The Demon Enchantresses
Chapter Fifteen
A vessel fell from the sky and landed in the desert. It was a vessel well known as a demon's. Guards were dispersed to cease its occupants and bring them to the leader of the nearest village. As they approached, they saw a male and female exit the vessel. Several guards gasped. They knew the occupants, and they were surprised to see them again.
"My lady, please," one guard said to the female. "Our dear leader wishes to see you."
"Very well," she replied. "I assume he shall wish to see him as well." She indicated her partner, and the guard nodded.
They left, guards surrounding the couple, to go to the palace. When they arrived, several gasps were made by the villagers and other guards. Everyone cleared the streets, making way for the guards, curious eyes not being able to help but look at what they had found.
"Oh my!" some would say.
"Dear me!" others would exclaim.
"My goodness! Look who it is!" several had said. Everyone watched. They were surprised to see the couple in the middle of the mass of guards, but deep down they knew they would see that particular couple together again. They just didn't know it would be with the guards taking them to the palace.
"Our dear leader, the occupants are here," the head guard said.
"Excellent. Bring them in," came the reply. Doors opened, and the couple were led into a giant room. A small gasp escaped from a wide-eyed leader, but he quickly recovered. "I wasn't expecting you two," he said, coming towards them.
"We thought we would just show up for a visit, dear leader," the male replied.
"I see...Well, I am quite glad you both made it back just fine, however I must ask why you were in a demon's vessel."
"It was because that was the only thing we had access to," he answered.
"Ah. Well, do enjoy your stay. I presume you will take your old house? We have not touched it except for cleaning, my good sir," the leader of the village told them.
"Yes, I believe we shall," the male said, stealing a glance at his partner. She gave a soft giggle.
"I bid you farewell for now, however we shall meet again shortly."
"Yes, dear leader. Farewell, but we will meet shortly again." The couple left, and the guards back to their positions. As soon as they were in their house, they couldn't help but share a sweet passion that had burned in him, most of all. He felt lucky to have his love back. He just didn't know how long it would be until they found him...
Yusuke moaned and got up, holding his head. He didn't know what happened, but whatever it was, he knew it wasn't good. He glanced around, and saw Kurama sitting up, holding his stomach with one hand.
"What happened?" Yusuke asked, his head throbbing as he spoke.
"I am not sure, though I think it was Yoshiko," Kurama said.
"How? She wouldn't harm us, would she?"
"If she was her normal self, no. However, I sensed something wrong. I tried to contact her before the wind encircled us and the vines entangled us. I only got a brick wall."
"What do you mean you only got a brick wall?"
"I couldn't get through, Yusuke. I'm sorry, but I tried. She is blocking us from talking to her mentally. It wouldn't surprise me if we got her back and she denied us."
"You're joking," Yusuke said unenthusiastically, wanting not to believe his friend.
Kurama shrugged. "I do not know for sure, however I think that may be the case."
Yusuke dragged a hand over his face. 'Why would she go against us?' he thought. She was confusing him and everyone else. "So where did they go?"
"I do not know. I shall try once more to contact her. I don't think I'll get through, though."
"Please, just try."
Kurama nodded and did as Yusuke wanted. 'Yoshiko? Please, answer me.'
No answer. Kurama wasn't expecting one. He knew that Yoshiko wouldn't answer. She had a brick wall all around her thoughts! Even if there was a small break in it, the odds of him finding it were against him. Maybe Hiei would have a better chance. The problem was, he had to try and get Hiei to mentally talk her again.
"She's not answering. I'm sorry, Yusuke. Let's go and see if Hiei might have tried to contact her."
Yusuke sighed and went with, staying quiet. They left the shack, and went home. They both knew it would take a while to find Yoshiko, though they still hoped it would be soon.
"Hiei," Kurama said as he came through the door. Hiei came out of his room, Hannah behind him. "Have you gotten word from Yoshiko?"
"I only got a picture of the shack she was in."
"And you didn't tell us? We could have used that! It could have let us have her here rather than still with that bastard!" Yusuke yelled in Hiei's face.
Hiei wiped his face, erasing the spit Yusuke couldn't help but spit on his face. "First, ningen, do not spit on me. Second, I couldn't get through to Kurama. Third, I'm not sure it would have helped you. It was only an abandoned shack with wooden beams fallen to the ground and other giant beams lying around everywhere. I'm sure every shack you guys looked through had that."
"Perhaps it did, however it would have helped. I got a hold of her a little while before we found the shack and she told me to look for the 'Wait for me' statue," Kurama said.
