Ouch!! My badminton training is pure hell!!! ::winced as pain shoots up Siew
Lee's spine:: Many thanks to Jeri, my pre-reader, who is willing to wade
through this fic, picking out typos and thing like that. ::gives Jeri a big
HUG:: Anyway, this will be chapter 6 of PPF Memories... And, this fic is
non-yaoi. Okay, maybe some implications. The last, not least, please give
comments on this fic. 

To FFML members: I'm not subscribed to the FFML anymore so please send your
C&Cs to me directly. 

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		~~~The Past, The Present And The Future~~~

			  ~~~The Past - Memories~~~

		         Part 6 - Into The Night 

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Makai was a strange place. It could be hot as summer at one moment and cold
as winter the next. Landscapes also varied in between a line. Maybe it could
be a lush tropical jungle at one side and a barren desert at the other side.
Ironic place. 

Deserts - ferocious winds blew across these plains with brute strength. 
Raw power demonstrated itself through savage tempests. Gathering nebulas of 
forces strong enough to annihilate cities... 

Tundras cold enough to stop every single movement of atoms... 

It was home to many types of creatures; the good, the bad and the evil. 
Tribes existed all around this place, forming out of five important 
elements; fire, water, wood, earth and wind. Such main tribes furthermore 
divided into many small groups. Even then, these small groups often rivalled
among themselves.

The ice youkais are like those of the koorime. Naturally, their element was 
the water. They use ice and snow for nearly everything. Fighting, food and 
many others. They could kill with a single breath, blowing cold air at their 
enemies. Their natural enemies were, of course, the fire youkais that lived 
at the other end of Makai.

Fire youkais were exactly the opposite of ice youkais. Fire youkai loved 
the heat, while the ice youkais loved the cold. None of each were able to 
stand within three feet of the other race, unless they lowered their power 
completely and no restrainment was involved.

The earth was linked directly towards the flora and fauna. This element was 
the most flexible of all. It had no specification of race. None at all, to 
the most extreme. Most of the youkais who had this element were able to 
produce things of nature. Plants, flowers... as well as the forces of 
nature. Earthquakes and such. 

The wind... The wind was a very special element. Beings with the wind were
able to manipulate minds, produce hurricanes and fly. How to manipulate 
minds? The first step was to control the enemy directly through burrowing 
through minds of the weak. The second was to play an instrument - a musical 
instrument. The music with the owner feeding youki into the tune floats 
through the air and create waves. The music normally could control minds, 
unless it clashed with another contrasting tune with a player of stronger 
youki. If this happened, explosions may happen... The key to strong 
manipulation, youki. 

Metal. The strongest in raw youki. Bearers could manipulate their youki into 
ki attacks. Raw youki wasn't to be played around. Just raw power. Nothing 
more than that. Brute strength and pure youki attacks. 

And Makai housed all these bearers of the five elements.

On the hills in the middle of now where, a small troop of people was seen
walking. Five guys and two girls. Except for one girl who is flying on an
oar.

One of them asked: "Koenma, how long do we have to walk before reaching that
damned castle?"

"I think we should be able to reach by the next evening," answered one of
the guys dressed in a pair of trousers and a long jacket, with a red cloak
flowing behind him. Just then, a gust of fiery wind blew past, whipping up 
some dust. Slowly, the dust settled down and the small troupe was only a 
little further in the distance...

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Dusk set in quite soon. Timelines between Ningenkai and Makai were not 
quite the same. Although Makai was always cloudy, it too, showed signs of 
darkness as time began to flow towards night time. Time passed quickly and 
before long, it was nearly night time. The group had no place to sleep 
tonight as Makai didn't have a hotel right in the middle of it. At last, 
they were too tired to walk. Perhaps, they would have to do with a shelter 
under a tree.

Kuwabara lifted his head in desperate hope for some type of house. He didn't
see any building, but instead, he saw an open space not far off. He rubbed
his eyes again, hoping it might not be an illusion this time. Illusions 
always seemed to come to him at the wrong time...

"Guys? Look! There is an open space over there! We could at least set up a
camp there," shouted Kuwabara in excitement, this time sure that he had seen
clearly, not just a mistake again.

All of them looked in surprise, and indeed, they saw an open space right at
the edge of the jungle ahead them. 

"But we got to pass that jungle first," groaned Botan. Her oar simply can't 
fly through tree trunks and branches...

"Never mind, we could chop our way through it," said Yusuke, pulling out a
long scout dagger from his belt. Thank god he had grabbed it as he ran out 
of Genkai's temple. 

The team of seven hurried there, cutting apart trees and plants that lay in 
their way. Hiei pulled out his katana and began slashing across the jungle.
The razor sharp blade of Hiei's katana went through branches and tree trunks
like cake. Yusuke and the rest couldn't see much of Hiei, except for a black 
shadow every now and then. Hiei's speed was truly amazing... 

