Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Rock My World ❯ Hidden Behind Silhouettes ( Chapter 16 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Dc-chan: *crawls out of a hole* I just got my final grades and they were good so I’m happy to see my studying paid off.

MCT: Because you usually study the wrong things for tests.

Dc-chan: You know me too well.

DISCLAIMER, if this isn’t obvious after 15 chapters then you need a new brain.

Apologies for OOCness.

Warning: This chapter has lots of scene changes

*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 16 of Rock My World

Hidden Behind Silhouettes

“Kitsune,” the fire apparition said coolly, “I have the information you asked for.”

Kurama looked up from his homework that he was working on and saw Hiei sitting outside his bedroom window on a tree branch casually and leaning against the tree trunk, “I haven’t seen you for weeks.”

Hiei shrugged in response, “What you asked me to find out was rather difficult. It took awhile. There isn’t many who know about Toshihiro in Ningenkai so I accessed Koenma’s files without him knowing.”

“And?” The kitsune looked eagerly at the fire youkai with anticipation.

“There wasn’t much in the file so don’t get your hopes up, seems that even Koenma doesn’t know much or anyone in Rekai Intelligence for that matter,” he explained in a monotone.

“We all know that Toshihiro is an alchemist of some kind, but I need to know more than that. So what else did you find?”

Hiei rolled his crimson eyes, “He has a son and a daughter, not much about the daughter was in it except that she’s a nuisance, but her brother is quite a different story. Turns out that he has…two distinct personalities, a quiet recluse side and a violent seducing side. Toshihiro once tried to kill him , but after he failed his son fled and his daughter went after him to bring him back.” Hiei took a breath then continued while closing his eyes, “And it seems that he fell in love with another youkai centuries ago, but the record said she died over four hundred years ago.” He spoke without any emotion to the story.

Kurama folded his arms on his desk over his homework, staring at Hiei out of the corners of his emerald eyes he inquired, “What are his progeny’s names?”

“Namiko and Kokuei.” Hiei replied sullenly, “Doushite?”

“I think Kokuei has been following Kira, but I’m not sure.” Kurama put his chin in his hands and sighed heavily, “I’ve been sensing a strange youki whenever I’m around her and I’m positive it isn’t hers.” He picked up his pencil and continued his homework while talking, “I’ve sensed it around her since she came back and I have my suspicions. Remember at the club a few months ago she danced with that guy and then Genkai told me that she had had a dream involving him…I just pieced things together. The only youkai who would have a fixation on her is him.”

“Besides yourself, you mean,” Hiei corrected him rather icily. “I’ve seen you swoon over her.”

Kurama blushed slightly at Hiei’s brash comment, “I just want to make sure she’s safe, she may seem like she can protect herself, but she really can’t.”

Hiei snorted at that, “I find ways of protecting Yukina without breathing down her neck, your show yesterday of carrying her home would have even disgraced Youko.” He had seen Kurama give Kira a ‘piggy back’ ride all the way to her house, it had disgusted him how much his friend had done for this human girl.

The fox bit his lower lip, Hiei was right. Youko would have never succumbed to helping her in any way, but this was Kira…she wasn’t like other girls at all. She was unique and that didn’t just mean her heritage, but she was in more danger than she understood. He needed to be there just in case something would happen to her and he didn’t care if Hiei got that or not.

Hiei noted the fox’s long silence, “Hn. You’re wasting your time trying to keep her safe. There are places where you can’t help her or save her, you know that. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of losing her again because you know the consequences of this mission just as I. Koenma knows them too…and what she has to do will claim her life once more.”

Kurama winced, he had known that all along that was true. Koenma had even told him, but warned him not to mention the matter to Yusuke or Kuwabara. “I know,” he said softly, half closing his eyes in remorse of the dreaded thought that was now looming in his head. And this time, she’d be gone for good.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to be sad when she’s gone,” Hiei sneered while turning away from the quiet fox.

Kurama thought for a moment. Her fate seemed sealed in stone already the way he was putting it, her impending doom that she remained completely unaware of was inching closer and closer every passing day. Soon the day would come when the six demons power would be unleashed and bring destruction if in the wrong hands. They only had possession of two of them, time was running out. “She’ll be fine,” he whispered to reassure himself, but Hiei just shook his head and disappeared.

