Chereads / Love Like Hell / Chapter 8 - Chapter 8: Coaches and the Big Day

Chapter 8 - Chapter 8: Coaches and the Big Day

Daisuke hadn't seen Yuri at breakfast at all. He figured that maybe she was still sleeping. But then he realized that she never slept past eight. Perhaps she didn't want to see him after the kiss last night. It was kinda awkward seeing somebody you "accidentally" made out with. Even if he felt like she wouldn't be there for breakfast, he still searched for her. Unfortunately, just like his feelings said, he hadn't seen her at all during breakfast, and now was the time to meet with his trainer.

He walked in a crowd of people who were looking at a piece of paper. It was like when a play is being out and everyone wanted to see which part they would be playing. Daisuke made way through the crowd, trying his best to look at the paper. It was no doubt the paper was based on who got which trainer. Daisuke got to the front of the line, eventually, and saw his name, and scanned across the sheet of paper to see a "Kyutaka". Daisuke read the name out loud, and the volume of the voices around him had slowly silenced, and everyone stared at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Did you say Kyutaka?" a boy asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Don't you know about his history?" another boy asked.

"No…" Daisuke said slowly as he slowly shook his head.

"This man has only had one student pass his test. Everybody else who's ever tried in his sixty years have either died, or gave up before they had the chance to die. Nobody has the guts to even attempt with this guy anymore. The last four years, people have quit on him."

"Nobody, but the leaders of this place, knows exactly what he does. The only person who had made out alive has now died, and everyone else seemed to forget everything they did."

"So, are you telling me I shouldn't go up with this guy?" Daisuke asked.

"HAVEN'T YOU BEEN LISTENING?" the whole crowd shouted in unison.

"Listen, I know you guys are worried, but I'm going to do this."

"Why would we be worried? It's one less person to hunt down. Besides, it's your life, not yours. If you want to give it away, go ahead and have fun."

With that, the crowd had dispersed. He looked at the sheet again, looking at where he had to go. To the pool? That was a weird place for a workout, but nonetheless, he went there. When he stepped outside, he noticed it couldn't have been more than forty degrees outside. He shivered a little, and put his hands around his arms trying to keep warm. Daisuke looked around to see only a man in an old Samurai kimono, with a straw Chinaman hat, sitting on a cold bench.

"Are you Daisuke?" the old man asked.

"Are you the one they call Kyutaka?"

The old man said nothing, but rather stood up, and walked over to Daisuke. When he stood in front of Daisuke, he took off his hat, and looked Daisuke in the eyes. The old man was no larger than five foot one. He seemed to have a little more fun in his life than an average man. And he seemed a little drunk.

"I haven't seen you since you were a baby!"

"What?"

"You were only this big!" the man exclaimed as he showed the measurements with his hands.

"Wait, why were you at my… who are you?"

"I'm a family friend." He said with a smile.

"I haven't seen you before. Why hasn't dad talked about you?"

"I'm sorry. Let me rephrase what I said. I'm a friend of your mothers."

"You know mom?"

"Knew her better than anybody ever will. Better then you, or that lazy bum of a father you have."

"Hey! Don't talk about my dad like that!"

"Sorry, I didn't know you were so close with that buffoon."

"Okay. Start all over. How do you know my mom?"

"Boy, you don't understand who your mother was, do you?"

"No. Why? Should I?"

"Boy, you really do know as much as your father. I was hoping that you'd understand her a little deeper than that idiot you call a father."

"What is it that you have with my father!"

"He could never grasp the fact that Demon Hunters were real, that's what. He thought it was a bunch of nonsense, and he refused to let her see me."

"Okay," Daisuke said, still frustrated that he didn't know how he knew his mother, or who exactly he was. "Now, back to the original question: how did you know mom?"

"I was her trainer." He said with a smile. "She was the only person in the entire planet in my class that had passed and ended up alive."

"Mom was a Demon Hunter?"

"You didn't know? And you never got it with the hints that I'd been giving you during our talk. You're too much like your father."

"Okay, okay, okay…" he said quickly. "Mom" he said, making sure he was thinking of the right woman. "Hiromushu Taki, was a Demon Hunter?"

