Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Winter's end ❯ Faint perceptions ( Chapter 13 )

Title: I meant it like... “Life matters” as in it's important and we should value it. But also life “matters,” as in life... “stuff...” I totally get it if it doesn't make sense. ^^; duckichan87 won the Kurama plushie, she's the only one who guessed so... bow to her! Haha, not...

 

Again with the title, it's um... meant for one tiny detail of the end ish... so, I now have a Kurama keychain to who can tell me (as close as you get) to what it refers to! Be specific, yet I'm not expecting anyone to get it really since... it's very abstract... and not necessarily mentioned... Be creative?

 

Disclaimer: Once again, the (apparently) wonderful plot is all mine (mostly) and the OC's are mine, except Ray.

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Chapter 13: Faint perceptions

 

“Got it?”

 

“Yeah yeah, I got it. I'm not dumb, remember?” smirked Ray, trying not to shiver in the cold night. How Shuichi could still move with those injuries and the cold was beyond her. He only wore a torn long sleeve shirt and makeshifts bandages made with his ripped sweater.

 

Shuichi smiled with his eyes, “Hai. I do know, you're my competition.” he reminded her. Yep, that was true. She was always second to him, or sometimes third because of that nerdy guy—Kaito.

 

Gray eyes looked at Shuichi's burning green orbs, “Are you... certain about this?”

 

Nod. “You can't hesitate. Trust me, it'll work.” a gentle smile graced his lips, which Ray could barely see in the profound darkness. Ray sighed but followed his instructions and carefully started climbing a tree.

 

Kurama followed her movements in the dark for a while before starting to move himself, hearing Taro not far behind. It was only a matter of time before he was found out. After all, his blood did smell delicious, it was a rare breed.

 

Positioning himself on a snowy rock, Kurama glanced around before laying down as if he had been abandoned. Very soon, Taro's step crunched in the snow, his large nostrils sniffing the air until his mouth opened in anxious anticipation. He had found one!

 

Circling his fallen prey silently, Taro licked his lips. He couldn't wait to taste that demon blooded fool again. He could hear Kurama's shallow and painful breathing, yet thought he heard someone quietly. Brushing it off as a small animal, Taro finally moved closer to the immobile, injured demon.

 

Soon, very soon his hunger would be satisfied. Kurama tensed slightly, trying not to open his eyes. He could feel the demon approaching and prayed he had not felt Ray's presence. Hopefully, the smell of blood covered everything else.

 

However, he couldn't help but gasp loudly when he felt two clawed hands suddenly grab his shoulders. Snapping his green eyes open, Kurama stared in horror at the drooling white eyed demon holding him down firmly. “Found ya.” snickered Taro, his drool dripping on Kurama's shoulders.

 

Kurama could feel the claws digging through his clothes and nearly piercing his skin. 'Come on Ray...' he cringed, trying not to moan out in pain.

 

Meanwhile, observing the scene from the tree nearly above the rock, Ray clasped her hands around a branch, having made sure to brush off the snow before the demon appeared. She hoped this reckless plan would work, if it didn't, they were both dead.

 

Her warm breath came out in small silver clouds as she hurriedly let herself hang from the branch, much like in a gymnastic competition, and quickly started swinging herself until she had enough swing to nearly reach the demon's head. 'This time, it'll hit.' she thought and concentrated on the reach of her feet.

 

As she swung forward though, Taro decided to take another bite of his weakened prey and caused Ray to miss. 'Shit!' thought Ray as Kurama cried out in pain. He was helpless. With his powers locked up inside of him, his arms restrained and the amount of blood he lost, he couldn't possibly kick off his attacker again.

 

Since Ray had enough swing, she bit her lip and swung herself all the way over the branch, the complete 360 degrees, slightly wincing when her legs smashed into the branches above. Yet she did not stop and used all her strength to push herself forward until she found the perfect angle and let go.

 

Kurama didn't know what happened, one second he was desperately trying to push a demon off him when the next, he heard that same demon yelp when something hit him in the ribs. That something however, did not land next to him according to plan. The something was still pushing the demon towards the frozen lake, unable to stop.

