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Chapter Twelve: The Rakshasa
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"That would make sense," Yuugi said, the other Yuugi, Hermione realized.
She still couldn't put her finger on it, but there was a difference between the two of them, for all they shared a body.
"It follows a pattern. They never seem to go far from the games," Kaiba said. There was a lighter quality in his voice, and he almost smiling, but Hermione knew that she wouldn't want to be who ever came between his brother and him. It was like his grin had too many teeth.
"So, we call the police then," Anzu said. "Tell them we got an anonymous tip about your brother."
"No," said Kaiba shortly. "We find Mokuba and then call."
"That sounds like a plan to me," Jounochi said, cracking his knuckles.
"And we might need to call the wizarding police, depending on things," Hermione said slowly. "Magic's involved here."
"We're finding Mokuba before we call anyone," Kaiba said shortly.
"Fine." She was a match for most wizards anyway. With a bit of surprise on her side, she should be able to deal with anyone. Death Eaters weren't feared for nothing and she'd fought them before.
Even if she'd ended up in the Hospital Wing afterwards.
However, she understood Kaiba. He wanted his brother back in his arms before put in yet another uncertainty. The report of Mokuba's first kidnapping had been bungled, according to the magazines and rumors. He had been nearly died when hostage negotiations had broken down, she'd read. It would make sense that Kaiba distrusted the authorities after that.
"I agree," the other Yuugi said. "There's no telling who it could be. Bringing regular police into it might not do anything... and your magical police might not either. It's another kind of magic that we use, right?"
"Yes." And if she didn't call in the Japanese equivalent to the Aurors, she wouldn't have to tell them about the items and spirits. This other Yuugi seemed be in a symbiotic relationship with his host. Was there a reason for her to strip them of that? She could even think of historical benign possession in several instances.
"Which way?" Kaiba asked, stopping Hermione from listing all incidents, to confirm her decision in her mind.
"Up. And probably a little more to the left as well."
"Elevators then," Anzu said. "We can stop at every floor, if we need to. I'm not sure what we can do once we figure out the room though."
"We knock. If they don't answer, we break down the door," Jounochi said simply.
"I'll get the master-key," Kaiba said a moment later. "We need surprise. This isn't going to become a hostage situation."
"I can open it," Hermione interrupted, as she saw Jounochi open his month.
"Magic again?" the other Yuugi asked sardonically.
"Yeah. It can be pretty useful."
"And are there ways around that?" Kaiba asked.
"Possibly, but they aren't common," Hermione said. If they were, she was sure that Dumbledore would have used them on the third floor corridor during her first year.
"And is blocking that first spell you did common?" Anzu asked carefully.
"More so. Half the time you can't even use it find a witch or a wizard. Or anything that's magical, really. It's a rather finicky spell."
"And this one isn't?"
"No, it's sure," Hermione said, looking at the glowing speck that moved with her wand. It was far more elegant and precise than her original idea as well as being far more powerful. Each time Kaiba had used the program on his laptop to solve another equation, another layer of complexity had come to her mind. She hadn't been able to use most off them, a few of them so intricate that she didn't even know how to begin them, but the few she had incorporated had been enough to make her wonder if she had discovered the next wave of improvement in Arithmancy.
But what excited her more was that if that was true, than she really could find a way to help Harry that no one else had. The tweaked spells she had begun with that summer were only the beginning.
Her newest dream was to create a counter for the Unforgivables.
"We'll see when we get there," the other Yuugi said with finality, and drew out his deck. "If we can't get the door open one way, we can use another." He held up a card, some trap that Hermione didn't recognize, but it had a key and a lock on it.
Kaiba snorted, but he didn't gainsay him.
"Good idea. Let's do this," Jounochi said, rolling his shoulders.
Hermione cast one last look around the room. There wasn't anything other than her wand to take. She couldn't put her faith in the cards like the others did and more Arithmancy things would only slow her down.
The same elevator that they had ridden down in opened and Anzu ran her hand down all the buttons for the floors above them.
"Let's do our best," Anzu said as the door closed.
"We'll find him," the other Yuugi said.
Hermione only watched the speck of light on the tip of her wand.
The elevator doors opened. It had leveled out a little more, but it was too far above the tip to be this floor.
Another floor, and it was the same.
"Going up," Anzu murmured as the doors closed.
Two more floors passed.
"It's getting more level," Hermione said as they moved again.
"This floor?" Jounochi said quickly.
"No, next one."
Adrenaline was rushing through her, she could hear her heart beating, but she could feel the trace of a grin on her face, the elation of success still singing to her.
After the longest time between floors yet --or the shortest, time was little funny-- the doors swept open.
The elevator went silent as Hermione stepped out. Left, and then right and she came to the door of a suite. One of the more expensive ones, from the name.
She put her finger to her lips and whispered, "Alohomora."
The door opened smoothly, and most importantly, almost silently.
But there was someone standing on the other side, and in her shock, she let Jounochi and Kaiba slip past her, almost protecting her, hiding her.
The man --though Hermione knew he wasn't-- seemed to be an ordinary Japanese business man, suit and tie suitably unremarkable. His face was rather plain and unmemorable. He wasn't short or fat nor tall or thin.
In fact, the only thing that didn't seem normal about him was the multiple arms he seemed to have.
They blurred in and out of sight, no finite number other than many. And Hermione knew what he as soon as she saw them.
He was no man. He was a Rakshasa.
"I wondered if you'd find me before the duels," he said, and the illusion dropped.
He grew into a taller, impossibly thin being, bent double, the ceiling too low for him to stand. All the portions seemed wrong, bones elongated, the neck too long and serpentine. His pale and almost blue face looked nearly human, but for the sharp teeth that were made to eat flesh.
