fA/N: Bonjour!! Yeah, this is a Yu Yu Hakusho story. I'm sorry- the Harry Potter one is getting difficult. So I've had this fic in my head since I was ten. This story's got a bit of everything. Romance, Adventure, Action, Mystery, Tragedy... You know. Can you figure this puzzle out?
Summary One: Her life will be taken from her soon. It is inevitable. But she wants just this one thing, just this one person before she ascends to the stars. Ruruna needs this before she goes...
Summary Two: Life is a dance floor. Fate waltzes with us on it. It can take you from wallflower to a dancing queen; it changes the music from slow to fast without warning. And sometimes it makes other people cut in exactly when we're enjoying the dance with that one person. But we must leave the dance of life and go home to rest in death sometime. She danced with him once. Fate cut in. Her night at the dance is about to end, and Ruruna doesn't want to go without dancing with Kurama one more time.
Inevitable
Chapter One
Present Day
Naomi heard them first. Her pointed, elf-like ears could notice anything. Transforming into a small sprite, she went to check it out, and then Micherure and I heard them next. I watched Micherure leap down from her perch and sit at the base of the tree, waiting for the visitors to approach.
As the people followed Naomi's pink, glowing figure, I locked in on their energy.
"Hello," I said. The guys looked up to where I was standing on a large swing, high in the trees. I did not look at them. I didn't need to. Their energy signature was enough for me to know who they were.
"Whoa. Uh, hi." A boy in green scratched his cheek.
"That's Ruthless Ruruna," a redheaded youth narrated. He narrowed his eyes at me. I assumed he had already told them that Naomi was Portentous Papillon.
"See? I told you someone was looking for us," the tiny, pink nymph said. Naomi circled the people several times then transformed into a tall girl. She sparkled, too, with her mulberry-colored hair.
"I know, Naomi-chan," said I, jumping from my swing and standing by Micherure. "You are Urameshi Yusuke. Kuwabara Kazuma. Jaganshi Hiei, and Minamino Shuuichi- oops, sorry, Youko Kurama. Impressive." I knew of them all.
"What are you doing here?" Micherure asked.
"And Merciless Micherure," Kurama whispered again. He remembered us all.
"Ooh, girls, he remembers our names!" Naomi fluttered around them giggling, still sparkling.
"What do you want?" Micherure gripped her claymore, her aura flowing through her orange hair.
"This is a letter from Koenma," Yusuke said, giving me an envelope.
"Koenma-sama?" I opened the letter, and Micherure and Naomi read silently with me.
"Tell him yes," Micherure said. "We'll oblige."
"I rather miss the cities of Ningenkai," Papillon said sadly.
"Okay then," Yusuke said. "We'll just be going now." Merciless Micherure raised her eyebrow.
"You're not going to try and kill us?" She asked.
"No?" Yusuke answered.
"Smart boy," Papillon said. "You'd never win."
"I could beat you any day," the green-clothed boy said. His ego got the best of him.
"You should be quiet," Hiei said. "They could kill you and you wouldn't know until Botan came for you."
"That's ri-ight," Naomi giggled.
"Will you get down from there, Naomi-chan?" Micherure said, looking up at the sky at her friend.
"Sorry." She put her feet on the ground, and instantly, flowers started to grow.
"So, what are you exactly?" Yusuke asked, looking at Naomi. "I mean, you look like a human..."
"I am a butterfly faerie," Naomi replied happily. This explained the plants that sprung from the earth when her feet touched it. "Your friends didn't tell you? Hiei and Kurama?"
"I missed that explanation," Yusuke said. He pointed to Micherure and Ruruna. "And you two?"
"I am a tigress demon," Micherure explained gruffly.
"I'm half tigress," I murmured.
"Yeah, and what's the other half?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out." I smiled ruefully, thinking of the other half of my genealogy. Before Yusuke could interrogate further, Kurama spoke up.
"What, may I ask, was in the letter Koenma sent?"
"Our queen wishes us to act as her representatives at the Dark Tournament." Naomi furtively glanced at me.
"As soldiers of the Queen's court, we must comply. She has an alliance with King Yama. I suppose she spoke with Koenma about her need for us, and he passed the message along to you." Micherure closed her eyes as she spoke.
"I don't know why I had to come along," Hiei said.
