Thank you for all the reviews and for helping me reach WAY above 100 reviews. * sniff * I feel so loved.
Incase any of you are dying for an update to my newest fic (My Assassin, My Dark Angel), I'm really sorry. I'll turn my attention to that as soon as this fic is done so be patient! Special thanks to those who have reviewed both of these! You know who you are!
I think you know who's POV this is by now, right?
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King Yama's bedroom was enormous. It was more like a cathedral with the high ceilings. The glass panels that decorated the walls were a collage of color and glinting beauty. No wonder he was against anyone but himself going into this room. Even I, with my ability to work with delicate objects, felt as if the entire room were fragile. Even my footsteps seemed to be able to collapse the work of art into multicolor shards.
The room light reflected off of something large and gold. Ah, the wardrobe. It was a priceless work of art. I knew my treasures well enough to tell that this was exquisite and carefully crafted. A faint wave of greed washed over me. Youko was becoming excited from the sight of this. I walked towards it and ran my fingers along the inscription. It was in the old tongue; some of these words have been lost for good. I had nearly forgotten what some of these words had meant. My hand trembled with a sense of foreboding as I reached to open the golden doors.
There was a whoosh of cool air that swept me into the wardrobe. A heavy wooden sound echoed behind me, signaling that the door had closed somehow of it's own accord. Once again, I fell to my knees from the unexpected landing. I opened my eyes to a black nothingness. Instantly, Youko's night vision kicked in, allowing me to get a faint idea of my surroundings. My hand scraped against fine sand and something that felt like pebbles.
A light alerted my attention. I stood, ready to protect myself from whatever possible threat there was. My eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. I saw that the light was a paper lantern—one used a long time ago for special reasons. The light illuminated a female somewhere around Hiei's height. She was beautiful in an eerie fashion. She wore a white kimono. Her raven hair was tied back loosely to fall down her back.
'You've come here with an impure heart but pure intentions. What is your explanation for this?' the girl replied. At least I think she said that. Her lips didn't move. Instead, I heard her voice in my head.
"I share my—" I began.
I saw the girl wince. 'Shh. You cannot speak that loud.'
I tried again, in a whisper this time. She winced again. 'You misunderstand me. In this place, you cannot speak with a bodily voice. Speak with your spirit.'
My spirit? I thought to myself with a faint frown. What spirit? Does Youko sharing my soul count? Do I have to turn into my demon form to speak? What's that mean?
She smiled. "Ah, you're the extraordinary being that has a split soul. Now I see. I suppose you can call the way we are talking telepathy. Why have you come here?'
The entire living world will come down with this disease known to Reikai as the Living Death. I came here to stop it, I thought to her.
She nodded. 'So you have gone into the demon world to gather the ingredients for this?'
I nodded. 'Then you must have the scroll,' she continued.
I held it up as well as the pouch full of ingredients I had ground together according to the scroll.
'Good, but there is one problem. You know that to be able to go through with this, you must be pure of heart. You are flawed because of your split soul.'
But I need to do this! My human mother will die and my friends will die along with the entire human population! I protested.
Feh, who gives a damn about the humans, Youko scoffed.
You care to an extent, don't you? I snapped at him in frustration. You enjoy killing them.
Because I don't give a damn about them!
'Please! Please! Don't argue!' the female exclaimed. 'The only way you can survive this is if you can control your demon half or if he can control himself.'
What happens if I don't? Youko demanded.
'Your spirit will forever linger here, somewhere between Reikai, Makai and Ningenkai. You can only leave when someone with a pure heart comes here. There's only darkness here, not to mention that a human with a pure soul is very rare nowadays.'
I grimaced at the thought of floating around in the darkness alone with only Youko to speak to. Youko seemed to feel as I did.
The girl smiled weakly. 'Do you still feel as if you must do this?'
I paused for a moment, wondering if everything was really worth eternity in this nothingness. Botan's face appeared in my thoughts. Botan falling to her knees, screaming that she would lose her mind from the Living Death. And . . .and there was a glimmer of hope in her words. How was I going to find out if she truly cared unless I risked my future?
Yes. I'm going through with this. I clenched my hand into a fist.
'Then you must follow your heart to the pinnacle of the Mountain of Four Winds. Once you reach it, you must time this perfectly. You are lucky that you have come here today.'
Why? I asked
'Surely you've wondered of the name? This is the point where the north, south, east and west winds meet, but it only occurs once every thousand years. You're extremely lucky. If you've done this correctly, you'll be transported to your hometown. Remember to follow your heart and intuition. Good luck.'
She disappeared, her light leaving as well. My eyes had to readjust to the darkness. "Well, Youko, can you keep yourself in check?" I murmured. I only got silence in return. I shrugged, hoping that it meant he would stay still.
Somehow I reached the summit. I could feel the winds rustling around my feet and legs. Follow your heart, she says. Easier said than done. After all, hadn't 'following my heart' just gotten me into this dramatic mess?
I grabbed a handful of the powdered ingredients. I had to time it perfectly . . .
