Yuu Yuu Hakusho
Shadows and Lies
by Sionna Klassen and Kristin Huntsman
Chapter 14
Every night I fall
Every night I call your name
Every night I fall, screaming the animal scream
Every night I fall, dreaming the crow-black dream
--The Cure, "Burn"
Yusuke found himself standing on a checkerboard floor, the huge
black
and white squares stretching apparently endlessly in all directions. He
blinked
and looked around. "Where the hell are we now?"
"You're still in my castle," Kuroi's disembodied voice
responded,
echoing in the vast emptiness. "Ready to start the next game?"
Yusuke groaned. "If he starts a giant game of chess, I'm going
to..."
"My turn!" Kuwabara said, interrupting Yusuke. Yusuke glared at
him as
he stepped forward and took a position on a white square, folding his
arms.
"Well, Kuroi? What are you going to throw at me?"
"Kuwabara--" Yusuke started, but Kuwabara wouldn't listen.
"You take care of Hiei," he said. "I want to fight."
Yusuke rolled his eyes. He and Kurama backed up a few steps,
effectively drawing a line between themselves and Kuwabara. It was
understood
that they wouldn't interfere in his fight unless absolutely necessary.
Yusuke
looked down as Hiei whispered, "Idiot."
"What do you expect _me_ to do about it?" Yusuke asked,
crouching
down. He put Hiei on a white square, noticing that the floor seemed to
be made
out of cool marble. "It's not like he'll listen to me."
"Or anyone else," Hiei replied, opening his eyes. He blinked a
few
times, as if trying to focus. Kurama stepped closer and folded to his
knees to
rest, a graceful motion that was probably supposed to look as if he'd
done it
on purpose. Yusuke stepped away, making a silent agreement to let Kurama
look
after Hiei while he watched Kuwabara's fight. He folded his arms and
waited for
Kuwabara's opponent to appear, his eyes narrowed. <Just wait until Kuroi
comes
out of hiding,> he thought. <I'll make him sorry he brought us here...>
Kurama pulled at the torn edges of Hiei's shirt, looking at the
wound.
Blood still oozed from it, stains of dark red trickling down the
lavender
sleeve. But the skin around the wound had turned a purplish color. Hiei
coughed
again and struggled to breathe.
Kurama looked up as light flashed at him. A triangular mirror
was
spinning toward them, spinning so that the light, which was coming from
everywhere, reflected off its surface in all directions. It settled to
the
ground in front of Kuwabara and stopped spinning, Kurama and the others
reflected in its silvery surface. Kuwabara watched it, but for a moment
nothing
happened.
Then his reflection stepped out of the mirror.
"What the--?" Kuwabara yelped, stepping back. His reflection
only
grinned and summoned a Rei sword exactly like his. Kuwabara got over his
surprise, manifested his own Rei sword, and leaped forward.
There was nothing elegant about Kuwabara's technique; it was all
hack
and slash, and expended a hell of a lot more energy than was practical.
It also
wasn't very effective against an opponent who was exactly the same in
every
respect. The two Kuwabaras slashed, blocked, and slashed again at each
other,
but neither of them connected.
"Oh hell," Yusuke sighed, dropping into a crosslegged position
on the
floor. "This is going to take _forever_."
"Oh yeah?!" one of the Kuwabaras yelled at Yusuke. "I'd like to
see
you do better, Urameshi!"
"You really want me to?" Yusuke asked lazily, resting his chin
on his
palm.
"No way!" Kuwabara yelled back. "This is my fight!"
"I thought you'd say that." Yusuke sighed again and watched the
fight
disinterestedly.
It went on for a while, a stalemate that neither fighter could
break.
"This was a really stupid idea, Kuroi," Yusuke yelled, after fifteen
minutes
had passed by and nothing much had happened except for more hacking and
slashing of Rei swords. "If you're half as bored as I am, you could
always do
something to make it more interesting."
"Hey!" Kuwabara yelled. "Don't give him ideas!"
Kuroi's laughter echoed around the chamber. "Why should I be
bored?"
he asked. "I find the futility of this fight quite amusing."
Yusuke glanced at Kurama to see him watching the fight, fury
burning
in his eyes. He looked over at Yusuke for a second, then shifted his
attention
back to Hiei. <He's going to kill Kuroi...if Kuroi doesn't kill us all
first,>
Yusuke thought.
Kuwabara looked at his double, automatically ducking its - his?
