Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Captured by a Rose ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 12

Author's Note: I think this chapter is my most dramatic, lots of angst and drama. My own person feelings of loosing a best friend after 15 years went into this, so I guess it makes it dramatic.

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I slept. My consciousness rose from my body like an angel that ascended to the Heavens, separating from deadweight garment of flesh that contained it. I floated in a body of pure light, my spirit body. I used this body when I dreaming, free from the shackles of time and space. Where I desired to travel to I arrived instantly in a single thought moment.

I found myself in Koenma's reception room in the Spirit World. "Yusuke! Ya scared me!"

I greeted him. "Hey, Enma!"

He hopped on his desk. "Me, Enma??"

A hand intruded, pinching my ass and nearly something else too. . "Call him Koenma!"

I whirled around briskly, facing Botan. "You naughty girl! I know what you're thinking! Obviously, you never do more than date, eh?" I joked with her.

Botan's blushed, her cheeks a deep red. "I didn't mean to…"

"Hey! Down to business," Koenma snapped. He sighed, his voice laden with worry. "We have two my days before King Enma, my father returns from vacation. It's imperative that you gather the final artifact, Yusuke."

"The sword of darkness, Hiei has it," I added.

Botan stepped forward, her mind riveted in Koema's words. "When I tracked down Hiei, I sensed his spirit energy near the forest. It emanated from a small structure in an old Shinto shrine nestled by the woods edge."

"It must be the same shrine where Kurama and I are stranded right now!" I cried out in realization. "The lock was cut when we came. That means Hiei was there! When did you last see him, Botan!?"

"A few hours ago, before you and Kurama arrived," she answered.

I sprang out of my seat. "I bet he's still around there! Let's find him!"

Botan nodded, determined as I was.

We visualized the forest encompassing the shrine. Our thoughts whisked us there in a split second of time. Our crucial search began.

* * *

A sodden rustle snapped Kurama out of a sound, deep sleep. The rain, it stopped. The shrine, saturated, awash in moisture felt chilly like hands just grazed by ice. He shivered, rising to his feet. He propped me against the wall, my body still asleep. I sank against Ms. Minamono who slept peacefully.

My conscious contained in my spirit body, hovered about outside, unaware of my sleeping body. Hiei! Where was he!? My answer waited below!

"A youkai's spirit energy. Fiery, I sense it, Hiei!" The kitsune's senses raced. His pulse quickened. His heart pounded.

His slipped his long, tapered fingers between the jarred doors. He pushed. The old, damp, door groaned open. He slid through. Outside, all was quiet. Then a seething gaze struck him. He froze, stiff as a statue under its glare, its eyes red and fever bright.

In the shadows of the night, the eyes loomed closer. Under the pale moonlight, their fervent fire softened to a glimmer of clear rubies. His jagged, jet-black hair swayed softly in the wind. The wind played about his cloak, lifting its dark edges on the tiny, muscled frame of his body.

"Hiei, dark and brooding like always." Kurama's voice drifted over.

"Kurama, still calm, even if hell froze over." Hiei's deep voice flowed back.

In my spirit body I alighted on the roof, overhearing them under the shrine's curved eaves.

"What do you want?" said Kurama mildly.

Hiei's lips quivered, he spoke in a hushed murmur. "The artifacts. Bring them to me."

"No," countered Kurama, his reply quiet.

"Fine. You stand in my way now. I'll kill you, traitor." Hiei brushed a hand silently over the hilt of his sword.

In response Kurama brandished his rose whip.

"Botan!" I called out loudly to her. "They're going to fight! Safeguard the artifacts and keep Ms. Minamono inside, okay!?"

She dropped down in her flight. "Alright! Get back to your body, Yusuke! I'll have to materialize. There's not much we can do in our spirit forms."

My thoughts raced to waking up in my body. My conscious gathered, catapulting me back to the material plane in a jarring, agonizing crash! I moaned in pain. My head throbbed, struck by the oscillation of waves.

