Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Life ❯ Memories Part One of Two ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH!

Dh, KK, and TNG: HI!

TNG: Since I only got two guesses to which 'he' is…I'm not telling in this chappie! *Evil laugh*

KK: Anyway enjoy this chappie!

Dh: *evil smile* yea hope I like it ^_~*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lets continue where we left off:

December 17, 2003. 4:50 pm Staten Island, New York City.

"There, much better," Yukina said, admiring the clean marble floor. She stiffened for a moment as strong, lean arms encircled her, then relaxed, her features smoothing into a smile. "What are you doing home early?"

"Want me to go back? I can always find something to do…"

"Don't go anywhere," Yukina hastened to grab his arms before he could move further.

"A little possessive, aren't we?" he said giving Yukina a quick kiss.

"Of course," she replied, returning the kiss. "But…you are home because of…because of-"

He nodded.

"Yes," he said at length, averting his gaze. Yukina drew in a deep breath and tried to let it out slowly, but choked on a sob.

"I-I never under-understood him. And - and when I finally realized what he meant, it- it was too late…"

"Shhh…You know it wasn't your fault."

"I never understood his intentions until after-"

"He had a good heart, and he did it for a reason. He knew what he was giving up... and gave it up without hesitation…" He himself couldn't remember that day clearly; the day one of The Reikai Tantei had made the ultimate sacrifice…

~*~*~*~*~

December 17, 1993 8:00 pm. Kurama's apartment.

Kurama and little Shuiichi were playing video games.

"Ha! Take that! And that! And this!" Shuiichi cried as he attacked the controller with his thumb.

"Oh no you don't!" Kurama countered pressing buttons at lightening speed.

"Darn! You won again!" Shuiichi wailed. Kurama smiled.

"You told me not to go easy on you," he reminded his stepbrother with a shrug. "Another round?"

"You're on, kitsune!" Shuiichi shouted, pressing the rest button. Kurama was still surprised at how easily Shuiichi had accepted him as his brother. Not only that, Shuiichi had accepted his stepbrother's past. In his words it was "COOL!!!"

"Must beat big brother!" Shuiichi said in a robotic voice. "Losing does not compute- YES! YES!! I WON!!" Shuiichi did a victory dance, which involved jumping up and down on Kurama's couch.

"One out of five rounds…Kurama pointed out.

"Hey don't kill the moment!" The phone rang and Shuiichi ran to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey little man, its Yusuke. Is Kurama there?"

"Hi! And yeah, he's right here. But before I give the phone to him we have some business to take care of…"

"Um, okay…"

"You and Kuwabara owe me three rounds of video gaming…each! And would you like to take part in the next video game tournament? The contestants are: Big Bro, me and Hiei so far…"

Kurama smiled at his little brother.

"Hey what happened to the last `tournament'? Who won?" Yusuke asked.

"Um, Bro had class so it was me and Hiei…and it was over in fifteen minutes flat…"

"Whoa! Hiei won 42 rounds in fifteen minutes?" Yusuke asked with surprise.

"Yes…" Yusuke gave a low whistle on the other end "That guy is unstoppable! So are you in?"

"Sure I'm in. I don't know about Kuwabara though…"

"Okay- you can ask Kurama the dates and stuff. Here," Shuiichi handed Kurama the phone.

"Thank you," Kurama said. "Hi Yusuke…okay…" He listened for a few minutes, hmm-ing every once in a while. He looked over at Shuiichi, flipping through a manga. "…Okay…give me twenty minutes, I have to drop Shuiichi off at home. Okay, bye." Kurama put the receiver down and once again looked at his stepbrother. He hated to do this, but duty called…

"Uh Shuiichi…" Kurama started.

"Wait, let me guess. You have to go another one of your missions?"

"Yup"

"Aww…that's so unfair!" Shuiichi moaned, throwing the comic down on the floor. "I was supposed to spend two nights here. Since you moved out it's been so boring…"

"Hm…let's see…you can spend all of next week here. Do we have a deal?"

"I guess…"

"Okay, let's go" Kurama said grabbing his and Shuiichi's jackets out of the closet. With a slight frown on his face, Shuiichi put on his jacket and followed Kurama out the door. The stepped inside the elevator and Shuiichi pressed the ground floor button.

"Now are you absolutely sure that I can stay next week? I mean the whole week, that includes the weekend."

"Next week, I have classes the same time you have school so yes I'm sure you can stay."

"Good!" Shuiichi said excitedly.

Kurama smiled again, he liked having his stepbrother around. It helped him to keep his mind off of his past…something that still haunted him. Kurama pulled out the keys of his silver Toyota Celica.

I sit in the front!" Shuiichi announced.

"Fine,"

Shuiichi starting humming a made up tune as buckled his seat belt.

"Ya know...I wanna be just like you! I want mom to be proud of me like she's proud of you. I want a car like this one. I want friends like Hiei, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko, Shizuru and even Koenma." Shuiichi said admiringly. "Oh, and I want a girlfriend just like Botan!"

"Botan's not my girlfriend" Kurama said as he made a turn.

"Yeah, that's what they all say!"

Kurama stopped in front of the house, and looked at his stepbrother. Shuiichi stared out the window, twiddling his thumbs.

"Can't I come with you? Please?"

"Sorry."

"Fine…" the boy said getting out of the car.

"Wait! What do you tell Kaasan when she asks where I am?"

"I tell her you're out with your friends like a normal guy. You and the guys probably caught a late night movie. I can't stay because you have classes all day tomorrow." Shuiichi repeated what Kurama had taught him.

"And?"

"And Botan is not your girlfriend," he added with a sigh. "Even though everyone knows it's a lie."

