[FFML] [fic][yyh] Shonen Chapter 25: Nemesis (Part 2)

[Abdiel]

"Look down at me and you'll see a fool. Look up at me and you'll see
your god. Look straight at me and you'll see yourself."

(Charles Manson)


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

Shuichi Minamino versus...? Oh yeah, this chapter is rated for nasty
content.

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Chapter 25: Nemesis (Part 2)
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His head hung low, Kurama mutely followed the marble road inside his
mother's room reflexively, robotically; he felt numbed and exhausted
from the inside out, as if he had just inadvertently committed the most
reprehensible and heinous act of all time, a crime against the soul
itself. 'Such silly thoughts: it was all for the best. They'll see. I've
set upon making things right, and that's what I intend to do.' Or so he
hoped. He wasn't merely trying to convince himself, of course. 

He opened the door on his way out of the Intensive Care Unit, and was
surprised to see there was no hospital behind it. Instead, he bore
witness to darkness of the purest black as some unseen force pulled him
into its ominous maws. Afterwards, everything became a blur.

Down and down he rushed--though he was not quite sure anymore which way
was up with the damned shadows obscuring his sight--first through
darkness, and then through a mass of vague and whirling shapes which
might have been almost anything. It grew lighter. Then suddenly, Kurama
felt that he was standing on something solid. A moment later, everything
came into focus and he was able to look about him. 

At first, Kurama knew nothing but darkness. All of his body felt numb,
frozen. He could remember nothing of what had happened, aside from a
sensation of dread that blanketed his mind.

A light, almost imperceptible drizzle descended to cleanse him of his
confusion. For one instant, he felt the overwhelming chill wash upon
him--he knew, at that moment, that he was alone. No one would be near to
hear his cries if anything went wrong. No one would assist him with the 
slightest encouragement, or even a whispered cheer. And for that brief
eternity, he felt truly forlorn.

But his lonesome and doubt were swept away by the rain as quickly as
they had come. Even if he were alone, all for the better: no one would
try to stop him, to keep him from his goal... and, if he succeeded, this
solitude would soon fade into meaningless oblivion.

Strangely elated by this knowledge, he armed herself with all the
courage he could muster and stepped forward. Every step he took, his
feet oblivious of the brown limestone beneath them, added to his
confidence. How he wished to meet Asuka Matsui once again, to tell her
that everything would be all right now, and that she shouldn't have any
doubts about anything anymore. 'Soon, Asuka-san. Very soon.'

He spared a final glance around the vicinity to make sure nobody was
near. The squall had ceased and the nimbus clouds soon parted; then, a
nighttime sky filled with bejeweled stars came quietly to the new world, 
creeping softly through the shadows and spreading itself across the
rocky plains with the careful, measured flow of a well-timed assault.
The heavens above progressively lightened up their ebony tint to svelte
purple.

Speckled with diamonds and the pearly moon, the velvet skies illuminated
the broad side of a nearby crag; a mountain face accentuated by the
presence of a yawning cave whose imposing spires and spiked roof acted
as razor-sharp teeth to the pseudo-jaws of a nonexistent stone giant.

Thick plumes of steam began to rise from the jagged chasms and crevices
that stretched and snaked through the terrain as the chill air of the
evening met with the nigh-palpable warmth strangely contained within
the cavern walls themselves. In the distance, the thick curtains of
swirling mists churned and dissipated, drawing themselves across the
exterior of a portentous gulf.

The night was so peaceful, if somewhat unsettling; even though it was
hard for his troubled heart to ignore the pain it had endured just
moments ago, the muted tranquility helped soothe it. Under the pale gaze
of the moon above, everything seemed to disappear. The world became,
even for just for a few moments, a normal place once more, making all
the insanity around the remaining moments of his life appear to be
nothing more than a fleeting flight of fancy.

Satisfied, Kurama dismissed whatever fearful thoughts had passed through
his mind and moved forward. He looked down: beneath his feet and leading
towards the very depths of the cavern was, as expected, the incongruous
marble road to autumn. He nodded curtly to himself. 'Looks like the cave
is my next stop--Wait a minute! This place looks familiar.'

The patter of his shoes was the only sound present in the darkened cave.
'Autumn' would arrive soon, and with it, he hoped, a new chance to set
things right... to make sure everything was back to the way it was
supposed to be so many years ago. In light of this, despite the dread
of almost-certain death that plagued him, he couldn't help but feel
giddy with expectation, smiling a bit wider with each of his strides.

After a few more seconds of quiet contemplation while wandering the
inside the ominous cavern, the scarlet-haired teenager deduced, "This is
the Cave of Irima. This is where the gates between the Human World and
the Demon World are located. After such a long time, I've finally
returned here." He brashly trudged onward, confident that the third
pillar of light and the Representative of Autumn lay within his arm's
reach; at the very cusp of his fingertips, even. The very notion filled
him with the feeling of cathartic closure.

Now out of reach of the moonlight and starlight of the gorgeous night
sky, Kurama was yet again alone in the dark; it was so murky inside the
rocky burrows that he was having difficulty in following the road to
autumn. From time to time, he would check the dirt-strewn marble
underneath his feet just to make sure that he was traversing the correct
path. It was slightly frustrating for him, especially considering the
fact that he was already so close to completing his current quest.

