Fighting Back 2
Chapter 5: Another Journey, and Old Friends
Tori sat out on the porch, glaring into the trees. She didn't care if Hiei had been under a spell; those words had been too much to hear. She felt a tear sting her eyes, but she didn't dare let it spill.
She felt light footsteps behind her, but she didn't turn to see. With any shred of luck at all, the person would hopefully just leave. She felt strong hands caress her shoulders, and something sat down behind her.
"What the hell are you crying about? Quit it," ordered Hiei. Tori jumped, spinning around to face him, and backing away.
"I'm not crying," she growled. Hiei stared at her, hard.
"Usually, when a kind of salty fluid is coming out of your eyes, it means you're crying," he said, coming closer. Tori backed away some more.
"Go away. I don't wanna talk to you right now." Hiei continued with his gaze.
"I really don't care if you want to or not." He came up beside her, grabbing her in his arms. "At least tell me why you're crying, and then stop."
Tori snarled.
"I'm crying 'cause of you!" she snapped. Hiei tightened his grip on her as she struggled to break free.
"And what exactly did I do? YOU'RE the one who went to the market today when I SPECIFICALLY told you not to!"
"I was trying to have some fun with my friends! You know what fun is, don't you? Or are you too hard-headed to remember?"
She once more gave a thrash, but Hiei effortlessly held her down.
"You're not leaving until you talk to me," he said.
"I AM talking!" snarled Tori.
"You're not talking, you're spitting, snarling, yelling, and screaming. I can't understand a word you say until you calm down."
Tori ceased her squirming, but fell silent. She didn't speak to him for a long time. She felt his head come to rest on her shoulder as he leaned back against the porch railing. She huffed.
"Is he bothering you, Tori?" asked Yoko from the doorway. Tori jumped, and she felt Hiei's arms tighten, which, for once in her life, she was glad for.
"Do you mind, fox? We're having a private moment right now," snapped Hiei. Yoko came over to them, and Tori could see he was limping badly.
"Yoko, you shouldn't be standing up," said Tori. Even though he was trying to make her love him, he was still her friend, and she didn't like seeing her friends hurt.
"I know, but I had to come out and make sure you were ok," said Yoko, flashing a fanged smirk, and Tori had a suspicion it was more at Hiei than her.
"Fox, she wants YOU to take yourself back inside and get off that leg so you'll leave her alone," said Hiei angrily. Yoko fixed Tori with a gaze.
"Tori, you don't really think he wants you, do you?" he asked softly. Tori glared, and leaned back into Hiei's arms. She'd have to try to play along, for now, until they could figure out how to reverse his spell.
"Yes, Yoko, he does," she said, "don't you, Hiei?"
Hiei snuggled his head into her neck.
"Damn straight." He glared lethally at Yoko. Tori saw Kagome come to the door. 'Help!' she mouthed. Kagome pulled open the door, grabbing Yoko.
"Come on, you, don't bother them," she snapped, dragging him inside. Yoko glared at her.
"Not without Tori," he said, "I know I'm not bothering her."
"Uhh, yeah, you are, Yoko," said Tori. Kagome exasperatedly tugged Yoko inside and closed the door, putting him on the couch to remove the arrow so she could bandage his wound. Tori grew uncomfortable at the haunting gaze he was giving her through the door.
"Let's go somewhere else," said Hiei, apparently knowing what she was feeling. Tori nodded, and Hiei picked her up, leaping up the massive branches to the ones up in the very top of the tree. He nestled down on their favorite branch so Tori could tell him all that had happened.
Meanwhile-
"It seems the other girl broke through the barrier we put on the Forbidden Child," said the sinister male voice.
"I don't care. She can have him back. I'm mainly focused on Kagome and her little fox mate. Things have already begun working perfectly. I doubt she'll be able to break through the spell we put on him," spat the female.
"You shouldn't forget that Kagome has a knack for 'accidentally' breaking spells and barriers. She holds as much power as you."
"I wish to see proof of that. My training has gone beyond the limits. Let's see her best me now…"
With Kagome and Yoko-
"For God's sake, hold still!" snapped Kagome as she struggled to re-wrap Yoko's bandage for the fourth time in a row.He refused to let her treat him, insisting that she bring Tori in to do it.
