Disclaimer: Ding, dong, the witch is dead, which old witch, the wicked witch, the wicked witch of—Omigod, it's Kurama! Oh, wait, that's just the wicked witch…KILL HER! SHE'S FACADING AS KURAMA! I don't own the Wizard of Oz for this lovely (looks at the "song" with a sweatdrop) opening. Nor do I own Yu Yu Hakusho, the purpose of this disclaimer.
Chapter 12: Seeing the Light
…Kurama…
"Rose Whip!" I smirked slightly as the whip caught Bri round the waist and pulled her to the ground with a satisfying "oof!"
"No fair!" she pouted. The whip incinerated to blackened ash right out of my hands. She pounced like a tiger on my back, pulling me to the ground. I stared with crossed eyes at the fiery arrow between my eyes. A gloating smirk was on her face as she rocked back on my legs, pinning me. "Give?"
"Youko Kurama never gives." Kuroune called from the sidelines, almost mockingly cocky in my "abilities". "Get 'er, Rama!"
"What time is it?" Bri asked, still holding the arrow between my eyes. I shrank away from its heat. I was in no real danger from Bri, but I'd promised to hold back enough that she could fight me on even footing. However, even I could get burned.
"About nine thirty outside," Kuronue said. "We should get home."
The arrow vanished. "Yeah."
Bri climbed off of my back and offered a hand up. I bit back a groan of disappointment at the loss of heat. I admit it, somewhere in the back of my head, I do love this girl. But…it was wrong. This wasn't the way that I was supposed to fall in love. I was supposed to fall for a girl my own age, at least in the human world.
Someone who loved me back.
Bri could never love an "old man" like me. I was well over a thousand years old, and my human body was nearing its thirty-first birthday. I had to remind myself, I'd watched this girl grow up from the time she was three. Gun Wa, Kuronue, and Ichigo would all murder me if I even thought of being anything more to her.
Koko and Hiei would probably burn me to a crisp, blow me up, then contemplate how to best murder me even more to death.
"Kura-a-ama…" Bri sang, waving her hand in front of my face. "I know we're in a slow-time dimension and all, but we do need to go sometime today in the other dimension."
I smiled. "I'm sorry, I was thinking."
"What about? I haven't seen you that deep in thought since Koenma announced this little party," Bri said.
She pulled me—effortlessly—to my feet. She'd gotten so much stronger since we'd begun our training, and yet she still couldn't even match Kuwabara's strength. I was beginning to lose hope for her, and yet I knew Bri wouldn't give up for anything. It was one of the traits I loved about her.
I need a girlfriend. Someone my age. Someone to distract me from Bri, someone to keep me away from her. But how can I do that if she's constantly at my apartment, in my classroom, training with her brother and I? She's always in my life, and I don't want to change that.
I have to remind myself how old she is. I have to remind myself, this girl is just a child, she could never love me the same way. How can I do that, though? How can I convince myself to let my student, my friend, my little "niece" alone?
"Kurama?" Bri stared at my eyebrows—she never looked me in the eye.
"It's nothing," I said, smiling. "Come on, we should get you home."
"Okay," she nodded. "Well, don't forget to close your eyes this time, we don't want to be late again like last time."
That's it! I'll somehow trick her to look at the Chronodom light! That way, she'll turn back into a small child. I'll be reminded of who she is. But how? She's always so careful to avoid it.
Bri opened the door, letting Kuronue and I pass through.
I would need Kuronue's help.
…
"You want to trick Bri into opening her eyes at the door to the Chronodom?" Kuronue blinked at me, admittedly as if I'd grown more than a few extra tails. "Are you nuts? Do you even know what it'll do to her? She might disappear!"
"No, I asked Koenma," I said. Though, I had to admit, Koenma did seem awfully panicky when he answered. "No one disappears, even if they already are a child. In fact, most people turn into their previous incarnations if they are a child already."
"Oh," Kuronue said, a little weakly. He glanced over his shoulder at the front of the coffee shop, a sure sign he was going to change the subject. "So what do you make of this little tournament we're going to be in?"
"This 'The Moon' person has shaken Koenma deeply. I believe our godling prince is hiding something more from us. The letter appeared to cut out for a moment toward the end." I took a sip of my hot chocolate. "I think he altered it."
"That sounds like toddlerness." Kuronue rolled his eyes. "What do you think it is that he is hiding?"
"I believe there is more at stake than Koenma is revealing." Which is why, I added silently. I must get Bri Wolf out of my mind.
Kurone nodded silently. "Yeah…You know what?"
"Hmm?"
"I think I've got a way to make Bri open her eyes at the door to the Chronodom."
…
…Bri…
I had a bad feeling about today. It was one of those feelings that don't seem to be grounded in anything, like they are usually for me. It was just a general bad feeling. I guess it started when Yue came to my front door and sprayed silly string in my face. My mother had to leave early for work, leaving me to make lunch for a ravenous Kuronue. I made rainbow trout salad, kinda like tuna, only with Kurama's favorite fish.
For some reason, I knew he was coming over early, too.
