Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Worthless Humans ❯ Courage ( Chapter 31 )

It felt much different without Yomi nearby but a part of Nari was grateful for the demon's announced demise. It now left her with one master but that one master was the more cunning of the two others and most heartless. Nari was under constant watch from the demon and was hardly allowed out of his sight even if the demon went on raids here and there to occupy his mind. She began to worry if she would ever be able to attempt to poison him after awhile.

 

One night Yoko Kurama remained in his bedroom, sitting in his favorite chair with a glass of wine there in his hands. The red liquid swirled about the crystal clear glass as he sat in thought about all that had gone on lately. The demon could only sigh and groan that most of what he had worked for was going right down the drain and quickly. If things weren't bad enough, he had demons watching his mansion every night, waiting for him to make a false move and it angered him to be on watch.

 

Nari sat right beside the demon with her son there in her arms sleeping for the night. She was nervous as she kept the slip of paper there within her neck shackle that pressed tightly against her flesh to conceal the note. Nari was eager to get outside and look for the items listed, but she had no time lately to escape from her master to do such a thing. All she could do was fidget while sitting there, showing that she was obviously anxious for the time being.

 

The fox demon looked down at the nervous woman that continued to shake her foot as a way to release her building anxiety. “Will you stop that? It's extremely irritating,” Yoko Kurama grumbled as he brought his wine glass up to his mouth again.

 

Nari had been so nervous that she had failed to notice her constant foot wagging. She eventually got her foot to stop by sitting upon it. Keeping her son close to her body, she felt of the necklace again there upon his neck that she had originally given to Kuronue. Gazing down upon it she prompted a brief smile upon her face there in the densely lit room.

 

Yoko Kurama watched her actions and, with his excellent sight, could spy the brief smile that graced her face. His cold stare shifting down at the necklace he recalled Kuronue wearing, he could only frown at the item. “You still hold onto such a thing even after Kuronue's death,” Yoko Kurama announced before taking another sip of his wine. “It's amazing how you two felt anything for one another.”

 

Feeling insulted, Nari looked up at Yoko Kurama with an angered look that she dared not hide this time. “I loved Kuronue and he loved me…!”

 

The bandit did not slap her or punish Nari for her words. He merely looked down at her with the glass he held not too far from his lips. It was as though he wanted to hear more as he pulled the wine from his mouth. “And why did you? What did he ever do for you?”

 

“Kuronue was the one to actually comfort and protect me down here in this hellhole!” Nari insisted as her fist rested upon her bony chest that spoke her undernourishment. “He took care of my son even if he is YOURS and was a father to him!”

 

Hearing that Okuro was his again angered Yoko Kurama as he yanked on the chain to nearly choke Nari for her punishment. The young woman coughing from such a painful surprise, the demon lowered his head so he could gaze deeply into her eyes with his silver ears pinned back. “Don't you dare tell me he's mine again, do you hear me! That brat isn't mine!”

 

Nari struggled to catch the breath she lost as she gently and carefully placed Okuro on the floor. She knew he was probably awake by now but was too scared to move at this given point to prove it. Breathing heavily, she looked back up at the fox demon with a shake of her head. “Why—why don't you just kill me now and get it over with, damn you!” Nari was getting fed up with her life in Makai now and wanted to just be destroyed at the demon's hands. At least then she could escape the torture her body had withstood so many years.

 

“The reason I don't kill you now is because that would release you to Koenma's hands and I am not above doing that—at least not yet.” Getting up from his seat, he left the chain there on the floor as he walked over to the windows not too far away from where he was sitting previously. “Besides, I barely have anyone left as it is so I might as well keep some kind of company with me even if it isn't good company.” Looking over his shoulder back at Nari and Okuro, he kept his void expression there upon his face. “And don't even think about someone rescuing you. Those demons are tremendously weak compared to me. You're stuck here for eternity, so get used to that.”

 

“You're wrong!” Nari shouted, crawling towards the demon on the floor. “I will find a way out of here! Someone is trying to save us and you cannot hold out forever, Master!”

