CrazyDreamerGirl: These are the people that reviewed for last chapter: sleep all night rock all day, Time and Fate, Rei Minamino, ficfan3484, Hirina, loveanime18, JoannaKuwabara, SlavetoDBZ, shadowyoukokitsune, hyperactivebluechipmunk, prismdragon, BballAnimeLover89
Disclaimer: I own the plot, but not the characters...sadly.
The Feudal Era Across the Street
Chapter 21: Life in the Feudal Era
The blue haired grim reaper sighed. She looked up into the moonless sky. Inuyasha had become human. She could see him sitting on a tree branch with a sour face. She chuckled to herself. At the times Yusuke and the others had gone to the present, there was a moonless night. Maybe that's why Inuyasha didn't bother them very much, or at least that was Kagome's theory.
Botan got up and traveled a few yards away from the campsite. She took out her communicator and opened it. She called Koenma. There was a very annoying sound coming from it. It sounded a lot like dial up internet. She cringed. Oh, if only it had a mute button, but, alas, she had to suffer. After a minute or two, Koenma picked up. He had bags under his eyes. Maybe he was skipping his afternoon naps, she mused. The young ruler pushed a small stack of papers out of his way.
"Hello, Botan, I presume that the mission is going well," he stated.
"Actually, sir, there is no sign of Naraku as of yet. He has disappeared without a trace and our search is becoming futile," she replied, pushing her bangs out of her eyes, "How's everything back in the present?"
"It's going fine. So far, there are no damages in the fabric of time. Just a few small things have changed. Nothing too horrible. But, I urge you to finish this mission as soon as possible," said Koenma.
"We are trying, but Naraku is a champion at playing hide-and-seek," replied Botan with a slight smile. She brought her hand up to her face and did her mimic of a cat. "Meow."
Koenma sweat dropped and smiled awkardly. "I see, is there anything else that you need to report?"
"Well, we met up with the priestess Kikyo about a week ago," Botan said as her tone suddenly became serious.
His brow rose. "Kikyo, you say, by my calculations she died fifty years earlier in that time..." then it dawned on him. "Her spirit, well part of it, was never delivered to Spirit World until many years later. Tell me, what happened?"
"Well, from what I was told, she was reincarnated in the girl named Kagome. Then a witch took part of Kagome's soul and fused it together with a clay doll with the likeness of Kikyo. Now, she wonders around as an undead clay doll, waiting until she can bear to part with the living," Botan summed up.
Koenma gave a great sigh. "You have no idea how much I despise that woman for what she did while she was an undead clay doll. You know she never did tell me why her spirit was so incomplete. . ."
The young Koenma, if it was possible for him to be any younger, was ecstatic that his father was finally letting him rule for Spirit World. (It was his first day!) He sucked on his pacifier quickly from happiness, but that joy was soon drained from him when a red ogre dropped a big stack of paperwork on his desk. He took out a stamp from his desk drawer and begin stamping the papers he approved of with a look of sadness.
The doors to his office opened and the same red ogre came in again. But this time, there was a spirit behind him. It was that of a young priestess, but strangely, she was incomplete. Only her left side had come.
"Who are you?" asked Koenma.
"I am the priestess Kikyo. I guarded the Shikon Jewel at one point in my life," she replied.
"I see, but why is only half of you here?"
"Time is a conundrum," was her only reply.
"Well, by our records, you should have died over fifty years ago. What took you so long?"
"I had some unfinished business," Kikyo replied coolly, "Now, will you please escort me to the afterlife? I've had enough of this."
Koenma had his hands folded on his desk as he was reading over a file. "Over here in Spirit World, we have kept a record of the strangest things certain spirits have told us. Many of the female spirits that came from the feudal era claimed that a priestess had, well, soul-napped them and used their energy to stay alive and that they barely managed to escape. They gave us a description of this priestess, and I'm afraid to say that we believe you are that priestess."
He stepped off his chair and walked in front of her. Kikyo lowered her head. She wanted to look him in the eye once he made his decision. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"I had some unfinished business," she repeated.
