Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ You Said You Loved Me, Right? ❯ Case One Continuation ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: The Souija 
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.13.2005 | Updated On: 04.17.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 285 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.13.2005 | Updated On: 04.17.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.9K | Visits: 285 | Status: Completed
The next day, on the roof of Sarayashiki Junior High
-
“So Keiko was awake the whole time you were fighting that youkai?” Botan sat on the roof of the staircase. She was still in her pink kimono with her oar sitting across her lap.
“Guess so.” Yuusuke sighed as he tried to light a cigarette.
Botan jumped from her current position and slammed her oar against Yuusuke’s head as ‘lightly’ as she could. Yuusuke practically swallowed the cigarette from the collision.
“What the hell was that for!” Yuusuke yelled in Botan’s ear.
“Bonehead, I told you getting Keiko home was your main priority!” Botan disputed.
“Nani!? And have that youkai follow us along the way!?” Yuusuke roared.
“You and Keiko could’ve been killed.” Botan shouted back.
“I don’t even know why I came here today! I mean, it’s basically the last day of school because of O-bon vacation! If I wanted to get yelled at, I would’ve stayed at home.” Yuusuke grew irritated as he flicked the cigarette out of his hand; not even lighting it. He then walked over to the fencing outlining the roof of the school. He placed his fingers over the metal and clutched it.
“Yuusuke…” Botan walked over to him. “Did Keiko say anything as you took her home.”
Yuusuke turned around with his back leaning on the fence, he slid down until his bottom hit the floor. “She wouldn’t talk to me,” Yuusuke scrunched up his face, “She just kept this face the whole time and never talked to me once!”
“This is no time for jokes, Yuusuke.” Botan’s eyes grew narrow, Yuusuke finally stopped making ‘that’ face. A smile quickly emerged on her own face, “Anyway, I found out a little more about your next case.”
A single sweat droplet flew down his mandible.
“About that Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory.” Botan began to itch her head.
“Nani? That indestructible penitentiary?” Yuusuke thought back to the previous night.
“Hai,” Botan leaned on the metal wire fence. “Everything has its flaws I’m afraid.”
“Nani!” Yuusuke tried not to shout.
“The Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory has an imperishable rei-seal that is like a shield that outlines the swamp from the gateways to any of the four realms. The Shitenno guards the four gateways, the holy warriors of Rei-Kai that stops anyone from entering the mire sutra. But because it is the start of the Bon holidays, the mire sutra’s barriers become weaker. The exiled are then able to escape from the scriptures…”
“What do you mean scriptures?” Yuusuke questioned.
The ferrywoman decided to sit down next to Yuusuke as she fiddled her fingers together. “Ever since the confinement of the disciple I told you about, the youkai that become tainted are then restrained and held for trial among the Council of Rei-Kai. It is then decided if they should be executed or thrown into their supposedly ultimate resting home.”
“What about the scriptures.” Yuusuke asked again, a little impatient.
“Oh yes,” Botan stared at Yuusuke, “Once the tainted are condemned to the mire, their names are written on small, miniature scrolls with their own blood. The scrolls are then pinned to their bodies, as they are then taken to the dimensional rift located at the edge of Rei-Kai by the ‘same’ omens that appeared sprouting along the Sanza no Kawa yesterday. The omens are enormous rotten, dead claws that have been filling the Sanza no Kawa with the blood of its victims…”
Botan noticed that Yuusuke was about to repeat the same question, so she continued, “Once the condemned emerge from the dimensional rift, the ‘omens’ throw them into what seems like eternal darkness. Once the tainted hit what they think is the ground, what feels like a dead root then constricts them. Once completely dead, the dead root grows into a tree with the tainted one’s body entangled among it. Their scroll, which is considered ‘scriptures’, from before is then engraved into their foreheads with a sentence written below it.”
Yuusuke’s eyes shifted, “What is the sentence?”
“Heh…” Botan chuckled as she scooted away from Yuusuke.
The Rei-kai Tantei arched an eyebrow.
“The statement is forbidden, I’m unable to tell you that because it is a chant used to resurrect the disciple. Plus, I wouldn’t know it, only Lord Enma and Master Koenma know it because no one else is allowed through the gateway to the mire sutra unless you are condemned there.” Botan began to giggle.
“BoooooTAN!” Yuusuke began clenching his fists, “Is there anything you can tell me!!!” He spat out as his face grew dark.
“Of course!” Botan spoke up in defense; “Those omens that have been appearing by the Sanza no Kawa are actually the dead followers of the disciple of Satan.” Yuusuke’s expression grew lighter. “Once the tainted disciple had connived the souls, they then morph into the omens, known as Hands of Eden.” Yuusuke was about to crack a joke but Botan quickly interrupted, “The Hands of Eden are Seiiukaru’s trademark move, when they are around, she’s around.”
“Seiiukaru?” Yuusuke stood from the pewter floor.
Botan stood with him. “Seiiukaru is the youkai you fought last night from your description… White hair, golden eyes, extremely pale skin, quite the exhibitionist.” Yuusuke grew a perverted smile, Botan brushed it off, “The female youkai is known as a plague through both Ma-Kai and Rei-Kai. For this plague finished her victims before any signs of bones were left, this plague had even devoured the victim’s blood curdling screams before the body itself, this plague-”
“This plague, is apart of the Ma-Kai Escort Service… wouldn’t you say?” Yuusuke ridiculed with a perverted smirk as he cut the ferrywoman off. Botan let her oar fall from her hands and hit Yuusuke in the head ‘delicately’.
Yuusuke clutched his head in pain and shouted: “Dammit it Botan!” Obviously, Botan’s ‘delicate’ power wasn’t so ‘delicate’.
Botan gave a light smile as she continued, “They said that Seiiukaru was said to kill anyone who so happened to get in the way, or better yet, killing anyone whom so happens to not get in the way for that matter!”
“Whose ‘they’? It is probably just ‘you’ since you didn’t know much about this youkai onna to begin with.” Yuusuke mocked as he covered his head, avoiding Botan’s ‘home-run’ swing.
Botan, instead, twirled her oar between her fingers as she finished her analysis; “Seiiukaru was thought to have died after what had happened four hundred years ago against Death cup. Every Bon week that passed and no sign of her ever emerging again-just those of restless tainted souls from the scriptures causing nothing but small time disasters among Rei-Kai and Ma-Kai-brought a sign of relief throughout both the two realms. But, after seeing Seiiukaru’s dead followers’ limbs resurfacing, ready to be fed again by their messiah, it just proves that Master Koenma’s theories were correct… Death cup had failed.”
“Four hundred years ago! Death cup!” Yuusuke’s eyes widened as he stared at Botan.
“Seiiukaru is the name of the disciple of Satan, the one and the same youkai you fought last night.” Silence had stricken Yuusuke as Botan revealed this information to the Rei-kai Tan-tei.
“What do you mean about that toddler’s theories? And what about Death cup! You said only ONE was ever exiled to that swamp but now, you give me crap about all these other youkai being hauled off as well.” Yuusuke practically choked out his words.
