At Least We Have Forever 24 - Revelations And The First Trial

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters. I do own Riya and other OC's of this story, though.

Warning: The characters might not be in their usual selves.

-x-x-

AT LEAST WE HAVE FOREVER—Chapter 24: Revelations And The First Trial

Ayako immediately ran towards Kurama and Riya. The other wielders later followed her. Hiei just walked a few steps away from the others when he noticed Kurama's eyes holding back his tears for the girl in his arms. Keiko and Botan later followed the wielders. Yusuke and Kuwabara didn't leave their spot.

"Hey, Urameshi. Are you alright?" Kuwabara asked.

"I don't know…" Yusuke replied. "I don't know what to think anymore."

"We better check on Riya-chan's condition. I would kill a million demon shinobi if something bad happen to your cousin even more." With that, Kuwabara proceeded.

Riya was still breathing heavily, clutching her wounded shoulder. Kurama held her hand before Noboru pulled the arrow poking out of the girl's shoulder. Though she didn't want to, Riya screamed in pain as soon as the arrow was removed. After that, Noboru studied the bloody tip of the arrow, only to discover something disturbing.

"We need to create an antidote as soon as possible before she dies from the poison of this arrow," Noboru said before he destroyed the arrow by burning it using the fire emitted from his hand.

"But Onii-chan, the plant needed to create the antidote isn't found here and you know that," Akane said. "Don't tell me we have to go back to the Demon World just to get it?"

"What kind of plant was it?" Kurama asked upon hearing what Akane said. Noboru looked at him.

"It's a flower found only in Demon World that looked similar to forget-me-nots. Its extract is the antidote to the poison inside Riya-sama's body," Noboru explained.

Kurama looked at the still heavily breathing Riya with worries in his eyes. That was when he planted a seed into the ground and using his demon energy, he let the seed grow into a plant and allowed a flower to bloom from it. Akane and Noboru looked at him with awe since Kurama managed to grow the flower they were talking about.

Like what Noboru said, it looked like a forget-me-not, only silver in color and larger than the regular forget-me-not.

"Is this the flower?" Kurama asked. Noboru nodded before Akane plucked the flowers from its branches. "Will that be enough to make an antidote for the poison?"

"Yes. But how did you—"

"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to take Riya out of here," the read head said as he carried Riya bridal-style. He knew that the girl was already sleeping but he also knew that her pulse was starting to faint, making him start to panic.

They all headed back to Genkai's temple and let Riya sleep in the room she was using for two weeks now. A few minutes later, Akane arrived with the antidote. They let Riya drink it and allowed her to rest fully for the antidote to take effect.

After that, Genkai made them all go to the living room since the old woman figured out that an extremely serious conversation was about to take insisted on staying beside Riya to take care of her.

Much to the team's surprise, Koenma was already waiting for them there. They noticed that the wielders had a solemn look on their faces, increasing the already tensed atmosphere among they as they all seated.

"Alright! Explanation time. Care to tell me what's really going on here? And how does Riya became involved in this? To think she would be your mistress…" Yusuke started but the wielders remained silent.

It took a while for one of them to break the silence. Yumi did the explanation once she was done preparing her mind for it.

"All of this began approximately 6 years ago… Two years after Katsuo-sama's death," Yumi started.

"Katsuo-sama? You mean Riya-chan's father?" Botan asked. The wielders nodded.

"That was when Riya and I discovered that each of us possessed the Wielder's Crystal as a proof of our identity to become masters of the Legendary Weapons."

Keiko and Kuwabara seemed confused upon hearing that.

"Wielder's Crystal? What's that?" Kuwabara asked, confusion evident on his voice and his face.

No one answered, though. Instead, the four wielders (Yumi, Ayako, Soujiro, and Yukari) each began materializing four beautiful crystals on the palm of their hands. Each of which has different colors has a representation of the powers they possessed.

"We were born with these crystals inside of us," Soujiro said and then made the crystals vanished. "But we only found that out recently, when the weapons chose us to become their masters. These crystals were also the source of our powers. So technically, these crystals are the 'hearts' of the Legendary Weapons—one they could not live without at all cost."

