Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Reunited ❯ Chapter 39
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MageDragon17 
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.04.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 251 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.04.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 251 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.
-Telepathy-
(Thoughts)
Chapter 39
The argument finally got broken up and Yuseke, Kuwabara, and Keiko went home.
"I still can't believe you two got caught up in that," Botan said to Kurama and Hiei.
"It was rather foolish," Kurama replied. He smiled, "Well, I probably should go, unlike you guys I have work to do." He waved and headed out of the temple.
Botan sighed, "And unlike you Shiroi, I'm not on vacation. So I'm pretty sure that Koenma will be wanted me for something pretty soon." She summoned her oar and hopped on. "See you later, and good luck."
"I need on the luck I can get," Hiei grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"If you really mean it," Shiroi said, "You'll get it sooner or later."
"But I want it now," Hiei whined.
Shiroi giggled, "Nope." She turned around and walked away.
Hiei groaned and Genkai said, "You've got your work cut out for you. Better get started."
Hiei grumbled and started after Shiroi. Suddenly Genkai grabbed his collar and yanked him back, kicking him in the rear towards the forest. "You know very well you're not allowed in Shiroi's room!"
Hiei grumbled again and teleported away.
"Think he did as you said?" Anada asked.
"If he wants to keep his chance," Genkai said, "I'm sure that's exactly what he did."
***
Over the rest of the week, Hiei didn't get very far, but he tried. He just didn't know what to do. Shiroi didn't help either, and kept away from him as to make his ordeal more challenging. She knew he was trying, and took it all into account.
While Hiei wasn't pursuing her, he was practicing with his new sword. He found that it was quite different to work with, and when he found out it could cut through any substance, whether it be wood or solid rock, he went and took revenge on the boulder that took his previous sword, reducing it into a pile of dust.
One afternoon, Kurama stopped by and asked Shiroi how things were going.
"He's persistent," Shiroi replied. "I know he's watching me from a nearby tree. I've made a game of spotting him in a tree whenever I'm outside."
"Has he resulted to begging yet?" Kurama asked.
"Not yet," Shiroi answered. She beckoned to him, just in case Hiei was close enough to hear. She whispered into Kurama's ear, "But if he does start doing that, I will give in. I know he loves me still, I just want the reassurance that he does."
Kurama laughed, "That's kind of mean isn't it?"
"Well what he did to me was kind of mean too," Shiroi said. "Am I right?"
"That's true," Kurama said. "But even Hiei will go so far. And I must say, you're being rather ruthless for once."
"And how often am I ruthless?" Shiroi asked. Kurama shrugged. "I won't press it father than I need to. I'll know when to quit. I want proof from him, but I don't want to hurt him."
Kurama nodded, and changed the subject. "So how do like vacation? It hasn't really crossed my mind to ask."
Shiroi groaned. "I'm bored. I almost prefer going out on the missions that Emperor Enma gives me."
"I noticed you said almost," Kurama pointed out. "Is there a reason for that?"
"Isn't there a reason for everything?" Shiroi asked. "Well, when I don't go out on those missions I don't have to worry about getting killed. And now that I am on vacation, I can spend more time with you guys, though five years is a lot to make up."
Kurama smiled, "Those are good reasons, and the time thing doesn't matter." He turned around from where he stood, "If you're bored we could go for a walk or something."
Shiroi stood up and hopped off the steps of the shrine. "Sounds like a good idea."
"What sounds like a good idea?" Genkai asked as she and Anada came around the corner.
"A walk," Shiroi answered. "I'm tired of just sitting here."
"Would you like to come?" Kurama asked.
Genkai shook her head, "No thank you."
"I'll stay with Genkai," Anada said. "Thanks for the offer though. Maybe next time."
Shiroi nodded, and then peered around at the treetops. "And I'm sure he'll follow." She didn't need to say whom; they all knew she was talking about Hiei.
"Shall we go then?" Kurama asked. Shiroi nodded and they headed down the steps. "How long do you think it will take Hiei to show himself?"