Feeling a bit more conscious of himself in his lonesome, Kurama soon
became aware of the awkward weight in his right pants' pocket just as he
sauntered into a major junction well within the depths of Irima. There
were currently six murky tunnel entrances in front of him; making a
hasty decision on which path he'd take right then and there could lead
to him becoming hopelessly lost, so he was thankful for the momentary
distraction.

He ignored the menacing atmosphere of his immediate environs, fiddled
inside the previously overlooked pouch, and retrieved several pieces of
twigs and leaves from it. He tilted his head and stared inquisitively at
the strange items. 'Twigs and leaves? What am I doing with twigs and
leaves? Having shrubbery for pocket lint is a bit much, even for me.'

Comprehension dawned on Kurama's features, his eyes lighting up in
understanding. "Of course! I remember these," he detailed as he gingerly
fiddled with the seemingly trivial knickknacks on the palm of his hand, 
identifying them mostly by touch. "These are twigs from a baobab shrub
and leaves from a Sardinian plant; I picked these up way back in Chiho-
san's version of the Land of Oz, if I'm not mistaken... How could I've 
forgotten?"

As he pocketed his Ozite souvenirs, the recently-deceased young man was
struck with an inspired idea. "Hmmm. Speaking of plants..." He casually
combed through his thick, crimson mane and produced a incandescent seed
which he subsequently sowed into the ground. "I wonder if I can now use
my youki in this new dream... Back in Chiho's dream, none of us three
Reikai Tantei could even let out a wisp of spirit energy. Then again, I
did just transform into my youko self just a short time ago, so maybe--"
He knelt down and concentrated.

Letting out a surprising amount of choleric demon energy from the tips
of his fingers, Kurama fed the seed with his shadowy powers and made it
instantly grow into a lamp-like wild flower that produced a shining
cerulean gleam. He surveyed his illuminated surroundings in approval; he
had already used the Akaryu Weed once before as a marker of sorts when
he, Yusuke, and the others first went through this very same cave to 
rescue a kidnapped Kuwabara and to confront a deranged Shinobu Sensui.

Then something peculiar happened. As if on cue, the Akaryu Weed's
unseen, bioluminescent brothers suddenly burst into photosynthetic life,
going off consecutively like a stack of glowing dominoes. To Kurama's
good fortune, the luciferase system inadvertently lined the sides of the
marble road that he was following; his quest had now become a tad more 
convenient. Finally knowing which path to take, he continued to tread
forward.

Cast by the eerie blue light of Kurama's miraculous shokubutsu, shadows
danced and flickered on the stone walls as if they had taken on a life
of their own. Ironically, the peculiar illumination made the area even
more gloomy and depressing, the uncomplicated hues making it look like a
penitentiary or a cemetery. The redhead smirked at the apparent no-win 
situation in regards to Irima's intimidating environment. 

"Never mind that--after all, what's important is that I can now see the
road to autumn quite clearly," Kurama considered, then furrowed his thin
eyebrows pensively as something else occurred to him. "Could it be that
this marble road is currently following the same route we took to get to
the Gates of the Demon World?" he asked rhetorically; the thought left
him rather disconcerted.

"'Gates of the Demon World', you say? That sounds thrilling!" someone
cheered enthusiastically.

"Dangerous would be more like it--" Kurama stopped in mid-sentence.
Unless he was suffering from self-induced schizophrenic psychosis like
Sensui had, he _shouldn't_ be hearing a girl's voice in his head.
"What...?"

"Hello there, Minamino-kun! Oh, it's supposed to be Kurama-san, right?
Sorry, I'm just so used to calling you 'Minamino-kun' that I can't help
myself. Not that 'Kurama' is a bad name or anything; it's actually
quite nice... for a name." 

The surprise of hearing the familiar voice _twice_ shook Kurama from the
paralysis caused by the very same voice. He whirled around urgently, and
saw just who was standing behind him, about a dozen meters away. He
dazedly mouthed her name.

Midori Ohya smiled warmly, if a bit impishly, at the flabbergasted fox
demon. 'When I first got here in this Dream World, we had to go our
separate ways because we were traveling different roads. Seems like our
paths have crossed once again, huh?' she relayed telepathically.
 
Kurama smiled back at his mousy yet cheeky classmate. 'Don't show off
your powers; besides, _I'm_ the only one whose supposed to have his
thoughts read by others, not you.' 

Midori sniggered heartily as she pushed her lopsided glasses up the
bridge of her nose. "Fine. If you insist." The bespectacled girl mock-
pouted prettily as she skipped over Kurama's side.

The pair's unhurried progress was eerily hushed, the soft padding sounds
of Kurama's shoes and the muffled tap of Midori's barely disturbing the
faint, blue-tinted dimness of their immediate environs. The air around
them was heavy, dank, and stale, like some long forgotten tomb; it was
almost suffocating, to say the least. Underneath them, the dirt-covered 
limestone floor sloped upwards for a short distance and then fell away
again over and over, its tortuous path resembling the random cadence of
an epileptic fit.