"But only a few people knew the real reason why the weapons from their respective shrines. It's not because they were stolen but because those weapons had finally located their masters that would treasure them and use their powers to their full potentials," Yukari added. "Once they had chosen their masters, the weapons would only follow their master's orders and no one else."

"Each of the Legendary Weapons has a respective Wielder's Crystals to identify," Ayako said. "The Dragon Sword of F\lame had chosen Captain Yumi since she has the Garnet Heart. As for me, I was chosen by the Staff of Shimmer for being the bearer of the Amber Heart. Soujiro-kun has the Sapphire Heart, making him the wielder of the Scythe of the Deep Waters and Yukari-chan is the wielder of the Flute of Melody since she has the Quartz Heart. These crystals are said to be the proof of our identities as the legitimate Legendary Weapon Wielders."

The team took a short while to grasp the information that they found out.

"What about Riya? What's the name of the crystal that she has?" Koenma asked after a while.

"It's called the Topaz Heart," Noboru answered. "Also know as the compressed force of the wind element."

No one spoke a word for a while that made the surroundings somewhat tensed (again) and it lasted for a few moments before Kurama decided to break the silence.

"If that's the case, then how come Koenma didn't know the fact about the weapons choosing their masters? And why didn't you tell us about this earlier?"

"It took us a long time before we finally had the chance to tell you the truth. Like what we said earlier, only a few people knew the reason for the weapons' disappearances. Unfortunately, Koenma-sama isn't among those few individuals. As for not telling you about this earlier, it's our mistress' orders," Yumi said. "A lot of things happened to her that she wasn't able to bear the pain anymore. Especially now that she's…" she paused. "…she's dying. And we can't even prevent it."

"She's dying…" Those words echoed in their minds repeatedly and it came as a shock to Yusuke.

"What do you mean she's dying?! That's not true, right? She can't be!" Yusuke yelled but it didn't even made the wielders flinch to that.

Yukari sighed before looking at them with sad eyes. "We kept on saying the same thing over and over—that it's not true, that it can't be happening. But it's no use. Even though we possess some of the greatest weapons from the ancient times, we can't even do anything to prevent her upcoming death. No matter how powerful we are right now, it wasn't enough for us to keep her alive for long. The powers inside of her was too much for her body to bear since it far surpasses her physical limits."

All Yusuke could do was to clench his fists tightly as he gritted his teeth because of anger and frustration. His knuckles was turning white as his fists tightened even more. But he was unmindful of that. Keiko, Botan, Kuwabara and Koenma could only look down with sad eyes, knowing they couldn't do anything at all. Hiei, Kurama and Genkai remained expressionless since they already knew the fact about Riya's true condition.

That was when Keiko remembered something and faced Akane.

"Akane-chan, you said that you play a different role here. What exactly do you mean by that?" Keiko asked.

It took Akane a while to answer Keiko's question as the team waited in anticipation for her response. After a short while of hesitating, Akane heaved a heavy sigh before facing the team.

"Eight years ago, back in Hokkaido, my brother and I got lost in the Human World upon discovering a small portal that sucked us in. We have no idea what to do back then since it was a completely different world to us. At that time, a witch named Erithea found us. She said that she could help me and my brother go back to the Demon World—but at the cost of a certain price," Akane explained solemnly.

"You mean you're not really born here? You're from the Demon World?" Kuwabara asked.

"It wasn't that hard to grasp, Kuwabara," Hiei replied before facing Akane. "But what was that 'certain price' that this witch was talking about?"

"A life," Akane answered immediately that made them quite shocked. "She wanted me to take a life of a human as a sacrificial act of some sort."

When Koenma finally managed to absorb what the girl was saying, that was when he realized something.

"Eight years ago? Don't tell me… that human you killed was Miyuzaki Katsuo?" Akane nodded gravely as her eyes tightly closed.

