A/N- Long time, no update! heh heh... It's been about (or over) 2 months since I last updated... Desperately sorry about that one! Got a little too involved in my sports and school... Good news is that I only have about 3 more weeks left of school! I am seriously going to try and update once a week from now on though! I have big plans for this story! Now... Enough of my babbling, On with the story!
Chapter 11: Seeking Out the Solution
The doors to the office flew open and hit the wall with a "BANG!" Koenma looked up from his stack of papers. There in the doorway stood Avari, still in her pajamas. She quickly walked over to Koenma's desk and plopped down in the chair seated in front of him.
"Spill it," was all she said.
"Let me call in the others first," Koenma said. He told a passing ogre to get the other Spirit Detectives.
The whole time she waited for them to come, Avari just sat there mumbling incoherent curses and harshly stroking the ferret in her lap. She hated it when something she wanted to know very badly was right there in front of her, but she couldn't have it yet. Koenma knew she was growing restless by the way she kept fidgeting in her chair. Finally, after a good 5 minutes, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara walked into the office.
"Now, out with it!" Avari snapped. Her sudden outburst scared the poor ferret in her lap, making him squeak and hide under the chair.
"Alright!" Koenma said. He pushed a button and a huge, snow capped mountain came up on the huge screen behind him. "This is Kashimi Mountain," he explained.
"Yeah, and what the hell do you expect us to do there? Go skiing! We have bigger fish to fry, toddler bitch!" Avari yelled. It was evident that she had no patience... whatsoever.
"I was getting to that..." Koenma mumbled. Her attitude was starting to get on his nerves. "As I was saying..." he continued, glaring at Avari. "An old priestess lives on this mountain. You are all to climb the mountain, find her, get her to change Yusuke back into a human and leave. Simple as that." He opened a drawer in his desk and retrieved a sack, which he placed on the desk. "This will be the payment for her services."
"Her services?" Avari inquired, with a disgusted look. "You make it sound like she's a whore or something. That's sick." Everyone formed a sweat drop on their foreheads... This was getting a little scary.
Koenma sighed and buried his face in his hand. This girl is impossible... What made me hire her in the first place... "Just go and do what I said. It's the only way to change Yusuke back," he said.
"You've got it!" Avari said. She jumped up out of her chair and raised her hand triumphantly in the air. "Ready team!" she said and turned to Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara.
They all just stared at her. What's she on? they all thought.
Some time passes by...
And so, that very morning, Team Urameshi (plus Avari and a rather furry version of Yusuke) set out for Kashimi Mountain with high hopes to bring there friend back as a human. They were just starting to climb the mountain, when Avari realized something.
"Uh-oh... Did any of you guys happen to grab the money to pay the priestess?" Avari asked, sounding worried.
"I took the liberty of bringing it," Kurama replied, who was climbing right below her.
"Oh, good. For a second there, I thought we were going to have to go all the way back..." she said, letting out a sigh.
Hours and hours seemed to fly by as the team continued to climb the mountain rock by rock. The air seemed to be getting chillier and chillier the higher they climbed.
"It's cold," Kuwabara randomly said at one point.
"No shit Sherlock," Avari replied. She began to shiver as chills went down her spine. Snow covered the ground all around them. They
should be getting closer.
Finally, they spotted a ledge with smoke rising from it. That must be where the priestess is, they all thought. Hastily, the four frost-bitten Spirit World employees and a furry creature asleep in Avari's backpack, climbed onto the ledge and walked into the entrance of a cave.
There in the corner sat an old woman. She was dressed in a white kimono tied with a midnight blue sash. Her ebony hair was showing signs of age from all the gray streaking through it.
The whole team walked up to the entrance of her cave. She didn't seem to acknowledge there presence though because she continued to work intently on chopping up various herbs.
"Let me do the talking," Kurama said telepathically to the others. He cleared his throat loudly, making her look up.
"Can I help you?" the old woman said in a raspy voice.
"You wouldn't happen to be the priestess who lives on this mountain, would you?" Kurama asked politely.
"I am her. What is it that you want with me exactly?" she said, giving them a suspicious look with her cold, piercing black eyes.
"Well, you see. Our friend was turned into a creature with a strange enchantment and we just wished to have him changed back,"
Kurama explained.
