Author note: okay, so...This story doesn't seem to get much appreciation around here. But, apparently there is someone reading it, so I'll just keep on updating it and hope that more people will come to read and like it. In the meantime, well, it would mean a lot to me if those who already like it could let me know. Just so that I'll know that my work is not for nothing.
oxoxoxoxoxo
(Sayuri)
I had lost count of the days as I slowly wasted away in the small cave: I ate only what was strictly necessary not to die, left the den only to bathe in the small ice-cold stream close by and slept more and more often, sleep being the only thing that stopped the pain and loneliness gnawing at my soul. Then one day, I felt the presence of someone out of my cave and heard a female voice I did not recognize. "Yoko Sayuri, please come out". "Why should I?". "It's important", the female insisted, "It concerns your brother". "My brother is dead". "No, he's not and he needs your help".
My ears twitched at that and I rose to my feet despite myself, turning towards the entrance, "Explain". "Please, come out", she repeated. I sighed and complied, finding the blue-haired reaper from so long ago right in front of me, "Well?". "The Four Saint Beasts have sent a message to Spirit World and…". "Cut it short, reaper: what does Rara have to do with it?". Far from being intimidated by my harsh tone, she pouted like a scolded child, "I was getting to it! He has been tasked to join our spirit detective in a mission against those four and we thought…". "I'm going too", I cut her off: even if Rara had abandoned me for a pathetic human female, I would not let him face the Four Saint Beasts alone. He was still my brother and I still loved him more than my own life, no matter how much he had hurt me.
She brightened and clapped her hands, "Wonderful! I hoped you'd say that! I'll bring you to Spirit World and from there, we'll drop you to your destination", she added, her oar appearing beside her. I sat down on the slim piece of wood behind her and we flew high into the air, up and up and up and up. When we finally reached the palace of prince Koenma, she guided me along a corridor I remembered well and I did a double-take when I found out that there were two other people I knew there.
"Yuyu!". "Hello, Shuichi", my tone was icy, but deep down I was happy to see him again, even in that stupid (albeit quite handsome) human body. Rara flinched, his smile vanishing, but his eyes were hopeful as he took a step towards me, "I am…Surprised to see you here". I shrugged, "Little miss reaper here said that Demon World needed my help", I replied, then smiled at the other man, "Hello, Hiei, it's good to see you again". The fire demon nodded, "Hello, Sayuri".
"Actually, I said that your brother needed help, not that…", the reaper began, but fell silent at my glare. Too late, though: Rara had heard her and was now giving me the heart-melting smile that was for me and me alone, "You came here for me?". I crossed my arms on my chest, staring at my black flat shoes, "Yeah, well…You're my brother and I love you. Even if you prefer the humans to me", I added sadly. "Yuyu, I don't prefer humans to you!", he said, placing his hands on my shoulders and tilting his head to meet my gaze, "I love you, little sister and that has never changed".
"You left me", I looked at him, fighting back the tears, "I missed you so much and you didn't care!". "I did care, Yuyu, I swear. But I was too weak to come back and even now…Well, you can feel it, can't you? I've only managed to get back to middle B-class at best, a far cry from the upper A-class I once was. I would have been nothing but a burden to you". I gaped at him, then narrowed my eyes and pressed my index finger to the tip of his nose, "Now listen, you foolish fox! You are my big brother, I love you more than anything else in the three worlds and I don't give a rat's ass what class you are, you will never, ever, ever be a burden to me, is that clear? So don't you dare say something that stupid again!", I concluded sternly.
He blinked, taken aback by my outburst, then chuckled, "Oh, Yuyu, how much I've missed you", he said, his voice laced with fondness and warmth. "I'm so sorry for getting mad at you, Rara", I hugged him and buried my face in his soft rose-red hair, "Can you forgive me?". "I already have", he assured me, holding me close. The reaper let out a soft 'aaawwww', then seemed to check herself and straightened, "Oh, silly me, there's no time to waste! Come, I'll bring you to Koenma".
oxoxoxoxoxo
(Sayuri)
I was positively quivering with curiosity, eager as I was to meet the spirit detective Rara spoke so highly of, but when he, Hiei and I jumped off of the tree, I found myself looking at…Two human boys, probably in their mid-teens: one had black hair slicked back with grease and warm brown eyes and the other one had ginger hair styled in an odd pompadour, rough features and black eyes full of childish innocence.
