Shadows and Lies Ch 16

[Kurako (夏維)]

作者: Kurako (夏維)
標題: Shadows and Lies Ch 16
時間: Thu Jul 10 05:15:23 1997

Yuu Yuu Hakusho

Shadows and Lies

by Sionna Klassen and Kristin Huntsman

Chapter 16

Sometimes we can barely tell the difference
Between the darkness and the light
Until we have faith
In what we believe,
The truest test
Is when we cannot
When we cannot see...
                --Jane Siberry, "It Can't Rain All the Time"

        Yusuke woke up on a hard floor, soft moonlight streaming in a
window
and shining in his face. <Not again...> he thought wearily, as he sat up
and
looked around.
        He sighed with relief as he realized that the four of them were
lying
on the floor of Kuwabara's room. <Finally, home...>
        He turned on the light and settled against the wall, leaning on
it as
he waited for everyone else to come around. It looked like early evening
outside, which was confirmed when Yusuke looked at the clock and saw
that it
read 8:31.
        Yusuke looked down at his shirt, and grimaced when he saw the
creeping
stains of dried blood all over it. It was sticking to his arm where the
blade
had cut him. He peeled the shirt off carefully, then ripped off a fairly
clean
strip of cloth to bandage his arm. <Great. Another shirt trashed.> He
looked at
the makeshift bandage and knew he'd have to take better care of the cut.
Quietly he got up and went into the bathroom, washing all the blood off
his arm
- his blood and Kurama's, he realized with a start. He rummaged
shamelessly in
the medicine cabinet until he found bandages, and carefully applied them
to his
arm. Then he went back into Kuwabara's room, sitting down against the
wall
again.
        Hiei was already awake, perched on the windowsill. The moonlight
shone
from behind him, silvering the blue tips of his hair and throwing his
face into
shadow. Yusuke's eyes flicked to the torn edge of Hiei's shirt, stained
with
blood and pulled open to reveal the ugly wound. Yusuke said nothing, but
left
the room and returned with the first-aid kit. He tossed it to Hiei, who
caught
it one-handed and settled it in his lap. Then he carefully pulled off
his shirt
and started bandaging the wound with his left hand.
        Kurama stirred and opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, pushing
his hair
out of his eyes. Then he looked at his hand, which was sticky with
blood. He
glanced down at the shallow cut on his arm, but it looked worse than it
really
was. He remembered that some of the blood was Yusuke's and glanced at
him,
sitting against the wall in the moonlight.
        "Here," Hiei said quietly, tossing Kurama the first-aid kit.
Kurama
caught it and examined the cut on his arm more closely, remembering that
Kuroi
had poisoned him. But there was no sign of any poison anymore, and he
felt
fine. <Yusuke's power must have destroyed that too...>
        The three of them watched as Kuwabara mumbled something and
turned
over. Kurama and Yusuke looked at each other, wondering if they should
wake him
up, when his eyes opened. Kuwabara sat up and looked around, studying
his room
as if he'd forgotten what it looked like. Then his face lit up as he
heard a
timid meow from under his desk.
        "Eikichi!" he cried happily, crawling under his desk to fetch
the cat.
He looked ridiculous, half under the desk, and Yusuke stifled a snicker
as
Kuwabara pulled himself back out, holding a calico cat in his hands.
Eikichi
mewled happily and purred as Kuwabara returned to a crosslegged
position,
holding Eikichi in his lap and patting her enthusiastically.
        "Hey, Kuwabara," Yusuke said, going over to his closet and
rummaging
through it. "Mind if I borrow a shirt?"
        "Go ahead, Urameshi," Kuwabara answered, then sighed. "I can't
believe
we actually made it home."
        "I wonder how long we've been gone," Kurama said, looking out
the
