ok, i have fallen victim to the peskiest of story inspirations, the kind that has anime merging with the real, and i'm involved. this time, pyro really is me. hillock is the name for my wonderful, awesome boyfriend, The Dark Wyvern, who is co-writing this with me. i bounce ideas off him, and he says scenes that make me fall over laughing.
DISCLAIMER (just in case nobody figgered it out from all the disclaimers in my other stories) i do not own YYH. i DO own pyro, because she is me. and even The Dark Wyvern will admit that he's mine. (yay, i'm so lucky.) unfortunately, i also own the baddies.
A young brunette woman in an oversize black trench coat walked along hand in hand with a taller blonde man in a black duster. From their closeness any one could tell that they were lovers. His 6' stature made her 5'7" frame look tiny, but she didn't seem to mind. Her braid went down to about where her waist ought to be, his hair stopped just between his shoulder blades with a dark set of sunglasses sticking out of the hair near the crown of his head.
The chill of the morning did nothing to hinder the vendors that had gathered for the weekend farmer's market. She stopped, looking over the vegetables on a table. He moved slightly further to interact with a man behind a table covered in gourmet coffee blends.
Moments later her shriek cut the calm of deals being made. "Hill! Hill! Help, Hillock!"
The blonde man turned in time to see his lover being dragged off by a pair of lizard-men. "Pyro!" He took off after them, smiling slightly as he watched her manage to kick one of them in the ribs.
The lizards took off into a wooded area nearby, with Hillock a few feet behind. Pyro managed to get in a few lucky shots and broke free. She took off running back toward the market.
Hillock caught her as she slammed into him. She looked up, apprehension in her eyes that vanished when she saw who had caught her. "Hill, oh thank the gods."
He brushed a stray hair out of her face. "You ok?"
She just nodded.
The lizard-men burst from the trees. They slowed when they saw the blonde man in possession of their prize. "We will give you a good prissss for the ssspirited bitch." the tallest one hissed.
Hillock pushed Pyro, urging her to stand behind him. "She is not for sale at any price."
The lizard-men hissed a challenge and drew their weapons. The curved blades were reminiscent of Ali Baba's 40 thieves.
Hillock drew his own blades from under his coat, twin wakizashi forged of Damascus steel. He held them in a reverse grip, sharp edge pointed out and ready to do some damage.
Another lizard-man showed up. When he saw that his comrades were battle ready, he drew his own weapon. "Lasst chansss human. Give usss the bitch and we will sssspare your worthlessss life."
"Never." Hillock growled.
All three lizards rushed him at once. Hillock's blades flashed in the dappled sunlight, leaving a glittering arc that ended in sparks as he blocked their blows. Blades flashed and clashed again, throwing more sparks.
Pyro moved to put her back to a tree, hastily pulling a leather strap from her hair. She held it between her hands, like a garrotte, ready to choke anything that paused in front of her. Because of the fluid nature of the fight, her attention was on the four combatants.
Another lizard-man entered the fray. A fifth, seeing the others had the human well occupied, blitzed past, catching the girl from the side and carrying her off.
Her shriek alerted Hillock. He managed to get clear long enough to throw a glowing black sphere at the lizard.
Pyro was thrown free when the sphere hit and knocked the lizard down. She tucked and rolled to her feet.
Yet another lizard came to aid the others. Getting an opening, Hillock switched grips. His blades flashed like two whirling circles of death. Two lizards fell, a head rolled one way, the other fell in multiple pieces.
The remaining three turned tail and attempted to run. Hillock threw more of the glowing black spheres. These broke apart on impact, engulfing the fleeing creatures in fire.
Four men ran up as the lizards burned. "Dammit! Late to the party again." the taller of the two dark-haired men whined.
Pyro and Hillock took defensive stances and eyed the men warily.
A man with impossibly red hair held his empty hands out, palms up. "Wait, we are friends."
Hillock looked at the four carefully. Seeing no weapons, he relaxed his stance slightly. Pyro, being slightly further back, couldn't see their lack of weapons and retained her wary stance. "Who the hell are you?"
"I am Kurama." The red head took a step forward. "The men with me are Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara." he indicated each man as he said their name. "We have been sent to help you."
Pyro's eyes narrowed. "Sent by whom?"
Kurama chuckled a little at her paranoia. "I believe you would know him as Hades or Pluto. We know him as Koenma."
Pyro and Hillock shared a 'what the fuck' look. Pyro stood up straight and tied the leather back into her braid.
"Help us with what, exactly?" Hillock asked.
"Your demon problem. Unless its a normal thing around here for lizard-men to roam the streets." the one Kurama had called Yusuke said.
"At Halloween, all the time. Around Imbolc, not so much." Pyro shrugged.
"So we're here to help out. Possibly teach you some skills as well." Yusuke grinned at the girl. He had taken a liking to her, and grinned more at the thought that it wouldn't suck too bad to get stuck with them.
