Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Shadows of a Crimson Moon ❯ Kiss the Sky; the Rumours of a Hierarchy ( Chapter 10 )

The city had fallen ages before that moment.

 

And now, much like the phoenix, it was reborne from the ashes and remnants of what had used to be, where most of the memories had died.

 

The soaring constructions and metallic buildings cascaded up, towards the heavens like the hands of demons from Hell, and towards the cerulean havens where so many lush white clouds danced freely in erratic shapes and figures.

 

She remained there; silent. The thousands of conversations taking place between the mortals surrounding her flooding her eardrums and bringing slight torment to her mind.

 

They bustled past like machinery, hindered by their prompt velocities and ways of life, forming blurs of shaded colours and swirls of grey.

 

It was as if she was imperceptible; transparent to their views as they flurried past in clots and waves.

 

Never had she seen a city.

 

Never had she even seen a human.

 

She was flanked by her blend of sentiments and carried onward, carelessly; aimlessly.

 

It was only the shriek of a child that would wake her from her numbing elimination from the rest of the vociferous metropolis.

 

She found herself running briskly towards the noise, her image hazing into a mere blotch of light.

 

A young girl, nearly ten years of age was enclosed by four men, taunting her with their portentous blades.

 

They were cowards however, for shielding each of their faces laid a dragon mask.

 

“Spineless fools.” Tari whispered mellifluously to herself, as she found herself crouching behind a large array of vacant receptacles.

 

Step by step they enclosed the girl, her luminous cobalt eyes smearing with tears.

 

It was when one of the men dove toward the girl, his switchblade mirroring the shine of the sun above them, when Tari felt her heart coat over with a layer of verdant ice.

 

She sprung forward like that of a lynx; a deep and menacing growl emitting from the caverns of her chest.

 

Quickly, the strange men turned, in what Tari could smell to be astonishment.

 

The rebounded hastily, however.

 

Now turned onto Tari, one man soared forward off bended knee and went for Tari's gullet; however they met something else with an even more intense feeling.

 

She had driven her arm through his abdomen, her sumptuous lips pulling back to reveal her pearl like fangs.

 

He collapsed slowly after she had twisted her arm within his flesh, his ribs shattering bit by bit.

 

The blood upon her forearm seemed to turn to a mordent acid which, as it smouldered upon her flesh, discharged layers of grey steam.

 

She cracked the tendons within her neck leisurely as he fell, lifeless, to the blood soiled pavement.

 

The three remaining offenders turned rabid with fury, one backing away from the approaching two and clutching a fistful of the girl's saffron hair and drug her regardless of her struggling.

 

Tari snarled as she took a step over the corpse below her which seeped crimson pools of gore onto the granite earth.

 

The other dove forward, blade taking a large slash at her cheekbone.

 

A droplet of ebony coloured blood seeped through the severed incision, streaking down and trickling slowly.

 

She took a firm grip on one attacker's arm, snapping it with a jolt of movement, and as a final blow, took hold of the same arm and hurled him to the ground below her, his back breaking stridently, piercing the stillness of the thick air.

 

He gave a deep groan, and it was only the sole of Tari's pointed sandal to his jugular that finally silenced him.

 

When the remaining man went at her, it took him a long while to finally get a clear shot at her, and their scrimmage had transformed into a clouting match and because of her speed and darts, he in fact did not succeed in doing so.

 

She had kicked his legs out from underneath him, and as he staggered in mid aerial, using her forearm, and, altering her once translucent, human like fingernails into raven tinted talons, severed his head from his shoulders.

 

Returning her claws back to their ordinary fingernail image, she darted forth from the pile of carcasses to the back alley in which the only remaining mugger had hauled the young girl.

 

There she found him, hovering over the child, blood leaching from her embroidered pinafore, soaking her palm as she attempting to cease the bleeding.

 

Tari gave a shrill scream, leaping forth upon the man who had stabbed the poor adolescent, her pupils narrowing into thin, cat-like slits in her pine coloured eyes.

 

She saved the most horrific and grisly act for this one attempted killer.

 

Tari hissed forebodingly as she took hold of him from behind as he fought her bone clenching grasp, and revealed the pulsating organ within his neck.

 

Revealing her daggered fangs and quickly, sunk down severely into his artery.

