Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Thirty-Four: Move to the Future ( Chapter 34 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Thirty-Four: Move to the Future

 

Once Sano had managed to bandage his forehead and Kuwabara had recovered from his shocked state enough to walk, the travelers had headed back to the hotel room Hiei had in Yokohama to lick their wounds and decide on their next course of action. The only problem was that they needed a way to remove Sanosuke from the conversation, since they would undoubtedly be discussing things of the supernatural nature. Fortunately, this was easily resolved by unanimously picking the ex-mercenary to go buy them some food, although he forced a compromise to pay for it with Hiei's money, since the only reason they were even in Yokohama was “to save the angry little gnome”. He managed to avoid the rock this time.

 

Once Sano had left, Hiei was quickly given a summary of the situation, although he had managed to infer most of the important pieces on his own. After all, Sango's possession of a new sword had been a dead giveaway.

 

“Well, now that everyone is up to speed, the only question is: what do we do next?” Kurama put forth once Hiei seemed to fully understand what was going on. “It's clear that our eventual destination is Tokyo in our own time, but the only question is how to get there.”

 

“Well…we still can't use Spirit Energy, so we need to figure out which way is safest,” reasoned Kuwabara. “So maybe we should head back there in this time, and then head back to our time when we get there.”

 

“That sounds reasonable, but we should head back to my time, first,” amended Sango. “Everyone will want to know we're okay, and that's where they're waiting.”

 

“In that case, we should definitely head for the Kagome's well in Tokyo. We'll need to make sure that we arrive in the Feudal Era in a safe place,” concluded Kurama. “Speaking of the others, how is Yusuke? He hasn't really experienced defeat or loss before so I would imagine that he was a bit under the weather for a while.”

 

Sango waited for a moment before responding as she recalled Kagome comparing Yusuke to a very irritable zombie when Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei had all been thought lost. She did not want to cause any worry among those present, however, so she decided to tone it down a bit.

 

“He handled himself all right,” she answered ambiguously, to the knowing “hn” of Hiei.

 

Kurama, who also looked skeptical was about to speak again when Sanosuke barged into the room carrying a pair of small boxes, a flask, and five cups. Assuming correctly that it was food, Kuwabara hastily snatched one out of his hands and opened it to find an amount of kabob-like skewers of small dumplings.

 

“Cool, dango!” exclaimed Kuwabara as he picked up a skewer. “I used to have these all the time when I was a little shrimp, they're pretty sweet.”

 

“I got some tea for to help `em go down, too,” Sano said as he set down the flask and the little cups. “I kinda'…borrowed the cups, from the hotel, though.”

 

No one present had eaten for some time, so everyone was quick to dig in. Everyone, that is, save Hiei, who was simply studying his as though looking for some kind of trap.

 

“Oh come on, just try it,” urged Sango, elbowing him in the ribs. “You'll probably like it.”

 

“Hn, I'll decide whether I like it or not, woman,” scoffed Hiei and then turned his attention back to his dango.

 

With the caution of someone trying to diffuse a bomb, Hiei slowly raised the dango to his mouth and took a nibble so small one could barely notice the dumpling had been touched at all.

 

“It's…passable,” he muttered grumpily, although as soon as Sango took her eyes off of him he devoured the rest of it in seconds.

 

“Sanosuke…I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but shouldn't the money Hiei gave you have paid for more food then this?” asked Kurama, throwing Sano a curious look.

 

Sanosuke took several seconds longer then necessary to chew his food before swallowing it, before putting on his very best “I know nothing!” looks and shrugging unconvincingly.

 

“The little guy didn't give me that much money. Food's expensive, ya' know.”

 

“True,” admitted Kurama. “But I remember us passing a dango place not too far away from here, and you were gone for well over an hour.”

 

Sano's face twitched as he struggled to maintain an innocent look. One look at the accusing faces staring back at him, however, was enough to convince him of the futility of that tactic. So, he hastily shifted to his “I can explain…” look, and started spewing excuses.

 

“Well, you see, I hadn't seen that place on the way here, and Yokohama's a big city, so I kinda' wandered around for a while and browsed the prices, and…”

 

“Oh please. I bet you spent it all on sake, you dolt,” deadpanned Sango.

 

“No I didn't! I just saw this dice game an-” Sano hastily cut off his denial too late, and could only smile nervously and try to continue. “And…and I walked right past it because gambling is wrong, and you're probably not going to win, even if you're feeling really lucky, which I happened to be feeling…”

 

The faces staring back at him were no longer simply accusing him, they were downright sentencing him. Sensing that the situation was now hopeless, Sano slowly began to inch backwards only to be forced into a much faster pace as he narrowly avoided one of the empty dango boxes.

