I don't own YYH or any of it's characters. I only own Mikai and Sotto.
This is the part I've been waiting to post for forever. This part has been replaying over and over again in my head ever since I first thought of this story so I hope you enjoy it!
Hiei was standing under a tree with Sotto by his side. Small beads of water were forming under her eyes as he looked away from her, hating to see her in pain.
"I'll meet you by our tree in two years," Hiei said as he looked up at Sotto. "I promise."
"I know," Sotto said as she wiped the tears falling out of her eyes with the back of her arm. "But it's just hard to let you go after just finding you."
Hiei tugged on Sotto, letting her know that she had to bend down a bit for something he wanted. She bent down a bit and he kissed her gently.
"I'm always near you," he whispered. He reached down to her right hand and let his fingers run over her ring finger. "I'm always right here." He then moved his hand up towards her chest and let his hand rest over her heart.
"Aw Hiei!" Sotto wrapped her arms around Hiei and held him tightly. He blushed as his hand slipped further down and gently touched her well-developed chest. His head landed near her neck and he soon found himself resting his head on her neck.
The two stood there holding each other and time seemed to fly by them quickly. Hiei didn't want to leave his kitten, he wanted to go back to the Ningenkai with her even though he wanted nothing more then to stay in the Makai for the past few years but here, was not where his heart was. Sotto would be in the Ningenkai, and that would be were his heart would be. He wanted to go back to the Ningenkai and possibly work on building his family.
"I'll miss you," Sotto whispered as she began to let go of Hiei.
"I will too." Hiei pulled away and looked into Sotto's eyes.
Sotto stood there as the tears falling from her eyes stopped. She took a step back, another, and then another until she found herself running away from Hiei. He stood there and watched her run in the direction of a portal until he could no longer see her.
Hiei once again felt the feeling of losing something he loved. Feeling this, he grabbed the tear gem, which hung off of his neck tightly. But then he realized that this time would be different. He would go back to Sotto and he wouldn't give Sotto up for anything. Anything and nothing. He wouldn't make that mistake of letting something go again. He still hated himself for what he had done with Yukina, and he wasn't going to do it again.
"Hiei?"
Hiei looked to his right side and saw Kurama walking out of the woods with a bag over his shoulders.
"What?" he hissed.
"You look tired and your face is red. Are you okay?" Kurama teased as he walked over to the shorter man.
"Fine."
"You've got the smell of Sotto all over you. What have you two been doing?"
Hiei blushed, and gave it away to the red head. He giggled a bit and brought his hand to his mouth to hide his smile.
"Here," Hiei hissed as he tossed Kurama his tear gem. He quickly took his hand away from his mouth and caught the small tear gem in his hands. He looked down at it and smiled.
"Thank you but I really don't think of you as more then a friend Hiei." Kurama teased as he walked over to Hiei.
"You idiot it's for Yukina!" Hiei hissed.
"I'm kidding." Kurama smiled. "But…" Kurama gave the tear gem back to Hiei. "I really think that you should give it back to her yourself. You're coming back to the Ningenkai correct?"
"Yeah."
"Make things better Hiei, and give it to her yourself."
"You haven't changed from the day I met you."
Hiei took the tear gem back and wrapped it around his neck once more. Kurama was right as always and he figured that he'd better do it anyway.
"Good luck to you and Mikai," Hiei hissed as he began to walk away.
"Thank you." Kurama smiled. "I'll be waiting for return."
Hiei walked away from his long time friend and back to spot where he promised to meet Mukuro in order to start his training with her. He knew that Sotto wouldn't have liked him working with her, but he promised that this would be the last thing he would do that upset her.
Kurama walked over to the spot where he was supposed to meet Mikai, and he saw her standing there with an upset look on her face. He walked over to her and smiled.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked as he picked up her chin.
He reached down to her right arm and began to walk away only to feel that she wasn't moving at all. He looked back at her to see her in the same position as small water beads formed under her eyes.
"I'm not going," she whispered.
"What?" Kurama asked as he turned to her quickly. She couldn't have said what he thought she had said could she?
"I'm not going back to the Ningenkai," she repeated as she looked back up at him, small tears falling from her eyes. "I can't."
"Why?" Kurama asked desperately as he grabbed her arms. "Why can't you?"
"This power inside of me," Mikai answered. "Remember when Raizen died and I knocked over that tower at Granada with my power? What if that happens in the Ningenkai!? I'll kill people dammit and I can't do that!"
Kurama let go of Mikai. There was nothing he could do about her power. She had to train in a place where she wouldn't worry about hurting people and the Makai was the perfect place. He felt so helpless as he watched his future with Mikai shatter at the simple fact that it may take her years to train and get control of her powers. He felt so helpless and empty about the fact that he couldn't help Mikai, all he could do was sit there and watch Mikai try to understand everything that was going on with her powers and in her heart. He had to let fate go on with Mikai.
