Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Yuske's Words and Hiei's Rapture ❯ The Land of Shadows ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

I woke up the next morning to the sun coming in between the blinds. I turned over and looked across the room. A small scream caught in my throat at what I saw.
"I didn't mean to frighten you. I know that you humans are skittish. I just wanted to thank you again for trying to help me. I also wanted to settle your nerves by showing you that I was ok." Hiei removed his cloak and lifted his shirt. His wounds were compleatly healed, there wasn't even a scar.
"I am glad you are alright. I really appreciate you coming to tell me. It was really sweet." I smiled at him thoughtfully. I was now sitting up in my bed and facing him.
"Well, don't get your hopes up just yet. It was Kurama's idea that I come see you. If it were up to me I would never be caught dead in a human's bedroom." he scoffed loudly as he looked around the room.
"Well, none the less, you still came," I got up from the bed and crossed over to the desk where he was perched on top of. "Thank you." I said kindly as I reached him and I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Hiei looked more shocked then I had ever seen anyone. His face was pale and blank. His normal emotionless expression was now slightly embarassed as he covered it up by stating,
"Well, yes, I guess I did have some say in what happened. Anyway, I must go now. Pathetic, emotional humans." He muttered as he practically flew out the window. I smiled to myself and got dressed.
I was going to go over and surprise Yuske. I didn't know if he would be home, but I thought there was no harm in trying.
"Yuske? Are you home?" his house was always unlocked so I poked my head inside. "Yuske?" I called again. Still no answer. "OK, I will leave you a note." I muttered outloud to myself.
"There will be no need, you may enter." A soft, rather seductive voice called from within the house.
"Umm, sorry I didn't know you had company." I said as I entered the living room. I noticed it was Kurama who had spoken.
"Oh, Kurama! Hi!" I smiled at the Yoko who returned the smile with a wave and a dazzling smile of his own.
"Kuwabara and Yuske stepped out for a moment. You can hang out with me and Hiei for a while." he said calmly.
I smiled and nodded, but as I looked around I didn't notice Hiei. "Umm where is Hiei?"
"He said he had to go talk to someone. He should be right back. He was very odd, I don't know where he went. He muttered something about humans, but then he dissappeared. I don't know what is wrong with him. So peculiar, fire demons are." he finished and shook his head. I smiled to myself knowing that Hiei came to speak to me, but he had lied about saying Kurama sent him. He really was a sweet guy. I chuckled to myself but a noise from the other room interrupted my thoughts.
"Kurama, I have a big issue. I have a weird feeling and I can't quite explain it-" Hiei entered the room and looked as though he was going to have a heart attack.
"Hi Hiei. How are you?" I acted as though I hadn't seen him this morning, so that Kurama would't suspect anything, if Hiei wanted to tell him that was his choice.
"What is this weird feeling Hiei. I am certain I could help." He smiled, I think he knew what Hiei was feeling.
"Oh, yes, well my wounds healed you see, but they still feel tingly. I am sure it is just the results of the poison." he walked compleately in to the room, away from the doorway where he was standing. He sat down next to Kurama and stared blankly.
"Now where is Yuske? Him and Kuwabara have been gone for quite some time. I am almost worried." Kurama said almost nonchalontly. I shrugged my head thoughtfully and Hiei scoffed.
A few hours past, Hiei, Kurama and I talked. They really were fascinating people, err, demons. Kurama was of course a fox yoko but he grew up in a human form, he was sketchy on details; basically, what I picked up was he was king of the theives and lost his form becoming a human. Hiei told me almost nothing of himself. I knew that he was on a quest to find someone, but he wouldn't tell me who; I thought it might be an old girlfriend. The more I thought about it though, that option seemed to be ruled out. He also told me that, aside from Kurama, Yuske was one of the people he could actually get along with. This was all very useful information for a curious girlfriend.
I enjoyed getting to know the two demons but Kuwabara and Yuske still weren't back, and it was well into afternoon by now.
"Now, I really am worried. Yuske can take care of himself, sure enough, but Kuwabara is another story." Kurama stated with a hint of fright in his voice.
"Yes, Yuske wont be able to concentrate on his mission if he has to baby-sit that overgrown oaf." Hiei added angrily.
