Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Shadows of a Crimson Moon ❯ Beyond the Realities : Majuscules, 11 âåê ( Chapter 6 )

“Turn to the mirrors, Tari. What do you see?”

“I see nothing, Cornelia.”

“Precisely, Child.”

“Why, Cornelia? Why am I empty inside?”

“You are not empty, my daughter. You are filled to the brim with love—love from your father, and from myself.”

“Though I hear such sad voices in the night…I see their contorted faces in the shadows…and the many clockworks echoing their clamorous sobs…what are these eyes and chants I see and feel down my neck? There is a man…a man painting his portrait in his own blood…Cornelia, what do I see?!”

“Be still now, daughter. These things you see, these voices…you create them. The most painful thing one must do in life…is to…let go. But the world is connected, and one has no choice but to tread that path. If you abandon these feelings, healing the depths of your wounds will not mend the pain.”

“I understand, Cornelia.”

“I love you, Tari. I will always, for all eternity, love you.”

“Mother…”

~

He r eyes opened steadily from her cataleptic state, her body numb to her.

 

Her pine coloured eyes darted swiftly to the right of her, unaware of the many eyes peering down upon her.

 

“Tari? Tari…Tari, calm down! It's all right! You were just having a nightmare! That's all! Now…let go of Hiei.” Botan's voice managed to billow out through the hazed resonance blaring in Tari's eardrums.

 

“A Nightmare? Hiei?” Tari murmured as she tried to elevate herself, a palm pulsing her back downward firmly after her attempt.

“Enough. Don't you dare think you're able to move just yet, gods, look at how much paler you've gotten. Tari, you're as cold as ice!”

 

Koenma's small fist grabbed three of her long, slim fingers, attempting to warm them with his touch, however Tari felt nothing.

 

“Tari,” Botan coaxed warmly from above, “you were having a fit of sorts. It's okay now, though, Tari. You don't have to worry.”

 

Tari's breathes were grave and intense sighs, her chest rising erratically and her collarbone jolting outward.

“Tari, it's all right now. Let go of Hiei.”

Koenma grunted in struggle as he endeavoured to break Hiei's arm free of Tari's profound grip, each one of her fingers clenched tightly to his toned forearm like talons.

 

“Tari, let go.” He repeated austerely as he attempted once more to slacken her clasp.

 

Hiei cast his glaring stare downward. Her Peridot eyes were as vacant as the expression swathed across her porcelain face.

 

It took both Yusuke and Kuwabara to set Hiei free of her rigid, unyielding grasp, their faces flushing a deep shade of crimson as they did so.

 

“Let Go…”

 

Moments of silence passed, seeming to broaden and weigh down upon everything beneath its path.

 

“Tari? You okay?”

 

She breathed in response.

 

“Yes,” She whispered in a soft hue, “yes, I am fine. Please, do not worry yourselves over me.”

 

“Shh, it's fine…” Botan cooed opulently, “just be still for a while and relax. We just wanted to check on you and see if you were all right. We'll be leaving now. Call whenever you need something.”

 

Botan went to touch the girl's hand, when her eyes widened in shock at their feel.

 

“Koenma, go get some warm water! Her hands are pure ice!”

 

He looked up at her quizzically, and then reached out to Tari himself.

 

He shot his hand back like the recoil to a firearm.

 

“Tari, is this normal?” He then averted to the direction of Hiei, who remained silent, cold and dark in the shadows, “Hiei, was her hold on you cold?”

 

He glared with his typical scarlet glower and defiant stare.

 

“Why so distraught? She doesn't appear to be excessively troubled about it.”

~.:.~

Night had fallen swiftly like breath on frozen glass, the sun sweeping beneath the Earth's knees drastically, and with great intensity, as if upholding a great importance.

 

Tari had remained still and silent as summer waters, preserving the ambience of uncertainty and concern among those remaining in the castle.

 

Over time, Tari developed the resilience to arise to her feet.

 

The occurrences of the previous day had drained her of much of her regaining strength, which was yet not all at hand.

 

She stood nimbly, swaying gently as she began sauntering to her wardrobe.

