Chapter Fourteen

Eeyyyy how's life? Sometimes I hate my writing style. I forget to write details and my writing can sound so stuttery and halting. Ugh. I write like I talk, which is to say, with a lot of "uh"s and run on sentences. Also I really love Mili's Unidentified Flavourful Object (UFO)? It's just so cute!

Yuki watched the tentacles collapse into a pool of blood and tried not to think about how they moved on their own. There were more important things to worry about, seeing as Yusuke was running up with a big goofy grin.

"Not bad, man!" he clapped Yuki on the shoulder, making the demon stumble a little.

"Thanks," she responded, rubbing her shoulder. He hit her pretty hard.

The rest of the quartet eventually joined as Yusuke began to go off on how Yuki might be stronger than him and how it might be super fun to fight her. Yuki noticed that Kurama seemed deep in thought, a slight scowl gracing his normally calm features.

"We should be moving, not wasting our time here," Hiei ground out, getting the group's attention.

"Indeed," Kurama smiled and nodded. "Koenma sent us here with a mission and we best get it done."

"Right," Yusuke sobered up, his previously jovial face turned stony.

"To take me to a demon who may or may not kill us," Yuki mumbled under her breath.

It hadn't actually been hard to find where this "Mitsu" had been hiding. In fact, one might even call the whole hiding thing pointless, since the underground cave had an intimidating amount of youki just bursting out to the point where if someone were to miss it, they'd either be dead or ridiculously stupid. Even non-spiritual humans would avoid the area just from bad vibes. To put it simply, Yuki wasn't excited about going in. As she glanced at her bodyguards? Companions? They seemed to have similar sentiments.

"So... this is where the demon is?" Yusuke swallowed a lump in his throat.

Yuki felt like turning right the heck around and running. Consequences be damned. Despite what the strange voice had told her, she was definitely skeptical about the whole "don't worry Mitsu won't attack you" thing.

"So do we just jump in?" Yuki found herself asking.

"I would normally recommend hanging back and formulating a plan," Kurama paused. "But we don't really need to fight do we?"

"We just need to deliver this brat and make sure we don't die," Hiei finished the unspoken thought. "And as far as I care, the only thing we need to do is push her in and be done with it."

"How kind of you to care," Yuki mumbled.

"What was that?" the fire demon snarled at her.

Yuki didn't meet his glare.

"That's what I thought," he huffed, satisfied.

"But seriously, do we just leave her here?" Yusuke crossed his arms. "I feel like that's sort of... I dunno. It just feels like we're leaving this unfinished."

"I suppose you're right Yusuke," Kurama sighed. "We should at least make sure she's properly interrogated."

"If that actually happens, this will have been a good day," Yuki rubbed her hands together worriedly.

Despite the youki, the walk through the cave was rather pleasant. It was filled with softly glowing crystals of all colors that lit the way and made it seem more welcoming than it should've felt. Every once in a while, the group would spot small creatures. So far there had been hermit crabs with crystal shells and lizards that looked they were made of rock. Other than that, they hadn't encountered anything remotely dangerous looking.

Until Mitsu.

They had heard her before they saw her. Her voice echoed in their heads and caused an enormous amount of pain.

"GET OUT," she screamed straight into their minds. "GO AWAY!"

Even Hiei, the resident Jagan user (whom Yuki thought should be resistant to mental attacks) was holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Fuck!" Yusuke swore. "What the hell is that?"

"LEAVE!" Mitsu screamed again.

"My interrogator, I'd assume!" Yuki yelled over the noise.

"What!" Yusuke yelled. He hadn't heard her.

Instead of repeating herself, Yuki focused on calling to Mitsu with her mind. Maybe that would work better. Jagan users were like telepaths, right?

Mitsu! Please stop this! We don't mean you harm! Mitsu!

The screaming in Yuki's head stopped.

Who are you?

Yuki glanced at the other three. They were still clutching their heads and grimacing.

I was sent here by Koenma. He wants you to interrogate me.