"So you want to stay here?" Kurama asked as he began to feel his eyes burn. "Then I'll stay with you."
"NO!" Mikai yelled as she broke out crying. "You have to go back to your mom! It's selfish of me to ask you to stay here and I hate feeling selfish! Just go back to the Ningenkai without me!"
"I am not leaving without you!" Kurama yelled in an out of character answer that caught Mikai's attention immediately. She looked into the green eyes that she loved and saw tears falling from them.
"I don't want to be alone again!" he whimpered. "You're the only thing keeping me in the Ningenkai as Shuuichi and now you're telling me that you want to stay in the place that I was avoiding because it pulled me back into my Youko form?"
"But Kurama," Mikai whimpered. He ignored what she was going to say and wrapped his arms around her neck once more.
"I don't want you to leave," Kurama whimpered.
Everything sunk into Mikai. She had never thought that Kurama felt so lonely while she was gone. She hadn't seen his loneliness and she had never thought about how much it hurt him deep inside of him. But she was doing everything for a reason and in order for Kurama to understand everything; she had to tell him everything she had been hiding from him.
"It hurts….," Mikai whispered. "Everything…hurts…"
"What?" Kurama pulled away from Mikai and looked at her.
"Being in the Ningenkai all my life has caused me to hurt. Every moment in the Ningenkai, humans are dying and I can feel their souls pass through my body, tearing at me just as Raizen's Spirit did. Raizen's hurt physically because of his power but when a normal person dies, it's full of emotion and when they pass through me, so does that emotion. That hurts…the fear in most of them hurts. Kurama…I have to train it so it doesn't hurt anymore…and I'm sorry," Mikai whimpered as tears cascaded down her face. "That it's selfish of me to not want to feel this pain anymore…and I'm sorry."
Kurama had no idea that it could hurt that badly for Mikai. He felt stupid for crying and wanting her to come back with him now that he knew but he didn't want to let her go. He had no idea why she hadn't told him before that she was always hurting, but he came to the conclusion that she didn't want to make Kurama think that she was weak in anything. Mikai had always been tough because the people around her were tough; Yusuke was one of those people. Yusuke was tough on the inside but sweet inside and Mikai saw that, and figured that Yusuke was living so in order for herself to live, she had to be strong and face the world with a tough exterior.
"Then I'll stay here with you," Kurama said as he placed his hand on Mikai's shoulder. "I'll train with you."
"You can't." Mikai shook her head back and forth. "Raizen told me that the only person I'd be able to train with would have to be the person who was there when the pain first began."
"And that is?"
"Yusuke."
"Yusuke," Kurama hissed as he looked away. This must have been the thing that Yusuke and Mikai were always talking about. Yusuke had to have known at didn't tell him at all.
"If I train with Yusuke for two years…" Mikai sniffled. "Raizen said that I should have everything under control."
"Two years?" Kurama asked. Could he really go two years without seeing Mikai? The six months was hard enough so how could she expect him to last two years without seeing her? "When did Raizen tell you this?"
"The first time I snuck off to see Yusuke…I went to go and talk to Raizen about what I should do about the burning feeling in my stomach. He told me everything…everything."
He remembered when Yomi had asked him if he had known where Mikai was. That was where she went. Kurama thought. She went to go and find answers from Raizen that Yomi couldn't give her.
"Two years…" Mikai also repeated breaking Kurama's thoughts. "Then everything should be over…and I'll come back to the Ningenkai."
Kurama closed his eyes and then opened them. "I'll wait two years for you to come back to the Ningenkai."
"Kurama!" Mikai buried her face in Kurama's chest and began to cry heavily. He stood there, wrapping his arms around her as he too cried. He felt her back rise and fall quickly because of all of the quick breaths she was taking.
"I'll wait," Kurama whimpered as he began to cry heavily. "As long as I have to for you."
"K-Kurama," Mikai whimpered.
They didn't want to let each other go but they knew in order for their future to be well and happy like any other normal couple, they had to wait. Wait just a little bit longer and then everything would be okay be between them. Everything.
After minutes flew by, Mikai pulled away from Kurama. He looked at the redness on her face, which came from crying and gently touched her cheek with his right hand. His wiped away a small tear which fell from her face, and they both smiled.
"You'd better get going," Mikai said as she looked up the man she loved. "You can't keep your mother waiting forever."
"Come to my house," Kurama said as he kissed Mikai gently. He pulled away as she touched his face. "I'll be waiting."
"I'll come…" Mikai took a quick breath of air. "In two years…I promise."
He reached up to her ear, and pulled his hand back with a small white rose in his hands. Mikai blushed as he handed it to her.
