Chapter 1: Chasing Shadows
'Why the hell are we always stuck blindly running around big empty buildings like this? It's like looking for a needle in a fucking hay stack.' A young man was thinking to himself… in a manner of speaking. He was not in the least surprised when he actually got an answer.
'Quit complaining, you have been whining about not getting any action ever since the barrier came down. Now we get a chance for a fight and you still manage to find something to bitch about.' The voice was smooth and dripping with arrogance, and it was coming from inside the young fighters head.
The young man rolled his emerald green eyes in annoyance. 'I'm not bitching about anything Youko, I'm just wondering why I can't sense any demonic aura other than our own.'
'Ether Koenma got board and decided to send us off on a wild goose chase for his own sick amusement or that horribly, disastrously, monstrously powerful shadow demon he was going on about was a piece of shit and Yusuke already killed it.' Youko drawled out with a yawn. 'I'm thinking the latter of the two scenarios myself.'
The teen just nodded absently with out giving a reply.
'Oh come on Kurama! there will be plenty more chances for you to get some exercise, peace isn't as easy as they try to make it sound. You're not out of a job yet.'
'You make me sound like some kind of war monger Youko.' Kurama muttered.
'Peace is boring.' Youko countered.
Kurama just snorted and shook his head, wondering how he had managed to put up with the annoying fox for so long.
They were wandering around in a half built condominium near where Yusuke lived. It was six floors high, with about fifty rooms per floor. None of the doors were locked; therefore this shadow demon could be hiding in any room. Yusuke had agreed to start on the bottom floor and go up while Kurama was to start on the top and go down. The idea was to trap the thing somewhere in the middle. Yusuke of course, wasted at least five minutes complaining about the elevators not working. As much as he kept complaining about having to wander around aimlessly, Kurama didn't actually mind the place that much. He liked the fact that it smelled like saw dust, and paint, and it also had that new carpet smell to it. Kurama supposed it was a human thing, to enjoy that new house smell. Youko didn't like it much.
Kurama was beginning to appreciate how much easier jobs like these were back when the whole group was together. Hiei could have found the thing in record time using either his jagon eye or his demonic speed, but right now he was pretty busy patrolling the borders of Makai for humans. It was only a temporary thing, but he seemed to be enjoying his new job. He came back every now and then to help out when things got out of hand, and to check on his sister, Yukina, but he was not around nearly as much as he used to be. Kuwabara had been attacking his homework with a vigor comparable only to his enthusiasm in a fight. It was difficult to deter him from his studies unless there was certain to be a really good fight, and he sure as hell was not going to be getting up at two thirty in the morning on a school day to chase a weak shadow demon through a gigantic maze of a building. That meant that unless the world was coming to an end, (and that had been happening less and less frequently lately) it was mostly up to Yusuke and Kurama to handle the few demons causing trouble and breaking demon worlds new law, at least until Koenma managed to find himself a new team of spirit detectives to replace Yusuke and the gang.
'Stop lying to yourself, you miss the good old days and you know it!' Youko growled in annoyance.
'Maybe, but I would never take it back. There is finally peace between the three worlds! (Mostly) isn't this what we were fighting for in the first place?' Kurama snapped
'It will never last. There's been war since the beginning of time. Things will pick up again, but it won't likely be till long after your dead.' Youko said, in a tone reminiscent of a parent chiding a child.
'And by then Yusuke will be ready to take his place as Raizens heir.' Kurama murmured thoughtfully.
'Or to try anyway.' Youko said with a snort of disdain. 'Things aren't quite that simple in demon world. There will always be challengers for that kind of power.'
'Like you?' Kurama asked with a knowing smile.
'If I'm still around? Hell yes! I got that kid beat by over five hundred years; I don't care if he is the descendent of a demon lord. I'll show that cocky little brat why I am the greatest thief who ever lived!' Kurama laughed out loud at Youko's haughty tone till tears were forming in his eyes. He had to stop and catch his breath before he could respond; glad that no one was around to see him laughing at nothing because they would surely think he was insane.
'Youko, how do you live with that massive ego of yours?' Kurama asked once he had calmed down enough to think properly.
'If I had my own body you wouldn't have the guts to say that to my face.' Youko pouted.
Kurama just shrugged and flashed a devious smile, his emerald eyes sparkling with amusement.
Youko was about to say something more about how he was vastly superior to his human counterpart but he was cut short when a small grey creature about the size of a medium sized dog darted out of a room a few feet from where they were arguing and raced down the hall at top speed. It would dive into the darkest shadows in corners and under doorways, and then reappear a split second later yards away in another patch of gloom. Kurama took off after it running as fast as he could, muttering curses under his breath.
'Well there's our shadow demon.' Youko cried cheerfully.
'How the hell am I supposed to catch it?' Kurama demanded.
'You corner it in a well lit room of course!' Youko said in a tone that clearly stated that Kurama should already know how to capture the pathetic creature.
'Where the hell am I going to find a well lit room in a half built condo at two o'clock in the morning?'
'Actually its three o'clock now.' Youko stated, preferring to ignore the more pressing question.
'I wish Hiei was here.' Kurama muttered as the shadow demon rounded another corner, making weird screeching noises that were beginning to hurt his Kurama's sensitive ears. The thing resembled some sort of freakish boar, it's skin was a soft blue gray like the color a corpse turns after its been left for too long in water. It was completely hairless, and it had hooves that were too big for the rest of its body. It was so awkward it was a miracle it could run so damn fast. The thing was an oddity of nature.
