[FFML] [fic][yyh][rewrite] Shonen Chapter 22: Revolution (Part 2)

[gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com]

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Shonen
A Yuyu Hakusho fic
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel 
http://abdiel.florestica.com/
http://chester-fanfics.livejournal.com/

Because of the nature of this (needlessly) long fic, expect a slew of
mandatory flashbacks. Sorry about that.

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Chapter 22: Revolution (Part 2)
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"Think about it, Kurama. Since when did you ever believe that sheer,
bloody-minded determination is enough to make up for any deficiency in
your pipe dream to challenge fate and destiny? That's your idiot
comrades' shtick, not yours! Couple that with the fact that you didn't
even expect me here after summoning me with my own pendant, and even the
most deluded of fools would feel a bit hesitant about following your so-
called lifelong plan that you can't seem to completely remember! Doesn't
any of that strike you as suspicious at all?"

"This from the man who threw his life away to pick up jewelry!" Kurama
retorted, nearly letting out an incredulous laugh at Kuronue's expense. 
"Granted, I'm the last person you'd expect to throw caution in the
wind, but I believe it's characteristic enough of me to use resolve and
careful planning hand-in-hand, right?"

"Ha. Now that's the Kurama I knew and loved," Kuronue teased as he
gently nudged his flabbergasted friend's tapered chin with his fist.
"Now, if you can only use your cutting logic and reason to pick apart
this quest of yours instead of rationalizing its contrivances, then we
might go somewhere. Sorry, try again."

"What's your problem this time?" Kurama challenged, his lengthier-than-
average patience finally wearing thin.

"I still don't think you've done any careful planning on this quest at
all. This has all been Tetsuma Yoshitaka's handiwork, and you know it.
How can I be certain that you're not merely being used by him to bring
Matsui Asuka back, hmmm?" Kuronue speculated, and then crossed his arms
as he expectantly waited for Kurama to answer back.

"You've confirmed it yourself! Youko Kurama and I have had a schism in
our personalities ever since the Ankoku Bujutsukai! My plan had to be a
bit convoluted and clandestine because I had to keep myself--that is,
the youko--from undermining it," Kurama articulated as clearly as he
could possibly muster, nearly to the point of pleading Kuronue to
believe him. "Up until now, I'm still piecing together my plan because
I had no other choice but to erase it from my mind before the youko
could find out about it."
 
"Then why the hell should I follow _your_ command? Wasn't I the youko's
partner? Who are you to demand me what to or not to do? Don't think that
I don't know what you did to the youko back in autumn and when you had
to fight against Hiei. So tell me, why should I follow the will of my
ex-partner's murderer?" Kuronue argued again, all traces of impish humor
quickly leaving his face.

"So you won't help me fulfill my will?" Kurama coolly asked as he
matched Kuronue's deadeye stare pupil-for-pupil. "If that is so, then
will you get in my way or not?"
 
After a brief pause, Kuronue exhaled laboriously. "...I didn't say that
I won't do it. As far as I'm concerned, a lighter shade of gray or no,
you're still Kurama. What you did to your older personality earlier is
your business. But I will say this again; give me a good reason to go
through this execution of yours, or kiss it good-bye. 

"Munashii may have snatched me from the jaws of oblivion, but he has
another think coming if he believes that I'm willing to repay that
kindness by murdering my obviously brainwashed old friend. For me to
execute you without fully knowing what's going on is impossible for me
to do. That's a fair enough deal, right? So go ahead. Convince me of
your convictions, Kurama."

From there, Kurama remembered just who it was he was talking to. It had
been centuries past, so his memories of his long-lost friend were rather
vague, to say the least. Moreover, his most recent memories of Kuronue
weren't memories of him at all, but that of a demon imposter from the
Nether World who loved to spout out the words "Revenge!" and "Traitor"
for the sake of messing with his head. 

The true Kuronue was not just a straightforward and impetuous man, but
an idealistic person as well. He would never go about doing something he
didn't totally have faith in. Though he would've gone to the ends of the
three worlds for Youko Kurama's sake with the same single-minded
devotion as Yoshitaka Tetsuma himself, he would only do so if he knew
deep down his heart that he was doing something worthwhile.  

Fine, then. For Kurama, this was just one last hurdle he needed to
overcome before finally ending his long and involved journey the way it
was supposed to end. Not in a blaze of senseless glory that his youko
self insisted upon, but in a more meaningful way; he was about to become
a falling star that could grant the one wish that he most desired.

"Munashii hasn't brainwashed me, Kuronue. There's no way that he can, not
with what Enma Daio did to him. I was the one who formulated this
elaborate gambit, with all its contingencies, inconsistencies, and 
improvisations continuously getting adjusted to suit all possible
scenarios. I admit that it wasn't the best, easiest, or most consistent
of plans, and I had to abort several other ideas to make it move
forward. It doesn't make it any less _my_ plan, even though it's a lot
less methodical than most of my other plots. It must have something to
do with the youko not being the one who planned it in the first place, 
I suppose. In any case, this whole thing truly is my will and my
desire. There's no doubt about it."

