Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wind Knoll's Curse ❯ Chapter 35

Scarlet went job-hunting with Jin the next day early in the morning. She had a few places in mind to try applying for, and she wasn't going to stop till she got a `yes' from somewhere instead of `we're not hiring right now'. Plopping down on one of the nearby benches, she sighed heavily while rolling her head back to look up at the cloudy sky. “This is hopeless,” Scarlet grumbled. The feel of the wind blowing about her, she opened one eye to spy Jin joining her. “Can't you read people's minds?”

 

“Why do you ask?” The wind master asked with a light chuckle, as he leaned against the wooden bench.

 

She eyed the demon with annoyance at his attitude. “Couldn't you tell me if some people are even considering hiring?”

 

“I cannot read the minds of others,” said Jin, as he gazed over at the exhausted Scarlet. “I can send my mind vibrations out to others if they are open to it, but I cannot read people's minds; especially people who are not my worshippers.” He felt the young woman smack him with her reading material she brought with her. “Jeez, lassie! What was that for!” Jin exclaimed, even though it merely tickled his demonic skin.

 

“You can be so worthless!” Scarlet lightly teased through her frustration, smacking him a few more times with her book. Getting to her feet once more, she walked down the sidewalk she was upon. “Ugh, there's got to be something around here. Why don't people use help wanted signs anymore?”

 

“I thought that was why you humans invented the Internet?” Jin suggested aloud, as he traveled behind Scarlet carefully.

 

Scarlet huffed at Jin's suggestion, as she turned down the upcoming street marked as Planters Road. “You don't allow such things in your temple—none of them do. Besides, I haven't had the Internet in a few years now.” It was a common fact that computers and a majority of electronics were stripped from the temples and even the town itself. Cell phones could be brought into the temples, but they either never worked or overloaded and were destroyed given the spiritual energies accumulated within the temple boundaries.

 

“There are local coffee shops that allow Internet access,” Jin explained, as he took to the air momentarily to hover over Scarlet. “Besides, you know why we cannot allow electronic things in our temples.” He bent over Scarlet to look the young woman in the eyes. “Spirits can overload such things and cause a fire if they explode. You wouldn't want that, would you?”

 

She could feel his knees just inches from her shoulders, causing Scarlet to push the wind master away from her. “Yeah, yeah, I am aware.” Continuing down the block, she eventually stopped at one of the nearby bookstores. She looked at the many collections of books lining the display windows before looking over at Jin, who was quick to show he wasn't too eager to look at the place. “I know you don't like books, but I do. This might be a good place to try.”

 

“Want me to see if I can collect anything on my telepathic radar?” Jin asked jokingly, placing his index and middle fingers against the side of his forehead.

 

Scarlet shook her head at the wind demon before making her way inside. “You are impossible.” Making it inside of the building, she saw many shelves covered in different books. There were rows upon rows of literature, making Scarlet wanting to eye her favorite sections, just to see if anything interesting was there. “We hardly get any good books in Wind Knoll,” she felt the need to point out, as she hurried to the fantasy section. “Being so cut off from the world, you're lucky to find anything good.” Scarlet went from book to book just to eye the front and back to see if anything would catch her eye.

 

“It is because of the fog.” Jin walked behind Scarlet, picking a few books off of the shelf himself only to put them back. “The written word bores me,” he admitted between them. “Why write about an adventure when you can go out into the world to make your own come true?”

 

“You're talking about the impossible when it comes to the isolation of this town,” Scarlet mentioned with a roll of her eyes, putting the book in her hands back where it previously was. “If we weren't so shut off from the world, maybe there would be more we could do.” As she was reaching the end of the row she was looking through, she saw one of the workers of the bookstore stumble upon her, as he happened to be passing by.

 

“Hello there,” said the young boy, as he made his way towards Scarlet. He had long, stringy hair, which reached his upper back and colored white. There was a noticeable lip ring on the left side of his lip. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

 

Scarlet caught the boy's brown eyes through his bangs, which almost covered his face. “Yes, hi, I was wondering if you guys were hiring here,” she asked best she could. “I've been traveling around all day to try and find an opening position.” Her eyes wandered over his nametag to see his name was Andy.

