Ok and i'm back in action!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO.
Ok, enough for now. By the way...anyone have a problem with how I spell Keiko? I spell it the way I saw it on several websites.
Summary of last chap-Botan has told Yusuke that he must investigate a youkai disturbance in the area. Meanwhile, Hiei (debating with himself whether or not he likes Neko) has left a note for Neko to find. Most miraculously he has asked her to accompany him somewhere later on in the week.
Chapter 4-Danger Awaits us All
Yusuke grumbled irritably as he walked down the hall of his school. One of the rare days he decided to go, everyone just had to antagonize him. One of the new kids had even tried to pick a fight with him. He had left him moments ago in a twitching mess on the floor. Needless to say, he wouldn't be bothering him anymore. He felt a tug on his foot and looked down to discover that someone's gum had hitched a ride on his shoe. As if the day couldn't get any worse. Several of the students edged away listening to Yusuke's streak of curse words.
He ran down a flight of stairs and stopped suddenly, nearly causing skid marks on the floor. He had nearly run into a crowd of students who were looking astonished at something. Something interesting had caught all of their attention. Yusuke elbowed his way through them and got a good look. He did a double take seeing a mangle of students lying on the floor. Most of them appeared to be unconscious and those who weren't were moaning in pain. One kid even looked like he might have a broken arm. He might have laughed at this, but for once used his brain remembering what Botan said about youkai activity. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, wondering if that's what had been able to hurt so many students. That feeling quickly faded when he spotted none other then Kuwabara standing a few feet away from the mess.
That struck him as odd, even Kuwabara didn't pick that many fights. That was about the time that he noticed his peer was nursing black blue bruises of his own. A couple of his friends were crowded around looking concerned. "I don't think you should pick anymore fights with her. She just took out all those guys," he waved a hand at the students on the floor. "I don't think she thought it was funny when you called her creepy," another said. Yusuke looked around at the pile up in front of him, a girl did this? For a moment he thought it could have been Keiko, but dismissed the idea having just seen her at the opposite end of the school.
Kuwabara looked quite disoriented and had a far off look in his eyes. He looked like he had just come out of a wrestling match with his sister. It took him several moments to recover. "I think you guys are right, I'll never go near her again. I think she hits harder than Urameshi."
If Yusuke hadn't already been in a bad mood, he may have spared the teenager another lump on the head. Instead he brought a hand down on Kuwabara's head. The boy went down and a half a smile appeared on his face. "What do you know. I feel better." He laughed a little bit as Kuwabara sat back up dizzy. "Remember, no one hits harder than me!" Suddenly his eyes widened in shock as an object hammered the back of his head shooting pain through his body. He fell clutching the spot that had been hit. It burned for a moment, well actually several moments. Slowly, very slowly the pain started to subside. He rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. The image was hazy for a few seconds. The scenery spun for a minute.
Slowly objects came back into focus. He was sure that one of them was a person from the colors. Probably the one that hit him gloating over the victory. Someone was standing over him, someone who was a girl. Green eyes stared upon him watching his reaction with slight interest. Realization dawned on him. He knew this person. It was Neko.
She offered a hand to him. He hesitated and looked up at her. He thought for a moment he saw a look of emotional pain in her eyes, it quickly vanished making Yusuke believed it was an after effect of the punch. Either that or she really needed some mental help. She looked down at him as well and gave a small smile. "Sorry bout that, natural reaction." Yusuke took her hand, seeing that the look in her eyes was that of sincere apology. Besides, he didn't want to sit on the floor all day. He normally would have been angry, but he was instead dazed.
He looked at the boys behind him, and then back to Neko. "You did that?" She nodded with half a smile. He gingerly touched the back of his head; it was still sensitive to the touch. He resisted flinching; no wonder why those guys were in pain. She had a lot of force in her blows. Youkai had only hit him that hard before. Strong ones. An idea struck him. Could she be the youkai Botan was talking about? With her dark appearance and abnormal strength she could get away with it. He didn't want to believe that though, she seemed like a decent human being. She was also a friend of Keiko's; but then again that would explain the weird sense Kuwabara got off of her. He contemplated over it for a little while. "Any reasons as to why," he asked to end the silence.
"Those jerks seemed to think I was a piece of meat," she said pointing in the direction of the students who were now rousing. It was no surprise that they were all boys. What was the problem with guys nowadays, always after every girl they see? Some of them chanced a nervous look in Neko's direction. Most of them looked like they had just been one of the World Wars. All of them stood with difficulty and took off in the other direction.
