I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. First I got writer's block; then I was banned from because I was in my senior year at high school. I was still writing though, I just had to handwrite everything before retyping them. I'll try to do better but it might be difficult as I am in college.
Again, I'm sorry!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Behind the Ice Masquerade
Chapter 1: Problem and Solution
Touya sighed as a yell of "Chuu, you drunken oaf! Give me that sake bottle, right now! No! I said now! Not after you drink it!" echoed through the house. By the sound of it, Rinku was now trying, emphasize on trying, to take the sake bottle away from the larger demon. And, judging by the amount of noise that they were making, they were going to have either an angry and very vain clown or a livid samurai yelling at them or threatening them. Though it was most likely to be the latter doing both and he would make himself known in…three…two…one…
"Both of you SHUT UP! Or I'll cut out each of your voice boxes and shut you up permanently!" the livid slate haired samurai yelled. The noise immediately ceased. Though he was in the next room, Touya could imagine the scene. Rinku and Chuu would be frozen in place, their hands on the sake bottle from their tug-o-war, facing the doorway. In the doorway would be a half dressed Shishiwakamaru, Shishi for short, looking murderous. His hair would be disheveled and his horns were probably sticking out in top of his head. In his hand would be the drawn Banshee Shriek.
"Shishi, don't hurt them. We've got training today and you know how Genkai can get," Touya called, trying to stop the samurai.
"I don't care right now! These two should know better than to fight first thing in the morning and wake everyone up with their fight!"
"I agree but cutting their voice boxes out or whatever you're planning to do to them won't help." Silence answered his remark and Touya decided to play his trump card.
"Shishi, if you hurt them, I'll deep freeze the raspberries I was going to serve with breakfast."
"Don't you dare!" Shishi shrieked as he did a complete about face. The ice master smirked at the sound, knowing that he had won.
"I will unless you get Suzuki up and get ready for the day." There was the sound of running footsteps as the demon samurai scrambled to follow Touya's instructions. A moment later, Rinku regained his senses and yanked the sake bottle from his former teammate's hands. The commotion caused by that action covered up the undignified yelp of Suzuki as he was dumped out of his bed by his roommate. At the same time, Jin flew over to see what all the commotion was about. When he saw Chuu chasing Rinku, who was holding a sake bottle, around, he could guess what happened.
"Mornin' Icy. Was the big ape tryin' ta get some ale in 'im afore trainin' started?"
"How did you guess?" the pale demon asked dryly. He finished preparing breakfast and began to take it to the table as he continued. "Rinku tried to stop him but they made so much noise that they woke Shishi…"
"An' let me guess. Ya told the samurai not ta kill the two but ta go wake his roomie. An', once he left, the kid took the ale, which caused all the noise an' commotion. Did I guess right?"
"Yes, you did. Now, can you please stop those two before they bre-" (Crash!) Touya winced as he heard the sound of breaking glass followed by Chuu's wailing.
"…I think it stopped now, Touy'," Jin said as he poked his head out the door to see what happened. Either Rinku had tripped or Chuu had been able to catch the child demon but regardless of what happened the bottle had broken and there was a mess. Touya pinched the bridge of his nose as he mentally added another chore that he would have to do before he left for training.
"I agree with you. Now, can you please bring them in for breakfast? It's ready."
"Yay!"
Breakfast passed quickly and without anymore major mishaps. Afterwards, Suzuki, Rinku and Chuu went out to the clearing where training was held so that they could warm up while Jin went flying and Shishi meditated. Touya stayed at their home and did the chores on his list. He knew that he would be late for training, again, but if he didn't do it now it would never get done. He had resigned himself for whatever punishment Genkai was going to give him when he sensed the elderly psychic approaching the house. When the door opened, the petite demon braced himself for Genkai's yelling.
"There you are Touya. I wanted to talk to you," the former master psychic said. The ice master looked up at her surprised. Usually she would yell at him to get his butt to the training area.
