Untold History: The Politics of the Faiths

AN: I told you there would be a sequel. Remember THIS STORY IS A SEQUEL TO THE ORIGINAL UNTOLD HISTORY PLEASE READ THAT STORY FIRST. I also suggest reading UH: The Good Ole Days too, it's about Kurama, Kuronue and raising Avaria, it's mostly meant to be funny. Thank you!

*Also, just so we're clear, Avaria never finished the series...I read the entire manga and own the entire Anime plus, Poltergeist Report. Timeline wise I may be going more manga than anime, possibly adding extra months or such. You've been warned. Okay, moving on now. *

Chapter 1: On Give Me My Damn Food Kurama!

"Do you still remember how to use these?"

Chopsticks. The "these" in question was a pair of normal, everyday...Chopsticks.

"Uh yes…."

"Are you sure?"

"OH, my gods yes!"

"Are you absolutely positive?"

"I swear to freaking Inari ni-san…."

"I'm only making sure, I can easily get you a fork."

Avaria's right eyebrow twitched under the bandages that still covered the upper right side of her face. Make no mistake she missed her big brother and all but this was getting ridiculous. She growled, short on patience and with a warning note to her voice. "Kurama….I was stabbed through my stomach, not my brain!"

"I know dear…" he winced slightly at the reminder, giving a split-second glance to her abdomen. Right now, she was still mostly covered in bandages under her borrowed clothing.

"So please shut up and give me the ramen!"

"Oh, all right, spoil my fun." He relented with a fond smile. Which she totally missed because the second the tray was in her lap she was tearing into the first real food she'd been allowed to have in weeks. Kurama watched his sister with a keen eye, chuckling quietly to himself as she ate now much as she had when she was little. Which to put it mildly was pretty much the same way Kuronue ate, learned by pure example. Messy, slurping noodles, splashing broth everywhere, and trying to subtly avoid the vegetables.

See Also: The way Yusuke Urameshi shovels food into his mouth.

Of course, she wasn't so little now, was she. She certainly seemed a lot smaller, up close, wrapped up like a mummy, the clothing he'd loaned her far too big. The ferocity they witnessed when she was being ripped apart? For now, it seemed to have vanished, though that might have simply been the ungodly amount of demon level pain medication she was on. And beyond the matter of her healing, some parts taking a lot longer than others, was the matter of her body re-acclimating to this universe once more.

**Two Weeks Earlier**

"It's called the Chameleon Effect." Koenma stated. Avaria had begun going through small changes, regressions of a sort, mostly in the form of severe migraines. The prince had come to visit now that she was awake and he couldn't take another day looking up codes and guidelines and former examples of...whatever the hell had been done to her when she was a child.

He needed a break before his eyes dissolved from the strain.

" When a being from one universe attempts to settle in another one, parallel or otherwise, it can go one of two ways." He held up one finger as the others in the room watched him closely. " One: The universe can do everything in its power to forcibly expel the intruder who doesn't belong or..." And here he held up a second finger. " The universe will embrace the new person, and that person will undergo changes that will allow them to fully integrate with their new world. You'd actually be surprised how common place this second option is. "

"Uh huh...but I'm not actually NEW...I was BORN in this universe..." Avaria stared at him curiously, she had a point.

"Well that is true... Which means that you'll be experiencing a more intense version of option number two. An option you probably went through before when the Powers nabbed you. I bet they made damn sure the universe wouldn't expel you too. There are always some exceptions to every rule, and you are one of them. Long story short the energies at work in this universe are going to bring you back to the way you SHOULD be. " Koenma smiled apologetically and Avaria narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

Kurama sat on her other side and mulled Koenmas words over for a few moments. It didn't take a genius to grasp this concept but he helped his half-drugged sibling along. He nodded to Koenma and his own smile turned apologetic as he turned to his sister. " You're going to change from the form you had in that world, to the form that will fit this one, the form you were actually born to grown into. And it's probably going to hurt."

"A Lot." Koenma added, which only earned him a double dose of Youko level death glares. (Avaria had learned this expression at a very young age, making Kurama VERY proud.)

"That... was not helpful." Kurama sighed.

"I know!" Koenma just grinned, patted Avaria very gently on her less injured shoulder, and left.

