Oasis
Chapter One: From Amoretti
"God damn it! Where the hell did she go this time!"
Kurama looked up from where he was tending to his otherworldly plants to see Yusuke stomping around without any attention to where he stepped. Veins were popping up all over his temples and the fox saw that the half demon was about to smash one of his more deadly plants. He decided that was the time to intervene.
"What on earth are you screaming about Yusuke?" He spoke softly, but his friend heard every word.
"Kurama!" Urameshi spun around to find himself face to face with the red headed fox. Without another word, he grabbed him by the shoulders not too gently.
"Y-Yes?"
"Where the hell did that wolf go?"
Kurama blinked his emerald eyes slowly as those words rolled in his head.
That wolf…Is he talking about Faye?
If that was true, then he must have forgotten where she said she was going to be. That didn't really surprise the fox demon. Not much could do that to him anymore because of this boy.
"If you are talking about Faye, she said that she would be in the library. Were you not listening again?" Kurama asked.
Yusuke frowned but knew that he couldn't object or deny it. He hadn't been listening to that wolf drabble on and on. She sure knew how to put someone to sleep. The half demon released the full one with a disgruntled sigh and the former turned towards the exit.
Just before he left, Kurama called out to him:
"Mind you don't step on the plants Yusuke. Several types are poisonous to half demons."
"Freaking hell Kurama! You could have told me that before!"
I had just closed my eyes when someone came tearing in through the library entrance. The ogre behind the counter yelled at whoever had come through in such a horrible way when I felt a shadow looming over me. I opened one of my ruby red eyes to see that it was none other than the infamous Yusuke Urameshi.
"Just what are you doing? I'm trying to take a nap." I growled to him.
"I've been looking for you!" He retorted. "Koenma had me lugging my ass to find you."
My ears twitched playfully as I grinned up at him.
"Oh? And what could that dear little baby need? I'm not hunting down his pacifier again. Or giving him some milk, I'm not ready for another year or two."
Yusuke, not realizing what I had been saying, started to grin like an idiot then. I noticed and rolled my eyes. This was one of those times that made me wonder if he really was an all-powerful half demon.
"You'll have to tell him that one Urameshi. Faye's been getting pretty good at making sarcastic remarks." The voice of Kuwabara said.
I got to my knees from the comfortable chair I had been splayed out on before turning around to see the orange haired human. He, like me, had actually been reading before we had been interrupted. But I doubted he had read anything that I would be interested in.
"Well she better be careful. She might turn into another Hiei." Yusuke commented.
I chuckled at that and closed the book I had been looking at twenty minutes ago. These two just loved comparing me to that fire demon at times. Sure we had matching red eyes, but that was where I thought we broke off. Yusuke and Kuwabara think that I'm practically a female version of him.
But between you and me: I'm more ruthless and a little more talkative than that guy.
Just don't tell these two.
"I believe you wanted me for some reason Yusuke? Something about Koenma?" I asked, bringing back the subject we had started on.
"Oh yeah. The toddler was saying that he might have found your puddle somewhere in Demon- And she's gone…"
I laughed at his blatant comment while holding the book I had been reading close to my chest. He actually noticed that I left this time! It had taken him about a month to be able to see that with his eyes. Now, he flaunted it as much as he could over Kuwabara, who still couldn't always figure it out until he stopped talking.
I nearly ran at full speed in this human flesh to reach Koenma and all of his yelling ogres. It looked like they were behind in paperwork again. That was practically every day now…
I didn't hang around for any of those creatures to notice me. It wouldn't be good for me if that happened. That was because I didn't like hanging around the lesser demons; they weren't good at making conversations.
I walked into the office of Koenma to find that he was buried underneath an overly large pile of paperwork. His hand was dangling out the top of it like corpse as I laughed at him.
"Do you need my help Koenma?" I asked with a smile.
He made a muffled sound that I could only assume was a yes.
I danced across scattered bits of paper before finally coming to a stop at where the mighty baby-sized ruler was buried. I began digging him out with all the antics a dog mustered and I had him out within a minute. But the second I started digging…I forgot myself and sort of…transformed into my wolf.
"GAH! Let me go!"
I barked and yelped in delight as my tail swished back and forth as fast as it could. My paws knocked Koenma around with just enough strength to push him around and not enough to kill him or hurt. When the ruler didn't let up his screams, I growled and nipped at his arm.
