Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Question of Intimacy ❯ Author's note ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: DragonofDarkness gave some interesting constructive criticism that I want to address. There were some things in the last chapter that were not readily apparent to the reader and that means that as the author I have failed to convey something. First, everything is from either Hiei or Kagome's perspectives. If one of them is not present for it, we don't see it in the story even if we are in the other character's heads at times. Second, I work from the manga, not the animes. The original writer does the manga, corporate interests get involved and really produce the animations based off of those manga. From my research, Yoshihiro Togashi actually stopped work on Yu Yu Hakusho because what he wanted to write was not what Jump Comics wanted to sell.

As a reader, I find much more depth in the manga then I do anime. Consider it analogous to the concept of negative space in art, (that which is not the object being drawn). I see much more depth to the characters because I am not watching the anime. It is much easier then for me to see what is not said because I'm not being bombarded with what is being said. My interpretations will be different from many other peoples points of view for these reasons. I do have a good concept of my characters and I do have good reasons for what I put in, take it on faith that I will reveal those reasons in time.

Now, the setting of the story is actually a number of years into the future. The boys of the Yu Yu gang have reached the lovely age of 19-21. I am assuming everyone grew up a lot. They had to in order to survive. Yes, Kuwabara is a big buffoon most of the time, but he does have his moments of insight. If he didn't he would not be the one gifted with the strongest sixth sense, nor would he ever stand a chance at keeping up with three people who have demon blood as the only full human.

I also assume as the author that Hiei and Kuwabara have reached some sort of fragile truce for the sake of Yukina. They may not like each other very much, but they will look after each other because each knows the other is important to Yukina. When Kuwabara said "as a brother" he meant it as a sibling. Siblings rarely like each other all that much when they are still living in the same household. Kagome is completely unaware of this dynamic as she is a stranger to them. The only reason why Kuwabara would say anything at all to her about Hiei is because they are alone and away from the others. The only people who are likely to be able to hear him are Hiei and Yukina as they are the only full youkai and it doesn't much matter to him if they hear what he has to say. There is also a chance that Yukina had a hand in this too, that we just don't get to see because it is offstage so to speak.

Also, Kuwabara did actually finish school, unlike certain other characters. (I am under the impression that that is cannon.) We can't assume that he is completely uneducated any more. He may have been a complete and utter twit at 14, but he wouldn't be the same twit at 19. The gap in abilities has widened into a chasm, but the weakest member of a strong team often only seems weak by comparison to his teammates. For a full human, he is pretty impressive in his own right.

(And just for the record, I find DragonofDarkness' characters OOC too, so I think it is just a case of the two of us approaching our stories from wildly different perspectives. Her story is decent and worth a read to see if you like where she is going with it. You can find it here: http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_st.php?id=82352&submit=View)