Riz:
It's been like, what, two month already? I'm terrible sorry for such a long wait. Apparently I have hyperthroidsm. It's as if I'm on constand adrenalien. No wonder I didn't feel like sleeping before. Anyways, as good as it may sound (It's impossible for you to become even the slightest chubby if you have hyperthroidsm), this causes a great strain on your body, since it never relaxes. It also does that for your heart, and it's definitely not a good thing when one's heart's been over-worked for over a year now.
Now I'm taking this medicine which stops my thyroids from working at all. Thing is, since the adrenalien is now gone, all the two years of being on high takes its toll on me. I can seriously sleep for twenty four hours straight and still wake up half dead from drowsiness. Brain's been crapped up so badly, so couldn't update for some time. Better now, or at least getting used to the whole thing, and so here's the latest chapter.
For those who follow my other fanfic "Don't Say I Didn't Warn You", don't worry, it too shall be updated... in a week or two... >> So for now, I hope all of you enjoy this latest installment to the story.
Chapter Three: The Truth Revealed!
"Yo Kurama, we'll be waiting for you at the training area, ok?"
Kurama nodded as Yusuke and Kuwabara ran off towards the training grounds. With the two gone, the kitsune glared at the direction they took. Why him? Just because he "knew" her best out of all of them doesn't mean… Sigh; he'll never hear the end of this…
Training; a word that usually brings a flicker of interest into the kitsune's eyes. But not this time, this time he would rather be hanging by his fingernails over a lava pit with things chewing at his fingers than to be here. But, even if many tend to forget, Kurama was still working under Koenma for stealing that mirror. Some people such as Kuwabara, tend to forget that point, but not him. Oh no, the fox would sooner return to his original human life than spend time here, with her.
But, as always, the plot often the not forces the characters to act both against their personality and will. Take Hiei for example, a very famous example. Even to the kitsune's mind (and Kurama's known Hiei for some time now) it was impossible for the red-head to picture the apparition crying. Even less, Hiei crying for anyone else except, maybe, Yukina's death. His thoughts would have trailed onto more examples was it not for the fact that Kurama found himself standing at his destination; Sakura's room.
It's a mystery really, where these rooms in Reikai suddenly appeared from. When Koenma decided that they needed to train Sakura (since, obviously, she has great Youki and is very powerful.) and had asked the Reikai Tentai to spend a week up in the spirit world training the girl, accommodations had, quite miraculously, appeared out of nowhere. Hell, Kurama's room even had a small study area for him to put plants in. And, whether by fate or Koenma's retarded workings of the mind, the kitsune found his room next to, you guessed it, Sakura's. How wonderful; not only is she his neighbor in Nigenkai, but the poor guy's sleeping only one wall away from her? Sigh, again…
The fox knocked politely on the door. No reply. He knocked again, but received the same response. Curious, Kurama tried the door and found it, no so surprisingly, unlocked and so stepped inside to investigate.
Now the author presumes that the reader right now already has some scenario of what will happen in their mind. Whether it is the fox walking in just as the girl step out of the shower with only a loosely wrapped towel, her accidentally falling onto him, or other twist of Fate, they will be sourly disappointed. For what the fox found was the girl, with her headphones turned on full-blast, drawing. And not ordinary drawing; this one is breathtaking beautiful. It's the drawing of a wolf, complete with expert shading and touch-ups, all done by one single pencil. Sakura turned as the door moved, and seeing Kurama, blushed and tried to hide her work from his view. Now there were two options; he could either act as if he didn't see anything and tell her to move her ass out into the training area, or he could compliment her on her work and tell her nicely that the others were waiting. Which one did you think our courteous fox chose?
"Oh, um, thank you Kurama. I don't do drawing classes; I just see pictures and sketch them out on paper in my spare time. It's nothing really, this is just a hobby of mine, alongside playing the violin, piano and flute, as well as singing, knowing herb-lore and able to read lost languages."
