Hi, I'm Kinaka Capri, and this is my first YYH story. It's based heavily on the movie (Bonds of Fire), so if you haven't seen that…I'll attempt to make it as clear as possible. There aren't really any couples in this story (if you're looking for that sort of thing there's probably some random hinting of them, though), but if people actually like this story, then there should be many random couplings in the sequel. Which I hope to do, in any case. So…sit back and enjoy the incredibly neurotic show!!! BOOYAH!!!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Yu Yu Hakusho anime, movie, or manga. I do, however, own several Shonen Jump magazines with the YYH manga IN it, and the YYH movie DVD…which I lost…I'm convinced that my DVD player ate it. *sniffle* Stupid DVD player…And I guess I own my three random Meikai OC's…I don't really WANT to, though…
Chapter One: Return of the Netherworld! Hinageshi's Message
Drip. Drip. Drip. The steady drip of water, almost like a mantra, echoed throughout the dark halls. The pool into which it went rippled slightly with every drop, crimson like blood in the flickering firelight. Directly across from this pool were three silent figures: one cloaked in shadow, the only visible feature the sword it carried; one with silver hair, and a gleaming gold medallion; the last seated on an onyx throne, amethyst eyes peering keenly through the thick shadows.
The figure on the throne spoke at last, her voice echoing hollowly throughout the empty hall, the noise louder than that of the water. "He's dead then, correct?" The one with the sword bowed its head. "Yes, my Lady. King Yakumo has met his demise." The Throned One frowned. "After all the effort he gave to bring our world back into existence? After the battle with Enma, ruler of the Spirit World? He is defeated…by a mortal child?" Unsure of how to answer, neither Sword nor Medallion replied. The Throned One spoke again, venom in her voice. "What is his name?" "Urameshi," chirruped Medallion. "Urameshi Yusuke. Fourteen years old, Spirit Detective of that little Koenma, and one of the few to return from the Spirit Realm. Keeper of extraordinary power, for a human." "He STILL shouldn't have been able to kill King Yakumo!" shouted their violet-eyed mistress, slamming a fist down on the throne. Medallion gave an almost imperceptible flinch, and bowed her head. Sword spoke up for her. "He was not alone, Lady Sadako. He was aided by another Spirit Detective, a pair of demons, two Spirit Guides, and…the Power Sphere." The Throned One raised her head, interest peaked. "The Sphere…it remains on Earth?" "Yes, Lady Sadako," chorused the other two. Sadako gave a spectral smile. "Very well, then. It is to the Human Realm that we shall go." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "My father WILL have his revenge."
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Yusuke gave a huge yawn and stretched back in his seat. "Man, what a day." Botan gave a long-suffering sigh. "Yusuke, you are SO lazy." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Really now, we haven't done anything at all today." "Exactly! Do you know how tiring it can get doing nothing?" Botan sweatdropped. "Spoken like a true slacker." Kuwabara leaned over in his chair. "Yeah, Urameshi, isn't there anything you can do?" Yusuke opened an eye. "I can kick your ass pretty well, does that count?" Kuwabara's eye twitched. "Why I oughta…" Both Keiko and Yukina stared, sweatdropping slightly, as the two boys went into an all-out brawl. "What did that Koenma kid of yours call us here for anyway, Botan?" asked Shizuru casually, only half watching her little brother and his fellow Spirit Detective beat the crap out of one another. The Spirit Guide looked over at her. "Hmm? Oh, I'm not really sure. He was awfully vague about it." Keiko tore her eyes away from her battling love interest long enough to fix the blue-haired girl with an inquisitive gaze. "Speaking of meeting, shouldn't Hiei and Kurama be here by now?"
As if on cue, the door slid open. "I apologize for being late," said Kurama formally. Hiei slunk in behind him, looking a great deal more sullen than usual. His mood seemed to lighten, however, when he noticed Yukina settled in a corner (fortunately a fair distance from Kuwabara). His eyes then shifted to shoot a scornful glare at a certain duo. Yusuke currently had Kuwabara in a headlock. Shortly after, he retreated to perch in a nearby windowsill in true Hiei fashion. Kurama, on the other hand, took a seat next to Botan, who, despite herself, blushed lightly. Kurama just had that sort of effect on people. Fortunately, the boy in question failed to notice that.
