Alone in the darkness

[baby_prince]

Who: Naraku, Koenma, Kurama, and later the voice of God Yomi [Closed/done on Aim]
Where: Koenma's bedroom
When: Nighttime
What: Naraku comes for Koenma in the middle of the night. But in the end, both are mere pawns in a greater game controlled by Kurama and Yomi.
Rating: R. See warning.
Warning: There is explicit torture, violence, and death with lots of blood.
Note: Naraku is not killed but caught up in the barrier of Mafuukan and sealed unmoving for eternity. Koenma is dead and will return in a while.



If he planned to obtain Yomi's power, first he needed to obtain his trust. Even if it was not absolute, at least one which would allow him to approach to a dangerous level. Doing these small 'quests' was a must, for a hanyou like himself it was very simple. Wasps hovered around the manor, like sentinels assuring no one escaped from it. Clad in his snowy baboon pelt he approached to Koenma's room, appearing as if out of nowhere in his room. Awaiting for the reikai prince to enter. Yet the lights would not work.

Koenma had been wallowing in self-pity since Botan and Hiei had vanished. He didn't even have the energy to bother with the papers so he had been sitting around feeling sorry for himself and picking off the last of the cake in the fridge until he was tired enough to head to bed. With a heavy sigh, the prince headed towards his bedroom, sensing nothing as he opened the door and tried to turn on the light. "Stupid light..." he angrily grumbled, not really angry at it but he was irritated.

The weather had not been fair lately, with the oncoming winter and the hail, even the storms faintly lit the room with ominous lightnings. At the ashen light it was exposed the pale surface of the pelt. A face, contemplative, perverse, in silence. Standing between Koenma and the door.

Koenma gave a loud yelp at seeing someone...something else in his room. He had to be imagining things...yes that had to be it. Or else Kurama or Yomi had finally come for Mafuukan. "Who are you?!" the Reikai Prince demanded, trying to sound brave but it was a failed attempt.

"I did not mean to startle you, Koenma-sama." The hanyou started offering a dark grin revealed under the pelt. Mysteriously, the lock of the door reacted to his energy, closing itself tightly. Destroyed inside.

"I asked who you are!" Koenma stepped back though trying to be brave at the same time. He gulped at the door locking itself, trying to look around for an escape and his eyes fell upon the window. If there was anything Koenma was good at, it was running away.

"I am a humble servant, my name is Naraku." He replied calmly, only the eyes of his pelt glowed in a bloody crimson as he stepped into the light. "I sense your uneasiness ...and it is a shame that is the last feeling you will experience."

"Naraku...the other demon lord.." Koenma was very scared now. " I am not going down without a fight...and rest assured, if you challenge me, it will not be pleasant for you!" Koenma said, trying to warn the other away though he was not sure it would work, all the while inching towards the window.

"I am not here to challenge you, Prince. Since you could ever... represent a challenge to me." Naraku taunted. "I do not plan killing you, but I promise you will beg me...to end your life."

"I rule Hell, I don't think so," Koenma said, glaring at Naraku with a determined look. "I am not scared of death..." -he was just more scared of fighting and getting hurt. He inched closer to the window.

Behind Koenma, outside, numerous wasps droned. Vicious creatures, disgusting to sight almost leering at Koema with distorted bloody eyes. "Perhaps such was in your world, but you and I... have been both ripped from our worlds..." Naraku taunted.

Koenma looked out the window, eyes wide before looking at Naraku. Well, so much for that plan. He looked back at Naraku, eyes narrowed. "Are you willing to gamble on that?"

"I want to see what you are capable of, in a vast spectrum of situations." Naraku taunted with the natural cruelty of a predator. Yet so calm as if it was of little importance.

Koenma drew back one hand, an orb of gold spirit energy forming around one finger. He knew he could not win without using Mafuukan but he would still try since he couldn't run away.

