Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho and therefore none of the characters.
Fragmentation
Chapter Eight- Spirit World
Kagome entwined her fingers together over and over again, never stopping, not able to stop while butterflies plagued her stomach. She'd hardly slept at all that night—well, technically morning since they'd been out all night, first fighting Yusuke and friends, then talking with them while she was in a 'hostage' situation, though it certainly didn't feel like it. Then again, she had so often been in one it was just a normal occurrence now.
She suddenly missed the soft ticking of the clock in the apartment. Sure, it had been annoying the night she had destroyed it, granted, but sometimes it was a comforting sound. It did take away the silence in the room.
"Kagome, you have to stop worrying so much," Sango told her.
The miko spun around on her heels, turning to look at the demon slayer that sat so calmly on their couch. "How can I not worry? How come you're not worried?" Kagome inquired, hands on hips as she regarded her.
Sango smiled a bit. "Because I said I'd leave it up to you." Kagome threw up her hands, giving up. The slayer continued, "you're better at dealing with him than I am."
Shippo, who was sitting on their table, offered Kagome the candy bar in his hand. "You can have this to make you feel better."
She smiled softly at the kitsune. "No. Well…" Chocolate could be comforting at the moment… She shook her head, getting the thoughts out of her head. "No, thanks." Chocolate would only be a minor comfort at this point, no use in having it. "You should eat a real lunch though, Shippo."
He shrugged and, ignoring her last sentence, began unwrapping the candy before Sango snatched it out of his hands. "Hey!" he protested, trying to reach for it, but she held it up higher then he could jump. "Give it back!"
"We're all very happy that you helped Kagome, but you have to eat real food sometimes," Sango told him as he tried to climb up her arm to reach it. The slayer used her other hand to toss the candy to Kagome who put it away.
"No fair, double teaming," Shippo muttered as he climbed down. He sat down on the couch, arms crossed and pouting, what children were best at. The two would have none of it though.
Kirara, who had been resting at Sango's feet, suddenly stood up with a growl. Her ears flattened against her head and she kept her body low to the floor, as though ready to pounce. Moments later, a knock came at the door.
Kagome and Sango exchanged a look. They both know Inuyasha and Miroku didn't take the time to knock, which meant…
Kagome rushed to the door, wanting to get there before they could knock again. She swung open the door and hardly even registered who they were before she pulled the two inside, closing the door swiftly behind them.
"That was weird," Yusuke said, eyeing Kagome, who had her back against the door as though she were holding it shut.
Truthfully, she was expecting Inuyasha to suddenly burst through the hallway and into the room. Nothing happened. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked at her two new guests, Yusuke, and one of his friends—Kuwabara, she remembered.
"Well…" she didn't get a chance to finish the sentence she began, however, as her eyes widened. "Kirara, no!"
Both turned to try and get a glimpse of who she was talking to when the small cat demon pounced, turning into her larger form as she jumped. The table and all its contents were flipped over as Kirara leapt onto Kuwabara, bringing him to the ground.
"Woah, nice big kitty," Kuwabara said a bit nervously, though in a soothing way, trying to calm her down. Kirara hissed at him and seeing her large teeth made him feel no better about the situation.
"Kirara!" Sango warned, going to her knees beside the pair. She lay a hand on the demon's back, though she seemed to tense at it. "I told you, we're at a truce. No attacking."
Yusuke began to point his index finger at her, but Kagome knocked his hand away. "Don't shoot her with that energy!" she told him.
He turned to her, giving her a look. "I was only going to give her a jolt!" he protested.
"Maybe, but then she'd come after you and I'd rather not have everything in the entire apartment overturned, thank you very much," she told him, hands on her hips.
He seemed like he wanted to argue, but didn't have a chance to. Things were unfolding fast and badly, getting worse by the moment.
The door suddenly opened and Miroku looked in. His eyes widened at the scene and puzzlement filled him as well, seeing as how Sango was trying to get Kirara off the orange-haired one and Kagome, talking calmly with Yusuke. He shook his head, not knowing what else to do. "I have no idea what's going on in here, but I should warn, you Inuyasha's coming. And he's not in a good mood."
Kagome's eye widened and she was suddenly fidgeting again, wringing her hands together. Yusuke, seeing this, eyed her suspiciously. "What?"
She laughed nervously. "I… kind of haven't told Inuyasha yet."
"What! Do you want this apartment building to be blown up or something? He'll start attacking the minute he sees us!" Yusuke exclaimed, shaking his head.
"Well, I didn't know you were coming, Koenma said Botan! If she'd come I could have just explained on the way, he wouldn't have tried to hurt her!" Kagome replied, going up on her tipitoes to be closer to his height.
