Well, a strange alternate YuYu universe, I guess. I don't know much about
how Mukuro's and Yomi's governments work, so just bear with me, and tell
me how wrong I am ^_^ Enjoy!


Intertwined: By Monica Shin


	I look up, in surprise. Him? I give a smile to my lover, who is a 
mere 200 years old. Still, I sense potential in him for something greater. 
I tell him to go out, and search for something to eat. He, sensing something 
afoot, agrees with a small nod, and quickly walks away. Hmm... he has 
greater potential then I thought

	"Hiei... stop hovering and just come down here." A moment later, he
comes down to the ground, giving me a contemptuous look for my choice of 
words. I look at him. It has been too long. How many years... how many 
decades had it been? Long enough so that I could see something that I 
didn't want to see.

	I look around, eager to say anything, do anything that would 
distract my mind from the truth that I did not want to acknowledge. "Well, 
it's been a while, hasn't it?" Inside my head, I curse at myself. That had 
sounded truly awkward and inane. Couldn't I, a youko on not-inconsiderable 
power, and the ruler of a third of the Makai, manage something better than 
that?

	He has never been much for small talk. Instead, he merely says, 
"Kurama. You know... or at least you should. If you don't, you're going 
blind, and you're not paying your spies enough." He has changed, from that 
cold, almost naive demon that I had known before. But then, so have I. 
Ruling has a tendency to do that. 

	I merely reply with yet another evasion. "So, how is Yukina-san? It 
has been too long since I've seen her last." Both he and I know that this 
is yet another attempt to get our minds off the subject. But he is always 
willing to talk about his sister.

	He grunts, and replies, "She's as fine as she can be. She lives on 
the outskirts of my domain, with her memories... who knew that that idiot 
Kuwabara would make her like that? She still thinks of him, after all this 
time. She has come to act as a sort of guardian angel to her descendents. 
They even have a saying about her. That if they pray hard enough, and focus 
on a certain clear stone, a goddess would appear and save them... I suppose 
I should stop her from breaching the borders between the Makai and the 
Ningenkai, but I allow her this one happiness..."

	I reply, "That reminds me of Yuusuke... he's dwells almost as much 
in the past as she does. You know that one of Keiko's and his' descendents 
was apparently killed, in a freak accident. He had apparently kept track of 
every one of them, and goes to all their funerals. He has become something 
of a legend, too... Neither one of them could let go, could they? Let go of 
the humans, and of their short-" I interrupt myself. This conversation is 
going in a direction that I don't want... "So, Hiei- ah, how is-"

	He looks at me with an annoyed expression. "You know I'm not here 
to talk about that, Kurama. You know as well as I do why you chose this 
spot, this bit of jungle boardering both our domains, to have your little 
tryst. Did you really expect me to come, after your spy told you-"

	I can't stand it. No one is around to see me, and I would not care 
if they were. Power does not mean that you are invincible to pain in your 
heart... "Hiei. Stop it. We have not seen each other in so long... why must 
you wait until now, until this is looming over our heads, before we meet?"

	He replies, with a cynical tone that the old Hiei would never have 
used. "Why? You know why. Our three kingdoms- yours, mine, and Yuusuke's 
must never come together, or else there will be a massive upheaval in the 
power structure of the Makai. War, destruction a hundred times above what 
we have seen would break out, and you ask why? You know why."

	He clenches something in his hand. Then wordlessly, he hands it to 
me. A crystal, a gem of purest black. His tear? "You know when this was 
made... that night. That stupid, idiotic night that we spent together. We 
shouldn't have, and we both know it. But it happened, and there it is. Do 
you really think that either one of us could have let go, back then? If we 
had seen each other even once more, alone like this, what would have 
happened?"

	I interject weakly, "Stupid? No, it wasn't stupid... it was right. 
It felt right..." He continues, as if he hadn't heard me. "We wouldn't have 
-no- couldn't have let go. You know it, and I know it. If I had shown you 
this back then, we would have gotten too tangled up within each other. So, 
this tacit little agreement we had, to not see each other again, until-"

	I interrupt, strongly this time. "No! Don't-" Inexoreably, he 
speaks, louder now. "Until one of us is dying." Dying. That word 
reverberates in my soul, in my heart. I try to deny it, try to ignore the 
evidence that my spies, that my very eyes have given me, but I can't. He 
is dying, and he is gifting me with this evidence of our love as a last 
farewell...

	"Why, Hiei? Why tell me this, give me this. If we can't do anything 
about our love, then or now, why do you even bother?" He looks at me, with 
an expression so full of grief and love, that I cannot speak. I know that 
he sees the same expression on my face. "Why? Why... because, at the end, 
I want both of us to know, in our hearts, that if things had been different, 
if we hadn't been saddled with this responsibility, that maybe..."

	He shakes his head. "No dwellings on what could have beens. I just 
wanted you to know... But, we have to talk about something else." He looks 
at me with serious eyes. "The question of an heir has come up, and while 
there are a few likely candidates, there are none that are definate. 
Depending on how long I live, this could be very messy. I need you to be 
able to keep matters under control here, after I am gone. I don't think 
Yuusuke would manage this as well as you... if anything, he'd probably make 
it worse. Just... make sure everything stays intact, until a new successor 
emerges. I'll try to decide on one, and train that one well, but..."

	Then, quickly, without a word, he gives me a kiss. A kiss that 
brings back memories of that forbidden night, that tragic night. Then 
abruptly, he is off, back to his own kingdom, where, presumably, he will 
spend the last few- days? months?- trying to get his affairs in order.

	How long did I spend in that jungle with my heart, my soul 
threatening to break? Too long- at least, long enough for my little lover 
to come back, bearing the fruits of a hunt. He looked at me cautiously, 
and with some tact, brought me the food and a blanket. Then he went away 
from me, keeping his distance. Yes, he has great potential...

