Dream: …for once I have nothing to say…
Kurama: OMG! IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!
Freckles: Take it easy Kurama; she's experiencing a lack of sugar.
Kurama: oh, in that case… *hands dream a jar of marshmallow fluff*
Freckles: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dream: *anime heart shaped eyes* MARSHMALLOW FLUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LUV MARSHMALLOW FLUFF MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hugs jar*
Kurama: …more than me?
Dream: *rubbing head on jar* you say something strange redheaded person whose name I can't seem to remember?
Kurama: T_T you do love that fluff more than me…
Dream: *off in her own little happy world with her fluff* ^_^
Freckles: Don't worry; it'll pass once she eats the fluff.
Dream: *horrified* NO! I MUST PROTECT MY FLUFF!
Dariken: *takes jar and eats the fluff* Mm…fluffiness…
Dream: T_T I wanted to eat that…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The guards opened the gates and let the group pass into the busy main street of the city…
"SHIMATTA!!!!!! IT'S FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Autumn yelled as they stepped inside the city.
"Did you just say 'damn it' in Japanese?" Kurama asked.
"Yep, I heard you say it to Shuuichi that time he rode his bicycle through your garden yelling 'destroy the plants of doom!'"
"What else did he say?" Arielle asked.
"Well…he said a lot of things but the other ones that I picked up were 'kutabare' which means fu…"
Kurama put his hand over Autumn's mouth, "Don't say that!"
"Kurama! And here we thought you were the nice one…" Yusuke shook his head.
Autumn pulled away from Kurama, "And I learned 'che' and…"
Kurama
put his hand over her mouth again, "Ok, that's enough…"
"Stop doing that!!!!" Autumn
said as she pulled Kurama's hand away again.
The others were laughing. Autumn looked around, "No wonder it's freezing! All these buildings are made of ice!"
The others looked around as well. The buildings all around them were made of ice and the road was made of the same kind of light colored crystal that the crystal feather was made of. The hole place shone in the sunlight.
"Why doesn't it melt?" Margaret asked.
"There's an ancient spell protecting this place that keeps the ice from melting." Tenka explained. He then started walking down the road in the direction of the castle. As they approached it he turned down a side street on the left.
"Aren't we going to go to the castle?" Yusuke asked.
"Yes, but we're going to visit an old friend of mine first. You need to look nice in order to get an audience with the rulers." Tenka replied.
"What do you mean 'look nice'?" Autumn narrowed her eyes.
"I mean nicer clothes for the guys and dresses for the girls."
"DRESSES?!? NUH-UH! NO WAY! I AM NOT WEARING A DRESS!!!" Autumn yelled. Margaret and Arielle nodded agreement.
"Why not? You'd look nice in a dress." Thorn said.
"I don't care how I'd look! Dresses are EVIL!" Autumn replied.
"How about a skirt, then?" Tenka asked.
"Why can't we just go like this???" Arielle asked.
"Just wear the dress, how bad could it possibly be?" Kurama put his hand on Autumn's shoulder.
Autumn glared at him, "Have you ever worn a dress? No? Then keep out of this!"
"I was just saying…"
"KUTABARE!!!" Autumn yelled.
"I'm sure you'd like to…" Yusuke smirked before getting whacked in the head with a bucket that Autumn had found on the ground.
"We're here!" Tenka said as he stood in front of a large two story house. The bottom half was a clothes store. He walked in followed by the others. Yusuke was rubbing his head and muttering curses at Autumn. Tenka pulled down his hood and looked around, "Hello?"
A tall demon with floppy brown rabbit ears and light blue hair stepped out from the back room. He was wearing a male style kimono that was similar to Tenka's only black. (A.N: I fergot to mention it b4, Tenka's wearing a light blue one and Japanese sandals) "Hello! Welcome to…" The demon stopped when he saw Tenka.
"Hiya, Hyoushou! (He-yo-show-u) Remember me?" Tenka smiled.
"T…T…TENKA??? But…you're dead! I saw your body getting burned as a sacrifice to the ancestors!"