"Tori's BUSY right now! So get her outta your head!" said Kagome, exasperated.
Just as she was almost finished, Yoko jolted backwards at her touch, and Kagome suddenly felt herself fall forward…right into his lap.
"Oof!" she gasped. Yoko sat perfectly still as she opened her eyes to look at him. His eyes locked with hers, and she thought she saw a flash go through them. His tail came up to rest softly under her chin, and a clawed hand fell onto her back, stroking it in the way he used to. Kagome relaxed, feeling her eyes close, when a voice shot through her head.
'NO! You hate her! Get her off!' And just like that, Kagome felt herself shoved off of him onto the ground. She lay on the floor, pondering what she just heard. That voice…it was so familiar…
She sat up, noticing the bandage really hadn't been necessary; the wound was healed. She stood up, picking up the medical equipment and marching into the kitchen to put it away. Who was it she'd just heard? Yoko definitely had gone back to normal just now, or else he wouldn't have caressed her back in that fashion, or slipped his soft tail underneath her chin in the way he usually did when he was comforting her…
She felt a rush of mixed feelings surge through her heart, pain for his spell, sadness that he no longer held her like he used to, regret for getting angry with him…
She sighed as she leaned against the kitchen door, watching him get up and walk to the porch door. He was so proud, always holding his head high. It surely would take a VERY strong spell to conquer his fox mind…
It hit her. That could be their lead to who did it! She straightened up. How many psychics that strong could there possibly be? Not a lot, Kagome told herself. She went to find Yusuke and asked him.
"Well, let's see…we had to fight a psychic that strong once, but I don't think he was able to control people's minds, just open up a portal between here and the Human World. Genkai's pretty strong, but she doesn't use her powers for that kind of stuff. Hiei's the only guy I know who could really control someone's mind, but he can only control weak-minded humans, and Kurama definitely doesn't fit in that category. Plus, he wouldn't do it to himself."
"Anyone else?" asked Kagome.
"No…I don't think so…Maybe Dr. Ichigaki…"
"Who?"
"He'd never be able to, though, not Kurama. I don't see any of his whacked-out machines, either."
Kagome sighed. "Do you know someone, Kagome?" asked Yusuke. Kagome perked up. Wait a minute, she DID know a few people…but they didn't have those kind of powers…did they?
"There are only a few demons me, Inuyasha and the others met on our travels that could be this strong," said Kagome, "but I don't know of any mind-controllers save for the Dark Priestess, and she could only control people using Shikon Jewel shards," said Kagome.
"Maybe there are some powerful demons who recently gained new abilities," suggested Yusuke.
Kagome gasped.
"And only one demon I know has the ability to gain new powers like that!" she said, "Naraku!"
"Naraku?" asked Yusuke.
"A very powerful demon that me and Inuyasha took on a long time ago," said Kagome, "even though he's supposed to be dead, I've always thought of him as a roach. You just can't kill him."
Yusuke shrugged.
"It's a better lead than what I have," he said.
"But I don't understand what he'd be doing in the Makai," said Kagome, "He lived in the Feudal Era, 500 years ago."
"Maybe he had to mi-…umm, mi-…what the hell's that word I'm thinking of?" he asked.
"Migrate?" Kagome asked dully.
"Yeah! That's it! Maybe he had to migrate to the Makai," said Yusuke.
"Hmm, that's probably true," said Kagome, "they probably couldn't take all the humans that were moving in."
"Maybe we should ask Pacifier-breath about it," said Yusuke.
"Nah, he's got enough to do. We should do this on our own," said Kagome, "I'm good at tracking Naraku's aura, but we'll need help to fight him. Chances are he hasn't gotten any weaker since we nailed him last time and completed the Shikon Jewel."
"And just WHO is gonna help us find him besides our little group?" asked Yusuke.
"I know of a couple people who've fought him before, but in this time, two of them are dead and the other three I have no idea where to find."
"Two mortals fought this guy?" asked Yusuke.
"Yeah, and they were strong. It's hard to believe they're dead right now…" muttered Kagome sadly, "the other three are demons, and I think we'll only need one of them, though I'd like to see the other two again."
Yusuke nodded.
"So, let's grab the kids and head out," he said, turning to find Kuwabara.
