Spider Bite
The flicker of the lights from the city danced across the wintry sky. The early snow crunched under my feet. The fur coat proved inefficient against the frozen breeze, my quest for shelter increased with each passing moment. Finally on the lonely streets I found refuge in a dilapidated old warehouse. I feasted my eyes on a room glowing with light, as if from a roaring fire. In this frozen environment, anything that looks like it would be warm is tempting to the outsider. Maybe I should spend the night here until the daylight comes.
Upon entering the warehouse’s front entrance, I am greeted at the door by a spider web gracing the top of my hair. Think nothing about it, I brushed it aside and wandered into the building, the warmth drawing me in like a moth to a lamp. The light I saw from the outside seemed to beam from the third floor. It did seem to me a bit of unusual feel, to come upon such an old building as this one, and to have it so warm and cozy. The holes in the mason walls appeared nothing more than an illusion to the senses. The floorboards underneath my feet squeaked with every step I made. The staircase heading to the third floor creaked as I ascended to the floor. I carefully watched my steps up to the lit floor, for there were boards missing from the staircase and the railing was falling apart before my eyes.
As I reached the third floor, another spider web blocked my entrance of the floor. Like superglue, this web clang suddenly to my body. With every struggle, the web bound me tighter. It wrapped itself around my wrists, stretching my arms as far as they go. The web sprang to life, tying my arms above my head. Then out of the shadows, a sudden dark body wrapped itself around my body. A scent emanated from its body, filling my nostrils. Before I realized it, my eyes became heavy and I quickly blacked out.
When I awoke several minutes later, I found my body stripped naked, hanging in midair. The web bound my arms to the sides of my torso. Around my mouth, the web wrapped tightly, preventing me to scream. My pulse began to strain in a panic; my mind raced to try to find an escape from the imprisonment. I felt like throwing up, but I was unable to even if I wanted to. Will I die? Is this it? Thoughts like these filtered through my mind. In the meanwhile, my bladder released its contents in reaction to the panic coursing throughout every inch of my being, like that of a scared cat.
In the light I see it, an enormous spider approaching me, his fangs drawn, poised to taint me with his venom. He wore this inky black shell on his body. His huge stilt legs drew his abdomen to six feet, the height of an average grown man. His first front legs brushed over my body, tapping against my stomach and breasts. I winced my eyes as he examined me with his legs.
“Shuu, please help, please come, I am going to die. Please help,” my thoughts whispered, I refrained my eyes from tears not letting my capture see me cry. Deep inside the fear I would never see my husband and children, haunted my heart, and the wish to call out his name increased with every second past in this cocoon in this web. In my thoughts I finally screamed out his name in my power of telepathy. I closed my eyes, my spirit blazing an invisible trail into his dreams, my soul screaming into his ears.
In a flash, I felt his presence drawing near like lighting. Straight from the bone-chilling night, I could see in my mind, I can see him dashing into the warehouse. Comfort drew on my face the instant I caught his emerald eyes reuniting with my coffee-brown eyes. With the crack of his whip, he slashed through the cocoon. Standing underneath the web, he stood with his arms ready to catch me. The cast that bound my body suddenly shattered to pieces, and I was free to fall fast into his arms. He quickly removed his golden-yellow tunic from his body and offered it to me.
As soon as he gave it to me, the spider snatched me in his front legs. Taking the whip, Shuu snatched the thorax of the spider, twirling him to face him head on. “Arachno, it is you. You were the one responsible for killing my father. It was your venom that destroyed him. Now you are going after my wife. I cannot tolerate this.”
“What’s the big deal, Kurama, a spider needs to eat? This one needs a vessel to house his babies. I have a belly full of eggs and I need to reproduce. Perhaps this woman of yours will do. Her body is perfect for bringing me about children. You can understand this, fellow demon.”
“You will not have her for your dirty schemes, Arachno. You are no fellow of mine. You lured my father into a place like this. You ensnared him in the same trap. At the time I was too young to help him. But then again he was no match to your latest victim.”
“What makes her so different? She is only a worthless helpless human. The only use she has is to be mother and food to my babies.”
“You really think she is helpless. Shiz is the strongest human I know. She is the wrong victim for you. Did you think you could have her so easily? Why do you think I am here now? She has the power of thought-transfer.”
