Darkness Within

Disclaimer: Love Hina is not mine. Oh, and Rosefewyn\'s name is taken from a friend of mine. Smith, if you\'re reading this, sorry. And what the hell are you doing on this site, pervert?

Warning: this is not a nice chapter. You\'ve been duly warned.

It was a beautiful night. The kind of night where I can forget about my curse for a little while. Maybe that’s why I’ve never left the girls; they’re the only ones who can make me feel normal.

It was a nice restaurant as well. A Korean barbeque place, very popular and very good. Someone, I think it was Mitsune, suggested that we go out to eat. And well, when I smelled the barbeque cooking, I couldn’t resist. I’ve always preferred the heavier meats. Sometimes it makes me wonder if there isn’t something missing in my diet, and that thought sends me shivering.

I couldn’t help but look around. Shinobu was lain gently back in her chair, patting her full stomach. Naru trying her hand at restraining Su from ordering yet more fruit. Mitsune was busy getting thoroughly sauced, and enticing Motoko to join her. There was soft music playing in the background. The lighting was perfect. Yes, all in all, a perfect atmosphere.

My stomach quivered for a moment. Might I still be hungry? There was still one piece skewer of barbeque left. No one else looked to be wanting it, so I leaned forward to contemplate the meat.

The wooden skewers jutted from the flesh like bones. Warm, enticing sauces the color of blood were sprinkled all around. The small bits of fish served as side dishes resembled nothing so much as furless sections of cat tails. I sat back, no longer hungry.

“Sempai,” a voice called me, “Sempai, is anything wrong?”

I turned to Shinobu. “No, no, I’m fine. Just thought I was hungry, but turns out I wasn’t.”

She looked unsure. “Okay, if you say so.”

“What about you?” I asked, “Are you hungry?”

“No! Couldn’t eat another bite! Thank you for treating us, Sempai.”

“Not a problem,” I said with my best fake smile. And it wasn’t really a problem. The old wallet might be hurting for a little while, but if it meant a chance at a little peace and happiness, it was fine with me. The mood was ruined, though, when I stared my gory imaginings. My eyes went up to look at the ceiling. The world was calling. And my curse wouldn’t stay quiet for long.

Then, everything went to hell with the sound of shattering glass.

No one really knew what it was at first. But something smashed through the window. The vaguely human thing landed hard on our table, cracking the wood, sending the table to the floor. Food flew all over everyone, tea and sake spraying in the air. I saw Motoko reel around even though she hadn’t drunk any sake. Then she fell.

I don’t remember moving, but in a moment Motoko’s neck was under my fingers. Her pulse was strong and steady. A relieved breath escaped my lungs. I hefted the girl to her feet, carried on my shoulder.

Everyone was staring unblinking at the woman on our table. She was a tall, dark-haired beauty, wearing an outfit that made my curse roar in hunger. It was a stylized variation of the ‘sailor’ uniforms used by many high schools, with a skirt that’s length was illegal in probably all those schools. Ribbons flowed from the breast and smaller back, green being the predominant color.

Out the window, the sounds of screams and explosions could be heard. I turned to see. A group of women, all very much like the one lying stunned on our table, were running around and throwing out varying kinds of fireworks. I saw, in the space of two seconds, one tongue of summoned flame, a localized earthquake, two waves of pure light, and a tsunami without benefit of an ocean.

“Oh no!” My exclaimation brought the gazes of the others. They all had differing degrees of reaction.

“Naru, Mitsune,” I called. They remained frozen at the scene beyond the window.

“Naru! Mitsune!”

They whirled on me, fury and fear and confusion in their eyes. I gingerly handed them the unconscious Motoko. Without word, they supported her between them.

“Take her and the other two back to the Hinata House,” I ordered, “and don’t you dare stop for anything. Move as fast as you can. Shinobu, Su, both of you keep up with them and don’t get separated.”

Shinobu looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Sempai, what about you?”

“I’m right behind you. Now get going!”

They hurried into the kitchen, headed out the backdoor I assumed. I hastily looked around. Panic must have taken hold of the other patrons quickly; no one else was still in the restaurant. Food littered the floor. A gas line had been broken chaos. Its shrill hiss pierced the air. I can remember thinking that I really should leave. Instead, I just popped a clean-looking piece of fish into my mouth.

I could feel my beast threatening to break loose from its prison. The howl of an enraged demon echoed through my mind. My feet took me to the private dinning room, an area enclosed by shoji screens and carpeted with tatami mats. There was a plate of barbeque still sitting undisturbed on the table. I picked it up and sat down in the corner where I was out of sight from the girl. The skewers again reminded me of meaty bones. I ate anyway.

