Gravity

Sequel to Heaven's Not Enough

Been a long road to follow
Been there and gone tomorrow
Without saying goodbye to yesterday
Are the memories I hold still valid?

A/N: This sequel is more like an alternate ending for those of you who found my ending…less then satisfactory.
Enjoy.

The cold was no longer just nipping at our noses; it was biting them off. The only sound besides the harsh whistling wind was the choir of our chattering teeth. I felt my body want to freeze. I had the sudden desire to curl up into a ball and become a human Popsicle.

It was pitch black, which was a hard contrast to the bright, white snow.

I slowly turned my head around to make a count of bodies, simply to check up on them. I counted in my head, One…two…three…four…five, six, seven…eight…nine…nine…nine…nine?

I looked around. Who were we missing?

Let's see…Kuwabara…Keiko…Genkai…Shizuru…Puu…mom…Miyoko…Ryuichi…Hiei…wait…where is… Before I could think it, I shouted out which I soon found out burned my throat with hot ache, "Where's Tsukiko?"

Everyone stopped. Everyone looked around them, silently calling out her name.

Miyoko sniffed the air that probably froze in her sensitive nostrils and then whispered harshly, "Damn that foolish girl!" Without another word, she ran into the thick night air. The dark gray fox stopped and looked at the elder fox female before quickly bolting after her.

Us humans and the my over grown bird soul creature could only stare before Puu took after the foxes, soon followed by me and some of the others who were unlucky enough to have to walk in the snowy hell.

The snow was blowing fiercely at our sides, as we seemed to be losing at a race of time.

Slowly the shifty shadows seemed to disappear as the human's eyes focused on two still figures. Had they found Kurama? Will this madness finally end? As the two separated groups slowly remerged together, the groups froze, strongly resembling deer in headlights.

At first I didn't see what they were looking at, so I let my eyes follow their disturbed eyes to what they found so interesting. I slowly let my eyes focus as I stared at the two still forms that the snow slowly claimed.

My body froze, but not from the cold.

There in the snow lay the once lively yet mysterious ally of mine, on the ground in the fox form he had never shown us. On top of his body lay a fragile form with midnight blue fur.

Both forms were still.

I just stood there.

Like a freaking moron.

Just standing there, watching my friends.

Dead.

That's what they were.

Stone. Cold. Dead.

However, I don't really know what to consider the midnight blue, fiery tempered fox as. A friend? An ally? An acquaintance? Who knows? And who cares? I mean, she's annoying, loud mouth, and far too independent for her own good. However, she's also courageous, determined, and a protector. As much as I hate to say it, she reminds me of…me.

Anyway, getting back to the whole standing moron thing, the others already started off to the foxes, and finally my senses came back and I went after them. I felt my heart ache when I watched the family stand around the two fallen.

They were in their true forms, slowly lifting Tsukiko off of Kurama as the boy nudged her and tried whimpering her name. Then…a small whimper. Everyone moved to her as she wheezed a few uneasy breaths.

Ryuichi used his body as a crouch and slowly Tsukiko was lifted to her feet. She wobbled, and her legs were extremely shaky. Her eyes were slowly opening, though I knew that she was reluctant to wake up.

"Tsukiko…" Ryuichi whispered in his crisp voice, "Are…you okay?"

She coughed a bit, and the girls moved in closer to help support her. "Fine…it's just…Youko…"

Everyone turned to Miyoko. The poor woman…or fox…had her head to near Kurama, poking him with her black nose. Everyone held their breath. Would he wake? Perhaps he was just exhausted! Yeah, that must be it! There's no way he wouldn't be…

He didn't move. Didn't even stir.

Everyone watched the mother of the dead corpse. She slowly lowered her head.

It was obvious…she had her hopes up.

I noticed her eyes glazed over with wet tears that I bet were probably stinging her eyes in this cold. Then she slowly raised her head and let out the loneliest howl I have ever heard. Then Ryuichi joined in, followed by Tsukiko.

They were mourning. Mourning the death of Kurama. Mourning the death of Youko.

That's when I noticed the flowers. What were they? I could tell that the girls seemed to be mystified by them. Did these have something to do with Kurama? I wondered to myself.

As the cry of pain stopped after, I would guess, five minutes, I slowly spoke, "We should find shelter." The girls and Kuwabara turned to me, though Hiei and Genkai didn't do anything. "We can return to the shelter we went to the first night. Come on," I said slowly getting up and walking towards Kurama.

I could feel the foxes' eyes on me, daring me to make a false move toward Kurama. I slowly lifted him up, only to see what we couldn't see before. His body was stiff and was covered in frozen crystals. And his blood…was everywhere.

The place he laid was covered with the sickening red liquid. His side…it looked…ripped open. What happened to you…? I wondered. Then I noticed an almost useable trial of blood due to the flowers. How long did you walk with these wounds? Another unanswered question.

I silently ordered Puu over to help me lift my lifeless friend by looking the bird in the eye. Puu slowly moved around and squatted down so I could easily lift the guy onto his back.

And slowly, we all headed back to the cave.

To be honest, being around the foxes make me nervous. The way that they look at you in the eye when you talk, how their eyes seem to burn into yours as if searching for something. Their voices seem to be filled with emotion while their faces are void of emotion. Their voices seem to trial some kind of calming anger, as if they're just trying to tolerate your very existence.

But what's even worse then the sound of their voice, is when they don't speak. At all. The way back to the cave was quiet and…lonely. I began to think of Kurama and our memories.

