Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Ghost Story ❯ Ghost Story ( Prologue )

Ghost Story

"Let the trial begin."

Words can be so simple, yet have such complex meanings. These words are the beginning of my demise. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and they will pin this heinous crime on me.

"We shall start with the evidence against the defendant. To begin the defendant was the last to see and speak to the deceased," they said. I wish they wouldn't refer to him as an it. "His whereabouts at the time of the death are also sketchy. The defendant has no motive. We shall start the defendant's interrogation."

I rose to my feet. I have been bound and warded by the ones who I called friends. They do not believe that I did not kill him. They do not believe me. My body feels as though it weighs a tone, but I move as I usually do and go to the stand. Even the Reikai trials are similar to those in the Ningenkai. I remember him showing me a court proceeding once…

"Hiei, you are accused of the murder of Shuiichi Minamino, otherwise known as Youko Kurama."

I'm not quite sure when I found out that he was dead. I know that I had talked to him the day before and had left. I was in the Makai when Yusuke caught up to me. He wasn't friendly in the least when he tackled, bound and warded me. He wasn't even gentle. I remember he had tears running down his face and he kept muttering something. He had kicked me and punched me repetitively and I had wondered why. I let him though, for one I was bound, for two he seemed to need it.

~"How could you?!" he finally yelled at me, once he found his voice to speak.

"Do what?!" I yelled right back. I was indignant. I didn't like being tied up by one whom I considered close to me.

"How could you kill him Hiei?!" Yusuke shouted. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Kill who?" I asked a bit quieter, I had a feeling I wouldn't like the answer.

"Kurama!!" I blinked. ~

"You are accused of the murder of Shuiichi Minamino, otherwise known as Youko Kurama. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I didn't do it."

"Where were you exactly five days ago?"

"Ningenkai. I was visiting Kurama."

"And where were you the next day?"

"Makai. I had to report back in with Mukuro."

"I see. What did you do at Kurama's?"

"I just talked with him."

"About what?"

"About life. About the past, the future, the present."

"I see."

"Stop saying that."

"Did he do anything to make you mad at him?"

"No."

"Did you have any sort of grudge with him?"

"No."

"When did you leave, exactly?"

"I left his apartment at nine pm."

"I see."

"I told you to stop that."

"That is all for the present, Koenma sir."

"Thank you Mr. Prosecutor. We will recess until tomorrow. Yusuke, I want you to take Hiei to Kurama's apartment and have him spend the night there."

"No!" I shouted before I could stop myself.

"Are you afraid of the ghost of the person you killed for once in your life?" Yusuke taunted me. I felt crushed and hurt. I always knew it was too good to be true. Another person I let in had backstabbed me… but he never did…

"I…" I tried to say.

"It doesn't matter what you say Hiei," Koenma boomed. I looked up at the teenaged form of the godling. He sat in his judges robes on his pedestal on high. "You are the prisoner now, and my wish is final. Take him away Yusuke."

~*~

I now sit in the one place I can no longer stand to be: his apartment. I sit on his bed, in his room. I cannot hold back the grief for long. It will consume me in the room that was once his.

<<I watch the western sky

The sun is sinking

The geese are flying south

It sets me thinking>>

I guess I never realized how much he meant to me until he was gone. I never really knew that he had gotten past all my walls, all my defenses, everything. He surely was the king of thieves.

<<I did not miss you much

I did not suffer

What did not kill me

Just made me stronger>>

When Yusuke had told me, it didn't hurt me like this. I thought that he would become youko once again and we would be free of Koenma and could do what we wanted in the Makai. But Yusuke had told me that he was truly dead, that he did not turn into youko again. I still felt nothing. This would be another person who left me to fend for myself; it was the perfect way to become stronger. It would help get rid of those weak feelings.

<<I feel the winter come

His icy sinews,

Now in the firelight

The case continues>>

I guess it's fitting that you died in winter, Kurama. It is the season where all your plants are dead. It fits to a key. It is the perfect weather for something so cold to happen in.

"Let's go Hiei. The trial is beginning again," Yusuke tells me. He pulls me to my feet and to the court.

<<Another night in court

The same old trial

The same old questions asked

The same denial>>

I once again sit in the interrogation chair. I once again get asked if I killed you. And I deny it. For the first time I learn how you died.

"Were you the one who, ever so carefully, took his sword and murdered Kurama? Are you the one who took that sword, pushed it through Kurama's stomach, pulled it up and through his ribs? Are you the one who nail his hands and feet to a tree in the park, letting him hang there and bleed? Are you the one who took advantage of his body before the crime?"

