Prompt 60-Selfish

In what way are you selfish?

Youko was good for Mika. Yuri could tell that the moment her sister returned home from her first mission in the Makai. The tale that followed once they were safely away from her father’s ears would have made fine material for the romance novels Mika pretended to loathe. She played down her own feelings for the legendary thief, but Yuri knew Mika’s heart better than anyone and knew he had changed her.

She insisted that their weeks together were just “a one-time thing,” but Yuri knew it for a wall for Mika to protect herself from heartbreak. She refused to believe he might care for her as much as she cared for him. She refused to even accept that she might have fallen in love.

Yuri confirmed it several months later when Mika introduced them for the first time. Mika wanted his advice on their recovery mission and Yuri was all too excited to meet the legendary Youko Kurama to dissuade her. However, her awe at meeting the myth made flesh was quickly overshadowed by a rising jealousy in her heart.

It was clear as day to Yuri’s eyes that he returned Mika’s feelings. She didn’t need Hiei or Ali’s telepathy to know Youko was happy to see Mika again. They had been apart longer than they had spent time together, but they fell into easy conversation with no hesitation, as though they’d known each other for years rather than weeks. Watching them debate tactics reminded her of her own parents discussing matters of the house.

She had to remind them of her presence, a fact that both annoyed and amused her. If anyone was going to be a third wheel on their mission, it was going to be him. And she was going to make him work for Mika’s attention. He wasn’t going to steal her away from Yuri that easily.

Then came the encounter with their enemy and everything changed. It was another wolf demon. One who shared Mika’s blood, possessed the psychic powers she coveted, and idolized the mother she hated. He spoke of a power within Mika, a power he planned to unleash and destroy the remainder of their race.

He let them go and retreated with his wolf companion. They had completed their mission in recovering the weapon he had stolen, but Yuri couldn’t help feeling it had all been a ruse to lure Mika out to him. The other teams had recovered their items and reported that the mastermind was named Ryuusei and he had plans to awaken the goddess of death.

Yuri relayed the details of their fight with him, and his cryptic statements of blood and power. Mika confirmed for her father that Ali had had another child. Ryuusei had her eyes, after all. And he planned to use her to wipe out the rest of the people she held dear. Yuri watched as Mika cried into Youko’s arms, and realized she wasn’t needed anymore.

She laughed. She knew what was coming. Mika was the daughter of a child of Prophecy. They rarely talked about it, but Yuri knew the implications. She had done the digging and learned the contents of the legends, looking for the loopholes to see her through unscathed. She had wanted to protect Mika. To spare her the pain.

How do you awaken a god of death? With the scent of death. The song of grief and anguish. Ryuusei wanted to use Mika to kill her family. Yuri was not going to let that happen. If it came down to fighting either one or the both of them, she would not win. She didn’t have their strength. But if she was going to die in this war, it would be by his hands, not Mika’s. She would not give him the satisfaction.

Yuri wasn’t in a hurry to die. She loved life and wanted to live. She wanted to bring that foolish boy over to the side of the light. But if she had to die, she wanted it to be on her own terms. Maybe that was selfish.

She was grateful to Youko. Mika would have someone else to lean on when the darkness tried to take her. She grinned. Until then though, she would keep him guessing about her relationship with Mika. After all, she had loved her first.

Notes: Yuri is such an important character to Mika’s story and I hardly know her. They’re not biological sisters, but they were born on the same day and they both have wolf demon blood and they were raised together by Yuri’s mom, Nikkie. There’s this joke/meme I’ve seen floating around the internet in various forms: If you and your best friend don’t make people question your sexuality, are you even best friends? Mika and Yuri’s relationship embodies that meme.

I tried to think which of my characters were selfish for this prompt and Yuri popped into my head. It was strange to me because I have never thought of her to be particularly selfish, but I guess even selfless people have selfish moments. I think hers is warranted. It was fun to get in her head for a bit.

Are you selfish? Is it ingrained in you or did you have to learn to be selfish? What about your characters? Why? Get out your notebooks and get these ideas down! I’ll see you tomorrow with another double-header!