Warnings: None
Lucky Child
Chapter 43:
"Buying Time"
The dark lifted, eventually, but it lifted merely into gloom.
Mouth dry, temple on fire, I woke coughing and spitting on a cold concrete floor. I tried to sit on reflex, but when I tried to push myself upright, my hands stayed firmly behind my back. The rough cords biting into my wrists told me why. Ankles had suffered similar treatment. For a minute I didn't know what was happening, why it was so dark, why I could pick out only the barest silhouettes of boxy-looking shadows with my hazy vision.
Then I remembered Hiei.
Then I remembered Botan.
Clarity sliced through my sleepy brain like razor wire. Rolling onto my back (a feat that painfully squashed my fingers and wrists) I sat straight up and tried to get a look around. My head pounded like artisans kneading mochi with wooden mallets as I craned my neck, but luckily it only took a moment to find her. Botan lay on her back, unbound, mere feet away. Although I could barely see the outline of her body amidst the shadows, I knew at once the figure on the ground must be her. Scooting on my butt brought me closer, but with my hands bound as they were, I couldn't do much to help her. If I could help her, that is. That Evil Eye had to be opening on her forehead even now—
My breathing hitched.
In the anime and the manga, Botan had kept the Eye from opening on Keiko's forehead with her white magic (or pneumatherapy, as the manga dubbed it). Now, though, it was Botan who'd been cut. How long had I been out? How long had that Eye been left to grow and open, inching Botan closer and closer to mindless demonhood?
Panic tried to slip in, then, hissing accusations of Keiko being a useless waste of space into my ear, but I clenched my nails into my palm and the cuts I'd carved there the night before. Now was no time for panic. Not when Botan's life hung in the balance thanks to my carelessness.
I was sharp enough, now, to know this change of canon was—once again—entirely my fault.
Which meant the burden of making things right fell squarely on my shoulders.
I took a deep breath and rolled forward onto my feet. I didn't stand, though: I hooked my hands down and under my ass, sliding my bound wrists below my thighs and behind my knees (my shoulders groaned at the strain of this, given how far up Hiei had tied my wrists, but I grit my teeth and refused to feel that pain). Then I rolled backward, extended my legs, and slid my hands up past my calves and ankles and feet. My house keys jangled in my pocket, one of them pressing sharp against my side. Getting my hands in front of me did wonders for my mood. Made me feel just a touch less helpless in this terrible scenario. My brain raced like a freight train as I picked at the knots binding my ankles. The tall, square shapes looming above us were certainly boxes or crates of some kind—a warehouse, then, just like in the anime.
There was only one warehouse district in all of Sarayashiki. Unless Hiei had spirited us away to Tokyo, we probably weren't too far from Hideki-sensei's dojo. At least I knew where we were, even if I had precious little else to go on.
Next to me, Botan groaned. Leaving the knots alone, I cupped her feverish face in my bound hands. Another groan bubbled in her chest. Panic rose in harmony within mine.
"Hiei?" I called aloud. "Hiei, are you there?"
He did not reply, not that I expected otherwise. Thick silence complemented the warehouse's gloom like a fashionable purse. Once more I wondered what time it was, and how long Hiei had left me sleeping—and why he hadn't cut me the way he'd cut Botan.
Had my plan worked, even in part? Did he see me as a person enough to spare me the fate of becoming a demon thrall? Or had he simply needed only one hostage to get cut by the Sword?
Truth be told, I was afraid to find out.
I resumed clawing at the knots around my ankles. Bit by bit they relaxed, letting my fingers worm into their innards, until they at last came loose. I rolled my ankles, trying to coax the return of circulation.
"OK, Botan," I muttered as I stood up. "Let's get you out of here."
Just as I grabbed her hand and began planning the logistics of carrying an unconscious humanoid while my hands were bound (because that feat would definitely take a bit of planning to get right), a shaft of light cut the gloom above my head. The sound of a rattling door shattered the cloying silence.
"All right, scumbag!" Yusuke bellowed. "Come out! I'm here for Keiko and Botan, so show your ugly-ass face!"
I was screaming Yusuke's name before I could even think to stay quiet. Yusuke yelled mine back, but his feet slapped the concrete floor a mere three times before I heard him skid to a halt.
"Well, well, well," Hiei drawled. "You actually showed up." I could practically see his supervillain sneer. "You're the Underworld's Spirit Detective? Up close, I see you're a weedy nothing. It makes me furious to think how much trouble you've been."
"Oh, shut up!" Yusuke snarled. "Let's get down to business. Here're the stupid Treasures—now gimme back Botan and Keiko!"
"Why, sure. No problem," Hiei said. Inside I cringed at his obvious, simpering lies. "The game's only worth playing if you follow the rules."
There came a jangling noise, metallic and thin, and a bell-like resonance as two objects hit the floor. Yusuke said, "There. Now where the hell are they?"
Hiei let out a low laugh; I heard another jingle and another chime as he picked the Treasures off the floor.
"They're the real thing," he said, sounding almost (almost) impressed. Tone snide, he said: "You really care so much for these two? You'd trade priceless treasures for the lives of two mere girls?"
"Kid, the fact that you think they're 'two mere girls' shows how much you know," Yusuke snarked. "You better not have touched them, or I swear I'll—!"
