X-over: Ranma 1/2, Yu yu Hakuso, and Inuyasha.
Bree was being followed by a sickly purple blob, a "garbage pile" so to speak. It was an amalgamation of other spirits and every negative human emotion and it stank, though Bree was the only one able to see or smell. The garbage pile sought out to absorb other spirits and right now it had its sights set on devouring Bree. She couldn't really do anything about it until she found someplace without people.
Even in Nerima seeing things that weren't there was considered strange.
Bree got a little distracted by someone complaining rather loudly.
"Just look for anything out of the ordinary" she says! This whole place is out of the ordinary! And what was with that pig fighting with that girl!" a boy ranted to his friends.
Bree chuckled to herself. Nerima, if you can't stand the insanity, run for your life. But why was that kid in Nerima anyway? He said he was looking for something⦠Bree took a closer look at the boy and his friends.
The boy had slicked back black hair and was wearing a green school uniform. There were three others boys with them. The tallest of them was also the ugliest and was wearing a blue uniform. The shortest had gravity defying hair and was dressed in black. The last one had red hair and green eyes and was dressed in a red school uniform.
Bree suddenly noticed that the garbage pile was catching up with her. Her ran ahead of it and led it to a secluded park. She took out one of the iron bars she'd been using in her game of "smack the spirit" and hit the blob with impeccable aim. It didn't disappear like a hollow would, instead it spilt in two.
"That's right, it's made up of more than one spirit, and not all of them are human." Bree muttered to herself as the blob pieced itself back together. It attacked, sending multiple tentacles forward. Bree dodged most of them but was grabbed by others that pulled her forward, making her lose her balence. There was a sudden flash of movement and the tentacles were on the ground, separated from the main body. Bree looked up and found the short guy in black with a sword drawn. The tentacles started moving back toward the main body.
"Are you alright?" It was the redhead.
"I've had worse." Bree replied as he helped her up. The other two members of the group were there as well. The ugly one had some sort of energy sword that.
"Hey Kurama, any idea what this thing is?" the boy in green asked.
"It appears to be made of many spirits merged together." The redhead, Kurama, answered.
"It's a garbage pile." Bree supplied.
"A what?" the boy in green asked. Bree shrugged.
"It's made of trash and it stinks." She answered. The blob attacked again and again its tentacles were cut off.
"Why's it after you?" the boy in green asked.
"It wants to make a meal of me." Bree replied.
"Well it's not going to get that chance." The boy stated. The fight was over quickly. They overcame the garbage pile's regenerative abilities when the boy in green blasted it with some sort of energy attack.
"Thanks for the help." Bree said when it was all over.
"No. Problem. Name's Yusuke. This here is Kuwabara" The ugly guy. "Hiei" The short guy. "and Kurama." The redhead. "We're here investigating some unusual disturbances." Yusuke explained.
"This is Nerima. It's nothing but unusual disturbances." Bree replied.
"Yeah, I noticed that." Yusuke responded. "But these have been happening in more normal places like Karakura, we just traced it back to here." Bree frowned.
"What are the others places?" she asked. Yusuke listed them. Bree's eyes widened in realization. Those were all places she'd been recently.
"You know something?" Yusuke pressed when he saw the look on Bree's face.
"Yeah I" she was cut off by a sudden commotion. An announcement for a martial arts tournament with a large cash prize, from what Bree had overheard when she was at the Tendo's it was enough to cover the debt. She could already pick out familiar faces signing up.
"Tell you what, you win the tournament and I'll tell you what I know." Bree said.
"What! There's no way I'm wasting my time on that!" Yusuke shouted. Bree shrugged.
"Well, I can understand if you're scared." She stated.
"Scared!" Yuuske yelled. Bree nodded.
"It looks like Ranma's signing up, no one's ever between him in a fight." She explained. "You'd lost for sure if you fought him."
"No way!" Yuuske shouted before stomping over and signing up. Bree grinned.
