Chapter 6a: News from Home

Yusuke stopped at the top of the temple steps, his hands in his pockets, and an unimpressed look darkening his eyes. He had been unable to reach Koenma to find out what announcement he had apparently made, but Hokushin had been able to fill him in, and it sounded like little more than a dumb military exercise by the SDF that would yield nothing for Spirit World and ultimately just waste everyone's time. Satisfied that it was nothing dangerous or interesting, his attention had then shifted to Kuwabara's call regarding the girls' sleepover at Genkai's old place. He had been left with the impression that Kuwabara was going to attempt to join them, which was surely going to end in tears (for Kuwabara) and that at least sounded like an amusing way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and so Yusuke had returned to the human world and made his way to Genkai's: only to find it in quiet and abandoned, and with no hint that anyone was there or had been there recently.

He started to walk on, deciding to go inside and have a look around regardless, but stopped after just a few steps when, on the very limits of his hearing, he caught the faintest hint of a voice raised in anger. He strained to listen, but neither recognised the voice nor could he make out what was being said. However, he did not have to wonder for long, as suddenly a small spike in demon energy appeared, and it was moving towards him at a speed that almost rivalled Hiei's. A shadow swept over him and disappeared into the trees, and although it had been the demon in question, Yusuke's attention was locked squarely onto the brightly coloured object streaking through the sky in hot pursuit of the demon.

"Hey!" he yelled.

Botan over-shot him in her efforts to stop, before turning and an oddly sharp and awkward angle. As she sighted him beneath her her face tensed and, just to make the situation even more odd, she summoned her metal baseball bat. She started downwards, sliding off her oar, which hit the ground before it disappeared.

"Botan, what the hell are you doing?" he asked.

Her face changed instantly and the bat vanished.

"Oh you!" she gushed. "You startled me! You shouldn't sneak up on a girl like that! And what are you doing out here, in this remote place, all alone?"

Yusuke narrowed his eyes.

"I know what's going on, Botan," he warned her. "Koenma didn't tell me, but I know exactly what Spirit World are doing right now."

"Oh, isn't it terrible?" she responded.

"No, it's just dumb," Yusuke casually replied. "What was that thing you were chasing after?"

Botan glanced up in the direction she had been flying, throwing an oddly harsh look that way, her eyes lingering there before returning to him and her expression softening once more.

"You could see that?" she asked.

"Of course I could, idiot," Yusuke replied. "Gees Botan, what is wrong with you? You're acting ditzier than usual..."

"Oh you!" she said again.

Yusuke looked over at the temple.

"So what happened here?" he asked, turning back to Botan. "Kuwabara told me you girls were having a party up here, but here we are, and there's only you. So, what happened? Did you scare them off or did they just stand you up?"

"Oh, Yusuke!"

Yusuke frowned. There was something a little odd about the way she had just said his name, her statement coming out sounding as much like a realisation as it did an admonishment of his joke.

"Yusuke, not you too!" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Oh dear, this just won't do! First our little party was crashed by Hiei, then Kuwabara, and now you too, Yusuke!"

Yusuke frowned.

"Hiei was here?" he asked.

"Yes, he was worried about his sister," Botan replied.

"He always worries about Yukina, but not usually enough that it makes him want to join a party involving you, Shizuru and Keiko," Yusuke pointed out.

"Oh, well, of course, you must know by now that Hiei and I are dating."

Yusuke snorted.

"That's really funny Botan," he said flatly. "But if I were you, I wouldn't go making that joke around Hiei."

"It's not a joke!" she indignantly replied. "We have been dating for quite some time, as a matter of fact. Hiei is just very shy about talking about it."

Yusuke was almost certain Botan was playing some sort of trick on him, as he knew for a fact that there was nothing romantic going on between her and Hiei: had she said that she had just started dated Hiei, Yusuke might have been inclined to believe her, but the fact that she had just said they had been dating for "quite some time" told him she was lying.

"Really?" he asked, deciding to play along with her bizarre ruse, if only to see where she was going with it. "Okay, then when exactly did you and Hiei hook up?"

"The Dark Tournament," she flawlessly replied. "But he's so shy, he won't admit it."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes."