"Not just a Demon Hunter, the best of the best, kiddo."

"What do you mean?"

"Every competition, she had dominated and ruled the stage. Demons feared her, Demon Hunters always thought twice before even trying to get aggressive with her. And, she always had the guys eyes around here."

"So, she was really good."

"You don't get it, do you, kiddo? She was great! Nobody could oppose her fist."

"If she was so great, how did she die so easily?"

"She retired at the age of nineteen after falling in love with your father. A couple years later, they had you. I wouldn't really say she retired at nineteen, because she still fought the occasional demon once in a while. But she completely stopped when you were around two. Either way, she was amazing."

"So, she quit because of me?"

"Don't think about it like that, kiddo. She loved you too much, and she couldn't have you be attacked by demons at such an age. That and your father had disapproved with her running off."

"So, did he actually know she was one, or not? I'm confused."

"No, he didn't know, but he knew that she had sometimes left you alone for a couple of minutes, or load a bow and snipe a demon in the mall. And since your father couldn't see the bow, he thought it was weird with her pointing and cocking her arm back."

"I could understand that."

"Alright, are you ready to train?"

"Sure. What are we going to do?"

"Fighting."

"Against you? I'm sorry, old man, but I'm not sure if–"

"Get over yourself. I may be old, but I can give a brat like you a butt-whoopin' anytime, anywhere."

"You want to try?" Daisuke said with a grin.

"Have you ever had serious training?" Kyutaka asked.

"With a trainer. Nope."

"Alright then. I suggest you shut your mouth and learn."

Kyutaka took off his white samurai-like top, and had a white T-shirt underneath. He stood in a karate stance, waiting for Daisuke to come. Daisuke put on his sweatshirt that he brought with him. It was a little cold outside, and the fight wasn't going to be long, so why freeze out here?

Daisuke took the first strike. He leaped forward, swinging his fist as fast and as hard as he could, but he knew that he would miss on the first strike. That always happened with him. With the same momentum, Daisuke had gone for a kick, and when he missed that, he jumped up and turned around, bringing his other foot for a shot at him. Kyutaka had crossed his arms over his head, which he had ducked in between his chest and arms. He skidded back, taking little force to his body.

"Not bad for a kid who's never had a lesson before. I believe I'll have to start off using my normal fighting mode."

"Don't hold back on me, old man."

Daisuke took another charge, and after a momentary pause of what was suppose to be a punch, there was a rain of jabs thrown around, almost too fast for the human eye to see, but somehow, the old man had dodged them all. Daisuke had kicked high at the most random time in the fight, trying to leave the old man in uncertainty, but the old man had only grabbed Daisuke's leg. He tossed Daisuke over the pool, and Daisuke landed on his feet on the other side.

When he looked up, he saw the pool water hovering in front of him. His eyes widened, and then he stared at the old man.

"Oh, c'mon! That's so cheap!"

But the Kyutaka had only smiled and fired a large force of water on Daisuke. As soon as Daisuke stood up, he had shook off all the water he could, and noticed that the wind was now blowing, and it made him even colder.

"Did you have to spray water at me? Why not a giant thing of fire, or electricity?"

"Because, you need to know how to fight in the most awkward positions. You're freezing, and if you let your mind wonder from the battle to your annoyance, you're bound to die."

Daisuke looked at Kyutaka, knowing that the old man had still been holding back. Daisuke had hated being thought of insignificant. He was strong, maybe not as strong, but they had to give him some credit, where some credit was due. Daisuke had tightened his fist in cold, and gritted his teeth in thought and anger.

Daisuke took off, flying over the pool, cocking an arm back. He threw a punch, and Kyutaka had moved his head to the side, dodging the attack, and Daisuke had turned around again, trying to kick. When Kyutaka had dodged that attack, Daisuke had begun another rain of jabs.

"The same attack?" Kyutaka asked as he grinned while dodging more blows

"That's what you think, old man." Daisuke said with a grin of his own.

A tree had come out of nowhere, and struck Kyutaka like a train. Daisuke lifted up the tree with his elemental abilities, and didn't see the old man anywhere. As soon as Daisuke knew that he was gone, he felt a large jab in his left temple, and he flew into the ground.