"So…These two are the spirit detectives?", I asked my brother, stunned, "Spirit World has sunk so low that they now resort to sending children to fight their battles?". "Hey, who're you calling a child? For you information, I'm fourteen, okay?", the black-haired boy glared fiercely at me, then smiled brightly at my two companions, "Kurama, Hiei, what are you doing here?". "Koenma sent us, fearing that you would not be strong enough to defeat the enemies", Hiei informed him flatly.
Rara nodded with a friendly smile. "He told us that this would be a good way to clean the slate of our past crimes and that he would erase our sentence". The boy glanced at me, "And you?". "I'm Kurama's sister, my name is Yoko Sayuri", I answered and his eyes widened. "Whaaaat? I had no idea Kurama had a sister!", he exclaimed, "Well, anyway, introductions: my name's Urameshi Yusuke and this one here is Kuwabara. Kuwabara, they're Hiei, Kurama and Sayuri", he added, turning to the tall ginger-haired human at his side.
The other boy blushed hard as he smiled goofily at me, "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss Sayuri, I'm Kuwabara Kazuma and you're really beautiful", he babbled, revealing a slightly gruff yet pleasant voice, then cleared his throat as he noticed the glares he was getting from the two demons on each side of me and smiled at them, "Ah and pleasure to meet you as well, I have no idea what's going on, but backup is always welcome".
"Listen, Yusuke", Hiei intervened, "I know that Kurama has a debt of gratitude towards you, but I'm not satisfied with the outcome of our fight, which you won by pure luck". Kazuma scoffed, "Will you listen to this shrimp, so small and yet he boasts so much!". "Watch your words, ugly, I could get mad", Hiei warned him. "Such gall!", the human tried to punch him, but missed by a mile as the fire demon moved forward faster than lightning, addressing Yusuke once more, "For the time being, we are allies, but there will come a time when I will settle the score".
"Enough, Hiei", Rara scolded him, "We already have enough problems as it is". Yusuke just smiled though, "That's fine by me, I'm always happy to accept the challenge of a worthy opponent, but let's keep it for later and go the the castle now". "About time", I muttered as we walked ahead. It seemed that Hiei and Kazuma would not become friends anytime soon, for they started bickering even before we set foot inside the building and something told me this was only the beginning.
Right past the entrance, we found ourselves in a long corridor and suddenly a purple-skinned floating yellow eyeball with bat wings and long tentacles flew toward us. "Welcome to the Maze Castle", it said in an oddly screeching voice, then stared at me and its eyelids crinkled in what I assumed was its way of grinning, "Welcome, Yoko Sayuri! My masters are pleased by your presence and they would be honored if you accepted to join their ranks. They know of your reputation and would welcome you with open arms, you only need to leave your useless companions behind".
I stared right back, unimpressed by the offer, "I only have two words for your masters: f**k off", I replied, flipping it the bird. Behind me, Urameshi burst out laughing, while Rara let out an indignant gasp. "Yuyu! Language!", he scolded me and I shrugged. "Sorry, but some things need to be said", I said and he sighed while I chuckled: more than three thousand years and he still scolded me for my foul mouth. You'd think he would have given up on it by now, but noooo, not my gentleman of a big brother who spoke like a book even while slowly flaying alive an enemy as punishment for pissing him off.
The odd eyeball sobered and seemed to frown, "How disappointing. Still, to be allowed inside, you must face the trial of the Gateway of Betrayal". Yusuke glared at the winged monster, "What does that mean?". The 'thing' floated outside the corridor and grabbed a lever with a tentacle, then flipped it and after a moment, the ceiling began sliding down. "Hells!", I cursed as we all struggled to keep it from crushing us.
