10 Years of Waiting
by Kurohi Tatsaki
Day 10a - Forgotten Memories of the Ryu Youkai
Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, & never will. Kurohi & Yamiryuinu, Shirokoori, and all the other original characters I and Kohaku Frost come up with are property of Beware of Mage & Tsuki Ryu Productions.
"speaking" thinking noise POV change beginning/ending of dreams flashback beginning/endings /Telepathic speech/ passing of time /strange voice/ dream playback
Day 10, here we go! Wow, over 40 reviews! I LUV you people!
"I'm NOT a baby YET!" Angelique
A lone figure flipped through a large, hard book on an old oak table. It contained various spells and other enchantments. A single person, this one, could read the ancient scriptures of the Tsuki Ryu, or the "Moon Dragon".
She was this type of creature, crossed with a few other beasts.
Moon Dragons, or Tsuki Ryu, were all female creatures, just like Ice Apparitions.
But, there was something else... No, someone...
A tap on her window was heard, disrupting the thought.
Only ONE person would do that.
It sure wasn't Kurohi. He always used the door.
She frowned slightly, strode over to the window and opened it. "Hey, Hiei. Lemme guess, here to 'take care of me' just like so many times before?"
Hiei was silent, stepping inside the giant library, but nodded once. He glanced around the wide room.
"Your aura seems a bit different," she commented.
Hiei snapped his gaze back, but remained silent.
"You found your life partner, haven't you?"
"Hn." The fire demon nodded once and shoved a few bangs of of black hair out of his eyes. They simply moved back. He frowned cutely at them.
"Well, who is it?" she asked in her melody of a voice.
"Kurama," replied Hiei quietly.
"Ah, the youko..." she mused aloud. Then, she changed the topic. "Anyway, I've heard you've been training little Kurohi. So, how is he fairing?" she asked sweetly.
"Rather well. I didn't really expect him to rise up the ranks quicker than I did."
"You have competition, eh?" The blonde winked. "Dragon on dragon..."
"Those fights were only for training. Had it not been, he would have been dead by now." He grinned slightly.
The woman frowned. "That's not funny. Not at all." Considering just WHO Kurohi is! He's had to suffer even more than he can remember... "Look, my rebirth isn't for another week. You can come back then, in the morning..."
"Nah," he said, chuckling. "The little baby girl needs care ASAP."
"I'm NOT a baby YET!" she retorted, fuming falsely at the tease the fire demon had given her. Though, she hated it when he changed her diapers every month for a few days. Damn the stupid CYCLE!
He sat on the windowsill. "Anyway, looked up anything interesting, Birdie?"
"I'm NOT a 'birdie' just because I'm part phoenix!" she retaliated hotly. "But, I did find a few things," she said calmly.
"Like?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"Why, you have another premonition, koningen?" he asked smoothly.
"For the LAST TIME, STOP CALLING ME BABY!" she shrieked. Then she flipped through a few pages in a book. "I know... I'll transfigure you into a black cat!"
The red-eyed demon panicked; more out of the fact that if Kuwabara was around... EEEK! The baka would probably act around him like any other cat if he was transformed into one! (A/N: Refer to the Eikichi episode.) "Don't you DARE turn ME into anything, or else Kurama'll have your hide!"
"Mmm, hmm..." she said without being convinced. "How so, if I wind up burning his plants? He's not exactly the type to-"
She was now neck-to-eye with the short demon. He frowned deeply, looking up. "Don't you DARE consider doing such a thing. If so, you'll have to say hello to my blade, but then again, even THAT attempt would be fruitless."
She smiled. "Right!" She chirped. Eyeing a few more pages in the book once again, her eyes wandered past the strange, but understandable words and to another book.
A journal, written long, long ago - in a language that was just below the Tsuki Ryu.
Ryu Youkai.
She opened it, and then remembered a small code she had inscribed at the last page of the book.
Muttering the words, she was treated to a small orb that was regurgitated from its demon-hide binds. Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered what it was that was in the orb:
Memories.
Memories that would taint the owner, so he had them stored for his own mental safety.
