Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wind Knoll's Curse ❯ Chapter 13

The night hours dragging by for everyone within the town who were all eager for the sun to rise and the fog to be carried away by Jin's help. The wind demon was watching the foggy town from atop the temple, which belonged to him, with his legs crossed upon the wind that held him up at the wind master's command. Resting his knuckles on the side of his cheek, he hummed slightly in boredom as nothing exciting seemed to stir within the town he promised to protect.

 

The feel of the temperature dropping around him caught Jin's attention as he reopened his eyes to look out in the thick, soupy fog to spy someone of high, demonic power heading towards the doors of his temple. Uncrossing his legs, Jin descended down to the marble doors protecting his temple to see who it was.

 

Touya blocked the wild wind with his arms raised to protect his face until Jin settled it once the wind demon made it down to the cobblestone walkway Touya was waiting upon. “Sorry to bug you so late, Jin, but I need to talk to you.”

 

“It's okay, I could use some excitement no matter how small right about now,” Jin expressed with a yawn he had been holding back. “So what is the deal?”

 

“I talked to Scarlet about moving into your temple,” Touya began, thumbing over his shoulder where the young woman lived. “She has decided to do so, but she will speak to her father about this situation. You know what that means, right?”

 

Jin scratched the side of his head with a nod and raise of his brows. “Yeah, the man is going to go totally bonkers on her ass.”

 

“That is why I told her you would be there to watch over her when she does so,” Touya said simply as his index finger touched the demon's broad chest. “You should go over there to help her pack and be there when she breaks the news. I am not going to have that man touch her again.”

 

Jin checked out the time on the large town clock, noticing it was a little past one in the morning. “I guess I will go stay with her then. Everyone is asleep in my temple, so I don't have to worry about any commotion until sunrise. Besides, I could use some excitement, and she is fun to irritate.” With a childlike gleam in his eye and a soft chuckle expressed, he walked past the ice demon to be on his way.

 

Rolling his eyes slightly at Jin's comment, Touya turned around to watch the demon head for Scarlet's house. “Jin, don't make her nuts, please? The point is to keep her safe, not drive her beyond her breaking point.”

 

The redheaded demon waved over his shoulder at Touya before taking to the air in hopes of getting to the Bakers' house quicker. He kept high in the sky, over the thick fog to listen and watch the sleepy, silent town. Within the hazy mist, he could make out the groans and hissing of some of the creatures down below, making him twist his smile into a worried frown as some appeared to be hunting tonight. He wasn't sure who they were after, but what he did know was it bothered him very little seeing as those connected to him weren't fading past their health point.

 

Spying the candlelight in Scarlet's bedroom window, Jin lowered himself down to the windowsill to grip underneath the partly, opened window so it could go up all the way for him to sneak inside. The woodwork moaned as he did so though eventually giving way for him. The old, musky scent wafted his senses as he made it into the candlelit room. His bare feet meeting with the carpet quietly, the boards creaked as he put his weight back into his legs to stand upright once completely inside.

 

Scarlet didn't wake from where she was sleeping within her bed comfortably. She moaned slightly with a curl of her toes, remaining blissfully clueless to the demon's entrance into her bedroom.

 

Jin tiptoed over towards the bed, looking at the TV, which was still running, for a moment to see that nothing particularly interesting was on, and it was low on volume. He sat upon the end of the bed, watching her closely within the flickering candlelight. The demon noticed that Scarlet had this excruciating look upon her features. He moved in a bit closer to her with a slight movement of his pointed ears. Jin raised his hand slightly and moved it inches away from Scarlet's face before closing his eyes a moment.

 

“Hmmm,” he hummed in thought, reopening his eyes. “She is having a nightmare.” Jin moved in closer to the shaken Scarlet, leveling his body beside hers on the bedcovers. Resting his head down on the pillow, which was free, the wind demon moved his right arm behind his head slightly before closing his eyes.

 

Scarlet's mind was being tormented within the decayed town she lived within. Her spirit wandered down the cracked streets, bathed in blood and reeking of rotting flesh. She covered her nose at the smell and tried not to vomit at the sights of jugulated blood on the ground. Odd grunts and groans were coming from almost everywhere as she stood there in the center of the large, empty town.

