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 Nineteen: Finding Redemption
"She called that being of Hell. It requires the summoner to pay a price for its assistance. In this case, the price was her life," Hiei explained, as it was apparent Kurama was currently unable to do so.
Yusuke kept his eyes closed as he fought against the wetness behind his eyes and the closing of his throat. Oh...
Yusuke could not seem to be able to force these words make any sense in his mind. He turned them over, upside-down and side-ways until it was a jumble of useless words. Her life? She gave her life. For him. That was... not how it was supposed to be. Something clicked, distantly, in his mind. He had done this same thing for his friends. He knew it had been painful for them. But this... this was... unbearable.
Yusuke was saved from having to speak at that moment, as the telltale sound of wind being displaced announced Botan's arrival. Kurama suddenly went rigid. Yusuke found breathing damn near impossible. Hiei considered the different ways in which this would go down. "I'm so sorry, Kurama," she broke the silence with her whisper. Kurama did not respond; if it was possible, his posture merely got more stiff. There no room for doubt as to why she was here.
Yusuke had finally, with some difficulty, gotten to his feet. "No."
Botan looked extremely uncomfortable and guilty. "I'm sorry. You know I have to."
Yusuke took two steps toward Aurora's body. "Fix it." His tone was soft and level. It was worse than if he had been screaming.
"I-I can't."
Two more steps. "Yes, you can."
"Yusuke-" she began, tone pleading.
"Botan," he cut her off in that same calm, steady voice. "If you won't do it for me, then do it for Kurama."
"Yusuke, you know I can't do-"
"Then take me instead," beside his voice breaking upon the last word, it betrayed no emotion. Botan raised a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, struggling to fight back the tears. This is why she sometimes hated this job. She hated seeing the looks on the loved ones' faces. Especially when those faces belonged to people she loved, too.
Kurama had gotten to his feet. Refusing to meet Botan's eyes or even look at her, he moved to kneel beside his sister's still form. "Aurora," he breathed. Yusuke was the only one, except Botan, who was close enough to hear his barely audible words. "Do you remember what I asked of you, all those years ago?" He paused. "I'm going to ask that you do it now." Speak to me just one... last... time.
Botan looked as though she was cursing every deity she could think of that it had been her that had to come take her away. She couldn't stand the look on Kurama's face or the tone of his voice. Broken... Yusuke felt guilty, as though he had just listened to something extremely private. Kurama remained motionless next to his sister's body. "Please." Yusuke wasn't sure if he had actually heard Kurama say that, at all, as it had been so quiet.
At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the wind picked up. When it started, it was something that didn't seem relevant; something that could have been just the usual weather. But then, from the clear, cloudless sky, snowflakes, absolute perfection in shape, gently wisped to the ground. Yusuke and the others watched in grim fascination, slowly realizing the snow fell in a particular way. After several silent moments, it became clear this was Aurora's answer to her brother's request. In swirling letters, a message was spelled out in perfect whiteness.
Never forget
Kurama gazed at the message until the wind began to drag and smear it, his breathing shallow and shaky. Extending an arm, he gathered a handful of snow before it had all blown away. His hair falling low over his eyes, tears began to mix with the slow drip of melting snow. Yusuke, moved beyond guilt, sat down next to Kurama. For a moment, he didn't move. When Kurama's shoulders began to tremble, Yusuke pulled him into a hug.
Gazing meaningfully at Botan, Yusuke murmured words of apology and encouragement into Kurama's ear. "Hey... You can cry; it's alright... I'm so sorry, Kurama..." At each word his friend whispered, Kurama's grip on his shirt got tighter. It was getting more and more difficult to control the tears. "Just let it out... It'll help."
Koenma had moved forward from the background, his eyes hollow and dark. Tears tracks were evident on his face. It was clear he had believed they'd lost Yusuke for good, as well. Clearing his throat, he looked over at his favorite ferry girl. "Botan, if you would please-"
"No!" Yusuke and Kurama cried at once to Koenma.
Coughing gently, Kurama murmured, "Please, just another minute."
"Kurama-"
Yusuke cut him off, "Can't you just give the guy one more goddamned minute?"
"Well, if you'd let me finish, I was going to ask Botan to move you two out of the way," Koenma told him dryly.