"Haha, we would have to pass that eerie jungle before dark. What a joke," 
grumbled Yusuke as he hacked his way into the jungle.

"Which do you prefer, sleeping on top of a tree and get eaten by some
monster in midnight or sleeping in some safe space?" retorted Kuwabara, 
always ready for an argument with Yusuke or Hiei. Maybe Kuwabara could be 
a little quarrelsome at times... 

Yusuke just rolled his eyes and continue slashing his way through the
jungle. He winced in pain as a twig scratched him on the face. "I could
easily defeat them, I'm just too lazy to do so," thought Yusuke silently,
while throwing Kuwabara a dirty stare.

The open space was about 20 X 20 meters wide and it was covered with little
tufts of green grass. The whole group looked around and decided it was 
the perfect place for a camp.

"Kurama, could you build us some camps with your plants? We could sleep
nearly everywhere as long as there's a roof above our heads," said Yusuke.

"It's a pity that we are so far from Mukuro, Yomi and Yusuke's place. Or
else, we could stay there for the night," said Hiei in a low tone, 
surveying the empty space, feeling that maybe he would like sleeping on a 
treetop better. Hiei rarely spoke, but this time was totally a separate 
issue. 

"Yeah, who might ever guess the stupid castle, 'Hotaro', or whatever name it
was, is over at the edge of Makai," interrupted Kuwabara, complaining about 
the weather, the food here and his endless list. Kuwabara seemed to have a 
tendency for irritating people and complaining about all kinds of things. 

Kurama smiled and took out a few seeds from his pocket. His hand glowed for
a moment and he threw them on the ground in the middle of the field. Like
magic before their eyes, the seeds grew into plants, intwining each other
to form a small house. Kurama smiled and took out another type of seed. He
sprinkled it around the makeshift house. Mounds of earth erupted as the 
plants grew. Before long, bell shaped flowers bloomed around the house.

"Okay, let's get to work. Yusuke and Kuwabara, both of you have to go and
collect some stuff for bedding. Yukina and Kurama, please take turns to
cook. Meanwhile Botan, collect a bunch of firewood around here for a 
campfire," commanded Koenma, naturally began ordering around in his usual
businesslike way.

"A campfire?" asked everybody in unison. *What is the use of a campfire?*

"Yes, a campfire. I heard that Makai has a lot of unpleasant creatures 
roaming about in the dead of the night. Ah! Hiei, since you are a fire 
youkai, I think it might be best if you could make a campfire for us," said 
Koenma.

"Hn," snorted Hiei, and he grumbled something under his breath. Koenma gave 
Hiei a strange look and watched Hiei flitted off in the semi darkness. When 
Hiei was finally gone from the few pairs of eyes, the rest hurried off to 
attend their jobs. Koenma glanced at each of his friends briefly and shook 
his head. He really needed some rest after all this walking and climbing. 
Maybe too much of office work had seeped away much of his physical 
stamina... 

The plants that Kurama grew were about the size of a hibiscus plant sprouted 
throughout all the spaces available next to the makeshift house. Yukina 
plucked a flower and sniffed at the fragrant scent.

"Kurama, what are these flowers for, they smell sweet," asked Yukina as she 
studied the pink flowers.

"Well, actually I had just found this type of flower on our way here, so I
am not sure what's good in it except it smells nice," answered Kurama, 
smiling wickedly in secret. He had plans for tonight. Real plans.

Yukina shrugged and went on with her cooking. Everyone else had their jobs
at the camp. Hiei was making a camp fire with his youki while Koenma was
there sitting inside the plant house, obviously deep in thought. Koenma
needed some rest, obviously. Misuko's kidnapping had been rather abrupt. 
Yusuke and Kuwabara were at each other's necks again for who was eating 
first.

*Immatured,* thought Kurama. He then shifted his attention to Botan. She was
busy collecting firewood for their campfire. Botan lay the wood beside Hiei
and smiled at him. Hiei nodded in acknowledgment.

*Weird, Hiei barely even nodded to me when I healed him.* Kurama suddenly
realized that Hiei was acting weird around Botan only; since their breakfast
at Genkai's. He kept squirming when he was around Botan and he just simply
stared at her at times. Hiei was his best friend and Hiei couldn't hide 
anything from him. Never ever. 

"What has Botan done to him? I'll find out somehow..." thought Kurama, 
looking at Hiei from a distance.

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Koenma was sitting inside the makeshift plant house. For the last 150 years,
he had been lonely, without Misuko to fill in the emptiness of his life. His
life was just work, work and work; until Misuko came right into his life. 
Koenma reached inside his robe and grabbed hold of a chain. He took it out 
and swung the bloodstone pendant diagonally before his eyes.

