Deciding My Fate

Chapter 24: The Soul Piper & The Mischievous Little Soul (2)

Emi's pov

Kagome, Sota, and I were walking in the subway station, I held Sota's hand and it seemed Kagome wasn't too thrilled about why we were there in the first place. "Jeez! Why do I have to accompany you to visit YOUR friend in the hospital?" Kagome whined, "Because the hospital's in the next town, and Mom's too busy to take me today." Sota said, "C'mon Kagome, it's not that bad. Besides, Sota nearly died the last time he was on his own. Mom wasn't too happy about that." I said, "Ughh!" Kagome groaned, throwing her head back. "Why does everyone have to keep interfering with my studies?!" I shook my head and rolled my eyes, as I looked down at Sota. As we walked out of the subway, I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something wasn't right. "Hey, sis..." Sota started, "What?" Kagome asked, "Is there such a thing as an evil spirit?" I looked down at Sota, "Huh?" Kagome quipped. The two of us shared a look, wondering why Sota had asked such a question. Then again, I'm surprised he didn't ask too many questions about the demon that had attacked us the other day. When we reached the hospital, I tried not to get sick from the smell of antiseptic and other chemicals. Something about hospitals didn't sit well with me, I guess I was still traumatized by Grandpa's dear neath experience. Kagome knocked on the door, sliding it open and I was immediately greeted with the sight of a young boy, unconscious in bed with a mask over his mouth and nose, the IV bag hanging up above his bed, and a woman standing near the bed. She turned her head, smiling lightly when she saw Sota. I'm guessing this must be Satoru's mother, she was pretty and she reminded me of our mom.

"Sota, thank you for coming so often." She said, it warmed my heart to know that Sota cared so much about his friends.

"Aww, Sota. You are so sweet." I ruffled his hair, making him whine as I pulled him into a hug.

"Ah, come on, sis! Let me go, you're gonna squeeze all the air out of me." He complained, "But you're so caring and sweet! It's so adorable." I hugged him a little tighter, "Kagome, get her off of me." He whined, reaching for Kagome.

"Emi, don't squeeze him so hard. You're gonna kill him." Kagome pulled Sota out of my arms, making me pout as Satoru's mother just chuckled at our antics. The three of us quieted down, turning our attention to Satoru's mother.

"My goodness, you three are such a delightful bunch. I bet your mother has had some fun moments with the three of you." She giggled, her comment didn't sound malicious or mean, if anything she sounded amused.

"How is Satoru?" Sota asked.

"Physically, he's healed. But he still hasn't woken up yet." She explained.

"Here..." Sota reached into his bag and pulled out a thing of paper cranes. He handed them to Satoru's mother, and when she grabbed them, I noticed that she had burn scars on her hands. "Thank you so much," She smiled, Kagome and I looked at one another and then back at the scars. I looked around the room, the feeling I had earlier coming back. "Oh, these... I got them from the fire six months ago." She explained, Kagome and I looked at her in shock. "Oh! I'm so sorry, it was rude of me to stare." Kagome apologized. "That's how Satoru..." She trailed off, something caught my eye and I looked at Satoru's bed. A light glowed from underneath Satoru's bed and a hand reached out, a low growl rising from my chest. "Emi," Kagome called out, looking concerned as I watched the hand grab the tube of the drip and pull it down, shattering the drip. That's when I realized that it was the little girl we saw in the park the other day, the one who tried to hurt Kagome. She suddenly disappeared, leaving Satoru's mother to cry over her son.

"Again... Why is this happening?" She asked.

"Yeah, why is this happening? Why is this girl targeting so many people? It seems like she is going after Satoru personally. Could she be a family member?" I thought to myself.

We said our goodbyes to Satoru's mother and headed out of the hospital, the three of us walking in silence. "Sota, what did you mean earlier? You mentioned an evil spirit. Why?" Kagome asked, "I thought maybe an evil spirit was after Satoru... Satoru has been in a coma since the fire six months ago. At first, all my classmates went to visit him at the hospital. But weird things happened on their way home, like falling down the stairs, or barely missing getting hit by a car... After these things kept happening, the kids stayed away. In that fire six months ago, she died...Satoru's older sister. Her name is Mayu." He explained, Kagome and I looked at each other in realization. We stopped, looking up at the burnt apartment that we had walked past.

"Is that the place?" I asked.

"Yeah. Whenever they tried to clean up the fire, an accident would happen. So it's been like that for six months." My ears twitched and I saw a potted plant float up and drop toward us, I immediately pulled Kagome and Sota out of the way. "I knew it!! There is an evil spirit!" Sota shouted, panicked. He suddenly faints, panicking Kagome and me. "Oh my god, Sota." Kagome shakes Sota and the two of us look up at the apartment, seeing the little girl which was most likely Mayu. I growled loudly this time as she jumped down from the balcony and landed in front of us, I put myself in between Kagome and Mayu.

"Stupid! I'm already dead!" Mayu yelled.

"You're Mayu, aren't you? Why are you doing all of this? Aren't you Satoru's older sister?" Kagome asked, "Satoru, hah! I'll kill him! Mom hated me! That's why she abandoned me! She never wanted me!" Mayu screamed, and tears started to form in her eyes. "That's not true. Your mother is so nice. She loved you. Why continuously hurt her?" I asked, I was so upset with the entire idea. I never knew my birth parents, they had given me away to keep me safe from whatever threat was looming at the time. Even Inuyasha didn't hate his mother. Kagome looked just as confused as to why she was doing this, "Shut up! If you both keep interfering, I'll kill you, too!" I growled at her threat, keeping my guard up. Mayu disappears and the plants around Kagome, Sota, and I are uprooted from the soil. A tree is uprooted high up in the air too. I threw myself over Kagome and Sota, while the plants crashed onto the ground around us. When the commotion stopped, Kagome and I looked up. "Are you alright, Emi?" She asked, "I'm fine. Are you and Sota okay?" I asked, "Yeah," We were interrupted when a flute tune started playing, making my ears twitch. We looked up and I growled louder than before as we watched the Soul Piper blowing her tune in front of us.

"What the hell?" I quipped.

The Soul Piper sends us a message as it opens its eyes slowly, "Huh?.. Until my eyes... are open?" Kagome mutters, making me look back at her. The Soul Piper disappears, leaving Kagome and I to question what the message means. "Until my eyes are open?" Kagome asked, "What does that mean?" She added, looking at me.

"I don't know but I have a feeling that we're going to need Inuyasha's help," I said, looking Kagome in the eyes. "Right now, let's get Sota home." Kagome nodded and the two of us headed home, but at the forefront of my mind was Mayu. We need to stop her before she kills her mother and little brother.