(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 Five

***   ***   ***

The black flames encircled Murata and the dragon roared forth.  Hiei screamed furiously, 
then watched as the devestating attack died down, leaving behind damaged walls and 
burn marks on the floor.  But then he heard soft laughter followed by Murata's voice, 
saying, "That's a cute trick, Forbidden Child.  It might have hurt me, but I have 
already learned from my mistakes.  Your power will not penetrate this body of mine, I 
can assure you of that.  And now, it's your turn."

Murata held his hand out before him and his fingers glowed.  The ensuing light was 
temporarily blinding, but when Hiei opened his eyes again, the entire room seemed to 
spin crazily, twisting and distorting.  A wave of nausea hit him and sent him to the 
floor.  He tried to shut his eyes against it, but for some reason, it did no good.  
He looked around, trying to focus on Murata, but instead he saw Kuwabara, 
disabled by the same vertigo, and Kurama, who was already weak, writhing in pain.  

"You won't die Hiei, but the human and Kurama; I can't guarantee their safety," Murata 
said softly, kneeling by Hiei's body.  Hiei growled and tried to get up, but couldn't.

"Why?  Why are you..."

Murata put his hand on Hiei's Jagan.  "Do you want to know the extent of Kurama's 
crimes?" he raged, all traces of softness gone.  "I will show you."  Murata willed 
Hiei's Jagan to open and shut his natural eyes, then began feeding his memories into 
the koorime's mind.

From several yards away, Kuwabara watched Murata's actions, and at the last minute, he 
linked himself to Hiei's mind, wanting to understand what it was that the mad youko 
was trying to accomplish.
 
***   ***   ***

Chapter 5: Murata

Gonna take a miracle to save this time
And your savior has just left town
Gonna need a miracle
'Cause your heart's on the line
And your heartbeat is slowing down
Your feet are grounded still
You're reaching for the sky
You can let 'em clip your wings
'Cause I believe you can fly

		-"Miracle" Jon Bon Jovi

They were all gathered around Kurama's bed now, Shiori and Shuu-chan and Kazuya, 
Yusuke and Shizuru, and even Yukina and Keiko had come.   

"I wonder how Kuwabara and Hiei are doing?" said Yusuke, trying to break the 
uncomfortable silence that had fallen upon the group once everyone had arrived.  

"This is crazy; I don't know how you talked us into this," said Kazuya in anger and 
frustration.  He peered at the unconscious youko on the bed and shook his head once, 
then said, "The police are looking for him, you know.  Maybe we should return him to 
the hospital."

"What would you tell them?" asked Yusuke, his nerves frazzled.  "Yes, officer, this 
youko here is really my son.  We had to kidnap him because his spirit is in danger in 
the Makai!?!"
 
"Please, don't argue.  I'm sure Kuwabara and Hiei are doing their best, sir.  And 
Yusuke, don't get upset.  It's hard enough that this happened, but for Kurama's family 
to find out his real identity like this..."  Keiko sighed, then looked at everyone, 
hoping that someone would back her up.

Then Yukina spoke up.  "Keiko-chan is right.  Please, let's just hope for the best."

***   ***   ***

"Human, are you here too?" Murata asked Kuwabara through Hiei's mind.  The youko gave 
him a twisted half smile, then nodded.  "Very well."

Kuwabara found himself sitting next to Hiei on a low tree branch overlooking a field.  
He looked at small youkai, then followed his gaze to three figures on the field.  Three 
youkos.  Two of them were silver haired males, roughly the same height.  One stood alone, 
fists clenched in anger, his one gold eye and one blue eye glowing angrily.  Behind the 
other youko, the one with golden eyes, was a smaller youko girl with black hair and ruby 
red eyes.

The youko with gold eyes Kuwabara instantly recognized as Kurama.  *The other one must 
be Murata.  They look almost alike!  But who's the girl?* wondered Kuwabara.

"Leave her alone, Murata!" Kurama was screaming.  But the other youko yelled out a 
string of obscenities and rushed the pair.  Kurama pushed the youko girl to the side, 
yelling, "Run, Ranako!" before turning back to Murata.  The two fought for several 
minutes and seemed to be pretty evenly matched, but then Kurama called up a fire plant 
of some sort, which spit flames right into Murata's face.  The youko screamed and clutched 
at his face in pain while Kurama took Ranako and fled.

