This next chapter is based on the series of episodes from the anime that were dubbed "Rescue Yukina". So if any of the dialogue seems familiar, then it comes from the anime. I'm not claiming it, I'm just borrowing it. These are some of my favorite episodes from the anime, so I had fun fooling around with it.
Her Secrets
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rescue Yukina
Koenma, Miko of Spirit World Intelligence, and me met up to talk about what I had seen and how to rescue Yukina. Truthfully, Koenma only wanted me around for the first part but there was no way he was going to kick me out.
"So it's settled, Yusuke and Botan will enter the mansion and take Yukina." Koenma said.
"But what about her brother? Do you want him to know?" Miko asked Koenma.
"Brother? Are you telling me her own brother did not bother to help her?" I asked in shock.
"Half-brother. And I doubt that he was aware of it." Koenma informed me.
"Close family." I said sourly. "Who is this brother?" I asked.
"You've met him before. His name is Hiei."
"THE MEAN MUNCHKIN?" I thought about it for a second. They were both little...but siblings? Then I remembered Yukina's eyes, Hiei had those eyes too.
"Anyway, he cannot know. Hiei is known to be violent. And killing humans..." Koenma started to say.
"Has very bad consequences." I finished.
"Alright, Kay." Koenma was trying to get me to leave.
"Wait! I want to help Yusuke and Botan. I know exactly where she's at and I've seen the security. She only knows me." I said.
"Tarukane knows you too." Miko reminded me.
"Not is disguise. Koenma, I still have the Shiekah-looking disguise. No one would recognize me. I'll just tell Sakyo that I have a photo shoot."
"No." Koenma crossed his little arms.
"No? Tell me Koenma, how well do you trust Yusuke and Botan to handle this? And you know Kuwabara's going to fumble his way into this too. I don't need to tell you how that sounds."
"But fortunately, none of them have very important fathers that would kill me if they found out their daughter had stormed a criminal's home." He said.
"Yes, but you'll let me share a bed with one." I retorted.
"KAY!" Koenma fell out of his chair while Miko stared at me in shock.
"Oh please! He hasn't even touched me. I was just trying to prove." I waited for the two of them to get it together. "He doesn't have to know–AND HE'S NOT MY FATHER! If I can't fight, then why not let me observe. I could even keep an eye out for Hiei."
Well you can guess what Koenma's answer was. He would not even let me cuddle it out of him. He told me to stay at Sakyo's and keep an out. I stopped arguing and left his office. Then I proceeded to my room and took that disguise out of my closet. I never really cared about his permission anyway. Just as I was about to leave my room, Koenma walked in, catching me red-handed.
"Why am I not surprised?" He asked. I put the outfit down and picked him up, placing him on my bed.
"Listen, Kay, you can assist them but you must not reveal your identity to anyone, including Yusuke and Botan. You must let them do all of the fighting unless you all are in fatal danger. And you must immediately return to Sakyo's after Yukina is rescued.
"Done." I agreed. I picked up the disguise.
"Wait, I would like to talk to you." He said.
"What?" I pulled over a chair and sat down.
"Sakyo." He said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't found anything." I shook my head.
"No, Kay. I wanted to ask you some other question." He was beginning to sweat and squirm now.
"Like?" I asked.
"Do you really share a bed with Sakyo?" He asked, sweating.
"NO! That was just a joke. He's never touched me."
Koenma looked relieved. "So the relationship is platonic?"
"Yeah. I'm just a dollar sign to him."
"And what is he to you?" Koenma asked seriously.
"Couture and cash." I smiled.
"Phew." Koenma relaxed. "I'm glad you're greedy. I was beginning to worry that you had fallen for him.
I knew if he suspected that, he would pull me out. I couldn't leave yet, there were too many things that I wanted to do.
I was dressed and waiting on the outskirts of Tarukane's property. I had been waiting for hours, surveying most of the land and disarming it. Yusuke and the crew had not shown up yet. I was ready to bust Yukina out. My Shiekah disguise was very comfortable. I felt like I could tackle anything in it. But I had to mask my energy or else I would ruin everything. I waited behind the bus stop.
Finally a bus rolled up and my favorite trio got off. I could not see them but I felt them just the same.