The uneven trench--a claustrophobic's nightmare--and its jutting rock
formations eventually gave way to desolate, craggy foothills pocked with
gaping black maws. These holes were occasionally lit with the glowing
eyes of some shadowed, silent creature hidden in a darkness so deep that
even the Akaryu Weed's light could not reach it.

'If only the wind could reach us here and howl,' Kurama considered,
suppressing a shudder as he looked over the wide, snaking tunnels of
the dank, murky cave, 'at least then I could get some peace of mind.'
The absolute silence that pervaded inside the very depths of the Cave of
Irima was far more dreadful to him, and it set his teeth on edge. It
seeped into the ground and through the stone walls to still them, and so
any sound louder than his own breathing would quickly fade away as if 
embarrassed for making such a racket.

As he and Midori further traversed the marble pathway hand-in-hand, they
opted to engage in some idle chitchat to break the ice. Soon, the only
sounds that could be heard in the labyrinth of rock and soil were the
echoes of their hushed voices and the aforementioned patter of their
footsteps. The empty caverns were so devoid of life that the only signs
of life could be found in the two classmates' respective actions.

Midori, on her part, gamely challenged the ghastly status quo. "So...
where are we going exactly, Minamino-kun? Where is your 'death scene'
taking you now? Does this road lead to the 'Gates to the Demon World'
you mentioned just now?" 

Kurama helplessly shrugged. "Actually, I have no idea. At this point,
I'm just going through the motions and riding with the flow of the
dream. All I really know is that there are only two more pillars of
light to go before my, well, so-called 'date with destiny', so I guess
we'll just have to wait and see what'll happen next."

The redhead scratched his head pensively as he tucked his lower lip
inside his mouth. "So how about you? Where'd you come from? Where have
you been? Why are you still here? Why haven't you woken up yet?"

"Okay, okay! One question at a time, _mom_!" Midori joked, while Kurama 
imperceptibly flinched. "I get it. I was being nosy. No need to get back
at me." She then put a ponderous finger on her chin, shrugged in what
she deemed as a cute manner, and replied, "Midori-chan also has no
idea," as she did a cheesecake pose of 'pure, innocent obliviousness.'

"Now listen here," Kurama started with a chuckle and a smirk, "This
'ten-year-old girl who ate too many sweets' act of yours doesn't suit
you at all! This is something I'd expect of Ayame-san or even Chiho-san,
but not you."

"Ha! Okay, okay... I guess you're right. You got me; I'm just playing
pretend," Midori relented blithely. Afterwards, she tilted her head
down, the cool-blue glint on her glasses making her expression
unreadable. She surmised, "Perhaps I'm just trying a bit too hard to
come out of my shell, huh?"

"Oh, come on. Don't think of it that way--you can act as silly as you'd
like with friends," Kurama reassured with a forthcoming pat on the
timorous girl's head, then quickly retracted his hand after realizing
how condescending his actions looked.

"Truth be told, I'm not even sure if I still have those," Midori mused
with a tense voice, flashing an awkward grin at Kurama while anxiously
squeezing her right arm with her left hand. "Friends, I mean." 

Kurama winced; evidently, he was caught up in one of those clumsy,
uncomfortable conversations where the listener experienced a squirming
mixture of pity and embarrassment for something the speaker said. Doing
his best to recover from the awkward moment of candidness, he quipped,
"Well, I for one think you need to wipe your glasses clean and look in
front of you before saying such things," as he raised a puckish eyebrow
at the melancholic girl. 

"Oh really?" The look Midori gave him was one of disbelief. "Tell me,
Minamino-kun, which one of our classmates do I share my deepest secrets
with? And which ones share theirs in turn? Who is it do I turn to first
when I need advice or to share some tidbit of gossip with? Who is it
would I give my life for if it were required? Who is it goes out of his
or her way to help me out when I need it, or even offers to do so, even
if I don't ask? Would you do all these things for me, even though you
barely know me?"

Each question cut as sharp as a razor. Helplessly, Kurama tried saying
something, but realized he could not. From the get go, there was no name
he could give voice to that would have rang true. He wished he could
answer faster. He wished he could tell her that _he_ was such a friend
which she was looking for, but he had to be honest with himself: Aside
from their encounters via the Legion and his youko self, Kurama barely
even knew the quiet, introverted girl.

After a few attempts to respond, Kurama's eyes brightened insightfully;
he pushed forward with his answer, preening is long, burgundy hair as he
worked himself up to a storm.

"Nothing hits harder than life, and when you're at your lowest, the
world seems like a dark and lonely place. Still, living is all about
persevering and rolling with the punches: get up, move forward, and stop
being so hard on yourself. Heck, I for one am about to sacrifice myself
for a daughter that my mother doesn't really want, but I won't let her 
disappointment stop me or get me down."

Raising a dubious eyebrow, the invisible girl bemusedly supposed, "Hmmm.
My, my, you bring up such interesting... 'points,'" as she darted her
eyes from left to right while trying her best to make sense out of
Kurama's 'motivational speech.' "So what you're saying is that I don't
have the right to be sad and lonely because other people... you in
particular... have gone through far worse than I have?"

