Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Battle Lord Chronicles: Of Truths and Lies ❯ Innocence Lost ( Chapter 33 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any related names or items. Kiara is owned by Yusuke'sSister.

 

Claimer: I do own the plot line, the title, the Kuro Tournament, Kristy, Jason, Jessica, Chris, Bashere, Rhurac, and anything else related to them.

 

(1) - In Japanese Hiei means "flying shadow". That's what this is a reference to.

 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Telepathy'

 

Thanks to my beta reader, Anna Jaganshi.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------

 

Of Truth & Lies

 

Chapter 33

Innocence Lost

 

----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------

 

Almost instantly, an idea popped into my mind. Perfect, I thought; just the thing to overpower Rhurac. Moving determinedly, I sheathed both of my katana. Rhurac hesitated then, unsure as to what I was doing. I could almost see Jason and my friends gaping behind me, wondering what the heck I was doing. I, however, simply smirked. It's amazing how even a simple action can completely throw everyone off balance.

 

Speaking quietly but clearly I murmured, "Boom."

 

Instantly, two large, beach ball size fireballs formed in the palms for my outstretched hands and flew at Rhurac. This brought back memories, I thought as I watched Rhurac's eye widen. It was almost just like the time when I'd first found out about youkai.

 

Suddenly however, Rhurac dove out of the way, only just avoiding the speeding balls of fire. Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite like that first time, but close enough at least. Moving quickly, I shot out some more--though a bit smaller--fireballs in quick succession. I knew that Rhurac would manage to dodge them all again, but I needed them as a distraction. I then surrounded my hands with glowing fire. I smiled at the way that it tickled across my skin without doing any harm, and proceeded to attack Rhurac.

 

From there I sunk into hand to hand combat with Rhurac. He still was armed with his two daggers, granted, but he couldn't really use them as he was two busy attempting to dodge my flames. Before long he'd gathered a nice collection of small burns. My personal favorite was the nasty looking one across the side of his face where I'd managed to sock him in the jaw.

 

After just a couple of minutes of this however, Rhurac managed to get about ten or so feet distance between us. We circled slowly around each other from that distance, both on guard. My arm was still bleeding from where Rhurac had cut me earlier, I noticed, but fortunately the wound was pretty shallow and so posed no danger to me. I was sure that it'd start to heal momentarily; increased youkai healing and all that.

 

Finally I decided to take action once again. I abruptly lashed out with one hand, pumping youki down through my fingers. Almost instantly vine-like tendrils of fire shot out of each of my fingers. They shot toward Rhurac and, through he tired to avoid them, wrapped around him. The youkai let out a scream then, one that reverberated through the stadium as smoke started to pour off his skin as the fire burned him.

 

I attempted to tighten the vines further, to possibly get him to forfeit, but only just managed to tighten it slightly when I had to drop the technique and let the fire dissipate. I couldn't quite manage to completely control the attack yet, or hold it for very long; I hadn't practiced with it much. And that lack of control also meant that it took a whole hell of a lot more youki to perform than it would otherwise.

 

Rhurac stood across from me, panting as he snarled furiously. Numerous blackened burns laced his body from my last attack. Staring into Rhurac's glaring eyes, I felt myself blanching. Crap; instead of ending the match liked I'd hoped, my last attack had only enraged Rhurac. And if there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that a youkai that was this pissed off was a bad thing; rage tended to make us a whole hell of a lot more violent and unpredictable than usual.

 

Simultaneously, Rhurac and I leapt forward. He now was releasing quite a bit of youki in his anger, causing him to be surrounded by a green glow. He didn't seem to notice it, however, as he simply slashed at me, completely focused on killing me now. Meanwhile, I called up my youki so that my arms were once again wreathed in flames. I proceeded to attempt to attack Rhurac, but quickly found myself on the defensive once again. I could swear that he was moving twice as fast as before! It didn't exactly help that I couldn't touch him either, since the youki aura around him would hurt me when I even just got close.

 

I found myself swearing under my breath. Shit, this was bad! Rhurac was probably just as powerful as Ty had been, and now he was pissed off, no longer just playing around anymore. I attempted to pull out my katana once more as I carefully--and not the least bit desperately--avoided Rhurac's attacks, but found that the green-skinned youkai wouldn't give me enough space to do so.

 

Seeing the great turn of battle, I started viewing my other options. I was starting to think that I'd just have to use my psychic abilities like I had last time, but was hesitant to do so. If I attempted to establish a connection, then my attention would be split and most likely that would give Rhurac the opening he needed to kill me. No, I wasn't going to risk that just yet.

