NOTE: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. If I did, I would be putting this story in the anime/manga, not here, no? I do however, own any characters that are not in the anime/manga, whose names are too numerous for me to bother listing right now.
Thanks to everyone who has continued to read this series, and more thanks to everyone who has reviewed.
I shivered as the cool mist enveloped my body, making it impossible to tell where I was going. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, much less Shuichi and the insect demon. I quickly got lost due to the forests ability to remove my sense of perception, but I kept moving anyway.
After minutes of wandering aimlessly, I ran into something. It grabbed me, so I guessed that it was a person. I only came up to the person's chest, so it couldn't be Shuichi. I was almost as tall as Shuichi. That meant unidentified being had to be the insect demon.
So there we stood, immobile, until the fog cleared enough for us to see one another. I looked up to see a man with long silver tresses and narrow amber eyes that gleamed coldly, even though there was no sunlight. Silver fox ears stuck out of his silvery locks. He wore a white toga-like garment.
I furrowed my brow. This was not Shuichi, but it most certainly wasn't the insect demon, either. Maybe he's an accomplice of the insect demon? I considered. I don't know how many people are actually in the clearing, only how many spoke. I bit my lip and tried hard to control my shaking, caused by the cold and terror.
The fox demon's features flickered slightly between surprise and anger, and then finally decided to pull into a slight smile. "Asuka. I thought I told you not to follow me," he commented. "But I can't say that I'm not glad to see you again."
I struggled to pull away, but the kitsune's grip was too tight. "Who…are…you…?" I said as I fought.
"You don't remember me? I'm hurt." He was smirking sarcastically, but I saw real pain behind the glint. "Asuka, one would think that you, of all people, would remember the thief Yoko."
"You must be mistaken. I'm not Asuka; my name is Riku."
"So Shuichi's Riku is really Asuka," the one called Yoko mused.
"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong girl!" I tried once again to break away from his grip, but it was a forlorn hope. "Where is Shuichi?" I asked after giving up at last.
"Shuichi is here with me just like you are here with Riku," he replied.
"What? I am Riku! Where is Shuichi?"
"Look at yourself, child," he said, finally releasing his death grip on me.
Looking down at myself, I gasped. Instead of my pajamas that I had been wearing, I wore a sleeveless red Japanese-style dress with a slit up to my thigh. Black pants and a long-sleeved shirt were under the dress. My short brown hair had turned red with black tips, and now fell to my waist.
The kitsune reached down and petted my ears, which twitched.
Wait, twitched? I reached up and felt fox ears atop my head. I looked behind me and saw a black tail with a red tip. I assumed that my new ears matched the tail. "H-how did this happen?" I asked weakly.
Yoko stared at me for a long moment. "You really don't remember anything, do you?"
I shook my head, still utterly confused.
He sighed and opened his mouth to explain, but we were interrupted by the voice that I had heard from behind the bushes.
"Who is this, Yoko? A friend come to rescue you?" A felt a hand touch my shoulder.
Immediately defensive, my body reacted by engulfing the creature in flames for a short period of time. Not enough to kill him, but enough to render him unconscious.
Yoko stared at the demon, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "I'm glad you didn't do that to me," he commented. "I guess you did remember me after all, it's just buried in your subconscious." He hoisted the insect demon over his shoulder. "I guess we can hand this fool over to the detective; this was his job, anyway." The fox demon began to walk away to leave me alone in the fog unless I followed him.
Looking around, I realized the fog had cleared up quite a bit, and I could now see up to five feet in front of me. Although I didn't quite trust Yoko, following him was better than getting lost in this vague forest. Surprisingly, he led me back to Yusuke and Hiei after all.
"Whoa," said a surprised Yusuke as we exited the clearing. "Is that Riku?"
"In a sense," replied Yoko before I could respond. He dropped the insect demon at Yusuke's feet. "Here. We got him for you. Don't worry, he's still alive."
"Not bad. You knew her?" His question was directed at Yoko.
"Yes, but apparently she doesn't remember anything. A pity, really."
Suddenly, Shuichi was standing where Yoko had been.
"Shuichi!" I exclaimed, grateful for the return of my new best friend.
He smiled at me. "Let's get out of this forest so we won't be in too much danger," he said.
We all agreed and began walking the way we had come, back toward civilization. Yusuke carried the insect demon.
As we walked, I realized that I was back to normal. If we were out of this forest I probably would have been able to sense the change I told myself.
When we crossed the barrier that separated the normal world from the surreal one, I let out a sigh of relief; it was wonderful to be able to sense and smell things again. I breathed in deeply, allowing all the scents flow into my mind. Kuwabara was glad to see us all still alive.
"You probably have a lot of questions," Shuichi said to me. I nodded. "I do as well. But we will have to wait to get any answers. Let's all go home and take a few minutes to freshen up and give an excuse for our absence, and we'll regroup at my house."
We all concurred and went our separate ways back to our respective neighborhoods. I walked with Yusuke, as was becoming habit. He still carried the insect apparition.
"Thank for walking me home every day," I said gratefully.
"I'm not 'walking you home.' It's just that our houses are in the same direction, so I might as well walk with you. It'll keep you from getting mugged or anything."
"Well, thanks anyway."
When we got to my house, we stopped. Thankfully, all the lights were still out, meaning that my mother was still asleep.
"How are you gonna get in?" Yusuke asked.
"See that open window on the second story?"
"Yeah."
"That's my room." I approached the house and leapt onto the window ledge for the window below my room, then jumped and pulled myself safely inside my bedroom.
"Bye, Yusuke. See ya later," I called softly.
"Show off vixen," he mumbled to himself as he walked away to deliver the insect apparition to Koenma.
