Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Balance ❯ Beating of the Hideous Heart ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: erg…History class is evil…

Balance

Chapter Seven: Beating of the Hideous Heart

'You are lying to me, and to yourself. Hurting no one but yourself.'

Why am I not hurting you with such "lies," as you call them? How can I hurt you? Or are you incapable of feeling pain, as I have so long known?

'Known?' he asked softly, in a casual manner as though he did not particularly care for the answer.

Yes, known! he raged. Known, known as I have always known you! Incapable of feeling anything, much less pain!

The glass was fractured so that he appeared to be split into five distorted parts, and though it was not broken, blood leaked from the cracks. Dripping down the pane, it gave the slick surface an odd shimmer against the light that still followed him.

'Do you hear the beating of the heart?' he asked, even as his face was once again split and cracked.

Yes, yes, yes! he howled. It is the beating of the hideous heart! Blackened with the ages it echoes, and it calls to me and I cannot escape! Why must you torment me so!? Kisama!

'It is not I who causes the thrumming of the heart in your ears.'

Then who!?

'It can be no other than you.'

He tried, once again, to sink to the floor, confused by the broken glass wall still spilling shards around them.

The surface refused to yield, and still did not solidify.

Falling into nothingness, he reached out to grasp hold of an anchor among the distressing thoughts coming down around him in torrents. No, he screamed, no, don't leave me! Tears slid down his cheeks and he sobbed out choked words. Not…not again, don't…

The glass spiraled slowly beside him, its shards moving around him, each one reflecting another image of the black and white-haired man.

'Hear the beating of the hideous heart…'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The wind whipped Kurama's hair as the quartet ran, hell-bent, across a field. Brushing crimson strands into his face, Kurama tried to blink them away, only getting them uncomfortably entangled in his eyes. Reaching up to brush them away, he lost a fraction of speed and, once he had regained his vision properly, had to kick up his speed to nearly faster than he could manage to catch up.

Panting, he took his place beside Hiei as they continued on. The entire field was only another twenty or so meters across; he would survive.

Sure enough, minutes later, they had stopped at the edge of another forest. Kuwabara slumped to the ground, breathing heavy, and Kurama found that, despite his little burst of over-speeding, he didn't need to do the same.

"This is where the nearest sighting of youkai was last made," Yuusuke reminded they who did not need reminding. Hiei offered him a dry gaze, quirking an eyebrow.

"Makoto and Kira said the youkai who enslaved them would be in a cave-like location," Kurama noted. "Underground, probably. Here is as good a place as any; I feel traces of-"

"-powerful youki," Hiei interrupted. Kurama, looking slightly taken aback, nodded.

"High B- and low A-class."

Kuwabara knelt and pressed his cheek to the ground. "How can you tell? I can't sense a thing…"

Hiei scoffed. "No surprise there," he muttered, just loud enough for Kuwabara to hear if he strained a bit.

"Oi…"

Kurama smiled. 'That's more like it…'

"Well, who wants to take the shot this time?" Yuusuke asked good-naturedly. "Wouldn't want to be wasting all my reiki on such petty little things, now, would I?"

Hiei laughed, a short, harsh bark, and stepped forward, fist encased in flames.

"Jaou Ensatsu Rengokushou!"

The ground might as well have faded from their view, disappearing so quickly. Chunks of dirt and stones flew out of the newly burned hole, debris hitting them at random angles. Each instinctively raised their arms to shield their heads.

Hiei's voice rang out, short and terse, through the commotion.

"About a kilometer and one quarter," he observed, a smirk evident in his voice. Yuusuke's half-hearted glare was evident when the dust settled.

"Let's go."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Having made a similar one only a fraction of an hour before, the climb was short and relatively easy. Less time was wasted throwing stones and dirt clods, and they caught each other who fell. Yuusuke jumped to the ground first, landing with a soft "thump," and the others followed not far behind.

Equally ratty-looking youkai greeted them, one not even clothed at all. Carcasses littered the floor and pools of blood were rather liberal.

"What do you want?" one youkai, a low B-class and the apparent head of this group, asked tiredly. "Come to taunt us? Beat us? Rape us? Well, have your way. We won't stop you."

Kuwabara stepped forward, one hand outstretched. "No, we aren't here to do anything like that," he said, trying to sound warm. "We just have some questions." When the youkai didn't take his offered handshake, Kuwabara floundered. "Eeto, that is-if you'll have us, I mean."

Another creature stepped forward with a heavy sigh. "No, no, what is it?"

Surprised at such ready helpfulness, based on Kira's and Makoto's reactions, Kuwabara paused and Hiei stepped forward.

"Who are the youkai who abuse you?" he asked with an air of comfort and supportiveness that surprised Kurama.

"Dunno," said a third youkai, shaking his head. "The most they ever say is 'dance, yaro, dance,' or 'say it, bitch, say I'm making you come.'"

Kurama bit his lip, hissing out a soft "How vulgar…" and Kuwabara clamped his eyes shut as Yuusuke shook his head. Hiei was the only one managing to look entirely passive.