Neko nodded a head over in Kuwabara's direction, "He called me creepy and evil looking. I was already ticked off so I hit him a couple of times too." Yusuke nodded unsure on how to reply to that. Probably not a good idea to get on her bad side. Though at the moment he wasn't even sure she had a good side. It was apparent then that she could hold her own. As a fighter he wouldn't mind fighting her sometime. A groan was heard to the left of them, moving their attention elsewhere.
Kuwabara remembering where he was started talking, "Urameshi that hurt you know! I should attack you right now..." He clenched his fist in a menacing way, but it didn't bring much fear. "That was a cheap shot and I..."
The bell interrupted his train of thought. The echo of it rang harshly through the now silent hall. Several of the students still in the hall took off towards their classrooms, Kuwabara among them. Yusuke however, stayed where he was having decided he wanted to go home. Neko gave him a glance reading him correctly. "The teachers won't be too happy if you take off." Yusuke shrugged. If she had any qualms about it, she didn't voice them. "See you later then," She turned around and walked slowly in the direction of her first class.
The sun hung dominantly in the sky, fighting to be seen through the clouds. It's efforts in vain as the white cotton moved in to block it from sight. The shadows on the ground changed with the lighting. Buildings towered overhead making it even dimmer in that particular area. Not that it mattered; the lights from the shops were enough to light anything that tried to hide from viewers.
Only one building was dark, having not been open for several years. Yusuke happened to be in that building, Botan accompanying him. After days of nagging he had finally agreed to investigate the youkai activity to get her to shut up.
She frowned at the dark and dingy facade. Dust motes floated lazily in the air making her sneeze. The sound echoed through the empty warehouse and reverberated back to her. The spirited detective gave a half hearted bless you more out of habit. "What are we looking for again?"
Botan looked at him, dismayed that he had already forgot. "Anything out of place. Youkai or not." She had drug him there over fifteen minutes ago telling him that this is where they had last spotted the unidentified youkai. "It's a good possibility this is where he was hiding out. This is the only place he's been spotted." Yusuke somehow doubted that this place could have been inhabited. There was a thin layer of dust on everything; it hadn't been disturbed recently. That implied that no one had been here in a good while.
Large wooden crates were lined against the wall. Might as well take a look, he told himself. Wouldn't hurt to do so. He started at the nearest one; he blew the dust away causing more of it to hang in the air. There was no label on it. Somehow that didn't surprise him. He placed his fingers under the corners of the lid and pulled. The wood creaked loudly in protest, however it gave away when he applied more pressure. Slowly he pulled it off and threw it to the cement floor. The clatter made Botan jump in surprise, she kept herself from shrieking though. Probably a good idea, it would be hard to answer what a boy and a girl were doing in a warehouse alone. Not that they were doing anything, but it wouldn't look that way to unwanted spectators.
It took a few seconds for the dust to settle before Yusuke could get a good look at the interior of the crate. The smell coming from it reminded him of something he couldn't place, kind of musty. All that he found was a bloody sword wrapped up in some equally stained clothes. The blood was old; it was now brownish in color. That sight unnerved him a little, he had more than likely come across evidence to a murder. He started to doubt his own judgement that the place had been untouched. It wasn't old enough to start decaying yet.
Botan looked over his shoulder in order to get a look. "I don't think I like the looks of that. Normally humans don't carry that kind of weapon. It's normally the youkai that do." Yusuke didn't need to be reminded of that. These years swords were used more of a decoration or sport. They were hardly ever used as a tool of killing. "Look at the clothes. You think it's the youkai's blood or someone else's?" Yusuke looked at her, he didn't think Botan would be the sort to be interested in this stuff. He shrugged and held the cloths a good length away from his body. They tumbled down as it unfolded. He flipped it over to look it over.
"I don't think it's his. There aren't any holes where he'd have been hit. Unless he had a head injury I'm guessing it's someone's other than his." She nodded noticing that Yusuke was showing intelligence in his answer. He did have his rare moments when he used brain before fists. She followed him over to the next crate.
Yusuke noticed that this one had less dust than any of the others. It must have been pretty recently packed then. The lid slid off much more easily this time, it had also been packed in a hurry. A putrid smell escaped from this one causing Yusuke to cough and gag. He waved his arm in front of his face several times trying to fan away the odor. He thought the smell had a tinge of familiarity to it. This feeling gave him a cold pit in the bottom of his stomach. He didn't want to look in the crate, but knew he had to anyway. He just hoped he didn't lose his lunch over this.
