Yuu Yuu Hakusho Shadows and Lies by Sionna Klassen and Kristin Huntsman Chapter 16 Sometimes we can barely tell the difference Between the darkness and the light Until we have faith In what we believe, The truest test Is when we cannot When we cannot see... --Jane Siberry, "It Can't Rain All the Time" Yusuke woke up on a hard floor, soft moonlight streaming in a window and shining in his face. he thought wearily, as he sat up and looked around. He sighed with relief as he realized that the four of them were lying on the floor of Kuwabara's room. He turned on the light and settled against the wall, leaning on it as he waited for everyone else to come around. It looked like early evening outside, which was confirmed when Yusuke looked at the clock and saw that it read 8:31. Yusuke looked down at his shirt, and grimaced when he saw the creeping stains of dried blood all over it. It was sticking to his arm where the blade had cut him. He peeled the shirt off carefully, then ripped off a fairly clean strip of cloth to bandage his arm. He looked at the makeshift bandage and knew he'd have to take better care of the cut. Quietly he got up and went into the bathroom, washing all the blood off his arm - his blood and Kurama's, he realized with a start. He rummaged shamelessly in the medicine cabinet until he found bandages, and carefully applied them to his arm. Then he went back into Kuwabara's room, sitting down against the wall again. Hiei was already awake, perched on the windowsill. The moonlight shone from behind him, silvering the blue tips of his hair and throwing his face into shadow. Yusuke's eyes flicked to the torn edge of Hiei's shirt, stained with blood and pulled open to reveal the ugly wound. Yusuke said nothing, but left the room and returned with the first-aid kit. He tossed it to Hiei, who caught it one-handed and settled it in his lap. Then he carefully pulled off his shirt and started bandaging the wound with his left hand. Kurama stirred and opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, pushing his hair out of his eyes. Then he looked at his hand, which was sticky with blood. He glanced down at the shallow cut on his arm, but it looked worse than it really was. He remembered that some of the blood was Yusuke's and glanced at him, sitting against the wall in the moonlight. "Here," Hiei said quietly, tossing Kurama the first-aid kit. Kurama caught it and examined the cut on his arm more closely, remembering that Kuroi had poisoned him. But there was no sign of any poison anymore, and he felt fine. The three of them watched as Kuwabara mumbled something and turned over. Kurama and Yusuke looked at each other, wondering if they should wake him up, when his eyes opened. Kuwabara sat up and looked around, studying his room as if he'd forgotten what it looked like. Then his face lit up as he heard a timid meow from under his desk. "Eikichi!" he cried happily, crawling under his desk to fetch the cat. He looked ridiculous, half under the desk, and Yusuke stifled a snicker as Kuwabara pulled himself back out, holding a calico cat in his hands. Eikichi mewled happily and purred as Kuwabara returned to a crosslegged position, holding Eikichi in his lap and patting her enthusiastically. "Hey, Kuwabara," Yusuke said, going over to his closet and rummaging through it. "Mind if I borrow a shirt?" "Go ahead, Urameshi," Kuwabara answered, then sighed. "I can't believe we actually made it home." "I wonder how long we've been gone," Kurama said, looking out the window. "It's summer vacation," Kuwabara said. "Who's gonna care?" "My mother, for one," Kurama said, and sighed. "Now I have to find another excuse for disappearing." Yusuke pulled one of Kuwabara's oversized shirts over his head, then suddenly remembered the letter Kurama had given him. Digging around in his pocket, he pulled it out and gave it back to Kurama. "Here," he said. "I don't have to deliver this after all." "Thanks," Kurama said, accepting it. Yusuke shrugged. The door opened. They all looked up in surprise as Kuwabara's older sister Shizuru stood in the doorway for a moment, staring stunned at all of them. "Hi," Kuwabara said, waving at her. Shizuru suddenly charged into the room and hit Kuwabara over the head, then