"Forgive me, Lady Genkai, but I believe that whatever you want to say will have to wait until later. I do have to get to training."
"Not right now. This conversation cannot wait until later. I need to talk to you in private and as soon as possible. Besides that, I doubt that we would find either later."
Touya blinked. Genkai was actually letting him be late for training? What so important that it needed to be talked about in private and as soon as possible?
"Very well, Lady Genkai. I will talk to you right now. Would you like for me to make you some tea before we begin?" he asked politely. Genkai shook her head.
"No, I'm fine. You can continue what you're doing. All that I'm asking of you is to listen and answer my questions truthfully. Okay?" At Touya's nod, she began, "You and the other five have been living here for about a year now. How has it been living with the others?"
"It's been a little crazy but for the most part it's alright," Touya answered as he continued to wipe up the spilled sake.
"Does one person do more housework than the rest?" At the question, Touya paused in his cleaning. Out of the six of them, Touya himself did almost all of the housework. The only place that he didn't clean was Suzuki's lab and that was because it was Suzuki's area and no one wanted to go in there if they could help it. When he remembered that Genkai was waiting for his answer, he said, "I do. If you don't mind my asking, what brought these questions on?"
"I asked someone to watch how you were all living about a month ago…"
Flashback
"Hiei! Get down here! I need you to do something for me!"
A split second later, the small Fire Koorime appeared in front of her. Glaring at the woman he simply said, "What?"
"I want you to watch the six demons that you beat during the last Dark Tournament that are now training under me. I want you to tell me how they live."
"And why should I?
"Because Touya comes late almost every day and he looks much more haggard looking than the other five. Also, whenever the idiot invites them to go somewhere with them, Touya doesn't go with them."
"Have you ever thought that he simply lost track of time? Or that he spends more time training on his own? Or maybe the ice master is uninterested in the places that the detective takes them," Hiei asked irritably. "Can't you find someone else to watch them?"
"I thought of those possibilities but I want to be sure. And who else would I ask to watch them? The idiot always spends time with the other five; Kuwabara is too loud for his own good; Kurama sticks out too much with his hair and Spirit-Youkai energy and Koenma and Botan are nearly constantly working."
"I still don't see why I have to do it. Why don't you do it since you're the one who's concerned?"
"What am I going to do? Invite myself to stay at their house for a week? They would all act differently if I was there than if I wasn't there. Besides, you're always coming and going whenever and that makes you the least conspicuous. And if you don't want to talk to them, you could just leave." Hiei was silent and Genkai sighed. "I'm only asking for a week of your time at most. If you can find the reason before then you can leave."
"Hn," he grunted before flitting off towards the demon's home.
The Fire Koorime watched the house for two day before Genkai asked if he had found the reason that caused Touya to stay at home all the time and make him look more haggard than he should.
"The Ice Master does all the housework and basically takes care of his five housemates. That is all."
Genkai was silent for a moment before she told Hiei that he didn't have to watch the six anymore. Once the fire demon disappeared, Genkai lapsed back into silence. No wonder Touya showed up late for training and looked more haggard than the others looked. He probably tried to do most of the housework before he was too tired and would finish probably after the other five had gone to bed. Why hadn't he tried to leave the work for the others? Or, maybe he had but it never got done. The psychic sighed. She needed to find a way to give Touya a break from that house and teach the other five a lesson in cleaning.
End Flashback
"So that's why I sensed Hiei around," Touya remarked after Genkai finished. "But how do you plan to give me a break and teach my housemates how to clean at the same time?"
"Don't worry about either. I already have a plan for your housemates…" At that, the ice shinobi shuddered slightly. That did not bode well for his housemates. "…and an idea to get you away from this house for awhile. If you're done mopping that up, I can explain on the way to meet a friend of mine."
Touya nodded and rose to follow Genkai. She took him on a vaguely familiar path as she spoke.
