Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Quoth The Rayvin ❯ I Love You Too ( Chapter 8 )

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

***

It had been nearly three months since Rayvin had left the Minamino home. Kurama had heard word from neither her nor Hiei since that day. It was Christmas Eve, and he spent it alone as Shiori finished some last minute gift shopping for her co-workers. He was planning to go spend the day with those whose loved ones had been lost to the necromancer- Shizuru, Yukina, Keiko and Atsuko, while he, Botan and Koenma would try and help any way they could. Though the pain had long since dulled, this would be their first Christmas without Yusuke and Kuwabara, and would probably bring back memories.

The ringing of the phone brought him out of his musing. He picked it up and said hello, not expecting the voice on the other side. "Kurama? It's…it's Rayvin. I don't have very much time, so please listen. Do you know where the D'Vertola mansion is?"

"Hai, demo-"

"You need to get here, onegai! We need you!" There was then the sound of the phone being wrestled from Rayvin's hands, a crying infant, and the faint sound of Rayvin screaming, "No, please, don't hurt her, I'm begging you!" before the receiver was slammed down.

Kurama barely realized what he was doing as he grabbed his coat and raced out the door. The mansion was across town, and Kurama started running, the sound of Rayvin's cries like a wraith on his heels, chasing him down until it felt as if his chest was on fire. As he crossed the street in the middle of town, a limousine pulled up and barricaded his path.

"Let me pass," he panted as a large man in a back suit got out of the passenger seat and advanced upon him. "Please…" As the man came closer, Kurama went into a defensive stance, hand ready to pull out a rose from his hair if the need for a fight was apparent.

"Mr. D'Vertola would like to have a word with you," the man said, pointing to the tinted window of the back seat.

++++

Rayvin was crouched into fetal position in a corner of her dank cell. At first, she had been simply locked in a bedroom in the mansion, until D'Vertola's bodyguards had caught her with the phone. One had dragged her by her hair down to this hellhole and the other went to tell D'Vertola, who had gone to get Kurama before he could get to Rayvin.

She was scared. The last one hundred years of her life had had a definite purpose, and she had known who she was, and where she was going ('Hell,' she now thought bitterly). Then she had fallen in love again. Now her heart had melted and grown until it was larger than the oceans themselves. She had shifted completely from her dark, ominous self to a person able to feel love, to feel guilt. When she left Kurama three months ago, it had been to find a way to bring Yusuke and Kazuma back, and set things right before she even dared to envision a life with him.

She smiled softly. 'I fell for another thief.' It struck her as almost ironic. But this one had two sides to him. One was Youko Kurama, the daring, clever, seductive kitsune whose name was still whispered among the youkai. The other was Minamino Shuuichi, who was just as daring, just as clever, and just as seductive, but who also was capable of giving his heart unconditionally. She loved them both equally, wanting one no more than the other, though in different ways.

The door to her cell burst open, and Rayvin's eyes became round with shock as Kurama was thrown in, his head landing on her lap. "Kurama!" He attempted to get up, but his hands were cuffed behind his back, preventing him from doing so.

"Rayvin…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

"Nani-" She was cut off by a voice, one she knew all too well.

"He's been told everything, Rayvin-chan." D'Vertola walked in, flanked by Robyn and her now-husband, Yukio D'Vertola.

No! That would mean he knew about…"Kurama…I tried to fix it-"

"Urusai, Rayvin." He shut the door on his son and daughter-in-law, leaving himself alone with the necromancer and the shokubutsushi. "Now, I'm sure you both want to know why I want the Urameshi Team dead. I nearly lost my entire fortune the day Gonda-san had me bet on the Rokuyoukai Team. Of course, it helped that you had a personal grudge on Kurama, Rayvin." He walked closer to them as Rayvin took Kurama's head in her arms, leaning over him, in such a way that it seemed she was guarding him. "What I cannot possibly fathom, however," D'Vertola continued, "is why you would sleep with someone you hated so much."

"Y-you watched!?" Rayvin didn't know whether to be disgusted with him or horrified that her and Kurama's most intimate moment had been seen.

"We began keeping tabs on you shortly after the Jaganshi attacked you-"

"I attacked him," she corrected, not failing to notice Kurama's brief look of anger. It broke her heart to think she had done such a thing, but she couldn't change the past.

"-and you stopped returning our messages. You could have taken care of it right then and there, when you were in his house-"

"He saved my life," she almost snarled. "I wasn't that heartless."

He reached over for Kurama. Rayvin looked ready to gouge his eyes out until he glanced at the tiny wooden box on the other side of the room. She let D'Vertola pick Kurama up by the back of his shirt and drag him to his feet, though unwillingly so.

Kurama hadn't spoken a word this whole time, his emotions at war with each other, his head spinning from what he had been told. He had destroyed Rayvin's life, but the woman still cared for him. Could he be so forgiving?

"I finally found out what this was, Rayvin," said D'Vertola from behind him. He pulled out a slip of paper bearing the words 'Quoth the Rayvin, 'Nevermore''. Rayvin gasped. "I know if I rip this, you rip. If I burn it, you burn." Again he looked at the wooden box. "And not only do you die, so do those attached to you by blood." He chuckled. "You made this so if by some cruel cosmic joke you didn't complete a mission, you could still die in glory."

'But I never expected this…' She, too, looked at the crate.

"I know how weak you are, Rayvin. Your ordeal just ended a week ago, and you've had no time to rest, poor child, so I'll make this easy for you." He walked over to her and shoved a gun into her thin hands. "Shoot him, or I'll kill the three of you." He held the contract in both hands, ready to rip it.

Three? Kurama's already worn mind didn't comprehend what was being said.

Rayvin raised the gun to eye-level. Kurama closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Kurama…"

He heard the safety click.

"But this is the only way…"

Her voice had dropped to a whisper now.

"For you to be happy…"

Tears streamed down her face.

"Aishiteiru."

The gun went off. Once. Twice.

_____

(Please remember to flame me on both sides, for even cooking .... )