 

Weakly, Kurama pushed himself so as to roll sideways and fell on his right side, next to the rock. Through blurry eyes he could see the demon crash through the ice, yet could not believe that second body fell right after him. “Ray...” muttered a cold Kurama, crawling towards the lake's bank.

 

This was not happening. That wasn't part of the plan! She was just supposed to kick the demon on the ice and then both of them would throw rocks at the ice in an attempt to shatter it... Or something like that. But—but her falling in was absolutely out of the picture!

 

“Ray...!” he called weakly, hoping—praying that by some miracle, she was still alive, although he knew that falling into a frozen lake was pretty much suicide.

 

~*~

Battling against the frozen, closed hands around her throat, Ray tried to kick her way up to the surface. Yet the weight of that dead demon was dragging her down. Just after she had fallen into the water, she had felt the clawed hands gripping her throat tightly and now, she found it almost impossible to remove them.

 

Seeing the last of her air bubbling up to the surface, Ray felt despair grip her entrails. She couldn't die—what about Shuichi? ... Shuichi? What about her mother!? Somehow, she felt her foot kick something hard and suddenly she felt lighter. Weakly paddling like a dog, Ray moved her frozen limbs and finally inhaled sharply once her head burst out of the glacial water.

 

Glancing down while coughing some water, she noticed the demon sinking further and further. Ray couldn't care less, now she—somehow—had to make her way out of the water and back to the bank where Shuichi was waiting... Her teeth chattered, she was sure her lips were dark blue or purple.

 

Raising her heavy arm out of the water clinging to her, Ray managed to put her elbow on the ice and tried to heave herself up, praying the ice wouldn't break. Barely succeeding in lifting half her chest out of the water, Ray heard a soft crackle. 'S-s-shit.' Even without talking, her mind stuttered due to the cold.

 

Before she knew it, the ice she had been relying on to keep her afloat was shattered, and she almost sank again. Fortunately, one of her frozen hands grabbed onto the fragile edge of the hole created when she had successfully killed the demon. Quickly, too quickly in fact, Ray lost any feeling left in her muscles and thought she was a piece of wood, just floating there.

 

Although she had no idea how long she was would stay afloat. Barely able to move her legs now, Ray could feel herself sink lower and the water welcomed her. Slowly, her eyes closed and her legs finally froze in mid movement. As her head entered the water though, something sharp seemed to coil around her wrist.

 

The pain made her jolt and open her eyes. Strange, the feel of the water on her clothes and skin seemed to diminish until she was completely pulled onto the nearly shattering ice. Opening her tired eyes, Ray seemed to distinguish a figure with feet under the red ice... Red sticky hair...

 

With a soft gasp, Ray's memory fast forwarded everything since that mountain lion had appeared. “S-s-shuichi...” she whispered and attempted to move.

 

“Don't move!” he yelled tiredly at her and kept pulling her across the frozen lake, trying to ignore the fact he couldn't feel his feet anymore.

 

A small, sad smile stretched across Ray's rigid, blue lips. “A-always... t-t-there...” she whispered and let her head fall on the arm that was being pulled, but kept her eyes open.

 

Kurama struggled to pull on his rose whip faster. It seemed, no matter how fast he pulled, it was never fast enough! As for his rose whip, you might be wondering, he was right. He had conjectured that when the demon was killed, his powers would be released. Right he was, as always.

 

Even though it was a really bad idea to summon his weapon when his spirit energy was so low, he had no other choice. He couldn't let Ray die for God's sake! Finally, finally!, Ray was within an arm's distance from him, hence he discarded his rose whip quickly and tightly gripped Ray's slightly bloody wrist. Actually, it wasn't all that bloody since her blood was cold and moved slower.

 

“A-a-arigato...” breathed out Ray, attempting to stand up.

 

Kurama was slightly taken aback she was still conscious. Tenacious woman, but in a good way. He thought for sure she had fainted, but it was better this way, at least she wouldn't die so easily.

 

“Thank goodness...” Supporting Ray against him while putting an arm around her wet waist, Kurama awkwardly stepped back and finally shivered intensely from having ice water all the way up to his ankles. But then what about Ray? Her neurons were practically tiny ice cubes right now so it didn't make much of a difference.

