Flaming Hearts ~ Hearts On Fire ~ Book4 [DISCONTINUED] {OLDER VERSION}

CH12 - Drifting Apart. . .

Days had passed since that faithful visit. . .

Time flies by faster than before, life goes on for every individual, and the time to even think of decisions is getting shorter by each passing second. . .

Once more the Urameshi siblings' seats remained empty, and like usual Keiko would stare at them for a while, still wondering about where her famous trouble-maker was, or his responsible sister who would always make sure that he stays out of danger.

As the days had gone, there had been no recent news about Miyuki and her well being. . . .

That added more to the young teen brunette girl's anxiety, which had been building up so much these recent days, but she was able to find a way to quiet it down for the time being, forcing her mind to focus back onto what is important to her. Studying. Or at least she tried to, but it became a task way too difficult to her mind that had been occupied by her worrisome thoughts about her Yusuke-. 'Focus!' She once more caught up with herself. 'If Yusuke wants to fight that much, then just. . . let him be. . .' She trailed down with sorrow in her own tone while a sigh of bitterness came out of her lips. But she powered through with her complicated feeling and ordered her hand to take the notes from the board as fast as possible before another thought could come up and distract her once again.

The afternoon finally came, and school had ended right after the ringing of its last bell for the day.

"I'm sure everything will be alright." Kaito replied to his fellow classmate reassuringly who was slightly conflicted to say the least. "With wits like yours, you will be able to come up with something."

"Yeah. . . Maybe. . ." Kurama replied to his friend with a small smile he had to force upon his lips while the two of them were walking out of the school's gate.

"Well, I gotta go and catch the train." Kaito hurriedly explained when he glanced down at his watch and saw the time. "See you around Shuichi!" The redhead gave a nod of acknowledgement before he turned on his heels and let his small and friendly smile drop to a serious frown with eyes that were filled with concerns.

'But I don't think it will be enough. . .' Kurama thought to himself worriedly as he continued on his path. 'From that message. . . Yomi did not just change on the outside, but he might have changed on the inside as well in more ways. But at the same he is still after power. . . just like before. . .' At that, a small fragment of memory came to mind, back from his demon years when he was Yoko and Yomi was his second in command. They were friends in a way, but it was more like a business relationship with mutual respects. Or at least something close to it. . .

But. . . the two grew colder and more distant the moment Yomi decided to go after his own head and sacrifice their men for the sake of missions behind the leader's back. . .

Then came that one mission that just. . .

Whenever the Fox Demon thinks about his past, those memories were somewhat manageable at first. But now after Sensui showed up. . . and after his defeat. . . He can feel every part of his muscles tensing up, just the very thought of those . . . 

The past that he had lived as the cold-blooded demon. . . the calm and ruthless bandit who steals treasures that he can get his hands on, not because he needed them in any way, but mostly because of the thrill of those challenges . . . The person who values himself above others and thought other could be expandable. . . replaced. . . no matter who they were. . .

A mindset that his life circumstances had created in Demon World. . . A mind that had many plans to just break out with power that once had the potential to outshine many demons, and maybe really became true to his old nickname.