First of all, I want to highly recommend the new Studio Ghibli movie, Howl's Moving Castle, for all you to see. If it's in theaters were you live then go see it, if not get it when it comes out on DVD but for goodness sake see it somehow! It is seriously the best Ghibli yet! Anyway, thanks to all of you who reviewed and liked this story. To those of you who were surprised that Hatanaka Suichi was the focus on this story I'll let you know now that aside from a few OC's the main cast of this story will consist of yyh characters that are not widely written about. It's basically a story for the awesome but more neglected characters. And also, I wanted to point out that the names are backwards in traditional Japanese style. So, in Yanagi's case, Yanagi is her last name and Omosa is her first name. I just wanted to remind you all of that so you don't confused later on in this chappy. But, so yeah, that's that. ON WITH THE FIC!
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Last time on Yu Yu Hakusho: Kanzen na Maru…After a baseball game at lunch, Hatanaka Suichi, Kurama's younger step-brother, met an odd young girl who has won the widespread reputation of being brain-dead. On his way home, she showed up to thank him, acting like a completely different person. What is this strange girl's secret, and why is she so interested in Suichi?
Episode 2: Yanagi's Secret Life
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Subarashisa Jr. High – Room 4-b: 10:18 am
Suichi glanced up at Yanagi from his math worksheet again. He just couldn't figure her out. Today she was back to her old, brain-dead self, absolutely nothing like the girl he had encountered last night. No, the girl last night had been…well…alive for one thing. She had smiled and her eyes had shone with such a bright and lively light. But today…
He glanced up at her again, watching her mechanically write the answers on her worksheet. Today she was a drooling zombie once again. Her face was expressionless, her eyes were dead, and she rarely looked at anything other then her desk. Sighing he turned back to his equation. He was finding it exceptionally difficult to concentrate on finding what x equaled and the thought that if he didn't do it now he would have to do it at home was the only thing that stopped him from just giving up.
In less than a minute his mind was once again focused on only one thing: Yanagi Omosa. He just couldn't get it out of his head. What was wrong with her? Something she had said drifted back to his mind.
"No one else would have done something like that. Arigato…for believing in me."
What the hell did that even mean? Surely someone supported her, believed in her for something. Was she lying then? But why would she do that? The whole thing was just so confusing and no matter how much he tried to make sense of it, Suichi always just ended up answering questions with questions.
Finally, in one last effort to expel the thoughts from his mind, Suichi promised himself that he would talk to her later and try to get the answers directly from her. He doubted it would work, and to be honest she was a little creepy when she acted permanently-spaced-out like this, but at the moment it was the best he could think of.
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Roof of Subarashisa Jr. High – Lunch Break
Suichi opened the door and stepped out onto the roof. This was the last place to check, if Yanagi wasn't here he honestly didn't know where else to look. After walking around the perimeter of the roof and seeing no sign of her, he was about to give up and go back into the building when he caught sight of a shoe just in sight on top of the concrete rectangle that housed the door.
With a running start, he managed to jump high enough to grab the edge of the concrete ledge and haul himself up. Sure enough, there was Yanagi, lying on her back and staring blankly up at the sky.
"Yanagi-chan?" he asked hesitantly. Her soulless eyes turned towards him, but otherwise she made no response.
"Um…daijobu?" he started, not sure exactly what to say. She made no response. With a sigh, and with full knowledge that he was probably about to sound like a babbling idiot, he forced himself to continue. "I…I just wondered because, well, because you seemed…different when we talked last night. Not that there's anything wrong with that…I mean with you acting different…I mean you weren't different in a bad way…just…different. And, um, it just…made me wonder…you know, if you're okay." He almost hit himself when he fully realized the string of nonsense he had just spouted. How the hell was he supposed to explain this to her without offending her! She was still staring at him, making no movement to show she had even heard his rather embarrassing attempt to inquire as to her wellbeing.
He was about to try again, wondering if his mouth would betray him again, when the bell rang, making him jump. Yanagi silently and without even looking at him, got up, jumped down to the roof, and re-entered the building. Suichi couldn't decide if he was relieved or angry.
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Subarashisa Jr. High front steps – Approximately two minutes after release bell
Suichi hid on the right side of the steps, waiting for Yanagi to pass by. If he couldn't talk to her than he decided he would just have to resort to a less direct method: spying. He had already called home and left a message that he had to stay late and help one of his classmates study. He now had two hours to trail Yanagi and figure out just exactly what was making her act like this. Vaguely he wondered why he even cared, but that thought was pushed aside as his pink haired target came through the front doors.
Waiting until she was out of the school yard, he crept to peek around the concrete wall and watched until she had turned the corner. Once she was safely out of sight he started at a brisk walk down the sidewalk, trying and failing rather miserably to be inconspicuous.
