Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Affliction ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: XIShadowxDemonIX 
Introductions
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.11.2006 | Updated On: 07.30.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 175 | Status: Work In Progress
Introductions
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.11.2006 | Updated On: 07.30.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 175 | Status: Work In Progress
Author's Note: The characters and ideas in the story belong to me. Also, this chapter may contain scenes that could be considered graphic, violent, and all around unpleasant. Please keep in mind that the first couple chapters deal with introducing the characters, and not all of the chapters will be like this one.
Chapter 1
The girl stood straight, concentrating hard on her targets. She was alone in the room, and enjoyed the solitude. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated harder, pulling back on the drawstring of the bow, three arrows fitted to it. She let it go and it twanged as the arrows shot across the room and pierced all three of the targets. The fruit hit the wall at the same time and stayed there, pinned by the arrows, juice trickling down from where they'd been impaled.
She brushed her black hair out of her eyes as she set the bow on the floor and leaned it carefully against the smooth stone wall. The bow was a little over half her height and the string was tight, but she'd pulled it easily enough. She walked over to a small table in the room and picked up a glass of clear liquid. Tilting her head back, she drank it all, and set the glass back down where it had been, shaking her arm a bit to get her sleeve to go back down.
The girl was dressed all in black, with long black hair and emerald green eyes. Her shirt was a tight sort of tank top, and it had detached sleeves that started at her elbow and flared out down her arm. Her pants were very baggy, and covered her feet completely, dragging along the ground a little as she walked. She wasn't short, though she wasn't tall either, and she looked around the age of eighteen, though in reality she was much older. Turning back towards the bow she paused. The door to the room, which had been closed, was open.
Without moving her body she carefully surveyed the areas she could see, then swiftly turned around. She gasped and jumped slightly as she came face-to-face with a tall man with short black hair. He was wearing a long black leather trench coat that was fastened in the front, and his hands were in his pockets as he stared down at her with gray eyes.
“Kira! You scared the shit out of me…” She said, her hand over her fast-beating heart. He grinned, and she scowled. “Why are you always sneaking up on me? I could swear you were trying to kill me…”
“Not KILL you, Yohko. Just teach you to pay more attention to your surroundings. I could have been someone dangerous…” Yohko's eyes narrowed as she turned away.
“Oh please, Kira. I pay plenty of attention, it's not my fault you're a weasel. Always sneaking around…” She had walked back over to the bow and picked it up. She reached back over her shoulder and whipped out an arrow, fitting it, pulling the string back and shooting it in one fluid movement. The arrow whistled as it soared across the room and lodged itself with a soft thud in the back of one of the arrows that had impaled the fruit.
“You seem to like using my bow. And you're making a mess again, I see…” Kira looked disdainfully at the green fruit slime oozing down the wall. Yohko shrugged.
“I'll clean it up.”
“Sorry, but you don't have time.” Yohko lowered the bow and looked back at him quizzically. “You're father has sent for you…” She blinked a couple of times and stared at him, not moving. Kira nodded gravely as if to confirm what she'd heard. She sighed and hung his bow on a hook on the wall, placing the arrows on another hook.
“What does he want…?” She asked, turning to face him.
“I don't know. I just know it's important. He…just told me to get you.” Yohko was too preoccupied wondering what it was her father wanted to notice the way Kira's voice faltered or the way he wouldn't meet her eyes.
“Well…I better get it over with then. Thanks, Kira.” She sighed and walked out of the room then, closing the door behind her. Kira walked over to his bow and ran a finger over the curving wood.
Yohko hurried through the long stone passageways that were lit by torches fastened to the walls. It was rarely good when her father called on her, and he was an impatient man. It wasn't good to keep him waiting. She could feel butterflies in her stomach, and she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right, but she ignored it. She walked with her back straight and her eyes forward. Almost everyone in the passages moved out of her way when they saw her, and those who didn't at least nodded in her direction or said some sort of greeting to acknowledge her presence, but mostly they just kept on walking. There was an air of urgency around them, but Yohko didn't have time to stop and ask them what was going on.
She became somewhat anxious as men wearing the same uniform passed by her, all obviously in a hurry, carrying various different types of weapons. They were soldiers, and while they would normally at least give her a sidelong glance as they passed, they all seemed too preoccupied with something important to notice her. Her anxiety increased, and she decided that whatever was going on was connected with her father sending for her. Yohko entered in to a much larger hallway, and there were more soldiers in uniforms standing against the walls at regular intervals. They were guards. This hallway had torches too, but was lit by a greater light, the source of which remained unseen.