Kuwabara blinked as he took in the scene, but when he looked back, the scene had changed 
and they were now sitting on a boulder inside a cave.  Murata lay there, half asleep, his 
burned face hidden under a roughly made mask.  A small figure crept up to him and hovered 
over him, uncertainly.

"Murata, wake up."  Murata looked up at the voice with his one eye.  

"Ranako."

She peeled back her hood and smiled thinly.  "Kurama is wrong about you, I know.  Please 
forgive him; he is my dearest cousin and he worries about me too much sometimes, I think."  
She cocked her head, then reached a hand out to his face.  Murata jerked back, but he was 
too slow to keep her from knocking the mask off his face.  Ranako's ears flew back and 
she made a hissing sound.

"In the name of Inari!  Your face, Murata..." she began crying, then threw his mask back 
and ran out of the room.

"Ranako, wait!  Please..." he begged when he finally caught up to her.  She shook her 
head and kept crying, but he had her pinned up against the wall and left her no escape.

"Tell me you love me.  I know you do, or else you wouldn't have come back."

"No, no," she moaned, closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see his face.

"Is it because of this?" he asked, pointing at his face.  Ranako just shook her head 
and cried.  "Kurama did this to me; hate him, not me!"

"You blame Kurama for this?  I shouldn't have come.  Kurama was right."

Murata narrowed his eye and looked Ranako over.  "You are such a petty little bitch."

"How dare you!  Kurama told me not to come because he knew you were no good for me.  'At 
least now his face matches his heart,' he said.  I didn't know what he meant, but I do 
now."

Ranako cried out as Murata grabbed her by her hair and jerked her head back.  "You've 
never listened to your cousin before!  It is because of my face, and nothing else.  That 
is why you went with him and left me... left ME."  

Murata drew his hand back and slapped her sharply across the face.  She fell to the 
ground and yelled shrilly, "I hate you, Murata!  More than anything."  She glared at him.  
"I'm glad Kurama scarred you, monster!"

Murata's eyes widened at this, and Kuwabara and Hiei watched helplessly as Murata beat 
the girl and finally broke her neck as she pleaded for her life.

***   ***   ***

When Kuwabara opened his eyes again, he was still lying on the floor and Murata was still 
sitting next to Hiei.

"You see how my life has been?  He took Ranako away from me, so now I will return the 
favor.  But even that will not bring her back, nor will it erase the scars on my face."

"You sicko," Kuwabara growled.  "You killed Ranako yourself.  You can't blame Kurama..."

"He turned her against me!  I don't expect you to understand, human, for you have 
probably been ugly all your life."

Kuwabara chuckled.  "At least I'm not stuck on myself," he said with a smirk.  

"My, such insults," Murata said smoothly.  Then he turned back to Hiei, who was still 
trying to get his bearings.  With one fluid movement he pushed Hiei back down and tilted 
his chin up.  He wet his lips in anticipation before he pressed them down against Hiei's.

***   ***   ***

Kurama fought back the pain that was washing over him.  When he had regained consciousness, 
Murata was hunched over Hiei, his hand on Hiei's Jagan.  Both of them had their eyes 
closed, but Kuwabara, a few yards away, still had his opened, even though he had 
apparently been trapped by whatever spell Murata had cast over Hiei as well.  He took 
advantage of the distraction to try and gather whatever youki he had left for an attack, 
but he was so drained and his entire body protested as he took the energy he was using 
to heal himself and channeled it together, hoping to peg Murata with an attack of some 
sort and make an opening for Hiei or Kuwabara to attack.

He had almost let loose his surprise attack when Murata had brought Hiei and Kuwabara out 
of the trance they were in, but stopped when Murata brought up Ranako's name.  Then Murata 
and Kuwabara had exchanged words and before he knew it, Murata bent down and kissed Hiei!

