Title: Shadow, through Smoke
Fandom: Yu Yu Hakusho
Genre: General
Rating: M (language, mostly)
Word Count: 2126
Summary: It's simple cause and Effect
Disclaimer: ...flat stare. Yeah, sure, you betcha.

"So..." the demon drawls, one eyebrow not quite twitching upwards, "You're a... ah, fortune teller?"

Stuck up ass of a fucking youko. Knew I should have demanded more from that stupid bat... Where are those damn smokes?... "Seer, diviner, soothsayer," (Ha! There they are...) "oracle, auspex (that costs extra), vaticinator, prophet, occasional haruspex (thats extra too), whatever the fuck ya wanna call it, I'm it. Ya want one?" I make the paltry offer around the smoke trailing out my mouth.

Well damn, there's no reason to look like that stick up yer ass just got lodged a bit higher.

"Suit yerself. Le's get one thing straight, fox," I say, putting my feet on the table and taking a long drag, "I don' care if ya don' wanna be here. Fact is, I got paid, an' if ya wanna walk out that door, I'll still be paid." ...and apparently money is the magic subject. Chance's of him walking out just dropped by less than half. Damn. "B'sides," I say, going for casualness, "the future's fluid. Freewill an' all that shit, an' not jus' yers. Everythin's in'erwoven, thoughts an' actions from people ya may nev'r meet effectin' ya through ripples made throughout the Worlds... but nothin's set in stone 'til it's actually happened, see?"

I exhale a particularly large cloud and, through the smoke, watch him watching me watch him. This one. Not stupid. Prideful, arrogant as all Reikai, and armed with a powerful thirst to play a game only he knows the rules to... but not stupid. I take another drag. He might be worth the time.

"An' another thin'. I say everythin', I mean everythin'. The five seconds ya pause while on a journey will be the deciding factor in whether ya cross pathes with yer next job; the breath of a whore that moves the assets just so will tip the balance and make ya wanna fuck her;" and now to make it personal... "and those seeds ya planted on a whim jus' a few days ago will quite poss'bly save yer life in a few hun'erd years."

Oh, good control. Got to applaud the sonnuva bitch for that. If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't have noticed the eyes widen just a fraction of a second and -- oh, he's got balls...

I raise my own eyebrow, mocking him. "Now that I have yer undivided attention, I need ya ta make a decision: ya gonna stay and get yer money's worth, or ya gonna leave an' take that seed ya just dropped with ya?" Dumbass. "Either way, I'll be fine 'cause ye're gonna stop wastin' my time."

If he leaves within the next five minutes, most likely scenario is that he and his buddy will leave out before the day's over. Half way to the next town, a heavy storm will hit, and they will be too far from a cave they had scoped out years ago to avoid the deluge. The bat will get sick and that will delay them for... oh, two days. By the time they reach the town, they will have missed a juicy mark, and not have even known it. That, is assuming that on the day they head out, they don't cross pathes with two lovely demoness' and decide to keep them company for a time. They will then end up being within reasonable distance from the cave when the storm comes, the bat won't get sick, they will get to the town on time, and end up much richer than before I got paid.

"Tell me something, O Seer." I can see the calculating look he's got, tipping his head as if the degree of change will bring some clarity or something. "If the future is as fluid as you say it is," Oh, nothing to say about the seeds? "Then what, precisely, are you good for?"

'What's keeping me from killing you?' he means. Someone who had the capabilities/resources to find out something about you that no one should have known isn't someone you want out from under your own thumb... or, failing that, among the living.

"I do believe there was a threat in that last statement o' yer's. Well, b'fore ya try ta evis'rate me, allow me ta explain." Smilling is just another way to bare the teeth, you know. "B'cause even though the future is fluid," I say, putting stress on the last three words, "there still remains the fact that some futures are still a helluva lot more likely 'an others no matter what, an' as time goes by, the less likely ones term'nate themselves. So," I drawl in parady, "For yer gracious," I sneer the word, knowing that it bothers him, "contribution ta my coffers, ya get ta know the possibilities that have the most..." What would work best? "...merit." Yeah, that'll do. "That," Damn, I need another smoke, "an' what'll bring 'em about. The turnin' points," I wave my hand and the newly lit smoke for emphasis.

I know that he knows this. I also know that he knows (and he knows that I know this), that there's a helluva lot of charlatans out there, and that he has to make sure that I know that he knows that I know that he knows this...

...fuck, that takes a bit of thinking to make sense of...

I put that out of my mind in favor of watching the present being woven with strange undulations of Possibility. Kind of hypnotizing at times, to be honest. There are stories 'bout Seers getting disconnected to the world around them. Apparently catatonics, those ones; almost impossible to snap them out of it and even then... Well.

Most of the threads around him leading up to him staying are growing, branching off, while the one's that have him leaving are withering, fading into Impossibility. I take more of the drug into my lungs. Typical.

He doesn't give any tells, but suddenly all the other strands are gone. The fox has made a descision.

"All right. What's in store for me, O Seer?"

"Smartass. Shut up an' listen." I sit up and lean on the table, ignoring the snort from in front of me. So I like to hear myself talk. It's your choice to listen or not. "In almos' all o' yer futures, ya do big things. Borin' from my point o' view," I exhale another cloud and shrug, "but I ain't a thief.

"Most o' yer futures, though, branch off o' two main pathes. In one, ya thieve, pillage, build up yer rep to ridiculous proportions, onward ad infinitum," I make some circular hand motions to emphasize.

"And in the other..." Pfft. After that, he doesn't even look like he cares about the other...

