Title: Trust
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha
Author's Note: I know a lot of you have questions, plot and pairing related. Sorry everyone, I know I usually give spoilers, those of you who've asked things before, but I'm keeping things to a minimum in that case in this story.
Chapter 1 - Manipulation
Sleep. She hadn't had any more than snatches since that fitful day (or had it been night?) that she had realized what was going on. And now she was safe. Another word that was suddenly unfamiliar with her. There was no safe. There was only tension and battle and tragedy and endless despair and betrayal. There was no safe place. No one was safe to be near, except Kuronue.
She shifted her head to glance up toward the ceiling, relieved to find he was still hanging there. It never occurred to her to find it odd that she was so used to him that she didn't look towards a bed, but the ceiling. It was part of his magic, his natural power (couldn't really be called magic then, could it?) that he could sleep upside down on any surface. Not that it stopped him from sleeping on a normal surface. Kuronue just preferred the ceiling. Safe, and unexpected.
The softest, palest shade of yellow light illuminated a small spot on the floor. Kagome stared at it and pulled her feet back. Blue-gray eyes looked towards the window, relieved to find it was just early morning light, not a reflection of some kind. With a soft sigh and a shake of her head Kagome stepped out of bed. She glanced around, finding the simple clothes that had been left for them. Jeans and a shirt. So simple.
She usually had worn skirts when she'd lived in ningenkai. It seemed such a long time ago, but it was only what, a year?
This outfit looked so... young. And so normal. Kagome shook her head absently and decided it was time to see what else was here in this "safe" haven.
Dressed and clean, after finding the shower and hoping she was allowed to use it, Kagome finally ventured out beyond the door and into the hallway, glancing down at the pink shirt that seemed such an odd, bright color to her. Pastel pink wasn't a common sight in Makai, especially in Sesshoumaru's piece of land. Stolen land, really, but he hadn't claimed a portion large enough to come to the attention of Enki or the other, less influential, demons. Or even the more influential demons. Just another demon claiming a bit of land for himself.
She drifted into a main room, one with some chairs and a small table. Not an eating room, that she could see through another door, and what appeared to be a kitchen beyond that. Most of the other rooms looked to be other spare bedroom (some seemingly used), or simple rooms for meditation or training. She had seen other buildings, at least one a dojo she presumed.
"You're up early." The soft comment had Kagome whirling around, one hand outstretched and glowing, the other by her side, palm flat as an almost ghostly pink mist hovered around, not at all like the glowing of her other hand. Her eyes had gone wide and mixtures of fear and surprise shone through. Yukina's concerned crimson eyes showed only surprise out of those two emotions. Kagome was quick to draw back.
"Sorry..." The whispered apology had no effect on the koorime except for her to smile slightly. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Couldn't sleep in. Once I get up..."
"You stay up. The boys are like that a lot. Too much danger around them.
Anyone surrounded by danger would have a hard time sleeping and pretending that the dreams in their minds will save them." Kagome stayed silent as the ice apparition stared at her, the sympathy in her eyes very real and so innocent and whole. Too perceptive. Or the demon simply recognized familiar things in her.
"It's alright. I don't need to know. Would you like some breakfast?" Another smile as Kagome's face brightened slightly. If it was lunch or dinner she'd ask for oden, but since it was breakfast...
"Do you have pancakes?"
The first thing that hit his ears was unfamiliar voices. He dropped soundlessly to the ground, flipping himself so his feet landed on the ground and crouched down, gauging the distance, the speakers' attributes, and if hostility was heard. An instant was wasted crouched before the bat youkai appeared to relax. Looking down at himself he decided a few minutes wasted getting clean would not be too worrisome. Though he was keeping his old clothes. He was not wearing those human clothes.
When he padded on silent feet towards where he could sense newcomers, and not too far away Kagome, he kept himself ready. Just because he sensed no aggression didn't mean there wasn't any. He had been wrong before. He kept his aura as hidden as he could while still seeking theirs, frowning at the familiarity of one. An enemy? No, it didn't set off warning bells.
"Youko Kurama..." It slipped out before he could stop it. A small choked sound as he stared at the red head that whirled around, breaking the comfortable teasing air the group had been sitting in. Green eyes flashed to gold and the rest of his aura tickled Kuronue's senses. Human. He was human now... but not? Where was Kagome? She was able to read auras better than he did. But that was Kurama. Kurama.
"Inari-sama," Kurama breathed out the name of one of the kamis kitsunes were said to follow. "Kuronue?"
