(Please note: Yu Yu Hakusho and characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shonen Jump Weekly, Fuji Television, and Studio Pierrot, etc., etc., etc. All somg lyrics © 1990 Bon Jovi Publishing/PRI Music, Inc. There. That's my disclaimer. Don't bother suing me, I don't even own my own computer.) Bishonen no Miko presents: Mirrors of Truth, Chapter Four *** *** *** Shizuru waved Yusuke in after looking around in the hallway for any potential witnesses. He lugged Kurama's youko body in, then followed Shizuru to the bedroom and lay him down. Shizuru disappeared and came back a moment later with some water. "Thanks, Shizuru," said Yusuke, gulping down the water quickly. She was looking at Kurama intently. "Sure he's going to be okay here? I mean, he's safe, but this is no hospital." "Yeah, he's not going to just die, if that's what you mean," said Yusuke. She nodded and began to undress Kurama, pulling off the stupid hat and unfurling his tied up tail. "There's more blankets in the closet. Can you get them, Yusuke?" He nodded and got up and began rumaging through the closet, pulling out two more blankets. By the time he got back to Shizuru, she had Kurama settled in bed. He offered her the blankets, which she took wordlessly. Once she had Kurama covered up, she turned to Yusuke and said flatly, "You need to rest too, Yusuke." He began to protest, but she shut out his arguments and simply said, "You should go lie down on the soft; don't worry, I'll watch him." *Sounds good,* said his body, and Yusuke was ready to fight the urge, but his reasoning kicked in too and sided with his body. *Ok, maybe for a little while,* he told himself as he wandered out to the sofa. Yawning, he lay down and stretched out and in no time at all, he was dead asleep. *** *** *** Chapter 4: Youko You ask about my conscience And I offer you my soul You ask if I'll grow to be a wise man Well I ask if I'll grow old You ask me if I've known love And what it's like to sing songs in the rain Well, I've seen love come I've seen it shot down I've seen it die in vain -"Blaze of Glory" Jon Bon Jovi Kuwabara screamed for Hiei at the top of his lungs, but the koorime refused to answer. He had lost him way back, and now was hopelessly lost. "Dammit, Hiei! Where'd you go?!" he yelled, even though he knew that he would get no response. He suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes behind him and wheeled around. *Ok, buddy. I'm already in a bad mood.* "Show yourself!" Someone began to stand up, but then crumpled back to the ground. Kuwabara wondered what was wrong with the youkai, for the aura he was emitting was weak and wavering. "Ku...wa...bara?" Half-closed gold eyes looked up at him, and Kuwabara suddenly caught a glimpse of the matted silver hair. Kuwabara sucked in a deep breath as he rushed foward. "My god, Kurama! What happened to..." He was suddenly rendered speechless as Kurama turned his face towards him. Tentively, he reached out a hand and touched the youko's scarred face, not believing that the damage was real. "Kurama..." His right ear was gone, his right eye seared shut. His skin had been burnt and shrived until it lay, leatherlike, on his facial bones. Kurama shook under his touch and began crying. Kuwabara tried to reach his mind, to see what had happened, but all he got was a mess of jumbled images and nothing more. "Kurama, I'm sorry," Kuwabara said softly. Kurama shook his head and tried to compose himself. "Hiei, where is he?" he asked shakily. Kuwabara shook his head. "I lost track of him. But we have to get back to the Ningenkai, your family is worried about you." Kurama gave him a horrified look. "No, not like this! Kuwabara, I can't go back!" "But maybe it won't show, you know, when you're in your human form?" Kurama looked at him sadly, then said, "I wish Hiei was here. I want to know... I want to ask him... if he can still love me like this..." The expression on Kuwabara's face was undescribable. His eyes bugged out, his jaw dropped, his nostrils twitched. "Lo... love?! Did you just say...?" "Love. Yes, Hiei and I are lovers, but I don't think he'll be able to accept me like this," said Kurama, his eyes full of tears. Kuwabara sat down next to him, shocked at all the revalations. *Hiei is Yukina's brother... and Kurama's... lover?!?!