A/N: I saw a fanfic of a Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho crossover where Kurama/Suiichi fell in love with Minako. It was cute, a little cliché but cute none the less, and it inspired me to do a similar crossover with a twist of my own. I hope you enjoy!
(For those following my Merlin story, I am working on it but probably won't have anything up for another month, I'm heading for Europe soon and won't have my computer will me while there. Sorry for the wait and thank you for your patience!)
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor V or Yu Yu Hakusho. I did write this story though, it's my incarnation of Sailor V.
Enjoy.
Codename: Sailor V and the Thief
Youko Kurama has been captured, a botched robbery spelling the end of his infamous crime spree. He is scheduled for execution but before the sentence can be carried out, Koenma approached the jaded spirit fox with the chance to save himself but at what cost?
Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt 1
...
Minako Aino, thirteen years old, middle school student with average grades. Blonde hair, blue eyes, an unusual affinity for anything involving sports and a magnet for trouble.
Youko Kurama decided that either Spirit World had screwed up big time or had far too much faith in him. And considering he was a master thief—arrest and imprisonment not-withstanding—he was more inclined to believe the former. Spirit World's poor intelligence though was hardly Youko's problem, Koenma had promised the spirit fox his freedom in exchange for advising and guarding this human girl and Youko was going to do just that regardless of whether the Spirit World had done its job or not.
Keeping to the shadows of the hedges that framed the school's athletic fields, Youko watched his target spin effortlessly around a metal bar. His golden eyes followed her as she released the bar and tucked with her momentum into a flip—descent for a human—before landing, heavily, on the matt below the bars. The blonde—that was a little odd, blonde hair in Japan? Really?—winced as her teacher shouted at her from across the field, apparently the human had been showing off with that last move. Youko smiled, that was something he could appreciate.
"Jeez, Mina-chan, you just can't help yourself can you?" a girl with short blue hair commented as his target rejoined her classmates.
The blonde pouted, "I'm not showing off, Hikaru-chan, the other move's just too easy. What's the point of doing something easy?"
The other human, Hikaru, rolled her eyes, "Now if you'd only apply that logic to school work and you'd be an all-star athlete and student."
Minako grinned, "If you say so, Hiraku-chan."
Hikaru cocked her head to the side, "You seem awfully upbeat today, Mina-chan, more so than usual at least. What's up?"
Youko watched his target giggle and whip out a white envelope with a name scrawled across the front, "I'm giving this to Higashi-senpai today!"
"A love letter?" Hikaru asked and Youko had to repress a groan. Great, as if human teenagers weren't hard enough to deal with, now he was stuck with a love-struck fool. Why did he get the feeling he was going to regret ever making that deal with the brat Koenma?
Retreating from the bushes, the spirit fox took up residence atop the school, his keen gold eyes tracking the blonde across the school yard.
The fur along his neck rose and prickled, as clear a sign as any that he was angry. Imagine, a powerful demon, a legend such as himself, reduced to the guardian of an air-headed human, no older than a babe! It was humiliating and insulting, but then that summed up the whole circumstance of his capture.
Youko Kurama prided himself in the precision with which he executed a heist, every step of every possible outcome was planned for or against. It was more than just a profession, it was an art. But this one time, he got cocky and greedy for his target, both traits he loathed and once attributed only to Yomi. Youko had thought himself above such flaws but it was those very things that led to his capture. And he was paying dearly for it now, being forced to play babysitter for this human!
The fox demon forced himself to take a deep breath. Anger clouded judgment more than greed or pride. Youko knew he would need every ounce of his infamous patience in order to survive this task. His freedom was more than worth the irritation of putting up with a human for a while.
That was another annoyance, Youko reflected as he settled down atop the chain-link fence on the roof, Koenma had failed to mention just how long this mission of his would be. The toddler king had been infuriatingly vague on several details that Youko would rather know but, as Koenma had reminded him, the fox thief was really in no position to make demands. Youko could appreciate that, he was a trickster by nature and there were rules that had to be respected. He lost and now had to deal with the consequences of it; complaining—and irrational anger—would only waste time.
Youko jumped suddenly as a wave of malice struck him like a tsunami, starling him from his thoughts. The fox's entire body stood rigid as he scanned the area for the threat but no demon thirsting for revenge dropped out of the sky or approached him at all. Youko scented the air, there were a few demons close by but none that were aware of his presence or would ever pose much of a threat. Eyes narrowing, the fox turned his eyes on the students below; while the presence had been startlingly malevolent it had not been particularly strong so it was possible…
There!
