Aya glanced over at Hikari, but otherwise it seemed her confession had done nothing. Nothing. She was tired of doing nothing.
She tried to stand again, but fell. A buzzing was filling the cave, slowly. Something was going to happen. She screamed into the sound and stood. Stayed standing.
And walked over to the demon, her greatest fear.
"Tsugu!" she screamed, louder than she ever had before. The buzzing was a roar now, but she was louder. She was more powerful. More powerful than ever.
Without knowing what she was doing, she raised a had to the demon. "Begone!" her voice echoed through the cave. A light erupted around the girl. But Hikari wasn't scared. Never again would she be scared.
A screech than mimicked that of a dying demon joined the buzz that dominated the room. Maybe it was a dying demon. But Hikari was unfazed. She would never be helpless again. Never. Never . . .
A haze filled her vision, and she blacked out, as she knew she would.
~~~
The Sureiyazu rushed over to Hikari, who lay still on the ground.
"She can't be . . ." Aya said, frantically checking for a heartbeat and finding that there was none.
Yuri started wailing. Kasai turned from the group, and tried to pretend she didn't have tears streaming down her cheeks.
Aya wiped her own eyes before laying down the body of their deceased friend. Hikari had used all her spiritual energy to save them.
"She needs a grand burial," Aya told her two remaining companions. "One to match the great deed she has done for us." She couldn't help herself, and started sobbing silently.
~~~
She woke to the Sureiyazu crying. It was something she never thought she would see.
But then she saw her body lying beside them. Or rather, her previous body.
She smiled to herself. "There's no need to cry," she said.
Aya wiped her eyes and came over to her. "Akuma," Aya said. "You were possessed by a demon. But you were saved by our friend. If she were still here, I would say you owe her her life." Tears welled up in Aya's eyes again.
"I am her," said Hikari. But she wasn't Hikari any more. She was finally Akuma, once again. "I am the soul of Akuma. I only borrowed Hikari's body." When she said it, what she had done sounded more evil than it had really been.
"Perhaps . . ." said Aya, sniffling, "if you tell us the whole story, we'll understand." She smiled - or tried to.
It wasn't something Akuma liked to share - her life story.
***
A young Akuma stands in her home, crying. Her parents scowl at her.
"How could you, Akuma?" her mother scolds. "Are you trying to ruin us? Giving your apple to a beggar when we ourselves have no money to buy food?!"
Her father raises his hand and slaps Akuma across her face. She tries not to cry at the pain.
---
Akuma is in her room, a few years later. She hears a voice.
"Akuma . ."
"Who is it?" she asks.
"I'm your friend. Don't worry."
"Who?"
"I am Tsugu. I like you. Can we be friends?"
Akuma considers. She doesn't have many friends. "Sure!"
---
Akuma is older, standing in front of her parents. Her voice is too deep and her eyes too dark.
"How dare you treat me like this?" she shouts. "You can't control me!"
***
Akuma broke down, trying to tell the story. Aya put her hand on her shoulder Kasai did the same. Yuri grinned.
"I didn't know it at the time," Akuma confessed. "But he was feeding off my negative feelings. And I liked it. The more I hated, the more power he gained. So when I finally realized it, he was too strong. And kept feeding off the fear I had for him. I couldn't do anything."
***
Akuma clutches her head, standing near a cave, and screeches.
"I won't do anything for you!" she screams. The voice inside her head argues.
"Don't defy me! Don't you like having power? No one can deny you anything!"
"You're controlling me! You're the real enemy!" It takes too much power for her to keep fighting against the demon. She collapses, but soon stands up, and walks into the cave, laughing in a deep voice.
---
Akuma, several years older and about her current age, lays next to the same cave.
"I don't want this anymore," she says hoarsely.
"Only one more thing," the voice says.
"Please," she argues. "I don't want to live like this."
"No?" says the demon. "Then don't!"
***
Akuma shivered as she finished this part of the story. It brought back too many memories that she had been trying to forget for the past years as Hikari. But she hadn't finished yet.
She took a shaky breath. "I was forced out of my own body and wandered the earth as a spirit. Luckily, I met a Spirit Seer named Hikari."
