003: Crossover

"Holy shit—!"

Hands, soft, warm, holding onto his flailing arm as his muscles tensed – ready to throw, ready to fight, his stomach taut with the sudden rush of intense adrenaline that could only come from being startled out of his fucking mind-

His body tipped one way, towards the hole, while the hands tugged him back. Small, but firm, they moved him several steps away from the edge. It took his eyes a few blinks from the sudden sunlight, but they adjusted to show him what he thought might have been Keiko come to rip him a new one was another woman he didn't recognize.

"I'm sorry, sir, for startling you," she said, in a rush, and Yusuke dazedly realized her hands were still on him. "But it's not safe to be in here."

The other hand belonging to the arm she wasn't attached to unclenched, and Yusuke felt his muscles relax. It'd been a while since anything had been able to sneak up on him, but this shed-

"I don't know how you got in here, to be honest. It's supposed to be locked."

"Uh." Great. You're a trespassing jackass, Urameshi. "It's…fine?"

"It's really not." The woman's mouth twisted in a wry smile, and Yusuke realized three things in that moment:

First, she most definitely worked here, if the white and red robes were any indication.

Second, she was smaller than he'd initially thought, and he wouldn't have guessed that from the way he'd been pulled backwards – so forcefully.

And, third, goofing off in the darkness must have messed up his vision because this shrine maiden was much younger than he'd first pegged. Younger than him, he'd guess. He couldn't tell if it really was the lighting playing tricks or if her eyes really were that color.

"Sorry, I guess I didn't realize I shouldn't have been in here," he lied, poorly. Very poorly.

There wasn't a chance she bought it, not with the way her eyes flickered about his face.

"I was just curious," he added, "about, uh, your hole. In the floor."

A hand waved useless behind him, as if to further emphasize the obvious. "This one."

Shizuru had the same considering look about her face, Yusuke thought, as the young woman tipped her head to look at him. Kurama, too. It was the look of someone doing some serious thinking.

"It's a well."

"Well what?"

That smile again; the corners of her lip twisting like she couldn't allow herself to fully smile at him. "No, a well. Like, when they used to get water."

"Oh," he said, and he knew before the word came out of his mouth that he sounded very stupid.

"If you don't mind, sir," she said, carefully, like Yusuke was very inept or very stupid, or, most likely, both, with the grace of someone working in a people job, "This is off limits. I'll have to ask you to leave, please."

She stepped through the doorway and Yusuke took the hint, following out back into the sunlight.

Like someone had flicked on a switch, the ambient sounds of the grounds and the slight tingle to his skin returned.

He breathed in, deeply, and allowed his senses to spread out. Keiko wasn't too far from here. He felt her first, before his eyes found her figure standing in front of a large tree some ways away.

Yusuke turned around in time to catch the shrine maiden picking something off the ground, dusting it; a large padlock, heavy and definitely not locking anything. Her eyes lifting up to meet his, Yusuke realized instantly what it must have looked like.

"That wasn't there before."

Great, idiot, you said that too fast. Now she definitely thinks you did it.

Wordlessly, she moved the door back and put the lock in place, looping it through a latch that Yusuke could now see was distinctly newer looking than the rest of the door and its frame.

In the sunlight, he could make out her features better. Dark hair, dark lashes, a soft, round face that was easily within the standards for pretty; being around people with features in every color of the rainbow and then some had seriously skewed his sense for attractive, but this girl had a fair enough face that was easy to take in. Definitely "shrine maiden"-like, if Yusuke had been imagining her back during his school days.

Before he could stop himself, the words were out of his mouth. "Why's it there?"

Brows furrowing, she looked back at the lock. "The lock?"

"No," Yusuke clarified, "The well."

"Oh," she said. He waited for her to elaborate further, but it seemed like she hadn't expected him to follow up after being caught.

And he was right – her eyes were weird. Unusual, he amended. A grey-blue like the few ink-wash paintings he'd been gifted for his apartment in an attempt to give him some sense of class (Kurama's words, not his); they stood out in the fair expanse of her face. It struck him how odd it was to see a regular, run of the mill human who just happened to have funny genes.

Those eyes watched him just as much as he was watching her, and they roamed his face for what seemed like minutes when this entire exchange had mostly likely just been seconds. Whatever it was she found, she glanced away, her hands pressing the belted waist of her red hakama. "It's been here longer than most of this shrine, probably. Except for the God Tree, of course."

"What's a shrine need a well for?"

"The shrine wasn't always here." Tucking a stray strand of black hair behind her ear, she walked away from the shed, beckoning him along. "This whole area used to belong to a village and this was their well. Except they didn't use it for water."

Guiding him over to a bench, she took a seat. After a moment's pause, Yusuke took the opposite end with enough distance between them.

