---Road to an Eternity of Wars---
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.
Yay! Thanks for all the reviews so far! Anyways, here's the next chapter!
If you have any questions about anything in the story, feel free to PM me or review!
Chapter 23: Trying to UnderstandOverall POV…
Needless to say, as soon as the group discussion started, all angst and tension abruptly halted, in a very disturbing manner.
Chaos, and anger ensued.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Yusuke's voice was slightly raised, his arms gesturing wildly and his body turned towards Keiko.
Keiko sat there, hands clenching and unclenching. She was seething inside, "Can't I do what I want to do?"
"What absurd ideas made you not tell me this?" Yusuke shot back.
"I…I don't know! At the time, it was a great idea!"
They were all yelling now, voices louder to roar over other arguments that were even too loud to be heard.
"…You're my granddaughter! Don't you think that I would like to know about your safety?"
"Look at me! Hello!" Kagome yelled back to Genkai, "I'm just fine!"
"But you could've gotten hurt!" Genkai protested, frustrated at Kagome's attitude at the moment. It was currently a tight relationship for them.
Kurama just sat there silently, occasionally glancing up from the ground to sneak a worried look over at Kagome. He couldn't move very much, because his wound from the battle was still healing. He could feel his raw skin slightly rubbing against the tight bandages on his stomach.
"You still could've told us…I would've been okay with it…" Kurama whispered, his voice coming out a bit dry and scratchy.
"Nani…? What?" Kagome turned to face the red-haired man, turning away from the conversation she was having with Genkai.
"I would've been okay with it – you should've told me"
"I know…but…" The miko paused for a moment, searching for the right words to say, "It's hard…you know…?"
After a couple seconds of silence passing between the two, over the roaring of everybody else, Kurama slowly nodded his head, sinking deeper into the cushions.
Suddenly, a coughing and choking noise startled everybody, calming them down a bit.
Botan dropped her teacup, scratching furiously at her throat.
Keiko tore away from her conversation with Yusuke and turned to her teammate, wide-eyed, "Botan! Are you alright?"
The ferry girl weakly shook her head, letting out another strangled cough.
Sango rushed up to her and roughly thumped Botan hard on the back, earning a joyous mouthful of tea to erupt out of her mouth and onto the table.
Botan took in a few ragged breaths, holding her chest now and hoarsely whispering, "Thank you" over and over again.
"Was she…choking…?" Kagome questioned, a bit terrified.
Genkai, who had left the room several minutes earlier, returned with a full glass of warm water, handing it to the ferry girl, who in turn, smiled graciously.
After a few slips, Botan finally completely relaxed, thus, conversation started again.
But, this time, the occupants of the room were more controlled, as were actually willing to discuss it as a group of individuals trying to express, and sort out their thoughts.
"So…" Kuwabara started off, if not a bit more serious than his joking manner, "We have gathered here today-"
No, wait. Now it was sounding like a wedding or something like that.
Kuwabara started again, coughing to make sure he sounded appropriate, "We're in this room right now, to try and explain to each other our thoughts, and…and…" He paused to think a bit, "And to resolve everybody's conflicts"
Yusuke raised his eyebrows, surprised that his teammate knew that much vocabulary.
Half of them immediately looked down at the carpet, unwilling to start.
"I think… I think that we wanted to keep this a secret, because…we – no – at least I, always felt inferior to you guys, and wanted a way to feel at a level that you could.
I guess that's why I asked Sango and Kagome to train me" Yukina said, directing her eyes in another direction so she wouldn't have to actually face Team Urameshi.
Seeing that Yukina spoke, Botan decided that she wanted to give her say next, "I've always wanted to be able to actually do something, not just stand there and watch as you fight, only leading you to and from everywhere you went.
And I think that the first thing I had to do to accomplish that goal, was to really learn how to fight"
"I was sick… Sick of all the times that you were always out on those missions. It always seemed more important than what we did together, and that frustrated me.
I set myself firmly on a goal from the day that you had to rush home after school. That…that I would begin to see things in a new perspective and experience first hand…" Keiko smiled wryly, "And I think I understand why you do it so much now…"
Yusuke wanted to answer, not instead, waited for the time that Kagome would say something.
Apparently, the girls were now clearly expecting something out of them.
"I guess it was that shock that I had majorly wounded somebody I knew… I guess that was what set me off…injuring somebody. Knowing them, but not really and actually knowing them" Kurama offered, placing a hand on his stomach as if he was recalling memories.
Kagome closed her eyes and rested her head on the top of the small sofa, sighing, "I was actually forced into this situation in the first place… not a couple months ago, but actually on my 15th birthday…"
She began the tale of a lifetime, from when she first spotted the half-demon in eternal sleep on the old, withered tree, and her experience with the lecherous monk and scheming kitsune… Kagome introduced Sango, and her conflicts with her clan, Sesshoumaru, with his firm beliefs, and Kaede, with her endless supply of knowledge.
Around the very end of her story though, Kagome started to contemplate on what she would say next, merely 'skipping' out the parts that she didn't want them to know.
Her other teammates took note of this, and vowed to question her about it later on.
Things, such as their myth of the Jikan Tamashii, the secrets of their staffs, and how they trained.
And then hours later of calm talking and new revelations, their discussion finally came to a closure.
"…So, it's very shocking that we're going to verse each other so soon after our last fight…" Sango commented, sighing.
"I think it's all about the rules" Genkai responded, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.
"Possibly" Kurama stretched his tense muscles, yawning a bit, "Excuse me…but I'm a bit tired and the wound on my stomach is starting to throb again…"
A guilty look passed over Kagome's face, "Oh…about that…I am soo sorry…"
"It's just fine" Kurama smiled reassuringly, standing up.
A sense of comfort overwhelmed Kagome and she smiled back, now feeling a bit better again.
"We should get going soon…" Kuwabara pointed out, "I think everybody needs some sleep"
"Yeah…" Keiko blinked, cracking the tension out of her neck.
"We'll call it a night then…" Yusuke announced, standing up and walking towards the door, "Oh, and by the way, if you want to visit us before that, we're on floor 21"
"Okay!" Botan called after them before Hiei immediately closed the door on his way out.
Finally, everything was resolved and everybody was left content in the end, knowing a lot more about each other than they did at the start of the tournament.
"Hey, what day is the final match?" Yukina pondered, frowning, "I need to know how much time we have to recuperate and train"
Picking the discarded sheet of paper off the table, Kagome read out loud:
Match: Team Higurashi vs. Team Urameshi
Round: Finals
Date: 2 weeks after the last match.
"It's in two weeks…" Kagome informed her team, "That should be enough time…what do you think?"
"Yeah" They all chorused.
"We should get some sleep"
Okay! The chapter's finally finished!
Sorry that I stressed this issue in the story so much… It's just because, well… I feel that it's an important part of the story because they were always trying to keep it a secret in the first place, so obviously, everybody would be hurt if somebody found out.
I hope you like it so far… The next chapter will most likely (Not will, but most likely…) skip all the way to the finals… I really don't know, I'm still deciding. Sorry it's a bit rushed... Read and review onegai!
Sayonara,
Tenshi-Battosai