Youko dropped into the leafy foliage of the ground's many trees. He crept along a flimsy branch to get a closer look at the human boy the evil intents emanated from. The fox's eyes narrowed: no, not a human, this was a demon masquerading as a boy.
Why? Youko wondered briefly. Most demons considered themselves above the human species and would never subject themselves to suck interment interaction, so why? It only took a moment longer for Youko to come to the answer: food. Many demons relied on human souls or energy to survive. A good portion of the disappearances, murders or unexplained commas in the human world could be attributed to a demon.
Youko could appreciate the cunning in this demon's tactics. Sure, Youko would never mingle with humans so willingly but if this demon had no other way of obtaining the food he needed…well, survival was the ultimate goal.
Moving further down the branch, Youko wondered if he should attempt contacting the demon—an ally this experience with the human world would be useful—but just as the thought crossed his mind the branch beneath him snapped! With a bark of surprise, Youko tumbled to the ground, landing in an undignified mess of limbs and tails.
"What's that?" a female human exclaimed.
"Is that a cat?"
"No it's a fox!" a boy said.
Scowling, Youko jumped to his feet and made a run for it, his ears still prickling with the children's confused voices.
"I've never seen a fox this close to the city, especially a white one."
"Do foxes even climb trees?"
"Mina-chan, what's wrong?"
Youko looked back at the blonde girl. Gold eyes met sapphire blue for a heartbeat before Youko disappeared into the street. Even as he continued to put distance between himself and the school—mostly to out run the humiliation of falling from a tree then to escape the students—he could hear his target talking to her friend.
"Hikaru-chan, did that fox have four tales?"
….
That afternoon found an irritated Youko Kurama once again perched atop the school. After running off the embarrassment, Youko reflected on the morning's events; more specifically, he focused the revelation that his target, Aino Minako, had seen not just one or two of his tales but all four.
Humans with untrained sixth senses could usually only see one of Youko's tales and even if they were trained they usually only saw two, but this girl had seen all four and as far as Youko knew she was completely untrained in the spiritual sense. It was interesting, though hardly enough so to normally stir his interest. If he was a free fox, and bored out of his mind, he might have pulled a few tricks on her just for entertainment, but for now his intentions for the girl were different.
At least now he had some indication that Spirit World's intelligence was onto something—though he still was not convinced that this "something" was significant enough to warrant his time. If anything he found the disguised demon to be far more intriguing than his target. At least this demon displayed some level of cunning and intelligence. He wondered briefly if the demon had taken notice of him. Youko saw nothing to indicate that and he ultimately decided it was not an issue either way. Even with his powers restricted by Spirit World, Youko was the stronger of the two.
A commotion broke out in one of the rooms below, which usually would not bother the fox but the girl was his target and, according to Spirit World, his responsibility now. If the disguised demon had decided to make her a target then Koenma might retract their original deal. Jumping down to a tree branch outside the class window, Youko looked in to see his target beat the snot out of two human boys: "Jerks!" she snapped, "How dare you say something like that! I am not rude!"
Youko's lips twitched up in a small smirk, maybe he wouldn't find this girl so annoying after all.
The boys rubbed their heads and glared at the blonde. "You are not a girl, Mina-chan!" one boy grumbled.
"I'd really like to see her cry for once." The other grumbled, examining his broken glasses.
Minako stuck her tongue out at both boys, "I never cry!"
Youko snorted, 'Well, that was immature.' He reflected, 'Though I suppose I can't fault her for it, she is just a child.'
"Yeah, you'd have to have a heart to cry wouldn't you?"
Youko settled down on the branch as his target lunged at the boys again, dealing out swift justice for the insult. If he could say nothing else for them, humans were certainly entertaining.
…
The rest of the school day passed without incident for the spirit fox or his target. Youko spent most of that time deciding how to approach the girl; from what he could see the girl would probably think it some kind of trick if he just went up and started talking—though that was guaranteed to have some entertaining outcomes. Regardless of however the meeting went, Youko had decided that it would wait until later that night when she was home. Humans felt safer in their homes so she would be less likely to run away or spook.
When the last bell of the day, the girl all but sprinted from the room, her letter clasped tightly in her hands. 'It's probably wrinkled as hell now.' Youko mused as he stood and stretched. His tails twitched as another spark of malice came his way. The fox looked down from his branch to see the human-disguised-demon leave the building, surrounded by several females—no doubt his meals for later. Youko watched the demon and its prey leave the school grounds, though he knew the demon was not particularly strong something about him made Youko uneasy.
He heard the doors of the school open and spotted his target leave the building at a dead sprint, apparently intent on catching up with the disguised demon. "Well," Youko muttered, "We can't have that."