Mitsu was silent for a moment. The Spirit World Ruler wants my help? Me, a demon?

I guess so.

What is wrong with you? You feel wrong.

Yuki scrunched her face. Wrong with me? What are you talking about?

You don't feel right. You feel evil. I don't want you anywhere near me.

No please! Just go through my memories or whatever you do! And maybe stop screaming at the people with me. Please.

Again, Mitsu went silent. Yuki saw her memories being played in fast forward. She saw her childhood, she saw the martial arts classes, the violin classes, the extra lessons, and school. She saw her parents, her mother cooking food, then an argument, and then a movie played on the theatre screen. She watched her last moments of walking on the street and hearing two gunshots then feeling pain in her chest. She watched as the memory looked down at her chest and fell to the ground. She saw the white expanse where she talked to the voice and then everything was cut off.

Mitsu? Yuki called.

That's why you felt wrong. You're in a body that isn't yours.

Uh, yep.

It's not something that should happen. You need to go back to your original body.

I died, you saw that.

Then you should go to hell or heaven. You shouldn't be in a physical body. It goes against nature and could do irreversible damage to your soul.

What?

You heard me. That bastard brought you here. You shouldn't exist now.

'That bastard'?

The one who talks to you in the white world. You shouldn't trust him.

Why?

He stole from me. He's tried to kill me. And he's sent you here with that intention.

No! He hasn't! Really! Finishing looking at my memories! I promise he never told me anything like that!

Mitsu went through Yuki's memories until she came up to where they had stood at the cave entrance.

Follow the blue crystals. Your friends are blinded for a short while.

And then Mitsu's voice was gone. Yuki looked around and saw the other three shaking their heads and trying to re-orient themselves. Yuki figured that they wouldn't even notice her leaving.

Yuki followed the blue crystals that shone much more brightly than the rest. She watched the crystals increase in number and walked down a cramped path. Eventually, the path opened up into a huge underground lake.

You've arrived.

Yuki looked across the water where there was a piece of land right in the middle. A large shape sat half in the water and half on the shore of the tiny island.

"Mitsu," Yuki greeted.

The shape slid into the water and swam over to the shore where Yuki stood. As Mitsu pulled herself out of the water, Yuki could finally see what she was. Mitsu seemed to be half mermaid, and half harpy. She was three times Yuki's size, and her arm wings took up at least 2/3 of Yuki's view, barely leaving any background to peep through. Her lower half was that of a fish, but her upper half was female and feathered. She was bald and wore a strip of black cloth over where her regular eyes should have been. On her forehead was a glowing blue eye. Her stomach was bulging and heavy with what Yuki assumed to be a child.

"You really are pregnant."

Mitsu nodded. It is in my nature to seclude myself during my term. It is rare for us to successfully have children, although you know that already.

Yuki nodded. "So um..."

You came here to be interrogated by me, correct? If that is truly the case, then I suppose I should allow your friends to see.

"Um, you mean like show them my memories?"

Correct.

"Is it possible to leave out the whole 'I'm from another world/universe' thing?"

Why?

"I just... it feels like it would be a pain to explain... and I'm just really lazy and I hate those kinds of things so yeah..."

I see. I suppose I could leave it out, but whatever happens as a consequence is for you to deal with.

"Yeah, understandable."

Are you ready, then? For your mind to be thrown bare to those three?

"Uh, sure, I guess."

You're quite the vague little child.

"Just, hurry up please."

It didn't take long for Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei to make it down to the underground lake.

"Whoa," was the first thing out of Yusuke's mouth. "What the hell."

"I was unaware such a place was down here," Kurama hummed.

Hiei was as silent as always.

Hello Spirit World lackeys, Mitsu grinned, showing off sharp blue teeth.

"Oh my god, that is weird," Yusuke winced. "Are you actually talking to us, cuz I don't see your lips moving."

I'm speaking with my mind. My kind doesn't have the vocal capacity to effectively communicate with you.

"We're not Koenma's lackeys, either," Hiei spat. "Get it right."

