Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Theives' Guild ❯ Chapter 8

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters. Everyone else, however, belongs to me.

Sorry for the late update, but I wasn't sure what to do for the blood bond ritual. I did some research, but most were either drinking each others' blood (cheap and corny) or cutting themselves and pressing the cuts together (cheap and too short). I finally figured out how to work it. You'll see it next chapter guys (sorry).

Chapter Eight

“I'm surprised the moron decided not to die.” Ayume muttered when Youko dismissed the meeting. Livoso clapped her on the back.

“Nice goin' kid. I doubt anybody'll trouble you about this after that display. So the date is set huh? Any nerves?”

“Not at present.” Ayume answered honestly. “But seeing as we have five days to go, I assume as it gets closer I'll get more anxious.” She shrugged. “What is time, Livoso? Time doesn't exist on its own. These concepts of day, hour, minute, week, month, year; where did they begin? Instead of saying it is five days away, I could say it is tomorrow, and be correct because it is a tomorrow of a day.”

“Something's weighing on your mind that has nothing to do with Hiei or the bond.” Livoso observed. “But to answer you, time was created to mark the difference between now and then, whenever the person in question deemed then to be.” He waited a moment before asking her what was wrong.

“Livoso, do you…no. Never mind.” She tilted her head back to look at the sky. “What is time to a demon? To me, time has always counted down to when something would arrive. As far as I know, time is this way to all humans. Is it the same way to you?”

“We look forward, and we look back.” Livoso answered uncertainly.

“To a human, time stops. We can look back, at what once was. Some get lost in it. But no matter what, everyone looks forward in time dreading that moment when time will no longer exist for them. We all feel a certain kinship with each other because of that. But demons don't always necessarily have that moment where their time stops. So how does a demon view time? Not as a countdown, but a timeline? This is what has happened and tomorrow I'll find what'll happen? Seven hundred years from now, I'll still be around to find out? If my time stops, it isn't because my time was limited in the first place?”

“Demons view the present as the most important.” Livoso replied, more sure of his answer now. “What's already happened is unchangeable. And most of us have no way of knowing what's to come, so the common philosophy is deal with it when it comes.” He paused. “What sparked all this talk of time?”

“I wonder if my time is the same as anyone else's. Until now, my time has flowed at the same rate as every other human. Now that rate is about to change drastically, and I wonder how it'll be in ten years when I look in the mirror and still see me exactly as I was when I was nineteen, when I expect to see someone who looks like they're nearly thirty.”

“Immortality is not kind.” Kuronue stated from behind them. Livoso jumped about a foot, but to her credit, Ayume didn't even seem surprised. “Especially to those who were not born to it. If I thought you didn't fully understand this, I would probably stop this ceremony in its tracks.” He waited a moment. “You're too good a kid for it Ayume. But, I suppose if you weren't so good it would be unattainable to you.”

“I'm not so good a person.” She hesitated, “After all, I wasn't entirely certain from the beginning that I would help you once we got there. Or that I would really go all the way to Madain Sarai.”

“What are you talking about?” Kuronue questioned.

Ayume frowned guiltily. “It's another reason you actually need me along. Madain Sarai will only open to the heir. I really wasn't worried about telling you, because so long as I'm there we can get in. But if I didn't go along, you'd be standing outside the gates wondering for quite awhile.”

“The heir…you're Jules's heir? You've known this whole time where to find it?” Kuronue demanded angrily. Livoso restrained him from actually hitting her.

“Of course not. Do you really think greedy King Jules would actually tell anyone how to find his precious city of treasure? Of course not, not even his prince. He did, however, tell his son what a wonderful place it was, as well as what a defensible one, and my father in turn told me. Jules's next heir.”

Kuronue calmed down as the logic of that statement sunk in. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“Hiei knows I'm the heir, but he doesn't know the gates will open for none but me or my father.” Silence reigned for a moment before Ayume broke it. “Say something.”

“It explains how you know so much. Even little comments here and there, stuff even we haven't found out after decades of digging.” He paused. “What else do you know?”

“Madain Sarai does have treasure, but that isn't the only resource that kept Jules there for so long. It isn't that it can't be moved, or that he didn't want to take it. He left it there on purpose, because it's really a very good place to keep it.”

“I think you're skirting the point.”

“The treasure that is most immeasurable is the raw power the place produces. The place is flooded with it, and the power collects and crystallizes. There isn't much of any feat someone couldn't pull off within the walls, and the place creates its own fortune. Also, Madain Sarai is only one of many places that do this. Jules left and locked it up in order to find more, though to my knowledge he never succeeded.”

Ayume, Livoso, and Kuronue were all silent for a moment. “We'll leave this for another time. We have more important thing to worry about than Jules's motivations. I'm disappointed you didn't tell us, but as you said it wasn't really necessary information.”

Livoso piped up. “We have a big event comin' up. We need to plan the after-party.” He said with a smile.

“Will I be conscious for that?” Ayume inquired. Livoso roared with laughter.

Kuronue chuckled. “Well, as unrefined as the suggestion was, Livoso has a point. All family events in demon society are followed by a gathering of some sort. As this is a happy event for the participants, custom dictates the gathering also be happy, therefore a party. And you my dear have got some studying to do. Don't worry, you won't have to learn much for lines, but there are certain guidelines to follow for the entire ritual. Though the participants are allowed a bit of tweaking, to make it more personal.” He threw his arm around her shoulders and led her away.

Hiei was in a full pout. Kiev nearly laughed when he saw the boy. “Wha's wrong `iei? No' getting' to see enough o' yer sister-to- be?”

“She's always holed up with Youko-sama or Kuronue-sama. I don't get to see any of her, let alone enough.” He complained.

“'Tis their duty, as the ones speakin' fer her, to teach `er no' to screw up. As it is my an' `ivoso's duty to ensu'e the same go fer you. So please stop poutin' `bout no' getting' enough time together now when the two o' ye got the res' o' forever.”

Hiei sighed. “I know. So, I can't eat for the entire day before the rite?”

“Ritual cleansin'. No food the day of. Nothin' but water fer drink. An' don't ferget a lot o' time alone to reflec' on yer decision.”

Hiei shuddered.

Short, I know, but it's really just a prelude to Chapter nine.