 

Having to hear her being so defiant towards him enraged the usually patient demon. Finishing off his wine, he placed the glass there upon the nightstand close by him before coming over to the young girl to pick up her chain and pull her from the chair that rested before the quiet fireplace. “Come with me,” he ordered in a calm fury. When Nari's legs refused to move fast enough, Yoko Kurama pulled on the chain harshly to make her fall flat on her face. “NOW!”

 

Scurrying to her feet, Nari hurried to catch up with the angered demon. She refused to back down as she was dragged out of the fox demon's room and down the hall to the main room. As they were making it down the stairs, Yoko Kurama's palm met with Nari's bare back, forcing her to fall down the stairs. Bringing her hands up to try and lessen her fall, Nari tumbled down the remainder of the stairs before falling upon her front harshly there in front of a few loitering demons that found the display rather amusing as they mocked and ridiculed her.

 

Yoko Kurama walked steadily down the steps knowing that Nari couldn't move after a hard fall on her fragile form. Standing there before her, he reached down for her chain once again so as to keep her still while he grabbed a rose from his silver hair. “You think you will be rescued, do you?” The fox demon wondered aloud as he thrashed the rose down to call out the whip Nari had come to fear and tremble upon since she first encountered it. “Well, it's time you get those ridiculous thoughts out of your head.”

 

The whip the demon held cracked as the thorns tore away at Nari's skin once again leaving more marks upon her scarred flesh. Clutching her teeth and fists, she tried her hardest not to scream. She dared not give the demon the satisfaction of hearing her cry in agony and pain but the thrashing of the whip and the ripping of her skin was too much and a cry of displeasure eventually escaped her trembling lips. “AAH!”

 

The marks accumulated over the long, horrible time her skin was brutally torn apart. Her crimson blood blended with the equally red carpet beneath her as the demons nearby could only point and laugh at the worthless human getting what she deserved. Some slaves were within the room turned their heads upon the sight not able to watch it. Felix was among one of the few and he could only hide his glare at his jeering mistress that kept a firm grip on his chain while the cracking of the whip recoiled off the walls.

 

Yoko Kurama continued his ruthless assault upon Nari before finally stopping once he added a thirtieth bleeding mark upon her back. Kneeling down, he cupped her chin so she wouldn't hit the ground to sleep off the attack whilst breathing within her ear. “Understand this now that there is no way you will be able to escape from here. You are immortal, you bitch, and immortals won't be allowed back on earth. You are stuck here until you die.”

 

Having that being brought to her attention, Nari also recalled the time Kuronue said Okuro would not be allowed on earth being a half demon as he was. It pained Nari worse than the marks she received from the rose whip. Closing her eyes, she dared not look at her surroundings as they began to spin from the exhaustion she was feeling no thanks to the blood she was now losing.

 

Yoko Kurama cared less as he released her chin to let her head collapse to the floor below. Looking out at those nearby, he merely nodded to them as he kept the chain in his hands. “Whoever wants this useless bitch can have her. Those of you, who are eager for another type of action, come with me.”

 

Nari's fingers moved slightly as she lied there upon the blood stained carpet. Moaning in misery, she looked up best she could at three loaming demons that looked to be male from what she could see with her hazy sight. She could feel foreign hands touching of her bleeding body that made her sick to her stomach but she had no energy to express it at the time. Nari wished that she would just die as she was lifted from her spot there on the floor and moved off to the side like a rag doll.

 

A painful slap was dealt to her cheek as she remained there upon the floor. Blinking her eyes open, Nari tried to focus on the continual swirling atmosphere. The demon that was responsible for the slap had dark gray skin with pure white hair that was tied back in a low ponytail. His eyes were a piercing blue and the rest of him looked relatively normal aside from the fangs she could just see jutting from the corners of his mouth. The mouth of the pure white haired demon touched her own, and Nari was forced to kiss him.

 

She was so exhausted and incredibly numb from the pain that Nari collapsed there upon the floor. She could feel them continuing to feel of her and releasing upon her just as a way to mock her further and make her feel worthless. Their horrible laughter rang within her eardrums regardless of how distorted it sounded. The demon's hands were continuing to creep all over her and they began to enter her harshly with their engorged members both vaginally and anally. Managing a strangled cry of pain, Nari remained there being horribly treated by the three sexually hungry demons. Not able to stand the feel of the beasts touching her the way they had been, she turned her head off to the side and vomited what was left within her stomach before passing out there on the flooring.

