There has to be a god because i got another review from one of my old reviewers! :DDDD i'm really happy right now, like super happy but i'm not really happy with this chapter, but unfortunately i've already re written this twice and finally got something that i like, somewhat, but even then i don't like it, grrrr, but finally we're getting headway, i shall resume my weekly updating after being depressed for a bit (i finally got a 3D image of my son's face :3 )
Thank you for everyone that has stood with me till this point and now onwards!
Shuichi got up from his seat as everyone started to tumble down, the illusion fading and on his face a wave of relief. The floor was cracked, the sky outside shined as lighting burst and the river of lava turned into a raging normal river. Yuu stood up, the chess pieces vanishing, and the group happy that they finally found their last member.
"Kurama get away from him, he's been playing with our heads this entire time!" Kuwabara said, rushing forward to slice Yuu.
"We've been stuck inside an illusion this entire time!" Naota said, running after Kuwabara. She looked up, Hikaru, dangling from a single rope from a tree over the raging water. 'Hikaru.' Kuwabara let out a shout, running past Kurama and slicing Yuu. He smirked as he jumped, his form slowly turned into the Negotiator.
"What the?" Kuwabara started.
"You." Shuichi said. The Negotiator sighed.
"Well now, this was interesting, but I told Yuu that this wouldn't work, still I'm sad to see that I wasn't able to get to our objective." He said, crouching low.
"Alright, you little freak, it's time to pound your face into the ground!" Yusuke said, letting out a battle shout and appearing in from of him. The negotiator dodged most of his fast punches and Kuwabara's slices from behind. Kuwabara only got to slice off one of his sleeves before the Negotiator appeared on top of the table with the chessboard.
"I hate to be rude, it's about time I introduce myself, my name is Satoru, the Negotiator. I will ask you one more time Kurama, will you join us in our endeavors?" Satoru said, looking down at Shuichi.
"I'm afraid I will have to decline." Shuichi said, a playful smirk on his face. Satoru glared at him.
"Pity."
"Out of the way Kurama, Spirit gun!" Yusuke said, letting it rip. Shuichi jumped out of the way but surprising to all, Satoru, with a wave of his hand, slapped it away like a child's plaything. Yusuke cursed and Kuwabara gritted his teeth.
"This is getting tiring, lets makes things more exciting shall we?" Satoru said, flinging his arm with the sleeve still attached, he threw a single knife and cut the rope. Naota gasped as Hikaru fell in the water, her arms and feet bound. Yusuke cursed again, distracted by Hikaru, Satoru appeared before him and upper cutted him with his palm. He appeared before Kuwabara and did a powerful palm attack to his chest. Kuwabara spat up blood and Yusuke fell to the floor. Hiei appeared and started to slash at him, giving Naota enough time to dive into the water.
Shuichi started to run along the river's edge, trying to find Naota or Hikaru. Hiei and Satoru seemed evenly matched in speed but Hiei was still faster and hit successfully at his face, cutting one of the belts wrapped around it. Satoru and Hiei stared at each other, blood pouring from Satoru's face.
"Yea! Way to go shorty!" Kuwabara said, clutching his chest. Yusuke rubbed his chin and spat out some blood. 'Damn, I almost bit my tongue, what's with this guy?' Yusuke thought.
"Hey, freak, why don't you go all out, wouldn't be much of a fight if you held back." Yusuke taunted and Satoru chuckled.
"Please, a worthless thing like you is not even a challenge for me at full strength." Satoru said. Yusuke got up and charged at him. Satoru easily avoided his attacks, Yusuke gave a battle shout and punched but Satoru caught it easily.
"Why do you fight? You are no longer a spirit detective, what do you have to gain by doing this?" Kuwabara and Hiei tried to strike at him but he effortlessly moved away.
"I like the human world, and I've got something I have to protect." Yusuke answered, Kuwabara and Hiei at his side. Satoru's gaze softened slightly.
"So you too have something you have to protect, then we are not that different after all. But I have my own reasons for doing the things I must do. I'm sorry, but I must take my leave for now, maybe one day we will meet again, Yusuke Urameshi." Satoru said, flinging his arm, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
"We've wasted enough time here, let's go." Hiei said, running the same direction Shuichi went to. Yusuke let his eyes linger on the stop Satoru was and started running as well.
