Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. All I own are my characters and the extra parts of Yu Yu Hakusho's Plotline
A/N: I also realize that the Japanese do not normally have Middle names…but I needed to go a bit out of logic for this chapter.
Chapter 14: Trio gone solo: Hiei and the Shadow Sword!
Date: February 25th, 2002
I sat, staring blankly out the window during Math class the next day. Our seats had changed today, and Mr. Iwamouto had Separated Kouhei, Shin, and I, since apparently we talked way to much anywhere within five feet of each other. I now sat next to Yusuke, but I didn't look at him throughout the first part of class, due to my daydreaming and backtracking to yesterday's events. However, I was brought from my thoughts with a paper ball to the back of my head. I turned around, and Kouhei waved at me, then pointed at Shin. Shin motioned to Mr. Iwamouto's turned back. He then started mocking the teacher's movements. He then paused, mimed yelling, and threw a ruler at Kouhei, who pretended to cry. All three of us burst into an oncoming laughter. Unfortunately…
"Miss Unizagi, Miss Masurao, and Mr. Irazuto, I want all three of you to the principal's office now! Tell him you were disrupting my class." I looked back at Yusuke, who shrugged, and pointed at the roof. I caught Keiko glancing at me before Shin dragged me after him.
"Man! I didn't think we'd end up laughing so hard!" Kouhei exclaimed once a safe distance from our classroom. Shin rolled his eyes.
"I guess my impressions gotten pretty good…" Shin said triumphantly. I shook my head.
"The ruler thing is new." We found our way To Mr. Takanaka's office, for he also served as the principal.
"I'm very disappointed in the three of you, especially you Miss Masurao; an honor roll student should not conduct themselves like that in class." Kouhei looked at the floor, mortified by these words.
"I'm sorry Sir…" Shin and I gripped her shoulders.
"Please Sir, it wasn't only her…" I nodded in agreement to what Shin said.
"Yes, we were disturbing class too…" Mr. Takanaka had agreed to a detention and a call to our parents concerning our conduct, and I knew I was in for hell when I got home that day. The bell rang, and the three of us collected our stuff.
"Time for English." Shin stated dryly. Kouhei sighed.
"Gym. Seems like fun…" I remembered how Yusuke had pointed to the roof suddenly, and took off in the direction of the door to the rooftop.
"Mimi, where are you going?" Kouhei shouted after me. I skidded to a stop, jogging in place.
"Science!" I answered, then wheeled around and sprinted off before Shin or Kouhei could say anything else like I'm sure they wanted too. I opened the door to roof, then closed it as quickly as I had opened it. I was just in time to find Yusuke leaning pleasantly against the fence on the roof, and Botan, dressed in our girl's school uniform, sitting atop the slanted box that served as a little lift on the roof.
"Hey if it isn't the detention bird." I rolled my eyes.
"Can it Urameshi," I sighed and waved to Botan.
"Why Hello, Hello." She greeted cheerfully, seemingly ignoring the fact I was sulking.
"Anyway, Mimiko, now that you're here, it almost slipped my mind!" She jumped down in between Yusuke and me.
"About Kurama, His case was reviewed by the punishment board, Koenma has decided to release him on good behavior!" I smiled.
"That's great!" Yusuke and I agreed.
"Now all we have to do is get the last artifact back, and-"
"We've still got three days!" I concluded. Yusuke looked thoughtful for a moment.
"It's with that…monster guy…What's his name?" Botan's smile turned to a frown in an instant.
"Hiei, and listen to me carefully. He is the toughest one by far, both cunning and ruthless, he'll do anything to get what he wants." We were interrupted by the creaking of the rusty old door, and the sight of Keiko. I remembered how she had looked at me while I was talking (silently) to Yusuke during class. I quickly climbed up the ladder on the slant of the roof, and took refuge on top of it, and I saw Botan run behind Yusuke. Keiko spotted him right after we had gone into hiding.
"Yusuke there you are! Mr. Takanaka's looking for you. You're the only one in class who hasn't turned in his book report yet." Yusuke's eyes rolled.
"Gee, makes sense, since I'm the only one fighting evil!" Botan came out from behind Yusuke.
"Hard to balance school and work huh?" I shook my head, kind of hoping Botan would have stayed hidden, and climbed down from my spot. Keiko glanced at us, confused. Yusuke twitched.
"Do you mind?"
"No not really." Botan giggled. I fell back quietly next to Yusuke, while Botan walked right up to Keiko. There's where she started rambling.
"Miss Keiko," She grabbed her hands. "It's so nice to meet you in my own body; I just wanted to say how great a person you are! When I saw you running through those flames to save Yusuke I just about melted in my shoes!" Keiko only blinked.