He would have responded but was caught off for the second time when the suddenly burst open with tremendous force, the door hitting the wall behind it. Kagome was half-surprised it didn't fly off the hinges. Wait, that was only in the movies. Right. Well, her life felt enough like a movie most of the time for it to be one.
Inuyasha stomped into the room, sword in hand. "Where is he? I swear I'll rip his fucking head off." It took him only seconds to search the room and find his target. He brought his sword back as though he were about to swing, but Kagome suddenly stepped in front of Yusuke.
"Move, Kagome," Inuyasha growled.
"No."
Knowing that Yusuke would try to move her as well—he'd rather fight than run from a challenge—Kagome took a step back so that she was touching Yusuke, her back against his chest. The Spirit Detective froze and she locked her hands behind his back, keeping him behind her.
"Kagome," he said, more sharply this time. He took a few steps forward which she took back, forcing Yusuke to move backward with her.
"Now listen Inuyasha, we're on the same side. I told them to come here," Kagome began.
"You what?" he snapped.
Kagome kept moving back, just wanting to keep distance between Yusuke and Inuyasha, when they reached the couch. Yusuke lost balance and feel onto it, making Kagome fall into his lap. Inuyasha towered over them.
"The reason they were attacking was because they thought you were Naraku—or at least, thought you did what Naraku really had done. Now all we have to do is explain things to this Koenma guy and—" she began.
"And you actually believed what they told you?" he scoffed.
"Now wait just a second—" Yusuke began.
"I do. Inuyasha, they were telling the truth," Kagome informed him.
He gave her an annoyed look, obvious not buying what she was saying. "Kagome, get off him," the half-demon ordered, his voice low. His grip tightened on his sword.
She shook her head. "No." She looked into his eyes, pleadingly, giving him the best puppy-dog type eyes she had. "Just listen to what they have to say."
He looked like he wanted to argue more, but eventually gave in. Damn those puppy dog eyes. "Fine." With a loud snap as the hilt hit the scabbard, he sheathed his sword, keeping his suspicious eyes on Yusuke. "But they make one wrong move, and I'll cut 'em in half. And it's your fault if things go wrong."
Kagome's tense body relaxed as she nodded. "Alright," she responded as he walked away with a soft growl.
"What do you mean 'alright'? You're going to let him try and slice us in half?" said the voice behind her.
She smiled slightly at how he put the word 'try' in his sentence. Yusuke obviously didn't see Inuyasha as too much of a threat. "I just said anything to get him to settle down now."
He didn't respond and there was silence between the two for a few moments before he spoke again.
"…You can get off me now," Yusuke told her, amusement in his voice and probably a grin on his face, though she couldn't see it. "I won't attack him. At least, not yet."
Her cheeks burning, she responded, "oh, right, sorry."
Yusuke leaned in closer to her so that his back wasn't against the couch so that she could unlock her hands from where they were clasped. Her cheeks turning an even darker shade of red, she moved off him and onto her own part of the couch.
"Maybe we should get going now," Kagome told him though unable to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, we'll be able to go as soon as that cat gets off of Kuwabara," he responded.
Kagome looked over to see Kirara still on top of Kuwabara, though she had changed into her smaller form at Sango's command since the weight of her body was too much for a human to handle for long. Kirara had made herself quite comfortable on his chest, curling up into a ball, and looking quite pleased with herself at keeping such a large man quiet, even in her small form. Every time the tall man even so much as twitched, she'd growl at him and he'd stiffen, trying not to upset her.
He could have gotten the neko off her earlier, probably even in her larger form with a bit of wrestling (and making sure she wouldn't bite his head off, though he doubted the cat demon would go that far), but he didn't want to invoke her anger. Besides, a fight in the apartment would do major damage. They might have trouble explaining why there was furniture broken, blood all over the place, and maybe a huge hole in a wall, here and there. Yeah, just might have trouble explaining that. For their sake, he avoided battling with the cat, just as long as she was calm enough not to try to take a limb or two.
Sango shook her head while saying, "I just can't convince her to let him go." If she tried to pull the small cat demon off, she would only dig her claws into him, refusing to let go.
"Feh," Inuyasha said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. Serves them right for coming to the apartment. "At least Kirara's got some sense left."
"Oh, Hiei would love to see this," Yusuke said as he made his way over and crouched down beside his friend, grinning almost evilly. "So, Kuwabara, how does it feel to have the creature you love finally turn on you?"
"Shut up, Urameshi," he responded, "besides, this is a demon, it's different."
Shippo snapped his fingers. "I got an idea," he declared before disappearing into Sango's bedroom. Miroku gave Sango a questioning, but she only shrugged, not knowing what the kitsune had planned either.