****Back to the Present****

Avaria definitely felt like a child again and it wasn't just because she was seriously drowning in a spare set of Kurama's PJ's. Seriously, she wasn't exactly small to begin with yet somehow her big brothers stuff still swallowed her up. Her nails barely showed from under the cuffs of the tops long sleeves which hung off her shoulder almost like an 80's style sweater. The drawstring pants were even worse, she had them cinched up tightly with the bottoms rolled up about 3 inches. This healing thing was taking way, WAY too long and she was really worried about her eye. There was a great deal of serious damage that had been inflicted. When a doctor tells you they "did all they could do" that usually means they couldn't fix everything, didn't it?

Some damage as it turns out... would be permanent.

"Are you done?" Kurama asked, noticing she'd stopped eating and gone quiet.

"Huh? Oh...yeah, yeah I'm stuffed!" She grinned at him, holding up the tray with shaking arms. She smiled like it wasn't a big deal but the weakness in her limbs were frustrating. Dr. Nataka had said she still needed to rest and she wasn't allowed to do anything for herself. She wasn't even allowed out of the Rekai medical ward yet. She had a private room, and Kurama expressly volunteering to take care of her. Which was nice but sometimes awkward and embarrassing.

Like a few weeks ago when she'd insisted on having a nurse help her to the bathroom because she wasn't allowed to put any weight on either leg. One was healing from so many breaks the x-ray had looked like a hundred-piece jigsaw puzzle. The other one had so many sets of stitches she could have passed it off as one of Sally's from that Tim Burton film. When she'd protested Kurama would have none of it.

"I changed you're diapers Avaria..." He had said with a pointed look.

She could not argue this point.

So, she didn't. She'd been a very highly intelligent and aware child, perhaps not Hiei's extreme level of advancement but somewhere up there. Kurama and Kuronue had indeed changed her diapers, potty trained, bathed and dressed her for the first several years of her life. She didn't really know any of the nurses very well yet either, so she swallowed her pride and let him at the least help her to the bathroom. He politely waited outside the door for her every time until she was able to put weight on her legs which only took a week.

As of now she could put weight on her legs again. The muscles were weak and atrophied, the same as in her arms but at least now she could go to the damn bathroom by herself. Little victories people, take then where you can get them. Kurama took the tray from her and replaced it with a cup of dark green/brown tea. At least it looked like tea, honestly, she wasn't sure what it really was other than "medicine". Kurama's version of medicine.

"Ew..." She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the bitter, yet sickly sweet scent that rose from it. "I really have to drink this stuff again?"

"Yes, you do." Kurama sighed, she'd always been a little terror when it came to taking medicine. "It helps you regain your strength, you know this."

"Yeah but...it smells like rotting roses and chicken liver..." She made another face.

"And it tastes even worse. Yes dear I know, you said that yesterday and this morning." He gave her a look that clearly stated he was getting annoyed with her stalling. "Take. Your medicine. Avaria."

"...eep." she squeaked at the cold gaze and gulped it down as quickly as she could. When she handed him the now empty cup he had a smile that was as sickly sweet as the tea had smelled. She shuddered, he was still as scary as ever when he wanted to make his points. She had personal experience in this matter and she happily chose to down it under her own power.

Then she went quiet again.

She had a theory she wanted...no she NEEDED to test it out. Stuck here in this room, in this bed, with no money, no belongings, barely a claim to her own life. Thank the gods Reikai didn't run off insurance, she'd never be able to pay back this hospital bill. Pulling herself back from that tangent with some difficulty she studied Kurama side-ling from under her messy hair which was slowly reverting back to its deep, dark almost rusty red hues. Avaria needed to confide in her brother the other reasons she knew exactly who he was that day in the dust covered room when he made his promise.

And why she already knew Kuronue was long gone.

Why she hadn't been surprised to see Hiei.

Or Yusuke.

Or Kuwabarra.

This was not going to be a fun discussion.

" Hey...Ni-San?"

"Hm? What's on your mind kitten?" He set the tray and cup aside to be washed out later, her voice had gone quiet so he settled again and gave her his full attention. "You can speak freely here you know. You can tell me anything."

