Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Rock My World ❯ Transformations ( Chapter 21 )

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

Dc-chan: Hmm…what to say…what to say…

MCT: You could say you’re an idiot.

Dc-chan:…

Disclaimer, I will never own it so don’t sue me and don’t do anything that will confuse me.

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Chapter 21 of Rock My World

Transformations

Kurama tried to remain calm, anger wouldn’t help him here. He had two options in front of him and he didn’t like either. The first was to stay out of this fight, but his conscience wouldn’t allow that and the other was to fight Neko, the mutated cat demon thing in front of him. Clearly and without a doubt it was Toshihiro’s demented creation with the sole purpose of catching people’s souls, but Kurama couldn’t help but think why create something like that.

“Why are you just standing there?” Toshihiro asked in a grumpy voice, “If you want to save them you’ll have to fight!”

Kurama nodded slowly and glanced once more at Kira’s body, she was breathing, but without a soul she wouldn’t have a will of her own once she woke up. She’d be devoid all emotion and feeling and completely, utterly empty. So would the others, all doomed to serve Toshihiro if he didn’t fight Neko which was something he didn’t want to do. He tucked the crimson bangs in front of her face gently behind her ear while trying to think about what was going on.

“All you have to do is rip Neko’s stomach open and the souls will be released,” Toshihiro said simply, “or you can just walk away and we can act like this never happened.”

Kurama flinched at his words, first impressions were often deceiving, he knew that. Despite how perverted Toshihiro may have seemed at first, it was all an act to hide his true self. “Just tell me one thing first,” Kurama said slowly as his bright eyes darkened and his eyebrows narrowed as he frowned. He didn’t wait for the old man to acknowledge his statement and dived into the matter without hesitation, “Why create a creature to steal souls, anyway? Surely, you must have a reason.”

Toshihiro chuckled lightly, “Perceptive, very perceptive. Even I have ulterior motives as you may have guessed. “ He looked at Neko who was standing beside him hissing at Kurama and baring her teeth, wanting to fight. “You see, my work is quite special and without Neko’s ability my work wouldn’t be as valuable as it is. She doesn’t necessarily eat the souls, more like storing them without her body.”

“So you use the souls?”

“Hai,” Toshihiro grinned awkwardly as he lifted his staff up, letting the unusual black stone glimmer in the light in the room. “This piece wouldn’t be as magnificent as it is if it weren’t for Neko. Some say that art has a soul and I guess I make that phrase literal.” His bony fingers tightened around the staff’s wooden handle as he lowered it back down. “I integrate souls into my artwork to make them more desirable and it works quite well, wouldn’t you say?”

“Really?” Kurama gave him a look, trying not to let emotion get to him. Anger wouldn’t solve this problem, but there was no denying that he was frustrated by the situation that he was facing. “But why did you say that I only have little less than an hour if the souls are simply stored in that beast?”

“To be honest, I’m not really planning on using any of their souls except for maybe the girl’s. She’s got quite a unique one that’ll suit one of my new pieces wonderfully, but I’m letting Neko devour the others, a kitten’s gotta eat you know. Now no more questions, you’re running out of time and Neko is getting impatient.” He tapped the bottom of his staff on the ground and Neko leapt forward gracefully with her claws outstretched.

Kurama sidestepped quickly and the overgrown cat landed on the ground with a loud thud before whipping back around for another assault while gnashing its fangs at him.

It then leapt again and this time snagged Kurama’s shirt, ripping his sleeve and piercing his skin as he tried to dodge, but wasn’t fast enough. He escaped a full blow, but searing pain erupted where the beast had managed to scratch him. Blood trickled out and streamed down his arm as he covered the wound with his other hand, trying to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to it.

Neko growled furiously and flicked her tail as her eyes flashed a dangerous crimson. It lunged and Kurama jumped out of the way, but then it whipped its tail around hitting Kurama right in the back. Sending him skidding along the ground until he came to a stop when he hit the wall.

He let out a groan of pain before pulling himself up. He needed a plan, he couldn’t let his friends be devoured by that beast or have Toshihiro insert their souls into his work. He could just imagine going to each of their parents and trying to explain that they’d never see their children again. Shizuru would strangle him, she was protective of her brother even if Kuwabara never really noticed it. Then he might be at fault with Koenma for not protecting him and he didn’t want to go back to prison.