"Why did you do that?" Kurama asked. "It was obvious that you were going to tell us everything before the tournament was announced."
"It'll make Ranma's life more difficult, he'll probably win the tournament, but I want him to work for it." Bree answered.
"You shouldn't underestimate him, even if he is an idiot." Hiei told her.
"Trust me I'm not." Bree replied. "But Ranma's been practicing martial arts for almost his entire life. He's very strong and very fast." And those were the very reasons she wanted him to lose.
"Anyway," Bree continued. "If you really want me to tell you what's been going on the tournament's your best shot. I'm leaving the country as soon as iit's over. I've lingered here long enough." And with that Bree walked off.
Line line line
The Tendo's didn't take very well to the news that Bree was leaving once the tournament was over. And Bree meant it quite literally, the second a winner was declared she was out of there.
"Why?" Akane asked.
"I've been tied down to one place for too long." Bree explained. "I need to get moving."
"This is about the people who attacked you, isn't it?" Ranma asked.
Bree shrugged. She had started paying attention to the phases of the moon since her time in Africa and there was one coming up. The Death Eaters wouldn't necessarily let the werewolves kill her, but it was still dangerous, especially somewhere residential and packed with people.
The tournament would take place over three days. The first day was mostly about weeding out the weak and Bree didn't go to watch because it was rather boring. Instead, she went to Tokyo's magical shopping district.
Spirits started following her on the way there. Bree moved quickly. She darted into an alley between two shops and the spirits bounced off and unseen barrier. The magical district of Tokyo was like a different world. The buildings were built in traditional Japanese style. Some of the people were dressed traditionally, others wore more modern styles, and some wore a mix of the two. Shops sold everything imaginable. Books, creatures Bree had never seen before, rare potions ingredients like mermaids' claws, strange devices, and muggle items.
Bree regretted no coming sooner but she had worried that being in a magical area would make her easier to track. She found a library, there was some research she wanted to do. The library was bigger on the inside with massive selves that towered over her. They were full of books and scrolls. With some assistance from the librarian Bree was able to find what she was looking for, information about how the Japanese dealt with spirits.
Apparently there was a rather large difference between Japanese wards and European ones. The European ward weakened spirits while the Japanese ones repelled them completely, but they were only over magical areas. Anyone who ventured out of those areas had to be prepared to protect themselves from various spirits. The easiest way to do this was with ofuda, paper tags with the power to cleanse a spirit. Bree recalled the old priest from the previous day that had attacked her with one.
After doing a bit of shopping Bree wandered around for a bit. She remembered the potential danger wandering and headed to a park in Nerima. She contemplated practicing bush magic there. It was fairly green, there were no warded building nearby and if something happened there were a bunch of martial artists a few blocks away. She decided to try it.
She allowed herself to drift into a meditative state. It was a little strange, pushing the natural engery in her body out as if it were another limb. The felt the grass and the tree she was under. She felt the braches and all of the leaves. She tried to get a branch to move but only succeeded in wiggling a leaf or two. She move down into the roots, and then into the dirt and the creatures living there. As she pushed deeper she began to feel as if she was energy. She moved down into the earth where she could feel a large amount of energy flowing.
"Don't touch that!" Bree started a bit and pulled away from the energy flow. She searched for the source of the voice. She felt a presence. It wasn't there with her exactly, it was near the energy flow, like it was observing it. It felt familiar somehow.
"So I guess you made it back safely." It said. Bree's energy flared excitedly. It was the man from when she wandered through one of the thin places! The one who told her about mushi!
"I guess you can't talk like this, huh?" the man stated. "To tell you the truth I barely recognized you. You're an odd one." Bree poked at him.
"I supposed you're curious about the river." The man said. "It's called Koumyaku, or the River of Light. It's made up of tiny mushi called Kouki. It emits pure life energy so mushi tend to gather were if flows. Usually the only way to see it is to close your second eyelid, though with the method you're using you're probably not really seeing it. That's probably a good thing. Stare at its glow for too long and you'll lose your eyes, but I still wouldn't get too close to it if I were you."
