Hello. I will say this now, I will try to update every few days but I can't always find time to write stories. I promise that I will do my best to. And forgive me for any weird layouts of my stories. I don't know how to make it do indents for paragraphs, though I am working on that. So give me some time and it will hopefully get done. And anytime you see bold at the beginning or end of a story will be me, Lifeless-Entity talking. And trust me. This story will not focus on romance and will not be first person every chapter. Only Prologues and Epilogues will be first person if any chapter is. Anyway, I've rambled enough. Onto Chapter one.
The sun was setting over a mass of pacific water of the ocean, providing an odd color to the gentle waves that beat the shore. Two figures stood there in the dying light with their eyes all but glued to the beautiful scene before them. The taller of the two looked down at the other with gentle eyes that were close to tears. His small, deep rust eyes surveyed the girl in silence. "Yukina-chan?"
The girl looked up at him with her wine eyes. One hand reached up to grasp his comfortingly as her sea-foam hair fell slightly into her face. "Kazuma-san... it will all be okay. I promise it will be okay." She moved closer and pressed her face against his hand in an affectionate motion. Kuwabara's father had recently passed away from lung cancer and the former member of Team Urameshi had found out only a few minutes previous on the phone. Yukina was doing everything she could to comfort him.
However, the man wasn't interested in comfort. Urameshi had told him about the man he saw a while back so early in the morning. His assumption was that the man was a killer, just as Urameshi had proclaimed, but he thought that the man had also killed his father and the doctors only thought it was lung cancer. Though granted, his father had been a smoker. "I... never got to say goodbye." Yukina merely nodded, for she knew the feeling well. Her mother had committed suicide when Yukina was just a child. She had never been able to know her mother even. Especially not say goodbye.
"Kazuma-san... I am certain that no one murdered your father. The doctors did an autopsy and they said it was lung cancer. Why would they lie?" She nuzzled his arm and rested her head there in silence. Kuwabara finally nodded and then sat beside the ocean, Yukina going with him. "I love you, ... Kazuma-chan." The red head looked down at her in shock. She had only ever called him 'Kazuma-san'. A warm smile played on his face as he drew the ice maiden into his arms lovingly. They both sat there in silence, though a pleasant one, just watching the water.
After the sun had set and the sky had turned a dark blue, the couple heard a set of footsteps in the sand coming from behind them, which caused them to tense. "Oi. Baka. You and my onna-chan need to be getting back. It's dark." They relaxed and turned to look at Hiei softly. "Gomen. Did I scare the two of you?" There was a playful tone in his voice. "However, you do need to come back. It's dark and we're getting ready to eat dinner."
"You turn more and more human every time you speak, Hiei-kun." Kuwabara laughed then stood, taking Yukina's hand as the three of them walked up to the temple. Though none said a word until they had arrived into the living room of the temple, they were not untalkative. They were content with every part of their lives except the absence of their dear friend Kurama. However, the want to talk was destroyed completely when they saw the looks of everyone's faces in Genkai's temple. Horror, fear, and sorrow. Botan was there with her oar and adorned in her pink kimono of what seemed like centuries ago. Hiei stared behind her and saw that on the couch was a form beneath a white blanket. The first thought to cross his mind was 'who is missing?'. So he looked around the group and noticed the only other living member of Kurama's direct family was not there however he distinctly remembered her being the one who sent him for Kuwabara and Yukina. "Shiori-san?" He breathed.
Botan shook her head, whispering something sadly. Hiei felt anger rising in him. "Shiori-san? Where is she?" He demanded in an angry whisper but no one answered for they were too frightened to. They all knew Hiei was the last one who had seen Kurama before he left. Oh how badly the fire demon felt for yelling at him that day.
The dewy grass of the late, late evening rested softly beneath the feet of two demon friends, one short and almost no more than a blur of black while the other was tall and seemed to be a mass of red. The taller looked down at the pacing black figure softly. "Hiei-kun, what's wrong? You're pacing. It's unlike you." The fire demon merely shook his head, dismissing the matter as 'nothing' without a word. Kurama sighed deeply and looked at his little friend, emerald eyes sparkling beneath blood red locks.
Silence was resting heavily and awkwardly over them until Hiei turned sharply on his heal and looked at the taller friend. "Why the hell do you do this to yourself! Torturing yourself everyday by feeling you have caused us pain and regret more than you have caused us good? If it weren't for you we'd have lost the Dark Tournament and Sensui and Itsuki would be killing every human now and Shigure'd be the ruler of Makai along with Mukuro! If you feel you've caused so much horror then go kill yourself to repent for your sins! If you feel no one cares if you die then rid us the burden of you!" As if to assist the redhead in his decision, the short demon unsheathed his sword and placed the tip just below and out from Kurama's chin. "Be gone if you so strongly desire."
A look of utter shock and sorrow came over the former kitsune's face as he looked deep into the jasper eyes of his little ally. His mouth was dry as he thought of a response. Finally one came. "Hiei-kun... Please watch over my 'Kasaan. Let no harm come to her." His voice sounded almost pleading until Hiei nodded.
"Of... of course Kurama-kun." His arm faltered, falling to his side. What was he meaning? "Why wouldn't I? She's like my own mother... She's as close as I have to a real mother anymore..."
"Arigatou." He then turned and left, leaving the small pyro to wonder what had just happened while the clock struck midnight.
The fire demon went to the where Shiori's body lay beneath a white blanket and knelt, bowing his head. A soft tear fell down his face and turned into the black marble as it hit the couch. "Shiori-san... Kurama-kun... Gomennasai. I failed you." He placed the marble into his pocket then stood up, wiping his eyes. After a brief moment, his heal turned slowly so that he was facing the others. No words fell from his mouth as he walked back to all of them. "That's two so far. Kuwabara's father-" ( "That wasn't a murder though." Yukina interrupted.) "-and Kurama's mother. Something is going on here. Kurama has been gone for... a long time and now two people die within a month."
Yukina, being the voice of reason she is, whispered. "They were both older... It could have been natural causes." Though this was logical, the fact that Genkai was alive and in the room seemed to disprove that suggestion.
Silence engulfed them all for a few moments until Botan went to Shiori, floating on her oar, and sat there. "It's... it's time..." She soon faded to nothing though they all knew she and Shiori were flying off to the Reikai. The room was once again filled with silence and sorrow. The fire demon sat there, disbelief clear on his face. He was looking out the window, eyes wide and teary. Yusuke went and knelt beside his friend, wrapping him in his arms.
"Hiei... It's okay... There's... There's no reason... to cry..." As he spoke, the Spirit Detective was crying heavily, hiccoughing every now and again. What a hypocrite. But it didn't matter. Hiei was crying as well, black tear gems littered around them both as they sat and cried. Shiori was more to them than a friend's mother. She was their mother. She'd always watch after them. She never asked questions. Yusuke had saved her and her son before he even knew them because they both seemed so genuinely good hearted.
After someone had managed to calm the pair down, they all went to sit at the kitchen table. Hiei and Yusuke sat in absolute silence as the others made light conversation, hoping to keep a happy air about them all. But it wasn't working. They all soon sat there, staring at one another. There wasn't much else to do. What if someone was out to murder them?
Alright this concludes chapter one. Sorry it took so long. I was completely braindead on it while all my teachers at school were assigning me project after project, lab after lab, huge test after huge test. I have the final chapter written to keep me going until I get this story done, for I am known for giving up on stories. I will try to update more frequently, hopefully at least once a week if I focus my attention on A Friend, A Killer, The Killed over the weekends. Please keep reviewing so I know what you think.