~*~

“Botan! Hana!” The prince of Rekai cried out.

The blue haired, pink eyed and bubbly ferry girl entered his office bashfully, “Can I help you Koenma-sama?” She held her oar in her right hand and she had a cherry expression on her face.

“We have a big problem,” he announced leaning back in his chair as Hana entered the room. Her glared at the tardy ferry girl who sweatdropped in response, but he continued in a drawl, “It appears one of the Sage Youkai was killed a few weeks ago.

Botan put her hands over her mouth in shock, “Oh dear!” She then blinked and lowered her hands while smiling oddly, “Pardon my asking, but why is that a problem?”

Koenma fell out of his chair and Hana’s eye twitched. The prince regained his posture and stood on his desk shaking a fist in the air, “It’s a problem because now their powers are incomplete! Whomever did this is going to prison! I won’t tolerate anyone interfering with this mission, especially because of the high risks involved!” He plopped back down in his comfy chair fuming and tried to clam himself down, “This makes it more difficult more Yusuke and the others…”

Hana ignored Botan’s gasp, “Which one was slain, Koenma-sama?”

“Rakura, the lightning youkai.”

“Wasn’t that the youkai who killed Kira at Tenshi?” Hana asked critically, “He didn’t seem like a lightning youkai…”

“He never really used his power on Kira, it was Namiko who put up the illusion when he was trying coax her.” Koenma explained dryly, “The fact is that he’s been killed and we need to found out who did it quickly.”

~*~

Kira walked down the stoned paved pathway in the park. The cherry blossom trees were close to blooming already despite the cold weather and the wind occasionally rustled a new pink petal off of its branch and it would fall gracefully on the stone. Some flowers had even managed to grow through the thin layer of frost that covered the ground. She took in the afternoon’s beauty as her black boots clacked on the stone. At least she had chosen to somewhat bundle up today. Wearing her usual blue and purple scarf with brown leather jacket and skirt while her hair was trailing behind her at waist lengths. The summoning stone lay tucked underneath her jacket.

The park was quiet this morning, not that she minded. She hated having to walk around people or having them spoil a beautiful place like this by scattering wrappers everywhere. This was her favorite park to go to, it sometimes felt like her own private garden.

She walked up to a wooden bridge that was built over a small pond that had white water lilies in it. She stopped mid stride however when she spied a teenage boy who looked familiar to her. She only saw his profile, but his name instantly came to her in a flash.

Kokuei.

His black hair had grown a little, but it was still spiked, but his tips seemed to be dyed a dark purple just like his eyes. She could see his earrings glittering in the sunlight and his black attire consisted of baggy pants, sneakers, shirt and denim jacket and he had silver spike bracelets around his wrists He was leaning over the wooden railing of the bridge with his eyes narrowed slightly as if he was staring hard at the pond. His lips pursed in a frown.

She bit her knuckle, his presence had a way of making her feel awkward.

He looked up and saw her, he gazed at her with unemotional eyes, “I haven’t seen you for awhile.” His voice was soft.

Kira chuckled nervously remembering their last encounter when he saved her from Hosaki barbequing her, “I suppose.” She kept her distance from him by staying still in her spot, “Still into black, I see.” Pleasant conversation was better than a staring contest.

He smiled a little at that while facing her and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, “What can I say? It suits me.”

Kira nodded absentmindedly, but didn’t say anything. She couldn’t think of anything to say, after all she’d never really had a conversation with him. She felt scared around him even though he was at the least twenty feet away from her. The nightmare began stirring in her head once more and she trembled involuntarily. There was also the fact that he was a demon…

“Something on your mind?” he asked politely, noticing her silence towards him.

She blinked then waved a hand fretfully, “Iie, I’m fine. Just being iffy, you know. I must have caught a cold or something, lots of those going around this time of year.” Kira sweatdropped when she finished, what a pathetic excuse. She couldn’t even remember the last time she was sick from a cold or the flu.

