2017 CONTINUATION
Chapter Twenty: Scapegoat
Genkai's Shrine, Mt. Horai, Kyoto
Kagome woke up on the firm tatami mats of the dojo. She would learn later that it was the one building that had sustained absolutely no structural damage due to it's sturdy build and unfurnished nature. The adjoining weapons shed was worse for wear organizationally, but otherwise undamaged—save for a few blades ebbed in the hardwood floors. There were many voices talking and feet shuffling across the ground outside the large room. Sawdust hung heavily in the air, tickling her delicate nose and winning a sneeze. The sharp sound of a miter saw jolted her upright and alert.
'The demons! There are still too many auras!' She presumed.
The priestess rushed to the closest door and slid out onto the long wooden steps. The frigid cold of the late Autumn night air fluttered every rip in her clothing and kissed her skin. Dumbly, she watched as two ogres walked by carrying a large supporting beam between them. The area was lit by lanterns and work-lights. Men and women in gray and gold spirit wold issued uniforms patrolled the area and eyed her wearily.
Flushed, Kagome tried to casually brush off the dirt and debris that was caked to her short sleeved sweater and rolled up jeans for an ounce or dignity, but it was an effort made in vain.
Dozens of Spirit Realm personnel were scattered across the property, repairing what they could, rebuilding what they couldn't. "You should have heard Jorge fighting with the mayor!" she overheard a particularly stocky, red ogre gossip to his co-worker. "The old man insisted on calling it a gas leak again, can you believe that!"
"Does this mountain even have pipelines?" Asked the much smaller green male.
"No!" The red one guffawed.
"Yeah, Jorge's 'isolated earthquake' is way more realistic. I'm sure they'll compromise somehow."
The demoness wandered to the other side of the property—she worked hard to avoid large, red, sticky sweet spots on the ground of crushed fruits, or what she hoped had been fruits—to where most of the activity was. The main house of the shrine was nearly gone, the fell beams stripped away to the foundation. The cleaners worked diligently, and she was nearly positive that they would have the property completely rebuilt by morning, before hikers and tourists started asking questions.
A tall, gray-clad man stood in the center of it all, directing the workers like an orchestral conductor. He had teased blue hair, silver hooped earrings and a steady gaze. His demeanor told her that he would have much rather been a part of the battle than the clean-up crew.
"Lady Priestess." He addressed her before she could get his attention. The officer regarded the Black Fox hesitantly.
"Is there anything that I can do to help?" She asked him.
Surprise glittered across his features at her meek tone, and for a split second his dark eyes softened. The appearance of a familiar Reiki behind them caused him to stand at attention, stone once more.
"Don't you let her near anything, Captain Shunjun. She's helped enough today."
"Yes, Master Genkai." He said begrudgingly before leaving to continue his work, cursing Koenma under his breath for handing his reigns over to that hateful woman.
Kagome felt her defenses go up and her hackles rise. The old woman often berated and talked down to all of the Spirit Detectives, but there seemed to be a sore at the tip of her forked tongue saved especially for the demoness.
"Master Genkai, I-"
The short martial artist cut her off abruptly. "Girl, I am not your master." Her pink hair whipped violently from the aura building around her. Kagome suddenly felt much smaller. "No student of mine would throw their power around so recklessly without a single thought to those around them! Yusuke may be an idiot. But he would have never put his own friend's lives in danger like that! Kurama may have turned out for the better, but this time there are no excuses!"
"I'm sorry, I couldn't control-"
"You want me to believe that!? You couldn't control yourself! Just how old are you girl!? The kit has a better grip of his powers than you do! You are a danger to everyone around you!" She gestured wide and the priestess could see the gap between them and the workers had grown larger as the ogres kept their eyes fixated on the ground and deviated far from their paths to avoid the confrontation. "To make things even better, you've painted targets on our backs because you can't seem to fight your own damn battles, can you? The boys won't come out and admit that you're a problem, but you've proven to be far more trouble than you're-"
"Master Genkai!"