 

At that moment I got just a bit to close too Rhurac. Instantly, I felt a harsh stinging all the way up my arm and so quickly jumped away, before backpedaling a few more steps.

 

'Shit, shit, shit!' I thought desperately. 'I really need to end this fight! I'm not sure how much more of this I can take! Not to mention that I'm really starting to tire...We must have been at this for at least 15 minutes already!'

 

As if responding to my desperation just like it had done in my last fight, my fire flared up once more. This time, however, it was the fire on my arms. And it didn't stop there, but rather kept on building up. After only a few seconds the fire had built up to nearly a foot in height all around my hands. For a moment, I really was grateful that the gloves and clothes I was wearing were fireproof; my skin and hair may be impervious to fire, but my clothes weren't. If they hadn't been specially fireproofed...Well, needless to say it would have led to some pretty awkward situations.

 

However, to my surprise, my fire didn't stop there. Instead, almost as if it had a mind of its own, the fire started to mold itself into the resemblance of a snarling maw. It almost reminded me of my Ookami no Mai(1) technique, except much large and only a single wolf. The fire wolf leapt off my arm, flames trailing along behind it, and attacked Rhurac.

 

Of course, Rhurac immediately attempted to bat it away. Considering as it was made of energy however, that was impossible and instead the fir wolf just proceeded to circle around the youkai. Seeing that Rhurac's attention had now been almost completely pulled from me, I quickly leapt at Rhurac, an idea forming in my mind. I grabbed a hold of one of his wrists with both of my hands as soon as I came near, and though he tried to shake me off he couldn't put too much effort into it since the fire wolf was dangerous and starting to attack him in earnest.

 

Quickly, while Rhurac's attention was still divided since I didn't know how long the fire wolf would last for, I pumped out as much youki as I could, sending flames to engulf my opponent. At the same time I could feel extreme pain in my hands from Rhurac's youki. As much as I desperately wanted to scream and leap back at that moment, I forced myself to hold on. I stayed like that for several seconds, pushing out as much youki as I could while Rhurac attempted to pull out of my grasp. Every muscle in my body spasmed as every instinct I had told me to let go of Rhurac and end the burning pain.

 

It was then, however, that the worst part came: Rhurac started screaming. It was a loud, deep, howl of pain that was truly horrible to hear. By now the flames had covered all of Rhurac's skin and the fire wolf had disappeared. Rhurac started clawing at me desperately and, staring wide-eyed up at him, I finally let go of his wrist and fell back on my ass.

 

By now Rhurac was like a human torch. Or, rather, like a youkai torch. He continued to scream, even as the flames fully engulfed him. For my part, I pushed myself onto my hands and knees and began dry retching as the smell of burning flesh reached my sensitive nose. Still hearing the screams, I clamped my eyes shut, desperately trying to block everything out.

 

I don't know how long I was like that, on my hands and knees, when the screaming suddenly died out. Hesitantly, I rolled over so that I was sitting down and then opened my eyes. Rhurac, I found, was no where in sight. Instead, all that was left was a patch of darkened ground.

 

I continued to sit there like that, staring at the ground, for Kami knows how long. All that I remember was a couple of hands on my arms, pulling me to my feet. Not really noticed what I was doing, I allowed them to do so, stilling staring blankly ahead. I would later realize that I'd gone into shock, but at the time I couldn't really think at all.

 

Slowly the healers walked across the stadium, and into the infirmary. I didn't really notice any of it though; the last few minutes of the battle were still running through my mind. The healers sat me down and immediately focused on my hands. Carefully, they peeled off my gloves, eventually revealing my blackened palms. Even in my shocked state, I had to wince at the sight of the badly burned skin.

 

The healers spent the next five or so minutes focusing entirely on trying to heal my hands. Slowly but surely they did so, eventually leaving behind new, pink skin.

 

Suddenly, the door to the infirmary opened once more and Chris came in. Spotting me he walked over, and I could tell from the large grin on his face that he'd won his match. As the healers flitted around us, he sat next to me on the bench that I was on.

 

At first neither of us said anything, both of us growing solemn. Finally, however, Chris spoke, still staring at the wall before us.

