Author's Note: Hey guys! Here's chapter eleven. Sorry for the wait. Between the end of this chapter giving me a hard time, the start of the next one, my trip to Boston and then to Georgia, and all the other exciting stories I've got floating around in my head this took longer than expected. Not to mention FFNET is seriously causing me some problems when it comes to logging in and getting the page to load. I can't even...
Anyways, thank you so much to everyone who's read so far and reviewed, favorited, and followed! It means so much to me and I hope you continue to do so. As always, enjoy. :3
Special thanks to my girl littlemija69 for posting this chapter for me.
Seriously, FFNET, get your shit together.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
When The Sun Goes Down
Chapter Eleven
Yusuke was yelling in his sleep. Ayumi sat up with a start at Yusuke's strangled yell and she hastily reached for the lamp on the side table and turned it on. His eyes were squeezed shut and his entire body was covered in a sheet of sweat, his teeth mashing together in pain as his body squirmed uncomfortably. He let out another strangled yell and Ayumi quickly shook his shoulder and called out to him, Yusuke gasping in shock as he woke up. His eyes frantically searched his surroundings and Ayumi watched as he let out a breath and relaxed as much as he could.
"Sorry," he muttered. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was starting to lose some of its color, and his bottom lip was beginning to crack and split. Ayumi got up from the futon and padded into the kitchen, coming back to his side only a moment later with a glass of ice water and helping him sit up enough to drink it. After nearly emptying the glass, he laid back down with a grunt.
"I'm sorry you're in so much pain," she told him quietly, wishing she could do more to help.
He peeked at her from half closed eyelids. "It's really not as bad as it seems. Grandma's caused a lot more damage than this." Ayumi didn't really know who 'grandma' was, but she didn't have time to ask before the doorbell rang. It was then that Ayumi noticed the dim blue light of morning. Letting out a soft noise of surprise she got up and opened the door a little, peeking her eyes out. A rather colorful woman with blue hair and lavender eyes greeted her, a friendly smile on her face.
"Well, hello there! You must be Ayumi," she said enthusiastically. Ayumi blinked a few times in confusion and didn't say anything, nor did she open the door any wider. "Oh! Silly me," the woman started, placing a hand over her mouth as she giggled into it. "I'm Botan!"
The name rung a bell but Ayumi couldn't quite remember where she heard it. "Who?"
"Well, you would probably know me better as the Grim Reaper," Botan answered casually. It clicked and Ayumi remembered the boys mentioning her and she opened the door completely, bowing to her and hiding the redness in her face. Now she knew why the boys were so vague about Ayumi's description about a black-cloaked skeleton carrying a large scythe. Ayumi noticed she was carrying a medium sized blue duffel bag that looked familiar.
After standing up, she smiled in a friendly greeting. "Nice to meet you." Botan placed a hand over her heart and tipped her head, her own version of a bow before holding out the duffel bag.
"You as well. I brought you some of your clothes!"
Ayumi was a little taken back by the wide grin on her face. Was she always this happy? "I see that. I'm not sure how you got into my apartment, but thank you. Come on in," Ayumi offered, watching the strange girl as she nearly bounced into the room. She set the duffel next to one of the single couches and hurried to Yusuke's side.
"Oh, you poor thing! You're not doing real well, are you?" she asked with a touch of concern. Ayumi shut the door and padded back over to the two of them.
She stepped up next to Botan just as Yusuke opened his eyes to glare at the ferry girl. "Don't say 'you poor thing' in that annoying whiny voice. And I've had better days," he said in response to her rhetorical question. Botan rolled her eyes.
"And here I was thinking you were in some real trouble. But I can see that since you're still perfectly capable of running that smart mouth then you're obviously just faking this whole thing," she insisted, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head to the side, her pony-tail falling over her shoulder. Ayumi stared at it in wonder, tuning out the conversation around her, never seeing anyone with blue hair before. She wondered if it was natural. She stepped back in momentary surprise when Botan's eyes were suddenly very close to her own.
Botan waved her hand frantically in front of Ayumi's face. "Earth to Ayumi!"
Ayumi blinked a few times and blushed, shaking her head to clear it a little. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" Botan didn't answer right away and instead seemed to be inspecting Ayumi's condition, which was a little nerve wracking.