"Did you say something?"

"No!"

"Good. I'll wait till you're inside."

Shiori met Shuiichi at the door and gave him a hug. He turned and waved at Kurama. Shiori smiled and waved too. Kurama waved back before pulling out onto the road.

"Hi Kurama," Kuwabara said as he climbed into the backseat.

"What took you so long?" Yusuke asked.

"I had something to take care of."

"You were trying to convince Shuiichi that Botan isn't your girlfriend," Kuwabara said with a chuckle.

"Will everyone drop that already?" Kurama asked, clearly annoyed. "We're just friends!"

"We'll drop it as soon as you admit it's not true," Yusuke said with a goofy grin.

"We'll deal with this later. Now tell me where we have to go"

"The old warehouse."

It was only a few miles from where they were. Yusuke tapped a tune on the dashboard. Yusuke's communicator rang, breaking the silence.

"What's up Botan?"

"D-don't go to the warehouse!" Botan yelled. Her voice sounded frantic. Her face was full of terror.

"What's going on? You still didn't tell me about this new mission. Where are you?"

"I'm outside of Koenma's office and there's no time! Hiei will meet you at the docks! Hurry!" she yelled anxiously.

"Wait Botan-" Yusuke began. But Botan's scream cut him off. "Botan! No!" Yusuke yelled as the communicator went dead.

"Guys, I have a very bad feeling about this" Kuwabara said nervously. "There's something dark after her" Kurama slammed on the brakes and spun the car around.

"The docks eh? Alright, hang on" he said as he jammed the gas pedal. They were speeding through late night traffic. Yusuke grabbed onto the dashboard and Kuwabara's face looked green as they sped through a labyrinth of cars. Then as suddenly as they had started, they stopped. Yusuke would have gone flying through the windshield if it had not been for his seatbelt. They were at the docks.

"Damn Kurama! I thought you were the sane one when it came to driving!" Yusuke yelled as he made his way out of the car.

"You thought wrong" Kurama responded as he walked towards the bait shop. Kuwabara and Yusuke shared a look and followed the kitsune.

"Took you long enough" Hiei said in his usual sarcastic manner. He then jumped down from his perch on the roof.

"The portal is inside" he said gesturing towards the door. The Tantei walked in and looked around. All they saw was pitch black, but when their eyes got adjusted to the dark they saw an old overturned boat, a rotting stool and a few fishing nets. Hiei walked to the corner and created a orb of energy on his palm. He then shot it at the wall which opened up into a portal.

"Alright lets go…"

The other three Tantei nodded and ran into the portal. Centuries seemed to pass as their bodies were transported into the Reikai Palace. Yusuke fell onto of Kuwabara who had his the ground first. Hiei and Kurama had been ready and had landed on their feet. Kurama ran down a dark corridor.

"HEY! Where the heck are you going?" Yusuke yelled after him.

"He's gone after the ferry girl" Hiei said making the obvious even clearer "But we have bigger problems to worry about" Oni, demons and other ferry girls seemed to running around in circles. It seemed to be sheer chaos.

"Come on, follow me!" Hiei yelled running towards the stairs. "I'll explain on the way" he called over his shoulder.

"Urameshi, I don't know what's going on, but we might as well follow shrimp boy"

"I heard that moron! Shut up and hurry!" Hiei yelled impatiently.

Botan screamed and tried to open Koenma's door. To her horror it was locked. Serpents loomed over her…coming closer and closer. A young woman who appeared to be eighteen was playing a flute. Her eyes were laughing at Botan's fear. Botan knew no one would come to help her. Since the alarm had indicated a break-in all the oni guards had run for fear of their own lives. One serpent in particular scared her the most. It was black and at least eight feet long. It started to rise, its tongue flickering in and out of its mouth. It looked deeply into Botan's eyes, embedding fear deep within the fibers of her very being. It was going to attack, but Botan stood frozen in fear. The serpent hissed and lunged at her. Before she knew what was happening, Botan felt herself being pulled out of the serpent's way. She gasped and looked at her savior.

"KURAMA!" she yelled.

"Where you expecting Koenma?" he asked teasingly.

"Well if it isn't the kitsune" the young woman said mockingly. "Wanna play?" She laughed and started playing her flute. The serpents seemed to be provoked and started slithering towards the two. Kurama pulled Botan out of the way once again. He steadied her in her feet.

"RUN!" he told her as he pulled a rose out of his hair. He threw it at the flute player. The flower blossomed and ensnared the girl in vines. A choked scream escaped from her mouth. The black serpent slithered to her aid, while the other snakes slithered towards Kurama. He ran up the stairs, right behind Botan.

"Their getting closer!" Botan screamed as a snaked readied itself to bite Kurama's leg.

"Just keep running!" he yelled, he then took two steps at a time. Kurama passed Botan and turned around. He withdrew two roses from his hair and threw them into the slithering and hissing mound. Upon his telepathic command the flowers formed a barricade of vines, blocking the snake's path.

"That gives us a little bit of time" Kurama told the ferry girl. They made it to the top of the stairs, Kurama closed the door and blocked it with ivy.

~*~

Kr: Whew…LONG part one…I'm posting only this much up well because I'm a bit tired. I'll try to get part two up within four days. I know it sounds like a long time, but it passes quickly…

Soph: But if there are reviews guessing who 'he' is (The guy w/ Yukina) Kr may post up sooner^.~

Kr: Yup^^ and thanks Chrislea for editing once again. Thanks Soph, KK and Dh for beta reading. You may wonder why I have so many beta readers, that is because I get different opinions from different people. Thanks to my Crew! Love ya all! Oh and visit my site!