 

She shivered from the cold she was soon experiencing, rubbing her arms to try and keep them warm. “Hello, is anybody out there?” She called, her voice seeming to rebound off of the surreal dream world.

 

The fog seemed to part from above at that moment, allowing Scarlet to gaze up at the sky to see a blood, red moon. She looked up at the sight, which sent a chill down her spine, until her attention was quickly diverted by the low, sickening moaning sound of a damned soul. Scarlet looked over at the darkened alleyway, painted on the sides with human blood to witness as a disfigured body was moving about slightly in the dark cover of the two buildings on either side of it.

 

With a low, angry moan, the beast started to steadily pull itself from the alleyway it had been concealed within. The man's face was bandaged tightly, leaving way for his mouth, which the skin had apparently broke and pealed back on both sides and consisted of sharp, blood stained teeth. He walked on his hands and knees—both of which were bend in awkward, revolting positions. His elbows were bent forwards and his hands twisted towards his body while his knees were turned in, but bent in a way that made him appear almost dog like. His body was tainted in old blood and his flesh was rotting off. It was disturbing for Scarlet to watch as he crawled side to side with a few quick twisting motions of his head, his tongue slithering out like a serpent as he came towards her.

 

“Oh my God…get the hell away from me!” She demanded, stepping backwards blindly, her body trembling as she did so.

 

Tripping over her own feet, Scarlet fell to the ground, landing on her backside. The demented demon picked up pace moving quickly towards her with a shrieking howl. Scarlet raised her arms over her face not knowing what to do aside from block the attack she saw coming. The wind became abrasive around her as she sat there waiting to be attacked by the damned soul only to feel something wet splatter upon her body. Slowly Scarlet lowered her arms to see that the beast had been killed by the wild, redheaded wind demon and the damned creature's blood had back splattered on her.

 

“Eew, eew, eew!” Scarlet said with a shake of her hands to try and be rid of the creature's blood she now saw all over the cracked road. He had been obliterated by the wind demon's tornado attack, leaving fleshy matter on top of the blood spill as well.

 

Jin outstretched his hand to pull Scarlet up from where she was sitting upon the ground. “Are you alright?”

 

“What the hell was that thing!” Scarlet exclaimed, moving behind the wind demon.

 

“It's the outcome of a man who found tormenting living creatures to be a blast,” Jin explained as he shook his hand as well in attempts to free it from the damned man's body matter. “His bones and body twisted into that of a dog, the one creature he enjoyed harming, and every step he takes he feels the breaking of his bones and the burn of acid—his favorite method of torment.”

 

Scarlet covered her eyes not wishing to view the scene before her. “That is so disgusting!”

 

Jin turned around to face the frightened woman. “What are you doing so deep in a spirit world like this?”

 

“What?” Scarlet inquired befuddled.

 

“This is a spirit dream,” Jin explained, outstretching his arms to show what she was in. “You're opening your soul to negative and positive spirits alike, allowing them to come to you and either help or hurt you. When did you start doing this?”

 

Scarlet shook her head slowly still confused about what was going on. “I don't know what you mean. I have been having dreams like this both good and bad since I can remember. Doesn't everybody dream?”

 

“Yes, but not everybody can sendtheir soul vibrations out this deep into the spiritual world of hell. This is very dangerous, kiddo, especially if you cannot control when it happens! You're just asking for creatures like that to tear up your body and rape you if you give them the chance,” Jin pointed out, placing his hands upon her shoulders to shake her gently. “Wake up, and I will talk to you there.”

 

Scarlet began to rouse from the nightmare she was having. Her body stirring from the dream state she was in, she opened her eyes slowly to the dimly lit room. She was relieved to see her bedroom, more so than ever before. Feeling somebody next to her, she looked over her shoulder to spy Jin lying there. “Jin…?” Scarlet called softly.