"What?!" Yusuke exclaimed since he couldn't say anything else. Without warning, he stood up with his hands clenched into fists. But before he could even do something to Akane, Soujiro materialized the Scythe of the Deep Waters and aimed it to Yusuke. It was later followed by orange-colored energy ropes materializing from a magic circle conjured beneath him and bound him almost immediately. "Let me go!"

"I will let you go if you cool down your head a little bit," Ayako said. "We all know this came as a surprise to all of you but please let her explain her side."

Yusuke grumbled and sighed before he sat down. That was when Ayako released the binding ropes from Yusuke but the Scythe of the Deep Waters was still aimed at him.

"You can let it go now, Soujiro-kun," Akane calmly said to the blue-haired boy.

"But Sei…"

Akane smiled at Soujiro. "It's alright. I'm already used to getting that as an initial reaction from those people who didn't know the full story."

Though hesitant, Soujiro decided to follow what Akane said.

"Sei? Is that your real name, Akane-chan?" Keiko asked after things had calmed down for a bit.

Akane nodded. "It's my demon name, to be exact."

"What about your brother's demon name?"

"My demon name is Ren," Noboru answered.

"Then both of you are demon shinobi. Is that it?" Botan stated. This time, it was Noboru who nodded.

"For eight years, we followed Erithea's orders of killing humans as a part of a sacrificial act," Noboru continued Akane's story. "Among those humans that I had killed, one of them was Riya-sama's brother, Miyuzaki Hiroto."

Another collection of gasps were heard in that room, mostly belonging to the team and Koenma.

"When we decided to leave Erithea, that wretched woman put a curse on my sister. It almost took her life if it wasn't for Riya-sama's intervention. She was the one who saved my sister."

Kurama frowned. "Saved her? How? Did she find out who you are and what you have done?"

"Yes," Akane responded. "When we killed her father and her brother, she witnessed them all. For some reasons, even though we managed to kill them, we couldn't kill her. It's like we allowed her to know our identities as her family's perpetrators. It was two months ago when she finally found us but it wasn't what she had initially expected. I was so weak at that time and was about to die because of the curse that was put on me. As for Onii-chan, he was devastated knowing he couldn't do anything to save me. Even though Riya-ojousama's main goal was to avenge her father and brother's deaths, in some way she had a change of heart. She dispelled the curse inside of me using her own powers. That was when we asked her why she saved me and spared our lives from her vengeance. The only thing she said was that because… she doesn't want Onii-chan to feel what Riya-ojousama had felt when she lost those she cared about if my brother would lose me. At that time, my brother and I vowed eternal servitude to her as a repentance for that sin. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here by now."

All of them fell silent after that. When Hiei looked at Yumi for some reasons, he saw her frowning and looked like she was in deep thinking.

That was when the blonde Fire Wielder looked at him.

"There's something that I couldn't quite understand with Sei-chan's story," Yumi said.

"Something you couldn't understand? Which part?" Kuwabara asked.

"The part where Riya treated Sei and dispelled the curse from the demon shinobi's body," Kurama said placidly. He, too, couldn't understand that part.

"Would someone care to explain what's going on?" Genkai inquired that snapped them from their thoughts trailing deeper.

But the female demon shinobi somehow figured out what was wrong with her own story. And so, she decided to explain their further discovery to the rest of them.

"A few days after I was healed, Onii-chan and I decided to investigate what was going on for Riya-ojousama to possess such vast amount of powers that enabled her to heal me and remove the curse. That was when she told us the truth behind that," Akane said seriously.

The others waited for Akane to continue but instead, it was Noboru who did it since he noticed that the rest were holding their breath in anticipation.

"Riya-sama was able to remove my sister's curse because she used the powers of the Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem residing inside of her."

That information came as another shock to them, particularly to those who knew the facts about the gem namely Kurama, Hiei, Yumi, Genkai and Koenma.

"You're kidding, right?" Yumi could only say because of extreme disbelief.

"Elements of what? What is that?" Kuwabara asked, slightly confused. "Alright! Will someone please tell us what's going on?"

Genkai sighed after recovering from shock. "So that explains about her body being unable to hold so much power."

