Chapter 2: Something Old, Something New
"Welcome back, boys! You convinced Hiei to join us I see," Botan, the blue-haired grim reaper greeted Yusuke and company as the portal back to demon world closed behind them. She stood with four other women; Yukina, Shizuru, Genkai, and, to Yusuke's surprise, Keiko.
"Keiko, what're you doing here?" Yusuke asked. "You were pissed at me last I checked."
Before Keiko could reply, Botan intervened. "Is that anyway to greet your wife? She's here to join us to America!"
"I still think that's a bad-"
Kazuma covered Yusuke's mouth before he could finish his thought. "What Urameshi means is he's glad to see you."
Keiko sighed and shook her head before casting a glare at Yusuke. "I know how he feels and I understand, but I also know that I don't want to be left behind again. You have no idea how nerve-wracking it can be waiting for someone you love to come home, especially knowing there's a chance he won't come back…"
Yusuke rolled his eyes and shoved Kazuma's hand away. Keiko resisted the urge to slap him for his seeming coldness, but deep down she knew he understood her argument.
"Where's the toddler?" he asked. "Shouldn't he be briefing us or something?"
"There was an incident in America he had to look into," Genkai explained. "He'll be back soon with one of our new teammates."
"Another Spirit Detective?" Kurama inquired."
"Not quite," came a voice from behind the boys. Everyone looked to see the toddler prince of Spirit World floating next to a young woman with ebony hair and skin with a light coppery tint to it. Within the blink of an eye, however, she was surrounded by a dozen pale spirits, all garbed in Native American clothing and swirling around her.
"What in the hell…?" Yusuke muttered as his dark brown eyes took in the girl and her seeming protective vortex of souls. The girl smiled sweetly.
"Don't worry, they will not attack you," she said softly, though only a few in the group understood her.
"Uh, what did she say? Kazuma asked, scratching his orange-red hair with a puzzled expression. "Was that English? I never did well in those classes…"
"She was assuring us that the souls around her wouldn't attack us," Kurama explained, emerald eyes locked onto the newcomer. He noticed the glazed over grey tone to the irises of her eyes, the look of blindness, and yet that they seemed to focus on each person in turn. When she looked at him and frowned a bit, he froze. There was a brief silence.
"Pardon my staring, miss, but-"Kurama began awkwardly before she spoke up in English, Koenma acting as her translator.
"You have two separate auras coming from you. You possess two souls in a single body; one human, one demon. And yet… it is almost like they are merged in a way…"
"Whoa, what's she talkin' about? I never saw two souls or whatever from Kurama," Kazuma said, glancing between the two of them.
"She's referring to Suichi and Yoko Kurama, you fool. It seems in place of vision she can see a person's soul," Hiei offered. The girl turned to Koenma, not understanding their Japanese conversation. He quickly gave a translation and she turned her blind eyes towards Hiei.
"That is close, but not quite. I see auras based on a person's soul," she explained, a few more spirits appearing around her as her expression darkened a bit. "Yours is dark, but not enough to cause too much worry…"
"Hn. And what does that mean? That I'm evil?" Hiei inquired, an eyebrow raised.
"It means you walk a thin line between hero and villain," the girl replied. Hiei glared at her, but said nothing else as Koenma finished translating for the others.
"I didn't know you could speak English, Hiei," Yusuke said, breaking the silence that followed Koenma.
"He's a telepath, Yusuke, of course he speaking other languages," Koenma said. "Anyway, let's go inside. You all should relax a bit before we get to business."
The group began moving into Genkai's temple, Kurama only lingering long enough to walk by the new girl's side.
"I apologize for earlier. It was rude of me to stare like that," he began. "I'm Kurama. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I'm Nakoma. You speak English well, Kurama. Don't worry about staring at me, I'm used to it. I sense eyes on me all the time when I'm around other's who aren't used to my condition."
"Well Miss Nakoma, allow me to escort you inside, if your spirits will allow it."
Nakoma smiled. "They won't allow any physical contact just yet. They haven't decided what to think of you."
The pair resumed their walk once again. Nakoma had no problem getting up the stairs or knowing where there was a door to open. They entered the temple where the others were waiting.
"Nice of you to join us. Now Koenma can start his babbling about why he's pulling us out of retirement," Yusuke grumbled. Kurama offered up a translation of his friend's words for Nakoma.