Kurama nodded politely at Sakura, the forced smile on his face hurting the boy's jaw.
"You don't say? You are quite talented Sakura. I do hate to intrude on you personal time (Which is pretty true; he would rather stay as far as humanly possible from her), but Yusuke and the others are waiting to see what your abilities are. Come, I'll lead you to the place."
-
"So, what do we do with her?"
The Reikai Tentai were huddled together in a tight group, the four discussing in a whisper just how exactly they were going to activate Sakura's powers. Kurama knew, of cause. It's always the same; if one uses fire, then water would automatically surround the girl to protect her. A Rose Whip attack would be nothing but ashes if the kitsune tried to attack; fire was definitely another element she could use. Come to think about, what element can't the likes of her control? Kurama found this point a paradox of the strangest kind. Truly it defied all the laws of the elements and power of all three worlds. (1)
Pondering over the matter, the kitsune's gaze turned onto Hiei. The corner of his lips twitched as emerald orbs took in the apparition's small form. If only the Reikai Tentai lived in the world of fanfiction; there, following the laws which supported Sakura's powers, Hiei would be able to use both fire and ice elements. Not like now, where the normal rule of elements applied. Indeed, the kitsune teased the idea of being about to use lightning elemental attacks, or light even. Ah, that would be interesting to witness…
Suddenly Kurama felt Hiei stiffen, the youkai's blooded glare narrowed as they locked onto Sakura, who was politely standing at the other far end of the hall. At first Yusuke and Kuwabara didn't notice this sudden change in Hiei, but when the fire apparition gets angry, everyone within a one mile radius would know. Right now the black-clad figure had the aura that was cracking the stone floor under their feet. All eyes turned onto Hiei. Yusuke was the first one to speak.
"Um, mind giving us a reason why we shouldn't start running for our lives right now?"
Hiei's death stare never left Sakura, who now had a look of surprise and confusion written on her face. Finally, after long seconds, a growl crawled out of the apparition's throat.
"That onna can listen to other people's thoughts."
Three pair of eyes blinked at Hiei before, as one, all head snapped over to Sakura. The girl frowned at Hiei in confusion.
"But… But I thought you can also do that. After all, aren't you a psychic?"
The eyes ran back to Hiei again. He growled deep in his throat, apparently very displeased at the lavishing attention he was getting.
"Who are you three idiots going to believe, me or that woman over there? If I was a psychic then I would have killed the detective at our first meeting simply by reading his thoughts."
This was the cue for the come-back, as all attention once again diverted onto Sakura. It was starting to become a tennis-match…
"But, you have the Jagen Eye, don't you? That means then you are a psychic, doesn't it?" (2)
"Who said woman, you? Pah, such insolent fool you are. Just because I was implanted with the Jagen Eye does not degrade my rank to that of some human status. No youkai is ever a psychic, only those with Reiki are called that."
"So you can't listen to people's thoughts and talk in their head."
"Hn."
By that time Kurama's neck ached from reverting back and forth throughout the argument. With a sigh the kitsune stepped up, both hands waving at the two to calm down. With the usual smile upon his face, Kurama grinned at the fuming Hiei.
"I think there must be some sort of misunderstanding here. Perhaps it would be best if I may tell Sakura the youkai definition of psychic?"
Turning to Sakura, Kurama felt his smile widen. Oh such a rare chance it was, to be able to best the likes of her in knowledge! This time, as he grinned at the girl, the gesture was as sincere as the singing joy in his mind as Kurama began to explain.
"You see, the nigen definition of a psychic differs greatly from that used in Reikai and Makai. To humans, someone who has unexplainable powers would automatically be termed psychic, no matter what kind of ability they controlled. This is not the case here.
As Hiei said before, only those possessing Reiki could be termed a psychic. Although Hiei might have the Jagen Eye which allows him to sense places and people in the far distance, this is nothing but the Jagen Eye manipulating Hiei's Youki to do this.
