Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Kaleidoscope Syndrome ❯ Song ( Chapter 10 )

The Kaleidoscope Syndrome

 

Part X

 

Three days had passed since their fateful encounter at the marshes. Yusuke had been slowly contemplating the situation, taking in what he knew and what he could safely assume. Then there were the other possibilities and reasons to consider. He had been uncharacteristically quiet during those three days and had managed to elicit a growing sense of concern from both Kurama and Hiei before he finally snapped out of his long reverie. “The journey goes on until I find out more,” he declared with renewed vigor.

 

His original intention was for Hiei and Kurama to head over to the Reikai and him to enter the Ningenkai. However, both kitsune and koorime objected to that idea immediately. If Yusuke was going anywhere, they would follow—or someone else would have to go along with him. The debate went on for several minutes while they were taking a rest in the new, magically banished marshes.

 

“But it's so much faster this way if we split up,” argued Yusuke.

 

Kurama shook his head gravely. “We cannot let you go alone. Let Hiei or I accompany you at least,” he reasoned. “It's you who's the target, Yusuke. Surely you understand our concerns.”

 

Yusuke gave an aggravated sigh and looked at the two resignedly. “So who wants to go to Koenma?” he prompted.

 

Hiei snorted once and looked away. Kurama smiled slightly. “I suppose that would mean me,” he answered.

 

“You'll be okay alone?”

 

“Don't worry about me, Yusuke. I have my own reputation as well.”

 

Yusuke gave an impish grin before looking at Hiei. “Well, Squirt, I guess it's you and me again. Think you can handle going back to the Ningenkai?” he questioned.

 

“Shut your mouth and let's just go.”

 

A surprised look sprawled its way across Yusuke's face at Hiei's harsh response. Kurama leaned in closer to him. “He's been feeling very tense since we freed the prisoners. I can't blame him, though—I feel the same way,” he whispered.

 

Yusuke narrowed his eyes. “Do you sense something I don't?” he asked.

 

Kurama shrugged. “I've been feeling we're being watched, but I cannot detect anyone or anything—it's just something that's been nagging me since we came back from the prisons,” he explained.

 

“Well, damn. I don't sense anything,” remarked Yusuke. “I'm sure it's nothing, though. Might be some residue magic in the air that's been bothering you. Either way, we better get a move on.”

 

The silver-haired youkai nodded and gathered his pack. “I'll be taking my leave now then. Good luck to you both—and Yusuke, try not to push yourself too hard,” he called out as he leapt away gracefully.

 

Yusuke offered a grin and a thumbs-up as he watched Kurama disappear through the mist. He turned to face Hiei. “You don't even say bye?” he scolded playfully.

 

“What's the point? We'll see each other again.”

 

“Man, you're a stiff. I would have thought all these years would soften you up.”

 

“Again, you never cease to astonish me in your miraculous expectations of my changing.”

 

Yusuke stared at him for a moment before quietly placing his belt over his black sash. “You really are in a bad mood aren't you?” he stated before moving off.

 

Hiei remained still for several moments before cursing to himself and following after Yusuke. They traveled in silence and despite the noticeable tension between himself and the latter Hiei preferred it this way. It gave him a better chance to scope their surroundings without distraction—and he could not help but follow his instincts when they were telling him so blatantly that something was not right. He glanced at Yusuke's silent form and observed his pale face and the dark circles that ran underneath his eyes. He had been doing well in hiding his obvious distress, but Kurama and Hiei were already one step ahead. There was not the slightest possibility they would have let Yusuke go off alone.

 

It worried Hiei that Yusuke's condition was worsening. His memory lapses seemed to be decreasing in number, but the severity in their manner when they did occur had doubled. It had taken both his and Kurama's combined efforts to keep Yusuke from hurting himself and them in his last attack. Hopefully, nothing too serious would happen during their trip to the Ningenkai. But it was not the actual journey that concerned him—it was when they got there that made him uneasy. Hiei narrowed his eyes and thought to himself in vain that they should have recruited more youkai for this part of the trip. If Yusuke had another attack like the one while they were in the marshes, he was sure he would not be able to hold him back by himself.

 

A vague feeling of urgency rushed through him at that instant and Hiei looked up to see a shadowed figure fly above them. Both he and Yusuke launched themselves into defensive positions automatically as they eyed the creature warily.

 

“How big is it?” inquired Yusuke as he squinted his eyes. The creature was a good height above them, circling them like a vulture and never lowering its altitude.

