Chapter 9: The Treacherous Truth
Yuki hadn't expected to come across them like this. Rain had simply asked him to retrieve the red rainbow pearl from the village where Moroha's group had left Tokotsu's head. Rain said that the pearl would be with the head of Tokotsu and he urged Yuki to destroy the village after the pearl was retrieved inorder to send a message to those who dared to cross him.
Somehow Yuki ended up coming across their group unexpectedly on his way to the village. He hid right away as soon as he realized who they were. He listened to them for a while as he tried to learn why they were now hell bent on killing him.
If Moroha hadn't disappeared for good that day, what reason did they have to be here? Did they have a stronger resolve against him for deceiving them? He wondered.
He watched them from the trees as they exchanged ghost stories. He stayed under the cover of his barrier so that no one would catch his scent but unfortunately for the sake of him gaining clarity they didn't bring up his name even once in their conversations. The four of them were carrying on joking and laughing as if they were just camping out for a night.
He truly didn't understand them at all. They didn't even move like a group that was on a mission as there was no seriousness or tactical talk among them even as the later hours crept up. They looked like they were just having fun as if they weren't after him at all.
They were so different from everything that Yuki had ever known. Too different for them to ever truly understand each other, but Yuki was glad that he at least got to see for himself that Moroha was alive and well. A smile even tugged at the corners of his lips before he caught himself.
They were his enemies he reminded himself over and over. He was supposed to end the ones who were out killing his allies, he knew this but despite everything even now he just couldn't bring himself to want to harm any of them and his thoughts felt heavy.
He honestly couldn't see Moroha wanting revenge on him in the way that Rain had detailed either. From what he knew of her over their short time together that wasn't her. So why were they here? What was their end goal? There had to be some kind of mistake in the report. He thought and as the hours went by that he was watching them he saw Moroha get up and go into the woods with her sword drawn.
Did she know that he was here? She couldn't, there was no way that she could have caught his scent from within his barrier. He thought and he was right all she had done was go and free a pathetic squirrel that had gotten itself stuck in a bush of thorns.
There she was again doing things for no good reason and he decided that now with her alone would be a good time to get to the bottom of what exactly they were up to out here.
Yuki silently jumped from his place from the tree above her ready to confront her himself.
They would finally see eachother again for the first time since he saw her fall. Her back was to him as he fell silently landing behind her seconds after he jumped from the tree.
Her hair was down for a change he noticed, free of her normal red bow. She really wasn't expecting anything serious. The moment that he broke the silence in the forest she turned around fast and looked at him surprised.
"You never could mind your business could you?" He asked managing to sound cold as he spoke.
Moroha replied immediately, her expression changing in an instant to a more determined stare as she spoke. "I don't think that I can when it involves my friends."
He scoffed. "You still believe that we're friends after everything that's happened?"
"Enemies don't look the way that you did when I was falling down the well." She said sincerely.
"Friends don't go on the warpath for all of my allies until we meet again." He shot back.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, confused.
"This quest that you're on, my Uncle has informed me that you've declared yourself my enemy and have vowed to slay me along with all of my allies." He stated matter of factly and she looked at him for an extended moment watching as the serious look on his face never wavered before she couldn't help it anymore and laughed taking him completely off guard and making a wave of indignation pass through him before she spoke again and he blushed lightly in embarrassment at being laughed at like this. No one has ever dared to do this to him before. He shouldn't be taking this kind of treatment from her he thought but did nothing to stop her nonetheless.
"We're not out to kill your allies Yuki." She said as she composed herself from her laughter at where he could have possibly gotten that idea from. It couldn't be any father from the truth.
"Then why did you go after Tokotsu and Jakotsumaru?" Yuki asked, annoyed.
"They were terrorizing a whole town full of people!" She exclaimed "And we needed a place to stay, so we slayed them in exchange for food and shelter. We even got a decent amount of coins for Tokotsu's head." She added proudly.
"You did this knowing that they were my allies didn't you?" He asked skeptically.
"No." she said honestly and her brows drew down as she looked at him as if it hurt to recall this part of what happened.
"I didn't know that they were your allies until they told me how much you wanted me dead above everyone else." She said,
"What!?" He asked surprised.
"According to Rain, the order to kill us all, especially me at all costs came right from you." She stated as she watched him carefully.
"I didn't even know that you were alive. I couldn't have." He said honestly and she believed him. She trusted that he was being honest with her this time.
"I didn't think that you would do that." She sighed.
"Yuki I'm not out to kill you and I'm not looking for revenge. We came here for you. We came all of this way to find you because I want to know the truth about what you kept from me that night. I want you to be honest with me." She asked and he paused as he carefully considered what to say.
He had had the time to reflect on what happened during the time that he spent with her. It still felt more like fiction than reality but he understood his own thoughts more now. Especially when it came to her and her friends and it would seem like Rain, the one person who he thought would never betray him was moving behind his back.
Yuki looked into her brown eyes that did nothing to hide how she felt. She was exactly how he remembered her even now that she knew that he lied back then. Nothing had changed in her eyes when she looked at him. He could tell. So he decided that he would tell her the truth this time since they wouldn't be seeing eachother again.
"I… I was happy over the two days that we spent together. You were the first friend that I have ever made just by being me even if I wasn't being completely honest. You all accepted my human self without hesitation or hostility, it hadn't all been a lie." He said and a smile started to form on her face.
"It wasn't all a lie." He said again before she could respond. "But we will never be like we were before. You are the daughter of my enemy and that puts us at odds with each other. Even if I don't want it to, and even if I stopped now you're father and the twins father would still be out for my blood. I inherited this fight the moment that I was born. I can't simply just walk away. " Yuki said.
