Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Heart's Desire ❯ The Epic Begins ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: I own nothing. All reserved to Yu Yu Hakusho, Funimation, the creator, etc. I do claim the story plot and original characters so please don't copy/steal.

 

 

“Long ago, in the faraway land of Greece, there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. But the greatest and strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Hercules. But what is the measure of a true hero? Ah, that is what our story is-“

 

“Grandpa wrong story. You're reciting movies again.” Kiyoshi looked up from his sitting position over a dozen or so unfinished fudas. “What?”

 

Hikari didn't even look up as she continued brushing away bits of twigs and flower petals off of the worn porch. “You're telling me the beginning of Hercules grandpa. The movie I told you about 3 months ago.” And the one you keep asking me to repeat at odd hours of the night, she added as an after thought.

 

Ever since Hikari had first watched a movie at the age of 10 and had come home excited beyond words telling her family about it her grandfather hadn't stopped asking about them. The moving pictures that spilled forth music of such astounding quality and showered feelings and inner thoughts like rain amazed him, he couldn't get enough of it.

 

Kiyoshi often asked her to go into the city and watch a movie for him. Giving her just enough money to see it and get a round trip bus ticket. If there was anywhere that they needed to go Hikari was always the one to do it. No matter what it was.

 

Her grandfather never left the temple, not once in his life. He had never even stepped past the torrii, explaining that the temple should never be left unguarded, misfortune would follow and the sacred things they protected would be lost, and that the awesome spirits would be displeased with him. That he said was what worried him most and he would usually finish his explanation with a silent prayer to honor them. But when she had asked if the spirits were angry with her for leaving so often he had answered quite differently. Hikari had meant it as a joke but he had taken it quite seriously.

 

He had looked off toward the sacred statue, too long faded and worn to make out any features besides two eyes and a very large beard (not Buddha that was for sure) and responded with a strange smile. “No Hikari, they are very pleased with you…much more than you will ever realize…” When she tried to ask further into what he had meant by that he seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had fallen into and had harshly ordered that she go repair the back wall.

 

As she was quickly grabbing the hammer, trying to get out of a severe head smacking, Hikari noticed that his bald forehead was creased in hundreds of wrinkles and that he took a quick glance to the statue. Almost like he was afraid he had let something slip that should have never reached her ears. She heard him muttering things under his breathe as he went to cleanse himself for the morning prayers, leaving her alone to repair the wall and ponder his strange antics.

 

Whatever the case was with her grandfather, Hikari really didn't mind. He was all that she had left now and even his strange quirks had a few benefits. Whenever asked to go see a movie or run into the city Hikari got the entire day off from chores and prayers and could spend as much time around actual people as she wanted. A blessing and a curse to her.

 

 

Observing the people is more of what she did. She really didn't know any one anywhere. She preferred to be left alone most of the time. Not really having anything in common with any of the people she saw. So wrapped up in their own high tech modern worlds while she lingered in her dark ages where the soul and spirit were more important than the new CD at Hot Topic.

 

Quiet and reserved was Hikari's style around strangers. Being unnoticed in a sea of rushing bodies was her specialty and really wasn't as hard as one thought. She just closed off all possibilities of her standing out. Almost like pinning a card to her forehead that read `I'm just like everyone else, a sheep, nothing different here.' That card was read too, no one even glanced her way or paid her the slightest bit of attention. Seeming to `except' her in their world.

 

She thrived at looking like she belonged to any group and then morphing into another. Being normal like anyone else her age for a few seconds before turning to the next group so they wouldn't notice that something was wrong with their `click'. It was almost like a game, a way to pass the time.

 

Hikari would entertain the idea of what her life would be like if she wasn't at the temple, then quickly abandon these thoughts. Why have a life like everyone else? Though in some ways her life wasn't at all that different.

 

She did go to school like any normal kid but it was almost as if they could sense something strange and unusual about her. Hell, even her grandfather often said she gave off a vibe of the unexpected and mystery. Something Hikari took great pride in. So she was generally avoided and left alone. But then again that was what she wanted most of the time anyway.

 

Such conflicting desires racked her mind, one side sometimes wanting to belong to something just for the sake of not being alone while the other, more persistent side, telling her to except herself and wait, but wait for what? That persistent tingling as if something new was just on the horizon had been with Hikari for a while now but she had given up hope that that something would come and took to just ignoring the strange pulses she seemed to receive every now and then.

 

A sort of entertainment came at guessing what these people did in their lives, where they lived, and what was going on at that moment in time. It wasn't hard. After awhile of observing you just start to notice certain characteristics and traits popping out at you, just waiting to be discovered.

