In The Blood
By: Ryu Katanna
Beta:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Eight
Kagome watched on as Kurama fought in his match against Shigure. He was fighting with something inside his own heart, and she could see the similarities to an old friend of hers. Kurama, as an avatar, was human and demon both. Now she could see as he struggled to find the answer to his internal conflict. Giving a small sigh she decided she would speak with him afterward, and provide any guidance she was able.
She decided this as Inuyasha had been in a similar situation and she could sympathize with what Kurama was no doubt struggling with. Demons by nature didn't understand the emotional attachments of humans and their true worth. Demons themselves were more beastial in some ways as they followed instinct rather than emotions more often than not. Even a demonic parent may only hold the barest of affection toward their own offspring, but their instincts were what drove them to protect their young.
Unlike Inuyasha, once his human body died of old age, the soul of the spirit fox would then be restored enough to take on his true form. There was also the fact that Kurama was High Lord Yomi's second in Gundara. Now that the ruling class of Makai had been restructured, Kurama held a high standing. From what she knew of him, he had a keen mind and was strong enough to hold his position. Shippo had told her of Youko Kurama five hundred years ago. He was a legend even then, and his intellect and input would be something to be valued going forward as the changes took place in Makai. They could not afford for him to be lost; either to death or to himself.
She could see that Kurama was injured as well when Yusuke returned with him from the arena. His clothing was soaked with his blood, and Kagome could see that he was struggling to remain standing even as his weight was being supported by his old friend. Looking at her brother she made sure to gain his attention before motioning him to follow her.
"Bring him, Yusuke. I will provide assistance to your friend." Was all she said before she started walking back to her viewing room.
"What does she mean, Yusuke?" Kurama asked his friend as he held his bloodied arm and could feel the energy drain starting to take its toll on his human body.
"I'm not sure, but if she says she wants to help then she means it. Let's go." He said only to be interrupted by the group around them when he started moving the injured avatar in the opposite direction of the medical bay.
"Kurama needs to get to the infirmary to see a healer! It's not the time for you two to be running off." Botan demanded to which Yusuke shook his head at her.
"We need to go now. You don't know my sister like I do. She obviously stepped out here for a reason, and I'm not going to be the one to make her angry right now." Thinking about the meeting with Yomi and what she had done to Yusuke, Kurama nodded in agreement. He had been wanting to watch Hiei's match before going, but he found he was even more curious about the young demoness.
"I'll be alright. It may be best not to keep her waiting."He said before he left them to follow his old comrade down the halls and into a private viewing room he had not known was there.
Kagome had moved two chairs to face each other in front of the screen and had left the viewing screen on to show Hiei's match. Having Kurama take one of the luxurious chairs with Yusuke's help she seated herself into the other. She hesitated only a moment before nodding as she looked at the bloodied cuts in the fabric of his top.
"I'll need you to remove your shirt." She told him primly before shuffling a few things around on the table next to her.
"My shirt?" Kurama said in puzzlement and a little disbelief.
"I will need to see your wounds to clean and heal them." She sighed slightly before throwing a clean cloth into the warm water she had in a bowl next to them.
Kurama looked at his friend in inquiry only to receive a nod to do as she was telling him. He could trust her. Deciding that Yusuke would have warned him if she was lying Kurama carefully shed his shirt. He noticed that though there were a few clean cloths and a bowl with a cloth in the water there were no bandages or anything to wrap the wounds nearby.
'What is she going to do?' He thought to himself in some confusion.
"I'm going to heal your wounds now. Yusuke, I would like to speak with him privately. Your match is coming up soon so you should prepare. Could you have Hokushin or Seitei bring him some fresh clothing for your friend, please?" Kagome asked as she held Kurama's arm gently with one hand and rested the other over the largest area of torn skin without touching it.
"Got it. I'll stop by after my match." He told her as the room lit with the baby blue healing energy that started glowing around her hand with a gentle warmth.
"You had better." She mumbled as they heard Kurama gasp slightly in surprise.
The door clicked shut leaving them alone. Kurama watched in silence as Kagome moved her hand over each wound. Anywhere her energy touched; he felt a soothing warmth as the pain numbed. The skin and muscle mending and closing up without even a blemish left to the skin. No sign there was ever a wound there just a few moments before. The young demoness did this without any attention paid to the blood which covered her other hand as she held him steady.
"You know during battle you are supposed to be fighting with your opponent. Not yourself. If you hadn't done so then you wouldn't have many of these." She spoke gently as she finished and pulled away.
"How?" Kurama looked at her as she used the warm cloth to clean away the blood on his arm.
"If you're asking about how I healed you then you must swear never to speak of it. If you're asking how I knew your fight was not with Shigure, but yourself, then I will tell you I have a friend. A friend I care very much for, and he fought with himself in much the same way for a very long time." She said before dipping the cloth in the now stained water before handing it to him to clean his chest and abdomen himself.
