User blog:Carol of the bells/Days of Ruin --- Zen's exile, part 56

Days of Ruin --- Zen's exile, part 56
News of Yukino's death overcame the Samui household with despair.

Hisagi walked down the corridor, stricken with grief.

But he was not going to mourn.

He opened the secret wall, descended the stairway, and pricked his finger on the lock. The doors rumbled open. He stepped inside and closed the doors behind him. He would not be coming out for a while.

Turning to the room, he saw his wife's body sitting upright on the floor, facing the gate on the other end of the room.

She turned to him, smiling. "Come to pay your respects, have you?" She stood, facing him fully. "Tell me, are you perhaps a descendant of that Samui brat who locked me up all those years ago?"

Hisagi narrowed his eyes. "Tell me who you are, filth."

She frowned. "You mean you don't know?"

"You were not the prisoner I was told to guard."

She paused, then laughed. "Ah, I suppose you mean...her. My 'cell mate', if you will." Yukino laughed again, covering her mouth with her hand. "How ironic. Your ancestors believed her to be more dangerous," She spread her arms, motioning to herself, "Yet I am the one who escaped! Ha!"

His shadow thrashed beneath him impatiently. "If you will not answer me, then I will be rid of you."

Her laughter died down as her smile turned into a sickened grin. "Oh? You want to fight? How unfair. I just got this body." She shrugged. "But I learn best under pressure." She snapped her fingers. Crystal shards materialized around them, forming a ring around them.

Hisagi dashed forward, his shadow rising up and lashing out from both sides. Yukino dodged one attack and blocked the other with a wall of crystal, countering with her own attack. Hisagi ducked, striking up. She blocked.

The two battled fiercely. Despite what the demon had claimed, he was fighting quite proficiently with Yukino's abilities. Hisagi was capable of holding his own, but the circumstances were distracting.

Yukino laughed wildly as she weaved in and out of his attacks. "You're quite skilled! Maybe I chose the wrong vessel, huh?!" her hand shot out, and four of the crystals circling overhead left their orbit and dove towards Hisagi. They planted themselves into his shadow as it raised itself in defense.

"You're a very interesting opponent," She chuckled, "Tell me your name."

He stared for a moment. "Hisagi...Samui."

She frowned slightly. "So you are a kid of that brat's, huh...? One more question...who is this--" the demon gestured to Yukino, "--to you?"

He grit his teeth. He opted for another attack, instead of answering, drawing his shadow back before plunging it towards her. She dodged and parried, drawing blood from his arm. "What's this?" She laughed, "You're distracted, Hisagi? Could this be someone precious?"

Hisagi didn't respond, breathing hard and holding his wound.

"A good friend? A cousin? Your daughter?"

"Your wife?"

His eyes widened in rage as the demon spoke. He spread his arms, then brought them together in a clap. "Shadow Ressurection!"

Yukino's shadow suddenly twitched and came to life, rising up and taking a hold of her throat. She struggled and choked against it's hold. Her green eyes made contact with Hisagi's. "H-Hisagi...!" She gasped.

He froze.

"P-please....don't kill me...!" She pleaded, eyes brimming with tears.

Caught off guard, the shadow Hisagi had taken control of loosened it's grip.

Yukino's blood-stained mouth twisted into a malicious grin. Crystals spawned from her body in all directions, bursting with light energy. The shadow dissipated, and Hisagi was blown back, tumbling over the ground with a grunt. "Hahaha! So this is your wife! How tragic." She walked over to where he lay. "She's quite formiddable, don't you think?" She pressed her foot against his chest and leaned on it. He coughed, grabbing at her ankle. "It's too bad she's all beat up--I wouldn't mind using this as a vessel for a while...

Hisagi jerked her ankle, throwing her off balance. He rolled away as she cried out, falling to the ground. His shadows struck out at her, and she blocked with crystals.

"A little stubborn, are we?" She growled, scrambling back up to her feet. Raising her hands, she created a pulsating wave of crystal projections. Hisagi lept up, but was unable to completely avoid the attack as they cut into his leg. He hissed in pain, landing on his feet and stumbling before regaining his balance.

"Try not to hurt yourself," The demon cooed mockingly, "I might need another vessel when this fight is over."

Hisgai felt his mouth twitch into a smirk. "Then maybe I'll just make sure you can't use either of us." With that comment, he turned his shadow on himself, driving it through his chest. He coughed violently as blood dripped from his mouth.

"No!" The demon lept forward, hand outstretched to stop him. However, once it came too close for retreat, his shadow shot up and peirced Yukino's body. She gasped in shock, blood dripping.

"S-so..." Hisagi panted, "You may be dead...but you still bleed."

The demon could only scowl as it tried to stay upright, only to crumble to the ground in an unmoving heap.

Hisagi fell onto his back, exhausted.

"Sorry, Yukino," He whispered into the darkness as his conciousness began to steal away. "...I hope you're better off in the after life...than you were with me...."



For a long moment, the room was silent. The two bodies lay motionless on the stone floor, surrounded by the debris of their battle. Then, suddenly, the two corpses eminated a strange purple glow. The light left Yukino's body first, followed by Hisagi shortly after.

Suddenly, the body twitched. Then it convulsed, gasping and coughing. It sat up, slowly. "...Good grief," The demon spoke through Hisagi's voice. "I almost didn't make it. He took way too long to die..." He inspected his wounds and clicked his tongue. "He really beat himelf up...Maybe I should have used the illusions right away." He shrugged. "At any rate, I need to stay down here for a while....though I doubt that'll be enough to hide the damage."

And so, he stayed in the basement of the Samui mansion for three days. During this time, he removed evidence of the battle. Now that the boy and that girl knew about this place, he had no doubt there would be people coming here in the future.

"This one stain won't come out..." He muttered, staring down at the large stain of blood in the center of the room. "Oh well." He stretched and gave a yawn. "It's about time for me to get going." He began walking towards the door. He stopped as he began to open it, turning his head to look at the gate behind him with a smirk. "Sorry, but looks like I'll be getting out first. Heh, I promise to come visit."

Be gone, scum. The voice from the gate drifted across the room.

He grinned darkly. "That's exactly what I planned on doing."

He walked up the stairs, and activated the hidden wall. However, to his surprise, waiting on the other side was a boy with white hair and green eyes, looking up at him with surprise.

On instict, Hisagi's shadow prepared to attack.

"Father?" The boy said, "Y-you've been down there for three days...." Haku tried to get a better look at his father, but he was hidden by the darkness.

The demon stopped. This was...one of Hisagi's sons? He didn't know this brat's name. He forced a smile. "I was...taking care of something.....son..."

"Are you o....kay....?" Haku trailed off as his father stepped out of the shadows. He gasped, horrified. His father was covered in blood, and the remains of a horrible wound marred his stomach. "Y-you're hurt! You need a healer!" He took several steps towards him, then stopped. "What...what happened?"

Hisagi closed the distance between them and patted the boy's head lightly. "Hm. I was just paying your mother some respect, son." He smiled again. "Don't worry about it." He walked away, leaving a very frightened and confused Haku.

I'll have to be careful and find out what their names are, The demon thought to himself. ''I supposed I could tell them who I am...after all, children are no threat to me....No, that's no good. I need one of them to be my new vessel. I'll have to train them up a little, though....Just when I thought I could get out of this wretched place. Hmph, no matter...''

...'I'll wait as long as I need to.



Aaaand that's why--even though it was already a Samui trait to be as strong as possible--"Hisagi" was pretty much obsessed with his "children" becoming stronger.