Flora, Fauna, and Kites
by the Rurouni Idoru
Rurouni's Note: Chapter two! Incidentally, I'm sorry for any repitition and/or redundancy that may occur. I'm just not very good at writing in Kurama's POV. Luckily, this fic makes good practice. Oh, and his comment about "centuries to come," Kurama is, in fact, several centuries old. Look it up. There should be only one more chapter after this, two at the most. It's a short, sad little story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm not that brilliant. However, Fujita belongs to ME. You take him, I gut you with a rusty spoon. (Or at least get mad at you.)
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It was quite a lot of years after leaving home for good that I went back to the clearing. I recall, it was after the early death of Kireihana, and I returned to where the tragedy had occured. Perhaps I wanted closure. It was originally supposed to be a sort of pilgrimage back to my old den, but I could not bring myself to go any farther than the clearing. After the crippling memories there, I didn't want to deal with other childhood issues. It wasn't the first encounter that haunted me and kept me for my den. It was the second encounter.
Several years after we lost the kite (and the lizards, for that matter), the two of us found ourselves on the prowl. No, it wasn't food we were searching for. I had hit puberty recently. I feel I need not explain what my prey was any further. At any rate, Fujita and I were out on an "adventure" of sorts, visiting many places and meeting many young ladies. This, of course, was a pastime I would continue to enjoy for centuries to come. We'd had a nice time, nothing too memorable. But then, as all good stories go, we got lost on the way home.
"Ugh." Fujita slumped his shoulders and pointed at a tree. "I saw that tree ten minutes ago. We're goin' in circles." The two of us sighed. "I oughta move to Ningenkai."
"Why's that, 'niisan?"
"I hear that they pave over the forests in Ningenkai. It's near impossible to go anywhere and not be assured that there's an inn or a bar nearby. And where there's an inn or a bar, there's someplace to stay for the night. If we can't get home, we can at least try to find a place to stay for the night." He had a good point. I looked around, biting my lip.
"Well, it's not dark yet. We can still try to get home before the girls start worrying about us." He nodded and we set off again. It wasn't too long until we reached the clearing with the well. I blinked a few times. Now, it had been a good deal of years since we had been there last, so I didn't quite recall it. "We been here before, Fujita?"
"Yeah, I think this is where we flew that kite. Remember?"
"Oh yeah. With the lizards." Fujita nodded. Then, he furrowed his brow, paused for a moment, and quickly climbed up a tree. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Look at this!" He leapt down from the tree and landed in front of me. He grinned wildly as it dawned on me. He was holding a white kite.
"Is that...?" I reached out to touch it.
"Yep! It's like a miracle or something. I have no idea how it survived out here. It's even sturdier than we intended, I guess." I looked around, smiling.
"Y'think those lizards are still here?" He grinned smugly and waved his hand dismissively.
"Nah. Their lifespans aren't nearly as long as ours. If they were already fully grown by then, they're probably dead by now." I sighed in relief.
"Good. It's getting dark. They'd come out soon." I distinctly remember shuddering at the thought of what they might do to us if they saw us in their turf again.
"Let's head home, Kurama." He put his arm around me. "I'll show you how to do that thing with your eyes that the girls like." At first, it felt sort of like a corny movie ending, walking together, older brother and younger brother. Until, of course, we had taken our third steps. It was then that we heard a chillingly familiar voice.
"Hello, kits." We stopped immediately.
"Oh Inari, please let that be one of the girls from before trying to mess with us...." From what he had just said, I decided that Fujita must have been far more hopeful than I. Slowly, we turned around. There he was. The reptile who had slept in the well, and threatened to eat us years ago. In his arms, he was cradling a young doe maiden. Her small eyes were shut as she hiccupped in pain. She was bleeding from the abdomen. I felt ill at the sight of her innocent blood spilled so carelessly.None of it made sense to me. Fujita had said that he would be dead. Fujita couldn't be wrong, I didn't think it possible.
"'Niisan, didn't you say...?"
"I underestimated their lifespans." Wonderful time for Fujita to prove to me that he wasn't a god. This was the worst time for underestimating. It would cost us our lives, I was positive.
"I see you've finally gotten your kite. Looks like dinner tonight is going to be prepared in the way that humans do it. Pity. Fear, pain, screams...They always make the meat taste better. And fox meat is always better than deer meat. Go." He dropped the doe, and she crawled away as quickly as possible, weeping and clutching her stomach in agony. The lizard looked directly at us. "This time, you won't get a head start."
"Oh Inari-sama. Ohhhh, Inari-sama." I sort of prayed, and Fujita put his arm around me.
"I want you to run." I looked up at him, stunned. Run? Wasn't he going to run too? If we were going to be cowards, couldn't we do it together?
"And leave you?"
"Now, now. Don't run! You're my special dinner guests!" The lizard was slowly walking toward us, savoring each step as it scared us more.
"Run, Kurama!"
"But Fujita, I--"
"Let's have the smaller one first. They're always more tender."
"Go!"
"Fujita!" He glared at me, which he had never done before. His eyes burning into mine, along with what he said next, compacted my decision.
"Get to safety." I swallowed hard and nodded. As quickly as I could, I ran around through the forest around the clearing. I deliberately ran around to confuse the lizard into thinking I had headed for home. In reality, I had run back to the opposite end of the clearing, and hid behind a large rock. I decided to stay nearby, in case Fujita needed my help.
"Oh-ho, so 'niichan wanted his 'totochan to go back home to 'kaachan so he could be big and brave? No matter. Foxes are good at any age. Your brother would have only been easier to chew!" The lizard lunged, and Fujita was put on the defensive. The whole struggle stays in my mind in the same dreamy way as my first kiss, or my first real heist. Only much worse. And it was what I recalled on the day I came back as an adult. At first, it seemed like Fujita could keep up evading long enough to wear the reptile out. My hopes of this strategy were dashed when Fujita twisted his ankle. The lizard quickly gained the upper hand. I was horrified. I can't describe the rest of the fight in detail. It hurts so much just to remember in the first place. But I can tell you exactly how it ended. The reptile violently slashed my brother's stomach apart in a violent thrusting motion. I gulped in fear as I watched Fujitacough up blood. The lizard moved in for the kill, but Fujita was not going to let this fight end with his consumption. He let out a final cry, and ended the battle.
"KITSUNE-BI!" And the lizard screamed. The magic of the Fox Fire turned him to ash amazingly quickly. But he was not my concern. I ran up to my older brother.
"Fujita!" I grabbed hold of his hand, tears in my eyes. "Fujita, get up! We gotta go home! Kuri's gonna ask where we've been and she's gonna make us eat some old burnt chicken and...Fujita!" He gave another cough, more blood spattering out of his mouth. Perhaps I felt ill at the sight of the deer girl, but at the sight of my brother mortally wounded, I becamephysically ill. I wiped my mouth and streams of tears ran nonstop down my face. Fujita stopped breathing. I can remember the horrific sight of my brother's once charming, expressive eyes, now blank and soulless.
My big brother Fujita was dead. And next to us lay a white kite, with spattering of red stains across it. And that was the memory that prevented me from ever going back to my den once I had left for good. Kireihana's death was premature, but Fujita's was much moreso. I will never forget the image of my brother's death. Sometimes I even see it in my dreams.