Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Like A Bird ❯ On Thin Ice ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Like A Bird
 
 
Ooo Yukina Ooo
 
I was somewhat sad when the strange youkai didn't show himself. I had wanted so badly someone to talk to. Still, I was happy since he promied to show himself to me sometime. I wondered why nobody could know he was there. I shrugged. I decided that I would sweep the grounds before I washed the dishes. My thoughts turned to Hiei. He had promised to find my brother, but even with all of his powers and abilities, he still couldn't find him. It broke my heart to know my brother was out there, and I didn't know where. However, I just knew in my soul he wasn't dead.
 
I went to the store room, still pondering my brother and Hiei, grabbed the broom, and made my way outside. I chose to start with the front, so if we had any visitors, the shrine would look presentable before I finished the back. It was a half an hour before I finished sweeping the shrine, and after that, I went back inside to take care of the dishes.
 
On my way to the kitchen, I met up with Genkai.
 
“ Nice job on the dishes Yukina. They are particularly clean today. You shined them this time, didn't you?” I stopped, looking at Genkai confusedly.
 
“ But Genkai, I was just on my way to do the dishes. I've been out sweeping,” I replied, bewildered. Genkai stopped, a frown on her face.
 
“ Nani? This is strange. Why would someone do our dishes?” Genkai said.
 
“ I don't know, Genkai. But, I would just leave it alone for now, unless they start getting destructive, whoever they are,” I responded. `I think it was that stranger…'
 
“ Normally, I would have been able to sense them. But I suppose you are right. But be careful Yukina, you are an Ice Maiden afterall. I don't think you want a repeat of the black market,” Genkai warned. I swallowed and nodded, my eyes dulling slightly when thoughts of the experience flashed through my mind. If it weren't for Yusuke and the others, I would have still been trapped there.
 
“ Oh well. I am going to tend to the gardens, Genkai,” I informed her. Genkai nodded as she idly walked off, no doubt going to check all the entrances.
 
I walked out of the west entrance and went to the shed. In there, I changed into my gardening clothes, which were ningen jeans, and a greenish blue short sleeved shirt. I grabbed a bucket, placed it in the wheelbarrow, as well as a spade and a tray of asorted seeds. I carefully wheeled my cargo out to the gardens and almost stomped my foot in frustration. Makai plants seemed to attract ningen weeds in abundance, and the weeds had more affect on the Makai plants than Makai's weeds. I gritted my teeth, a rare thing, and began my work. I took out the tray and set it some place safe, then I grabbed my spade and wheelbarrow and knelt down by the first group of plants. I stabbed my spade into the ground gently, prying under the roots of the weed, then pulled it all out. Then, I dumped it into the bucket. I continued this until the bucket was full, then deposited the bucket's contents into the wheelbarrow. I was one third of the way through the garden when I stopped, exhausted. `This heat…makes it so hard…' I panted.
 
“ Are you alright?” A familiar dark voice asked. I jumped, then smiled.
 
“ Kuroi! You're back!” My smile wavered a bit since I was tired.
 
“ Kuroi?” I nodded.
 
“ Yes, Kuroi. I decided on that because you're in the dark and won't show yourself,” I explained. I had the impression the youkai was rolling his eyes.
 
“ Whatever. So what're you doin'? You look awfully tired,” I giggled slightly. He sounded just like a little child!
 
“ I am gardening. Unfortunately, this heat is making very hard to do so. It's like leaving a piece of ice in the sun. It becomes water after awhile,” I replied.
 
“ Hm. So that's why you look like you just got dumped in a lake. What makes it better?” The youkai asked. I sat up.
 
“ Why do you want to know, sir?” I shot back. The youkai sighed and mumbled something.
 
“ Huh?”
 
“ I said I'm your bodyguard,” The youkai grumbled. I tilted my head.
 
“ That's not so bad, is it?”
 
“ I used to be a thief, but somebody decided to meddle in my life and now I'm protecting you. Not that I was doing to good, I had gotten into some trouble, so I suppose this is better,” The youkai answered. I suddenly understood. The thief had been taken away from what he loved, but he was in trouble anyway and needed help.
 
“ Well, I'll try my best to stay out of trouble so you don't get hurt at my expense. But I was wondering, were you the one who did the dishes?” I now had the feeling he was blushing.
 
“ Yeah, what about it? It looked like you had a lot of work, and I'm one of those people who believe girls shouldn't do all the house work,” I smiled. How nice.
 
“ But what about in fights?”
 
“ Every youkai should at least know some self defense, since where we live is so dangerous. But if a female wishes to pursue fighting to her limits, let her. Everyone has their own will, and gender shouldn't decide what you can or can't do,” Kuroi replied. My smile grew. `Nice like Kazuma, laid back, but, he has no problems with females fighting. Definitely someone rare.'
 
“ I'm getting the feeling you're checkin' me out,” Kuroi said, a grin audible in his voice. I blushed faintly.
 
“ Hey, you never told me how to fix your problem,” Kuroi pointed out. I grimaced.
 