"Oh, no, no, no... That's not what I meant." Kurama bit his lip as he
struggled for words that would better elucidate his position. "Look at
it this way: everyone has felt loneliness in at least one point of his
life. That's a given. But usually, one just needs to open his eyes to
realize that he's not really alone; trite as it may sound, there's
always someone who cares."

"How interesting. But who is this vague 'someone' you're talking about?
Until now, you have yet to prove my contentions; I still haven't had any
of my previous questions answered and you still haven't told me who
among anyone I know can I actually consider to be a true friend," Midori 
remarked with increasing skepticism. 

It was then that Kurama decided to try a different tactic in cheering
the troubled young woman up. "Yes, you have a friend. It's not me, since
we barely know each other, and I'm not certain how close you, Chiho, and
Ayame are... but I'm completely sure that the person I have in mind is
your truest, most reliable friend in the whole world."

"Really? Who are you talking about?" Midori inquired, genuinely curious.

"Amano Shigeru-kun, of course. You know how much he cares for you--don't
even try to deny it." Despite herself, Midori couldn't help but wanly
smile at Kurama's allegations, her eyes briefly twinkling. 

"The world isn't as bleak as you think it is... though it's not exactly
a walk in the park either. You've lived a better life than you give
yourself credit for." The half-youko gave the glasses-wearing girl an
encouraging nudge on the shoulder. "Heck, if Chiho-san, with her warped
sense of reality, was still able to realize that you, Ayame, and I are
her, um, 'friends'," he unwittingly gestured the quotes with his
fingers, "then so should you."

"Hey! Midori contended, "Don't say that about Chiho-san! That's so
mean!" After which, she put her hand on her mouth in surprise at her own
brash exclamation, as if she just accidentally spewed out an expletive.

"HA! See? You're protecting her! That means you really are a true friend
of hers," Kurama pointed out, chuckling heartily.

"Well, I," Midori babbled, flustered, "I-I'm just not sure that she
still considers me as a friend, y'know? After what happened last summer,
during the Legion's annual summer picnic, I've had my doubts..." Not
knowing what else to say, the mousy girl licked her dry lips as she let
her proclamation dangle in the musty air.

"Personally, I believe that the issue between you and Chiho is ancient
history. Besides, remember how she stood up for you during the time when
you were almost expelled? Only a true friend would do that for you,"
Kurama recapitulated earnestly. 

The young psychic seemed to consider Kurama's words before nodding
solemnly. "I hope you're right." She allowed herself an apologetic
smile. "Sorry for being such a drama queen, Minamino-kun."

"Don't worry about it," Kurama reassured the self-proclaimed Invisible
Girl. "I appreciate your honesty, your daring, and your presence. Your
being here has been a great help to me in this lonely undertaking of
mine. Thank you for staying."

Midori let out a small giggle as she realized something. "You know
what? We've been going on and on about this and that, yet I haven't 
really answered your question." Her eyebrows furrowed, she let out the
breath she didn't realize she was holding and stated, "I'm not quite
sure why I haven't woken up. Maybe it was stupid of me to go back here
in this mental dreamscape to pick you up. Maybe this was all a big
mistake, and ignorance truly is bliss. But you know what? I don't care."

A healthy pink flush appeared in Midori's cheeks, visible even in the
azure light. "I'm not only trying to save you for your own sake, but for
Shigeru-kun's as well. So what if there's little to no chance of you
surviving? I'll find a way. I'll do whatever it takes to get you and
Shigeru-kun back. If that's still not enough, then tough luck; it's time
to let go. But not right now. Not while you still have a shadow of a
chance left. I'll never let go while that small spark of hope is still
there."

There was another pregnant pause. Kurama just stared at the normally
timid girl, awed by her current burst of determination. "I see. So
that's the real reason why you've stayed behind. But what if this
gesture of yours is for naught? It's only fair to warn you that no one,
not even you, can stop me from fulfilling Asuka-san's true fate."

"Like I said, I don't care. No more buts. No more buts, ifs, and whys.
No more questions, please. We'll simply cross that bridge when we get
there. For now, what's important is that we get this current 'mission'
of yours over with." Midori grinned. "We need to go forward, Minamino-
kun. We still have some unfinished business to take care of."

With downcast eyes, Kurama nodded in acquiescence just as he and his
traveling companion made their way towards another crossroads; an
emotional one this time. "Are you sure about this, Midori-san? I have an
inkling suspicion that, for good or for ill, I can't change your mind
about this... but are you really, _really_ sure about your decision?"

Midori demurely stared back at her classmate and impishly winked. "Don't
worry. I won't pull a Minamino."

Kurama raised a nonplussed eyebrow at his classmate. "...Pull a what?"

Midori smiled meaningfully. "Nothing."

"Um, okay," Kurama bewilderedly responded as he blinked his jaded eyes
several times and shook his head as if to clear it. Sensing that their 
conversation had detoured into an unusual tangent, he hastily changed
the subject. "Anyway... Wow. So you've managed to jump from one dream
to another using your psychic powers? That's amazing, Midori-san!" he
appraised in awe and admiration. 

