Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Murders ❯ Tim ( Chapter 21 )

Winter Murders

"Into the woods, it's time to go. I hate to leave, I have to, though. Into the woods, it's time and so I must begin my journey. Into the woods and through the trees to where I am expected, Ma'am. Into the woods to Grandmother's house. Into the woods to Grandmother's house," Kurama started singing randomly. "Into the woods and down the dell. The path is straight, I know it well. Into the woods, and who can tell what's waiting on the journey? Into the woods, along the stream, around beyond the lily pond, into the woods to Grandmother's house."

At this point in time Yusuke and Kuwa joined in singing.

"The way is clear, the light is good, I have no fear, nor no one should. The woods are just trees. The trees are just wood. No need to be afraid there…" Kurama dropped out. "There's something in the glade there."

"Would you three shut up?!" Hiei growled. Kurama laughed and put his arm through Hiei's. Hiei glared at him slightly but then directed his attention to Yusuke and Kuwa who were laughing at the mad Jaganshi.

"Kurama, if you're going to sing something from Into the Woods, sing Agony," Yusuke said as he jogged to catch up with Kurama and Hiei.

"I thought that that particular song fit, considering we're going to Wald der Sorge," Kurama said.

"Sing it with me my friend," Yusuke implored.

"Which verse? The first one or the second?" Kurama asked. Kuwa came up behind him and hit him lightly on the head.

"The second one," Kuwa said before getting knocked unconscious by Hiei.

"I guess we can stop here and take a breather while Kuwa's out cold," Yusuke said shrugging.

"Right on the street? Near the town?" Kurama asked a bit nervous.

"Yup, maybe we'll draw a crowd and earn some money or something," Yusuke said. "I'll be Rapunzel's prince. I think both of their titles are "Prince Charming" so, whatever. You start."

"High in a tower, like yours was but higher, a beauty asleep. All round the tower a thicket of briar a hundred feet deep. Agony! No frustration more keen. When the one thing you want, is a thing that you've not even seen."

"I found a casket entirely of glass. No, it's unbreakable," Yusuke sang, turning to Kurama on `no,' as if knowing what Kurama was about to ask him. "Inside- don't ask it- a maiden alas, just as un-wakeable…"

Kurama joined Yusuke in singing. "But unmistakable. Agony! Is the way always bared?"

"She has skin white as snow," Yusuke sang.

"Did you learn her name?" Kurama sang.

"No, there's a dwarf standing guard." Kurama turned and looked at Yusuke with an eyebrow raised. They had already gathered a crowd, but neither seemed to notice as they continued their song.

"Agony! Such that princes must weep. Always enthralled most to anything- almost- or something asleep," they sang together turning to each other at almost then turning away.

"If it were not for the thicket," Kurama sang.

"A thickets no trick, is it thick?" Yusuke sang.

"It's the thickest."

"The quickest is to pick it apart with a stick."

"Yes, but even one prick, it's my thing about blood…"

"Well it's sick!"

"It's no sicker than your thing with dwarves."

"Dwarfs?"

"Dwarfs…"

"Dwarves are very upsetting."

"Not forgetting the tasks unachievable," they sang in unison, breaking into parts on the next words. "Mountains un-scaleable, if it's conceivable but unavailable. Ahh…" they put an arm around the other's waist while singing the `Ahh' that they picked up from Rapunzel in the first act. "Agony! Misery! Woe! Not to know what you miss."

"As they lie there for years," Kurama sang.

"And you cry on their beards," Yusuke sang.

"What unbearable bliss," they sang together. "Agony! That can cut like a knife. *pause* Ah well, back to my wife."

The crowd clapped. Kurama blushed as he noticed that they had gathered a large crowd. Hiei smiled at him from the front row, sitting on Kuwa's still prone body. Yusuke took Kurama's hand and together they bowed. The crowd cheered and shouted `encore' several times before finally stopping and dispersing.

"Let's not do that again," Kurama said to Yusuke. Yusuke smiled at the fox. Hiei got off Kuwa and went over to Kurama's side, taking his hand. Kuwa stirred and sat up.

"What was that for shrimp?!" he shouted at Hiei.

"You hit Kurama," Hiei answered.

"Let's go guys," Yusuke said, moving to the front of the group. "We can almost reach it by sunset."

~*~*

All was silent at Genkai's temple. The lights on the outside of the building were off, and the only room that had a light on was the living room. The silence was tense for a moment, only to be broken by a screech on indignation resounding from said living room.

"How'd you get a straight flush?!?!!" Alexi shouted at a very calm Hypatia.

