All For the Love of You
chapter 15
by Manille
"Misako, stop it!"
"Shut up, Saikaku!!!"
I didn’t tear my eyes off Ashiga and her stupid dyed hair. My finger was already glowing, bursting with energy, pulsating with life—
Someone pushed me aground. Saikaku! "What the—"
"Misako, don’t spoil the plan!" Koenma whispered sternly.
Oh, right.
The plan.
That plan we cooked up back in the Reikai.
I stood up, shaking the dust off me.
This dimension was the one where Toosan was kidnapped. There still was the orange sky and the land that looked as if we were in the era of the dinosaurs. How could Ashiga live in this place?
"Well, I see you’re all in here for good measure," Ashiga said, smiling sweetly. I hated her. Why did she have to be so beautiful? Why did someone so beautiful could be so evil? As she stood on that boulder, her hands on her hips, a slim leg advanced like a professional model, her hair flying in the direction of the wind, she looked more like a superwoman who was there to save us from evil spirits.
Looks can be deceiving.
Very true. Very damned true.
"Why does it seem as if you can’t defeat me in a one-on-one?" Ashiga continued, smirking. "How many of you are here? Six? You are afraid, aren’t you?"
"Hn. Who’s afraid of a woman like you?" I heard Hiei-san comment with his hands folded across his chest.
Ashiga’s eyes narrowed. "You’ll see, Hiei, what I mean."
"Ashiga, tell us where Yusuke is," Kazuma-san told her, his voice hard.
"Why should I?" Ashiga told us. "If I didn’t tell Yusuke that I poisoned Keiko a long time ago, things would have been very different. And I’m not about to make the same mistake again."
What?!
Kaasan…poisoned?
Kaasan knew this woman?
My vision of Ashiga seemed to swim right before my eyes. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"Just like what I’m trying to say. I tried to kill your mother. If my tongue had shut up, you wouldn’t be here right now."
My teeth ground together as my hands balled into fists. "Where did you put my Toosan?!" I demanded. "WHERE?!"
"Even if I tell you, it’s worthless," Ashiga snarled. Then, an evil grin spread across her face. A grin that made my heart freeze.
Something was terribly wrong.
"Why?" I said in a half-whisper.
Her eyes narrowed at me, but her smile didn’t waver. She seemed so delighted to tell me.
Tell me what?
Hours seemed to pass before she told me.
And as she said it, my world shattered.
"I killed him."
"I killed him."
"I killed him."
Time seemed to come to a halt.
The face of my father appeared before my eyes—his happy face, the one that always made me laugh, the face of the man I looked up to ever since my birth. He was my hero to the world. Those eyes looked down on me affectionately, like I was his most treasured possession, and I knew from the bottom of my heart that I was. He always held my hand as we went with Kaasan to the City Park, to the shopping mall, to the zoo, to school, or wherever. And those same soft, warm hands assured me whenever I felt scared or hopeless.
My father smiled at me. Then he turned around. Little by little, he disappeared before my eyes.
And Ashiga killed him.
"No." The voice wasn’t mine. It came from me, but I didn’t hear it. I didn’t feel myself fall to the ground. I didn’t feel Saikaku catch me.
I felt numb. Voices entered my ears but failed to register in my mind.
"We don’t believe you."
"You’re just scaring the hell out of Misako."
"So what if I do? I was just trying to tell her the truth, not like when all of you kept quiet to her about your Reikai tantei job years ago."
"That’s in the past now. We didn’t have to tell her if she didn’t inherit Yusuke’s powers."
"But she did!"
Silence.
The Ashiga spoke up again. "Now since you’re here, I’ve prepared a small welcome party for you."
The ground began to shake. Rumbling sounds filled the air.
"Kuso," Saikaku muttered.
"Guys…you know what to do." It was Koenma.
Someone shook me. "Misako, they’re here."
Who are?
I felt too numb to care.
"Misako…."
Toosan.
The bitch killed Toosan.
