Once Upon a Dream-Time
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, and I don't know how original this storyline is so I'm not even going to say I own it just in case I don't. I do own my original character. That's all.
CHAPTER ONE
The next morning, Hiei was called in to meet up with Yusuke, Kurama, and the Kuwabara idiot in Koenma's office about another stupid mission. He didn't care; he showed up late. Everyone was waiting, even the blue-haired ferry girl with her stupid oar. The toddler brat tried to yell at him, but the fire demon wasn't paying any attention, so Koenma gave up. The instructions were given for their mission: a rogue demon was free in Spirit World and making his way towards a portal to the Human World. If they couldn't stop him, he would be there in half an hour.
"Hn. No challenge at all," Hiei grunted. "Why did you even call us all in? There's only one demon, and we've beaten the most powerful warriors that all three worlds have to offer."
"He's got a point," Yusuke agreed. "Why DO you always call us all in?"
"I- um- well..." Koenma paused for a moment to think. "I don't know! You're the Spirit Detective TEAM! You work together! Team!" Everyone else looked at him blankly, and the toddler began to fake cough, nearly spitting out his pacifier. "So what are you saying? That you don't want to be a team anymore? Should I turn the position of Spirit Detective back into a one-man job?" A few glances around the room and the boys all slowly nodded their heads in agreement.
"Actually, I think that might work to everyone's advantage. We do have lives outside of our Spirit Detective work," Kurama pointed out. Koenma's jaw dropped; he hadn't expected any of them to like the idea. There was a very long moment of silence before anyone bothered to speak.
"So I guess I'd better get out there and stop that rogue demon," Yusuke said hesitantly. He turned and slowly exited, seeming in no hurry to leave, almost as if something might change at the last second. Botan picked up her oar and went along to keep record of the battle and to show the demon's spirit back to the land of the dead when he died, which was inevitable. Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara looked at each other rather awkwardly.
"Well, if Yusuke ever needs help, feel free to call." Kurama nodded his farewells and walked out the door, hands in his pockets. Kuwabara offered the same before exiting as well. That left only Hiei and Koenma. The fire demon glared silently at the toddler.
"If Yusuke ever needs help, make sure you leave me alone," Hiei said coldly before following the other two former Spirit Detectives out. Behind him, he could hear Koenma yelling for Jorge the ogre about having to fill out and re-file papers on the Spirit Detective job. Hiei merely "hn"-ed as usual and closed his eyes for a moment. He quite literally knew the way out of there with his eyes closed, and none of the ogres were stupid enough to bump into him. But apparently, someone was. Hiei stepped backwards and opened his eyes to see a girl standing there, a human girl. He vaguely wondered what a human girl was doing in Spirit World before he noticed the long curtain of brown hair cascading down her back. His eyes widened and shot to her face, meeting up with her grey gaze. She smiled and mouthed "I found you", which left the fire demon very puzzled. But the moment he blinked, she was gone.
Hiei glanced around; none of the ogres seemed to notice anything unusual, so he chalked it up to imagination, or that he really needed to stop having nightmares and get more sleep. But the girl he had "seen" bothered him. That hair reminded him way too much of the girl whose death kept replaying in his dreams. But he couldn't have imagined seeing HER. He didn't know what her face looked like, and this girl's face was very detailed. Soft grey eyes set under thick eyelashes the same medium-brown as her hair, cheekbones set just slightly higher than average, lips in a small cupid's bow in front of teeth that were a natural-looking shade of white- not that stupid "sparkling" bleached look that human celebrities often tried for, but white. Very detailed, indeed...
But it was only imagination or hallucination or something. Hiei shook his head and continued on, finding his way out without closing his eyes this time.
)()()()()()(
During the day, Hiei thought no more of his strange encounter with the girl. He instead set his mind to training. He trained on and on, until the crescent moon was high in the sky, and then decided that he should rest in order to train again the next day. He walked for a while until he found a tree that suited his tastes and climbed up to a high branch. Here he settled into his familiar sleeping posture, ready to awaken at a moment's notice. When he finally was satisfied, his crimson eyes closed, allowing him a much deserved rest.
