Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Barriers ❯ Skylight ( Chapter 11 )

A/N: I own nothing save Shiki, her relatives, the villains, and the plot Which is actually quite a bit I guess. But still. Nothing you'd be able to see in an episode of YuYu Hakusho.

This chapter is for A Last Kiss For Succubus, who favorited and stuff. Yay! And for Beth, who is much more of a romantic than I am (my romantic is very, very, closeted.)

 

The night was cold, made all the more bitter by the fact that the forest seemed covered in a permanent layer of damp that removed any protection her clothing might have afforded her.

 

Shiki sat by the small fire they had constructed, watching her breath forming into small clouds each time she exhaled. Kurama had seemed worried about the possibility of being discovered should someone spot the smoke roiling into the sky from where they were camped. For whatever reason, though, he'd agreed in the end, and so Shiki sat warming herself by the flames whilst Kurama searched the area for any edible plants. She deferred to his judgment in this; whatever knowledge of herbs she possessed was invalid here, she was certain. She took several of the strange, bulbous roots he had already brought and skewered them on some thin sticks she had gathered and allowed them to roast by the fire pit, taking care to turn them occasionally.

 

At this point, Kurama returned with more plants, and they were quickly added to the skewers. When she pronounced them cooked, the two of them ate in relative silence. The meal was mostly tasteless but filling, and she soon found her insides to be warming.

 

“Does this plant have medicinal properties, then?” she asked curiously.

 

“It is called Wintersbane by many a traveler, for it has saved many from hypothermia.” He answered without looking at her, eyes fixed on the fire. Shiki thought to ask another question, but decided against it. At a loss for what to do next, she too stared into the flames. The tongues of fire seemed to dance, casting flickering shadows onto her legs and the ground in front of her. Shiki sighed without realizing it and thought back to the time Jii-chan had taken her camping. That, she decided, was certainly a happier circumstance than this.

 

But then, she concluded, there are good things about this too. She thought back to how much she had learned in just this short time, and was astounded by how far she'd come. Surely, to someone with as much skill as Kurama or Yusuke, her power was insignificant, but… she couldn't help but feel a twinge of happiness. Perhaps there would come a day when her skills would be like theirs. Either way, it was something to work toward. She smiled, the tiniest of curves to her lips, at the thought.

 

Reaching forward, she pulled off her sandals and socks, and stretched her feet toward the fire, moving her toes to return the feeling to them. She relaxed back onto her hands and turned her face toward the night sky, which was just visible through a hole in the canopy above their heads. She could just see the moon, a sliver of silver-white accompanied by a dusting of stars.

 

Shiki heard a slight rustling and reluctantly slid her eyes from the evening's tableau. Blue-black met emerald green, and Shiki blinked. Kurama's eyes were somewhat unsettling in their clarity. He had an odd look on his face, as though he were puzzled by something. “The sky,” she said by way of explanation. “It looks just the same as it does in Human World.”

 

Another inscrutable expression passed across his features before he answered. “Does it?”

 

Shiki tilted her head to the side. “You can't tell?” When he shook his head, she continued. “Here, come look.” She gestured to a spot a few feet from where she sat, and he moved from the opposite side of their fire to get a better look. “See? There's Orion, and that's Venus over there…” She pointed at a few different places in the inky blackness.

 

“So it is…” His voice trailed off pensively, and a silence once again permeated the area. Shiki was suddenly conscious once again of his proximity. He sat only about a foot from her, close enough that she could feel his body heat in the air next to her. She studiously avoided looking directly at him, studying the sky perhaps more closely than she would have otherwise. It was his scent that was the problem. Pine needles, with traces of wood smoke and fresh flowers. It was an odd combination, but not entirely unpleasant.

 

Shiki did her best to put it out of her mind as she stared upwards. Eventually, she felt a kink developing in the back of her neck, and so she laid back onto the ground. Her ponytail created an uncomfortable bump in the back of her head, so she carefully loosed it, putting the band around her wrist.