He could sense the holy aura around Koenma's hand, if he had been a demon, it could have resulted troublesome. But what no one knew was that Naraku was part human. He was not inmune like Sensui, but it had advantages. "You want to fight... like a fly trapped in the web of a spider." Something feathery caressed Koenma's neck, if he reached for it, he would touch the body of a tarantula.

Koenma shuddered, trying not to lose his concentration. "I will sentence you to hell..." the prince said with a determined tone, bringing his hand around fast to send the blast of spiritual energy right at Naraku, clueless to the fact that the other was part human.

Yet it was none of those, but a puppet. The body was destroyed, falling at Koenma's feet as it disapeared. Once more he was left alone...in the darkness.

"That showed him," the prince thought he had won, looking smug then. But then another thought hit him. If Naraku was a demon lord like Yomi, he would have thought that it would have taken more to defeat him. But Koenma shrugged that off a moment later, he was too tired to think about it now and it appeared he was alone from what he could see.

The spider had vanished, just as Naraku's presence. Completely alone in that darkened room, in the pitch-black stormy night.

Koenma reached to turn on a lamp before flopping on the bed. He was shaken but he still had Mafuukan if it came down to that...it was not like he had a reason to be in this world without any of the others around in a fight he could not win with Yomi .

In the dark corner of the room, rested a black window, spinning a sticking web miticulously. Outside the wind howled like a hauting wail, mixed with snow and storm.

He noticed the black spider, and he picked up a piece of paper, crumpled it up and threw it hard at it before turning to look for his robe and trying not to think about scary demons lurking in the shadows.

The creature disappeared, probably crushed by the paper. Koenma was left alone in his room.

Victory! But Koenma was too tired and drained to really care as he changed into his robe but he decided to keep the lamp on. Sure, he was 700 years old or so but the darkness was kind of scary...

Several minutes passed in the same silent loneliness. He was awaiting for Koenma to lower his guard. Even the lamp's light started to flicker like a candle before darkness overcame.

Koenma closed his eyes, trying to drift off to sleep but he was still restless, rolling over a few times and pulling the blankets over his head.

Maroon eyes like the color of blood watched him silently, the same delight of a predator. That innocent mien surrounding him invited him to carry on the most cruel actions. Smirking to himself, he awaited for Koenma to fall asleep, no matter how long it took. He had patience.

Koenma eventually drifted off to sleep, hugging one of his pillows in a tight grasp, snoring softy. One foot stuck out of the blankets, lazily hanging off of the edge of the bed. But even in sleep, his teeth tightly bit down on Mafuukan.

The hanyou kept staring at him, for another hour, without hurry to act. He had to 'test Koenma's limits' according to the orders. There was no energy within the young ruler that could result troublesome. Something feathery, almost pleasat to touch started crawling up Koenma's calf.

But all Koenma did was snore, occasionally muttering something about a stupid ogre or lazy subordinates in his sleep. "I dun want to fight...that's what I hired you lazy bums to do, Yusuke..."

More spiders continued advancing into the bed. Everywhere. The more it took for him to awake, more spiders would disgustingly cover his bed.

Koenma did not wake right away but he slowly started to as he felt something crawling on him. "Huh, what-" he muttered as he opened his eyes which when wide at the sight of the spiders. "Get offfff!!!!" the prince freaked out then, jumping up to try to shake the spiders up, scared.

The creatures fell to the ground like pieces of flesh, melting into snakes. Soon he was surrounded by vcious black serpents with wicked green eyes.

"This is a nightmare, this has to be a nightmare," Koenma whimpered, pinching himself but all in vain. He looked around for something to fend off the snakes with and picked up a pillow and hurled it at the snake.

One of the creatures disappeared under the pillow, while another crawling sensation of legs spread through his back. He was alone yet the room seemed to be alive.

Koenma's eyes went wider as he shook his leg, trying to get whatever was crawling up his leg out, very scared now.

Something wrapped around his neck, wet with scales and slime. One could tell in the darkness it was the body of a serpent. While others bound their wrists in the same deranged fashion.

