Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Before I Die ❯ Chapter 17

Author's Notes: Sorry for not updating this one. I put it on a mini-hiatus to try and get further in the others even thought, by my standards, it is closer to being completed of my three stories.

 

Raistlin Windblade let me use her poem Moonlit Sky in this chapter, so all credits to the poem goes to her. I was being a lazy butt and didn't feel like sitting down to actually think of my own poem. I promise in the future that won't happen again. :P

 

Here is the next chapter!

 

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Piper waited outside for Jin to return, relieved to see him soon appear even if he looked quite upset. Her dress flared out behind her as she hurried towards the wind demon to pull him from the room as she knew it was crucial for Touya to get the sleep he needed. “Do not worry, Jin,” said Piper tenderly as she escorted him down the underground halls. “Touya is going to be alright.”

 

Jin looked down at the young Chisha woman. “I wish I could feel as confident as you, human. After hearing what is possibly wrong with him, I have to say my hope has abandoned me.”

 

Sighing somberly, Piper helped Jin back to his bedroom knowing the demon was possibly not in the mood to be around others; especially those that didn't understand him. She opened the door to help Jin on inside before coming on in herself. Piper closed the door, watching as Jin made it to the circular table to sit down and rest his forehead against his fingers. Folding her hands before her dress, she made it to the redhead's side. “Jin,” she began, placing one of her hands upon his shoulders, “do not abandon hope. If you do so, who is going to keep Touya's hope alive?”

 

The wind demon didn't say anything about her comments though he knew she was right. He tapped his fingers against the woodwork of the table, watching as the flame before him flickered about from any movement in the room.

 

Piper invited herself to sit down diagonal to Jin upon the free chair. “How about we go ahead and get started on your reading lessons a bit more?” She thought dividing his attention might be useful. “Or I could get you something to eat. You do eat vegetables and fruits too, right?”

 

Jin pulled his hand down from his face to nod at Piper. “As I've told people before, I don't eat humans. I will eat anything that is put in front of me, but I have to have small portions.”

 

“But-you're so thin as is,” Piper felt need to point out as she nervously held onto his arm, which was closest to her. “You could afford to eat a bit more than you do.”

 

The wind master chortled softly to himself at what Piper had to say to him. “I am a wind master, love. I need to be thin to fly. If I get fat, I cannot lift off of the ground. It makes it difficult for me to fly at a certain weight level.”

 

“Well, let me get you something to eat even if I have to bring a whole bunch of food here before you.” She got up to head over to the bookcase to pull the books she had shelved to put before the demon. “If you want, you can try reading some of these in the mean time.” Piper pulled one of the books towards him as she was knelt down to his level. “I'll be right back.” Spontaneously, she planted a kiss upon the demon's cheek before realizing what she did, she thought nothing of it until getting to her feet quickly to nervously step back towards the door. “I am-I umm-I will be right back.”

 

Jin watched her closely as she hurried out of the bedroom. Still feeling the dampness of her kiss, he reached up to his cheek to rub it slightly. “Humans sure are weird creatures,” he mumbled to himself as he opened the book she pushed towards him.

 

Piper rested her back up against the door realizing what she just did. Her fingers touching her lips, she managed to pry herself from the entranceway behind her to make it down to the bar area to get the wind master something to eat. As she was heading there, Sana watched from the underground village as Piper scurried to her destination.

 

“You spend so much time with that demon,” Sana felt need to point out to catch Piper's attention. She watched as the young woman stopped quickly in her tracks upon hearing the High Chief's voice. “I understand that you feel for them both as I do, but it is wise to be cautious around something so wild.”

 

“I-I don't know what you're talking about, Chief Sana,” Piper stuttered as she tried to hide her embarrassment in the dimly lit halls.

 

“Sweetheart,” Sana began with a heavy sigh, “if you get too close to either one of them, you may find yourself regretting it. Don't put your heart on the line for these creatures. No matter what happens, I sense they are bound to leave us.”

 

Piper took the chief's words too much to heart, causing her to hurry away from the leader of the clan. Holding onto her dress, she made her way to the tavern area of the underground village. A few of the clan men were relaxing at the many tables about the space. She soon stood before the wooden surface of the bar, waiting for the maiden behind it to turn to her. “Excuse me,” Piper called upon clearing her throat.