"Interesting," Hiei said. "So they are that important to you."
Yusuke started to speak, but a foot slid over the pavement like a whisper and my friend fell silent. Hiei must have pointed or something, because then Yusuke's feet pounded the ground in a mad dash. He skidded around the corner of a tower of crates a second later, eyes alighting on me with a flash of relief.
"Keiko, Botan—" he said, but I shook my head.
"Yusuke, we need help." I gestured at the blue-haired reaper. "Hiei cut her with the Sword. Look—"
Yusuke all but did a power-slide on his knees to get next to us, ripping the bonds off my wrists with a single yank of his powerful hands—hands which proceeded to flail impotently around Botan's sleeping face. Yusuke had power, but not the kind Botan needed. In this light I finally got a good look at her pale cheeks and sweating face, blue bangs limp and slick around the black line bisecting her forehead. I'm not sure Yusuke understood what he was looking at; he seemed worried, sure, but he didn't say much until after Hiei's voice slunk toward us through the shadows.
"Did you really think I'd give them back in a straight swap?" Hiei asked. "You idiot! Take a look at her forehead!"
On cue, the line on Botan's forehead twitched. Something wet gleamed between the flaps of her pale skin, rolling beneath her flesh like a marble under thin rice paper. Beside me, Yusuke tensed.
"I returned her, as promised," Hiei said, tone dripping with malice and sadistic glee, "but her fate is in my hands. She'll have the honor of being my first slave. Once that Eye opens fully, she'll be a demon under my control!"
"What happened to 'playing by the rules'?" Yusuke growled before throwing his head back with an enraged roar. "How dare you? She wasn't a part of this!"
"Did you really think I'd let you off that easily, or trade without a little insurance?" Hiei cackled. "No. I'm going to take you down, Detective!"
Behind us, metal scraped on the floor. Yusuke and I turned as one as Hiei stepped around a stack of towering crates, tip of the Shadow Sword dragging the ground with a thin metallic scream. Hiei wore a maniacal grin as he approached, scarlet eyes wide and wild when Yusuke stood up and faced him.
"Why?" he asked. "Why do you want to fight me? You've got the Treasures." He lashed out an arm, frustrated and confused. "What the hell do you want now?"
Hiei's eyes flickered in my direction, I thought, or perhaps I just imagined it. To Yusuke Hiei said, "To fight Spirit World's latest stooge, of course. To test my power against the errand boy handpicked by the geniuses in Spirit World." He raised the sword, glaring at Yusuke down the length of the dark blade. "And when I take you out, it will be one less Spirit World dog tracking my scent."
Yusuke grunted, glancing my way. "Keiko," he said, voice ragged with adrenaline, "you have to get help. You have to take Botan and get help."
I couldn't help the sarcasm, humor fighting for control over rising panic. "Help? Help from whom?" I groused. "Do you know anyone who specializes in third eye removal?"
"All right, fair point," Yusuke said, looking back at Hiei with a grimace. "Isn't there anything we can do, though?! I'm not letting my assistant turn into a fucking demon without a fight!"
Neither was I, I wanted to tell him. Neither was I.
Only no words came out—because what the fucking heck was I supposed to do to help?!
Hiei's laughter cut the air like he'd swung his sword. "That reminds me," he said, holding up the Sword again. "The hilt of this Sword contains an antidote to the poison's effects. Fight me and you might just save your friend…so long as you can give her the antidote before that Eye opens all the way." He threw back his head and laughed, long and hard like he'd heard the funniest joke in history. "As if you could ever hope to match my speed and actually take it from me in time!"
The words slipped out on a frightened gasp. "Once the Eye opens, the effects are irreversible," I said with a glance at Botan, fingernails cutting into my palms again. Botan had held the Eye closed for Keiko with reiki in the anime—but Keiko had no such powers to use on Botan. Nails pressing even harder into my fragile skin, I said, "Oh, fuck."
Yusuke muttered a low curse, but then he tossed his slick hair and pounded a fist into his opposite palm.
"Fine," he declared, swinging his arm in a baseball stretch. "I don't wanna touch your slimy ass, Hiei, but if it's to save Botan…" He assumed a Bruce Lee pose, curling his hand as he spit defiantly at Hiei's feet. "Bring it on, asshole!"
Hiei's feral grin widened.
"Let the life-or-death game of cat and mouse begin!" he said—and then he disappeared.
Hiei flickered in and out of sight like a ghost, landing a solid punch to Yusuke's cheek in the time it took for me to inhale. Yusuke skittered backward before pelting off between a stack of crates and out of sight. Hiei followed, of course, tailing my friend into the warehouse with nary a peek in my direction. The slap of fists and the indistinct din of shouts rang inside the warehouse's echoing innards, but I tuned them out and turned to Botan.
I'd leave Yusuke to Hiei. Botan was my battle.
And she was a battle I'd be hard-pressed to fight and win.
As if responding to Hiei's ferocity, the line on her forehead flickered, and then it widened. Pale purple with striations of black stared up at me through a thin, slitted lid.