There are times I wonder if my beast is more cunning and poisonous than I give it credit for. This was one of those times.

The Sailor Senshi. They weren’t an urban legend after all. Rumors whispered that they were princesses who battled ancient and evil gods. Allowing for exaggeration, that nevertheless equaled a pretty powerful and well-meaning group of people.

Those the Senshi fought were evil.

Evil sought to destroy.

Destruction might reach the girls.

The first day I met them, I swore I would protect the Hinata girls. At the time, I meant from myself, but didn’t that oath extend to other dangers? An enemy of the Senshi was an enemy to all. An enemy to all was a threat to the safety of those I loved. Threats were to be eliminated.

The demon within cried out, demanding its tribute of battle and conquest. And something in me—not my beast, in me!—howled in sympathy. The wrought iron gates before the beast shivered as it struck against them. Its chains strained at the walls within my mind, walls I erected to keep it away. My blood began to boil, rising to my skin, making my body unto a lake of fire. I sagged to the floor under the weight of the heat. Muscles along my sides and back quivered. Before my horrified eyes, the flesh on my hands receded, leaving skeletal, skin-wrapped claws. Then the meat returned, taking proportions nature never intended. Truly, I was in the very picture of the Christian Hell.

Alcoholics say they fell off the wagon. Drug addicts talk of backslide. They mean the same thing, really. They both refer to the loss of control, and the maddening spiral downward that results. All my life, I was running up the down escalator. And right at that moment, my foot slipped.

Something black and icy and unholy spilled out from my gut. I could do nothing other than try to control my slide.

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Rei was not a happy camper. She twirled through another pirouette, and summoned another tongue of flame. While looking impressive, it was just a desperate attempt to keep the thing down. The youma cackled when struck, no damage appearing on its nude flesh.

When they first encountered the creature, they thought it just another youma. The Senshi were quickly disabused of this notion. The monster made no speeches or proclamations of superiority; it simply attacked. And the attacks weren’t magic. The beast used its claws and gnashing teeth to rend the land around it. Shaped like a beautiful nude woman, it was an engine of destruction, the likes of which the Senshi had never seen before.

They found it first in the alley, standing still. Its pale flesh shone bright in the streetlights, making the thing look like a breathing statue. Jupiter blocked the thing’s escape while the rest of the Inners went in to flush it out. That was the plan anyway. But when Venus unleashed her Cresent Beam, the youma giggled psychotically and attacked. A razor of energy that was known to cut through concrete like water meant nothing to the thing’s exposed flesh. Venus would have been disemboweled right there if Mars hadn’t struck it. Which served only to have the monster turn on her.

That was when they decided to lead it out of the alley. One strike by Jupiter, and the youma was dogging the tallest Inner. Once out in the street, they messed up. Jupiter had tried to go hand-to-hand with the thing. She was now thrown straight through some restaurant’s picture window. With one of their heaviest hitters down, the Inner Senshi were having a hell of a time getting the thing.

Rei tensed as the thing looked to be coiling to leap at her. Before it did, it stopped on its own. Cocking its head, it seemed to be listening to something. It smiled wickedly. Rei saw it pick up a fist-sized chunk of asphalt as it knelt.

“Those creatures which OOF!” The newly arrived Sailor Neptune’s entrance speech was cut short. The blue haired woman curled around her solar plexus, where the asphalt chunk struck her. The thing laughed again madly.

An enraged Uranus drew the Space Sword. With a wordless cry, she leapt down from the rooftop to the street below.

“No! Don’t!” called Moon, too late. The youma was too fast for Uranus, slashing her across the stomach. The Senshi of the Sky fell to the ground, barely holding her stomach together. The creature raised its claws.

Its mouth opened in anticipation.

There was the sound of lightning without thunder. Electrical energy danced across pale flesh. Jupiter crawled the rest of the way out of the restaurant, rubbing her neck.

“Why don’t you come dance with me, you bitch!” catcalled Jupiter. The beast cackled gleefully and obliged.

Hating herself for leaving Uranus, Rei followed the youma, readying her own attack. Mercury would be by the older girl’s side at a flash, but that didn’t make leaving any easier.

“Hey,” Venus screamed, “it takes four to tango!” She launched another attack. Another shower of golden light washed over the monster. It giggled. In a flash, it was racing toward Venus, cackling unabated. Mars released her magic, oceans of fire bathing the beast. And a lethal version of ‘monkey in the middle’ began.