Keiko looked around for him, and he waved at her from his seat on the bench. Seemingly satisfied that he wasn't up to any trouble, she turned back to reading the pamphlet in her hands.

"Is that your girlfriend?"

Yusuke turned, an arm along the back of the bench while he took in the younger woman beside him. High school-aged, maybe, but the old-fashioned robes made it hard to tell for sure. "Yeah, that's Keiko. She keeps me in line."

That warranted a smile, and Yusuke caught the brief hint of a dimple in one cheek. "Oh," she huffed, arms crossed as she leaned away from him, giving him a pretty cheeky up-down, "You get out of line often?"

"Enough," he replied, and he made a point of brushing some invisible dirt (well, okay, maybe real dirt) from the front of his shirt. His nose wrinkled as a thought passed him though, and he gave her a scrutinizing look, "Hey, listen, you don't want to hang around guys like that alright? That's a lot of trouble for a kid like you."

"Kid?" A laugh of disbelief, her hand coming up to cover her mouth, "How old do you think I am?"

Caught off guard, Yusuke tugged at the neck of his shirt. "What are you, like a third year?"

"Are you asking if I'm a third year in high school?" Again, an incredulous laugh from her that made Yusuke feel like he was the butt of a joke he hadn't even heard.

"Shit, I was asking middle school. What are you, fifteen? Sixteen?" He didn't need spirit training to know getting into a woman's business was asking for trouble, if Keiko's hot-headed slaps back in high school were any indication.

She was full on grinning now, and even though he felt like an idiot Yusuke had to admit that she was even prettier laughing. "You know," she said, tilting her head considering, eyes sparkling in mirth, "I'm going to appreciate that a few years from now probably. I'm actually twenty."

"Get the fuck outta here-" words, again, coming out of his mouth before he could put a stopper on them.

At least she didn't seem offended, not with the muffled peal of laughter as she hurriedly looked around to make sure no one around them had heard.

"High school's been… a while for me," she said, finally, carefully.

Yusuke scrubbed at his face, grimacing as he remembered what little school he attended. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

The question was obvious on her face, but she was probably too polite to ask it, unlike his own rude ass. He offered it anyway. "I'm twenty-six."

In two more months, but close enough. Why delay the inevitable realization that he wasn't a fourteen-year old punk ass anymore? Urameshi Yusuke was a grown punk ass now, according to Kuwabara Kazuma. With taxes, a spotty, questionable income, and even an occasional chiropractor's visit. Damn.

Her mouth opened in a silent 'Ah,' as she nodded.

Rubbing the back of his neck he gestured weakly towards himself, "Yusuke, by the way. Urameshi Yusuke, sorry about, y'know," he rolled his eyes, "breaking in and assuming you were jail bait and all that."

Another crack of laughter, and this time he could see Keiko out of the corner of his eye making her way towards them, most likely coming to stop him from harassing some poor shrine maiden.

"That's fine, Urameshi-san, you gave me an excuse to take a break from cleaning."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow pointedly, tipping his head towards her. "And you are…?"

"Jail bait, apparently," she quipped, "but my papers say Higurashi Kagome most of the time."

Funny.

"Yusuke!"

"I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your visit, Urameshi-san," Higurashi said, standing up and dusting her pants. She ducked her head politely at Keiko's approach, and Keiko quickly bent forward. Trust Keiko to bring manners in for the both of them.

Yusuke stood up, taking the handles of the paper bags Keiko silently handed to him out of habit. "Hey, wait up, Higurashi."

Keiko elbowed him sharply, again, manners, but he was so used to it he hardly noticed. Yusuke nodded back wards to the well house that was now locked up. "So what did they use it for?"

Higrurashi turned back to face him fully again. Her brows furrowed. "Sorry?"

"You said they didn't use it for water. You never explained what they used it for."

Expression clearing in understanding, Higurashi's eyes flickered back behind him to look. "Oh, that." She paused, and in those few seconds Yusuke wondered if he'd asked the wrong thing. Shaking her head, as if to clear her thoughts, she shrugged. "They used it to throw away old bones and debris from the village."

In a game of poker, she'd hardly take any winnings with a thinking face like that; her bottom lip was snagged and Yusuke would bet she didn't even realize she had a habit of chewing on it.

"It used to have a name," she offered, eventually, slowly, "The Bone Eater's well."

Yusuke snorted, "Alright. A bit excessive, but I'll buy it."

The corners of Higurashi's mouth tipped upwards, again; that same wry, quiet half-smile from earlier.

Keiko made a thoughtful noise beside them, "Was that a problem for the time? Bones? Wouldn't they have piled up?"

Higurashi folded her arms, her hands disappearing into the folds of her robes. "You'd think that, but the well's myths stem from the fact that the bones would disappear once the villagers threw them down. It was a problem back then, quite a bit of one in fact."