“Restless tainted souls are able to leave the mire and cause small catastrophes in only Ma-Kai and Rei-Kai because they are just class E youkai, unfortunately, Seiiukaru was said to be one of the highest class of any Kage no Youkai in her time and is able to enter Nin-gen-kai if ever resurrected. Death cup’s soul had returned to Master Koenma’s office the very same night it was said she was exiled too. Death cup had said that her and Seiiukaru’s body remains in the mire sutra forever, while she tends to a long awaited rest within her Hell’s Erotic Bond… So you see, Death cup’s body was left condemned in the mire but you wouldn’t actually say she is exiled as well because her soul lives on away from the mire in dormancy. But the biggest question is, what about Seiiukaru’s soul, did it return to its own body instead of entering her respected Hell’s Erotic Bond? And why did it take so long to do so after all these years?”
Botan noticed Yuusuke walking over to the staircase entrance. “Hell’s Erotic Bond?”
Botan sighed in exhaustion, not wanting to explain this information too, “Hell’s Erotic Bond is a band that is able to extract souls from apparitions so they become apart of their owner; making the owner more powerful and the apparitions that lost their souls convert into the owners followers. For Seiiukaru, they converted into the Hands of Eden.”
“Eh.” Yuusuke gasped dumbfounded.
“It was also said to be the tomb of the owner when they pass away. A rumor started a few years ago about the apparition bands; if you wear them, you become possessed with unlimited power, which is why the Shitenno are to guard the four gates, so no one could see if the rumor was true. Unfortunately, the Council of Rei-Kai doesn’t know if it really is a rumor.”
Yuusuke was about to crack a joke again, so Botan continued.
“There were three bands ever made because there was a secret to its creation that only one person knew about, and that was the creator itself. One of the bands-Seiiukaru’s-WAS sealed within the mire sutra, another-Death cup’s-Is located within the Rei-Kai Dai-hi-sou-kan, the other, and last, one’s location… is unknown. The creator must also have possession of the other Hell’s Erotic Bond, but because that one is lost, the creator is lost as well. The creator was Seiiukaru’s betrayer and Death cup’s savior… Nichiren.”
“Nichiren!” Yuusuke turned around. His feet began to wobble as he then sat back on the floor, his head resting on the door to the stairway. ‘Nichiren is the one that youkai onna talked, well, thought about from last night?’ Yuusuke looked over to Botan. “What do you mean that this youkai onna was betrayed by Nichiren?”
Botan’s face grew puzzled, not knowing why Yuusuke would want to know this useless information, “Well, Nichiren-”
Botan was cut off when the back of Yuusuke’s head made contact with the door to the school roof. Someone had slammed the door wide open, knocking Yuusuke down with a gigantic bump throbbing on his head. Botan hopped on her oar and ascended into the air, vanishing from sight.
“Yuusuke! Here you are again, hiding out up here. You could at least have the decency to go to lunch if you are gon’na skip most of your classes.” Yukimura Keiko blasted at him as she clenched her fist.
Yuusuke sat up from the floor, still holding his head. “Geez, onna! Criminy!”
“Onna! Yuusuke, why did you come to school on the last day before O-Bon if you were just going to skip! I have to prepare for the festival in two days for the school; I can’t keep monitoring you!” Keiko crossed her arms, concealing her chest as she droned on, “You never go to class because you rather come up her and light up smokes! It is bad enough you are such an ecchi!”
Keiko struck a nerve. Yuusuke stood up and began shouting in Keiko’s ear, “Hold on there, I’m no ecchi just because I skip classes, stop hounding me!”
Keiko glared at Yuusuke, her cold stare gave him the shivers the way she looked at him. “Not an ecchi!” Yuusuke stepped back, “You flip skirts and you say you aren’t an ecchi.” Keiko closed in the space as she stepped closer to Yuusuke, her voice getting louder. “Better yet, you find some SALES WOMAN to fondle in a warehouse last night, not even caring who sees you, but think again! I saw!”
Yuusuke nearly jumped out of his skin. Was this why Keiko had been giving him that cold stare all last night as they walked home. She thought he would actually do THAT! These accusations were really a hassle. “Whoawhoawhoawhoa! Hang on there Keiko! You’re dead wrong to think that I-”
Keiko didn’t let him finish as she stuck her index finger up at him. “You expect me to believe you after what I saw!? Yuusuke, you baka!” Keiko turned around sharply, her nut-brown hair almost spiking Yuusuke in the face as she headed for the door.
“Chotto matte!” Yuusuke yelled out and grabbed at his childhood friend; he would soon regret where he grabbed her at.
Keiko stopped in her tracks. She turned slightly to see Yuusuke with his hands wrapped around Keiko’s skirt holding it up to his eye level; of course, he didn’t mean to hold it so high… Really.
Yuusuke quickly dropped the skirt of the school uniform as he began babbling. Keiko, however, stood with her gaze growing wider after Yuusuke exposed her rear-side.
“Keiko, I didn’t mean to-”
“ECCHI!” Keiko screamed as she smacked Yuusuke across the face with a mean right-hook. Yuusuke hit the ground hard on his rump as he held the side of his face.
Keiko opened the door and descended down the stairs. “Grow up!” she called back as her footsteps were the last things heard from the fiery teenager.
“Kuso… Now I got’ta straighten this out too.” Yuusuke stood up as he ran down the stairs, calling out to his retreating friend. “Keiko! Wait up! Keiko!”
The rooftop of the school wasn’t left vacant for long because Botan appeared once again. She was still sitting on her oar as she hovered over the roof’s stairway.
“Oh darn…” She huffed as she used her right hand to fan her face as the other rested in her lap. “I was suppose to tell Yuusuke about Seiiukaru still remaining in the city…” she grunted and looked out to the city, “But nothing out of the ordinary seems to be happening now, I’ll just have to tell him after school I guess. Hope nothing terrible happens until then…” Botan sighed as she took off into the air once again.
“I feel a very faint youki nearby… Could that be Seiiukaru?” Botan turned her head back down towards the school building. She brushed off the notion. . . for now. . .
‘But the strangest thing crossed my mind, why is it that Master Koenma told me that Seiiukaru is capable of destroying Nin-gen-kai… She would’ve done it by now with no hesitation… Better yet, she could’ve killed Yuusuke from their encounter last night…’ She thought as she flew higher in the sky, “I’ll just pay Master Koenma another visit!” the ferrywoman said in a cheery tone as she began to fade, vanishing from the scene for good this time.
-
Different part of the city, After school, Aitofukiji Junior High School
-
“Arigatou Gozaimasu.” a fifteen-year-old girl spoke up in a quiet voice. She slid on her big, chunky blue cloggers as she placed her white uniform dress shoes into her locker.
“Just don’t fall asleep in class again.” A boy with a bowl-shaped haircut slung his school bag behind his back as he began to walk to the door leading to the schoolyard.
The bashful adolescent pushed her pointed glasses up from their droopy position on her nose. “I won’t!” She called as she slammed her locker shut and ran after the boy; her long, ebony hair flowed behind her.
“Ryiju-kun! Koibito!” the girl hugged the tall boy’s arm as her rather short, creaseless blue skirt began to fly up a little from the wind.
