All familiar properties belong to the owners of Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho. I own nothing, I'm just futzing with their ideas.
So, I was planning on this being only around five chapters. Due to all of your enthusiasm and my tendencies to let a plot run wild, I know it's going to be a bit longer than that. I'll let you know what the plan is as soon as I have it figured out, haha.
My sincere thanks goes out to all the people who read this, put this on their alerts and put this on their favorites. Also I want to thank these people for reviewing: Spastic Freak, Gimei, Mondtanz, gincitri, kitsune-snuggler12, dancingfingers, Diane, Silversun XD, Kira Kyuu, Youko's Befuddled Fox, Applejax XD, KuroNeko, The Path of Supreme Conquest, a Guest, Fyuu, Foxluna, Lady Artimes Blane, kristina. 3, fredisagirl, PatrinePtn, dxlmao, rspringb, lillith, Valleygoat and fallingyuki. I've never gotten so many reviews for one chapter, so I was super excited.
Also, if I did not respond to your review, then that was unintentional and a total accident. I'm trying to respond to each one but my strategy needs to be tweaked a bit. Here have a chapter.
Enjoy!
oOo
Blue met green for a painfully long instant. Kurama was entranced, fascinated by the way her inner energies lit up her eyes. He stared until the car disappeared and then the hold broke. He blinked and awareness of his surroundings slowly bled back.
As he stepped off the pitch asphalt and onto the worn pavement, he heard Yusuke swear colorfully. The avatar's gaze flicked up to see the former Detective plop heavily on the step and pull up one of his pant legs with a sneer.
"She packs a wallop!" Yusuke exclaimed.
Kurama moved closer to inspect Yusuke's wound for himself. Yusuke's shin from ankle to knee was inflamed, except for the spot of impact, which was snowy white. The blood had completely vacated the skin and the color promised severe nerve damage. The injury was similar to a heat burn but Kurama could not help feeling sorry for the hanyou.
A lesson a demon needed to learn only once: Purity burns hurt.
Yusuke tried to touch his skin. He flinched back and hissed, prompting another round of curses.
"Why isn't it healing?" He growled.
Kurama shook his head and was already sifting through his hair to collect the seeds he would need. "For demons, it is very difficult to recover from spiritual damage from a priestess. The energy that she had embedded in the wound will resist all attempts from your youkai to heal it. At least until the foreign power fades. I suspect that you will need to let it heal at a human pace, not at your otherworldly one."
By this time, Kuwabara and Botan had made their way down the stairs.
Before Yusuke could let out an angry retort, Kuwabara was already talking.
"Whoa, that's nasty." He whistled. "Haven't seen you get hurt like that in a long time, Yusuke! Usually you just get bruises."
Yusuke looked murderous.
Botan huffed. "Well, that wasn't very nice. We were just trying to talk to her!"
"Before or after we chased her out of her house?" Yusuke snapped.
Again, Kuwabara interrupted things before it could get mean. "I saw that car that picked her up. What was that? Oh hey, Kurama, did you get the license plate number?"
Kurama felt the weight of everybody's combined attention at they looked at him. He sifted through the demonic herbs in his hands, feeling like there was something he missed. All he could remember was seeing Higurashi's startled gaze and-oh. Had he forgotten himself for a moment? Forgotten the mission? The setting?
Well that was troublesome.
Clearing his throat, he nodded, and all the floating pieces of his mind snapped firmly back into place. "I did, Kuwabara. Perhaps, Botan, you can get the Spirit World's information on the car? Yusuke needs to put something on that burn so it can heal properly and lessen the pain."
"I'm not in pain," Yusuke gritted out through clenched teeth.
"Of course not, just a precaution." Kurama assured.
Botan nodded, and pulled out a notepad and a pencil from one of her sleeves. "I'll call it in!" She dutifully scribbled down the number when it was given and with a hop and a twirl, she left to find somewhere to make the call.
"So what do we do now?" Kuwabara asked while scratching the back of his neck. "Why didn't we just follow them?"
Kurama shook his head. "She has help now. It would be wiser to assess the situation first and see what we are facing. I did not feel anything significant about the auras from the occupants of the car, but that does not prove very much. Secondly, Yusuke really does need to do something about his leg."
"I'm fine!" Yusuke declared, but the beads of sweat on his forehead denoted otherwise. In a fit to prove himself, he stumbled to his feet and almost overbalanced.
