Youko- Oh great, another story? Don't you have many more you should be working on?
Peony- Uh hehe, I know but I've had this written almost 2 years ago, and after re-reading CrimsonMaidenXXX's Universe of the Four Gods I thought, why not just share it? I love this concept and-
Youko- Right I get it already, sheesh, let's just start this god damn story then...
Peony- You're no fun :P
Disclaimer: No, I do not own this anime blah blah blah. We've all heard it a million times before...I think we get it.
Chapter 1 A well through worlds
"Yawn."
"You tired already Botan?"
The blue haired girl looked up at her best friend groggily and mumbled a 'yeah'. Keiko giggled. She was also concerned though, her best friend had come to school more tired than the day before, how strange.
"What have you been doing recently anyway? I mean, coming to school half asleep isn't healthy you know?" Botan awkwardly rubbed her head.
"Yeah well, I need to study don't I? Finals are coming up. Can't slack off now." Keiko sighed. Sometimes her bubble headed friend was too serious, yes she needs to study for exams, everyone does, but to work this hard is practically suicide. Keiko shook her head in disapproval.
"Now now Botan, you're working way too hard. Not even I work this much. You need to take a break and slow down." She smirked, Botan gulped. "And I know how!"
She was almost afraid to ask. "And what, pray tell, is it?"
Botan was not expecting a girl's day out and a sleepover to top it off. The two bought tons of clothes thanks to Keiko's money. Botan felt guilty, Keiko was doing all this for her, not to mention spending her hard earned money at her parents noodle shop.
"Keiko you didn't have to do..." Keiko cut her off.
"No Botan, I want to. Besides I also need new clothes." Botan sweat dropped.
"But you've hardly bought anything for yourself." Keiko grunted.
"It's as I said, I wanted to." Botan sighed and gave up, once Keiko has decided something, it's final. They walked out the store they were in and headed to Botan's apartment. She lived alone, her parents were in a tragic accident. Her brother's body was never found, and she prayed that he was still well. They were twins and she had a feeling that he was just fine.
Keiko stopped abruptly which caused Botan to bump into her. She almost fell backwards but she was able to stand upright. Keiko gasped and went to apologise. Botan shook it off and said it was her fault for not paying any attention.
"I'm sorry anyway, but there was one more place I wanted to visit. Pretty please?" Botan nodded, curious as to where she wanted to go.
They took a detour down a forest path. She always overlooked the path, as she had never had time to go explore due to finals, she was really curious though. "Keiko what's down here anyway?" Keiko looked over her shoulder at her.
"There is an old shrine here. Me and my family usually come down her on New Years to pray. It actually works." Botan mentally flinched at hearing the word 'family'. Oh how much she misses them. "I just wanted to make a prayer, I've been meaning to do it for a while now. I just never had the time. Oh, you should make one too."
Botan smiled at this. "Yeah, maybe I will." She liked that idea, she'll wish for her twin brother's safety, and for good results this summer.
They arrived there 10 or so minutes later. The shrine was at a medium size, just the right size to hide in this urban forest.
"Here Botan." The blue haired girl found Keiko already at the shrine, the big bells and offering box behind her. "Don't forget to offer some money before you wish. I hear it's extremely bad luck not to." The girl nodded and walked up to the shrine too.
They offered a bit of money and prayed. When they were done Keiko sighed. She then smiled at her comrade and went down the small steps. Botan followed suite but before she went over the last step she thought she heard someone call her name.
"Keiko?" The brunette looked back at her.
"Yes?"
"Did you hear that just now?" Keiko looked confused.
"Hear what?"
"Nothing, it's probably just my imagination."
"You're kind of creeping me out." Keiko continued to walk on, more alert. She knows her friend isn't crazy. Botan shrugged it off and finished the last step. Then, she heard it again. She looked to her left and found a well. She gulped but went towards it anyway.
"Botan?" By now Keiko noticed her friend going towards the well. "Um, I would be careful around that well." She started following her friend. "Botan?"
"Remember how I asked if you called my name?" Keiko nodded, confused. "Well I heard it again, coming from the well." Keiko gasped.
"There's probably someone trapped down there, let's hurry." The girls ran towards the well but noticed it was sealed up. "No way can someone be trapped with all those talismans on."