“Ugh, Aimei-chan, please call me by my surname…” Ryiju placed his right hand over his chest as if he were hurt by his junior high sweetheart calling him by his first name. He then zipped up his black blazer because the wind started to pick up more.
The duo stepped off the front steps of their school and began walking until the wind caused some dust to pick up. Aimei had to stop to brush off some dirt from her black stockings that were also apart of the school dress code.
“Hai Hikibi-sama…” Aimei said in a dry tone. The two began to walk again for only a while before Ryiju stepped in front of Aimei, stopping both of them in their tracks.
“Aimei-chan…” Ryiju began to close the spaces between them as Aimei began to blush. He then grabbed hold of her shoulders and bent down so his mouth was directly by her ear.
“Koibito…” Aimei whispered as she closed her eyes. Ryiju then faced her.
“Go get some sleep, you look like Jigoku.” The ninth-grader had broken the romantic moment from what he said to his girlfriend. Aimei grew furious as she clenched her hands.
“OIE!” the girl screamed as she chased after the boy all over the schoolyard, other students had sweat sketched over their faces from what they saw. Aimei then had to catch her breath as she kneeled down to the schoolyard ground. Ryiju on the other hand was at the school gate.
“You are such a noisy onna!” Ryiju began to laugh as he walked onto the sidewalk. “Ja ne!” was the last thing heard from his retreating figure as he left the school gate vacant.
“Ryiju! BAKA!” Aimei stood and dusted herself off, sporting a rather exasperated expression. She slung her school bag over her left shoulder and began to walk, ignoring all the stares she got from fellow classmates.
Aimei rounded the school gate, turning to the opposite direction of where her boyfriend took off. She stopped when she reached an old cedar tree that was planted a few feet from the school gate. Aimei leaned over it and closed her eyes.
“Ryiju is such a baka…” She flipped her hair back with the brush of her right hand. “Other girls say he is an ecchi too… That bastard…”
Aimei was about to start on her way home again until something took her attention away from anything else. She didn’t notice the shadow looming over her, she didn’t notice the golden eyes peering down at her, she didn’t know until it was too late. Someone had pinned her to the ground.
-
After school, Around the upper part of the city
-
Keiko was walking from store to store, shopping for her parents, carrying an assortment of shopping bags. She had went back home to change out of her school uniform and into something a little more comfortable; a creased gray dress that stopped above her ankles, white socks and brown Loafers, and a loose, white turtle-neck sweater. The whole time, Yuusuke had been following her like a stray dog.
“Keiko, will you stop and listen to me!” Yuusuke kept saying this phrase every five minutes; he was still in his green school attire.
Keiko didn’t turn around to glance back at him but she did stop in her tracks. “I’m listening, Yuusuke.”
Yuusuke looked around at all the passersby. He got a little edgy. “Talk! In front of all these people!?” Yuusuke shouted, getting a few stares from pedestrians. “Mind your own damn business!” Yuusuke hissed scaring a few people; an old man turned his attention back to his newspaper, a student that went to a different junior high school began to sweat and ran off, and a woman took her child by the hand and led him away from the scene.
Keiko turned around, now facing Yuusuke. “I’m very busy right now, either tell me now or not at all.” She said in a wearied speech. It seemed as if the pedestrians around them had no respect for anyone, they began to listen to the conversation again.
Yuusuke began to itch his head. “Keiko…” he then struggled with his words as he talked in a low tone, “What you saw, it wasn’t what you thought, well, you thought something very different. And you know…”
The brown-haired girl lost the acrimonious pout. She looked a little clueless at what Yuusuke was saying. “I know what?” Keiko asked with a much softer voice; the pedestrians edged closer.
Yuusuke began to step closer and began to say, “You know I would never do that to you… Especially not you… Especially not to someone… that… I-” Yuusuke’s heartfelt words became overpowered by a thunderous voice.
“Urameshi!” a teenager reared up behind Yuusuke and slapped him on the shoulder. He was much taller than the Rei-Kai Tantei and was being accompanied by three other boys; his so-called gang.
Yuusuke turned to meet the gaze of the rather obnoxious Kuwabara Kazuma. Yuusuke grew irritated, “Go away, I don’t have time for you!” He growled clenching his fists.
Kuwabara began to bellow, “Okubo says he heard everything that went on on top of the roof, he told me everything! Right, Okubo.” His words fell on the deaf ears of Okubo, his rather heavyset comrade.
Okubo was walking away.
“Hey! Where ya’ goin’!” Kuwabara blasted at him.
The other two friends of Kuwabara-Sawamura and Kirishima-quickly jumped as they both said at the same time, “Don’t you remember, Okubo has to work at his employer’s shop before Ura-bon! Nothing but customers rushing in and out, back and forth, because shops close for Ura-bon. It has been that way all week.”
“Ah,” Kuwabara awed dumbfounded.
“… Baka…” Yuusuke huffed as he turned back to Keiko, who was still standing by him a little confused. “Come on Keiko, let’s talk somewhere else…” Yuusuke grabbed her arm, wanting to lead her from the scene. Suddenly, Kuwabara grabbed hold of Yuusuke’s vacant arm.
“Hold it!” Kuwabara laughed. His two other friends backed away.
“Kuwabara! I’ll kick your ass if you don’t get away from me!” Yuusuke growled, beginning to grind his teeth.
Kuwabara continued with his sentence, “Okubo heard you found a woman in an escort service last night and you two had a rendezvous at her house later in the night with two other people. Both people, from what Okubo said, were men!” Kuwabara laughed uncontrollably and then finished, “If you aren’t gon’na ‘preciate Keiko, I would definitely take better care of her, now that she is free.”
Yuusuke turned to stone as Keiko’s icy glare burned a hole into Yuusuke’s shoulder. She slid her arm from Yuusuke’s grip and took off down the sidewalk, many onlookers watching the entire incident.
“Keiko wait! Kuso!” Yuusuke shook his arm from Kuwabara’s own grasp. ‘How much more does my life have to suck!’ Yuusuke thought as he looked back at Kuwabara. “Thanks a lot, temee.” Yuusuke emphasized on the insult as he ran off after Keiko, flipping Kuwabara off each step of the way.
“Kuwabara-sama, you’re gon’na let that slide…” Sawamura gasped, “Kuwabara must’ve grown a lot more self control.” He admired.
“That dirty thug! That unworthy punk! I knew I should’ve kicked his ass instead of congratulatin’ myself at getting’ a shot! Come on, let’s give him HELL!” Kuwabara pounded a fist into his palm.
“Spoke too soon…” both of the other boys said in unison.
Kuwabara was about to run after his rival, but then, ‘it’ happened. Kuwabara crouched to the ground, holding his sides. He began to groan.
“Kuwabara-sama! You okay!” Sawamura kneeled beside his leader.
Kuwabara coughed as his eyes widened, “I got a chill.” A crowd began to form around the three now.
“Does he hafta use the bathroom? Sounds like it…” Kirishima began to glance around at all the spectators. “Nothing to see here! Move along!”
Kuwabara began hitting the pavement with the sides of his fist. “No… This one is much stronger than anything I’ve felt before. Not the life form of an animal… or person… This chill!” Kuwabara felt as if a thousand rusty needles were jamming in and out of his body; the chill was a burning sensation but felt freezing cold in an instant.