 

 

 

 

Nari's body was sore and stayed within the main hall, tied up on the staircase's banister until her master was to return from the raids he had been performing. Her vaginal walls bled from the forced sexual action performed upon her and her thighs ached every time she dared to move. Smelling and covered with demonic release she cared not to remove due to weariness, she stayed there upon the floor whimpering in her own misery for nobody to hear. I want to go home, Nari pleaded within her own tears she shed without a care to hide them. I want to go home to my mother and father…they weren't perfect, but their imperfections cannot compare to this hell…

 

The creaking of a door opening and the sound of someone walking down the stairs she rested at the bottom of caught Nari's attention as she tried her best to wipe her tears of pain away. She dared not allow a demon to see them as she remained there at the bottom of the steps, awaiting what other harmful words or actions would be placed upon her at the coming demon she thought was walking down the steps. But the more Nari listened to the footsteps, the more she realized that they were rather mousy and quiet and not bold and daring like most demons were even at night. Turning to look up at the stairs, she made out a female outline in the darkness of the mansion that loamed over the building's main entrance room.

 

“Are you okay?” The female asked quietly as she made her way down to the only moonlight there in the room to show who she was.

 

Nari looked up at the battered woman to see the stringy, strawberry blond that towered over her shakily. She recognized the woman and was surprised to see her standing there before her. “Sara…what are you doing out of your master's room?”

 

Sara embraced her trembling body as she looked up at the top of the stairs before eying Nari with a quick shake of her head. “…I saw what they did to you…and I am sorry…”

 

Embracing her legs that Nari brought to her chest, she couldn't help but sigh a bit bitterly. “Why do you care now, Sara? How can you with the many years you have been here?”

 

Sara got to the bottom of the stairs as she sat on the bottom stair near Nari where she could eye the unknown woman cautiously. “I know what it is like for you to be where you are. To be humiliated in public, to be beaten and wish to die but you never do, to be scratched, nearly bled to death, released all over, pissed on…you tend to go numb from the inside out and just not care anymore because the coming day will be just like the last….”

 

Nari sniffled a bit as she nodded at Sara whilst she rubbed the tears from her eyes. “It's almost becoming hard to care for my son lately. I have been so selfish just wanting to die before his eyes and leave him here…”

 

“Hmmm, how you can care for him period is a mystery to many of the slaves,” the elder woman announced as she scratched her unevenly cut hair. “Nobody here could care for a child that came from one of those monsters. There are many that are relieved to have their children torn from them and thrown out to die.”

 

“You make us sound worse than our masters and mistresses,” Nari expressed with disgust.

 

Sara said not a word to that. She knew if she ever had a child by her master she would be beyond horrified and want the baby out of her sight. She felt demons, regardless of how they were brought up, were horrible creatures and that Nari's son would eventually turn on the woman. But Sara dared not voice her opinion as she sighed through her nostrils. “Why were you punished…?”

 

“I was—I told my master that I would find a way to escape,” Nari explained softly. “There are demons outside of the mansion watching Yoko Kurama and working under some guy named Koenma and I am praying that will be our way out.”

 

“Koenma,” Sara seemed to think as she looked at the double doors that led in and out of the mansion. “I think I have heard of him before. He is said to be the ruler of Spirit World where people who die go. He also watches over the three worlds: Spirit World, Human World, and Makai.”

 

Turning towards the eldest slave, Nari tilted her head slightly at Sara. “So—he is God?”

 

“You could say that,” Sara answered. “But, he's really the son of `God'. He decides who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.” Looking at Nari once more, Sara shrugged slightly there in the darkness. “You're part Japanese; didn't your parents tell you that?”

 

Nari shook her head as she moved her messy hair out of her face, “My dad is Japanese but he was born in the United States. He never told me anything about Japan, so I don't know a thing about all this crap.” Lying down on the nearest step, Nari watched the double doors closely wondering when they would open and fearing the time they would. “It sounds to me that Spirit World would be a lot better than living here…”

 

“Well,” Sara began with a nervous sigh, “since we are both immortal…we will have no choice but to live there…”

 

Hearing such a thing made Nari snap her head in Sara's direction, “What—what...! What about going back home? Why can't we just go home?”

