Day 11: "One two three"
Beneath the glittering map of stars embossed upon the ceiling of his hideout, Minato performed his nightly scans of the city—alone.
Minato rather liked being alone. Or he was used to it, at least. In solitude shared only occasionally by a talking cat called Artemis, Minato concluded each night in the hideout below the Game Crown Center with his routine scans of Tokyo and it outlying population centers. He enjoyed studying the readouts produced by the complicated technology of the Moon Kingdom; he'd even gotten quite good at interpreting the data it collected, too. Energy spikes, magnetic vs. electric energies, changes in barometric pressure and even temperature—it all came together in a complex array of data that told the story of the night, revealing what went on beneath the surface of the city's many lights. Cars, people, computers, and even emotions all produced discreet energy signatures, and with practice, Minato had gotten reading these energies down to a science.
And that made interpreting anomalies in the data a rather vexing challenge, now didn't it?
The anomalies had started a month or so prior, as far as Minato could tell. They resisted all attempts at being read or understood, however, much time thought Minato spent trying to unravel their secrets. Most of the anomalies came from Tokyo, but others came from elsewhere—from settlements as close to Tokyo as Sarayashiki, where Keiko lived, and even as far as other parts of the country entirely. Still others came from Mushiyori City, and the significance of this was not lost on Minato. Mushiyori was meant to host the next portions of the Yu Yu Hakusho canon storyline, and Minato could not help but wonder if some of these anomalies were related to that… but that didn't explain the anomalies he'd spotted in Tokyo, which meant his working theory regarding the origin of the anomalies wasn't quite as solid as he'd like.
That night, Minato's scanners hadn't picked up too much outside the realm of normalcy. That might be why he smiled when the computer in front of him gave a loud beep, a flashing symbol illuminating upon the gigantic screen projected above him in midair. A map accompanied the symbol; it depicted the bulk of Tokyo, with two points marked by a gleaming gold crescent moons. The sound of the beep had already old him everything he needed to know, but those points told him the rest: That the Dimensional Doorway technology had been used in Tokyo and, simultaneously, within the Game Crown Center.
There was only on person Minato knew of who would be responsible for that.
Rising from his seat at the computer, Minato trotted out of his underground base and up the stairs into the Game Crown Center, doing his best to hide the smile still pulling at his mouth. He wasn't sure what she wanted, but it was hardly the first time she'd showed up unannounced. Resolving to admonish her (gently) for barging in without calling ahead, he walked over to the door to a supply closet, which he'd programmed as the landing spot for his the Dimensional Doorway tech. Minato counted backward in his head as he came to a stop before the door, waiting to speak until the door opened with a creak.
"Really, Kagome," he said as light from her bedroom leaked into the arcade. "I thought that after the last time, you would—" He stopped. "Kagome?"
Kagome—because, as predicted, it was she who had crashed Minato's isolated partly—stood silently in the doorway, small figure silhouetted by the light from her bedside lamp and the starlight pouring through her messy bedroom's window. But even though her face remained hidden in shadow, Minato couldn't help but notice the tremor in her thin shoulders, the way she held her head bowed low and her hands in fists at her sides. He drew in a harsh breath when a sob choked from her young mouth, and without a word Kagome leapt forward and threw her arms around Minato's middle.
"Oh, Minato, Minato, it's Keiko, it's Eeyore!" Kagome wailed. "She—"
"What happened to the Captain?" Minato pushed her to arm's length, blue eyes hard as they searched her face. "Tell me everything."
Kagome sniffed, crystalline tears tracking down her sallow cheeks. "I called because I wanted to see how her talk with Koenma went, and also I wanted to tell her about this stupid thing we had to do in school today, and how my teacher said something really really funny, and—"
"Focus, Kagome."
"Right." She nodded again and again, hiccupping. "I called but she didn't answer, so I called the restaurant to ask if she was home, and a guy from the kitchen told me she's in the hospital!"
"What?" Minato said. He took a deep breath, forcing any feelings of nerves or shock aside with the force if an iron will alone. "The hospital? Why?"
"He said somebody called Keiko's parents to tell them she'd collapsed, and her parents were already gone and running to the hospital across town." Kagome spoke in a clip so brisk it bordered on a babble, but Minato was able to keep up with her train of thought without undue issue. "But the guy in the kitchen had no idea what really happened, so I just—" Fresh tears brimmed; she sniffled, long and loud and with utter sincerity. "I just came here because I didn't know what else to do, and—"
Kagome burst into tears once more, and as he gave her shoulder a pat, Minato calculated his options with speed that rivaled the supercomputer in the basement, assessing risks and divining rewards in a flash. Deciding action was the only thing that would, a) calm Kagome, and, b) give them even the hope of a chance at remedying the Captain's unexpected situation, Minato leapt into action. The transformation burst across his skin with sparkles that felt like an electrical current, lengthening his hair and dissolving his clothes so they could reform into the battle outfit of Sailor V. Kagome's tears dried up as she stared at him in undisguised amazement, but he didn't pause to let himself feel self-conscious of her scrutiny. Instead Minato slipped into the playacted role of V, letting the character wash over him to spare him the embarrassment of taking this unnatural form.