Mitsu turned her enormous body to face the fire demon. Is that so? Forgive me, I assumed you were running errands for them, considering how pathetically weak you are.

Hiei seemed to bristle at that. "I am more than capable of killing a half dead excuse for a demon."

Despite both the blindfold and the threat, Mitsu only arched an eyebrow and smiled. Perhaps you could if you weren't so drained by that dragon in your arm.

"Ooh! She got you there!" Yusuke barked a laugh.

As Hiei began to draw his sword, Kurama stepped forward, stopping him.

"Mitsu is right, Hiei. It hasn't been nearly long enough for you to have fully recovered, so I suggest you step down before this becomes something we're likely to regret," the redhead flashed a warning look and the smaller demon took the hint.

Listen to the fox's words, little demon, Mitsu taunted. He's liable to save your life.

"Mitsu, if you could just show them, please," Yuki butt in. "I'd like to prove my innocence and get out of here, and I'm sure you want us to leave so you can have your baby."

Very well, Mitsu turned back to Yuki. This will only take a second.

Yuki's memories were just a little bit shocking. There wasn't anything beyond a few weeks before the Dark Tournament. Absolutely nothing. Yuki had never given any indication of being an amnesiac, except for maybe a little awkwardness and general unawareness of the Spirit World and Demon World, but if that was truly what she was, then many blanks began to fill in. She seemed clueless of her own abilities. She didn't know how demons worked. And most jarringly of all, she didn't even know Koenma or the detective.

"Wow, so you just woke up in a forest?" Yusuke asked, after the little show.

Yuki nodded.

"How did you figure out how to get to the Dark Tournament?" Kurama asked, still feeling a little unnerved.

She shrugged. "I just picked a direction and went. I met up with Toguro's team and just went with the flow."

Still peculiar.

"You just stayed for the fun of it?"

Another nod.

That didn't really seem to fit with how she acted. Yuki in general was a shy person, and seemed to prefer avoiding violence. From what little Yukina had told him, Yuki had been obedient in training with Genkai, rather soft spoken, and an introvert who didn't seem to like long conversations. Why had she stayed at the Dark Tournament?

Who are you, Yuki?

Ahhhhh finally chapter 14 is dooooone. I have been working on this for a while. Mostly because for some reason, I couldn't get into the groove of writing. Like, nothing felt right (write, get it? haha) In any case, I finally got to write in Mitsu. I am in love with her design and how she looks. She's a half harpy lady half mermaid. Think mermaid but with wings and three eyes. And also ridiculously huge. Actually, I didn't intend for her to be huge, but a thought passed in my mind that was sort of like, "hey wouldn't it be funny if Mitsu was this giant gorgeous harpy mermaid thing that towered over everyone?" So... like the Great Fairies in Legend of Zelda. Yeah. Ok so I don't know if anyone got it, but Mitsu is sort of a pun. It's supposed to be short for Mitsume (which means three eyes) and I just thought it would be funny if her name was Mitsu because of it.

On a side note, am I the only person who gets super angry when Japanese writers use the four saint beasts? It's just... really overused. I originally heard of it in Fushigi Yuugi (oh man that show was my jam when I was little alongside Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon) and then it popped up in Yu Yu Hakusho (that was only my 2nd time seeing it and I was so happy because I was reading it and I understood and it was like I was privy to this inside joke) and now all of a sudden I'm seeing it all over. I was just reading this BL light lovel called Villain Days and then I saw this character called Seiryu. And I have no idea why, but I just kind of snapped? I was like, "Jesus Christ there better not be a whole four characters named after the four saint beasts" and goddammit there was. Fucking. C'mon. Ok, I get it, it's super easy to use and I know names are hard to come up with, but goddammit. I just sort of see it as this super overused trope like the "Chosen One" trope and I don't actually hate it I'm just a little frustrated with how often I see it.

Oh god that was long. I'm so sorry.

NEXT TIME: THREE, FOUR, OPEN THE DOOR

DFTBA!