An Essence and her Demon
Disclaimer: I don't own yu yu hakusho or any of its characters
"Stop, please! I don't want to have to use violence!" Hotaru pleaded loudly as she continued her chase after the demon. But her cry had fallen on deaf ears as the demon continued to run away from the girl chasing him, adding a few unnecessary curses to the one behind him. "Stop following me or your gonna die, wench!" the persistent demon yelled back. The silver light of the moon was the only visible lighting in the park, blanketed in the night sky. Hotaru let out a huff before pursing her lips back together. She began to run at a greater speed, gaining the achievement of now being right on her prey's tail whereas before she was meters away. Hotaru stretched out her right arm and silver tentacles of misty light began to swarm around her open hand. Only a second later, a large black scythe appeared, now being tightly grasped in Hotaru's pale hand. With one quick and swift swoop, the sharp edge of the blade came into contact with the rough, green skin of the demon, cutting him in half. Both halves of the demon's lifeless corpse fell to the ground with a thump as its dark red blood stained the moist, green grass. The demon's pursuer approached the carcase, wincing slightly at the gore. Hotaru gave a light bow of her head in respect for the unfortunate soul.
"I am sorry that you had to die but disobeying the laws of the three worlds: spirit, human and demon, results in dire consequences." Hotaru raised her head and turned quickly on her heal. She took no more time to examine the scene; her bright, orange eyes had seen enough despite having seen sights like that too many times. She stared for the opposite direction, midway down the path she strode on, stopping to un-summoning her beloved scythe. Her tight grasp on its handle loosened until it fell from her hand but instead of hitting the ground it disappeared in midair with a sudden flash of misty light; similar to the kind that appeared when she summoned it. Hotaru made her way through the Park Forest with her mind a whirlwind of thought as to what she needed to do. "First I have to report my progress to Master Kei then I have to visit Loki to see how she's doing and I also have to deliver the report copies to Master Koenma...oh and I also have to get my scythe cleaned...hrmmm, so much to do." Hotaru let out a long and exasperated sigh. She hated long to-do-lists but for some unknown reason, at the end of the day she would always have one no matter how small. A sudden feeling of displeasure interrupted her thoughts. Hotaru ceased her walking, her brows furrowed in discomfort. She brushed a few strands of her raven mop-like bangs away from her troubled eyes. Hotaru could feel the presence of another demon, a very strong demon. Her orange eyes shot glances in every direction trying to locate the source of the demon aura she was sensing. Nothing could be seen except for the greenery and benches that belonged to the park. Nothing could be heard but the rustling of the leaves as they blissfully danced in the cool evening breeze. "Hello?" Hotaru spoke carefully. No answer. "Is anybody out there?" she spoke once again but much to her dismay, there was no answer yet again. "Don't worry, I promise not to harm you as long as you return to the demon world, where you belong." said Hotaru in a polite manner. The area was as silent and cold as death. It seemed that Hotaru really was the only one there but there was no mistaking the immense aura she felt. It was heavy in the air that she breathed and was very distinctive. Most demon auras were evil and had the sense of blood lust, murder and cruelty but this aura was much different. It felt warm and kind with a hint of childish humor. It seemed much more good than it did bad, almost like it was pure...but that was impossible. No being is pure, only an essence spirit can be pure.