"I know...I just...don't know how to broach the subject..." She bit her bottom lip hard picking at the blanket as the little rush of fuzzy warmth from the old nickname slowly left her. Ni-Ni, that little toy, that little, stupid, life line of a toy sat on her bedside table staring at them with his glinting gemstone eyes. Briefly she glanced at the toy, then back at Kurama, doing her best to keep eye contact which honestly was hard with only one currently working eye.

"Is this about Kuronue's absence? I'm sorry but-" He started but she cut him off.

"He's dead, I know...I mean, of course if he was alive then by now he'd probably be beating down the gates demanding to see me too but...I mean...I know...I knew a long time ago." She caught herself as she started babbling and stopped, taking a deep breath to steady herself. To the side the heart monitor picked up speed just a little.

"How exactly did you become aware of this?" Kurama tilted his head to the side, naturally suspicious.

"Multi-verse theory."

"That explains exactly nothing Avaria."

"Well...yeah...but it's the main thing. I got pulled into that universe and they locked away my memories and they stuck me in Gabes care and then they planted me in some random host family and..." She sighed and turned a serious, tired look onto him. " When I get out of here, take me to the human world and I'll show you something that will blow your mind if my theory is correct. Because the world I got shoved into was...They liked to refer to it as the 'The Hub'."

"All right..." He nodded at her to go on.

"There, it's sort of the central universe? I guess? Ugh how do I explain this without sounding crazy!" She gripped the blanket so hard she ripped a three-inch gash into it. She was only weak by demon standards." Gah...sorry..."

" Okay... okay..." Kurama grabbed her hands and made her look him in the eyes, the deep green was soothing and there was just the tiniest flash of comforting, familiar gold. " What's your theory? Start from there."

"There's going to be a manga in this world and I can promise you, it's going to be about my Organization, maybe even about me, but not ME, me, it's going to be about the person I was in THAT world. I can guarantee it, because even though they took my memories and locked them away, I found manga in THAT world about this one! And it's not just this one...there are...there are so many worlds...so many creatures...I know I'm not the only person they did this too...I KNOW I'm not..." The genuine sincerity in her voice stunned him almost as much as the declaration had. Right now, he needed to focus on calming her down, at this rate she was going to hyperventilate and open up the internal wounds again.

That tea had better start kicking in soon.

She was correct, of course. That theory and the reasoning behind it sounded absolutely crazy. At least it would have had she not been talking to a former demon thief, sitting in the medical ward of the Spirit World after having been brought back to life, after dying in literally an entirely different universe. These factors all made her seem a little less crazy than she would otherwise sound and the truth was...There were even demons, rare as they were, that could trans-dimensionally travel. Legends, rumors and the like about travelers and strange worlds beyond their own had always persisted, always circulated.

Her story wasn't actually that far-fetched.

It wasn't even that uncommon.

"I believe you." He stated, squeezing her hands gently before releasing them. "As farfetched as it sounds, look at where you are and what you've been through. Think of the old stories we used to tell you."

"And what you and everyone else in your group have been through, the Travelers Legends..." She hadn't thought about those stories in YEARS..."I know a lot of stuff and I know Kuronue died. Though I guess I don't know everything you know? I know only what was in the books and I uh..." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly but the truth was it had been a personal issue once the memories had started coming back. "I didn't finish the series..."

"Hm..." Kurama nodded, humming in thought as he considered her words, watching the rapid blinking as the tea he'd given her hit her system fully. He'd mull over what she'd told him later, bring it up to the others and see what they said.

"So... Ni-San...Tell me what's been happening?" She yawned, suddenly very tired but in need of knowing when she'd come back home to. That and she just wanted a bed time story like when she was little. That thing about little victories? Same goes for comforts, you take then where and when you can get them, especially if you grew up like a demon thief in training.

"Well...I met Yusuke, I suppose, not long after his resurrection. The first one, of course. …" Kurama began as if he were telling her a bed time story. As the tea relaxed her and she fought sleep, as she'd always fought bed time, he did his best to tell her about everything up until the present time.

She'd missed the Dark Tournament. (" The Toguro brothers sound even scarier in person..." "They were quiet disturbing to watch...and listen to, yes.")

