Goodbyes and Thank-Yous

by the Rurouni Idoru

Bwa, stupid I forgot the disclaimer last time. This stands for the entire fic: I don't own YYH, or anything related to that. I do however, own Bara, Rikka, Kousetsu, Shimo, various other new koorime, and my best friend owns Teara. (Used with permission. Ish.) If I DID own it, then this would've actually happened. Let's think here.

Yukina snuck slowly into the alley. In one hand, she held a small laundry bag, presumably holding her new clothes, and some other little "souvenirs" she'd gotten from ningenkai. Some of them were gifts from special occasions. Some of them were just things that fascinated her to the point that whoever it belonged to had said, "If you want it, here." But most important to her, tucked between a white stuffed bear, and an aquamarine dress, was a photo of her and her friends. Kazuma was a bit blurry, because he had moved his head just as that bright light came. Hiei was halfway in a sigh. Bara was trying to pose like a fashion model and keep Yusuke's fingers away from her head at the same time. Shizuru was yelling at Kazuma to hold still. Keiko was batting Yusuke in the shoulder. Yusuke was grinning like a 7-year-old boy. Kurama was smiling halfheartedly, as if to say, "It's times like these that make me wish I had never met these people." Genkai just sort of frowned near the bottom of the picture, with a Look-at-What-I-Have-to-Put-Up-With kind of look. Yukina herself was smiling, but still a little stunned. That light, after all, was so bright and sudden, and it took her by surprise. Overall, it wasn't what most people would consider a good picture, but Yukina found it beautiful, because it captured her friends' personalities so well. She made sure at least seven times that she had it with her before leaving. And now she stood at a portal in some dark alley. The portal led to a snowy mountaintop in makai. While it wasn't quite an afternoon stroll, it would be a better place than most to start her journey back to the frozen continent.

"I'll come back and visit," she promised the air, as if saying it to the breeze would carry it along to her friends. "I'll see if you can come stay there for a while, oniisan...Maybe they'll even let you live there. And perhaps you could bring Teara. I swear I'll come back and see you all again. I might even stay for longer next time. But I have to leave." She readjusted the laundry bag so that it hung on her shoulder like a purse or a tote bag. She started to climb into the small hole in space. "Goodbye..." And with that, she was gone from ningenkai once more.

"What do you mean, 'Goodbye and thank you?!' She just left, no proper goodbyes? That idiot oaf didn't trip over his own feet chasing her until he got buried in a snow bank?!" Kuwabara protested, but it went unheard. The speaker's attention was now on Bara. "You didn't whine and cry to her about how much you'd miss her?! That's persuaded the DEAD not to leave, I'm sure of it!" Bara protested that she wasn't that bad, but the rant continued without her permission. "Yusuke didn't even attempt to quote-unquote 'smooth-talk' her out of it?!" Yusuke let out an insulted "Hey," but it was in vain. "You! Kurama! You can convince any girl to do anything besides leave you alone! How did you all screw this up?!" It was a room of insulted fighters that bore witness to Hiei's hysterical shouting. "You just let my sister get away without a word?!" A vein throbbed in Bara's head. Teara sat in the corner, holding her forehead with her finger and thumb, shaking her head hopelessly.

"We didn't LET her get away!" Bara's head sunk and her shoulders rose as she spoke through clenched teeth. "I woke up, and she was gone! I went to go get an effen Pop Tart when I found the note, for cryin' in the beer!"

"Obviously, she left because she didn't wanna be around YOU anymore, shrimpo," Kuwabara huffed indignantly. Teara twitched a bit. Being about Yukina's height, she took derogatory statements toward Hiei's stature personally as well.

"I doubt that," Hiei said flatly. "I don't know how I ever let you talk me into confirming Yukina's suspicions..."
"Easy, Bara convinced you that you should, 'cause that guy you promised you wouldn't tell is in a band now," Yusuke piped up.

"What?! I never said that!"

"Yeah you did! You said that promises made by one Jaganshi weren't important in Nirvana or Van Halen or..." Teara's ears perked up at the mention of Nirvana. Bara smacked herself on the forehead.

" I said Nirvana or VALHALLA, stupid. Not Van Halen! Nirvana and Valhalla are two different forms of heaven, from different religions. Pay attention, you might learn something." Teara sunk again upon realizing that Bara was talking about heaven and not music, as she tended to do. Hiei's eyebrow twitched.

"WHAT ABOUT YUKINA?!"

"Oh yeah," Bara and Yusuke chorused. Kurama sighed.

"You two are cut from the same cloth for certain." Bara grinned and flashed a peace sign, while Yusuke responded, "Tch,"and grinned a bit. Teara, finally having had all she could take, let loose a fairly loud "AAAH!" and stood up.

