Quote of the week: "It takes a lot of courage to admit you're wrong;
preferably mixed with the right amounts of stupidity and alcohol." -Sam
To all those who were hoping I'd update on Sunday, I'm sorry - sleep won yet again. ;;
But, I will rejoice anyways, 'cause I finally got my hands on a FLCL soundtrack and my last few days of school is made up of half-days.
Oh, because Ryu-sama asked me, I'm going to give a few quick bios about some of the characters. I can understand if some characters are forgotten (such as Djornn or Rachel) because I don't use them often. I even forget them sometimes. ;; However, I won't do all of them in one chapter, and you can look up reader-sent characters on the review page. For now, I'll just use the four main characters that live with Yusuke & co.
Name: Lyra Admarant Age: 16 (was 15 at start of school year) Gender: female Birthday: February 22 Sign: Pisces Race: Human Appearance: About five foot four (hah! She grew an inch since the beginning of the year!), with black hair that comes down a little past her waist and is often tied in a braid. Average build (well, average for anime girls), fair skin, and dark blue eyes. Has pierced ears. Personality: Lyra has tamed down a bit from when I first started writing her, and tries to be the big sister to everyone in the house. She's very gentle, and dislikes hurting others. She is modest, and enjoys drawing and reading; She loves music, and has a soundproofed room so her stereo won't bother anyone. Extra: Lyra has a pet lovebird named Salvatore, can manipulate water, and knows minor weather-related spells (can make small rain clouds). Her father, a former employee of King Enma, sent her and Lark to the academy to live there since their mother went missing when Lyra was eight. Apparently, she used to live with her family by the spirit's spring. Lyra has a crush on Kurama, despite his Youko side.
Name: Lark Admarant Age: 14 (turns fifteen near end of vacation) Gender: Female Birthday: April 16 Sign: Aries Race: Human Appearance: Around five foot five, long black hair, average build, fair skin, and gray-blue eyes. Lark often wears short skirts, and has a very inventive wardrobe. Pierced ears, and often wears her pentacle necklace. Personality: Ecstatic, enthusiastic, and a bit out of control at times. Lark can be aggressive and competitive, but has a good heart. Tends to act tough, but can be easily discouraged. Extra: Lark seems to have less control of her abilities than Lyra. She enjoys writing, and posts fan fiction. Her dad left her at the academy with Lyra, and her mom has been missing. Often "borrows" the book her mother left for them from Lyra's room. She plays the violin and is a member of the drama club. Lark used to have a pet mouse, but it went... missing - Kyuro is the main suspect as to why.
Name: Holly Landon Age: 14 Gender: Female Birthday: June 25 Sign: Cancer Race: Wind witch Appearance: about five foot four, with red/brown shoulder length hair and brown/hazel eyes. Carries around an ash-twig and mahogany broom, and has an average build. Personality: Holly is the optimist, and is the perfect mix between Lark's sheer energy and Lyra's calm disposition. She can be moody at times, and often argues with Kyuro. Extra: Holly has lived with her grandmother ever since her parents divorced, but doesn't mention much about her family... most likely because she's embarrassed of them, somehow. Kyuro, a black cat, is her familiar, and has been bound to her family for generations. Her broom also has a protective spell placed upon it, by her grandmother, and burns anyone with intent to harm her while she's flying. (Fun Fact: Ash trees were considered wards against unholy creatures, and were said to protect anyone who hid in them from witches, devils, and werewolves.)
Name: Rogerik Lewis Age: 15 Gender: Male Birthday: August 5 Sign: Leo Race: Human Appearance: Blond unruly hair, gray/green eyes, five foot five, and has a slim build. Often wears a long-sleeved button down shirt and jeans. Personality: Intelligent and logical, Rogerik is timid, and hates conflict. He's flirtatious around the ladies, but has settled down since then; he prefers to sit on the sidelines rather than fight. Seems to have a problem where he enjoys unlocking anything there is in the house using his PK; also has minor kleptomania. Extra: Rogerik doesn't talk about his life outside of the academy, and seems to be reluctant to return home. He was transferred to the dorm because of a break-in at the beginning of the school year (see chapters 4 & 5), and shares the basement room with Jin. Has a multitude of small dust- spiders as pets.
Oh, and real quick, happy birthday to Amazing Grace7, who turned fourteen! May Harvey the Wonder Hamster provide you with birthday entertainment. Watch him dance!
Harvey the Wonder Hamster: does a little jig while wearing a multi-colored party hat. squee!
Thank you! That is all!
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The sky was clear, stars twinkling through the warped glass windowpanes, moonlight falling upon the three bunk beds in the small cabin. The inhabitants, a trio of high school-age girls, slept peacefully, tuckered out after cooking dinner with the "aid" of their fellow classmates. Except one of the bunkmates wasn't sleeping - something in the cool night air tantalized his acute senses and refused to let him slumber.
Mind you, this wasn't a good type of tantalizing; the welcome kind would be watching the turkey come out of the oven right before Thanksgiving dinner, or being drawn to a display in a small downtown shop, maybe even watch someone eat ice cream on a day bordering one hundred degrees. No, something was wrong... very wrong indeed.
His tail stiff as a pole, Kyuro sat on the windowsill, green eyes focused out towards the wooded expanse outside the cabin window. His ears pricked up, as if hearing something, and he immediately stiffened, the fur on his neck bristling and his mouth opened in a silent yowl. Face still in a grimace, the familiar jumped down from the window sill and slunk over to Holly's bed, curling up to her, his head resting on her neck, the brass bell tied to his collar muffled by the cotton sheets, and gave a small sigh, his whiskers drooping a little.
He never closed his eyes.
Was not even sleep sacred anymore? As Yusuke grumpily turned over on his bunk, pillow half-over his head, he came to the conclusion that no, it was not.
Well no kidding, nitwit.
After all, if it were, what would a floating skull be doing hovering around his head?
'Waitaminute... floating...skull..?' the thought took only a nanosecond for it too process in Yusuke's brain, and that was all that was needed to wake him up. "Alright, sucker, don't bother mov- Eh? Bones?" The spirit detective lowered his hand, the familiar blue energy dimming from the tip of his pointer finger. The canine skull clacked its jaws together, the firefly eyes flashing in happiness, and floated away from Yusuke's bunk, reassembling itself. With a groan, Yusuke curled up in the blankets even tighter and squeezed his eyes shut. "Go bother Kuwabara." Bones cocked his head, and put his front paws on the edge of the spirit detective's bunk, his tail drooping. Realizing the dog was still there, Yusuke reached back and took one of Bones' ribs, the tossed it into the open closet. "There; go fetch."
Bones focused his eerie green eyes at the closet, his tail wagging slightly, then shook his head and placed a skeletal paw on Yusuke's shoulder, grinding his molars together to make something between a growl and a whine. When the Japanese teen refused to acknowledge him, the skeleton back down and dejectedly walked over to a corner on the other side of the room; Yusuke sighed in relief and relaxed his grip on the pillow.
Big mistake there.
There was a clatter on the wooden floor, and the next thing Yusuke knew, he was sitting in a pile of bleached canine bones. With a yelp, he fell off of his bed and landed with a loud thunk on the cabin floor, the remnants of the skeleton falling to the floor along with him, only to look up to the creepy grin that was plastered on the dog's skull. His chocolate brown eyes narrowed, Yusuke tried his best to not let his anger get the best of him and grumbled, "Feeling special, now, aren't we?"
That skeletal grin still on his face, Bones reassembled himself and proceeded to trot around Yusuke, tail whipping in the air and claws enthusiastically tapping on the floor.