-
blows. <How the hell do you fight yourself?> he wondered. The double was
just
as good as he was, though, he thought with a grin, certainly not better.
He
hastily blocked a slash it made at his stomach, and started seriously
thinking
about how to end this fight. It was getting boring.
He took a quick glance over at the others as he made a slash of
his
own at the duplicate. It hastily stumbled backwards. <Is that how I
fight?> he
wondered. <Nah, couldn't be. I'd never be that clumsy.> He grimaced as
the
double lunged at him and he moved akwardly out of the way. <Shit, how do
I beat
this thing?>
Kuwabara started thinking now, really thinking. There was no way
that
he could beat this thing with swords, but if he released his weapon,
there was
no way that he could trust it to do the same. And if he only had fists,
and it
had a sword... Okay, there had to be some other way to beat it. But what
_was_
it?
He shot another glance at the others. Kurama, he saw, was
sitting next
to Hiei, looking concerned. Hiei was still paralyzed from that spider's
poison.
And Urameshi was watching the fight with a doubtful look on his face.
That
pissed Kuwabara off, and he decided that he would wipe that look off of
Urameshi's face. He turned back to the double, and deliberately reached
out his
mind to its. <Weird,> he thought. <There's almost nothing here...>
He grinned. If it had no mind, then what would happen if he
blasted
it? As he blocked and parried, the idea began to have more appeal. He
decided,
stretched out with his mind, touched the other, and struck.
Kurama shook his head as a buzzing began to build up between his
ears.
He raised a hand to the side of his head, wondering what was going on.
The
shadow draining him wouldn't cause this...
"Kurama, what is it?" Yusuke asked, correctly reading the look
on his
face.
"I don't know," he replied. "It's not the shadow..." With a
sudden
flash of intuition, he looked up at the fight. Yusuke followed his gaze.
"Kuwabara...what are you doing?" Kurama whispered.
Suddenly the buzzing stopped, and there was absolute silence,
for a
second. Then Kurama screamed, pressing his hands hard against both sides
of his
head. Yusuke was instantly at his side, helping to brace him.
"What is it?" he heard Yusuke ask, from somewhere on the other
side of
the pain.
"Kuwabara--" he managed to say.
"What the--?" Yusuke asked. Kurama felt the hands on him alter
position as Yusuke turned to look at the fight. He concentrated on
seeing if he
could touch Kuwabara's mind. He hurt so much, but he was used to that.
He had
to be, by now.
<Kuwabara, what are you doing?> he thought to himself, then came
to a
conclusion as he suddenly heard Kuwabara's yell of pain. <You're
blasting the
double with your mind, aren't you? But...if the double is a mirror...the
pain
is getting reflected back to you. And to me, through the link between
the
shadows within us.>
<Shit, why the hell is this happening?> he heard Kuwabara think.
<I
thought I was blasting it, not me!>
<It's a mirror!> Kurama thought back. <Of course it's reflecting
back
at you! And at me, too!>
<Oh...> Kuwabara sounded meek. <I didn't realize that you were
caught
in this...>
<Never mind that,> Kurama thought. <Kuroi probably planned on
you
doing this. How much longer do you think that you can hold on?>
<Not very...> Kuwabara answered.
<Just go with it when you do,> Kurama replied.
<And let that bastard win?> Kuwabara demanded.
<You'll take the double with you,> Kurama explained. <As for
Kuroi...>
<You or Urameshi...> Kuwabara thought. Kurama felt the intense
pain
fade away as he lost the link with Kuwabara's mind. He opened his eyes.
Kuwabara had collapsed on the ground, he saw. And the double...
Cracks
suddenly appeared in it, and it shattered into a thousand silver pieces,
as did
the mirror it had come from.
"What the hell--?" Yusuke asked.
"Kuwabara blasted the mirror with his mind," Kurama explained,
gingerly rubbing at the side of his head. But the pain was all gone. "It
bounced back at him - and me, through the shadows."
"So," Yusuke said, going over to check Kuwabara's pulse, "what
next?"
"Whatever Kuroi throws at us," Kurama answered. "Is he okay?"
"He's not dead," Yusuke replied. "Are you okay?"
"All things considered, I'm all right," Kurama said.
"That's not to be depended on," Kuroi's voice mockingly
predicted.
Yusuke stood up suddenly and yelled, "Come out of hiding, you
bastard!
What's the matter, don't you have the courage to fight us face to face?"
"Yusuke--!" Kurama said, but it was too late for words of
caution.
