Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Life Through a Dragon's Eyes ❯ Chapter Fifteen: Conflicts ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter Fifteen: Conflicts

 

Author's Note: Okay people, I know there are plenty of you that are either very pissed at me for taking so long, or wondering if I've been killed. No, I'm still alive, and I'm very sorry that this took so long. So, to make up for that, I made this an extra long chapter. Bad thing about it is, it's so long, that I'm going to have to make another chapter to end this. But hey, at least it ends on an even number, right? Anyway, this took so long because I was having a huge case of writer's block because…well, this is an important part in the story, and I couldn't decide what to do; too many ideas, rather than a lack of them. Also…well, my computer has a teensy little virus that makes everything run slower than frozen molasses. So…yeah, makes it hard to write this when you can't type faster than words a minute on here. Now that everyone knows, be patient with me because my computer is retarded and wants to make my life a living hell since it knows I wanted to write this up so badly. I'll try to get the last chapter up as soon as I can.

 

:Armatage's POV::

 

Though Itachi's pitiful human strength should be nothing compared to mine, he somehow seems to have the upper hand in this battle. It makes sense I suppose, seeing as I've only been rid of my illness for only a couple of days now. My body hasn't had enough time to heal itself properly yet.

 

Even amongst the chaos of our struggle, my eyes remain on the gun in his right hand and nothing else. There's too slim a chance of my survival for me to risk getting hit by one of those bullets, especially with me as weakened as I am now.

 

“Why can't you just die, you damned monster!” he yells, firing wildly into air and trying to hit me. I wince slightly when one of the bullets nicks my arm, but it's only a flesh wound, nothing fatal will come of it.

 

I growl and pin him to the ground, panting hard as I keep all of my weight centered on him to keep him from getting up.

 

“You've done more harm to Sasuke than I ever will. You thought I was the monster; the demon that would betray your little brother and kill him. But in the end, it was you. You killed your brother, Itachi. It wasn't because you thought I was a threat to him. It's because you were afraid!” I say, my claws coming out due to my uncontrolled rage, piercing through my gloves and the skin of his arms.

 

Itachi still struggles to get me off of him, but to no avail. Though it's difficult to keep him down, I still manage. It would be a lot easier if I hadn't lost so much weight when I was sick. Constantly retching will do that to you, even if it is mostly blood.

 

“Afraid? Afraid of what exactly; you, Armatage?”

 

I smile grimly and nod. He just laughs and tells me I'm wrong of course.

 

“Do you know why a special sect of demon slayers chose to hunt dragons particularly?” he asks in a strangely calm tone.

 

“Let me guess what your explanation will be. Oh, I know, because we're all evil creatures that deserve to die?” I answer sarcastically.

 

“Though that may be true, I'm talking about what got it all started. It was one dragon; one exactly like you actually. She just up and went mad one day. There weren't any records left behind to tell me exactly why, but what I do know is that as a result, she killed an entire village of humans. An entire village! The few who survived became the first Dragon Hunters,” Itachi replies, a look of pure rage coming across his face as he spoke.

 

“So one dragon did all that eh? Why is she exactly like me then?”

 

Itachi growls and sends his knee straight into my stomach, knocking the air out of me and throwing me back a couple of feet away.

 

“She was exactly like you,” he says as he slowly gets to his feet, “because she's your namesake. Her name was Armatage as well.”

 

I cough as I struggle to stand, clutching at my stomach in pain as I glare at him angrily. How could he possibly know about that? I mean, I knew about the person I was named after, but…the story is a different matter.

 

“You know about our tradition then? Naming one of our offspring after an important or revered relative in order to keep the memory of their deeds alive; I always thought my name was rather nice, but I guess your opinion is pretty different, eh?” I reply as calmly as I can. Itachi only glares and points his gun at me again, shooting at me once more before taking out another cartridge of bullets. I duck immediately and just narrowly miss getting hit. So tired…I don't know if I can keep this up for very much longer.

 

“How…how can you approve of what that…that beast of a woman did?” he screams.

 

“You've got your stories a little bit mixed up I'm afraid. The late Armatage had a very, very good reason for what she did, at least in her mind she did. I don't approve of her killing all those people but…she was betrayed. She was hurt. What was that saying you humans have? Hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned, or something to that effect, right?”

 

“What the hell are you talking about? No one betrayed her! She just attacked the village for no damn reason!”

 

I sigh, shaking my head a bit. Itachi's obviously too angry to keep himself thinking clearly; if he wasn't, then he'd know that the only reason I'm telling him the real story is to stall for time while I think of a way to get that gun out of his hand without getting myself killed in the process. I don't actually need to explain my kind's motives for our actions to a human. What's the point anyway? Most of them wouldn't understand, especially this one, being a “Dragon Hunter” after all. Yeah right. The original ones were much more frightening; at least, that was what I was told.