"Oh really? That's your excuse for your stumbling and convoluted plan?
'It's already done, so let's just get on with it because I really,
really want to do it!' Well, I have some bad news for you; it turns
out that wanting something really bad doesn't make it real," Kuronue
replied, tearing asunder Kurama's rationalization with half the words
and twice the glibness. 

"Like I said, this was in no way a perfect plan. Not by any stretch of
the imagination. It had to be hidden to the point that even I didn't
know it existed up until a certain point, or else it will all unravel. 
Nevertheless, I really want to give back to Matsui Asuka what truly
belongs to her. I want to do this," Kurama reiterated unwearyingly.

"Wait, so instead of enjoying your life as Shuichi Minamino, you just
suddenly gained the urge to kill yourself. Is that right? More to the
point, why do you need to die in such a particular way? Why do you need
to die a certain way in order to 'fulfill your will' anyway? What's the 
difference between drowning into that bottomless spring by my hand over
being evaporated into nonexistence by Karasu or sliced to bits by
Shigure?" Kuronue countered reasonably.

"There's no place for me or the youko in the new world. As the youko,
I've already done everything I can possibly do with my life. I've
climbed all the mountains I can climb and swam all my seas I can swim.
I've lived a life that's way beyond fulfilled already. I've made my
mark in the three worlds, and I have no reason to exist anymore. As
Kurama, I cannot stand living a life that wasn't supposed to be mine in
the first place. When presented with a way to set things right, of
course I'll jump at the first opportunity. 

"So now, whether you think I deserve to or not, I've decided to die the
way that I want to die. In fact, I had three options of doing so: dying
as a human according to Shuichi's will, dying in glorious combat
according to the youko's will, and dying in a way that finally ties the
biggest loose end in my entire life, according to Kurama's will. Simply
put, I chose the third option; I chose to die the way I want to die,
thank you very much," Kurama revealed in a far more convincing manner
than his 'imperfect plan' speech earlier. 

Kuronue nodded curtly at the redhead's answer as he contemplatively
tapped his finger on his chin. "Okay. Fair enough. So let's review the
situation so far. Basically, you want to sacrifice yourself in order to
undo some dickhead Class-S human's mistake of shattering some girl's
soul who was supposed to be reincarnated in that body you've--or rather,
you'd--been occupying for a few years. That's fine. 

"Through a cruel twist of fate, and just because your youko self is
such a dickhead himself, you had intentionally possessed said girl's
body to piss off the very same Class-S idiot after he was ordered by
Enma Daio to reel you in like a fish and use you as yet another sock
puppet demon glorifying the Spirit World's totalitarian regime. Those
events sound believable enough, I guess. 

"Now, here's the clicher. Through the miracle of fickleness and hidden-
and-convoluted-but-generally-well-executed plans, you're now about to
give back the life you'd stolen by a method best described as a gigantic
leap of faith and logic never before seen since the Spanish Inquisition. 

"From there lies the problem. What if you're wrong? What if your newly
found faith in bloody minded determination is just a bunch of crock and
snake oil? What if, after you die, you end up just like the people
who'd killed the goose who laid golden eggs--that is, you end up with
nothing? What if... and you really have to suspend your disbelief
here... you can't glue back Humpty Dumpty with all your love, faith,
willpower, and Munashii dependency? Have you ever considered that even
once, old friend?"

Without missing a beat, Kurama answered cryptically, "When we abandon
dreams and fantasies, reality is revealed as empty. It's nothing short
of absurd. There is no objective order in the world. All values are
baseless and reasoning is impotent. Do you know what that means,
Kuronue?" 

Kuronue shrugged. "Sounds like fortune cookie bullshit that's trying to
pass itself off as a deep and meaningful koan of sorts. It also has
nothing to do with what we're talking about. Oh, did you know that
Americans have no idea that fortune cookies are a purely American
invention? That's how I feel about your explanation and your death scene
in general--a shallow river that only looks deep because it's dark and
murky."
 
"I'll make it simple enough for you to understand. Matsui Asuka has
learned to tame the fox, and because of that, his reality suddenly has
meaning once more. She gave him--an old, tired, and wretched soul who
kept on existing for sake of survival--something to dream about and
aspire to."

Though still unimpressed by Kurama's pretty expressions, the now
somewhat beguiled Kuronue eventually inquired, "What do you mean by
that?"

"Let me tell you a little story..." And so Kurama narrated a tale he'd
heard as a six-year-old human child from Shuichi Minamino's mother every
bedtime.


***


"Good morning," said the fox.

"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he
turned around, he saw nothing.

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."

"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty
to look at."

"I am a fox," the fox said.

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after some thought,
he added, "What does that mean, 'tame'?"

"Men," said the fox." They have guns, and they hunt. It is very
disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests.
Are you looking for chickens?"

