"Shimo… Shimo, are you awake yet?"
My ears twitched at the familiar ice apparition's voice before my eyes opened to find her looking down at me. Her demonic energy was gently pushing into me in a healing manner. I assumed it was burns as a pair of feet made their way towards us two demons. The scent that came up my nose told it me it was only Genkai so I curled myself closer to Yukina's lap.
"You suffered a lot through that fire, Shimo," the old lady told me. "Was it a demon?"
I turned my fox head to face her with a smile that showed I was no longer tired. My cool temperature was returning pretty well thanks to the shared energy between Yukina and me so I started to get to my paws. The female demon let me hop off and I landed on the hardwood floor with ease as the smile remained on my face.
"The humans said it was a white haired man that could shoot fire out of his hands. I assume it was a fire demon- though I'm sure you knew that. I don't know who it was, but they had to be hell of good to have that hot of flames. Nearly wiped me out just running in there to get Hina," I said this with a growl of old anger from the memory. "As soon as I find out who that was, they better not ever cross my path or nose. I'll slaughter him and anyone else."
"Well that's good to hear." Genkai said to me. "You'll probably find him with your determination. Unlike that no good dimwit who can't even find you under his nose."
I snickered at her word choice. She always made fun of her apprentice like that, though I never quite figured out who it was since I never saw him. I had a feeling he was pretty strong though so I usually never complained about not seeing him. But this time her last few words had me tilting my head a little.
"What do you mean under his nose? I don't think I get it…"
"Oh come on, now you're acting just as dimwitted Shimo. I've talked about Yusuke enough times it should be obvious." Genkai told me in exasperation.
I stared at her for several moments while taking in what she had said. I already knew that she and Yusuke knew each other but there seemed to be more to it. As I thought about it, someone walked into the room. Glancing up I saw that it was Hina. She smiled at me and picked me up tightly.
"Oh thank goodness you're okay! I thought you'd never wake up!" She said to me while nearly suffocating me.
I struggled to get a breath in before she finally noticed that I was trying to stay alive. The human loosened her grip and I gasped for air before grinning at the girl. It nearly surprised me that Hina had tears falling down her face a lot, but that was to be expected. When I sleep, it's hard to touch or wake me because the cold temperature drops a lot and freezes those that aren't ice demon.
"I couldn't have been out that long!" I said to her. "You must be exaggerating yourself."
"Actually, she's not," Yukina said in her soft spoken voice. "You have been out for three days."
My jaw dropped open at her words. There was no way I had been sleeping for that long. I turned my ice blue eyes to Genkai and she looked at me with an expression that called me stupid. That was all the confirmation I needed to know that what the ice demon was saying the truth.
"Then... what happened to Steph and the others?" I asked Hina, who had managed to stop crying in happiness.
"They're all living in a hotel at the moment, Shimo."
My ears flattened themselves when I realized that the voice that had just spoken wasn't Hina but Koenma. I turned my head and growled lowly at the prince while emitting that fog no one wanted to be part of.
"And what the hell are you doing here?" I snarled.
"Calm yourself Shimo," he said through gritted teeth. "And I'm here because your two day bet is up."
I bit back a retort and glanced at Genkai and the other two to find all of them nodding their heads at my silent question. I shook my own head and heard one of the doors opening. My paws raced towards Yukina and I jumped into her lap quickly and curled up to make it seem like I was still sleeping.
The thumps of the feet and the familiar scent of the half demon's power came up my nose and I refrained from twitching my nose. Other footsteps followed after Yusuke and I felt several of them staring at me but I kept my thoughts mostly blank and stiff.
"Jeez- how can this fox not be awake still? It's been three fricken days!"
"Yusuke, remember that she is an ice demon first- the flames were too hot for her body to hold out against. She needed time to heal her body and regenerate the cold surrounding her." The red haired fox said to the half demon.
"Not to mention her fur was torn and burnt at certain spots." My ears didn't recognize that voice very well but I assumed it was the fire demon.
"What's that got to do with the kitty?" That was the dumb human- I knew that for sure.
"Shimo isn't a kitty, Kuwabara! She's an ice fox demon. How many times do I have to say it!" Hina's voice, and it surprisingly radiated anger- which normally the girl didn't exude.
The red head frowned at the other humans outburst and he muttered something under his breathe that I didn't really catch. But I got a whiff of the human girl's scent to know that he had annoyed her even more. I slowly opened my eyes and glared at the male human.