"Yusuke! Kurama!" The toddler suddenly screamed.
My ears twitched and I heard the sound of laughter before the door was opened. I turned my head with my tongue lolling out and I saw the half demon and the red haired fox. My tail immediately stopped wagging for a second as both males stared down at me. Then a wolfish smile grew on my lips.
"Don't mind us Faye! We're just here to-"
"Here she comes."
As if on cue from Kurama's words, I lunged at the two of them. The weight of my wolf body knocked both to the ground and I started licking their faces in giddiness. Yusuke was the one that was hollering at me to get off but I wouldn't obey until my tail was stabbed from the back. I yelped and spun around before reverting to my demon form with hands on my tail.
"Ow! Don't you know that hurts!" I snarled as I stroked the hairs down on the tail gingerly to get rid of the pain.
Koenma, who put his wood poker away, huffed at me for some reason. Yusuke sat up and Kurama followed suit as my hairs came to rest in their smoothness once more.
"Considering you were batting me around like a toy, I think not." He grumbled to me.
I pouted but said nothing as I checked my tail to make sure there weren't any holes were blood could seep through and ruin my ebony tail.
"What made you attack him this time Faye?" Yusuke asked with a grin on his face.
I returned the look with a mocking glare and then I got to my feet.
"He was buried under some of these papers! He asked me to help him so I started to dig him out-"
"With her hands no less!" Koenma interjected.
"-and I can only assume I took my wolf form due to the rush of excitement I felt." I finished with a light growl.
It was a few seconds before the Spirit Detective burst out laughing at what I said to him. I glanced at Kurama to see that he felt the same way, though he was hiding it better than the other. I almost kicked the two of them when Yusuke got up and wrapped a friendly arm around my neck. He brought me to his chest and started rubbing his fist into the top of my head, where it started to hurt.
"I don't care who says you're a wolf Faye! You're a dog!" Yusuke told me.
I felt the hairs on my tail bristling at that last sentence before I bit onto his arm, sinking my fangs as deeply into his flesh as I could. This made the half demon screech and let me go. He said some pretty nasty things when he realized that I had drawn blood. Most of them included the word bitch, but I only bared my fangs with my tail still bristled.
"I'll have you know that I am a full bred black wolf demon thanks to those ancient ones! I don't take kindly to being called a dog." I snarled.
Kurama sighed as Yusuke began yelling that I shouldn't have bit him for such a stupid reason. I began to scream back when the red haired fox stepped in between us and stared at Koenma, who had been cowering underneath his desk.
"Before the argument escalates, do you think you could inform Faye about her garden?" He said.
My anger subsided as I gasped and turned to stare at the baby ruler.
"I completely forgot! Yes, you need to tell me where it is so I can go investigate!" I cried.
Yusuke mumbled something that I knew was an insult and I rolled my eyes. He was so much like a child at times it annoyed me to no end.
Koenma's sigh brought my attention back to him and he pulled out a manila folder with about ten sheets of paper. When he handed them to me, I eagerly took it and opened the folder. Kurama glanced at the writing as I read each paper.
"So…what does this tell me?" I questioned and Koenma fell flat on his face as the fox sighed.
My ears twitched in confusion but my eyes said that I was annoyed that the toddler face planted on my expense. He quickly got in his chair before I had the chance to kick him and he looked up at me through the pacifier in his mouth.
"From what we have found out, the demon Aruai found a garden that supposedly healed all of his wounds that were sure to kill him. That demon has kept to the garden and killed any that tried to get close." Koenma said to me.
"Then why didn't you say that in the first place instead of making me read it all?" I barked.
"Because even Yusuke would have understood the papers enough to not ask me that!"
As if on cue, the great Urameshi appeared beside Koenma instead of lying flat on the floor. The toddler jumped and put his hands out to shove the boy away. But Yusuke grabbed his pacifier and hoisted the baby into the air so now he was dangling like a fish on a hook.
"Koenma…are you calling me stupid?" He growled in a angry tone that wasn't true.
"He's not calling you stupid Yusuke. He's telling you that you're stupid." I commented.
The boy looked up at me with a frown but I knew that he was trying to keep from laughing. I even knew that I sounded somewhat like Hiei from those words.
"And who the hell asked you? He's saying you're stupid too!" Yusuke cried.
I laughed and pointed a long, sharp nail at the Spirit Detective and it touched his chest where his demon heart was.