"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that
mean, 'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish
ties."

"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a
little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I
have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you,
I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But
if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique
in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a
flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of
things."

"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.

 The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.

"On another planet?"

"Yes."

"Are there hunters on this planet?"

"No."

"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"

"No."

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. But he came back to his idea.

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt
me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike.
And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be
as if the sun came to shine on my life. 

"I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the
others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours
will call me, like music, out of my burrow. 

"And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat
bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to
me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think
how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is
also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to
listen to the wind in the wheat..."

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please, tame me!"
he said.


***


"Kurama has now managed to isolate a small pocket of the Dream World
from the Real World because of his immovable willpower. Truly, it was a
mistake on our part to presume that he's merely been depending on
Munashii for all of his errands; he actually had every last contingency
and probability covered. Even his so-called 'long good-byes' had a
hidden agenda." 

The diminutive person harrumphed in response, then turned towards Botan
and asked--more like demanded--her to quicken the pace of her breaching
through the pocket dimension hidden within the inner depths of the
demolished garden they were standing on. 

"Hold your horses, shrimp! I'm doing the best that I can under the
circumstances. I still haven't fully recharged from our last encounter
with Kurama, y'know," Botan dissented wearily, to which she merely got a
rude snort for her trouble. 

After a few more minutes that seemed to drag on for days, the ferry-girl
finally found the opening she was looking for; the remnants of her
connection with Kurama's soul care of the Kiss of Death. 

Her head swam. Disheveled blue hair clung to her face, obscuring her
pink eyes and confusing her vision as a hot, unseen wind tugged at it in
every which way. She looked up through the fog in front of her and
squinted at the blurry nothingness. 

Botan proverbially blinked. Her meditation and pure concentration had
finally paid dividends for her; she could now see a clear path inside
Kuronue's manufactured pocket dimension. She felt a touch of self-
satisfied smugness for her accomplishment, especially after the hurtful
mind games that Kurama played upon her; hell hath no fury like a woman
scorned and some such.

Once Botan finally managed to open a small but usable wormhole leading
to the empty void where Kurama and Kuronue disappeared to, she urged the 
arrogant little man beside her to plunge into the endless abyss. "Go! Go
in now! You're the only one who can help Kurama--" The rest of Botan's
gung-ho cheers were abruptly cut short by the tiger-like roar of the
spiritual tempest.

So, with a pithy pledge that promised violence and death (or, in short,
a violent death) to all those who dared opposed him, the cloaked
crusader went off into the void underneath the decimated garden, the
myriad of chains rustling after him like the still rapids of a metallic
waterfall.

"...Besides, you're the only one who can fit inside that portal anyway!"
Botan accidentally screeched after the hysterical wail of the maelstrom
she created died down. "Whoops. Heh. I hope he didn't hear that."


***


The fox gazed at the little prince for a long time. "Please, tame me!"
he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much
time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to
understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men
have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made
at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy
friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend,
tame me..."

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at
a little distance from me... like that... in the grass. I shall look at
you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the
source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me,
every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox.
"If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at
three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and
happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be
worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you
come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be
ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are
what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours.
There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they
dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I
can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at
just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should
never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox.


***


"Do you still have any trouble with my explanation?" Kurama queried once
he finished his story and explained what it meant, the soft rustle of
the bamboo leaves and the quiet crackle of the will o' the wisps dancing
on the surface of the bottomless spring the only other sounds breaking
the thick blanket of silence. 

After a short pause, Kuronue solemnly shook his head. "No. I've heard
all that I wanted to hear."

Kurama braced himself for Kuronue's final verdict, warily inquiring, "So
what's your decision? Are you going to help me fulfill my one last wish,
or are you going to get in the way of it?"

Kuronue smiled at Kurama with approval and resolute purpose, much to the
latter's surprise. "Your will be done, Kurama. Your will be done." From
there, pandemonium erupted in the form of metal chains and scythes that
seemed to come nowhere and everywhere at the same time.


***


So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure
drew near...

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any
sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat
fields." And then he added:

"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is
unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will
make you a present of a secret."

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.

"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No
one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I
first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.
But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die
for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose
looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me.

"But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of
you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is
she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I
have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have
killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to
become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when
she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing.
Because she is my rose.


***


Crumbling memories scattered in the harsh winds of amnesiac nothingness
frantically reassembled themselves in one particularly wretched soul's
mind for the last time as he tried to make sense out of what just
happened, wondering where he'd gone wrong; what mistake he'd committed;
if he still had a another opportunity to fix it all.

The fractured recollections drifted in a dark sea somewhere below the
reach of consciousness, oblivious to the passage of time and the void
where they'd ultimately end up. There were some voids that couldn't be
filled, however; some problems that kept returning after they were
solved; second chances to make or correct a bad decision.


***


Forty-five minutes earlier, just before Kurama's death scene...

