Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Well Too Deep ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Thanks to:

 

BlueUtopiah

Mhmartini

Tbiris

Evene

MikaSamu

DragonRose888

Kari Ishikawa

Sarah

ghighi

 

I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho canon characters or whatnot, other than those things, keep your hands off of my property, grrr….

 

A/N: Now here is the gory chapter that should really have every type of WARNING label in existence instead of this feeble WARNING masquerading as an author's note. There is NOT a yaoi scene, however. Instead I opted to only leave the implications of the action. I am very sorry to those who were expecting it, but it's already taken me forever (!) to get through this chapter because of this and that and adding another five+ pages does not sound fun to me. I may still add it in the next chapter. Please give me your votes: who wants a yaoi chapter to finish off the scene and who wants to get out of that evil room and on with the plot?

 

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A Well Too Deep: Chapter 12

 

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The small room was completely dark but for a faint violet glow emanating from the half orb on the nightstand. The mechanical device at the heart of the clear dome was sensitive to the most basic form of energy, heat. The core of it would pinpoint and latch onto the source of any concentrated heat that came into contact with the plastic surface. Thus by placing one's hand upon the smooth plastic and then moving that hand either left or right one could easily adjust the bedside lighting. The room's ceiling lights were preset and automatic as were those of the entire castle. This small bedside light was a courtesy. The dark purple hue silently hummed through the room, draping the occupants in a paling curtain. Contrasts were starker, but outlines were blurred creating a surreal world that seemed to only touch the living and leave the dead and inanimate quite alone.

 

Neither Hiei nor Kurama slept that night. Both were anxiously awaiting Koenma's arrival. Kurama continued to toss restlessly, while Hiei remained silent and contemplative. Many times the combined strain - stress, anticipation, fear, and the stag's spirit - on Kurama's ki were too great. Kurama would begin to whimper softly, barely audible even to Hiei's heightened, demonic ears. A few moments later, the pale human would shudder once or twice in short pulses of lost control. Then he would turn his ashamed face to Hiei, silently begging for help. Kurama hated his weakness and was confused and frustrated by the sudden onslaught of rebellious energy crackling through his system. His aura was being burnt away faster than he himself could replenish it. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Kurama was afraid and unsettled. He knew that if Hiei were not here with him, he would likely have died this night. What had he not accounted for? There was too much he did not know. His cunning was not enough to save him this time. He was reminded of his human childhood when he was completely dependant upon another individual. It wasn't the same as in the dark tournament where the Urameshi team knew that they would be facing nearly certain death at Toguro's enormous hands if Yusuke did not defeat him. Then Kurama had at least known that he would be able to fight, maybe even survive somehow, had Yusuke lost. But now, there was nothing Kurama could do. He couldn't fight harder. He couldn't escape death to be reborn. He was helpless tonight and his very soul was on the line.

 

Hiei was more concerned than he would let show. When these frightening instances occurred, Kurama would suddenly lie very still, Hiei would lay a sad hand weighted down by his worries upon Kurama and let the fox use the physical touch to redirect a small portion of Hiei's ki so that it would flow into his body instead. Kurama was careful, fully aware that Hiei was still healing himself, and, if Kurama took too much or too forcefully, the jagan eye would protest and hurt them both instinctually. For a moment, Kurama would be completely at peace. Because Hiei's energy was entirely foreign, neither spirit within Kurama's body was meant to process it. Kurama was able to do so because of the physical touch the two demons shared. The stag had no physical body…yet…and consequently could not convert the alien energy into raw spirit. But soon Hiei's energy would break down into Kurama's, then only providing Kurama with an energy boost that would shortly be consumed by the war against the suddenly terrifyingly antagonistic spirit writhing in the pits of Kurama's mind.

 

Suddenly a light jumped haphazardly back and forth underneath the door. Both demons startled slightly then turned to gaze intently at one another. This was it. A quiet but urgent rapping sounded. Without looking away from Kurama, Hiei called out, “Who is it?”

 

The door was carefully opened and pushed soundlessly inward a few inches. The yellow light sliced harshly through the purple haze. “It's Botan. You two need to come with me now. Koenma is waiting.” She was proud of herself right then. She was being strong, the woman Koenma needed beside him during this tragedy. Not a tear would she shed this night.

 

Then Botan stepped back out of the room, closing the door behind her. The lantern continued to sway back and forth from her hand and shadows danced with its luster. It was not long before the door was opened again and Kurama and Hiei appeared, ready, before her. Wordlessly, she turned and led them down the hall. They had nothing to say to each other. Besides, Botan doubted it possible to make verbal sense of what she felt.