Kokuei arched an eyebrow doubtfully, the wind rustled through his hair as he focused his haunting purple orbs at her. She was a horrible liar, but he ignored it. He breathed in slowly then exhaled deeply, “Are you sure you’re fine?”

Kira waved him off again, “Don’t worry.” She put her hands behind her back and lowered her head, “You don’t need to worry about me…” she trailed off then thought ’Kurama worries about me enough, it seems though. He’s always concerned with me, maybe what Yusuke said is true… ‘. She engrossed in her thoughts that when she finally snapped back to reality, Kokuei had a bored look on his face, “Gomen nasai, I have a lot on my mind,” she apologized hurriedly.

Kokuei chuckled lightly and walked over to her, stopping right next to her side. He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled, “It’s alright, I know how it is.”

She fidgeted where she stood, his personality seemed to change every time she saw him. It was odd, then again he was a demon. How could she forget that? He was a demon with big black, soft, beautiful wings just like a raven. Her thoughts than wandered to how he hid those huge wings, she didn’t want to ask him because she vividly recalled how he reacted when she said he was a demon. She didn’t want or feel the need to offend him any further, whether on purpose or accident.

“Kira,” he said raising both of his eyebrows at the girl’s perplexed face.

“Nani?” She scratched the side of her head, her thoughts were straying too much today for some reason.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Hai.”

He caressed her face gingerly with one hand and looked down at her, pulling her closer with his other arm. She blushed as she felt his warm palm against her cheek, common sense fleeing from her mind as if they were running from the plague. “What do you think of me?”

“Ano…” her eyes widened in surprise at his actions and the crimson tint was evident on her cheeks. She redirected her eyes, trying to look anywhere but at him. “I think a lot of things.” She held in her breath as emotions danced inside of her.

//Where has my heart gone
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger
I want to go back to
Believing in everything//

Kira didn’t want to answer, but she knew she would have to eventually. It wasn’t that she couldn’t think of what to say, she could think of many things to say about him. His enigmatic ways was at the top of her list, she couldn’t figure him out at all. It was like he was toying with her, trying force something out of her.

The sun began setting as the two remained as still as statues, the sky was painted pink, purple and orange and the glistening water reflected the sky.

She pulled away from him and took a few steps back, “I’ve got to go home, it’s getting late.” She then whirled around and rushed off leaving Kokuei there alone, but it wasn’t anything that he wasn’t used to.

He was used to being alone.

His eyes were glazed over as he looked after her until she disappeared from his sight, he put his hands back inside his pants pockets.

“What are your intentions with her?”

Kokuei rubbed the back of his neck and turned around, “Oi, it’s the kitsune.”

Kurama emerged from behind a shadowed tree with a dark look on his face, his fists clenched and emerald eyes glaring, “What do you want from her? What’s your infatuation with her?”

Kokuei gave a smug smirk, flashing his fangs, “You really want to know? Does that girl mean that much to you that you’d stand in my way?” His eyes had darkened over and he seemed far more sinister now. “I’m warning you, kitsune, you’d better steer clear of me if you wish to live.”

“I suppose I’m speaking to your alter ego now, the impulsive one,” Kurama said.

The demon laughed softly at Kurama, “Yin and yang you can call it. I hardly ever show my soft side, but I have to if I want to get what I want.”

“And that’s Kira.”

“Obviously,” Kokuei’s smirk grew as the fox’s eyes rested on him intently. “So unless you want to die don’t read into it much.”

“Just tell me why you specifically are interested in her.”

“I believe you’re friend, that fire youkai told you a little about me already,” Kokuei said cockily, as if the answer was plainly under Kurama’s nose.

“Hai, but there wasn’t much in your file, just that you have an imouto, tousan and that you once had a youkai lover, but she was killed. That’s about it, unless you want to fill me in on more,” Kurama suggested.

“That’s all you need to know in truth,” Kokuei mused, “my lover was killed and of course I was drowned in sorrow. No one can compare to your true love, no one can ever take their place. Demo…when I saw Kira, I noticed that she looked almost exactly like my Tsuki. Their spirit is similar as well and I thought why not try and figure this girl out. Now that I know her, I want her even more.”