Bile invaded my throat. I choked down the urge to vomit. Fingers trembling, I pushed my fingers against the eyelid, trying to pinch it shut manually, pushing so hard I feared I'd breach the Eye and plunge my fingers straight into Botan's soft brain—but beneath my hand I felt it writhe and twist, hard like a stone, as if the Eye itself knew it was being closed and meant to rail against my efforts.
"Oh, fuck," I said, trying not to think about the absurd futility of holding a magic Eye closed with nothing but my fingers. "Oh, oh fuck!"
The shouting and sounds of battle drifted far, then near again, as the two combatants chased each other through the warehouse—Hiei taunting and laughing at Yusuke all the while. But as they neared me, Hiei let out a strangled cry; Yusuke's voice rose clear as the sounds of fighting paused.
"Are you done yapping yet?" he said—quoting the anime almost verbatim, I realized with a nostalgic jolt. "See Hiei, that's what I'm talking about! Yap, yap, yap, like you're some crappy pro-wrestler. Then what happens? You have to eat up all your words. You and that pimple you call an Evil Eye are pretty dumb!"
"Dumb?" Hiei's growl echoed through the room. "My Evil Eye, dumb? You won't be saying that when I use it to rip your spine from your body," he said—and then Yusuke yodeled something about freaky eyes and bad haircuts, and the fight was back on. Hiei had transformed, it seemed. Was the fight nearly over?
Beneath my fingers, the Evil Eye squirmed, and wetness seared my fingers as it opened another centimeter.
Yusuke's pained shout grated against my skin like sandpaper. "Please, just keep fighting," I said even though he couldn't hear me. Babbling released some of the tension building in my gut. "Please, please, Yusuke, please keep fighting—please fight fast—please beat that son of a bitch Hiei black and blue, I don't care that he's my favorite, we have to save Botan, dammit, please Yusuke—" I drew breath like an outlaw drawing a revolver. "Kurama's supposed to show up and disable Hiei's Evil Eye but I'll give you my goddamn pepper spray if that'll make things easier, it'd blind Hiei even better than the blood probably, please—!"
I stopped talking.
My hands, my body—they froze. The Eye under my hand moved again, but this time I barely felt it. Eyes fixed on Botan's face, mind racing, breath held, an epiphany seized my brain like a grasping hand.
Oh.
OH.
That's it!
I didn't have to stop the Evil Eye completely.
I just had to buy time for Yusuke to get that antidote.
Letting go of Botan's eye took every ounce of my courage, but I did it, and I reached into my pocket for my keys. The bright red canister dangling from them almost sparkled in the warehouse's thin light, a beacon of hope amidst this terrible, hopeless situation.
The warning label on the side read: CAUTION—Eye irritant.
"It had fucking better be." I flipped the cap off my pepper-spray and took aim. "Sorry in advance, girlfriend."
And then I pepper-sprayed Botan right in the fucking face.
The rope of yellow goop shot out of the canister faster than I expected, but it hit Botan's new eye right between its spreading lids. Unfortunately my shaking hands and the surprise of the moment sent the stream off-track, accidentally splashing down and onto the rest of Botan's pale face. The skin around all three of her eyes (not to mention her petite nose) puffed up and reddened almost at once; I winced as Botan groaned even in her sleep, head jerking as pain cut through her unconscious haze.
Upon her forehead, the lids of her third eye swelled completely shut, swollen and red like she'd been stung in the face by a hundred bees.
"Oh man," I said, pepper-spray falling to the ground with a clatter. "I am so, so sorry!"
Oblivious to the time I'd bought him, Yusuke raged on against Hiei's advances, but seconds turned to minutes faster than they had any right to. The fight dragged on, and on, waging war against the time borrowed by my pepper-spray. The Eye had closed, but even my panic-stricken brain knew this was just a stopgap measure, at best. No way could something as mundanely human as pepper-spray halt the progression of the supernatural Evil Eye—not for long. I needed to buy more time, dammit! The Eye would force its way open without that antidote or pneumatic healing to slow its progression. I could picture the scene from the anime in my head, envision the way Botan's hand had crackled with electric light as she healed Keiko and—
Memory of a hand suffused in warm light filled my brain to bursting…only it wasn't Botan's hand, this time. It was rougher. Older.
Because today was a day for epiphanies, something else occurred to me. Or, more specifically, someone.
There was only one person I knew of, aside from Botan, who could possibly help us now.
"Yusuke!" I hollered toward the ceiling. "I have an idea!"
His frantic response echoed through the gloom. "Little busy, Keiko!"
"Just hold him off, dammit, OK?!"
Yusuke grunted again, but the crunch of a connecting punch silenced his reply. Grabbing Botan's arm, I levered her over my shoulder in a fireman's carry, stumbling under her weight toward the light streaming in the warehouse's open door. I didn't see Hiei and Yusuke (although I didn't try to look for them since I was, y'know, busy as all hell) and managed to exit the warehouse in one piece. The night air outside lapped cool and clean at my face, a far cry from the musty store room, but I couldn't afford to take a moment to appreciate it. Warehouses towered tall above me, grey and forbidding in the dim streetlamps lighting up the lot.
The lot I recognized—because I'd come here many, many times before.
Help was close. So close I could taste it.
My relief was short-lived, however, because just then a cold hand closed tight around my wrist.