Koenma gasped, struggling and trying to get free. "Let...go..." he growled, shuddering.

"I wonder...if you are so naiive to believe that will happen." The taunting voice murred in the darkness.

"...Naraku?!" Koenma's eyes went wide. "But...I killed you..." he said slowly, stunned. "How..."

"Not even a scratch." The hanyou replied apathetically. "No one can save you now. You are alone... with me" The snakes conveyed an iron grip around his wrists and neck, binding him against the wall.

Koenma struggled, desperate now. His brown eyes held fear but determination to survive even if it was to sacrifice himself to save this pathetic world. "You won't get away with this..."

"You do not seem understand my motives..." A sly smirk crossed his expression. "I would like to see you attempt... perhaps you imagine I am here merely to kill you."

Koenma glared at Naraku, though he was scared he was not going to just give up. He wondered if Naraku knew about the spell in his pacifier but it would not be surprising if Yomi never mentioned it. "So you want to torture me..."

"No, not exactly. Let's say it is a small game where torture is the mere beginning." The figure covered in the white pelt appeared before him, in that same sitting possition. Concealing his eyes in shadows except for his impassive smirk.

"Mere...beginning?" the prince stared. "What are you going to do?!" he struggled against the binds, more anxious now.

"I was given orders..." He started, almost taunting Koenma, inviting him to guess and fathom the most hideous fate.

"From Yomi, I assume..." Koenma glared. If Naraku did not know about Mafuukan though, the prince was not going to tell him.

"No, Yomi does deal directly with pityful creatures, sinful creatures like you. He sent a subordinate ... to give me a task" He taunted again, still without moving.

"Kurama..." his head bowed, his eyes filled with pain. A once close friend, even if the other worked for him...it hurt. It really was hopeless then.....

"I suppose that was his name. I am not one who cares much for small details. However he gave me valuable information and an amusing task. I could not refuse, Koenma-sama."

"What did he tell you..." Koenma asked quietly, not looking up at Naraku.

"I was told numerous things about you, like your blatant utilitarian attitude, even as cruel as a demon... How you emply humans as your assassins..."

Koenma could not answer for a few moments, he had to admit he missed his Reikai Tantei so much, and his ferrygirls. Even the stupid ogre. "It's true...."

"You sent them to missions, deluded with the fragile idea of justice. ..So it seems to be true, your justice cost their lives ... and injuries, pain and danger."

Koenma could not deny it. He had put them in danger so many times, sacrifices for the safety of the human world. And the end Kuwabara and Ayame were dead, Yusuke, Hiei, and Botan vanished, and Kurama was controlled by Yomi. And there was nothing he could do about it. "You're right..." he said quietly after a moment. "I don't deny it. And when they needed me, I couldn't save them..."

"If there is so much truth, what makes you different from Yomi-sama? It is clear he is a heartless ruler who employs those around him like tooks. Risking their lives for his own purposes, while he remains calmly sitting in his office."

"Because I did it to save the human world! I did it for the greater good!" Koenma said quickly. But now that Naraku had mentioned it, there were some similarities.Were the Reikai rulers no better then the Makai Lords?

"The end justifies the means, doesn't it?" The figure remarked cruelly, taking a step closer. "As long as your justice is accomplished, everything else must be sacrificed."

"I didn't have a choice...." Koenma said but it was without force. He had never always agreed with his father's, King Enma's, methods but even Koenma himself had often done the same things to get what he wanted done.

"Now you are desperately attemptng to find a self-justification but you are not even covinced. I was also told you sent agents to slay your own 'detectives' when you discovered they were youkai."

"That was my father! I didn't let them touch Yusuke!" Koenma cried out. He had gotten in so much trouble for that but he didn't regret it.

"It is strange ... you are contradicting yourself, Koenma-sama. First you utilize them as mere tools and now you defend them? It sounds as if you were lying. Yomi's officer did not seem to be lying. No matter how unreadable he appears to be, I can still see through lies clearly."