With a pithy pledge that promised violence and death (or, in short, a
violent death) to all those who dared opposed him, the cloaked crusader
went off into the void underneath the decimated Garden of Four Seasons,
the multitude of chains rustling after him like the still rapids of a
metallic waterfall.

As he fell into Kuronue's proverbial rabbit hole, the demon tensed. A
familiar presence took shape well within his consciousness as a strange
calmness started to envelop him. He mentally sneered. 

'You.'

'We meet again. It's been a while.'

'Let's end this now, shadow man. You won't be able to delude the fox
any longer. After I wake him up, I'll stop your little puppet show once
and for all.' 

'You're either stubborn or in denial. This was never a puppet show of
mine to begin with. No matter how many times you say so, it won't make
it true. Now watch as my beloved Minamino Shuichi finally comes back to
life.'

The demon harrumphed. '...You're talkative today.' 

'You too.'

And there was silence once more from the shadows inside the impossibly
deep underground springs in between the Spirit World and the Dream
World.


***


An hour earlier, on the decimated grounds of the false Eden...

Botan worriedly tugged at Koenma's sleeves like a lost little girl
seeking parental affection, finding it quite difficult to find the words
that'd most appropriately express her remorse for the unthinking insults
she'd let loose earlier. The celestial pair had been at it for quite a
few minutes already, in fact, unsure of how to properly broach the
subject and break the ice. "K-K-Koenma-sama, I'm so sorry for...!"

Koenma grabbed his subordinate's supple hands encouragingly. "Don't be.
You were right. I was getting so ahead of myself, thinking that saving
Kurama's life justified my manipulation of you and your feelings for him
to get to that end. 'The end justifies the means' is exactly something
that my father would say, right? I should be the one apologizing to you
and Kurama, Botan."

"K-Koenma-sama!" a blushing Botan blissfully chirped, wiping off the
tears on the sides of her eyes as she inadvertently buried her employer
in a chest-full of her own warmth and softness.

'Ayame-san, forgive me too!' Koenma mentally apologized to someone else
in particular as his muffled voice more-or-less shared Botan's
enthusiasm, albeit with definite hints of embarrassment and guilt. 

"Yes, yes. You're both sorry. Can we hurry this up?" the diminutive
figure from before rolled his eyes and sneered contemptuously at the
pair, his lithe, cross-armed form leaning casually on a nearby tree
stump.

"Excuse me?! We're having a moment here!" Botan complained as she
relinquished her hold on Koenma (much to the Spirit World Prince's
relief), her right eyebrow arched and her left hand on her hip. 

Ignoring the irate ferry-girl, the demon turned towards Enma's pacifier-
sucking son and queried, "You've been spying on the fox's movement ever
since he entered the Dream World, haven't you? Tell me more about his
plans."

Before Botan could protest the midget's out-and-out rudeness, he turned
towards her as well and called out to her befuddled face, "You. Woman.
You said that you're still connected with Kurama, right? Maybe by
somehow reactivating that kiss-induced link of yours, I can get into
that damn portal that the kitsune is in. Go to it."

"Maybe I should give you your own Kiss of Death too, Hiei-chan!" came
Botan's saccharine-sweet venom as large, angry veins that would've made
even the Younger Toguro proud popped all over her forehead. Luckily, her
boss reeled her vexation in at the last minute with a simple entreaty
of, "At this point, Hiei's our only hope in rescuing Kurama from...
whatever it is that he's planning to do. Please cooperate with him for
the time being, Botan; for Kurama's sake as well as mine."

Botan gave one look at the fire demon identified as Jaganshi Hiei before
turning her nose up at him, faintly grumbling, "You're as cheerful and
easy-to-please as usual, short stuff," before recanting loudly, "Yes,
I'll see what I can do, Koenma-sama! I'll do anything to help Mister
Fire Demon Extraordinaire with the Hair Most Indestructible over here!
Anything at all!" as she felt the intensity of the childlike man's glare
even from behind her.

The ferry-girl closed her eyes and started to concentrate the remnants
of her energy, the wisps of reiki swirling about her exhausted form as a
deep calmness seeped into the edges of her chaotic mind. Even when she
was still a novice shinigami, she'd already learned everything there was
to know about proper ki-manipulation, teaching her body to constantly
recharge itself with spirit energy in short order.

Those who knew Botan already had a rough idea of how she 'ticked', but
contrary to their beliefs, her high-spirited persona was a little more
than just salad dressing to her character; her ebullience and liveliness
was the very things that allowed her to tap into her inner reserves and
find her bond with Kurama again, her tiredness notwithstanding. It was
her hidden strength--the power of her 'genki'--the very antithesis of
Munashii's power.

She thought of the redhead, and reminded herself what it was that
attracted him to her in the first place--the thing about his personality
that prompted her to embarrassingly confess her infatuation and give him
a Kiss of Death to, ironically enough, save his life. 

She thought of his kindness, his ruthlessness, his conflicts of
interests as both a youko and a human, and the fact that it was his very
own mercy that compelled him to create an elaborate plan to end his life
once and for all. From there, she felt the pull of Kurama's bond, and
embraced it, welcomed it.

