Chapter Thirteen- Trouble in Japan
There was a situation in Spirit World. Kurama was sitting in Koenma's office, with the rest of his friends, all wondering what they were doing there.
Yusuke, clearly annoyed, finally fell into tipping his chair back and forth on its hind legs, while Kuwabara twiddled his thumbs and hummed some random tune, looking around the room for something to ease his mixture of boredom and anxiety. Hiei was standing his usual spot in the dark shadowy corner at the back of the room, becoming increasingly annoyed with Kuwabara's humming. Botan was also there, looking worried as she perched on the desk, staring at a spot on the floor. Koenma had told none of them anything when he sent for them, only that he needed them immediately. Although Hiei had grumbled at first, his three friends – err – well – the two he could stand and the idiot, managed to drag him along.
And now, there they were, all anxious and more than half of them getting sick of waiting. They were waiting for almost an hour before the Prince finally appeared, George at his heels.
"Thank you for waiting," he said solemnly. "I had to contact some colleagues, and became a little preoccupied." They all waited in silence as he clambered into his chair, and watched him with quizzical stares as he sighed. ((a/n: Keep that little bit about 'contacting colleagues' in mind! It's a little foreshadowing hint!)) "I'm sure you're all wondering why I summoned you."
A moment of silence, tension filling the air, then he continued, "Well, it seems we have a dire emergency on our hands. Remember what I said to you before, when Miss Asa left Japan?" Stung, Kurama glared at him, narrowing his eyes at the reminder of the almost month-long pain he'd born, and Koenma cast him an apologetic glance, but didn't pause in his speech, "Well, Kamekai has been threatened, and if the demon threatening it manages to break through our boundaries to get to it, and drinks the divine ambrosia, he will be indestructible. Once that happens, he's fully capable of destroying your world, Makai, and the Spirit World."
"…Hm," Yusuke said after a long pause. "So, I suppose we have to find away to beat this guy, huh?"
"That would solve this little problem, yes," Koenma replied sarcastically.
"Okay. What's his name and where can we find him?"
Koenma looked hesitant, and for a moment, didn't answer. Then, choosing his words carefully, he spoke, "You…may remember him. Apparently, he's been in the human world for almost a month, hunting something that was stolen from him…"
A month…? Kurama repeated mentally, furrowing his brow. That could mean…
"Yes, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, Kurama, then you're right. The demon was hunting Asa…his name is Sakai." A unified gasp was heard from the ferry girl, and the two human boys. Kurama glared even worse than before. This case had just gotten personal.
"So that's why," he muttered, earning surprised looks as he eyed the Prince. "The gods wanted her to go." Three mouths formed 'o' shaped, and from the shadowy corner came a disgruntled, "Hn." "So what does Asa-chan have to do with the gods?"
"That question lies answerless thus far, I'm afraid," Koenma replied, sighing again. "But for some reason, they were apt to protect her. The moment they knew that Sakai was coming, they had my father send the tape I had recorded of all Yusuke's cases to her, knowing that she'd leave…" He trailed off, and Kurama knew he wasn't telling them everything he knew, but let it drop. "But, Sakai is somewhere in the city you live in, so you have to seek him out."
Okay, we can go now – !" Botan started, determined to finally see some justice for their friend's plight, but Koenma held up a hand and shook his head, stopping her midsentence.
"No, you may not go with them, Botan" he said. "I have something for you to do here. And I'm sure they don't want to be worrying about you."
Finally, the time came for a catty comment from Yusuke. "Well, Toddler, you've sure gotten serious over this! It may be time for Daddy Dearest to wean you off that pacifier!"
"This is no time for jokes, Yusuke." Koenma frowned heavily at him. "Not only the world is in danger, but the gods are, too."
"Whaddaya mean, the gods are in danger too?!" Kuwabara demanded. ((a/n: Okay, quick timeout! I just got out of First Aid (yes, my school has a First Aid class, for half a semester. The other half's whichever sports-like activity we choose i.e. swimming, volleyball, soccer, etc.. This is in place of gym class.). Anyway, we were talking about first aid with poison, and did you know if someone gets poison ivy or oak, they have to remove contaminated clothing before you can treat them? It kinda inspired a very cute couple moment idea! How funny would it be if our little fox demon fell headfirst into a patch of poison ivy…and was allergic to it, out of pure irony of his being strongly tied with plants?! Yay for A/K moment ideas!! Okay, timeout over.))
