Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ YYH DS 2: Desires ❯ One-Shot

HieiWannabe: *New Note* Okay, I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope I can do this... This originally said 'Chapter 1' because I didn't realize there was a 'One-Shot' option. I haven't tried fixing it before because I wasn't sure if I could do that without screwing something up. But now, my cluelessness is confusing people, so I'm gonna try... And, if this works, I'll fix the other one or two that I messed up the same way.

This one takes place during the week that Yusuke is trying to retrieve the stolen Artifacts. It's my attempt to explain why Hiei acts like such a nutcase during his fight with Yusuke. I've already read several other author's opinions about this, some of which are very interesting, and some of which are funny. My favorite reason is that he was on crack. But that's not my reason! (in a sing-song manner) You'll have to read to find out what mine is! This story also contains my explanation for why Hiei had the sword for days and never used it.

Wynne: My turn! This fic contains some swearing and a little violence. I think that's going to be the general theme with all of HW's works, btw. And, if you think she owns YuYu Hakusho(or Devil Man), I think you should get a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word 'fan' as it appears in 'fanfiction'.

HieiWannabe: Hey, I thought we were gonna do a good cop/bad(insane) cop thing here, Wynne! You're not supposed to be smarting off to the audience. That's my job!

Wynne: Gomen nasai, minna-sama! I'll be good from now on!

This story was originally posted on FanFiction.Net but got deleted.

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YYH Deleted Scenes part 2

Desires

As soon as he left the clearing, Kurama broke into a run. He knew that, should Hiei choose to follow, he would never outrun the nimble demon, but he hoped to lead Hiei away from the foolish human who had challenged their entire group. Sure enough, before he had gone ten meters, Kurama heard Hiei calling his name. He hoped to keep his friend occupied long enough that the fight would only be between Gouki and Yusuke. 'He stands no chance against both of them,' he thought to himself. 'But maybe he could survive a fight with Gouki alone. If he doesn't, I'll have caused the death of yet another innocent...'

Kurama leapt over a fallen branch and found himself in a small clearing. The lack of cover meant that the rain would soak him even faster, so he sped up to reach the far tree-line. As a result, Kurama nearly fell over Hiei when he blurred into existence in the middle of the field.

Raising his hand, Hiei cried, "Kurama, stop!"

The demons eyed each other for a moment while the rain pelted down on them. As he tried to calm down and put his thoughts in order, Hiei really looked at the fox for the first time in the last few weeks. Hiei had noticed his partner's listlessness before, but had never really given much thought to the reason. Kurama's eyes looked tired and his shoulders were bowed. It was as if the han-youko carried a great weight that threatened to crush him at any moment. The sight served to somewhat mollify the sanjiyan. "Why do you want to leave? If you're worried about Reikai, it's better for us to stick together."

"I'm sorry, Hiei. But what I fear from Reikai is not something that being in a group will protect me from." Seeing the confusion on his little friend's face, he added, "Whether I leave now or four nights from now makes no difference. Either way, I will leave our team."

"What? Why do you want to leave at all?"

"What do you know about the Mirror of Utter Dark?" Kurama's only response was a lowered brow. "I see. What you know about the mirror's powers is true. However, there is one thing few people know. That is the price that must be paid to the mirror for the user's wish to be granted."

"And you know it?"

"Yes." Kurama took the mirror from his pocket and looked at it. Under the cloudy sky, he could barely make out his own, sad, reflection. "The only wish this Artifact will grant is one that the bearer feels is so important that it makes no difference to them whether they get to enjoy its' fulfillment or not. Therefore, the cost of a wish is the wisher's own life."

"What?" Hiei cried. "That's ridiculous!"

"It's true."

The small youkai pondered this revelation for a moment. The strange things Kurama had been saying, the fact that he had not expressed any particular plans for his prize, and his constant state of depression were finally starting to come together. Hiei could not say he liked the picture they made. "If you knew this before we stole the Artifacts, then why did you do it? What do you want that's more important to you than your own life?"

Kurama sighed and looked at his companion for a moment before answering. 'Hiei would not understand,' he thought. 'Then again, he has gone through a great deal to rescue his twin. Perhaps he would understand.'

"My mother has fallen gravely ill. The doctors do not wish to tell me, but I know they hold out no hope for her recovery. But, with the Mirror of Utter Dark, I can exchange my life for hers."

