---Road to an Eternity of Wars---
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho and anything else that seems related to any other copyright item/game.
Heya! Next chapter up now! Have a good time; at least I hope so… lol Please read and review afterwards!
Chapter 6: Suspicions Among the Crowd
School…
It was running smoothly so far. They were currently in their 5th period, waiting for class to start. Only Miroku and Kagome, that is. No one else was really in the room right now. Strangely, you would recall that art was 6th period. It seems that for today, it was moved earlier since they'd have a special addition of cooking classes instead that day.
She hadn't seen Yusuke all day! The last time Kagome saw him was when she was 14 and he would of probably changed. 'Keiko's right. I'm going to have to talk to him about skipping when I see him. Maybe pull a little prank here and there if he didn't...'
She was startled out of her thoughts when an annoyed Keiko shoved a protesting Yusuke into class. The door slammed shut behind him as he scowled, having no choice but to attend class now. Kurama came in a minute later, seemingly amused at finding the punk scowling in the corner.
Kagome smirked. You could always count on Keiko to do these things. It may have only been a day or so, but it felt like they had known each other for years already. This included Yukina and Botan too.
Silently, she approached Yusuke slowly. Miroku looked up boredly, idly playing with the lining of his cloak, patiently waiting for class to start. Glancing around the room, he spotted the guy that Kagome tripped into yesterday. He was youkai, was he? she pushed it aside. The guy's aura wasn't threatening. As long as it stayed that way, then Kagome had no problem with him. It also reassured her even more because of the fact that they were friends.
"Yusuke!" Kagome called out, trying to get his attention.
He turned around, confused by the familiarity of the voice and his eyes laid on the girl who had called out his name, "Kagome?" he asked insecurely.
"Yusuke! Long time no see!" She smiled happily.
"Hey Kagome!" he said, hugging her, 'I'm really glad she's still innocent to the demons' he thought.
Yusuke started to get suspicious when he hugged her, feeling something metal and hard beneath hear cloak by her waist and a metal pole, barley seen, on her left near her back. He took note of it, not saying anything about it though. ((Hinting! Sword and staff!))
"I haven't seen you in so long!" Kagome exclaimed excitedly.
"Me neither! How's my baby cousin doing?"
Kagome scowled, "I'm not a baby anymore, and I'm just fine!"
Kurama approached then, "You know her Yusuke?" he raised an eyebrow.
"She's my cousin" he replied.
"We're new students here. Miroku, Sango and I" Kagome explained.
Yusuke smiled, "How's the shrine and everyone else?"
"I'm taking care of the shrine just fine! Mom and Souta moved out since Jii-san died though. It's only me. Miroku and Sango live there too with her brother and another little boy"
"I see, the old man couldn't take it anymore" Yusuke smirked, causing Kagome to glare at him and playfully smack him upside the head for his comment.
"Oww!"
"You deserved it" she stated dryly.
Kurama looked at him in amusement, "You can call me Kurama, Kagome-san"
"If you call me Kagome, Kurama" Kagome smiled.
"I'm sure that would be great" he smiled back. Her smile was contagious...
Soon after, the teacher came in along with all the other students and the boys and her sat down. Seating in the order from left to right: Miroku, Kurama, Kagome, Yusuke.
"Ok class! Today we're going to see what level you are in at art. To do this, it's going to be a free choice of drawing. You can use paint, charcoal, pencils, and felts, whatever for this project. It's due at the end of the day. I expect you to use your time wisely and try you best! Now start!" The art teacher ushered the kids with his bright attitude.
Almost immediately, students started taking out their canvas and materials for the project, not paying attention to anything else as they were determined to get this thing done and over with.
Miroku took out some pencils, not really wanting to use anything else. Yusuke, not really wanting to do anything at the point, knew he couldn't escape, so just slumped in his seat and did nothing. Hey! At least he was there! Kurama took out an assorted pack of charcoal colours and Kagome took out a set of watercolor paints.