"The what?" Hannah asked.
"The 'Wait for me' statue. It's a cursed statue. You can't touch it unless your blood made it. I thought it was located in a palace, not by a shack," Hiei filled her in.
"Same as I, Hiei," Kurama agreed. "However, Yoshiko said it was either moved or the palace destroyed. If it was moved, I feel sorry for the poor souls that moved it."
"Hn. They should have known of the curse and not tested it," Hiei said.
"What if there isn't a curse on it?" Hannah asked.
Yusuke's eyes flashed black. It was hard to tell, since his eyes were already a deep brown. "There is," he said unenthusiastically.
"There is what?" Kuwabara said, coming to join his friends, Kusha beside him.
"A curse on the 'Wait for me' statue," Kurama filled in.
"The whatty what what statue?" Kuwabara asked stupidly.
"The 'Wait for me' statue," Yusuke filled in, his tone still unenthusiastic. His eyes were blank, somewhere lost between the deep brown and a rich black color. "It used to be in a palace, however now it's by a shack. It was either moved or the palace around it destroyed. The curse is that you cannot touch it unless you are of the blood that made it. But even if you did have that blood and you moved it, you would be cursed."
Everyone stared at Yusuke for a while. They were shocked that he knew of it, especially Kurama, whom had just explained to him about the statue.
"How do you know all of this?" Hiei asked. Yusuke stayed silent, staring at nothing with his mixed-colored eyes.
"I told him what Yoshiko told me about it," Kurama said for him. "However, he seems as if he's known all along. As if I never told him anything," he added thoughtfully.
Yusuke walked passed the group and to his room, still silent. No one followed him. They knew he was down, and they knew something was wrong with him, but they didn't know what. So they just left him alone. They went into the living room and sat down and talked. Then, Kohana showed up.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully. "I know where Yoshiko is!" She tripped over nothing running to her friends, and with one swift move, Kurama had her safe in his arms.
"You should be more careful," he said to her. Her eyes lit up. They walked to the couch he had left to save her from the fall. "How do you know where she is?" he asked after they were settled.
"Well, I overheard you saying that Kentaro—damn that bastard—had taken her captive. It makes sense that he would have taken her back to Rithanka after you guys found her! I mean, he's smart, but stupid all the same. He has this certain power that lets him control minds, and it works especially well on Yoshiko. Plus, he's always admired her. That's why he was her protector forever. Whenever we practiced, he would always watch over her. But sometimes I saw him talk to low-level demons. That kind of confused me a bit. Anyways, I watched them one day while training, just to make sure they weren't doing anything they shouldn't. I mean, we were only about eight or nine winters! Well, then was when I saw him talking to the demons, and he watched over her like a hawk would its prey. But I figured out later why he talked to the demons. He was jealous of Hannah! She was closer to Yoshiko than anyone. She'd been there when her parents disowned her then moved on. She was such a wreck, and my sister and her were only about two winters. She was always a smart one, and so was Hannah. Me? I was just a little baby, not even one winter. But anyway, several years later, Kentaro asked her to move in with him. She accepted, but he never got closer to her than Hannah. He was very possessive of her, but she didn't really like it. She would act fine with it, but she'd gossip to Hannah about it. Heheh, I kinda overheard a few of their conversations..." She rubbed the back of her neck and looked guilty yet innocent.
Hannah's eyes flashed gold. "You what?!"
"Hey, I'm sorry! It wasn't my fault I was going to see why she was crying and happened to overhear it!" Kohana defended.
"Psh. Whatever."
"Well, could you tell us more about his power?" Kusha asked. She'd grown a bond with Yoshiko while she, Hannah, and Kohana had trained Kusha. She was upset that her friend had been taken.
"Hmm..." Kohana thought. "Well, I guess you could say it doesn't work on everyone. And it's not his only power, controlling minds. He basically did it to read Yoshiko's thoughts. So he could get into her head and find out what was wrong with her when she was depressed or wouldn't tell her anything. When he first used it, Yoshiko couldn't block him out. She didn't even know he was in her mind. After a while, though, she learned that she could read minds. It went out of hand several times, as did all of her powers when she learned of them. But that's beside the point. She started putting up walls around her thoughts when she didn't' want to tell Kentaro anything. It shocked him at first. Finally, he'd just give up after trying to talk with her and getting that wall he hated."
"How do you know all of this?" Hiei asked.