"Well, if Sakai finds the portal to Kamekai, and drinks the ambrosia, the gods will be forced to intervene. He's already a high-class demon, his demon powers plus the divine ones he'd acquire when drinking the ambrosia would allow him to destroy them easily."
"And if the gods are destroyed, we're screwed, right?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow.
"In a manner of speaking, we're more than screwed. There is only one power that could stop Sakai if he became what we'll call a divine demon. But not even I know what that power is."
"Then how do you know about it?" Yusuke asked.
"There was a legend passed down through the line of High Priestesses; my mother was one ((a/n: little bit of history from the toddler for ya)), and used to tell me the legend as a bedtime story." Kurama's ears had pricked up at the words "high priestesses," and he leaned forward slightly as Koenma continued, "The story went like this…"
- (The Story) -
The world was at peace, if only for a little while. The priestesses, who were meant to guard the world, its people, and the gateway to its gods, were relieved of their duties, and all but one was allowed to leave the Higurashi Temple, the heart of the Divine World's protectors.
This priestess was called Mitsukai ((a/n: sound familiar?)), and it was her duty to care for the world's next protector, its greatest power. Only, it was too soon before the next shadow lay over the world. Mitsukai was destroyed by this shadow, and no one was quite sure if she had been able to complete her task.
Apparently, she had. Though no one knew it, Mitsukai had given birth to a girl-child, who was the bearer of the great power, but how she obtained it and how she accepted it without its destroying her was never recorded. With this power, the little nameless girl broke the shadow, and light was shed over the earth once more. But, with the passing of the power's use, went the need for the girl, and when she used the power, it consumed her.
- (It's over now) -
"And so you see, no one really knows what the power that the priestess's daughter possessed really was."
"Okay, so let's make sure we don't need it! C'mon, guys, we've got something challenging to do! I guess we're going to that temple from your story, Toddler?"
"Yes."
"Alright!" Yusuke stood up, and cracked his knuckles, starting out of the office, Kuwabara at his heels, and Kurama and Hiei let them exit the room before they, too, moved towards the door.
Kurama could have sworn he heard Hiei mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, "Damn babysitting." He would have chuckled on any normal occasion, but today, he could only muster up a smile of slight amusement as he followed his three friends into the human world. Sakai, who had already brought danger to someone whom he held dear, had returned to his hometown, after her, and was threatening everything he'd known in both his lifetimes.
Indeed, this case had become very personal.
-
Koenma waited until the Reikai Tentai had closed the door, and then turned to Botan. "I need you to go to Ireland."
"Ireland?" she repeated, furrowing her brow, knowing full well that Asa was the only thing that they had in common with the place. "But why?"
"Asa's finished the first portion of her training." ((a/n: Remember the colleagues? Hehehe!))
-
"Okay, so where's this Higurashi Temple, do ya think?" Kuwabara asked.
"Idiot. It's one of the most popular temples in all of Japan, and you don't know about it?" Hiei returned with a low growl between leaps.
"It's really that famous?! Huh!" Yusuke exclaimed, folding his arms behind his head. "Who'da thunk?!" Hiei rolled his eyes at their shared stupidity, but continued in the direction they were running (or leaping), all at full speed. He hid his amazement at Yusuke's ability to run with his arms folded like they were, and leapt forward a few paces, catching up with Kurama, who was easily outpacing Jeff Gordan in his racecar, let alone his friends.
When he caught up to Kurama, Hiei called to him telepathically. Fox. Calm down. You'll get your chance to avenge what that bastard did to the onna, I promise you that
Kurama didn't reply, but did slow his pace significantly. In a few seconds, the others had caught up, and they reached the temple in a little less than ten minutes.
The entered the temple gates warily, all four glancing about them at the temple and its grounds. Everything looked peaceful enough, but something was wrong… "It's quiet," Yusuke commented. "Too quiet." Indeed, there seemed to be a suffocating silence to the area. They could see the leaves of the sakura trees blowing in the wind, but didn't hear the rustling that normally attended the sight. The sunlight had been chocked, and the entire temple was covered with an eerie shadow. No one was there – no Buddhist monks, no priestesses, and no attendants, even though there should have been enough activity for them to at least notice some more movement.