He walked uneasily to the crate and slowly peered over the side. He jumped back, voice caught in his throat. He drew in several deep breaths, bending down placing his weight on his knees. He was fighting the urge to vomit, having a difficult time with it. He stared at the floor, trying to take the image out of his mind. He wondered if he kept staring like this if he would actually bore holes into the cement.
Botan looked him concerned. "Yusuke?" He lifted a hand and waved it at her. She knew that meant to give him space, so she did. It scared her that whatever was in the crate had caused this type of reaction from Yusuke of all people. Curiosity won over though, and she went to get a look her self. She held her hand over her nose as she picked her way over. Cautiously she looked in to the crate. She took several steps back, a slight feeling of nausea coming over her. "Oh my..." She looked back to Yusuke with a look of terror in her eyes. He also thought he spotted recognition mixed in as well.
He slowly stood back up, some of the sickness leaving him. Enough for him to gain back the ability to speak. "Was that him?" Him being the body they had found. It had been horribly disfigured and awkwardly stuffed into the crate. His arms were bent hellishly twisted around one of his legs. His head had been completely turned around with a look of pure anguish and torment in his wide eyes. One of his legs had been bent around his neck, creating a mortifying imitation of a necklace. A dried brownish substance stained his clothes and was caked on his face. It was enough to scare the hell out of anyone.
It took several moments for Botan to recover. Minutes later she shook her head. "No, that was a human. I'd be willing to bet that the youkai was the cause of it though." She still looked slightly queasy but at least she could talk. "I remember taking him to spirit world. He kept rambling about being stuffed into a crate. I thought he was delirious, a lot of people are when they die. I dismissed his ranting and told him not to worry about it. It's up to the authorities to sort everything out here on Earth. I never thought..." She looked down at the floor the look of fright coming back into focus on her face. She looked back up for a moment. "I didn't think that...I had no idea he was the victim of the youkai. That poor man." Yusuke would have comforted her, but he was unsure how and he was still in stages of shock himself.
Botan suddenly gasped. Yusuke nearly jumped and looked at her. "I nearly forgot. We were able to trace the youkai some places when he used his energy. That's how we found him here, we lost track of him shortly after though. He was traced days later to a place in town. It was several days after his appearance there that we could trace him though. Things run too slow sometimes." She paused for a moment and drew a deep breath. "Yusuke, it was at the restaurant that blew up a couple days ago." Yusuke shot her a look.
"Are you saying that Hiei is the one who did this? I've seen some of the stuff that he can do, but this just isn't his style. And why would he risk being taken back to spirit world?" Botan shook her head informing Yusuke that he had made a false assumption.
"No, we tracked his energy as well. Yusuke if it had been him we would have known. We specifically picked up two energy traces. I was able to keep them from finding out it was Hiei. That took quite a bit of work though. You owe me for helping get him out of trouble. I had to tell Koenma though, he wasn't too happy about that. Luckily he's keeping it from his father." She stopped again letting Yusuke take in everything. He'd have to tell Hiei to be more careful in the future, he had no idea they could track youkai by their energy.
"Yusuke, I think you should talk to Hiei and find out exactly what happened." Yusuke looked at her for a moment; it wasn't hard for him to see that she was holding something back.
"And?" The question had been more of a command.
"Well, a couple other youkai have appeared in the area. We think they may be linked somehow. Maybe they're all part of a group or something." She sighed; she had something else to tell him. "The thing is, they all seem to be close to Kurama's house. Maybe they're after Hiei, if that's the case then he needs to be warned." Yusuke gave a nod of understanding.
"I'll do that as soon as he comes back. He went off to do something tonight. Not sure what though. Maybe he sensed the other youkai, he does have the..." He stopped for a minute. A certain thought bothered him. "I thought youkai couldn't get to the living world. Isn't there a barrier or something?"
Botan nodded. "Every few years or so some youkai are able to make it past the barrier. It troubles me that there are this many though. We've never had this many come from the other side before." Yusuke glanced at her.
"How many? Like five?"
"Twenty," she said quietly. Twenty. That was a lot. That many could cause a lot of destruction and give trouble to Hiei. If that's who they were after, there was a chance they were waiting for Kurama to come back. He would be coming back in three days; the last thing he needed was a welcoming party greeting him with hostility.
Yusuke looked back to the crate. Poor guy, he had probably just stumbled upon the youkai's hiding place. Then killed to keep him quiet. He pointed in its direction, "What should we do about him. He doesn't deserve to just stay there." Botan nodded in agreement.