"What is she the queen of?" Yusuke asked.
"A great nation."
"Obviously, if she's a queen."
"Sorry, can't tell you." My teeth were clenched, and I could tell that my pupils had changed from green to blood red.
"Is she a demon, like you?" Yusuke seemed oblivious to the fact that my anger was rising.
"No," I growled. "Isn't it time for you to go home?"
"Sure, sure. C'mon guys, let's go. The tournament's in two months." Yusuke turned his back, and so did the others. They left our territory.
"This is gonna be fun," Naomi gushed. "I mean, now we've got to go buy a house in the city, and maybe I can enroll in school. Maybe go to parties!"
"Baka!" Micherure glared. I rolled my eyes.
"Nani?"
"You don't belong in the human world. None of us do. We're only here because the Queen asked us."
"But I like Ningenkai!"
"Micherure, you can stay here. Naomi can find a flat for me and her anywhere she wants." I mediated the bickering.
"Arigatou!" Naomi embraced me. Though she was the oldest, she acted like a child. "Wow! We gotta go shopping! I mean, I can't go anywhere looking like this, can I?"
I snorted. Her purple and plum dress definitely would not blend in with all the other humans.
"I'm worse than you," I said. I was swathed in white, silky cloth. There was no form to it.
"I'm gonna go now." Naomi bounced into faerie form and sang her way through the trees. She left us in the human forest that the Reikai Tantei had found us in. I resumed my place on my swing.
"He smells different," Micherure spoke slowly, breaking our silence. "Not as handsome as he used to be. Prettier, though."
"Hmm."
"He didn't even say hello."
"He didn't need to."
"The King of Thieves!" My friend exclaimed from the ground. "Could never steal anything from us, could he?"
"No."
"Resorted to following us around."
"You and Naomi got tired of it and left," I muttered.
"It was annoying. He only stayed to figure out how to overpower us and take our valuables: my zweihänder, your katars and sais, and Naomi's chakrams. Weakling."
"Leave it alone, Rure-chan."
"I wonder how he got in that human body, anyway."
"Leave it, Micherure."
"Hmph." Micherure propelled herself far up into the trees. She would be going inside the treehouse, no doubt. She left me to think of the memories she had dug up on purpose.
--Five Hundred Years Earlier--
Five hundred years ago, we lived in the Makai. Naomi, Micherure, and I had been queens of the south, living in the highest luxury demons could have. Lesser demons praised us and brought us food from the human world.
One day as I was walking through the kingdom, I sensed someone's aura. Unfamiliar with this type, I stopped. It stopped.
"You won't fool me," I said into the wind. "I can sense you. Don't try to mask it. I'm too old to be fooled by that." I was already far past two thousand. I had lost count.
"Hmm." I could hear the demon smirk as I pulled out my katars. The ground began to shake tremendously, and a peculiar plant burst through the forest floor, grabbing my foot. After yanking my leg away, I zeroed in on the threat.
"Who are you?"
"The King of Thieves," he answered coolly. He was balanced on the branch of a tree, but I don't think I was supposed to know that. Rose petals fell down from the sky. I found they were as sharp as knives when they nicked a piece of my brown hair; my aura repelled them.
"Really? Well, King of Thieves, tell me what you are going to steal."
"What you are holding." My katars had been wrought from silver, and the blades were diamond-edged, mined from the mountains of the Reikai. They had been a present.
"You'll have to pry them from my hands after I am dead."
"Exactly what I was planning. Raaah!" From his tree, a strange, colossal flower bud stretched rapidly towards me. The bud unfurled, revealing a set of thorny teeth. I did not move my feet, only held up my palm. The death plant pressed its teeth into my hand.
"Better pull away," the Thief laughed. "It'll kill you."
"Your plant is already dead," I sighed, pulling my arm away. The flower fell limp on the ground. The Thief jumped to the floor. I stared at my hand dripping green blood. The drops of it sizzled the grass, leaving nothing but dirt.
"Hmph." I glanced up at the demon. Silver hair, pale pallor, amber eyes, white clothes. With his jaw clenched, he summoned another plant. The vines coiled itself around the demon's arm, forming a sword.
"Did you not do your research before hunting me?" I asked. "I am a tigress demon."
His eyes widened, yet he did not back down from his battle stance.
"All the more challenge," he snarled, stepping forward.