"Bones, go to bed!" from Kuwabara's bunk, a pillow was lightly tossed at the dog, and the skeleton hid behind Yusuke as the spirit detective struggled to his feet. "He's right, now go." The spirit detective pointed a finger at the closet, and was rewarded by having a half-full water bottle chucked at his head. "You too, Urameshi..." Kuwabara's voice then faded into a soft snore, and Yusuke checked the bunk across from his to make sure Justin wasn't awake as well. Seeing that he wasn't, Yusuke scooped Bones up in his arms and tossed the undead dog in the closet, then shut the door and put a backpack against it so Bones wouldn't forcibly open it. That done, he was about to get back in bed and crawl under the covers when he noticed something was wrong; Ayame's bunk was empty.
"What the- when does he sleep?" In a flash, the spirit detective pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, then grabbed his sneakers from under his bunk and left the bedroom. Sitting there, staring up at the screen door with a lonesome expression, was a large, black iguana-like reptile, which was lighting up the lounge with the flames on its back. Ayame's pet took one look at Yusuke, then reared up on its hind legs and clawed at the screen door, making little cooing sounds as it did so.
"So, Ayame left you behind, huh?" The spirit detective pulled on his sneakers and tied them up, then put one hand on the screen door handle. "If I let you out, will you lead me to Ayame?" The reptile gave Yusuke a dirty look, then slowly bobbed its head up and down. The spirit detective shrugged and opened the door, trying not to trip as the fire demon's pet swarmed out over his foot. "You know, I didn't actually think you'd answer me."
"Jin, what are you doing up? It's almost midnight..." Lyonell yawned and looked over at the open window, where the shinobi was carefully perched. Jin jumped a little, and turned to the cat demon, a troubled smile on his face and his blue eyes holding a worried gleam to them. "It's nothing, Lyonell; I must've eaten too many s'mores. Go back to sleep-" the soft breeze that had once caressed the sleeping students inside let loose with a howl, and Jin jumped from the window sill, watching with wide eyes as the window pane slammed shut with a loud thud, the glass shattering from the force of the impact.
"Wha? Hey, what's going on?" Rogerik tiredly yawned, stretching an arm as he sat up in his bunk, his gray-green eyes half-shut. Noticing the glass shards on the floor, he stopped in mid-stretch and seemed to snap to attention. "What happened?"
"Eh, nothing, really. Eh-heh-heh..." Jin quickly snuck out of the bedroom to go get a dustpan and broom from the lounge, while Lyonell was left in the bedroom. With a sigh, the cat bent down and started picking up the larger shards while Rogerik got out of bed and pulled on his sneakers. "Something isn't right around here, you know. It's weird, 'cause these energy spikes just happen during the middle of the night and keep me from sleeping..." The thief grimaced as his lower leg knotted up, the beginnings of a cramp, and he hobbled over to the bedroom door; the door slid open on it's own, and Kurama stood in the doorway, with what could only be expressed as surprise on his handsome face. "Have any of you gotten in contact with the girls?"
Lyonell stood back up, dumping the glass shards in the trash bucket, and shook his head. "Huh? No, we haven't, why?"
The fox sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "Something's prowling around nearby; it isn't even within radius of the campsite and I can sense it from here - its energy is amazingly malignant."
"Alright, I know I understood some, but can you simplify that into little words? For the cat's sake, here." Kurama took one look at Rogerik and Lyonell's blank expressions, and sighed. "There is a really bad ...thing coming this way, and it's very violent."
"Ohhh..." a minute of uninterrupted silence, then: "Crap."
"Precisely, which is why Hiei went to go check on them." Kurama sunk down on the couch in the lounge, running a hand through his red hair. "I'm starting to wonder why I didn't stay behind; worse things could be happening at the school itself."
"Come on, Kurama! Cheer up!" Jin, as optimistic as always, floated next to the fox, handing him a glass of water, and then rushed out the front door before anyone could stop him. The three students heard a hoarse yell, which most likely belonged to Djornn, then the howl of violent wind and the rhythmic pounding of hooves on the gravel path. Lyonell got the broom from its abandoned spot on the floor, twirling it in one hand, and shook his head. "And yet again, he goes off to play the hero."
The wind picked up, whipping the trees into a frenzy, and rain started to fall, biting into the flesh like needles; animals went into hiding, taking refuge underneath trees and rocks, some of them going so far as to try and sneak in through the occasional open cabin window. Of course, not even one little fuzzy woodland creature dared stray near one cabin - especially when Koryu was acting as watchdog.
The monstrous creature was curled by the front door, or, to be more precise, had totally sprawled out in from of the cabin, his tail winding well around the corner; his larger pair of red eyes wide open and the shimmering fin that ran down the middle of his spine, ending in a fanned tail, catching every breeze. In Koryu's short lifespan, he had never encountered a storm such as this, but, somewhere locked away within the ancestral memories of his predecessors, every fiber in his being told him to take cover.
Which was all the more reason to protect Lyra-dono, according to him.
As far as he was concerned, nothing was more important than this task, and no creature, no matter how large or small, would get by. The other girls, the intruders who dared share a room with his beloved water sprite (for what else could such a delicate creature be?), had stayed wary of his presence; even the little two-tailed fox, who he had heard boasting of her prowess as he tagged along behind the ship that the school had hired, had ran in fear at the tiniest glance of his powerful jaws; one flash from his ruby-red eyes was enough to make even the eldest of the girls, a unicorn hidden in a humanoid form, shake in terror. But, in order to protect her, all the fright and nervousness that radiated off of those that surrounded her, an almost intoxicating smell, was worth it - if only he could stay forever by her side.
However, this breeze was not something to be trifled with. The promises that these winds bore were not happy ones, and whoever had issued them was one very unhappy camper indeed. Koryu lifted his ebony head, taking in the moist, cold air with one sharp intake, then shivered despite his thick, waterproof fur. With a quiet growl, he huddled closer to the screen door that separated him from the warmth of the indoors, the fins on his upper arms flexing slightly. Whatever this strange being was, it would have to go over Koryu's dead body before he would allow it to get close to Lyra.
"Hey, slow down, you! I only have two legs!" Despite the infuriatingly stupidity of his predicament, Yusuke trudged through the infinitely numerous prickle bushes, following the illumination of the fiery lizard that scampered along the trail ahead of him. No matter how much he tried to set landmarks - a snapped branch here, a pile of rocks there...- the spirit detective had the sinking feeling that he was lost in the woods. In fact, his entire situation didn't look to good; here he was, in unknown territory, following a living bonfire, during an increasingly dangerous storm, in an effort to find a demon that loathed his very existence.
Well, zippy-dee-doo-dah, wasn't life just gorgeous?
"Why am I even doing this..?" Yusuke griped aloud, not caring if the reptile ahead of him heard.
'Because it's the right thing to do?'
'Wha? Since when did the right thing matter during vacation?'
'Since when did you begin talking to yourself?'
'Since when did I start answering myself?'
'Thatta boy; time to go see the school counselor!'
"Agh! Dammit!" The teen testily thumped his head on a tree trunk, then took a deep breath. "Oh-kay, then... let's just get this over with and go back home. I hate this island..." The reptile ahead of him paused for a moment on thin tree branch, using its long tail as a balance as it cocked an eye at its surroundings, then screeched; it leapt from its perch, sending the young branch on a furious recoil back at Yusuke's face, and the spirit detective swore. The reptile screeched again, this time looking back at Yusuke, and tossed a dirty clump of moss back at the boy, then rushing forwards again.
It ran along the ground in short bursts and starts; always in view but never close enough to be touched. With every step, Yusuke became more aware of how the ground sucked at his shoes, and the faint wisps of light that dotted the edges of his vision. As if to confirm his suspicions, the ground gave way underneath his right foot and he tripped, landing on his knees in muck and muddy water. He had blundered right into a swamp.
And from the looks of the miniscule fire that wandered above the water's surface, this swamp was infested with wandering souls. Maybe, with a little luck, he wouldn't become one.
