A/N: Yay! Ten chapters! As a word document, we're currently on page 61 out of 108. You do the math for the remaining number of chapters. Anyway, disclaimer still applies (why shouldn't it? I mean, it's not like I took a trip over to Japan in the past 24 hours and somehow got the copyrights to YuYu Hakusho, right? Right.) and I'm having fun reviewing what I wrote about a year or so ago. Seriously. This thing has been sitting on my computer for almost a year, if not longer, and I'm finally getting around to getting it on here.
Oh. Quick note to those who might not know this. Chikara's name actually means 'power' in Japanese. I think 'hakana' means something, too, but I forgot what it was. Anyway, it's not all that important, except Chikara's got a bit of irony going on. So, read on.
Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it for a moment with my eyes closed. So much had happened in the past three days. Meeting the boys, seeing Koenma, my nephew, meeting the girls, regaining my powers, meeting Hakana and Junei, not to mention the verse/prophecy. Opening my eyes again, I glanced around my room. Everything was just how I'd left it, but something still felt wrong. I frowned, trying to figure out what it was and finding nothing out of the ordinary. A light breeze blew across my face and I impatiently brushed my hair back behind my ear.
Then it hit me. The window was open. Crossing the room quickly, I looked out it across the forest and beyond. Nothing seemed wrong with it being open, unless you kept in mind that I had never even touched it in the past three days. As I turned away from it though, the space shimmered and I turned back, startled, as a picture began to form.
In the background was a stone chamber with circular walls and decorated richly with tapestries, cushions and rugs. In the middle of it all, though, was a large throne carved from, I knew, a single piece of black diamond. Seated on the throne, and lounging in a lazy position, was a demon, evident from the pointed cat's ears and tail and slit amber eyes. He looked up at me and smiled, revealing a mouth full of teeth filed to be pointed and sharp. Sitting up, he leaned forward slightly.
"So, Li-Sanya, we meet again." He breathed. I wrinkled my nose; it seemed as if I could actually smell his breath.
"It would appear that way, Chikara." I replied. The cat demon laughed.
"Yes, indeed." He said, still chuckling. "I assume you're wondering why I've taken the time to contact you this way?" I shrugged, trying to hide my curiosity.
"If you insist." I said indifferently. "It's not like I can stop you from telling me if you want to." Chikara's smile grew broader.
"You're right, of course. No one can stop me. But that's another topic for another day. Right now, all I want is to ask you something."
I raised an eyebrow. "You have my undivided attention." I said dryly, crossing my arms. His smile slipped for a moment as he watched my face, empty of all emotion, but he quickly put it back on.
"Why?" He asked, looking at me intently. I blinked.
"Why, what?" I asked, slightly confused as to what he meant.
"Why did you leave me?" He said tensely. I frowned as what he said clicked. Before I'd become the Makai queen, I had been a traveler, wandering around, learning what I could. During that time, I had come across Chikara. He had been badly injured and was near death. Why I saved him, I don't know, but I did. As he recovered, we grew closer and he eventually asked me to come stay with him. I had agreed, believing him when he said he loved me. I had thought I loved him.
Then I found out his terrible secret. He'd-
"What's taking so long for you to answer me, Sanya?" Chikara's voice interrupted my thoughts. I started and looked at him, eyes wide.
"Oh, nothing." I said quickly. "Just remembering something." I was silent a moment, then hesitantly opened my mouth to answer his question. "I…I don't know how to answer you." I said finally. "Perhaps if I could talk to you in a more personal manner, I could show you why, but I don't know how to answer you in words." There. That was the truth, but it didn't mean the same thing to both of us. Chikara looked at me for a moment, thinking. Then he smiled.
"That could be arranged." He said slowly, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise as his voice sent a chill up my spine. "If you could, meet me by the Singing Stones. You know the place." I nodded; it had been where I had first found him. "I'll be waiting for you to come." I started to turn away from him, thinking the conversation over, but his voice brought me back. "Oh, and Sanya?" I turned to him, a questioning look on my face.
"What now?" I asked, weary of him already.
"I wouldn't get too attached to that fox of yours." I stared at him, shocked, and wondered how in the three worlds he had known about Kurama's background and the fact that I knew him. He chuckled at my expression. "Oh, I have many ways of knowing things; just like you, Sanya. Call it jealousy, revenge; call it what you want. If he tried to take you from me, nothing even you could do would save him." His expression changed to one of remembered surprise. "Oh, that's right, you can't even do what you used to anymore, anyway." I glanced down at my wrists involuntarily to where the bands had been.
Suddenly, I was extremely glad I had replaced the real ones with illusory ones that would register as the real ones on any level. My energy level readings were also suppressed, so even Chikara for all his power wouldn't be able to tell. I allowed my face to show shame, fear and anger and was rewarded by Chikara's cruel smile.
"So keep that in mind. If he tries to come between us, I'll kill him and make you watch." His eyes had become hard pieces of orange topaz. I stared at him, letting him see the fear in my eyes. He chuckled as the picture in the window began to fade, leaving only the forest and the setting sun for me to look at.
