Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. Yukimi and Reon (who *will* be
showing up this fic) belong to Ryuu no Furui Yami. Oh, and Sleipnir belongs
to... he belongs to... gah! I don't know! Ask him!
Sleipnir: *gives KKC a strange look* ?
Grimoire: *looks up from his jigsaw puzzle* Yep... the snow has finally gotten to her.
KKC: *sitting on her bed, with her laptop precariously balanced on her knees* Well, at least I'm doing something constructive while I have two days off of school from all the snow.
Grimoire: *turning back to puzzle* Yes, I suppose typing is better than trying to ice-skate in your dad's pool... *he growls, and his tail angrily swishes back and forth* These pieces won't fit!
KKC: Maybe they would if you had opposable thumbs and color vision. *Smugly grins*
Grimoire: -_-* Shut up and type, wench. *Continues trying to fit the pieces together.*
KKC: *chucks pillow at Grim* Jerk.
Quote of the week: "Here's one to me, and one to you; but since you're not here, here's two to me!" -unknown, a drinking limerick
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"Just one monster? That's all?" Shishiwakamaru snorted, but Suzuka's reply was dead serious. "Yeah, just one."
"Then what is this monster?"
"Sleipnir, the legendary horse of the Gods."
The entire group just stood there in silence while the wind kicked up the snow and stung their eyes. Gods. They were dealing with gods. As if undead minions and zombies weren't enough trouble, the immortals had decided to take place in this little, if dangerous, game. Oh rapture.
"Well, this sucks beyond all the known boundaries of suckiness, doesn't it?" Rinku muttered, breaking the silence. For once, no one contradicted him on his choice of language - truer words couldn't have been spoken. Rogerik shouldered his bag, started walking northeast, and said, "Well, we can't just hang around here all day, then."
"We can't just leave Cecilia out here, it wouldn't be right." Kuwabara indignantly shouted. The blond thief continued walking away from the group, totally ignoring his roommates. Holly loaded her levitating broomstick with the girls' bags and, after letting Reon out of his cat carrier, hopped on. "I hate to admit it, but he's right. Cecilia might be dead, but we can't let the same thing happen to any of the other students. We're the only ones that could possibly drive off Sleipnir."
"I suppose so..." Yukimi sighed, scratching the Reon underneath his chin. Lark just stood there, staring at the blood-soaked snow, totally unaware of the world around her. "Hey, Lark, come on." The black-haired teen jumped a little at her sister's voice, but faked a smile and slipped her messenger bag over her head and onto the opposite shoulder. "Yeah..."
...And so, they gathered up their stuff and followed Rogerik into the blinding snow towards Safehaven, not at all ready to face what the Gods had thrown in their path.
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"Hey, Chrysanthemum, when is Suzuka gonna get back?" The older cat demon looked down at the five-year-old human. "He'll be back soon, Lila."
"The horsie isn't gonna get him, right?"
"No, Sleipnir won't get him."
"Yeah! He hath that really big gun, remember?" Another kindergartener, Conner Richardson, did an impersonation of shooting down the giant horse creature outside, which was pretty accurate except for his lisp. Chrysanthemum sweatdropped, but smiled and nodded nevertheless. "Er... yeah." Quickly, she checked to make sure Lyonell, her twin, was doing okay with his own group of children. That is, she was making sure Fuka, Gabrielle, and Brittany weren't giving the sleeping cat demon a "makeover". To her relief, the three young students, two demons and a human, were curled up next to their chaperone, fast asleep. Sighing, Chrysanthemum turned back to her own gaggle of kids.
"Lyonell, Lyonell..." he groggily opened one eye, wishing the high-pitched voice would just stop calling his name. Looking up, he saw the face of eight-year-old Zachary. Deciding it would better to see what the problem was rather than try and sleep with the kid's annoying voice reverberating through his sensitive cats' ears, he yawned and stretched, then turned to face the angry voice of the half-fairy, half-human student.
"What is it?" Lyonell grumpily asked, still half asleep.
"Those kids over there called me a fairy!"
Ah, another case of name-calling. How tedious. Sighing, he cracked his neck and flexed his claws. "So what did you do?"
"I hit them with my purse!"
Lyonell, in the middle of a rather long yawn, choked for a second. The younger student patiently waited for his chaperone to stop hacking and coughing, and started to count the number of cracks in the flagstone floor to pass the time. He was up to eighty-seven by the time the elder cat demon fully regained his posture.
"Kids these days..." Lyonell muttered to himself, then turned to Zachary, fake smile plastered on his face. "Ah, you know what? Why don't you ask Chrysanthemum to help you?"
"Why not you?"
"I'm not really good at those types of situations, ya know?" Silence, then...
"Gee, you're a sucky chaperone." Zachary walked away from Lyonell, whose fake smile was quickly turning into a grimace. The cat demon grumbled something about disrespectful children, then turned back onto his side and fell back asleep.
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"So, how do we know when we've reached this Safehaven place?" Kuwabara shouted.
"Because there'll be a giant horse outside, idiot!" Shishiwakamaru yelled back. The redhead chose to ignore the samurai's latter comment and tried his best to cover up for his earlier brain fart. "I knew that. Just testing ya." His only reply was a middle finger from Shishi and a grumbled "Hmph!"
Yusuke looked up to the gray sky, blinking snowflakes out of his brown eyes. "Jin, you see anything yet?"
"Nope." The windmaster suddenly appeared by Yusuke's left shoulder, startling the spirit detective. "Crud! How'd you do that?" Jin shrugged and floated over the Japanese teen's head. "Ya' have t'be quiet. How else?"
"Are you trying to imply something?"
"Me? Nah... But I've never seen you this quiet before. Somethin' on your mind?" Yusuke stopped walking and looked up at the windmaster. "I just have a bad feeling about all this."
