Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Between Death and Reality ❯ Bloodied Scratches ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I still don't own YYH.

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Bloody Scratches

 

 

Hiei's eyes snapped open and he gasped in surprise. His vision blurred in front of him. Placing his hands on the branch on either side of him to avoid falling from the tree, he blinked against the fog clouding his vision and turned to Kurama's window. He had heard his name cried out, but whether it was in the dream or after he had woken up he was not sure of. Looking in the window, he saw Kurama had finally awakened as well. The red-head was panting, sitting up in bed with a spooked expression on his face. His mother must have heard his exclamation, as she rushed to his side.

 

Hiei frowned. There was something wrong with that experience and he intended to get to the bottom of it before it did some real damage to Kurama. But first, though he was loath to admit it, he needed to speak with Koenma.

 

 

“Suuichi!” Shiori exclaimed when she heard her son cry something out in his sleep. What did he say…? Hiei? The red-head had jerked upright in bed, eyes wide with emotion, and breathing shallow and quick. Motherly instinct immediately kicked in as she rushed to her son's side. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and he flinched before turning to face her, the source of the contact.

 

“M… Mother?” he asked in a timid voice through his ragged breathing. His tone surprised her. Timid was not the type of person her son was. He was a strong individual, that much Shiori could feel without any maternal connection. Hearing his voice sound so unsure was enough to unnerve her.

 

“Yes, Suuichi, it's me. I'm right here,” she said reassuringly. He paused for a minute, as if assessing the situation, before nodding. There was a little bit of her son, at least. Shiori pulled the boy into her arms; he tensed at first, but then, realizing her intentions, melted into the embrace. She could feel his beating heart as she held him. His face was wet with sweat and his skin was fire to the touch. But she could feel him relaxing in her embrace, so made no move to break it. Only when he was ready would she break the embrace. Finally, after his heartbeat and breathing had slowed, he pulled himself from her arms. Blinking a few times, he looked at her. Panic seemed to be returning to cool logic; a sign that he was returning to his normal self.

 

“Are you alright, Suuichi?” Shiori asked finally. He nodded.

 

“I didn't wake you, did I?” he asked, sounding concerned.

 

“No, no. I was coming back from the bathroom,” she replied smoothly, waving off her son's misplaced concern.

 

“Okay,” he said, sounding unsure of what to say next.

 

“How long have you been having these nightmares?” Shiori asked suddenly. She figured that while his barriers were down would be the best chance to get any sort of answer out of him. Emerald eyes blinked in surprise at the blunt question.

 

“I…” he began unsteadily. He glanced around his room, as if his furniture would hold the answers he was looking for.

 

“You told my tonight at dinner that you weren't having nightmares,” Shiori said softly. He grimaced.

 

“Mother, I…”

 

“No, it's alright. I'm just worried about you.” She stood up. “But you know you can tell me anything, Suuichi. I love you.”

 

“I… I love you too, Mother.” When it became apparent he was going to say no more on the subject, Shiori nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.

 

 

Hiei sat on the roof of Yusuke's apartment, holding a small mirror in his hands. It had been rather easy to sneak into the Urameshi apartment and take the communication device from Yusuke's room. The Detective had slept on, blissfully unaware of the demon searching through his room. Fool sleeps like the dead. I could have easily killed him… if I had no honor.

 

Flipping open the mirror, the screen showed static for a moment before Botan's face appeared on it. She looked surprised at seeing Hiei's face on the other end.

 

“Hiei?”

 

“Hn.”

 

“Is something wrong? Where's Yusuke?”

 

“Sleeping like a baby in his bed.”

 

“Then why…?”

 

“I need to speak with Koenma,” he broke in.

 

“With Koenma?” Her voice was incredulous.

 

“Yes. I assure you, I would not have called unless it was of the utmost importance.”

 

“Good point. Hold on, I'll put you through.” A moment later, Botan's face disappeared and was replaced with Koenma's.

 

“Hiei? What is it that's so important?”

 

“Is Karasu dead?” Hiei demanded bluntly. Koenma blinked several times before registering the question. He frowned.

 

“Of course Karasu is dead. You were there when it happened. We both were.”

 

“Are you absolutely sure he's dead?” Hiei pressed.

 

“Of course I'm sure. I sentenced him myself.”

 

“Check,” Hiei demanded.

 

“Hiei, I…”

 

“Check,” the fire demon said once more. Koenma sighed.

