Melissa: I'm updating, happy?
Miyu: Not really.
Melissa: . Evil monkey.
Miyu: I'm a fox.
Melissa: I don't care. Oh, and a note, if you like Kurama and Hiei, imagine yourself as Kitane and Kanu. But don't bother cuz they probably won't be appearing in the fic after this (Gomen ne, A-chan and L-chan!). And if you like my beloved Yusuke, think of yourself as Keesho. So let's start the chappy, k?
Disclaimer: WHY CAN'T I OWN YYH?!?!?! :::^o^:::
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Chappyter 5: Training sucks, but so do bad dreams
Keesho was bored once again. She plopped backwards onto her lavish hunter green bed and sighed dramatically. She was bored out of her mind. She glanced at the gold-laden clock on her oak nightstand. It was already two o' clock; the tantei should have arrived to start training at half past one. Their tardiness now added irritation to grievances along with boredom.
Keesho looked around, searching for anything that would interest her. If she had been a more welcoming guest, she probably would have been cleaning up the house, waiting by the door for her guests. But that's just not the type of girl Keesho was. Having had grown up rich, she was brought to believe that she was too good for cleaning and left it all for the butlers and housemaids.
"Oh, what's this?" she asked aloud as a gleam from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to find the source of the light refraction; the psychic spyglass that Botan had given her a while back. Picking it up and twirling it in her fingers, she found that the electrical wires in her large wide screen TV were visible through the small piece of glass.
"I wonder what else I can see through this thing," she said to the quiet room. She turned to the door just in time for three tanteis to come in; Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei.
"Is that a psychic spyglass?" Kurama asked, slightly blushing as he spied the small device.
"Uh-huh. Now turn around so I can see the rest of your 'features'," Keesho ordered, holding the glass over her right eye and giving them the look over.
Hiei darted over to Keesho side within a second with a murderous glare on his face. In a flash, he grabbed the spyglass and crushed it in the palm of his hand. "Disgusting perverted ningen."
Keesho gave Hiei a glare and a smirk and at the same time, as she usually did. "I'm spending too much time training; Yusuke's perverted qualities are rubbing off on me," she declared with a snobbish-sounding snort.
A sweat drop fell down the side of Yusuke's head as the other three turned for his reply. "Leave me alone," he muttered with a scowl.
"So, shall I take you guys to the weaponry hall now?" Keesho asked, walking steadily to the door. She placed her hand on the doorknob and faced the boys, waiting for their answer.
"You have a weaponry hall in your house?" Kurama asked, bewildered by the mere thought of a somewhat girly girl having a section of her house completely dedicated to weaponry.
Keesho nodded, a look of uncertainty grazing her face and creasing her smooth complexion. "Yeah, didn't I tell you? My dad's always been into the martial arts and stuff, so he collects weapons as a hobby. Since all that stuff was laying around, I decided to take up archery." The guys just stood there and stared at her; still unable to comprehend the fact that Keesho had a weaponry hall in her massive house.
Keesho led the group out and down several flights of spiraling carpeted stairs. They were so grand that even Hiei had to hold onto the oak safety rail to keep from losing his balance. All over the walls were magnificent tapestries. Some held the Takanaga emblem on them; others had the family crest embroidered on them in fancy hunter green and sapphire blue silks. On other various parts of the seemingly endless walls were oil paintings of the entire Takanaga clan. One of the larger ones was of Keesho in a luxurious dress made of heavy crushed velvet dyed in a crimson that was even deeper than the red in Hiei's eyes. It was trimmed in a shimmering gold material and the bodice was tied tightly, as was the custom with most medieval-style formal wear. Keesho herself was posed so that her body was turned to her right with her right leg crossed over her left, but her head was turned so that it addressed the front. Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei couldn't help but stare at the majestic portrait.
"Do you like my portrait?" Keesho asked as she continued to walk down the long flight of steps. The guys just nodded, still dazed by the brilliant picture.
Eventually they turned their heads, not wanting to trip or be left behind in the labyrinth of steps. A couple of flights down, they found themselves in the presence of a rather unusual portrait; a portrait of a tiger demon. This particular demon was garbed in a gown similar to the one Keesho wore in the other painting, except that it was a dark plum. She was posed the same way except in the opposite direction. Her purple hair was slightly lighter than her dress, and there was a distant, lustful look in her solid green eyes. Her eyes were a trip in themselves; they had no pupil.
"Keesho-san, may I ask who created that masterpiece?" Kurama asked, hypnotized by this picture as well.
Keesho beamed proudly. "Oh, do you like it? I did that a couple of months ago."
Kurama turned to her, his emerald oculars wide in amazement. "You did that?!"
Keesho nodded as if it were common knowledge. "Yes. I did that around the time I met her."
"Who's 'her'?" Hiei asked, finally gracing the group with his voice.