He received three blank stares, until Botan apparently caught on, and walked to the boys. Using incredible patience and gentleness, she finally got the two a few feet from Aurora. "There you go, Koenma, sir."
"Very good." Koenma cleared his throat once again. "By the power vested in me, I hereby call back the soul of one previously lost to this world. In the face of sudden bravery, selflessness and saving my favorite ex-detective's butt in an, albeit odd, fashion... Nonetheless, I grant back the life that was taken." Kurama gasped. Koenma smirked slightly, "I know the speech isn't the catchiest, but I did write it before you were even born."
"What- what did you... You-you..." Kurama could finish a sentence. Hiei nearly couldn't turn his laugh into a cough successfully in time. The fox sounded so much unlike himself, it was humorous.
Kurama ran to kneel beside Aurora again, "Sister?" he asked, disbelief still evident on his face. She made no response. His head snapped to Koenma, eyes sharp and fully golden.
"Give it a minute," Koenma swallowed. Yoko never ceased to make him nervous. Something about the sharp teeth and claws set him on edge slightly.
The wind began to blow again, erasing what had been left of Aurora's words. Kurama stared unblinkingly at her, waiting for anything at all to change. At first, it didn't seem that anything would happen, but small things began to change. The first of what Kurama took to be a sign was the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Once, then twice, three times, and then it gradually fell into a rhythmic constant. When her eyelids fluttered, he pulled her into an embrace with a quite cry.
"Put... me... down." Kurama didn't comply at first. When he finally did, she jumped to her feet, rounding on Koenma. "What did you just do?" she snapped. Koenma gazed, dumbfounded. Usually, resurrected souls were a bit less... angry than this. "Do you think I want to owe you? ! Do think that is why I did that?"
Koenma shook his head, understanding dawning. "You don't me anything. The only person you owe something to is Yusuke. If it were not for him, I would not have done it." He glanced at Yoko as he muttered, "No offense," with a half-shrug.
Aurora seemed unsure of what to say to that. Then, "Did you destroy it, brother?"
An uncharacteristically uncomprehending expression took to Kurama's face for just a small space of time. Before he could reply at all, however, someone else spoke. "No, he didn't."
Aurora's eyes of molten caramel narrowed and flashed. "If anyone is incapable of a fight, I suggest they make haste elsewhere," was her sharp hiss. Botan and Koenma didn't need telling twice. Kurama moved closer to Aurora, Hiei moving closer to Yusuke.
"Why is he alive?" Yusuke muttered to Hiei.
"Ah, I'm quite pleased you asked, half-breed," the owner of the voice answered in a mockingly laughing tone. "It seems that no one bothered to heed that little bitch's warning." Nikolai, with his head very much attached, stepped forward. With speed even Hiei may not have been able to achieve, he came to stand directly in front of Aurora. "Isn't that right, my little whore?"
She glared at him, moving to strike. He was faster. He gripped her wrist until an audible crack was heard. To her credit, she did not so much as wince. "Not enough pain?" he whispered. "How about this, then?" He lowered his head to her neck. Before she could pull away, he sunk sharp fangs deep into her skin.
"No!" she screamed out before she was able to shove him away. Gripping her neck with the hand of her unbroken wrist, she gasped, "I'll kill you for that." Hiei noticed the placement of his bite had been deliberate. It had reopened the old wound where Kuronue's mark had been.
"You've already tried and failed once." He laughed as he deflected Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei's attacks with an ease of one batting at a fly. "Now that I've erased that damn bat's mark from you, what will do to me?" he taunted.
Yusuke quickly took initiative. "Kurama, get with Hiei, you two watch each other's back best. Touya, get next to Aurora and start combining your energy. It was awesome last time. Jin, get Chu somewhere safe, then you join up with Shishi. Mukuro, you're with me." He flashed a grin. "Come on, everybody, let's finish this thing right!"
Spreading out in the pairs they had been assigned, they arranged themselves in a way so that it lessened the chance of their allies being hit with ricochet and raised the chance of actually hitting their target. Nikolai did nothing as this took place. Standing with a ridiculous smile on his face, he asked them finally, "May we begin now?" He laughed when his only reply was an onslaught of attack. "You'll have to do better than that!"