“Big deal. All that means to me, Kurama, is I now have a human and a demon traitor for my young to devour. And they do prefer the taste of fox insides over human.” The spider demon turned his attention to Shuu. His multiple eyes stared at the fox demon with a menacing glare. His fangs were drawn, poised for attack. The fox steadied his posture, ready to charge at the spider.
Arachno advanced towards my husband, lunging at him with his fangs ready to bite. Shuu dodged the fangs, leaping all the way to the ceiling, and landed behind the spider’s back legs. Shuu raced towards the thorax of the spider, wrapping his whip around it. The thorns slashed through the Arachno’s head, causing green ooze to spill from the wounds. The spider shook off the attack and brushed Shuu aside with two of his massive fore legs, flinging him against a wall. Upon impact, Shuu looked to be unconscious, his eyes were closed and his body became motionless. Thinking he had knocked out Shuu, Arachno wasted no time lunging at him, getting ready to finish him off with a venomous bite. As soon as he reached his fangs to bite, the fox zipped past him, reappearing behind Arachno. Quickly, Shuu lashed his whip at the spider, wrapping it around the thorax and head. The spider’s breathing became labored from the attack and his blood loss from the thorn’s wounds. The spider started throwing up green ooze from his wounds around his head. As he tried to shake the whip from his body, the thorns dug in further and the whip tightened.
“Give it up, Spider. The more you struggle, the tighter the whip gets.”
“Never, Fox. I will never give up to the likes of you. When I am released this time, I will kill you and your precious human will be forced to carry my young.”
“Thanks for the threat,” Shuu sneered. The whip tightened with one decisive blow, chopping the head off the spider’s body. With that final assault, Arachno’s body dropped to the floor; his green blood oozed out over the wooden boards.
Without hesitation, Shuu immediately returned the whip back to its original state as a rose, and then raced back to me. “Hey, Shiz, are you all right? You seem rather shaky. I can understand, you’ve been through such a terrible ordeal.”
I couldn’t speak at first, the thought of never seeing him again, the thought that I was going to end up like his father, filtered through my mind. I wrapped my arms around him, my head resting on his shoulder. The smell of his essence made me feel safe and warm in that forsaken place. He held me in his arms with all his might, rubbing my back with his hands. “Thank you for saving me, lover,” I said to him, kissing his soft, clean-shaven face.
“Thank nothing of it, I am just glad to see you alive, baby girl,” he smiled, caressing my lips with his, “I love you too much to give you up.”
We were in the middle of a long, much-needed kiss, when I felt a sudden jolt of the spider’s soul. I looked at the spider’s body lying lifeless on the floor. Then in a blink of an eye, I saw the head lurch forward. The lifeless head appeared to stare straight at Shuu’s back. Quickly I jerked away from him. “Shuu, look out, the head is still alive.”
Just as he turned to see, Arachno’s head smashed itself against Shuu’s abdomen, puncturing his fangs into his flesh, quickly pumping venom into him before disintegrating into thin air. The fox doubled over from the sudden blast from the dead spider. He held his stomach, his arm becoming sticky red from the blood oozing from the wound. “Shuu, are you all right? Please say something.”
He stood in front of me, staggering just to stay on his feet. “Shiz, please call your broth...broth...er.” His body suddenly collapsed into my arms. I flipped his body to face me. Seeing him lying in my arm, motionless, my face fell and my heart crashed to the wooden floor.
Winching with tears, I mournfully called his name. “Kazuma, please come quick. I am going to lose him,” I called him in his dreams.
“Sis, I will be right over there. Where are you?” I quickly gave him the directions to the warehouse.
“Kazuma’s on his way. Please Shuu, hang in there. Please don’t die.” My eyes drowned in the downpour of tears. “Please, King Yama, please don’t take him from me.”
_____________________________________________________________________
Immediately, Kazuma had arrived to the warehouse in his white Subaru. I carried my husband out of the building and laid him in the backseat. I sat on the floor of the car, pressing my hand on his stomach, trying to suppress the blood leaking out of his wound. “Come on, darling, hang on. We will be at the hospital in a few minutes. Kazuma, please we have to go now, he’s going to die, otherwise.” Quickly he slammed both the back door and unlocked the driver door. The Subaru lurched forward and he quickly drove across the gravel onto the paved road. Judging from the lights and the direction the car was headed, I knew we weren’t too far from the hospital.
