Miyo Shiina was having a bad day.
Actually, her entire week had been bad. If only they had listened to her warnings... but it was too late now.
Her mother, killed by those... fanatics! Because she was Gaijin. Her father killed for the crime of marring a gaijin. If she had been with them, she would have died, too.
A tear fell from her eye. Why hadn't they listened? The cards never lied to her... she told them it wasn't safe to leave the apartment that day.
But no, her mother didn't believe her. She refused to believe her, refused to have anything to do with anything not of this world directly. Despite knowing better.
And now her parents were dead. And even being able to read the future wouldn't help Miyo much. Taxes were going to pretty much wipe out her parent's savings. She had no other family she could turn to, by mutual choice. Neither set of extended families would have anything to do with her.
Miyo had spent the time since then in a daze, unable to function properly. Until now. The urge to read the cards had come that morning, with such an urgency that she could barely believe it. It was rare that the spirits desired to talk. It would have been incredibly foolish for her to ignore them.
Which was how she found herself in a park, waiting. All she knew was that she would soon be given a choice. A choice that could possibly determine the direction the rest of her life would take.
So she waited, wondering when this choice would come... and then blinked. Had she just seen Hikaru Gosunkugi float by?
She looked again. She was one of the few people who ever really noticed the pale boy, and thus one of the few people to realize that he'd been missing for a few days now. And now it looked like his spirit just went by. "Gosunkugi? Is that you?" She asked.
The spirit whirled at the sound of his name, and stared. "you can see me?"
"Yes... I've always been sensitive... oh, what happened to you..." Miyo felt tears forming again. Another death...
"that's not important now! you must help him!"
"Wha... what? Help him? Who?"
"mousse. he's going to be destroyed if you don't help him out."
Miyo began following Gosunkugi. "Please, explain what is going on."
One explanation later, and Miyo realized that this was the point that would determine her paths in life. "So Mousse is actually the demon that's been causing so much problems, the one that killed all those people in the riot. And now he's trapped in a spell that is draining his humanity away?"
The spirit nodded. "yes. i know that it looks bad, but he might be the only person who can truly defeat the sorceress that stole my body!"
"But to save him, I must give up part of my humanity, and accept part of his demonic nature instead?"
Gosunkugi just nodded.
Miyo thought about it. Normally she would have scoffed at the idea. Help someone that so willingly killed all those people?
But now... Kuno needed to be stopped. And while the Scythe backed him up, it would make it that much harder for anyone to get to him.
And it wasn't like Miyo had anything else in life... no friends or family to miss her...
"Take me to him," she said.
***
Sneaking around the guards was pathetically easy. They didn't want anything to do with the demon inside the warehouse. It wasn't long before Miyo was face to face with him herself.
Miyo stood looking at Onryu. Trapped within his own fire, burning in agony.
Did she really want to do this?
Miyo shrugged. Too late to back out now.
Bracing herself, she stepped into the flames.
The agony was like nothing she had ever experienced. It was so painful she couldn't even scream. Her very soul burned!
It felt like she was in that inferno for hours, but only scant minutes passed before the spell was overwhelmed by a second person, and broke down. Then she and Onryu collapsed.
The first thing she noticed was her hands. Her skin had paled, she now seemed to have runes running up and down her arms. But as she watched, these changes faded, until she was maybe a shade or two lighter than she was used to. But she knew that the changes were still there. She felt it now, more than ever.
But the changes to her were nothing compared to Onryu. The flames seemed to sputter out around him, his natural long black mane returning. His skin was still pale, and he still had small horns, but without the constant firestorm around him, he looked like Mousse again.
He regained consciousness slowly. "Ugh... that was stupid..." he looked at the girl that saved him. "You're... Miyo, right?"
Miyo blinked. "I didn't think we had been introduced, but yes."
He shook his head. "We hadn't. I don't think. But I just... know you." He looked at himself. "Oh, gods... what have I been doing?"
Miyo was about to say something when she was interrupted. Gosunkugi's spirit reappeared to both of them. "you must leave now! she's coming!"
Mousse reacted without though. He grabbed Miyo, pulled her close, and they disappeared in a swirl of smoke and brimstone.
When Scythe got to the warehouse, she was... less than pleased.
(Posted Mon, 23 Dec 2002 17:18)
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