 

“That is a good question,” said Andy, as he thought about a good answer he could give her. He paused in his actions with his eyes gazing over Scarlet's shoulder to spy the redheaded demon behind her. Upon seeing Jin, he acted like he didn't want to admit he could see the creature. “I am sure I could ask one of our managers.”

 

Noticing he was acting odd, Scarlet looked over her shoulder at Jin before eyeing Andy again. “Do you see something, sir?”

 

Jin didn't say anything to Scarlet or Andy. He kept his focus on the young male worker, however. The wind master noted that the way Andy was acting was the way most humans acted when they could see the demons, but they didn't want to admit it. You can see me, can't you? He asked the boy telepathically.

 

Andy shook his head before coming to the world around him. “No!” He yelled between them before straightening himself up. “No, it is-it is nothing. Umm, anyways, come this way.” He moved out of the row he was within to make it back towards the checkout area. “I can give you an application, if anything. Something should open up, as it always does.”

 

Scarlet looked over her shoulder at Jin with a slight shrug as to what was going on. “You appear quite jumpy. Are you alright?” She asked, noticing his actions behind the counter just to pull an application for her to fill out.

 

“This world—it just does things to you,” Andy insisted quietly between them, as he handed over the application to Scarlet before putting the others away. When Scarlet accepted the slip of paper, he noticed the designs on her hands. “You worship the Wind and Ice Lords.”

 

She bunched her hands into fists in attempts to hide the symbols on her hands. “Yeah, I do,” Scarlet practically whispered. “What about yourself?”

 

“My mother's side mostly worships the Fire Lord,” Andy answered, as he made his way carefully back out from behind the counter. He wanted to pretend that Jin wasn't there, but he could see the demon, and the sight of him frightened the young man. “My father's side worships the Earth Lord, but I wasn't baptized under anybody. I don't want to be sucked into this hellish world, and that is why I refuse to be baptized under anyone.”

 

Jin narrowed his eyes to gather the energy he could pick up on Andy. “I know you can see me,” he almost spoke teasingly to the human. The redhead watched as Andy stopped in his tracks momentarily. “You cannot ignore what is there, human. I know Touya has come to you to baptize you himself.”

 

Andy looked over his shoulder at Jin only to remain silent before heading onwards to continue his job.

 

Scarlet smacked Jin on the nearest arm. “What is wrong with you? Don't tease someone like that!” Rolling her eyes, she made her way out of the bookstore, so she could head back to the temple for the day.

 

Jin took to the wind and hurried after Scarlet to make sure she was alright. “No need to be in such a rush,” he insisted, as he floated beside her. “I was just telling him that there is no way to escape where he is. Besides, if Touya is trying to claim him, he should listen!”

 

“Maybe some people want to be a bit ignorant to this world a bit longer,” Scarlet hissed angrily at the wind master. “I cannot say I blame them.” Thinking back on the day she called to the wind master and opened herself up to the world, she couldn't help but sigh heavily. “I know the moment I opened myself up to this world, I most times regret it!” With that knowledge spared, Scarlet continued on her way back to the Wind Temple.

 

 

 

 

Back at the temple, that night, Scarlet worked on filling out the applications, she had acquired, in the candlelit room. She could hear some of her roommates chatting just outside of her bedroom door as she did so. Feeling something shake her bedroom, Scarlet looked upwards towards the ceiling, where she felt it was coming from. She knew there were rooms above her, but she never knew her neighbors would cause her bedroom to shake. Sighing to herself at having to witness her broken ceiling chandler quiver from the impact upstairs, Scarlet went back to focusing on her applications she still had to finish before bed.

 

Hearing the heavy thump against the ceiling once more, Scarlet put down her pen with an annoyed sigh. “Guys!” She yelled, hoping that they would hear her. “Would you stop that!” When she still heard something rumbling upstairs, Scarlet tossed aside what she was working on to make her way to the upstairs rooms.

 

Marching up the stairs, she made it to the room she knew was directly above hers. She could hear some female obviously laughing on the opposite side of the room making her grumble, as she knocked on the door. “Hello?” Scarlet called. “Can you please keep it down! I am trying to do some things downstairs.” While she was waiting for an answer, Scarlet couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled from where she was standing. A hand reaching out to her in the darkness grabbed onto her shoulder, causing the young woman to jump around with a startled scream before seeing whom it was. “God, Rachel!” Scarlet gasped, grabbing onto her rapidly beating heart. “You scared the shit out of me.”

