Chapter Five: Genkai's Tests-Part Three
"Well, well, that is no trinket, little girl. A relic like that has enough power to eat you alive," he caressed his words strangely with his tongue, as if the leer in his eyes has taken a new form and he sought to touch her with his voice. Excitement sparkled and fizzled through his energy, a coinciding rumble of warning lit down the woman's spine. Her calm, polite facade didn't waver in her silence.
It seemed a few seconds of her empty smile was enough to prod him onwards, "The gems alone are worth a fortune, but I bet its the knowledge inside that's priceless." The longing and greed in his voice couldn't be restrained.
Sarai could feel a thrum of threat and indignation from her connection with Takara. "Something tells me that you wouldn't make that cut. She's rather picky about what touches her." The woman walked slowly into the darkness, not really wanting to let him draw out the conversation, but also not wanting to provoke the impatience she could see setting into Genkai's eyes.
"How about a wager," he walked into the darkness as well, but at a different angle so there would be about thirty feet of space between them. "You lose, I get the book and your bag of tricks. I lose, and you get my own toys..."
Takara's angry buzz crackled within Sarai's mind. She was not a toy. The woman's answer was easy and still polite. "Sorry, but I doubt you have anything of comparable value." It was a baited response, one she hoped would provoke him into giving his secrets so that she could plan better.
"Haha, clever. If you wanted a test drive, all you had to do was ask..." With that, Daisuke whipped open his trench coat and reached into one of the inner pockets.
Sarai used that single moment of inattention to mask her energy and completely disappear. When he looked back up, she could sense him searching around with his useless eyes. She very quietly grabbed the pocket knife from her backpack and tucked it into her sock. The bag and the rest of it's contents were tossed about twenty feet away, colliding with a pillar and making a bit of a clatter.
"You didn't answer little girl..." his voice echoed off the walls, but Daisuke's attention was focused in the direction she'd thrown her bag. There was a coiled length of rope in his hands that gave off dangerous vibrations, pulling at the ambient energy of the room and devouring it.
In her partial fugue state Sarai felt echos of intense emotion coming from it. It was similar to the tang a spirit would leave in the atmosphere. Something that tasted of fear and torture and unholy things. She couldn't suppress the instinctive shudder that rolled through her and raised goosebumps on her skin.
"Well then, I suppose I can take the book from your cold dead body," he chuckled, and then his tone turned soft and dark, for her alone, "But not before I have some fun." He started walking slowly towards the pillar, uncoiling the rope.
Sarai waited until he was ten or so feet from the column before she summoned a barrier and sent it slamming into his back so that he would collide with the pillar, effectively using her defensive spell as an offensive attack.
Daisuke hit the pillar hard, splitting his lip open and leaving a crack on the stone. He growled and thrashed about, trying to find the little bitch who'd attacked him from behind. He swung the rope in a circle, but when it only hit the pillar he growled again.
Sarai took note of the damage he'd caused with his impact to the stone pillar. The man clearly had above average strength or maybe stamina to take a hit like that and be well enough to flail about looking for his prey. She shook her head at his lack of tact and sent another barrier flying at him, this one was only the size of her fist, and she aimed it at the back of his knee. He buckled and slammed into the ground with another yell. He'd over balanced and hit the pillar again. This time when get got up, he staggered away so that he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
"I suppose I'll have to heighten my awareness to defeat you. I didn't want to play this card so soon, but its obvious your experience with blindness is giving you an advantage." Daisuke tugged on a chain around his neck, a small metal disk about the size of a grapefruit came out from underneath his shirt. "Last chance to surrender, Princess..."
Sarai didn't answer, she was overcome with Takara's energy flaring brighter in her mind. The sigil! You must get the sigil!
What is so important- Sarai started the thought, but was interrupted by Daisuke's maniacal laughter.
"This little beauty is almost out of juice, but still quite formidable," his tone turned malicious. With a quick, dexterous movement he coiled the rope and it's dark energy around the sigil. "Byakko, obey your master..." Daisuke's chuckle was soft and cruel.
To say that I'd come this far without feeling love or heartbreak would be a complete lie. Where my parents failed so spectacularly, my Grandmother became a constant light in the dark. I had friends, I had lovers, I knew love, but I never knew the kind of love where you give all of yourself freely to something; the kind of love that can hurt you. So I couldn't say that I had a lot of experience with the kind of heartache caused by losing someone you care about.
When the sigil pulsed, the majority of the energy was sucked straight into the rope, as if it were some sort of leech. The leftover energy coalesced into something emaciated and weak at his feet. It took half a minute of gentle probing before I figured out what it was and then my heart broke in an entirely unexpected way.