"Sure you can, that's why we came after you. We'll help you. I'll talk to my dad and Towa and Setsuna will talk to theirs and we'll—."
"Rain won't quit until they're dead." Yuki said seriously. "I can't leave the only family member that I've ever known alone. He wouldn't do that to me so I won't do that to him. I won't disappoint him." Yuki stated.
"Yuki." Moroha grabbed his hands in hers, taking him by surprise. "I don't think that Rain has your best interest at heart. Someone who loves you shouldn't treat you like you owe them something and he's been lying to you." She said serious.
"Don't talk about him as if you know what he's like. I may not always understand him but he is always looking out for me. Even when looking out for a half demon like me was hard he always took care of me. He made me strong and always protected me. He's all that I have and I won't abandon him." He pulled his hands away from hers not even allowing her to try and tempt him into changing his mind.
Her brows drew down and she kept serious as she spoke.
"Yuki, I don't know him and I won't pretend to but you need to be careful with him if he's lying about me what else could he lying to you about?"
"That doesn't concern you." He stated coldly and she couldn't read his emotions.
"Listen to me I don't need your help and I never want to see any of you again, go home and stop looking for me. If you keep this up and it might just get you killed."
"I'm not leaving you, we're friends it may have started out wrong but we can make it right just let us help you." She pleaded.
" I don't need help. Moroha you're not invincible even if you don't believe it you can die I'd you're not careful. You had all of your friends worried sick when you disappeared. Stop worrying about an enemy of your family and gain some common sense. It's time that you went home." He said before turning from her and walking away until he disappeared into the forest.
She didn't chase him. He answered all of her questions and she had been right but he still didn't want to go with her. She didn't know what else to say to him and she couldn't force him to do anything. She didn't know what to do next so she went back to camp and stayed up almost all night thinking about what she should do now that they're quest to find Yuki was basically over.
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The next morning Towa woke up with a yawn and stretched her arms as she woke. She noticed her cousin next to her wide awake and staring off in deep thought.
"Hey, what's up with you, have a bad dream?" Towa asked her, bringing Moroha out of her trance and she shook her head.
"No, I saw Yuki last night." She said.
"You what!? Why didn't you wake us up?!" Towa asked surprised that she hadn't even smelt him near.
"Quiet down." Hisui groaned from his spot next to Setsuna as they were both still sleeping.
"Moroha spoke to Yuki last night!" Towa yelled and Hisui sat right up, waking Setsuna in the process which caused her to glare at him.
"He was here last night and he told me the truth, it wasn't all a lie and he doesn't want to hurt us. I don't think that he's even too sure about wanting revenge anymore, he just doesn't want to disappoint his Uncle." Moroha retold what Yuki had said to her the night before sadly stating.
"He said to go home and he doesn't want to see any of us."
"I see." Setsuna said. "Well you know that I didn't want to follow him from the beginning but at this point we've come too far to just let him go now he'll end up dead if nothing is done. From what you're saying it sounds like he's only going through with this now because he feels like he has to stay loyal to Rain who is most likely deceiving him."
"Setsuna's right. We can't exactly leave Yuki alone or our parents will kill him and I don't like how Rain is moving around Yuki either. He has to be scheming something behind his back." Towa said.
"Well then team, are we all in agreement that we should still go after Yuki despite his protest?" Hisui asked.
"But he said that he didn't want our help." Moroha said.
"Yeah but we're his friends and true friends still show up when you need help rather you want it or not." Towa said.
Moroha nodded in response. "I guess that's four then." She smiled. Lately it felt like they never agreed on anything but when it came to their friends they were always together. After their discussion the four of them journeyed for the next two days to the abandoned castle.
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The building was bigger than the red bone palace and the estate looked larger, but not nearly as well kept as the Redbone palace had been. The Kindo estate looked eerily vacant as if no one had lived there for years. The building looked run down in a way that only time and a lack of upkeep could be responsible for. Though just from the looks of the stone structure and the now discolored paint that was still on the walls it was clear that the property probably looked a lot nicer back when it was being kept up properly.
The story of this place had been that over 50 years ago Kindo the lord of this place went mad and killed everyone in his home along with his entire family before taking his own life. Ever since then the place has been uninhabited.
The teens arrived at this Kindo estate a little after noon and were able to confirm that this indeed was the place where Yuki was hiding out by the presence of his barrier though his presence in this area had all but been confirmed before as Moroha had seen him make his way in this direction when he left two nights ago.
"We need to go in smart." Hisui said. "After that barrier comes down Yuki and whoever else is in there is going to think that they are under attack. None of you can smell anything from inside that barrier right now so we have no idea how many demons are inside and from what we know about Yuki and Rain they apparently have a lot of demon allies." Hisui stated and the girls nodded.
"So what exactly is our plan?" Moroha asked. "How are we going to convince Yuki to come with us?"
"I don't think that we really need to convince. From what you've told us convincing him might be to hard." Towa said. "How about we just take him with us and then if he really wants to come back after so long we'll let him. We just can't let our parents get to him before we do." She smiled.
"We can't just kidnap him!" Moroha gasped.
"He's already expressed that he doesn't want to be here. I think some time away might clear his head." Setsuna said.
"It's not like we're going to hurt him and besides if he's away whatever he and Rain had planned for your families can't happen. It give us time to regroup and investigate more." Hisui added and Moroha was quickly able to connect all of the dots together.
"You.. You three had this planned out already didn't you." She scowled.
"We only discussed it a little, yesterday night." Towa said. "If talking doesn't work we'll just have to give him an excuse to do what he really wants. Besides if we leave him alone you know one of our dads will end up killing him."
"I don't want to force him to do anything." Moroha stated. "I want him to realize that he has other options on his own and want to come with us. I want him to see that he doesn't have to do what Rain wants."