"Even if they were subordinates, they were still...friends," Koenma said but it was quiet. So it had been Kurama who had told Naraku all these things, he was not surprised given the situation.

"It would not surprise me you would slay them if they result dangerous for your supposed balance. And now... would you send agents to stop Yomi? Even if that means killing another 'friend' of yours in the process?"

"...Yes," the prince nodded. He knew his duty, as much as it required sacrifice. He had been through some of them dying, it was part of the job after all.

"If you are so similar to Yomi-sama, why you aoppose him? You are a hypocrite" He stated calmly, taking another step closer. Inches between them kept the distance.

"We are not the same...." he insisted, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. Maybe Koenma was not the most perfect ruler and he was rather abusive towards his subordinates especially poor Jorge but he refused to accept that he was like Yomi.

"Shaking your head in that way will not make my words any less true. And someone who has lived ...for more than seven hundred years should know better... After all you lied to them, to all of them. You abhor demons, don't you?"

"NO!" Koenma looked up at Naraku with that, eyes narrowed. "I have never hated demons..." he was just scared of them, even Hiei and the Youko Kurama he knew of the past, though he had not found the Youko in this realm at all scary.

"Then you must be some two faced being, like so many that exist now-a-days. After all, your hunters are the ones who managed to defeat the true Youko Kurama in the past ad forced him to live like a despicable entity torn between a demon and a human, one which was hated by both species. Your cruelty amuses me... makes Yomi-sama sound friendly."

"Not even King Enma predicted what Youko Kurama would do....his hunters were trying to kill him for crimes in Reikai and Makai. No one thought that Youko Kurama would hide in the body of a human..." Koenma insisted, but he knew that Naraku was partly right. Kurama was feared by humans and considered a traitor by demons. Not only that, but he was one of the demons closely watched by Reikai along with Hiei and Yusuke.

"You are a sinful being yet you pretend to be the righteous god. It makes me curious, infinitely curious. And entertains me, all at the same time." He grinned at Koenma.

"I'm not the same..." Koenma insisted but his voice was quiet and without force, his head hanging down. The words stung him deep.

"It is true, you are not the same. Yomi's minions are alive, and with his power he permits them to be protected from almost everything, as long as they are useful. Unlike you..." A cruel taunt, knowing exactly what to say.

A choked sob came from the prince, he couldn't deny it. He was the Reikai Prince, the son of King Enma himself, and he even he could not protect them in the end even though he had cared about every one of them. And now he was alone.

"Are you in pain" his slender fingers rose, lifting his chin softly, forcing his damp golden eyes meet his sadistic smile, so pleasant and silent.

Koenma's eyes held pain and torment but still a hint of defiance. "What is past, is done...." the prince said quietly, but he could not protect aganist what Naraku said.

"But it seems to torment you still... doesn't it?" This was the mere beginning.

"I couldn't do anything...." Koenma said, meaning it as a defense against the accusation but the words came out in almost a sob as he remembered finding Ayame's bloody oar, learning about Kuwabara's death...

The darkness around him was sparkled with bloody red dots glowing ominously. The eyes of countless insects hovering so close. "My friends hunger for the blood of a sinner. How much can you take?"

Koenma looked at the insects, glaring at Naraku then. "More than you think."

"I have always enjoyed challenges, but everyone seems challenging at the beginning. Let's see what can -you- do" The creatures approached to the prince, digging their tiny fangs and stings into various areas of his body. Like a rain of needles.

.
The prince screamed, twisting around to try to get free and to get the insects away from him. "Stop...it!"

They continued stinging him, sinking deeply almost to touch the surface of the bones with the needle-like ends, scrapping it. Slowly, enjoying the moment.

Blood dripped down his arms, soaking into his night robe. Koenma's screams of pain were loud as he twitched around, unable to escape.