"Yeah, I guess," Midori hesitantly acknowledged as she bit her lip in
abstract pensiveness. "But it wasn't a conscious effort on my part. I
actually wanted to go somewhere else, but something drew me to this
place; an inexplicable gut feeling that compelled me to go to you.
I--" She paused as she held back an incoming sneeze; her sensitive
sinuses weren't faring too well inside the dust-filled caverns of the
deeper parts of the cave.

With her train of thought derailed, Midori opted to ask the half-youko,
"So you've been in this cave before? You seem to know your way around,
knowing where to cross even without consulting this marble floor or
your glow-in-the-dark plants for directions." By then, the pathway had
become narrower and tortuous; nonetheless, as the Invisible Girl noted,
Kurama didn't even lose a beat in weaving through the dim and twisted
passages.

"Yes, I've been here before... but I'd rather not remember," Kurama
confessed with a strained, lopsided smirk on his face. "Besides, even
though I know the pathway by heart, it won't matter if we can't see
where we're going. Luckily for us, the Akaryu Weeds I've planted way
back in the _real_ Cave of Irima are also present in this mental
dreamscape of sorts. Let's just hope that the Game Master and Gourmet
aren't."

"'Game Master?' 'Gourmet?' Um, what are you talking about?" Midori
blinked as she rubbed her pinkish-raw nose and sniffled. "Hmmm. If
Chiho-san or Ayame-san were here, they'd say that those were the names
of the arcade and food court of a local mall."

Kurama laughed. "I bet they would." He coughed; the air around them was
getting staler and drier by the minute. "Actually, those are the code
names of some of my, um, former acquaintances. It's... a long story, so
suffice it to say that those two are part of the reason why I don't want
to remember what happened during my last visit in the Cave of Irima."

"I see. I guess that's fair enough," Midori reluctantly concurred, still
morbidly curious about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kurama's
distaste of the ominous cave but polite enough to not push the issue any
further.

And so they continued their journey, walking alongside the phantom glow
of the half-youko's bioluminescent shokubutsu. The rest of their trip
was mostly uneventful, if somewhat boring, but Kurama could handle
'boring'. After everything he went through in his journey to the Roads
of Springtime and Summertime, 'boring' was a welcome, refreshing change.
In fact, once he got used to the unnerving ambiance of death and dearth
around him, he managed to somewhat appreciate the innate tranquility of
his immediate surroundings. Somewhat.

After what seemed to be an eternity of walking, the pair finally reached
the so-called third pillar of light. It almost felt anticlimactic, in a
sense. "We're here," Kurama soberly concluded as he stared straight into
the pulsating, luminescent pillar of light that lay just meters away
from the spot where the Gates to the Demon World was once breached. 

"We've made it," Midori tiredly breathed out as she meekly looked around
the yawning stone room, as though she was also expecting something
sinister. She squinted against the pillar of light's towering brilliance
for a better look at their immediate environs.

The thick, radiant beam protruded through the surface of the underground
river, giving it a uncanny glow not unlike that of a voluminous, golden
river of lava. The pillar sat there on its metaphoric throne like a
king, like it belonged there, above the shifting multicolored field, an
effigy of the leader, a strange monolith, a sublime visitor, a solitary
enigma.

The effect that the sacred light had on the large and spacious cavern
was unearthly; it became a holy ground, a sanctimonious place of worship
for an unseen and magnificent God. Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands
of faint shadows danced about Kurama and Midori's feet like flower
petals, adding to the surreal atmosphere.

This part of the cave was, as Kurama had expected, immense. It reminded
him of the inside of the Tokyo Dome, only bigger. The rounded walls and
ceiling were formed of exquisitely textured pearl-gray stone. And
embedded in the stone, thousands upon thousands of large, sharp
stalactites lined the cavern, reflecting the shimmering light of the
third pillar, suffusing everything with a soft, warm glow. 

It was in this very place--or, at least, in this close approximation of
the real Cave of Irima--that Shinobu Sensui first unleashed his Class-S
superpowers upon a hapless Yusuke. Kurama waxed nostalgic; on the
distant wall just behind the third pillar of light, the Gates of the
Demon World had almost been completely breached by the 'Gatekeeper',
Itsuki. Also, on the opposite wall to the redhead's left lay Itsuki's
Shadow Monster; Kurama, Kuwabara, Hiei, and 'Seaman' Kiyoshi Mitarai
were all imprisoned inside the semi-sentient dimensional beast for quite
some time.

"This place sure brings back a lot of memories," Kurama mumbled to
himself, his wistful languor getting the better of him. At that very
moment, the feeling of apprehension and foreboding that he experienced
earlier on returned to him in spades. He then chided himself for feeling
so unreasonably anxious. After all, he was merely in some sort of
fantastic meta-world created inside Shigeru Amano's head; he, the
Legendary Youko Kurama, shouldn't feel threatened by a mere dream.

Midori sighed once she made sure that the coast--and, thankfully, the
dusty, suffocating air from a short while ago--was clear. A cathartic
feeling of release passed through her person; as far as she can see, the
area seemed marvelous but deserted... and, most of all, ultimately
unthreatening.