A few minutes had passed before the kitsune reentered the room, his hands behind his back. He called to Kirara and she was suddenly alert, searching around her until her gaze found Shippo. She let out a soft meow before she jumped off and headed at a trot over to Shippo. The kitsune let out a squeak and began running with the demon on his tail, until he dropped the object he'd hidden behind her back.
"What is that?" Miroku asked, seeing Kirara preoccupied with an object on the floor.
Kagome got up from her seat and walked closer. "Catnip?" she asked.
Sango just shook her head in disbelief as Kuwabara sat up, still eyeing the cat demon cautiously, like she'd pounce again at any second. "Looks like you owe your thanks to Hiei," Sango told him, nodding her head toward Kirara, "he gave that to her last time we fought."
He didn't seem to like the thought, but didn't say anything about it. Yusuke, however, laughed as he stood up straight. "Man, I can't believe you got caught by that cat demon."
Kuwabara followed his lead standing up slowly, then took Yusuke in a headlock. "You try having one hundred plus pound on top of you and then we'll talk."
Yusuke struggled, but Kuwabara held on tight. They ignored the rest of the room then, preoccupied with wrestling amongst themselves.
"Boys," Kagome said, hands on her hips. She got no response. "Boys!"
"Do you think we should throw some water on them, see if they calm down?" Sango asked, her tone dry.
Inuyasha shook his head. "Feh, what idiots." He went to the door that was still opened since he slammed it so. They were just lucky no one came by and saw the miniature fight that went on. "I'll be waiting in the hall," he told them before shutting the door behind him.
Not even that noise disrupted the two in the center of their apartment fighting.
Kagome looked to Miroku. "You're a guy, why don't you get in there and stop them?"
When Miroku began protesting against 'going in there' as Kagome had put it, Sango gave up. "If you don't stop now I'll sic Kirara on both of you."
Kuwabara immediately paused at hearing the demon's name, going into a defensive position, and Yusuke was able to tear away from him. Sango smiled; good to know she could use her cat demon as a threatening tool with him. It might come in handy, or just work as a good joke. Either way, very entertaining.
"Can we go now?" Kagome asked, a bit on the impatient side. "I don't think Koenma is going to like having to wait for us all day."
Yusuke glanced over to her, one hand scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh, sure."
How could one day feel so long?
Yusuke and Kuwabara had led the way to an old warehouse where 'the fox', Kurama, was waiting. It was there that they had hidden a portal to the Spirit World, which the group went through, some more grudgingly than others.
"Oh, just go in," Kagome had said to Inuyasha when he stubbornly refused to go in the portal. When he didn't responded, she had only shook her head and went through it herself.
He complained, but eventually went when even Shippo jumped through with no problem. All were met with a surprising sight—excluding the Spirit Detectives, of course. The group was suddenly in front of a giant door, which Kurama labeled as the 'Gateway of Decision' and the whole structure was in an old style from centuries past, but it reminded a few of them from the Feudal Era of home. Clouds seemed to be all over the vast deserted area, although Kagome had seen the glimmer of souls all around. Well, it was Spirit World, after all.
Kagome and the others were still on the defensive (just in case) and the long, dark corridor wasn't much to ease the mood. Of course, when they reached the next portion, seeing hundreds and hundreds of ogres running around doing paperwork only confused them more. "What the hell" were Inuyasha's exact words and the others couldn't agree more. It was then that they were led into an office, Koenma's to be exact. He looked the same as Kagome had seen him in the screen, though Yusuke muttered something about him changing to impress girls.
A long conversation ensued, mostly between Kagome and Koenma, with a few comments from Miroku and Kurama trying to straighten out some misleading conclusions each team had made about the other. Sango honestly couldn't recount most of it since she tuned out after only a few comments were made. Let them do the talking; just give Sango a sword, point it in the direction of Naraku and his allies and she was good. This whole negotiating thing, Kagome pleading their innocence, explaining the Naraku incident and such, that wasn't her.
She was slouched a bit in the chair that was placed in front of Koenma's desk, thinking about how she never realized before that she could sleep with her eyes open, when Sango finally began listening again when the discussion caught her interest.
"…more demons appearing in Human World in the past few months, it's been hard to keep track of them all. That's why we mistook Inuyasha for this 'Naraku'. We only knew that he was a half-demon new to this area, and both fit the description," Koenma clarified.
"More demons?" Sango repeated in a murmur, sitting up straighter in her seat while avoiding coming in contact with Miroku, who sat on one of the arms of the chair. There had only been two chairs in the room, both the girls occupying them.
"Naraku's doing," Inuyasha said with distaste while Kagome nodded in agreement.
