All For the Love of You
chapter 16
by Manille
It’s Saikaku. He looks over to my shoulder, his young face gazing curiously at my writing.
Then it’s him, putting an arm over my shoulder.
Saikaku pinching my cheeks.
Saikaku pulling my hair.
Saikaku putting his tongue out at me.
Saikaku smiling.
Saikaku pushing me on a swing.
Saikaku’s friendly eyes turning into a loving gaze.
Saikaku singing to me as I look out of my window.
Saikaku kissing me.
Saikaku caressing my back, comforting me.
Saikaku’s angry look.
Saikaku saying goodbye.
A loud thump. I snapped out of it.
A limp figure fell onto the ground, just beside the katana. There were piercing all over his body. His body was drenched with bright red blood. His face was hidden in the dust.
He didn’t move.
This was the work of the weakest of Ashiga’s creatures. The weakest of them all!
I was supposed to be a Reikai tantei! But where was I? Where were the others to help us?
I was supposed to be the tantei! I was supposed to be the one with the rei gan! I was supposed to be the more powerful one! I was supposed to be the one to make the first move to kill that beast! I was supposed to be the one to die!!!
"S-Saikaku?"
I crawled on all fours. My arms suddenly seemed to gain strength. I crawled to Saikaku.
I picked his head up and put it on my lap.
His eyes were closed. His lips were slightly ajar. Blood was coming out of them.
Blood was everywhere.
Deep incisions were all over his body. One was driven straight in the middle of his chest.
It felt as if he was growing colder and colder.
"S-Saikaku? It’s me. Hey…." I shook him lightly. I took his hand and felt for a pulse on his wrist.
None.
I tried the other one, but still none.
Tears welled up in my eyes. "Saikaku…no…."
He’s dead.
That’s for sure now.
And I felt my heart shatter to pieces.
"NOOO!!!"
The tears were overflowing now. Saikaku’s gone. And…he won’t ever open those beautiful, enchanting eyes of his.
A growl. That f***ing growl again.
I’m going to kill you, I thought, fuming.
I’m going to kill you.
After Toosan—this. Saikaku.
I had lost two important persons in my life.
Thanks to Ashiga.
But I had to deal with this idiot of a creature first, for brutally killing my Saikaku.
I stood up. I reached for the katana and gripped his handle tightly.
I parted my legs. I was ready. One slash and the beast is dead. One slash—and one rei gan.
I leapt to the sky when it lunged forward. I waved the sword high up in the air as I came down.
Suddenly, I felt his claws dig onto my back. He scratched it slowly, like a cat’s scratch, but it was a lot more painful than that. I yelped in pain. I moved out of his grasp, up there in the sky, but my sudden movement made me suffer the wounds in my back even more.
But if I hadn’t moved, I’d have suffered the pain Saikaku did.
But maybe he didn’t even have enough time to endure it. He might have died before feeling his teeth dig into his body.
But I had no time to think.
I had a job to finish.
Ignoring the pain, I rested my feet on the beast’s shoulder. I pivoted around and pushed myself upward again, in front of the beast. I was quick, I moved with the fastness of lightning, that no monster could ever see me.
I grunted as I landed on its broad chest. I inhaled deeply, for I was ready for the kill.
No regrets. I didn’t care if Koenma would punish me for this.
I plunged the katana deep into the creature’s chest without him even seeing it. A burst of blood spurted out, and I knew that I aimed at the right spot.
I pushed the katana deeper. The beast gave a loud, ear-deafening growl that made even me shudder. But I didn’t care. I had to finish this.
I twisted the katana. And sliced the chest upward. It gave another growl, this time almost pleading.
But I felt powerful, invincible, cruel, merciless. I pulled the katana away and threw it to the ground. I was still standing on its chest—strangely, I hadn’t fallen off yet.
And for the finale.
A burst of ki shot to my fist, then on to my index finger. Before the rei gan enlarged, I thrust my finger into the incision I made in his heart. I felt the soft internals of its chest, disgusting and horrible, but still, I didn’t give a damn.
"REI GAAAN!!!"
The blast pushed me off the monster’s body. My hands were now covered with blood—Saikaku’s and the monster’s.
As I remembered Saikaku, I felt pain rush throughout my body. Again, my arms felt limp, and I felt the wounds in my back again. I had finished the last of my rei ki—and even my physical energy was drained. My knees buckled and I fell facedown to the ground, and I didn’t even have enough energy left to witness what had happened to the beast.
All I heard was an explosion.
The breath came out of me with a whoosh.
Then I became aware of something soft, where I had laid down.
Saikaku’s body.
I was on top of him. I painfully opened my eyes…and saw his lips, which were already white. White as death.
I won’t feel those lips again on mine, I realized.