* He nearly stuck his tongue out as he thought about Kurama and Hiei hugging one another, kissing, or... gasp... even worse! "We... we can talk to Hiei later, I'm sure. But who did this to you?" Kurama shook his head. "I don't know." Kuwabara stood up slowly and hesitantly offered his hand to Kurama. *God, I hope he isn't really... gay* "We have to get out of here, Kurama. You're dying in the Ningenkai." Kurama looked up at the hand, then took it, gratefully. *** *** *** Hiei sat up in the branches of a dead tree uneasily, scouting the odd building he had found. It looked like a pyramid from the Ningenkai, but had eight sides instead of four. He scoured it with his Jagan, hoping to find Kurama's youki somewhere inside, but the castle was surrounded by a barrier that prevented him from getting a good lock on the youko. But Hiei could still hear Kurama's voice ringing through his mind, and he knew for certain that he was here. Cursing at his inability to lock in on Kurama, Hiei flitted down the branches of the tree and silently entered the pyramid, though he knew that the owner was probably aware of his presence. No matter; he had to find Kurama. The building was suspiciously quiet and empty of guards. Hiei zipped past groups of servants without being spotted, then made his way down some wide stairs which ended in a room with seven doors, one for each side of the pyramid, he assumed. Standing there in indecision didn't help things any, so he chose a direction and opened a door. *** *** *** Kuwabara looked at where Kurama was pointing and shook his head, saying, "Are you serious? It doesn't look like..." They were standing in front of a dull gold building, roughly shaped like a pyramid. Kurama sighed, shifting his weight uneasily against Kuwabara. In response, Kuwabara moved his arm lower on Kurama's waist to give him additional support. "Trust me, Kuwabara. It's a shortcut I used to use as a youko." "If you say so." The two slowly made their way to the entrance, but Kuwabara was more than cautious, especially when he saw some dimunitive forms scurrying around in the shadows. "We're being watched," he whispered to Kurama, but the youko shook his head and told him not to worry about them. The shadowy figures seemed to be running away from them, so Kuwabara pushed the growing doubt out of his mind and followed Kurama's instructions. *** *** *** Hiei sheathed his sword after fighting yet another monster that had popped out from behind the third door he had tried. He was getting frustrated and upset; where the hell was Kurama? But then he heard muffled footsteps behind him and a voice calling out, "Hiei?!" He turned to see Kuwabara and... Kurama?! The youko's face was terribly scarred and he seemed weak. "Kurama?" Hiei rushed foward, then caught himself and refrained from touching him, but Kurama let go of Kuwabara and latched onto Hiei. He threw his arms around the koorime and began crying. "Hiei, I thought that I would never see you again..." "Kurama," he said, but he was hesitant to show affection in front of Kuwabara. "Hiei," said Kurama slowly, "could you still love me, even with this face?" *What?!* Hiei looked over at Kuwabara, who merely said, "Yeah, I already know." *He knows? But why would Kurama...* Kurama suddenly reached up and kissed Hiei hard on the lips, much to Hiei's embarrassment and Kuwabara's discomfort. Once they seperated, Hiei looked down at the youko, then in one quick movement pushed him back and unsheathed his sword. "Hiei!? Are you crazy!" Kuwabara was screaming, but Hiei had already slashed Kurama's tunic open and drawn blood. "Where's Kurama? What have you done with him?" Hiei yelled, his Jagan opening on it's own. "Kurama" snickered and then threw his head back in mad laughter. