Author's Note-- Thanks for all the reviews, guys, I think I'll try for 15 total reviews for chapter 5.... hint hint :-P. If nobody reviews, then I don't know if anyone is reading this. So then I don't know if I should continue it or not. Oh, I'm just kidding, I'd probably keep writing this even if no one reviewed at all! complete change of subject I haven't done a disclaimer in forever, so I'll do one now: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters (or Linkin Park), or else I'd be filthy rich. But I do own my character, Sora, a few books, and a Playstation 2. Wait, I might not even own that.... ---DragonGurl15---
Chapter 5: The Old Woman
I lay bleeding on the ground after my battle with the demon Resari, battered and broken. I came out of it victorious, thanks, ironically, to Hiei. It was because of him that I got so incredibly angry and used Spirit Energy I didn't know I had to create that massive Spirit Gun.
My eyes began to close slowly on their own. I was so incredibly tired. If only I could sleep, could rest, the pain would go away. The blacktop of the basketball court rubbing against my face and left side was surprisingly soft. Maybe, I thought in a daze, the blood soaking into it made it spongy.
"Sora!" someone called, and I laboriously opened my eyes a crack.
"Hiei?" I whispered weakly. The fire demon looked down at me with concern.
"Girl, you better not die on me," he said gruffly, kneeling down next to me. "Kurama would never forgive me." With a gentleness I didn't know he possessed, Hiei put one hand lightly on the back of my neck and the other on my right arm. He pushed on my arm until I eased onto to my back, supporting my neck the whole time. I managed to suppress a cry of pain from what felt like white-hot knives digging into my stomach, neck, and chest.
"Can you hold onto my neck?" he asked, staring down at me.
Confused, I answered, "What?"
"Lift your arms and hold onto my neck," he said, bending over me. His long trench coat fell onto my tummy and shined wetly from the blood.
"Sorry about that...." I whispered, trying in vain to raise my arms. I had barely enough strength left to talk, let alone move.
"It's nothing," he answered. "Hold onto my coat instead, then." I tiredly raised my hands the few centimeters necessary and buried my hands deep in the folds of his black coat. Without warning, he slid a hand under my knees and one around my shoulders, and in one smooth motion he picked me up. Surprised, I cried out in distress, and held onto the fabric in my fists with a death grip. Hiei smiled faintly at my fright and held me tighter. "Relax. I won't drop you."
Slowly, the tension eased out of my body and the weariness and pain came flooding back in like a giant tidal wave. With small cut of agony from my protesting neck, I rested my head against his warm chest. The beating of his heart was comforting and steady.
Hiei started forward, and with every step, my body ached increasingly. To anchor myself, I gazed at his blood-red eyes that were trained on the park in front of us.
"Kurama?" he asked, and with some difficulty I turned my head to look.
"Kurama...." I murmured. He was covered in superficial scratches and teeth marks, and his red hair was tousled.
"Sora?!" He cried, rushing over in an instant. "What happened?" he asked Hiei, accusing.
"She defeated Resari, Kurama. She's just a bit beaten up for her trouble. We can get her to Genkai and she'll heal the girl." Kurama looked down at me with his emerald eyes and felt my forehead with his cool hand.
"She's burning up, Hiei!" he practically yelled. "You need to get her to Genkai's now!"
"Shouldn't we stop the bleeding first?" Hiei argued calmly. I, meanwhile, was trying to find a position in Hiei's arms that didn't cause me intense pain, but it was futile and I gave up. Oh hell, I'm gonna die, I thought through the fog in my brain. I was slowly straying into the ever-closer darkness and away from the agonizing consciousness.
"She's lost too much blood for that to matter now. Get her to Genkai or she'll die, whether we stop the bleeding or not!" I silently agreed with Kurama. What seemed like the entire basketball court was awash with my blood, and so were Hiei's and my clothes, the grass we had traveled over, and the unconscious (or dead. No one had bothered to check) Resari himself. "Go!"
Needing no further prompting, Hiei took off, faster than a jet. Trees and houses flashed past in a blur, and I groggily turned my head back to rest against his chest again. Soon, we flew through a dark forest, but he leaped upwards and landed on a tree branch. In no time we skimmed the tops of the trees and the bright sun shone overhead. I closed my eyes against the piercing glare and fell into the encroaching night.