The eyeball chuckled, "Quite heavy, isn't it? It's an intelligent trap, it only applies the pressure that you can bear. But it's also very cruel: it only takes one of you to relax a moment for the trap to press more heavily upon you all. The only way to survive is to abandon your companions and proceed alone. If it's friendship that prevails, you will all be crushed as soon as your strength fails you. Betrayal is the key to survival", it let out another obnoxious chuckle and I felt black fury bubble up in my chest.
Suddenly, the pressure increased and Kazuma yelped. "We must not lose focus!", Hiei snapped, "Who was it?". The ginger-haired boy glared at him, "Where I come from, we say that the one who smells it first ripped it!". "Shut up you two!", Yusuke growled, "Hiei is right, we must stay focused!". "The only way to get out of this situation is to switch the trap off", I said, my voice strained under the effort of holding the stone ceiling as high as I could to protect the males.
"Yeah, you're right. Hiei!", Yusuke turned towards the fire demon, "You're a lot faster than any of us. We'll hold the ceiling up while you go and flip the switch". "What?!", Kazuma exclaimed, "You crazy? We can't trust that guy! Just look. He doesn't care at all about us!". Hiei grinned, "Your ugly friend has a good point, detective", he said, then sobered as he met the black-haired human's gaze, "Are you sure you want to trust me? I've already vowed my revenge on you. Maybe I'll handle that now".
Yusuke smiled, a genuine friendly smile, "Nah, you won't, 'cause if you do, you won't have the chance to fight me again", he said, "Using all of my power, I should be able to keep it up for a couple of seconds. It should be enough for you to get there and switch the trap off". "He's right", I intervened, "You're the only one who can do it, Hiei. I trust you". The fire demon turned back to the exit of the tunnel and narrowed his eyes in concentration, then sprinted forward like a black blur and stopped in front of the lever.
His fingers brushed it…And then he paused and turned to look at us all, an unreadable look in his ruby-red eyes. The floating eyeball flew down to him, "Just let them die. The lever is trapped, you know? If you pull it down, you will die with them. There is no reason to give up your life, when you could conquer the world of humans with the aid of my masters". I gritted my teeth, my back bent more as the pressure increased to the point we were nearly on our knees.
"Hey, shorty, whatcha waiting for?", Kazuma yelled, "Flip the damned lever!". Hiei smirked, once more stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Your naivety is astounding", he sneered, looking at us. "Monster!", Kazuma snarled, incensed. I frowned, something didn't feel quite right about that: sure, it looked like he was leaving us here to die and yet, that spark in his eyes... The bat-winged thing was extremely pleased, "Well done! You're smart and strong, you proved yourself worthy to join my masters. Come, I'll lead you to them".
"Not so fast!", in a flash, Hiei jumped up in the air and sliced cleanly through the eyeball, then approached the lever and flipped it, switching the trap off. He barely had time to look up, that an impossibly big boulder crashed down on the exact spot where he was standing. "HIEI!", I screamed, sudden panic filling my veins for some reason I could not explain.
I ran faster than I ever had in my life and when I reached the boulder, my tension dissolved: Hiei stood on top of it, safe and sound, glaring at the now severely injured eyeball. "Fly to your masters and tell them that, if they surrender, we will spare their lives", he spat to the bat-winged monster, then he jumped off of the rock to land in front of us. "Thank the kami", I smiled and touched his arm before I even realized I was moving, "Are you all right?". He blinked, then nodded in silence.
Yusuke let out a relieved sigh and grinned, "Great job, Hiei! Thanks, man, really. Gave me one hell of a scare there though, you're quite the actor!". The fire demon scoffed, "Yes, well, don't get any ideas", he stated, stalking towards the stairs, then stopped and pointed at us, "I only saved your lives because I am aware that I won't be able of defeating them all on my own, nothing more", and with that, he turned his back on us and resumed walking. Rara chuckled and addressed Yusuke in a quiet tone, as not to be overheard by Hiei, "It's his way of saying 'you're welcome'. You will learn".