I'm sorry to say I dropped Botan like a sack of potatoes, but the indelicate handling was necessary considering the circumstances. With a quick snap of my elbow I flung the hand off my wrist, spinning to face the five men standing behind me in a knot. Eyes vacant, mouths slack, they walked with a shuffling gait in my direction, hardly seeing me even as they reached in my direction. None bore extra eyes on their foreheads, to my immense relief.
So these were Hiei's thralls, then—humans whose minds had been swayed by the Jagan to do their master's bidding. I'd almost forgotten that particular ability of the Jagan's in all this madness (Hiei only ever used this power during this story arc, anyway), but now that the thralls had appeared, it was a wonder I'd forgotten them in the first place.
"OK," I said, raising my fists and settling into a low strike-stance, "so he's not going to go easy on me." My nails cut once more into my palms. "Bring it on, you little goth punk."
The thralls lunged, quite ignoring Botan in favor of subduing me. Maybe they were like T-rexes and could only see movement or something; who knows? I danced backward out of their way, ducking low beneath an outstretched arm to sweep a leg at the nearest thrall's ankles. He fell on his back with a yelp before going silent. I launched over him, jabbing an elbow into the throat of the man behind the first. He fell, too, careening into a third thrall. The pair went down in a heap, groaning and then quieting as their eyes fell shut.
Huh. Weird. I hadn't even hit them too hard. Oddly delicate, these thralls—or perhaps the influence of the Jagan just robbed them of the willpower to stand back up again.
But this is no time for quiet contemplation, Keiko. A pair of arms circled my torso, pinning my hands to my side as the fifth goon came at me from the front. I curled my knees to my chest and donkey-kicked him as hard as I could in the face, grimacing as I heard his nose crunch under my heel. The one holding me stumbled backward and fell; I rammed my elbows into his gut as he hit the pavement, force of the fall hitting him from one direction as I assaulted from another. With a flex of my core muscles I rolled backwards over him, landing on hands and knees above his head to scan for another foe.
The five men lay on the ground, unmoving.
A smile touched with hysterical humor crested my weary face. I started to stand, but a foot brushed the concrete at my back; my muscles tensed, igniting adrenaline into a bonfire. I thrust out a leg and spun, launching myself off the ground with a war cry at the goon I must have missed.
Kurama caught my fist as casually as he might catch a crisp high-five.
I froze stiff.
"M—Minamino?" I said, blinking at him.
"Yukimura," he countered as I stood up straight. His hand slid over my fist and onto my wrist, bringing him into my personal space; the scent of mint and evergreen wafted close, as verdant as his vivid eyes. He demanded, "Why are you here?"
I didn't bother answering, of course. There wasn't time, and I was too relieved to play 20 Questions. My neck went boneless, head lolling until my forehead brushed his chest. Kurama made a sound in his throat, surprised and confused at this sudden display of closeness—but I couldn't help myself.
Kurama was here.
Everything was going to be OK.
"Oh, thank god you're here," I said, not bothering to wonder why he'd shown up or how he'd known where to go. No way was I looking this gift horse in the mouth. I yanked my head up before I could get too comfortable, let my guard down in his comforting presence. There was more yet to do, and Kurama couldn't help me do it—Yusuke needed him more than I did. Glaring, I wrenched my wrist from Kurama's hand and said, "There's no time to explain. You have to help Yusuke!" I flung a hand at the warehouse behind us. "He's in there fighting Hiei and I don't know if—"
"So you do know the Detective." His silken voice held only the barest trace of surprise. "I suspected when you appeared with the Mirror. But you know Hiei, too?"
"Yeah. I'm really, really popular," I snarked; Kurama snorted, barely phased by this development since apparently I knew everyone in his life already, somehow. "But there's no time to discuss who I'm taking to prom, dammit! My friend, she's—"
Kurama glanced at Botan, eyes narrowing as they locked onto her forehead. He was too smart to need an explanation. "Hiei cut her." His eyes narrowed further. "But why is her face so swollen?"
"I doused her in pepper-spray."
That actually managed to surprise Kurama, for whatever reason. His lips parted and his eyes widened, looking at me as if I'd declared myself the new fairy empress of Japan.
"What?!" I said, defensive. "It's an eye irritant and it makes things swell and I figured the Eye couldn't open if it was swollen shut!" Throwing up my hands, eyes rolling with frenzied humor, I told him, "It's called improvising. I don't have fancy magic powers like some people."
"No. I suppose you don't," he deadpanned—but in his eyes sparked the barest glint of humor. Was he impressed? It hardly mattered, damn my pride to hell. "Where are you taking her?"
"To a friend who can maybe help." I rattled off the address of my nearby destination, which made Kurama's eyes widen once again. "But she needs that antidote from the Sword. It's in the hilt. My friend can only slow it down a bit, you understand?"
"I do." He repeated the address. "I'll send Yusuke to find you once we get that Sword."
I took a shaky breath. "Thank you, Minamino."
I turned to go, but something struck me. Kurama wasn't arguing, wasn't trying to get me to sit it out, was cooperating during this dire situation despite how much he must distrust me—and that was huge.
He didn't know it, but his cooperation—his trust in the girl who probably didn't deserve it—was literally saving lives.
