Smile of Truth
A fanfiction based on Yoshihiro Togashi's popular animanga, YuuYuu Hakusho
Written By: Satoyusavasa
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A/N: Hi and welcome to Smile of Truth, my third attempt at a YuuYuu Hakusho fanfic. :flashes a peace sign: I'm glad you've shown interest in my story from the small summary I was able to provide, and I hope I don't disappoint you and you enjoy this story!
This story is being written because I'm going through a bad case of writer's block, and I'm hoping this will help me get rid of it. So, I apologize beforehand if there tends to be a lack of updating or general creativeness. xx; I'll try my hardest, I promise! XD
Comments and Suggestions are highly appreciated! But flames make me sad! ;.;
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Disclaimer: Alas, the wonderfulness that we have come to know as YuuYuu Hakusho does not belong to me, but the great and almighty Yoshihiro-sama Togashi. However, this mere attempt of a story does belong to me, Satoyusavasa, a.k.a Shadow!
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Chapter 1: The Deathly Vision
A blinding flash of lightning illuminated the long and narrow corridors of the large stone castle as four figures swiftly ran through one of the castle's uppermost corridors, which lead to the South tower. Six seconds passed, and a large clap of thunder, loud enough to shake the torches resting on the walls, echoed throughout the vicinity. The figures came to an abrupt halt as they reached a dead end. One of them yelled in frustration, but no sound seemed to come from it's mouth. A second figure said something in response, but nothing could be heard from it as well. In further frustration, the first person hit the wall with it's fist, and the force from the blow caused a stone to shift, and the wall to open slightly. The four stared in surprise, but the sound of footsteps was drawing closer and closer, and they quickly focused their determined mindset on the situation at hand. They all hurried in and shut the wall behind them.
Their quickly paced footsteps echoed through the tower's winding staircase as the figures rose higher and higher to reach the destination they hoped was there.
The wooden door burst open as the group emerged onto the top of the South tower. The pouring rain made them immediately look as though they had just emerged from a pool of water. All four looked around, hoping to find a way to escape. But as they covered the entire tower, they realized their search was futile, so they regrouped in the center. The first figure said something to the other three. One smiled, another grinned, and the third smirked. Another flash of lightning illuminated their faces for a mere second, and the sound of something colliding and piercing their chests seemed to echo throughout the air. The sound of the wind, rain and thunder stopped, and all that could be heard was four bodies hitting the hard, stone ground.
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Ocean blue eyes shimmered slightly as they stared at the bedroom ceiling above them. They slowly moved their gaze to the window, where the sounds of raindrops hitting the glass seemed to echo throughout the room.
The owner of the eyes, a teenage girl, sat up in her bed and moved her long brown hair away from her slightly perspired face and neck. She then held a hand to her chest and closed her eyes as the feeling of a thousand needles pricking her heart reached her senses. But after a matter of moments, it disappeared, and she looked down at her hands as her eyes turned back to their normal forest green color.
'That...was by far one of the worst yet.'
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Another day of education began in Tokyo, Japan, and at Meio Private Academy, students who had been engrossed in conversation in front of the school entered the building upon the five-minute warning bell's ring. After all the students had finally entered the building, including the very last stragglers, a female student spun around the entrance's corner and raced into the building.
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In classroom 1-A, the students took their seats as the beginning of the day bell rang. When their teacher, Setsuko-san, entered, all students rose and stood next to their desks. Setsuko-san reached the front of the room, and they all took their seats and prepared for the day's lesson.
"Today we will begin our newest lesson on youkai of the Sengoku Jidai era, which lasted approximately 1467-1568 CE." She explained as she began writing information on the board. But the student's attention was quickly drawn away as the door slid open and a brunette hurried in, slightly breathless.
"You're late...again, Haruno-san." Setsuko-san stated without looking away from her notes. The girl blushed from embarrassment as her forest green eyes scanned the classroom, realizing everyone was staring at her.
"Aa...g-gomen nasai, Setsuko-san." She said quickly, bowing apologetically.
"Take your seat."
"H-hai." she murmured, hurrying to her seat as everyone looked back at the blackboard.