With seemingly no effort, he knocked Yusuke's Spirit Gun bullet back at him, causing him to have to jump to avoid it; he gripped the end of Kurama's Rose Whip and gave it a sharp tug, forcing the fox to fall to one knee; he sidestepped Hiei's sword, causing it collide with the dirt and sink in up to its hilt; he forced Aurora and Touya's Shards of Winter to collide with Jin's mini-tornadoes, rendering them useless; and he managed to avoid Mukuro and Shishi altogether. Yusuke frowned and turned to Mukuro, "I have a feeling this isn't gonna work." She nodded, readying another attack. "I'm open to suggestions," he muttered, doing the same.
:-:-:-:-:
Touya glanced over his shoulder at Aurora for a moment, while they gathered another round of energy. "You know," he informed her almost conversationally, "if you weren't Kurama's sibling, I might not be able to stand the sight of you right now."
"I'm flattered," she replied dryly, "however, may we discuss this later? Your focus on this would be appreciated." Pausing in their attack, she formed a make-shift splint for her wrist out of ice.
"You killed Yusuke. That's rather inexcusable, don't you think?"
She sighed, pausing her reply as they fired off another round of ice shards together. "I don't expect you to understand." She gave him a look. "Now, as I just stated, we have a fight to be focusing on. I'll be willing to have this conversation at another time."
He was unmoved. "You're only saving grace was that Kurama had whatever was in that vile to heal him."
As she created her bow, he took a step away from her. "Who do you suppose gave that to him?" she asked quietly, drawing back her arrows. She winced, her wrist stinging in protest at being used.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No, I expect nothing from you," she replied evenly, as the arrows sang through the air, "but you started this conversation."
"And that wasn't a lie, was it?" he thought aloud. "You really did have that planned all along."
"Yes," she murmured, even though he hadn't been asking a question. "You have no idea how badly..." she trailed off, flipping gracefully to avoid the two arrows that had been sent back. Landing, she finished, "How difficult it was to do what I did." Without words, she and Touya began something akin to a dance together. When any one attack didn't work, they moved on to another.
Moving easily into another stance, this time to send pillars of sharpened ice up from the ground, Touya questioned, "Then why do it?"
She cast him a short glance, eyebrows raised. "Why do you think? I needed to get Nikolai in a place where I could kill him. He needed to believe I was loyal to him. There was no way around it. Clearly you can see why I attempted to prevent this," she gestured at their current predicament, "from happening. Even though I'm honored that Spirit World brat brought me back to life," Touya smirked slightly at that, "I trust you can see just how abysmal our odds of winning are now."
Touya nodded slightly. "I suppose I can still trust you."
"So glad to hear that," she deadpanned. Though, truthfully, she was a bit grateful; the more trust they had to work with, the better the battle outcome was going to be.
"Now that we've got that all worked out, what, dare I ask, is your plan for this? Obviously we are in need of something much stronger than these separate attacks."
She frowned, "I am quite sure Yusuke will be formulating something of a plan." She glanced at Touya another time, "I'll ask only that you continue to fight beside me." He understood the words' unspoken meaning, please forgive me for what I did and trust me.
Their eyes locked, and he said, "You care about him a great deal, don't you?" Her head bowed a fraction. "Then yes, I'll fight beside you."
:-:-:-:-:
Kurama lifted his gaze. "Hiei," he murmured to the jaganshi as he attempted to salvage another discarded attack. "If we have any hope of succeeding, we're going to have to do better than this."
"Hn," was the agreement. Though he had not yet completed any attacks with his sword, he hadn't called upon the dragon. It would not bode well to be hasty against an opponent like this. He would wait a bit longer for Yusuke's command. Hopefully that boy had come up with something.
Sure enough, not more than a few moments after he had thought that, Yusuke's voice sounded through his mind. Need a favor. I have... a plan. Or, at least, something that'll pass as one. If you could, you know, share it with the rest of the class...
Very well. What am I going to be relaying?
When Yusuke had finished explaining, which took a bit longer as more than half of his concentration was focused on not getting killed, Hiei scoffed. I'm not sure I'd actually call that a plan... But I'll pass it on. It cannot be anymore abysmal then we're currently fairing. To himself, he thought, And it just might work.
