Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Murders ❯ Shades ( Chapter 14 )

Winter Murders

"Dude, Hiei, you totally locked them in their own fortress… and you definitely killed a few of them," Yusuke commented to Hiei, who had sat on the ground.

"No duh Yusuke," Death said. Yusuke gave her half a peace sign. Death blew him a kiss.

"You two seem to be getting along," Kurama remarked as he moved to Hiei's side, putting his hand on his lover's shoulder. Death and Yusuke began trading off obscene gestures.

"They look like Kuwa & Yusuke when they're fighting or Hiei & Kuwa when they're fighting… sort of," Genkai observed as Death called Yusuke a `naïve narcissistic sociopath.'

"They really do," Kurama replied. Yusuke countered by calling Death a '25 cent whore.' Kurama looked at Hiei a bit worriedly, but Hiei ignored his concern.

"At least when I fight with Yusuke I don't call him names," Kuwa said.

"No," Genkai said. "You two just trade off blows."

Kuwa made a face at her and then walked over to Kurama and Hiei.

"What did she call him?" he asked no one in particular.

"A `stinking pedophile bisexual bitch,'" Kurama told him. He stood and held out a hand to Hiei. "You need to stand up so Kuwa can give you a lift."

"Hn," Hiei said. He took Kurama's hand begrudgingly and hauled himself to his feet. Yusuke and Death were now slapping each other's hands like little girls.

"That's really pathetic," Kuwa said as he helped Hiei onto his back. Genkai and Kurama nodded in agreement.

"Hey! Guys!" Kurama shouted over to Death and Yusuke, both stopped and looked at him. "We're ready to go now!"

Kuwa shifted Hiei. Genkai whistled for the darsteeds, even though it was unnecessary.

"How long `til we get there?" Yusuke asked Death. Death shrugged as the darsteeds approached.

Kurama climbed on his darsteed and motioned for Kuwa to come over. Kuwa came and somehow managed to get Hiei off his back and up on to the darsteed behind Kurama.

"It'll be about… a long time," she said. Yusuke's face faltered.

"How long is `a long time?'?" Yusuke asked as he snagged his darsteeds reigns.

"A day or so," Death said as she moved to her own darsteed. Genkai was already atop hers and Kuwa was nearly up as Yusuke finally got on the back of his. "We'll stop when the sun starts to go down."

~*~*

"18 bottles of beer on the wall, 18 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 17 bottles of beer on the wall," Yusuke sang, out of tune of course. He had been singing that song since they had started on their little "journey." Death was twitching so bad it was practically a spasm. Hiei's wards were smoking, and had been for quite some time. Kurama looked like he had lost his mind. He was smiling and his face was twitching from the strain of keeping it on. His hair was a bit tangled due to the fact that his hands had to do something and had decided to mess with his hair. They were currently playing with Hiei's wards. Kuwa had picked up a piece of wood or something along the way and was smacking his head with it to drone out Yusuke's voice. Genkai looked as if she were in a trance of calm. She was the only one unaffected by Yusuke's antics. This was probably due to the fact that she dealt with him all the time, and in annoying mode.

"16 bottles of beer on the wall…" Yusuke sang. Death snapped.

"SHUT YOUR GOD FORESAKEN MOUTH!" she bellowed. Kuwa's darsteed, which had been moving alongside of Death's, reared. Kuwa fell to the ground; his darsteed ran a good twenty yards away before he regained control over it. "YOU'VE BEEN SINGING THAT GOS FORESAKEN SONG ALL DAY LONG! I CON'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

"It passes the time," Yusuke said peacefully. Death's hand was clenching and unclenching dangerously at her side.

"YOU STARTED AT EIGHT FUCKING HUNDRED!!!!" Death screamed. Yusuke shrugged.

"So?" he said innocently. Death shrieked with pent up rage and frustration. She rode her darsteed over to Yusuke's. Death leapt from hers to his and began to throttle him in a very Homer Simpson-like way. She even screamed `Why you little!..."

Kurama blinked a few times and chuckled a bit. Hiei looked at the kitsune with increasing interest. He seemed too had lost it back around 632. Hiei was worried about his kit's mental condition.