People began to chat and argue if they should go get medical help. The crowd kept getting bigger.
“This has never happened before…” Kirishima kneeled beside Sawamura.
“It’s like Satan itself!” Kuwabara shifted his head up and began to glance around the area. He could barely stand, but he did it anyway. Kuwabara was still clutching his sides as he stumbled over to a specific part of the crowd.
“Kuwabara-sama!” Both boys said together.
Kuwabara began pushing his way through the gathering. An assortment of “Hey watch it” and “You can’t be well” swept from the mouths of many that tried to hold Kuwabara back. Kuwabara shoved them all away and broke through the crowd until he came to the outside. Sawamura and Kirishima followed closely behind.
Kuwabara pushed one more man out of the way and stood frozen in his tracks. “This terrible chill… Comes from her!”
The two boys stood stiff behind their leader. Only a few steps away was what appeared to be a sixteen-year-old girl leaning her back against the pole of a traffic sign. Her head was turned directly at Kuwabara, her expression was melancholy.
Kuwabara was gasping for air, he practically fell over if it wasn’t for Sawamura and Kirishima to catch him. The two boys holding Kuwabara just stared at the AITOFUKIJI junior high student. The black, long-sleeved shirt was stretched really close to her upper body as the skinny, dark-blue ribbon attached to the blue collar of her shirt hung low. The crease-less blue dress was severely high over her hips and would have shown a little too much of her lower body if it wasn’t for the black stockings.
“Kuwabara-sama… Are you sure it is her!” Sawamura blushed a little as he glanced at his two other friends to his left.
The girl stepped from the pole, her blue, chunky clogger shoes ‘clicked’ on the pavement. She stood before the triad. Kuwabara arched his head up to the girl, he gnawed his bottom lip.
The girl’s skin was pale and her albino hair looked as if it were in big, loose pigtails; only the pigtails had no rubber bands to hold them up. Her neck was completely covered from what looked like part of the black long-sleeved shirt protruding from the dark-blue collar. Her eyes were closed.
“Uh, sorry, our friend isn’t feeling quite himself, don’t take it personal-” Sawamura began but was taken aback by something that happened all of a sudden.
A strong wind picked up and seemed to push everyone but Kuwabara back a few inches. All in an instant, the onlookers, Sawamura, and Kirishima had all fallen onto their rear-sides. Kuwabara tried to straighten his posture as everyone else stared bewildered at the scene that happened next.
The girl opened her eyes and glared at Kuwabara. Her eyes were flickering gold! She began to speak… But with no words.
Instead, Kuwabara didn’t have to listen to what she was saying with his ears, he heard everything she was saying, through his mind.
‘Nichiren’s ki… Comes from you… You are Nichiren…’ the statement repeated over and over in Kuwabara’s mind; the same thing that happened to Yuusuke.
“What the hell? Where’s that voice coming from!” Kuwabara clutched his head and kneeled low to the ground.
“Nani! Kuso!” Kirishima gasped.
“Kuwabara-sama!” Sawamura shouted. Both boys tried to stand, along with every other bystander, but it felt as if someone, or something, was pushing them back down. As if gravity had became their antagonist, they couldn’t move from their own position. Kuwabara was left defenseless.
The girl stepped in front of Kuwabara’s crouching figure. Her hair began to ruffle back as she glared at Kuwabara. In just a few seconds, the fake Aitofukiji Junior High student raised her foot backward and slung it forward with full force; as if kicking a football.
From the impact, Kuwabara had been flung into the air and over the metal rail towards the left; he had gone through speeding traffic and was on the other side of the street. Kuwabara laid on the opposite sidewalk to his friends and the bystanders.
Passersby began to huddle around Kuwabara’s weakened form as he lay sprawled besides a building. Kuwabara wasn’t moving. After what happened, Kuwabara felt as if he had been knocked senseless in the head with an aluminum baseball bat.
The next thing that happened left many people in shock. The fake junior high student had stepped over the metal fence of the sidewalk that Kuwabara was just on. She walked out into blinding traffic. A barrage of tires screeching on the warm asphalt and countless horns went off. A dark smoke engulfed the entire roadway.
Kuwabara found the strength to bend up to see what had happened. When the smoke cleared, Kuwabara’s eyes widened. The maniacal woman had an elderly passenger from a red beat-up old station wagon tangled in her hands. The girl clutched the young male passenger’s throat, causing him to gasp for air. The man spat up blood, which in part, tainted the white strands of hair of the demented woman. She clutched his throat harder, the man’s Adam’s Apple rolled to the very top of his throat, now visible to all.
All the honking from other cars had stopped, all the chitchat from onlookers had stopped; the whole scene was left silent. The man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as the woman dropped him. The passenger landed through the broken window of the red car from where she pulled him from. The skinny man in the driver’s seat was screaming his head off at what he saw, penetrating the silence.
The fake student stepped off the hood of the red car and walked over to the metal rail of the next sidewalk; the driver in the station wagon shouted “You bitch!” as she went her way. The woman stepped her right foot over the fence and arched her hands towards the street.
The driver wouldn’t stop yelling at her as he ruined the silence, “BASTARD! What have you done! That was my father!”
The woman’s eyes flickered even more as she clenched her fists. All of a sudden, those same shining needles from Yuusuke’s incident with this girl, appeared outside the driver’s car and whirled towards him. The roadway was engulfed in smoke once again. When the smog finally cleared, the needles were pinned in all parts of the victim’s body imaginable. The driver was draped against his father as both victims were left dead.
The crowd that surrounded Kuwabara began screaming and sprinting off in opposite directions, leaving the teenage boy alone with the woman.
“How could you! Killing without reason!” Kuwabara spat out in a fury. He found the uttermost strength to stand, no more weakened by the pain in his sides. Drivers that were still in their cars shifted into reverse as they also left the scene. Kuwabara glared at the female, “They did nothing to you! How could you!”
The flickering eyes of the woman ceased as she began to scowl at Kuwabara while stepping her left foot over the fence now. She began to walk towards him.
Kuwabara stood in a fighting stance, just to seem intimidating because no matter how vile a woman could be, he would never fight them. “Kisama! Stay back!”
“Nani? Kuwabara won’t…” Sawamura gasped, the force on his body still pinning him to the cold sidewalk on the other side of the roadway.
“This is bull…” Kirishima shouted, he was now challenging the force exerting on his own body by trying to push himself off the ground.
“Kirishima…” Sawamura murmured as he began doing the same. ‘We won’t give up…’ he thought.
Back on the side of the roadway that was about to get some better action, the woman was now only a few inches away from Kuwabara. The Sarayashiki student took a step back as the woman grabbed hold of both his shoulders. Kuwabara tried to struggle against her grip but the pain he received previously from shooting across the street resurfaced, leaving him weakened. Unexpectedly, Kuwabara was too overwhelmed from what happened next to struggle against the female. The fake Aitofukiji student, now with her body pressed up against his, had her arms wrapped around his neck, embracing him in deep hug.
