The Blood Red Rose

Chapter Eight: Interlude

It was safe to say that the strangest group of teenagers was traveling through the most normal and sane neighborhood of the city. It was also sufficed to say that when that family moved in with a certain red headed child, the quaint, peace loving street of identical houses was turned upside down. Fourteen years ago was when the Minamino household, now Hatanka-Minamino, moved in. The inhabitants of the neighborhood had seen things that made them question the laws of science.

Mrs. Kyobaki, an avid gardener and local florist shop owner, had witnessed the blooming of flowers within minutes. Not only that, but it was during the incorrect seasons. She saw roses blooming all year long. They even changed colors monthly, but red was the predominant color. She scoffed at the innocence of Shiori's answers.

"What can I say? Shuichi has a green thumb." The sweetness of that woman's tone and smile made Mrs. Kyobaki nauseous. And there was one dreadful mistake with that answer. This occurred when the boy was only three.

But the local flower shop owner wasn't the only who noticed strange happenings. Mr. Hiroshi, a retired war veteran and model plane builder, spent many a hour in the sanctity of his yard. Every so often, the elderly man, who was oddly tall for his age, would peak over the hedges and noticed a mysterious dark figure climb atop tree branches nimbly and enter a window in the Hatanaka-Minamino household. He brought it up several times at the neighborhood watch committee and with Mrs. Minamino herself. He would receive the same answer each time.

"Oh, Mr. Hiroshi, you must be imagining things. There is no one breaking into our house. Trust me, we would know." The naivety of that woman disgusted him

These two neighbors, along with many others, thought they had seen everything, until now. An odd shriek pierced through the quiet atmosphere, forcing many of the suspicious inhabitants to rush out of their houses. Then they witnessed the strangest looking people exit the supposed 'paranormal' house. First was a teen in a green school uniform. A tough aura emitted from, clearly saying 'don't mess with or you'll be sorry.' An obvious future criminal this one. Next was a gangly looking teen with orange hair in an identical looking uniform except blue. He made some sort of rude comment that drew glares from the following person, who definitely had to be a convict: a short, spiky haired boy with red eyes and a scowl. He wore all black, something frowned upon in this neighborhood. Mr. Hiroshi quickly told others that this was the intruder.

After a quick tense moment, which the neighbors were sure would erupt in a fight, a girl exited the house. Her appearance created animosity from the bystanders. She had blue hair! Blue! Her eyes were pink as well. There had to be something wrong with the up bringing of this girl, especially since she was in the company of only males. Suspicious murmurs escaped the lips of the neighbors.

Finally, their number one suspect made his appearance known: Shuichi Minamino, a red headed youth with eyes that have seen the twice over. When he gazed at any one of the bystanders, a shudder ran up and down their spine. Although, the neighbors snorted at the reputation he had created for himself. A plus student...top of his class...responsible...

With his charms and good looks, he had seduced all the teenage girls in the area. He always denied it. This was just another bad mark against him. And that hair?! How dare his mother let him keep it that long! It was mid back already. What kind of rebellious child was Shiori raising?

In short, young Shuichi and his group of ill meaning friends were branded as the neighborhood plague.


"What the hell is up with them?" asked Yusuke rudely, jabbing his thumb towards the group of conversing people. They were already almost out of the neighborhood by this time.

Kurama sighed. "Ignore them. They have some sort of vendetta against me."

Kuwabara's brow raised a fraction away from his hair line. "You? The perfect child? You've got to be kidding."

"Try telling them that," the red head replied.

Hiei growled suddenly. They looked at him warily.

"Well?" asked Botan tentatively.

"I don't like what that old man is insinuating," replied the fire demon, gripping his sword.

Kurama found the source of his glare. "Ah, you mean Mr. Hiroshi? He is a strange one. I suppose war really does affect the mind."

"Wait till he sees what we've been through. Then you can talk about messed up," snorted Yusuke, arms behind his head.

"Well, you won't have to worry about him for much longer," said Botan vaguely.

Yusuke chuckled. "Make sure you muster up your most pathetic look for the funeral, Crazy."