"THEY DID WHAT WITH MY BODY???" Tenka yelled.
Hyoushou blinked, "They said that you had been killed because you were a corrupt ruler and then they burned your body to beg for the forgiveness of the ancestors…"
"I can't believe it!!!! First they hire an assassin to kill me and then they openly insult me in front of everyone by burning my body!!!" Tenka yelled.
"So…if you're dead…how and why are you here?" Hyoushou studied the rest of the group curiously.
"Oh, well I was reborn as a domestic rabbit in Ningenkai. Eventually wound up living with this psycho over here…" Tenka pointed his thumb at Autumn, she waved. "…over the summer we got involved in one of the Reikai Tantei's missions. Now, they're on another mission and I got dragged here by a witch who tried to kill me and accidentally changed me back into a demon."
Hyoushou whistled, "Sounds fun. If you want to get an audience with the new rulers you'll have to get these people to dress nicely."
"Here we go again with the dress nicely crap!" Autumn crossed her arms.
A female rabbit demon with white hair and white ears popped up out of nowhere next to Autumn. The demon was taller than Autumn by a bit and was wearing a female style orange kimono. Her brown eyes studied Autumn curiously, "You don't seem to be a proper lady…A proper lady wouldn't say that!"
"I don't give a damn about being a proper lady!" Autumn said as she tried to get over the shock of having the demon just appear out of nowhere.
The demon shook her head and pulled on one of Autumn's sweatshirt sleeves, "What in the world are you wearing? This is most definitely not a proper garment for a lady to wear!"
"Hello? Are you deaf? What did I just say?" Autumn pulled her arm away from the rabbit demon.
The demon walked around her in a circle. "Hmm…If you weren't wearing that you would probably be a pretty human… (A.N: just going by what one of my friends told me, I don't think I'm pretty)"
"That's too bad; I like what I'm wearing."
"I've got just the thing for you!" The demon smiled.
"You weren't listening to a thing that I said, were you?" Autumn's eye twitched.
The demon then moved on to inspect the other girls. Arielle gave the demon a death glare when it was her turn to be inspected. Once the demon was finished she smiled brightly at Margaret, Autumn, and Arielle, "You three aren't all that bad looking for humans. And you…" she turned to Thorn, "You definitely know what to wear to attract positive attention. Follow me into the back room where I will give you proper clothing!"
Thorn pushed the three human girls into the room before they could protest. Hyoushou called after the girls, "Don't be too picky, Fuyu!"
Tenka laughed, "Autumn looked about ready to kill someone!"
"She'll probably kill me…" Yusuke rubbed his head again.
"This should be interesting…" Dariken chuckled as he heard yelling coming from behind the door where the girls went.
"Now, as for you guys…" Hyoushou looked them up and down. He pointed at Kurama, who was wearing his white outfit, "His outfit is fine." He looked at Hiei, "…I guess that's ok…" He looked at Jin and Touya, "Yeah…" He then looked at Yusuke, "Definitely not." He then came to Dariken, "No." Finally, he came to Kuwabara and took a step back with a look of pure horror on his face, "OH DEAR GOD! WHAT IS THAT???"
Everyone started laughing. Kuwabara looked angry. Tenka sighed, "Unfortunately, that is one of the Reikai Tantei…"
Hyoushou frowned, "Well, it would be disrespectful to put a bag over his head…"
That caused more laughter to erupt from the group. Kuwabara was fuming, "WHAT??? I'M NOT UGLY!!!!"
Everyone was doubled over laughing at him. After a while the guys were standing around waiting for the girls to be done. Dariken had on an outfit similar to Youko Kurama's only black. Yusuke had on a green outfit that looked a lot like his school uniform and Kuwabara had on an outfit like his uniform and a hat that cast a shadow on his face so it could barely be seen.
"What's taking them so long?" Kuwabara whined.
"You know girls. They're probably putting on makeup or something." Yusuke crossed his arms.