 

“Kurama?” she asked softly.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you think we'll be able to do it?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Stop whatever it is that's happening.”

 

She heard him sigh before he replied, though his answer was less certain than she was hoping for. “Perhaps. Our success or failure depends upon a number of things that are difficult to control.”

 

“Like my powers?” She frowned. She had had a nagging feeling the conversation would go this way, and she knew she wouldn't like it. Still, she had to know.

 

“Actually, your powers are one of the things I have the most confidence in.”

 

She lifted her head, surprised, to see his face. His expression was carefully neutral, and betrayed nothing of what he actually thought. “Truly?”

 

He nodded placidly. “They have saved us once already. I am sure they will be there when you need them.”

 

She relaxed and let her head rest once more on the ground. “I see. But… Youko, is he…?” She struggled, trying to find the right way to phrase the question.

 

Luckily, he knew where she was going. “He is a part of me, as I am of him. Youko is a demon fox, one who inhabited the body of my mother's child before he was born. So I am both Shuichi and Youko, and yet neither.”

 

Shiki paused for a moment, considering. “I can't say that makes much sense. To me, it seems as though you're Kurama, and that covers everything, you know?” Her statement invited a response, but Kurama was silent. Afraid she had said something she shouldn't have, Shiki tried to make amends. “I mean, we're all kind of like that, aren't we? Different people at different times, I mean.”

 

“How so?” he seemed genuinely curious as to her reasoning.

 

“Well, take me for instance. I'm my parents' daughter, Jii-chan's granddaughter and his student, a pupil at school… even though it's all Shiki, I'm a little different each time, with each person. I think everyone's like that. Like our enemies sometimes make us worse than we usually are, and our friends make us better, don't you think?”

 

“It is an interesting theory, I will give you that.”

 

There was a lull in the conversation; Kurama seemed to have sunk into his thoughts. Shiki found her eyes growing heavy and allowed them to close, still keeping an ear open in case her companion should say something.

 

***

 

Kurama, for his part, was uncertain if he should say anything else. If he were an emotional person, he would have blamed the night air for addling his senses so, but as it was he could find nothing to blame save a lapse in his usual attentiveness.

 

It had all started when they had decided to set up camp for the evening. He had known it would be unwise to start a fire, just in case the three strangers were still seeking them, but when Shiki had asked, her shivering had convinced him otherwise. So, too, had he known it would be unwise to stray too far from camp, but then he had smelled the Wintersbane some distance away and decided it would be best to collect some.

 

This decision, at least, he could rationalize. It wouldn't do either of them any good if Shiki collapsed, and Wintersbane was a good way to ensure that she would not become hypothermic. What had happened afterward, though, was beyond his understanding.

 

After their brief meal, he'd preoccupied himself with his usual planning, but found himself unable to focus for long stretches of time. His eyes kept wandering to his companion, who seemed to have taken up his earlier practice of staring into the fire. For some reason he could not place, he found the minute details of her actions fascinating. She frowned slightly when she thought, he noticed, or at least it had seemed so until a small smile had appeared on her face. He was completely at a loss as to what she must be thinking of, which in and of itself was unusual. By all rights, she should have been lamenting their current condition, stranded and quite possibly pursued in the middle of a hostile forest, and yet this was not the case.

 

She'd taken to looking at the sky next, and a look of no small wonder had overtaken her countenance. He marveled at the sheer contentment she seemed to exude; clearly, whatever she was remembering brought her happiness. He felt a twinge of… something… when he realized that her reason for being so was completely unknowable to him. He was accosted by the irrational desire to ask, but stopped himself. He had no right to make such a personal inquiry. Why had he even thought of it?

 

She suddenly looked over at him, and he had been taken aback by the tranquility in her eyes, a near-perfect peace. Had she been meditating? Then he realized the length of time for which he had been occupied studying her and was confused. Oddly enough, Kurama found it slightly embarrassing.