Finally, with a coy smile, Botan responded. "Why don't you go take a shower and wake up a bit? Then we'll see about getting some breakfast. I don't typically have a physical body, and it's always so ravenous when I first get it."
Ayumi looked from Yusuke to Botan, and eventually shrugged. "Sure, I guess that sounds good. Thanks for the duffel." Ayumi picked up the bag and left for the bathroom. A shower would do her some good, after all.
"The boys have made it into the Necromancer's territory," Botan said quietly, sitting cross-legged down on the futon Ayumi had been sleeping on. Yusuke's eyebrows furrowed down in worry and he groaned, incredibly agitated about the whole situation.
"This whole thing is just complete bullshit."
"I know you're worried about them—" Botan started, Yusuke cutting her off a moment later.
"This guy is really strong, and what the fuck are they going to do if Demetri is there? Or Daisuke? Or both? I feel like I just sent my best friends to their deaths over this damn disease," he seethed, suddenly falling into a coughing fit. Sweat began to form over his skin, yet Yusuke felt he was freezing. Botan frowned and gently pressed her hand to Yusuke's head.
"You're burning up, Yusuke."
After he finished coughing, he accepted the rest of the water he had from Botan and finally fell back against the pillow with a groan. "Tell me something I don't know. I'm fucking freezing."
"You have to trust them."
Yusuke narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"
"Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara. You have to trust them, Yusuke. Do you remember what they went through when you died? How powerful they became?" she asked, hoping to make her point. Yusuke scowled and looked away from her, but didn't say anything. "You help them so much. You're always there for them and you're always the one fighting to save everyone. It's their turn, and they're happy to do it. You have to trust that they can handle themselves, especially when it's your life on the line. They won't give up, and neither should you," she finished with determination in her voice. Yusuke looked at her through narrowed eyes and mumbled something inappropriate. Botan just giggled behind her hand. "I'm going to assume that's your sickness talking, because I know your normal sweet self would never say something so mean." She completely ignored his death glare.
Ayumi finished getting dressed and started brushing her hair out, not really seeing what she was doing despite looking in the mirror. Her mind was a million miles away at the moment. Everything still felt like a dream to her, like it wasn't real, or like it was happening to someone else. With a quiet scoff Ayumi discarded the notion. This was happening to her whether she liked it or not, and right now she was sitting here brushing her hair while Yusuke was slowly being turned into some kind of zombie and the other boys were off to fight the head of this zombie army. She suddenly set her brush down a little harder than she meant to, glaring at the offending item. She needed to be doing something more useful.
She held her hands out in front of her, palms up, and concentrated. She remembered what Yusuke had told her about spirit energy and how he brought it out. For him, it was like pulling everything he had into his pointer finger and then pulling the trigger in his mind. He told her it would be different for her in detail, but at least it was the same concept. She concentrated on her hands, focusing on how she felt and pulling it towards her hands. Or at least trying to.
With a scowl she marched out of the bathroom and straight into the kitchen, ignoring Botan and Yusuke's curious stares at her as she mumbled and began banging around the kitchen to make breakfast. She was fairly certain they were thinking she was crazy, and maybe she was and if not she was certainly getting there, but she was just frustrated. She tried not to dwell on it as she went about her routine of making breakfast, trying to get lost in what she was doing. Twenty minutes later and she had her breakfast and Botan's breakfast laid out in front of her. She stepped back in front of Yusuke.
"Do you have an appetite?" she asked. His eyes were dull and he looked exhausted. "Didn't think so. I'll get you some water, try to go back to sleep," she said quietly. She left him for a moment and came back with another glass of ice water, helping him sit up to drink as much as he could handle at the moment. She set it on the side table and then left him to rest, sitting at the table with Botan. The ferry girl leaned towards her plate and closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of the food and making an appreciative hum in the back of her throat.
"This smells amazing," she started. "I can't tell you the joy I get out of being able to eat food again."
Ayumi raised an eyebrow at this. "How long do you usually go without food?" Botan seemed to be thinking about it for a moment.
