Holding On Until Tomorrow

Holding on Until Tomorrow
Disclaimer: I don’t any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters.
Chapter warnings: mild language and angst.
Chapter 2 The Power of the Spirit
Kurama gently laid Touya down on one of the beds in the infirmary that was already crammed with injured demons. A rather beautiful (though unremarkable in Kurama’s eyes) human nurse came over.
“What’s wrong with him?” she snapped. Kurama knew that she didn’t mean to sound so mean-she was simply tired and overworked.
“My friends need caring for. They have been gravely injured and need caring for. If you’d like, I can help you take care of them. I know much about healing and am willing to help out.”
The nurse looked surprised. “You would help?!” Kurama nodded. “It’s against the rules, but I really don’t give a damn right now. Let’s see what you can do.” Kurama smiled. He turned to Yuskue. “You can leave now, Yuskue. I have things under control here.”
“Are you sure?” Yuskue asked.
Kurama nodded. “I’ll be able to handle Jin and Touya by myself.”
“Okay then. I’ll see ya later.”
“Goodbye Yuskue.” Yuskue walked away. He was very glad when he heard Jin starting to protest.
“WHY DO I HAFTA SIT HERE AND LET YA PLAY DOCTOR ON ME?!”
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Yuskue walked through the woods later to clear his head. He wasn’t expecting to come across Kayko. Their conversation started out nicely enough but turned sour when Yuskue examined Kayko’s butt and declared that her ass had grown. He received a punishing slap from Kayko, though he personally thought it was worth it. They parted on relatively good terms, which made Botan, who had been listening in the bushes, collapse in exasperation. Yuskue heard.
“Hey, don’t think I didn’t hear you over there. If you want all that gooey lovey dovey shit then go home and watch your soaps,” he said. Botan gasped softly and made cat noises. “You know what happens to curious cats, don’t you?” Botan ‘moved’ away and suddenly appeared out of the bushes a few feet away, pretending that she hadn’t just been caught.
“Why hello Yuskue. I had no idea you’d be here,” she giggled nervously.
“Right, you were just looking for a place to pee,” Yuskue rolled his eyes.
“Actually, I wanted to tell you that you’re about to have a hatched egg.”
“A hatched…egg?” Yuskue asked, images of eggs with stick arms and legs marched through his head. “Since when have you started raising chickens?”
“Oh my goodness…” Botan growled softly. “HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN YOUR SPIRIT EGG ALREADY? JUST AFTER KOEMNA HAD FINISHED EXPLAINING IT FOR THE TENTH TIME?!”
“Oh, right,” Yuskue sweatdropped. “Pacifier breath did say something about that.”
“Be careful what you say Yuskue. Koenma will be here any minute.”
“Be where? I can’t be in two places at once. I’m the ruler of all of Spirit World. Not a magician,” Koenma suddenly appeared behind Yuskue, causing both him and Botan to fall to the ground.
“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me! Ya know, we’re still not used to you being at eye level,” Yuskue muttered.
“Well this pacifier breath still isn’t used to you getting dumber every time we meet,” Koenma retorted. Yuskue jumped up and looked ready to throttle the ruler of Spirit World but stopped when he saw the large egg that Koenma was holding.
“Whoa. That thing is huge!”
“Yes, it’s grown a lot in a years’ time. It’s ready to hatch. All it needs is some coaxing from you.” Koenma handed the egg to Yuskue and it started glowing. The sky turned dark and lightning flashed down. One of the bolts and hit the egg. It exploded and a jet of gold light shot up from the sky. The sky cleared up but there was no sign of the Spirit Beast.
“Huh? Where is it?” Yuskue asked.
“It’s not here!” Koenma cried. Botan did the same. Then, she stopped and started laughing. She couldn’t help it. Koenma turned and started laughing as well. Yuskue couldn’t see what was so funny. Of course, he couldn’t see the Spirit Beast seeing as it was perched on top of his head. It resembled a penguin in a way, though it had long ears and was blue. It also had a tuft of black hair just like Yuskue. Yuskue turned his head from side to side causing the little creature to take flight and hover over his head. When he stopped moving, the creature, landed on his head again and made a soft sound.
“Pu!”
Yuskue sweatdropped. Stupid spirit beast. It can’t look that funny now can it?
The entire room burst into laughter when Yuskue appeared with his spirit beast. The demon pair was taking one of their nightly strolls but everyone else was there to make fun of Yuskue and his spirit beast.
“I’m surprised at how fast your injuries have healed, Kazuma,” Yukina murmured, checking on Kuwabara’s injuries while the others cooed (or taunted Yuskue) over the Spirit Beast that quickly earned the nickname Pu.
“Well, that’s the healing power of love, baby!” Kuwabara declared much to the chagrin of the others in the room.
“I guess so,” Yukina laughed softly, not understanding what he meant. Kuwabara blushed, taking her words to have a different meaning. The others rolled their eyes.
“Hey, where’s Kurama? Has anyone seen him tonight?” Kuwabara breaking the silence after about ten minutes.