 

“Stories are passed on in my kind, verbatim. I know what really happened to her. She had offered to help the humans of that particular village because one of the villagers had helped her before then. She owed them a debt. They made a deal: She agreed to help by keeping demons away from the village and their crops, and in turn, they would provide her family with food and water when they were in need of it,” I say. This particular story had always caught my attention when it was told to me because it was the story of my namesake, so of course I know it like the back of my hand.

 

“So they helped her when she helped them, and she still betrayed them! The dragons were nothing but thieves and murderers, backstabbers!” Itachi growls, keeping his gun pointed at me the whole time. I've got his attention now. He won't shoot until he knows what I know. Perfect, as long as I drag the story out, I'll have plenty of time to figure out what to do.

 

“No, she helped them, and the humans betrayed her. After a while they got the idea that the dragons might start taking their food from them by force, like the other demons they'd been protected from, by Armatage, a dragon, had done. So, in an attempt to get rid of her, they hired an even more powerful demon. And while Armatage had her back turned, he tried to kill her. Oh, he came close, let me tell you. Managed to get a hand right through her chest through the back, but the idiot missed her heart and ended up dying at the hands of a huge blast of fire from her.”

 

I pause at this part, remembering exactly why my parents had chosen her as my namesake. My father had been alive at the time, though he'd only been a boy, and he remembered how she'd looked, how she'd acted. “Everything you are, from how you look to how you behave…it's all just like her. I bet you could've been her twin,” he'd told me once, though he'd only been joking. Heh, history really has a way of repeating itself and biting you right on the ass.

 

“Ordinarily, she would've been able to heal from a wound like that in a day or so. But she'd been fighting demons all day, completely exhausting all of the energy she normally would've used to heal herself. But you see, while we dragons are normally very kind creatures…we really, really hate being tricked and betrayed. She'd trusted the humans, risked her life to protect them in order to repay a debt, and that was how she'd been repaid for her help!” I say, watching Itachi curiously as I speak. He's literally shaking with rage. Obviously, he doesn't believe me.

 

I inch toward him slowly, barely noticeable at all really. If I can distract him long enough with my story, then I can knock the gun out of his hand. After that…well, I hope Itachi likes Spirit World, `cause that's where he's heading.

 

“You lie! They weren't like that at all! The journals said-”

 

“Let me remind you that the journals you so foolishly cling to are written from the human's point of view, and most of the time, humans are wrong. This was especially true back then when the situation had to do with demons of any kind and humans trying to work together. Our races have always had extremely difficult time trusting each other.”

 

“But-”

 

“As I was saying,” I continue, not letting him more than a word in edgewise. I'm close enough to him now, so even as I speak, I grab the gun out of his hand and break it in half, wincing slightly when one of the bullets inside brushes against my skin. “The late Armatage was very, very angry about being betrayed so suddenly. And, knowing that there was no way she would be able to regain her strength in time to heal herself, she decided that her last act would be one of revenge. So yes, Dragon Hunter, you're right. She did destroy and entire village of humans, and maybe she had gone mad for a brief moment, but her reasons for doing this weren't totally unfounded like you think they were. The original Dragon Hunters probably wrote the version of the story you know in order to inspire more people to hate us, and thereby getting revenge in their place by destroying us.”

 

Itachi backs away slowly. The look in his eyes is...quite honestly perplexing me. He's not afraid, but he's not angry either. He almost looks…happy.

 

“I don't care. Armatage, I don't care about what happened back then anymore. Reading that story was what first got me to hate you, to be…frightened, of you; of what you are and your inhuman powers. My first thought was that, if that dragon was related to you, then there was a chance that her madness would be passed onto you. Of course, whoever's point of view it is must apply here. To me and the previous Dragon Hunters, it was madness that drove the both of you to kill. But to you…yes, I do see it now. It was revenge. You were hurt too, weren't you? It was because I betrayed you…humans betrayed you,” Itachi says slowly. I can't tell if he's mocking me or not. His voice is sincere yet…not quite right. My eyes stay trained on his face, but then I notice a barely perceptible flicker of movement of his hand. Before I have a chance to react, he pulls out another gun and fires it right at me. My wings come out immediately and wrap around my body, unconsciously trying to protect my vitals from being hit.

 

For the humans that are reading this, I have a question to ask of you. Have you ever tried to touch dry ice? No? Well, of course you wouldn't. Someone responsible would be there and tell you not to touch it because it's so cold, that it can burn you. So cold, that's it hot. I've never touched dry ice myself, but I'm fairly sure the pain from the Death Stone bullet now lodged in my wing is similar, except this is ten times worse than that could ever be. When it first hits, I feel a numbing, painful cold spread throughout that one wing, then it slowly intensifies until it becomes an unbearable burning.