After a fleeting pause whilst glancing at Botan's deep meditation
session, Hiei demanded to Koenma, "So I was right, wasn't I? Kurama is
being controlled by the demon, isn't he?" as he impatiently tapped on
his foot.

"Um, you should know better than that, Hiei. Tetsuma Yoshitaka is no
mere demon, but a Class-S human born during the Sengoku period; a one-
in-every-hundred-years talent, just like Sensui," Koenma mildly berated
the youkai; he didn't feel like reminding the ill-mannered demon that he
was still the next-in-line ruler of the Spirit World, especially after
the humiliating 'defeat' Kurama just handed him. That was what happened
when one tried to mix personal business with Spirit World politics. The
Reikai Hunter himself would attest to that.

Hiei grunted. "Whatever. Spare me the details, Koenma. Does it matter if
he's a demon or a human? He's still the bastard responsible for
everything that's happened to us so far. That's all I need to know about
him."

Koenma felt the his head throb with cross-hair veins as he dealt with
the youkai's impudence, but he restrained his annoyance nonetheless.
There was no need to act hypocritical about his advice to Botan; after
all, he was a man of his word, unlike his father. 

"I don't know about that. Whether Tetsuma-san was working for my father
or Kurama, a puppet will always be a puppet. Even from the very
beginning, he didn't even have enough willpower to take control of his
own abilities, which cost him his life and the life of his loved ones."


***


Thirty minutes before Kurama's death scene...

Kuronue smiled at Kurama with approval and resolute purpose, much to the
latter's surprise. "Your will be done, Kurama. Your will be done." From
there, bedlam erupted in the form of metal chains and scythes that
seemed to come nowhere and everywhere at the same time. 

The Dark Raven flung his new and improved Kusarigama-like weapon and it 
instantaneously multiplied into many versions of itself, effectively 
demonstrating the transience of physics in a world that was shaped by
the strength of the believing heart.

The rain of chain and blades that destroyed the filament separating the
Spirit World from the Dream World all emerged from Kuronue's lone weapon
by turning the afterimages it produced into tangible duplicates that
spread themselves around the cavernous well like a chain-link spider web
of sorts. 

At the same time, one of those multiple Kusarigama-clones wrapped itself
around Kurama's body and brought him into the middle of the spring,
where the pandemonium of movement caused the half-youko to be tangled in
a whirlpool of flaming water and crucified unto a combination of bamboo
and steel.

"So this is the only possible way for you to die with meaning. Any other
half-hearted suicide method will result in the senseless loss of Matsui
Asuka's precious soul--which would be such a shame, especially after all
the effort you've put into nurturing and preserving her personality in
your everyday life," Kuronue assessed casually as he tightrope-walked
onto the center of his elaborate steel net whilst idly whirling his
chained scythe around. 

Indeed, only a strike done with the sheer force of unbendable will,
faith, and resolve could possibly restore the tides of fate to its
proper order. "Now! This is it, Kurama! Now is the time to choose or
forever hold your peace!"

"I've already made my choice as soon as Taka-kun reminded me of who I've
become and what I really wanted to do with this borrowed life. Go ahead.
Do your worst; let me repay that debt I owed you so many centuries ago,"
Kurama replied with certainty and finality.

Kuronue chuckled. "You're quite a piece of work, Kurama. I never called
for your blood even as I turned into a nomadic poltergeist, because my
death was my own fault. Contrary to what those bastards from Meikai
wanted you to believe, you never owed me your life. What I did _want_
from you was to be your sorrow, anguish, regret, and ecstasy. In short,
your everything. Allow me that wish, and we'll call things even."

"Fine. Give me everything you've got, Kuronue. Let me have it," Kurama
whispered as he braced himself for the inevitable, his bound arms
outstretched, his eyes closed yet expectant.

"Your will be done, then." The Raven whisked through the bamboo and iron
net faster than the speed of thought, intending to decapitate the
redhead with one powerful and willful strike. 

The world of miracles and determination grew quiet for a little bit; the
calm before. The split second of eternity afterwards passed as a four-
feet-high, spiky-haired anomaly burst forth into the fore.

The familiar silhouette from above accelerated his descent, scaling down
the scythe-carved walls with his nimble, booted feet as he took off his
cloak and unsheathed his sword in dramatic fashion. But to his surprise,
Kuronue suddenly turned towards his direction and smirked a knowing
grin.

Unfortunately for Kuronue, anticipating an attack beforehand and
actually countering it were two very different things. He was barely
able to evade seventeen sword strikes that hit him nigh-simultaneously
within the span of a full second, the newcomer's sharp blade missing him
by mere hairbreadths.

"...You must be the infamous Jaganshi Hiei! Munashii has told me...
well, _shown_ me... everything about you. Sorry about him calling you a
koorime; he just didn't know any better."

