The Labyrinth

Chapter 4: Beyond the darkness

**Standard disclaimers as seen in Chapter 1 apply**

   The blackness swirled about again, embracing him, drawing him up
and into a thin, strong pair of arms that lead him to a body that was
more vibrant and alive than anything else Hiei had ever come in
contact with.  With  nothing more than the warm embrace, the small,
compact body relaxed fully, feeling his weight shift in the utter
blackness as it was laid back on the dusty set of pillows Hiei knew
were the center piece to this prison.. this, oubliette.
   A soft hand smoothed over his cheek, brushing back the wild and
untamed star-burst of hair at his  forehead, the strong grip releasing
him and pulling away.  For a few awkward moments,  the soft touch
left Hiei, emptying the engulfing blackness that choked the youkai's
vision.  A nervousness began to spread throughout him... maybe it
was more like fear at being suddenly alone, with nothing but  inky
pitch to keep his mind occupied.  He wanted to cry out, to yell for the
figure to return through the darkness.  Anxiety suddenly tugged at
him, pulling him to sit up....
   "Why so nervous, little one?  the vaguely masculine voice floated
back, a black phantom hidden in the dead silence beyond.  Slowly,
echoing the soft voice, the large, glowing green eyes  opened back up
to Hiei's vision, careful not to blind him under the intensity.  Hiei still
squinted at the light, the eyes lightly bathing reality about him in a
soft, phosphorescence of an eerie green.
   "Who are you?" Hiei must have asked that same question a hundred
different times by now, the answer never coming clear enough to his
reasoning to stop the constant thread of the words.
   "Surely you know by now," the eyes smiled back to him, leaning
down to place a light kiss upon his forehead.  

     I am the soft breeze on a summers day that chills you to the bone,
                     The gentle touch of sunshine through winter's icy tone.
     I am the purest light that filters through the trees
            The luscious call of yearning that brings you home to me.
   
