I leaned back against the chair, resting my head on the not-so-comfortable-but-it'll-work head rest and looked back out through the window at the tree line dashing by in the night. My father is going after our family and I only know one person alive in our family… my father. This fucking sucks. I wonder how many powers I really have… When I absorbed Rini's power it felt like just a really bad anxiety attack, and God knows how many "anxiety attacks" I've had over the past couple of years. This whole thing is just… Bizarre…
Dad… why are you doing this?
I felt my skin crawl and my chest tighten as I thought about this situation I have found myself in. The pain in my chest started swelling and it slowly became harder to breathe. I looked over to Kurama who was also looking out the window deep in thought, "Hey, Kurama?" I said in a tone that was a lot weaker than it was during our conversations.
He looked over to me as recognition.
"I think—," I was cut off by my lack of oxygen and started panting, hoping it would allow air into my lungs.
"Ayumi," Kurama straightened up and began to analyze my condition.
Why does this have to keep happening?! I couldn't form words or thoughts after a few seconds. My skin grew clammy and I stood up, attempting to go find a bathroom or something. I don't really know why I decided a bathroom would help, but I couldn't just sit there and take the pain.
"Ayumi, wait," Kurama stood up and started to follow me.
I turned back to him but my sight started to darken and my hearing was diminishing as well. I was going to black out, or pass out. I reached out in his general direction, fully aware of the fact that I was no longer aware of my surroundings or in control of myself. I don't really have any other choice than to trust him at this point, especially since I now can be properly diagnosed with a chronic syncope condition.
As my consciousness slipped away I felt him take a hold of me and I fell into a twisted dream.
I, yet again, found myself blinking up at a ceiling with a mental image of a man with long silver hair and fox ears burning in my mind. His name was Yoko Kurama and I felt like I knew him since his birth. His original birth. I knew, to my understanding, everything about Kurama now. WHAT. THE. FUCK?!
I could hear voices as I started to take in my surroundings. I was in a traditional styled Japanese room, rice paper walls, bamboo flooring, the whole nine yards, including my bedding I was lying in.
"So, she passes out when she acquires another one of these powers?"
"It appears that way," that was Kurama's voice; I was familiar with that one by this point.
"Do you know which one?" This voice was familiar too, Botan I think she said her name was.
"Yes," Kurama paused, "When she touches people now, she retains their memories."
"How do you know?" the first voice asked.
It was silent for a moment. "I caught her when she was passing out and when her skin came in contact with mine I quite literally felt my memories transferring to her," Kurama replied in a slightly colder voice. I flinched, Guess I was correct. HOLY SHIT! This guy… his memories are harder to take in than my situation's latest developments! What the fuck am I supposed to do about this?
I heard the guy laughing and I started to recognize the voice, it was Yusuke's I'm sure of it now. "From what I know about you, she's probably having a harder time dealing with your memories at this point!" He was obviously teasing Kurama.
"This isn't funny, Yusuke. She's probably going to freak out when she wakes up," Kurama said in his colder voice.
Yusuke's laughter stopped abruptly, "Is your past really that bad?"
There was no answer for a while. "I'm going to go check on her," Botan broke the awkward silence. I sat up carefully as she slid open the door. "Oh, you're up!" she chirped. I heard a set of feet start to walk away as she came into the room with Yusuke following behind her.
I nodded after a moment.
"How are you feeling?" She asked gently as she knelt down beside me.
"I… I'll be ok," I choked out over my much overloaded mind. My mind was spinning in a mix of emotions, thoughts, and Kurama's memories. "Where'd Kurama go?"
"I'm not sure," Botan trailed off.
"He does that," Yusuke gave me a warm grin. "A lot," he added after a second and sat down Indian style.
"So," I began, "Uncle Italy is dead, I take it. He committed suicide when he found out my father was after his power."
"Yes, how did know?" Botan asked surprised.
"I'm the one experiencing this shit first hand," I deadpanned.
"Oh, right," Botan giggled nervously.