And, just as I was done adding mustard to the mix, the doorbell rang and there was Kurama in his tattered jeans and a red t-shirt. The clothing he'd taken to wearing during our little training sessions. I wondered what had happened to the dress-like Chinese outfits that he seemed to enjoy in his "youth", but I didn't ask. Considering that jeans and a blue t-shirt is exactly what I always wore, maybe he figured out that they were more comfortable, I guess.
As I was saying, I have a bad feeling about today. I also had the feeling that it was only going to get worse. I set the bowl of rainbow trout salad on the table with a loaf of wheat bread and sat next to my brother and across from my best friend. Kurama helped himself to the rainbow trout before speaking.
"You recall that I said that Koenma may have altered the letter?"
Kuronue and I nodded as one.
"I've finally managed to worm the information from him."
Nods.
"Should The Moon's team win her tournament, she demands that Koenma and King Yama turn over ruling of Spirit World and command over Demon World and Human World over to her."
Kuronue fell over in his seat. "WHAT!"
I scoffed. "I suspected something stupid like that. She wants to rule the three worlds."
"There was also another part to the agreement, however, it pertains to our team. Koenma refuses to release that information, even under pretense of bodily harm."
At this, my eyes went wide as I could make them. I probably looked like an anime character with my eyes completely dominating my face.
"Toddlerness, keeping information even from the threat of torture? There's something you don't see everyday."
Kurama chuckled. "Yes, which is why I pressed no further. If the Moon is as influential as she has demonstrated and she wishes us to know, she will find a way to inform us."
"Yeah…" Kuronue nodded, fixing his chair. He sat in it backwards, resting his head upon the wooden frame. "Ya know, never thought I'd ever get back to bein' alive, let alone bein' a half fox."
"It's been fifteen years and you're still thinking about that?" I asked, amused.
"Well, yeah," he shrugged. In our minds, he continued. Hey, you never thought I'd be your brother, either.
True. I never thought I'd be born in this time stream.
"You two are impossible," Kurama said, chuckling. "What is it that you can't speak of aloud?"
"How'd you know we were talking to each other still?" Kuronue asked, giving away the fact anyway. I sighed.
"We probably space out or something."
"On the contrary, you focus on other things," Kurama said, smiling over his trout. "Never actually on each other. That is how I've come to tell."
"Oh, really, what did I focus on, then?" I asked. I never really paid much attention to what I stared at when talking to Kuronue.
"Me," Kurama said, laughing. I hid my blush by ducking to get more trout. "Kuronue always focuses on the nearest place higher than his head. In this case, the vase full of flowers."
"It's 'cause he doesn't want to be caught staring at me or Hiei or Koko," I said, laughing off the fact that I'd been staring at Kurama. "So he sets his sights high. I wouldn't be surprised if he started going out with Shizuru. Or maybe Kuwabara!" I laughed even harder at the image of my brother and Kuwabara kissing.
"That is wrong in more ways than I can count," Kuronue muttered. He grabbed a red rose out of the vase in front of us and whapped me over the head with it a few times. It didn't hurt—I was laughing too hard to notice.
"Kuwabara…Kuronue…" I fell off my seat laughing.
"Shut up, Bri!"
"W-why—should I…?" I managed to sputter out.
"Because! You look ridiculous! And I'd never go out with Kuwabara!"
Once they actually got me to stop laughing, we headed for Spirit World and the Chronodom for our daily training. We actually had several days each time we went into the Chronodom, but the white board easily provided everything we needed, including a third bed for Kuronue. I still slept underneath Kurama.
Every time I opened the door, I commanded everyone to close their eyes. But Kuronue and Kurama liked seeing me poke and prod at their past forms, so sometimes they didn't. I was meticulous about keeping my own eyes closed, however. Today, it seemed, we were constantly getting stopped outside the hall by one person or another. George was the last person to do this. I finally sighed and handed the Chronodom key over to Kuronue for a minute. He trailed off toward the door, vaguely stating that he was going to open it for us.
"What is it, George?"
"Koenma-sama said that he wanted to make sure you had everythi—"
"It's the Chronodom, George, we can write everything on the white board and get just about anything we need," I said patiently.
He blinked stupidly. "Oh. Yeah. I forgot."
I sighed. "Anything else?"
"Uh, no, that's all."
"This is rather strange, don't you agree?" Kurama asked as we made our way toward the Chronodom for the umpteenth time. "Are you sure Kuronue knows how to open the door, Bri?"
"Of course, he does, it's a door," I said.
However, when we got to the Chronodom, Kuronue was twisting and pulling and yanking at the door, having barely put the key in at all.
"Can't get…stupid door…to open!" he yelled, huffing. I rolled my eyes as he continued in his efforts of vainly trying to open the door without unlocking it.
"Move over, bat boy, and let a real—"
He opened the door.
The light flashed in my eyes.
No one breathed a word.
Kurama stared. Kuronue tried to hide himself behind his wings.