Neko snarled and her nostrils flared as Toshihiro urged her on silently. His wrinkled eyes fixated onto Kurama with such seriousness, knowing that this was a deadly business that they were conducting.

Kurama took out his Rose Whip and held the coiled whip in his left hand, the rose petals falling around the workshop and filling it with the sweet aroma.

“My, my,” Toshihiro said in some awe, “what beauty. Roses are both the harbingers of love and death, are they not? Don’t you find that ironic? I do, it’s quite contradicting that one thing can symbolize both so beautifully. However, for you they symbolize death.” He caught a petal between his fingers, and rubbed it to feel how soft it was, how delicate it was.

Neko seemed apprehensive about the rose’s scent in the room, but kept focused on Kurama. She could smell the fresh blood from his wound and it drove her animal instincts insane. Her sharp eyes could see it spilling over his arm, the bleeding hadn’t stopped or slowed down. She inhaled the scent of his blood and pushed the rose aroma out of her nose to keep her focus on him.

Kurama uncoiled the whip and held it in both hands, waiting for Neko to make another move and disregarding what Toshihiro had said.

The huge cat began pacing back and forth as if examining Kurama for some weakness that he may possess while cautiously eyeing the whip in his hands as if it would strike at any given moment. She pawed the ground and wiggled her tail slightly in anticipation. She than faced him and quickly dove at him.

He flicked his whip and wrapped around the cat’s front paw and the thorns dug into her flesh, she let out a startled cry as she landed about a meter in font of him.

Kurama then pulled on the whip and flung Neko over his head, crashing the creature into the opposite wall behind him. It created a tremendous dent in the wall upon impact and slide down and plopped onto the ground. A puddle of blood began forming beneath it’s fallen body. The crimson liquid seeped out until it formed a huge circle puddle that shone brightly in the room like a red tinted mirror.

Kurama than withdrew his whip and recoiled it before wiping the tiny beads of sweat off of his brow, suspecting the fight to be over already.

Toshihiro clapped his hands together, “Well done kitsune, but I’m afraid Neko has a few tricks up her sleeve.”

Kurama was about to deject that and say he had won the battle, but a strange glowing emitted from Neko’s body. An orange glow that encased her body, but he could see something changing, growing larger. He sensed only bad could come from whatever was occurring and immense dread. A huge power began surging through the room making him feel even more uneasy and restless. Whatever was happening was definitely going to worsen the situation.

A new beast with few similarities to Neko emerged from the glow. It still had the form of a big tiger but now she was covered in what looked to be metallic spiked that trailed over her back and down to the tip of her tail. Her wings were now larger and now appeared to be able to carry her body weight so she could fly. She had two large front fangs that curved outwards and were gleaming white. Her claws now resembled razors and were much larger than before.

“This is Neko’s ultimate form,” Toshihiro murmured in the background, not hiding the excitement in his voice, “Jigoku no Neko or Jigoku for short. Isn’t she a marvelous creature? I can never cease to be proud of her, an amazing accomplishment for science and alchemy.”

Kurama’s eyes widened at the hell cat before him, he knew it had grown stronger in her transformation. Now the real fight was beginning.

Jigoku took off into the air, beating her wings until she was well above him. She then glided in circles above his head before plunging into a spiraling dive right at him.

Kurama tried to move out of the way, but the newly transformed beast was too fast for him and pinned him into the ground, her claws embedded in his shoulders causing him a lot of pain.

He winced as he felt her dig her claws in deeper, but he refused to cry out in pain. He could see his blood spilling out from the new wounds and drenching the arms of his shirt as Jigoku leered above him as if they had been playing some type of cat and mouse game.

She snapped her jaws at him and thrashed her tail wildly around in the air as she steadily applied more pressure as she tore violently into his skin.

He clutched the rose whip in his hand, knowing that he could still his hand because only his shoulders were being restrained from moving. A quick flick of his wrist would get her off of him, but she anticipated this and instantly bit down his wrist to disable any slight movement from it. When she withdrew he could her fangs dripping in his blood, she hadn’t bit his hand so hard just hard enough to make it numb and unable to do anything.

‘This is getting hopeless, what can I do?’ The smell of his own blood entered his nose and he wrinkled it in his own disgust.