"No. You should stay back," I said, holding up my bloody hand. "My blood is lethal within ten seconds of entering your body. Almost everything dies. It's my body chemistry. I can alter it to be the antidote or the poison. Nothing else. It's what made me what I am. The poison would be fatal for you. Unfortunate that you're not a female. You see, there can only be tigress demons. No... tigers."
"Hm. And how are there more of you?"
"I said almost everything dies. If you were a female, you'd live, but you'd be like me."
"Your hand is healed," he said.
"Yes." He charged forward. I turned right at the last moment, and his Fist of the Demonic Vine punched the soft earth; his body floated in the air a moment. At this second, I plunged my knee into his stomach.
"Ugh!" He phased away before I could deliver another blow. Before I could figure his location, the Thief pushed his palm to my stomach, and a shockwave sent me flying.
The katars were thrust from my grasp, landing a few feet away from the tree I had been pressed into.
"Okay," I muttered, "now I'm annoyed." The thief sprinted towards me with his vine sword pulled back ready to jab. Stretching my feet at the last moment, I kicked him away.
"Argh!" He landed on the earth, gasping for air. My katars returned to my hands. With all the force I could muster, I catapulted forward and shoved my right hand to his stomach. The sharp diamond blade pierced the demon, and he let out a deafening shriek of pain.
A crimson puddle of blood quickly cascaded out of his body, staining his ivory robes. I could see the light leaving his eyes as I focused hard on not letting my instincts take over my mind. The blood tempted me.
"Kuso. I went too far..." My weapons phased away, and I picked up the dying Thief.
"Just kill me already," he mumbled.
"Oh, shut up." He passed out.
I sprinted through the forest, holding his body. It grew colder with every second, and I grew more desperate. Something told me that it would be wrong for him to die.
"NAOMI!" I cried. "NAOMI!"
He could be saved, I knew. But I also knew that my demon self knocked on the threshold of my sanity. His blood was tormenting me, and it would torment Micherure too, if Naomi did not find me first. Micherure would never hold back her fury.
"Give him to me! Let him go!" Naomi ripped the Thief's body away from me, pulling him inside our home. She barred the doors and windows, knowing I could kill him.
I, however, could see my limits and Naomi could not. I was not at the breaking point.
Uneasy and weary, I licked the blood off the back of my hand to satiate my hunger, wondering if Naomi could mend my mistakes.
-
"Ugh..." The Thief stirred.
"Good morning," I said. I sat patiently. "You're at the house of the Treacherous Three."
"You didn't kill me."
"No."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Just a day. Naomi's healing powers are amazingly swift."
"The pink-haired imp?"
"Haha, don't call her an imp. She'll forget to change your bandages. What's your name?"
"What's yours?"
"They call me Ruthless Ruruna. The person who healed you, they call her Portentous Papillon."
"Youko Kurama."
"Oh. I have heard of you then. You're not as mediocre as I thought. The Kitsune Thief, they say."
"Hmph." He tried to pick himself up.
"Don't." I pushed him back down. "You're not well."
"I'm well enough."
"You have a giant hole in your belly."
"For which you are to blame."
"I apologize. I try not to do that. My instincts get the better of me. But you'll be okay."
"Your eyes are blue," he commented. "They were green."
"They change color with my emotions," I explained. "How did you hear of my weapons?"
"From one of my followers," Youko Kurama replied. "It is said that anyone who sees the diamond blades doesn't live to spin stories of it."
"Illogical. If no one lives to tell of it, then why do people know?"
"Exactly my thoughts. I told them that if I can see it, then I can steal it."
"Nice policy, but you won't get to steal them. Sorry. The katars were a gift. You'd have to be pretty crafty clever to steal anything from here."
"I'm cleverer than you think."
"I believe you. Your eyes say so. ... Nice power you have, by the way, controlling plants."
"Hmm." He closed his eyes.
"Are you calculating a way to plunder from us while we sleep? How will you do that? If you draw blood from me, you're good as dead. I mean, your best option is to rest until you can go home."
"It's not how, it's what."
"Oh?"
"What I shall take. But rest assured, I will take something."
Days passed, and he still stayed. Naomi told him his body would forever be weak in the area I slashed, and to be careful. Micherure watched him from the sidelines, mistrustful of his intentions. Eventually both she and Naomi moved on, removing themselves from the throne of Ganderra. I stayed. Youko Kurama stayed. Days turned into months.
