Waking is torture.
Well, not at first. At first it's like redemption from a nightmare in which I ran and was shot, ran and was cut in half, ran and burned in Hellfire, drowned in icy water; I was thrown down from the top of the world, pierced through the stomach. But shortly after it gets comfortably silent, dark and soft, an unconscious scream escapes through my clenched teeth at the sudden waves of pain coming from every possible direction.
My eyes spring open, searching for the goddamned intruder. I find it soon, in Genkai's person. The old hag is currently busy with my right shoulder; I don't really desire to see what she's doing, but I couldn't look even if I wanted to.
Soft sobbing comes from somewhere below my feet. Her sadness pains my heart.
"Go out." Genkai commands curtly. "Get more of the pain killer herbs."
Yes.
My eyes close while Yukina gets up.
Hell, these are just wounds you get every day, being a demon in Makai. They will heal soon. Will they?
"We shall hope so." Genkai notes, her voice dry, her look never leaving the working hands, her fingers never stopping the burning torture.
"Get out of me." I demand, my voice as distant as if someone else would speak in the other corner of the world. Hers isn't much closer.
"You're too strong for the painkillers; I'm trying what I can. Now be a man."
"Why don't you try?" I manage to blurt out, but I assume it just couldn't be heard outside of my aching brain.
The weight of a thousand sleepless nights rushes at me suddenly, dancing on my tired ribs, numbing my fingers, pulling me deep down again, into dark, into cold, into silent.
Demons attack. There are three of them. Three women.
Mahua, with her leaf-green tiffany dress, emerald green eyes and a shiny, jade-green band on her forehead.
Orenda, with a bone-colored veil on her graceful form; her eyes the color of silvery ice, her sweatband like a pattern of frost flowers.
Zahia in a very light ocean-blue clothing; her waist slimmed by a turquoise belt, her eyes sparkling, deep and blue like the nightly sky.
The Graias.
"They came from the future." Koenma informed us from behind his enormous desk.
"So they have the ability to travel in time." Kurama nodded.
Kuwabara, that ape, shrieked. "Don't fool me, lad! Like in the movies?"
"Yes." said the toddler with a serious face. "They didn't come from much later, since they know Yuusuke; they want him."
"Excellent!" you cheered. "I'll go right away and beat 'em to crap in a blink!"
"Hn."
It slipped out of my mouth, so I had to explain my sudden urge to speak up. "Are you really that stupid, detective?" I asked. "They must have a reason for coming back to you if you exist in their time, too."
"And they do." Koenma nodded before you could leave the office in search for our new enemies. "I have been informed that they had an affair with you, Yuusuke. They wanted to take their revenge because they didn't like you being the ruler of Makai. You probably won the 3-year tournament, or…"
"I won!" you interrupted, leaning over Koenma's desk, a proud grin creeping up your face. "I won? Hell, I can't believe it! Will I really win the next one? Or maybe the one after it? When will it be? Talk, Koenma!"
"That doesn't matter, you moron!" the infant god shouted back. „Can't you understand? In fact, they invented a plan against you, but they failed because you were too strong. Now they are here to make away with you while you are much, much weaker, so that you won't exist in the future."
Botan gasped this time. "They want to kill him…?"
"Like they are the first ones." you mumble. "So what's the problem? I'll show them that I'm not that weak even here in their past, and they can go to Hell for some more suffering if they want to."
"You forget who they are." said Kurama gravely. "They came from the future. They can and know things we don't. They may as well be much stronger than you or even us altogether. Don't run into their trap."
"Another thing." Koenma added quickly, glancing at me. "They own a jagan too. They probably stole it, because it isn't planted into their body. Still, all of them are able to use it, and if they join their powers with it… Don't let it happen. Not you, Hiei. Let someone else deal with it this time."
"But what?" Kuwabara interrupted again. "They're running around clutching a disgusting, slippery thing Hiei has in his forehead?"
Kurama was the one to answer calmly before you could beat the life out of your very best friend. "Yes, Kuwabara-kun, we can as well say so. And as you know, or probably don't, Hiei lost all his original powers when he acquired his jagan, only the energy of this magical eye remaining. Those three, however, have the jagan and their own abilities as well. Am I right, Koenma?"
"You're clever as ever, Kurama." The toddler nodded. "They're far ahead us in powers. I guess they'll be classified into a newly developed class that's above 'S' in our time. But they might as well be put into the Special class. I really don't know. I could say it's your task to find it out, but it would be the most foolish act I've done during my 700 years. If I could, I'd keep it in secret especially from you, Yuusuke, but you four are my strongest detectives. I can only ask you to be very very careful."
"We're always careful." you replied with your hands in your pocket, already bored to death, signaling it with annoying the toddler on purpose.
"I pretend I didn't hear this." said Koenma. "Because there is another thing. They have to be killed three times before they disappear from this world finally."
"Three times!" we all exclaimed at once.
"Exactly. The first two times they reawaken, but for the third time, they don't. It's that simple. As far as I know, Yuusuke destroyed them once in the future before they came back. Now it's up to us that they get killed twice more."