Keesho was about to respond, but Yusuke cut her off. "Meiosutai Kitayu," he said, his voice a low growl. There was a look of locked away anger in his chocolate eyes that no one wanted to question. It would be best if they just left him alone; it was apparent that Kitayu brought up painful memories of four months prior; of Keiko.
The silence making her uncomfortable, Keesho decided to speak up. "C'mon, we still have a way to go before we get to the weaponry hall." She picked up her pace, and continued walking down the stairs.
"How much further is it?" Kurama asked, a bit weary from the endless walking.
Keesho quirked up an eyebrow in thought. "Well… It's on the east wing of the first floor and we're in the west wing of the third floor. You do the math 'cause I'm too lazy to."
Kurama sweat dropped, and Yusuke almost passed out do to over exertion. Hiei was right; Keesho would definitely be the death of them if she kept this up.
*~*~ The east wing of the first floor (finally)
Keesho placed her hand on a fingerprint scanner which opened up a set of gargantuan metal doors that led to the often spoke of weaponry hall. The hall was more like a convention center, filled to the ceiling with several varieties of swords, pikes, spears, rope darts, shuriken, sei, naginatas (A/n: XD), staffs, pairs of tonfa, kodachis, crossbows, arrow quills, and other various items.
Yusuke picked up a nearby crossbow and tossed it to Keesho. "Hey, careful with that!" Keesho scolded him as she clumsily tried to catch the weapon. "This thing's got a hair trigger!"
Yusuke shrugged as he said, "I hope you know how to use that thing, because it's the basis of the next attack."
Keesho set the crossbow down on a nearby stand and gave him a confused look. "You mean I'm gonna learn something other than the reiya?" (A/n: Spirit Arrow. Thankies, Kia-sempai! ^^)
Yusuke nodded and walked up to Keesho. He held up her right arm, stuck it out in front of her, and pulled her left arm over her elbow as if she were holding a crossbow. "Now, summon your reiki in the form of a crossbow about to fire several arrows."
Keesho closed her eyes and concentrated on bringing her energy to her. A luminous green crossbow with four arrows was soon visible and her arm was bathed in the warm green light. When she opened her eyes, she smiled. "Hey, I did it."
Yusuke 'mm-hmm-ed' and told her to only use two arrows for this exercise. When she got rid of the excess, he spoke again. "Now, Kurama and Hiei are extremely fast. I want you to be able to hit them with your reiya at the same time."
Keesho gawked at his request. "What are you, crazy?!"
Yusuke shook his head in frustration. "If the training's paid off, this should be a piece of cake."
Keesho sighed and got into her stance in the center of the room. Hiei and Kurama darted around the large hall and she almost lost track of them a few times. Before she had even felt the cut, a spurt of blood was coming out of her upper left arm. The weapon had been cold, and Keesho knew it had been metal. Hiei had cut her.
Before she could even tend to her wound, she felt something stiff snap at her right cheek. She had seen a flash of green prior to the attack, so she knew what it was; Kurama's rose whip. Her crossbow kept her arms occupied, so she couldn't wipe the trailing blood off to keep it from staining her lightly tanned skin. If she stored her ki away and dispersed the energy crossbow, it would take too long to summon it again and then she would be susceptible to more attacks. She had to hurry; the crossbow took a lot of her reiki and she was getting tired.
Keesho was panting heavily already; the exercise had already taken ten minutes or so, which was much longer than she had expected. The black and green darts courtesy of Hiei and Kurama were dizzying her, and she easily lost track of them time and time again. *Close your eyes,* Keesho commanded herself. Her eyes dropped immediately, saving her a bit of energy. *Just concentrate on their reiki, and then aim.*
Though her eyes were obviously shut, she continued to track the two youkai. Despite the nicks on her flesh from their weapons, she tried to maintain focus. She lifted her arm once again and pointed the arrows in different directions. She now had their movement patterns down and knew exactly where they would attack from next. *Two-thirty; eleven o'clock,* she told herself. She took two sharp breaths; the first one to clear her mind, and the second to let go of her arrows.
"CROSSBOW VOLLEY!!!" she cried, squeezing her eyes shut tighter. The two lime colored arrows flew off; one went slightly to Keesho's left, the other almost ninety degrees to her right. Simultaneously, she heard two gasps, and then two bodies falling to the wooden floor. The sound snapped her eyes open, upon which she collapsed on the ground due to overexertion.
"Keesho!" Alarmed by her fall, Yusuke ran over to the young girl. "Daijobu?!"
Keesho smiled with pure pride, relieving Yusuke of his fright. "I'm okay, really. I hit 'em," she gasped with a grin. Keesho turned to face her 'opponents' and smirked when she saw them on the ground. Apparently, the feeling of being drained of her energy was due to her charging the attack for so long. "Ano, Hiei, Kurama, daijobu? I can have the butler bring over a med kit if you want," she offered.
Hiei gave a gruff shake of his head and Kurama returned Keesho's smile. "We're okay, Keesho-san. My plants can heal us both. I was starting to think you weren't going to hit us for a second."