"Not long," Shiroi answered.
Seconds after she said that, Hiei appeared at her side. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked Kurama.
"Walking," Kurama answered innocently. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Hiei grunted, but said nothing.
"Be nice Hiei," Shiroi said. "He's not doing anything wrong." Hiei glanced at her, but stayed quiet.
Kurama smiled, and stopped.
"Something wrong Kurama?" Shiroi asked.
He shook his head, "No, I just think this walk is meant for you and Hiei, not me. I'll go back to the temple and let you two carry on." He waved and headed back up the stairs.
"He knows what needs to be done," Shiroi said quietly.
Hiei said nothing, just stood there.
"Something wrong?" she asked him.
"Everything has been rather messed up since earlier this week," Hiei answered. "Shiroi I'm about as inexperienced as you when it comes to romance, so how do you expect me to prove anything to you?"
Shiroi smiled, "I'll know."
Hiei shook his head, and teleported away.
"Huh?" Shiroi gulped and jumped into the air and followed his spirit energy. (Have I gone too far?) She wondered. (Is he so unsure that he'll give up? I know he won't stoop to being; it's not him.)
She flew faster, wanting to find him as quickly as she could. She flew for what felt like forever. She had a great appreciation for his speed; it was something he had over her. She finally found him, standing very close to the edge of a cliff.
"Hiei," she whispered and flew to him. When she landed, she called to him. "Hiei, what are you doing?"
Hiei turned to look at her. "You followed me, why?"
"You seemed upset when you left," Shiroi answered. "I just came to see if you were okay. But you are a lot faster than me, so it took me awhile to find you."
He blinked, "Really?"
"Yes," Shiroi answered. "Could you please come away from the cliff? It makes me nervous."
"Why?" Hiei asked, "It's not like I'm going to jump or anything. Or is that what you're afraid of?"
Shiroi bit her lip and looked away. After a few seconds, she felt something oddly close to her. She turned to look, and found Hiei standing right in front of her. "Yipes!" she yelped and fell backwards.
Hiei caught her arm and kept her from falling, "It's just me," he said. "I moved, just like you asked me to."
Shiroi nodded, "Thank you." Without warning, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
Hiei was rather surprised; he hadn't done anything except what she had asked. "Shiroi?"
She let go of him, "Hmm?"
"Uh," he had forgotten what he was going to say.
Shiroi laughed, "Don't worry about it anymore, 'kay?"
"Huh?"
"Just as I said," Shiroi repeated. "You don't have to worry anymore."
"Hmm," Hiei said, "Amazing, just answering to a request of walking away from a cliff would be the answer to both of our problems."
"I wouldn't say it's the answer," Shiroi said, "But it'll suffice."
***
Kurama looked at his watch. "They've been gone longer than expected," he said.
"Worry when it starts to get dark," Genkai said. "Until then, we just wait."
"Look," Anada said as she pointed to the trees, "Here they come."
The three of them looked into the dark trees, and noticed a flickering light heading toward them. After a few seconds, two figures could be deciphered, and finally Hiei and Shiroi came into view, Shiroi holding a handful of flames to guide their way through the dark.
"There you two are," Anada said. "Where have you been?"
"Walking," Hiei answered as Shiroi extinguished the flames.
Kurama noticed that the two were more comfortable around each other. He stole a glance at Genkai. The old woman nodded, she saw it too. Kurama smiled, "Well, I need to get going." He turned around and headed down the stairs.
"Anada," Shiroi said.
"Yes?" the woman asked.
"How would you like to go home in a few days?" Shiroi asked.
Anada stared at her friend, and then looked at Genkai. She couldn't quite read the woman's eyes, when she turned back and took a closer look at her friend, she figured out why the question was asked. She smiled, "Yes, I would."
***
"And we were all called here because?" Yuseke asked the next morning.
"Well fine then," Shiroi said. "I won't take you with me when Hiei and I take Anada back home."