 

“I swear it was rigged! I would've exposed it, bu-OW! Damn it, lady, you're insane! Those skewers are sharp!”

 

“We were starving and you were gambling? Do you have any sense at all?”

 

As Sano's vengeful assault continued, Kurama leaned over to Hiei and whispered, “Shouldn't you be writing `remember to feed her' somewhere?”

 

Oddly, nothing was said in return. Surprised, Kurama turned towards Hiei as though to make sure the fire demon wasn't simply glaring at him. This wasn't the case either. Instead, Hiei was simply staring off into space with his brow furrowed, clearly deep in thought. This behavior was decidedly not normal, and Kurama had a good guess as to its cause. He was about to rouse the fire demon from his trance, but the sounds of the escalating quarrel between Sano and Sango convinced him that preventing any further damage to the hotel room was of higher priority for the moment. He had no wish to be caught in the crossfire should the zanbatou and Hiraikotsu come out.

 

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After leaving hastily leaving the hotel before the management gotten the chance to see the damage that had been done to their room and informing Sanosuke that they were headed back to Tokyo, the travelers found themselves traveling on foot instead of by sea as they had expected. Apparently, the favor that had been owed to Sanosuke was only good for a one-way trip. Still, it wasn't as if they were in a great rush like before, and Tokyo wasn't all that far away from Yokohama to begin with, so the complaints were kept to minimum. In fact, Sanosuke seemed to be the one complaining the most.

 

“I still think it's kind of weird that you're headed back to Tokyo,” he noted for the umpteenth time. “I mean, if you were coming back, then you should have saved the goodbyes for then. If you show up at the dojo now, you'll just look stupid.”

 

“We felt it would be easier to say goodbye sooner rather then later,” Kurama replied, although he was forced to elaborate slightly when Sano shot him a quizzical look. “It's a psychological thing.”

 

Sano scratched his head for a second and then shrugged. Anything with a name that long would clearly take a great deal of effort to understand, and that alone was reason enough for Sano to dismiss it.

 

Meanwhile, towards the rear of the group, Hiei was having his own problems understanding something. Unlike Sano, this didn't come from simple laziness. In fact, it was entirely forgivable that he was not understanding it, for “it” is one of the more unknown subjects in the history of the world: women.

 

“Hiei, I'm being serious. I want to know why you did it,” Sango said, looking down at Hiei with questioning eyes that he was refusing to meet. “Why did you sacrifice yourself for me back at the temple?”

 

“I told you, woman, it wasn't a sacrifice,” denied Hiei, struggling to keep his gaze on the road. “I intended to avoid the blast along with you. I miscalculated, that was all.”

 

“You know that isn't true. Anyone could plainly see you were going to have no chance of escaping, especially you,” she said tapping is forehead with her index finger, which was quickly batted away. “If you won't admit it, then I'll just tell you. You did it because y-”

 

“Don't presume to speak for me, woman!” snapped Hiei, bringing his head about to glare at his tormentor.

 

He realized his mistake too late, for he had already come into eye contact with her. He struggled to control the blood that was flowing into his cheeks as Sango's eyes stared softly back at his. Finding himself suddenly forgetting what he was going to say, he cursed inwardly and finally succeeded in tearing his gaze away from the demon slayer.

 

“See, that wasn't so hard,” teased Sango as she smiled down on him.

 

“Hn,” snorted Hiei, turning his eyes shifting even further away from her. “I didn't ay anything.”

 

“You didn't have to,” Sango explained, prompting Hiei to look in the opposite direction her entirely.

 

The situation he was in was not one he was used to dealing with. In fact, he had never really dealt with it before. This young woman was obviously trying to become close with him, the extents of which he was either unsure of or simply was trying not to think about. Such an occurance had never happened before. Even Kurama kept a respectful distance from the fire demon when asked, and never tried to be any more of a friend than Hiei let him. This was different, however. Sango was stubborn, curious, and entirely unintimidated by him. He did not know how to react, and that was causing him a great deal of internal struggle.

 

`I should just tell her to leave me alone,' he thought, but was quick to rebut himself. `But do I want that?'