Kuroi's transparent image materialized in front of them. "So,
you want
to fight me, do you? That can be arranged. Step through the door." He
gestured,
and his image swirled and transformed into an apparently solid door,
standing
without support on the checkerboard floor. The door opened, revealing
another
dark, cavernous hallway through it - but the checkerboard went on
endlessly
around it. <Kuroi manipulates dimensions as easily as I create a
rose...>
Kurama thought, worried. <Yusuke doesn't realize how powerful he is, he
thinks
it's all cheap tricks. I've got to get him to be careful!>
"Yusuke--" he started, but Yusuke waved a hand at him.
"I'll get Kuwabara," he said, grabbing one of Kuwabara's arms to
drag
him through the door. "Can you carry Hiei?"
"Yeah - he's light. But Yusuke, there's something I--"
"Later," Yusuke said, interrupting again. He dragged Kuwabara
toward
the door.
"Yusuke!"
Then Kurama heard something behind him. He turned to look - and
saw
the floor falling apart, the squares dropping away into a bottomless pit
below.
Kurama ran to Hiei, grabbed him up seconds before the squares he lay on
fell
into the void, and raced for the door.
"Kurama!" Yusuke turned and saw the danger. He reached out a
hand
through the open doorway, just as the floor trembled beneath Kurama's
feet.
Kurama flung himself forward, but he knew that with Hiei in his arms he
would
never make it. "Hiei," he gasped, "_move_!" He threw Hiei forward.
Hiei somehow twisted, flickered through the door with inches to
spare
between himself and Yusuke. Kurama's outstretched hands caught the edge
of the
door sill as the squares fell away underneath him. He held on for dear
life as
Yusuke's hand grabbed his wrist. He looked up at Yusuke, rather than
face the
void below.
"Hang on!" Yusuke told him. "I've - got you--" He pulled with
all his
strength, and Kurama grabbed the doorframe and tried to drag himself up,
ignoring the splinters of wood that lodged in his hand.
"I can't," he gasped, trembling with effort. His feet dangled in
empty
air, giving him no support at all. His hand slipped from the wood, and
Yusuke's
fingers lost their grip on his wrist. Kurama fell, and Yusuke's scream
echoed
shatteringly loud in the emptiness all around him.
"_KURAMA_!"
He hit the floor hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs
and
stun him momentarily. He blacked out for an instant, then fought his way
back
to consciousness just in time to hear Kuroi say, "There was really no
need for
all that. The pit only led here anyway."
Kurama opened his eyes and saw the door still leading to
emptiness,
only now it was set in a stone wall. Yusuke was standing by the
doorframe,
staring at him. Hiei lay crumpled on the floor. Seeing that Kurama was
safe, he
smiled slightly. Then his eyes closed and he went limp as he lost
consciousness. Kurama wished he could do the same.
Slowly, he pushed himself up on his arms. His palm stung from
the
splinters of wood buried in his skin. Yusuke ran over and offered his
support,
helping Kurama to stand. "I'm going to kill him," Yusuke hissed between
his
teeth.
"Yusuke - he's trying to make you angry. He's doing it on
purpose. And
he's more dangerous than you think," Kurama said. "You've got to be
careful."
"Don't worry," Yusuke said. "I'm going to make him wish he never
brought us here." He helped Kurama to the side of the room, leaned over,
and
closed the door. It promptly vanished, and Yusuke bent to let Kurama
lean on
him as he sat down against the wall.
"Yusuke--" Kurama said, before Yusuke could turn away. "Remember
what
I said."
"No problem," Yusuke said with a feral grin, standing. He turned
and
walked toward Kuroi, who was standing at roughly the center of the room,
gray
robes and blue hair stirring in a light breeze that made the torches
lighting
the room flicker wildly.
Kuroi yawned. "I hope this fight isn't over too quickly," he
said. "It
wouldn't be fun at all if I beat you straight off."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Yusuke said
tightly,
his anger evident in his voice. He clenched his fist and then exploded
into
motion, running forward with a yell of rage.
Kuroi sniffed disinterestedly and dodged easily as Yusuke tried
to
punch him. He dodged or blocked every move Yusuke threw against him for
a few
quick seconds, then reached out and flung Yusuke into the wall. The
stone
cracked from the impact, but Yusuke dropped to his feet without seeming
much
affected.
"You'll have to do better than that," Yusuke taunted.
