Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, plot or characters.
Note to reviewers: Cwolf2 – Thanks for the compliment on characterization, and especially the one about my story being like the actual series. I try very hard to be true to the characters' personality types, and it's nice to hear that someone thinks I'm doing a good job with it.
Pocky and Fred – Your comment about fight scenes made me laugh! Sorry, but I think I'll just keep leaving in 'Hiei likes Botan' hints. I'd love to have them smooch, but I seriously stink at writing love scenes so rather than try I'll take the cowards way out. I'm glad Pocky liked the fireman dream sequence, and thanks to Fred for the comment.
Crystal Koneko – I'm glad you liked the chapter, and as for the romance…see my above comment to Pocky and Fred. I would if I could!
Tsume-Hiei luver – To answer your questions, the miasmic cloud was descending on poor old Hiei, and it sent him into a dream state. Since Kurama's demon spirit is in a human body, it took a little longer for the miasmic cloud to have an effect on him, otherwise he'd have been out like a light too as soon as he stepped under it. And yes, the little kid was Yukina. I think if Hiei could have a wish, he'd wish he'd grown up with his sister, protecting her.
CHAPTER FIVE: FREEING KOENMA
Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and a very reluctant Wishmaster made their way through the castle's ready room where ogres lay encased in miasmic clouds. Empty desks and overturned chairs showed that the ogres had perhaps attempted to flee when the cloud appeared.
Passing through the area quickly, they reached the corridor outside Koenma's office to find the hallway filled with determined looking green ogres.
One, their leader, stood in the doorway of Koenma's office. With a wave of his hand, he motioned to the horde of green ogres to charge.
The members of Team Urameshi braced themselves. Kurama slipped up by Kuwabara and handed him a length of vine taken from his rose whip.
"Use this to bind the Wishmaster. We can't afford to lose him in the battle."
Kuwabara grasped the vines automatically and frowned. "Hey, why do I have ta baby-sit?" he groused, but Kurama had already gone past him to join the battle.
The ogres put up quite a fight, but they were disorganized, unused to working together.
Gradually, the team worked its way closer to the office. The ogre's leader, The Enhancer, raged at his troops furiously, but it was no use.
Yusuke had just paused after bashing two green-skinned ogres' heads together when The Enhancer clapped his hands and ordered five green ogres lingering near the doorway to come to him.
Curious, Yusuke absently ducked a punch and sent an ogre sprawling by kicking it in the ribs as its non-connecting punch caused it to over balance and stumble past.
The Enhancer raised its hands toward the five ogres. A black-green light began to glow from his palms. The light moved and enveloped the five ogres, drawing them together.
"Well that's something you don't see every day." muttered Yusuke as the light took on a distinctly lizard-like shape and filled the hallway from top to bottom.
"Hiei." called Kurama softly, lunging back after a whip strike that took out two opponents. He flicked the whip to point at the glowing black light where the five ogres' bodies were beginning to merge into one fleshy mass.
In a blur of motion, Hiei took a standing jump and streaked over the heads of the ogres battling below. Eyes fixed on his target, he sliced through what would have been the monster's head as he passed it midair. The ogres inside the dark light howled and fell to the floor, writhing as their bodies separated. The black light shimmered and dissipated.
The Enhancer stood, arms still raised, palms facing outward at the place where the monster had been forming. His mouth was slack with shock.
Landing gracefully before the ogre leader, Hiei noted his reaction and smirked.
Within moments the remaining ogres, also shocked by their leader's failure, were defeated and the members of team Urameshi stalked forward, converging on The Enhancer who snarled and retreated quickly into Koenma's office.
He tried to slam the door shut behind him, but the tall, heavy doors, designed to be imposing, refused to close quickly, so the ogre jumped back to the center of the room, coming to a stop in front of Koenma's desk.
There the toddler lay amid ever-present stacks of papers, encased in the now-familiar though much smaller, miasmic cloud. Behind the desk stood another green ogre, nervously clutching a knife.
