Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Murders ❯ The Haunting Past ( Chapter 22 )

Winter Murders

The trees of the forest were all around him. There was no light coming in from up above, nor was there any light coming from where they had just entered the trees. He looked back to make sure he wasn't hallucinating the lightlessness of the place. He couldn't see. There was nothing but a great void of black around him, and behind him. He couldn't even remember what the sun looked like and he had just entered the forest, thought it seemed ages ago.

"Kuronue?" he called out tentatively. He turned around, hoping he wouldn't bump into anything, or anyone. He knew it was best to avoid the specters that haunted this accursed place. He'd been here once before and hadn't liked it. He hadn't liked it at all. "Kuronue!"

"I'm here," he heard Kuronue's soothing voice say scant feet away. "Give me a second to light something so we can see."

He fidgeted. He could feel his hands running up and down his arms, his foot stamping the ground, but he couldn't see it. It disconcerted him that there was nothing he could see. It made him feel vulnerable, helpless, and utterly lost. He had no bearings, he didn't have his eyes. His world was currently darkness. There was no East or West, there were no trees, and there was nothing but him. He kept thinking, making himself even more nervous than he had been before. He grew agitated, nervous, and began to whirl around frantically, as though he felt someone watching him. He had the sneaking feeling that there was someone behind him ready to stab him in the back, or do something horrible. He spun around, whip in hand to slash at a moments notice. His eyes, useless as they were, were darting in all directions, straining to see but knowing they never would.

Light flared to his right. He whirled to see the illuminated form of his partner Kuronue. He sighed heavily in relief. He had been so scared, and that was unnatural for him.

"There you are," Kuronue said. He smiled slightly. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's go," he said. He moved over to his partner's side. Kuronue smiled at him and threw an arm around his waist. He tried to smile back but found that he couldn't.

"So," Kuronue started. "How do we get out of this hell?"

"Give me the torch and follow me, I think I remember," he told Kuronue. He took the proffered torch and started out, his partner's arm still around his waist.

He had been here before. He knew what lay in this tortured wood. He knew what kind of creatures lived in this place. He knew of a way to avoid all of them, but he was nearly positive that he'd bump into them, them and him. He had never wanted to come back to this place, this place of sadness. His last trip had made him think seriously about whom he was and what he was doing with his life. He had changed because of this place, and for the worse he had thought. He cared now. It could've had something to do with the fact that he was still so young, a mere fifty years of age, but it had messed with his head and he didn't like it. Now he was back with his partner in crime, his partner in life, and his partner in love. His Kuro. He didn't want to hear one of their stories again. The last one had affected him and he didn't like that felling. That feeling that somehow his life and spun out of his control and he was going to change so that he didn't end up like him. Damn that man! He had changed his life when he had been content with what he had had.

"We won't need this soon," he told Kuro. Kuro smiled at him. He still couldn't smile back. Light started to filter through the trees, making the torch unnecessary after a short period of time. He saw specters walking about, all of them as sad as sad could be. He led Kuro through the trees, avoiding all the specters he could see and not bumping into a single one to hear their story. He went far to the right, hoping to avoid that place, that place that they resided in. A flash of a bright light told him he had not gone far enough.

"Shit," he muttered. Kuro looked at him, utter confusion on his face.

"Kurama?" Kuro asked quietly.

"Run!" Kurama replied. He pulled Kuro along as he dashed as his feet could manage towards the other side of the clearing he had somehow ended up in. He ran into the invisible wall. "Please no. No, please…"

Kuro looked at his partner, he was freaked out. Kuro grew worried; Kurama didn't get worried over nothing.

"Kura…?" he whispered.

"You have entered the valley of the four," a beautiful, deep, and womanly voice echoed in the valley. Kurama looked up to see her. He swallowed, hard. She was beautiful, yes, but she was not one to be trifled with. Her long black and red hair hung loosely down her back to about her hip. Her pallid face, long nails, and black eyes made her intimidating and yet soft at the same time. He marveled at her beauty and yet some part of him told him to beware. Her red lips contrasted with her white face and her black attire. She wore the same thing she had worn the first time he had seen her, a heavy black cloak with a black peasant top and pants beneath. Her boots went to her knees; her pants were rolled to reveal them.

"We do not know how you came to the forest, to Wald der Sorge, but we know that you are here now. It matters not who you are, though I think I have seen you before kitsune," she spoke.

