Otherworld: Tala-14-Kayla



Chapter 14 - Kayla


Three years passed, but they were not peaceful ones. The duplicates had gone into hiding which meant that they were hiding inside of someone. Suspicion was rampant in Otherworld and Suzaku. People questioned every little mishap, every conversation accidentally forgotten, every wrong turn of a phrase. It became almost a daily occurrence to drag some innocent person to the Castle so Tala could sense them. And not one of the accused were duplicates; they were just victims of Naraku's plot. During that time, Hiten and Kamui formed a friendship and a teaming. It all started when Hiten had came to the Castle a few weeks after Kamui's arrival in Otherworld. A small group of demons had crossed over from the Demon World into Otherworld and now were terrorizing the neighboring villages. And one of those villages was Serafin's birthplace and where her parents still lived. Hiten had gone to stop the demons, but he had been unable to find them; every time he arrived on the scene of their latest kill, the demons had already disappeared, hiding in the dark recesses of the mountains. He had come to the Castle to see if Kurama could help him with his problem. "There are so many dark crevices and shallow caves in those mountains, they could be anywhere. I tried using my lightning on one cave and only managed to disturb a hibernating bear." Hiten admitted. Kurama remained silent for a few minutes, working it out in his head, then suddenly he looked at Hiten. "I may have it!" He stood and went to the door, calling one of the servants to his side, giving him instructions. A few minutes later, Kamui walked into the room. "You wanted to see me?" asked the young Bat Demon. "Kamui -- even without your wings, you still have your bat sonar, don't you?" Kurama questioned. "Yes, but it can only be used when I am flying. On the ground there is just too much interference with objects and walls." Kurama smiled, then turned to Hiten. "Kamui can help you. You can carry him aloft and he can use his sonar on the mountains. The demons should be visible to him, even though they are hidden from the naked eye." "That should work! Let's leave first thing in the morning." Hiten clapped the startled Bat on the shoulder and left the room. "What just happened?" Kurama explained Hiten's problem and how Kamui could help. A huge smile lit the Bat's face -- he could be useful after all! The next morning, the two demons set out, Hiten carrying Kamui high in the air. Kamui closed his eyes and relished the feeling of the wind on his face. It had been a long time since he had been in the sky. He looked down, watching the landscape pass below, and noticed the fire wheels which Hiten used to fly. He mentioned them to Hiten. "Unfortunately, there are only three sets. My late father procured them long ago and I have no idea where he got them. My sons, Souten and Aniki, have the other sets." Kamui sighed, then turned back to enjoying the feeling of being aloft. They arrived at the mountain border in the late afternoon and, after a short rest, the pair began to search the mountains. Kamui sent his sonar into every dark recess and into every cave. It took them two days to find the demons. When they did, Hiten set down the Bat and then used his lightning on the demons. They had killed several people during their rampage, which sealed their fate. If they had not taken human life, the demons would have been sent back to Demon World.

	Hiten took Kamui back to the Castle, thanking him profusely for his help. Kamui smiled and told the Thunder Demon that he would be glad to help out any time. And he meant it. That night, lying next to his new bride, Tala, he told her about his adventure and how he had helped Hiten, his voice full of excitement. Her heart soared when she heard the joy in his voice and she hugged him tightly.

Since that first time, Kamui and Hiten had teamed up many times and had become fast friends in the process. And as Aniki grew older, Kamui would sometimes team up with the youngest Thunder Demon. A few months later, Kurama officially made Kamui one of the Protectors of Otherworld and gave him a crystal shard to augment his sonar powers. Kamui found that he truly had found a purpose and a home.

But the household that should have had the most joy was filled with the most suspicion. Kome and Ayala tried their best to raise their daughter as a normal little girl, but the looks the villagers gave Kayla told them that she would never be considered normal. Not one of the villagers allowed their children to play with her, and of the Protectors and their families, only her aunt, Kamara, was even close to her in age. The first accident happened when she was barely a year old. The mobile which Kome had fixed to hang above her bassinette caught fire. Kayla began to scream and Ayala rushed in to see flames shooting into the air above her daughter. She pulled the mobile down, burning her hands in the process, but her daughter was safe. She looked at the open window and wondered who would have done such a terrible thing. The second mishap occurred on her second birthday. Keiko brought back a teddy bear from the Human World for her. Kayla was playing with it on the porch when screams brought her mother running. The teddy bear was on fire! "Mommy, teddy!!!" the little girl was screaming, pointing at her newest toy. The Wolf Demons had seen the smoke pouring from the window and came running, quickly putting out the flames. The bear was unsalvageable and Kayla was heart-broken. Ayala held up her daughter tightly, rocking her through her sobs, wondering who was so cruel to burn a child's toy. The next time someone went to the Human World, a new bear was brought back, but it was not the same and Kayla never became attached to it. Six months later the curtains went up in flames, singeing the wall around the window. This time Kayla didn't scream or call out, only sat there on the floor watching the flames. Fortunately, Katsu was passing by and saw the smoke. He rushed into the house to help Ayala put out the small fire. This time Ayala was very worried. Why didn't Kayla cry out? She admonished the little girl and told her to call if something like this happened. Kayla began to cry, "Is fire bad?" "Yes, it can burn you and it will hurt." Ayala told her, picking her up. "Don't cry, Kayla, you did nothing wrong. I just don't want you to be hurt." Kome and Kouga scoured the area looking for the person who was starting these fires. The problems happened so randomly and so seldom that Kome thought it might be a duplicate. But they found not a footprint nor a scent that could identify the culprit.

