Track One : Coffee Break
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. All I own are my characters.
Author's Notes: Alright, I'm finally getting to the actual plot. Please, if you have any critiques, I'm completely open to them.
"Yusuke!"
Yusuke winced as soon as he heard the happy voice of the oh-so-peppy grim reaper, Botan directly behind him and decided to employ the maybe-if-I-ignore-you-you'll-go-away tactics, continuing his trek to school as if he hadn't even heard Botan. He only got a few more steps before he felt a shoe connect with the back of his skull and he turned to glare at the grinning grim reaper, who held the offending shoe in her left hand and a compact communicator in the other.
"I'm so glad I could get your attention Yusuke!" She said, grinning as Yusuke glared at her menacingly, rubbing the back of his head. "You have and urgent mission from Koenma." She explained.
Yusuke just glanced at Botan. "I just got off a mission, I'm tired, and I'm late for class." He huffed, turning back around and heading back towards the school.
"First off, school is the other way and second, since when did you care about getting to class on time?!" Botan huffed angrily, trotting to keep up with the Spirit Detective.
"Since I was able to use it as an excuse to get out of doing Prince Pamper's dirty work." Yusuke said with a smirk, placing his hands behind his head.
"Yusuke!" Botan cried indignantly, "This could be very serious! A low A class demon has managed to get into the Ningenkai!"
"Gahhh!" Yusuke groaned, "What if they don't mean any harm? What if they're just here to get a Jolly Meal (like a Happy Meal but without being copy written) or something?"
Botan eyed him with no small level of frustration. "It's more likely they're here to try to snack on a good portion of the human race."
"You don't know that." Yusuke muttered before heaving a sigh. "Alright, whatever, fine. I'll keep an eye out for this demon of yours, kick its ass, and send it back to the Makai."
"That's the spirit." Botan cheered happily.
"What is it that I'm looking for?"
Botan flipped open the compact, pressing a button and staring at the screen as words came up. "The identity of the demon is unknown. What is known is that it's an A/B class sound demon, so you should be careful to not let it get a word in or it could brain wash you or even hurt you with just the sound of its voice. Then don't talk about anything you wouldn't want the enemy to know to anyone until we catch this demon. They can hear from far distances. Also, don't lie around this demon. Sound demons are known to become very violent when lied to since they can't lie themselves."
"Alright, got-,"
"Hey Urameshi!" Yusuke turned around and waited a few seconds, allowing Kuwabara to catch up.
"Kuwabara we gotta' go catch us some scary demon." Yusuke told him, pumping a fist.
"No way! I'm not getting involved with any more of that creepy, demony stuff." Kuwabara huffed, crossing his arms as the trio resumed their trek down the street.
"It'd be a shame if that demon that got into the Ningenkai was after Yukina. I might not find the demon before they do something." Yusuke sighed dramatically, nudging Botan to play along.
"Oh, yes! Her tear gems are quite valuable after all. She would be a very big target for any demon that got into the human world." Botan said, nodding solemnly in agreement while trying to keep from laughing.
Kuwabara gasped in horror and struck one of his 'trademark' poses. "I shall not let a single, awful villain lay a hand on my sweet Yukina!" Kuwabara stated, whipping out his 'warrior of love' headband, gaining himself some strange stares from the people walking by.
Yusuke and Botan shot each other amused glances and started walking again, but before either Yusuke or Kuwabara could take a step, they both sensed that a demon was nearby. Trying to not look conspicuous, they shot each other a knowing look and gave a short nod, scanning the crowds of people for the demon.
"Well it sure didn't take long for this demon to make itself known." Yusuke whispered. "They must really want to get sent back to Makai. Cocky bastard. Right in the open too."
"It's getting closer Urameshi." Kuwabara muttered.
"I know, I know." Yusuke grumbled in response.
While the boys looked for the demon, Botan removed the demon compass from the sleeves of her kimono, lifting it up to check for the energy signature of the demon. She immediately got a blip on the compass, the small dot representing the demon heading directly towards her and fast.