A psychic… It's a wide term, I must say. To automatically assume that someone is able to read minds just because they are a psychic is wrong. Master Genkai, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Shizune are technically all psychic. None of them are able to read minds, no matter how powerful they are. What you are referring to, Sakura, is telepathy, a form of psychic ability. Those who are telepathic are able to read the thoughts and feelings through the different wavelength a person releases as they think. The telepathic's Reiki is able to merge with the wavelengths and thus interpret what the person is thinking."
Hiei still looked angry, Yusuke remotely interested and Kuwabara just plain bored. Sakura, on the other hand, blushed and smiled sweetly at Kurama.
"Thank you, Kurama. I didn't know that before."
The poor kitsune broke out in cold sweat as the melodic voice reached his ears. Who would have thought something that beautiful could be so deadly…
"Hey, wait a sec Kurama."
He turned, mentally shaking off the ring of Sakura's voice (So sweet, so poisonous…) and grinned at Kuwabara. He was curious what the boy wanted to say; although it's rare something useful comes out of Kuwabara's mouth, the kitsune had learned that underneath all the bragging and loud-mouthing, Kuwabara was one of the most gifted people he had ever met.
"You said that only people who had Reiki, like me and Yusuke for example, can be psychic. So why is Sakura one of them? I thought she had Youki…"
Kurama blinked. Never underestimate your opponents, but more importantly, never overlook your allies. Good question, good question indeed…
The conversation came to a sudden and unrivaled end when Yusuke yawned and rolled his shoulders. Ah, of cause, the future king of Makai was known throughout his domain as a stubborn idiot who had a rather short fuse. And now the fuse had just run out. Pushing Kuwabara out of his way, Yusuke paraded up to Sakura, swinging his arms to warm up the muscles as a wide grin spread across his face.
"Now I don't know about you, but I was starting to fall asleep back there with Kurama droning on and on. And I know just the thing to wake me up, a fight. We're supposed to help you fight your powers, right?"
Raising one fist Yusuke pounced at the girl.
"READY OR NOT!"
Kurama winced and looked away. Poor Yusuke; he had no idea what he's getting himself into…
(1) The law of elements states that it is technically impossible for one being to control more than one single element.
For example:
If one controls fire and wishes to learn the powers of wind, one then must align their being to wind instead of fire. By align I mean tuning your Reiki/Youki/none-magical ability to the element of your choice. This is different in some specific cases. Foxes in mythology are night-creatures and is aligned to the power of the moon, or Yin. Because of that, foxes can only use elements that's Yin by nature. So only earth, water, wind, darkness, etc. The only expection here is fire. In mythology, every fox is born with the ability to manipulate fire, the amount depending on their age.
Back to the topic. So yea, one element per being. Simple as that.
(2) You don't see it as often now, but some time before it was a very popular trend where the Mary Sue and Hiei have their own little conversations by telepathy. I don't know, since I've still got ten more episodes of YYH to go, but where in the series had Hiei ever used telepathy? I found that point highly amusing to read, and even more humourous was that the authors don't call the ability telepathy, they call it a psychic power. And so I set out in this chapter, hoping to teach more of the difference between physic and telepathy (Able to align one's mind to that of another being's), telekinesis (Moving of objects at will) and teleportation (Ability to create warp in Time/Space. Sort of like Kuwabara's new Spirit Sword).
Truly sorry that I do not have personalized response to all the reviews, but know that there is absolutely nothing better than recieveing a review a reader and hearing their thoughts on one's story. You guys are the greatest and the best, actually taking the time to sit down and type out lines of comments. I'm honored, truly I am.
Ok, all mushiness aside (This is so not me; see what the medicine is doing to my brain?) I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, or found it remotely interesting, or just wondered where you pay to get your wasted minutes back. Whatever it is, have a good night (11 pm here.) and hope to see you round!