"What'cha got there, Angel?" Hiei asked casually, peeking over her shoulder. "Ah, is that one of your "amber stone" thingamajigs?"
"No... it isn't," she murmured, gazing at the object thoughtfully.
"Then, what?"
"A memory jewel I kept for Kurohi. He pays me one amber stone a month for its storage."
"Aren't you best friends?"
"I still need to be paid for my services. Even if we are good friends." She paused. "He said I had a right to look into it if its contents could prove useful. All the memories in here are the ones that are no longer in his mind. If I told him about the memory, or memories, he would usually just give me an odd look and mutter, 'Whatever'." She imitated his voice almost completely down to the precise note. The tone and air were just the same as he had said them six years ago.
He hadn't changed a hair in that time. Save the fact his hair had gotten a shade or two lighter from all his wandering.
"Anywho, I've been receiving odd waves coming from your student. He, too, has found a mate?"
"Yeah."
"Male?"
"How do you... oh, that's right, you're kinda a psychic. But, yeah."
"Good to hear," she chirped. "Now I shouldn't have to worry about SOME PEOPLE trying to get me and him together, even if it IS just for offspring." That stupid Dino Youkai... he's been trying to get us together for a LONG time.
"But, aren't Tsuki Ryu genes completely different from Ryu Youkai?"
"Yep. I couldn't mate properly with a Ryu Youkai. Sure, they have the equipment, but the chromosome count is waaaay off. I'd never work. The child wouldn't even have enough, or too much, components to function properly. It would die quickly, as an embryo."
"Then, why would 'some people' want to pair you and him up?"
"Why wouldn't they? We have the exact same count."
Hiei couldn't understand this girl OR the term she used called 'chromosomes'. But, something didn't seem quite correct. "Eh, I'm not really following you..."
"Okay, I'll explain, but tell no one right now. I want them to find out on their own. Kurohi is..."
"Um, Kurohi?"
"Yeah, Botan-san?" he asked, sucking on a butterscotch disk of candy he found in a dish in Koenma's room while leaning back against the upper trunk of a tree, weight balanced easily on one sturdy branch. He glanced up at the blue-haired oar rider, then closed his large eyes again.
"Can you take me to see Angel-sama?"
"Why?" he asked, holding the candy between his back teeth.
"I really need help getting over Koenma-chan."
He sat up, opening his crystalline eyes. They were filled with a dose of pity.
Pity to her, or perhaps, himself.
"If you really, really want her to block off your thoughts, your memories, of Koenma-chan being your fiancé, then..." he stood up, leaning against the tree. "come with me..." he uttered softly. "...I'll take you to her. Follow me!" He leaped off the tree, landing several hundreds of feet below with ease, and dashing off in a semi-blur (A/N: Yeah, the kinda blur that Alucard leaves behind when you make him run AKA: pressing left, or right on the d-pad in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night).
Soon, they came upon a grand estate.
He no longer looked at her with contempt. He had what he wanted, and he had no more need to harbor any negative emotions. "This way, Botan-san," he uttered, then stopped a moment. "Matte... Nan... What is Hiei-sama doing here? Yukusei!" He dashed up, greeting the servants hurriedly. He rang the bell.
"Angel-samaaaaa!" he called.
"Up here!"
He craned his neck up and eyed the second-story window. "Angel-sama! Botan-san, guide of the Reikai here to see you!"
"And not you?" she hollered back jokingly.
"I didn't say that! We're coming in!" he shouted giddily.
"Fine! Then we can discuss my payment!"
"Hai! Of course!" He dashed inside, memories rushing freely to his mind.
He was assaulted with his first visit. It had been in the middle of summer. He was pleasantly warm in the heat, and then, he had seen a pretty woman with blonde hair and silver eyes.
Angel in one of her latest forms... just before her rebirth.
Three days before that, actually. He had flipped out when he saw an infant staring up at him the day later.
He shook his head. Going back to his memories NOW would distract him.
"Now where, Kurohi?"
"Up!" His tail swished on its own. He crouched down, and looked up. Yes, forty percent of his strength would get him up that vertical tunnel.