"Don't piss her off, human. You'll have to deal with me then." I warned, causing everyone to look at me.
"Well whattya know! The fox finally wakes up from her peaceful nap!" Yusuke said with sarcasm dripping all over those words. "Tell me, ya dream of any priceless jewels?"
"I actually dreamt of ripping your head off and feeding it to a human-eating plant," I growled with a smirk. "It was nice- you all died because of something similar to this conversation."
"Shimo! Don't say such mean things!" Yukina lightly scolded me. I ignored it and flicked my tail before turning my ice blue eyes to Koenma.
"As much as I don't like telling you this, I have to. The one that started the fire was searching for the Winter's Solstice."
The Prince of the Spirit World stared at me with wide eyes passed his pacifier and I watched in silence. Yukina made a little gasping sound when I had announced that but it was a given that she'd know. She was a fellow ice demon, after all.
"Koenma what the hell is she talking about?" The half demon asked.
But I knew that the prince wasn't going to say anything for the time being. He was too stunned at my news. And I sure as hell wasn't going to say anything to them. They didn't deserve to know.
"The Winter Solstice... I seem to recall an old tale about something like that." The fox demon said to us all.
I glared at the demon but didn't utter a word. I wasn't going to tell him or the others anything willingly. They could see that just from looking in my eyes as Yusuke asked him what the tale was.
"Well- if I am correct -there was once a clan of winter fox demons that had a certain few stronger than any other fox clan. They were called the Winter Royals," the red head explained and I watched him quietly, debating on what to do now. "But if you encountered one directly, they had a title of their own. Am I so far correct?"
My eyes looked to the fox demon and my tail flicked back and forth in annoyance. Why did he assume I was going to tell him that he was right? That there was a clan of fox demons surpassing any other in strength and demonic energy? I refused to speak but then Yukina smiled at him.
"Yes Kurama. You are correct." She ignored the frown I sent to her and I let out a breath of air to show my annoyance. "The strongest is who they call the Winter God, the second strongest is the Winter Goddess."
"Sounds like a video game." The half-demon stated.
I rolled my eyes and watched as Koenma finally recovered and he shook his head at the Spirit Detective's words. My ears caught that he mumbled something about him being an idiot as he looked at me, pacifier once again in his mouth.
"Yukina, Kurama, I'm sorry to say that both of you are wrong on your details," he said slowly but he never looked away from me as my lips rose to a smirk. "The one that knows the real truth behind her words is the one who spoke them."
I looked away when all eyes fell on me. Great- let's put the lights all on Shimo. With a grunt, I stood on my four paws and jumped off of Yukina.
"What makes you think I'll explain myself? I only spoke about the Winter's Solstice because you are the only one that knows what it is."
"Would it help to convince you to talk if I said that someone is after the Winter's Solstice, among the other titles?"
At that, Koenma had my attention. Ice blue eyes gazed up at him as I stared in silence. Yukina was quiet as well, not surprising though. But my question was who would ever try to come after the Winter's Solstice. It was certainly kept on the down low if I hadn't heard about it after all these years.
Pulling myself out of my thoughts, there was a sigh that slipped out.
"Who is hunting down the Winter's Solstice?" I mumbled, eyes now looking at the ground as my claws lightly pierced the wood underneath me as a way to keep my focus below me.
"They say it's a man who calls himself Yoji-"
"Sounds kind of like Yoshi if you ask me-"
"No one asked you, Yusuke so shut your trap-"
And after that it seemed like arguments between the two humans was all that I was going to get. But it still annoyed me to no end that Koenma didn't get to finish what he had been about to say. If his words were true though, it seemed I would need to go on a little trip to visit someone.
Shaking my head, I looked at Yukina and gave an apologetic smile to her as I said, "I'm sorry. It looks like we won't be able to hang out as much as I thought we would."
The ice apparition merely smiled back though, and said that she understood that I had to do some things before we could talk. That's how it almost always used to be anyway.
With that, I began to dart passed the group and Koenma, only to have someone grab me by the scruff of my neck and lift me off the ground. Turning my head just enough to see that it was Yusuke, I gave him a soft growl as a way to tell him to let me go.
"Not so fast. You owe us a detailed explanation of who you are and what you're doing here, remember?"
Crap. I had hoped they would forget about that.
