Untitled for Now
Prologue
By the Fuzz Ninja
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoooooooooumaru-sama!" shrieked a small toad youkai. It frantically ran through long corridors, which often lead it into walls, and then, with a force, onto the ground.
Slowly, a tall man, young in appearance and traditional in his clothing, left the former quiet of his study and entered the hallway. His long white hair swayed in a stray breeze that entered from a window behind him. At first, he seemed to stare beyond the toad at some invisible person in the distance, however, after a moment of what seemed to be him wallowing in his own glory, his goldenrod eyes caught site of the toad. Despite that, he never lowered his face or posture.
"Why have you bothered this Sesshoumaru?" the arrogant man asked coolly.
"Oh horror, milord, horror!" rambled Jaken.
Sesshoumaru let out an annoyed sigh. Instead of asking his servant to get to the point, he settled for glowering at him. Jaken would know the implied consequences for the unnecessary chatter. Just as he expected, the toad youkai yelped.
"My apologies, Sesshoumaru-sama! What I meant to say was that I laid eyes on strange things…"
"And this matters?"
"W-well, I thought so…Recently, there have been signs of him…"
"Him?" repeated the youkai lord, still annoyed with the toad's vagueness but deemed the words important enough for him to hear.
"N-Naraku..."
"Do not take this Sesshoumaru for a fool, Jaken, unless you truly seek death," scorned Sesshoumaru. "Naraku died long ago."
"Yes, but he existed in the past…"
"And that changes the fact that he died?"
"Well…"
"Go on," said Sesshoumaru as he raised an eyebrow. He was now paying more attention to Jaken. The toad may have been foolish, but he wasn't a liar, especially not to his face. Although he had his doubts, was it possible that Naraku somehow survived? The bastard had definitely slipped away from death more than once.
"Do you remember that strangely-dressed miko from five hundred years ago?" inquired Jaken.
"Inuyasha's wench? She was no miko…"
"Apparently, she lives in these times, and, with unknown magic, has found a way to travel between the eras. We believe that Naraku has begun to use these powers."
"I see…Jaken."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Find someone to investigate the matter for this Sesshoumaru. Start with the wench."
"Of course, my lord!"
Sesshoumaru, without further warning, stalked into his study, his golden eyes masking the sorrowful deep thoughts that returned to him after many centuries…
'Miko…Bah. Never in my life have I met a true miko…not since her…And that woman…She died, twice for that matter, before she fulfilled the task that I assigned her…Her!'
"Sesshoumaru…" The dog youkai was shaken from his musings, only to see the sorrowful brown eyes of a young woman dressed in the robes of a miko, a shrine maiden. She had a delicate look to her, as if she could be shattered with one careless movement. Despite that, she had an elegant fierceness to her. Somehow, Sesshoumaru had a hard time believing that he was really seeing her; she had appeared so quickly without his knowledge.
"What business do you have with me? I am not that wretched hanyou," he growled.
A melancholy smile appeared on the tragic maiden's face. "Sesshoumaru, are you still bitter enough to deny all connections to me?"
Sesshoumaru suppressed a snarl, which ended up sneaking out as a soft grunt. "You test my patience, leave now, woman."
"Do I really?" Her smile evolved into a bitter laugh.
"Silence!"
The miko let out a sigh and gazed at him wearily. "I suppose you're right. Most of our encounters seem to be the doing of your young girl, Rin."
"Be gone before I decide to kill you."
She said nothing in response. Instead, she stared at him for one last moment, then lifted her hand. Upon command, several white, snakelike insects swirled around her and caused her to disappear.
Sesshoumaru stared thoughtfully at the spot in which the shrine maiden previously stood. Then, dismissing whatever thoughts may have entered his mind at the time, he let out a soft snort.
"…Huh."
---
In the darkness of a human city, lined with tall buildings of every kind and purpose, a blue-haired girl, hovering on an oar, scanned the scenery. She had a cheery look to her as she spotted a particular building. Without hesitation, she glided over to the apartment. She saw as sleeping, black-haired boy through one of the windows. With utmost politeness toward him, she opened the window and grabbed the boy by the shoulder. Startled, he jumped awake.
"Who's there…?" he demanded groggily.
"Hello, Yuusu-ow!" her greeting was interrupted by a blow upside the head. "Well that was rude!
"So is barging into someone's home, Botan," retorted Yuusuke now awake enough to have an edge to his voice.
"Koenma-sama asked me to find you."
"What? What does he want with me?"
"You'll see…I'm sorry to bother you after you've been fired from your position. However, Reikai needs you, Kurama, and Hiei."
"What about Kuwabara?" asked Yuusuke.
"Well, he has enough work to do as it is…Besides, he didn't train in Makai like you three; he might not be able to keep up with you three the way we'd need him to do so."
The former Reikai detective nodded, then, had a rather delayed reaction.
"Hey…You make it sound like, out of the four of us, only Kuwabara has a life!"
"Well…" said Botan sheepishly. "Isn't that sort of the truth?"
"Ugh…Let's just get this mission over with as soon as possible."
---
Within the dark chaos of Makai, there loomed a small, dark figure. Although his eyes remained closed, a third one upon his forehead pulsed with a purple glow. A scowl spread across his face, and he opened his blood-coloured eyes.
