Dragons of Shame
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Saiyuki or Journey to the West. They belong to their respective owners.
AN: Sorry about the delay, everyone. Life is quite the little pesky fucker sometimes.
Chaptire 21: No Return
Yuji stood quietly in the throne room with several gods and demons, many of whom he didn't know. Several of the gods (and goddesses) he had only heard of through fables, he found it amazing that they actually existed. Goku and his war general, Kenren, or "Gojyo" as he liked to be called, stood over a large table with a bewitched top that showed all three worlds. They spoke quietly and quickly to themselves, touching the table at odd intervals to make the map move or zoom in.
Konzen, or Sanzo, stood by indifferently and only put in his own thoughts when Kenren or Goku turned to him. Yuji frowned and glanced around the room, searching for Tenpou (Hakkai) but found him entirely absent, as were the old demon Yu, Ranma's martial arts master and Goku's daughter, Jessy. Yuji couldn't help but wonder where the two had disappeared to. Especially with Shinobu causing somewhat of a ruckus amongst the holy figures, while Kaito stood by watching, trying his best to remain nonchalant.
Yuji pursed his lips thoughtfully, he noticed that it hadn't been very long after Ranma's return that so many gods and goddesses had suddenly made an appearance at Goku's castle. He assumed Goku and his cohort had called them over, but for what reason, Yuji was unsure and some part of him dreaded even asking. He had a gut feeling it had to do with the war, there was also another horrible gut feeling that it had to do with his father and friends.
A sudden burst of light and a massive wave of energy swept through every person there, catching their attention. The throne room doors burst open and a tall, beautiful goddess with a thin, transparent sari walked in, followed by an older, shorter looking god dressed in fine silks. He appeared quite sweaty and rather harried, he was holding several scrolls and books and had even managed to balance a small globe in his arms.
The two of them passed by Yuji quite quickly, but there was no mistaking the sly smile the goddess cast him. As though she could see right through him; it sent shivers down Yuji's spine.
"Kannon," Goku bowed politely."I am glad to see you accepted my invitation."
The beautiful woman smiled, "How could I refuse such an invitation? I may be the goddess of mercy and salvation, but even I will stand against those who are wrong. Besides, how else am I to help my darling nephew?" She turned to Sanzo.
"Damn old hag," he growled under his breath and moved closer to the table. "You never add any real aide to our wars, why should we think this time is different?"
"Konzen, I'm hurt." Kannon pouted playfully and motioned for the man struggling to stand behind her. "Jiroushin, bring forth my gifts."
He stumbled forward and dropped his bearings on the table, Kenren cocked an eyebrow and picked one of the scrolls up. "My, my, how the Kanzeon Bosatsu has outdone herself! You simply must thank her holiness, Konzen." The blonde god snorted and walked away from the table to sit in the throne near Yuji.
"Darling nephew," Kannon sauntered towards him, leaving Goku and Kenren to sort through the scrolls. "You have yet to introduce this young ward of Goku's to me or any of your other esteemed guests." Sanzo threw Yuji a sideways look.
"I would hardly call him a 'ward.'" He stared back up at his aunt, "He's more of a pet, really."
"And to whom does this pet belong?"
Sanzo smirked, "I would say he is equally shared between Ranma and the Princess Jessy." The room erupted into laughter from the other gods and goddesses. Yuji's ears went red.
"Well, he seems to be uneasy without either of his owners in the room," Kannon laughed. "Where have the two gone?"
"Princess Jessy is currently in her wing of the palace, where Ranma has been moved to." Master Yu answered, making Yuji jump; he hadn't noticed the old demon walk into the room. "It is wonderful to see you again, my lady." He bowed respectfully to the beautiful woman. But before she could reply, Gojyo interrupted.
"Goku!" Nearly the entire room shifted towards the table, where the war god was moving his large hands frantically over the moving map. "I've found the enemy…he's in Makai…he was moving fast—I almost lost him, but now he's stopped. We don't have much time. I'll gather my army and meet you there."
Gojyo headed across the throne room, nearly half of the room followed behind him, Yuji assumed they belonged to Gojyo's great army. Goku turned to another god, "Go and fetch Tenpou, I'm sure he is with the princess. We leave immediately for the demon world."
Master Yu snapped his fingers and his two present pupils were at his side in a flash, "My students and I shall join you, King Goku." Yuji rose from his spot and made to go with them as each person in the room headed toward the door, but Sanzo stopped him. "You're staying here."
"But-"
"This isn't your fight, boy." The golden haired man replied, "You should stay and keep an eye on Ranma and Jessy. We can't risk anything happening to you, your family and the rest of the Spirit World believe you to be our prisoner…also, it would kind of suck if you died now." When he reached the hallway, he ran into the messenger god and Hakkai. "Everyone has already left, we're behind them."
Hakkai nodded and, in a flash of light, the three had disappeared.