 

He had to stop himself from shaking his head in answer. Even if he had the answer to that particular question, he still did not know what it was he should do next. He continued brooding on this question for the rest of the day, listlessly following the others as they headed off the road to set up a fire as night fell, and barely tasting the food they had bought with the last of his money from a traveling salesman along the road. Since silence was normal for him, no one seemed to mind much. Even Sango had limited her conversations with him, though it was likely this was because she was occupied by thoughts of her own. Hiei dared not think about what those were. In fact, it was not until he thought himself the last one still awake that he was truly pulled away from his thoughts.

 

“You're not acting normal, Hiei,” Kurama remarked from across the fire, where he was sitting on a small log. “Something's bothering you.”

 

“Hn, nothing's bothering me, fox,” scoffed Hiei curtly. “Now mind your own damned business.”

 

“All right, let me be a little more blunt,” pressed Kurama, and then pointed towards Hiei's feet. “That's bothering you, now tell me why.”

 

Hiei followed Kurama's finger down to his feet, and it was only then that he realized that Sango's head had somehow come to rest on them. He had been so lost in thought that he had failed to notice. Carefully, he removed his feet from underneath her, and then resolved to continue to berate his companion, only to be preempted.

 

“You honestly don't know how to react, do you?” continued Kurama, and elaborated when he was only replied was silence. “Just accept her. That's all you have to do.”

 

“You don't understand,” hissed Hiei angrily, but with controlled volume. “I was born to live my life alone, Kurama. I can't share it with anyone else, not even Yukina, and that means I can't share it with her, either.”

 

“I'm not going to ask you to talk about your past, Hiei. However, I will tell you this: your past does not control your future; only the present can do that,” replied Kurama, giving Hiei a stern look. “It is only your fate to be alone if you allow it to be. You can change that any time you want.”

 

For a moment, Hiei had no response but to look down at the young woman that rested by his feet. He recalled having a similar conversation with Kurama during the Dark Tournament, except that time it was about Yukina. Kurama had not convinced him then, but some part of him normally kept hidden told him to give the fox demon another chance.

 

“Kurama…you remember when I told you why I could not tell everything to Yukina back at the Dark Tournament?” he asked rhetorically. “That had nothing to do with my past, Kurama. That is who I am: a murderer and a criminal.”

 

“But you're the only one who sees yourself like that,” Kurama responded simply.

 

“Hn, if they don't, then it's because they don't know enough,” shot back Hiei.

 

“How could you know that? You never let anyone know about you to begin with,” said Kurama with a sigh. “Just give someone a chance, for once.”

 

Hiei was silent after that. Kurama, thinking his point had been made, shifted himself onto the ground in a sleeping position, but Hiei did not follow suit. He just sat there, staring down at Sango's sleeping form. He stayed like this for hours, unmoving as the merits of each decision turned over in his mind. At long last, he came to a conclusion, and before he could question his decision, he promptly lay down where he sat, and fell fast asleep, knowing that tomorrow may very well be the most fateful day of his life.

 

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After another day of travel, the five travelers were back in Tokyo. Fortunately, the streets were relatively empty, making Sano's giant case and Sango's slightly less giant “concealed” weapon much less of a problem they would have been if the streets had been packed. They were already heading in the direction of Kagome's future home when Sano spoke up.

 

“Well, I guess this is where I get off,” he announced, causing the rest of the group to stop. “I'm not the type for big sappy goodbyes, so I'll just get right to it: If we're going to meet again, then see ya' around. If not, goodbye, and take care of yourselves. Yeah, even you, maniac.”

 

Before Sango could get the chance to come back at him with a barb of her own, Sano had already given Kuwabara a light punch on the shoulder before walking off down the road. With a casual wave of farewell over his shoulder, he rounded another corner as the wind caught his jacket, showcasing the symbol for “bad” that adorned it for one last time before it disappeared from view.

 

“He didn't even let us say goodbye…” commented Kurama, slightly befuddled.

 

“Yeah, that'd be Sano far ya',” chuckled Kuwabara before shrugging and continuing down the road. “He's a little like Yusuke that way, ya' know?”

 

“Now that you mention it, they are a little similar…” agreed Sango, but then quickly added. “Except Yusuke was never that irritating.”

 

“Hn, only to you,” added Hiei dryly, to everyone's amusement.

 

It only took them a few more minutes to reach the shrine, which was shockingly similar to Kagome's home in her own time, or at least that's what Kurama seemed to think. His judgment would have to be trusted, however, seeing as Kuwabara had forgotten what her home looked like, and Hiei had not taken the time to look over her case file as thoroughly as Kurama had.

 

“Well, this is it,” announced Sango, unsheathing Masaruten. “Are you guys ready?”

