Chapter Four: Home, Sweet-Home
The two Spirit Detectives were busy arguing over how to handle their current dilemma. As it stood, they were stranded in the middle of a strange world. And then, in addition, they were now left with an unconscious woman on their hands- whom they had no idea as to what to do with.
After several minutes of shouting back and forth and a heated debate, the two of them grew weary and agreed to just simply wait for the woman to regain consciousness and then decide on what to do from there. It would obviously be much easier if they just agreed to disagree, in regards to this matter.
***
Lin's vision was blurry, but it was returning. The last then she remembered was collapsing after being saved by the two strangers.
She suddenly remembered them as things began to finally come into focus for her. She eventually managed to discern that one of the strangers was sitting at her side and looked down at her- it was the tall one- with a concerned look in his eyes.
"Whoa, take it easy!" He exclaimed as she tried to sit of too fast. He looked down at her, noticing that she had long dark hair that hung on the sides of her face and dark blue eyes.
"By the way, my name is Kuwabara." He informed her in a friendly tone. He then motioned over his shoulder- where Hiei sat silently. "And that guy over there is Hiei." He added. But the demon merely made a "Hn" sound in response.
She sat up, slowly this time, and looked around, talking in her surroundings. "My name is Lin." She told the young man softly.
An awkward silence seemed to come over the two of them as Kuwabara tried to think of something appropriate to say.
"Enough of this nonsense!" Hiei suddenly exclaimed as he appeared beside them. The short demon looked at the two of them. "Is there anywhere safe that you can go?" He asked, speaking in a very professional tone of voice to the girl.
She had to regain her composure quickly, as she had been momentarily startled by his sudden appearance. Despite his seemingly harmless appearance, there was something eerie about him. "My village is about half a mile from here." She replied meekly.
"Well then," Kuwabara inserted. "I shall make it my duty to escort you safely back to your home." He exclaimed proudly.
Hiei shook his head in frustration and rubbed his temples.
Lin blushed slightly at his words. "Oh my..." She murmured to herself.
***
Shera was busy working in her family's garden when she heard the sound of her sister's voice. "Lin!" She exclaimed as she promptly stood up saw her older sibling come running up to her.
The two sisters embraced each other for a moment and then stepped back from each other when they heard footsteps.
"Father!" Lin exclaimed as she ran over to the man that was standing before her.
"Oh Lin, I was so worried when those soldiers tried to take you!" He exclaimed as held her tightly. He then looked down into her dark eyes. "How did you escape them?" He asked her as tears ran down his face.
"I was rescued." She replied happily.
The man looked over and saw that two strangers had just walked up. One of them was tall, with orange hair; and the other was short, with dark hair and a bandana.
Lin walked up to them, standing beside a nervous Kuwabara. "These two men saved me from those horrible soldiers." She informed her father. She motioned toward the taller one. "This is Kuwabara". She announced. Then, motioning to the shorter one. "And this is Hiei." She added.
Hiei watch as the man stepped forward. He was tall and had dark brown hair and a short beard. He appeared to be wearing a pair of brown breeches and a white shirt with a tanned hide vest over it.
He stepped forward and "thanked" them both by shaking their hands. "I am Bohen." He informed them. "And I am in your dept for saving my precious daughter." He added.
The demon then watched as Kuwabara laughed nervously. "It was nothing, sir." He tried to say. "Just doing the right thing." He added, modestly.
As much as the demon hated to admit it, the big idiot was actually pretty selfless and chivalrous- which was now a very rare attribute amongst the multitudes of humans he had seen in the modern word. Perhaps he wasn't just a worthless human. just perhaps.
Hiei then looked over at the other person who happened to be there, among them. It was a young girl, about an inch taller then he was, with long reddish-brown hair and large blue eyes. He had to abruptly look in another direction when the girl- named Shera, he thought- looked at him.
He was surprised by his action- staring at a common human female like he was.
"You two must be hungry." Bohen inserted. "I can fix you some dinner if you like." He offered.
Kuwabara sighed. "Well, actually." He began. "I am kind of hungry, now that you mention it." He admitted to the man, somewhat embarrassed.
***
Everyone had gathered inside the house and were seated around a round wooden table. Bohen and his daughters had just finished preparing a steaming bowl of fresh soup- with fresh vegetables and beef- and bread. Wine was also brought out.
"Who were those men that were chasing Lin?" Kuwabara asked Bohen, between large mouthfuls of hot soup and freshly-baked bread.
"Those men," Bohen began, dryly, as he set down his cup. "Those men are the soldiers of the Demon Emperor- Shao Darkon." He explained.