He leapt, grasping the ledge. The boy flipped himself up onto the guard railing and stared eye to eye with Angel.
She was in her second to last phase before she incinerated... again.
"What's my fee for you holding onto my memory trinket?"
"Five."
He reached into a pocket and fished the stones out. He held out his hand. The woman took them in her slender hand, nodding satisfactorily. "Want to store a few more?"
He hesitated, seeing his teacher in the corner. He looked back to the woman and nodded once. "Yes, actually... I remember dreaming, but I don't remember the dream. Is it possible for you to fish it out?"
Botan tapped him once on the shoulder. He turned around, slight surprise on his face. Kurohi masked it quickly. "Yeah?"
She gave him a look. He nodded and scratched the back of his head. He turned back to the woman.
"Yes. Would you like to view it later?"
He thought a moment as his stomach did a flip-flop. He remembered the first time she did that.
He had been so shaky he had thrown up.
He frowned slightly. "Yes. And, also, Botan-san's next."
"Hai." She held out a hand, muttering a spell. Kurohi closed his eyes and bowed his head a little, shaking slightly.
Though the spell never hurt him, it tended to send shivers throughout his body. Gently, he felt his mind being touched, but it was enough to send him to one knee with a shaky sigh. He panted as a feeling of nausea swept through him and he shuddered, fighting against it.
Slowly, it stopped, and he breathed easier again. He caught his breath, eyeing the demoness with two blue eyes. "Let me see."
Angel muttered another spell. The black-haired demon came over to watch as well.
The dream began again, playing in the middle of the room...
"What do you want to show me now, Dragon?"
A soft light shown in the image's eyes, and he hid those blue orbs with one pale hand. When the light seemed to dim, only then did he remove his arm from his face.
A brown-haired teen, kinda like the image of Kurohi. The boy's gaze was fixed on this male.
He was dressed in his robes that were so familiar, a shade of blue, white and canary yellow. He wore a delicate pink scarf and a red sash. His robes billowed, reeking royalty before the bare-chested Ryu Youkai.
Behind him hovered a soft-gray colored dragon with gentle, violet eyes.
"K... Koenma-sama!"
He finally turned to the boy, gold eyes shining. Then he vanished slowly into the light that surrounded him.
"Nan da do! Matte!" He quickly reached out as the traces slowly fled. He heard laughing behind him; he turned around, and came face-to-face with the one person he seemed to loath. His eyebrows drew tightly against his eyes.
"Kisama!"
The figure laughed, black cloak hiding all his features save his bright gold eyes. They glowed menacingly.
"You were the one who gave me the dragon mark, didn't you!"
"Ha! I did no such thing. How could I? I wasn't around a millennia ago."
His brow furrowed, as if confused. "N...nani? What are you talking about?"
"Hn. I shouldn't have even breathed that. You should be more worried about..." the man paused, and regarded the parts of the dragon mark that were easily seen on the fronts of the lad's bare shoulders. "Wait a second, I've seen that mark before. Yes, one like that was applied to someone many years ago. I'd say a couple hundred thousand years ago when I first saw it. Why is it that you have one of those? You appear no more than seventeen."
"Why, should I, answer, you?" he growled slowly.
/Child, you are right. You shouldn't answer him! He is far worse than I could ever be/ whispered the dragon. It... no, SHE gave off a tender presence.
"Hm, 'Why should I answer you' you say?" mocked the man. "Because..."
/Don't listen to his words! Nothing but lies! Don't listen/ she begged.
"I am a part of you, you a part of me."
"Untrue!" snapped Kurohi.
Those hated eyes regarded him. "Why would I lie?"
"Because..." he, too, hesitated. "you made my friends suffer! You tampered with Dragon's weavings and made me lose trust in the only other being of few!"
A cold smile. "Well, at least you've got brains. I think I'll... chat with you later. Ciao."
The Kurohi image turned to the gray dragon behind him. Those warming violet eyes gazed softly back at him, despite the fact that irritation brewed in their depths. The owner of this dragon, the lad who stood before her, was unaffected. /We will fix what went wrong. You know, he tricked you into thinking it was me that made your friends suffer./
Nodding once, the boy let the dragon continue.
