The Glitch
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is copyrighted to Yoshihiro Togashi. Thus, I do not own any of it.
Author's not: Ah… It's been a while… So, how is everyone doing? I hope you're doing better than me, because I swear this chapter is jinxed. I shouldn't have titled it "Glitch" I think it lead to all the problems I've been having, saving, changing, and uploading for the past three days… yes… Anyway, read and hopefully enjoy.
Hiei had been born and raised in an eternal world. It was a harsh world, but a constant one. To always know that it had been, and forever would be ruthless was a comfort; not like this world. It was soft sometimes, and unforgiving the next moment. This world, which was beautiful, terrible and completely finite. The turning of the clock could be felt in everything.
The sun was setting on the second day. Fiery red fingers retreated into the west, casting an orange haze on everything they touched. Hiei sat in the window gazing at it all. Retreating so fast, that he could see it happening. The speed at which things changed here amazed him. It seemed that nothing that the humans fast paced world touched, could withstand being changed.
Kurama had been changed. He'd grown to know both life eternal and fleeting. Thus there was now Suiichi and Kurama. Neither the cruel, unforgiving fox that Hiei had known so many years ago, nor the beautiful, innocent human existed anymore. The fox now lived in both worlds, but was truly a part of neither.
'Yuusuke must be like that now,' Hiei thought. He too had grown up in the impermanent world, expecting the limited life span that all his fellow humans shared. Yet the rare second chance he had been given when he was fourteen, had opened a path to what most humans dream of… immortality. Hiei doubted that the once human realized what it meant to be immortal yet. He'd lived too long in this world, where life and death were in constant balance.
Only the tip of the sun peeked over the houses in the distance now. The red fingers grasping anything they could desperately, but inevitably slipping away into darkness. Hiei knew he should get out of the window, in case Kurama intended to visit the human. He sighed softly. It was a whispering sound that would never carry beyond his own ears. It was only the second day, but it seemed so much longer.
The human's news bobbed in the back of his mind, but he put it off for later thinking. He didn't need to rush into anything just yet. His mind was still hazy from hours spent sleeping.
Books on the human's desk caught his eye again. He'd flipped through several of the paperbacks earlier. There were volumes of heroic tales, encouraging the idiot's life long ideals of honor no doubt. Hiei couldn't stomach the unbending self-control of the samurai, or the gallant figures of western knights. Always living in bright blazing glory before toddling of to 'happily ever afters' and other such paradises. Hiei glared at them in contempt, wondering where such a place existed. In all his wanderings in all his years, he had never once stumbled upon such a place. 'Perhaps the humans' heaven,' he thought, 'he'd certainly never been there.' Yet even that couldn't be as good as it sounded.
Finally near the bottom of the pile, his hand fell on a book very different from the others. Its cover was dark, devoid of the vivid displays of brilliant justice triumphing over evil. It was ridiculously thick as well, easily over a thousand pages. The edges were worn, corners bent by the loving fingers of the reader. This was a favorite book. Skeptical at first, and doubting he could stand anything the moron loved so much for more than a moment. He opened to the first chapter, and then found himself engrossed in the tragic story.
There didn't seem to be anything in the book for Kuwabara. The morbid tone suited Hiei's current state of mind, but the demon couldn't recall a time Kuwabara had spent in depression. The demon quickly shoved the thought away. He had never paid much attention to the human before anyway…
~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~
Shizuru listened to her baby-brother's news in silence. As he finished, her calm expression was marred by a slight frown. He gave out a frustrated sigh, gratefully taking the tea his sister offered. He blew gently over the steaming liquid and eyed Shizuru wearily, as she took a seat across the.
Shizuru lit a cigarette, an indication that neither of them was going anywhere for a while. Kazuma recognized the situation, and shifted his chair as though he was about to leave.
"Sit," his older sister commanded simply. The boy shifted back, head hanging a little.
"Do we have to…" Shizuru waved off the rest of his sentence, and he prepared to be lectured.
"Come on little brother," Shizuru sighed. "We can pretend to be a normal family every once in a while." She winked at him before continuing, "So what did Hiei think of that?"
Kazuma shrugged, not particularly caring to divulge his feelings concerning the fire demon. Shizuru tapped a finger impatiently, exhaling smoke through her teeth. The redhead made a face. "That stuff'll kill you ya know," he murmured.
"It'll kill you too if you stay here long enough," she retorted casually. The redhead grimaced, but said nothing further.
"He was… happy to hear it," Kazuma said carefully.
"Because…?" Shizuru goaded her younger brother. It always took a while to get him to share with her willingly.
"Because he sees an opportunity in their lover's spat I'm sure." Kuwabara growled, drumming his fingers in irritation. Shizuru frowned. Her little brother was hiding something from her. It wasn't unlike him to keep things to himself, but usually she knew all his secrets before even he knew them.
"What are you planning?" She asked suspiciously.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Her brother retorted. Unlike his sister, Kazuma couldn't maintain the calm visage for long.
"I've lived with you for seventeen years Kazuma," Shizuru half laughed. "Don't you think I know when you've got something on your mind." Her little brother looked stunned for a moment, and Shizuru took pride in her small victory.
"He'll hear," Kazuma protested in a strained voice.
"So there is a plan," she laughed quietly. Her brother balked, and she continued. "He won't listen as long as we talk at a normal level." Shizuru put out her cigarette unceremoniously on a dirty plate. "We're only a couple of humans after all." Kuwabara made a face, but eventually conceded.
"I don't have a plan yet," the boy admitted, turning a little red. Shizuru sighed and rolled her eyes. Kuwabara ran a finger nervously around the edge of his empty cup. "I need to hurry up and get Yuusuke and Kurama back together before they really break up, and-" Kazuma trailed off.