Hiei suddenly perked up at the sound of the last two words that came out of Bowen's mouth, yet he chose to remain quiet for the time being, bringing the cup of whine- that he was sipping on- back up to his lips to take a slow, lingering taste from it.
Shera was the only one who noticed his brief discomfort at the mention of the name, but disregarded the action as to not upset their guest.
"Who is this 'Darkon' guy?" Kuwabara asked, now interested with the new piece of information that had been given to him.
"He is a very powerful creature," Bohen began. "He descended upon our world centuries ago and waged war against all humans." He continued. "He destroyed all the great civilizations that once covered the lands." Bohen added.
"What you see now," Lin inserted as she leaned forward to look Kuwabara in the eye, a very serious expression overcame her as she spoke again. "Is the result of the war that he started so long ago." She continued. "He ruined everything- even the sky- and enslaved all of the surviving human." She finished.
Shera suddenly spoke up. "We're one of the 'lucky' families." She announced. "We get to live on land that is still good, because we work to produce food for the Emperor and his soldiers." She elaborated. "But as long as we live like this, we will never have any kind of future beyond this life of slavery." She concluded, a sad expression now overcoming her.
Hiei wasn't sure if he actually felt almost sorry for her, but shrugged it off.
"And there's no one that can stop Darkon?" Kuwabara asked in amazement.
"None at all." Bohen replied grimly.
"Garland could." Lin chimed in, a light briefly flashing in her dark eyes.
Bohen looked at her sadly. "Lin." He began. "You know that once someone goes to the Valley of the Shadow of Death, they never come back." He explained. "Not even Garland could get out of there alive." He added with a dark tone of finality.
The more he heard, the less he like it. Kuwabara had listened to everything that they had said to him, and to one another, and it was driving him over the edge. He knew that Hiei might be able to abandon these people to never- ending misery when it was convenient, but he couldn't. It just wasn't in his nature!
Bohen then looked back at his two guests. "I'm sorry; we shouldn't be troubling you with our problems." He tried to reason. He then suddenly thought of something to that would change the direction of their conversation.
"How exactly did you get here?" The man asked them.
***
Hiei was much more comfortable now that he had hung up his cloak and was sitting back in one of the tables dining chairs. Yet, there was still the problem of him not being quite eye-level with the others. Kuwabara had joked that he should go get a phone book to sit on. Hiei refused to dignify the flippant remark with a reply!
But now, the demon sat back and listened as his fellow spirit detective explained how they had ended up in this world. Recounting, as best he could, from the point at which they stormed the castle back in their world, to up to the present time.
It was now dark again, and Lin and Shera were clearing away the dishes while Hiei and Kuwabara conversed with Bohen.
"Amazing!" The man exclaimed, causing his weathered features to brighten up. "And you don't know how to get back to your world?" He then asked, showing great interest.
Both of the visitors nodded in reply, as if to say "no".
"I'm afraid I can't do much for you." Bohen began, leaning back into his chair- the lines on his face deepening as he thought. "But the Elder might be able to be of some assistance to you." He added.
He then stood up and smiled at the two young men. "But for now, you two should get some rest." He remarked. "I'll show you to the guest area." He informed them as he began walking towards a doorway on the other end of the room.
The two Reikai Tantai rose to their feet and followed the man.
***
The guest area was a simple structure. It was just a wooden, "L"-shaped construction that was built into the main, square-shaped dwelling. There were two small rooms at the end of it.
Bohen had made sure that they were made as comfortable as possible, and then bid them goodnight as he went to check up on his daughters.
***
Lin and Shera finished putting away the dishes as Bohen appeared through the doorway. He walked into the living room and sat down on one of the chairs that was nearby.
"Do you think they are the ones spoken of in the prophesy?" asked a voice.
Bohen looked up to see Lin standing beside him. He looked away, towards the window, and then looked back up at her. "I don't know, Lin." He replied, shaking his head. "I don't know." He murmured.
~End of Chapter Four~
This chapter took longer than I expected it to, but I'm glad that I put so much time into it, now that I finished it.
I'm really going to try and make it a point that each chapter will have a purpose to it, I don't want to boggle down the story with unnecessary side- plots.
To this end, I was able to "create" a longer chapter with much more dialogue in it- and that was also the longest of the four that I have written so far. Though I doubt that it will be the last chapter of such a length for long.
I hope that everyone enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I worked hard to make sure that both Hiei and Kuwabara were equally important during the whole chapter.
Please let me know what you all thought about this so that I can know how to make it better.