Kagome breathed a sigh of relief at the affronted, pitchy tone of the River Styx guide. She mentally pleaded with Botan to take her far from there. A Portal to Tokyo would have been nice, so she could take a long nap in her overstuffed, childhood bed and forget that she'd ever met those people.
The priestess frowned as the blue haired girl huffed over to them.
She didn't want that.
Sure, she wished that day had never happened, but she liked the bonds that were slowly growing between her and the others. She wouldn't wish away those friendships for the world, not when that very thing had already happened once in her life.
"That's enough. I believe you've more than gotten your point across." Botan scolded the elder before shining her sad, sympathetic pink eyes to the demoness. Kagome felt warmth when the Spirit Guide reached for her hand, flesh to flesh contact, without so much as flinching. "Yusuke and Hiei've just arrived. The boys will be pleased to see that you've awoken so soon."
A small, dry laugh escaped her lips.
"Get her out of my sight." Genkai spat before storming in the opposite direction to ensure that the work on her shrine was absolutely perfect.
Dread began to tug it's grimy tendrils at the fringes of her heart as she realized what it was that Genkai was alluding to so venomously. Despite being an attack mostly focused on Kagome, someone else had been injured in the battle.
It was her fault.
"Botan, What happened?"
════════════════ 犬夜叉 X 幽遊白書 ═════════════════
Hiei stood leaning against the cold pillar of the Tori arch that separated the ancient back steps from the rest of the compound. The crashing waves and thick salty scent of the ocean almost masked the crescendo of construction at the top of the hill, it was far and private enough as they were able to be without actually leaving the property center. As far as the fire apparition was concerned, the further they were from the Captain and the rest of the Special Defense force, the better. Especially when they had been called in for just cleaning duty like common grunts.
Yusuke hadn't wanted to stray too far from his human.
Keiko was heavily protected in a large, temporary medical tent with the ice maiden diligently glued to her side. An infection had started to spread throughout her body from the demon's claws that had nearly gouged out her kidney. The poisonous taint of the beast's aura lingered in the wound, thwarting most of Yukina's healing magic, but that didn't stop her from trying. She hadn't taken her determined eyes off from the injured girl for more than a moment to ensure that the creeping fever was kept at bay.
His sister was going to kill herself worrying about the human girl.
The shorter demon forced his eyes open by focusing his attention to the pacing detective, who was muttering under his breath. Hiei had wasted an obscene amount of energy on their battle with the puppet—their wild goose chase—and he hadn't yet gotten the chance to recuperate his energy with a long, well deserved nap. Only Yusuke's short fuse kept him alert, the Mazoku was so close to the breaking point that it wouldn't be too hard to push him right over the edge, and Hiei wanted to be awake to watch the fireworks.
Kurama and Kuwabara watched him as well with guarded expressions. They sat on the long stone slabs of the steps, at different levels and avoided any unnecessary eye contact so not to instigate anything. The detective had grabbed one of his own green Letterman jackets from Kuwabara's coat closet when Botan had portaled them back onto Shizuru's coffee table, since his shirt had been lost in the fight.
"Damn that Bitch!" Yusuke finally let out, kicking a rock off the cliff side.
Hiei looked up to where Botan was leading the priestess towards them, alerting the fox of their group to their arrival.
"Kagome, you're awake." Kurama said with a sickening amount of relief. He rose to his feet, but didn't make to step any nearer. The foxes looked at one another for a long moment before Kagome broke away, humiliation colored her cheeks.
"You're just in time." He continued as if nothing had happened. "We were just about to being everybody up to date with our current situation."
Her situation. The situation that they were in only by means of association.
The tension was palpable.
After a quick glance at Botan, who had settled in beside the group's sole human, the Silver Fox began to fill the priestess in on the events of the failed mission to the demon realm.
The girl regarded them with blue eyes swimming in concern. She met the fire apparition's blood red hues and held his attention. It unnerved him to see that her usual discomfort and fear towards him could be so thoroughly wiped clean with worry.
