The Gift of Oneself
Written by xDarkxMagicianxGirlx and Ookami no Kokoro.
Disclaimers: Neither I nor Ookami no Kokoro own Yu Yu Hakusho, though we can wish, right?
Chapter Nine
He looked back up, taking it away from his lips slightly. "Hmn?"
The guilt was beginning to get to him, as regret and anger conflicted in his mind. Reaching out, he gently took the container from the other's grasp.
"Something wrong?" he asked, watching with confused eyes as the other took the container.
His mind filled with confusion as he tried to decide what to do. Suddenly, he dropped the container, spilling its contents inside.
"Kurama..?"
"I'm sorry Yusuke," he said. "I really don't know what to do anymore......"
Yusuke looked up at him confused, tugging at his arm to get him to sit down next to him.
He sat down again, tears once more flowing down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry," he repeated.
Gently scooting over, he embraced the older teen. "It's okay, Kurama.." Yusuke wasn't sure what the other was sorry for, but his only thought was to comfort the teen.
He embraced the other back, choking back another sob.
Gently rubbing the other's back again, he tried to calm Kurama down, glancing quickly at the container on the ground.
"I was going to make you forget," he said quietly, his shoulders shaking with sobs. "I'm sorry....."
"Forget? Forget what?" He looked back at the other, confusion evident in his voice.
He looked away from Yusuke, tears still flowing from his eyes. "Me...."
The teen's embrace loosened slightly. "Why... why would you want to do that?"
"Because.....I don't want you to get hurt....."
He looked at the other. "But even if you made me forget.. I'd still feel empty without you.."
"I'm sorry," he said again. "I just don't know what to do anymore......"
"Before your instincts took over, what were you planning on doing?"
"I don't know......When I was fighting Karasu on the roof top, I was afraid he was going to go after you......"
"So you were going to fight Karasu, to protect me.." he replied, looking at the other. "Then do that.. sounds like a good plan to me.."
He looked up at the other. "Do what?"
"Fight Karasu.."
"But, if I do that, I'm afraid my instincts will take over again....."
"But I can protect myself Kurama.. I can help you back, and I will.." He paused, looking into the other's eyes. "What other choice do you have?"
He looked into the other's chocolate eyes, before looking at the ground. "None, I guess....."
Gently moving his hand, he placed it on the other's chin, forcing him to look at him. "Please, don't worry Kurama... everything will be fine."
"I hope so....."
He nodded gently, embracing the other tightly.
He embraced the other back. "I really am sorry," he whispered again.
"It's all right.."
Smiling a bit, he pulled back, gently brushing his lips over the other's.
The younger teen kissed back, pulling Kurama forward slightly, deepening the kiss.
He shivered slightly, leaning into the other as he felt himself being drawn forward.
He felt a warm tingle through him as the fox leaned into him.
Pulling away, he rested his head on Yusuke's shoulder.
Yusuke smiled gently, brushing strands of hair out of the older teen's eyes.
He smiled slightly, closing his eyes.
A few people walked by, staring at the two, but Yusuke just shrugged their stares off. "I'm kinda hungry.. wanna get something to eat?"
He nodded, realizing that it was early afternoon, and they hadn't eaten all day. "Where should we go?"
He shrugged. "Where do you want to go?"
"Wherever is fine with me."
"You can pick the place.." Yusuke replied, looking at the other.
Kurama looked at the ground, trying to think of a place to eat. "I'm not sure. What do you feel like eating?"
He shrugged again, leaning over and placing a quick kiss on the other's cheek. Standing, he turned and looked down at the other. "It doesn't really matter to me.."
The fox also got to his feet. "Well, I guess I feel like getting something quickly."
He nodded, agreeing with the older teen.
"How about a burger or something?"
"Sounds fine to me."
He smiled slightly.
Yusuke nodded to the other and started walking, his leg still bothering him slightly as he stepped over the broken container on the ground.
He started to follow, but stopped, looking back at the herb that he had grown. He took the other blossom of the plant, before walking to catch up with the other.
He looked over at Kurama as he came up on his side, carrying the flower.
Smiling at the other, he placed the flower in his hair, deciding to use it later.
Mirroring Kurama's smile, he turned to look before him. "So which fast food place do you want to go to?"
"I don't know. It's your turn to pick."
"There's one not far from here... it can sometimes get kinda crowded though.."
"If you want to go there, that's fine. I really don't mind where we go."
He shrugged again. "I don't care really.."
"So, let's go there." He looked at the other. "You'll have to lead the way."
He nodded again, walking out of the park and down the sidewalk.
The fox followed the other teen down the busy street.
Seeing the burger place up ahead, he headed towards it, noticing it didn't look as crowded as he thought it would be.
Walking into the burger place behind the younger teen, he looked around, noticing it wasn't really that crowded. He was thankful for that.
