First, a long author's note...you can skip this if you like.
Okay people, before sharing your displeasure at my tardy update, I want to inform you that you should be glad that I was able to update at all.
No, this is not a self-righteous proclamation. It is an observation about my own stupidity. The in-laws went camping this weekend with myself in tow...(I love to be outside!) And in the mountains, it is COLD! No big news there, right? Keep reading...though it may sound like a random jump in topics, keep with me here. I am a dedicated insomniac. Have been since I was 12. Being somewhere new only intensified this rather unremarkable quality to my being and instead of going into the well heated, well lit, and quite comfortable camper the family provided, I stayed outside...in the cold, wet (it rained), dark of the great out doors seated on a lopsided log near a cheery fire.
As I sat there, can you guess what I was doing? Writing on the remaining chapters of this story, do you say? Yes! I was writing and enjoying the peace and the clean air, and the virtual solitude you find in the mountains at 4 am, (Unless you count the various rodents or stray packs of redneck natives that thundered through twice).
As the fire died to pleasantly glowing embers, I got steadily colder. No shit, right? So what did my brilliant mind come up with for a solution? Go inside? No. Put more wood on the fire? No. Get a blanket? No, these solutions required effort and I've mentioned before, I have a bit of a lazy streak! No, what I did was get closer to the fire. So, here is the crowning moment of my stay in the mountains...I lit my notebook on fire.
Gee, go me. Sigh. I, quick thinker that I am, stared at the bright lick of orange that quickly identified itself as "hot" to my numbed fingers, and dropped the edge of the book...into the corner of the fire....Yeah, I know. Good one. At least it fell in the ashes and it quickly suffocated on the slightly damp pages not already eaten by the greedy flame. At that moment, I was glad of the drizzle that only seconds before I was cursing.
But, there is good news here. Everything was salvageable, well, everything but my pride. At least at 4 am, no one saw my glorious dance of 1) shock 2) fear 3)self loathing 4)relief and 5) sheepish self-pity. So, if the incident could forever be banished to some distant corner of my mind where no one but Hiei (and him only with the lurking threat of the dragon of darkness flaming my already sore rear) could painfully extract the information, why am I now telling you?
Hn. I have no fricken clue.
Perhaps I'm a magnet for ridicule, indulging my humourous and perhaps slightly masochistic side and I think by sharing this moment, you'll either understand my pain, or laugh your ass off...either way, enjoy the story...and try not to mind the extra crispy parts...
Mostly Fluff...a slight (and I mean slight) break from the extensive amount of action and plot twists that are finally coming together! This story was planned out in advance because of the complexity of twining these two story lines together in every way I could think of! I wanted to say that Youko is NOT revealed yet...sorry. But very very soon, I promise! He is a bad fox! Sneaky...Manipulative...and very much in Love...er Lust...yeah. Well, anyways, Kagome is still not free to go off into the Makia or Reikai for that last shard...But again, very very soon! She has to go find Shippo first...poor kid is all alone and Kagome thinks her other team members are dead..sob.. The Yu Yu Gang has yet to catch the elusive Dog Demon Kurama has been tracking...hehehe. The barrier is still falling apart. Naraku is still alive and still has his part of the jewel, and Boton and Inuyasha have yet to return to the present...so, all in all, there is still much to be done! A lot of these things will be happening very quickly so you may have to pay extra attention!
Again, I do not own any part of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho:
And reviewer responses will be at the end of the last chapter.
Sylvannastar
Many Reasons to Cry
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Shippo woke up curled in a small tight ball near Rin's outstretched fingers. He sniffed the human's hand, not surprised to find her covered in the scent of wild flowers. She had found him in the garden and had done her best to comfort him. Shippo had rebuffed her attempts at first, but undaunted, she plunged on, telling him that he could always stay with her.
Shippo hadn't realized how much he actually had in common with the girl. Sure, they had become good friends, and great playmates, but neither had taken the time to talk to the other before this. She had lost both her parents too. She had been all alone, just like him. She had been adopted by Sesshoumaru in much the same way that Kagome had taken him in. They both traveled the lands on their own adventures. They were both little kids who had gotten a second chance at life due to the charity of the adults that loved them...
A noise at the door had Shippo scurrying to stand over the human child he now felt so close to. Eyes wide and tail perked, he waited for the door to swing open. Hoping it was Sesshoumaru, here to tell him Kagome had come for him. He was disappointed to see Jaken's grey-green face peering in at them.
The toad's big bug eyes narrowed at the children. The human was asleep, wilted flowers spread in random disarray around her. "Hmph!" he groused. "Stupid human."
"Take that back!" Shippo growled softly, protective of his new friend. There was no cause for the ugly youkai to be insulting Lady Rin when she was doing nothing wrong. His tiny nose wrinkled as the bared his little fangs at the toad.
"Huh?" Jaken said in surprise. "Not a chance, brat. I don't know why Sesshoumaru-sama took that baka ningen in," he scowled.
"Grrr!" Shippo felt his hair standing on end in indignation. He hoped it made him look bigger.
"What do you think you're gonna do?" the toad taunted.
"Fox fire!" Shippo snapped and engulfed the toad in the magical blue flame. "Ha! Take that!"