Tenka was talking with Hyoushou about the years since he was gone. Hyoushou had given Tenka a cloak to hide his features. The door opened and Thorn walked out in her yin-yang skirt and long sleeved shirt (chap.4). She was dragging a very pissed off Autumn out of the doors. Autumn was wearing a Japanese style dress that went down to her ankles. It was blue like her eyes and had white roses on it at the bottom. She was wearing the rose necklace that Youko had given Phantom. Her hair had basically been left alone.
Arielle came next similarly dressed except her dress was black with flames and she had been given a decorative sword thing to carry around. She was smiling because of the sword.
Margaret came out dressed in the same kind of dress (A.N: -_- I don't feel creative today). Hers was black with a red dragon at the bottom. She had also been given a sword. All three of them were wearing Japanese sandals.
Fuyu closed the doors after them. Thorn pulled Autumn over to Kurama and stood her in front of him, "Well? What do you think? I wanted to do something special with her hair but she threw the brush at me and threatened my life…"
Kurama smiled as he looked at Autumn. He heard Youko whistle in his head. Autumn fidgeted because of the silence. Kurama took out a white rose and put it in her hair, "You look great."
"Doncha think that's kind of over doing the roses thing a bit? And…thanks…" Autumn blushed and looked down.
Margaret and Arielle both walked over to Hiei while glaring at each other. Hiei glared at both of them, he didn't feel like being the center of an argument again. Jin grabbed Margaret's hand and pulled her over to him, "You look really nice, Margaret!" He smiled. She smiled back. Arielle looked at Hiei, he blinked and blushed slightly.
Yusuke smiled at Arielle and Hiei, "That's his way of saying he likes what you're wearing."
Tenka walked over to Autumn, "There that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"This reminds me of that time I had to get blood drawn when I was little and the nurse said that very same thing to me while I was crying hysterically." Autumn said.
"I'm just glad I survived! Autumn was about to bash my skull in with her chair when I said I wanted to put makeup on her." Thorn was saying to Dariken.
"And then you thought better of it, and I let you live." Autumn nodded.
"You're a tomboy, aren't you?" Yusuke asked.
Autumn gave Yusuke a death glare and turned to Arielle, "Arielle, can I borrow your sword?"
Yusuke whimpered and hid in a corner. Kurama laughed. Dariken looked at the girls, "Why do you two have swords?"
Fuyu smiled, "They're for decoration and also just in case the rulers find out about Tenka. They'll need some protection."
"What about her?" Touya pointed at Autumn.
"She didn't want one." Fuyu said.
"She doesn't need one! Anything is a weapon for her!" Yusuke called over from his corner.
"I'll protect her." Kurama put his arm around Autumn.
Autumn felt Phantom's anger, 'I can take care of us!' I'm sure you can, but not without revealing our secret! 'They'll find out soon enough, anyway…' What do you mean? '…' Hello?
"Onward! To the castle!" Tenka pointed out the door and started walking. The group soon followed after him. They walked for a while before finally coming to the gates of the castle. They explained who they were to the guards and were soon led into a large room lit by those glowing crystals from the mountain. There was a large round table with five rabbit demons sitting around it. Each was dressed in a male version kimono.
One of them, dressed in light blue, arched an eyebrow at them, "So, you're the Reikai Tantei?"
"Yes." Kurama gave a slight bow and motioned for the others to do the same.
Another of the five demons spoke up, "State your business."
Kurama had been elected as the speaker because he was the most polite. "We have come here to ask if you or your esteemed colleagues had any information regarding the whereabouts of the kitsune known as Phantom Harmony." He said.
Kuwabara had a clueless expression on his face. Yusuke was blinking. Tenka scowled at hearing the five being praised like that.
A third, dressed in black, looked around at the members of the group, "Was it necessary to bring such a large group?"
"Yes, sir, every member of our group is important for finding Phantom." Kurama said.
The second, dressed in red, was curious, "If I'm not mistaking, Phantom has been missing for over a century. Why start looking for her now?"
"It has recently come to Koenma's attention that the four remaining Mist Mountain Kitsune are in grave danger. Three of them have already been located and put under surveillance." Kurama replied.
"What makes you think that we know anything about her whereabouts?" A demon dressed in green asked.
