Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Book of Sands ❯ Book Of Sands ( Chapter 1 )

Book of Sands

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama were all gathered at Yusuke's house one slow Friday night. Having nothing better to do, Yusuke and Kuwabara and been having a caffeine contest, and had both become so spun out that they were on the verge of passing out. Hiei was sitting quietly as ever, having participated about half way through the sugar fest, and was in the rock bottom stage that all sugar high people must hit eventually. Kurama had just stood by and refereed, and was the only sane one by this time.

"Hey, I have an idea." Yusuke said from his place on the couch. "Lets tell some stories."

"What kind of stories?" Kuwabara asked.

"How about…the weirdest thing that ever happened to you." Yusuke said after a minute of pondering. "Who wants to go first? Hiei?" said fire demon glared. "Ok, how about Kurama?"

"I suppose. Let me think, the strangest thing that ever happened to me…" The room fell into silence as he pondered. Yusuke and Kuwabara scooted a little closer to their newfound story teller, and Hiei took a seat at the far end of the couch.

"Ah, I know. It was when I was traveling with my parents last summer. We went to Cairo, Egypt, for a week. One day I was wandering around the market place by myself, just looking around and listening to the music and babble.

"Suddenly I was stopped by a old man, peering out of a worn out hut, somewhat back from the street. A filthy canvas covered the entrance to his tiny wooded house, his shriveled face squinting in the sun reminded me of a dried apricot. When he spoke, I noticed his teeth were a motley assortment of yellows and blacks, and from my distance of at least 3 yards away, I could smell is breath, and it turned my stomach. "Come here," he said, beckoning to me with one wrinkled finger. I simply stood there, having no idea what he could possibly want with me. "I want to show you something." He stated, glancing around fearfully, as though he didn't want anyone but me to here what he had to say.

"I hesitated, but curiosity overrode caution and I stepped forward. 'After all,' I told myself, 'Curiosity may have killed that cat, but satisfaction brought her back. Or, fox that is.' At my acceptance the little man vanished inside, and as I neared the hovel I could hear him inside, mumbling. Touching as little of the filthy canvas doorway as I could, I lifted up the makeshift door and stepped inside. As the canvas dropped behind me and my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I was surprised at the cleanliness of the interior. Two simple wooden chairs faced each other in one corner, and in the other was a pile of blankets that, with some imagination, could be called a bed. Along the back wall were rows and rows of shelves covered with everything conceivable. Books stood in neat rows on some shelves, and others were covered in a collage of junk, a stuffed pigeon, an old trumpet, I felt like I was in a garage sale.

"The man was rummaging on a shelf at about head height, mumbling and cursing to himself. From my position across the room I only caught bits and pieces of what he was saying. "Where could've that damn thing gone mumble mumble had it around here mumble mumble stupid mumble." As I stood there, wondering what to do now that I'd gotten myself into this, he suddenly cackled gleefully, making me jump. Cursing myself silently for my foolishness I watched as the mad came scurrying back over to me, hiding something in the folds f his soiled robes. "Sit, sit, sit." He said, beckoning to one of the chairs. I sat hesitantly, and the chair creaked uncomfortably. He took the other and leaned in close to me, eyes darting, as though fearing what he was about to say. I noticed that he was very wrinkled and dried out looking, much like a living piece of mummified human.

"He fidgeted as he worked out what he was going to say, and looked much like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Finally, he took a deep breath and said: "This is going to sound rather strange to you. When I was a young man I traveled the world, looking for grand and exiting things to occupy my life with. One of these things was this." From his robes he pulled a very interesting, yet old looking book. It was bound in red leather, with stitching for the spine, and had not title. He held it out to me, and I took it carefully. "This book is called the Book of Sands, because like the sand, it has no beginning and no end. Go on, open it."

"I did as he asked, and found myself staring at a page full of print in a language I did not know, and have never been able to learn. On the right corner of each page there was a three digit number, and on the left corner of each page was a five digit number. The numbers didn't have any outward connection, and as I continued to look, I noticed a small drawing of a snake, like the illustrations in dictionaries.