 

I fall to the ground, groaning loudly in pain. Death Stone…I've heard of what happened to dragons who were hit with it. The aura from it alone causes their blood to freeze in their veins, and once it got to their heart, they were done for. This can't be right. I finally found Itachi. I was going to get my revenge after three whole years of pure anguish…and now I'm going to die because of one stupid bullet?

 

I hear footsteps moving toward me and look up, seeing Itachi still pointing his gun at me and smiling manically. He kicks one of my wings, and I scream and try to move away from him before he can do it again. The only good thing that came out of it was that he dislodged the bullet in my wing. He must've noticed, because when I try to move away, he shoots a bullet right through my other wing. I'm positive that my shriek of pain is heard all the way from Demon World this time.

 

“Don't worry, Armatage. You won't be in pain for much longer.”

 

::Sasuke's POV::

 

When we get to the edge of the cemetery, I hear a sudden gunshot, and a few moments later, another one follows along with a bloodcurdling shriek. The voice is female, and the recognition of who that voice belongs to is so jarring that I instinctively put my hands over my ears to try to shut it out. I wanted to hear her voice again, to talk to her, remember her…but not like this.

 

The boy with red hair, Kurama, shouts at me to hurry, and I nod quickly, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that wells within my heart at the thought of what could be happening to the dragon girl. The sight that greets me is worse than I could've ever imagined.

 

She's on the ground, whimpering so pitifully that I can almost feel my heart breaking. And there he stands, pointing a gun at her and preparing to shoot for the final time. I can only see his lips moving. I've never been able to read lips, but I can manage to make out one word: Armatage.

 

On the way here, Kurama told me that the one who planned to kill the dragon girl…Armatage, is my older brother, Itachi. I don't remember ever having an older brother. But then again, I don't remember living with Armatage either.

 

Regardless, the moment I see Itachi pointing that gun at her, my body seems to move on its own, a yell of pure rage escaping me as I tackle Itachi to the ground and grab the gun away from him, pointing it at his heart before he has the chance to get it back. He stops struggling the moment he realizes what's happened.

 

“Well, hello there, little brother. It's been a long time, hasn't it?” he says, his smile friendly. Hearing him talk to me like that, seeing him and knowing for sure that he's real…I remember now. Not everything about him, just one very important memory sticks in my mind: The night he killed me.

 

“Your fault…it's all your fault I died. Because of you, Armatage suffered then and is suffering now. I won't forgive you. Itachi…I won't ever forgive you!” I scream, pressing the gun into his chest angrily. He grabs my wrist, but doesn't try to move my hand away.

 

“Come now, Sasuke. You know you can't kill me. I'm your brother. Killing you was a complete accident. I had only meant to kill her. I'd never purposely hurt you. Besides, we both have the same calling. I'm a Dragon Hunter, which means you are too. You should be helping me finish that monster off, not threatening me,” he says.

 

I narrow my eyes at him and shake my head. I don't care if he thought he was doing the right thing. I may not remember all that much about Armatage, but I do remember enough to know that she was a good person back then, and still is now.

 

“You're wrong. We don't have the same calling. I care about Armatage, even now, when I can only barely remember her. You just want to kill her. The only monster here is you, Brother. So, I guess that means I'll be helping you finish the monster off after all,” I reply, pulling the trigger on the gun and sending a bullet straight through his heart. Itachi struggles for a moment, his hand reaching up as if to grab my throat, but he's dead before he can even touch me.

 

His grip on my wrist slackens, and I get up slowly, his blood splattered on my clothes and face. Kuwabara only stares at me, obviously stunned by my actions.

 

“It couldn't be helped. If I had let him live, he would've just kept on trying to kill her,” I say, and I can tell he knows I'm right.

 

Kurama is kneeling down beside Armatage, trying to assess how badly she's been hurt. I can only see a bullet hole in each wing. No blood…how strange. I kneel by her other side and touch one wing as gently as I can, then pull back immediately when she screams.

 

“Don't touch her unless I tell you to,” Kurama commands sternly. I nod shakily, staring at my hand silently. When I touched her wing…it was like touching a block of ice. I grab Itachi's gun and empty the bullets out of it, touching one, and getting the same sensation I got from touching her wing.

 

“The bullets are freezing her blood somehow. I don't know of anything that can cure that,” Kurama says suddenly, as if he knows what I was thinking. I stare at her wings silently, seeing that half of both of them have changed to a much paler blue, while the rest remains the usual sapphire.

 

Using what little demonic energy she has left to keep this at bay. How much longer can she do that? I think worriedly.

 

Two other people arrive a few moments later. One has spiky black hair and clothes to match. The other is…the boy who was talking to me at school this morning. What's his name again? Yusuke…something, I think.

 

“What happened to her? She really got Itachi?” Yusuke asks.