"Hm, it was my imagination then." Keiko nodded.
"Must be." The girls went to turn around but then the well opened up. Air was coming up from it, which was technically impossible, right? Keiko didn't have time to react as she was getting dragged into it. "Botan!" She yelled holding out her hands to her.
Botan grabbed both her hands but it wasn't enough to pull her away. In result, they were both dragged into the well. It closed as if nothing had even happened, even the talismans went back to their original places.
They were floating in the air as the wind had died down. Keiko had shut her eyes while being dragged into the air and were opening them due to Botan's coaxing. "Wh-where are we?"
Botan continued to look around while answering. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure wells aren't supposed to go this deep." They both looked down at this statement, only seeing more air and no ground, as they could see. Suddenly a harsher wind than before hit them. It hit them so suddenly that they had no time to hold on to each other and were being blown to completely different directions.
"Botan!" Keiko had yelled before she had been completely swept away. Botan had tears in her eyes, praying to god that Keiko would be safe, wherever she is. The wind completely died down, almost like the wind just wanted to separate them. Fate was a really cruel thing sometimes.
Botan tried to move but it felt like something was keeping her in place. After a while a male voice echoed from the distance.
"You, priestess of darkness. You will save the world of mystery and get rid of the light."
"What?" She shouted. "What are you talking about?" It got dark all of a sudden then several lights started to fly towards her. "Huh? What- what are these?" The lights seemed to dance around her form and then they faded into her body. Her body glowed and another powerful wind blew by causing her to be swept away with it.
xXx
A bright light seemed to engulf the land of Makai entirely. A man with long dark hair with a mask around his mouth and nose stopped in his tracks. His eyes went wide then went back to their usual narrow state. He was carrying a brunette girl over his left shoulder. Another girl with turquoise hair had walked a little ahead of him. She sucked in a breath.
"Karasu? What is it?" The small girl asked. "What was that flash about?"
"Hm. I don't know." He shrugged. He continued to walk ahead of her. Yukina sighed then followed after him.
"Please Karasu, wait up!"
xXx
Not too faraway a sudden white flash could be seen jumping from treetop to treetop. The flash revealed itself as a silver-haired man (or demon) with a pair of fox ears and a tail. He wore nothing but white and his eyes were gold. He jumped down to a hot spring and landed with a soft thud.
"Hm." He took out an old looking map. It ended right in front of where he was standing. "The hot spring of life, huh?" He took off one of his shoes and dipped a toe into the lukewarm water. "I do feel somewhat rejuvenated. Fine, looks like this bottle will live up to it's purpose." He put his shoe back on and started to fill the bottle with the water.
A sudden flash of light appeared which caused him to jump back. "What the hell?!" He looked up to the sky when something caught his eye. It was falling to the ground fast and not too far away from him. When it disappeared through the trees he immediately dashed off to see what it was, leaving the bottle behind.
He jumped through the trees trying to find the mystery flying object. 'I bet it's a rare treasure! I can't resist, I must get to it first!' Youko was greedy, very greedy. He didn't care what the risk was, as long as it got him treasure and jewels. Oh, precious jewels. He would drool at the thought if he weren't in such a hurry.
He came to a clearing and noticed a change of spiritual energy. 'It can't be here.' He looked around some more. 'If it did land here then wouldn't the trees be torn somewhat?' He decided to investigate anyway. He landed on the grassy ground and still found no form of damage.
"The spiritual energy is pulling me this way." He said out loud. Behind him two shadows could be seen in a bush.
"Karasu, what are we doing here? We could get caught." Yukina said quietly. Karasu just continued to sit there, thinking.
"I saw something land here when that bright flash appeared. That Kitsune is looking for the same thing, from his actions anyway."
"But we need to go, we've stayed long enough as we have, my brother will be angry if we keep him waiting any longer."
"He'll be angry anyway. I don't see how a couple of minutes would be much difference." He said rather angrily. He shrugged her hand away when she put it onto his shoulder. "I'll keep to the shadows, you stay here." She reluctantly nodded.
