Author's Note
This chapter will definitely answer all of your questions. This was not a plan that just unfolded, either; it's been sitting there, and will be the start of a chain reaction of differences. Please read the A/N at the end of the chapter when you're done ) Thanks.
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. This is a fan-fiction using pre-existing characters in a pre-existing world that is not of my original creation.
Loan Me Life
By Zelia Theb
Thread V
A small purple creature resembling a bat whizzed over their heads. The four only caught a glimpse of its body, which consisted of a single large eye, before hearing the friction between two stones. A perfect cube of stone came crashing down upon them, and in reaction they instinctively brought their hands up to catch it. They had fallen into a trap, know as the Gates of Betrayal by the inhabitants of Maze Castle.
Muscles tensed up, and all of them had realized that if even one of them moved, the weight of the stone would crush them. Yusuke inwardly cursed the laws of gravity, wondering why a place as strange as the Demon World would have such binds to physics.
"Ich ich ich ich ich!" the bat chuckled, "The stone is magical, so that it will always be just a tad heavier than it should, making your muscles and energy strain."
"This is a bunch of crap!" Kuwabara shouted. A pain crept through his back; he wasn't used to contorting himself in that way, having to adjust to Hiei's shorter size in order to keep up his portion of the stone.
"You're tellin' me!" Yusuke exclaimed, "I'd rather eat pancakes than be one on my birthday!"
"It's your birthday?" Kuwabara asked, thinking that it was rather unfair for him to be killed on the day of his birth.
"Yeah," Yusuke answered, much to Hiei's annoyance, "I'm fifteen, or supposed to be!"
"You're catching up to Shuichi, I'm afraid," Kurama stated, his voice showing only minor signs of stress.
The bat's wings continued to flap impatiently. It wanted the four intruders to die, and its taunting just wasn't getting through to them. It sensed an even more malevolent presence in the room than itself. The creature could see it; there was a false Jagan Eye implanted on the forehead of the short fire demon, hidden well behind a white ward. The bat was certain that the demon would slay him.
"Ich ich ich!" it cackled, "You may only go forward or backward, but only one of you will be able to escape before the others are crushed, unless you make it to this lever in time! Ich ich ich!" The bat fluttered around in a few anxious and excited circles; mostly to watch the movements of Hiei's pupils; and discovering that Hiei was indeed most likely swift enough to kill him.
"Ich ich! These are the Gates of Betrayal!"
"Hn, I've heard enough of your annoying laughter," Hiei scorned, "I've slain many creatures like you, and I know how this spell works. That lever won't do much…" At that moment, Hiei disappeared, and the other three only knew this because their burden became even more unbearable.
"Gah! Shorty left us to di…!" the tallest of them cried, interrupted by the absence of a stone over his head. It turned into dust, which covered the remaining three in a light blanket of gray.
"You fool," Hiei cursed at him. The demon stared down at the bat as he sheathed his sword, not entirely proud of the imperfect cut that lay across its eye.
"Yeah, man!" Yusuke remarked excitedly. He ran up to Hiei and patted him on the shoulder as a commendment. It certainly was exciting to him, now that his eyes were trained to focus on the movements of such swift attacks.
"B…but!" Kuwabara stuttered.
"Idiotic lump," Hiei started with a death-glare, "That creature was the one who cast the spell. It comes from a race of enchanters. The lever would have done nothing."
Kurama nodded at Hiei and motioned for everyone to step back. He revealed his Rose Whip once more, and cracked it at the lever. A small and heavy platform fell from the ceiling; steel spikes prominent on its underbelly; and tore into the cement of the floor like it was butter.
Kuwabara was dumbfounded. He felt silly for criticizing Hiei, but there was still something about him that he just did not like. It was like the demon was hiding something; and Kuwabara's extra-sense perceived it as if it was an entirely different entity.
