Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Balance ❯ Be it False or Not ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: GAAH!! I'm haunted at night by dreams of bad writers commanding armies of Mary-Sues…

Balance

Chapter Ten: Be it False or Not

'Happiness is happiness, be it false or not,' the man demanded. 'You desire to be happy and I can give you the joyous life you once knew. Take it.'

Happiness gained truthfully, through struggle and hardship, is the only true happiness, he replied bitterly. False happiness gained through false premise will only bring more pain. The haunting knowledge, the reminder that I cheated, it will always remain in the back of my mind and the happiness cannot be true happiness. I want none of that.

'You know nothing of which you speak.'

I think I do.

'I will show you the life you could be leading, and then you will see how wrong you are!'

The dark sky, the vast nothingness changed, quivered, faded into a real world. Real feelings, real smells, real objects, real sights, real sounds. He reached out wonderingly to touch them.

'Oi!' called a voice. A voice he knew, knew it all too well…

The brunette he had seen killing the muscular man…the brunette was running towards him, waving his arms.

'Oi!' the man called. 'What's up?'

I…I don't know, he replied. You are…real?

The man laughed. ''Course I am, what kinda question is that?'

A foolish one, it seems…

He turned around and called to the man behind them both. The tall orange haired man who had revived the young boy. The man ran over to him, and he, he frowned at the realness of it all…

Where is Hiei?

The black haired man adopted a peculiar expression and cocked his head.

'Who…?'

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"You have no idea what it's like to sleep on a bed, do you?" Kurama asked, sill laughing as he unlocked his apartment door.

"I do," Hiei replied shortly. "I've slept on beds at Mukuro's."

"Hm, well…I've decided."

Hiei looked up at him shrewdly. "Decided what?" he asked, his tone wary.

"You are my guest," Kurama finished, "and you will sleep on my bed. I'll take the floor."

Kicking off his boots at the mat laid out for such things, the youkai tripped over his own feet as he stopped short and leaned over to look at the kitsune.

"What?"

Kurama's smile widened yet again. "You. Are. My. Guest. I'll take the floor."

Sputtering wordlessly, Hiei tried to form a coherent protest-he was so used to sleeping on hard surfaces, beds would remind him that he should be in Makai working for Mukuro, it would be awkward, he would feel guilty making Kurama sleep on the floor-but the redhead would hear none of it.

"Come now, it's nearly twenty-four hours, anyway. Just get into bed and we can argue some more in the morning."

"Hn."

Kurama fished around in his closet and entered the bathroom, coming out a moment later in green silk pajamas and with a toothbrush in his mouth. Hiei tilted his head curiously.

Startled, Kurama clamped his eyes shut in a way that rung of embarrassment, turned around and spit into the sink, and came back out, wiping his mouth with a towel.

"Sorry, Hiei…"

Muttering something that sounded like "S'okay," Hiei pulled off his cloak and tossed it to the floor, where it landed in a basket of Kurama's dirty laundry. Kurama jokingly applauded and Hiei, ignoring him completely, lay his katana down beside the bed.

"Do you want some pajamas, or other clothes to sleep in?" the redhead asked as Hiei pulled down the covers.

"Nani?" Hiei looked up. "Iie, iie, I'm fine."

"Would you like me to wash your cloak with my laundry?" Kurama went over and picked up the basket. "It'll be done by tomorrow morning."

Hiei burrowed under the covers and poked his head out. The bed truly was quite comfortable. "What're you, a maid service?" he asked derisively, making his friend blush.

"Iie…I just wanted to help…"

The youkai snuggled under the covers again, hiding his face and blocking out his shame at causing Kurama such discomfort.

'I'm not very good at apologies…'

When Hiei emerged nearly twenty minutes later, the lights were off and Kurama was sleeping soundly in a dark red colored bag on the floor.

His cloak was lying over the back of Kurama's desk chair.

Hiei sighed.

"'Night, kitsune…"

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The next morning at exactly five o'clock, Kurama's phone rang shrilly.

"Er…" the redhead groaned, rolling over. "Hiei…you get it…"

Hiei, whose eyes had opened instantly at the sound, sat up, letting the covers drop around his waist to reveal a bare chest. Kurama blinked back confusion before realizing he must have removed his shirt over the night.

"What if it's your okaasan?"

"What if it's Yuusuke?"

Hiei huffed a sigh. "Yes, but-"

"You know, never mind," Kurama grumbled, sitting up to answer.

"Moshi moshi?" he said blearily.

Hiei heard a slightly raised voice on the other end of the line, odd when it sounded just as tired as Kurama did. Something about "get…now."

Get what now?

Meanwhile, Kurama blinked sleep from his eyes and yawned. "Sou da, Yuusuke. We'll be there in a few minutes."

The youkai was already up, his cloak flung around his shoulders and his katana back at his belt. He looked down at Kurama as he wearily shuffled out of his sleeping bag. He snickered.

"Na-ani?" Kurama asked coolly, reaching for a hairbrush. Hiei shook his head.

"Nothing."

"Mm-hmm…" Laying aside the brush, Kurama went into his closet for clothes. "No school for me today, apparently," he said as he came out holding a pair of white pants and a white tunic with gold fringe, a purple belt draped over his shoulder. "Yuusuke wants us back in the park as soon as we can get there. He says Botan contacted him again about half an hour ago."