Keesho scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Hah! I was just stalling to build up the drama."
"That's a load of bull," Yusuke commented as he whacked Keesho upside the head.
"What the Hell was that for?!" Keesho screeched as she rubbed her head. "I'm injured, ya know!"
Yusuke gave an unsympathetic shrug, causing Keesho to get irritated and start another fight with him. Kurama and Hiei had to come over and stop the fight. When all of the commotion had ceased Yusuke had a black eye, and Keesho had fallen into a well-deserved sleep on his shoulder.
"Got any more smelling salts in that hair of yours, Kurama?" Yusuke asked his medically versed comrade. "We have to keep training her."
Kurama was about to take out more smelling salts, but Hiei intervened. "Let the girl sleep. She's exhausted."
Yusuke and Kurama gave Hiei a confused look. And why wouldn't they? Hiei had shown compassion towards Keesho, and that was definitely not in his profile as the forbidden child of the Makai no Koorime. It was odd; Hiei was going soft.
*~*~
Keesho floated in an environment that seemed like it wouldn't exist if she hadn't been there to experience it. There were no walls, no ceiling, and no floor. Everything was just a blank white slate. She was the only thing in the area, except for an oddly bright yellow light.
Just then, Keesho noticed something familiar and purple rise out of the nothingness below her. As it rose further, Keesho's eyes widened in an unexplainable emotion. Before her was Meiosutai Kitayu.
"K-Kitayu?!?!" Keesho stuttered in what could be called amazement, shock, fear, or even a mixture of the three. A smile was creeping up her lips as she was happy to see her friend again, but it vanished as soon as she remembered that Kitayu was going to kill her.
Kitayu put on a pouty and innocent look on her smooth face. "What's wrong, Kee-chan? Aren't you happy to see me? I mean, it has been a while."
Keesho's sapphire eyes suddenly turned icy and angry, like a raging blue fire dancing upon ice. She clenched her hands into fists and they were once again bathed in her warm green ki. The ki swirled around her arms, resembling a snake made of green fog that had been angry and ready to strike for too long. "Am I happy to see you?" Keesho asked. "Well, I don't know; would you be happy to see the person trying to kill you?!"
Kitayu was taken aback at first by the hurt in Keesho's eyes, but then regained her usual satirical grin. "Oh, Kee-chan, I wasn't going to kill you… yet. I was going to use your body for a while; it would've been perfect, especially since you too are an archer with reiki."
The irony in Kitayu's tone aggravated Keesho even more. Kitayu had delivered shattering news that sent blows to Keesho's soul, and she had done it with a devious grin. How Kitayu was able to be so demented, so twisted, was beyond Keesho. She didn't want to think about it; it caused too much pain and too many bittersweet memories.
"I won't let you have my body, not on my life," Keesho growled, sending piercing stares toward her former friend, but to no avail. Kitayu remained unaffected by Keesho's anger.
"Not on your life, eh?" Kitayu asked, her jade green eyes glittering with the excitement of a new challenge. "Then we'll just have to do something about the whole 'life' thing."
"Right back at ya, bitch," Keesho retorted with a sneer. She held up her right arm and pointed her spirit crossbow at Kitayu, the one person she had never really expected to turn on.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Melissa: WAI!! What a chappy! I know you're gonna hate me for leaving the loose end, but I have to build up drama, people!
Miyu: I hate you period.
Melissa: (rolls eyes) Typical Miyu. Anyway, I realize that not everyone is as well versed in combat as I am (I spend too much time with my dad, video games, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel ^^;;), so I'm going to tell you what they mean, kay?
Volley- a term used in archery squadrons for when several arrows are shot at once at a certain area.
Two-thirty, eleven o' clock- in reference to a clock used for when pointing out where your enemies are in relation to yourself. (i.e. think when you're driving, your hands should be at ten and two on the steering wheel. Got it?)
Melissa: If you have any more questions on them, please feel free to ask. Here, my wonderful reviewers, leaves! (Throws a bunch of leaves) ^^
Miyu: -_-() Oi…
A girl and her muses-
I still wanna read Fates Messed Up Again! And Arisa, I felt like making a character on Ari, SO DEAL WITH IT!!! Oh, and Ari-chan, I didn't know you had a thing for Kuwabara… XD Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
Kojiro-kun-
(Whacks him on the head and makes him lose brain cells) Hah! Now you don't know how to cheat death or come back to life! XP Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
kuruna icefire-
O.o Maybe I shouldn't give you anymore leaves… Uh, anyway, I just like the plot line of the Fourth World better. That's all. Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
Miyu: Those responses are awfully short.
Melissa: Yeah, well this was a long chappy. And next chappy, major angst and fighting! YAY! Reviewers get to hit Miyu with an object of their choice! Fun, ne?
Miyu: NANI?! I hate you so much, AA!!
Melissa: ^^ I know. Review onegai and have a nice day! ^_^
