THE LABYRINTH:

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CAST ROSTER

Jareth ---------------  Kurama
Sarah ----------------  Hiei
Step Mother--------- Yukina
Step Father ---------- Kuwabara Kazuma
Toby -----------------  Kuwa-chan/Yukina's kid
Hoggle --------------- Yusuke
Worm ----------------  Botan
2-Headed Door guards:
   Truth-Teller: (Top)Chuu, (bottom) Chibi Shi-shi-what's his name
   Lier :  (Top) Rinku, (bottom) Shura
Talking stones -------  Mukuro, Toguro
Ludo ------------------  Puu-chan
Door Kockers:
    Deaf ---------------  Kuraihana
    Mumbler ----------  Yo-mawari      
Fieries ----------------- Touya, Jin, Toguro-Ani and Rinku
Sir Didymus ----------  Kuwabara Kazuma
Masqueraders --------  Senshui, Itsuki, Karasu, Yomi
Goblin City Guards --  Raigo, Bui, BMA Suzuki, and Ningen-Koenma
Captains of the guard -Yukina, Botan, Kuwabara Shizuru, Keiko and
                    Shiori
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE LABYRINTH

****Disclaimers appear at the end****

Warning:  Slight yaoi.   And this'll kinda go along the Alternate Universe
 timeline, since the characters are a bit out of character.


Chapter One:  On A Dark and Stormy Night....

    Hiei flicked quickly through the dimming skyline of Tokyo, easily
avoiding the flocks of annoying ningens that flooded the streets under
the growing thunderheads.  They swarmed the streets like ants below
him,  crowding home to enjoy a weekend indoors.  It was times like
these that he chose to roam, the jabbering fools below feeding his anger
as he trained himself, flicking and whisping about the tops of buildings
and telephone poles just out of site.
   A loud crack of thunder split the air above him, rolling through the
thick, ionized atmosphere, dissipating into the distance.  In its wake, it
let a single rain drop, falling gently down to ping into life on Hiei's nose
as he flicked down to a deserted park.  
   The youkai growled deeply, wiping a shirt sleeve roughly across his
nose, drying the annoyance from his face.  He met firmly with the
ground in the park, crouching silently, reaching a slow hand back to
wrap small fingers about the hilt of the katana.  He had been tracking
an imaginary image through the Ningenkai... one of his many training
exercises.  The Jagan would create an image for Hiei to stalk and train
with.  The challenge was always to beat his own mind and conquer the
image, and so far, he found the task quite difficult and exciting, learning
the limits and bounds of his powers more and more with each round.
   The image flicked into view just across the small clearing, holding his
tiny niece... Yukina's new-born daughter.  The figure holding it vaguely
resembled Youko Kurama, although entirely lifeless as it held the small
baby koorime in it's arms, smiling and rocking it back and forth.
   "Give me the child," Hiei growled to the image, slowly and ever so
quietly beginning to unsheathe the katana, red eyes never leaving the
image before him.  "Through dangers untold and hardships
unnumbered, I have fought my way here..." he stood quickly,
unsheathing the katana and swishing it through the air, gesturing
through the park with the blade.
   Another crack of thunder echoed a burst of lightning, sending a soft
sprinkle of rain onto Hiei and the vision below, dappling the black
cloak wrapped tightly about the youkai's shoulders with deeper, black
spots.
   The image of the youko smiled and nodded a firm 'no'.
   "Give me back the child that you've stolen."
   Again the Youko-image nodded a no, curling the tiny baby up into
his arms, nuzzling it lovingly.  It flashed deadly golden eyes back at the
Koorime, grinning over to Hiei, daring him to counter.
   "Bastard... don't toy with me!  For my will is as strong as yours!!"
   "Oh is it?  I bet not!"
   Hiei blinked momentarily, shuffling back a few paces.  His minds-eye
image wasn't blessed with speech!!
  *DONG!!*
   Hiei whipped his head around from the image to a huge clock-tower
perched on the edge of the park like a large, guarding sentinel.  It's
enormous face read 7:00 in tall, lumbering hands  "K'so!  I'm late!"
   Hiei turned back to the image and opened the Jagan upon his
forehead, instantly discontinuing his training program.  The image
rippled and dissolved into the air as heavy raindrops began to make
their plunge downward, splattering onto Hiei's nose and face.  He hated
getting wet.
   Quickly, he sheathed the katana and pulled the white scarf of the
cloak up over his head, flicking off into the rain back towards home.