Mars’ arms burned. A knife of pain was stabbing into her chest. How long had they been at this? An hour? Maybe the longest fight of their Senshi careers. Jupiter was lagging, that was obvious, but Venus only looked a little ruffled. That, somehow, inspired Rei to dig deeper into herself, finding strength thought lost.

In the end, it was not a Senshi that felled the beast.

The sphere of light came from out of nowhere. The youma was struck in the back, its spine arching around the attack. Through shielded eyes, Rei watched a blinding light sprout and seem to flow, across the creature’s back. Then it screamed. The first sound it made that wasn’t a mocking, insane laugh. It sounded so much like a woman in agony. Mars saw Jupiter and Venus covering their ears. And when she finally felt the pressure, she realized she was too.

The creature had started struggling. It… SHE was battling what resembled groping tentacles of light. The expression of rage on her face became one of impotent frustration, then panic, and finally, hopelessness. Tears of blood leaked out of her eyes.

‘Serves the bitch right,’ was all Rei could think of.

The others were now approaching the lost, whimpering wreck that was once their enemy. Jupiter and Venus wore equal masks of neutrality; Moon looked sorry for it while Mercury examined the thing in a calculating manner. Neptune and Saturn were beyond pissed off.

“Moon,” began Mars, “dust…” She was going to say ‘dust it,’ but never finished. Because that was when she felt it.

Every muscle in her body felt like it was rigid as steel. Blood pounded in her ears. The sting of adrenaline flowed in her veins. SOMETHING was coming.

It stank of aggression and poison. A walking spiritual cesspool, far worse than anything they had ever faced before. Mars whimpered. Even brushing against its spirit like this made her want to spend the next ten years in the shower. This was the creature praised in the Roman coliseum, hailed as king in Mongol courts. A beast of rack and ruin.

And coming closer.

Her head whipped to where it was coming from. She began to tremble as it stepped from the shadows. Something warm dribbled down her leg.

His was a face beautiful in its alien-ness. Not inhuman, but so absolutely striking as to be unnatural. Black raven’s feathers on his mantle fluttered as he walked. The midnight cloak he wore snapped and danced, reacting to a breeze that wasn’t there. His footsteps sounded much louder and demanding than should have been possible. Every motion of his body screamed out conquering warlord. He was a beast on a leash.

Stepping close to the whimpering youma, something long and slimy sprouted from within his cloak. “no, stop,” whispered Mars, unable to breathe.

Lifted high in the air, the youma began to gibber fearfully. And a new sensation was vomited forth across the spiritual world. Rape. Not the sweaty attack and pitiful spurting that mortals commit. This was the unholy and blasphemous act of rape against the soul.

Rei could see animal panic setting into the other Senshi. The ancient fight or flight reaction was coming forward. And the Senshi would fight. And they would fail.

The man-thing slowly turned around. His face contorted in ways that weren’t possible. A growth—an eye, an eye!—sprouted from his cheek before popping like a blister. His mouth opened, and a voice full of bestial restrain issued forth. “You can start running now.”

The Senshi almost ran toward him to attack. “No! Do as he says! Run away!” wept Mars at the top of her lungs. At the same instant, Sailor Pluto cried out the same thing. Mars was thankful beyond words when her fellow Senshi did as she said. In a flash, they were charging down alleyways, in full rout, leaving behind the monsters of Hell.

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I ignored the others the moment they ran. My eyes graced over the pleasing woman curled on the ground. A sneer grew across my face. There would be no threats to those I loved. My tentacles tightened. All threats would be eliminated. I smiled, feeling the smile stretch wider than was possible for a human. There was the sensation of my tongue snaking out from my mouth, dropping almost to chest level.

Let them fear me. Let them all fear me.

She was so deliciously naked. The sight of all her nude flesh excited me, setting my blood to boil in way’s never thought possible. The bitch’s whimpering sobs made me swell with joy. Here was conquest that was wholly mine! The Light was forsworn from harm, but no mention of the Dark had been made. She was the Dark, and my rigid phallus would conquer her, crush her, make her nothing. For no soul on Earth or Hell would harm the Light.

I took to the rooftops, avoiding the poor fools who walked the streets. Power flowed to my limbs, stolen from the precious captive of mine. Spaces between roofs that made my mortal flesh quail were nothing to my enhanced state. What a fool had I been to deny myself this! Roaring laughter coated the night. My laughter.

Maybe it was a sense of symbolism. Maybe it was instinct. Or perhaps just a habit from my mortal days. Whatever the reason, I found myself on the roof of Toudai. I snorted in utter disgust. How had I ever found this place worthwhile? I thought it was pure. But that was just a lie. This place was a place of education, yes, and duty and obligation too. Under all of that, however, there was corruption. Anger of petty little academicians bitching at each other over nothing of consequence. Or worse, the base lusts that drove men and women in positions of honor and responsibility to seduce those who trusted them. Love? Where was the love I had come here for, that time so long ago?

