Hope you like this chapter, but I won't know unless you review! Usual disclaimers.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Yusuke asked happily as he stared at Genkai's surprise visitors.
"We were in the neighborhood," Yomi replied, "And I came to seek Genkai's advice on a training matter with Shura here." He laid his hand on his son's head. "And I will admit, I was hoping to see your little miracle here," he chuckled, "Well not exactly see but you get the idea."
Yusuke narrowed his eyes but set Mina down from his shoulders. She happily stepped forward and offered Yomi her hand, "It's very nice to meet you Mr. Yomi." Yomi laughed, "She's very sweet Yusuke. And who is this other lovely young lady with you?"
"This is Keiko," Yusuke replied, holding her hand, "My fiancé." Keiko blushed a bit but smiled at the word. She was a little unnerved by Yomi's horns.
"It's very nice to meet you too Mina," Yomi replied shaking the little girl's hand, "And you too Keiko."
"Now that the polite crap is over with," Genkai interrupted, "Why don't the little ones go into the other room and play with some of the games in there while the grownups talk?"
"I like games!" Mina said happily, twirling around.
"Shura," Yomi said, "Take Mina with you and do as Genkai says. Don't get into any trouble this time."
"Yes father," Shura grumbled, "Do I really have to play with the baby?"
"Hey!" Mina protested, "I'm no baby!" She turned around and pulled at his arm, "Now let's go play!" She pulled him off in a random direction, not knowing really where the game room was.
"Hm," Genkai smirked, "She's got an attention span like her father."
"Old bat," Yusuke grumbled under his breath.
"Now," Yomi resettled himself, "Shall we all sit and have a cup of tea? I remembered it was your favorite Yusuke."
"Cut the crap Yomi," Yusuke said sitting and taking a cup of tea anyway, "What are you really here for?" Keiko sat quietly beside him, sipping a cup as well.
"Well if you insist on being direct, Yusuke," Yomi said with a sigh, "The reason I am here is to offer my assistance to you. It seems that you have a little problem on your hands. Your adorable daughter. And believe it or not, she's actually causing quite a stir in Demon world as well."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked.
"I believe that little child," Yomi continued, "your Mina, is the "chosen one" if you will of her species. And they are very anxious to retrieve her, as you may have noticed. I came here tracking one of the demons, her biological mother if I am not mistaken."
"You're not," Keiko said, "She crashed Mina's birthday party two days ago."
"Ah so I see I was correct in my guess. Mina must be the one," Yomi nodded, taking another sip.
"What do you mean the "chosen one"?" Yusuke asked.
"She has a prophesy tied to her heritage," Yomi explained, "Her specific lineage, if she had been born by the normal method they use, involving the implanting of eggs into earth demons, would have led to nothing that special, she would have been just another one of her kind. But, she was born to a human. Well, not technically, but it makes it worse that it's you Yusuke. She's twice as powerful now than she would have been."
"What's the big deal about the human thing?" Yusuke said earnestly, "Is she going to be ok?"
"Actually I'm not sure," Yomi sighed, "It's been frustrating me but no matter how many of her demons I…interrogate…I can't get any concrete answers. All I can say is that my intelligence says it's going to be bad. Possibly the end of the world, but at the very least it will cause a war in demon world if she stays here."
Yusuke rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Big deal, between Kurama, Kuwabara, Hiei and I, we could handle a few upset demons. We've been through worse. And honestly, if she's in my care, what could go wrong?"
Genkai rolled her eyes this time and muttered "dimwit" under her breath. "What couldn't go wrong?" she said out loud, "She's obviously important somehow. Or else the other demons wouldn't be so keen on killing her."
"Killing her?" Keiko asked, her eyes widening. Her heart skipped a beat.
"Yes," Yomi said sadly, "The demons in demon world are getting restless. They don't want to risk the fulfillment of the prophesy. It pains me to say it but if they found her, they would kill her."
"Don't worry Keiko," Yusuke said, grabbing and pressing her hand, "I'd never let anything happen to her."
"No Yusuke," Yomi said, "You couldn't stop this if they decided to attack. Her particular species of demon are very…persuasive."