"What," Yusuke asked, and it was difficult to keep the skepticism out of his voice. "They couldn't just bury people?"

"Not people, Urameshi-san," Higurashi corrected, and this must have been some folk-tale related to the shrine, because in this moment she looked the part of a shrine keeper. "These were youkai bones."

If either Keiko or Yusuke faltered for a second, Yusuke doubted Higurashi would have picked it up – not from how quickly Keiko made a sound of awe, feigning the interest of someone who hadn't actually had far-too-close encounters with youkai kind.

"Youkai, huh?" He couldn't help but offer the bait. Thoughts of grotesque beasts and blink-and-you'll-die youkai like Hiei flashing in his mind, all just stories and fairy tale to this woman who probably only moonlighted as miko and spent the rest of her time with the rest of them in jeans and t-shirts. "That's just a myth though, right?"

Higurashi pursed her lips, rocking back on the balls of her feet despite the wooden sandals she wore.

"Hmm, I wouldn't say that, Urameshi-san." She shrugged, and the ghost of a dimple appeared once again in her cheek, "After all, there's always a grain of truth in stories, isn't there?"

"Yeah, but you don't really think there's demons running about, do you?"

Two days ago he'd put a hole through the gut of a lower-class demon in a back alley next to a newly opened pizza shop. A week prior to that, he'd been mediating the passing of a freshly discovered poltergeist who'd been more than thirsty for vengeance on some now-former school bullies.

Seemingly oblivious to look the Keiko was giving him, Higurashi seemed to take his question with the same regard she must have given to any other tourist – a finger tapping in thought on her chin.

"I don't know if you've had a chance to look around here, Urameshi-san, but I think you'd find some of our artifacts of interest if you're curious about whether there were youkai in the past. After all," she winked, "they couldn't have exorcisms and shrines if there weren't any, right? I'm wearing the uniform, after all."

He appreciated someone with a bit of cheek, and Higurashi seemed to offer it in bite-sized amounts.

"Wouldn't want to put you out of a job, I guess," Yusuke conceded, his mouth twisting into a smirk.

"Thanks," Higurashi chirped brightly, clasping her hands behind her back. "Have a look around then. I know some shrines nowadays maintain their story for appearance sake, but youkai have been pretty integral to the history of this area."

"Thank you," Keiko said, twisting the skin of Yusuke's elbow. "Say thank you, Yusuke, so the nice priestess can get back to her job."

"Thank you Yusuke," he parroted.

Keiko sighed, shaking her head, floppy brim of her sun hat comically fluttering.

Even so, she gave him such a warm look of fondness that had his heart fluttering up and down like that stupid hat. He flicked it upwards, before moving his hand down to tip her chin for a kiss.

"And don't worry, Urameshi-san-" the shrine maiden threw over her shoulder as she started to make her way back towards the center courtyard. Yusuke paused, looking up and over towards her retreating figure, a sound in his throat.

"-There aren't any bad demons on these grounds that'll come after you."

He couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face, a rush of pride and some other emotion burning in his chest from the thought that she had no idea how right she was.

"Keh, I'd like to see any of them even try with me!"

It was a minuscule motion, nearly covered by the billowing pants, but Yusuke could see the moment her steps faltered – a sandaled foot must have gone the wrong way, because she stumbled, turning sharply on a point to look back at him, hand against the wooden pillar of the building next to her. Evident even meters away from them, her eyes were wide with strands of disturbed hair fluttering against her cheek.

Keiko made a questioning noise, moving in time with Yusuke as they both moved apart at the shrine maiden's sudden actions.

The look on Higurashi's face – it wasn't just surprise, because he hadn't said anything particularly witty or funny enough to warrant the way her eyes darted across his face. And she must have been – looking at him, that is, where else would she be looking? But he didn't understand why she would stare with such …such…

"Is she okay?" Keiko whispered. To herself, to him, maybe. He felt his shoulders tense up.

He wasn't sure, couldn't place it, whatever the look on Higurashi's face meant but Keiko's grip on his arm had him looking down at himself.

He'd worn a pair of blue jeans, faded but decent for him considering their lack of holes. Hadn't tracked any mud from the well house that he could see on his shoes. The red windbreaker he'd thrown on this morning had been well suited for what he thought would be breezy weather, but now seemed a bit off with the humidity. That was all. No giant spiders, and his pants were zipped up.

Yusuke looked back up, and the young woman was still seemingly frozen. "What? Something on my face?"

For a moment, Yusuke saw her mouth move to speak but maybe it was just empty air that came out because she shook her head, stopping herself from whatever strange reverie had struck her.

Okay. We-ird.

