had something to do with his blood being the same as mine, even if ours were both tainted by different demon energies. He was in an abandoned warehouse (how cliché is that?) on the outskirts of town.
I clutched my laptop to my stomach, completely shut off my emotions. I had to, or else the moment I saw Tomosuke (even if it wasn't really him) I would break down. I refused to look at Kurama, knowing how his eyes would betray the concern he had for me right now. Hiei walked even closer to me than Kurama, and his presence strengthened me enough so I could continue on.
The pace I set was brisk. All I could think was, The sooner we get there, the sooner this hell is over with. I didn't allow myself the pleasure of thinking. There was no way. And even though I wanted to get there quicker, the warehouse rose over the horizon, all too soon.
The aura radiating from it was nearly stifling. Even Hiei, as strong and demonic as he was, was having trouble breathing through it. I was caught off guard by the smell: sugar and sweat; just like I always remembered Tomosuke smelling. I swayed, but before I could lose myself completely, I felt two hands on my shoulders, steadying me. Hiei and Kurama. Composing myself, I nodded to them. I was ready.
I was tensed, expecting any sort of trap using some form of dismemberment when I opened the door. Nothing. The warehouse was dark, and the wind whistled through the holes caused by lack of maintenance. My nerves and senses went into overdrive as I tried to feel where exactly Tomosuke was, and wary for a sudden attack. But I wasn't prepared for what did happen.
"Sis?" A small voice whined. I felt a tug on my jeans. In horror, I looked down, into the sweet face of my baby brother. Except…He was covered in blood, his right hand was missing, and more blood was gushing out of an empty eye socket. The way he was standing was weird, too, like both of his legs had been broken. I froze in shock. His mouth opened, and I saw no teeth or tongue. "It hurts, Sis. It's going to hurt you."
"Wretch!" Hiei yelled, slashing at Tomosuke. Tomosuke leapt out of the way before Hiei's sword could connect, and I heard child's laughter, echoing around the warehouse.
"Show yourself!" Kurama demanded, rose whip at the ready. I saw Yusuke and Kuwabara also preparing for battle, but I stayed still. My mind was completely out to lunch.
The flare of bright lights made me flinch, as the warehouse was suddenly lit up. We saw ourselves standing at the entrance to what looked like a maze made out of steel boxes. As the boys started to go in, I stayed where I was. Kurama grabbed my hand.
"Come on," he said softly. "We have to go." I numbly nodded, and started to follow, my movements a little jerky. Kurama let go of my hand, instead placing his on my lower back, gently urging me forward.
The maze was nothing special, just a path to follow. No traps, no nothing. Except for the taunting. Tomosuke's voice echoed through the maze, laughing and saying phrases Tomosuke had always said in life. Each word felt like a knife twisting in my heart. I was grateful when the voice stopped, only realizing a second later that Kurama had put his hands over my ears. I walked forward, Kurama effortlessly keeping his hands in place as he glided along beside me. It almost felt like I was getting more courage from him, and soon, we had caught up with the others. Hiei, when he glanced back and saw us, gave me a little smile. I didn't bother to return it.
I was frightened when Kurama removed his hands from my ears. I made a move to cover them my selves, before stopping, puzzled. It was dead silent in the warehouse now. Which made me all the more nervous.
"We must be nearing the end," Kurama said, breaking the silence. I didn't even feel like asking how he knew that. And indeed, a second later, we walked out from between the last steel boxes. It was darker over here, as several of the lights were burnt out. I saw two silhouettes, moving towards us, out of the darkness. The whole team went on guard, and I turned my laptop into the chisakatana. When the silhouettes emerged, I dropped my weapons, following them a second later as my knees gave out.
Ghosts, perhaps. Of Kiyoko and my mother. They looked the same as I had last seem them, moments before I had blown up the house. Mum was bruised and bleeding from various wounds all over her body. She seemed to be having trouble walking. Kiyoko's neck was beyond bruised, and bent to a position that made my stomach churn. She stumbled every couple of steps. Their faces were twisted in expressions of murderous joy. I couldn't move.
The next thing I was aware of, Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara had stepped in front of me, weapons drawn. I could hear yelling, but my mind couldn't decipher the words.
The scene moved in slow motion. The boys, attacking the ghosts of my mother and sister. Mum and Kiyoko kept advancing, as if the boys and their weapons didn't even exist. All the while, their dead eyes stayed glued to me.
I was beyond terrified. I wanted to run, to get out of this nightmare as quick as possible. But I couldn't get my body to obey what my mind was screaming at it to do. Each step the ghosts took towards me might as well mean my death. Even now, I was wondering if I could ever mentally recover from this if we lived through it. I was dimly aware that I wasn't breathing, and that my heart was about ready to explode from my chest.
And then, suddenly, the ghosts were standing right above me. I dimly moved my eyes to meet theirs, and both extended a hand to reach around my throat. The instant I felt their decaying flesh touch my skin, they burst into dust.
The boys flew to my side, Kurama skidding as he threw himself to his knees, to see if I was okay. I continued to stare at the place where they had been a second before. My sanity seemed to be teetering on the edge. A soft voice began singing.
"Did you ever think, as a hearse goes by,
That you might be the next to die?
They wrap you up in a big white sheet,
And bury you down about six feet deep
They put you in a big black box,
And cover you up with dirt and rocks,
And all goes well, for about a week,
And then the coffin begins to leak!