"Crazy?" asked Kurama sharply, turning his neck abruptly to stare at him.

"Yup, my nickname for you."

Kuwabara shook his head. "You got some sort of sick death wish, Urameshi?"

Kurama made a choking motion with his hands following his a frustrated grown. He was itching to reach into the nape of his neck and pull out a 'lovely' plant. Botan quickly stepped in, preventing an oncoming fight.

"Funny, you usually do this for dumb and dumber," commented Hiei, referring to Yusuke and Kuwabara respectively. Sadly, neither of them caught on.

The ferry girl chuckled weakly. "Uh, guys, focus. We have a situation at hand." She stepped back.

"Right," said Yusuke, narrowly missing a punch thrown from the most calm and collective member of the group. He smiled cheekily.

"Remember the plan?" asked Botan.

The other four nodded grudgingly.

"I got Rando," said Kuwabara, punching his fist into his palm.

"Suzaku's gonna wish he died the first time I beat him up," said Yusuke, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"Karasu will beg for death when I find him," said Kurama darkly. The gleam in his eyes went out.

The others, minus Hiei, physically stepped away from him. The fire demon was enjoying the company of this much more evil and cruel red head.

"Hn, I have the brains of this operation," said Hiei, smirking.

"And I'll be heading to Spirit World with the potion. Good luck guys. Be safe, and don't blow the city up," said Botan, giving each a critical look.

Yusuke mustered up the puppy dog look he usually gives to Keiko and said, "When have we ever misbehaved?"

The ferry girl rolled her eyes and the five friends split paths.


Kuwabara found himself traveling to Genkai's temple alone. The elderly psychic was supposed to be Rando's hundredth victim. It was safe to assume that he wanted to finish when he had started that fateful day. He brushed away the low hanging branches in his way. A shudder ran up his spine as usual since she had entered the woman's property, which also housed an entire forest belonging to demons.

The density of the forest itself was very thick, but it lessened as the orange haired teen found the cobble stone path that led to the unbelievably long flight of stairs. The stone steps were worn with time and the amount of people that had traveled on them. Crumb sized pieces fell off with each step he took. Wiping the sweat from his brow, another shudder seized his body. This time was much more violent.

Kuwabara immediately tensed. He clenched his fists, rooted to the spot. His eyes roamed the area, searching for the source of his discomfort. In a matter of seconds, he found it. He stared into the eyes of a born killed that was standing at the top of the stairs moments before. The demon was now calmly walking down the steps. Long, bushy red hair and a tattooed face and torso...He found Rando.

"Hey, Rando!" yelled Kuwabara. "I'm going to kick you ass for last time!" He extended his hand and a brilliant surge of light engulfed it, revealing his Spirit Sword.

But Rando stared on. No expression flickered across his face. It unnerved the orange haired teen. He knew for a fact Rando was not the emotionless type.

Suddenly, the demon entered into a fighting stance and the human fighter charged. Rando dodged the initial strike, but a less harmful cut grazed his arm. Kuwabara roared and swung at his side. Again, he missed. This time Kuwabara almost lost his footing. Taking advantage of this moment, Rando skillfully flew into the air and came down with his foot forward with every intention of kicking the human in the face. Luckily, Kuwabara made a split second decision and placed his sword horizontally in the air, blocking the attack. Once it made contact, Rando exploded back from the shower of energy. He landed at the top of the stairs.

Kuwabara raced to the top and saw a sight that made his blood boil. Rando stood, smirking, his arm wrapped around Yukina's waist. His other was around her neck. His claws pointed into her flesh.

"How dare you?! You bastard! Dragging a girl into this..."

Yukina's normal ruby colored eyes glowed an icy blue. A faint aura of that similar color surrounded her tiny frame. The air around them became extremely col. Rando, who was shirtless, was feeling the full effects of this. He shoved the ice apparition into Kuwabara's arms. Then, he fell forward. Behind him stood Genkai, smirking triumphantly.

"And that's what you get for even thinking about killing me."

Kuwabara's face dropped. "B-b-but, I wanted to take him down."