It was like watching the moon explode, or seeing the devastation wrought on the natural environment when some man made disaster spread ruination through a pristine area. Once I figured out that the emaciated, pitiful creature on the floor was a living, breathing animal and that he was using it as a battery for his own senses the fight became about something entirely different that what I had set out for. That sense of pain, suffering, and sadness was so much clearer, I could feel it coating my tongue like bile. I couldn't think beyond the ache in my chest or the salt in my eyes.
The fool doesn't even know what he has. Takara's power sent tendrils of ice through my brain as she spoke. While my anger was passionate and overwhelming, hers was cold and calculating. I held onto it, letting it spread through me, latching onto it's calm. The stakes have been raised. You must get the sigil. Without it, you can neither follow your destiny, nor break the curse. You will be stuck, as you are. That sigil belongs to your blood.
You don't have to convince me further, Takara. The moment I felt the tortured aura of the trapped spirit beast I knew I couldn't back down. I could feel my own aura growing brighter and pushing at the confines of the dampening spell that kept me invisible to Daisuke's senses, but I didn't let it go. I needed to plan.
The beast will fight for you. That monster will not be expecting it. Surprise him into dropping the sigil and grab hold of it. She vibrated slightly before lifting from my hands and hovering in the air. I might have been impressed if the situation weren't so dire.
That creature doesn't feel strong enough to even put up an attack and I don't think I can risk letting it potentially get hit. Its too weak...There had to be another way. The thing wan't even strong enough to bare its own weight.
Use the healing link spell. You'll have to go deeper into fugue because its above your casting level. It will pull on you hard considering the weak state he's in...and be careful. That rope is draining his power through the sigil. Do not let it drain you.
"I still can't see you, Princess, but I can feel your anger. Looks like you're having a strong reaction to my little friend." Daisuke lifted his foot and slammed it into the frail body before him.
And with that I dove into fugue with more force than I had intended. My sense of the room around me was blotted out like someone looking straight into the sun, everything glared with the prismatic star-bursts I'd come to associate with my own power. I felt like I'd licked one supercharged battery and got struck by lightning in the same instant. In my fight to keep from being torn apart by the primal home of my spirit, I lost hold of the cloaking spell that kept me hidden.
The power echoed demands at me like thunder, it was insistent and constant. I couldn't remember why I was there, who the other souls in the room were. I only knew what the prisms of light longed for and everything hinged on the rumble of consciousness that lit fiery sparks into the prisms that glittered in my senses.
Take the sigil. Save Byakko. The voice was loud, female, and painful in the same way standing under an amp at a concert would hurt.
I was far deeper than I'd meant to go, but I couldn't pull back. Too weak, I'm too weak!
Take the sigil. Save Byakko. The prisms of color began to swirl in a dizzying patter, sparks of green shot out over my body. I could feel them buzzing into my muscles like stinging jolts, my skin grew tight around the unexpected enhancement. Take the sigil. Save Byakko.
I felt myself grow stronger with each spark of green until finally the prismatic fire of fugue state was more tolerable. Daisuke had finally spotted me as if he sensed the energy sparking on me. I could no longer tell if the room was dark or bright, the prismatic color spray that defined the net of my senses made everything seem as if it were glowing to me. Each and every detail was there for my perusal. Take the sigil. Save Byakko. This time, I acted on the command.
Kuwabara watched nervously as Sarai-san's back was devoured by the silky darkness of the room. Something about Daisuke set his teeth on edge, it was in the way the man's eyes flickered to the pretty girl when he thought no one was watching. When she'd dampened her energy, it had become a lot harder to focus on her. Focusing on it, he realized he could only tell by the completely blank space she inhabited where not even the ambient energy of the room flowed.
When she lured the older man into the first trap, he'd cheered even though he couldn't figure out how she'd pushed him into the pillar from twenty feet away. The energy hadn't felt the same as Yusuke's spirit gun, or whatever Amaru had done with his palm. This felt similar to the barriers they'd walked through, only adjusted for the corporeal instead of the incorporeal. When she'd managed to smash his face into a pillar for the second time, he relayed the action back to Yusuke who couldn't see beyond the blanket of shadows. "Sarai-san got a second hit and she hasn't even moved yet."
Then Daisuke had pulled out the rope and his bad feeling raised by tenfold. That. Thing. Was. Evil. It made a shiver run down his spine. Sarai wasn't anywhere near it though and since Daisuke didn't have a chance of sensing her with his weak awareness levels, he changed tactics. Kuwabara watched in confusion as the man summoned...something.