Toshihiro hobbled over, “I thought you’d be a much better fighter than this kitsune, this is pathetic.” The old man stood over him, staring Kurama straight in the eyes, “Do you really want to save them because this is a horrible effort if you want to save anything or anyone. Are you really even trying Kurama?” He cocked his head to one side, as if waiting for an answer, but when he realized he wasn’t going to get one he sighed heavily, “Finish him Jigoku.” He ordered waving a hand in the air dismissively.

Jigoku nodded and licked the saliva off of her lips with her dark pink tongue.

‘There must be something that I can do. There must be.’ Kurama racked his brain hastily in an effort to come up with anything. His original plan had been to let the beast wear itself down with its reckless attacking then move in for the kill, but now he was the cornered animal.

‘Oh, but there is something you can do’ a voice responded in his head, a voice he instantly recognized. ‘You’re near death anyway, but I can save us.’

Kurama grimaced, ‘Youko…’

‘Just let me take over for now, I’ll put a stop to his. I can’t have you dying anyway.’

It didn’t take more than a heartbeat for Kurama to agree, he couldn’t win in his current state and there was so much riding on this fight. So much would be lost if he didn’t win, ‘Just do it.’

There was no response, but he could feel his body changing. The pain seemingly vanished and everything started to spin as he felt the transformation take place.

Jigoku leapt back in surprise at what was happening and began whimpering and her master looked on with excitement, “I can’t believe it…I get to see the infamous and legendary thief, Youko Kurama.” Jigoku hissed as she arched her back.

A silver mist then shrouded Kurama’s body. Toshihiro could feel the arrival of a new presence, much stronger than Kurama’s as his eyes quivered with a mix of eagerness and fear. He had heard stories of Youko’s power, it was hard to live in Makai and to not hear about him. He and his band of thieves were legends in the demon realm, known from their cunning and fighting skills. He had dreamed about this moment, having the chance to actually see one of the most powerful beings in Makai.

Youko come forward from the mist in a dream like state. His golden eyes were glossy looking, as if they were made of glass. His silver hair cascading behind him and his ears alert. His pure silver tail curled around his body as though he was just waking from a deep slumber and his white robes loosely draping his muscular body. He looked like an illusion, a dreamy fantasy given living form.

Toshihiro shuffled his feet expectantly, “Now this will get interesting…”

Jigoku flapped her wings and puffed out her chest, trying not to appear scared by the thief.

The wind from her beating wings sent ripples running through Youko’s silver hair as some of it swept in his face. He was calm, perfectly poised. As if the creature in front of him would never phase or intimidate him in any possible way.

Toshihiro bowed his head respectfully, “You haven’t changed a bit my dear kitsune. You still look as I remember you.”

Youko grinned haughtily at the old man and folded his arms across his chest, but said nothing. Actions spoke louder than words here.

Jigoku took flight once again, bounding high into the air as if trying to gain an advantage. She hovered above him, flapping her wings as he quietly stared up at her, as if daring her to strike him. She glared at him, her fear was evident as her eyes trembled at the sight of him. Jigoku hissed before attacking by trying to come from behind, but because she was trying to do the maneuver in the air Youko easily dodged without any trouble.

A dark green plant than sprang from the floor and wrapped around Jigoku’s limbs tightly, pulling her down. The cat struggled to break free but the vines would not let go as she bit at them. They only grew stronger with each of her struggles to get away.

“Ah, plant manipulation,” Toshihiro acknowledged solemnly, “you’re good Youko Kurama, very good. I didn’t expect you to do that so quickly, you must be anxious to end this fight them, ne?”

Youko looked over his shoulder at Toshihiro, “Of course, this was dragging out far too long.” His tone held a coldness and fearlessness. It was as though the world was passing before his golden eyes and he was bored with it and knew everything already. He than glanced down at his own claws, “This beast of yours is annoying and obnoxiously loud.” He walked over towards where his plants were holding Jigoku at bay, as he neared her the cat emitted a deep growl from her throat, “Hold still, this will hurt.” With a sudden flash, he swiped across her stomach in one swift movement.

Jigoku screeched as white orbs come pouring out from her belly. In an eruption of dark red light, the cat turned into dark gray ash and fell to the floor, leaving five souls suspended above the plants that then receded back into the ground. Four descended into the air and left the room while one lazily floated over to Kira’s body and entered her mouth.

In minutes, she clenched her fists as her brown eyes fluttered open. She pushed herself up with her hands, feeling unusually weak, like her arms would give way at any moment and she’d fall back down. This was just like the time she came back from life, but she felt more dizzy now than during that incident. “Aw, dude…” she put a hand on her forehead to keep her bangs from getting in her eyes, “I feel like shit…” She forced herself to look up, “Kurama…?” Her eyes widened as large as saucers and her the blood drained from her face.