 

That was often how her time would be spent, if not that then wandering around the city visiting all the places that her legs could carry her in a 2-hour span of time. Since the first 4 were devoted to watching the movie for grandpa. The first 2 hours actually enjoying the movie while the other 2 two hours were watching the movie again but centered on memorizing the lines and specific moments.

 

6 hours was long enough to be gone. Even grandpa being as naive as he was about the real world knew that a movie didn't take over 6 hours and besides after 2 hours a sort of claustrophobic reaction occurred in Hikari. She would long for the wide trees and solitude of the temple than the tall, imposing buildings and speeding traffic of the city.

 

She always returned before sunset or faced the punishment of severe and unique qualities by Kiyoshi-san. Her grandfather was paranoid about her being even outside the front door after dark, claiming that the evils of the world were waiting just beyond her sight, itching for her young pure flesh. Hikari just thought he was still scared of the dark but she did as he asked.

 

As soon as she walked across the ancient wood of the first room she was assaulted by questions from Kiyoshi and ushered into his room where she would spend the rest of the night performing. In rather odd clothes and a wide range of voices on what the movie had been about. Often times if the movie tickled her grandfather's fancy enough he would request (usually around 1 a.m.) that she perform his favorite parts again.

 

“Oh, yes. They start out quite the same don't they?” Kiyoshi looked back down to his half finished Kanji, dipping his brush in the obsidian ink before applying a few well placed strokes. Hikari stifled a giggle as she heard a chorus of The Gospel Truth float her way.

 

Kiyoshi loved Disney movies. The pure innocence of the films thrilled him. The underlining themes of good will always triumph over evil when the real world as they both knew it was far from being that always seemed to please him. Like a six year old with a new toy was probably the best way to describe him. Plus he loved the songs. A tune catchy enough could be heard for weeks around the temple.

 

Hikari continued sweeping the leaves and blossoms into the wicker basket that lay at end of the porch. Left, right. Left, right. Left, long sweep right. Left… A rhythmic pattern, nothing unpredicted happened and you could always see where the long brown bristles were going to take you next. Occasionally a sneaky leaf would somehow escape the powerful strokes of the broom, causing Hikari to break her routine and go back for the leaf. But then it would start again, like a well rehearsed song. Very much like her life.

 

The same routine, day in and day out, but in the real world there was no stray leaf to make her life different. Maybe that was the reason for the tingling sensations that she got, to warn her perhaps? That something new was about to happen? No, you couldn't believe such things as princess dreams and foolish whims. That was for children and Hikari was done with being a child, hopes and fantasies had left her a long time ago.

 

“Now…how does it go?” Kiyoshi looked over to Hikari's swaying figure expectantly. Without even glancing over her shoulder she replied, almost as if she could see the words unfold in the decaying wood at her feet.

 

“Long ago…in the faraway land of Japan. There was a time of demons. All the people of the land knew of them and prayed for their safety against the creatures of darkness. It was a time of chaos. Blood cloaked the air the people breathed and brutality stained the lives of the living. While dishonor and endless pain bathed the dead.”

 

Hikari took her time to move the basket a little closer to where her grandfather was sitting, waiting for her to continue with the story they both had heard since the first day they had come into the world.

 

She placed the basket carefully around a small, brightly flowered bush and continued with her sweeping as her voice carried over the birdsong and deep into the dense woods.

 

“No one could stop the onslaught of murder that washed upon the land. Those few brave enough to step forward were quickly killed. The demons were just too numerous and all were experienced with fighting tactics. That's how they lived. The one simple rule that only the strongest will survive and the people of Japan, sadly, were not the strongest.”

 

Hikari stepped around her grandfather, maneuvering the broom so as not to brush against him. Like it would have mattered. He could have been hit over the head with a fish and it wouldn't have fazed him. He was too engrossed in the story that was being told.

 

She had that effect. No matter how many times the story was recited she was able to tell it in such a way that it kept her audience entranced, hanging on her worlds like yo yos, their interest going up and down but always with in her control. All it took was the right words said in this or that way.

 

“The people didn't know what to do. What could they do but wait for their inevitable death and the slow destruction of their country? With out question the people resigned themselves to their fate and left no hope for the future. But there was one man who wouldn't surrender to die by such monsters. He stood tall while the people around him crumbled and succumbed to the tide. Out of them all he alone wouldn't lie down as his people and country suffered, he would find a way no matter the cost.”

 

Her voice grew with strength and power as the words spilled from her mouth. Almost like a river, starting out small with little weight but as it carried on it grew and swelled until it became a force that nothing could stop.