 

“My apologizes,” said the high priestess, as she withdrew her hand. “What are you doing up here? You know it is curfew time.” The priestess crossed her arms over her chest, curious to hear an explanation.

 

Scarlet looked at Rachel through the dim candlelight that lit the hallway. “I am sorry, but I was trying to fill out applications and whoever lives here was doing something to the point that my ceiling was shaking.” She witnessed in the dim lighting how Razz's expression went from confused to shock. “What is it?”

 

Rachel shook her head at Scarlet's words. “That's impossible,” she insisted, using her key to unlock the door. She allowed Scarlet to see into the empty bedroom. “Nobody is in here.”

 

Looking into the empty room, Scarlet shook her head. “No, no that cannot be true!” She turned to Rachel, pointing down at the floor. “This is the room that is above mine, right?” Scarlet headed on into the bedroom regardless of what was said by Rachel. She couldn't believe that the room was empty.

 

“Yes, I would say judging by the temple's floor plans, which I have studied, this one would be above yours,” explained Rachel. It was within every high priest and priestess to know the temple by heart in case of an emergency. “But whatever it was you heard or saw, it obviously isn't here now.”

 

Scarlet walked further into the room to look at some of the pictures and webbed candles. The pictures were black and white, but a majority of them had the faces either etched out or removed. As she picked up one of the pictures, a harsh wind blew within the room causing the door to shut behind her. “Rachel!” Scarlet screamed, running towards the door upon dropping the picture. “Rachel, are you there!” She exclaimed frantically, banging on the door in the dark room.

 

“Yes, I am here!” Rachel responded back during her futile attempts to open the door. “The door won't open! The key won't even open it!” Hearing someone coming towards her, Rachel beckoned to the worshipper. “Go get the Wind Lord, quickly!”

 

“Get me out of here!” Scarlet yelled, continuing to bang on the door. She stopped upon noticing that the red candles in the room were lighting one by one by some means. Everything in the room was coming to light in red. Slowly, Scarlet turned around to see, what she believed to be, an Asian woman in a white kimono sitting near the table, which held all of those photos. She had long, black hair from what Scarlet could make out. “H-Hello…? Who are you?”

 

The Asian woman stopped whatever it was she was doing and slowly turned around. Her eyes were white and void of life while blood marred the front of her kimono and part of her face. Slowly the woman got to her feet with a childlike, creepy giggle. In her hand, she held a very old, handmade doll. “Want to play?” She asked with a sick grin, slowly heading towards Scarlet.

 

Scarlet felt her back hit the door behind her. “Get away from me!” She demanded fearfully. Her heart nearly dropped when she saw the Asian female rushing at her with a loud scream. “Get away from me!” Scarlet yelled once more, closing her eyes. The door flying open at that moment, Scarlet fell backwards into Andrea's arms. She watched as Jin stood there ready to attack the female ghost only to see everything return to normal as soon as she laid eyes back on the room. “What the hell was that!”

 

Jin relaxed himself with an annoyed sigh. “She's not going to do anything else,” he said to Rachel, allowing the woman to lock the door again. “Just make sure she doesn't get out.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Scarlet demanded to know, holding onto the female she knew to an extent. “What is going on!” Her voice was almost raised to a scream.

 

“I am sorry,” Jin apologized, as he helped Scarlet to her feet. “I need you to come with me.” He was quick to make sure that Scarlet got away from the bedroom quickly and back down to her own without being attacked by anything again. Jin situated Scarlet back down in her bedroom before closing and locking the door behind him. Tossing the covers about her shaken body, he guided her down to the bed. “Just relax for a bit. You'll be okay.”

 

“What was that? Who was that?” Scarlet demanded to know, as she sat upright in bed, refusing to lie down and forget it right away. “I have never known that one room to be haunted when I've been living under it for a year or so now!”

 

“I don't think you want to know about her,” Jin insisted, running his fingers through his wild hair. “It is a very old story that dates back many years ago.”

 

Scarlet banged her fist upon the mattress beneath her. “Jin, tell me!” She couldn't get the image of that woman out of her head, and she wanted to know why that woman was like that.