"There!" Yusuke shouted as he finally got a lock on the demon's position, charging towards the direction that he felt the youki energy. "The sooner I beat this guy into submission, the sooner it's done." He growled, stretching his fist forward through the thick crowd of people, pushing people aside to grab a handful a material and yanking it towards him, slamming his captive against the brick wall of the building bordering the sidewalk. Around him, people shrieked and yelled seeing Yusuke seem to be randomly attacking an innocent pedestrian. Kuwabara and Botan came up right behind him to stand on either side of him and look at his captive.
"Hey! Let go! What's your problem?! Get off! Put me down! You're gonna' rip my clothes!" The girl cried, struggling against Yusuke's hold. She grabbed at his hand, trying to force his fist open and release his iron grip on the collar of her shirt but couldn't even get him to budge as her feet fought to find purchase against the ground from where she hung a few inches in the air.
While she struggled to get free, Yusuke struggled to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. 'This is the A class demon?!...That can't be right.' Yusuke thought in disbelief as he gave the girl in front of him the once over. She couldn't have been any taller than 5'3" and her appearance wasn't exactly what you would call intimidating. Her bright purple hair was streaked with green and blue highlights, and pulled up into a messy bun along with a few small braids and her eyes were colored with artificial contacts to match her hair. She wore 3 different necklaces and an assortment of bracelets that jangled every time she moved, plus large silver hoops. He almost would have been fooled into letting his guard down if it hadn't been for his rather disturbing experience with Miyuki, that tranny he'd fought when rescuing Yukina.
"Yusuke!" Kuwabara cried in indignation, "What are you doing to that girl!?"
"She's a demon Kuwabara." Botan whispered, making sure none of the crowd could hear her.
"Yusuke!" Kuwabara shouted again.
Finally, becoming aware of all the stares he was getting, Yusuke dropped the girl back down to the ground, but kept a firm hold on her wrist. "Haha!" Yusuke laughed loudly with a fake grin, "I'm sorry! I've mistaken you for someone else. Here let me buy you coffee to make it up to you." He declared, dragging her along behind him, keeping the wide grin on his face as the crowds dispersed.
"Hey! You're lying! Let me go!" She cried, still struggling to break her wrist free from his grasp, her jewelery jangling loudly as she fought against him.
"You're in a lot of trouble, so I'd suggest you play along." Yusuke told her sternly as Kuwabara and Botan caught up with him.
"Nu-uh! That's lying!" She argued, trying to plant her feet and pull her wrist free but it was doing nothing to stop Yusuke from dragging her along.
"Why are you here?" Yusuke asked her once they entered a quiet back street.
"No, I can't tell you! That's a secret! Let me go!" She cried, still struggling to get free.
"Yusuke let her go! It is ungentlemanly to handle a delicate lady so roughly!" Kuwabara argued.
"She might run Kuwabara. It's best that we let Yusuke handle this." Botan said.
Yusuke looked at the girl who was still struggling to break free, inspecting her curiously before making a decision. "Hey!" He said loudly, getting her attention and making her pause in her frantic attempt to get away. "If I promise to let you go, will you promise to not run?" He asked.
"Yusuke!" Botan protested, but Yusuke silenced her with a wave of the hand.
"Botan, you said she was a high B, low A class demon. I may be strong, but I'm pretty sure it would be a bit harder to hold her if she were actually trying. So either I got the wrong demon, or she's not really out to do any harm. Either way, letting her off a leash should be fine." He explained before turning back to the girl. "So do you promise?" He repeated, receiving a vigorous agreement from the demon. "OK then." He said releasing his grip.
She stumbled backwards a few steps once he let go before regaining her balance, but as promised didn't run and straightened up to face Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan. "Well?" She asked, with an expectant but otherwise, peaceful expression, dusting herself off.
"I, Kazuma Kuwabara, apologize whole-heartedly for the brutish way this savage has treated you miss!" Kuwabara said, rushing up to take her hands, before receiving a punch to the head from Yusuke.
"Who are you?" Yusuke asked the girl while still glaring at Kuwabara.
"Myself." She responded with a slightly confused expression.
Yusuke let out a sigh of aggravation but before he could rephrase his question, Botan piped up, reading from the information the compact was giving her. "Her name is Aria. Age unknown. A once member and short time leader of the Senritsu tribe. Reasons for her abandoning that tribe are unknown. A high B class sound demon. Special abilities unknown. She is known to have her hand in the demon Black Market but nothing has ever been pegged on her directly so no charges were placed. Responsible for the Kaichou Massacre two years back that killed 32 demons and 1 of Spirit World's employees and a warrant was placed for her arrest but later charges were dropped for classified reasons. Otherwise, a spotless record."