Before he could call out again, she raised a hand. His mouth clicked with a shut and he watched as that same hand ran itself through the black strands of hair, pulling them back behind an ear. The motion so quick, it could only have been nerves, because the same strands fell out again.

"No, you just-" she stopped, again, as if unsure whether to continue. She opened her mouth, shut it, and pursed her lips until he could see every variation of frustration zip across her face. "You-"

In that moment, Yusuke realized how very odd the whole situation was. He and Keiko waiting for Higurashi to talk at them from a good few meters away, as if neither one of them wanted to close the gap.

Finally, a shrug. Hands up in the air, as if conducting some fumbling melody. "Sorry, I'm – that was weird," Higurashi said, the words tumbling out of her mouth as if she could sweep up the tension she'd caused. "That was weird, right?"

She laughed, a nervous titter that said in big flashing signs above her head how desperately she probably wanted to go back in time and wipe away the awkward interaction.

Yusuke took a moment to share a mutual look of confusion with Keiko. Time together had made it easy to read Keiko's thoughts, and they both moved forward to get closer. Keiko, out of concern and Yusuke out of… curiosity at what could make a shrine maiden short circuit so suddenly.

"Hey," Yusuke said. Keiko's arm curled around his, as the priestess made eye contact with her before looking back up at Yusuke. Those grey-blue eyes darted about his face, again, before settling somewhere beyond his shoulder like she couldn't quite stare at him. "You good, Higurashi?"

The hiccuping laugh that came from her mouth seemed to startle all three of them, if the look on her face was any indication. Higurashi closed her eyes, hands coming down to flatly smooth out the fabric at the waist of her hakama, in what Yusuke now recognized as a nervous tic.

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that." She breathed out, as if coming to terms with something funny and odd and entirely out of the loop with them, before opening her eyes. When she spoke, she addressed his chest. "You just reminded me of someone, that's all."

"Oh-kay," Yusuke said, slowly. Keiko shrugged when he looked at her, her eyebrows telegraphing I don't know in response to his What do I do now? "Like…a good reminder or a bad one?"

Because you just seemed to fall out of place there, for a moment, he didn't say.

Higurashi shook her head, mouth partially open as if she wasn't sure how, quite, to answer that question. "Just," her eyes looked up and Yusuke felt the way frogs must have felt in science classes, pinned down to a surface, "You just surprised me, that's all."

"You're sure you're okay? You didn't hurt yourself did you?" Keiko's arm slipped out, and Higurashi's eyes followed the motion, as if she couldn't help herself.

Yusuke blinked and Higurashi's face had taken on its earlier calm, as if she suddenly remembered herself. Smiling gently, distancing herself from Keiko's offer of concern, the shrine maiden shook her head, "I'm alright. I apologize, I haven't felt like that in a while and it took me off guard."

Gesturing to the rest of the grounds, it seemed like she was back to business. "Please, enjoy the rest of your time here. Let my mother or brother-" Yusuke's eyebrows shot up at that, Keiko's quiet "oh!" echoing his thoughts "-know if you have any questions."

It seemed like that was the end of whatever it was that had just occurred, and, with a quick bow that veered a little too closely to informal and hasty, Higurashi disappeared around the corner of a building.

"Okay, so that was weird, right?" And it was only after the words were out of his mouth that Yusuke realized he was just echoing earlier sentiments.

Keiko tilted her head in thought, her eyes scanning the grounds for a moment. "What did you say to her Yusuke?"

Sputtering, Yusuke spread his hands out, "I have no clue."

"Me neither." Absently, Keiko checked the watch on her wrist and let out a sound of surprise. "Oh, we're way past lunch! Should we eat?"

His stomach took that as its cue to speak, rumbling loudly. "Jeez, yeah. Let's do that."

Still, he hesitated, looking around at the different buildings, the large tree, the direction of the well house. The grounds hummed, like string held taut and plucked with each breeze that picked up. "But I think we should come here again, sometime."

"Really?" You've never wanted to anywhere else, Keiko didn't need to say – her eyebrows up.

Tucking his hands into his pockets, Yusuke's eyes caught hold of a detail he hadn't noticed before on the bark of the tree – a large, scar like fissure that seemed almost direct center of the trunk.

Huh.

"Yeah, really."

10.21.18

Oh, surprise. Another update. A pretty lengthy one too. About 3.8k, which is way more than I planned for each little snippet. Ugh, now we're both going to be disappointed later. I can't promise they'll all be like this, but I'm having fun – are you, yet?

The worst part of writing is wanting to do all the fun scenes that come later, but needing to do all the in-between work. That being said, there are about 10,000 words already written for things that have definitely not happened yet. Why do I do that to myself.

As always, this is unbeta'd. We're just ride and die right now, folks. Let me know if you're still here and interested in more.