"We should continue," Kurama suggested, "But we must take care in where we step." The four then continued their journey in silence, taking a step through the only passageway connected to the main entrances, which continually grew darker as they walked. The floor suddenly gave out on them; much to the irony of the attractive boy's words; and they came tumbling down, along with chunks of rock, brick, and dust. Instinctively, Kuwabara commanded forth his Spirit Sword, a weapon which was a focused extension of his own Spirit Energy, and it illuminated the dark pit in an ember glow.
At once the group was made aware of the large rock covering Hiei. Kurama hastily removed the boulder, gingerly taking care not to injure the demon further. Eyes grew wide and then settled when Kurama discovered that Hiei was all right, and would probably regain consciousness within a few minutes. The striking red-head then used his demonic powers to spawn a less painful vine than that of his thorn whip. The plant took root and soon sprouts formed, crawling their way up the destruction.
Kuwabara was busy assisting Kurama, and wondering if he could focus his Spirit Energy enough to turn his sword into a pole vault. He had caused it to grow longer before; it was a technique he was practicing while Yusuke was busy with the psychic Genkai. However, it still was not perfected.
Yusuke knelt beside his fallen comrade. A dusty hand came up to greet a dusty face. The boy learned that the demon's skin was soft and warm, just like that of a human. The vivid memory of the night that the two first met fell upon him; Hiei's hand was just as gentle.
The detective glanced over to check up on the status of the situation. The vine was still growing, and his classmate had extended his sword to the length of it; the result was the realization that the four had fallen farther than expected; and that their own energies were to blame for the ease of the fall. Yusuke sighed in defeat, but perked back up as the nerves on his fingertips tingled. Hiei was conscious again.
"What happened," Hiei stated, demanding to fill in the gaps caused by minor memory loss. He wiped his sleeve over his face, taking most of the dust off, and stood to brush the rest of it off of his cloak.
"Well," Yusuke explained, "Kurama said to be careful where we step, and then he went and stepped on a brick that made the floor collapse from beneath us, and then…" Said boy blushed as Yusuke rambled on; "And then that giant thing over there fell on you, and you were out for like two minutes."
"Hn," Hiei grunted. He observed a small laceration on his palm, and began lapping at the wound with his tongue. The action resembled that of an animal, which the Spirit Detective found rather humorous and adorable.
"Thank you, Kuwabara," the fox-demon said. He then addressed everyone, and announced, "We may climb out now. Let's hope that nothing awaits us at the top." The remaining trio nodded, readying themselves to follow the fox's lead. Kuwabara hopped on the vine second, and Yusuke was third.
The Spirit Detective stayed stationary at the base of the plant, his head turned back at Hiei. Was the demon all right? The boy settled on the fact that Hiei was, in fact, okay, and hustled to catch up to Kuwabara's heels.
Hiei huffed. Placing one foot and one hand on the thick vine, he prepared to ascend, but stopped. A free hand touched his cheek, remembering the warmth of someone that Hiei could not, and then grazed on to reach the branch.
After meeting where they had left off, the four moved on throughout the empty hallways. They passed a large auditorium, and found only a pile of rubble and a foul stench. Kurama, being the wise demon that he was, informed them that the rock pieces were actually remnants of a rock beast.
"That's…interesting," Yusuke mused, "So what happened then? Did he commit suicide when he found out that the great Yusuke Urameshi and company were comin' for him?"
"Uh, Urameshi," Kuwabara noted, "Don't ya think that he'd still be in one piece or something if that was true?"
"I hate to agree with the oaf, but he's right," Hiei stated. Before he could continue on, the echo of an animal brimmed over from the hallways and flooded into the auditorium.
"That certainly was not a friendly beast," Kurama began, his awareness of the room apparent by the constant darting of his eyes.
"And I don't think that was any battle cry, that's for sure," Yusuke finished.
"Gah! What the hell is that!" the tallest boy exclaimed. The two jumped and looked toward the place Kuwabara was pointing to. Surely, he had seen the animal that released that cry, or some other monster of the sort…but instead…
…he was pointing at Hiei, who had just uncovered his Jagan Eye in hopes to catch a glimpse of what lay ahead.