"So you admit to this heinous crime?"
"Yes," Kikyo said with confidence.
"I'm afraid to say, but by forcing spirits that wanted to pass on to stay, you will need to stay in hell for the next five centuries. After that, we will relocate you to a much nicer place, but until then, you will pay for your crimes," said Koenma. "Someone will escort you there. And don't try to escape, you will have a much harsher punishment for doing so." He then motioned for her to leave.
He slumped himself against the chair. He gave a great sigh and said, "That was the hardest thing I have ever done. I hope I don't have to do that again for a long time."
"Don't worry, sir, five centuries will pass in the blink of an eye and she will find peace," the ogre said.
"You're right, but what I don't get is why she said 'time is a conundrum?'"
"Well, you'll need to think of that later; I'm afraid once she decided to pass on, all the souls she was using came with her as well. They are waiting for you outside," the ogre said.
The doors opened revealing about twenty or so female spirits awaiting judgement. Koenma's eye twitched. "Can't we just use the decisions we made earlier?" the young ruler asked hopefully.
"Nope, once a spirit stays on earth for longer than a period of a week, they will need consent from a higher authority to pass on to the proper place. After all, we have no idea what they did while with the living," explained the ogre.
Koenma groaned and slammed his head against the desk. Once his father gave him more power, a few rules were going to be changed. "I hate you, Kikyo," he grumbled. "Ow."
"Koenma, Koenma, Koooooenma," Botan said, trying to reach out to the young ruler.
"Huh? What?"
"You were spacing out. What were you thinking of?"
"Nothing really. I just figured out the mystery of Kikyo and what she said to me," he replied.
"Oookay, anyway, I must be going. They're probably wondering where I went off to," said Botan and hung up.
Koenma reclined back into his chair. He stared up into the clock. In half an hour, Kikyo's punishment would be over and she will be back in his office for her new placement. He sighed. Kikyo was the very first person he had to pass judgement on. Sadly, she did a horrible crime and had to be punished. The young ruler hated to see people go to hell or to limbo. And the worst of it was, many people commit crimes against the true evil people to avenge loved ones. Those people are forced to suffer as well, but alas, rules are rules.
"George, get me Kikyo's files, she'll be here soon."
"Of course, sir." George bowed and left.
Koenma chuckled, but he was not amused at all. "So she was reincarnated. That makes things even more difficult now." He jumped off his chair. "I need to see Father for some guidance."
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Sango, Miroku, and Kagome were very relaxed this moonless night. All the other times, they would worry about attacks, but now that they had more fighters on their side, there was nothing to fear.
The cold night air was blowing. There were no clouds in the sky. The stars were very clear and visible, something a person doesn't see in any more in a city. It was a very calm and peaceful night. But for some it was quiet, too quiet.
Hiei was sitting atop of the highest branch in the tallest tree in the area around the campsite. He was currently glaring at Inuyasha in the sight of his human form. Because of him, they were forced to stop. "Weak, pathetic humans. If we didn't have to team up with them, this mission would have been over by now," he said angrily.
He jumped down from the tree and landed gracefully on the ground. He walked away from the campsite. He wanted to be alone.
"What's up with him?" asked Kagome.
"That's just Hiei being Hiei. He probably can't stand all of us and wants to be alone," replied Yusuke as he placed a pile of firewood on the ground.
"Is he always like that?"
"Yeah, for as long as I've known him, but, hey, we all need to be alone sometime, just some more than others," Yusuke said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I see." Kagome looked at Inuyasha. He always wants to be alone during his transformations. He never wants help or company. I don't understand him sometimes. We all want to help, but he gets so angry when people learn about his secret, she thought. Inuyasha caught her looking at him and gave her a look that quite plainly meant what-are-you-looking-at. She turned around and clenched her fist with an anime vein on her head. Then again, I guess I can understand. He feels like he can't protect us properly when he's human, but why does he have to be so RUDE?