 

Fortunately, he must have been able to disguise it well enough, for she mistook his feelings for mere curiosity, and had explained to him the reason for her study of the sky. When he had heard that it was the very same one she was used to seeing, it had taken him a moment to realize why this was odd. He had looked up, but found that his own view was mostly obscured by trees. She gestured him over, and it was with a peculiar sense of foreboding that he had changed locations. He told himself, of course, that it was only to see whether or not she was right in her estimation, and he would move back thereafter.

 

It took only a glance upward to tell him that she was right, so he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye instead. Her eyes were fixed upward, and their color matched cloudless vista above them. He smiled as she pointed upwards, explaining her topic with unmasked joy.

 

When she was finished, he became unsure if moving back would be rude or not. He searched his extensive memory and realized he had no idea what the proper etiquette in this sort of situation was at all. She had, by this time, lain back onto the ground and seemed to be quite intent on the stars once again. Kurama decided to remain where he was. It made sense, after all, to conserve as much heat as possible, and sitting across the fire wasn't going to help with that.

 

“Kurama?” her voice was shaky as it reached his ears.

 

“Yes?” He tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, a good attitude to adopt when you are uncertain of what was coming next, he reasoned.

 

“Do you think we can do it?”

 

“Do what?” He thought he knew what she was asking, but wanted to be sure.

 

“Stop whatever it is that's happening.”

 

He sighed. Of all the questions she could have asked, it had to be one of those he had no real answer for. He settled for telling her what he did know. “Perhaps. Our success or failure depends upon a number of things that are difficult to control.”

 

“Like my powers?” He caught her frown out of the corner of his eye and nearly frowned himself. He searched for a way to reassure her, and decided the truth was probably the best option.

 

“Actually, your powers are one of the things I have the most confidence in.”

 

“Truly?” She lifted herself partway off the ground and looked at him. He had the feeling he was being searched somehow, and gained the impression that what he said next would have a great impact, for better or worse.

 

“They have saved us once already. I am sure they will be there when you need them.”

 

She visibly relaxed, and he inwardly sighed with relief. “I see. But… Youko, is he…?”

 

Kurama wondered why she had to ask the difficult questions. “He is a part of me, as I am of him. Youko is a demon fox, one who inhabited the body of my mother's child before he was born. So I am both Shuichi and Youko, and yet neither.” It is something that I have yet to come to terms with, he added silently.

 

Then we are the same.

 

There was a pause. And now she fears us. Fears me. To his surprise, though, she responded. “I can't say that makes much sense. To me, it seems as though you're Kurama, and that covers everything, you know?” He was silent, and she was quick to pick up on this. “I mean, we're all kind of like that, aren't we? Different people at different times, I mean.”

 

To say that this simple, bold reasoning came as a surprise to him was to do injustice to the level of shock it produced. This was something he had struggled with since he had become aware of his other side, and it took him a moment to recover, though he still couldn't understand her logic. “How so?”

 

“Well, take me for instance. I'm my parents' daughter, Jii-chan's granddaughter and his student, a pupil at school… even though it's all Shiki, I'm a little different each time, with each person. I think everyone's like that. Like our enemies sometimes make us worse than we usually are, and our friends make us better, don't you think?”

 

He thought for a while. Perhaps there was something to that, but he doubted other people's sides spoke to them as his did. Still, the ease with which she accepted his statement left a deep impression on him. “It is an interesting theory, I will give you that.” He would surely have to think of a reply at length before the conversation continued any further.

 

She is quite interesting, that one.

 

You think so, do you?

 

Kurama decided to change the subject, but found that when he went to open his mouth, Shiki's breathing had become slow and steady and her eyes had closed. He marveled for a moment at her strangeness, and the slowly turned himself to face the other direction, so as to better keep watch over her slumber.

 

***

Kiku's Corner:

 

Well, hope you liked it guys. That is my sad attempt at romance-ish things. Hopefully I wasn't beating you over the head with it. I wasn't exactly going for subtle, but… well, I have no confidence in writing this stuff.

 

Please review. I'd love it. And dedicate a chapter to you. Unless you find that creepy. Then just tell me not to.

 

Love,

~Kiku~