"You should probably knock it off Death," Kurama shouted over to Death. He still had that smile on his face.

"Doesn't your face hurt?" Hiei asked, more than a bit concerned.

"As much as we want Yusuke dead, we might need him. I mean, we're there," Kurama told Death, ignoring Hiei's question.

Death looked at him, still throttling Yusuke. Kurama gave her a `come on' look. Death reluctantly gave Yusuke's neck a final squeeze before letting go. She made a `darn' face. Yusuke gasped for air and collapsed forward onto his saddle. Death called her darsteed over to her. She got up and jumped to her darsteed. Yusuke limply fell off his darsteed, no one noticed.

"I'm back," Death said in a freakishly childish voice. Hiei looked up at the castle.

"Well, this is anticlimactic," Hiei commented. He looked up at the castle. "I expected guards, and demon creatures and dark clouds spewing lightning and dramatic music… or something."

"Hiei," Kurama said. "This isn't a movie."

"It very well could be with all the shit we've been through," Hiei replied. His arms tightened around Kurama's waist. Kurama sighed heavily.

"Shall we?" Death inquired. Kurama nodded, as did Kuwa (who had gotten back on his darsteed) and Genkai. "Wondrous."

The group moved on without hassle for a while. Then someone mentioned something about a Yusuke person and they had to turn back. Death decided that it would be too much trouble to pick Yusuke up and put him on his darsteed (it took her fifteen minutes to find it), so she tied him to it, letting him drag behind it. The group turned around and headed back towards the castle.

Kurama petted Hiei's hair while talking to him quietly. Hiei leaned against Kurama, needing him to support him, clinging to him. Kuwa was trying to talk to an unresponsive Genkai. Death just kept pulling along Yusuke.

"Tra la la boom dee ay," Kuwa sang. Death screamed, causing some of the ice trees to combust.

Hiei saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turns to his right, trying to see whatever it was better. A shadow shifted. Hiei shook his head. He shouldn't be so suspicious over something like that. It was only a shadow anyway. Another shadow moved. Hiei ignored it, but soon was suspicious again because an eerie calm came over the forest. They had reached the base of the incline to the palace. Hiei suspected that that had something to do with the eerie calm. A solitary howl echoed in the air. A strange, haunted mist had formed behind them, as if saying that there was no way back now.

"Stay very still," Death whispered. Kurama and Hiei nodded as they approached the gate. Kuwa looked nervously at the mist. Death scanned the area, but seemingly didn't see anything. Genkai was aware now and was disengaging herself from her saddle to untie Yusuke from his darsteed.

Yusuke grunted, as if something had hit him. Death turned her head to him. Kurama began picking the lock on the gate. Hiei had drawn his sword (who knows how he regained it, if he ever lost it), wary of everything and anything. Genkai got to the ground and moved to Yusuke's side. He had sat up and was trying to figure out why the side of his head hurt. Kuwa cried out as he was shoved from his saddle and fell to the ground. Death rushed over to his side, jumping from her saddle.

"Beware, he's set the Shades on us," Death shouted to the group. Kurama raised an eyebrow but didn't care enough, he was more concerned about the lock. Hiei also raised an eyebrow. Kuwa was reeling from the shove. Yusuke and Genkai turned to Death.

"Ok, I'll bite, what's a Shade?" Yusuke asked. Death turned to him.

"Think of a shadow, and you have its appearance," Death told him. She shook Kuwa gently. He nodded his thanks.

"What's so horrible and frightening about a shadow?" Yusuke asked. Death sighed.

"That's not the half of it," Kurama called out to them. Hiei looked at his love. Kurama was concentrating on the lock, but he seemed to know what a Shade was.

"What do you mean `not the half of it'?" Yusuke asked the kitsune.

"I'll explain if you wish," Death commented to Kurama. Kurama shook his head.

"No, I need to take my mind off other things, besides I've had experience with Shades before," Kurama said. Death nodded. Yusuke was clueless. Someone or something gave him a knuckle sandwich.

"What the hell?!" Yusuke shouted.

