Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.
/.../
Chapter 13 - "They have such mood swings"
Trouble couldn't keep itself away more than a day. They had done all three shifts once and Kagome's watch had finished its free time-and-training shift and had been preparing for sleep. It was then that both Kurama and Inuyasha both stumbled. Inuyasha let out a surprised yell before the two both turned and ran out of the room. Kagome and Shippo stood stunned until Tairi chimed in.
'Sako and Zasar are getting in trouble down here,' Tairi declared in Kagome's mind. 'You may want to come see. They've had some interesting results.'
With that cryptic remark to hurry her steps, Kagome loped toward the small cargo area of the ship that the Setrans had claimed as their own area, afraid of what she might see. Sako, Elako, and Tairi were the three biggest of the Setrans because of the greater amount of energy they had collected during the battle, but for all that, Inuyasha's phoenix-like Setran was the one that was most noticeable. Probably because he was also the most troublesome.
She was unsurprised to see that it was he and Sako who looked the most guilty as they were scolded and screamed at by Kurama and Inuyasha respectively. It took a moment before she realized just what they had done. All eight of the Setrans were scattered around, clamping teeth and beaks into long black cylinders. Even Tairi and Elako were enthusiastically opening the sides.
"Are those the ammo for the ship's weapons?" Kagome heard Yusuke ask incredulously. His shift had appeared behind them. Miroku, Kikyou, and Botan were all peering in behind the boy-leader and Kagome frowned as she looked over them. They couldn't have been training for more than fifteen minutes by now and Miroku already had bruises while Botan was clearly upset by something that had nothing to do with the mess the Setrans were making.
"Um, yeah. They are," Kagome said absently. She shook herself out of her wool gathering and shrugged. She and Inuyasha were usually upset and bruised only a few minutes into their training as well, so perhaps there was nothing wrong.
'They're made of delicious energy. Whoever decided making weapons with reiki and youki in them was a genius,' Elako said cheerfully. He faltered an instant later and his ears flattened to his head before he looked up at Yusuke. 'What? But the first one was an accident! And none of you are using them!'
Kagome felt briefly sorry for the Setran. It was obvious that Yusuke was scolding the young creature harshly. She crossed the room and began picking up the unopened cylinders. "Tairi, tell the other Setrans they can't do this."
'Do I have to? There is a good amount of energy in these! Look at us, we're already growing!' Kagome lifted her head to stare around her, really taking note of the Setrans this time.
Dedran was now bigger than Tairi, though it appeared he would still be growing larger. He was only a bit bigger than a full sized horse now. Tairi was almost her full size, as, it seemed, was Elako, who had darkened to a navy blue. Ketria, the other dragon, was the same size as Dedran. With just those two, the room was beginning to get a bit cramped. Especially when Dedran attempted to extend his wings.
The gryphons were nearly the size of the Tairi and Elako, and the phoenixes were approximately the same size, if in different proportions. Kagome shook her head and then winced as Sako shrieked like any angry bird of prey and bullied his way away from Kurama and to the back of the cargo bay. Kagome looked at Tairi grimly. 'Yes, you do.'
The Setran tossed her head and glared at her bonded sullenly before she reluctantly extended her touch to the others. There were similar tantrums from the others and Inuyasha's Zasar went even farther than Sako had when both Tairi and Inuyasha demanded he behave. The phoenix's hooked beak crashed into the weapon charge sitting at his feet and a burst of golden energy flowed into him.
Tairi whinnied in outrage, rushing forward and snapping her pointed teeth inches from his face. In return the Setran lifted off the ground with a sweep of his great wings. Kagome grimaced as she sensed Tairi's impotent rage as the bird called after her tauntingly. Then her eyes widened when she felt a ripple in Tairi's mind as the clawed horse reared. 'What are you-'
Tairi crashed back to the ground with a triumphant neigh. Her claws glowed as pounded them into the floor and an instant later Zasar tumbled down from his place near the ceiling. The older Setran snorted and said smugly to the other Setrans, as well as Kagome, 'I don't think any of you will find flying is a good way to get away from me. I'll blow you out of the sky.'
