Yu Yu Hakusho: New Dreams, Old Nightmares

Updated! Short chapter here, (well, at least by my standards!) Time to check in on Ryominaka again. Can't let too much time go by without checking on the others, can we?

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Yu Yu but I do own all other non-canon characters in this story.

Yu Yu Hakusho: New Dreams, Old Nightmares

Chapter Sixteen: Flight

Run!

The young yokai fled for his life, the scent of charred flesh and death still strong in his nostrils, the edges of his tunic burned to cinders.

It had all been going according to plan. Everything was going perfectly. They had killed the defenders and then that yokai dressed in black with the wild hair showed up and obliterated all of them with a single blast. He had been watching from the trees as the fight took place, and that was his only saving grace. He had barely had time to defend himself, and even then, was able to do little more than try to deflect the blast from around his body, unsuccessfully.

Dust and ashes matted his hair, the tips of his ears singed as he ran through the trees, desperately trying to get back. He didn't sense the yoki of any of the others; they were all gone…Otoyo, Maruka, Kanashi…

Am I the only one left? He thought to himself as he ran, his ears pivoting atop his head to listen to everything he could pick up. Pain made him wince as the tender flesh twisted. His body was close to exhaustion as he had been running for hours.

Mommy…

He had to get back to her, make sure she was all right. If they found her, they would capture her, beat her, or worse!

He had almost reached the clearing, as he expanded his senses to try and pick her up. He knew the group was supposed to meet up at the safehouse after the mission, but nobody thought they wouldn't be able to get through!

He leapt into the air, over a fallen log, using his tail to balance himself in midair, but his form was sloppy. His body screamed at him, so close to giving out. He hit the ground and rolled upright, regaining his balance. He took off again at top speed, heading for the cliff at the opposite end, and the cave it hid underneath.

The wind made his cheeks feel cold, and only then did he notice the tears coming down them. He hadn't even realized he had been crying.

"Mother!"

Ryominaka heard the voice call out and echo down the entrance to the cave. She recognized it instantly, and the urgency in it.

"Shiruko?" she called back. She saw the terrified youth burst into view around a bend, her heart thundering in time with his frantic footfalls.

He ran straight into her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head into her chest while sobbing. "Mother, I'm so glad you're safe! I was so scared…"

Ryominaka did not know what had happened to her son, but the scents of battle, of ash, and of death flooded the air around him, and caused a flood of panicked emotions within her. Anger at whatever did this to him, relief that he was alright, anger towards him for being in some sort of situation…but that would be for later. Relief won out the battle in her mind, as she dropped to her knees and embraced him tightly.

"Shiruko! What happened to you? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not," the boy sobbed. "They're all dead, he killed them, and he almost got me too!"

"Who's dead?" Ryominaka said, pulling back and gripping her son by the shoulders. "Who killed them?"

"Everyone, mommy. Everyone you sent to the portal was killed by a single yokai, he had black hair and a sword and-"

"Shiruko!" Ryominaka said, her voice rising in volume and pitch. "What were you doing there? I told you not to go anywhere near there!" She shook the youth in her fearful anger, causing his silver hair to sway and his own ears to fold back along his head. "You could have been killed!"

The pain and shock from his mother shaking him caused Shiruko to start to cry again. Ryominaka saw the dust in his hair, the stains on his cheeks, and the fact his tunic was ruined. Even some of the hair on his tail had charred, its unpleasant smell stinging her nostrils.

"I'm sorry, mom, I just wanted to help…"

Ryominaka clasped her arms around her son again, burying his head into her shoulder and bringing a hand to the back of his head to stroke it carefully. Her hand touched one of his ears and he shrieked, the pain from the contact with the damaged skin almost more than he could take.

"I'm so sorry," he said, his young body about to collapse as the adrenaline wore off. Taxed to the limit, having run on nothing but terror in the hours since he watched his friends being attacked, his body shut down as he passed out in Ryominaka's arms. Seeing his half opened, blank eyes sent Ryominaka into a frenzy.

She worked swiftly, carrying her son to the back of the cave where she had set up a makeshift quarter, and placed him on the bed. She stripped him of his ruined clothes and saw just how badly he had been burned.

The skin was an angry red on his body and the fur had been singed almost completely off his ears, which were inflamed. The skin there looked like it was pulled far too taut, straining against the swelling underneath.

Fighting back her anger and tears, she pulled out from under the bed a large kit containing medicinal supplies for yokai, a product of Mukuro's former nation. Mukuro's kingdom had been the farthest along in terms of medical technology, even rumored to be able to bring the dead back to life…

She laid out several medicinal creams and a large assortment of bandages and went to work cleaning and dressing her son's wounds. His breathing was shallow, and she was thankful he was unconscious or the pain from this process would have been unbearable.

When she had finished, his hands and forearms were completely bandaged, and she had tied his hair back into a tight braid to keep it away from his skin and ears as much as possible. She had cut away the burned edges of silver in his mane, and on his tail as well, and knew that the few inches of length he had lost would grow back soon. Most of the skin that had been exposed during the blast was bandaged as well, and all she could do was coat his ears in a cooling salve, unable to bandage them at all.

Ryominaka, for all the skills she had picked up over the centuries she had lived, was not a healer and never would be. She had never learned to heal others, a skill that was very coveted, and few possessed…

She was furious, and scared. The boy could go into shock, and would need the help of one of her healers. Otoyo possessed that skill, one of the many she had stolen during her relatively short life, but if she was dead…

No, Otoyo wouldn't be dead. I would know it if she was. Ryominaka reached into her pocket and pulled out a small device. She had planted a tracker on Otoyo, unknown to her, before she left. The device would transmit the position of wherever it was in Makai, and would also send out a signal the moment it was destroyed.

At least Yomi's technology had been good for something.

The small screen on the handheld receiver glowed. The transmitter was not in range – but it hadn't sent out the signal that had shown it was destroyed. The only conclusions were that Otoyo would have to be blocking the signal (impossible), the yokai who had attacked the group destroyed the transmitter in such a way that it prevented the destruction signal from emitting (very unlikely), or that Otoyo had slipped through the gate as the original intention was.

All she could do was wait until Otoyo made it back from Ningenkai. She might be young and easily distracted, but the promise of pulling off this opportunity was just too good to pass up.

But her son…she had tried to keep him out of this and he had gone along anyway without her knowledge. Ryominaka was never good at sensing yoki or reiki, always employing others for that use. She couldn't even sense the power spike from the attack that wiped out her soldiers, but if what Shiruko said was true…

I don't care if he is an A-class or S-class. Once we succeed I'll personally see to his death! Rominaka balled her fist in rage, hard enough for the nails to cut her palms. Her ears folded back and she bared her teeth in reflex at the anger that washed over her.

As soon as it hit her, it was past. She had matters to attend to, and little time to put them into action. She would be unable to do anything until Otoyo came back and they were able to meet with their plant in Enki's council, but in the meantime she had to try and find someone to help heal her son…and hopefully someone who was not already one of Enki's lackeys.

Short update here with a longer one on the way. Just moved into a new apartment, and am spending almost all my free time setting it up!

Please R and R!

Kusanagi