Kurama had not felt such hatred for Murata since the day he had found out that Ranako was 
dead.  Not even through all the hours of torture had he felt the flames of anger goading 
him this way.  He concentrated all the youki he could into a tiny seed which burst into 
a tangled mess of thorns, skewering whatever was in the way.  But all the points broke off 
at Murata's shield, save one.  Most likely, Hiei's Ensatsu Kokuryuha had weakened Murata's 
barrier, and that's why the thorn had gotten through.  But Kurama did not spare anymore 
thought on it, because he was completely drained of youki, and now Murata was turning his 
attention back to him.

Murata rushed at him, clawing at him like an enraged animal, but his hands stopped inches 
short of Kurama's throat.  Kurama's eyes flicked over the outstretched hands, then moved 
down to the rei sword sticking through Murata's chest.  Kuwabara had followed the thorn's 
path on in and hit the youko in the chest.  And even as Kurama was blacking out, he could 
hear Hiei calling forth his Ensatsu Kokuryuha again and Kuwabara's protests as the black 
dragon sprung loose from its coils and struck Murata right where Kuwabara's rei sword 
had been.  Kurama slumped to the ground and the dragon washed harmlessly over him, but 
Kuwabara wasn't quite as fortunate and yipped as the flames nipped his heels as he dove 
for cover.  The dragon circled and struck Murata over and over, charring the youko until 
he was black as his cold heart. 

Hiei watched with half lidded eyes, satisfied that he had finally finished off the mad 
youko.  He sank to his knees, severly weakened by the use of his powers, but his brow 
furrowed in concern as Kuwabara got up and Kurama did not.  Hiei crawled over to the 
silver youko's body, startled by the severity of his injuries and more importantly, the 
weakness of his aura.  He had used up all his youki to attack Murata.

Kuwabara joined him and gave Hiei and Kurama a quick once over.  "What... what can I do 
to help?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes and sat down, his body trembling in exhaustion.  "His energy's 
spent.  If we can't increase his youki, he will die," he said tightly, but nothing more.

Kuwabara looked uncertainly at Hiei, his thoughts joining Hiei's once more, and then he 
said, "Hiei, you can't.  You've used up most of your youki too."

"Baka.  I know that," he bit back, but his voice was weak.  

Kuwabara sighed, then turned his back.  "This isn't necessary.  I know you care, Hiei."  
There was no response, so Kuwabara started to turn around after a moment.  "Hiei?"

Hiei was holding Kurama tightly in his arms, his black aura swirling around the both of 
them.  His eyes were shut, but the Jagan was opened, and Hiei's lips were pressed against 
Kurama's in a desperate attempt to transfer youki.  But Kuwabara knew that wasn't all; he 
understood now, and respectfully he averted his eyes and turned back around, only to hear
Hiei slump onto the floor a moment later. 

***   ***   ***
   

End chapter 5

Author's notes:  Hiya!  I keep getting questions asking how long this'll be, but I 
DON'T KNOW!!  Actually, it will most likely be one more chapter cause I have a 
horrible tendency to rush my stories to get to the ending, which is all I'm ever really 
interested in.  Anyways, I thank you all for your continued interest in this story and 
your encouraging messages.  Yu Yu fans are the bestest!

Kurama: No, they're not.

Bishonen no Miko (gasp): How can you say that when all your loyal fans are reading this?

Kurama (snarling): Look at what you people keep doing to me!?

Bishonen no Miko: What of it?

Kurama: That's it.  I'm leaving this series.

Bishonen no Miko (sweetly): But what of Hiei :o!

Hiei: Ch!  I don't care if he leaves.

Kurama (tearfully): You don't?  Say it isn't so, Hiei.

Bishonen no Miko: So you don't want to leave?

Kurama: I do but... hey!  What if Hiei and I both leave?

Shiori: You would leave your family behind?  Shuuichi, you break your mother's heart.

Shuuichi: 'Niisan, don't leave.

Yukina (giggling): Kuwabara and I want to get married.

All: WHAT??!!

Hiei: That's it.  I'm staying.

Kurama (grumbling): Fine, I'll stay.  

Bishonen no Miko: Good boy!  Now I'll be able to finish my story.

HEY!  (Blatent plug)  If you have a webpage showing anyone evil (any youkai count) 
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, May 3, 1997