Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Captured by a Rose ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas! Sorry this update took so long. I had my final exams for this quarter. Those things can keep you busy. If you can, please read the Chapter 8 revision I posted. Chapter 9 is a continuation of that revision. Please let me know what you think of this chapter.

The weather that day was lovely, neither too hot nor too cold. Kurama, his mother and I decided a visit to one of Nakayama's most exquisite botanical gardens.

It was a nice place to relax. The garden was located on the outskirts of town. It was near the dense, old growth forest where I first met Kurama, Hiei and Gouki that rainy night.

"I think I'll rest," sighed Ms. Minamono, as she stopped outside the garden's entrance. She sat down on a decorative wooden bench, sheltered from the sun by an overgrowing tree.

"Okay, Mother, rest well. I'll take Yusuke-kun around for a tour of the garden," replied Kurama quietly, taking my hand. "We'll be back in an hour."

"All right, Shuichi-kun, wake me up when you return" she mumbled sleepily, nodding off to sleep, exhausted from the long walk to the garden from the hospital.

A tall, wooden fence, draped by a blanket of thick and lush enclosed the garden, keeping it separate it from the outside world. Kurama and I passed under an arched gate, covered by climbing rose vines. His face glowed with joy as he as strolled along the main, hedge-lined path. I trailed in after him.

"When I think about heaven, I imagine it as a lovely garden like this, Yusuke-kun" he sang out gaily.

Deep in the garden all sorts of roses grew in abundance. Rose trees stood two to three feet in height lined different pathways in an array of red, pink and peach. Down below there are a bunch of small roses covering the lawn, yellow and white.

The combined scent of all those roses permeated the air like a foggy mist, giving it the aroma of a sweet perfume.

"It smells heavenly, doesn't it?" commented Kurama. He breathed iy the fragrant scent of roses. I saw that it relaxed him, calming his spirits.

"It does," I agreed in delight. Today was the first afternoon I could finally rest during my first assignment as a Spirit Detective.

A week ago Koenma showed up saying, "Yusuke, here's first job, track down three criminals on the spirit world's most wanted list, named Hiei, Gouki and Kurama. Recover the three spirit world artifacts they've stolen."

"That's all there is to it?" I asked.

Koenma nodded. "Yes, Yusuke. Complete this assignment and you'll be well rewarded."

After that I trekked through the forest in search of Kurama, Hiei and Gouki that rainy night. Until I reached that column of light, I thought of this as a simple mission, nothing more. Then I laid eyes on Kurama and all that changed.

"Thinking about something, Yusuke-kun?" Kurama asked, as he lay down on a comfortable patch of soft grass.

I sat down on the grass besides him. "Yeah, about when I first met you, Kurama-kun."

The redhead rolled over onto his side, facing me. He smiled happily. "You fell in love with me."

I blushed. "I know but there's just one thing, Kurama."

The kitsune blinked. "What's that?"

"You're…guy," I sighed. "I mean, if you were a girl like Keiko-chan…"

Kurama's joy turned into concern. "I knew this would come up, sooner or later, Yusuke-kun. Among youkai, gender doesn't matter as much as it does in humans. Even though I am living this life as a human, I still do not understand," Kurama observed regretfully.

Suddenly, Kurama grabbed me, pulled me close and whispered, "Listen Yusuke! We've been through a lot together. I saved your life back in the forest from Gouki. You saved mine by stopping me from sacrificing myself to the Forlorn Hope." Let me ask you this, why did you stop me, Yusuke-kun?" His eyes locked on me, desperately seeking an answer, demanding one.

"I told you before!" I shouted at him.

"Say it again!" demanded Kurama. He leaned over me. Anger flashed wildly in his eyes.

My body stiffened, freezing against the ground. I never saw Kurama this demanding, this insistent.

"Love…" I uttered meekly under my breath. "That's why I stopped you."

He lowered himself onto me, the weight of his body pressing against mine. "Say it…louder, so I can hear you!" Kurama insisted.

I titled my head up slightly. His breath hit my face, an inch from his. "LOVE!" I yelled, so that my voice echoed around the garden, over and over again until it faded out.

Kurama slid his finger under my chin, tilting it up, so our lips nearly met. "Do you, really?" he said, teasing me, pushing me to my limit.

"I do!" Without thinking, I pushed the redhead off me and flipped him over. Straddling him, I bent over, and shut him up with a kiss. A kiss of want, anger and need, because I did need him.

We broke only when we needed air. I rolled off him, panting. I could hear Kurama doing the same thing beside me.

"Now tell me, that wasn't fun, Yusuke-kun?" Kurama smirked, lusty and full of mischief.

"Fun!?" I muttered, frowning. I pulled at his shirt. "You're a damn guy, Minamono! Tell Keiko-chan or Kuwabara-kun bout this and your dead!"

Kurama laughed heartily. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me…" He winked. "In time, you'll come to accept our new relationship, Yusuke-kun," he reassured me lovingly.

After that intense time, Kurama and I both needed downtime away from each other. I retreated to one corner of the garden. I relaxed by the side of a pond. I watched the lazy carp swim about in the pond before I closed my eyes. I could feel the carp in the pond and decided I might as well practice some of those skills that Botan had suggested. I picked a carp and kept tabs on him as he moved about.

Not far away, Kurama rested under a tree. He reclined against its long, smooth trunk. He took out his diary. He wrote:

"Dear Diary,"

"Most of my entries are depressing. But today's entry will be joyful. Mother is doing well. She is healthy and happy. It's all thanks to Yusuke-kun. Yesterday evening, I thought only of her life. I would have given anything to save her, including my life. That's how much I love her. I probably would of done it. But Yusuke-kun stopped me. He was willing to die in place of me, so Mother might live. The Forlorn Hope said his actions were valiant. I'd say that his actions are a testament to the love he feels for me deep, down inside."

"When I write about love, I think of an old saying. It goes like this. Love is like a butterfly. It lands on your shoulder you least except it."

Kurama stopped writing. He looked up out of the corner of his eye at my shoulder. "How interesting, Yusuke-kun. What a coincidence."

I opened one eye. On my left shoulder an orange wing flashed. A monarch butterfly alighted on me. "How pretty," I whispered. "I wonder why its there, Kurama-kun."

Kurama put his dairy away. He crept over quietly. He knelt next to me. He fixated his gaze on the flash of orange insect wings. "It likes you."

"Yusuke-kun! Shuichi-kun! Where are you?" called out a soft, female voice suddenly. It was Ms. Minamono.

"Ooops. I forgot to wake Mother up," recalled Kurama. "It seems an hour has passed. Shall we be going, Yusuke-kun?"

I nodded. "Yeah. By the way, I had a good time today. It's a nice break from the action."

The kitsune's lips curled up into a sweet smile. "I'm glad."

I smiled back. Then Kurama and I stood up. We held hands, walking over to his mother. As we did that, the monarch left me. It beat its vibrantly colored wings, flying higher and higher above me. It flew up until its form became a small, orange dot. It vanished against the dark blue of the late, afternoon sky.

To be continued…