 

His tussling ceased as the life was slowly being drained of him.

 

~.:.~

 

“Yusuke, did you hear that?” Kurama questioned as they searched the city nimbly and thoroughly.

 

“Yeah…it sounded like a battle cry or something.” He concurred broodingly.

 

Hiei raised his eyes to the direction of the sound, and unwound the white bandanna from off of his brow, revealing his trusted third eye.

 

“Show me Tari.”

 

~.:.~

 

“Lean back, child. Please, stay calm.”

 

The little girl within Tari's columnar arms shook bristly and choked upon her cries.

 

“Am…Am I going to die?” The child croaked, fear overcoming her and churning with the sting of pain in her side.

 

“No child. You're actually quite fortunate…he merely grazed you. Most of the haemorrhaging has congested and stopped already.” Tari uttered meditatively.

 

“You're a demon…” The child stammered, suddenly more afraid of her protector than of the attackers themselves.

 

Tari took a gentle hold of the girl's face, the wintry tears stinging at Tari's ashen palms.

 

“And you are a human. Child, listen to my voice. It is the same voice as yours. Look at my face. It is similar to your own. And…dear heaven. You have two ears, as I have! You have a pulse, I--”

 

Tari grew silent as the girl giggled facetiously, and slowly, the child grew still as well.

 

“My name is Sitar.” She smiled warmly.

 

“It is a joy to meet you, Sitar. I am known as Tari.”

 

Sitar gave a shaded grin as her eyes closed, and she fell into the vortex of a warm, still sleep from her ordeal.

 

Tari ladled the frail child within her arms, rising from off of her knees.

 

~

 

“TARI!!”

 

She gazed upward, Sitar held firmly in her arms.

 

The four boys stood before her as they stared, both at the bodies on the ground and the child held close to Tari's chest.

 

“Help--her-” Tari choked as her desiccated and withered veins began to pump the new blood she had taken.

 

Kurama ran up to her, and took the child as Tari had instructed, and it was only after Tari was certain she was secure with him when she looked into his eyes unsteadily.

 

“Tari, you okay?” Kuwabara asked as he placed a hand steadily on her shoulder.

 

No sooner did he do so when her jade eyes rolled back into the utmost corners of her skull, and she collapsed limply onto the ground.

 

She sputtered and coughed up particles of dark blood as Yusuke and Kuwabara helped her stand upright once again, she resting against both for stability.

 

“Tari, tell us exactly what happened,” Kurama cooed softly, his palms holding tightly to the sleeping child.

 

“I…I left to feed without you knowing…and…Sitar…” Her words were feeble as she found her knees to be that of liquid.

 

“I drank his blood…” She continued, “…They're all dead…Sitar…she's-she is hurt…I…”

 

Yusuke took Tari in his arms, holding her shoulders firmly and gazing deeply into her eyes. “You killed them all?”

 

She nodded, wanting deeply to fade into the darkness slowly consuming her.

 

Hiei finally approached her. He gave Yusuke a look of slight assurance, and then took Tari from his grasp.

 

“When was the last time you've taken blood from a human, Tari?”

 

Her eyes veiled themselves, her neck tilting upward as she lost feeling in her body.

 

His fist met her jaw with echoing force.

 

“HIEI!” The boys shouted in unison, appalled at his violence towards Tari.

 

“Answer me,” he growled, shaking her as emotion regained in her body.

 

“…I…I-”

 

He struck her again, black liquid seeping from her bottom lip after he did so.

 

“Answer me.”

 

“Never,” She whispered, her eyes staring weakly into his, “I've…never fed…”

 

He took her within his arms once again, and lifted her gently in his arms.

 

There she once again fell into her typical unconscious state, her face lifelessly resting upon his chest.

 

“Her arm is badly wounded,” Yusuke observed suddenly.

 

“Damn,” Kuwabara gaped.

 

“Yes, and she has it in her system.” Hiei retorted gravely.

 

“Well, let's get them back. Koenma's already pissed off already with her.” Kuwabara muttered as he began slogging shadily into the daylight ahead of them.

 

“The toddler will just have to deal with that, then.” Hiei growled as they began on the trek back to the castle.

 

“And if he doesn't?” Yusuke queried as he arced his left eyebrow.

 

“Then I'll kill him myself.”