"No one can hear you, simply because you are alone. Friends and servants all have been exterminated." The wsps cruelly maintained their searing pain. Savoring the blood, injecting venom.

Koenma whimpered, he knew there was no one coming to save him. He was scared and the pain was overwhelming and he couldn't speak as blood ran down, dropping on the floor.

"I was told you were a powerful being, but its clear you cannot even defeat your own inner demons. You cannot even fight back, perhaps you think I will kill you or do anything merciful..."

Koenma gasped, trying to speak. "I will defeat you..." he said quietly, eyes narrowed in anger.

"You will defeat me? If you cannot even ...defend yourself. How... You must be delerious." His gaze lowered to the Prince. "At my mercy, like a small toy awaiting to be ripped appart."

"Tell me, Naraku...." Koenma's words came in gasps but his tone was even. "Why do you think Yomi never fought me himself?" Despite his situation, the question was taunting.

"Yomi-sama always allows his minions to do such duty. In the same way you do. But I am interested to see what are you capable of, test your limits." Once more the wasps sank into his flesh, and slowly began to pull away, but before removing them completely, they started to bury in the same place once more.

The prince let out a blood chilling scream of pain at that. He wanted to pass out to get away from the pain but he knew he couldn't, he had to be conscious if he had to use Mafuukan. "Not even...Kurama could do it..."

"What are you talking about?" He inquired, perhaps accepting the challenge, but curious about such thing. "If you had enough power to confront them, you would have done it before."

"Yomi and Kurama could have killed me before..." Koenma looked up at Naraku with narrowed eyes despite the overwhelming searing pain.

Koenma's words uneased him, what was supposed to mean? "Then you must have been more useful alive than dead in that moment. But whatever purpose you had, it no longer exists."

"How do you know for certain?" was Koenma's answer as he glared up at Naraku.

"If you had the power to stop me, you would not have beared this pain." Reacting to his words the needles slid down his arms, leaving bloody trails, still sunken in the flesh, tearing it cruelly.

His fists clutched in pain and he gritted his teeth to keep from screaming. While Koenma was not planning to use Mafuukan against Naraku- he would if he had to.

"Whenever you are done holding back your scream, I expect a reply." He taunted the young ruler.

"What I can do....is take care of you once and for all..." Koenma said evenly.

His gaze remained in the other, frigid crimson eyes. "You have taken too long... to assume such detemination. It makes me doubt what you are truly capable of."

Koenma knew he could not do anything bound as he was, so the first priority was to get free. If he was going to use the spell, it had to be soon before he passed out. "Unbind me if you want to see then...."

"Heh..." A low taunting chuckle as the snakes tightened their grasp around him, squeezing blood out of his injuries. But then released him, so that more blood was strained out under Koenma's own collapsing weight.

Koenma collapsed to his knees, blood pooling around him as he knelt there, just letting the red blood flow, there was no need to be concerned for his injuries. After a few long moments, he slowly got to his feet, ready to collapse again but he forced himself up, glaring at Naraku.

His stare, so cold and impassive, locked in the young ruler. "You have made me incredibly curious, to the extent I have freed you."

"I will seal you for eternity," the prince said quietly, slowing reaching for his pacifier. This time, Yusuke was not here to stop him.

Could that be possible?... "Since when you have such power, capable of sealing a creature whose powers you cannot fathom? Prince you are being pbnoxiously optimistic."

"This spell can seal any demon of any power. Even Yomi," Koenma said seriously, holding the pacifier before him, his expression serious despite the blood running down his arms.

"...What" Could it be possible he had been sent in this mission just to... "You will die...before you have a chance" Following his words, a large disguting tentacle reached for Koenma's chest, ready to impale him.

Koenma didn't have time to dodge the tentacle completely and it went right into his side, sinking into flesh. But his grip remained on the pacifier with an iron grip.