Jumping down from the tree, Youko dashed past the girl. Too fast for human eyes to follow, but just slow enough for whatever supernatural senses she had—Youko still wasn't convinced it was a spiritual sense—would feel him. Sure enough the girl stopped short of her target and turned to look for Youko. The fox thief watched with interest as she instantly zeroed in on the bush he was hidden in. The girl, abandoning her original mission in favor of curiosity, approached the bush, peering through the leafs to try and catch a glance of whatever it was that had startled her so.
Youko's eyes widened. A faint glow, one he had not noticed earlier that day, appeared around the girl. An odd symbol—a crescent moon maybe?—shone faintly on her forehead. His tails flicked as the girl approached, now that he was this close he got the full force of the power he had missed earlier. The amount of raw power she was admitting was staggering.
This girl was no mere human.
"Mina-chan!"
His target looked away from the bush, straightening and turning towards her friend. "Hey Hikaru-chan, I thought you'd left already."
"I had some things to finish for the knitting club." Hikaru explained, "So did you give Higashi-sempai your letter?"
Minako's face crumbled, "Oh no!" the girl cried, dashing out the front gate, her aura and the pressure it exerted disappearing as she stepped away from Youko. The fox leapt to the top of the school's walls, watching Minako look for the disguised-demon. "I can't believe I missed him!"
"It's okay, Mina-chan." Her friend reassured the distraught child, "There's always tomorrow. Maybe you'll catch him in the morning."
This did not seem to reassure his target any but she accepted it and made her way home, leaving her friend with a sad goodbye. Youko followed.
He slunk closer to the girl, lowering his energy to keep himself hidden from her senses. As he got closer he saw the golden aura appear again but when Minako crossed the street ahead of him it disappeared. Now even more intrigued than before, Youko began testing the range of the energy aura. He approached her from different sides, waiting for her aura to appear again before retreating away from it. From what he could tell the girl had no control over the aura—nothing about how it moved or responded to his spiritual prods indicated that she was even aware of it. Instead it only seemed to appear when the fox demon got within three feet of the girl. That was also the range at which he could sense the full depths of her power—or, at least, the potential she had for power.
Youko dropped back as he followed the girl. Maybe there was some kind of seal on her aura, to protect her from the interest of demons and less friendly humans. But if that were the case the seal was either poorly placed or eroding.
'Maybe this will be more interesting than I thought.' Youko reflected later that night as he stood watch outside the girl's home. 'If nothing else this part will certainly be entertaining.' The fox thief smirked as he cleared the street with a single jump. He leapt around the house, searching for a point of entry. Finding a window, he easily scaled the tree that rose along the side of the house and alighted on the window sill. From the tone of the voice and the scent coming from the other side of the glass, he knew he'd found his target. The lock was child's play, literally, and he had slid the window open and slipped inside with his target none the wiser.
Youko sat in the window watching the girl. He wondered briefly if he should just wait for her to sense him but decided the more forward approach would be far more entertaining. The fox waited until she was washing her face before speaking up, "You missed a spot."
Instantly the blonde tensed and spun, her hair sticking to her wet face. At first she said nothing and just stared at the fox, her hands clutching the towel wrapped around her body and her blue eyes the size of saucers.
Youko's lips twitched in a smile.
"Snap out of it, girl, your time might be disposable but mine is not."
Two minutes later Youko sat outside the girl's bedroom. Mildly irritated and oddly entertained, 'She's got good aim.' The fox demon admitted in equal parts admiration and disapproval. What were humans teaching their children these days? A few centuries ago, no one would have even thought of throwing shampoo bottles or soap at a fox demon. He made a mental note to add respect to the list of things he intended to teach his appointed charge.
Shoring up his remaining patience, Youko opened the lock on her bedroom window and slipped inside. Despite his more mischievous urges, he had decided to wait until the girl was properly dressed before invading her territory again.
"Are you quite done being irrational?" he questioned as the girl jumped and spun to face him, brandishing a hair brush in a very unthreatening fashion.
"Just what the hell are you?" she demanded.
Youko's eyes narrowed, "Ignorance is no excuse for rudeness, human. You would do well to address me appropriately."
The girl, though flinching the reprimand, did not back down, "Yeah, well, that would be a lot easier if I knew what you were!" she countered.
Youko rolled his eyes, "There are not so many talking foxes in your mythology to justify that question, human."
"You know, the rudeness thing goes both ways and why am I talking to a fox?" the girl threw her brush on the ground leaving her hair a half brushed mess, and put her hands on her hips, "What are you doing in my room?"
