Subject: [Fanfic]Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic Part 5!
From: Lyn Arcega
Date: 8/8/1996, 2:31 AM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Kamusta! :)

Here's part 5 of my sis' fanfic!
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Five.

	Kurama knew better than to reprimand Hiei for being brash enough to charge
without him.  Though Hiei knew very well that the creatures in the wood were
mostly from Kurama’s memory, if not his imagination, he would not ever have
been able to wait, knowing that his own life was in danger.  He would not
entrust his personal safety to anyone else.  That much, the youko understood
about his little friend.
	And Hiei did not look as if he regretted charging alone, either.  As he
strode beside Kurama he merely looked ahead, wary as ever, and nothing more.
It was as if nothing had happened.  It was as if he had not even savored the
moment wherein he would have died, and Kurama had not saved his life.
	Perhaps it was only because for Hiei, killing was normal, as normal as
being in danger of death, himself.  Such a dark calmness was something the
playful fox-spirit could admire, but not envy.
	The beast they had encountered had been a problem for Kurama himself, in
his time.  It was a rather territorial water-spirit from whom he had stolen
– something – at one time or another.  He could barely recall his crime.  He
could only remember the tentacles grabbing for him, holding fast what limbs
they could encounter, and only the rose whip came to the rescue.  He did not
remember killing the demon himself, but he vaguely recalled someone
reporting that the water-spirit had been killed, by a conquering Mazoku and
no less…at any rate, the wretch deserved it.  Miser that it was.
	Hiei insisted upon retrieving his steel sword and cape.
Soon the solemn pair reached a part of the wood where a pathway seemed to
exist – and fork.  The road was definitely not natural, and both of the
alternative routes reeked of youki.
	At last Hiei turned to Kurama for advice.
	"I seem to have been here before," Kurama said pensively.  "But I’ve had to
choose between too many crossing roads in my lifetime.  I can only recall
clearly that one of the routes is a dead-end packed with predators."
	"That’s almost always the way it goes," Hiei supplied.  "You can’t remember
which road is safer?"
	Kurama shook his head, almost apologetically.
	"Well, then, there’s only one real choice," said Hiei.  "We split up.  One
of us is sure to get through safely."
	"The problem is," Kurama mentioned, "if this thing begins a labyrinth.  You
understand: even if we’re at a dead-end route, we’ll be forced to choose
between crossroads and crossroads, so that when we reach the dead-end we
have no chance of ever coming back where we started…I’ve been to such a
place before.  No tracking skills had been able to help…"
	"But my third eye might be able to," Hiei offered.
	"Are you willing to use it now?"
	Hiei did not even have to answer.  He slowly unraveled the bandage about
his brow.
	For a long while, Hiei was unnaturally still.  His two natural eyes were
closed – it was as if he was dreaming – but the third eye was wide open and
staring out into the end of every road ahead.
	Kurama patiently waited.  In the meantime he searched his memory for any
trace of the labyrinth he feared they were in for.  Did he begin with the
right road, or the left?  And there had been a regular pattern to the maze –
what was it?
	Suddenly Hiei’s third eye closed.  Kurama had never seen it close so
abruptly.  In fact, he realized, it had been so abrupt that Hiei himself
winced in shock and pain, and his two natural eyes flicked open sharply.  He
had not closed his third eye on purpose.
	Hiei’s natural eyes were wide with puzzlement, even when they turned to
Kurama as he called out.  "There is something at the end of one road," Hiei
reported.  "A youkai again…a powerful one…I cannot tell which road we should
begin with."
	That youkai, Kurama thought, must be at the dead-end.  "Can’t you try again?"
	Hiei seemed distraught.  "I could, but…"  Kurama knew that "but".  He could
try…but it would be useless.  The powerful youkai he had sighted had already
become aware that one of the intruders to the wood possessed a particularly
useful talent.  The youkai must indeed be powerful, to force back the
farsight of a jagan – and Kurama had encountered only one such creature before…
	"We have to split up," Hiei declared.  "Otherwise, we won’t get anywhere."
	How like him to mistrust companionship.  "Our chances for surviving either
route would be better if we stuck together," Kurama advised.  "Besides, we
may not be able to find each other again."  All the same Hiei, by the look
in his eyes alone, had become immovable.
	"All right, then," Kurama said resignedly.  "I’ll take the right one.
You’ll take the left."
	Hiei began to bandage his third eye again, which he felt he would not be
able to use for the duration of their travels.  "Very well," he said, and
they parted.
	It was that simple.
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Part 6 coming soon!
BFN!
:***LYN***:
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|Ma. Aileen Arcega|Surfing from Bulacan, Philippines!|lyn@tridel.com.ph |
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|      	    Akin si Kurama/Minamino Shuichi of Yu Yu Hakusho!		|
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