Yuji found himself, for the first time since he'd arrived in Heaven, to be completely and utterly alone. A light scan of energy told him he and Jessy were the only conscious ones in the palace, and that the princess was the only god or goddess there. The kids were, quite frankly, home alone.
Stepping out of the throne room, Yuji started walking in what he hoped was the direction of Jessy's room. His steps thundered through the halls as he walked, when Heaven was quiet, it was really quiet. He'd been walking for a few minutes and, worrying he might be going in the wrong direction, he scanned for the young goddess' energy again. However, he discovered that there was another pulsing energy coming from behind him.
He stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder, the energy wasn't a normal one-it certainly didn't belong to either Jessy or Ranma, and it seemed to belong to more than one being. "Oh, no," Yuji thought in a panic, as realization struck him hard.
The pulsing energy suddenly shot throughout the castle, shaking the strong walls, and then three recognizable energies suddenly appeared. A scream echoed from down the hall, from the direction Yuji had been headed in.
He took off running in the voice's direction, knowing very well that the scream belonged to Jessy. Yuji hadn't been too far from her room, he ran into her after only a few minutes of running. "My dad and his friends are here!" Yuji exclaimed in a panic, "Your father isn't here!"
Jessy's golden eyes widened fearfully, "We have to hide you guys!" Yuji nodded, unsure why he agreed with her. "Ranma is in the room next to mine and I-" She was cut off by the sound of the shaking castle, Yusuke and the others were building a spirit barrier and it was tearing the castle apart. "We have to move!" Jessy took a hold of Yuji's hand and dragged him into a room around the corner.
The room had no windows, and it was painted jade-green. Ranma was lying on the bed in the center of the room, passed out. Yuji approached him and tried to shake his lover awake, but to no avail. "He's in a resting coma," Jessy informed, having to scream over the cacophony of the collapsing castle. "He won't wake up for a few days, you will have to carry him!"
"Where do we go?" Yuji shouted back, lifting Ranma over his shoulder and following Jessy out of the room and into the hall. Jessy bit her lip in thought. "Well?"
Before the girl could open her mouth, another energy entered Heaven. "That's Koenma," Yuji said. "Why is he here?"
"For me," Jessy replied. "An eye for an eye! We have to get out of their barrier, my father's castle won't last long."
"Where do we go?" Yuji repeated, but he was distracted when he realized his father and the others were quickly approaching them. Yuji attempted to mask his energy but found he could not do so. He gazed at Jessy in concern.
"There's no hiding in Heaven," she answered his silent question.
"YUJI!" Yusuke's scream rang loud and clear over the rumbling, he was very close.
"Just run!" Jessy took off, running in the opposite direction of Yusuke's shout. Yuji followed suit, holding on tightly to Ranma's limp body, and though he was running much faster than any average human, he was still slow compared to the child goddess. She paced herself to ensure that Yuji and Ranma were still with her. Because they were severely slowed down, Yusuke and the others had caught up with them.
If Yuji or Jessy stopped, they would be captured.
Thankfully, they had reached the end of the barrier. "I'm opening a portal to Makai," Jessy breathed. "We can hide there!" Yuji was out of breath, he could only nod. As they continued to run, trying to put as much space between them and Yusuke, Jessy held her hand up and concentrated. A waver of light began to form, it began to open wide, revealing a thicket of lush green-a forest in the Demon World. They stopped momentarily to open it- a big mistake.
A thick, green and thorny vine wrapped itself around Jessy's throat, cutting off any screams she might've tried to let out. "NO!" Yuji bellowed, throwing up his own hand to keep the portal open. Without knowing what he was doing, he pushed his own energy towards the gate, maintaining its opening. Glancing over his unoccupied shoulder, he saw Kurama, in his yoko-form, holding the other end of his vine-whip. Jessy turned around to face the fox demon, she gripped the vine with one hand and pulled it towards her.
Kurama flew forward, he released the whip to keep himself from being dragged away. Yusuke held up his fingers like a gun, "SPIRIT GUN!" He aimed at Jessy, but she tossed it aside effortlessly. The young goddess ran forward in a flash, striking the approaching Kuwabara in the face, throwing him backwards.
"DON'T!" Yuji yelled, nearly dropping Ranma.
Yusuke grabbed the young goddess by the hair, she responded by flipping up and over Yusuke's head and onto his shoulders. She dug her small fingers into his eyes and yelled out, "BOTAN!"
A small, blue object exploded in Jessy's face, she was thrown backwards and onto the floor at Yuji's feet. Koenma walked out from the barrier, placing another pacifier in his mouth. Sometime during the fray, Yuji had managed to open the gate to Demon World enough for the three of them to get through. Without a word or another glance at his father and the others, he tossed Ranma into it, then picked up Jessy's limp body and tossed her in as well.
"Yuji, what are you doing?" Yusuke shouted, reaching a hand out to him. Yuji stopped and gazed at his father, wanting desperately to run to him. But something nagged at him-an urgent desperation to protect Ranma and Jessy. "Yuji?"