Hiei stared at Kuronue in open disbelief as he continued his assault
with an unhesitant thrust. In response, the Black Raven sidestepped the
attack preemptively and took advantage of the fire demon's compromised
momentum to catch him flatfooted.

"Alas, the novelty of people suddenly ambushing Kurama in order to stop
his 'insane' death scene from happening had worn off long ago. As is,
it's just a bit annoying," the taller youkai divulged before covering
the smaller demon's sight with his blackbird wings and attempting to
kick him on the groin. 

Auspiciously, their difference in size caused Hiei to instead receive
Kuronue's roundhouse low blow on the chest, allowing the former a
shorter recovery time before attacking anew. The fire demon reassessed
the situation as he jumped from wall-to-wall; it looked like his plans
to use the element of surprise backfired on him, but he didn't have
enough time to be shocked about it. That was fine by him--Yusuke wasn't
the only one who could make up on-the-fly tactics. 

"You're a persistent little demon, aren't you? To think, you were able
to defeat the Reikai Hunter himself by sheer force of will--cutting
something that cannot be cut and killing someone that cannot be killed.
Come, let's engage in a fervent duel for the sake of Kurama's death
scene!" Kuronue challenged just short of an "En Guarde!" declaration as
his designated opponent gave him a bewildered 'What the hell are you
on?' type of stare.

"...Yeah. Let's do that. Or I can grow a brain and do this instead,"
Kuronue recanted, playfully shrugging at Hiei as he, without looking, 
looped and aimed his sickle at Kurama's head, intending to finish the
execution ritual that the jaganshi so rudely interrupted.

Hiei was taken so out of the loop by Kuronue's actions that he barely
had enough time to register the deception and deflect the weapon,
causing his calve muscles to cramp up at the sudden exertion. "You
lying bastard! What's wrong with you?!"

"Oh, did you expect me to actually go fight you in a long and contrived
battle when the only reason I was brought back from the dead was to
_kill_ Kurama? Then I apologize, 'koorime'; I'm not as stupid as you
think I am," Kuronue casually needled as he made several more scythes
materialize in every possible angle and path, compounding the current
state of Hiei's leg health. 

"Hey, Kurama! Isn't it adorable how your little friend trusts each and
every last thing his _opponent_ tells him? If he'd fought your youko
self before he became suicidal, he'd know better: there is no honor
among thieves, and idealism can kill. It's either he's fought some
really stupid enemies, or...!"

From there, the Dark Raven was able to witness firsthand the reason why
Hiei wasn't particularly experienced in regards to underhanded combat
tactics using wordplay: It was because most of his opponents were too
busy dying to muster a decent repartee.

Impressively, Hiei was able to halt all of the approaching moon scythes
without moving his strained legs any further by virtue of a clean,
quick-draw sweep of his sword over the metal links themselves. He then
grit his teeth resolutely as he sheathed his weapon.

Kurama barely even winced as one of Kuronue's broken scythes missed his
neck by mere inches, drawing blood. To Hiei's growing bemusement, the
half-youko happily chuckled at his two former partners' blood-and-guts
duel, stating, "Hiei, meet Kuronue. Kuronue, Hiei." 

Both combatants crossed the space that separated them in heartbeats, and
Hiei's katana flew from its sheath, splitting both the air and the time
it normally took to complete its arc with its sharp edge. He struck
nothing but steel, however, the sheer volume of Kuronue's chains and
sickles halting his momentum. 

The Black Raven wasn't quite finished, however. He spun away from the
impact, using the force of the meeting of their blades to augment his
spin, and lashed out with another inexplicable crescent duplicate that
came slashing from his left hand. 

Hiei twisted aside and skidded away on one of the metal web's supporting
links, ending up right beside his redheaded target, but Kuronue's curved
blade still left a cut in the fire demon's vest and a scrape on the
flesh beneath. If he'd been a hair slower, the Black Raven might have
outright gutted him, revealing his rope-like ghostly insides for all to
see; either that, or ichor-filled ectoplasm.

"Well now. You were able to avoid getting skewered, huh? Fascinating,"
Kuronue remarked with genuine surprise, not quite sure if Hiei realized
the gravity of his actions. 'Damn fire demon. The speech I gave about
dueling was just a feint so that I can execute Kurama immediately, but
the shrimp still managed to force me to fight anyway. He was even able
to get Kurama within his reach... not that it's going to do him much
good, but he's not bad for a demon that's only a little younger than
Kurama's human age.'

"I will not allow you to restrain Kurama any longer," Hiei swore as he
allowed his legs to at last recover from their strenuous exertions. 

"What, would you rather that you were restrained? How kinky," Kuronue
mockingly rejoined as he calmly walked towards Hiei and threw his
whirling crescent blades at him with gleeful abandon. The jaganshi's
parries merely clanged hard on the surprisingly tougher chain-links; the
Raven's weapon apparently evolved and adapted to its enemy as the fight
wore on.

"Degenerate pervert," Hiei groused.