What was love? There could never be love here. I was a fool.

In my revelations, my grip on the captive loosened. She scrambled to her feet and ran for the edge of the roof. Tentacles lashed out to wrap about her legs. But like the rabbit cornered, she turned, and slashed her claws across my tentacles. I roared at the fire in my limbs. White, shimmering ichor splashed against the roofing. She made for the edge again and I sent out more tentacles, wrapping her arms this time. She slammed hard on the roof.

Her mouth opened to scream. A pity she hadn’t thought of this being a perfect opportunity. An appendage slipped past her teeth, sliding down the gullet beyond. Her gag reflex tried to stop me, but that was nothing. A true pity I could not slide the whole thing down her, but I didn’t want her to die yet.

The blood tears from her eyes sent me into even greater heights of excitement. I could not possibly become any more rigid. I set the tentacle in her throat to thrusting. Such a transfixing sight, seeing the flesh of her back ripple ever so slightly in time with those hard thrusts. Ever more exceptional, to feel her throat constrict about my tentacle, her arms struggle against my grip. If my passion grew any greater, I very well might set the building ablaze.

Yet more tentacles came out. They caressed her flesh, causing her to shy away from their touch and me to smile in ecstasy. My teeth grew longer. One particularly adventurous tentacle rubbed itself in the cool cleft of her ass. She lurched forward to escape, and succeeded only in impaling herself further upon the other tentacle. My teeth grew longer still.

She was so exquisitely tight back there! The tentacle crawled further, careful not to rupture anything within her. There would be time enough for that later. When I thought the tentacle situated correctly, it went rigid.

And lifted.

I laughed at her attempts to scream past the tentacle-gag. It must hurt like hell; nothing less than she deserved. Still rigid, the tentacle began to turn. Her very intestines were pulled askew, forcing her body to rotate.

On her back once more, she looked at me with blood-streaked eyes. What was she looking for there? Pity? Remorse? No matter. She would find only a monster.

And there it was! Her delectable, moist, glistening treasure. She could not even lock her knees together to keep it secret. My tentacles saw to that well enough. With speed born of a demon, I unzipped my fly. The black mantel vanished from my shoulders. Time enough to remove my other clothes later. My passion needed release!

And there it was! A gesturing, pointing limb, like unto the famous Napoleon’s finger, indicating glory and gain. It throbbed with power. My power.

I wasted no time with pleasantries; in a single thrust, I burst the bitch’s maidenhead. And there was a blur of blood and sweat. And I was spurting my damnable seed into her monstrous womb.

My fingers began to unbutton my shirt. Now, there was time. Time enough to do what I had promised myself. For this night would be long. And it was yet still so young.

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The bowl of water turned red as blood. Then the bowl shattered, its contents spilling across the tabletop. The scarlet fluid flowed in unnatural ways, following laws of obscure magics. It flowed into ancient runes of rape and ruin.

“Something is wrong,” observed Lady Rosefewyn needlessly. Her chamberlain nodded.

“Lady! Lady!” cried a panicky hag as she came running up, “Dire news from the crows! Dire, dire news!”

Lady Rosefewyn nodded the hag to go on. She did. Lady Rosefewyn felt herself grow faint. Slumping into her throne, the lady stared at nothing with a pale expression.

“Lady?” hazarded the chamberlain. “What should we do?”

Fae do not show signs of aging. But the Lady Rosefewyn looked very old indeed when her eyes met those of the chamberlain. “Contact the Sailor Senshi,” she said, a bit of iron returning to her voice. “Request parley. And offer them recompense for the homunculus.”

She stood again, determination and panic warring on her features. “Get the Joketsuzoku. I want to speak with Kuh Lon. Find me any powerful mortal that might stand against these things. Disseminate information to any devil hunters you can. Tell them… tell them a powerful spirit claimed is in the area of Hinata, in the city of Tokyo.”

The hag nodded and scurried off to deliver the lady’s orders. Lady Rosefewyn sagged again.

The chamberlain, still fearful and pale, looked askance at her. “Will this work?”

“We can only wait and see. We can only wait and see.”


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Author\'s Notes: Is Keitaro just a little evil in this? Hell yes! He\'s got a demon in him! What, you want him to play nice? i actually had to cut the rape scene short; no one deserves to be raped. Period.
But i do wonder if i captured the Senshi\'s emotions well enough.
In any case, let the world beware: Keitaro\'s coming and he\'s really pissed off!