"That would be nice but it just might not be realistic this time. Not with the circumstances at hand." Hisui said and Moroha sighed.
"Fine we can do things your way but only as a last resort okay, I want to try taking to him one more time, I know that Yuki can choose on his own." Moroha said.
Hisui smiled at having gotten this win on this one. "Okay, now that everyones on board with the plan let's discuss our stealth strategy. Moroha, you and Towa will cover one side of the mansion while Setsuna and I cover the other after Moroha gets rid of the barrier. We don't want to get ambushed when we don't know the extent of their strength so we need to stay quiet." Hisui said and everyone agreed to his surprise.
"No protest this time?" He asked and both Moroha and Towa shook their heads.
"No, I'm determined to do a lot better this time around when it comes to being stealthy." Moroha said determined and all the flashbacks of her stealth endeavors from the Redbone palace hit Hisui at once.
"Crap I forgot about that, you better not get caught this time I mean it." Towa scolded her cousin.
"It was unavoidable. I couldn't help it last time." Moroha defended herself.
"It most definitely was avoidable." Hisui said under his breath and Moroha's head snapped in his direction.
"I get it okay, I'll be more careful." Moroha said annoyed and the group got into position before Moroha shot her arrow into Yuki's barrier and the teens were able to enter from different points of the mansion.
As soon as Moroha and Towa entered the mansion they could smell the scent of multiple demons lingering in the air and they both picked up Yuki's scent immediately. The two girls evaded a decent amount of demons, that they could tell were at least on the same level that Tokotsu and Jakotsumaru had been on strength wise.
Towa was surprisingly good at moving silently while Moroha was good at moving quick. They were nearing what the girls assumed was probably the main hall only to be stopped by a big animal like demon who held a club and swung it hard at the girls they both dodged his blow as it came between them.
Moroha quickly rolled out of the way as the demon aimed for her, while Towa jumped to the side and took out her blade ready to attack but Moroha beat her to it as her arrow landed right in the center of the demons forehead and he evaporated into dust they heard the sound of footsteps coming in response to the noise not even a movement later and quickly went out the nearest door which lead them outside now.
They were in the center of the mansion where a large garden must have once been, but now all that was left was low grass and dead soil.
"That was a close one." Moroha sighed as both her and Towa caught their breath.
"You better stop stealing my kills." Towa said annoyed and Moroha smirked.
"I wouldn't have to steal them if you were faster. You've really been slacking off when it comes practicing haven't you cuz?" She teased.
"I think that I hear voices out here." The girls heard a demon say and they made a Beeline towards the second nearest door evading the demons once again.
"Do you smell that?" Towa asked once they were inside again.
"I do, Yuki's scent is coming from two different places." Moroha said and they both remained silent for a moment.
"This is probably a trap to split us up. He must know that we're here." Towa said.
"What do you want to do? Should we stay together then?" Moroha asked.
"No, because one of them is most likely the real him, I don't want us to waste time by both getting caught up. They'd have time to set more traps for us if we both go chaseing the wrong scent. We'll split up and then meet back up." Towa said.
"Fine with me." Moroha said before grabbing her bow. Towa quickly grabbed her arm just before they went their separate ways.
"Hey." Towa looked at her cousin seriously. "Don't use that pearl here. That Rain guy wants to kill you and if you can't win in a minute you'll be no good alone." Towa said seriously and Moroha pulled her arm away before smiling.
"I know Towa you're worried for nothing besides I won't need it anyway." She reassured her cousin and Towa nodded before they each went off in their separate directions.
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This is how Hisui preferred missions to go, smooth and as planned he and Setsuna always had a natural rhythm together in battle they always followed each other so well they didn't even need to speak as they moved cautiously towards where Setsuna was catching Yuki's scent, moving silent and undetected throughout the halls and easily staying out of the view of any passers by. Until a young woman ran by the hall adjacent to them. Screaming out as a demon chased her.
The two demon slayers had barely caught a glimpse of the woman as the demon with green skin and horns ran after her while calling what they assumed was the woman's name Hana, over and over again.
Setsuna and Hisui both exchanged looks wordlessly confirming that they were going to help the woman as she tripped and was no longer able to run. The woman only looked terrified as the demon now reached out to touch her but before he could get closer the demon was cut clean in half in less than a minute and his corpse slunked to the ground making the woman scream. Setsuna quickly put her hand over the woman's mouth.
"I wouldn't suggest doing that, there might be more lurking near." Setsuna said to the woman who she could now tell was most likely a noble woman from the way that she was dressed.
"I'm sorry." Was all that the woman said. In barely a whisper. She looked terrified.
"It's fine, we just need to keep moving." Hisui said. "Are you injured?'' he kneeled close to her and the woman's face heated up and Setsuna most definitely noticed.
"No, I'm fine." The woman stood up.
"We won't be able to get you out of here right away so stay close to us we're demon slayers so we'll look out for you until we're out of here." Hisui said.
"I'm forever grateful to the both of you. Had you not been there I could have been… I don't even want to imagine." The woman said as Setsuna and Hisui did their best to move about undetected while moving with someone who was untrained.
"How long have you been here for?" Hisui asked the woman.
"I don't remember one moment this place looks like I remember the next everything changed."
Setsuna and Hisui exchanged a look. Did that mean that the layout of this place is being manipulated by a demon?
"Do you have any idea where the demon Onigoumo is?" Setsuna asked and the woman froze briefly.
"I saw him right before I ran away from the demon that was chasing me, is he why you're here?" She asked and the two nodded, the woman took a deep breath.
"Very well then I'll bring you to him." The woman said hesitantly.
