Thank you, KyoHana (and I'm not sure if I spelled your name right, so I'm sorry if it's wrong), for the review I do enjoy your reviews a lot, they're quite well-worded, if that is the correct description for them.
As you all may notice from the date below, I was not lying when I said that a good chunk of this story was written prior to my posting of it here. Anyways, this chapter is where pretty much the rest of the story's cast is introduced. Do let me know how you think of these "inversed" characters, won't you?
Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed
Chapter 2
May 8, 2005
"Urameshi's coming!" someone shouted. The schoolyard fell silent, the stragglers occupying it all watching the gates, practically dancing in place.
Whistling could be heard; seconds later the source of the melody appeared, walking with a spring in his step onto school grounds. The boy wore white tennis shoes, clean pressed pants, and a pastel green polo shirt with a sweater tied around his shoulders. He carried a stack of text books, all bound together with a leather strap. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully, smiling and waving to everyone. They all stared back at him, a predatory expression on each face. The boy began to sweat a little when he noticed this, and who all was outside. "Uhm, shouldn't we all be getting to class?" he asked uneasily as they approached him. "I mean, we wouldn't want to be late and- oh no!"
He assumed his normal position: curled into a tight ball, head tucked in, limbs wrapped around his school books, while his antagonizes pelted his body with random kicks and punches. 'Where's a teacher when you need one?' he wondered.
"Hey, get off him!"
A series of frantic profanity could be heard. Several people were either kicked or shoved aside, while the others quickly scattered.
"What's going on here!" a man's voice demanded. The principal was approaching the victim, the defense, and what remained of the attackers.
One of the lead bullies scrambled to his feet. "Uh, it was Yukimura! She just came up to us and started a fight!"
"You liar!" she snarled, taking a step toward the accuser.
"Miss Yukimura and Mr. Kuwabara, enough. I would suggest that all of you report to your respective class before I have to assign detentions for tardiness." Having spoken, he left the scene to return to his office.
"Weasel!" she hissed at the carrot-topped punk.
"Whatever," he said hotly, brushing the dirt from his clothes. He made a face, and spat; a bloody tooth landed on the pavement. "Why you!" he growled.
"You bit pansy! You wouldn't last five minutes downtown!"
"And you would?" Kuwabara sneered. "Come on, guys," he said to his companions. "I hear they're dissecting a cat in biology." He and the others cleared out.
She glared after them, and then glanced over. She heaved a sigh. "You can get up now, Yusuke," she said, rolling her eyes.
Yusuke got up, surveying the damage done to him. "Ow…" he whined, examining a bruise on his side.
"Will you stop?" she scoffed. "This wouldn't happen to you all the time if you'd learn to stick up for yourself and not depend on me and your buddy the principal to bail you out."
"Believe me, Keiko, he's not my buddy." Yusuke shuddered involuntarily. "Where are you going?"
"To smoke," she replied in a "duh" tone.
"What? But class is starting." Keiko snickered at his naivety as they passed the biology class.
"Hey Keiko! Urameshi!" Shrieks could be heard from inside the classroom, and then Kuwabara appeared, holding a cat's head. "Remember kiddies, no purple!" he said in a high-pitched voice, manipulating the cat's head with his hands so it appeared to be the one speaking. "Save it for marriage!"
Keiko turned a bright, angry red. "Oh, go annoy the Youkai, why don't you?" she yelled. "I'm sure the Yoko would love to take you out!"
"Mr. Kuwabara!" the teacher pleaded. "Return that head to the lab table at once!"
"I sincerely hope that thing was dead before they let him anywhere near it," Keiko muttered.
"I heard he blew up one in a microwave once." She shrugged. "Keiko, have you ever seen the Youkai?"
"I think I've seen a few of their people before. No big deal."
"Oh. So, have you ever seen the Yoko then?"
She laughed at him. "I'm alive, goody-two shoes. What does that tell you?"
"Oh." Of course. Everyone had heard of the Yoko, a mysterious member of the Youkai. No one really knew that much about the actual gangster, but rumors of the gruesome fates that befell the Yoko's victims spread like locusts. "Do you think maybe the Yoko's the one who tried killing Hiei Jaganshi last night?"
"Maybe."
"Hey, you two! Get to class!"
"What, you gonna hit me with that mop if I don't?" Keiko shot, strutting past the custodian.
"Uhm, Keiko?" Yusuke hurried after her. "Maybe he has a point…"
The custodian stared after them, tsk-tsking and shaking his head. If he could toughed up a bit, that Urameshi kid could really amount to something. But he always hung out with Keiko Yukimura, a girl with trashy clothes, gaudy gold and diamond jewelry, too much makeup, and an overly active smart mouth. That delinquent would ruin him.
"Mr. Jaganshi?"
"Should I tell them to go away, boss?" Shigure asked.
"No," he said weakly. "Let them in."
Shigure admitted the visitors, a man and a woman in suits and long coats. "Mr. Jaganshi," the man said. "I'm Detective Koenma. This is my partner, Detective Botan. We're investigating the murder attempt on you last night, and- Sir, are you okay?"
