Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho is copyrighted and belongs to its creator, Togashi Yoshihiro.
Author's Note: …What to say, what to say… Well, this story is finally alive again… That, and things are taking a turn from here. Things are going to come out as well as change. Stay tuned and you'll see.
For this chapter, I had to redo my research and homework since I had lost a bit of my information I had saved up in the past. I did some math, too, and I tried to fit this well with both fiction and non-fiction.
Genre: Supernatural, fantasy, humor, horror, and not so much general. It is also an AU, an "alternate Universe" for the setting.
Rating: Undecided at this time.
Dark: Yeah, that is pretty messed up. I know it would mess me up for sure, especially if I knew that.
Ev: Oh. Thank you for the tips. I'll eventually check into it. Right now, we have bad lightning storms and I really want to post this something fast. And you are right, Kazuma would have a bitch-fit if Ref ever told him that…which he probably will. And don't worry, Master Gong is one of the good guys. I think you will see some of that in this chapter, even if it is just a little.
And thanks goes to you both for your comments and reviews! They help so much!
ALL THAT'S SAID IS DONE
Later that day, around nine in the morning…
Koenma, Kurama and the girls had gathered together into the dining room. Kuwabara was still more than likely sleeping, and as promised, where he went, Ref would be. As for Master Gong, though, no one had seen him since last night's encounter.
The kitchen was quite large in size and contained all sorts of interesting edibles, to which some the others would not even dare touch let alone eat of it, and beyond those wooden doors was the designated area for eating.
Kurama decided to be the one to cook this time around, rummaging through the fridge and any container that may be used to pass suitable for eating as a breakfast.
"My god, this place is filthy." Keiko commented to no one in particular. She had yet to have a tour of this massive place, but already she could see how untidy it was. There was a month of dishes in the sink that had to have been at least week old in the kitchen and there were articles of clothing and random objects like empty food cartons scattered everywhere "The old man's worse than Yusuke is. He's a pig."
Hearing that name had caught the Prince of Reikai's attention, who right away looked up from his portable computer.
"Oh, speaking of which…!" He spoke up, addressing the question particularly at her. "Has anyone seen hide or hair of Yusuke yet?"
Keiko simply bit her bottom lip and could barely shake her head "No".
"Well, that's not good." He said with a sigh, having dreaded that answer. "The world knows Kuwabara can't do this alone. We could really use his help. I tell you, we are not one step closer to solving the mystery as of who could be The Chosen One. We're losing valuable time."
Upon having to listen to him speak, something flipped a switch in Shizuru's head. More than likely, someone pressed the wrong button located inside of her brain… Because in a matter of seconds, her face contorted from being calm to seething rage.
The Prince's eyes widened as he watched the woman then stomp her way over towards him, feeling him with fear. He quickly cringed backwards in a matter of seconds, which almost caused him to fall right out of his chair. He caught himself the first time, but that was before she had reached the table and slammed her hands upon the top of the hard wood. He lost his balance and the chair quickly fell backwards.
Botan and Yukina stared in shock, while Kurama ran in from the kitchen to see what was all the commotion.
Meanwhile, Koenma had placed a shaky hand upon his chest, gripping the very fabric that clothed him. His heart rate was beating ninety miles to nothing. If it was feasible, he could have had a heart attack right on the spot. She was a scary woman.
Shizuru glared at him long and hard, not once taking her eyes off of him as she watched him flinch and twitch.
"What were you thinking, you dip-shit…" She uttered lowly beneath her breath, speaking between her clenched teeth, and mustering as much rancor in her tone of voice just for him. "…When you got my brother into this mess?" She drawled on the two last letters in that inquiry like a hiss.
"Shizuru…" Botan started, but discontinued to say anything further. She became rather hesitant to say anything else after that, fearing that she may choose the wrong use of words in a wrong way.
"Answer me, you bastard!" She persisted, ignoring her friend. She went further over, gathering up enough gall to pick him up and forced him to stand upon his feet, holding him by the collar of his princely robes. "My little brother almost got killed out there!"
Koenma stared back at her, his eyes shaking and his body all tensed up.
The others silently observed with intent, now having the same question in mind as she did and wondered how he was exactly going to answer it.
Sighing in defeat, the Prince then calmly answered; "You're right, we should not have gotten him involved… This is beyond him."
He paused as he turned to gaze upon everyone else. As he thought, all eyes were now upon him now. Even Hiei was there now, listening in to all he had to say. The fire youkai must have came in through the window.
Koenma continued; "It's not a fight… This is a war between the gods. Not between humans and demons. This is all on an entirely different molecular level, a more complex and dire circumstance than any of you have ever dealt with. In fact, this conflict between the gods has been going on for eons, more than a millennia." He turned back to the brown haired girl. "But I didn't hire him. My father did." He then narrowed his eyes at her as he added; "And don't ask me what he was thinking because he never lets me in on any of his decisions."
