Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Murders ❯ A Trip To The Vizgoths ( Chapter 12 )

Winter Murders

"Well this is interesting," Yusuke muttered after a five minute interval. The caves and tunnels in the "hive", as Death had begun calling it, were the same. There weren't even any turn offs, no other tunnels, it wasn't a maze, it was a straight line. And now Yusuke was bored. All they had been doing for the past five minutes was pass unoccupied cells. Each cell was dug into the side of the dirt tunnel; it was about a ten by ten box. The only things in these "cells" were a toilet and a bed. They all looked exactly alike too. Yusuke had long given up looking for occupants, or some change in the repetitiveness of the tunnel they were going down.

"Are we there yet?" Yusuke asked Death. She whirled on him. All Yusuke could do was blink before his oxygen supply was cut off by Death's hands.

"If you ever utter that phrase, or something remotely close to it again, I will rip your head off with my bare hands," she threatened. Yusuke blinked. "Understood?"

Yusuke tried to nod but found he couldn't move. His limbs were numb and he felt light headed. His eyes started to unfocus. He could barely see and yet the room was spinning.

"Good," Death said. She released him and he fell limply to the ground. He gasped for breath and tried to regain his bearings. Death started to stalk away. Yusuke somehow rolled to his side. He lay there on the floor for some time. Soon he could feel his limbs. After that he could see, somewhat. He looked about for Death. She was gone.

"Shimatta," Yusuke barely cursed. He crawled a bit before he managed to lift himself off the ground to follow her. I mean, where could she go but down the tunnel?

"Stupid Death," Yusuke muttered, having finally recovered from his near choked-to-death experience. Yusuke was too busy watching the ground he was walking on to notice the stock still figure in front of him. He ran into it.

"Ahh!" Death exclaimed. Yusuke glared at her, willing her to tell him what she was doing standing in the middle of the road for no reason. She glared back and pointed in front of them. He looked past her to the vast expanses before them.

It was a giant chamber, at least as big as a football field, if not larger. Yusuke marveled at its size. He wondered how they could fit the whole thing underground. He looked about it. It was filled with folding chairs, most of which were occupied with those evil firemare riding creatures they had come across. They were all chatting gaily. Yusuke raised a brow. They seemed so human-like.

Suddenly he was pulled off the path and behind a rock. He was about to yell at Death, but she covered his mouth with her hand and Shh-ed him. He glared at her and she pointed down the tunnel. A couple of those creatures were heading to the giant chamber.

"I don't know Shkrnkt, I think he's gone insane from that encounter with the prisoner," the one said. The other shook his head at the first.

"But Thygnh, the prisoner is warded, bound and in a cell," Shkmkt said. Thygnh shook his head.

"But they never gagged him. He broke his mind Shkmkt. He spoke horrible things that he just couldn't handle. He was a rookie and a newbie for the gods' sakes," Thygnh replied. Shkmkt set his mouth and the two of them disappeared into the chamber.

"What are those things called anyway?" Yusuke asked Death. She smiled sweetly at him.

"Vizgoths" she replied. Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "I really don't want to explain. I have to explain everything"

"Oh boo hoo," Yusuke mocked. Death growled at him. "I don't really care anyway. Do you suppose the prisoner they mentioned is Hiei?"

"I guess, but Hiei doesn't break people's minds by the words he says," Death commented.

"Yeah, mostly he's just bragging about himself, or whatever. It doesn't sound like Hiei, but it seems like they only have one prisoner," Yusuke said. He peaked over the rock grouping they were behind to study the collective group of Vizgoths. Where had he heard that name before?

"They may have different guards assigned to different prisoners. Maybe that prisoner was the one they guarded," Death suggested.

"It seems like that's all they're talking about, the collective group though. That one prisoner that broke that one guard's mind. I don't think there's more than one prisoner," Yusuke replied.

"It seems that way…" Death trailed off. She joined Yusuke looking over the rocks.

~*~*

"Well, at least we'll know the way out," Kurama muttered to Genkai. She nodded in concurrent. Kurama and she were the ones looking in the cells. Kuwa was watching their backs.

"Sooo boooring," Kuwa muttered. Kurama smiled.

"I can feel his ki, we'll find him soon," he told his friend. He hoped Hiei wasn't as bad as Yusuke had said he was.

~*~*~* Flashback *~*~*~

"Uh, Kurama?" Yusuke whispered. Kurama looked at him. "Are you sure you want to know exactly how Hiei's doing?"