That's when the energy of the room changed. The ominous feeling that had been pressing in on him since they'd walked in was chased away. Sarai's control had been snapped from within and prismatic color had flared out like a disco ball. He looked around the room at the pretty colors, but Yusuke couldn't seem to see them so he assumed that it was a spirit awareness thing. And then, just like when Yusuke had fought Kibano, that weird feeling seemed to come alive around her as her power fed from the prisms and ambient energy alike, strengthening her muscles, making them faster and more durable.
"Looks like she's finally serious," Genkai mused.
Kuwabara had to agree. She didn't have that power level before. She'd been holding back this whole time and he didn't know why. He didn't have time to think more because something new happened.
The fiery blue prism sparks seemed to weave themselves into a chain, which flowed out of her and snaked across the room, directly into the creature at the man's feet. "What is that?" The red head's voice normally sounded a bit confused, but it was thicker as he tried to puzzle out what he was watching. This fight was nothing like the ones him and Yusuke got into. There was a lot less movement and a lot more going on beneath the surface.
"She cast a healing link. I can't figure out why though..." Amaru the ninja was peering into the darkness as well. Suddenly the woman didn't seem as weak as he'd first assumed.
"Hmmm," was Genkai's reply. The old woman was watching intently and if he had to guess, he'd say she was excited by the recent turn of events.
Before anyone else could respond, Sarai sprinted forward. With each step, the blue chain grew thicker and brighter, pumping energy right into the creature. It was then he realized that it was a large cat of some kind. Emaciated in form and corrupted in spirit, he hadn't been able to tell. He had a whole new reason to hate Daisuke. "Knock him DEAD, Sarai-san!"
The girl leveled a sweeping kick to the back of Daisuke's legs just as the hunting cat lunged for the man's face. The older man dropped what he was holding in surprise as he tried to roll away from both of his attackers. Sarai jumped and reached out to grab the amulet Daisuke had been holding onto, but the rope unfurled on its own accord and whipped her right across the face. Her yelp came out loud and pained. The prismatic light bouncing around the room dimmed for a split second before the rope reared back, much like a snake about to strike.
"What is that?" It was Amaru asking the question this time.
Kuwabara watched and the rope finally struck. It hit Sarai again like a whip, once more across the face, and then coiled around her. The sparks of color dimmed once more, though this time they didn't get bright again.
"Vampiric rope. I haven't seen any in a very long time. Quite difficult to make-" Genkai started, but froze along with everyone else when the Sarai's shrill, pained scream echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls. It was a far more panicked, terror driven reaction than what the older woman had been expecting. She found the reason in the remnants of Sarai's power in the air.
The girl had seemingly lost control of everything in that moment. The colors of suffering and agony blotted out all the other color sparks that made up her energy, but it wasn't just her own. Kuwabara knew what ghosts felt like, the echos their haunted memories brought, the emotions they left behind when they'd suffered violent trauma. He felt that and it was coming from that rope. Fear, hatred, torment, all devoured by the rope from Daisuke's victims as it bound them while he systematically ruined and broke them down until there was nothing left. He could only feel it as a lingering echo, Sarai must have been in the middle of a storm. As a man, he couldn't stand for this. He started forward, but Genkai's voice made him still.
"Do not interfere, she knew the risk."
"How can you say that!?" Kuwabara was about to release a litany of reasons why he was absolutely going to help her, but then a pulse echoed out through the room. And then another and another. What he sensed made his eyes grow wide.
I thought I was going to die. Even if I found a way to live through it, my sanity was reaching it's breaking point. Power bled out of me through the link and the whip. I was going to die in agony, screaming until my lungs bled and chased into death by the phantoms of this man's sin. I lay on my side and curled up like a fetus, but I could not stop screaming.
That's when I felt something hard and cold pressed between my knees and chest. The sigil. I'd been reaching for it when the rope had attacked me.
Take the sigil. The feminine voice was fainter through the leeching energy of the rope. While it was quieter, it also held a pleased note. Save Byakko it insisted.
Next, Takara's presence thrummed through my mind. She had a plan and I was too weak to do anything but let it happen. I felt her presence grow stronger as she came physically closer to me. She'd pushed my backpack along with her and when she appeared by my side I stopped pressing my legs against my chest. Instead of clattering to the floor, the sigil actually glowed and Takara flipped over, allowing it to sink into it's carved likeness on her back cover.