 

Cupping her face, Sara shook her head as she tried her best to hide her tears that threatened to come almost spontaneously. Her hands pulling away from her face, she managed to look at Nari though the tears she didn't want to shed though crept down her bruised cheeks. “Would you really want to go back to a world and show your indignity to anybody who dare look at you? Look at yourself!” Sara ordered in a whisper. “You have scars all over your body and you will never look or feel the same. This place does things to you…we have all been beaten and raped of our humanity and no matter how many years we live…we won't be able to escape what we endured here.” The woman's hand pressed against her chest gently as she tried not to fall to the floor in heaping sobs. “I—no longer feel like a human being. I feel like I deserve to die and I should just spend my coming years up in Spirit World with Koenma and the others…at least then I can remain up there away from any ridicule the Human World would give me as well as live away from the hell that is Makai.”

 

Nari covered her face with her bruised hand not able to think on that option even if it would be better than Makai. She wanted to go back to Human World even if part of her would no longer feel human. “I don't know…I just want to go home…I want Okuro to grow up with me.” Pausing, Nari wiped her teary eyes as she thought on her son that had been left in her master's room. “I want Okuro to come live with me period…I have nobody to watch him when it comes to Makai.”

 

Pushing herself off of the stairs, Sara turned to head back up them so she could get back to her master and not be caught. “I wish you luck…on whatever you do,” she whispered while heading to the top of the stairs. “I have to leave now. My master will wake sometime soon and if he doesn't find me in the room…he will abuse me worse than yours does…” Sighing as her fingers tapped upon the railing of the staircase, Sara looked back down at Nari as she rolled her teeth over her chapped lower lip. “And—I hope you are right…in that we will all be saved. I don't want to be here anymore either.”

 

Nari watched as Sara headed back up the steps to the second level where she took one of the doors on the top right, leaving her alone in the room once more to wait for her master to return in peace. “I hope I am right too,” Nari whispered to herself as she lied back out on the bottom step.

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------- -

 

 

 

As the leaves threatened to fall for autumn Nari became worried that she wouldn't find the Makai plants she would need in time. She had been constantly watched and locked up within the fox demon's room lately and the smell of winter was soon drifting upon the air. It made Nari further nervous as she sat in the dinning room with her master and a few other slaves and demons nearby. She eyed the window that rested just over her shoulder and every discolored leaf that fell made her heart threaten to drop into a panic.

 

If I don't get one of those plants Suzuka listed for me, I will be in trouble, Nari thought as she sat next to her master with her heart beating wildly. I cannot stand staying here another six months…

 

Yoko Kurama continued eating the meal before him as he eyed the window himself to see the weather changing. Eating the meat there on his plate, he shifted his legs slightly to show his agitation in being watched still. The coming months had not been any easier as he was hoping the demons he felt mostly around nightfall would leave him be. “They're still out there,” he muttered mostly to himself.

 

Suzu the snake demon was right next to the demon as she heard his words. Her dark eyes looking out the window Yoko Kurama was eyeing, she looked over at her leader with a bit of concern. “What is the matter, Yoko Kurama?” She dared to ask.

 

“Those demons are still out there somewhere,” he announced to the curious snake demon as he sipped the drink in front of him. “Tonight I want to take care of those annoyances. If they want to play Koenma's dogs, they will die as such.” Yoko Kurama could feel Nari's eyes resting upon him as he said such making the demon eye his immortal slave there beside him. “Get up and get me more wine, you lazy bitch,” the demon ordered as he shoved his glass in Nari's face.

 

Taking the crystalline glass that was within inches of her face Nari got to her feet and limped to the back of the room where the food and beverages were located. Filling up the demon's dry glass carefully, she sighed through her nostrils at what a perfect time that would have been to poison him as she filled it close to the brim. Heading back to her master, she presented him the glass with her head lowered.

 

Yoko Kurama took his drink without a word to Nari except for the motion that he wanted her to sit.