 

“Yeah we-hey!” exclaimed Kuwabara, suddenly looking all over in a panic. “Where'd shorty go?”

 

Much to Kurama and Sango's surprise, Kuwabara was right. Hiei was nowhere to be found. In fact, he was two blocks away, walking through Tokyo Police Headquarters. Confident that Kurama or Sango would understand enough to wait for him at the shrine, he had slipped away from them as soon as he learned the shrine's location. He had some final business to take care of before he left the Meiji Era for good, and that business was currently in the office of Hajime Saitou.

 

“Finally admitted defeat on the manhunt, Hiei?” asked Saitou rhetorically without looking up from his desk. “Good. I'm glad to see you've finally managed to find the tiniest inkling of common sense.”

 

“Hn, I did not come here to listen to your quips,” scoffed the fire demon disdainfully. “I came here to inform you of my departure.

 

At this, Saitou looked up from his desk. Hiei tensed as the swordsman's wolfish eyes stared piercingly at him. Even though it only lasted a moment, Hiei didn't feel fully comfortable until those eyes were once again focused on the desk instead of him.

 

“Then leave,” spoke Saitou tonelessly, scratching out something on a piece of paper. “If you want to go that badly, then go, you don't have to ask me for permission. I'm not your mother.”

 

Hiei regarded the Wolf of Mibu for a moment longer, trying to decipher some kind of emotion, but he came up empty handed. Either the man was in perfect control of himself, or he truly had reached that ultimate pinnacle of discarding all emotional attachments. Either way, it was something Hiei had to respect, and he bowed his head ever so slightly before exiting the office, leaving his brief career as a policeman behind him, and went to face his future, waiting for him at Kagome's well.

 

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Yusuke tapped his foot impatiently as he scanned the forest around him, both with his eyes and ears as well as with his spiritual awareness. Both methods came up dry. Sighing, he, for the fourth time, raised his hands to his mouth, and shouted:

 

“Oh no! I'm lost in the woods with no protection, all alone! Someone help me before a demon comes and eats my guts!”

 

Again, he scanned the forest with his senses, but this time he found something. It was more the rustling of branches that clued him in more than his spiritual awareness. Not that the demon was concealing its presence well, it was just unbelievably week. However, it was the first taker he had gotten in a while, so it would have to do.

 

“Hee hee, what a delicious meal,” cackled an irritatingly high pitched voice from behind Yusuke. “I think I will devour you whole!”

 

Yusuke turned slowly around to regard the demon as it flew down towards him from the trees. He couldn't tell exactly what kind of demon it was, but it had spikes protruding from its back, and a long, ugly snout. As it drew near, it let out another high pitched cackle, and brought a clawed hand above its head in preparation to strike. However, the cackling was abruptly cut off when Yusuke's hand shot out and grabbed the demon by the throat.

 

“You know, I'm beginning to understand why there aren't so many of you demons in the future,” taunted Yusuke with a smirk as the annoying demon gasped for air. “You all kept falling for the same stupid tricks over and over.”

 

His obligatory trash talk now complete, Yusuke tossed the demon high into the air, unheeding of its shrill screaming when he let go of its throat. Slowly, he brought his right index finger and thumb to bear as the demon began to fall, steadying his arm with his left hand and closing one eye as he lined up the shot.

 

“Three…two…one…Spirit Gun!”

 

The brilliant blue beam of energy shot out from his fingertip on command, flying through the night sky and connecting with the falling demon in a flash of light.

 

“Don't you ever get bored of that?” asked Inuyasha from his perch in a nearby tree, where he had been watching the whole thing without much interest.

 

“Nope,” answered Yusuke, still smirking widely. “Besides, it's not like the world wouldn't be better with a few less demons. No offense, dog-boy.”

 

“Feh, I aint nothin' like those demons,” Inuyasha muttered as he leapt down his tree and began to exit the forest. “Whatever, I'm going to go see what Kagome's doing.”

 

Shrugging, Yusuke followed after the half-demon. Yusuke's demon skeet shooting had sort of become a routine over the past few days, for it seemed that demons were the only thing in the feudal era that could provide Yusuke with any entertainment. While he could now travel back and forth from his own time to the Feudal Era at will, he'd still spent most of his days waiting for Sango's return with the others. Aside from Keiko, modern food and arcade games, he figured he wasn't missing much, anyway.

 

It turned out that Kagome wasn't doing much aside from helping Kaede and Miroku with some chores. Yusuke had already put two and two together and figured out that they too would be coerced into helping if they were spotted, and was slowly trying to sneak away when Inuyasha blew his cover.