"Do I…know you?" She asked politely. Botan ignored that.
"I hope you didn't mind me speaking through your mother, but with his spirit energy-" I saw Yusuke raise his arm.
"Yus-"He whacked her."Ke..." I was a few seconds short of saving Botan's head.
"What was that for?" She shouted, holding the spot Yusuke had hit. Yusuke let his fist fall back to his side as we gathered in a small triangle.
"Keiko doesn't know anything about you, or Spirit world." He whispered harshly.
"You didn't tell her?" I asked.
"Did you tell Shin? Kouhei?"
"….No…"
"Oh that's right she doesn't" Botan said suddenly. "But if you don't tell her soon, things are about to get complicated." I slapped my forehead; she had said that a little too loud, and it sounded quite suspicious. She dismissed us, telling us she'd see us after school, and was off. I stood there dumbly next to Yusuke.
"Hum…I have to go home now…Lunch time… Ahem…" I bowed to Keiko. "Nice to meet you Miss Keiko!" And then I was off before she could say anything to me. Keiko, before Yusuke had died, and then been revived, was the only girl Yusuke talked too. I knew how seeing two strange girls with Yusuke now would seem, even though to most of the other people in school, I seemed closely tied to Shin. Keiko wasn't one of those other people. Before I could get all the way down the stairs, despite hearing Yusuke shouting about something one flight above me, I felt a strange presence. The same presence I had felt when Gouki and Kurama were near. However, I was forced to dismiss it as Kouhei and Shin had located me.
"There you are!" Kouhei shouted as she touched my shoulder.
"Here I am." I commented dryly.
"You weren't in Science class." Shin told me.
"What makes you say that?"
"You have History before lunch." Dammit! I forgot that I had Science at the last period of the day. My cell phone made a beeping noise.
"Eh… well… My dad's here with the Limo, which means I have to go home for lunch….See you guys in Culinary!" I ran off. And sure enough, at the front of the school, my father's Limo was waiting. I got in, and he took me home. What I found weird; he was giving me the cold shoulder the entire way there. We entered the house, where Janice had Stew and Rice balls waiting.
"Mimiko Susumu Unizagi!" My father suddenly exclaimed, making Janice jump as he slammed his briefcase on the table. I could tell right away that Mr. Takanaka had called my father about today's outburst. He only used my full name when I was in deep trouble.
"Why did you disrupt your math class this morning?" He demanded.
"Father, all I did was laugh…" His hand hit the table.
"But this isn't the only thing you've done this week."
"What else have I done?" My father became red.
"Skipping school? Going off and not coming home for hours, and now getting kicked out of class? Mr. Takanaka also told me you skipped History." I never thought he'd find out so quickly.
"It seems ever since you've returned, you've become more rebellious. Mimiko, so help me if this happens one more time!" I couldn't disrespect him now. He's never laid a hand on me. He's so far, gotten by on threats to strike me. But he seemed mad enough to actually carry out a threat this time. I didn't need that. I looked down.
"It won't happen again… I promise…" My father said nothing; he just breathed, and fled to the living room. Janice took me back to school. I carried out the rest of the day in a daze, as I always did in the rare times my father yelled at me. I sat in detention with Yusuke, Kouhei and Shin. Mr. Takanaka was up front writing crap on the board when the compass on Yusuke's wrist went off, making us look up. He leaned over and whispered to me, covering the compass.
"He's near." I understood and got up with him. He quickly opened the door and told Takanaka his mom was calling, while I ran after him with no reason, not looking back at the confused faces of those left in the room. Botan soon joined us as we ran in the direction the compass was pointing us in. Yusuke looked back at her once she caught up to my pace, which was a few inches behind him.
"I think the compass went stupid, no matter how far I run, it keeps saying one mile!" Botan explained Hiei was sending out a moving signal for us to follow, and that he was leading us to his hiding place.
"That's cute" Yusuke commented.
"No it's not! He's told me horrible things through telepathy, he's kidnapped Keiko, and he won't give her back unless we give him the other artifacts!" Yusuke and I stopped on a dime.
"He what?" We had to keep on running, and the signal led us to the pier. Yusuke opened up a giant door to one of the garages.
"All I can see is crates..." I commented, looking around at all the heavy wooden boxes. Yusuke ignored me.
"Come out here Hiei! I'm going to kick your ass!" He shouted. The door closed behind us, and a dim light came into the garage. A bunch of people, young, old, stepped in front of us. They looked brain washed.
"What the? Who the hell are they?"