"Awwk! Stupid brat!" Jaken ran around, patting the charred portions of his clothes and skin. He grabbed his staff of heads and pointed the grinning ugly faces at the defiant fox. "I'll fry you!"
Shippo's mutinous face glared at him in defiance.
A sudden image of Sesshoumaru flashed through the demon toads mind. His master would not like it if he broke his last orders...again. He could hear the echo of those smooth words still. Jaken, I expect you to ensure that the children are not harmed in any way. If I smell a single singed hair when I return, be warned, I will be taking your incompetence out on you.
"Awwk!" the toad dropped the staff and slowly turned around. "Stupid kids..."
"Oy! Where are you going?" Shippo asked the demon eagerly. "Does this mean that I won?" He adopted a pose reminiscent of Inuyasha and hovered over Rin's oblivious form until he got bored.
Shippo nodded and settled comfortably against Rin's back. "Feh!" he said for effect, and grinned.
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"Inuyasha, look!" Boton pulled the dog from his slumber against her back. "Let's stop here for a while!"
"What?" he looked around, expecting a village or something but found...nothing. "Why here?" he peered at her.
"Look there!" she pointed down.
Then he spotted it. A hot springs steamed invitingly below them. "Aaah...." he groaned thinking of Kagome's annoying insistence on daily washing. The affliction to continuously scrub oneself must be a futuristic quality, he mused.
"I can have a bath!" she announced brightly. "I'm sure that I must stink."
Inuyasha automatically sucked in a lung full of air. "...not at all," he assured her.
She turned half around to look at him, surprised at his compliment. "I don't?"
"No."
She gave him her biggest, brightest smile yet. "Still, I would feel better if I bathed."
"Feh. Do what ever you want."
She brought them down to the ground and their transportation vanished in her capable hands. Inuyasha carefully surveyed the area before pronouncing it fit enough to stay at. The scent of several lesser demons was weak, but by their particular odor, he could tell they were of the unintelligent, animalistic kind, that like most wild things would avoid them if possible.
They didn't have much to set up a camp. Inuyasha could easily live off the land and so far, had easily provided Boton with any necessities. Hunting had become an obsolete factor of his life with Kagome since she was rather self-sufficient enough to carry all her gear in her pack. He had to admit, it felt nice to run and join the chase again. He had missed the natural rush. And Boton never failed to praise him when he accomplished any menial little task.
Even after a few weeks in his company, she was content to feed his ego and praise his skills as a "mighty hunter". It was a bit over done, but he liked her enthusiasm for his simple accomplishments none-the-less. It made him feel appreciated and needed. Her easy nature and pleasant attitude was relaxing and lifted him from the clouds of gloom and depression that threatened to consume him in an unguarded moment.
Even now, she was humming a lilting tune in casual disregard for her slightly oppressive surroundings. Her continuous good mood should have started to grate on his nerves, but strangely enough, there was such a natural grace to her behavior, it seemed only proper for her to be as she was.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to notice that he was hopelessly staring. Boton cheered at herself, content and surprised by her crush's avid attention being focused solely on her person. She smiled at him and gathered herself together. "Inuyasha, I'm going to the springs now," she sang out.
He nodded stupidly, golden eyes fastened on her candy pink gaze.
"Will you stay close by?" she asked him.
Inuyasha immediately plopped on his but in shocked surprise. Kagome and Sango issued death threats if he were to even look in the direction of where water was when they bathed. Boton was an enigma to his frazzled brain.
"Cl-close?"
"Yeah...in case there is trouble, will you?" she smiled innocently.
"Will I?" he repeated.
"Rescue me..." she clarified.
"B-but your bathing!" he turned pink. "Naked..."
She gave him a weird but patient look. "I'd rather be embarrassed than dead."
"Oh."
She tapped her foot and waited...and waited...and waited. He stared at her, eyes wide, ears flopped comically in two random directions. "Well?" she finally crossed her arms at his continued silence.
"Huh?"
"Will you come and rescue me?" she huffed.
"Feh! Ah, I mean, of course!" he straightened his posture and made a great show of appearing confident and nonchalant.
"Hmm..." she hesitated to leave now, but the hot springs beckoned her like a siren's song. If he was near, she decided to enjoy her time at the relaxing location and leave him to worry about intruders. After all, Inuyasha was more then capable of keeping any unwanted attentions from being directed her way.
She smiled to herself. The dog demon was starting to get a tad protective! His lingering touches, his firm clasp around her when traveling, his constant nearness, his protective stances, his watchful eyes...It was all a work in progress, true, but still, it WAS progress.
If only he would realize how easily they fit together, then she could push him a little bit further and get him to actively seek out her company...But, they had time.
She chuckled and stepped into the clear mineral waters of the hot springs.
Inuyasha never once considered spying on his companion. Her trust and reliance on him filled a place in his soul with a warmth of spirit he had never experienced before. It was like he was wrapped in emotion, all good ones that gathered all his inner grief and loneliness and transformed them into a tangible sensation of...loving...and being loved. I wonder if she feels that way too?