"You have entered the valley of the four," a light tenor voice sang out to the right of him. He looked in that direction. He was exactly the same as the last time. His long blonde hair running past his shoulders only slightly; his blue tunic; his brown, holey pants were the same as they had always been. His skin was still hazel and his eyes were still yellow.

"We of the council are the saddest of all those who dwell here," a charming soprano voice tinkled behind him. He turned to his right once more. He saw the angel that used to be human, but had become immortal by residing in this forest. Her white garments billowed about her as she stood on the ground scant feet away from him. Her brown hair was piled elaborately on her head and her green eyes blazed.

"But you should know this speech young one," he heard him say. Kurama swallowed hard and turned to his left to see the man who had changed him. The demon looked nearly human, aside from the dog's tail and ears. His hair was black and white and his skin was as dark as it could get. He alone of the four had changed since Kurama had seen him last. He wore a green cloak now and brown pants while his shirt was red. His white dragon marking stood out on his black face. Impassionate white eyes stared at him coldly. "Did not you learn your lesson last time?"

"Yes I did," Kurama somehow replied.

"I knew I had seen you before," the first woman said. The other woman nodded in agreement.

"Your memory is as poor as ever Dolore," He said to her. She just raised an eyebrow at him.

"It matters not if you have been here before," she said to Kurama and Kuronue. "You still must hear a tale of ours. You have heard Romial's tale. You cannot hear his again. You may hear mine, Jane's, or Subaru's."

"We will hear Jane's" Kuronue said.

"Wait!" Kurama shouted, but they did not heed.

"Your choice is made. You shall hear Jane's tale. Be forewarned that her's is the second most tragic tale of the four of us," Dolore told them. Kurama and Kuronue looked at each other and then nodded, they had to listen.

Jane sat on the ground. Kurama and Kuronue sat opposite of her.

"I am sorry you have to do this again," she had said. The picture faded and soon was black. Another appeared. Kurama was back in the valley, but he was sad, cold and detached. Kuronue must've been dead by then. He had to listen to Subaru's tale. Kurama changed into what most knew as Youko Kurama after Subaru's story, his intake for empathy overwhelmed by the sadness that the stories of the council had entailed.

~~**~~

Hiei sat up quickly, having looked into his partner's past. Kurama didn't seem to notice, he was fast asleep, having formerly had his arms wrapped around his lover. Hiei was worried, they were getting so close, but there was still a lot he didn't know about his kit. He looked down at Kurama's peaceful face. How could he live with all of that on his shoulders?

"Morning," Yusuke said to him. Hiei jumped. He clutched the blanket about his waist; he and Kurama had snuck away last night to get some privacy. Kurama was snuggled up under the other blanket. "Thanks for sneaking out in the middle of the night and making me worry all morning."

"We didn't go far," Hiei replied. Yusuke shrugged.

"Let's o, get dressed, wake up Kurama and let's get this mission over with," Yusuke said. He turned to leave but Hiei called out to him. He turned around to look quizzically at the little Koorime.

"Yusuke, I think that I can see Kurama's memories after we…" he trailed off. Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"I don't want to know," he said he turned to leave again.

"I saw his memories of the forest," Hiei said. Yusuke stopped in his tracks. He turned back to Hiei, who was visibly worried about Kurama.

"And?" Yusuke prompted him.

"They weren't good," Hiei replied. "I don't know if he'll go through this mission unscathed. And he's tough, but form what I can tell, he heard three of the four council member's tales and became the infamous Youko. He wasn't always that way. He heard all of those tales within thirty years of each other at the tender (in demon years) of fifty."

"Not cool," Yusuke replied. "We'll keep an eye on him then."

Kurama groaned and cracked open an eye. Yusuke waved to Hiei and said he'd get Kuwa so they could move out. Kurama sat up and looked at Hiei, who tried his best to act as though he hadn't seen anything.

~*~*

Alexi moaned and rubbed her throbbing temples. She had a serious hangover. She clutched at her head as she stood, making her way to the bathroom to get any sort of drug to fix her throbbing head. She found a bottle of Advil. She took it with her as she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water or something to swallow the capsules with. She found Hypatia hunched over the sink, her left hand in the water and her head on the counter. Alexi sighed and reached in the freezing water to pull the plug. She ran the hot water after it had drained to warm up Hypatia's hand. She filled a glass and stuffed four or five Advil's in her mouth, swallowing them in rapid succession. She didn't care if she had overdosed, she was practically a demon and she had a killer hangover. She heard a crack and turned to face the far wall, where the sound had originated. The wall burst into flames.