 

“Hey, Kagome!” called out the half-demon as he approached. “What're ya' doin'?”

 

“Cleaning. Come and help us,” replied Kagome, before turning towards a still escaping Yusuke. “You too, Mr. Ninja.”

 

“Oh come on, you're cleaning the shack?” retorted Yusuke, now trying to just casually walk away. “Thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to go get some more target practice in.”

 

Before Kagome could scold him, she was interrupted by Shippou, who was running as fast as he could towards the village and shouting at a pace so fast it was almost impossible to understand him.

 

“Guysguysguys!” yelled the little fox demon kit, still not slowing down his speech. “TherewasabigflashbythewellandIwasscaredbutnottooscaredbutthenIsaw 230;”

 

“Hold on Shippou, slow down,” cut in Kagome as the kit finally reached them. “What did you see?”

 

“I heard `well', that's good enough for me,” said Yusuke, cracking his knuckles. “Finally, some real action!”

 

A moment later, Yusuke was sprinting in the direction of the well, long gone before anyone could stop him. A wide smirk borne of anticipation spread on his face as he approached. Shippou wasn't exactly strong, but he had enough experience to know what a strong demon felt like. If he was this worked up about it, it had to be something big, but he was confident he could handle it. However, as he soon found out, he was dead wrong. As soon as he came within sight of the well, he stopped dead in his tracks, mouth agape and his eyes frozen ahead of him. He had expected something big, but not this.

 

“I know I'm awesome, Urameshi,” said a familiar carrot-topped boy. “But I'm gettin' a little wierded out with you starin' at me like that.”

 

Sure enough, staring back at him from next to the well was Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama and Sango, returned from their trip through time. Slowly, Yusuke grasped the situation, and the widest of smiles took shape on his face. That was all the warning his teammates had before he was upon them.

 

“Holy shit, you're really back! I'm not dreaming or anything!” cried Yusuke as he dashed forward and put all three of his teammates in a headlock, somehow fitting both Hiei's and Kurama's heads under one arm. “You little bastards, making me think you were dead and all that shit. I oughta keep you like this for a year for that!”

 

“Yus…Yusuke…we can't…” Kurama managed to gasp, at which point Yusuke finally released them from his hold. “Good to see you too…”

 

“What's the deal? You guys gotten soft from bein' on vacation for so long?” teased Yusuke and almost knocked Kurama over with a playful elbow to the ribs before he noticed Kuwabara's new attire. “Holy shit, you have! Kuwabara, you're wearing a dress!”

 

“It's not a dress! They're samurai pants!” shouted Kuwabara defensively. “You shouldn't be talkin', Urameshi, you're crying!”

 

“I'm not crying, stupid!” shot back Yusuke, wiping his eyes hastily. “I got a bug in my eye…damned bugs...”

 

By now, Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, and Shippou had arrived on the scene, and the reunion began in earnest. The returning time travelers were quick to receive hugs, noogies, and in Kurama's case, a small fox demon on the head. Hiei, naturally, managed to extract himself once everyone else had become occupied, but, to his surprise, he was soon joined by Miroku.

 

“Hiei, could I have a word?” asked the monk, motioning away from the rest of the group.

 

Hiei considered just telling the monk off, but he did not. He knew what this was about, and he therefore had to face it. Nodding, he followed the monk until they were far enough away from the others to have a private conversation, and at this point he spoke up.

 

“Whatever it is that you have to say, say it,” he said icily. “I did not return for idle chit-chat.”

 

“Then I'll get straight to the point,” returned the monk, looking Hiei dead in the eye without wavering. “Sango's has made a choice, and I have no right to try and interfere. However, I must ask a favor of you. Please…please take care of her…and make sure that she is happy.”

 

Hiei prevented himself from flinching as a decidedly sad element worked its way into the monk's gaze. Scoffing as though the conversation had been but a waste of time, Hiei turned on his heel and began to walk away.

 

“That's not something you need to worry yourself with, monk.”

 

Taking that as an agreement, Miroku followed after Hiei, and the two of them rejoined their more elated comrades by the well.

 

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There were very few times where Sango had ever felt overwhelming awe in her life, yet as soon as she stepped through the portal Masaruten had created and came out on the other side, she had felt it immediately. While the Meiji Era had certainly had what could be called a city, it had really looked just like a massive version of the villages in the Feudal Era. Kagome's time, however, was a totally different story. In every direction from the shrine stood massive things that looked like giant hives, and were as big as mountains. Stranger still was that she kept seeing people popping in and out of the little, shiny holes in their sides.