"But how could that happen?" Kurama asked out of frustration and slight confusion. "How could a powerful tool like that reside within her and not tell us about it?"

"Seriously, you're all losing us here," Soujiro said before facing Yumi. "Captain, what's going on? And what is that gem that Ren was talking about?"

But instead of Yumi, it was Koenma who decided to answer the Water Wielder's question. Still, worries came before that since Koenma had a strained look on his face.

Not only Koenma, Kurama and Hiei have them too.

"The Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem is a powerful gem that has existed since the ancient times. According to some accounts recorded, it had served as the greatest of all holy weapons that has been around for a long time. And by a 'long time', I mean since the old era. To be specific, it has first existed more that 500, 000 years ago."

"Woah! That sure is old," Kuwabara commented.

"During that era, the Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem was believed to portray as possibly the single most powerful artifact in the three realms since it was able to focus the energy of its wielder to perform magnificent feats. Though by far, the only known feats that the gem had performed were healing or resurrection, ability to control the four elements and travel through dimensions with ease. But there was one legend which says that the gem could serve as a double-edge power because of possessing tremendous energy capable of reviving an entire world from ruins or destroy an entire realm," Koenma continued.

But Yumi knew there was still something missing with that story since it always go some way opposite to it; much like a cause-and-effect relationship.

"But that feat could come at a greater price, right?" Yumi said in a statement than a question.

Koenma sighed before nodding and faced the Fire Wielder. "How did you figure that out?"

"It always go that way when it comes to possessing tremendous amount of power," Yumi simply answered that made them sweatdropped.

But then they knew she has a point.

"The gem possesses tremendous powers, but the strain of using such power often costs the wielder his life as the power actually derives from the life force of the wielder. The wielder's life force connects directly with the Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem and exerting too much of that power will kill him," Koenma further explained.

"No way…" Ayako murmured in surprise upon hearing that story. The fact that Riya possessed that extremely powerful gem inside of her was enough explanation why she was suffering. Her life force was being devoured by the gem as an additional source of power.

"If that's the case, then why does Riya-senpai kept on using it knowing she'll be killed?" Yukari asked.

"She wanted to finish the battle as soon as she can to prevent the past from repeating itself."

The voice who said that was quite unfamiliar to them so they looked around only to be surprised when they saw the door slide open and revealed a person undeniably familiar to them.

"Ryuuzaki-sensei?" Ayako mumbled in disbelief. "What are you doing here? And how did you—"

"The fated battle is about to come," Miss Ryuuzaki said that stopped Ayako from continuing. "But Riya-chan's future remained clouded with images of a past."

"What was that supposed to mean? And how does that connects to my cousin?" Yusuke asked irritably since he was getting all too shocked and confused already.

Miss Ryuuzaki sighed audibly before she sat.

"The reason why Riya-chan kept on using the gem's power was because she has to gather the energy needed for her to summon the weapon where the Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem actually came from."

No one said a word but Kurama and Hiei frowned at the story. They waited for the teacher to continue.

"The Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem was, in fact, the main shard of the Crystal Spear. And the seven wielders were also born with the other seven shards of that same spear, though the energies from the shards were the only needed one to summon that weapon."

"Alright, this turned out to be even more confusing than ever," Botan commented as she scratched the back of her head.

"You can say that again," Yusuke agreed, still maintaining a serious expression despite the confusion.

"But how does that relate to us?" Soujiro asked.

Miss Ryuuzaki looked at the four wielders seriously before speaking.

"The four of you were not only born with the Wielder's Crystals but also with the shards of the Crystal Spear, as well. These shards were called the Dragon Gems."

At that point, Koenma remembered some details about the legends concerning the wielders.

"Does that made them have the SS class as ranks in powers?" the prince asked the teacher.

Miss Ryuuzaki nodded. "That's right. But only one person was known to possess that rank. As of now, none of the current wielders surpasses the upper S rank since their powers hadn't evolved yet. They still need to summon the energies required for that. The wielders' ranks could be as low as upper A class and as high as the upper S class, depending on their energy's evolution," the teacher explained. "By far, the only person known to have possessed the SS class rank was the first wielder of the Crystal Spear. She was known by the name of Celeste, a deity that has lived more that 500, 000 years ago in a realm located at the borderline of Demon World and the Spirit World. But an unexpected cataclysmic event killed her and separated the Crystal Spear into eight different shards."