"What is she anyway?" Yusuke asked, "I've kind of been curious."
"I don't know much about the species," Yomi admitted, "Only a bit and my information could be incorrect. You should ask your Prince Koenma to see if he has any knowledge stored about Sirenia demons. The point is though that the girl is dangerous, and will remain so unless she is properly trained. And the only one who can do that…is me."
"Why you?" Yusuke asked. "You just said that you don't know much about her anyway."
"True," the demon admitted, "But I also know more than anyone else, other than the demons themselves, does currently. And I'm one of the few that you can trust with your daughter. I'll take her to the upper regions of the demon world where she won't be in as much danger. And you know how well I could protect her and how much I could teach her. You should see how much Shura has grown in the time we've spent in the wilderness."
Keiko wished she could read Yusuke's mind right about now. This demon she had just met but heard much about, was now proposing that he take their two year old daughter away into the demon world. Red flags were waving wildly in her head and alarms were blaring shrilly. This sounded wrong, Yusuke had to sense it too.
As if on cue, Yusuke rose from the table smiling. "Well Yomi," he said smiling but Yomi could hear the edge to his voice, "That sounds like an interesting idea and I'm very grateful for your interest and help but I think that I'll take my chances here. I'd rather keep my daughter safe in the Human world and fight off the occasional demon then let her enter the Demon world where apparently everyone is out to get her."
Yomi stood as well, a stern look on his face, "It won't just be the occasional hunter Yusuke. I've heard rumors of a gathering of many demons to make a stand. Possibly invade human world and take the girl themselves."
"They won't be able to pull that off," Genkai spoke up. "King Enki's forces would take them out. If not them, then Enma's will. The girl will be fine here. I'll train her."
"You will?" Yusuke smiled genuinely, "Awesome grandma!"
"Don't push it dimwit."
"Keiko," Yomi now pleaded with her, "Surely you must be a little more concerned for your daughter's safety."
Keiko smiled sweetly at Yomi, "Actually, I agree with Yusuke. It seems to me that he and the others would be perfectly capable of fending off any attack that came our way. Thank you for the offer though."
Yomi sighed, defeated, "Very well then. Shura and I must go, but I'm sure that our paths will cross again. It was good to see you Yusuke."
"You too Yomi," Yusuke said, grasping his hand.
"Shura!" Yomi called out, "Time to go son!"
The two children obediently ran back into the room. Mina had a fierce look on her face and stuck her tongue out at Shura as Yusuke bundled her into his arms. Shura stuck his tongue back out at her but submissively followed his father out the door and into the woods.
After a short talk with Genkai, catching up on missed time and figuring out a schedule for Mina, the Urameshi family made their way home. As they made their way down the stone steps, Keiko noticed Mina holding the back of her head.
"Mina honey," Keiko asked, "What's wrong?"
"That stupid boy," Mina said frowning, "He pulled out my hairs."
Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Yea, he's not all that nice. But he's just a kid and he's learning. Yomi is someone that we can trust and is a friend of Daddy's ok?"
Mina nodded, "Ok Daddy, I'll forgive him and play nice next time we see him." To herself, she thought, Yeah right, I'll show him the baby next time I see him.
In the woods, Yomi and Shura crossed the border into demon world. Yomi turned to his son and asked, "You've got it, don't you?"
"Of course dad," Shura said, "She's just a baby." And he laid five jet black hairs into his father's outstretched hand.
Keiko had no homework that night, and the store closed early, so the three members of the Urameshi family had a night all together. Keiko watched as Yusuke tried to teach Mina how to stack cards on top of one another to make a house.
Mina couldn't do it. She kept getting distracted by the smell of baking cookies in the oven and when they finally came out, well… there went her self control right out the window. Followed closely by Yusuke's. Keiko's homemade cookies were to die for.
Together, the three of them cuddled on the couch and settled in for a movie. Yusuke wrapped an arm around Keiko, holding her tight, and Keiko played with Mina's hair as she lay on her lap.
To Keiko, it was another one of those perfect moments where nothing could go wrong.
Then the door burst open. Mina, who had been asleep, flipped out of her mother's lap in fright and landed on the floor. Botan flew into the room in a flurry. "Hurry!" she yelled, "The three of you need to come with my right now! Koenma's orders!"
