Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Demon Dance ❯ Last Request ( Chapter 15 )

A gentle tap at her door went unnoticed. An ice youkai entered without waiting for permission and knelt next to the dozing wolf.

"I know nothing I say will bring her back. I know that and you know that. But you can't stay like this forever. Camber has countless failed experiments out there that we have to take care of. Either killing them so they don't take the lives of others like Aka's or getting them help like we tried with you." A heavy thud was heard in the room. "I brought you your scimitars incase you want to come with me tonight on patrol."

There was a swish of fabric and a second gentle click of the door closing. Skyre rolled over, staring at blades that were still stained with blood. Sitting up, she reached for them, and out of habit, began to clean. Tears fell onto her working hands as the red filth was scrubbed clean and oil applied with tender care. Sheaths were found in a corner and her weapons became incased in them once more. She tossed them into one chair, returned to her place on her bed to stare at them. Her thoughts were mush, none of them truly coherent and none of them in words.

After a time, she came to a conclusion and strolled to the bathroom. Washing herself clean from day's worth of dirt and tear marks, she exited the shower into a fog of steam, snatching at a towel to dry off. As she donned clean clothing, her hand worked with a will to dry her mess of hair. When she had finished, she even went to far so far as to gel it, making it stand up on its own like an unruly crest of fur. Pleased with her work she went back to the chair with her scimitars. With trembling hands, she snapped them on her belt with a sigh.

Everyone turned to stare at her when she came out again. She wore all black silk that billowed with every movement. The baggy medieval shirt went well with the slacks that hugged her frame. A black trench coat altered so the top half fit snugly like a vest flared out past her waist, without any sleeves beyond her shoulders. She matched each of their gazes, not offering a word of explanation as her steps took her body to the door. She didn't wear a single illusion and didn't even care.

"I'm going out. I'll be back later." She turned the door handle and was gone despite words of protest following her out into the evening sun.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Humans ducked away from her left and right, calling her names as they passed. She didn't care. Her ears moved of their own will as well, adding to the truth that she openly wore. Her tail swished back and forth with her strides, making every human on the street hate her for no reason at all.

"Freak!"

"Demon!"

"It's the Devil's work, come to kill us all!"

And so it continued for the entire duration of her travels. She ignored it all, looking for something, even though she wasn't sure what she was looking for.

"Someone! Stop him!" A man was running down the street with what were clearly stolen goods in his hands. She watched. Time seemed to slow down everything in existence. His legs and arms pumped wildly as he fought to escape the policemen chasing him. She turned. His breathing was fast and deep while the cops were already finding it hard to breathe. She glared. Ten feet away. Five. Four. Three. She side stepped and flung out one arm at chest height, clotheslineing him without fail. His feet flew forward as his body became temporally parallel to the ground. Then gravity worked its wonder and he crashed to the cement. She couched next to him, ears plastered to her skull. She didn't say a word, only picked up what he had dropped and returned it to a pair of baffled policemen.

Skyre didn't wait for words of thanks or words of scorn, she only walked away, hands in her pockets as she puzzled over what she had done. In due course as midnight approached, she had found solace on a rooftop, gazing up at the full moon. A breeze ruffled her fur as she contemplated her own actions.

"Baka wolf. Still have your head in the clouds," a voice laughed. The youkai stood, whirling around to find the voice's owner. "I'm surprised you've forgotten me already. Try and find me if you can." Still confused, she followed the whispering voice anyway. It led her on a merry chase over the root tops, making her jump from building to building and even over streets with the aid of magic. After hours of chasing in the dead of night with dawn creeping into the eastern sky, she finally stopped, sitting where she stood to gasp for breath.

"Come now. You can't quit yet. We're almost there." It giggled, a strange sound like bells. Skyre only shook her head, refusing to move from her spot on the roof of someone's home. They were out near the suburbs now, were houses were rampant and traffic died to nothing. The temple was in sight from here, only a few miles from where she was.