Bree lingered for a little bit more. The river made her feel so energetic.
"Hey"
Who said that?
"Wake up."
They sounded so far away.
"Wake up!" Bree pulled back. She opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that the sky was darkening; the second was that Hiei was glaring down at her. She sat up.
"You're spirit energy was behave strangely." He said in a tone that demanded answers.
"That's to be expected, considering what I was doing." Bree replied as she stood up and brushed grass and dirt off her clothing. "And that information falls under the parameters I set earlier." She added when Hiei wouldn't stop staring at her.
"One of us has to win the tournament." Hiei concluded.
"You signed up too?" Bree replied, looking amused.
"I didn't have a choice." Hiei replied.
"Yusuke signed you up." Bree chuckled.
"It was pathetically easy. Even Kuwabara didn't have any trouble." Hiei stated.
"That's why I didn't go today. It was all about weeding out the weak, and speaking of weak you just let me know who the weakest member of your group is. If I were your enemy I go for him first." Bree replied smirking even as Hiei prepared to draw his sword.
"But I'm not, so you have no reason to worry." She continued. Hiei relaxed somewhat, but didn't take his hand off his sword.
"I'm surprised you didn't enter the tournament yourself." He said.
"Why? I have absolutely no reason to enter a tournament I can't win." Bree said. "I'd be able to beat the weakest of them, but there are heavy hitters like Ranma and Ryoga entered in that thing and they could kill me if they wanted to, I mean, if it wasn't against their code."
"So you admit to being weak." Hiei stated.
"I admit to knowing how to pick my battles." Bree answered. "Anyway, I'll be there tomorrow, the fights are going to get more interesting." And with that, she walked off.
Bree was right, the fights the next day were more interesting. Kuwabara did pretty well against Ryoga, but Ryoga won when he used his "breaking point" technique to collapse the floor beneath Kuwabara.
The fight between hidden weapon specialist Mousse and sword wielding Hiei was interesting in its own way. Hiei was too fast for Mousse to land a hit and the massive quantity of weapons he had to avoid or block kept Hiei too busy to counterattack. Bree wasn't sure how Mouse was able to keep so many weapons hidden under his clothes and still be able to move without stabbing himself. Eventually Mousse ran out of things to throw and Hiei knocked him out.
Ranma managed to beat Kurama even though he was affected by some sort of paralytic and was weirded out by Kurama's affinity for roses. Apparently it reminded him of Kodachi.
Yusuke had fought Ukyo, and had nearly lost when he realized that Ukyo was, in fact, a girl. Bree didn't think the Ukyo was really trying to hide her gender with the clothes she showed up in, it just seemed like they were easier to fight in. Anyway, Yusuke did manage to win but he wasn't sure how he felt about. There were more fights of course, but those were the only ones that mattered Bree.
Bree had been correct in her assessment that she had lingered in Japan for too long. She should have changed where she was staying a few times at least, but the free room and board, even if it was supplied somewhat unwillingly, had been too tempting to pass up. Her trips to other parts of the city were meant to lead her pursuers away from Nerima, but she always ended up returning to the Tendo's and the Death Eaters figured out that her "base" was located somewhere in that part of Tokyo at that was where they focused their search.
Bree hid in an alley in cat form, between two trashcans as it started to rain. By the time she made it back to the Tendo's she was soaking wet.
"Well look what the cat dragged in." Nabiki commented sardonically. Bree began laughing hysterically since she had just spent the last four hours as a cat.
The fights on the third down were at their most intense, though Bree didn't really pay attention to them because there were Death Eaters in the crowd. She tried to lose them in the crowd but every time she worked her way to edge of the crowd there was a Death Eater there. The Death Eaters couldn't nab her if they couldn't get to her. Bree wasn't willing to start a fight in the crowd and the Death Eaters didn't want to attract the attention of the martial artists because of how it had worked out for them the last time.
