Little Boy

Chapter 26 ~ Ultimate Sin

Faust’s prediction several weeks earlier had been correct. Manta was indeed becoming ill again. He was bedridden with ngerngerous fever and had began receiving administrations of painkillers with each meal to help him rest with a bit of comfort.

Kibo was also being affected. During one of the most recent ultrasounds, they had discovered the baby was a girl, and that her heart rate had become much lower than normal. Yoh became particularly worried when she stopped kicking as frequently.

One afternoon, Tokagero entered Manta’s room and floated over to the boy with a worried expression. “Heya, Kid. Howya doin’?”

Manta opened his eyes slightly and looked at the bandit, then a moment closed his eyes again. “Please don’t hurt Kibo,” he whispered tiredly.

“I ain’t gonna hurt anybody, Kid,” he replied. “Look, I’ve been trying to tell ya something, but Ryu and Yoh wouldn’t let me, so I’m gonna say it now.”

Manta looked up quietly.

“I’m sorry for what I did. I really am.”

Manta closed his eyes quietly. “Daijobu... I’m sorry...”

“Eh?” The spirit looked curiously at him.

Manta sighed sadly, then hugged Sakura tightly.

Tokagero sighed, then floated out of the room when he realized his young friend had fallen asleep.

Ryu looked up curiously hearing a knock at the door. “Eh?” He walked over and opened the door, finding a man a few inches taller than himself standing there. “Konban wa. May I help you?”

“Does Faust Manta live here?”

Ryu blinked, a little confused, then chuckled at himself for being stunned by the name. “Ah. Manta does live here. May I ask who you are and what your business is?”

“Eh? That’s rather rude.”

Ryu closed his eyes. “I apologize, but Manta is not well and only accepts visitors if it is critical,” Ryu replied.

“Eh? What about Manta?” Yoh asked as he came to the door and looked quietly at the visitor. “Ryu, please finish preparing dinner. I’ll handle this.”

“Hai,” Ryu replied, then walked away.

Yoh looked at the man quietly. He was about 6\'4\" and had tanned skin with dark hair. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of forest-green rimmed sunglasses. Yoh frowned at the man. “Who are you?”

“It is of nobody’s concern but Manta-san’s.”

“Well I’m sorry, but Manta is not accepting visitors. I am going to have to ask you to leave.”

“It is an urgent matter,” he replied.

“Look, any concern of Manta’s is my own. If you want to see him, you are going to have to first tell me what it is you are here to see him about. Otherwise, I’m going to have to ask you to get off the premises before I call the police.”

“Yoh-chan,” Manta’s tiny voice whimpered.

“Huh?” Yoh turned and found Manta standing in the hall, holding on tightly to Sakura and tears running down his face. “Manta-chan, what’s wrong?” he asked as he ran over and scooped the boy into his arms.

“Yoh-chan, it hurts... And the monsters won’t go away,” he whimpered while leaning his head against Yoh.

Yoh looked at Manta with sad eyes, then hugged the boy.h...h... I won’t let them hurt you,” he whispered softly, then looked up to the man. “I’m sorry, but this is a bad time, and if you don’t leave, I will call the cops.”

He watched the two for a few minutes, then nodded and turned and walked away.

Yoh watched him angrily, then walked oved cld closed the door. Quickly he made his way to the living room and laid the small boy on the couch. “Manta-chan, I’m going to go get Faust, okay?”

“But the monsters...” he began.

“Sh...” Yoh gently stroked Manta’s hair, then placed his other hand on Manta’s. “Sakura won’t let the monsters get you, okay? I’ll go get Daddy, and he’ll do what he can to make it stop hurting,” he said gently.

Manta hiccoughed, then slowly nodded. “H-Hai,” he whispered as Yoh pulled a quilt over him, then buried his face into the soft teddy bear.

Soon, Faust had done a check up, then shook his head quietly while looking to Yoh. “He’s already had more painkillers than he should have. Any more and he could fall into a coma.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Yoh asked shakily.

“The baby is too big.”

“Well no duh!” Yoh cried.

Faust sighed. “Between the amount of pressure on his spine and how tightly his muscles are stretched...”

Yoh bit his lower lip, then looked at the floor. “How could I be so stupid?” he whispered.

“This is nobody’s fault, Yoh-kun,” the doctor said quietly. “You didn’t know this would happen, Shizuka never meant to cast that spell...”

“I’m the one who told you not to terminate the pregnancy,” Yoh cried.

Faust shook his head. “After Manta’s reaction, I wouldn’t have done it anyways.”

“Faust, please make him stop suffering!” Yoh cried.

“Yoh, I won’t sacrifice an unborn child’s life and my son’s sanity!”

“Well then find another way!” Yoh yelled.

Faust looked quietly at Manta, who had finally lost consciousness from pain, then sighed. After a moment, he blinked. “Tell Shizuka to be here tomorrow morning with that book,” he said quickly.

“Hmm?” Yoh looked at Faust.

“Induce labor, Manta has the baby. It’s dangerous for the child, but it’s a better chance than prolonging the pregnancy. All that needs to be done is for Manta’s body to be changed temporarily.”

Yoh stared at the shaman. “Are... you sure?”

“Look, it’s the best chance we have on such short notice,” Faust replied while looking to Manta.

Yoh nodded slowly, then ran out of the hotel to inform Shizuka.

Manta weakly opened his eyes and found he was in his bedroom again. “Daddy?” he called inaudibly. “Daddy...”

“Such a sweet boy,” a smooth voice said as somebody knelt next to his futon. “No wonder Yoh likes you. He’s such a pedofile, isn’t it?”

The blonde looked at the figure, fear and pain filling his heart and showing through his tired blue eyes. He shook his head weakly as the figure placed a hand over his mouth a nose.

“Shh.... You want the pain to go away?” he whispered as he leaned down to Manta and kissed his belly gently. But of course there was no answer. “It’s okay,” he said as he felt Manta begin to slacken, then drew a knife. “It’ll be over soon. You can leave this world and be safe in the nothingness forever,” he condemned, then accurately plunged the knife into Manta’s stomach.

Manta’s eyes shot open as a silent cry escaped his throat, then tears rushed down his face. After a few minutes he became still again, his half-open eyes staring at the ceiling blankly.

“Don’t worry,” he said as he brought the knife over Manta’s heart. “The nothingness will protect you forever. It’s almost ov...” he stopped and looked towards the door angrily hearing somebody approaching the room. Quickly he got up and jumped out the window and disappeared into the night.