Hiei nodded and shrugged. "Sou. What took him so long to call you?"

Buttoning his shirt, Kurama looked up and continued to motion blindly as he spoke. "I don't know, actually. You could ask him when we see him, if you want."

Shaking his head, the youkai sat back on Kurama's bed and waited as the kitsune tied the purple sash around his waist.

"Let's go."

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Yuusuke and Kuwabara were already in the field, talking, when Hiei and Kurama arrived. "Oi!" Yuusuke shouted. "Irasshai!"

"Ohayou, Yuusuke!" Kurama called back as the two pairs walked towards each other.

"So, guys," said Kuwabara conversationally, "how was your night? Hiei didn't try to run away, did he, Kurama?"

Laughing slightly, Kurama shook his head. Hiei sniffed indignantly.

"Eh…sorry?"

Waving a hand, the redhead negated the apology and smiled. "So, Yuusuke, what news do you bring us at this ridiculous hour?"

"Eheh…" Yuusuke took out his compact and flipped it open, giving Hiei and Kurama a clear view of the small screen. Botan's face appeared and she smiled at them excitedly.

"Ohayou, minna-san!" she squealed, a fully impossible action at this hour, Kurama thought. "Anyway, last night, Koenma-sama came up with a great clue that'll bust this mystery wide open!"

She shuffled through a massive mountain of papers behind her and eventually emerged with a single document. Hiei made a small, disgruntled noise, maybe translated as "Why does she keep such an important document in such a pile of meaningless crap?"

"Here it is!" she cried, waving it excitedly. "So, here we go…" Scanning the paper, she nodded to herself and lowered it slightly so as to look at the compact screen. "Kurokyoui is in fact a youkai's name, but Kurama, you were right, it's quite popular among the hybrids. There are several youkai it could apply to."

"Have you highlighted a specific one?" Kurama asked. Hiei quirked an eyebrow at the impatience in his voice.

"Ano…well, no, but we do have very few choices left! For all the youkai named Kurokyoui," she said confidingly, "it's rare to find an S-class one, and there are only three on record."

Hiei snorted. "Wonderful. So we really hope this Kurokyoui creature is both using his real name and on record. Forgive me if I'm not inspired by my faith in you."

"Hey, you, I've-"

Hiei hung up the compact and Kurama smiled weakly.

"We really should've asked for more information," he said to his irate companion, who only snorted again.

"You call her."

"Okay, I will."

Kurama took the compact from Yuusuke and snapped it open again, tapping the side button and ringing up Botan.

"Well, I ­never-"

"Eh, ohayou, Botan," Kurama interrupted. She blinked curiously.

"Oh, hello, Kurama."

Sighing tiredly, Kurama nodded. "Sou da. So can you give us any more specific details than just the name Kurokyoui?"

"Eeto…"

More shuffling.

Louder shuffling.

Slightly less but still existent shuffling.

Someone sneezed in the background.

"Eh, well…the most I can give you is another location we've pinpointed a congregation of youkai," she said in a small voice. "high-B to A class, near where you are, actually. Seventy degrees north."

"Domo," Yuusuke interrupted, taking the compact back. "Anything else?"

"Ah…no…"

"Ja ne."

"Sayo-"

"So," Yuusuke said as he cut her off. "Ready? Everyone got a good night's sleep, I assume."

"Excellent," Kuwabara said, stretching. Kurama nodded. "Quite good."

"Hn."

Offering a dry gaze to the unwilling…participant, Yuusuke shook his head slowly. "Okay then, we'll go seventy degrees north."

They all stood around, looking at each other and nodding.

A few silent moments passed.

Kuwabara scratched the back of his head.

Yuusuke scuffed the ground with the tip of his sneaker.

Hiei yawned.

Kurama combed his fingers through his hair.

Yuusuke looked around at the rest of them.

"So…does anyone know how to go seventy degrees north?"

Kurama sighed, and he and Hiei took the position of leadership.

They were off.

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Oi: hey

Kitsune: fox

Nani: what

Iie: no

Youkai: demon

Okaasan: mother

Moshi moshi: said when answering a telephone (i.e., "Hello, I'm here, who is it?")

Sou da: right

(Na-ani: wha-at)

(Sou: right)

Irasshai: welcome

Ohayou: good morning

Minna-san: everyone

-sama: most honorable and venerable name ending, indicating a vastly superior or godlike status

Ano: uh…

Eeto: errr…

Domo: thanks

Ja ne: see you later

Sayo: beginning of "sayonara" (goodbye) (but Yuusuke cut her off before she could finish)

Note: twenty-four hours is the same as twelve o'clock midnight. It's like a combination of army time and clock time (like saying "twenty-four o'clock).

Note: I didn't invent the outfit Kurama is wearing (white pants, gold-fringed white shirt, purple belt). I think he wears it during his fight with Gama (Team Mashotsukai) during the Ankoku Bujutsukai. Though the fringe may have been blue or something, I don't remember. Eh…it's gold now. (Why's he dressing so fancy? Well, there's the possibility that they'll be visiting Koenma, and plus, Kurama always just likes to look nice. Ano…because I said so. Nyah.)