 

Slowly, she reached out in one fluid motion, opening the grand doors of the vast assortment of attire.

 

She rummaged swiftly and gently, removing her blood sodden sarong, and replacing it with something she cared less to conceive.

 

She felt the moon upon her skin as she took her absence from the sterile chamber, silent as she crept from within the citadel's walls.

 

~.:.~

“Tari? I brought you something to eat…Koenma told me that vampyres don't eat food, but I realised you hadn't put anything in that stomach of yours since you got here, and I just wanted to make sure you--”

 

Botan's words fell into stillness as she opened the door to Tari's room.

 

When she noticed the emptiness of the area, and that she was the only soul residing within its stone barricades, the silver tray held firmly within her hands collapsed with a vociferous hurtle, expensive dish wares shattering into hundreds of luminous shards reflecting the sheen of the moon hovering firmly overhead, peering through the open windowpane beside the immense dressing cupboard.

 

The light pouring forward into the dark and murky chamber was bright, casting Botan's frail shadow onto the flooring of the doorway, vanishing as she turned and sprinted hurriedly down the many hallways.

 

“Yusuke!” She screeched piercingly as she darted into the room containing himself and Kuwabara inside it.

 

He gave her an inquisitive look.

 

“It's Tari,” She stammered as she attempted to regain her breathing “she…she's gone.”

 

It took a matter of seconds for the three of them to dash into Kurama, who, when hearing their matter of urgency, proceeded alongside them in a great rush to Koenma's headquarters.

 

~.:.~

The atmosphere was tepid and soothing, however Tari could not feel it. A warm breath of wind continuously pulsed a few stands of raven tresses to the side. Her bare and rather small sized feet slithered through the thick, verdant grasses aimlessly.

 

She stood atop a grand, waxen sea cliff, overlooking the vast, swelling oceans, illuminated with the brisk rays of the moon. The moon rose over the sea, silvering every slight ripple, and as the ocean ascended, it began to play upon the mass of rocks casting white cascades of light over the wet sand.

 

Beside her rested a substantial Sakura tree, blessed with hundreds of white buds, soon to bloom into small, kissable floras which one can hold to their lips and whisper towards.

 

She gave a great sigh, and while still in the remnant of such, she sat gently, legs pressed gently against her torso. She laced her thin arms limply upon her knees, and blinked dazedly as she stared blankly upon the rapturous scene before her.

 

“Why so silent, Hiei?”

 

Her words were thick and smooth like rich velvet.

 

He appeared from behind the image of the blossoming tree, and he strolled up to her side, shooting a glaring stare in her bearing, as he so often did.

 

“Your words make you seem to be omnipotent.” He snarled as he looked down as her figure, her eyes still gleaming in a daze above the scene before her.

 

“Well, if that is true,” she breathed, “know that it is not of my doing. I suppose that happens to you once you can no longer feel the touch of wind or warmth, when you grow incapable to sense the contact of others, when you cannot breathe in the scent of cold, pallid springs clinging to the hands of winter…nor the spray of the ocean.”

 

He grew silent, his eyes coiling away from her image.

 

“You may sit beside me, if you wish it.”

 

“Don't flatter yourself.”

 

“That is the second time you have said that to me.”

 

“That's very astute of you,” he fired back, “you should write a novel on your genious.”

 

She laughed wryly. “Apparently, it is you who are the clever one.”

 

He said nothing in response.

 

“You hate me,” She uttered coolly, resting her arched chin upon her arms that remained limply on her knees.

 

He rolled his eyes to the deep cobalt tinted havens.

 

He had almost taken a seat beside her unnoticed.

 

…Almost.

 

She smiled warmly when he was settled directly beside her.

 

“You think I'm a hypocrite.” He muttered ominously after a short time.

 

“You think I'm inane.” She retorted briskly.

 

“Then I think we won't have to worry about hating each other, then.”

 

She smiled, and pushed his shoulder jestingly.

 

He showed no smile, nor did he frown in rage.

 

Normally, he would have skewered anyone who would dare do something similar to such, but he allowed it to slip by—

 

…Just this once.