*The speckles of red shall forever remind you of me.* These words repeated
again and again in his head. These words had came out of his own mouth, but 
now the pendant wasn't with Misuko. *She was dead.* a voice in his head kept 
screaming.

He was truly worried this time. Misuko's life was in their hands and if he 
didn't do something quick, Misuko's life would most probably dangle by a 
strand. Yamaro and Murashi were once the most dangerous criminals around. 
*They even tried to take over Makai, Reikai and Ningenkai.* thought Koenma 
as he shuddered in fear. Fear about Misuko and the worlds around. How many 
innocent beings would be endangered if they were to be let out just like 
that?

Closing his eyes, he silently prayed that Misuko would be safe and his team
of Reikai investigators would be able to defeat Yamaro and Murashi. He knew
how dangerous they could be, but he couldn't afford to lose her again. The
price of losing her was simply too big. 150 years weren't short. If they 
still couldn't defeat them, he would have to use the final way. He had to 
save Misuko at all cost. He waited nearly an eternity for her.

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Hiei had always loved fire. Flames always looked so comforting and warm. It
feels like... home. Hiei never had a home before. As the 'Forbidden Child',
he was always wandering around. Hiei studied his bandaged right arm. His
element was the fire, and shall always be. Flames were so pure and sacred. A
sign of cleansing. 

It was late in the night now. Everybody had eaten and went to sleep, only he
and Yukina were still awake. He glanced at Yukina. Under the bright glows of 
the campfire, he could see two streaks of tears rolling down her face.

In the meantime, Hiei's heart was having a huge conflict. He wasn't borned 
to make strong decisions. Often enough, he was at a lost in the dark. Never 
knowing what to do; but Hiei never admitted that to anybody. It was just 
simply his own problem. 

Hiei sighed a little. He seldom open up to himself that frank. Sometimes, 
when he let his guard slip, a tiny voice in his head will speak. It will 
keep saying that he was a coward. "Am I?" asked Hiei silently. He didn't 
want to tell Yukina the truth, or was it he was cowardly? Was he afraid to 
let Yukina know that? 

"I owed her a lot. She left her clan just to look for me. It's time to tell
her the truth." Once again, Botan's words echoed in his mind.

*You have to give Yukina some type of explanation.*

Hiei decided to tell the truth tonight. It is now or never.

Hiei stood up and walked over to Yukina's side. He reached out a finger and
tapped Yukina on her shoulder. Yukina gasped and looked around in shock.
Hiei could just catch a glimpse of her tear-streaked face before she wiped
it away with the back of her kimono sleeve.

"Yes, Hiei-san?" asked Yukina, sniffling a little.

Hiei kept silent. His eyes focused on Yukina's face.

"Is there anything?" asked Yukina again.

"I have something to tell you," said Hiei, his eyes downcast.

"Hiei-san, there's something that I wanted to tell you a long time ago. Can
I tell it to you now?" asked Yukina, her eyes shining.

"Yeah?" said Hiei, also curious to know what Yukina had in mind.

"I wish... I wish you are really my brother," said Yukina, smiling happily.

"Really?" answered Hiei, his face was showing slight surprise. 

Yukina nodded. "Yes. Although you are quiet at times, but you are the 
perfect person to be my long lost oniisan. Remember how you always protect 
me at times?" 

The conflict and uncertainty in Hiei were already fading and dying away. 

"By the way, you said there's something you want to tell me. Is it the news 
of my lost brother?" Her eyes showed a faint flicker of hope as she said 
that. An everlasting hope to find her long-lost brother

"Yukina, well, err... it's about your brother," said Hiei uneasily. Yukina's
confession about wishing him to be her brother slowly extinguishing the fear
of being rejected.

Yukina heard the tone of his voice and she grabbed Hiei by his cloak and
asked anxiously. "You found my brother? What happened to him? Is he
alright?"

"Yukina, when I tell you this, please keep calm. Promise me."

"Okay..."

Hiei took a deep breath and blurt it out. "I'm your brother." Hiei gluped
and waited for Yukina's reaction.

Yukina's face turned first from sadness to shock, the to happiness. 
"Hiei-san! Are you really my brother? Are you joking? Oops! I ought to call 
you niisan now."

Hiei nodded. "Why are you not ashamed to have to criminal for a brother?"

Yukina's tears flowed freely again, this time out of joy. "Niisan, don't you
know that I've searching for you a long time? I don't care whether you're a
criminal or a robber, you are still my dearest niisan," said Yukina happily.

Hiei felt his eyes stinging and before he knew that, a tear rolled down and
froze in the mid-air. Hiei snatched it and gave it to Yukina. Yukina looked
at it and looked at him.

"Yukina, I'm also half koorime. Although I hate the koorime clan with all my
heart, I still couldn't get rid of the traces of it in me. I *can* make  
pearl tears. This, I give it to you as a symbol of me," said Hiei, pressing 
the pearl into Yukina's small hand.