"What's the matter, shorty? Angry? Jealous? Unsure of your masculinity?"
Kuronue purred, discovering yet another one of Hiei's numerous buttons
for him to push. "Wasn't Kurama's kiss enough for you?"

Hiei irises became pinpoints of fury, but he quickly calmed himself down
by finally putting into words what it was about Kuronue that bothered
him since the start of their fight--aside from the bondage gear and
tattered hat. "...So are you Karasu's bastard brother or what?" 

With a shark-like grin and flaming eyes, Kuronue hissed at Hiei through
grit teeth, "O-ho! Is that sarcasm I hear? This from a strange little
man who'd sooner practice honor before reason? You really are naive and
immature, aren't you?"

Like a petulant child throwing a tantrum, Hiei refused to address
Kuronue's appraisal as he muttered loud enough for Kurama to hear, "I
liked him better when he was still a butt-ugly Meikai doppelganger that
used mist and hypnotism to kill his victims. Are you sure he's not a
fake, kitsune? He may simply be another Nether World shape-shifter, for
all you know."

'Ah, now he said it.' If Kurama could somehow find a way to palm his
face, he would've done so right then and there, but strangely enough,
he instead felt something other than embarrassment begin to take root
in his heart. It was a funny feeling that he couldn't quite put his
finger on.

Then, to the Raven's growing annoyance, Hiei resumed his superficial
rant instead of, say, trying to release Kurama from his binds and taking
him as far away from that pocket dimension as possible. "Think about it
for a minute, kitsune. Kuronue just admitted to lying in front of your
face and claims that honor is for fools. I know about your past and your
own penchant for deception during that time, but tricking you using your
recent affinity for mercifulness isn't an unprecedented event. Most of
your enemies have used your compassion against you in one way or
another; can you really risk trusting someone that acknowledges himself
as untrustworthy?"

Kuronue was just about to offer a crisp retort and a mouthful of blades
to Hiei's accusations when he espied a flash of uncertainty in Kurama's
eyes. For some reason, Hiei's last crop of words sounded less like
frivolous banter and more like a reasonable contention to the redhead's
ears. 

The annoying little jaganshi was able to dig up the overwhelmingly harsh
feelings of betrayal and guilt that hounded Kurama during his momentous
fight with the fake Kuronue during Meikai's invasion of the Human
World; strong enough emotions to make him consider for an instant, "Is
this really Kuronue? How can I be sure?" 

Something as simple as Kuronue throwing his pendant away was able to
convince Kurama that something was amiss with the _first_ Kuronue he'd
met after many centuries, so this event wasn't beyond the realm of
possibility. 

It was just a brief bout of doubt--something trivial, even laughable,
compared to the unbendable willpower Kurama had displayed during his
epic wars against Hiei, the youko, and Munashii--but it was more than
enough time for the ridiculously fast Hiei to take advantage of. 

In a blink of an eye, Hiei cut through Kurama's bonds without
impediment, then grabbed the discombobulated redhead with his free arm.

'Dammit, Kurama...!' Kuronue mentally cursed as he desperately scrambled
to drown Hiei in a raging stream of chains and crescent scythes, but he
was suddenly missing a hundred or so of his weapons to do so. Instead,
his weapon reverted to its original, stringed version, which Hiei
effortlessly evaded and cleaved apart in one swift movement.

'Oh, Kurama. You're not going to betray me for real this time, are you?'
Kuronue dully reflected as he knelt down his web of metal in defeat,
then felt the whole contraption snap and break like so many dry wafers
as a strange case of instantaneous oxidation destroyed the chains. The
bird demon went under with an unceremonious splash soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, the cavern that the Raven had previously carved beneath the
false Eden had begun to flood with water from the Sanzu River, the
surrounding walls collapsing as the unseen force that kept them erect--
Kurama's resolve, it would seem--gradually vanished.


***


Fifty minutes earlier, on the decimated grounds of the false Eden... 

Hiei further admonished Koenma's insistence that Yoshitaka Tetsuma
wasn't responsible for Kurama's mental breakdown, stating, "Doesn't
Kurama's claims of planning everything from the start strike you as a
bit hard to believe? If everything was happening according to his grand
plan, then there's nothing in his planning that slightly even resembles
a plan. 

"The thing with the pendant and Kuronue's sudden appearance... that was
obviously Munashii's doing! It's more likely that Munashii hypnotized
Kurama into thinking that he planned everything, had him plod through
the Dream World to say his stupid good-byes, and then let him eventually
sacrifice his life in order to resurrect some village girl he never even
met!"
 
Koenma took Hiei's impassioned words to heart, absently nodding to
himself. "You have a point, Hiei. But keep in mind that conflicting
interests and unintended events can and will occur with any plan. Also,
there's no denying Kurama's current inexorable resolve to see this quest
through, whether Munashii gained it through brainwashing or voluntary
willingness. When it comes to circumstances like this, we have no choice
but to start with the ridiculous and go from there. 