"Ummm...she would come to me sometimes. Like when we trained and Kentaro wasn't around, she'd look for me and talk to me about things. We still trained while talking, and thank Ayi none of the demons lived. No one knew we even talked. She kept quiet, as did I. She didn't want to bother Hannah while she trained. She knew Hannah was stronger, and though I wouldn't admit it, I knew, too." She looked at Hannah. "Hannah, you were always the strongest of us three. You'd have demons down within ten seconds of fighting them. Even Yoshiko and I had some troubles at first."
Hannah blushed only a little. "Well, yeah, but Yoshiko would have them down in five!"
Kohana shook her head. "Even with me helping her, we weren't any match compared to you."
"Well, she can certainly knock a demon flat now. I mean, how else would she have gotten the power of invisi—"
"HANNAH!" Kohana warned. She gave her sister a warning glare. Hannah looked away and stayed silent. Everyone else was surprised Kohana yelled. She didn't really seem like the type that would.
"What is wrong with one of Yoshiko's powers?" Kusha asked after a while.
Kohana sighed. "It's nothing. Nothing's wrong with any of her powers, I don't think."
"Then why did you cut Hannah off?" Kurama asked.
"Yoshiko told us not to tell what some of her powers were. And therefore, we will remain silent." She gave Hannah a look between a warning and a glare.
"Yeah. We're gonna stay quiet about them," she agreed.
"Very well," Kurama sighed. "Would you be willing to try to contact her, Hiei?"
"I'll try once more later," Hiei said.
"No. Now. Please, Hiei. While all of us are still here."
"Fine." Hiei went into his mind, and try doing as he knew all of his friends wanted him to do.
'Yoshiko? Answer me if you're there.'
His answer was a brick wall. 'Very funny,' he muttered in his mind. He went searching for a break in it. He thought he saw one, and tried to get passed it. It was very small. Almost too small. But with some work, he made it bigger. It took a while, but at least he made it bigger.
'Yoshiko, I know you can hear me. Now answer me!'
Still no answer. After a while of trying to make the hole bigger, he gave up for then and made his mind go back to his friends.
"No answer. I found a hole, though. I can't bust through right now. She's too strong for that."
Everyone sighed. "It might be Kentaro helping her," Kohana said somewhat thoughtfully.
"May be, but we can't be too sure," Hannah said. "If I know that baka, then he's definitely trying to keep us out, and he'd do anything to do that." She turned to Kurama. "But why would Yoshiko attack you in the shack? I just kind realized that she did, and it's not like her to do that."
Kurama cleared his throat. "I'm not sure, however I think it was Kentaro's doing. And since you said he can control minds, especially Yoshiko's, then it only makes sense he has her under his control."
"Yeah, but it doesn't seem like he'd tell her to attack you guys," Kohana said.
"She has a point," Hannah agreed. "Kentaro would have loved to kill the both of you, but since it was Yoshiko's magic that attacked you..."
Kurama gave a slight shrug. "I do not know what this means. If he has control over her, would she be able to freely use her powers at will?"
"Yes, actually," Kohana said. "She still has her mind, it's just um...kind of altered, I guess you could say. I mean, she's still herself, but she'll just do anything for the baka. That's basically the extent of his mind- control power."
"I see. So because she's attracted to Kentaro due to his mind control, she freely used her power against us so they could get away. Kentaro would have killed us with his bare hands had Yoshiko..." Kurama trailed off. His eyes brightened a little. "That's it! Yoshiko knew Kentaro would have killed us himself, so Yoshiko used her powers against us so we would be saved from a battle. That, or she knew we were too powerful for Kentaro and decided to try and stop us before we found him. It's all coming together now."
Kuwabara was lost. He always was, but this just confused him to no end. "Uh, so you mean Yoshiko saved you guys while under what's-his-face's control? How is that possible?"
"Oh, Kuwabara!" Kusha giggled and poke him in the stomach. "I'll explain everything to you later."
Kuwabara grinned. "Okay," he said happily. Kusha giggled again.
"I say we go to Rithanka and get Yoshiko back," Hannah said after a while.
"That's a brilliant idea!" Kohana said. "One problem: how are we going to get there? We don't have a ship..."
"Kohana, how stupid are you, really? How did you get here? How did I get here? How did Yoshiko get here?"
"Oh yeah! We've been here for so long, I forgot..."
"Obviously," Hannah said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh shush!"
"Where are the vessels, then?" Kurama asked.
"Well, mine only holds three people, and it's a bit cramped..." Kohana said.
"Mine is just the same," Hannah said.