As much as Hotaru wanted to walk away and pretend she had never sensed anything, she knew that she needed to follow the laws of an essence spirit. Law #46: Always obey orders from superiors and her orders were to never ignore the presence of a demon. Hotaru exhaled loudly before beginning her search for the demon. The raven haired girl wandered around the park's forest, following the invisible trail the aura provided. It felt as if she was searching for hours with no success. Luckily the aura had become stronger about five minutes ago which clearly suggested she was getting closer to her destination. Hotaru paused in mid walk to study her surroundings before continuing her stride. That was her method of searching that she had come up with shortly after beginning her search. Hotaru debated if she should just ignore the aura she sensed but quickly shoved the thought out of her mind. Law #19: Never ignore a demon aura after sensing it. Plain and simple. But she could not just disobey the laws, it was clearly stated; Law #10: Never disobey the laws. Despite how many ridiculous laws there were, she had to follow each and every one. Such was the fate of an essence spirit. Hotaru glanced up at the dark, moonlit sky for a brief moment before returning her gaze ahead of her. She could tell that it was very late-3:30 AM from the looks of it. Hotaru just hoped that the demon would not be too troublesome, or at least wouldn't run. Hotaru hated having to do an old fashion chase, especially since it would always end violently. The young spirit could feel her eyelids becoming heavy with exhaustion, blinking a few times in attempt to keep them open. She rubbed her tired, tangerine eyes before whispering aloud "I'm getting tired and Master Kei will be upset if I don't report back to her soon. Maybe I should just go back?" Hotaru opened her mouth as wide as it could go without braking, inhaling a heap of air into her lungs then letting it out with a loud, over exaggerated sound. She groaned rather loudly "I hate working this la—"Hotaru shut her mouth suddenly as if trying to prevent a fly from entering. She could feel the energy of the demon much stronger than before. "Damn, this energy is so strong." She thought as she scanned the area. The demon was close, very, very close. Hotaru continued glancing around her, this time with a hint of restlessness laced in her movements as she began to fully move her torso in the direction her eyes gazed to. "Where? Where is the demon?" Finally Hotaru had the sudden feeling in her gut telling her to look up. She obliged, slowly and cautiously tilting her head upwards to the sky. Above her was what appeared to be a man? Or a boy. Hotaru couldn't see any of his features since he was what most likely appeared to be, floating high in the sky. That was defiantly the demon with the incredibly strong aura that the tired spirit was searching for. Hotaru stared up at the boy with a spark of wonder n her eyes; the kind of spark a child got when seeing something abnormal and intriguing for the first time. She marveled at the demon's ability to fly. She had never encountered any demons with that strange ability. Hotaru had always wished to have the privilege of flight but sadly, essence spirits possessed no such thing.
The boy in the sky began to descend from his current location in the sky and landed perfectly on a tree branch in front of Hotaru with his back turned to her. Now that he was closer to the spirit girl, she could begin to pick out some of his features. He had fluffy looking red haired, much nicer than Hotaru's plain long, long black hair. He wore a strange white, shinobi outfit. It was funny to Hotaru since almost all of the demons she encountered, wear human clothing and make many attempts to blend in with humans. This boy seemed to have no problem showing his true colours. "Hm?" The demon peeked over his shoulder at Hotaru. His crystal blue eyes seemed to glisten with the same curiously of hers. With his hands locked onto his hips, the boy turned his whole body around to face Hotaru. Now that his back wasn't to her, Hotaru noticed a few other features that had not been visible before. He appeared to be around 16-17; he also had a small white horn in the middle of his head. She could also spot how well built he was. There was a confident grin glued to his face that looked like it could never be removed. "And who er ye den?" he asked not losing his grin even for a second. He spoke with an Irish accent which made Hotaru even more interested. She had never heard anyone speak that way before. Hotaru stiffened suddenly after finally acknowledging his question.
"Uh, my name is Hotaru."
"Hotaru? A young girl soch as ye self havin' soch ah dark name? Don't seem teh fit ye."
"Yeah I get that a lot." Hotaru spoke as if she had said her last sentence many times before. She jumped in shock when the demon flew from the branch he had been resting on, right up to her, being only two inches away from Hotaru's face. The feeling of his breath made her feel greatly uncomfortable but for some reason she couldn't seem to make herself move as his crystal blue eyes seemed to captivate her. "Yer defiantly not human...Bot yer not ah demon either. Wot are ye?" Hotaru felt very uncomfortable as the red haired demon studied her with interest. He seemed to be the most interested in the pure white priestess uniform she was wearing, almost as if he had never seen such an outfit. Hotaru finally managed to break free from the trance the demon's eyes had cast on her. She took a few steps back, separating them until they were at a comfortable distance. The boy gave her a confused look; he didn't understand why she was backing away. He lifted both his feet off of the ground and crossed them in mid air, now hovering cross-legged. Hotaru gave a slight bow of her head before beginning. "I am what's called an essence spirit. We are pure beings that live in the spirit world. Our whole existence revolves around maintaining the balance of the three worlds; in other words, making sure that demons stay out of the human world. Events like that disrupt the balance and if the balance is upset too much then all hell can break through. Our job is to remain pure and maintain the balance at all times. Unfortunately, in order to keep the balance, essence spirits must sometimes resort to killing demons even if we don't want to. Do you understand?" The demon was listening very intently to the spirit's explanation. He gave a nod of his head, suggesting that he understood. The grin that had only disappeared for a few minutes, returned to his curious face. "Ah see, so yer a demon slayer den?" Hotaru shook her head. "No, I am not a demon slayer; I only use violence when I need to." There was a silence between the two as, what looked like, the demon debating with himself on whether or not to kill the demon slayer. Hotaru broke through the solid silence. "Would you mind telling me your name?" Her question was more of a demand which seemed to have caught the demon a bit off guard. There was a short silence before he answered.
