FW: I know I said this before, but I really AM trying to wind it all down now!
Yu Yu characters: (sarcastic) Sure….
FW: I deserve that…. I'm asking for advice now too: my band needs more sousaphone players to go on a trip in a few years. I LOVE trumpets, but I can (sort of) play sousaphone. So, do I switch, and leave all my friends behind, or not, and maybe not go on the trip?
Hiei: You have two years to decide.
Yusuke: Yeah, why so freaked out NOW?
FW: I have to make up my mind in a few weeks. Not sure why, but that's what my teacher wants. And I'm not going to make him mad. When he gets mad, baaaad things happen….
Botan: We don't really want to know, do we?
FW: No. Anyway, schizo and proud-sama, HOLY CRAP! You're a genius! You're right about the "Cruel Critter" thing, I honestly didn't think anyone would figure that out…. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, wait until the last chapter! Or cheat and look at schizo and proud-sama's review…. AmnarRanma-sama, Youko didn't tell them because… he wants to steal the jewel! If they knew about it, they would keep their eye on it too, and Youko would have a harder time snatching it, right? I know a thing or two about stealing, not that I'm a thief….
Youko: It's nothing to be ashamed of.
FW: Yes it is! I'm a CHRISTIAN! Oh yeah, IT'S SUMMER!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, the Rooster song, Amazing Grace, the "hey hey hey, goodbye" song, or the "Guess Who's Back" song
START
"I'll kill him. I'll find a way to get him out of Kurama's body, maybe put him in a squirrel's body, and kill him. Then I'll get Koenma to bring him back to life, and I'll kill him again. And I'll just keep doing that until Koenma catches on. Then I'll take his body and-"
"Yusuke."
"Yeah?"
"You should really save your homicidal rampage for when we aren't standing next to everyone in the band."
Yusuke clamped him mouth shut with effort, cutting off his ranting of Youko and the kids he stuck on him, only managing because he realized Hiei was right. He had interrogated the old woman as to who had given his name, and told her he'd watch the psycho brats. She wasn't even fazed at what he called them, and described the young "lady". It hadn't taken long for Yusuke to piece it together.
Luckily for him, most of the other students hardly paid any attention to them, occupying themselves in other ways while waiting for the bus that would take them to finals. The only exception was Tac, who had for some reason made it her business to constantly try to steal Botan's tic-tacs.
"If you want them so bad you can have them!" Botan finally had enough and thrust the small box containing them into the trumpeter's hands.
Tac looked down at them confused. "I don't even like mint."
Before any of the detectives could point out that she was a complete idiot, the bus arrived.
"SO I GOT MYSELF A ROOSTER!"
"SO I GOT MYSELF A ROOSTER!"
Yusuke could feel his eye twitching. "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
"AND I PUT IT ON A FENCE!"
"AND I PUT IT ON A FENCE!" Yusuke yelled back with everyone else on the bus, except Youko.
The ride went smoothly, for a bus, and this time the detectives didn't resist the ugly uniforms.
As a giant blob of blue and white, the Rekat marching band spilled from the bus, awaiting Mr. Nesul and individual section leaders guidance.
It was a perfect day for finals. Cloudy, so the sun wasn't beating down on them, but far from cold. They'd still be sweating like crazy by the day's end, but by now, they were used to that.
Mr. Nesul didn't keep them waiting long. Beside him were the remaining section leaders, Flactem, looking ridiculous as always, and a goofy smile that fit him perfectly at the minute; Rackly, who was amusing himself with his mouthpiece; Tsoy who was humming "Amazing Grace", which slightly disturbed Rackly, who was standing next to him; and Botan, who was biting her nails through the white gloves out of nervousness.
"As you all know, these are the finals," Mr. Nesul began, "you've all come a long way, and it's been an honor watching you. Just do your best, and even if we come in last, we'll still be winners." He finished his motivation speech to a round of applause.
"But if we win, I might show you what's under this uniform…" Flactem, hopefully, joked, running a hand across his enormous stomach.
"That's what I'm talking about!" No one had to ask who said that. It was obviously Tac, also, hopefully, joking.
Deciding it was better not to ask, Mr. Nesul called for a quick practice before the show.
The practice went well enough, but the percussion section still hadn't regained their confidence after blowing the last show. Without Mia, they were only a ghost of what they could be; what they once were.
Mr. Nesul and Mij, who had graced them with his presence for this show, noticed it as well, but decided not to press. The only one who could change it now was Mia herself.
The two adults gave the teenagers a five-minute rest, not wanting to overwork them beforehand.
