SapphireRose
Disclaimer: All of the characters (except Rebecca Wallace) belong to Yoshiro Togashi, Studio Pierrot, Fuji T.V., Shounen Jump - basically, anyone but me. Yes, the title of this story is a song by the Damn Yankees, but it's not a songfic. The plot's mine too, just so we're all clear. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO THE ENTIRE STORY. If there's one thing that bugs me, it's disclaimer this and disclaimer that.
Here are a few notes about my story that might help clear a few things up.
1) I'm trying really hard to not make this a Mary Sue. I hate Mary Sue's and Carrie Lou's.
2) It's almost a self-insertion fic, but not really; I'm not really this weird all the time in real life, as my character is portrayed to be.
3) Okay, how I do Genkai's temple in most of YYH fanfictions is this: It in itself is one of the gateways between the Ningenkai and Makai. I used my creative imagination (*cough!!*) to say that the only way to get to the Ningenkai is to enter the back door of the temple and exit through the front. I mean, you can't just walk around it and be in the Ningenkai or whatever. It's like it sits on a line, and that line goes through the middle of the temple horizontally.
Confused? I know I am! @.@
4) The summary flat-out sucks. If anyone has a really good idea for it, let me know, and I'll change it.
5) This is set, like, DIRECTLY after the first Dark Tournament. Right after as in, forget episode 67 and everything that comes after it, because the first chapter of this story IS episode 67. (More or less because, unfortuneatly, all I've seen are dubs on Cartoon Network and haven't quite figured out the rest of the series. Hell, who am I kidding; I haven't even seen all of D.T. episodes!! *pulls out hair*) That should be it, and I'll add something if I think of it or keep getting asked the same questions.
I pushed against the screen in a gentle upward motion and felt it shift slightly. I dropped my right hand and put my palm against the bottom of the screen and lifted it the rest of the way up. I let my left hand off of it and cupped them beneath the white plastic, waiting to see if it would fall. After a few moments it hadn't, so I leaned my elbows on the outer windowsill and leaned out my window, staring up at the dark sky. I could only see a few stars since we were in the city. A dirty city, at that(1), I thought scornfully. Scowling to myself, I remembered a time when I had wanted to be here. Of course, I had never thought my stay would've been permanent, either.
I glanced over my shoulder at the familiar Crayola digital clock positioned by my waterbed, a child's toy, really, that I had gotten from my grandmother as a moving present when I was seven years old. After eight years and several crashes, the little clock was hard for even my dad to set, and the blue border around the tiny display screen was attached solely by tape after my sister had dropped it. At the moment, the glowing red digits read eleven fifty-nine.
To be perfectly honest, I should've been in bed; tomorrow was another school day. I turned my attention back out the window just in time to see a shooting star. My usually lax eyebrows rose slightly, and I made the wish I had wished for the past four months on the first star of the evening. "Let my life-" the grandmother clock down the hall struck midnight, "change for the better," I whispered softly. The loud chimes and bells continued to ring twelve times.
I stayed up for nearly an hour just listening to the still-bustling city. I had half a mind to crawl out my window and go walk around town. I glanced down at myself and smirked. I was still wearing my clothes from the previous day, a worn pair of light blue jeans and a greenish shirt that said something about being a smart alec. That type of clothes wasn't popular here, but I was past the point of caring. I wouldn't get lost, even though we had only lived in this hellhole for a few months; I had an excellent sense of direction and memory. As my mind decided this, I felt my muscles tense and stretch forwards, but I quickly deterred from the action and sat back down on my toy chest. I wasn't stupid.
Instead, I busied myself with thinking about the peculiar incident that had happened to me today in one of the city's many parks. I had been walking the path, minding my own business, when I had seen something glimmering in the forest. No one else seemed to see it, so I had trudged through the woods, braving poison ivy and oak with my sandaled feet, to see the shiny thing. Maybe it was worth something; one never knows. When I reached the small clearing, I saw that it was...
~Flashback~
"What are you doing here?" he asked in a low, angry voice. He didn't seem normal, somehow; almost like he wasn't human or something. 'Ch, right. I was letting my imagination run away with me.
"Looking at something," I said flatly.
He squinted at me suspiciously. "What?"
"Something."
"I said, what?"
"Something," I said again.