"Thank you," I repeated, bowing low at the waist in the biggest display of gratitude I could muster. "Thank you, Minamino. Thank you very, very much."
I straightened up, barely glancing at his stunned expression before heading to grab Botan—only Kurama's hand closed around my wrist again, before I could get far.
"Keiko," he said. He stepped close, that cool, dark scent of his wrapping itself around me in the most comforting hug I could imagine just then. Green eyes glittered when he looked into mine and commanded, "Keiko—be safe."
"You, too," I murmured.
We held each other's gazes for moment—but there was no time to make promises or hash out the truths that lay between us.
Turning as one from each other's sight, we parted, because we both had jobs to do.
Each ring seemed to take a millennia, but luckily Hideki-sensei only kept me waiting for three thousand years before answering. I didn't give him time to ask who was calling. I launched right in.
"Hideki-sensei, it's Yukimura," I said, not bothering to modulate my desperate tone. "I need you to meet me at the warehouse dojo, and I need to meet you there now."
Something rustled against the receiver, maybe a sheet or a blanket. I had no idea what time it was; the phone booth at the edge of the lot of warehouses, which I'd used to call my mother and Kagome a million times, didn't have a clock.
"Yukimura? It's late." He sounded pissed, not to mention groggy. "What are you—?"
"I don't have time, dammit!" My voice broke; Hideki fell silent. I swallowed and tried to remain calm as I said, "There's no time. I need your reiki healing, or else my friend, she'll—"
Apparently requesting healing was the magic word (or maybe it was my dramatic trail-off, or my inability to voice a terrible fate aloud that did the trick). Hideki's voice cut through my panic like a sharpened blade.
"I'll be there in three minutes," he said, and the line went dead.
Hiei, bless that little asshole, had kidnapped me and Botan and taken us to the only warehouse district in town, only a block or two away from Hideki's dojo. I lugged Botan's comatose body there in a fog, feet moving automatically toward the warehouse I'd walked to many times before. Hideki had left the door to the dojo unlocked (he didn't have anything valuable in there aside from practice mats and a minifridge, after all). I lay Botan on the sparring mat in the middle of the room and turned on the lights, inspecting her swollen face as my heart climbed into my mouth.
Despite the swollen flesh around it, the Eye's violet iris stared up at me through a small, but visible, slit.
I was on the cusp of dosing her with more pepper-spray when Hideki finally showed up. My body sagged when I heard the door open at my back, lips parting so I could breathe a thankful, "Sensei!"
He didn't reply (because of course he didn't). He just joined me on the mat, kneeling and examining Botan's face with both his eyes and the tips of his questing fingers.
"I need cool water and a towel," he said, tone low and rough. "Hurry."
I grabbed a bottle of water from the minifridge and a towel off the rack above it. Hideki wet the towel and mopped at Botan's face, cleaning the sticky gloop from the spray off her skin before setting the towel aside. He laced his fingers together and held them over the Eye with a grunt.
"How did you get yourself into this mess?" he said as his hands adopted their telltale, almost-invisible glow. The glow suffused Botan's face, her skin luminous like a paper lantern covering a bright flame.
I swallowed, unable to look away. "Spirit World shenanigans."
Hideki grunted again. "So you know about them, eh."
"So you know about them?" I shot back, just the littlest bit stunned. "My best friend is the Spirit Detective."
The words just spilled out; I regretted them at once, but Hideki said nothing. I looked up, away from Botan, and found him eyeing me askance.
"That friend of mine who died," I said, by way of explanation. "The one who came back? Spirit World helped with that. Now he works for them."
Hideki eyed me a moment longer. When his eyes slid away to Botan, a tension I hadn't before noticed melted from my shoulders.
"I see," he said, seemingly unperturbed—but Hideki was a tough man to read. The tip of his tongue wet his thin lips. "Think Spirit World has a cure for this? Because I can't keep this Eye closed forever."
"Friends are coming with an antidote."
"Ah. Hope they hurry." His lips curled in the leanest of smiles. "That pepper-spray of yours slowed the Eye's physical manifestation, but it didn't stop its spiritual development. This dark energy is clawing at your friend's brain, sinking into her like rusty fishing hooks. I'm doing my best to get it out, but…"
Hideki winced. A bead of sweat gathered on his temple, just below the edge of his grey hair. I put a hand on his back. To say I'd give anything to have Spirit Energy to lend him would be an understatement.
"Don't talk," I murmured. "Just heal."
Hideki's lips curled again. "Yes, ma'am."
Minutes crawled by. Hideki's pale face turned waxen the longer we waited, huddled over the unmoving Botan like watchful gargoyles. At some point I gathered one of Botan's hands in mind and stroked my thumbs over her fingers. I don't believe in a deity, and I never pray, but I offered a silent plea to the universe anyway on her behalf: Please don't let Botan—what, become a demon? What were specifics of this atheist's prayer, exactly?
Luckily I didn't have to find out. Just as Hideki breathed his shakiest sigh yet, hands spasming atop Botan's burgeoning Eye, the door to the warehouse burst open.
"Yusuke!" I said, not bothering to check and see if it was really him—because there was no doubt in my mind that he'd arrived to save the day. "Yusuke, over here!"
