Disclaimer: I'll never ever own them?; - ;
Gaah!!! Finally, Chapter 8… Sorry, just started with my college life this year… Nobody ever said it was gonna be this hard :P So far, life sucks, grades are falling, I'm growing obese and bruised. Hopefully, I'll finish the story during sembreak, which is soon… I guess my writing style's changed, my mind has grown perverted for one, thanks to all the people' influences… But honestly… Fear not your college lives… :P
…And oh yeah, enjoy Ü
Part 8 Fire From HeavenFeb 16
5:30 p.m.
I never noticed how freezing the wind was in Makai. That, or the fact that two of my companions were as icy towards each other as a freshly frozen beer. Okay, perhaps it was one-sided: the one who was supposed to be the most hospitable and caring AND gentle was the one giving the cold shoulder. And surprisingly, the marble statue is the one who gives the heated gaze, seemingly wanting to melt the hard barrier between them.
Hn. Tough luck. Shit.
Kurama has changed.
In truth, I thought our plan would fail because he really didn't want to come – I was the one to tell him of the mission. He was standing closely to Yomi (I really didn't like how their arms seemed to be pressed so close together). "IYA!" He had protested with so much passion that I felt his words stab me (maybe it would have been better if he had). So I didn't look at that redhead. I stared at Yomi, I guess, to challenge him. Would he disregard Koenma's order (okay, so it wasn't exactly from Koenma…But heck, he didn't need to know that)? So I kept staring at the "master", after all, if he agreed, Kurama would have no choice but to follow his lord's order. Heheh… so we get to use it that way too…
To my surprise, Yomi opened his damned mouth to say, "You go, Kurama."
Wha-?
Kurama had turned sharply to look at his f***ing "master" in shock. It looked like he was going to protest, but instead, he merely bowed in agreement.
"Go get the stuff you need, kitsune."
"Hai, my Lord."
As he went on his way, the goat called out almost affectionately, "Ah, and kitsune – be careful."
I actually got to spend one whole night with him. Don't think anything bad, nothing happened, hentai-minded readers. But… that was the first time I ever felt Kurama's need for comfort.
I had set up camp somewhere near my territory (Kurama was still kind of upset to leave "his lord's" side. Shit.). Wait, it seems kind of stupid, right? I mean, I could just have brought us to my place and had saved us the trouble of setting up. Yet somehow, I felt that I needed to be alone with him…
And again, not for any perverted reasons, mind you (where do you get those ideas?).
Ok, let's get back on track.
After dinner and washing up, we had entered the only tent we had. Still, after many hours, we hadn't yet exchanged words since Gandara.
I reached out to touch him – it felt really awkward, imagine me trying to be gentle, sheesh – and broke the silence, "Kurama – "
As soon as my arm hairs touched his skin (his hairless there, I never noticed. Okay, this line of thought is weird), he stiffened. Immediately, my mind buzzed with not so innocent things as to what's happening in Gandara, specifically between Kurama and Yomi (so sue me). So stories of what that goat been doing to Kurama are true?
I withdrew my hand and turned my back on him, and opted to think about that oaf, Kuwabara. Has he been informed about the mission yet? I hope no one slipped to him about our hidden agenda. He has a tendency to give out things in his non-thinking moments (which are often). So Hiei and Kuwabara are coming here together. What an amusing thought. I hope all of Kuwa's parts are still attached.
Suddenly, there was a movement, and I felt a presence behind me. I turned and saw Kurama, head bowed, long hair covering most of his face. I was happily surprised when he leaned forward and placed his head on my right shoulder, forehead on my neck. I could feel the heat radiating from his body. So then, I realized that words weren't needed after all. The silence wasn't awkward anymore. As I guided him to lie down, his arms moved to place his palms flat against my chest. We spent the whole night that way (Again, nothing happened of that sort, okay?). I'll never forget that scene, that Kurama, forever.
But that kitsune last night disappeared when morning came. He transformed into an iceberg. I couldn't stand how he felt like whenever Hiei came too close, or whenever his field of vision included Hiei.