Eventually, it was time for the last fight, once it was over the crowd would disperse and the fighters would leave. The last fight was between Yusuke and Ranma, both had a smug self-assured air around them.
The fight began. It started off as a lot of fast paced movement too quick for the untrained eye and then it moved into stronger attacks the Bree didn't catch the names of. A Death Eater had tried to get closer to her, hoping to use the fight as a distraction. It didn't work; Bree spotted him and moved away. By the time she looked up Yusuke had somehow managed to lose his shirt.
Eventually the fight came to its climax. Two attacks hit each other and exploded, kicking up dust and smoke and destroying the ring.
The dust started to clear and only one figure was left standing, albeit shakily. It was Yusuke. He was awarded the prize. As Bree moved forward through the now thinning crowd Yusuke and his friends started talking to Ranma and the Tendo's. By the time she got to them Ranma was grinning.
"Why are you so happy?" Bree asked, he had lost and therefore didn't have the money to pay her off.
"Uremeshi and I got to talking and he's going to give me the prize money so now I don't have to leave with you." Ranma explained.
Bree sighed. She shouldn't have offered that deal. They needed manpower more than they needed money.
"I won the tournament." Yusuke said, grinning.
"Well, a deal's a deal." Bree replied shrugging. "The answer is; me." Yusuke looked confused.
"I'm the source of the disturbances." She elaborated.
"What disturbances?" Ranma asked.
"You don't get to speak right now, Ranma, because I'm talking." Bree snapped. "Anyway, the spirits here seem to be attracted to the energy I'm giving off and that makes them want to snack on me, I didn't really notice until they attacked me."
"How could you not notice something like that?" Yusuke asked incredulously.
"I've never been to Japan before this trip. Spirits here are different than the ones in America in Europe. There are creatures here that affect spirits that are not present in others places, where I'm from spirits don't try to devour people, maybe terrorize or kill, but they don't eat you. So how could I notice something I've never experienced before? Before coming here I never thought I would have to worry about something trying to other than a demon trying to take my soul." Bree explained. She noticed that the crowd was mostly gone the Death Eaters were too wary to approach.
"You haven't explained what you were doing yesterday." Hiei stated.
"Meditating." Bree replied.
"That doesn't explain the fluctuations of your spirit energy." Hiei said. Bree was a little annoyed. The little bastard couldn't just come out and ask a question, could he? Bree didn't really feel like getting into all of the technicalities of bush magic right then and there, especially sinceā¦
"Sorry folks, looks like our time together is up." Bree said with false cheer. "I'll send someone to collect the money later, right now I've got to run. And I mean that literally. See ya!" She gave them a quick two fingered salute and moved out of the way as a stunning charm came at her. It hit Ranma's father, Genma, instead, knocking him out.
And Bree ran. She used a feather-light charm on herself to make fleeing easier. It also made jumping easier and she was able to jump over a wall and land lightly on her feet while the Death Eaters were forced to go around the wall, or through it with a reducto which was what they did.
Bree was surprised to find Hiei running along next to her. She was going all out and it didn't look like he was anywhere close to breaking a sweat. She was kind of annoyed by that.
"Who are they?" Hiei demanded. Finally, a question.
"Minions." Bree answered quickly. "Their boss wants me taken alive."
"Why?" Hiei questioned.
"Information." Bree answered. She wasn't really lying, she just wasn't saying what the information was. Frankly, the less people that knew about what was in her head, the better. A bludgeoning hex sailed past them and hit a building.
"Alive doesn't necessarily mean in one piece." Bree commented. She heard the sounds of fighting behind her but she didn't stop running to look even as Hiei dropped back to join in.
Eventually she did have to stop running, but that didn't mean that she stopped moving. Subway, bus, subway, cab, and then she was at the docks were she met up with one of Leo's contacts. She soon found herself on a boat to Australia. She hadn't even been able to thank the people that had helped her. She wondered how many more days she would have that ended that way. The full moon passed while she was on the ship and there was no incident.