"Take a good look at that picture." The man said. "You'll never see it again." I didn't understand how that could be possible, and so I marked my place and closed the book. Exactly one second later I opened it to the exact same place, and there was no snake. I searched the whole page, but to no avail. It had simply vanished. I flipped pages in either direction to see if I had some how opened up to the wrong page, but I couldn't find it. Back to the original page, and I noticed that the numbers in each corner had changed. Where as the original numbers had been, oh say, 144, and 20763, the new number was 188, and 35344. I couldn't believe it.

"Now try to find the beginning." He encouraged. So I shut the book and opened to the page directly behind the cover. It fell open to a page entitled: 'Hana o Pei'. "There, it is ending and beginning." I said, satisfied that I had discovered the trick to this book. "No, look again." He said. I glanced down to find that another 20 or so pages had appeared were there had only been the cover moments before, and the title page ha been replaced with a page full of text. "How is this….I don't" I started to say. But the man interrupted me. "The same thing will happen if you flip to the end. This is no trick or illusion. I have taken many days and nights trying to discover what makes this book so, and I have failed. I'm going to give this to you. Perhaps you can solve its mysteries."

"I sat there, dumbfounded. But just as the man finished his speech he was behind me, lifting and pushing at me with an inhuman strength. "But, sir, I." I vainly tried to argue with him as he shoved me toward the door. "No!" He said loudly. "This book belongs to you now. I will not take a refusal for an answer!" And with that he shoved me out the door, and into the hot afternoon.

"I spun around immediately, but my vision was blocked by a sudden rush of people. I pushed my way through them, trying to get to the hovel. Finally I was through, but there was no house, no strange little man. Just an empty spot in the display of booths. I was in shock, and would have simply written it off as a day dream, accept for the book that I clutched in my hand. "The Book of Sands." I whispered. "Never ending, never beginning."

Kurama paused in his story to gather his thoughts, and Yusuke interrupted. "So where is this book now?"

"If you would be so kind as to let me finish, you will find out." Kurama said gently. Yusuke settled back into his stupor.

"So I had the Book of Sands, this story that never begins and ends. I made my way back through the crowded market place slowly, still in a half shock about what had just taken a 15 minute chunk of my life. I finally made it back to the hotel that my family and I were staying in, only to find that they had been waiting for me so we could go to dinner. I hid the book between the mattresses in the bed I was sleeping in, not sure I wanted to know my mother and stepfather's reaction to it.

"After eating, we returned to the hotel, and my parents turned in for a early night. I pulled the book out as soon as they had fallen asleep, a pad of paper I had brought for drawing, and a pen, and made my way to the now vacated lobby. Sitting down, I opened the book to the cover again, determined to figure out how the trick worked. I watched the cover like a hawk, and nothing happened. Suddenly I sneezed, and when I opened my eyes, the pages were there. "Ok," I said to myself. "The pages will only show up once you look away." I opened my notebook to a clean page and made a note of that fact. Then I started flipping through the book, making notes along the way.

"I became obsessed with understanding the book. Over the next few months of sleepless nights studying, I discovered the following things; The little illustrations appeared every 2,000 pages. I made notes of every picture, and never, ever saw the same one again. The number did have a connection, if you squared the three digit number you got the five digit one. What that importance was I never figured out.

"Even during the night, when my bouts of insomnia faded, I dreamed of the book. Bit by bit, I realized that this book was a monstrosity. I had become completely obsessed, and rarely left my room, even for five minutes, because the book would call me back, like some invisible thread tugging at my soul. I finally decided to destroy it.

"Originally I planned to use fire, but did not know what the smoke and ashes of such a powerful object would do to the world, so I had to come up with something else. Then an answer presented itself for me. I was called up to Spirit World by Koenma. While waiting to be shown in I snuck into the archives, which has uncountable volumes and books. I wandered into some of the farthest reaches of the room, where the light began to fade, and lost the Book of Sands upon a shelf.

"Wow…" Yusuke said.

"I have a question." Hiei said suddenly.

"Yes, what is it Hiei?" Kurama looked at his short friend.

"If you were so obsessed, how was it possible for you to lose that book so easily?"

"It wasn't, actually. I went back and forth, around the shelf, and almost picked it up again. That invisible cord was pulling with a new force, and I was almost powerless against it. But one of the ogers came and rushed me to see Koenma, and I had no chance to get it before I left. I think that that was the only way I was able to let go."

"That was defiantly bazaar." Yusuke said. Hiei and Kuwabara nodded.

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This is the first story in a set of four. I plan to update asap.