Les Yeux Bleus

Autumn's Smile

Plunging Headfirst

Souta and Kagome had been at Penguin Park since twilight. He watched as his sister murmured to herself, drawing intricate circles and scribing in a language that he only half understood. He reached out and touched one of them; it made his blood sing and his eyes tear up- he felt an unexplainable joy and a rush of pain and fear. Gasping he drew his hand away.

"This is the gateway," his question became a statement as the fog of his mind cleared. "It leads to the demon realm."

"That's correct," his older nephew smiled, ghosting his fingers lightly over the circle. Unlike Souta's own painful reaction, Shippou seemed to be revelling in a quiet ecstasy when he touched the edges of the portal. His orange-red hair seemed to be sparking and crackling with the power that Kagome was drawing up.

"How many times have you done this?" Souta asked his sister, noticing the way she didn't stop to hesitate but plowed on, her hands were hazy and she seemed to be almost see-through with some inner light- like some sort of spectre coming back to silently warn of peril.

"Three times," Kagome replied, her deep blue eyes never leaving her work. Her mask hung around her neck, like a foppish decoration or perhaps a cravat. Her brow was furrowed in concentration. "Although the very first time I attempted it, I wrote it incorrectly and ended up opening a gate to the spirit world," her voice took on a wry twist, "and I was startled to see Shuiichi, the studious boy Eri was drooling over all week who happened to be friends Kuwabara, in what should have been a place where only the dead walked."

Souta smiled, his cheeks caused the mask to lift and dig uncomfortably into his forehead and he dropped the smile quickly. Ouch. He silently noted that it was impossible to smile without it turning into a grimace with this mask. Buying new ones sounded fun.

Souta loved hearing about Shuiichi. When he entered Kagome's life, she had become happier, more like the sister he knew before Naraku's defeat. She smiled again and went out to movies and WacDonald's and ordered a million cheeseburgers. She stopped walking to the well every morning, peering inside and then going back to her room to smash one of her childhood Hello Kitty figurines.

He died not too long after they'd met, and Kagome went back to smashing the poor, innocent kitty statuettes. The one, fragile item that was never taken up in anger, never held but with the lightest touch and fondest caress was the beautiful glass rose that caught the sunlight that streamed from her window. Sometimes she would just stare at it. Those were the days when she'd lock herself in her room for hours. It really sucked, in Souta's opinion, that everyone his sister had truly come to care for was lost to her in some way. She had been separated from her friends after travelling with them for two years and then she'd met someone whom she could love, only to be separated from him in half a year.

"Kagome," Souta blinked. "I just realized that your birthday is next month."

"Oh yeah!" Kagome laughed, "I'd forgotten too. Technically, it's in three weeks. Hey, otouto, give me a hand here, will you? Touch this symbol here and give it some energy." She pointed at the symbol beside the one she had her finger on. Obligingly, Souta touched it an felt an electric thrill. With barely any effort, he felt hot energy flow towards it and with his peripheral vision he could see the entire outline of the gateway glow.

Sakura was hovering above Penguin Park, watching with barely veiled interest. It was as if there were a circle of blue fire ringing the park, and she could see two figures bent over it while the third was scouting the perimeter. She prepared to land before remembering that she needed to tell Souta that she couldn't come to Tokyo with him. She fished for her cellphone and dialed Souta's number, half-disappointed when she received an answering machine rather than Souta's low voice.

"Hey Souta and Kagome," she made her voice sound cheerful and normal, "I'm sorry, I can't go with you tomorrow to Tokyo. My father had a sudden change of heart and he decided that it wouldn't be proper for me to accompany you for such sad business and that I should go another time, when it's more respectful. I hope to see that day soon. Have a great time without me though! Thanks for inviting me." She hung up and looked back down. The blue ring was illuminating what could only be Bird and Cat, whose glossy black hair was reflecting the blue with strange intensity. Cat's head snapped up as if she could feel Sakura's presence and her left hand came up to draw her mask to her face.

Sakura's eyes widened. She could have discovered Cat's identity if she had only called Souta earlier. Berating herself mentally, she looked at the unfathomable metallic eyeholes that covered Cat's eyes. Realizing that they already knew of her presence, she descended from the air and her wand shrunk itself back into a key in the palm of her hand.

"Good evening," Bird said pleasantly, and Sakura felt a raw thrill run through her. She loved the sound of Bird's voice. She smiled at him in greeting and curiously moved closer to the circle.

"What is this?" she asked, leaning forward to touch the shining lights but a hand caught her wrist. She turned, half-hoping to see Bird, but instead, she saw the angry hazel eyes of Syaoran.

"Don't touch what you don't know!" he told her harshly, his face set in an angry scowl. He was dressed in his traditional green outfit, although Sakura noticed that he omitted wearing the hat this time. He let go of her arm while she blinked stupidly at him.

"Syaoran!" she ejaculated surprisedly, "when did you get here?"

"Just now," he replied, his eyes never leaving Bird. There was evident dislike on his features. "Eriol said he wanted to come too. Expect him." A small trickle of relief caused her to sigh. Eriol was a master magician and, should these three masked vigilantes be malevolent and murderous- although Sakura prayed fervently that they were not- Eriol could help her greatly.

"We are waiting on how many more then?" Cat asked, her voice neutral. Neither she, nor Bird or Fox raised any protest upon the announcement of another companion and Sakura felt hope buoy in her chest. They couldn't have ill-intentions. They couldn't.

"Three," Sakura answered back, just as neutral as Cat, "Yue, the sorcerer Eriol and his companion Ruby."