"Botan!" Yusuke complained, "We've had a tough day, tell pacifier-breath it can wait until tomorrow."
"No it can't," Botan said, "We're under attack!"
"What?" Yusuke was on his feet, "Koenma's place is under attack? By who?"
"Demons. A huge army of B and C type demons," Botan said seriously, "We need your help now."
"Why," Keiko spoke up. She rose from the couch slowly, her eyes were shining with tears. "Why can't you just leave us alone?!" she shouted at the surprised ferry girl, "We're happy here without you, can't you just let us live in peace?" Yusuke's heart melted to hear the pain in his beloved's voice, he knew she hated when he was called on to fight. And that she blamed Koenma for it.
"Keiko," Yusuke's voice was soft as he grabbed his wife-to-be's shoulders and pulled her close, "I'm sorry. You know I have to. Come with me, you and Mina will be safer with Koenma." His voice was soft and pleading. Keiko looked up into his eyes and laid her head against his chest. She nodded. Mina's eyes furrowed as she looked at Botan, who had caused her mother this much distress.
"Come on," Botan said quietly, "There's not much time."
Inside Koenma's castle, the situation was getting desperate. Yusuke, along with Keiko carrying Mina, raced into the prince's office to find Kurama and Hiei already seated, both covered in numerous wounds.
"Woah, who told you to start the party without me?" Yusuke asked, "Are you guys alright?"
"Yes Yusuke," Kurama calmly answered, "It's only a few superficial wounds. Koenma called us in here for some strategy to combat the mob."
"How big is this thing anyway?" Yusuke asked the prince.
"Big," Koenma answered promptly. The screen behind him lit up with a view of the castle doors. In front of them, a huge mass of demons congregated, but they were surprisingly orderly for a mob.
"Hey," Yusuke asked again, "They're sure quiet for a mob. Is there someone in charge over there?"
"Hn. Thank you, detective," Hiei said scaldingly, "We would have never figured out that mystery without your help."
"Yes," the prince said simply talking over the annoyed fire demon. He pressed another button and the camera zoomed in on one demon in particular, standing at the very head of the army. She looked surprisingly familiar…
"It's Mina's true mother," Keiko stated amazedly.
"How she amazed this kind of force without my knowledge is amazing," Koenma said tiredly.
"This kind of organized raid must have been planned out long ago," Hiei spoke up. He was nursing his left shoulder where a few deep red scratches marred his skin.
"Yes but what is the purpose of it all?" Kurama mused, "This kind of preparation and tactical understanding takes time. Why put all the effort into this?"
The gears in Yusuke's head ground to a screeching halt. His jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out. He inhaled and exhaled deeply trying to regain control over his features. His mouth closed in a tight line and his brows furrowed in anger.
"Yusuke?" Keiko asked nervously, "Everything alright?"
The former demon lord shook his head slowly. A slight red glow surrounded his figure. "It's to get to Mina," he said slowly, "These bastards"—Keiko clapped her hands over Mina's ears just in time—"are just trying to bust a way into the Human world to get to her. Yomi warned us."
"Yomi?" Kurama leaned forward anxiously, "When did you see Yomi?"
"Earlier at Genkai's," Keiko answered, "He tried to convince us to hand Mina to him for training and protection for this exact event and was even more earnest about it when we denied."
Hiei's eyes darted to Kurama's for half a second. They both had the same thought. "This is Yomi's doing," Kurama voiced, "This level of organization, this kind of tactical knowledge, I recognized it, I knew it."
"I know," Yusuke said through clenched teeth, "I'll kill him." The glow around him strengthened. Mina drew back a little bit, amazed at this new strength she had never seen in her father. It was scary.
Even Koenma began to get nervous; Yusuke could be very dangerous when his loved ones were threatened. Time to intervene here. "No matter who is behind it," the prince began, "We need to find a way to stop it. I'm sure the three of you could easily finish off the entire mob in front of the castle, but we need to stop it at the source. We need to get to that demon."
