Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Battle Lord Chronicles: Of Truths and Lies ❯ Oh Shit ( Chapter 21 )

A/N: There are a few things that I'd like to go into before I start this chapter. The main part of the story--and the part where the action and fighting is--is coming up soon, so I want to clear a few things up with the main characters. First of all, Kristy, Jessie, and Chris are all 3rd year high school students. This is equivalent to 11th grade in America. Kristy is 17 years old now, Jessica is 16, and Chris is 17 (this is because Kristy's birthday is in October and Chris's is in January, while Jessie's is in May--remember, when the story started it was in the beginning of the school year--which is about August--and they were all 16). The Spirit Detectives are similar ages and are in the same grade/year. Also, Jason is 21 now. Currently, it's February/March in the story. (In case you're wondering, I'm telling you this to give everyone a better feel for exactly where the story and there characters are now.)

 

Also, I think I should explain a bit more about the characters basic heritages, to remind you and in case you didn't pick it up in the story. Chris was born in the Makai, as were his parents. For reasons currently unknown, Chris's father fled from his clan to the Ningenkai with Chris when Chris was just a baby/toddler. Chris's mother is dead, though the exact circumstances of her death are also currently unknown. Chris is a full-blooded ice youkai.

 

Jessica is half angel and half human. She was adopted when she was a baby and has absolutely no idea who her parents are. Her adoptive parents are human and have no idea as to what she is or that angels and demons even exist. She stumbled upon her heritage/abilities/other form one day by accident. Somehow (Kristy currently doesn't know the exact details) she found out about what Chris was and he found out about her. They both thought that Kristy and her brother were completely human until the day when Rhurac attacked them (chapter 10).

 

Kristy and Jason are both full-blooded youkai. Kristy is 1/4 psychic youkai, 1/4 fire youkai, 1/4 darkness youkai, and 1/4 wolf youkai. She only has abilities corresponding to each part of her heritage, though her wolf blood only really manifests in her appearance (and it heightens all of her senses, even when she's in her ningen form). Jason is 1/2 wind youkai and 1/2 psychic youkai. We have yet to see his youkai form or any of his abilities. Kristy and Jason's father was Rei. He was 1/2 fire youkai and 1/2 darkness youkai. Their mother was Shantel. She was 1/2 wind youkai and 1/2 psychic youkai.

 

Finally, you have probably noticed that Kristy, Jessica, Chris, Jason, and Shantel's names are American rather than Japanese. This isn't just a goof on my part, there is an actually reason for it. It'll probably revealed/explained in a few chapters.

 

Phew! That's a lot! I hope it explained/cleared up some things though. Read and review please! Ja ne!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any related names or items. Kiara is owned by Yusuke'sSister.

 

(1) - I originally got the idea for this from Icy Phoenix's story "What Happened to my Life" (which, by the way, is an awesome story that you should check out (on FF.net)). Of course, I have changed the idea around a lot to fit this story better, but it still was inspired by her, so thanks to her!

 

(2) - I've found proof of this in the cannon! In chapter 44 (volume 5, page 193 if you want to be exact) of the YYH manga, a character (youkai) comments that "...we're tied to our human identities." And those same characters can switch back between human and youkai forms! So the whole "having both a ningen and a youkai form" thing isn't just some idea that I came up with (although it was originally), but is actually correct and possible in the YYH world. Yay!

 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Telepathy'

 

Thanks to my beta reader, Kyogue!

 

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Of Truth & Lies

 

Chapter 21

Oh Shit

 

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"Well," Mr. Rawl replies slowly. "We were going to work on your telepathy, but, honestly, I don't think that there's really anything that I, or anyone, can teach you. Your abilities are far different from any psychic I've every met, and you're only one fourth psychic youkai! I'll look into that with some contacts of mine anyway, and see what I can find out about this situation. For now then, I guess we'll just move onto the next subject that I was going to teach you. It's called astro-projection(1)."

 

"Astro-what?"

 

Mr. Rawl sweatdrops. "Astro-projection," he repeats. "It's the 'art', if you will, of projecting your soul from your body. This makes your body appear to be dead in every way. Also, if your soul is away from your body for to long, your body will actually die, so the technique is really dangerous."

 

"...Then what's the upside to the technique?" I ask. "It doesn't seem to really do much."

 

"Well," Mr. Rawl sighs. "There may not be too many uses for it, but it can still be a pretty good trick as an ace up your sleeve. Its main use is to "high-jack", if you will, another person's mind and take over their body."

 

My eyes widen at that; it actually seems pretty cool! "Alright!" I say, grinning insanely. "How do I start?"

 

"Well," Mr. Rawl begins, a contemplative look on his face. "Usually it requires intense mediation for a few weeks in order to even be able to grasp the technique, but you'll probably be a special case." He suddenly looks at me, obviously having come to a decision. "Here's how it'll go," he says, shifting slightly on the floor. "I'll instruct you on what to do as we go. You'll be within your own mind though, so I'll have to keep in contact with you telepathically while you progress."

 

I nod in reply, eager to begin learning this new technique. 'No problem,' I reply telepathically. 'It doesn't take too much concentration; Jay hasmade sure of that.' I roll my eyes at the last part, remembering how one of Jason's training exercises had been for me to be sparring with Jason while reading Jessica's thoughts.

 

'Good,' Mr. Rawl says. 'Now, first, close your eyes.' I comply, still incredibly excited. 'Next, I want you to do what you did with me to enter my mind, but do it with yourself. Enter the "halls" of your mind.'