'Note to self: never become a secret agent,' he thought sarcastically as he ducked behind a parked car to avoid being seen as Yanagi crossed the street, earning several strange looks from passersby. Yanagi had yet to notice him, which probably didn't mean anything considering she didn't even notice him when he was right in front of her, but everyone else on the street certainly had. Kids stared in confusion and adults gave him disapproving glares, but he continued after his target, ignoring them all. So what if some strangers thought he was crazy? For some reason he couldn't explain he simply had to find out what was wrong with his would-be friend.
Now she had turned to the rich side of town and he was growing nervous. The apartment buildings and small houses were replaced with large mansions, all complete with long driveways, enormous yards, and security gates. He had planned to continue watching her for as long as he could through a window or something, try and get some feel for what her home life was like, but that was beginning to look like an impossibility. How was he going to get past those gates?
She stopped at one exceptionally large house that was set far back from the road and was almost completely shielded by trees and punched a code into a number pad. The gates opened and she entered. Suichi ran forwards as soon as he deemed it safe, but the gates creaked shut just as he got to them. He had been too far back to see what code she had used. So what was he supposed to do now? Looking around in frustration he saw a tree branch hanging over the side of the wall. If he took a running start, he might just reach it. Looking around for passersby and checking as best he could for security cameras, he rolled up his sleeves and started to pace backwards.
(xxx)
Seven jumps, three splinters, and one bruised elbow later…
Suichi landed in a half crouch on the other side of the wall, readjusting the straps on his backpack as it threatened to fall off.
"Jackie Chan, eat your heart out," he muttered, rather proud of himself as he tried to ignore the fact that what he was doing was legally trespassing. 'It's for Yanagi-chan,' he reminded himself, wondering exactly what the police would say if he gave them that excuse. He would probably just come off as a stalker…better just avoid the police if at all possible.
Once he had caught his breath, he began the trip across the yard, ducking behind trees when he could and crouching low to the grass when there was no other cover. He felt oddly like he should have camouflage clothes and a machine gun slung over his shoulder instead of a school uniform and a backpack, but pushed the thought back.
Finally reaching the house he proceed carefully around the perimeter, keeping clear of windows and constantly checking over his shoulder for hidden security cameras. Coming to the back of the house, he found an odd building. It was a large building that looked like it was all just one big room. The shape of it reminded him of a greenhouse, but it was solid metal, not glass. It looked almost like an oversized bomb shelter. Walking to the left side of the building he found a row of windows. Ducking down below them he cautiously raised himself to peer into the room.
It looked like some kind of observation room. The side of the room closest to the window had chairs and a large computer screen mounted on a wall made of what looked to be almost a foot's worth of bulletproof glass. There was a door on the left side of the room leading to the area that was sectioned off by the glass. That part of the room was completely bare except for a rather large number of sprinklers covering the ceiling.
"What the– What is this?" Suichi wondered. No sooner had the words left his mouth than he heard a door slam. Turning, he found that the sound had come from the mansion's back door and three people were now crossing the yard to the giant metal building Suichi had been inspecting.
Ducking back down and praying he wouldn't be spotted he watched them approach. A woman headed the group followed by a man in a white lab coat. Yanagi trailed behind the two. As they entered the building, Suichi risked raising his head and peering in through the window. The woman, who was dressed in a fancy black dress and was definitely Yanagi's mother if the pink hair meant anything, took a breath and then huffed visibly.
"Doctor," she said loudly, loud enough even for Suichi to hear, "it's simply suffocating in here! Be a dear and open a window." The doctor said something too low for Suichi to hear and bowed before coming towards the windows. Panicking, Suichi dove down again and laid flat on the ground, holding his breath. The doctor opened the window as asked and only when his footsteps signaled his retreat did Suichi dare to breathe again. Suichi sat up, realizing that he would now be able to hear everything said through the opened window.
"Now then," Yanagi's mother continued, clasping her manicured hands together, "we made great progress yesterday with that high B class, what say we try an A class today?" Suichi frowned. He was completely lost now. B class? A class? Class of what?
The class labels apparently had some kind of strong meaning though because Yanagi suddenly seemed to become herself again, the shinning light coming back to her eyes just as it had when Suichi had seen her the night before. Her face twisted in horror and see took a step back crying, "Are you insane! This room will never hold up to an A class!"
"Hiru!" Yanagi's mother barked. 'Hiru?' Suichi wondered, 'Who's Hiru?' Yanagi almost immediately returned to her brain-dead state, her eyes becoming soulless once more and her face turning completely emotionless.
"If you can't keep control over her than what good are you?" Yanagi's mother seethed.