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Hiei kept walking away from the campsite. If this mission was going to go anywhere, he had to do something about it. He kicked a rock a little too hard and it landed in something that sounded like water. He heard a girl yelp. He sighed. Great, what have I gotten myself into this time? he thought.
He trudged along until he reached a river. There was a small girl in tattered clothing. She had black hair and a smile that never seemed to fade. Hiei looked around and saw she was lone. He took a closer look and saw that her clothes were went from the knee down. (There were also some splashes of water on her face from the rock.)
"Who are you?" the girl asked, staring into Hiei's red eyes with her own brown eyes.
"No one that you need to concern yourself with," replied the fire demon.
"Are you a demon?" she asked, and then without waiting for an answer, she continued, "I can tell. You're eyes are red. Humans don't have red eyes."
"How nice of you to notice. . .tell, me why are you alone?"
"Hm? Oh, well, I think Jaken went off to do something."
Jaken? Probably some relative. . . he thought.
"Oh, I forgot, my name is Rin," the girl said and held her out for Hiei to shake.
"Hiei." He looked at the girl and then at her hand. He sighed. I can't believe I'm doing this, but... Hiei shook hands with the girl. He turned around to leave, but Rin tugged at his arm.
"What now?" he asked with annoyance in his voice.
"Well, it's kinda scary here alone at night. Can you stay with me until Jaken or Lord Sesshomaru come and get me?" Rin pleaded. She looked at Hiei with big, puppy dog eyes.
"Fine, but I will not stay for very long."
"Yay!"
Hiei sat on a nearby boulder, waiting for these two people, scratch that, two demons to show up. Natrurally, Rin talked about them even though Hiei didn't ask. She didn't talk much about them, but he pretty much got the gist of them after the first five or so minutes. Apparently, this Lord Sesshomaru was Lord of the Western Lands, or something like that. Hiei didn't care much for fancy titles. Then there was Jaken. A pet toad?. . .maybe. Hiei shrugged his shoulders and continued waiting.
He watched the girl try to fish, but seeing as it was dark and she didn't seem to be any good, he decided to help. "Give me that," he said and took the wooden spear in Rin's hand. She didn't object. He carefully watched the water's surface. And in a flash, Hiei had plunged the spear into the water and brought it back up. He had caught three fish. Rin's eyes lit up in joy.
In a couple minutes, Rin had come back with firewood, which Hiei lit with a snap of his fingers.
"Wow, that was cool," she commented.
"Yeah, cool. Say, why were you fishing at night?"
"Well, it's hard to tell the poisonous plants from the edible ones in the dark," replied Rin.
"But, isn't it just as hard to fi- oh, nevermind." Hiei just continued watching the fish cook in the fire. He really didn't want to take the time to fathom the mind of a little girl that didn't seem to be more than the age of eight.
"Do you know when this Jaken and Lord Sesshomaru will come?" asked Hiei.
"Um, nope."
"I see. Does that mean I have to stay here the entire night?"
"If that's how long it takes them to show up, then yeah," Rin replied with a smile.
"Joy," Hiei said sarcastically.
The fire crackled in the cold, night air. Rin reached out to grab one ofthe sticks that had a fish. The stick had become too warm and she burnt her finger. She sniffled. She held out her finger and looked as if she were about to cry. Tears were forming in her eyes and were about to roll down her cheeks.
"Let me see that," Hiei said and looked at her finger. "You'll live, just go soak it in the river for a couple minutes. It should help." Rin nodded and did was she was told. Hiei sighed. The last thing he wanted was her to start crying. That would have been an excellent ending to the campfire roast.
As Rin returned back from the river, Hiei tensed up. He grabbed the hilt of his sword. Something was coming.
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A demoness was riding on a giant feather through the skies. She had her hair up in a bun with several feathers as decoration. Her eyes were red as well. She turned to face a young, pale girl. The girl stared back at her with her dark, emotionless eyes.
"Where is the fire demon?" asked the demoness.