"C'mon, kid. You can't keep your guard down like that if you ever want to live."

"Quit mocking me!" Daisuke yelled. "Come at me with everything you have and maybe I won't be such a disappointment."

"Is that a promise?" Kyutaka asked with a sly grin. Daisuke nodded in seriousness. The old man had closed his eyes and had started to glow. But instead of running towards Daisuke, the old man headed into the hotel. As Daisuke followed Kyutaka, he had seen that the old man was heading towards Yuri's room. Daisuke could feel adrenaline build in has body, and he ran faster. As soon as Kyutaka busted the door open, and went for Yuri, Daisuke had popped out of nowhere and had laid a clean hit on Kyutaka's cheek. And then another one landed, and the rain had started, only this time, Daisuke wasn't missing. Until Daisuke had grabbed Kyutaka's throat, and cocked his arm back as far as he could, and his fist flew forward, only to stop in the old man's face.

"You ever try and touch Yuri again, I'll kill you, you got that, old man?" Daisuke asked angrily as he let go.

Kyutaka and landed on the ground on his feet, coughing a little for air. When his coughing was gone, he looked confused.

"You didn't strike me?"

"You're not worth it." Daisuke said angrily. "Besides, what does this exercise have to do with anything?" Daisuke asked.

"Nothing." The old man said with a grin.

"You mean, I did this for no reason!"

"Precisely."

"Why!"

"You're warmed up, aren't you?" the old man asked.

"Well, yeah, but what about the test of people dying and getting kicked out, and my mom being the only one to pass."

"It's all true. Most students can't dodge or even make out of the Hydro blast I did on you. I even accelerated the power of the blast. I'm surprised you were moving around the way you were after a blast like that. You pass." The old man said with a smile as he took out a container that held sake in it.

"Pass?" Daisuke asked.

"Daisuke? What the hell is going on!" Yuri demanded. She had been in the middle of changing, holding her shirt up to her chest as she looked at the two in anger. She had thrown things at the two before they had the chance to explain, and they ended up in the hall.

"So, I pass?" Daisuke asked.

"You bet." The old man asked.

"Why? Why me and not others."

"Because. Like your mother, you actually had self-control. A normal Demon Hunter would have beaten the crap out of me when you held my throat like that. But you held back, Daisuke. That's a strength, and don't let others tell you anything different."

"So, all the others…"

"Didn't have the heart you did. Now, go out there and knock them dead." Kyutaka said as he gently walked back outside as the weather turned warm once again.

Daisuke had felt nervous. He would step into a transporter that would send him to the island he had seen before, and he would fight for his life out there. After a half an hour, he would come out of the transporter he went into during the beginning. At that, only time and luck would tell if he would live or not.

Yuri had been in the auditorium with all the other guests. The guests would have a little thing that had looked like a portable DVD player that had showed the person that they had come with fight. It was a way to determine who lived or died in a safe way. Yuri couldn't help but feel nervous for Daisuke. This may as well been the last thing he had ever done. He hadn't gotten to say good-bye to anybody but Yuri. But what he said wasn't in words, but rather another kiss. This time, it lasted a couple of minutes, and Daisuke didn't hold back his hand's desire to touch anything, either, which Yuri was okay with.

Daisuke stood in line, which was getting shorter by the second. He knew his time would come very soon. He wasn't prepared for what he was about to see, but he knew he had to go through with this. He didn't know why, but he felt some sort of connection with his mother as he did this. Perhaps she had felt the same way he had when she did this at his age. As soon as Daisuke stepped through the transporter, his life had forever changed.

As he entered the island, and he could see everything clearly, he saw bodies that were already laid on the muddy ground that Daisuke had stood on. He looked around to see evergreens. He was in a good part of the island, the part he could actually have some control in. He looked around, looking for anybody to hide from or to confront. But he didn't see anybody. Perhaps nobody had been in the evergreens that were alive. Perhaps they had all killed each other.

Daisuke's thoughts had changed as an arrow had skimmed his bangs that laid n front of his eyes. Daisuke looked to where the arrow was shot from to see a kid with a spiritual bow, and Daisuke had snapped his fingers to get the sword he needed. The kid climbed higher into the trees, trying to get unseen by Daisuke. Daisuke thought about things for a while, such as his motive for being here. Did he truly want to kill, or just make it out of there alive?