The fox gritted his teeth at the bold remark, “You have some tenacity to say things like that. You’ll never have her, she’ll never be yours.”

“Oh, I‘m terrified,” Kokuei faked a scared look and shuddered mockingly before returning the glare. “I forgot, you like her too, don’t you? I mean you’re so protective of her and you go out of your way for her whenever she needs your help. It must be so hard for you to realize the fact that she’ll never feel the same way about you. I, on the other hand, am constantly in her mind. She hardly goes a day without thinking about me. Face facts kitsune, you’re the one who’ll never have her.”

“And what makes you so sure she’s falling for you?” Kurama inquired trying to control his temper though it was really skyrocketing inside of him. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. He would never let Kokuei have her, never.

“Trust me,” Kokuei stated fearlessly, “I have the unfathomable allure that girls like her can’t resist for long. Sooner or later, she’ll surrender to the darkness. She‘ll be consumed by it, there‘s no doubt about it.”

~*~

They sat in Kurama’s room, trying to discuss what to do about their mission. Although Kira appeared more into socializing with Yusuke and Kuwabara since she hadn’t seen them since she possessed the young girl. Yusuke and Kira had a more or less in depth discussion about what a pain it was to die and be brought back to live, both having to go through tedious possessions, but different circumstances.

Kira sat down on Kurama’s bed, “I never want to go through that again.”

“Yep, it’s no trip to Candy land that’s for sure.” Yusuke agreed after her, “Especially when you’re brought back to life you have to obey a toddler that sucks on a friggin pacifier,” he added in a mumble.

Kira flipped her hair over her shoulder while laughing, “When I met him I thought the same thing. I mean, c’mon! He looks like he should still be in diapers. At least he’s potty trained.”

Just then the door to Kurama’s room opened and his step brother came in, “Dinner’s almost ready and kaasan wants to know if your girlfriend and friends want to stay over.”

Kira threw a pillow at him which hit him on the head, “Buotoko-kun, of course we’re staying for dinner baka.”

Kuwabara and Yusuke howled with laughter at the nickname as Buotoko-kun slammed the door as he went to rely the message to Shiori that they were staying.

Kira turned her attention to Kurama, who was sitting on the bed and staring at the ceiling. She poked him roughly, “What’s wrong with you? Does somebody need a hug?” She teased cutely.

“Nan demo nai,” he replied almost dismissively although the thoughts of Kokuei and his objective with Kira were still present in his mind. Kira only knew the distant side of him, she hadn’t been there to see the true demonic personality he possessed. Did she know of the danger that was all around her? Of course not, there was no way of her knowing unless somebody told her. He saw three options play out for Kira in his mind over and over: one would be that she would die trying harness the Six Sage Youkai power, two was that Kokuei would take her away to who knew where and the final one was that she’d somehow manage to come out of everything fine…if that was possible. He shifted his position on the bed uneasily, “K-chan, what do you think of Kokuei?”

She rolled her eyes in exasperation, “Kurama, do you know he asked me the exact same thing?”

“And, what do you think?”

She gave him a look of annoyance, but sighed while rubbing the back of her neck trying to think of an answer, “Ano…he’s…different.” He blinked as she narrowed her eyes at him, “You know what I mean Kurama. There’s that mysteriousness about him, demo…why do you care?” She grinned innocently, “Jealous, ne?”

“Never, I was just curious. You seem too lose your mind whenever he’s around,” he said solemnly.

“Kokuei is that youkai guy from Tenshi, right?” Kuwabara asked.

“Hai,” Kira chimed glumly, “and a stalker too…”

Before Kurama could comment on the ‘stalker’ subject Yusuke’s pink compact (A/N: you know that thing that he sometimes uses to communicate with Botan or Koenma…I don’t know what it’s called though.) went off in his pocket. He fished it out and flipped it open to be greeted by the bubbly face of Botan.

“Ohayo minna-san!” She chirped though there was anxiety resonating in her voice that everyone could here.

Kuwabara and Kira peered over Yusuke’s shoulder as he asked, “What’s up? Something happen, you look kinda stressed out.”

