Prologue to Rude Awakenings
Jan. 21st, 2007 02:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onemuseleftRude Awakenings is YYH fic, set right around the end of the series. This is just the prologue.
I posted a snippet previously here.
Yuusuke's arms ached and his knuckles were scraped and bruised bright red and purple where he'd slammed them against the glass over and over.
He'd been watching through the glass for days and the others had been there. They'd spoken to him, smiled at him through his transparent cage and gone on their way. He could hear them, muffled and indistinct, like they were talking to him under water, and no matter how hard he screamed and punched, they never reacted.
The last time he threw himself at the glass, it wobbled and cracked, but did not shatter.
A skeletal hand grabbed him by the wrist and squeezed, and Yuusuke felt the joints in his wrist pop under the pressure before it released him.
Yakumo glared at him, one eye socket broken, his skin seared away in places. "I want my power back," he said and thrust his ruined hand through Yuusuke's chest.
****
Kurama stood at the edge of the dimensional barrier and felt its energy dance over his skin. He stretched his left arm out, palm pressed flat against the barrier and fingers splayed. "This can't be here." There was no atmosphere, and his words and breath were sucked away before he could even finish speaking.
Kuronue grinned at him from beneath the brim of his tattered hat. "Can't or shouldn't?" his partner asked him. Kuronue stepped up to the barrier and stretched his arm out, pressing his palm flat against the barrier opposite Kurama's.
Their fingers didn't match up, Kurama noticed. Thumbs to either side, fingers slightly skewed. Kuronue's hands were larger than his, and they curled slightly against the energy field.
"The barrier was broken," Kurama insists. He can feel his lips move and hear himself speak, but he knows he isn't saying anything out loud. "Sliced open."
Kuronue shook his head. "Anything can be fixed."
There was something wrong with that assessment, but Kurama couldn't understand what.
Kuronue tipped his head back and regarded Kurama clearly. "It'll take more than a sword this time, Kurama."
Kurama's hand sank into the barrier, the energy flaring slightly around his wrist. Kuronue caught his hand in the center of the field and slid their fingers together. Something hard and sharp pressed into Kurama's palm.
Kuronue vanished.
A thin silver chain dangled from Kurama's fingers. He stared at his clenched hand and woke up.
****
Kuwabara woke cold. He was lying face down on a cold stone floor and when he tried to move, his arms and legs failed to obey. He shuddered and bit back a groan as his muscles cramped.
He wasn't alone in the room; he could feel eyes on his back, watching him as he struggled. He was painfully aware that he was naked, but that seemed the least of his worries at the moment.
Opening his eyes took more concentration that he'd given anything since his last biology exam, but slowly he was rewarded with faint light and an up close view of the floor. It was filthy, he noted vaguely.
His arm was curled against his chest, his hand clenched so tight that he could feel the muscles spasm in protest. He held something in his grip, something he wasn't supposed to have, but he couldn't concentrate enough to know what.
"Are you a wake?" Yuusuke asked him.
****
Hiei felt the Black Dragon's fire at his back and the blade of a sword at his throat.
Hiei's dreams were real, and when dawn came he did not wake.
****
Genkai did not sleep that night. She sat cross-legged on the front stairs of her temple, listening to the wind blow and watching the night. Her blood was sluggish and heavy in her veins and the back of her mind was whispering danger to her.
Yukina stayed with her, heating and reheating tea that Genkai did not drink and keeping watch for things she didn't know existed.
****
Shizuru woke early and watched the numbers on her alarm clock change from 2:18 to 2:19. The bright red display was the only light in the room and it made her uneasy. She lay still, concentrating, feeling. She listened to the rest of the world waking and felt the wrongness seeping into the world where before there had been… something else.
She thought of Genkai, of Kazuma.
There was something out in the dark places that even Urameshi would shy away from.
When the first dim rays of sunlight filtered through her curtains, she reached for the phone.
****
This may or may not go with a scene that happens near the beginning of the story:
"I know the difference between a dream and a premonition," Kuwabara said, irritation coloring his voice. "For starters, in my premonitions, I'm never killing you with my bare hands."