 

Nari did so and took her seat back there upon the floor. She remained there until her master was through eating and was hauled off back to his bedroom without warning. Due to recent abuses, Nari had a difficult time walking and couldn't stand to walk on her right foot so she was forced to drag her hurting foot or hop on the other. Flinching from the pain that shot up her leg, Nari managed to make it to the fox demon's room where she was quickly tossed inside like nothing at all. There she rolled upon the floor before landing on her side where she tried to heft herself up to at least rest on her buttocks.

 

Yoko Kurama remained at the doorway as he pointed at Nari as if to keep her still from where he stood. “You will remain in here until I get back. If I find you have moved, I will add more marks to that body of yours.” With that said, the fox demon shut the door behind him to head off to raid seeing as the demons that were usually there didn't come around until nightfall.

 

Nari remained where she was sitting though she was desperate to get outside to get the plants she needed to knock out the demon or poison him. “I guess I will wait for awhile before trying to head outside. Fall is almost here…I need to get those plants Suzuka described to me.”

 

The time passed rather slowly as Nari waited anxiously there on the floor with her son resting upon her right thigh. When she felt she had waited long enough, Nari gently placed Okuro upon the carpet beneath them before limping to the door. Opening it cautiously as she had done in the past without getting caught, she hurried down the hallway to try and make it to the front quietly.

 

As she turned the corner from the hallway in the back where Yoko Kurama's bedroom was located in seclusion, Nari looked about the front curiously and for any signs of demons. Alright, alright, Nari thought as she took in deep breathes to try and settle herself. All you have to do is rush out, snag a plant or so, and make one of the potions Suzuka had instructed…easy…oh yeah, right, very easy. Her thoughts were getting full of doubt as she remained there hidden in the corner watching the area for the slightest activity. God, I pray I make it back in time…! Regardless of her one foot being damaged, she hurried quickly down the stairs and to the double doors to make her way outside with her heart racing as she did so.

 

When her feet met with the grass and dirt outside, Nari never felt so far from home. She knew she wasn't supposed to set foot outside and the further away she traveled from the mansion, the more nervous she became. Pulling out the slip of paper she kept tucked away in her neck shackle, Nari looked at the plants listed and what each one combined or alone could make. “Okay,” she whispered to herself as she eyed the parchment, “how am I going to kill this demon?”

 

Her eyes scrolling down the list before her, Nari stopped looking when she caught the description of a flower she remembered seeing just down the river where Yoko Kurama's band agreed to meet up so long ago it seemed nestled near the lake. It was a red type flower with black tipped pedals that was mostly found near water. Suzuka knew that if the pollen was placed into any liquid it would dissolve and be near impossible for a demon to smell though deadly to a demon of any class. The problem with that, however, was the area was quite far from the mansion.

 

“I guess I have no other choice,” Nari sighed as she dared to hurry to the spot she vaguely remembered being at.

 

Hurrying towards the thick forest that was dead ahead, Nari stayed close to the river to follow the water to the other waterfall that would be resting at the end of it. She felt terrified as she was not only human in a demon's world, but she was also injured and the ability to run away from any attacker would be difficult. But Nari had had enough and was willing to be mauled by any demon just to get what she needed to have it all end.

 

As before when she was pulled through it, the forest seemed to last forever. She felt her chest pain her with worry as she hurried as quickly as possible through the woods that made every hair on her arms stand on end. Sounds that made her knees weak echoed throughout the afternoon hours as she tried to find the end to the forest that had engulfed her. Her hands pushing away at bushes and tree limbs, Nari eventually found the large clearing around the waterfall and surrounding body of water. For safety, she remained within the bushes nearby to look around the clearing and make sure nobody else was around as she eyed the flower she would need there near the riverbank with a few others growing nearby.

 

With nobody around but her, Nari was quick to hurry over to where the flower was growing to pluck a few to use. “Okay, so all I have to do is sprinkle this stuff in his drink and he'll be poisoned? Must be one hell of a flower.” Pausing for a moment, Nari began to wonder where she could hide the flowers until the time presented itself to where she could give it to the clever demon in his next drink. I can't just carry this around…Yoko Kurama knows all there is about plants here in Makai and in Human World. He would know what this is without question.

