Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Grief ❯ Fulfilling Promises ( Chapter 11 )

Eleven

Fulfilling Promises

 

 

 

Jin felt tears sting in his eyes as he ripped through the air. He grunted, changing his wind-power downward as Sho began her perilous descent. Demonic energy whipped his curly, untamed hair, slapping his cheeks and neck painfully as he reached out towards the falling demoness…

 

The Wind Master cried out in joy as he felt her body pressing into his grasp.

 

“Sho!” he shouted above the tumult of his demonic winds, hugging the unmoving body close to him.

 

Fearing the worst, Jin cupped his hand over her face, and exhaled in relief as he felt her warm breath brush against his fingers. Slowly, the Wind Master descended to the ground—being careful not to jostle his precious “cargo”—holding the unconscious demoness protectively close.

 

Once they landed, he gently laid her down on the ground, and knelt beside her comatose form—wincing as his eyes passed over her mangled, clearly broken, arm.

 

“ 'Ey, Sho…” he said softly, shaking her gently. “Wake up. Ye canno' be sleepin' jes' yet…”

 

The young woman groaned, and her eyes opened half-way. But she seemed not to see him as she gazed on, her look vacant. Beginning to panic, Jin shook her again. But she did not react this time. He frowned, and lifted her head into his lap, speaking her name over, and over again, when, out of nowhere, Hiei appeared. Jin looked up at him in distress. The Jaganshi sighed in irritation, and the eye for which he was titled opened up—a violet-hued orb looking out listlessly from the short demon's brow.

 

“I swore I'd never do this again…” he grumbled, kneeling beside the unresponsive Sho, “But it seems we need her…”

 

The Jagan eye changed from its soft violet to a bright, eerily-glowing green—its unearthly power spreading down Hiei's arm as he reached down and placed his palm upon Sho's forehead.

 

“Kaihou goshujin reikon dzuki touhou…” Hiei whispered. And then everything for the Jaganshi went black.

 

>>>>>

 

What do you think you're doing?! Shodi shrieked, glaring madly at her half-soul.

 

Sho matched the glare with a look that was both cold and sad. She sighed, and turned to where Shoshoku stood, giving the young girl a strained smile as Shodi's tirade continued behind her.

 

Nicely done, young one, Sho said softly.

 

Shoshoku flushed with embarrassment, and smiled sheepishly.

 

T-thanks, she replied, but—

 

—you aren't even LISTENING to me!! Shodi interrupted furiously.

 

No…I'm not.

 

Shodi stopped in mid-sentence, her voice vanishing at the icy calmness that dripped from Sho's words. She glanced at her half-soul, and shivered as if a sudden chill had overcome her, so intense was Sho's glare.

 

What do I think I'm doing? Sho whispered coldly. I think I'm FALLING. What do you want me to do, Shodi? I made a mistake, I admit it. But…there is nothing I can do now. Soon enough we'll be splattered on the ground…

 

Her eyes looked downcast as she sighed sadly, clasping her half-soul on the shoulder.

 

I'm sorry…I let my emotions get in the way during a battle. But it's too late to change it now… I probably lost my rationality to that bastard in Makai, and regretting is pretty useless, now isn't it?

 

Shodi studied her puzzling partner, arms crossed over her chest in a defiant posture. Shoshoku looked between her two older halves—cold, calculating eyes watching sorrowful, almost resigned ones. It wasn't until some time had passed, the trio unmoving, that the youngest half realized something.

 

Wait…shouldn't we be dead now? It can't take this long to reach the ground at the rate we were falling.

 

The looked at her, blinking a few times as if to comprehend she had spoken. Shodi was the first to shake herself out of the numb state.

 

That's true. If we had died, then our spirits would be free again.

 

Strange…as far as I could tell, we were only moments from being splattered…

 

“The Wind Master caught you.”

 

All three spun around to where Hiei's ethereal form shimmered inside of their mind space. He looked between the three suspiciously, his eyes lingering on Sho at last.

 

Hiei? the demoness scoffed.

 

The Jaganshi, eh? Shodi remarked, sizing the short demon up. Doesn't look very tough.

 

“And you're only half a soul,” he sneered. His scarlet gaze flickered back to Sho. “And you have a lot of explaining to do.”

 

Well, if we survive all this, I'll be happy to clarify as best as I can, she replied with a helpless shrug. Now, if only I knew a way out of here…

 

Hiei grunted, his Jagan glowing an eerie green.

 

“Just hold still,” he commanded, the green glow outlining both himself and the curious demoness. Slowly, their incorporeal forms began to fade away.

 

Bye, Mr. Hiei! Shoshoku called out cheerfully. It was nice meeting you!

 

And the two were gone.

 

>>>>>>>>

 

Hiei was jolted back into his body, toppling backwards with a groan.

 

“Ye ok?” Jin asked, his kind blue eyes flickering between him and the comatose Sho.

 

Hiei's look went from dazed to confused. He had watched the Jagan's power engulf her, too…hadn't he? The Jaganshi knelt beside her, placing his hand over her mouth and nose.

 

Nothing.

 

He cursed silently, placing his fingers in her neck, checking for a pulse.

 

Still nothing.

 

“W-what's wrong?” Jin asked, watching Hiei fearfully.

