genkai iii

"You guys really didn't have to come," Rei said for the tenth time as she paused mid-step. She crossed her arms and turned around, looking down the endless stone steps. Usagi was heaving for breath some hundred steps down while Minako effortlessly jogged around her.

"Come on, Usagi! Just a little bit more!"

"A little bit?" Usagi flailed about. "There are like a thousand left, Mina!"

"Aw, pish posh, it's only like two hundred or so—"

Usagi grabbed onto her fellow blonde, teary-eyed. "Minako," she said hoarsely. She gestured up to where Rei stood checking her watch. The surrounding trees of the forest blanketed her in a cool shadow. "I was not made for this."

"Oh come on," Minako started to say, but she cut herself off once she saw Rei starting to climb up again. "Hey, wait up! Usagi, we can't lose her!"

Usagi wanted to melt into the ground as Minako bounded after Rei. Instead, she mentally cursed her friend for the athletic ability, huffing as she started climbing again. Maybe she should have joined the volleyball team back in high school, too. She paused to adjust her backpack—and paused again when she thought she saw a shadow move in the forest around her.

"Hmm," Usagi said before she shrugged and continued on her way. "Probably just a squirrel."

Rei and Minako both reached the top at the same time. At the top of the steps was a large temple, and standing in front of the temple were Genkai and Grandpa Hino.

"I am not doing it," Rei said immediately at the sight of them, throwing her arms up. "I'm not interested! How many times do I have to—"

Rei flew to the side, just as Genkai lazily fired off a spirit gun at her. The spirit gun exploded into the ground, showering the air with dirt. Genkai didn't even wait to aim another at Rei. This one she barely dodged; it singed her hair.

"Come on, Rei, you can do better than that!" Grandpa Hino cheered. Rei would have snapped at him if it weren't for another blast of energy heading her way.

"Woah," Minako said in awe as Usagi finally made it to the top. She wasn't entirely sure what Genkai was doing; Rei, however, was leaping around like an idiot trying to dodge. That itself was a rare sight. "That granny is super cool."

"I think I'm dead," Usagi groaned, collapsing right on the ground. "I'm totally dead, someone help."

"Get up, Usagi, you gotta see this." Minako grabbed onto Usagi and dragged her up. "I can't see it but I'm betting this is super secret Reikai stuff."

"Blech," Usagi said before she tuned into the scene. She gaped as Genkai struck out at Rei with a fist. Rei avoided the punch, but she didn't counter attack. She continued to dodge Genkai's movements, wondering what the old lady's intention was. Genkai slipped to the ground, swiping at her feet. Rei leapt over her and backed away, hands up in a defensive stance.

Genkai jumped back up, creating distance between the two. Rei, looking as bewildered as Usagi felt, scowled at her grandfather. "What in the world is going on?!"

"A waste of my time," Genkai said. She held a hand up, gathering energy in her fist. Rei, however, felt a chill fill her; the atmosphere had shifted considerably. She adjusted her stance, trying to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. And, just a second too late, she realized that it was Genkai's killing intent.

"What are you—"

Genkai released the spirit gun towards Grandpa Hino. Rei's heart almost stopped as she held both of her hands out.

"Akuryou taisan!"

Minako tackled Usagi to the ground, shielding her from the blast. The two of them clenched their eyes shut, feeling the intensity of Rei's attack roar over their heads. It completely swallowed Genkai's spirit gun whole. This was unlike any of her attacks as Sailor Mars; there was something raw about this fire, something wild. Usagi crawled to her knees, searching through the flames for her friend.

After a moment, the inferno settled into smoke. Genkai watched Rei with a more critical eye; Rei, in turn, had clenched her fists. She didn't seem aware that reiki was slowly building up in her hands. Grandpa Hino simply brushed off his robes. "Rei," he chided, "you got my pants dirty."

"Get out of here, ojiisan. It's dangerous."

"Don't be ridiculous." Grandpa Hino shoved his hands in his pockets, strolling forward. Minako and Usagi both stared as his image started to shift. He grew taller, younger. Minako instinctively shifted in front of Usagi; this 'super cool Reikai stuff' didn't seem so entertaining anymore. "That wasn't even Genkai's strongest."

Rei tried to control herself. At first, she had thought he was an imposter, someone who had taken the form of her grandfather to trick her. But after a quick second, she realized the truth. She could feel the youki contained within him, but underneath it all, she could still sense her grandfather's spirit. Her stomach twisted.

"Can't you reconsider Reikai's offer?"

"You're—" Rei broke off, taking a second to calm down. The more she breathed, however, the angrier she became. "This whole time, you—"

"I am a demon," Akihito said. He jabbed a thumb over in Genkai's direction. "She saved my life, so I owe her a favor, but I can't leave the shrine alone so you're going to have to do it for me."

"Forget it."

"Rei—"

"You lied to me this whole time!" Rei took a step forward, glaring up at her grandfather. He didn't back down.

"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell the truth." He lowered his eyebrows. "Demon or not, I'm still your grandfather."