 

Not having the time to really think much further on it, Nari quickly gathered all she could and rushed back towards the mansion. She knew she couldn't debate what to do there out in the middle of Makai. Nari feared being caught by the fox demon at that moment as she tried her best to beat him back to the mansion with the flowers she hoped would save her. Her bruised and injured feet managing to get her back towards the mansion, Nari made her way towards the front of the building to check inside through the arched windows up front to see if any of the demons were inside.

 

Her fingers gripping onto the windowsill, she gazed within the inside of the mansion cautiously to find it as empty as it was when she left. Making her way to the double doors, Nari quietly opened them to allow herself inside. The area empty just the same when she entered, she closed the doors behind her only to be surprised by another opening within the first floor main room. Startled and breathes becoming labored, she pressed her back against the wooden doors in fright until seeing who was coming from one of the many main room doors.

 

“Nari,” Candy, her old stall neighbor called quietly, as she hurried over towards the startled woman. “I am surprised to see you alive after all the hell that happened. What are you doing with flowers?”

 

Looking down at the red flowers with black tipped pedals in her hands, she eyed Candy who was heading towards her. “I was told the pollen of this flower will kill any demon when put inside of any liquid they will drink. It's called The Devil's Tongue or so I was told by that demon, Suzuka.” Peeling herself off of the doors her back rested against, she headed over to Candy to meet her halfway. “And what are you doing out of your room at this hour? Your master will punish you severally.”

 

Candy couldn't help but chuckle a bit on the back of her hand with a shake of her head. “Yoko Kurama left with all his members to raid and so nobody is here but us, the worthless slaves. Besides, you've started a revelation in sneaking out. I guess your boldness is contagious.”

 

Nari managed a brief smile but that quickly turned into a serious frown as she looked down at the flowers within her hands. “I am worried though…I don't know what I am going to do with these flowers until I find the opportunity to use them.”

 

“Well,” Candy began as she raised her hand slightly, “why not try putting it in their wine and beer while they are away right now? They down that crap after every successful raid. I am no expert, but I am sure it would last in the liquids till then.”

 

Her fingers gripping onto the flowers within her hands, she sucked in her lower lip in thought before deciding. “Alright, I'll do that. Care to help me?”

 

Candy and Nari both hurried into the dinning room area with the flowers that Nari had managed to collect. The two women made it to the alcoholic drinks that the demons had situated in the back of the room and were going to drink when they came back from their outing. Pulling out the flowers, Nari started to sprinkle the loose pollen within the wine bottles she managed to open with Candy's help.

 

“Is that all we have to do?” Candy asked as she watched Nari carefully with a few of the flowers in her hands. “All we have to do is put the pollen in the drinks and it'll kill them?”

 

Nari could hear Candy's doubt as she continued to do as she was instructed to do with the flowers she plucked. “I am just as doubtful that a flower can do such a thing, but this is Makai…everything is dangerous and I wouldn't doubt the plants can be too. Trust me, my master has shown me that at times.”

 

“Let's pray this works,” Candy sighed as she continued to help her old stall neighbor.

 

Nari removed the cork on a beer bottle in the room as she had seen the demons do before and other slaves as well to get the pollen inside of every beer bottle present. “Please do,” Nari insisted as she filled the last one quickly before putting the cork back in. “Because if this doesn't work, I will be killed or my son will…”

 

 

 

 

It was storming once again when night crept back over Makai. It seemed to be routine now for it to storm when the darkness set in. Nari comforted her son as he lied there upon her bare thighs while she waited for her master to return from his daily thievery to keep himself from being bored. She was nervous and yet, in a sense, relieved feeling that this might be the last day she would spend there in Makai. Turning to look over at the clock that hung above the fireplace in the bedroom, she saw that it was nearing eleven o'clock. Biting her lower lip, Nari wiggled her foot in anxiousness as she continued to pet her son's head gently.

 

Please let this be the end of it…I want to get that bastard back for all he has done to me, Nari growled as she scrunched up her face in utter anger.