"Physically they are normal humans, but it looks like Hiei's controlling their minds."
"How?" I asked.
"For him to control so many humans at once, he must have the Jagan…" I blinked.
"The what?" Botan didn't have time to answer me.
"Well done." He chuckled, and we turned to see who 'he' was. The same short man I had seen before. This was Hiei. The Shadow sword glinted in his hand.
"I used my power to round them up this morning. They won't do any good against you, but they certainly make excellent scenery." A giant red and purple….thing rested on the top of his head.
"That's some pimple."
"That isn't a pimple Yusuke… It's the Jagan, a third eye for the spirit." Hiei looked up at his Eye.
"A normal human would have succumbed to its power by now, but I see the geniuses in spirit world found a couple of nice picks." The eye stopped glowing red and reverted to white and purple. "That's why I've brought insurance." He directed us to two men holding Keiko, unconscious.
"Keiko…" I looked from Yusuke to Keiko. Yusuke grew from worried to angry in a flash.
"Hey." He turned back to Hiei. "What do you plan to do with her?" he demanded. Hiei smirked.
"Nothing more if you have brought the weapons." Yusuke held up the Orb of Baas, and I held up the Forlorn Hope.
"Good. I see you've brought them both. The men dropped Keiko, and Yusuke ran to catch her.
"You may have her." Before I knew it, both items were in Hiei's possession. I didn't capture what Hiei had said, but Yusuke did.
"You should stop bragging." Hiei turned, curious.
"Now that I've got Keiko, I'm going to rip out your teeth, so bragging will make that more embarrassing." Hiei only scoffed.
"Try." Yusuke growled and set Keiko down gently.
"You know, your laugh is really starting to piss me off!" He ran at Hiei to punch him, but instead, got the air. Hiei had disappeared in a flash. But moments later, appeared behind Yusuke.
"I'm still here. I only stepped gently to the side. Was that a real hit?" Botan motioned to me as Hiei disappeared and reappeared on a crate.
"He'll need your help." I handed Keiko off to her, and then walked to Yusuke's side.
"I was under the impression that was a joke, but you don't seem amused." I knew Yusuke was thinking what I was. Hiei was fast… faster than Kurama or Gouki before him. Well, in reality, I didn't know how fast Kurama was, since we didn't have to fight him, but it appeared Hiei was still fastest.
"And as for Keiko." He mentioned, making Yusuke shout. "You think I'd relinquish my hostage without the reward?" His head motioned to Keiko.
"You're lying!" Yusuke insisted. But I gasped. On Keiko's head, an eye still unopened.
"Am I?" Hiei taunted. The eye glew red then opened a bit. Hiei explained he struck Keiko with the Shadow Sword, and that once the Jagan on her head opened fully, she'd become a demon, like him. Though not a smart one, perfect for a slave. When Yusuke tried to stop the eye from opening more, Botan told him to move and quickly forced her hand over the eye, forcing it to close with her energy.
"I'll keep it from opening; you and Mimiko go punch his brains out!" She directed Yusuke.
"Yeah." Hiei cut in. "I'd punch them out fast too, if you care about her assistant. I can feel her precious spirit energy draining and quickly. Pity. Her poor little body giving all it has. Soon Yusuke, you'll have a girlfriend who's a demon, and both of you will have an assistant who's dead!" I looked at Botan.
"Botan…is he telling us the truth?" I asked.
"Don't…worry about me! I'll stop it as long as I…can!" I could feel I too…her energy was leaving her…
"Botan…" Yusuke warned. We heard Hiei laugh from above us.
"You sick little bastard…" I grunted, getting up alongside Yusuke, trying hard to ignore Botan's painful whimpers. Hiei looked down at me.
"If I'm sick, why don't you come up here and do something about me?" He taunted. I growled.
"However, I'm glad you're so enthused, the game will be more fun that way."
"What game?" Yusuke snapped. Hiei held up the sword.
"The hilt of this sword is hallow. In it contains the only antidote to stop the swords effect. If you get the sword the girl will live. Fun right? Think of it as a game of tag." I guess Yusuke had enough of his voice, like me, because he managed to jump up, surprise the crap out of Hiei, and land a punch, sending him to the next crate. I scrambled up to Yusuke's side.
"What's wrong Spirit detective?" Hiei asked, wiping his mouth of new blood.
"This isn't a game dirt face. Keiko is my friend." Hiei, now that he saw what Yusuke was capable of, decided to test me. He jumped up and in a flash he was gone. But, now I knew how fast he was, I could sense his energy go by, and managed to dodge the swipe of the sword that came from the left.
