Chapter Seventeen: Brewing Nightmares
When Keiko and Kuwabara finally came out of the Yukimura family restaurant, Yusuke was eager to check up on her. He'd spent the whole morning worrying about her, and what he saw as they came out didn't appease him too well. It wasn't the easiest thing to notice, but from his vantage in the alley, he could see a bothered look on Kuwabara's face. Something had happened last night, he could tell that much.
Keiko was dressed in her blue school uniform. She was on her way to school, with Kuwabara following after to make sure nothing got to her, just as he'd promised. Yusuke wanted to check on her now, but something made him hesitate. Something felt wrong, but he couldn't quite place it. Yusuke sighed; everything had felt wrong since they'd met Tsarakino.
Yusuke shook off the off feeling. Keiko was fine; Kuwabara would be able to feel it if she wasn't. But still, something was definitely wrong. He'd seen Kuwabara bothered enough times to know that look on his face, there was something definitely up. But he wouldn't know just standing back here in the shadows, now would he? Bracing himself for the bad news, he stepped out of the alley, waving his hand in greeting.
"Hey!" he called to the other two, walking quickly towards them. Keiko turned up a smile when she saw him, and he noticed Kuwabara letting out a sigh of relief. That confirmed it, something had definitely happened.
"Yusuke!" Keiko ran for Yusuke, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him when she saw him. Her concerns faded for the moment, just happy to see him again this early in the morning. She was already plotting devious plans to get him into class when they got to school.
Yusuke wrapped his arms around Keiko, hugging her for a moment, before looking down into her eyes. "Missed you," he smiled, while one hand slowly stroked her side. "How did last night go? Did anything happen?" He looked from Keiko up to Kuwabara for a moment, before turning his attention back down to her.
Kuwabara shook his head, answering the question. "Not really, no. Keiko just had a bad dream, but it's okay." He didn't want to discuss last night in front of her, not here, not now. He needed to speak to Yusuke alone, but that would have to wait until after Keiko was in class. He knew Keiko would probably do everything she could to get Yusuke to go to class, but history stated that Yusuke would be spending the afternoon away from school regardless.
Keiko nodded her head, though suspicion remained adamant within her. What was it that Kuwabara wasn't willing to talk about with her around? Well, Yusuke would tell her eventually, she knew that much. She'd pester Yusuke about it later, she knew she could get him to talk. "Yeah, just a nightmare. Nothing important." She pulled herself back out of the embrace for a moment, then placed her hand neatly in his. "Now, are we going to go to school or not?" She flashed Yusuke that smile that always helped put one up on his face.
Yusuke laughed a moment and didn't move. Keiko flashed him her "Well?" expression, and he responded quickly, "I'm thinking."
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Kurama walked softly down the steps from the Kuwabara residence, that prominent blush still present on his face. He had come looking for Kuwabara, but had found a sight that still lingered in his mind. He had closed his eyes and turned his head away the moment he saw Shizuru's form, for the sake of her privacy, but the image that he'd gotten still lingered in his mind.
This had been the first time he'd seen a human female that...thoroughly...since he had become human. And despite his best efforts to remove the image from his mind, it lingered, taunting him, teasing him, trying to get him to respond to it. It was the human mind, he decided, that was making this so difficult to process.
Shizuru was not a nice person. That was something he had realized almost the moment he met her. She was downright mean most of the time, and had a predisposition towards violence. She smoked, she sneered, she took snide potshots at him, at Kuwabara, at all of them. Most verbal contact with her was something to avoid, which was easy enough, because she tended to avoid them as much as she could.
She definitely had a pretty nasty temperament, and even when she wasn't being mean, she was generally cold and heartless. But she was human, just as the rest of them were, with the exception of Hiei and Botan. She could probably crush stones in the palm of her hand, and her snarl could terrify even a demon, but he had to admit, she was fairly attractive when her mouth wasn't filled with a cigarette. That moment had made him start to realize this: she could be beautiful if she wanted to be. His mind ran back once more, back to that scene, and he closed his eyes tight and shook his head, trying to–
SLAM
And then he was on the ground. His face and much of his front ached with pain, and his hair, long though it may be, had not made the greatest mattress to catch him. His right hand came up and rubbed his face, trying to ease the ache, and he opened his eyes back up to catch the source of the sudden pain. To his deepest embarrassment, he had walked right into a tree.
His embarrassment would only worsen when he heard the clapping sound from up in the branches, the sound of someone mockingly applauding his show of inattentive walking. Kurama turned his eyes up, and just as he expected, there was Hiei, sitting on one of the branches of the very tree he had slammed into.
An expression of amusement was emblazoned upon Hiei's face, and the demon could not resist getting the shot in. "The great Kurama taken down by a tree," he smirked. "You know, there is a touch of irony in that."
Kurama let out a soft groan, then chuckled a little. "Nice to see you too, Hiei."