The victims on the other side of the street were perplexed. Kuwabara’s muscles tightened as he left his hands stranded at his sides. His eyes were as wide as saucers from what was going through his head from what must have been from this maniacal woman. ‘Nichiren… Join Seiiukaru in Jigoku… Forever… Together…’
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-
“So Keiko was awake the whole time you were fighting that youkai?” Botan sat on the roof of the staircase. She was still in her pink kimono with her oar sitting across her lap.
“Guess so.” Yuusuke sighed as he tried to light a cigarette.
Botan jumped from her current position and slammed her oar against Yuusuke’s head as ‘lightly’ as she could. Yuusuke practically swallowed the cigarette from the collision.
“What the hell was that for!” Yuusuke yelled in Botan’s ear.
“Bonehead, I told you getting Keiko home was your main priority!” Botan disputed.
“Nani!? And have that youkai follow us along the way!?” Yuusuke roared.
“You and Keiko could’ve been killed.” Botan shouted back.
“I don’t even know why I came here today! I mean, it’s basically the last day of school because of O-bon vacation! If I wanted to get yelled at, I would’ve stayed at home.” Yuusuke grew irritated as he flicked the cigarette out of his hand; not even lighting it. He then walked over to the fencing outlining the roof of the school. He placed his fingers over the metal and clutched it.
“Yuusuke…” Botan walked over to him. “Did Keiko say anything as you took her home.”
Yuusuke turned around with his back leaning on the fence, he slid down until his bottom hit the floor. “She wouldn’t talk to me,” Yuusuke scrunched up his face, “She just kept this face the whole time and never talked to me once!”
“This is no time for jokes, Yuusuke.” Botan’s eyes grew narrow, Yuusuke finally stopped making ‘that’ face. A smile quickly emerged on her own face, “Anyway, I found out a little more about your next case.”
A single sweat droplet flew down his mandible.
“About that Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory.” Botan began to itch her head.
“Nani? That indestructible penitentiary?” Yuusuke thought back to the previous night.
“Hai,” Botan leaned on the metal wire fence. “Everything has its flaws I’m afraid.”
“Nani!” Yuusuke tried not to shout.
“The Mire Sutra of Bodhisattva Purgatory has an imperishable rei-seal that is like a shield that outlines the swamp from the gateways to any of the four realms. The Shitenno guards the four gateways, the holy warriors of Rei-Kai that stops anyone from entering the mire sutra. But because it is the start of the Bon holidays, the mire sutra’s barriers become weaker. The exiled are then able to escape from the scriptures…”
“What do you mean scriptures?” Yuusuke questioned.
The ferrywoman decided to sit down next to Yuusuke as she fiddled her fingers together. “Ever since the confinement of the disciple I told you about, the youkai that become tainted are then restrained and held for trial among the Council of Rei-Kai. It is then decided if they should be executed or thrown into their supposedly ultimate resting home.”
“What about the scriptures.” Yuusuke asked again, a little impatient.
“Oh yes,” Botan stared at Yuusuke, “Once the tainted are condemned to the mire, their names are written on small, miniature scrolls with their own blood. The scrolls are then pinned to their bodies, as they are then taken to the dimensional rift located at the edge of Rei-Kai by the ‘same’ omens that appeared sprouting along the Sanza no Kawa yesterday. The omens are enormous rotten, dead claws that have been filling the Sanza no Kawa with the blood of its victims…”
Botan noticed that Yuusuke was about to repeat the same question, so she continued, “Once the condemned emerge from the dimensional rift, the ‘omens’ throw them into what seems like eternal darkness. Once the tainted hit what they think is the ground, what feels like a dead root then constricts them. Once completely dead, the dead root grows into a tree with the tainted one’s body entangled among it. Their scroll, which is considered ‘scriptures’, from before is then engraved into their foreheads with a sentence written below it.”
Yuusuke’s eyes shifted, “What is the sentence?”
“Heh…” Botan chuckled as she scooted away from Yuusuke.
The Rei-kai Tantei arched an eyebrow.
“The statement is forbidden, I’m unable to tell you that because it is a chant used to resurrect the disciple. Plus, I wouldn’t know it, only Lord Enma and Master Koenma know it because no one else is allowed through the gateway to the mire sutra unless you are condemned there.” Botan began to giggle.
“BoooooTAN!” Yuusuke began clenching his fists, “Is there anything you can tell me!!!” He spat out as his face grew dark.
“Of course!” Botan spoke up in defense; “Those omens that have been appearing by the Sanza no Kawa are actually the dead followers of the disciple of Satan.” Yuusuke’s expression grew lighter. “Once the tainted disciple had connived the souls, they then morph into the omens, known as Hands of Eden.” Yuusuke was about to crack a joke but Botan quickly interrupted, “The Hands of Eden are Seiiukaru’s trademark move, when they are around, she’s around.”
“Seiiukaru?” Yuusuke stood from the pewter floor.
Botan stood with him. “Seiiukaru is the youkai you fought last night from your description… White hair, golden eyes, extremely pale skin, quite the exhibitionist.” Yuusuke grew a perverted smile, Botan brushed it off, “The female youkai is known as a plague through both Ma-Kai and Rei-Kai. For this plague finished her victims before any signs of bones were left, this plague had even devoured the victim’s blood curdling screams before the body itself, this plague-”
“This plague, is apart of the Ma-Kai Escort Service… wouldn’t you say?” Yuusuke ridiculed with a perverted smirk as he cut the ferrywoman off. Botan let her oar fall from her hands and hit Yuusuke in the head ‘delicately’.
Yuusuke clutched his head in pain and shouted: “Dammit it Botan!” Obviously, Botan’s ‘delicate’ power wasn’t so ‘delicate’.
Botan gave a light smile as she continued, “They said that Seiiukaru was said to kill anyone who so happened to get in the way, or better yet, killing anyone whom so happens to not get in the way for that matter!”
“Whose ‘they’? It is probably just ‘you’ since you didn’t know much about this youkai onna to begin with.” Yuusuke mocked as he covered his head, avoiding Botan’s ‘home-run’ swing.
Botan, instead, twirled her oar between her fingers as she finished her analysis; “Seiiukaru was thought to have died after what had happened four hundred years ago against Death cup. Every Bon week that passed and no sign of her ever emerging again-just those of restless tainted souls from the scriptures causing nothing but small time disasters among Rei-Kai and Ma-Kai-brought a sign of relief throughout both the two realms. But, after seeing Seiiukaru’s dead followers’ limbs resurfacing, ready to be fed again by their messiah, it just proves that Master Koenma’s theories were correct… Death cup had failed.”
“Four hundred years ago! Death cup!” Yuusuke’s eyes widened as he stared at Botan.
“Seiiukaru is the name of the disciple of Satan, the one and the same youkai you fought last night.” Silence had stricken Yuusuke as Botan revealed this information to the Rei-kai Tan-tei.
“What do you mean about that toddler’s theories? And what about Death cup! You said only ONE was ever exiled to that swamp but now, you give me crap about all these other youkai being hauled off as well.” Yuusuke practically choked out his words.