"What? Kurama, are you insane? How can you kill yourself for some ningen? Don't you realize that in the end it won't even matter? She'll die of old age within a few decades, anyway."

'I guess I was hoping for too much,' Kurama ruefully thought. Apparently, the only self-sacrifice Hiei understood was his own, and that only as long as no one mentioned it. "I know this. It does not matter to me. I intend to carry out my plan regardless of its' lack of permanence. Hiei, thank you for helping me."

Hiei was confused, and the sight of Kurama's gentle, and somewhat tentative, smile only increased the feeling. "Hn. You're being an idiot. She won't even know what you've done," he pointed out.

The kitsune was getting irritated, and was tired of having his actions questioned. For a millenarian fox thief, having to justify his actions to anyone was a new, and unwelcome, experience. So he responded with a question of his own. "What about you? I know you want to use the Ghostslayer to find your sister, but humans have loved ones, too. If you go through with this, don't you realize you'll just be putting others through the same suffering you've gone through?"

Hiei stared, wide-eyed, at this pronouncement. No, he had not thought of anyone but his sister. After four years of searching two worlds for her, he had become so desperate and distraught that he had been thinking of nothing beyond saving Yukina from whatever sad fate had befallen her. And while it was true that Hiei thought nothing of hurting and killing others to serve his own desires, neither did he go out of his way to bring misfortune to another. In fact, he often tried to find a peaceful way to resolve a conflict, if only to prevent his enemies' vengeful allies from coming after him.

Confused, worried, hurt, and self-doubting, Hiei sought refuge in attacking. "What do you know? You act so noble, but I know what's really happening! You're running away. You can't go back to the demon world, and now your human home is falling apart. So, you're going to try to escape from your problems by committing suicide! And you've come up with this ludicrous cover story in hopes of keeping your soul out of perdition! Well, I don't buy it, Kurama. Go ahead and kill yourself!" Then he turned and ran.

'Ah, my friend,' thought Kurama, 'if only you realized that you are the one who is running from reality.'

After the disturbing confrontation with Kurama, Hiei returned to the clearing to check on Gouki's fight. He was treated to the amusing and humiliating sight of his teammate running from what Hiei quickly identified as one of the oldest tricks in the book. 'Gods, how could he fall for that,' Hiei griped to himself. 'He didn't even try to Sense whether or not there was more than one person!'

Hiei watched from a tree branch as Gouki passed from normal sight and Botan entered the clearing. The ferry-girl quickly checked on the fallen Tantei's condition, then materialized her oar underneath his body and used its' magic to lift the boy for easy transport.

Still disgruntled by the kitsune's words, Hiei watched the proceedings with growing irritation. Finally coming to a decision, he snorted.

'Time to dump the deadweight. I'll make better progress on my own.'

With that, he sprang off the tree branch and ran towards town. But while he kept his eyes from turning back, his thoughts constantly returned to Kurama's warning and the young human who had so easily ruined his 'perfect team'.

***

Dawn found Hiei scanning the back alleys, looking for his first target. He needed to find a solitary walker or a small group. This would be the Ghostslayer's first use on a ningen, and he wanted to reduce or remove all possible complications. Hiei spied a group of three humans, two adults and a child, three blocks from his rooftop perch and decided they would make perfect test subjects.

The demon swiftly descended toward his prey. He would never attack anyone without warning, not even humans, so he landed on the ground before them. To the humans it appeared as if Hiei simply materialized out of thin air, and they stopped and stared for a moment.

"You'll do quite nicely," Hiei smirked as he drew the magic sword.

The sight of the weapon seemed to galvanize the family into action. The man stepped out in front of his wife and child, and the woman grabbed her young son and tried to hide him behind her back. The little boy struggled, however. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't want his father to face the stranger alone.

"We don't want any trouble, son," the man began. "S-so if you d-don't want to get hurt, j-just walk away." He held up a trembling fist, but was somewhat reassured by the fact that he towered over his opponent by more than a foot.

Hiei smirked even more at the threat. "Don't worry. It would ruin my plans to damage you, so no one's going to be hurt."

The man's wavering courage failed completely at this. He dropped his fist and spread his arms to the sides in a vain attempt to hide his family from the antagonist's sight. "Look, you can have my wallet and anything else you want. Just pleeease, let my family go unharmed," he begged.

"Sorry, I want all of you." And with that, Hiei prepared to slash the man.