"You're never making out with Yukina, either," Yuusuke said and ducked the bagel Kuwabara flung at his head.
I posted a snippet previously here.
Yuusuke's arms ached and his knuckles were scraped and bruised bright red and purple where he'd slammed them against the glass over and over.
He'd been watching through the glass for days and the others had been there. They'd spoken to him, smiled at him through his transparent cage and gone on their way. He could hear them, muffled and indistinct, like they were talking to him under water, and no matter how hard he screamed and punched, they never reacted.
The last time he threw himself at the glass, it wobbled and cracked, but did not shatter.
A skeletal hand grabbed him by the wrist and squeezed, and Yuusuke felt the joints in his wrist pop under the pressure before it released him.
Yakumo glared at him, one eye socket broken, his skin seared away in places. "I want my power back," he said and thrust his ruined hand through Yuusuke's chest.
****
Kurama stood at the edge of the dimensional barrier and felt its energy dance over his skin. He stretched his left arm out, palm pressed flat against the barrier and fingers splayed. "This can't be here." There was no atmosphere, and his words and breath were sucked away before he could even finish speaking.
Kuronue grinned at him from beneath the brim of his tattered hat. "Can't or shouldn't?" his partner asked him. Kuronue stepped up to the barrier and stretched his arm out, pressing his palm flat against the barrier opposite Kurama's.
Their fingers didn't match up, Kurama noticed. Thumbs to either side, fingers slightly skewed. Kuronue's hands were larger than his, and they curled slightly against the energy field.
"The barrier was broken," Kurama insists. He can feel his lips move and hear himself speak, but he knows he isn't saying anything out loud. "Sliced open."
Kuronue shook his head. "Anything can be fixed."
There was something wrong with that assessment, but Kurama couldn't understand what.
Kuronue tipped his head back and regarded Kurama clearly. "It'll take more than a sword this time, Kurama."
Kurama's hand sank into the barrier, the energy flaring slightly around his wrist. Kuronue caught his hand in the center of the field and slid their fingers together. Something hard and sharp pressed into Kurama's palm.
Kuronue vanished.
A thin silver chain dangled from Kurama's fingers. He stared at his clenched hand and woke up.
****
Kuwabara woke cold. He was lying face down on a cold stone floor and when he tried to move, his arms and legs failed to obey. He shuddered and bit back a groan as his muscles cramped.
He wasn't alone in the room; he could feel eyes on his back, watching him as he struggled. He was painfully aware that he was naked, but that seemed the least of his worries at the moment.
Opening his eyes took more concentration that he'd given anything since his last biology exam, but slowly he was rewarded with faint light and an up close view of the floor. It was filthy, he noted vaguely.
His arm was curled against his chest, his hand clenched so tight that he could feel the muscles spasm in protest. He held something in his grip, something he wasn't supposed to have, but he couldn't concentrate enough to know what.
"Are you a wake?" Yuusuke asked him.
****
Hiei felt the Black Dragon's fire at his back and the blade of a sword at his throat.
Hiei's dreams were real, and when dawn came he did not wake.
****
Genkai did not sleep that night. She sat cross-legged on the front stairs of her temple, listening to the wind blow and watching the night. Her blood was sluggish and heavy in her veins and the back of her mind was whispering danger to her.
Yukina stayed with her, heating and reheating tea that Genkai did not drink and keeping watch for things she didn't know existed.
****
Shizuru woke early and watched the numbers on her alarm clock change from 2:18 to 2:19. The bright red display was the only light in the room and it made her uneasy. She lay still, concentrating, feeling. She listened to the rest of the world waking and felt the wrongness seeping into the world where before there had been… something else.
She thought of Genkai, of Kazuma.
There was something out in the dark places that even Urameshi would shy away from.
When the first dim rays of sunlight filtered through her curtains, she reached for the phone.
****
This may or may not go with a scene that happens near the beginning of the story:
"I know the difference between a dream and a premonition," Kuwabara said, irritation coloring his voice. "For starters, in my premonitions, I'm never killing you with my bare hands."
"You're never making out with Yukina, either," Yuusuke said and ducked the bagel Kuwabara flung at his head.
