Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Before I Die ❯ Chapter 5

The next morning, Simon made it up before the crack of dawn to get ready for opening the inn and bar. Buttoning up his shirt he had decided to wear, he made his way down the steps slowly with a slight yawn—not really a morning person though the running of the inn forced him to be so. The floorboards moaned under his weight as he made it to the bar counter—he was surprised to see Jin sitting at one of the tables appearing fixed in thought.

 

“Jin, what are you doing up this early?” Simon inquired, making his way over to the circular, wooden table where the redhead was sitting. “Is something the matter?”

 

Jin had his cheek resting upon the back of his hand. His eyes closed, he listened to everything around him with a wiggle of his elfin ears. Opening his eyes to the inn owner, Jin hummed somberly. “If pay gets any slower, I will be forced out of the inn and onto the streets with Touya,” he answered with a moan. “It's bad enough I have to try and find a decent doctor for a large sum of money, but I also have to try and maintain a roof over our heads.”

 

“Is Touya doing okay?” Simon wondered, leaning back within the mahogany carved seat he was upon.

 

Jin fidgeted slightly upon the tabletop. “Last night he appeared to be doing okay when he was reading to me,” the demon explained. “But in the middle of the night he got out of bed with this bad caught, and I found blood on his hands from the coughing.”

 

“Bless the Goddess!” Simon exclaimed softly between the two of them. “It sounds to me that he might have a respiratory disease.”

 

The redhead turned to Simon slightly bewildered. “How do you assume that? I thought you were an inn owner, not a doctor.”

 

“My brother was training to be one,” Simon clarified with a shrug. “I used to listen to him talk on and on about his medical practices.” Noticing the time, he excused himself from the table. His wife soon gracing the scene, he nodded to her whilst making his way behind the bar.

 

Jin was quick to follow Simon to the bar. “Where is your brother now?” He took his seat at the bar, with his elfin ears shifted forward.

 

“I don't know, Jin,” the inn owner answered with a somber sigh, knowing Jin was in desperate need of someone for Touya's sake. “I stopped speaking to him years ago. Last I heard he was somewhere out east trying to learn new medical tips.”

 

Jin felt defeated. He was wishing there was a simple way to help his friend and a not so expensive way at that. His knuckles rapping upon the bar counter to release his anxiety buildup, he ordered his morning beer whilst cupping his forehead in his hands.

 

Simon recognized his friend's frustration as he grabbed a clean mug. Pouring the liquor into the clear glass, he kept his sight on Jin and his voice down with the Zexen citizens coming into his bar. “Of course, it wouldn't hurt to do what I suggested earlier, Jin.”

 

“What was that again?” Jin asked seeing as his memory wasn't as great as it could be.

 

“Maybe you should go to one of the Grassland Clans and ask for help,” Simon whispered, handing Jin his drink.

 

He sighed once more with his fingers gracing his forehead. “I guess—I am beginning to consider anything right now.” Jin threw back the drink he had ordered before slamming the glass down on the counter. “Thanks, Simon. If you could get my regular breakfast order upstairs, that would be great. Touya cannot move around right now for the life of him.”

 

“Of course,” Simon said with a nod.

 

Placing his hands in his pockets, Jin gazed up at the inn door, which led into the room he often had rented out. Touya had been asleep since his coughing spell, but always appeared in agony when he slept throughout the night. Jin dared not wake him even if he worried for Touya.

 

Touya's bed creaked and moaned as he tossed and turned, flinching in agony within his sleep. Beads of sweat crept down his face as he lied under the covers of his bed, which he shared with Jin last night. His mind whirling with past thoughts and memories—he found himself placed up in the chilly north once again in nothing but darkness, the very darkness that he had been born within.

 

As part of his demonic ice clan, he was born to defend the village from other demons or from coldhearted humans who dared to walk upon their frozen land. Their home once under attack, Touya quickly came to his family and friends' aid with the skills he had learned growing up. His fighting ranked the highest of his clan, he had let one of the attacking demons slip through his defenses.