"Do they visit you with any regularity?"

The first youkai shook his head.

"You know nothing about them?"

Hiei's gaze was penetrating, yet unimposing. Yuusuke titled his head, wondering how Hiei managed such a thing and if he would teach him.

"Eeto…" began a fourth, a nearly-nude girl child, looking pointedly to the wall. Kurama went and knelt beside where she sat, tentatively laying a hand on her knee.

"Do you know something?" he asked softly. "Because anything-and I do mean anything-you can tell us will be a great help."

"They…told me they… One of them said his name was…eeto… When he…ano…"

Yuusuke and Kuwabara took over speaking with the first three youkai as Hiei went over to help Kurama. The girl's eyes were half-lidded and she rocked slightly back and forth on the stone platform where she sat, kicking her legs out rhythmically.

Kurama waited for her to finish, and Hiei and he looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes. They had both come to the same conclusion, and knew how delicately the situation would need to be pressed. She was, after all, a very young girl.

"H-he said, when…ah, ano…when…"

Hiei's nerves were being worn quickly, Kurama could tell. The girl's stuttering was beginning to bother him, as well, not that he let on.

Though they each knew to what she referred, Kurama decided to press on as though he did not.

"Was it a violent situation?" he asked in an "I'm a psychologist, I'm your friend, I'm going to help you" sort of way.

She shook her head, and her nerve visibly shrank as she quailed slightly. Better get this over quickly.

"A sexual one?"

A soft whimper escaped her throat, and she nodded, curling in on herself.

"I see…"

Hiei knelt between her and Kurama. "What did he ask you to scream?" he asked, so unthreatening that Kurama had to wonder just how good an actor his friend was.

"K-Kur…eeto…" She faltered, pausing.

"What's your name?" Kurama asked then. The girl peered up at him through her folded arms.

"M-Miaka…"

"Miaka. That's a pretty name," Hiei added. Kurama nodded, shooting Hiei a barely perceptive grateful look.

"Miaka, what did this horrible youkai make you shout?" Kurama asked again.

Miaka took a deep breath, presumably to calm herself to a degree of eloquence.

"Kurokyoui."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What did you learn?" Yuusuke asked Kurama as they climbed out of the hole. Kurama shook back his crimson locks and looked over, a hard gleam in his eyes.

"One of the youkai who has been doing these things calls himself 'Kurokyoui.' Whether that's a pseudonym or a real name, I can't be certain. We ought to talk to Koenma."

"Kuro kyoui," Yuusuke muttered. "The dark menace. Isn't that a fairy tale?"

Kuwabara scratched his head and Kurama smiled. "Eh-sure, Yuusuke."

"Call Botan," Kuwabara put in, stopping trying to remember what story the name would have come from.

Yuusuke nodded, giving Kurama a sidelong glare that was not missed. Flipping up the compact's lid, Yuusuke tapped the button Botan had directed him to at their last communication.

The screen buzzed, and Botan's face appeared. "See, now, Yuusuke, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

He adopted a dry look and blinked. "Ah, ah, demare. We need some information on someone who calls himself 'Kurokyoui.'" After a moment's pause, he smirked down at her predatorily. "And we need it fast. As in soon. As in now."

Panicking, Botan shuffled around, moving papers here and there and searching. For what, she couldn't be certain, as she wasn't really looking all too closely.

"Eheheh, we'll find it!" she wailed, a smile plastered on her face. "Don't you worry, we'll find it soon! Nope, no worries, it'll be here!" Dropping the compact, she rushed off and the screen fuzzed again. They could hear her screaming "Koenma!" as she ran.

Smirking again, Yuusuke tucked the compact into his shirt pocket. "That oughta get us an answer."

Kurama smiled wearily.

"Sou ka."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kisama: bastard

Youkai: demon

Youki: demon energy

Reiki: spirit energy

Eeto: er…

Jaou Ensatsu Rengokushou: Evil King Blaze Killing Inferno (dubbed: Fist of the Mortal Flame)

Yaro: bastard

Ano: uh…

Demare: shut up

Sou ka: is that right?

Note: about Kuwabara being…"smart." Remember, it's six years after the end of the series, he's been going to high school, there have been no big, evil youkai ranging around trying to take over the planet, and he's focused on his studies. He's not the smartest of them, by any long shot (::ahem:: Kurama), but he's not an idiot. Also remember, if you've only seen English!Kuwabara, you don't have a whole lot to go on. He's a better person (smarter, more trustworthy/devoted, et cetera) in the Japanese version. I.e., remember the line, "A mulberry's a tree and Kuwabara's a man"? It was originally: "Just as a cherry blossom is a flower among flowers, Kuwabara is a man among men." He's more eloquent than the English dub gives him credit for.

Note: "It is the beating of the hideous heart!" as you may know, was a line stolen from the confession scene of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Telltale Heart." Just so no one calls me on that.

Note: Kurokyoui literally means black threat. As far as I know, it doesn't come from a fairy tale, but fairy tales always have villains, so it sort of makes sense that Yuusuke might think that. Eh…sort of.