Two bright green eyes discreetly watched Haruno as she hurriedly pulled all her supplies out of her bag and, in the process, drop her notebook. They slightly narrowed, and then turned back to the lesson.
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"All right girls, pair up!" Sumamoto-san, the girls PE teacher announced at the beginning of class. All of the girls quickly latched onto their best friend, and Sumamoto-san frowned when he remembered the class number was odd. His eyes automatically went to the back of the group, where Haruno Maemi was standing alone, watching all the other girls.
"Sorry Haruno, you'll have to sit out again."
Maemi simply nodded and walked over to the fence, sitting against it. A few girls looked at her with pity, while others gave her a 'serves you right' kind of look.
"I feel so sorry for her. She's always left out."
"Well, it's her fault. She doesn't have any friends."
"Didn't she just transfer here not too long ago?"
"Maybe we should try and be friends with her." One girl said to her partner, who nodded in agreement.
"That wouldn't be the smartest thing you could do." Another girl said. The two girls looked at her.
"Why is that, Yuri-san?" the second girl asked.
"Something's off with that girl. I heard some weird stuff about her from some girls at her old school. Supposedly, she freaked out because she claimed to have seen some dream about a guy at her school dying. He got so freaked out himself he stayed home that night, and the bus we was going to be on crashed, killing everyone on board."
The first girl's eyes widened. "I remember that story about the bus..."
"Gossiping, are we, ladies?" Sumamoto-san asked, causing the three girls to jump.
"Iie, Sumamoto-san!" They quickly said. He slightly frowned, but continued explaining the game's rules.
Maemi looked at the three girls and sighed, turning her attention to the boys playing basketball with a bored expression on her face.
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"Another boring mission, and another week of my life I'll never get back." Yusuke complained as he, Kuwabara and Kurama walked down the city street, drinking the sodas they had just bought at the arcade.
"Urameshi's right...that demon was so weak and senile, I think I could've beat him without my spirit powers. All we'd have to do is tell him there's a plate of muffins where we were gonna take him." Kuwabara mumbled, causing Yusuke to nod in agreement, and Kurama to sweatdrop.
Zoukan, an ancient demon who couldn't remember what he had just said five seconds ago, much less what he'd begun five months before. Koenma had swore he was dangerously intelligent and had some evil plan to send a large mass of demons onto the ningenkai, but the Reikai Tantei had come to the conclusion the worst he could do was batter you with an almost-broken cane. Didn't know where he was, wasn't exactly sure WHO he was, and seemed to talk about nothing but his cane, the "good old days" and muffins. Easiest case they'd ever had.
"I swear to God, if that toddler ever sends us on a case like that again, I'll personally stick a cane up his ass." Yusuke growled, shaking a fist at the sky in hope Koenma would somehow notice it and his remark.
"So, err, Yusuke," Kurama began, in hopes of getting his friend's mind off his revenge towards the Prince of Death. "Where were we going to meet Keiko-san, again?"
"Oh, at her family's ramen shop." Yusuke said, taking a slurp of his soda through an identical bendy straw to the one Kuwabara was currently playing with.
After five minutes of walking and pretty much meaningless conversation, the trio reached the Yukimura Ramen shop and entered, causing the small bell above the door to jingle. The face of a middle-aged man peeked around the kitchen door, and a grin graced his face when he noticed the customers.
"Oi Yusuke! Daijoubu, ne?" he greeted cheerfully, approaching the front bar. Yusuke grinned and approached it as well.
"Oi Otou! Just here to meet up with Keiko." he responded just as cheerfully. Yusuke was very close to Keiko's parents, and had a habit from childhood days of calling them Otou and Okaa. They didn't seem to mind at all.
"Well, she's upstairs with a friend, but I'll get her." Keiko's otou said cheerfully, looking up at the balcony above the shop. "Oi Keiko! Yusuke's here to see you!"
"I'll be right down!" she yelled back down as the boys took a seat at the bar.
"You kids hungry?" Otou asked as he dried a few dishes.
"Iie, arigatou." Kurama said politely as Kuwabara and Yusuke nodded in agreement.