"Come on in and sit then," she said, getting up from her spot on the floor. She motioned for the others to come and sit around the fire in the cave. They all sat down on the dirt floor and took a good look around.
The cave was a fairly good size. Many different herbs and leaves were hanging to dry on the ceiling. Vases and vials of odd looking liquids were lined up on shelves all over. Then there was the fire in the very center of the room. Besides these things, there wasn't really anything special about the cave. It was just a home to an elderly priestess.
"I have just one more question," the priestess said. "What's in it for me if I can change your friend back?" She eyed Avari's locket, the locket passed down generations in her family, the locket Yamiko was after. "Perhaps that locket around the young girl's neck?"
"Uh...I'm sorry but-" Avari started to say, but Kurama quickly interrupted her.
"We'll give you this," he said and placed the sack of money from Koenma before the old woman.
The aged priestess picked up the sack and weighed it in her hand. After a moment or two of contemplation, she put it in pocket.
"You've got a deal," she said. "Where's the creature?"
"He's right here," Avari said. She pulled out the ferret from inside her backpack. It sniffed the air with its wet, black nose.
"Interesting..." the priestess said to herself. She rubbed her chin with her thumb and thought for a moment. "I'll need to place a spell on him and then have one transfer some of your human energy to him."
"What do you mean when you say 'transfer human energy'?" Kurama inquired.
"I mean that one of you must kiss him," the priestess said simply. All of the guys went pale and then looked at Avari.
"That's her job!" the three Spirit Detectives said, pointing to Avari. She turned red as a tomato. It was only logical that she do it... I mean, she had kissed him before, but not in front of everyone... And she was the only girl...
"Okay. Put the spell on him and I'll do it, but no one's looking!" Avari said.
"Aw man! You're no fun, Avari! I could tease you for life about this one!" Kuwabara complained. The others ignored Kuwabara and turned to the priestess.
"Hand over the ferret, please," she said.
Avari handed Yusuke to her. The priestess placed the furry creature on the ground and began to chant words of an ancient language. An orb of light formed over head of "Yusuke" and was soon absorbed by his body.
"There you go. Now all that's left is to kiss him," the priestess said. She got up and walked out of the cave. Soon after, Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara (how had to be dragged out by Kurama) walked out as well. This left Avari alone with "Yusuke".
I can't believe I'm going to kiss this thing... I mean, it's Yusuke, but then again...not really. Is this even sanitary? Could I get herpes or something? Avari held the ferret in her hands and brought him up to her face. Aww.. He's so cute, but I miss having the real Yusuke around... She looked at him in the eyes. I feel like the princess in that fairy tale who had to kiss the frog to turn him back into a prince... Except, he's a ferret... and I'm definitely not royalty... Oh, same difference! Well, here goes nothing! She brought the ferret closer to her face and pressed her lips on its.
A few seconds later, Avari began to feel light headed. Just how much human energy did this procedure take? Just as soon as she took her lips off of the ferret, everything went blank...
More time passes by...
Avari opened her eyes and blinked a few times. She sat up and looked around. There she was, in her bed, in her bedroom, back at Genkai's. What had happened? How had she gotten back here? Hastily, she pulled back the covers and walked down the hallway.
The sound of voices was coming from the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen and found that Kurama, Kuwabara, and Genkai were seated at the table. Hiei was leaning against the wall in the corner, being antisocial as usual. Right at that moment, the back door opened and in the doorway stood none other than Yusuke.
"Here's your damn hamburgers! Why the hell did I have to go get them anyway!" he said, placing bags of food on the kitchen table.
Avari's eyes widened. It had been so long since she had heard that voice.
Without thinking twice, she ran up to Yusuke and hugged him. She felt two strong arms wrap around her, making her feel safe and comforted. She had missed those arms and the person they were attached to.
"I missed you," Yusuke whispered in her ear.
"I missed you, too," Avari whispered back.
Ignoring the "Aww's" from the others (except Hiei obviously, who just looked uninterested), Yusuke leaned in and kissed her.
Avari smiled. She was in bliss...
There's more to come...
Note-And that's the chapter! I'm trying to work on making my writing a little better...more appealing? I don't know... Just REVIEW and let me know what you think. What other adventures are in store for the Spirit Detectives and Avari? Find out next time on, The Power Locked Within!