--Dream-Time--
There was something on his face. Immediately his eyes shot open and his hand jerked, trying to grab whatever it was. But his hand met only with the bindings of chains- chains that not even he could manage to break. But what met his vision was entirely different. A pair of soft grey eyes was looking into his own harsh red ones. Damn, it was that girl! And she was touching his face! Her fingers were tracing the lines of his eyebrows, the contours of his nose and jaw, the outlines of his ears, and the edge of the bandage that bound his Jagan eye. She didn't look as if she meant anything by it. She simply looked like she was studying him for some kind of research. Suddenly her lips parted, revealing those natural-white teeth in a smile.
"This is my time," she said softly, that smile never leaving her lips. It rather unnerved the fire demon, because she didn't seem happy so much as she seemed... satisfied. Yes, there was a distinct difference, at least for her. And right now she was merely satisfied.
"There was more time I should have had... you were too rash, I'm afraid, too hasty. You are always too hasty. I had another option to get my time back, but this was my own idea. Now I get my time, and everything will be equal and right." She again ran her finger down the bridge of his nose, her light touch leaving a tingling on his skin. "So give me my time. Fighting it is useless. Who knows, you may begin to think it's your time too." She placed her hand on his cheek- unlike the tips of her fingers, it was rather cold- and began to lean forward. For a brief moment he thought she might kiss him, and cringed. But instead she stopped about six inches from his face, that little satisfied smile still gracing her features. "This is enough time for now. We don't want you to be too overwhelmed now, do we?" She laughed, no, giggled; it was high-pitched and girlish though she looked about 20, at least. "Have a good morning, Hiei. I'll see you again." She stepped backwards, fading away like a person walking into fog, but without the fog.
--End Dream--
It was only thanks to his demon-fast reflexes that Hiei didn't fall out of the tree upon his sudden awakening. It was as if he didn't choose to wake up; he simply did. And what the hell was she blathering on about? All those things about time! Time, time, time! The fire demon closed his eyes again, rubbing the lids with his fingertips, trying to make sense. It wasn't like a normal dream, mostly because he could remember every detail. He could even feel where she had touched his face. The line down the bridge of his nose still tingled.
Something about this whole thing just didn't seem right. First, his dreams of the girl he murdered becoming more frequent than ever before. Then, that strange girl he bumped into while leaving Koenma's office- the one whose hair reminded him so much of the one he killed. Finally, the same girl showing up in his dreams with all that time dribble. The three had to be linked somehow, but the challenge was to figure out how. The only connection he had was Koenma. If anyone knew who that weirdo girl in Spirit World was, it would be Koenma, and if the toddler didn't know personally, he would have connections. Well, Hiei didn't like little girls sneaking around in his dreams, so he was going to ask. And if Koenma didn't want to answer, he would simply need a little convincing.
)()()()()()(
"Where is the toddler brat?!" Hiei shouted, punching one of the incompliant ogres into a wall. "I know he's here! Don't hide him from me!" He had come in and tried to march straight to Koenma's office as usual, but the ogres informed him that he was no longer in the employment of Spirit World offices and would have to get an appointment. When he had ignored them, the problems began.
"Ogres! What is going on here?!" Koenma shouted, his small head poking out of the door of his office. Hiei took advantage of this and shook off the ogres, grabbing the door and throwing it open.
"We need to talk, brat," the fire demon growled. "NOW." Koenma paled a bit, but with a nod to all the worried ogres he let Hiei inside his office. The toddler settled behind his desk and tried to look calm and composed.
"Now, what is it you needed to talk to me about?" he asked, managing to have his voice crack only once.