Finally, Kurama spoke, "He's here."
"Damn, he beat us!" Kuwabara cried in annoyance.
"Calm down. Let's split up and see if we can find anything. If you do, send some sort of signal…and be careful," Yusuke added as an afterthought, nodding at Kuwabara to join him as they branched off from the two demons.
Hiei and Kurama glanced at one another, and nodded. They had a strong feeling about where they were going to look – in the temple's altar room, there was always a portal, customary and erected to honor the Gods and Goddesses. Both knew this, because one of their first 'jobs' together had been to steal some maps that revealed the locations of the two Items they had stolen from Spirit World (a/n: remember that?), and the maps were located in a temple. If the priestesses of this temple had been meant to guard the 'gateway to the gods,' it would be in the altar room.
The temple was, sadly enough, of similar layout to Genkai's Labyrinth, and it was difficult to find the altar room at first, until Hiei spotted a wind chime. Fox. Kurama looked, and smirked. Wind chimes were the symbols of the priestess's protective spells, and where there was a wind chime, there was an altar room nearby.
They knew they were right about that, when they heard an echoing, sinister laughter. Glancing around, the two demons raced down a hall, and entered the only door in it, pausing only to observe their surroundings quickly for any means of advantage. The altar room here was made purely of gold, and the portal was between two alters on the opposite end, decorated with sakura, peonies, and white and red roses that had all been braided into floral garland that hung over the door. The altars had all been adorned with white candles, a small glass bowl of water between every pair, and flowers also placed strategically between them.
But it wasn't the pretty flowers and candles that caught their eyes…it was the trio of demons in front of the portal. Kurama immediately knew which one was Sakai – the demon, even in human form, was dominating and sent a shiver of fear down his spine. The other two were smaller, probably Class C apparitions, one with dark turquoise hair and fair blue eyes, who looked oddly feminine, and the other was a tall, lean brown-eyed, fair-haired vampiric demon whose elongated fangs were pressed against the outside of his lower lip. Those two would be cake. It was Sakai who Kurama was after.
"Well, well, if it isn't Youko Kurama, King of Thieves and traitor to his kind! And who else…? Hiei, the Jiganshi born into a tribe of women – Ice Maidens!" Sakai laughed from the center of the circlet of demons at the opposite end of the room, the only one of them who didn't turn around when they heard Kurama and Hiei enter.
Kurama felt Hiei grow tense beside of him. He himself didn't mind taking a quick Rose Whip to Sakai's head, but it would have to wait. They had to signal to the others that they'd found the demon first, and he was trying to think fast about how to do that. He glanced around, then at the candles. Well…it will work… he thought, frowning slightly.
"So, where's my little morsel?" Sakai was speaking again, and Kurama barely took notice, except at these words. "I had a nice little snack in that girl, I'll get her back…oh, right, she's your onna, isn't she, Youko?"
Kurama glared at him, fire in his eyes. Now. The rose from his hair quickly took on its whip shape and struck a candle, knocking it over. The portal would not be harmed – that was this temple's only worry. In fact, with gold surrounding them, only the silk and plants would burn, and the smoke would tell the others where they were.
"Now, Fox!"
Hiei leapt forth, met in midair by the two demons accompanying Sakai. "Well, Kumori and Harada can entertain your friend, little Youko, but what about you? We don't want you feeling left out!"
"Of course not," he returned, voice dangerously close to a growl. "Must keep your manners in mind. Not that you did when you kidnapped my friend."
"Ah, back to the girl again, eh? Well, if you're truly curious, I'll tell you this much – I haven't had quite such fun in almost sixteen years…since I sent one of my pets after the High Priestess, Ai."
- This is the bastard who killed Ai… -
He's the one who hurt Asa…
He needs to die, both old and young fox demon agreed in unison. Flecks of gold decorated the green eyes, and Kurama was no longer the gentle person he normally was. He was pissed.
"Sakai, you bastard," he growled, his voice being overlapped by an older one, Youko's. Hiei, in the middle of a two-against-one katana battle with 'Kumori' and 'Harada,' glanced over at his friend, surprised by the anger he sensed reverberating off of him.