    Kazuma-san  paced back and forth on the front porch watching the
rain drench the streets and lawn before him.  Nervously he checked his
watch as the great clock tower just barely audible beyond the rain, rang
off it's last toll.  "That little shrimp is late again!  I'll chew his ear off for
this one!  The only night out of the entire week that I get up enough
nerve to take Yukina-san out to dinner..."
   "You complain too much," a dark voice came from the rain.  Hiei's
red eyes sparked into existence as they walked slowly across the rain-
soaked lawn.  "S..ss... ssss....sorry.... I'm late..." he growled, reaching
the edge of the steps and glaring up to the figure.  
   The porch light spilled onto his wet little body as he glared up to the
tall, young man above him.  His black hair hung in matted wet clumps
about his shoulders like some grunge-rock singer, rain dripping from
him in rhythmic splatters to run in great rivers down his wet clothing.
   And Kazuma-san laughed, tossing his head back behind him, nearly
throwing his balance to the wind.  "Ahahahah!  If I had a camera...."
   "... if I had an elephant gun..." Hiei growled.
   "You don't even know what an elephant is!  Ahahahah!"
   "All I  know is that it's big and ugly... just like you."
   "N.. NANI!  Kisama!!!" Kazuma-san screeched, watching helplessly
as Hiei mounted the stairs and disappeared in to the house.
   Kazuma-san quickly regained his composure and stomped into the
house, closing the door tightly behind him, grumbling to himself. 
Inside, little wet footprints darted through the foyer to where Hiei
stood beside the stairs, taking off his shoes and unwrapping the soaking
bandages from about his arms and ankles.
   Above him, Yukina-san stepped lightly out from the baby's room,
quietly closing the door behind.  She smiled cutely, blinking large, wild
pink eyes down to her brother.  "Hiei-san!  You're soaked!  And you're
making a mess on the floor." She giggled lightly and floated down the
stairs to the grumbling youkai.
   Kazuma-san stomped in, temper blazing, face set in a horribly funny
grimace.  "And yer gonna clean up every BIT of this water!  Got it!"
   His only response was a deep grumble.
    "Look at the mess!  And Yukina-san just cleaned the floors!!!  She
was up all NIGHT!!"
   "Oh... I can clean them again when we get home, Kazuma-san,"
Yukina said sweetly.  "But really, Hiei, we were getting worried!"
    "I can't do ANYTHING right, can I!!!" Hiei yelled.  He slammed his
shoes down to the oak floor sending splatters of water about him, and
flicked out of sight in a mass of angry, displaced black air, the upstairs
door slamming shut, sparking the baby to begin crying.
   "Oi, he took that well," Kazuma smiled. 

   Hiei quickly changed and plopped down on his little, plush bed,
grumbling and growling deeply to himself.  He heard his step parents
leave the house, the car starting into existence and driving off into the
rain, leaving him alone with the baby screaming like a banshee in the
next room.  He tried his best to ignore it, burying his head under
pillows, shoving socks in his ears... but nothing blocked that piercing
scream.
   The youkai growled deeply, springing to his feet.  He hopped off the
bed and tore the door off it's hinges, throwing it into his room,
smashing into the wall opposite.  "SHUT UP!!!!!" he bellowed into the
hall, waving a fist to the air.
   The baby only cried louder.
   "GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!  I said SHUT UP!!!!!"  Hiei bound
down the hall, sliding around the corner to the baby's room, throwing
the door open.  "S H U T   U P ! ! ! ! ! !"
   He seethed in the doorway, panting and breathing heavily, growling
and snarling whenever he found the air.  The baby stopped its bawling
for a few seconds, rolling large pink eyes to look at him... before taking
a deep breath and beginning an entirely different stream of wailings.
  Hiei shuttered violently in the doorway, reaching over with trembling
fingers to flip on the light as lightly as he could.  "If you were any one
else's daughter... I would rip you into fifty pieces and string you on a
necklace," he growled, stalking into the room.
   He winced as he approached the bassinet, leaning over the railing. 
The baby was definitely related to Kazuma-san, for it's mouth
encompassed nearly 90% of it's little face as it lay screaming  "Fine,
you've wailed enough... now quiet!"
  
