Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Quoth The Rayvin ❯ Yusuke no Shi ( Chapter 2 )

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating:
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance on my chamber door-
Some late night visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is, and nothing more.

"Presently my soul grew stronger, hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," I said, "Or Madame, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact was I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping on my chamber door
That I was scarce sure I heard you-" here I opened wide the door,-
Darkness there, and nothing more.

-----

Now for the detective, and then the Jaganshi and then him. The first would be simple. The next probably wouldn't be if she continued on her intended course. She would have to think of something else for Hiei. He would die even if she killed herself in the process. Her ambitions were completely forgotten as a white-hot fury swept through her.

She tossed the pitch-black cloak over her head and felt her bones and muscles change place, her joints move position as she quickly shrank and changed into her the bird that gave Rayvin her name, the raven. It was the only way to travel around in the daylight without getting caught. True, they might think it suspicious for a mere raven to have such a high amount of youki, but it wasn't that noticeable. Unlike her brother, who had pushed himself to become one of the most powerful demons in the world to defeat his captor, Rayvin had pushed herself to become one of the most feared necromancers in the three worlds. She was on the verge of achieving that goal, too, for her mercenary business had given her a considerable supply of ghosts and corpses to control. Maybe she should raise a nekomata or two to help...

Night was about to fall as Yusuke replayed the day's events in his mind. The funeral, Koenma bursting in, and the meeting at Kuwab- Shizuru's house. Yes, that's what it was now. Not Kuwabara's house, Shizuru's. Never again would it be Kuwabara's, unless they caught that damn necromancer. Yusuke wondered what she did with Kuwabara's soul. Koenma had said that she might have kept him as a helot...but for what? What benefit could she possibly have received for enslaving Kuwabara of all people? How could a human soul benefit a demon?

Hours passed, and Yusuke was still awake. Koenma had told them to be alert at all times, since Kuwabara had been killed in his sleep, but the futon across the room looked so alluring...maybe he could just lay his head down for a few minutes...it couldn't hurt, could it? What could possibly happen in just a few minutes, especially if he wasn't going to fall asleep? Nothing, that's what.

The second Yusuke's head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

The wind seemed to whisper in response.

Rayvin flew inside the open window in Atsuko's vacant room and mentally tossed off the cloak. Luckily for her, the woman had gone bar hopping again, and Yusuke was alone in the house.

Silently crossing the room, she tried to remember exactly what she did with Kuwabara- it had been an old spell, a prayer, actually, an ancient one used by those who wanted to preserve a soul completely, but not one beyond her power. Usually the corpses she used were stupid, slow creatures with little more to them than brute force. She didn't want with the tantei and his friends, even at the cost of disobedience. She wanted their power, their memories to be wholly intact, not one thing missing. And she would make sure her final victim was tossed to Cerberus himself, even if it meant she would have to pry open the three-headed beast's jaws and shove the soul down his throats herself.

She finally opened the door to Yusuke's room and walked in, still the silent, sinister grim reaper she had grown accustomed to being, though the tantei was snoring so loudly that there was no way he could of heard her even if she hadn't bothered to be so quiet. Standing over his sleeping form, she pulled out a talisman and began chanting the first spell, one which made his spirit more vulnerable to her command. Her murmuring was barely heard above his breathing, so she almost didn't notice when she was finished, until his body started glowing red. Then came the complicated prayer to Hecate, patron goddess of witches and sorcerers, and the sacrifice of her own blood that was demanded each time the prayer was used. The sword she took out of the sheath was twisted and menacing, and sharpened so that it could split an entire tree in half if in the right hands, so a demon's skin was no problem. She quickly grabbed the blade, ignoring the pain that seared through her, and held the same hand out over the tantei's chest. Five drops fell in quick succession, and the cerise glow concentrated there. Slowly, the tantei's soul rose out, the essence of Yusuke's being, white, eerie. Rayvin seized it with her bloody fist, then quickly spelled the sword and made a motion as if to cut Yusuke's head off, but, though the rise and fall of his chest ceased, his body remained intact. Yusuke's life had ended in the same cold, silent way Kuwabara's had.

Atsuko's anguished cries greeted the blood-red dawn, and a violet-eyed raven flew towards the sun.

-----

REVISION NOTES:

I can't believe it's been over a year since I wrote this chapter. So many things have happened that it seems like it's been eons since I touched this. I'm fifteen now (and so proud of myself to have made it this long without going completely crazy), and I'm hoping my writing's improving even subtly.

I have to say that aside from a certain reader's steady flow of emails (which are referred to as PMS attacks- Pestering Monthly Syndrome. I don't find them to be a nuisance at all), the review that has made me proudest thus far is Cresent Moon's (Mediaminer). I was always under the impression that my writing sounded like a fourteen-year-old's, and I never though my age could shock someone like that. But hey, that's what teenage angst does for you :P

ChaosMage