As usual, Kuwabara showed a surprising amount of tact while acting as oblivious as ever. Standing a couple of stairs above Yusuke, he was in a perfect position to catch his friend. Grinning and happily clapping his friend on the shoulder, he allowed the hanyou to use the strong grip to steady himself.
"Duh. We knew that!" Kuwabara rumbled. "That's nothing compared to the stuff you've gone through before!" He stopped suddenly as something seemed to occur to him. "But how are we gonna explain the scar away to Keiko?"
Yusuke froze and he turned a wide eyed gaze to Kurama. "It's not gonna scar, is it?"
Kurama tried very hard to hide a smirk. It worked. His face was impassive as he gave a single nod. "If we do not treat it right away, it is definitely a possibility."
"Fine!" Yusuke relented, shaking off his friend's hand. "But where are we going to find a place for you to put this on? My apartment's across town."
Kurama looked up towards the shrine. "Someplace that is known for helping the downtrodden. Perhaps they'll overlook our previous faux-pas? "
Kuwabara shrugged. "We have nothing to lose!" He declared.
The large man leaned down and grabbed the back of Yusuke's jean jacket. With a bright smile decorating his face, he happily stomped his way up the stairs. Yusuke put up a token effort of thrashing and verbal threats but everyone knew the help was necessary. The trip up would have been extremely difficult with his leg.
After a pause, Kurama followed. This time, he did allow himself a small grin at his friends' antics.
When they made it up to the stairs and towards the house, a young man was waiting for them at the door. He had one hand stuffed in a pocket and the other holding a baseball bat over one shoulder. The newcomers calmly walked up to face him, once Kuwabara had let Yusuke go.
Kurama recognized the man immediately from Higurashi's pictures. A relative of hers. Perhaps her brother?
Of course, Yusuke decided this was the exact moment to make trouble.
"A baseball bat?" He snorted. "Like that's gonna scare us?"
The stranger had the bat tapping the underside of Yusuke's chin in a surprising show of speed. "I may not be like 'Gome, but living here, you learn a few tricks."
Kurama's eyes narrowed. Indeed. Though the energy pulsing through the bat was very weak, it was enough to charge the air. Even Kuwabara could feel it, as evidenced by his raised eyebrows.
Could they have found another person with spiritual powers? There was a sutra taped to the bat, but as far as Kurama could tell, the energy was coming from the boy alone. Finding one needle in a haystack was luck, finding two reeked of the machinations of Fate.
"Pardon my associate," Kurama soothed, stepping forward. The stranger frowned and whipped his head to face the redhead. He did not move the bat.
Interesting. Did the boy see the injured Yusuke as the greatest threat? That was almost insulting.
"What do you guys want? Here and with Kagome?" The young man asked petulantly.
"We only want to talk," Kuwabara burst. "Honest!"
He got a skeptical raised brow for his efforts. "That definitely looked like talking."
"He tells the truth," Kurama assured. "We would not do anything to harm Higurashi-san."
The human paused, glaring at Kurama for a long second. His eyes flickered between the three men, assessing. It was only when his eyes caught Yusuke's rolled pant leg that his harsh expression softened. He sighed and swung the bat back up to his shoulder.
His gaze returned to Kurama's. "She said you were a demon, but she never said not to trust you. I don't know where she's going, but if you need hot water and bandages, you can find that here."
Kurama gave a small bow. "We would appreciate it."
He shrugged and turned to make his way into the house. All hostility seemed to have bled from his frame. "Just get inside before Jii-san gets here and tries to smother you with sutras. You're too pretty to not be a demon."
Yusuke choked out a surprised laugh but Kuwabara just looked embarrassed for the kitsune. Kurama straightened, again unsure if he should be offended.
Was everyone in the Higurashi family trying to make him confused?
It was working.
He followed the younger man inside the house anyway. The secrets this family held promised to be well worth his time.
oOo
There are times in every sentient being's life where things that were once important seem to fade away. Things such as the surrounding environment, the situation that led up to this instant, or if there are any others in the vicinity to witness the reaction. For Kagome Higurashi, this was one of those moments.
For her, nothing else existed. All she could see was her oldest friend sitting in front of her.
With a cry, she launched herself across the small space between them to engulf him in a fierce hug.
Nothing else mattered. Not her bow, which had clattered to the floor. Not the dispassionate gaze of Sesshomaru as he inclined his head to the side to avoid getting hit by a stray limb. Not the awkward positioning of her body or the fact she was sweaty and her calves burned from all that running.
Inuyasha smelled different. He smelled less like fire-rat and the wild outdoors and more like tiny hint of cologne and laundry detergent. But his hair was still soft when she buried her damp face into it and his clawed hands were still strong as they wrapped around her body.