"No need to worry, Kurama," said Shizuru absently. "No one's shown up yet anyway." Her eyes once again turned to Botan. "Are you SURE you haven't forgotten anything?" The ferrywoman looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, now that you mention it, I think he said to do something the moment everyone got here. It was pretty important, actually. It had something to do with windows…I think…um…" Her eyes widened suddenly, and she rushed over to the sliding glass door. "Omigosh! I'm SO sorry--" "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!" screeched a voice outside. Botan leapt away from the door immediately, and everyone within a foot of her dove to the side. Yusuke turned his head just in time to see a blur of red, white, and brown come careening into the room. The blur narrowly managed to avoid colliding with the wall before accidentally rolling over once and coming to a stop.
The cause of the ruckus was a rather frazzled young girl now holding the oar that she had been riding only moments before. The girl looked a little younger than the rest of the gang, seeming to be only about 12 or so, and she was nearly level with Hiei in height. She wore a very loose white long-sleeved top with the sleeves tied up with purple bows, along with blood red pants that were also too loose held up by a red ribbon, and a white headband around her head. Her eyes were an innocent ocean blue, and her hair, though not quite as dark a red as Kurama's, was down to her shoulders, except for two loose strands that floated freely on the top of her head. The girl banished her oar and turned angrily to Botan.
"What was that?! You almost had me go splat into the freaking window!!!" she yelled irately. Botan rubbed the back of her head, her violet eyes sheepish. "Well, I've had a lot on my mind recently and everything…" "A lot on your mind? Who takes over your shifts while you're helping these guys out? Do you know the amount of stress I'm under? And what with recent events, I'm surprised that I haven't dropped dead on the spot. I haven't been this freaked since--" The girl suddenly noticed the semi-amused stares of the rest of the room's occupants and stopped ranting, looking rather embarrassed of herself. "Well, this is a bit of a change in personality from last time," commented Kurama, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Hinageshi, isn't it?" "At your service," said the girl with a deep bow and a smile. "What's the news anyway, Hinageshi?" asked Botan curiously. "Lord Koenma sounded quite apprehensive, but he wouldn't tell me a thing." The smile faded from Hinageshi's face. "The Netherworld has returned."
There was a moment of silence. "You're joking, right?" said Yusuke flatly. "I mean, so that Yakumo guy didn't exactly die, come on…" Hinageshi fiddled around with her hair. "Um…well…you see, that's the problem. He DID die." More silence, then… "WHAT?!!" "But you can't kill a god," protested Kuwabara. "He's like, all GODLY and everything." "A brilliant observation, Kuwabara, and by the way, if we no longer need to worry about him, then what is the problem?" Hiei said coolly. Hinageshi quit fussing around with her hair and whipped out her little book of history. "Well, you know how Lord Koenma is the son of King Enma and also the judge of Reikai? Instead of a son, King Yakumo of Meikai had a daughter. And her name was--" "Koyakumo," snickered Yusuke. "—Sadako," Hinageshi finished, frowning slightly. "And although she was locked away in the darkness like her father, she too managed to escape. And we're pretty sure that Meikai had a mirror image of the system of Reikai, which means that she's brought the two remaining minions of the Netherworld with her." "Two? I was only aware of the three demon gods, and we defeated them last time," spoke up Kurama. Next to him, Botan shifted uncomfortably. "Er, well, there's a good explanation for that," she said nervously. "Reikai is run by a number of key people. King Enma, ruler of the Spirit World; Lord Koenma, the Judge; and the three Spirit Gods, meant to keep balance throughout the realm." "Okay, so that's Yakumo, Sadako, Larry, Curly, and Mo," snapped Yusuke impatiently. "Who are the two that are missing?"
