Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Grief ❯ Inner Child ( Chapter 2 )

Two-“Inner Child”

 

The rain had dispelled sometime late that night, leaving the new morning damp and welcoming. The sun cast its warm light on Sho, her eyes slowly opening to the dawn of her second day of her miraculous rebirth.

She descended from the tree she had chosen as her bed the night before, and looked around at the foreign plane of the humans. Sho's lips curled up into a small smile, her mind at peace, when a sharp pain clenched at her heart—crushing whatever small amount of serenity that was slowly beginning to build within her.

Sho? You alright?

The poison demon promptly kept her dreading thought to herself as she sent a small flicker of orange to her worrying second-half.

Yes…just must've slept weird…

Unseen to Shodi, Sho clutched at the thin material of her shirt covering her heart, and gave herself a slight, assuring nod before heading out to wherever her instincts would lead her. One foot in front of the other, she carefully kept her thoughts hidden from her companion souls… Waking nightmares of a man…a young woman standing beside him…their hands soaked in the darkness of their many sins…

* * *

“Memories consume, like opening the wound,

I'm picking me apart again.

You all assume, I'm searching in my room,

Unless I try to start again…”

~Breaking the Habit, Linkin Park

* * *

Yusuke yawned wearily while he waited for the last member of the Reikai-tantei, along with the ferry girl holding their next mission, to show up. Hiei sat in the darkest corner of Yusuke's room, glaring ruby daggers at an orange-haired boy sprawled on the floor—small whines and complaints leaving his throat every few seconds.

The front door to Yusuke's apartment swung open, and a red-haired Kurama stepped in—quietly closing the door, and politely taking off his shoes and laying them next to Kuwabara and Yusuke's messily thrown ones. And then, almost as if on cue, a minute after Kurama was comfortably seated, a young woman with bright blue hair flew in through Yusuke's window on a wooden oar.

“It's about time you decided to show up, Botan!” Kuwabara growled in his whining voice.

“Yes,” Hiei agreed with a scowl, “I was sure that my ears were going to bleed from this oaf's bellyaching before I was even told of our new important assignment.”

Kuwabara opened his mouth to give a retort, when Botan interrupted him, clearing her throat and calling all of their attention.

“Yes, well, it's good to see you all too,” she said in a voice that seemed to never lose its buoyant edge. “Anyways, moving on with more pressing matters…” she reached into her kimono's deep sleeves, and produced a small, black videotape.

Yusuke scowled at it as he snatched it away from the woman, and roughly shoved it into a VCR that strangely looked like a suitcase when closed up.

The television flickered black and white for a moment, before coming into focus, a toddler appearing on the screen. He looked slightly bored, shuffling a few papers in front of him as the detective group gave him an equal, almost dismissing look.

“Yusuke,” the toddler began behind a blue pacifier, “There have been several sightings of demon activity to the eastern outskirts of the city. From our sources, we have determined that they are very low class, but we do not how many of them there are. Your mission: dispose of them before they begin to cause havoc. That is all.”

Botan ejected the tape, and with a small nod to the four boys, flew back out the window she had first entered.

Kurama sighed as he stood, calm as he always was, saying in a quiet voice, “Yet another extermination assignment…” Hiei followed his red-haired companion with his usual, “Hn.”—the remaining two boys following suit in a slouched manner.

* * *

A soft breeze drifted through the trees, arousing the leaves it passed through with a gentle, almost laughing sound. A small hare sat beneath a tall oak—its thick, five-pronged leaves casting deep shadows over the small critter. It licked its tiny, fuzzy paws and then ran them over its long ears and head. He ended his bath with large shiver coursing through its tiny body, and sat comfortably in the cool grass.

It was oblivious to the crimson gaze watching it from above, writing out its impending doom.

An unnatural shuffle in its sun-blocking tree had the hare's instincts alert—its large back feet tensed to spring at any given movement. Another shuffle, and the hare's front foot twitched to escape, but it was too late for the unfortunate creature.