As I woke up, I tried to remember the dream I had been having. But try as I might, it was as impossible to grasp as water is in your open hand. The details trickled through my mind and I couldn't catch them as they exited, and it left me frustrated. That always happened when I tried to remember a dream, unless it had been a particularly good one. Like that time I dreamt that I had huge, feathery wings, and could fly wherever I wished.
Wow, my mind sure is wandering, I thought. Maybe.... I should get up now. Until now, my eyes had been shut, I was cushioned on a soft surface and covered by a light sheet or blanket that was pulled up to my chin. I was lying on my side with my knees bent, and my arms, used to cuddling a stuffed animal, were clutched close to my chest. I slowly opened my eyes and was assaulted by the sun glaring in through the window I was facing. Shading my eyes and yawning, I sat up. The surface underneath me was a small mattress covered by a white sheet, and I was under a soft blue blanket. Sitting cross-legged on the mattress, I looked around the room. The walls were painted a light-blue color, and the floor was wooden and smooth. In the wall to my left, a window opened onto sky and something else I couldn't see, since I was practically sitting on the floor. To my right was an open doorway which led to what looked like a hallway.
I stood up slowly with a small stab of pain in my chest, and with that I suddenly remembered the events leading up to this moment. The battle with Resari.... my injuries.... the victory.... and the mad flight through the forest in Hiei's arms. But where am I? I wondered. Who was it that Kurama said Hiei should take me to? Wasn't it something with a G? I thought for a bit and then recalled the name: Genkai. That person had apparently healed me, since I wasn't dying anymore. (Obviously.)
I walked over to the window and looked out. What I saw was a huge expanse of dark forest, only a few feet from where I stood. As soon as the light from the sun reached the edge of it, it seemed to pale dismally and finally disappear completely under the leaves. Creepy.... This particular grouping of trees gave me the chills and no mistake. With no reluctance, I turned away and decided to check out this place, wherever I was. I moved to the doorway and looked to my left. The hallway seemed to continue for a while, with doorways leading off it on either side, and one at the end led directly to a green lawn and blue sky above it. I turned to the right and realized my evil, wavy brown hair was not pulled back into its customary ponytail but left to lightly brush my shoulders. God, I hate it, I thought in disgust, and searched in vain for my hair tie in the room.
I was kneeling down to search under the mattress when a voice behind me inquired, "What exactly are you doing, girl?"
I was turned around and on my feet so fast that my chest burned and I had trouble focusing on the old woman leaning against the lintel of the door. She had gray, wavy hair, (more wavy than mine but somehow it looked okay on her.) and an old, wrinkled, gray-tinged face. Her eyes were nevertheless sharp and alert, and watched me warily. She wore a red tunic trimmed in blue over a whitish-gray, long-sleeved shirt and pants of the same color. Also, sitting heavily on her gray hair was a strange, maroon hat with the kanji for spirit emblazoned in a yellow diamond on the front.
"Um.... I'm trying to find my hair tie." I said awkwardly, relaxing a little.
"Oh. I'm Genkai," she told me abruptly.
"I'm Sora," I answered, wondering I was going to do.
"Your friend Hiei brought you here after your battle with Resari and I healed you. But you have to understand," she said sternly, "that it wasn't strictly for your sake only. I saw potential in you, and I want to see more of your ability."
"More?" I asked, confused.
"After Hiei told me about you – and he wouldn't lie – I decided to train you like I did for Yusuke."
"You trained Yusuke?" I asked incredulously. God, that boy was everywhere.
"He would call it torture, I think. But you'll need more training than those two demons have time to give you, and I don't have anything else to do. Might as well pass some things on to someone else of the next generation, hmm?"
"Uh, sure," I answered hesitantly.
"Well then, let's get started," Genkai answered decisively, and she swept out of the room. I followed, not knowing what else to do, and still a little confused.
Waking up at 5 A.M., I promptly got out of bed and pulled on my clothes – black sweatpants and a large black t-shirt that said 'Linkin Park Underground' in red letters on the front. I had learned early on that Genkai could not allow laziness in anyone, especially me.