"Huh?" Yuseke asked. He glanced at Kurama, who was looking innocently at the sky. "Wait, but just yesterday?"
"What difference does it make detective?" Hiei asked from the roof of the temple. "We're taking the woman home, do you want to come or not?"
"I wanna come," Kuwabara said.
"I get it," Yuseke said. "Sure, count me in. I'll see if Keiko wants to come."
"Should I bring Shiziru?" Kuwabara asked. "Or will we have time bring her later?"
Shiroi smiled, "Everyone will get there Kuwabara, I promise."
Kuwabara grinned, "Even my Yukina?"
Shiroi's smiled twitched, and she sensed Hiei's annoyance. "Yes Kuwabara, Yukina will be there, I'll make sure of it."
Kuwabara jumped around and made himself look like a complete moron.
"So when do we leave?" Kurama asked.
"In two days," Shiroi answered. "Is that enough time?"
"It should be plenty," Kurama answered.
***
Sure it was plenty of time to get ready. It didn't matter if it was short notice to any of them. But something happened that nearly canceled the trip, again.
A day before they were supposed to leave, Genkai unexpectedly died in her sleep.
Anada found out by a scream from Shiroi that came from Genkai's room. It was so distressed that even Hiei heard it and he came running. He and Anada ran to Genkai's room to find Shiroi sobbing next to the old woman's prone body.
Hiei came over to her and wrapped his arm around her. She turned and cried into his shoulder. "Why now?" she asked. "Why did she have to go now?"
Hiei didn't know how to answer, and looked up at Anada, but he could see the woman was having a hard time holding back her own tears and wouldn't be much help. He turned back to Shiroi. He really didn't know what to say, and he really didn't want her to feel worse.
Suddenly Shiroi shot to her feet and ran out of the room.
"Shiroi!" Hiei called after her, but she ignored him.
Shiroi jumped into the air and flew straight up. She could sense Botan nearby, coming to get Genkai's spirit, and she hoped she could catch them both in time. She spotted them just as Botan was getting ready to go back to Spirit World. "Wait!" Shiroi called.
Botan stopped and looked down as the young woman arrived. "I'm sorry Shiroi."
Shiroi turned to Genkai, seeing the old woman's semi-transparent spirit sent chills up her spine. "Why?" she asked.
Genkai shook her head, "If I had told you I was about to die, you would been mopping and mourning before it even happened. Besides, you've had more important things to worry about this past week anyway. Why should I add to the load?" The old woman looked down to the ground.
Shiroi followed her gaze, and from her view, she could see the small black form of Hiei down on the ground.
"Can you bring him up here?" Genkai asked. "I need to tell a few things first before I go."
Shiroi nodded and snapped her fingers. Hiei appeared next to him. At first he flailed around, seeing that he had nothing to stand on and he had been brought up without warning. "Relax Hiei," Shiroi said, "I won't let you fall."
Hiei concluded that she holding up with her wind and relaxed.
"Now Hiei," Genkai said. Hiei turned to the spirit woman, "Looks like I'm going to have to trust you to Shiroi's safety sooner than I wanted. I guess since that I have no choice, the responsibility falls to you."
"Well that's easy enough," Hiei smirked.
"With that kind of an attitude I wonder if I should as Kurama to do it instead of you!" Genkai yelled.
Hiei gulped and shut his mouth. Being bested by Kurama was the last thing he wanted.
Genkai cleared her throat. "Well I guess that's that." She turned to Shiroi. "I leave the temple and all that's in it to you, do what you want with it, I don't care."
Shiroi nodded, "What do you want me to do about your body?"
"Bury it, burn it," Genkai said, "Whatever you want. Just don't leave it for the wolves."
"Or rot in the bedroom," Botan added.
Genkai rolled her eyes. "Yes that too." She turned back to Shiroi. "Don't mourn over my death too long, I do want you guys to go back to your village in a few days."
Shiroi dried her eyes and nodded, "All right."