Letting out a near quiet groan, I managed to wiggle my body just enough to get Yusuke to let me go. That was when I managed to land on my paws and I made my way over to Hina, who chose to now sit beside Yukina. Taking a moment to stare at the two, I wondered if they would become good friends like I was with the both of them. After that thought though, I looked back at the expectant group and began a rather brief explanation of what I was doing here in the Human World. While leaving out some important pieces of my life, of course. They had no reason to know more about me than needed.
"My name is Shimo, I'm an ice apparition like Yukina. My mother laid with a fox demon long ago and gave birth to me. But unlike Yukina's people, when they cast out her twin brother, I was allowed to stay only because I didn't look to be a fox at all until I grew up and learned to transform my body. To keep it basic so I don't bore you with everything: I eventually left my home and became a thief, befriended Yukina- who was from a different area of the ice world –and came here to steal the snow gem because I need it to survive here."
Satisfied with my own explanation, I began to leave the room once more when I was halted again. This time, an irritated growl left me as I glared up at Yusuke.
"Mind letting me go? I was hoping to eat before I left the Human World to find someone."
There was a bit of a grin then on the half demon's face. Why it was there, I wasn't sure of. But I did know that I probably wouldn't like where it led if I got the choice to listen or not listen. Waiting quietly for a remark from Yusuke, it didn't seem like I was going to get one until I voiced it myself. Which I started to do until the red haired fox demon jumped into the conversation, coming over to the two of us and gingerly taking me from the others grip.
Staring at this demon, even if we weren't of the same origin, I know I did feel like he was kin, of a sort. Not by blood, of course. As far as I knew, I was an only child and I rather liked it that way. No one bothered me with things like that and I never asked my family if I had another sibling. But I was getting off track of things again.
"Let me guess, you are going to tell me why I can't leave, right?" The tone in my voice hinted at just the slightest bit of sarcasm but you wouldn't hear me announcing that to the world.
The demon I was staring at soon chuckled, as if he found my words to be funny- though I saw no reason how it could be remotely funny –and he gestured to the others around me that I was unfamiliar with.
"Assuming you were paying attention to before, my name is Kurama-" Oh god, he was going to do introductions, I should have known it would come to this- "I think you know a majority of our names and we know yours but just in case you do not-"
And so I had to listen to the fox demon reintroduce the group that had tried to capture me. I already knew everyone but the fire demon's name- Who I found to be called Hiei –and I hadn't really cared to fully memorize their names since I doubted that I'd be seeing them around all that often. After it was done, I looked at the red head with an all too curious glint in my eyes.
"Okay, you finished introductions again, can I leave? I should go do what I was going to do before you grabbed me." With that said, I began to squirm out of Kurama's grip and then land on the hard wood floor.
"Isn't it obvious yet, Shimo?" Koenma's voice cut in before anyone else could say anything. "I can't have you running off with the Winter's Bane so Urameshi's team is going to follow you around."
"What? The hell, Koenma-? You didn't say anything about that!"
"I know, Yusuke. You would have thrown a fit just like you are now if I had said anything before."
And then I watched as Yusuke proceeded to have a tantrum until Genkai came in only for a brief moment to smack her student. The actions alone had me giving a snort as I looked at the Spirit World prince. He and I both knew that while I would be followed by these guys, my ability to hide from anyone I wanted would easily give me the upper advantage with these guys if I wanted to get away. But then, with it starting to drift towards the evening, if I didn't get to where I needed to go, I'd have to start all over in my search.
Glancing at everyone around me, it seemed like they were waiting for my response to Koenma's last words. This only fused with my current thoughts to annoy me.
"Let them follow me if they want, just don't get in my way or I'll be sure to freeze you where you stand," of course that was a halfhearted attempt at a threat as I walked to the door, using one paw to check to make sure I still had the snow gem around my neck. Which I did, thankfully.
The heavy footsteps behind me signified that the team was making their way after me so I continued my way until I was outside of the temple, with the morning air greeting my sensitive nose. Breathing in the breeze that soon followed, my eyes slipped closed for just a moment before I looked back at the group that had followed me. It seemed like they were all watching and waiting for me to make a move- which I found ironic because not even a week ago, all of them had been trying to determine if this was a good choice to hunt me down in the first place.
