Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Grief ❯ Crimson Poison ( Chapter 9 )

Nine

Crimson Poison

 

 

 

 

Crimson energy began to crackle around Sho—perfectly matching her seething, blood-colored eyes. She turned to where Hiei battled the demon that had broken through the ceiling—clearly in vain. Every time the Jaganshi managed to score a hit on the fleshy beast, he was splattered with the demon's acidic blood and thus only working to hinder himself rather than the demon.

 

Hiei hit down on the ground with a snarl of pain—his skin burned deep so that white bone peeked out from beneath the flesh on his upper arm. Stubbornly, he rose shakily to his feet, and began to channel his remaining energy. Black and purple flames outlined Hiei's body—burning hungrily through the ward around his right arm—as he faced the demon squarely. The tattoo of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame literally squirmed impatiently on the Jaganshi's arm—its black, reptilian maw opening in a silent roar. Hiei raised his arm, palm facing the intruding demon...

 

“Stand down, Jaganshi. This one's mine.”

 

His concentration shattered, Hiei turned to reprimand Sho—only to be silenced as the demoness's power overwhelmed his senses. She stepped past him, and approached the demon with a grim determination. Hiei wisely stepped aside, and held his agitated dragon in check.

 

Sho stopped before the massive demon and looked up at it with burning eyes of molten crimson. As if in response, the demon lifted its fleshy head and roared. Hiei flinched as the beast's mighty bellow shook both his mind and the floor beneath him. If the howl had affected Sho in the least, she did not show it.

 

Noisy little... Shodi growled.

 

Finally, the deafening roar ceased. And to both Sho and Hiei's surprise, the demon spoke.

 

“Greeeetingsss, Ssshhho,” the demon said, his words thick with an unearthly accent. “I am Ijin...one of Lorrrd Kojiatssssu'sss geeeneeralsss. Your father misssssessss you, little ssserpeent...hisss favorrrite daughter...”

 

Sho scowled slightly at his last words, but was then struck by something odd the demon had said.

 

“Lord Kojiatsu?” she echoed incredulously.

 

Ijin chuckled.

 

“Ahhh, yessss...you've been absssent for a long whiiile...you've misssssed Lord Kojiatssssu'sss rise in power,” he chuckled again. “He hasss sssuccesssfully ssslaughtered the Easssstern Sssshhhinobi tribe. Lord Kojiatssssu now controlssss a large porrrtion of Easssstern Makai. He hasss even begun to fight hisss way up amongsssst thee Three Demon Lordssss...”

 

“You aren't serious!” Hiei cried behind her.

 

Ijin ignored him as he continued to study Sho in amusement.

 

Lord Raizen will never be humbled by the likes of Kojiatsu, Shodi growled.

 

Lord Raizen? Sho echoed, oblivious. I wasn't aware that Makai was—or even could—be ruled.

 

They don't particularly “rule” Makai...at least not in the ways that humans put the word to use, Shodi replied with a mental shrug.

 

Sho returned her shrug, and focused on Ijin once more.

 

“Do you have anything else to say,” she remarked coolly, “or can we begin?”

 

Ijin's gargantuan body rumbled with laughter.

 

“You really arrre like him, you know...”

 

Sho scowled.

 

Shut him up...for good! Shodi spat, exerting her power outward to form a hungry katana in Sho's waiting hand.

 

“With pleasure,” the demoness murmured aloud.

 

Sho howled a piercing battle cry, and charged the demon with an inhuman speed. Ijin's roar followed after her, ripping through the temple as he met her charge with a clawed tentacle.

 

Hiei watched as the two prepared for impact. But as soon as the Jaganshi blinked, the pair were gone! They had completely vanished! His Jagan eye opened wide as he searched frantically for the battling demons. But even without the unnatural eye, it was a simple task to find the two—Ijin's roars heralding their location.

 

As soon as Hiei had ripped open the room's sliding door, he stepped out into the courtyard and sure enough there the pair were. The Jaganshi watched in shock as the pair battled—spurts of blood painting the grass and statues around them a deep crimson. As he watched, Hiei realized that neither of the combatants were even bothering with defending themselves. It was an all-out, barbaric, bloody, offensive battle. The macabre sight was enough to make even the loathing Jaganshi feel sick.

 

>>>>

 

Kurama groaned in agony, blood leaking through the bandages that Yusuke and Genkai had wrapped around his grievous wound. The old psychic quickly applied some pressure to his abdomen—her gnarled hands outlined in a soft, blue glow as she channeled her power in an attempt to heal the dying fox. She scowled, and pulled back from the kitsune.

 

“He's poisoned,” she remarked sullenly. “I'm going to need your help, Yusuke, if we are to save him.”

 

The young spirit detective nodded, and mimicked his mentor's hand placement—the same blue glow tracing his hands as he poured his spiritual energy into the wound.

 

Jin stood away from the trio, not wanting to get in the way. But even though his eyes watched Kurama in worry, his mind was far away...in a cave in Makai...his arms cradling the head of a very pale young woman...her screams echoing...her screams echoing...

 

He broke out of his train of thought as something about his thoughts seemed strange. Almost as if...

 

His heart sunk. The screams were real! Jin fled from the room and through the halls of the temple.

 

The screams were real!