Kuroi shrugged. "If you insist." He clenched his fist and energy
crackled around it. He opened his hand again, pointing it at Yusuke. A
ball of
light burst from his hand and streaked toward Yusuke.
Yusuke leaped into the air and flipped over the ball of light,
and it
smashed into the wall and created a huge crater in the stone. Yusuke
sprang at
Kuroi again, but Kuroi deflected all of his blows just as he had before.
Yusuke
was flung back again, this time skidding along the floor. He bounced
back to
his feet and stared at Kuroi, breathing hard. <Damn! How the hell do I
beat
him?>
Another ball of light came after him, and Yusuke dodged it
easily. But
he saw it alter its course out of the corner of his eye, and as he
turned to
look he saw it coming straight for him from behind. Too late to dodge.
The energy hit him head-on. Pain exploded in his chest and he
cried
out as he fell backwards and crashed to the floor. He lay still for a
moment,
gasping for breath. Then he got up, breathing hard and staring at Kuroi
with
pure, naked hatred.
Kuroi smirked at him.
Yusuke yelled, "Damn you!" and pointed his finger at Kuroi, the
tip
glowing and sparkling with blue light. Kuroi's smile broadened.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, and moved a tiny
step to
the left. Yusuke's Rei power dissipated as he saw that Kuroi had been
deliberately standing in front of his friends. Yusuke let his hand fall,
snarling in frustration.
Kuroi said, "In fact, you can't use your Rei power against me at
all -
not unless you want to hurt your friends. You can't beat me without it,
either.
Why don't you just give up?"
"Not a chance!" Yusuke yelled, and charged at him again. As
Kuroi
dodged the blows as he had before, used to the pattern of Yusuke's
attacks,
Yusuke suddenly feinted and changed his tactics. His fist, charged with
Rei
power, slammed into Kuroi's face.
Kuroi fell hard as Yusuke landed. "Gotcha!" Yusuke yelled
jubilantly.
He pointed his finger again, since Kuroi was on the other side of the
room now
and he wouldn't hit any of his friends. He charged up again, ready to
fire.
"I've got you now, you bastard--"
Kuroi swung a chain at him.
"What the--?!" Too late, Yusuke saw the blade on the end. The
chain
wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides, and the curved blade
lodged
itself in his right arm, just below his shoulder. Yusuke gave a cry of
agony
and fell to his knees, shuddering. He opened his eyes and saw the chain
glowing
blue-white all along its length. "Huh?" He looked up at Kuroi, feeling
strangely weak.
Kuroi smiled. "Aren't feeling it yet? I'll fix that!"
Yusuke suddenly felt something tear at his insides, ripping his
power
from him and feeding it to Kuroi along the chain. Yusuke screamed,
barely
noticing as the curved blade pulled free of his arm and blood started
running
down it. He struggled wildly against the chain holding him, hearing
Kuroi
laughing.
"Oh, I must have forgotten to mention that I can drain your
power,"
Kuroi was saying. "How remiss of me."
Yusuke felt the slickness of his blood on his arm, making the
chain
slip slightly. He kept screaming, hoping Kuroi would think his thrashing
was
for no purpose and wouldn't notice the chain slowly sliding free. The
links
slid across his skin, up his arm and over the wound - he almost blacked
out,
but somehow held on. With a sudden wrench, he freed himself from the
chain and
knelt on the floor, panting. His shirt was covered with blood that had
rubbed
off from the chain.
"How--?!" Kuroi asked, stepping back in surprise. Yusuke knew he
didn't have time to let Kuroi recover. He raised his hand, pointed his
finger
at Kuroi, and pushed the last of his power into one blast.
"_Rei gun_!"
The blue-white energy blasted forward and slammed Kuroi into the
wall.
Yusuke fell forward onto hands and knees, barely able to lift his head
to watch
as Kuroi crumpled. His blood dripped onto the stone floor.
"Got...you..." Yusuke whispered.
Kuroi pushed himself to his hands and knees. "Damn you, human!"
he
snarled, and flung out a hand. Energy built up, crackling around it, and
then
suddenly was released. Lightning bolts arced from Kuroi's hand and
zigzagged
across each other, creating a web of energy that hung still in the air
for a
moment. Then, with a flare of light and power, it contracted around
Yusuke's
body.
Yusuke screamed again, crumpling to the ground as the energy web
cut
through his clothes and into his skin, the lightning searing his nerves.
Kuroi
stood up and looked down at Yusuke, the flickering light reflecting in
his eyes.