Spirit Magic
WARNING: This story takes place in Harry's sixth year, which means there are spoilers to the fifth book!!!!!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Harry Potter.
Part Twenty Eight: A Letter
Yusuke stared up toward the cloud speckled sky. Things no longer felt right for the adventurous teen; not since Kurama went missing. It had already been several weeks, and he hadn't even gotten closer to finding the red head beauty. He never realized just how much of an influence the calm fox demon had over everybody until he was gone. There was no dealing with Hiei without the red head, and Botan… Botan was going through so many mood swings lately, it was hard to determine what she would do next. Just three days ago, she had blown up and had punched Koenma before storming out of the Reikai and over to Keiko's house, were she had a crying fit for three hours. Yusuke groaned remembering how Keiko had called him over for "morale support." The worst part of the whole situation was Botan now refused to return to her duties in the Reikai, and was constantly around Keiko or Kuwabara or himself. Clinging to all of them like she was afraid they would disappear too. Everything was falling apart, and without the logical mind behind the group, Yusuke feared it would only get worse before it got better.
"Yusuke?"
Yusuke jumped as Keiko's worried chocolate brown eyes appeared in front of him.
"Jesus Keiko, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Yusuke scolded getting a small frown from the girl before she stood and turned away.
"It serves you right. Mr. Takinaka has been calling you all morning," Keiko said turning just in time to catch the bewildered look on the boy's face.
"Oh, well I guess it isn't loud enough," Yusuke said smirking, but it didn't help as Keiko kneeled back down in front of him and looked at him in pity.
"He'll come back," Keiko tried to reassure the boy, but it was obvious from the lost look on Yusuke's face, that he was not convinced.
"So what does the old man want this time?" Yusuke asked getting a frown of disapproval from the girl, before she shook her head.
"A letter arrived at the school for you. It came all the way from Europe," Keiko said watching as curiosity graced Yusuke's young face.
"Really, who is it from?" Yusuke asked.
"From a European school called Hogwarts. It looks really official, it even has a seal on it. Mr. Takinaka really wants to know what it is about," Keiko said.
"Well what are we waiting for. Let's see what the big deal is," Yusuke said leaping to his feet, and grabbing Keiko's wrist, before he dragged the girl toward the Dean's office.
Mr. Takinaka looked up from his stack of papers the second the door to his office swung open. "Ah, Yusuke, I've been expecting you," the man said smiling at the two children before he leaned forward and gestured for the two of them to sit. Instantly, Keiko fell obediently into the chair, but Yusuke still remained standing.
"So where's my letter old man?" Yusuke demanded only to scream out in pain when Keiko's elbow found his abdomen. "Damnit Keiko, that hurts!" Yusuke yelled only to be pulled down into the other chair in the room.
"Show some respect," Keiko demanded turning around, and spitting out an apology to the frowning man.
"Yusuke, I wish that you would show some more…" Mr. Takinaka tried to explain, but chose not to finish when Yusuke's hands clenched into fists. Even after all this time, the boy hated being lectured more then anything. "As you probably already know, I received a letter from a school in Europe. Inside of it was a letter written neatly in Japanese, with a request that the enclosed letter inside be given to you," Mr. Takinaka explained holding out a large letter for Yusuke to take.
Yusuke eyed the letter for a second, before taking it, and inspecting it carefully. The letter looked old, and the parchment inside looked like something out of an antique store. Written on the letter in a script that Yusuke barely recognized as English was the name of his school, but the letter inside was written in very neat Japanese characters, was a letter to the dean. Keiko looked over his shoulder, as Yusuke removed a smaller letter from inside the bigger envelope. It looked the same as the big one, only this time it red seal wasn't broken, and across the front was Yusuke's name.
"Well, open it," Keiko coaxed feeling a rush of excitement as she waited for Yusuke to reveal the contents of the letter.
Yusuke smiled before he ripped the envelope, and got to the parchment inside. His eyes scanned over the note before he almost dropped it in surprise. Keiko gave him a curious look before she looked at the note. The writing on it was neat like it was with the other two languages, only this time, Keiko couldn't figure out what language it was written in.