"He just... let you go? But you're okay though, right? You're not hurt?"
Other than their pride?
Hiei broke tore from her gaze to glare at the ocean, refusing to grace her with an answer. Yusuke went red with anger. The Puppet Master hadn't even tried to harm them, it simply defended itself to stall for as long as possible. It toyed with them.
Kurama cleared his throat to regain their attention.
"It appears that we are facing a Shadow Beast."
The fire apparition stiffened, his core temperature dropped. None of the other idiots around them seemed to understand the severity or implication of the treat.
"You mean like those guys we fought before, at Maze Castle?" The copper haired human piped up. It was actually impressive that the dolt was able to remember that far back, even though he was completely wrong, as usual.
The Kitsune hummed appreciatively. "Not quite. The Saint Beasts of Maze Castle were a collective of renegades, but none of them were the same race as the demon we're currently facing. Many do use the term 'Shadow Beast' as a title to instill fear, but it is an actual race of demon that has the ability to assume the identity of others." His attention shifted back to the Black Fox. "While Kitsune can merely disguise themselves, a Kagemono is able to become a perfect flesh and blood replica. They can even copy and collect auras and abilities, building up a terrible arsenal."
They need to be in physical contact with you to assume your body. He's... already copied mine, so be on your guard."
Botan gasped.
Kuwabara shot to his feet, further startling the Grim Reaper beside him. "So there are two Kuramas now!? No offense man, but your 'Youko' scares the crap outta me. I don't wanna fight that!"
Hiei snorted. He couldn't help but share the same sentiments. Hell, the only reason he became the fox's teammate in the first place was an alliance of self preservation, so that they never had to fight on opposing sides.
If it had happened when the bulk of Kurama's power was still locked away within his human body, they wouldn't have too big of an issue. But now...
"How do we know if you're the real one, then?" Yusuke demanded. He took the steps two by two until he came nose to nose with the calm redheaded demon. The leader's hands moved to rest in his back pockets in an infuriatingly laid-back stance, but it didn't hide the snarled look on his face. The fire apparition was amused by how many of them held their breaths, sensing the detective's true mood. "Don't we have some kind of code word for things like this? Or are we gonna play eenie meenie miney moe when there's two of you, cross our fingers and hope to friggin god that we don't pick the wrong Botanist to be on our dodge-ball team."
"Careful, Detective. Your vocabulary is showing." Hiei's voice was snide. The Mazoku rounded on him, but didn't give the satisfaction of calling him out. "Shadow Beasts can't replicate memories—unless they've copied someone with that power, but that's highly unlikely. We know that he can manipulate both the dead and to some extent, the living. His mental control on the Puppet Master was seamless." Frustration ate at him. It had taken him far too long to realize that the dark demon was under the control of another. "Until I killed him, that is... the first time."
"It's safe to assume that we have only one enemy, as young male Shadow Beasts are primarily solitary." The Silver Fox thought back to the man leaning over Kagome's prone form, disturbed before he could touch her. Hiei grimaced at the other demon's memories. "And that he is looking to ultimately add Kagome's power to his collection."
"That would be catastrophic!" Botan quipped in horror, her hands covering her mouth at the thought. But she had only seen the tip of the iceberg.
The aftermath of Kagome's power was impressive—the overgrown strawberries that now littered the property were an amusing touch—but it was wildly uncontrolled. It was a massively disappointing waste of potential. But he'd expected that.
Five months was not exactly a long time to learn new powers. It had taken Yusuke a year to learn just the basics, but he was already familiar and skilled with Spirit Energy at the time. Hell, Hiei was two hundred years old and he was still learning and perfecting his own abilities.
Not that he would speak up for her. She needed to come clean on her own volition.
And to his confoundment, she was about to.
"I need to tell you..." The girl spoke up, mouse quiet at first. The color that painted her cheeks was creeping down her neck. Her claws dug marks in her upper arms and her eyes were trained on Kuwabara, the Spirit Detective that she had grown the closest with over the past month under their watch.
