Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Balance ❯ If I Touch you will it Bleed ( Chapter 30 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: so life is back in full swing, problems and all.

Balance

Chapter Thirty: If I Touch You Will it Bleed

It is still a task to fool no one when no one is so abundant, he said softly, not looking at the man in the mirror.

This was true, but was he really fooling no one? Humans were small and weak compared to him and his kind, but they were indeed plentiful. Many of them could be destroyed in few attempts, but they occasionally tried to make themselves a part of the world he knew, and sometimes they succeeded. A few of them could influence many others, and they pretended they knew that his kind existed.

They were all so confusing, so complex in their simple way…

And in that, they were a danger.

Were all things not understood a danger? He did not know; probably even Fear did not know. Fear knew of things not understood, but did not understand them. That was against the rules. Of course…these were not things understood in the subconscious. These were the things a man was not meant to know.

We are all in danger, he said softly, and we do not even know it. We are in danger because of the things we cannot know. We must find them out, so we say, and then we spend every waking moment, and every sleeping moment, and every moment of life seeking the answers we cannot find. Answers trying to keep out of our reach. Answers we should not know.

They know something we do not.

‘Someone always knows something we do not,’ said the man by his side. ‘It is not right to know everything. It is not real.’

He smiled with a soft hum. It was true, all of it. To know everything was wrong.

If I touch you, will it bleed?

The man did not look at him, still. ‘Why do you wish to know?’

I do not, really. If I will, then I will not touch you. If I will not, I still might not touch you.

Fear smiled thinly. ‘You trust me?’

He shrugged. I do not really care. I must trust my fears somewhat, for they keep me safe.

‘They also tie you down and keep you from doing things you should.’

He nodded. That is true, but which is better-being safe and shunned or being killed and revered?

‘It depends on the person, I would think.’

So complex in their simple way…

You do not think it should be all the same for each person.

Fear shook his head. That much could only be expected; were everyone the same, with the same fears and desires and needs and wants-and death wishes, he supposed-if all that was true, the world might as well stop functioning.

‘It cannot. It is wrong.’

Yet sometimes, that which is wrong-

‘-is not so right,’ the man in the mirror interrupted.

I was going to say something different, he said forlornly. I would have said that sometimes, that which is wrong is what occurs, regardless of what we know should be.

‘I know this, and so do you. Why repeat yourself?’

Why not?

‘But why?’
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yuusuke faulted forward, tipping onto the ground.

“Sitting in it,” Kuwabara said, keeping his face expressionless. “We’re sitting in it. Right now. Just as this moment. We’re sitting in the forest she’s talking about.”

Kurama nodded.

“Wait.” The taller man glanced from Hiei to Kurama, then at Yuusuke, then back to Kurama.

“Right now?”

“Yes.” Kurama did not seem to find anything at all amusing about the idea. Hiei was teetering between the two reactions, but ultimately was drawn towards seriousness.

“Get on your feet,” he snapped, instantly rising off the ground. “This is no time for games.”

Kurama shook his head with a soft laugh. “Actually,” he said, “this is just the time for games. Short ones.” He smiled, his eyes closed. “She doesn’t like long ones. She has no flair for things.”

She.

Miru.

Nearby.

The words flickered through Hiei’s mind rapidly, blurring together and shuffling all out of order. He did not actually know how close by Miru was, nor when she would attack. He did not even know if she would attack, or if they would be obliged to make the first move. She was impatient, yes, but not totally lacking foresight or a feel for things such as this.

“Where is she?” he growled through clenched teeth.

Kurama shrugged. Yuusuke and Kuwabara, having regained their recognition of the situation’s importance, stood alongside Hiei and each panned out his respective ki, reaching as far as he could. Kurama might have done the same, if he could focus enough.

“Find anything?” Kuwabara asked after a little while, tugging his ki back towards his body.

“I did,” Yuusuke offered, also withdrawing his ki. Hiei continued searching for a minute, but finally gave up when he registered that Yuusuke had sensed…something. Anything would do at this point.

“What is it?” he asked shortly. Yuusuke raised an eyebrow at his snappish attitude, briefly wondering just how much the hiyoukai was letting Kurama’s problems get to him. Just what was the standing of their relationship just then?

