Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Just Outside the Light ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Well, well, well. I'm back. Hi everyone! Ya miss me? I missed you.

Just a short note for no discernable reason: I just saw Blood: The Last Vampire. It was worth my time.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. Oh, and the title has relatively no relevance or bearing on the story.

Author: Letta, of course!

Rating: Probably R.

Warnings: Well, I don't really have any for this chapter, but tune in next time, and I'll give you a whole list.

Pairings: none so far

"speaking"

/thoughts/

Title: Just Outside the Light

Kurama awoke groggily, dizzy with pain. He didn't know where he was or why he was there, which usually never helped a situation. In fact, he found he didn't know much of anything. Except that it was dark and the ground was cold and hard.

There was a throbbing at his temple and he unconsciously reached up a hand to hold his head, frowning when it felt wet and sticky. He lowered his hand to look at it, not being able to really discern what was on his hand through sight, since there was little light to aid him, but he could smell blood. He frowned in the darkness, noting that slight pain that accompanied the expression.

Slowly, achingly, he sat up, a wave of dizziness washing over him as he did so. He was aware of a slight current of fresh air and began crawling in the direction it came from. Every movement hurt, but he refused to give up, so he pushed himself ever further until at last, he saw light up ahead.

It seemed to take all of forever before Kurama let himself spill out of the mouth of the cave, his collapsed limbs shouting their protests to him as he lay, panting for breath. Through his half-slitted eyes he saw his silver hair stained with blood before blackness flooded over him.

~`~`~`~`~`

Yusuke chewed his lip uncertainly. He hadn't heard from Kurama for days, and when Hiei had showed up, perched in a tree outside his window to tell him that Kurama was, in fact, missing, he felt the first traces of fear and anger.

He suspected he would have known about this sooner, Shiori would have at least called, looking for Kurama, but she was out of town for two weeks. So, with Kurama's mother oblivious to her son's disappearance, there had been no searching. As for when Kurama had gone missing, well, that was another matter.

When Hiei had told him about the kitsune's absence, the two went over to the Minamino residence to search for any sort of clues. After Hiei snuck in the bedroom window and let Yusuke in through the front door, they began a thorough search. There were no signs of any sort of struggle, and as far as they could tell, Kurama had not packed to leave for anywhere. There was nothing in the house to suggest anything had happened to the redhead.

The pair had contacted Koenma and told him what they knew, which hadn't taken long. With the help of the Junior Lord of the Reikei, they learned that Kurama had not been to school for three days. Aside from that, they had little else to go on.

A search of the Reikei records had shown nothing amiss in the time from when Kurama was let out of school until his absence the next morning. The area had nothing unusual to explain the disappearance. It was almost as if Kurama had faded completely from the Earth.

Now, instead of looking for him, the Reikei Tantei was standing in Koenma's office, doing nothing. Yusuke didn't like it one bit. A quick glance at Hiei would have told the casual observer nothing, but Yusuke had tuned in to the fire youkai somewhere along the line, and from the tight grip Hiei had on the handle of his sword, Yusuke knew he felt the same way. The jaganshi's face was expressionless, eyes cold, glaring ahead, but Yusuke was able to read deep frustration and concern over the kitsune.

They could do nothing, so they waited.

~`~`~`~`~`

Kurama woke again, the pain that had racked his body before was more subdued now. No longer was every fiber of his being saturated in agony, now it was simply most of them. His face was resting on cool dirt, one golden eye swollen shut while the other keenly searched for any danger. He admitted to himself how stupid he was earlier by allowing himself to be overcome in plain sight of anyone who might pass by, but rather than dwell on that, he pushed himself up to lean against the cool rock of the cave he had crawled out of. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but then, he supposed it didn't really matter.

He was in a clearing enclosed by large, thick trees. They seemed to keep out any visitors, so perhaps he was safe for the time being, but then again, perhaps not.

He was hungry.

That wasn't such a problem; there was a large fruit tree a few feet away from where he was resting. Somewhere out of the recesses of his mind, a small voice seemed to be telling him that the fruit was bitter in taste, but safe to eat. That was enough for him.

He removed a seed from his blood caked hair, watching it grow into a rose, and from there, into a whip. He flicked his wrist expertly, watching the whip snap out and through the trunk of the tree, watched as it crashed, and picked up one of the many large fruits that had rolled near him.

He bit into it, his tongue shrinking away from the bitter juice as he slowly chewed, his jaw protesting the movement.

There were questions racing through his mind that he could not answer.

He knew his name… it was the last thing said to him. He had been lying on the ground and someone, a male… he didn't know who… had said, "You're finally dead, Kurama."

Quite obviously, whoever had been talking to him didn't make sure of that.

The second thing he knew was that he had to get back, because `she' would worry. Where he was supposed to go, he had no idea, who `she' was -he had even less of a clue.

The third thing he knew was his rose whip. He had it, and he could use it.

His name, he had to get back to her, and his rose whip. Was there anything else he knew? He looked at the fruit in his hand. It wasn't worth putting on his list of things he knew.

He searched through his darkened memory for anything else, but there wasn't much he could remember. A vague image of two boys with dark hair, one with brown eyes, the other with red -that was the most his mind could dig up. Did they have names? He concentrated, but was defeated in the end. He didn't know if they were friends or enemies, and he currently had no way of finding out.

He sighed and closed his open eye, leaning back in annoyance.

Suddenly that eye shot open again as the ears atop his head picked up the faintest sound, now straining to hear it again. His mind made a note of his second stupid move: not moving. He should have left the cave as far behind as he could, since someone else had known he was there, even if they had believed he was dead.

There.

Ahead of him and slightly to his left. There was a rustling noise. Kurama readied his whip, golden eye narrowing in anticipation.

Suddenly a white clad figure leapt into the clearing, and stopped short upon seeing the kitsune. Cautiously, the demon walked closer until Kurama could clearly make out her features. He narrowed his eye, and tightened the grip on his whip.

"My, what a pretty kitsune," she said, "or rather, you would be if you weren't all cut up."

Kurama remained silent, watching every move the demoness made. Although she hadn't made any threatening moves yet, that was no guarantee that she was of good intentions.

"If I were you, I'd calm down. You like hell and I don't think popping any veins is going to help you," she said, placing a hand on her hip.

Kurama was about to reply when a wave of blackness swept over his vision. /Not now!/ It was never a good idea to pass out in the face of a potential threat, but unfortunately for our dear kitsune, fate decided to screw him.

~`~`~`~`~`

Well, it's short. Just a bit of a teaser, I'm afraid. I really don't know where this fic is going, but, uh, any suggestions are welcome. Hell, I'm not even sure what genre this will be!

I'm going to go away now.