In the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and my hair, but had to leave it down. I never found my hair tie, and apparently my host didn't have any either. Oh well, I thought. It actually doesn't look too bad today. My brown hair was getting longer, and weighed down by its own mass the waves in my hair became longer and gentler. It was maybe three inches past my shoulders. I didn't bother to put on any make-up, because I knew I'd just sweat it off before the day ended.
As I walked to the training hall, I wondered how my family and friends were doing. When I had called my mom and told her about the 'martial arts training camp' up in the mountains, she had been reluctant to let me stay. But I told her Shuichi was in it too, and she relented. She promised to call Shuichi's mother, though, so I had a brief scare when I hoped I could reach Kurama, and his mother through him, before my mom could call her. The two had been friends since high school and trusted each other more than anything. Seemingly, Kurama's mom gave a positive report and I was allowed to stay. But I did have to come home and grab some clothes and stuff first, because my mother would not budge on that at all.
To my surprise, Kurama did not visit me once the whole duration of my stay with Genkai. He was supposedly busy or something. But Hiei had the strangest habit of showing up when I was training with Genkai, and he always said something about needing to talk to her. When I asked my trainer about it, she wouldn't say anything, and of course Hiei never said much anyway.
Today, I entered the training hall and as usual Genkai was waiting for me. Unfortunately, someone else was also lingering in that room: Hiei. The fire demon was standing next to Genkai, awake as you please, like he thought nothing of waking up so long before the sun rose. Slightly angry at his wakefulness, I tried to stand up straight and fully open my eyes.
"Why are you here, Hiei?" I asked him irritably. "You were just here yesterday, so you can't possibly have something else to talk to Genkai about. And if you did, why would you be here so early?" Evidently I was still not used to rising so early and was rather grumpy.
Shaking his black and white head at me, he didn't answer. Genkai looked at the two of us and and said, "Girl, can we start now?"
"Yes, Genkai," I answered meekly.
"Thank you," the old woman said tartly. "You know what to do." My training program had many different parts. First, I would do some physical work, like running around the mountain or lifting weights. That would usually take up about four or five hours. Genkai said that I wasn't in really in my peak physical condition, so she was taking it easy on me. (Not in my peak physical condition? It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Before all of that started, I could barely run a mile, and I had absolutely no upper body strength whatsoever.)
Next, we would work on my fighting skills. I was quite adept at many forms of martial arts all rolled into one from my training with the two demons, but I still needed work. Genkai said she was taking it easy on me in that part too. After that, we would have lunch, something simple, since she said she didn't like to starve girls. Now Yusuke was a different matter altogether, she told me. I laughed at that. I didn't know the old woman was capable of making a joke.
My favorite part of the training day came when I practiced with my Spirit Energy in the large field behind Genkai's building. Each day, I felt it becoming stronger.
Today, the three of us, Hiei included, headed out to the empty field of grass after the day of training. Tall trees stood at the border of it like sentinels, and Hiei silently leaped up into one to watch us work. Apparently, he liked being in high places like that.
"Today," Genkai began, clasping her hands behind her back, "we will work on manifesting your Spirit Energy in a manner that maximizes its power and advantages."
"Okay," I said, trying not to slouch after my hard workout. "How will we do that?"
"Before, I taught you to control your Spirit Energy. Now you will choose a new form for it."
"A new form? You mean the Spirit Gun isn't the only way to use it?"
"No, of course not. There are thousands of different ways for your Spirit Energy to materialize. For example, Yusuke's friend, Kuwabara, uses a Spirit Sword. You can choose whatever form you want for your Spirit Energy," Genkai told me.
I thought for a while, and then, glancing at Hiei in his tree and Genkai on the ground, I decided.
"I choose –– ."
Author's Note: --evil, sinister laugh-- A cliffhanger! I thought this would be a good place to end this chapter. Nothing much really happened, but I'll try to put another chapter up soon. I know I say this every single chapter, but I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever. Between my vacation to Disney World and my general laziness, I just haven't had time. But since it's summer now, I'll have a lot more time to write, trust me. :-P And for your information, this story starts at the beginning of Yu Yu Hakusho and goes all the way through to the Dark Tournament, basically following the storyline but adding lots of stuff. And it might go even farther, if I ever get to watch the new saga... or even the end of the Dark Tournament! Damn you, Cartoon Network! Oh, and please review.