Minato didn't particularly enjoy wearing the uniform of Sailor V, of course. But V—or the part of him that had become V when he was reborn—didn't feel that way. He popped two V-for-victory fingers over one eye and grinned, cognizant of the fact that Kagome was sure to feed off of whatever mood he happened to project. He'd be damned if that mood made things worse.
"You wait right here, Kagome," he said, continuing to strike a pose. "I'll go and see what's up and be right back, promise."
Kagome sniffled. "You will?"
"Of course." He winked and strode confidently off into the arcade, blond head held high. "Just sit tight, play some games, and I'll be back with my report in a flash."
Before Kagome could ask questions, Minato sprinted for the nearest doorway, fishing in his skirt pocket for a set of Dimensional Doorway tokens. He waited until he left the arcade to let his smile drop, walking into the dark humidity of a Sarayashiki night with a grim frown and the intimidating clatter of high heel upon hard concrete.
Minato had no idea what was happening with the Captain. As far as he knew, Keiko's collapse didn't resemble anything out of Yu Yu Hakusho canon—but he saw no reason to tell Kagome that, and as far as he was concerned, letting Kagome see the dire cast in his blue eyes wasn't going to help either of them.
#
Perched upon the roof of the office building beside the hospital, Minato looked down upon the hospital's roof and waited—once again, alone.
Minato's view of the roof afforded him little information, of course, but that wasn't unexpected. Minato had known immediately that coming to the hospital wouldn't accomplish much right away; it wasn't like he could go charging inside dressed as a superhero (a superhero in a miniskirt, of all things) and demand they hand him a patient's files. But going to the hospital had been the only way to calm Kagome down, her anxiety soothed by supposed action, and besides: Minato had a hunch that if he waited long enough, he'd eventually learn something of use. Even if that something didn't help the Captain, it would at least afford him a better understanding of the situation at hand. If there was one thing he'd learned in his past life, it was never to underestimate the value of thorough reconnaissance.
And his dedication to reconnaissance was soon rewarded. Fifteen minutes after his arrival, the door to the gravel-strewn roof opened, admitting the presence of one, two, three orderlies clad in dingy hospital scrubs. The three men spoke in low voices as they passed around a pack of cigarettes and lit up, cherries glowing like animal eyes upon the dimly lit rooftop.
"…getting really bad, huh?" said one of the orderlies.
"Yeah," said another. He wandered toward the chain-length fence that separated the roof from a drop into oblivion. "They thought it wasn't spreading outside Mushiyori, but now there are two people with it here in Sarayashiki."
The last sighed, rubbing at his temple. "And they're both under our hospital's roof."
"At least those doctors in charge of the treatments in Mushiyori are here, too," said the first orderly."
The second twined his fingers into the fence, metal rattling under his hand. "Did you hear why, though?" he asked, taking a long drag on his cigarette.
"To study the disease, right?"
"Not really. It's because their kid—"
Yes, Minato thought to himself.
This was good, on-topic intelligence, indeed.
A pity he wasn't meant to hear more of it.
The moment the air changed, buzzing as if charged by a burgeoning lightning strike, Minato leapt sideways, flying with a single thrust of his powerful legs. Silver cut the air right where he'd been crouched; a moment later, a sword embedded itself in the concrete, blade quivering from the force of whatever hand had thrown it across the roof. Tracing the sword's trajectory with a sweep of practiced blue eyes, Minato spun on his heel to face—
Black cloak. Burning red eyes. Blue-black hair and an outstretched hand, pointed teeth bared in a feral grimace. Even if Minato hadn't managed to snag a photo of him when he first began to research the Captain, he'd know this demon on sight.
Hiei's look, after all, was rather unique.
And speaking of looks—Hiei favored Minato with one that blazed, sneer twisting his mouth and eyes into a mockery of human features. He raised a finger and pointed it toward Minato, sharp teeth gleaming against bronze skin when he opened his mouth and snarled. An animalistic sound, if Minato had ever heard one. No wonder even the Captain found Hiei intimidating. If Minato hadn't possessed a spine of steel, he himself might have been tempted (but only tempted) to feel a twinge of fear at the sight of Hiei's glower.
As it stood, he just sank into a fighting stance, hand raised to intercept a strike.
"So you're faster than you look, I see," Hiei spat. "But I suppose it hardly matters." Curling his fingers into his headband, he ripped it off his forehead and glared with three eyes instead of two, each one glowing with unnatural, bright light. "Now tell me, human—who the fuck are you supposed to be?"
At once, Minato's alter-ego took hold. His hand rose into a cheery V symbol, fingers poised over one bright eye as he reflexively chirped, "My name is Sailor V, warrior of love—and in the name of love and beauty, I will punish you!"
So this chapter is actually the first of three connected chapters (prompts 11-13) set during the time NQK is in the hospital. Tune in tomorrow to see where this confrontation leads! Still deciding if this is canonical, though. Some parts might be, but IDK just yet.
Many thanks to all of you who gave suggestions about which characters to use next. I was pretty stumped by this prompt, and your suggestions helped me get un-stuck. Big thanks go out to: RE Zera, C S Stars, cestlavie, Kaiya Azure, xenocanaan, ladyofchaos, buzzk97 and guests!
(Also I know some of you voted for people who aren't the Not Quites; I promise we'll get to your suggestions, and for some of you, perhaps sooner than you think…)