"I see. You cans sense me, now that you know my capabilities. You two are both exactly what I thought you were. Team players, save the day superheroes…" He paused. "I hate people like you." This only made Yusuke smirk.
"I'll admit the both of you have surprised me greatly, but like amateurs, you did not take advantage of the situation, and neither of you got back the sword." He explained this was 'fatal' because he would no longer drop his guard.
"Are you done yapping yet?" Yusuke cut in.
"Because if you are, we'd like a shot to take that pretty little sword of yours." I finished.
"Not quite." He answered, giving me the only attitude as he his Jagan glew red and he jumped and disappeared. He began appearing everywhere, telling us with human eyes; it'd be hard to spot him. What he forgot, is I could track his every move now that I knew his energy.
"He's coming up behind us." I whispered to Yusuke. Hiei busted through a crate as Yusuke managed to punch him straight across the face again. All the artifacts fell in a neat line.
"Now...You're dead." Yusuke shouted down to him.
"See Hiei, that's what I'm talking about! Yap, yap, yap like some crappy pro wrestler! And then what happens?" I continued for him.
"You fall flat on your face, just like those crappy pro wrestlers." Hiei growled, getting up and removing his shirt.
"Consider this a compliment, I've never transformed for humans before." I stood behind Yusuke, as soon as Hiei said transform. If he was anything like Gouki, I was glad Shea wasn't here. Hiei glew green, and soon…turned green as well. Botan screamed out, and Yusuke and I realized something was up. Many eyes opened up on Hiei's body. He chuckled.
"Now that I'm in my full demon form, Keiko will join me any minute."
"Never!" Yusuke protested.
"There's no need to worry though. I'll take you out of this world long before you ever have to see her." I panicked as he jumped, and punched Yusuke from my side, and seconds later I felt a swift kick to my back. I only had one attack…and fist fighting was not my strong point. Some glowing red rings formed around Yusuke and me.
"Gah…This is new….but…maybe you can get me green ones, they'd match a lot better!" I struggled against the rings as we became suspended in air.
"Jokers to the end are you? Perhaps my Jagan tie curse has to be tighter before you get serious!" He fed more energy into the rings, draining my own, and I cried out. He promptly slammed us to the ground, me behind Yusuke, in a straight line.
"I have a great idea, how about I give you both a choice?"
"What?" Yusuke demanded. The sword floated up, and into Hiei's hand.
"I could end your lives now." He said as we sat up. " or if you prefer I'll make you both demons." After a short silence, he decided to choose and charged us. We were defenseless, and I closed my eyes, knowing this was going to end as me and Yusuke on a skewer. The sword pierced something but it wasn't us. My eyes snapped open, and Hiei's face was shocked. Mine became the same in a moment. Standing in front of Yusuke and I, was Kurama, sword pierced into him, and coming out his back.
"Ku...rama?" Yusuke questioned.
"You really have gone insane!" Hiei shouted. Kurama said nothing, then dragged his hand along the blade. He then brought his bleeding hand up and sloshed his blood at Hiei, making him fall back.
"My eye! My Jagan eye!" Hiei growled. The rings grip on us loosened and something picked me up. Behind me, a giant white animal stood. It looked like a giant fox, with a red mane and two tails on either side of its body, resting carelessly at its sides. From its feet erupted hot white fire . I almost screamed but I relaxed when I saw Shea was on its back.
"What is-"
"Don't ask, just get on, we have to go find something…or someone rather." She looked at Kurama as I struggled onto the giant beast.
"I trust you'll be fine?" Kurama turned to her and nodded slowly, holding his stomach. Once I was safely aboard the animal, she patted it.
"Come on Yuki, times wasting!" It gave a roar and sprinted off, making me hug Shea's waist tightly.
"If you don't like heights, I suggest closing your eyes. Hah!" Before I could blink, we were soaring, high above the city.
"Shea… First…what is this?" I asked. Shea leaned down and gave the animal's mane an affectionate nuzzle. It cooed something I didn't expect from such a giant creature.
"This guy? His name is Yuki. I assume you're familiar with strange animals, considering you have a strange one yourself." She opened her bag, and Riki fluttered out, finding a comfortable flying pace beside the other animal.
"Riki! How did-"
"Koenma pointed me to where she was. Anyway, this is what you call a hell creature." I blinked.
"Hell Creature?" Shea nodded, her long hair tied to keep it from hitting me.
"You tame these animals in demon world. They are created from the pure hatred of humans by demons. There is certainly no guarantee they won't turn around and kill you. They control their own actions, unless yours is really well tamed. Yuki here just happens to be really well tamed. Right boy?" Yuki gave a roar. Shea kicked his sides and he halted in mid- air.