"A friend like me? How so?" Kurama asked curiously.
Yusuke had never talked about his sister. In fact, none of them had even known he had a sister until that day they had come to speak to Yomi in Gandara. She had left that day before anyone had really gotten to talk to her. Yomi had told him he had received correspondence from her days later; claiming her to be an interesting specimen. Now here she was speaking with him, and gently tending to his wounds. She was a mystery to him, and any fox loved a puzzle.
"He is a half-demon and my best friend. He struggled for a long time with being part of both worlds but accepted by neither. The demons despised him as weak for his human blood, and the humans shunned him for his demon blood." She explained only to continue when she saw she had his attention.
"He struggled for a long time to form relationships. Even ridiculed by both sides of his lineage; he eventually found people who accepted him for who he is rather than what he is. He just had to be himself. What I'm trying to tell you is that you don't have to choose one or the other. Demon or human. Just live as yourself. Everything else will either fall into place or you'll work it out."
"Is it really just that simple though?" Kurama spoke mostly to himself as he thought about what she was saying.
"Sometimes the answers to the hardest questions are just that. What matters is how you choose to live. Nothing good can come from denying what and who you are. As an avatar, you are currently demon and human both. That's all I wanted to say." Kagome stood from her chair and moved to the door just as someone knocked.
Opening the door she accepted the clothes from the demon on the other side. Telling him she'd be right out she came back in and handed him the clean folded fabric.
"Why help me?"
"That too is simple. You are Yusuke's friend." She said with a small smile before she turned and left the room; closing the door behind her.
Kurama looked at the closed door and then down to the clothing in his hands. Fingering the fabric he sat back down as he thought. She had spoken only enough to relay her advice but had been clear in her message while distrcting him from what kind of power she had used to heal him. What was more, it had been good advice.
'She really is an enigma.'
123
After leaving Kurama in her viewing room to have privacy as he changed, Kagome decided to watch the end of this match with the masses. It had already started while patching up Kurama and so she walked with Hokushin to stand near Enki and the others of her Father's old friends. Yusuke had pointed them out to her early on, but she had yet to speak with any of them.
"Little lady! So you are here. We thought you would be in the competition." Enki greeted her as the five others turned to see who he was talking to.
"Not this one. Maybe the next, but we will see." Kagome replied as she smiled.
"So you are the mysterious daughter of Raizen." A man with dark blue hair and blue eyes said as he looked at her.
"I do not know about mysterious so much as very busy. I'm sorry we have not been introduced before. My name is Kagome. Should one of you win I will be supporting you as the acting High Lady for the territory of Tourin while my brother is away." She replied as she bowed a bit in greeting while a few of them started chuckling.
"I've told you Kagome. No need to be formal." Enki told her with a smile as the others settled down.
"Oh. Right. It can be a little hard for me sometimes with people I'm not very familiar with. I picked up a few habits from an old friend who trained me a long time ago." Kagome replied with a bit of a sheepish look as she tried to adjust her stance to be a bit more relaxed in unfamiliar company.
"I see. Well then let me introduce everyone. This is Kujou, Tetsuzan, Den-Hou, Saizou, and you already know Kokou. Natsume is there fighting Mukuro, and Shu and Souketsu have been pitted together as well."
"It is nice to finally get to meet you all. I've been watching the matches. I may not have agreed with Yusuke on this whole thing, but at least I've gotten to meet some of Father's old friends. It's nice to be able to put faces with the names he spoke of to me." She replied as she looked back to see Yusuke's match was to start next.
"You didn't agree about holding the tournament?" Saizou asked her as the match started and they all turned to pay attention.
Not long into the match and Yusuke had seemingly given up. It didn't take much for Kagome to know what was wrong. She had spoken to Raizen about it once. His face spoke volumes to her as he seemingly gave up and withdrew into himself.
'This may be just what he needs to figure out just what he is fighting for.'
That moment came as Yomi was knocked to the ground. Kagome felt herself smile with pride as the Mark of the Mazoku was shown clearly for all to see on her brother's features. He had finally found his answer.
"I could not publicly oppose him at the time as he had just become the King after Father, but no I didn't agree. If someone like Yomi, with his goals of taking over both the human world as well as the spirit world, were to win then it would upset the already delicate balance. Yusuke did not really think about everything before he proposed the idea. I agree that a competition open to all of the demon world to participate does have its advantages, but so too can it all turn bad after a winner is declared." Kagome explained as she watched Yusuke trying to figure out a way to work around Yomi's defenses as he just blasted away at them.
"What is it that you want then?" Kujou asked her.
"I just do not want to disgrace either Father's memory or his last wishes. I only knew him for so little time, but he gave me more in that time than I would ever have expected. One more reason to fight, and live on. Just not always with fists. There are other ways to meet one's goals."