"Well, we've finally reached another one of those four pillars we saw
way back in the garden of four seasons. So who are you supposed to say
good-bye to this time, Minamino-kun? Is it me? A family member? Or some
other friend of yours from outside of Meiou High?" 

Despite the palpitations of his metaphoric heart, Kurama continually
reassured himself that nothing bad or untoward would happen to him,
Midori, or his quest to save Asuka Matsui, since he was merely
completing some long and very involved good-byes in a whimsical
setting... nothing more.

The visceral, irrational, and anxious sensation in the pit of his
stomach was not quite satisfied by his line of reasoning, though.

"Um, Minamino-kun?" Midori worriedly reiterated. "Is there something
the matter?"

In spite of himself, Kurama started to tense up. He was a tight bundle
of nerves; eyes flicking left, right, and above, ready to spring into
action should he be suddenly ambushed. His ears strained to hear the
slightest of sounds; the scraping of a foot on the ground, the loud
announcement of a challenge, anything like that. Ironically, in doing
so, he had effectively overlooked the danger that was right in front of
him.

"MINAMINO-KUN!" Midori screamed in abject terror.

"OH! Yes, yes... I'm sorry. I sort of drifted off back there. What is
it, Midori-san?" Kurama inquired, then backed off slightly in surprise
as the trembling young girl grabbed him by his sleeve. "W-What's wrong?"

Midori shook in mortal fear; her entire body seemed paralyzed from
morbid shock save for a shaky finger pointing directly at Kurama's left.

"It took you long enough to get here," a smooth, velvety voice announced
as a bestial aura started to fill the rocky terrain. As these simple yet
haunting words reverberated inside the stony room, a curious thing
happened; the third pillar of light started to flicker, like a gigantic
candle flame amidst a veritable hurricane. Then all went black.

Soon everything faded from view, except for two amber orbs that gleamed
in the darkness. Then they saw it; a thick mass of dark mist that
steadily flowed down the ground towards them. As it came closer, they
almost couldn't believe their eyes. Something was in the fog; to be
exact, it was a lean, long-nosed, four-footed, seven-tailed silhouette
of something prowling forward on misty paws.

Kurama shook himself sharply as Midori clung even closer to him. His
emerald eyes narrowed as the third biggest shock of the day stood just
a good few yards away from him.

The smaller forms from the mist seemed to unite, merging to form a
single large entity that threatened to dwarf even the quickly fading but
still enormous third pillar of light. Those amber orbs of light seemed to
burn into the very souls of all those present, staring at them like
sharp, fiery...

"Eyes?" Midori supposed in slight confusion. She afterwards gasped as a
ripple passed through the cloud of mist, pulling it into fine, long
streamers that were strangely reminiscent of feathers... or fur. 

Kurama watched the shadowy mass rapidly approach. Finally, just as the
third pillar of light slowly shimmered back to life, it appeared: the
misty yet unmistakable form of a giant, silver fox, its amber eyes
glowing in the retreating darkness. And out of the dark mist, directly
under the frightful apparition's grinning jaws, stepped Youko Kurama,
his lips curling with the exact same feral grin as his amber eyes
gleamed with cold expectation.

"I've been waiting for quite sometime, human. And it's nice to see you
again, invisible girl. It's been quite a while."

Midori hid behind Kurama, shivering uncontrollably. The man that she
trusted, the other side of her classmate that made her feel wanted...
the creature that _betrayed_ and _used_ her for his own agenda against
his human self... was standing right in front of her. She didn't know
what to think, but her heart let her know what it felt, thumping like a
horse's frenzied gallop. 

The cool, cunning, silver-haired, seven-tailed, and Legendary Youko
Kurama lazily sauntered towards the pair with a halo of self-satisfied
complacency surrounding him. He had somehow managed to slip into the
Dream World just as he did so long ago with the Human World--and he
looked rather pleased with his accomplishment.

This couldn't possibly be a good sign; ergo, the 'human' Kurama didn't
even bother to ask what his demonic alter ego was doing in the fantasy
realm, opting instead to fall into his traditional battle stance. But
just as the redhead fiddled inside his mane to retrieve a long-stemmed
rose, the Silver Fox raised his hands as a sort of offbeat warding-off
gesture.

"Don't act so hastily, human. Before you engage me in mortal combat, let
me first assure you that I'm not here to fight. We've fought so many
times before in our shared dreams that it'd be tedious to have another
repeat. Besides, I'm merely here to act as a spectator; a witness, if
you will. Perhaps even your judge and jury..."

Kurama curiously tilted his head at his youko counterpart as he
experienced a sinking, nigh-disorienting feeling of vertigo. Midori's
face, conversely, was full of dread.  "Judge and jury for what?" the
half-youko demanded.

"Your execution, of course. Don't even think for a second that that you
can get away with using _my_ soul as fodder for Matsui Asuka's rebirth."
The youko smiled coldly as he licked his sharp fangs. "Any more stupid
questions, boy of reflection?"

Kurama glared hatefully at his double while Midori continued to hide
behind him. He was so livid with anger that he truly wanted to behead
the wretched creature before him... his death scene be damned... but he 
reluctantly decided against it. Doing so might exactly be what the
Silver Fox wanted, and he would not let himself be manipulated so
easily.