 

I nod absentmindedly, focusing on my own youkai core. Unlike when enter others' minds, I find that entering my own is easier. I suppose it might be because I don't have to send a portion of myself out and into them, but instead just concentrate on pulling myself into...myself. It certainly sounds strange, now that I really think about it, but it's how it works.

 

Whatever the reason, I soon find myself within my own mind. Opening my eyes to see my, surrounding I am immediately taken aback. I have been in many different minds--both human and otherwise--but one thing that they've always had in common is that the halls are made of solid walls. This doesn't seem to be the case with myself. The walls seem to be made of shadows. Yes, shadows. They are pitch black with purple mixed in are constantly swirling around. The only place that they seem to part is around the doors. However, when I do rest my hand against the shadowy walls, I find that they are firm and solid to the touch, yet strangely smooth.

 

'Weird,' I think. I can only guess that the shadow walls and the purple coloring mixed into them represent my shadow youkai and psychic youkai blood. Stepping away from the wall, I find myself surprised again when the ground under my feet rustles. Glancing down, I see that I am standing on grass. At once I realize that it must be the representation of my ookami youkai blood. But then what about my fire youkai blood? 'The temperature,' I quickly reason. 'It must be the temperature.' Indeed the temperature was stifling hot, though I could barely feel it, being mostly impervious to heat.

 

'Kristy-chan?' a voice suddenly comes, nearly making me jump before I realized that it is only Mr. Rawl. 'Are you in?'

 

'Yep! I had no problem.'

 

'Good.Now what I need you to do is get to that "subconscious room" that you told me about.'

 

I begin to nod before I remember that Mr. Rawl can't see me. 'Sure,' I quickly reply. 'I'll let you know as soon as I'm there.'

 

I continue down the hall then at a brisk pace, knowing that I had wasted enough time admiring my mind. My halls were comparatively short compared to Mr. Rawls, but then he had lived hundred of years more than me, so it wasn't really all that surprising. None the less, it was only a good thing in this case, since I soon found myself at the end of the hall in front of the door to my Youkai Room. This door, while larger than the rest, still looks basically the same as the memory ones. It does seem to be a slightly darker shade of black, but I suppose that that is just because of the door's importance. Shrugging off my pointless observations, I reach out to the handle and yank the door open before stepping inside.

 

Like in all other youkai minds, I find myself standing before the floating objects that represent abilities. The first four that really stand out are obviously symbols for my blood: a floating flame for fire, the purple eye for psychic, a howling wolf's head for my ookami blood, and, strangely enough, a shapeless black blob for shadows. The blob was constantly shifting around and seemed to be made of the same stuff as the walls, though it was pure black. Next to these for were a katana, a shoe, a human face, and a...red moon? I have no idea about the last one, but I can figure out the meanings for the others.

 

The katana stands for my proficiency with said blade. I am far from being an expert in the art, but Jason's harsh training regimen over the past few months has definitely brought me to the level of proficient. I can't help but snort as I think back to my first few days with wielding the weapon and how crude I can now tell that my control over it was. Ah well, I guess that just shows how much I've progressed.

 

The shoe more than likely stands for my speed. While I certainly am not exceptionally fast, my style focuses on speed and agility more than attack, defense, or power.

 

The human face is for my ability to switch back in forth between ningen and youkai forms. I am tied to my human identity(2), so it makes sense that a representation for said form and ability would be here. I also know that Jason, Chris, and Jessica all have this symbol as well, so that backs up my theory.

 

The last one, the blood red moon, completely confuses me. Usually I am pretty good at figuring out these symbols since they tend to be fairly straight forward. This one, however, has me completely stumped. I have no abilities that in any way relate to a moon, especially a red one. I also have no idea what else it could stand for.

 

Glaring uneasily at the floating moon I make my way across the room. As I reach the door to my Subconscious Room I push my thoughts about this strange phenomenon into the back of my mind so that I can look it over later when I actually have time to do so.

 

My Subconscious Room is just like the rest of mind in that it has the strange shadow walls. The room is also large and completely empty, just like all Subconscious Rooms.

 

'Alright, Mr. Rawl,' I say. 'I'm in the Subconscious Room.'

 

'Good, that was fast,' he sends back. 'What I need you to do next is look around the room. Can you see anything out of the ordinary? Anything at all?'

 

'Hmm...It's completely empty. I can't see anythi- Wait! There's a small door on the other side of the room!' I suddenly say, noticing something. 'It's really difficult to see 'cause it blends in so well, but it's there.'

 

'That should be it then!'

 

'Eh? You know what it is?'

 

Even with my eyes closed, I can somehow tell that Mr. Rawl is nodding. 'Yes,' he answers. 'It should be the door to your true subconscious.'

 

'...I think you've lost me...Aren't I already in my subconscious?'

 

'You are, but it's not where your subconscious actually is.'

 

'...'

 

Mr. Rawl sighs. 'Just go through the door and you'll see what I mean.'

 

Grumbling under my breath I comply, crossing the large room towards the small door exactly opposite the one I had come in through. The trek is relatively long, but that's more so probably due to my impatience. None the less, I'm soon standing before the small door.

 

'It seems...darker...than all of the other doors,' I think to myself quietly. 'It's as if it's sucking in all the light that comes near it.'

 

Hesitantly, I reach out towards the door and touch the handle. Despite my apprehension though, nothing happens. The handle feels just like the ones all the others doors in my mind. Taking in a deep breath I quickly yank the door open and am promptly blinded by bright flash of white. When I am finally able to blink away the black spots swimming in my vision, I am shocked by what I see.

 

I am back outside of my mind, but almost seem to be just floating in the air and have no real tangible body to speak of. Lying beneath me, collapsed on the floor, is my body. And it's not breathing.

 

'Oh shit!'