She reached the end of the hallway - two large arched black metal doors, guarded by two tall stern-looking men in uniform. They stepped to the side as she neared them and Yohko ignored them completely as she pushed on the doors, opening them, and stepped into the room beyond. The two guards walked up to the doors, each grabbing one, and with apparent effort they pulled them shut again.
It took her eyes a second or two to adjust to the light change, but when they did adjust they settled on a man sitting on a large throne. He was sprawled over it, one leg over the arm of the chair, a large red trench coat spread out around him. He was lazily swilling red liquid around in a silver chalice that he held in his hand, and his eyes were fixated on her. Yohko walked forward and bowed her head slightly, not taking her eyes off of him.
“You called for me, father?” The man sneered slightly. He had very long silky looking black hair, and piercing crimson eyes. A black shirt was stretched tightly over his torso, hugging his muscles, and his pants were black and straight. They weren't tight, but they weren't nearly as baggy as Yohko's.
“Ah yes…my daughter. Come here, girl, don't dawdle in the middle of the room.” His voice was warm and cold at the same time. She moved closer, though the closer she moved to him the more the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She had a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. His eyes were on the liquid he was swirling around in his cup.
“You're training is going well, I hear.” He continued to watch the liquid in the cup. “You are aware of the current situations threatening our reign?” This question was put delicately, but Yohko knew that the answer was important.
“Yes, sir. We are always under threat of attack from the angels. Not to mention those among us who would seek to eliminate our bloodline so that they may come into power in our stead.” Her father nodded. Inwardly she held her breath. She knew that whatever reason he had for calling her here was fast approaching. He looked up at Yohko through the corner of his eye.
“And you are aware of our most dangerous threat?” His full attention was on her. She looked back at him steadily, her voice low.
“Your second in command; Ryouta.” Since she was just a child, her father had drilled into her head again and again that the most dangerous threat to a ruler is the second in command. If you let them gain too much control and influence you are putting them in position to overtake you. Her father nodded again, looking back down at the liquid in the chalice in his hand.
“He is about to make his move. He has allied himself with the angels, and plans an attack for this very evening.” His voice, like his hair, was silky smooth. Yohko blinked, shocked. She had known Ryouta since she was little, and though she had always known that he'd wanted the throne, she had never dreamed he would ally himself with featherballs to get it. It didn't make any sense, weren't the angels their sworn enemies? Her father caught her look of confusion and alarm.
“He does not know that we are aware of this, and I have chosen to inform only a few of the circumstances we are now facing. I have alerted the soldiers to an angel attack, and they are mobilizing. But it is short-notice. My own informant only found out about the plan of attack a couple hours ago, and it could come at any time now. We may not be well enough prepared to sustain this.” Yohko couldn't find the words to speak. What was that supposed to mean? That they would be defeated, by a bunch of featherballs? Her father stood up now, abruptly. There was a fire in his eyes as he stepped close to her, fast. Surprised, Yohko stepped back, away from him, but he kept advancing.
“We cannot be defeated. We WILL not be defeated.” His eyes were wide, and he towered over her. “As long as one of us still lives, no other blood line can assume the throne. It cannot happen. It will not. I will not allow it.” He was angry now, and his eyes were blazing.
“Father…” Yohko was still moving back, slowly, and he was still advancing on her. His eyes narrowed.
“You do want to keep our bloodline on the throne, don't you?” His voice had a dangerous undertone, and Yohko nodded, knowing that was the only answer he'd accept without lashing out. “And you're willing to do whatever it takes, aren't you?” His voice had dropped, and his eyes pinned her where she was. She was filled with fear for whatever it was that was coming next. How could she say anything but what he wanted to hear? How could she refuse him, no matter what the proposition, or the order?
“Yes…” Yohko watched as a wicked grin spread across his face, showing off his sharp canines, his eyes boring into her.
“Good.” He held up the chalice that was still in his hand. “Then drink.” Yohko looked helplessly at the chalice, and took it with unsteady hands. Whatever it was, the result couldn't be worse than what it would be if she were to refuse to drink, could it? Her father had a terrible temper, as ruler of the Nether Realm, and would think nothing of torturing even the heir to his throne until she agreed to do what he wanted.