"Hey… I know you have the other ingredient! So come on out!" This was greeted by a hail of fire comets, coming at us from straight ahead. Yuki dodged as Shea gave him skillful directions. But, things suddenly turned harder. Shea got up, her wings spreading as she balanced on Yuki's back.
"Mimiko, I don't have a clear idea of which way the comets are coming from" She pointed at her eye. "Bit impaired. Steer Yuki until I can find who I'm looking for."
"What? Wait!-"She jumped from Yuki's back and spread her wings wider; gliding swiftly past a couple of comets.
"Um…Okay…up!" Yuki lurched upward, and we managed to dodge a giant comet. I called out directions as the comets came, Yuki moved in all of them and we avoided comets, until-
"Mimiko!" A comet smacked into Yuki and me, sending him downward and me off of him.
Riki! Riki spread her wings as wide as she could, and Yuki glew a vibrant blue, he suddenly flipped, composed himself, and caught me on his back. Shea sighed in relief. Yuki eased back into the wave of comets.
"Mimiko. I need you to aim in the center of the shower and fire your attack." Shea said. I tried to stand on Yuki's back, but fell. With Riki's encouragement, I managed to stand, and felt my hands heat up. I thought of Shea, who was flying in front of the aim I had at the center of the shower. The ball of green energy had formed.
"Tomoshibi-Mari!" I fired the attack, and it flew past Shea, and directly where I had aimed for. The Comet's shrunk, and fell into the ocean like little pebbles. Shea flew forwards and grabbed a falling figure. She carried it back to Yuki and laid it between us. Once she was there, I realized it was a girl. She had fiery orange hair and a necklace in the shape of a sword around her neck. Her clothing was colorful.
"Who is-"
"She's a fire demon." I felt Riki perch on my shoulder. "She was working for Hiei. He was bluffing when he said all the antidote to stop Keiko from transforming was in the hilt of that sword. Kurama told me that this girl had the rest of the stuff you have to mix the medicine in the sword with." She held up the necklace, which I now noticed had a liquid inside.
"Now let's go!" Yuki roared and turned, heading back where we came from. Once we landed Shea forced the garage doors open, as Yusuke had before. Hiei was on the floor, no longer green, and back to three eyes. He had been beaten. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a broken Forlorn Hope on the floor. Kurama was leaned up against a box and Yusuke had the hit of the sword in his hand. Shea walked over, took the hilt, and bit off the top of the necklace, pouring the clear liquid into the sword.
"Give her that." She said, motioning to Keiko. She then went over to Kurama to survey his injuries. I sat next to Botan as the antidote was given to Keiko, and we were surprised and relieved to see the eye close and disappear.
"Goodbye Keiko monster." Yusuke commented, smiling.
"She's going to recover." Botan announced. I sighed.
"Thank goodness."
"I hope so." Yusuke turned to Kurama and Shea.
"If you guys hadn't gotten here, who knows what would have happened! How do you feel Kurama?" Kurama spoke.
"Good. I guess. I avoided the organs at least." Shea sighed.
"At Least! Kurama, you scare me sometimes." She shook her head disapprovingly.
"I still can't believe what you did Yusuke." Botan said.
"Why?"
"Why didn't you tell me the Spirit Gun could bounce off Mirrors, when did you learn that?" I blinked.
"It can?"
"I learned that… about ten minutes ago."
"What?" Yusuke explained.
"Hiei was way too fast, I knew he'd be able to dodge the Spirit gun if I couldn't shoot him from behind, that's when I spotted the Forlorn hope in the corner and thought hey I'd give it a try." I understood now. Yusuke had fired the Spirit gun into the Forlorn hope, with a thought it might bounce back and hit Hiei, and at the cost of the mirror, it worked.
"You…Weren't certain?" Kurama questioned, still holding his stomach.
"Well, one time they bounced light off a mirror in science class and I thought it might be the same." Botan became angry.
"Might? You risked our lives on a might? What would you have done if it didn't bounce off?" Yusuke shrugged.
"Get…chopped into pieces I guess." Kurama chuckled.
"All this time we've been thinking you were a brilliant strategist, really you're just a lucky fool."
"Watch it fox boy, hey what's that word mean anyway?"
"A strategist is someone who uses his brain."
"Hey!"
"Now boys." Shea and I looked at each other and smiled. I knew that all of us were glad this case was over, and that everyone was in once piece, despite Shea losing half her sight, me ending up with slight burns, and a near death experience, Yusuke and Botan almost Dying, and Kurama being stabbed in the stomach… Yup…all in one piece… and that's how the real story began.