 

“Fine, if it will make you happy…”

 

“Ecstatic,” Hiei droned. “Now check.” Koenma grumbled under his breath for a few moments as he searched through a stack of papers. Finally, he came across the one he was looking for. He looked back up at Hiei.

 

“Would you like a visual as proof?” Hiei blinked.

 

“You can do that?”

 

“In this case yes.”

 

“Then do it.” Koenma pressed a button on his desk and the communicator screen switched to a black and white image of what looked to be a jail cell. It seemed to be a security camera capture. A lone figure sat inside the cell: Karasu. Or more precisely, his soul. The screen switched back to Koenma.

 

“Karasu was sentenced to the Reikai Prisoner for Criminal Souls when he died. You saw his soul in his cell. So yes, I'm sure he's dead.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Now I have a question,” Koenma said. Hiei frowned. “Why was this of `the utmost importance'? Why did you need to check on a death you were present for?”

 

Doing his best to keep his tone toward the one who held his fate in his hands civil, Hiei explained his experience in Kurama's dream. Koenma frowned as the explanation finished.

 

“And you're sure it wasn't Kurama's subconscious that pulled you into the dream?” the Prince of Spirit World asked.

 

“Positive. I was only a spectator, on the outer edges of his mind. There was an external influence,” Hiei replied briskly.

 

“And it took the form of Karasu.” Hiei nodded. “I don't know what to tell you, but I'll look into it. Now I suggest you consult Genkai.”

 

“I'll do what I must,” Hiei said gruffly and closed the mirror. He continued to watch the stars in the sky. Something strange is going on here and I don't like it.

 

 

Kurama listened as his alarm went off. He groaned to himself. Another long day that followed another long night.

 

 

“So, what's this about, Grandma?” Yusuke demanded. The Spirit Detective, Kuwabara, and Hiei had gathered in Genkai's temple.

 

“Ask Hiei,” the psychic replied. Yusuke and Kuwabara immediately turned to the fire demon.

 

“Well?” Yusuke asked. Hiei suddenly shoved something in his face, and Yusuke backed away in surprise. “What the hell?” Looking down at the object in Hiei's hand, he realized it was his Communication Mirror.

 

“This is yours,” Hiei said.

 

“Where did you get this?”

 

“From your room,” Hiei replied.

 

“What?”

 

“You sleep like the dead,” Hiei snorted. Yusuke glared as he took the mirror, but Hiei merely ignored it.

 

“”Why isn't Kurama here?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“Because this is about him,” Genkai said.

 

“What?” Yusuke frowned before his eyes widened in realization. “Is this about why he's been acting so weird lately?”

 

“Yes,” Hiei replied.

 

“Well?”

 

Hiei related his experience in Kurama's dream and his conversation with Koenma to Yusuke and Kuwabara, as he had already done so to Genkai. It had been her idea to call the two dimwits to the temple as well.

 

“So, something is messing with Kurama's head,” Yusuke said. Hiei nodded.

 

“What are we supposed to do about it?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“I'm not so sure there is anything we can do at this point,” Genkai replied.

 

“So we're just going to let Kurama suffer?” Yusuke demanded. He was very protective of his friends, so it hurt him when he could not do anything to help them.

 

“Do you have any other ideas?” Hiei growled. Yusuke grimaced. He realized this must be frustrating to Hiei as well. Kurama was his closest friend and ally, and he had the mental powers, but could do nothing either.

 

“Hiei, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…” Hiei cut off Yusuke's apology with a wave of his hand.

 

“It's not important right now.” The fire demon frowned.

 

“There has to be something,” Kuwabara muttered.

 

“Dreams belong solely to the realm of the person that is having them,” Genkai said. “It is up to the person who is having them to overcome the effects.”

 

“Even if their mind is being messed with,” Yusuke grumbled.

 

“Yes, dimwit. There is nothing we can do except give him support right now.”

 

“And make sure other demons don't know he's vulnerable,” Hiei cut in.

 

“This could be complicated,” Kuwabara said.

 

“Hey, this is Kurama we're talking about,” Yusuke cut in. “He can handle himself.”

 

I hope so, Hiei thought as he looked out the window.

 

 

Kurama slowly made his way home from school. His strides were slow as his thoughts were elsewhere. The fox could not get his thoughts off of Hiei's appearance in his dream the night before. Had Hiei actually been present or was he just dreaming of his friends now? The logical conclusion was that he was merely dreaming of his friends. However, Kurama could not completely accept that. There was something about the expression on the fire demon's face when he had appeared. It was as if he had been pulled in against his will. But how was that possible? Things were not adding up and Kurama hated not knowing.

