Past Life

Written by Justine JBV / Chibi Botan

Chapter Seven: A Visit from the Prince of Reikai


XXV

Kino headed back.

He has no extra time to spare, but the girl was in trouble and he had to save her. He realized as soon as he got near that he underestimated the demons running after the girl. There were too many.

A green, bulky demon was the first to notice him, blocking him from the huge one-eyed demon who just caught the girl. He evaded his attacks, intent on getting to the girl as soon as possible. Being smaller than the demon and definitely faster than it, he evaded his blows efficiently. When a smaller demon tried to help the bigger one, he used a long twig and whipped him once, but very forcefully, and threw him towards the first one.

His eyes were focused to the girl as he ran away from the fallen two. Almost all of the demons were now surrounding the girl held by the one-eyed youkai as if she was a trophy. They did not notice him as he approached.

He jumped up--high enough to land on the head of a demon that was near the girl. It was only for a second, and before that demon reacted, he jumped again, high kick ready to hit the one-eyed youkai. He hit his head, enough to make him drop the girl on the ground. Kino must have expected him to fall, as easy as the others did, but he was wrong.

Skin turning red, definitely fuming, the one-eyed youkai caught his feet as he started to move away. He pulled his feet hard, and Kino felt as if his bones have been broken inside. The youkai threw him towards the crowd, all of which were ready to pounce on him. One by one, they hit him, and Kino wasn't given a chance to fight back.

XXVI

Meanwhile, Yumi watched, horrified as her savior is being beaten by dozens of demons. She didn't have any power to help him, but she could try something to distract them. She saw that she was surrounded by small fallen branches and different plants.

She reached for her pocket and found a box of matches. She lit one and threw it to a bush near her. When the first didn't work, she tried again, until the fourth successfully made a small fire. The small fire she made immediately scattered. As fast as she could, she burned the branches and threw them to the demons. In a matter of seconds their attention was turned towards her.

Unfortunately, the fire didn't scare them away as she expected it to, and the one-eyed youkai was in fact amused by her action.

He left Kino on the ground and started towards her.

XXVII

"What a little spitfire we have here," the youkai smirked as he turned away from Kino and started towards the girl.

Badly beaten, Kino could barely stand up. All his physical energy was spent.

He saw that the girl now stopped throwing torched branches, and is looking fearfully at the youkai. All the other demons found this amusing, and followed the one-eyed demon's actions. From the ground, he could see that the girl has fallen on her knees, and is about to cry. This made all the demons even happier. No one paid attention to him. After all, he was beaten up, there's nothing he can do, right?

Not if...

Kino stretched out his right hand, watching as it started to glow.

This is what I've been training so hard all these years.

Still on the ground, he clenched his fists and concentrated. And then, he knew he was ready. He aimed high--making sure the girl on the ground would not be hurt. And...

"Spirit blast!!!"

XXVIII

Botan stared once again at the map, making sure she got the directions right. The Dark Temple where she came from was from the west part of the map. When she was still with Yumi, they headed south-east, which was the right way towards the cave. It was the same way Yumi ran to when they were separated.

She, on the other hand, ran north-bound. She sighed as she realized that she was still very far from the cave. She had to take a long cut since she already knew the fastest route (to head back from where she came from) was dangerous.

So she half-ran half-walked as fast as she can, trying not to make so much noise. Demons could be lurking in this part of the forest. She tried to hide herself whenever she heard any hint that there are other creatures nearby. Just now, she heard something weird—loud, scary flapping of wings.

It was too late when she looked up. A huge flying creature caught her by its beak.

Suppressing a scream, Botan clutched the book and map tightly as she tried to wriggle herself away from the creature's grasp. She only stopped when she realized how high they already are.

She was trying to think of a way out of this, when she saw several other bird-like creatures heading towards them. They looked fierce. Botan remembered Yumi vaguely mentioning earlier that there were giant aviary demons infesting the forest, and they are now extinct for killing each other over food. She cringed as she realized she is going to be this creature's supper if she didn't get away from this. But how? They were at least two stories high.

Suddenly the other creatures were there, fighting each other over her. She felt dizzy from being jerked around as the creatures tried to steal her away from the one who caught her.

She prayed to fall.

And she did, very badly.

XXIX

It took Yumi a full minute before she realized she is now safe. She looked past the fallen youkai in front of her, and hurried towards the man who saved her. He was in bad shape, but he looked so triumphant. She helped him sit up.

He seemed oblivious to her presence. He was whispering, "My powers are back!" repeatedly.

Yumi thought for a while and finally making a connection. She remembered the Guru mentioning about Botan's father losing his powers.

"Are you Botan's father?" she asked right away. Kino noticed her then and nodded. "Thank you for helping me, I am Yumi and I--"

"You're Yumi?" Kino braced himself for bad news. "Where is my daughter? The guru believes you are with her."

Yumi informed him briefly about their short misadventure and told him how they got separated. She then rushed to assure him. "Don't worry, she has the map, and I know she'll be fine. I think we have to head to the cave fast, she'll most likely be heading straight there."

Kino had no choice but to agree. Somehow, with some of his old powers back, he felt more hopeful that they will get through this.

XXX

She fell on rocks.

She knew the creatures followed her down where she fell, and she half-expected them to catch her again. But she was too hurt to even notice that someone has waved the creatures away. Her eyes were closed shut, her face showing how much pain she was feeling.

One hand unconsciously clutching the book, and another massaging her legs. She must have broken every bone in her body when she fell. Not to mention that her hands--the same hand she's using to massage her swollen legs, has a long gash and bleeding profusely. She tried not to cry out in pain. Doing that will attract more harm to her.

She was about to try to stand up when she felt a cool sensation on her legs. Opening her eyes, she saw a woman crouching in front of her, two hands concentrated above her injury. Her hands were glowing white-golden sparks, and Botan was amazed that the pain started to go away. But she noticed that the woman winced while the pain decreased.

The woman smiled at her. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you..." and she could not help but say, "You were in pain, too, while you were healing me. Why is that?"

The woman nodded, and told her, "White magic is like that. It has a set back— when I take your pain away, I get some of it hurting me back..."

"Oh." Botan felt guilty and was about to say so when someone appeared. While the woman who healed her was wearing dark colors—a black and white kimono, the man behind him was wearing a robe in striking red and blue colors.

Botan could not help but stare at the mark on his forehead, with the letters "Jr." and the blue thing—a pacifier?—on his mouth. She stared in awe as he stared back without any expression.

"Ayame," he called the woman, but he did not tear his gaze from Botan. "You shouldn't be here. Let's go."

XXXI

"Koenma-sama..." Ayame's voice was meek, and Koenma broke his gaze away from Botan to look at Ayame.

Ayame stood up but did not leave. She looked at him; her eyes seemed to be pleading. For what, Botan didn't know. But Koenma-sama seemed affected by it.

His eyes softened as he looked away from Ayame and told her, "I will talk to Botan."

Ayame then bowed her head a little and started to leave. Koenma stopped her from going, and told her, "You may stay."

Botan resisted the urge to ask him how he knew her name. It was ironic that the day she ran away from Rinji and Ren, she assumed the name Naya for her safety and yet the people she met after that seemed to know exactly who she was, and more.

To be continued… Thank you for reading!