Genkai nodded too, and turned to Botan, "I'm ready."
Botan nodded, but first turned to Shiroi. "I'll be by as soon as I'm done, we can decide what to do with Genkai's body then."
Shiroi nodded, and watched them rise and fade away into the sky.
"Can we go back down now?" Hiei asked.
Shiroi looked at him, confused.
"I'm not comfortable with being in the air and not having something under my feet to hold me for very long."
Shiroi smiled, shaking her head. "All right." She transported them both back to the ground.
***
Botan arrived about an hour later, and by then everyone else had been contacted and were already there.
"So what do we want to do?" Botan asked.
"From what Shiroi has told us," Kurama said, "We can do what we want, but it excludes leaving her body to waste. Which leaves us only to about two options, burying her, or burning her."
"Who feels like digging?" Yuseke asked, no one replied. "Looks like it's burning."
"We still have work to do," Botan said. "There's wood to collect, a lot of it."
They nodded, and all of them except Keiko and Anada went into the forest, those two would stay behind to wrap Genkai's body in a cloth.
It didn't take long to collect enough wood, since there were about six people doing and a giant forest to supply them. After three hours, they had a pile as tall as Shiroi and about half as wide.
Finally Genkai's body was placed on top, and Shiroi reluctantly lit the fire. They all stood there, Shiroi, Hiei, Kurama, Yuseke, Kuwabara, Botan, Keiko, Shiziru, and Anada, and watched the it burn.
After a few minutes, they were all surprised to hear mournful melody begin to play. Shiroi was the source, she was playing the same tune that had played at her own mother's funeral, and she felt as though she had to do something besides stand there.
It took hours for the whole alter to be burned down to ashes, and they stayed the whole time, and Shiroi played until the last flame died away.
***
Author's Note: Okay, the only thing I feel proud of about this chapter is the length, twelve pages. Sorry the end of the chapter is so depressing, I had to do it, and even I didn't like it. Don't worry the next chapter will be more uplifting. Thanks for that last review Kitsune Kida; you're the first reviewer I've had in a while.
-Telepathy-
(Thoughts)
Chapter 39
The argument finally got broken up and Yuseke, Kuwabara, and Keiko went home.
"I still can't believe you two got caught up in that," Botan said to Kurama and Hiei.
"It was rather foolish," Kurama replied. He smiled, "Well, I probably should go, unlike you guys I have work to do." He waved and headed out of the temple.
Botan sighed, "And unlike you Shiroi, I'm not on vacation. So I'm pretty sure that Koenma will be wanted me for something pretty soon." She summoned her oar and hopped on. "See you later, and good luck."
"I need on the luck I can get," Hiei grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"If you really mean it," Shiroi said, "You'll get it sooner or later."
"But I want it now," Hiei whined.
Shiroi giggled, "Nope." She turned around and walked away.
Hiei groaned and Genkai said, "You've got your work cut out for you. Better get started."
Hiei grumbled and started after Shiroi. Suddenly Genkai grabbed his collar and yanked him back, kicking him in the rear towards the forest. "You know very well you're not allowed in Shiroi's room!"
Hiei grumbled again and teleported away.
"Think he did as you said?" Anada asked.
"If he wants to keep his chance," Genkai said, "I'm sure that's exactly what he did."
***
Over the rest of the week, Hiei didn't get very far, but he tried. He just didn't know what to do. Shiroi didn't help either, and kept away from him as to make his ordeal more challenging. She knew he was trying, and took it all into account.
While Hiei wasn't pursuing her, he was practicing with his new sword. He found that it was quite different to work with, and when he found out it could cut through any substance, whether it be wood or solid rock, he went and took revenge on the boulder that took his previous sword, reducing it into a pile of dust.
One afternoon, Kurama stopped by and asked Shiroi how things were going.
"He's persistent," Shiroi replied. "I know he's watching me from a nearby tree. I've made a game of spotting him in a tree whenever I'm outside."
"Has he resulted to begging yet?" Kurama asked.