Koenma cleared his throat for attention. "As you all know, there has been trouble brewing in America. My sources have informed me that demons have been possessing humans and causing chaos. Nakoma here lost her tribe to it."
As Botan translated, Nakoma's smile faded and the spirits around her began giving off a slightly eerie grey glow. Kurama went to touch her shoulder, but drew back his hand when he felt the chill from the souls. One soul, that of an older male with a striking resemblance to the young woman he protected, paused to glare at him for a moment. Yukina, however, seemed unphased by the spirits and rubbed the other girl's arm comfortingly.
Hiei glared at Koenma. "Are you telling me your Spirit Defense Squad failed to do its job?"
Koenma sighed. "They didn't think so, but so far we have no other explanation. I have someone looking into it more now."
"Ghosts or some sort of spirits maybe?" Yusuke offered up.
"Could be, but the only spirits unaccounted for in Spirit World are those surrounding Nakoma."
"So we're calling it demonic possession without knowing if it's actually demons?" Kazuma asked. "So what if it's something more powerful?"
"That's why you're all going and why I've established help for you. There are new monsters in America that you'll have to face more than likely, so make sure you don't piss off your new teammates."
"Alright, sounds just like old times. So when do we leave?" Yusuke asked.
"Wait, new monsters? Shouldn't you be telling us about those now?" Kazuma asked.
Another sigh escaped the Prince of Spirit World's lips. "We'd be here for days if I did. You've been lucky enough to only deal with humans and demons, but outside of Japan, there's hundreds of other creatures. You can talk to Nakoma on the airplane if-"
"We're going on an airplane? Why not use a portal or something?"
"Yeah, why go through the trouble, especially with Hiei with us?" Yusuke inquired.
"It takes a lot of energy to make a portal, not to mention it will draw too much attention from other creatures," Genkai replied, finally joining the conversation to save Koenma some trouble. "Air travel is out best and fastest choice."
"America is very particular and not all of us have passports or identification," Kurama piped in.
"Already taken care of, so don't you worry," Botan said. "I have a friend that can hack into computer systems. She just sent your ID's and passports." She produced a large manila envelope and handed it to Kurama. He raised an eyebrow before opening it and pulling out some of its contents. He had a few papers as well as some ID's and a passport. Upon further inspection, he found that the passport was for Kazuma, the ID's for Hiei and Yukina, and the top paper a birth certificate for…
"Jin Tsukai? You mean Jin as in the one we fought in the Dark Tournament?" Kurama questioned.
"Whoa, let me see that!" Yusuke demanded, taking it from Kurama's hand. "Holy crap, is that really his name?"
"Well the first one is. We made up the last one," Botan explained as Yusuke snatched the other papers from his friend. He grinned as he flipped through them, finding each to be a birth certificate.
"Chuu, Touya, Rinku… Hell, even Hiei and Yukina have these now. What else do they get?"
"Well I believe she registered us all as American citizens as well as Japanese. She's very thorough, so I assume all the documents are in there and the necessary registration in the systems already," Botan replied.
"We had better hope she's thorough enough or we'll be dealing with more trouble than a horde of demons. Americans are quite a pain in the ass," Koenma said with a sigh.
Nakoma tapped Kurama on the shoulder, a polite smile on her lips when he turned to face her. "What's going on?" she asked.
Kurama blushed a bit, realizing he and Botan had forgotten to continue translating for her. "I'm so sorry, miss Nakoma, I got lost in the conversation…" he replied before recounting what had verbally transpired.
"Perhaps it would be wise for Yusuke and Kazuma to try to learn some English on the plane. Who are the others?" Nakoma asked.
"You'll probably meet them shortly. They are old friends of ours," Kurama explained.
Nakoma nodded. She seemed at ease despite there being demons in the room and her aforementioned experience with them. Even the swirl of souls had disappeared. "Will your other friends need to learn English as well?"
Kurama nodded. "More than likely, though Touya may not."
"Someone wanna translate that conversation for the rest of the class?" Yusuke interjected.
"Don't be rude, Yusuke. Kurama was just catching her up on what we were talking about," Keiko said.
Yusuke only pouted a bit, not wanting to annoy Keiko more than he already had. Shizuru stepped forward and took the envelope from Kurama. She pulled out some more papers and ID's and began handing them out. "So Botan, do you guys have mug shots of everyone?"
"They're not mug shots! Not all of them at least. But I do have some pictures of everyone."
