Chapter Two: River of Dead Souls
"No way! No! No! No!" Shouted Yusuke and Kuwabara in unison.
"Yusuke, I want to come! Please, I can't just sit here and wait for you to come back. I want to go with you!" Keiko argued, her brown eyes flaring as she debated against them. Yukina nodded in agreement.
"Keiko, be reasonable." Shizuru placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "If you go, you'll just be a distraction. That's just another person to protect, and they'll need to focus their attention on their own safety. Not to mention the fact that they may not come out alive at all."
"Don't say that!" Keiko shouted. "They won't die."
Yusuke grabbed her hand as Shizuru began to sit down, "Then trust us. If you know we won't die, just wait for us to come back. If anything you should worry about Kuwabara." His last statement made Keiko give a faint smile.
"Hey Urameshi! What's that supposed to mean?" Kuwabara growled. Yusuke replied with a cocky smirk. Keiko nodded as she sank tiredly into her chair.
"So how are we getting there?" Kurama asked.
"Simple." Said Koenma. "I just open a portal for you to enter through, and you jump in. When you want to return, you reach the place where you were dropped off, call me on the communicator, and I'll open the portal to here again. Any questions." No one said a thing. "All right then, I suppose you should say your good-byes. I'm not sure how long this journey will take you."
Yusuke gave Keiko an awkward hug and pulled away blushing, but not before she planted a sweet kiss on his lips. When they broke away, a few of them were staring, making them both blush vigorously.
Kuwabara shouted praises and oaths to Yukina, and she sat there smiling as she listened attentively nodding her head. "Have no fears my dear sweet Yukina!!! I'll shall return soon enough and will be together again, like it was meant to be!"
She smiled again, and turned to wish the others luck. Kuwabara saw his golden opportunity to give his beloved a quick peck on the cheek, but Hiei, who had been watching cautiously, realized his intentions and promptly threw a large book his way, leaving Kuwabara writhing on the floor.
Hiei shook his head at him, "Baka."
Koenma had finally finished opening the portal and the Rekai Tantei were steadily walking towards it when a soft voice stopped Hiei in his tracks.
"Hiei." He turned around to see his sister. "Please, be careful." There eyes locked for a fleeting moment, crimson reflecting on crimson.
He nodded apprehensively and gave a small sincere smile, "I will." Then he turned to walk back with the rest of his companions.
"Hey, what was that all about?" Kuwabara asked, jealousy was plainly shown in his voice, but Hiei didn't even bother to answer him.
They stepped through the portal, one by one, listening to the shouts of encouragement from their friends as they fell into the land of the Fates. Rekai Tantei landed hard on the uninviting ground. Everything about that place seemed charred and barren. They all got up, brushing the dust of their clothing and took a quick look around.
"Wow, talk about the doldrums." Yusuke commented.
"Come on, we should get going." Kurama made his way to the front and walked on, not caring if anyone was following.
"Well, geez. He sure is in a hurry…" Kuwabara said half to himself half out loud.
Hiei shook his head, "Baka ningen. Can you blame him?"
Kuwabara gave a blank stare, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I get it." Yusuke said as he watched Hiei's retreating form.
"Get what? Will someone please fill me in here?" Kuwabara whined.
Yusuke grinned, "I'll tell you when you're older and you can understand Kuwabara." Then he gave his friend a few pats on the head as if he were a child or a puppy. He walked away laughing.
"You know, that's not funny Urameshi! I know what you guys are talking about. I do!" shouted the confused carrot top.
"Yeah sure." Yusuke scoffed. "Come on, Hiei and Kurama are already ahead of us.
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Hiei and Kurama walked for a steady pace, listening to the faint snatches of conversation that the wind breathed into their ears.
Kurama chuckled a bit, "So Yusuke has found out?"
"Hn, took him long enough. I expected him to understand a while ago, but that's too much to expect from the ningen."
Kurama kept walking, "I wonder when Yukina will realize you're her brother…"
Hiei stopped in his tracks, his voice becoming colder, "She won't Kurama. So stop trying to be all sly and drop subtle hints. I will not allow her to find out, end of story." He brushed past the redhead. "Let's get going."
Kurama nodded and started to walk at a slow pace so the others could catch up *She'll know one day Hiei. It's inevitable.*
"Kurama, she'll know when I'm dead." Without another word Hiei began on his way again, leaving Kurama in silence. Within five minutes, Yusuke and Kuwabara finally caught up.