"We'll give an anonymous call to the police. You better wipe off everything you touched. Wouldn't do any good for you to get locked up for a crime you didn't commit." Yusuke gave a short nod and looked around for a cloth that would do to wipe away fingerprints.
Neko caught the clock's time out of the corner of her eye. 5:50. She still had 10 minutes. A shrill phone ring cut through the tranquility, she glanced at the caller I.D. It wasn't someone she knew so she ignored it. The answering machine would pick it up. She pulled a long sleeved shirt over her head and heard the muffled voice of a woman on the machine.
"Hello, this is Miss Kaji from Tsuki's school. I'm calling for her parents. I'd like to talk about a fight she's been in recently..." The machine cut her off, her thirty seconds of recording time was up. Neko ignored this and opened up a drawer with a pile of clothes shoved hastily into it. She pulled out a pair of slacks and flipped them once to free them of any dust. She started pulling them on as the phone started ringing again.
This time it was a man's voice that carried through the house to her ears. "Hello this is Tsuki's principal. I'm trying to contact her parents. This is my fifth attempt to do so..." His time was cut short too.
Neko glanced over at the clock that sat on a desk next to her bed. 5:54. 6 minutes. She fumbled around in a closet and pulled out a pair of boots and quickly slipped them on and tied the laces. She quickly pulled some of her hair into a loose partial ponytail; she left most of it down. She walked over to her desk and grabbed the key that she had thrown there earlier. She gave one last look at the clock before she ran down the stairs. 5:58. She reached her door, opened it and locked it before shutting it.
She walked down the steps that led to her porch and was startled when a figure jumped off of her roof to join her. She smiled slightly at the sight of Hiei. She was hoping he'd show and that it hadn't been some sort of joke. She noticed he wore the same thing he had on their last encounter. He also had found a replacement bandana.
He had been looking at her as well; there was nothing else to look at anyway. "I take it you like that color," he said indicating her choice of black again.
She gave half a smile, "Everything I own is in this color. It just happens to be my favorite color." Hiei smirked. As long as she didn't go to wearing pink he'd be fine with her. For some reason pink made him want to attack things. He noticed she was not limping, she healed quickly. He was curious about how her arm was, but decided not to ask. He didn't want to make it look like he cared.
"I'm taking you to the boardwalk tonight." She looked at him with a puzzled look. Her eyes turned a slightly lighter shade. He remembered they had darkened the last time he saw her. He would have to memorize what each shade meant.
"Isn't that miles away?" He smirked again; she was a smart girl. He doubted that Yusuke or Kuwabara would have caught on to that as quickly as she had.
"I have my own means of transportation that will get us there quick enough." He relished in the look of utter confusion and curiosity on her face. He took her by the arm; "I'll show you." To hell with who saw him, they'd never figure it out anyway.
Everything became a blur around them and the scenery seemed to melt away. Neko felt the wind whipping around her; similar to when she had been tossed into the air, but more pleasant. Blurs of colors and outlines ran together and she watched in awe at it. She felt a pull on her arm, but that was only because Hiei had a hold of her. This might have scared her had she not witnessed what she did during their last meeting. In fact she was more fascinated more than anything else. She clung to his arm out of instinct rather than fear; she was enjoying every minute of this. Hiei noticed that she was and was glad she hadn't been scared out of her wits. That would have just annoyed him. A scared crying girl was something he was not fond of handling.
Abruptly he stopped, only feet away from their destination. He braced Neko to keep her from falling. He let go of her when he was sure that she could stand on her own. She looked up at him with a smile. A genuine smile. He had never seen her like this before; it was something he had not expected. Her eyes had taken on a bright green and had lost the sadness he had seen in them.
"That was amazing. Maybe I should be scared because of what I've seen you do, but for some reason I'm not." Hiei looked at her unsure what to say. He was still surprised at her smile. He was unsure at why it had gotten to him. He dismissed the thought and glanced at her.
"I suppose it wouldn't do for you to be scared of me. I don't think I'd want to hear any screaming or crying." She looked down at the ground, a slight red tingeing her face. It quickly faded when she looked back up.
She glanced around and saw why Hiei had chose this place. There was a sword display going on. Hundreds of people were milling around the dozens of plywood displays that had been set up. Most of them had a set theme, from medieval to those used in Kendo. A couple of them had a variety of swords set up in no particular order. It was a pretty impressive sight. Set off in a far corner was the displays that sold swords. One man was trying to barter with one of the merchants, but to no avail.
