Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Remorse ❯ FireFlies ( Chapter 4 )

“Will showing remorse allow acceptance? Maybe. Maybe not.” -- Unknown

 

 

“Really?” Yuusuke asked sarcastically. “Listen, you mind not being such a smartass?”

 

Riku glared, “Don't believe me? Fine. Whatever.” He shrugged nonchalantly, his gaze on Yuusuke never failing. “Be warned they'll keep coming, though.” He turned on his feet, deciding to walk away to not cause a scene any larger then this one. He knew this was hard, but he knew it would be harder for this world, as it couldn't defend itself.

 

Yuusuke watched the silver-haired boy leave before he turned to his own group of friends. “Well, ain't this peachy?” he question, his voice not losing its sarcasm. He was showing his obvious impatience by putting a hand on his waist. He scratched his head with his free hand. “So much for being drunk.” He mumbled bitterly.

 

Kuwabara didn't pay attention to the greasy-hair boy. “I've never seen a demon that looked like that.” He explained aloud.

 

“That's because it was no demon. Didn't you sense a foreign aura?” Hiei replied. It took all the short jagan-holder had to not pass an insult to the carrot-top psychic.

 

Shuichi decided to speak after his moment of silence. “He called them Heartless. Considering that monster had a hole in the shape of a heart, I suppose the name is rather fitting.” He hummed a bit in thought. “Hmm…although it may be difficult, we should probably consider believing in him.”

 

Yuusuke nodded. “It just bugs the hell out of me that I'm being kept in the dark.” he paused. “Wait a minute…that was why he tensed up when I called his friend heartless…”

 

“When did you do that?” Kuwabara asked. Shuichi remained stoic, “Yes…and when he was talking about how he tried to save her heart…”

 

Hiei resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Ok…well, who's going to talk to the baby about this?”

 

Yuusuke put his hands in his pockets, then let out a low, small whistle. “Yeah…that's right. He'll probably need to hear this - especially since it's rather threatening…”

 

“In that case, I'll go talk to him.” Hiei said. Shuichi blinked in surprise, “Oh? You've never been on to volunteer to talk to anyone. What's the occasion?”

 

Hiei gave a small glare at the redhead before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a strange object. “This. He might know what it is,” he explained. In his hand rested a silver crown that was only about an inch high and about one-centimeter thin. It appeared to have belonged on a necklace, but the chain that had come with it wasn't anywhere in sight. “I found it on the ground as I did my rounds around the dojo.” The demon explained. “Normally I would have left it alone, but I felt something coming from it. A strange aura.”

 

“Keyblade master.” Kuwabara suddenly said upon seeing the crown. The entire group looked at him and he blinked, “Huh? Where did that come from?”

 

“Of course. You probably connected with the waves of the aura attached to this crown.” Shuichi replied. He picked it up. “Can you see anything else?” he asked, placing the crown in Kuwabara's hand.

 

The psychic shut his eyes. “Tired…” he said. “I feel tired…like I'm just waking up…” he opened his eyes, “Blue and brown…” he continued. “But that's it.” he quickly placed it back into Hiei's hand. “Not this…but the person who owned it…really powerful. Mega energy!”

 

~*~

 

He had leapt from tree to tree, from a sturdy branch to a brown, flimsy one. It was quicker then walking, even with all the dangerous obstacles that the forest provided. He had run from strange creatures, insane vines, and flowers that tried to slam their teeth on him.

 

He had reached the dojo and instantly had jumped onto the roof. He then shut his eyes. “This isn't right…If the Heartless continue to arise, I might have to give in to that damn dark power again.” Riku sighed, placing a hand on his head before letting it run through his hair. His eyes opened enough so he could stare at his feet.

 

He raised his head, looking into the far distance or the city. Large stacks of buildings that never ended and that reached out for miles. The sky seemed to actually be reachable from the amazing height from some of the central buildings. He could hear sirens in the distance, and he birds barely came in through the heavy noises of other things.

 

Riku sighed again. Although all this was foreign to him, he knew he had to get out of this shrine. He was surrounded by people he couldn't trust, but at least out there he would be able to remained a stranger and help save people if they needed it with the ability to escape questionings.

 

He jumped from the roof and began jogging down the hundreds of steps that led to the streets below. Riku never knew why people had so much fascination with stairs. Either way, the silver-haired teen knew it was just a small, easily passed obstacle.

 

When he reached the end, he found himself face to face with a large amount of people and cars. The cars were on a sort of black pavement that kept them on track. Young girls wore school uniforms that resembled the ones he saw back on the main islands that Destiny Islands floated around. Grown men and woman wore black and white business suits, looking as official as they could. People had their cellphones flipped out, chatting on them or texting or just looking for something. Of course, Riku had no idea what they were, as he had never seen portable communicational devices.

