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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 IV
Hiei was awaiting punishment, along with the demon Kurama. The two of them had been apprehended two months ago and now had to see Koenma, the prince of the Spirit World. They were uncertain, of course, as to what Koenma's appearance would be, but from what they knew about his father, they weren't expecting someone that they could escape from. Their crimes were unspeakable, and surely Koenma would shut them up, in order to keep the thieving of the Artifacts a secret from the King.
And even though judgement was pending, Hiei could not erase the memories of Kinpo's demons from his mind. He had defeated an even uglier beast; a beast which had been lurking in the trees and had made a move to kill Yusuke when Kinpo did. That was when the others came out, and Hiei promptly defeated them, using the powers of his stolen sword to change one of them into a brainless zombie, and turning it against the other. Once the rest of Kinpo's group had been laid to rest, Hiei had returned to Lord Kinpo himself, only to stand in awe at the fight between the demon and the detective.
The raw Spirit Energy of Yusuke enveloped him and the surrounding forest. He felt warmth and passion from the aura, along with a sense of survival and a need to protect. His opponent had no chance to even revel in the glory of the attack, which Hiei learned was called Spirit Gun. A soft green glow tore through the demon, and although the speed of it was no where near Hiei's, it was certainly just as powerful.
Respect for the boy's power entered Hiei. A fight between them would most certainly be even, and be decided by the choices the two would make during it. However, one question lurked there; did Yusuke choose not to fight Hiei? There was no doubt in his mind now that perhaps Hiei would have been defeated, mostly due to the fact that he greatly underestimated his power. He wondered if he would have had to transform with the power of the Jagan Eye in order to match it. The curiosity poured into him; it excited him. The demon wanted to see Yusuke again; though such a chance would never occur in jail.
Much to the surprise of himself and Kurama, Koenma was a young toddler, although his form did not mean anything. When the two of them had been called into the office, they were offered the most unusual sort of deal.
"The Spirit Detective is strong, but not strong enough," Koenma began, his hands politely folded on his desk, "Take a look here." His assistant George then revealed a large monitor to them, and began playing footage of a recent competition; a contest in which the well-known psychic Genkai was to choose an apprentice from. Yusuke had inadvertently met up with his friend Kuwabara, and the two of them had made it to the finals of the competition, defeating the infamous demon Rando in the process. Kuwabara was seriously injured, and Genkai had chosen to train Yusuke; something that he had been doing for the past four weeks.
"Hn," Hiei snorted out of line, "Looks strong enough to me." Kurama gave him a commanding gaze, letting Hiei know that Kurama's sentence could be affected if he rebelled any further.
"Kurama," Koenma continued, "You'll be happy to know that Shuichi's mother was informed that he had to go away on an academic trip to study for a while." Emerald eyes closed in comfort, and then opened again.
"You will be able to go home again, as we can see that your intentions were not to harm humans in any way, however…" Koenma turned his gaze to Hiei, "Hiei you'll be part of that 'however' as well. I'll allow both of you to remain in Yusuke's city on probation, but only if you assist Yusuke with his missions when needed." The short prince turned back to Kurama and informed him, "Kurama, your main job would be to keep Hiei in line. His original sentence was life in prison, but if he's good and stays within the city lines, helping Yusuke of course in between, his sentence may only be a few humans years, or less."
"Tch," Hiei scoffed, "I don't need a babysitter nearly as much as yo…" Kurama's hand swiftly covered Hiei's mouth, preventing the words from exiting. He smiled and nodded in agreement with the prince.
As Koenma began to show the two their first case, Yusuke was being briefed by Botan back in the Human World.
"Hmm…" Yusuke mused. He was in a dark storage room, gazing into a gaping hole to Demon World that Botan had revealed under a floorboard. The tall Kazuma Kuwabara was also with them, because Botan had found both of them, fresh from beating a few thugs from another school.
"Well, are you going to jump in?" Botan inquired, violet eyes glaring at the detective.
"I'll go!" Kuwabara cried out, pushing through Yusuke, "Anything for a pretty gal like yourself! Geronimo!" It was then that the boy jumped into the unknown, much to the surprise of everyone, including Koenma back in Spirit World.
"Damn him! He's gonna get killed!" Yusuke complained, "Ah well, I guess I'll go make sure that he's okay. Plus it gets me outta talking to that Keiko girl tonight. She keeps calling my house all the time like she likes me or somethin'!" With that statement, Yusuke entered as well, leaving Botan to deal with the other issues this new case had left her with on Earth.