"Stay back," roared The Enhancer, "or the boss gets it." He snapped his fingers, and the green ogre behind him lowered his knife into the miasmic cloud until it rested a mere inch above the sleeping toddler's throat.
Hiei moved forward, sword raised, and said, "Tell me where Botan is and I may let you die quickly."
The Enhancer's green skin turned a considerably lighter shade as he paled. His throat moved as he swallowed audibly, then bristled, recovering his poise. "What would I need with a stupid ferry girl? When this place is mine I can have all the ferry girls I want."
Yusuke walked forward into the room, hands in his pockets, looking completely at ease. "Hey Kuwabara," he called to the last member of Team Urameshi to enter the office, "This guy is so stupid he doesn't even know when he's beat."
Kuwabara, dragging the child ogre behind him by a trailing piece of vine yelled, "Then let's educate him!" He sat the Wishmaster down by turning around and shoving down on his shoulders. The little ogre scowled as his hindquarters hit the floor abruptly, and began trying to bite through the vines binding his wrists together.
Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei fanned out to form a half circle in front of the Enhancer. Kuwabara remained by the doorway, standing in a direct line behind Kurama, with the Wishmaster further concealed from The Enhancer's view behind his legs.
Yusuke's voice turned hard, "He's also too dumb to realize what's gonna happen to him if he doesn't hand over Botan to us right now."
"I tell you I don't have the ferry girl!" shouted the Enhancer. "I heard she'd disappeared and I knew if she showed up again Koenma would want to see her right away so I just had Rolf use her image to get inside. That's all!"
The Enhancer's eyes went darting between Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke, resting on the human boy at last, having identified him as the leader.
Yusuke gave him another hard stare then said, doubtfully, "I guess I believe him. What do you think, Koenma?"
The Enhancer slowly pivoted around, slack jawed, to see his accomplice doubled up on the floor, breathless with pain as he clutched his middle, the knife lying discarded at his side.
Right in front of the Enhancer, his back to the front edge of the desk, Koenma stood in his teen-aged form. The brown haired boy, tall enough to look the ogre directly in the eyes, stared at him speculatively while incongruously sucking on a pacifier. Then Koenma matter-of-factly bent his elbow back by his side, made a fist, and shot it out from his shoulder, connecting squarely with the center of the Enhancer's face.
The Enhancer's nose broke with an audible 'crunch'. His eyes crossed, and he fell over flat on his back, unconscious.
Koenma retracted his arm and glanced at his fist. His knuckles were smudged with a trace of blood.
"That hurt." he observed.
Yusuke laughed. "Nice punch, for a beginner."
"What?" asked Kuwabara, peering around Kurama. He took a look at Koenma and did a double take. "Geez! I hate it when he does that! Lose the pacifier already. It looks dumb when you go all tall like that."
Koenma pulled his pacifier out of his mouth, squinted at it considering, then said, "No."
Popping it back in his mouth, he continued. "I like it. I'm keeping it." He stepped up to the Enhancer's unconscious form, splayed out on the floor, and kicked at it. "Now someone get this garbage out of my office. Where's Jorge?"
A snore sounded from somewhere behind Koenma's desk. Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei crowded around. The accomplice ogre whimpered and got on all fours, hunch backed, and tried to crawl towards the discarded knife. Hiei jumped on the ogre's back, flattening him, and continued to stand there as casually as if standing on the floor itself.
The rest of the team stared down at the area behind the desk. There on the rug, sleeping peacefully, lay Jorge, the big blue ogre.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Yusuke sharply. He glanced over his shoulder at the Wishmaster. "I thought everyone was supposed to wake up when the spell gets broken."
"I did break the spell!" yelled the short ogre indignantly. "Maybe he's just tired!"
Yusuke leaned forward to shake the blue ogre. He was stopped by Koenma, who caught his arm. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me Jorge was caught in a dream just like I was?"
"Duh!" yelled the Wishmaster, still struggling irritably with his bonds. "Only it's not a dream, it's a WISH."
Koenma's eyes narrowed. "I think I'd like to see this wish."