"And in the other..." I stop, taking another drag to buy some time to think. How the fuck am I supposed to phrase this without nullifying any possiblity of it ever happening? Shit.

He's looking at me again with those damn eyes. Eyes. Gold. Jackpot!

"An' in the other, ya get somethin' more valu'ble 'an all the jewels in the Worlds, more rare 'an hiruiseki, and negligable dross attached."

Hmm. Maybe that was a bit heavy...

"You sound like you're trying to sell me."

...damn. I lean back again, shrugging. "That branch is... complicated, real in'erwoven with certain other threads, an' ta try an' explain without givin' away specifics that could nullify it in the here an' now is..." Okay, I'll just admit it. "Pretty much imposs'ble." And doesn't that just feel like a kick in the teeth...

"Let me get this straight." And just what the fuck is that tone for?! "My future is pretty much divided in two, and while you can explain one... you can't the other? Can you at least give me the turning points that lead up to it?"

Oh, now he gets annoyed. Though he does have a point... now, what can I say... what can I say... I take another drag, searching the threads hanging around him for some common factor... hmmm...

"Vanity." I say carefully as he narrows his eyes. "Vanity, and its effects... will be at the root causes fer the events that lead up ta that branch o' futures."

If he had left without hearing me out, visited that lovely demoness, and taken that job in the next town... the job for the mirror would have been postponed. The bat would have lived, and the fox wouldn't have gone into despair, which in turn wouldn't've sparked the destructive cycle of dangerous jobs and a reckless (vain) belief in his own power, and eventually getting in over his head.

I exhale, looking at the patterns the air currents make in the smoke through half-lidded eyes. Stupid youko, didn't even think to ask if just by being here would change things.

"'Vanity'? I'm going to become a narcissist?"

"Don' quit yer night job," I say, irritated that now he finds his humor, "there are differen' types 'an jus' moonin' o'er yerself; but yeah, vanity'll cause most o' that branch ta come about. So, if ya want ta go on building up the image of the boogey man under the bed, smarten up. If, however, the unknown gives ya the thrills, continue yer headlong plunge. One o' the major turnin' points for ya will be comin' up soon, and that..." I look at him steadily, hoping to impress the importance of my words on his flightly fox mind, "will heav'ly favor one side o'er the other, dependin' on how ya react."

"'Depending on how I react'?" I am most carefully not looking at his twitching tail. Don't know if that's within his power, but I'd rather not take the chance of spilling my guts to him. "React to what? Just what reactions would lead to what futures?" He's squinting his eyes at me again, damn but he's getting to be a real annoying sunnova-- "You're not really very helpful, considering how much you were paid. Perhaps you should invest in a crystal ball." --bitch! I'll show him a crys--

Ah! Woahwoahwoah waitaminute! STOP! Be calm. I take a deep drag, hoping he hadn't seen the spark of rage in my eyes, as I go over what my teacher drilled into my head. Someone make ya mad? Ya figure out why. Examine the threads. Find what was woven, determine the motives. Direct attacks and reactions only to the base, and ya negate everything the other builds atop of it.

So. Why would the fox want me mad?

...Ah. So he'd heard about that.

"I'm a Reader, not a Pruner. No one could... convince me... to be workin' that." Which is to say, no one could bribe, blackmail, or otherwise manuver me into giving predictions that favor certain... factions... of the Reikai. The fact that I'm not dead says the same of those in the Makai, while also stating that I'm either tough to kill or real good at hiding.

"No one really likes bein' manipulated -- I c'n understand that -- but either listen 'r leave, 'cause now ye're jus' irritatin' to be irritatin'. Get yer kicks elsewhere." And stop looking for weak spots!

He shrugs one shoulder nonchalantly. "You're taking so long, I'm starting to get bored," he says, watching the whirls and eddies of the smoke in the air. "Is there a reason you have virtually no air currents through here?"

"Yeah, ta suf'cate clients that talk too much," I snap, quickly scanning the Possiblities for one last thing. He might as well get the real money's worth. "If ye find that Vanity's Effects have marked ye, and ye have woven thy life with the Historian, befriend the Shadow, for he shall make thee remember the Stories." I pause; man that's rough on the voice, but... there. One prophecy: delivered. "Believe me, ye'll be happier fer it.

"Now get the fuck outta here, and take yer damn seed with ya, Youko Kurama."

--

Alright, wards: up; notice-me-nots: up; new smokes: ...found. I sigh as I lean back, staring through the wisps coming from my mouth at the ceiling.

He'll want to avoid the group of bounty hunters lodging on the South side, so he'll skirt them and head for the North gate, just missing the whores in the West. That bat will be in sensing range by then, and meet him coming from the North West quarter, they'll exit the North gate, and get caught in the storm.

I could, of course, catch up to him before he reaches the point where he can sense the bat, and tell him about the paradox and how to fix it...

Inhale.

Nahhh. He'll figure it out.

Exhale.

Author's Notes Just in case anyone actually looked at my profile prior to my posting this, it was previously titled Adumbration. Then it went through the usual agonizing process of being renamed and such. This is now properly edited (mostly it was just that dialect), but when faced with making notes to help make sense of it all, I promptly fell over dead. To be honest, I think I'd have to make a completely seperate chapter just for notes alone. I'm sorry, but it ain't happening. Now, be creative and draw your own conclusions, or ask me your burning question in a review (hint).

This was an experiment for me. Tell me how it worked out, and if I missed anything.
...that means review, just so ya know.
Oh, and Happy Halloween!