   In the walls behind the large full-length mirror, a group of tiny
goblins leaned forward, pressing their distorted little faces to the
opposite face of the mirror, twisting them into even more distorted
images.  "Do you think he'll say it?"
   "Say what?"
   *BASH!!!*
   "Baka... do you think he'll wish the baby away?"
   One of the little goblins smiled and nodded quickly.  "Most definitely. 
After all, Kurama-Osama gave him the power to."
  "To do what?"
   *BASH!!* 
   "Baka... shut up!  He may say the words!"
 
   Hiei grumbled several curses to himself and pushed from the bassinet,
turning to sit comfortably back on the large, double bed behind him.  "I
ain't telling you a story, if that's what you're hoping for."

     The goblins all face-faulted as a collective.
   "Fine!  I'll tell it!  Once upon a time, there was a little fire youkai
who's step parents always made him stay home with the baby.  Now,
the youkai was practically a slave in his own home, constantly having to
give up space and time for the baby.  But what no one in the household
knew, was that the King of the Goblins, Kurama-Osama, had fallen
deeply in love with the little youkai, giving him the power to grant a
single wish.  And so one night, when the baby's infernal wailing could
be heard all the way to the Makai...."

   Hiei's eyes suddenly snapped wide open, a dim flicker of a smile
crossing his face in sheer malice.  He pushed himself from the bed,
landing silently on the floor, slightly crouching under the shadow of the
bed's canopy.  "I can get you to shut up," he smiled proudly.  "I wish..."
he rounded to the foot of the bassinet, peering at the baby through the
bars, glinting sheer evil in his gaze.  "I wish the goblins would come
and take you away forever."   He stood back and flipped the lights off
in the room, reaching for the door knob.  " Right now."
   Hiei slammed the door shut tightly as he stepped out into the hall
beyond the nursery, listening to the thunder of the door roll through the
house...
   And then silence.
   The little youkai grinned widely.  "It worked."
   Perhaps a congratulatory piece of Yukina's chocolate cake was in
order!
   Slowly, the door pushed open.  Hiei's ears were rewarded only with
the rhythmic pounding of the rain and thunder outside the patio doors,
sparks of lightning growing into gleams on his large, red eyes.  "It
worked," he congratulated himself again, silently stalking into the room
to check.
   Hiei flicked to the bassinet and tore back the sheets.
   Nothing.
   He bared little fangs and grinned widely, nodding slightly in
agreement.
   The lightning flashed again in his eyes, gleaming off a small framed
picture by the bassinet.  Enframed within, Yukina and Kuwabara each
held the tiny baby in both their arms, Hiei smirking below them.
   "Oh crap, what have I done!!  Yukina'll disown me!!" he screamed,
jumping back from the bassinet.  "OI!  Give me back that kid!!!" he
yelled tot he air above him.
   The lightning streaked by again, followed in a game of cat-and-mouse
by a huge clap of thunder.  Tiny voices giggled into existence all
around him in the darkness, echoing around him.  Hiei snapped his head
about, each time, only finding small glimpses of tiny, grotesque figures
ducking onto shadows and behind pillows.
   The patio doors burst open in a huge gust of wind, spilling a wet
wind into the nursery, swirling in glittering drops of rain and rose
petals.
     A large, silver fox darted in, a perfect red rose clutched tightly in it's
mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, barking softly to itself.   It circled Hiei,
stalking him, keeping close, golden eyes on him at every pace, purring
and growling.
   A flash of lightning temporarily blinded Hiei, the youkai raising his
arms before him, shielding back the light.  Streaks of white and yellow
coarsed through his eyes, the unmistakable feeling of you-ki suddenly
rising up around him.
   A deep, seductive laugh rolled around his senses as he stood helpless
and blinded in the darkness, his eyes still flaring from the lightning
blast.  A soft finger rubbed gently over his cheek, almost running up to
his forehead before Hiei swatted it viciously away.
   The red eyes slid open to stare up at a tall, slim figure in black leather
and an open-chested, frilled white poets shirt.  Brilliant, red hair waved
about his body through the wind coming in the door, green eyes flashed
from a perfect face, blocked by the occasional red rose petal
meandering through the air between them.
   The tall figure smiled a seductive and disarming smile, blinking heavy
lids, fluttering rich red lashes down at the youkai below.  He reached
out and stroked another finger over the youkai's cheek, still smiling
deeply.   
   Hiei's breath caught in his throat, watching the tall figure toss locks