“Sis, how is he doing?”
“He’s having labored breathing, has a high fever, and is fading fast.” I hold onto Shuu’s hands, trying to wipe the sweat pouring from his forehead. “Please hang in there, Shuu. We are almost there.”
“Yeah hold on, bud, we are almost there. I can see the emergency entrance right now. Just on the next corner.”
We arrive at the illuminated entrance, his pulse though steady felt weak. I could feel his soul teetering on a razor thin edge, trying to remain in his body. Kazuma rushed a team of EMTs out to the car, with a rolling gurney. “What is his condition, ma’am?” asked one of the EMTs.
“Faint heart rate, high fever, and labored breathing,” I inform him as we rush into the entrance down the hallway.
“What caused this?” he inquired. The men raced him into the doors of the Critical Care Unit. The EMTs quickly lifted his body off the gurney onto a bed.
“He has been bitten by a highly venomous spider and stabbed through by its fangs.”
“Must have been one hell of a spider to do this much damage to him. As for the bite itself, we have spider anti-venom. Now can you please stand outside the room, so we can set him up, and get him a change of clothes.”
“Sure, of course,” I complied.
“I notice, ma’am, you are not properly dressed,” commented one of the men, “If you want you can borrow one of the extra uniforms hanging in the mini restroom over in the far right corner of this room.”
“I have no underwear on either and I am going to begin my period soon,” I informed him.
“All we have is absorbent underwear for incontinence, will that do? It’s just under the sink.”
I quickly dash into the restroom and change into the provided garments. Kazuma greeted me at the door of the restroom. “Hey, sis, they have Kurama all hooked up and ready for you to see him.” I couldn’t say anything to him, or move. Seeing him across the room, lying helpless made me feel numb. “Sis, you alright?”
“It’s just so hard to see him like that. Oh if only I hadn’t gone into that warehouse. I should have known the warmth wasn’t real. Maybe if I went straight home instead, then he wouldn’t be...wouldn’t be...” Tears consumed my voice and my head bowed into the palms of my hands. Kazuma took me into his huge bear arms. “It’s my fault he could die. If only I went with what my gut was telling me, he wouldn’t be fighting for his life now.”
“Hey, hey, you’ve done nothing wrong. He’s not dead yet, give your husband credit. He’s been in situations much worse than this. It’s not your fault he’s in this fight. Stop blaming yourself.” Kazuma’s words blanketed my heart, making me feel warm just to be held in his arms. He led me over to see Shuu. Sitting next to his bed on the floor was his black-haired demon friend.
“Hiei, what are you doing here? Where did you come from?” I asked, happy to see his face in the room.
“I heard about it from Yomi, he came to me while I was asleep. I wanted to see what that Arachno had done to him.” The demon’s gaze turned from me and focused on my husband before him. “Hey, Kurama, how are you doing? I am sorry what happened to you. I can’t believe you were struck down like this. I wish I could switch places with you on this one. You don’t deserve this. But then again, how can I switch places with you. Of all the fighters and the demons I have known, you are the most selfless, compassionate, and caring demon I know. You are the one who always put others woes before your very own. I don’t know where I would be without you. Except for Yukina, I have no siblings. You have accepted me like a brother. We have been through so much; to me you are my brother. You are the best guy I know, you love everyone you meet unconditionally. I am so glad that you found yourself a wonderful woman, someone to love the rest of your life.” For a moment his words fell silent. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “That phrase, rest of your life. Kurama, I hope you don’t mean this moment to be the last part of your life. I hope you can remain here. I don’t need you to be in Spirit World. I don’t want you there,” Hiei’s eyes reopened, his face welling with tears, “You have a beautiful wife that loves you, children that need their father, human friends that want to grow old with you, and I don’t want you to die. Not now, I want you to remain here. I love you, brother.” Hot tears streamed down the fire demon’s cheeks. “Please don’t die.”
I knelt down beside Hiei, running my fingers over the small of his back. He turned his face towards me, quickly burying his face into the middle of my chest. His tears fell upon my shirt, singeing the flesh underneath. Overcoming the heat of his tears, I held him until he released himself from me. “Please, Shizuru, take care of him. Don’t let him die.” Tears still streamed from the demon’s eyes, as he backed away from Shuu and me.
