Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wings of a Butterfly ❯ Swaying in the Rain ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do NOT (not, not, not) own any characters in the anime series Yu Yu Hakusho. They belong to their creator, Togashi Yoshihiro-sama. I wish (wish, wish, wish) that I OWNED Kurama. ^^;

 

A loud crash rumbled through the dark clouds. Moments later, a bright flash lit up the sky and all below it. At the flash, Cho looked up. The rain pelted upon her face and numbed her skin, but it was nothing compared to the sudden numbness she now felt.

 

Her jet black hair was sleek against her head and face. Her clothes were soaked through, ripped in some areas, and clung to her body. Blood streamed down her legs and wrists, becoming one with the water that dripped off her body.

 

Her eyes, once illuminated by the lightning in the sky, became a shadowy gray that revealed her hollow soul. She continued stumbling down her lonely path in the rain, down an empty street with empty homes.

 

She was tired, exhausted even, but she couldn't stop for anything. The farther she got away, the better. But no matter how far she walked, she couldn't escape, she knew it too. She would always carry the memories in her mind, the burden on her back, the fear in her heart. It would always be there, no matter what.

 

Her legs carried her to a bridge. She blindly walked across it, unaware of the cloaked figure waiting for her on the other side.

 

"Heheheh." Cho halted at the sound of a deep, hissing voice. "So you're Terra's Chosen. My, my, what a pretty little insect you are."

She lifted her head to see what obstacle stood in her path. All she saw was a tall figure in a long trench coat and hat.

 

"Who...are you?" she asked nonchalantly.

Red-slit eyes glowed from underneath the hat. "Well, my dear, I don't think you should worry about who I am. What you should worry about—"

 

The figure thrust its arms up, throwing off its hat and tearing through its coat. The remains fell down to reveal its talon-claw feet and scaly green skin. It seemed to be a lizard of some sort, one with a long snout and fangs that protruded through its flat lips. A large green tail swished behind it as its tongue flickered out in a pleased hiss.

 

"Is what you're going to do when Izar comes after you!" he screeched.

 

Cho regarded the monster without the slightest sliver of any emotion in her indifferent state. It just seemed natural to see an inhuman creature waiting for her at the end of a bridge. The more normal things in life were what seemed foreign and weird. She welcomed all that was unreal and unnatural, even this unwanted creature before her.

 

"So..." her words were slow and elegant, yet equally cold and empty, "You've come to take me away from this world?" She lowered her head, a small, shallow smile gracing her paled rose-colored lips, "That's nice."

Her legs carried her forward, swaying in step like the leaves on a tree. The demon couldn't believe that she was actually walking towards him. It was as though she wanted to kill her. There was something about her existence that seemed...abhorrent, even to him.

She seemed detached from this world, inexistent. She was like a ghost, trapped in the realm of Purgatory, of what was living and dead. The very thought made him shiver.

 

Nevertheless, he took a step forward and prepared to accept her death into his claws. Instead, she sidestepped when he swiped at her and walked down to complete her trip across the bridge. She barely even acknowledged him.

 

It practically infuriated the lizard demon. He gave a nasty snarl and rounded on the retreating girl. How dare she ignore him?! How dare she ignore the great Izar?!

 

Cho turned around in regards to his angry protests. Her vacant soft gray eyes only showed her disinterest as she spoke. "You won't kill me. You're not strong enough..."

 

With that she turned and continued down the lonely road to nowhere, to anywhere but there. Izar did not pursue. In fact, he went the other way, running away as fast as he could. Her eyes...so empty...He could feel his soul being sucked into those void orbs of blatant tainted innocence. To look into those eyes would mean chancing the risk of getting his soul stripped from his existence.

 

Cho encountered many more demons waiting for her at some corner or lurking in the shadows. But one look from her eyes sent them cowering in fear, the weaker of the species ran.

 

It tired her to no end, but that didn't stop her from walking. The raindrops fell at a faster rate and now dripped off her in streams. Unlike her, the creatures who stalked her fled at the sign of even poorer weather. They'd given up on her, on whatever about her they wanted.

 

It wasn't long before Cho began to burn with fever, before her steps swayed dangerously, and her vision blurred not from the cold rain but from the heat raging in her skull.

 

She had reached human territory and many had taken refuge within stores, under umbrellas and such. No one paid any heed to her. Knowing that she was amongst the living and ignorant put her at ease once more. She hated humans and their ways of existing, but she knew that she had finally reached sanctuary.

 

Staggering, she wandered into an alley and collapsed beside a trash can. The rain lessened as she sat there and mindlessly watched people run past with umbrellas and papers over their heads; heels clicking, coats swishing, rain pelting on the pavement.

 

Someone must have noticed her, for she heard beats halt in the rhythmic tune nature played. Though adjusted to sounds, she couldn't make out the mumbling of the shadow above her. She barely felt the cold fingers against her numbed flesh or felt her weight being easily carried by her savior.

 

She remembered feeling her chest pressed against a broad and muscular back. She remembered tasting blood as her teeth were accidentally forced into her lifeless lower lip. She remembered hearing heavy breathing as the one who held her ran as fast as their weights would allow.

 

She remembered smelling cologne mixed in with the musty scent of rain. And seeing...she remembered seeing what she always did before yielding to rest: a small black butterfly which shed little crystals of light and fluttered away from her closing eyes.