Yumiko stayed by Kenji's side as they watched the competition progress. Kazamaru had won his fight with some difficulty, obliterating his opponent in the process. She had felt Kenji stiffen beside her as the assassin's body was blown away, and she squeezed his hand hoping to calm him.
"I-I know Genkai said it was alright t-to kill your opponent but this just seems..."
Yumiko turned to look at him sharply as she felt a wave of unease wash over the boy. He made a strange sound and took off, making for the door which had been opened only seconds before.
Yumiko gasped as he took off, and followed after him only to find him retching in the grass nearby. She frowned as she approached him, feeling extremely guilty. A presence behind her spoke softly, and she turned to greet Maru.
"Ours is a different existence. We have seen blood and death from a young age, he had not... he should not have come..." Maru spoke softly, his expression neutral as he gazed down at the vomiting boy.
A female voice caught them by surprise, and both demons turned to see a rather cute, blue haired girl speaking to the two boys who were supposed to still be competing. Yumiko could feel a crackling sensation in the air, and turned to see Maru staring at the girl wide eyed.
She was stunning... He had seen her before, coming to clean up his mess and escort the body of a soul who got to close to the demon boy, as well as once before, the day his mother had died. She was as beautiful then as she was today, standing in front of him. Maru felt his core heat up, and his eyes lightened slightly. He was mystified by the girl... He had to speak with her...
Yumiko watched in awe as Maru took a step towards the group, only to stop in his tracks as master Genkai appeared, and tossed a cigarette at the boys. She grinned slightly, then turned back to Maru, only to find him gone, a puff of red smoke in his place. "Maru??" She asked, but he was nowhere to be seen.
She sighed, and finished the walk to where Kenji still knelt. "Are you alright?"
He shook his head slightly, looking up at her with tear streaks down his face. "He's dead! Kazamaru just killed that guy and it's like none of you even care!! What would have happened if I hadn't backed out??"
"In truth the plan had been to force you to back out at this point." She said matter-of-factly. When he looked at her incredulously, she sighed again, her patience running out.
"Oh for Kami's sake Kenji! We told you it would be dangerous. We warned you things would try to kill you in the forest. How is this different? Look, with the exception of you and those other two boys, everyone in there has either trained as a killer, or a psychic. This is just how life is for us! We tried to warn you! Besides, do you really think I would have let one of them actually kill you??"
"How many have you killed?"
She stopped talking, gaping at him and that disgusted look on his face. As her blood went cold.
"Come again???" She asked in a quiet voice.
His own voice was harsh as he repeated the question, and before the last word had left his tongue Yumiko snarled!
His eyes widened at the sound, but before he could even flinch, she raised a hand, claws sheathed, and slapped him hard across the face. He expected her to scream at him after that, but she didn't... When he looked into her face he was shocked to see tears streaming from her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead ,she rose to her feet, and stormed back inside the dojo.
"That was not wise to ask..." a deep, yet soft voice spoke, and Kenji jolted as he realized Maru had sat down beside him.
"JEZUS!! Someone needs to put a friggin bell on you man!!! What do want, anyways?"
"You do not understand what we are..."
Mary began.
"No, I think I get the picture now... None of you seem to give a flip about people being killed, maybe that kid was right..."
"You...are...wrong!" Maru half-snarled, causing Kenji to snap out of his rant and actually look at the demon.
"None of them, have killed on purpose.. there are things you do not understand..."
'None have killed on purpose... what the heck does that mean???' "Then why don't you tell me Mr Oh-so-dark and mysterious!!"
Maru huff, irritated by the boy's harsh words, but he swallowed his pride. He knew Yumiko was hurt, and that only the one who had spoken such callous words could heal that injury.
"We are what is known as... 'pulse' children." He began, only to be cut off by another voice as Sunemia walked up the dojo stairs, her work helping to save the stragglers in the forest complete.
"You're telling him??" She asked skeptically, one hand planted on her hip, and Maru nodded. With a sigh, she sat down on Kenji's left, and spoke as well.
"Fine... yeah.. we're 'pulse' kids. Before ten years ago, being born with a pulse core meant death no matter who, or what you were. We were usually killed before we turn twelve, with Maru here being a rare exception... But then Master Genkai showed up. She spent most of her life developing a technique that could save us, and Yumi was the first kid she tested it on."
"She was five..." Maru added, watching the boy's face closely as he took in the information.
Kenji just listened with a scowl. He had no clue what a pulse was, or why it mattered, but he was determined to find out.
"When Yumi was five, her village was attacked. She tried to save them, but got knocked out, and the pulse activated when it happened... Mako's the one who found her. He talks about it sometimes when he drinks too much... Her 'pulse' had obliterated everything in the village, burned it, and everyone in it down to cinders before her unconscious body had even hit the ground..."
She paused as the boy paled, and Kenji felt like he was going to be sick again. "She... killed an entire village?"
Maru snarled, a sound that made Kenji fear he would piss himself, and he was afraid to look into the demon's eyes.
"She did not kill anyone! The pulse did! She is not to blame for that day!"
He growled in the boy's face. In truth, Yumiko was very dear to him. He viewed her and Sunemia as beings to be treasured, protected at any cost. He would gladly kill the boy before allowing him to hurt her further.
"Calm down, Maru..." Suni murmured, placing a hand on the older boy's shoulder, then turned back to Kenji.
"The reason 'pulse' children were killed before their twelfth year, is because they cannot control the 'pulse'... at all..." she paused, her eyes closing before she spoke again.