I glanced upon Shuu’s face. He looked like an angel, lying in the bed, his eyes shut tight. It was as if he was only asleep, though I knew he was fighting with all he had to stay in this world. I held his hand with my left hand and stroked his forehead with my right. Though his skin was clammy with sweat, his fever seemed to have lessened.
“Shuu, it is so hard to see you like this. I understand you have been through so much in your life. I remember that one time you sowed a death seed into your body to defeat your opponent. I thought you had died then. Then later on in the finals, you lost to Karasu; again I thought you were dead for sure. But both those times, you managed to pull through both instances. You’ve saved lives on numerous occasions. You saved mine and Sakura’s lives from that madman, you have been there for Atsuko when she was dealing with breast cancer, you saved the lives of those kittens, you saved my life from Dakota, you were there when Kazuma was in dire straits in that accident. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have seen him again.”
I looked upon his soft, dapple skin; tracing the fine contours of his face with my eyes. My fingers on his forehead, combed through his silky crimson hair, brushing the bangs from his face. “Shuu, you are such a beautiful man. You look like an angel sent from heaven. You’re eyes remind me of an emerald jewel from a necklace my mother wore when she was pregnant with Kazuma. She told me it belonged to her mother, who had survived the blast in Hiroshima in World War Two. I remember when grandma died; mom gave it to grandpa, so that a piece of my grandma could be with him for the rest of his life. She said she wanted to give it to me, but to me it is just a rock. To me you are the jewel. Your heart is finer than any rich stone. You are all I need. You are beautiful, and not just for your looks, but as the whole package. Your body, soul, spirit, heart, warmth, I love everything about you. You mean everything to me. You mean everything to the kids. They love their daddy. I can’t tell you how many times Saito gets anxious when you come home. He loves you. He loves it when you walk through the door. He gets so excited that I have caught him a few times race from the bathroom pants-less, just to the sound of your voice, sometimes when he hadn’t stopped peeing yet. In any occasion, you welcome him with open arms and sometimes give him a toy. Sakura loves you too. I know because she smiles at you and giggles when you play with her. If you can, I want you to be there when they grow up. I hope you can stay. I want you to. I don’t know the kids and I would do without you.”
Tears poured down my cheeks from a pair of drooping eyes. As I continued to gaze at him, I felt my eyelid like they weighed a ton. Perhaps either due to the situation we were in with Arachno, or now with him in this nicely heated room, I started feeling drowsy. Finding the bed empty next to his, I crawled into it and fell asleep. As soon as I dozed off, I heard a familiar whisper in my ears.
“Shuu, is that you?” I turned to glance at him.
“Yes, my dear. I heard what you said just now. I was touched. I love you too.”
I stared into his eyes. My heart felt a huge ache; my voice became silent in his presence. As I stood to see him, the pain was so intense I stumbled to the ground under the weight. Shuu lifted me back onto my feet, bracing my body against his. I pressed my face against his chest; the sudden downpour showered from my eyes, drenching his shirt. “I am so glad to see you again. I missed you so bad. I was so afraid you were going to die.”
His face suddenly fell. “Listen, Shizuru,” he sniffled in a troubled voice, “I am going to have to leave, give me a few minutes though. I will only be gone for ten minutes.”
“What do you mean you have to leave? You can’t. Please no.” I clasped onto him, not wanting to let him go.
“It won’t be for long, I promise. Only for ten minutes. That’s not long at all.”
“I have heard that before, then the person is gone forever. I don’t want to lose you. I love you, the kids love you, and your friends love you. You can’t go I need you here. Why do you want to abandon us? Why?” My heart gushed out my eyes in a torrent onto his chest; his shirt became soggy with my tears.
“I could never leave you forever. I would never abandon you; it would kill me too much to do that to you. I love you too much to hurt you. I am not going to be gone forever. Think of it as nothing more than a business trip.” He held my head against his body, petting my hair with his fingers. He rocked me in his arms, as he did so he said, “I have to sign some document for King Yama. My body needs an herb from Spirit World to rid itself of that level of venom. Koenma has that on stash. That is partly why I am leaving, to get it. The other reason is to remain here forever with you until it is your time, then die with you. If I can part for just ten minutes, then you can have me for as long as you like.”