"Well, we were informed that before she disappeared she often spent time here in this city. Surely someone must have some information about where she went or at least some information about her that can be used to track her down?" Kurama asked politely.
'He makes it sound like we're being hunted…' We are, baka. 'You do realize that you just called yourself stupid as well?' yup! Isn't it great? 'Stop acting like an idiot.' But I am an idiot! 'No, stop that. NOW!' fine… Autumn was having a little conversation with herself to pass the time.
"Yes, she did spend quite a bit of time here. That was only because of Lord Tenka. The two of them had formed an alliance against us." The fifth, dressed in purple said with obvious dislike.
Tenka tensed. Autumn arched an eyebrow, they seem…paranoid…
"I believe Phantom had said she was going on a quest to find out the truth about her life. She wanted to find a way to relieve herself of the grief of losing her family. She also said something about getting away from 'that idiot of a boss' once and for all. I seriously doubt that you'll find her if she doesn't want to be found." The first said.
"She was clever and never one to fall into a trap. She was also a strong fighter. However, she did have one weakness." The third paused to be dramatic, "Her right ear. It had a piece missing from it and it hurt her whenever something touched it."
"You might try looking in the Temple of Storms for more information. It's located behind the waterfall where the four rivers begin. Tenka often brought Harmony there to cheer her up. I think the squirt might have had a crush on her." The fifth smirked.
"I DID NOT! SHE WAS LIKE A MOTHER TO ME!!!" Tenka blurted out before he realized what he was saying, "Oops…"
"WHAT??? TENKA???" The five yelled at the same time as they all stood up.
Tenka smiled and removed his hood, "Hi guys!"
"GUARDS!" One of the five called.
"Run!" Kurama said as he grabbed Autumn's hand and started running toward the door. Autumn grabbed Tenka. The others were running as well. They stopped to hide at Hyoushou's shop. They all got into their original clothes before running off again. They were able to make it out of the city and into the forest. It was already starting to get dark.
"Ya just had to go and open your big mouth didn't you?" Autumn glared at Tenka. They were all resting in a small clearing.
"Sorry…" Tenka's ears drooped in shame.
"Well, at least we got some information." Yusuke panted.
"Hey Kurama, how come you knew how to talk to them like that?" Kuwabara asked.
"It's called showing respect, Kuwabara." Kurama answered.
"You showed those five much more respect than they deserve…" Tenka muttered.
"Well, let's go to the Temple of Storms!" Thorn said pointing off into the distance.
"It took me and Harmony at least six hours to get from the city to the temple. But then, it took Harmony less than twenty minutes to get from her house to the city… So it should take us about a day or so to get there considering that there'll be a lot of rocks and things…" Tenka said cheerily.
"Great…" Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"That means that I'll be separated from my Yukina for longer!" Kuwabara whined. Everyone imagined Yukina in a party hat dancing and throwing streamers everywhere.
"Quit your whining and start walking!" Dariken said.
"I could sing to pass the time…" Tenka suggested.
"NO!!!!!!!!" Everyone said at the same time. Tenka pouted and started leading the way to the temple.
They walked on until it was around ten PM. They then made camp.
"Just try not to wake everyone up again tonight, kiddo." Dariken patted Autumn on the head.
She smiled, "K." Watch shifts were assigned. Hiei and Kurama had the midnight watch shift.
Kurama was watching Autumn sleep. Hiei scowled, "Must you act like a lovesick fool, Kurama?"
"But Hiei, I am a lovesick fool." Kurama smiled.
"You should be focusing on the mission, not on her."
"Did you forget that she is the mission, Hiei?"
Hiei was silent. He started watching the campfire. Kurama continued watching Autumn sleep. He frowned when he heard her whimper a bit. Her face took on a look of confusion and pain.
"She's dreaming again?" Hiei asked.
"Probably…" Kurama sighed.
~*~Autumn's dream (aren't they just lovely?):
Phantom's eyes were shut as she felt the pain from the cut in her ear. Her blood was flowing down her fur. It mingled with her sister's on the ribbon. The demon laughed and threw the piece of her ear into the nearby lake. She couldn't open her right eye because she knew that blood would get in it. Instead she opened her left to glare at him.