"What's it like?" I looked over at Yusuke who had just spoken, "knowing everything about Kurama, I mean," he asked, ready to retain black mail.
"Scary!" I flashed him a face that spoke of terror and shock.
Yusuke burst into laughter, "No really."
"It's about a millennia's worth of life experience to take in, I'm not done digesting all of it yet," I answered him more seriously. "He was pretty brutal," I added after a moment.
Yusuke laughed again, "He's still brutal!"
I let out a small laugh. These guys really know how to brighten someone's day… or just enjoy making fun of each other a lot. "I guess to put it in more graspable terms, the events in his past are pretty messed up… but overall, he was a decent person when it came to the people in his life… unless they tried to fuck him over. He just had minimal emotions back then."
Yusuke was practically rolling on the floor laughing. "I guess he's pretty much the same!" he choked out through fits of laughter.
I laughed at Yusuke's hysteria, "Not really… I don't really know how to explain the differences… other than there are different lessons in life for demons than humans. He's had the opportunity to learn both."
"Go on," Botan chimed in.
I looked over to her, "I don't know," I paused, "What if he doesn't want me to talk about it?"
"Are you afraid of him?" Yusuke asked.
I looked back over to him, "Well… no. Not any more than I was before I obtained his memories."
"Then can you tell us why he hides his past?" Botan pried.
"Why?" I heard a defensive tone in the back of my throat and immediately wanted to take my response back.
"We want to know because we worry about him. He seems to always be beating himself up because of his past, like he's guilty or something," Yusuke explained.
"Oh… I don't really know why… He seemed to be really good at suppressing emotions, but as a human, it's impossible to do something like that. It's just a human instinct to feel guilt when killing and hurting other people. Those feelings weren't completely absent when he was a demon; he was just capable of ignoring them."
Botan and Yusuke stared at me for a while.
"I guess when he became human, he wasn't capable of suppressing all those emotions anymore," I paused and there was another awkward silence. "He shouldn't though; he was never a bad person. He was living in a completely different reality where it was necessary to be that way… or die."
"I guess," Yusuke spoke after another awkward silence, "I should be glad I was human before becoming a demon."
"Yes, that does seem to be the better trade off," Botan spoke mostly to herself and possibly Yusuke.
"But you're right," Yusuke said, speaking to me, "He shouldn't feel bad. I've been to Demon World and I know what it's like there. It's definitely a do-or-die world. Here, people can slack off and screw people over and the consequences are a lot less severe."
I sighed, and Botan gave me a weird look. "What?" I asked her suspiciously.
"You seem pretty fond of Kurama," she replied with devilish grin.
"I'm just grateful he hasn't let me fall on my head from passing out," I replied innocently.
Yusuke laughed, "I guess I'd be all for Kurama too if I were in your situation!"
"Screw both of you," I deadpanned again subtly giving them the bird.
Botan stood up and kicked Yusuke, "I guess we should let you rest then, I'd be exhausted personally."
Yusuke stood up with a huge grin and waved as he followed Botan out of the room. I let out a loud sigh after they shut the door. "I'm so not ready for them to be teasing me," I groaned to myself.
I heard Kurama laugh and knock on the door which made me jump, "What the hell?" I yelled to him.
He slid open another door, "May I come in?"
"Why not," I was deadpanning again, "Why couldn't I sense you?"
He smiled at me as he sat down against the wall across from me, "I was suppressing my energy so Yusuke wouldn't sense me."
"You can do that?" I asked a little surprised.
"Yes, to a certain degree."
"Well… shit."
He laughed a little behind his hand. There was an awkward silence like no other after that. I couldn't stop thinking about his past and I have to admit, I was afraid of how he was going to react to me knowing about them. "I'm sorry," I accidently let slip after a while.
He perked up questionably, "For what?"
"Accidently learning about your past," I looked down at my hands that were resting idly on my lap.
"Don't be. It was, as you said, an accident," he gave me a light smile. "To tell you the truth, I'm not all that worried that it was you who learned about them."
I looked back up at him in confusion.