Yusuke joined Kuwabara and Hiei, Youko was off doing his own thing, and Botan was talking to Flactem about some, er, section leaderish thing. The three friends, if you could call Hiei and Kuwabara friends, talked about nothing in particular, until they noticed Tac hurrying over to them worry evident in her eyes.
"Hiei! Rackly told me to tell you ASAP, your sousaphone case, it's empty!"
"What do you mean, "it's empty"?" Yusuke demanded.
"I mean it was on its side, open, and there was no sousaphone!" She yelled, exasperated. Probably one of the only times she was serious, and it was in such a dire moment that no one had time to notice.
"What do we dooooo…?" Kuwabara moaned, nervous now too. Actually, the only one who didn't show any distress was Hiei, whom this all affected directly.
Tac thought it over. She never got to suggest anything though, because another voice spoke before her.
"Degrading yourself with brass players again? Da#n, the percussion's really gone downhill without me."
Yusuke's head snapped in the direction of the new voice, one he remembered well, despite her long absence. "Mia!"
Sure enough, the missing percussion section leader had returned, standing next to the detective snare player, arriving completely without their noticing.
"Mia!" Tac exclaimed, running to fling her arms around the older girl. Mia sidestepped and watched the freshman run into a convinently placed tree.
"We've still got a score to settle," Mia said, referring to the war. "And WE'VE got a drill to fix, because YOU S#CK!" Mia yelled, dragging Yusuke away by the ear, ignoring his flailing arms.
Kuwabara just shrugged and started peeling the bark of a stick. Hiei rolled his eyes and went to talk to Rackly about his missing sousaphone.
Once Mia had finished fixing the percussionists, Mr. Nesul pulled her aside. "Mia, you weren't on any of the busses. How'd you get here?"
"I… found another way," she said mysteriously, going back to her section, wondering how that poor sousaphone she'd ripped out of its case was doing back at the school, and enjoying her freedom outside its stuffy case.
"Hiei," Rackly sighed, not sure what to tell him. "Either you sit this one out, or you conduct."
"Conduct?"
"Don't even tell me you've never heard of conducting!" Rackly almost yelled, glancing at his watch and seeing they had only 1 and a half minutes left. "You just wave your arms around and keep the beat!"
Hiei vaguely remembered Mr. Nesul doing that… "What's the point?"
"No time! JUST DO IT!" Rackly yelled, grabbing Kuwabara's now bark less stick and shoving it into Hiei's hand, before hurrying to tell Mr. Nesul what he'd just done. "Oh, and no pressure!" He managed to yell over his shoulder.
The show went well. Hiei had no idea what he was supposed to do, despite reading a few minds, but luckily, everyone know the songs so well by now, no one even bothered to look at him. With Mia leading them, the percussion felt more at ease, and gave the performance of their lives. As promised, Youko DID know what he was doing, and shined as bright as any other trumpet player.
Their performance finished much quicker than previous ones, maybe because they did so well and knew it. Or maybe because they were having fun.
Regardless, they found themselves with free time while other bands preformed. Hiei, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, and Youko all gathered at the end of the fence separating them from the performers and football field, watching the shows.
"This is really quite neat, isn't it?" Botan asked, watching with delight during a more difficult part of another school's show.
"Hn," Hiei answered. He glanced at the redhead demon beside him, having noticed the normally quick to insult Youko's silence. He seemed to be anticipating something… but as for what, Hiei couldn't pick out, unable to read the cunning fox's thoughts.
"And now, Oiretsym high school marching band!" The announcer called above cheering as a new band entered the field.
"So these are them," Yusuke muttered.
"Whose who?" Kuwabara asked.
"The school we're checking out moron!"
As expected, their number one rival kept its reputation strong, executing seemingly flawless yet difficult songs and drill.
"Well there's always next year, right?" Yusuke said, listening to the thunderous applause after they'd finished, and were now leaving the field.
"Will all the directors please make their way onto the field at this time?" The announcer requested, standing before a table of three trophies, a bronze, silver, and a gold. Youko's eyes narrowed. "Just a little longer…"
"In third place, DARTTYTH HIGH SCHOOL!" The instructor of that school proudly stepped forward and accepted the bronze trophy.
"In second place, OIRETSYM HIGH SCHOOL!"
"No way!" Kuwabara yelled, thrilled as Leurc Retticr walked to the table and snatched the silver trophy, seemingly disgusted. "We won!"
The Rekat students held the same logic as Kuwabara, and all cheered, "Na na na na, na na na na, HEY HEY HEY, GOODBYE!"