"When my 'pulse' activated, I wiped out a small menagerie where I was being held captive.. forced to perform for wealthy demons. I had slipped, falling into the tank... when I woke up, the only thing left were shards of burnt, shattered glass, and the remains of the cages."
Kenji watched intently as the fish-demon spoke, and something twisted in his heart. There were several moments of silence before Maru continued.
"Mako found her kneeling in her mother's ashes... begging for the kitsune to come back... She couldn't remember what happened, most 'pulses' can't recall... Mako had been sent to destroy her, but learned of our master before he could deliver the blow... He risked his life so that we could live ours."
As he finished, Maru tilted his head towards Kenji.
"Why are you here, boy..."
There was such wisdom and depth to the fire-demon's eyes it was hard for Kenji to believe they were only a few years apart. He gulped at the question, and gazed down at his hands. For a moment, he just considered. In all honesty, he thought Yumiko was gorgeous as hell, and had been intending to ask her out after the tournament, but how could he after everything he had learned? These kids trained hard every day, just so they could protect themselves from judgemental assholes like him! He couldn't help but feel like he didn't deserve her. He hadn't even opened his mouth to respond yet, when Maru spoke again.
"You're right, you don't deserve her."
Both Kenji and Suni stared at him incredulously before Suni turned beat red!
"MARU!! You know you're not supposed to read people's minds!! Master said it's not allowed!!" She scolded, but he fixed her with a hard stare.
"I do not enjoy this game.. Sunemia... I do not wish to see her die so young... she will never have a true life if she bonds with a human... She'll-"
"ENOUGH!!" A shrill, furious voice made the boy clamp his jaws shut at once, and they turned their heads to the dojo's entrance.
Yumiko was standing in the doorway,
Her fiery hair lifting around her in an inferno, and her tail lashing side to side as she glared at her siblings, a snarl deep in her throat.
"To answer your extremely shitty question, I haven't killed anyone of my own accord, but that might change very soon!"
She took a single step forward, and Kenji flinched as Maru took a step back at the same time!
"I.... I spoke too much..." He stammered out, hands raising in front of him in a non-threatening manner.
"You spoke too bloody much!!!" She snarled again, and Kenji noticed little green needles floating all around her.
"LEAVE, MARU!" She snarled once more, and the boy flinched, disappearing in a puff of red smoke. As soon as he was gone, the needles dropped to the floor, her hair fell down her back, and her whole demeanor seemed to shift with the breath she exhaled.
"Sorry about that!" She said perhaps a bit too cheerily, her eyes closed as she faced Kenji and Suni, at least the spot where Suni had just been... To Kenji's shock, the girl had disappeared too, leaving him alone to face the kitsune he had so grievously offended not long before.
"Those two's mouths are bigger than their brains sometimes! Anyways, your friend is about to fight, so I thought you might want to come in and watch it!"
He blinked several times, baffled by the girl's behavior. She didn't say a word about what he had asked, nor what she had overheard. In fact, she was acting like nothing had happened at all! He took a breath to steady himself, then walked back inside, only to gasp at what he felt, rather than saw.
Of the eight competitors, only five remained. He could sense two corpses out in the darkness, and released another shudder.
"Ey, Kenji! Glad you didn't miss my fight!" Uremeshi called to him as the doors slammed shut once more.
"Next match is Getsuno vs Dimwit!"
Genkai's voice cut through the darkness.
"Heheh, I think that's you!" The carrot-top called with a grin.
"And here I thought my name was Yusuke!" The green jacket boy said with a laugh.
Kenji blinked, watching the boys as they acted so nonchalant over the bodies in the room. Two people had been killed, and one had been injured badly, yet the two boys seemed oddly at peace. In fact, even as the match was set to begin, Uremeshi made no move towards the center, instead looking as though he were asleep on his feet. Finally, Getsuno smirked.
"Have you decided not to fight?"
"Ah, oh no... I was just praying for your soul!" The boy finally said with a smirk.
Yumiko had to bite her lip to stop from giggling as she saw her master shaking slightly, knowing full well the old woman's patience had ran out. The old psychic growled slightly before chucking her cigarette at him!
"Hnnnnn, MORON!!! Anymore delay, and I'll take it as a forfeit!!"
Dimwit dodged the cigarette, making a few more snide remarks, then finally made his way into the center of the room to fight. Beside her, Yumiko could sense Kenji's unrest, and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. 'Maybe this was a mistake...' She thought, not really paying attention to the fight.
She truly wanted the boy to have this experience, but perhaps it had been too soon. She never would have imagined a fighter giving his life in the competition would bother him so badly... Not only that, but the threat of the spirit detective's mission was still here. She glanced across the room to where the monk and boy still stood, then back to the fight.
The man Uremeshi fought was clever sure, but otherwise rather unskilled, relying on cheap tricks to win. From what she knew of Rando, he preferred using a menagerie of tricks from the psychics he had killed to fight with.
Glancing back at Genkai, she felt a throb of sorrow in her heart. 'It's not fair! Why won't Genkai just let us get rid of him? How can she expect us to train with someone who we all know will kill her in the end if he wins??' She turned her attention back to the young detective, and sent out a silent plea. 'Come on Yusuke... you have to win...'
[A/N: short chapter this time! Depending on how much I get done this week, I might upload the next chapter early to make up for it.
Kenji has received a rude wake up call to the vast differences in his life, and that of his friends. Being the only one who seems heavily bothered by the circumstances, he's beginning to second guess his choices, and so it seems, is Yumi! See you next time!]