“Restless tainted souls are able to leave the mire and cause small catastrophes in only Ma-Kai and Rei-Kai because they are just class E youkai, unfortunately, Seiiukaru was said to be one of the highest class of any Kage no Youkai in her time and is able to enter Nin-gen-kai if ever resurrected. Death cup’s soul had returned to Master Koenma’s office the very same night it was said she was exiled too. Death cup had said that her and Seiiukaru’s body remains in the mire sutra forever, while she tends to a long awaited rest within her Hell’s Erotic Bond… So you see, Death cup’s body was left condemned in the mire but you wouldn’t actually say she is exiled as well because her soul lives on away from the mire in dormancy. But the biggest question is, what about Seiiukaru’s soul, did it return to its own body instead of entering her respected Hell’s Erotic Bond? And why did it take so long to do so after all these years?”
Botan noticed Yuusuke walking over to the staircase entrance. “Hell’s Erotic Bond?”
Botan sighed in exhaustion, not wanting to explain this information too, “Hell’s Erotic Bond is a band that is able to extract souls from apparitions so they become apart of their owner; making the owner more powerful and the apparitions that lost their souls convert into the owners followers. For Seiiukaru, they converted into the Hands of Eden.”
“Eh.” Yuusuke gasped dumbfounded.
“It was also said to be the tomb of the owner when they pass away. A rumor started a few years ago about the apparition bands; if you wear them, you become possessed with unlimited power, which is why the Shitenno are to guard the four gates, so no one could see if the rumor was true. Unfortunately, the Council of Rei-Kai doesn’t know if it really is a rumor.”
Yuusuke was about to crack a joke again, so Botan continued.
“There were three bands ever made because there was a secret to its creation that only one person knew about, and that was the creator itself. One of the bands-Seiiukaru’s-WAS sealed within the mire sutra, another-Death cup’s-Is located within the Rei-Kai Dai-hi-sou-kan, the other, and last, one’s location… is unknown. The creator must also have possession of the other Hell’s Erotic Bond, but because that one is lost, the creator is lost as well. The creator was Seiiukaru’s betrayer and Death cup’s savior… Nichiren.”
“Nichiren!” Yuusuke turned around. His feet began to wobble as he then sat back on the floor, his head resting on the door to the stairway. ‘Nichiren is the one that youkai onna talked, well, thought about from last night?’ Yuusuke looked over to Botan. “What do you mean that this youkai onna was betrayed by Nichiren?”
Botan’s face grew puzzled, not knowing why Yuusuke would want to know this useless information, “Well, Nichiren-”
Botan was cut off when the back of Yuusuke’s head made contact with the door to the school roof. Someone had slammed the door wide open, knocking Yuusuke down with a gigantic bump throbbing on his head. Botan hopped on her oar and ascended into the air, vanishing from sight.
“Yuusuke! Here you are again, hiding out up here. You could at least have the decency to go to lunch if you are gon’na skip most of your classes.” Yukimura Keiko blasted at him as she clenched her fist.
Yuusuke sat up from the floor, still holding his head. “Geez, onna! Criminy!”
“Onna! Yuusuke, why did you come to school on the last day before O-Bon if you were just going to skip! I have to prepare for the festival in two days for the school; I can’t keep monitoring you!” Keiko crossed her arms, concealing her chest as she droned on, “You never go to class because you rather come up her and light up smokes! It is bad enough you are such an ecchi!”
Keiko struck a nerve. Yuusuke stood up and began shouting in Keiko’s ear, “Hold on there, I’m no ecchi just because I skip classes, stop hounding me!”
Keiko glared at Yuusuke, her cold stare gave him the shivers the way she looked at him. “Not an ecchi!” Yuusuke stepped back, “You flip skirts and you say you aren’t an ecchi.” Keiko closed in the space as she stepped closer to Yuusuke, her voice getting louder. “Better yet, you find some SALES WOMAN to fondle in a warehouse last night, not even caring who sees you, but think again! I saw!”
Yuusuke nearly jumped out of his skin. Was this why Keiko had been giving him that cold stare all last night as they walked home. She thought he would actually do THAT! These accusations were really a hassle. “Whoawhoawhoawhoa! Hang on there Keiko! You’re dead wrong to think that I-”
Keiko didn’t let him finish as she stuck her index finger up at him. “You expect me to believe you after what I saw!? Yuusuke, you baka!” Keiko turned around sharply, her nut-brown hair almost spiking Yuusuke in the face as she headed for the door.
“Chotto matte!” Yuusuke yelled out and grabbed at his childhood friend; he would soon regret where he grabbed her at.
Keiko stopped in her tracks. She turned slightly to see Yuusuke with his hands wrapped around Keiko’s skirt holding it up to his eye level; of course, he didn’t mean to hold it so high… Really.
Yuusuke quickly dropped the skirt of the school uniform as he began babbling. Keiko, however, stood with her gaze growing wider after Yuusuke exposed her rear-side.
“Keiko, I didn’t mean to-”
“ECCHI!” Keiko screamed as she smacked Yuusuke across the face with a mean right-hook. Yuusuke hit the ground hard on his rump as he held the side of his face.
Keiko opened the door and descended down the stairs. “Grow up!” she called back as her footsteps were the last things heard from the fiery teenager.
“Kuso… Now I got’ta straighten this out too.” Yuusuke stood up as he ran down the stairs, calling out to his retreating friend. “Keiko! Wait up! Keiko!”
The rooftop of the school wasn’t left vacant for long because Botan appeared once again. She was still sitting on her oar as she hovered over the roof’s stairway.
“Oh darn…” She huffed as she used her right hand to fan her face as the other rested in her lap. “I was suppose to tell Yuusuke about Seiiukaru still remaining in the city…” she grunted and looked out to the city, “But nothing out of the ordinary seems to be happening now, I’ll just have to tell him after school I guess. Hope nothing terrible happens until then…” Botan sighed as she took off into the air once again.
“I feel a very faint youki nearby… Could that be Seiiukaru?” Botan turned her head back down towards the school building. She brushed off the notion. . . for now. . .
‘But the strangest thing crossed my mind, why is it that Master Koenma told me that Seiiukaru is capable of destroying Nin-gen-kai… She would’ve done it by now with no hesitation… Better yet, she could’ve killed Yuusuke from their encounter last night…’ She thought as she flew higher in the sky, “I’ll just pay Master Koenma another visit!” the ferrywoman said in a cheery tone as she began to fade, vanishing from the scene for good this time.
-
Different part of the city, After school, Aitofukiji Junior High School
-
“Arigatou Gozaimasu.” a fifteen-year-old girl spoke up in a quiet voice. She slid on her big, chunky blue cloggers as she placed her white uniform dress shoes into her locker.
“Just don’t fall asleep in class again.” A boy with a bowl-shaped haircut slung his school bag behind his back as he began to walk to the door leading to the schoolyard.
The bashful adolescent pushed her pointed glasses up from their droopy position on her nose. “I won’t!” She called as she slammed her locker shut and ran after the boy; her long, ebony hair flowed behind her.
“Ryiju-kun! Koibito!” the girl hugged the tall boy’s arm as her rather short, creaseless blue skirt began to fly up a little from the wind.
“Ugh, Aimei-chan, please call me by my surname…” Ryiju placed his right hand over his chest as if he were hurt by his junior high sweetheart calling him by his first name. He then zipped up his black blazer because the wind started to pick up more.