When I was first given the mission to locate him, I thought he was going to be some kind of vicious selfish monster just wanting power.

Instead, I met a man with sorrow and pain. I didn't understand it, until I learned more about him. About his mother and how she was going to die. But soon, I learned more about him.

That all this negative energy, though he hid it well, didn't just come from a human woman. I learned about his life as a thief, and I thought that was all there was to it. I didn't know about his childhood or anything, but I didn't press him.

He is just like the flowers he seems to love. It takes time for them to open up and grow, and if you try to force their pedals to open, the flower breaks, never to be replaced.

As the cave came into view, everyone slowly crawled to it. No one ran for it. No one called that it was in view. No one said anything.

I knew, that soon we would be faced with more tears than snowflakes on the ground. Puu went in first and we helped him relieve himself of the dead weight on his back. Literally. We lowered him against a wall in the back as Keiko and Shizuru started a fire with the rest of the sticks we brought from the forest.

Looking at his body made me sick as my blood ran hot. I knew my face was turning red with anger and I turned away before I did something rash. I shouldn't try to pull something off in front of the grieving foxes, I thought to myself.

But I think back and wonder, what would I have done? Spit on the ground and ramp on about how I wish I could get my hands on Kurama's father? That wouldn't surprise me. The way I was back then.

The cave was soon filled a warm fire, lighting the cave's walls reveling brown stone for floors and walls. The humans were all around the fire, silent. The girl's cheeks were puffy and red, and I couldn't tell if that was from the cold or their crying. I glanced over to see the foxes all curled up next to Kurama's body. I would tell you more that happened to that, but I soon fell asleep.

I remember waking up with my toes cold and my nose running. Sniffling a couple times, I looked around. One…two…three…four…five, six, seven…eight…nine…nine…nine…nine? Not again! I sighed and began to look at who we had. Kuwabara…Keiko…Genkai…Shizuru…Puu…mom…Miyoko…Ryuichi…Tsukiko… I glanced around. Hiei? "Where did Hiei go?"

Keiko glanced up at me and spoke quietly with a hoarse voice, "He went to Spirit world to see about Kurama's soul." I mouthed an 'oh.'

I silently looked Keiko in the eyes and I knew we were thinking the same thing. It would soon be time for us to leave, but first we need to let everyone rest. It was an exhausting night and us humans can only go for so long.

What would his family do with the body? I wondered. Did foxes have a special kind of ritual or something? Maybe they just left the carcass to rot…no, I don't think they'd do that…then again, they seem pretty strict with their 'fox ways.' "I guess only time can tell…" I mumbled quietly to myself, as I too, slowly went back into a world of dreams, only to wake up the next day to depart.

Finally, it came into view. The portal for the Human world. Ryuichi was actually kind enough to guide us to Demon world. Of course he turned back before demon world, because he would be no use to us at Demon world.

As we slowly went into the black portal, I couldn't help but look back and think…I would probably never see this world again. Although I knew it wouldn't miss me, I knew I'd miss it. I know it sounds weird, but I can't help but think back at all of the memories I had there.

So many, far too many to think of in one sitting. I was glad though, that I got to meet Kurama's family. To see a true him, just before his death…

-Hello?…ha, fooled ya. Leave a message after the beep.–

-BEEP! –

"Yusuke? This is Keiko…Listen, I got a message from Botan that I'm supposed to give to you…it's urgent…please…just answer the phone! Atsuko! If you're drunk, please answer the phone! Don't think I don't know that you're there! Just sitting there on your ass! This is urgent! Ugh…fine, well, just call back!"

Out of all of the things in the world that I hate, it's probably the answering machines that I hate the most. I mean, anyone can just walk in, and listen to your messages. You can learn a lot about a person if you just listen to their messages. It's like a slap in the face if you think about the kind of messages you leave, if someone else were to hear it…but anyways, that's not the point. I got that message a week after the death of Kurama.

So as soon as I heard it, I ran to Keiko's house. Keiko never swore. Never. So I knew this was serious. Even though it was around midnight, I ran to her house. I was lucky that her parents know me so well, or else they might think that I was a creep. So when they let me in, I quickly ran to Keiko's room without an exclamation.

I slammed her door open and flipped on the light. It burned my eyes, and took a second for me to get my vision. Sometimes I'm a little rash when I'm in a hurry.

So after I regain my mind, I slowly shut the door. Then I slowly walk over to Keiko who had her head under the covers, moaning.

Gosh, the walls hurt my eyes! Pink. Who has pink walls? We were in college, and she still had pink walls. Gosh, sometimes she can be such a pain. I mean, even her bed sheets were pink. Her chair was white, her dresser was white with round white knobs with little golden flowers on them…I mean, I felt like as if I entered a five-year-old's room!

Well, I went up to Keiko and started to shake her. "Keiko…Keiko…" I was lucky it was a Friday, or else she would have killed me for being up this late on a school night.

"Wah…" She slowly opened her eyes, "Turn off the lights you freaking moron!" I didn't turn them off, but I helped her sit up. "I got your message."

She stopped rubbing her eyes and sat up still. I could see her eyes still trying to adjust and her back straightened up. She was starting to make me nervous…

"Yusuke…Kurama…he's alive."

---

I really thought about ending it there. I like this ending. But I might update a chapter just for the fun of it. Let me know what you think.

Did you enjoy the first chapter? Please review. Can't update without reviews! Please feel free to give opinions of things you want to see, differences I should make, and suggestions to anything else. But please, be friendly about it. Flames will be ignored.