I returned to my body, crouched on the floor, rubbing my head gingerly. "What the hell, Botan!" I groaned, waking up.

In her material body, she craned over, helping me to my feet. "Next time, do it more slowly, okay?"

"Uh huh." I reached for the artifacts, the Orb of Baast and the Forlorn Hope, shoving them at Botan. "Guard those with your life!"

I raced outside like a bat out of hell. A sword whistled past my head nearly taking it with it. A whip crackled harshly. It shrieked it flying into the steel. The sword flashed, its steel silver bright! The vivid jade whip drove it back!

Its gleam retreated into the curtains of darkness, along with its owner who brandished it. The fire youkai's eyes flared, now searing rubies.

"You fight me so fiercely! Why!?" demanded Hiei over the gleam of his blade.

"It's not you, but your ways I detest," said Kurama, his expression plaintive and overwhelming.

It pierced Hiei's conscience. Hiei froze, dropping his sword. Its cold steel pounded on the shrine's weathered steps. It echoed shattered the night's silence, its cry ruminative like the temple of Hiei's heart. "What do you…mean, Kurama?" he posed.

"I know you, Hiei. You seek power. That's why you want the artifacts. Let's say you have them. Through harnessing them, you conquer the world. Then what? Will you be happy after all that has passed, my friend?" Kurama queried. He scrutinized Hiei intensely.

On the porch I leaned a post that supported the temple's overhang, curious to learn about Hiei. Botan tiptoed behind me, leaving the artifacts inside.

Hiei hissed, "Don't call me friend! Besides, I was never happy, nor will I ever be, so it doesn't matter." He reached under his cloak. He held the last artifact, the sword of darkness.

"Hiei." Kurama edged closer to the short youkai, eying him quizzically.

"Is Hiei giving up the artifact or is he going to attack!?" Botan commented in a whisper near my ear. Botan fixed her eyes on the fire youkai.

"He doesn't seem he will. Let's watch closely," I replied, watching Hiei intently.

The fire youkai's violent gaze subsided. "The artifact won't make me happy." He released it. It hit the ground with a thud. He raised his other hand, opening his palm. The wind blew through his fingers. He closed them, his face pensive, as if the wind stole something. "My life has lost all meaning, now that Kurama has betrayed me."

"What do you mean, Hiei? Explain yourself," I sympathized.

Both Hiei and Kurama's eyes turned to me at the top of the shrine's weathered, lichen stairs.

Hiei titled his head up. He struck me with his cold glare. "Yusuke, before I met Kurama, I was a killer. The Koorhime called me Bringer of the Blood. As the Forbidden Child born to them, I was a violent creature. I loved to see the ripped fleshed just before the blood gushed out, to listen and enjoy the screams of pain. So they threw me out. Blood was always my path. I lived a solitary life. Eventually, after years of life and killing, I tired of the isolation and people rejecting me. Then I met Kurama. My life changed. He became my first and only friend. But now that he's turned his back on me, my life feels empty and dead like the void of outer space," he finished, his voice choked with bitterness. Nothing holds any meaning, that's why he surrendered the artifact.

Silence. Then a slight patter, the falling of rain again, a rueful rain this time. It rained in teardrops. A shower of sadness came weeping across the sky. It felt as if the kami of rain wept upon the heartrending tale of Hiei's plight.

Botan's sky blue eyes widened. They rimmed with tears. Kurama bit his lips, choking off a cry. I clamped my jaws together to keep from crying out.

The kitsune crept forward. He blinked to fight back his tears. "I didn't mean to---"

Hiei cut him off, slapping him hard across the face. Kurama winced, sinking to his knees in defeat. With the aura of a phantom Hiei vanished. Gone into the tear filled rain.

"Kurama-kun!" I leapt down the stairs. I grabbed him from behind, embracing him. "Are you okay!? I'm so sorry, so sorry…" I'll give anything, even my soul to heal him. My poor Kurama, my love…

To be continued…