"Just lucky I guess," Hypatia said in return to the other's outburst.

The girls: Genkai, Keiko, Alexi, Hypatia, Shizuru, Botan, and Yukina were sitting in a circle on the floor playing a game of poker. Hypatia had just won her fifth hand in a row. Keiko was already out, and Yukina and Genkai were getting close.

"I think she's been playing with Kurama," Shizuru said. She took a puff of her cigarette. "He never loses."

Yukina picked up the cards since it was her deal. She shuffled them as Alexi and Hypatia argued. Genkai rolled her eyes and Shizuru only shook her head. Yukina dealt out the cards, five to each. She looked at her hand: 2 of clubs, jack of spades, queen of diamonds, jack of hearts, and 10 of spades. Genkai threw out two cards, Alexi three, Hypatia one, Shizuru four (showing her ace), and Botan two. Yukina paused to think for a second. They had all checked and no one had put down a starting bet… Yukina threw out three. She dealt out the appropriate cards and then looked at her hand. She had gotten two nines and a ten. Genkai bet five bucks, throwing the five dollar bill in the center with the one dollar bills that had been tossed in at the beginning. Alexi and Hypatia called. Shizuru folded, as did Botan. Yukina called and raised two dollars. The other girls called. Genkai had a pair of kings, Alexi had two pair: tens over threes, Hypatia had three of a kind; Yukina threw out her jacks over nines.

"You either are very lucky, you cheat, or you've been playing way too much with Kurama," Yukina told Hypatia. Hypatia smiled knowingly.

"I'll never tell," she taunted. Alexi started tickling her.

~*~*

"So," Yusuke began as the guys sat around the little fire they had built. He looked about the field they were going to sleep in. He turned to his friends. They looked at him from their respective positions: Hiei next to Kurama and Kuwa as far away as he could get without getting within arms reach of Yusuke. "Anyone know anything more about Wald der Sorge? Koenma was almost helpful the other day, but I'd like more information."

"I know about it," Kurama said quietly. Everyone looked at him.

"Aren't you knowledgeable one," Yusuke said. Kurama glared at him.

"I've just been around a long time and have had many experiences," Kurama replied acidly. Yusuke looked a bit ashamed.

"Speak on oh Knowledgeable one," Yusuke glorified. Hiei appeared behind him suddenly and hit him on the head. "Itai!!"

"Stop making fun of Kurama," Hiei said as he sat back down next to Kurama.

"Anyway…" Kurama started. "Wald der Sorge is quite the infamous place. Most demons try to avoid it, some don't. Most avoid it because it causes them to feel, or something. Like Hiei used to think, they think that emotions are weak. Some go in it to learn of emotion and such, to have a more full life. Some go in to seek shelter from those that hunt them, thinking they won't go in and inadvertently learn a lesson from those that dwell within."

"Let me guess, you fit the last option," Yusuke said. Kurama gave him a half-smile.

"Yeah, but we're not talking about me right now," Kurama said, pulling Hiei into his lap and wrapping his arms about him. "I hate talking about that place. It's so depressing."

Hiei tried to comfort the kitsune by patting his arm. Kurama tried to smile but failed.

"Well, Wald der Sorge is approximately five hundred years old or so. I don't know who founded it, or created it. All I know is that she's supposed to be a very powerful and rare demon. But I don't know," Kurama said. He continued. "Wald der Sorge formed around her. The forest grew about her; it became bigger and thicker than it had been originally. Tragic demons and humans alike traveled to be in the vicinity of her. It became kind of a pilgrimage for the heartbroken and tragic. They hoped she'd awaken and impart to them some sort of knowledge or something to help them move on, or get through the pain they felt. She awoke after a hundred or something years. The people who had come to her found she had nothing to tell them that would help them get over their pain. What she told them was that she wanted to make the forest around her into a place where people (humans and demons alike) could go and learn from their mistakes and heartbreak."

"Wow," Kuwa mumbled.