"Your favorite color of rose," Kurama said gently. "It's a promise rose…it won't fade until you come back to me."
Mikai looked down at the rose and then back up at Kurama. She blinked and kissed him gently on the lips, pressing the rose between them. She pulled back minutes later and smiled.
"I want you to have this," Mikai said as she pushed the rose into Kurama's chest. "That way, you'll know that I'll came back to you. So when you're lonely and feel empty inside, you can just look over at this and remember that I'll be back soon."
Kurama smiled and took the rose in his hands. "I'll remember that. Now, please be safe." Kurama whispered as he petted Mikai's face.
"I will," Mikai whispered back as she rubbed her face into Kurama's hand. He pulled away and turned towards the right. "Just remember…meeting and parting are the same thing…only in different directions."
"I love you," he said as he heard Mikai speak.
"I love you too," Mikai said. "I will meet you again because we're not saying goodbye. We're just…taking a break."
Kurama began to walk away, walk towards the area where the portal to the Ningenkai could be found. He didn't turn around to look back at Mikai, he kept his head forward for he feared looking back and waiting to stay even though he already said that he would let her be alone.
Yusuke stood in front of Raizen's grave after seeing him. He sighed as he turned away from his father's grave and looked out towards the Makai, looking for Mikai. He knew that this was going to be a bit risky for him, after all he did have feelings for Mikai and an idea popped into his head which he hated himself for thinking.
What if Mikai and I stayed here in the Makai just her and I? We could train all the time and maybe… Yusuke thought as he shook his head back and forth. That's completely stupid Yusuke! What the hell are you thinking!?
"Hey Yusuke!" Mikai said as she ran over to the black haired boy. "I'm ready to get going."
"It's about time!" Yusuke said as he looked over at the woman he had known for so long.
"Jeez!" Mikai yelled back. "Let's not start now! Come on let's just go already!"
"Fine." Yusuke turned his back away from Mikai. "I guess this is where I say good bye to you for the next six weeks."
"And then we'll meet back up here to train," Yusuke continued.
"Right." Mikai nodded.
"Okay then I guess I'll see you then okay? Be safe." Mikai turned her back away from Yusuke and began to walk away, with her own questions in her mind.
"See ya!" Yusuke yelled as he too turned his back and began to walk away. He, of course, having his own list of questions in his mind.
What if Yomi found Mikai in the Makai and convinced her to stay there with him forever? Would Yusuke go and get her but if he did, then what? Would he bring her back to Kurama? Or would he keep her in the Makai with him alone. That thought just brought up the idea of being in the Makai with her so that maybe…he could be with her.
Don't think that! Yusuke thought. There's no way I could do something like take Mikai away from Kurama! They love each other way too much. But…
He knew now that he liked Mikai and he knew that telling Mikai that he liked her would only hurt her. He had to keep his mouth shut even though he did want to tell her how he felt, for if he didn't, he would just hurt Mikai and Kurama.
What would he do with Mikai anyway? He had nothing to give her, unlike Kurama who was smart and had a good future in front of him. But then the memories of what had happened before came to his mind and he discovered that he didn't need a good future in order to make Mikai happy. She was happy with plain old Yusuke, which made it seem that she was happy not knowing what her future was.
"I really hate having plans. If I'm gonna be happy, then just throw random things at me."
He remembered Mikai saying that. He remembered how she didn't want her future planned out for her, she just wanted to live everyday like it was going to end in the morning, so she could say that she never wasted a day.
I'm not going to ask her to stay here with me. Yusuke decided. But I will tell her how I feel.
Mikai, on the other hand, was thinking other things. She feared Yusuke dying out on the battlefield, or him not showing up at their meeting spot. She never wanted to lose Yusuke for a lifetime or even for a moment.
Yusuke…be okay when I see you again. Mikai thought. Please…be there.
Yusuke not meeting her at their meeting spot would be the thing that Mikai feared the most. She didn't like the idea of waiting for Yusuke, and him never showing up. That would place the question of "what happened" in her head and she would have to go and look for something that would ease her mind such as a body.
Yusuke will be there. Mikai reassured herself. He always has been and nothing is going to stop him this time.
Yusuke had always been where he promised to be and he had never broken a promise to her. He knew that this too was important to Mikai and he wouldn't stop doing everything he had been doing. Yusuke was going to be Yusuke no matter what.
The two teens with so much history behind them away from each other and hoped to see each other once more. They both had been hiding things from each other for years and with the help of the Makai tournament Yusuke had set up, they both had discovered a few things about each other. Yusuke, found out how Mikai used to like him and how she had tried to ask him out in her own way, and now he discovered that he liked her. But, because he liked her, he wasn't going to say anything. Mikai found out just how much she loved Kurama, and how to control her own body. So much had been learned, so now the two had so much more to lose.
R&R please!!