The Stubborn
Yusuke frantically patted all his pockets, trying to remember which one he had stashed the communicator in. "Alright! Alright! Hold on!" Not there. Not there. Not-
"Looking for this?"
"Yusuke turned around the find Keiko holding his jacket in one hand and the ringing communicator in the other. He had forgotten she was holding his jacket for him while he was practicing his moves in Genkai's training ground.
"Do you have a new mission?"
"How am I supposed to know?" he snatched the contraption out of her hands and flipped it open. "What?" he asked shortly.
"What a way to greet someone," Koenma said. "Hello to you, too."
Yusuke felt his left eye twitch in frustration.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing!" he snapped.
"Kagome said that Hiei and Kurama were stronger then him." Keiko said over his shoulder. His twitch grew stronger.
"And you're surprised?" Koenma ignored Yusuke's danger signals.
"That's it! I'm gonna spirit wave you all out of existence as soon as I see you!"
"Cool it, Yusuke. You can spirit-wave these guys." Koenma showed him a picture of two demons.
"Oh, they're cute!" Keiko commented.
Suddenly Yusuke felt the urge to spirit-wave the entire world. He growled at the picture on the communicator. "Why don't you send Hiei or Kurama if they are such bad-asses now?"
"Oh quit with the temper tantrum. Already! You are the leader of the spirit detective team. Act like it!" the toddler shouted.
"Keh!"
"You each have your own strengths. You're the only one with leadership material." Koenma tried placating the youth.
"Hmmph!" Yusuke said, but he was listening now. "You're right. They would all fall apart without me."
"Of course," Koenma nodded. "So you'll take the case?"
"Sure. Where are they?"
"Well, actually, they are looking for you." Koenma stared him in the eye.
"Huh? What for?"
"Seems you took out a relative of theirs sometime in the past three years." Koenma was fidgeting and trying not to get impatient, but a hot platter of food had just been delivered and was steaming pleasantly on his desk.
"Uh, huh. So what else is new?"
"They also have the ability to control small minded creatures." He nabbed a fried piece of something off the plate as he answered.
Yusuke decided not to ask what it was since it was most likely something he would never consider putting in his mouth. Like the gekki tongue in a red sauce he tried in spirit world once. No one could really explain what a gekki was.
"You mean like stupid people?"
"No-"
"He means like rats." Keiko said grabbing his shoulder.
"Rats?" he looked at her. "RATS!"
"Yes, like rats," Koenma nodded sagely.
"There's an army of rats!" Yusuke shouted. A moving, squeaking carpet was moving toward them. "Koenma! How did they get through Genkai's seals?"
"Well, they are just ordinary rats, Yusuke. Why would the seals work on them?"
"Eeee-" Keiko grabbed his hand. "Do something, Yusuke! They're getting closer."
"Eeeeaahhhh!" an high pitched scream came from the temple. Kuwabara suddenly barreled out of it, running from ...a rat. He stopped, stared, and ran back inside, deciding one rat was better then several thousand.
"Right," Yusuke said dryly. "Any ideas, O" Mighty One?"
"Get rid of the two controlling the hoard," Koenma offered, waved his pudgy fingers, and disappeared.
Yusuke pocketed the communicator, pulled Keiko to him and announced in disgust, "Stay close. This is gonna be messy."
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"Inuyasha, there aren't any Jewel Shards this way," Kagome insisted.
He snorted.
"Inuyasha!"
"Feh!"
"Uuurgh!" she stomped her foot. "Quit being so childish!"
The dog demon ignored her.
"Kagome, are you sure you packed my seed?"
"Yes, Shippo. It's still there. Inuyasha!" She glowered at his back until she couldn't contain her temper anymore. "I'll say it until you have to listen to me!" she warned.
"You wouldn't," he huffed.
"Try me."
"Bitch, see here, I'm the leader. There is something wrong with you!" he saw her face pale then go red.
"Sit!"
Wham!
"Bitch!"
"Sit!"
Wham!
"Damn you!"
"Sit!"
Wham!
"Stupid-"
"Sit!"
Wham!
Twitch....
"I don't want to go that way," she announced.
"Why not?" Miroku poked the fallen hanyou with his staff a few times.
"I just get a bad feeling..." she informed him.
"That," growled Inuyasha, pulling his face out of the dirt, "is probably a Jewel Shard you can't find anymore!"
"It is not!"
"Bitch!"
"Sit!"
Wham!
"That's it. You're useless! I'm going to find out what's over there. Stay here and rot for all I care!" The dog eared boy yelled back.