"Oh," Keiko said, "I just remembered something else Yomi said. He said to look up Sirenia demons. He thinks that's the kind of demon that Mina is, but he didn't have any information about them." Koemna looked up at Botan, who nodded and whizzed away to look up the species in the archives.
"More than likely he did," Kurama said. His emerald eyes were slits, "He just didn't want to give up his advantage."
"Then he probably knew all about that damn prophesy thing he kept going on about," Yusuke said, still fuming.
"Prophesy?" Kurama asked quickly.
"Yes," Keiko said, "Something about her being the chosen one of her people. Again, he claimed that was all he knew."
"That complicates things," Koenma said, "We need information about this and we need it now." A deep resounding boom echoed across the castle. "And we need more time to find it," Koenma finished.
Mina was confused. Someone was attacking and her daddy was mad and her mommy just kept holding her tighter and tighter. But she did know one thing; she knew it was all her fault.
"I'll go fight the bad guys mommy," she said, looking into Keiko's eyes. "I can do it, I'm a big girl. Daddy taught me."
Keiko smiled down at the child, "That's ok honey, you don't have to do anything. Daddy will take care of us, just you wait and see."
"But I want to help," Mina said. She frowned, "This is my fault."
"No its not," Yusuke said angrily, "It's daddy's friend's fault."
"But I want to help!" Mina shouted.
"Hn," the koorime coughed, "Baka baby."
"I'm not a baby!" Mina yelled. She struggled and Keiko dropped her. Mina ran over to Hiei and punched at his arm, "I am not a baby and I want to help!"
The fire demon looked down at the little being that had now latched itself onto his arm in an attempt to pull him off of his chair. He rolled his eyes and stood, picking up the little girl in the process and holding her upside down in front of his face by her leg. "Stop it," he commanded.
"Make me!" she shouted in his face, flailing her arms. Hiei merely held her in front of his face until she tired out. With a final futile throw, Mina stopped and started to cry. Kurama tensed, ready to catch her if Hiei decided to drop her because she was annoying him. Instead, everyone was surprised when the fire demon sighed and turned the girl right-side up and sat down, resting her on his lap. The two shared a long stare.
"Stop it," Hiei commanded again as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.
Mina hung her head, "Ok Hiei." Rather than climbing down off of his lap, the little girl instead snuggled closer to the chest of the demon. Hiei tensed, but allowed the child to do as she wished. He had seen the guilt and the anger and the fear building up inside her mind and knew that this was how she was going to deal with it. Kurama gave him a confused glance which Hiei returned with one of his death stares, daring the fox to call him out on being sensitive. Yeah, right.
"Koenma, sir!" Botan rushed into the room, "I found it! We only have this one entry in this volume but it may be just what we need!" She slammed the heavy encyclopedia down on his desk. The prince leaned over it quickly and carefully read the passage regarding all demons known under the Sirenia species.
Koenma's eyes widened. "Wow," was his final analysis.
"Wow?" Yusuke was still brimming with anger, "Can you give us something a little more useful here chief?"
"Yes, actually this is quite useful. Good work Botan. It says here that the Sirenia demons are Spirit Sirens," the prince read, "Their power comes from their control of their voice. They sing and can command the will of any type of living creature. Anything from plants to men and demons."
"This is why they are so organized," Kurama thought quickly, "Yomi is giving Mina's mother tactical advice and all she has to do is sing and command the mob."
"Great," Yusuke said sharply, "Now how do we stop her?"
"It says here that the only way to stop a siren is for him or her to be killed," Koenma read, "Or for another siren to sing as well, for command of the wills in question."
Mina looked up from Hiei's lap. "I can help," she said softly, "If my real mommy is a…siry-thingy then I am too right?"
"Siren baka baby," Hiei said annoyed.
"And no," Yusuke said, "It's too dangerous for you." He cracked his knuckles, "I really need to vent some of this anger too."
"It's too dangerous for you Yusuke," Keiko argued, "There's a whole mob out there, you'll get killed."
"Oh so you think Mina should go out there?!" Yusuke raged.
"No!" Keiko matched him, "I just think you shouldn't be stupid about this!"
"I know what I'm doing here Keiko!" Yusuke yelled, "I need to get out there and kill that bitch of a demon who wants to take Mina away from us!"
