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AN: Thank you, everyone, for your responses. I hope the story is not too predictable and that everyone continues reading. I cannot wait to hear what everyone has to say about this chapter.
This chapter is dedicated to the first four reviewers: JD-sama, Anime-sensei, Deity-sama, and Miyako-sensei.
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Through the Looking Glass-
Chapter 3: Other Side II
"Agh, did I die--AGAIN?" Yusuke groaned loudly, wakening from his fitful dream. He tried to stand but that was his first mistake. The young boy, not realizing he rested in a tree, ruined whatever balance he had left and sent himself hurtling towards the ground. Mindlessly the Spirit Detective brushed away lengthy onyx hairs while he massaged his temples and now his sore buttocks.
"Do you ache?" Kurama inquired when he himself gained consciousness, groaning as he slowly and cautiously rose to his feet. Unlike Yusuke, Kurama had been quite aware of the unusual elevation and knew better to hastily rise. When the young man reached his full height, he felt greatly disoriented and unbalanced. But that was soon remedied.
Nodding with care, the other youth on the ground loudly answered, "Yeah. Like Hell."
Kurama, elegantly jumping down and taking a position behind his grounded friend, sighed as he shook his lustrous head to relieve some of his own pain. "Then you are quite alive, Yusuke."
Wanting to make a smart remark, Yusuke turned to face Kurama, only to be met with a surprising sight. Reflected sunlight glared into his eyes. "AH! Kurama, what the hell happened to you?"
Turning to see the fussing Yusuke, emerald eyes grew wide at what they saw in place of the human boy. "Me? What happened to you, Yusuke? Why are you in your demonic form?" Kurama questioned in alarm. Their questions coinciding with one another, something clicked in the Detectives' minds. When the young men gazed down at themselves, they both realized neither of them was human any longer.
'Why am I Youko Kurama right now?' the demonic thief wondered, making sure he was not hallucinating or dreaming. He swiveled his ears and twitched his tail in assessment. 'Was that the power of that portal? To revert someone to their truer forms?'
Yusuke's thoughts were less constructive. 'Damn it, I hate it whenever I get this long hair. How annoying. How the hell does Kurama deal with it?'
"Yusuke, we must move. It is not wise to stay here."
While the silver fox helped Yusuke rise from the mossy ground, Urameshi inquired, "Why do you think we're like this, Kurama?"
"That does not matter right now, Yusuke," the fellow demon replied, twitching his blanche fox ears around. Taking a quick search, Kurama realized he and his friend were deep within an extremely treacherous forest. "Remaining in our demonic forms will not kill us but in fact may save our lives; so we don't have to worry about it presently. What we have to find out now is where we are and where are the others. I am quite sure that we're no longer at Genkai 'baa-san's temple: possibly not even the same dimension."
"Right," Yusuke agreed, pushing back his now lengthy sable locks behind his shoulders, scanning the terrain as well. "The sooner we get back to our world, the quicker Keiko is rescued."
The two Detectives began trudging through the forest (although not as much with Kurama's botanic abilities), observing and analyzing their new surroundings for options and possible enemies. But while hiking through the labyrinth of woods, the fox demon noted that the eerie forest was an ancient world with a familiar aura. The spiritual sensation was something Kurama had sensed back in their dimension. This world's vegetation even had the same wave patterns as the ones in the Human World.
'I hope Botan-chan is all right,' Kurama worried somewhat. 'If I calculated correctly, she shouldn't have followed us to this dimension. And seeing as she is not with us, she is safe.' The former redhead let out a sigh of relief. 'At least I saved one maiden today.'
Soon enough, through their travels, the two Spirit Detectives reached the forest's end and faced an extremely large manor surrounded with a fortified wall. "What should we do, Kurama?" Yusuke muttered, searching up and down the wall for any hostile guards. "Should we go around, go over? Or should we just avoid this place altogether and look somewhere else?"
"I guess we should see what is within the walls," Kurama shrugged, his thief-like curiosity taking over. "Maybe something inside is of use to us. Either that, or maybe we will find someone who might aid us in some way." His foxy ears twitching from side to side and his golden eyes speedily scanning the area thoroughly, the animalistic demon discovered no threat. Smiling at one another, the two demon comrades began their simple plan.
'This is almost like a heist way back then.' A sneaky smile curved through Kurama's lips.
Easily scaling the stone barrier, the two young men gazed down into luscious grounds from a fairytale. The land within the walls was an untouched flowing garden, similar to traditional Japanese gardens now only seen in certain amusement parks, high-class homes, and botanical gardens. "What is this place? This looks like one of those palaces in those old samurai movies," Yusuke remarked as he carelessly jumped off his perch on the wall and entered the enchanting grounds.
The white fox tried stopping his foolish friend but mistakenly followed him as well. "Yusuke, wait! We don't know if--"
It was too late. Just as their feet touched the lush grassy ground, the two half-demons found themselves surrounded by numerous armed guards, just as many steely swords and spears at their throats. The former thief wanted to throw a glare at his irrational friend but did not risk it; human soldiers were wary of small motions or shifts in eyes.
"More demon assassins sent after our princess?" a gruff old man growled as he appeared from behind the men. According to his elegant dress and jewel-adorned fingers, the elderly gentleman was a mighty ruler with much power. With speedy movements, a few soldiers parted, allowing the lord through. "Gah, when will these demons learn their lesson? Ah, well, it does not matter. Have these two executed like all the others."
"Executed?" Yusuke and Kurama yelped in surprise as the swords and lances neared their vital points. The Spirit Detectives' misfortune had taken a small fall to now a deadly nosedive. Although the soldiers and guards were only human, there were too many present and too many near for Kurama and Yusuke to battle and possibly survive. The future looked very bleak.
"Wait! Please, everyone, lower your weapons."
The gruff old man and the many soldiers (doing as commanded) turned around on their heels and behind them and a silk screen sat a beautiful young woman draped in various silk kimonos. The lady sat within the manor on top of many pillows, making her throne. Majesty was the woman's company. "Otou-sama, please do not kill them. They are no threat to you or I."
"But Hime-sama, they are demons and--"
Even with his acute thieving eyes, Kurama could not make out specific features from the female human, but he was quite sure he had heard her voice in his past. Kurama's problem was he could not remember which woman. The veiled princess turned and smiled kindly at the demons on the grounds below. "They are our friends, Otou-sama, and should be treated as such. They shall bring us no harm; I can see it in their eyes."
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