"Mah name's Jin." Hotaru managed to conjure up a polite smile despite the impatient mood she was in.
"Well Jin, I ask you to please return to the demon world from whence you came. If you fail to obey then I will be forced to use violence." There was another dreaded moment of silence before, much to Hotaru's surprise, Jin burst out into laughter. Hotaru raised a fine brow at the fairly amused demon before her. Jin managed to force out a few words between laughs. "Oh, wot are we gonna do now?" He continued his laughing spree, leaving the essence spirit even more confused than before. "What do you mean?" She demanded, losing her polite tone and smile. Jin slowed his laughter to respond. "Well ye see, ah can't go back teh the demon world coz ah'm here for a visit and ah'm plannin' on stayin' for o while. Ah don't like hittin' wee girls, 'specially teh pretty ones." A light shade of pink brushed against Hotaru's cheeks, adding the only colour to her extremely pale skin. "L-look you must go back now."
"Sorry, no can do. Well ah guess ah better leave before ye get violent, bye!" He gave Hotaru one last glimpse at his grin before flying away, out of her sight range. Hotaru stood in shock from what had just happened. She let a demon get away for the first time ever. The raven haired girl bit her bottom lip in worry. "Master Kei will be very angry with me." She let out an exhausted sigh at the thought of having to sit through one of Kei's lectures. "Well I can't just sit here, I have to go back." Hotaru dug into the large sleeve of her kimono and pulled out two small slips of paper. The paper had many different symbols painted on in black ink. Hotaru took one of them and dug the other back into her sleeve. She threw the slip of paper to the ground and chanted three words in a different language. The slip of paper burst into bright red flames, illuminating the dark forest. Once the tall flames died down, the paper was no longer there, instead there was a floating lantern with a blue flame lit inside it. "Mitsu, return me to spirit world." The Golem happily obliged as it bounced closer to its master. The Golem opened its glass door. The small blue flame inside it came bursting out like a flame thrower, engulfing Hotaru in its warm fiery embrace. Once the flames cleared, Hotaru and the Golem were no longer in the park's forest. They were now standing in a large, old fashion temple. Hotaru wasted no time, making her way down the halls at a fast walking pace. Hotaru came to a sudden stop once she reached two extremely large doors. They were green with decorative gold trim. Hotaru placed both hands on one of the doors and easily pushed it open, stepping inside. After she entered the door began closing. There was only a small window of time for Golem, who had been struggling to keep up with his master, to enter. He flew through at the last minute, almost getting crushed be the force of the now closed door. The room they had entered was very large yet empty. It contained no furniture except for a small wooden desk, full of stacks of paperwork, in the center of the room. Behind the mountains of paperwork, there sat a woman who was busily signing away. She appeared to be in her late twenties. She had dark skin with long purple hair wrapped tightly in an up due. She wore the same white priestess uniform that Hotaru wore but with no sleeves, exposing her arms that were heavily pierced with silver studs. Her arms were not the only thing pierced though, her face was heavily pierced as well-two on either side of her nose, two on her bottom lip, four on each eyebrow, seven on each ear and finally three on her tongue. Her chocolate brown eyes were focused on the paperwork that she was busy signing. Hotaru approached the desk and gave a light bow of her head. "Sorry to disturb you Master Kei but I've come with a report. Without glancing away from her paperwork, Kei spoke. "Proceed." Her croaky voice always irritated Hotaru's sensitive ears. Despite that, Hotaru had the highest respects toward Kei, not only because she was the leader of all essence spirits but because of her kind and understanding personality. Kei always appeared scary and mean but most people gave her that stereotype upon meeting her mostly because of her unusual height of 