 

His narrow, cold eyes the only thing that could be seen in his black attire, he watched the other demon closely from the ground below as the other dark dressed, demon took to the treetops. Both of them reading their weapons, they lunged at one another—making the rest out to be a blur of furious motion.

 

The trees bent and swayed under the wind the other demon was unleashing while the roots froze under the ice demon's lethal, frozen hell attack. Some of the ice broke under the trembling earth of the two as their swords' steel clanked together. In the middle of the battle, Touya grabbed onto one of his smaller daggers to slice across the wind demon's face—just barely missing it.

 

The blue eyes of the wind demon widening at the attack he saw coming, he moved his head slightly to have the sharp, dagger slice through his black, ninja mask he was wearing. Touya's memory recalling how slowly it seemed to happen as the cloth of the demon's facade ripped apart as did a bit of the skin on his cheek.

 

Jin's mask unraveled, he jumped back with a growl at the ice demon as he noticed the small, bleeding cut on his cheek. Digging into his pocket, he released the throwing stars at the ice demon, cutting off Touya's mask in return as well as double cuts parallel to one another on his cheek.

 

The images of the battle of that night and there after continuing to flash into his mind, they eventually calmed down to the point where the two seemed to congregate with one another when nobody else from their clan would find out. The images flashing in and out at such a pace, it started to make Touya sick to his stomach even if they were memories he kept close to his heart.

 

The images turning red, as if from blood, Touya cried out agonizingly from where he was within his bed with an arch of his back. Sweat dampening his entire body; it looked as though he had been outside in a downpour with how his clothes clung tightly to him. His breathing labored, he stayed locked within his pain until the door to the bedroom finally opened.

 

The wind demon catching the displeasure on Touya's face, soaked in sweat, he hurried over to the bed, nearly dropping the tray in the process. He managed to place the breakfast he ordered upon the nightstand before grabbing onto the heated ice demon to shake him a bit. “Touya, Touya, wake up!” He called over his partner's cries.

 

Touya opened his eyes slowly though still in horrible pain. He hissed in displeasure as he thrashed his head from side to side. “I am so hot…!” Not able to stand the heat, he kicked the covers off of his body with what strength he had in hopes that would do it only to no avail.

 

“You're soaking wet with sweat!” Jin exclaimed as he picked up Touya bridal style to hurry into the bathroom. He turned on the cold water quickly for the tub before helping Touya strip off his clothing, which he had dampened with his perspiration. When he felt the water was cold enough and was high enough, Jin helped Touya into the marble tub, so the ice demon could cool off from the sudden heat, which took him over. “Just wait right there. I will go get you something cold to drink.”

 

Touya nodded from where he wearily lied against the tub he was placed within. He breathed steadily to try and calm himself down. His fingers gripping onto the side of the tub, he moved slightly within the chilly water, which started to relax him.

 

The door to the bathroom opened a bit once more to allow Jin inside with a glass of water he put ice bits within in hopes of it helping Touya's abnormal sweating spell. “Here, drink this, and it should help.”

 

Touya took the glass and took a sip with a nod to his forbidden lover. “Thank you, Jin,” he whispered, rolling his head back to let the water caress his head and hair. “I am sorry about that. I don't know that happened to me.”

 

Jin placed his hand on Touya's forehead with a worried expression written upon his face. “Nor do I, buddy. You would think you were roasting in a fire with how much you were sweating.” He cupped his chin within his hand, humming in thought. “That isn't normal…even for a demon, and I am worried.”

 

“I am sure it was nothing,” Touya whispered as he took another sip from the drink in his hand. “I might have overloaded myself with too many past memories of us.”

 

Jin chuckled. “You mean like a brain overload? Come on, Touya, don't be stupid,” he scoffed playfully.

 

Touya took a deep breath before letting it out in the cold water he was within. “I think I am okay now,” he announced, attempting to stand up after putting the glass down on the wooden floor, he placing his hands upon the cold marble of the rounded bathtub. “I don't feel as hot as I used to.”