I wanted to have a chat with him, so I followed the redhead to the tent. I saw that he had knelt, unmoving on the tent's entrance, eyes wary. I followed his line of sight. On the base near his pillow, lay a notebook.
~ÀÀÀÀÀ~
Heaven was in a frenzy.
The whole room was filled with excited buzzes, each divine being trying to express their sentiments, save for three – the fox god, the god of darkness, and the goddess who draws destiny.
A hush flooded the room as the ever-greatest Kami-sama stepped up and took his place.
Unable to control herself, the goddess of Peace squeaked out, "Is it true, Kami-sama?"
Like an actor who expertly avoids issues, the Ultimate Being replied, "We won't know until we have the scroll."
"Then what is this meeting for?" demanded the god of discord.
"It's obvious", supplied one, "If in case it's going to happen, then – "
"It's all Fate's fault!" interjected the god of discord, "They weren't supposed to cross paths, but no – "
"Whose idea was it to put a being like that on earth in the first place?"
"Yeah."
Murmurs broke out, and once again, the hall bustled with words, arguments, and silly exchanges. Kami-sama stood up. Almost immediately, quiet spread. "It would be senseless if we focus on 'who's' instead of 'how'…
"…Enma, how is it that that soul managed to escape? Isn't your son doing his job? What's the name of that escaped soul – Karasu? He is serving as the catalyst now. If we don't get rid of him soon, then it will really happen."
Enma was about to speak, but then another interrupted, "Why don't we get rid of the soul by getting rid of the host?"
"No! No! He holds strongly to the host. He won't allow anything to happen – "
"Who, the soul, Karasu?"
"Iya, not him."
Kami-sama cleared his throat, "Yes, getting rid of the host could further agitate the situation. HE may lose control." The almighty being gave a furtive glance at Inari, as if asking.
The fox god merely looked at the god of darkness and said, "So, it's finally begun…"
~ÀÀÀÀÀ~
Kurama took a quick look at the cover, turned to Yuusuke, and then headed off on his own. Yuusuke seemed to want to follow, but he decided against it and merely gave a loud, frustrated sigh. When he surveyed the area, he saw that Hiei was looking towards the direction the half-youko had gone to.
After a long time of walking, Kurama reached the river, sat on a stump and hesitantly opened the pages of the book. He didn't know why he was doing this. He knew whom the notebook was from; he could feel the ki surrounding it… Then why? He finally reached the last 3 pages with writing on it. He began reading.
Feb 14
I once read from your notebook that the speed of sound is 331.5 m/s. So that's how long it takes for my voice to reach a certain place, but I wonder why it doesn't seem to get to you. My heart has bared its soul, my mouth is open, my voice has turned raspy from calling out your name.
Kurama, Kurama... fox!
Let my voice reach you, hear the way my spirit yearns for you. Hear me speak my heart...
Let the wind carry my voice to you.
At the speed of sound.
~*~*~
Feb 15
Light. It travels at 3x108 m/s. That's how long it'll take for your form to appear before my eyes. That's how long before I get to see you. Strange that you seem to break the speed of light... I see you everytime, you show yourself to me every minute – each agonizing second. Strange that even when I close my three eyes, I still am gazing at you…
You really break the speed of light.
And you really defy a lot of things. Your beauty is beyond possible; everything about you is maddeningly unbelievable.
And here you are still, so clear in my eyes.
~*~*~
Feb 16
They said that love was supposed to be the strongest of all. That love conquers all. That with love, everything and anything is possible. I guess it was out of great love that your impossible beauty was created from.
But why is it that my love cannot break the barriers between us? Why can't my love fill the void that my leaving created?
If love conquers all, then WHY CAN'T I DAMN MAKE YOU TURN AROUND?
Does that goat offer you love? Do you… love him back? Is that why your bond with him is impenetrable?
Whatever happened to our own bond?
Do you hate me so much?
Kurama?
~*~*~
With shaky hands, and quivering insides, Kurama closed the diary. Slowly, he sliced his arm, and as the blood seeped out, he began to write. In blood.
"Kurama, abunai!"