The sound of two person's footsteps coming down the stairs caused the boys to look over, but when they saw Keiko's friend, each had a different response. Kuwabara waved and Kurama sweatdropped when he noticed Yusuke's infuriated face.
"Just who I was looking for!" The blue-haired grim reaper stated cheerfully, hurrying over to sit next to Yusuke on the bar.
"No way." He said sternly. Botan just smiled and nodded.
"IIE! We just got back!" he hissed at her, and she just laughed.
"Come on, let's go to the ice cream shop!" Keiko suggested cheerfully as the boys quickly dragged the about to explode Yusuke out of the ramen shop.
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"I'm home!" Maemi announced as she closed the shrine's front doors and slipped off her shoes before setting her bag on the table. She looked through a few rooms for someone, but her puzzled expression was replaced with annoyance when she heard a female shriek from outside.
"TSUCHI!" She yelled as she slid open the side door. The twenty-seven year old looked her way, grinning, as two girls hurried off the grounds.
"Heeeeyyy Mae-cha--ITAI!" He yelled as Maemi's fist connected with his head. "Kami, what was that for?!"
"You tell me! Scaring off our customers with your baka-hentai self!"
"It's not my fault they can't handle the Tsuchi-ness."
Maemi stared at her older cousin, but just walked off with a mumbled, "Baka da ne..."
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When Maemi was five, her parents were killed in a car wreck. Since then, Maemi had lived in a shrine with her grandfather and older cousin, Tsuchi. He was the apprentice to the family shrine, so he spent his younger years training with his grandfather. Tsuchi was fourteen when Maemi moved in, and he automatically became an older brother figure to her.
A year and a half ago, Maemi and Tsuchi's grandfather died from age, and Tsuchi took ownership of the shrine, while Maemi did her share of taking care of it and it's customers.
And what a pair they were.
"Tsuchi, you have got to stop groping every girl that comes here. It's really bad for business!" Maemi scolded, referring to the charms they sold and blessings they offered.
"I did not grope them. My hand just slipped!" he defended as he chewed on a toothpick.
"You say that everytime."
"Because it happens everytime."
"Whatever..." she mumbled.
Tsuchi studied his younger cousin carefully. She seemed a little down today.
"Oi, Mae-chan?"
"Nani?" she replied dully.
"How about you make dinner tonight."
Maemi facefaulted and faced her cousin. "Iie arigatou."
"Whyyyy?" he pleaded.
"Why, you ask?! Well let's see, only because the three deadly Bs of cooking seem to come just that naturally to me!"
"Three deadly Bs?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Hai, burnt, break and blowup."
Tsuchi sweatdropped as he remembered Maemi's various attempts in cooking did ususally end up as one of those deadly Bs.
"This is a very good point. I'll get started." He said, standing up.
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Maemi ate silently that night, and it wasn't until she stood to wash her dishes that Tsuchi decided to speak up.
"Did you have another one?" he asked simply. She stopped in midstep and looked at him.
"Hai."
"Was it bad?"
"The worst one yet."
"The worst?" he asked. She paused, and continued walking to the sink.
"Second worst."
Tsuchi was silent as the water faucet poured water onto her dishes and she loaded them into the dishwasher. He chewed on one of his chopsticks in thought, and when Maemi sat back down, he looked straight at her.
"It was important to someone, ne?"
"Whoever it was."
Tsuchi nodded in thought and set his chopsticks down. "Maybe...you should go see someone about it."
Maemi looked up at him, eyebrow raised. "Like who?"
"I know this psychic. They say she's one of the most powerful in Japan. Maybe she could help you out."
Maemi slightly leaned forward in a desperate attempt to know more.
"Genkai-sama." he said, taking his own plates to the sink. Maemi blinked.
"I think I've heard you talk about her before." She said. "You really think she could help me?"
Tsuchi loaded his dishes in the washer. "If she can't, I don't know who else could."
Maemi looked down at the table in thought. "Oh yeah...didn't you take me to her shrine before? It had that really tall staircase?"
"That's the one." He smiled and turned around, but blinked when she wasn't there. "Ne...Mae-chan?" he asked as a small wind blew in from the open front door.
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End Chapter One
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