"It's okay we're demon slayers so you don't have to be afraid of the demons attacking you while we're around. Setsuna and I will protect you." Hisui stated confidently.
"I feel so lucky to hear you say that." The woman fawned before leading Setsuna and Hisui farther into the mansion. There were surprisingly few demons along the way as Hana led them through halls that almost seemed to have no end until they finally reached where she was taking them.
Hana opened the door to a big meeting room and at least 10 demons attacked them at once Hisui and Setsuna immediately sprung into action while Hana stayed close behind Hisui.
Hisui easily took out two of the demons with his Hiraikotsu playing defense as he protected Hana. While Setsuna took on the majority of the demons using her moon of the resting moth attack which took out most of the demos in the room.
None of the demons seemed to be anything special and they were able to take down the majority of the demons all except one who narrowly was able to avoid Setsuna's resting moth attack.
Setsuna immediately went to finish the demon who fought with a war hammer only to have to spare him when she caught Hana trying to stab Hisui as he killed a demon that had attacked him and Hana out of nowhere.
Setsuna quickly used her scourge of swallows attack which got in between Hisui and Hana. Which made Hana jump away to avoid Setsuna's attack.
"You two have a lot of nerve trying to attack me in my own home." Hana said.
"You're home? This is the abandoned Kindo estate." Hisui said.
"My father." The woman said as she took on a more demonic appearance.
In an instant Hana changed from a beautiful woman with dark hair to a demon with sharp teeth and fangs that loosely resembled the noble woman now.
"Father never wanted me to be the warrior that I had dreamed of becoming." She grit her teeth. "He was ashamed of me so he tried to have me married off to a leachous husband instead. I was his only daughter and he was willing to sell me to the wealthiest man he knew just so he could continue to feed his gambling addiction. That's what father chose over me. So why wouldn't I choose to sell my soul to a demon in order to become one myself? Now I'm the lady of this house and nobody that I don't like comes within my walls! Especially people who are after my guest!" Hana said as she now went to attack Setsuna so fast that Setsuna barely had time to lift her blade to ward off the attack but she managed as the Hana violently slashed at her with twin blades.
"Setsuna!" Hisui yelled. He was on his way to assist her against Hana who had been unexpected to be as dangerous as she was proving to be only to be struck by the only other demon in the room. The demon that Setsuna had spared before Hana had shown her true colors.
"Your opponent will be me." The demon with the war hammer said, now walking towards Hisui as he got up and took a fighting stance. The demon was twice his size but that didn't matter because aside from that the demon didn't seem to be anything too special.
"I can't have you interfering in the business of my lady." The demon stated.
"Thank you Cass." Hana said and Setsuna's brows drew down at her. "Don't look at me like that. You have no idea the privilege that you've had to be able to freely become a warrior. I can't stand it." Hana said as she attacked even fiercer now. Forcing Setsuna to keep playing defense longer as she couldn't attack Hana fast enough and there were no openings. Setsuna only stared at Hana as she ranted and attacked which made Hana's stares get colder and colder as their fight went on.
"Say something you arrogant brat!" Hana screamed and Hana's frustrations created an opening as Setsuna still said nothing to her. Setsuna took this opportunity to finally attack Hana. Stabbing her through her chest and making the woman scream as a loud thud rang through the air.
Setsuna glanced in Hisui's direction when she heard the thud. He had just hit the ground narrowly avoiding being killed by the demon that was much bigger than him. He had been thrown before rolling out of the way just in time to avoid the demon's strike then quickly countering from the ground by kicking the demon hard enough in the jaw to twist its head making it stagger back as Hisui stood up strong again no doubtably trying to think of a possible way to scale the fight in his favor.
Hana threw one of her swords Setsuna's way, immediately bringing her back to their fight when the blade grazed her arm and Hana stood once again spitting out blood and she smirked.
"This is nothing, you better watch yourself or you'll end up dead because you won't get another opportunity like that one. Despite your actions I'm feeling nice today so maybe I'll give your slayer boy the chance to become my lover in exchange for his life after I kill you. I haven't had a human slave in so long. I wonder what the sound of his screams will sound like." Hana smirked wider and Setsuna's expression grew darker in response to her words.
"I'm sure that the sound of his screams would pale in comparison to the sound of your own once we're done." Setsuna said in a cold yet serious tone. Still managing to sound calm even now. The only indication that she was even upset was the expression on her face.
"I'm done playing with such a weak opponent who can't even strike back." Hana huffed she had enough of her. Hana was ready to kill her right now, she didn't know if it was possible to hate Setsuna more than she already did.
Hana rushed Setsuna who countered her blows with new found strength even managing to push Hana back now as Setsuna's own rage at Hana was now spilling out in this fight.
"What do you think is worse?" Setsuna asked, scarily calm. "Burning alive or having your head cut off?"
"Believe me your death won't be a simple decapitation my dear." Hana smiled and Setsuna slashed her heavy across her body even cutting part of Hana's arms in the process before using her burning vermillion attack to instantly set Hana on fire and she screamed unable to move as Setsuna's flames burned her alive until there was nothing left. While Setsuna stared coldly at her.
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Hisui stood strong after the demon twisted his head back into place. Hisui's eyes were sharper than ever as it finally clicked in his brain how he was going to beat this demon he would use Hiraikotsu.
At this point he had already sliced the demon's abdomen multiple times and the demon was bleeding all over the place. The demon truly was a lot worse off than when they had initially started this fight.
The demon ran at him now in a rage after being kicked so hard in the head and Hisui cut him again in the abdomen. Avoiding the demon's heavy strikes in return.
The demon's attacks were now bursting through the floorboards whenever Hisui evaded him. One hit and it would be over. Hisui thought.