As Yusuke struggled out of the muck, his feet sunk deep into the mud - halfway up to his knees - and he swore in frustration. Ayame's lizard was seated upon a tuft of grass that had managed to grow in the horrid conditions; the black creature cocked its head and made a chirping noise, then sniffed the brown and black water that swirled under its scaly muzzle. "I don't suppose you could help me out, could you?" Slitted eyes met brown ones, and Yusuke sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I thought as much..."
"Since when did you start taking walks in the swamp, Urameshi?" The voice was low and full of malice, causing Yusuke to groan in realization. "After all the trouble I went through to find you, all I get for thanks is sarcasm."
The familiar shock of orange hair could be seen in the edges of his vision, up in the low-hanging branches of a withered old tree. A slight thump announced the demon's descent, his sneakers snapping a brittle twig on the ground, and the fire youkai sneered down upon the human. 'Damn. It figures I stumble into the swamp while he finds the only stable ground.'
"Well? No swearing or cursing? That's a pity." Ayame quipped, balancing on the balls of his feet, while his pet swarmed onto his shoulder in an ecstatic show of affection. The young fire demon gave the lizard a quick scratch under it scaly chin, and smiled as the reptile purred in satisfaction. "You know, I'm surprised you were stupid enough to come out here." Ignoring Yusuke's bristling, Ayame stood up and casually leaned against a tree, watching Yusuke struggle in the mud with a smirk on his face. "I heard there was a strong demon out here, but all I can find are a few pathetic will-o-the-wisps; hardly worth the effort, if you know what I mean."
"So you've been following this rumor the entire time?" The spirit detective's mind wasn't really into the conversation, considering the fact that the swamp mud had suddenly seemed to gain a life of its own, and was unusually stubborn in releasing his leg. Stupid mud... stupid swamp... stupid island... in fact, the more he thought about it, the entire Academy case was rather stupid in itself. Ayame wasn't in the mood to listen to any griping, however, and got a rope that had been looped around a low tree branch. The Japanese teen stopped struggling for a second and looked over at the demon. "Oh, hey, can you toss me an end? I could use some help in getting out."
Ayame ignored him, and, with a few quick loops, tied one end around the tree's trunk. He made a loop out of the other end and tossed it into the swamp, making it neatly around Yusuke's neck and tightening around his waist. "Alright, man! I knew you weren't that bad!"
"What are you talking about?"
The statement caught Yusuke off-guard for a moment, but he shrugged it off. "Hey, I know you don't like humans much, so I won't tell your buddies that you're helping me out of here."
"I'm not helping you."
"Hm?"
"You're the bait."
With a sinking feeling, Yusuke realized that, too late, the mud was trying to drag him in, the brown mess reaching up in tendrils and wrapping around his limbs; it was up to his waist now, and was making the rope too slippery to grab hold to. His legs were imprisoned, and he was too tired to fight, as if all his energy had been sucked out of him, and he lost all will to even move - much less think of a witty comeback. His mind grew foggy, the will-o-the-wisps that lit the swamp becoming mere blurs on the edges of his vision; the blurs grew into shapes, the shapes turned into people - human, demon, young, old, of almost every race and size - and through his numb mind, Yusuke realized...
The swamp was to blame...
Rain lashed at his body, sliding down the cabin walls after exploding into tiny, miniscule, droplets and soaking his fur even more. Somewhere in the trees, a branch snapped, and he almost blamed the wind, except that a soft cough accompanied it. Three pairs of eyes of the same bloody color met, and a soft growl escaped his throat from behind shockingly white teeth.
"Shut up, you water-logged rat. Kurama asked me to make sure none of the girls got hurt."
"Does it look like any harm has come to them, you little wretch? Go, your business is done here; and tell Kurama he is free to come himself next time." Koryu turned his back to the Jaganshi, his fins reflecting even the tiniest amounts of moonlight, and waited for Hiei to leave. With inhuman silence, the demon was gone.
The wind was a razor, cutting through trees and shrubbery; Jin was indeed lucky that he had chosen to erect a barrier of wind around himself, one that spun in an opposite direction from the storm and made the two flows of air clash with a feral ferocity. The opposing wind might have made the going slow, but it was still much faster than traveling by foot.
With a loud shout, a gray blur, undoubtedly equine, galloped underneath the wind master. Well, maybe air wasn't the fastest way to go, but...
Aw, what the heck, all that mattered was that he made it to the source of this troubling vortex of misused energy and power. The energy pulsed even stronger, and the demon's ears twitched - not in joy but annoyance. This entire section of the island had a mighty strange feeling to it; not sorrowful, no... but it wasn't good either. The flow of ki seemed to bog down his mind, his senses... it made him seem so... tired...
With a start, Jin snapped awake, perking up just in time to avoid crashing into the mud and reeds below. He pulled up sharply, accidentally crashing his head on a tree branch - his shield must've dispersed when he passed out - and yelped in pain. With his head now (painfully) in order, the demon sighed and floated in that air for a second, sitting Indian-style.
"Alright, that was pretty bad... hopefully no one saw that one..?" His blue eyes peering all around, the wind master gave a satisfied nod, and stretched. The air around him kicked up, and his ears twitched once again. "Let's try this again."
"This is getting good." Ayame sat by the banks of the swamp, his pet reptile in his lap, watching the mud tentacles grow and bring Yusuke to the very bottom in their putrid grasp. Who knew how many others had perished in this bog? And really, who cared? Ayame had looked for months on data for the sorrow-laden myths that surrounded this swamp, just as he had with many other famous locales and creatures, and the information he had found amazed him.
Through the sheer number of imprisoned souls and devoured flesh, the swamp itself had become alive.
Even now, the living bog was trying to drag down Yusuke to its murky depths, entangle him in centuries-old aquatic plants, and slowly devour him as only a living puddle of muck and mud can.
Despite Ayame's chipper thought process on how the spirit detective's corpse would look like after being imprisoned underwater for a good half- century, a resounding crack broke the silence, and the demon looked behind him, ready to fight. A tree branch was moved out of the way with a rustle of its rich leaves, and a gray shadow stood in the dark forest pathway. It strode forwards, with the familiar clip-clopping of dull hooves, and Djornn stood among the last straggles of brush, a grim look on his normally gentle face. The centaur held a thick stave of wood, most likely a branch he'd picked up on the way there, and menacingly ground the end of it into the spongy dirt.
"What happened here?" His voice was even, menacing, and Ayame had to think of a lie- fast. "Urameshi went out on his own, sir. I followed, and he got stuck; when I threw the rope to him, he ignored it and tried to struggle out, which made him sink faster."
"Now if that ain't a lie, than you can saw my horn off!" With a slight growl, Ayame saw the energetic young demon sitting high up in the willow tree, tossing a pebble up in the air and catching it. Cornered between that stupid horse of a teacher, and Windy the leprechaun...
As if noticing the sudden arrival of more meals, the mud heaved towards land, totally burying Yusuke in the process. Tendrils shot out, searching through the reeds for the intruder, and met the hard surface of Djornn's hooves. The teacher reared up, slashing the tendrils to ribbons with his hooves, and whipped around, holding the staff in an attack pose. A thinker tendril, this time resembling more of a lump of goo than the formerly delicate tentacles, shot out of the water, landing between the centaurs front hooves, then proceeded to sluggishly move along the ground. Ayame grimaced, his reptilian pet crawled onto his shoulders, and the fire demon stood up in a rush, backing away from the banks and closer to dry land.
With another heave, a second blob was sent onto land, connected to the larger mass by thin, spidery strands of ooze, and Djornn backed up, towards the woods, his rear hooves nervously skittering over the slick ground. Blue eyes wide, the shinobi dropped out of the tree with a gust of wind to keep him from falling entirely, and yelled over the noise; the vicious zephyr of earlier had long since been quelled, and now he tried to be louder than his own air pocket.
"Djornn, you distract The Blob, I'll go get Yusuke!" The centaur grunted in reply, which Jin took as a "sure", and hovered over the spot where the spirit detective had been seen last; face filled with worry, the elven- eared demon looked for anything of his friend, and his blue eyes widened in excitement. "Got 'im!"