But not if I couldn’t help it.
With what remained of my strength, I pressed my lips onto his blood-coated ones.
Cold. It sent shivers all over me.
My own tears fell on Saikaku’s face. He wouldn’t even feel my lips. No, he wouldn’t feel anything from me anymore.
"Saikaku…." I lay my head on his chest.
And closed my eyes.
I was ready to die.
The agonizing pain on my back woke me up. My wounds seemed to slice open, as if a knife cut them again.
"Ouch," I whined. It was unbearable.
"Wake up, Urameshi Misako. Wake up!!!"
The female voice was cold and demanding. Slowly, I opened my eyes, gritting my teeth.
Ashiga.
And I remembered all that had happened.
Those who died. Toosan. Saikaku. And the beast I killed brutally.
Ashiga was holding Saikaku’s katana. She had used it to cut my back wounds even deeper.
I sighed. "Are you happy now?" I asked in a small voice.
"No. You killed my pet."
"It killed Saikaku."
"You have to pay for what you had done to my pet."
I was sorry. I really was. I was out of my mind when I killed the beast.
I wanted to get out of the dimension clean and clear, without having killed anyone. But I had done it. I had killed a beast, and even if it was the ugliest thing in the world, I killed it.
I was a murderer.
"Then kill me if that makes you feel better," I told Ashiga.
Again, Ashiga touched my wounds with the katana, slowly and softly. And that made the pain even worse.
"You are not going to make this easy for me, are you?" I asked, squirming with pain.
"Of course not. You killed my pet. Your mother took Yusuke away from me. And now there you are! And you still have another sibling coming!"
"I don’t believe you. You were the one taking Toosan away from my kaasan."
"Oh, is that so, huh?" I screamed when Ashiga slashed my back with the katana. By now, I was crying with agony.
Why can’t she just kill me? "Just kill me, okay? What the hell are you waiting for?!" I cried, lying on my back, but keeping a hand on Saikaku’s body. His dead body.
"Kill me!!!" I screamed at her, heaving my chest forward. My voice was so hoarse that I almost couldn’t speak out loud. "It’s all you ever wanted! Come on, plunge that katana deep into my chest!"
I choked back the last words. I never knew I could be this helpless. I cried hopelessly, waiting for the time….
"But please…" I added, softly, pleadingly. "Leave my Kaasan alone. She…she didn’t do anything."
Ashiga’s face didn’t even waver. She kept that hard stare on me, that katana ready to rush into my body.
I only had to pray for Kaasan.
There was a blast in the mountain behind Ashiga. It must be the others fighting with Ashiga’s two other beasts.
"COME ON!!!" I demanded. "I’m ready!"
I saw Ashiga cut through the air with the katana. She slashed at my cheek.
That was all. A wound on my cheek.
"FINISH ME OFF!!!" I cried.
In the dust that came from the mountain, I saw the shadow of a figure standing up.
He looked very familiar.
When the dust cleared off, I saw him. Tall and muscular. Black hair.
Toosan. He saw us, and for a moment, our eyes met.
He’s alive.
He’s alive!
I wanted to scream with delight, but I kept my eyes on Ashiga. Who knows what she’d do to us if she finds out about Toosan.
I didn’t let Ashiga’s piercing green eyes notice that I was looking at something behind her. But I saw him. Toosan pointed his index finger at Ashiga and aimed.
No.
He couldn’t fire his rei gan.
He’d die!
No!!!
I widened my eyes when I saw that Toosan’s rei gan was as big as himself. This time, Ashiga noticed.
But she was too late. The big blast of ki hit her back, throwing her forward, past Saikaku and me, to a big cliff.
Where she was thrown to, after a few seconds, remained a crater.
But I knew she wasn’t dead. Just…beaten.
Finally.
She was over.
I didn’t know how I managed to stand up and run to Toosan. He wasn’t standing anymore.
I thought he was dead. Now I couldn’t let him die.
Kaasan was still lying on the hospital bed. And Kaasan needed Toosan.
Kazuma-san had told me back in the Reikai about channeling my energy into someone’s body through my hands. He said that he once did it to Toosan when he was as good as dead. But Kazuma-san added that it could be very dangerous.
It could mean my death if I tried it.
But I had to do it. Kaasan needed Toosan.
I first put my ears on Toosan’s chest. His heart was beating, fast yet weak, but still beating.
I sat up and put my hands on top of his chest. With the remainder of my energy—and there was not much of it—I concentrated.
I felt my energy flow from my body to Toosan. I also felt my body growing weaker and weaker.
Until it was all I could channel.
With a self-satisfied smile, but a bitter one, I breathed deeply, and saw everything around me spin, then blacken.
The last image I saw before I blacked out was Saikaku’s face, smiling down at me