Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Hint of Peridot ❯ Chapter 1: The Choice is Made ( Chapter 1 )

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Major alternative pairing alert! Major alternative pairing alert! I'm not telling since that would spoil the surprise until you get to the end, but I think this is about as alternative as can be and still remain in the het non-crossover category. Actually, I can think of others but none so pretty.

 

And if anyone has seen this pairing before, please let me know! I'd be very grateful since, after having first seen the YYH series two years ago, I've always had a secret liking for this pairing which, with this fic, isn't so much a secret anymore.

 

Keep an open mind and I hope you'll eek some enjoyment from this!

 

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Chapter One: The Choice is Made

 

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He stepped into the room and the entrance closed behind him, immediately casting him into darkness with not even the faintest flickers of light. However, he was not afraid. There was little that could be done to him now that hadn't already been done and not even the threat of eternal pain could shake him.

 

Welcome.

 

The voice echoed from all around him, indistinct and genderless but reeking of a subdued power. The setting, the voice - they were all designed to intimidate but he was not cowed by any of it. Nevertheless, he dropped to one knee and bowed, a universal gesture of subservience and respect.

 

To gain what he wanted, he could play along a little bit.

 

You know why you are here.

 

It was presented as a statement, not a question. But he treated it as such, answering aloud. He spoke calmly, betraying none of his true thoughts, though his words did not echo through the room as did those of the other.

 

“Yes. I have an idea.”

 

Then you know you have a choice to make.

 

“Yes.”

 

Will you accept? Even knowing that you will be less than you were?

 

“Yes.”

 

Then we shall proceed.

 

“What about my conditions?”

 

We have not forgotten. But nothing can be done until a decision is made. Ultimately, the choice shall be hers. No one will be allowed to influence her decision, not us, not you. It shall be hers and hers alone. And if her choice goes against you…

 

“I understand. Just let her decide then.”

 

Very well. We will make the arrangements.

 

Beneath his mask, he smiled.

 

oOoOoOo

 

She was dreaming.

 

She knew she was dreaming because real life would never have seen her in a room filled with a blackness that would have been total if not for the dozens of rows of glowing…well, she didn't know what they were but they were definitely glowing in a myriad of colors on either side of her. Different shades of red, blue, purple, orange, yellow, and green globes, each no bigger than the size of a golf ball, were suspended in mid-air and illuminated the dark in a gentle pulsing light imbued with their distinctive colors. If night had swallowed a rainbow, she imagined that this would be what the insides would be like.

 

Which actually really wasn't a very pleasant imagery at all.

 

Frowning, she couldn't recall ever having such a strange dream before. Maybe it was something she ate. She'd heard that eating the wrong thing before bedtime could cause odd dreams and that tofu at dinner had tasted a bit more sour than it was supposed to, a sure sign that it was on the verge of spoiling or already spoiled. Next time, she'd have to make sure that -

 

Welcome, Yukimura Keiko.

 

She gasped, whirling around. But there was no one there, or anywhere else where she cast her eyes.

 

Do not be alarmed.

 

Easier said than done, she thought, eyes still searching for the source of that mysterious voice that somehow knew her name.

 

We mean you no harm.

 

We? As in more than one? Great, just great.

 

We offer you a choice. A selection.

 

“What kind of choice?” she asked aloud, warily. “And why me?”

 

We have been watching you.

 

A voyeuristic voice? Wonderful.

 

And we have judged you worthy.

 

“Worthy for what?”

 

To choose a path. Your path.

 

“My path to what?”

 

As if in answer, the multi-colored globes shifted, the dozens of glowing rows breaking apart only to form a circle around her. They pulsed in their varying hues, some glowing more brilliantly than others as they floated in the air around her, waiting.

 

Now, please, Yukimura Keiko. Choose your path.

 

She shrugged. It was just a dream after all. Apparently, for this one, she'd have to pick one of the colorful balls before the dream would end. What would it hurt to play along?

 

Within that ring of gentle pulsing rainbow lights, she pivoted slowly, turning in a full circle so as to be able to cast her eyes upon each multi-colored globe at least once. It was odd, but some of them seemed to hold more…familiarity to her than others did. She wasn't sure what to make of that; perhaps it was just her imagination again manifesting itself in strange ways through her dreams.

 

No more sour tofu for her anymore, that was for sure.

 

Her hand reached out, hovering over a globe that held the strongest pull for her, pulsing brightly with a blue so pale it was almost white. Still, she hesitated, her eyes briefly flickering to another that shone just as strong with a vibrant orange. But, instead of orange, her hand shifted again until it came to a stop over a globe that swirled with glittering silver. However, that too she passed over and went on, only to pause at another that was radiating fiercely with a dark violet flame.

 

That one seemed to hold the most appeal to her for some reason. Maybe due to the contradictions she could sense from it. As her palm hovered over that pulsing violet gem, her skin could feel the contradictory temperatures it seemed to emit. Icy cool one moment, nearly searing hot the next.

 

Fascinating.

 

She curled her hand, ready to cup it, when she froze as a faint glimmer in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Why it did, she couldn't say. There was certainly nothing truly striking about it for it glowed with less brilliancy than the others, was almost dull and lackluster in comparison.

 

Peridot.

 

That's what the shimmering pale green globe reminded her of. It tugged at something in her memory, buried deep, but it was an elusive thought and slipped away before she could grasp it.

 

She grasped the globe instead.

 

Yukimura Keiko has chosen her path.

 

The words rang around her and no sooner had they finished vibrating in the air than the globe within her hand flared brighter, dull pale green turning more luminous and sparkling, as the gem-like object grew hot against her skin. The temperature of that small object seemed to grow and grow impossibly until she thought it would scald her flesh with its heat.

 

The choice has been made.

 

Brighter and brighter the globe flared, almost blinding in its luminosity as it surrounded her in its pale lime-green light. As the world began to fade away, swallowed in bright light, words reverberated around her in a tone that sounded at once final and faintly ominous.

 

So shall it be.

 

oOoOoOo

 

With a start, she opened her eyes and cast them nervously about her even as the dream began to fade. She reassured herself that she was in her bed, her room shadowy in the still present night, and that there were no glowing anythings around her. With a sigh and shake of the head at her foolishness as she foreswore herself from anymore tofu for a while, she closed her eyes and slid back into sleep, innocent and unaware.

 

In the dark, unbeknownst to her, violet eyes glittered in satisfaction as they watched her slumbering figure. All along, he'd had a feeling that she would have chosen him.

 

She had promised, after all.

 

Beneath his mask, Karasu smiled.

 

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~ end chapter one ~