 

Hiei's eyes widened slightly. “That's—”

 

“Oh, shit!”

 

Without warning, the creature launched itself downwards at an alarming speed. The vulture-like figure quickly transformed into a raging reptilian animal on the verge of crashing straight into them. Yusuke reacted first by grabbing Hiei's wrist and pulling them away to a safer distance as the animal collided with the ground on a tremendous note. Splinters of trees and flying dirt filled the air as the creature shifted itself lazily.

 

“What the fuck is that?” cried out Yusuke in dismay.

 

“That will be the death of us if we don't move now,” replied Hiei as took Yusuke's arm and began dragging them towards the trees.

 

The demonic snake began to slither after them and Hiei cursed inwardly to himself. The chances of them encountering a basilisk were rare, but considering they were still near the marshes, it was not altogether impossible. However, this basilisk seemed to be tracking them down for another purpose besides food. Perhaps this what Hiei and Kurama had been sensing for the past few days.

 

“I sure as hell hope Kurama didn't have to face off against something like this, too!”

 

“There's only one basilisk in the Makai.”

 

“So how in the world did we get stuck with it?”

 

“That's what I want to know.”

 

The snake seemed to almost be playing with them—gliding in and out through the trees smoothly while biding its time to strike. It was always a thrill to catch the mouse. Hiei considered their options. Facing off against a basilisk was naturally their last resort. They had notoriously dangerous poison and their scales were impenetrable to nearly any attack, both reiki and youki.

 

As they flew past the forest, Yusuke suddenly stilled. Hiei looked at him apprehensively.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I just…got this weird feeling…”

 

If possible Yusuke appeared even paler than before and his eyes widened with some emotion that Hiei could neither identify nor see. The basilisk slowed to a halt several yards behind them and the shorter youkai looked back at it darkly.

 

“We have to fight now,” he muttered.

 

Yusuke suddenly jerked forward without any heed towards the awaiting basilisk.

 

“Yusuke!”

 

Hiei attempted to move before an invisible force held him back at the feet. He looked down at the ground in disbelief before shifting his gaze back to Yusuke, who had taken on an impassive demeanor. His eyes were hard and cold as he stared the basilisk down and there was a certain fluidity to which he moved that Hiei never saw before. Yusuke then began forming different signatures in the air, light trailing from each of his fingers as he wrote the foreign characters. Hiei watched tensely as the basilisk began moving towards Yusuke slowly, a predatory look gleaming in its eyes.

 

Before he could give any warning, however, Yusuke thrust both hands out in front of him and the basilisk froze in its spot, crimson eyes glazing over. Whilst murmuring words underneath his breath, an unearthly glow surrounded the basilisk's body before disappearing altogether without a trace. A harsh wind blew throughout the forest and a whisper of an unfamiliar word echoed silently when finally all grew to calmness.

 

Hiei suddenly started from his place and found, unsurprisingly, that he was able to move. He walked over to Yusuke. “What was that?” he demanded quietly.

 

“A spell,” he replied, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath. “A spell I had almost forgotten about. It was one of my first spells learned—to transport objects. Pretty handy, huh?”

 

“Where did you take it?”

 

“Some place far from here!” laughed Yusuke as he yawned. “Ah, that certainly took a lot more energy out of me than expected.”

 

Hiei watched him sullenly before walking ahead. “We have to keep moving,” he retorted dryly.

 

“Aye, aye, captain.”

 

As they began their journey again, Hiei glanced at Yusuke for a moment before finally venturing a question. “What was that before you attacked? You said you sensed something,” he inquired as unobtrusively as possible.

 

Yusuke remained silent for a while, though there was a definite amount of confusion swimming in the pools of his dark eyes. “Like I said…I just got a weird feeling. Like an unfamiliar presence was with us—watching. But as soon as I began casting the spell I forgot about it,” he replied slowly. “It was like for a second I could have sworn someone else was there with us. But then it disappeared and I snapped out of my trance.”

 

A perturbing emotion over swept Hiei's mind as he regarded Yusuke's words with caution. So perhaps there was someone else watching over them—and it could have very well been that person who launched the basilisk on them. But controllers were rare in the Makai—and they were a part of the specific branch of magic users recruited by powerful youkai to do their bidding. In fact they were possibly the only type of magic users left in the Makai. All others had been wiped out without a trace.