I threw it in, seeing a flash of purplish light. I paused, wondering if this was the result of having done this incorrectly. I felt nothing dangerous from the light and quickly threw the rest of the powder in. Immediately, the bright purplish light blinded me. There was light, light, and more light. Then darkness.
"Dammit, fox, talk to me! Wake up!"
I felt something hit my face. Still, I didn't move. My entire body felt like a leaden weight. Even so, I was aware of my surroundings. That meant I was alive. I think. I hope.
"Don't do that to him, you dwarf! You're gonna give him a compensation or something!"
"What the hell is a compensation?"
"You know, when your head gets hit and you become retarded."
"Dumb ass. You mean concussion. Are you sure you haven't suffered one?"
"If I did, I'd think I was a ballerina or something."
"You're already obsessed with kittens. Can it get worse?"
"Hiei, you can't argue with someone stupid like Kuwabara. Leave him alone. We need to tend to Kurama right here."
"Geez, Uremeshi, you ain't my mom!"
"Thank God for that. And anyway, I was talking to Hiei."
"Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, all of you knock it out! This is serious. He might not make it through this time."
"Relax, woman, he's alive. His heart is beating. At least I hope that's his heart and not a Makai maggot squirming in his chest cavity."
"Ew, that's gross! How can you have a cavity in his chest?!"
"Kuwabara! You are the biggest idiot I've ever met!"
"Hn. You must not have met very many humans, then."
I forced myself to sit up, even though it was difficult. I felt battered and bruised. "Did I get run over by a street sweeper?" I asked mildly.
"Too bad you didn't," Hiei remarked, his smirk hiding a smile of relief.
"You shoulda heard all the crap he was saying about you!" Kuwabara interrupted, his face close to mine. "He said you had a cavity in your chest! Is that even possible?!"
I blinked at him. "No, the chest cavity is the place that houses your lungs and heart. The cavity you are thinking of is only found in your teeth."
"Good. Dentists scare me enough when they dig in my mouth, but in my chest? Woo, that woulda been scary!"
I watched Hiei look at him with a familiar look on his face. (A/n: Okay, in another words, he's got the anime bead of sweat, k?) I held back a chuckle and gazed at the rest of my friends around me.
"Hey, Kurama, Yukina's all better now. Botan too," Yusuke said, flashing me the thumbs up. "Good job, I guess. You earned yourself a break! Botan told us what you were doing after she came to her senses."
"Kurama, what was it like in there?" Botan asked, her voice softer than the cheery tone I was used to.
"Dark, cold, and windy," I replied. "I would've been stuck there if Youko had tried to take over."
Stupid human. I only remained quiet because there is a prize here. You worked for it and I realized I wanted it as well, Youko said easily.
I only had a vague idea of what he spoke of. For some reason, my eyes couldn't leave Botan's. There was a look in here eyes that was never there before. She smiled weakly and closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I was scared for a while, even though the sickness was messing up my mind. When there were sane moments, I was worried about you more than for myself." Her eyes opened. "I'm sorry for being blind to what you were feeling. I was just caught up in myself. Now that everything's done with, I sort of feel the same way."
"You mean that what you said in Makai wasn't from the Living Death?" I breathed, hardly daring to believe it.
She shook her head again, tears coming to her amethyst eyes. "No, it's the truth. I'm stupid for just now seeing it and letting you have to go through all this alone. I'm sorry."
I stared at her stupidly. I had dreamed of this moment, but I only felt a comforting warmth rather than the thrill I had expected to feel. I held up an arm without realizing it, beckoning for her to come closer. Botan came towards me, allowing me to wrap my arms around her.
"Why are you sorry? There's nothing to be sorry for," I murmured.
She laughed a little. "To you, maybe." Her head moved from her place on my shoulder and her eyes caught mine. She seemed to want something of me.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I blurted out.
She burst out laughing and kissed me without a warning.
There was only one word to describe it. Bliss. I had nearly died from happiness at that moment. Who was I to care that Kuwabara was miming gags or Yusuke saying, "Uh, did I miss something here?" Or the strained smirk on Hiei's face.
Who was I to care that the world around the two of us didn't exist in this moment? Nothing mattered more than that all the things I had gone through were being excused because I had gotten the one thing I truly had desired all along. Youko took over momentarily to press Botan closer against me to deepen the kiss. To my amazement, Botan allowed me to become rougher with her. Maybe she understood that Youko was an animal. Or maybe she didn't mind. Either way, this was sheer bliss.
Yet . . .yet something was the matter. I could feel it in the air around us. Was it doubt? If so, was it coming from me? I could sense that something wasn't quite right.
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Ha! The moment you all were dying for! A sort of happy ending! But wait; did I leave it at a cliffie? Yes I did! You gotta review to make me want to update. C'mon, don't you wanna know what happens?
Was this chapter long enough (4pages at least right here)? And was this chapter boring you? Hmph! Just to let you know, not all chapters can be fun and exciting! Some chapters have to be boring just to explain stuff or give a little background info! So if there's a boring chapter, sorry, but there's probably something important in it.