"Not yet," Shiroi answered. She beckoned to him, just in case Hiei was close enough to hear. She whispered into Kurama's ear, "But if he does start doing that, I will give in. I know he loves me still, I just want the reassurance that he does."
Kurama laughed, "That's kind of mean isn't it?"
"Well what he did to me was kind of mean too," Shiroi said. "Am I right?"
"That's true," Kurama said. "But even Hiei will go so far. And I must say, you're being rather ruthless for once."
"And how often am I ruthless?" Shiroi asked. Kurama shrugged. "I won't press it father than I need to. I'll know when to quit. I want proof from him, but I don't want to hurt him."
Kurama nodded, and changed the subject. "So how do like vacation? It hasn't really crossed my mind to ask."
Shiroi groaned. "I'm bored. I almost prefer going out on the missions that Emperor Enma gives me."
"I noticed you said almost," Kurama pointed out. "Is there a reason for that?"
"Isn't there a reason for everything?" Shiroi asked. "Well, when I don't go out on those missions I don't have to worry about getting killed. And now that I am on vacation, I can spend more time with you guys, though five years is a lot to make up."
Kurama smiled, "Those are good reasons, and the time thing doesn't matter." He turned around from where he stood, "If you're bored we could go for a walk or something."
Shiroi stood up and hopped off the steps of the shrine. "Sounds like a good idea."
"What sounds like a good idea?" Genkai asked as she and Anada came around the corner.
"A walk," Shiroi answered. "I'm tired of just sitting here."
"Would you like to come?" Kurama asked.
Genkai shook her head, "No thank you."
"I'll stay with Genkai," Anada said. "Thanks for the offer though. Maybe next time."
Shiroi nodded, and then peered around at the treetops. "And I'm sure he'll follow." She didn't need to say whom; they all knew she was talking about Hiei.
"Shall we go then?" Kurama asked. Shiroi nodded and they headed down the steps. "How long do you think it will take Hiei to show himself?"
"Not long," Shiroi answered.
Seconds after she said that, Hiei appeared at her side. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked Kurama.
"Walking," Kurama answered innocently. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Hiei grunted, but said nothing.
"Be nice Hiei," Shiroi said. "He's not doing anything wrong." Hiei glanced at her, but stayed quiet.
Kurama smiled, and stopped.
"Something wrong Kurama?" Shiroi asked.
He shook his head, "No, I just think this walk is meant for you and Hiei, not me. I'll go back to the temple and let you two carry on." He waved and headed back up the stairs.
"He knows what needs to be done," Shiroi said quietly.
Hiei said nothing, just stood there.
"Something wrong?" she asked him.
"Everything has been rather messed up since earlier this week," Hiei answered. "Shiroi I'm about as inexperienced as you when it comes to romance, so how do you expect me to prove anything to you?"
Shiroi smiled, "I'll know."
Hiei shook his head, and teleported away.
"Huh?" Shiroi gulped and jumped into the air and followed his spirit energy. (Have I gone too far?) She wondered. (Is he so unsure that he'll give up? I know he won't stoop to being; it's not him.)
She flew faster, wanting to find him as quickly as she could. She flew for what felt like forever. She had a great appreciation for his speed; it was something he had over her. She finally found him, standing very close to the edge of a cliff.
"Hiei," she whispered and flew to him. When she landed, she called to him. "Hiei, what are you doing?"
Hiei turned to look at her. "You followed me, why?"
"You seemed upset when you left," Shiroi answered. "I just came to see if you were okay. But you are a lot faster than me, so it took me awhile to find you."
He blinked, "Really?"
"Yes," Shiroi answered. "Could you please come away from the cliff? It makes me nervous."
"Why?" Hiei asked, "It's not like I'm going to jump or anything. Or is that what you're afraid of?"
Shiroi bit her lip and looked away. After a few seconds, she felt something oddly close to her. She turned to look, and found Hiei standing right in front of her. "Yipes!" she yelped and fell backwards.