"Beware Yusuke," Kurama said in an eerily calm voice. Yusuke didn't like it. "Shades are not something you should underestimate. I did once, and it nearly cost me my life and identity."

"Identity?" Yusuke asked, looking about for this Shade ting.

"Yes, identity. Shades are basic shadows in appearance. But they can do something to become a demon or human, whatever the case may be. Shades will attack your shadow, which makes them harder to see and harder to fight. If they knock you unconscious, or kill you they will eat your shadow and thus become you," Kurama told the group. Kuwa started clutching at his neck.

"Shit!" Death said. She looked at the ground and saw a Shade strangling Kuwa's shadow. She made an icicle and moved beside him, watching the ground the entire time. She stabbed the icicle into thin air, but pierced the Shade.

"Powers that involve light are useless. Light only makes them stronger. You have to beat, club, or stab them to death," Kurama said as a Shade knocked Hiei off the darsteed.

"Stupid Shades," Hiei muttered as he looked at the ground to find his attacker.

"Hiding in a larger shadow is an effective way to stave them off," Kurama muttered as he threw a seed onto the ground in the direction of the sun. It grew into a rather large tree, concealing his shadow.

"So what you're saying is," Yusuke blocked a punch. "This guy Xania didn't make these things."

"Correct," Kurama said. "He probably hired them out or something."

"I really don't like this guy," Yusuke mumbled as he got punched in the stomach.

Hiei moved out of the shadow of the tree and looked around for a Shade to attack. Kuwa was struggling with one a few meters off and so was Yusuke. Death had been surrounded and Genkai was cracking skulls to Yusuke's right. Something poked his back. Hiei smiled and whirled, swinging his sword. Something smash into the back of his head. Hiei looked about wildly, unable to get his bearings for a moment. Something smashed a knee. Hiei bit his lip. He looked at the ground and saw a Shade holding a shadow that looked like his sword. He turned to see his sword in the air, ready for the kill.

"Shit!" Hiei said as he dove to his side, narrowly missing the Shade's lunge. "Kurama, they're holding my sword!"

"They can do that with anything with a shadow, if it's in their power range. Some can even uproot trees, while others can't lift a thing," the kitsune mumbled. He heard the tumblers roll. "Finally."

Hiei dodged another swing of his sword. It didn't matter that they had it, they were horrible. Hiei charged, missed getting stabbed, and snatched the sword from the air, effectively making it harder for him to fight it.

"Stupid, stupid Hiei," Hiei muttered as the Shade punched his stomach. Hiei looked at the ground. It was so hard to fight this way. You couldn't look into the air around you, for your enemy was a two dimension shadow on the ground. Hiei cursed his rotten luck. He looked about for the Shade that had been annoying him. He saw a different shadow push a sharp object through its chest. He looked up and met Kurama's eyes.

"Thanks," he said. Kurama smiled it off. "Any tricks you can recommend?"

"Fight them often and you'll get the hang of it, or give them something to hold," Kurama said. Hiei nodded in understanding.

Yusuke cried out as a tree branch burst through his shoulder. He had been so concerned about the Shade in front of him he didn't notice the other one approach from behind. Not like he would have noticed anyway, it had walked in the path of his shadow, effectively hiding it. Yusuke cursed his poor luck and pushed the branch out. The Shade in front of him punched his face. The Shade behind kicked his legs out from under him. Yusuke fell face first to the ground.

"Son of a…" Yusuke cursed as one of the Shades took a bite out of him. Yusuke couldn't feel any of his fingers on his right hand, but for some reason he could feel them moving. The Shade had taken a bite out of his hand, effectively taking it over.

"Kurama!" Yusuke shouted. The kitsune turned from his own fight to the youth who cried out as the Shade took another bite. Kurama cursed and rushed over to Yusuke's side, leaving Hiei to fend for himself.

"Kurama please tell me I'll get control of my hand back when it's dead," Yusuke whimpered to the Kitsune. Kurama slaughtered one of the Shades and began attacking the second.

"It all depends on the type of Shade that is attacking us. Judging by the way they act, you won't get your hand back until they are all dead," Kurama said as he beheaded the second.