window.
        "It's summer vacation," Kuwabara said. "Who's gonna care?"
        "My mother, for one," Kurama said, and sighed. "Now I have to
find
another excuse for disappearing."
        Yusuke pulled one of Kuwabara's oversized shirts over his head,
then
suddenly remembered the letter Kurama had given him. Digging around in
his
pocket, he pulled it out and gave it back to Kurama. "Here," he said. "I
don't
have to deliver this after all."
        "Thanks," Kurama said, accepting it. Yusuke shrugged.
        The door opened. They all looked up in surprise as Kuwabara's
older
sister Shizuru stood in the doorway for a moment, staring stunned at all
of
them.
        "Hi," Kuwabara said, waving at her.
        Shizuru suddenly charged into the room and hit Kuwabara over the
head,
then started pounding on him. Eikichi, used to this by now, simply
leaped out
of the way and settled on the other side of the room, ignoring the
fight.
        "You idiot!" Shizuru was yelling. "You disappeared for nine days
without a word and you think you can just reappear?! You IDIOT!!"
        Finally she straightened and brushed strands of brown hair out
of her
eyes, then lit a cigarette. She turned to look at Kurama, Yusuke, and
Hiei, who
were watching her with some surprise. None of them had ever seen Shizuru
angry
at Kuwabara before. "So," she asked conversationally, "Where've you
been?"
        "Ask Kurama," Yusuke said, gesturing. "I think he understands it
best."
        "Thanks, Yusuke," Kurama muttered.
        "Anytime," he said with a grin.
        "So?" Shizuru asked. "What happened?"
        "It's a long story," Kurama sighed, "but what it boils down to
is that
an old enemy of mine wanted revenge, so he trapped us in another plane.
It took
us this long to get out."
        "Huh." Shizuru took another drag on her cigarette and eyed her
brother
as he sat up, rubbing his head. Then she blew out the smoke and looked
out the
window, at the dark sky.
        "How long did you say we've been gone?" Kurama asked.
        "Nine days," she replied.
        "The same amount of time passed there," Kurama said. "That's
interesting."
        "I thought time was constant between all the planes," Yusuke
said.
        "Not necessarily," Kurama replied. "It must have been a plane
fairly
close to this one." He leaned his head against the wall. "I wonder how I
can
explain it this time."
        "School trip is out," Yusuke said.
        "Yeah...any of my usual excuses are out because I didn't leave
word,
or call her after I'd gone, or anything." He rested his face in his
hands. "She
must be going crazy. I'd better get home." He stood up, and staggered
slightly.
Yusuke immediately got up and offered his support.
        "Hey, be careful!" he said.
        Kurama nodded, resigned. "I guess I expected everything to go
back to
normal all at once."
        "Trust me, I know. It's not that easy." He leaned close and
whispered,
"Coming back from the dead is exhausting by itself!"
        Kurama chuckled at Yusuke's remark, causing Shizuru to give both
of
them a funny look. "Are you all right, Kurama?" she asked.
        "I'm fine," Kurama said with a smile. "I'm just tired."
        "And this time you're not lying," Yusuke teased. "Come on, I'll
help
you get home. But as far as your mother goes, you're on your own."
        "Some friend you are," Kurama retorted as they left the room,
walking
down the hall. Hiei appeared just behind them, silently following.
Yusuke
half-turned to look back as Shizuru started berating Kuwabara again.
        As Kuwabara meekly started trying to explain everything that had
happened, Yusuke and Kurama chuckled and left the house. "Good luck,
Kuwabara!"
Yusuke called up toward the window.
        "Hey, Urameshi--" Kuwabara started, but Shizuru's voice drowned
him
out again. Yusuke laughed and started down the road.