Jin nodded in agreement, then cocked his head as if listening to something from far off in the distance. His elfin ears were pricked up, and his normally cheerful blue eyes were clouded in worry. "What is it?"
Jin didn't answer, and instead floated up higher. When he was above the dark gray clouds, he looked over his surroundings. The cold was almost unbearable up there, and the snow down below blocked out what little of the ground could be seen from between the clouds. It wasn't long before Holly appeared out of the mist, her jacket tightly closed around her shivering body and Kyuro curled upon her shoulders. "Jin, what is it?"
"Someone's coming..." The windmaster strained his ears even more to hear the faint noises, and felt a slight thud against his chest. He brought up his hands to capture the small projectile, and then held it up to eye-level to get a better look. In his hands was a tiny sparrow, with what seemed to be a strip of white cloth trailing from one wing. It chirped once, and hastily pecked him on the palm as if to remind the much larger demon just who he was. "Ow! He bit me, the little bastard!"
"Let me see that... Kyuro, no!" The wind witch lunged forwards after the black cat familiar, who leaped the six-foot gap between the two wind- manipulators in order to reach the tired bird. Jin managed to catch the cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand, and keep the sparrow out of reach with the other. Holly nudged her broom closer and scooped the bird out of Jin's hands, watching as Kyuro yowled obscenities at them.
"You guys are evil! Eeeeeeeeeevviiiiiiiilll! I just want something to eat!"
"Zip it, furball." Jin shot back, trying his best to keep the familiar's flailing limbs and claws away from his skin. Kyuro seemed to get the hint from the windmaster's tone of voice and promptly shut up, hanging limply from Jin's grasp.
The sparrow was busily hopping around on Holly's finger, and the witch was hard-pressed to listen to its chirped message. "Er... Jin? I don't have a clue what he's saying." Windmaster, Familiar, and even the sparrow sweatdropped. Jin handed Kyuro to Holly and took the sparrow from her finger. "Okay, tell me what's happened."
The sparrow started twittering madly once again, hopping all over Jin as he delivered his news, much to the shinobi's agitation. "Well, what did her say?" Holly asked, leaning over Jin's shoulder. Jin sighed and replied, looking up at the tiny bird that was now perched on his pearl-white horn. "Well, I didn't get much from him, but he said something about a ring in the snow."
"Oh, that's really helpful."
The bird angrily chirped yet again, and Jin corrected himself. "Scratch that. A really big ring with a chain coming out of it." Holly looked as if an idea had struck, and she held Kyuro back as the rescued sparrow landed on the handle of her broomstick.
"I think I know what he means. Jin, you go tell the others what's going on, I'll go ahead."
"But what-" Holly sped off, praying mist in the demon's direction. Grumbling, he yelled over the wind, "Agh, ferget it! I give up!"
Jin was met with another feathered friend on the way back down towards the group. Shooing Salvatore away from his face, the windmaster asked, "Can't I get a bit of privacy around here?"
"Jin, it's a school. Privacy is nearly unheard of here." Suzuka stated, glad the energetic lovebird wasn't getting itself tangled in his hair at the moment. Jin winced as the parrot finally pried its little claws loose from his wild red mess, and handed Salvatore back to his owner. "Where's Holly?" Lark asked, shedding her happy mask in worry over her friend.
"She followed this bird. They're looking for a ring in the snow, and it has a chain coming out of it." More blank stares, and Jin sighed. "I think she thinks it might be a portal or something of the like."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense." Shishi grumbled, shivering as the wind once again whipped over the snow-covered campus. "It would." Kurama murmured, and looked up suddenly at Kuwabara, Rinku, and Chuu's puzzled looks. Nervously chuckling, he tried to make it a bit clearer for them. "Uh, Sleipnir probably came from a portal in order to waste the least energy." Rinku nodded, getting a bit sooner than his other companions.
"So where is it?" Touya questioned Jin, who was floating Indian-style above the ground.
"Erm... she went in the same direction we're traveling so..."
"She's going north, then."
"Yeah." Jin nodded; glad the ice-master had taken hold of the reins of the conversation. Lyra re-adjusted the strap of her messenger bag and continued trudging through the snow; Salvatore huddled underneath her hair. "We better get going. Come on you guys."
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25 minutes later...
"Hey, Lyonell! Come take a look at this!" The younger student passed the pair of binoculars to the blond cat, not that they really helped much in the blinding snow. He scanned past the broken tree stumps, the ebony form of the pawing Sleipnir, and almost the fuzzy, red, blob that stood out so starkly from the glistening white. Whipping back to the fuzzy red blob, Lyonell sharpened the focus on the binoculars enough to make out his teacher and friends, as well as a few strangers. Tossing the binoculars over his shoulder, which the younger student fumbled to catch, he grabbed his jacket from a hook by one of the Safehaven's many hidden doors and headed outside into the crisp, cold, air.
The cat demon snuck past the monstrous horse, taking the best of care not to invoke the servant's attention. Sleipnir continued pawing outside the main door, guarding the way out. Lyonell took refuge underneath a large shrub; slinking underneath the green needles, and looking in all directions for enemies - every direction, that is, except for right ahead. He crashed right into another body and, fearing the sharp hooves of Sleipnir, lashed out with his claws.
"Ow! Idiot, stop that!" Rogerik fell back into the snow, next to his duffel bag. The cat blinked his green eyes to clear his blurred vision, and then asked, "Rogerik?"
"Quiet!" The thief covered Lyonell's mouth for a second, blocking off any noise whatsoever, and tried to make himself look as small as possible as the black horse turned one gold eye on the shrub, dim sunlight reflecting off of the golden bridle and dull iron chain that snaked into the distance. Both boys stayed quiet as the giant animal peered through the evergreen bushes, and sighed in relief as Sleipnir turned away.