"And you brought a witch, how kind," he said, and his head blurred into three before it settled into one image in front of them, his arms stilled as well, and for a moment he had all the normal amount of appendages.
"Why are you here?" Hermione demanded, trying to think of all the history books she'd read. Had a Rakshasa ever left India before?
"My own reasons," he said. "Leave me to them."
"Give me my brother," Kaiba spoke in a terrible tone, too flat to be angry and despite sounding empty, full of menace.
The Rakshasa looked at Kaiba for a long moment, and then shook his head in an oddly human motion until it blurred.
"Now!" Kaiba demanded.
"No," the Rakshasa said, just as firmly. "You must do something for me first."
"And that would be?" the other Yuugi cut in, and hand fingering his deck.
"Play my games." The Rakshasa sunk back even further, and once his image settled, he was sitting back on his chair, as he had been when they had first come in.
"Your games?" the other Yuugi said, a wealth of dark humor in his voice.
The Rakshasa bared his teeth and Hermione flinched back at seeing the sharp points, her imagination and memory of history books she'd skimmed too sharp. It seemed to appease the Rakshasa, and he settled back into the chair.
"Yes," he said simply.
"Like hell," Kaiba said, and made towards the other door in the suite.
The Rakshasa blurred, and Hermione stepped between Kaiba and him, wand out.
"I wouldn't, if I were you," she said softly, trailing her wand though the air, letting it shoot off all the sparks it could. Spells on the tip of her tongue, she waited for the Rakshasa to make the first move.
In retrospective, she should have known.
As it was, she was caught completely by surprise as one hand with clawed nails grabbed her waist, dragging her forward. The Rakshasa seized her left arm, biting into it just below the shoulder.
Hermione cried out, the teeth felt like liquid fire, and then were gone, along with a mouthful of flesh.
Anzu was screaming in the background, and Yuugi was saying something. So was Kaiba. They were shouting, but the shooting pain in her arm and sudden dizziness like she'd just run three miles, dehydrated, made it impossible to understand.
And then she was surrounded by white wings, even as the pain grew.
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She came to with a cool feeling on her burning arm.
Hermione tried to say something, to ask what had happened, but it only came out in a groan.
"Thank goodness."
Hermione blinked, and made out Anzu leaning over her. She licked her lips and tried to speak again.
"Hold on, let me get you some water."
Another moment ticked by, and Hermione took stock while Anzu rustled in the background. Her arm still ached something fierce and when she tried to move it a bolt of pain shot through it. Hermione only gritted her teeth and tried to sit up again. It was only a low grade pain, she told herself.
On the other bed in the room, Jounochi lay, torso swathed in bandages and talking to Honda and Bakura in low tones. They stopped as they noticed her sitting up, and she cautiously waved her uninjured arm at them.
"Oh!" It was Anzu, coming back from the bathroom with a cup of water. "Are you okay? You don't have to sit up."
"I'll be okay, just give me a bit," Hermione rasped.
She let Anzu fuss for a moment, and prop her up against the headboard. It took all the weight off her arm, which she was grateful for. Offering the cup to her, Anzu sat gingerly on the edge of the bed.
Hermione took one long sip, almost coughing when it hit her dry throat. After another smaller sip, she asked, "What happened? Is Kaiba's brother okay?"
Anzu looked down and that was all the answer that Hermione needed.
"I see."
"We think he is. We really couldn't get to him. We heard him, yelling in the other room, but couldn't get in. That creature, well, it was playing with us."
Jounochi swore and said, "Like a cat with a dead mouse. Even when Yuugi and Kaiba --which I'm still trying to wrap my mind around-- summoned their monsters, it wasn't enough. What the hell was that thing?"
"A Rakshasa," Hermione said, and set the empty cup down. "A being from India. They rule there."
"I thought they had a prime minster or something," Honda interrupted.
"The magical side of things, I'm guessing?" Bakura said slowly.
Hermione nodded. "I'll admit that I've never really looked it up, most of our history class focuses on Goblin rebellions during the Renaissance."
"Goblin rebellions?" Bakura asked.
"Never mind that, what the hell are these things?" Jounochi asked.
Hermione licked her lips again. She'd only read about them from the British prospective and heard a few horror stories from Parvati Patil about them, but...
"More water?" Anzu asked.
"Please," Hermione said, and she tried to figure out what to say.
Anzu came back a moment later, and Hermione downed most of the water before she spoke.
"I know they appear in Hindu and Buddhist mythology and most of that is rooted in truth."
Bakura's head came up, and his eyes narrowed, but despite his superficial resemblance, Hermione felt that it was still the second, gentler Bakura. "Do you mean...?"
Hermione nodded. "Probably. They are shape-changers, master illusionists... and man-eaters."
There was a slight gasp, and Hermione saw Anzu looking at her arm with new horror. Hermione tried to smile at her, but failed. So, she continued to speak.
"One of the things that didn't make it into muggle mythology--" Hermione found her wand on the table beside her, and held it tightly, even though it felt like a simple wooden stick. "--is that Rakshasa eat magic as well."
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AN:
Yes, a non-canon villain. For now, at least.
Rakshasa are figures in Hindu and some Buddhist mythology and there are depictions of them in countries other than India as well. If you're really curious about them, look them up on wikipedia or google them (try to ignore the D&D stuff). I'm of course taking some artistic license.
And Yuugi-tachi still have several questions...
Anyways, thank Wings of Fate for a quick beta job on this and for putting up with me taunting her with word counts. Any mistakes you see here are mine and things that I might have changed at the last moment. I'll admit that my proofreading skills are terrible when I'm writing this quickly.
I don't think next update will be as soon, but I'm hoping for another this week.