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A Little Laughter	By : UKImouto Category: Yuyu Hakusho > General Views: 2397 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own YuYu Hakusho, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Hello, all, I have
returned! ^_^ Kinda seems odd that I have so many pageviews, but not that many
reviews. Ah, well, life bites, just gotta keep on bitin� back, eh? A special
thanks to crystal_moon13 who reviewed this past chapter with such great
enthusiasm! Well, it gets a lil bizarre from here on in, but ya�ll knew that,
huh. We meet Karasu, again, and Kurama finally convinces Rei to let him help�somewhat.
And we meet her shrink. *rolls eyes* Can ya�ll tell I have no respect for the �profession�?

Disclaimer: I don�t own Yu
Yu Hakusho, or any of the songs that Rei listens to, including Matchbox 20
before and My Chemical Romance now. (And the MCR song goes out thanks to my
buddy Kuramafan_06 on fanfiction.net.)

As the story is based in
part on true events, please refrain from stealing stuff without my permission.
I�m very open to suggestions and if you want to use a piece or part�do ask, I�m
well inclined to let you.

A Little Laughter

Chapter 3: Direct Me in the
Way

My back hit the wall with
such force, my shoulder blades left two indentations side by side. Somehow, I
was out of my body, watching it all happen, and yet at the same time I felt the
rattle in my bones as I tried to stand again. Karasu was angry with me, I could
feel his anger like I felt my own breaths leave my body and re-enter. I stopped
cold against the wall when he leaned his arms on either side of my head, his
sharp nails reaching behind and stroking the strands gently.
Something was going to
happen.
�I gave you a direct
order, Rei-chan,� he said, his cold voice turning the endearment into something
dangerous. Dangerous like venom, and I only needed to react wrong in order for
it to bite and kill me. I nodded, a small whimper escaping my throat. �Why isn�t
Minamino here, Rei-chan?�
I winced. �H-He was�busy��
�Really. Colorful language
for your parting words to him, Rei-chan. �Shut the hell up. Leave me the fuck alone.� Very nicely worded, Rei-chan.� He pressed
his hips against mine, grinding so harshly that I was sure he was going to
break my hipbones. The caressing of his clawed hands ended in sharp pain as he
yanked my head back by my hair. I couldn�t breath, the pressure on my chest too
much to draw air in or let it go.
Karasu flung me against
the other wall, and I heard something snap. The pain in my elbows, in my
wrists, in my back, I couldn�t tell just where it all began or ended. Perhaps
it didn�t. I didn�t end anywhere, just like the pain in my throat, the heart
that leapt there like a rabbit in its death throes, never ceased. He crushed me
to the wall, this time I felt the bottom rib snap in my chest.
�Ah�� I closed my eyes,
hissing against the pain. �K-Kara��
He gripped my chin in his
clawed fingers, forcing me to look into his violet eyes. �Who said you could
cry out my name, human?�
I didn�t say anything.
Karasu was known for his temper, and if he got any angrier with me, I could be
dead before the night was over. I swallowed hard, feeling the effort push
against his chest. The fiery light in his violet eyes were enough to make me
cringe away from him. He chuckled suddenly, and then laughed.
�Your fear is a most
powerful aphrodisiac, Rei-chan,� he said, now caressing my hair again. �Just
think�how much more it is so when someone with great pride is frightened of
me.� He gripped my hair again, and I felt the loose strands fall on my
shoulders as he shoved away from me. I gasped, the pain of taking a breath
almost as bad as the pain of losing it.
�Bring him here, and you
will be rewarded,� Karasu murmured against my cheek. The chills running down my
spine were so mixed with pain, cold, fear, and arousal that I didn�t know where
one ended and the others began. He let me go long enough to backhand me
casually, throwing me against the door frame with enough force to knock what
scant air I had gotten from my lungs. �Disobey again, and this night will seem
like a pleasant midnight crumpet, Rei-chan.�

And then he was gone, leaving me to catalogue bruises and blood and wounds I�d
rarely seen. I woke up, wincing instead of truly screaming. The red glare of my
alarm clock, still set for seven in hopes of sleeping in. It read: 6:01. I blinked in shock. Most people wouldn�t recognize
a single minute�s difference, but my clock was never wrong, and I always woke up at six in the morning. Six on the dot, at
the same time that my alarm would go off if I�d set it there. Less than a
second after the numbers registered, they changed.
I shrugged off the
unnerving time difference as just a simple malfunction of my clock and went to
make breakfast. As always, my mother dragged herself from bed and sat at the
table while I served pancakes and sausages and eggs. She collapsed back in bed
for another two hours and I meticulously set her alarm for eight.
The wrack of pain that
came with every movement was easily ignored�it wasn�t nearly as bad as it was
during the �waking� time of the dream. It never was. A fatal wound would only
be a dull ache. Being run through by a fire hydrant left only a tiny wound on
my back and my stomach.
I climbed aboard the bus
early, to avoid Shuichi Minamino, and arrived at school with enough time to sit
in my classroom and doodle for a while. I was a decent artist, I guess. I could
draw some stuff pretty well, but I was best at drawing people. Even without
reference, I could draw them pretty well. People sometimes said that I looked
into a person�s soul when I was drawing them, and drew them the way they were
meant to be seen. I say it�s rubbish, but what do I know?
I�m only the artist.
The empty classroom was
almost eerie, considering that I was already used to it being bustling and
loud, even when the teacher entered the room. Even so, the tired quietness of
the place was soothing, like a stream in the forest. Calm, quiet, with the
knowledge that things happened there all the time even when I wasn�t there.
As luck might have it,
though, Shuichi Minamino decided that leaving me in peaceful solitude was out
of the question.
�What happened?� he asked
when he saw me. I glanced down at my body, and saw the many mars and cuts that
in my dream had been much worse.
�One of my demons,� I
shrugged.
He sat in the desk in
front of me, his green eyes inquisitive.
�Are you always this
annoying?� I asked.
He seemed taken aback.
�Annoying?�
�Yeah. Annoying. You�re
pokin� your nose into my business, when I�ve expressly told you I don�t want
your help.�
But if I didn�t bring him
to Karasu, I had no doubts that I was dead after tonight. �Rei-chan� would be
dear before the night was over.
�And I believe I can help,
and you, Galis-san, are merely being stubborn,� he said.
�I�m stubborn? Look who�s talking!�
He smiled. �Foxes aren�t
known to be stubborn, but I shall take your word for it.�
I blinked. Karasu had
called him a fox as well, and now he was calling himself one. He looked
perfectly human, but I�ve learned that looks can be deceiving. All the same�I
didn�t want to drag him into this thing. The look in Karasu�s eyes as he told
me about fear was�dangerous.
�You�re in danger if you
keep doing this,� I said. �He said he wanted you. None of my other demons have
made requests, but he�s requested you.�
Shuichi playfully put his
head in his hand, cocking his face cutely without meaning to in the least. �Me?
I�ve had many requests from human girls and demon women, but I�ve only been
approached by a man once.�

I shrugged, not quite believing I was having this conversation. �He says you�d
know him�he didn�t even tell me his name until I met you.�
�Oh? I know him?�
Shuichi�s eyes hardened for an instant before the look vanished completely.
�What is his name, then?�
�It�s Karasu�are you
okay?�
The minute Karasu�s name
had left my lips, Shuichi�s hand had collapsed and his face had paled as he
stared, wide-eyed, at me.
�You�ve defied Karasu and lived?�
I shrugged half-heartedly.
�The others�d murder him if he did anything with me. But from that reaction, I
take that you do know him and do know what he wants.�
�I thought I�d killed him,� Shuichi said, as though it were
commonplace for him to have killed someone. �Why is he going through you,
though? Wait, never mind�� He sighed, his head in his hands now. �I should have
known.�
�Eh?�
�He always goes the way he
thinks will cause the most pain��
I touched my ribs, where I
could still feel the blows from last night, wincing. �I kinda noticed that
one.�
Shuichi stared at me.
�Your wound from yesterday?�
�No, that was something
different�� I laughed nervously. �He asked me to bring you, and then when I
didn�t, last night, he, um�yeah�eheh��
Then someone else entered
the room and we had to split up or I�d be facing a wrath of a different sort of
demon.
At lunch, Shuichi sat with
me again, to my shock and to the Shuichi Fan Club�s dismay. The trio who�d
approached me the day before were, at best, glaring at me. At worst, I would be
a pile of black soot had a look not been able to kill.
At least, those looks of
the human variety.
�So your demon wants me?�
Shuichi asked in a low voice. Everyone else was off eating elsewhere�or
conspiring on how to torture me to death.
�Why do you care, huh?� I
asked, eating my bento nonchalantly. �I�m just crazy. I�m just making the
wounds myself to prove my stories. I�m lying, or I really believe the stories,
so therefore I�m nuttier than a fruitcake dancin� on a hot tamale with plenty
of ranch dressin�.�
�Fake or not, Galis-san,
those wounds didn�t make themselves.�
�You sound like my
shrink.�
Shuichi sighed. �I am
merely trying to��
�Help, yeah, yeah, I know.
Look, if my demon didn�t want you, I�m tellin� yeh right now, the rest would be
searchin� for a way to cut you down. As it is, he�s one of my strongest, and
therefore has most say in what goes on in my beautiful dance called my fuckin�
life.�
I expected him to act
surprised�scared�in disbelief�maybe even blankly, not sure how to react at all.
I never expected the gentle laughter that came from his lips, as naturally as
if I�d just told him a very clever joke. It had been so long since I�d truly
heard the noise, long enough to appreciate it. He was laughing, so gently, like
a little critter twittering softly. Almost like a cross between a dog and a
cat, but not quite like that, either.
It sounded like�kitsu
kitsu�
The sound a fox made.
I smiled, and then
giggled. I�d not done so in so long, the noise was foreign from my throat. He
stopped laughing for a moment, smiled, and then laughed more.
�Y-You sound like a fox!�
I covered my mouth, silently shaking with mirth. I didn�t want anyone else to
know I was laughing too. �No wonder Karasu called you a fox�you sound just like
one, and you act like one, too!�
�Thank you, Galis-san,�
Shuichi nodded, composing himself.
That�s when I recalled
that I didn�t know why he�d laughed.
�Why did you laugh when I all but told you your life was in danger?�
He hesitated, as though
telling would be a grave danger. But I�d already made that commitment, myself,
so I couldn�t blame him for his hesitation. He only wanted to protect himself.
And then, he said something rather strange.
�My life has been
dangerous far longer than you have been alive, Galis-san.�

Outside the classroom door was a list of all the students� birthdays. I
recalled glancing at it briefly. Shuichi Minamino had been born in the same
month as me, but seven days exactly after me.
�Why do you say that? I�m
a week older than you, Minamino-san.�
He blinked, and for a
moment I thought he would answer. Then, very cautiously, he shook his head. �I
can�t tell you why, Galis-san.� Shuichi hesitated a moment more before grabbing
a bit of paper and writing something down on it quickly, with an odd glint in
his green eyes.
�What�s this?� I asked,
eyeing the kanji for his name and several numbers.
�Call me at this number
this afternoon at six o�clock, Galis-san. I want you to meet someone.
Perhaps�it is possible that she can help.�
I cocked my head at him.
�I guess I can do that if I call from my doctor�s office�I have an appointment
today at 4:30.�
�I�ll be there at five
o�clock, until ten.�
I smiled uncertainly.
�I�ll let my mother know. She�ll be glad that I�m going to a friend�s house.
But�what about Karasu?�
Shuichi smiled
mysteriously. �My friends and I can well handle Karasu. Don�t forget,
Galis-san.�
I nodded, and the teacher
entered the room.
~*~*~
The bus rolled up to the
stop a block from my school. It was two minutes early, but I was there, my pass
ready. It idled for about thirty seconds for dawdlers and then roared off into
the city. I cursed mentally�I hated being early even by a few minutes for my
psychiatric appointments. The Hour from Hell, as it was better known in my own
little mind. I had no one else to joke with that it was hell to be there. I
sighed and sank into the seat, alone.
The bus was half-empty�no
fear of fat men with tea cozy hats this time. I turned on my personal CD player
with a dreamy smile. I needed hurt and pain, even if only my music gave it to
me now.
Do you remember when we met
You told me this gets harder
Well it did
Been holding on forever
Promise me that when I�m gone
You�ll kill my enemies

Sorry, Michael.
Sorry, Von.
Sorry, Heather,

The damage you�ve inflicted.
Temporary wounds.

