Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ If the Roses Die ❯ Take Me Away ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing Yuu Yuu Hakusho related except for about seven tapes of English dubs, seven DVDs, and one wall scroll.

Part III of the Silver Obsidian series

* * * * *

Take Me Away

* * * * *

~Hiei~

Infinite darkness… Nothing was real, yet anything and everything had mass and everything existed… Falling, falling, falling down, but everything was real and everything existed, and down was up and up was sideways and he was falling down, up, sideways, falling all at once…

He looked around and saw Silver…and Silver surrounded him from every side, and it had mass, and it was real… He reached out and touched Silver, and it was wonderful…

Cool, soft, light and dark, and it was beautiful…oh, how beautiful it was… It was not only Silver, but it was Black, too…deep, rich ebony, the kind only found in nightmares… It was a glowing Silver made of Black…the darkest Black of the endless abyss…

But where was he? Where was he that this glorious sensation, this reveling in the color Silver, made of the darkest of Black, could be so true?

The Void? The Void of the Jagan? Where nothing made sense and everything was real?

No…this had a certain…something…a certain life that the Jagan lacked… So this was surreal, and this did not exist…

This was a dream.

This was a dream, and dreams could not be controlled.

* * * * *

~Kurama~

Everything was black… Darkness engulfed him, and he couldn't see, let alone move…

What had happened?

Hiei…

Yes…that was it… Hiei had attacked the shape-shifter, he had stepped in to help, and now the shape-shifter was dead…dead and gone…dead and never coming back…

But he had stepped in to help…

Why had he done that? He was under no order to. Youko didn't help anyone unless it benefited him in some way. Youko was selfish like that.

Because he cared, of course. He loved the little youkai and so he stepped in to help, stepped in when no one else would, when everyone else could but was too afraid.

Hiei will see that. Hiei will see that and know Youko helps only Youko, and he will realize Youko helped him because he cares. Hiei will see that and Hiei will know. Hiei will see that. Hiei will know.

Repeating the mantra wouldn't make Hiei see it any more than he might otherwise, and deep down, Kurama knew he wouldn't. Hiei would see that Kurama had helped him and think that the ningen aspects of his personality had begun overtaking the kitsune ones. Hiei would see that Kurama had helped him and Hiei would not know.

He won't know unless you tell him, you fool.

Because he truly was a fool.

He had been baiting Hiei into leaving, into fleeing and never coming back, and he had nearly succeeded. But for one thing:

Hiei loved him.

Hiei loved him and couldn't leave him to die. He should have, Kurama mused. Hiei wasn't one for second chances. But he hadn't. He kept coming back, kept making sure Kurama didn't do something stupid and get himself killed. If Yukina had proved anything about Hiei, it was that he didn't leave the ones he loved. Even if he had to watch them from afar, he wouldn't leave them.

It was sort of sweet. In an agonizingly painful kind of way.

* * * * *

~Hiei~

He was in a dream, he knew - a dream or a nightmare, they often held many of the same traits and it was hard to tell which was which. Either way, he wanted out.

He needed his sleep, though. Needed the six hours after launching the Kokuryuuha to regain the strength to move. And it was hard, sometimes, to sleep without dreams.

Dreams or nightmares, anyway; they were practically interchangeable.

Succumbing to the nightmare, for he had decided, that was what it was, he reached out to touch this exquisite form known as Silver. It recoiled at his outreach - no, not recoiled, that was the wrong word. It edged back, just slightly - tantalizing. It was luring him on. Tugging him forward with the chance to overcome its mysteries.

He swam towards it, or walked, or moved - he proceeded onward, but everything had mass and yet was weightless, and how he moved, he didn't know - gliding towards the Silver, trying to touch it. Only to touch it, for that was all he wanted.

It coiled around him but still didn't touch him, mere centimeters from his skin and at the same time, nowhere near him. He moved down, tried to grasp it, and for all its closeness, he still could not reach it.

It slithered away with a taunting whisper, a hush of air he nearly missed.

Can't catch me…

He glided towards it, putting a bit of power into his movements, rushing forward and still not close enough. He darted left and right, following the whisper rather than the Silver, for the Silver was all around him and the whisper was soft and evanescent.

Then, all at once, the Silver was not all around him, but standing off to the side. And it was standing, because it had taken form, and become something magnificent.

Youko turned slightly, a mere half turn, gazing at Hiei out of the corner of one glittering golden eye. The gaze was laughing at him, and the laugh was leading him on. Youko chuckled quietly.