For a long while, Kagome found she could not form words. When she tried, all that came out were embarrassing hiccupping sobs. Inuyasha simply gave her a couple of rough pats on her back and pulled her closer.
She was shivering, she realized. Shivering and leaving snot all over his nice suit and she could not bring herself to care as she stuck her face into his broad shoulder. So many things had happened since she last saw him.
At fifteen years, Kagome made a wish. When it came true, the jewel slammed back into her body and forcefully ejected her out of her home and into a place that had become foreign to her.
At sixteen, she realized that no matter how much she cried or pleaded, the well would not let her back to see her Feudal family. Not even when she tried to use logic. Even if she still had the jewel, the portal lay still and extinct.
At eighteen, Kagome went through her usual morning routine. Take care of her most pressing matters, brush her hair, her teeth. Change. She was on the second task when she realized that something just felt different. When she called up her rusty reiki to check, she realized that it was not responding. Panicking, she dug out her bow from under the mess that was her closet and tried to let loose a spirit charged arrow outside.
It did not work.
Kagome threw such a wild and desperate tantrum, that it scared all of the occupants of the house.
At nineteen, Kagome decided to move on with her life.
At twenty, she picked up her bow and started practicing again. She would trace the new calluses on her hands in class and it was enough to get her through the monotony.
At twenty-one, she moved out of the house and into another part of town. She said it was so she could be closer to her trade-school. Her mama knew it was because the sight of the well made Kagome physically sick.
At twenty-two, Kagome graduated as a qualified accountant. As a celebration, she visited the shrine. Late that night, when even Buyo was asleep, she snuck out to the well. She sat there until dawn, whispering all of her secrets into the black depths. She was exhausted the next day but her shoulders were light.
At twenty-three, Kagome finally quit her job at the coffee shop and ran all the way to her apartment to call her mother about getting accepted into her new job. She squealed and jumped around, before pulling out a take-out menu and blowing all of her savings on a huge meal. A portion was set aside in honor of her friends who could not be there. She felt okay about it.
Today, Kagome could not explain the joy that was rushing through her. Her grip reflexively tightened, before she forced herself to pull away.
Her eyes darted across Inuyasha's face as she imprinted the look of it into her mind. There were some incongruities and she zeroed in on them immediately. Her hand came to his face and she traced the wrinkles on his face with a feather light touch.
But his eyes were still golden warm and his smirk still impossibly cocky. She peered up at him in awe.
"Keh, are you just going to keep staring, or are you gonna say hi?"
Kagome blinked. "I-Inuyasha…" she breathed. "You're… you're old."
The smirk fell off his face and was replaced by something softer, unfamiliar. "It happens when you've lived over five hundred years."
She fell back and covered her traitorous mouth with her hands. Really, Kagome, really? After eight years of missing her best friend, the first thing she could say was that he looked like a middle aged man?
"N-No! Sorry, that's not what I meant! I meant, yeah you look older and I wasn't expecting it, but you know, I just remember when you looked fifteen and I want to say hello, it's so good to see you and I think I'm crying and I can't believe you lived here all these years-Ican'tstopmakingmymouthmovehelp."
Thankfully, Inuyasha simply laughed at her and gathered her into another hug. It was easy to make her mouth stop when her whole face was crushed into a hard chest.
"I missed you too, Silly."
Kagome relaxed. That was the Inuyasha she remembered. So what if her best friend looked like he was in his early fifties? She looked older too. That was just a fact of life.
Calmer now, she untangled herself and slid back into her seat. She wiped at her eyes before trying again.
"I-I missed you, Inu. I can't believe you're here."
Inuyasha sprawled out, leaning an arm on the door. None of his swagger had faded; in fact, he seemed to have grown into it. He had once worn his overconfidence like his fire rat. Now it was less of a mask and more like a truth.
"You better believe it. Been around since the seventies, waiting for you to show up." He hooked a clawed thumb towards his brother. "This one was determined to snatch you up as soon as you got back but something happened and he couldn't sense you properly anymore."
"You could not sense her either, half-breed."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes but smirked at the teasing. Kagome was dumbfounded.
"Then you moved away, and you disappeared off the map! Your family wouldn't tell me where you were, and even going through government files was not enough."
"My contact in the Records office has been properly eviscerated."
Kagome had no doubt of that. She blinked when Inuyasha leaned in, his gaze fierce.