"We've put you in a predicament that has forced you to blindly trust me. I was relieved when you reached out for me when you started to pass out, it told me that you were aware that that was really the only option and you had accepted it," he paused. "So, in return for your trust, I should have no reason not to trust you."
I looked back down, not sure how to reply.
"Do you still trust me… after learning about my past?" he asked after a moment.
I snapped my head back up at him, "Well, after that last statement, how could I not?"
He gave me the warmest smile I've seen on his face yet and I realized I was mirroring it. Why am I smiling?! I quickly looked back down at my hands as I felt my cheeks start to flush. What the hell is going on with me now?!
I heard him try to muffle his laughter again, "Ayumi," he began to speak again, "I should thank you."
"For what?" I looked back at him, trying to kill off my physical reactions to our current conversation.
"Something about your conversation with Botan and Yusuke has seemed to put me more at ease with my past. You're extremely perceptive. Maybe I just needed a judge of my character from a different perspective." There wasn't a smile on his face but he seemed to give off a certain calmness, not at all like the gargoyle expression he usually had when he's being serious.
"Oh, um…You're welcome?"
He gave a light laugh not bothering to cover it this time and I was definitely flushed again. Dammit, stop it face! I can't think when you're red!
He stood up, "You should get some rest. Passing out several times a day can't be good for your health."
"Yeah," I choked, trying very hard not to do anything but suppress my facial betrayal. He left just a quietly as he came and I threw my head back down onto the pillow. I can't deal with this right now! I should be thinking about my father and figuring out what to do when he comes for my head! But as soon as I started to relax I slipped away into some much needed rest.
"So, it's finally comes to this?" A middle aged man was speaking to someone. My sight was blurry around the edges.
"Yes, I'm afraid so." A man from somewhere I could not see replied.
"I see," he paused, "Then there's not much else I can do to stop this." He held up a knife and drove it into his chest.
"NO!"
"This is all I can do to help. My power is immortality, I wish to bestow it onto her," he choked out as blood started oozing viciously from the wound as he tore it back out of his chest.
"Why?"
"She'll fail in protecting the powers my family has given her thus far unless she cannot die. It would not be fair to ask her to kill herself to bestow them unto me for protection. I've lived far too long a life as it is," He paused and gave a genuine smile. "Plus, she has my mother's name. It's destiny if you ask me."The man coughed up blood with the last sentence and fell to the floor.
I awoke with a scream launching myself into an upright position. My heart was racing and I was taking in huge gasps of breath, thankfully the oxygen was filling my lungs. I was shaky and drenched in sweat. A vision! I'm going to be immortal?!
Kurama and Botan slammed open the door to the room I was in. "What happened?" Kurama asked, his face betraying his calm collected composure with worry.
"I…" I froze staring up at them, "I had a vision…"
Botan flopped to the floor beside me and felt my forehead for my temperature, "What did you see?"
I thought for a moment, "My ancestor committed suicide to give me immortality to protect my powers and myself from my father… I think."
"When do you think it's going to happen?" Kurama asked; his face back to his normal gargoyle expression. Ok, maybe not "gargoyle," just the same feeling as a gargoyle's expression would give off.
"I… I don't know. I might even already have it. I feel like I just had an anxiety attack so…" I trailed off. "We can test it, if you'd like."
He frowned at me, "I'm not going to test whether you can die or not."
"How would we know for sure then?" I retorted, still shaken up from the horrifying vision.
"Kurama, can't you prevent fatal wounds from actually killing someone with your plant concoctions?" Botan cut in.
He looked at her like she said something ridiculous; "Sure, although I'd prefer if you didn't make it sound like I was a witch." he tried not to grumble.
I covered my mouth to try and keep me from laughing at his facial expression, "Making substances from plants that can save people from death is a little witch doctor-like."
Botan turned back to me, "Are you sure you want to test it?"
I stood up, mentally thanking whoever set me up in the room for not undressing me. "Yes, how else would we know? It's not like these powers come with greeting cards," I replied sarcastically.
A/N: Kurama asks Ayumi about her father/family past in the next chapter, for those of you who are wondering :3
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