 

Or they fled back to the Ningenkai. The thought entered Hiei's mind unbidden. Why did the magic users from the Ningenkai enter the Makai in the first place? The question had the fiery youkai's mind reeling.

 

“Why did they leave the Ningenkai?” he prompted abruptly.

 

Yusuke cast him a curious look. “The magic users?” he clarified. Hiei nodded. The taller youkai gave a thoughtful pause. “To tell you the truth, I have no idea. Kairi never mentioned it either. I'm assuming they just wanted to expand their territory. After all, they weren't too liked in the Ningenkai as well. I guess when they discovered the Makai they wanted to explore it and see if they could establish settlements here as well.”

 

“They were better off in their original homes,” muttered Hiei darkly.

 

“True that,” agreed Yusuke with a light chuckle.

 

They paused for several minutes, gauging the situation. Hiei still could not fight off the overwhelming sense of being followed and finally withdrew his katana as they continued through the forest. Yusuke eyed him amusedly for a moment before lifting up a hand, staring at the air in mystification

 

“I know that youki…”

 

And suddenly from above them dropped a fast blur of red and brown colors that collided heavily with Yusuke. Hiei jumped back and watched the scene unfold before his eyes with mild relief and some exasperation.

 

“Urameshi! I knew you could sense me from anywhere!”

 

“Jin! What the hell? What are you doing here?”

 

The red-haired youkai crawled off of Yusuke and helped the latter to his feet before answering merrily, “I crashed into Kurama before. He told me that you guys shouldn't have been far off. He didn't tell me to follow you, but I had a feeling he wanted me to so I did!”

 

“But why were you here anyway?” inquired Yusuke in bafflement.

 

Jin's eyes darkened as he leaned into Yusuke conspiringly. “You know that flower Touya was gung-ho on finding? Well, he's still looking. And he dragged everyone else into it as well. We all separated to look in different regions of the Makai. I was assigned this place. It's a bit close to the marshes but—well, when Touya gets all fired up about something I would rather go through the marshes than his temper,” he said darkly.

 

Yusuke smiled whimsically. “That flower still? You know that forest where we met up last time? It was in there. In fact, I took some samples of it,” he replied, taking out the rumpled petals from his pockets.

 

Jin looked aghast. “Are you serious? You mean all this time we've been ransacking the entire Makai and it was in a place we already looked in?” he cried out in dismay.

 

“Yep.”

 

“That is not even funny. I'm going to kill Touya.”

 

“Now?” Hiei asked abruptly.

 

The red-haired youkai looked at Hiei in surprise. “Well—why, do you have something for me to do?”

 

Hiei remained silent and it was then that Yusuke caught drift of his plan. “You want to come to the Ningenkai with us?” he inquired, half-wondering to himself how overprotective Hiei was being.

 

Jin's ears wiggled excitedly as he jumped up and down. “The Ningenkai? You mean where the humans are? Really? Of course I'll go with you! But why are we anyway?” he said all in a rush.

 

“Uh…,” Yusuke began before laughing to himself. “It's kind of a long story.”

 

“The idiot's been hit by some sort of curse and we're tracking down clues that might give us an idea of whoever the perpetrator is.”

 

Both Jin and Yusuke shot Hiei surprised looks. The shorter youkai rolled his eyes.

 

“Wow, you serious, Yusuke? Why didn't you tell us before? I could have gotten the others guys to help!”

 

“Let's just say…I didn't want the news to be known to a lot of people until I figured out the situation myself first. But—as you can see—that plan didn't go too well.”

 

Jin slugged Yusuke in the arm. “You're doing it again, aren't you? Some day this tough guy routine is going to wind up killing you, Yusuke,” he admonished lightly.

 

The white-haired youkai shrugged helplessly.

 

“So this is what you've been doing all this time, eh? Chuu was getting a little suspicious when I told him I saw you and Hiei hanging out by that old forest. I guess I can understand his worries now!”

 

Yusuke waved his hand. “He's just mad that we're off having an adventure without him,” he replied.

 

Jin laughed. “So we are going to the Ningenkai then? But…how am I going to disguise these?” he exclaimed, pointing at the horn on his forehead and his eagerly flapping ears. “And not to mention these,” he added while bearing his fangs.