Yohko's eyes locked onto her fathers as she slowly raised the chalice to her lips and began to drink. The coppery liquid flowed into her mouth and she drank until the chalice was empty. She knew exactly what it was the moment it flowed over her tongue. Pure angel blood mixed with a potent herb used most often to poison enemies. The mixture was used to paralyze. Yohko took the chalice from her lips and with a small gasp it dropped to the floor and shattered. Her father caught her by the upper arms as she began to fall to the floor. Her vision went blurry all of a sudden and she felt so heavy and dizzy that it was impossible for her to stand on her own.
She realized with a start that she couldn't move her arms. She tried to get her feet under her, but she couldn't move her legs, either. Her heart began to race as she realized that no part of her body would respond to her. Her father's grasp on her arms was tight, and it hurt. She could still feel pain, and she was completely at her father's mercy.
“Now then…” He said delicately, calm and composed. “Shall we tell you of the plan, my daughter?” He asked her as he laid her down on the floor. She just barely heard the creak of a door and footsteps, and a figure came into her line of vision, which cleared just enough to make out the figure's face.
“Ki…ra…?” It took all of Yohko's strength to force the word out, and even then to normal ears they would have been barely audible. Kira looked down at her, his face serious, and then he lowered himself to the ground and sat down beside of her, pulling her towards him so that her upper body lay propped up on his lap. Her father turned away and walked a couple feet, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes fixed on a large bright green tapestry hanging on the far wall, but he wasn't really seeing it.
Yohko's heart was beating impossibly fast, and she struggled to keep her vision clear. Lying on Kira's lap, she felt somewhat comforted, and hearing the sound of his breath and breathing in his scent was calming her. He'd been like her personal guard since she was five years old, and he was her father's closest advisor, so he was always nearby. She closed her eyes and concentrated on hearing. She could feel his hand on her shoulder, and she felt very warm all of a sudden. Then he took a breath, and began to speak.
“We…are going to open a portal to the Living Realm, briefly. You cannot stay here. The very real threat lingering above our heads will very soon come to pass; it has already been set in motion. You can fight, we know that you can, you are stubborn, like your mother once was. You would be a valuable asset to our forces, and your powers combined with mine could very well be enough to hold off the advancing forces. But it is a risk that we cannot take.
“You are going to stay in the Living Realm. At least until the threat is over, though we are not sure when that will be. They will be looking for you, so we will have to strip you of your aura, and your powers, that way you cannot be sensed.” Yohko tensed. She wanted to reason with them, if her powers were taken away, how was she supposed to defend herself if she were found? Why were they sending her away, if she could stay and maybe even help them to defeat their enemies? And how were they going to strip her of her aura? The only way to make it so that she couldn't be sensed was if her wings were removed…Her father turned around then, and looked down at her.
“Of course, since you can't do it yourself, we'll have to force your wings out…” Yohko looked up at her father, her eyes pleading.
“F…father…” Her voice was barely above a whisper. His smile was cold as he bent down close to her, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
“Now now. It'll be fine, you'll see. It'll only hurt a little …” Yohko felt herself being pulled off of Kira's lap, and he pulled her up so that she was sitting on her knees, his hand grasping her shoulder tightly to keep her upright. She was staring right into his icy eyes, suddenly her abdomen erupted in what felt like searing fire, a white-hot light filling her head as she reeled, winded. She fell forward against him, her eyes and mouth open in a silent gasp of pain.
Yohko's vision cleared, her forehead against his shoulder so that she was looking down. Her eyes focused on his hand and the bright red blood around it, pouring from the wound in her stomach that it was creating. His hand was still buried half way in her stomach, claws outstretched. She felt hot, impossibly hot; her entire body was on fire. His hand on her shoulder clasped tightly and tensed, and the hand in her stomach twisted. A scream managed to work its way through her paralyzed body and out of her mouth, filling the room as he continued to push, jerk and twist his hand, and suddenly her back, by her shoulder blades, was in pain.
Her father pushed his clawed hand in one more time, and then ripped it out, and with that final rip two huge leathery wings burst from her back with a spray of blood, spreading wide in agony. In the agony, her body had responded, her back arching and her head lifting. She could see his face, even through her pain, and she saw the smirk. Her mind didn't have time to recover from the initial shock of her stomach being ripped open, and so she was surprised when she felt two very strong hands grasping the bases of her wings right by her back.