"That was the first and the last time the Crystal Spear had made an appearance," Kurama added.

"Great… Now our work became even harder and annoying," Hiei said in slight annoyance but Kurama and Yumi knew there was more to that.

When no one spoke another word, most of them just heaved a sigh.

"So what now? Does the mission ends here?" Kuwabara asked, breaking the silence and the tensed atmosphere in the process.

It took a while for Koenma to say something regarding that, though the gang understood that somehow since everything about the orginal mission plan turned upside-down. Now that the real reason about the weapons' mysterious disappearance had been revealed, it would take even greater work to change the mission plan if it should come to that.

But a minute or two had gone by and still, Koenma hadn't come up with a solid decision. That time, Yumi said something.

"I told you, I don't mind being apprehended by these Spirit Detectives. But before that would happen, I still have a mission to finish before anything else. Besides finding my father using the Dragon Sword of Flame, the rest of us still need to go after the demon shinobi and kill them along with Erithea. That way, we'll be able to prevent another senseless sacrificial act."

"It's not only the wielders who would do that, Yumi," Koenma said seriously afterwards, making their attention focus to the prince.

"Hn. I already know where this leads," Hiei said before looking the room.

Kurama and Yumi sighed inwardly towards Hiei's action but both of them knew it was the three-eyed demon's own way of approval since he now knew what was really going on with the mission.

"And care to tell us what the heck do you mean with what you said, Koenma?" Yusuke asked.

"You'll be joining with the wielders to prevent Erithea from doing another senseless sacrifice and stop whatever evil plans they have for this world," Koenma said.

"Her ultimate goal is to acquire the Legendary Weapons in order to rule the three realms," Noboru said. "So I guess we'll be needing all the help we could get."

"I won't mind helping, if it would mean I could protect Riya as long as I can," Kurama said, determined.

Yusuke faced the fox when he heard that. This was one of the few times he had seen Kurama so determined to do something no matter what it takes to do it. But that didn't made him surprised at all.

The only thing he has to do was to know the reason why.

But before Yusuke could utter his concerns, Yukina came rushing in to the room with a distressed expression on the ice maiden's face. Yukina was slightly panting but she managed to say what was wrong.

"Riya-san has disappeared!" Yukina announced in a panic.

"What?!" almost all of the people exclaimed when they heard that.

Yusuke stood up and approached Yukina. "But how could that happen? Weren't you with her?"

The ice maiden shook her head and eyed them sadly. "I don't know what really happened. I went out of the room for a minute or so and when I came back, she's gone. I tried to look around but there's no sign of her. Her bed, though, have drops of bloods. I tried to look for blood trails but there was none. I'm sorry. I was supposed to look after her but—"

But it was abruptly stopped when Yukari said something.

"It's no one's fault, Yukina-chan. I bet she needed to cool down her head for a bit since she's most likely pissed off right now." It was then followed by a small smile before her face went sober. "But I'm sure she hadn't left far from here due to the pain from her injury."

Keiko faced the said girl. "How did you know that, Yukari-chan? Can you sense her?"

Yukari shook her head. "Not really. My auditory sensation had gotten a lot stronger than usual. It actually became a lot sharper for some reasons."

"That's because the power of the Dragon Gem inside of you began to surface without you knowing it," Miss Ryuuzaki said. "Hearing any kind of sound from a certain distance and direction is one of the powers of the Dragon Gem called the Music of the Indigo Dragon Gem."

Yusuke faced the teacher before sitting back to his seat. He crossed his arms in front of his chest before looking at Miss Ryuuzaki.

"Alright. Since you already mentioned that Dragon Gem thingy, can you tell us more about it?" Yusuke said with a slightly grumpy look on his face.

"Before that, don't you think you have to help your cousin first?" Genkai reminded sarcastically.