'Another one? Bah. That Mukuro, sending me out at this hour…' he thought angrily.
"Oh help! Help! Monster!" shrieked a voice.
"…Hn," grunted the oh-so-grand youkai as he warily followed the voice. What irked him most was its authenticity, or in his opinion, lack thereof.
"…Oh help, help!"
As he approached, he saw someone wearing what seemed to be a white, hooded cloak. He had arrived from behind her, hoping to snatch the woman away, erase her memory, and send her back to Ningenkai, the human world. Once the distressed damsel was within a meter of him, she…or perhaps, he spun around.
"Yuusuke!" somehow, this didn't quite surprise him.
"Hey, Hiei. You'll be coming with us, I'm afraid."
"Is that so?" retorted Hiei.
"Yeah. Apparently we're being summoned to Reikai again."
"I've no business with Reikai," harshly replied the fire youkai. "They have cleared my record and thus divested themselves of any excuse to send me on their petty missions."
"Please, Hiei!" pleaded Botan, who had recently arrived at the scene.
"No."
"Come on, I asked politely!"
No answer.
"Hiei?"
"Hn."
"…Kurama will be there. He's you're friend, right?"
"I've no use for friends."
"My, Hiei, I'm hurt…"
"Kurama!" exclaimed Yuusuke and Botan. Neither had noticed the red-headed boy appear. A spark of amusement glinted in his calm, emerald eyes.
"While glancing out my bedroom window, I suddenly saw the two of you flying on an oar. Naturally, this intrigued me, just as it would any regular human, so I followed."
"I suppose that was a good thing. It's good to see you Kurama!" said Botan warmly.
"Indeed it is…"
As the threesome (as Hiei failed to contribute) caught up on one another's lives, a soundless figure, silhouetted and camouflaged by nearby underbrush of a small forest, watched them with contempt. In particular, the shade stared at Hiei, who seemed to have caught wind of a nearby presence. As the half-koorime looked in its direction, it leaped away and caused a slight rustle from its leafy hiding place.
Again, only Botan and Yuusuke seemed alarmed by this, as the spun around to face the direction of the noise, both greatly perplexed.
"Someone has been watching us for a little while now. We should move to a more private area."
"Of course!" said Botan. "Follow me!"
Much to the surprise of the three former fighters, they returned to Ningenkai, specifically to a mansion in Tokyo. The area was full of well-kept trees, and other various plants. Like that mountain abode that once belonged to their late friend and teacher, Genkai, it was remote enough that most humans probably wouldn't have found it.
"...Weren't we going to visit Koenma?" asked Kurama.
"Not quite. Although he asked me to find you three, there is someone else who wants to see you," answered Botan. "In fact, the owner of this mansion sort of bullied Koenma-sama into sending you."
"So he's the threat to Reikai…" guessed Yuusuke.
"Well, sort of, but he's not the one we're out to fight. He's actually the one who pointed out the main threat."
"Really? He already sounds like an asshole to me," snorted Yuusuke.
"Bite your tongue," a cold voice threw into the conversation. Sesshoumaru happened to be standing right behind him.
"Who the hell are you!" demanded the former detective.
"This Sesshoumaru asked that Reikai prince to send you," answered Sesshoumaru.
"Is that so? And why does 'this Sesshoumaru' need us?"
"This Sesshoumaru has already warned you to remain silent," he retorted with passive venom to his words.
"Hn," grunted the deliberately defiant Hiei.
Disdainfully, Sesshoumaru continued, "You three have been summoned here to investigate a strange type of…magic."
"Go investigate it yourself," replied Yuusuke casually.
"This Sesshoumaru has better things to do at the moment."
The mazoku almost made another rude remark, but was stopped by a swift kick to the shins, courtesy of Botan. Giving her a quick glare, he returned to Sesshoumaru, attempting to look more polite, if for any reason, to keep the ferry girl silent.
Wisely, Kurama continued before Yuusuke provoked the youkai lord. "Do you have any idea where we should start this investigation?"
"There is a strange well found in a nearby shrine. In old rumors, it is said that when the bones of deceased youkai were thrown into the well, they disappeared. Such a description matches that of this magic," explained Sesshoumaru.
"What magic is this?" inquired Yuusuke.
"You needn't know that. This Sesshoumaru may explain it to you once you report what you find," replied the taiyoukai. "Report a day from right now."
End of prologue
Author's Note: Eeheheh…Not another Hakusho/Inuyasha crossover! xD Actually, my reason for writing this brief, crappy story is because I was looking at an old fanfic of mine, which was of this genre/fandom. It was sickeningly awful, so I decided to rewrite it. I tried to keep it somewhat similar to the original story (although Kikyou didn't originally appear like that; she takes the place of a Mary Sue) with just a few more details and different plot twists. Again, I'm sorry for the shortness. Normally, I'd write at least 1000 more words, but I don't know if I'll continue it. The characters are all OOC, and the plot sucks. ; Besides, assuming that the story continued, I wanted to start the investigation in a separate chapter, and I have other stuff, including an art trade with a good friend, to which I need to attend. In short, the story, a rewrite of one that I really got into updating around spring break two years ago, was something that I had to write for the sake of nostalgia. Well, I hope that no one has been killed by the cliché, poorly-written story.