"Thank God - ow!" Lyonell clapped one paw to his golden-furred cat ear, and was immediately bitten again. Wincing, he grabbed the ear-nipper and held it out to see. "Salvatore, what are you doing here?" Asked the cat, carefully keeping the lovebird's sharp beak out of reach of his fingers. Rogerik took Salvatore from Lyonell's grasp and let the bird perch on his finger before giving instructions to the smug parrot. "Fly back to Lyra and tell her we'll provide a distraction while they try and drive of Sleipnir. Got that?"
The brightly colored bird "Queek!"-ed an agreement and stretched his green wings before lifting off and skimming over the snow in the direction of the oncoming group of travelers. Luckily, the agitated Sleipnir didn't notice the bird; either that, or he didn't care. "Hey, Rogerik, do you really think Sleipnir will fall for a distraction we set up? Er... Rogerik? Dude?"
Silence.
"Now where the hell did that coward go?"
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"Holly, do you really know what you're doing?" The small familiar was precariously perched on the end of the broomstick handle, looking over the wind witch's shoulder as she shifted through the snow. "No, not really. Kyuro, do you see a ring around here?"
"Uh, how big a ring are you talking about?"
Holly sighed and her shoulder's slumped. "Uh, I don't know." Kyuro rolled his bright green eyes and hissed in exasperation.
"Oh, don't give me that, cat."
"Then look harder!" Kyuro jumped down from his levitating perch, then tripped and fell face-first into the powdery snow. For half a minute, the only part of the cat to be seen was his silky tail, which was whipping around as Kyuro furiously tried to regain his balance. Holly picked the small familiar up, ignoring the tinkling noise that came from the bell around his neck as Kyuro shook the white snow from his glossy fur.
A faint glimmer caught the fourteen-year-old's eye from amidst the glittering snow, and she bent down again to see what it was. Underneath the snow was a small silver ring, like that which one wore upon their finger. As soon as Holly touched it; however, a blinding flash illuminated the area and before her hummed a massive circle of shining light, the silver rim barely recognizable as she squinted her hazel eyes. From the middle of the magnificent portal protruded a dull chain - the same one that connected Sleipnir to this world - each link three or four inches thick.
Both witch and familiar squinted their eyes at the brilliant spectacle.
"... I think we found the ring."
"Yep."
"Now what do we do?"
"I dunno."
"Maybe we should get Suzuka or another teacher..?"
"Brilliant plan, Holly. You go do that."
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"Suzuka! Hey, Suzuka!" the witch ducked underneath a low tree branch and, in her rush to get help, almost flew right into Chuu. The much taller demon swore and ducked, and Holly continued her mad dash - straight into Jin. Both wind manipulators went down, making humanoid-shaped craters in the snow, and Yukimi bent to down to help them up. "Holly, what's wrong?" the dragon specialist asked, pulling the witch to her feet. Jin groaned, got up, and slowly stumbled back, bumping his head on Holly's broomstick, which was obediently floating in place for its master.
"Kyuro and I found the ring." Yukimi cocked her head, and was about to ask just what this ring was, when Jin interrupted her. "And?"
"I have no clue what to do."
"I think I might have an idea." Yukimi, Jin, Holly, and Chuu jumped at the quiet voice, but Jin recognized the speaker almost at once. Sighing, the windmaster started to levitate in the air, and called out, "Okay, Rogerik. Tell us your grand plan."
The smug psychic stepped out from behind a tree, and leaned against its bark. "Sleipnir is being held in our world against his will; it's easy to see by the way he's acting."
"Either that or he's really not a Christmas enthusiast." Yukimi muttered, choosing to ignore Rogerik's reproachful glare.
"Anyways, we need to sever the bond that's tying him here and he'll disappear from our plane of existence."
"In plain ol' English, if ya don't mind, mate." Chuu grunted, and Rogerik complied.
"He'll go back home. Poof - and Sleipnir's gone."
"You could have said that in the first place, you know." Jin pointed out, shaking the pure-white snow out of his hair. Rogerik glared again, and snapped, "Well, excuse me for making it a bit clearer."
Before Jin and Rogerik could make things any worse, Lark butted in. "So we just need to break this chain, huh? No problem." She maliciously grinned as a sphere of clear water appeared in her palm, before she shot it out at the dull links from a few yards away. The iron floated above the snow and glowed blue for a few seconds before falling back to the ground with a loud hiss.
"... Er, I meant for that to happen! Yeah, that's it..." The raven-haired girl lost her evil grin and replaced it with an embarrassed one. Jin floated over, bent down and went to touch the chain, but drew his hand back with a startled yelp as the chain glowed cherry red and hissed from the incredible heat.
Suzuka walked over, distracted by the windmaster's high-pitched voice, and observed the metal links himself. "Rogerik," He began, "The links were much smaller, in order to be of no nuisance to Sleipnir, am I right?"
"Yeah..."
"So we're going to have to break the chain there... hm... This is going to be tough." The inventor leaned back, seriously in thought. Sighing, he stood up and turned to his companions. "Anyone want to be living bait?"
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Lyonell was still huddled underneath the shrubbery, curled up into a fairly small ball in order to conserve heat. The cat was also still contemplating whether or not the eight-legged horse would fall asleep for the first time in three days. All was quiet, except for Sleipnir's constant fidgeting, when a gloomy voice penetrated his thoughts.
'Lyonell, wake up.'
'Hiei..?' Lyonell stumbled over the name in his head, but finally connected the voice and name to a person. 'Hiei, what's taking you so long?'
'I need to get in close to the horse, which means I need a distraction.'