        Hiei followed Yusuke and Kurama for a while, apparently not
having
anything better to do. Then he stepped right in front of them, regarding
them
coolly. "What is it?" Yusuke asked.
        Hiei cocked his head, thinking. Then he said quietly, "Thank
you," and
immediately vanished.
        "Huh," Yusuke said. "Didn't think he'd ever say that."
        "He won't admit to it if you ask him about it later," Kurama
said with
a smile. Yusuke nodded in agreement, and the two of them walked down the
street
in silence for a few minutes, Kurama still leaning on Yusuke. Then he
spoke
again. "You know, once I actually saw him smile. He won't admit to that,
either."
        Yusuke chuckled again, shaking his head. The two of them kept
walking,
and Hiei watched them from a tree branch fifty feet away.

        "Shuichi!" Shiori gasped, staring at Kurama.
        "Ah...hi, Mom," Kurama said, embarrassed. Shiori looked at
Yusuke, who
was still supporting Kurama. Then she opened the door all the way and
reached
out, grabbing both his and Yusuke's arms and pulling them into the
house.
        She closed the door and hugged Kurama, hard. "Where have you
been,
Shuichi?" she demanded, starting to cry. "Are you all right?"
        "Mom...don't cry, please..." Kurama disentangled himself and
guided
her to a chair, taking another for himself and sitting down before his
legs
gave way beneath him. Yusuke hovered uncertainly in the background. "I'm
sorry
I frightened you," Kurama said.
        Shiori nodded, trying to wipe her eyes dry. "Where have you
_been_?"
she asked. "You didn't call, you didn't let me know where you were... I
thought
you'd been kidnapped!"
        "Well...ah..." Kurama said, trying to come up with something. He
glanced at Yusuke.
        "Kidnapped by space aliens?" Yusuke suggested.
        Kurama considered throwing a pillow at him, but decided that
ignoring
him would probably be the better course. He looked back at Shiori. <Oh,
hell...>
        "I don't have an excuse," he said softly. "But I can't tell you
where
I've been, either. I...promised that I wouldn't. It would get certain
people
into trouble." He glanced back at Yusuke, and could read what he was
thinking
as clearly as Kuwabara ever could have.
        <Yeah, like you.>
        "But don't worry, Mom, I wasn't in any real trouble, and I
promise to
let you know if I ever have to vanish again...if I can."
        Shiori seemed to be calming down a little. "You won't tell me
where
you were?"
        "I can't," Kurama answered. "Like I said, it would get people
who
really don't need to be in trouble into it." <And because if I did tell
you, it
would lead to all kinds of messy explanations, like how your son is
really a
youko...>
        "You promise me that you weren't in any danger?" Shiori asked.
"Because if I find out later that you were..."
        "I wasn't," Kurama lied. "None of us were."
        "_Us_?" Shiori demanded.
        "Yusuke was there, too, and so was Kuwabara," Kurama answered.
"But I
really can't tell you any more than that. Not now, anyway. I'll tell you
someday, when it won't be able to cause trouble anymore."
        "You promise?" Shiori asked.
        "Yeah, I promise, Mom," Kurama answered. "I'll tell you when I
can."
        "Well, okay," Shiori said. She looked at the two of them.
"Neither of
you has eaten dinner yet, have you?"
        "No, we just came straight here after getting back and dropping
Kuwabara off," Yusuke replied. "I should be getting home..."
        "Stay and have dinner here, Yusuke," Shiori said. "You can call
your
mother and let her know you're all right."
        "Well...okay," Yusuke answered. "Thank you, Mrs. Minami."
        Shiori nodded, and stood. She gave her son another hug before
moving
off to the kitchen. "Next time don't worry me so much," she told him.
        "I'll try not to, Mom," he replied.
        Yusuke dropped into a chair as she left the room. He looked at
Kurama.
"You're a good liar," he commented.
        "Several years' practice," Kurama answered. "She doesn't need to
know
certain things. Just let her think that all I am is Shuichi Minami."
        "Then how are you going to tell her?" Yusuke demanded. "_You_
don't
break promises..."
        "I'll tell her someday," Kurama replied. "When it won't make
trouble
anymore."
        "Like that'll be any time soon," Yusuke retorted. "Tell me
something -
why _didn't_ you kill Kuroi?"
        Kurama shrugged. "I don't know," he said slowly. "I can't really
explain it. Even though he put us through all of that, I guess I just
didn't
feel that he deserved to die. Maybe I feel like it was partly my fault
that
this happened."
        "Oh, come on," Yusuke said. "That's nuts. _Your_ fault? Get
real."
        "I am," Kurama replied. "I didn't realize that Kuroi would ever
have
taken Eitaru's decision that badly. I don't think that the decision was
wrong -
Kuroi stole from his master, and that's as forbidden as you can get -
but I
also didn't think that my stealing the crystal back would cause him to
hate me
that much." He paused, thinking. "I guess I just felt that he deserves a
second
chance. Maybe he'll figure out that I'm not his enemy."
        "Maybe," Yusuke said doubtfully. "But what if he doesn't?"
        "Then I - we - deal with it. He won't be able to cause trouble
for a
while, I think. And if and when he does, we know that we can beat him.
We've
done it once, we can do it again."
        "Yeah, right," Yusuke said. "It only cost your life, injuries to
the
rest of us, and a nine-day absence. Sure, we can beat him, no problem."
        "Getting cynical, Yusuke?" Kurama asked.
        "Nah, just tired," Yusuke answered. Kurama nodded in agreement,
and
they both sat back in mutual silence for a while, resting.