After careful inspection to see if the demi-god was telling the truth, Shizuru finally let go up him. He instantly felt some relief now that the detective's sibling had withdrawn from him, but not so much since he knew that the grilling was far from being over.
"Yusuke should be here." Botan stated unconsciously.
"Yusuke is an immature fool." Hiei asserted, his tone like cold steel. "He believes that the oaf betrayed him when he had left." He scoffed. "Not to mention that he's finally letting the fact that he's a demon get to his head. Not that I care. But if he wishes to ruin his happy little life and become a miserable anthrobot, by all means let him. It does not concern me."
"Anthrobot?" Botan repeated, astonished that he had used such a word. "Wow! You have learned a lot from the human world, after all."
Hiei glared daggers at her for that remark. The blue haired fairy gulped and scooted away in return, while Yukina and Kurama sweat dropped from the display.
"What he's saying is that Yusuke has been a bit of a brat these days," Kurama tried to enlighten, providing an extra quiet "god help him" in the midst of the sentence. "…with him coming back and forth from demon world."
"So, technically, he's having the post demon jitters?" Koenma posed with uncertainly.
In truth, he found it to all be utterly ridiculous. For one, Yusuke did not pose a threat at all to the people whom he had claimed to love, unlike some rare cases where half-breeds actually do. His healthy mentality was completely intact and his personality was still practically there. There were no symptoms of random changes, nothing he could not control; like the sudden urge to spill blood or blood lust. If anything, he had developed a more extreme case of lazy-itis.
"Mmmyes, precisely… If you'd like to define it as that." The redheaded fox replied.
The Prince of Reikai groaned. "Dammit, Yusuke. You're supposed to be the hero of this story."
"Maybe he's the one yer lookin' for." Came a low and morose voice. It was as light as a feather, yet hoarse and brooding in tone. "Shockingly, he ends up being everything…so why not that, too?"
Everyone turned their attention towards the kitchen doors, wondering who it was since the voice was barely recognizable.
There stood a figure of an effeminate man with haunting hooded eyes, ones that could reach into the pits of your soul. At first they almost thought it was a woman that they were looking at, with the long and beautiful flowing curly hair and the pairs of lovely limbs and extremities, but the flat chest, chiseled abs, and the lump of his unmentionables between his legs were a definite give away. He was only wearing a pair of red boxer-briefs, which his strong and full legs and tail-gate filled up quite nicely.
Their cheeks flushed as though they have never seen a half-naked man before.
Kieko turned to ask Botan in a whisper; "Who's the pretty boy and why does he appear to have hips?"
It took a moment to decipher who it was before it had finally clicked, though only on the ones who had seen this "beautiful stranger" last night. As if the color of his hair didn't give away any hints.
"Oi!" Koenma yawped, thumping the side of his head as the realization came back to him. "Hey, Kuwabara! I'm so glad to see that you're now up and at'em!"
Yukina and Keiko's eyes grew to the size of saucers, astounded and baffled by their old friend's drastic transformation. It had been years since they had last seen him, but not so long that the years that had passed could give a credit to causing such a dynamic change in appearance. In fact, he should not even look like this at all, less he had undergone a vast amount of severe surgeries.
Of course, the latter was Keiko's logical answer to this.
"That's Kazuma?" Keiko exclaimed. "There's no way that could be him!"
Kazuma then bore a petulant expression, narrowing his eyes at them in a solemn fashion, and folded his arms over his chest. He did not look happy to see them, and that hooded appearance upon his face made him appear to be all the more menacing. He had been standing there for quite some time now, long enough to hear the conversion that they had been having.
The others jumped back, including Hiei.
"Yeah.. Yeah.." Was Kuwabara's response to Koenma's statement, not really in the mood for any of this. "I woke up to this guy right here looming over me." He jabbed his them towards the left of him, to which then Ref appeared, coming right out through the wall. "Startled the crap outta me."
The others jumped back yet again, not expecting someone to pass through a wall like that. It honestly startled the crap out of them, not to mention that the Dark Prince appeared…well, sinister and unsettling. And that medium-sized tupelo cigar hanging between the right corner of his lips did not help his image much.
There was a long pause of silence as they anticipated as to what would happen next, now completely on guard.
The Prince of Hell gave them all a mean and foreboding stare. He appeared as though a beast on the hunt, in search for his next pray. His red eyes shined like tips of red-hot metal pokers, and his face was also overcastted, as dark as the night.
When tensions were finally high enough, he pronounced faintly a word with one syllable; "Boo."