"I hate these things," Yusuke mumbled and got up from the ground. "I can't feel my hand.

Kurama looked over to Kuwa, who was barely surviving the three Shades that had surrounded him. Genkai was faring well, holding off seven of them. Hiei was still struggling with two. Kurama could have sworn there were more. He looked on the ground and saw that twelve had surrounded him and Yusuke.

"Sorry I dumped all the guys on you two, but they were bored because I wasn't playing with them. I told them you'd be happy to entertain them," Death cackled. She was on the other side of the gate. Kurama growled at her. Yusuke was a bit astonished, but had forgotten that she was a bad guy so it was understandable.

"You evil, sadistic bitch!" Yusuke called out to her. Death laughed. Yusuke hadn't heard that kind of laugh in ages. It was the kind of laugh that gave you nightmares, and simultaneously made you doubt your own sanity.

"Yusuke look out!" Kurama yelled. Yusuke ducked instinctively and felt something fall over him. He ended up pinned to the ground. "Don't worry about her, we'll get her later."

"You know," Death said. "You ruined my fool proof plan, but apparently the forest helped you. Didn't take that one into account."

Kurama made two swords out of bamboo and gave one to Yusuke. He began swinging it wildly, but if one looked at the shadows on the ground, one would see that he was taking down the Shades.

Hiei fell as something hard hit the back of his head. He could feel unconsciousness calling him. He felt his eyelids closing, and then something bit his shoulder. He cried out. He couldn't feel where he had been bit anymore. He shot up from the ground and looked at his shadow. He was connected, shoulder to shoulder with a Shade. Hiei cried out in alarm and shoved his sword through the place where his enemy's body should have been. The Shade shuddered and crumpled up, sliding off his shadow sword.

Kuwa had one on his back, one holding onto his ankle, another holding an arm, one holding the opposite arm, and one poised in front of him with a wooden stick. Normally Kuwa wouldn't be afraid of a stick, but it was a pointy stick and could most likely pierce his skin. Kuwa gulped as the stick rammed its self into his chest.

Genkai finished off her last assailant and went to help Kuwa, who was having a hard time. She saw the stick go through his chest and rushed over. She ripped the Shade off his back and broke its neck. The Shade around Kuwa's ankle stood and attacked her. She broke off one of its arms and proceeded to club it with it. The two on Kuwa's arms charged at once. Genkai pulled a knife that she had found on the ground. She slit on Shade's throat and cut the other. It took her a few moments, but soon it was dead. The fifth Shade had disappeared.

Hiei's second Shade fell to Kurama who, with the help of Yusuke, had killed off the twelve. The three of them moved over to Genkai's side.

"What happened?" Yusuke asked, immediately concerned for his friend's well-being.

"A Shade plunged this stick through his chest," Genkai said. She pointed to the stick. Kuwa had pulled it out before moving into unconsciousness.

"Son of a..." Yusuke muttered. Hiei cried out and fell to his knees. Kurama turned and looked to see the last Shade running away towards the tree line with a dagger in hand. He growled in pure anger and blood lust and charged after the Shade. He caught up to it quickly and slaughtered it with his patented Rose Whip. He then rushed to his friend's sides.

"Whoa," Yusuke mumbled as both Kuwa and Hiei's wounds miraculously healed, and he could feel his hand. Kurama coddled Hiei for a while.

"I'm fine kitsune," Hiei tried to Kurama, but Kurama wasn't listening.

"I'm going to have to be more careful with you," he murmured. Kuwa sat up, saw them cuddling and turned around quickly, covering his mouth.

"Get over it Kuwa," Yusuke said.

~*~*

"Here we go, right?" Yusuke asked his team mates.

"Here we go," Kuwa replied.

"Hn," Hiei said. Kurama nudged him. "… Here we go."

"Here we go," Kurama said.

"Let's finish this," Genkai said. Kurama opened the gate.

Spaz: Hi. Please don't hurt me for the long wait. I had a terrible case of writers block. I did get past it though… today. I hope that I didn't disappoint you with the pathetic-ness of this installment. I kinda like it. Oh well. I promise I'll have another chapter up next week. I think I'm past writers block.