"And Kurama convinces Hiei to forgive him, and they go live happily ever after?" Shizuru sighed irritably. "Not likely."
"Not likely what?" Kazuma asked defensively. Shizuru paused a moment in thought.
"Not likely to either," Shizuru said finally, tapping a new cigarette on the table. "The only two people with a harder head than you are Hiei and Yuusuke." She laughed a little under her breath, "Once their mind is set in something, there's no changing it."
"I suppose you have better idea?" Kazuma glanced sharply at this sister. Her lack of faith was a little disheartening.
"Yes, actually I do," Shizuru replied calmly. Kazuma's eyes widened, but he said nothing as he waited for his sister to finish. Shizuru sighed, contemplating her second cigarette. Her brother could be so dumb sometimes, especially when it came to love.
"Leave it alone," she said.
"What?" Her brother blinked in surprise.
"Leave the situation alone," Shizuru stated clearly, emphasizing each word with a tap of her finger.
"B-but why?" Kazuma's voice had a hurt quality.
"Because this situation is not good," Shizuru soothed in a soft voice. "There are too many ways this could go wrong." Shizuru put her hand on her brother's to prevent him from leaving.
"There is just too much you don't know," the brunette continued quietly. "This just isn't your way. Sneaking around…" the older girl smiled sadly, "You're just not very good at any of that."
"Shizuru…"
~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~
Hiei had finished the black book (speed reader), and was now looking for something else interesting to do. The oaf had books hidden everywhere, and it was sort of a game to find something to read. Having already gone through the desk drawers, and the shelves, he was drawn to a small mountain of books by the bed, or rather spilling out from under the bed.
Most of the books were comics and cheap novels. Hiei sorted through until his hand came to a hard back. Curiously, he pulled the small book from the pile and studied it. It was red, with no title or author written anywhere. This was certainly not a novel, but then what could it be?
Hiei had heard Kuwabara coming up the stairs, but it startled him when human spoke non-the-less.
"What are you doing?" That was a tone Hiei knew all too well. He'd done something wrong. The demon turned around slowly and carefully to face Kuwabara. The anger he saw, confirmed the human's tone.
"I was looking for something to read," Hiei said calmly, offering the red book.
"I can see that," Kuwabara grabbed the book, a little more roughly than he had to. Hiei watched with interest as a strange look crossed the oaf's features. 'Perhaps it wasn't that I was looking through his things that upset him so much,' Hiei mused inwardly, 'as that I found something he didn't want me to find.'
Hiei waited silently as Kuwabara shifted awkwardly in the long silence that followed. Eventually the human sighed and walked over to his desk, shoving the red book into one of the top drawers. Hiei leaned back against the wall, carefully noting where Kuwabara put the book.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't read those," the human muttered in a voice that didn't dare command, but didn't request either. Hiei raised an eyebrow at the statement.
"Those?" The demon parroted. "As in more than one?" Kuwabara grimaced at having given something away so easily. He swallowed hard, warning himself not to be so reckless again.
"Yeah. There're some books with hard covers, and I'd like you to stay out of 'em." The redhead's voice was sharper, with a little irritation this time.
"Why?" The fighter balked at the question.
"Because…" Kuwabara sweated. What to say? "Because, they're… my journals." Kuwabara sighed, head dropping a little. That was smooth. Hiei's expression remained unchanged, as though he was expecting something else. Hiei stared at Kuwabara, and a little confused, Kuwabara stared back.
"What's a journal?" Hiei inquired tiredly. He was getting quite bored with this conversation. Kuwabara's reaction to the question however piqued his interests again, as the redhead blushed slightly.
"They're blank books that humans use to write down thoughts and stuff," Kuwabara explained simply. The demon's brow furrowed. Why would the oaf care if he saw one of those?
"Thoughts? There can't be that many books then," Hiei mused. His lip quivered up slightly, as Kuwabara turned redder, but this time, from anger. "What makes you think that I would be interested by what you think day to day?"
Kuwabara looked as though he was about to say something, but stopped himself. Instead the fighter folded his arms and huffed, looking away. Hiei contemplated the drawer containing the human's 'journal' for a moment. Then something occurred to the demon that made him grin.
"Or, maybe who you think about?" Kuwabara looked mortified, proving Hiei's statement. Satisfied with his discovery, the demon huffed.
"Don't flatter yourself human," Hiei sneered. "I doubt there is anything you could write that I would care about."
"Fine," the redhead snorted, stalking across the room to grab his jacket. "I came up to tell you I'm leaving." He threw the jacket on angrily and walked back towards the door. He stopped in front of Hiei. "If you get hungry or somethin', you can eat whatever's in the fridge. Don't let my sister cook for you… She sucks at it." Just before the fighter reached the door, the demon called to him.
"Where are you going?" Kuwabara paused a moment, but didn't look over at Hiei.
"Out," was all he said, and was gone.
Hiei watched the oaf go with more than a little resentment. As soon as he heard the door shut, he went back to digging under the bed for more of the journals. Surprisingly enough, there were quite a few of the hard cover books. Enough to keep him entertained for a few hours, the demon observed with a satisfied smirk. He'd never actually agreed not to go through them he thought; shoving what little conscience he had out of the way.
Spreading the multicolored volumes out, he tried to figure out how to tell which ones came first. "Anything worth hiding," Hiei thought aloud, "Is worth looking at."
Another chapter coming soon!:: Yes, it's true. The next chapter will be out by the middle of next week for two reasons. A: I'm leaving for California for two weeks and I would be unable to update in a timely fashion. B: More sense in this reason- I'm practically finished with it. I need to upload my changes and reformat it, and it will be up. Also allowing for whether or not I'll be allowed on the computer… It just sucks to share a computer… Anyway thank you for reading, and the next chapter is promised soon!