Meanwhile, Yuusuke shook his head. “Dunno. It’s not a signature I recognize, but it’s strong. It could be Miru, but only Kurama could say for sure, I think.”

Hiei flickered over to Kurama, using his magnificent speed for the first time on the entire mission. He knelt by his friend’s side, leaning to whisper in his ear.

“Kurama,” he murmured. Yuusuke and Kuwabara could barely hear him. “Kurama. We need your help. Miru is here, Kurama, but you have to tell us where.”

The redhead looked up and nodded slightly. Hiei felt ki wash out of him for a moment, the waves giving a bizarre and heady blend of intense loathing and defensive gentleness. When Hiei recovered from his spinning vision, he noticed Kurama looking up at him with childlike eyes that threw him off guard.

“Eh…”

Kurama pointed off one way. “Over there,” he said softly. Now malice was his undertone, and the shift in messages was giving Hiei a headache.

But he said “All right,” and they all stood and began to march.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Soon enough, they could all feel a peculiar ki signature. It seemed to coil itself around them, seeking something, saying something. It favored Kurama, which was not surprising. Miru was seeking him, not them.

Kurama did not try to be rid of the twining ki. Hiei seemed rather resentful of it.

They neared clearings and thickets, passing through them all. Kurama seemed to know exactly where to go, even without the trail they followed. The others suspected it was because he had been there once before.

They eventually came to a forcibly created glen-that is to say, it would not have been there, had someone not blown away all the trees. They did not call out, and no one even looked for Miru. They all knew she was there.

They could not see her, but they knew she was there.

Kurama walked to the center of the glen and stood facing a certain direction. He made sure to be standing just the right way, and the others hung back uncertainly. Kurama did not wave them forward, but rather seemed to be repelling them, all without even glancing their way.

Time was relative and different for each of them. Kurama had no sense of it at all, and he disregarded any perception he might have as false. Hiei felt the moments crawl, each its own hour, though he knew he was wrong. Yuusuke watched them fly by, the world on fast-forward, and he was unsure of what was and what was not. Kuwabara tried to ignore time completely, as he knew his emotions would interpret it wrong.

They all heard footsteps on the dirt.

“You will repent for your sins, fox.”

Kurama’s expression did not change, but a small flair could be sensed in his ki. It was quickly tamped down.

“The eyes of God are upon you, and He will not allow you to be freed.”

Kurama was frozen as a statue, and Hiei kept Yuusuke, Kuwabara, and himself at bay. Each was ready to draw his weapon, and though all wished to, none would dare be the first to go against Kurama’s wishes and act.

“It was a great mistake to run from me all those years ago.”

The trees rustled.

“Now it ends.”

Hands parted the bush.

Miru stepped through.

She was nothing like what they may have expected. She was not a hideous creature with too many arms and slits for all twelve of her eyes. She was not an immense blob of overfed flesh and fat, representative of her wealth. She was not shockingly beautiful with emerald eyes that sparkled brighter than the sun. She was not a small thing wearing rags and strips of cloth held together with pins.

In fact, she was rather…plain.

She twirled long brown hair around her finger, and her hip, clothed in clingy blue fabric, was thrust out in an effort to appear taunting and powerful. Her chest was modest and covered by a loose navy tee. Slightly too-small hazel eyes narrowed as they observed the scene before them. Her nose had been broken at a point and was off center.

Completely normal.

Hiei struggled to keep from jumping out and killing her on the spot.

“Miru?” Kurama asked politely, nodding to her. She smiled.

“Youko Kurama,” she replied. Her voice had a subtle scratch to it, as though she was constantly getting over laryngitis.

“I fear you have me confused with someone else,” he said. “I am Minamino Shuuichi.”

“Are you now?” she asked, pacing towards him. She stopped twirling her hair and walked right up to him, one hand behind her back. “Minamino Shuuichi Kurama, by any chance?”

“Perhaps.”

It was all a game of pretend. He knew who she was, and she knew of his history. But they would play because that was how the game worked. You played whether you wanted to or not.