 

“What…what are…?” she started to say before several metallic things zoom past the shrine's entrance upon a black road and succumbing to stunned silence once again. “How…?”

 

“I can show you it all later,” interrupted Kagome as she stepped out of the well house. “But for now, let's get you inside before someone notices that sword, okay?”

 

“Oh…right…” agreed Sango reluctantly, eyes still transfixed on the black road as she continued to walk towards the house.

 

“Hn, it's only interesting the first time you see it,” assured Hiei quietly from beside her. “I found that out after crossing from the Demon World to the Human World.”

 

Sango smiled at the fire demon as she followed him into Kagome's house. She recalled Yusuke mentioning that Hiei and Kurama were originally from the Demon World before, so it would make sense that Hiei would have a similar shock to his system upon seeing the Human World for the first time. It was just like Hiei to deny that it had any significant affect on him, though.

 

“I just called Botan,” said Yusuke, walking in the door several seconds after the rest. “She said that Koenma and her would be here right away to take care of the little problem you three have. She also said that you're going to have to be in a separate room while they're here, though, Sango.”

 

“Why is that?” Sango asked, a little disappointed she would be missing out on meeting the ruler of Spirit World.

 

“Well, I would think that it has to do with that sword of yours,” suggested Kurama. “Technically, the type of time traveling done by that sword is illegal, and if Koenma saw you were here with it, there might be serious legal complications.”

 

“Don't worry, I'll keep you company,” Kagome said reassuringly, and then more quietly. “Don't worry, that Koenma guy is a loudmouth, anyway. Come on, I'll show you my room.”

 

Despite this, Sango was still a little reluctant in following Kagome up to her room. The reluctance was immediately gone, however, when Kagome began to show her all sorts of things that she had never seen before, from a digital clock-radio to a simple electric fan. Once they had gone through everything in the room, Sango began to ask about the things that could be seen from Kagome's window. Kagome was just explaining how people used elevators instead of stairs to get the top of large buildings when there was a knock on the door.

 

“They've left now, you can come out if you wish,” came Kurama's voice from the other side of the door.

 

“Oh well, we can finish this later, I guess,” Kagome said with a smile as she made to leave the room. “I'm going to say goodbye to everyone real quick and head back to the Feudal Era. We've got a lead on a new shard, but we don't know if it will be good in a couple of days.”

 

Sango nodded and followed Kagome out the door, where Kurama was waiting. Kagome said a quick goodbye to Kurama before hustling down the stairs, leaving Sango and Kurama behind.

 

“Well, I guess this is goodbye, then,” began Sango. “Of course, we'll probably meet again, now that I have Masaruten.”

 

“Yes, I imagine we will,” Kurama agreed, smiling warmly. “But before we part ways, I would just like to thank you for all you've done. If it was not for you, Hiei, Kuwabara and I may have been stranded in the past forever. If there is any way I could ever repay that debt, I would be honored to do so.”

 

“Oh…don't worry about it…” replied Sango, a little embarrassed by such a large compliment. “Well, actually, there a re a couple things you could do. First, tell Yusuke and Kuwabara goodbye for me, and second…”

 

“He's in the backyard,” answered Kurama to the unasked question.

 

“Um…thanks…” responded Sango, flushing slightly as she walked past Kurama and down the stairs.

 

Indeed, just as Kurama had said, Hiei was in the backyard, testing his regained spirit energy. The air around him glowed with his power, and the plants in the garden swayed back and forth from the wind that was being generated. For a moment, Sango just gazed at him, biting the bottom of her lip with slight uncertainty. However, in a moment, she had recomposed herself, and was walking towards the fire demon.

 

“All back to normal?” she asked as Hiei noticed her presence and powered down.

 

“Surprisingly,” he said rather flatly. “I had my doubts about whether that fool Koenma could do it.”

 

“You'd say that no matter who was doing it,” teased Sango. “I guess they brought you a change of cloths, huh? Too bad, you looked kind of nice in that uniform.”

 

“Hn, it was irritating,” snorted Hiei, who was indeed back in his typical black outfit. “It kept scratching my neck.”

 

Sango let out a small giggle at that last comment, earning herself a patented “Hiei death glare” in return. After a moment of awkward silence, Sango walked several paces further into the courtyard and unsheathed Masaruten.

 

“Well, I guess I should be going. I guess this is goodbye for good, this time,” she said, before turning back towards Hiei and looking at him with poorly hidden hope. “Unless…I can come back and visit?”