He smirked, "What's that? Is that hope that I see in your eye? What hope do you have now? Tell me, how can you still be hopeful? Tell me!" He shook the small fox's body (A.N: I probably should've said this earlier but she's about the size of an adult house cat.).
Phantom could feel her strength draining. She knew she was going to faint from the blood loss. She started to gather up all her energy in order to try and save her own life. As the demon prepared to cut off her tail she struck. Purple foxfire burst into existence on both his hands. He dropped the dagger in the ashes and then threw Phantom into the lake.
"Shimatta! Ah oh well, how much of a difference could one little fox make in my plans?" The demon's words were the last things Phantom heard before passing into unconsciousness.
When she opened her eyes she saw a clear blue sky above her. She blinked, did I die? She rolled over and looked around. She was on the mountain where the crystal's shrine was located. Her fur was clean and her ear was bandaged up. The ribbon was still around her neck and it was shining in the sunlight.
"Good, you're awake." A gentle voice said from behind her. She turned quickly and saw a large white wolf looking down at her.
Her ears fell back in fear. The wolf smiled, "Don't be afraid, little one. I didn't save your life just to kill you."
"You…saved my life?"
"Yes. When the demon threw you into the lake I dove in after you. He didn't see me because of the illusion I cast on myself. That was very brave of you to take on that demon by yourself. Brave and stupid."
"Oh gee thanks." Phantom rolled her eyes.
The wolf laughed, "You're a feisty little vixen, aren't you?"
"Don't call me that!"
"Why not? It's true; you are a female fox…"
"Who are you?" Phantom changed the subject.
"I, little dove, am Kumo."
"Little dove?" Phantom was surprised to hear someone other than her mother call her that.
As if reading her thoughts, Kumo replied. "I was a friend of your mother's, Harmony."
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"About twelve hours."
"I have to warn them about the demon!" Phantom tried to run but Kumo had her paw on the fox's tail.
"They won't listen. The only thing you can do is fight him yourself."
"Me…fight…him…? But you yourself said that that was a stupid thing for me to do!"
"Yes, because you didn't have any fighting experience. You've got great potential and I intend to teach you as much as I can in the next two days."
"We don't have time!"
"The demon will destroy another village tonight, then another tomorrow night. We cannot help them, but hopefully I can teach you enough so that you'll be able to help the final village. First things first, change into your half-human form."
"What for?" Phantom had only been in her half-human form a few times before. The Mist Mountain Kitsune only used that form during special ceremonies. The ceremony where that demon had been presented with his pendant was one of those.
"It'll be easier for you to fight him." Kumo explained as she herself changed to her human form. She was wearing an all white outfit (Think Youko Kurama's) and had her long white hair pulled back behind her. Her emerald green eyes were bright and full of wisdom. She had two white wolf ears on her head and a long white wolf tail swishing behind her.
Phantom took off her ribbon and changed to her half-human form as well. She looked like a teenager and, little did she know, that wouldn't change. She was wearing a black version of Kumo's outfit. Kumo shook her head and held out new clothes to Phantom. (A.N: this is gonna be hard to describe…It'd be so much easier just to show the picture I drew… it's kinda like Kurama's outfit during his fight against Karasu) The top was like a dress. It was light blue in color and had long sleeves that would probably cover her hands. There was a gold trim that went from the left side of her neck across to her right arm and another trim that went from the right side of her neck down to the other trim. There was a slit in the dress like garment that went up to her hips on both sides and in the back. There was also a black pair of pants similar to the ones she was already wearing and a golden colored fabric belt to go with it. She quickly changed and stood admiring herself in the lake.
Kumo laughed a little at the fox's reaction, "Typical teenager."
Phantom's tail was sticking out through the slit in the back of the top. She picked up her ribbon and tied it around her tail where the fabric was, "So, what are you going to teach me?"
"How to use your spirit energy as a weapon. First things first, pick anything in this clearing that you want to use as a weapon."