At this question, there were several different reactions throughout the room. Kurama and Shizuru both looked moderately amused, Kuwabara looked even more clueless about the matter than Yusuke, Keiko and Yukina looked undecided, Hiei looked exasperated, and Botan and Hinageshi both looked scandalized. Botan summoned her oar and smashed it over Yusuke's head. "US, YOU MORON!!!! The FERRY GIRLS!!!!" The boy went down hard. "I don't see what we have to worry about. I mean, judging from you two and Koenma it doesn't look like a really big problem…" Shizuru said, having never really encountered any of the Meikai beings. "The Netherworld was once the complete INVERSE of the Spirit World," Hinageshi explained patiently. "Meaning that Sadako is reckless and will intervene at any instant, and that the two Guides are demons and most likely powerful ones at that." "And now they're in Ningenkai? Great," sighed Botan. "What are they after here?" asked Kurama curiously. "Revenge." The speaker wasn't one of the ferry girls, but Hiei. Hinageshi nodded slightly. "That, and the Meikai Power Sphere." At this, even Botan looked surprised. "Well, if Yakumo was destroyed, shouldn't that have been destroyed with him?" "Lord Koenma looked into the matter and apparently, it reformed. I guess it takes a lot more effort to destroy the power source of a world than it does to kill its leader." There was a murmur of somber consent around the room.
"So, all we need to do is find the Power Sphere and stop a princess and her two ferry girl lackeys? That doesn't sound so hard! Just leave it to me, Kuwabara Kazuma!" announced Kuwabara suddenly, gung-ho once again. Hiei gave an inaudible but derisive snort. Kuwabara grabbed Yukina's hand. "I swear by my love for my Yukina that I will this world safe for you and everyone else!" Yukina giggled a little, warmed but confused by the spirit detective's antics. Hiei's hand, which had been resting close to his sword hilt, now began twitching slightly. Shizuru, Kurama, Hinageshi, and Keiko all took in the scene with quiet amusement (Kurama and Shizuru more than Hinageshi and Keiko, because they were aware of Hiei's true relationship with Yukina). Botan was snickering uncontrollably, and Yusuke might have as well, except that he was lying unconscious (and quite forgotten) on the floor from Botan's mighty Oar of Impending Doom. The sudden change in atmosphere broke the tension, and for the moment, while Kuwabara began reciting an ode to Yukina and Hiei closed his eyes and counted to ten (then twenty…then thirty…then forty…) and Botan (and Keiko, actually) began plotting what to do with the KO'ed Yusuke, the Reiki Tentei forgot pressures of their newest task. Perhaps that's for the best. They'll have a great deal to worry about in less than an hour's time… (A/N Oooh…foreshadowing…I suck at foreshadowing…But I love ellipsis! ^_^)
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Sadako surveyed the city calmly, taking in every building, every person in the street, and every loose demon romping around. "So. This is Ningenkai." "Looks fun to me," said Medallion happily. (A/N I'll name the two random lackeys properly in the next chapter) She sighed contentedly, her golden eyes shining with delight. "So many opportunities, so many people to deceive, so many things that can go up in flames! Oh, I'm going to have a good time here. May I have a look around, Lady Sadako? Pleeeeeaaase?" The Lady of the Netherworld gave a slight chuckle. "Save your pyromania for a little later, my dear ferry girl. Right now, we need to lure out the Spirit Detectives. I'll leave that to you two. I have a little visit to make." She nodded to the two Demon Guides (A/N if they're the opposite of Spirit Guides, that's what you'd call them, right?), and abruptly vanished. Medallion and Sword exchanged a glance. "So, I take it you have a plan, as usual?" inquired Medallion. "Of course," replied her partner. "You will have your fun a little earlier than you expected. I know just the place for you to burn that's sure to draw out the Reiki Tentei." Medallion stared at her impatiently. "Well, what are we waiting for?" "Very well." And the two figures vanished, headed in the direction of a certain temple…(A/N More crappy foreshadowing and ellipsis again…fun! ^__^)
*Falls over* Gads, I can't write. I'm full of clichés and weird stuff, so watch out for that. I don't really know where the meant-to-be-light scene at the end of the Spirit Detective sequencey thingy came from. I have a tendency to write randomness. Oh well. Watch out for that too. And the suspense and mystery that I attempt. Hopefully, I'll actually succeed this time…Until next time, ciao!!!
PS: Review Review Review!!!! I have an inferiority complex, make me feel better about myself!!!!!!! Tanku!!!!!! *suddenly realizes she sounds either sugar high or extremely whiny* Eh, why not disillusion them right away? Ciao! Again!