 

The bar maiden put down the glass she was cleaning to make her way over to Piper with a smile. “Hey, Piper, what can I help you with?”

 

She remembered the wind master's words about how he only ate so little. Rolling her teeth over her lower lip, she tapped her nails against the carpentry beneath them. “You know what, I am going to need a big order.”

 

Jin continued trying to read the books given to him, only able to make out some of the words. He never realized how he was always reminded of Touya at that moment. Each time he had a hard time trying to pronounce a word, he wanted to turn to the ice demon to ask for help. Regardless of this, he continued to pass through the pages, coming to the point he only wanted to stare at the illustrations before recognizing a word he had often seen before `Runes'. “A chapter again on the runes, I see,” he murmured mostly to himself as he continued to pass through the pages. Jin already knew a great deal about the runes out there, including his own rare one that over powered all wind runes. His baby blue eyes skimming over the rune titles of major and minor runes, he came across another familiar one: `true water rune'.

 

The wind master sighed as he could only look at the pictures for measure. It showed an ink scribble of the true rune and then another of one of the human villages supposedly having it in their possession. “I wish I could find that rune again…it could possibly cure Touya's illness.” His elfin ears twitched at the sound of the doorknob being turned. Jin put down the book in his possession to watch as the wooden door opened to reveal Piper with a rather heavy plate or two filled with food. She was balancing the tray as if she were a waitress. “Umm, Piper, I do hope some of that food is for you.”

 

“Now, now,” began Piper as she made it over to the table to place some of it before Jin, “don't be that way. I am sure it'll be in your best interest to at least eat a decent meal once in your life.” She showed off the deer meat and the fruits and vegetables lining the plate with a bit of bread to the wind demon. “Come on. Just live a little bit and have a nice, big meal on me.”

 

Jin turned his mouth to the side, finding the deer meat to look quite appealing. “Alright, I guess one big meal couldn't hurt me too much.” Without bothering to use any utensils whatsoever, Jin grabbed onto the deer meat to tear right into it eagerly as he hadn't eaten much lately. When he caught the expression of surprise on Piper's face, he swallowed the meat in his mouth before speaking. “Sorry, I am so used to eating around Touya and anything he used to get for me. I am still getting used to being the wife of the relationship while he is sick. I guess manners are supposed to come with that?”

 

“Well, they do help,” Piper said as she cleared her throat with a brief chuckle. “So what book were you looking at?” Her delicate fingers graced the pages of the book Jin was gazing upon, finding the chapter on the True Water Rune. “Oh, the true runes. It is rare you will find those. They are supposedly just a legend.”

 

“A legend?” Jin grabbed onto his weapon to show off the blade where the True Wind Rune was placed. “I have the True Wind Rune.”

 

Piper widened her eyes at the rune she had often heard was just a myth to see it finally in person before furrowing her brow in confusion. “I still don't understand why you have that to begin with,” she remarked, recalling him mentioning him having it in the story he told of about his past. “Don't wind demons have wind powers when they're born?”

 

“Well, I am born with wind powers,” Jin clarified as he put his weapon back where he had it kept upon the chair next to him. “The True Wind Rune just amplifies them and gives me new abilities I could otherwise not teach myself.” Thinking about Touya, Jin sighed to himself as he looked off to the side. “I wish I could find Touya's True Water Rune. If I could find where it went, I might be able to save him.”

 

Looking back at the words within the book, Piper skimmed over a few to read where the rune was said to be. “I am afraid these books won't be able to tell you much of anything, Jin. They were written to say that the True Water Rune was said to once reside within the icy regions of this area. I am sure it did, and Touya was the one to find it. Nobody expected it to be real.”

 

“The True Runes are many years old, Piper,” Jin explained with a slight motion of his hands. “Hell, they are possibly even centuries old!”

 

Piper turned the page a few times to make it to the first page. “Then it was probably his parents or ancestors or somebody that had the rune and passed it down to him. What about your rune? Didn't your parents give it to you?”