I stood there for a moment, then shut the window with a snap. Turning, I set my mind to packing for the trip we would be taking in the morning. The conversation with Chikara would not be shared with the others, particularly Kurama. I would have to find some reason for the boys to let me go to the Singing Stones.
No sooner had I come to this conclusion than my bedroom door opened and who but Kurama, along with Hiei, came in. I turned to look at them, Chikara's words ringing in my head. I forced what I hoped was a casual smile and clamped down on my sudden unnatural fear for Kurama.
"Can I help you?" I asked, my voice not giving away any of my inner tension. I saw Hiei frown slightly and tightened my mental barriers, causing him to scowl even more. Kurama didn't seem to notice.
"Yes, actually, you can. We were both wondering about something." He said. Hiei sighed.
"If you keep talking like that, it'll be time to leave before you ask her." He told Kurama impatiently. The fox demon's face grew pink. Hiei turned to me. "What he wants to ask you is if-"
"I can ask her well enough myself!" Kurama injected. Hiei glanced up at him.
"Hn. You are certainly doing a stellar job of it." Kurama's face shot up through about a dozen shades of red. I sighed.
"Hiei, would you please refrain from speaking for a short period of time?" I asked wearily before turning to Kurama. "Now, what was it that you wanted to ask me.
"Uh…" He couldn't quite bring himself to ask whatever it was. Before I could prompt him further, Youko decided to take matters into his own hands. A moment later, the tall silver-haired demon was standing in front of me, his hands on his hips.
"I'm not sure why it's so hard for him to ask." He said. Hiei looked like he was hard pressed to obey me and still agree with Youko, finally settling on nodding his head. A part of me found this hilarious, but I pushed it away for another time. Youko continued. "He wants to ask you to be-" The door slammed open, this time admitting Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were shouting at each other and at us at the top of their lungs. I covered my face with my hand as Youko and Hiei turned on the two humans with identical scowls on their faces.
As they argued about what ever Yusuke and Kuwabara had been arguing about as well as about how impolite it was to just butt in on someone else's important discussion, I thought about what both Hiei and Youko had begun to say. Kurama wants me to be…what? I wracked my brains trying to think of what it was but couldn't come up with anything. Finally I decided just to take it out of Youko's mind, since Hiei would notice me immediately. Reaching out slowly, I carefully insinuated a tendril of thought into his consciousness. Sorting through what he currently had at the front of his mind, namely Yusuke and Kuwabara and how annoying they were, I tried to find what it was he had been about to tell me. Locating it was harder than I'd thought it would be, but when I did find it, I nearly went into shock, barely managing to draw out of Youko's mind without alerting him to the fact that I had been there at all. Going over to my bed, I sat down on it and tried to figure out what it meant.
Hiei noticed my withdrawn silence as well as my change in position and frowned. Leaving Youko to take care of the two idiots, he came over to stand in front of me. I looked up at him, not really seeing him there and forgetting that he could sense the state of my mind. "You found out." It was a statement, not a question, but I nodded my head anyway. He sighed. "Neither of us has had any real experience with this sort of thing and Kurama is too polite to just come right out and say it." He said quietly. I looked at him, startled out of my shock by what he was saying. He continued. "Youko is different. He more or less says what's on his mind, regardless of the consequences." I nodded, but my mind didn't really comprehend what he was saying. Something occurred to me, then, something Kurama had said at first and I frowned slightly.
"Kurama said you both wanted to ask me something. Were you going to ask the same thing?" I asked, curious and wanting to know, but at the same time hoping it wasn't. Hiei looked away from me for a moment then glanced back, his expression one I hadn't seen on his face before. Though, on anyone else, I would have called it embarrassment.
"No, not quite."
"What were you going to ask, then?" That was a relief, but his answer was still cryptic.
"I wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to…" He trailed off, then shook his head. "No, you've already got too much to handle right now. You don't need me adding another to your load. Forget I said anything." He began to walk away, but I reached out and grabbed his sleeve, stopping him. He turned to look at me again.
"I want to hear it." I said in my 'you had better tell me or I'll get it out of you one way or another' voice. He sighed and came back to sit down on my bed next to me.
"I just wanted to know if you'd help me with something."
"What?" The way he was avoiding talking about it directly was starting to bug the heck out of me. He frowned and looked over at the others, who had progressed from a shouting match to a fistfight.
I want you to find something in the book I stopped you from reading yesterday. he said silently. I looked at him in surprise.
But I thought you said it was too dangerous! I protested.
I know what I said! He said shortly. But now you have all of your powers and I want you to open it. I need to find something. I pursed my lips and studied his face, calculating what he'd be willing to do to get this thing he wanted to find so badly.
What is it? I asked. He glanced down at his feet, avoiding my gaze.
The Fire Stone. My eyes went wide and I couldn't stop a small gasp.
You want to find that?! I asked incredulous. The Fire Stone was a stone of unimaginable potential that could only be used by fire demons. Anyone else who tried to tap into its power was incinerated on the spot. Its exact powers were as yet unknown, as the fire demons guarded its secret jealously and no one else could even touch it. It had been lost for the past seven thousand years, though, and no one still living knew whether it had been purposely hidden or lost accidentally, but either way, no one had found it. What makes you think that the book has the location in it? I asked.