"Whatever." said Wishmaster, shrugging. Immediately the air above Jorge's supine blue body took on a shimmering cast. Then an image, projected from the blue ogres' subconscious, appeared. In that image, Jorge lay on an animal skin couch. Ferry girls with various shades of pastel colored hair clustered around him. Some fanned him with large ostrich plumed fans, others gazed adoringly at him, while still others peeled grapes and handed them to a ferry girl who looked remarkably like Botan. The Botan-ferry girl smiled and fed each grape to Jorge. Into the scene a toddler sized Koenma trundled in, bowed, and asked, "Can I get anything for you, master?"
"Ogre!" bellowed the teen-aged version of Koenma, and kicked his sleeping blue-skinned underling smartly.
"Ow!" yelped Jorge, then sat up groggily. "Koenma, sir, what happened?"
"What happened," Koenma informed him icily, "is that while you were sleeping, my castle was over run with green ogres. Now get up and get rid of them!"
"One moment," Kurama came alongside Koenma. "I'd like to ask Jorge a question, if I may?"
Koenma nodded, and addressed his next question to the blue ogre still seated on the floor. "In your dream state, you dreamed of Botan. Why?"
Jorge gasped. "How did you….?"
"Never mind about that. Just answer the question." snapped Koenma, and began pacing.
"I like Botan. She's always nice to me." explained Jorge simply. "Unlike some people I could mention." he muttered, glancing at Koenma's back.
Koenma chose that moment to wheel around and begin pacing in the opposite direction. "What was that?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing! Nothing!" gulped Jorge, raising his hands in defense.
Koenma stared, beady eyed, then said, "So what are you waiting for? Organize a work crew and kick those blasted green ogres out of my palace!"
As Jorge scurried past, Kuwabara grabbed the Wishmaster by the collar at the scruff of his neck and held him aloft. "What about Pipsqueak here?" he asked.
"I suppose I could let Hiei kill him." said Koenma, sucking on his pacifier reflectively.
"Hey, he's just a kid." objected Yusuke.
"A kid, hmm?" Koenma shot Yusuke a look, then marched over to where Kuwabara was holding the little ogre, who wilted visibly as he drew near.
"How old are you in human years?" he barked at the ogre child.
Wishmaster rolled his eyes up and tilted his head, concentrating. "Two hundred maybe?"
"Sheesh," exclaimed Kuwabara. "Are you trying to tell me this little punk is two hundred years old?!"
"Yes," replied Koenma. "Like most creatures from the Spirit Realm, ogres mature less quickly than humans. Though their lives can be cut short just as easily." Koenma gave the ogre child a meaningful glare, then went on. "However, if he'd like to come and work for me, I suppose I could find some use for his talents. There would, however, be certain rules he'd have to follow."
"What rules?" asked the ogre, sticking his chin out in a pathetically unconvincing attempt to look belligerent.
Koenma began ticking them off on his fingers. "Number one: you must be absolutely loyal to me. Number two: You must swear absolute obedience to me. Number three: No mouthing off or complaining. Number four: You provide your own dental and health insurance. And Number five: You will NEVER under any circumstances reveal what my wish was."
At number five, several members of team Urameshi exchanged disappointed looks.
"Yeah. OK, I'll do it." Wishmaster's head bobbed up and down as he nodded vehemently.
"Release him." Koenma ordered Kuwabara.
"Ow!" yelped Wishmaster as Kuwabara dropped him on the floor. The vines binding him dissolved when Kurama gestured from across the room.
The red head frowned thoughtfully once his vines had released their captive, and asked Yusuke softly, "Do you believe Jorge is innocent?"
"Yeah," said Yusuke, watching as Wishmaster attempted to kick Kuwabara in the shins for dropping him. "For one thing, he's blue, not green. And I just can't see Jorge kidnapping Botan. He's too scared of Koenma."
Kurama's emerald eyes took on a look of concern. "Then if neither Jorge, nor the Enhancer took her…?"
"Who did?" finished Yusuke.
END OF CHAPTER FIVE