Miroku sketched a picture of his temple back in the feudal era. His drawing wasn't too good, but wasn't that bad either. One way or the other, it would at least get him a B, which made him satisfied, at least. He was never really the one for art and things like that.
Kurama glanced over at Kagome's progress. He choked down his gasp. She was halfway done of a picture that showed a waterfall, surrounded by rocks and trees. It was beautiful.
"You have great talent" Kurama commented.
"Thanks" Kagome responded, blushing at the remark.
He had a picture of a rose field and mountains in the background.
She looked at Kurama's work, "You have good skills too!" Kagome exclaimed.
"Thank you"
"Remarkable!" a voice called out from behind them. Turning around, they saw that it was only the teacher. He beamed in pride at his students, promptly ignoring the new slumbering form beside Kurama.
The rest of the class wasn't really eventful. There were 10 minutes left until next period and Yusuke woke up and yawned, "What did I miss?"
"An assignment"
"Really? That's great!"
"Yeah…great…" Kagome replied dryly.
All of a sudden, a communicator rang and Yusuke, thinking it was his, took his out and turned around. Seeing that it was off though, turned around, only to see Kagome and Miroku with one, lavender instead of blue. They seemed to be too absorbed in the screen to notice a suspicious Kurama and Yusuke watching intently.
"Kagome and Miroku here!"
"Hey guys!"
"Sango! What can I do for you?"
"Other then get me out of cooking class, nothing" Sango joked on the other line.
Miroku and Kagome laughed.
"What's wrong, Sango-sama? Kagome-sama and I are in art class right now"
Yusuke and Kurama glanced at each other when he used the honorific.
"I spotted a code red out the window. I've already contacted the others. Meet me there! Be prepared!"
Yusuke raised an eyebrow, 'Code red?' the same thought went through Kurama's head.
Kagome rolled her eyes, "Duh! You sort of always have to come prepared"
"Whatever! Come on!"
"Ok, ok!"
And with that she flipped the communicator off, followed by Miroku. Yusuke and Kurama shifted away as if nothing had really happened.
Kagome turned to them and smiled meekly, "Sorry, washroom" then bolted out of the room with Miroku.
"What do you think they're up to?" Kurama questioned.
Yusuke shrugged, "Kagome was always the one who really liked to play games. I suppose class is so boring that her friends and her would play on right then"
Kurama nodded in understanding, yet still a little suspicious because this 'Sango' on the other line actually sounded in panic, "Ok then, I understand that. At least she finished her work…"
((They didn't feel the aura of the demon by the cooking classes outside because it was a shadow youkai))
The two came back into class 10 minutes later and the bell rang, acting as if nothing had ever happened. The rest of the day was normal activity.
1 Month Later in Koenma's Office…
"What do you want toddler?"
"Yusuke! I'm NOT A TODDLER!" Koenma screamed.
"Perhaps we should get onto our mission. This must be important since Koenma has called us up to his office" Kurama reasoned, trying not to start a fight there.
Hiei just snorted and Yusuke grumbled, "Sure, sure toddler"
Botan took out her oar and hit him upside the head, "You should give him more respect, Yusuke!"
Yusuke eyed the oar warily, "Fine, fine! SIR toddler!"
Kurama sighed. This wasn't really getting anywhere. Botan and Koenma fumed.
Koenma cleared his throat, "There hasn't really been any demons crossing though the barriers, or causing havoc in Ningenkai this past month. Even though this is a good sign, we must look into this because it could be another threat"
Botan's eyes darkened at the comment. Everyone noticed this, although didn't mention anything at all. She didn't seem to see the stares directed at her. Afterwards, she just suddenly left the room without a word, shutting the door behind her. Then, a burst of energy was felt outside the door, signaling that a portal had opened up for her.
Everyone else was thinking along some lines…Botan had changed so much. Since the new students had come to their school, she had been hanging out with them so much, changing what she wore and refusing to wear anything else. Also, she would frequently disappear during class and come back a while later. If you thought some more about it, this was also happening to Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Yukina, and Keiko! They had become good friends and hung out a lot, but this was just too suspicious.