 

“My human parents were killed in war years ago, and I died that day too when our house caught on fire and the roof collapsed on top of me and my mother,” said Jin as he looked at the titles of the other books. “I was damned that day and centuries later, I was reborn a half-demon thanks to my father and my mother coming together. I didn't think of my demonic father as my father. He was just my guardian who was training me to be an assassin. When I surpassed his knowledge and became the leader of the guards of the wind tribe, I was given the True Wind Rune. I am sure when Touya became leader of the guards as well, he was given his rune too.” Jin managed a smile as he scratched an annoying itch on the back of his head. “Anyways, Touya may wake sometime soon, and I would like to be able to read him something.”

 

Piper giggled against the back of her hand as she ate a few grapes from a plate she decided to take from. “Well, Jin, it isn't exactly going to happen over night.” She closed the book that Jin had been eyeing, shaking her finger at him before opening another book that had a few poetry lines within it. “Does Touya like poetry? I am not sure, but he did seem to like flowers. I am guessing he likes feminine things.”

 

Jin couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh for once. “Are you saying that he is a woman in a man's body? Ya know, if he heard you say something like that, he wouldn't be too pleased.” He moved a bit closer to Piper to get a better look at the words. “But, aye, he does like poetry and some feminine things.” He chuckled having to be reminded of that phrase again.

 

“Oh, umm, well then,” Piper coughed as she heard the wind demon say that. “I'll make sure I don't say that around him.” She looked over at the redhead with a smile. “Are you ready? I can give you some tips and have you try to read as well. It might make some things go a bit faster.”

 

“I am ready,” Jin answered with a nod.

 

“Alright, let's see if we can get you to remember this poem for him when you see him again.” Piper pointed at the first line to read it to the wind demon before breaking down the sentence and each word as slowly as possible so Jin could understand it.

 

 

 

 

 

Touya remained asleep throughout the coming hours, though he soon found his pain returning from the surgery he underwent. Flinching in his slumber, he began to grunt in agony before voicing it with a loud cry. It caused the nurse watching over the ice demon to wake suddenly as she was sleeping in the same room. Touya panted heavily as he began to sweat from the immense pain his body was stabbing him, his throat was hurting especially from every time he breathed.

 

“Oh my,” the nurse inhaled sharply as she hurried over towards the ice master. “Oh, you need your medicine.” She hastily ran over towards the medicine rack the doctor brought with him to find the right vile filled with the pain medicine the ice master would need. “Here,” she insisted in a hurried tone, making it back over to Touya. “Just drink this and you'll—!”

 

The demon grabbed onto her wrist tightly to cause her to drop the vile in her hands. “I don't want medicine!” He growled through his clenched teeth angrily from the tenderness. “I just want this to be OVER!”

 

The nurse looked down at the demon terrified as she tried to escape his grasp. Once she managed to pull her wrist free, she hurried to the door to have the doctor open it in time to find the demon acting incredibly angry. “I don't know what is wrong, doctor!” She exclaimed as she stood by his side. “He was in pain, and I tried to get him to take the medicine to relieve it, but he got so livid!”

 

Furiously, Touya's eyes began to glow an icy blue as he created his freezing hell barrier about the room, covering everything within the room with a hard, slippery layer of ice. Dr. Sur'don stepped back, allowing the ice demon to continue his tirade, but he was still incredibly worried about his condition.

 

“If he was in pain, he is just making it worse by exerting so much power!” Dr. Sur'don explained as he watched from a safe distance as the ice master kept his boundaries up. “He needs medicine now, and he needs to settle!” With that said, he rushed towards the bedroom where the wind demon resided. He pushed open the door to allow himself inside. “Wind demon, you must come quickly!”

 

Jin spun around to look at the doctor in worry. “What is it? What is wrong?” He asked as he got up from his seat.

 

“The ice demon has thrown a tantrum over his situation and caused a freezing barrier about the room,” he explained breathlessly in panic. “I cannot get to him, and he needs his medicine if he is to have the soreness go away. Without it, he is just making things much worse than they are!”

 

Hearing this, Jin quickly got out the door and down to where his lover was suffering. He made it to the entrance to find that it was indeed frozen over by Touya's powers. Spying the ice master at the bed in such an enraged trance, he gasped at the sight. “Touya…!”

 

“Go in there and subdue him!” The nurse pleaded as she shivered from the chilly breeze emanating from the bedroom.