Phantom looked around. She considered all the plants but her eye was caught by a pretty blue feather. She picked it up, "I want to use this."
"It'll be harder to manage than a plant but I'm sure that you can handle it." Kumo smiled. For the rest of the two days Phantom was taught how to defend herself, attack, and use her spirit energy effectively. By the evening of the third day since her village was destroyed Phantom was able to beat Kumo in a spar. Her ear had, for the most part, healed and the bandages had been removed. She saw the glow of flames coming from the final mountain and quickly ran off in that direction after thanking Kumo.
Phantom was saddened to find that so many of the kitsune on that mountain had already been killed. After a while she started thinking that they had all been killed. She then heard laughing in the distance and ran in its direction. She hid behind a tree and looked out. The demon had an old grey fox with nine tails cornered against a rock.
"Ninikinaki, you old fool! Do you really think that you can beat me?"
Ninikinaki sighed and looked at the ground, "Harmony was right about you…"
"Yes, Harmony was a smart girl. She was the only one who realized that I was up to something. It's too bad."
"You killed her?"
"I've killed all of them. You're the only one left, not including those two that went on a journey two years ago but they're probably dead. Now, prepare yourself to die like all the others!" The demon prepared himself to strike.
"Stop this madness at once!" Phantom commanded as she stepped out of the shadows.
Both demons blinked in surprise at her. The dragon demon's frown turned into a smirk as he looked the fox over. "Who do we have here?"
"You don't recognize me?" Phantom pointed at her ear.
The demon looked stunned. "Harmony???"
Phantom shook her head, "No. You will address me as Phantom from now on."
"I thought you were dead." The demon was moving ever so slowly towards her hoping she wouldn't notice.
She did and chose to ignore it. Instead she readied her feather for an attack. "I did to, but it was not my time to die."
"Well now is!" The demon called as he lunged at her.
Phantom jumped out of his way and was now standing on the rock that Ninikinaki was standing against. She held her feather in front of her and closed her eyes. The feather started to glow a light purple color. She swung the feather through the air as if it were a sword. A shower of sparkles fell from it as she swung it. She then held it in front of her again only this time it wasn't a feather. It was a long silver sword. The hilt was the same sky blue as the feather and it appeared to be in the shape of a pair of wings. There was a sapphire stone set into its base.
Both demons gawked at her. The dragon demon spoke angrily, "How did you learn to do that?"
"I was taught by a friend." Phantom replied simply before jumping down to stand in front of Ninikinaki.
The dragon charged at her. She stepped aside and hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword sending him crashing into the ground. He recovered quickly and slashed at her. She sidestepped and hit the sword out of his hand with the flat side of her sword. She then took the offensive and attacked him. She cut off the tip of his tail and gave him many serious injuries during the fight while she was only scratched a few times.
The dragon stood panting and holding his bleeding side, "I don't understand…I should be able to beat you…I have the spirits of the other kitsune with me…"
"You may have their spirits, but their hearts are with me. They won't aid you in harming me."
"Kutabare!" The dragon yelled. He then took off running toward the exit. Phantom blocked his path. He remembered his wings and took off into the air.
"Come back here, coward!" Phantom yelled as she watched him fly away with the amulet and her family's spirits.
Ninikinaki walked over to her. "You have done well, Harmony."
"Not well enough, we are the only ones left and I was not able to release their spirits…"
"You are still young. There is only so much one can do while young. Perhaps, over time, you will be able to find that amulet and release those spirits. Until then, you must follow your heart and all will occur as it should."
"Perhaps. First, things first, I must find my idiot brother and tell him that Mother and Melody are gone. Ninikinaki?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't tell anyone exactly what happened here. Tell them that it was fire that killed our friends. If anyone were to find out about the amulet it would be tragic."
"I understand."
"Good." With that Phantom turned around and walked down the mountain and into the forest away from the mountains. She never once looked back.
~*~
Autumn opened her eyes slowly and looked around. Hiei and Kurama were still on watch duty. Tenka was curled up next to her sleeping peacefully. The others were around sleeping as well. She sat up carefully so as not to wake Tenka and yawned.