With a thoughtful look, Miroku leaned back and put an arm around the back of chair to steady him in the unbalanced position. Sango shifted, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but said nothing and kept her face from showing anything, except for the bit of color that rushed to her face that she couldn't stop.
Voicing part of his thoughts, Miroku added, "or the jewel's. By now all the different pieces must have been found."
"The pieces must have been carried to all different places, in the Makai as well. Demons must be searching for them everyone, including here obviously," Kurama deduced.
Kagome chewed her bottom lip as she looked intently at her hands, sitting neatly in her lap, finger laced together. She knew this was all her fault. She had broken the jewel. Well, she had broken it the first time too, so it was all her fault really. Everything that happened concerning Naraku, everything since she fell into the well when she was fifteen, it was all because of her. Every person that was put in danger… that died… her. All her.
Seeing Kagome's obvious discomfort and not understanding it, Yusuke changed the subject of discussion. He pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and moved closer to Koenma's desk and Kagome.
"So now we know we're all on the same side," he commented, his arms crossed, "so what?"
"Well…" Koenma began after a silence, "if Naraku is as tough as you make him out to be, perhaps it would be beneficial on both our parts to work together."
No one responded initially; Inuyasha still eyed Yusuke with dislike, glaring at the Spirit Detective with such malice that Yusuke was more than willing to return to the half demon. A few glanced at each other with neutral gazes and Shippo just looked around at them with a child's curiosity. Kagome had raised her gaze to exchange a look with Sango, which was the equivalent to both of them shrugging.
Since no one else was willing to answer, Kagome began. "I guess… I guess I'd be in for some sort of partnership."
Inuyasha growled and turned a disbelieving gaze on Kagome. "What? Who said you could decide for us?"
She turned in her seat to be able to face him, kneeling on the cushion. "I didn't. I decided for myself. Or am I not allowed to make my own decisions anymore?"
"Not when they're stupid decisions," Inuyasha responded, holding her gaze with his piercing eyes. "If you think that I'll—"
"I'll go along with it," Sango told Koenma, interrupting Inuyasha, "at least for awhile." As long as they don't try to kill us, I'm game. She looked from under her lashes at Hiei, standing off to the side, as well as at Kurama. Hiei did get Kagura to leave and Kurama healed me, not to mention got the poison out. I guess that means I can trust them, to a point.
"Well, if Kagome's for it, I am too!" the little kitsune exclaimed from her lap.
"Sell out," Inuyasha muttered.
Shippo jumped from Kagome to Inuyasha, landing gracefully on his shoulder, while still jumping around to avoid Inuyasha's clawed hands that tried to snatch him. "Aw, lighten up, dog-ears," Shippo said as he gave the hanyou's ears a tug. "They won't bite," he added with a laugh.
If he'd been an actual dog, his lips would have curled back and there would have been possible foaming at the mouth. As it was, Inuyasha barred his teeth, his hands finally closing around the kitsune. He yelped and squirmed, but Inuyasha tossed him back to Kagome before he did something Kagome would make him regret. He knew she was probably ready with the horrible word 'sit' on the tip of her tongue…
The miko put a small hand on his forearm, looking at him pleadingly. If she could get him to agree, then things would be alright. Though in the end, she guessed it didn't matter anymore. As long as they knew Inuyasha wasn't a human-killing hanyou, they wouldn't go after him. That wouldn't stop her from helping them out, however.
"Feh," Inuyasha said as he glanced away, arms folded across his chest while Kagome smiled inwardly. That was his way of giving in; he'd go along with it… at least for now, just as Sango had said.
"Wait, who ever said we'd agree to this?" Yusuke stated crossly.
"Oh, don't be stubborn," Kagome said, turning to face him. "You know it'll be beneficial for all of us."
"And how do you know what I'm thinking?" he asked in a gruff manner.
She smiled, her eyes sparkling. "Simple minded people are always so easy to read." With an exclamation of 'hey', he took a few steps forward which made her quickly amend, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Still, her eyes sparkled at being able to get him so easily riled up.
After that, everyone more or less reluctantly agreed to the proposition of working together. Besides, everything had been explained about Naraku, the jewel, and the past as well as what Yusuke and his teammates did. They knew neither were the bad guys now, at least in theory, if they believed they could trust the others enough to speak the truth.
"I guess that settles it. For the moment, consider yourself teammates until Naraku is found," Koenma announced, "though I suppose I should get you use to working with each other." He looked thoughtful for a moment before declaring, "I'll send you out in groups on two tonight for a routine demon patrol."
Already he was being given orders and by someone who wanted to have him killed or captured a few days, no, hours ago. "Why do I think I'm not going to like this…" Inuyasha muttered.
