Brotherhood of the Fox
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha
Part Three: The Capture
The small shard reflected the soft glow of the moon outside, and caused rays of diluted rainbows to shine on the area around it. Bright emerald green eyes stared at the shard as though he was hypnotized by the simple gem, but his mind was far away from the object in his hand. Instead his mind was lost in the events of the day, of the meeting with his brother.
"Damn, I'm so stupid," Kurama mentally scolded. He was able to save his brother from the immediate danger, but he failed in warning him about the events that would bring his death in the future…or past.
Kurama growled, and clenched the jewel shard inside of his fists, covering the beauty of the gem.
"What's wrong fox? Does that treasure not suite you?"
"No Hiei, you have misread me," Kurama said rolling over till he was facing the small demon on his windowsill. "This shard is one of my most treasured possessions, and one of the most powerful artifacts in the three worlds," Kurama explained tossing the shard over toward Hiei, who caught the shard on instinct.
Hiei turned the shard around in his hand, before he tossed it back. "Pathetic, I was sure that you had better taste then this," Hiei exclaimed showing his disappointment.
Kurama caught the shard and glared angrily at Hiei. "For your information, Hiei, this shard is a piece of a very powerful jewel that King Enma had hidden away in a vault so secretive and protective, it took me three hundred years to gain the ability to steal it. Stealing the artifacts of darkness was child's play compared to the robbery of this jewel," Kurama pointed out as he stood and made his way toward the dresser. "It was my life ambition to get a hold of that jewel, and it wasn't because of the power it promised, but because of the sentimental value it had for me," Kurama explained once again falling into silent memory.
"What are you talking about fox?" Hiei asked finally breaking the silence when it was obvious that the fox wasn't going to continue.
Kurama sighed before responding, "My brothers spent almost their whole life trying to gather all of the broken shards of this jewel, and when King Enma killed them at the creation of the spirit and demon world… He stole the jewel from their dead hands before taking off," Kurama said clutching his dresser drawer angrily. "I may serve King Enma's son, but I feel no loyalties to the royal family," Kurama stated pulling open the drawer, and picking up a white box. "Here," Kurama said tossing the box over to Hiei. "That box is full of wards to help mask the power of the jewel that resides inside of it, but I'm sure your Jagan will be able to get past that," Kurama explained leaning against his dresser as he waited for Hiei to open the box.
Hiei seemed hesitant as he undid the lock, and opened the lid to reveal the almost perfectly round jewel inside.
"Use your Jagan," Kurama ordered waiting as the smaller demon removed his bandanna.
The Jagan glowed a bright purple light as Hiei concentrated on the jewel inside. What happened next was Hiei felt like he was thrown backwards by the sudden onslaught of raw energy that seemed to explode out of the gem. His Jagan eye erupted into a blinding red color that cast Kurama's room into what felt like a red void.
"Make it stop!" Hiei yelled clutching the side of his head, and dropping the box.
Kurama stepped forward and carefully picked up the box before sealing it. Almost instantly the Jagan eye returned back to normal, leaving Hiei panting on the ground.
"As I said before, it is a very powerful artifact that few have the power to control without going mad. I guess I can only be thankful that only a select few demons know of its existence," Kurama said putting the box back inside of his dresser, and closing the drawer. For a moment the room was cast back into silence before Kurama turned and stared at Hiei sternly.
"You may be my partner, and I may even think of you as a friend sometimes, but if you ever speak of this, or try to take this jewel from me, I will kill you," Kurama threatened.
************************************************************************
Kagome woke suddenly as she was assaulted by what felt like a wave of burning energy. Short gasps racked the girl as she raced toward the window ignoring the chilly night air. Off in the distance, Kagome was barely able to make out the glow of a jewel before it was shut out completely, and all of the power she had felt earlier disappeared.
"Inuyasha, I need to tell him about this," Kagome thought grabbing her robe, and covering her petite figure from the cool night, before she raced outside and into the well.
************************************************************************
Inuyasha stared off into the night, still contemplating the weird boy Kagome had brought with her. Not only was it reckless of Kagome, but the boy was keeping too many secrets for his taste.
"Perhaps you are afraid that Kagome has taken a liking to this new boy, and was just trying to impress him," Miroku suggested smiling teasingly as Inuyasha snarled angrily.
"And why would I care?" Inuyasha demanded just waiting for the monk to elaborate more on his theory.
"Hey, don't get all offensive, I was only trying to figure out why Kagome was so willing to bring a teenage boy with her," Miroku tried to explain watching Inuyasha.
"Because she sensed a shard on him, and she wanted me around incase he tried something," Inuyasha stated.
"Sure, that is why she failed to pursue the matter further until he was safely back in her time. I noticed she didn't hesitate to go after him, and how do we know for sure that the boy really had a shard on him?" Miroku pointed out getting another angry snarl from the half demon.
"Because I trust her," Inuyasha blurted receiving a triumphant look from the monk.
Miroku was about ready to respond with a snide comment when he saw Inuyasha become tense. "What's wrong, do you sense something?" Miroku demanded getting on his feet.
"It's Kagome. She's here," Inuyasha said looking at the monk confused. "She shouldn't be back yet. She wasn't going to come back until after school," Inuyasha explained sounding worried.
"Maybe there is a logical explanation," Miroku tried to say, but Inuyasha didn't stay around to listen as he raced out of the hut and toward the forest.
************************************************************************
"Are you positive that you just didn't imagine the whole thing?" Miroku asked looking at Kagome carefully.