"Oh, Kazuma, at least we're all safe," said the ice maiden sweetly, still in his arms.

The orange haired teen looked down, turning red. Clearing his throat, he said, "Yes, we must be thankful for that." Then, he barely managed to stop himself from groaning when she extracted herself from his arms.

"Explain now buffoon. The psychotic killer here was supposed to be locked away for the rest of his life," said Genkai gruffly. The psycho killer stirred on the ground, but a swift kick from the elderly woman remedied that.

Kuwabara drew in a deep breath and launched the details of their new mission. By the time he was finished, Genkai had tied Rando up with a few sutras on the ropes that constricted his demonic powers. Yukina also kept the air around him at frigid temperature to hinder his strength.

Rando opened his eyes finally, but he stared blankly at the trio. Genkai narrowed her eyes. In the blink of an eye, she smacked the captive and something curious popped out his ear. It was a centipede like demon that struggled to move on its back.

Genkai scowled, stepping on it. "A parasite. It's used mainly for mind control on lesser demons."

"Hey! W-who are you c-c-calling 'lesser?'" You-re j-just an old -h-hag!" yelled Rando, shivering in the cold. Then a string of curses erupted from his mouth upon realizing his predicament. Although, he was quickly silenced by Kuwabara who said something like 'it's rude to talk like that in front of a lady.'

"L-l-lady? W-what l-l-lady? All I see is an old bitch and a meddlesome popsicle!"

Kuwabara growled, but it was Yukina who beat him to the punch, literally. She smacked Rando across the face, a technique she must have picked up from Keiko, and made the air around him much colder. The other two humans stared at her in shock.

"Don't speak to Master Genkai like that," said Yukina calmly.

"Well, looks like I've been rubbing off on you," said Genkai, recovering from her stupor. Kuwabara, on the other hand, was still staring at the sweet ice maiden with new found recognition.

"Save your energy, my sweet. He doesn't deserve it," snorted Kuwabara. He turned towards Rando. "Explain."

Rando turned his face away. "A-and w-what if I d-d-don't want t-t-to?"

Genkai stared into his eyes. "Well, then you'll find out what powers you missed out on by losing to the Dimwit."

"You m-mean the S-s-spirit D-detective?"

The woman nodded.

"N-n-no."

Both Kuwabara and Yukina turned away while Genkai was 'persuading' him to talk. It was hard to block out all the threats and shouts, along with who was yelling what. A flock of birds erupted into the sky from the forest. Kuwabara and Yukina were attempting to have a mild conversation, but were failing miserably.

Once the yelling ceased, they turned around to see a bruised and battered Rando. If he wasn't evil, Kuwabara would feel a little sorry for him. The demon was wheezing and cursing the old woman with any breath left. Yukina, feeling very remorseful, stopped the cold air from circulating around him.

"He'll talk," she said.

"Uh, right," replied Kuwabara. "So, tell me everything that happened on the day you broke out."

Rando looked at the teen. His bruised eye was closed, creating a slightly humorous effect. He sighed audibly. "I was sitting in my cell, planning my revenge as usual. Then, a weird portal opened up and this old man came out. He-"

"What was his name?" interrupted Genkai.

"Uh...Sa...no...Sakiji...yeah, that was it. His name was Sakiji. Anyway, behind him was the leader of the Four Saint Beasts. He told me that I could fulfill my revenge if I carried out a task for him at first." Rando snorted. "Like that would ever happened. Me and Suzaku were thinking the same thing. Then, we went on a little trip to hell where he bottled this spirit."

"I don't know where he took us after that since we were using portals to travel, but he ripped open this sheet, and he had a dead body underneath it. It was gruesome, even for me. He had taken different body parts from various demons and he created this thing. We thought he was going to use to add another part to it. But he didn't. Instead, he pushed the spirit into the body and told Suzaku to use his lightening to resurrect it."