"I am not!"
"Feh! If Kikyo were here, we wouldn't be having all this trouble!" It was a low shot and he knew it. But it was also the only line he had that kept her semi-aware of the real dangers of this time. Besides, sitting him five times was pretty low, too. "Either stay here, or follow me," he gave her the ultimatum.
That Kikyo line took all the fight out of her, as it usually did. Somehow it seemed wrong to speak ill of the dead...even if they were still walking around. And always coming up short when compared to a corpse was degrading. Unfortunately, it was also usually true.
Kikyo was a better shot with the bow. She was a trained Miko. She was a skilled healer. She fought alone and won numerous battles against many youkai. She kept the jewel safe from evil hands. She even died protecting it, losing her love, her life and her future for it. And then, she had it burned with her body to insure it stayed out of evil hands.
Kagome was none of these things. But she had worth, and she was getting better. Three years of constant fighting had her catching up to Kikyo in her abilities to fight and heal. She was still basically untrained, but there wasn't much call for Miko priestesses in Modern Japan. "I'm not useless..."
Only Shippo heard her, and he patted her cheek reassuringly. "It's okay, Kagome. Kikyo can do lots of things, but only you can love us."
She smiled sadly at the kit, then cuddled him closer. "Thanks, Shippo. That is what really matters in this world. You're so smart." She took measured steps, following the bitter dog demon as he continued his descent to the valley below them.
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"Yusuke! Help! Eeew!" Keiko danced around him, stomping her feet to keep the rats away. She tried climbing onto his back.
"Keiko!" he protested.
"Get me out of here!" she demanded, still kicking at the squeaking mass.
"We're almost there," he assured her.
"Where?"
"Out of the barrier so I can face the demons."
"Well hurry up!"
"Fine." He boosted her into a tree and left her there, sprinting down the many steps.
"Yusuke!" Keiko yelled after him. "You can't leave me here!"
Yusuke winced. He knew he was gonna pay for that one later, but her hanging around his neck was slowing him down too much. And he didn't want her in the battle when the fight started.
He cracked his knuckles as he ran, waiting for the moment he would be able to take his frustrations out on the two demons. He reached the bottom of the stairs, ran out on the road, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "COME OUT HERE AND FACE ME, YOU BASTARDS!"
"We won't forgive you!" two little voices chorused together.
"Yusuke blinked and looked around. "What the-"
"Down here, you Moron!" Yusuke looked down at his toes. Just like the picture that Koenma had shown him, the two demons stood there. Koenma had just failed to tell him that they were all of six inched tall.
He stiffened and felt his rage build again. "Koenma! I bet you thought this was supposed to be funny!?" He leaned down and snatched the two demon from the ground. One in each fist. Then, he started kicking rats just for the satisfaction of hearing something squeal in pain. "AAAaaaahhhhh!" he yelled. "I hate you! I hate you! Die! Die! Die!"
Squeee!
Squeee!
Koenma sat at his desk, laughing till he choked on his food and George had to enlist the help of three other ogres to calm him down.
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"Houshi, do you feel that?" Sango asked.
"Yes."
"What is that?" Shippo pointed up.
"Youkai! Inuyasha! Above us!" Sango yelled.
Inuyasha took one look at the hoard, and fell into a defensive stance, Tetsuseiga drawn and gleaming in the light. "Kagome, where is their shard?"
"There is no shard here, Inuyasha." she repeated.
"I don't believe that! Look again!"
Kagome knew she hadn't missed it. There just wasn't one. She looked anyway, just to alleviate her worry that maybe he was right. Maybe there was something wrong with her... "There is nothing."
"No! You're wrong! They would n't attack for no reason. If you won't help, we'll have to do this the hard way." He snarled at her. "Sango, Miroku, bring them down one at a time!"
"But Inuyasha, there are too many!" Kagome protested.
"Shut up, wench! Unless you decide that you're gonna help now!"
"Inuyasha..." Kagome was fully intending to "sit" him until he lost consciousness later, for this one. Unfortunately, she never got her chance. She shot all of her arrows quickly, taking out the closest of the bird like beasts until she was left defensless.
With the amount of blood, gore and feathers spraying through the air, Kagome never saw the winged monster coming. It wasn't until the cruel press of talons into her shoulders and the heavy beat of wigs over her head appeared that she realized this was a good time to call for help.
"INUYASHA!"
"Ka-kagome! " He looked around frantically but all he could see was blood soaked feathers and the ugly bodies of the remaining youkai. "KAGOME?!"
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