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout
They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,
They eat the jelly between your toes.
A great big worm with rolling eyes,
Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes,
Your stomach turns a slimy green,
And pus pours out like whipping cream.
You spread it on a slice of bread,
And that's what worms eat when you're dead."
I heard Kuwabara make a sort of "eyuck" sound. I only listened quietly to the disturbingly morbid song as he continued on, singing every line. It was one I had taught Kiyoko and Tomosuke on Halloween last year. It had given Kiyoko nightmares for weeks, and Tomosuke would follow her around, singing it purely to tease her. The song had only been a fun little ditty before. But now, as I remembered the horrific ghosts that had been inches away a minute ago, it carried a whole new meaning. For the first time since entering the warehouse, I felt something else besides horror. Rage.
I sprang to my feet, screaming into the shadows. "How dare you make a joke of my pain?! Come out, now!" As the echoes of my shriek began to fade, a quiet laugh filled the silence. The monster that had the audacity to laugh at my pain walked slowly from the shadows. I was the tiniest bit relieved to see that it had assumed a immaculate, uninjured form of Tomosuke. It would be harder to destroy something that looked exactly like my brother, though. But I was ready. I wouldn't stand anymore of this torture.
The chisakatana were still lying at my feet. Swiftly, I bent to grab them before facing Tomosuke again. The boys backed off, knowing this was a fight I had to finish myself. But, apparently, Tomosuke wasn't going to allow that.
With a wicked grin, he raised his hand. Appearing out of nowhere, in a massive poof of dust, were now hundreds of zombies, filling the space of the warehouse, and enclosing us in. It left a wide area for me and Tomosuke, but now the boys automatically assigned themselves to walking corpse-extermination. I turned to focus on my own fight.
To my surprise, Tomosuke was already holding a weapon. Some sort of broken and rotting…Bone. Yeah, a femur bone. Fantastic. Just the thing I needed to make this fight all the more entertaining. Seriously, right now, getting cut to shreds and doused in lemon juice sounded more fun than my life.
Drat.
Tomosuke made the first move, Sweeping at my legs with the bone. Leaping up, I stuck one blade of my weapons into the ground, using it as a pivot point to swing my foot at Tomosuke. He crouched, swinging the bone up to connect with my hip. I twisted, avoiding the worst of the damage, but I knew that I would have at least a major bruise in the morning. My foot came down on the bone as I righted myself, and Tomosuke, not to be deterred, swung his free fist at my face. Because I didn't exactly have a free hand to block, I sliced my sword through the air. The next second, Tomosuke's left hand fell to the ground as he leapt back. I waited at the ready, prepared when he would lunge at me again.
Tomosuke looked at the bleeding stump he had left, and merely smiled at him. His stump began to twitch and wriggle. Before I could breath again, his hand had completely regrown. This was so unfair.
"Good as new," Tomosuke hissed, still giving me that same smug smile. Only, his voice was no longer the childlike one I remembered. This one was guttural and primitive. Monstrous. The same one I had heard the night Mum and Kiyoko had been killed. If I hadn't been furious before, the memories these voice brought back sure did it.
With an angry snarl, I threw myself at the demon. Tomosuke didn't seem to expect my sudden attack, and I almost caught him off guard. Almost. He countered me at the last moment, throwing me off balance and driving the bone into my solar plexus. The fire of pain flared in my stomach. I could feel one of my broken ribs rupture my liver. I instantly leapt back, to my edge of the circle. Tomosuke waited calmly on his side. I coughed, and blood dripped down the side of my mouth. I wiped it off on the back of my hand, and glared at Tomosuke. He laughed. My anger spiked at that awful sound. But, I didn't attack him immediately this time. My speed would be dramatically decreased by my wound, and it would be too easy for him to dodge.
That smug smile was so annoying. "So what now, 'Sis?'" Tomosuke taunted. "You can't win. You're far weaker than I am. Shall we just keep fighting until you give up and die?" Tomosuke's face melded into something that I assumed was supposed to be mock sympathy. "So you can finally be with your pathetic family again?"
"Scum." I hissed, earning another scorning laugh from the demon. Then, before I could blink, Tomosuke had leapt at me, knocking me to the ground. Urk…My rib bone dug deeper into my liver. Tomosuke took the opportunity to stomp on both of my wrists, forcing me to let go of my chisakatana. I panted, and struggled to get up, but Tomosuke was too physically strong for me right now. In the back of my mind, I was depressed at my own ability that a seven-year-old boy could manage to hold me down this easily.
But Tomosuke wasn't done. He slammed his foot down on my throat. I gasped, my breath getting stuck in my throat. I felt tiny blood vessels breaking all over my neck, creating what would be horrible bruises. I was already running out of breath…
Something green sliced right in front of me. Tomosuke stumbled back, his foot completely severed from his leg. Blood began to spurt all over me. I scrambled out from under the foot and to my feet.
"Keep away from her!" Kurama yelled, snapping his rose whip back. He looked furious. Tomosuke grinned at him, stepping towards him on a brand new, regrown foot.
"Looks like I've finally found a good playmate."
So, about the song. It's an actual song. It's called "The Worms Crawl In."
My mother taught it to me. Looking back now...I guess it's kinda gross, isn't it? Well, this whole chapter kind of was. Sorry about that. It'll get better!