 

An amused look made its way onto Yusuke's face. “I forgot how much more demon-like you are compared to Kurama and Hiei,” he remarked to himself.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“Ah, nothing, nothing…”

 

Jin's ears wiggled some more before he pounced on top of Yusuke, throwing the latter to the ground. “So you're saying I'm not as pretty as those two, eh? Well, you're not much for looks either, Urameshi!” he exclaimed, placing Yusuke in a sealed headlock.

 

“Well! It's true!” gasped Yusuke as he fought down the urge to smirk lest Jin grow even more violent.

 

The red-haired youkai released Yusuke after a few moments and grinned widely. “Yeah, I know!” he chirped cheerfully.

 

The two then laughed at each other.

 

Hiei folded his arms and attempted to calm his rising nerves. It seemed he had two unbearably loud and headstrong companions now as opposed to just the one before. He tried not to let that fact get to him too much.

 

He glanced at the sky and frowned slightly. Then there was the mystery of the basilisk. He still could not let go of its sudden appearance so easily. It seemed too coincidental that it would appear right after they came out of the marshes. And there was still that annoying pestering in the back of his mind—telling him that he was still missing a vital piece to the puzzle. Hiei narrowed his eyes and tightened his fist slowly until the knuckles turned white. The situation was getting too far out of hand. He shot Yusuke a spare look for a moment. There were so many uncertainties—he did not know where to begin at all. He doubted a trip to the Ningenkai would aid in things any further.

 

“Are we leaving—or not? It's a few hours' run from here to the Ningenkai. We best make haste if we want to be there by nightfall,” he directed impassively.

 

Jin and Yusuke stared at Hiei with some surprise before laughing again. Hiei tried not to think about how their unanimous actions were beginning to ingrate his nerves and gave them a hard stare. Finally Yusuke nodded. “Sure thing, Hiei. Let's get going then.”

 

As they were about to start moving again, Hiei's arm whipped out to stop Yusuke. The latter stared at him in confusion. “What is it?” he asked before automatically catching a dart that flew towards his face. “What the hell?”

 

Hiei gritted his teeth. “More company,” he said wryly.

 

And just as soon as he uttered those words a rain of darts followed. The three separated quickly and outran the flying projectiles skillfully before Yusuke called out to the other two. “Do you know where it's coming from?”

 

“Whoa! Eh…not too sure there, Yusuke! I'm just trying not to get nicked here!” exclaimed Jin as he took to the sky, the darts following him.

 

“This is not a normal—” Hiei began before abruptly freezing as he caught glimpse of a dart heading towards the back of Yusuke's head, unnoticed completely by him. He immediately shifted in his direction. “Yusuke!”

 

The taller youkai took one look at Hiei before his mind suddenly clouded over. And nearly a split second later, he felt the slight sting of something pinching the back of his neck—then he was falling, falling into a darkened abyss of nothingness.

 

Hiei narrowed his eyes at the fallen body of his companion before realizing the other darts had ceased in their movement. They hung in the air around them, as if time itself had stopped. Jin lowered himself to the ground delicately before spotting Yusuke.

 

“Yusuke!” he gasped as he began heading to him before Hiei's voice held him back.

 

“Don't. The enemy is still here.”

 

Jin balled his fists angrily. “All right, where the hell are you, eh? Show yourself!” he exclaimed furiously.

 

There was a silence for a while as Hiei surveyed the area. The hanging darts glittered dangerously in the sunlight and he could see drops of a amber liquid oozing from the tips slowly. He took one more glance at Yusuke. The latter was unmoving. Hiei felt anger swarming up inside of him.

 

“Aah, poor, poor, Urameshi! To have to suffer for the actions of another!” sang a haunting voice.

 

Jin and Hiei exchanged bewildered expressions as the voice within the trees continued.

 

“First the curse, and then the poison, it will overwhelm you until there is nothing left. You will die…die…die and vanish. No one will remember you—they will all forget you. Ah, to suffer such a fate for the actions of another! Life simply isn't fair.”

 

The voice then faded away into a whisper, the words barely caught by Hiei's sharp ears, before disappearing altogether. The darts clattered to the ground in an uproar of metal clanking and both he and Jin remained completely still before Yusuke's screams filled the air. After that, Hiei could only watch numbly as Jin turned Yusuke's body over, examining the latter closely as he continued his anguished cries. And Hiei kept watching whilst the fragmented voice echoed through his mind endlessly until he could not longer bear it and left the scene.

 

Ah, to suffer such a fate for the actions of another! Life simply isn't fair…

 

TBC

 

Yes, there's more. Read on, read on…