Australia was hot and arid and full of things where the policy of "look, don't touch" could keep you alive and Bree was enamored by it.
Bree headed into the outback to find Marron, the ghost that had first taught her bush magic. She told him about her experience with Hogwarts and the "River of Light." Marron reprimanded her saying that go in to deeply without someone there to wake or she could lose herself forever.
Bree spent the night by the river. The next morning she was treated to the sight of large flocks of colorful birds. She watched them for a while before moving on. She camped in the outback for a few days and no longer than that because she didn't really want a repeat of Africa. She naturally gravitated toward America, one specific city in America in fact, San Diego California.
San Diego was, in Bree's opinion, the best city in the world, not that she was biased or home sick or anything. The first thing she did was go to her favorite beach, walk down to the tide pool, and poke some sea anemones with childish glee. There was sand, salt, and good looking surfers. She was home.
Omake: Bree's exit from Japan.
Everyone who had fought against Bree's pursuers had fully expected the girl they knew as "Eris" to stick around and explain what was going on. Then they'd go after the villain, defeat him, "Eris" would be suitably grateful and perhaps a bit teary, and everyone would live happily ever after until the next villain popped up. That was how these works, except that's not what happened.
Eris had seemingly vanished from Japan and all they had to go on is what Eris had told Hiei and whatever information they could get out of the captured evil minions, which wasn't much since there was some unknown force rendered the minions unable to talk. It was incredibly frustrating.
Omake 2 for Guest reviewer: Bree and Fluffy-sama, I mean Sesshomaru
So falling down a well probably wasn't the most intelligent thing she had ever done, I fact it probably made the list of things never to be repeated. The well turned out to be some kind of portal to another world/universe/timeline/time period/ dimension. Bree wasn't willing to rule anything out. Bree decided to explore the place a bit before trying to return home.
It should be noted that she set off in a direction leading away from the nearby village, but it's not like she knew that. All she really found was a whole lot of forest. She was about to turn back went she heard the sound of a child screaming. She ran towards the scream and found a little girl being attacked by a monster that was talking about how good she would taste. Naturally, Bree killed the monster.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked the sniffling girl.
"Lord Sesshomaru told me to wait for him here." She answered.
"By yourself?" Bree pressed. The girl shook her head.
"He told Jaken to watch over me but Jaken left not long after Lord Sesshomaru did." She explained.
Bree sighed. "My names Bree, what's yours?" she asked.
"Rin." The girl answered.
"Okay then Rin, how about I stay with you until Sesshomaru gets back?" Bree suggested. Rin happily agreed. They spent a few hours picking flowers and making daisy chains. Eventually Rin grew tired and fell asleep with her head resting on Bree's lap. Late in the evening, someone finally showed up.
It was a tall regal looking male humanoid. And Bree said humanoid, not human because of the man's pointed ears, facial markings, and long silver hair.
Rin stirred.
"Lord Sesshomaru, you're back!" she exclaimed somewhat sleepily when she caught sight of the male.
"Where's Jaken?" he asked.
"He left." Rin replied.
"So was it this girl that killed the demon then?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Yes! Bree save me, and then she played with me until I got tried and then she let me use her lap as a pillow and then you came." Rin babbled.
Sesshomaru stared at Bree, examining her closely.
"I've never seen a human like you before." He finally said.
"I'm just passing through, I would have gone home by now if I hadn't discovered Rin alone out here. You should find someone more trustworthy than this Jaken fellow to watch her if you really have to leave her behind. She might not always be lucky enough to have someone like me pass by." Bree replied.
"Anyway I've got to get going." She said before she walked off. Jaken got a severe reprimand after that and Sesshomaru started leaving Rin with Kagome, much to his half-brother's chagrin.
I've noticed that most of the series I'm into take place in either America or Japan, plus I'm a lot more familiar with America anyway, so a lot of the story will probably be taking place in those countries. Just because Bree's left Japan for now doesn't mean she won't double back later.