The tense silence that followed was broken by Yusuke yell of, "What the fuck?"
'It's her power. She's grown enough that she can use her element now,' Elako told Yusuke and Kagome, his mental voice sulky. It was apparent he did not yet know how to use his. 'Every one of us has some kind of power. Dragon types can usually use theirs when they're born. The rest of us have to wait.'
"All of them? Can any of the others use theirs?" Kagome asked curiously. Her question was answered as Tairi approached Zasar and the phoenix suddenly spread his wings. The floor rippled in the cargo bay and suddenly everyone had to grab at something to hold themselves up as the floor turned to ice.
Tairi screeched in fear and landed heavily. Kagome winced and grabbed her shoulder, feeling the pain of a nonexistent bruise. Elako managed to get himself aloft with the other five fliers. Tairi and Botan's Ketria were left on the ground to attempt to walk on the icy floor.
"Huh. Guess mine outdid yours, Kagome." Kagome glared at Inuyasha but it was Tairi who answered. She turned her attention to the hanyou and he suddenly found himself blown in to the middle of the room with nothing to hold on to.
"I'm putting all this away and going to bed. Don't get into it again," Kagome said to the eight Setrans. She briefly wished that the others were down here as well, Sango for support and Hiei because he could have melted the floor. But they, along with Keiko, were in the control room and only an emergency would have sent them out of it.
She carefully kept near the wall as she picked up the energy containers and put them back in their boxes. She found help as first Kikyou began to help, and then Kurama, and finally everyone was helping her and the boxes were put in back. Behind them the Setrans continued to hiss and screech and neigh at each other like competitive young teenagers, and Kagome found herself wondering if the Setrans were simply reflecting themselves.
Sako wasn't, at least not that Kagome could tell, but Tairi and Zasar were at odds much like Kagome and Inuyasha, and Elako was sulking, which could mean that Yusuke was as well. Ketria had simply curled up on herself in a corner and was peering at Botan anxiously. She wasn't reflecting, but instead worried.
'Tairi... How much do our feelings affect you? We reflect each others hurts... do you reflect my feelings?' There was silence for a while and Kagome wondered if she was going to be answered.
'It depends. For me and Elako, we can reflect you two almost totally sometimes. It is because our bond is so tight. The others do it as well, but less often. Usually it is just strong feelings, and hurts. Or long feelings.' Tairi's answer was what she had expected to hear, but Kagome puzzled over 'long feelings' for a few minutes as she worked to close one of containers for the cylinders. She must mean emotions that they felt for someone that were always there. It was the only explanation she could think of.
As the container finally closed and she sealed it tight, she was aware of the others working beside her, and who was closest. She glanced up as she finished and watch Yusuke. She knew he could tell she was watching, but he was studiously ignoring her and it took her a few moments to figure out why.
He was angry with her! She had put them in different shifts and he didn't see why. She almost wanted to shake some sense into him. It had nothing to do with them as a couple and everything to do with all of them working as a team.
She reached out a hesitant hand as he finished up and he finally look up when she touched his shoulder. When all she did was gaze at him in silence he finally said, 'What?"
Kagome sighed at the angry boy and briefly glanced around. Everyone was doing their best to look like they were ignoring them. Inuyasha gave it away as his ear were pointed in their direction. Still, she decided to ignore the listening crowd as best she could. "Can we talk?"
It was apparently the wrong thing to say. Yusuke actually froze and she saw a flicker of confusion and nervousness in his eyes. Then he looked up, the anger still there and the tough guy attitude in full force as he cross his arms. "Sure. Let's talk."
Kagome wanted to stomp her foot in frustration now. Instead she gave him a small glare for giving their friends even that little bit of drama and grabbed at his sleeve. "Good. We'll do it in the corner. Out of range of certain eavesdroppers."
Yusuke's eyes reflected the surprise he felt but he followed her, glancing behind him to see the guilt flash across their faces, and Kikyou and Botan leaning toward each other to whisper. They really had been eavesdropping.
He tensed when they stopped, expecting the worse. Now that she had time to think about it, obviously she was going to be reconsidering them. That was fine. Good. It wasn't like he was attached to her.
