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Yomatsu Hara-Sakai Continuation:
Prologue
by Korogi
The strange forest stretched on in every direction until eternity from where Hiei sat cradled in a bow of a Yomatsu tree, quietly glaring off into the leafy greenery that horded most of his line of sight. The Guardian of the lands, Yo-mawari, sat silently on the soft ground under him, patiently polishing his long-katana, and watching the tree lines for the nocturnal beasts that prayed at night . There had been a good jaunt of history-telling from the tall, lean man .. mostly about his strange background and how he came to be a known as a brother to Kurama ...
"I don't believe you," the koorime broke the silence easily, turning the cold, red eyes down to the tall, slim man below.
"What you choose to believe is your own fate, Hiei-san. I can not force you to believe or understand my upbringing." Yo-mawari raised cautious black eyes to the tree top and flashed a smile ... that oh-too familiar disarming smile of Kurama's... full of lust and passion, full of friendship and playfulness ...
Hiei sneered and looked away quickly, glancing out to the trees, trying to forget that the man damn-near killed him no more than three days ago. "Tell me again .. maybe I won't fall asleep, this time," he growled, condescending. He leaned back on the bark of the tree, swearing it laughed at him as he growled his request to the man.
"Very well, Master," Yo-mawari said straightly, sitting comfortably on the grassy ground below. "You remember, I told you Kurama and I were born from the same litter ... had the same mother ... and the same father." He paused respectfully before continuing, glancing up to the yokai who had defeated his skill in battle... the little fire demon who he now lived to serve. "Kurama and I were separated at birth due to the fact that our father only desired one child ... and since Kurama was obviously the more brilliant-looking of the two of us, I was sent away to live in secret with our mother's sister ... our aunt ... until I was grown enough to take care of myself." He took a small breath. "And when I left her company, I was employed as the Guardian of these lands ... and my past was easily forgotten."
Hiei shifted in the tree, fighting a yawn, but listening none the less. The story brought back painful memories he tried so desperately to suppress, and so nonchalantly to acknowledge at the same time, as if daring his mind to attempt to sway his feelings ... the way his own father looked down on him, disgusted at his very presence ... the way he was cruelly discarded and banished from the koorime tribe to fend for himself in the wilds of Makai ...
Below him, Yo-mawari got slowly to his feet, dusting his black pants off.
" 'Wari?" Hiei asked silently, gazing almost thoughtfully to the horizon.
"Hai, Meijin?"
"Are you a youko too ... a kitsune ... like Kurama?"
The tall man smiled slightly, rubbing the metal of the sword to gleam brilliantly in the murky, setting sun-light. "Hai," he answered, equally as silent. " But I am in no way human as Kurama has come to be a halfbreed ... only, my youkai spirit has slowly faded from my heart over the years as I've grown to rely less and less upon it." He bowed slightly, pointing a finger to the blue-streaked, darkening sky. "It is getting late ... perhaps he is worry about you?" he changed the subject easily.
Hiei blew a strand of his white, star-burst thatch of hair from his face. He stared off into the strangely lit sky of Yomatsu Hara-Sakai, watching unfamiliar creatures take to the air, and feeling strange ki float around him.
"Perhaps," he agreed with a grunt.
* * *
Kuwabara Kazuma snorted roughly as he laid down to sleep. For the past three nights, he had been plagued by the same dream every time he closed his eyes. After the first two nights of the horrific repetition, he had tried to deliberately dream about something else .. tried to dream about Yukina ... but his dream would always shift to an empty blackness filled with a powerful force he couldn't comprehend.
Tonight would be night four ... and tonight would be different. Kuwabara was determined to change the outcome of this cursed dream if it killed him doing it. He hated having his mind run free from him like it had been doing ...
He closed his eyes slowly and waited patiently as he began to fall asleep, running over plans in his mind about what he was going to do.
* * *
Yusuke yawned widely, rolling over to wrap an arm absent-mindedly over Keiko's waist, burying his nose in her soft, fragrant hair.
Keiko was wide awake, staring out the window across from the bed when she felt the arm drape heavily over her. "Yus'ke?" she asked into the silence.