Before Daisuke could make up his mind, another attack was made towards him from behind. He had flown a couple of yards before crashing into a tree. Daisuke got up and looked forward. He saw the same kid, only this time, he had a spear in hand. Daisuke guessed that the kid had shot him with some fireball technique, but what he couldn't understand was why the kid hadn't stabbed him when he had the chance. Either way, Daisuke had charged. He decided that he would attack until the kid would learn to back off, whenever that would be. He needed to manage to stay alive for less than a half an hour and keep off as many Demon Hunter's off his back as well as he could.

Daisuke had thrown punches left and right, trying to hit the kid, not too hard. He had only been eleven looking, and he didn't want to kill a little kid. Finally, he got a knick, which sent the kid into a tree, and Daisuke sat there, waiting for the kid to get up. He knew that he didn't hit him that hard. But when the kid stood up, a fire was made from the trees that Daisuke had barely sensed and dodged. Out of the trees came another little kid, looking the same.

"What the…" Daisuke asked himself out loud.

"We're twins…" said one of the boys.

"Stupid." Said the other.

"Why the hell are you guys trying to kill me?"

"That's what we're suppose to do, isn't it?" the kid asked.

"Can't you defend instead of attack."

"But if we do that, we'll die. That's what master said."

"Master?" Daisuke asked, but the two hadn't gotten the chance to answer before an explosion had sent all three of them flying into opposing directions. When Daisuke looked up, he had seen Kagori, looking straight at him. Daisuke stood up quickly, trying not to look like the biggest embarrassment in Japan. When Daisuke looked around, he noticed the boys were gone.

"So, you're the infamous Daisuke?" Kagori asked.

"How does everyone know me?" Daisuke asked angrily.

"You're the son of Taki Hiromushu. At least that's what some say. Others say that you're spirit in her son's body. Some just say that you're a reincarnation of her."

"What do you believe?"

"That you're a bastard fool who'll never make it out of here alive."

"Is that a threat?"

"No," Kagori said as he held his spiritual sword in hand. It glowed violet, something Daisuke had never seen before. They were usually blue with yellow floating in there somewhere. "That's a promise."

Kagori was in Daisuke's face faster than Daisuke could comprehend. When Daisuke could understand what was going on, he was already in the air, flying above the trees, and saw Kagori flying towards him with hateful eyes. Daisuke had drawn his weapon, which he had put away as he talked to the boys to save spiritual energy. The first attack that Kagori had tried to make had sent sparks between the weapons. Then three more were made and the same results had happened, until Daisuke had socked Kagori in the face, sending him in the field of trees. Daisuke had gone through the leaves and landed on a branch. As he looked at the bottom floor below, he hadn't seen anybody, or sensed anyone. Sweat trickled down his face and landed on the ground far below him. Daisuke could literally feel the drop touch the ground, even if he hadn't been touching the ground himself.

Kagori came attacking from above, which had sent Daisuke off his guard. Daisuke had been slashed on his left arm, and was sent off the branch. Kagori had somehow made it through the leaves without making a sound and somehow maintained a stealth that Daisuke couldn't pick up. Daisuke didn't know if this would turn out to be a challenge that would be fun, or one he should fear.

As Daisuke stood up again, he had seen a flash, and then felt several jabs in his face, and he had felt cuts along his arms and legs, then one final blow in his stomach, making the air that he held in as his back hit a tree. The force of the momentum that Daisuke carried had broken the tree of its roots. As Daisuke tried sitting up, Kagori had shown no mercy, socking him left and right, making Daisuke bleed from everywhere in the face. He could taste the awkward taste of plasma from his blood soaking up his mouth. One blow sent him skidding a couple of yards away.

Suddenly, even though Daisuke was getting the crap kicked out of him, he had felt a sudden strength. His cuts hadn't hurt anymore, and he could stand. He stood quickly, and he rolled his shoulders back. He had seemed lighter all of the sudden. He didn't know why, and neither had Kagori, who was pissed off about the idea of his prey being able to stand after such a beating. Kagori leaped forward again, trying to kill Daisuke off for once and for all, but everything had suddenly seemed to slow down and be moving in slow motion. Daisuke moved out of the way and hit Kagori in the back of the head. When he did, things seemed to speed back to normal pace, and Kagori had flown through five trees and skidded a decent quarter kilometer. Daisuke had stared at his first in amazement. He gasped as his whole body seemed to get stronger and better by the second.