        Hiei sat down and leaned against the tree trunk, looking up
through
the branches at the stars and the crescent moon. The moon in Kuroi's
dimension
had never changed. It had remained full the entire time. It felt good to
be
back in a familiar, real plane, even if it was the Ningenkai.
        But for some reason the night air felt strangely cold...


The End...?

Shadows and Lies

Author's Notes

WARNING: These Author's Notes are possibly the longest (and silliest)
ones
ever posted on the Internet. Read them at your own risk. As Peter David
likes
to say, you could skip them and not miss much of anything important, but
I must
warn you, as a responsible and evil citizen, if you do not read them,
you won't
see the secret message at the bottom.

Disclaimer: All characters in this story, with the exceptions of the
shadows,
Kuroi, and Eitaru, are shamelessly stolen from the show Yuu*Yuu*Hakusho.
In
addition, certain parts of the story involving pan-dimensional physics
might
bear a striking resemblance to the writings of Mercedes Lackey,
specifically
the ones that involve elves and racecars. No infringements of the rights
of the
creators or distributors are intended, and we'd like to beg that they
please
not sue us; we're in college, so we're poor enough already. That said,
here are
the rest of the credits.

Sionna: I would like to thank the Academy...no, wait, Kristin already
used
that joke... Okay, I HAVE to thank Kristin Huntsman first off, or else
she'll
do nasty things to me. Thanks go to her for addicting me to
Yuu*Yuu*Hakusho in
the first place (I have to think of something to return the favor
someday...),
dreaming up a large chunk of the plot to this story when I was charging
aimlessly into the netherworld of plot purgatory (or Makai as the case
may
be...), allowing me to turn her side stories into actual scenes in the
story,
lending me all of her really neat YYH stuff to copy pictures from, and
generally coming into my room at all hours to torment me.

Kristin: Only after she started tormenting me by leaving me off at
cliff-hangers EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Still, I suppose I got back at her,
because I
got worse at tormenting her than she ever was at tormenting me.

Sionna: Yeah, I was supposed to be the evil  one, and then she got
better at
it than me...

Kristin: I learned from many sources, among whom were my mother,
grandmother,
younger sister, and, for my doctorate, Sionna. Let me tell you, folks,
this
woman is evil incarnate. I just know it, she's going to find ways to
torture me
over the summer, too...

Sionna: Like my projects that are currently either in the process of
being
written or are slowly boiling in oil in my brain? Such as, for those in
the
audience who are actually crazy enough to read this, a Ranma 1/2 - YYH
crossover tentatively titled "The Invasion" (until I can think of
something
better, that is. Titles are not my forte), and another YYH crossover
with the
X-Files (No, I'm not a fan of YYH, really! What gave you that idea?).
Also
coming up as soon as we can write it is Shadows and Lies 2...HAHAHA!
Suffer,
Kristin, suffer!!!

Kristin: No, don't hurt me, Kodachi, please...waitaminnit. Sorry, wrong
story.
Yeah, well, she can't write it without me. So HA! <sticks tongue out at
Sionna>
Anyhow, my other projects are "Kurama 1/2", _my_ YYH - Ranma crossover,
which
is _completely_ different from "The Invasion", and my _other_ YYH -
Ranma
crossover, "Yuu*Yuu*1/2". Yeah, I know the title isn't very original,
but I'm
too busy writing it to bother with thinking up a cool title. I'm also
slowly
finishing another couple Ranma lemon stories - a two-parter called "Just
Friends". Ah, summer is such a wonderful time to complete writing
projects
in... Hmm...maybe I should write stories from some other series one
day...
Well, to do that, I'll have to see more anime first! [insert expression
of glee
here]

Sionna: Yeah, I know how much you _hate_ watching anime, after all the
times I
had to drag you kicking and screaming into my room to watch YYH
episodes.
Especially the ones with Kurama featured prominently in them. :) I
suppose I
should stop rambling so much and actually thank people... High on the
list is
Aaron Arce, for letting me borrow all of his YYH tapes and frantically
try to
watch them before the end of the school year. (And his TV, and his
girlfriend
to write this with. And letting me keep the tapes for a ridiculous
length of
time while I watched parts of them over and over again.)