 

Jin opened his eyes slowly, moving his arm from behind his head with a smile to her. “Good to see you found your way back okay.” He pushed himself up off of the bedcovers to stretch slightly and work the kinks out of his body.

 

“You can come into my dreams like that?” Scarlet wondered as she turned around on her side to face the damned man. “Is there any place I am safe from you?”

 

He laughed on the back of his hand, shaking his head. “Yes, I can easily enter people's dreams. It's better than a long-distance phone call that is for sure, and no, there is no way to get away from me.” Here he pointed down at the baptism mark on the palm of her hand. “Think of that as the beacon from you to me. I can always find you with it, and I can tell how you're doing seeing as you gave part of your soul to me when you performed that ritual.”

 

Scarlet looked at her hand briefly. “So what are you talking about when it comes to my dreams? Why do you call them spiritual dreams?”

 

“Because you are sending your soul out of your body,” Jin explained. “Your dreams are very—very—what's the word I am looking for?”

 

“Vivid?” Scarlet asked with a slight laugh at the stupidity he was already showing.

 

Jin snapped his fingers at her response and nodded. “Yes, that is the word I was looking for! Anyways, your senses are plugged in directly into your dream world—that is not a regular dream, Scarlet, that is a spirit dream.” He turned towards her, crossing his legs over one another. “When people have dreams, sometimes they're not very vivid. It's like watching a movie and not having any feeling towards it in their body. But, when I destroyed that demon, you felt the blood splatter on you, right?”

 

“Yes, and it was disgusting,” Scarlet answered. “I also felt very cold when walking around in Wind Knoll.”

 

“Some people cannot feel things like that,” Jin said almost with excitement. “Your dreaming is equal to those who do meditation exercises and send their soul out of their body to speak with others.”

 

Scarlet still found it a bit hard to believe as she listened to Jin closely, rubbing the side of her head seeing as it was hurting a bit. “Are you saying other people can do this?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” said Jin with a nod. “I have known many people who do it, but those I know have control over it. It's mostly because they do meditation exercises and read books on controlling it, so it doesn't land them in trouble.” He rubbed the back of his head, looking over at the cracked window he had come through previously. “That store you work at might have a book on it. You should ask your co-workers there.”

 

“I'll check it out some other time,” Scarlet moaned as she was feeling quite tired and wanted to sleep more. “So what are you doing here? Did Touya the Ice Demon send you here?”

 

“Yes, Touya told me you were considering coming to my temple to stay, and you were going to talk to your dad about it. He wanted me to be here to protect you from his foreseen outburst,” the demon explained. He hunted for the remote for the TV, finding the flashing images on the screen to be slightly annoying at the moment, so he turned it off.

 

“But I thought you weren't allowed to use your powers on others outside of your temple?” Scarlet slightly remembered, yawning against the back of her hand on the final words.

 

“Well, that all depends,” he said, leaning against the headboard of the bed. “Are you going to come to live in my temple or are you going to stay here? If you are coming to my temple, he isn't allowed to touch you, and I have the right to step in and blow his mind—literately.”

 

Scarlet fidgeted slightly thinking about it all. The candlelight was steadily creeping down the walls as the wick was growing thin on some. She noticed the one on her nightstand threatening to blow out, so she went ahead and helped snuff it out. “I made a list about the pros and cons of moving in the Wind Temple…so far I have more pros than cons, and for some reason that irritates me.” Scarlet sat upright on the bed, bringing her knees close to her chest with a sigh. “I just really don't want to leave, but then I really do more than anything to get away from here.”

 

“Where exactly is the list?” Jin asked looking around the small room.

 

“It's in my diary,” she answered, running her fingers through her bi-colored hair. She pointed at the demon quickly with a narrow of her weary eyes. “And you're not going to look at it.”

 

Jin crossed his arms slightly as if to pout. “What was in the cons list?”

 

“The only con was leaving this house…leaving behind all the good memories here and leaving behind my mother's bedroom,” she whispered, pulling some of her stringy hair behind her ears. “Regardless of my mom dying here, there were some good memories here too. I just don't want to pack up and leave them all behind.”