"Stop that," she said, irritated at the guarded look on his face. "I just wanted to talk about your shift. And why we aren't on the same one."
When he continued to stare at her with that scowl on his face and the guarded eyes and nervous shifting that she could catch every once in awhile, she leaned back against the wall. She almost winced; expecting pain from her shoulder before she remembered that the bruise she felt wasn't hers, but Tairi's. Kagome's gaze darted around the room before she rested it on Yusuke's face. She struggled a few moments to find words. "I didn't make the shifts just to watch for enemies in the control room. I made it for the training. We've fought together in the battles on Europa and we know how we fight. We are also the two leaders. We can't be on the same shift. I know how to fight with my team pretty well. You know how to fight with yours. But I don't know much of your teams weaknesses, and you don't know mines."
"I know this already," Yusuke said, clearly irritated.
"Then stop sulking! We don't have time now to just be with each other. I wish we did, but we don't. It's only a few days, anyway!" Kagome 's voice was raised a bit, and by the containers, both Kurama and Inuyasha stopped passing on the conversation as it reached a level audible for the rest of them.
"Yeah? And who's to say we'll be able to do anything after we get off the ship anyway? Or that you'll want to?" He lowered his voice before growling out his next accusation. "You didn't seem to want to spend too much time together after Miroku came anyway."
Kagome's mouth dropped open and she had the inappropriate urge to laugh. Knowing she'd never salvage this if she did that now, she looked up at him, forcing herself to look calm, and accused, "You're jealous!"
"Yeah? So what? It looks like I have the right to be," he grumbled angrily.
"The right to be? Yes, you do," she held up a hand to forestall the angry storm that was coming, "but no reason to be. He's my friend and that's all he is. That's all he ever will be. I feel for him only as much as I feel for Souta, or Kaede, or Kikyou."
She smiled before he could answer and reached a hand up to cup his cheek. "I like you, and definitely not in a brotherly way."
She could still see the doubt in his eyes, and she knew she couldn't do anything more than she had, so she stepped forward, lifting onto her toes - and promptly fell onto the ice as he feet slipped out from underneath her.
Yusuke couldn't help but grin at the offended look of hurt on her face, as if the ice had purposely decided to take her down at that moment. There were muffled snickers across the room, and even Tairi was mentally giggling, despite the fact that she was probably feeling the pain that Kagome felt.
"It's not funny," Kagome whined, beginning to pout. By the gentle twinkle in her blue-gray eyes, she did indeed find it funny. She looked up at him slyly as he began to chuckle. "Help me up?"
Automatically he reached down. It was too late to jerk back when the triumph bloomed on her face. She reached up and tugged hard on his short, twisting out of the way as he fell to the iced floor.
Yusuke caught himself briefly with his hands before they slipped out and he managed enough control to land on his side instead of his face. He glared at the miko girl who was squirming toward the wall. It melted into a mischievous smile as he firmly put any thoughts of the previous conversation out of his mind and did his best to lunge across the icy surface after her.
Kikyou and Botan stared at the two, gaping unashamedly. "They have such mood swings," Botan whispered.
"It's Kagome. Only she could make someone go through that many emotions in so many minutes... Can we get back to training? I have a feeling they're about to make me ill in a few moments." Kikyou grimaced as Yusuke managed to catch her laughing sister and pulled her toward him.
Inuyasha smirked behind their backs. After all that talk of responsibility, she was going to go off and make them lose sleep and the others lose training time? 'Zasar?'
'No. Do it yourself. They're happy. Elako and Tairi are happy. My friends being happy makes me happy.' Inuyasha's jaw dropped open as the phoenix denied him outright.
'You were just attacking her!'
'So? Angry at her. She's still my friend. Kagome would be your friend... if you weren't a dumb featherless clawed thing.' Zasar swooped down to land on one of the container, followed by Kikyou's phoenix, Alenia.
"Do they have to do that?" Miroku questioned, looking away from Kagome leaning toward Yusuke, the look in her eyes showing her obvious intent.
"Shouldn't you be training, Yusuke?" Kurama asked loudly. "And all three of us should be sleeping, shouldn't we Kagome?"