"And Yoshiko's?" Kusha asked.
"Probably the same," Hannah said.
"Well, if all in this house goes, that would put me with Kurama and Yusuke, Hannah with Hiei, and Kusha with Kuwabara. However, I think this might not exactly be right..." Kohana said.
"There would be one vessel of three, and the other two with only two occupants," Hannah said.
"I know. But only you and I know how to fly the things," Kohana told her sister.
"I'm sure Kusha could figure it out with some help from us." Hannah glanced at Kusha.
"I'm sure I could figure it out, yes," Kusha agreed. She was a little nervous, but she knew she could do it.
"Then that settles it. We're going to Rithanka!" 'Finally, I can see home again...' Hannah thought.
"Yeah, okay. Is that all right with you guys?" Kohana asked. Everyone agreed. "Okay, then I'm going to go get Yusuke." And with that, she left for Yusuke's room. She knocked on the door when she reached it.
"What?" came the reply.
"Yusuke? It's me, Kohana. I just was wondering if you wanted to go save Yoshiko with us."
There were a few moments of silence, then the door flung open, leaving Kohana slightly bewildered. Yusuke stood in the doorway and stared at Kohana with his still mixed-colored eyes.
"Of course I'm going to save Yoshiko. Where is she?"
Kohana went into an explanation—a short one, though—of what she told everyone else.
"Hmm...Fine, I'll go. But no making out or anything. It'll make me even more depressed."
"Okay, come on!" Kohana basically pulled Yusuke all the way to the living room. "He's coming!"
"Then let's go. The sooner the better," Hannah said. She had worry in her voice, and they all knew it. However, they didn't acknowledge it. They walked out of the house, Kurama quickly locking the door, and they moved quickly towards the vessels. Once they arrived, they saw two little vessels, but not a third.
"They seem a bit bigger than I recalled..." Hannah said to no one in particular.
"What happened to Yoshiko's?" Kohana asked.
"It must have been moved. Come on, we have to find it," Hannah said.
Yusuke walked by a giant bush and towards the vessels. But something caught his eye in the bush. Something shiny. He turned to the bush, and brushed a branch aside. It fell with ease to the ground. Then he saw a whitish-silver shiny thing sticking out. He brushed more branches off, and they fell with simple ease to the ground.
"Yusuke, you found it!" Kohana cheered. Everyone ran over and surrounded the vessel.
"Oh wow! It's huge!" Kuwabara said.
"Oh my...this is the First Class Vessel of the Royal Palace of Pluto!" Kohana exclaimed.
"Pluto?" Kusha asked. "I know it's the ninth planet in this galaxy, but why Pluto? Wouldn't it be Rithanka?"
Kohana shook her head, moving closer to the vessel and laying a hand on top of it. She moved her hand down the vessel as she kneeled to the ground. "You see this sign? It says 'VRPP,' meaning 'Vessel of the Royal Palace of Pluto.' And because it's so big, it's a first class." She stood up, walked around the vessel, and admired it.
"What if it meant something else?" Kurama asked.
"I took piloting classes, Kurama. That was my strongest point of training. I always loved flying and space and everything. Yoshiko loved going to different places, but hated flying. Anyway, I studied every type of vessel and what all of the symbols mean. I may not know exactly how to fly this particular vessel, but I learned to pilot all of the other classes. This one is a First Class Royal Palace," she added as she saw the looks of confusion. "I've learned about these vessels, but I've never actually been able to pilot one. I learned the basics of piloting it, but it would go really slow. If Yoshiko had a hold of this, then she was really good. I wonder how she got it, though..."
"Perhaps her vessel from Headquarters broke down or something and she had to stop at Pluto, and that's how she got it," Hannah suggested.
Kohana shook her head. "I don't think so. Pluto and Rithanka can be similar, but we've had our bad days with each other. You should know that by now, Hannah."
"Well, it was just a thought," Hannah defended herself.
"Can we get going?" Hiei asked impatiently.
"Yeah. We'll only be able to take Hannah and my vessels. This one is too big for my skills. I don't know how to make it go faster than it will. But each of our vessels will hold four. So Kusha, who do you want to go with?"
"I think I'd like to with you, Kohana," Kusha said.
"All right, then I have Kuwabara, Kusha, Kurama, and myself. Hannah, you have yourself, Hiei, and Yusuke."
Everyone nodded and got into the vessels. Kohana's vessel was a little squished, but they managed. They took off, and all but Hannah and Kohana fell asleep for the whole trip...