"Wow, now this is a big waste of space." Yusuke observed.
Inwardly, I laughed. Yusuke never changed.
"You know, Yusuke, some people like the wilderness." Botan said.
"Yeah, old hermits and people who don't know how to talk to girls." Yusuke quipped. I smiled again but I could not forget the task at hand. And the three of them were too loud.
Then Kuwabara decides to march into the damn land. It was time for me to enter the "Wise One" mode. Basically, I was going to have some fun with them. (Please excuse my next action because I like Kuwabara but I couldn't be Kay today). When Kuwabara stepped out one foot past the back of the bus stop, I nailed him good with a right hook, sending him to the ground.
"What the hell?" Yusuke and Botan ran to his side.
"That's significantly less damage than what Tarukane's men would have done." I had changed my voice to sound deeper as I talked softly.
"Who are you?" Yusuke braced himself.
'Look at Yusuke, trying to be tough' I thought to myself.
"Koenma sent you, right? You're a Spirit World spy." Botan correctly guessed.
"Spies? Come on, Botan!" Yusuke said in disbelief.
"Why do you find that so hard to believe?" Botan asked.
"Yeah," Kuwabara stood, "if they have Spirit Detectives, why can't they have Spirit Spies."
"Yeah!" Botan seconded.
Yusuke, overcome with frustration, punched Kuwabara again.
"Yusuke! Why did you do that?" Botan asked, angrily.
"Why don't you ask the spy the same question?" He snapped.
"Can you all be any more obvious? Tarukane knows we're here now. Kuwabara was too bold and you were too loud." I said.
"Who the hell– " Yusuke started to say loudly. We all just shot him a look.
"Whatever. So what are you here for?" He asked sharply.
"We're here to rescue Yukina, the love of my life." Kuwabara said. Now where did that come from? I raised an eyebrow.
"It's a long story." Botan said.
"I'm here to help. I've been to the estate before and I know where she is."
"That's nice but we already have a map and the muscle to handle it. You can take your tight, spandex costume and go back to the seedy strip joint you came from."
"Yusuke!" Botan hit him on the head.
"Don't bother." I said with my arms crossed, confidently. "Koenma informed me that Urameshi was immature."
I saw him narrow his eyes at my mentioning his last name.
"He also informed me on how to recognize him. It's interesting, but I never knew that school uniforms served as all purpose clothing." I continued.
Yusuke's grumblings were enough to satisfy me.
"I will get you started on the trail and then go ahead to serve as a lookout. Then I'll lead you to Yukina and you can take it from there." I offered.
"Some help." Yusuke grumbled again.
"Shut up, Urameshi! I'll take any help I can get to save my Yukina."
"We've wasted enough time. Let's go." Botan said logically.
"Keep quiet, it won't be long until one of Tarukane's guards comes along." I said.
We began to walk through the wooded area. Of course, it was not long before Yusuke started complaining.
"This place smells like ass." He said. I wanted to tell him to shut up, it was nature, not the inside of Bath and Body Works.
We walked up this small hill, with me in the lead. My eyes looked around for traps and anything suspicious. I kept my senses open for any approaching bodyguards/
"You know there's no way we're going to find this place by nightfall." Yusuke continued.
"The forest looked a lot smaller on the map." Kuwabara said.
I felt like slapping the both of them. Instead, I motioned to Botan. She slightly stiffened, still scared of me. We walked to the top of the hill and stopped.
"This trail leads to the mansion." I pointed. "I suspect your friends would rather hear that from you." I stepped away.
"Come on boys! The other trail goes all the way to the top! I think it's our best bet." Botan pointed.
"Do we still have to walk?" Yusuke whined.
But out of nowhere, Kuwabara was energized.
"Let's go, Urameshi! Wait for me, Yukina! You're true love is coming! Yeah!"
I just stood there with Yusuke and Botan, just staring at him. Kuwabara in love was a bit scary.
"I guess he's done being in love with you Botan." Yusuke said.
"Darn." Botan said, softly.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING GUYS WAITING FOR? WE'VE GOT A GIRL TO RESCUE!"
"Will one of you quiet him? He's like a walking target." I said before I began to follow him.
"Shouldn't we tell him about the rest of the video?' I heard Botan ask Yusuke.