His eyes widened slightly. He had not expected such bold act of someone who was supposed to be a coward. Perhaps this was the limit he was supposed to be testing. "...So you are determined to die... it means you are truly broken."

"I have nothing left anymore. You said so yourself, no one is coming," Koenma ignored the blood pouring down his side and the pain from the tentacle embedded in his side as he lifted Mafuukan. A green aura appeared around the object, shifting around his hand.

He could now perceive the aura blossoming in Koenma's hand, a vibrant green searing with an energy he had ever seen before. If Koenma had been a demon he could have absorbed that power, but now it was gone. Lost. "You are commiting a mistake... because I know a way how you can recover at least something...you appreciate."

"You can't bring Ayame back from the dead, you can't return Hiei, Kuwabara, Botan, or Yusuke. And you are Yomi's ally. What can you do?" but Koenma did not release the spell just yet.

He noticed Koenma's hesitation, offering him what longed for was the best tactic. "Its true, but what about your acquaintance, Yomi's commander?"

Koenma didn't want to leave Kurama behind in Yomi's grasp but he could only hope the kitsune would find a way free or someone in this world would be strong enough to defeat Yomi. "I have done everything I can...Kurama is strong, I have faith he will free himself from Yomi's clutches..."

" That is an excuse, you simply want to be freed from that task. Perhaps on your own you cannot do it. but with /my/ help the situation can change." He proposed Koenma, his image seemed to hover backward.

"Why would you help me when you are allied with Yomi?" Koenma narrowed his eyes, he didn't trust Naraku. "And why offer this now?!"

"I am ambitious, but I am not a fool. I am aware your power can indeed seal me. You do not know what I have seen within the palace, with Kanna's help... beyond your wildest imagination."

"Like what?" Koenma asked, still not lowering Mafuukan as the green aura continued to shift around him.

He let a low, dark chuckles escape his lips. "You are still underaged for such things."

"Hey! I'll have you know I am over 700 years old, I am not underaged!" Koenma exclaimed, missing what Naraku could be referring to.

"You are still a child, but my offer prevails. Torture in a myriad of ways you could ever fathom." He remarked, obviously he was not planning to be annihilated so easily.

"Why should I believe you? You are turning on Yomi now, he can easily make you loyal to him again," Koenma was of course wary, and still in pain. He was not going to trust Naraku just like that. "I could get rid of you now once and for all..."

"But if you did, so would disappear your only chance to save the only /alive/ friend you have." Naraku taunted him.

"You don't know that. You didn't even know about Mafuukan," the prince countered. He knew that he could not easily control Naraku like he did with Youko by keeping the other on a leash. "I am sure I will find a way."

"If you do not step back in this moment, you will die. And with you, all hopes." Dammit, if he had only been aware of this power before he could have plotted an easy death. Just like Kikyo.

"So be it," Koenma's gaze was determined and set, the prince was not backing down.

"Do not be a fool, child... wasting all your effort to stand this pain... so easily." His eyes narrowed, already attempting another strategy.

Koenma reached down to wretch the tentacle out of his side, gritting his teeth tightly in pain as he did so and more blood ran down his side. His night robe was now soaked in red but that didn't matter. Mafuukan's green aura glinted off his narrowed eyes as he glared at Naraku.

He could see it in his eyes so clearly, Koenma was not going to back down, regardless what he had to sacrifice. "Why are you so determined to destroy everything?"

The prince nearly stopped cold at that statement. His mind went back to the encounter with Sensui but he would not allow Naraku to distract him. "I am doing this for the welfare of this realm."

"I am not your true enemy. You are well aware who that one is" Naraku kept taunting him. He could not accept this fate, defeat had never suited him.

"You tortured me tonight and tell me you are not my real enemy?" Koenma was not swayed, not this time. It was like Mafuukan gave the prince courage and the green aura of the spell gave him an almost eerily look.

He let out a dark, vicious chuckle. "You do not seem to know who is behind me. Yomi-sama is your foe, not me. I am a mere aide ...and emplying such spell against me... dying afterward. Specially when I am the only one who can help you."