She gave a small, cocky laugh and withdrew her hand, holding it out to him. Hesitantly, he took it, and she shook up and down. How peculiar, they all thought, but they didn’t know what she wanted, and action of any sort was risky.

Play, indeed.

“We shall carry this out as formal, sophisticated individuals, indeed,” Miru said, her voice trying to be kind, it seemed. “Would you care for some tea before we begin?”

Kurama glared down at her, for she was a few centimeters shorter than he. She blinked up at him innocently, awaiting his answer. Hiei had stopped barring Yuusuke and Kuwabara, and they were all ready to leap forward without a moment’s notice if Kurama appeared threatened.

“No, thank you,” he replied, tone strained. “I would not. And you appear to have no tea.”

She chuckled again. “Oh, that is no matter. I can retrieve some at any time, if I so choose.”

“Your power allows you as much?” he asked bluntly. She shook her head and waved a finger before his face, teasingly.

“Ah, ah, ah, no cheating. You aren’t supposed to know my power. That’s half the fun.”

In a blind flash, Hiei was behind Kurama as though he had been there all along. Yuusuke and Kuwabara moved to more strategic points around Miru, but not too close, in case her power was better used at close range. She feigned insult, pouting at Kurama.

“You brought friends?” she whined. “That’s hardly fair.”

Yuusuke was unable to contain himself any longer, and Miru seemed the perfect target to unleash his wrath.

“Hey, it’s not like you haven’t been watching us, stupid bitch,” he shouted to her, unnecessarily loud. She tilted her head away from the noise, her eyes shifting back to almost view him.

“What a bothersome man you are,” she said, as though to scold a little boy. “You simply must be taught a lesson.”

Yuusuke held his hand down by his side as though to prepare a Rei Gan, though they all knew he wouldn’t fire without Kurama’s permission. Restraints were revealing themselves right and left, and Miru was only beginning to see her distinct advantage in the fight.

What did it all come down to?

Kurama ruled.

But Kurama was incapacitated, not in his right mind. Miru had made sure of that long ago.

And she would surely bring that fact out into the open as soon as possible.

“So,” she taunted. “The great Youko Kurama, reduced to this. A shadow of what he used to be. An allusion to what he could have been. A shell of what he is.” She stepped closer to him, pushing her nose to his. He refrained from jerking back, desperately trying not to submit to her as he maintained control over himself.

“You’re a disgusting bastard, aren’t you?” she asked, almost cheerfully.

Kurama blinked, his eyes narrowing the tiniest bit before returning to their normal width. “Indeed, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said coolly.

“Oh, don’t you,” she snapped back. “Running from what you were to something new, and still not being all that you could have been, and yet…” She paused to take a deep breath. “And yet, still eluding my capture.” She began to stroll around him.

“You are a despicable fox, Youko Kurama. A coward-a convict in one world escaping to become a mutant freak in another. You just won’t allow yourself to rest, will you?” She paused before him again, laughing at her own private joke. “No, no, you can’t rest, that would be leaving yourself open! That would be practically inviting arrest! That would be far too easy for the great Youko Kurama!” Chortling now, she turned her back on Kurama and clamped her eyes shut, letting emotion run wild.

Hiei didn’t like her tone of voice. The way she said “great” was mocking, almost derogatory. Yuusuke would occasionally let his hand flicker with a bluish aura, barely holding back his Rei Gan. Kuwabara made the motions of swinging his Reiken, without holding it.

But they all kept back, pacing round her like dogs.

“You will fight if you are not a coward,” Kurama said in a voice frozen over with poisonous intent. Miru nodded once.

“I suspected as much,” she said, turning back to face him. “Shall we carry this fight out as ladies and gentlemen?”

Yuusuke growled. “There’s only one girl here, and she’s definitely no lady,” he snapped. “You take us all on or you take none of us on!”

“That’s right, you’re no lady!” Kuwabara shouted. Apparently, his honor code was in its time-out. “You’ve been destroying Kurama from the inside out and we’re not gonna take it any more!”

“You are lower than low,” Hiei snarled. “You lost your right to life a long time ago.”