The other four by the containers turned to stare at Kurama as Kagome and Yusuke reluctantly backed away from each other. The two groups began to split up with a few murmured phrases and Yusuke, still feeling a bit put out with Miroku, 'asked' him to clean up ice as it melted into water.
As Kagome and the hanyou and kitsune behind her entered their room, Kurama cleared his throat again. "I apologize for being so rude. I was simply annoyed by everyone else complaining about you two."
Kagome's eyes flickered briefly to Inuyasha before she glanced over at Shippo curled in her bunk and shook her head. "It's all right. Let them complain. You should have reminded us. We need our sleep and they need their training."
As they climbed into their beds, they thought the conversation was over, but both of her roommates heard the murmur from the other bed as they drifted off. "Every moment counts. That what they told me."
/./
Yusuke and his shift was on duty a couple of days after the ice incident when the message came. By the short, terse sound to the message they were afraid of being overheard. It made sense. It wasn't safe out here, which was why the Comets usually flew about transporting the sensitive messages and the most valuable goods for the war.
It said simply that in a few hours they would meet up with the ship sending the message and be getting three more passengers to take to Mars. They would be nearing the asteroid belt when they met up, and everyone was a bit nervous. Miroku frowned at the message. "They must be desperate to get them here if they want to dock there. It would be very easy for a fleet to be hiding in there."
Botan bit her lip as Yusuke ignored the other boy and Kikyou simply cast her eyes shortly to him. They had to be the tensest shift on the ship. "So, when are they boarding?"
"Twenty-two hundred. Hiei's watch," was Yusuke's terse reply.
"We should probably wake up Kagome's shift when it's time," Miroku suggested.
"Is it important enough to have everyone up at once?" Kikyou asked, glancing out the window into the empty system, stars winking in the far off distance.
"They'll have had six hours of sleep at that point," Botan ventured to say glancing at Yusuke who was saying absolutely nothing at all. She stopped the sigh of frustration that threatened to burst out. At least everyone else seemed to be doing well enough, even if Kagome and Inuyasha were, from what Ketria was passing on, still having problems behaving in their training sessions.
"I'm sure all of them have survived on much less for longer amounts of time." Miroku smiled and three sets of eyes settled on Yusuke's back patiently. None of them were going to even try to say they had the authority to wake one of the other shifts.
"Fine. Wake them up forty-five minutes before the ship comes." Really, that was only a bit more than five hours, but they all knew Miroku's statement still applied. Botan blinked slightly and promised to warn Kagome as they changed shifts. She could catch the girl as the miko went to bed.
Yusuke ignored the few attempts at conversation behind him as he passed them the authorization to wake the others when the time came. He didn't work well with others. His team was an exception. This was not his team. Botan was kindhearted and too cheery sometimes and other times she would stop and this bleak look would pass over her features. He still had little idea what had really gone on with Botan and Hiei, but the girl seemed to be constantly struggling with herself.
Kikyou was soft-spoken about everything. She carried an air of pride about her and closed up to everyone not on her team. Even then he didn't think she ever showed every bit of herself. The young woman barely ever smiled.
Miroku he had disliked instantly for his close relationship with Kagome. He was jealous. Miroku was too lecherous and he hid all of his secrets behind a smiling face and innuendoes. Yusuke knew nothing about him except that he had monk training along with the powers and that he had known Kagome since childhood.
He didn't know anything about them, and they didn't know anything about him, but they knew plenty about each other. He didn't care why Kagome had put them on the same shift, but he thought it was a very bad idea. That and being stuck on a ship where you were expecting to be attacked at any moment kept his temper even shorter than usual.
He just hoped that these new passengers didn't make everything worse.
/./
When the ship appeared, it surprised them all. It wasn't a normal passenger ship or even a normal Comet ship. It was one of the special new types of ships that were supposed to be undetected by almost any kind of technology. The demons manning any ships after them would have to switch to manual to target any of these types. Yusuke practically gaped as he saw the markings on the side. "That's from the 8th fleet."