Chapter Fifteen
A vessel fell from the sky and landed in the desert. It was a vessel well known as a demon's. Guards were dispersed to cease its occupants and bring them to the leader of the nearest village. As they approached, they saw a male and female exit the vessel. Several guards gasped. They knew the occupants, and they were surprised to see them again.
"My lady, please," one guard said to the female. "Our dear leader wishes to see you."
"Very well," she replied. "I assume he shall wish to see him as well." She indicated her partner, and the guard nodded.
They left, guards surrounding the couple, to go to the palace. When they arrived, several gasps were made by the villagers and other guards. Everyone cleared the streets, making way for the guards, curious eyes not being able to help but look at what they had found.
"Oh my!" some would say.
"Dear me!" others would exclaim.
"My goodness! Look who it is!" several had said. Everyone watched. They were surprised to see the couple in the middle of the mass of guards, but deep down they knew they would see that particular couple together again. They just didn't know it would be with the guards taking them to the palace.
"Our dear leader, the occupants are here," the head guard said.
"Excellent. Bring them in," came the reply. Doors opened, and the couple were led into a giant room. A small gasp escaped from a wide-eyed leader, but he quickly recovered. "I wasn't expecting you two," he said, coming towards them.
"We thought we would just show up for a visit, dear leader," the male replied.
"I see...Well, I am quite glad you both made it back just fine, however I must ask why you were in a demon's vessel."
"It was because that was the only thing we had access to," he answered.
"Ah. Well, do enjoy your stay. I presume you will take your old house? We have not touched it except for cleaning, my good sir," the leader of the village told them.
"Yes, I believe we shall," the male said, stealing a glance at his partner. She gave a soft giggle.
"I bid you farewell for now, however we shall meet again shortly."
"Yes, dear leader. Farewell, but we will meet shortly again." The couple left, and the guards back to their positions. As soon as they were in their house, they couldn't help but share a sweet passion that had burned in him, most of all. He felt lucky to have his love back. He just didn't know how long it would be until they found him...
Yusuke moaned and got up, holding his head. He didn't know what happened, but whatever it was, he knew it wasn't good. He glanced around, and saw Kurama sitting up, holding his stomach with one hand.
"What happened?" Yusuke asked, his head throbbing as he spoke.
"I am not sure, though I think it was Yoshiko," Kurama said.
"How? She wouldn't harm us, would she?"
"If she was her normal self, no. However, I sensed something wrong. I tried to contact her before the wind encircled us and the vines entangled us. I only got a brick wall."
"What do you mean you only got a brick wall?"
"I couldn't get through, Yusuke. I'm sorry, but I tried. She is blocking us from talking to her mentally. It wouldn't surprise me if we got her back and she denied us."
"You're joking," Yusuke said unenthusiastically, wanting not to believe his friend.
Kurama shrugged. "I do not know for sure, however I think that may be the case."
Yusuke dragged a hand over his face. 'Why would she go against us?' he thought. She was confusing him and everyone else. "So where did they go?"
"I do not know. I shall try once more to contact her. I don't think I'll get through, though."
"Please, just try."
Kurama nodded and did as Yusuke wanted. 'Yoshiko? Please, answer me.'
No answer. Kurama wasn't expecting one. He knew that Yoshiko wouldn't answer. She had a brick wall all around her thoughts! Even if there was a small break in it, the odds of him finding it were against him. Maybe Hiei would have a better chance. The problem was, he had to try and get Hiei to mentally talk her again.
"She's not answering. I'm sorry, Yusuke. Let's go and see if Hiei might have tried to contact her."
Yusuke sighed and went with, staying quiet. They left the shack, and went home. They both knew it would take a while to find Yoshiko, though they still hoped it would be soon.
"Hiei," Kurama said as he came through the door. Hiei came out of his room, Hannah behind him. "Have you gotten word from Yoshiko?"
"I only got a picture of the shack she was in."
"And you didn't tell us? We could have used that! It could have let us have her here rather than still with that bastard!" Yusuke yelled in Hiei's face.
Hiei wiped his face, erasing the spit Yusuke couldn't help but spit on his face. "First, ningen, do not spit on me. Second, I couldn't get through to Kurama. Third, I'm not sure it would have helped you. It was only an abandoned shack with wooden beams fallen to the ground and other giant beams lying around everywhere. I'm sure every shack you guys looked through had that."
"Perhaps it did, however it would have helped. I got a hold of her a little while before we found the shack and she told me to look for the 'Wait for me' statue," Kurama said.