"I don't exactly... I mean, I haven't..." It looked like the confession could tear her in two, the pain and shame dripped off of her. A spark of purity crackled from her skin before being reigned in. She was so against them knowing her greatest weakness before, but the current turn of events must have knocked some sense into her.
If they were going to fight a Shadow Beast, they needed to assess their firepower. Her included.
"Spit it out!" Yusuke snapped, finally acknowledging the priestess.
"I don't know how to control my demonic energy!"
It fell silent as they all stared at her. Hiei could practically see the wheels turning chaotically in Kurama's mind. That explained so much. How could she not know? How was that going to affect their battle? Was that what she had confided to Hiei in the demon realm? How were her Miko powers so refines while her Youki was left completely ignored?
There was an almost satisfying click when it all came together in the fox's mind as he glanced to the leader of their small squad. The two being so close gave him the perfect comparison.
He finally realized that their little priestess ward had once been human.
"But I can still fight. I have my purity and the bow..." Her words drifted off to silence as she closed her blue eyes. "Yusuke..." She addressed the bristled atavism, voice hitched. "About Keiko..."
"Don't" He warned her.
"I'm so sorry that she was hurt!"
"Shut up!" Yusuke screamed, silencing even the crickets around them.
"She could have been killed because of you! Everyone could have been killed because of you!" He looked up at where she sat on the top of the steps, nestled comfortably and safely between the hovering Kuwabara and Hiei. "And you're telling us now that you can't control your own god damn powers!? What the hell! That should have been the first thing out of your stupid mouth so that we could have been prepared for it! You didn't exactly come with an instruction manual! If anything happens to her!" He choked up a bit before stifling it with a severe snarl. "If something happens to Keiko again, and you are responsible in any way, I will kill you!"
Tears clustered on the priestess' long black lashes, her eyes swimming.
Botan looked as if she were going to intervene, but a stern glimpse from the fire apparition caused her to hesitate. Though it was a bit harsher than he had anticipated, it was a hard truth that girl needed to hear.
"Please." Kagome choked out, clutching the dormant jewel that hung around her neck for support. "If you give me a chance! I might be able to heal—"
Hiei watched, dumbfounded, as the detective used his full speed to bear down upon the girl. Never did he think the Mazoku would have been brash enough to strike the priestess, yet the contact was so fierce that it made a small crack in the stone beneath them. The others looked on in horror, nobody had been able to move fast enough to stop the unexpected blow, they stared as shocked as the forbidden child.
He was the first to move, placing himself between Yusuke and the pained vixen. She picked herself up to her knees, small hands clutched to the bloodied ear that had hit the ground, an angry red bruise began to form on her left cheek. He'd gone too far.
"Yusuke!" was the collective gasp around them as time seemed to return to a normal speed.
"Back down, Detective!" Hiei demanded, fully willing to follow through with the threat laced within those words.
"I don't want you near her until you know what the hell you're doing."
The detective's voice was colder than Hiei'd ever heard it before.
══════════════════ Just Instincts ═══════════════════
Kurama looked on, incredulous, at the scene unfolding before him. Kuwabara had grabbed a hold on the fuming Mazoku, holding him back from the priestess and berated him for having the nerve to hit her like that.
"Have you gone completely mad?" The fire apparition scolded. "Are you looking to have your physical form obliterated as well?"
The Kitsune stiffened as the attention was brought to him and the events that led to his current Glamoured form. Yusuke twisted awkwardly in the lanky human's grasp to pin him with a furious glare, teeth barred.
"So you're on her side too!?"
"Please, calm down Yusuke."
"No! I'm not going to be frickin' calm! She killed your human body, Kurama! She took away your choice! That doesn't mean anything to you guys!?"
Kurama could understand the Detective's initial distrust of the girl, but it was far beyond simple distrust at that point. Never before had he seen such blind hatred in the young man directed towards any other being. Not even Sensui, the rogue Spirit Detective that killed him the second time, had earned the same burning look in his eyes.