of hair behind his shoulders as they disobeyed him through the flowing
air.  He tried to move when the black-leather figure began to pad
slowly around him, glancing over every inch of Hiei's body with a
pleased smile, but he found the strength to do so locked within his
unmoving body.
   "You're... you're him, aren't you?" Hiei managed in a dry throat,
growling to himself over the weakness in his own voice.  His red eyes
circled around with the figure, keeping on him as best as they could.
   "Oh, I'm many people," the figure spoke softly, almost at a whisper,
closing his circle around Hiei to brush by his shoulders at every turn. "I
can be any one you want me to be... your hearts desire, your most
treasured dream.  I can be your worst enemy, or you cherished lover.  I
can be a sickened weed alone in a field of poppies, or I can be a single,
perfect rose, entwined in your heart."
   "You're the Goblin King, ne?" Hiei chose, pushing off the gentle,
dark whispers as the figure continued to circle him in the darkness.
   The figure stopped his circle, pausing directly before Hiei and bowing
slightly.  "Kurama desu, little shinju."
   "I want my niece back," Hiei growled, folding his arms across his
chest.
   Kurama-Osama chuckled deeply, reaching again to the koorime's
cheek.  "What's said is said, little love.  It can't be un-said, as simple as
it may sound.  Just as a dowsed candle may not be revived unless fueled
by  the heat and passion of another fire."
   "So what.  I didn't mean it."
   "Oh you didn't?" Kurama laughed, pinching the little cheek slightly. 
Hiei raised a hand quickly, but swatted at only thin air as Kurama
moved quicker than he could counter, smiling deeply.  "Do you 'not-
mean' every thing you say?"
   "Shut up!  Give me my niece back."
   Kurama winked an eye and spun a full 360, swirling a great black
cape that burst suddenly into existence, cloaking his body in darkness.
"Come and get her.  She's in my castle in my bed chambers," he pointed
easily over his shoulder, smiling widely.
   Hiei raised and eyebrow and looked around the leather-clothed
figure.  The back yard was now replaced with a stretching golden field
of wheat dowsed in a morning brilliance, a great castle looming just in
the distance, out of place and blinking in the light of an unseen sun.
   Hiei suddenly found himself in the field beside a great, gnarled tree,
over looking the valley.  Set around the castle was a dizzying network of
mazes and such, swirling and shifting.  "The Labyrinth," Hiei whispered
in awe.  "Hn... doesn't look that far."
   Kurama's soft face suddenly pushed over his shoulder, his mouth
closing over Hiei's little ear, playfully nipping at it before his chin
moved to rest on the youkai's shoulder.  Hiei froze stiff under him more
from shock,  as long limbs wrapped around his shoulders and held him
tightly.  "It's further than you think, darling.  Time is short and very
unmerciful.  It comes and goes before you can blink, rising on your
mind like the morning sun before disappearing like a brief wind into the
distance, never to be re-born again."
   Kurama's arms unwound from Hiei and he leaned back, adjusting the
open-chested white shirt.  Behind him appeared a large, elaborate clock
face, both hands set up at a 13th hour.  "You have thirteen hours in
which to solve The Labyrinth before you tiny niece becomes one of my
goblins forever."  Kurama-Osama raised a hand and blew Hiei a kiss,
laughing deeply and dissipating into thin air.  "I'll be waiting, my love."
    Hiei watched on as the clock face faded, leaving him alone with the
tree on the hill overlooking The Labyrinth.  "Just great.  I get bitched
out by that carrot-topped monkey, have my niece stolen from my own
house, and now some goblin king is trying to put the moves on me. 
Something tells me this is gonna be a VERY long day!"
   



~~~~~~~~~~~
DISCLAIMER:  
~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Labyrinth" And all the above characters listed on the left-hand
side are owned by Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Jim Henson Studios. 
David Bowie and Jim Henson are in no way affiliated with this piece or
with any other groups involved here.

Any references to the Yu*Yu*Hakusho universe, like the names listed
on the right-hand side above, are trademarked, copyrighted and owned
by Togashi Yoshihiro, Studio Peridot and Shounen Jump Comics
Weekly.  Togashi-sensei is not affiliated with this piece or with any
other groups involved here.

I am making o money from this whatsoever; this is just a fan piece
written solely for entertainment purposes for other fans, so please don't
sue me.  

All characters and situations within are fictitious: Any character
similarities to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

(c) August 1997 by Jiminy Cricket Presses