 

“I found her, and brought her back with me. But something must've gone wrong…I can't feel her pulse—“

 

“NO!!” Jin cried, knocking Hiei away and placing crossed hands over her chest, issuing three quick pumps and then, using his fingers to hold her nose, tipped her head back and breathed into her parted lips. He did this over and over again, tears blurring his vision. Finally, as he moved to breathe into her lips once again, she began to twitch, and then cough.

 

Jin propped her up, waiting anxiously as she inhaled deep gasps of air frantically. Once her breathing went back to normal, and she began to calm down, Sho opened her eyes slowly, groaning as pain shot through her shattered arm. She looked up at Jin, a small grin on her lips.

 

“Hey, Jin…” she croaked. “Hiei told me you caught me…thanks…”

 

Jin let out a strangled sigh, pulling her close into an almost desperate embrace—tears of relief spilling from his tightly closed eyes.

 

“Ye crazy, crazy woman…don' ye ever do somethin' so reckless ever again!”

 

She hugged him back with her good arm, waiting for him to calm down some. He finally let her go, and began to rip up his crisscrossed shirt into bandages—his eyes watching her broken arm nervously. Sho gritted her teeth as he went into the painful process of righting her bone and binding it.

 

“So, we have some time. Want to explain what I saw in there?” Hiei's eyes flickered to her forehead.

 

Jin continued to wrap her arm carefully, but he kept one, wary eye on the Jaganshi all the time. To the surprise of both men, Sho began to chuckle softly; her crimson eyes looking up into Hiei's like a mother into the eyes of a naïve child.

 

“Time, Jaganshi?” she echoed. “I don't think you understand how little time we really have.”

 

Hiei scowled, arms crossing over his chest defiantly.

 

“Oh really? Then why don't you enlighten us?”

 

Suddenly, Shodi's personality leaked through, changing Sho's appearance some as she regarded Hiei balefully.

 

“It might be too much for your tiny mind to encompass, short stuff,” she sneered.

 

“…You're that other soul…” Hiei said slowly, confusion playing behind the wall of cold anger in his ruby eyes.

 

“Bingo.” Shodi stood, startling Jin who had just finished with his bandaging.

 

“Sho?” the puzzled Windmaster pondered.

 

“No. She's in here, but she's tired. My name is Shodi,” she turned her attention back to Hiei. “Now, I don't want to have to come out here again, though Sho could easily handle the likes of you, she doesn't have the heart to do it. I on the other hand…” The demoness drew her katana out of thin air, inspecting the blade almost lovingly. Her blood red eyes flashed back to the startled Jaganshi, a sadistic smile spreading on her fanged lips. “I don't have such reserves…”

 

She shuddered, head falling forward as Shodi relinquished the body to her stronger half once more. The demoness shook her head of the dizziness that usually followed such transfers of control. She looked up at Hiei sadly, crimson eyes pleading, and so much different than the ruthless being known as “Shodi.”

 

“I'm sorry…I couldn't stop her…please forgive my second half…she's a bit rude.”

 

Hiei grunted, turning away from the two and disappearing in a blur of black. Sho watched him go solemnly, knowing how cruel Shodi could be. She turned back to a very confused, and worried, Jin. Her crimson eyes looked downcast guiltily.

 

“Jin, there is much I have yet to explain to you, but now…now I have something I must do. Ijin only wants me—“

 

“But he'll kill ye!” Jin blurted, worry playing in his tired blue eyes.

 

“No, I don't think that's his purpose here,” Sho replied quietly, looking down at her feet. “Kojiatsu won't want me dead…not yet at least. He'll have to kill me himself so that he can devour the remainder of my soul.”

 

Confusion battled with the worry in the apparition's eyes. Sho smiled meekly, resting her good hand on his shoulder.

 

“Like I said, there is still much I have to tell you, but it must wait for another time. For now…I must go with Ijin to my father and—“

 

“So…ye're jes' gonna give in?” Jin interrupted softly.

 

“…What?” Sho whispered, startled.

 

“Ye're jes' gonna let Kojiatsu have what `e wants? Ye'll jes' go to him of yer own will an' allow yerself t' be killed again?”

 

Such sorrow shone in Jin's eyes that Sho felt her heart wrenching in her chest. The hand that held his shoulder trembled, slowly falling. But its tenuous descent was stopped by the Wind Master's own, strong hand as he held her shaky digits to his breast.

 

“I canno' live if I `ave to go an' find yer corpse again, Sho. I won' live if I have t' hold yer `ead in me lap, watchin' th' life pour outta yer eyes… Don' make me do that again…”

 

“Jin…” she murmured, fighting back the tears. “I have…no choice… Kojiatsu must be killed, or else we will never find peace… And…I have a promise to keep…a promise I made the day I was reborn. Please…you must let me go.

 

“I cannot promise you that I won't die, but I can promise you that I will fight with everything I am.”

 

“If I canno' change yer mind,” Jin said with a sad sigh, “then I'll be goin' with ye.”

 

“No! I forbid—“

 

“Ye can forbid all ye want, but I will be followin' ye. No matter what.” The gravity in his words and eyes assured Sho that he was not going to change his mind. The she-demon smiled helplessly.

 

“All right then, we'll fight. This time, together.”