00000
Naota felt her body being tossed and turned by the torrents that kept coming, she barely avoided a few boulders here and there before finally getting her ground and swimming towards Hikaru. She goes to the surface to catch some air trying to stay focused on where she could be. She finds Hikaru's rope attached to a broken log, her face out of the water, trying to stay afloat.
"Hikaru!" Naota shouted. She turned and gave a weak smile, only for the log to give way, releasing Hikaru to the unforgiving water. 'Shit!' Naota thought as she dived down, trying to use the currents to her advantage. They were too strong as she tried desperately to get closer to Hikaru. Through the water she faintly saw a light and Hikaru's ropes were cut, allowing her to go to the surface. Naota's hopes went up and she breaks the surface to get more air. She faintly hears some yelling to her side but the water clogged her ears, she couldn't hear them well.
Shuichi and the others finally managed to catch up to Naota, seeing her trying hard to get to Hikaru who is also trying to keep her head above the water.
"Damn it! If we don't do something both of them are gonna drown!" Yusuke said. "Kuwabara can't you just use your long sword or something?"
"No the current is moving too fast and erratically, he won't make it in time." Shuichi said.
"Well you might want to figure something out soon, we're getting closer to the edge." Hiei said.
"What!" Yusuke shouted. It's true, the sound of rushing water was getting closer, Hiei sped up, trying to see where the edge was.
Satoru watched as the two girls got closer and closer to the raging waterfall. Yasu appeared next to him and smiled.
"Aren't you the joyful one?" Satoru said. "Are you positive it will show?"
"Don't worry, her power tends to come out in the most convenient times." Yasu said. As Naota's body began tumbling around for the umpteenth time she heard a crackling noise behind her. She swayed her body and looked, noticing the log from before coming towards her. Shuichi and the others noticed too late as the log was about to hit her.
And then, darkness set in.
000
Naota found herself floating in darkness, she put her hands up but couldn't see anything. It's as if she fell in the bottom of an ocean. She leaned forwards, trying to feel something with her feet until she felt hard ground. She let out a big breath and wondered how she got there.
"Where am I?" She said out loud.
You are in my realm. A woman with long black hair, red eyes and pale skin appeared before her. How interesting that you found yourself in here. Our powers must be linking in a great rate. I will soon show myself if that is the case.
"You're the fairy from when I was a kid!" Naota said. She raised her white sleeve and let out an airy laugh, it made Naota blush slightly.
Call me what you like child, now tell me, what brings you here?
"I was trying to save a friend who got swept away in a river, when a log came towards me as I swam to her, I don't remember anything after that." The woman floats around Naota with a smile on her face, her very presence illuminating the darkness.
You need my help to save her, your power alone cannot. Naota's face fell and she frowned. The woman floated behind her, and wraps her in a loving embrace as would a mother.
Do not worry child, our joining will come soon. If this power will help you gain a step closer towards me, then I shall lend you my power! Her voice resonated around them, piercing the darkness with light.
000
The log disintegrated as soon as it reached Naota and the water was pushed back as her barrier grew and grew until it encompassed everything including Hikaru who was still within reach. The others stared dumbfounded as energy seemed to pour out of Naota, her body giving off a slight glimmer and her eyes shined with bright light. Satoru and Yasu watched excitedly. Hiei quickly took Hikaru from the ground and towards to shore. Naota saw this and as soon as Hikaru was safe, fainted, the energy lost. The river soon poured towards her. Hiei was about to get her too until someone carried her to where they were. Yusuke backed off when Shuichi's energy skyrocketed. Yasu was carrying a fainted Naota, Kuwabara was helping Hikaru as she coughed up water and Shuichi pulled out his weapon, his eyes a mixture of green and gold.
"Your stare becomes colder every time we meet Shuichi." Yasu said.
"Kurama, hey." Yusuke said carefully.
"Do not interfere Yusuke." Shuichi said. Tense silence ravaged the group, the only sounds were of Hikaru coughing up the water from the river. As Naota began to stir, Yasu made a slight movement and Shuichi's whip suddenly held his neck. Yusuke and Kuwabara shouted from surprise and Yasu dropped Naota on the ground.
"Hey!" Naota shouted before seeing the situation in front of her. "Shuichi what are you doing?"
"All of this cannot be coincidence. Yasu knowing how Hiei's power can cut through the illusion, sending him to us, he is hiding something, and I intend to find out what that is." Shuichi said. Naota slowly stood up and Yasu started to chuckle.