"I know about the threat Yomi poses. If I can destroy you, then there will be someone in this place who can defeat Yomi," he said seriously but he knew Naraku had a point. There was only one chance to seal one of the demon lords.

"If there is someone so strong and /competent/ in this realm, why haven't they acted yet? ...Tell me." He had already employed a lot of energy creating puppets and summoning his wasps, he neded to flee...

Koenma knew that was true, it was very doubtful that anyone would step up to challenge Yomi but he could at least do something to help the ingrates in this place-not that anyone would thank him or not. Mafuukan's green aura grew brighter. "Getting rid of you will make it easier..."

The hanyou snarled, gritting his teeth, this couldn't be possible. Naraku took a step back, spreading his hand to Koenma, three more tentacles aimed at the prince's chest.

Koenma had been so focused on the spell that he did not see the tentacles coming until it was too late. The tentacles sunk into his flesh with a sickening sound, blood squiring out. But Koenma gritted his teeth, determined to caste the sealing spell with the last of his strength. The pacifier flew up out of his hand and into the air towards Naraku...

..he couldn't be running away from a -pacifier- but. Naraku took another step back as the object approached imbued in a for of energy he had never seen before. "You will regret this... forever" he hissed as his figure was consumed by the green energy, latching to him like fire to oil.

Koenma smirked despite the overwhelming pain from the tentacles embedded in his chest that were bleeding heavily. But he had to do this before he passed out from blood loss. He raised one hand, the aura of golden spiritual energy on one finger, that is all it would take to activate Mafuukan and seal him and Naraku in the sealing spell for eternity. He only hesitated a moment before letting the spiritual energy out right at the pacifier and the spell caught them both up in a flash of golden light. There was no going back now.

Naraku had vanished, he was no longer in the room. The lights had faded and Koenma was left alone in the murk of the room., the remains of the shikon pearl scattered around the ground. Finally the door was unlocked, as a figure entered the room.

Koenma fell to his knees, his breath coming in gasps as he looked up at the figure entering. His vision blurred, he was starting to get dizzy from the blood loss from the wounds.

Clapping his hands soflty, he approached to tehe fallen prince. "Congratulations... both of you behaved as I expected." He mused, standing before Koenma, looking down on his pained form.

"Naraku...." Koenma said slowly, trying to stand. If Naraku was there...who had he sealed...?

"No, you successfully sealed him away, Reikai prince." The voice replied as he continued to stare at the prince from his higher place. The ghostly light of the storm, calmly lit his body, the tips of hair, red like blood.

"Who are you then?" Koenma asked, slumping against the wall, the pain was too much now. His brave act had taken more energy out of him then he had thought and blood was still running out of the holes in his chest, sides, and arms.

"That pain must be unbearable, even to smother your coward nature." He replied, taking a step closer to Koenma. "So much pain you cannot even recognize me."

"Kurama..." the prince's eyes widened as the figure finally came into focus. "Why are you here..." he tried to get up, he had to save Kurama and so long as the other was here, there was a chance, however slim.

"I simply came to assure you and Naraku had done what it was needed." The kitsune replied calmly, it was a grim satisfaction. "Both of you accomplied the task successfully."

"You planned this...you knew I would use Mafuukan..." Koenma narrowed his eyes.. He had been nothing but a pawn but it was too late to undo what had been done. Now there was no way to stop Yomi....

He glanced down at the prince, his serene emerald gaze, eerily cold and observant. "It is true, it was my plan from the very beginning. Naraku had to be eliminated, as well as the mafuukan. I sent him to shatter your spirit. And he suceeded, in all aspects." A soft murmur, whispering poison.

"It was your idea...." the prince said in a broken voice, collapsing against the wall once more, leaving a long bloody smear across it as he did so. He knew death was close but that did not scare him as much Yomi and Kurama did.