With a faint shing, I found myself staring down my nose at cold metal poking my throat. Wow. I thought those things were illegal. Why not use a gun? Of course, when you have a gun pointed at your neck, you can always assume there aren't any bullets in it and stand a fifty-fifty chance of being right, while with a sword, you can tell when it's prodding you whether or not it's sharp - oh. Me and me ever-rambling thoughts. The guy was talking.
"I'll only ask you one more time, human," he spat. Hey! What was that supposed to mean? Wait. That kind of a jeer could only mean one thing – he wasn't human! Which meant I was right. Score! "What were you looking at?"
What if this was some sort of test? I mean, if I saw the oyster-shell thing (and no one else had, mind you), what if I was a savior? Or worse yet, an abomination of human kind? Well, if I was a savior, he wouldn't kill me if he needed me. Even if he didn't need me, he'd kill me right away. I mean, really, why torture a person when they stand the chance of escaping and doing what you don't want them to do anyway? If I was an abomination, well by all means, kill me! I didn't like people and I hated kids, but the world already had enough troubles without me trying to destroy it. I wasn't afraid of death. I was even curious about it, though only dumb enough to try to commit suicide once. I wasn't crazy.
Knowing all this, I said calmly, emotionlessly, "Something."
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
He disappeared.
I resumed walking and didn't go home until after dark.
I snorted. It was a disc made of oyster-shell with a few inscriptions that I didn't bother to read on it. I knelt down and picked it up and was on my way back to the path when someone jumped down in front of me. Yay. Red eyes the color of blood leered in my own dangerously. With his attention on my face, I tucked the oyster shell into the flat of my palm and nonchalantly slipped my hands into my pockets, releasing it there. My face was blank of all emotions. It usually was.
~End Flashback~
I sighed; it was almost one thirty in the morning. I shut my screen and crawled back onto my bed, not bothering even at the late hour to change into pajamas. I rolled over onto my side and hugged my stuffed rabbit, Fufu, tightly to me, along with my two blankies, which were actually the same blanket cut in two. These three things were the only things I could rely on to stay the same, even though one of my blanket squares was about ready to fall apart. I snuggled into my childish comfort and counted in a droll one-two pattern the ticking of my clocks to lull myself to sleep.
Even though I denied it and often faked sleeping through everything, I was an extremely light sleeper. So of course the sound of someone else stepping on my squeaky toy chest woke me up. I mean, I'm the only one who knew where to sit and lean to avoid making noise, so it was someone else. I opened my left eye and stared at the toy chest just in time to see a pair of red eyes shine from the city light. I sat up slightly. "Not you again," I mumbled, grabbing my glasses. I blinked rapidly as the figure was right before me and held my glasses a bit more tightly.
He glared at me, and I glared back. I could see light coming through my window, so it was somewhere near five in the morning. My weak eyes suddenly saw his fist move, and the last thing I remember was a little voice telling me that this was going to hurt.
"So, what's this 'emergency meeting' for, pacifier-breath?" Yusuke asked, stretching idly.
Koenma glared at him. "One, I am not a 'pacifier-breath.' Two, the reason you have been called here is that there has been a kidnapping of a human girl. The problem is, she's a regular human girl. She's not half-demon like you or Kurama, isn't spiritually aware like Kuwabara, and doesn't have any special abilities besides appearing extremely sarcastic."
"Like Keiko," the boy muttered.
"Not like Keiko. She's not associated with any Makai or Earth figures. Keiko can be targeted and used for ransom because she's associated with you. This girl is one hundred percent regular." He paused and glanced over the three males in his presence. "I need you to find out why the girl has been kidnapped, rescue her, and return her to the human world."
"What's her name, anyway? That might narrow down our search," Yusuke pointed out.
"Her- you're late," the godling accused as Hiei suddenly appeared. The fire demon scowled at him but said nothing. "Her name is Rebecca Wallace." Yusuke and Kuwabara stared at him blankly.
"Come again?"
"Rebecca Wallace. It's a western name," Kurama explained to Yusuke.
"You know, Yusuke, if you're so baffled, you could always ask her when you find her," Koenma said pointedly.
"Right. Let's go find her!"
(1) - Nothing against this place (which you'll find out soon enough!). Really. Think. If you were forced to move somewhere, wouldn't you be scornful too? I know I was when I moved to my current town.
Yeah, Becca's based on me. In fact, that's my nick-name. She's just like me. *ruffles character's hair*
Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know. However, unless it's extremely constructive criticisim (I'll be the judge of that!), flames will be printed, handed out, laughed out and flamed.