Rando shook his head, but continued. "He refused and shoved this centipede thing into him, and he obeyed. After it was hit by electricity, the body literally transformed into this pale, dark haired demon. He grabbed this metallic mask from the adjoining table and pulled it on. For a week, we lived with him. All three of us, well more like two since Suzaku was like a zombie, were connected in the way that we each wanted revenge against Yusuke Urameshi and his friends. Sakiji wanted to kill them, too. Why? I don't know. Karasu was the name of the resurrected demon, by the way. He rebelled, obviously having his own plans of revenge. He escaped, but before I could follow, a centipede insect was put inside of me and everything went black, until now."

"So...this Sakiji broke all three of you out, resurrect a dead guy, and created an illegal portal machine just to kill us?" asked Kuwabara.

Rando nodded.

"But what was his reasoning?" asked Yukina.

"Isn't it obvious? Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei are the strongest fighters here in human world. They won the Dark Tournament. By getting rid of them, this Sakiji would then be the strongest and receive fame and recognition beyond his imagination. But, he would also be the target for many other demons vying for power. That's were the three convicts come in. They would be his bodyguards and do his dirty work," explained Genkai.

"Um, how did you know all that?" asked Kuwabara.

"If you've been fighting demons for as long as I have, you start to think like them. Besides, all demons have a one track mind anyway," replied the pink haired woman.

"Right, so what should we do about him?" asked the orange haired teen, talking about their captured victim as if he weren't there.

"You could always release me for talking," he suggested.

"No!" they yelled.

"I'll call Botan and have her come over," said Genkai.

"Hey, make sure you tell her that I caught Rando!" exclaimed Kuwabara.

The old woman rolled her eyes.


While Kuwabara was finished with his part of the mission, Yusuke had hardly begun his. He was very easily distracted. He had stopped by at the arcade for a bit, then he had hit the pachinko parlor. All in all, it was a completely normal day for him, other than the fact that he was supposed to be looking for a highly dangerous convict.

He slung a bag of prizes from the parlor as he whistled down the street. He turned at the corner, not interested in waiting for the stop light to turn. Besides, he had died once from being hit by a car. He didn't want to push his luck.

His merry tune ceased slowly and eyes widened as he realized who was in front of him in broad daylight. He pressed himself against the wall and though wildly, Suzaku?! In broad daylight? He snorted. Even I'm not that stupid. Hell, not even Kuwabara would do that.

Yusuke lowered his bag to the ground and emerged from his spot. Suzaku was indeed right in front of him. He didn't wear the same clothes as the last time they fought. It looked like he was trying to blend in with the humans. His hair was still strange: blond and spiky with two strands dipped in red. Yusuke remembered that those strands were used for his aim. He was definitely going to exploit this weakness again.

Something rustled behind him. He turned and it was just some kid trying to sneak away with his bag. He shooed the boy away and turned back around to face Suzaku.

"Yo moron! Lo-" the young detective cut himself off. The rogue demon was not standing there anymore. Instead it was...

"Yusuke! What did you just call me?!" shrieked a very familiar voice.

"K-k-keiko," squeaked Yusuke. Yes, Yusuke Urameshi, the punk of Sarayashiki, just squeaked in fear at the sight in front of him. "I-it's not what it seems. I-I swear."

The young woman stalked toward him. The wind whipped across her face as her eyes narrowed into dangerous daggars. Her brown hair was wild and uncontrollable, reflecting the current mood she was in. She cracked her fists as a wicked smile slowly etched across her face.

"Not what it seems? Well, please explain, Yusuke. I am so looking forward to it."


CrazyDreamerGirl: I am sooooo sorry for the lack of update for such a long time. Please forgive me. This chapter takes place while Maya stole the video tape and is about to watch it. Also, it's more of a filler chapter to give info about the plot and explain some things. I don't know when the next update will be because I am very busy with school work. I'm hoping to get it out by the end of October or by mid November. Oh, and hopefully I got the names right this chapter. Sorry for the confusion that caused.

Thank you DarkRavie, LoveAnime18, MoonlitSorrow, Arthuria, Cupcake-Cult, hawkman714, Dark ring of hope, Proxima Shining, Vaxl, Shizuka Sen, Dragoon-Yue (x2), sunnyplace123, and UchihaHyugaGlow for reviewing.