"Touya, how many people or demons have you sensed on a daily basis? Besides your housemates, the Spirit Detectives, their friends or family and me." Touya was silent and Genkai guessed the answer. "None. Correct?"
Touya nodded.
"Well there is one more person who lives in this forest. However, she can hide her aura and energy completely. She wants to go to Makai to learn more about demons. I encourage her to go but would like to make sure that she's safe. I would go but I'm too old to make another trip to Makai and I don't have much power left. So I asked her to wait until I found someone trustworthy who knew about Makai and would be able to help keep her safe."
"And, you want me to accompany her because I meet those requirements, correct?"
"Yes. It works out really well. She can go to Makai; you can get away from that house while I teach your housemates how to clean and you can both train to become stronger. What do you say Touya?"
By now, Touya had recognized where they were and easily made his decision. "I would be glad to accompany Yuuzuki while she is traveling in Makai."
At the name, the master psychic looked at him. "Ah, so you have already met her? That's good to know. Now, we need to find her so that I can tell her."
"Tell me what, Genkai?" a voice asked from their right. Both the human and demon looked over to see a girl dressed in black sweatpants and dark green tank top in the trees. Her black hair was styled in a braid, though a few strands clung to her neck. Her deep brown eyes regarded them curiously from under her sweat soaked bangs.
"How long have you been listening to us?"
"All that I heard was the last three sentences before I spoke."
"Couldn't you have let us sensed you before you snuck up on us?"
"No, I thought that it wouldn't be the best idea to do so. No offence to you, Genkai, but you tend to react more violently to sudden appearances of spirit or demonic energy than you do to someone suddenly speaking up."
"Alright, you have a point," Genkai sighed.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" Yuuzuki asked again. Touya answered the girls' question.
"Lady Genkai wanted to tell you that I am willing to accompany you while you're traveling Makai. I know the world fairly well and she thought that I need to have a break from my housemates."
Yuuzuki blinked when the ice demon spoke up but grinned when she saw who it was. "Hey Touya. Good to see you again. I'd be glad if you would accompany me through Makai but I just hope that you're not doing this because Genkai threatened you with a near impossible training exercise."
Touya laughed at that. With Genkai, it was always a possibility. "No, actually I already said that that she thought that I needed a break from my housemates. And I agree with her."
"That's good to hear. I hoped that whoever I was going with would actually want to go without being forced in some way."
"Well, I can see that I have nothing to worry about. Touya, you're excused from training today. Now go get everything that you'll need to have while you're in Makai and don't continue what you were doing earlier. You and Yuuzuki can discuss where you'll go while you're traveling. You two should probably leave tomorrow so that you can get their quickly. Touya, please spend the night at Yuuzuki's. I want to start lessons as soon as possible. But for now, I need to make sure that they're not slacking."
Both the demon and girl watched as the elderly psychic march away. Yuuzuki raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Touya and asked, "What in the nine hells did your housemates do to make Genkai so mad?"
"They left all of the housework for me to do..."
Yuuzuki winced at the answer. "No wonder she wants you to get your things and sleep at my place tonight. Genkai puts more people through hell teaching them to clean than she does training them to use their Spirit Energy. And an even worse hell at that. If you think that using Spirit Energy in harder than cleaning, you're sadly mistaken if Genkai decides to teach you how to clean."
The ice master shuddered at the description. He pitied his housemates but at the same time was relieved that he wasn't going to have to be taught. "Well, I'd better get my things now."
"Good idea. And bring anything that you want left alone. You can leave them at my place while we're in Makai. Knowing Genkai, she'll make them clean every square inch of your place. Do you want help getting everything?"
"No, I'll be able to manage."
"Alright then. I'll head back to my place and start laying stuff out to take to Makai. When you come over, just let yourself in." Touya nodded and went back to the cabin while Yuuzuki headed the opposite direction, disappearing into the trees.