 

“His name was Takeshi Yasahiromuto.” Kiyoshi felt shivers run up and down his spine as he whispered the name with Hikari. He bowed his head respectively as she drew out a thin line of silence. Honoring him. Kiyoshi took over the story now, his experience with these letters well beyond her 16 years. He took his time, saying his words carefully and with precise meaning behind each syllable.

 

“A great monk was Takeshi. It was said that he purified himself 100 times a day and that he walked with the dead spirits by night. Only with him were they merciful. He traveled from village to village, cleansing the souls and shrines there. Doing what he could for the people. In some stories they recalled how he could heal any wound no matter how great or small with just one prayer. And with demons, heh.” He smiled knowing down at his fuda, touching it lightly with his fingers. “He could purify any with just one of these.”

 

“The violence in Japan was growing greater every day. If it were to be ever stopped it would have to be now. Takeshi knew this and so he prepared for a battle that would decide the world's future as well as seal his own.”

 

“In the far north of Japan there was a village. Now dead and long forgotten but 600 years ago it was thriving and prosperous and also one of the last places of safety for the people to turn to. Takeshi journeyed there, knowing that he must place himself at that spot for the battle that was sure to come. As he journeyed he encountered thousands of demons who wished him dead. But each one he faced fell. And as each one died by his might word of his power grew and the demons began to doubt if they could take this world. A feeling of fear took root in their hearts and uncertainty riddled their minds.”

 

 

“At last, after many years and defeating unspeakable terrors Takeshi arrived at the village of Tokuwa only to find it destroyed, burned to a smoking ash and its citizens annihilated. The enemy had known he would come long before and had waited until he was just within its borders to strike. It wanted to see him suffer. It wanted his spirit crushed and his bones scattered to the four winds. All that he had done was now worthless. Everything he had worked so hard to save had been lost as easily as it was to blow out a single flame.”

 

Kiyoshi paused, letting his words sink in, he hoped for peace for the lost souls of the village, knowing that being killed by demons was impure and that fact would not let them rest. They would wander the earth for the rest of eternity, lost and alone.

 

“Takeshi stood upon the ruins of the village looking down on the burnt cloth of a little girl's doll. At the sight of the doll, something happened inside the monk. He felt pure rage, unaltered and in its truest form. Such a feeling could not exist in a being such as him but there it gave birth. Takeshi took the doll and with a cry that woke the spirits to come to his aid he desecrated the demons that had gathered around him. A bright nearly blinding light came from within the monk as he screamed to the heavens. The hundreds of demons that had come to destroy him shook in fear and ran for their lives only to be swallowed up in the light. Obliterated on impact.”

 

Hikari stopped her robotic sweeping. That was new. Never before had she heard her grandfather or anyone in her family describe how Takeshi had defeated the thousands of demons that had been ordered to the village to defeat him. All they had ever said was that Takashi had killed them all. But Hikari pushed the thought to the back of her mind, straining her ears to hear the next part. The very reason she was here.

 

“The leader of the demons was furious. His anger caused an earthquake to split many villages in half and even a volcano to erupt. He had had enough with this monk. It was time that someone kill him, so why not him? This monk had destroyed too many of his followers already; in truth he couldn't afford any more looses. The man would be dealt with and such a joy would come when his split flesh spilt fresh blood for all the humans to see. A lesson to them and a message of what they were to expect.”

 

“So it was that Yukio went to the village of Tokuwa to challenge Takeshi to the death. Takeshi was waiting for him by the ruins of the village temple. As Yukio approached Takeshi did not stir from his kneel at the place where the shrine would have been. He continued praying, as though nothing were wrong. Yukio's anger grew white hot at the impudence that this mortal showed him. Did he not realize that he was going to die this very day and that the world as he knew it would also share that same fate? Apparently not.”

 

“Yukio grew tired of waiting for his presence to become known and for Takeshi to beg for his life. With a warrior's cry that shook the very stars Yukio launched himself at Takeshi, sword drawn for the final blow. But still Takeshi did not move. It was not until the blade was a breath away from his neck that Takeshi spoke.”

 

“On this day Yukio I end three things. Your life, your destruction to our world, and my own life.”

 

Both Hikari and Kiyoshi spoke the famous words together. Feeling in themselves what Takeshi must have felt himself that day.

 

“It was then that Takeshi pulled out one single fuda, one so powerful that it has never been duplicated since. Such power and concentration went into every fiber of the paper. It is said that it glowed with the power of the villagers souls, and that only with them could it be made.”

 

“As the blade came down upon his neck, Takeshi, with his final breath, cried the word for the power to be unleashed. As his life ended so did Yukio and his desire to destroy the people of the world. The few demons who were left saw what had befallen their master and fled for their lives but only to be killed later.”