"What?" He'd been staring at the pacifier in Detective Koenma's mouth, wondering how he managed to speak with it in. "Yes, I'm fine. You were saying?"
"We believe the attacker entered the penthouse floor from the roof. That's the only lead we have though- the crime scene didn't turn up a speck of DNA or fingerprints, and the murder weapon's not there."
"Her entire body was clothed," he said. "She could have been anyone. And the murder weapon was a gun, obviously, but I don't know what kind."
"How do you know it was female?" Detective Botan asked.
"She talked to me."
"What did she say?" Detective Koenma asked eagerly.
"That I should learn to lock my doors," he replied flatly.
The detective visibly deflated. "Is that all?"
"Well, unless you count the gunshot…"
"Never mind. We'll check back with Forensics to see if they've found anything."
"You do that," he said mildly, watching the detectives' retreating backs. "Shigure, call Yomi. Inform him that I'll be indisposed for a while." He winced as pain shot through his shoulder. "And tell the nurse to give me more pain medication."
"So, what is the co-owner of Makai Enterprises doing at the Hotel Ningen anyhow?" Botan asked. "I mean, it's nice, but there has to be better places to vacation."
"He's not on vacation."
"What?"
"I read an article about this a few weeks back," Koenma said. "Apparently, he's abroad in search of someone to share his fortune with."
"What, like a wife?"
Koenma shrugged. "I guess. Why?" He noticed the look on his partner's face. "Botan, you can't seriously be thinking-?"
"Of course not!" She laughed. "But I can dream, can't I?"
"Dream on your own time," Koenma reprimanded. "There's still a would-be assassin on the loose."
"Where is she!" he yelled.
"Right here." The hulking form dragged a smaller one into the room. A young woman landed sprawled on the floor. "We caught her trying to flee the city."
"I see," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "You and your brother have my thanks." He approached the girl, standing right by her. "Explain!" he barked.
She flinched, and then opened her eyes, slowly looking up. Black boots ending mid-thigh, then fishnet stockings, short black leather skit and a matching sleeveless top accessorized with long white leather gloves.
At the cinema, cross-dressers were often portrayed as a combination of elements such as stupidity, vanity, flamboyancy, cattiness, and comedy. But that was the movies, stereotypes. This man was no stereotype- though he had the physique similar to and apparel of the presumed "weaker" sex, he was terrifying. Even the Toguro brothers didn't cross his path. She was so scared she didn't even dare look him in the face, not with that boot so close to her own.
"I missed," she said hoarsely. "The bullet hit his shoulder instead." 'I'm going to die.'
"Then whey didn't you shoot him again?" he grilled.
"The gun jammed!"
"Oh, the gun jammed," he sneered.
"What would you have me do? I barely escaped as it was!"
He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up so she was eye to eye with him. "You'll stand by for my orders. Our dear Mr. Jaganshi can't stay in the hospital forever." He shoved her away roughly. "I'll entrust you to Sakyo until then. Surely he can afford you more decadent lodgings than I."
A man in the corner caught the petite figure flung at him. She shrieked; he looked up and saw why; in his shadier affiliate's clenched fist was a clump of aqua strands. "Careful now," he cautioned. "Don't handle her so roughly. She's not indestructible."
"Ethics, Sakyo? You should have put more thought into whom you allied with then."
"Hm. Too late now, I suppose. I left some lox in your fridge. Come on." He led the shaken woman outside, away from the enraged gangster.
"Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you look when you're angry?" He felt an arm slide around his shoulders, pulling his close. "So fiery; so wild."
The voice made a part of him cringe internally. "Get off me," he said through clenched teeth.
A long, spider-like hand played with his tresses. "So fiery," he repeated. "Just like your hair." He stroked the red silk, then ran a finger over the milky throat.
"Enough!" he snapped, pulling away.
"Come now," the other protested softly. "I know your desires are the same as mine."
"Desire what you will by yourself; I'm hungry." He got into the refrigerator and hunted for the promised lox from Sakyo.
The other one stretched out on the couch, staring at the cross-dressing object of his lust. 'Just because you deny me the right to touch, does not mean I can't look, my dear.' "How's the lox, Foxy?"
"It's fine," came the hasty reply.
"Save me some, will you?"
He nodded in answer, lighting up a cigarette. He sat at the table, alternating between taking bites of food and drags of smoke, trying to ignore the fact that those eyes were taking him in. The thought sent chills up his spine.
"No purple" comes from something a classmate said at school one day. He'd been to a church lock-in (never been to one, hell if I ever will be), and he was with two friends who were girls, and the pastor saw them and said something like "no purple. (Get it? Blue boy; Pink girl. Mix them together, you get purple.) Yes, the pastor's apparently a moron, which is why I used the line for my inversed version of Kuwabara.
In this AU, I'm trying to give Keiko the "image" of someone like those chicks from Grease- a movie I absolutely can't stand, but…
Lox is, I believe, a dish consisting of smoked salmon. I'm not sure, but I think it's rather on the expensive side. The only times I've ever heard of it is in books that take place in New York City. It sounds good, though.