So that was what the vertically challenged pyromaniac was up to... a favor was needed. Inwardly sighing, Lyonell uncurled himself from his snow-free spot and stretched his flexible spine. 'Fine, I'll think of something. Just be fast.'
Lyonell shook the snow from his fur and crouched on his haunches, prepared for a signal from the other group. Not more than a second later, Hiei's katana was flung into the snow, pinning the chain down and preventing Sleipnir's escape. In a desperate rush, Lyonell ran out and whipped a snowball at the giant horse's head. The animal turned it head towards him, and Lyonell blurted out the first thing that came to his head, hoping it would work.
"Hey, look, a diversion!"
The cat pointed one clawed finger towards the middle of nowhere and Sleipnir swung his beautifully sculpted head towards the spot, ears pricked. Hiei took his chance and dashed forwards, his right arm covered in flame, and grabbed at the more delicate section of chain near the horse's muzzle, snapping it upon impact. The chain whipped around the horse's neck and wound itself around Hiei's wrist. The dull metal snapped taut, and Hiei was yanked back, his wrist twisted at an unnatural angle.
Seemingly noticing his newfound freedom, the eight-legged stallion reared up and charged for the portal, pulling out the katana, his old restraint dangling behind him, with Hiei also tangled up in the chain. With a tremendous leap, Sleipnir soared through the silver ring, and Hiei, his body dangling in the air on the other side of the portal, grabbed the edge of the portal with one hand. Lyonell ran over and stretched over the fire demon, untangling the jerking chain, and then pulling Hiei back through the silver ring. The gate flashed once, then fell back to the snow, a finger- sized ring once more. The cat demon tried to pick it up between his claws, but it shattered and dispersed into a hundred tiny shards to be dispersed among the Christmas Eve winds.
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An hour later, Lyra, Lark, Holly, Rogerik, Jin, and the four tantei stood outside their dorm. The purple cottage had never looked so much like home, and they wearily stumbled inside. Most of the group flopped down on an armchair, the sofa, or the couch (Hiei didn't quite flop down, as his right wrist had been horribly twisted and broken, and was now in a splint until April.), except for Yusuke and Lark, who both raced for the upstairs bathroom to use the shower. The spirit detective got a handhold on the doorframe, but was blasted back by a torrent of cold water. Lark, the spirit energy fading from her hand, raced ahead and locked the door behind her, making sure to put up an energy barrier so Yusuke couldn't break through.
"Hey! I called dibs on the shower first!" He complained, pounded on the door with her fist. From behind the wooden door, Lark retorted, "Then how come I'm in the bathroom and you're outside on your ass!"
Yusuke grumbled, but didn't attack the door or try to force his way in. Instead, he stomped downstairs, past his curious roommates, and into the first-floor bathroom. Smirking, He flushed the toilet, turned on the cold water in the vanity sink, and then, as he was stomping back to the den, turned on the kitchen faucet to pour cold water full-blast into the sink. All eight of them cringed as Lark screamed in pain from the upstairs shower, and Holly turned to the smug teen.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Fifteen going on seven." Yusuke smirked and leaned against the fireplace, listening to Lark's scream in glee. Not two minutes later, Lark stormed down, fully dressed and mad as Hell. "Urameshi..." The younger girl growled, and Yusuke "eep"-ed and skittered away into the kitchen, dodging the many pots and pans thrown at him.
The rest of the students were silent as Lark chased Yusuke from room to room, and Kurama sighed. It was good to be home, as noisy as it was, and nothing could ever change that.
"SPIRIT GUN!"
A loud explosion rocked the house, and they all dived for cover as Yusuke shot his spirit gun in order to ward off Lark, who yelped, "The hell? That's not a gun, that's a goddamn cannon!"
Yessiree...nothing like home. But, such was all just a part of the soundtrack of his life.
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KKC: Yep, not so bad if I say so myself! By the way, thanks to Ryu-sama, Kia (Kaeru Soyokaze), and Rurui no Furui Yami for reviewing. I hear my English teacher may join my list of reviewers, too. Scary, ne?
Jin: *watching Grimoire struggle with puzzle* So what did 'ya call us here for?
*All the tantei, as well as Yukina, Botan, Jin, Touya, Chuu, Rinku, Shishiwakamaru, Koenma, Fangirlitis, Chris, and Keiko are gathered in KKC's bedroom*
KKC: Er... where's Genkai?
Yusuke: Decided not to come.
KKC: Oh... Well, I called you are here because I'm sure you're all aware of my Christmas fic coming up, right?
Chris: Yeah... You only totally ignored me this Thursday typing it up.
KKC: ^ ^;; Yes, well, I've decided to do secret Santa's this year in order to cause as little impact on your wallets as I possibly can.
Yukina: That is very nice of you, KKC-chan. But, what is a "secret Santa"?
Fangirlitis: *gapes at Yukina* You've never done a secret Santa?
Yukina: *shakes her head* oh, no I haven't Fangirlitis-chan.
Fangirlitis: How do I explain this... you pick a slip from my sister's stupid-looking bucket hat-
KKC: Hey! It's made out of Angora! It's hard to find Angora nowadays... Besides, you wanted to borrow it yesterday.
Fangirlitis: -Yes, whatever. Anyways, you pick a slip, and whoever's name is on the slip, you buy a present for them and give it to them at the Christmas party. Make sense?
Yukina: ^-^ Yes, it does. Arigatou!
Fangirlitis: No problem. I'll go first! *Picks slip* Oh, you rigged this, didn't you, KKC?
KKC: Nah, I'm above that. Who's next? *Holds hat out to the Yu Yu Hakusho cast* Come on... you're all going to have to pick one sooner or later, whether it fits into this chapter or not.
