Hey guys! Look, I'm not dead! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I just had writer's block for a while and my computer shut down on me at random times, causing me to lose my train of thought. I'm so glad that you guys are reading this story, because personally, this is my favorite. Well, I should probably get on with the story now. And'cause I can't remember who all reviewed my story since my last update, I'll just say: THANKS EVERYONE!
And to neko kitkat: I honestly don't know how you can get your account back if you can't remember the email address. You'll probably just have to start a new account.
Chapter 6: Untold Secrets
…was unbelievable. What she saw seemed to snap some logical puzzle pieces together in her mind as she watched with horror. All the blood. It was horrifying. When had this happened?
She saw her son lay motionless on the ground, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. He was covered in numerous injuries, and bleeding severely from all of them. The strangest part was: these wounds didn't appear to be from knives or blades of any sort. From watching the news so often on TV (mainly about the war in Iraq), she recognized these as wounds from a bomb or some sort of explosion. It was horrible to imagine what could've possibly happened to her son.
Then there was the man standing before him, though she didn't know who he was, she guessed he was the one who had harmed her son. She held back a brief flare of anger at that thought and carefully observed the man.
He wore a black trench coat and black pants, with a black shirt that was ripped down the front, exposing his bleeding chest. The man wore black boots as well, and had purple eyes. Purple. What a strange color. He must have used contacts or something, she thought momentarily. The man also had long, wavy blond hair, and he had some sort of smug smirk on his face and a maniacal glint in his eyes.
She faintly heard the commentary in the background. A female voice saying, "The crowd is going wild here, and rightly so! Kurama's down and I don't think he's getting back up!" The commentator screeched from surprise as a male voice suddenly yelled into the microphone, "Just do it! We don't have all day!" Shiori shivered at the thought of what he meant. The commentator seemed to be snatching her microphone back because she had just yelled, "Gimme that you big oaf! Aah! Juri, count! Please for the love of good hygiene, count!"
The referee in the ring, who looked like a blue fish-girl, ran forward yelling, "Okay! He has until the count of ten! If he stays down, Karasu wins! One! Two! Three! Four," there was tumultuous cheering in the background, "Five! Six! Seven!"
Suichi, or as they were calling him, Kurama, began to get up. He slowly moved onto his hands and knees, and quickly looked up. There was newfound determination glinting in his eyes. The man in the black trench coat—Karasu, thereferee had called him—said something, but it was drowned out by the cheering of the crowd. If only she knew how to read lips.
Karasu raised one hand and then moved it out in front of him, as if he were throwing something at Suichi. Shiori anxiously waited to see what was going to happen next.
Then the screen went black. She quickly turned her head to see that Suichi had hit the power button on the television. He seemed a bit scared after watching that. "Can't believe I lost to that bastard," she just barely heard him murmur. He collected up the tapes he had brought and quickly walked out of the room.
Shiori just stood there, seemingly shell-shocked. Pictures of her son lying in a pool of blood flashed through her mind. The blood, the wounds, the charred, tattered, and bloody clothes; each picture vividly and freshly printed in her mind, it was so horrifying. She vaguely wondered how Suichi could stand these memories, after all, he had experienced them first-hand. He probably still remembers the pain. How can he act so normal? As if nothing ever happened?
She decided to seek out the rest of her family, but also decided not to tell them of what she had seen. For some odd reason, she didn't feel comfortable telling them at the moment. She wasn't sure if she could bear to repeat it. As she walked out the door she thought she saw a flash of black at a corner up ahead, but waved it off as her imagination and continued down a the hallway to her left.
Dammit. She saw, Hiei mentally cursed as he hid behind the corner, listening to see if she was coming his way. He sighed in relief when he heard her turn the other way. He continued on his own way when he was sure she was gone.
"Where the hell could Genkai have gone?" he muttered to himself with frustration. "Even that idiot Kuwabara is gone." He turned a corner and found himself face to face with Yusuke.
"Oh, hey Hiei," Yusuke greeted pleasantly. "What the hell are you doing here?" Hiei growled back, glaring at the half-demon before him.
"Geez, what's got your panties in a knot?" Yusuke asked back. Hiei continued to glare at the affronted teen before him. Yusuke sighed. "Well if you must know, I came here to find Kuwabara. Shizuru's all mad 'cause apparently he left without telling her where he was going or leaving a note. And now she won't leave me alone."
"Hn. Kuwabara came by here about 7 in the morning. I'm willing to bet that he did tell her, but told her while she was still half asleep and she forgot. Anyway, he's not here. Now get out of the way and leave me alone, I'm trying to find Genkai," Hiei growled fiercely. He shoved Yusuke out of the way and continued down the hall.