Kagome gave him a jab in the ribs with her elbow, effectively making Inuyasha stop talking, though he gave her a withering look.
"Kagome since you seem to be able to handle him, why don't you go with Yusuke," Koenma told her and she nodded in turn, agreeing. Inuyasha and Yusuke would probably tear each other apart and the other girl didn't look like she had enough patience to deal with the young Spirit Detective. He wasn't so sure about Miroku, but Kagome was the safest bet.
"'Handle him'?" Yusuke repeated. "What am I, five?"
"Glad to see you're admitting it." Surprisingly the retort didn't come from Inuyasha, but Kuwabara. He grinned as he said it.
"I'm going with Kagome too!" Shippo interrupted just as Yusuke was about to come back with a witty reply.
"What about you, Sango? Do you have a preference?" the prince asked her.
Sango bit the inside of her cheek as she thought. She couldn't go with Kuwabara because, although he seemed nice and kind enough to her, wherever Sango went, Kirara would go and for some reason, the neko youkai had a dislike for their new orange haired ally. That left just Kurama and Hiei and although Kurama had saved her life, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when near him. He had stripped her to clean her wounds but still, it was too embarrassing. Though she wasn't sure getting stuck with the demon was any better, but he did seem interesting since he had an odd character that she hadn't been able to figure out yet.
"Hiei," she answered to Koenma's surprise. She glanced at the demon and he said "fine" in a gruff acceptance. She supposed the only reason he accepted was because getting stuck with her was better than either the hanyou or the monk.
It was then decided that Inuyasha would go with Kurama, since he held no love for the tall human (and declared that Kurama would be the only one he'd be able to stand, not to mention he'd be able to keep up with him better), which left Miroku with Kuwabara.
Kagome bit her lip, wondering if she could ask Koenma for a favor. It would really help her out for demon fighting… so he'd agree, right? At least, that's what she thought before the words were tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.
"Um… I was just wondering… if you have a bow I could use?" she asked, eyes hopefully. When he didn't respond right away, she quickly went on, "I mean, I know how to use one but the last one was broken during a battle and good bows—not to mention arrows—are very hard to find and sorta hard to explain when you're asking if a shop has one in stock, which most don't. And then the ones that do are really cheapy and can't handle a sacred arrow…" She was rambling, wasn't she? And she was saying too much, which will get her in trouble with Inuyasha. Bad Kagome, bad.
She quickly stopped her blabbering and waited for an answer. Koenma had another thoughtful look on his face before he called Botan in, who came in awfully quick, making Kagome suspect she'd been listening at the door the entire time. He told the ferry girl to bring Kagome to their weapon room.
As Kagome got up, looking so happy and relieved that she might have hugged Koenma (and she probably would have if she had known if it was alright or not—he was royalty after all), Yusuke spoke. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second. We have a weapon room? A whole room? How come I didn't know we had a weapon room?"
Kagome patted Yusuke on the shoulder in a consoling way as she passed him. "Yusuke, I've only known you for a few days and even I can see why they wouldn't tell." Images of Yusuke taking one weapon and the rest somehow falling over, of him hurting himself, and others came to mind, making her smile.
She followed Botan out, with Yusuke hot on her heels, wanting to see this room no one would tell him about. Once she had left, conversation subsided into a few conversation within themselves. Needing to stretch her legs, Sango shrugged off her jacket and got up from the chair, walking to one side of the room, away from the rest.
Eyes followed her across the room and she wrapped her arms around her as she thought. Only when she felt a light tap on her shoulder did she turn, coming face to face with Miroku. She looked at him questioningly to which he gently took one of her arms, looking down at the angry red slashes across it, still healing from her battle, though the healing salve Kurama had put on them had helped greatly.
"Are you sure we can trust them?" he asked her, examining the wounds. With his other hand he lightly traced one of the cuts to show her what he meant if she hadn't made the connection already.
Shaking her head, Sango took her arm back slowly, rather than yank it from him. "They didn't do this to me. They actually helped me heal these wounds and others. An old friend did this to me." He cocked an eyebrow, but she responded, "later."
Kagome's eyes lit up. It was just like a kid in a candy store, a child and his first trip to the carnival, a boy and his first bike, a fighter seeing their first demon that they're able to go after... except maybe not the last one. Man, she had been doing this too long.
But there were just so many to choose from…
There, right in front of her, was a line full of bows, each unique in their own way. She touched the one closest to her, her body tingling with excitement, especially her fingertips. Picking it up, she held it as though she would fire (despite the fact she had no arrow), then shook her head and put it down, going to the next in line.