The Dark Tournament had happened several years earlier, and, even as late as the Demon World Tournament, Yusuke and Kurama had been able to tease Hiei about the not-so-subtle crush that Botan obviously had on him, and his response had made it quite clear that he neither believed that she was attracted to him nor had he ever even so much as thought about acting upon it. And, despite what he liked others to believe about him, Hiei was not that great a liar, least of all to those who knew him well, like Yusuke and Kurama.

"Well it must be true love," Yusuke began, doing little to restrain the sarcasm in his tone. "Because here we are, on a Saturday night, neither of you are working, and you're up here, all alone, and Hiei's camping in the woods in Demon World, all alone."

Botan stiffened and her face darkened.

"Not everyone experiences romance in the same way you know, Yusuke," she said. "You can't compare my relationship with Hiei to the relationship you have with Keiko, for example."

"No, not at all," Yusuke replied.

"Because Hiei isn't neglectful of my needs, and I don't have a wandering eye."

Yusuke was momentarily frozen in shock. It was entirely unlike Botan to be so cold and direct, but more than that, her words were laden with implications, none of which he liked in the slightest.

"The hell is that supposed to mean, Botan?" he recovered.

"I mean Hiei doesn't disappear to Demon World, for months on end, leaving me... Now what was it Keiko said again, let me just check..."

Botan produced her idiotic notebook from an unseen pocket and began flicking through it. Yusuke rarely had patience for the trivial, but he forced himself to wait for the conclusion of whatever Botan was looking for, as he knew that she did document many things in that book, and if it contained something that Keiko had said about him, something he had done to upset her, he wanted to know what it was.

"Ah here we are," she said as she reached the page she apparently sought. "This entry is from Keiko's most recent birthday: "Keiko should have been happy today, but, as hard as we all tried to make the day great for her, she remained miserable because Yusuke didn't show up. Again. Keiko said she is tired of feeling like he only bothers with her when he has nothing better to do, or when he needs fed or a place to sleep when he visits the human world." So sad..."

Botan moved her eyes to look sideways over at Yusuke.

"Shall I continue?" she asked in a low voice.

"I forgot, okay?" Yusuke growled back at her. "I went to see her the next day, but she wouldn't see me! She had her dad tell me she was out. The whole day!"

"She was out the whole day, Yusuke," Botan replied, her voice still in that odd, lowered tone. "Didn't you know?"

Yusuke felt something shift inside of him, and suddenly he began to get a very bad feeling about the conversation he was sharing with Botan.

"I'll read on, shall I?" she offered.

Yusuke numbly nodded and Botan moved her eyes back to her notebook.

""We all noticed that Keiko blushed when Kurama wished her happy birthday with a kiss"–"

"What?"

""–on the cheek. Kurama is always so considerate to all of us, but it seems like Keiko appreciates it that bit more than the rest of us, especially when she is feeling down. Of course, I think she has a little bit of a crush on Kurama: and it all started when he beat her in a calculus competition. And now, after seeing how upset she was that Yusuke wasn't there today to take her out for dinner, Kurama very kindly offered to let Keiko join him and his family tomorrow when they go for lunch at Sarayashiki Gardens. Keiko, of course, jumped at the chance. I wonder if she'll ever tell Yusuke about this? After all, Kuwabara and I are a little suspicious of it: to us, it seems like Keiko considers this to be a date.""

Botan snapped her notebook shut.

"Oh dear..." she said, her voice once more in that lowered tone.

Yusuke swallowed hard.

"Botan, I know you like to meddle, and I know you like to play up any "romance" you see between me and Keiko," he said. "But if you think Keiko is interested in Kurama, or that Kurama – who is one of my best friends – would act on that, then you are out of your damn mind!"

"I'm so sorry Yusuke, I thought you already knew about... The things going on between Keiko and Kurama... That's why we cut the party short this weekend: Keiko didn't show. She said she wanted to stay on campus to "study" with Kurama. Didn't you know? I guess not, if you never visit her..."

Yusuke was highly suspicious about exactly why Botan would want to aggravate him so, but he was significantly more concerned that what she was telling him might be true, and so he tried to stay focused.

