Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Mission Impossible ❯ Bound ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: Everyone's seen it before. No need to see it again, right?

Kagome: All right. It's late, I'm tired, and this chapter is my last one for tonight. J.C.'s already sleeping; after all, it is morning right now, albeit very early morning. Anyhow, read and review please, otherwise I might never get this story done.

Chapter Nine: Bound

Ashitaka was not very pleased. Not only did his surprise not go as well as he planned, but now he had an irritating hanyou lord inside his mind. Surely he hadn't been this demanding while trapped within the youkai body.

`Hey, stupid,' mocked Yusuke inside his mind, `Why don't you let me out and I'll quit bothering you. After all, it's not like you'll let me do anything you don't want me to, anyhow.' It was true. While the demon lord could let Yusuke out, he could still control him. He was the one with the leash now, and he made it a choker.

Debating with himself, he murmured, "Well, I admit I like having you trapped inside with no way to get out other than my will. However, having you out might serve to drive the knife a little deeper in your so-called friends. After all, if they see you with your own body, but you don't have any control over it, they're much more likely to take my demands to heart. Hmmmm………decisions, decisions, decisions."

Yusuke was silent, holding his breath and praying that Ashitaka would let him out, at least for a little while. It bothered him that he didn't have complete control over his own body, but he wondered if maybe he wouldn't be able to talk to the others how he wanted to if he was back in his human form.

About half an hour later, Ashitaka made a right and headed for Genkai's temple. Upon his arrival, he scented the air, assuring himself that everybody was sleeping. Then he crept into the temple and found his bedroom-well, Yusuke's bedroom, at least.

Once he was in the room, he permitted Yusuke to take predominance and waited until the shifting had finished, then forced the ningen's body into the bed and under the covers, to sleep until discovery tomorrow morning. Then things would get interesting. Sighing in contentment, both beings drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Yusuke woke before everyone else in the temple. Stretching, he wondered if all that had passed had been nothing more than a dream, a nightmare produced by the separation. Maybe they were heading for Daisuke's today instead, and everything else had just been caused by his overactive imagination.

His hopes were dashed almost immediately as Ashitaka whispered to him, `It wasn't a dream. I'm in control now. The only reason you're here is as bait, to bring the rest of your companions to do as I demanded and free me.' Yusuke shuddered, wishing desperately that he could just disappear, but he knew that Ashitaka would never allow it.

Not that it would keep him from fighting of course. Yusuke was many things, a quitter not among them. Once he had a goal in mind, he wouldn't stop until he either reached it or died trying. This time was no different. He would find a way to break free and to make sure that Ashitaka received the punishment he deserved.

Ashitaka disagreed, but the teenager decided to simply ignore him. Noticing that he could move his body and speak however he wanted, he got up and headed for the living room. He knew that Ashitaka could take control again whenever he chose to, but for now he was letting Yusuke have full reign of his actions.

`Probably to make it more believable, so that they'll know he's not faking or using a duplicate of me.' Ashitaka confirmed this, pleased that he understood the concept. `Of course I understand,' thought Yusuke bitterly. `This isn't the first time my life has been placed under the control of another. It's just the most humiliating, since it's a part of me that's taken over the rest of me.'

Ashitaka found this to be amusing and laughed inside Yusuke's head, letting his mirth be known to the boy. Yusuke just rolled his eyes, and flopped onto the floor, setting his arms behind his head and waiting for the rest of the temple to wake up.

Apparently, they had something planned for the day, because they all awoke at the same time. They nearly walked past Yusuke, so he unleashed some of his ki to get their attention.

Everyone's attention was diverted to Yusuke, and he grinned at them, greeting them with, "What a crazy week this is turning out to be, ne? First I get in trouble with Koenma, or rather Ashitaka-that's the name of the inu youkai now-does; then I die twice; then I get kidnapped and melded with my other half, that I had just separated from; and now, I only have control over my own body for as long as Ashitaka is willing to let me. Any suggestions on how to go about fixing this one?"

The others just blinked at him for several minutes, then moved into the living room, settling themselves in a semi-circle in front of Yusuke, studying him with narrowed eyes. Suddenly, plants shot out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around Yusuke, yanking him backwards and pinning him to a wooden beam in the middle of the room.

Yusuke struggled against the plants, trying to bring his hands up high enough to use Rei Gun. Kurama spoke. "Yusuke, calm down. We just need to make sure it's really you, and we need to see if you really have melded with the inu youkai. If you have, we need to come up with some sort of plan for breaking the news to Koenma. For now, I just need you to calm down. I promise they will not hurt or kill you."