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"With all due respect, you can't be serious." Megumi stood outraged in Koenma's office, a look of pure confusion on her face. "A civilian, my lord. That boy is a CIVILIAN. What's more, he's a common civilian thug. He shouldn't be a part of this...I shudder to call them a team." This argument had carried on for half an hour already, and Koenma was beginning to tire of it.
"Megumi," Koenma spoke directly, "I am beginning to suspect it was a mistake to give you this job." Before Megumi could speak, he continued. "Kuwabara has proven himself a loyal asset to this team, just as much as the rest of them have. They have all proven themselves more than capable of doing the jobs put to them, and they are, every one of them, dependable, uniquely talented, and above all, trustworthy."
"Even Hiei?" Megumi's voice carried a bitterness not often heard from in Koenma's ranks, and it served only to frustrate Koenma further.
However, every defense he attempted to form in response to her question voided itself in his mouth. He did not like to have his judgment questioned, but Megumi had simply put words to a point he, himself, had made several times. "Hiei..." Koenma tried to think of a way to finish that, but found himself hesitant, found himself searching for the right words, the right phrasing, the right...anything. "Hiei...is contained..." He settled for that. "We still don't know where his loyalties lie, but he has proven that he's willing to at least work with us for the time being."
"He's a beast," Megumi snarled. "He needs to be thrown into the underworld. He's a vile, malicious creature that does not deserve the kindness this establishment has shown him." She spoke softer now, realizing that she had upset Koenma, and realizing just how dangerous an act that was to do. "I...I'm sorry, my lord. I let my feelings get the best of me. I just don't understand how you can trust him...any of them, really."
Koenma sighed. "I don't trust him, Megumi," he admitted to her. "That's why I've been trying to keep him away from Botan. I do agree with you, Hiei is dangerous, but he has shown that he is willing to work with us." Koenma found his mind returning to Botan now, and oddly enough, he found himself now making the same argument Botan had made to him once before. It was strange to find himself defending Hiei, of all people. "I don't know, maybe Botan was right. Maybe there is something deeper to him. But he has helped us time and time again. He's done a lot of good for our establishment, and we do owe him that recognition."
Megumi was not happy to hear this, but Koenma's judgment was law. "And the others?" she asked. "Kazuma Kuwabara is a civilian, and he doesn't seem to have much of a brain to him. He's...he's going to get himself killed, because he's too stupid not to. Detective Urameshi is a thug, and I don't trust him not to abuse the power we're giving him. He's common street trash. And Kurama...Kurama isn't even a demon anymore. He's grown too soft. He's become docile, and I'm not convinced he even remembers how to fight anymore."
Koenma sighed. "Megumi...you need to look deeper. There is more to them, any of them, than just what they show on the outside. Yusuke has a good, strong heart. It's what brought him to us in the first place. I don't know if you know this, but when we first brought Yusuke here, it was because he had died saving the life of a small child. He had thrown himself in front of a car to shove the little boy out of its way. Yes, Megumi, he is violent and yes, he can be a bit of a 'thug', but you need to look past that.
Your problem, Megumi," Koenma continued, "is that you never learned to do that. You need to open your eyes more and look deeper than this. I know you can do it. I chose you for this job because you have the kind of strength Yusuke needs on his side, but I can't have you attacking my judgment at every turn."
Megumi sighed. She knew she was beaten, she knew Koenma was right. She knew she'd stepped out of line. Still, she couldn't see any of what he was talking about. She knew Urameshi's type, she knew all of their "types". But she was definitely bordering on insubordination at this point, so she just sighed and conceded the point. "Yes, my lord. I apologize." She would have to find a better means of making her point realized.
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The young demon girl sighed as she remained seated on the soft grass within the forest, with her back pressed up against the base of one of the many trees. This plan wasn't going anywhere, and she knew it. That damned triclops was too cold, too untrusting. She ran one of her claws up to her forehead, rubbing it softly. What had she gotten herself into? And what was she going to do now?
Phase Three depended on her, and she knew that. She was the only one that could make this work, but it just wasn't working. But her masters wouldn't accept that, she knew they wouldn't. Lord Fjerin was counting on her, and Lord Tsarakino...there was definitely something that was just friggin' creepy about Lord Tsarakino. She wouldn't put it past him to execute her for her failure.
She'd thought this would be easy. And why hadn't it been! She was hot! She knew that better than anyone else. It's why she was given this job. 4 out of 5 demons would do just about anything she wanted of them if she said it in that coy, mysterious voice of hers. But this one seemed to be resilient to her. What was he, gay!
Okay, now she was just ranting. She sighed and pressed both hands to her forehead, trying to think straight. This demon was proving more difficult to get close to than most, but she could do it, she knew she could. She had to, for her own sake. Without Phase Three...well, without Phase Three, none of it meant anything. The stolen Jigan was completely useless without Phase Three, and if the Jigan was useless, then so was she. This whole "Unit K" plan hinged on her success here, and if she failed...well, she knew she wouldn't walk away from a failure this important.
Her worries were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming through the forest. She got up quickly, realizing she was too visible out here in the open, but it was too late. She saw a young girl, probably only 14 or 15, walking directly towards her with a business look on her face. Great, so now she'd been spotted, that just made her failure all the more drastic, didn't it? Well, this one wasn't going to get out!