I have to do this, don't burden Setsuna by needing help, she'll leave you if you're not strong. The voices in his head said over and over again as he avoided more attacks jumping back, back, back until his back hit the wall and he had to duck to avoid the demon's blow this time before he slid, slashing one of the demon's ankles in the process.
The demon tried his best to pull his weapon from the wall it had sunk into but was unable to free his weapon and at this point Hisui was just waiting for him as he had widened their gap enough now to throw Hiraikotsu.
"Afraid that you can't beat a single human without your toys." Hisui taunted and the demon gave up on his weapon, now committed to crushing Hisui with his bare hands.
The demon rushed at him and Hisui smiled as he threw Hiraikotsu and it hit the demon right in its wounds where Hisui had been cutting him this whole fight.
Hiraikotsu's impact made the demon's top half split clean off from the bottom half of his body. His top half flew right toward Hisui. The demon was still yelling in anger in response to being struck by Hiraikotsu right as Hisui caught his weapon before quickly drawing his sword as the demons top half flew towards him. Hisui sidestepped and cut the demon's head off clean from its body before his top half could even hit the ground and he took a minute to breathe before he heard a loud scream that forced him to look to Setsuna's fight and see Hana as she burned in front of her.
Hisui sheathed his sword and went to her touching her shoulder and bringing her out of her trance.
"You're injured." Hisui said, referring to her blood-stained left arm. "Do you need medical attention?"
"No, how about you? You're probably already starting to bruise up from the amount of times that that demon caught you. Are you fine to go on?." She asked.
"I'm fine, We should both be careful then. Let's take care of the blood first before we start moving again. We have no idea if any of the demons will catch your scent and follow us if you're bleeding." Hisui said and Setsuna nodded in silent agreement.
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Yuki returned to the Kindo mansion and immediately confronted Rain about what he had learned. Yuki went through the maze of halls that he now had memorized until he reached the place that he knew Rain would be his puppet room. The place where Rain kept the corpses of the people who lost their souls to his curses.
The room to Yuki always felt like some kind of morbid spoils room as Rain kept various weapons and trinkets there as well and Rain treated every item in that like a precious treasure.
When Yuki arrived he caught Rain looking serious as he held a little white mirror that was made with what looked like mixed pieces of glass that barely had one corner left in place. He wasted no time in calling Rain out the moment that he saw him.
"You've been keeping things from me." Yuki said accusingly.
"I haven't kept anything from you. What are you talking about?" Rain asked nonchalantly, not even turning his head from what he was doing.
"Tokotsu and Jakotsumaru, you ordered them to kill the descendants of the dog demons didn't you?" Yuki asked.
"I only asked them to do that because the descendants are so intent on taking your life Onigumo. I am always trying to protect you." Rain said defensive now while partially looking at Yuki as if he were stupid to doubt him who was his only family and if the person had been anyone but Moroha, Yuki would have believed Rain but Yuki knew that Moroha wasn't lying. Rain was working behind his back and he needed to know why and was this the first time that he had done this?
"I am supposed to be the one to kill them when the time is right. They are my enemies, not everyone else's." Yuki stated.
Rain now turned to him, fully looking at him critically as he spoke. "So this is what this is about?" Rain smiled. "You want to be the one to do it yourself?"
"I'll admit that I may have had a momentary lapse in judgment when it came to the amount of haste that I was in to enact my revenge, but I have always wanted all of this to be done at my own hands not at the hands of my weakest allies. We've worked so hard to become strong enough to defeat them. So I don't want to waste time going after the useless descendants of my enemy. I thought that we both agreed when it came to that." Yuki said, trying to be convincing enough so that Rain wouldn't catch on that he was lying but Rain still seemed hesitant with him despite the look of approval he was giving Yuki.
"You've been gone for two days, there's no way that you were able to get the red rainbow pearl back or destroy the village. What happened to make you turn around?"
"A subordinate of Tokotsu's tried at killing me. He blamed me for the death of his master because I asked him to kill the descendants of the dog demons. I killed him for even daring to try to take my life but once I heard what he said I had to confront you. My uncle who is always on my side and always trying to protect me. Why did you lie to me?" Yuki asked, cold and serious.
"I simply told Tokotsu that if our enemies came his way that we wouldn't mind if he took care of them as there were rumors of half demons with a vendetta against you traveling in the area. His and his son's death were their own fault. They were too weak but that's okay because you and I will kill the children of the dog demons just like we planned."
"Especially the one in red at all costs right?" He asked his uncle as Rain's eyes squinted in response to Yuki repeating Rain's own words back at him but before Rain could respond Yuki felt something. His Uncle started to speak but he didn't hear him.
Yuki quickly regained his focus, blinking as he shockingly stated that his barrier had been broken.
There was only one person that he had ever met who was capable of breaking his barrier and his heart beat faster as he thought of the possibility that she had been stupid enough to follow him here.
"What!?" Rain asked. "Onigumo who could have!? Wait didn't the girl who fell bre—" Rain questioned.
"It's not her, I'll go investigate now!" Yuki said as he rushed out of Rain's room and to the place where he had felt the barrier break first only to find an arrow that had landed in the dead soil of the ground." His heart started beating faster as anxiety filled him. He pulled the arrow from the ground and held as he stared at it shell shocked.
It was hers it had to be, she was crazy and she was naive and she never listened even when the wrong decision might get her killed he had to find her. He had to get her out of here before Rain found her or...
"Looks like my nose never lies, I knew this was the right scent." A voice rang from behind Yuki and he turned fast to find Towa standing across from him with her energy blade drawn.
"You won't get away from me this time. I'd suggest not fighting back but what fun would that be after coming all this way." She smirked and Yuki looked at her terrified.
"Towa, where is Moroha?" He asked.