"33." Aria interjected.
"What?" Botan asked, looking up from her information.
"It's 33 demons in the Kaichou Massacre but that was kinda' an accident." Aria corrected her, smiling pleasantly.
"Oh..." Botan muttered, a little nervous about how easily she could talk about such a bloody event, putting away her compact.
"But this is hardly fair," Aria whined, "Now you know almost everything about me and I know nothing about you." She said, crossing her arms and pouting.
"Fine. I'm Yusuke and this is Botan." He said, pointing over at the blue-haired, grim reaper who gave her a nervous wave, still feeling uneasy around an A class demon with nothing keeping it in check and stop it from killing her. "And since Kuwabara has already introduced himself, would you mind telling me what you're doing in the human world now?" Yusuke asked.
Ignoring his question, Aria looked at him curiously, her mouth turned down in concentration. "Yusuke?...Hm...wait...where have I heard that name before?" She muttered, wracking her brain for the name, "Hm...Yusuke, Yusuke, Yusu-Ah! That's it! Now I remember!" She said, snapping her fingers and grinning widely. "You're the one that killed Suzaku." She exclaimed, grinning at Yusuke and grabbing his hands in hers. "I would like to personally thank you for killing that sorry excuse for a musician." She said, shuddering for effect then giving Yusuke short bow.
Yusuke didn't know what to make of the situation. He scratched his head in confusion as he watched the girl give him a short bow. "Um...You're welcome? You knew Suzaku?" He asked, becoming a bit more wary of the girl, now knowing that she hung around those types of people.
Aria nodded in confirmation, still grinning.
"How?"
Aria's smile got wider and she giggled to herself. "I wanted his flute." She said, grinning.
"Um, why?"
"Just because...I never did get that flute though." She added with a pout.
"Ookkaay," Yusuke said, raising an eyebrow but choosing to not press the subject. "But back to the matter at hand, do you realize that you are breaking the law right now and I have been told to arrest you?"
"Uh-huh!" Aria said, grinning widely. "I heard you."
"So maybe if you could explain to me why you're here, you might get a lighter sentence." Yusuke explained, trying to reason with girl.
"Nope." Aria stated giggling.
Yusuke huffed in aggravation, resisting the urge to start yelling, which he knew would draw attention to the group on the back street. "Well, whatever your secret reason for being here, you're going to have to go back to the Makai immediately." He growled, trying to keep his temper in check.
"Can't do that." Aria sang, dancing around him and past Kuwabara and Botan, walking back out onto the main street.
"Hey! Wait!" Yusuke yelled, no longer caring about the people who might hear as he tried to grab at the girl who easily skipped out of his range laughing. "You said you wouldn't run away!" He shouted after her.
"I'm not running!" Aria shouted over her shoulder, laughing. "Now come on, you have to buy me coffee!"
"I don't have to do anything!" Yusuke barked angrily.
Aria stopped skipping to turn her head and look at Yusuke. "But you said." She whined.
"I was just saying that to get you away from the crowd." Yusuke explained with a look of frustration.
"But you still said...and what's coffee?" Aria asked looking confused
It was at this point that Kuwabara decided it was the right time to catch up to the two. "If it is coffee you want, than I will buy you some!" He declared, trying to seem heroic (and failing horribly). But Aria only shook her head at him, causing the bells in her hair to jingle noisily.
"No. It has to be him or else he'd be lying." Aria said, pointing at Yusuke.
Kuwabara looked perplexed but Botan stood on her toes and whispered in Yusuke's ear for him to just play along. Yusuke grumbled something about how Botan had better repay him which made Aria chuckle.
Regardless of how out of the loop both Yusuke and Kuwabara felt, they both grudgingly began to walk towards the nearby coffee shop.
"Follow us." Yusuke huffed, already pulling out his wallet, wishing his last five a sad farewell.
"Alright!" Aria chirped, skipping after him while fingering one of her bells. A smirk grew on her face behind his back as she trotted after him.