Then Daisuke realized what it was. The pills that he took tow weeks ago from Gi were finally gone and out of his system. He could use his physical strength, which meant he wasn't using up so much of the spiritual strength. Daisuke had completely forgot about that. If he wasn't using even 1/25th of the energy he was using before, than he could easily defeat Kagori or anybody on the field.

Kagori had come out of nowhere again, trying to attack Daisuke. Daisuke had been so amazed by his new power that he hadn't noticed his enemy. Not that it mattered, anyway. A couple of seconds, in slow motion mode, Daisuke had made punches to Kagori and sent him flying as well. But even though Kagori had taken five minutes of pure beatings, he wouldn't give up.

"What happened?" Kagori demanded. "You've improved in such a short time. It's as if you–" Kagori cut himself off short, and then smiled. "You took the pills, to?"

"What do you mean, 'to'?"

"Why do you think you're able to touch me at the moment. And I'm sure you've heard the rumors about me being able to use elemental things. Haven't you wondered why I haven't been able to use any of this?"

Sadly, Daisuke didn't think about this at all. He was too worried about the fight, the he had forgotten to analyze his enemy. But he didn't show his foolishness.

"I've taken the same pills as you, only I took them three days ago. Sadly, I won't be able to fight you until after this."

"You mean, you're even stronger, faster, and better than this?" Daisuke asked. Daisuke had decided then and there to not use anything that would seem special just yet. By the way this Kagori guy was talking it sounded a lot like they were going to be fighting again, and Daisuke would need everything that Kagori didn't know about him until then.

Daisuke had known that Kagori still had a chance in killing him, so he thought that he should get out of there as soon as he possibly could. He rushed at Kagori as fast as he could, making things move in slow motion again, and he socked Kagori as hard as he could in the face and ran. It may have seemed cheap, but it was the only way he could have escaped. Daisuke ran as fast he could, hightailing it out of there, knowing that Kagori would be more ticked off than any other person in the world.

Yuri had been watching everything, and she wasn't sure how she felt. She wanted to believe that Daisuke would make it out of there alive, but there was that little hint of overdramatic reality in her head, saying that he would die a gruesome death. As she watched, she had grown the urge to go to the bathroom very badly, until she couldn't very well take it anymore. She knew she couldn't take the TV thing with her, so she left it on her seat to go to the bathroom.

It took her five minutes to find a restroom. She didn't want to miss too much of Daisuke's fight. Yuri had seen other screens go blurry, and she knew that the person that the audience around that TV had died. If she came back to find her TV blurry… No, she couldn't think like that. Daisuke was going to make it out alive, wasn't he?

As she found it, she walked by a slightly opened door, and heard Daisuke's name and stopped. She crouched by the door, and remained quiet, trying to listen to what they were saying.

"What about Hiromushu?" a man demanded. It sounded a lot like the president of the place.

"He's a danger to society, sir." A man said.

"How so?" the president asked.

"Well, as watch his fighting, he's not hording the same chemical, enraged imbalance like the rest of the demon fighters."

"How is that a danger to society?"

"He's far too soft hearted as well." Another man said.

"I know, I know. But why is this bad. Answer my questions. I'm growing very impatient. If you ask me, Daisuke deserves a medal for being so merciful."

Yuri smiled at this. As she watched Daisuke fight, there had never been a time where he had the intention of killing anybody. Maybe harming them enough to get sense back into them, but never killing.

"Do you remember his mother?" a man asked.

"The best girl in the Demon Hunter history?"

"Do you remember what happened to her."

The president sighed as he answered in a softened, and somewhat hurt tone. "Yes, it was a tragic event wasn't it?"

"Sir, she was just as softhearted as Daisuke is."