 

Jin scratched the side of his head with a shrug. “It sounds to me you are more upset over the thought of leaving behind your mother's room than leaving behind the memories you cherish.” He twisted his mouth slightly in thought. “Your memories are gonna be with you no matter where you are going, kiddo. You can never be rid of those. And you can always come back to look at your mother's bedroom. Just sneak in through the window.” He advised, pointing towards the cracked window in her bedroom.

 

She couldn't deny that for once the air-headed demon was right. “I guess it wouldn't hurt to go there and see how things are. I know I won't be able to come back because of the anger I know my dad is going to release on me, but I guess I can say I am gaining a lot more than I am losing.” Sighing softly in relief of the boulder raising off of her shoulders, she managed a smile to the wind demon briefly as thanks. “I guess it's best I sleep now. Maybe I will have a better experience this time.”

 

“If you don't, I will be here to help,” Jin offered with a chuckle, pointing to his head. “When lights are out at my temple, it becomes slightly boring.”

 

“Nice to know you enjoy your job,” Scarlet said sarcastically as she situated herself under the covers a bit once more in hopes of sleeping better this time. “Goodnight, Jin and sleep tight whenever you sleep.”

 

“Goodnight to you as well, Scarlet. I hope you don't slip into the depths of hell again,” he slightly joked with a stretch of his body.

 

“Thanks,” she mumbled under the covers knowing he was just playing around with her. The light within her bedroom growing dimmer by the minute, the last candle blew out when the wick became too thin. With the flame out, it left nothing but the fog covered stars and moon to light what it could within Scarlet's bedroom.

 

 

 

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Wind Knoll's town clock chimed the hour at ten o'clock in the morning, calling some people up for the day. Scarlet flinched slightly from the loud clock's chime, making her bring her covers up over her head to try and drowned out the sound. However, a scent that she hadn't smelt in years made her remove the covers once more, wondering who would be making breakfast at this hour seeing as she knew her father never did. Moaning softly, she got to her feet, slipping on her slippers and then dragged her feet towards her door to head downstairs.

 

She stepped cautiously down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she made it to the kitchen where she could smell breakfast being made. She was more than surprised to see that Jin was working every pot and pan he could to make sure a thing—Scarlet's heart nearly stopping under the panic button going off. “Wind Demon, what are you doing!” She exclaimed softly, hurrying around the counter to the oven.

 

“I am making breakfast,” he answered, tossing the pancakes up in the air to catch back in the frying pan. “By the way, it was hard to make pancakes with flower when you're almost out. You might want to suggest that on the grocery list for your dad.”

 

“You're not supposed to be doing anything! My dad could come in and see you!” She hissed through her tightly clenched teeth, waving her hands in the air.

 

Jin chuckled briefly continuing to do so anyways since he was nearly finished. “Don't worry about him. I am sure he won't care to understand even if he does come in earlier than I expect him to be back.” He opened up the cabinets to pull out a plate to put the pancakes on. Jin flipped four onto the plate and grabbed the syrup to place in front of Scarlet. “See, now that didn't take so long, did it?”

 

“How am I going to explain this breakfast to my dad when he comes home!” Scarlet exclaimed softly still, taking the fork Jin handed over to her.

 

“You won't have to,” Jin said vaguely as he started to clean up the kitchen he had made a mess of. “Just hurry up and finish your breakfast so that we can get ready for that man when he returns. I think he went out to drink or smoke or something to that degree. I don't know; the man's thoughts are muddy.”

 

“Probably both,” Scarlet sighed as she twirled the fork a bit upon the top layer of syrup. “He's predictable and does that almost every morning or night depending on what is on the television.”

 

“No wonder this place is so dreary,” the demon remarked as he put away the skillet once it was washed off. “You're the only one working around here, and he doesn't make any money.”

 

“We're currently living off my mom's life insurance. It is the only money we have, and now it is dwindling down…”

 

Jin paused for a moment and gazed over his shoulder at the door not too far from the kitchen's archway. “You're father's here. Are you ready to talk to him?” He asked, drying his hands on paper towel quickly before placing it in the trash.