"I...." The bat managed before the shock of the past few days compounded with the new shock and his eyes rolled up into his head.
"Because that was manly," Kagome muttered quietly, standing unnoticed by a door that led to the room meals were taken in and beyond that the kitchen she and Yukina had been quietly working in, enjoying each other's presence, neither needing, or wanting, to fill it up with needless chatter. Her spine stiffened as the kitsune-human-thing kneeled by her friend's side and reminded herself the bat had said he was Youko Kurama. The Kurama.
"Kuronue?" Kurama shook the bat, who was quick to wake up at the slight touch - a bit too quick. In a move quicker than he had been the last time Kurama had seen him, the bat had grabbed his wrist with one hand while the other formed what appeared to be a shimmering incandescent waves, not moving. Indigo blue eyes opened to slits and then widened, quickly releasing Kurama and scrambling back. "I apologize."
"Graceful too," Kagome murmured, this time Kuronue heard her, one of his ears flicking towards her before he dared to move his eyes off the shocked Kurama to scowl at her. "May I remind you that you are the girl who falls off of cliffs?"
"I didn't slam into a tree while flying though, did I? At least my injuries come from accidents. Yours come from stupidity." Kurama stiffened at the insult to the bat youkai who bared his fangs... but good-naturedly.
Yukina chimed in. "If it helps, Kuronue-san, she acted much the same when I startled her when she came out here after waking up."
If anything, his scowl deepened. "You should have woken me up if you were going for a walk."
"I made pancakes." Kuronue's eyes brightened briefly before both of them switched their attention to Kurama, Kagome's eyes soon moving off to the other two. She stared at them, her expression morphing into confusion, then realization and finally a hissing fearful horror.
"Spirit Detectives," She breathed out, standing a bit frozen, her impulse to get out of there, away from them, away from anyone that they could link to Sesshoumaru, even if only because he had said not to bump into them.
"Former, but yeah." The most human looking of the three boys was eyeing the young woman who was looking a bit frantic.
"Taka, not everything he said was true. Almost nothing was." Indecision was splashed against Kagome's face, easy to read and flashing through different emotions as indigo blue eyes pleaded with her. Yukina crowded closer and whispered something in the miko's ear. She tilted her head and frowned suspiciously at the ice apparition but relaxed slightly.
"I see you three have met our guests." Genkai's dry, raspy voice interrupted the group that was at a standoff. Kurama was staring at Kuronue. Kuronue was staring at Kurama. The brown-eyed male was looking curiously at everyone and the demon with the red eyes that looked oddly familiar was glaring at Kagome. Kagome shifted uncomfortably and wondered why. She was answered a moment later.
"Miko," He hissed, his eyes darting from Kagome to Yukina and back, the threat in his eyes obvious. Kagome blinked, shrunk back at the angry, dark crimson orbs, her mind flashing to another pair before she suddenly straightened and glared back at him. "Problem with that?"
"She really is one?" Kurama was staring at Kuronue still, his eyes a mix of gold and green, Youko churning out suspicions and hope. "Yes...onaga."
When Kurama's jaw dropped in joyful shock, Kuronue managed a chuckle, freezing Kagome's glaring contest as she jerked her head to stare at him. He pretended not to notice her staring, or the slight smile she showed at him being happy. "Didn't think it was me, did you old fox? But who else would call the great Youko Kurama a silly nickname?"
Mainly, the two other males in the room besides the old partners were thinking why would anyone call Kurama an azure-winged magpie? "He steals things. Especially shiny things."
Stares were directed at the bat who just shook his head at them all. "Sometimes, people are very easy to read. Besides, if Youko was skilled in illusions of the mind, I was skilled at the illusions of emotions, and both of us learned how to read into the other's skill. So I became proficient at being able to read body language and eyes and match them up to thoughts, while Kurama did the same with emotions. It was necessary in some cases."
"Yeah, if you decided your victims were pretty as well as worth stealing from," Another mutter and Kuronue turned his head towards his friend and sighed at the tense look to her shoulders. It was true, but there was something else wrong with her. She was uneasy. With what?
He mused on it before fixing his attention to the other two in the room, radiating power with every breath and sighed. So that was it. His eyes caught the old woman's and she raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Are there any particular troublesome demons in that forest?"
Everyone shifted their attention onto the bat youkai fully now and Kagome looked surprised, only the intent look on Kuronue's face stopped her from speaking. "Some."
