I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of it's characters. I only own Mikai, Sotto, and Kith.
000000000 Shows a flashback and when you see it again, the flashback has ended. Enjoy!
"The next round is about to start Yusuke-sama," Hokushin said as Yusuke walked up next to him and stood there with his arms crossed.
"It's about time," Yusuke said with a smile as he watched those around him getting ready to fight. He looked around, looking for his old teammates.
"Sir, do you know where Mikai is? I wanted to see her fight," Hokushin asked as he watched his master look around.
"I don't know." Yusuke sighed. "How do you know Mikai anyway?"
"Oh she came to see Raizen-sama before you came here," Hokushin said as he began to think about everything. "Raizen-sama told me that he asked her to come."
"What did they talk about?" Yusuke asked.
He wanted to know why Raizen and Mikai seemed to have something, something that Yusuke didn't understand. Mikai had always come to see him because she had to do something with Raizen. To say good-bye to him, to talk to him, anything and everything was about Raizen, never him.
Hokushin began to think back, and began to tell the new king about what he had witnessed in those days before Yusuke came into the Makai.
00000000
Hokushin and Raizen were both standing in front of the Great King Yemma, who had George by his side, asking for the return of Raizen's grandson of many years. Raizen wanted Yusuke back in to the Makai for reasons unknown to Hokushin, but he did notice that something was going to happen in the war over the Makai, for that day he had bumped into Mukuro and Yomi in Spirit world.
Raizen was just finishing his talk with King Yemma when a young woman walked into the room with a small blue bag over her shoulders. She stood behind Raizen, waiting for him to finish.
"Mikai." King Yemma said, no longer giving Raizen the attention he needed or deserved. "It's about time that you arrived. I have a new mission for you."
"Yes sir?" Mikai stepped forward, standing next to Raizen. He glanced over at her, but didn't get a look back.
"Everyone has been complaining about the young menaces, Yusuke Urameshi, the reborn Kurama, and Hiei. I want you to get rid of them all."
"No way." Mikai rolled her eyes. "I can't do that to them."
"What?" King Yemma asked in disbelief. "You know that refusing to do this mission will result in you being removed from your post."
"I don't care." Mikai laughed sarcastically. "Those three have saved this world over and over so I refuse to kill them! Besides that…I care too much about them to do something like that…"
Raizen broke out laughing. Everyone looked at him as he stood there, laughter escaping his mouth. It soon changed to a small chuckle as he turned his face towards Mikai.
"You know he's a demon right?" Raizen asked as he looked at Mikai. "That he carries the very demon blood that you, a Spirit detective, enjoy spilling so much?"
Mikai laughed a bit and looked away from the older demon. "I should have guessed that Yusuke was a demon, after all he made a great Spirit Detective, and we all know that the best heroes are the worst villains."
Raizen laughed once more as Hokushin looked on, confused. Raizen didn't seem to care that the person he was talking to was a human; the same kind of human Raizen had given up eating so long ago.
"Anyway." Mikai broke away from Raizen and looked back up at King Yemma. "If that's my mission then I quit."
"Sir," George said as he walked up next to King Yemma. "Remember who Kurama is to Mikai?"
"Ah yes…" King Yemma answered as he remembered Senkai and Youko Kurama's story. "Mikai, remember that Youko Kurama is a ruthless demon and even though the young Senkai deep inside of you loves him dearly, he is still a demon and he might turn his back to you one day."
Raizen twitched as he listened to what King Yemma had just said. Senkai? Raizen thought. Youko Kurama? Could it be her? The same little fox demon from the fire?
"I wouldn't worry about that." Mikai smiled as she began to turn her back to King Yemma. "I'm going back to what I was doing before I came here. Oh yes."
She turned back around only this time her eyes were cold and emotionless. The warm brown eyes which Raizen has seen not minutes before were gone, now the cold blue ones Raizen had meet so long ago were back, and looking directly at King Yemma.
"Don't send anyone else out to kill Yusuke, Kurama or Hiei," she warned. "If you do send out an assassin, I'll kill the poor son of a bitch and then come after you."
King Yemma laughed. "Such a large threat from a small girl."
"Just because I'm small doesn't mean that my power isn't. As I do recall, someone I care for with all of my heart once said it best. 'Never corner a fox. We tend to show our teeth.'"
Mikai then turned back around, and walked out of the room, leaving everyone to him or herself. Some were worried, others stunned but Raizen. Raizen stood there, knowing that face and that attitude. He stepped forward and began to follow Mikai out of the room.
"Raizen-sama!" Hokushin called as he chased after his master.
Raizen walked out of the room and into the hallway were Mikai was walking, heading back to the Ningenkai. Mikai heard his footsteps and turned around to face him.
"That's such a large threat," Raizen said with a small laugh. "Can you really pull something like that off?"
"When people I care and love for are in trouble there isn't any limit to my power," Mikai answered.
He lowered his head and shook it a bit. There was still a lot she needed to learn, and yet there was something telling him that she would carry out that threat if was forced too. "Who are you?" Raizen asked, looking back up.
"Mikai…Mikai Akata."