"I'd hate to ruin his fun." Yusuke said.
A few bad things happened along the walk. Botan was attacked by a spider. After that, we kept going but I sensed a demon approaching.
"We have company." I said to Yusuke.
"What? Where? I don't feel anything." Yusuke grumbled.
"I'm quite positive something is coming. Since you volunteered to handle it, I'll leave you to it and go ahead." I disappeared among the trees.
"Hey, wait!...Coward!" He called out to me.
I leapt up among the trees on the side and watched the fight go down. I knew I could not stand there and not get involved but I was curious. Watching them was a blast, but it was also a bit depressing. I saw they way the three of them (shockingly Botan was part of the act) playing wise ass with the disguised demon guard. It was funny but I couldn't help but be reminded that months ago, that was me and Yusuke with Kasane punks. Now I was not even allowed to throw a punch. Already knowing the outcome of this fight, I went ahead diffusing traps (Tarukane had the whole place wired.) and exploring paths.
When I met up with the guys and Botan again, it was growing late in the afternoon so I showed them a clearing to set up camp in. Then I helped them find firewood. Once we had eaten, they began to lay around and get comfortable around the fire. I leaned against a tree, listening out for anything strange. I could still hear their conversation though.
"Still, Botan. Did you have to give Keiko that lame ass excuse? Now she's going to think I'm reformed or something." Yusuke asked, reclining with a scowl.
Botan frowned. "You try making something up on the fly! Besides, with your attitude, I doubt Keiko will ever believe you're reformed!"
'Good one, Botan' I thought to myself.
"Well you tell similac-breath to find something better. Even Kay gets to have her pictures in Cutie magazine and she's been in hiding for months!"
"You can take that up with Koenma yourself!" Botan said indignantly. "I am not your personal messenger."
'Score two for Botan' I thought.
"How is she, Botan?" Kuwabara asked, tearing himself from thoughts of Yukina probably.
"Good. Busy." Botan fumbled, she didn't really know what I was up to.
"Okay. Well, tell her I said 'Hi!' " Kuwabara laughed.
"I will." Botan said.
I smiled to myself. Kuwabara was really nice.
"Kay? I thought you were in love with Yukina. Got the wandering eye already?" Yusuke joked.
"Take that back, Urameshi! I only love Yukina!" Kuwabara was his feet instantly.
"Oh pipe down, Romeo!" Yusuke waved a hand waved at him, still staring into the fire.
"No way! You take it back or I'll beat you senseless!" Kuwabara threatened.
Yusuke jumped to his feet.
"Wanna try?" Yusuke asked, really just itching for a fight.
It was nice to know everything had not changed. But a rumble among the trees wasn't in my plans for the evening. Just as Yusuke reared back to deliver his first punch, I flashed over to the middle of them and clenched his wrist. Yusuke shot me a look that could kill and tried to throw me off with a violent thrust of his wrist but I remained as still as a rock.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, through clenched teeth.
"Saving you from yourself. If you feel you can tackle that compound by yourself, then go ahead. If not, leave your only help first. Save Yukina first." I let his wrist go and stared him down.
"She's right." Kuwabara said, backing down. Yusuke just stared at me.
"Humph." Yusuke just studied me. Everything fell silent as we continued staring each at other down.
'What does he want?' I thought.
The next thing I knew, he lashed out at me with a series of strikes. Hardly moving my feet, I blocked them all.
"Wow." He said, breathlessly. "Who the hell are you?"
"You don't need to know." I said.
"But we want to know." Botan said.
"Don't." I said sharply before turning away to disappear once again.
"What's her problem?" Yusuke asked.
"I don't know." Botan said, disapprovingly.
"Leave her alone." Kuwabara piped up.
"What? How can you say that when she decked you when we first met her?" Yusuke asked.
"If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have gotten this far. Why do you think we've only run into like two demons? She might not be nice but she's helping."
"I don't know, Kuwabara...maybe tight clothes and short hair turn you on." Yusuke joked.
"No! But there's something about her..." He drifted off.
I kept walking when I heard something land on a branch. I sensed that it was a demon. Not wanting to alarm the others, I walked through the trees silently and hopped on the branch. I was face to face with Hiei.