But why?
No matter how hard I thought, nothing came into my mind. All I knew was that he’s dead.
I was in shock. For real. I couldn’t move, couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t feel.
"MISAKO!!!"
Saikaku gathered me in his arms and jumped away as a powerful force hit the ground where I had been lying. He leapt again and again until he found a protective—quite—place for us.
No. I didn’t know what was happening.
Except that Toosan was dead.
Dead!
"Misako!!!" Sharp pain hit my cheeks, but I didn’t notice. "Misako, snap out of it!"
"S-Saikaku…" A faint whine escaped my throat. Then I tasted my own salty tears. "H-he’s dead."
"Misako, don’t tell me you believe that woman!" Saikaku was going hysterical. "Your father is not dead!"
I clutched his arms and grasped them tightly, my nails digging on his skin. "He’s dead," I repeated.
Toosan is dead. All the efforts I made to save him—those three days and nights of training, giving up my normal life just to be a tantei, just to save him—were wasted. We were too late. Too late to save him—too late to get him out of Ashiga’s dimension alive.
And defeating Ashiga was worthless. He’s gone—and even Ashiga’s life couldn’t repay him.
What would Kaasan say?
She didn’t even know that we were here, in Ashiga’s dimension.
What would I tell her when I get back? That we tried to save Toosan, but he’s dead long before we came?
"Listen to me, Misako!" Saikaku shook me violently by my shoulders. "Your father is not dead! Yusuke-san is not dead!!!" He scowled at me, angrily, for crying at that moment when we were in dire straits, when we should be fighting.
"But…but…."
"MISAKO!!! Damn it, are you going to waste everything by crying here and not do something about your father? He’s alive, Misako!!!"
Something snapped in my head. I blinked lots of times, and for the first time in minutes, I saw Saikaku’s face clearly. He seemed so enraged—with me. His usually sympathetic eyes were now icy, colder than anything I had ever seen from him.
We should be fighting.
My own brown eyes enflamed with rage that suddenly burned inside myself. My body grew rigid, but with wrath, and not with fear. Every ounce of energy in my body suddenly seemed to collect in one place—my fist—and it was aching, aching with my desire to….
To what?
I myself didn’t know.
But as I heard that low growl, much like that of a lion, I didn’t feel fear. Not one pinch of fear. With my eyes wide and flaming, I looked behind me.
It was a monster—and one hell of it. It roared like a lion, but was more like a combination of a wolf and a tiger. It was a good twenty feet taller than Saikaku and I. Its white glinting fangs complimented its wolf-like mouth; its yellow body was striped in black and brown; and top it all off with two sharp horns.
"One of Ashiga’s creatures," Saikaku told me.
I was ready.
Ready as ever.
I stood up. Then all the fury in my being suddenly seemed to explode in one single powerful nuclear fission.
"F***ing s**t!!!" I howled at the tip of my lungs as I lunged forward, my glowing fist high in the air.
It also bounded for me, but I knew that in that one heck of a monster’s body, a peanut-sized brain existed.
I continued to dash for him. I was a meter close when I leapt upward, avoiding the claws that almost slashed my body.
It didn’t see me jump up. I was too fast, thanks to Shuichi-san’s training.
There. I was near his chest.
"REI GAAAN!!!" I hollered as the ball of light on my fist heightened in brightness. I aimed straight at the creature’s chest and released the fireball.
I flipped backward to land beside Saikaku. As I landed on hard ground on my feet, I saw the creature fall backwards. As he made contact with the ground, the earth shook.
Oh, right. I wasn’t on the Ningenkai anymore.
But was it over?
"Damn it, he wasn’t hurt one bit!" I heard Saikaku yell. Yes, it was standing up, seemingly unhurt.
Its lips seemed to curve upwards when he saw our astonished look. Then he growled, another land-shaking deep-throated growl.
"Misako, you know what to do!"