Yohko felt his hands squeeze before he jerked them back and down at an angle, slowly applying more and more force as he ripped the wings from her back. She screamed in agony as the bones and ligaments tore apart, and it felt like it was taking forever. He had to be careful, because the wings were attached to her spine and if he tried to just rip them off quickly there was a chance of severing the spine as well as the wings. Yohko didn't care that he was careful. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, her whole body was on fire and that was the only thing she knew.
Blood poured from her wounds as Kira gave a final jerk, ripping the wings completely off, and threw them to the side. Her father jerked his hand from her abdomen and she fell to the side, lying on the floor as the blood pooled around her. Her father gave a nod to Kira who looked unhappy as he climbed to his feet and walked back to his throne. Kira frowned down at the fallen “princess.” He couldn't sense her aura, but there sure was a lot of blood. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black crystal, and he climbed to his feet and threw it at the ground.
The crystal shattered into a fine powder that floated in the air until it finally fell to the floor in a circle very wide around the point of impact. A large black flat-looking door rose from the powder. It looked solid, and at the same time it looked like it should have been translucent. Kira kneeled and placed his hand, palm down, in the pool of Yohko's blood. He stood up straight again and pressed his hand against the black door, leaving a bloody handprint. The edges of the door glowed in a dark shimmering light that engulfed the entire door so that it looked like black water, and the blood print was absorbed into it.
Her father was preoccupied with a soldier that had come running in, and Kira looked down at Yohko with pity. The wounds where her wings had been had already closed, but blood was still flowing from the wound on her stomach. She had been pale before, and the loss of blood made her skin milk white.
Carefully Kira bent down and scooped up the wounded girl, who appeared to have passed out, either from blood loss or from the pain. He carried her carefully to the portal and stepped through, the black surface rippling when he touched it. He passed through the portal and stepped onto the hard black ground. Asphalt. He looked around briefly, to make sure no one was around. They were in a small dark alley. He set her down on the ground, and stood up straight.
“It was for the best…” He whispered as he took off his black trench coat and covered her with it, then turned around and walked back through the portal, it shrinking to nothing behind him.
Yohko lay on the ground, unconscious and bleeding, for a few minutes. There were footsteps, and a tall man walking through the alley stopped beside her and looked down. He had brown hair, green eyes, cat ears on his head, and a long cat tail. The tail swished back and forth and his left ear twitched back slightly as he sighed, bending down and scooping her up in his arms.
Chapter 1
The girl stood straight, concentrating hard on her targets. She was alone in the room, and enjoyed the solitude. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated harder, pulling back on the drawstring of the bow, three arrows fitted to it. She let it go and it twanged as the arrows shot across the room and pierced all three of the targets. The fruit hit the wall at the same time and stayed there, pinned by the arrows, juice trickling down from where they'd been impaled.
She brushed her black hair out of her eyes as she set the bow on the floor and leaned it carefully against the smooth stone wall. The bow was a little over half her height and the string was tight, but she'd pulled it easily enough. She walked over to a small table in the room and picked up a glass of clear liquid. Tilting her head back, she drank it all, and set the glass back down where it had been, shaking her arm a bit to get her sleeve to go back down.
The girl was dressed all in black, with long black hair and emerald green eyes. Her shirt was a tight sort of tank top, and it had detached sleeves that started at her elbow and flared out down her arm. Her pants were very baggy, and covered her feet completely, dragging along the ground a little as she walked. She wasn't short, though she wasn't tall either, and she looked around the age of eighteen, though in reality she was much older. Turning back towards the bow she paused. The door to the room, which had been closed, was open.
Without moving her body she carefully surveyed the areas she could see, then swiftly turned around. She gasped and jumped slightly as she came face-to-face with a tall man with short black hair. He was wearing a long black leather trench coat that was fastened in the front, and his hands were in his pockets as he stared down at her with gray eyes.
“Kira! You scared the shit out of me…” She said, her hand over her fast-beating heart. He grinned, and she scowled. “Why are you always sneaking up on me? I could swear you were trying to kill me…”
“Not KILL you, Yohko. Just teach you to pay more attention to your surroundings. I could have been someone dangerous…” Yohko's eyes narrowed as she turned away.
