Learning to Live Again

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho, its characters, universe, or any of that.

Notes: Possibly some pairings later on. Also, there are additions of characters of my own creation; I do own those. :) Comments, reviews, suggestions, etc. are greatly appreciated and encouraged! :)

Thanks and enjoy...

Chapter Eight: The Truth within the Lies

Yusuke realized Aurora was accepting the being back into herself, absorbing the energy of it. Her body was suddenly engulfed with the black light before it dissipated into her completely.

"Satisfied of my worth?" Aurora asked Hiei, looking exhausted but satisfied with herself.

"Hn."

Several hours after the 'fight' with Aurora, Yusuke went to find her brother. The group had dispersed following the power show, either to rest or to plan. Kurama seemed to have taken up the latter. Yusuke found him in the study across from the fox's room, paper spread out neatly all around him.

"Kurama?"

"Yes, Yusuke?" Kurama murmured, looking up from his carefully drawn plans.

"You don't have to do this."

The kitsune raised a prefect eyebrow. "Do what?"

"This," the toushin replied, gesturing to the papers on the desk. "You don't have to fight for me. I," he paused, taking a deep breath. "I don't want you to die for me. Especially for me."

Kurama gave him a thoughtful look before he spoke, "Yusuke, listen carefully, as I should only have to say this one time." He got to his feet so he could better be eye-to-eye with the other. "We are your teammates, your friends. This is what we do. Do not even attempt to convince me that you, given the same position, would not do the same for Hiei or myself." His gold eyes glinted as he said, "Besides, you do not get to have all the excitement for yourself, Mazoku."

Yusuke gave him a weak grin. "I guess," he conceded. Yusuke turned to leave the room. There were many arrangements he needed to make today. He took a few steps towards the door before a strange feeling overtook him. He turned back to look at his friend, "Kurama?" The aforementioned Yoko looked up with a raised brow once more. "Where is she?"

"Aurora?" the clever fox asked, brow arching a bit further. Yusuke nodded. "I believe she retreated outside for some privacy with her thoughts... Why do you ask?"

"I... need to speak to her," Yusuke replied, more calmly then he suddenly felt. She knew something, something important.

"I daresay you do not need my permission to do so, Yusuke," the fox said with some unveiled amusement twinkling in his golden eyes.

"Right," Yusuke muttered before promptly exiting and making his way outside. Though it did not seem that she wanted to be found, she was not trying very hard to mask her energy, and the ex-detective found her without having to look too hard.

She stood in the shadows, inhaling deeply the crisply chill air of a dawn that had not yet broken. Soothing... Hesitant movement suddenly caught her eye, effectively ceasing her quite moment. Glancing, she realized who it was that had interrupted her thinking. "My lord," she whispered, allowing her words to be carried away with the gentle breeze. "Forgive me for disturbing you," she told him, even though the opposite was true; he had disturbed her. "I will take leave if you wish it."

"No," he returned quietly. "You were here first. Besides, I'd like a few words."

"Certainly," she murmured with the slightest of bows.

"So why are you out here, alone, at this hour?" he asked with a slight smile.

"It sooths and allows turbulent thoughts to settle," she replied without hesitation.

After a short pause in which he nodded, he asked, "Do you think there will be a war?"

She glanced at the young lord; he was quite blunt. No matter, she thought idly. She wasn't much of one for small talk, anyhow. "I do not doubt it, no," she answered thoughtfully, after a very short hesitation. He did not respond to that, so she took it upon herself to force this conversation in a direction she more preferred. "If I may, young ruler, do you see these lands that stretch before you," she gestured before them at the dark landscape, "your fore-father's lands? Do wish to rein over them for the remainder of your long life?"

One shoulder rose and fell, "I guess so."

She shook her head, a deep frown quickly forming. "That answer is not good enough. There is to be no uncertainty here, my lord. For, I assure you, there is another who is not uncertain, and they are willing to kill and die for it."

"Why are you telling me this? What do you care?" he asked, trying, and failing to see her better through the heavy shadows that obscured her.

"I do not. However, I would like to know if there is a reason I should stay here and fight a war, and perhaps die, for you. There are many things worth dying for, child; uncertainty is not one of them."

He was silent for a very long time before he whispered, "Would you leave then, if I wasn't sure?"

