Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Quoth The Rayvin ❯ Musuko ( Chapter 3 )

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, the stillness gave no token,
And only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I hears a tapping, something louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something on my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore-
Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore;-
'Tis the wind, and nothing more."

It had been only weeks since Rayvin's brother died, and decades since he had disappeared. Why she still held a grudge against the kitsune he would never understand, but it did work to his advantage, possibly giving him some of his money back.

"Robyn, is she here yet?"

The shaman looked at him from her post near the window and answered , "No, D'Vertola-sama, she's not."

"Is the ghost tied down?"

"Hai."

He looked the young female shaman up and down. She looked almost exactly like Rayvin would in a negative- white hair, golden eyes, dark skin...kind, caring, sensitive. She was worthy to be his daughter-in-law.

"D'Vertola-sama?" Robyn looked extremely nervous as she stared out the window. "You do realize she will be quite angry with you for interrupting her, um, work and for binding her ghost, do you?"

"I'm prepared for it."

"Are you quite sure?" The voice that sounded was far more foreboding and dark than Robyn's lilting accent, and came from the direction of the door.

"R- Rayvin, you're here."

"Do you realize what you've done? I have to watch the Jaganshi day and night if I'm to catch him off guard! And do you know how hard it's been not to get caught?" It seemed as though she couldn't get any more livid, but when a high wailing like a cat yowl cried, her pale face took on a deathly pallor and she ran over to the chest in the corner where the ghost was being held.

The thing had shrunken to the size of a small child; indeed it took on a child's shape as well, though gender was still indiscernible. It was crouched into a tiny ball around the shaman's white itako beads, which acted like a weight, taking away its ability to move freely as it should. The area around the beads looked charred, and silver tears poured in endless torrents from its red eyes. It was obviously in great pain.

"Get these off of him," Rayvin said simply. Now she seemed far more frightening than when she had been shouting. Her lips were a quivering, thin straight line, and she seemed on the verge of tears. No one moved an inch. "I said get them off!"

Robyn moved from her post hurriedly and ripped the beads off in a haphazard fashion. The ghost screamed again, and the necromancer got up and slapped the shaman square across her face, drawing blood due to the ring that adorned Rayvin's finger. The ghost flew into her arms and she cradled it, despite its inability to be touched. " You call yourself a shaman? I've seen children handle ghosts better than you!" A tear finally fell from her eyes. Though it went right through it, the ghost felt the burning sorrow that only a mother could cry, and wrapped itself around her neck, whispering a hauntingly beautiful song that would have terrified most mortals. "I've lost too much, and now you nearly made me lose my son for good!"

"I know how close you can get to a ghost," Robyn cooed, though it only served to annoy Rayvin, "but they aren't really your children. It can't hurt that bad to have one gone."

"You don't understand, this is my son's ghost! He's been with me since he and his father died!"

"S-speaking of which, that's why I called you here. Robyn?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Could you leave us?"

"Yes, I will," she answered, glaring at Rayvin as she passed, to which the latter responded with an offensive gesture. The door shut behind her with a bang.

"Your former employer called me from the hospital," Mr. D'Vertola began. "He told me that you requested that he aid you in finding out who killed your husb- er, mate."

"Yes," she answered, suspicious of D'Vertola's motives.

"I was wondering," he started slowly, "why you did not ask the same of me."

"I gave up. No one was able to help me. And what are you hinting at?"

"I decided to surprise you, and I found out through very convenient and reliable sources what the cause of it all was." He recounted everything that had been told to him. How her mate and his partner had failed in a burglary, how he had turned back to retrieve the pendant he had lost, how his partner had left him there, and how her mate had been slowly tortured to death.

Rayvin was shaking uncontrollably as Mr. D'Vertola gently guided her to a chair. "I- I kn-knew he was a thief, but I n-never imagined that h-he had d- d-died because of it. He was t-too g-good at what he did, " she stammered, too upset for tears. "N-no one...no one ever dared to tell me...."

"The people who were the direct cause of his have all been murdered themselves, but that does leave one person who deserves to go."

"Who?" She immediately seemed to perk up, though not happy.

"As I told you, his partner forsook him. His name was Youko Kurama, now known as Minamino Shuuichi." A violet fire lit in Rayvin's eyes as she heard the name.

"I thank you for the information, and it was kind of you, but we both know you only did it for money." He began to speak, but she interrupted him, "I admire that. You're not one of those sappy fools who believes that they have to look out for anyone but themselves. I'll give you forty thousand yen for the information." She turned to leave without any word of good-bye, and just as before, Mr. D'Vertola found a raven-black feather on the windowsill.

REVIEW NOTES:

I have nothing to do during homeroom at school, so this is how I've been passing the time. :P That, and I'm stuck on my current chapter with Zasshu and I'm still waiting for an answer from the person I emailed and asked to beta my fics.

Ja ne-

ChaosMage