He was silent for a moment, before looking back up to look me in the eye. Because the book was made by the person who hid it. I bit my lip; if I found the location of the Fire Stone for Hiei, who knew what would happen? It could reject him because of his ice demon blood, or it could transform him into a completely different person than we knew now, or something else I couldn't even begin to imagine. Still, he seemed to know what he was doing…
I'll look for you, but you have to tell Kurama something first. I said finally, looking away.
What?
Tell him that…I can't. At least, not until this mission is completed. As much as I might want to, I can't. My heart felt heavy as I told Hiei, but I clamped down on the impulse to just tell the short fire demon what had happened before they'd come in. He glanced up at me.
What do you mean you can't? It's a simple question of yes or no. I bit my lip again; of course he'd ask that.
Because…because there's someone we'll meet on this mission that won't take it kindly if he finds out about it. That was as much as I could safely tell him. If I told him any more, he'd probably spill to Koenma and then my nephew'd forbid me to not go on this mission and I was the only one who could make it successful.
Hiei looked at me curiously, but didn't press it, probably figuring that if I wouldn't tell him the real reason, then there was a good reason for it. Okay. I'll tell him. I cast a grateful glance at him.
Thanks. It means a lot.
Hn.
Just then, Youko emerged from the fight victorious and holding both boys by the collar of their shirts. He grinned at us and I couldn't help but smile back. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked less than happy about it, though, as they were scowling at Youko, or trying to, anyway.
"Is everything resolved, then?" I asked. Youko nodded.
"I believe so." He said. Then he turned and tossed the boys out into the hall, shutting the door after them. He turned back to me, but before he could say anything, Hiei was next to him, obviously explaining something using telepathy, because his mouth wasn't moving, but Youko's expression kept changing. Finally, he settled on a slightly hurt and betrayed expression as he looked at me. I couldn't look him in the eye, so I started to examine the bed cover as if it was the most interesting thing I had ever seen in my life.
I heard Youko mutter something to Hiei and the door open then close again. When I heard footsteps coming across the room, I glanced up at Youko, slightly afraid of what he'd say. He stopped in front of me and knelt down so he was looking me eye to eye.
He didn't say anything, just reached out and gently brushed his fingers across my cheek. I could feel tears start to leak out and I angrily brushed them away. Youko caught my hand as I started to do it again. I looked at him, slightly surprised. He leaned forward and softly kissed each tear away. I closed my eyes, unable to look at him anymore after what I'd had Hiei tell him. Now, he spoke.
"Li." He said quietly. "Li, don't do this to yourself." I opened my eyes and looked at him, confused. "You're going to hurt yourself more than you will hurt Kurama, hurt me, if you keep this up." I bit my lip, wanting to tell him why, but unable to. "We'll understand if you don't, but tell us yourself." I shook my head.
"It's not that." I said, trying to prevent tears from falling again. "It's just…" My control failed and I started to shake, rocking back and forth. Youko sighed and edged up on the bed. Drawing me close, he rested his chin on the top of my head. I buried my face in his chest as I sobbed out all my fear for him/Kurama, my anger at Chikara for trapping me like this, my fear for myself, my helplessness, everything. Finally, the tears slowed to a stop, and I simply lay against him, taking comfort in his warmth.
Youko pulled away slightly so he could look down at me. "Li…" He didn't say anything more, just lowered his head to press his lips against mine softly. I gave in and let the only thing that mattered at that moment take over. He drew away and I looked up at him, blinking sleepily. He smiled slightly. "I can see how Kurama fell for you so quickly." He said quietly. I smiled as well, a weak one, but the best I could do at the moment.
"Nonsense." I said, leaning against him again. "He didn't do anything. All it took was a bit of encouragement and some honesty." I felt him stiffen slightly at that. "Of course, there might have been some indefinite variables in there that I didn't count on, but the basic equation had nothing to do with him falling." I felt him relax again as he realized I was joking. He laughed.
"I see. Of course." He said. "How silly of me to think otherwise." I laughed, too, but my humor was cut short by a huge yawn. Youko stood up and picked me up. Tucking me into my bed, he leaned down and gently kissed my forehead. I blinked up at him sleepily as I let go of his neck. "Goodnight, Li."
"Goodnight, Youko." I said, yawning. "Oh, tell Kurama goodnight for me, would you?" He smiled and nodded. I turned over and fell asleep almost instantaneously, just after thinking about how exhausting the past few days had been.
A/N: Hoo boy. Li's got a lot of stuff on her mind, what with the trip, the amulet, Chikara, the Fire Stone, Kurama/Youko, Chikara, getting to the Singing Stones (you'll find out about these later) and did I mention Chikara? Right. So, little attempt at humor there at the end, but I don't recall putting humor as one of the category thingies, so you shouldn't be reading this for the humor. You should be reading this because I'm such a good writer and you're actually interested in the plot line. Yup yup.
Anyway, thanks to the grand total of two people who've been reviewing--Rose of the Moon and Luca4ever. I've enjoyed hearing from you guys!
Haliaetus