He stopped and looked back at Kurama, "I'll pay.." he replied, pulling out some money from his pocket.
"Alright," Kurama said, "but if you're paying, I'll order for us." He took the money from the other. "What do you want?"
"I'll just have whatever you're having," he replied, turning to get a table.
He nodded, turning to the line at the cash register.
Finding an empty booth, Yusuke sat down, waiting for the other teen.
Kurama tapped his foot as he waited in line. He didn't mind the line, but he felt a little fidgety.
The teen looked around, watching as other people ate. Placing his elbows on the table top, he set his chin on his hands.
Walking to the booth where Yusuke sat, Kurama placed down the tray with the two burgers, two packages of fries, and two milkshakes on the table in front of the younger teen.
He moved slightly, smiling as the other teen placed the tray down.
Smiling back, he sat next to the younger teen, giving him the change.
"Thanks," he replied, putting the change in his pocket.
"No problem," he replied, separating his food from Yusuke's.
Taking his own food, he first took a sip of the milkshake.
Grabbing a fry, he took a bite, looked at the other and smiled.
Smiling back, the younger teen started to pick at his food.
The fox took a sip of his milkshake. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, seeing the other only pick at his food.
He nodded slightly and took a bite out of his burger.
He was hungrier than he had thought. He finished the rest of his fries before starting on his burger.
Yusuke finished his burger and took a sip of his milkshake, eating a few fries after.
Having eaten about half his burger, he placed it on the tray and took a sip of his milkshake.
Eating half his fries he leaned back slightly. "I'm done.."
Kurama nodded, finish his milkshake. "I am too."
Smiling, the younger teen took a last sip of his milkshake before taking his things and putting them on the tray to be thrown away.
Sliding over, Kurama stood so the other teen could get through.
Placing the other's stuff on to, he grabbed the tray and started for the trash can.
He followed after the younger teen, heading over for the door.
After dumping the trash, he placed the tray on top and walked to the door as well.
Kurama opened the door, waiting for the other teen.
He stepped through, smiling gently at the other. "Thanks."
He nodded, closing the door after him.
"So where to now?" Yusuke asked, waiting for the teen on the sidewalk.
"I don't know. I don't feel like going back to your apartment....."
"Wherever you wanna go is fine with me," he replied.
"I'm not sure where I want to go....."
"We can just wander." He shrugged, not knowing what else to do.
He nodded. "Let's just do that."
He smiled slightly, starting to walk down the sidewalk.
"How's your leg?"
"Okay.." he replied, although it had started to hurt worse when they left the burger place.
"Maybe we should get that taken care of first."
He shrugged again, looking at the other.
Looking around, he walked into an alley. "Follow me."
The younger teen nodded, following the other into the alley.
He pointed to a nearby fire escape. "Do you think you can sit over there?"
He nodded, making his way over and sitting down gently.
Pulling the flower out of his hair, and an empty ketchup container from the restaurant, he began to crush the blossom.
Yusuke watched the older teen. "So what's that going to do?"
"It's almost like a pain reliever, but it should help your wound heal as well."
He nodded slightly.
He continued until the flower became liquid, handing it to the other. "Here," he said softly.
Smiling, he took the medicine and started to drink it.
Kurama smiled.
Drinking it all, he felt, almost instantly, the pain in his leg disappear.
"How do you feel now?" he asked gently.
"Much better," he replied, standing up and smiling.
He smiled as well. "Now, we can go wandering, I guess."
Yusuke chuckled and walked over to the other teen.
He walked back out into the street among the busy people.
The ebony haired teen walked beside the other, looking around.
"So, where are we going?"
He shrugged. "Anywhere I guess.."
"I guess that would be the point of wandering, huh?"
He chuckled and said playfully. "You're catching on.."
Kurama laughed softly. "I'm getting a lot of help," he replied.
He grinned, looking around the streets again.
"Well, let's go."
Nodding he started walking next to the other.
The fox walked, looking around as people passed him. Everyone is always in such a hurry, he thought.
Yusuke sighed slightly, wanting to get away from the large noisy crowd.
"Maybe we can go somewhere quieter," the fox suggested.
He nodded. "That sounds good.."
Nodding also, Kurama walked along, wondering where to go.
Looking around, Yusuke realized he wasn't as familiar with this side of town as he was with his own.
He looked over his shoulder to see if the other was still following him, since he knew that Yusuke had never been in this part of town before.
The detective was looking around, and didn't notice Kurama look at him. "Do you know where we're going?"
"Yes. This the part of town where my school is."
He nodded. Noticing he had fallen slightly behind, he walked a bit faster, until he was walking side by side with the older boy.
The redhead smiled slightly, looking ahead to see where he was going.
Yusuke just followed, seeing as he wasn't familiar with everything around him.