 

“Be careful,” Jin sighed, grabbing onto the bare ice demon underneath his arms to help him up. He turned off the water, which poured out of the faucet. Jin grabbed onto the towel, which was folded up neatly on the floor.

 

The fibers embracing Touya's wet, chilly skin, he buried his cheek into Jin's chest with a subtle sigh through his nostrils. He wiped the sweat and cold water from his forehead as he made it back to his messy bed with Jin's help. “I just appear to be getting worse,” he coughed within his hand.

 

Jin hugged Touya close to his chest. He felt awful for his crippled lover. “There are times I really wish I could take you back to the frozen north, so the healers of your clan could do something about this.”

 

Touya briefly smiled—a smile unseen by Jin. “They wouldn't take me back now, Jin, you know that.” He pulled back from Jin's warmth to look up at the wind demon with a furrow of his brow. “Not only am I now damaged and showing my weakness, I am an abomination who fell in love with not only an enemy but a male.”

 

“It's sad to say this is the only time I regret falling in love with you,” Jin said somberly, his arm around Touya.

 

“Don't,” Touya insisted with another harsh cough into his hands. “If I were this sick in my clan, nobody would care for me unless I was to mate with a woman. And I have to admit, I don't want any woman from my clan—I would rather have you.”

 

Jin kissed Touya on the cheek before guiding him back down on the bed with the towel wrapped about him still. “Just lie down for now.” He brought the covers up over his partner before heading to the other side of the bed to get to the nightstand, where he had recently placed their breakfast. “If you want to eat, I brought breakfast in seeing as you were quite sick last night. I figured you might like it this way.” Jin picked up the warm plate that had eggs and a few buttered biscuits on it to hand over to Touya. “It's kind of hot—do you have it?” He asked.

 

“I've got it,” said Touya as he accepted the plate on his lap once he sat upright with the pillow against his back and the covers covering his lower half. Taking his fork in his other hand, he started to mix up his eggs a bit before slowly eating them.

 

Jin sat back upon the side of his bed with his own breakfast salad with grits and biscuits. “When you're ready for your grits, I can give them to you later,” he said behind his hand, which he used to cover his mouth when eating his salad.

 

Touya merely nodded as he picked up the milk on the nightstand that belonged to him.

 

As Jin continued eating, he noticed the book that Touya had read to him during the night until he fell asleep. He was slightly nervous about talking about it, even in the confines of their own inn room, so he fidgeted slightly with his breakfast until the question overwhelmed him. “So, about the Grassland Clans…”

 

Hearing of the clans, Touya looked over at Jin with a raise of his brow. He moved the biscuit in his hand slightly away from his mouth.

 

“Do you know much about their medical practices?” Jin finally inquired with a tilt of his head.

 

His narrow, icy eyes wandering about the room for a moment, Touya placed down his biscuit and moved the plate to the empty space next to him. He leaned over his bed slightly to dig underneath in order to pull out a book he had kept in his possession for some time. Blowing the dust off of it, he wiped the rest off before handing it over to Jin. “There is a bit of information in there.”

 

Jin accepted the book only to gaze at the title with a blank expression. “Touya, you know I cannot read. Didn't you retrain any knowledge from it?”

 

“The only thing you really need to know is that their knowledge is a lot more advanced than Zexen citizens',” Touya explained, picking up his plate once more to finish his biscuit he was previously eating. “They are more in tune with nature and know exactly what herbs and such can be healing to a person unlike the built in Zexen people who refuse to do anything but build on Mother Earth instead of use her to heal their own people.”

 

“So they have advanced medical practices?” Jin wondered aloud, looking at the book's front and back before placing down.

 

“Yes, but, don't get your hopes up, Jin,” Touya chuckled with a shake of his head. “The Grassland Clans hate Zexen citizens still from the past war, and they hate demons even more.”

 

Jin shushed Touya with his finger to his lips.