 

“He shot her with bullets made from a rare type of stone only found in Demon World. It's been a long time since it was last used. They're killing her, though slowly. There's nothing I can do to stop it.”

 

The look on everyone's face is grim. Armatage looks as if she doesn't even know we're here, like all of her senses are blocked because of the pain. This whole time all she's been able to do is whimper and moan in pain, barely even moving either. I don't even want to imagine how excruciating this must be for her.

 

The one dressed in black draws his sword from its sheath. I can already tell who he plans to use it on and I instantly grab Armatage and pull her away from him. Her claws scratch at my chest and arms weakly, but she doesn't do anything more than that in protest.

 

“Hiei, what the hell are you doing? Slicing her up won't help her!” Kuwabara exclaims.

 

“Neither will waiting for that stone to kill her. Trust me; I'm doing her a mercy. Now let the dragon go or I'll skewer the both of you,” the one called Hiei says as he advances toward us.

 

“You sound like Kushin.”

 

When he hears me say that, he stops and lowers his sword. I know Armatage is in pain, but there has to be a better way to help her than just killing her. I won't allow her to die again. I don't think I could take it.

 

“There may be…one other way. But you won't like it,” Kurama says, his voice barely above a whisper.

 

“What is it? Will she live if we do it?” I ask eagerly. Any alternative is way better than Hiei's plan.

 

“…she will live…if we cut off her wings,” he replies simply.

 

I take back that statement about any alternative being better…

 

“But she…Armatage won't be able to…are you sure that's the only other way?” I ask, staring at her wings as I speak. That would mean a living hell for Armatage, not being able to fly. But…I know she doesn't want to die again.

 

“That's it. You have to decide, Sasuke.”

 

“What? Why the hell should I decide? We should be asking her, not me. She's the one who'll get her wings hacked off!”

 

“Armatage isn't coherent enough to decide anything. You're the one she's closest to, so it's your choice, and I suggest you hurry it up,” Hiei answers, pointing to her wings as he speaks. I look down and see that almost all of her wings are now a pale blue. The effects of the stone are spreading, and are almost getting to the rest of her body. Once it does…there won't be any other option left but to kill her.

 

“…fine, just do it quickly, alright?” I answer, shifting Armatage in my arms slightly to make it easier for Hiei to cut away her wings cleanly. She squirms and whimpers in my arms like a little kid, trying to make me let go. I only tighten my grip on her as best I can.

 

“I'm so sorry, Tage. If you never forgive me, I'll understand,” I whisper in her ear. Hiei waits until she's stopped moving before swinging his sword down and cutting through both wings at once easily. Armatage screams in agony and starts clawing at me much harder now. I wince and have to bite my tongue just to keep from crying out, but I never let go of her. Seeing her like this makes whatever was blocking my memories in the first place instantly finally finish disappearing. I almost wish I couldn't remember. Seeing my best friend like this, the girl I lived with since I was eight years old…the girl I fell in love with…it's…it's almost too much for me to bear silently.

 

After a few minutes, Armatage gives up on trying to make me let go of her and just lies still. Kurama lifts up the back of her shirt and applies a medicine made from one of his plants that stops the bleeding quickly. She didn't move when he touched her back, only whimpered softly.

 

While all this is happening, Yusuke is calling Botan to come and get Itachi to take him to Spirit World. They're going to take care of all that for me, and I won't be in any trouble for killing him. Even now, I can't get myself to feel as guilty about it was I should feel. There'll be time for that later, I suppose.

 

“I'll take her back to my place, alright?” I say, picking Tage up as carefully as I can. By now she's finally passed out from the pain and fatigue racking her body. I'm glad. That makes this a little easier to do. I look down, seeing her wings crumbling into dust on ground, and shudder slightly.

 

“Are you sure that's wise?” Hiei asks, wiping the blood off of his sword and sheathing it once again.

 

“There's no other place for her to stay, and even if there was, there's no way I'm going to let her stay by herself while she's healing,” I answer before I begin walking back home. My parents aren't home when I get there, out with some friends from work, no doubt.

 

God, if it weren't for her wings being gone, it'd feel like we're kids again. She always used to fall asleep somewhere in the house, and then I'd have to carry her to bed, I think to myself, sighing as I bring her to my room and lay her down on the bed, careful to make sure she stays on her stomach so she doesn't put pressure on her wounds.

 

I move the chair at my desk in front of the bed and sit there, watching her sleep silently. She still looks like she's in pain, but it doesn't seem to be as bad from what I can tell. Every now and then she groans or mumbles something in her sleep. Other than that, she's quiet and unmoving.

 

“I'm sorry I had to do this to you, Tage. But I swear, I won't ever let anything bad happen to you, ever again,” I whisper to her, even if she can't hear me while she's asleep.