"Fine, but please be quick about it." Karasu just smirked then disappeared. Yukina breathed a sigh then looked at the brown-haired girl. "Who are you? You're wearing such strange clothes. And you happened to land directly on top of Karasu. You're lucky that you're still alive." She hummed to an unknown tune to calm her anxiety.
xXx
Youko landed a few feet from a magical barrier. When he put one finger to the edge it felt like a huge bolt of electricity had surged through his being. It was too much and he jumped back away from it. "What the hell? Why can't I get near it? What the hell is in there? I guess I'll have to think about this for a minute."
When nothing came to his smart egotistical mind he scratched his head in irritation. No treasure is worth this much patience. Whatever is in there is definitely valuable. "Grr, this is pissing me off! I should just leave." He was not one to give up easily, that's for sure but he was already at his wits end.
As he was walking away a voice called out. "Do not leave as you are a chosen one." He stopped in his tracks and looked behind him. Something had changed with this barrier, it seemed less powerful. He took a chance and reached out a finger. He didn't feel anything and grinned with triumph. 'Wait, what did the voice say? Chosen one? But for what?' He shook his head and continued onward.
He looked around, the inside of the barrier seemed completely different than outside it. Outside you couldn't tell the difference but it was a completely different story inside. The colours were distorted, as if he were in a different world. Actually, instead of trees there were huge structures that seemed more high tech than what he was used to. The houses and buildings were not made with bricks but some sort of metal? Youko couldn't tell.
A small rustle of movement was heard ahead of him and be looked for some place to hide, realising there was nowhere to hide he looked in front of him. Lying there was a girl with sky blue hair. It seemed one of the pieces of hair coming down around her face had been burnt of. Her red hair bobble was to her right side but was torn and therefore unwearable.
Youko held a disappointed face, mainly the fact that what had fallen from the sky was not a valuable treasure or jewel, but a worthless human girl. She turned over to her side mumbling something that went the lines of Keiko. The Kitsune was confused. 'Who or what is Keiko?' He found a stick and started to poke the girl at a safe distance.
"Just who is this girl? How can someone sleep after they had just crashed landed to the ground?" Then he remembered the trees that should have been wrecked by the impact and that strange mysterious voice, could they be clues? The girl started to shift once again.
xXx
Something tickled her. It felt like a poke. She opened one eye slowly. In front of her was grass and then some buildings in the back. She was going to be alright, wasn't she? She wasn't flung into a different world like she had seen in anime, right? But something was off, the scene in front of her didn't look right. The colours were completely different, what should have been green was yellow, and blue was red.
She sat up quickly but held her head. The world was spinning but it went down eventually. She froze when she saw a pair of feet in front of her. She cautiously looked up at the silver-haired man that was casually staring back at her.
"U-um, w-who are you?" She asked frightened. The fox-eared Kitsune just continued to stare at her. He swivelled his tail back and forth. She sweat dropped. 'What is wrong with this guy? And what is he?'
"Then, how about you tell me where I am?" She tried again and still no answer. This silence was killing her. What was going on with him? Is he death? Botan mentally shook her head. 'That was a stupid thing to think.' The Kitsune man seemed to have lost interest and started walking away, grumbling as he went.
"I can't believe I came all this way just for this?" Botan took offence to that. She sprung up and stormed her way over to the retreating man and grabbed one of his shoulders roughly.
"Hey, I not only asked you one question but two! At least answer one of them!" Youko glared behind at her, which she flinched at. She stood her ground though and her hand still on his shoulder. Youko sighed and shrugged her hand off.
"Hn, my name is Youko Kurama and you are in Makai right now. Okay? You happy?" Botan just stood there shocked.
"Did you just say Makai?"
"Hm? Yeah, I said that."
Botan didn't know how to take this. In her history lessons not too long ago she had heard Makai was the land where bloodthirsty demons existed. It is certainly no place for humans, yet here she is, in Makai in front of a demon!
Youko waved his hand in front of her face. When she didn't respond he grew irritated. 'Good grief. It's like talking to a brick wall.' He rubbed his head with his hands. When he looked down at the girl she had been looking right at him. "W-what?" The girl blushed and turned her head away, muttering a 'nothing' as she did so. Youko shrugged and continued walking once again.
"You can't just leave me here!" When he didn't stop she called out again. "Hey! Youko-san!" This got his attention.