After several minutes of running an irritated Kurama in circles the demon seemed to change its mind and headed for the stairs.
'Yes! Now we can get Yusuke to help us corner it!' Kurama cried.
'Or not…' Youko sighed, finally bored with watching Kurama chase the shadow demon in circles. The futility of his effort was amusing for a while but now it was just annoying. The shadow demon went down one flight of steps as fast as its little legs would go. It paused for a second, eyeing the door to the fourth floor before charging it down with an indifferent grunt. It didn't even stop to catch it bearings before continuing its mad dash down the hall, Kurama fast on its tail.
'It almost seems like it knows where it's going.' Kurama said, more to himself than to Youko.
'I doubt this stupid creature has any method to its madness but keep your guard up none the less.' Youko said with a mental shrug.
Kurama nodded and watched the creature carefully. It ran them in circles a few more times before changing direction and finally darting into one of the rooms on their left. Kurama uttered a victory noise; finally he had cornered the damn thing. The only thing left to do now was to catch it. Not an easy feat in a pitch black two bedroom condo, but at least he wasn't running in circles anymore. He snuck into the room, stealthy as a fox, and closed the door behind him so the creature couldn't escape.
'Did you not just see him bust through a door a few minutes ago?' Youko said with an exasperated snort.
'There's no point in leaving an easy escape route. At least I'll hear him if he busts down the door.' Kurama snapped defensively.
There was a flare of powerful demonic energy and the two were instantly alert and searching for the source.
'It's coming from somewhere in here.' Youko commented.
'I told you that thing knew where it was going.' Kurama muttered as he drew a rose from out of his hair and transformed it into his rose whip with a casual flick of his wrist. 'You think this is some sort of trap?' He asked.
'Probably.' Yuko said with a mental shrug
'Well lets go beat the hell out of this bastard for making us run around in circles at three in the morning on a school day.'
'You have been around Yusuke for way too long Kurama.'
'I know. So have you.'
Youko was not quite sure how to respond to that so he just kept silent. Kurama focused once again on the aura, analyzing it critically.
'This must be the s class shadow demon Koenma was talking about.' Kurama said, more to break the silence than anything else.
'Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation?' Youko drawled.
Kurama rolled his eyes and headed for the room where the shadow demon was waiting for them. There were no windows in the room, leaving it pitch black. This was shadow demon territory anyone could see it. Kurama's night vision was ten times better than that of any ordinary human, and he could make out a woman sitting on top of a large palette of tiles, probably the ones that were going to be used for either the kitchen or bathroom floors. It was difficult to make out her features in the dark, but she had short black hair, dark eyes, gray blue skin, and she was wearing form fitting black clothes. Sitting at her feet was the d class demon that they had been chasing previously.
"Youko Kurama, you have fallen right into my trap." She said flatly.
'What? No diabolical laughter?' Kurama mentally muttered
'That's a first.' Youko agreed.
The woman's eyes narrowed; irritated that Kurama was not paying any attention to her, instead he was staring off into space, smiling at some private joke. She had spent all that time coming up with the perfect trap, and he wasn't even taking her seriously. She jumped off the palette of tile and gathered her energy around her, taking in the surrounding blackness until it was impossible to see anything. Kurama readied his whip but discovered he was only holding an ordinary rose. He uttered a frustrated growl and poured his energy into it to make it transform, gasping in shock when the flower remained in its harmless form.
'She's blocking our aura some how.' Youko growled.
'I noticed! How the hell am I supposed to stop her?' Kurama snapped.
The woman giggled softly from somewhere in the blackness, and Kurama tossed the rose aside and turned to face her… or where he estimated her voice was coming from. He closed his eyes and pictured the room in his mind, trying to calculate where the large palate was, and where there were a few stray tiles on the floor he might trip over. Once he decided he know where everything was he lunged at the voice with all his speed. An agonizing pain overwhelmed him before he got very far, and he fell to his knees with a strangled cry. The giggle turned into all out laughter that rang in his skull and filled the blackness. Kurama felt as if he were being consumed slowly by fire. The feeling pushed inward until he could feel it in his gut, like a thousand red hot knives. He tried to scream, but he couldn't breath. He vaguely registered Youko yelling at him to get up but he knew it would be futile to try.
Kurama could feel the woman standing over him, but he didn't bother trying to move. Another wave of pain shot through him and this time he was coughing up blood. She put her hand on his shoulder and he felt a wave of her energy rip through him, and then it started. His energy started to divide in half, and then it started pulling in opposite directions. It felt like his soul was being ripped in half, his body being ripped in half along with it. Youko's cries were no longer making any sense. The pain wasn't allowing the ancient fox to think clearly. It was maddening. Kurama made a choking gasp at a sudden realization. Youko wasn't supposed to feel the pain that was being inflicted on Kurama's body. That could only mean that that woman was trying to rip them apart by force. As a result they would both surely die.
Kurama uttered an animalistic growl and tried to stand, but the woman merely laughed and delivered a hard kick to his solarplex, sending him crashing back to the ground. Kurama could feel the tug of war Youko's aura was having with his own, and he wondered how long it would be till he was nothing but a bloody mess. The damage this would do to his soul would be permanent, meaning him and Youko might be in for a fate much worse than death: non-existence. The woman poured more of her energy in between Youko and Kurama's auras and they began pulling even harder away from each other. Kurama screamed as loud as he could, and his scream was echoed in his head by Youko's. The pain was becoming too much and Kurama could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing he heard before he was completely gone was the sound of Yusuke's angry voice.