*Cue collective groan from YYH cast*
KKC: Hm? No takers? Guess I'll have to pester you all week, then. Please review folks. and until next chapter, Ciao!
Sleipnir: *gives KKC a strange look* ?
Grimoire: *looks up from his jigsaw puzzle* Yep... the snow has finally gotten to her.
KKC: *sitting on her bed, with her laptop precariously balanced on her knees* Well, at least I'm doing something constructive while I have two days off of school from all the snow.
Grimoire: *turning back to puzzle* Yes, I suppose typing is better than trying to ice-skate in your dad's pool... *he growls, and his tail angrily swishes back and forth* These pieces won't fit!
KKC: Maybe they would if you had opposable thumbs and color vision. *Smugly grins*
Grimoire: -_-* Shut up and type, wench. *Continues trying to fit the pieces together.*
KKC: *chucks pillow at Grim* Jerk.
Quote of the week: "Here's one to me, and one to you; but since you're not here, here's two to me!" -unknown, a drinking limerick
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"Just one monster? That's all?" Shishiwakamaru snorted, but Suzuka's reply was dead serious. "Yeah, just one."
"Then what is this monster?"
"Sleipnir, the legendary horse of the Gods."
The entire group just stood there in silence while the wind kicked up the snow and stung their eyes. Gods. They were dealing with gods. As if undead minions and zombies weren't enough trouble, the immortals had decided to take place in this little, if dangerous, game. Oh rapture.
"Well, this sucks beyond all the known boundaries of suckiness, doesn't it?" Rinku muttered, breaking the silence. For once, no one contradicted him on his choice of language - truer words couldn't have been spoken. Rogerik shouldered his bag, started walking northeast, and said, "Well, we can't just hang around here all day, then."
"We can't just leave Cecilia out here, it wouldn't be right." Kuwabara indignantly shouted. The blond thief continued walking away from the group, totally ignoring his roommates. Holly loaded her levitating broomstick with the girls' bags and, after letting Reon out of his cat carrier, hopped on. "I hate to admit it, but he's right. Cecilia might be dead, but we can't let the same thing happen to any of the other students. We're the only ones that could possibly drive off Sleipnir."
"I suppose so..." Yukimi sighed, scratching the Reon underneath his chin. Lark just stood there, staring at the blood-soaked snow, totally unaware of the world around her. "Hey, Lark, come on." The black-haired teen jumped a little at her sister's voice, but faked a smile and slipped her messenger bag over her head and onto the opposite shoulder. "Yeah..."
...And so, they gathered up their stuff and followed Rogerik into the blinding snow towards Safehaven, not at all ready to face what the Gods had thrown in their path.
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"Hey, Chrysanthemum, when is Suzuka gonna get back?" The older cat demon looked down at the five-year-old human. "He'll be back soon, Lila."
"The horsie isn't gonna get him, right?"
"No, Sleipnir won't get him."
"Yeah! He hath that really big gun, remember?" Another kindergartener, Conner Richardson, did an impersonation of shooting down the giant horse creature outside, which was pretty accurate except for his lisp. Chrysanthemum sweatdropped, but smiled and nodded nevertheless. "Er... yeah." Quickly, she checked to make sure Lyonell, her twin, was doing okay with his own group of children. That is, she was making sure Fuka, Gabrielle, and Brittany weren't giving the sleeping cat demon a "makeover". To her relief, the three young students, two demons and a human, were curled up next to their chaperone, fast asleep. Sighing, Chrysanthemum turned back to her own gaggle of kids.
"Lyonell, Lyonell..." he groggily opened one eye, wishing the high-pitched voice would just stop calling his name. Looking up, he saw the face of eight-year-old Zachary. Deciding it would better to see what the problem was rather than try and sleep with the kid's annoying voice reverberating through his sensitive cats' ears, he yawned and stretched, then turned to face the angry voice of the half-fairy, half-human student.
"What is it?" Lyonell grumpily asked, still half asleep.
"Those kids over there called me a fairy!"
Ah, another case of name-calling. How tedious. Sighing, he cracked his neck and flexed his claws. "So what did you do?"
"I hit them with my purse!"
Lyonell, in the middle of a rather long yawn, choked for a second. The younger student patiently waited for his chaperone to stop hacking and coughing, and started to count the number of cracks in the flagstone floor to pass the time. He was up to eighty-seven by the time the elder cat demon fully regained his posture.
"Kids these days..." Lyonell muttered to himself, then turned to Zachary, fake smile plastered on his face. "Ah, you know what? Why don't you ask Chrysanthemum to help you?"
"Why not you?"
"I'm not really good at those types of situations, ya know?" Silence, then...
"Gee, you're a sucky chaperone." Zachary walked away from Lyonell, whose fake smile was quickly turning into a grimace. The cat demon grumbled something about disrespectful children, then turned back onto his side and fell back asleep.
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"So, how do we know when we've reached this Safehaven place?" Kuwabara shouted.
"Because there'll be a giant horse outside, idiot!" Shishiwakamaru yelled back. The redhead chose to ignore the samurai's latter comment and tried his best to cover up for his earlier brain fart. "I knew that. Just testing ya." His only reply was a middle finger from Shishi and a grumbled "Hmph!"
Yusuke looked up to the gray sky, blinking snowflakes out of his brown eyes. "Jin, you see anything yet?"
"Nope." The windmaster suddenly appeared by Yusuke's left shoulder, startling the spirit detective. "Crud! How'd you do that?" Jin shrugged and floated over the Japanese teen's head. "Ya' have t'be quiet. How else?"
"Are you trying to imply something?"
"Me? Nah... But I've never seen you this quiet before. Somethin' on your mind?" Yusuke stopped walking and looked up at the windmaster. "I just have a bad feeling about all this."