"The so-called Sun Dragons?" Kagome asked as she took the space beside him. Everyone was crowded into the control room, Kurama and Inuyasha looking disgruntled by Kagome's fresh look and especially by the fact her hair looked to have been washed and dried recently.
"There's a story behind that name, and why they took it," Botan chirped up. She was gaping just as much as Yusuke and there was a delighted look on her face. Sango grinned at her, recognizing the signs of a full-blown history lecture. It was much like the old her.
Kagome had turned her head to listen but all of them were disappointed as the communication's opened, on-screen this time and in one corner of the room a screen lit up to life with the oddly colorful interior of the ship they were meeting and a woman standing on the bridge with a lazy stance.
"Hey boys. Long time no see," The woman drawled out, apparently amused as even Hiei's eyes widened in surprise. "Surprised to see me?"
Kurama recovered first and managed a polite smile. "Shizuru Kuwabara, it has been a long time. I suppose this is the special training you told your brother you were entering?"
"No shit, red. We've got some people who are very eager to get off this ship. Probably has to do with everyone trying to remake their uniforms into something more fashionable. My crew is crazy." She was grinning as she said it and everyone had the uneasy feeling that she fully supported her crew's "craziness".
"We're matching velocities now," Keiko said, her hands on one set of buttons. Miroku was at another and Kagome and Hiei were both looking fascinated as they peered at what commands they were setting in. Yusuke wanted to be curious but he was sure the second he did someone would mention the last time he had touched the controls of a ship. He had only blown up one ship, but no one ever let him forget it.
"So are we. Ya might want to hurry, I'm pretty sure there's a nice little battle group heading our way." Shizuru smirked as their hands suddenly began working much faster and the rest of the group was suddenly scrambling for weapons group or the docking section. "Well look at that. At least they have good reaction times."
"Too bad they're taking the cute ones away. I had so much fun with them!" The voice was off screen and there was a high-pitched giggle to it that made it sound like the female behind it was definitely too young to be on a ship.
"Ah, shut up. You had fun because they're the only ones near your age that you've been able to see for at least a year. It's what you get for being a genius at ship maneuvers, Koharu." The banter between them seemed oddly relaxed and Kagome briefly wondered if the whole ship was like that before she left to go start loading weapons for the others to shoot. Yusuke followed her, knowing he probably shouldn't be trying to shoot a weapon and seeing how easily Botan and Hiei settled down near the weapon stations.
The two arrived to find that the Setrans were already attempting to move the boxes of ammo through the door that they had, against all odd, managed to get open. Kikyou's phoenix was looking pleased with herself, which was the only clue as to how this had come to be. Kagome and Yusuke left them to that and started opening the boxes already in there and loading them into a long, thin tunnel that automatically loaded each one they put in.
Both of them ignored the alarms when they began and continued steadily putting loading ammo. It was automatic enough that both could tune in to Elako and Tairi who had scrambled to the docking area and control area. Tairi was delighted as they finally managed to get their three passengers in. 'This girl is the one for the other egg! They sent us the last one!'
Elako expressed his own relief, more than either of the humans had thought the situation warranted, but then they were distracted by Elako's commentary as he entered the control room. 'There are ships nearby, and energy coming towards us. There are also non-energy weapons.'
Yusuke and Kagome glanced at each other. 'Torpedoes?' Yusuke mouthed.
'Maybe,' Kagome mouthed back. The alarms were too loud for them to even attempt to yell over them.
'The other ship has broken off from us... We're beginning to shoot back and maneuver, but they say for us to just keep heading for Mars. They can take of this. Wow! You should see what this ship is doing! It's fast! And the firepower!' In his excitement, Elako managed to give them a few images of what he could see. Shizuru's ship was speeding into the pack of ships and would get close enough that it seemed inevitable that the ships would crash into each other. It seemed impossible that her ship was not only whole, but also unscathed after numerous close calls where her ship was directly next to the enemy.
'We're getting away... I can't see them anymore, and nothing seems to be following us. I think they killed most of them before they left. I didn't know ships went that fast.' Elako sounded awed and Yusuke smothered a grin.