Kurama had just arrived in camp, and was shocked to find its war-ridden state. The half-youko had barely enough time to dodge when another blast whizzed near his ear. He landed softly on a patch of grass, then threw a dagger at one of the attackers. Suddenly free of an opponent, he assessed the state of the camp and cursed. Why didn't I even feel them coming? K'so, it's because of that...
He saw a green youkai attacking Kuwabara from behind, so he took out a sword and sliced it across the shoulder blade. The carrot-top slashed his own adversary, then turned and smiled at Kurama, "Thanks!" Without warning, he seemed to drive his sword at the youko, but the latter had already thrust his own blade backwards, against the youkai who was about to jump him. Kuwabara whistled, "That was quick! Careful!"
Meanwhile, Yuusuke was protecting a black and white being, constantly blocking and sending out, "Rei-gun". Another faceless youkai was about to jump the one Yuusuke was protecting, but Hiei suddenly appeared and decapitated it, "Hn. Still so clumsy, Urameshi."
"Whatever. He's not yet here?"
"Apparently not."
Finally, their campsite was cleared of youkais. Kuwabara flopped heavily to the ground and almost screamed, "Gah! That was so… so…"
Hiei grumbled, "Idiot."
"Shut up, shrimp."
"Fat-ass."
"Dolly."
Kurama slowly approached Yuusuke and said, "Gomen. I was…"
Yuusuke put his fingers over the kitsune's lips and assured, "Sshh… It's ok. The guy's alright, see?"
The 'guy' straightened out and introduced himself, "Hi. I am Ryo, the oracle from Tylandres, come to meet you, at the request of the gods. Here is the scroll. There's a slight… problem."
The leader accepted it and nodded, "Let's leave it to them to figure out. Thanks. Need a chaperone back?"
The oracle shook his head, "I will be fine by myself", and, turning to the half-youko, gave an eerie farewell, "So the day comes when the angels weep with blood, for what used to be there is no more. As the heart is barren, so has it become. Choose well, young man."
Raizen's descendant scratched his head, "What did he mean by that?"
Before Kurama could give a reply, a winged youkai had swooped down and grabbed him by the arms. Shocked, the redhead's eyes widened temporarily with fear, before he started struggling. His sword and the notebook had fallen from his side, and he was left weaponless. Why not use his powers? Because Yomi-sama had ordered me not to use them unless he personally permitted me to. Or when he is in the gravest of danger, and I have to save him.
At first, no one did anything. The first to act was Kuwabara, who elongated his sword to try and clip the kidnapper's wings. Then Hiei moved, saying, "Urameshi, that's not him!"
Immediately, Yuusuke aimed at the attacker, but the latter was too agile and managed to dodge. Kurama still tried to twist his shoulders free from the sharp claws. Too busy with Yuusuke and Kuwabara's antics, the flying youkai noticed too late the black blur that had jumped up to slice at his head. The half-youko felt arms grasping him and the landing. When he saw that it was his most loathed being in all the worlds, he growled so fiercely that Hiei decided to set him down. What hate he saw and felt from Kurama!
Just when they thought everything was clear, another being jumped from the shadows and carried the redhead away. Kuwabara cursed loudly and went after it, but was tackled by Yuusuke. "Urameshi, what are you doing? Are you being controlled or something? Kurama's been kid-"
But the leader seemed sane enough when he replied, "Kuwabara, it's okay. Everything is going according to plan."
"So you mean this mission was all a setup? That that scroll is a fake?"
Yuusuke sighed, "No. This mission is true, but we used this as a cover to get Kurama." He bent to see Koenma in the communicator, "Here, we got the scroll, Koenma."
"Oh… good. And Kurama?"
"In good hands. We'll take care of him."
"Yuusuke, you know that-"
"We KNOW, Koenma, I'll talk to him. I don't think Yomi's brainwashed him yet so that he'll really fight us to get back to that goat he calls master."
"But I have a bad feeling about this…"
As Yuusuke teleported the scroll, Hiei thought to himself, So do I...
Afterwards, the raven-haired youth phoned another person, "Yomi? Kurama's been kidnapped."
