Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Hard to Kill ❯ Sidetracked ( Chapter 3 )

Renard: Well, the good news is that so far people don't think this story sucked nearly as badly as I think it does. Well anyway, I'm going a wonderful job of avoiding Yusuke, so I'm gonna try to keep up with that *starts running in frenzied circles* ONWARD READNICITY!

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She was lulled to sleep by the coursing pain that ran through her back. Slowly her head dropped forward, her long blue and red bangs fell into her eyes. She was still awake enough to hear rational thoughts but dreamlike images were still dancing through her head.

I should have stayed with the detective. The image of Kurama flooded her mental view. No, that would have been the easy way out. The scene of her get away played out in her head. The shame of being taken to Koenma to serve any form of punishment would have been worse then this. At least here I am being shamed in the presence of the people I trust most, not the entire world. Rational thought slipped away as her tired body drifted further into well deserved rest. The last thought she could remember was "I am the victim now."

A thunderous crash followed by shouting and frantic screams awoke her. For a moment she could have sworn she could taste the smoke of fire.

"Get away from there!" Some one shouted. It was too close for comfort. The door slammed to the ground with a dramatic force. In the blinding light she saw two shapes, and one was all too familiar. Fear consumed her as they inched closer, moving slow. Time seemed to stop, and for the first time in her life she knew what it meant to be truly afraid. Her heart pounded so fast that her chest was aching.

"Stop." She whispered meekly. They didn't seem to hear her. "S-stop!" She tried with more force. Still the sound refused to be louder then a raspy whisper. The shapes seemed to hesitate, but she couldn't tell if that was wishful thinking or truth. Breathing deeply from her painful fear, she tried to crawl away, not having enough strength to do much else. Two hands grasped her around her stomach, pulling her from the ground. "No." She whispered again, hot tears falling from her eyes. There were still cries from outside, there was still hope. Please come. She screamed inside her head. Do not leave me to these vultures. Slowly she felt consciousness slip away, and for some unknown reason she fought it.

"Stop struggling." A voice commanded, though the tone was gentile. "We will not hurt you." The voice said calmly. She wanted to speak, she wanted to fight and run. No, that would be the easy way out. I have faced the punishment here, but it is time to face the shame. She closed her eyes and hung her head, falling limp in Kurama's arms.

She woke to a stiff body and the sting of freshly cleaned wounds. She shivered slightly, looking around the room. It was rather small, white in color with a bed, which she was sitting on. Despite its emptiness, it was eerily inviting.

A soft knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. She nodded as if telling the person to enter, forgetting the fact that they would not be able to see her through the door. The door clicked open, and in the doorway appeared the face of Kurama. She froze almost instantly, turning her eyes away from his. Drawing the blanket tighter around her, she tried to fight back the `unexplainable' blush that was heating up her cheeks.

"How do you feel?" He asked softly, sitting on the edge of the bed. She shrugged unnoticeably. "You may speak, no one can hurt you." He reminded her, wanting desperately for her to look at him.

"W-why?" She whispered. The question caught Kurama off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you come? What purpose will I serve you?" Kurama didn't answer. There was a long silence. It was broken by her long shuddering sigh. "I know you wish to take me to Spirit World, because your `ruler' arranged for my capture. I will go willingly, but I must ask, what will happen to me?"

"Koenma didn't tell us."

"You have worked for him for a long time Kurama; you must be able to speculate on your own." He shook his head. She sighed again, leaning her head on the wall. "What happened?" She asked quietly, closing her eyes during the process.

So Kurama explained the entire event. The invasion, the battles, the capture, the retreat. The details were few, making the entire thing sound like a common happening. She nodded tiredly a few times, biting her lip to force back the mixed emotions that came with such a story.

"Why did you run?" Kurama asked suddenly, his eyes glued to her the entire time. She shifted neither comfortably or uncomfortably.

"Raw instinct." She said simply, her face expressionless and her eyes still closed. She sensed that Kurama was left hanging, not sure how to take the meaning of those two words.

"When we were undergoing our training, our teacher told us to rely only on raw instinct. He said that desire was to be ignored, as it was nothing more then human's way to compensate for the abilities evolution neglected to grant them. That day, something inside of me said that staying with you would only bring more shame to my employer, a man who took care of me despite the fact that I failed him many times."

"What exactly were you trained to do?" Kurama inquired.

"I am sure that you know by now. But I will tell you to humor you. My employer was against the human race. He believed that the destruction they cause is useless, and wasteful. With that in mind, he set out to form an elite group of demons who would do the task of eliminating humans for him. I was the starting point. He practiced a form of enlightenment, as he called it. I was taught the evils of the human race; I was trained in the areas of thought, fighting, and obedience. The most important lesson was to ignore human instincts such as pain, fear, sadness, or any other form of weakness. We were basically turned into emotionless killers with no speck of mercy."

"So you were brainwashed."

"I would not call it brainwashing. It was discipline!" She stated almost too defensively. "Many of the others were properly disciplined, I however was never molded correctly, I guess is how one would put it."

"What do you mean?"

"Our employer wanted us to regard him as a master, and to be whole heartedly devoted to the cause, agreeing with all his ideas and thoughts, complying quickly with all of his wishes. I never did, I was always a free thinker, well to some extent. I never knew why I was committing mindless murders, only that I should because it would please my employer. Looking back on it, I find it almost sad now." There was a long silence.

"You should rest some more." Kurama said standing and smoothing out his shirt.

"Where are you going?" She asked darkly. He turned to face her, taking note of the fact that her eyes were still closed.

"I will be in my room if you need me. It's just down the hall." The door clicked shut.

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Renard: Well…this so far is going nowhere. Once again I apologize for past, present and future oocness of all characters.

Yusuke: *appearing out of nowhere* REVIEW!

Renard: DAMN! *runs and hides*