"You won't learn any secrets from me," I said one evening. I sat at a round table, playing a card game.
"I'm trying to figure some things out, and I won't leave until I do- why are you surprised?"
"You never speak." It was true. He never uttered any words. I had come to know him purely by body language. I would talk to him, and it would be as if I talked to a statue. Aside from the occasional "hmm," of course.
"I had no reason to converse with you." He shrugged and continued. "Why did you save me?"
"Something inside beckoned me to carry you to Naomi. I don't know what it was. My conscience, maybe."
"Ha." He left the subject alone. "You said that there are only female demons of your kind. I gathered from Micherure-dono that you have to be bitten to convert what you both are. The liquid in your fangs is the same poison found in your blood."
"True."
"I know that Micherure was a human before she was bitten."
"Yes."
"But what were you?"
"Haha. Real puzzler, isn't it?"
"You weren't a demon."
"No, I wasn't."
"And you were not a human. You have the power to separate yourself from your demon instincts. Micherure does not. There is no human left in her. That is remarkable. They say the willpower of a human is quite enduring."
"Right." I shuffled the cards.
"Why aren't there more tigress demons?" I shrugged.
"The Reikai eliminates any sign of them, last I heard."
"So I can only deduce that you and Micherure are exceptions."
"We are anomalies in the judgment of King Enma. Most others are vanquished before their true powers are realized."
"Who, may I ask, transformed you into the ruthless beast you are today?"
"...Micherure."
"Truly? That is enlightening. I'm assuming it was an unfortunate mishap." I frowned and decided to steer this conversation elsewhere; his voice was too cool and comfortable as he tread into deep waters. I stowed the cards and took a seat across from the Youko.
"Your race isn't something you come across every day either. Silver Kitsune?"
"So I have heard. But I wouldn't know. My mother abandoned me shortly after my birth."
"Wow, revealing your past. You have said nary a thing, and now you entrust me with your origin?" He folded his long fingers together and placed them in his lap, sighing and closing his eyes.
"I have not. I merely stated a fact. You know nothing of me."
"And you know not of me, Kurama-sama. All you know is that I-" I counted the things he knew on my fingers- "am a half-tigress, have been alive for thousands of years, am gifted in the ways of katars and sais, and that is all... all of importance, anyway."
"True." I cupped my chin in my palm.
"Don't think I didn't do my homework on you. King of Bandits, of Thieves. The Pillaging Prince, the Kitsune Thief. The masses speak of your name in hushed tones. Kurama-sama, you quest for glory and territory and riches. You appear in the dead of night, taking what you need. No apparition knows what hit him afterwards. Many bandits are eager to follow you, to gain your favor and achieve your status. But the funny thing is you're supposed to be cruel and heartless. But all you've done in my palace is trifle. You just look like a silly demon boy, lost, without his friends or home. I suppose appearances are veils, though, masking what you really are. Once you find what you seek here, you'll leave and retain your steely, handsome exterior. Why not kill me in my sleep? Why not poison my food or drink with some plant from some far-off place?"
"I see no use for that. If I had wanted to assassinate you, don't you think it would have been done? If I had chosen that, more bounty hunters would be in business, since my head would be worth my weight in gold. Besides, I would be ridding this city of a capable ruler. You tend to the City of Ganderra like a mother to her pups."
"Who else would? Until I find a suitable successor, I will not leave it. At least, not within the next century."
"Oh? What do you intend to do after this?"
"Don't know. Maybe become a bandit like you?" I smiled. A smirk formed on his face. "Is that emotion I see on your face?"
"Hmph, right. And why wouldn't you go on being the ruler?" His smirk widened. "You're lying about not knowing where your path will lead you next."
"True. But you won't get that piece of information, not until you can tell me what I am." I stuck out my tongue jokingly.
"Hmph." And he went silent once more.
--Present Day--
Just as Naomi had moved the both of us in, the Dark Tournament requested our presence. Therefore, the butterfly girl filled my suitcase with newly-bought human clothes, and Micherure hired a helicopter pilot to fly us to Hanging Neck Island. We arrived at Hotel Kubikukuri and unpacked, but not without bickering.