…I still can't believe you did that… Shoshoku whispered in a slightly hurt tone.

What, you WANT us to starve?! Shodi snapped, her temper rising at the young girl's continual idealist naivety.

Shut UP! Both of you! Sho cried in exasperation, her head throbbing from her companions' never-ending quarreling.

The rabbit was sprawled on the ground, its dark eyes still wide from its last moments of life as Sho gathered up some sticks in a small pile on the ground before her, plus one stick that was much longer than the rest. Once she had a good number of twigs collected, Sho then began the puzzling question of how to start a fire in the wood. Shodi smirked, and pushed her spirit into Sho's right hand—gaining control of the limb, and snapping her forefinger and thumb together. To Sho and Shoshoku's surprise, a miniature fireball sat floating above her slender digit. Shodi smirked again, and threw the flame down into the pile of sticks.

She then gave Sho control back over the arm, and sat back to watch a steady fire began to grow in the small pile.

How did you… Sho began.

My sire was part fire demon. But that's about as much as I can do.

Sho smiled, and picked up their dinner, impaling it on the long stick that she had separated from the pile and setting it in the ground over the growing flames so that they licked hungrily at the rabbit's gray fur.

A few minutes had passed, and Sho deemed the hare good enough to eat, bringing the meal before her waiting lips—blackened fur and all, to Shoshoku's ultimate disgust—and sunk her fangs deep into the tough flesh. Just as Sho began to fall into the chewing rhythm of her jaws on the stringy meat, a scream pierced the peaceful air around them, and Sho found herself dropping the cooked hare to the ground, clasping her hands painfully over her slanted ears.

What in the Makai was that?! Shodi cursed in a hissing voice.

“I don't know,” Sho answered aloud, “but it can't be good.”

Ignoring the complaints of both her growling stomach and Shodi, Sho dashed out into the forest—easily finding her way to the area of the scream as yet another of the deafening shrieks shot through the air.

* * *

In moments, Sho found herself looking upon a peculiar site. Three grotesquely large demons stood surrounding a very young girl who instantly reminded Sho and Shodi of Shoshoku. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as a low growl escaped her lips. One of the demon trio turned their bulbous heads towards Sho and smiled devilishly before turning back to his companions.

“Lookie `ere! Looks like we've got some dinna' and dessert.'” The other two snickered, and all three momentarily ignored the young girl, thinking Sho more of a prize.

Run, damnit! Shodi growled, wishing she could slap the human girl for her impudence. But her attention was diverted from the girl as a trembling began to assault Sho's body. Sho? What's wrong?

A searing, white-hot fury ripped through Sho's mind stream to her companion spirits just then as she bared her fangs and extended her claws—crimson eyes darkening to an even deeper scarlet as she glared at the demons.

“Run…run now if any of you value your worthless lives…” The threat came out in a low, dark tone as Sho took a menacing step forward.

One demon—the one who had first spotted her—scowled at what he though was a cocky attitude, and with a devious nod to his companions, drew forth a long dirk, charging Sho with a feral snarl.

His lips couldn't even mouth a scream as his ugly head was cleaved cleanly from his broad shoulders.

The remaining two demons, the girl, and Sho's partner spirits all stared down in shock at the clean kill. Sho's eyes then raised to the remaining two demons who looked uncertainly at one another, then drew their weapons—two swords—and looked back angrily at the demoness who had just killed their companion with deadly ease.

Crying out a snarling battle cry in unison, the pair charged at her recklessly, their swords swinging about wildly. But just as Sho braced herself for their mad dash, her hard as iron claws raised before her like a shield, the pair vanished!

Surprised, Sho slowly lowered her hands, and looked around her in obvious puzzlement. Had they run?

Sho shrugged her shoulders in dismissal, and took a step towards the trembling little girl. She was stopped short as a searing pain exploded in her right calf. Sho looked down and cursed beneath her breath, her eyes passing over a crude sword point protruding from her lower leg. The blade was pulled out with a rough twist, causing Sho to cry out, her thoughts filled with the burning pain. Her knees wobbled unsurely, as warm blood poured down her limb—pooling in the grass at her feet.