“It seems she’s ebbed back to ash,” Toshihiro noted mournfully at Jigoku’s remains, but he shrugged. “That’s one of the fascinating things about her, from the pile of ash she’ll be reborn.”

A small head popped out of the ash followed by a kitten like body. What appeared to be a very tiny dark purple kitten emerged from it with small black wings tucked in and abnormally large blue eyes. It shook the ash off its body and began whining quietly until Toshihiro bent down and picked the little thing up, “Koneko, it will be awhile until you can change back into Neko my darling.”

Youko rolled his eyes, but he twitched when he felt something tug on his tail. He looked over his shoulder, “What are you doing?”

Kira had gotten up and was examining his tail by patting it, “It’s so…so…fluffy! It’s so cuddly and soft!” She nuzzled her left cheek against his soft fox tail, “Hmm…so fluffy….” she coed over and over again as if transfixed with his tail. It was like the softest pillow and each hair tickled her face as she cuddled up to it.

Youko sweatdropped, “Stop that ningen!” He pulled his tail out of her grasp much to her sadness.

“Nya!” She squealed in protest before remembering that she had no idea who he was, she blushed in embarrassment for so stupidly wandering up to him and hugging the life out of his tail. “Gomen nasai,” she put her hands behind her back, “demo…where the hell is Kurama? He was here the last I remember, I think.”

Toshihiro scratched Koneke’s stomach earning a purr from the tiny creature before handing her off to a confused Kira who stared blankly at the bundle of fur in her arms, “Youko Kurama is Kurama,” he said in a blatant tone while rubbing his chin. “Kurama changed into him when he was on the brink of death.”

Kira did a double take and almost dropped Koneko in surprise, “You’re kidding me, ne?” She then adjusted into holding Koneko with one arm then used her free hand to point at the fox demon in front of them, “You mean that dude with the cute fuzzy ears and uber soft tail is Kurama? I hate to say this, but they look nothing alike.” Koneko fidgeted in her arm so she placed the restless kitten on the ground carefully. Kira walked up to Youko boldly with her hands on her hips and walked in a circle around him warily. “He’s at least a foot taller than him,” she concluded diligently, “and though he does have nice hair like Kurama, his is silver not red.”

“That’s beside the point,” Toshihiro mumbles idly, “their spirits share the same body, however Youko is dormant most of the time, isn’t that right?”

Youko didn’t seem to be paying attention, he was instead staring at Kira then blinked, “Kamiyama Kira?” He leaned down and towered over the short girl who was trembling slightly. He arched an eyebrow and frowned sternly. She looked down, but he made her look up at him by roughly cupping her chin in his hand and forcing her to tilt her head up. She could feel his claws tracing her cheeks and she flushed. “Interesting, I thought you’d be more cute.”

Kira clenched her fists and bit her bottom lip. Who could blame for wishing he’d let go of her? Sure he was a drop dead hot thief, but she was still on edge. Besides, his claws felt very acute and they could probably very easily with the tiniest bit of effort cut into her skin if he wasn’t careful. She hated the feeling of sharp objects tearing into her as snapshot memories of the Iron Maiden flashed in her mind. “Onegai,” she whispered in a pleading voice, “can you change back into Kurama?”

She stepped back slowly and was sure not to bump into Koneko who was stretching out on the floor and the kitten yawned sweetly before sitting down intently.

Youko looked like he was about to say something in response to her request but he sighed heavily, “This won’t be the last time I’ll be seeing you.” He folded his arms across his chest and gave her one more glance before closing his gleaming gold eyes.

It was like a haze bit by bit appeared around him, enclosing his body until he couldn’t be seen anymore. Kira held her breath, waiting.

It all seemed so sudden, an unconscious Kurama fell forward when the mist vanished into thin air. Kira caught him before he hit the stone floor but nearly tumbled over herself while trying to keep him up. She pulled one of his arms over her shoulder and tried to get her own balance without having them both topple over, “Geez, someone’s a fatty…is he going to be alright?” She asked uncertainly.

“He‘s just tired right now, let him rest for a moment.”