***
A girl with black hair smiles sadly at the spirit of Akuma. One of her eyes has lines across her iris, almost like a cage.
"That's such a sad story," says Hikari.
"If I could go back and slay that demon, I would," says Akuma bitterly.
"Maybe you can," Hikari thinks out loud.
"Really?" asks Akuma. "How?"
"You can take my body," says Hikari. Akuma's jaw drops.
"No, I couldn't do that," she says finally.
"You're sure?" asks Hikari. "I could just take my body back when you're done. I'm willing to do this for a friend."
Akuma hasn't ever had many friends. "If you're sure," she says, thinking of how she will at last get revenge on Tsugu at last.
"I'm very sure," Hikari confirms.
"Will I be able to see spirits, like you?" asks Akuma.
Hikari shakes her head. "They say that the ability to see through worlds is in your soul. It doesn't matter what body you have."
"So I won't be able to see spirits, but when I'm done borrowing your body, you will again."
"Right."
"Okay, it's a deal."
***
Akuma once again stopped, explanation complete. "She didn't have to do that," she wailed. "I was too set on my own goals to care about her. She was only seventeen." Akuma broke down in tears, but kept explaining. "She told me she would come back when I had slain the demon. But she's not here."
"Are you so sure of that?" asked a familiar voice. Only Akuma look behind her to see who it was. The others must not have heard the spirit of Hikari speaking.
"Hikari!" she said. The Sureiyazu were confused. Who was she talking to?
The spirit of Akuma's friend smiled. "I'm back," she said. "I told you I would be."
Akuma looked at Hikari's body on the ground. "Go back," she said. "I have my revenge." The spirit shook her head.
"Go!" screamed Akuma while her friend only continued to shake her head. "Why won't you take your body back?!"
The spirit finally explained, "I can't. I have been a spirit too long. If I were to try, my very essence would be destroyed."
Akuma wasn't convinced. "No! No! You promised! Go back!"
Hikari smiled sadly. "I knew this might happen when I offered that you take my body."
"But . . ." Akuma said in disbelief. "If you knew, why did you let me take it? Why?"
"It's something I hope you come to understand in your lifetime," said Hikari vaguely. "Perhaps you'll find it with the Sureiyazu. It is friendship in its purest form." She smiled the smile that Akuma hated the most. The one that was entirely selfless. Hikari never thought of herself. She deserved a better fate. But because of her, Hikari would never live her life.
"Why couldn't I have been the one to have to stay a spirit? Why you? You don't deserve this," pleaded Akuma.
"Life is strange that way," said Hikari. "But don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Actually, you should probably worry about your friends over there." She giggled and nodded towards the Sureiyazu. "They look pretty confused. But that's just because they can't see spirits like you."
Akuma glanced behind her at the team of demonslayers, who were, in fact, very confused, but instantly regretted it. When she looked back to where Hikari had been, she was gone.
"Uh . . . what just happened?" asked Kasai.
Yuri smiled cheerfully and said, "What's wrong with your wacky eye?"
Akuma thought about what Hikari had said. They can't see spirits like you."I'm a . . . I'm a Spirit Seer."
"Wha-huh?" said Kasai.
"Silly," said Yuri.
Aya nodded. Akuma figured that was all she needed. If Aya understood, she didn't need to explain further.
"But where will I go now?" asked Akuma, staring at her hands. Her hands that were hers and only hers.
"Well," said Kasai slowly. "Considering you just saved our lives and everything, I think we owe you. Why don't you stay with us?"
Aya smiled. "That's exactly what I was going to say."
"Yay!" shrieked Yuri.
And it was settled.
"Uh . . ." Kasai interrupted the celebration. "Does anyone know the way out?"
After what they had just faced, being lost seemed like the least of their problems.
The Surieyazu laughed. Akuma just smiled.
"We'll figure it out," said Aya as she led the team out of the cavern.
"I love being lost!" shrieked Yuri, her voice echoing off the cave walls.
"Really?" asked Akuma.
"No."
The group laughed again, and this time Akuma joined in.
Akuma thought everything would be okay.
But she was wrong. Things would only get worse.