The Significance of Cherries
Chapter 2~
Part I-
Warm Feelings and Shifting Shadows
AN: I have returned with our second… much longer installment of our soon to be a fairly long story. This is really more preparation for part two, but there were things to explain… I've made a decision that if I ever submit a work to ff.net, it's gonna be completely done before I do. Saves on stress and writer's block.
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is copyrighted to Yoshihiro Togashi.
Kuwabara floated aimlessly in an endless see of black. He was well used to this by now, teetering just on the edge of consciousness. He floated there, waiting… no, waiting wasn't the word, 'waiting' implies expectation. The word could be… angry.
Angry at what? Nothing in particular really, there was no target to be angry at in the darkness. He was just, angry. He was always angry in the dark, and when he awoke, it lingered for a split second, and then was forgotten. Kuwabara floated angry… angry… angry… Light crackled across the abysmal plane for only a moment as a thought ignited, and ran like hell through the anger.
'Odd…' Kuwabara became 'aware' slowly of the length of time spent in the Nothing. He could see and understand the scar the thought had made on the Nothing. There was a long silence before multiple, brighter lights cut into the angry nothing. 'What is odd?' left its impression as "odd" faded from his minds eye. 'Minds eye?' More lights, 'How do I know this?'
More thoughts flooded his mind, and more tracers of light etched those thoughts out across the vast expanse of the Nothing. He could see them all, though there must be thousands. All of the bright golden words etched for seeming miles were all seen at once, all crammed together, but all alone. Kuwabara stared in wonder. It was like one of those trick pictures, where you stare and stare until you realize the space between on object is actually another object, and they are different but the same, and connected but separate.
The Nothing had been waiting for him to become 'aware' for sometime, and was now ready to do its thing. The nothing closed in on Kuwabara's consciousness. Colors, feelings, tastes, sounds, and smells flooded his being. He was familiar with of these things, none of them linked to any knowledge Kuwabara possessed. It was suffocating him… So, that foreign entity known as his body, yanked on his consciousness and aborted his foray into the unknown.
When Kuwabara's spirit was fully jerked back into his body, his body jerked along with it, which did wonders to wake him up. White-hot light seared across his vision and was accompanied by the all too familiar feeling of intense pain. Kuwabara screamed at the sudden tangible feelings that sparked to life, and then fell silent. He heard other things too, though he couldn't quite identify them.
Kazuma would have spared himself a moment to moan, as the images from the Nothing faded into his memory. He however was busy at the important task of recognizing his surroundings. He told his brain to process the sounds and then figure out what was going on. A few heart beats later information poured into him. Cold, hard, pain, floor, pain, cold, pain, lying down, pain, pain, pain, sound, pain…
"Kuwabara?" A gentle voice kneaded through the ache. It felt good, all charm and tenderness. Wasn't there someone like that he knew? While he tried to remember, the haze of hurt thickened.
"Kuwabara!" Another voice demanded. This one was… different, but familiar. Harsh, no, strong, young, very familiar. Who were these people? 'Why don't you open your eyes idiot?' 'Ah, that's a good idea.' It was a task, easier said than done. His eyelids felt as though they'd been super glued shut. He struggled to lift them, and was rewarded with glaring daylight. He immediately recoiled with a grunt, and heard several breaths of relief.
"Un?" Kuwabara questioned to no one in particular as a cool hand rested on his forehead. It felt good as it traveled over his hurting eyes and rested on his throat.
"He's got a pretty bad fever," the soft singsong voice tittered in his ears again. It struck a cord this time, as his brain relayed loads of information about its owner. Kurama. Soft spoken, polite, intelligent, kind… Kuwabara beat back the excess information as he tried to put a name to the other voice.
"You can whip something up for that though right?" It was the second voice, and information on this one too was relayed with due speed. Strong, cocky, cunning, punk. Kuwabara stored, or rather restored this information too.
"I'm not sure," the voice replied. Kurama withdrew his hand and stood. "Willow bark tea, can lower fevers, but if the dragon's bane is countering his body's ability to regenerate… blah blah" Kuwabara hated it when Kurama talked over him like that. He naturally tuned out when Kurama talked about stuff like that now, which was quite annoying since he really wanted to know what was going on.
"Is he too weak to open his eyes?" Kuwabara snapped to attention at this voice. Hiei. His eyes flew open as if on command, and he found himself looking into a blurry black figure. For a moment blood red eyes locked with stormy blue, and time seemed suspended. The feelings from the Nothing came rushing back, the odd colors flashed like an abstract butterfly in his mind.
Yusuke shook him from his thoughts. "Hey," he called, lightly shaking Kazuma's shoulder, "Earth to Kuwabara." Yusuke teased, but his eyes showed real concern for his friend.