He looked surprised and very angry that he had been caught.
"I expected you to be here." I said to him.
"And who are you to be making such expectations?" He asked, darkly and suspiciously.
"Does it matter?" I asked.
"No." He said. "What do you want?" He asked.
"The same thing you want, your sister's freedom." Hiei's eyes widened. I had forgotten this wasn't common knowledge.
"Who the hell are you and how much do you know?" He advanced on me. "Don't toy with me or I will kill you." He threatened, evilly. I wasn't shaken by him.
"Kill me and you'll know nothing." I advised.
"Don't test my patience, human." He warned.
I looked up at the name and came up with a fake one. I was tired of people asking me this question.
"Gin. My name is Gin."
"How do you know about me? Or Yukina?"
"Anyone with eyes knows what's going on here. I'm not here to talk about your past, mainly because I care little about it. I just wanted you to know that Yusuke and Kuwabara will be advancing on the front entrance of Tarukane's mansion."
"And why should I care? I'm not here to help them."
"There is a tower on the left side of the place. More than likely the security there is minimum so I would suggest–"
"I don't need any of your suggestions, Gin. Leave now." He said.
It was like the old saying, you can lead a Hiei to his sister...
"There is a rumor that you are not the most merciful fighter, Hiei. You'll never be able to keep an eye on her from Spirit World prison, if you're fortunate enough not to be killed." I said.
I jumped down from the tree and returned to the camp site.
"Where have you been Jane Doe?" Yusuke asked.
"Nowhere. And the name is Gin."
"Sorta like the drink?" Yusuke asked, getting the pronunciation wrong. I wanted to tell him this had nothing to do with his mother, but if I said that he would know it was me. Only I talked about his mother like that.
"If you say so." I said. I sat down with my back leaning against a tree that was out of the moonlight. I did not want to take any chances and wake up levitating or something. Eventually we all fell asleep, though it took me a long time to drift off. When I did sleep, I began to have these strange visions, but they were not my own. They seemed to be someone else's dreams, but I was going through them. I was lying on some table with these bright lights and weird instruments overhead. Strangely, I was not afraid for my life but very confident about what was going to happen next. Someone was talking to me but I couldn't understand. The next thing I knew, I saw a very young Yukina.
"Yukina!" Hiei's scream woke me up. I hopped to my feet, shaken. I was disappointed to see that Yusuke and Botan were already awake. Botan was getting ready but Yusuke was staring at me again. I hoped I hadn't given myself away when I was asleep.
"Did you hear something?" Botan asked.
Yusuke frowned. "No. Would you get up, Kuwabara!" He huffed.
Kuwabara got up and was ready to go. He and Botan began walking but Yusuke stopped them.
"Wait. Gin, how much further do we have to go? What's waiting for us at Tarukane's?"
I was shocked. Last night he barely trusted me and now he was asking questions. I closed my eyes and concentrated.
"I sense a lot of demons freely roaming, about fifteen. There's more waiting at the front gate, probably with some explosives."
"Explosives?" Botan asked, very alarmed. "Is there any other way to go?"
"No." I said, since the only other way was through the trees and Hiei was already up there. Not to mention I could just picture Kuwabara pulling a George of the Jungle.
It wasn't long before a swarm of punk demons began to charge us. Kuwabara jumped in front and took care of them with the spirit sword, impressing me.
"Piece of cake." He said when he had laid them out.
"Why are they even bothering with these wimps?" Yusuke asked. He had barely lifted a finger.
"They're desperate." Botan said. Her compass began to beep. "We're very close to Yukina."
I nodded, but I was not feeling very optimistic. There were two demons that I had not sensed before. My gut was telling me they weren't there for a tea party.
"Yeah!" A very optimistic Kuwabara said. He then whipped out this pink band to wrap around his forehead. "Let's go!"
I was stupefied. Yusuke and Botan were not better off. But Botan managed to get it together enough to ask him.
"Ugh...What in the world are you tying to your head?"
"The great fighting headband of love!" he answered.
"Right." Yusuke said slowly. I just blinked. Kuwabara was really scaring me.
Suddenly, another wave of punk-ass demons charged us. Kuwabara continued his little speech.
