Dane Soar
This new fic is an incredibly dumb thing to put up when I already have two ongoing fics already…and yet I'm still doing it. Sounds a little masochistic, eh?
Anyway this is a little unusual, but a story I like anyway. There was no prologue at first, but the first chapter became too long so that's changed.
Oh and watch out for the cussing, this is Yusuke for a main character, after all. And please leave a review so I know how this story turned out.
Anyway, on to the story at long last, the curtain rises and here we start in the middle of a conversation.
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Prologue Wherein A Guide Appears And Yusuke Asks Questions (Which Are Ignored For The Most Part And Avoided The Rest Of The Time)
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(Tale Begins)
"Well, that sounds awfully convenient. What's in it for you?" Yusuke glowered at the women.
She flapped a wing irritably. "Do not be so suspicious, human."
"Suspicious? You told me you were an angel! Goddamnit, if that's not suspicious, I don't know what is!"
The women was levitating, but Yusuke was sure a demon could do that too, and as for the glowing blond hair, demons could have that too. He wasn't about to believe this woman, no matter what she said.
"Please, Spirit Detective," she spread her hands. "you do not have much time. As you stand here, your friends slip further and further away from this world."
Glancing over at the limp forms Yusuke knuckled the side of his head. "Jeeze, that mind hacking demon really got to those guys. And, let me get this straight, I can save them if I do this?"
"Yes," agreed the could-be-angel. "this is the only way or your allies will be lost."
"And tell me what's in it for you, again?"
She sighed, fluttered her wings and floated closer to the ground. "I am indebted to
Lord Koenma and this will pay my debt off."
"That would do it. Okay, before I agree to anything, who the hell are you and why am I not wherever my team's minds got blasted to?"
"I am Aleara, an angel of dimensions."
"Oh yeah, pull the other one, it's got fuckin' bells on it."
"Please, Spirit Detective, you of all people know there is not much time for your team. And I was able to shield you from the mind blast before it hit you," she looked glowingly bashful. "I did not arrive in time to do anything else."
"Okay, that's enough for now, if your from Koenma, I guess it's okay. Just as long as you know what your doing." he glanced over again at his teammates…bodies. "and make sure we end up in Genkai's temple, no matter how this ends."
"Are you ready?"
"Yep."
"Then let me give you one last warning, when I send you there, your memory might be a bit damaged when you arrive."
"Then how the hell will I know what to do?"
Aleara shook her head. "There will be a guide for you. We are running out of time."
"Then get on with it."
With a flap of wings she floated forward and placed her hands on either side of his head. "Spirit Detective, I wish you all the luck you may have."
But the mind of Yusuke Urameshi was blasted into a far away place already.
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Poke, poke.
There was something jabbing into his ribs. Yusuke ignored it. Laying around seemed like a really nice option.
Poke, poke.
Yeah, this was the life. No reason at all to open his-
Poke, poke.
"Shit." Yusuke opened his eyes and they met the sunlight head on. "…arg…Jeeze."
Poke, poke.
He whipped his hand out and someone yelped. Many people would be surprised at the speed that Yusuke rolled over and leaped at the unknown person.
With a bit of mystification, he found himself laying on the ground. It was covered in leaves and sticks and he was laying on a sharp root. He froze waiting for his brain to catch up.
"Umm, sir…" said a voice from not far away. "you're kind of laying in me, and that's all sorts of creepy uncomfortable."
Backing off Yusuke stared at the place the voice had come from. A small fellow sat there, staring back, with a stick in one hand. Well that was one mystery solved.
He wrenched the stick from the guy's hand and snapped it in two. "Who the hell are you?"
The man was short, he could tell that even with him laying down, dressed in an all-enveloping cloak of a dark color. His hair was long, but tied back in a tight braid, and his eyes tended toward green, but sometimes appeared to scurry toward blue, set in a round young face. And as if to top off the appearance, his ears rose up in furry points out of his glossy black hair.
He was also practically see through. It wasn't obvious, but from the way the light filtered through the trees and passed right though him, Yusuke could tell.
The man pointed at himself. "I am Kear. Key…ear…very simple you see, sir, and I'll be your guide." He sounded it out slowly, as if to make sure Yusuke knew exactly how to say his name.
"Hey," Yusuke said, in the tone of a person who is still waiting for the catch up of the brain. "how come you could pick up that stick, but I went right through you?"