* * *

The group moved swiftly then, their pace being intensified by the second scream, and the feeling of a large demonic presence pouring over them.

Just as the four were close to reaching the area where both scream and ki had emanated from, another cry broke through the afternoon air—this one sounding different in both meaning and voice: older and filled with pain.

They passed through a tight grouping of spruce trees, and landed just on the outskirts of Sho's battle with her invisible adversaries. In confusion, the group realized Sho for what she was, but also realized that it was not she who was bringing the girl any harm.

Puzzled like a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle, the boys stopped and became like spectators as they watched the battle begin to unfold.

* * *

Sho snarled through the mounting pain in her leg, and stubbornly forced her legs to stand straight, her instincts now fully awake and at attention. Her features then calmed suddenly as her eyelids slowly closed, and stood patiently still. A shuffling to her left revealed one of the unseen demons, and another shifting sound behind her gave her the position of the second. The hardest part now was to determine where their wicked blades were.

The demon to her left, the one who had hamstrung her calf the first time, moved slightly, and Sho was able to determine the position of his sword from the thick scent of blood wavering about it. He charged forward, this time aiming for her hip, but the poison apparition proved the quicker—her iron-like claws deflecting the blade so that it landed down in the ground with a low THUD. Her left eye opened a slit to witness the demon's startled face.

So the invisibility failed after they attacked…

She didn't have much more time to ponder the notion as a swishing sound came from behind her, and Sho just barely missed the second demon's horizontally swinging sword. Sho winced as a tear opened in her shirt—a dark red line appearing where his sword has just barely broken the outer layers of her skin. But she quickly shook away the shock of the minor injury as her ruptured leg screamed in agony.

The duo took Sho's pause to regroup, and charged at the demoness without hiding behind their cloaking powers. Mere moments later, Sho found herself being hard-pressed by the two surprisingly experienced sword wielders.

Left, right, left, right, jab…

Steel clanged against claw as Sho struggled to keep the hungry blades from finding any openings in her defense.

Left, right, left, right, jab…

Shodi, watching the battle from behind Sho's eyes, watched their movements with growing agitation. But soon, the pattern became so repetitive, that an idea came into the seasoned veteran's mind.

Sho! She called out to her partner. Let me take control for a minute. I think I have an idea…

Sho looked quizzical both inside and out as she whispered—her mind too busy working with her blocking claws—aloud, “What…do…you mean…control??”

Shodi pondered this for a moment, not actually having considered how, when her thoughts brought her back to the fire. The memory played clearly to Sho, and the poison demon relaxed her mind a bit—not feeling as both swords slashed at their opposing upper arms. The twin swords then came in, finding an easy opening straight at the she-demon's heart, when Shodi had control.

With a smirk, Shodi looked up with golden eyes full of flickering flames as the two startled demons wondered about the sword that suddenly appeared in the demoness's hands. She knocked them back with a deep cry of concentrated rage, and then was in full pursuit. Her mysteriously attained sword seemed to glow with the same, intense flames that glowered angrily in Shodi's eyes as she took the offensive with a vengeance.

Sparks flew as steel connected with steel. Blood soon flew through the air as well as wounds began opening up on all three demons, but no one paid them any heed. With Shodi's sudden display of superior swordsmanship and vehement rage, the two demons looked to each other's bloodied faces, and made a silent agreement.

Shodi stood calmly then as the demons stood graveling at the she-demon's feet—their swords having been thrown into the woods as they pleaded pitifully for their lives.

“P-please show m-mercy, mighty she-youkai!” said the first.

“Y-yes! Release us a-and we shall become your humble servants!!” the second piped in.

Shodi snarled at their weakness, and spat distastefully, “I have no need of cowardly subjects! Go back to whatever hell-hole you crawled out of, and make sure that I never see your ugly faces again…or else next time I might not be so merciful…” Her words ended just as Sho took control once more—the demons slowly rising as they continued to grovel and throw compliment upon gracious compliment at the poison she-demon.