Yusuke stopped struggling against the vines, which was just as well since Ashitaka was threatening to take over again if he didn't calm down immediately. Instead he settled for glaring at the other people in the room, trying to calm down enough to speak without yelling.

Once he had regained some semblance of calm, Yusuke nodded to Kurama, letting him know that he was listening. "How do you want me to prove that it's really me, and that I have been melded with Ashitaka?" The youko nodded and asked, "Would it be possible for your other half to come to the front so that we may see that the two bodies are indeed one, and that it is the youkai that has control."

Yusuke thought about this, trying to ignore the amusement of the inu youkai, then nodded. "I'm sure Ashitaka wouldn't mind that. However, once he's out, he'll have complete control, so you'll have to deal with just him, okay?" The others nodded, and Ashitaka quickly took over the reluctant ningen, smirking at the Reikai Tantei.

"He was telling the truth, you know. We've melded, I'm in control, and I have no intention of letting him back out until after you have satisfied my demands and the punishment has been waived." Slowly, realization dawned on the others, and horror showed clearly on their faces.

Relishing in their pain, Ashitaka continued, "Oh? Didn't he forget to mention some important details to you all? Here's what he neglected to tell you. Whichever body is manifested will remain there until they willingly give up control to the other. He gave up control to me because you demanded it of him, but he chose not to mention that he is now trapped until I decided to let him back out."

"Of course, since I'm the dominant one now, I still have some control over any body and can prevent him from doing or saying what I don't want him to," he smirked.

Hiei and Genkai recovered quickest and took over. Hiei placed his sword at Ashitaka's throat, threatening, while Genkai took over questioning. They were simple questions, such as why he wanted to take over the body and what he planned on doing with it now. He answered these with ease. Then came the one question he was hoping not to have to answer.

"Why did you slaughter all those people when you first came out? And why couldn't Yusuke remember any of it for a long time?" she pressed. Ashitaka sighed, trying to figure out the best way to tell them without outright lying. He reluctantly decided that his best bet was to tell the truth.

Staring straight back at the old woman, he began his explanation. "I didn't realize what I was doing when I first came out. I was created from a part of Yusuke that he tries too hard to suppress. His negative thoughts, his bloodlust, his hatred of so many different people, both devil and human, the part of him that liked to cause pain and kill without mercy. All these traits that he most hated in himself went into creating me."

"Since he already had both a human and a hanyou form, those traits and the being they created had to find a new outlet, which is what created me. His youkai blood runs completely in my veins, untainted by the blood of those born in Ningenkai."

"When I first manifested, on a crowded street in Ningenkai, I did not truly have a mind of my own. I was simply a physical manifestation of those feelings Yusuke had tried to ban from himself. As such, all that anger and hatred and bloodlust was unleashed upon those innocent ningens, who had done nothing more wrong than to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yusuke did not remember the slaughter for a long time for several reasons, but two are more prominent than the rest. First of all, since I didn't truly have a mind of my own at the time, when I was pulled back in and repressed, I had no memory to speak of, so Yusuke couldn't find it."

"Secondly, the sight was too horrible, and he knew that he had somehow been the cause of it. Ningens have a unique ability to block out that which they can't cope with. He couldn't deal with the responsibility of having so much blood on his hands, so he blocked the memory out, almost as if it had never happened."

Finished with his explanation, Ashitaka fell silent, waiting to see what the others would do now. While he waited, he contemplated whether or not he should try and get out of the vines. He decided not to, seeing as that while it would be only too easy to escape them, it seemed to give the others a sense of security so that they took the time to weigh his words and to listen.

After several long moments, Genkai motioned for them to leave the room for a discussion, leaving Ashitaka with Hiei for a guard. `Smart move,' thought Yusuke in his mind. `Hiei won't hesitate to attack if it is necessary to do so, plus he has that kokuryuha at his command, and I'm not sure if we're powerful enough to survive it. We'd be seriously injured at the very least.' Ashitaka silently agreed with him, then settled back in the vines to await the Reikai Tantei's decision.

Kagome: All right, people. I finally finished this chapter as well. There will be at least another two chapters, possibly more, depending on how quickly or how slowly the story leads me. Anyhow, please review. I do actually read all the reviews and pay attention to all suggestions. Many of them are good suggestions that can be incorporated into my story, so please review. Thanks!