"The what?" Hannah asked.
"The 'Wait for me' statue. It's a cursed statue. You can't touch it unless your blood made it. I thought it was located in a palace, not by a shack," Hiei filled her in.
"Same as I, Hiei," Kurama agreed. "However, Yoshiko said it was either moved or the palace destroyed. If it was moved, I feel sorry for the poor souls that moved it."
"Hn. They should have known of the curse and not tested it," Hiei said.
"What if there isn't a curse on it?" Hannah asked.
Yusuke's eyes flashed black. It was hard to tell, since his eyes were already a deep brown. "There is," he said unenthusiastically.
"There is what?" Kuwabara said, coming to join his friends, Kusha beside him.
"A curse on the 'Wait for me' statue," Kurama filled in.
"The whatty what what statue?" Kuwabara asked stupidly.
"The 'Wait for me' statue," Yusuke filled in, his tone still unenthusiastic. His eyes were blank, somewhere lost between the deep brown and a rich black color. "It used to be in a palace, however now it's by a shack. It was either moved or the palace around it destroyed. The curse is that you cannot touch it unless you are of the blood that made it. But even if you did have that blood and you moved it, you would be cursed."
Everyone stared at Yusuke for a while. They were shocked that he knew of it, especially Kurama, whom had just explained to him about the statue.
"How do you know all of this?" Hiei asked. Yusuke stayed silent, staring at nothing with his mixed-colored eyes.
"I told him what Yoshiko told me about it," Kurama said for him. "However, he seems as if he's known all along. As if I never told him anything," he added thoughtfully.
Yusuke walked passed the group and to his room, still silent. No one followed him. They knew he was down, and they knew something was wrong with him, but they didn't know what. So they just left him alone. They went into the living room and sat down and talked. Then, Kohana showed up.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully. "I know where Yoshiko is!" She tripped over nothing running to her friends, and with one swift move, Kurama had her safe in his arms.
"You should be more careful," he said to her. Her eyes lit up. They walked to the couch he had left to save her from the fall. "How do you know where she is?" he asked after they were settled.
"Well, I overheard you saying that Kentaro—damn that bastard—had taken her captive. It makes sense that he would have taken her back to Rithanka after you guys found her! I mean, he's smart, but stupid all the same. He has this certain power that lets him control minds, and it works especially well on Yoshiko. Plus, he's always admired her. That's why he was her protector forever. Whenever we practiced, he would always watch over her. But sometimes I saw him talk to low-level demons. That kind of confused me a bit. Anyways, I watched them one day while training, just to make sure they weren't doing anything they shouldn't. I mean, we were only about eight or nine winters! Well, then was when I saw him talking to the demons, and he watched over her like a hawk would its prey. But I figured out later why he talked to the demons. He was jealous of Hannah! She was closer to Yoshiko than anyone. She'd been there when her parents disowned her then moved on. She was such a wreck, and my sister and her were only about two winters. She was always a smart one, and so was Hannah. Me? I was just a little baby, not even one winter. But anyway, several years later, Kentaro asked her to move in with him. She accepted, but he never got closer to her than Hannah. He was very possessive of her, but she didn't really like it. She would act fine with it, but she'd gossip to Hannah about it. Heheh, I kinda overheard a few of their conversations..." She rubbed the back of her neck and looked guilty yet innocent.
Hannah's eyes flashed gold. "You what?!"
"Hey, I'm sorry! It wasn't my fault I was going to see why she was crying and happened to overhear it!" Kohana defended.
"Psh. Whatever."
"Well, could you tell us more about his power?" Kusha asked. She'd grown a bond with Yoshiko while she, Hannah, and Kohana had trained Kusha. She was upset that her friend had been taken.
"Hmm..." Kohana thought. "Well, I guess you could say it doesn't work on everyone. And it's not his only power, controlling minds. He basically did it to read Yoshiko's thoughts. So he could get into her head and find out what was wrong with her when she was depressed or wouldn't tell her anything. When he first used it, Yoshiko couldn't block him out. She didn't even know he was in her mind. After a while, though, she learned that she could read minds. It went out of hand several times, as did all of her powers when she learned of them. But that's beside the point. She started putting up walls around her thoughts when she didn't' want to tell Kentaro anything. It shocked him at first. Finally, he'd just give up after trying to talk with her and getting that wall he hated."
"How do you know all of this?" Hiei asked.