They all shrieked, and once again Koenma fell backwards onto his hindquarters.
"Yeah, that was my response, but apparently neither of you heard me." Their orange haired friend commented, recalling the moment when the god of the demons woke him up. The man had been practically hovering over him, his face right in his own, his expression so grimly severe one moment and then terrifyingly happy the next.
The girls were still squealing and fidgeting in fear.
Reficul then guffawed, his laugh a mix between that of something diabolical and a psychopath. He was, more or less, amused by their reactions.
Kazuma side-stepped a bit, only to find it to be futile as Ref filled the gap in between them again. His eyes bulged for a few seconds, he became nervous all over again as the demon stared him down. He was giving him that look again, the one when the Dark Prince had finally introduced himself, only this one was more placid.
However, after deciding to brush it all aside, Kazuma turned his attention back to the cluster that was now across the room from him.
"Anyway," He began, addressing them with deadly amounts of seriousness. His tone of voice possessed a certain harshness that can only be compared to that of a meat grinder at a slaughterhouse, and they were the meat. "Why are you here? And why are the girls here, too?"
The immediate danger was rolling right off of the male psychic, along with the hurt and hostility upon seeing them here. In truth, he had not forgiven them and he did not want them to be here for various reasons.
A prolonged moment of silence had passed, not a peep was made as they all stared back at him in astonishment. Since when did Kuwabara could come off sounding so cruel? Their shocked expressions soon gave away into guilt, somehow feeling responsible for their friend's change. He was no longer the person who they once knew. For one, he was not the idiotic lug they had thought he was.
No one ever said that it would be easy to make amends, though before they came here they honestly thought it would be. Shizuru gazed at him as though she was now mourning, having been the one to know better than to believe that.
"Kazuma--" She tried to speak.
"No… You shouldn't be here…" He interjected, vehemently drawing out his words with venom. "It's too dangerous and had I started over…" He was becoming all the more resentful by the minute towards them. It was though he was about to curse them with a terrible plague, his unique eyes now blazing.
Ref watched him for a moment longer, his protective instinct suddenly kicking in as he then turned his head and sent them all a frightening look of warning.
"Kuwabara." Koenma spoke up, knowing that his friend was usually not like this. He was a good person deep down, but right now he was being much of an ass.
"No!" The detective roared, sending the demi-god aback. "All my life…" He continued in a harsh whisper at first, but as seconds passed, step by step his voice grew to be louder and more inhuman as he expressed himself. "I spent half my life so far trying to catch up to all of you guys, I tried so hard to fit in… And in the end, all I got for it was a large and pointy foot up my ass, riddled with thorns! You think now you can just reenter into my life and pretend that it's all hunky-dory… Well, you're WRONG!"
The room unexpectedly shuttered violently as it rumbled. A strong gust of wind pushed the frightened crowd backwards, almost sending them into the wall behind them. And at that same time, some of the more fragile objects in the room shattered into pieces.
Kazuma stared at them for a moment, fear now filling up his eyes, though the anger was still present. He did not know how it had happened, but he had enough sense to know where that leap of energy had came from. Something was stirring up inside of him, his psychic powers were going out of control again. And he might have been on the edge, but he did not mean for any of that to happen.
Upset with himself now, he quickly marched out of the dinning room and straight through the kitchen.
The Prince of Hell disappeared through the wall after him. And though his presence was no longer amongst the troubled yet befuddled crowd, they heard his voice in that very room. "If you further continue to agitate him, I will bring you into a world of pain and suffering that which nothing can save you from." He clearly warned, though his voice was but a hissing breath.
The others stared at each other, deciding that it was to be mindful to the dark god's words. Reckoning with this terrible force would surely be going places where even the angels dare not to tread.
"Good grief, his psychic powers have suddenly increased!" Koenma exclaimed as he brushed himself off. "What's next?"
No one answered, but they all agreed that this was far from what they had ever expected.
Yukina, Kieko, and Botan no longer felt comfortable to be here anymore. Keiko more so than the other two, dealing with letting Yusuke fight was one thing, but this was just too much. From her perspective, her friend had turned into a monster. Tears brimmed her eyes.
"Guys, I don't…" She spoke up, quivering as much as her voice. "…think I should be here anymore.."
They all looked at her, not knowing what to say. Hiei did not look to be really impressed with her, but the others understood at what she was getting at.
"The boy has come a long and winding path of change." Came another voice seconds later, only this time it came from neither Kazuma or Narakumaru.
Of course, they were startled, being that this day had started out not so well… And everyone but Hiei jumped when they looked to see who it was. It was none other than Master Gong, but he appeared right beside them, almost as though he had came out of thin air.