She moved as fast as she could, throwing herself at the girl and shoving her up against the tree behind her with her left claw. Her right wristblade withdrew from its retracted state, extending to approximately two feet, and she raised it up to remove the problem. But before she struck, the girl's eyes glowed with green energy to identify her for about three seconds, and she snarled. "Let go of me, Kitrone. Now."
Kitrone's eyes widened when she saw the green eyes and she pulled back, while retracting her right wristblade back into its place. "Lord Tsarakino!" she exclaimed quickly, "I...I'm sorry, my lord. I thought...I thought you were..."
"I know," Tsarakino responded, not wanting to waste time with this. He went straight to business. "How is Phase Three coming along? Well, I hope?" His voice had a dangerous tone in it, and she knew better than to try and deceive him. Worst case scenario, he could enter her mind.
"Not...not so good..." she confessed, hoping not to anger Lord Tsarakino. She knew that Lord Fjerin respected her judgment and believed strongly in her, and that he cared enough for his Agents that he wouldn't do anything rash. But Lord Tsarakino...she didn't trust him. There was just something about him that seemed wrong, and she couldn't help but wonder why he even cared about any of this. And that frightened her, not knowing. "Hiei...he's a lot harder to get close to than I anticipated. I've managed to talk to him a couple times, but they were brief."
"There is still plenty of time," Tsarakino comforted her. "You have time, but don't get careless. This whole thing hinges on you." She didn't need to be reminded of that, but he reinforced it anyway. "We need to know how it works before we try to use it. You know that as much as I do. We need to understand it or we could, I don't know, accidentally make it explode and kill us all, or something. Now, you need to get that info. It's useless without it." They both knew what 'it' he was referring to. It didn't really need to be spoken between them.
Kitrone nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, my lord, I understand. I'll...I'll try harder." She swallowed hard, curiosity beginning to nag at her. This wasn't the only phase in operation at the moment, she knew that. "Um...if I'm allowed to ask...how's Phase Two going? I mean with...y'know..."
She was worried that Lord Tsarakino might be upset by her nosing, but to her relief, he wasn't. He tilted his host's head back, and his trademark smirk appeared across her lips. It was accompanied, however, with half-closed, peaceful eyes that looked almost like a state of ecstasy. "Believe me, that one has no difficulty. Phase Two is going marvelously." His grin was beginning to creep her out. She was suddenly very happy to not be a part of Phase Two.
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Yusuke had managed to give Keiko the slip in the halls of their school. He hated doing that, but there were far more important things to deal with right now than class. He met Kuwabara just outside, as he usually did when Keiko cornered him into coming into the school building, with a look of urgency on his face. He didn't even dispense with the greetings before getting straight to the point, "Alright, Kuwabara, what happened last night?"
"Not here," Kuwabara urged. "Let's get away from the school a bit. I don't want Keiko to overhear this."
The two walked a block down the street, slipping into the old, familiar vacant lot, before going to the subject at hand. Kuwabara sighed, not sure how to explain it. "Something went after Keiko last night. It just...appeared, out of nowhere. I couldn't even feel it until I realized something was wrong, it was like it just didn't exist."
Yusuke was confused. Kuwabara had the strongest sixth sense in the group. "Was it Tsarakino?" he pushed, because now he was very concerned for Keiko.
Kuwabara shook his head, though, which only made Yusuke even more confused. "It was something else, something...I don't know. It wasn't Tsarakino. It felt older than that. It felt very old, and very..." Kuwabara struggled to find a better word, to find one that didn't sound like an overreaction, but no other word would define what he felt last night. "...evil."
This took Yusuke by surprise. "Was it a demon? Could you see it? Was it physical?" he had too many questions now, he wanted to know everything about what had happened to Keiko, and he wanted to know now.
"It wasn't a demon. It was kinda like Tsarakino, a shadow thing that you can't really see. Except I saw it for a moment. It was like this black snake that was coiled around her, and she was really thrashing around. I think she was having a really bad dream. I think it was giving her a bad dream." Kuwabara paused a moment, trying to gather his words.
"What was it?" Yusuke asked. "What do you think it was? You guessed Tsarakino. What's your guess here?"
Kuwabara thought for a moment, trying to think. Thinking had never been his strong suit, though, so in the end, he had to go with his instincts. "You know those dreams where something really bad is chasing you? And you don't know what it is, you can't see it, or you can but you just can't make it out? But you know it's evil, and it's after you, and if you let it reach you, it's going to kill you, so you run, but it just seems to be faster than you, and no matter how fast you run, you can't get away from it? And then, just before it can get you, you wake up?"
Yusuke had seen a couple of those dreams before. Just about everyone had. He nodded his head.
Kuwabara swallowed hard. "I think that's what it was. The thing that chases you in the dream. That's my guess, anyway. That's what it felt like, to me. Like a very old, very deadly, and very powerful nightmare."