Some were too big, others' strings weren't flexible enough, and some just felt wrong in her hands. She finally touched a bow near the middle of the row, engraving carved into it, and felt a small pulse when she touched it. Intrigued, she picked it up. It was a good size for her, just the right size, in fact. She tested the string and smiled. Perfect.
"Here," she heard Botan say.
Kagome turned to look at the deity and saw her holding something in her hands, offering it to the miko. It was a small velvet pouch as big as Kagome's palm. She took the lavender bag from her, feeling the soft, fuzzy texture of it.
"Koenma thought you might need it. Walking around the city with a bunch of arrows and a bow can be kind of odd. You can store your bow and arrows in it," Botan explained.
Kagome frowned. "But it's so small, it's not exactly going to fit…" she began.
In response, she put her hands on her hips, giving her a look she'd seen on her mother's face from time to time. "Oh pooh, you work with demons all day but you can't see a little bit of enchantment at work?"
To demonstrate, she took the pouch and bow from Kagome and, after opening the small pouch, just touched the end of the bow to the opening. When she continued to push the bow down, it slid into the bag with no problem. Before Kagome knew it, the bow had disappeared, supposedly into the bag, and Botan pulled the two velvet ropes at the top of the pouch away from each other, making the that the pouch closed.
"Ta-da!" Botan said with a smile. "And if you want to get something out only call for it and reach your hand inside and that'll be the first thing you pull out. There's already numerous amounts of arrows in there already. But a bow and arrows and the only thing that can fit inside." She shrugged. "That's just how it was made centuries ago. Some knight made and used it."
When she handed it back to Kagome, the miko tied the pouch so that it would stay fastened at her side. "Bow," she said and dropped hand inside. It easily came out with the bow, making Kagome smile and a slight disbelieving laugh escape her. "Cool. Um, arrow," she called, then took one out.
As she strung the arrow, Yusuke reappeared, having done a full assessment of the large weapon room. "There are mostly only normal weapons here," he said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, feeling disappointed. He had been so looking forward to some destructive weapons too.
"Of course! All the dangerous weapons we keep tightly locked up," she told him as though it were an obvious answer.
He raised an eyebrow. "Tightly? I remember Hiei and Kurama easily getting through security to steal an item or two a couple years ago," he said dryly, which caused Botan to huff.
Confused, Kagome asked, "Um, if Hiei and Kurama are on your side, why were they stealing from you?" She let the arrow slack and held the weapon normally as she waited for a response.
"They weren't always on our side—but that's a long story for another time," the Spirit Detective explained. Finally he looked to Kagome and upon seeing the bow and arrow, asked, "do you even know how to use those?"
Oh, just because she's a girl she's not allowed to know how to use a weapon? Well, she'd give him an answer. In only a few second, she had brought up her weapon and aimed it near Yusuke. She closed one eye instinctively, then scolding herself, opened both and shot. She smiled smugly as it landed a few inches from his head.
"I'm a pretty good shot," she told him. She spent the last three plus years using a bow, her aiming was almost flawless now. Practice makes (nearly) perfect.
Now, considering Yusuke could move faster than she could probably even see (spending years with Hiei did pay off) he could have avoided the arrow had her aim been off and he was in danger of getting shot. Still, he let her have the satisfaction she was waiting for. Well, it was a good shot anyway, especially since he hadn't expecting her to be so good.
It was the second time he'd underestimated her, the first being when she blocked his spirit gun with her barrier. Granted, he hadn't used full power because he had only needed enough to finish off the hanyou (though now he was being to think he had underestimated the half-demon's power—or mainly that sword of his, which he had yet to see the full power of), but still for her to have blocked it? The girl was full of surprises.
Where was he? Ah yes, giving the girl the response she expected.
"You could have hit me," he said incredulously.
She shook her head. "I wouldn't have—well, if I had one of eyes closed I might have. I'm not as accurate then." She offered him a smile before putting the bow away in the pouch. Nifty trick.
Figuring she should go meet up with the others before Inuyasha went out searching for her, she left the room then, Botan coming along to show the way back. Yusuke heard Botan say to the girl, "maybe we'd be better off if you had hit him. Might do his ego some good," to which she laughed softly.
"I heard that," he called after them, causing them to speed faster away while laughing as softly as they could manage.
Shaking his head, he looked at the arrow that impaled the wall next to him. He gave a light tug. It didn't budge. Using a bit more energy, he yanked the arrow from its prison, examining it with a small smug look.
This partnership might work out be better than he thought.
The group trickled out of the Koenma's office slowly, going to start their demon patrolling, until only the former youkai thief remained, taking the seat the girl, Kagome, had occupied before.
Koenma put his elbows up on his desk, letting his face rest in his hands as he rubbed his temples, a headache forming. In a poof of smoke, the prince had changed back to his more natural form, not having enough energy to maintain his teen form.