Jin nodded in agreement, then cocked his head as if listening to something from far off in the distance. His elfin ears were pricked up, and his normally cheerful blue eyes were clouded in worry. "What is it?"
Jin didn't answer, and instead floated up higher. When he was above the dark gray clouds, he looked over his surroundings. The cold was almost unbearable up there, and the snow down below blocked out what little of the ground could be seen from between the clouds. It wasn't long before Holly appeared out of the mist, her jacket tightly closed around her shivering body and Kyuro curled upon her shoulders. "Jin, what is it?"
"Someone's coming..." The windmaster strained his ears even more to hear the faint noises, and felt a slight thud against his chest. He brought up his hands to capture the small projectile, and then held it up to eye-level to get a better look. In his hands was a tiny sparrow, with what seemed to be a strip of white cloth trailing from one wing. It chirped once, and hastily pecked him on the palm as if to remind the much larger demon just who he was. "Ow! He bit me, the little bastard!"
"Let me see that... Kyuro, no!" The wind witch lunged forwards after the black cat familiar, who leaped the six-foot gap between the two wind- manipulators in order to reach the tired bird. Jin managed to catch the cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand, and keep the sparrow out of reach with the other. Holly nudged her broom closer and scooped the bird out of Jin's hands, watching as Kyuro yowled obscenities at them.
"You guys are evil! Eeeeeeeeeevviiiiiiiilll! I just want something to eat!"
"Zip it, furball." Jin shot back, trying his best to keep the familiar's flailing limbs and claws away from his skin. Kyuro seemed to get the hint from the windmaster's tone of voice and promptly shut up, hanging limply from Jin's grasp.
The sparrow was busily hopping around on Holly's finger, and the witch was hard-pressed to listen to its chirped message. "Er... Jin? I don't have a clue what he's saying." Windmaster, Familiar, and even the sparrow sweatdropped. Jin handed Kyuro to Holly and took the sparrow from her finger. "Okay, tell me what's happened."
The sparrow started twittering madly once again, hopping all over Jin as he delivered his news, much to the shinobi's agitation. "Well, what did her say?" Holly asked, leaning over Jin's shoulder. Jin sighed and replied, looking up at the tiny bird that was now perched on his pearl-white horn. "Well, I didn't get much from him, but he said something about a ring in the snow."
"Oh, that's really helpful."
The bird angrily chirped yet again, and Jin corrected himself. "Scratch that. A really big ring with a chain coming out of it." Holly looked as if an idea had struck, and she held Kyuro back as the rescued sparrow landed on the handle of her broomstick.
"I think I know what he means. Jin, you go tell the others what's going on, I'll go ahead."
"But what-" Holly sped off, praying mist in the demon's direction. Grumbling, he yelled over the wind, "Agh, ferget it! I give up!"
Jin was met with another feathered friend on the way back down towards the group. Shooing Salvatore away from his face, the windmaster asked, "Can't I get a bit of privacy around here?"
"Jin, it's a school. Privacy is nearly unheard of here." Suzuka stated, glad the energetic lovebird wasn't getting itself tangled in his hair at the moment. Jin winced as the parrot finally pried its little claws loose from his wild red mess, and handed Salvatore back to his owner. "Where's Holly?" Lark asked, shedding her happy mask in worry over her friend.
"She followed this bird. They're looking for a ring in the snow, and it has a chain coming out of it." More blank stares, and Jin sighed. "I think she thinks it might be a portal or something of the like."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense." Shishi grumbled, shivering as the wind once again whipped over the snow-covered campus. "It would." Kurama murmured, and looked up suddenly at Kuwabara, Rinku, and Chuu's puzzled looks. Nervously chuckling, he tried to make it a bit clearer for them. "Uh, Sleipnir probably came from a portal in order to waste the least energy." Rinku nodded, getting a bit sooner than his other companions.
"So where is it?" Touya questioned Jin, who was floating Indian-style above the ground.
"Erm... she went in the same direction we're traveling so..."
"She's going north, then."
"Yeah." Jin nodded; glad the ice-master had taken hold of the reins of the conversation. Lyra re-adjusted the strap of her messenger bag and continued trudging through the snow; Salvatore huddled underneath her hair. "We better get going. Come on you guys."
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25 minutes later...
"Hey, Lyonell! Come take a look at this!" The younger student passed the pair of binoculars to the blond cat, not that they really helped much in the blinding snow. He scanned past the broken tree stumps, the ebony form of the pawing Sleipnir, and almost the fuzzy, red, blob that stood out so starkly from the glistening white. Whipping back to the fuzzy red blob, Lyonell sharpened the focus on the binoculars enough to make out his teacher and friends, as well as a few strangers. Tossing the binoculars over his shoulder, which the younger student fumbled to catch, he grabbed his jacket from a hook by one of the Safehaven's many hidden doors and headed outside into the crisp, cold, air.
The cat demon snuck past the monstrous horse, taking the best of care not to invoke the servant's attention. Sleipnir continued pawing outside the main door, guarding the way out. Lyonell took refuge underneath a large shrub; slinking underneath the green needles, and looking in all directions for enemies - every direction, that is, except for right ahead. He crashed right into another body and, fearing the sharp hooves of Sleipnir, lashed out with his claws.
"Ow! Idiot, stop that!" Rogerik fell back into the snow, next to his duffel bag. The cat blinked his green eyes to clear his blurred vision, and then asked, "Rogerik?"
"Quiet!" The thief covered Lyonell's mouth for a second, blocking off any noise whatsoever, and tried to make himself look as small as possible as the black horse turned one gold eye on the shrub, dim sunlight reflecting off of the golden bridle and dull iron chain that snaked into the distance. Both boys stayed quiet as the giant animal peered through the evergreen bushes, and sighed in relief as Sleipnir turned away.