"Shit!!!" Alexi screamed. She raised her hands and prayed she could use her latest powers, those of water. A jet of water sprayed from her hands and onto the fire. Eventually the fire was put out, but in its wake it left a giant hole in the wall.

"Son of a bitch," Alexi muttered. "How the hell am I supposed to explain this to Genkai?"

"You won't have to," a deep, dispassionate voice boomed from outside the hole. Alexi squinted to see through the smoke that filled the kitchen.

"Go damn it! Can't anything go my way today?!" she shouted in frustration and blew the smoke out side of the kitchen with another of her new powers, wind.

"Well, well, well," the voice said. Alexi saw the figure of a man outside, his red cloak, pant and hair hard to miss. "Look who's been busy killing "Chosen" demons, you filthy human."

"Look whose still as think as the Earth's crust," Alexi shot back. "You look like you fell in a vat of red paint."

"The red of my clothed and hair symbolize the defeat of my enemies," he stated. Alexi started at him.

"That is the worst bull shit I've heard in a long time," she barked out. The demon glared at her. "How many have you killed? Three? Four?"

"I have killed many," he simply stated.

"How many is many?" Alexi replied.

"Ten," he said. Alexi laughed.

"You call that many?" she laughed at him. "I've killed twenty, and so has Makoto."

"Then I will be stronger than him when I kill you," he said. A fireball shot towards Alexi's head, she threw a snowball at it, defusing it.

"I'm sorry, you're not worth my time, and I have to kill Makoto myself," she replied.

"There are not many of us left," he told her.

"There are five; you, me, Makoto, and two others. They should each have the powers of three others," Alexi told him. "When I kill you, I will have the powers of twenty-eight. Makoto has twenty-seven right now. You'll be a piece of cake and all I'll have to do after I kill you is wait for one of those last two idiots to came to me."

"Don't be so cocky, you have to beat me first," he shouted. He charged her, fire blazing about him.

"Amateur," Alexi mumbled. She easily dodged his attack.

~*~*

"Alrighty then!" Yusuke said enthusiastically. He looked at the forest that lay directly in front of him. He looked nervously at Kurama and then looked back. "Since you've been here before, I believe you get to lead Kurama."

"Ok," the kitsune said. He took the torch that Hiei proffered to him. Yusuke and Kuwa took the torches Hiei handed to them. They stepped into the woods and were immediately swallowed by the darkness. Yusuke gulped, he didn't like it in here.

"Just follow me," Kurama said from in front of him. Yusuke could barely see his friend's illuminated form, but followed Hiei who was following Kurama.

"You coming Kuwa?" Yusuke called back to the scared Ningen. Kuwa nodded and followed his friends.

~*~*

Alexi dodged another fireball and shot an ice pick at his chest. He didn't seem to notice since all of his attention was focused on trying to have the grass tie her down. The pick struck its mark and buried itself in his chest.

"It's sad when you don't know how to use the powers you've gained," Alexi told him. "You should be ashamed of yourself Apo."

"The only reason I'm ashamed of myself is because I let you defeat me," Apo spat back. Alexi reached to her stomach and pulled out the black scythe. She began to bring it down on his head but then stopped herself before the blade touched his forehead.

"You're not worthy to die by her powers," Alexi spat at him. She pushed the scythe back into her stomach and then formed a ball of her own black energy in her hand. "You deserve to die by Ningen spirit energy."

She chucked the ball at him and turned around. Hypatia was standing in the hole in the wall.

"Alexi…" she whispered. Alexi fell to her knees as the lightning stuck her once… twice… thrice…

"Alexi!!!"

~*~*

Light began to trickle through the canopy above the guys.

"How long has it been since I last saw the sun?" Yusuke spoke.

"Not as long as you think it has been," Kurama said. He could see the same specters he had seen thrice before. "This way."

Hiei looked back at Yusuke, who was fidgeting. Hiei knew that it wouldn't be long before they bumbled into the valley of the four. He winced at the thought of it. He didn't want his kit to suffer. He looked about himself and found that they were in the valley. He looked to Kurama who sat on the ground, waiting for Dolore, Romial, Jane, and Subaru.

"You have entered the valley of the four," a beautiful, deep, and womanly voice echoed in the valley. Hiei looked up from his kit to see her. She looked exactly the same as she had in Kurama's memories form over seven hundred years ago.

Notes!! : Well, this chappie almost turned out as I had planned it, but I think it changed for the better. I probably messed up something or other along the way, sorry! Hope y'all liked it and I hope you tell me what you thought.