“Oh please, Kira. I pay plenty of attention, it's not my fault you're a weasel. Always sneaking around…” She had walked back over to the bow and picked it up. She reached back over her shoulder and whipped out an arrow, fitting it, pulling the string back and shooting it in one fluid movement. The arrow whistled as it soared across the room and lodged itself with a soft thud in the back of one of the arrows that had impaled the fruit.
“You seem to like using my bow. And you're making a mess again, I see…” Kira looked disdainfully at the green fruit slime oozing down the wall. Yohko shrugged.
“I'll clean it up.”
“Sorry, but you don't have time.” Yohko lowered the bow and looked back at him quizzically. “You're father has sent for you…” She blinked a couple of times and stared at him, not moving. Kira nodded gravely as if to confirm what she'd heard. She sighed and hung his bow on a hook on the wall, placing the arrows on another hook.
“What does he want…?” She asked, turning to face him.
“I don't know. I just know it's important. He…just told me to get you.” Yohko was too preoccupied wondering what it was her father wanted to notice the way Kira's voice faltered or the way he wouldn't meet her eyes.
“Well…I better get it over with then. Thanks, Kira.” She sighed and walked out of the room then, closing the door behind her. Kira walked over to his bow and ran a finger over the curving wood.
Yohko hurried through the long stone passageways that were lit by torches fastened to the walls. It was rarely good when her father called on her, and he was an impatient man. It wasn't good to keep him waiting. She could feel butterflies in her stomach, and she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right, but she ignored it. She walked with her back straight and her eyes forward. Almost everyone in the passages moved out of her way when they saw her, and those who didn't at least nodded in her direction or said some sort of greeting to acknowledge her presence, but mostly they just kept on walking. There was an air of urgency around them, but Yohko didn't have time to stop and ask them what was going on.
She became somewhat anxious as men wearing the same uniform passed by her, all obviously in a hurry, carrying various different types of weapons. They were soldiers, and while they would normally at least give her a sidelong glance as they passed, they all seemed too preoccupied with something important to notice her. Her anxiety increased, and she decided that whatever was going on was connected with her father sending for her. Yohko entered in to a much larger hallway, and there were more soldiers in uniforms standing against the walls at regular intervals. They were guards. This hallway had torches too, but was lit by a greater light, the source of which remained unseen.
She reached the end of the hallway - two large arched black metal doors, guarded by two tall stern-looking men in uniform. They stepped to the side as she neared them and Yohko ignored them completely as she pushed on the doors, opening them, and stepped into the room beyond. The two guards walked up to the doors, each grabbing one, and with apparent effort they pulled them shut again.
It took her eyes a second or two to adjust to the light change, but when they did adjust they settled on a man sitting on a large throne. He was sprawled over it, one leg over the arm of the chair, a large red trench coat spread out around him. He was lazily swilling red liquid around in a silver chalice that he held in his hand, and his eyes were fixated on her. Yohko walked forward and bowed her head slightly, not taking her eyes off of him.
“You called for me, father?” The man sneered slightly. He had very long silky looking black hair, and piercing crimson eyes. A black shirt was stretched tightly over his torso, hugging his muscles, and his pants were black and straight. They weren't tight, but they weren't nearly as baggy as Yohko's.
“Ah yes…my daughter. Come here, girl, don't dawdle in the middle of the room.” His voice was warm and cold at the same time. She moved closer, though the closer she moved to him the more the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She had a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. His eyes were on the liquid he was swirling around in his cup.
“You're training is going well, I hear.” He continued to watch the liquid in the cup. “You are aware of the current situations threatening our reign?” This question was put delicately, but Yohko knew that the answer was important.
“Yes, sir. We are always under threat of attack from the angels. Not to mention those among us who would seek to eliminate our bloodline so that they may come into power in our stead.” Her father nodded. Inwardly she held her breath. She knew that whatever reason he had for calling her here was fast approaching. He looked up at Yohko through the corner of his eye.
“And you are aware of our most dangerous threat?” His full attention was on her. She looked back at him steadily, her voice low.
“Your second in command; Ryouta.” Since she was just a child, her father had drilled into her head again and again that the most dangerous threat to a ruler is the second in command. If you let them gain too much control and influence you are putting them in position to overtake you. Her father nodded again, looking back down at the liquid in the chalice in his hand.
“He is about to make his move. He has allied himself with the angels, and plans an attack for this very evening.” His voice, like his hair, was silky smooth. Yohko blinked, shocked. She had known Ryouta since she was little, and though she had always known that he'd wanted the throne, she had never dreamed he would ally himself with featherballs to get it. It didn't make any sense, weren't the angels their sworn enemies? Her father caught her look of confusion and alarm.