 

It was a long walk. Kurama was unable to phantom nor was it safe for Hiei with his damaged jagan eye and so they walked. It was just as well for Botan used every step she took to further bury her turbulent emotions. Not a single hallway was lit, nor was anyone about. The spirit world inhabitants were taking full advantage of the temporarily imposed human schedule. The only sound was their footfalls (the clip of Hiei's boots, the gentle shuffling of Botan's slippers, and the ancient whisper of Kurama's steps), Kurama's occasionally labored pants, and the eerily swinging creak of Botan's lantern.

 

They finally reached a portion of the castle that neither Kurama nor Hiei had ever seen before. The walls were tighter and the ceiling lower. The floor was sloping down ever so slightly and the air became colder. With each swing of the light, Hiei could see that the walls were no longer smooth and whole but were now made of raw stone and brick. Faded murals were what caught Kurama's attention. In the prancing light, he could see dull paints and empty sockets that must have once contained large and priceless jewels. They depicted twisted and dark pictures. As Kurama saw more and more of the art it became clear that they were serialized, telling an ancient story that had obviously once been of great importance. Unfortunately the images were indistinguishable to any great detail in the minimal light and he was left to guess at what could have been so important millennia ago.

 

Botan stopped when the straight corridor ended and forked perpendicularly to the right and left. Yet she chose neither of these options. Hiei and Kurama watched with the curiosity of thieves as Botan ran her fingertips along the cracked and jutting wall in front of them. She was tracing an intricate pattern across its surface. For the last part she placed the lantern behind her back, momentarily blinding the two men behind her and preventing them from witnessing the final, and truthfully the only crucial, step to unlocking the secret door. When the stars stopped twinkling in their eyes, Kurama and Hiei were able to see the bricks slowly disintegrating into tiny particles of sand. The wall collapsed level-by-level starting at the top. The grains of sand vanished completely just before they touched the ground. Beyond the naked doorway was a dark stairwell that led down into eternity. Walk far enough and one would eventually discover a trap door into Hell. The dense darkness of it rushed out into the hallway, sucking the light into the ancient passageway, momentarily illuminating the gloom. All three of them shivered as the pressurized shadow passed over them before dispersing into the rest of the palace. The shadow was dry and immeasurably cold.

 

The hungry emptiness ate up their footsteps and breaths. Not a sound could be heard on the stone stairs. The very walls seemed to yearn for the presence of these living beings. It had been so long since the stones had felt the warmth of life. All three still spoke not a word. Kurama correctly presumed that speech was pointless there; it would be eaten just like all the other sounds were. Even the light of Botan's lantern barely penetrated. The bulb still gave off the same amount of energy, but the atmosphere snatched it up before the light could travel far from its source. As the passage narrowed even further and the group was forced to travel in single file, Hiei moved to take the rear so that Kurama would be exposed neither forward nor back. Kurama reached back and brushed a hand against Hiei's swinging, cloaked arm in thanks. They could see nothing more than each other's outline and the animal reflection in their eyes.

 

Finally Botan stopped again. The air was far colder than it had been at the start but the light was increasing. She stepped solidly into apparent nothingness and groped for a door none of them could distinguish. Silently, Botan was chanting for confidence, trust and courage. Koenma was calling to her from behind this door, she could feel it, and she would come to him. Something reached out in the dark and curled around her fingers. She bit her lip hard to squelch her scream and doggedly continued to search for the door handle that didn't exist. Both men smelled blood in the air but heard nothing. Then she found it, the five holes for her five fingers, and she placed her fingers in accordingly. Then she gripped the wood within the circle of her fingers and twisted, the motion smooth and unhindered. A red outline appeared at the door's edges and then it swung inward, oddly normally in Hiei's opinion. All three people shielded their eyes against the red glare that assaulted them.

 

Behind the door lay a purely red room no larger than any given bedroom. The walls were painted bright red but the overall light from the pulsing floor was a deep shade of nearly black red without a single pigment hinting towards maroon. The floor pulsed with anticipation like a revived heart enjoying again the throws of life. It wasn't something that could be felt physically or something that could be seen with mortal eyes, but all five occupants could feel it in their hearts. Each pulse squeezed at their insides, twisting them and releasing, twisting and releasing. In the center of the room stood a shining metal pole two inches in diameter and nearly seven feet tall. Its tip was pointed, seamless, and glowing with an alien perfection. Two feet behind that stood Koenma dressed in plain red robes. And at his feet lay Hinako. The tools of this trade lay on a black fur spread out against the side edge of the wall. She was naked and the implements shone with chilling brilliance.

 

Botan ushered Kurama and Hiei to pass her and then closed the door behind them. Koenma had asked her to be his witness. She shed the pale robes she had been wearing to reveal a long red tunic belted high on her waist with a silk cord.

 

“This is the room of taboos,” said Koenma. His voice echoed off the walls, but the floor absorbed his echoes. “You two have performed a summoning and are here of your own free will. Is that correct?”

