Chapter Eleven: Macha's Anger
Even Hiei had trouble seeing what had happened. One moment all of them were in an old fashioned Mexican stand off and the next Itsuki was healing the wounds (if you wanted to call the tiny scratches as such) that Yusuke and Kuwabara had given him. Yusuke and Kuwabara were standing in front of the kneeling Kurama as a shield. Hiei tossed away his broken sword and had a fist around the seals on his arm. Macha was kneeling on the other side of Kurama to steady the girl so the plant master could do his thing. Amaya was Macha's arms as Kurama was trying, with great worry and concentration, to stop the bleeding. Itsuki had slit her throat.
"Heh." They could see Itsuki's hands trembling as he wiped off Amaya's blood from his hand. It was impossible to tell if he was feeling sympathy for the girl or if he was just recalling his own untimely death. "It'll be hard for the little birdy to sing now. You boys are on your own now." He raised his hands. "How about you surrender now and we end all this needless fighting."
"Needless fighting?" Macha repeated in a deadly quiet tone. The men standing next to her shivered at her freezing tone. "Needless fighting… Oh you are a stupid, stupid little man."
The war goddess cradled Amaya's trembling form with a gentleness that none of the warriors there had ever seen in their lives. It was almost foreign. Macha laid the girl down carefully. She then stood up and shoved Yusuke and Kuwabara out of her path as she slowly walked towards Itsuki. Wrath seeped from the war goddess's every pour.
"Do you really not know?" She asked quietly. Her purpose, her very reason for existence, and the reason she, a goddess of war, stood before them now- surely they did not know at all. Macha screamed, "Hasn't anyone figured it out?"
They said nothing. The goddess's voice had shaken them all. The blank looks on their faces was enough of an answer and Macha's tone turned to scorn.
She said, "There is not a brain among you." (Although, to be fair, Kurama was a little occupied at the moment.) Macha twirled around and spoke with a voice full of authority. "Alright, a little math problem, three worlds, correct?"
There was silent agreement. All knew this. The three worlds were Human world, spirit world, and demon world. Macha paused to give them enough time to feel the answer. She smiled at them, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. She felt so powerful and drunk on the words that were escaping from her lips.
The goddess snapped back to reality and mockingly asked, "Would you like to see a flow chart or can you dicks for brains picture it in your heads?" She paused and laughed again. "Because the next part tends to get a little complicated."
"Youkai are moving into the human realm, can't complain the more the merrier, but humans cannot move to Makai for obvious reasons." Macha explained what they already knew, but there was something in her tone that suggested that it would do them well to pay close attention.
"Humans when they die to go to spirit realm." She laughed again. "Big old fat duh, but you don't see any spirit folk getting on a bus to Tokyo." Macha tapped her chin wickedly. "Nah, they're all busy up there with their mounds of paper work. Need to collect all those human souls and ship them off to the right place." She turned and pointed to the fledging god among them. "All with the exception of little Itsuki here." Macha purred, "Can't blame the boy for natural impulses. He just needs a place to vent them is all."
"Is there a point to all this?" Hiei asked darkly.
Macha shot the little youkai a punishing glare for his interruption. "What do think," She asked smoothly. "Is going to happen ten years, a hundred years, from now with all those youkai immigrants?" She licked her lips and in a suggestive tone said, "Yusuke here already got the process going."
The goddess wasn't even close to finishing her lecture and her excitement grew as she realized she had her audience's complete attention. "Here's to progress." She winked and then her tone became suddenly serious. "Ah, and then there's the yousei waking up from their little snooze thanks to jump-the-gun over here." She glanced at Itsuki and crossed her arms. "Human population suddenly gains a level in ESP and you throw everybody into the mixing pot called earth." With each word she raised her voice
"M-Macha….st-stop…please…" On the ground in a pitifully quiet voice begged. Kurama quickly urged the girl not to speak.
"Oh, I'm sorry sweety," Macha told the girl in a false voice of sympathy. "But mama's hella angry now!"
Then with a voice that could have woken up all the sleeping gods Macha shouted at the men, "The dead girl lying on the floor gets it! How about you lot?" She pointed at every single fighter there in turn. "Think about it. Your souls are all heading to a place run by a kid barely out of diapers and what's the one question everybody forgot to ask?"
Kuwabara's jaw nearly fell to the floor, "…Oh my god."
Macha clapped her hands, "Close enough! Did any of you ever think to ask 'why'?"
"Feh," Yusuke crossed his arms. "I've asked that plenty of times, but pacifier breath wouldn't give me an answer."
The ranting goddess looked directly at him and said, "Because it's not the answer that's important, but the question. Understand?"
"Clear as mud." Yusuke muttered.
"Excellent!" Macha finally smiled. "Let's continue." She turned back to Itsuki. "You've obviously mastered the gods' eye to some extent, would you kindly tell everybody the fate of Makai in the next 2.73549286592438912 billion years?"
"That's impossible," Itsuki growled. "Nobody can see that far."
"Not that you were ever looking there to begin with." Macha replied sourly. "It's called 'speculation' genius. Let's suppose for a moment that the reason you don't see anything is because there's nothing there. Makai goes poof and where have all the youkai gone?" She shrugged. "Well provided that mankind hasn't exploded the earth by then, the answer should be obvious. Are we seeing a pattern yet? A planet of diverse intelligent species with superhuman abilities and probably smells."
"Wait, wait, back up." Kuwabara finally go the hint. "You're saying that earth becomes the new Makai?" The other three visibly twitched in response to the description of their ancestral home.
"Give the man a golden star!" Macha declared. "All that college education clearly has not gone to waste." And then with a smirk she added smugly, "But don't leave to take a piss yet because I'm just getting started boys and girls."