Meanwhile, I found the situation quite interesting. Future, huh? I couldn't help wondering how much stronger I'll be then. Still not strong enough to beat you, that was the only thing I knew. I didn't really think about whether I'll even be alive at that time.
I did, however, when we met them. To be more precise, they came for us while we were walking towards Kuwabara's apartment to sit down and think about something like a strategy against them.
They arrived along with the summer storm, fallig from the sky, their voices shrieking like falcons', and never hesitated attacking.
We had time to defend ourselves, but the nearby buildings received more damage than they should have to. Humans too. The three witches were overjoyed about the people crying and running away. Even more did they enjoy causing damage, sending blasts among them, spilling their blood, all this with an ultimate speed. The lack of hesitation and nothing else made them so fast. They were three, we were four, and we couldn't catch up with them.
Kurama was the quickest on the uptake; he spoke up before you could take a step forward after the first shock.
"Yuusuke, don't you dare move!" he ordered you, never-seen anger filling his voice. "They do it to get you attack them! We have to find another way!"
"Great idea!" you shouted back. "Then let's find it while they finish off some more thousands of people!"
"Yuusuke, no!"
Rage replaced my growing despair as I saw you run off, literally into the arms of the enemy, shouting the spell of your Rei Gun.
I kicked myself off the wall, not knowing what would come next, well aware of the painful fact that nothing that comes would be any good for us.
They welcomed the approaching light bomb smiling pleasantly, their eyes reflecting the enormous amount of energy.
I ran as fast as I could, you were moving quickly but so damn slowly; you were so far away.
Kuwabara's shriek cut into the air from somewhere; he called your name.
The Rei Gun hit the Graias; Orenda's white form stepped forward and made a small movement with her right hand. Something glinted there: the jagan. The light blue energy you spent towards them bounced off the invisible shield, and it came back with such a speed that it caught all of us off guard.
You really were extremely slow. Even if your speed surpassed normal humans'.
I jumped, got hold of you, pulled you to the ground with me, and rolled the length of a street with the after-wind of the energy ball rumbling away above us.
I tried my best to separate my body parts form yours while I took a deep breath to strike off your thick head. You overtook me as you jerked up your head suddenly, shot a glare somewhere above me and shouted: Shot Gun.
Treacherous blue light-knives scattered as they contacted the same energy: yours.
Not all of them. We both jumped away from the hit.
Silence lingered above the ruins of the city for a few minutes. Kurama and the ox stood several feet away; the fox stopped his stupid companion before he could attack.
We were all waiting tensely and watching what they were up to.
They were standing unmoving, smiling for a while. Hell knows what they were thinking of, perhaps communicating in their minds. Then Orenda raised the jagan between her hands and walked towards you slowly, followed by her companions ceremoniously.
The three of us attacked at the same time, from three different directions. We had no other choice, even if it was obvious that they wouldn't waste their time with us if they really wanted you, The Fool who still stood there grinning and waiting for them.
I knew your foolish pride would bring you down someday. But it brought us down first.
They did waste their time with us; because they knew time is in their hands.
Kuwabara flew away from the blast but did not have a long way to go; as he reached a broken wall, Zahia's slender form melted out of the bricks and caught his limbs firmly as stone.
Kurama evaded the attack of Mahua but lost his Rose Whip in the process, although he jumped backwards immediately to produce another one.
I was next in the meantime. Orenda turned towards me as I flew at her, but I supposed she was going to use a blast to block me, so I changed my direction suddenly. At the very same moment my katana pierced through her stomach.
I quickly realized that no blood came from her body, and although it could as well be normal, being the futuristic creature she was, I decided to draw back and keep a safe distance.
The sword, however, did not move.
Nor did my fingers.
Similarly to a nightmare, ice covered both of my arms before I realized it. Ice was the figure I attempted to kill.
"Let them go, bitches!" I heard your voice coming closer.
Kurama, our last hope, evaded another attack. He was out of breath, and he was still quick, punctual, graceful. Sometimes, when my thoughts stray towards him, I tend to think it's no wonder his original form got the name Attractive Fox. I never gave for such shallow things, but Kurama could still pull every attention to himself, including mine.
His failure jolted me out of my momentary brooding. This failure of his was one of the most serious crimes in the universe: he got surprised. His slender fingers brushed through his hair once, twice, and a confused look flashed through his eyes.
A seed found the back of his neck; a short yelp escaped his lips, and he fell to the ground, his eyes wide with shock.
Mahua grinned this time.
She walked up to him, and he didn't move to escape. I concluded that he couldn't do so, probably thanks to that seed he owned a few minutes ago.
The green Graia never looked at your form approaching wildly, maybe she didn't even consider the possibility that you would reach her quite soon.
And she was right if she thought so.
Mostly because Orenda rose between you two and held out her magical eyeball towards you.
My body would have moved instinctively, had it not been captured. I didn't need a jagan to look into your thoughts and see you don't realize and don't even care what's in front of you, but I still opened my third eye, sending angry waves of energy towards Orenda, signaling: I am her opponent.