/Furthermore, I suggest we have you wake up and rejoin the others. The wedding is about to begin./
He paused at this. "For how long was I out?"
/Approximately a quarter of an hour/ came the soft reply.
"Che. That short? Okay, wake me up. In this realm the only eyes I can open are my spiritual ones."
/As you wish, my darling master./
Hiei looked at Kurohi with his almond-shaped red eyes. "So that's what you were trying to tell Kurama and me..."
He simply shrugged. "I guess. I don't remember having that dream."
The fire demon gave him a look. "Nan da do?"
The boy shrugged again. "Just what I said. Botan, your turn, though you might want to brace you mind... and your stomach. For half a year, I'll pay for your memory jewel, then you're on your own."
"O-okay..."
"Think of the memory..." Angel began.
Kurohi flitted away, feeling slightly... empty, now that a memory of his had been removed.
Why did he have his memories locked away inside an orb, anyway?
He couldn't remember why.
How odd.
It was like his mind was blank on the subject... as if he never thought of it before.
How strange.
Well, he did just now, but that was another matter.
He came to a stop atop a tree. Anxiously running a hand through his baby-fine tresses of hair, he surveyed his surroundings.
A forest... It was... calling to him!
Wait, trees can't talk... can they?
Maybe it's the youko on me...
He paused, and turned the other way. He wouldn't go here. No. Not yet.
And yet...
Why do you call me? What is it that you want? Is this the place I... He shook his head. "No, I'm going to talk to Koenma-chan about this. Yes, yes, I'm going to. There's something off about this forest. It's like... there's a presence here..."
/Are you talking to yourself again/ asked Yowaihaiiro softly.
"Why, yes. Problem?"
/Well, it's just that, Hiei has followed you./
"Hiei-sama?" He turned around, and sure enough, the five-foot-three-to-four-ish fire demon stood a few yards away, across from him on another tree, hands shoved shallowly into his jeans pockets.
"I thought I'd find you here." He flitted to just below the other demon, craning his neck to look up at the multi-demon now. Kurohi flitted down one branch to be eye to eye with the Jaganshi. "You seem to be preoccupied with yourself much too often. It's bound to get you killed someday," was all he said.
Blue eyes flickered in the slowly fading light as he blinked, long lashes hiding those orbs for a fraction of a second. "Yes, and death was what I wanted a long time ago. You already know I was slightly suicidal. A meager amount still lingers, but..." A small smile graced his features. "Not to sound mushy, but Koenma-chan seems to push even the slightest consideration out of my mind."
"Kurama told me once that to have someone to fight for makes you stronger than you would be if you had nothing to fight for. Cherish that strength." With that, he flitted away as the way of movement he was named after... "Flying Shadow".
Kurohi hesitated a moment, and was about to leave that place, when he heard an explosion some distance ahead of him. Without a second thought, he went to investigate.
End Day 10's dusk
Whoo! Took a while! I had writer's block & homework! Oh, and a Kurohi Interview chapter is coming out once I get enough questions, so any suggestions are welcomed with open arms!
On another topic, I got four reviews on one of my artworks. It was a Kurama/Hiei shonen ai drawing. Hiei is in Kurama's lap and they're sitting on a thick tree branch. One person said that it was just "wrong" and other things like how it was just icky. From another friend, she said that it looked good. And from a third friend, he said that it was up in the halls (as if I didn't know) and it looked pretty nice. Then kaasan said that the best part of it was the tree I drew in the far right corner. I have to agree. I detailed that thing like a color anime! Cross between real and anime! All you haveta do is just, when doing the indentations in the bark, use a nearly dry brush of brown watercolor. Then add some background color to it, and then blend with a rough brush, using short strokes from the dark lines out toward where you didn't put anything besides a lighter sheen of brown paint... Oh, what the hell, I'll haveta scan it once I can.
The action/adventure part starts soon! Whoopee!
Yukusei Let's go! (sounds like: Yuk'xeh)
Started 4/7/03, 5:11PM; Finished 4/11/03, 9:31PM
Revisions: 10/12/03