Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Grief ❯ Fading Away ( Chapter 17 )

Seventeen

Fading Away

 

 

 

The sheer, raw power of their attack sent the pair of Shinobi flying back against the far wall. Touya hit the stone heavily, but managed to shake off most of the shock from the blow. Jin, however, was not so lucky. He hit the wall hard, jarring his splintered arm in the process. But his scream was nothing more than a hoarse gurgle, his throat so raw with pain.

 

The Ice Master scrambled over to his injured friend, frantically trying to think of what he could do. The Wind Master clutched his broken arm weakly, fighting to stay conscious.

 

“Hold on, Jin,” Touya said, ripping his shirt off and shredding it into strips of blue cloth. “Careful, now… Give me your arm…”

 

“S-s…Sho!” he rasped, eyes opening wide as he struggled to sit up. The Ice Master tried to push him back down, but Jin just shrugged him off, looking up at the last place father and daughter had clashed. Touya started to scold his friend, but when he noticed how wide the Wind Master's eyes stretched, he looked over towards the middle of the room—his own eyes expanding in shock.

 

In the very center of the room, the pair stood, locked together. Kojiatsu's crimson eyes were wide as well, filled with hatred and disbelief. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but all that came from his lips was a wave of blood.

 

Sho looked down the length of her sword at her father, knuckles white on the hilt from how tightly she held the weapon. Blood filled her mouth, too, but she knew that her injury was not fatal. Kojiatsu's claws had gotten past her defense to pierce the flesh of her throat, but she had been the quicker.

 

The Demon Lord's hands dropped to his sides—eyes still looking up at his conqueror with an emotion that might just have been fear…tinged with sorrow. The crimson orbs began to film over with death as the demon's soul departed its mortal shell. Sho could see it, a wisp of white smoke that drifted towards the heavens.

 

Then something hit her, and she let go of her sword. Kojiatsu's corpse slid to the floor—still skewered—in a mess of flesh and blood.

 

“NO! I did not come all this way for this! Give it back to me! Give me back my soul!” she screamed, groping desperately for the quickly fading spirit.

 

And then it was gone.

 

Her eyes—already so deep a crimson—went a shade deeper as she stared in gaping shock after the soul.

 

“No…no…no…” she murmured, her voice steadily getting louder. “No. No! No!! NO!!”

 

She screamed in feral rage, falling to her knees and beating her fists into the floor until they were bloody.

 

“NO! That's not fair!! It's mine! GIVE IT BACK!”

 

Touya stood and slowly walked over to the torn demoness, standing just behind her as she sobbed and beat against the floor. He didn't know what she had been chasing, and he was confused beyond explanation.

 

“Sho?” he said softly, gently shaking her shoulder. “You won… Kojiatsu is dead. You should be happy—“

 

“Happy?” she echoed darkly, slowly rising to her feet. “Happy, you say? And just what am I supposed to be so damn happy about?!” She turned on him, eyes blazing. “He took it from me! He took my soul! It's gone, lost forever, and you tell me I should be happy?!”

 

“I-I'm sorry…I didn't know—“

 

“Of course! No one knows! No one can understand this! I want it back!!” She was no longer paying any attention to him, storming over to her father's corpse. Her eyes blazed with so much hatred, so much grief. Sho no longer had any claims on sanity. She had sacrificed her emotions—her rationality—to defeat her father, and it was all for naught.

 

Sho reached down and grasped the collar of the dead demon's shirt, yanking him up so that his partly open, glassy eyes were level with hers. His head slumped backwards from lack of support.

 

“I hate you!” she screamed at him, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was yelling at a corpse. “You took it all! Why? Why! What did I ever do to you?! You killed mother, you killed me! Give me back what is mine! Come back, damn y—“

 

Arms encircled Sho from behind, startling her. Angry, she turned to snap at whomever dared interrupt her, but all the ire in her voice—and her voice itself—vanished without a trace. Her mother's loving face looked down at her, smiling through her tears. And behind her stood Kojiatsu, face grim in his spiritual form. The ghostly visage of her mother stepped back and hooked her arm in that of her mate, still smiling; still crying.

 

Then they came. The memories.

 

Kojiatsu's corpse fell from her hands as she began to shake uncontrollably. She relived her mother's murder, watching as the tears turned to blood as her mother fell. Sho cried out and rushed to her side—now the little girl she had been.

 

“Momma!” she sobbed, clutching the ghost's hand.

 

But the spirit's eyes looked past her, with those tears of blood.

 

“Kojiatsu…” she whispered. “Come back to me… Don't leave me all alone…”

 

“I'm right here! You're not alone!” Sho whispered, her heart aching.

 

“What…is that you, my love? I knew you would come back… Ah, Kojiatsu…”

 

Sho stepped away, eyes wide with disbelief.

 

“No…this cannot be…true?” A tear rolled down her cheek. “She…she never thought that! We hated him! We…were in so much pain…

 

“That's not fair,” she murmured, heedless of her tears. “I was the one who shared her pain…no one else… Why…why am I not remembered…?”

 

Jin hobbled over to her, worry, sorrow, and pain fighting for dominance over his features. He stood right beside her, trying to figure out the puzzle of emotions clashing in her blood-hued eyes. He placed his good hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him through her grief.

 

“Jin…” she whispered, “am I…am I…worthless?”

 

“No!” he answered immediately, aghast at her question. “Why would ye be thinkin' that?”

 

“It…it hurts, so much…” She held a hand over her heart. “Jin…I want to go home…”

 

Heedless of his injury, Jin threw his arms around her, holding the young woman as she broke down. The two slumped to the floor, Sho sobbing into his shirt as he held her close.

 

“Alright,” he murmured, “le's go home… Le's forget it all…”

 

Shodi turned away from the scene, her head aching from trying to remember her own past. But the memories were gone. She smiled helplessly. Long ago, they had made a promise—Sho and her—to fix one another's pasts. But she wouldn't remind Sho of it. Eventually…Shodi would just fade away…