 

A little after eleven, the door did indeed open and the soaking wet Yoko Kurama stood there with a miniature chest of some kind held there underneath his arm. The chest was crafted in polished wood and the edges and such in gold. As the demon made his way inside, he placed the item upon the bed so he could open it to see what was inside of it. Whatever was there obviously placed a smile upon his face as he shut the box and turned his full attention to Nari and Okuro there on the floor.

 

Nari kept a close watch on Yoko Kurama while he made his way over towards her. There was something in his expression that set her off and startled her but she didn't say a word as she remained where she was on the hardwood floor.

 

Yoko Kurama knelt down in front of Nari so he could grab onto her chain and look the torn woman in the eyes. “Come with me,” he insisted as he tugged upon the chain within his grasp. “Leave the runt here and you come with me.”

 

Getting to her feet best she could, Nari limped after her master as she left her son there on the carpet at least before leaving. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she followed after the silver fox demon regardless down the halls and to the dinning room where she saw that some of the drinks she had laced with The Devil's Tongue had already been taken, obviously by the other demons. The wine was still left there from what she could see at the double doors as soon as they entered and hope began to swell up within Nari as she was pushed inside of the dining room—the place empty, except for them both.

 

The dangerous demon took a seat at the very end of the table before handing the chain over to Nari. “I want you to go and get me something to drink. I need to speak with you.”

 

Confused by his actions, Nari did as she was asked. She took her chain within her hands while limping to the back where the wine was sitting in a bottle that she had previously opened to put the deadly pollen within it. Closing her eyes tightly, Nari prayed for a moment that all would work out for her as she opened the bottle to pour a decent bit within a fine crystalline glass to take back to her demon master. Once it was filled up enough, Nari headed back towards Yoko Kurama slowly so as not to spill a drop before placing it there in front of the demon.

 

Taking his glass of wine, Yoko Kurama placed it down in front of him before motioning awkwardly to the open seat next to him. “Sit,” he ordered firmly as he observed Nari.

 

Nari expressed her confusion in his behavior as she was normally ordered to remain on the floor at all times seeing as she wasn't considered of high class to sit within any chair. But she knew not listening to him would result in punishment and so, Nari took the empty chair quickly. Her hands folded in front of her, she tilted her head slightly. “Master…? Why do you allow me to sit here?”

 

The silver haired demon pressed his fingers against the glass before him as he looked at his reflection there within the tainted wine glass. “I often wonder about humans sometimes. They can be quite obedient if you beat them just enough into submission, but, over time, they will grow hard and daring.” As Yoko Kurama turned his head to look at the nervous Nari, he narrowed his eyes a bit at her as if to interrogate her with his glare. “Tell me, have you been sneaking out even after the time Yomi once caught you?”

 

Nari felt her heart race into a blinding speed as she lost her breath at his question. She feared what the demon would now do if he ever knew she had been sneaking around. But the more she sat there, the more she feared being found out due to her hesitation in answering. “I—I don't know what you're talking about.”

 

“Do you honestly think I am STUPID!” Yoko Kurama exclaimed with a furious growl as he threw the crystalline glass in Nari's direction. The glass just missing the frightened woman shattered upon the wall with the red wine slipping down the woodwork steadily. The fox demon rose out of his chair as he glared down at Nari who was quick to get out of her chair and back up with the slowly oncoming demon. “I know you poisoned those drinks in the back and now, thanks to you, I have lost the rest of my members!”

 

Nari continued to back up best she could as the demon loomed over her angrily. “But that is impossible! That stuff I used was supposed to be odorless!” She finally blurted out in fear while rounding the end of the table.

 

“I saw the bottles had been tampered with when I went to get a drink and I tested what was left myself to find a foreign substance within it,” Yoko Kurama explained with his ears flat against his head. “Now, you are going to pay for that. I don't care if it is with your life or with your son's but one of you will pay for your boldness!”

 

Regardless of her foot being injured and her inability to think thanks to the fear of death for herself and son, Nari hurried towards the other door in the room to try and escape the infuriated demon.

“Alright,” Yoko Kurama hissed with a shake of his head, “if this is how you want it, I am game. I will track you down within this mansion. There is nowhere you can hide.” Reaching within his hair, the demon pulled out a few seeds that began to steadily sprout and wrap about the demon's arm. “There is nowhere at all you can hide.”