He darted over and slammed onto the mat next to me, Shadow Sword held awkwardly in his arms—like he was trying to hold a baby with very, very sharp teeth. He started to say something but stopped, looking Hideki up and down. "Who's this?"
"My sensei." Yusuke looked mystified; I said, "The guy who taught me to dodge."
Yusuke made a low 'oh' sound. Hideki grunted, "Pleased to meet you, but can we save the introductions?" He jerked his chin toward his hands. "This is taking a toll."
Quite the understatement give his ashen features and sweat-slick skin. Yusuke let out a low whistle. "No shit." With a twist of his wrist he separated the hilt from the Shadow Sword. "Here. We have to give her—"
The hilt functioned like a cup, hollow interior brimming with a pale amber liquid I swear Yusuke compared to the color of piss under his snarky breath. I propped Botan up and Hideki pried open her mouth so Yusuke could splash some antidote on her tongue. The effect was immediate: the Eye closed as soon as the drops passed Botan's lips, and then the black line of its lid thinned, all but disappearing amidst the swollen folds of Botan's pepper-sprayed face. Yusuke sat back on his heels, staring at the reaper with held breath.
"Is she all right?" I asked—mostly to myself, mostly rhetorically, because clearly she wasn't all right. Not after all of this.
Hideki answered the question anyway. "Her energy is chaotic," he said. He pulled his hands from her and flexed his fingers as if seeking circulation. "I've never felt anything like her energy, and that's without the demonic Eye infecting her." He shot Yusuke a sideways glance. "She's not human. Is she from Spirit World?"
Yusuke blinked. "How'd you know?"
"Lucky guess." Something told me that wasn't the whole story, but I wasn't about to argue with my sensei. He favored Botan with a sour look, mopping sweat from his face with an unsteady hand. "And if I had to make another wild guess, someone from Spirit World needs to get here, quick, and tend to her."
The question escaped my lips at once: "Why hasn't she woken up yet?"
"No idea," said Hideki.
Cursing, Yusuke shot to his feet. "I'll—I'll try to get in touch." His hands tangled in his hair, conflicted. "But Botan usually is the one who—no. No excuses. I'm going to figure this out." He pivoted on a heel, toward the door. "I'll be back."
"Yusuke, wait!" I said. "What about Kurama and Hiei?"
His expression turned smug. "Hiei's out like a light so I just left him there. Kurama—shit." The smug look vanished; my stomach dropped into my pelvis. "He got hurt, and bad. Said he'd be OK, though, so that's something." Then he blanched. "Oh, and I need to get those Treasures. I just left 'em there on the floor!"
"Go," I said, unable to keep from laughing at his stricken expression. "Go get the treasures. I'll watch Botan."
Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, and if anything happens—"
Beside me, Hideki drew in a breath.
Yusuke stopped talking.
Something in the air shifted, then, like changing the color palette on an old TV set, turning Hideki and Yusuke's faces a strange shade of blue I perceived more with my mind than with my vision. I gasped and shut my eyes, but the odd not-color only lasted for half a second before the sense of otherness disappeared. When I opened my eyes, I gasped again—but louder, gasp mixing with a startled shriek.
In the scant time my eyes had closed, Botan had vanished.
Hideki growled, face swinging toward Yusuke, and mine followed suit. Yusuke didn't look confused, though, or even upset. He stared at the place Botan had once occupied with a resigned scowl, shoving his hands in his pockets with a sigh. For the first time I noticed the bruises gathering on his cheeks, the cuts marring the shoulder of his uniform jacket. Between Hiei and Gouki, Yusuke was in need of new school uniform.
"Sorry about that," he said. "She's in good hands now." He waved toward the door absently. "Spirit World has Kurama. He came willingly. They got Hiei and the Treasures already, too." A brief pause, then a bitter chuckle. "Seems my work here is done. Talk about anticlimactic, though I guess they spared me the utter joy of cleanup duty." He rolled his eyes. "Remind me to write Spirit World a thank-you card."
I got the sense Yusuke wasn't telling us something—something that made his eyes look so hollow, all of a sudden, twisting his words into wry jokes despite the situation at hand (though that's also just how he coped with stress; perhaps I was tired and reading into things). I tried to catch his eye, but he looked away.
Hideki rose to his feet, graceful despite the fatigue I knew he must be feeling. He asked, "That presence—who were you talking to?"
"Koenma. Lord of the Underworld." Yusuke shrugged as though he hadn't just admitted being on speaking terms with a demigod. "He drops in sometimes. Whole world goes quiet when he does. Dunno if you sensed it, old man."
The insult didn't faze my sensei in the slightest. "I did," said Hideki with surprising calm (I, meanwhile, wasn't capable of speaking at all, and stared at Botan's previous spot with my mouth hanging open). "What did he tell you?"
"They were watching the whole time, apparently, and just waiting for things to settle down before swooping in to take credit for me busting my ass." Yusuke's eyes widened; he looked at me, fidgeting, hooking at finger at Hideki where only I could see. "Oh. Um. Is it safe to tell—?"
Hideki scoffed. "I've been aware of Spirit World for some time now, kid. You won't surprise me."