"You're being an idiot!" Keiko yelled back.
"Stop it!" Mina yelled out. But the way her voice lilted up a note, it sounded like singing. Immediately, Yusuke and Keiko shut up. They turned to stare at her. Mina was just as shocked as they were. "This is why those birdies were so nice to me isn't it?" she asked her soundless parents. "Daddy," she pleaded, "Let me help."
The pain in Yusuke's eyes deepened, "I don't want you to get hurt." He spoke softly.
Mina's eyes were hard and serious, "I can do it, I know I can."
Two minutes later they were standing just inside the great double entrance doors. Mina stood in front of them, she looked very small. Yusuke knelt next to her, grasping her shoulders tightly in his hands. "Be careful out there girlie," he cautioned, "And remember, daddy will be right behind you if you need help, just yell ok?"
"Ok daddy," Mina said smiling, she looked at her mother, "It's ok mommy, I'll be ok."
"You better be," Keiko said fuming, "for your father's sake."
"Don't worry Keiko," Kurama said, "We'll all be right behind her just in case anything should happen." The girl chocked back her tears before stepping to the side to watch.
"Hn," Hiei addressed Mina, "Do you have a plan baka baby?"
Mina giggled this time at the nickname and smiled at him, "Nope, I kinda thought I'd go out there and see what happens."
The fire demon snorted, "Just like her father." Then, together, he and Kurama opened a slit in the giant doors for the little girl to walk through. Then he, Kurama and Yusuke all slipped out behind her. They were to stay close to the wall and try to allow Mina to work her magic and step in if it seemed like she was in danger.
Mina stepped out a few more paces from the wall. The ground beneath her feet was covered in soft grass and a few small purple flowers bloomed up from the earth. She hummed a note and they seemed to turn their small heads towards her. For some reason, this reassured her. She didn't want to let her daddy down.
A few meters ahead, a mass of demons stood still, waiting for command. Mina could see her birth-mother behind them, she watched as her eyes widened as she recognized Mina and then watched as her mouth opened. Sweet notes came floating across the air and the mob moved in response, they began to approach Mina.
She knew what to do.
She thought of everything that had happened. She thought of the pain in her father's eyes and the tears on her mother's voice. Mina just wanted it all to go away, she wanted this pretend-mother to go away, she wanted to go to school and beat up the mean boys. Her mouth opened almost without her knowledge and notes poured from her throat, notes engorged with all the wanting and all the pain Mina was feeling.
The mob stuttered in its movement.
Mina's biological mother's song lifted higher. To Mina, it sounded evil in purpose and desire. To unseat its command, Mina unconsciously did the right thing. She sang of pure emotions. Running through her mind were all the memories she had of her family. Her daddy's smile and laugh, the proud look in her mommy's eyes when she tied her own shoelaces, the sweet taste of ice cream at the park, all these senses poured into her song.
Her biological mother's voice broke with her spell and she fell to the ground unconscious. The mob stopped moving. Each individual stood and shook their heads as if to clear them. They began to laugh at the little child standing in front of them singing, and then they got a good look at the three standing behind her by the wall and took off running into the woods.
Mina stopped singing with a smile. It had worked and her head was ringing and her heart was singing with pride and joy. It felt as if something had been awaked inside her. She looked back at her father, she was standing about midway between her father and true mother, and waved wildly. Yusuke was jumping up and down for joy, whooping with pride. Keiko was at his side doing almost the same but much more gracefully. Kurama waved at her and even Hiei crossed his arms and gave the girl a rare grin.
The joy was short lived. As Mina twirled around under the sky happily, someone barreled into her, immediately knocking her unconscious, and hurtled himself and the girl into the thick woods.
Yusuke roared in rage and Hiei took off after the intruder. He, of course, caught up to the kidnapper, but the assailant ducked quickly under his reaching grasp and turned swiftly, firing a powerful attack into Hiei's unprotected back. The koorime was propelled into a tree trunk, stunning him just long enough for the kidnapper to escape into the woods.
Mina was gone.
Not the end, still a few more chapters left. Let me know if you liked this one! I'll update faster if you do!