Hillock wiped most of the blood off his blades and sheathed them. "We have a few skills already, as you can see. Help, on the other hand, we might need."
Kurama and Pyro had both covered their mouths and noses with their scarves and seemed to breathe as little as possible.
"I would appreciate it if we could take this discussion away from the stench of dead demon." Kurama said, sounding a bit ill.
After a short car ride, Hillock and Pyro leading the way in his car, Kurama and company trailing them, they came to a small apartment complex. Hillock parked in his usual place, Kurama a few spaces away.
Hillock emerged from the car sporting an eyepatch. No explanation was offered, and none was asked for. He led them all out to an empty field several yards wide. It was situated between buildings and a highway, the din of traffic drowning out any other sound. "We could scream and no one would hear us here."
"Good." The shortest of the group grumbled. He stood several feet away from the rest, watching carefully.
Pyro dropped her shoulder bag on the ground, then knelt beside it to rummage through it. She pulled out a black brace and strapped it carefully to her right wrist.
"You didn't really fight this time, love." Hillock said when he saw her.
"Sure I did. How else would I have gotten away from those dickheads?" Pyro replied.
He slapped himself in the forehead. "Right. Sorry love."
Kuwabara, sensing tension between the pair, spoke up. "Man, you have got some nice blades. Shame they got covered in demon blood."
Hillock grinned. "These aren't even the best in my collection."
"Can I see the others?" The orange-haired man's eyes lit up with excitement.
Pyro giggled as her lover turned. "Only one sword, love. You know how the neighbors get when they see you with more than one sword visible."
Hillock gave her a slight wave, to show he heard her. His steps sped up a little as he headed inside.
"What about you? Are you armed like he is?" Yusuke asked the only girl in the group.
Pyro smiled sweetly. "I don't carry swords to market. I've the strap in my hair, it serves as a garrotte or to bind someone." She pulled it out to demonstrate, undoing her hair in the process. "Then I've got the swiss army knife in my pocket, and the little black kitty on my keys." she rocked her feet from heel to toe, still giddy from adrenaline.
Yusuke and Kuwabara both gave her confused looks.
She pulled her keys from their pocket just inside the top of her bag. A stylized outline of a cat hung from a carabiner clip, its eyes just slightly bigger than finger size. She stuck the middle and ring fingers of her left hand into the holes so that the kitty's pointy ears pointed away from her palm. "Brass knuckles on steroids." she giggled.
"Nice." Yusuke grinned. 'yup, gonna be interesting.' he thought.
"Oh yeah. My daddy gave it to me for Christmas one year. Works great as a deterrent." Pyro stowed her keys and the strap.
Hillock rejoined the group, holding the sword he considered his best. It was in the Ancient Greek style, he called it 'the Spartan'. The sword was fashioned from a single piece of steel, the blade flowing into the grip, giving the sword more durability. The grip was wood lashed on with leather. Two wicked points curved up and around where the wielder's hand would be.
Even Hiei came closer to examine the sword.
"So, are all y'all human?" Pyro asked after a few moments.
"One of us is." Yusuke grinned. "And it ain't me. I'm what they call a mazoku, part demon, part human, unless I die, which I did. Then I became more demon than human."
"Is it Kuwabara?" Pyro ventured.
"Kuwabara Kazuma, fully human, at your service." Kuwabara grinned and bowed slightly to the girl.
"So you two are not human." Pyro said to Kurama and Hiei. She thought for a moment, looking at the two very intently. "Red's aura feels kinda like being out in a rose garden in the middle of the woods. Spikes over there feels like wildfire."
"I am human in this form. But I am also a fox demon." Kurama said, openly impressed. "Hiei is a fire demon."
"Yusuke, you and I are not going to get along, your aura's too violent." Pyro said to the brown-eyed boy.
"I'm not a street punk anymore. I used to get in fights all the time, on purpose. Now, I fight when I have to." Yusuke protested.
"Man, we used to have these massive fights every day." Kuwabara chuckled.
Yusuke laughed. "More like I wiped the pavement with your face."
Kuwabara got ready to lunge at the laughing man. "Why you..." They started trading punches.
Pyro shoved her way between the pair. "Save it for the enemy, boys."
Kuwabara pointed at the other man. "You and me, Urameshi. When she goes inside, it is so on."
"Any time, Kuwabara, any time." Yusuke grinned.
Pyro stood back, holding her bound wrist close to her body, as if it hurt her.
"Baka." Hiei sneered softly.
Hillock tried to hand her the Spartan. She shook her head in negation. "Why, love?" He asked.
She held up her bound wrist. "Over did it shoving those lummoxes."
The weakness she seemed to imply angered Hiei. He flitted over to stand directly in front of her.
read, review, tell me if it sucks. tell me if it doesn't suck.