 

"It's difficult, isn't it?" he began quietly. I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, before sliding them back to focus on the wall again as he continued. "To remember their faces. To know that they're dead. To know that you're the reason why they're dead." Chris sighed. "But...you get over it, you know. And it's not just because we're youkai. Genetics only make up half a person--the rest is all to do with experience and how you were raised, and we were raised in the Ningenkai where killing is generally considered a horrible thing. No, you just have to remember that these are our opponents and that they would have killed us without an ounce of remorse given half a change. Here, in the Makai, everything is do or die."

 

Chris paused again as he and I continued to stare at the blank wall before us. After another minute, he suddenly began to chuckle. It was a dry, humorless laugh. "My father tried to prepare me for this you know, when I told him about the tournament," Chris said conversationally. "He knew that I was going to have to kill eventually. But it's completely different when you actually feel it. When you know..." I nodded mutely beside him and the two of us slipped into a comfortable, understanding silence.

 

I would always remember this day, I knew. The day I first killed. The day that I grew up and came to truly understand my parentage. The day my innocence was lost.

 

Suddenly, however, once of the healers cried out in alarm. My head snapped around to the youkai who was currently standing next to me, holding my arm.

 

"This cut!" she cried out, pointing to the shallow gash that I'd received from Rhurac's dagger earlier on in the fight. "It's poisoned!"

 

I felt myself freeze up, and then quickly began cursing in my mind. Of course! I remembered that day so many months ago when I'd first met Rhurac and how he'd hit me with a blast of his green youki that had poisoned me. And just before he'd cut me today, he'd put some youki into his dagger!

 

Immediately, Chris leaned over. "Then get the poison out!' he exclaimed in a slightly panicked voice.

 

"I can't, I can't!" the healer--whom I just noticed had a petite face and purple hair and eyes--moaned, shaking her head back and forth franticly. "It's been in your system for too long now. It's already traveling up your arm and to your heart!"

 

I sat there in shock for several seconds. No! This couldn't be happening! I'd come so for--I'd won all of my matches! I couldn't die now! He healer meanwhile appeared to be having some kind of a panic attack. She was pale and clammy, rocking back and forth on her feet and mumbling "no, no, no" over and over again.

 

"Lord Bashere is going to kill me," she unwittingly mumbled in her terror.

 

Almost instantly I realized the cause of her terrified actions. Bashere would want to fight me or Jason himself. He'd probably be pretty pissed off if he found out that I'd died after winning my match due to a paper cut, even if it did get me out of the way. Hell, I'd completely have to agree that that's got to be the most embarrassing thing to have on my grave.

 

Abruptly, as everyone was panicking around me, an idea came into my mind in the form of a memory from quite a while ago...

 

--Flashback--

 

“Miss Walker!” the teacher snaps suddenly, smacking my desk with her ruler. “Pay attention!” With that she turns around, stalks back towards the chalkboard, and continues her speech about ancient battles.

 

I glare at her back as she walks. I can positively say that I hate Mrs. Schubert. She's my history teacher and a cranky old lady.

 

I continue to glare at her as she speaks. So what if my mind had been wandering! I was thinking about Yusuke and the others. Besides, when in my life am I ever going to need to know the fact that General Yamagata was able to stop a snake bite from killing him by putting ice on it? And why did he even get the idea to put ice on it in the first place?

 

--End Flashback--

 

That was it! Ice!

 

"Could you remove the poison if it stopped moving?" I quickly asked.

 

The healer stared at me for a moment with wide eyes, not quite understanding what I was asking. "W-what?"

 

"If the poison stopped moving," I repeated carefully, "Would you be able to remove it from my arm?"

 

The healer continued to stare. "Well, yes, I suppose, but how would you--"

 

Having heard all that I needed to hear, I quickly turned to Chris. "Freeze my arm," I quickly demanded. "Encase it in ice." Both Chris and the healer breathed in sharply and began to protest. My eyes slid back to the healer. "It'll stop the blood flow in my arm, right?"

 

The healer hesitated. "Yes," she replied, "But then we'll only have a very short window of time to remove the poison and unfreeze your arm or you'll lose your entire arm!"

 

"But the poison will be gone, correct?"

 

The healer hesitated again then, but finally nodded in reply to me. In that moment I made a split-second decision. When it came down to either losing an arm or losing my life, my life definitely took a bit of precedence.

 

"Chris--" I started, turning back to face my friend.

 

"Kristy," he immediately protested. However, I just looked at him, staring into his eyes.

 

"Chris," I repeated firmly. We continued to stare at each other for a moment before he finally sighed.

 

"Fine," he murmured. Then, without another word, he leaned over, placed his hands on my arm, and began to channel some youki.