"Thank God - ow!" Lyonell clapped one paw to his golden-furred cat ear, and was immediately bitten again. Wincing, he grabbed the ear-nipper and held it out to see. "Salvatore, what are you doing here?" Asked the cat, carefully keeping the lovebird's sharp beak out of reach of his fingers. Rogerik took Salvatore from Lyonell's grasp and let the bird perch on his finger before giving instructions to the smug parrot. "Fly back to Lyra and tell her we'll provide a distraction while they try and drive of Sleipnir. Got that?"
The brightly colored bird "Queek!"-ed an agreement and stretched his green wings before lifting off and skimming over the snow in the direction of the oncoming group of travelers. Luckily, the agitated Sleipnir didn't notice the bird; either that, or he didn't care. "Hey, Rogerik, do you really think Sleipnir will fall for a distraction we set up? Er... Rogerik? Dude?"
Silence.
"Now where the hell did that coward go?"
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"Holly, do you really know what you're doing?" The small familiar was precariously perched on the end of the broomstick handle, looking over the wind witch's shoulder as she shifted through the snow. "No, not really. Kyuro, do you see a ring around here?"
"Uh, how big a ring are you talking about?"
Holly sighed and her shoulder's slumped. "Uh, I don't know." Kyuro rolled his bright green eyes and hissed in exasperation.
"Oh, don't give me that, cat."
"Then look harder!" Kyuro jumped down from his levitating perch, then tripped and fell face-first into the powdery snow. For half a minute, the only part of the cat to be seen was his silky tail, which was whipping around as Kyuro furiously tried to regain his balance. Holly picked the small familiar up, ignoring the tinkling noise that came from the bell around his neck as Kyuro shook the white snow from his glossy fur.
A faint glimmer caught the fourteen-year-old's eye from amidst the glittering snow, and she bent down again to see what it was. Underneath the snow was a small silver ring, like that which one wore upon their finger. As soon as Holly touched it; however, a blinding flash illuminated the area and before her hummed a massive circle of shining light, the silver rim barely recognizable as she squinted her hazel eyes. From the middle of the magnificent portal protruded a dull chain - the same one that connected Sleipnir to this world - each link three or four inches thick.
Both witch and familiar squinted their eyes at the brilliant spectacle.
"... I think we found the ring."
"Yep."
"Now what do we do?"
"I dunno."
"Maybe we should get Suzuka or another teacher..?"
"Brilliant plan, Holly. You go do that."
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"Suzuka! Hey, Suzuka!" the witch ducked underneath a low tree branch and, in her rush to get help, almost flew right into Chuu. The much taller demon swore and ducked, and Holly continued her mad dash - straight into Jin. Both wind manipulators went down, making humanoid-shaped craters in the snow, and Yukimi bent to down to help them up. "Holly, what's wrong?" the dragon specialist asked, pulling the witch to her feet. Jin groaned, got up, and slowly stumbled back, bumping his head on Holly's broomstick, which was obediently floating in place for its master.
"Kyuro and I found the ring." Yukimi cocked her head, and was about to ask just what this ring was, when Jin interrupted her. "And?"
"I have no clue what to do."
"I think I might have an idea." Yukimi, Jin, Holly, and Chuu jumped at the quiet voice, but Jin recognized the speaker almost at once. Sighing, the windmaster started to levitate in the air, and called out, "Okay, Rogerik. Tell us your grand plan."
The smug psychic stepped out from behind a tree, and leaned against its bark. "Sleipnir is being held in our world against his will; it's easy to see by the way he's acting."
"Either that or he's really not a Christmas enthusiast." Yukimi muttered, choosing to ignore Rogerik's reproachful glare.
"Anyways, we need to sever the bond that's tying him here and he'll disappear from our plane of existence."
"In plain ol' English, if ya don't mind, mate." Chuu grunted, and Rogerik complied.
"He'll go back home. Poof - and Sleipnir's gone."
"You could have said that in the first place, you know." Jin pointed out, shaking the pure-white snow out of his hair. Rogerik glared again, and snapped, "Well, excuse me for making it a bit clearer."
Before Jin and Rogerik could make things any worse, Lark butted in. "So we just need to break this chain, huh? No problem." She maliciously grinned as a sphere of clear water appeared in her palm, before she shot it out at the dull links from a few yards away. The iron floated above the snow and glowed blue for a few seconds before falling back to the ground with a loud hiss.
"... Er, I meant for that to happen! Yeah, that's it..." The raven-haired girl lost her evil grin and replaced it with an embarrassed one. Jin floated over, bent down and went to touch the chain, but drew his hand back with a startled yelp as the chain glowed cherry red and hissed from the incredible heat.
Suzuka walked over, distracted by the windmaster's high-pitched voice, and observed the metal links himself. "Rogerik," He began, "The links were much smaller, in order to be of no nuisance to Sleipnir, am I right?"
"Yeah..."
"So we're going to have to break the chain there... hm... This is going to be tough." The inventor leaned back, seriously in thought. Sighing, he stood up and turned to his companions. "Anyone want to be living bait?"
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Lyonell was still huddled underneath the shrubbery, curled up into a fairly small ball in order to conserve heat. The cat was also still contemplating whether or not the eight-legged horse would fall asleep for the first time in three days. All was quiet, except for Sleipnir's constant fidgeting, when a gloomy voice penetrated his thoughts.
'Lyonell, wake up.'
'Hiei..?' Lyonell stumbled over the name in his head, but finally connected the voice and name to a person. 'Hiei, what's taking you so long?'
'I need to get in close to the horse, which means I need a distraction.'
So that was what the vertically challenged pyromaniac was up to... a favor was needed. Inwardly sighing, Lyonell uncurled himself from his snow-free spot and stretched his flexible spine. 'Fine, I'll think of something. Just be fast.'