Can't catch me…

The nothingness vanished, all at once, in a brilliant flash of black, and Hiei was standing. Standing on the edge of a forest, and Youko perched in a tree, laughing.

* * * * *

~Kurama~

Swimming up through the blackness, he tried to wake himself, to wrench his unconsciousness away and look around.

Wake up.

Swimming…climbing…walking…running…

"Kurama?"

Run faster…

"Hey, Urameshi, I think he's coming around."

You're almost there…

"Yeah? Hey, Kurama, you okay there?"

Just a little more…

"C'mon, buddy, wake up!"

Dim light of the room…

"Kurama…"

He opened his eyes slightly and blinked them closed again.

"Yeah, Kurama, you're up - I saw you open your eyes, you can't fool me."

"Yuusuke…?"

The voice he heard was hardly his own.

He couldn't even call it a voice, really. High, soft, slightly raspy, and sounding as though he had never tried to speak before. It was less a voice than it was a noise.

Kuwabara's next comment only proved his point.

"…Urameshi, what did he say?"

"…I think… I think he said 'Yuusuke.'"

You "think?" What else would I have said?

I must sound even worse than I think…

"Hey, Kuwabara, get a glass of water, will you?"

"Get your own water, Urameshi."

Kurama could even envision Yuusuke's glare. "For Kurama, baka. I can get my own."

He nearly laughed, but his throat was dry and it came out a silent whisper of air.

"Arigatou gozaimasu…"

"Hey, don't try to speak, alright?" Kurama opened his eyes a bit and saw Yuusuke hovering over him, his expression worried. "You want water?"

He nodded. "Domo…"

"Stop it," Yuusuke chided. "I can't read your lips that well. Not well enough for a whole conversation, anyway."

Kuwabara appeared again, a glass in his left hand. For a moment, he paused, looking down with concern at his friend, then walking over and handing him the liquid. "Drink it, Kurama, maybe you'll be able to speak a little."

Maybe…

He painstakingly raised himself a fraction off the bed, leaning back against the wall and taking the water. Drinking slowly, he relished in the feel of the cool drink sliding down his throat, feeling his ability to speak slowly return. The glass drained, he set it on the floor beside him and turned to Yuusuke, who was now looking at him hopefully.

"Arigatou," he said. His voice was still hushed, but no longer high and raspy. But before worrying about that, he had to get on to more important things. "Where's Hiei?"

Things like that.

Yuusuke looked at Kuwabara, who looked back stoically. Some sort of understanding passed between the two, and Kuwabara picked up the glass, ambling to the kitchen to fill it again. Turning to Kurama, Yuusuke sighed.

"He's in bad shape, Kurama. It's been five hours now, and he's still out, but after moving him from the field to here, suddenly no one can touch him. It's like some special automatic defense of his was raised once he was in a safe place. He's in my room, on the floor, and lying at a pretty bad angle." He looked away, his eyes half-lidded. "I think he may have broken his leg or something, but Botan can't get near him, and even if any of us could, no one but her and Yukina could heal him. And Yukina's busy at the temple now - Kuwabara went to check - she's taking care of something she can't leave, I don't know what. But we can't ask her to leave it."

Yuusuke sighed again. "It's gonna get worse before it gets better, Kurama."

Kurama had long since turned his gaze from Yuusuke to the bed sheets, emerald eyes glassy and blank.

It was all his fault. He didn't know why, but somehow, everything that was wrong with Hiei, every defense he had raised to keep them all away, every second his injuries were worsening, somehow it was all his fault.

He had to do something…anything…

* * * * *

~Hiei~

I will catch you…

Part of it was the game, the chase. Youko taunted that he couldn't be caught, and Hiei rose to the challenge. But another part was something different, something more. Hiei wanted to catch Youko, he wanted to know what was wrong. Why was Youko here? Why had he been formed of Silver, and why had the Silver been formed of Black? What was going on?

Can't catch me…

Hiei snarled at the laugh. Or so you think.

He leapt towards the tree, flying into the branches, to the one where Youko knelt. As he arrived, suddenly, he was alone. Youko was gone.

Can't catch me…

He looked back, down at the ground, and saw Youko standing exactly where he had been moments ago. Hiei was the one with the greater speed, and Youko couldn't have known he would rise to the branch, so how had this happened?

Because this was a dream, and dreams could not always be controlled.

One step behind…

I am NOT!

One step ahead…

Stop saying that!

Can't catch me…

"I can!"

Youko smirked at Hiei's outcry.

End game begin…