Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Of Ice and Wind ❯ Darkness Rises ( Chapter 2 )

“AH! HEY THAT WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL!” Jin said as the Touya pulled the sword away.

“Sorry Jin, I just thought I should have a little fun since I won the match and all. And you did say you wanted me to help you get stronger.” Touya's right arm once again became enveloped in a cloud of mist but when the mist cleared, his arm had returned to its original state. A slight move of the left hand caused the shards holding Jin to disappear and the youkai floated gracefully to the ground, his left hand rubbing the wound at his neck.

“Well I'll be damned if cuttin' my neck's gonna make me a wee bit stronger. If ya cut me open, I'll never have the chance to beat Urameshi.”

Urameshi. That's all he's been able to talk about since the tournament ended.

“But I suppose you be doin' ok by it. That was some pretty fancy dodgin'ya did back there, just wish ya hadn't a put me down that way. Ya coulda at least pretended I was winnin'.” A warm smile came across the wind master's face then, the tips of his fangs gleamed white over the tanned skin of his lips. And he laughed. It was a laugh the came from the very pits of the soul, one that could not be faked. Touya loved that laugh and he doubted he could ever live without hearing it.

He couldn't help but laugh as well, though his was but a mere chuckle when compared to Jin's. The sky was now turning a deep purple in color and only the bare tip of the sun could be seen over the vast horizon. In a moment, the entire sky would be filled with thousands of hoshi (stars), and the only thing that would surpass their beauty would be the uncountable shades of orange produced by the morning's first lights. It was amazing, Touya thought, that two opposites could be equally beautiful. One, cold and dark, a pure and everlasting symbol of evil in all the best stories. The other, a source of heavenly spirit and joy, an eternal source of hope in an other wise dreery world. Yes, it was amazing how the morning and the night could come together, one flowing into the other. They could be very much like people. There could never be darkness without light, and there could never be Touya without Jin.

Touya glanced up at the sky, his eyes shimmering with all the unanswerable questions of a thousand ages, and as Jin watched him, he too began to wonder what was the relationship between the shadow and the sun, between the ice and the wind.

“Touya, do ya ever wonder what's out there?”

Touya's gaze fell and once again rested upon his red headed friend. “There is nothing out there Jin, only sorrow and heartache.” The two stood side by side, neither one moving as Touya's sentence lingered heavily in the air. Finally, after many moments, another question took its place, spoken softly as if asked from very far away. “What's it like. . .to fly?”

Jin could only stare as Touya said this. In all the years he had known him, Jin had never had Touya ask him that question. “I. . .I can't really be tellin' ya exactly. It's. . .somethin' ya have ta feel.”

“I understand.” It was all he said in response and he turned and began to walk slowly into the maze of crooked trees. But then, something he did not expect to happen started to unfold. He started to become larger then the trees larger then even the forest itself. He could see for miles beyond the stars and he gazed into the center of eternity. It was then that Touya realized that Jin had come in behind him and had swept him up under the arms so fast that he had never even sensed it. And now he, an ice demon doomed forever to a life upon the earth, was flying. It was incredible, and as Jin brought him farther and farther into the sky he felt a sense of freedom that he had never known existed. Is this what Jin sees? No wonder he's so happy all the time. Maybe. . .maybe there is something out there worth finding, I've just never been high enough to see it.”

“Are ya likin' so far?” Touya did not say anything in reply. How could he? Jin was right, this was something that you couldn't describe to anyone it was something that had to be felt. There flight took them above the mountains and along the river Sticks. It brought them to the top of King Enma's castle and across the countless forests of the Makai.

But not all was right. Behind them shrouded in the blankets of death, loomed the one that would change everything, the one that would be their end.