"But you know what? The fact that you're able to implement this 'death
scene' of yours in the first place is absolutely incredible," the youko
appreciatively commented in laidback admiration. "The mind-controlling
pollens I gave you... I gave myself, in fact... seems to have worn off.
And so here you are, remembering and executing your twenty-year-old
plans little by little, one by one. True, you've altered them a bit to
suit your little friends' respective 'situations', but the end result
remains the same. You've proved to me that the human mind can be
surprisingly tenacious and resilient. Bravo." 

"Well, who's meandering now?" Kurama taunted, smirking so smugly that,
for a brief instant, his and the youko's facial expressions were 
interchangeable. "Looks like the tables have turned. Are you by any
chance stalling for time before you and I cease to exist forever?"

"Wow. So you're not as pathetic as I thought you were; you really _can_
mock your enemies from time to time to gain an advantage! I'm so proud
of you, Minamino Shuichi. Too bad I won't bite to any of your taunting,"
Youko Kurama answered back, his self-righteous, face-splitting smile
never wavering. "To answer your question... no, I'm not 'meandering' at
all. But I do have this to say: when you decided to access the Dream
World inside your suicidal boyfriend's subconscious, you did so to tie
all the loose ends in your life. Well, I have one particular loose end
that I bet you'll find very interesting." 

Like a circus ringmaster, Youko Kurama gestured dramatically towards
Kurama's right, his eyes sparkling with a contemptible, knowing look.
As if on cue, unmistakable infant cries suddenly sounded off from the
distance. Midori cast her gaze at the indicated direction and was
surprised to see the heads of several young toddlers bobbing up and down
the shallow end of the underground river like floating, flesh-colored
coconuts. The alarming sight made her feel like vomiting.

"Oh my goodness! The babies! Somebody should save them!" Midori
exclaimed, her innate 'mother hen' instincts--the same instincts that
led to her having such a close relationship with the younger Shigeru
Amano--setting in. She knew from experience that the Silver Fox was a
merciless, cruel, and manipulative bastard, but to see him attempting to
drown helpless babies inside a dark cave just to rouse his human self's
ire was beyond repugnant.

"Midori-san? Wait! Don't...!" Kurama shouted out in warning, but to no
avail. At that very moment, the invisible girl had already bee-lined
towards the floating, presumably drowning, children. He subsequently ran
after her, but by the time he got there, he was greeted by discordant
shrieks that shattered the otherwise deadened air, its innocent calm
utterly destroyed by a contemptible cacophony composed of wails of
suffering unheard of since the dawn of time. 

Kurama skidded to a halt as he arrived on the scene. Without warning,
the collective crying of the toddlers morphed into hideous banshee wails
of inhumanity; they shredded at the very base of sanity and threatened
to douse hope with their stentorian call of maddening anguish.
Afterwards, the babies themselves transformed into repulsive halfling
trolls with bulging moist eyes, gangrening skin, and oval maws covered
with two rows of sharp teeth. Even as Midori attempted to scream in
unfathomable terror, the shrieking gnomish imps were already upon her,
jumping out of the waters and feasting on the flesh of her legs like
hungry piranha's on a feeding frenzy.

The sight before Kurama made his heart pound with panic and dismay.
Midori Ohya had fallen into Youko Kurama's trap hook, line, and sinker,
and she was now paying a steep price for her naivete. She went down
kicking and screaming as she desperately tried to flee from the
damnable... _things_ that were nipping at her bloodied heels. 

"MIDORI-SAN! Stay down!" Kurama instructed before unleashing his Rose
Whip upon the nearest batch of soulless, godless halflings. The
bespectacled girl did as she was told, keeping her head down on the
ground as her classmate's thorny weapon whizzed past her, missing her
scalp by mere inches. The mutants' sordid blood, as well as assorted
parts of their bodies, was strewn all over the landscape a moment later.

Midori, on her part, appeared to be experiencing a nervous breakdown;
she numbly touched her swelling, bluish calves and torn loose socks with
a stunned, thousand-yard stare. Nevertheless, just as soon as she
spotted a second wave of imps emerge from the depths of Irima's
underground river, she immediately scrambled to her aching feet, making
Kurama flinch while Youko Kurama inwardly chuckled in triumph. 

It was painfully clear to both Kuramas that Midori was in no shape to
flee from the clutches of her diminutive attackers; she was never going
to escape the sea of mutants at this pace. The malformed trolls
continued pressing on their merciless attack, slashing with razor-keen
claws and biting with needle-sharp canines as the helpless young woman 
frantically dodged and blindly backpedaled in the ensuing confusion.

The bespectacled girl was now hyperventilating with exertion, and
sported a number of small wounds which, in addition to her throbbing
legs, were beginning to wear her down. Even Kurama's unrelenting strikes
from his prehensile whip were not enough to keep the numerous mutants at
bay: He was too busy trying not to accidentally hit Midori to properly
dispose of the little monsters.

Then, as soon as the assault began, it stopped; the trolls backed down
and retreated a good distance away from the injured Midori, congregating
together and hunching stock-still like miniature, wingless gargoyles.