"Since when do Kazuma and Yukina have the same last name? Bro, there something you wanna tell me?" Shizuru turned to Kazuma, who turned red as a stoplight.
"No! Botan, why would you do that?" he asked, though his voice was even for someone trying to express annoyance.
Botan laughed nervously. "Oh Kuwabara, I didn't think you would mind being unofficially married to Yukina!"
Kazuma didn't say anything else, just glanced to Yukina, who smiled sweetly back. He turned even redder with a big goofy smile, assuming that was her way of saying she approved.
Kurama translated for Nakoma again, who giggled a bit. "Is Yukina okay with that?"
Kurama chuckled and shrugged. "I'm sure she doesn't mind, but she probably doesn't quite understand what marriage means. She spends most of her time with Genkai, who is not exactly the romantic type. I doubt anyone had explained to Yukina about marriage in any detail."
"She has a very pure aura. Very bright and the closest to white in the room, despite the demonic twist to it. Does she speak English?"
Kurama shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Perhaps you could teach her on the plane."
Nakoma nodded before glancing in Hiei's direction. "His mood is darker. Why is he angry?"
Hiei redirected his death glare from Kazuma and Botan to Nakoma, snapping, "It's none of your business."
Nakoma stared blankly back at him for a moment before letting out a long breath. "I'm sorry, Hiei. I will keep my curiosity to myself."
Yusuke put a hand on Nakoma's shoulder. "Kurama, is Hiei being an ass already?"
"Just his usual self," Kurama replied.
Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Translate for me… Don't mind Hiei… um… What's her name?"
"Nakoma."
"Nakoma! Right, like I was saying, Hiei can be a real asshole, but he grows on ya. He won't admit it, but we all know he cares."
Hiei glared at Yusuke, who only stuck out his tongue in return. Nakoma giggled before, through Kurama, thanking Yusuke and assuring him she wasn't bothered by Hiei's moodiness. Yusuke smirked and gave her a thumbs up that Kurama informed her of. She smiled in return before glancing at the sliding doors of Genkai's temple. "There are six demonic auras just outside…"
"About damn time!" Yusuke said as oncoming footsteps reached the group's ears. The doors slid open and in came the six old demon friends.
"Yusuke Urameshi! It's been a while! How ya doin', how's the wifey?" asked the crimson-haired Jin, voice fast and hard to understand with its thick Irish accent. He moved to shake Yusuke's hand, giving Keiko a hug when she moved to greet him.
"We're pretty good, Jin. What about you guys? How's livin' in Demon World?" Yusuke inquired.
Each member of the group had their own answers, mostly complaining about the lack of anything to do but spar with each other.
"I say by now we gotta be strong as you, Yusuke," the Australian-accented Chuu replied, giving Yusuke a pat on the shoulder.
"I doubt that."
"Y' wanna test it?"
"I don't think we have time for that, Chuu," Touya interjected.
"There's always time for a brawl, ain't that right, Yus-… Well now, who's this pretty little sheila?" Chuu asked as he approached Nakoma, a big grin on his face and a red tint to his cheeks. "'Ello love, the name's Chuu. What might be yours?"
Kurama translated for Nakoma, who chuckled and gave her name. Chuu raised an eyebrow.
"Not from around here, eh? That's English, ain't it?"
"Yes it is. Nakoma is one of our American teammates," Kurama explained.
"Oh right! Well," Chuu turned back to Nakoma and offered his hand. "It's a please t' meet ya."
Nakoma was about to accept the handshake when her tornado of souls burst forth to surround her once again. She frowned and huffed out a breath of irritation. Chuu jumped back.
"Bloody hell, what's with that!"
"Oh stop it! He's a friend," Nakoma scolded the spirits as Kurama explained them to the new arrivals. The souls slowly faded, leaving a blushing Nakoma to apologize for their surprise 'attack'. After Kurama's translation, Chuu shrugged and smiled at her.
"It's no problem."
"Well I hate to cut this reunion short, but we need to get you all ready to leave," Koenma announced. "I trust that I won't need to explain how this flying thing will work. We need to meet back here in five hours so we can all stay together. For anyone who doesn't understand how human air travel works, ask Kurama or Keiko. I have some arrangements that need to be made back in Spirit World. See you all in five hours."
Koenma and Botan disappeared. The humans of the group left to pack, with the exception of Nakoma and Genkai. The older woman knew enough English to keep the girl comfortable.