Naomi and Micherure debated with each other as I folded my clothes. All three of us were in our human forms.
"I refuse to stay here. The letter- it only asked that Ruruna come."
"And the Queen asked us to stick to her like glue!" Naomi countered. "Besides, you've got to be bored as hell with being in that stupid treehouse. I know I am."
"You're both staying," I ended the argument.
"Nyahh!" Naomi contorted her face into a silly visage at Micherure and scampered into the bathroom.
"If she keeps doing that, I'm going to coax her into faerie form and trap her in a jar and put it in the freezer." Micherure massaged her temples and I rolled my eyes for what could have quite possibly been the hundredth time that day. My tigress counterpart retreated into her room, preferring to meditate, and Naomi came out of the bathroom in a golden gown.
"I'm going out to schmooze with the rich people."
"Don't stay out too late."
"I won't be gone long." Naomi left.
"Right, but you'll come back drunk," I muttered. Several moments after her, I departed the hotel room. I walked around aimlessly on our floor before finding a man who bore the Hotel Kubikukuri attire.
"Excuse me." I tapped him on the shoulder, removing him from his thoughts. "Do you know where I could find Team Urameshi?"
"Er, yeah. Take a left and all the way at the end. I just finished serving them coffee."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." I set on the route he had told me, passing a child and a man with a low amount of energy. I reminded myself that many, many demons would be here. Finally, I came to the door and knocked on it.
"Finally someone who knocks- whoa!" Kuwabara answered the door.
"Hello, Kuwabara-san!" I waved, smiling.
"Um, hi." He allowed me to enter their room. The decorations were of the same caliber as ours.
"What do you want?" Hiei asked.
"To wish you all luck." I lightly pushed Kuwabara aside and addressed Hiei with my eyes.
"Hn."
"What? I'm not a fighter in the tournament, and I'm sure not rooting for Toguro or anyone else." I frowned and looked around, my eyes resting on a broken teacup. "Oh, I'm not your only visitor. Team Rokuyoukai has visited you. I hope they haven't shaken you up."
"Nothing can shake me, heh!" Kuwabara put his fists on his hips in a triumphant stature. I smiled broadly at his confidence.
"You were as bewildered as a child in a candy store," Hiei scoffed.
"Shut up, shrimp." My eyes traveled across the room, looking at the five fighters. Yusuke slept on the couch.
"Nice to see you three are doing well. And Yusuke." I continued to the redhead. "And you, Kurama-sama?"
"Well, Ruruna-dono."
"Do you two know each other or something?" Kuwabara asked. I continued to grin.
"He used to be my pupil, I suppose, a long time ago."
"Huh." Kuwabara began to laugh. "That's funny, Kurama takin' orders from a girl."
"Don't underestimate me." My tone joked with him, but I was serious. Kuwabara blinked, scratching his nose as he examined me.
"You're... Kinda creepy. But I dunno why yet. I'm missin' something."
"Quit staring at me. Eyes make me nervous."
"Hn. I'm going to bed. Wake me when it's time to fight." Hiei walked off into one of the rooms. The Masked Fighter stepped off into her own room. Her stance and garb were similar to a woman I knew as Genkai; the energy felt the same as well. Kuwabara took cues from his teammates and left. Yusuke yawned and rolled over.
"So..." I twiddled my thumbs. "I see you're livin' it up in your human body." Kurama gave a small smile.
"Yes," he said. I walked in a circle around Kurama, inspecting him. I feigned a stern face.
"It's got its limits. Do you really think you'll win the tournament like this, Kurama-sama?"
"I do not know what I am up against yet," he replied.
"Find out quick. The Dark Tournament is no place for you to fool around." I softened. "But I know from experience that you're a fast learner, and even quicker at putting strategies into action. It's a strength of yours. ... This human thing is a great look for you, Kurama-sama."
"Thank you. I do not regret my choice of staying in Ningenkai."
"I know. See you tomorrow." I bounced to the door, not letting Kurama see my eyes change from emerald to sapphire. "Good luck."
"Thank you."
"Sheesh, Shuuichi-san, you're so polite. Your mother must be proud."
"Good night, Ruruna-dono."
"G'night. Sleep tight." I took my leave, but not before hearing a small comment.
"Kurama, you fox," Yusuke murmured in his sleep. I closed the door behind me, smiling.