"Where's Kuwabara?" he asked her.

"Well, when Keiko didn't join us this weekend, Kuwabara said he would like to take Yukina away from a romantic weekend," Botan replied. "They are so sweet together, don't you think? He is so attentive of her! He has so many commitments here in his human life – his studies, working, his family – but he will drop it all and go running if Yukina needs something from him. Now that is true love."

"You mean like the true love between you and Hiei? Where you awkwardly rub yourself up against him and he spits on you?"

Botan hugged her notebook to her chest and screwed up her face in disapproval, but Yusuke was done talking to her. Something was amiss with her – mostly because she never read out personal entries from her notebook – but he decided to deal with that issue later. His first priority was of course to find Keiko.

Kuwabara was speechless. Koenma remained still, sitting in his large chair, his tiny hands clasped on the surface of his desk before him.

"I don't know what else to tell you, Kuwabara," Koenma said after a short, horrible silence had passed between them. "I'm sorry. I can't take this lying down."

"I don't understand why you're doing this!" Kuwabara shouted, slamming his hands on the desk.

Paperwork and stationery jumped into the air, and what did not fall back down onto the desk was deftly caught by George, Koenma's faithful servant, who darted around catching or grabbing up any stray item.

"I received a report from a very reliable source that Shizuru may be under the thrall of a demon," Koenma explained again. "And even though I really don't believe it to be true, I am obliged to take the report seriously: especially when the source is so reliable."

"The source?" Kuwabara asked. "Who's the snitch? I'll sort him out!"

Kuwabara straightened to his fullest height, smacking one fist into his open palm.

"Kuwabara, if you stay here, with that attitude, it will be harder for me to convince the council of Spirit World – people like the officers of the SDF – that Shizuru is innocent," Koenma pointed out. "You should take Yukina, and get out of here. I will do everything I can to clear Shizuru of this accusation and have her back with you as soon as possible. I promise you that."

"Yukina was heart-broken when you took Shizuru away!" Kuwabara argued. "Shizuru is the one who takes care of my love when I'm busy with school!"

"It can't be good then for either of you to stand around here and watch Shizuru being held here," Koenma replied. "Ogre, fetch Yukina and bring her up here."

George dropped the items he had gathered onto Koenma's desk and, with a few simpering words and gestures, hurried out the room to carry out the order given to him.

"Things are sure getting crazy," Kuwabara complained. "First Kurama gets a new girlfriend, then Botan tells us she's dating Hiei and now Spirit World are arresting my sister over nothing!"

Koenma narrowed his eyes and Kuwabara began to suspect that he had said something he ought not to have.

"Botan is dating Hiei?" the prince asked, his voice quiet, his tone testing, as though he thought he had misheard, or else he was being tricked somehow.

"Yeah," Kuwabara replied. "I guess they didn't tell you either, huh? But it's true. I saw them together. It was disgusting..."

Koenma held his suspicious look, and Kuwabara's concern grew.

"Oh gees Koenma, you're not gonna go arrest Botan too, are you?" he asked.

"No," Koenma replied. "Though I suppose I understand."

Kuwabara frowned and Koenma hurriedly shook his head.

"I mean I understand why Botan didn't tell me right now," he qualified. "I don't understand at all why she would… With Hiei… I guess some people say opposites attract, I suppose that's what it must be."

"Botan said she's been dating Hiei for a long time – since the Dark Tournament – and I don't know, maybe Hiei and Botan have more in common than you think," Kuwabara replied. "They can both be pretty hot-headed."

"Well yes, but Botan…"

Koenma slowly stopped talking, his eyes narrowing into the strange, suspicious look again as he regarded Kuwabara. Feeling a little uneasy with it, Kuwabara copied his action and reflected the look back at the prince. For a few seconds, both stared at each other that way, the moment only ending when the doors to Koenma's office burst open and George came racing back into the room. Kuwabara turned, noticing a series of things, each one more troubling than the last: first of all, George had returned alone, without Yukina; secondly he looked panicked, as though something bad had happened; and finally, he was avoiding eye contact with Kuwabara and purposefully gave him a wide berth as he scurried across the room to stand on the other side of Koenma's desk.