7"4. Hotaru cleared her throat before continuing her report. "I encountered ten demons. Two were in the human world by accident and I had no trouble sending them back. Seven were there on purpose and would not obey, so I had to slay them. Finally..." Hotaru paused. She wasn't sure if she should tell Kei that one demon managed to escape from her. The spirit closed her tangerine eyes and continued. "One demon managed to get away and is still in the human world." Kei stopped writing and tore her eyes away from her paperwork to glace up at her underling. "One managed to flee? Hm...that's not like you at all, Hotaru." Kei spoke in her naturally croaky voice. Hotaru reopened her tired eyes only to be welcomed by Kei's hard, bone-chilling gaze. "Please forgive me Master Kei. I promise it will not happen again." Kei returned her attention back to her paperwork before responding. "Well since you let the demon escape, tomorrow you will return to the human world and hunt down that demon before doing anything else." Hotaru nodded. "Yes ma'am." She spoke barely above a whisper, displeasure laced in her voice. There was a sudden crash sound of something breaking. Both Kei and Hotaru's eyes snapped in the direction the noise had come from. In the corner of the room, Mitsu was floating above the mess of a shattered vase. Hotaru's jaw dropped once she had caught on to what had just happened. Kei could feel a throbbing vain pop from her head in anger. "That was vintage." She hissed through gritted teeth as an evil aura began to seep out of her. Mitsu flew as fast as lighting towards Hotaru and hid behind her back. Hotaru nervously smiled as she slowly began to back away from Kei who was now shuddering in anger. With a loud snapping sound, the pencil in Kei's hand broke in two. Taking the snapping sound of the pen as a cue, Hotaru bolted out of the room with Mitsu tucked tightly beneath her arm. Just as she closed the door after her exit, there was a loud sound of something hitting the entrance. Hotaru imagined that to be Kei's working desk. The raven haired girl let out a long sigh of relief that she had escaped just in time. "That was close." Hotaru managed to say as she attempted to refill her lungs with air. Mitsu wriggled his way out of Hotaru's tight hold on him and floated in front of his master. Hotaru's orange eyes shot a death glare at the Golem, causing him to shudder in fear.
"You did NOT help me back there you little-"Hotaru stopped herself before anything more could be said. Mitsu was a very sensitive Golem and cursing at him would not be a wise choice. The last time she made that mistake, he wouldn't let her summon him for a week and he was her only gateway to and from the human world. Hotaru let out an exasperated sigh. "Let's go, Mitsu." Hotaru started down the never-ending corridor to her room. She finally came across the small, paper sliding door leading to her bedroom. On the other side of the hallway, across from her room, was her friend, Loki's, room. Hotaru planned on seeing her tonight but it was much too late for that. Tomorrow would not work either since she would have to worry about finding that demon. Hotaru opened her door, allowing Mitsu inside before following behind him. Her room was very dull with barley any decor or tasteful objects but it never bothered Hotaru. Her bedroom was very small and square, containing a plain bed in the upper right corner. Next to the bed was a small open closet containing three extra white priestess uniforms, two extra pairs of straw sandals and a straw hat for bad weather. On the wall next to the closet, hung a black poster that read "Sometimes to face the world you have to go a little mad" in bolded letters. Behind the words, was a picture of a smiling cat. Hotaru had picked up that poster in the human world a while back only because she had a love for cats. Hotaru dragged her feet along, towards her bed and slumped down, face first. She felt a shot of relief run through her as she was welcomed by the softness of her bed. Hotaru huddled up into a ball atop the covers to keep warm. Mitsu sprung towards the bed and cuddled up against his master's tense, over worked, body. "Good night...Mitsu." With that, Hotaru closed her tangerine eyes, falling into the world of sleep.