Kurama had long since put up a hand to stop the flow of chatter, but no one noticed. This rage was far beyond control. In a last-ditch effort to gain some leverage back, Kurama removed a seed from his hair and in the same motion, snapped his whip against the ground.

Silence ripped through the clearing.

“Miru,” he said, completely shutting out his friends as he faced the girl. “I will fight you, properly judged. Declare the location and time.”

Her smile was feral. “Yes, yes, the place and time. We shall fight out of the forest, ten kilometers west of the north edge. A straight line from this point. The fight will be carried out as soon as you and I reach that location.” She raised an eyebrow at something over Kurama’s shoulder.

“Your…companions are frivolities. If they so choose to come, they may, but I refuse to delay the fight to wait for them.”

Kurama nodded. “I would have it as such.”

Miru carefully hid a smirk, and Kurama only saw the very corners of her mouth twitch slightly.

“I will see you there,” she said instead. “I would advise you not to linger.”

Kurama nodded.

Miru vanished.

Hiei tapped his partner on the shoulder.

Kurama turned around with, of all things, his typical falsified smile in place.

“Yes, Hiei?”

The hiyoukai stood paralyzed for a moment, so shocked was he that his best friend, his supposed lover, even, would dare attempt such a cheap trick on him. Him, of all people.

Then he reared back and punched Kurama in the stomach.

The taller man doubled over, not expecting the blow, and coughed up a spray of blood. Hiei pulled back his fist and held it by his shoulder, ready to throw another shot. Dulled emerald eyes peered up at him from under hooded lids as Kurama recovered himself.

“Hiei…why?” he asked, and it was so pitiful that Hiei even felt it deserved an answer.

“Why?” he spat. Answer though it may be, it was not going to be easy on the ears…or the heart, Hiei admitted silently. “Why not? You are despicable right now, Kurama. You need to recover yourself from not only that punch, but from the hold Miru has on you. Your thoughts are blurred, your eyes see only red. Even your heart is confused.” He lowered his hand and Kurama stood fully straight.

“Despicable, Hiei?” Kurama asked softly. “Is that how you see me? Then perhaps you do not love me at all. Is that what this is about?”

Hiei could feel his heat rising in fury. This was not the time for his fire to become uncontrolled.

“Not every little thing is about love, Kurama! Not every little thing is about how much people do or do not care for you! Emotion can take a person only so far, and mine has nearly run out. I need for you to calm yourself, to realize what Miru is doing to you and what you are letting her control.”

Kurama glared down at Hiei for a long minute. Burning anger flared in his eyes, dying down slowly to be replaced by a calm softness Hiei had never quite seen before.

Bending slightly, the fox grabbed Hiei’s shoulders and in a motion too quick to register, claimed the hiyoukai’s lips with his own. Hiei merely blinked, letting Kurama kiss him. Would it be beneficial to return the gesture? Probably. He responded accordingly, closing his eyes in case Kurama tried to check his vested interest. It was the sort of thing he might do in his fragile state.

Finally, Kurama pulled away slightly.

“Why did you kiss me just then?” he asked breathlessly. Hiei shrugged.

“We’re a couple, aren’t we?”

Kurama shook his head. “I mean after you hesitated for so long.”

“Oh…”

Hiei cursed himself. He should have been more pliant, more yielding. He should have responded sooner.

“I’ve never been kissed before,” he lied. “I was uncertain how to respond.”

Kurama cocked an eyebrow. “A cute little thing like you?” he asked teasingly.

Hiei snorted in an equally casual reply. “Indeed,” he muttered.

Yuusuke loudly cleared his throat behind them, Kuwabara adding his own interrupting cough.

“Let’s get going, you two,” the former called to them.

“She told you not to dawdle, right, Kurama?” Kuwabara asked.

The fox nodded to Hiei, who hadn’t asked the question.

“Right, right. Coming.”

Pausing for a moment, Hiei was the last one to leave.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ki: power
Hiyoukai: loosely translated as “fire demon”
Rei Gan: Spirit Gun
Reiken: Spirit Sword

Note: recognize how Hiei responds to the entire kiss scene. That should basically outline his and Kurama’s relationship right now.
Converting /tmp/phpQp3Y2d to /dev/stdout