Ride like the Wind
Chapter 59
There were three men traveling in the woods together. They came across three different paths. The three decided to go their separate ways on those paths. They were all going to different destinations anyway. It didn't matter to them if they were separated.
The first man took the path that was hidden underneath the darkness of trees and slithered between bushes. He heard nothing but the sound of his footsteps in the little gravel there was. When he came to the edge of the forest a violet snake slithered down the tree as if he were expecting the traveler.
"Hello, good sir," said he, "I shall grant you any wish you please for your journey has ended. What will it be?"
"I want to be the wealthiest man in the country," the man answered confidently.
The snake flicked its tongue. "When you come home, your house will be filled with gold!" He slithered away into the bushes without a sound.
A week after he came home, his house was raided. He went back to the woods to take back his wish but he never saw the serpent again.
The second man took the smooth road of golden bricks which was lined with young blossoms and newborn grass. When he came to the edge of the woods a green butterfly fluttered above a morning glory.
"Hello, good sir," said he, "I shall grant you any wish you please for your journey has ended. What do you desire?"
"I want eternal youth and beauty," the man answered running a hand through his golden locks.
He twitched a wing. "When you come home, you will not age another day." He fluttered away to admire the spring weather.
Years passed for the second man. Everyone he knew and loved disappeared into time. He became an outsider to his own generation. He went back to the forest to take back his wish but he never saw the butterfly again.
The third man took the beat down road leading to a rickety bridge which swung over the raging river below. When he got to the end of the bridge he saw a raven perched upon a white stone.
"Hello, good sir," said he, "I shall grant you any wish you please for your journey has ended. Your wish?"
"I want to see all the ones I love that I've lost again."
The raven took off in flight. "Of course! Of course! Just walk towards the sun, boy! Just walk towards the sun!"
And so he did. The third man's ending was the happiest.
---
December 20, 1852
Koenma and his group all met at the abandoned church accompanied by Shura who happened to follow them on his way there. ("I have nothing better to do at home so I might as well..." he grumbled more to himself than to anyone else.) They all sat in silence.
"Goddammit, someone say something," Yusuke growled. "I can't take silence. Shura tell a joke or something."
"What do you call it when a bunch of white men are pushing a carriage up a hill?" he asked sarcastically. Not a morning person, of course.
"Okay I see where this is going. Let's turn it to Kuwabara."
The doors of the church opened and everyone turned to see who it was. It was Mukuro who had a look on her face that clearly said, "Not this shit again." And she proceeded to recite a beautiful poem whose origins came from South Dakota. Or... What will be South Dakota. Whatever. "Shit! It's cold!"
"That's why they invented clothes, Mukuro," Shura replied sarcastically again.
"Go screw yourself, Shura."
"You can't talk to him like that!" Koenma threw the bible at him. "THE POWER OF JESUS COMPELS YOU! REPENT OR YOUR ASS WILL BURN IN HELL!"
"I'm Jewish. I don't have a hell. Who cares? We talk to each other like this all the time anyway." She crossed her arms. "Hiei told me to come here so we can talk. Well, I'm here so you still want to take that offer?"
"Not really. I think it's just a waste of your time anyway," Hiei replied.
"An epiphany."
"What?"
"It's something in a Greek tragedy where the tragic character has a sudden realization. That's what you just had. And I'm glad you realize it. Whether it's only a lie or not." She stared at a stained glass window. "It's crazy when it all comes down to it though. We're all killing each over no real cause really. But in the end all we really need is a little love."
The doors opened and Kurama walked in. He looked like he wanted to say something but once he saw everyone sitting in silence, he probably decided not to.
"Maybe we should listen to Moa. He said we should all go home and stay there because if we don't then we'll all just be punished for what we did to that dog last time. He asked he if I was blonde because that meant I was the most instrumental in that act," Shura finally spoke up.
"Moa? Who're you talking about? One of your school friends?" Mukuro asked.
"What? I thought you of all people would know about this Moa stuff," Kurama broke in.
"Never heard of it."
"Well, he's in this room," Shura added.
"Well, this is all very odd. Too say the least anyway."
"You feel anything coming?" Yusuke broke in. That was when the door burst into flames. "Forget I asked."
Through the flames came the exorcist. He held out the crucifix in front of his face as if contemplating it. Somehow he got the whole room the freeze up for that moment before he spoke. "Ah, how nice. I've come into a church with a almost thousand year old preacher congregating with a bunch of delinquents. Sad sight. Such a sad sight."
"About that..." Koenma paused.
"You know what, we're permanently retiring your ass," Yusuke growled as he stood up as if to size him up. "You know normally I'd let you do your job but I've heard talk that you're notorious for doing that and a little something extra." He saw in the corner of his eye Shura was subtly cowering behind the pew. "So maybe you lighten up or we do you in."
"I refuse..." At that moment Mukuro disappeared for a split second and she reappeared behind him with her gun pointed at his head. "You know, Jew, you can't kill me. You can never kill the angel of death."