Now, wasn't this funny? Although he could clearly remember the shocking cold of death, here he was lying down in an empty field, during the middle of the day. Daisies bobbed and danced in the gentle breeze, and a yellow butterfly flew in herky-jerk motions across his line of vision. With a grunt he sat up, shaking his head a little to clear it, and his brown eyes widened.
He closed his eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again; the field was still there.
So he wasn't dreaming - well, not entirely. He stumbled a little as he stood up, and rested his hands on his knees for a minute, then took a deep breath. The air was clean, free from any dirt or grime of his city life, and no stray energy roamed its currents.
"Yusuke, are you alright?" The voice was joyously familiar, and the teen turned around, brushing a bit of black hair from in front of his face as he did so. Standing there, in plain view, was Keiko.
Her brown hair shone in the bright sun, and a gentle smile graced her face. She wore a plain yellow sundress, and had her hands clasped behind her back, brown eyes twinkling happily.
"It's about time you came home. We were starting to get worried about you."
"Uh, we?" The spirit detective just stood there, witless, as Keiko ran up and grabbed his hand.
"Of course, silly! Everyone's here!" She pointed far towards the horizon, and Yusuke suddenly noticed a small cottage in the middle of the field (not to mention wondered why the heck is wasn't there before). "Come on, we've been waiting so long for you." Tossing all questions aside with a shrug, the teenager smiled like a giddy little schoolboy and followed Keiko in a mad dash towards the house.
The tiny home was a pale blue, with a wraparound porch, complete with porch swing, and an apple tree provided shade for half of the backyard; the yard was neat, with immaculately trimmed grass and five tables, two buffet table and three picnic ones, organized perfectly. Keiko had indeed spoken the truth, because not only were his three teammates there (with Kuwabara tending the grill wearing an apron that read: "I didn't know buffalos had wings"), but so were Genkai, Botan, Yukina, and, wonder of wonders, Koenma.
Now this, this was pretty strange.
"Yusuke, hon!" He turned around, and what he saw was, indeed, the icing on the cake. It was his mother, in a dress and apron, coming down the porch steps while carrying a tray of pastries. Mouth agape Yusuke only watched as his mother gave him a sickenly sweet smile, and brought the tray to one of the food-laden buffet tables. "Honey, what took you so long? I've been worried sick." Atsuko wrapped Yusuke in a tight hug, and something in the detective's mind clicked. There was no way that any of it could real... Atsuko acting all motherly like this..? No, it was impossible... wasn't it? But with one look around the yard, at all his friends chatting and laughing together, he wished it wasn't.
The ground suddenly shook, and the image in front of him froze. The warm mid-summer air became cold - so cold he couldn't think straight - and it seemed like water filled his mouth; the taste of dead things and ancient dirt accompanying it. Then it all shattered, like a broken mirror. Everything became fractured, splintered, and kept on breaking into smaller and smaller pieces until they faded out of existence in a whirlwind of shrapnel. When all was said and done, he was left in a void of gray, with only the still mostly whole figure of Keiko, the edge of her yellow sundress quickly breaking away, and working up towards her head; yet she still had that dashingly loving smile on her face, although her eyes looked a bit sad.
"Yusuke, come home soon...please..."
"No, wait! Kei-"
With a rush that felt as if it tore his soul from his body, he felt himself lying on solid ground again. As he slowly cracked his eyelids open, the sudden burst of the speckled dark blue of the night sky gave him a painful jerk into existence. As if his sudden headache (most likely caused by head trauma that occurred while he was being dragged to freedom) wasn't enough, the most annoyingly happy voice known to man practically screamed, "Well, it's 'bout time ya woke up, Urameshi!" Add a smile that was way too happy for this time of night, and Yusuke was about ready to kill.
"Shut up or you'll get a spirit gun right up where the sun doesn't shine." Yusuke went to sit up, but the rush of blood to his head and nausea made him flop back down. "...once I can raise my arm... ow."
"Man, I can't believe we're finally going back to school... the last three days seemed like months, you know what I mean?"
"Don't have to remind me twice." Rogerik yawned, and sat down on his bunk, watching as Lyonell and Kurama finished packing. "Once I get on the boat, I'm going to sleep..." The thief was about to nod off, when the sliding bedroom door slammed open, and a heavy, blunt object made connection with his head.
"I think those belong to you! You-you... dammit, I hate you, you lousy jerk! Just go and die somewhere!"
The door slammed shut, and both demons looked at the spot where Lark had been, then turned to Rogerik's prone body on the floor, and the pair of binoculars next to him. After a moment of silence, Kurama finally said, in an even tone, "Well, that went better than I expected." The cat demon nodded in reply, and muttered, "At least he'll only have a minor concussion..."
There was a shout from outside, an unmistakable roll call, and the two animal spirits grabbed their bags. Looking back and sighing, Lyonell shouldered Rogerik's bag, put the binoculars in it, and helped Kurama drag the unconscious psychic out of the cabin.
'Tonight is going to be World War three...' the fox looked down at the thief, who had a giant bruise on his right temple, and gave a small smile. 'But at least it was fun while it lasted.'
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I'll do Wheel of Torture next chapter, because I wanted to get this chapter up as soon as possible. I think Pegacorn had an idea, so... yeah. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.
Well, to tell you all about my year at the Aggie, here's a list to let you know what it's like to be there.
You know you go to Essex Aggie when...
You suddenly notice girls outnumber boys by three to one. (If you're a boy, you suddenly become MUCH more popular.)
Most of your teachers were students at the Aggie themselves.
All the seniors and Ag teachers are too lazy to walk, so they drive six- wheeled all-terrain vehicles to get around campus.
There are more gay/lesbian couples than straight couples
The prom queen is a gay guy named Rodney. Everyone agrees that it's fitting, and Rodney and his boyfriend make a cute King and Queen of the prom.
You are outsmarted nearly every Ag day by the same twenty-something crickets.
A seven foot tall teacher suddenly appears behind you... even though he's supposedly in another section of the building.
You get detention, and the next thing you know, you're in the cattle barn with you arm up a cow's butt, wearing rubber gloves that come up to your shoulders. (Just guess why they're that long.)
Your teacher threatens to feed you to the guest speaker's Great Danes if you're too loud.
You're one of the shortest people in the class, but you get stuck grooming, tacking up, and riding the biggest horse on campus.
For your final, your teacher gives you a pair of waders, a turkey baster, a floating tray, and a small net, brings you to a swamp, and tells you to "Go find something!"
The same teacher sits in a fold-up camping chair that she brought with her on her six-wheel all-terrain vehicle, chats with the assistant teacher, and watches the class muck around in the mud.
Your PE teacher substitutes for your biology class, and decides to take a bite out of the carbon that you made in the previous class using sugar and sulfuric acid. It's funny enough when he makes a disgusted face when he eats it, but you should see what happens when you tell him what was used to make it.
The assistant principal puts in a joke article in the school newspaper about the incident, and adds in parts about your PE teacher fainting, suffering from shock, and having to be given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by the crossing guard.
There are rumors about your Plant Science teacher having a romantic, after- hours tryst with the crossing guard.
You think it's perfectly normal that wild turkeys are chasing students around campus.
Your teachers go tobogganing on the first snowy day instead of assigning you homework.
Your math teacher looks like Mario.
Your PE teacher marries the special education teacher.
The picture on everyone's student ID makes him or her looked stoned.
Your teacher starts a class by saying, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen... and those who aren't sure."
You are allowed to use pitchforks, shovels, and other sharp yard tools... without supervision.
Your teacher sends you out to work in the flowerbeds, even if it's a hurricane outside.
Your friend names her potato plant Cujo.
You are graded on how well you can use a plasma cutter, acetylene rig, and propane torch, and how well you drive a go-cart.
A cow "Mysteriously" goes missing... the next day, there are hamburgers for lunch.