Kuronue glanced over at Kagome then at Genkai. The old woman seemed to know what the glance said and nodded. Kagome took the excuse to leave and fled the house, disappearing into the forest. Stares followed her and the one Kuronue was pretty sure was the toushin opened his mouth. "Where's she going? Sure, most demons in there aren't that strong, but it can still be damn dangerous in there. What is she doing?"
"It was uncomfortable in here for her. She is unused to your auras and she is used to being around demons that take every precaution to cover up how much power they have until it is too late. Most of the time, she can sense it anyway, but for you two to be leaking power so bluntly put her on edge and it makes her skin crawl, that much youki." Kuronue spoke almost absently, not realizing he was telling them how well he knew the girl to know how she worked inside and out like that.
"Once she's used to you, she won't be so tense, and will be less..." Kuronue hesitated, unsure how to put the comments Kagome had made. What category would they go in?
"Snarky?" The probable-toushin suggested. Kuronue nodded in agreement.
"Who is she?" Kurama's question went to the heart of the matter and Kuronue took time to carefully consider his words. The wrong word and even Kurama would take it the wrong way.
"She is Kagome. A young human woman who I have befriended and who has recently been betrayed by many she trusted. While I hadn't heard the famed Spirit Detectives - excuse me, ex-Spirit Detectives - were around this place, I had heard about it being a safe haven for ones like us." Kuronue was standing now and observing the room quietly. Kurama motioned to the sitting area and the bat sat on one chair as the three boys sat across from him with the older female to the right of the opposing chairs and Yukina on the left.
"Safe haven from what?" Kurama was running his eyes over what he could see of the bat. Demons didn't scar easily, but Kurama could see a few, one scar looking quite recent peering out from his shirt. It ran down the side of his neck into said shirt and he oddly couldn't place what had done it.
"Those that betrayed us." It seemed to be all he was going to say on the subject. His eyes were trained toward the window and all of them felt the slight shockwaves of energy. It was rather uncomfortable. Kurama frowned and the probable-toushin shifted his weight in annoyance. The fire apparition refused to admit it was a bothersome energy. Kuronue didn't seem uncomfortable at all and hardly batted an eyelid.
"She went a little overboard, it seems. Good for her stress. Bad for anything in that forest." Kuronue's wry smile was part amusement and part pride, with a smidgeon of worry mixed in.
"Who betrayed you? How strong are they?" Kurama tried to dig in a little deeper. Kuronue gave him this small sad smile before covering it with careful blankness. "I think it would be better not to say. In a few days we'll be back to top form and out of your hair."
"Where will you go?" Kurama felt the briefest flash of ire. This wasn't going at all right. Kuronue wasn't speaking to him. He was keeping secrets from him.
"We haven't thought about it. I owe a debt to her, Kurama. And it is part of the guilt I share with others that she was snared in so easily and we were all so blind... We will probably go back. Rescue the others, get revenge and save innocents and do all of that golden-hearted heroics she's so fond of. I never liked heroes. Constantly getting killed they are. But, Kagome is Kagome and when that girl manages to squirm into your heart, it's very hard to deny her." The bat's smile was fond and his eyes avoided Kurama's. He didn't want to disappoint his old friend, but it really wasn't his story to tell. Or it was, but not. It all, ultimately, tied into her story.
Kurama was looking away also and the room seemed a bit chilly now. Kuronue's wings were folding and unfolding nervously. Hiei's eyes bored suspiciously into the bat's head. The toushin - he was sure now - still looked annoyed.
"Hold up. I've got a question. Who the fuck turned the angst meter up?" His arms were crossed in front of his chest now and he was glaring at all of them in turn. The bat's lips quirked up for a moment before he wiped it off as sharp stares were directed his way.
"When teenagers are involved, you can always count on there being angst." This time Kurama joined the majin in glaring as Kuronue attempted innocence. Humor was always the preferred way to turn non-hostiles away from a hostile subject. No kitsune had taught him that.
Kagome prying open one window and falling in with a small, delighted smile on her face forestalled any reply they would have made. "It feels a bit like home here. I didn't realize that until I went in there. Some of the nicer demons were quite delighted to see me. I made sure to warn those ones of course."
"There is a door," Genkai commented dryly. Kagome tilted her head for a moment and gazed at said door thoughtfully. "I know. I went out through it."
She seemed a bit puzzled and Kuronue moved his eyes slightly toward the window, his wings shifting the tiniest fraction of an inch. Only two even noticed his gaze lifting toward it. One was Kurama, and he also noticed in surprise, that Kagome had noticed the subtle body language as well. She blushed in realization as she glanced at the window. "Sorry. Habit."