Kuwabara smiled reassuringly, "Sorry Urameshi, I was just lost in thought."
Hiei snorted, "He would be, it's unfamiliar territory."
Kuwabara spared energy enough for a glare and a growl at Hiei, before Kurama returned. Yusuke made a grave effort not to grin.
"Now Hiei," the voice chided in a teasing tone, "It's not fair to bait an injured man.
Kuwabara sighed, and Yusuke snickered. 'Yes, let's all have fun with Kuwabara since he Can't Move!' Kuwabara thought bitterly.
Noticing Kazuma's general glare, Yusuke poked him in the shoulder. "Lighten up Kuwabara. We've been worried about you all day, the least you could do is let us laugh off anxiety at your expense." Kuwabara snorted at Yusuke, but didn't say anything.
Yusuke propped Kuwabara up so Kurama could give him the medicine. Kazuma looked pale, but his skin was hot to the touch. He worried for a moment if the 'Dragon's Bane' had poisoned Kuwabara somehow. Kuwabara grunted when he sat up, clutching at the wound in his abdomen. Yusuke sat back to back with Kuwabara, so he could lean, and not use the wounded muscle. Kazuma sighed gratefully and relaxed against Yusuke. Hiei made a restless noise and moved back to the window.
"It's rather bitter," Kurama warned as he handed Kuwabara the fever tonic, "but it will bring your fever down quickly enough."
Shaking hands accepted the mug, and Kuwabara drank it quickly, making a face as the bitter after taste flooded his mouth. "I don't know about a fever," Kuwabara said slowly handing the mug back to Kurama, "I'm really cold."
"We might want to get him to a real bed," Kurama suggested.
"I guess we could ask Genkai for a room for him here," Yusuke mused looking around the temple.
"It would be best for him to stay here, where Genkai can keep an eye on him," Kurama agreed. Kuwabara looked at the two of them, deciding for him where he was gonna stay. Yeah right!
"I just wanna go home," Kuwabara stated stubbornly. Yusuke and Kurama stared at him as if they had just noticed him. 'That's right,' he thought angrily, 'I'm still here.'
"We'll have to get him there sooner or later," Hiei put in. "We can send the crutches later." Yusuke glared at Hiei. He'd had a whole plan worked out…
"CRUTCHES??" Kuwabara all but screamed, his voice breaking high with indignity.
"Yeah," Hiei affirmed smoothly. He nudged Kuwabara's bad leg, and was rewarded with a yelp. "You think your going to walk around on you own? You can't even get up on your own."
"Can so!" Kuwabara spat back, and proceeded to try to get up.
"That's enough!" Yusuke said, pushing Kazuma back to the floor. "We'll take you home, if you behave yourself." Kuwabara mumbled his assent. "Good. Now let's go."
Yusuke hooked Kuwabara's arm behind his neck and helped Kazuma from the floor. Light was fading from the sky, and something was nagging at the back of Kuwabara's mind to remember. He glanced at Hiei, who was looking at them oddly. The feelings threatened to come back, but faded as Yusuke ushered him out of the temple and toward the long stairway that led away from the temple. Kuwabara mentally cursed as he leaned on Yusuke. Each step was agony, even as he valiantly remained silent. He was after all, the great Kazuma Kuwabara. Kurama helped from time to time, but it still took an hour to reach the bottom.
Another hour later, they reached Kuwabara's apartment building. Having moved out of his sisters house a few months before, Kuwabara now had a job and his own apartment, a fairly small one. It was a huge building, and Kuwabara lived on the 20th floor. Luckily some genius somewhere invented a little machine called the elevator, and four grateful young men didn't have to climb twenty flights of stairs. Yusuke and Kuwabara were especially grateful, as they were both exhausted from their long trip.
Kuwabara sighed with relief as he pulled his keys from his pocket. He flicked the latch quickly, swinging the door open. Surely, now he could get some rest, and…
Unfortunately rest was not going to be immediately coming. His older sister was standing with her arms across her chest, with a very annoyed look in her eyes. All four sighed, and she snorted.
She eyed Yusuke and Kuwabara's panting figures with some suspicion. "Well?"
"Ah," Kuwabara tried to think quickly but was drawing a blank, "What are you doing here Shizu?"
"I've been waiting for an hour to meet you for dinner," Shizuru replied evenly.
Oh shit! "Ah, I- I'm so sorry." Kazuma stammered. "I forgot-"
"You forgot?" She inhaled deeply, and her cigarette gave a hissing report.
"Ya see, I had this mi-"
"What the hell's wrong with you? Can't you stand on your own?" She inquired irritably.