"How dare you? You're betraying me…"
Touya prepared the ward and didn't reply. It was Shiwa, one of the people holding the redhead down, who replied, "This is for your own good, Kurama. We're taking you away from him."
At those words, the redhead struggled even more, "Iya! Iya! Let me go!"
The five almost lost grip of the redhead. Suzuki called out, "Touya, is it done yet?"
"Don't disturb me, baka."
"Unh. You have no right to choose what's good for me. I have my own mind."
"But it doesn't seem to be on the right track now."
It was Jin who had spoken. Touya's brows creased as the ward neared completion. Only he and Yomi could create that ward (Yomi's creation was a lot stronger of course), but his would do. Kurama was the one who designed the ward for himself and taught only Yomi and Touya, so that only those two could break the restrictions, just in case he would go berserk one day. Finally, the last character was carved, and he approached the redhead, half-spent. The one pinned down looked up at him with begging eyes, "Touya… don't. I'm happy there. I'm not alone, I don't feel lonely."
For only the briefest of moments, the ice youkai hesitated, but then attached the ward, "You don't know what you're saying, Kurama."
The half-youko only managed a half-growl before pain overtook him.
The remaining three had been going around camp, fixing everything. They were to meet the 6 guys south of Mukuro's territory, but they had to wait a while until Kurama had been placated. Hiei suddenly spotted Kurama's sword, and he bent down to examine it. A fine sword... he probably made this himself. He was about to move, when he saw the notebook. He picked it up and immediately flipped to the last page, smelling something different from it. Kurama's blood?
And he found it, Kurama's reply.
~*~*~
Sound, the light, feelings, emotion.
Did you ever have these, koorime? Am I not just some toy you feel you've lost and now want back?
You and I made promises, how many of those have you kept?
You left, you hurt me, you couldn't protect me from... and now, you can't even give me up to what you know will be my happiness. You surely want to see me broken, don't you? Well, be happy, I was. I almost died Hiei, and maybe I did. The Kurama you know is no longer alive - he has long been buried. That was when you left. Now, someone has picked up the broken pieces of me to put me together.
Did you know that what once was broken, even if put together, will not be the same as the original? Some of its pieces will be lost and can never be put back.
I've lost a few parts of me, but they're quickly being filled. By someone I'm sure who loves me.
You have no right to call out my name, you have no right to look at me, you don't even have the right to think of me!
This is where we should draw the line. It's over.
Here, our story, that never began, ends.
~*~*~
Funny how even adversaries can have the same reactions. Hiei, hands filled with tremors, his insides roaring, slammed shut the diary. In one, smooth motion, he threw it far off below the cliff. He shouted, "I'll never accept this, Kurama!"
But unknowingly, a memory came up to his mind.
-----
Kurama closed the door behind him and heaved a sigh - his okaasan wasn't home yet. She wasn't there to see him in this sorry state. His shirt and pants were torn, his body filled with bruises and cuts, his lips, slightly swollen. Slowly, he slid down, his back against the door, and when he reached the floor, he crunched up, arms embracing the knees against his chest, his body, wracking with sobs. 'I'm sick of this...'
Suddenly, Hiei came in from the window and headed towards him, "Fox?"
Kurama looked up, his face contorted into a beautiful, extremely sad expression, and without warning, threw himself onto Hiei's chest. Not knowing what to do, Hiei knelt stiffly, inspecting each and every part of his friend. Then he realized what happened, "Fox, Kurama, tell me who did this? I'll -"
But Kurama would not meet him in the eyes. So as gently as he could muster, Hiei pried himself off, lifted Kurama's face with his two small hands and whispered (quite expressionlessly), "Tell me."
Kurama, realizing that this was not the right person to be showing such weakness to, wiped his eyes, gave what smile he could manage and replied, "Gomen, Hiei. I forgot..."
Hiei fought the urge to grab the redhead's shoulders and shake him until his brain turned to jelly, "Stupid fox, I'm asking you... What happened?"
"I... Someone just tried to... do something, but I managed to run away. I really didn't want to hurt him at all, he's just a human, so I ended up in this state."
