Chapter 10:  Welcome Home... Ushio!

'Wow,' Bicky breathed out as he and Cara stared out the window of the plane. Ushio had to lean back in his windowseat as they leaned over him. 'Baka, it's just an airport,' Dee grumbled from the seats behind them. Dee was currently sitting between Ryo and JJ, not exactly pleased with the arrangement. Everytime he tried to get cozy with the half Japanese cop, stupid JJ would always hang onto him and shout about the rotten airplane food or some other such garbage. Sigh! Not to mention the fact that Ryo was currently ignoring them both as he read a magazine. Double sigh!

Ushio glanced back at them, only to find Karani staring back at him from the seat behind Dee. The boy knew that Kyo was hidden in the bag next to her, and Rashin... ok, weird. The eldest brother of the weasel demons was currently fixated on the rather loud argument between Dee and JJ. Or, maybe he was just watching JJ. Come to think of it, the blue haired man did kinda remind him of Juro... the pair's younger brother. Did Rashin miss him? The monster, even though he resembled a man at the moment, never seemed to show any feeling at all. Karani was the one who cried when Juro became no more than dust on the wind. And... it had been all his fault.

The former Master of the Beast Spear shook away the dark memory of that night. He hadn't meant to kill Juro... not in the end. But, when Juro had attacked him, there on that cliff, he had raised the spear in self defense. The blue furred weasel had impaled himself upon it, his body molding to Ushio's as they knelt there on the dusty ground. He could still feel the fur against his cheek, the blood as it dripped down upon his neck and down his chest from the monster he held close in his arms. The whisper of the creature's voice in his ear as he spoke his final words. It was a nightmare that haunted him... a memory that would never go away.

~*~

'Welcome home,' a deep voice drew Ushio's attention to a dark haired man in an ankle long black jacket who seemed to have been waiting for them to arrive. The teen blinked, gazing at the very familiar scar over the man's left blue eye. 'Hyou!' Karani went racing down the steps and practically leapt into the man's arms, much to the shock of the former demon hunter. ~But, Hyou used to hunt monsters and Karani is a weasel monster... what the hell is going on?~ 'My sister became rather fond of that man after you left. I don't think he will wait very long before making her his mate,' Rashin whispered to Ushio as he stepped up beside him, sensing the boy's confusion. 'Uh... huh,' Ushio drawled, still watching the pair now smiling at them as the group approached.

'Oh, um... Ryo, this is Hyou. Hyou, my older brother Ryo,' Ushio finally announced, after a long period of silence. The two men shook hands even as Dee shuffled closer to his partner, slinging an arm around his shoulders as Ryo sweatdropped. Really, the man could be so possessive at times. The rest of the introductions followed as they stepped out of the airport and into the sunshine. Ushio couldn't help but wonder if he returning to Japan had been a good idea, or a dangerous one. After all, Asako and his father were dead, and so was Mayuko...

~Flashback~

The night was clear, the full moon shimmering down upon the city streets, sometimes catching a slender young male figure for a mere second before he vanished, slipping in and out of the darkness. Wary ebony eyes scanned the area, spear clutched tightly in his hand as he searched for his prey.

A shape moved from the shadows, drawing the young man's instant attention. The hunt began, both creatures racing through the narrow streets, one the hunter, the other the hunted. Or so it seemed. Ushio jerked to a stop when the giant monster vanished into thin air, his violet eyes scanning the shadows that surrounded him. Perhaps he waited a second too long, for a piercing scream shattered the air, a scream that was cut off almost instantly.

The young demon hunter raced towards a house that seemed very familiar as he gazed up at it for only a second, before noticing the shattered door. Stepping up silently, yet with a speed no normal mortal could ever hope to achieve, the dark haired boy found himself staring in horror at the scene before him. Two bodies, a middle aged man and woman, were literally torn apart upon the hardwood floor beneath the staircase. Two sets of now dead eyes glittered at him, mocking him for his hesitation. No, the boy realized all to suddenly, they had not been the ones who had screamed, for their deaths had come too quickly. Instantaneously, he ran up the stairs two at a time until he stopped before another broken in door to a room he had visited a few times in his youth.

A body. The room had been torn apart, the window shattered from the monster's escape. But, despite the fact that the creature might kill again, the demon hunter could not chase it any longer tonight. His eyes were transfixed upon a body laying almost peacefully upon the crimson stained bedsheets. Eyes closed as if in sleep, lips parted in one last silent scream. The monster had torn her apart from throat down to her stomach, killing her painfully and letting her still body fall back against the sheets. Virgin white covers only fed the dark red blood that seeped from her very heart. The monster had known about her, had known that the Master of the Beast Spear was protecting her. How ironic... Mayuko.

~*~

~I failed to protect her. Asako cried so hard at the funeral with him at her side while I stood alone, unable to speak as the weight of death fell upon my shoulders. Why did I hesitate? I could have killed that monster before it slaughtered the people I cared about. But, I didn't know that only days later... that very beast would kill my own father. I killed it in the end, but that victory came with a price too highly paid with the blood of innocents. I'm sorry. I failed everyone.~

Ushio glanced up as the car came to a stop in front of the temple gates. The gang piled out quickly, talking loudly as they stepped down the pathway through the front yard. Ushio knew even without having to look, that the fence in the backyard bore a hole the wolf monster's body had made upon being smashed against it. In fact, the boy would have smirked if he hadn't been so upset, the fence still had gash it in from the Beast Spear's slash which had ripped the ice wolf' body apart with a force that caused it to explode. No remains, no witnesses to the murder of his father, or so the police believed.

~*~

Ushio laid back on his mat, staring at the sky beyond the open window, a small chime tinkling in the wind. Ryo and Bicky would be sharing the room with him come nightfall, with Cara in his father's room. Or... what used to be his father's room. Dee and JJ were fighting over who would get the floor and who the couch, although knowing JJ, he'd want to share. The boy sighed, arms supporting his head, half expecting a huge tiger to come floating the window at anytime. The thought brought back a stream of unwanted memories, some good, some bad, but all painful.

Karani and Rashin had taken Kyo with them for the night, just to let the humans get settled in. The teen rose and shook his head, before standing and striding off towards the new indoor bathroom that had been built a month before the death of his friend and father. Stepping through the doorway, trying to ignore the voices down the stairs, the youth stripped quietly and sighed. His fingers traced down a long scar that stretched diagonally across his heart as he watched his reflection do the same in the mirror. Ushio watched his eyes darken at the memory of the night... the night he'd lost control... the night the beast spear itself had vanished.

...tbc...

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update this one. Thank you everyone for the reviews!