by: Kawaii Kitsune
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and all the characters in the wonderful show do not belong to me, blah, blah, blah. You get the point. No money, don't sue, blah, blah, blah. Moving on.
Note: italics indicate thoughts.
"Koenma, what's with the idea of calling us at 5:00 in the morning on a Saturday?!?" Yusuke yelled at the toddler lord. Both Yusuke and Kuwabara were yawning every ten seconds, glaring intensely at Koenma. The little Lord of the Dead, however, was too busy to notice it. "You better have a good reason for waking me up," threatened the delinquent.
"I'll tell you once Botan gets Kurama and Hiei here," Koenma answered the angry teen.
As soon as those words were said, Botan came flying through the door of the office, carrying with her a slightly dizzy redhead and a cursing fire demon. They both got off the oar as quickly as possible, and Botan made the oar disappear.
"Good, you're finally here," stated Koenma, "Now that the whole team is present, I can start describing the situation."
He turned to his desk and pressed a button. A gigantic screen lowered from the ceiling and turned on. Shots of numerous dead bodies flashed on the screen. Some of the bodies were cut into pieces, while others seemed to have been impaled a thousand times. Some were burned to a crisp, barely recognizable as a body, and others were stabbed through the neck. All these would have been typical scenes from the Makai, except that the pictures were taken from the Ningenkai, and the dead bodies were that of humans.
The Reikai Tantei were shocked beyond words, even Hiei.
"As you can see," Koenma said in a low tune, "we have a big problem."
"Koenma, what is going on?" demanded Yusuke, "How could that have happened?"
The baby lord sighed heavily. "As far as I know, a youkai, probably a A-class, is loose in the Ningenkai. This demon is randomly picking humans off the streets and brutally slaughtering them. This youkai does not consume the flesh or absorb the souls of the victims; it has not specific reason to be killing them, except for sport. You, Reikai Tantei, must find and stop this youkai before it kills again."
"Hai," the four team members answered.
"Do you have any other information for us?" Kurama asked, "Is it male or female? What does the demon look like? What are its powers?"
Koenma shook his head negatively. "Gomen nasai. What I've just told you is all that I know. We've asked the souls of the victims for a description of the killer, but all of them said the same thing, 'There was only a shadow before the darkness.' The youkai was too fast to be seen by mere human perception."
"Don't worry, Koenma. I, Kazuma Kuwabara, will find this demon and exact revenge for all those poor victims," the tall human yelled out with pride.
"Hn. Baka ningen."
"What did you say, you little shrimp?" Kuwabara shrieked.
"How can you expect to catch an S-class youkai when you can barely count to ten?" Hiei replied.
"Why you little..." Yusuke quickly ran to restrain the fuming Kuwabara.
"Hiei, how do you know it's an S-class demon?" asked Kurama, "Koenma said that it's probably an A-class. A demon with such high powers would have no reasons to prey on innocent ningens."
"I felt a presence a week ago," the fire demon answered, "It was only for a moment, but I'm sure it was S-class. And I'd bet my life it was the same youkai that killed those ningens."
"K'so," Yusuke swore, "An S-class on the loose might be harder to deal with."
"Well, we're not getting anything done just standing here," said Kurama, "Let's go out there and search for this youkai. Maybe we'll find something useful."
"Right," Yusuke ordered, "Let's split up. Me and Kuwabara will search north and east. Kurama and Hiei take the south and west."
"Hai."
"We'll meet at Genkai's at ten tonight," said the leader, "Be careful." And they were off.
Hiei's Jagan glowed an eerie green as he scanned the area. His two normal eyes were closed in concentration. After a few minutes of scanning, the Jagan closed shut and Hiei opened his blood-red eyes. He placed the ward back over the third eye and turned to Kurama, who stood next to him.
"Did you sense anything, Hiei?"
"Iie. I couldn't find anything."
"Well," Kurama sighed, "we better start heading back. We still have to meet at Genkai's and it's a long walk from a here to her place."
"Hn." Hiei started waling off in a fast pace.
Kurama smiled and ran to catch up to the fire demon. He knew Hiei was purposely slowing down to let the fox catch up. If Hiei went his normal speed, he would have been there by now. After Kurama caught up with the Jaganshi, he looked down at Hiei. The redhead smiled and said, "Thanks for walking with me, Hiei."
"Hn."