started pounding on him. Eikichi, used to this by now, simply leaped out of the way and settled on the other side of the room, ignoring the fight. "You idiot!" Shizuru was yelling. "You disappeared for nine days without a word and you think you can just reappear?! You IDIOT!!" Finally she straightened and brushed strands of brown hair out of her eyes, then lit a cigarette. She turned to look at Kurama, Yusuke, and Hiei, who were watching her with some surprise. None of them had ever seen Shizuru angry at Kuwabara before. "So," she asked conversationally, "Where've you been?" "Ask Kurama," Yusuke said, gesturing. "I think he understands it best." "Thanks, Yusuke," Kurama muttered. "Anytime," he said with a grin. "So?" Shizuru asked. "What happened?" "It's a long story," Kurama sighed, "but what it boils down to is that an old enemy of mine wanted revenge, so he trapped us in another plane. It took us this long to get out." "Huh." Shizuru took another drag on her cigarette and eyed her brother as he sat up, rubbing his head. Then she blew out the smoke and looked out the window, at the dark sky. "How long did you say we've been gone?" Kurama asked. "Nine days," she replied. "The same amount of time passed there," Kurama said. "That's interesting." "I thought time was constant between all the planes," Yusuke said. "Not necessarily," Kurama replied. "It must have been a plane fairly close to this one." He leaned his head against the wall. "I wonder how I can explain it this time." "School trip is out," Yusuke said. "Yeah...any of my usual excuses are out because I didn't leave word, or call her after I'd gone, or anything." He rested his face in his hands. "She must be going crazy. I'd better get home." He stood up, and staggered slightly. Yusuke immediately got up and offered his support. "Hey, be careful!" he said. Kurama nodded, resigned. "I guess I expected everything to go back to normal all at once." "Trust me, I know. It's not that easy." He leaned close and whispered, "Coming back from the dead is exhausting by itself!" Kurama chuckled at Yusuke's remark, causing Shizuru to give both of them a funny look. "Are you all right, Kurama?" she asked. "I'm fine," Kurama said with a smile. "I'm just tired." "And this time you're not lying," Yusuke teased. "Come on, I'll help you get home. But as far as your mother goes, you're on your own." "Some friend you are," Kurama retorted as they left the room, walking down the hall. Hiei appeared just behind them, silently following. Yusuke half-turned to look back as Shizuru started berating Kuwabara again. As Kuwabara meekly started trying to explain everything that had happened, Yusuke and Kurama chuckled and left the house. "Good luck, Kuwabara!" Yusuke called up toward the window. "Hey, Urameshi--" Kuwabara started, but Shizuru's voice drowned him out again. Yusuke laughed and started down the road. Hiei followed Yusuke and Kurama for a while, apparently not having anything better to do. Then he stepped right in front of them, regarding them coolly. "What is it?" Yusuke asked. Hiei cocked his head, thinking. Then he said quietly, "Thank you," and immediately vanished. "Huh," Yusuke said. "Didn't think he'd ever say that." "He won't admit to it if you ask him about it later," Kurama said with a smile. Yusuke nodded in agreement, and the two of them walked down the street in silence for a few minutes, Kurama still leaning on Yusuke. Then he spoke again. "You know, once I actually saw him smile. He won't admit to that, either." Yusuke chuckled again, shaking his head. The two of them kept walking, and Hiei watched them from a tree branch fifty feet away. "Shuichi!" Shiori gasped, staring at Kurama. "Ah...hi, Mom," Kurama said, embarrassed. Shiori looked at Yusuke, who was still supporting Kurama. Then she opened the door all the way and reached out, grabbing both his and Yusuke's arms and pulling them into the house. She closed the door and hugged Kurama, hard. "Where have you been, Shuichi?" she demanded, starting to cry. "Are you all right?" "Mom...don't cry, please..." Kurama disentangled himself and guided her to a chair, taking another for himself and sitting down before his legs gave way beneath him. Yusuke hovered uncertainly in the background. "I'm