The duo stepped off the front steps of their school and began walking until the wind caused some dust to pick up. Aimei had to stop to brush off some dirt from her black stockings that were also apart of the school dress code.
“Hai Hikibi-sama…” Aimei said in a dry tone. The two began to walk again for only a while before Ryiju stepped in front of Aimei, stopping both of them in their tracks.
“Aimei-chan…” Ryiju began to close the spaces between them as Aimei began to blush. He then grabbed hold of her shoulders and bent down so his mouth was directly by her ear.
“Koibito…” Aimei whispered as she closed her eyes. Ryiju then faced her.
“Go get some sleep, you look like Jigoku.” The ninth-grader had broken the romantic moment from what he said to his girlfriend. Aimei grew furious as she clenched her hands.
“OIE!” the girl screamed as she chased after the boy all over the schoolyard, other students had sweat sketched over their faces from what they saw. Aimei then had to catch her breath as she kneeled down to the schoolyard ground. Ryiju on the other hand was at the school gate.
“You are such a noisy onna!” Ryiju began to laugh as he walked onto the sidewalk. “Ja ne!” was the last thing heard from his retreating figure as he left the school gate vacant.
“Ryiju! BAKA!” Aimei stood and dusted herself off, sporting a rather exasperated expression. She slung her school bag over her left shoulder and began to walk, ignoring all the stares she got from fellow classmates.
Aimei rounded the school gate, turning to the opposite direction of where her boyfriend took off. She stopped when she reached an old cedar tree that was planted a few feet from the school gate. Aimei leaned over it and closed her eyes.
“Ryiju is such a baka…” She flipped her hair back with the brush of her right hand. “Other girls say he is an ecchi too… That bastard…”
Aimei was about to start on her way home again until something took her attention away from anything else. She didn’t notice the shadow looming over her, she didn’t notice the golden eyes peering down at her, she didn’t know until it was too late. Someone had pinned her to the ground.
-
After school, Around the upper part of the city
-
Keiko was walking from store to store, shopping for her parents, carrying an assortment of shopping bags. She had went back home to change out of her school uniform and into something a little more comfortable; a creased gray dress that stopped above her ankles, white socks and brown Loafers, and a loose, white turtle-neck sweater. The whole time, Yuusuke had been following her like a stray dog.
“Keiko, will you stop and listen to me!” Yuusuke kept saying this phrase every five minutes; he was still in his green school attire.
Keiko didn’t turn around to glance back at him but she did stop in her tracks. “I’m listening, Yuusuke.”
Yuusuke looked around at all the passersby. He got a little edgy. “Talk! In front of all these people!?” Yuusuke shouted, getting a few stares from pedestrians. “Mind your own damn business!” Yuusuke hissed scaring a few people; an old man turned his attention back to his newspaper, a student that went to a different junior high school began to sweat and ran off, and a woman took her child by the hand and led him away from the scene.
Keiko turned around, now facing Yuusuke. “I’m very busy right now, either tell me now or not at all.” She said in a wearied speech. It seemed as if the pedestrians around them had no respect for anyone, they began to listen to the conversation again.
Yuusuke began to itch his head. “Keiko…” he then struggled with his words as he talked in a low tone, “What you saw, it wasn’t what you thought, well, you thought something very different. And you know…”
The brown-haired girl lost the acrimonious pout. She looked a little clueless at what Yuusuke was saying. “I know what?” Keiko asked with a much softer voice; the pedestrians edged closer.
Yuusuke began to step closer and began to say, “You know I would never do that to you… Especially not you… Especially not to someone… that… I-” Yuusuke’s heartfelt words became overpowered by a thunderous voice.
“Urameshi!” a teenager reared up behind Yuusuke and slapped him on the shoulder. He was much taller than the Rei-Kai Tantei and was being accompanied by three other boys; his so-called gang.
Yuusuke turned to meet the gaze of the rather obnoxious Kuwabara Kazuma. Yuusuke grew irritated, “Go away, I don’t have time for you!” He growled clenching his fists.
Kuwabara began to bellow, “Okubo says he heard everything that went on on top of the roof, he told me everything! Right, Okubo.” His words fell on the deaf ears of Okubo, his rather heavyset comrade.
Okubo was walking away.
“Hey! Where ya’ goin’!” Kuwabara blasted at him.
The other two friends of Kuwabara-Sawamura and Kirishima-quickly jumped as they both said at the same time, “Don’t you remember, Okubo has to work at his employer’s shop before Ura-bon! Nothing but customers rushing in and out, back and forth, because shops close for Ura-bon. It has been that way all week.”
“Ah,” Kuwabara awed dumbfounded.
“… Baka…” Yuusuke huffed as he turned back to Keiko, who was still standing by him a little confused. “Come on Keiko, let’s talk somewhere else…” Yuusuke grabbed her arm, wanting to lead her from the scene. Suddenly, Kuwabara grabbed hold of Yuusuke’s vacant arm.
“Hold it!” Kuwabara laughed. His two other friends backed away.
“Kuwabara! I’ll kick your ass if you don’t get away from me!” Yuusuke growled, beginning to grind his teeth.
Kuwabara continued with his sentence, “Okubo heard you found a woman in an escort service last night and you two had a rendezvous at her house later in the night with two other people. Both people, from what Okubo said, were men!” Kuwabara laughed uncontrollably and then finished, “If you aren’t gon’na ‘preciate Keiko, I would definitely take better care of her, now that she is free.”
Yuusuke turned to stone as Keiko’s icy glare burned a hole into Yuusuke’s shoulder. She slid her arm from Yuusuke’s grip and took off down the sidewalk, many onlookers watching the entire incident.
“Keiko wait! Kuso!” Yuusuke shook his arm from Kuwabara’s own grasp. ‘How much more does my life have to suck!’ Yuusuke thought as he looked back at Kuwabara. “Thanks a lot, temee.” Yuusuke emphasized on the insult as he ran off after Keiko, flipping Kuwabara off each step of the way.
“Kuwabara-sama, you’re gon’na let that slide…” Sawamura gasped, “Kuwabara must’ve grown a lot more self control.” He admired.
“That dirty thug! That unworthy punk! I knew I should’ve kicked his ass instead of congratulatin’ myself at getting’ a shot! Come on, let’s give him HELL!” Kuwabara pounded a fist into his palm.
“Spoke too soon…” both of the other boys said in unison.
Kuwabara was about to run after his rival, but then, ‘it’ happened. Kuwabara crouched to the ground, holding his sides. He began to groan.
“Kuwabara-sama! You okay!” Sawamura kneeled beside his leader.
Kuwabara coughed as his eyes widened, “I got a chill.” A crowd began to form around the three now.
“Does he hafta use the bathroom? Sounds like it…” Kirishima began to glance around at all the spectators. “Nothing to see here! Move along!”
Kuwabara began hitting the pavement with the sides of his fist. “No… This one is much stronger than anything I’ve felt before. Not the life form of an animal… or person… This chill!” Kuwabara felt as if a thousand rusty needles were jamming in and out of his body; the chill was a burning sensation but felt freezing cold in an instant.
People began to chat and argue if they should go get medical help. The crowd kept getting bigger.