Yeah, yeah. Just send the message, alright?
Hn. "Well, fox, it would seem the Detective has come up with something, after all."
"And it's absolutely insane?" Kurama asked, rather offhandedly.
"Of course."
"Alright, I'm listening." Insanity was Yusuke's specialty, after all. In fact, Kurama couldn't think of a time when it hadn't worked out well for him and the rest of them. Well, maybe one or two instances... he thought with a fond smile. Only Yusuke. For the first time since it had happened, his mind focused in one thing for just a moment. Yusuke is alive. His fond smile widened. With Yusuke on their team, all things were possible.
After Hiei had telepathically, or verbally in Kurama's case, spread the word, he told Yusuke everyone was ready and waiting on the signal. Touya had seemed particularly wary of this plan, but, in the end, everyone had agreed. It was as Hiei had said; there wasn't much chance they could do much worse than they already were. He was skeptical to believe they'd even managed to hit that bastard once.
For them to even have a snowball's chance in hell, timing was absolutely essential. There could be no hesitation between the sequence of attacks. Yusuke would begin the chain of events, with Jin backing him up. Kurama and Touya would be second, followed closely by Hiei and Aurora with the big guns. All of it ended with Yusuke. As he had said, it was his fight, he should get to start it and finish it.
So, on Yusuke's signal of taking the Spirit Gun stance, feet spread to shoulder width and his left hand bracing his right wrist with his pointer finger straight forward and thumb raised, the chain-reaction began. Yusuke's first bullet missed, as Nikolai had no trouble dodging it. This was where Jin came in. With his mastery over wind, he easily manipulated Yusuke's energy to follow their enemy wherever he tried to move to avoid it. While his attention was focused on dodging the Spirit Gun bullet, Kurama and Touya entered the fray next. Kurama snapped his whip at the same time Touya called up some ice. The Rose Whip cracked upon its connecting with Nikolai's arm. It wrapped around it, effectively rendering one arm useless. While that was done, Touya's ice encased around both of the man's feet, quickly working its way up to his calves, ceasing anymore movement.
The instant the ice was in place, Hiei was ready. With his left hand bracing his right arm, the Dragon of the Darkness Flame burst forth. In the same moment, Aurora was already being taken over by the blackness just before the Bringer of Death materialized from it in front of her. As though they worked with one mind, the Dragon and the Bringer surged forward, closing the gap between them and their target. Hiei and Aurora had strategically placed themselves directly opposite each other of this imaginary circle, Nikolai being in the dead center. Each of the others had moved back several hundred feet in preparation of the collision of the two gigantic beings of power. It did not disappoint.
The resulting explosion was so intense, it sent Hiei and Aurora backwards quite a few feet, their arm up over their face to protect their eyes. As the Dragon dissipated and the Black Horse reared with a mighty screech, it was still unclear what damage they'd managed. However, without waiting for the dust to settle, Yusuke fired a magnificent Demon Gun blast dead center, where Nikolai should have been. Aurora waited to call back the Bringer; it took much less energy than to call it forth again should it be needed.
With most of them left breathless and low on energy, all they could really do was stand, wait and hope beyond all reason that they'd won. Touya had moved forward, allowing Aurora to brace against him. Yusuke stepped forward as well, coming to her other side. Kurama moved quickly to Hiei's side, a silent offering of support should it be accepted, his broken and burnt whip laying forgotten in the soil a few feet from him. He was so concentrated on Hiei's wellbeing, he missed the twitch it gave, seemingly of its own accord. Panting, Yusuke leaned forward slightly, propping his hands on his legs.
Suddenly, a chilling scream tore through the air. Aurora gasped and Touya had to grab onto her shoulders to keep her from collapsing. Trembling from muscle overexertion, Yusuke moved to embrace her instead. "What was that?" he asked her quietly, barely daring to breathe.
"He's killed... Destroyed... I didn't think it was possible..." Aurora half-answered, eyes wide, body nearly in convulsions.
"What?"
"He... Nikolai killed the Bringer of Death."
Aurora took a shallow breath, Yusuke swallowed with some difficulty and Touya remained absolutely silent. Although unspoken, they all agreed on one thing. That... was not good...
Alright, another action chapter. Thoughts? Please, let me know. :)