Glancing over she could see a few small smiles and looks of thought. She jumped slightly as a large red hand patted her shoulder in approval. Looking over she could see Enki giving her one of his large smiles. She felt herself relax a bit as she turned back to the screen.
123
She had caught them on their way out.
"Hello, High Lord Yomi. Young Shura."
"Daughter of Raizen." Yomi's tone was cordial though not cold.
"I wanted to thank you for working with me on the restructuring of Makai's ruling class. I'm sure you had problems of your own with the four Cardinal Lords of your territory. I would be pleased if you would call me by my name; Kagome." She said with a bow of greeting.
"I see. I can not deny that you had a few good ideas in dealing with the fallout, but it would seem that things will soon be even better than before." Yomi replied with a nod of acknowledgment.
"Am I to take it you will be leaving before the conclusion of the tournament then?" She asked as Shura ran around a bit, and she felt a warmth at his childish exuberance.
"Yes, I will be taking a leave for this journey with my son." Yomi said, catching Kagome by surprise.
"Oh. I did not know. Then will your second be holding your position as High Lord and within the Council in your absence?" Kagome asked him as she could see that Shura was getting a bit impatient.
"No, I do not think so. Actually, I do not believe he will be staying for much longer. I would ask, if it not be an imposition, that you stand in for us in our place as well for a while. I will return in a few years, but I will need someone who has the skill to speak with the Lords in my place. Currently, I do not have anyone other than Kurama who they would follow." Yomi told her and he could hear her breath hitch in a bit of shock.
"May I ask why you would choose me?"
"Yusuke has inspired a feeling in me I have not felt in a long time. You have shown your aptitude for diplomacy in our correspondence, and your dedication to the people in Tourin. Between the two of you, I feel our world just may be able to change. I would ask you because I feel the Cardinal Lords of my territory may hold more respect for you than anyone else I could ask such. They may be more willing to co-operate with you than one of less standing from Gandara. Would you do this for me?"
"I would be honored to do so in your place until either your return or the return of your second." Kagome answered him as she nodded.
"Excellent. I will send missives to the Cardinal Lords and my House to notify them of the circumstances, as well as be sure you receive what you will need for the time we are away. Until we meet again, Lady Kagome. Shura, we are leaving."
Kagome watched as father and son disappeared from view before looking back toward the stadium. More work to deal with, but she would do so. If Yomi, formerly of the three Kings and now a High Lord, felt her capable then she would not discredit the trust he had put in her. It would only be for a time. He would return, and when he did he would not find his territory worse than when he had left. It was her hope that when he returned he would have found what he was looking for.
In a way, she thought he just may be testing her. This would be a test she was determined not to fail. The older demon had been a rival to her father, and she would not shame either Raizen nor herself by failing the task set before her. For the sake of continued co-operation between the three territories, Kagome would not let Lord Yomi find her wanting when it came to her capabilities.
123
A week had passed after Yomi and Yusuke's fight. Today the winner would be announced and presented. Yusuke was still out of it in the infirmary, and Kagome had just left to watch as the new King of Makai would be presented. She found to her relief that Enki would, in fact, be holding the position. Kagome smiled as he talked about his plans and how he had chosen the honor her father's memory.
"-it won't be hard to remember. I'll only be enforcing one great law. My law is, from now on, there'll be no more mischief in human world! We've been fighting for too long. It's something I learned from an old friend. This is how I'll honor his memory. I already have the start on my council thanks to the efforts of a certain little lady. We'll have the rest of the particulars figured out this week. Well, thank you for coming everyone, and listening to me. Things are going to start getting better around here." Enki finished confidently before walking off the stage.
Kagome met him not long afterward. Her smile had yet to leave and she allowed a single tear to trail down her cheek.
"Thank you, Enki. Thank you for honoring his memory like this. Things have turned out far better than I could have dreamed." She told him with a deep bow.
Enki only smiled before raising his large hand to ruffle her hair a bit and pull her up to stand straight.
"Don't let yourself get too stressed. We'll work everything out. Things will get better now. Your hard work won't be for nothing." He encouraged her before they started walking so he could meet back up with Kokou and his friends.
"I'm sure things will be better now. I can not promise no stress. We've had a development with High Lord Yomi." She told him only for him to pause for a moment as he looked at her.
"What's happened now?"
"Nothing bad. I am just going to be doubly busy for a while. He has taken a leave to journey with his son. As his second will be gone as well he has asked that I watch over Gandara for him until they return. I think he has found something. I think the fight with Yusuke has inspired something in him, and I do not think it to be a bad thing." Kagome smiled softly as she kept them walking.
"Your old man would be proud. Of both of you." His tone held such self-assurance that Kagome could not deny him.
"I truely hope so."
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So the tournament has ended! A special surprise in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed this one. From here on it'll start to deviate from the YYH storyline.
~Ryu
Edited: 06/22/2023