"Now, that wasn't nice, Youko. But if you have such strong feelings of hatred for me, why don't you come on over here and show me?"
Kurama wasted no time in so doing. Whip handle drawn by his face, he leapt up into the air, and threw his arm outward, the long thorny Rose Whip went directly toward Sakai's neck, as if to wrap around it. He succeeded, and the thorns cut into the tender skin on Sakai's throat, but the taller demon just smiled when Kurama landed on his feet, holding the whip taut. One swift movement and he'd take off Sakai's head…but it was too easy.
Sakai cocked his head to the side, and started – to Kurama's amazement – laughing. He threw back his head, his laughter echoing loudly in the hall. The whip stretched as his neck muscles expanded, and his laughter turned into a loud roar. Electricity rose from his body, illuminating his black-robed form, and Kurama stepped back as the whip snapped from around Sakai's neck. ((a/n: I got better at fight scenes…btw.))
To the right, Hiei was still in midair, his katana flashing as it blocked the now extended claws of the vampiric demon, and the hair ((a/n: yes, yes, I know – hair.)) of the feminine-looking one. He ducked low, then jabbed the katana into the chest of the girly one, causing him to scream in pain. The vampiric one's eyes flashed in anger as his friend fell to the floor with a sickening thud, and he redirected himself so that he was diving toward the Jiganshi, claws out in front of him, set to attack. Hiei smirked, cocking an eyebrow at the amateur mistake.
"First of all," he told Kumori, "You never make yourself vulnerable – " He turned his own body vertically, so that Kumori dove right over him, and brought the katana upward, slicing him down the middle. " – by attacking head-on." He landed in a crouch, sword slung over his shoulder, and stood as the two new halves to the vampiric Kumori landed on either side of him, then looked at his katana, nose wrinkling in disgust as he eyed the blood dripping from it.
Wiping the blood off his sword with his cloak, he turned to see how Kurama was faring…not so well, unfortunately.
Sakai's roar had been the signal that he was transforming – taking on his full demon form. His robe started splitting down the back, revealing black, hairy skin underneath, and he dropped down onto his hands, which were slowly turning into large clawed paws. Kurama's eyes widened once the transformation was complete and a large, precarious panther was left in Sakai's wake, growling ominously as its claws sunk into the golden floor.
Hiei landed beside of Kurama, commenting, "It didn't take you long to make him angry, did it?"
"Apparently not…well, what shall we do now?"
"Hey, guys!" Kuwabara and Yusuke were running into the room now, attracted by the smoke from the altars wafting through the high windows in the room. Once he saw the beast before them, however, Yusuke stopped midstride and exclaimed, "WHOA!"
"Holy shit!" agreed Kuwabara, who ran into Yusuke's back when he, too, witnessed the panther. "Is that Sakai?!"
"He's an S Class demon," Hiei spoke calmly, "We'd be better off attacking as one."
"I'll say. Alright, Hiei and I'll take offensive, Kurama and Kuwabara, you take defensive." They had a problem with this plan, Yusuke could tell, but he knew that out of all of them, if he and Hiei failed, Kurama and Kuwabara would be better off killing a weakened Sakai – especially with how angry Kurama was. The others got into position, Hiei beside him, and he told the shorter demon, "We'd better use our strongest if we wanna do this."
"I know, Detective. So don't fault this up." Yusuke smirked sidelong at him, pointing his finger at Sakai. "Alright, kitty, something tells me it's time for you to get put to sleep!"
Bright light exploded from both Yusuke and Hiei as they unleashed a very strong double-attack of Spirit Gun and Shadow Dragon, both attacks directed at the black pantherlike demon before them. Kurama's whip flew about its paws, knocking it to the ground and keeping it in place, and Kuwabara created a sort-of fence of swords around it, holding it down.
With a loud roar, the light and dark waves of energy both enveloped Sakai, and burst outward in a blinding sphere, the explosion loud and silent, throwing them all off their feet.
When the lights cleared, the group all got shakily to their feet, looking around at the altar room as the smoke cleared, revealing quite a mess of ash, dust, and broken glass. Yusuke whistled, exclaiming, "Someone's gonna be pissed when they see this!"
