Chapter 24: "What a Night for a Fright"

Red and blue lights flashed over the face of Onigumo Manor, turning the broken windows on its face into pits like the eyes of a corpse—which basically meant it looked just as dark and haunted as fuck as it had when Yusuke and his friends first rolled up on its dilapidated presence.

Jii-chan (whose malice toward Sakura hadn't been entirely brought on by the imp demon, it seemed) sat in the back of a police cruiser, leering out the window at Sakura-chan where she stood speaking to a small squadron of uniformed officers. Fred, Daphne and Velma stood at her side to also speak with the officers, who looked absolutely flummoxed that the gaijin were there, much less that they solved the case in the first place. Said officers had talked to Yusuke and company first before quickly realizing that Fred was the one in charge and that Velma had the most thorough knowledge of the day's events, and thus they mostly wanted to talk to Fred and company. But that was OK by Yusuke. He'd never had much trust in cops, and he was more than a little eager to hang back and not get involved any more than was necessary.

Yusuke stood with Kuwabara and Kurama a good ways away from the front of the house, near the place where the path to Onigumo Manor trailed away into the woods on its way to the main road. They didn't speak, and the demon in Yusuke's pocket had long since quieted, having succumbed to its fate of imprisonment at last (or maybe it had suffocated; hell if Yusuke gave a shit). When the sound of tires crunching over gravel and the rumble of an engine cut the night's quiet air, Yusuke turned to see a van bumping down the thin dirt road. A magnetic decal on the van's side read "MSYTERY INC." in psychedelic letters, ones that seemed to almost pulse as the lights from the cops' cruisers played over their bright orange contours.

It was no surprise to see Shaggy get out of the van once it rolled to a stop and the engine cut off. "Like, it's not our usual ride," the gaijin said as he gave the van's body a pat, "but it gets the job done."

"Custom decals." Yusuke slapped the side of the van, too, in appreciation. "Nice."

"We don't travel abroad without 'em!" Shaggy's face turned uncharacteristically grave. "Thanks for your help in there, guys. Like, still dunno what you were doing out here, but Scoob's a good judge of character. He says you were trying to help, and I believe 'im." And then he was grinning again, which suited him much better, and he held out a hand. "Put 'er there."

Yusuke shook it without hesitation. "Speaking of Scoob," he said. "Where'd that mutt get off to, anyway?"

Shaggy's brow furrowed. "Like. Now that you mention it, I dunno." He cupped his hands around his mouth, looking around for his four-legged friend as he called, "Scoob? Scooby? Scooby-Doo, where are y—?"

A shadow moved beyond the van's many panes of glass. Shaggy turned just as a face appeared in the driver's side window—and this face was red, with burning yellow eyes and enormous curving teeth, black horns jutting from its severe slope of a brow. At once Shaggy gave a frightened yelp, falling flat on his backside as he scrambled away… but then one brown paw came up and ripped the demon mask off of Scooby's grinning face. Yusuke guffawed, slapping his knee as Shaggy sheepishly scrambled up and wrenched the van door open. Scooby hopped out and held up the mask, grinning ear to ear as his tail whipped the air behind him. Shaggy just put his hands on his hips, though, one foot tapping ominously against the gravel road.

"Say," Kuwabara said as he pointed at the monster mask. "Think I could take that home as a souvenir or somethin'? It's really well made n' stuff."

"Like, be my guest!" Shaggy grabbed the mask and looked at it with a shudder. "That thing is way too creepy for me!"

As Kuwabara took possession of the mask, Yusuke wondered if Kuwabara would let him borrow it—because off the top of his head, he could think of at least 19 different ways he could use it to scare Keiko spitless, and Yusuke wasn't the type to let such a golden (or demonic, rather) opportunity pass him by.