Hiei caught her arm and kept her from falling, "It's just me," he said. "I moved, just like you asked me to."
Shiroi nodded, "Thank you." Without warning, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
Hiei was rather surprised; he hadn't done anything except what she had asked. "Shiroi?"
She let go of him, "Hmm?"
"Uh," he had forgotten what he was going to say.
Shiroi laughed, "Don't worry about it anymore, 'kay?"
"Huh?"
"Just as I said," Shiroi repeated. "You don't have to worry anymore."
"Hmm," Hiei said, "Amazing, just answering to a request of walking away from a cliff would be the answer to both of our problems."
"I wouldn't say it's the answer," Shiroi said, "But it'll suffice."
***
Kurama looked at his watch. "They've been gone longer than expected," he said.
"Worry when it starts to get dark," Genkai said. "Until then, we just wait."
"Look," Anada said as she pointed to the trees, "Here they come."
The three of them looked into the dark trees, and noticed a flickering light heading toward them. After a few seconds, two figures could be deciphered, and finally Hiei and Shiroi came into view, Shiroi holding a handful of flames to guide their way through the dark.
"There you two are," Anada said. "Where have you been?"
"Walking," Hiei answered as Shiroi extinguished the flames.
Kurama noticed that the two were more comfortable around each other. He stole a glance at Genkai. The old woman nodded, she saw it too. Kurama smiled, "Well, I need to get going." He turned around and headed down the stairs.
"Anada," Shiroi said.
"Yes?" the woman asked.
"How would you like to go home in a few days?" Shiroi asked.
Anada stared at her friend, and then looked at Genkai. She couldn't quite read the woman's eyes, when she turned back and took a closer look at her friend, she figured out why the question was asked. She smiled, "Yes, I would."
***
"And we were all called here because?" Yuseke asked the next morning.
"Well fine then," Shiroi said. "I won't take you with me when Hiei and I take Anada back home."
"Huh?" Yuseke asked. He glanced at Kurama, who was looking innocently at the sky. "Wait, but just yesterday?"
"What difference does it make detective?" Hiei asked from the roof of the temple. "We're taking the woman home, do you want to come or not?"
"I wanna come," Kuwabara said.
"I get it," Yuseke said. "Sure, count me in. I'll see if Keiko wants to come."
"Should I bring Shiziru?" Kuwabara asked. "Or will we have time bring her later?"
Shiroi smiled, "Everyone will get there Kuwabara, I promise."
Kuwabara grinned, "Even my Yukina?"
Shiroi's smiled twitched, and she sensed Hiei's annoyance. "Yes Kuwabara, Yukina will be there, I'll make sure of it."
Kuwabara jumped around and made himself look like a complete moron.
"So when do we leave?" Kurama asked.
"In two days," Shiroi answered. "Is that enough time?"
"It should be plenty," Kurama answered.
***
Sure it was plenty of time to get ready. It didn't matter if it was short notice to any of them. But something happened that nearly canceled the trip, again.
A day before they were supposed to leave, Genkai unexpectedly died in her sleep.
Anada found out by a scream from Shiroi that came from Genkai's room. It was so distressed that even Hiei heard it and he came running. He and Anada ran to Genkai's room to find Shiroi sobbing next to the old woman's prone body.
Hiei came over to her and wrapped his arm around her. She turned and cried into his shoulder. "Why now?" she asked. "Why did she have to go now?"
Hiei didn't know how to answer, and looked up at Anada, but he could see the woman was having a hard time holding back her own tears and wouldn't be much help. He turned back to Shiroi. He really didn't know what to say, and he really didn't want her to feel worse.
Suddenly Shiroi shot to her feet and ran out of the room.
"Shiroi!" Hiei called after her, but she ignored him.
Shiroi jumped into the air and flew straight up. She could sense Botan nearby, coming to get Genkai's spirit, and she hoped she could catch them both in time. She spotted them just as Botan was getting ready to go back to Spirit World. "Wait!" Shiroi called.