"Hey! That's my trick!" Koenma yelled, now all groused up and feeling irritable.
The bizarre Martial Arts Master sipped upon a glass of sake and continued; "He came to me carrying a heavy sack of burden, and inside he was overwhelmed with incredible pain." He paused for a moment, making sure that they were listening closely. "I was sure that in the end, he would eventually break and fall apart. But he proved to be too stubborn. He just wouldn't give up, caught up in his self-made delusions of the promises he made to overcome. He just refused to give in, wanting to be the victor in this fight within himself, just like he wanted to win at life. He pushed himself beyond limit."
"I…see…" The reaper uttered, taking it all in with the rest of her friends.
"He's like that, though, if you know him well. Giving up is just not his motto, success is." He informed with a smile. "You won't believe how much he's done for that city…nursing it as though a mother with her offspring or a surrogate who takes in an unwanted child. He was on his way to reaching his prime, the duckling who grew up to be a swan. And now his world seems to be crashing down all around him, with him bleed upon the stage."
He took another sip of the clear rice elixir from his glass, smacking his lips to the taste of the heated beverage.
"Another dream has died and the people whom he came to care for within it." He told them. "So, think about that before you go and judge him. Yes?" And with having said that, he walks out on them, humming away as he goes.
They watched him as he disappeared, which upon then he began to sing in Chinese. Quite terribly, too.
"Well, I just feel awful now." Botan commented moments later.
"Yes," Kurama agreed, his regret seeping through his voice. "Who would have known that we had created such a mark upon our friend. It is to no wonder as to why he's not pleased upon seeing any of us. We should have rectified this from the start."
The ice koorime looked up at her husband as she tugged upon his shirt, her crimson eyes filled with sorrow. "Do you…think we've lost him, Kurama?" She inquired, being one of the few that had been affected by this misfortune the most.
"I'm not sure, Yukina." He answered candidly. "But I hope not."
"Me, too." She confessed, then immediately wrapped her arms around him and buried her face upon his torso. From there, she allowed the tears to fall freely, and some that had escaped from being caught by the fabric had turned into milky-white pearls.
Kurama held her close to him. It was all that he could do right now.
The other women fallowed her example, crying to themselves as they huddled close together onto Shizuru for support.
Hiei and Koenma said nothing.
By that time, they had all pretty much lost their apatite and breakfast was eventually discarded away.
*
Kazuma ran and ran as far and fast as his legs could carry him, over the man-made pond's bridge and into the woods that was at least a half a mile away from the shrine. He did not care about where he was going and right now he could care less about the fact that he was not suitably dressed. He just had to get away, to rethink and to breathe.
He sped like a train about to be derailed off the tracks.
Master Gong's land was that of a valley, his temple sitting upon a large yet lofty and fairly treeless hill. A valley that had a small savanna within it. What trees that were there upon the hill were spread out, standing many yards apart from one another, though most of the trees began to conglomerate in a bit of a distance away from the shrine. The forest itself was filled with all types of trees, from ferns, sakura trees, to ones that produced fruit; like the twisted mulberry tree. And while one side of the land lead to various civilizations, another lead straight to one city that was where the ground finally reached it's end; aka the coastline or beach.
Mount Fuji could be seen in the distance from the temple itself, with it's white snow tops and gentle stream of steaming smoke. Part of Master Gong's land was sitting right on the very edge of the forest that surround such a enormous and pristine mountain.
It was a dazzling view, but the forest itself was perilous and filled with many dangers.
For one, there were indigenous forest creatures; for instance the wolves. And another yet more dangerous inhabitance to consider was that the place was haunted by various types of demons and other apparitions, including the malicious spirits of the dead. The tengu dwelled there, too, which are a more formidable threat and they are anything but friendly. They are more fierce than any breed of wolf or any other creature, coming in all forms and sizes though usually as a dog or a human. They are ancient demons, ever vigilant to remain hidden in those woods as a way to escape being forced to live in the Makai plane.
And worst of all, there was Daranibo. A vicious bird tengu who is considered to be like a god of that mountain. Anyone who dares to trespass upon his territory would soon fall prey to his wrath and be devoured.
And Kuwabara had headed into the latter destination, his head not screwed on straight enough to think of the consequence. Fortunately, though he was unawares to the naked eye, Reficul was following him from close behind. If needed be, he will stop him from going any farther.
…TBC…
Author's comments:
Oh, boy. That's not good.
Kazuma just keep running into trouble. My god. And he says Yusuke is bad at it.
And why would Master Gong live near such a forest anyway? Probably for a ridiculous reason, too.
Please read and review. It helps me a lot. I need it. ME NEEDS IT. It gives me that drive to continue further on in writing this story.