She paused, seemingly to give that question proper thought. "No," she answered finally.

"No?" he echoed, confusion not hidden.

"Nay. I would not leave my foolish brother here to die for something as useless as uncertainty. You may be important to him, that is not difficult to see, but that is simply not good enough." She did not bother to attempt to look at him, "Death is commonplace. To live is to die. Such is the existence of every creature... However, demons detest dying without reason."

"I... know. I am a demon, too, you know," he replied coolly.

A ghost of a smirk fluttered across her face, though Yusuke could barely see it. It was also gone so quickly that he thought he might have imagined it. "I hadn't noticed," came the hushed and emotionless reply. "Apologies, lord," she continued with some impatience seeping into her words, "but I am not one for idle conversation. May I request you get to the sole purpose of your presence here?"

He frowned. "Well, there is something else I wanted to discuss with you."

She made a humming sound in her throat, but did not further reply.

"You're hiding information from us... Please, tell me what I want to know," he replied in a light, but not quite pleading tone.

She chuckled softly at this. Taking a deep breath of the air that so calmed her, she spoke, "I am not at all sure of what you speak, my lord."

Yusuke turned to face her. "Stop lying to me," he requested shortly.

Though it was dark and her face was veiled in shadow, he did not miss the way her chilling golden eyes flashed. "My lord," she hissed the last word with disdain she failed to mask completely. It seemed he had finally worn out his welcome, as it were. Silence fell once more for a long, tense few moments. Finally, she broke the silence in saying, "I have told you everything that is of immediate relevance, Mazoku."

Yusuke considered this response. For once, it was not an outright denial, so he supposed he should be at least appreciative of that. He shrugged, "What if I want all the details, relevant or not?"

He was fairly sure she growled at that. Once more there was a delay before she spoke, "I believe the last time we ventured over this particular topic, I gave you some what of a warning. Did you forget it so soon, child?"

Yusuke smirked, "You don't fool me, you know." He tried to meet her eyes but couldn't do much more than look in their general direction. "You remind me of Hiei, when I first met him. He pretended he didn't care, too," he continued, tone conversational.

"Care?" she asked softly, gratefully accepting the momentary change in topic. "I have never cared."

He smiled, "That's exactly what I mean." When she said nothing for a while, he moved closer to her, finally able to see her eyes relatively clearly through the night. She rested a firm gaze on him but allowed his closeness. "You don't have to lie anymore." Chuckling softly, he added, "I promise I won't tell."

She couldn't fight the grimace that marred her face. Recovering slowly, she turned her head away and hissed, "Do not insult me, half-breed. I'll make you wish you hadn't."

"Still pretending..." he murmured, just barely able to hide his amusement. "Hey," he continued, much more seriously, "what's with the whole 'half-breed' thing, anyway? Your brother is a half-demon, too, you know... He would tell me the what I wanted to know if I asked."

Her head snapped back to get a look at him, her expression suddenly no longer angry. It was vaguely thoughtful, mostly unreadable, but a delicate eyebrow raised. "Listen now, as I'll say this just once; I distaste repetition." She waited for his nod before continuing, "I have told you all I feel you should be privy to. However, as you are incorrigibly insistent, I will tell you this." She paused again, a strange light igniting in her eyes. "I assisted in killing Yomi. That is why I came to you. Obviously, I am quite certain you did not commit the act of which you have been accused, as I am in full knowledge of those who did."

"You what?" his tone was incredulous, eyes wide.

"As I previously stated, I shall not repeat myself. Furthermore, I am hard-pressed to believe that you did not hear."

He managed to stammer out, "But-but why?"

"Why did I assist in his murder?" A nod from the toushin. "Oh, precious, naive child..." She gave a rather malevolent, low chuckle, "Why, indeed... More information I'm particularly loathe to tell you." She eyed him consideringly for a few moments before, "Very well. You see, Yomi was a," she paused searching for an appropriate word, "exorbitantly power-hungry ruler. He was so absolutely enthralled by his pursuit for consummate control, that he lost sight of anything else. In doing this, he... ended up crossing the wrong demons." Another pause in her explanation. "Do you know how he lost his eye-sight, lord?" A head shake; no, Yusuke truly didn't know. "He crossed some famed demon foxes, a certain Yoko, to be precise. I trust you understand the consequences of such an action?" A nod from the boy. "Well, after he was... taught a proper lesson, no one heard from him for some time." She sighed, "Finally, however, he came out of his relative silence upon somehow discovering one of those foxes had not been killed that fateful night with the Hunter; that one of them was still in the Makai, hidden away. He pursued me, and eventually, he found me. In the terribly weakened state I was, he easily captured me, took me... The rest of that story, child, is rather inappropriate for civilized conversation, so you'll excuse me if I refrain from telling it."