"Yes," Kurama said stubbornly. Yusuke sighed.

"Okay," he said a bit dejectedly. "You wanted to know. Just reminding you that you asked for it, that you wanted to know."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Kurama replied. "Get on with it already."

"Well, he's lost it. I think he might have gone insane. Death had his captors fool him into believing that you were dead and he snapped. He has killed a guard of his brutally, his blood covering the walls of his confinement. I think he might have done more, but we didn't stay there long. We stayed long enough for me to hear Death's plan for Hiei. She'll send me and Kuwa in the direction of Hiei. We'll… I'll free him and then he'll kill me. Then Kuwa will become possessed by her and will kill Hiei. Guards will come and kill him. It's that simple; all we have to do is foil her plan and send you over to Hiei. I'm sure you can bring back his sanity."

~*~*~* End Flashback *~*~*~

"We should try to hurry," Kurama said. Genkai nodded in agreement. Kuwa grunted in assent. They picked up the pace.

~*~*

"Hey, Death?" Yusuke asked. The Vizgoths had started coming in regularly and in groups. They were now lounging behind their shelter.

"Huh," Death said. She was twiddling her thumbs.

"Where do you keep your weapons?" Yusuke asked. Death looked at him witheringly. His face was pure curiosity. "I mean, you would think they'd make some sound when you walk, and that you wouldn't be able to do the things you do with them stashed in your cloak."

"Well, to tell the truth, they are part of me," Death replied. Yusuke's mouth dropped open.

"Wha?" he asked incredulously.

"They are part of my body. I am an ice goddess, but I have special… properties," Death explained. She looked over at Yusuke and saw his confused expression. She sighed.

"Let's see, I am part of a group called "The Chosen Few". "The Chosen Few" are born with a special trait that allows them to gain other "Chosen Few's" abilities by killing them. I started as just an ice demoness. I killed many demons in my time, and gained power over that time. Soon I was considered a low raking goddess. Then I met my first "Chosen". He was a powerful telepath. He had the ranking of an s-class I'd estimate. I faced him that day I met him. Knowing it was either me who was going to die and have my hard earned power go to him, or it was he who would die and I would gain his power. I decided I out classed him and fought with an air of, what's it called haughtiness. I eventually won. Luckily for me, but I was terribly wounded in the process. I was dieing and I knew it. I collapsed for loss of blood. I looked up at the sky and cursed the gods. Clouds appeared over my head, and I feared that they would actually kill me for being insubordinate. I got struck by lightning that didn't hurt, but knocked me out. I awoke with a splitting headache, but I was physically healed. My head started swimming with all the knowledge he had had, and the voices of others. I could hear their thoughts. I could feel their feelings. I couldn't control his power and I passed out. I awoke in a comfortable feather bed. I looked about me; I was in a little wooden cottage. I felt warm and fuzzy and… safe. It was the first time in my life that I had felt safe. I looked to my left and found a blonde and beautiful demoness. She took my breath away.

"Let me get one thing straight with you. "The Chosen Few" can only be recognized by a common mark, the mark of the "Chosen". Here, let me show you," Death said. She pulled off the left part of her cloak and rolled up her sleeves. Her hands were black, but her arm was purest white. Yusuke noted this. That meant that she wasn't all black, that she had lied and that she was just another demon. He looked at the arm and noticed a strange symbol on her arm. It looked like an Ankh with a serpent wrapped around it.

"Anyway, she had given me something to calm the raging of my mind, and had rescued me. I was indebted to her and felt guilty and useless. I felt as though I were weak. She rolled over and blinked at me. "Good Morning" she said. I said morning to her. She smiled at me.

""I'm sorry didn't wake you or anything yesterday, you looked helpless and I felt sorry for you. I let you sleep the day away,' she explained. I nodded. She smiled at me. "You can stay here until you are recovered. And until you can control the Jaganshi power you obtained."

"I never even think twice about what she had said. I just nodded and accepted her offer. It took me five years to recover and tame the wild power I had gained. She was called Sylvia. I learned to love her. And I thought that she loved me back. She was a powerful demon known as a "Battle Faerie". A "Battle Faerie" is like a walking, talking, fighting, armory. They are rare demons who have weapons within themselves and are masters of their particular weapons. And they have every weapon I know of inside them. She was the most powerful of them all, at the time. I know that there are some that have passed up what she was. But at the time she was the most powerful, and the most deadly. She had the body… and mind of a trap. I found out the hard way about the old saying of "never trust anyone". I learned it from her. See, she taught and trained me for five years, learning everything about my fighting style, about my power. She was careful to never let me see anything that would be useful knowledge. I didn't know anything about her fighting and she knew everything about mine."