Before he could ask Kuwabara about his lending policies, a car door shut with a hollow thump. One of the officers had placed Sakura-san in the front seat of a cruiser; the other cops were bundling themselves into their own cars to cart away Jii-chan and report their findings to their station, or whatever; it wasn't like Yusuke knew what cops got up to in their spare time. Fred and the rest of the gaijin were ambling over wearing big grins on their faces, and somehow Daphne had no trouble walking over the rough terrain in her high heels. Woman had a list of skills as long as her legs, apparently. Yusuke could appreciate that. Mostly the legs, though.

"Well, gang," Fred said when they came to a stop beside the van. "Looks like we solved another mystery."

Daphne grinned; one hip popped out, her hand alighting upon it as she tossed her hair. "And it seems we made some new friends in the bargain."

"Friends, huh?" Yusuke teased. "And to think I thought you didn't like me very much."

"Well." She shrugged, but a smile tugged at her glossed lips. "You're not the worst thing ever."

"Think we could look you up if we visit Japan again?" Fred asked.

"Definitely," said Yusuke. "I run a ramen stand out of Sarayashiki. Food's on me."

Shaggy's metaphorical ears perked up. "Like, ramen?" he said, practically drooling. "Real Japanese ramen?"

Scooby's literal ears perked up. "Rike, ramen?" he echoed, actually drooling. "Real Rapanese ramen?"

"Oh, you better not say that—these two'll eat you out of house and home!" Velma said, and everyone (including the invisible studio audience Yusuke was pretty sure Scooby had projected straight into his head) laughed along with her.

It was oddly bittersweet, watching the gaijin load up into the car. Yusuke hadn't known them for more than a few hours, but they were an oddly charming bunch. Not that he wanted to go on another wild goose-chase in a dilapidated and supposedly haunted mansion in the woods again, but this whole misadventure had actually been pretty fun. He waved at each member of Mystery Inc. as they climbed one by one into the van, leaving the trunk open for Scooby. But as all of the doors other than the trunk's shut and as Scooby headed toward the back of the van to jump inside, Yusuke stepped forward.

Scooby paused, regarding Yusuke over one rounded shoulder. Fred, behind the wheel, engaged the engine, filling the air with the quiet vibration of pumping pistons and rotating belts. The dog-demon's eyes, large and liquid and intense, held apprehension in their depths—but when Yusuke smiled, Scooby gave him a tentative smile in return.

"Scooby," Yusuke said, jerking his head toward the van. "Take care of them, yeah?"

"We won't tell anybody about you. But you gotta promise you'll behave," Kuwabara added.

"Their trust is a gift," said Kurama. "Take care to respect what they've given you."

Scooby's enormous head dipped into a nod. "Rye rill," he said, nodding twice, and then a third time. "Rye romise."

Kuwabara's brow knit, expression sympathetic. "Think you'll ever tell them what you really are?" he said.

"Rye… rye runno." Scooby shot a look at the van, where Velma, Daphne, Fred and Shaggy all sat waiting for him to climb in the back. They waved when they saw him looking, faces open and bright and full of affection for their friend. Scooby's face all but melted when he saw them, light brightening his dark eyes to the color of warm amber.

"Well. Think it over," Yusuke said, trying to keep an annoyingly sappy smile off his face (and for the record, he blamed the damn dog's mind control for the mushy feeling in his chest). "And if you ever need a place to crash, just give us a call."

Kuwabara grinned. "You've got friends in Japan now, Scooby."

"Ones you'll never have to use your psychic powers to convince to trust you." Kurama's smile, though stern, somehow managed to look comforting. "Our trust is a gift given freely, after all."

Scooby's head sank low to the ground. "Rhank rou," he said, the whites showing all the way around his suddenly watering eyes. "Rhank rou rery ruch."

Yusuke blanched, a bit afraid the dog would start wallowing and weeping given the way the mutt's lower lip had begun to wobble like jello in an earthquake. Even though Yusuke had ended up kind of enjoying Scooby's ridiculousness, he was not down for playing therapist or whatever—but luckily Shaggy rolled down one of the van's windows and stuck his goatee-bearing head out.

"C'mon, Scooby!" Shjggy said. "Like, daylight's wasting!"