"Get up lazy. Only a few more miles and they you'll see. Come on. Up up up!" it encouraged. The youkai sighed, staggering to her feet obediently. Dawn came and went, leaving the wolf stroll down the sidewalk, waving hello to the few people awake at such an early hour. "Here." The voice vanished, leaving her standing by a chain link fence. A door opened and a tumble of puppies came rushing out of the home, their mother in close attendance. They yipped and gave their weak versions of barking as they played in the grass. There were seven in all, most of them gold like their mother. One was gold and black and one was only black.

"Oh hello there dear. Come to find a new friend?" Skyre jumped, snapping her gaze to an older woman on the other side of the fence. She was even more surprised to find herself kneeling near the bottom of the fence with her finger interwoven in the metal. Blushing hotly she stood, dusting off her knees as she lowered her ears.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," the youkai began.

"Oh it's no trouble at all. Please come right in and take a look. Demon or not, I doubt you will harm anyone or anything." The woman moved to the gate and began to open it when Skyre simply jumped the fence, grinning sheepishly before every puppy attacked her, demanding attention. She crouched again, letting them smell her even as she smelled them. The mother kept her distance though, growling softly. The wolf whined in her throat, asking to be forgiven for intruding as every puppy of the litter explored their new playmate.

In time, they wandered off, but not by choice. One pup, a female, drove they away, acting as though Skyre was her's and her's alone. It was the black puppy with golden eyes that growled and snarled until she was the only one in the youkai's lap. Skyre curled her tail around her ankles, extending her mind to the pup out of curiosity. She was met with an overwhelming sense of love and of someone begging to be forgiven. The puppy whined, cuddling into the confused arms of the young lady. It can't be.

"You've got the best of the lot there. Smart as a cat, but more loyal and protective then any dog I've ever seen. Only 14 weeks old and already housebroken. Impossible according to the other breeders I know, but true in her case." The human bent down to scratch their ears, drawing looks of bliss from them both. "Take good care of her, won't you?"

"Can't I pay you something at least?" she begged. She didn't want to take such a treasure without giving something in return.

"No, you can't. Just give her love and a good home. I think she was meant for you."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Genkai's temple was full of activity even in the early morning. Skyre had been gone all night and everyone was in a panic. Ifurita sat on the steps to the temple, elbows on her knees while her hands clutched her skull, trying desperately to think of where she might be as she waited for the morning paper. She heard a car coming up, raising her head to see who it might be. The taxi came to a stop with a squeal of brakes. The tinted windows kept the passenger's identity from being clear. The door opened and out rose the very quarry they had been searching for.

"Good morning Ifurita." The wolf youkai gave a tired smile. The puppy in her arms looked at the ice youkai and gave a bark. The black mass of fur jumped down and leapt into her lap, grinning and wagging her furry tail. "She's supposed to be a German Shepherd, but she's so black and looks more like a wolf that she must be some sort of mutt."

"Where did you get her?"

"She showed me the way herself. Akahoshi couldn't stand to be apart from me." The pup yipped in agreement at the sound of her name. The sorceress risked a spell, probing the young creature's mind carefully She thought that Skyre was only trying to cope with Aka being dead by finding a replacement. She was hit with an almost overwhelming sense intelligence, and of joy at being back. She probed deeper, and found something totally unexpected.

"Yes she is Skyre. She's very happy to be back."

"And I for one and glad that you finally got out of my house to be able to receive her call." Genkai smiled ruefully at them from directly behind Ifurita. The old woman reached down to scratch at the dog's ears gently before continuing. "I had a message taken to Koenma. He is basically the second in command of the spirit world. I asked him to give Akahoshi a body of her own. I can see that my request was not in vain."

The old woman suddenly found herself being glomped by a wolf youkai as tears of happiness rolled over blood red markings of a wolf youkai that no longer felt lost.

Author's note: Yes, it's finished. Yes sappy ending. But it's a happy ending. I'm usually one that does sort of bittersweet endings so this was a nice change. There may be a sequel to this, there may not. I'll think about it. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did in writing it.