"Ogre, I gave you one, simple task," Koenma said with a sigh as George stopped by his chair.

"Yes Sir, I know, but you see the thing is, I couldn't bring Yukina back here," the ogre quietly replied.

"Why not?" Koenma asked.

"Because she isn't here, Sir."

Koenma made an exaggerated gesture of looking around his office before fixing an angered glower onto his servant.

"Well I can see that, ogre!" he snapped. "And the reason Yukina is not here is that the blue idiot I sent to collect her came back here without her!"

"N-no Sir, Yukina is not here," George nervously repeated, putting extra emphasis on the word "here".

Koenma sighed and turned to Kuwabara.

"It's like this everyday," he grumbled.

"Where's Yukina?" Kuwabara asked George directly.

"I keep telling you, she's not here," George replied. "She's left Spirit World already."

"Huh?" Kuwabara echoed.

"Idiot, why didn't you just say that Yukina had gone home instead of coming in here like that and acting like a fool?" Koenma snapped at George.

"Yukina went home already?" Kuwabara asked.

"Well Botan took her here," Koenma answered him. "Botan probably took her back home, too."

"Right… Well I guess I'll go too then," Kuwabara concluded. "But I'm gonna be back if you don't let my sister go real soon!"

"Don't worry Kuwabara, I do believe it's just a formality, and Shizuru will be back home, keeping you in line before you know it."

The thought briefly occurred to Kuwabara that it might not be the worst thing if Spirit World held Shizuru for the rest of the weekend, but he said nothing and took his leave. Yukina had apparently been allowed to visit with Shizuru and talk to her directly – a privilege Koenma had denied Kuwabara without justification – and so at least his beloved would be able to relay to him how his sister was coping with being held prisoner in Spirit World. Kuwabara smiled to himself as he imagined Shizuru beating all the other prisoners into submission: he was sure that, whatever was happening to his older sister right then, she would handle herself just fine.

The air was growing colder, and it was both a comforting and concerning feeling for Yukina. The ride from the portal out of Spirit World to her ultimate destination was, when flown by ferry girl oar, not a long one, and yet she felt as though she had been granted a long time in silence to consider where she was going and why. Other than when they had first left Spirit World, Ayame had said nothing, and likewise Yukina had not volunteered any conversation. One of the last thoughts Yukina had as they travelled was one that brought a small smile to her face: Ayame had dressed in durable, winter clothing, prepared for the journey ahead, whereas Yukina was sure that had Botan been her escort, her blue-haired friend would no doubt have set out in her usual pink kimono, little appreciating how treacherous the climate would become.

As they began to get buffeted by the intensifying arctic winds, Yukina put a hand on Ayame's shoulder to get her attention.

"This is far enough," she shouted over the roar of the winds. "Leave me here, I can continue the remainder of the journey alone. Thank you for your help."

Ayame nodded and slowly lowered them to the snowy ground, waiting for Yukina to disembark her oar before smiling politely and wishing the ice maiden good luck. Yukina watched her leave – mostly to ensure that she made a safe exit – before turning to face the shadowy shape starting to appear through the blizzards around her.

It had been a long time since she had last set foot in the glacier village, and she wondered just how her return would be received by the other ice maidens.

Next Chapter: Keiko decides to go dig up some dirt on Maya, but her venture massively (and quite horribly) backfires on her. Meanwhile Yusuke makes a decision about his future. Chapter 7a – Not too Clever.

A/N: This story feels a little patchy, even to me, reading it back in the proof reads: but of course the reason for that is that this is only one half of what is actually happening, and there are some key missing scenes (eg. Botan and Maya at the end of chapter one, what made Yukina go from visiting Shizuru to going back to the ice village, what's up with that wee demon pest that keeps appearing, etc, etc) but these will be covered in their entirety in the B chapters, and, at the moment, they are a tool to keep a bit of mystery going. I essentially wanted to make anyone reading this feel like they are missing something, since, for most of this story, every single character is missing at least one important thing that's going on.

And I guess I'm writing this because I'm getting some of the old "Anything She Does doesn't make sense/I can't follow it/it's too confusing" feedback. Sometimes things are deliberately like that, by design, and that's definitely the case here...