 

For a moment, there was a pause, dead silence as Sango waited anxiously for Hiei's answer. It was amazing how, after everything that happened before, it all had come down to this one moment. All down to this one answer.

 

“Hn,” Hiei scoffed, and for a moment Sango's heart sunk, but then Hiei continued. “Perhaps…”

 

Sango beamed at the little fire demon, and with that began to wield Masaruten. The kanji for “Five Hundred Years” revealed themselves in a glowing red as her fingers moved up the blade, and a moment later, Masaruten had slashed a hole in the very fabric of time, waiting for her to step through.

 

Then, sheathing the blade at her hip, Sango decided to do something very impulsive. Turning quickly around she walked up to Hiei and leaned down towards his face. Before the fire demon could even react, she had planted a soft kiss upon his cheek. Flashing him a smile, she hurried off towards the portal.

 

“I'll see you soon!” she called behind her, and then made to step through the portal.

 

“Wait.”

 

As soon as she heard Hiei's voice, she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. To her great surprise, Hiei was not where he had been standing a moment earlier. Instead, he was mere inches way from her. This time, it was her who had no chance to react to what followed. However, what Hiei was doing was in no way like what she had done. She felt movement on her hip, and suddenly Hiei's left hand shot out and slammed into her stomach, sending her flying backwards into the portal. So great was her shock that she was totally unable to speak or even cry out. All she could do was stare up at Hiei as the portal closed in front of her eyes, his crimson eyes staring coldly back at her, and Masaruten, the Sword of Time, clutched in his right hand.

 

She barely noticed as she hit the ground on the other side, too stunned to move. A moment later, the shock wore off, and was replaced in full by overwhelming dejection.

 

`Why did he do that? He said that I could come back, I swear he did,' she thought as tears flowed from her eyes uncontrollably. `Why? Why would he do this to me? I thought that he…that he had really…'

 

“Sango!” interrupted Kagome's voice, causing Sango to sit up as her friend came rushing to her side. “What happened? Are you okay?”

 

“It was H-Hiei…he…he took the sword and he…he shoved me through the portal,” Sango managed to choke out. “I don't understand…why would he do that? What did I do? What did I do, Kagome?”

 

Sango turned towards Kagome pleadingly, but was greeted by a stern look from her friend. It was not an unsympathetic look, but it was definitely a look that said “get a grip on yourself!” After a few more moments of sobbing, Sango managed to calm herself down, and then Kagome intervened.

 

“Listen to yourself! Look at what this guy has done to you!” Kagome demanded. “You haven't done anything wrong, Sango! It's not you, it's him! He's the one who shoved you away!”

 

“But…” began Sango, only to be abruptly cut off.

 

“No! Just listen!” Kagome snapped, before taking a deep breath and bringing her voice back to its normal level. “Listen, Sango, I've seen guys like this before. I don't know what it is, but for some reason, when anyone tries to get close, they push them away, and everyone gets hurt.”

 

Sango's gaze turned down to the ground, and she couldn't help but think that Kagome might be right. After all, Hiei had quite literarily pushed her away from him just a minute ago.

 

“People like that, they have a problem, and it's a problem they can only overcome on their own,” continued Kagome, taking a seat next to her friend. “No matter what you do, they're the ones that have to accept you in the end, you can't make them. If they don't then you've just got to pick yourself up, and move on.”

 

“I guess…I guess you're right…” agreed Sango with slight reluctance. “It's not like I have a choice.”

 

“Well, lesson learned,” Kagome said with a smile. “Of course, if you ask me, that was a case of the grass being greener on the other side, anyway, no offense.”

 

Sango gave Kagome a puzzled look as both girls stood up. She'd never heard that expression before.

 

“Oh, right. Well, you see there's this story about this goat…or maybe it was a cow…” began Kagome after noticing Sango's confused look. “Anyway, the point of it is that the goat…cow was so distracted by this new grass that it forgot about the perfect grass that it already had.”

 

Sango was still a little confused. Where did the “other side” part come from? Was the goat, or cow, on one side of a wall or a river of some kind? She was still pondering this when her thoughts were again interrupted.

 

“Kagome! Sango! Are you there?” called out Miroku's voice. “If you can hear me, we're ready to leave as soon as you're ready!”

 

Suddenly, the meaning of what Kagome had said clicked. Wiping away the last tears from her eyes, she turned to the beaming schoolgirl and shot her a slightly skeptical look.

 

“Do you really think so?” she asked.