“ It normally takes a cool environment, or some cold water or ice. But the water here isn't cold enough, we don't have any ice, and it isn't exactly cool around here,” I said. Kuroi said nothing, and then, I felt his presence leaving.
 
“ No! Wait, don't go! You're the only one I can talk to!” I cried out. No answer. I sat back down, dejected. Then I sighed and went back to gardening, despite my obvious need for something cold. After an hour, I finally finished the garden and went back inside. I decided not to tell Genkai about Kuroi. Still, even though Kuroi had left me, I felt happy that I could finally share a conversation was someone. I trudged to the shed, and left everything in its place. Genkai always took care of the weeds after I picked them. Then, I changed back into my usual kimono. I left the shed and began to go to the shrine, but I felt Kuroi again.
 
“ Yukina,” His tenor voice rang out. I turned and stopped, tears of joy gathering in my eyes.
 
“ You came back!” I said happily.
 
“ Of course I did! I'll always come back, I promise, just don't cry, whatever you do, don't cry!” Kuroi seemed worried over that fact, but if it meant he would come back, I would never cry. Kuroi sighed in relief.
 
“ Thanks. Right, I was just trying to find some place for you to feel better. There's a place a couple of miles into the forest, nice and cold. At least, it is to me, but it was the coolest place I could find. Just follow my youki,” Kuroi released the tiniest tendril of demon energy, just enough that I could sense and follow it. I smiled.
 
“ Thank you, Kuroi,”
 
“ No problem, Yukina,” Kuroi's youki went into the forest, and I hurriedly followed it. True to Kuroi's word, the youki went deep into the forest, very deep. I secretly wondered why youkai hadn't attacked us yet. The trees loomed over us, and the leaves went from green to blue as the ningen trees thinned out as Makai vegetation appeared. I made a wide path around a man eating plant and continued after Kuroi.
 
“ Sorry about some of the vegetation, but this was the best way,” Kuroi apologized.
 
“ Its alright Kuroi, I'm sure if you knew a better way, you would've taken me down that path instead,” I replied. Silence reigned among us for awhile, before I spoke up again.
 
“ Why won't you show me yourself?”
 
“ No one has seen me for a very long time. Now that I'm finally coming out in the open, I guess I'm nervous about it all,” Kuroi answered. Finally, I felt the air around me becoming colder. I breathed in deeply, smiling when I felt the familiar freshness of cold air. As we approached our destination, frost began to cover the ground and what was left of any ningen vegetation, which was very little, was devoid of leaves. The closer we got, the colder it became, the more frost there was, until there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. Finally, Kuroi's youki led me to a clearing. The smallest of snowflakes were falling, and there was a large pond, the size of a small lake, that was completely frozen over. The bark of the trees was white with bright blue leaves. It was rather simple, but in my mind, it was the perfect touch of home that I sorely needed. I smiled and hiked up my kimono around my knees before running out into the clearing. I danced and spun around in the falling snow, just like I used to when I was a little girl.
 
“ Thank you so much Kuroi! Thank you!” I cried happily. I dashed out to the lake after taking my slippers off, relishing in the cold wetness that soaked into my feet. I slid across the ice, unbalanced from not playing on ice for so long. Still, in a matter of minutes, I was doing figure eights on my bare feet. I closed my eyes in joy, drawing in everything that I could of this serene place.
 
“ Yukina, look out for that thin spot!” Kuroi called. I did not hear the youkai in time. The cracking of ice filled my ears and I swiftly tried to skate away from the place, but the ice broke beneath me to soon. I plunged into the icy cold water that didn't bother me too much, it was just the fact that the piece of ice that had broken had caused other pieces to move above me and when I had fallen, I moved from where I had fallen in. Not only that, I didn't know how to swim.
 
“ Kuroi!” It came out as a gurgled cry as I slipped back into the darkness of the water. I heard more ice cracking and a blurred sound reached my ears.
 
“ Yukina! Look for my hand!” I opened my eyes, the water stinging them, and found a waving fist only a foot away. I desperately reached out to it and grabbed it before I could fall deeper into the water. `Please, don't let me drown…' The fist latched on to my wrist and I felt my precious air supply slipping away from me. Still, I hung on, believing that Kuroi would save me. I tried to keep my eyes open, but as Kuroi pulled me out, all I saw was a pair of great, black wings, and stunning bluish violet eyes.
 