"How am I supposed to protect you wench, when I can't even find you?"
The happiness that had suffused Kagome had made her relaxed and complacent. When Inuyasha broke into her personal space, she felt something very familiar. Anger. He still knew how to press her buttons.
Her jaw dropped. He was trying to make her feel guilty? Where did he get off? He was watching the whole time when she was moping around because she thought all her friends were dead. He could not even say hello?
No. That was not acceptable.
Her limbs and aura flailed about as she tried to sit straighter in her seat. She slipped a bit on the buttery leather and caught Inuyasha's leg with a kick. It did not make her feel better. It was just a start.
"How was I supposed to know?" She exclaimed. "Whoops, sorry Inu, that I didn't tell you where I lived. I did not know you existed."
Inuyasha flinched back, his hand going to his chest where a rosary once lay.
"I spent years looking for youkai!" Kagome continued. "Years looking for you before my reiki died, and you couldn't even come to tell me you were still alive?! I was miserable without you!"
She picked up her bow from the floor and gripped the handle tightly so she did not bludgeon Inuyasha over the head with it. Her knuckles went white.
Kagome opened her mouth to continue but Sesshomaru stepped in.
"Miko, control yourself." He ordered harshly. "Unleashing your aura is not advised in such an enclosed space."
Kagome blinked, and realized that Inuyasha was legitimately cowering now and Sesshomaru had a hand to his temple like he had a headache. Their eyes were slowly bleeding red. The woman tried hastily reaching out to pull it back in but it only seemed to make the situation worse.
She slouched away from them like it would help.
"Kagome!"
"I-I can't! I'm trying, but I don't remember!"
There was a flare of youki and it was pressing against her, robbing her of breath. Her own energy pulsed once before she realized that it was not attacking her, simply putting up a barrier. It enclosed her, keeping her powers swirling in a tightly packed space. It was a little suffocating but she allowed it, feeling guilty for losing control like that.
Inuyasha spoke up again, this time a little quieter. "I could not find you again until I felt the energy spike. The bastard came here as soon as I notified him."
"What happened to your energy, Priestess, that we could not sense it and that you cannot control it now?" Sesshomaru asked as he kept up the barrier. He blinked languidly at her and Kagome wished she could read his tiny nuances.
"It disappeared."
"What?" Inuyasha questioned.
"Impossible. Explain."
Kagome shrugged, suddenly feeling exhausted. It had been a long day and all she wanted to do was bury under her heavy comforter in her apartment and sleep for a week. "I… I didn't want it anymore. It reminded me too much of… I thought it would be better if I just wasn't a priestess anymore; it wasn't like there were youkai around. And one day I woke up and my reiki was gone. I couldn't access it; I couldn't force it to come back."
She smiled lightly at Inuyasha, because addressing Sesshomaru's intense stare was a little too intimidating at the moment. Maybe when she felt less raw. "It was only until I felt youki again that I could use it."
Sesshomaru's upper lip imperceptibly twitched. His version of a sneer. "Yes," he said. "The meddling of the Spirit Detectives. Tell me, what compelled you to work for a kitsune avatar?"
Kagome blinked and watched when the daiyoukai reached over to pick up the identification card that still miraculously hung around her neck on a lanyard. He studied both sides, his eyes scanning the details. He did not touch her, but still, his proximity was unnerving. She tried to keep her aura from touching him before he soon retracted his hand to safety.
"I didn't know. I don't even know what a Spirit Detective is. I applied to all the major firms in my area, and they were the ones who offered me a job with the best pay."
"Greed?" Sesshomaru prodded.
Her eyes flashed. "Practicality. I needed to make a living."
"Lay off," Inuyasha growled at his brother. He crossed his arms. "Not all of us are rich in both Worlds."
"I am simply attempting to figure out this… coincidence." He tilted his head to the side.
Trying to get away from his gaze, Kagome turned to Inuyasha. "Are you guys going to explain things to me soon? I have no idea what's going on."
Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, as soon as we get to the hotel."
Kagome brightened. "Will I be able to take a bath?"
The hanyou grinned. "Keh, I knew you were gonna ask that."
oOo
Anon Review Replies:
Diane: Whoops, so I did. It's fixed now so thank you so much for pointing it out.
KuroNeko: Ugh, even I wouldn't stick him in Hell like that. That would be extremely unfair, I think. Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you liked it. :)
A Guest: Is that a good "Oh my gwad!" or a bad "Oh my gwad!"? Haha thanks for reviewing!
lillith: Thank you very much, I hope you enjoyed it.