 

“Yes,” Kurama replied.

 

“The two of you wish to break the bonds that divide you and are willing to kill this young woman to do it?” Anger and sorrow emerged for the just a moment in Koenma's otherwise steadfast and authoritative voice.

 

Again Kurama answered, “Yes.”

 

“Is there anything left to be said?”

 

“I will not make excuses for destroying the bond that binds you and this girl, Koenma, but I will make the position I have been placed in known,” spoke Kurama. “I am no more human than anyone else within the confines of this room. This body may be human, but it is no more than an avatar to house my spirit. Your rules do not make allowances for the ways of my kind! And thus I am judged human, though I will never find a human mate whom I can freely love. Hiei found me lost and wavering in my identity. After the first of our chance meetings, I might never have seen him again except for your meddling! In spite of everything that has come and is coming to pass, I am grateful for that.

 

“Now I am dying because of your orders and soon I will die because of your desire to annihilate a small demon girl. I admit her powers, but not her danger. The Reikai is simply not comfortable with threats to their supremacy. I understand this as well as the necessity that I be the one to complete this mission. However, I will not refrain from demanding what I deserve any longer! If you think me selfish, consider this: had Hiei and I consummated before this summoning, it would not be me that would have taken injury but Hiei. I will not condemn the one I love because the foolish pantheon of gods deems me human because of my form only!

 

“That is why I do not hesitate when faced with the sacrifice of an innocent and purely remarkable girl whom was unfortunate enough to be a focus of your love. I no longer have the capacity to feel beyond my skin or outside of my own heart. Thank the gods I have even that left to me. When that is gone, all I will be and all I will cause is an empty and excruciating pain. I would that my death would never allow such a living Hell, a true demon.”

 

Kurama's last words echoed incompletely, ringing in everyone's ears until they were consumed by the hunger at their feet. But within everyone's minds, they rang and rang and rang like the roar of Cerberus in the ears of the damned. All were silent. Koenma was at a loss. He had nothing to say to refute the accusations plain in Kurama's speech, but how could he not say anything to defend himself? The silence dragged on, everyone was waiting for Koenma to continue the ceremony.

 

The pulsing of the floor was making everyone a dizzy. The feeling was in their hearts and in their bodies. They could not see or hear it clearly, but there was no doubt that it existed. Not a soul did not tremble in its own hidden way.

 

“What say you, Koenma?” Kurama challenged.

 

Koenma took a breath. “I say that it is not your place as a mortal to a god to speak such irreverent words, but that it is your place as a friend who has been wronged. As your friend, I admit the downfalls of the gods and am equally frustrated by their supercilious attitude and uncompromising arrogance. It is in this light that I can withstand your anger and shadowing hate. And it is in this light that I am able to bury my godly pride and self-centered nature that I bend to your demands. Understand, however, that from this moment we shall be at odds until your mission has been completed. At that point we will be even, and I will deal with your soul accordingly.” Koenma briefly cast his eyes downward in a slip of weariness.

 

“You forget that when he `completes' this mission, he will have no soul,” spat Hiei.

 

“I will do what I can, then,” said Koenma.

 

“We will expect it,” nodded Hiei. He squeezed Kurama's hand. Kurama did not change his expression nor take his eyes off of Koenma, but he did squeeze back before Hiei released his grip.

 

The ceremony continued.

 

“Step forward and select your knife. Take the first one to catch your eye and call your senses. Do not hesitate!” Koenma said.

 

Hiei and Kurama immediately crossed the room, each carefully not touching the gleaming pole, and took up a knife from the black cloth. Hiei had chosen a black onyx blade about six inches long with no guard or wrappings around the grip. Instead, the stone had been rounded to fit a person's hand, but he would still have to be careful to not cut himself on the uncovered stone no matter. The chipping at the blade had been done with great precision. It was completely unadorned. Kurama had chosen with closed eyes, laying his hand flat on the pelt and letting his fingers grasp the first one it touched. It was a gleaming steel, double-edged dagger nearly eight inches in length. The handle was bound in white suede and there was a small, half bell to shield the wielder's hand from blood spatter. A one-inch needle made of deep gray-green demon iron could be extended from the base of the grip. It was as elegant as Hiei's was secretive and as dangerous and Hiei's was practical.

 

“Now give her your binding mark! Seal this woman's fate and break the ancient law that binds you! Spill her blood so that its iron will burn away the invisible threads that have been woven around your hearts and souls!” It took every ounce of courage Koenma had not to look away from the body of Hinako. She lay flat on her back, silent and still. Life shone beautifully from her eyes powerfully enough to nearly break Kurama's resolve. It was love, honor, and an unbelievable strength of character. That gaze spoke to Koenma that he could trust in her for one last time.