"You don't need to use excessive violence for that, I'll save you the trouble. I was busy betraying you." The group looked at him with dumb looks, even Shuichi was slightly surprised by his answer.
"What!"
00000
"Alright," Yusuke started, sitting in the chair while Shuichi and Kuwabara sat in a couch opposite from Yasu, Naota and Hikaru resting in a bedroom. "So let's get this straight you are 'betraying' us going over to the revolutionaries while at the same time betraying them and staying with us…This is way too confusing!" Yusuke said standing up in exasperation.
"He's a double agent Yusuke, working for them while having allegiance to us." Shuichi explained.
"But still, why the hell would you do that?" Yusuke asked. Yasu smiled and Yusuke frowned.
"To gain more information, I had to enter. They want information on you, I want information on them, it's a simple trade, but who's to say I'm lying about my information?" Yasu said.
"And that's why you had to go and kidnap Hikaru?" Naota asked, leaning against a wall in the hallway, wearing a white t shirt and some shorts.
"I had to do something to prove my loyalty, but like Hikaru explained to you on the way I was also the reason why they didn't kill her in the first place." Yasu explained. "Their plan was the kill her once you came and by the illusion she would still be alive, giving you a false sense of hope, but what if the plan were to fail? Then we would lose your trust and faith, by doing so, we would lose the chance to gain Shuichi as our ally if we choose to recruit him again later on. They also wished to kill Naota, possibly try to recruit Kuwabara and Yusuke through the illusion but I couldn't let you die, so I brought in Hiei. I knew his jagan eye would be able to see through the illusion but not break it. Kuwabara is the only one to break through Yuu's illusions, in the end we are all still alive aren't we?" Yasu said.
"Hikaru almost died because of you!" Naota shouted. Yasu smirked.
"But you were able to see her again, weren't you? In the end, you saved her." Naota gripped her fists.
"And so you gambled on the idea that I could've awaken her again? What if it didn't happen? Then I would be dead and so would Hikaru!"
"But you did awaken her." Yasu said calmly. Naota glared at him one final time before going back to her room.
"You're not really that popular with the ladies are you?" Kuwabara mocked him and Yasu just smiled. 'That smile is really getting on my nerves!' All of them thought. Naota open the door slowly, Hikaru was sleeping on the bed and on the floor was a futon. Naota knelt and looked at Hikaru's face, her eyes swollen. Naota rubbed her head a bit and felt guilty. Hikaru broke as soon as they settled in one of Mukuro's many rooms and held on to Naota for dear life, she was so scared that she would die and never see the outside world again. Only recently that she finally passed out from all the crying and Naota can't help to feel that it was her fault.
"I dragged you into this world, I'm sorry, if only there was a way to make you normal." Naota thought outloud.
'But the only way is to erase your memory of me and Shuichi altogether.' Naota thought. She sighed, thinking that this is getting too much for her close friend. She rested her head in her arms and closed her eyes.
Is that really what you want for her? To lose all her memories of you and the fox? She was sitting in a cherry blossom tree; everything around her seemed to glow in the darkness. A few petals floated around Naota's face as she sat with her knees to her chest against the trunk of the tree.
"It's not that I want it, if it was my decision I would want her to stay my friend but this experience taught me that they'll go after her because of me and Shuichi. If we weren't her friends, none of this would have happened."
It would have happened to someone other than her then. The fox's mother, his family, it does not matter to them. They want the fox's power and he will not let them have it peacefully, and so they try to take it by force. Your friend was unlucky, she got caught in the cross fire. But you will have the power to protect her. She glides down next to Naota. Train, become stronger and you'll never have to worry about this happening. She opens her arms and Naota felt herself being pulled into her embrace, like a mother embracing her child, they sit silently underneath the tree. Naota feeling weightless as she feels the soft cotton shielding her from her guilt.
Do not worry child, I will be there when the time comes when you need me, but that time can come sooner if you train. You must grow stronger, only then will I truly be known to you.
Is Yasu really a double agent or a triple agent that's gonna stab them in the back someday? Who is this fairy and why is she only making herself known now? What is the relationship between Yasu and Satoru? Find all this and more on the next exciting chapter of Someone I can love!
(grrr still can't like this chapter, need a beta, anyone willing?)