"There's a girl in your offices. She is in my dreams and trying to torture me or something, and she looks an awful lot like a girl that I... used to know. But that girl is dead, and has been for a long time. So what is a dead human girl doing hanging around your offices?" He pounded his fist on the desk for good measure, leaning forward to stare at the toddler with his burning red eyes. But instead of cringing or quaking in fear, the ruler of Spirit World began to laugh. "What is so damn funny?" Hiei growled, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"And to think I told her she wouldn't be able to pull it off!" Koenma chortled. "I'll tell you, Hiei, but you won't like it." The fire demon urged him to go on, so he did. "I can tell that you still haven't forgotten the girl you killed trying to get that artifact. Well, it wasn't her time to die, so of course we told her what would have happened if she hadn't died and offered her a chance to come back to life. But she decided that she would rather haunt your dreams. I told her that the only way to do that was to come into physical contact with you, but when she had done that once, then she would be in your dreams any time she wanted- in fact, she can make you fall asleep if she wants to." That thought seemed to make Koenma rather amused, and he began laughing again.
"So you're telling me that since I bumped into the bitch she controls my dreams?" Hiei asked incredulously. He sat down, but had forgotten that there was no chair behind him and plopped to the floor. For once, he didn't seem to care that his dignity was compromised. He stayed on the floor, a rather dazed look on his face. "Shit."
It was a few moments before the fire demon said anything more. "Why did she decide to haunt my dreams?" he asked listlessly.
"That's up to her to tell you. That was one more part of the agreement. I'm not allowed to tell you anything about her personally." Koenma looked smug to have Hiei under his power, and wasn't even trying to suppress it.
"Can you at least tell me her name?"
"Not her family name. You can just call her Koneko."
)()()()()()(
Amai: Yay! The first full chapter of Once Upon a Dream-Time! I hope everyone likes it so far, because I'm having fun thinking up ideas for it! My chapters are getting longer, but I don't plan on this being the longest. It was a hard fic to start. Plus, I wasn't really planning for the team to split up when I started out writing, it just kinda happened 'cause I was thinking while I was writing and I suddenly went "Hey, they're all really strong, pretty much the best, so why do they need all of 'em to protect the world? One could do it!" So it happened. And I'm really rambling, aren't I?
Oh yeah, one note: Koneko means "kitten". Not that it's important to the story, but I thought you might wanna know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, and I don't know how original this storyline is so I'm not even going to say I own it just in case I don't. I do own my original character. That's all.
CHAPTER ONE
The next morning, Hiei was called in to meet up with Yusuke, Kurama, and the Kuwabara idiot in Koenma's office about another stupid mission. He didn't care; he showed up late. Everyone was waiting, even the blue-haired ferry girl with her stupid oar. The toddler brat tried to yell at him, but the fire demon wasn't paying any attention, so Koenma gave up. The instructions were given for their mission: a rogue demon was free in Spirit World and making his way towards a portal to the Human World. If they couldn't stop him, he would be there in half an hour.
"Hn. No challenge at all," Hiei grunted. "Why did you even call us all in? There's only one demon, and we've beaten the most powerful warriors that all three worlds have to offer."
"He's got a point," Yusuke agreed. "Why DO you always call us all in?"
"I- um- well..." Koenma paused for a moment to think. "I don't know! You're the Spirit Detective TEAM! You work together! Team!" Everyone else looked at him blankly, and the toddler began to fake cough, nearly spitting out his pacifier. "So what are you saying? That you don't want to be a team anymore? Should I turn the position of Spirit Detective back into a one-man job?" A few glances around the room and the boys all slowly nodded their heads in agreement.
"Actually, I think that might work to everyone's advantage. We do have lives outside of our Spirit Detective work," Kurama pointed out. Koenma's jaw dropped; he hadn't expected any of them to like the idea. There was a very long moment of silence before anyone bothered to speak.
"So I guess I'd better get out there and stop that rogue demon," Yusuke said hesitantly. He turned and slowly exited, seeming in no hurry to leave, almost as if something might change at the last second. Botan picked up her oar and went along to keep record of the battle and to show the demon's spirit back to the land of the dead when he died, which was inevitable. Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara looked at each other rather awkwardly.
"Well, if Yusuke ever needs help, feel free to call." Kurama nodded his farewells and walked out the door, hands in his pockets. Kuwabara offered the same before exiting as well. That left only Hiei and Koenma. The fire demon glared silently at the toddler.