The ball of youki appeared out of nowhere and hit them with an enormous force. The two of them were hurled back by the unexpected attack. Their bodies made a sickening sound as they hit the tree trunks, finally stopped. Hiei fought to get up, while Kurama groaned on the ground, struggling against unconsciousness. A maniacal laughter filled the air. The alto pitch of the voice made it impossible to determine the gender of the attacker.
"Don't tell me that you're down and out from that," teased the youkai, its presence still hidden from sight, "You are even more pathetic than I previously thought." The voice laughed again.
"Kisama! Why are you hiding?" snarled Hiei, Jagan glowing intensely in the dark, "Show yourself, you coward!"
A dark shadow jumped from the blackness of the forest and landed in front of the two Reikai Tantei. Hiei could see clearly that the figure was female. She had long, flowing hair, tied into a high ponytail that reached slightly below her waist. It was dark red in color, so dark it almost looked black in the low light. Her eyes were a few shades lighter than her hair, a beautiful, and deadly, blood red. They seemed to shine in the night. A simple circlet went around her head, with a black jewel in the center of it. Her face was breathtaking and flawless, almost angelic if it wasn't for the evil smirk and the chilling glare. Her figure was like her face: beautiful and perfectly proportioned. What she wore was a black, sleeveless Chinese dress. There was a simple band of white cloth, with a black dragon embroidered on it, around her skinny waste. Two slits that started at her skinny waist were on each side of the dress. She wore black knee-high boots that didn't quite go with the rest of her outfit, but they were extremely flexible and durable, perfect for combat. The outfit accented her every curve and left plenty of skin showing.
Hiei knew that what the girl wore was only partly for looks and distracting her opponents; the other part was for convenience. Her clothes were not constraining and made movement easier. All this led up to an experience fighter and a deadly killer.
"Who are you?" Hiei demanded as he helped Kurama to stand, his eyes never once leaving the youkai.
"Silly Hiei," answered the girl, "If I told you now, it would ruin the surprise."
"Nani?"
"Don't worry, Hiei," the youkai continued, "All will become perfectly clear in due time."
"Why are you attacking innocent humans?" asked Kurama, who finally managed to catch his breath. He seemed to have been hit with the brunt of the attack.
"Well, I had to find some way to draw you two out into the open," said the youkai, "Plus, I enjoy the sight of blood and death." Her eyes gleamed murderously. "Now, enough talk. Let's get down to business." With that, her form burst into black flames and she shot a gigantic fireball at the two figures before her.
Black fire!?! How? "K'so." Hiei easily dodged the ball of fire, but Kurama was not so fast. Because of the earlier ki attack, his reflexes were slow and sluggish. He barely jumped out of its path in time, so close that his clothes were singed. He fell to the ground and rolled several times before stopping.
Upon seeing the fox hurt, Hiei quickly jumped into action. He unsheathed his katana and ran towards the youkai, with evil intents on his mind. However, when he swung down his word, his target was no longer there. K'so. Where did she go? He turned around and searched for the girl. He spotted her on once of the branches, but once again the girl proved to be the faster of the two. Hiei's sword only hit air. How can she be faster than me?
Kurama, who was watching the entire battle, was speechless. None of Hiei's attacks landed. Just how fast is she? He gripped tightly on his Rose Whip and looked for an opening. He soon found one, but just as he was preparing to attack, he felt something grab onto his legs. The youko looked down and saw vines coiling around his legs and traveling upwards. He used his powers to try to stop them, but his youki was weakened by the previous attacks, and he could not overcome the other's control over the plants. But didn't she possess the power of fire? She can't be a plant-wielder as well. Is there another youkai here, waiting to ambush us?
Hiei was beginning to show signs of fatigue. Every time he attacked the youkai, she would just disappear from sight. He was fast, but the girl was always a little faster. The fire demon was getting very angry and frustrated.
"Is that all you've got, Hiei?" teased the girl, "And I thought you were powerful."
"Bastard! If you stop running away from me, I'll show you how powerful I am."
"Gomen, little Hiei. I'm not supposed to fight you yet. Orders are orders." She jumped to where Kurama was tied up in vines. She blew Hiei a kiss, picked up the squirming Kurama with relative ease, and vanished in the blink of an eye. Only her voice lingered. "Hikoku-sama will be waiting for you, and so will I." With that, she was gone.
"KURAMAAAAAAA!" Hiei's scream could be heard from miles away.
Some action, eh? Hope you like it so far. Review! Please?