Yukina was STILL looking for her brother. ("If I vow to Hiei I won't tell her, can I meet her?" "You'll need to ask him that." "...I'm good.")

And of course, the whole Mushiyori City Psychics thing. (" Uuuugh I wanna meet Master Genkai too..." "She would like to meet you as well." "...Say what now?")

"Which led us into our most recent battle with Shinobu Sensui...Come to think of it, Itsuki was a Dark Stroke..." Kurama mused, noticing she could barely keep her eyes open as he finished speaking. A Dark Stroke is what they called those aforementioned demons with the ability to traverse dimensions freely, a rare but very much existing breed. It had also been the reason he'd even been in the Makai that day.

The day they'd found each other again across space and time.

If only for a moment.

"Sensui...poor..." She yawned wide like a kitten. "Bastard...He's as far as I got." She reached for Ni-Ni as he sat on the table and snuggled with his little plush body under the hospital blankets. Kurama chuckled, watching her sink into the warmth of herb induced dreamless sleep. She had a great number of nightmares that this potion easily kept at bay so she could heal faster. He stood, tucked the edges of the blanket around her shoulders and took the dishes and tray out to be washed.

He decided then to take a walk around the hospital wing, thinking over what she'd revealed. It was almost comical the way things lined up but he supposed that's the way things like fate work. She'd fallen asleep before he got to the part about Yusuke and his demonic atavism, though he suspected she knew that already. He'd never considered that a Dark Stroke might have been used in the endeavor so long ago but looking back it made perfect sense. After seeing what Itsuki had been capable of it really wasn't a far stretch to think another of his kind had been somehow involved.

But who?

And... What now?

Feeling confident enough that she was safe from the Powers in this place he wondered as he took his walk. Koenma had found about a dozen examples of people being taken, but the information was basic and the details scarce. From what she'd said earlier, perhaps she could fill in some of those blanks, maybe she knew things the prince didn't even have a clue little princeling was still digging away in the deepest depths of the archives even now. Yusuke and Kuwabarra both were back in the human world and Hiei?

Kurama smiled, Hiei knew what it was like to search endlessly for a sibling. He even knew what it was like to find out that they were trapped, and in trouble. For once this babysitting detail didn't completely irk the fire demon. It helped that Hiei knew that he could pop off plenty under the excuse of giving Kurama and Avaria their "sentimental privacy".

My how people change.

Speaking of everyone's favorite, fiery, short-stack, he snuck back into the private room while the fox was stretching his legs. Kurama may have let his guard down enough to think this place was safe but Hiei wasn't fooled. Glancing at the demoness in the bed he sighed, the scene itself was almost cute which made him curl a lip in disgust.

Almost, because someone else was in the room with them.

Hiei was correct in his paranoia. With his speed he latched his hand around the wrist of a nurse he'd never seen before. Silently he squeezed her wrist until the bones popped and she dropped the syringe she had been two seconds away from injecting into the saline drip. With a tone as cold as the eyes he regarded her with he spoke. " This is a private room and you are not the attending nurse nor are you the good Dr. Nataka."

She regarded him cautiously, unmoving and silent. She was dressed in the same garb as the other nurses but her aura was all wrong and Hiei was right. She wasn't actually one of the staff, but she wasn't going to admit that to him or to anyone else. Her aura flickered rapidly, her image watery and flickering with it as if she didn't have a complete hold on the image she was trying to project. It didn't faze the shorter demon in the slightest.

"I don't generally suffer fools..." He continued, staring at her with his unwavering expression. "For now, though, I will make an exception." His face twisted into a nasty look, eyes burning, full of blood and fire and the promise of darkness and painful death. "This is the only warning you will get. Tell your masters that this girl does not belong to them. If they choose to continue seeking to do her harm, it will be seen as a personal attack on us all."

The woman shuddered and disappeared as soon as Hiei released her.

Message received.

***Chapter Fin***

What was I'd said about the first Untold History? Oh yeah...this ain't your mamma's OC story. The continuation is nothing short of the same. But with more sibling interactions. And I'm going to be working iun a lot more humor as well. Much like with the Prequel which I suggest reading. Reviews are highly appreciated, thank you for reading!