Sho began to turn towards the child, the young girl still trembling, but somehow realizing that this lady had saved her…until…

* * *

Makai…

“We can't hold them off much longer! Where the hell is that Wind Master??”

“He ran off somewhere...we'll just have to hold them back until more reinforcements show up!”

The earth demon snarled angrily as he slashed down yet another weak apparition. But it seemed that no matter how many he cut down, they never stopped coming!

“Damnit all!!” he screamed at the ensuing black hoard of demons, “Touya! We cannot take much more of this!”

The ice demon squinted his eyes, looking out at a faraway, looming figure. The leader of this black wave of weak demons. But he knew that all these poor excuses for demons were just fodder. Kojiatsu was trying to wear them down.

“Alright!” he called to his companion, giving him an affirming nod, and then looked out to his other Shinobi brethren who were fighting, and falling before him.

“LISTEN UP!” he roared above the sounds of battle, “FALL BACK!! WE MUST REGROUP!”

Many thankful glances, or understanding nods came back at him as the Eastern Shinobi tribe slowly began to draw back. They all headed to a large outcropping of various cliffs and boulders, and began to set up an effective defense. Touya was the last one back into the lines, and his eyes gazed around worriedly when he realized that his oldest friend was not back yet. But he could not wait for much longer, and before he knew it, a firm hand was grasping his shoulder, and pulling the Ice Master back behind the defensive lines.

Touya looked up painfully at Risho but the Earth Master already knew his companion's pain, thought maybe not the full extent of it.

“I know, but…our first duty is to our clan…Jin'll be alright…I know it…”

Touya nodded slightly in agreement, but in his heart he had already said “goodbye” to his dearest friend…either he was already dead, or soon would be. But even if the Wind Master, by some miracle, survived, the Eastern Shinobi tribe would never again walk the lands of Makai.

But they sure as hell would put up the hardest fight Kojiatsu had ever had!

With a battle cry filled with rage and a newfound determination, Touya charged out into the swarm of demons with Risho right beside him—the rest of their clan being rallied by the fearlessness of their leaders. Their target: A dark form on the horizon.

* * *

Jin fell to his knees as he coughed up yet more blood onto the already growing pool beneath his fingers with a sickening, squishing sound. His eyes—blue as the sky he had so often soared through—glared up at the features of a smug Kojiatsu. Kojiatsu easily towered over the Wind Master a good four feet, but what seemed even more menacing were his massive muscles; the ones on his arm alone thicker than Jin's entire body!

His crimson gaze flickered over the struggling redhead with a glint of dark amusement behind his unreadable mask.

Jin looked up straight into the features of the monster that was killing his kin even as he stood there. But one thing that made his stomach almost retch was the fact that he so resembled someone he had used to know…but he had killed her, too…

“Wind Master,” Kojiatsu's booming baritone shook through Jin's injured body, and he found himself helplessly falling back on his rump as the poison demon continued: “You have fought better than I thought you would. I will give you this one chance to avoid the fate that your clan has suffered. Join me, great Wind Master. Join my army, and you shall know the taste of true power!!” His scarlet eyes sparkled as if in nostalgia. To the weary Wind Master: he looked like a child craving candy.

Once again, he struggled against the growing agony in his body, and faced Kojiatsu with a smug smirk plastered over the grimace of pain that threatened to show itself.

“True…power…is somethin' that ye'll never be knowin'…” blood trickled down his lip as Jin continued, “None o' the power that ye hold know is really yers…everythin' ye are is what so many have been achieved throughout the years! Yet yer too lazy to go an' try t' get strong by yerself! Ye need—“ but he never got to finish as a fist was hurled into his gut. The wind knocked out of him, Jin could only stare ahead as everything went a startling white, and then slowly began to dim to a consuming black.

Just before his consciousness completely slipped away, a sharp flash of purple light shimmered around him, and then everything was lost in a deep, unfathomable darkness.

His lips moved weakly as they formed a lone word…

“Sho…”