   Poetry.  Hiei had never been fond of the stuff, always too
nauseatingly romantic, full of human mush.  But the strange verse the
green eyes recited back to him was somehow different than the
sonnets and ballads he had heard.  The verse was intoxicating though
it only consisted of simple phrases, holding something more behind
them than the meaning that was meant to be conveyed... something...
   Sharply the eyes darted from Hiei to a shadowed portion of the
room, around to a door Hiei could have sworn was not there before.
"K'so, he's early," the green eyes cursed, swinging back to Hiei.  They
closed briefly, plunging existence into pitch, a firm kiss pressing
down to his lips before they opened again.  "I guarantee you we'll
meet again  I will personally make sure of it," and the only point-
source in the room to focus on shimmered lightly out of view, leaving
with them a soft touch that floated over his cheeks.
   Quickly replacing the loss of eerie, green light, the sudden sulfured
spark of a match burst into view, a blinding radiation of yellow fire,
floating through the air to ignite an age-worn candle.
   "Who's there!" Hiei growled angrily, more out of frustration at the
loss of the shadowy lover than at the possible threat.
   "Jus' me," a voice chuckled as the candle burst to life, spilling a
yellow radiance about the small oubliette.  For the first time, Hiei
could see it's features clearly : simple, smooth stone walls, a water
basin, the pillows and a small, wooden door.  Hiei's eyes continued in
a great arc about the room, stopping on a slightly taller, black-haired
figure, brown eyes playing and dancing in the firelight.
   "Gods, not you again," Hiei groaned, slumping back in the pillows. 
"You have really lousy timing, you know."
  Yusuke only shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his
pants.  "Like, what the crap would you do down here?  Sit and rot. 
See now, what you need is to get out of here."
   "Maybe I don't wanna leave."
  "Oh please!  Do you even know what an oubliette is?"  Yusuke
snorted and watched the little youkai snarle back at him.  "It's a
dungeon, Einstein.  Only one way out and that's through the ceiling
30 feet overhead.  A dungeon cleverly constructed to toss people in...
to forget about them.  Hence the name: oubliette."  Yusuke was quite
proud of himself, remembering all the times he had to go to the
dictionary to look up the word .  "Now, kiddo.  It just so happens that
I -  being the cleverly scheming genius that I am -  know a short cut
out of the entire Labyrinth from here."  
   "No way!!" Hiei snarled, rising quickly from the pillows to his feet. 
"Only cowards give up... and I've come this far on my own, I don't
need YOUR help!"
  "Oh really?  Then just how in creation do you plan on getting out of
here?"  It took only a few seconds for Hiei to realize that jumping or
climbing to the metal grate 30 feet above was a useless endeavor. 
"Heh... baka.  Watch, listen and learn from a master."
   "I'm beginning to despise you."
   Yusuke chuckled and fished around in his pockets, coming up with
some string, lint and what looked like a door knob.  He smiled like a
fool, wielding the knob proudly to the youkai before he moved to the
old, rickety door.  With a grunt and all, Yusuke thrust the knob into
the decaying wood and turned it sharply, opening the door to let a
large flood of light spill into the dim dungeon, bouncing quickly
about the room before hitting Hiei's bright eyes, intensifying the
crimson hue behind them.  Yusuke silently congratulated himself and
his brainpower, gesturing to the door in a big, regal bow.
   "I don't believe it," Hiei whispered.
   "That's why you ain't gettin' very far.  You have to believe in the
unbelievable, ponder the imponderable!"
   "Huh?"
   "Never mind, just follow me."
   Hiei grumbled and stepped slowly around the pillows, watching
them with a careful eye.  He half expected the green-eyed phantom
that had seduced him no more than  a minute or two ago, to pop out
and grab him, wrestling him down into some depth of passion.
   "Oi!  Ya comin, or are you going to stare at those raggedy old
moth-traps all day!  Come on!"
   Half reluctantly, Hiei quickly crossed the oubliette and slipped
through the door, nearly overcome by the sudden increase in light.
His vision fuzzed, blurring over from the white intensity for a few
seconds before they had time to correct, slowly dissolving into a
clearer picture.
   He found himself in a short corridor of stone that turned off around
a corner just a few meters beyond.  Not entirely as strange as he
would of expected, until Hiei realized that all along the walls of the
corridor where giant rock sculptures carved into the likeness of faces. 
One was clearly feminine, an oval eye piece covering over one of the
rocky eyes.  The other was masculine, though it had no eyes, only
closed lids that seemed to stare right at him.  Not to mention, the face
had six ears.
   No matter, he was out and on his way, or so Hiei though, stepping
out lightly into the cavern following Yusuke as he kicked dirt clouds
into the sky.  Hiei kept close watch on the two stone faces, swearing
that each time the eyes would move to follow him.  They seemed
alive.. infact, Hiei wouldn't have been at all surprised if they spoke
out loud...
  "Don't go on!!" the masculine face boomed, the rock mouth moving,
sending debris and centuries worth of dust falling out to  patter on the
floor.  Hiei was crouched on the floor quickly, poised for any sort of
attack that would come.
   "Hey!  That's my line, wizard!" the female face snapped back
quickly, rolling the single, stone eye over to glare at her counterpart
across the corridor.  "200 years and you STILL can't get it right!"
   "Woman... perhaps if I had eyes to read your scribbling with!  All
you do is complain!"
   "Ahem," Yusuke coughed, clearing his throat.  He walked calmly
back up the corridor, tugging the snarling youkai back up to his feet. 
"Uh, if you two are quite finished?"
   The woman face smirked, rolling the single eye back down to Hiei. 
"Take heed, little youkai.  Turn around and go back right now, this is
NOT the right way!"
   "Ah, shaddup!" Yusuke growled, waving a hand at the face.
   "Well, excuse us!" the masculine face whined back deeply.  "We
were only doing our job!"
   "Just be quiet!"  Yusuke snickered at both of them and reeled Hiei