"If Yusuke ever needs help, make sure you leave me alone," Hiei said coldly before following the other two former Spirit Detectives out. Behind him, he could hear Koenma yelling for Jorge the ogre about having to fill out and re-file papers on the Spirit Detective job. Hiei merely "hn"-ed as usual and closed his eyes for a moment. He quite literally knew the way out of there with his eyes closed, and none of the ogres were stupid enough to bump into him. But apparently, someone was. Hiei stepped backwards and opened his eyes to see a girl standing there, a human girl. He vaguely wondered what a human girl was doing in Spirit World before he noticed the long curtain of brown hair cascading down her back. His eyes widened and shot to her face, meeting up with her grey gaze. She smiled and mouthed "I found you", which left the fire demon very puzzled. But the moment he blinked, she was gone.
Hiei glanced around; none of the ogres seemed to notice anything unusual, so he chalked it up to imagination, or that he really needed to stop having nightmares and get more sleep. But the girl he had "seen" bothered him. That hair reminded him way too much of the girl whose death kept replaying in his dreams. But he couldn't have imagined seeing HER. He didn't know what her face looked like, and this girl's face was very detailed. Soft grey eyes set under thick eyelashes the same medium-brown as her hair, cheekbones set just slightly higher than average, lips in a small cupid's bow in front of teeth that were a natural-looking shade of white- not that stupid "sparkling" bleached look that human celebrities often tried for, but white. Very detailed, indeed...
But it was only imagination or hallucination or something. Hiei shook his head and continued on, finding his way out without closing his eyes this time.
)()()()()()(
During the day, Hiei thought no more of his strange encounter with the girl. He instead set his mind to training. He trained on and on, until the crescent moon was high in the sky, and then decided that he should rest in order to train again the next day. He walked for a while until he found a tree that suited his tastes and climbed up to a high branch. Here he settled into his familiar sleeping posture, ready to awaken at a moment's notice. When he finally was satisfied, his crimson eyes closed, allowing him a much deserved rest.
--Dream-Time--
There was something on his face. Immediately his eyes shot open and his hand jerked, trying to grab whatever it was. But his hand met only with the bindings of chains- chains that not even he could manage to break. But what met his vision was entirely different. A pair of soft grey eyes was looking into his own harsh red ones. Damn, it was that girl! And she was touching his face! Her fingers were tracing the lines of his eyebrows, the contours of his nose and jaw, the outlines of his ears, and the edge of the bandage that bound his Jagan eye. She didn't look as if she meant anything by it. She simply looked like she was studying him for some kind of research. Suddenly her lips parted, revealing those natural-white teeth in a smile.
"This is my time," she said softly, that smile never leaving her lips. It rather unnerved the fire demon, because she didn't seem happy so much as she seemed... satisfied. Yes, there was a distinct difference, at least for her. And right now she was merely satisfied.
"There was more time I should have had... you were too rash, I'm afraid, too hasty. You are always too hasty. I had another option to get my time back, but this was my own idea. Now I get my time, and everything will be equal and right." She again ran her finger down the bridge of his nose, her light touch leaving a tingling on his skin. "So give me my time. Fighting it is useless. Who knows, you may begin to think it's your time too." She placed her hand on his cheek- unlike the tips of her fingers, it was rather cold- and began to lean forward. For a brief moment he thought she might kiss him, and cringed. But instead she stopped about six inches from his face, that little satisfied smile still gracing her features. "This is enough time for now. We don't want you to be too overwhelmed now, do we?" She laughed, no, giggled; it was high-pitched and girlish though she looked about 20, at least. "Have a good morning, Hiei. I'll see you again." She stepped backwards, fading away like a person walking into fog, but without the fog.
--End Dream--
It was only thanks to his demon-fast reflexes that Hiei didn't fall out of the tree upon his sudden awakening. It was as if he didn't choose to wake up; he simply did. And what the hell was she blathering on about? All those things about time! Time, time, time! The fire demon closed his eyes again, rubbing the lids with his fingertips, trying to make sense. It wasn't like a normal dream, mostly because he could remember every detail. He could even feel where she had touched his face. The line down the bridge of his nose still tingled.