"Well Yusuke?" Mr. Takinaka asked leaning forward in his chair.
"It's just some stupid prank old man," Yusuke said holding up the letter to show the man the strange writing inside. Disappointment crossed the man's face before he dismissed the two teens from his office.
As soon as Keiko and Yusuke were in the hall, Keiko through her boyfriend a stern look. "So what does it say?" Keiko demanded.
"I think we better get Kuwabara, and Botan, I think they will like to hear about this too," Yusuke said clutching the note in a death grip.
Keiko sighed in defeat before she followed the boy. It seems like she wasn't going to get any immediate answers.
"So what is it you wanted to tell us?" Kuwabara asked looking around the small storage shed outside the school.
"Here," Yusuke said shoving the note in Kuwabara's face. "Do you recognize the words?" Yusuke asked as Kuwabara's forehead scrunched in concentration.
"It looks like some of those words that were plastered around the dark tournament for the demons," Kuwabara said looking at Yusuke curiously.
"It's the most common written language in the Makai. But I can't for the life of me understand what it says. All I know is…" Yusuke said, his face growing very serious as he looked over to Botan's saddened look, "Is there is only one person I can think of that knows how to write in English, Japanese, and in the language of demons," Yusuke stated getting a gasp as a response.
Botan felt her whole body tremble before she held her hand out, silently begging to see the letter. She wasn't as good with the demon written language as a permanent resident would be, but she was still able to read some of the language if she had enough time to try and translate it. Yusuke looked at her hopefully as the letter was transferred to her, and everybody watched carefully as the blue haired girl slowly read over the letter. When she finished, she looked up with tears in her eyes.
"It's from Kurama. It is really from him," Botan sobbed clutching the letter to her chest like her life depended on it.
"So what does it say?" Yusuke demanded getting a little annoyed.
"He says that Koenma has him on a stealth mission in a school in Europe, but he is unable to give all the details because he had very little time to write this letter. He say's that Koenma has forbidden him from contacting anybody outside of the school, saying that Koenma believes such contact will compromise the mission. But he is afraid that the mission is becoming to dangerous for him to handle alone, and that he needs our help," Botan said pausing look enough for the other people to respond.
"Europe, how the hell are we supposed to get all the way to Europe? We don't have that sort of money laying around," Yusuke yelled out in frustration.
"The only way for us to help is to convince Koenma to let us come to Kurama's aide. Kurama says that it will be impossible for us to find this school without some sort of help, but the only way that Koenma will allow us to help is if we can convince him that Kurama desperately needs us," Botan explained her old self starting to emerge as she felt some purpose return to her.
"So the how are we supposed to convince Koenma that Kurama will need our help?" Kuwabara asked looking at Botan and Yusuke for answers.
"It shouldn't be too hard if we can get some evidence that Karasu is somehow involved," Botan said, her tone growing dark as she thought about the dark demon that had almost killed Kurama.
The group paled at the news. Each of them remembering what the sadistic demon had done to Kurama at the dark tournament, and none of them even wanted to think about the fact that somehow Karasu had come back from the dead, and was now resuming his obsession with Kurama.
"Yusuke, you have to do something to help him," Keiko said grabbing Yusuke's arms, and staring at the black haired teen with frightened eyes.
"I know Keiko," Yusuke said giving her hand a soft squeeze before he turned to face Botan. "Botan, I know you don't want to return to Rekai, but if we are going to gather any sort of information on Karasu, that would be the best place to look. And you are the only one that knows the place well enough to search," Yusuke said getting a soft smile from the girl.
"Don't worry Yusuke, I'm heading back now. I don't care about how angry Koenma is, and what he might do to me. I'll do anything for Kurama," Botan confessed going red in the face at the announcement. The three people smiled at her, happy that at least she seemed back to normal. Things were starting to fall back in place. In no time, they will be back to normal. Or so they hoped.
TBC.
Author's endnote: Sorry, but I don't plan on bringing the rest of the Tantei back yet. Every once in awhile, I will throw in a chapter about them, but they wont play a major role until halfway through the story. You'll see why later on. Well, please tell me what you think, and send me some suggestions. I love to hear from you guys.