"Gomen, Yanagi-san," Yanagi replied in a voice so void of personality it was almost mechanical.
"Just get in there," Yanagi's mother growled, still glaring and pointing to the door leading to the sectioned off part of the room. With a sigh and a few muttered words to herself, Yanagi's mother than moved to stand by the control panel and computer screen, joined by the doctor. Suichi's mind was reeling. He didn't quite understand anything that was happening. Classes and someone named Hiru controlling Yanagi…what did it all mean? And what was going on now?
As he watched, the doctor pressed several buttons and a section of the floor on Yanagi's side of the glass began to slide away. A cage began to rise up from the floor. It was a simple bared cage without a roof and plastered with paper wards. The figure inside was obscured by the wards, but it was still visible enough to make Suichi gasp in shock. It was tall and resembled a samurai from the way it was dressed. It had two huge curving fangs protruding from it's mouth, reminding Suichi of an elephant's tusks, and purple tinted skin.
"Get ready, Yanagi-chan," the doctor said into an intercom before pressing another button. The cages sides began to slide back into the floor, freeing the demon. The demon looked at Yanagi and then began to laugh.
"You think you can take me?" he cried as he laughed. Yanagi made no reply. "We'll see about that," the demon cut off it's laughter with a growl, suddenly growing serious and extending one clawed hand towards Yanagi. The purple hand began to glow and before Suichi could even compute this observation the light shot forward towards Yanagi. Yanagi tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough and her left arm was almost torn off. The blast ripped through the metal wall like it was made of tinfoil and Yanagi was blown outside through the hole that had been created.
The demon smirked, aiming his next blast for the floor. "Come my demon brethren. Let's 'paint the town red' tonight!" he bellowed, laughing as his attack burst through the floor. Smoke filled the room and when it cleared Suichi, Yanagi's mother, and the doctor watched in shock as demons began to poor from the storage area where they had been imprisoned below ground.
Suichi was beginning to think that now would be a very good time to leave. Half stumbling in his haste, he got up and started off towards the back of the building. As he rounded the corner he had a clear view of the hole the purple demon had created, as well as the smoking crater in the ground where Yanagi was lying, her arm bleeding badly.
"Yanagi-chan!" he cried, sprinting to where she lay. Moaning, she began to push herself up. "You shouldn't move!" he tried to stop her, but she got up anyway. Turning, she looked back at the building, her soulless eyes widening.
"Forget this," her emotionless voice came out in a fearful gasp. "That stuck up bitch doesn't have even half the money to keep me here for another second!" Suddenly she closed her eyes and was momentarily surrounded by a faint orange light. From her still body stepped the transparent form of a young boy with long purple hair and blue eyes. Suichi gasped and jumped back as the boy's body solidified and Yanagi fell limply to the ground.
"Gomen, Omosa, but you're on your own now," the boy said, turning back to Yanagi's prone form. Turning forward once more and completely ignoring a stunned Suichi watching from the side, the boy crouched as if to jump and then simply disappeared. Suichi just stood there, staring. 'Was that…Hiru?' he wondered weakly. He was now seriously considering taking a trip to the mental hospital. This was insane! What was going on?
Yanagi's groan brought him back to reality and he looked down to find her clutching at her arm in pain. He crouched down next to her, unsure of what to do. He cried out in surprise as the windowed side of the metal building was suddenly blown away and the whole building burst into flame. How does metal burn?
Suichi suddenly found himself paralyzed by fear. Pure, unadulterated terror turned his blood to ice as he stared at the flames melting the metal before him. If those…those…demons could do that to metal, what would they do to a human? He didn't want to find out. But there was nowhere to go. No trees to hide behind, no holes to hide in, and even if there were it probably wouldn't do any good. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he wasn't here, wishing he could just disappear.
The demons, satisfied with their destruction of the metal building, began to poor out of it. Some left the grounds, disappearing as the purple haired boy had, while others took on the task of destroying the house too. The purple skinned demon Yanagi had been fighting emerged from the building, obviously looking to finish what it had started with the girl.
It turned it's head, scanning the area. Suichi sank back. He was in plain sight. The demon turned towards the crater his attack had created – Suichi's heart stopped – and the demon moved on, still searching. Suichi blinked. How had they not been seen? The purple demon was getting frustrated now. He looked around again, sniffing the air. He looked straight ahead, right at Suichi, stopping the young boy's heart yet again, but the demon still didn't detect the boy's presence.
"What-?" Suichi whispered to himself. A soft though pained laugh caught his attention and he turned to stare at Yanagi. She had one eye closed against the pain in her arm, but the other was bright and shinning, full of life just like it had been before.
"Don't worry, he can't see us," Yanagi assured him, then giggled again as she continued, "or smell us, or hear us, or feel us, or anything us really."