Well, that's all. Ciao.
To all those who were hoping I'd update on Sunday, I'm sorry - sleep won yet again. ;;
But, I will rejoice anyways, 'cause I finally got my hands on a FLCL soundtrack and my last few days of school is made up of half-days.
Oh, because Ryu-sama asked me, I'm going to give a few quick bios about some of the characters. I can understand if some characters are forgotten (such as Djornn or Rachel) because I don't use them often. I even forget them sometimes. ;; However, I won't do all of them in one chapter, and you can look up reader-sent characters on the review page. For now, I'll just use the four main characters that live with Yusuke & co.
Name: Lyra Admarant Age: 16 (was 15 at start of school year) Gender: female Birthday: February 22 Sign: Pisces Race: Human Appearance: About five foot four (hah! She grew an inch since the beginning of the year!), with black hair that comes down a little past her waist and is often tied in a braid. Average build (well, average for anime girls), fair skin, and dark blue eyes. Has pierced ears. Personality: Lyra has tamed down a bit from when I first started writing her, and tries to be the big sister to everyone in the house. She's very gentle, and dislikes hurting others. She is modest, and enjoys drawing and reading; She loves music, and has a soundproofed room so her stereo won't bother anyone. Extra: Lyra has a pet lovebird named Salvatore, can manipulate water, and knows minor weather-related spells (can make small rain clouds). Her father, a former employee of King Enma, sent her and Lark to the academy to live there since their mother went missing when Lyra was eight. Apparently, she used to live with her family by the spirit's spring. Lyra has a crush on Kurama, despite his Youko side.
Name: Lark Admarant Age: 14 (turns fifteen near end of vacation) Gender: Female Birthday: April 16 Sign: Aries Race: Human Appearance: Around five foot five, long black hair, average build, fair skin, and gray-blue eyes. Lark often wears short skirts, and has a very inventive wardrobe. Pierced ears, and often wears her pentacle necklace. Personality: Ecstatic, enthusiastic, and a bit out of control at times. Lark can be aggressive and competitive, but has a good heart. Tends to act tough, but can be easily discouraged. Extra: Lark seems to have less control of her abilities than Lyra. She enjoys writing, and posts fan fiction. Her dad left her at the academy with Lyra, and her mom has been missing. Often "borrows" the book her mother left for them from Lyra's room. She plays the violin and is a member of the drama club. Lark used to have a pet mouse, but it went... missing - Kyuro is the main suspect as to why.
Name: Holly Landon Age: 14 Gender: Female Birthday: June 25 Sign: Cancer Race: Wind witch Appearance: about five foot four, with red/brown shoulder length hair and brown/hazel eyes. Carries around an ash-twig and mahogany broom, and has an average build. Personality: Holly is the optimist, and is the perfect mix between Lark's sheer energy and Lyra's calm disposition. She can be moody at times, and often argues with Kyuro. Extra: Holly has lived with her grandmother ever since her parents divorced, but doesn't mention much about her family... most likely because she's embarrassed of them, somehow. Kyuro, a black cat, is her familiar, and has been bound to her family for generations. Her broom also has a protective spell placed upon it, by her grandmother, and burns anyone with intent to harm her while she's flying. (Fun Fact: Ash trees were considered wards against unholy creatures, and were said to protect anyone who hid in them from witches, devils, and werewolves.)
Name: Rogerik Lewis Age: 15 Gender: Male Birthday: August 5 Sign: Leo Race: Human Appearance: Blond unruly hair, gray/green eyes, five foot five, and has a slim build. Often wears a long-sleeved button down shirt and jeans. Personality: Intelligent and logical, Rogerik is timid, and hates conflict. He's flirtatious around the ladies, but has settled down since then; he prefers to sit on the sidelines rather than fight. Seems to have a problem where he enjoys unlocking anything there is in the house using his PK; also has minor kleptomania. Extra: Rogerik doesn't talk about his life outside of the academy, and seems to be reluctant to return home. He was transferred to the dorm because of a break-in at the beginning of the school year (see chapters 4 & 5), and shares the basement room with Jin. Has a multitude of small dust- spiders as pets.
Oh, and real quick, happy birthday to Amazing Grace7, who turned fourteen! May Harvey the Wonder Hamster provide you with birthday entertainment. Watch him dance!
Harvey the Wonder Hamster: does a little jig while wearing a multi-colored party hat. squee!
Thank you! That is all!
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The sky was clear, stars twinkling through the warped glass windowpanes, moonlight falling upon the three bunk beds in the small cabin. The inhabitants, a trio of high school-age girls, slept peacefully, tuckered out after cooking dinner with the "aid" of their fellow classmates. Except one of the bunkmates wasn't sleeping - something in the cool night air tantalized his acute senses and refused to let him slumber.
Mind you, this wasn't a good type of tantalizing; the welcome kind would be watching the turkey come out of the oven right before Thanksgiving dinner, or being drawn to a display in a small downtown shop, maybe even watch someone eat ice cream on a day bordering one hundred degrees. No, something was wrong... very wrong indeed.
His tail stiff as a pole, Kyuro sat on the windowsill, green eyes focused out towards the wooded expanse outside the cabin window. His ears pricked up, as if hearing something, and he immediately stiffened, the fur on his neck bristling and his mouth opened in a silent yowl. Face still in a grimace, the familiar jumped down from the window sill and slunk over to Holly's bed, curling up to her, his head resting on her neck, the brass bell tied to his collar muffled by the cotton sheets, and gave a small sigh, his whiskers drooping a little.
He never closed his eyes.
Was not even sleep sacred anymore? As Yusuke grumpily turned over on his bunk, pillow half-over his head, he came to the conclusion that no, it was not.
Well no kidding, nitwit.
After all, if it were, what would a floating skull be doing hovering around his head?
'Waitaminute... floating...skull..?' the thought took only a nanosecond for it too process in Yusuke's brain, and that was all that was needed to wake him up. "Alright, sucker, don't bother mov- Eh? Bones?" The spirit detective lowered his hand, the familiar blue energy dimming from the tip of his pointer finger. The canine skull clacked its jaws together, the firefly eyes flashing in happiness, and floated away from Yusuke's bunk, reassembling itself. With a groan, Yusuke curled up in the blankets even tighter and squeezed his eyes shut. "Go bother Kuwabara." Bones cocked his head, and put his front paws on the edge of the spirit detective's bunk, his tail drooping. Realizing the dog was still there, Yusuke reached back and took one of Bones' ribs, the tossed it into the open closet. "There; go fetch."
Bones focused his eerie green eyes at the closet, his tail wagging slightly, then shook his head and placed a skeletal paw on Yusuke's shoulder, grinding his molars together to make something between a growl and a whine. When the Japanese teen refused to acknowledge him, the skeleton back down and dejectedly walked over to a corner on the other side of the room; Yusuke sighed in relief and relaxed his grip on the pillow.
Big mistake there.
There was a clatter on the wooden floor, and the next thing Yusuke knew, he was sitting in a pile of bleached canine bones. With a yelp, he fell off of his bed and landed with a loud thunk on the cabin floor, the remnants of the skeleton falling to the floor along with him, only to look up to the creepy grin that was plastered on the dog's skull. His chocolate brown eyes narrowed, Yusuke tried his best to not let his anger get the best of him and grumbled, "Feeling special, now, aren't we?"
That skeletal grin still on his face, Bones reassembled himself and proceeded to trot around Yusuke, tail whipping in the air and claws enthusiastically tapping on the floor.
"Bones, go to bed!" from Kuwabara's bunk, a pillow was lightly tossed at the dog, and the skeleton hid behind Yusuke as the spirit detective struggled to his feet. "He's right, now go." The spirit detective pointed a finger at the closet, and was rewarded by having a half-full water bottle chucked at his head. "You too, Urameshi..." Kuwabara's voice then faded into a soft snore, and Yusuke checked the bunk across from his to make sure Justin wasn't awake as well. Seeing that he wasn't, Yusuke scooped Bones up in his arms and tossed the undead dog in the closet, then shut the door and put a backpack against it so Bones wouldn't forcibly open it. That done, he was about to get back in bed and crawl under the covers when he noticed something was wrong; Ayame's bunk was empty.