"Youko-San? Ha." He left the barrier there and then.
"What was that about?" She puffed out her face. "What a jerkoff." She continued to sit there, contemplating what to do next. "This is really Makai huh? And what was that voice before I blacked out about? Something about a priestess of darkness?" What a day it has been for her.
Outside the barrier, Karasu saw the silver Kitsune leave and flash between the trees. Karasu turned his head back to the barrier. 'Whatever is in there is probably not that valuable afterall. What a shame and I was getting excited too.' He was about to leave when someone else came out of the barrier. It was in the shape of a young girl.
'Interesting. So it was a girl? Who is she I wonder.' He was about to approach her when a small rustle in the bushes caught his attention.
"Karasu? We really need to leave now." Yukina said urgently. The other girl obviously heard as she snapped her head their direction. He sighed with annoyance but gave in anyway. She was right, he had wasted too much time for this.
"Fine, we'll be going then." He hefted the brunette girl over his shoulder once again and told Yukina to follow. He still wondered who that blunette was. He shrugged, this will not be the last time he will see her. No, he'll make sure of it.
The noise in the bushes had stopped. It was too small to be a forest animal but if it was a bloodthirsty demon that wanted to eat her it would have done so already. 'Nothing to worry about, eh?' She waited a little while before she shrugged it off. She saw nothing but trees, trees and yep you guessed it, trees.
"Now where do I go? I have to get home." She chose a random direction but looked behind her firstly. The barrier that had protected her before had disappeared. She breathed a sigh while putting her hands on her hips. "I knew I couldn't stay there forever but it could have at least stayed a little bit longer." She started her trek through the woods.
Youko had been watching her for a while. He knew there was something bad in those bushes so he made it look as if he had left the area. Obviously it had worked. He watched her go deeper and deeper into the woods. It was weird, why does he feel that he needed to protect her in some way? Then he remembered that voice from earlier.
-Do not leave as you are a chosen one.-
'Could she really be...?' He stopped his train of thought. A couple of humans had sneaked up on the girl. He didn't know what to do. Either save her or not save her. He barely knew her after all. The two humans were right behind her now. 'What the hell?' He silently summoned his rose whip and slashed it out at the two bandits.
She heard rustling behind her, then blood-curdling screams. Two bandits were practically sliced in half right in front of her. She shut her eyes and dashed through the trees. 'What was that? Who were they?' She tripped over a tree branch but got up immediately again. "What killed them?!"
She got into a clearing. She spotted a black-haired girl that was right in front of her but couldn't stop herself from running. "Hey, watch out!" The lady turned around in time to smoothly dodge her and catch her hand in time for her to not tumble over.
She got her balance back and smiled hesitantly at the lady. "Thank you! Sorry about that! I really surprised you didn't I?" She asked while scratching her head nervously. The girl shook her head and smiled at her.
"No no, not at all, I hope you're okay though." Botan nodded her head.
"Yep! Oh! My name is Botan by the way. What's yours?"
"My name is Ayame. I am the daughter of our village leader not too far from here." She then pointed to her right then put it back down again. She then observed her companions dressing. "Um, what were you running away from, by the way?"
Botan instantly remembered what she was running from. "Oh yeah, two bandits had almost snuck up on me then bam! A sort of whip type thing sprung out and killed them instantly." Her eyes then dropped to her feet. "I didn't stay and find out who or what it was."
Ayame then put her hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, you did the right thing. No person in their right mind would stay after that incident." Botan smiled at her. Ayame smiled back then turned her head to her right. "Looks like my father is calling me." She started to walk away. "You should come with me, Makai is dangerous and is no place for a human girl to venture alone."
"Thank you Ayame." Ayame nodded and led them back to her village.
What lies in the village and what is Youko Kurama's reason for saving her? Was it really just out of convenience or something much deeper? Tune in next time to find out.
Tbc
AN- I'm getting back into writing again! So you'll see updates! I promise! Still trying to settle into university life and I'm away from home. It's been quite hard not seeing my mother everyday, I'm such a mommy's girl and proud of it! And sorry if there are any spelling mistakes, I think I've improved since my first chapter of demon detectives though (so cringy looking back on it). So please review and tell me if I should continue this.