sorry I frightened you," Kurama said. Shiori nodded, trying to wipe her eyes dry. "Where have you _been_?" she asked. "You didn't call, you didn't let me know where you were... I thought you'd been kidnapped!" "Well...ah..." Kurama said, trying to come up with something. He glanced at Yusuke. "Kidnapped by space aliens?" Yusuke suggested. Kurama considered throwing something at him, but decided that ignoring him would probably be the better course. He looked back at Shiori. "I don't have an excuse," he said softly. "But I can't tell you where I've been, either. I...promised that I wouldn't. It would get certain people into trouble." He glanced back at Yusuke, and could read what he was thinking as clearly as Kuwabara ever could have. "But don't worry, Mom, I wasn't in any real trouble, and I promise to let you know if I ever have to vanish again...if I can." Shiori seemed to be calming down a little. "You won't tell me where you were?" "I can't," Kurama answered. "Like I said, it would get people who really don't need to be in trouble into it." "You promise me that you weren't in any danger?" Shiori asked. "Because if I find out later that you were..." "I wasn't," Kurama lied. "None of us were." "_Us_?" Shiori demanded. "Yusuke was there, too, and so was Kuwabara," Kurama answered. "But I really can't tell you any more than that. Not now, anyway. I'll tell you someday, when it won't be able to cause trouble anymore." "You promise?" Shiori asked. "Yeah, I promise, Mom," Kurama answered. "I'll tell you when I can." "Well, okay," Shiori said. She looked at the two of them. "Neither of you has eaten dinner yet, have you?" "No, we just came straight here after getting back and dropping Kuwabara off," Yusuke replied. "I should be getting home..." "Stay and have dinner here, Yusuke," Shiori said. "You can call your mother and let her know you're all right." "Well...okay," Yusuke answered. "Thank you, Mrs. Minami." Shiori nodded, and stood. She gave her son another hug before moving off to the kitchen. "Next time don't worry me so much," she told him. "I'll try not to, Mom," he replied. Yusuke dropped into a chair as she left the room. He looked at Kurama. "You're a good liar," he commented. "Several years' practice," Kurama answered. "She doesn't need to know certain things. Just let her think that all I am is Shuichi Minami." "Then how are you going to tell her?" Yusuke demanded. "_You_ don't break promises..." "I'll tell her someday," Kurama replied. "When it won't make trouble anymore." "Like that'll be any time soon," Yusuke retorted. "Tell me something - why _didn't_ you kill Kuroi?" Kurama shrugged. "I don't know," he said slowly. "I can't really explain it. Even though he put us through all of that, I guess I just didn't feel that he deserved to die. Maybe I feel like it was partly my fault that this happened." "Oh, come on," Yusuke said. "That's nuts. _Your_ fault? Get real." "I am," Kurama replied. "I didn't realize that Kuroi would ever have taken Eitaru's decision that badly. I don't think that the decision was wrong - Kuroi stole from his master, and that's as forbidden as you can get - but I also didn't think that my stealing the crystal back would cause him to hate me that much." He paused, thinking. "I guess I just felt that he deserves a second chance. Maybe he'll figure out that I'm not his enemy." "Maybe," Yusuke said doubtfully. "But what if he doesn't?" "Then I - we - deal with it. He won't be able to cause trouble for a while, I think. And if and when he does, we know that we can beat him. We've done it once, we can do it again." "Yeah, right," Yusuke said. "It only cost your life, injuries to the rest of us, and a nine-day absence. Sure, we can beat him, no problem." "Getting cynical, Yusuke?" Kurama asked. "Nah, just tired," Yusuke answered. Kurama nodded in agreement, and they both sat back in mutual silence for a while, resting. Hiei sat down and leaned against the tree trunk, looking up through the branches at the stars and the crescent moon. The moon in Kuroi's dimension had never changed. It had remained full the entire time. It felt good to be back in a familiar, real plane, even if it was the Ningenkai. But for some reason the night air felt strangely cold... The End...?