And now for a real change in the story line. I hope that everyone enjoys it!
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. This is a fan-fiction using pre-existing characters in a pre-existing world that is not of my original creation.
Loan Me Life
By Zelia Theb
Thread III
"Koenma sir!" a bipedal and muscular blue beast (also known as an ogre) called out.
"What is it, Ogre?" a young teen responded. The light haired brunette gazed up from his desk of paperwork, sucking on a blue pacifier as he impatiently awaited the reply of his assistant George.
"Sir!" the ogre pleaded, taking what seemed to be a remote control into his hand, "Take a look at the screen!" He clicked on a large television screen in the marble adorned office, and a video of the events occurring with the Spirit Detective played.
"Ohh…" the amber-eyed teen groaned, "I knew this would happen! Now my only Spirit Detective is going to bite the dust at the hands of the menacing Hiei…"
"You don't have to be so dramatic, sir!" his assistant insisted, "In fact, since you're the Prince of Spirit World, you should be able to find another detective, right?"
"It's not that easy!" the toddler cried out, pounding his tiny fists onto the desk.
"Um, Koenma sir…" George interjected, "You're a baby again." From time to time, Koenma liked to change into a teenaged form, mostly because he was older than most of his servants (seven hundred or so, last George counted anyway), but he was still a toddler in Spirit World terms.
"Shut up!" the baby in blue garments pleaded, "Now get off your butt and send a message to Botan that she needs to fix this problem!"
"Of course, sir!"
"Ahh…" Koenma sighed, slipping back into his older and much more handsome form, "I can't possibly bargain with the ransom that Hiei set for Yusuke's life…"
Meanwhile, at a warehouse the next city over from the previous one, Yusuke sat on a stack of wooden crates, surrounded by yellow binds of energy. Hiei had kidnapped him, telling Botan that he would only exchange Yusuke in return for the other two artifacts (the orb she had snatched from Yusuke earlier in that day, and she collected the pieces of the mirror from the hospital rooftop after Yusuke was captured).
"You know," Hiei said to his captive, "This girl is no longer necessary to me." His deep red eyes gazed over at an unconscious human girl with light brown hair tied back into to pigtails. The demon cackled, waiting for a brash response from Yusuke.
Unfortunately for him, he would have to wait for a very long time for that. Yusuke Urameshi was fast asleep.
"Hn. What an idiot, sleeping at a time like this," Hiei muttered. Letting his guard down, he perched himself on a separate stack of crates, leaning his back into a corner of them and cradling the stolen sword (the third artifact). He observed the room around him; the girl was breathing as if she was sleeping, but Yusuke almost looked awake.
The detective… his appearance was truly as boyish as his own, the demon realized. He just wanted to reach out and touch his face, just to feel its texture. A wave of nausea came over Hiei then; why was Yusuke so content and vulnerable? Furthermore, why did he feel drawn to the boy in a way that he never could imagine he could be with a human?
Yusuke sneezed and woke up. Hiei was startled for a moment; he shouldn't have let his thoughts wander.
"What're you lookin' at?" Yusuke asked gruffly.
"Hn. I'm making sure that you don't attack, even though it's obvious that I'm faster than you are," Hiei retorted.
"Whatever, three-eyes, it's not like I can move anyway," the boy answered in an obviously sarcastic tone. He thought about it for a moment; it was awfully strange that the demon had three eyes; especially since the third one (planted right above the other two in the center of his forehead) looked nothing like the others. It was a creepy violet, glowing red in times of battle, and seemed to move on its own.
Hiei had revealed the eye earlier that night, announcing that Yusuke should 'fear the eye of Jagan' and then complained when the boy seemed unaffected by its psychic powers. Instead of continuously dodging Yusuke's punches with fast footwork, Hiei decided to use the full effects of the eye's power and captured him with the energy binds holding him now.
"That isn't real, is it?" the now curious boy asked.
"Hn. That's none of your business," Hiei scoffed.
"Fine, whatever," Yusuke remarked, annoyed, "I was just trying to make conversation." He inhaled and then directed the air upwards towards his hair, which was falling ever more-so into his face. The fact that he couldn't use his hands annoyed him; though it wasn't as if he couldn't get out of the binds easily. Over the course of the last three hours they actually seemed to get weaker.
Yusuke felt like playing the mission out a bit more, anyway. He wanted to see if Koenma actually had any balls, or if he would give in to Hiei's demands. He wasn't going to work for someone if they weren't tough.
He also knew that Hiei would not hurt him, even though he was certain of how he knew that. He figured that this would be a good chance to really observe demon tactics; not to mention that he actually had no where to go. His mother was probably still out getting drunk with their rent money. The thought of why he even bothered to come back to life entered his mind once more, and the morbid question was answered by a nagging feeling that soon he would find his purpose, if not already.
The wandering thoughts of the two were halted by the clamorous opening of a metal warehouse door. Hiei's Jagan eye radiated red; he sensed the presence of not just one demon, but four.
"It's time to go, Detective," Hiei said, leaping to his feet faster than Yusuke's naked eye could register. He unsheathed the sword, which had the ability to change living things into low-class brainless demon drones, and prepared to escape.