She nodded curtly but couldn’t hide the inkling curiosity in her mind. ‘Youko Kurama? That guy gives me the chills, seriously.’ She breathed a sigh of relief and blew a crimson bang out of her face sulkily. Koneko pawed at her leg playfully as Kira tried to stay up, Kurama was pretty heavy but then again, he was basically six inches taller than she was so obviously there was going to be a bit of a weight difference. “Ano…Toshihiro-sama?”

“Nani?” The old man blinked.

“Are you back to your hentai ways now or are you going to try and kill me again?”

Toshihiro laughed at her insinuation, “No need to worry Kira-koi, I’m back to my old self again. Though…” he trailed off looking down at Koneko who was staring up at Kira with glittering blue eyes, “she’s taken a liking to you, perhaps you should keep her. She won’t be much trouble, I assure you.” He rubbed the back of his neck before pulling something out from behind his back and holding it up for Kira to take, “You came here for this, didn’t you?” In his wrinkled hands he held a thick black leather bound book with yellow pages sticking out of it and a small silver lock on the cover that would prevent her from opening it.

She reached out for the book and accidentally dropped Kurama, “Kuso!” she cursed to herself putting the book in her mouth and pulling Kurama back up, “Gomen, I didn’t mean to drop you,” she said in a muffled voice, the book enabling her to speak clearly. She gave up trying to hold Kurama up and decided to drag him and she took the book out of her mouth while beckoning Koneko to follow her, “Sayonara Toshihiro-sama!”

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“Chikusho!” Kira cried falling over on Kurama’s bed as he watched her make an idiot out of herself. “I forgot to ask him about Kokuei!” She began punching his pillows than hugged them close to her chest, wallowing in her own self pity. How could she forget? That was the point of the trip after all. They had gotten back about three hours ago and Kira had decided on crashing the night at Kurama’s house because her mother wouldn’t approve of her coming home so late at night.

“Stop abusing my pillows,” Kurama ordered taking the white pillow from her, “I still can’t believe you dragged me all the way back…” Koneko jumped into his lap cheerfully and started sniffing the pillow he held like she’d never seen such a thing before.

Kira made a face at him, “I can’t help it, I’m utterly upset!” She said in a dramatic voice while sitting back up cross-legged. ‘At least I got the diary without THAT much trouble. Kurama explained to me though that Toshihiro took the others and my spirits, but I don’t remember that part.’ She gave the fox an agitated expression with half closed eyes, “I can’t believe this…”

Kurama gave her a look as Koneko curled into a ball in his lap, “You got a new pet out of it though.”

“Kaasan won’t let me keep her in my house,” Kira argued while stifling a yawn, “you’re going to have to look out for Koneko. My kaasan has strict rules: no pets in the house!”

The fox narrowed his green eyes at her, “So I have to keep it?”

“Of course,” she replied teasingly, “you just have feed her and make sure she doesn’t get too dirty. I’ll come by to see her obviously, just don’t let Buotoko-kun infect her with his stupidness and ugliness, alright? Just because he’s unfortunate doesn’t mean Koneko has to be, right kitty?” She giggled gently as she reached her hand out and stroked the kitten’s velvety fur with the back of her hand gingerly. “Youko’s tail is softer…”

Kurama’s cheeks turned a bright pink and he turned away from her, sticking up his nose, “That’s wonderful to know.”

Kira propped her elbows up on her knees and rested her chin in her hands casually, “You’re just mad because he’s hotter than you and he has those darling ears and tail.” She relished Kurama’s anxiety over the subject as he interjected how idiotic she was being. She chuckled along while in the back of her mind thinking about the diary. She needed to be alone to read it, it wasn’t something she wanted him butting into. But she couldn’t help getting a dark feeling of foreboding about the whole thing. ‘Something bad is gonna happen, I just know it…’

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Dc-chan: Gomen ne for the late update. I hit a sudden bump of depression between Wednesday and Sunday, I started this chapter on Tuesday and I didn’t feel like finishing it until now. I’m starting to loss interest in this fic, but I will finish it, I SWEAR!!!! I only have about eight-nine more chapters to go so I’ll stick with it. And thanks for all the kind reviews and reviewers, your encouraging really helped me get out of my depressed slump. I’ve gotta stop listening to Dir en Grey, that music makes me depressed and I don’t get why I bought their new CD *sigh* I’m the worst authoress ever…

Until I write again,

ROCK ON! LOVE AND PEACE!

Next chapter: Secrets Written in Blood