"What the- when does he sleep?" In a flash, the spirit detective pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, then grabbed his sneakers from under his bunk and left the bedroom. Sitting there, staring up at the screen door with a lonesome expression, was a large, black iguana-like reptile, which was lighting up the lounge with the flames on its back. Ayame's pet took one look at Yusuke, then reared up on its hind legs and clawed at the screen door, making little cooing sounds as it did so.
"So, Ayame left you behind, huh?" The spirit detective pulled on his sneakers and tied them up, then put one hand on the screen door handle. "If I let you out, will you lead me to Ayame?" The reptile gave Yusuke a dirty look, then slowly bobbed its head up and down. The spirit detective shrugged and opened the door, trying not to trip as the fire demon's pet swarmed out over his foot. "You know, I didn't actually think you'd answer me."
"Jin, what are you doing up? It's almost midnight..." Lyonell yawned and looked over at the open window, where the shinobi was carefully perched. Jin jumped a little, and turned to the cat demon, a troubled smile on his face and his blue eyes holding a worried gleam to them. "It's nothing, Lyonell; I must've eaten too many s'mores. Go back to sleep-" the soft breeze that had once caressed the sleeping students inside let loose with a howl, and Jin jumped from the window sill, watching with wide eyes as the window pane slammed shut with a loud thud, the glass shattering from the force of the impact.
"Wha? Hey, what's going on?" Rogerik tiredly yawned, stretching an arm as he sat up in his bunk, his gray-green eyes half-shut. Noticing the glass shards on the floor, he stopped in mid-stretch and seemed to snap to attention. "What happened?"
"Eh, nothing, really. Eh-heh-heh..." Jin quickly snuck out of the bedroom to go get a dustpan and broom from the lounge, while Lyonell was left in the bedroom. With a sigh, the cat bent down and started picking up the larger shards while Rogerik got out of bed and pulled on his sneakers. "Something isn't right around here, you know. It's weird, 'cause these energy spikes just happen during the middle of the night and keep me from sleeping..." The thief grimaced as his lower leg knotted up, the beginnings of a cramp, and he hobbled over to the bedroom door; the door slid open on it's own, and Kurama stood in the doorway, with what could only be expressed as surprise on his handsome face. "Have any of you gotten in contact with the girls?"
Lyonell stood back up, dumping the glass shards in the trash bucket, and shook his head. "Huh? No, we haven't, why?"
The fox sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "Something's prowling around nearby; it isn't even within radius of the campsite and I can sense it from here - its energy is amazingly malignant."
"Alright, I know I understood some, but can you simplify that into little words? For the cat's sake, here." Kurama took one look at Rogerik and Lyonell's blank expressions, and sighed. "There is a really bad ...thing coming this way, and it's very violent."
"Ohhh..." a minute of uninterrupted silence, then: "Crap."
"Precisely, which is why Hiei went to go check on them." Kurama sunk down on the couch in the lounge, running a hand through his red hair. "I'm starting to wonder why I didn't stay behind; worse things could be happening at the school itself."
"Come on, Kurama! Cheer up!" Jin, as optimistic as always, floated next to the fox, handing him a glass of water, and then rushed out the front door before anyone could stop him. The three students heard a hoarse yell, which most likely belonged to Djornn, then the howl of violent wind and the rhythmic pounding of hooves on the gravel path. Lyonell got the broom from its abandoned spot on the floor, twirling it in one hand, and shook his head. "And yet again, he goes off to play the hero."
The wind picked up, whipping the trees into a frenzy, and rain started to fall, biting into the flesh like needles; animals went into hiding, taking refuge underneath trees and rocks, some of them going so far as to try and sneak in through the occasional open cabin window. Of course, not even one little fuzzy woodland creature dared stray near one cabin - especially when Koryu was acting as watchdog.
The monstrous creature was curled by the front door, or, to be more precise, had totally sprawled out in from of the cabin, his tail winding well around the corner; his larger pair of red eyes wide open and the shimmering fin that ran down the middle of his spine, ending in a fanned tail, catching every breeze. In Koryu's short lifespan, he had never encountered a storm such as this, but, somewhere locked away within the ancestral memories of his predecessors, every fiber in his being told him to take cover.
Which was all the more reason to protect Lyra-dono, according to him.
As far as he was concerned, nothing was more important than this task, and no creature, no matter how large or small, would get by. The other girls, the intruders who dared share a room with his beloved water sprite (for what else could such a delicate creature be?), had stayed wary of his presence; even the little two-tailed fox, who he had heard boasting of her prowess as he tagged along behind the ship that the school had hired, had ran in fear at the tiniest glance of his powerful jaws; one flash from his ruby-red eyes was enough to make even the eldest of the girls, a unicorn hidden in a humanoid form, shake in terror. But, in order to protect her, all the fright and nervousness that radiated off of those that surrounded her, an almost intoxicating smell, was worth it - if only he could stay forever by her side.
However, this breeze was not something to be trifled with. The promises that these winds bore were not happy ones, and whoever had issued them was one very unhappy camper indeed. Koryu lifted his ebony head, taking in the moist, cold air with one sharp intake, then shivered despite his thick, waterproof fur. With a quiet growl, he huddled closer to the screen door that separated him from the warmth of the indoors, the fins on his upper arms flexing slightly. Whatever this strange being was, it would have to go over Koryu's dead body before he would allow it to get close to Lyra.
"Hey, slow down, you! I only have two legs!" Despite the infuriatingly stupidity of his predicament, Yusuke trudged through the infinitely numerous prickle bushes, following the illumination of the fiery lizard that scampered along the trail ahead of him. No matter how much he tried to set landmarks - a snapped branch here, a pile of rocks there...- the spirit detective had the sinking feeling that he was lost in the woods. In fact, his entire situation didn't look to good; here he was, in unknown territory, following a living bonfire, during an increasingly dangerous storm, in an effort to find a demon that loathed his very existence.
Well, zippy-dee-doo-dah, wasn't life just gorgeous?
"Why am I even doing this..?" Yusuke griped aloud, not caring if the reptile ahead of him heard.
'Because it's the right thing to do?'
'Wha? Since when did the right thing matter during vacation?'
'Since when did you begin talking to yourself?'
'Since when did I start answering myself?'
'Thatta boy; time to go see the school counselor!'
"Agh! Dammit!" The teen testily thumped his head on a tree trunk, then took a deep breath. "Oh-kay, then... let's just get this over with and go back home. I hate this island..." The reptile ahead of him paused for a moment on thin tree branch, using its long tail as a balance as it cocked an eye at its surroundings, then screeched; it leapt from its perch, sending the young branch on a furious recoil back at Yusuke's face, and the spirit detective swore. The reptile screeched again, this time looking back at Yusuke, and tossed a dirty clump of moss back at the boy, then rushing forwards again.
It ran along the ground in short bursts and starts; always in view but never close enough to be touched. With every step, Yusuke became more aware of how the ground sucked at his shoes, and the faint wisps of light that dotted the edges of his vision. As if to confirm his suspicions, the ground gave way underneath his right foot and he tripped, landing on his knees in muck and muddy water. He had blundered right into a swamp.
And from the looks of the miniscule fire that wandered above the water's surface, this swamp was infested with wandering souls. Maybe, with a little luck, he wouldn't become one.
As Yusuke struggled out of the muck, his feet sunk deep into the mud - halfway up to his knees - and he swore in frustration. Ayame's lizard was seated upon a tuft of grass that had managed to grow in the horrid conditions; the black creature cocked its head and made a chirping noise, then sniffed the brown and black water that swirled under its scaly muzzle. "I don't suppose you could help me out, could you?" Slitted eyes met brown ones, and Yusuke sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I thought as much..."