"Kuwabara might not be the greatest person, but I am sure they are both fine. I know, everything is fine. Why aren't they back?" I was now standing up and was pacing across the living room floor.
A flash of light stopped me dead in my tracks. The house shook as though a volcano were erupting. Blue and white light shot out from no where and covered the whole scene.
"Hello." said a faint voice. My eyes went back to normal as the lights cleared and I noticed a small toddler standing just two feet in front of me.
"Koenma. Something must be dreadful if you are here." Kurama stood up and stared down at Koenma.
"I am afraid so. It seems our fearless Spirit Detective has gotten himself into a boat load of trouble. He needs your help quickly. I was going to send Botan but she is just as busy as the rest of us. Kuwabara however is dead. I am sorry." he added the part of Kuwabara and tilted his head down in a moment of silence. I didn't know Kuwabara all that well, but a tear escaped my eye and I didn't bother covering it up.
"Of course Koenma. Where is he? We will leave now." Kurama motioned for Hiei to get up off the windowsill where he had been perched.
"He is in The Land of Shadows, on the outskirts of Barelorne." Koenma said.
"We are going to take our leave now, we will notify you if we can't do anything. Knowing Kurama and myself though, I am sure we can help him." Hiei stated.
"Thank you. I will be in my office in the Spirit World, use this to contact Botan who will contact me." Koenma vanished as quickly as he had come, but with a lot less ruckus.
"Lets go Hiei. Nice talking to you again Nyoko." Kurama hadn't forgotten his manners, he nodded politely to me and began out the door.
"WAIT A MINUTE! I am going with you! There is no way you expect me to just dilly dally around here! I am sure I can help!" I pleaded with Kurama but it was Hiei that surprised me.
"I wouldn't doubt that you could help Nyoko; however, it will be very dangerous, and I don't think you should risk your life." Hiei looked almost as sincere as Kurama had on occasion.
"I don't care Hiei. I am going." I almost yelled at the poor guy, he was just trying to be nice, he didn't want me to get hurt.
"Well, since there is obviously no persuading you, hurry up. Yuske is in danger." Kurama and Hiei spoke almost the same words in unison.
I quickly followed them, running as fast as my human legs would take me.

We ran for what seemed like eternity. The sun was setting, it was really quite gorgeous. The yellows and the orange were so beautiful swirling together in the dusk sky.
"We rest for a moment." Hiei stood still and stared blankly. Kurama had also stopped, but he decided rest would be better spent sitting. I bent over, grabbing my aching knees. I could barely breathe and there was a stitch in my side that hurt so much I thought I was going to burst.
"You look very weak. Perhaps a day of rest Hiei. It might do her better." he too was panting but not nearly as much as myself.
"We can't afford that time Kurama. I will carry you, I am faster." Hiei bent down, not that he had to bend down far.
"Thank you, that is really very kind." I said very surprised that he would even consider letting anyone ride piggy-back on him.
"Well don't mention it," I climbed on his back and held on for dear life, "I am only doing it because you insisted on tagging along, and Yuske can't wait any longer for our help." he added this coldly and began running along. Kurama followed closely.
The trees passed by in a stream of brown and green. I could never have thought anything could run this fast. They were running much faster without me slowing them down. Even though I knew Yuske was OK, he had to be, he was a great Spirit Detective according to his friends, I kept thinking of finding him dead somewhere with a hundred zombies feasting off his cold rotting flesh. I tried to wipe the images from my mind, but it was not that effective.
"Here we are. The Land of Shadows." Kurama announced our arrival and about a hundred zombies greeted us.
"Oh my god! What the hell are those things?!" I shouted, I knew deep down they were zombies, but I didn't want to believe it. They had chunks of rotting flesh all over there exposed faces. When they opened their mouths I could see that they were missing many teeth, and the ones left behind were badly decayed. The smell emulating from them was putrid.
"Zombies. We can take care of them. Stand back." Kurama spoke but Hiei took action. Kurama followed suit and reached behind his head.
"Rose Whip Lash!" he shouted. A long rose that cracked like a whip in the night sky came from the small flower he had been holding. Kurama swung the rose whip and nearly all of the zombies were killed instantly. The only ones that weren't dead were the ones Hiei was beating up the old fashioned way, with his fists. Soon all of the Zombies were finished off and we were alone again.