Something about this whole thing just didn't seem right. First, his dreams of the girl he murdered becoming more frequent than ever before. Then, that strange girl he bumped into while leaving Koenma's office- the one whose hair reminded him so much of the one he killed. Finally, the same girl showing up in his dreams with all that time dribble. The three had to be linked somehow, but the challenge was to figure out how. The only connection he had was Koenma. If anyone knew who that weirdo girl in Spirit World was, it would be Koenma, and if the toddler didn't know personally, he would have connections. Well, Hiei didn't like little girls sneaking around in his dreams, so he was going to ask. And if Koenma didn't want to answer, he would simply need a little convincing.
)()()()()()(
"Where is the toddler brat?!" Hiei shouted, punching one of the incompliant ogres into a wall. "I know he's here! Don't hide him from me!" He had come in and tried to march straight to Koenma's office as usual, but the ogres informed him that he was no longer in the employment of Spirit World offices and would have to get an appointment. When he had ignored them, the problems began.
"Ogres! What is going on here?!" Koenma shouted, his small head poking out of the door of his office. Hiei took advantage of this and shook off the ogres, grabbing the door and throwing it open.
"We need to talk, brat," the fire demon growled. "NOW." Koenma paled a bit, but with a nod to all the worried ogres he let Hiei inside his office. The toddler settled behind his desk and tried to look calm and composed.
"Now, what is it you needed to talk to me about?" he asked, managing to have his voice crack only once.
"There's a girl in your offices. She is in my dreams and trying to torture me or something, and she looks an awful lot like a girl that I... used to know. But that girl is dead, and has been for a long time. So what is a dead human girl doing hanging around your offices?" He pounded his fist on the desk for good measure, leaning forward to stare at the toddler with his burning red eyes. But instead of cringing or quaking in fear, the ruler of Spirit World began to laugh. "What is so damn funny?" Hiei growled, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"And to think I told her she wouldn't be able to pull it off!" Koenma chortled. "I'll tell you, Hiei, but you won't like it." The fire demon urged him to go on, so he did. "I can tell that you still haven't forgotten the girl you killed trying to get that artifact. Well, it wasn't her time to die, so of course we told her what would have happened if she hadn't died and offered her a chance to come back to life. But she decided that she would rather haunt your dreams. I told her that the only way to do that was to come into physical contact with you, but when she had done that once, then she would be in your dreams any time she wanted- in fact, she can make you fall asleep if she wants to." That thought seemed to make Koenma rather amused, and he began laughing again.
"So you're telling me that since I bumped into the bitch she controls my dreams?" Hiei asked incredulously. He sat down, but had forgotten that there was no chair behind him and plopped to the floor. For once, he didn't seem to care that his dignity was compromised. He stayed on the floor, a rather dazed look on his face. "Shit."
It was a few moments before the fire demon said anything more. "Why did she decide to haunt my dreams?" he asked listlessly.
"That's up to her to tell you. That was one more part of the agreement. I'm not allowed to tell you anything about her personally." Koenma looked smug to have Hiei under his power, and wasn't even trying to suppress it.
"Can you at least tell me her name?"
"Not her family name. You can just call her Koneko."
)()()()()()(
Amai: Yay! The first full chapter of Once Upon a Dream-Time! I hope everyone likes it so far, because I'm having fun thinking up ideas for it! My chapters are getting longer, but I don't plan on this being the longest. It was a hard fic to start. Plus, I wasn't really planning for the team to split up when I started out writing, it just kinda happened 'cause I was thinking while I was writing and I suddenly went "Hey, they're all really strong, pretty much the best, so why do they need all of 'em to protect the world? One could do it!" So it happened. And I'm really rambling, aren't I?
Oh yeah, one note: Koneko means "kitten". Not that it's important to the story, but I thought you might wanna know.