The words shamed Rei more than she thought they would. She glanced away, her fists clenching. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know you didn't." He rested a hand on her shoulder. The reiki fizzled from her hands as she lowered her eyes. "I have a lot to explain to you. And you have a lot to explain to me. Perhaps if Genkai-chan can make some tea, we could all—"

"Feh," Genkai said, sticking her hands in her robes. "That's what the maid's for."

"Right, Shishi-chan. Anyway," Grandpa Hino said, clapping his hands together, "let's all go inside and chat, shall we? I tell you about my dealings with Reikai, you tell me about the Sailor Senshi, et cetera, et cetera."

Silence. Rei's eyes shot up at her grandfather. Genkai picked at a fingernail. Usagi let out a high-pitched noise.

"Ohmygod he knows," she said. "Minako, Rei's grandpa knows!"

Minako hushed her, shifting into a protective stance. She frowned; she had always had an inkling that maybe Rei's grandfather had known something, but that had been because he was a spiritual man. The idea that they had been around a demon—coupled with the fact that she had overlooked it, endangering Usagi...

"Of course I know," Grandpa Hino said amicably, waving the subject away. "You guys were prancing around right under my roof, I would be an idiot to not know."

"But—but you know," Usagi continued to say, looking bewildered. "Rei, did you know that he knows?"

One look at the consternation on Rei's face clearly said that she did not know that he knew. Minako's frown slowly turned into a pout as she dropped her stance.

"How do you know?!"

"I'm a priest, Usagi-chan, if I didn't know I would be a fraud. Even Genkai knows, and she's only seen Sailor Moon on TV."

"But," Usagi still emphasized. She grabbed onto Minako's shoulders, shaking. "But you're not supposed to know!"

"Aw give it up, Usagi, he knows," Minako bemoaned, accepting defeat.

"But—"

Genkai sighed. Couldn't they have done something without all the friends involved? She turned to Rei.

"I'll be frank, girl, you have a long way to go." Genkai fixed Rei with a decisive stare. Rei blinked slowly, turning to the older woman. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that her grandfather was a demon and knew about the Sailor Senshi. "Don't even think about wasting my time. The way you are, I might as well just be a detective. After all—"

She paused, glancing at the entrance. Someone with a remarkably distinct energy pattern was approaching. Rei thought the energy felt vaguely familiar, Genkai knew who it was, Grandpa Hino had a feeling he knew who it was, and Usagi had absolutely no clue. Minako, unable to feel the reiki but quite able to see everyone's reactions, made sure that Usagi was safely behind her. The silence was broken by footsteps approaching the final steps.

"Hey, obaachan, what's the deal calling me all the way out here for?"

Yuusuke climbed up the last step of the entrance with a cigarette in his mouth. He paused, taking a good look at the occupants of the temple grounds. Then he turned right around and walked back down the steps, muttering under his breath.

"Stupid Botan, stupid Koenma, stupid obaachan—"

"You have that idiot to live up to," Genkai finished heavily, making her way back into the temple. Shishiwakamaru had better have that tea ready.

x

In the canopy above them, Hiei snorted. That little display of power was weak. He scanned for Kurama's location before disappearing from Genkai's temple. Kurama was sitting on his bed, frowning at a vine that was wiggling in a planter.

"Oh, Hiei," he greeted. Hiei slipped in through the window and leaned against the desk.

"Reikai's stupid if they're going to use her as their main line of defense."

"Is that so?" Kurama turned back to the vine. Hiei watched as the vine slowly lengthened. It slinked through the open window. "I assumed you thought they were stupid regardless."

"Hmph."

"I haven't had a chance to test Hotaru's capabilities yet."

"Why are you even bothering?" Hiei asked.

"Maybe I'm a little overprotective of Yuusuke's legacy," Kurama admitted. He held out his hand and the vine retracted back into its planter. At the end, it gripped a small violet pen. Hiei grabbed the pen, turning it over in his hands. It was gaudy. This was the source of their power? Ridiculous.

"You, overprotective?"

Kurama shrugged with a small smile. "Or maybe I'm just bored."

an woop plot mover chapter. yuss i am a little out of my writing game atm ;A;

Boingy: oh gosh, kuwabara and yukina are the cutest thing in the world to me, but i will admit after writing that chapter, kuwaxami has wormed its way into my heart. haha! we'll see if anything comes from it ;) thank you for your review!

Caffeinated Star: thank you for your review! i'm trying not to make this too complicated with plot lines, but hopefully once everyone gets connected it will all make sense. thanks again!

NeoMiniTails: i've seen a little bit of crystal and i love love love love x100008932505 how they portray ami! she and mako are slowly replacing rei and mina in my heart haha. i'm glad you found kuwabara and ami to be interesting! hopefully there's more of that to come. thank you as always for reading!

Sailor Saturn fan: haha i've always wondered how keiko got through the dark tournament if she can't exactly see reiki/youki! anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter (with a little hint of hotaru near the end?! ohohoho)

SmileysBasis2: oh i think mako would fit in so seamlessly with the yyh gang so i'm glad that it felt natural to you! i've got a few platonic kuwaxami scenes planned... or maybe it might not be platonic who knows ;A; thank you for reading! :D

thank you for reading xo