“He does not know that we are aware of this, and I have chosen to inform only a few of the circumstances we are now facing. I have alerted the soldiers to an angel attack, and they are mobilizing. But it is short-notice. My own informant only found out about the plan of attack a couple hours ago, and it could come at any time now. We may not be well enough prepared to sustain this.” Yohko couldn't find the words to speak. What was that supposed to mean? That they would be defeated, by a bunch of featherballs? Her father stood up now, abruptly. There was a fire in his eyes as he stepped close to her, fast. Surprised, Yohko stepped back, away from him, but he kept advancing.
“We cannot be defeated. We WILL not be defeated.” His eyes were wide, and he towered over her. “As long as one of us still lives, no other blood line can assume the throne. It cannot happen. It will not. I will not allow it.” He was angry now, and his eyes were blazing.
“Father…” Yohko was still moving back, slowly, and he was still advancing on her. His eyes narrowed.
“You do want to keep our bloodline on the throne, don't you?” His voice had a dangerous undertone, and Yohko nodded, knowing that was the only answer he'd accept without lashing out. “And you're willing to do whatever it takes, aren't you?” His voice had dropped, and his eyes pinned her where she was. She was filled with fear for whatever it was that was coming next. How could she say anything but what he wanted to hear? How could she refuse him, no matter what the proposition, or the order?
“Yes…” Yohko watched as a wicked grin spread across his face, showing off his sharp canines, his eyes boring into her.
“Good.” He held up the chalice that was still in his hand. “Then drink.” Yohko looked helplessly at the chalice, and took it with unsteady hands. Whatever it was, the result couldn't be worse than what it would be if she were to refuse to drink, could it? Her father had a terrible temper, as ruler of the Nether Realm, and would think nothing of torturing even the heir to his throne until she agreed to do what he wanted.
Yohko's eyes locked onto her fathers as she slowly raised the chalice to her lips and began to drink. The coppery liquid flowed into her mouth and she drank until the chalice was empty. She knew exactly what it was the moment it flowed over her tongue. Pure angel blood mixed with a potent herb used most often to poison enemies. The mixture was used to paralyze. Yohko took the chalice from her lips and with a small gasp it dropped to the floor and shattered. Her father caught her by the upper arms as she began to fall to the floor. Her vision went blurry all of a sudden and she felt so heavy and dizzy that it was impossible for her to stand on her own.
She realized with a start that she couldn't move her arms. She tried to get her feet under her, but she couldn't move her legs, either. Her heart began to race as she realized that no part of her body would respond to her. Her father's grasp on her arms was tight, and it hurt. She could still feel pain, and she was completely at her father's mercy.
“Now then…” He said delicately, calm and composed. “Shall we tell you of the plan, my daughter?” He asked her as he laid her down on the floor. She just barely heard the creak of a door and footsteps, and a figure came into her line of vision, which cleared just enough to make out the figure's face.
“Ki…ra…?” It took all of Yohko's strength to force the word out, and even then to normal ears they would have been barely audible. Kira looked down at her, his face serious, and then he lowered himself to the ground and sat down beside of her, pulling her towards him so that her upper body lay propped up on his lap. Her father turned away and walked a couple feet, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes fixed on a large bright green tapestry hanging on the far wall, but he wasn't really seeing it.
Yohko's heart was beating impossibly fast, and she struggled to keep her vision clear. Lying on Kira's lap, she felt somewhat comforted, and hearing the sound of his breath and breathing in his scent was calming her. He'd been like her personal guard since she was five years old, and he was her father's closest advisor, so he was always nearby. She closed her eyes and concentrated on hearing. She could feel his hand on her shoulder, and she felt very warm all of a sudden. Then he took a breath, and began to speak.
“We…are going to open a portal to the Living Realm, briefly. You cannot stay here. The very real threat lingering above our heads will very soon come to pass; it has already been set in motion. You can fight, we know that you can, you are stubborn, like your mother once was. You would be a valuable asset to our forces, and your powers combined with mine could very well be enough to hold off the advancing forces. But it is a risk that we cannot take.