When Yusuke remained unconvinced, staring at Hideki like the man might actually be three opossums in a trench coat, I forced myself to speak. "He's cool, Yusuke. Promise." I joined Hideki on my feet, bowing at him low and long. "Thank you, sensei, for your help tonight."
Tone dry, he said, "You owe me a bottle of sake, Yukimura."
"Yes, sensei."
Not one for pageantry, Hideki walked away and out of the warehouse without another word. Yusuke watched him go with an expression that seemed almost impressed. Yusuke didn't have too many father figures in his life; Hideki's collected, capable, and grouchy demeanor probably held some appeal. I lurched forward on wooden legs and hooked my fingers into Yusuke's sleeve.
"So…I guess this is it," I said.
He looked as surprised as I felt to have reached the end of this case so soon, and without loss of limb. We stared at one another for a moment, neither quite believing our good fortune (Botan's uncertain fate notwithstanding), until he shook his head and cupped my hand in his.
"Yeah," he said. "Let's go."
Despite my worry for Botan's wellbeing after tonight's breach in canon, Yusuke's suggestion held enormous appeal—appeal that overrode my desire for closure, for questions, for clarification. Home, bed, a hot shower…those were just what the doctor ordered after this terrifying day.
Leaning on one another like rickety scarecrows, we turned our tired feet toward home.
Neither of us spoke until we reached the restaurant. As I fumbled with my key (and recovered my schoolbag from where Hiei had apparently left it lying abandoned in the alley), Yusuke said, "Hey—are you OK?"
"I'm fine." The keys slipped through my fatigue-weak fingers; I cursed as they clattered on the pavement. "Why?"
"Just…it's been an exciting few days, that's all. And you're quiet." He smirked, nudging me in the ribs with an elbow as he wheedled, "Normally I can't get you to shut up. Maybe a little trauma's good for ya, huh?"
I swatted his hand away, bending to grab my keys. "Very funny. I guess I'm quiet because I'm processing. It's been a busy past few days, is all."
Yusuke hummed. I found my house key and fitted it to the lock. The windows above the restaurant remained dark as I disengaged the bolt. My years of asking to sneak out had paid off. Mom and Dad rarely waited up for me. They trusted me to come home…meaning I could stay out late after being kidnapped by demons and leave them none the wiser. Sometimes being a goodie-two-shoes had its perks…
I grasped the doorknob, but I didn't turn it. "Say, Yusuke?"
"Yeah?"
"Did Koenma say what will happen to Botan?"
Yusuke shook his head, much to my dismay. "No. He said something about her having a unique physics—"
"Unique psyche?"
"Yeah, that. He's not sure how the Sword affects people from Spirit World." He tried to hide his troubled expression, but I knew him too well not to notice. "He'll let me know, though."
"OK." I paused, but eloquence escaped me. I opted instead for, "I hope she's OK."
Thank my lucky stars Yusuke wasn't one for flowery language. He merely replied, "Me, too."
I started to turn the knob again, but I stopped. Hesitated. Decided one final question couldn't hurt, and would probably help me sleep better, anyway. Even after today's exhausting excitement, I didn't doubt my anxiety's ability to keep me awake at night.
"What will happen to Kurama?" I asked. "And Hiei, too?"
It was Yusuke's turn to hesitate, rubbing at the back of his neck with one uncertain hand. "Hiei'll go to jail, I guess," he said, managing to crack a sadistic smile at the thought. The smile faded as quickly as it had appeared. "As for Kurama…I hope they go easy."
My heart skidded. "Oh?"
"Yeah. He jumped between me and Hiei tonight. Really put his life on the line to help me earlier. Took the Sword through the gut, in fact, but said he'd come out of it OK." At that he delivered unto me an acidic glare. "And I trust him when he says that, so you shouldn't worry too much, got it?"
I held up my hands in obvious surrender. Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"Telling you to worry is like telling fish to stop swimming," he said. "You just look at me all stupid and keep doing it anyway." Before I could retort, he changed the subject. "Anyway. Kurama gave himself up to Spirit World after I left. Didn't make them chase him at all. He's not a bad guy. He really did just want the Mirror to save his mom." Yusuke shook his head with a pronounced grimace. "And now that his mother is better, it's a waste to put him in jail. Right?"
He looked for my confirmation and agreement with odd hope, as if seeking validation for a theory he himself did not believe. I nodded at him, trying to look sure of myself.
"Yeah. I think so, too," I said. "Spirit World will be lenient with him, for sure."
They'd been lenient in the anime and manga, after all.
I just hoped I hadn't made some mistake in this life that threw those versions of fate out the fucking window, and that I'd escaped falling into deep shit despite the wrong I'd done.
Sleeping like the dead after multiple brushes with death and dismemberment is not conducive to getting to school on time, lemme tell ya.
After sleeping through all three of my alarms, my mother had to rouse me from my bed and practically shove breakfast down my sleepy throat. Being on time meant jogging most of the way to school, but the run woke me up a bit, so I didn't much mind.
Returning to school after weathering Hiei's attempt at kidnapping felt, in a word, surreal. As I ran past students, parents, businessmen, and kids that morning, I felt like I'd stepped out of one world and into another, where demons and ghosts didn't exist and people most certainly didn't spend their days worrying about getting kidnapped by psychotic goth midgets. Not a single one of the people I passed that morning even knew demons existed, probably. My perception was singular, marked by colors of reality most humans didn't even know they could perceive.