No one was expecting the surprised cry of "Kenichi!" that came from a little behind the terrified man. The little boy had broken free of his mother's grip and then run to stand in front of his parents. He raised both his fists - which did not tremble - and yelled "Hey you! Don't you hurt my Tousan!"

Hiei was taken slightly aback by this. Coolly, he roved his eyes over the family. The mother, kneeling on the ground behind the males, jaw working soundlessly. The father, standing behind his small son, making no move to help the child. And the little boy, no more than eight, bravely protecting his family. As he watched this short drama, Hiei's thoughts were pulled back to his recent argument with Kurama, and what the reincarnated youko had said.

'If you go through with this, don't you realize you'll just be putting others through the same suffering you've gone through?'

With these words ringing through his mind, the youkai looked at the boy, and couldn't help but notice the similarities between them. They were about the same height, the boy was facing him alone, and he feared for the safety of the people who meant the most to him.

Slowly, Hiei resheathed his sword. "Alright, kid, you win," he said. Kenichi didn't relax at all with this pronouncement. His parents, however, began to show signs of life once more. "I'll let you all go. Maybe you should use your regained freedom to teach your parents about something called a 'backbone'." Turning, he disappeared, leaving the humans to marvel at what had just happened.

***

Later...

"Damn you, Kurama!"

(crunch)

"Why did you have to..."

(crash)

'Why did you have to make me care?'

(thud)

Hiei collapsed onto the ground amidst pieces of shattered masonry. He had run far away, until he found himself near an abandoned warehouse at the docks. Confused and angry, he had taken out his frustrations on the crumbling concrete wall of the old building. But he did not voice that last thought aloud, hoping that, by refusing to state the truth about his situation, he could deny the reality of his dilemma.

Ever since leaving the humans in that back alley, he had been going over Kurama's words in his mind. And, no matter how Hiei looked at it, he always reached the same conclusion: If he used the Ghostslayer on any of the humans, he would merely be foisting off his pain onto someone else. No matter how much it hurt, and no matter how undeserving these worthless ningen may be of happiness, he couldn't bring himself to do that. And he knew Yukina would not want to be rescued if it meant someone else would have to take her place.

'Then what did I steal the damn sword for?' he thought to himself. 'What's the point of having a weapon if you can't use it? But the Ghostslayer is no ordinary weapon. It's one of the most powerful magical artifacts in existence, and only a fool would use it without giving any thought to the consequences.'

The problem seemed to be unsolvable. Either Hiei used the sword to save his sister, thereby hurting hundreds of people and placing his extermination at the top of Reikai's priority list, or he did not use the sword for anything, thereby allowing his sister to remain missing. The youkai had no problem with dying to save Yukina; however, he did not want to die before he knew she was safe. And, regardless of his final decision, Reikai would still come after him to retrieve the artifact and punish him for the theft.

'I can't decide,' he realized. 'Everything I think of has too many drawbacks. I wish I could give the decision to someone else! Then I...' Hiei stopped in mid-thought. He could give the decision to someone else! It would not be a perfect solution, but it might be the only way to preserve his sanity.

Problems in the Makai were usually solved with violence. It was not a perfect system, but at least it avoided ambiguities. Hiei had always abided by this system, and had trained all his life to be strong enough to defeat anyone who opposed his desires. But if even he did not know what he desired, then he could fight to find the way. All he had to do was to fight for one option, in this case, to use the sword, and find someone who would fight for the other choice, to return the sword to Reikai.

Hiei had always believed that fights were decided not by strength, but by desire. Whoever could put their whole being behind their cause was the one whose cause was most just. Power and skill were usually gained through hard work and dedication, and so were really only two ways of determining how much a person wanted to achieve their goal.

So, the final disposition of the Ghostslayer would be determined by a fight. All Hiei needed now was an opponent...

***

Four days later...

As Botan walked out of the Records Department and headed toward the main gate, she could not help but feel a slight foreboding. While it was true that Yusuke had retrieved two of the stolen artifacts quickly and easily, she worried that he was being set up for a fall. Gouki had not been very strong as far as demons went, and Kurama had given in without any fight. Now the new Tantei seemed to feel somewhat invincible, and Botan did not seem able to make him understand the seriousness of the situation.

Because she had not been paying attention to her surroundings, the ferry girl had not realized anyone was nearby and jumped when someone began speaking to her.