"Too much talking for one day," the prince complained. With his new form came his more childlike behavior.
"Yes," Kurama agreed absentmindedly, his face pensive. "I wonder… can we trust them?"
Koenma stood up on his chair so that he was on eye level with the fox. "Do we have any other choice? Mostly everything they said checks out, the jewel vanishing, both hanyou, even the two humans disappearance from their time." He sighed, falling back into his chair. "What do you think?"
"…the girl, Kagome… she's pure," he began slowly, choosing his words carefully, "a priestess at that. If none of the others, you can still trust her decisions. I don't believe it is possible for her to be on the side of evil."
Koenma nodded, grabbing a stack of papers that were in need of stamping. "You'll have a tough job, keeping up with the hanyou and keeping him calm."
"He's no match for Hiei in speed, I'll be able to follow. And I've dealt with Yusuke all these years, haven't I?" Kurama let a small smile come to his lips.
Koenma laughed. "I guess so." He began stamping furiously; he was already behind. Pausing for a second, he muttered, "to teamwork," as though making a toast before he stamped yet another paper.
She followed the moving blur out of the city and through the park, sometimes she was even able to see his outline, then he'd speed up again. It was as though he only stood for a moment to make sure she was still following.
"Alright, that's it!" Sango called out. "would you slow down?"
"Just because you're too slow to keep up, doesn't mean I should move any less swiftly."
She heard his reply come from behind her and she spun around, her eyes searching for him. She found him on a tree branch, naturally standing on it.
She almost said with annoyance, "I didn't ask to be stuck with you," but held her tongue. It was her fault that she had to stay with the demon, but only because it was better than an awkward silence between her and the fox, and she wouldn't get anywhere with Kirara hissing at Kuwabara all day.
"How about for a second you remember that I'm human and can't keep up with you." As much as that fact annoys me… Except for maybe Kouga, she'd always been able to give a demon a good, easy chase.
"It's not my fault you were born into a lousy race." Hiei smirked. He could almost feel her anger rising as she glared at him.
"No, but it is your fault that I'm stuck running after a aggravating, short little demon—which is you by the way, if you didn't get the reference!"
He jumped to the ground, moving toward her. "Short and little are the same thing, idiot."
Not having another comeback, she muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'asshole', before walking away from him, only to spin back around a moment later. She held up a hand that slowly curled into a fist, trying to hold her frustration in and having a hard time doing it. Hiei watched in silent amusement.
Meanwhile, Kirara weaved around Hiei's feet, brushing against his legs as a low rumble came from her, very unlike how she responded to Kuwabara. Hiei moved back, away from the neko, but she only followed, making the fire demon uncomfortable.
Sango felt her annoyance melting away as she watched the display, as well as a plot forming. (An evil plot, of course). "Well isn't that cute," Sango said with a mischievous smile. She bent down to peer more closely at the small youkai. Oh, she was smitten.
"What is?" Hiei asked, suspicion in his voice. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the demon slayer, whose eyes were dancing with merriment, all her previous anger suddenly gone.
"I think Kirara has a crush on you," the slayer told him, her eyes now sparkling with laughter she didn't dare let bubble out. Oh, what he might do to her if he laughed in his face. Still, Hiei looked at a loss and Sango realized it was her choice of words. 'Crush' to him didn't have the same meaning.
She tried again. "Hear that rumbling? She's purring."
Hiei understood then and his uneasiness grew. How to deal with a youkai fawning for his attention? Give him a demon to fight any day; he never had to deal with this particular problem before.
Reaching over, Sango picked up Kirara and though she struggled for a moment, she came along. Just as Sango had predicted, Kirara jumped from her arms onto Hiei's shoulders. His whole body seemed to tense as she rubbed against the back of his neck and then curled around it, letting her two tails brush against his cheek. There was no mistaking it now since he could hear her purring in his ear.
Not able to hold it, she let a small laugh escape, before she covered her mouth when he gave her a death glare. Taking away her hand, she said slyly, "you're both fire demon, I guess it's only natural."
He tried to take her off, but she dug her nails deep into his skin, refusing. "Get this youkai off me before I tear her off or rip her in half," he commanded. "Whichever will get her off me."
Sango frowned. "Now that's not very nice." She was calling his bluff, at least, what she thought was a bluff. She hoped he wouldn't actually hurt Kirara… but she couldn't be sure.
He didn't speak, trying to wear down her resolve with a glare. He gave in, however, when the cat demon rubbed her face against his cheek. "Get her off me and I'll slow down."
Her frown turned into a bright smile. "Deal."
"Shippo, come back here!" Kagome called after the kitsune, turning to follow him to the candy shop he had disappeared into.