Yusuke glared at Hiei's back as he got up. "Someone forgot to take their happy pills this morning. Lousy, good-for-nothing grouch," he mumbled angrily, brushing himself off and heading in the opposite direction.
Since Kuwabara wasn't here, he started to head out. But then again, he thought, Shizuru's not here to pester me. Maybe I'll just stay here for a little while. He turned a few more corners and headed towards the kitchen. He knew there were still some leftover muffins in there, and boy did he love muffins!
As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Kurama holding a cup of tea shakily, leaning up against the counter. He stared at the cup of tea, took a quick sip, closed his eyes, and sighed. He seemed pretty shaken up.
"Hey man. You okay?" Yusuke asked worriedly, coming closer to the kitsune. Kurama looked up with wide eyes, not having heard Yusuke come in.
"I'm fine," Kurama lied. He found it odd that Yusuke appeared unaware of how strange he must've been acting, but appreciated the fact that there was someone who didn't treat him as if he were an extremely sensitive and fragile creature that was on his deathbed. He understood that they were worried, but he wasn't weak.
"If you say so," Yusuke responded as he dug through the fridge, "Want a muffin?" He held out a muffin to Kurama, who gratefully accepted it. "So," Yusuke started, leaning next to Kurama and nibbling on his muffin, "How's life?"
Kurama chuckled. "Life's fine. A little unsettling and confusing at the moment, but otherwise fine." Count on Yusuke to brighten things up a bit. Yusuke nodded and smiled in response.
The figure stood in a shadowed tree by the kitchen window, watching the pair in the kitchen. Mmmm……Those muffins look good. Wait, what am I thinking? Gah, concentrate on business. The figure hit itself over the head to induce its concentration. This is not working as well as I thought it would. I have to hurry.
Genkai sighed as she, Kuwabara, and Jorge continued to search through files in Reikai's library. Luckily for them, Reikai had a way of narrowing down the files to search in case they had needed to find information on someone, but did not know the person's name.
They had managed to narrow it down by gender, hair color, and eye color. But there were still a lot of blue-haired, green-eyed females in Makai. Kuwabara looked at his watch after throwing aside yet another manila folder. 7:53. It was starting to get late.
"Genkai?" Kuwabara asked cautiously, looking at the pink-haired woman across from him. She grunted in response, motioning for him to continue. "It's starting to get late back in Ningenkai. We should probably head back. My sister might start to get worried if I'm gone too long," he informed her.
Genkai sighed, knowing he was right. "Alright, but first let's move the ones we've already checked into a pile." They quickly moved the files into two separate piles, while Jorge left the order for the piles not to be disturbed. Then the two left Reikai through a portal and landed back at the temple.
Kuwabara started to head towards the stairs, but Genkai stopped him. "It might be better if you stayed here tonight. That way we can get an early start tomorrow." "But what about-?" Kuwabara started, but Genkai interrupted. "I'll call your sister." Kuwabara nodded and they both walked back to the temple.
Kuwabara went to one of the spare rooms in the back of the temple. He had the suspicion that there was another reason Genkai wanted him to stay, but decided against it. After all, he would probably find out eventually.
Genkai came in just as Kuwabara had finished changing into the spare pajamas that he kept at the temple for emergency use. Shizuru had said that it was fine for him to stay there, and Genkai now decided to tell him why she wanted him here. She sat idly on the floor as Kuwabara brushed his teeth and, after a few minutes, he sat in front of her.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm asking you to stay here." At this, he nodded slightly. She continued on, "I want you here in case you are still connected to Kurama. It will be quicker to relay his dreams to myself and Hiei if you are here. Also, I'm not sure if you can remain connected to his mind if you are so far away. I'm not willing to risk it. Besides, we can continue our search sooner if you are here." She shrugged slightly.
Kuwabara nodded in understanding. Although he didn't like being in Kurama's dreams—more because he didn't like invading his friend's privacy than because the dreams creeped him out—he still agreed, knowing that it was their only lead towards helping him. But he had a bad feeling about tonight. He didn't know why.
And with that thought, he went to bed and Genkai left the room.
After Yusuke and Kurama had left the kitchen,—Kurama going to his room and Yusuke going to ask Genkai if he could stay the night, since he didn't feel like walking home this late—the figure from the trees had moved in to steal the remaining muffins. It sat in a tree near Kurama's bedroom window munching on muffins, waiting for the redhead to fall asleep.