"I'm positive. I know that I sensed what felt like a large amount of the jewel in one spot," Kagome said calming down slightly now that she was in the presence of familiar company.
"It could be a trap," Sango theorized, "After all, I've never heard of the jewel giving off such a strong reaction like you have described."
"But why would someone want to create a trap in Kagome's time?" Shippo asked looking up at Kagome.
"Perhaps whoever created this trap was hoping that Kagome would come to investigate it alone," Miroku said thoughtfully.
"Does it really matter? All we need to do is go to Kagome's time and figure this thing out ourselves. All of this waiting around and chatting isn't doing anything," Inuyasha said giving the well a longing look.
"But you can't go to my time. Remember what that boy said. There are people over there that are just waiting for you," Kagome objected.
Inuyasha growled at the mentioning of that boy. "It wouldn't surprise me one bit if that boy is the one behind this," Inuyasha said totally disregarding the warning as he made his way toward the well. "Well, are you coming?" he demanded turning around briefly to glare at the group before disappearing into the well.
************************************************************************
Kagome couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding as she was carried on Inuyasha's back. With each leap the half demon took from one rough top to another, she couldn't help but cling to him fearfully. "I think we should go back," Kagome said looking behind at the others, who were trailing behind on Kilala's back.
"Forget it," Inuyasha growled back picking up his pace slightly.
"But…" Kagome was stopped suddenly as a blue beam barely missed her and Inuyasha.
Coming to a sudden halt, Kagome quickly got off of his back, and made her way toward some shelter as two teenage boys made their way toward the dog demon.
"Are you alright?" Sango asked as she and Miroku leaped off of Kilala and stood next to Inuyasha defensively.
"I can't believe you missed them Urameshi!" the taller of the two teenagers yelled looking unconcerned about the three opponents before him.
"It's not my fault. The demon had a human on his back." the black haired boy said defensively looking like he cared more about his pride then the more obvious threat.
"Oh," the orange haired boy said blinking stupidly before he seemed to take notice of the three people standing in a defensive fighting stance in front of him. "Man, they look funny," the boy exclaimed.
"Who are you calling funny looking?" Inuyasha demanded charging forward with his sword.
"What?…" Kuwabara yelled barely blocking with his spirit sword as he stumbled backwards.
"What the hell?" Inuyasha demanded looking at the strange orange glowing sword that had stopped his onslaught.
"It's my supper magnificent…" Kuwabara tried to say when Inuyasha slashed at him with his claws. "Hey that's not fair!" Kuwabara yelled barely avoiding the attack. With one loud war cry, Kuwabara lounged forward with his own attack, and that was all it took for the fight to begin.
Kagome watched the battle in horrified fascination. She had never seen human's fight with such tactics before, and some of the moves the teenage boys were using was unheard of, even for a demon.
"Who are those people," Shippo asked peaking out of Kagome's backpack with just as much fascination and fear as Kagome.
"Those most be the spirit detectives Shuuichi warned us about," Kagome said gulping in horror as realization finally hit her.
The battle continued with even more ferocity then before as Yusuke and Kuwabara were forced to use more spirit energy, and Miroku was forced to unveil his wind tunnel in an attempt to get the upper hand. But even from a distance, Kagome could tell that the strange human boy's were slowly beginning to win.
"I wish those two would stop fooling around."
Kagome swung around to face the direction that the voice had come from. A startled gasp escaped her lips as she found herself staring at a blue haired girl floating in the air on top of an oar.
"What's this?" the blue haired girl asked looking at Kagome startled. "Can you see me?" the girl asked sounding unsure of herself as she landed and approached the frightened girl.
Kagome stared wide mouthed before she slowly nodded.
"Wow, I guess you must have high spirit awareness," the girl said smiling joyfully as she held her hand out toward Kagome. "The names Botan, pilot of the river stick, and guide for the dead," Botan introduced frowning when Kagome didn't shake her hand.
Botan was about ready to say something more when a large explosion interrupted her.
"Finally, it's over," Botan said looking over toward the battle field.
Kagome followed Botan's gaze, watching as the cloud of dust and debris began to settle. What she saw made her heart sink. Grinning triumphantly was Yusuke and Kuwabara as they dusted off their uniform. On the ground in front of them were the still forms of her comrades.
"Hey Botan, is pacifier breath going to pick these guys up, or do I have to do everything?" Yusuke yelled.
Kagome watched as Botan tensed slightly in annoyance before she responded.
"Lord Koenma will be sending some messengers to pick them up," Botan yelled back taking a step toward the two boys when she was grabbed from behind.
"Please leave them alone. They have done nothing wrong," Kagome begged clinging to Botan's pink dress.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have the authorization to let them go," Botan said looking at Kagome defensively.
"But they did nothing wrong! They didn't hurt anybody," Kagome said releasing Botan.
Botan opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but decided against it as she made her oar appear in her hand. "Try to forget what you saw today," Botan said softly before she took off toward Yusuke.
************************************************************************
Kagome watched silently as the spirit world guards dragged her friends away. Tears slid down her face, but she didn't seem to notice. The blue haired girl had given her one last sympathetic look before she disappeared, and the two teenage boys gave her regretful looks as if they really weren't happy about the capture, before they too went on their way.
"What are we going to do?" Shippo asked.
"I don't know," Kagome sobbed. "But maybe Shuuichi will know," Kagome said picking up her stuff, and heading toward her last hope.
TBC.
Author's endnote: Well, how was that. Please point out mistakes, but please be gentle about it. And if you have suggestions, feel free to send them to me in a review. Thanks for reading.