"And all those guys there hate love! They want to try to keep me from my Yukina!" He began to charge the demons while I closed my eyes wondering what I did to get into this zoo.
"Sword time, evil doers!" Kuwabara said before going on a rampage. I mean my boy was kicking ass and taking names! Slash here! Gorge there! I was shocked.
Yusuke, ready for some action, ran in to the fight, his fist glowing.
"You're not going to be the only hero." He socked two demons and ran up on one with the ability to grow large. That's when Yusuke started wylin'. "Aaah!" He pulled a flip in the air and handed it to him. I had to turn away, I was laughing so hard. Botan, hearing me, turned around and smiled herself.
We were now in sight of Tarukane's mansion. I stopped laughing, it was game time now.
"There's the stronghold." Kuwabara said, very serious.
"It's the same as the video. Yukina must be in that tower." Botan said.
"Yes, it's the room with the windows covered in talismans. But I'm guessing once he knows we're here, he'll move her." I suspected those demons I felt earlier would be watching.
"Hold on my darling. Your brave man is coming." Kuwabara said walking on. I sighed, he needed to get a grip. Yusuke and I began to walk but Botan held us back.
"Take care of him. Don't let him rush in blindly. The compass is getting interference from three very strong demons. I'll go airborne and try to sneak a peak. Don't worry about me!" She hopped on her oar was went off.
"There's no need." I said to myself.
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked, having better hearing than I had thought.
"There are demons in the house but they are not strong. There's something bigger." I said.
"That's no problem. We'll just kick their asses after we get the first three."
I held back my laughter but I made a choking noise. Yusuke looked at me and motioned for me to follow him farther from Kuwabara.
"Is there something you're not saying? Something else you're hiding?" He asked.
"Excuse me?"
Yusuke smiled. Then he attempted to kick me. I jumped away instinctively and knocked away his sudden barrage of punches.
"If you're this damn good of a fighter, why didn't Koenma send you to help us fight instead of serve as a stripper tour guide?"
"He has his reasons."
"Yeah," Yusuke reached into his pocket and dangled my name chain in his hand. "I figured as much."
"But how–?" I asked, shocked.
"Don't get upset. Your acting and voice was dead on. But I had my suspicions when you first decked Kuwabara. Then last night, when I sparred with you, I noticed that chain jump up and I snatched it. Now unless Kay's giving these away..."
"Alright. You got me but keep this quiet. Nobody can know I'm here. I promised Koenma that I wouldn't–."
"If you don't tell him, I won't." Yusuke said. I grinned, Yusuke could always get me into trouble. We walked to the sides of Kuwabara.
"What do you think? Botan says its going to be three nasty demons against little old us." Yusuke said.
"It sounds good to me. This mission's felt different from the very start. It's like I've become invincible."
We all chuckled.
"Well, let's go." Yusuke led on.
We came across more demons but this time I took charge. I wasted no time, unleashing my spirit sais to attack. I would stab one in the midsection, then kick another and stab it in the throat (learned that trick from Gladiator.) I finished them all off.
"Damn." Yusuke mused.
"I'm glad you're on our side." Kuwabara said.
"Come on." I said. We ran towards the compound when my eyes detected something wrong on the ground. I put on the breaks, sliding a little.
"Wha? Hey!" Kuwabara slid into me and fell.
"Okay. What the hell is the problem?" Yusuke asked.
"There are mines ahead. Stay close to me." I said.
I concentrated and formed a huge spirit shield. Yusuke and Kuwabara added their energy. We looked at each other and nodded, now in full bad ass mode. We strolled through the roaring sounds and effects of the explosives going off all around us. We approached the front gate.
"Yusuke! Kuwabara! Gin!" Botan called, worriedly.
When the smoke cleared, we walked through the front gate, the guys with hands in their pockets. We paused, looking like true G's. We stopped and waited for Botan.
"Bingo!" She said before landing.
"Let's roll." Yusuke said. We marched on for Tarukane's, ready for whatever he threw at us.
A/N: The name Gin, is a female name that means silver.
Coming up in "Her Secrets"- Part II of "Rescue Yukina" tackles one of my favorite episodes with the Demon Triad member, Miyuki. Hopefully Kay's presence can put a funny twist on an already funny plot.