"So they decided to stay and do just that, officially forming Wald der Sorge, or the Forest of Sorrow," Kurama said. "Eventually people, humans and demons, die; not in Wald der Sorge. No one dies, they just go on. They tell those who cross their path their story. All the stories are tragic. That's why it's called Wald der Sorge. It's called the Forest of Sorrow because all that dwell within it are tragic people. They're sad in every way. Their lives were miserable and full of heartbreak, for various reasons. Not a single person in that forest is happy. They teach other's their mistakes through their stories, which teaches them a lesson. It teaches the listener not to lead the kind of life they had. Most people bump into the specter they call `Tragic Tim.' Tim was a powerful demon who had it all: money, powerful, influence and the like. Tim lacked the fundamentals of emotion though. He didn't feel anything but pleasure and power. The p's they call them: pleasure, pain, power, privilege, poverty, possessiveness, and whatever adjectives you can begin with a p. Most don't include a deeper feeling or understanding. Tim found that deeper meaning in a woman named Alison. Alison was just a poor, not very beautiful human. Somehow Tim fell for her bad and fast. He lavished everything on her: riches, wealth, land, clothing and servants. He made her everything she had not been before. But Alison didn't love Tim. Tim found out the hard way. He caught her in bed with another man. He yelled and screamed and his heart felt like it was going to break free from his chest and shatter on the floor. He killed Alison's lover. She hated him and kicked and hit him until he came back to his senses. He regretted what he did, but there was only one way to bring her dead lover back. He took her lover in his arms and carried him to the entryway. He went to the library and pulled out his occult book. He went back to the entryway. Alison was crying and holding her lover's quickly cooling body. Tim set his mind on his task, determined to keep her happy no matter what. Tim would have done anything for that woman, and he did just about everything he could to win her. Unfortunately for Tim, she never fell prey to his charms. He took the occult book and opened it to the page he desired: the ritual of the beating heart."

"He… did the ritual?" Hiei asked a bit nervously. Kurama nodded.

"Yes, Tim did the ritual," he replied. "In the ritual of the beating heart, a person who loves another so deeply that they would do anything for the one they love can take out their own heart and put it in a dead body, thus raising the dead. Once the heart is out, however, the individual who performed the ritual will live in absolute misery and pain for the rest of their natural life and beyond. They will only feel the pain of a broken heart and nothing else."

"Poor Tim," Yusuke and Kuwa chorused.

"Yes, poor Tim," Kurama said. "But Tim isn't the only person in there, and he isn't the most tragic of them either."

"There are sadder beings within those trees?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, some are so tragic that it is hard for them to go on, but they know that when they tell their story to others those others won't make the same mistakes they made. They know those people will live their lives without and strings attached. They will live full and most likely happy lives."

"What about this council of four Koenma mentioned?" Kuwa asked.

"They are the saddest of the sad," Kurama said. "The council of four are the four most tragic people dwelling in Wald der Sorge. They were appointed by the dwellers themselves."

"What kind of creatures are they? Are they human or demon?" Yusuke asked.

"Three are demons, one is human," Kurama replied. Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

"Must be one tragic human," he muttered.

"She is," Kurama blurted.

"You've heard her story?" Yusuke asked, stunned at his friend's outburst.

"Yes, and I don't care to repeat it," Kurama replied. "I've heard three of the four stories of the council."

"…" Yusuke and Kuwa couldn't say anything they were too stunned.

"Kurama?" Hiei questioned.

"Their stories never truly set in until I became human myself," Kurama told the guys. "I will not repeat them; they are just too painful to even think about."

"We're not pushing ya," Yusuke said. "I think that's enough for tonight. Let's get some sleep."

~*~*

"You've got to be kidding me!!!" Alexi's shout echoed throughout the temple.

"I didn't cheat, if you're wondering," Hypatia told the distraught member of the `Chosen Few.'

"How could you not have cheated?!" Alexi roared. "You won every hand since five!!"

"We would've known if she had cheated," Genkai replied, groggy from the full day of playing poker for money and then shots. Hypatia wasn't even drunk, but the other girls had long ago passed out from all the alcohol their systems had ingested. Alexi had only gotten noisier with each shot. Hypatia had just won the final hand, forcing Alexi to down a good three shots of vodka.

"Stupid Hypatia," Alexi somehow managed to mumble between shots. Her head span and she felt sleep beckoning her to its realm of oblivion. She fought it for a minute but the fell prey to it. She fell forward, Hypatia catching her head before it hit the table.

"I think she's out cold," Hypatia told Genkai.

"You think?" Genkai replied.

"Eh he he he," Hypatia nervously laughed. "You'd better go to sleep too; I'll clean up around here."

"Can you handle it?" Genkai asked. Hypatia nodded and smiled. "Ok then."

Hypatia watched as Genkai got up and headed towards her room. She sighed and began picking up shot glasses and empty bottles. She shook her head as she looked at Alexi and then made her way into the kitchen.

Author's notes: I haven't called these spaz things notes in a while… Anyway, sorry this was late. I had the idea last week and it was all planned out, but I had no access to the computer. So I got it done this weekend. Hope you enjoyed it.

Kita- the reason there aren't as many on ff.net is because I was here originally and haven't gotten to post them all over there yet.