Kristin: Yeah, especially the parts with Kurama... She made me watch
them with
her, too. She wouldn't let me alone in peace for a single minute when
there was
a YYH tape anywhere near her VCR. I thought she was my friend! How could
you do
this to me, Sionna?! I blame you for everything! You're evil!!!

Sionna: Oh no you don't...just because I'm evil doesn't mean I'm
responsible
for _everything_. Partial blame must also fall on the shoulders
of...hmmm...wait a minute. This story was _my_ idea... damn, I am
responsible
for this! I'll just have to live with the infamy...We also have to thank
John
Blankenship for tolerating our nasty habit of sending him six chapters
(or
more) at once to proofread. We have to thank him even more for actually
proofing them. I personally want to thank my younger brother Dylan for
actually
reading this before I had to go home and beat him up, and reacting to
the story
favorably. I also want to thank Beowulf Rochlen for putting up with my
sudden
obsession with this project, and letting me ramble on about it to my
heart's
content. And my roommate, Rachael Souza, for not defenestrating me, even
though
she had both the opportunity and the motive several times during the
course of
the year. (The window's right there, after all...)

Kristin: Hmm...she covered all the major players... Oh, well. I thank
Aaron
and John, too, for 1) putting up with me, 2) proofing this and other
stories,
and 3) there is no number three. As for who else... Okay, I thank Uncle
Glenn
for giving his 15-year-old niece the first tape of Bubblegum Crisis
during one
long, boring summer, and forever changing her life...my parents for
more-or-less putting up with my addiction, Roy Rim for asking _me_ to
proof his
stories, Danyaw Chen for actually listening to me ramble on about YYH
for pages
on the 'Net. <sigh> I suppose I have to thank Sionna after all, for
coming up
with the scenes that started this craziness, and for listening to me
when I
told her about a dream I had that continued where she'd left off...this
entire
story has jacked my anime dream percentage up to at least one a week,
usually
YYH. And the final thanks go to...my plants, all named after various YYH
characters. Funny, though, all my killer ferns are named after the
cheerleaders...Botan, Keiko, and Yukina. It's my fig plant that's called
Kurama...

Sionna: Gee, she's even thanking her _plants_...does that mean I have to
thank
my cat? No, my cat's not black...(You'd have to have read Kurama 1/2,
sorry...)
But I _do_ have to thank my dad, because he's the one who turned me on
to anime
in the first place. A-ha! It's partly HIS fault! He's also the one who,
when I
confessed my dream of being a writer, told me to go out and do it rather
than
try to steer me away because writing doesn't make any money. (ESPECIALLY
writing like this. Too bad, I happen to love this kind of stuff. Oh
well, money
isn't everything. The pure joy of being evil is better.)

Kristin: Oh, really? I thought it was the pure joy of in-jokes... I
swear, the
two of us now speak our own language: Shadowese. No one around us can
understand the references, 97.3% of which are ours, the remaining 2.7%
of which
we borrowed from other YYH sources. And for a closing word, which only
Sionna
will probably get (yes, I have to have the last word): "Yum!"

For anyone who is still with us, we hope that you had as much fun
reading this
story (and Notes) as we had writing it. If you did, please let us know.
Our
addresses are: for Kristin, [e-mail]. For Sionna,
[e-mail]. Comments, questions, and criticisms are all
welcome,
except questions like "Why did you waste our time with this?"
And flames need not apply.

And for anyone who DID have as much fun as we did, I must inform you
that it's
illegal.

And, without further ado, THE SECRET MESSAGE!!!

************
TOP SECRET
************

There was no Chapter 13.