"You sure you can carry yourself, Yusuke?" said Kagome, earning a growl from him. She giggled softly, and went to find the other two, who were snoozing in the top of the tree. After she'd searched the house, Kagome sighed as she saw a silent Yoko sitting, immobile, on the couch.
She turned and went out the door, looking through the trees for them. She closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could, 'Hiei, I know you can hear me. Bring Tori, we gotta talk.'
She waited, and almost like magic, a half-asleep fire demon appeared behind her, barely holding onto a yawning Tori.
"What the hell is it? We were sleeping," he snapped.
"Sorry Grumpy, but we gotta find out who did this to you and Kurama and stop them so they'll quit doing it," said Kagome, "Chances are they've got worse things planned."
Hiei mumbled angrily to himself as he shook Tori awake, and both headed inside.
After explaining what they were doing to Kuwabara, Hiei and Tori, they all found Yoko standing outside on the porch.
"We're leaving," said Kagome, "Come on."
"What makes you think I'm going?" snapped Yoko.
Kagome sighed, muttering a silent apology to Tori.
"Tori's going," she said. Tori dropped her mouth open and almost attacked her. Yoko turned his head.
"Hmm, fine, she's going to need a WORTHY protector out there in the forest anyways," he sneered at Hiei. Hiei rolled his eyes, Tori glared, and Kagome shook her head. She wished they could find Naraku right now to just get this over and done.
One hour later-
They'd been walking through the forest for a while, all of them, even Hiei and Yoko, had packed backpacks for the trip.
"Is it time to take a break yet?" moaned Kuwabara. Yusuke kicked him.
"No, stupid, we've barely been walking an hour!" he said.
Kagome sighed and looked around at the forest. So far, nothing but dark trees. Not even one demon.
"Hiei, how far DOES your territory extend?"
Hiei glanced at her.
"We left my territory about a half an hour ago."
"Is there any chance we're in some other super-powerful demon's territory at the moment?"
Hiei blinked at her.
"Of course we're in another demon's territory. Almost all of this level of the Makai's been taken up by demon territories. You just have to be powerful to be able to maintain it."
"So, if no demons come into your territory..."
"Then you are at my level of power or higher," said Hiei, walking forward.
"Hmm... would you happen to know which demon lives here?"
Hiei sighed in exasperation.
"To the best of my knowledge, it's someone with an ego to match the detective's. I've never met him personally, but his aura seems familiar, and we've kept a peace treaty for him to stay out of my land, and I'd stay out of his."
Tori stared.
"You never told me about that!"
Hiei glared.
"And for good reason, so you wouldn't go around trying to be 'neighborly', or whatever you called it that one time. The last thing I need is you getting eaten because you're too nice."
Kagome smirked.
"Now ya see, Hiei, THIS is why we were so against you bringing Tori-"
She was silenced by a dark glare from the pyro. "Or not..."
Tori huffed.
"You really SHOULD'VE told me, I'm good about trespassing! I'd have stayed out of the territories if I knew I wasn't allowed!"
"Tori..." Hiei stopped, fixing her with a deadly look, "Besides the trip to the market, have you been leaving my territory at all?"
Tori pondered a while, turning facts over carefully in her mind.
"Now that ya mention it, I DID go out a couple times..."
Her back quickly found its way into a nearby tree trunk, Hiei staring daggers at her.
"You mean you disobeyed me?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.
Yoko ran up, snarling at Hiei. "Let her go."
Hiei ignored him.
Tori blinked.
"Since when have I NOT disobeyed you? I went to the market twice. Besides, Hiei, I only purposely went out once to look at the strangest-looking little fox demon. He was in his younger teens, meaning he was quite a few decades old, if my knowledge of demon aging is correct. He had this long, gorgeous reddish-orange hair that had the CUTEST blue bow in it!"
Kagome gasped.
Hiei snarled.
"Tori, you have no idea of the dangers of those actions, do you? If YOU go into THEIR land, I can'tprotect you! And furthermore..."
"Shut up for a second, Hiei! Tori, finish describing that demon you saw!"
"Oh, well, like I said, he had a cute bow in his hair..."
"What color were his eyes?"
"Oh, uhm... lemme think... some kind of deep bluish-green. Very pretty."