Nearly every enemy that Yusuke had faced had been converted by the boy's genuine love of life and the challenge that the fights gave him. His complete lack of malice had won them many friends and allies over the course of their team's existence.
Himself included.
It had been Yusuke's utter lack of self preservation and selflessness that had saved Shiori Minamino's life that day on the hospital rooftop, enamoring the Silver Fox. The Kitsune didn't even hesitate when Koenma had approached him with the opportunity to fight alongside the Detective in lieu of the short prison sentence that he faced for breaking into the vault.
Yet not even a glimmer of that compassion, that most admirable and memorable trait, could be found as Kurama looked at him then.
"Everything has worked out for the best." He calmly justified. "She'd unknowingly made the choice that I had been too weak to make on my own. For that, I owe Kagome more than she may ever fully realize."
That got the priestess' confused attention, briefly.
"And if it happens again!? You don't have another save file to fall back on!" The green clad demon let that sink in for just a moment before adding "If Genkai wasn't around, you'd all be dead right now. And I wasn't there to do anything about it! Now that freak is out there somewhere, targeting our people!"
The usually mouthy fire demon didn't point out that perhaps Yusuke's anger was more about his own uselessness and less about Kagome's incompetence, as Kurama knew Hiei was thinking it. Instead the short demon sought to bring the discussion full circle. "And just what do you propose we do about that? We have no leads."
Yusuke's brown eyes closed, resigned.
"If we got rid of her, then the Shadow Beast will have no reason to go after our friends and family."
The already cold air felt like ice as they all went on edge. Hiei's fingers wrapped around the hilt of the sword at his waist, worrying the straps. Kuwabara's grip slackened for a split second in shock before he threw his leader and friend to the stairs. Kurama sucked in a sharp breath.
Botan made an affronted sound. "How could you say such a thing, Yusuke!"
"It's gotta be the Shadow Beast!" The human fighter yelled to the others. He took hold of Yusuke's collar with his large hands and pulled his face close to scrutinize. "It's gotten his nasty nasty claws in 'yer mind!"
The Detective huffed and pushed the ex-thug back with ease. "I'm not being controlled, you Asshat!" Kuwabara stumbled backwards a few steps before regaining his balance. The half breed clambered back to his feet.
"Then why are you bein' such a dink to Kagome, huh!?"
Yusuke pointed through Hiei to the girl that was finding her own footing behind him. His aura flared. "Because if I don't then she'll never get it through her thick skull that she doesn't belong here!"
Power surged. Not to be caught in the middle, the Forbidden Child leapt from the path of Kagome's purity as it pushed back against the Demon-Reiki mix of the atavism's threatening display. The air danced and sparked where they met.
"I'm not exactly here because I want to be!" The demoness finally yelled back in her defense. The tracks of her tears ran through the smudges of blood on her cheek, but she didn't make to brush either away. Her scent was swirling with pain, but Kurama wasn't able to differentiate if it was more emotional or physical.
From the looks of her, her heart had taken just as hard a beating from Yusuke's harsh words as her face had from his fist.
A shot of blue sparkling energy tore through them suddenly, forcing the glare-locked demon converts to step away from one another to avoid it. The redhead watched the blast as it sped off, out to the open ocean.
"You are all children! Every last one of you!" The shrine's Master yelled down to them from her perch at the top of the hill. Genkai crossed her arms and looked down her nose at them, disapproving. "You're all going to get the hell off my property until you can grow up and learn to act like civilized adults! I don't give a rat's ass who started this mess, the fact of the matter is that we're knee deep in shit and need to get out of it! Now—" She pointed a bony finger to the fuming Yusuke. "You, come with me. Everyone else, go home!"
Yusuke looked as if he was going to argue with the old woman, as he usually did, but instead he started up the stone steps, his mouth set in a thin line. He glared at the Black Fox when he passed her. They disappeared into the din of the compound's construction.
Hiei was the second to leave. A blur of black was the only warning of his departure. He looked exhausted, so it was safe for Kurama to assume that he had gone to find a quiet, secluded place to sleep off the failed mission.
