1"So how's three eyes?" Yusuke's voice sounded amused over the telephone. "Has he gotten in any trouble while I was away?"
"No. Actually he's still moping." Kurama supplied.
"What? Moping! Since when does shorty get all emotional?" Kuwabara's voice sounded in the background.
"Yami went back to Makai and Koji's sick." Kurama glanced quickly at Hiei, still in the corner, hi head buried in his knees. "He hasn't eaten since Ryoko shoved that riceall down his throat and that was on Thursday . . ."
"WOO HOO!! GO RYO-CHAN!"
"Shut up, Kuwabara. So he's really that down, huh?"
"I'm not quite sure what to do with him at the moment. My head's been spinning for awhile because Koji wont stop wailing. Ryoko's been singing to him and that keeps him quiet but she's sleeping right now. We've both been up for nearly nine days."
"You sound pretty tired, man. You should get some sleep." Yusuke said, concerned for his health. "I'd think it would be pretty hard to sleep with that kind of racket. I'm not technically on the phone with you and its annoying the crap out of me. Nine days . . . sheesh!"
"I've gone for longer." Kurama said with a sigh. "Besides, he's starting to grow on us."
"You know, I think we should go to Makai. All demon butt-kicking urges aside. I think we need to talk to Yami. We can't have out favorite three-eyed jerk face moping like a child forever. We're coming over right now. See ya!"
He put the receiver down and rubbed his tired eyes. 'Oh great, here it comes . . .' Kurama decided that he might as well take a nap. He plopped down on the soft, cushioned sofa and closed his eyes. Within minutes, he began dreaming.
Koji lay in a small cradle in the middle of a dimly lit room. Kurama recognized this as the nursery in Yami and Hiei's apartment. The wall was painted as a mural of Makai, the dark moon rising high above a purple sky. In the far corner were painted corpses of defeated demons and on top of them, sitting casually with a bloodied katana, was Hiei, shadows across his face but the Jagan was open and glowing. Ryoko had done an exceptional job, he thought. 'I hadn't known that she was into painting murals.' Each corner of the room showed another of the reikai team. Yusuke and Kuwabara on the east and south walls. And Youko Kurama to the north, a sullen Shuuichi hovering in the darkness behind him. She did a really good job.
Inside the cradle, Koji slept silently, and didn't notice when a shadowy figure made its way to the crib.
"Nymph," Kurama said sternly, but the demon couldn't hear him. She lifted Kohi from the blankets and whisked him out of the room.
The room around his blurred and swirled together. Kurama then found himself in the ring at the tournament. His opponent was barely able to stand upright, her sickly body thinned and her face paled. She stared at him determinedly. "I will defeat you with my last breath."
Kurama did not move, and allowed the girl to attack him, her weapon just barely grazing his cheek before she fell lifeless to the ring floor. Her flesh disintegrated leaving the bone uncovered until she was nothing but dust.
All went dark, and Kurama could very faintly make out a figure coming toward him. It took him a few seconds to recognize who it was. Nymph was still holding Koji, but the child was awake and crying. Hi heavily bandaged head was pressed against Nymph's chest as she carried him to Ningenkai. She laied the babe back in the crib and touched his cheek before turning and fleeting out the door. Kurama crept closer to the screaming child. There was a new power about him– the Jagan. Suddenly a familiar scent reached his kitsune nose. It reeked of death.
Kurama jumped up from the couch, the dream fleeting from memory. Suddenly Kurama heard a loud pounding at the door and jumped to answer. In the doorway stood Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko, and Shizuru.
"Finally! Jeez, what took you?" Yusuke exclaimed. "I must've been pounding for ten minutes!"
"Sorry, I sort of fell asleep." Kurama replied sheepishly, opening the door wider and stepping back so the other could get in.
"How could you with all the racket that kid's making?" Shizuru asked.
"Give the guy a break, sis. He's been up for nine days straight."
"Really? From what I can tell, its been longer than that."
"So where is the little guy, anyway?" Yusuke asked, looking around.
Kurama led them down the hall and across the living room.
Halfway inside, Yusuke stopped. "Isn't that Hiei?"
Kurama sighed and nodded his head.
"Jeez, he looks dead!" Yusuke exclaimed.
"Oh my," Keiko's voice was shrill. "Is he all right?"
"Serves him right!" Kuwabara said. "He's such a pain in the neck, always bagging on us when we have feelings, and now look at him!"
"You really hate him, don't you?" Yusuke said incredulously.
"That's the understatement of the year," Shizuru said placently.
"Come on, lets go go check on the midget clone."
The wailing only got louder as they came closer to the bedroom. Kurama opened the door to find Ryoko sprawled out on the ground.
"Oh Ryoko!" Keiko exclaimed.
"She looks dead, too." Yusuke said as Kurama knelt by her, whispering soft words into her ears. She stirred and muttered something that was indiscernible over the child's crying. It sounded to Kurama something like "cheesecake".
Ryoko rolled over on her stomach and groggily pushed herself to her feet.
"I just had the weirdest dream." She said, pushing her hair out of her face. "When he got the Jagan put in." Kurama's eyes widened but he didn't say anything. The other had been busy fussing over Koji and hadn't heard her comment.
"I was getting sleepy and the kid reached out. I held his hand and then all of a sudden my legs . . ." Ryoko looked down at her ankles and continued, "They felt so weak. They hurt like something was eating away at them from the inside. I fell on the floor and it went away, but I was so tired; I fell asleep." The two kitsune turned to stare at Koji, who was being cradled by Keiko.
"Poor baby," She said softly. "Koji-kun misses his mommy."
"Hey, Kurama?" Yusuke said suddenly. "What's with the marbles?"
Kurama followed Yusuke's gaze to the floor, which was littered with shiny black spheres.
"Yusuke, do you remember your mission to rescue Yukina?"
"Yeah, you mean when that Tarukane guy captured her?"
"Do you remember why he wanted an ice maiden?"
"Because her tears . . . wait, you mean to tell me those are his tears?"
"Precisely."
"But they're black!"
"There were rumors in Makai that a fire demon born of an ice maiden mother would she tears of black hiroseki stones." Ryoko's words were icy and her eyes looked upon something unseen. "Perhaps the on of such a being would shed the same tears."
"Thinking of home?" Yusuke asked, intrigued.
"We'll be there soon. I wonder . . ." She cut off– I wonder if I'll want to– Ryoko had lost so much in that world. Yokisuno. Kuronue. But Makai was her home. The rancid air of the demon world still held value in her heart. It made her feel at ease, as if the facade of the human world had evaporated. Home . . .
"Okay, time to give three-eyes a wake up call." Shizuru's calm voice brought Ryoko back to the present.
"Right."
Wrong.
She took the sleeping boy in her arms and silently left the apartment.
So how's my devoted readers? Mad that I haven't posted in months? I figured as much. Well, my computer died hard on me this summer, and then I was stuck in Oregon for a month and a half. That's waaay out in the boonies, so computer? No way.
I had my beta type this up for me from the wads of paper I had lying around when I first wrote this story. The idea, of course isn't all mine, my friend Leuleu helps me with all my yu yu stuff. But Ryoko is my own creation. Yami is her OC. Along with kuro, nymph, and Koji. 3 all other characters are not mine.
I hope you like it.