 

Scarlet slightly panicked as she looked over her shoulder at the door as well, watching as the doorknob seemed to slowly turn. “I…I guess I have no choice…!” She kept her body twisted still on the counter stool to watch as the door finally opened to reveal the angry man, who was still finishing off a cigarette in his hands.

 

Chris looked over at his step-daughter, Scarlet with a furrow of his brow at the breakfast she was eating. “Since when the hell do you know how to cook something besides burnt water?”

 

She didn't know what to say as she looked between her dad and the demon, invisible to him. “I—I don't…”

 

“Then where did the breakfast come from?” Chris asked, blowing the cigarette smoke up in the air as he leaned against the kitchen's off-white archway. “It didn't just fall out of thin air, did it? Or did one of your little demon friends whisk it up?”

 

Scarlet looked over at Jin once more, watching as he waved her to go on, and get it over with. “Actually, now that you bring that up, I need to talk to you about it, dad,” she began softly, her voice shaking with nervousness.

 

“And what is that?” He asked, finishing off his cigarette. Chris headed over towards the kitchen counter to rub it out in the ashtray he often at times kept in there. “Have you finally come to your senses and decided to forget the babbling shit your mother foolishly instilled in your head?”

 

Her mother being mentioned in such a way Scarlet tried her best not to lose it as she dragged her nails into the kitchen countertop slightly. “Actually…no,” she answered, swallowing her fear in confronting her father. “I have decided to move into the Wind Temple and live there…”

 

“Excuse me?” Chris asked, anger tingling on his tone.

 

Scarlet slowly started to get up from the stool she was sitting upon. “I don't want to live here anymore…I am moving to the Wind Demon's temple whether you approve or not.”

 

“Now you listen here,” Chris began angrily as he made his way around the counter to Scarlet. “You're not going anywhere near those devil temples, do you hear me!”

 

Quickly she jumped from the stool she was upon and fell backwards onto the hard ground beneath her. Scarlet watched in fear as her step-dad came charging at her with his fist reared back, just trembling in anticipation to come down and hit her.

 

Chris tried to bring his hand down only to be stopped by the demon he couldn't see. “What in the hell is going on!” He demanded to know as Jin had his hand around Chris' wrist.

 

Jin kept his grip upon Chris, fighting with him as the man tried to resist him. “Scarlet get up and go upstairs,” he growled through his clenched teeth as he tightened his grasp on the human man. Scarlet doing as he asked, the redhead started to emit his wind, making the house tremble and the lights flicker on and off.

 

His wrist eventually released, Chris lost his footing from the wind the demon was releasing causing him to fly backwards and crash into the coffee table within the living room. His back ached as he lied there upon the shattered glass of the table. He released a moan of displeasure as the light above him flickered a bit more before going out with the rest of the lights.

 

When he managed to gradually push himself up off of the destroyed coffee table, he rubbed his forehead with his bleeding palm. The light above him started to flicker once more and squeaked as it swung from side to side. When it finally came on, it was the only light working within the house as it shined down upon Chris and stopped its swaying.

 

“Can you hear me?” Jin asked as he stood within the darkness of the room, letting his eyes pierce through the dark house.

 

“Who the hell are you?” Chris demanded to know angrily, not wishing to show the terror he felt from not being able to see the creature that attacked him.

 

“I am the wind demon you so rightly fear,” Jin responded from where he stood at within the hallway near the end of the staircase. “You will not hurt Scarlet anymore for she is coming to my temple where you will be an unwelcome guest if you so much as knock on those doors in attempt to bring her back here.”

 

Chris growled though remained where he was. “If she leaves this house, she will not be welcome back within it, so keep that in mind, you beast of hell!”

 

“She will not be returning to you,” Jin said simply as he headed for the staircase, walking up it slowly. “She honestly has nothing to return to.”

 

Once the wind demon had made his way inside of Scarlet's bedroom, the lights wavered back on to show the damage caused by the creature's abrasive wind currents. Chris said nothing. He sat there on the floor, his hands bloody from the glass puncturing the skin, and clenched his teeth angrily at the turn of events.