Yuji shook his head and, as Kurama and Koenma began to run towards him, jumped through the opening, closing it behind him as he fell through. He landed, thankfully, in a soft and plush thicket of green grass. He'd been worried that Jessy and Ranma had fallen to their deaths, but he'd had no other option. He was grateful that his worries were unfounded.
A light drizzle of rain began to fall on Yuji and his unconscious companions. The teenager dragged them out of the rain and into a nearby cave, after quickly scanning it for demons. He tended to Jessy first, finding that her burns were already healing and Ranma, thankfully, was unscathed. The drizzle turned in to heavy rain, thunder and lightening boomed across the darkened sky.
Without realizing it, Yuji passed out.
"Cupid, draw back your bow, and let your arrow flow."
Hiei, feeling the effects of his post love-making and Botan's herbs, jumped from the bed and demanded his clothes. Botan wordlessly headed downstairs to the washer/dryer room, with Hiei at her heels. She was glad that she'd put his clothes in the dryer just before making breakfast.
Botan concentrated, trying to contact Jessy again through whatever bond the young goddess had contacted her. But it was as though the line was dead, because as much as Botan called she received no answer, which worried her even more than Jessy's frantic call. Hiei dressed quickly, he noticed that he was nearly completely healed, and by the time he walked into the living room to retrieve his katana, he actually was completely healed.
"Where will you go?" Botan asked in a quiet voice, stopping her lover from walking out of the front door. Hiei frowned-where would he go? There was no way for him to enter Heaven, and going to the Spirit World was out of the question.
"Do you think the little girl and Ranma are still in Heaven?" Botan found she had no answer to that question.
"I don't know. I really don't," she replied after a moment. "I don't even know if she's…" The words caught in her throat, she refused to believe Jessy was dead. "I don't know if she's even conscious. She called me, somehow, but there's no way for me to contact her now." A pregnant pause filled the room.
"Why would she contact you in the first place?" That had been something that'd bugged Hiei from the beginning, "Shouldn't she have had her father to protect her, if there was any danger?"
Botan agreed with him and, without a word, she concentrated her spirit energy to call on Goku. The Monkey King's voice filled her mind after a short pause, "Botan?"
She sighed with relief, "Goku, something has happened. Jessy contacted me a short while ago-"
The King cut her off, "When?"
Botan closed her eyes, the conversation was taking a lot of concentration, "About ten minutes ago. She only said my name, she sounded frightened, but I haven't received anything more. You are not with her?"
Goku cursed, "I am not."
"Do you think she is still in Heaven?" Botan asked, afraid that Goku would question her. If he were to find out that Botan was well aware of the attack, she might never get Ranma back.
The King was quiet for several minutes, making Botan worry, but he spoke hurriedly. "We will find her. Do not fret. Thank you for calling me, Little Sister." Their conversation was cut off then, Botan opened her eyes and gazed at Hiei, feeling drained.
She informed Hiei of the vague answer, but neither of them were satisfied. Being left in the dark was a pet peeve of both of theirs. Hiei decided to leave to Makai, hoping he might find something there. He tried to fight the urge to kiss Botan goodbye, but her worried expression made him give in. "It will be fine. I will come back as soon as I can." The blue haired woman nodded and let him go, unaware of the storm approaching her house.
"Cupid, please hear my cry and let your arrow fly…"
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Koenma returned to the Spirit World portal, angry, defeated and injured. The moment they entered Koenma's office, Yusuke let out a scream so anguished and loud that the office shook violently. "YUSUKE!" Koenma yelled, struggling to stand up. "You have to calm down!"
"CALM DOWN?" The human bellowed, grabbing his former boss by the robes, "My SON just left me—willingly! Explain that to me, EXPLAIN IT!" Koenma jerked himself free, and leaned against his desk.
"How do you expect me to explain that, Yusuke?" With a grunt, he poofed back into his baby form. "I don't understand it myself—they seemed to know we were coming."
"Another concern," Kurama, who'd reverted to his human form, put in, "is that the palace was empty. How is it that Goku and the others just so happened to be absent?" The office filled with a pregnant pause.
Suddenly, Yusuke straightened up and began to walk away. "I think these are questions we should be asking Botan."
"Straight to my lover's heart, for me…"
AN: Well, everyone, I apologize again for the delay. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We are approaching the end, as I've said many times before. I wanted to put a little more into this chapter, but I'm extremely tired and I promised myself that I would have a new chapter uploaded today! I do intend on finishing the story this year, and I am going to try my hardest to update again this week. I already have some of the next chapter started.
This chapter was, by far, the most challenging. I have re-written this chapter at least fifteen times-no joke. Every time I write it, I will read it over and be so dissatisfied that I just trash it and have to start again from scratch. This time, I will not be looking at it again. I will just be uploading it, so it's going to be full of many many many many errors, just as the other chapters are. But I digress-I really hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter. I also hope that you can forgive my tardiness. Have a good weekend, my little darklings.
Remember: Reviews are Love!