 

Jin continued to look out at the sight with his mouth open until finding the ability to walk into the room to face his companion. The chill in the area was awful and deadly itself as it would seem to slice through even a demon's skin just by having it caress him. He made it up to where Touya was sitting in pain. Kneeling down upon the freezing icy ground, he shook the ice master best he could. “Touya, Touya snap out of it! Touya, it is me! It is Jin!” He called to the entranced demon. Taking his hand, he slapped Touya across the face to break his concentration at the very least.

 

Touya felt the slap, causing him to blink several times to regain his usual eyesight once more and to lower his power. Panting heavily, his throat hurt him with each breath. “J-Jin…it hurts…!” He whimpered through his teeth as he tried to suppress the feelings racing through him. “My chest up…! I feel awful…make it stop!” Touya yelled. Being a demon he had never felt such pain before in his body, making him nearly go mad.

 

Jin raised his hands as if to try and get the ice master to lower his voice. “Calm down, my love,” he pleaded before looking over at the nurse. “What medicine were you going to give him?”

 

The nurse stuttered a bit as she pointed towards the medicine rack. “It is the green vile on the far right! Give him that and his pain should be taken care of in a few minutes,” she insisted through her chattering teeth as everything was still frozen over.

 

Making it over to where the medicine was being kept, Jin found it all to be frozen over. Rearing his fist back, he smashed the coat of ice upon it to get to what he needed. “Here, drink this,” Jin urged eagerly as he supported Touya's neck, placing the vile upon his lips. “It'll make it all stop; trust me.”

 

Touya accepted the medicine from Jin, knowing he was somebody he could trust. The taste unacceptable to him, the ice shinobi cringed and shook about having it roll over his taste buds. Coughing a bit from the shock of the taste, he attempted to settle though the extreme tenderness was still very much in his body. “It still hurts…!”

 

Jin rested his lips upon Touya's forehead, kissing him there with a worried expression. “Just give it a few minutes. You know how weak human medicine can sometimes be.” As Touya was trying to relax, the ice barrier soon melted away, leaving the room the temperature it was before. Jin petted his beloved's head tenderly while gazing over at the frightened humans. He could smell their fear miles away. “It is alright. He is fine now.”

 

“My goodness,” Dr. Sur'don began with a raise of his brows. “I didn't expect him to act so violently to pain. I thought demons were used to such things being warriors.”

 

“We are,” said Jin as he looked over at his trembling lover. “But, the pain varies and sometimes only lasts for a little while.” He closed his eyes before gazing up at the doctor with almost pity. “You cut open his body to see what was wrong, and he is suffering through horrible pain spasms because of the surgery. To have the inside of him actually touched, poked, and even cut at—it caused such agonizing hurt that not even he is used to. You nearly drove him mad!”

 

“Jin, he wanted this,” the doctor explained with a shrug. “What was I to do if he wanted to please your efforts so much as to accept this? I couldn't deny him the operation.” He walked closer to Jin though rather nervously to place his hand upon the wind master's shoulder. “Besides, the pain will soon be over in a week. We just have to give him that medicine regularly.”

 

Jin grumbled slightly at the human's ignorance to demons. “You better make a lot of it then. He doesn't seem to be taking this medicine very well. His body is only taking a vile of that stuff to last for a few hours, if even that. I don't think you'd want him going crazy on you both again, would you?”

 

Dr. Sur'don nodded in agreement. “I will do so. He has been having pain in weird intervals compared to humans I have treated.” The doctor looked down upon Touya with a worried frown. “I also have a few possible cures for his lung problems. I want him to start trying it when he is feeling better and on his feet. We will use each cure for a month, and if there are no improvements, I will have to move on to the next one.”

 

“Whatever you say,” Jin sighed as he turned his attention back to Touya. He continued to stroke the head of the ice master, trying to lull him back to sleep as he rested his chin upon the side of the bed to watch him closely. “I'll just stay right here until he falls back asleep. He is still suffering right now.”

 

The nurse wanted to disagree but the doctor was quick to stop her. “Go right ahead. I'll be making a few cures for him to try.” Placing his hand upon the nurse's back, he escorted her out of the room.

 

Touya began to breathe steadily, finding the agony his body went through to be lessened now. “It is feeling a bit better than before,” he panted.