“He’s probably still in the infirmary playing doctor to Touya. I went in there earlier and he was still taking care of him. He somehow got Jin to stay in bed too, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. I always thought that you’d need to handcuff him to the bed to keep him there. But that’s Kurama for you. I wonder if he’s going to be out all night.” As soon as these words left his mouth, the door opened and Kurama came in, looking extremely tired.
“Hey how are you doing?” Yuskue asked, stepping forward.
“I’m doing all right,” Kurama answered in a strained voice.
“How’s Jin?”
“Jin is doing great. With some rest and some time, he’ll be back to normal.”
“That’s good to hear,” Yuskue smiled. The smile wiped away. “And Touya?”
Kurama let out a soft breath that could almost be a sigh. “His condition has stabilized, however he has fallen into a coma and it’s unclear if he’ll ever wake up or not.”
“Oh,” Yuskue said sadly. Kurama turned and wordlessly started to walk away. “Hey, where are you going?”
“I’m going to bed,” Kurama said stiffly. Without saying anything more, he walked off and went into his own bedroom (A/N: Just so you know, they all sleep in separate rooms. This will be very important later. If you’ve read the first version of this story, you’ll understand why.).
“What’s up with him?” Kuwabara asked.
Hiei smirked. “It seems as though Kurama is growing even softer. It also seems as though he has developed a soft spot for a certain Ice Demon.”
“Oh.”
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Botan asked quietly. (A/N: She and the other girls were there as well)
“I don’t know,” Hiei answered, a grim look on his face. “I just hope this doesn’t detract from Kurama’s fighting.”
“Right,” Yuskue shook his head.
“He seemed really sad,” Shizuru murmured more to herself than to the others.
“Yeah,” Kayko agreed softly.
Shizuru looked at her. “Did you hear me? I didn’t mean for someone to overhear me.”
“It’s okay,” Kayko said out of the corner of her mouth. “I don’t think any of the others heard.”
“Okay. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yeah. All right.”
“Hey, uh Kayko and I are getting tired so we’re going to bed, all right?” Shizuru raised her voice so that the others could hear her.
“Oh. Okay,” Botan said, surprised.
“Night everyone,” Kayko said politely. The others (with the exception of Hiei of course) bade the two girls goodnight and didn’t think twice about the legitimacy of their claims of being tired. Kayko and Shizuru made their way down the hall to where they knew where Kurama’s room was (A/N: They just know where all the rooms are, all right?)
“Should we knock?” Kayko asked nervously as they stopped outside Kurama’s door.
“Shh,” Shizuru put a finger to her lips and slowly pushed the door open a crack. There was some sort of noise coming from inside, something that was just barely audible.
“He’s…!” Kayko gasped, barely able to believe it. Shizuru nodded sadly.
“We’re coming in Kurama. Okay?” she said softly. They received no reply. Shizuru pushed the door open wider and she and Kayko entered. The room was dark, cool, and quiet, except for Kurama. He was lying on his bed with his red hair flowing in every direction. He was face down and his head was turned to the side so they could see his face. Eyes half closed with tears sticking to his eyelashes and running down his face. It was clear that he was trying to keep his emotions in check but it wasn’t working very well. He sniffled softly, biting back the sobs that longed to burst out. Shizuru crossed the room with a sad look on her face and gently placed one of her hands on the top of Kurama’s head. Kurama started, but didn’t try and push Shizuru’s hand out of the way.
“There, there,” Shizuru said kindly. “It’s okay if you want to cry. Kayko and I won’t tell anyone, right sweetheart?”
“Uh, right,” Kayko nodded. Tears oozed out of the sides of Kurama’s eyes and rolled down his face. His breathing was ragged as he still tried to bite back his sobs.
“Tell me, Kurama. What’s got you all riled up like this? I mean, it sure takes a lot to shake someone like you up.”
“It’s just…” Kurama started in a flat voice. He took a breath. “I know I shouldn’t get so worked up over this but…”
“But…?”
“Did you see how Risho attacked Touya?”
Shizuru shook her head. “We were still outside trying to get back in after finding Yukina. We only heard Kazuma talking about it.”
“Well, you were lucky because it’s not something I wanted to see-a teammate beating up on a teammate. It just hurt watching Touya get hurt because of that. It hurt even more having to see the pain Risho inflicted on him. And knowing that Touya might not make it…” he shuddered slightly. “Touya truly was a noble soul. He stood up for what he believed in…that Gama’s life should not have been in vain…and now he’s paying for it.” He choked back a sob.
“Why are you talking in the past tense?” Shizuru asked. “He hasn’t bitten the dust yet has he?”
“Well…no, but his condition is precarious. He may never wake up from his coma.”
“But you don’t know for sure. There’s always hope. You just have to believe. Oh god do I sound like a lame-ass. Sorry about that.”
Kurama chuckled softly. “It’s all right.”
“We should probably let you get some sleep, huh?”
“Yes, that would be wise,” Kurama agreed. After all, tomorrow is going to be a long day.
To be continued…
A/N: I’m sorry if any of the characters are out of character (man that’s not a good way of putting it). Reviews are highly appreciated. So is criticism. Tell me what I’m doing wrong so I can fix it. Please!