"She was part of "The Chosen Few", wasn't she?" Yusuke asked, enrapt in the story.

"Yes. Yes she was… I found out one day. She had been careful up to then to not show me her arms, but I had shown mine. One day I saw her cutting firewood with a tank top of sorts on. I saw her arm and my world collapsed. I trusted her. I loved her. And she was going to betray me. She was going to kill me some day. Some day soon. She saw me see her. I didn't notice because I had turned my back and had dashed into the home we shared. I was crying, but then again I was young. She followed me inside.

""Jinai," she said, for that was my name at that time. "Jinai, I truly am sorry."

""No you're not!" I shouted. "You used me and are going to kill me now for something I never wanted to be in the first place!"

""I never wanted to be a "Chosen" one either, Jinai. I just wanted to be a normal demon, living out here, in the nothingness. I wanted to be like a nymph. I wanted to live the simple life."

""You lie! I can hear your lies in your speech! You're just like he was that first one! All he wanted was my power, and so do you!"

"She stared at me for a moment. Then she bowed her head in defeat. I saw a tear drop to the ground. She was sad.

""I admit that is what I wanted at first," she told me, her voice breaking. "But, I fell for you. I fell for you, the stupid, arrogant, fool that you are. I fell for your innocence. I fell in love with you."

"The truth rang in her very words. I wanted to hold her, but was afraid of getting stabbed in the back, for she still wanted my power, and it was hard for her to resist. She ran to me, tackling me to the bed and wrapped her arms about me.

""I know you think I'm going to kill you, but I can't anymore. I want your power, but I don't want to kill you to get it," she cried. I put my arms around her, comforting her in the only way I knew. We fell asleep that way. When I awoke, the bed was empty of her. I was worried. She hadn't even left a note. I trusted her, even though I knew better. I went out to look for her and found her lying on the ground by the wood block, her head cut off by her own axe. I cried out. Tears ran down my face. I loved her and she loved me! Why did she have to kill herself?!" Death nearly shouted. A single tear ran down her face, making a white streak in her black cover. Yusuke felt her pain.

"She left a note. She left a suicide note next to her. I picked it up and read it. It said that she loved me more than she ever thought possible, and that the only solution to her power lust overpowering her to kill me, was to kill her. She hoped that I would understand that I would be able to know that it was right. She told me to pick up her axe and claim her power, because she wanted no other to have it. I did as she wrote. It broke my heart to lift that cursed axe. It took me the entire day. The second I picked it up I was saddled with her death. I would be blamed as her murderer. Her power coursed through me, and I could feel her spirit merge with mine, comforting me temporarily. Her weapons had been black. The handle and the blade, purest black. They had been powerful weapons and I made them mine. I felt guilty, and I changed what they were. I gave the blade its blue color and its paper thin blade. I made them things to fear, and I made them remind me of her. I made them to push me to the limit. I made them to push me to kill all of the "Chosen". I made them so I could exact my revenge on the others like me."

"Is that why you make yourself look black? Because her weapons, and in essence her self, were black?" Yusuke asked. Death nodded.

"I changed my name and became the hunter. I became one of them fully," she said. A shadow loomed over the pair. They both looked up at a Vizgoth. Yusuke gulped. Death smiled.

"You two," he said. Death smiled wider. "Get in the convention room."

"Yes sir!" Death exclaimed. Yusuke and her stood straight up and followed the Vizgoth.

"I thought they spoke in clicks and clacks," Yusuke whispered. Death shrugged.

"It's their code, so that no one will understand them," she replied.

"Why don't they use it all the time?"

"I don't know."

~*~*

A scream pierced the air. Kurama rushed forward towards the sound, convinced it was Hiei. It was. He saw two guards up ahead, looking in a window. He pulled out a rose, made it a whip and cut off their vile heads. He rushed over to the window.

"Hiei!" he nearly shouted. The figure in the room turned to look at the window. He was covered in blood covered wards. Kurama flinched as he saw Hiei's eyes; they were a mad person's eyes. Hiei shouted out in alarm and backed up to the nearest wall, whimpering.