 

Jin smiled up at the ice demon, wiping his forehead a little to be rid of the cold perspiration. “You shouldn't have done that. You know how easily humans scare.” He grabbed onto the covers that were on Touya to pull up to his chest, kissing the ice master on the lips he found to have been dulled from his lover fighting to stay alive. “You're still so warm,” Jin whispered on his lips. “Are you feeling alright? I know if your temperature drops, you'll be in bigger trouble.”

 

Being an ice demon, Touya had to be constantly cold. If he ever got any warmer, he would start throwing up and feeling incredibly weak. Touya looked over at Jin out of the corner of his eye for a moment, taking in a deep breath with a nod. “My body is just trying to adjust to this. My temperature isn't any cause for concern.”

 

Jin thought about the poetry book Piper had taught him a few things with. “Oh, I have something for you.” He pulled out the book he had in his keeping to open to one of the poems Piper had taught him to read. “I found this one that reminds me of you that you may like. Here, I can read it to you. It is called Moonlit Sky.”

 

Casting its beauty

Upon the golden sky,

Clouds glow in the dusk

As I look into your alluring icy eyes.

With harmony the ocean cries

The sun is fading away.

The water shimmers

In a crystal display.

 

While the darkness

Of night flows into the day,

A symbol of love

You take from my hand;

A rose colored red

and we lay in the sand.

I whisper I love you

With waves crashing on shore.

 

To breathe the cool air off your lips

As you softly tell me I'm yours;

Our hearts have found peace

Under the moonlit sky,

Knowing forever in paradise

We're holding each other

Close enough to collide

Like two lonely stars in the night.

 

Touya smiled wearily as he listened to Jin's words. “That is very sweet,” he whispered between the two of them. “And you read that by yourself. I am very impressed, Jin.”

 

Jin blushed a bit as he smiled in return. “I am glad you liked it.” He closed the poetry book not knowing of the other poems as he was unable to read too well on his own yet. It took him just memorizing that poem himself to be able to read it entirely. “Piper is helping me read a bit. You know, just in case you ever want me to read to you…” His voice trailed off a bit as he was thinking about the darker side of the situation to where Touya would be unable to read for himself.

 

He could sense the concern in the wind demon's voice making Touya reach over to touch Jin's lower arm. “Jin, I don't plan on dying anytime soon.” The ice master was relieved to catch at least a smile from his companion at that moment, even if it was a weary one. “But, I have to say, I am glad that you decided to learn to read.” Touya turned his head slightly to gaze at Jin out of the corner of his eye. “Maybe I can share my books with you now.”

 

“But you still plan on dying…right?” When Touya looked up at the ceiling without a response, Jin's ears faltered before getting to his feet. “Well, I guess I better get out of here so you can rest. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. They wanted me mainly in here to calm you down so you didn't really hurt yourself.” He leaned down to kiss the ice demon upon the cheek. “Try to get some sleep. I have some reading to catch up on.”

 

Touya closed his eyes upon receiving the kiss. “That won't be a problem once I get settled. The medicine needs to start working soon. Hopefully it will within the next few minutes,” he grunted as he shifted about in his bed. With that said, Jin turned to take his leave of the bedroom. Touya felt kind of bad for not responding to his comment about his pending death. “Hey, Jin?” The ice master called, catching the wind demon at the doorway. “When you get the chance—I should be better by next week they said—so if you could get some of the books around here, I would like to read them with you sometime.”

 

The notion made Jin feel a bit better as he tapped his fingers against the doorframe. “Alright, I will be sure to do that. I promise.” He paused for a moment. “I love you.” Jin finally stepped out of the room and into the hallway, gazing at the nurse and doctor that wanted to stay for a moment longer to make sure everything was indeed fine. “He's okay now. He should be alright until that medicine wears off again.”

 

“Thank you, demon,” Dr. Sur'don said with a slight bow. He stopped Jin from continuing on his way as he extended his hand as if to touch him. “Do not worry about your companion. I will try my hardest to find some cure.”

 

Jin looked over his shoulder through the scone lit hallways with a raise of his brow. “I thank you in return, and I am holding you to that promise.” He could see the fear in the nurse and the doctor's eyes causing him to sigh with a brief smile. “Please, I don't mean to sound as if I am putting your life on the line. I just pray you can pull through.”

 

Dr. Sur'don settled a bit. “Demons pray?”

 

“They do in such circumstances, when they share a strong feeling for another,” responded the wind demon as he headed back to the room he was offered with his head lowered.