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know, little koorime? As if I would tell you. But you may call me Murata, and you will soon be mine as well. Farewell, Hiei," and with that, he vanished in a thick fog. Hiei and Kuwabara moved back to back, but the attack they were anticipating never came. Instead, when the fog cleared, they found themselves standing in another room. It was painted a dark red and had two pillars near the far wall, and there was a body tied to those pillars. "Kurama..." gasped Kuwabara, but before he or Hiei could act, Murata appeared again. "And now we will fight for you, Hiei," said Murata with a mysterious smile as he suddenly erected a barrier around Hiei and Kuwabara. Hiei cursed loudly as he tried to break through it, but he had nver seen anything like it before and it was so strong. *Shit! Kurama!!* he thought as Murata turned his attention back to the bound youko. "Don't you touch him!" Amazingly enough, the next thing Murata did was release Kurama from his bonds of barbed wire. Well, perhaps release is not the right word. Murata tore the wire off of Kurama, mindless of the damage it caused, relishing it, in fact. Kurama's body was bloodied and bruised, his hair matted with dried blood and dirt. Hiei felt like screaming when he saw the fresh blood seeping from his wounds onto the bloodstained floor, and finally gave in to his inclinations and yelled aloud when Murata titled Kurama's head up and showed them eyes that had been sealed shut with some sort of resin. Murata roughly scraped some of the stuff off, just enough so that Kurama could open his eyes again, then pulled Kurama's kitsune ears close to his mouth and whispered, "We will fight for your lover this time, Kurama," before biting down on the silver furred ear, eliciting a moan of pain from the half conscious youko. Then he pushed Kurama down with a laugh and turned his attention to Hiei. "I don't think you want him anymore, after what I've done. Poor kitsune," he said, laughing. "And after I ravage you before him, I will kill him and you will be mi..." But Murata's spiel was cut short when he was suddenly tackled violently from behind. "Ku... Kurama!" Kurama staggered to his feet, using the wall for support. "No, I will not make the same mistake this time," he said weakly, trying to call on his youki, but instead, fell to his knees from the effort. Murata smirked, stalking toward Kurama. "Perhaps I should just finish you now?" But then something shattered behind him. He turned to see Hiei, glowing from the power he was putting forth, and Kuwabara, crumpled on the ground. Evidently the human had somehow destroyed his barrier with his reiki. Hiei stepped foward, the black dragon around his arm unfurling, his Jagan glowing fiercely. "Your fight is now with me, fucker! Ensatsu..." The dragon smoked and the room darkened. Murata stepped back, uncertainly. *Kurama, hang on!* "...Kokuryuha!!..." *** *** *** End chapter 4 Author's notes: I need a life, badly. Anyone got one I can borrow? Well, I hope you're enjoying my little story and not thinking too badly of me for hurting Kurama. I really do like him, as anyone who's gone to my site would agree (shh, agree with me for the sake of argument, ok?) I just want to put in my two cents worth and ask everyone else to keep writing and posting their stories, cause that's all I have to look foward to, unless, of course, I want to work! Arghhh! By the way, did anyone notice that I forgot to change the lyrics in my first draft of chapter 3? Hiei: I did. Bishonen no Miko: That's cause you're so sharp. Kurama: That's just like you to be kissing up to her. Hiei (snarling): What!? Kurama (grinning): You just don't want to be the topic of her next story. Hiei (mumbling): Course not... (Kurama whispers into Bishonen no Miko's ear) Bishonen no Miko (brightly): Hiei, you will have the honor of being the subject of my next story. Hiei (beginning to burn off the bandage on his arm): Come again?... Bishonen no Miko: Heh heh heh. Just a joke, put that away now, dear. Kurama: Well, I'm NOT sorry. Besides, you wouldn't use that... (Kurama is fried into a crispy critter by the Ensatsu Koluryuha) Kurama (crispy critter): ...against me? Urk. HEY! (Blatent plug) If you have a webpage showing anyone evil in a good light, please join my new webring: The Wickedly Cool Evil Ring of Anime. It's at: "http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/4814/revil.html" If anyone wants to reach me, come to my Shrine of Bishonen at: http://www.aestheticism.com/visitors/Miko/ or you can e-mail me at: bishonennomiko@rocketmail.com Bishonen no Miko, April 28, 1997