 

“That's right,” replied Kagome, still smiling. “But hey, you won't know until you try, right?”

 

Sango slowly nodded and gave her friend a weak smile. Whether Kagome was right or wrong, she realized there was nothing she could do about it. In the end, you just have to pick yourself up and move on, no matter how many times get knocked down, and that was precisely what Sango intended to do.

 

000000000000000000000000000000000000

 

Kurama could not believe what he had just seen. Beyond what seemed like all bounds of sanity, Hiei had essentially just banished Sango to the Feudal Era, with no way of return. When the fox demon had decided to watch the whole thing unfurl, he had at first decided that he would not let either party know that he was there. Now, that was completely out the window. He was not going to let Hiei get out of this unscathed.

 

“What on earth did you just do?” he snapped as he stalked angrily towards the fire demon. “Hadn't you just said that you wanted her to come back?”

 

“Hn, I said `perhaps', fox. That leaves room for `no',” retorted Hiei curtly, as he removed Masaruten from its sheath.

 

“But why did you do it? Didn't you listen to anything I said last night?” continued Kurama , unwilling to let Hiei off the hook. “Why couldn't you just accept her? We know that it was what you both wanted!”

 

“No, it was what she wanted. Not I,” Hiei replied coldly.

 

“Liar! I saw the whole thing,” Kurama returned. “I saw how you looked after she kissed you. You were even blushing, for pity's sake!”

 

“If you are implying that I hesitated, than you are mistaken, fox,” hissed Hiei, his eyes now ablaze as he met Kurama's glare with his own.

 

“I'm not implying it, I'm saying it directly: you hesitated,” spat back Kurama with frustration. “What I can't understand is why you decided to do such an idiotic thing in the first place.”

 

Hiei glared at Kurama for a second longer before turning away from the fox demon, hiding his face from view. Still clutching the unsheathed Masaruten, he finally spoke.

 

“All right, fox, let's pretend that we're in your foolish little word for a moment, and that I actually had any sort of attachment whatsoever to that woman,” he said with deliberate venom. “It would be an impossible idea, anyway. You know as well as I do that time travel of that kind is dangerous. Do you honestly suppose that a demon from one time being with a human from another time would be a feasible thing?”

 

“You're making excuses.”

 

“Am I, fox? Well then, let's just ignore the safety of time for a second, if you think that an excuse, and turn back to the original point: I was born to be alone. My life is my own, and no one else's, including that woman's.”

 

“Turn around and say that to my face.”

 

Silence followed. Hiei did not turn around. Kurama knew that the request he had made was an impossible one, and Hiei seemed to know it to. Hiei, for some reason, was in denial. Someone had tried to get close to him, and he'd shoved them away. He hadn't even wanted to do it, but he had. Was it instinct? Was it something that was burned into his being, or was it something that could be changed? Right now, Kurama did not know that answer, but he did know one thing: Sango was not the only one who had been wounded here. In fact, she might have gotten off easier.

 

“You still have the sword,” said Kurama, his voice much more gentle then before. “We can still fix this, Hiei. It's okay…”

 

“Yes…the sword…” Hiei said slowly, dropping the sheath and shifting Masaruten to his left hand, raising it in the air.

 

Suddenly, his right hand formed into a fist and gathered his energy. Before Kurama could stop him, his fist had collided with Masaruten with terrible force, and the blade shattered from the blow. The silvery pieces of the sword fell like raindrops upon the temple floor, making small plinking sounds as they hit the ground. Kurama could do nothing but stare, horrified at what he had just witnessed, as Hiei let the weapon's now useless hilt slip from his hand and hit the temple floor with a clang.

 

“Hiei…” spoke Kurama pleadingly, his eyes looking sadly at the back of his friend. “Hiei, look at me.”

 

Hiei did not respond.

 

“Why are you doing this to yourself? Are you trying to punish yourself for something?” Kurama asked with desperation. “Hiei, answer me.”

 

Again, there was no response.

 

“I don't know why you do this to yourself, Hiei, but you have to stop. You'll end up hurting yourself if you keep everyone so distant,” Kurama said. “I've tried to help, but obviously I can't. I hope you learn from what happened here today, and I can only pray that you will find someone who will help you destroy this wall that you've created between yourself and the rest of the world.”

 

With that, Kurama turned and walked away, leaving Hiei all alone, staring at the pieces of Masaruten. For several moments, he just stood there, staring at the sparkling fragments. Finally, Hiei too turned his back and walked away. All that remained was the sword, a blade that could have unlocked the future, lying shattered on the ground.