“This has never happened before…” Kirishima kneeled beside Sawamura.
“It’s like Satan itself!” Kuwabara shifted his head up and began to glance around the area. He could barely stand, but he did it anyway. Kuwabara was still clutching his sides as he stumbled over to a specific part of the crowd.
“Kuwabara-sama!” Both boys said together.
Kuwabara began pushing his way through the gathering. An assortment of “Hey watch it” and “You can’t be well” swept from the mouths of many that tried to hold Kuwabara back. Kuwabara shoved them all away and broke through the crowd until he came to the outside. Sawamura and Kirishima followed closely behind.
Kuwabara pushed one more man out of the way and stood frozen in his tracks. “This terrible chill… Comes from her!”
The two boys stood stiff behind their leader. Only a few steps away was what appeared to be a sixteen-year-old girl leaning her back against the pole of a traffic sign. Her head was turned directly at Kuwabara, her expression was melancholy.
Kuwabara was gasping for air, he practically fell over if it wasn’t for Sawamura and Kirishima to catch him. The two boys holding Kuwabara just stared at the AITOFUKIJI junior high student. The black, long-sleeved shirt was stretched really close to her upper body as the skinny, dark-blue ribbon attached to the blue collar of her shirt hung low. The crease-less blue dress was severely high over her hips and would have shown a little too much of her lower body if it wasn’t for the black stockings.
“Kuwabara-sama… Are you sure it is her!” Sawamura blushed a little as he glanced at his two other friends to his left.
The girl stepped from the pole, her blue, chunky clogger shoes ‘clicked’ on the pavement. She stood before the triad. Kuwabara arched his head up to the girl, he gnawed his bottom lip.
The girl’s skin was pale and her albino hair looked as if it were in big, loose pigtails; only the pigtails had no rubber bands to hold them up. Her neck was completely covered from what looked like part of the black long-sleeved shirt protruding from the dark-blue collar. Her eyes were closed.
“Uh, sorry, our friend isn’t feeling quite himself, don’t take it personal-” Sawamura began but was taken aback by something that happened all of a sudden.
A strong wind picked up and seemed to push everyone but Kuwabara back a few inches. All in an instant, the onlookers, Sawamura, and Kirishima had all fallen onto their rear-sides. Kuwabara tried to straighten his posture as everyone else stared bewildered at the scene that happened next.
The girl opened her eyes and glared at Kuwabara. Her eyes were flickering gold! She began to speak… But with no words.
Instead, Kuwabara didn’t have to listen to what she was saying with his ears, he heard everything she was saying, through his mind.
‘Nichiren’s ki… Comes from you… You are Nichiren…’ the statement repeated over and over in Kuwabara’s mind; the same thing that happened to Yuusuke.
“What the hell? Where’s that voice coming from!” Kuwabara clutched his head and kneeled low to the ground.
“Nani! Kuso!” Kirishima gasped.
“Kuwabara-sama!” Sawamura shouted. Both boys tried to stand, along with every other bystander, but it felt as if someone, or something, was pushing them back down. As if gravity had became their antagonist, they couldn’t move from their own position. Kuwabara was left defenseless.
The girl stepped in front of Kuwabara’s crouching figure. Her hair began to ruffle back as she glared at Kuwabara. In just a few seconds, the fake Aitofukiji Junior High student raised her foot backward and slung it forward with full force; as if kicking a football.
From the impact, Kuwabara had been flung into the air and over the metal rail towards the left; he had gone through speeding traffic and was on the other side of the street. Kuwabara laid on the opposite sidewalk to his friends and the bystanders.
Passersby began to huddle around Kuwabara’s weakened form as he lay sprawled besides a building. Kuwabara wasn’t moving. After what happened, Kuwabara felt as if he had been knocked senseless in the head with an aluminum baseball bat.
The next thing that happened left many people in shock. The fake junior high student had stepped over the metal fence of the sidewalk that Kuwabara was just on. She walked out into blinding traffic. A barrage of tires screeching on the warm asphalt and countless horns went off. A dark smoke engulfed the entire roadway.
Kuwabara found the strength to bend up to see what had happened. When the smoke cleared, Kuwabara’s eyes widened. The maniacal woman had an elderly passenger from a red beat-up old station wagon tangled in her hands. The girl clutched the young male passenger’s throat, causing him to gasp for air. The man spat up blood, which in part, tainted the white strands of hair of the demented woman. She clutched his throat harder, the man’s Adam’s Apple rolled to the very top of his throat, now visible to all.
All the honking from other cars had stopped, all the chitchat from onlookers had stopped; the whole scene was left silent. The man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as the woman dropped him. The passenger landed through the broken window of the red car from where she pulled him from. The skinny man in the driver’s seat was screaming his head off at what he saw, penetrating the silence.
The fake student stepped off the hood of the red car and walked over to the metal rail of the next sidewalk; the driver in the station wagon shouted “You bitch!” as she went her way. The woman stepped her right foot over the fence and arched her hands towards the street.
The driver wouldn’t stop yelling at her as he ruined the silence, “BASTARD! What have you done! That was my father!”
The woman’s eyes flickered even more as she clenched her fists. All of a sudden, those same shining needles from Yuusuke’s incident with this girl, appeared outside the driver’s car and whirled towards him. The roadway was engulfed in smoke once again. When the smog finally cleared, the needles were pinned in all parts of the victim’s body imaginable. The driver was draped against his father as both victims were left dead.
The crowd that surrounded Kuwabara began screaming and sprinting off in opposite directions, leaving the teenage boy alone with the woman.
“How could you! Killing without reason!” Kuwabara spat out in a fury. He found the uttermost strength to stand, no more weakened by the pain in his sides. Drivers that were still in their cars shifted into reverse as they also left the scene. Kuwabara glared at the female, “They did nothing to you! How could you!”
The flickering eyes of the woman ceased as she began to scowl at Kuwabara while stepping her left foot over the fence now. She began to walk towards him.
Kuwabara stood in a fighting stance, just to seem intimidating because no matter how vile a woman could be, he would never fight them. “Kisama! Stay back!”
“Nani? Kuwabara won’t…” Sawamura gasped, the force on his body still pinning him to the cold sidewalk on the other side of the roadway.
“This is bull…” Kirishima shouted, he was now challenging the force exerting on his own body by trying to push himself off the ground.
“Kirishima…” Sawamura murmured as he began doing the same. ‘We won’t give up…’ he thought.
Back on the side of the roadway that was about to get some better action, the woman was now only a few inches away from Kuwabara. The Sarayashiki student took a step back as the woman grabbed hold of both his shoulders. Kuwabara tried to struggle against her grip but the pain he received previously from shooting across the street resurfaced, leaving him weakened. Unexpectedly, Kuwabara was too overwhelmed from what happened next to struggle against the female. The fake Aitofukiji student, now with her body pressed up against his, had her arms wrapped around his neck, embracing him in deep hug.
The victims on the other side of the street were perplexed. Kuwabara’s muscles tightened as he left his hands stranded at his sides. His eyes were as wide as saucers from what was going through his head from what must have been from this maniacal woman. ‘Nichiren… Join Seiiukaru in Jigoku… Forever… Together…’
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