"Why would I do such a thing?! I didn't kill him!" I shout fervently.

<<The shadows close me round

Like jury members

I look for answers in

The fire's embers>>

Darkness is closing in on me. It is circling round me and moving in for the kill. The darkness wishes to make it hurt as I leave. It wishes to make me suffer. I look for the answers to the questions circling my mind, but I find no answers.

<<Why was I missing then

That whole December?

I give my usual line,

I don't remember>>

"Where were you at the time of death?"

"How am I supposed to know!!? I was heading towards Mukuro's palace! That's all I know!"

"Where were you?!"

"I don't know!!!"

<<Another winter comes

His icy fingers creep

Into these bones of mine

These memories never sleep

And all these differences>>

It's just another cold night in your room. The window is open. For once in my life I feel the cold. I feel the cold wrap its arms around me and pull me close. I feel the cold put its fingers to my heart and tug at the strings. I can't help but remember what we have done in this room over the years. I can see everything that we've gone through together.

<<A cloak I borrowed

We kept our distances

Why should it follow that

I must have loved you? >>

I kept my distance from you. I didn't want to get close. I borrowed that cloak of indifference and aloofness. I didn't want to get hurt again. You tried the same thing, but ended up caring. Or did you never fight it? Why did I have to have cared for you? Why did these feelings have to make it harder?

<<What is the force that binds the stars?

I wore this mask to hide my scars

What is the power that pulls the tide?

Never could find a place to hide>>

How do those stars stay aloof and far away? Why couldn't I have been one of them? I tried so hard to be like a star. To hide everything. To hide my scared emotions, to hide me. But I couldn't help but open up to you.

<<What moves the earth around the sun?

What could I do but run and run and run?

Afraid to love, afraid to fail

A mast without a sail>>

It is like the earth's orbit. The sun pulls it to it and keeps it at its side. I tried to fight you, my sun, but this earth could no more escape than the earth. I was afraid to let you in. I was afraid that you would hurt me too. I tried, but I failed.

<<The moon's a fingernail

And slowly sinking

Another day begins

And now I'm thinking>>

I can see the moon. It's small. It is just a silver sliver in the sky. I cannot help but think that that is how much of a chance I have to get out of your murder. I know not how to get out. Yusuke pulls me out and to the court again.

<<That this indifference

Was my invention

When everything I did

Sought your attention>>

I was the one who kept you apart. I was afraid, I was afraid of something that could never happen. I was just blind to your feelings. But I tried to gain you. I know that now. I know that everything I did was to capture you to me. I wanted to believe in something. I wanted to make you the exception to the rule that keeps people hurting me. I wanted to make it so that you could not leave me.

<<You were my compass star

You were my measure

You were a pirate's map

Of buried treasure>>

You were my everything. You were my salvation. You were the one thing that kept me alive. You were the thing that kept everything together. You were the one thing I needed in my life to make it good. You were the one who made me feel excepted. You were the one who made me feel wanted. You made me feel. Why couldn't I see it?!

"I'm going to ask you one more time…" my eyes are stinging. I blink them to get the sensation away. It doesn't work. Something cold rolls down my cheek.

<<If this was all correct

The last thing I'd expect

The prosecution rests

It's time that I confessed

I must have loved you>>

I know that this is all true. I can feel it in my soul. I know what I feel now. My walls have fallen down.

"Did you kill him?"

I love you.

"How could I kill him?! Why would I kill him?!" I blink away angry tears and stare at the prosecutor.

"Answer the question."

<<I must have loved you>>

"I could never have hurt him! He is my best friend! He is my deepest confidant! He is the light of my day! He is that shinning thing we all look for! How could I take that away?! How could I murder the only happiness I've ever known?! How would I be able to bear the pain of his murder when I'm having so much trouble with just his loss?!"

<<I must have loved you>>

"Why would I take away something so precious?" they all stare at me now. I know that I must look a wreck. Tears stream from my eyes. I stand now, passion in my eyes. "Why would I kill the one I love?!!!"

<<I must have loved you

I must have loved you

I must have loved you>>

Author's notes: My apologies for another angst. But this song was too perfect to pass up. It's an interesting plot. Very different from most fics. I mean, that probably would be the way Hiei found out that he loved Kurama, only when it was too late. But maybe not. It's an interesting concept to ponder. Even though its angst, I hope you liked it and will review. I love hearing what you have to say. It's nice to get others opinions of my works. If you have any suggestions for a topic for any kind of fic that you'd think I could write, don't hesitate to tell me. I will try anything once. Hope you liked it, again. See you next fic!