Neko followed Hiei through the crowd wordlessly. She looked around seeing quite a few weapons she wouldn't mind owning. She intended to make a hobby of collecting them. Hiei glanced at her seeing that she was interested in the display. Most girls wouldn't have been even remotely interested. He continued walking with her following and stopped at one of the displays that caught his eye.
The man who owned it gave him a wary look. His face was riddled with wrinkles appropriate for his age. Hiei locked eyes with him for a moment, the old man's were full of long years of learning and wisdom. He stood with a little difficulty and inspected Hiei carefully. Hiei's eyes flicked to the sign above the display. Spiritual Swords. He noticed that there were only five. Three of them were wooden, probably purified in a stream. One of them was a black bladed Katana; the last was a plain sword that the old man had more than likely blessed. His attention went back to the old man. He had come to within two feet of him.
"What is someone like you doing in the living world," he kept his voice hushed so that Neko didn't overhear. Hiei wasn't surprised at the man's question. Every once in a while one of the humans figured out what he was. Not very often though, not very many were that spiritually aware. He shrugged at the question.
"I have permission," he said truthfully. The man's eyes held suspicion in them. He looked over to Neko, who knowing better was looking off in the other direction.
"You going to hurt her?" Hiei looked at him with an incredulous look.
"I have no such intentions, is it that hard to believe?" He was becoming irritated and it showed. He didn't really care. Let the old man think what he wanted, as long as he didn't start anything. "She's come of her own free will, you can see that."
The man's eyes eased a bit and his posture relaxed. "Does that mean you two are..." He trailed off at the end, but Hiei didn't need to hear the last word. He knew what it was from the look in his eyes. Lovers. He shook his head letting an annoyed glance show. Notions quickly faded from the man's eyes. "Sorry then." His eyes twitched toward his display. "Anything you interested in?"
Hiei had been about to answer when he felt an abrupt trace of energy. He heard a surprised cry from Neko's direction. He turned quickly, but it had already been too late. Where she had been standing was a large hole in the boardwalk. His eyes narrowed, that had been no accident.
Neko had been trying not to listen to the conversation, but despite her efforts she had caught part of it. "Does that mean that you two are..." She felt herself blush, glad that her back was to the both of them. It wasn't too hard to guess what he had been talking about. She looked out at the water trying to focus on someone else. It was calm and peaceful. For now anyway, like her eyes it could turn harsh and cruel. She didn't like how quiet it was though; she couldn't even hear the water lapping at the shore. She had a bad feeling about it.
As if someone had been reading her thoughts, the wood beneath her feet suddenly gave away. A thought of panic screamed out at her telling her to grab at something. Her hands grabbed wildly for a hold of the wood that shouldn't have collapsed, but she couldn't find purchase.
She tried to scream out when a cold chill crawled up her skin. Reason would normally tell her it was just the water and that she could swim, but her mind was too rattled to even think about it. She tried to scream, but instead got a mouthful of an icy salt filled liquid. Breathe! You have to breathe! I can't, no air. Find it! There is none. Yes there is! Find it, find the air! Her mind was too busy screaming at her to notice the dark presence that was overcoming her. Her body started to numb and a blanket of darkness covered her.
Wake up! You have to wake up! Can't, tired. You have to open your eyes! Cold. Tired. I can't feel my body. OPEN YOUR EYES! Instinct kicked in and Neko's eyes snapped open. They were immediately flushed with an arctic burst of more salt water. That caused them to burn to no end.
That didn't bother as much as the fact that she couldn't see. She frantically fought to hear anything, only a roaring in her ears. No light, and the awful sound of a train in her head. She felt as if she was floating, but she couldn't move. Her body screamed at her with pain. The freezing temperatures had numbed her of all but pain.
Her mind reminded her she had no oxygen, she had to move. She tried to move her arms and legs again, only to have them resist and send a burning sensation through her whole body. She tried to scream again and got another gulp of the repulsive liquid. She tried to fight the pain and claw her way to the surface. She might have succeeded if at that moment something didn't grab her leg. She kicked hysterically at it, trying to rid herself of it. It's grip tightened and sent more pain to Neko's brain. Panic over took her as it pulled her deeper. The pressure started to push in on her frail human body. It was starting to make her head hurt, she tried to clutch at it to subside some of the pain, but her arms felt too heavy. The pressure became too much and she let her eyes close again.
Ok...so how was it? I put a lot more action into this chapter than any other one I've done..
Ok...so now who are these demons, what do they want with our heroes, and is Neko going to die? All shall be revealed in the next chapters if you review. So till then.
Power Surge
