disclaimer:I really dont feel like repeating myself but here it goes anyway. I don't own YYH or anything that has to do with YYH except this story and my characters. Please don't let me find you plagiarizing because first off I dont see why you'd WANT to claim my stuff as your own and secondly because that makes me angry. And bad things happen when I get angry. How bad, you ask? Like Pompeii bad. I can't hack quite as efficiently as I'd like yet, but trust me I'll get there...
"random crap" dialog (for you linguistically challenged, stuff in double quotes means people are talking out loud)
'more weird randomness' thoughts of the character. Could also be the telepathic conversation of two (duh) telepaths
(the most disturbing content of all A/N) authoress' notes. I may or may not insert comments or explanations of certain things in my story.
people... I asked for reviews and all I got was ONE. And I know more people are reading than that. But I'll continue to write anyway because there was one person at least who took the time to review and show that there are people reading. I'll shut up in a second and get on with the story but really now, c'mon people.
Child of the Night
Chapter 4- Take a Simple Breath
WITH KAYAM
Immediately several crescent shaped shuriken shot through the smoke Kayam was flying away from. To her relief however, they fell short and simply fell back towards the ground. At first despite various smaller injuries and the poisoning Kayam made relatively decent time, but about five miles away from Izanami the poison that her body had somehow been able to ignore for so long began to take effect. Her now charcoal grey wings felt less solid and she had to beat them harder and more often to stay air-borne. She felt her own consciousness slip back and forth as she grasped for control even as she knew that in the end she would lose. There was no other option. She had to find a place to land and rest. If she kept this up her energy would get sapped and she would ultimately end up losing consciousness in mid-flight and probably snap her neck from the fall. Now her breath was coming hard and after each one she took her vision would blur and her stomach would twist. Without noticing it, she stopped beating her wings and started gliding along more and more slowly. The last thing she would remember were green leaves and flying past and snapping branches that whipped and scratched her all over.
AT KOEMMA'S OFFICE
STAMP -pause- STAMP -pause- STAMP -pause- STAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMPSTAMP... STAMP.
"Baka, if you continue to create that irritating noise your ogre will have to find a new employer," said Hiei with a glare.
The poor harassed boy-king sighed wearily as he rubbed his throbbing temples in vain.
"He's going to go after her alone isn't he?" asked Koemma.
Hiei shrugged," I am not the fox's keeper."
Koemma's eye twitched. "Hiei, I need to know-" he started.
"Ask him yourself if you want to know so badly, I will have nothing to do with your meddling," Hiei stated.
"Damn it Hiei! If I don't 'meddle' and Kurama ends up killing Kayam I'll be dealing with a dead body with some scary-ass connections here." (A/N haha! I made Koemma say 'scary-ass'! lmao)
"Hn. Coward."
"How dare you speak to the ruler of the Spirit World like that!"
"Because you can't do shit about it. And you're not the ruler of the Spirit World, your father is."
WITH KURAMA
Long slim fingers danced lightly across the sheet of paper as the rough outline of a figure appeared. Kurama's experienced hands sketched thoughtfully as the picture became that of a young man sitting with his knees drawn up against his chest, and eyes that seemed perpetually weary. His hair was bound loosely at the nape of his neck, and his high collared trench coat seemed unable to keep out the snow that Kurama was carefully adding.
Glancing up at the clock on his wall, Kurama flipped to the back of the sketchbook and carefully ripped out a blank page. He scrawled a reassuring note to his mother, then in one fluid motion he closed the sketchbook as he stood up and slipped the pencil into his front pocket. As he walked downstairs he passed a section of wall with a deep dent in it and smiled. Yusuke had made that dent with his head months ago when he tripped over the rug in the hallway.
-FLASHBACK-
OW! HOLY- (A/N insert some choice colorful words here... this will keep my rating down and at the same time your filthy minds will probably come up with dirtier words than I ever could.)
WITH KAYAM
It was dark and cold when Kayam finally awoke with every muscle in her body stiff. After shaking her head in an attempt to clear her swimming vision, she quickly looked around her, then thanked every god, goddess, and deity she could think of for her good luck. She was hanging off of a thick tree branch on her mid-section, with one arm dangling over the side and the other crumpled underneath her. She tried to pull herself up into a sitting position on the branch but stopped dead as she stifled a scream a pain. The arm she had landed on was definitely broken, and from the swelling it looked like it was broken in more than one place. She was having trouble breathing but she was grateful that none of her broken ribs had punctured a lung. Besides that she had random scratches and cuts on her exposed arms, and of course various bruises all over her body in general. The cuts didn't hurt that much expect for one along her lower left arm which was still oozing blood. It was a jagged cut that looked like she had been snagged by a fish hook then dragged down a road. All together the damage was rather minimal considering that she could have died. Or woken up with her body smashed into a mass of bloody bone fragments and her face torn off. (A/N :wince:)
Kayam held her breath and slowly shifted her good arm underneath her torso. She tensed then in one swift motion tried to bring her legs up beneath her in a crouching position. But when she automatically extended her broken arm for balance a jolt of pain shot up her arm and she overshot her target, plummeting towards the rather hard looking ground. Luckily there was nothing seriously wrong with her legs that a little rest and hot water wouldn't cure, so she was able to land on her feet in a crouching position. Without her left arm to help balance her though (she was DEFINATELY not moving that arm anytime soon), she fell to her side immediately after landing the fall with her arm cradled to her chest.