Yuri was confused. It sounded like something happened to her because of them. Or maybe it actually was because of them. Perhaps the death of Daisuke's mother hadn't been an accident, maybe she was assassinated to make it look like an accident. Yuri remained squatting by the door until she heard footsteps heading her directions, and hightailed it to the bathroom, where she had taken deep breaths. She didn't know how Daisuke would take it, but she was going to have to tell Daisuke about this incident.

Daisuke had sung again, barely missing a kid's face. But Daisuke brought his foot around, striking the kid in the face as he crashed in the sand. Daisuke ran away from the forest, trying to get away from Kagori for the remainder of the fight. He had made it through a grassland, a lake, a canyon, and now was in a desert. The kid he had been fighting had been putting up quite a fight.

A large fist made out of sand appeared and aimed for Daisuke, but Daisuke moved at the last minute, making the fist absorb itself in what it was made out of. Daisuke had guessed that the kid knew how to fight with sand. Why else would he be hiding out in a desert?

Even though Daisuke had been around in around twenty-five minutes, he hadn't killed anybody yet. He hadn't planned on it either. He had usually stuck around for a decent amount of fighting before shipping off into a different location. Daisuke hadn't felt pressured or angry to kill at all like everyone else had said. But he had noticed that the newbees had been giving off the same effect of side effects like other said he would. Anger in their eyes, even though Daisuke had never met the kids in his life. He knew it was unnatural for any normal human to hate for no reason.

Daisuke had gone for another attack. Even though he wasn't trying to kill anyone, he had to keep the punches coming so others wouldn't find him weak and try to gang up on him. But when he cocked his arm back, the kid disappeared. Daisuke had looked around, not finding or sensing any life form anywhere. Just to be safe, he had taken off from the fight, sprinting as far and as fast as he could to safety. He saw a couple of people fighting, and one of them disappeared as well. Daisuke was a little confused at first.

Daisuke looked at his watch and understood everything. His watch had said that he had been there for twenty-eight minutes. That had meant that everybody left when they had entered the arena. He had thought they would all leave at the same time, but it wasn't the case. Daisuke knew that all he needed to do was stay alive for less than two minutes, and he would be home free.

He kept moving, making sure nobody knew one location he was at. If he could keep this, he could live easily, and would make it home soon. But after two minutes, he was still on the island. He nervously looked at his watch, thinking that the machine had to be exact, down to the last millisecond. But five minutes had passed from his time to leave, and he still was on the island. After ten minutes, everyone was gone and he was the only one to be on the island. After a half an hour, he wasn't sure, but he had thought he heard strange growling…

"Where's Daisuke?" Yuri asked Gi, who had hung in her purse. They stood in front of the machines, waiting for him to come back. His screen had never gone blurry. Perhaps he died at the last second. No. That wasn't the way Daisuke would go down. Even if he was shot in the jugular, he wouldn't go down without a fight.

"I don't know." Gi answered. "but he better hurry out of that place soon, or else."

"What do you mean, 'or else'?"

"Well, dangerous animals live on that island. Some of them said to be pure evil, literally. As in evil took shape and form. No Demon Hunter would be able to make it alive out of there, that's for sure. I don't care how much pride or spirit you have, you're pretty screwed."

"Can't you be a little more positive?" Yuri asked.

"I'm just stating the facts." He smiled.

"Wait a minute." Yuri said with a shock stricken face. "The president and some of his men were talking about how dangerous Daisuke could be because of his soft-heartedness. You don't think they would…"

"Close off the machine he came in just for him so he could die in the island. I don't know. It doesn't sound like something the president would do."

"Something doesn't feel right." Yuri said with a glare at the machine.

"What are you going to do? You're only a human guest. Sure, you can see demons, but that doesn't mean you have the strength to take on everybody in here. If the president and people see you as a threat, they have a way to turn every single Demon Hunter against you, you know that, right?"

"I know, but Daisuke's–"

"Listen, if there is some technical difficulties, you wouldn't want to cause a commotion just because you thought they tried to kill Daisuke. That would either embarrass him, or send him to his death, and I don't think you want to do either."

"I suppose you're right." Yuri said with a sigh.

"All we can do now is just wait."

"I have to go to the bathroom and freshen up for when he comes." Yuri said.

"You look clean to me."

