✔ | At Least We Have Forever

Chapter 34 - A Weakened Heart

Those words Riya had spoken didn't only come as an extreme shock to everyone, particularly to Kurama, but it also struck them big time. For Kurama, he felt like his heart was stabbed thousand times over, even worse than the pain he felt when he took the attack to save Riya at the cost of his life.

"What kind of question was that? How come you don't even remember your boyfriend?" Botan exclaimed incredulously.

"But Botan-chan... I don't even remember having one," Riya said in confusion that only tripled the pain Kurama was feeling.

When they looked at the said fox demon, no one could figure out what could he possibly be thinking. But they knew that the pain it inflicted on his heart was too much. No one knew how would he be able to handle it.

"What was the last thing you remember?" Noboru (Ren) asked as he approached Riya who was still confused about what was going on.

The said maiden pondered for a while before speaking. "The last thing I remember is that I was sitting under the sakura tree before Yusuke came and talked to me about something... which I couldn't remember what. And then I find myself here. Did I pass out or something? I really can't remember anything after that."

Yusuke looked at everyone with a "what-the-heck-is-going-on?" look before Keiko decided to approach Riya.

"Maybe you should take a rest for a while. You're probably just tired so you couldn't remember anything much. We'll just have some 'issues' to talk about. Okay?" Keiko said gently as she tried not to let a single teardrop fall because of witnessing the pain in Kurama's eyes a while back. Riya complied and laid down on the futon once more. When she closed her eyes, Keiko put her hand on her mistress' forehead and it emitted a bright yellow glow that lasted for a few seconds before it faded.

Keiko removed her hand from Riya's forehead and stood up before facing the others. "I need to talk to you. All of you."

The other wielders exchanged glances at each other before complying with the fellow wielder's words. The rest decided to just go with the flow. Keiko's stern words somehow meant that what she was about to tell them was completely serious. As for Kurama, though he wanted to demand an explanation from Riya, he figured that the answer he needed to know wouldn't be coming from her.

Little did he know that the explanation he needed would be coming from the person who had spoken to Riya last before her memories got screwed up. Kurama would be able to learn the truth from Keiko, or at least that was what Hiei realized.

They all reached the living room soon after and took a seat on the couch. Some of them sat on the floor and Hiei's case, on the windowsill. The atmosphere surrounding them was tense and Keiko had to close her eyes for a few seconds and take a deep breath before she faced them.

"So what do you want to talk about, Keiko-chan?" Botan asked, breaking the unbearable silence.

"And what the heck was that? It seems that you know what is going on with Riya for her to act like that. It's not even funny," Yusuke added.

"She's not acting at all, Yusuke," Keiko gravely responded, catching everyone's attention. "She really couldn't remember Kurama or anything with regards to the battle we're facing right now."

"But how did that happen?" Akane (Sei) asked. "She could remember all of us except for Kurama? That's not even a nice joke."

But Keiko didn't say anything for a few moments. They saw her hands clutching her pants since they were placed on her lap.

"Keiko-chan?"

"She decided to give up what's important to her..." Keiko started. "...as a price for reviving Kurama."