"Since when did you start taking walks in the swamp, Urameshi?" The voice was low and full of malice, causing Yusuke to groan in realization. "After all the trouble I went through to find you, all I get for thanks is sarcasm."
The familiar shock of orange hair could be seen in the edges of his vision, up in the low-hanging branches of a withered old tree. A slight thump announced the demon's descent, his sneakers snapping a brittle twig on the ground, and the fire youkai sneered down upon the human. 'Damn. It figures I stumble into the swamp while he finds the only stable ground.'
"Well? No swearing or cursing? That's a pity." Ayame quipped, balancing on the balls of his feet, while his pet swarmed onto his shoulder in an ecstatic show of affection. The young fire demon gave the lizard a quick scratch under it scaly chin, and smiled as the reptile purred in satisfaction. "You know, I'm surprised you were stupid enough to come out here." Ignoring Yusuke's bristling, Ayame stood up and casually leaned against a tree, watching Yusuke struggle in the mud with a smirk on his face. "I heard there was a strong demon out here, but all I can find are a few pathetic will-o-the-wisps; hardly worth the effort, if you know what I mean."
"So you've been following this rumor the entire time?" The spirit detective's mind wasn't really into the conversation, considering the fact that the swamp mud had suddenly seemed to gain a life of its own, and was unusually stubborn in releasing his leg. Stupid mud... stupid swamp... stupid island... in fact, the more he thought about it, the entire Academy case was rather stupid in itself. Ayame wasn't in the mood to listen to any griping, however, and got a rope that had been looped around a low tree branch. The Japanese teen stopped struggling for a second and looked over at the demon. "Oh, hey, can you toss me an end? I could use some help in getting out."
Ayame ignored him, and, with a few quick loops, tied one end around the tree's trunk. He made a loop out of the other end and tossed it into the swamp, making it neatly around Yusuke's neck and tightening around his waist. "Alright, man! I knew you weren't that bad!"
"What are you talking about?"
The statement caught Yusuke off-guard for a moment, but he shrugged it off. "Hey, I know you don't like humans much, so I won't tell your buddies that you're helping me out of here."
"I'm not helping you."
"Hm?"
"You're the bait."
With a sinking feeling, Yusuke realized that, too late, the mud was trying to drag him in, the brown mess reaching up in tendrils and wrapping around his limbs; it was up to his waist now, and was making the rope too slippery to grab hold to. His legs were imprisoned, and he was too tired to fight, as if all his energy had been sucked out of him, and he lost all will to even move - much less think of a witty comeback. His mind grew foggy, the will-o-the-wisps that lit the swamp becoming mere blurs on the edges of his vision; the blurs grew into shapes, the shapes turned into people - human, demon, young, old, of almost every race and size - and through his numb mind, Yusuke realized...
The swamp was to blame...
Rain lashed at his body, sliding down the cabin walls after exploding into tiny, miniscule, droplets and soaking his fur even more. Somewhere in the trees, a branch snapped, and he almost blamed the wind, except that a soft cough accompanied it. Three pairs of eyes of the same bloody color met, and a soft growl escaped his throat from behind shockingly white teeth.
"Shut up, you water-logged rat. Kurama asked me to make sure none of the girls got hurt."
"Does it look like any harm has come to them, you little wretch? Go, your business is done here; and tell Kurama he is free to come himself next time." Koryu turned his back to the Jaganshi, his fins reflecting even the tiniest amounts of moonlight, and waited for Hiei to leave. With inhuman silence, the demon was gone.
The wind was a razor, cutting through trees and shrubbery; Jin was indeed lucky that he had chosen to erect a barrier of wind around himself, one that spun in an opposite direction from the storm and made the two flows of air clash with a feral ferocity. The opposing wind might have made the going slow, but it was still much faster than traveling by foot.
With a loud shout, a gray blur, undoubtedly equine, galloped underneath the wind master. Well, maybe air wasn't the fastest way to go, but...
Aw, what the heck, all that mattered was that he made it to the source of this troubling vortex of misused energy and power. The energy pulsed even stronger, and the demon's ears twitched - not in joy but annoyance. This entire section of the island had a mighty strange feeling to it; not sorrowful, no... but it wasn't good either. The flow of ki seemed to bog down his mind, his senses... it made him seem so... tired...
With a start, Jin snapped awake, perking up just in time to avoid crashing into the mud and reeds below. He pulled up sharply, accidentally crashing his head on a tree branch - his shield must've dispersed when he passed out - and yelped in pain. With his head now (painfully) in order, the demon sighed and floated in that air for a second, sitting Indian-style.
"Alright, that was pretty bad... hopefully no one saw that one..?" His blue eyes peering all around, the wind master gave a satisfied nod, and stretched. The air around him kicked up, and his ears twitched once again. "Let's try this again."
"This is getting good." Ayame sat by the banks of the swamp, his pet reptile in his lap, watching the mud tentacles grow and bring Yusuke to the very bottom in their putrid grasp. Who knew how many others had perished in this bog? And really, who cared? Ayame had looked for months on data for the sorrow-laden myths that surrounded this swamp, just as he had with many other famous locales and creatures, and the information he had found amazed him.
Through the sheer number of imprisoned souls and devoured flesh, the swamp itself had become alive.
Even now, the living bog was trying to drag down Yusuke to its murky depths, entangle him in centuries-old aquatic plants, and slowly devour him as only a living puddle of muck and mud can.
Despite Ayame's chipper thought process on how the spirit detective's corpse would look like after being imprisoned underwater for a good half- century, a resounding crack broke the silence, and the demon looked behind him, ready to fight. A tree branch was moved out of the way with a rustle of its rich leaves, and a gray shadow stood in the dark forest pathway. It strode forwards, with the familiar clip-clopping of dull hooves, and Djornn stood among the last straggles of brush, a grim look on his normally gentle face. The centaur held a thick stave of wood, most likely a branch he'd picked up on the way there, and menacingly ground the end of it into the spongy dirt.
"What happened here?" His voice was even, menacing, and Ayame had to think of a lie- fast. "Urameshi went out on his own, sir. I followed, and he got stuck; when I threw the rope to him, he ignored it and tried to struggle out, which made him sink faster."
"Now if that ain't a lie, than you can saw my horn off!" With a slight growl, Ayame saw the energetic young demon sitting high up in the willow tree, tossing a pebble up in the air and catching it. Cornered between that stupid horse of a teacher, and Windy the leprechaun...
As if noticing the sudden arrival of more meals, the mud heaved towards land, totally burying Yusuke in the process. Tendrils shot out, searching through the reeds for the intruder, and met the hard surface of Djornn's hooves. The teacher reared up, slashing the tendrils to ribbons with his hooves, and whipped around, holding the staff in an attack pose. A thinker tendril, this time resembling more of a lump of goo than the formerly delicate tentacles, shot out of the water, landing between the centaurs front hooves, then proceeded to sluggishly move along the ground. Ayame grimaced, his reptilian pet crawled onto his shoulders, and the fire demon stood up in a rush, backing away from the banks and closer to dry land.
With another heave, a second blob was sent onto land, connected to the larger mass by thin, spidery strands of ooze, and Djornn backed up, towards the woods, his rear hooves nervously skittering over the slick ground. Blue eyes wide, the shinobi dropped out of the tree with a gust of wind to keep him from falling entirely, and yelled over the noise; the vicious zephyr of earlier had long since been quelled, and now he tried to be louder than his own air pocket.
"Djornn, you distract The Blob, I'll go get Yusuke!" The centaur grunted in reply, which Jin took as a "sure", and hovered over the spot where the spirit detective had been seen last; face filled with worry, the elven- eared demon looked for anything of his friend, and his blue eyes widened in excitement. "Got 'im!"