The hole in my stomach was
still there, healing, but it would scar bad�I knew what scars looked like. They
criss-crossed my body like a complicated spider web. I even had one that had my
name spinning out of the worst of it�it was a scar-on-scar on my upper right
shoulder. I don�t know how anyone could explain that my wounds were
self-inflicted with that one as proof. How could I, a right-handed girl, write
my own name with a branding iron in perfect script on my right shoulder?

I�m coming back from the dead.
And I�ll take you home with me.

Sometimes I thought
Michael lived in the pendant I wore around my neck. I sometimes slipped it off
and put it in my pocket. That�s when the demons come back worse at night, when
I leave it there in my pocket on the chair in my room.

I�m taking back the life you stole.

As if I�d ever be brave
enough.

We never got that far.
This helps me think all through the night.
Bright lights that won�t kill me now.

No, but they�ll blind me,
they�ll keep me in the dark.

Or tell me how.
Just you and I
Your starless eyes remain
Hip hip hooray for me.

Yes, that�s right, cheer
for the fact that I saw you dead, saw Michael dead in the chair, his gun still
wrapped in his hand�or is that hand still wrapped around the gun?

But would you kill me in my sleep.

They do it every night.
I swore as I nearly missed
my stop, too wrapped up in my thoughts. I tugged on the emergency cord overhead
and dove past the protesting mutters of the few bodies left on the bus. The bus
driver gave me a sympathetic smile, the kind that said she�d seen it happen too
many times to too many other people to be mad any more. I gave a grateful smile
and dove for the safety of the sidewalk. The short walk sheered off the two
minutes I�d gotten early on the bus for.

I�ve lost my fear of falling�
I�ll be with you.

I turned off my CD player
quickly and shoved it into the pocket of my book bag. The building that housed
my psychiatrist was huge, and it definitely was not all psychiatrists. Most of
the floors held multiple offices of multiple professions. The door next to my
psychiatrist�s office, for instance, belonged to an attorney at law. The one
across the hall was a small printing office. Where I got off the elevator was a
small-time manga publications office. I yearned to go in and see what they
did�but I doubted they�d want an amateur artist within their esteemed walls.
So I passed it every week
without ever looking in.
I bypassed the sitting
room outside my doctor�s office�there wasn�t another patient before my time,
and I always arrived right on time. Dr. Kamiya was waiting, his silvery glasses
sliding down his nose. Despite his youth, Kamiya-san was well-known throughout
the psychiatric community as the man who helped �helpless� cases reach a new
point in their �life journeys�.
I was supposed to be his
next �masterpiece�.
�Rei, so good to see you
today,� Kamiya-san gained his feet and bowed slightly. I bowed back, feeling
the rush of my short hair follow to cover my face. I swiped it back behind my
ear, only to have it fall back where it�d been before I�d bowed.
�Good afternoon,
Kamiya-san.�
I sat in a normal armchair
in front of him. If you�ve never been in a real psychiatrist�s office, you
really should try it sometime. The walls in Kamiya�s office were hospital
white�a blank slate for clearing the mind, or so says Kamiya-san. Not even his
diplomas and licenses were in here. They were out in the sitting room. Just a
comfortable black leather chair set�one for him and one for the patient�and his
clipboard in one hand and a regular yellow pencil in the other. He never seemed
to sharpen it, though there was a woman right after me.
Kamiya-san himself was
only twenty-seven years old. He had pale, silvery hair�dyed that way�and pale
golden brown eyes. His hair fell into them, in an appealing, gentle way. He was
unintimidating in every way possible.
�Rei, I thought we might
try a bit into your past again, before your demons came about,� Kamiya-san said
gently. �Do you remember what it was like before Xanatos came?�
I shrugged. �Xanatos
started coming when I was eight�before that, all I remember was my mom and dad
fighting. They were always fighting, you know.�
�Yes�it was a tragedy,
what happened, Rei.�
I half-smirked faintly,
glancing at my wrist. There were only two mars on my skin that did not come
from the demons. Not that they really made much difference, considering
Kamiya-san, my mother, and the rest of the community all thought I did it to
myself.
�Whatever. The demons have
taken more than my dad and brothers from me.�
�Matsu called here wanting
to know if you�d like to talk to him this Christmas,� Kamiya-san said softly.
�He doesn�t know your new apartment�s number just yet, that�s why he didn�t
call there.�
I half-shrugged, staring
at the white wall. �You need to get some art in here, Kamiya-san, I�m serious.�
He sighed. �Tell me about
Xanatos, then.�

I shrugged again. �Just a sick perv who enjoyed fucking an eight-year-old. What
more do you want to know.�
�Did he look like anyone
you knew?�
I thought carefully.
Xanatos had been the first demon to come to me, find out about my powers. He�d
decided I was too cute to die and fucked me senseless for two weeks in a row,
before vanishing. The words he�d spoken to me, however, remained etched into my
mind like so many rare blue diamonds amidst the black sand.
��A child such as this
need remain alone, without form. She needs care of our sort, and only by our
sort. Her purpose is to serve us.� He said it a lot, especially when he
was�um��
I blushed, unable to form
the words coherently before my psychiatrist. He was, after all, a guy, a very
hot guy at that. He also would never understand the pain that always
accompanied Xanatos�s words. I had always felt like I�d been split in two, and
everyone always laughed at me because I walked with a limp after he�d come at
me. For two weeks, he�d fucked me out of my mind, slowly siphoning my thoughts
away from others in order to protect them from the same fate.
�You say he said that your
purpose was to serve them.�

I blinked. Duh, idiot. �Yeah�?�
�Do you think perhaps you
were searching for something to live for? Even if it was to�serve�demons of
Xanatos�s type?�
The delicate way he put it
was meant to comfort, but hearing him say it made me cringe. I really didn�t
want to talk about this now. I sank into my seat and pulled my knees to my
chest. I didn�t want to talk. I didn�t want to tell him about Xanatos or Helena
or Timothy, nor did I want to tell him about the good demons. Morana and
Jirkle�
Kamiya-san sighed. �How is
your new school going, Rei? Have you made any friends?�
I almost jumped at the
questions. �I love it! The teachers are really nice, and the classes are a
little easier to keep up with. And�I guess you�d call Minamino-san a friend. He
asked me to call him after my appointment today.�
�That�s wonderful, Rei,
good for you.�
�One of my demons said to
bring Minamino-san with me yesterday�to my house,� I said quietly. �The crow
one.�
�The bondage junkie.�
Kamiya rubbed his chin in thought before jotting down several notes. He glanced
at his watch. �Well, our time is up for today, Rei. You can use the
receptionist�s telephone to call Minamino-san.�
I smiled and raced
outside, my backpack jostling against the backs of my knees. I dialed the
number quickly, and waited to hear Shuichi�s voice on the other end. Was it his
house number? Or a friend�s? I think it was his friend�s, because he�d said
he�d only be there until ten o�clock�
�Hello,� came a raspy,
grumpy-granny type of voice.
�Um, hi�Um�Shuichi said I
could call there�and��
�Rei Galis, right?�
�Y-Yes, ma�am.�
�You�re early.� With that,
I heard a slightly muffled shout of �Kurama!� and then I heard Shuichi�s calm
voice.
�Galis-san?�
�Er�yeah�who was that?�
�Master Genkai. This is
her temple. I think my friends can help you, if you�re willing to give us a
chance.�

I glanced uneasily at the door, where Kamiya-san seemed able to hear Shuichi�s
request.
�Okay�just tell me where
to go, Minamino-san.�

He gave me the directions and I filed them away. The bus from my appointment
should probably bring me to the temple in about twenty minutes.
�I guess I�ll see you
there, then, Minamino-san.�
�Yes, I will meet you at
the base of the stairs. See you soon, Galis-san.�
�Okay. Um, bye.�
�Good-bye.�
I hung up the phone,
uncertain. I�d never really talked on the phone to someone before. I usually
preferred to talk to someone face-to-face. Kamiya-san smiled.
�You�re going to be all right, Rei. You�re well on your way
to it.�

I twitched at the words, knowing that I would never �get better� because the
demons were as real as Shuichi�s invitation to Genkai�s temple.

***

I am actually terrified of telephones due to the fact that
someone died on the other end of one while I was talking to her. Eheh. ^^;
Karasu is really based on one of my demons�it�s just that the name fit the
demon I know so well that that�s the nickname I gave him and it just stuck.
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A Little Laughter