 

Falling on his back, with Ray on top of him for a third time, Kurama coughed and laid still. He had no more strength, it was cold and he was weak. His vision made the dark snowy world look like a giant eraser had smeared everything so that everything overlapped in the shadows.

 

Starting to shiver, Ray tried to move and somehow, couldn't. Her eyes were open and she saw Shuichi's pale face. “S-shui-c-chi?” she muttered, oblivious to the fact it was pitch dark and the only reason she could see his face was that hers was so very close to his.

 

Owls started hooting in the distance, close to what Ray assumed to be the town. How long had it been since they ran out of the hospital? Were people looking for them by now? Had her parents been notified that she was sent to the hospital in the first place?

 

What a fun trip this turned out to be. She had almost died once and now, she was pretty sure she was about to die, but for good this time. For who in their right mind would walk into Aokigahara in a freezing winter night?

 

Sadness suddenly gripped Ray's entrails and refused to leave. For some reason, she felt like crying. Maybe it was because she had escaped nearly dying again? Or maybe it was because her neighbor and now best friend was dying and not responding? Or maybe it was that she felt useless all the time, and every time she was in trouble, he had magically been there...

 

What could she do to repay him? He had done so much, yet never asked for anything but her friendship in return. Maybe she owed me an explanation as to why she hated him... or why she didn't hate him anymore.

 

Unable to move, Ray thought she heard footsteps somewhere nearby and tried to turn her head sideways, yet barely succeeded. She felt her grip on reality lessening, and as she lied there, awaited deliverance from the cold.

 

Her head fell on Shuichi's bleeding shoulder and her eyelids drooped, until she saw nothing of the trembling ray of light...

 

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I'm not sure how confusing the entire “kick-the-demon-off-Kurama” scene was, but if someone wants me to draw it out on paint and put it on photobucket or something, I can do that and hopefully that'll clear up the confusion. =)

 

So there you have it, I made slightly longer and um... yeah... oh crud, it's a cliffie again isn't it? Meep! I didn't mean it!!! Um, any reviews and/or constructive criticism highly encouraged and warmly welcomed! :D

 

Join the fun in guessing what the heck the (chapter) title refers to! Good luck to you all, you'll need it. ^^;;

 

midnight fox: You know... somehow, your reviews make less and less sense. o.o ^^;; But that's ok, I think I understand your fury at my cliffies and um... yeah... ._. ^^; Thanks for reviewing? *gulps and runs off*

 

amiacca: ^-^ Welcome aboard! Thank you! And thanks for reviewing! =D

 

Silver-arctos-star: ^^ Goodie goodie! Evil mountain... thingies... It's always fun to see that an update can make people literally dance or shout out in joy... Like reviews make me laugh and all giddy. ^^;; Thanks for reviewing, I hope you'll enjoy the update! =D

 

Nekomi_Meow: O.O Pocky!!!! *grabs and eats* ^^ Yum! Sugar rush... @@ You're forgiven, for thou hast given me sugar! I know I'm mean... I hate cliffies too ^^;; Lol at your favorite part though... xP

 

Kurama_s_Girl_911: Injured indeed *nod nod* but he's too smart so... I'm afraid you'll have to wait for Ray's reaction... just a bit. ^^;; Thanks for reviewing again!

 

Shy_Chan: >0< Forgive my cliffies! ;-; I hope you liked the update and thanks for reviewing =D

 

duckichan87: Lol, tree hugger eh? ^^;; Gomen about the ending! ;-; I know I'm... evil >.> ish. No no! You're right! Water is his weakness ;) Like a detective. Hehe. The title, you're actually the only one who took a stab at it and even though I meant the chapter title, that is the meaning of the fic title! So, here you go, have a Kurama plushie!! =D Thanks for reviewing! ^^

 

BBVixenXoXo: I'll update today, how does that sound? xP Thanks for reviewing ^^

 

inuyuyu-15: Yay welcome back! >> Now now... be patient! You'll make everyone else jealous xP Although it is your fic so I suppose you'd have a good reason for reading it early. ^^;;