"You're a machine. You wouldn't understand."

Yuri walked away, and when she didn't think Gi could see her, she sprinted to the President's office. She knelt by the door, which was closed this time, and leaned up against it. She listened in closely, and waited to hear something.

"So," the one of the men said, "You did it?"

"Yeah. The machine won't allow Daisuke's DNA to come through. After this, we can tell the president to send this baby back to the station."

"Then next year, their be less machines, which means people will have to be stuck on the island more."

"And they'll kill each other while we wait."

"And that means there'll be less Demon Hunters to run away from."

Yuri looked in the room to see two men, but their faces weren't normal. Their faces were a pale blue and they had pitch red eyes. They had fangs, and their hair was coloured purple. Yuri automatically knew that something was wrong. Even if the possibilities of these guys being good guys were great, she knew they weren't. Sure, she had seen some strange things in the DHA. Demon heads plastered on walls as game. So, the average person would have figured they worked here or something. But Yuri knew something was up…

Yuri started to turn around to run, but she heard a voice.

"Hey, who are you?"

When she turned back around, she found on of the fierce looking creatures at her, and grabbed her arm. He threw her in the room, and locked the door. She stood up and gave a tough face. It was a last resort, and she knew she was cornered. Hopefully, if she pulled it off right, she could bluff her way out of there.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on me!" she shouted.

"Who's this dame?" one of the guys asked,

"Found her eavesdropping outside." The one who drug her inside the room said.

"Well, well, well. We haven't had a little company in a couple of years. She may be the bait we need to shut down this dump."

"You're not part of here?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me? Why the hell would demons be part of the DHA? We're trying to kill as many people as we possibly can."

Yuri knew that something like this would happen. She got into a defensive position, trying to make her act seem reasonable.

"Don't make me hurt you!" she warned.

"Don't make us laugh, little girl."

"I swear. If you touch me, Hiromushu Daisuke will come in here and kick your asses."

"Didn't you hear what we had just said? That Daisuke punk is as good as dead to everyone here. You should accept that fact, little girl. It's time you got over Daisuke."

"Did someone say my name?" Daisuke asked as he stood soaking wet in the doorway. He didn't have his usual grin; instead, he looked irritated, tired, and confused. "I had to swim all the way over here! Twelve miles of swimming doesn't make you happy!" he shouted.

"Daisuke?" Yuri asked.

"He's alive?"

"Who the hell are you?" Daisuke asked as he say them have Yuri's arm in one of their men's hands.

"We're the demons who are going to take you out, kid."

"Me?" Daisuke asked seeming amused, but too tired to show it all the way. "Yuri, can you go outside for a sec?" he asked.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but he sort of has my arm, Daisuke."

Daisuke slowly walked over, and grabbed the demon's arm. With a slight, but quick movement, the arm had ripped from its location, and into Daisuke's hands. Blood had spilt on the floor. Daisuke's eyebrows were lowered to half way, indicating that he was too tired to deal with sort of stuff. Yuri got out of the room, and the door closed behind her. Within a couple of seconds of flashing and small cries, Daisuke opened the door, and started looked at Yuri.

"Oh, thank god your okay." Yuri said as she ran up and hugged Daisuke. Daisuke's arms barely rose to hug her back, and it seemed like they were heavy. She looked at him, and he forced a smile. "You look really tired."

"Swimming that far can do that to you."

"So, you're really okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Yuri was about to tell him about what she heard about his mother, but decided against it at the time. Daisuke was too tired, and if she had told him there, he would have tried to fight anybody in his way. He didn't have the strength to pull anything like that off, so she kept quiet.

"You should probably take a short nap."

"That doesn't sound half bad." He said with a dreamy smile. Yuri walked him to his room, making sure he didn't fall asleep in the hallway. It may sound silly, but the way he staggered back and forth had made her question whether he could stay awake by himself that long.

When she had gotten him to his room, she let him go in by himself. She wasn't sure when was the best time or who to tell him about his mother. He knew he would explode. He had been looking for the killer the last five years. He wasn't going to take this lightly. But if she never told him, it was bound to come out eventually, and she would be hated for not telling him. She spent the rest of the day wondering around, wondering whether or not she should tell him at all or not…