Yusuke caught her arm before she could. "Let the kid go, you can't always follow him. He may have used illusion so that he looks like a normal boy, but he can use his sense of smell to follow."
She pursed her lips, but stayed quiet. True, Shippo could follow them if they didn't go too far; his sense of smell only worked so well in the crowded city with so many different scents to follow. It was hard for even Inuyasha to follow just one sometimes.
They turned into an alley, deciding to wait for the little kitsune there. Kagome leaned against the wall and Yusuke moved next to her, doing the same. She glanced away from Yusuke as her mind tried to think of a conversation to start so that they could be rid of the uncomfortable silence that hung around them.
Now that it was just the two of them alone, things were awkward. Before, when they had only just met, they had done some shameless teasing and a bit of flirting, but now? That'd be too weird. They were 'working' together now. Things with Inuyasha had been hard enough sometimes, did she really want to do that again?
"How long have you been demon fighting?" Kagome asked. See, that was a safe topic of discussion.
He seemed spaced out when she asked it, then turned bleary eyes on Kagome. He snapped out of it, replying, "…almost four years now, I guess. Yeah that's about right since I died—the first time—more than three years ago."
Her eyes widened before she shook her head. "I forgot about that, Koenma mentioned it before, but he said it like it was so casual." She paused. "But I guess, living in Spirit World, it would be. What was it like?"
Yusuke shrugged. "Like being alive minus the being able to touch things. Though I did get to possess Kuwabara. Oh, and there was floating. The floating was cool."
Kagome laughed. "Must have been fun." When he raised an eyebrow, she quickly amended, "the floating, not the being dead part."
"I guess. Then when I got my body back I started the whole demon fighting thing."
The miko nodded. "Yeah, I saw only some of what you can do when you fighting Inuyasha. That blast of power that shoots out of your finger. Pretty cool," she told him with a smile.
Neither talked again for awhile, but this time it wasn't strained, so Kagome didn't mind it. She was surprised, however, when Yusuke continued their conversation.
He scoffed as he looked down, kicking a small piece of rubble so it hit the wall across from him. "I coulda beat Inuyasha easily."
"Oh, wow," Kagome said with a smile, shaking her head. She glanced at him and laid a hand on top of his head.
"What?" he asked, trying to look up to see her head, but obviously, he could not.
Her smile turned into a grin. "Just seeing how inflated your head—or rather, your ego—is." She moved her hand so that it was just above his ear and put the other on the other side. "Let's see how inflated it gets over time." She then proceeded to mutter as she took her 'measurements', until Yusuke took her hold of her wrists and moved her hands away.
"My head is not inflated."
Taking her hands back, she pat him on the head, like she would a dog. "Aw, just keep telling yourself that," she informed him consolingly.
He let out a noise that could be described as a growl as he took hold of her hand. "I'm not Inuyasha, I'm not your dog."
She let the Inuyasha comment pass and addressed just the second part. "Could've fooled me," she teased.
When she laughed once again, he grabbed her chin, tilting her head upward and forcing her to meet his eyes. The smile on her face slowly melted away when she saw the intense look in his eyes, so different from his normal look, though the arrogance was still there.
She could suddenly feel she heart beating fast in her chest, as her eyes half closed, only waiting for him. He moved his face closer, his lips hovering over hers teasingly, making an uneasiness grow within as she wondered if he was playing with her or not.
Then he let go of the grip he had on her chin, sliding his hand down so that it so that it cupped the back of her neck. She closed her eyes and…
"Kagome!" she heard the kitsune call in a squeal only a child can manage.
Her eyes shot open and she jerked backward, though Yusuke still had her in his grasps. He left his eyes closed for a moment and shook his head just the slightly bit before he opened them. The intense, intimate look was completely gone, the usual boyish charm in its place, not to mention the same egotistical smile.
He let go and Kagome moved away from him just in time as Shippo bound into the alley. He hopped effortlessly into her arms, though he frowned at her. "You left me!" he cried, offended.
She pressed a finger to his nose. "You're the one that ran off," she countered.
They began walking then as Kagome and Shippo rambled on, though Kagome was hardly paying attention to her responses. Yusuke kept quiet, which irked the kitsune, since he definitely did not seem like the quiet type. The only thing that interrupted them was a ringing that abruptly came from something in Yusuke's pocket.
He dug his hand through it, before coming back with a communicator. Flipping it open, he saw Botan on the other side. "What's up, Botan?"
She smiled brightly. "Got an actual case for you, want to hear about it?"
Next Chapter: Chapter Nine- Haunted Misfortune (part one)
Actually, considering the size of these chapters, it might only be one chapter. Otherwise, it'll be two parts.