 

As he walked down the street toward his home, he could not help but feel he was being watched. There was no unusual energy he could sense, but the hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to rise. He had been having that feeling more and more often lately. It was not Hiei following him, that much he was sure of. Hiei would not give off an aura like the one he was feeling. But there was nothing around. It was a strange feeling. And somehow, it was familiar. But from where, Kurama could not place.

 

 

Slipping into bed several hours later, Kurama felt that familiar feeling of being watched. It was becoming more and more pronounced as of late. But he could not pinpoint the source. Shaking off the feeling as a result of his tiredness, the red-head turned the light off and rested his head against his pillow. His thoughts were spinning. Would his dreams be haunted again? He was getting to the point where he was debating whether to even go to bed at night, but the fact was, he was exhausted. Before his thoughts could go any further, they began to slip from his grasp as consciousness left him. As the darkness of sleep began to embrace him, he felt a dark presence near him. But the realization came too late as sleep came.

 

He ran as fast as he could, fear racing through his pounding heart. He sped onward as fast as his legs would take him, but it still did not seems fast enough. Despite the turmoil in his heart, he was not even sure what he was running from; but he knew whatever it was would kill him if it caught him. This primitive fear kept him running.

 

The scenery suddenly changed and he found himself running in a dense forest. The branches whipped across his face as he ran past, leaving bloodied scratches. Blind fear kept him running, leaping over tree trunks and other obstacles in his path. As he jumped over a felled trunk, his landing foot came in contact with the underside of another felled log; he was sent sprawling onto his face. Only, the ground beneath him seemed to melt.

 

He felt himself falling through an oppressive blackness. He felt his body make contact with a hard ground, face first once again. Blinking against the sudden intense aching all over his body, he realized he was in a cement ring. The roars of a blood-lusting crowd forced the harsh reality to sink in, as he felt the warm stickiness of blood, his blood, touching his skin. The stench of his own blood was overpowering to his senses.

 

Before he could push himself to his feet, he felt a hand grasp his hair and violently pull him upward. He hissed in pain as his vision blurred. He closed his eyes against the pain-induced dizziness. When he was finally able to open them again, his eyes met a pair of red-tinted violet ones that sent a shiver down his spine. This is what he had been running from. Death.

 

“Bang,” a soft, but malicious voice whispered into his ear, and his world erupted in a white hot pain, then darkness descended.

 

Kurama bolted upright in bed, his breathing shallow and quick. He realized he smelt blood; his blood. He threw up a hand to his face and felt a warm stickiness. Probing the area, he realized there was a bloody scratch on his cheek. He gasped. The same spot as in my dream. From the trees. But, how is that possible? He shook his head. No, I must have scratched it while I was sleeping. I was probably thrashing around and scratched it like that. Once more, he felt a hint of that dark aura he had felt before he fell asleep. Grappling with the lamp at his bedside, he finally turned the switch on. Emerald eyes searched the bedroom and found nothing out of the ordinary. Kurama hated what he could not explain through logic.

 

Kurama put a hand back to the bloodied scratch on his cheek and sighed. He stood up and quietly went to the bathroom to wash it out.

 

 

Hiei frowned from his perch on his branch outside the fox's window. He was frowning. No, that didn't come from you thrashing around, fox. But where did it come from?

 

 

Once again, the fire demon sat atop Yusuke's apartment building, the Detective's Communication Mirror in hand. The fool really needed to be more aware of his surroundings. Opening it, Botan's face once more appeared on the screen after a moment of static.

 

“Hiei? Oh dear, is this about Kurama again?”

 

“Hn.”

 

“Alright, I'll put Koenma through.” A moment later, Koenma's concerned face appeared in place of Botan's.

 

“Hiei?”

 

“He had another dream tonight,” Hiei said.

 

“I see. Unfortunately, we don't have anything new on dream stalkers,” Koenma replied.

 

“Tonight he woke up with a scratch on his face.”

 

“What?”

 

“In his dream he ran through a forest and had branches whipping against his face. Tonight, he woke up with a scratch on his face,” Hiei replied testily.

 

“Is that even possible?”

 

“You tell me.”

 

“We'll get on that.”

 

“Hn.” Hiei closed the mirror. The stars did not seem quite as bright tonight. There was something ominous on the air.

 

 

Author's Note: Sorry this one is shorter that the last one, but I couldn't think of another thing to add to it. Your reviews were very motivating, so please, keep them coming. They do wonders for my writing ethic.