Kear shrugged. "I dunno, it's one of those plot hole things. I can only assume that it's that I wanted to pick up the stick, but didn't want you to tackle me. Oh and nice reflexes by the way, sir."
"Err, thanks?" then something clicked. He looked around. It was a forest, somewhere he didn't recognize in the Human World but definitely not the Makai either. If it had been, there would have been carnivorous trees. "Why am I here? And how did I get here?"
"I guess that she was right about the memory loss, it's temporary I hope, sir."
He drew his legs in until he sat cross-legged and glared at the self-proclaimed guide. "What memory loss?"
Kear hit his head with the heel of his hand. "Oh dear…how do I explain this? Umm… well, you, err, are on a mission, sir."
"Did Koenma send me?" asked Yusuke.
"Why ah… yes, yes, he did… sort of," Kear grabbed on to the convenient idea with the air of a drowning man grabbing onto a piece of wood. "you're here to, um, well, you're here to find some… people and, err… free them, sir."
"Just me?"
"What, sir?"
"I mean, Koenma sent me alone, without the guys? I mean, what's the point of being on a team of Spirit Detectives if you're sent out alone?"
"…ah, yes sir, alone, as it were." he looked nervous, and that made Yusuke on alert. The little guy wasn't telling him everything.
"And there people I'm supposed to help are…?" looking at Kear he waited for him to fill in the blank.
The guide looked uncomfortable, and then seemed to give up. "Look, sir, if you forgot about it, that means your brain couldn't handle it. There's a good chance that if I tell you, it could make you really lose it. And we don't want that, sir, oh no."
Yusuke gave him a skeptical look. "That's probably the worst excuse I've even heard, did you know that?"
Kear raised both his hands, in a 'oh well, I tried' gesture then fished in the recesses of his cloak with one hand, which came back out with a small pocket-watch. He surveyed it with a frown. "Oh, dear, oh, dear."
"What do you mean by that?" Yusuke said. "Am I on a time limit too? Anything else you haven't told me while you're at it?"
Kear replaced the watch somewhere under his cloak. "Not a time limit, as such, sir. But you might want to hurry about it."
"About what?" this much information, give in somewhat vague spoonfuls, was not fitting in well in Yusuke's brain. Or whatever was there at the moment.
He rapped the heel of his hand on his head again. "About rescuing those people, remember, sir, we discussed this before we got diverted. You're here to save your fr… um some people. We're in something of a hurry, sir."
"Okay, let me guess, the longer we sit around here the worse it gets, so we'd better get going." He got to his feet, brushing off his knees were some leaves had clung. "I'm more of a city boy, these forests give me the creeps." He eyed the nearby trees and headed in a direction completely at random, on a hunch.
From behind him he heard a curse, and the sound of someone scrambling to their feet. "Wait, sir, wait! Are you sure is that all you need to know, you aren't even going to ask anymore questions?" a thud and something fell to the ground. "Oh bugger, there it goes again. Hey, sir… sir! Come back, I've got give you your sword!"
Yusuke stopped, turning slowly. "Sword? What do you mean by sword?" Kear picked up a wrapped up bundle and offered to him.
"Every hero needs a sword, sir. And a guide too, who usually to gives it him."
"And if I tell you I don't need some a sword?" his fingers glowed a little blue.
The guide's face fell and his eyes shifted from blue to green. "You're going to be difficult aren't you, sir?"
"You bet your ass. It's what I do," Yusuke gave him a cocky grin and a wink for good measure. "now which way is it toward those people I'm supposed to save?"
With a sigh Kear pointed. "To the west, sir. We'll find a path in a few minutes."
"Good," said Yusuke marching off the direction that Kear had indicated as west without a backward glance. "don't fall behind."
"Sir, wait!" but Yusuke didn't turn. With a sigh the guide wrapped the sword-bundle a little tighter, belted it over his back so one end (the hilt end) stuck out over his shoulder, and picked up his lantern from the forest floor. This was a small thing, which held no flame whatsoever. Then he scurried after Yusuke.
Someone with a sharp ear and a gift for lip-reading might have heard in a mutter. "Ah, bugger, bugger, bugger… he's difficult, Aleara never told me about that… darn angels and Spirit Detectives!"
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TBC
On to the first chapter…