"What? Did Koenma send a few tough guys to come rescue me?" Yusuke caustically inquired. He focused only a moment and broke the bindings around him, much to Hiei's surprise, and added, "Fine then, I guess it's time for me to go then. I'll just be taking Keiko and…"
"No, you idiot!" Hiei scolded in a whisper, "Those aren't Koenma's lackeys; they aren't even his father's. That's demon energy you sense."
"Ahh…so they're stronger than you," Yusuke mused, "Well then…" He stuttered his last word when Hiei grabbed his wrist with his free hand.
"Shut up and move," the wary demon demanded. He jumped off of the crates with Yusuke stumbling in tow, and ran toward and alternate exit; a broken window.
"Let me go!" Yusuke urged, "We have to go back and get Keiko!"
"It's too late," Hiei informed him, "We'll die." The concise statement said all that it needed to. Spirit World could probably take care of a casualty, Yusuke figured. On top of that, the only other consoling thought was that the demons were indeed looking for Hiei or himself, and would ignore Keiko completely.
"Let me go, Hiei!" Yusuke pleaded again.
"Hn. Stupid fool," Hiei sneered, "Do you really think that you'd be able to keep up with me otherwise?" Yusuke made no move to protest. Hiei wasn't gripping him too hard, only enough to make sure that he kept up with him.
The two of them moved into a conveniently placed forest, dense with trees and other plant foliage. The sun would rise in a few hours, but the trees would still allow them to blend in. Hiei felt most comfortable in areas such as this, and in his head he schemed his next course of action; a surprise attack.
"That's one big ass tree," Yusuke pointed out, nodding ahead of them and still stumbling in an attempt to keep up with Hiei. His description was right; the tree was enormous but was partnered with several others just like it. The roots formed a nice little niche in the ground, one which the two could hide in and wait. Hiei's Jagan eye was able to mask his own energy; he just hoped that the demon would confuse the energy of Yusuke with the scent of Keiko.
"In here," Hiei directed, stashing both of them into the niche. It was roomier than originally thought, but the two of them still had only inches between their bodies. A peculiar tension invaded the minimal air of the hiding spot; caused by both the grave situation and the fact that Hiei neglected to let go of the boy's wrist.
"Did we really run that fast?" the detective whispered. It seemed as if five minutes had passed since they went into hiding, and the demons had not shown themselves just yet.
"Yes, but we may have just lost them."
"Nah, I don't think so…" Yusuke stated. Brushing shoulders with Hiei, he pointed in the distance at a humanoid demon with maroon skin and horns extending every which way from his head. Blue silk pants seemed to be the only covering it felt like wearing.
"I can smell you…" the deep and layered voice of the demon echoed, "…Human meat." The last statement brought Yusuke's worry back to Keiko. Had they eaten her, and that's why they couldn't catch up? The mere trace of feeling that Yusuke had left a fellow human being behind when he could have saved them made him sick to his stomach.
Yet his emotions empowered him. Whispering softly, he said, "I'll handle him, you just wait here for the others." The demon's grip on him eased to nothing, and Yusuke appeared in front of his challenger.
"And I can smell you, and unfortunately for my nose, you smell like ass," Yusuke remarked.
"Where has the fire demon Hiei absconded to?"
"Whaddya mean?" Yusuke answered, "Absconded? You've got it all wrong, whatever your name is…"
"I am Lord Kinpo, meat," the demon replied, "Now tell me where the fire demon has gone!"
A warm wind blew through the forest ominously, rattling the leaves and calming Hiei, who was ready to attack when Lord Kinpo was truly distracted.
"I killed him," the boy informed the enormous monster. The expression on Kinpo's face turned from angry to angry and bewildered; "Oh, didn't you know?" Yusuke paused and then responded to his own rhetoric, "I'm the Spirit Detective, and my job is to take out worthless thugs like you."
"Koenma's Spirit Detective, hmm?" Kinpo said with a smile, "I suppose you have made my job far easier, and killing you would be an extra boost to my reputation…But…"
"But? Having second thoughts? Are you scared of lil' ole me?" Yusuke taunted, a mischievous grin crossing his lips.
"Where is the third Artifact of Darkness? If you killed Hiei, then surely you should possess it!" The beast raised his fist at his own deduction.
"That crappy old thing? What use do I have for that dull old blade?" Yusuke lied, "It's really a piece of garbage, but all of you demon idiots seem to think that it has some sort of mystic power."
At that moment, Lord Kinpo charged to attack the detective. In that same instant, Hiei also escaped from hiding…
To Be Continued…
Author's Note
Definitely a big change up, huh? A chapter full of action is coming next! I have a contest for my readers, and a bunch of other goodies too! Just click my bio, and head to my livejournal for more information! Kiriban fanart/fanfiction, you say? You just might be right! So like I said, click the bio - because we can't use the review system as an interactive forum.
As a few of you have already noticed, there were some really minor changes made to the story line aside from the bigger ones. So to answer a question - yes, the mirror was supposed to break, because as we can see here, there was no big battle in the warehouse between Hiei and Yusuke!
And don't forget to Review Regularly!
Until next time…
-Zelia