The whole group started discussing this to Koenma since Botan was out of the room.
"So you're saying that there's something about the 5 that we don't know about us and you have a feeling that they're hiding something from us?"
Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei nodded. They were pretty upset that the girls were keeping this from them. Unknowingly, Kurama and Kagome had become closer, and Hiei and Kuwabara were becoming more protective of Yukina. Yusuke was even drawing himself closer to Keiko. There was something about her that had changed. They way she carried herself and things like that.
"Yeah, and every time their communicator rings, they disappear saying something about 'code red' or 'code blue'. We tried following them, but we lost them every time"
Koenma frowned. The girls were hiding something?
"Keiko told me that she moved into the Higurashi Shrine that Kagome lives at. She's my cousin, but I haven't been to her shrine yet"
"Come to think of it, Sango and Miroku said that they live there too" Kurama added in.
Koenma frowned even more, "Botan said she found a place to stay sometimes. Do you think it's the same place?"
Hiei started to contribute, "Yukina told me that she found a place to stay too for half the time instead to the temple Genkai's at"
"Maybe we should check out the shrine…right now" Koenma announced, also completely forgetting the second reason he had called them to the office immediately.
Since Botan wasn't there, Koenma made a portal to the shrine.
The Higurashi Shrine…
"More stairs as usual" Yusuke whined.
After a lot of complaints and stairs they finally made it to the top, only to stop when they saw a thin sheet of energy around the area.
"A barrier" Koenma told them, "Only a powerful being can hold one this strong"
Yusuke passed right through it, along with everyone else.
"It seems that Yusuke could get though since you are of the shrine keeper's blood and we're your friends, so we were able to cross though too" he suggested, "This is a very complicated barrier to read"
Masking their energies and scents, they cautiously entered through the front door, which was, for some odd reason, open.
((The girls had gone to the park to fight some demons))
Figuring that no one was home, they started to talk again, with no need to be quiet since nobody was here.
"This is a very expensive place" Kurama commented, looking at the kitchen and the living room.
"Yeah! No wonder why Keiko was staying here! It's heaven!" Yusuke told them with awe, staring at the TV and it's many video games. There was over a hundred games on the shelf! At least one of every game that could exist!
"Guys! Up here!" They heard Kuwabara call out.
Kurama, Koenma, Hiei, and Yusuke ran up the stairs.
There were8 closed doors. Looking closer, one was labeled 'Kagome', another 'Sango', 'Miroku' and one unlabelled door. On the other side of the wall, there were signs saying, 'Boys', 'Keiko', 'Botan', and 'Yukina'.
The curiosity getting the better of Yusuke, he opened the door to Kagome's room, everyone looking in behind him.
He let go of the handle in shock. Hand painted walls, new carpeting and bedding, the works!
"What the hell! How did she get so much money and why didn't she give me any!" Yusuke yelled out.
The boys opened the other bedroom doors to find the same result.
"This is interesting" Koenma replied, looking into the 'heaven'.
Closing the doors again to not raise any suspicions, the opened the last door that was unlabelled.
"At least Yukina's well protected here" Hiei commented.
"Yes, this shrine has lots of security, certainly more than Genkai's temple" Kurama added in.
Their jaws dropped again, except for Hiei of course, but even he was having a hard time concealing his shock.
It was the bathroom. Steam flew out as the door was pushed aside farther.
A large, hot pool was in the middle of the room. This was indeed heaven.
Yusuke slammed the door closed, "They never invited me here!" he whined, "This is so much better than mom's apartment! And since their friends, she said she didn't have to pay a cent!"
Still trying to recover from shock, they walked out to the back of the shrine, only to be hit by another barrier.
"This is a much stronger barrier! Whoever created this-we have got to get as an ally! If they're on the bad side, then they could destroy all 3 worlds!"
The rest of the group looked alarmed at this announcement.