'What's going on? What are they planning?' Kurama reflected anxiously,
feeling rather thrown off by the halflings' sudden change of tactics as
he retracted his Rose Whip into a neat loop in his hand. 'I don't like
the looks of this. Not at all.' Taking advantage of the moment of
reprieve, Kurama attended to his shell-shocked lady friend.

Midori was definitely worse for wear, her clothes torn asunder and her
whole body bruised, battered, and cut in various places. The distant,
stoic look in her eyes had returned, though the agitated thumping of her
heart betrayed her unremitting feelings of fear and panic.

Kurama didn't particularly like what was happening to his classmate's
body from the waist down; swollen, tender thighs and calves, atrophied
feet, and an unhealthy black-and-blue complexion. Even with the vast
stock of medicinal herbs at his disposal, the half-youko didn't even
know where to begin in treating the unfortunate girl.

Seeing her present state, Midori almost looked like a rape victim. The
full repercussions of this sickening revelation made Kurama's blood
boil anew, his righteous indignation quickly replacing his bewilderment
as it seared through his veins like hot magma.

His head abruptly jerked up as he awoke from his intense reverie; an
unbidden ripple of malicious, piercing laughter resonated around him.
It sounded like the dissonant howl of demented souls. The surviving
army of imps cackled in disconcerting cadence, their doll-eyes staring
back and forth at him and their recent victim. They then proceeded to
speak as one...

"These things are called Tiyanaks; they are creatures of Southeast Asian
legend, believed to be created from the forlorn souls of aborted human
fetuses," the shrill chorus of tiny voices suddenly shrieked, screeching
inside the caverns like the high-pitched whine of fingernails grating on
the surface of a chalkboard. The supposed Tiyanaks' thoughts and actions
seemed to be controlled by some sort of unseen mastermind. 

"I guess the Christians were correct when they claimed that these
unborn, sinless children really do end up in 'limbo', depending on your
point of view. Not that I'm a holier-than-thou bigot or anything; never
mind being pro-choice or pro-life, we all deserve to go to hell!" The
hive-minded Tiyanaks chortled some more with their discordant harpy
screeching while Kurama held back a shudder; the tingling sensation of
foreboding crawled down his back like a thousand centipedes.

'This is bad,' Kurama thought, his mind racing. Beside him, Midori was 
floundering on the ground, white as a sheet and sweating profusely. She
appeared feverish at this point, her wounded limbs blistering
abnormally. The scarlet-haired ghost's stomach churned once more as he
looked back and forth at his wounded friend and the multitude of
juvenile ghouls with a mixture of rage and trepidation on his features.
'This is not good at all.'

"Don't fret so much. The fun is just starting, human," Youko Kurama said
in response to his other self's thoughts. "Just sit back, relax, and
take it like the bitch that you really are."

Kurama gave his youko counterpart another dirty look, to which the
Silver Fox merely snorted at in reply. "Stop looking at me like that; it 
accomplishes nothing. You brought this bout of misfortune unto yourself.
I wash my hands of all responsibility. The fact that things are now
working in my favor is, of course, irrelevant," Youko Kurama cheerfully
disclaimed, as if he were enjoying every minute of his human self's
torment.

"He tells you the truth. This is no puppet show of his," the high-
pitched, sentient cluster of voices confirmed, adding, "I'm the one
who's moving my own strings and running this little exhibition,
Kurama... or should I say, 'Minamino Shuichi'? Yes, the youko has
informed me quite a bit about the goings-on in your life lately. I'm now
his 'backup plan' of sorts, though I'm not doing this for him. Oh no.
Torturing and killing you would be my _pleasure_."

"Just who exactly are you?" Kurama asked, his thin eyebrows furrowed and
his grassy green eyes ablaze in concentration. He was then distracted by 
Midori's loud, pained moaning. Shifting his priorities, he turned his
back on the Tiyanaks and tended to the wounded girl, bandaging her legs
with the fireproof plant gauze he used against Hiei's fire attacks
earlier on. 

Sinisterly, the voices hissed, "Is that any way to address an old
friend? Ignoring him in the middle of a conversation? How rude! After
all the wars we've waged against each other? All the continuous, never-
ending, redundant, repetitious, tedious, tiring, mind-numbing, brain-
rotting, day-in-and-day-out _fighting_ we've been doing up until this
point?!" The Tiyanaks subsequently let out another disjointed refrain of
uproarious cackling. 

"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know. You'd have no idea, because it
wasn't you that I was fighting after all this time. No, no, no, you
were just a hallucination! A figment of my imagination! Can you even
imagine the torture I went through because of that damned mental trap
you've put me in!?" the voices demanded, their indignation mirrored by
the hideous faces of the Tiyanaks. Then, without warning, the surviving
halfling trolls lashed out and attacked Kurama in fury, seemingly
compelled to fight by their unknown puppet master's bitter memory.

Kurama's eyes widened in recognition as he stood up and turned towards
his nemesis. "You..." he muttered solemnly, as though he were in a
trance. Unfortunately for the invading Tiyanaks, they didn't even get a
chance to take advantage of their target's momentary stupor.