"If you are curious- The person I need to see is someone by the name of Nee. He's a friend of sorts so I'm sure he'll be… just a tad willing to talk about Yoji," I explained before hopping off the temple's floor, landing on the soft grass below, "but my one rule is that none of you are to talk to Nee. He's a telepathic field mouse, basically. You scare him, he'll take off faster than a cat."
"So why don't you catch him if he runs off?" A roll of my eyes happened then as I nodded goodbye to Genkai and the others who were going to stay at the temple.
"Because, Yusuke, like I said, the asshole is a telepath and knows what I'll do to stop him from getting away. Sure, I can put up my mental walls to block it, but that puts a strain on my body and I can't focus on staying cold and blocking his intrusion to my thoughts at the same time. I'd melt from the heat if I wasn't careful."
With that explanation done, my paws began walking into the forest. In there was my destination: A portal that tended to go unnoticed by Koenma and the rest of the Demon World. Granted after this moment, I'd have to close it down and find a new place to put it, but I had planned on doing that at some point this week. Or next month. Whenever I felt like moving it.
"Shimo, if this Nee is a telepath and you haven't been blocking your thoughts- How have you not been feeling Hiei in your head?" I heard Kurama ask, which had my head turning to look back at the group.
Glancing at the fire demon, a sort of annoyed expression came across my eyes for just a moment. I had truly forgotten that he was able to read people's minds only because of that third eye of his. But now that I remembered it, my reply only brought on amusement for myself.
"I don't know. Maybe he's not as good a telepath as he likes to think he is or he's scared I'll turn him into a Popsicle."
The insult didn't go unheard by Hiei- Or the others, for that matter. It made Yusuke and Kuwabara laugh, while Kurama glanced at the fire demon for his reaction. And I did the same as the other fox. Because while I was sure that the elemental demon wouldn't harm me, one could never be sure when it came to insults.
Though the glare that I got from Hiei was enough to cause my tail to bristle, and for me to glare right back. While that was happening, I could feel a presence in my mind. Immediately knowing that it was the telepath, I snorted softly and continued walking.
"You can try all you want to get into my head but while I'm in this form, you'll have better luck understanding the trees," I said in a rather loud tone so everyone could hear me, "because my demon form – along with this one –has a marking on my body to prevent anyone from reading my thoughts. Before you even ask, I cannot keep this form or revert to my demon self because Nee is frightened of foxes. Granted there was that one time I tried to eat him but I still say he caught me in a rather foul mood and I tried to bite his hand off-"
Finding that I was rambling, I grew silent as we made it to the portal. My paws stopped in front of the thing as I looked at the group, finding that Kuwabara and Yusuke were still snickering about the insult I had made to Hiei. Which caused me to roll my eyes once more and a blast of an icy temperature seemed to silence them and get them to pay attention for now.
"Does that mean we will finally see you in a different form instead of… Well, ya know-" Urameshi asked, making it my turn to laugh.
One last flick of my tail happened before I started walking into the portal. But before I completely vanished, I replied to him with, "Oh you silly boy! You've already seen my human form. Don't get too excited now."
It was only a moment later, of course, that I reappeared in the Demon World. The heat seemed to rush at me dead on- causing my chill temperature to rise above normal until I was able to calm it down and return it to a good degree.
Ice blue eyes gazed down at the surrounding forest and hilltops that adorned the area even as my foxlike body reverted back to my far more human appearance. Even with how rare it was for me to come to Demon World, I knew how dangerous it was for me to be here disguised as a human. For one, I could only lower the temperature to a mere thirty degrees. Usually I could at least get it into the negatives in my fox body and I would be just fine for the rest of the day in this world. And for two, I wasn't exactly able to hide my thoughts from any telepath that could be wandering around the area so I would have to be careful with my thoughts once again.
But as this, I had no idea how long I could last. Which was why I needed to get to Nee and find out who this Yoji was and then I could take whatever form I wanted. Hopefully it wouldn't take long.
Author's Note: Yoooooohoooo! After so long of not being able to write anything for any of my stories, I managed to squeeze out a new chapter for the Yu Yu Hakusho story! Which means, for all of you that have been waiting for me to post a new chapter to Take It All Away and Darkness Has A Heart - You might just get a new chapter soon! Or, I'll stick to this one and work on finishing the older ones. Be warned though- I have gotten fairly better at stories now or I might be out of touch with some of my character's personalities but I'll get back in the swing of it as I progress.
And be sure to tell me what you think of this chapter so far! There's more to come, trust me. owo