There was a long silence. Yusuke broke it this time, "So you... killed him."

"Indeed," came the dry reply.

Yusuke made a thoughtful sound in his throat. She watched him from the corner of her eye. Perhaps he was uncomfortable with this new information for, instead of continuing the current topic, he said suddenly, "I have a name, you know."

"I am aware," she replied slowly with a slight inflection in her voice, reminding him remarkably, once again of Hiei.

"You should use it."

Yusuke half-expected to hear a 'hn,' but he did not get one. "Your opinion is duly noted," she deadpanned.

"You know, you are exactly like Hiei, except you don't have that freaky third eye. And you can't carry conversations with other people exclusively in you mind, like-"

"It appears we are... no longer alone, toushin," she interrupted softly. Her sharp eyes narrowed at something over Yusuke's right shoulder. She stepped to the side slightly, allowing her a better view of whatever had caught her attention. Unintentionally, she was thrown into more light from this movement, and Yusuke couldn't stop the thought that entered his mind suddenly: The dim moonlight only makes her more hauntingly stunning... He forcibly shook it away; not the time for such things.

Extending a thin, pale hand, delicate tendrils of her power danced searchingly, hungrily away from her. Yusuke watched them escape from her fingertips and was suddenly, forcefully reminded of her brother's own energy, plantlike. A deliciously vulpine grin bared her sharp canines. "You fool," she directed at her prey, her tone much colder and harsher than it had been before when she had spoken to the ex-detective.

Quickly, those fine strings of her power found what they were looking for. Yusuke glanced behind him to see what those vine-like extensions of herself had captured. A wild yelp escaped the low-class demon she had ensnared when it realized it had been caught. Her grin merely grew while she eyed her prey. "I daresay I'll get to have a bit of fun with you, vermin," she followed that cold assessment with an even colder laugh. The once insubstantial strings of pale energy that reminded Yusuke of Kurama's vines, became thin, but quite strong, relatively solid structures of ice. They quickly twisted and twined their way, with a fluidity impossible of natural frozen water, until there was not even a dim sliver of hope of escaping them or her. "Yes, pathetic insect, I shall make your demise delightfully slow. Come now," she hissed. She flicked her wrist, ordering her ice spindles to do as bring the demon closer. They obeyed without any trace of hesitation and thrust him roughly to the ground at her feet.

"Now, disgraceful swine, you will tell me everything I wish to know." She paused curling her fingers slowly; the ice responded by tightening mercilessly around their victim. "Is that clear?" she punctuated these last three words with sharp squeezes. The demon below her whimpered and nodded. "Very good," she cooed mockingly. Finally, she raised her chilling gaze to Yusuke. "If you'll excuse me, lord, I have some... interrogating to attend to."

Yusuke was suddenly at a loss. He disliked the thought of this demon, enemy or not, being tortured in a way he knew she was not above doing. However, he also knew it would provide them with much needed information... if, of course, she deemed it worthy of sharing. Finally, after a moment of silent debating, he nodded, "Take him out to the training ring." She did not respond with anything other than a blood-thirsty smirk. The demon in her possession whimpering and pleading uselessly behind her as she dragged him away.

Yusuke followed her inside after a few minutes' deliberation of whether or not he truly wanted to be a witness to what was about to take place. By the end, he had decided, with some self-loathing, that he needed to see it. He was, after all, a demon himself. A blood-thirsty creature that, when it came right down to it, ran highly on instincts. Steeling his resolve, and trying to forget that his human self was gagging, he moved towards the fighting grounds. Two other curious demons decided to follow, as well.

I decided to cut the chapter here, as a torture scene comes next, and I felt that it needed to stand on its own at the beginning of a new chapter. As always, if you liked what you read, or even if you didn't, don't hesitate to let me know! :)