"And did you notice anything odd about him? Like, besides his facial features?"
"Hmmm... now that you mention it, his legs looked oddly like paws... "
"Did you catch his name?"
"Nope, Hiei went on a warpath trying to find me, so I had to beat him home so I could... fake... never mind."
Hiei growled.
"Tori..."
"Not now, Hiei!"
"Listen, you little wench..."
"HIEI! Don't call her that!"
"What did he tell you about himself?"
"Well, it was brief, but I think I remember something about blue fire and leaves... but that's all."
"And which territory was this?"
"Uhm..." Tori turned around to calculate their directions. "It was west of the house, so..."
"It's this one?"
"Hmmm... yep!" Tori said brightly.
Kagome looked around.
"I have an idea..."
She took her bow off her shoulder and knocked an arrow to it, aiming for the sky.
"Here goes!" The arrow flew into the air, its pink light illuminating the area around it as it vanished into the clouds.
"What was that for?" asked Yusuke.
"Now we wait," said Kagome, "If my assumption is correct..."
A small figure appeared at the edge of the trees, approaching carefully.
A teenage voice spoke.
"K-Kagome?"
Kagome jumped and whirled around.
"I don't believe it..."
"KAGOME! It IS you!" The figure raced forward and leaped onto her, tackling the priestess to the ground.
Kagome sat up and embraced the new person warmly, tears coming out of her eyes.
"Shippo! I can't believe it's you! You've gotten so big!"
"Five hundred years does a lot to ya," said the fox demon, giving Kagome a fanged smile.
Yoko approached the smaller demon and plucked him off Kagome by the back of his shirt. "Just who is this?" He sniffed Shippo curiously, who immediately squeaked in terror and dropped to the ground.
"Y-you... you're... Yoko Kurama!" He stared in awe at the taller kitsune.
Kagome giggled.
"Oh, that's right, I forgot you're famous, Kurama," she approached him to pat him on the shoulder, but he shrugged off her hand. Kagome's heart sank. She'd also forgotten the spell, too.
Shippo looked between the two curiously, spying something on Kagome's neck.
"Kagome, what's that?" He jumped up and pulled her hair aside, sniffing the mark on her neck.
Kagome sighed sadly. "Well, Shippo... I found a mate..."
"Him?" Shippo pointed to Yoko.
"Yeah... how'd you know?"
"The mark smells like him."
"Oh..."
Shippo glanced back at the thief for a second, suddenly straightening up as though he'd just realized something.
"You know, Kagome... I'm thinking maybe it's not safe here..."
Kagome cocked her head at him. "Why, Shippo?"
Shippo gulped as his face began to pale. "Well..."
"Wait... this isn't your territory?"
"Nope... and you don't wanna know who's it really is, either..."
"Why not?"
"Let's just get outta here, you're almost out. It ends in that clearing up ahead, come on." Shippo grabbed Kagome's hand and began dragging her furiously through the trees.
"Whoa, Shippo! Calm down!" She pulled her hand from the panicked kit's, staring at him in disbelief, "You sure have gotten strong..."
"Come on, Kagome!" Shippo ran around behind her and tried to push her along, but Yoko pulled her out of his path. Kagome blushed lightly for a second and quickly turned to see Yoko's eyes back to normal, but the cloud soon reappeared, and he released her in disgust.
'So, it's starting to weaken...'
She whirled back around as Shippo began frantically pulling at her again.
"Shippo, stop! What is it?"
"I'll tell you when I get you out of here! Come on, before he-"
"Let her go, Shippo," came a new voice. Shippo squeaked and dove behind Kagome, covering his head.
Kagome stared around, looking for the source of that amazingly-familiar sound.
Instinctively, Hiei stepped in front of Tori, sword drawn, and Yusuke and Kuwabara readied their Spirit Weapons.
"Feh, relax. I'm not here to fight."
Kagome gasped loudly as a new figure in red leaped down from the trees, silver hair cascading down his shoulders, golden eyes staring piercingly through the others. Kagome's bow dropped from her hands as she stared incredulously at him.
The dog ears twitched in recognition as she said the name:
"Inuyasha..."
CHAPTER TITLE PREVIEW: The Quest Continues, A King Appears