Ooo Kuronue Ooo
 
`Oh shit, oh shit, shit, shit, SHIT!' I charged across the ice as I saw Yukina fall into the water. After a few seconds, I found the Ice Maiden, who was struggling to find a way out. I punched my fist through the ice and called out to her, hoping she would find my hand. I felt her icy cold hands wrap around my own and I made the hole larger as I pulled her out. Her garnet eyes stayed open only for a moment. They were dull and misty as she closed them. My long, pointed ears twitched as I heard her heart beat, still pumping blood throughout her body. I sat back and sighed in relief. `She's still alive…'
 
“ That was close, little one. You should be more careful,” I murmured as I wiped her sopping bangs away from her face. `Would it be better if I took her hair out of that tie so it could dry? Or would it not matter since she is an Ice Maiden?' I decided to take out the bright red tie that had once pointed in six points. Now, those points drooped and water dripped from them. I examined the tie for a moment before carefully pulling it out of her hair. Her now dark green hair fanned out on the white snow in a stark contrast once I put her down. I took off one of my many straps of black cloth on my arms and began to wipe the dripping water away from her face. Her cheeks were cool to the touch, yet her face was not flushed. `Of course, she is not bothered by this weather. It is probably much colder at the Koorime Island.' I looked her over now that she was still. Her face held a childlike quality, yet when her eyes were open and you looked in them, she seemed like an adult at the same time. Her jawline was soft, yet defined. Her cheekbones were high and prominent, but not overly so. Yukina had black lashes that were curved. Now that her kimono was sticking to her body, I could examine that too. I shook the perverted thoughts out of my head. `She is my charge, not a one-night stand to woo all day.' Still, there was no denying the soft curves of her body. Judging by the ningen breast size scale Youko had once told me about, her chest was about a B or C. Her waist was impossibly tiny, and her hips held a gentle swell. Her legs weren't as long as I would normally prefer, but they were shapely. And her wrists were absolutely small. All in all, out of ten, she was a nine, higher than any other youkai woman had managed to score on my scale. I was incredibly picky about the people I slept with, but the thing was, I wasn't looking for that sort of thing in Yukina. I wasn't looking for anything.
 
I leaned down to her, my ear close to her heart. I memorized the rhythmic beat of her heart. Contrary to belief, like everyone had their own scent or fingerprint, people had their own heartbeat. Youkai heartbeats were naturally faster than a human, which is part of the reason why we healed so fast. The blood could reach the wound quicker, and the natural coagulant we held in our blood let the platelets in the blood seal the wound faster. Still, Yukina's heartbeat was soothing. It wasn't too fast, though that could be accounted for her near death experience, but it wasn't slow. It was the perfect thing to fall asleep to. Bats had very high hearing, even for youkai. In fact, we were in the top five for the best hearing. Because we depended on our hearing more so than our other senses, we tended to like quiet things or beings over loud ones, who clouded our judgement. After our hearing, we depended on our noses. Our sight is the lowest of our senses, yet, with our hearing, it didn't matter quite so much. Because of our hearing, we made high pitched sounds. Some so high, not even other creatures could hear them, yet if the pitch was low enough to be heard, it was torture to hear it. Some youkai had died from the cry of a bat youkai. Because of all this, we sensitive to anything that made sounds, even a simple Ice Maiden like Yukina. Now that I had memorized the beating of her heart, I would be able to find her, no matter what. You can mask everything, except the beat of someone's heart, and I could always tell if she was safe or not because of this.
 
I heard Yukina moan slightly and once again, I melted into the shadows. Yukina brought a pale hand to her head and groaned.
 
“ Ungh…Kuroi? Are you alright?” I rolled my eyes.
 
“ The question is are you alright, Yukina,” I asked concernedly. Yukina smiled.
 
“ I am. Thank you Kuroi, for saving me. I'm alright now. It's just…I can't swim,” Yukina mumbled embarassedly. A faint blush crossed her face.
 
“ What's so embarassing about that?” Yukina tilted her head at me.
 
“ Well…it's just that, all the other Ice Maidens can swim, but I can't…” Yukina said.
 
“ So? I'm a bat demon and I can't fly,” I clamped my jaw shut. `Why did I have to tell her that? I know I wanted to make her feel better, but really!'
 
“ You can't fly?” Yukina wondered.
 
“ Yeah, I ran away from my tribe before I could. After that, I worked as an assassin and bodyguard. After an incident, I quit that line of work and became a thief,” I explained.
 
“ So why are you my bodyguard now then?”
 
“ Someone recruited me. I have no choice but to work for me,” I smiled wryly.
 
“ Oh, how sad. Being forced to do something you don't want to…”
 
“ Maa, maa, no need to be sad! You make my job very enjoyable!” I assured her. Yukina giggled.
 
“ You're so silly, Kuroi-chan,” I gaped.
 
“ CHAN? Don't call me chan! And I am not silly!” I protested. Yukina just kept laughing.
 
“ But you are silly Kuroi-chan!” The ice apparition defied me. I snorted but let it drop.
 
“ Fine. But I should get you back, otherwise, Genkai will be wondering where you went,” I told her. Yukina sighed sadly.
 
“ Hey, don't get all glum, I can take you back here again anytime you want. Especially at night. That's my favorite time,” I said. Yukina smiled again.
 
“ Thank you Kuroi. For everything,” Yukina said happily.
 
“ Your welcome Yukina,” Again, I led Yukina through the forest and to the shrine. I stopped in the gardens.
 
“ Well, I'll be around if you need anything, but we can talk again later. I just need to get a nap in,” I said sheepishly. Yukina just smiled.
 
“ I understand Kuroi-chan. I'll talk to you tomorrow,” With that, the small Ice Princess walked into the shrine. `Who knew Ice Maidens could even swim at all?'