“Ano…” Botan sweatdropped and twiddled her fingers together apprehensively, “we’ve been having problems. You see, it seems that somebody killed one of the Sage Youkai.”

“And how is that a problem, doesn’t that mean this mission is going to be easier because then we only have three more to track down,” Kuwabara butted in.

Botan wrinkled her nose, “It’s not that simple I’m afraid, though it will make this portion of your mission easier…”

“Matte, what do you mean ‘this part of the mission’?” Yusuke demanded.

The ferry girl chuckled into her hand timidly, “I mean that once you locate the Six Sage Youkai you must reunite their powers with their represented stones in a temple in Makai, we’re looking into where the temple is now as well as who killed Rakura.”

“Rakura!” Kira nearly shouted loud enough to make Yusuke and Kuwabara jump, “He was one of the youkai!” Terror, confusion, and surprise sounded in her voice.

Yusuke shot Kira an odd look, “You knew Rakura?”

She folded her arms across her chest stubbornly, “Hai. That was the baka yarou that killed me.” She was relieved that he had been killed, he deserved anything horrible that fate threw his way. If she had the opportunity to see him dying and bleeding on the street she would run and kick him. She loathed him with every fiber in her being, although she wished she had laid the terrible misfortune upon him instead of someone else, but oh well. As long as he was dead you wouldn’t see her complaining.

“Evidently you hate him,” Botan said in reaction to Kira, “but we still need him, so hatred aside, we’ve got to solve this little problem before another one arises.”

“Can’t you just put his soul back inside his body?” Kira scoffed feeling completely indifferent to the subject. She didn’t care if he had been slain in the most brutal way possible, she couldn’t find any sympathy in her at all for him. Not that he deserved any from her anyway.

“That’s the problem…there isn’t a body to put his soul back into,” Botan clarified quickly. “If there was a body then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. It seems that whomever killed him tore him limb from limb and massacred his body. It was a bloody mess when we got there with organs here, some bones there, flesh all over the place…well, you get the picture.”

“I can only imagine how gruesome the crime scene photos were,” Yusuke said trying to suppress a chuckle. Now wasn’t really the time to make jokes.

Kira nudged Yusuke lightly, “I’d love to those photos, the thought of his corpse mangled makes me smile.”

“Sadist masochistic,” Kuwabara muttered incoherently from the corner of his mouth.

The teenage girl grinded her foot onto his toe making him yelp, “Baka! I’m just happy that he’s dead! I don’t want to actually see those photos, dead things freak me out.” She shuddered. The mere memory of the fact that she had once been dead was enough to giver her shivers. “However, I want to know who I need to thank for this.”

“We don’t know who did it,” Botan repeated almost in an irritated tone as if Kira hadn’t heard a word she had just said.

“Then how the hell are we supposed to find out, then?” Yusuke asked. “Are there any leads or clues?”

Botan shook her head zealously, “Iie. There aren’t any at all. Not one, but we have a countless array of suspects apparently. It seems that Rakura made himself a whole bunch of enemies as well as the daughter of Toshihiro, Namiko, which means he most of had quite a bad rep with other youkai as well. Toshihiro is regarded by so many youkai and ningen alike in Makai and Ningenkai for his work. None of them would ever do something like Rakura who took Namiko in as a servant.”

Kira rolled her teeth over her bottom lip in earnest then grunted, “I bet it was Namiko, I mean she was there the night I was killed. She didn’t look too happy to be ‘serving’ him anyway. Isn’t it likely she was the one with the biggest grudge against him?”

Botan gulped, “Ano…that’s what we thought, but it’s more complex than that you see. We found her and she’s quite distraught at the moment. We were wondering if one of you would go and talk to her as well, preferably you Kira.”

*~*~*~*~*

Dc-chan: And I’m ending it there because I’m tired. This story is starting to get weirder and weirder…I CAN’T HELP IT!!! SO MANY IDEAS IN MY HEAD!!! WAAAAAAAHHHH-*explodes*

MCT: -__- Hopefully you’ll piece yourself together in time to type the next chapter. (Pardon the crappy pun once more)

OTHER: I have decided to update every Friday if I can so…yeah.

ROCK ON!