Four Saint Beasts managed to leak dangerous demonic insects through a rift between the Human and Demon worlds, and were using the insects to infect the weak minds of people and turn them into crazed zombies. Spirit World wasn't certain as to how they were able to control the insects, but what they did know was that the beasts had to be stopped. They informed Koenma that the insect invasion would not stop unless they were allowed passage out of the prison that they were in, a labyrinth known as Maze Castle located in the Demon World.
The two boys had already gotten themselves into a sticky situation. Humanoid beings covered in moss were springing up from the forest colored blades of grass and attacking them. They were relatively easy to beat, but the quantity of them was draining their stamina reserved for future encounters. At precisely the same time that Yusuke found himself in the stranglehold of four creatures, Hiei and Kurama fell from the sky.
"Rose Whip!" shouted Kurama. A rose which had mysteriously appeared in hand metamorphosed into a long whip covered in razor-sharp rose thorns. With one flick of his wrist, he eliminated a handful of the beings. Hiei, on the other hand, was careful not to impale Yusuke and had freed him from the grip of the monsters with his sword.
The fighting continued for only two more minutes, and when all was silent and certain, deep inhalations from the boys could be heard. Kurama made sure to explain the probation and introduce himself and Hiei to Kuwabara, quickly followed by the start of a quarrel between the tallest and the shortest.
"Hn, from what I've seen, this lump could barely cut a loaf of bread with that sword of his," Hiei insulted.
"Hey shrimpy!" Kuwabara retorted, "I could crush you with my pinky!" As Kuwabara went to hit Hiei, not only did Hiei movie to avoid the attack, but Yusuke stepped in front of where Hiei should have been and cussed at his friend to stop.
When the fighting had settled, the four trekked onward toward a very tall and very menacing establishment, which was no doubt Maze Castle. Earlier, Yusuke had been annoyed by the fact that he had no time to rest between tasks lately (and at the fact that Kuwabara's idiocy had forced him into this particular case), but now…now he felt like he had to perform at his best. He had to show off, to let everyone know that he was strong, and most of all, worthy of his attention. He found himself staring at the untamed strands of midnight that walked only a pace or two ahead of him, and his mouth began to open without him even realizing that he was about to speak.
"Hiei!" he exclaimed, quickening his step so that he was walking alongside the fire demon's right side, "Think we can take these guys?"
"Easily, Detective," Hiei answered. Kurama's eyes darted over to them briefly, and then let his own pace slow to pass time and strike up human conversation with Kuwabara.
"I see you got a different katana," Yusuke noted, observing the long steel sword sheathed under Hiei's black cloak.
"Hn. They wouldn't exactly allow me to keep an Artifact of Darkness," Hiei replied curtly. Crimson shifted right, and also brushed across Hiei's face for a moment. His sight stared ahead once more, and he asked, "If you had a power like that, why did you not bother to escape from me." He figured that it would seem less curious if he worded it like an outer thought versus a question.
"To be honest, man…" Yusuke exhaled, "There wasn't much to escape to."
"So you waited for me to kill you? That's pathetic."
"No, dying is cowardly!" Yusuke spat back, hurt by the truth of the insinuation, "It's just that I wanted to see if Koenma had enough balls to not give in to your demands."
"I suppose that's fair, though what would you have done if he had? Would you have continued working for him, pursuing whatever justice the Spirit World deems is fair?" Yusuke could not answer, he was stumped.
"Life is not fair, in any of the three worlds." Hiei's words spilled out of him, revealing more about his own life than he would have cared to if he had done so consciously.
Yusuke sighed, "I just wanna survive until…"
"You find something to justify survival," Hiei finished.
"Hey!" a gruff voice called from a few feet back, "What're you two talking about!" Kuwabara and Kurama ran up to them, halting their conversation about their schools. Kuwabara remarked, "We're here! Let's bust this place up!"
The four gazed up at the enormous towers that appeared to be gathering storm clouds. With an exhalation of fear, Yusuke trudged in ahead, with the other following, and ready to fight anything that awaited them on the other side of the door.
Author's Note
I have no consistency with my chapter lengths in this story.
I've also undertaken another project at fictionpress, which I'm rather enjoying, along with trying to choose one of my fan-fictions to enter in a convention fan-fic contest (What's your favorite? E-mail me!).
My deviantART Valentine's Day kick is over, so if you haven't; go ahead and check out a Kurama picture I put up there. Though when I have the time, I might even try and throw a Hiei one in there…
Don't forget about my Kiriban contest at my LiveJournal! And review, review, review!
-Zelia