Yusuke thought idly, perhaps his cousin was not so 'innocent' after all?
This time, not even Yusuke could get through the barrier. Hiei commented that he could feel the residual energies of Yukina, Botan, Keiko, and the other 3 girls surrounding the barrier and trailing in.
"What's inside?" Kuwabara asked.
"Dunno" Yusuke replied. He was gawking too much to make a smarter response.
Suddenly, they noticed the barrier falter for a second, and then came back to normal.
"The person who erected this barrier just lost their concentration for a moment" Koenma explained, curious about all the power emmitting from it, "I can't see any holes in it though. It's amazing!"
Kurama, Hiei, and the rest of the spirit detectives caught a whiff of the air inside before it dispersed. It was cleaner. They took note of it.
A branch fell out from inside of the barrier when it faltered. Kurama picked it up and examined it. Koenma and the others looked at him expectantly.
Kurama's eyes widened considerably, "This plant has been extinct for over 300 years"
"Then how is it here?" Kuwabara was puzzled.
Koenma gently took the branch for 'evidence'.
"Ok guys, let's get back to the office to discuss this, just in case someone comes by and overhears us. Or worse, the girls come home"
After he said that, Koenma opened up a portal and they all leaped in.
Koenma's Office…
Kurama, Koenma, Hiei, and even Kuwabara was quiet as Yusuke ranted on and on about something that suspiciously sounded like something to do with cousins and riches and how they never shared.
"You will shut up," Hiei stated, unsheathing his sword. At last, he was quiet.
"Ahem" Koenma cleared his throat for their attention before they broke out in another fight. He shook with fear, "I'm afraid that we'll have to postpone this situation with the girls until afterwards. Something has come up"
Koenma got their full attention immediately. He never acted like this before.
"Yes?" Kurama pushed.
"There is…a second dark tournament"
"WHAT!" the group screamed. ((Except for Hiei, he was just REALLY shocked))
"This one's a little bit different though. They've added speakers around the arena so you could hear what the opponents were saying. They've also arranged it so that a team you face-you're most likely going to face them at least once more during the match, unless they get killed. There are new teams this year. You have to join, they say that if you don't, once again, your loved ones will be killed. There will also be extra 'events' and occurances to reduce the amount of demons participating, and to make it harder for the teams. Gruesome, really"
Everyone was silent. It looked like there was no choice but to enter it again this year. This wretched tournament. Kurama sighed, "So when does it take place?"
"In a week"
"WHAT?" The group shouted again.
Koenma winced. His ears hurt like hell, "Yes, the demons had decided to play a trick like that on us this year. Actually, half the teams that are competing have only received this note today too. The other half received it a week ago"
"So that means that we're going next week?"
"Yes. And I also suggest you say goodbye and come up with an excuse to be away from home for the next two months"
"Keiko…" Yusuke murmured, "She's not going to take this very well…"
Kurama thought a little, "I guess I could tell her something along the lines of a school in America" he hated lying to his mother, but this was for her safely concerns.
Hiei would have no problem,since he was only going to explain this to whoever the other group forgot, which was highly unlikely that they would,and Kuwabara would just tell Shizuru, who'd probably just tell him to come back alive.
There would be some major, intensive training going on for the next week.
"Hey wait a minute" Yusuke thought out loud.
"What?" Koenma asked.
"If we four are going, then who's the fifth member going to be this year?"
"Genkai will be coming with you again"
"The old hag better not die this time" Yusuke grumbled.
"I'm curious how the girls will react and what I will tell to Sango, Miroku, and Kagome. They seem to be hard to convince about a lot of things that happen" Kurama commented.
"Don't worry, you'll think of something" Kuwabara tried to reassure him.
"Yeah, and while your at it, cover it up for us too" Yusuke added in quickly.
"Hn" Hiei snorted. The ningens were so lazy.
Hey! It's late at night while I'm typing this, and I'm promptly going to sleep! So, night!
Ja-ne!