Lyonell shook the snow from his fur and crouched on his haunches, prepared for a signal from the other group. Not more than a second later, Hiei's katana was flung into the snow, pinning the chain down and preventing Sleipnir's escape. In a desperate rush, Lyonell ran out and whipped a snowball at the giant horse's head. The animal turned it head towards him, and Lyonell blurted out the first thing that came to his head, hoping it would work.
"Hey, look, a diversion!"
The cat pointed one clawed finger towards the middle of nowhere and Sleipnir swung his beautifully sculpted head towards the spot, ears pricked. Hiei took his chance and dashed forwards, his right arm covered in flame, and grabbed at the more delicate section of chain near the horse's muzzle, snapping it upon impact. The chain whipped around the horse's neck and wound itself around Hiei's wrist. The dull metal snapped taut, and Hiei was yanked back, his wrist twisted at an unnatural angle.
Seemingly noticing his newfound freedom, the eight-legged stallion reared up and charged for the portal, pulling out the katana, his old restraint dangling behind him, with Hiei also tangled up in the chain. With a tremendous leap, Sleipnir soared through the silver ring, and Hiei, his body dangling in the air on the other side of the portal, grabbed the edge of the portal with one hand. Lyonell ran over and stretched over the fire demon, untangling the jerking chain, and then pulling Hiei back through the silver ring. The gate flashed once, then fell back to the snow, a finger- sized ring once more. The cat demon tried to pick it up between his claws, but it shattered and dispersed into a hundred tiny shards to be dispersed among the Christmas Eve winds.
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An hour later, Lyra, Lark, Holly, Rogerik, Jin, and the four tantei stood outside their dorm. The purple cottage had never looked so much like home, and they wearily stumbled inside. Most of the group flopped down on an armchair, the sofa, or the couch (Hiei didn't quite flop down, as his right wrist had been horribly twisted and broken, and was now in a splint until April.), except for Yusuke and Lark, who both raced for the upstairs bathroom to use the shower. The spirit detective got a handhold on the doorframe, but was blasted back by a torrent of cold water. Lark, the spirit energy fading from her hand, raced ahead and locked the door behind her, making sure to put up an energy barrier so Yusuke couldn't break through.
"Hey! I called dibs on the shower first!" He complained, pounded on the door with her fist. From behind the wooden door, Lark retorted, "Then how come I'm in the bathroom and you're outside on your ass!"
Yusuke grumbled, but didn't attack the door or try to force his way in. Instead, he stomped downstairs, past his curious roommates, and into the first-floor bathroom. Smirking, He flushed the toilet, turned on the cold water in the vanity sink, and then, as he was stomping back to the den, turned on the kitchen faucet to pour cold water full-blast into the sink. All eight of them cringed as Lark screamed in pain from the upstairs shower, and Holly turned to the smug teen.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Fifteen going on seven." Yusuke smirked and leaned against the fireplace, listening to Lark's scream in glee. Not two minutes later, Lark stormed down, fully dressed and mad as Hell. "Urameshi..." The younger girl growled, and Yusuke "eep"-ed and skittered away into the kitchen, dodging the many pots and pans thrown at him.
The rest of the students were silent as Lark chased Yusuke from room to room, and Kurama sighed. It was good to be home, as noisy as it was, and nothing could ever change that.
"SPIRIT GUN!"
A loud explosion rocked the house, and they all dived for cover as Yusuke shot his spirit gun in order to ward off Lark, who yelped, "The hell? That's not a gun, that's a goddamn cannon!"
Yessiree...nothing like home. But, such was all just a part of the soundtrack of his life.
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KKC: Yep, not so bad if I say so myself! By the way, thanks to Ryu-sama, Kia (Kaeru Soyokaze), and Rurui no Furui Yami for reviewing. I hear my English teacher may join my list of reviewers, too. Scary, ne?
Jin: *watching Grimoire struggle with puzzle* So what did 'ya call us here for?
*All the tantei, as well as Yukina, Botan, Jin, Touya, Chuu, Rinku, Shishiwakamaru, Koenma, Fangirlitis, Chris, and Keiko are gathered in KKC's bedroom*
KKC: Er... where's Genkai?
Yusuke: Decided not to come.
KKC: Oh... Well, I called you are here because I'm sure you're all aware of my Christmas fic coming up, right?
Chris: Yeah... You only totally ignored me this Thursday typing it up.
KKC: ^ ^;; Yes, well, I've decided to do secret Santa's this year in order to cause as little impact on your wallets as I possibly can.
Yukina: That is very nice of you, KKC-chan. But, what is a "secret Santa"?
Fangirlitis: *gapes at Yukina* You've never done a secret Santa?
Yukina: *shakes her head* oh, no I haven't Fangirlitis-chan.
Fangirlitis: How do I explain this... you pick a slip from my sister's stupid-looking bucket hat-
KKC: Hey! It's made out of Angora! It's hard to find Angora nowadays... Besides, you wanted to borrow it yesterday.
Fangirlitis: -Yes, whatever. Anyways, you pick a slip, and whoever's name is on the slip, you buy a present for them and give it to them at the Christmas party. Make sense?
Yukina: ^-^ Yes, it does. Arigatou!
Fangirlitis: No problem. I'll go first! *Picks slip* Oh, you rigged this, didn't you, KKC?
KKC: Nah, I'm above that. Who's next? *Holds hat out to the Yu Yu Hakusho cast* Come on... you're all going to have to pick one sooner or later, whether it fits into this chapter or not.
*Cue collective groan from YYH cast*
KKC: Hm? No takers? Guess I'll have to pester you all week, then. Please review folks. and until next chapter, Ciao!