002: Curiosity
It was dusty and still.
That was his first impression of the darkness inside the wooden structure. Dust tickled at his nose, but the blanketing silence and stale air in the small space suggested no one had been here for some time. Like a pocket of time removed from the rest of the Sunset Shrine, it was stagnant in the otherwise life-and-then-some aesthetics of the shrine.
Keiko had gone towards the display of wooden shelves and boxes offering fortunes for a small donation, her hand slipping out of his the moment they had crossed under the red lacquered gate. They'd gone to enough of these sorts of places that she knew better than to hold onto Yusuke and drag him around, better to let him wander than hear him grumbling and making comments that would leave her caught red and embarrassed in front of strangers.
It was a small shrine, but it wasn't the smallest.
It was an old shrine, but it wasn't the oldest, either.
Still, it was impossible not to notice how quiet and tranquil the grounds were. Strings of small, tinkling bells, coupled with larger, ceremonial ones, were strung about the grounds. With each brush of wind, the sound of flittering strung paper and said bells carried itself from one end of the property to the other. It was utterly peaceful, the epitome of tranquil and holy; a place of meditation, worship, and study.
It made the hair on the back of Yusuke's neck rise.
Not that there was anything malevolent or questionable about the place, if anything, the sheer gravity of holy energy marked it as the real deal.
This couldn't be said for all the others Yusuke had been.
But it was enough to make someone like him a little put off – grimy dive bars, seedy alleyways, a fist fight with a demon ready to rip his guts out: these were familiar, easy to navigate situations. Here, though…it just made him feel like his hands were too dirty.
The little shed had been an ugly, dark structure secluded behind newer structures that had probably been built or renovated much later. Call it curiosity, call it being a nosy shit, or call it like calling to like, but one way or another he'd found himself ducking surreptitiously around the corner of one building and slipping through the questionable doorway of the structure..
A dark residue, dirt and dust from neglect and the outside elements, came off the frame onto his palm, and Yusuke absently brushed his hands down the sides of his jeans.
Well, he thought, looking around. That was fucking stupid of me. There's nothing here.
Figures, besides a creaking set of steps leading to a platform, some seriously filthy looking cobwebs that looked like they could hold a newborn or two in their clutches up in the rafters, and a giant pit or hole, or, whatever, there wasn't much to look at in here. Even the floor, he realized, was just packed dirt.
Hell, I probably shouldn't even be breathing too much in here. Probably mold spores and shit all over the place. Jeez.
Looking behind him at the partially closed door, Yusuke felt the slight sting as his eyes adjusted to the bright sliver of daylight that managed to peek through the doorway. It was dark in here. Like, actually dark.
And quiet, he realized. Not just quiet, but still – again, the thought of a pocket of untouched, forgotten time popped into his mind as he realized the sound of the shrine's bells and the soft murmurs of conversation couldn't be heard beyond the door.
It's not just the air. Even the holy energy of the shrine felt muted, deafened in this wooden house. For the first time since he'd made it up onto the property, Yusuke felt the weight of the shrine's holy energy lifted from his shoulders – replaced with just the drafty cold air.
"You're just imagining this."
The sound of his voice felt wrong, the words spoken into air an interruption.
"For crying out loud, Yusuke, stop dicking around and just get out of here," he muttered, and still he found himself stepping away from the door.
Never let it be said that Yusuke Urameshi wasn't a curious idiot when given the opportunity to look down spooky ass holes in the ground in rickety old looking sheds on someone's property. The longer he was in here, the more it felt like the hole was the center of the shed's unnatural silence. In his gut, he could feel a weight dropping down, something tugging at his navel towards the wooden lip of the hole.
He was pretty sure this is how idiots in movies suddenly found themselves murdered by serial killers and supernatural entities that took the shape of twisted shit like clowns and sales ladies.
A peek wouldn't hurt though.
He wouldn't even step close enough to tip forward, just enough to lift his chin and look down.
Inches away from the lip, Yusuke realized that the weird feeling in his gut – what he thought was indigestion, nerves, his inner Keiko that let him know when he was doing really stupid things – felt stronger.
Like a persistent tugging, it felt like…for just a second, the darkness of the hole thrummed. Like fingers running across the skin of a drum, there was potential here. For what, he didn't know, but damn if this was just his imagination and not years of reiki training coming in use.
His hand rested lightly against the wood; it felt old, lightly damp like moisture had seeped in at some point through the roof.
It wouldn't hurt to take a closer look, he reasoned. Not like I'm going to fall in.
And he thought, if he focused, he could feel that pulse again – just for a second, calling out in the darkness from the bottom-
"Is someone in there?"
Gripping the wood, Yusuke felt his body lurch in sudden surprise at the flood of light that suddenly opened up from behind him. The sound of the door scraping open so quick, so unexpectedly—
"Holy shit—!"
Ah. Thanks for your interest in this story. Since YYH originally came out in the early 90s and IY not long after, this takes place sometime after both. So, you know, please imagine tight high-waisted jeans, windbreakers, solid colors and questionable prints. You know, like the manga. Ha! But, seriously, I love the 90s streetwear aesthetics that YYH and IY both liked to show in their side art. As far as canon events go, we're going to conveniently forget Inuyasha's canonical ending. Similar things can be said for YYH's ending - some things are being retained, but not YYH's integration of demons into the human world (i.e. the barriers being loosey goosey; no talk show demons here!)
As for relationships...Follow along for the development of that, or, rather, those. :) Yusuke starts the narrative but he won't be the primary for all chapters. Let me know what you think, follow and leave a review if you want more.