NekoMentals!

Chapter Thirty-Three

Kurogane grabbed a knife in the drawer that was closest to him and enchanted it with his shadows. He held it in his right hand, and didn't throw it yet; he was waiting for the perfect opportunity. The others readied themselves, too. They did everything they could and braced themselves– they had absolutely zero knowledge about Tama and her powers.

"How did you get out?" Sachiko narrowed her eyes at the old woman and pursed her lips. "Why won't you just let us kill you?"

"I didn't make myself immortal for nothing, girl. I would never in a million years lay down my life, even for my sister's peace. If she had listened to me in the first place, none of this would have ever happened. Now, let's get this over with." Tama charged up her energy and prepared to aim it at the teens.

While she was distracted, Kurogane glanced over at Aito, giving him a signal. He threw the knife towards her throat. It stuck, and blood sprayed everywhere, staining the living room carpet a deep red. Aito created a force-field of lightning and wrapped it around the five of them. Anything that tried to get through the field would be electrocuted.

A puddle of blood surrounded Tama, and her almost-white hair was sticky with her own blood, as well as her clothes. More knives were thrown at her, courtesy of her own nephew, though they were aimed at her eyes, instead of her heart.

Her bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the ruined house. Bloodred streamed down her face and onto the floor. Some of it pooled in her wrinkles and stayed there, drying almost instantly upon her face.

"Kurogane, I'm not trying to hurt you," Tama pleaded. "Just hand me the crystal and I won't do anything else. Please." With trembling hands, she pulled both knives out of her eyes. Her eyes were completely filled with blood, and she couldn't see any longer. "You know I love you, Kurogane."

"You don't. If you did, you wouldn't be trying to kill us over a crystal! If you won't tell us how to break it, we'll just break you instead!" Kurogane shouted at his aunt.

Sachiko looked over at him from the other side of the force-field; she had a proud expression on her face, like he was her son who had just gotten all A's in school. She smiled at him, and he smiled back– they were both willing to push their differences aside and fight the evil that was right in front of them.

"Fine," the sound of Tama's voice startled Kurogane and Sachiko, forcing them to focus on the old woman before them. "I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way." She gathered a glowing energy in her palm, much like Sachiko's fire, and thrust it at the teens. Fortunately for them, the force-field held and blocked the attack; the glowing orb bounced off of the shield and headed back towards Tama. She dodged it, but it crashed into the door behind her and destroyed what was left of it.

Aito cracked the force-field open a little, so that Damion and Yurika could throw their water and earth at Tama. The water hit the old woman and washed away some of the blood that was drying upon her. However, more spilled out– the wounds were too deep. The large clump of earth caked Tama, making her look like a fuming bog-monster.

"I will be back!" She pointed a finger at all five of them and stormed out of the house, leaving the teens in shock and overwhelmed with tears.

Yurika looked around at the others, making sure that they were all physically alright.

After a quick evaluation, she was sure that no one had gotten hurt. However, Kurogane didn't seem like he was doing fine mentally; he was on his knees, rocking back and forth and trying to choke back sobs.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yurika placed a hand on his shoulder and cut right to the chase. "I won't tell any of the others, I promise." Her voice was quiet and sweet, like she was consoling a dog afraid of thunder.

Kurogane shook his head and continued to rock back and forth. His attempt to prevent crying failed, and his tears soaked the carpet.

"Alright. Just let me know if you want to, okay?" she asked him.

All he could do was nod, and resumed letting all of his emotions out.

~

Aito slept on the couch while Sachiko made dinner– the force-field drained his body, and he couldn't stand up without help. The others rested as well, but they couldn't sleep after what had just happened. Yurika read her book, Kurogane locked himself in his room and cried some more, and Damion sat next to Yurika, his head on her shoulder.

Sachiko walked over to Aito and woke him up, a plate of steaming food in her hand. She gave it to him, but he refused to eat. Her eyebrows knit together in concern; all he ever wanted to do was eat. She had to force-feed him, and after six bites, he claimed that he was too full.

"Could you take another look at Aito, please, Yurika? He won't eat anything on his own, and he only took a few bites after I gave it to him. I'm worried." Sachiko set the plate of food down on the counter nearest her and tangled her fingers in her hair. She paced around the kitchen island, muttering to herself about her brother and her mom.

"Of course, Sachiko. He'll be okay, though. I promise." Yurika softly tread across the carpet, gently shaking Aito awake; he had fallen asleep again. "I'm going to check you again, okay? Could you please lift your shirt up?"

Aito obeyed, and winced as he did so. Once his shirt was on the ground beside him, Yurika froze. There was a giant, gaping hole in his stomach. She could see part of his small intestine. Sachiko noticed her hesitance and stopped short as well.

"What? What happened?' Her voice increased a few octaves due to worry. "Is he going to be okay?"

Yurika faced her best friend and answered with a shaky voice, "He has a very, very deep wound. I'm going to try and clean it, but that's all I can do."

Sachiko nodded, resuming her pacing, and Yurika went straight to work. She cleaned the outside and rim of the hole with antiseptic, being cautious about the showing intestine. He cried out in pain and tried to smack her hands away, but to no avail.

Damion and Sachiko gathered around Yurika, not saying a word.

After hours of trying to repair the deep wound, there was still no luck. More blood seeped out, and Aito claimed that he was lightheaded. Kurogane came out of his room to get food, and saw that he was lying on the couch, covered in blood.

"What happened?" Kurogane directed the question at Yurika.

She shook her head. "I'm not totally sure. He wasn't hit with a weapon, so I'm thinking that it was the force-field aftershock. He's never been able to do that, so he hadn't practiced using it at all. I think he either accidentally hit himself with it, or it's just a consequence of not training properly." Tears welled in her eyes, but she wiped them away before they could slide down her face.

"You're going to make it, Aito, I promise. You will." Kurogane gripped Aito's hand hard, like he was his lifeline.

"Don't sugarcoat it, Kuro. I'm going to die, and that's the truth. At least I'll have saved you all, though. Go in with a bang, go out with a bang," Aito smiled solemnly, squeezing Kurogane's hand back. He made eye contact with everyone in the group. "Thank you all for this wonderful life. I love you, Damion. I love you, Yurika. I love you, Kurogane. I love you, Sachiko."

He gasped. "I see Dad. I love you all so much."

Aito looked at all of them, took one last breath– a peaceful smile on his face– and crossed over to the other side.