 

“Well, like I said, this all happened many years ago,” Jin explained, rubbing the back of his neck. He hated going back on the darker times of their ruling. “Back in the day, whenever a worshipper would come into the temple and acted crazy or possessed, they had to be locked up for their own good. Around the clock they would be monitored to see if they would improve through `special' treatment, and if they didn't…well…” Jin's voice trailed off at that moment, not sure if Scarlet wanted to hear the rest.

 

“What happened to them?” Scarlet asked, leaning forwards on the bed.

 

Jin massaged his forehead with a heavy sigh. “Well, anyways, the woman you saw was named Ayame. As you could probably tell from her outfit, she was alive many centuries ago. She was brought here because she would act as though she were possessed by a demonic force—growling, hissing, and biting the nurses was basically what she did. The nurses tried their best to rid her of it, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts.” He closed his eyes, having to remember how crazy the woman would act against his worshippers. “The weird thing was, she would act calm and civil around me. It was like she was deeply in love with me.” Jin could remember how Ayame would try several times to seduce the demon though he wanted nothing to do with her.

 

Scarlet couldn't help but get chills at the story Jin was telling her. “So what did you do with her?”

 

“When the possessed or mentally ill couldn't be cured, the demons of the temples were asked to kill them in some way—usually it was done by devouring them,” Jin hesitantly admitted.

 

“You ate her!” Scarlet exclaimed as this shocked her, even though she had seen Jin try to eat human corpses of those that caused problems. “How could you do that!”

 

“Demons aren't too unfamiliar with eating humans,” Jin explained in his defense. “Hell, some can only live on human flesh! We're not saints, you know?” He couldn't help but look sorrowfully down at the ground with a shake of his head. “Besides, I am not saying I was proud of what I did.” He sighed while continuing. “In the past, it was never considered that some were born with a mental illness. It was all thought that each one was possessed and needed to be done away with quickly. We didn't do exorcisms as often back then.” Jin thought back on the moment he entered Ayame's bedroom to have the woman rush towards him with a sick, demented grin. When the young woman had her back turned to him, Jin remembered sinking his teeth into her neck to kill her instantly—causing the blood to splatter on her face and neck before dripping down her body to soak her kimono. “After that night that I killed her and did away with her body, I made sure she wouldn't do anybody any harm within the temple walls. I have locked her spirit into that room, as she is still unstable even in death. The only reason she is as active right now is because the world is sinking further into Makai.”

 

“Is there anything else like that that you'd like to share with me?” Scarlet inquired with a raise of her brow. “It seems you're hiding a lot from someone who is supposed to work closely with you. Lord knows I don't want to be your next meal.”

 

“Hey, I don't ask you about all your secrets,” Jin pointed out, as he pushed himself from off of the bedside. “Besides, we're talking about many years of my life compared to your twenty-six.” He moved the applications and writing utensils from Scarlet's bed before tucking the young woman in for the night. “And I don't eat my followers unless they give me a reason to. I promise.” Jin could tell she was still nervous given the way Scarlet was eyeing her. “Don't be scared. I don't hurt the people who matter the most to me and do as I ask.” Moving forwards, he kissed her on the forehead before pulling from her side. “Sleep well, Scarlet.”

 

Scarlet watched Jin leave her room before bothering to turn over to stare at the wall. She knew if she looked out at her room, the shadows would play tricks with her. Closing her eyes, she tried to forget the events that plagued her, though finding it terribly difficult till exhaustion took her over.

 

 

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Eventually Scarlet was able to find herself a job at the bookstore she was so interested in. Getting to work on her first day a week or so later, she put the books up that had just come into the store. As she was doing so, she noticed one of her female co-workers doing the same thing but by magical standards. Hiding against the row she was within, she watched as a, probably, 40 or so year old woman was using her index finger just to levitate the books up to their placement if she couldn't reach where they belonged. She had long, braided dull brown hair, which had streaks of gray in it. One of the books falling from her arms, Scarlet bent down to grab it up into her hands. It did, however, alert the woman to what she was doing.

 

“Oh,” she said, catching Scarlet not too far away. “You must be the new employee. Scarlet, is it?” She made her way over towards the young woman in her jeans and blue t-shirt uniform. “My name is Angela Berkin.” Angela extended her hand to shake Scarlet's.

 

Scarlet accepted Angela's hand for a handshake, “I am Scarlet Baker.”