 

“Well, it is true!” Touya exclaimed in a hushed whisper to satisfy the wind demon. “Look, there is no way in hell we will be able to get in there under disguise as human beings. They have villagers who are in tune with everything around them including spirits and demons. They will be able to tell who and what we are.”

 

Jin felt his heart drop at the sound of such an opportunity escaping from his grasp yet again. He couldn't help but express his disappointment with a frown as he tossed the book gently behind him. “I guess it cannot be helped then,” he sighed, turning back to his breakfast.

 

Touya added nothing onto the subject as he too went back to his breakfast. He was hoping that Jin would know when to quit. The ice demon was ready to give up, and he wished Jin would do the same.

 

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon, Touya went back to sleep as Jin stayed up to think on the sickness, which had enveloped the ice demon. His arms overlapped behind his head, he lied against the headboard of his bed, letting the wind seep through the crack of the window to caress his red hair. During his deep thinking, his eyes came across the book, which Touya had tossed at him earlier. Even if he couldn't read, he reached over to pick it up to open up to the first page—only recognize a few words and sentences.

 

Closing the book quietly, so as not to wake Touya, he quickly got to his feet. He slipped on his sandals before heading out the door down to the bar where Simon was still attending to customers. “Simon, I need to speak to you—privately,” Jin stressed with the book in his hands held close to his chest.

Simon caught the eagerness in Jin's tone as he finished serving the last person at the bar. He hurried to the far end of the counter to catch the redheaded demon in disguise with a shrug to him. “What is it, Jin? What is the matter?”

 

“If I were to choose a Grassland Clan to go talk to,” Jin began silently, “which one do you think would be more opened-minded considering where I currently stand?”

 

“The Chisha Clan,” Simon said simply. “They live to the northeast. Their clan leader isn't brash like the others I have heard about. She looks into people's hearts rather than their backgrounds.”

 

“How far northeast?” Jin asked, leaning upon the countertop of the bar.

 

“I would say at least three days away from where you're currently standing,” Simon answered.

 

Jin bit his lower lip while tapping his knuckles upon the bar—something he usually did whenever thinking. “I know of a way to get there faster,” he said softly between the two of them. He pushed away from the counter and ran for the door. “Tell Touya later today that I went out and will be back early tomorrow morning—just don't tell him WHERE I went!”

 

“Well, what am I supposed to tell him then?” Simon wondered only to have Jin shut the door in his face. “Jin?—Jin! Oh, brother…” the bartender sighed with a shake of his head.

 

The redheaded demon hurried through the crowded Zexen capital, making his way to the archway, which would lead him out of Vinay Del Zexay. He dashed past the men in iron and made it into the Zexen Forest without appearing out of breath. He whistling upon his fingers, he called to the white griffon he had taken care of since its hatch day.

 

The griffon hearing the wind demon's call, he kweed loudly and made his way down through the forest canopy to Jin's side. Seeing his master once more, he nuzzled into his chest, nearly knocking Jin over, with a warm purr rippling in his throat.

 

Jin gently pushed the giant creature back, so he could mount him. His hands holding onto his feathers tenderly yet firmly, he spoke within Wind Song's feathery ears. “I need you to take me to the Chisha Clan, Wind Song. They live up to the north somewhere. We have to hurry. I don't want to leave Touya alone for long considering his health,” Jin expressed with a kick to the griffon's sides.

 

Flapping his wings, Wind Song pushed off of the ground with Jin's wind as his aid and headed off towards the north as his master instructed of him. The wind howling about the griffon, he tucked in his talons and back paws to soar majestically about the sky.

 

 

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Author's Notes: I know, I must be boring you people to death. LOL! But, just a warning, that I have been considering dropping my stories lately to work on my novel I want to get published. It seems a bit weird when I am writing out my most prized and treasured moments/couples on the net and reviews are less than standard (and what I mean by that is I hardly come across any).

 

But it is a thought right now that is drifting in my mind. Of course, this would mean I would dump my stories for a year or more depending. We shall see what comes to pass.

;-)