/My, my, how the mighty have fallen. You used to be feared throughout the worlds as the Goddess of Death, but now look at you, reduced to being an assistant to a mere human.../

Insulted, Botan spun around to confront the speaker. To her surprise, there was no one in the hallway, as far as she could see. Spooked, she called out, "Who's there? Who are you?"

/Well, well. That's not a very friendly tone of voice!/ With a start, Botan realized she was hearing telepathic speech, not spoken words. /And after all those nice things you said about me on the roof, too. What was it you said? 'Cunning', 'ruthless', and 'the toughest one by far'?/

The vague sense of discomfort suddenly solidified into an enormous weight on her chest as Botan recognized the telepath. Focusing her mind on a type of power she rarely used, the ferry girl intensified the link.

/You're Hiei, aren't you? What do you want?/

A sense of self-satisfaction accompanied the next thought. /Who, me?/ it teased. /Not much, really. I've just been feeling a little bored lately. I've been looking for someone to play with, and I was hoping your pet ningen would come play a few games with me. But, since he hasn't come over, I've had to find a different playmate.../

The evil grin Botan could hear behind the thought sent shivers down her spine. She was already unnerved by the fact that Hiei had been spying on her and Yusuke earlier and they had never even suspected it, but this teasing communication seemed to be hinting at something even worse. /What are you talking about?/

The response was far worse than she had feared. /I was hoping sweet, little, Keiko would play with me for a while./

/You rotten scum[1]! What have you done to Keiko?!?/

/Nothing, really. When I went to see her, I couldn't help but notice how tired she was from worrying about the detective. So, I decided to let her take a little nap... She'll be awake soon, however, and I'll get to play with her then. Unless, of course, you've found something else for me to play with?/

/What do you want?/ Briefly, Botan chided herself for letting Hiei control the communication and not trying to get him to divulge his location, or, better yet, turn himself in, but that sort of thing had never been her strong point. All she could try to do was to get the thief to tell her what he wanted from them.

/Don't worry, I'm not asking for much. I just wanted to complete my collection of the Artifacts of Darkness. I know Urameshi has the other two, so I'd like to propose a little trade: The orb and mirror for the girl./

'This just keeps getting worse! I don't even want to imagine what would happen if he got all three!' Botan thought, though she kept that thought to herself. 'Not to mention Enma Daioh's anger when he finds out what happened.' To buy herself some time, she sent, /I'll have to find Yusuke and tell him what you want, but I don't know where he is, so it might take a while./

/Not to worry, he shouldn't be that hard to find. I've sent the detective around on a running tour of the city, you see. He'll be the out-of-breath human with a frustrated look on his face and a Demon Compass that he only thinks is malfunctioning./

'Oh, darn it,' she whined through the laughter that gusted through her mind. 'Looks like he thought of everything.'

/You should try to catch up to him soon. I'm still bored, and Keiko will be waking up soon.../

Botan felt the thread connecting her mind to the demon's beginning to snap. Desperately, she called into the void, /Hiei, wait! I have to ask you something!/ Unfortunately, she was spared having to think up any questions to ask, because she received no response. And the young goddess knew she was not powerful enough to make contact with another mind across the void between worlds.

"I better find Yusuke soon..."

***

At the same time, in the Ningenkai...

Hiei broke the link and pulled his mind fully into his body. The youkai stifled a sigh. Telepathic contact with another plane of existence was exhausting, but that was precisely why he had done it.

As he had made his plans to ensure a violent confrontation between himself and the Reikai Tantei, Hiei had become aware of a factor that could seriously unbalance his carefully made plan. He knew Yusuke had been fighting for years, but it was human fighting, without any reiki at all. If the ningen were to challenge him now, he would have no hope of winning, and that would ruin the significance of their battle. In order to ensure that the outcome of combat was determined by heart, and not by the luck of being able to summon ki for a vastly longer period of time, the sanjiyan knew he had to find a way to bring his fighting down to a similar level as the human's. So, he had decided to use up most of his youki before the fight by squandering it on telepathy, sending a false signal to the detective, and creating a platoon of human servants that he intended to send out during the fight.

Soon he would know whether he had chosen the right path.

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[1] Sorry, I guess I've been watching a bit too much Devil Man.

HieiWannabe: When I first posted this I whined about my injured hand here but it's doing better now.