"Think, people. She's come back the last six times, right?" Kuwabara was quick to point out that it was only two or three. Teara was quick to point out, "Shut up." Bara nodded.

"My dear Chinese friend has a point there. She'll come back." Bara seemed completely unworried about the situation, dismissing it like Hiei was worried about Yukina staying at a friend's house for the weekend.

"And if she doesn't?" Hiei inquired dangerously.

"Then we assume she got to safely, and she's happy there." Bara grinned, as if there could be no possible errors in her plan.

"What if she's not? What if she's spilling her blood all over some freshly fallen snow, barely holding her insides in?! She'll be dead in an hour! And then--"
"THEN YOU GO GET HER!" Bara cried, slightly tugging at her hair. She went up the stairs, and Hiei started after her, before a soft male voice made him stop in his tracks.

"Hiei, it's not her fault. Don't go stalking poor Bara. She doesn't know how to handle herself half the time, much less Yukina." Hiei sighed angrily, then sat down on one of the living room chairs. Kurama could really calm a person down. It was probably that all-too-sweet voice of his. Yusuke looked at his feet for a moment, then glanced up at Hiei again.

"If it makes you feel any better, she makes me want to kill her all the time, and I don't even HAVE a sister." Hiei blinked.

"That doesn't even make any--"

"I know," Yusuke interrupted. "I can't make much sense anymore. Those girls've warped my brain permanently. Now I can't even curse right." Teara protested, but Yusuke silenced that quickly, by assuring her that, "You don't count. You're special." Teara giggled a bit, and grinned widely. Obviously, being special was plenty enough for her.

"But what about Yukiiiiinaaaaa!" The entire room seemed to turn to look at Kuwabara. He looked as if he were in pain, and he certainly sounded like he was when he said Yukina's name. "We can't even go follow her to see if she's okay! Shorty's right, what if she's hurt?" Everyone's eyes turned to blinking dots, and their mouths to tiny circles, some hanging open.

"Did you just say..." Yusuke started.

"...That Hiei was..." Kurama continued.

"RIGHT?!" Teara shouted in shock. Kuwabara nodded.

"She might get captured again, and then what? We'll never know if she's alive or happy or..."

"Or injured, or starving..." The shock value in the room rose to level thirty-four. Hiei and Kuwabara...were working together? Teara passed out, then and there. "You know, this is also partially your fault." The working together stopped.

"WHAT?! Why would I want to let my dear, sweet Yukina-san get away from me without even saying goodbye?"

"I'm not saying you would, it's just that you weren't paying much attention to 'your dear, sweet Yukina-san,'" Hiei glared.

"You weren't paying attention either, shortstack!"

"I live in a TREE! I can't really keep watch on the goings on at Bara's house from there! The Jagan doesn't see around street corners!"

"You're just jealous 'cause she likes me better than you!"

"How many times must I tell you before you understand?! She's my sis--"

"I don't wanna hear it, shorty! Quit makin' excuses!"

"Your very existence offends me! You are an embarassment to nature, the human race, and all of their observers!"

"...You and your big words!"
"How old are you?"

"How old are you, midget-boy?"

"Stop insulting my height for ten minutes out of your life!"

"You're just jealous!"

"Why, because you are a freak of nature?"

"I am NOT!" Yusuke and Kurama tried to intervene, but were shot down quickly, and dragged into the argument. They quickly stopped talking to each other as Bara came downstairs for a snack. Teara, who had been kicked awake earlier by Yusuke, was banging her head against the wall repeatedly. Bara sat on the couch, angrily munching Cheez-Its out of the box. Bara's mother came downstairs, holding an empty laundry basket. She glanced around at the stranger-than-usual scene.

"You know, Yukina hasn't been here since last night." Bara sighed and answered her mother.

"I know, that's why none of us are talking to each other." Bara's mother blinked once or twice, then shrugged and continued into the basement. Just another strange day, in Bara's mother's book.

Yukina hunched over in the windy snowstorm. When she tried to open her eyes, they were quickly filled with snow and dried by wind, so she closed her eyes again. She clutched her arms to her chest, not because she was cold. She wasn't. But the winds were very strong, and she didn't want to lose her bag. She had already been this way a few times, so she more or less knew where she was going. But that didn't make it fun. She continued walking forward, thoughts of her friends sustaining her.

"I can't wait until I can see Ginsekai, and Fubuki..." She trudged forward, talking quietly to herself. "...And Rikka, and Kousetsu..." She panted between names. "...And Reika, and Tsurara..." She pressed onward against a strong gust of wind. "And Samuke, and..." She stared outward. She was on the edge of a cliff. There were large birds flying around, birds big enough for Yukina to ride on. And there, above and beyond her, was a floating island made of ice and snow.

The frozen continent. Home.