Raizen chuckled. "I meant on the inside."
"Oh." Mikai sighed a bit. "I'm Senkai, partner of Youko Kurama."
"I thought so." Raizen looked away as memories ran through him. "Mikai, if you don't mind me calling you that."
"Go right ahead." Mikai smiled.
"I want you to come to the Makai so I can talk to you. Talking to you here would be too risky for both you and me. In one month, come to the Makai where I can talk to you."
"Hum." Mikai brought her hand to her chin, and cupped it. "Why should I? I mean I don't even know who you are, how can I trust you? And what makes me think that you're worth my time?"
"I had never seen Raizen-sama act this way. I had no idea what he was trying to do or trying to get at. All I knew was that I, myself, had never seen her."
"Raizen-sama," Hokushin called as he stood there, looking on.
"Quiet Hokushin," Raizen ordered. He then turned back to Mikai with a slight smile on his face. "Trust me, I'm someone you want to talk too."
"Agreed on," Mikai answered. "I'll meet you in the Makai. Your name would help though."
"Raizen."
"Raizen," Mikai tried it out. "Okay then, Raizen. I'll meet you in one month."
Raizen bowed his head as he turned his back to the younger woman, and she walked off, out of Spirit world. Hokushin stood by as his master caught up with him, and began to walk away with him towards the Makai.
"What was that about sir?" the bald monk asked.
"You'll find out when she arrives in the Makai," Raizen answered, silencing Hokushin immediately.
00000000
"And this was all before I came?" Yusuke asked as he looked at the bald monk. "How much more before I came?"
"Well she arrived in the Makai two months before you came," Hokushin answered. "I was the one who had to take her to Raizen-sama's tower just as I did you."
00000000
Hokushin was standing near the portal to the Ningenkai, waiting for the young visitor that Raizen has asked to come on month before. He still didn't know why Mikai was coming, but he did as he was told, and didn't ask too many questions now because he rarely ever got a real answer.
I wonder what Raizen-sama wanted with this young woman from the Ningenkai. Hokushin thought as he looked into the portal. He saw the blue liquid move a bit, and a young woman stepped through with a blue bag over her shoulder.
"Hokushin?" she asked as she looked at the bald man.
"Mikai?" he asked. She nodded her head.
"I'm here to see Raizen-sama," Mikai said as she looked at the world around her.
Everything was so strange, and yet she felt somewhat at home here. She figured that it must have been the demon genes, which were tugging away at her inside. Everything felt somewhat familiar to her, and yet she still felt like some kind of tourist if visiting the Makai could be place like that.
"Come this way." Hokushin turned his back towards the young woman and began to lead her towards Raizen's tower.
"Exactly how long is it going to take to get there?" Mikai asked as she began to walk faster then she normally did in order to keep with the bald man.
"Four days."
"FOUR DAYS!?" Mikai replied as she dropped her bag on the floor. "Damn! I didn't know it would take that long to get there!"
"Let's hurry then. Come, we have to walk towards the west," Hokushin said as he ignored Mikai's complains.
"The west." Mikai sighed. "Damn all I need is a green jeep and four hot guys."
"What?" the bald man asked.
"Nothin'." Mikai answered. "Well I've got the monk." She muttered as she began to run towards the west.
"We made it there in five days. It took an extra day because Mikai said that she needed a break for whatever reason. But when we did get there, I brought her to Raizen-sama."
"Raizen-sama," Hokushin said as he entered the room with a worn out Mikai behind him. "Mikai has arrived."
"Bring her in," Raizen answered.
Hokushin led Mikai in. She looked and saw that Raizen was sitting down with his legs parted, and his head hanging low; he hadn't bothered to look up to see her yet.
"Hey Raizen-sama," Mikai said happily as she walked into the room, still trying to catch her breath from running and then walking all the way up to his tower.
"You don't have to call me that," Raizen said with a smile as he looked up at the young woman standing in front of him. "You know I really didn't think that you'd show up here."
"Well I figured that if I didn't, you send baldy over there to come get me." Mikai grinned as she moved her thumb backwards, pointing towards Hokushin.
She's highly disrespectful. Hokushin thought.
"I thought she was terrible. All of my thoughts about her changed as she spoke, and then I met you. You soon became first place on the disrespectful list with Mikai trailing behind you."
Raizen laughed. "I would have."
Mikai giggled a bit. "So anyways, why did you ask to talk to me?"
"You were willing to do anything to protect Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei. You even lost your job for them," Raizen said. "King Yemma just might turn everything back on you when you die and try to enter heaven."
Mikai blinked a bit as the thought ran through her. "Oh crap…I didn't think about that. Oh well." She sighed. "I guess…I'll have to do some really good crap before I die. But other then that, I should be happiest while I'm alive, here in the Makai or Ningenkai and in order to do that…I have to have those three, the people I care about the most with me or at least know that they're okay."
Raizen sat there, listening as flashbacks shot through him. That day he had found the lost Senkai in the burning building; she was protecting her comrade, which Raizen didn't recognize as a young Yomi. There in the fire, she didn't care about what happened to her, she just cared about Yomi being safe.