"Tha... thank you," said Yukina joyously.

"Now, it's getting late, go to sleep," urged Hiei, at last free from a 
burden that had tormented him for so many years.

Yukina looked at the pearl in her hand and glanced at Hiei. She nodded and
skipped back to the plant house.

Hiei watched from a distance. He went back to sit by his place at the
campfire. He had finally spoken the truth to Yukina and it had been easier 
than he'd imagined. Now, a heavy load had been taken off and he felt a lot 
more like himself once again. A carefree youkai with no worries or burdens. 
Wait, he still had Botan. A wry smile slipped past his serious face. He 
seldom smiled, although he knew that he looked good with a smile over his 
face.

Nights were silent in Makai, except for some type of animal bellowing in the
distance. Hiei was totally absorbed by his surroundings that he barely even
realized that someone had sat beside him. That person reached out a finger
and touched Hiei's face. Hiei jerked around in shock and saw it was Kurama.
Kurama had changed his normal black Chinese high collar jacket into a longer
type of jacket. 

"Kurama, what are you doing here?" asked Hiei gruffly, just recovering from
the confession session just now with Yukina. 

"Well, I just wanted to see how you are doing," answered Kurama as he threw
a handful of seeds on the ground below. The plants grew and bloomed heavy
scented flowers. Hiei felt a wave of dizziness hit him.

"It's the flowers..." thought Hiei weakly.

Before he could even react further, Kurama had sealed his mouth on his 
lips. A hand reached up to take off Hiei's tank top.

On the other hand, Hiei was enjoying himself now. He knew that the youko was
seducing him but he simply couldn't resist. That youko was an expert on such
things. Suddenly, he felt a stab of guilt struck him. 

*Why guilt?* 

Images of Botan flashed before him. Hiei didn't know what to do, this is 
practically a leave or take offer. But Botan... he had just screwed her 
yesterday. If he ever to did this with Kurama, it will break her heart to 
know. Hiei debated on and on. At last, he had to decide. One partner was 
enough and he will be faithful to Botan. She had sacrificed a lot for him.

*But what about Kurama?* 

Hiei knew he would hurt his best friend deeply if he was ever to reject him. 
Kurama had always wanted him, it was just that both of them didn't make any 
obvious moves. Kurama or Botan... Hiei must choose. An internal debate was 
going on. Kurama's body heat was getting more and more intense. Hiei was at
a lost again on what to do. 

A triggered snapped in Hiei. 

Plucking up all his resistance, Hiei mustered his fading energy to push
Kurama away. Kurama looked at him in surprise.

"Why? Hiei... I thought you were enjoying yourself too?" whined Kurama, 
shocked at Hiei's refusal.

"You got to understand. Kurama, you're my best friend and most probably the
only friend who truly knows me deep inside. I... I can't do this. I have my
own problems too," said Hiei softly. Hiei never liked to talk much, but he 
simply had to make Kurama understand. Won't it be easier if he just push 
him away and run off in the night? No, he couldn't do that, he owed Kurama 
an explanation... He just had to make Kurama understand what predicament he 
was in at the moment. 

"Why? You are single and as I know, you don't have any special friend,"
tried Kurama instead.

"Kurama, things changed," Hiei answered with a sigh. Then, he continued,
"If I tell you this, can you promise me not to tell anybody else?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm good at keeping secrets," said Kurama.

"Well, em... Botan and I ...er... did this before and I don't want to break
her heart," confessed Hiei slowly.

Kurama laughed and slapped Hiei on the back. "Congratulations, Hiei. I 
understand. You had finally found someone you like," said Kurama as 
sincerely as he could, but he didn't manage to hide that tinge of 
disappointment in his voice.

Hiei smiled and walked back to the camp, leaving Kurama by the campfire. 
Hiei knew his friend was upset, but he had made the correct choice. Kurama 
had and shall always be a friend to him. A true friend. 

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Sometime near midnight, Botan could feel someone snuggling in beside her. 
She opened one eye and saw it was Hiei. She went back to sleep again, 
knowing that he would be gone in the morning. She moved closer towards Hiei 
just for warmth... more warmth.

Before falling asleep once again, she could feel Hiei responded by putting 
an arm around her. Maybe she was the happiest girl in Makai right now... 
Yes, she was. Tomorrow shall be the beginning of a new day... a new life.

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First version: December 1997
Second version: March 1998

Copyright reserved 1998 W. Siew Lee 

All standard Yu Yu Hakusho disclaimers apply to this fanfic. 

E-mail: Siew Lee [wsiewlee@tm.net.my]
URL: http://members.xoom.com/hiei/yyh.htm
UIN: #14025577

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***Learning without thought is labour lost***

URL: http://members.xoom.com/hiei/yyh.htm 
UIN Number: 14025577