Kayla was three years old when the next fire started. It had just turned dark and Ayala went outside to call her daughter from the garden. "Kayla, it's time for bed," she called, then stopped abruptly.

	Kayla was in the back of the house, on the far side of the Village where no one could see her and surrounding her were little tongues of fire. They spun around her like tiny fire sprites and she was laughing happily. "Kayla!" The little girl looked at her mother, and tears began to form, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I will make them go away. Don't be mad."

With a wave of her hand, the fires went out, disappearing as if they had never existed. Ayala felt as if the earth had disappeared beneath her feet and she sat down hard. "Oh, by all the gods!" "Mommy, are you alright?" Kayla asked as she ran to her mother's side. "Go get your father, Kayla. He is inside the house." Kayla ran to the house and told her father that her mother had fallen down. Kome rushed outside and found his mate sprawled on the ground. "What happened? Kayla says you fell." "No, I just got dizzy." She reached up a hand and Kome helped her up. "Kome, she is the one who has been starting the fires." "What are you talking about? Who is?" "Kayla! Kayla can control fire! I think she can even create it! What is happening? Oh, Kome, I'm scared!" Kome's face went ashen when he heard his mate's words. For three years, they had been telling themselves that their daughter was normal, just another little girl, and now they realized that she had never been and would never be normal. That night, after tucking their daughter into bed, Kome went to his parents' house to tell them what had happened. Kouga's face grew grim as he heard the story and Kagome bowed her head in sorrow. Who knew what this meant for the future of their family. No one in their family was part Fire Demon; it had to be Naraku's bloodline. He had over a hundred demons inside of him and surely one or more was a Fire Demon. Somehow their power had passed onto Kayla, his granddaughter. Tomorrow morning, Kouga and Kome would take Kayla to the Castle, to see Kaiba and Bakura. Ayala refused to stay home and would go with them. It was not a journey that either of them had ever wanted to make.

The little girl stood there dwarfed by the tall mages, and very intimidated by them, especially by Bakura with his red and yellow eyes and blue skin. Kaiba knelt down so he was closer to her level and asked her how she had created the fires. "I just thought it." "Can you do it for us?" "Mommy will be mad at me. She said that fire was bad." "No, your mommy won't be mad." Kaiba turned to Kome, "Please tell her that it is okay to make fire." Kome quietly told his daughter that she should do whatever the Mages wanted her to and that it was okay to make fire when they asked her to. Kayla nodded, worried by her father's quiet tone. Her daddy was usually loud and boisterous, laughing and playing a lot, and to hear him so serious and stern was frightening. Much more ore frightening than the red-eyed mage. The little girl, just a couple of months past her third birthday, effortlessly made a small gesture in the air and a little ball of fire appeared in front of her. "Can you make it larger?" Bakura asked.

	She nodded and then, without a even needing a gesture, the ball doubled in size. All through the afternoon, the mages tested the little girl. She seemed never to run of the energy needed to create fire, although she was getting tired because she was only three and it was long past her nap time. Kome finally cut the mages short and took his daughter to her bed for a nap. She yawned as he picked her up and was asleep before he got to the room.

Kome told Ayala what happened and then went in search of the mages. He found them in the study with his father, the Princess and Kurama. They all turned when he entered the room. "Well, what is the verdict?" Kome asked tersely. "I was just going to tell the Princess our findings." Bakura began, "To be quite honest, I have never seen a more powerful Fire Demon. She is only three years old, yet creates and commands fire with ease. She is already a Fire Master." "But what does that mean in terms of Naraku?" "Her power undoubtedly comes from his bloodline. There is no question about that. But neither Tala or Taiki can sense anything evil in Kayla, and neither does the Princess. She is just a little girl that inherited an incredible amount of power. I think it was simply an accident." "We have discussed the difference between the two pregnancies," Kurama added, "Mirago's was very carefully planned and Naraku seduced her on purpose. I don't know how he did it, but the duplicates and their revenge plans were implanted into the babies, but Tala was able to throw off her implanted instructions while the males could not. But Ayame was not planned. She just happened to be around when Naraku was vulnerable, hurt after his fight with InuYasha, and possibly lonely. I doubt if he even knew that Ayame got pregnant by him. If he knew of her pregnancy, he probably thought it was your child, Kouga, since she had convinced everyone that it was." "We believe that Ayala, and in turn, Kayla, are safe. You can live your lives freely from now on, but you will have to teach Kayla how to control her power." The Princess explained. Kome breathed a sigh of relief. His family was finally free from suspicion and his daughter would grow up to be a powerful Protector -- a Fire Master!