One of the last few pieces of its scheme was to go into effect that night. I'm going to give that fox something to mull over. He should begin to understand after this, the figure thought with a smirk. He needs to realize what's really going on. But he should do it on his own. I really had no choice in blocking the detective's concern. He only would have made things worse by pummeling information out of the fox. The figure smiled in triumph at his accomplishment.
Yusuke, having met Genkai at the phone and been given her permission to stay, was going to sleep in his own room. He'd been having this nagging feeling in the back of his mind for a while, but hadn't known what to think about it. The nagging feeling had become more pronounced when he was talking to Kurama.
He noticed he'd visited the temple more frequently in the past few weeks and he had no idea why. It seemed to him as though something was subtly telling him to come here, that something was wrong with this picture and he needed to figure out what it was.
During his visits, he'd also noticed that Hiei was more aggravated and frustrated with him then normal, and he still couldn't for the life of him figure out why. It was as though he'd done something wrong, but had no clue what. He reflected on what he'd done in the past few weeks, trying to figure out what he'd done to set the fire demon off.
He vaguely remembered coming to train at the temple with Kurama and Kuwabara. He also vaguely remembered going to Koenma's that same day. But his memories were unclear and he could only just barely recall them.
Yusuke gave a frustrated groan and pushed Hiei's attitude out of his mind. It was like a puzzle, and Yusuke generally hated puzzles. He preferred things simple and easy to understand, and that was something this was not. He dragged his mind towards today when he'd been talking to Kurama.
The kitsune had been quieter and more soft-spoken than usual today. Yusuke remembered briefly thinking that maybe the fox was ill, but one good look at Kurama had dismissed that thought. Yusuke had noticed something in the kitsune's normally calm eyes. Sadness. And confusion. And other strange emotions swirled openly in the kitsune's eyes and expression. That nagging feeling in his head came back, and he was getting really sick of it.
He leaned back into his pillow and yawned noisily. He'd think about it in the morning. Right now he was going to get some sleep.
Kurama sighed as he entered his room. He changed into his own pajamas and went to sit by the large window in his room. The scenery from the window's view was beautiful and that was why Genkai had given him this room, because he was one of the only ones who would appreciate the natural beauty.
The view was even more breathtaking at night. The forest was not too far away from where his room was, and small slivers of moonlight shone through the leaves. Fireflies floated around the open field that stood between the temple and the forest, while the full effects of the moonlight gave the grass a silvery sheen as it swayed in the wind. The moon itself shone brilliantly in the night sky surrounded by twinkling stars just above the tops of the trees. It was not quite full yet, but close.
But the red-haired kitsune was not looking at the view tonight; he merely stared unseeingly out of his window. His mind clouded with thought, he just barely caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. But when he tried to see what it was, it had gone. He waved it off as Hiei or a bird.
He was somewhat hesitant to go to sleep tonight. He'd been finding it difficult to concentrate on anything for very long, and he felt that these dreams, or memories, or whatever they were, were taking a toll on his sanity. These dreams left him feeling emotionally exhausted and depressed. And yet, there was another part of him that wanted to see the next memory, but he couldn't figure out why.
Eventually, Kurama moved away from the window and settled himself on his beddings, feeling weary from the day's events. He quickly fell into a deep sleep, unknowing of the torment his mind was about to go through.
MA: And your just gonna have to wait until I update again to know what that torment is. Someone told me that these little notes I put at the bottom make me sound like I'm begging. Am I? 'Cause if it sounds like I'm begging, then I'll stop. Now I need to shut my dogs up. Excuse me. (walks to window next to computer) (yelling at dogs)
Kurama: (looks out window) Hey, is that a rabbit I see?
MA: Yes. And no to your next question.
Kurama: (whines) But I only wanted to chase it.
MA: I already said no. I have no inclination to witness you massacre a little rabbit right outside of my window.
Kurama: (pouts) Fine.
MA: Please review, guys.
Kurama: Chopped rabbit, rabbit stew, skewered rabbit, fried rabbit, raw rabbit...
MA: RAW RABBIT?
Kurama: Yes. It's quite good, actually.
MA: That's disgusting.
Kurama: Oh look. It's another rabbit. (whines)
MA: I honestly don't want to hear this right now.
Kurama: But I'm hungry now.
MA: I'll make dinner in a few minutes. Just hold on.
Yusuke: (walks in) We're not having microwaved ramen again, are we?
MA: So what if we are?
Yusuke: But that's all we've had in the past two weeks!
Kurama: Except for those carrots, onions, and celery we hadlast Sunday.
MA: Don't team up on me!
Yusuke and Kurama: But it's true!
MA: So?
Yusuke and Kurama: (sigh) We give up.
MA: By the way, Happy 4th of July, everybody!
Yusuke: Fireworks!