"It should be painfully clear to you by now that Kurama is the one by
and large responsible for this whole Matsui Asuka debacle... either that
or he took responsibility for it at the very least. And you made one
slight mistake in your deduction: Kurama has already 'met' Matsui Asuka,
and has fallen madly in love with her. It all ties in with Munashii's
will becoming Kurama's will and vice-versa."

Hiei growled dismissively at Koenma's suggestion. "Not this nonsense
again. We don't have time to indulge in wild theories about misplaced
and deluded romance. Besides which, it makes no sense whatsoever. What
does this supposed 'love' Kurama has for some stranger have to do with
anything, anyway?"

"To quite be frank, everything," Koenma answered glibly. "You were able
to watch Kurama as he went about his gratuitously long quest in the
Dream World, right? Well, whether or not you believe that he has truly
'fallen in love' with Matsui Asuka, you must have realized by now that
it's his _obsession_ with her that drove him to go against the odds and
say his good-byes to friends and enemies alike, regardless of the 
consequences or circumstances. In a world of pure imagination and wish 
fulfillment... where anything could be made, anything could happen, and 
everything was real... the person who wants and believes in something
the most will prevail."

Hiei looked down on the pock-riddled ground in quiet contemplation. He
_had_ seen Kurama in action, and the mere fact that the redhead could
_afford_ to go through basically uncalled-for farewells to most everyone
he knew and still furthered his suicidal agenda regardless was proof
enough of the power of his convictions. It didn't make a lick of sense
to the jaganshi, but Kurama was undeniably offering his soul for Asuka
Matsui the same way he would risk his life for any of his comrades and
family, especially his mother.

Mistaking Hiei's rumination for uncertainty, Koenma prodded on. "Do you
understand, Hiei? The strength of the spirit doesn't have anything to
do with physical strength, but with 'emotion'. What's inside your heart
becomes the source from which all your power wells. Kurama has enough
of that power to even overwhelm his S-Class superior, Youko Kurama, in
not one, but two duels to the death. Think about that things for a
second before rushing headfirst at the final stages of Kurama's death
scene. As far as his determination over Matsui Asuka's rebirth is
concerned, Kurama is unquestionably the master of that realm." 

Met with further silence, something important then occurred to Koenma.
"Speaking of which, what happened to you during your fight with
Munashii? Last I checked in the Spirit World's Monitor, you were down
for the count, with the shadow man doing some sort of kamikaze attack on
you at the last minute. I'm rather surprised you made it here in the _at
all_. You're not forcing your soul to fight on even after your body has
been battered to a pulp, are you?"

Unnoticed by the Spirit World Administrator, Hiei reflexively favored
his side, straining inwardly. He then loudly grumbled to Koenma, "Enough
of this. What's important is that we have one last shot at saving
Kurama, and we should make this one count. You can serve as better help
to this mission by telling me something of real use; I have no interest
in the fox's reasons for doing this. What I'm more interested in is how
I can stop him. For example, how was he able to gain full access to the
Dream World? Did he have some ulterior motive in involving those humans
in his death scene? I want that sort of information." 

Koenma closed his eyes, sighed, and reassessed the wealth of data in his
head accordingly. The young god only hoped that the rambunctious youkai
was able to get it through his thick skull that the only _true_ way of
stopping Kurama was to make him want to be stopped; nothing more,
nothing less. "Listen carefully, then. This is what Kurama essentially
planned during his trek in the Dream World. As you know, a ghost can
easily pass through the Dream World at will..."


***


To be Continued...

Next: Kurama's death scene.

Note that I put in the title _Shonen_ not _Shonen-Ai_. Shonen-Ai 
(male-male relationship) and yaoi are just not my cup of tea. This 
is dedicated to Chimamire Kitsune for giving me the inspiration to 
write this fic. Wherever you are, this is for you.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St. Pierrot. This fic therefore
also belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St.
Pierrot. Credit for the excerpts goes to the English-translated
"Le Peti't Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. 

Sa muling pagkikita!
Abdiel


***


Shonen Outtakes, Take One...

"Do you still have any trouble with my explanation?" Kurama queried once
he finished his story and explained what it meant, the soft rustle of
the bamboo leaves and the quiet crackle of the will o' the wisps dancing
on the surface of the bottomless spring the only other sounds breaking
the thick blanket of silence. 

After a short pause, Kuronue solemnly shook his head. "No. I've heard
all that I wanted to hear."

Kurama braced himself for Kuronue's final verdict, warily inquiring, "So
what's your decision? Are you going to help me fulfill my one last wish,
or are you going to get in the way of it?"

Kuronue smiled at Kurama with resolute purpose, much to the latter's
surprise. "You've gone completely batshit insane. What the hell does
that bedtime story have to do with anything, you idiot? Good-bye." And
so the Black Raven swung back up to the surface of the spring and left
Kurama to his own devices. Afterwards, there was much crying and
gnashing of teeth on the half-youko's part.



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