---------------------

	I am back in that jungle, the second time in only a few days. I 
could not concentrate, and here, at the last place where Hiei and I were 
together, is the only place I could truly think. I have left my lover 
behind- no, not my lover, not anymore. While I have not, by in any way, 
been celibate, I could not- not anymore. No, I have left my potential 
successor behind, entrusting my advisors enough to see him through the 
basics... It would be a long time before he was ready for anything by 
himself.

	I look at the gem, the gift, the proof that Hiei has given me. 
I can still feel his presence here, and on the gem... I stare into it, 
thinking of him, and then suddenly, I smile. A smile, I think, of both 
pain and happiness, for now I realize...

---------------------

	I hear him, coming behind me. I wait for him to speak. "Kurama, 
what are you doing, calling me here like this? I suppose you want an 
explaination of some kind. Well, don't ask me. No one really knows why-" 
I turn, and step away from the shadows, and he gasps. "Ku-kurama? What?"

	I know what he sees. Only a hundred years have gone by since our 
last meeting. A hundred years which Hiei should not have lived, a hundred 
years that have left its mark on me too strongly. He looks at my aged face,
and is stunned. I know that I have aged well, with hair already white, and 
a body still strong. But still, I am old, and we both see it. 

	"What have you done to yourself? Kurama- how is it that you have 
aged so, in only a hundred years? My spies never said anything about this-" 
I laugh, and answer back, "You and I both know that our spying system 
merely tells the other what we both want known. I had all your spies 
captured, and told them quite explicitly exactly what they should not tell 
you- they were quite cooperative..."

	I gesture to myself, to my too-aged form. "Surprising, isn't it? 
It doesn't matter, really. You and I now have successors who have become 
strong enough to survive on their own, on our thrones. What does it matter 
if I live a few more centuries? Those would only have been centuries when 
my successor would become resentful of my power, and try to take over-"

	He rushes over to me, and makes me look into his eyes. "Kurama- 
what have you done?" I gesture to the necklace around my neck, to the 
black stone attached to it. "You gave me a link into your soul, into your 
life force. It was a gesture of infinate trust, and it also prolonged your 
life. I merely gave you a small portion of my life force- enough for you 
to live, and be able to function until a peaceful succesion was guaranteed."

	I laugh sadly, and a little bitterly, too. "But as always, my heart 
betrayed me. I didn't want to let go of our link- my only link to you. The 
little portion grew until it became half- enough for each of us to rule, 
but only for this century. I'm burnt out, and I'm afraid I can't forstall 
your death anymore, either. I'm sorry..."

	I look up at him, with what I know to be a mad glint in my eye. 
"I can't stop it, and neither can you... so lets run away. Our successors 
are ready, and it's known that both of us are failing, even if no one says 
it to our faces. Lets spend our last month alone, together, like we wanted 
to do for so long..."

	Hiei looks at me, as I start to weep a little. It's too much for 
both of us, and we embrace. We both feel it, the mad joy in our hearts. We 
know that we are free of the life fate, karma, chance, or whatever you wish 
to call it has given us. And so, we do.

	Secret messages to our successors, to our advisors. One last 
farewell to Yukina, and to Yuusuke, who looks at us with both understanding 
and envy. I feel that he will follow us soon... And we go off, into the 
jungle, living our last days together. And we survive for ten precious day, 
during which nothing is between us. We live the life we had envisioned in 
centuries of longing, and when we die, it is together, our selves and souls 
entertwined between us.

----------------------

	I blink. I think that I've seen her before... but I can't seem to 
remember much. My memory is starting to get fuzzy, but a name pops up. 
"Botan? Is that you?" is all I say, before she looks at us with a sad smile. 
Then with a gesture, she leads us across the river of death. Memories are 
pouring out of me, as if through a sieve. Memories of Minamino Shuuichi, 
of Kurama mix together, and then drift away.

	I don't resist. It would be futile anyway. But then I glance around 
and see a hand clasping mine. Who is he? I can't seem to remember... but he 
feels familiar. He feels like a part of me... I try to memorize his face, 
and try to keep it in my heart, imprint it in my soul, before a young girls 
face appears before mine. With a sad smile, she shakes her head, and all my 
tries are for naught. As I fade away into the night, I hold a stone in my 
hand. It is warm... what is it?

----------------------------

	I feel his presence behind me, and just before he jumps at me, I 
turn and say, "Gotcha!" He looks at me with a bit of chagrin on his face, 
and then starts to laugh. I join him, and together, we sit beside the fire. 
There are no lights, only nature and the dark. I look at him, and somehow, 
it feels right. Light and shadow, fire and darkness. It mingles around us 
as I sigh, content. 

	I start, as he reaches over and hands me something. I ask, "What is 
it?" and he replies, "I found this nice stone while I was fishing. It 
seemed like a good idea to give it to you at the time, but I don't 
understand why I would think you would want something like-" 

	I interrupt him with a kiss, and look at the stone. It is black and 
flawless... almost as if the depths of night were within. But looking 
deeper, there is a thread of red that catches the eye, and pulls it along, 
until you discover it is not merely black at all. "I love it." is all I 
say, as I hold it to my heart. Maybe I'll put it on a thong, and wear it 
around my neck... 

---Finis---

-----
Monica Shin--- monica@pipeline.com- Fav. Anime/Manga-
CLAMP stuffs- RGV, TB, X, MKR, CCD, 20 Menso, CCSakura,
MBoy, GWing, Esca, S.Dunk, RKenshin, FY, YYH, EVA, Zetsuai,
Fav. Charas- Akira, Ashura-ou, Hiei, Hiiro, Kenshin, Subaru
Visit my homepage! http://www.pipeline.com/~monica/