"Stay away you ghost!" he shouted. Kurama flinched. This was going to be hard.

"I'm not a ghost Hiei!" Kurama shouted back. Genkai shoved him aside and looked in the window. Kuwa looked over her shoulder.

"We'll get you out in a second Hiei," Genkai said. Hiei rushed towards the window.

"Genkai! Idiot!" he shouted. They waved unenthusiastically. "You're here to free me?"

"Yup shrimp," Kuwa said. "It's good to see you alive and mentally insane."

Hiei cocked his head to the side. Genkai glared and hit Kuwa upside the head.

"Itai!" Kuwa shouted.

"Idiot," Genkai muttered. "Step away from the door Hiei."

Hiei backed up to a corner. Kurama was bouncing up and down, anxiously waiting for the door to open. Genkai looked at him.

"He can return to normal, sort of," she said quietly, so Hiei couldn't hear. "When I open the door, you get in. Kuwa and I will hold the door shut. You need to talk to him and get the wards off. The first needs to be the Jagan ward. Once that's off he will be the Hiei we all know and love. He will be able to see through the illusion they created."

Kurama nodded. Genkai created a tiny concentration on her index finger and cut through the lock. She looked in the window to see if Hiei had moved and saw that he had not. She opened the door and Kurama dashed in, just as Hiei turned to face them. He cried out in alarm. Genkai and Kuwa shut the door and blocked it with their bodies.

"Good luck Kurama!" Genkai shouted. Kurama nodded. He took a step forward. Hiei couldn't back up so he growled.

"Hiei… it's me, Kurama," Kurama said. Hiei growled again. "I am not a figment of your imagination."

"Kurama's dead. You are either his ghost or one of them in disguise," Hiei growled. Kurama sighed.

"I am Kurama. So that must mean that I am his ghost," Kurama said. Hiei's mouth dropped open and he fell limply to the floor. "Hiei!"

Kurama rushed forward a few steps.

"Stay back!" Hiei shouted. Kurama stopped where he was. His love was weak, and was weakening more as the seconds went by, he needed to hurry.

"Hiei…" Kurama said. Hiei looked up at him, tears standing in his eyes.

"You died," was what Hiei said. Kurama flinched. "You died because of me."

"Hiei…"

"No! I don't want to hear it! You died because you wanted to go after me and rescue me! He killed you!"

"Hiei, if I died trying to convince Yusuke to come here and rescue you, and I'm a ghost, why are Genkai and Kuwa here?"

Hiei thought for a moment.

"…He killed them too?"

"Then how did Genkai open the door?"

"…"

"Go try to open it, you will find that they have it securely shut with their own bodies."

Hiei got up, cautiously moved around Kurama and tried to push open the door. It wouldn't budge.

"This is all just an illusion of my mind."

"No it's not. Let me show you," Kurama coaxed. He cautiously made his way over to Hiei. "Let me touch you."

Hiei shuddered. Kurama held out his hand, offering it to his fire demon. Hiei gradually raised his and held it out. Kurama touched his fingers to Hiei's. Hiei pulled back.

"You're solid," he breathed. Kurama sighed, he was getting somewhere.

"Yes Hiei. I promise you will understand everything if you let me take off your Jagan's ward," Kurama said. Hiei lifted a hand to the ward.

"I can't get it off," he said. Kurama moved a bit closer.

"I can do it," he said. He touched the ward and felt a shock go through him. He fell to his knees. That was some powerful ward.

"Kurama!" Hiei cried out. He fell beside this kitsune, but refrained from touching him.

"I'm fine, I'm a ghost, remember?" he said a bit strained. Hiei tried to smile. "I got it."

Kurama reached out once again and braced himself for the pain. He grabbed the ward and felt it cutting open his hand. He felt it ripping at his life force and his ki. He yanked on it hard and it didn't come off. He cried out as it bit into his hand a bit deeper. He pulled again, it loosened.

"One… more…" he barely managed to say, the pain was so immense. He pulled again. His back hit the ground and he was out like a light, ward in hand.

Notes: Hey. I know what you're thinking: am I supposed to feel sorry for Death? Not if you don't want to. I really don't know. She is a puzzle unto herself, and I for one do not know how many twists I will add to her. I wasn't planning on ending this chapter where I did. I was going to end it where Kurama comes into the cell, but I like the way it is. I'm glad I decided to try having more. Well, anywayz, I hope you liked this chappie. R&R!