I breathed slowly, in and out, in and out, trying to come up with an explanation of why my hair was suddenly shorter, why I was missing my golden highlights, why I looked distinctly more cat-like, why I was nineteen instead of fifteen. Why I was wearing the last thing I had on before getting eaten by a tiger demon—a pair of nice jeans and a button-down blouse, my torn-up red sneakers.
I couldn't explain it, nor could Kurama stop staring at me. Kuronue bit his lip, both wings twitching. Kurama was still in his human form, being far enough from the light not to get hit by its effects. Slowly, he blinked, walked toward me.
"B-Bri…?"
"Yeah. It's me, still."
He got too close to the light and suddenly he was Youko again. I flinched, unable to stop this body's reaction to the fox I'd known so well and yet not at all. He backed away a half-step before blinking those gorgeous golden eyes at me again. Not again. I wasn't falling for him again.
But I'd already fallen.
"Let's go inside," I sighed. "It will take a long time to explain."
One thing was for certain: I was going to murder Okuro Marion Wolf.
…
…Kurama…
My mind wouldn't stop spinning. Bri, Bri, Bri, this was Bri, but it wasn't the Bri I knew. She smelled strange, like catnip and bluebells, but she still smelled of the Bri I knew. Of paint and oil, of the roses that she had denied she liked for so many years. The golden highlights in her hair, natural and delicate, the color of her ears and tail, were gone, her hair shorter. She looked older. Nineteen or twenty, although she was just a little shorter. I stared at her.
She should have turned into a baby.
But instead…she only turned more beautiful than before.
When she spoke, I could hear only a tiny difference in her voice, only a few notches lower than her normal one.
The most awful of it all was that weird déjà vu that had haunted me for twelve long years, ever since I'd first set foot in Bridget Wolf's house.
"I am not…who you think I am," Bri said softly. She sat at the white board counter of the Chronodom, with the heaviness that only one who is wary can obtain.
"He can see that—"
"Shut the hell up, Kuronue" she murmured tersely. My brain stopped spinning, briefly. Bri never told her brother to be silent and she rarely said the word "hell". It was like her own personal curse word. She never went any farther than it. "I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner."
"This is why you could draw and write and read so high as a child."
"Yeah." She blushed, glancing at the clock-covered walls. "It is. But…thing is, I'm not a reborn, like Kuronue or even in a pirated reborn like you. It's hard to explain, and I don't really want to explain right now." She shot a glare at Kuronue, who was starting to laugh at her slightly ineloquent explanation. "Let me just put it this way…I've really lived for about…thirty to thirty-one years. Give or take."
My mind spun again. She was around the same age as my human body. I finally settled on something to say.
"I don't know what to say."
Bri snorted softly. "The great Youko Kurama, out of things to say. I'll make a note of this day in my journal. Can we get to training, please?"
"Of course. And I apologize."
"What for?"
"For whatever it is you want to hide from me."
She offered a small, sad smile. "Don't be. It's not your fault. It's mine."
Somehow, I knew that it wasn't entirely not my fault.
Although she finally became herself, even dropping the human façade she carried in favor of her golden fox ears and tail, I could still smell the bellflowers.
…
…
…
Has anyone realized that certain characters might still be alive? Just a thought.
Peeka-chan: Nope, no murdering Yue…I happen to like what he character has become, actually. No, no cults necessary. Hopefully, though, you'll still be around when I announce that one of my books have been published. Maybe. Hopefully. Popcorn's nice.
Black Cello: The funny thing is, about five minutes after I got your review, my mom came home with a box of sugar cookies. Oo How weird is that. Actually, the revealing happened somewhat this chapter. More revealing to come, though. You need to write a good long story, too. I need reading material. The instrument called Black Cello must think and write. :)
Kohari: I am soooo pleased to have you all caught up now:) Thank you for reviewing every chapter since Heal Me, you've made my dream of six years come true—100 reviews on Wolf's Last Cry! (throws a party) Thank you! (glomp)
Lucifer: I know, I'm getting a bit frustrated with them myself…and I'm already on the tournament. She will be a bit stronger as a half fox, especially with her mother's blood. However, she's still not very powerful. I don't like those all-powerful characters that always seem to save the day. Even Yusuke has his drawbacks. But, she will be able to protect herself somewhat now, and that's what counts.
Seeyu: Have I seen you before or are you a new reviewer? If so, welcome to the party! I guess you'll just have to see…You know Kurama figures it all out in the end, but he has some help. I dunno, Bri's kinda strong-minded…but even so, she will break eventually. We all do.
Sillylittlenothing: As you can see, Kurama has figured out that Bri is not entirely who she's made herself seem. However, we still have a bit more to go before Bri spills some more, and even more till she spills all. Bri's real self (I don't dwell on looks much, but I do know what she looks like…) is very similar to her outer façade. She has golden ears, dark brown hair with golden highlights, and a very fluffy red fox-ish tail. Red foxes are very common, that's why I chose them. And Yue does have something to do with the tournament. See if you can make the connection. She isn't going to compete, though.
Kuramafan: For some reason, your review isn't showing up…I deleted it already from my inbox, too….T.T I will try to respond to any additional questions you have next chapter, or you can just ask in chat when we meet….Sorry!