"Well, I was going to but how am I supposed to do that if I don't know what's really going on with her?!" Yusuke yelled because of having a hard time to decide which would go first in his priorities. "Besides, I still wanted to know how long will Riya be able to handle all of that. Knowing this and that in just a short while, my thoughts are getting mixed up right now."

Before anyone could react on that, they saw Kurama stood up immediately and left the room in a hurry.

"It would appear that you're not the only one with thoughts getting mixed up. Unlike you, however, he knows what to prioritize first… as dictated by his heart and emotions. He was worried and he needed to know the truth from the person involved. Only Riya-chan could provide the answer he needed," Ayako commented followed by an exasperated sigh before she stood up and faced the others. "We need to follow Minamino-kun before something else happens and I don't want either of them to kill each other."

They were all surprised with what Ayako said.

"K-kill each other? What do you mean, Ayako-chan?" Botan asked.

"Don't tell me…?"

Ayako nodded slightly, saying that what Soujiro couldn't tell was about the same thing they had in mind.

"The first trial is already set to begin."

-x-x-

Though the gang didn't have any idea about the "first trial" that Ayako was talking about, they didn't asked her since they already rushed outside to check on Kurama and find Riya, as well. Even if they didn't know where to start looking, they still tried. Hiei tried to help by using his Jagan Eye but to no avail since the location was somehow barred by some mysterious and powerful force. It was a force that he had never felt before. Judging it from what the wielders told them a while back, it was no doubt that Riya could conjure such vast amount of force just to create a barrier like that.

Well, Kurama actually found Riya faster than he thought but it wasn't what he was expecting. He found her near the cliff, looking sadly at the silver moon. He saw her eyes even sadder now than when he first met her. But he couldn't figure out the reason for her sadness at that time. All he wanted to do was to console her even though he didn't know what made her sad like that.

But when he was about to step towards her, he saw her slowly turned around and faced him with the coldest expression he had ever seen from her. It made him quite surprised to see that.

"R-Riya?" Kurama called out despite the surprise. He didn't get an answer, though.

That was when he took a few steps towards her but then again, he was stopped to his tracks when Riya spoke.

"Just stay where you are!" Riya ordered coldly that he felt as if those words pierced through his heart.

It was unexpected for him to be treated that coldly by the woman he loved. But why would she do that? Did something happen again? Nonetheless, he already knew it wouldn't be answered if he wouldn't ask her. But before he could do that, he saw her materialized a beautiful spear with its blade made of crystal. His eyes widened at the sudden realization that had struck his mind upon seeing that. Don't tell me… that's the legendary Crystal Spear…

"I guess you already know what this spear is," Riya said, her voice was cold as ice.

Undeniably, it hurt him. But he couldn't do anything.

"Riya, what's the meaning of this?" Kurama asked but all he could see was a pained expression on Riya's face.

Riya's grip on the spear's handle tightened before facing Kurama. Before she knew it, she was already charging towards him that caught the fox demon off-guard. Her body stiffened when she saw Kurama bleeding because of the injury he received from her spear when she struck him. He didn't even defend himself from her attack. Nonetheless, she remained expressionless to hide what she really felt.

As for Kurama, he didn't quite know the reason for not defending himself from Riya's attack. He received quite a deep injury to his side when Riya struck him there. Despite his vision starting to blur, he raised his head and looked at the girl. Though her face was emotionless at the initial glance, he managed to see a fleeting emotion passed by her eyes.

"I told you to stay where you are, yet you didn't listen," Riya said, her eyes now devoid of any emotions.

"Why are you doing this, Riya?" Kurama asked despite the pain from his injury. "Please, Riya. I need to know why."

"What for? You're bound to die from the blade of this spear, anyway," she answered that shocked him. "Now that you know the existence of this spear, and the battle that should've existed only between the demon shinobi and the wielders is about to begin, it's better if we just end everything that we had together. That way, it wouldn't be too hard for me to continue and finish this before it would kill me."