"Shut up," Hiei commanded, not turning to direct his anger at the carrot-top but instead concentrating on the direction the sound came from. Upon finding what he desired, he placed the ward back over the eye, and remarked, "I'm surprised that you too were able to look at the Jagan and not crumble. Perhaps you aren't such an idiot after all." The insulted boy's face twitched; he wanted to hit the demon for being so stupid.
A cry echoed again, and this time it was definitely carrying a tone of pain. It caused pieces of the dead beast to rumble, and various building materials to fall in a ruined portion (most likely where the previous battle had taken place) of the room. No verbal communication was needed; the four of them knew that they should head on and out of that area.
Eight minutes had passed since they heard that last and final cry. A mix of blood and beast was approaching. Yusuke ran on ahead, knowing that he would find yet another dead Saint Beast. He was right, and the others discovered that when they caught up to him.
"What's going on here?" Yusuke pondered out loud.
"Someone else is here doing your job, Detective," Hiei informed him.
"That bastard!" the ebony-haired boy asserted, "I'm gonna go make him pay! Ya think I wanted to do a mission on my birthday? I'm not doing this crap for nothin'!" The sound of the detective's voice was cut off since he had dashed on ahead. His pace had increased since Hiei last remembered; proof that the psychic Genkai was everything that he had heard. The demon would have to train harder if he wanted to compete with the boy.
Yusuke's three allies pursued him, passing more empty hallways, and a frigid room containing a lifeless swordsman of ice. They finally found Yusuke, after leaping over bounds of more moss-humans during their trek up a climbing spiral staircase. The boy was slumped over, his butt on the ground and his back against a wall, with his hands in his face. He was frustrated at discovering what he did at the peak of Maze Castle.
A bird-demon rest in his own bloody mess, accompanied by a large smashed flute. Yusuke swore as he stood, and punched at the stone wall behind him, leaving a dent no normal human could leave.
"I saw him," Yusuke explained, "Some tall Japanese guy…and he power-kicked that thing to the ceiling."
"A Japanese dude? In here?" his classmate wondered.
"Yes, you fool," Hiei growled, "Another human, just like you, the detective, and the thief. Hn. What a waste of time."
"And then…" the boy continued, "He just swiped his hand in front of the thing, and touched it for a second. It erupted into that, which is pretty sickening…" Yusuke motioned with his head toward the gory pile of flesh and feathers; "Ya wouldn't think that a fifteen year old kid would have to see so much blood; I didn't think that it would bother me…because I thought at first that demons were bad…"
"We are, in a sense," Kurama quipped, a calm demeanor in his eyes despite the situation.
"But…" Yusuke pleaded softly, "That guy showed no mercy. It was black and white. The demon didn't even know that he was there until he was dead…and the look in his eyes…" The boy had to compose himself; the image replayed in his head, boosted by the result right next to him in reality; "He was trapped, and just wanted to be free. He regretted whatever it was that landed him in this prison, and he really just wanted out." The teen wondered…was Hiei going to feel the same way in the future? Would his two companions die before getting to see their true home again?
He wished that wasn't going to be the case. He would personally see to it that it wouldn't.
Author's Note
If you like the final ending to Yu Yu Hakusho, I made a remix of it. It is one of my favorite songs from the series. Please take a listen (since you can still browse Fanfiction while you listen! ) ) and go to "Artificial Robot", a link in my bio (just click my name at the top). Once you're there, you can easily find the "Music" section on the left menu and get the remix! If you like it, leave me a message in the guestbook of the site. So let me know what you all think!
And, just an FYI on the story - the only OC so far has been Lord Kinpo, that demon who pursued Hiei and Yusuke in the forest earlier on. That's all I'm sayin' !
Anyways - please leave a review! It would be cool to know what you guys think of how I'm doing this so far. I really want to make the changes become greater and greater; it's basically showing how one or two small things can really change life on a grand scale.
-Zelia