"Wow, you two are really good." I hadn't forgotten our mission but they were miraculous.
"Thank you, you get to become so when you are a demon." Kurama sounded almost bored.
"Yes you get to become so when you are demon." Hiei restated in almost a mocking tone. Kurama glared at him but Hiei seemed to think nothing more of it.
"HIEI! KURAMA! HELP ME!" Yuske's voice could be heard not to far away.
"YUSKE!" I shouted as loud as I could, hoping to let him know I was trying to protect him too.
"No! Nyoko, go home. It's to dangerous!" Yuske's voice was staggered and it sounded as though he was using all of his energy to yell.
"Stop yelling to him fool! You are wasting his energy.!" Hiei grabbed my hand and started running. Kurama right behind us.
Within minutes I saw Yuske laying on the ground.
"Yuske!" I ran to him. He was breathing as though he had been running for days.
"Hey, I am ok." he said cockily. I looked down and noticed a great deal of blood.
"Oh you are bleeding badly." I began to cry slightly. I ripped my long sleeve shirt and began to rap his wounds.
"It's just a flesh wound. I'm alright." His breath was becoming more even but he still looked in pain.
"Uh, Hiei, I don't mean to bother you but a little help would be lovely." The fox yoko called from behind me. I noticed Hiei was staring at me, he suddenly looked away and began fighting, uh, what were they? with Kurama.
"Really, Nyoko, I'll be OK. You should go, I don't want you to get hurt." Kurama and Hiei came back from their battles. Kurama began doing something to Yuske and I moved back to let him work.
"The poison is deep Hiei. I don't know if I can fix it. If only Genkai were here, I know she could fix it." Kurama stated, unwrapping Yuske's wound.
"I am sure Yuske will be fine, he has a strong spirit. Yes, Genkai was amazing." Hiei stated in response, he, unlike Kurama, had no magical healing powers so all he could do was stand back and watch his friends.
"Hiei, I don't know Kurama that well, is he really good with healing? Will Yuske be ok?" I was crying harder, and that must have frightened Hiei, I noticed that his face was pale and blank.
"I can't say. Yes Kurama is good, but we might not have been quick enough." Hiei sat down beside me on the ground.
"It is my fault, if I hadn't come with you guys," I stopped to sniffle, "then you would have been so much faster and Yuske would be fine. PLEASE DON'T DIE YUSKE!" I tried to shout but my voice was stuck at a whisper.
"It is not your fault, don't blame yourself or your life wont be lived, it will just have existed." Hiei put his arm around me and I cried into his chest.
"Nyoko, please come here." Yuske was talking again and I ran to him.
"What's wrong, what can I do?" I tried to make it seem as though I hadn't been crying, but it wasn't effective.
"I just wanted to tell you, that I love y-" Yuske's hand dropped down to the ground and his eyes shut.
"Yuske? Yuske?" I waited a few seconds before responding. Kurama and Hiei were looking away from Yuske trying not to see, "YUSKE! PLEASE DON'T DIE! NOOO!" Kurama picked me up and hugged me forcing me to look away.
"It was meant to be, it's OK. It was meant to be. Your pain will heal. It's ok." his words of comfort were trying to help, my subconscious knew that but I couldn't accept Yuske's fate.
"I DON'T CARE IF IT WAS MEANT TO BE! BRING HIM BACK! HE CAME BACK ONCE! BRING HIM BACK!" I was wailing like a baby, but I didn't care, Yuske was the only boy I had ever loved.
I pulled away from Kurama and sat beside Yuske, I was in denial and I seemed to be trying to wake him up.
"Hey," Hiei pulled me up away from Yuske's corpse, "at least he said he loved you. At least he died with love, and you will always know that you were his love. That might not help you now, but it will. I know." Hiei didn't say anything else. He just looked up at the clouds forming in the sky.
"Well, his mother will want to bury him herself I am sure. We can't leave him here." Kurama picked up the corpse and began walking.
"I just want to sit and cry." and that is what I did, I sat on the ground and continued weeping, "Go on Hiei, I can find my way back." I said noticing Hiei was still there.
"I won't leave you. You can't be alone now, you need a shoulder. Luckily I have two." his attempt at making a joke wasn't even worth his effort. He sat beside me and put his arm around me again. I cried into his chest for hours, until I cried myself to sleep.