The kitsune turned back, no longer looking at Koenma. "Now you are no longer a threat, nor you are of use. If you die and ressurect you will dwell in your own anguish. Therefore, I will not slay you."

"I won't let Yomi have you....I refuse...." Koenma wanted to try to stand again but he lacked the strength. "As long as I am in this world, I will fight to get you back..

A chill pricked his arms, but almost unperceptible. Why his words were capable of disturbing his iced calm? Always plagued him the same question. "You insist in the same futile words, as if you had a duty which will cost you something dear." He glanced back, almost curious to see him, the whole expression, a trail of silence and strenght directed to smother it. Koenma's clothes stained in a dark maroon, and the sickly fragrance of blood in large quantities. The last time he had perceived something like that had been the night he mangled the ferry girl's body. "You wasted your best weapon... you are crippled now and in so much pain."

It would take centuries to build up the necessary spirit energy in Mafuukan once more and Koenma had no doubt Kurama was aware of that. "It's already cost me....so much..." but his vision was fading, he would not be conscious much longer.

"Your body is struggling to endure more minutes...what keeps you struggling if you have always been a coward." Forcing yourself alive... regardless how painful it is. His eyes widened softly "You could die and stop feeling."

"To get you back, Kurama. I won't stop struggling....death would be a release but I would be plagued with the torment that you are still in Yomi's grasp," Koenma's head slumped, it took all his remaining spiritual energy to keep himself conscious.

"You may find other servants, Prince. I have chosen my own fate, sealing it at the side of Yomi-sama." It was the 'comforting' reply the Koenma obtained. He dropped on one knee before him, bathing him with his cold, souless stare "If you ever return home... no one will recognise your courage."

"And what if Yomi decided your fate?" Koenma asked, looking up at the emotionless stare of the kitsune, his heart sinking.

"In the moment I chose him as my lord, I lost my fate to him. But I do not regret it. Why you sturggle so much, what keeps you alive. Do truly believe you can now do /something/ all your magic is gone." Staring back at Koenma, contemplating his pained golden eyes.

"You were there with Sensui, you know why," Koenma said seriously despite the overwhelming pain. While the prince was normally a coward, he was determined in his duty to those who served him. He had been prepared to be sealed with Sensui, and now he was determined to face whatever horrible fate was in store for him to save Kurama.

A hint of confusion tainted his calm, like a haunting ghost. "Before you were determined to seal yourself along with the mafuukan's kekkai. Now ...even if you died, it would be in vain." Koenma no longer possesses reiki, everything was consumed in the mafuukan's attack.

"I will do what I have to....no matter what..." Koenma said but he was starting to slip into unconsciousness and his eyes slowly started to close.

The frailty in the other's gaze was almost tangible. Life had almost extinguished from his eyes. "Koenma... I" he whispered softly, but no other word followed them. As if awaiting for the prince's heart to finally stop beating.

"Kurama..." was the last word spoken by Koenma before his body slumped to the floor. The pacifier that once contained the most powerful sealing spell in the three realms lay on the floor, now dull.

His gaze remained fixed in Koenma's body, prone, lifeless , finally dead. He did not know how long it would take the realm to grant him life once more, but he would live, in loneliness and shame. For a brief moment, his heart was prey of a rare form of pain, clutching, undescribable.

Excellent, Kurama. Well done. The voice of the goat lord was amused in his own twisted manner. He had been 'watching' the entire time and was very pleased with how everything had turned out.
Bring me Mafuukan and the body of the Reikai Prince. Though Yomi's tone was light, it was clearly an order and he expected Kurama to obey without question.

For a moment I doubted Naraku was capable of causing such in the Prince but he ultimately succeeded. His replied was slow, picking his words, almost tainted with regret. Yes, I will. He approached to Koenma's fallen body, still holding the warmth of life with was slowly fading. He picked the mafuukan and the Prince's body, soaked in a morbid crimson. Who would imagine that night would never end, he would never awake from it.