“You are going to stay in the Living Realm. At least until the threat is over, though we are not sure when that will be. They will be looking for you, so we will have to strip you of your aura, and your powers, that way you cannot be sensed.” Yohko tensed. She wanted to reason with them, if her powers were taken away, how was she supposed to defend herself if she were found? Why were they sending her away, if she could stay and maybe even help them to defeat their enemies? And how were they going to strip her of her aura? The only way to make it so that she couldn't be sensed was if her wings were removed…Her father turned around then, and looked down at her.
“Of course, since you can't do it yourself, we'll have to force your wings out…” Yohko looked up at her father, her eyes pleading.
“F…father…” Her voice was barely above a whisper. His smile was cold as he bent down close to her, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
“Now now. It'll be fine, you'll see. It'll only hurt a little …” Yohko felt herself being pulled off of Kira's lap, and he pulled her up so that she was sitting on her knees, his hand grasping her shoulder tightly to keep her upright. She was staring right into his icy eyes, suddenly her abdomen erupted in what felt like searing fire, a white-hot light filling her head as she reeled, winded. She fell forward against him, her eyes and mouth open in a silent gasp of pain.
Yohko's vision cleared, her forehead against his shoulder so that she was looking down. Her eyes focused on his hand and the bright red blood around it, pouring from the wound in her stomach that it was creating. His hand was still buried half way in her stomach, claws outstretched. She felt hot, impossibly hot; her entire body was on fire. His hand on her shoulder clasped tightly and tensed, and the hand in her stomach twisted. A scream managed to work its way through her paralyzed body and out of her mouth, filling the room as he continued to push, jerk and twist his hand, and suddenly her back, by her shoulder blades, was in pain.
Her father pushed his clawed hand in one more time, and then ripped it out, and with that final rip two huge leathery wings burst from her back with a spray of blood, spreading wide in agony. In the agony, her body had responded, her back arching and her head lifting. She could see his face, even through her pain, and she saw the smirk. Her mind didn't have time to recover from the initial shock of her stomach being ripped open, and so she was surprised when she felt two very strong hands grasping the bases of her wings right by her back.
Yohko felt his hands squeeze before he jerked them back and down at an angle, slowly applying more and more force as he ripped the wings from her back. She screamed in agony as the bones and ligaments tore apart, and it felt like it was taking forever. He had to be careful, because the wings were attached to her spine and if he tried to just rip them off quickly there was a chance of severing the spine as well as the wings. Yohko didn't care that he was careful. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, her whole body was on fire and that was the only thing she knew.
Blood poured from her wounds as Kira gave a final jerk, ripping the wings completely off, and threw them to the side. Her father jerked his hand from her abdomen and she fell to the side, lying on the floor as the blood pooled around her. Her father gave a nod to Kira who looked unhappy as he climbed to his feet and walked back to his throne. Kira frowned down at the fallen “princess.” He couldn't sense her aura, but there sure was a lot of blood. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black crystal, and he climbed to his feet and threw it at the ground.
The crystal shattered into a fine powder that floated in the air until it finally fell to the floor in a circle very wide around the point of impact. A large black flat-looking door rose from the powder. It looked solid, and at the same time it looked like it should have been translucent. Kira kneeled and placed his hand, palm down, in the pool of Yohko's blood. He stood up straight again and pressed his hand against the black door, leaving a bloody handprint. The edges of the door glowed in a dark shimmering light that engulfed the entire door so that it looked like black water, and the blood print was absorbed into it.
Her father was preoccupied with a soldier that had come running in, and Kira looked down at Yohko with pity. The wounds where her wings had been had already closed, but blood was still flowing from the wound on her stomach. She had been pale before, and the loss of blood made her skin milk white.
Carefully Kira bent down and scooped up the wounded girl, who appeared to have passed out, either from blood loss or from the pain. He carried her carefully to the portal and stepped through, the black surface rippling when he touched it. He passed through the portal and stepped onto the hard black ground. Asphalt. He looked around briefly, to make sure no one was around. They were in a small dark alley. He set her down on the ground, and stood up straight.
“It was for the best…” He whispered as he took off his black trench coat and covered her with it, then turned around and walked back through the portal, it shrinking to nothing behind him.
Yohko lay on the ground, unconscious and bleeding, for a few minutes. There were footsteps, and a tall man walking through the alley stopped beside her and looked down. He had brown hair, green eyes, cat ears on his head, and a long cat tail. The tail swished back and forth and his left ear twitched back slightly as he sighed, bending down and scooping her up in his arms.