Kayam exhaled hard as she crossed her legs underneath her and relaxed as best possible. She concentrated on gathering her mind, calming her hammering heart, and getting her energies flowing through her body properly as she sunk into restive sleep-trance. An hour later Kayam's eyes opened with a snap after a large seed bounced off the top of her head. She scowled as she glanced upwards towards the branches. 'Well that was awkward...'
WITH KURAMA
His long strides were measured carefully measured with a controlled impatience that smothered and flared. He didn't think about a set destination, didn't even try to settle on one, and yet there never once anything hesitant about any of his movements.
-FLASHBACK-
A small red headed boy twirled a small stick in his fingers as he looked up with eyes full of the innocent curiosity of untainted youth. The woman who walked beside him was not the stunning beauty typical of the Bai family, but had a deceptively plain, yet strangely alluring appearance that drew people in without notice or even warning. For the past few weeks she had been carefully helping the boy mold his spirit energy as well as self-control; both would be valuable weapons against any opponent. Now she struggled as she always did, to try to put into words something that was as difficult to describe as being completely in tune with the pulse of music. The spurts of ideas and half-formed thoughts were elusive as they teased her mind about something only the soul understood.
-END FLASHBACK-
'Breathing. Not with the body, but with all the energy that makes up a being, to be able to travel to anywhere as if by will alone,' a melodic voice from his past reminded him gently. Kurama laughed softly. The 'as if' part was a rather important one.
As he kept walking he began to still his spirit carefully. This would be the easiest part, people ignore their spirits so often they will often times even confuse it with their soul. He forced himself to do it slowly and to not rush or disregard anything.
BACK AT KOEMMA'S OFFICE
:...twitch...:
"Hiei-"
"No."
"But I'm beg-"
"No."
"But it's not that-"
"No."
:...pause...:
:...twitch...:
"Couldn't you-"
"No."
"...at least-"
"No."
"Why n-"
"No."
"What if-"
"No."
"I'll give you-"
"I will not accept your request or your pathetic attempts at a bribe."
Koemma's left eye started to ticked, but was interrupted by a loud crash overhead which was then followed by a familiar...
"OW! What the fu-!"
Another familiar sound of a fist connecting with a face... (A/N there are a lot of sounds familiar to these people eh?)
"DAMN IT, STOP DOING THAT!" Yusuke's indignant voice exploded clearly through the halls.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CURSE IN FRONT OF GIRLS!" Kuwabara's equally irked voice roared right back.
"I'LL DO WHAT I DAMN WELL PLEASE YOU UGLY PIECE OF-"
BACK WITH KURAMA…
Will is just the conscious decision to try. This technique, like all others, had to have the skills and power to back it. Sit in a car with the key in your hand, everything is there but will to start the ignition, and so you will get nowhere. Start the ignition will your will but ignore the fact that there is no gas in the tank and the engine is shot, and you still won't get anywhere.
The 'god-breath' require precise control of vast amounts of energy to perform. It was not something that could be practiced until the student succeeded; it was like trying to perform open-heart surgery with a two-ton block of marble weighing down the scalpel.
To prepare for an attempt at the god-breath, one first worked on being able to create and maintain ungodly amounts of spirit energy. Once maximum power is achieved, intuitive knowledge and controlling the energy are the keys to coming out of a 'breathing' alive.
-FLASHBACK-
'...and then what Yuna?' The woman smiled at the child as she spread her arms wide as if reminiscent of wings.
'Then, you just relax. Relax everything that is you. Energy, mind, body, soul, spirit- calm all of it, until they are no longer independent of each other and your being is as uniform and smooth as a flat as an ocean of glass.
You will, of course, have somewhere it wants you to go, but you must ignore this urge to force the 'breath' completely. Otherwise you might end up where you think you should be, but not where you truly want to be. There is another danger to letting your mind force the 'breath', if your mind should suddenly wander so become distracted you may accidentally end up inside the cell of that flower next to you, or in an uninhabitable dimension where you could die before being able to 'breathe' again.'
'But Yuna, how does it work? How can you just will yourself to be somewhere? And how can you do it if you don't even know exactly where you want to go?' The intense stare of the child on his elder sister was un-nerving (A/N elder sister in the martial arts, not in blood).
'We're not quite sure, Shao-di, no one really knows.' A disregarding shrug accompanied the answer. 'Why should matter? We know what we are to do when the god breath is performed, but as difficult as it is to perform it successfully, there is not much time or thought to be spared while doing it, as to what is actually happening.'
'Alright, then what do you do to perform the god breath?' Yuna looked down as if torn for a moment, then walked a few steps away.
'Come on Shao-di, that's enough for one day. I want you to show me how far you are on your forms.'
-END FLASHBACK-
Well, what do you think? Oh yes, some things to explain…..
1) In Chinese martial arts your teacher is know as your 'father' or 'mother', if your teacher taught another student who is now helping you, they would be considered your 'elder brother/sister'. You figure out the rest.
2) Shao-di is Chinese for 'little brother'. If anyone knows the actual spelling, tell me. Because that was the best I could come up with...
3) There will be some mixed cultural references in this story…. I realize that Yu Yu Hakusho is Japanese, so don't flame me about it. I AM aware of this fact…. I know that Yuna is a Korean name, and it has not escaped my attention (seeing as how I wrote it) that she does Chinese martial arts. All will be explained later. I think.