"We'd better get out of h--…" They all turned in surprise when Kurama's words turned into a sound similar to a choked gasp, and their eyes widened when they saw him looking down at five claws stabbing through his middle. A back of a paw hit his head, knocking him unconscious before he landed and skidded on the ground.
"KURAMA!" Yusuke exclaimed, leaping toward Sakai as he turned to something between the panther beast and a man, his roaring laughter burning into their hatred for him. Sakai swept Yusuke aside as if he were a fly or bee, sending him crashing through a nearby wall of gold, and the detective didn't move. Hiei and Kuwabara, outraged by the attack on their friends, glanced at one another, and (getting along and agreeing for once)attacked the beast together with katana and Spirit Sword…only to be swallowed by two dark orbs that Sakai created out of his own energy to entrap them. The orbs imploded, sending the two of them nearly dead to the ground.
"A bunch of fools!" Sakai exclaimed, glaring at the bodies of the Reikai Tentai lying around him. "Never again will you be a hindrance to me! I lost two very good demons to you!" He laughed, stepping on Kurama as he passed him, going to the portal to Kamekai. "When I return, Youko, you'd better be alive…I want to see the look on your face when I rip the soul out of your precious onna. Until we meet again, my very worthy adversaries!" He bowed to the unconscious boys, and backed into the portal, which took him in with a ripple across its mirrorlike surface, colors flowing out of it the same as the flowers that were now burning upon its golden edges.
They had failed.
-
Injured both in spirit and body, the Reikai Tentai had been gathered by none other than Genkai and Shizuru and taken by car to the Labyrinth to be tended to. Once Botan had returned to them, she was shocked to see them injured so, but she had brought with her Koenma – which in turn was surprising to Genkai.
After exchanging a few words with Genkai, Koenma entered (in teenage form) the room where Keiko, Botan, and Yukina were tending to the injured, Kurama most severely. Kuwabara was already well enough to be flirting with Yukina, in fact, and was currently saying to her, "Oh, Yukina, I could grab the moon from the sky if only to give it to you!"
Yukina, smiling innocently, was replying, "Oh, uh…thank you, Kazuma," and thinking, He's so confusing sometimes… Kuwabara's face lit up bright red, and in surprise and concern, Yukina exclaimed, "Oh, Kazuma, your temperature's raising significantly! Is something wrong? Do your injuries hurt?"
"No, baby, that's just the power of Love," he replied, getting a shoe borrowed from Botan thrown at his head from Hiei, who rolled over and pretend not to care as Kuwabara cursed at him.
Yusuke had his arms crossed over his chest, Keiko at his side, holding Puu in her arms, and glanced at Kurama, who was still partially out of it, when Koenma came in the room. "I…take it none of you are feeling too well," he observed mildly, getting a very "duh" look from Yusuke.
"We got our asses kicked, Toddler. What can we do now?" he asked, glaring up at Koenma.
"I'm aware that your spirits are low, but there's no need to worry. It will take awhile for him to find the ambrosia. But we're going to have to find a way through the portal to protect Kamekai in the meantime…and the only one besides a powerful enough demon who can do that is…a priestess."
"A priestess? Toddler, where the hell do you think we're going to get a priestess? They're not rabbits; they can't just be pulled outta hats!"
"No, they're not…and they can't. But we've got one. She just needs a little more training…and she's here to practice some healing things on you lot, too. Genkai, if you would?"
"We're coming, dammit!" she snapped from the hall, and in through the door came both old psychic and –
Kurama snapped upright, fully awake as he spoke in a harsh whisper, mostly from the injury to his lungs, "ASA."
---
Okay, everyone...all the guys but Kurama and Touya left me here to do this alone...so the two of them will be responding today! (Touya more because Sazuka asked for him, so I snagged him before he could escape, hehehe...) BOYS!!
Touya: Eh, so bossy...
Kurama: (sweatdrop) Well then. Sun Priestess, thanks for explaining 'sadistic.' As Meka says, "awesome word." And thank you for reviewing. (bows politely and hands over a cookie)
Touya: And Sazuka-chan, I'm back! Uh...thanks for coming to see me! (sweatdrop) (offers a teddy bear) For you!
(whine) No more reviews? Oh well! I got another chappie done in record time!! Bye everybody!!