But Kurama didn't move from his spot. He was still breathing heavily, bearing the pain of his injury. He didn't know the reason why Riya would say such a thing but he knew it was something important. A lot of things had already happened and one of them could've provoked her to do this to him. He needed to know that. And so, he tried to stand up despite his injury.

Riya tightened her grip to the spear even more when she saw Kurama stand up. He hands began to quiver without knowing as she tried to remain cold and expressionless while facing the red-haired guy pretending to be ruthless. But even though it killed her knowing that she had hurt Kurama, she was left with no choice but to do what she had to do. She has to do whatever it takes to make Kurama hate her and avoid her in order for him not to be involved with her anymore. It was the only way for her to make sure that he would be safe… despite the fact that it would make them enemies.

I'm sorry, Kurama… I'm really sorry but I have to do this. So please… Just stay away. It's for your own good… She thought painfully beneath that cold expression of hers. Unknown to her, she began showing some signs of hesitancy that Kurama still managed to notice. And that was when he finally figured out that this was just an act to keep him away.

Hurting him and eventually leading him to hate her in order for him to avoid her—that was her plan. Now he knew that the toll of her power's existence inside of her was becoming too much for her to bear all alone. Because of that, she has to do everything necessary to finish the mission of defeating the demon shinobi and Erithea as soon as she could before her life force would be completely devoured.

Kurama slowly approached Riya who was still aiming the spear at him. Despite his vision getting blurred by the second because of his injury, it didn't really matter to him. Right now, he wanted to let Riya know that he would never hate her, let alone avoid her just for the sake of the mission. He would let her realize that he couldn't do such a thing because he loved her more than life itself. So even if he has to fight her to make her realize that, he would do it.

Riya subconsciously took a small step backwards upon seeing Kurama still approaching her. Knowing he wouldn't listen to her, she decided to attack him.

When she did, it came as a surprise to her when she saw him pulled out a rose and making his Rose Whip to strike back. For some time, they just kept on blocking each other's attacks as they tried to strike one another. Even though both of them were in a disadvantage because of their injuries, they didn't want to lose.

In order for them to convey their feelings to each other, even if it would mean it could hurt them in the process, they were willing to fight each other for their feelings to reach.

Another strike from Riya's Crystal Spear created another serious injury to Kurama. Because of that, he dropped to the ground as he breathed heavily while clutching his shoulder. Despite the intense pain, he tried to get up and he managed to do so with him crouching on one knee before looking at Riya.

"I don't know the real reason that provoked you to do this… But no matter what you do to hurt me, I'm not going to hate you and avoid you, Riya," Kurama said seriously and sincerely that made Riya look taken aback.

"What are you saying now, Kurama?" Riya asked, now obviously reluctant of what to do.

"I'm saying this because I want to. It's one way for me to prove that I'm willing to fulfill my promise I made to you since I have no intention of breaking it," the fox demon answered as he stood up.

Riya's grip to her spear slightly loosened before she spoke. "Fulfill… your promise?"

He slowly took a few steps towards her. "No matter what happens, we'll always be together. I'm just holding on to that, Riya, since I promised you that from the bottom of my heart. So please…" he gently said before collapsing to his knees.

After a minute or so of silence between them, Riya decided to give up as she heaved an exasperated sigh. And then she let the Crystal Spear vanished from her hand the confused Kurama but what he saw made him quite happy and relieved. With that, he smiled weakly before he completely dropped to the ground.

Riya approached Kurama and kneeled to his side before cradling his body to her arms. He slowly opened his eyes and faced the woman he was willing to risk his life for.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked.

She showed a small smile with her tears at the brim of her eyes. "You're an idiot, you know that? Completely ignoring my plea like that even though you figured it out already…"

"That's the first time anyone had called me an idiot," he said with a smile. "But since it's you who said that, I won't mind if it would make you believe me."

"Why?" It was the question she had been meaning to ask to Kurama. "Why are you so willing to risk your life knowing I could kill you with just one strike?"

"But you didn't," he said that had taken her aback. "Besides, I want to prove to you that I could fulfill my promise to many extent. So even if killing me with your own powers would do that, I won't mind. It's my way of proving you how much I love you, Riya."

