Death, or something like it

I stand here, watching the world go by at a speed much faster then I had thought it could before. Maybe its because I'm dead now, Koenma had mentioned something about life around me quickening until my rebirth. He assured me that I would be reborn with my friends, to be put in with no memory's, no feelings. To assure me a clean slate, a life different from what I had.

I watch in slight surprise as fire flares up, a mushroom cloud puffing into the air almost innocently. Ha, I knew that those damn politicians would destroy the world one day. Several more explosions, flashing sporadically around the world in rapid fire succession. Dark storm clouds cover the sky and for a brief second everything seems to stop. Plants died, animals died, everything died.

I can just imagine how much work Koenma had gotten when the human race destroyed itself. Little prick deserved it.

A single rose grew quickly, sprouting, blooming and wilting within a seconds time. My mind flashed to the past, watching as a rose, so similar to the one now decomposing before me, sprouted from flaming red hair then elongating, shedding its petals and grow longer and thicker thorns. Emerald eyes flash and usually by that time someone has dropped dead. I shake my head wearily. No, I'm not going to think about him, about them, any of them.

My attention is drawn back to the movie before me, and I laugh as ningenkai is overrun by demons. Animals and what is left of humans hide, adapt, learn how to survive in the new and strange world they find themselves in. A man bearing a striking resemblance to Kuwabara fights off a large mutated bear. He uses a metallic sword and small throwing knifes made of stone. All the machines in the world have failed and now the human race is back to the stone age. I laugh again.

The man that looks like Kuwabara begins a resistance, gathering and training armies of humans. Trapping and teaching wild animals to attack those they wish to defeat. I watch, highly amused, as deer, changed slightly by time, trample a path through ranks of low class demons, allowing humans to come in and finish them off.

A large, black dragon lifts from its perch atop a mountain as its unfairly singled out and abused by humans. Its wings beat at the air frantically as it tries in vein to escape its small predators. I'm saddened as it lets out a kneeing cry, the leathery flesh of its wings torn to the point where flight is impossible. It falls back to Earth with a high yet low pitched wail, blood red eyes seeming to focus on mine for a brief moment.

A compact body enters my minds eye, more soon to be forgotten, memory's surfacing despite my complete refusal to remember. I close my eye and scream at my myself to stop, watching black flame erupt behind my eyelids, burning through everything like only immortal flames can. Silver flashes quicker then I can almost see, leaving streaks of light and faintly I can hear cut short screams. Wine red eyes, stuck in perpetual glare, shine quietly before they flicker away.

Damnit no! I drop to my knee's and grip my head tightly, shaking it roughly, almost pulling out my hair in my frustration. No, I can't think about them, they wont be there, I'll never.....I can feel tears prick the back of my eyes leaking silently out of and between my eyelashes. I don't bother to wipe away the moisture as it drips silently off my face, falling down the nothingness that I stand in. Koenma's words echo between my ears, threatening to drive me insane with their strangely humbling truth.

'You always knew they were different. You respected their oddity's because you knew they had lived a different life then your own. Survived things you had only dreamed could happen. But its out of my hands now. The death of humans is my only concern. Not that of demons.'

I had argued with him, pleaded with him, hell, I had even threatened his life. But he had told me with certainty that there was nothing he could do, nothing could be changed. In a last ditch effort I had brought up questions on double souls, asking him point blank what happened when two souls joined together were destined for separate ends.

'Yes, Kurama's case was difficult, but sadly his soul was doomed from the beginning. He lived for a long time as Youko and though changed after becoming human he was still very much demon. There was nothing I could do.' He had stressed that point several times, trying to get it through my head that even though my friends, my comrades, had done things making them worthy of their next life, it was not to be.

'Their demon, and even if you liked them, fought with them, loved them like brothers, that doesn't change matters. Hiei and Kurama will face their judgment under demon standards, not human.'

I sunk further down as this last thought echoed through my head. I knew I would never see them again, and I knew why. It made perfect sense in my head, my now calculating brain telling me easily that I knew this and there was nothing I could do about it. But as everyone knows I don't think with my brain, and my heart rebelled fiercely at the notion that nothing could be done. They were doomed, they were gone, they had been such good friends. One last memory, long lost and forgotten, surfaced in my mind. Kurama's gentle alto calming my tortured soul even if it was just a memory.

'The only reason I ran from death was because it was the only thing left that frightened me. Youko knew only bits and pieces of what would happen when his spirit fled his body and he wanted none of it.' He had looked at me then, placing his soft hand atop mine. 'You have tasted death twice now, and my only hope is that your demon blood will not taint your pure soul. Live the life you have been, and you'll find only happiness in this life, and the next.'

I smile, damn kitsune, always thinking of others before himself. I laugh as the clearly Hiei born trait enters my head. The little demon had said his own brief, if slightly emotional speech to me. Trying to look like he didn't care but still get me to listen. It hadn't worked until now.

'I hated my life but I had no intentions of ending it sooner then I could help. I knew what lay beyond and wanted no piece of it.' He had snorted at this point, giving me a sharp glare and turned in a swirl of black cape. 'Why am I even telling you this? You never listen anyway.' Then he had disappeared, little bastard was way to impatient.

A cold feeling enters my hands and I finally open my eyes once more. The human race is on the verge of technology, small huts dotted liberally with stone houses. My fingers begin to tingle and I look down, watching disinterestedly as they fade away. I'm about to be reborn. My memory's fade, just as Koenma said they would. My childhood vanishes, first kiss stolen from my grasp as if I'm an altimers patient. My heart mourns the loss of feeling and I quickly calm it by coming to a conclusion. I would find a way to save my friends, give them the life they deserve. My tears disappear and a true smile grabs my lips and lights up my eyes.

I feel like my cocky old self again.

With a sigh of relief I let go. I'll find them again. And then they'll have a lot of fucking explaining to do as to why they didn't make it clearer for me. Don't they know that the famous Yusuke Urameshi doesn't give in, even when he knows its impossible.

Vaguely I hear my own laughs as I realize everything is going to be all right.

*****

What the fuck? Damn, I must be more tired then I thought.......Oh well, I'm not going to sleep yet. Hope you enjoyed the story. I know it was weird for me writing it.

See ya.

AlmightyShroom