He settled himself at the temporary camp and poured his every effort into justifying her unshakable faith in him. There was no way anyone or anything was going to threaten the source of so much goodness and caring that had saved him from himself...saved him for her. Though she may not realize it yet...
Inuyasha finally admitted it. He was falling in love with Death. And he had never felt so alive!
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Hiei stared at the vast fortune amassed at his feet. There was enough wealth scattered hap-hazardly in the discarded remains of the forgotten "tea" and rolling across the floor that walking could very well become a heath hazard.
Plink!
Plink!
Yukina's vice like grip on his small form was the only thing keeping the little fire demon from killing himself then and there. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, would give anything to have her smile in his general direction, oblivious to her relationship to him, then to have been the cause of her suffering now. He wished now that he could take the words back...
Plink!
He winced. Each priceless gem that fell from her tears was a dagger to his hidden heart. She had been steadily crying on him, messy hic-coughing sobs that were, to his mind anyway, a replica of Kagome's grief stricken devastation.
Hiei hung his head, he had known better...Now, she was in such a tormented state because of his selfish need to know her.
"You're my...b-brother!" she sobbed on him.
Plink!
Plink!
Her tear gems were nothing but proof of her pain. To Hiei, they held no beauty, no light, no worth. They were accusations and condemnations of his guilt, and her innocence.
"My b-brother!" she repeated.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, forcing himself not to touch her, not to even attempt to comfort her. The pain in his chest was a sharp reality that he confronted with his own grief stricken numbness.
It was torment of the worst kind.
Unknown to him, a single tear rolled down his own check, trembling uncertainly on his skin before taking the plunge. A single glorious crimson sphere falling in perfect abandon, landed near Yukina's shaking fingers. She unclenched one hand from his shirt front when the glimmer of red rolled toward her. With aching fingers, she picked up the gem and brought it closer to her puffy eyes, swollen from her extended bout of crying.
The sight of his tear, though its singularity was disregarded, had her looking up into her brother's face to look into the ruby eyes that matched her own.
"I'll go." he said, feeling almost dead inside. "You won't have to see me again..."
Yukina's eyes widened at that as she launched herself back against his chest. "Don't you dare leave me now!" she yelled into his shirt. "I just found you! Don't leave me alone again!" she desperately held his unwilling form, clinging to the only family she had.
"But-" he began, confused.
"No! Don't leave! Promise me! Promise me that you won't leave me!"
Hiei tentatively brought his hands up to her slim shoulders. His touch was so light, Yukina almost wondered if she imagined it. Her crying stilled...
"Why did you wait so long to tell me? You knew, all along, you knew that I was searching for you..."
"I..."
"Why, Hiei?"
"I am not a good person, Yukina," Hiei began. "And you are..."
She stared at him in shock. "What do you mean?"
"I'm a criminal, a convicted felon, their, mercenary, the forbidden child, Yukina. I've killed, even when it wasn't necessary. I've done things that even I will never speak of...You deserve more form a brother then what you would get with me."
That was the most Yukina had ever heard Hiei speak in one conversation and the first time she had ever heard her speak of himself. She looked at him confused, worry and hurt warring for dominance. "But..." she whispered," that is exactly what I want in my brother."
He stared at her bent head, his fingers rested lightly on her shaking shoulders.
"I didn't expect a perfect person, nor did I want one. I wanted to find someone REAL. My real brother, just as he is...you. Don't you see? I want my family...and all the trails and obstacles that come with it. Hiei, I want to be able to experience the good and the bad that comes from being around others..."
"I don't understand," Hiei said. "Can't you understand that I'm not good for you?"
"Maybe..." she whispered. "But Hiei, what do you think family is?"
He didn't know...except that it was a bond that he wanted to strengthen between them...
"I didn't know myself, when I first began my search. I know demons don't usually stay attached to others for very long. Many don't grow up believing in compassion or caring for others...but I never fit in there. Here, I am free to feel! And I want to feel the love that I see when people care about each other, not because of what they gain, but what they can give. Family is caring about someone even when they don't believe they deserve it. Hiei, I want to be your sister...you are my family. Can we have that? I need my brother, Hiei. I need you to be there in my life. I was so alone before...don't make me be alone again...I'm know I'm weak, but please, stay and help me be strong..."
"Yukina..." with greater confidence, Hiei hugged his little sister and whispered the one thing that could make her pain go away. "I'll stay, just don't cry anymore. I never meant to make you hurt. I'll stay..."
"Hurt?" she sniffled. "I'm so happy!" she started sobbing again. "I have my brother!"
"H-happy!?!" Hiei was incredulous.
"Oh, Hiei," she giggled and clutched his wrinkled shirt front tighter as if afraid he may disappear. "Didn't you realize? There are many reasons to cry..."
"Hn."
That was so much more like the friend she knew, she couldn't help but smile, though it was a somewhat watery attempt. "Yeah," she agreed, "hn."
Hiei actually smiled and felt a trickle of warmth sliding down his own face. She had accepted him anyway. It was more then he had ever hoped for.
Plink!
Plink!
Damn! She was right, he smirked, there are many reasons to cry.
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Oddly enough, this watery scene was the crispiest part! Heh...
On to the next chapter!