"Ummm...she would come to me sometimes. Like when we trained and Kentaro wasn't around, she'd look for me and talk to me about things. We still trained while talking, and thank Ayi none of the demons lived. No one knew we even talked. She kept quiet, as did I. She didn't want to bother Hannah while she trained. She knew Hannah was stronger, and though I wouldn't admit it, I knew, too." She looked at Hannah. "Hannah, you were always the strongest of us three. You'd have demons down within ten seconds of fighting them. Even Yoshiko and I had some troubles at first."
Hannah blushed only a little. "Well, yeah, but Yoshiko would have them down in five!"
Kohana shook her head. "Even with me helping her, we weren't any match compared to you."
"Well, she can certainly knock a demon flat now. I mean, how else would she have gotten the power of invisi—"
"HANNAH!" Kohana warned. She gave her sister a warning glare. Hannah looked away and stayed silent. Everyone else was surprised Kohana yelled. She didn't really seem like the type that would.
"What is wrong with one of Yoshiko's powers?" Kusha asked after a while.
Kohana sighed. "It's nothing. Nothing's wrong with any of her powers, I don't think."
"Then why did you cut Hannah off?" Kurama asked.
"Yoshiko told us not to tell what some of her powers were. And therefore, we will remain silent." She gave Hannah a look between a warning and a glare.
"Yeah. We're gonna stay quiet about them," she agreed.
"Very well," Kurama sighed. "Would you be willing to try to contact her, Hiei?"
"I'll try once more later," Hiei said.
"No. Now. Please, Hiei. While all of us are still here."
"Fine." Hiei went into his mind, and try doing as he knew all of his friends wanted him to do.
'Yoshiko? Answer me if you're there.'
His answer was a brick wall. 'Very funny,' he muttered in his mind. He went searching for a break in it. He thought he saw one, and tried to get passed it. It was very small. Almost too small. But with some work, he made it bigger. It took a while, but at least he made it bigger.
'Yoshiko, I know you can hear me. Now answer me!'
Still no answer. After a while of trying to make the hole bigger, he gave up for then and made his mind go back to his friends.
"No answer. I found a hole, though. I can't bust through right now. She's too strong for that."
Everyone sighed. "It might be Kentaro helping her," Kohana said somewhat thoughtfully.
"May be, but we can't be too sure," Hannah said. "If I know that baka, then he's definitely trying to keep us out, and he'd do anything to do that." She turned to Kurama. "But why would Yoshiko attack you in the shack? I just kind realized that she did, and it's not like her to do that."
Kurama cleared his throat. "I'm not sure, however I think it was Kentaro's doing. And since you said he can control minds, especially Yoshiko's, then it only makes sense he has her under his control."
"Yeah, but it doesn't seem like he'd tell her to attack you guys," Kohana said.
"She has a point," Hannah agreed. "Kentaro would have loved to kill the both of you, but since it was Yoshiko's magic that attacked you..."
Kurama gave a slight shrug. "I do not know what this means. If he has control over her, would she be able to freely use her powers at will?"
"Yes, actually," Kohana said. "She still has her mind, it's just um...kind of altered, I guess you could say. I mean, she's still herself, but she'll just do anything for the baka. That's basically the extent of his mind- control power."
"I see. So because she's attracted to Kentaro due to his mind control, she freely used her power against us so they could get away. Kentaro would have killed us with his bare hands had Yoshiko..." Kurama trailed off. His eyes brightened a little. "That's it! Yoshiko knew Kentaro would have killed us himself, so Yoshiko used her powers against us so we would be saved from a battle. That, or she knew we were too powerful for Kentaro and decided to try and stop us before we found him. It's all coming together now."
Kuwabara was lost. He always was, but this just confused him to no end. "Uh, so you mean Yoshiko saved you guys while under what's-his-face's control? How is that possible?"
"Oh, Kuwabara!" Kusha giggled and poke him in the stomach. "I'll explain everything to you later."
Kuwabara grinned. "Okay," he said happily. Kusha giggled again.
"I say we go to Rithanka and get Yoshiko back," Hannah said after a while.
"That's a brilliant idea!" Kohana said. "One problem: how are we going to get there? We don't have a ship..."
"Kohana, how stupid are you, really? How did you get here? How did I get here? How did Yoshiko get here?"
"Oh yeah! We've been here for so long, I forgot..."
"Obviously," Hannah said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh shush!"
"Where are the vessels, then?" Kurama asked.
"Well, mine only holds three people, and it's a bit cramped..." Kohana said.
"Mine is just the same," Hannah said.