The fire demon wanted to tell him, 'Baka! Humans are not to be pitied, if they try to take advantage of you, kill them immediately!', instead, he 'hmph'ed and demanded, "Who was it then?"
Kurama just looked at him with wide eyes, and then averted them. Hiei fought the urge to shout so what came out instead was a growl. They remained in their positions for a long time, and in that moment, it suddenly came to the half-koorime, 'If only you were there to take care of him... this would never have happened.' And he remembered a relic he had... 'obtained' from a wandering youkai. When he moved to stand, Kurama followed him with his eyes, and a look of recognition crossed his face when Hiei brought out two rings. The rings each had four lines on it, which were parallel at the back, and at the front, two lines formed an 'x' in the middle. The other two, bordered the x, so it looked like the roman numeral for 10. Hiei spoke, "4 promises.
"If one promise is broken, one strand is broken", the fire demon slipped one on Kurama's ring finger, the other on his, "My first promise: I'll protect you forever."
A light shone in Kurama's eyes, and he gave a small smile, "The I will always trust you."
Hiei nodded, "The second promise: I will never hurt you, or cause you pain."
"For that, I will never cry on anyone else's shoulders, but yours."
A pause.
This time, Kurama spoke first, "My third promise: I will be yours until you find someone else."
Hiei drew in his breath in surprise. He looked straight at the verdant depths, and when he was sure that the youko had no hesitation, he replied, "And I'll give you up when you find someone else."
A longer pause.
Kurama took Hiei's hands and seemed to beg, "...Promise me you'll never leave."
"I promise."
"Then I will also always be there when you need me, and call for me."
-----
"Hiei, time to go to Kurama."
With a curse, he turned to move. They walked the long way towards Mukuro's land, expectant to see Kurama and convince him to come with them. Finally, it was only a few meters to go.
~ÀÀÀÀÀ~
Koenma inspected the scroll carefully. He noticed something peculiar about it, and then he saw. The scroll's seal had been broken. He tentatively unrolled it, then eagerly did when he saw that nothing happened, no lightning or booming voice from a god. He slowly read each line, observed each picture, and tried to decipher each hidden meaning.
After what seemed for a while, he paled and immediately called for George. "Get in here, George!"
"KOENMA-SAMA! What is it?"
"Give this to the gods. As fast as you can. I don't care if you have to sprout wings!"
When the blue oni exited, he sat nervously, eyebrows crunched up together. I have to call them, contact them, tell them... The baby grabbed the phone.
~ÀÀÀÀÀ~
RRINNGGGG
RRRINNGGGG
RRRINNNGGG
"So you three have finally arrived."
Everything seemed to have turned to rock, when they saw what had happened.
RRRINNGGG
RRRIINGGGG
"Not gonna answer it, Urameshi?" Yomi mockingly said, and he stepped over an unconscious Chuu.
"What the hell – "
"My army is very powerful, especially since Kurama was the one who trained each one of them…" The said redhead was in the background, playing quite innocently with the ward on his arm. Hiei raged with fury when he saw Asa standing watch over the redhead, "You!"
Yuusuke saw as well, "Asa, you traitor!"
"I only aim for my master's happiness, and this IS Lord Kurama's happiness."
Hiei leapt to attack him, but suddenly, Kurama's ward broke and Hiei was flung back and hard, his eyes rolling as if he was possessed. Kuwabara could only curse, "Shit, Kura-"
He also fell unconscious. The last thing Yuusuke saw were Kurama's absolutely sad eyes…
Koenma cursed. Where are they?
RRINNG…
RRRIINGG
RINNNG…
One foot ended the noise.
Oh good, it's done… J So, what do you think of it?
It's getting pretty fast, the plot.
Who can guess the next RING series after RINNNG? Oh, yeah, please R&R if you have time.
Quite long, wasn't it? Asa's really a traitor? Yomi seems to be suffering from MPD in the last chapter ^_~;
Okay, so for the next chap: The six plus the three's schedule of deaths? The secret within the scroll. The real end of a bond. Yuusuke's destiny? Hiei's history. Kurama's history, part 1.
All in the next chapter: Devil's Tears