Thanks,
Bojack727
The two Spirit Detectives were busy arguing over how to handle their current dilemma. As it stood, they were stranded in the middle of a strange world. And then, in addition, they were now left with an unconscious woman on their hands- whom they had no idea as to what to do with.
After several minutes of shouting back and forth and a heated debate, the two of them grew weary and agreed to just simply wait for the woman to regain consciousness and then decide on what to do from there. It would obviously be much easier if they just agreed to disagree, in regards to this matter.
***
Lin's vision was blurry, but it was returning. The last then she remembered was collapsing after being saved by the two strangers.
She suddenly remembered them as things began to finally come into focus for her. She eventually managed to discern that one of the strangers was sitting at her side and looked down at her- it was the tall one- with a concerned look in his eyes.
"Whoa, take it easy!" He exclaimed as she tried to sit of too fast. He looked down at her, noticing that she had long dark hair that hung on the sides of her face and dark blue eyes.
"By the way, my name is Kuwabara." He informed her in a friendly tone. He then motioned over his shoulder- where Hiei sat silently. "And that guy over there is Hiei." He added. But the demon merely made a "Hn" sound in response.
She sat up, slowly this time, and looked around, talking in her surroundings. "My name is Lin." She told the young man softly.
An awkward silence seemed to come over the two of them as Kuwabara tried to think of something appropriate to say.
"Enough of this nonsense!" Hiei suddenly exclaimed as he appeared beside them. The short demon looked at the two of them. "Is there anywhere safe that you can go?" He asked, speaking in a very professional tone of voice to the girl.
She had to regain her composure quickly, as she had been momentarily startled by his sudden appearance. Despite his seemingly harmless appearance, there was something eerie about him. "My village is about half a mile from here." She replied meekly.
"Well then," Kuwabara inserted. "I shall make it my duty to escort you safely back to your home." He exclaimed proudly.
Hiei shook his head in frustration and rubbed his temples.
Lin blushed slightly at his words. "Oh my..." She murmured to herself.
***
Shera was busy working in her family's garden when she heard the sound of her sister's voice. "Lin!" She exclaimed as she promptly stood up saw her older sibling come running up to her.
The two sisters embraced each other for a moment and then stepped back from each other when they heard footsteps.
"Father!" Lin exclaimed as she ran over to the man that was standing before her.
"Oh Lin, I was so worried when those soldiers tried to take you!" He exclaimed as held her tightly. He then looked down into her dark eyes. "How did you escape them?" He asked her as tears ran down his face.
"I was rescued." She replied happily.
The man looked over and saw that two strangers had just walked up. One of them was tall, with orange hair; and the other was short, with dark hair and a bandana.
Lin walked up to them, standing beside a nervous Kuwabara. "These two men saved me from those horrible soldiers." She informed her father. She motioned toward the taller one. "This is Kuwabara". She announced. Then, motioning to the shorter one. "And this is Hiei." She added.
Hiei watch as the man stepped forward. He was tall and had dark brown hair and a short beard. He appeared to be wearing a pair of brown breeches and a white shirt with a tanned hide vest over it.
He stepped forward and "thanked" them both by shaking their hands. "I am Bohen." He informed them. "And I am in your dept for saving my precious daughter." He added.
The demon then watched as Kuwabara laughed nervously. "It was nothing, sir." He tried to say. "Just doing the right thing." He added, modestly.
As much as the demon hated to admit it, the big idiot was actually pretty selfless and chivalrous- which was now a very rare attribute amongst the multitudes of humans he had seen in the modern word. Perhaps he wasn't just a worthless human. just perhaps.
Hiei then looked over at the other person who happened to be there, among them. It was a young girl, about an inch taller then he was, with long reddish-brown hair and large blue eyes. He had to abruptly look in another direction when the girl- named Shera, he thought- looked at him.
He was surprised by his action- staring at a common human female like he was.
"You two must be hungry." Bohen inserted. "I can fix you some dinner if you like." He offered.
Kuwabara sighed. "Well, actually." He began. "I am kind of hungry, now that you mention it." He admitted to the man, somewhat embarrassed.
***
Everyone had gathered inside the house and were seated around a round wooden table. Bohen and his daughters had just finished preparing a steaming bowl of fresh soup- with fresh vegetables and beef- and bread. Wine was also brought out.
"Who were those men that were chasing Lin?" Kuwabara asked Bohen, between large mouthfuls of hot soup and freshly-baked bread.
"Those men," Bohen began, dryly, as he set down his cup. "Those men are the soldiers of the Demon Emperor- Shao Darkon." He explained.