"Regretting every step that brought me to this point." The fox muttered with more resignation than anger. He could sense the anger and confusion rolling off his target and her aura—which he was once again in the range of—was flicking around the edges like fire. Oh it would be so much fun to keep playing with this one; it had been a while since he had encountered anyone this expressive. But that would no doubt make working with her in the future very difficult, and, unfortunately for Youko, he and the girl would be working very closely together.
"Watch." He ordered the girl. He flicked his third tail and there was a small pop as a compact mirror in the shape of a crescent moon appeared between the two. The girl jumped and stepped back, alarmed by the sudden display. "Pick it up." Youko ordered.
She looked between him and the mirror, "Why?"
"There are some times when caution is a great tool, human, especially when you are talking to a demon fox, but now is not one of those times; pick up the compact."
Glaring, the girl did as ordered and scooped up the compact mirror. She examined the gold object, her fingers tracing the intricate design on its front. Youko watched with interest as her aura converged on the object, pulsing around it and growing stronger from the mirror's proximity. He had a general idea of who this girl was, though Koenma's explanation of the mirror's purpose had been meager at best. Youko recognized the compact as a magical artifact but he was more interested in what it did, so he was curious to see how the girl would react to it.
"Its…."
Youko waited, fascinated by the girl's awakening.
"It's so cute!" Minako exclaimed.
Youko fell off the bed.
She was an idiot. An Enma-damned idiot!
"Just open it." He ordered, torn between irritation and amusement.
She complied, though Youko suspected it was more out of her own curiosity than his order. The moment she loosened the clasp on the mirror a burst of light rushed forth from the mirror engulfing both human and fox in its light. When Youko opened his eyes again he found himself held in an orb of power and floating in space.
"W-what's going on here?"
Youko glanced to his left to find the human girl floating beside him, similarly trapped.
"Are we in space? Just what the hell did you do?" she demanded.
Youko shrugged, "If I knew any more than you did, human, I would tell you." That, of course, was an absolute lie, but the girl did not need to know that.
Aino Minako, my dear Sailor Venus.
The girl jumped, pushing herself to the far side of her orb as she looked about wildly for the source of the voice, "W-Who's there?"
Sailor Venus, welcome back. You have been awaken again to fulfill your oath.
"What oath?"
Youko cast his golden eyes about their surroundings, "Show yourself."
I can no more do that than you can return to your true form, Youko Kurama. The voice answered levelly. Youko glared at the emptiness of space, this was likely one of Koenma's pawns.
The voice addressed the girl: Minako, you are blessed with the protection of the fiery plant Venus, your home. As Earth's twin star, you are charged with protecting her from harm. This, my child, is your mission.
"M-my mission?"
Youko looked over at the girl, despite being outside the normal range of her energy he could clearly see it draining away into the compact still clutched in her hands. Her eyes fluttered before she collapsed in a dead faint. The fox sighed, he had been hoping to get through the explanation bit tonight but it looked like this would be a prolonged endeavor.
Youko Kurama.
Youko looked back towards space, "Hmm, you are still here then?"
Yes.
The fox smiled, "You have something more for me?"
Fox, while I appreciate your help, I cannot help but be…concerned about your involvement.
"Ah, I see." Youko settled down in his orb, his front paws crossed and a smirk on his lips, "The old demon bias still holds true then."
You can understand my concern. Venus is a force for good and I do not need her heart corrupted by your influence.
Youko smirked, "I would understand but, unfortunately for you, I am currently your best and only option for awakening and protecting your precious warrior." Silence settled between them, as the voice considered Youko's words. Though he could not sense a definite presence onto which to pin the voice, he got the distinct sense that the owner of said voice was very displeased with the situation. His tails swished behind him as he spoke, "Let me explain something to you: the status of my freedom and continued survival are currently contingent upon that girl's survival. I do not leave such important things up to chance. I will guard her to the best of my ability—despite Spirit World's efforts to hinder me as much as possible in that arena—and I will train her as I see fit."
Careful, fox, your words are tilted dangerously towards a threat.
"I do not deal in the folly of threats." Youko replied, standing once again, "I am only informing you of my own goals and motivations. If anything my words should comfort you, when my tenure as her guardian is up you will have a capable and strong fighter to manipulate to your mission."
I do not manipulate, fox! This was her choice.
Youko snorted, "I hardly see how a descendent of Venus can be held to the promise her ancestors made long ago."
That, fox, is where you are wrong. Aino Minako is no mere descendent of the line of Venus. She is the reincarnation of Princess Venus of the Silver Millennium, leader of the Sailor Senshi and Guardian of Princess Serenity of the Moon.
…..
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Second chapter will be up soon. Please Review! Seriously, I live for that stuff.