 

Kurama approached Hinako first, signaling Hiei to wait a moment. Kurama dropped to his knees beside her shoulder and hung his head low in silent, internal prayer to no one in particular. When he raised his head again his eyes and face were blank, but in his words was everything. He spoke softly as one would imagine the dusting of leaves, fur, and feathers atop frozen soil would sound. “I do not pity you and I will not apologize for I believe we both understand that my doing so would be an insult to your sacrifice and my desperate love. I respect you for your courage and will not forget you. Rather I will bury your memory deep in my mind never to be recalled again without distinct purpose. Many things that I wish to express to you I cannot, nor will I ever thank you. But know that you are a singularly great individual whose soul I will not waste.” Kurama raised the dagger, “To express what I can through this blade, I give you a cut that maintains modesty and dignity with a knife that is not wielded in anger or malice.” He pressed one side of the dagger's tip shallowly into her shoulder at slightly lower than collarbone height. Hinako gave her first reaction to the pain, a shudder of flesh and the smallest wince in her face. Kurama continued to cut a smooth line horizontal line from shoulder to shoulder. Where the line was over her heart, Kurama flicked a short diagonal line in reverence of her innocence. Then he stood and was replaced by Hiei.

 

Hiei was brief. He did not feel as sorry for the individual as he knew Kurama did, mourning the passage of a great character. What Hiei felt was the need to honor such a valiant and worthy warrior's spirit. The onyx knife was excitingly sharp and only a light, quick movement was required to penetrate skin. Hiei marked each of Hinako's limbs near the joint with one short line angling diagonally out from the juncture. With each mark went a meaning, a word, “Courage. Honor. Loyalty. Love.” Hinako's breath hitched with each cut, but her eyes never changed.

 

Koenma waited until he had both of their attention before continuing again, “Now let stream into the sacrifice your life, your soul, your blood. May you fill her with your desires so that when the gods receive her body, you will be known to them.”

 

Kurama slit the back of his hand and let his blood wind down and around his fingers until little streams poured from each finger onto her lips and neck. Hiei did the same then knelt and smeared their joined blood into the cuts they had inflicted upon her body, mingling their life forces into one distinct message. Behind Hiei, Kurama licked the blood from his hand, forgetting for a moment that his human body could not process it.

 

“Now it is my turn to brand my mark upon the sacrifice. May there be no mistaking Hinako for anyone else's but mine.” Koenma picked the naked girl up in his arms and sorrowfully, reverently stepped behind the metal pole so that it stood between him and the two men before him. He refused to meet Botan's eyes behind them. He raised Hinako up in offering and when his arms could extend no further a magick lifted her into the air to hover over the gleaming, narrow spike.

 

There were no words - all had already been said. Botan rocked in place, holding back the tears she thought had run dry. Koenma held his gaze steady on his pure and perfect beloved. He at least owed her that. Kurama and Hiei were blank, their minds thought of nothing as the magick took over. Hinako's body hung in time, suspended atop the point like a magician's trick. Then time melted the frozen second and the point pierced her skin with slow and eerie clarity. Suddenly, the moment broke. Her grace no longer held and she plunged down its metal spine. Her limbs bounced once, twice; after the third they lay still angled downward as her joints would allow. Hinako was suspended halfway down the pole, allowed to fall no further by a supernatural and ancient force. Her blood began to descend down the metal, but it never reached the ground. It was caught in pale, human hands and allowed to pool in the palms. Then the cupped hands pulled away and Kurama offered up the blood of the sacrifice to Hiei's lips and Hiei drank, his lips stained red. When Hiei had drunk all there was, Kurama dropped his hands and they stared at one another, unthinking, for one still moment. They had forgotten everything. They thought of nothing. All that existed was each other and the pulsing of the room's heart.

 

A crimson pool was now forming at the based of the pole. It spread out in a perfect circle.

 

Hiei grabbed Kurama to him with whiplash force and kissed him with violence unmatched in the world outside of that room.

 

Koenma and Botan backed into their respective corners to serve as witnesses to the final rite of the ceremony.

 

The magick was in their heads. The pulse was in their hearts. In the ever-widening pool of hot, living blood Kurama and Hiei gave themselves up to the power and the rhythm and the violence of the gods' love.

 

Above them, Hinako waited for the end…of the ritual and of her life.

 

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A/N: (This is for those who didn't read it before the chapter) I am very sorry to those who were expecting a yaoi scene, but it's already taken me forever (!) to get through this chapter because of this and that and adding another five+ pages does not sound fun to me. I instead opted to leave the action implied. I may still insert it in the next chapter. Please give me your votes: who wants a yaoi chapter to finish off the scene and who wants to get out of that evil room and on with the plot?