"And Yoshiko's?" Kusha asked.
"Probably the same," Hannah said.
"Well, if all in this house goes, that would put me with Kurama and Yusuke, Hannah with Hiei, and Kusha with Kuwabara. However, I think this might not exactly be right..." Kohana said.
"There would be one vessel of three, and the other two with only two occupants," Hannah said.
"I know. But only you and I know how to fly the things," Kohana told her sister.
"I'm sure Kusha could figure it out with some help from us." Hannah glanced at Kusha.
"I'm sure I could figure it out, yes," Kusha agreed. She was a little nervous, but she knew she could do it.
"Then that settles it. We're going to Rithanka!" 'Finally, I can see home again...' Hannah thought.
"Yeah, okay. Is that all right with you guys?" Kohana asked. Everyone agreed. "Okay, then I'm going to go get Yusuke." And with that, she left for Yusuke's room. She knocked on the door when she reached it.
"What?" came the reply.
"Yusuke? It's me, Kohana. I just was wondering if you wanted to go save Yoshiko with us."
There were a few moments of silence, then the door flung open, leaving Kohana slightly bewildered. Yusuke stood in the doorway and stared at Kohana with his still mixed-colored eyes.
"Of course I'm going to save Yoshiko. Where is she?"
Kohana went into an explanation—a short one, though—of what she told everyone else.
"Hmm...Fine, I'll go. But no making out or anything. It'll make me even more depressed."
"Okay, come on!" Kohana basically pulled Yusuke all the way to the living room. "He's coming!"
"Then let's go. The sooner the better," Hannah said. She had worry in her voice, and they all knew it. However, they didn't acknowledge it. They walked out of the house, Kurama quickly locking the door, and they moved quickly towards the vessels. Once they arrived, they saw two little vessels, but not a third.
"They seem a bit bigger than I recalled..." Hannah said to no one in particular.
"What happened to Yoshiko's?" Kohana asked.
"It must have been moved. Come on, we have to find it," Hannah said.
Yusuke walked by a giant bush and towards the vessels. But something caught his eye in the bush. Something shiny. He turned to the bush, and brushed a branch aside. It fell with ease to the ground. Then he saw a whitish-silver shiny thing sticking out. He brushed more branches off, and they fell with simple ease to the ground.
"Yusuke, you found it!" Kohana cheered. Everyone ran over and surrounded the vessel.
"Oh wow! It's huge!" Kuwabara said.
"Oh my...this is the First Class Vessel of the Royal Palace of Pluto!" Kohana exclaimed.
"Pluto?" Kusha asked. "I know it's the ninth planet in this galaxy, but why Pluto? Wouldn't it be Rithanka?"
Kohana shook her head, moving closer to the vessel and laying a hand on top of it. She moved her hand down the vessel as she kneeled to the ground. "You see this sign? It says 'VRPP,' meaning 'Vessel of the Royal Palace of Pluto.' And because it's so big, it's a first class." She stood up, walked around the vessel, and admired it.
"What if it meant something else?" Kurama asked.
"I took piloting classes, Kurama. That was my strongest point of training. I always loved flying and space and everything. Yoshiko loved going to different places, but hated flying. Anyway, I studied every type of vessel and what all of the symbols mean. I may not know exactly how to fly this particular vessel, but I learned to pilot all of the other classes. This one is a First Class Royal Palace," she added as she saw the looks of confusion. "I've learned about these vessels, but I've never actually been able to pilot one. I learned the basics of piloting it, but it would go really slow. If Yoshiko had a hold of this, then she was really good. I wonder how she got it, though..."
"Perhaps her vessel from Headquarters broke down or something and she had to stop at Pluto, and that's how she got it," Hannah suggested.
Kohana shook her head. "I don't think so. Pluto and Rithanka can be similar, but we've had our bad days with each other. You should know that by now, Hannah."
"Well, it was just a thought," Hannah defended herself.
"Can we get going?" Hiei asked impatiently.
"Yeah. We'll only be able to take Hannah and my vessels. This one is too big for my skills. I don't know how to make it go faster than it will. But each of our vessels will hold four. So Kusha, who do you want to go with?"
"I think I'd like to with you, Kohana," Kusha said.
"All right, then I have Kuwabara, Kusha, Kurama, and myself. Hannah, you have yourself, Hiei, and Yusuke."
Everyone nodded and got into the vessels. Kohana's vessel was a little squished, but they managed. They took off, and all but Hannah and Kohana fell asleep for the whole trip...