'They're new. Most ships don't. It's an edge right now, and the crew is all specially trained and most of them are geniuses of some sort. Tactics, Strategy, combat, languages, the Sun Dragons are the best of the best at space fighting and the first group to get those ships.' Yusuke knew there was more to it than that. There were rumors that most of the humans were descended from genetically engineered ancestors, when their civilization had still known how to do that.
'You should come meet our new team members. I think you'll be surprised by what you see,' Tairi said, her voice amused.
/./
Everyone had eventually gathered in the training room. Even Keiko and Miroku had dared to put the sip on autopilot for a few moments to come meet the newest passengers.
Upon seeing who the three young teenagers were, Kikyou and Kagome whisked off to one corner of the training room with their siblings and Inuyasha dragged a fascinated Rin after them, where the three of them proceeded to interrogate the youngsters.
Somehow, they found the discussion turned around and the three innocent faces were now picking up the most minute details of the last few months from them. Shippo was snickering as he relayed everything he could hear to a grinning Yusuke. The kitsune had known to stay out of the way when the alarms rang but now he was as fascinated by the newcomers as everyone else. Only Miroku seemed to have any idea who any of them were besides the three young adults wondering when the tables had turned - and when the youngsters had become so clever.
"Uncle Inuyasha! Your brother says you're to take care of me while I'm here and that I'm your responsibility. He has letters for you! And some Kikyou woman." Rin's brown eyes were staring up into Inuyasha's stupefied golden eyes angelically. She had all the details she had wanted; the other two could get the rest on their own time. It was time to give Inuyasha the real news.
Kikyou's head jerked up, as did Kagome's. Both of them were staring at the guileless girl, who looked unaware of what she had just said. Somewhere behind them, Yusuke began to chuckle.
/./
"Why those two as well? I would have thought you would want to hang on to them as long as possible." It was fortunate that Sesshoumaru was not there this time. It was only Genkai who was there to pose the curious questions.
"They were in danger as much as Rin was. Kagome needs as much of her family there as possible as well. They don't have eggs, but it will do them good to get to know the others." There was dull note in his voice.
Genkai looked at him sharply and set her voice to cut through to him. "Stop wallowing in self-pity, Tenashu. So, the girl thinks you gave it to her just so she could eventually die. Maybe you should have gone and explained sometime in the last decade. At the very least she would hate you a little less for trying."
"But what would be the point? The Prophecy is clear. 'The Shikon's chosen must give up life'. Even if I didn't mean it that way, I have essentially sentenced my own daughter to death." His bright blue eyes dulled as he spoke. Genkai observed him for a few more moments.
"We don't really have time for this," She said, keeping her voice level. "We need you watching and reporting on their progress."
"Which I have been doing. I don't believe I need your authorization to send more pieces of your precious destined force to the central eight. I am doing everything I am supposed to. I have been doing the everything that they told me to do since I left my four small children with only their mother to raise them." He turned away from the small woman, a clear way to dismiss her and anything she could possibly say.
He heard the door shut. She didn't slam it, and only glanced back at him tiredly. After she left he closed his eyes and sat down in a chair, willing his mind to see those few seconds ahead of his children. Long in to the night he kept in his trance, yearning to reach out and touch them.
He doubted they would even know him now.
/.../
I have to apologize to all of you for an unnecessary delay for this update. This was nearly finished when I was given ownership of one of the play-by-post Dragonriders of Pern RPGs I belong to, and I became a bit distracted with updating and attempting to father members. Otherwise this would have been out at least a week ago. It's not late updating I'm apologizing for, but the unnecessary delay of this part.
Reviewer Responses: I was just going to e-mail everyone who had questions or long comments, but not many of you did, so I won't start that practice quite yet.
Thank you to Kagome-reincarnation, animegurl5, Shadow Kage, chinadoll27, FoxylilRaven, Sukera, and Arcia for reviewing. Please do so again!
Winged Knight: I am always plotting. The four souls do have a good idea - even if it is for at least partly selfish reasons. The training will at least make them understand the physical weaknesses each of them has, even if they won't like it.
Andre: I can try and make Sango appear more, but my focus usually is more on Kagome and Yusuke. I can guarantee there will be chapters with more focus on her in the near future, however.