Hiei suddenly perked up at the sound of the last two words that came out of Bowen's mouth, yet he chose to remain quiet for the time being, bringing the cup of whine- that he was sipping on- back up to his lips to take a slow, lingering taste from it.
Shera was the only one who noticed his brief discomfort at the mention of the name, but disregarded the action as to not upset their guest.
"Who is this 'Darkon' guy?" Kuwabara asked, now interested with the new piece of information that had been given to him.
"He is a very powerful creature," Bohen began. "He descended upon our world centuries ago and waged war against all humans." He continued. "He destroyed all the great civilizations that once covered the lands." Bohen added.
"What you see now," Lin inserted as she leaned forward to look Kuwabara in the eye, a very serious expression overcame her as she spoke again. "Is the result of the war that he started so long ago." She continued. "He ruined everything- even the sky- and enslaved all of the surviving human." She finished.
Shera suddenly spoke up. "We're one of the 'lucky' families." She announced. "We get to live on land that is still good, because we work to produce food for the Emperor and his soldiers." She elaborated. "But as long as we live like this, we will never have any kind of future beyond this life of slavery." She concluded, a sad expression now overcoming her.
Hiei wasn't sure if he actually felt almost sorry for her, but shrugged it off.
"And there's no one that can stop Darkon?" Kuwabara asked in amazement.
"None at all." Bohen replied grimly.
"Garland could." Lin chimed in, a light briefly flashing in her dark eyes.
Bohen looked at her sadly. "Lin." He began. "You know that once someone goes to the Valley of the Shadow of Death, they never come back." He explained. "Not even Garland could get out of there alive." He added with a dark tone of finality.
The more he heard, the less he like it. Kuwabara had listened to everything that they had said to him, and to one another, and it was driving him over the edge. He knew that Hiei might be able to abandon these people to never- ending misery when it was convenient, but he couldn't. It just wasn't in his nature!
Bohen then looked back at his two guests. "I'm sorry; we shouldn't be troubling you with our problems." He tried to reason. He then suddenly thought of something to that would change the direction of their conversation.
"How exactly did you get here?" The man asked them.
***
Hiei was much more comfortable now that he had hung up his cloak and was sitting back in one of the tables dining chairs. Yet, there was still the problem of him not being quite eye-level with the others. Kuwabara had joked that he should go get a phone book to sit on. Hiei refused to dignify the flippant remark with a reply!
But now, the demon sat back and listened as his fellow spirit detective explained how they had ended up in this world. Recounting, as best he could, from the point at which they stormed the castle back in their world, to up to the present time.
It was now dark again, and Lin and Shera were clearing away the dishes while Hiei and Kuwabara conversed with Bohen.
"Amazing!" The man exclaimed, causing his weathered features to brighten up. "And you don't know how to get back to your world?" He then asked, showing great interest.
Both of the visitors nodded in reply, as if to say "no".
"I'm afraid I can't do much for you." Bohen began, leaning back into his chair- the lines on his face deepening as he thought. "But the Elder might be able to be of some assistance to you." He added.
He then stood up and smiled at the two young men. "But for now, you two should get some rest." He remarked. "I'll show you to the guest area." He informed them as he began walking towards a doorway on the other end of the room.
The two Reikai Tantai rose to their feet and followed the man.
***
The guest area was a simple structure. It was just a wooden, "L"-shaped construction that was built into the main, square-shaped dwelling. There were two small rooms at the end of it.
Bohen had made sure that they were made as comfortable as possible, and then bid them goodnight as he went to check up on his daughters.
***
Lin and Shera finished putting away the dishes as Bohen appeared through the doorway. He walked into the living room and sat down on one of the chairs that was nearby.
"Do you think they are the ones spoken of in the prophesy?" asked a voice.
Bohen looked up to see Lin standing beside him. He looked away, towards the window, and then looked back up at her. "I don't know, Lin." He replied, shaking his head. "I don't know." He murmured.
~End of Chapter Four~
This chapter took longer than I expected it to, but I'm glad that I put so much time into it, now that I finished it.
I'm really going to try and make it a point that each chapter will have a purpose to it, I don't want to boggle down the story with unnecessary side- plots.
To this end, I was able to "create" a longer chapter with much more dialogue in it- and that was also the longest of the four that I have written so far. Though I doubt that it will be the last chapter of such a length for long.
I hope that everyone enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I worked hard to make sure that both Hiei and Kuwabara were equally important during the whole chapter.
Please let me know what you all thought about this so that I can know how to make it better.
Thanks,
Bojack727