Once they were gone and the crickets felt felt safe enough to continue playing their tiny violins, Kuwabara jumped up to the top landing. He grabbed Kagome by the shoulders and shifted her around to inspect the damage that had been done to her.
"That was a heck of a hit, are you alright, Kagome? What a total jackwagon! I swear, he's getting off on a power trip or somethin', hittin' a lady!" He growled through his teeth were words were not able to describe his disgust. "It boils my blood!"
"I'm okay." She replied, a little too fast. The young woman stepped back from his grasp and looked down to the fresh blood on her already ruined sweater. "I mean, it hurts." She sniffed and was startled by the action. Her palms flew up to wipe away the new tears from her face. A strained, broken smile tried miserably to mask her pain. "But that doesn't matter. I totally deserved it."
The human hesitated, crestfallen and lost for words.
She was amazing, really, that petite young girl that stood before them. Despite all of the power raging within her body and the carnage and bloodshed that she had certainly witnessed throughout her life, hardening her, she was still able to look so small and innocent.
How she had managed to live for at least five hundred years—assuming that she had become a demoness around the time of the Shikon War—without any control of her demonic powers, eluded him. It did, however, explain the unruly outbursts. If she had been avoiding and shying away from her true instincts for so long, the pent up power would have overtaken her periodically. In turn, the chaos and confusion may have caused her to isolate herself further, turning to the one thing that brought her comfort and solace; the protective barrier and the Shinto Shrine nestled safely within it where they had originally found her.
The shrine they took her from.
"Kagome." The male Kitsune spoke delicately as he made his way towards her. He finally felt as if he understood her story a bit better. "You most certainly did not deserve to be treated so harshly."
Her cerulean gaze flickered up to him when his thumb brushed the moisture from under her eye before tucking her disheveled locks behind her shoulder. He made sure to be as gentle as possible, the last thing he wanted was to be the cause of even more pain.
"I'm terribly sorry." Kurama said, his fingertips lingering on her neck, just behind her jaw. He hovered over her, face close, foreheads nearly touching, so that she could both see and feel the truth and regret in his words. It was a very Kitsune action, one that she used often when speaking with her kit without even realizing it, without Kurama even realizing it. He hoped to giver her the slightest bit of comfort. "That makes twice now, that I've failed to protect you."
Subconsciously, she leaned into his touch. He smiled.
Botan shuffled her feet and looked away to hide the blush spreading across the bridge of her nose. "I'm going to go find Shippo so we can be off."
"I think I saw him helping Ohou belt-sand the roof spikes!" Kuwabara spoke up, glad to have an excuse to give the two a bit of privacy. Crying women made him extremely uncomfortable.
"The Chigi finials?" The blue haired Spirit asked him as the human guided her up the hill.
"Yeah, those things."
The Kitsune spent several long moments just standing there, Kagome's eyes drifted closed and she didn't fight against her body's instincts to maintain the contact. It was good for the both of them to have that time to breathe and touch. Kurama himself had been denied it for so long, his human body hadn't needed it at all, as his new form did. It was a good reminder that he should focus on nurturing his own urges as well, or else he would face the same troubles that Kagome was facing.
He broke the spell that they had fallen under when he spoke, dragging them back to the present. "Yusuke is very sensitive when it comes to Keiko, he can become quite irrational when she is injured or endangered. It's not that he hates you as a being, I'm certain. The fact that you are our ally is difficult for him to cope with, as he's not able to problem solve very easily when his fists are not involved. Having this new enemy will be healthy for him, it will divert his focus to something more productive."
He paused, reluctant to finish, but he knew that it was important to tell her. "I believe that he will find you a considerable asset to the team when you are a bit more... experienced with your powers."
With those words, their moment of calm was gone.
Kagome chuckled painfully and extracted herself from his gentle grasp. She looked up at him, hurt and weary.
"I know... I keep being told that I need to grow up."
═══════════════ Inuyasha X Yu Yu Hakusho ═══════════════
Chapter Twenty: End