Kurama looked surprised, "Autumn? What are you doing awake?"
"Don't know. I just…woke up."
"I thought you were having another dream…"
"I was."
"And?"
"And then I woke up." Autumn smirked as she saw Kurama roll his eyes.
"Must you be so difficult?"
"Yes, I must."
Hiei shook his head and muttered something that sounded like 'baka kitsune.'
"What was your dream about?" Kurama asked.
"The same thing the other dreams were about."
Kurama growled, "Answer my questions! What happened in the dream?"
"Well, if you wanted to know that, you should've said so!" Autumn laughed.
"Obviously, it wasn't a bad dream, since she's so perky…" Hiei mumbled from the other side of the fire.
Kurama sighed, "Are you going to answer the question or not?"
"No, I don't think I will…"
Youko took over without Kurama transforming. He pounced on Autumn. They rolled on the ground laughing until Kurama was pinning her down, "Answer my question!"
"Alright, alright! Sheesh! Just get off of me and I'll tell you!"
Kurama smiled smugly as he sat back down. Autumn pulled some leaves out of her hair as she told them everything that happened in the dream.
"Interesting…" Kurama looked thoughtful.
"That's great! Now the prophecy can finally be fulfilled!" Tenka said sitting up.
"How long have you been awake?" Autumn asked.
"Since you and Kurama were rolling around on the ground. I thought you were doing something naughty…"
"So did I." Hiei said. Autumn and Kurama (Not Youko anymore) blushed.
"What prophecy?" Autumn asked suddenly.
"Oh, um…" Tenka blinked.
"Well?" Autumn crossed her arms.
"Well, you see… Before Harmony disappeared she visited an oracle. The oracle told her that in order for her to be able to find the amulet and destroy it her spirit would have to be in perfect harmony. She was confused so the oracle clarified by saying that grief stricken as she was she wouldn't be able to touch the amulet without being corrupted by its power. Harmony called herself Phantom because she felt like a phantom of her former self. Well, her former self had been buried deep in her soul and she couldn't reawaken it as she was. She then set out on her journey to find the peace of spirit that she needed. For the sake of making it easier to understand let's call the hidden part Harmony and the rest of the spirit Phantom. Phantom realized that harmony was the part of her spirit that was most like a human child so she became the spirit of an unborn human child and sure enough the Harmony part of spirit became the child's personality…"
Autumn pointed at herself, "You mean that I'm the Harmony part of Phantom's spirit?"
Tenka smiled, "That you are, Autumn! That's the reason that Phantom kept her memories from you. She didn't want to shatter your happy go lucky attitude. Those hidden memories have been creating an imbalance between both parts of your spirit…"
"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.
Tenka turned to him, "Well, with you and Youko it's different. You have all of Youko's memories and he ahs all of yours. Both of you feel what the other feels and know everything about each other. Phantom's been hiding memories from Harmony so that created a situation where the two are almost different spirits entirely. That would have eventually driven Harmony insane and who knows what would've happened!"
"Is that why she's been having those dreams?" Hiei was very interested in this whole thing.
"Yes, the dreams were an overlapping of Harmony's and Phantom's spirits. Once Autumn regains all of Phantom's memories they will be in perfect harmony and will wind up much like Kurama. The dreams could only help her regain so much memory; the rest will come as she sees things that Phantom once saw."
"This is kind of making my head hurt…" Autumn said.
Tenka started to talk about random things with Kurama and Hiei. Autumn soon fell asleep leaning on Kurama's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and held her close while she slept.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dream: Well, that's all folks!
Freckles: Start writing the next chapter, NOW!
Dream: I was planning to…
Kurama: That chapter was the longest yet…
Dream: YAY! LET'S HAVE A
PARTY!!!!!!!!!!
Freckles: Let's not and say we did…
Dream: *off in her own little happy party world* ^_^
List of Japanese words used in this chapter:
Shimatta – damn it
Kutabare – f*** you!
Che – shit
Disclaimer: I do not own Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yusuke, Jin, Touya,
Koenma, etc. the other characters in this fic I do
own.