 

“The few people who bore witness to such an event of power crowded around the massive hole where their beloved monk had given his life to save theirs. The only remains that they gathered were the bones of the monk and his fuda, completely unharmed. It was there on that spot that a temple was built to honor that monk. His children helped build the strong walls and put protective seals around the fuda so as to preserve it and remember.”

 

“So it came to be that all who came into the line of Takeshi Yasahiromuto served under the temple and taught the ways of Takeshi to their children so that they will one day take care of the ancient and historic fuda. The world has long forgotten what happened upon that mountain so long ago and there are now no demons left. But still the children of Takeshi remember and honor him as they have been doing for 600 years, here at Onikiri temple.”

 

Kiyoshi smiled and gathered his own completed fudas as the last notes of his voice faded on the evening air. “For that is why we're here, is it not Hikari? To continue Takeshi's great work.”

 

Hikari looked up from her completed sweeping. Slowly she nodded and looked over to the fading light of the forest. Deep golds and vibrant reds reflected through her almost black brown eyes. Something about that story never added up. It had been told the same way for centuries but some of the pieces just didn't make sense. Almost as if the original story teller were deliberately hiding something.

 

Her troubled thoughts must have shown on her face because Kiyoshi came up to her side and gently touched her arm. “Something troubling you Hikari? You are not as you usually are after a telling of our family history. Especially your favorite tale.”

 

She glanced up at her grandfather, setting the broom against the wall distractedly. “Something…has always troubled me about your story…What exactly happened on this mountain? It is never really explained…I know how powerful Takeshi was but, the size of the land he would have had to covered and the amount of demons he would have had to slain is just too much. He couldn't have done it. It leaves me to think that the story you have been telling me for years has been….altered somehow…”

 

Kiyoshi smiled at her impudence. She was the only member of the house who would directly question the legends that were their entire way of life. Of course in time every one of the family had gotten around to asking a question similar to hers, except with more respect and about a dozen apologies thrown in after every few words.

 

“You don't believe that Takeshi was powerful enough to destroy Yukio?” Kiyoshi raised a bushy eyebrow, enhancing his reprimand for her questions. All this seemed to do, though, was irritate the girl.

 

She crossed her arms and sighed, annoyingly flipping her long hair out of her eyes. “No, not at all. I believe he did kill Yukio to some extant. But I don't think that he accomplished all the other deeds. I think the man had help. He was only human after all. No matter how strong you get a human does have limits. Somewhere he got help, I know he did and all I want to know is why you have chosen to ignore them and leave them out completely.” Her eyes narrowed slightly as if daring him to tell her other wise.

 

Kiyoshi kept a level face, trying to hold back a triumphant grin. Oh, you do not know how close you are to finding out the truth yourself! He stilled his thoughts and folded his arms in his purple robes.

 

“Do you realize what you are saying? You are putting doubt and suspicion in to our most precious and sacred beliefs!” Hikari switched her gaze from quizzical to fiery. “Yes, I'm aware. But I believe these things should be answered. It's almost as if you aren't even telling me the true story.

 

He smirked. Not even a moment of hesitation. She really doesn't care if it is seen as wrong in other's eyes, she just wants the truth, and she'll get it no matter the cost. His gaze flickered across Hikari's determined eyes and crossed arms, weighing the options of the situation in his mind before taking action.

 

“Hm…I think you are ready Hikari. To know just what really happened. You are very right to suspect such things. I think that now, you can handle the truth, the whole truth…” She looked up at him sharply. I was right…there is more going on with our ancestry than they would tell me. I've wondered about this for so long…but why have they lied to me my entire life? Were they protecting me from something….until I was ready to face it?

 

“If you want the answers follow…or if you are content with how things are you may stay…either way I think I would fancy a stroll….” Kiyoshi smiled that mysterious smile and stepped lightly down the steps and along the beautiful garden path that lead into the woods. His purple robes lightly billowing like flags in the darkening light.

 

What?! It's nearly sundown and he's going for a walk in the woods! I thought he was afraid of the dark, that unspeakable evils would try to get his soul. Whatever this is it must be big in order for him to be going out…either that or he has finally cracked…

 

Hikari followed her thoughts carefully. Watching the shrinking violet back skeptically, the answer was simple. Follow. His wacky behavior was worth following even if he was pulling her leg. Who knew what he was going to pull out of those overly large sleeves. Though a part of her seriously didn't think he was joking. She let out a sigh. Here goes nothing…Hardly a jump and sprint later she had entered the woods and caught up with her grandfather.