"Just one then," Fox interjected, his eyes on the pair walking towards him. "The sorcerer and his companion have arrived. Don't be shy, Sakura-san, introduce us."

"This is Hiragizawa Eriol," Syaoran butted in almost aggressively, "and his guardian, Ruby Moon. Do you have a problem with their coming along?" There was a pregnant, awkward pause and Sakura felt her face burn in humiliation as she listened to Syaoran's childish, unprovoked attempt at an attack. She was sure that Cat was blinking owlishly behind that mask and found herself wondering what Bird's reaction was. Fox however, laughed.

"Of course not," he replied easily, but Sakura felt as if she could feel a bristling, undercurrent of mockery in his laughter. "The more the merrier."

"Then you will be glad to hear, Fox-chan," Cat added serenely, "that Yue has at last arrived and that we may begin." Everyone else looked up and around them for the presence of the white-clad, angel-like person of Yue. Not a second later, Yue appeared, ghost-like, from the shadows.

"You have keen senses," was all Eriol said, in an approving tone. "Let us begin, as you said." Sakura and even Syaoran found themselves fascinated as Bird and Cat channelled an enormous amount of raw energy into the circle, causing it to become even more brilliant and the air around it almost seemed to hum and thrum with anticipation. Cat began to whisper in what sounded like ancient Japanese and Yue flinched, unused to hearing the tongue Clow Reed had once spoken with fluency and decisive wisdom and wit.

"Oh my god," Sakura heard Syaoran whisper, and she moved closer to see what he had already begun to see. The ground inside the circle began to bleed red blood, pooling and shimmering. In the very centre of the pool was a small imp with a sharp, double edged sword in one hand and a pike in the other. It spoke to Cat and Bird in that same, foreign Japanese tongue before it nodded. It let out a terrible wail and Sakura sucked in a breath.

"What is it doing?" she asked, fascinated in the same way as one who sees a train wreck. She let out a startled "oh!" as the imp took the sword and pike in its hands and began to flail around. She wanted to turn her eyes away but couldn't; she watched as the imp began to stab itself with its weapons and the blood seeped black. It let out shrieking, high pitched yells as each weapon sunk into its flesh.

"Look," Eriol murmured softly, sounding like Clow Reed more than himself, "it reenacts sacrifice. I'd never thought I'd get to see a dimension demon do that." They watched as the demon continued to roll and whine in pain and even more black blood began to swirl with the red until it at last dominated the circle and with a final cry the imp was sucked into the darkness. All except Fox and Cat watched, stunned beyond words.

"Why did it do that?" Sakura asked, her voice tremulous. The sight had made her sick, to see the wretched creature writhing in pain, the glinting metal of the sword biting into its flesh and its horrible, horrible screams of agony. "How can it do that?"

"Dimension demons are interesting like that," Fox replied, his voice filling the silence, "the portals between the worlds require a death. Dimension demons are set as guardians and watchers so that when someone living wants to cross, the demon can commit the ritual suicide to allow passage. They only die in that sense, because their sort of demon- along with time demons- never truly die because what can die that lives everywhere at once? It takes great strength to summon one that will cover the ritual for you," here his voice became much more sardonic, "so when someone without the level of power or skill does it, they usually bring their own sacrifice." Green eyes widened at the implication and she felt herself become sick.

"But watch," Fox continued, and his voice was full of thrilling excitement. His fangs were bared in a large grin and Sakura couldn't help but notice that he looked wild, and truly demonic for the first time since she'd met him. "Here comes the finale." The group was hushed with anticipation and then Sakura felt the urge to cover her ears. As if sensing it, the portal began to moan and cry out and from the black blood rose hundreds of pale hands, reaching up towards the air in front of them, clawing out. Accompanying it was the sound of growling and dark whisperings. The urge to kill, to murder and to commit violent and cruel acts pervaded the mind as the base characteristics began to awaken.

"Our ride has come," Cat said primly, and she reached for a grosteque hand with her own slim, white one. The hand clasped hers and began to tighten its hold, its sharp fingernails trying to scratch and sink into her flesh but it went through it, as if she were a spirit. She began to fade away as the hand yanked at her with great force and dragged her into the black void.

"Come now," Fox said almost condescendingly, "who would like to go next?" They heard a sharp laugh on the other side, which Sakura immediately recognized as belonging to Cat. "Cat's waiting for us!" He shoved Syaoran into the quagmire before throwing himself at the confusion of hands. "Don't fight it now," he warned Syaoran, "they'll get pretty nasty if you do." He was right, of course, and Syaoran, who had been wriggling and biting savagely at the hands, let out a cry as one of the hand actually managed to physically scratch and tear at his skin. He tensed but stopped moving immediately and the hands, as if understanding his sudden complacency, gave him a mocking pat on the head before sucking him too into the darkness.

Taking in a deep breath for courage, she let one of the hands guide her into the black emptiness. She saw Eriol, Bird, Ruby and Yue follow her. The portal vanished into the night; Penguin Park looked as uninhabited as it was before, the night sky spread out overhead, and suddenly she could see nothing but black space. She felt as if she were choking- why couldn't she breathe? She clawed at the emptiness and thought she saw faces in the gloom but then she blinked and saw concerned faces looking at her.

"What...?" was all she managed to ask of Cat, who had been hovering over her patiently.

"Wasn't that quite the ride?" Fox bounced excitedly, "you're the first of your group to wake up besides that Eriol kid. Anyway, welcome to the Makai." Her eyes snapped open and she forced herself to see through the haze, only to notice that she was in a foreign place. Eyes seemed to be peering out at her from every piece of foliage and even the empty "sky" appeared to be some sentient being, tracking her every move.

She shivered.

END OF CHAPTER