I suddenly realized that I was fighting side by side with Saikaku. Suddenly, my head cleared. Right, we had a plan!
We knew from the beginning that Ashiga has three of these creatures. And since among the six of us—Koenma-san, Shuichi-san, Hiei-san, Kazuma-san, Saikaku and I—three have ki, we were grouped into three to defeat each creature. Hiei-san and Kazuma-san were together and Koenma-san and Shuichi-san were fighting another. And here we were, Saikaku and I, fighting what was apparently the weakest of them.
I threw a glance at Saikaku. I held a hand out. "Let’s kill this monster!" I gnarled.
Saikaku slapped my hand. "Sure we will!"
Saikaku and I waited until it came very near us. I felt a drop of sweat fall down my cheek. I glanced again at Saikaku. He was concentrating very hard. His feet were digging on the soil beneath him and his fingers were wiggling over his katana that was strapped on his belt.
Yep, a katana that Hiei-san gave to him.
I focused on the monster again.
Now!
I dashed between the monster’s legs and before long, I was on the other side, behind him. I watched Saikaku leap up and pull his katana. He slashed here and there, trying to put every part of his body into bits. He was getting good at it. Very good, in fact.
I aimed my rei gan towards the monster. I almost released it, but as Saikaku landed beside me, the monster still didn’t seem hurt.
I threw my hands away. "He doesn’t even seem wounded, Saikaku!"
"I had slashed every inch of my way on that beast!" Saikaku protested.
It was lunging forward again.
"Let’s do it again!" I yelled.
"Right!"
Saikaku bounded the creature, but it was too quick for him. A big clawed hand sliced the air, where I knew Saikaku was.
I swallowed.
I saw Saikaku being thrown to the ground. A boulder smashed to bits as he did.
"Saikaku!!!" I shouted.
Amidst the dust, I saw Saikaku’s limp body struggling to sit up. His mouth opened, and with a choking sound, blood spurted out of it.
"Damn it!" I muttered under my breath. The beast was nearing me. As his hand went over me, I jumped out and flipped backwards.
I didn’t saw his other hand going towards me. I just felt the heavy hand throw me into the air, putting me off-balance until I couldn’t land on the ground anymore on my feet. I was rushing towards a boulder headfirst.
Gritting my teeth as I awaited the pain that would shoot through me, I crossed my arms over my head and face.
I could feel my bones crunching as I collided on the rock. My arms were almost limp; I felt as if they were shattered to pieces. My breath was forced out of my lungs, and I couldn’t almost inhale again with the ache that pressed on every muscle of my body. My fangs tore open the flesh inside my mouth, and I could taste the metallic tang of my own blood.
"MISAKO!!!" Saikaku shouted in the background.
My blood trickled out of my lips. I wiped it away with my arm angrily and turned my gaze at Ashiga’s beast.
I held my arm out—but suddenly held them back. I couldn’t move them. I was fractured on both arms.
Well, at least my head wasn’t hurt.
Damn it.
I saw that Saikaku also couldn’t stand up. We were both helpless.
For the first time since I threw the first blast at this monster, I felt horror.
Then Saikaku stood up, holding his left side. He looked at me first. "Misako…wait there," he said. "Rest for a few moments."
The fierce blue eyes suddenly seemed to soften...to fill with tears. No! He wasn’t crying! He was still looking at me fiercely, his hand firmly gripping the handle of his katana.
Then he did it again. Suddenly, the background seemed to fade, until it was Saikaku against a blue background, the color of his eyes.
He smiled—wanly, as if to say goodbye.
I blinked once. He was still there, looking at me fiercely.
A cold wind seemed to blow, sending shivers all over me.
It was a premonition.
No.
"SAIKAKU, NO!!!"
But he had already leapt up—high. Very high up, above the beast’s head. I didn’t see him as he jumped up.
Then the beast opened his mouth, showing off its sharp, deadly fangs.
And snapped them close.
And I saw the katana fall to the ground, its pointed tip stabbing the soil.