"What?" Suichi asked. Yanagi's opened her other eye and regarded him seriously for a moment before her smile returned full force.
"You don't even realize it do you?" she giggled. When Suichi just stared blankly back she continued. "You've cloaked us. Completely cloaked us in fact. That's pretty impressive. Some people train all their lives and still can't do a complete cloaking."
"Cloaked us?" Suichi asked confused. He didn't think he'd done anything.
"You hid us basically," Yanagi explained. "A complete cloak just means that you've effectively shielded any sense that could give us away. You've blocked our appearance, scent, sounds, and ki and therefore he can't see, smell, hear, or sense us. We're safe. Unless he trips over us he won't find us."
Suichi wasn't sure if this was good or bad. He was glad he would be safe from the demons now, but on the flip side this was just one more confusing thing to add to the list.
"Yanagi-chan…what…what is going on?" he finally asked, not quite sure he even wanted to know.
"I thought I told you not to call me that," she scolded, but then sighed and looked back towards the building.
"My mother…" she started and then paused, wondering if she should start there, sighed again and continued. "My mother was always a stickler for perfection. Everything had to be done exactly right. When I was three, and she found out about my powers, she built that thing and bought demons on the black market, making me fight them. I had to fight one everyday, and I wasn't allowed out until I'd killed it. Eventually, by my fifth birthday I'd had enough and threatened to use my power against her if she didn't stop. The next day she hired Hiru."
"The boy with the purple hair," Suichi breathed, remembering the being that had left Yanagi's body not that long ago.
Yanagi nodded before continuing. "She paid him to control me. I was perfect with him, just like she wanted. Completely soulless, but perfect." Yanagi made a face and broke off, sirens were starting to sound in the distance. At the high pitched sound, most of the demons looked up and promptly disappeared. The house was now engulfed in flames ranging from a blood red to a rich magenta and every color in between. The purple skinned demon took one final look around and then disappeared as well.
"They're gone," Yanagi said gently after a moment, "you can lift the cloak now."
"I…I don't know how," Suichi admitted. What if he couldn't lift the cloak? What if he was stuck this way, invisible and silent and without a scent forever?
"You cloaked us because you wanted to disappear, right?" Yanagi asked, breaking into his fearful thoughts.
"Um…yeah," Suichi answered, remembering that was pretty much exactly what he had felt when he had cloaked them, however the hell he had done it in the first place.
"Then, all you have to do is want to appear again."
"Easier said than done," Suichi grumbled. Yanagi smiled, sitting up with a wince.
"Not necessarily. You want someone to find us, someone who will help us, right?"
"…yeah."
"You want the paramedics to find us and clean us up, right?"
He glanced at her bleeding arm. "Yeah."
"You want to be able to go home and have your parents see you, right?"
"Yeah, I do." Suichi shuttered as he felt something around him change. It felt almost like he had just left a pool of water.
"There," Yanagi smiled, "I told you wouldn't be hard."
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Whew. That was a long one. Way longer than I intended, actually, but I wanted to end the Yanagi thing soon because it's really just the beginning of something much bigger. So yeah, that's over and now the real fun starts. :)
Interview with a Demon
This is were I will be giving background character development info like I said I would. But since we don't know the characters very well yet, this addition will just have some translation notes and stuff.
Let's start with the title. Kanzen na Maru directly translates to 'complete circle' although Full Circle is the intended title. It symbolizes the continuation of the Yu Yu Hakusho adventures with a slightly different spin, which you would know if you read the prologue paragraph thingy in the first chappy.
Next is Suichi's school. Subarashisa means excellence, a rather promising name for a school. Everyone likes to boast that they're school is the best, so what better name than excellence?
The last note for this addition is the catch phrase thing at the end of the previews about all things coming full circle. If any of you have ever watched the original Japanese dubs of the yyh series you know that every preview ends with the phrase "The otherworld isn't watching for nothing." I wanted to do something like that and after writing the prologue paragraph I found that I really liked that sentence and decided to use it as the catch phrase.
Teaser for next episode
Hi everyone, it's me, Yanagi Omosa, but you can just call me Yanagi. Bet you thought the whole freeing me from my evil mother's control thing would be the end of it huh? Wrong! It was just the beginning. Now all the demons my mom kept stored for me to fight are running amok in the city and someone's gotta stop them! Hatanaka-kun is still kind of in denial but maybe his big brother suddenly showing up will make him change his mind. What's up with his brother anyway? He feels…strange. Oh well, find all the answers to these and more on the next episode of Yu Yu Hakusho: Kanzen na Maru! When all things come full circle, who will enter the patter and will they be strong enough to keep the balance?