What he said made her mind felt as if it has short-circuit due to shock. And because of that, she couldn't say anything at all.

"What did you say?" she could only ask after a minute or so of silence between them, surprise still evident on her face.

Kurama smiled weakly as he faced her again. "I know it's quite surprising. And to think I would admit all this after you just injured me. But that's the truth. And that's also the reason why… I kissed you that time. I never realized that by doing that, it would lead me to the fact that I fell in love with you five years ago… and I'll continue doing so whatever it takes…" he said emotionally enough to stir her emotions as she could sense sincerity and truthfulness in each word he has spoken despite the pain from his injuries.

But instead of answering him, Riya leaned down and gently kissed him on his forehead before looking at him lovingly.

"Sleep. I don't want to let the others see you in this state. You'll be fine when you wake up. I promise," Riya said softly, uttering the same words familiar to Kurama. Thankfully, the fox complied to that.

Upon seeing Kurama's peaceful sleeping face, Riya gently smiled despite the tears starting to fall to Kurama's bloody uniform. Her hands were shaking as she muttered the words she never got to say earlier when the red head confessed to her.

"I'm sorry, Kurama… that you have to be in this situation before you told me the truth. But the pain you had acquired from mke will not be wasted like that. I promise. I know that because… I love you, too. I'm sorry I hurt you this way. But don't worry. Like I said, everything will be fine when you wake up. I'm not going to go away from you anymore."

After that, one of her tears dropped to the ground and magically created a ripple effect, allowing her to conjure a silver-colored rune circle beneath them. It was followed by a soft gust of wind blowing upwards from the rune circle as it continued to glow, healing Kurama's wounds and fixing his torn and bloody uniform in the process.

After a few minutes or so, the rune circle vanished before she decided to release the barrier she cast earlier for the purpose of this trial. Riya smiled as she looked at Kurama's calm sleeping face and planted a soft kiss on his cheek soon after before she laid his body to the grass.

She then lied beside him and snuggled close to him as she allowed herself to be this close to Kurama again, letting her consciousness drift away as she was confident knowing that the fox demon would never forsake his feelings for her no matter what happens from then one. He would be there for her…

…the same way she would never forsake her love for him even if she has to deal with Death.

I love you, Kurama… I always have… she thought before her consciousness drifted away completely.

-x-x-

The others arrived to the cliff where they suddenly sensed both Kurama and Riya's energy. But they were surprised to see those two lying peacefully on the green grass beneath the night sky until the wielders came up with a conclusion. A really good and relieved conclusion.

"Looks like the trial is over," Yumi commented with a small smile on her face.

"What happened here? And what's that trial you were talking about?" Kuwabara asked.

"Long story," Soujiro answered nonchalantly.

"Then make it short, will you?" Yusuke said, annoyed.

But no one from the wielders and the two demon shinobi said a word regarding that. They just watched Kurama and Riya sleep there together.

"I guess it doesn't matter what happened here," Keiko suddenly said. "From the looks of it, it seems that the trial was meant to test Kurama's real feelings for Riya-chan no matter what he had found out about her. And I think Kurama passed despite acquiring wounds from Riya-chan herself."

"You know something about this, Keiko?" Botan asked out of curiosity.

Keiko faced Botan before speaking. "It's more of an intuitive guess since Kurama's rose was just over there and there's a huge amount of blood near it," she replied with a serious face as she pointed out the direction where she saw the rose.

It came as a surprise to the team upon seeing that. Ayako sighed before smiling at the sight of her mistress lying beside the man she knew that Riya fell in love with.

"We better leave them here. I'm sure they'll be waking up sooner and I don't want any of us to ruin the romantic mood between them," the Light Wielder said before turning around and left the scene.

The rest of the team and the wielders later followed her.

-x-x-

That's it for Chapter 24! At last! Please review on this one even though it took me so long to post it here. :) It really inspires me to write if someone actually reviews on this story. I know this is my only Yu Yu Hakusho fic but I also needs inspiration to continue writing. Right? Please…