"At a river near our current location," the pale girl replied. The mirror she was holding suddenly had an image of Hiei appear on it. He was sitting by a fire with a small girl walking towards him.
"That's the girl that tags along with Sesshomaru."
"This will make things much harder, Kagura," the pale child said as the wind whipped across her face.
"I know, Kanna, I know," sighed Kagura and steered her feather towards Hiei's location.
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"Jaken, where is Rin?" asked a tall, dog demon. He had markings on his face. He also had long, silver hair and wore armor. He had a long, boa-like tail draped across his shoulder. His narrow, golden eyes seemed to be waiting for the small toad demon to lie.
"Milord, she is getting food," replied Jaken the toad demon. He carried a staff with two faces. He wore simple, brown clothing. His big, bug eyes seemed to beg for mercy if the dog demon were to get angry. His green face was dripping from sweat from the look the dog demon was giving him.
"Then why aren't you with her?" the dog demon asked.
"Well, I seem to recall an errand you asked me to do, Lord Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru glared at him. Jaken bowed so low that his long, nose seemed to touch the ground. "Please forgive me." Sesshomaru ignored him, stepped on him, and began walking away.
"Get Ah and Un and follow me." (Is that the right name for the two headed demon?)
"Of course, milord," replied Jaken while rubbing his back. He grabbed the reins to the green, two headed demon. The demon tried to pull away, but it eventually gave in and followed Jaken. The toad demon turned around to follow Sesshomaru, but he was missing. He sighed. "He never waits; he cares about that little nuisance more than anything else. . ."
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Hiei had sensed a strong energy signal coming their way at fast speeds. The energy seemed similar to Inuyasha's, except it was more demonic. Rin had already sat down and began eating, totally oblivious to Hiei and the coming demon. She looked up and saw Hiei's eyes looking around.
"Is something wrong?" asked Rin.
"Nothing that you need to concern youself with," replied Hiei.
There was a rustle in the trees and suddenly Rin cried out, "Lord Sesshomaru! You came back!"
Hiei did not lower his guard. He eyed the dog demon strangely. Hmph, you're telling me that a demon such as Sesshomaru hangs out with a little girl?. . .go figure, Hiei thought. He looked up. I have this odd feeling that something else is coming, but what?"
Sesshomaru looked at the fire demon sitting next to the fire. "Who are you?"
Hiei didn't answer. He just stood up and began walking away.
"That's Hiei. He's really nice," said Rin, tugging at Sesshomaru's sleeve.
"You must be Sesshomaru. . .took you long enough to get here," said Hiei with his back turned.
"I'm here, Lord Sesshomaru!" cried out a demon with an annoying voice. Hiei winced once he heard him call out. He turned his head slightly to see where that horrid noise that's called a voice was coming from. It was a small green demon with big eyes. Hiei's eye twitched.
I don't know who's worse, that thing or Kuwabara? Hiei thought. A small smirk tugged at his lips as he compared the two.
"Jaken, come, we have no more-" But Sesshomaru was cut off by a coming aerial attack.
"Dance of Blades!"
Hiei looked up. There were some sort blades made from wind coming their way. The source of the attack seemed to come from a. . .giant feather? He pulled his sword out and got into his fighting stance. No one pulls a surprise attack on the fire demon and lives.
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CrazyDreamerGirl: I am very sorry that I haven't updated sooner. (Actually last night, I thought I could never get into my account for fanfic. Turned out, there was something wrong with my internet, and it's all better now! Yay!) Oh, and if the whole Hiei comparing Jaken and Kuwabara thing seemed like I was bashing Kuwabara, I wasn't. Also, if you remember, I said I would be editing some chapters, well, I extended the fight scene in the 17th chapter.
I want to give a HUGE thanks to JoannaKuwabara for the idea about Kikyo in Spirit World. I also want to give a HUGE thanks to Rei Minamino for the idea about Rin fishing and someone from Yu Yu Hakusho comes and helps. Without you two, this chapter would not have been possible, literally. So, thanks again. Please review and no flames. . .pretty please with sugar on top.