Or maybe I was just being pretentious.
Wouldn't be the first time I'd been accused of such.
Truth be told, the events of the previous night—no, the events of the previous three days felt like they'd happened months prior, memory of said events hazy and dull even though they'd only just transpired. Adrenaline will do that to one's recollections. Best not to dwell on the past (and one's past mistakes), therefore, and focus instead on the future.
Not that that was any more pleasant than dwelling on my recent fuck-ups, mind you. The past wasn't going to change, but the future? Now that was an unpredictable beast all its own.
I spent the commute to school wondering about the weeks to come. We'd cleared the Artifacts case, which meant next came Yusuke's trip to Genkai's compound and her successor tournament. But when would that happen, exactly? Next week, next month? It was only barely springtime, and if my memory of the manga served, he stayed with Genkai for a minimum of six weeks after winning her competition. How the hell would Yusuke justify missing that much school if the tournament took place during the school year? Hopefully the tournament didn't happen until summer break, or else Yusuke might doom himself to repeating the eighth grade…
Soon Meiou's gates appeared on the horizon, way down at the end of the road. Taking in a deep breath of the sweet spring air, I picked up my pace and trotted forward, glancing at my watch to check the time. I'd kept up a good clip that morning, better than expected, and had fifteen minutes before the first bell rang for homeroom. Awesome. Thank you, Mom, for waking me up soon enough to—
A woman stepped out of a doorway and into the sidewalk in front of me. My feet stuttered on the pavement, but I managed to dip around her and regain my footing without knocking her clear off the road. Ugh. That's what I got for running on the sidewalk like some silly child—
"Yukimura Keiko-san?"
My feet stilled at the sound of my name. Pausing, I turned to look over my shoulder. The woman I'd nearly run over stared after me, hands concealed in the large sleeves of her billowing black kimono. Although her lovely face—pale and round with large dark eyes, glossy black hair pulled back in a traditional bun—seemed oddly familiar, I couldn't place her. And that was weird, because a kimono in the city, in broad daylight? Not unheard of, but certainly not something you saw every day.
"Yes?" I said. "Can I help you?"
The woman bowed low from the waist, sunlight glinting off the small white obidome adorning the front of her grey and red obi. Her liquid eyes appraised me like pools of watchful ink.
"Yes," she said, "I believe you can."
Japanese Elvira did not elaborate. I lifted a brow. "Sorry, but I'm in a hurry. Do I know you?"
Pink lips curled in a small, understated smile. She bowed again.
"You do not, Yukimura Keiko," said the woman in black, "but as I am an associate of your friend Botan, I believe you will want to speak with me all the same."
For a minute, I couldn't react.
Then the black kimono, the formal speaking, the associate of Botan's—it all clicked.
Something told me that if she was here, I was in deep shit, after all.
NOTES
I set up Keiko's pepper-spray and the location of Hideki's dojo, plus his healing powers, in previous chapters. Was happy to have those details come full circle at last. I've been waiting for the scene of spraying Botan in the face since before I even started writing this darn story, haha. Hideki is also connected to things that'll become relevant soon. He's got more history than he's let on so far.
And SHE is here. Dun dun DUN. But why?
Those moments where Koenma talks to Yusuke and the whole world goes blue and freezes—tried to portray what that might be like for bystanders. Hope it made sense! But who knows what happened in that conversation Yusuke might not be sharing…
Showing the Yusuke/Hiei fight felt like a pointless rehash of events; hope nobody minded that it happened off-screen. We'll get plenty of fight recaps in later arcs, after all; don't want to overdo it too early. Also, PRACTICALLY ALL of Hiei's lines were pulled straight from the manga and anime. HE IS SO DRAMATIC; I'd almost forgotten his most egregious evil-overlord moments.
The Hiei-love last chapter was strong and bracing, a shot of whiskey for my battered soul! So glad you're here for his very, very belated introduction to this story. Don't worry: we haven't seen the last of him, though I'm going to have to pull some, um…weird tricks to keep him around consistently. You'll see what I mean next chapter. Many many thanks to all of you lovely humans: xenocanaan, ED99, Lady Rini, tatewaki2000, Just 2 Dream of You, Vyxen Hexgrim, brave-story, rikku92, Sky65, AkaMizu-chan, sousie, shen0, akagami hime chan, general zargon, Counting Sinful Stars, RedPanda923, MetroNeko, mskittyholiday, Tsuki-Lolita, rya-fire1, FireDancerNix, MusicOfMadness, MyHeartBeating-MWMI, WaYaADisi1, MyMidnightShadow, buzzk97, Selias, tazdevil, MyworldMyImagination, Bergholt Stuttley Johnson, Kaiya Azure, Yunrii, Miqila, DiCuoreAllison, MayaCompany, Beccalittlebear, Maester Ta, Wishless Dandylion, Melissa Fairy, Corralinne, WistfulSin, NekoFace, o-dragon, Violet Haze 9, Lady Ellesmere, Andania Shinrai, Murashigure, cocobyrd87, Library Drone SAR, ahyeon, LucyCat, Marian, wennifer-lynn, MemeLord5000, and five guests!