Something foreign flooded my consciousness. The twisted cat dissipated in the same moment I felt strength and stamina that I'd never known drown out my senses. There was a distinctly male presence. With each beat of my heart, it grew stronger until it eventually blocked off the feedback from the rope entirely. It kept growing and pulsing until there was an entirely new heartbeat and in the next moment white light flooded the room like an explosion. The ropes burst into flames, unable to cope with the foreign power as it blazed like a small sun, it fell into ash around me.
"I will end this mortal's life." The voice echoed around me, masculine and angry. I knew that this was not something I'd heard with my mind, but with my ears.
It was Byakko and he was furious. I silently agreed and kept my eyes open, unashamed of my decision. I felt only cold apathy that I would be the instrument of this man's death. He deserved something far less merciful and Byakko deserved his revenge.
With my acceptance, I felt the presence take over me and I watched passively as I shot forward with a speed I would never attain on my own. I slammed into Daisuke like a brick wall. With some surprise, I noted that my sense of pain was duller...or maybe I hadn't been damaged by the attack as much as I would have been normally. It was hard to tell when I wasn't really at the steering wheel, so to speak. Daisuke flew backwards, towards the gathered crowd and hit the wall with a snap. Light flickered over his shocked face and he tried to pull himself up, leaving bloody smears on the wall behind him.
I must have looked like a monster as I emerged from the shadows. The fear on his face was something I would never forget. It would haunt my nightmares, along with the blood draining from his ears and the way blood seemed to foam strangely at the corners of his mouth. I was so close already, my dull nails pressing into his windpipe on both sides as if I were about to quite literally rip it out.
Byakko must have taken pity on one or both of us in that moment. He drew my hand back and I could feel his presence changing shape within my soul. His words echoed around me again, "Leave your toys and take your life."
Daisuke didn't seemed to realize that Byakko was giving me control back. He started emptying his pockets, a task made much harder by his shaking, blood slicked hands.
I could feel Byakko's presence like a warm ball in my chest. There was another pulse and his energy started to coalesce, cradled in my arms. After a flash of light that blinded my senses, I found that I was holding a silver kitten with iron gray stripes. He was tiny and looked up at me with molten amber eyes. I am reborn, his sleepy purr seemed to say. I opened my bag and placed the little cat onto the velvet I'd had Takara wrapped in earlier. On impulse, I grabbed the taser, not wanting it to go off somehow around the little cat.
Daisuke had finished his task and looked up to realize that his former slave, the thing that defeated him, was now a tiny sleeping fuzz ball and an irritating blind woman, who'd destroyed one of his most prized artifacts. Rage overtook reason and he grabbed the last artifact he'd set out. One he only used as a last ditch effort, The Arcane Kris, which was a wavy shaped ceremonial dagger. He lunged forward and aimed right for that infuriating floating spell book that the woman seemed so fond of.
Reacting on reflexes and instinct alone, Sarai jerked the taser up and aimed for his weakest spot. Pulling the trigger, she shot the electrified barbs right into the man's groin, getting a direct and close range hit. His scream rivaled the one she made trapped in his rope, he fell to the ground instantly, thrashing as the barbs did exactly what they were designed for.
When the electric shock wore off and he was left whimpering in pain on the floor, she leveled a none too delicate kick to his ribs and used the toe of her shoe to slide the strange looking dagger back to the pile of crap he'd taken out of his pockets. Daisuke passed out, unable to cope with the pain, splotches of blood stained his pants.
"Jeez, and she kicks the man while he's down..." Yusuke's voice sounded a little disturbed.
"Remind me not to piss her off..." Kuwabara's voice was a strained whisper.
"Is that incapacitated enough to end this?" Sarai shot a cold look over her shoulder. Every male in the room was looking at her like she'd just ripped off a puppy's head and danced in the blood fountain.
Genkai started to laugh. "That'll be a pleasant walk to the nearest hospital. Winner: Sarai."
A/N: So here is where things get a little wonky. I had this idea for a sigil with tied in with the four heavenly Kings, which already has parallels set up in the story. I will try to keep it a simple as possible. The kitten Byakko has nothing to do with the one in the anime. The Saint Beasts still exist. The Hakusho team still all represent different aspects of the Four Heavenly Kings. I wanted to include the same legend into the Scarred Background/Mythos. You'll be able to uncover more about the Sigil and the Four Heavenly Kings as the story progresses. Sarai is not an aspect of any of the four. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I feel like the story gets good in this chapter and then just gets better. I need to figure out how to make the first four chapters just as interesting without taking away any of the set up.
Please let me know how to improve or if you enjoyed it by leaving a review!