Now, wasn't this funny? Although he could clearly remember the shocking cold of death, here he was lying down in an empty field, during the middle of the day. Daisies bobbed and danced in the gentle breeze, and a yellow butterfly flew in herky-jerk motions across his line of vision. With a grunt he sat up, shaking his head a little to clear it, and his brown eyes widened.
He closed his eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again; the field was still there.
So he wasn't dreaming - well, not entirely. He stumbled a little as he stood up, and rested his hands on his knees for a minute, then took a deep breath. The air was clean, free from any dirt or grime of his city life, and no stray energy roamed its currents.
"Yusuke, are you alright?" The voice was joyously familiar, and the teen turned around, brushing a bit of black hair from in front of his face as he did so. Standing there, in plain view, was Keiko.
Her brown hair shone in the bright sun, and a gentle smile graced her face. She wore a plain yellow sundress, and had her hands clasped behind her back, brown eyes twinkling happily.
"It's about time you came home. We were starting to get worried about you."
"Uh, we?" The spirit detective just stood there, witless, as Keiko ran up and grabbed his hand.
"Of course, silly! Everyone's here!" She pointed far towards the horizon, and Yusuke suddenly noticed a small cottage in the middle of the field (not to mention wondered why the heck is wasn't there before). "Come on, we've been waiting so long for you." Tossing all questions aside with a shrug, the teenager smiled like a giddy little schoolboy and followed Keiko in a mad dash towards the house.
The tiny home was a pale blue, with a wraparound porch, complete with porch swing, and an apple tree provided shade for half of the backyard; the yard was neat, with immaculately trimmed grass and five tables, two buffet table and three picnic ones, organized perfectly. Keiko had indeed spoken the truth, because not only were his three teammates there (with Kuwabara tending the grill wearing an apron that read: "I didn't know buffalos had wings"), but so were Genkai, Botan, Yukina, and, wonder of wonders, Koenma.
Now this, this was pretty strange.
"Yusuke, hon!" He turned around, and what he saw was, indeed, the icing on the cake. It was his mother, in a dress and apron, coming down the porch steps while carrying a tray of pastries. Mouth agape Yusuke only watched as his mother gave him a sickenly sweet smile, and brought the tray to one of the food-laden buffet tables. "Honey, what took you so long? I've been worried sick." Atsuko wrapped Yusuke in a tight hug, and something in the detective's mind clicked. There was no way that any of it could real... Atsuko acting all motherly like this..? No, it was impossible... wasn't it? But with one look around the yard, at all his friends chatting and laughing together, he wished it wasn't.
The ground suddenly shook, and the image in front of him froze. The warm mid-summer air became cold - so cold he couldn't think straight - and it seemed like water filled his mouth; the taste of dead things and ancient dirt accompanying it. Then it all shattered, like a broken mirror. Everything became fractured, splintered, and kept on breaking into smaller and smaller pieces until they faded out of existence in a whirlwind of shrapnel. When all was said and done, he was left in a void of gray, with only the still mostly whole figure of Keiko, the edge of her yellow sundress quickly breaking away, and working up towards her head; yet she still had that dashingly loving smile on her face, although her eyes looked a bit sad.
"Yusuke, come home soon...please..."
"No, wait! Kei-"
With a rush that felt as if it tore his soul from his body, he felt himself lying on solid ground again. As he slowly cracked his eyelids open, the sudden burst of the speckled dark blue of the night sky gave him a painful jerk into existence. As if his sudden headache (most likely caused by head trauma that occurred while he was being dragged to freedom) wasn't enough, the most annoyingly happy voice known to man practically screamed, "Well, it's 'bout time ya woke up, Urameshi!" Add a smile that was way too happy for this time of night, and Yusuke was about ready to kill.
"Shut up or you'll get a spirit gun right up where the sun doesn't shine." Yusuke went to sit up, but the rush of blood to his head and nausea made him flop back down. "...once I can raise my arm... ow."
"Man, I can't believe we're finally going back to school... the last three days seemed like months, you know what I mean?"
"Don't have to remind me twice." Rogerik yawned, and sat down on his bunk, watching as Lyonell and Kurama finished packing. "Once I get on the boat, I'm going to sleep..." The thief was about to nod off, when the sliding bedroom door slammed open, and a heavy, blunt object made connection with his head.
"I think those belong to you! You-you... dammit, I hate you, you lousy jerk! Just go and die somewhere!"
The door slammed shut, and both demons looked at the spot where Lark had been, then turned to Rogerik's prone body on the floor, and the pair of binoculars next to him. After a moment of silence, Kurama finally said, in an even tone, "Well, that went better than I expected." The cat demon nodded in reply, and muttered, "At least he'll only have a minor concussion..."
There was a shout from outside, an unmistakable roll call, and the two animal spirits grabbed their bags. Looking back and sighing, Lyonell shouldered Rogerik's bag, put the binoculars in it, and helped Kurama drag the unconscious psychic out of the cabin.
'Tonight is going to be World War three...' the fox looked down at the thief, who had a giant bruise on his right temple, and gave a small smile. 'But at least it was fun while it lasted.'
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I'll do Wheel of Torture next chapter, because I wanted to get this chapter up as soon as possible. I think Pegacorn had an idea, so... yeah. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.
Well, to tell you all about my year at the Aggie, here's a list to let you know what it's like to be there.
You know you go to Essex Aggie when...
You suddenly notice girls outnumber boys by three to one. (If you're a boy, you suddenly become MUCH more popular.)
Most of your teachers were students at the Aggie themselves.
All the seniors and Ag teachers are too lazy to walk, so they drive six- wheeled all-terrain vehicles to get around campus.
There are more gay/lesbian couples than straight couples
The prom queen is a gay guy named Rodney. Everyone agrees that it's fitting, and Rodney and his boyfriend make a cute King and Queen of the prom.
You are outsmarted nearly every Ag day by the same twenty-something crickets.
A seven foot tall teacher suddenly appears behind you... even though he's supposedly in another section of the building.
You get detention, and the next thing you know, you're in the cattle barn with you arm up a cow's butt, wearing rubber gloves that come up to your shoulders. (Just guess why they're that long.)
Your teacher threatens to feed you to the guest speaker's Great Danes if you're too loud.
You're one of the shortest people in the class, but you get stuck grooming, tacking up, and riding the biggest horse on campus.
For your final, your teacher gives you a pair of waders, a turkey baster, a floating tray, and a small net, brings you to a swamp, and tells you to "Go find something!"
The same teacher sits in a fold-up camping chair that she brought with her on her six-wheel all-terrain vehicle, chats with the assistant teacher, and watches the class muck around in the mud.
Your PE teacher substitutes for your biology class, and decides to take a bite out of the carbon that you made in the previous class using sugar and sulfuric acid. It's funny enough when he makes a disgusted face when he eats it, but you should see what happens when you tell him what was used to make it.
The assistant principal puts in a joke article in the school newspaper about the incident, and adds in parts about your PE teacher fainting, suffering from shock, and having to be given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by the crossing guard.
There are rumors about your Plant Science teacher having a romantic, after- hours tryst with the crossing guard.
You think it's perfectly normal that wild turkeys are chasing students around campus.
Your teachers go tobogganing on the first snowy day instead of assigning you homework.
Your math teacher looks like Mario.
Your PE teacher marries the special education teacher.
The picture on everyone's student ID makes him or her looked stoned.
Your teacher starts a class by saying, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen... and those who aren't sure."
You are allowed to use pitchforks, shovels, and other sharp yard tools... without supervision.
Your teacher sends you out to work in the flowerbeds, even if it's a hurricane outside.
Your friend names her potato plant Cujo.
You are graded on how well you can use a plasma cutter, acetylene rig, and propane torch, and how well you drive a go-cart.
A cow "Mysteriously" goes missing... the next day, there are hamburgers for lunch.
Well, that's all. Ciao.