"At least I can admit it!"
"Wh-What! You did not admit to anything you damn wolf!"
I grinned at him while putting the file back down on Koenma's desk. There was nothing more that I loved then messing around with the half demon.
I skipped towards the exit while turning to face the toddler, who had been set down and was now readjusting his pacifier.
"More than likely, that's not my garden," I stated, "because that place heals more than broken bones and wounds in the paper. Mine does minor things without my help."
"Are you saying you won't investigate?" Koenma asked.
"I never said that. We'll go check it out as soon as everyone is prepared and I put this book in my room."
With that said, I left his office and headed straight for my room. Kurama and Yusuke stayed by my side the entire time and I was glad for it. I've only been living here in Spirit World for at least four months. The first two I had stayed locked in my room, coming out only to eat and drink and go to the bathroom when needed. The last two I've been learning new things about the world I've always been at the edge of, staring at the happenings but never having a chance to do anything.
And thankfully, the Urameshi team was- is –here to help me the entire time.
I still don't fully understand the relationship Hiei and Kurama have with Yusuke- and Kuwabara, for that matter –though. But I can honestly say that I'm starting to get a grasp on it.
The half demon has this aura about him that not only makes you want to fight him, but to befriend him. He doesn't hate anyone as far as I can tell, though he does go around saying that he hates Koenma. But I don't think he means it. He cares so much for his friends that I know he'd never do anything that intentionally harms them.
I've never met someone like him…and I find that very alluring.
Kurama and Hiei and Kuwabara must feel the same way because, despite what they all say, I can see that they all really care about their friend.
He must be like their sun or something…Always shining for them, even through the darkest of nights.
"What were you reading before Yusuke found you Faye?"
"Hm?"
I looked up at Kurama with my head slightly tilted and my eyes had a dazed expression in them. The fox repeated his question with a sigh as I blinked out of my thoughts. I smiled up at him while flipping towards the page I had been reading.
"I was reading poetry from a guy by the name of Edmund Spensor!" I said.
"Oh? What one?"
"Um…It says it's 'From Amoretti.*' I found this poem really good, actually!"
"Would you like to read a part to us? Perhaps Yusuke could use it on Keiko when he sees her." Kurama said, earning a yell from the other boy.
I laughed but managed to nod my head anyway. I still didn't know much about the Human World, even though that was where I had last been, but I knew who Keiko was. And by the way Yusuke always talked about her, I knew that he cared for the girl with everything he had.
"I'd love to! But I don't think you need to worry about Keiko. She'll like you as long as you're always honest with her." I said to Yusuke.
"I don't like Keiko you stupid wolf!" He exclaimed.
I only shook my head and looked for where I had left off on the poem. When I found it, I recited the lines perfectly:
"So oft as I her beauty do behold,
And therewith do her cruelty compare,
I marvel of what substance was the mould
The which her made at once so cruel-fair.
Not earth; for her high thoughts more heavenly are:
Not water; for her love doth burn like fire:
Not air; for she is not so light or rare:
Not fire; for she doth freeze with faint desire.
"Then needs another element inquire
Whereof she might be made; that is, the sky.
For to heaven her haughty looks aspire,
And eke her love is pure immortal high.
Then since to heaven ye likened are the best,
Be like in mercy as in all the rest."
Yusuke snorted when I finished reciting the poem. I glanced at him, red eyes gleaming dangerously, as I closed the book.
"Couldn't talk with the wife, could he?" He grumbled.
"That's not the point of the poem! Edmund is saying that he's so amazed by her beauty that he wonders what elements helped to make her the way she was! Can you not understand poetry at all Yusuke?" I barked.
"Actually, I skipped school when they were teaching us poetry." I didn't doubt that at all.
I opened my mouth to yell some more when Kurama said my name.
"Yes?"
"Though this seems amuse Kuwabara and Yusuke, I believe you should change out of your pajamas and into something more appropriate for the journey."
"Why didn't you tell me a long time ago!" I yelled before running into my room with a blush on my face.
"Because it amused him as well." Yusuke hollered back.
Author's Note(s)
* From Amoretti is an actual poem I found at the library in my school. I didn't know if that was really its name or not, but you'll have to bear with me for the time being.
Let's see…This story's chapter's titles will be leaning towards poetry at times and if that's true, I'll be sure to tell all of you about it. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story of Oasis! Please review if you choose to, that's all I ask.