"Yes," he said dumbly forgetting his wounds. He pushed off of Yusuke quickly, and it seemed like he would stand, before his traitorous left leg gave way. Yusuke just barely caught him.
"Ah, no." Yusuke answered for his friend as he hoisted him back to balance. Shizuru looked taken aback for a moment, before she turned a wrathful glare on Yusuke.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"I think it would be better if we could talk about this inside," Yusuke pleaded. Shizuru narrowed her eyes but moved aside so they could set him down on his futon.
Both sighed gratefully as they sank down after two horrendous hours of walking. Shizuru glared from them, to Hiei and Kurama, who hovered outside the door. "C'mon," she growled.
"Shizu-," Kuwabara began.
"We were on a mission in the demon world," Hiei interrupted. "We were ambushed on our return, and he was injured," he continued. Kuwabara leaned back in relief. At least he wouldn't have to think for a while. "We took him to Genkai's but she couldn't heal the larger wounds, so we brought him here." Hiei left out small parts here and there, but nothing seemed too out of place.
"So I see," Shizuru said. She walked over to inspect her brother. "You're a little warm," she said resting her hand on his head.
"It was a long walk home," he replied sleepily. "I'm sorry Shizuru, I'll make it up to you."
"Yes you will," she said, sparing him a smile. "Maybe I should stay here with you for a couple of days."
"No, that's ok." He said quickly, sitting up. "I'll be alright." He nudged Yusuke meaningfully.
"Yeah, yeah!" Yusuke smiled, "I'll stick around for a while and make sure he's settled." Shizuru hung back for another five minutes, just to worry her little brother before leaving. Kuwabara sank pleasantly back into his futon. Now that two obstacles of the day were hurtled, he was ready for a long, long sleep. Problem was, his bead was a whole ten paces away, and Urameshi would be using the couch…
With a groan Kuwabara rolled back over the couch, planting his good leg beneath him and gripping the back of the futon for support, he managed to rise. Looking forlornly across the room to where his room was he could tell this was the beginning to a long and painful experience.
"Hey," Yusuke rose too. "Where're you going?"
"To bed," Kazuma grunted. Yusuke supported him across the room. Hiei watched as Kuwabara even with help, limped painfully only ten paces from where he had been. He had kept up his dignity through most of the ordeal, but Kuwabara seemed greatly diminished as he took the final step of the day. You'd think he was walking straight into his own grave. Hiei let out an inward sigh, humans were so fragile.
'Pity,' remarked his inner voice again.
'What?' He thought back.
'It's a pity they're so fragile… If he's this strong as a human… What kind of demon would he make?'
'…' Hiei reflected on this for a moment. Kuwabara was the weakest of the group, no mistake be made. However, as far as humans went, his power was exceptional. If he could train all that energy properly, he would be a great human. If he were a demon… 'He wouldn't like that anyway.' Hiei concluded, as he watched the much-weakened Kazuma retreat to his own room. 'He's too 'blaze of honor and glory' for that.'
'He thinks that now maybe… But after tasting demon strength would he care?' The voice pressed.
'Ridiculous,' Hiei locked the voice away again, but could not restrain a single rouge thought. 'If he were a demon, he'd never die.' Hiei pushed that thought aside too. Kuwabara was not one to fear his own mortality. Had he not just shown that?
Kurama motioned that it was time for them to go. Hiei thought on saying goodbye, but he could make out the oafs snores already. He shook his head. Humans, what in the world had the gods been thinking when they created the frail creatures?
Thunder rolled tamely for the first time that year. The first storm of spring spread its shadow over Japan. The soft dripping rain accompanied the homey rumble, as trees reached thankfully for the warm rain. Leaf buds becoming thick, and unfurling to welcome the liquid blessing.
Everyone knows that lives are influenced by games the gods constantly play. What these games are, know one knows, and the rules are just as mysterious. The only thing that could be known for sure was, Thunder rolled… He rolled a three.
That's the end of chapter 2 part one.
Redragon: I have to say I wasn't going to check the reviews before I finished this entire story. I didn't really think anyone would want to read this.
Megumi: Dur Hur… Rolls eyes*
Redragon: Anyway I went to… well ah…
Megumi: Check the reviews to see how many he got…
Redragon: Shut up!
Megumi: Mocking Redragon* Oh! Lookylookylooky!! I Got 4!! Begins running around the room flapping her arms* I'm so HAPPYIIIIIIIIIII!!!
Redragon: Grabs a stick*
Megumi: Still mocking* I LOVE them and I haven't even read them yet!!
Redragon: You're just jealous because all you write is Zoids fics!!
Megumi: Turns red* Take that BACK!!
~RAGING BATTLE ENSUES ~
Who will win? Find out in the next installment of THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHERRIES!!