"We split once we caught your scent coming from different directions. She'll probably come here after she realizes that way is no good."
"My scent coming from two different places? Towa I can't fight you right now, we need to get to Moroha right now." Yuki said, now visibly panicked and Towa lowered her blade.
"What's got you all freaked out?" She asked.
"You guys should have never come here. I told her to go home. Why didn't you all listen to me?!" He screamed.
"Hey calm down, you shouldn't be freaking out like this, we came for you since you keep running away from us. You don't need to be so anxious."
Yuki scoffed. "Didn't you just threaten to kill me the last time that we met!" He exclaimed.
"I did but you also pushed my cousin down a well so we're even now, though you're going to have to try a little harder with my sister. She doesn't forgive as easily."
Yuki grit his teeth. She was just like her cousin. Neither of them would listen to reason and they couldn't afford to be wasting time right now.
"Just follow me." Yuki satiated hurriedly. "If my Uncle finds Moroha she's dead so we need to hurry." He said and Towa took a deep breath before agreeing to go with him under the condition that he tell her everything on their way to his mysterious Uncle.
XXXX
Once Moroha had reached her destination the large and spacious room at the end of one of the seemingly endless hallways. The room no doubtably must have been a beautiful gathering room where all of the parties were probably once heldin this estate once upon a time.
It was probably beautiful once but now the large space was lined with the skulls and corpses of demons as well as a few demonic trinkets. She felt an eeriness about this space but she pushed those feelings down as she kept walking forward with her bow drawn.
Yuki's scent was getting stronger as she walked farther into the room, he had to be near. He had to be in this room somewhere.
She jumped from the sudden movement of a demon leaping out at her, quickly firing an arrow its way and making its body turn to dust as the arrow hit its mark.
Her brows furrowed in confusion as the demon faded away. That was not how living things moved. She thought. Something was wrong with that demon.
She looked around just in time to find another unnatural demon with its eyes stitched shut moving fast at her. She aimed her arrow and a knife whizzed past her ear, slashing her face and forcing her to readjust.
Were there multiple enemies here?
She wouldn't be able to shoot her arrow fast enough after readjusting so she dashed left, only just barely evading the attack from the demon as she wiped the blood from her cheek. Her eyes scanned the area as she drew her blade. Her bow offered little to no defense when it came to projectiles and she only had so many arrows so using her sword would be a better option in this fight.
She was able to catch which direction the knife had come from and she made a mental note to be aware of that direction as her fight went on. It was safe to assume that there was more than one demon here.
She rushed towards the unnatural looking demon who's attack she had just evaded, ending him with one swing of her sword. In that same instant another demon that was even bigger fell from the ceiling just as she killed the other demon. Giving her no time to be able to dodge as he slammed down on her and she hit the ground hard. Her ears rang and her body ached from the force of the blow and she clenched her weapon tight ready to give this next demon hell for this but as she went to get up, the demon stomped his foot down on her and she couldn't move from under the weight of his foot and her ribs ached under the pressure.
That was when someone who was unfamiliar to her stepped out. He was a long haired demon with pointed ears and violet eyes he didn't look particularly strong but as he got closer his demonic aura told another story.
The long haired demon slowly walked towards her and she couldn't believe that he had been in this room with her this whole time and was able to hide such a strong demonic aura had she sensed him she would have known right where he was. She glared at him as he smiled once he was close to her.
"The daughter of that woman's reincarnation. You would be the one to pour sand in his ears and confuse him." Rain said as Moroha tried to free herself from the demon's hold using both of her hands to try and lift his foot but to no avail. She only succeeded in making the demon press harder on her, making her cough out as it became harder to breathe.
"You're not going to be able to make him budge from that position." Rain said. "My cursed corpses are ten times stronger than when they were living because they no longer feel any pain. Soon you'll be one of my corpses as well." Rain said creepily and Moroha glared at him as she let go of the demon's leg for now.
The intense glare never left her face as she looked at Rain. Quickly deciding that this could still play out in her favor, if she looked like she was subdued she'd probably be able to get more information from him.
"Shut up!" She said in response to him. "I didn't come here to have a tea party with you. Where is Yuki?" She demanded.
"You really have no sense of danger do you? Making demands like that. I wouldn't be so worried about my enemies if I were you." Rain said as he stared at her for a long moment.
"You're nothing special, you're not as strong as the daughters of Sesshomaru and you're easily subdued. How on earth could you have gotten in his head? What did you do to Onigumo to make him waver in his resolve? I have to cure whatever poison you've put into his head." Rain said bitterly.
"What did I do? Nothing but make him realize how much of a shitty partner you are." She said just as she raised her left arm and used her claws yelling iron reaver soul stealer as she tore through the demon puppet that was keeping her pinned.
Rain jumped back from the unexpected movements. She quickly jumped up from her place on the ground and cut the demon puppets head off before pointing her sword at Rain. Staying subdued was pointless if all he was going to do was rant nonsense at her.
"I may not be as strong as my cousins and I may make missteps in fights from time to time but that doesn't matter because I'm not competing with them and I'm not trying to be special!" She screamed as she ran at Rain and another demon puppet took his place in front of her but this time she was ready as she cut it clean in half.
"None of that matters because I don't need to be special to kick your ass. I'm strong enough already. Yuki is my friend and I'm not going to let you get him killed!" She said fiercely and Rain's expression grew colder.
Moroha ran to him again and he threw knives at her but she met each one with her blade until she got close enough to Rain that she was finally able to cut him.
Blood flowed out of his wounds and over his clothes as he clenched his right shoulder as blood rushed out of his arm. She now closed their distance more and pressed her palm to his open wound pushing spiritual power into him and making him scream as he fell back reeling from the pain of her spiritual powers.