The lump next to her groaned, curling tight fingers around her night gown.
"Are you awake?" she asked louder, listening to him groan again. "Yusuke!!"
"RAAAH!!" the young man yelled, sitting straight up in bed, flinging the bed spread half way across the room and onto the floor. He clutched his chest, breathing heavily, panting as he stared wide-eyed off into the room.
"Oh good! You're up," Keiko smiled, sitting up next to him.
Yusuke glared over at her, the moonlight catching on his eyes, flashing them about the room. "Yeah, no thanks to you," he groaned. He pulled his feet up and sat in a ball on the bed. "What?"
"I couldn't sleep."
Yusuke groaned, crashing backwards into his pillow, landing in a fluff of sheets and arms. "Then why didn't ya go sleep on the couch?" he whined, rubbing his eyes.
"Can we go out for coffee, or something?"
"At 11:00 at night?"
She smiled sweetly, coiling her fingers through the draw-string on her nightgown.
* * *
A dark figure smiled widely, reveling a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Before him, the image of Yo-mawari floated freely, suspended on a green mist.
The creature watched intently with orange eyes. He was a huge beast with four legs and a set of massive arms sprouting from an enormous torso. His skin was blue and rough, glinting slightly as the pictured mist before him would switch and churn. He was known as Dai-Warugi, The Great Malice, the ruler of all the Underworld lands of Yomi no Kuni - the Lands of Night, and Ne no Kuni - the Land of the Dead beneath.
He snorted heavily, filling the air before him with an aching steam. "He has fallen from my power, this yokai you chose to be the Guardian," Dai-Warugi snarled down to his chamberlain.
"You desire that he is dead?" Chamberlain asked.
The great beast beside him boomed a resounding HAI, shaking the room in its foundations, churning up small bellows of dust as parts of the ceiling fall loose and plummeted to the stone floor beneath. "He no longer serves me .. so therefore he will no longer have the right to live!"
"Hai," Chamberlain answered, bowing. "But we have problems ... " the misted picture shifted to the image of someone sleeping. He lay sprawled on his fouton in a spread-eagle, long limbs hanging down to the floor. "He is called Kuwabara Kazuma ... " the scene shifted to blackness as the picture faded. "He has foretelling dreams ... he knows your plans, Great One."
"A mere ningen boy?" the beast laughed slightly. "There is not a being alive who could ever stand in the way of my plans.
"He is not your only problem."
Dai-Warugi growled deeply as the mist lit again, flashing pictures at him. "The lord of the Reikai has detectives ... " the mist flashed quickly at them ...
... a short yokai with spiked, black hair, a white star burst exploding from his forehead ...
... a handsome young man with slicked, black hair, firing a great wave of ki from the tip of his finger ... .
.. a small, almost infant-like boy growing quickly into a young man, a blue stone pacifier held tightly in his mouth ...
... a tall red-headed woman brandishing a single, red rose as if it was a deadly weapon ...
The pictures froze on the last two images, hovering them side by side.
"The son of Enma and a woman?" the great beast snorted, clicking the razor- sharp teeth together.
" ... not a woman ... the twin brother to our Guardian."
"FORMER ... Guardian," the beast corrected, jabbing a fist into Kurama's tall image. The mouth twisted to a sly grin as the picture resolved back into Kurama's tall frame. "Perhaps I can change my plans slightly ... " and he turned with a great ease of large muscles and pounded out of the room.
---to be continued---
OFFICIAL DISCLAIMERS/WARNINGS
WARNING: This piece contains scenes of yaoi, violence, cursing and may offend some readers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu *Yu* Hakusho in anyway. All such rights go to Yoshihiri Togashi and Shueishen Inc. All characters and situations appearing in the Manga and the anime are copyrighted and owned by the above. If you don't recognize the name or location ... it was either retrieved from a mythology book or created by me. No portion of this may be copied or reproduced in any way without my express, written consent (Cricket)
YYH-Fic Archivers: Have at ye! If you want to archive this, feel free to do so, as long as my disclaimers are attached in full.
All characters and situations herein are fictitious ... any similarities to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