about, ushering him back into the corridor.  "Stupid false alarms. 
You get lots of them in The Labyrinth, Kurama-osama's special
addition."
  "BEWARE!!  For the.."
   "SHUT UUUUP!!!"
   The masculine face came close to sweatdroping as Yusuke snarled
and seethed at him.  "Oh please, she's absolutely not a
conversationalist!  Let me say it just once!" the stone face begged,
bottom lip quivering like a child's
   "NO!"
  "Kill joy."
   "Damn straight!"
   Like the ringing of miniature bells, a light tinkling echoed through
the cavern, hushing everyone under the delicate sound, quieting to
listen as if any sudden noise would shatter it to pieces.  All eyes,
living and stone, turned to see a small, crystal sphere roll into view, a
perfect, red rose suspended in it.  It rolled passed the stone faces and
between Yusuke and Hiei, rolling around a corner to be lost forever.
   "Oh no," Yusuke shuddered, following the little sphere around the
corner.
  A thin peasant sat slumped up against the wall of the intersecting
tunnel beyond, vibrant red hair poking out at odd angles.  A thick,
black hood and cloak surrounded much of the body, falling in tattered
strips about the thin, leather-clad legs.  The peasant looked like he
had been there for some time, age-long collections of dust and rocks
pattering designs on the worn, black fabric.
   The peasant shifted slightly at the two presences, bits of dust and
rubble tumbling from the shoulders.  "Please," he spoke in a soft,
pleading voice.  "Could you help a tired and starved man, one who
will never see the gentle touch of sunlight shine on a cold winter's
day?"
   "Uh..." Yusuke shuddered about a bit, twiddling his fingers. " 'Fraid
I don't have much."
   The peasant seemed to shift his hooded head to Hiei, hiding the
delicate features of the face underneath.  "And you, sir?"
    "I've got nothing you want," Hiei growled.
  "Oh?" the voice suddenly rose to a deep, rich tone, the figure rising
quickly from the ground to toss the cloak from his thin body. 
Revealed underneath was a tall, slender figure in tight leather pants
and an open-chested white shirt, a single red rose pinned to the lapel. 
"Little one, I bet I can find plenty that you have and I want."
   "Kurama!!" Yusuke almost chocked, stumbling back a few paces,
setting Hiei between him and the tall man.
  "Hello, Yusuke," Kurama smiled cutely, but only for a second, the
smile fading quickly to the heated glare Kurama-osama could always
pull out on a whim.  "Yusuke, could it be that you're helping this
youkai?  Leading him to my castle?"
   "Nani?  Ah, oh NO!  No no no.  Y'see, I was taking him back to the
beginning!"
   "NANI YO!!" Hiei screamed, doing all he could to keep himself
from turning and strangling the life out of the young man cowering
behind him.
  "Now Yusuke," Kurama started, pacing slowly about the tunnel.  "If
I thought for just a brief moment that you were helping this youkai, I
would waste absolutely no time in tossing you face-first right into the
Bog of Eternal Stench before you could blink!"
   Giving him no time to whine his protests, Kurama tossed Yusuke
aside and crowded Hiei up against a wall, blocking him in with his
long arms, leaning down nearly nose to nose with the youkai. "And
you Hiei.  Are you enjoying my Labyrinth?  Hope it's not too tough
for you."
   Hiei caught a brief glimpse of searing green eyes before a warm
mouth caught a portion of his neck, biting down softly, sucking.  He
was frozen for a few moments, remembering the glowing green eyes in
the oubliette... but refusing to make a connection to the soft voice in
the darkness to the hard and cruel figure before him.
   Hiei growled and pushed the redhead away, quickly wiping his
neck dry with the back of his hand.  "This maze is a damn piece of
cake.  I've never had my intelligence insulted so horribly in all my life! 
You call this a Labyrinth!?"
    Kurama choked and stumbled backwards, Yusuke ducking for
cover behind a pile of rubble.  "In... insulted!  You call my creation
insulting!  Do you realize it took 3 centuries to build and perfect
this!!"  Kurama's voice echoed through the tunnel, dying into a
screaming cry down each way of the tunnel.  The redhead seemed to
calm a bit, flipping strands of the flaming hair about.  "It seems the
only person who's intelligence is being insulted around here is me.  So
FINE!  You think my Labyrinth is a piece of cake, do you?"  A large
grandfather clock chimed once into existence behind Kurama, the
face of the 13-hour clock reading 2:30.  "How about upping the
stakes a bit?  Two hours, and then the Koorime child is mine, along
with you and that adorable little body of yours," Kurama smiled, the
hands of the clock winding around to stop at 11:00
   "That's not FAIR!!"
   "Life seldom is, little one.  Get used to disappointments," and the
redhead disappeared into a flurry of rose petals before Hiei had a
chance to counter.
   Yusuke poked his head out from behind the rubble pile just as the
grandfather clock shimmered out of existence, dumping a small pile
of rose petals in it's place.  "You're still alive?  I'm impressed.  Few
people have insulted Kurama and lived to tell about it.  Nice work,
you've managed to piss him off, threaten my life and loose all chance
of you getting back your niece all in one breath!"
  "Shut up, you."
  "Still, I must admit, you're one tough little bastard!  Insulting his
intelligence, wounding his ego, bruising that undying love for flesh...
come on!  Lets get outta hear before he sicks his wild man-eating
plants on us!"
   "How can I trust you now that I know you're taking me back to the
beginning!"   
   "Grief, you are REALLY shallow!  I just told Kurama that to throw
him off the trail.  No wonder I'm the brains here!  And besides... I
guarantee you that you would say ANYTHING to avoid getting
tossed to the *shudder*  Bog of Eternal Stench!"
  "Che, so what.  You're such a coward!"
  "Excuse me!  You wouldn't be so brave if you ever caught wind of
that place.  Worst thing is, if you so much as dip a finger in the Bog,
you'll reek for the rest of your life.  It never washes off.  Youkai, I've
came within 2 inches of my life with Kurama before, I'm no idiot! 
You're on your own!"  Yusuke pointed a quick finger to a ladder.
"There.  That takes you back into The Labyrinth.  Good riddens!" 
and the gardener bound off into the darkness of the tunnel beyond.

(c) September 1997 by Jiminy Cricket Presses