Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Demon Within ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

The crack could be heard through the thick door of the hut. Yusuke ignored Genki's warnings and threw back the heavy bolt, nearly ripping the door of the hinges in his urgency to open it. The strip of sunlight stretched across the bare floor and showed Kurama just getting to his feet.

"Kurama?" Yusuke asked as he cautiously stepped inside the hut, straining his eyes to search the shadows. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm myself again, if that's what you're asking," Kurama answered without turning. With a flick of his wrist, the whip quickly reverted back into a harmless rose.

"What happened?"

Kurama slowly turned his profile to his friend, still unable to look him in the eye. "This meditation hut is a place for enlightenment," he said, almost as if to himself. "It serves its purpose well."

"What, you've been enlightened?" Yusuke leaned against the doorway and sighed in a mixture of relief for Kurama's safety and frustration for the way he seemed so distant.

"Guilt is a dangerous thing, Yusuke,” he said, returning the rose to its hiding place beneath his hair. “Although it’s mainly a human emotion, it is even capable of corrupting a demon’s soul. I realized that what I thought I saw in here was not real. I was not fighting against Yoko Kurama, I was fighting my own mind. This hut seems to separate the psychological from physical and intensifies its extremes.”

“I have no idea what you just said,” Yusuke admitted, “but as long as you’re you. . .that’s all that counts. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Yusuke,” Kurama called. “Wait. About what I said before.”

“Hey, no problem.” Yusuke gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. “You were probably only saying what you thought you had to. Right?”

“I really do love Keiko.” Kurama walked over to stand before Yusuke. “And if you think you have to hit me for saying it, then let’s get it over with. I don’t want any bad feelings to linger between us.”

Yusuke balled his hands into tight fists.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked. Kurama nodded.

One fist drew back and flew forward with incredible speed . . . stopping just millimeters away from Kurama’s nose. The red-haired boy’s eyes were questioning, but he didn’t flinch.

“That’s all you get for just words,” Yusuke warned. “And I understand that attack wasn’t really anything you could’ve stopped. But if I ever find out you hurt her on purpose . . .” he jabbed Kurama in the chest, “. . . you’re going to find a hole the size of my spirit gun right through here!”

Kurama smiled. “I’d rather we all just forget about my confession. Keiko doesn’t know, and I’d like to keep it that way. I care about her too much to expose her to my . . . past life.”

“Hunh!” Yusuke snorted with complete confidence. “As if you’d have a chance with her anyway when she’s got me.”

“Well, I suggest you work a little harder to keep it that way.” Kurama gave Yusuke a friendly pat on the shoulder. “If you keep disappearing and breaking promises to her . . .” He gave a wry smile and a knowing wink.

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Yusuke’s face and he gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah . . . right. I think maybe I’ll go and check to see how she’s doing.”

“Give her my best,” Kurama called after him, thoroughly enjoying the new game of torturing Yusuke. As he walked toward the bright sunlight of the doorway, something made him pause.

Walking into the shadows near where he had woke up, he found a plant growing. Although he usually found any kind of plant life beautiful, this was the ugliest he had ever seen. The head, which had been cleanly sliced off from the stem, was already withering on the ground.

Kurama meticulously dug the weed up, careful to get all of the root system intact. He could tell it was his rose whip that cut through the stem, but wasn’t sure why he had done that while fighting against his vision. He usually would harm any life unless he had to.

Cradling the dying plant in his cupped hands, he turned . . . and came face to face with Yoko Kurama once more. His heart began beating frantically in his chest until he realized the image was not the clear one he had battled with.

“You don’t want to keep that,” Yoko said, drawing nearer even though his feet didn’t move. “That is the embodiment of your guilt. It bloomed in the darkness of this hut just as it did in your heart.”

Kurama looked down as Yoko’s hands covered his. Although he didn’t feel anything, a bright glow flowed from the demon’s hands into his own. When the hands were removed, there was nothing left of the plant.

“Thank you,” Yoko said.

“For what?” Kurama asked. “It was my human emotions that created the problem in the first place.”

“But you didn’t give up. Your vision lied to you. I can’t survive without you. We are bound not only to the same body, but also the same soul. I cannot take your life. Remember that.”

The image faded away until Kurama was alone once more. With a sigh, he stood in the doorway, feeling the warm sunlight bathe his weary body. His friends were waiting for him at the edge of the forest and the knowledge that they would always be with him no matter what, gave him the energy he needed to make his tired muscles respond.

But before he completely stepped out of the hut, he gave one last look inside. What his soul had told him made him smile.

“Thank you,” he said into the darkness.

~~The End~~