"And in first place… REKAT HIGH SCHOOL!" Mr. Nesul beamed as he stepped forward, taking the trophy. He looked over in the direction of his students, and held the trophy over his head, for all to see to wild applause.
The sore loser, Leurc, wasn't ready to give up so easily, however. He smashed the Rekat band teacher over the head with his conducting baton, and when Mr. Nesul fellin pain, the cruel man ripped the gold trophy out of his hands.
"And this is our cue!" Yusuke yelled to his teammates, jumping the fence, followed by Kuwabara, Hiei, Youko, Botan, and the whole Rekat band.
Not sure what was going on, but sensing their instructor's danger, the Oiretsym students hurried onto the field as well, quickly engaging the other school in combat.
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Youko, and Hiei quickly teamed up to take on Leurc, but as they expected, he wasn't going down easily. He wasn't demon, but far from being a human anymore. Unlike the detectives, his energy was transparent, which meant he could use it without fear of being discovered, while the detectives were only able to use mortal attacks. The trophy was tossed aside so he could fight better, landing close to Mr. Nesul, still on the ground.
A strong burst of energy sent Kuwabara flying into the fence. Dazed, he glanced up, and absentmindedly watched Tsoy defeat an opponent. "Tsoy…" he thought, "nut house?" His eyes widened and he jumped to his feet, an idea coming to him.
"Smart one! The guy were beating up is OVER HERE!" Yusuke yelled uselessly to his friend's retreating back.
"Let him run. We'll do better without him," Hiei said, charging at the teacher again.
Again, he managed to parry all the fire demon's attacks, and knock him down with a painful energy ball.
Yusuke and Youko met similar fates.
The three heaved on the ground, trying to catch their breath and attack once more, but they knew they were running out of hope. The Oiretsym students had already surrendered, but the detectives didn't know if they could defeat their newest opponent.
"Urameshi! Move!" Kuwabara yelled. Yusuke forced his head to look back and could see the entire band facing Leurc, looking pretty ticked.
Tac and Mia stood side by side. They looked at each other, and nodded.
"CHARGE!" They both screamed at the same time, and their respective halves, brass and percussion, did just that. Yusuke had managed to get out of the way of the gladiator like band members, and now they seemingly swallowed up Leurc, the numbers being too high for him to fight.
Yusuke watched on, too exhausted to really do anything else. Youko forced himself to his feet, moving to Mr. Nesul, and the now slightly dented trophy lying beside him.
Youko knelt beside Mr. Nesul, and placed his fingers gently on the human's throat, searching for a pulse. Discretely with his other hand, he felt for the Eye of Tepurt, and couldn't help but grin in satisfaction when his fingers fell over it. Gently, he began to pry it out of its engraving before a smaller hand quickly went on top of his own, stopping his removal.
Youko looked up, confused at the unblinking, unforgiving eyes of Hiei. "So he recognized it too…" Youko thought bitterly as Hiei ripped the fox's hand away from the trophy.
In the meantime, Leurc had been knocked unconscious, and the next priority was Mr. Nesul, who was still out cold himself.
Tac and Mia were still walking next to each other, and though the air between them was hardly what you'd call friendly, it was no longer hostile. Together, they lifted the trophy again, signaling the official end of the band war.
Keiko tapped her pencil, sitting at her desk in her room. She was supposed to be studying, but couldn't bring herself to concentrate.
For months, Yusuke and Kuwabara hadn't been in school, yet their grades had climbed from F's to C's. She didn't understand how that could be possible, unless they were doing all their work at home, or even another school, which was more than a little unlikely.
She sighed. "Come on, study," she tried to encouraged herself. "Don't worry about Yusuke and Kuwabara."
Her pencil started writing, as if it had a mind of its own. "Whatever they're doing right now, it's probably nothing."
END CHAPTER 25
Mia: (singing in the background) Guess who's back... back again... Mia's back... tell a friend THAT YOU DON'T HAVE!
FW: ...Psycho... So, there, happy ending right? Nope! It's not over yet!
Yusuke: (whining) Why not?
FW: I have some loose ends to tie up, and some aftermaths. You DO want to see why Youko was so interested in that jewel, right? And what happens to Kurama? And Joane?
Hiei: Not really.
FW: Well you're going to.
Sola: (eating chips in the background) You're actually going to finish this thing?
FW: Well, yeah. Dissapointed?
Sola : HECK NO! I'm just going to miss annoying you at the end like this.
FW: (sarcastic) Well don't I feel loved?
Sola: You shouldn't.
FW: So review if you want, don't if you don't. Flaming is perfectly fine. I'll take it in stride!