"Why do you care about Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei?" Raizen asked.
"All of them mean a lot to me. Hiei's fallen for my sister of sorts, and Kurama and I have fallen in love…but Yusuke." Mikai looked away. "Yusuke and I have been together for awhile now and…" She held her stomach where she had taken a shot for him so many months ago. A sign to her, but scar to the outside world which showed how close the two were. "There's an unanswered question there but right now he's like my brother."
"Brother," Raizen repeated.
The memory of when he asked Senkai why she was protecting Yomi came back to him. She was standing in front of his fallen body, with both of her arms outstretched and a look of determination and of fear in her eyes.
00000000
"Why shouldn't I kill this man or you?" Raizen asked as he looked at the smaller kitsune.
"Because he means too much to me! Please don't kill him!" Senkai yelled in response as a fiery pillar fell behind her.
Why is she protecting him? She's protecting another demon, a demon that had gotten her in trouble there in the first place. Raizen thought. The memory of watching Yomi run away from Youko Kurama's troop filled his mind. Dumbass ran away, saying that he could find food on his own, and she left because she felt as if she needed him. She didn't want him to get hurt, she didn't want him to die when he left.
"Sen…Senkai," Yomi said weakly as he looked up at her.
"Stay there!" Senkai yelled. "I won't let you die! Even if I have to give up my life for you!"
Raizen was stunned by those words. Maybe it was because somewhere deep in his heart; he wanted someone to cling onto. In those moments he had spent with that woman back in her hut, he wanted nothing more then to be with her for forever. He never wanted anything to touch them, may it be time, or anything else. He wanted someone like this girl, someone like her to protect him, and be willing to die for him if she had too.
"It's too late for me," Raizen said as he placed his hand on the young kitsune's forehead. "But I know you'll make someone else happy with the power of this protection."
Senkai stood there, expecting the worst only to feel warmth on her forehead. Then, a wave of pain shot through her causing her to scream.
"SENKAI!" Yomi yelled as he watched.
A white light shot out from the hut, getting the attention of Youko Kurama who was watching nearby, making sure that Senkai would come back with or without Yomi.
"Damn," Youko hissed as he ran down towards the hut.
000000000
"Mikai," Raizen said as he looked up at her. "Watch those you love, and protect them all you can."
"I will." She smiled. "Is that all you called me here for?"
"I just wanted to see…if you were that demon I met so long ago," Raizen answered.
"So am I?"
"Yes."
"Oh good." Mikai laughed a bit. "Hopefully when more of Senkai's memories come back to me, I'll remember you."
Raizen laughed once more. "Do me another favor will you?"
"Sure."
"Watch over Yusuke for me."
"Why Yusuke?" Mikai asked out of curiosity.
"That way, you'll be happy," he answered, not telling her the whole truth. "People like you, who would do anything for people they love should never be alone."
"Aw thanks." Mikai smiled. "I'm just doing what my heart tells me. I'm gonna get back now okay? I have to get back to training. Next time I'm in the Makai, I'll say hi to you."
"I might not be here," Raizen said, shooting down all of Mikai's future plans.
"Oh…why not?" She hated herself to ask but the question slipped out before she could stop herself. She quickly covered her mouth and then bowed to the old king. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked you something like that!"
"It's alright." Raizen moved his hand back and forth. "I haven't eaten a human in so long that I'm starving to death."
"Not eating humans?…" Mikai repeated. She knew that Raizen had eaten humans before, just as many demons did in the Makai, but she had no idea why he had stopped eating. "Why…have you chosen such a slow, painful death?"
"It's something." Raizen laughed a bit. "It's a reason worth dying for."
"Alright then." Mikai bowed once more. "I'm going back to the Ningenkai so if you're still around next time I'm in town, I'll pay you a visit."
"I look forward to it." Raizen smiled.
Mikai turned around, and faced Hokushin once more. "I can find my way back," she said gently. "Thank you for everything."
Mikai then stepped past Hokushin, and out of the tower, leaving Hokushin alone with his master. Neither of them said anything, as they listened to Mikai's footsteps slowly disappear into nothing.
00000000
"So you don't know why Raizen wanted to talk to Mikai?" Yusuke asked.
"No. Raizen-sama never gave me an answer for why he did what he was doing. I think he just wanted to make sure that the power he gave to the young kitsune that day hadn't died and that it had been given up wisely," Hokushin answered.
Yusuke turned back to the tournament and looked over it. He couldn't see Mikai, nor did he know where she was. But another question was running through Yusuke's mind, why didn't Mikai tell him what had happened when they first met? Why did she keep something like that a secret from him?
"Unanswered question."
What is that supposed to mean? Yusuke thought as that sentence ran through him, overlapping all of his other thoughts. What questions haven't we answered between each other?
"Come Yusuke-sama," Hokushin called. "The next wave of the tournament is starting."
"Right." Yusuke nodded as he dismissed the whole idea. He had something else to worry about at the moment and couldn't afford for some wild idea to be bouncing around in his head.
I'll talk to Mikai about everything later. Yusuke thought. Later.
R&R please!