Still thinking of where to go, Kurama didn't notice that the streets were now almost empty.
The younger teen noticed the pretty much empty sidewalk and wondered where the fox teen was taking him.
Kurama stopped, finally noticing that there was no one around them. There weren't even cars on the street.
Yusuke stopped also, looking at the older teen. "Something wrong?"
"Why is there no one here?"
He shrugged. "I don't know.. I thought it was always like this.."
"It shouldn't be. I mean, there should at least be some people here."
The other looked around, seeing the deserted street and sidewalk. He was getting a bad feeling. "Maybe we should get going.."
The older teen nodded.
The two started walking down the street, Yusuke glancing around cautiously the whole way.
Looking around as well, Kurama gasped when a black energy orb from the ground suddenly engulfed him.
"Kurama!" Yusuke yelled, stumbling backwards from being so close when the orb engulfed the other teen.
The fox started banging on the orb. No, not again! Not again!
Running over, the younger teen started punching it as well, trying to break the other free.
He suddenly felt a strong surge of power. He froze. 'Was that Karasu?' he wondered. He was never that strong before.....
Seeing the other freeze, he stopped as well. "Kurama? What's wrong?"
He looked at the other. "Don't you feel that?" he asked. "That....that POWER....I've never felt anything like it....."
Pushing his fear for the other away slightly, he suddenly felt it, gasping at it's size.
"It's Karasu......." he said, his voice in a low whisper.
"H-how could he get that strong..?"
"Maybe.....He's always been that strong, ever since he came back, because of Yin.....Maybe we just never noticed....."
Yusuke glanced around, How could we have not noticed it though..?
The redhead sat down in the orb. How are we supposed to beat Karasu? We could barely beat Yin, and he wasn't as strong as Karasu is now. We didn't even beat Yin. Yang did. What are we suppose to do?
The younger teen sighed sadly, looking in at Kurama.
He looked at Yusuke. "What are we suppose to do now?"
He shook his head sadly. "Do you know how you can get out?"
He shook his head. "The last time I got out, it was a fluke. I don't think I can do that again."
He sighed, clenching his fists at his sides.
The fox gasped again as the orb slowly started sinking into the ground.
"No!" Yusuke panicked, trying to grab the orb, but failing.
Kurama quickly got to his feet, though his knees were already past the ground.
"Kurama!" He dropped to his knees, feeling completely helpless as the orb sank into the ground.
"Yusuke!" he cried back, just as the orb disappeared. As soon as it was gone, a cold, mocking laughter rang throughout the city.
Yusuke stood, looking around, the laughter seeming to come from everywhere.
"So much for protecting him, huh?" the voice said, still in a mocking tone.
"Shut up Karasu!" Yusuke growled, glancing around, looking for the source.
He laughed again. "Well, I got what I wanted. Or at least, I will......"
The teen growled again, his anger ripping through his body.
"So, what are you going to do about it, Urameshi?"
Karasu's voice seemed to be coming from all around him, and not being familiar with this part of town or where the demon was, the feeling of helplessness settled over him again.
"Just as I thought. You can't do anything. And I thought you never broke your promises......"
"I don't," he growled, turning slightly.
"So what are you going to do about it?"
Taking a deep breath, he tried to concentrate on where the demon's voice originated from, hoping maybe Kurama might be there with him.
Karasu scoffed. "That's going to work," he said sarcastically.
He growled. "I don't have much of a choice, you're too much of a coward to come out here!" He sighed, looking around again. His only choices were to find Karasu or draw him out.
Karasu laughed again. "Oh, hold on a minute. I have something for you....."
Yusuke glanced around cautiously, knowing whatever Karasu wanted to give him, most likely wasn't good.
A soft, frightened voice suddenly echoed around the seemingly deserted city. "Yusuke.........!"
The younger teen gasped, looking around. "Kurama! Where are you?!"
"I don't know! I....I can't see anything..... Help me, Yusuke, please!"
How can I help him, if I can't find him?! Yusuke thought angrily, taking a few steps forward.
Karasu laughed. "I always thought that Kurama would be the stronger one in this relationship......Guess not...."
Yusuke growled, clenching his fists at his sides as he walked slowly forward, looking around. I wish I knew this place better..
Unknown to the young teen, Karasu began to rise from the ground behind him.
The detective didn't notice as the demon rose behind him. He did, however, get a slight tingle down his spine, but disregarded it.
As the crow was about to attack the delinquent, and explosion engulfed him, catching him by surprise.
Hearing the explosion, the teen whirled around, seeing it was right behind him.
Kuronue landed in front of Yusuke, standing between him and Karasu.
As the smoke disappeared, the crow growled, glaring at the bat.
"Kuronue..?" he asked, looking at the taller demon's back before him.
"You have to go and find Kurama," the older demon said, not taking his eyes off Karasu.