"Hn. Took you long enough."
"Yeah yeah, whatever shrimp." Kuwabara shot back.
They kept walking, and what seemed like no danger at all. They seemed to be walking through an empty void with no purpose to serve.
"Can you say boring? I've had school days more interesting than this. There's nothing here! Are you sure Koenma sent us to the right place?" Yusuke shouted angrily. "All we're doing is going on a stupid nature walk! I mean there's not even any nature! Everything is dead!"
"I'm certain we're in the right place. Have patience." Hiei replied. "And shut up. You don't know what could be lurking around."
Kurama raised his hand as a signal to stop. "Hold on. It seems we have reached a river."
"A river? Is that all? Then why are we stopping?" Kuwabara strode to the front and straight into the river even through Kurama's protests. "See? It's even shallow. Come on, let's cross it and keep going."
"No Kuwabara! That would not be wise, you need to get to shore now!" Shouted Kurama anxiously.
"What is it—"
Suddenly, pale, transparent hands began to grab at Kuwabara, bringing him down into the deepening water.
"Hey get off of me! No way! The water's getting deeper! Get these things off me!"
The water began to give off an eerie glow, and more hands began to appear, pulling Kuwabara deeper. Until his head went under water.
f
"Kuwabara! You idiot, get out of the water!" Yusuke shouted. "Kuwabara!"
Kuwabara's head resurfaced, "What does it look like I'm trying to do?"
"That's it. I'm taking this into my own hands." Yusuke took his stance and pointed his index finger at the hands swarming across Kuwabara.
"Don't." Hiei shouted. "If you shoot that it'll just go through all that is dragging him down and hit Kuwabara. You'd kill him."
Yusuke growled, "Then what am I supposed to do? I can't just watch him drown!"
"Rei Ken!" Kuwabara shouted. He started to swing it around wildly but it did no damage, only going through his attackers.
Kurama made his way towards the short fire demon, "Hiei."
His friend nodded reluctantly, "I know." Suddenly, he was gone. A black blur appeared above Kuwabara, the hands still grasping at him, and suddenly Kuwabara was gone. The hands began retreating into the water, and the river lost its eerie glow.
Yusuke turned to find drenched Kuwabara gasping and sputtering for breath next to a calm and collected Hiei. "Hn. Baka." Hiei muttered as he walked away.
"Aw man Urameshi! Those hands! Where did they come from and what is that thing?!!!" Kuwabara pointed towards the seemingly tranquil stream.
"Kurama, do you think we could cross it?" Yusuke asked, referring to the river.
The red head picked up a stone and flung it over the river, and sure enough, pale hands reached up and caught it. "There's your answer."
"Well does anyone have any bright ideas?" Shouted Yusuke in a frustrated tone.
The four sat silent contemplating all possible routes around it. In fact, they were so absorbed in their thoughts they never heard the creak of a boat or the sound of an oar being dipped into water until the small boat was behind them.
"Good evening gentlemen." A silky sweet voice caressed the wind, and was carried to their ears. "I couldn't help but see you're having trouble."
"Well aren't you observant? Cut to the chase, what's your motive?" Hiei asked aggravatedly.
"Hmm…tsk tsk tsk. It would not be wise to speak to me in such a way. "
"And why would that be?" Kuwabara challenged as he rose to his feet, droplets of water landing on the parched ground.
"Because, dear friends, I am the only way you can cross this river of dead souls."
"Dead souls…" Kurama echoed as his mind whirled with thoughts.
"Yes Kurama, dead souls. But before I make my services available, you must pass my test."
A/N: Heya folks! It's Reikachan14 here! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I worked quite hard and I am deeply sorry for the holdup on the update!!! It's just school (mostly algebra) and my obligation to update my other stories!!!! Hehehehe, especially Hope of the Future…. I kind of lost my disk for that one… Anyways, I have wonderful ideas in my head for the next chapter and I'll reward you for reading this with a teaser for my third chappie!!!! ^_^
Teaser: ~Riddle me This, Riddle me That~
This mysterious young women offers the Rekai Tantei a chance to cross the river, but the only catch is they have to solve her riddle. Once they accept her challenge there's no turning back, and if they answer wrong they die, becoming four new additions to the River of Dead Souls. But if they answer correctly, they move on to the next challenge to getting to the Fates' home.