"Tell me where Yuki is now." Moroha demanded with her sword pressed to Rain's neck hard enough to draw blood.
"Why?" Rain spit out blood. "I'm sure that he'll be here any second once he realizes that his precious priestess is here but who's to say that he hasn't already killed one or all of your friends as far as I know he's only fond of you. What will you do when you realize just how much of a monster he is? Will you still call him friend if he kills your father?" Rain asks and Moroha pressed her blade to his neck harder.
"Maybe this is why he likes you." Rain jested.
"Moroha!" Towa yelled as she ran into the room distraught and panicked Moroha only glanced at Towa while keeping her focus on Rain. Towa looked like she had just fought tough fight and she had blood all over her which made Moroha almost pause.
"We've got to get out of here!" Towa said frantically.
"What are you talking about?" She asked her cousin.
"He killed them! He did it right in front of me, I couldn't stop him. We have to run!" Towa said anguished and frantic. Moroha paused as her cousin got closer.
"What happened?" Moroha gasped and Rain smirked.
"Yuki, he killed Setsuna and Hisui! We have to go before he kills us too! He's too strong for us to take on, we have to run while we still can." Towa said as she quickly pulled out an average blade and went to cut Moroha down but she saw it coming from a mile away and now Moroha was really mad.
Moroha quickly kicked Rain away hard sending him flying across the room and side stepped Towa's blade before punching her hard in the dead center of her face and the doppelganger burst into mist. Moroha clenched her fist tight.
"You think that that's how my cousin would have acted?!" Moroha screamed at Rain.
"Towa would never run away! If any of that was actually true, there's no way that this place would still be standing! She'd have destroyed this place in minutes." Moroha went to attack Rain again but just as she was fierce, so was he in his resolve that she would not catch him again.
Rain awoke 4 more of his corpse demons to surround her this time. Moroha was fighting differently now then she had been at first but so was Rain. Each time that she finished off one of the cursed demons more would awake.
She wondered just how many corpses did he have here? They almost seemed endless and it was getting harder and harder to keep up. She grit her teeth knowing that she couldn't use the rainbow pearl in this situation alone or things would get bad.
Rain was finally able to get the upper hand on her as one of his demons slashed and almost succeeded in cutting her head off but was stopped by a blue wave of energy from Towa's blade.
"Thought you might need me." Towa smiled and she was by her spade a moment later but Moroha had to be sure that it was her so she pinched her cousin's cheek once she was close enough.
"Hey!"
"Sorry I had to make sure." Moroha said.
"You're bleeding!" Yuki said, panicked. "Tell me that you didn't let him get enough of your blood."
Though Moroha held great spiritual power she still had demon blood in her veins even if it was just a quarter, Yuki had no idea if Rain would be able to curse her or not.
"I didn't see him collecting it." Was all that she said.
"Don't worry, Onigumo. You know that I can't stomach the blood of high priests and priestesses. Her spiritual power would nullify the effects of my curse under normal circumstances but once you're all gone, I think that I have a way to make her one of my corpse puppets. What are you doing with these half demons?" Rain asked while looking at Yuki coldly.
"Uncle you've been scheming behind my back. You know that I didn't think that they were necessary in all of this yet you continue to target them."
"They came here on their own and they're making you weak. If I don't kill them now you'll never avenge your father think about everything that we've done, we're so close." Rain said.
"Believe me I am well aware that's why I don't want to stop. I understand everything that you've done for me and I don't want it to all be in vain." Yuki said.
Hisui and Setsuna arrived right as Yuki finished his sentence and Rain scoffed at him as he took out 3 rainbow pearls. "Looks like you're all here." Rain smiled creepily.
"Uncle I'll handle them, trust me and I'll get them to leave here and never seek us out again."
"No, this is better than I planned. All of the half demons are in one place." Rain said and his eyes met Yuki's in a bout of crazed excitement. "Onigumo you could never replace him. I tried I really did but you could never be something that would have made him proud and I hold no attachments to a weak half demon such as yourself. My last request is for you to die alongside these other half demons in the memory of your father."
"Uncle… What are you talking about?" Yuki asked in barely a whisper and no one except for Moroha and Towa who were right next to him heard him speak.
He had to have heard wrong. He thought as his mind raced at those words. Something had to be wrong with his uncle he would never…
"You were right, the descendants of the dog demons aren't essential to your plan. They're essential to mine as are you. I'm going to devour you and those half demons and then I'll take revenge on my own. This was always my plan and if you truly respect me as your mentor and trust me as the only family you've ever known then you'll step up first so that I can gain your power." Rain said right before he swallowed the three rainbow pearls in his possession and began to take on a monstrous transformation. Moroha and Towa both stood in fighting stances ready to take on Rain. As he grew out of control and his skin changed colors.
Yuki only stood there in shock, he didn't know what to do his whole life had been a lie. Everything that he did, he did for his family. To please his Uncle but his uncle all he, all he wanted to do was kill him the moment that it suited him. What was his purpose now, what should he do? He looked at his uncle. Rain's transformation was now complete. He had almost tripled in size, his face also taking on a more demonic appearance as well and he lunged at Yuki who was still frozen still.
Yes this was how it was meant to end after everything he was the one without a real place in this world and he always would be out of place no matter where he went. If he died here then everyone could finally be free of him.
Yuki closed his eyes and waited for Rain to kill him but Moroha stood in front of him shooting her arrow quickly before pulling Yuki out of Rain's range and Towa rushed him with her sword backed up by Setsuna and Hisui as they all attacked him at once and Rain now awoken all of the cursed corpses that he had left. The corpses moved from the walls and fell from the ceiling and Hisui had moved to cover Towa and Setsuna as they fought Rain.