"Rut-roh! Re right rhere!" Scooby said, and he bolted for the back of the van. "Rye, ruys!" he tossed over his shoulder at Yusuke and his friends. "Rill re reet ragain!"

"Bye, Scoob!" said Kuwabara as Scooby disappeared into the van.

"Farewell, Scooby-Doo," said Kurama as the door shut in Scooby's wake.

"Sayonara, ya mangy mutt," Yusuke said as Fred put the van into drive.

In silence they watched Mystery Inc. drive slowly away from Onigumo Manor, which watched with its eye-hollow windows as the van trundled down the gravel road. Kuwabara gave a low chuckle as the van rolled farther and farther away, holding up the demon mask so he could admire its lurid features.

"It's hilarious, what regular old humans think demons look like," Yusuke said, nudging Kuwabara in the ribs. "Can't believe a rubber mask fooled ya, man!"

Kuwabara's brow shot up. "You thought the demon was real at first, too, y'know."

"Urk!"

"It doesn't matter." Kurama stared off after the van, but his eyes seemed to look even further into the distance. "They proved themselves capable sleuths, in the end. They realized who the villain was possessing, even if they didn't realize he was being manipulated by a parasitic demon. They parsed motive and saved a hostage all on their own."

"What do you think that imp wanted with the manor, really?" Kuwabara said, looking at the van's retreating bumper as well. "Base of operations in Human World?"

"Maybe he just wanted the money, like he said," said Yusuke.

"Demon road trip?" Kuwabara suggested. "Buy a yacht and see the world?"

"That imp's a real jet-setter, I can tell."

Yusuke and Kuwabara laughed. Kurama's eyes closed. His head dipped, chin lowering nearly to his chest.

"Perhaps he merely desired a place to belong," Kurama murmured.

There came a long moment of silence, then. Yusuke tried his best not to put the imp, Scooby and even Kurama into the same box inside his head—but it was hard, and he was more than a little glad when Kuwabara broke the silence.

"Well. No point in wondering, since Koenma'll get the truth out of 'im, anyway," he said. "But whatever the imp wanted, it was a good thing we were here to stop him." And he grinned, his big, blocky face like a light in the dark forest that surrounded Onigumo Manor. "It's a good thing we were here to stop him… with the help of Mystery Inc."

In a silence more contented than the one that had come before, the trio turned to watch the van as it neared a distant bend in the road. Scooby's head popped up in the back window, teeth showing in an enormous, cheerful grin that he paired with a wave of his paw.

Yusuke lifted his hand and returned the gesture.

He got the sense he should be polite, because more importantly, he got the sense he'd meet that pup named Scooby-Doo again someday—and in spite of all they'd been through in the depths of Onigumo Manor, Yusuke was looking forward to it.

NOTES:

Let it be known that as soon as the van gets out of sight, Hiei drops out of his tree and scares the pants off Kuwabara and Yusuke. Kurama greets him politely while Yusuke snarls, "And just where the fuck have you been all night?" To which Hiei responds by saying something snarky as hell before calling them idiots for not realizing that the demon was an imp-possessed human sooner, and then a brawl breaks out while Koenma phones them over the Communication Mirror, screaming that he's solved the whole case and they don't need to worry about the demon because it's just an imp. Kurama pickpockets the mirror from Yusuke and breaks the news that Koenma didn't solve shit because they've already solved the case with the help of Mystery Inc., and Koenma pouts for the next 1,000 years about it.

THE END.

Naw but seriously, that's the end of the main storyline so I'm marking this as "complete". You're going to get two short epilogue chapters, though. The first will be about Hiei, and it will be needlessly full of FEELS. The second will be a bonus chapter for anyone who follows my YYH SI story "Lucky Child." It won't make sense to anyone but LC readers, so feel free to ignore it if you don't already read "LC." It will also be pointlessly silly. Don't get too excited.

And with that… we're done. Thanks for reading this garbage that I'm honestly really in love with. It was a blast and I'm so glad I got to go on this gloriously garbage journey with you.