 

“Oh!” The woman exclaimed between them, opening Scarlet's hand to see the symbol on it. “You are part of the Wind Lord's group. I think I remember you. Weren't you one of his first to finally be baptized as his servant?” When Scarlet looked at her confused, Angela showed off her symbol on her palm that had the same mark that belonged to the wind demon. “I am one of his high priestess.”

 

“I saw what you were doing earlier,” Scarlet pointed out, as she walked beside the woman with the books she still had yet to put up. “Is that something you've learned?”

 

Angela used her abilities once more in front of the befuddled Scarlet, to let her see that she was actually using the wind to guide the books where she wanted them to go. “Sort of,” she giggled, as she went to the next aisle of books. “The Wind Lord himself actually taught me. He said I was one of the worshippers that could actually control the wind if I put enough energy into it.”

 

Scarlet scrunched up her face a bit with a shrug. “It must be nice to be able to have special abilities that are unlocked.”

 

“Has he not spoken to you about what abilities you can have?” Angela inquired, as she finished with putting her books away. “It varies age wise when people show signs that they can do certain things.” She looked back over her shoulder at Scarlet to note another design on her other palm. “Were you double baptized?”

 

“I original was worshipping Touya, but I stopped when my mother died,” Scarlet explained, as she followed behind Angela closely, putting some of her books away along the way. “I fell out with the ice demon and moved onto Jin to ask about Touya, as the two were close friends in lore and currently.”

 

Angela shrugged slightly with a slight contort of her face to think. “You might have ice abilities and not wind.” She turned around to look at Scarlet. “It isn't uncommon for worshippers to even get powers from other demons, but it is very common for them to either have no special abilities or have powers relating back to the demon they were baptized under. Did your mother have any special ice abilities?”

 

Scarlet finished with her last book when she thought about it. “I am not sure.” She had difficulty thinking back ten years of her life. “I think she was learning how to heal with her energies, but I don't remember.”

 

“Well, if the Ice Lord cannot help you, I know something that might.” Angela beckoned Scarlet to follow her to the section that had Wind Knoll's religion section. Running her fingers across the bindings of the books, she came across the one she was hunting for. Angela plucked a volume off of the shelf to hand over to Scarlet. “That book is about looking into yourself to do ice and snow magic. If you have problems with it, just ask Touya about it.”

 

“He still wants me to work on becoming his high priestess. I am so used to doing the shit work around Jin, that I don't even know how high priestesses can do it,” said Scarlet, as she walked back up front to mind her cash register she was assigned to. “As a servant I fetch his food, fix whatever private bath he wants, and….” Realizing that the last bit was a little personal, she paused. “…And don't worry about that last part.”

 

“Everyone knows about the last part,” Angela chuckled, as she leaned against the front counter. “And every servant, because of that, is envied.”

 

“All because I get my brains banged out by Jin?” Scarlet asked with a raise of her brow. “He doesn't even do it that often.” She opened up the magazine she was reading earlier before putting some books away. “He mostly goes to his high priestesses if he needs to.”

 

“He must be desperate,” Angela pointed out. “Wasn't there news of the demons attacking his temple lately some time ago?” She witnessed Scarlet nod, even though the young woman was busy reading her magazine till a customer came into her line. “Yeah, because if the Earth Lord falls, he'll be the next in line to raise the barrier, so Hiei and Jin are getting the majority of attacks lately, as Touya is still regaining his energy.”

 

“If Jin was so weak, I wish he'd just come to me a bit more often,” Scarlet grumbled, continuing to flip through the pages of her magazine.

 

Angela smirked, leaning upon her elbows to look up at the ceiling of the store. “Someone sounds jealous.”

 

“That's why I got this job,” Scarlet said with an irritable sigh. “I wanted to take my mind off of him.”

 

“Being a servant girl, that's not going to be easy with avoiding him,” Angela insisted, as she pushed off of the counter. “How about, after work, I take you home? I am sure Jin would want you returning home in one piece, and it is quite dangerous out there if you don't have a car.”

 

“I can drive, but I don't have a car,” explained Scarlet, as she ran her fingers through her bi-colored hair. “I always used my dad's car if I ever had to go somewhere, so I never bothered with buying one.”

 

“Well, I can take you back to the temple, seeing as we're going to the same place anyways once we close,” said Angela, as she fixed some of the merchandise on display. “Take care, dear.” With that said, she headed back out onto the floor of the store to help customers while Scarlet remained at her register.