"Hey!" Moroha screamed at Yuki. "You need to gain focus, I know that it hurts to learn how he's really felt all of these years but now's not the time to stand still. I'm not dying here and neither are you. So show him Yuki, show him why he shouldn't have betrayed you!" Moroha screamed at him before pushing him down and using iron reaver soul stealer to quickly take down one of the corpse enemies that had rushed them but now each time that a corpse puppet was taken down the corpses soon started to reanimate again.
This had to be thanks to the three rainbow pearls that Rain had swallowed and Moroha contemplated if she should use the red pearl as things were getting close as she tried to protect herself and Yuki.
Moroha was starting to run low on arrows now so she switched back to using her blade only narrowly avoiding getting badly injured as she did so and it was getting harder to keep up with the endless flow of enemies. While almost everything that Towa and Setsuna were doing against Rain was ineffective.
Hiraikotsu flew right by Yuki's face as Hisui saved Moroha and Yuki from an attack from their blind spot.
"Yuki, start moving!" Hisui scream.
"Yuki, you said that you didn't want us dead, we need your help." Moroha said. "You're the only one who knows how he fights and how to beat him. He has to have some kind of weakness. We need you to win this fight!" Moroha pleaded with him and Yuki took a deep breath before answering.
"The key to winning is you Moroha, he's weak to almost all kinds of spiritual power so if you shoot him in his heart or even touch him with as much spiritual power as you used to heal me that day he'll die." Yuki said and Rain looked at him furious as he caught him speaking to Moroha and Hisui.
Rain rushed past Towa and Setsuna taking their attacks head on and receiving massive damage from them. Thinking that the risk was worth it if he could get rid of his only real threat here. He only needed her corpse anyway she didn't need to be alive.
"She can't kill me if I kill her first!" Rain yelled, she was right in his sights now he was dangerously close. All it would take was one swift move as he was now in her space.
It almost happened in slow motion as everyone rushed towards him even Yuki reached for her but no one was close enough and Moroha didn't have time to swing her sword or draw her bow. Rain smirked as he rose his hand but that left him right open and she spit purification salt on his face right into his eyes and they melted along with bits of his face.
Rain moved back screaming from the pain and in the haze she moved fast, getting close to him placing her palms on his chest and pushing all of the spiritual power that she could onto him and he flew back spitting out the rainbow perls. And Moroha fell to her knees at having released so much spiritual power.
Rain wasn't done though he would not be done in by these half demons he made a pained attempt to open his eyes and he could barely see but he could still fight. He thought as his hands gripped the rainbow pearls that had fallen beside him and he noticed that kanna's broken mirror with the mixed glass was right next to him. It must have fallen from its place during the battle.
Rain tried to stand but he could barely even get up and now the girl with the long black hair was walking towards him with a murderous look in her eyes. He bit his tongue as he grabbed the mirror next to him, kanna's frame with the single piece of mirror that he had restored.
"Onigumo." Rain spit out blood. "Mark my words that this isn't over not for you or the dog demons who will no doubtably kill you now that they've caught you." Rain said just before vanishing through the mirror. Leaving the teens alone in the room that had been devastated from their fight. The mirror shattered immediately after.
Moroha caught her breath. "He's running away? How cheap!" Moroha exclaimed as she slowly picked herself up.
"Do you know where he could have gone?" Towa asked Yuki.
"No, most likely far from here. He always makes sure that he can escape when he needs to." Was all that Yuki said as he stood staring at the spot where Rain had disappeared processing all that had happened. This was his whole life, this was all that he had ever known.
"We should tend to the wounds that need immediate attention and then get out of here. We don't know how many demons are still lingering and Moroha probably can't fight too well after using that much spiritual power." Hisui said.
"Don't use me as an excuse just because you're tired. I could take on 100 more demons all at once if I wanted to." Moroha boasted.
"Don't you max out after a minute? Who do you think's going to be stuck carrying you?" Hisui said.
"Do you want to be the one carried out this time, Hisui?" She asked.
"The other demos would have left the moment that a big fight like this started." Yuki interrupted them. "The only one who would have stayed was lady Hana but I assume that she's dead now since she never arrived." Yuki sighed.
"A friend of yours?" Setsuna asked.
"No." Yuki stated flat out.
"Yuki, come here let me see if you have any serious wounds before we start moving." Moroha said.
"Why? What good does it do to heal me after everything?" He asked.
Moroha shrugged. "You're injured so I'm helping you. You're going after Rain aren't you?"
Yuki looked down as he spoke. "Despite what he says, He's my family so he's my responsibility. What happened today is not going to stop him. I'm assuming that since no one's in protest of her looking at my wounds that you're all deciding to not kill me. You all can go back to your village with clear heads now. I'll take care of Rain and you won't have to worry about me targeting any of you or your families anymore."
"What are you talking about going back to the village?" Towa asked him.
"Isn't it obvious by now?" Hisui added.
Yuki only looked at them quizzically.
"We came to find you Yuki, ever since we fought together against those centipede demon's that day in the forest you've been one of us so if you're going to find Rain then so are we." Moroha smiled.
"But, but you fall down a well. I betrayed you." He said completely dumbfounded and taken off guard.
"Are you planning on doing that again?" Moroha asked seriously.
"Of course not." He said in disbelief that she was even asking that.
"See then it's all settled." Towa said. "We're a team so let's go stop your Uncle then after that's done let's go home together." She smiled.
Yuki didn't know what to say. He was speechless but that didn't stop him from silently accepting what they were saying and following them out of Kindo estate as they left to find Rain.
A.N:
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I don't really like to split up main events like this between different chapters so I hope that this chapter didn't feel too long. The next chapter is titled The Gemini Twins and will be up next weekend. Thank you for reading.