I raised my tear-drenched face to greet his face. He cupped my face with his right hand, wiping the tears away with his thumb. He pressed his lips against mine, giving me a see-you-soon kiss. “I’ll be right back,” he whispered, as he vanished into the air. I awoke from my sleep; the pillow underneath my head was drenched from the tears in my dream. I crawled over to him, watching helplessly as I saw his spirit leave his body and saw the heart monitor flatlining. In my mind I knew it would be only for ten minutes, but the feeling I had lost him took over my heart.
“Shuuichii, you’d better keep your promise. Because this sight of you is too much.” The pain in my heart became so hard to deal with, that the sting was causing my stomach to lurch forward into my throat. I covered my mouth and raced to the bathroom where I had emerged earlier. Leaning over the sink, I hurled the contents in my stomach. I turned on the faucet, letting the water flush out the vomit. Quickly I returned to his bed, just to find the orderlies bold nosing their way into the room. They raced to his bed, with an electro machine in hand.
“What are you doing?” I asked one of the orderlies.
“We are going to save him, ma’am. Out of the way.”
“But my husband is coming back, he told me so.”
The orderlies ignored me and gathered in my way around his bed. They raised their paddles to him. “Hey please, I said he was coming back. There is no need for that. He will return.”
“Yes, lady, this is how it will be done. We give him an electro shock, and he comes back. Either you get out of the way, or he is gone for good.”
“Shuuichii is coming back on his own. He promised me, and he is not the kind of man to break a promise.”
“Believe whatever you want, lady. If you want to think that, maybe a night in the psych ward will change your mind. He is dead, he won’t be back.”
In the argument, I heard the doors open and a wiry familiar voice purged the chaos. “Will you let that good woman be? She has had a rough night and you aren’t making things easy on her.”
I turned my eyes to a man standing in the doorway, wearing a doctor uniform. He stood tall, with short flowing coffee hair, coffee eyes, and the tattoo of a JR in the center of his forehead. “Thanks, doctor,” I responded, pretending not to know him, “How is everything going?”
“Well for thing, I have the proper antidote for that spider venom. Also the paperwork is near completion. He should come back soon. Hey you guys, don’t you have bedpans to change? Get busy.”
“Sorry sir. We are on it.” The men scurried out of the room as fast as they came in.
“Koenma, thank you for the save. Is he really coming back? I was so afraid he was done for. Thought I’d never see him again.”
Koenma walked over to me and embraced my body, wrapping his arms around me tight. “I am sorry we in Spirit World had to put you through this. I know how hard it has been on you. I feel bad when lost loved ones pass through our doors. But you have to give your husband credit. He’s a strong demon. Kurama is 300 years old, don’t forget. It would be naïve to think he has had it easy all that time. There were times he had to face down death, even to lose to it a few times. But he is smart, he’s resourceful, something like Arachno’s bite is easy for him to overcome. What makes it hard this time is this human body he has. His mortal body is prone to illness, murder, and a short lifespan. But he has decided to live in that body. He loves being mortal. What a human has that a demon can never possess is a human heart and human emotions. For the whole time he was the Youko, he had wished for feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, compassion, disgust, grief, laughter, and love. As Shuuichii, he has all of that and more. He has the love of his friends, he has you as his wife who loves him unconditionally, and says he feels blessed to be the father of two adorable kids. This is what he desires more than anything. Now I do believe those ten minutes are up. He promised ten because he is just that fast at getting business done. He wastes no time getting what he wants.”
I knelt back down to his bed. Holding his left hand in my left, I felt his spirit return to its home. I brushed his face with the back of my right hand, feeling the warmth return to his skin. I almost felt I was still in a dream when I felt my left hand being squeezed by his. I tried to restrain my emotions, seeing him returning to life before my eyes, but failed in my attempts. “Welcome back, baby, I am so glad you have returned.”
Shuu opened his eyes weakly, and gazed into my tear-filled eyes. “Shiz, I said it would only be ten minutes. If this how you are going to react when I am on an errand to the Spirit World, maybe I should quit working at the school and stay home with you, so I am not gone for hours,” he joked. I nodded trying to laugh through my tears. “Come here,” he whispered, motioning me into an embrace. My heart melted onto his chest in such a warm embrace has he gave me, holding me in his arms extremely tight. He whispered into my ears, repeating the words “It’s going to be okay” until my heart felt relief again.