 

There were signs in Japanese everywhere, expressing what the stores sold or what a company's name was. However, strangely enough to him, there were no signs such as “Weapons” or “Items or “Accessories.” The most popular were food and fashion shopping places.

 

Before he could do much, Riku found himself engulfed in a large crowd of moving people, Surprised, but not wanting to cause a scene, Riku walked with the people. However, there were so many people and mixtures of destinations that by the time the crowds had thinned out and he had stopped changing directions, he found himself lost. Nothing looked familiar to him.

 

Despite his usual confident attitude, Riku couldn't help but let his body turn in all direction, his face losing color. Although he had wanted to get out of the shrine, he had wanted to stay close to it. Something about a small comfort zone was within Riku, and he didn't want to lose it. But there was nothing in sight other than the giant skyscrapers that littered the sky. It was getting darker now, and neon lights flashed and buzzed all around him.

 

He knew it was no use to get upset. He had to walk, no matter what the direction. That inspired him to not hyperventilate and move on.

 

After what seemed like an hour, Riku found himself face to face with a fence around a park. He climbed over it, finding it peaceful enough to calm his needs. Inside the fence were a large koi pond, a few benches, and a blockade from the noise outside. He could hear the birds that were still awake, and he could actually breathe. It was too smoggy beyond the fence.

 

Riku led himself to a bench by the pond and sat, deciding he had to think. He needed to figure out how to get home. Before he had had the King to help him, but the King was nowhere in sight. He didn't even know where Sora was, or if Sora was even all right. And Kairi…

 

Riku dropped his eyes, feeling overwhelmingly tired. Too much had happened today. He let his eyes droop even more and the koi pond began to blur orange and black. The small amount of fireflies seemed to dissolve into the scenery.

 

“Fireflies…close your eyes… They flicker dim then die; not true stars, just fading lies…” he whispered, his voice giving off a small tune of how it went. He remembered how he use to sing that song to Kairi and Sora when they spent the night on Destiny Islands and the two couldn't get to sleep. It was a sad little song, and often times Kairi would sniffle, trying not to cry when she heard it. She had never known why, but just the words had always made her sad. Seeing that, half was an excuse to comfort her, and the other half was because Riku enjoyed that small song.

 

He sighed, deciding to lie down on the bench. His feet hung off the side, but he put his arms around himself to keep him warm and somewhat comfortable. He turned his body into the bench and shut his eyes, tired and exhausted.

 

~*~

 

“He's not here.” Shuichi said, “His aura is so low that I can't sense him, either.” He looked at the small group in front of him. “I don't know where he could have gone. I feel like he's just disappeared.”

 

“He didn't disappear.” Genkai responded, her expression never changing. She had gotten back just in time to find Riku missing and to hear the story. It had taken a while, so it was now nighttime and cloudless, but she had made sure that her companions kept in order. Botan and Koenma stood beside her, both keeping notes in their heads.

 

“The kid probably just went back to the city.” The old lady continued. “He'll come back to us if he's ready.”

 

Yuusuke frowned. With the way the silver-haired teen moved he seemed to know a lot. But he held that look of confusion, whether or not the kid meant it. Plus, Yuusuke knew that Riku wasn't from here and was new to the customs of Japan. “Come on, Grandma! He's probably getting beat up. He's foreign! He doesn't know what's safe!”

 

It was Genaki's turn to frown. “Trust me, Yuusuke, he can defend himself.”

 

The sky, which held nothing except its darkness, suddenly began swirling and mixing dark red, blue, green, and black clouds. Things - strange creatures - rose from the ground, and although it was only about ten, they were a very surprising and abrupt situation.

 

Everyone got into their defense positions, only Botan and Koenma got onto the oar of the cheerful Grim Reaper. Genkai and Yuusuke began towards the black creatures and Shuichi took out his rose whip. Kuwabara readied his Spirit Sword, and Hiei stood still, his sword in his hand.

 

Yuusuke ran at one of the creatures, throwing his fist at it. However, his hand passed straight through, and he stumbled over his feet. Fortunately he was able to balance himself enough to not fall, but he was ticked. Genkai had tried to kick a creature but her foot passed through as well. “Damnit!” she shouted.

 

Seeing that, the last three could do nothing but glare and look threatening.

 

“We can't hit them.” Kuwabara growled. Shuichi nodded. “A large heart shape on their chest…these must be a form of Heartless, too. We'll need the assistance of Riku.”

 

“I hate being useless like this!” Yuusuke shouted, slamming his fist into his other hand. He looked up at the spirit guide. “Botan! We need you to look from the sky! We'll cover the grounds!”

 

Botan nodded, “All right!” she shouted before taking off, Koenma going with her. The toddler couldn't contain himself, “We don't even know what he looks like!” he shouted at the blue haired girl. She, in response, just chuckled dumbfounded.

 

Yuusuke backed towards the shrine steps before he turned and began sprinting down them.

 

“Damnit.”