Botan stopped and looked down as the young woman arrived. "I'm sorry Shiroi."
Shiroi turned to Genkai, seeing the old woman's semi-transparent spirit sent chills up her spine. "Why?" she asked.
Genkai shook her head, "If I had told you I was about to die, you would been mopping and mourning before it even happened. Besides, you've had more important things to worry about this past week anyway. Why should I add to the load?" The old woman looked down to the ground.
Shiroi followed her gaze, and from her view, she could see the small black form of Hiei down on the ground.
"Can you bring him up here?" Genkai asked. "I need to tell a few things first before I go."
Shiroi nodded and snapped her fingers. Hiei appeared next to him. At first he flailed around, seeing that he had nothing to stand on and he had been brought up without warning. "Relax Hiei," Shiroi said, "I won't let you fall."
Hiei concluded that she holding up with her wind and relaxed.
"Now Hiei," Genkai said. Hiei turned to the spirit woman, "Looks like I'm going to have to trust you to Shiroi's safety sooner than I wanted. I guess since that I have no choice, the responsibility falls to you."
"Well that's easy enough," Hiei smirked.
"With that kind of an attitude I wonder if I should as Kurama to do it instead of you!" Genkai yelled.
Hiei gulped and shut his mouth. Being bested by Kurama was the last thing he wanted.
Genkai cleared her throat. "Well I guess that's that." She turned to Shiroi. "I leave the temple and all that's in it to you, do what you want with it, I don't care."
Shiroi nodded, "What do you want me to do about your body?"
"Bury it, burn it," Genkai said, "Whatever you want. Just don't leave it for the wolves."
"Or rot in the bedroom," Botan added.
Genkai rolled her eyes. "Yes that too." She turned back to Shiroi. "Don't mourn over my death too long, I do want you guys to go back to your village in a few days."
Shiroi dried her eyes and nodded, "All right."
Genkai nodded too, and turned to Botan, "I'm ready."
Botan nodded, but first turned to Shiroi. "I'll be by as soon as I'm done, we can decide what to do with Genkai's body then."
Shiroi nodded, and watched them rise and fade away into the sky.
"Can we go back down now?" Hiei asked.
Shiroi looked at him, confused.
"I'm not comfortable with being in the air and not having something under my feet to hold me for very long."
Shiroi smiled, shaking her head. "All right." She transported them both back to the ground.
***
Botan arrived about an hour later, and by then everyone else had been contacted and were already there.
"So what do we want to do?" Botan asked.
"From what Shiroi has told us," Kurama said, "We can do what we want, but it excludes leaving her body to waste. Which leaves us only to about two options, burying her, or burning her."
"Who feels like digging?" Yuseke asked, no one replied. "Looks like it's burning."
"We still have work to do," Botan said. "There's wood to collect, a lot of it."
They nodded, and all of them except Keiko and Anada went into the forest, those two would stay behind to wrap Genkai's body in a cloth.
It didn't take long to collect enough wood, since there were about six people doing and a giant forest to supply them. After three hours, they had a pile as tall as Shiroi and about half as wide.
Finally Genkai's body was placed on top, and Shiroi reluctantly lit the fire. They all stood there, Shiroi, Hiei, Kurama, Yuseke, Kuwabara, Botan, Keiko, Shiziru, and Anada, and watched the it burn.
After a few minutes, they were all surprised to hear mournful melody begin to play. Shiroi was the source, she was playing the same tune that had played at her own mother's funeral, and she felt as though she had to do something besides stand there.
It took hours for the whole alter to be burned down to ashes, and they stayed the whole time, and Shiroi played until the last flame died away.
***
Author's Note: Okay, the only thing I feel proud of about this chapter is the length, twelve pages. Sorry the end of the chapter is so depressing, I had to do it, and even I didn't like it. Don't worry the next chapter will be more uplifting. Thanks for that last review Kitsune Kida; you're the first reviewer I've had in a while.