"No, you're wrong already. I don't intend you kill you with a bullet. No, you'll die in an even more painful fashion so long that you'll beg for mercy. I could disable you here and now." She ran the pistol down his spine.
"I could do the same. But like I said before. I could never die. I am the angel of death. Did you ever wonder why I'm a demon yet have the ability to use exorcism spells? It's because I am neither demon nor human. I am therefore an angel and sent to rid the world of ugliness and send sinners like you to hell where you belong."
She fired into the back of his head and on reflex, his arms twitched upward just before his left eye was shot out. She reloaded the pistol. "Get up. You hear me? Get the hell up! Don't give me this bull shit that you're dead. I've had enough. Get up!"
Zeru shot up to his feet and turned around. He grabbed Mukuro by the neck and choked her with one hand and started to slice her chest open with a shard of glass from the newly broken window. Yusuke fired his Spirit Gun into his back, causing him to drop Mukuro. Zeru lunged toward him but Kuwabara cut him off by coming at him with the Spirit Sword. Kurama flicked a peddle that landed into the empty space where Zeru's eye would have been.
"Fox, do you think I'd fall for that empty trick?" he reached into the hole and flicked the seed out as Yusuke fired another Spirit Gun bullet into him without much affect.
Koenma, who was standing on the side, sidestepped his way to Mukuro. He whispered to her, "Mukuro, I'm coming for you. I'll take you to Yomi and you'll get better. Don't get involved anymore. I don't want to see Yomi turn into a widower before his time..."
"Don't even think about taking me to that bastard. I don't marry for love so what makes you think me seeing him will make it any better?" she got to her feet. "If you want to leave, take Shura out of here... Where is he anyway?"
They heard a voice coming towards them in some sort of strange lyrical poetry. "And the mother said, 'Let all sinners perish in the end...'"
A window shattered. Koenma and Mukuro's eyes shot towards it and saw Zeru leapt out the window with the other four following.
"I'm going. Watch him." She ran off.
"Damn it, Mukuro!" Koenma grabbed Shura by the hand. "You come with me."
---
Yomi woke up late that morning. He walked to Shura's room to check if he happened to come home during the night or even the morning. He wasn't there. He assumed that he was out still and sighed irritably. Maybe if I didn't sleep like the dead I might have caught him. If he did come. What am I saying? He doesn't want to stay home anymore. I wonder why.
He continued the rest of the morning. in silence, to a certain extent anyway. Since he started staying up all night most nights he developed the habit of talking to himself. He figured it was his way of coping with being alone. And if they don't like me coming late this time they can just go to hell.
After the two cups of coffee each with seven spoonfuls of sugar (He figured he needed the sugar to keep him awake. He was also at a lack of energy. He didn't quite understand why he was so tired after sleeping a good ten hours but wide awake after an all-nighter.) he started walking to the hospital, taking the longest way there was. On the way he heard Shura's voice screaming something- something like a hymn of some sort.
"And the streets will be lined with blood when they come! All left behind will be hung and drowned in their own..."
"Shura...?" Yomi called him.
"Yomi, well, thank god you showed up here!" Koenma called him.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"I don't know. He was fine until that exorcist came in and then he just started saying these strange things. I can't snap him out of it. He's basically repeating this speech over and over. I think he's catatonic or something! I think that's the right word for it anyway. You're the doctor. You should know what's going on!"
Yomi sighed and put his hands on Shura's shoulders. "Shura. Can you hear me...?" He gave no response. He slapped him. "Wake up!"
There was an abrupt stop in his speech. "Wake up!"
"Can you hear me...?"
"Can you hear me...?"
Yomi looked away. He noticed the fire. "Was there a fire here? What in god's name is going on here?" Shura repeated the question. "Goddammit..."
"Well, listen. It was like this... Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Mukuro, Shura and I were in this church-I think that's what this thing is meant to be anyway...-talking for a while and then the exorcist came and burnt down the door. The others went after him and I ended up having to watch Shura. And well..."
"The question is if he's even aware of outside forces. If that's the case. I don't know much about the mind and I assume very little people do as well." He waved his finger across Shura's eyes. "Watch my finger."
He moved his finger in the same motion. He blinked twice and darted away.
'What the hell...? Well I guess it's safe to say he's better... I guess." He put a hand on Koenma's shoulder. "This is all too much. Stress kills a man, you know that?"
---
Zeru, along with Yusuke and Kuwabara had disappeared into the crowds. Kurama chose to stay with Mukuro, who was throwing up blood, now on her knees.
"I think you've had enough of all this. I'm taking you to a hospital. I should've known not to jump into this. You too. I don't even know why. I don't really know this guy."