"Well, I've had food a lot more than I normally would ever since I started working with Yusuke; I've had to take on a human body a lot more than usual. But, the longest stretch I went was three hundred years." Botan then dug into her food, humming in delight and completely missing Ayumi's wide stare.
"You're three hundred years old?" she whispered, her brain not quite grasping this. Koenma was hundreds of years old, Kurama was hundreds of years old, and now this girl who looked to be only a few years older than Ayumi herself was telling her that she was hundreds of years old too?
"I'm five hundred and forty-five, actually."
Ayumi was pretty sure her brain just broke. "Uh-huh," she said stupidly, finally turning to her food and beginning to eat. "I do have a few questions for you, Botan. If that's alright," she finished. Botan looked up at her, blinking a few times in wonder. She smiled then and nodded.
"Sure! I'll answer what I can. After breakfast of course," she said with a giggle.
"The energy this guy is giving off…not to mention the stench…is going to be a serious problem," Kurama stated, his hands on his knees. All three fighters felt like the closer they got the more drained they felt, and like a chilly cold sweat had crept up their spines and into their brains. It was derailing and a pain. Kuwabara shivered again as an intense 'tickly' feeling crawled all over him. He was far more than creeped out.
"We gotta keep going," he said between clenched teeth. "Don't give up on us."
Kurama chuckled a little. "I assure you Kuwabara, I am not going anywhere."
"And what about you, shorty?" Kuwabara asked, turning to look at Hiei. The hiyoukai was bridling at the cold and letting his youki roll off of him in waves in an attempt to keep himself warm. Unfortunately, this problem was an internal one that wasn't so easily fixed. Still, he glared ahead and didn't answer Kuwabara, stalking forward. They were coming up on the cave entrance. The three of them stood at the mouth of the cave as wave after wave of energy rolled out of the cave, covering everything in a sticky feeling and stench. Hiei gagged behind his cowl. He was so sick of this shit. He let out a fierce snarl and ripped off his bandana. The Jagan opened up wide and glowed blue. He searched for the only living mind within the cave and instantly found it, the mind standing out like a flame against the darkness. Hiei's consciousness tugged on it, catching its attention.
'Why have you come?' the Necromancer asked, his voice hardly above a whisper and moving like a snake within Hiei's brain.
'You have something I want,' came Hiei's curt reply. Kuwabara, unaware of Hiei's connection, tried to reach out to him to ask what was going on. Kurama's hand caught his wrist and he shook his head.
"They are speaking. Let Hiei concentrate," Kurama said quietly, releasing Kuwabara's wrist.
'You want the cure.'
'No, that's not good enough. Not now. I want your life.'
A wispy laugh resounded in Hiei's head. 'Such hostility from such a young one.'
'I'm also very violent for such a young one. You've awoken from whatever hole you've been hiding in, you've been infecting my home with your foul stench and creatures, those same creatures have come after me three times now, and unfortunately for you the dagger with your infectious disease on it infected the wrong man. And that is unforgivable. There is no getting around it. You will die.'
There was silence for a while, Aruku-shitai contemplating Hiei's words. 'You are strong for someone so young. You have a purpose in wanting my death. That is noble. But you are also naïve and stupid. Ignorant, like a baby. I will allow you your chance, little one. You, the human, and the spirit fox may all come to me now. I will show you how the world really works,'the voice started. There was another laugh. 'I will even open the door for you.'
The connection was cut and the energy coming from the mouth of the cave suddenly stopped, the stench dissipating enough so it was tolerable. Kuwabara let out a deep breath and put his own hands on his knees now, panting like Kurama had been earlier, but f or a different reason. The three ventured into the cave, letting the darkness swallow them.
"Oh sweet relief," Kuwabara said; glad that he could stand up straight now that he had his energy back.
"What exactly did he say anyways?" Kurama asked, curious. Hiei looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"The short version?" Hiei asked, earning a nod from Kurama. Hiei's lips turned up into a very small smile. "That we're all going to die."
Kuwabara scoffed. "Don't they ever have anything else to say?" He was feeling pumped now and ready to fight. "I don't know what you said to him, Hiei, but thanks." Hiei finally looked at Kuwabara, a look of puzzlement on his face. "What's that look for?" Kuwabara asked.
"Do not thank me, fool. I may have just signed your death warrant."