"No... I have to. Just for what he did to us. We live in fear but it's not fear of humans. We can kill them all we want and hell, there are those out there who even live off human flesh. And I'm talking about those that dwell here. As for those who live in the Demon Realm, I can't say. We are citizens of this realm in the sense the Americans are citizens of the country they founded after colonization. Someday we make take that same uprising but until then we demons are only strangers in a strange land. And we do become more and more like humans as generations pass. That's almost in the same sense as a black slave with mulatto children. But it's more like a governmental issue. I won't mention it anymore. But what I'm saying is that we demons live in fear of not humans but this one exorcist. He's as human and as demon as Koenma is. He's unclassifiable..." Mukuro struggled to her feet. "I just want to stop living in fear. I want to start living. If I'm not fucked by someone I sure as hell won't let another thousand years (God I hope I make it that long...) fuck me."
"Peter?!" Maya came running to the two. "Shuichi! My god! What's happening? Why is Peter bleeding! Take him to a hospital!"
"I'm fine. I can walk... I can..." She was cut off by a sudden gunshot. She doubled up onto the ground. She looked up to see Zeru. "How the hell did you...?"
"Don't speak. Sinners should die only with the words of the God they forsakened," Zeru pointed the gun to her head.
"Dare you. Dare you. Double dare you."
"I hope you find a good place in hell..." He was about to pull the trigger when Shura leapt onto him and started to rip his chest open with his teeth. "The devil's advocate returns."
Just before he could shoot Shura someone stopped him by knocking the gun out of his hand while pulling Shura away from the exorcist in time for him to rip out his heart with his bare hands. When it was all over, Kurama saw that it was Jin.
"Little Cromwell, you shouldn't do that to a guy like that. Jin helped you but he was too late. Oh no, Jin doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore..." Jin looked at the exorcist who was now laying inert on the sidewalk. "No... Not anymore."
"They say you can only kill a dragon by ripping out his heart..." Shura was suddenly aware of the flesh in his hand. "My god... I did do it. I taste his flesh in my mouth. Moa says... I've done it again." He shook Mukuro. "Hey... Wake up... You're okay..."
"Wow... There is so much beauty in the world today. The sky looks so delicate and white with the snow starting to come down. It's like looking at a fresh new virgin in a wedding veil. Why didn't I ever look at it until now? I feel so light. I feel so empty... I feel so... God, I'm hungry. Get me a pie... Will you..." She went limp.
"God no..." Maya felt faint. "No..."
There was a voice there singing in all their minds...
"Humpty dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again."
---
Sakyo stared out the window of the house, pipe in hand. "Dealing with demons makes my head ache. I feel bad for the poor fool who takes up all this."
A poltergeist replied, "Silencio."
Black out.
---
The raven took off in flight. "Of course! Of course! Just walk towards the sun, boy! Just walk towards the sun!"
And so he did. The third man's ending was the happiest.
End chapter 59
(Whew!)
Notes:
1. Frickin long italicized story that seemingly had nothing to do with the chapter but was still in the beginning anyway and could have saved two pages of typing- Actually it does. (Are you for serious?) Yes, I am. Read it again. I'm super serial. (After reading) WHY DON'T YOU GUYS BELIEVE ME? I'M SUPER SERIAL!!
2. "What do you call it when a bunch of white men are pushing a carriage up a hill?"- It's actually a joke I heard a while back. Someone would get butt hurt if I told you it so I won't tell.
3. South Dakota Poem- It was a heartwarming email I got from Anna Jaganshi a while back. I still have it.
4. That thing about the dog- It's a reference to David Lynch's Rabbits. I'll tell you about it if you really want to know.
5. Catatonia- Basically it's this mental state after an event of "disturbance". (dictionary definition) There are three types- one where you're completely apathetic and can't move, you can move only with response to observation of outside movements and then when you repeat outside statements. Don't ask why I did that. I think I get a kick out of psychological crap like that.
6. Silencio- Means Silence in Spanish. It's like the last scene in Mulholland Drive. I haven't seen it but I kinda want to. I want to see Eraserhead too... It sounds like the mind fuck of the century...
Aahh... Shee-oot... I've been gone so long... (There is so much I have to say...) I'm super sorry about the long wait (Who's waiting though...?) but I made the chapter longer than usual and put more thought than usual(?) so I hope that makes up for it! (It's the thought that counts!) Aaahhh... (This must be how manga artists feel before release dates...) I'm actually trying to catch up on the written part. (Why am I still so close? I had months...) But I think it's come to the point where I'm better off just typing what I think and edit it all later. (By the way, I'm getting editing grammar and spelling mistakes in earlier chapter. I'll get to that once I'm back in the groove and typing this in all one sitting again. Maybe it's help if I got off youtube and wajas. Sigh)
You know... That last part about Humpty Dumpty... Here's a thought- why is he depicted as an egg all the time? Never once in the poem is he described as an egg. He could have been a man in power that either went insane or depressed or he actually fell off something. That's gruesome.
Also... I'm coming up with more fanfics but don't expect them until the spring (or the summer) because I'm having trouble getting everything together right now. But we can beat this! Finals aren't til March (I think) so I have plenty of time (this year) to update and devote to you guys cause I love you all so much! (But why is Yomi suddenly such an ass hat? Why is Shura suddenly nuts? Why is Mitarai in here anymore...? Goddamn me.)
Well adios amigos!
Much love, JC.