Everyone except Kuronue raised his or her eyebrows up at that statement as the miko turned around to hurriedly shut the window. He grinned a bit at them before motioning the miko to the spot next to him. "Have fun?"
"It was nice enough," Kagome replied cautiously. She didn't want to say she enjoyed the battles and the adrenaline, that she enjoyed fighting first before she actually killed them. It made her sound a bit crazy. But since she was fifteen there had always been a bit of violence around her. Now, it seems she needed it to calm down. Kuronue had realized that. But the others around them didn't know her. It felt so like home when she went out and hunted in that forest she was surprised she hadn't curled up and started sobbing. She hadn't done that yet. She was sure she would eventually.
"Surprised you're alive," The toushin grumbled and Kagome looked at him sharply as she stood beside Kuronue.
"And who are you to judge what I'd live through?" Kuronue stifled a sigh as Kagome seemed to bristle. She hated being seen as weak. She despised it with a passion. Sesshoumaru had done nothing but enforce her hatred of it. He hadn't thought her weak in powers. He had thought she was weak minded and easily manipulated, as well as Kuronue. He was sure she would choose for them to show Sesshoumaru they were not pushovers in any way, shape, or form.
"I'm Yusuke Urameshi." He spoke as if it should mean something. They did know about Spirit Detectives, didn't they? Kagome's eyes and slight hesitation gave her away before she lifted her chin and watched his sudden smirk with the coldest glare she could muster, her face going blank as she said coolly, "And?"
She knew it sounded and looked more like Kikyou than she had ever wanted. But sometimes Kikyou had been a bit scary when she was calm, and Kagome learned that if she pushed back all that innocence she radiated most of the time, she could look that scary, though she knew she could never match the coldness her incarnate had radiated in her dead body.
As the toushin began to get angry as well, Kuronue glanced sidelong at Genkai. She was watching the confrontation, as was Yukina, one with avid interest, the other with worry. There would be no help from that quarter.
"I think I have every right to think a girl who paled at our former names probably didn't have much to back her up," Yusuke snapped. Kagome stared for a long moment before Kuronue's eyes widened as he saw the slight tensing in her legs and shoulders. He was an instant too late as she leapt for the toushin. Suddenly the room was a blur as Kagome unleashed her aura and the demons realized the forest had not been a fluke, she really did have that much power. Genkai rose and backed Yukina from the room as the boys circled the miko warily. She was now where Yusuke had been an instant before.
"Damn it," Kuronue hissed. The threat levels in the room had suddenly risen more than he would have liked, and Kagome's eyes were dancing in that special way that he always marked as sort of suicidal. It was when she saw challenges she knew were above her... and still went for them.
"How about we all stop now," The bat said cautiously, creeping slowly between Kagome and the three. Kagome actually glared at his back but her mouth snapped shut from the comment she was about to make when he turned around and sneered at her, the contempt for her little show being shown only to her. He wouldn't show the others he was angry at her rather childish move. He only said one word. "Souta."
Kagome's battle ready ki flashing about the room vanished and suddenly she was staring at the floor quietly, rather subdued suddenly. She had been rather stupid. She couldn't be thinking of fighting these people when she had a brother left behind. A brother who didn't know how to use his powers well at all yet. He needed training. He needed saving. Who would do it if not her?
"If you'll excuse me," She managed to mumble before brushing past her friend and heading toward the door. Another male blocked the way and she sucked in a breath, feeling her shoulders shake a bit. She needed out of this room now. She had cried in front of people enough for one time. Now she wanted to go cry for her own guilt and her brother left behind with evil murdering creatures who had managed to manipulate her until she had thought she had lost who she was. She almost had.
"You think you can just go after that! Like hell! You just threatened us!" She stiffened. She'd done no such thing! Not in words anyway. There was another now, this time softly growling as he protected her. "Leave her alone. What, did you want a fight?"
It was evident by the sudden silence that yes, that was exactly what he wanted and Kagome had a sudden flash of insight that she wasn't the only one using fights to get rid of stress. She wondered briefly what he was stressed at before she was suddenly angry. Had he purposefully set her off? Picked a fight?
Guilt, grief, and rage all hummed through the air and she passed by both Kuronue and Yusuke, taking satisfaction in the fact that Yusuke was suddenly yelping in pain when he extended a hand to stop her. She would not be manipulated.
Her rage lasted all of two minutes until she reached the room they had been given for the night and the Shikon no Tama around her neck seemed suddenly heavier. She had been so blind to her duty, to the jewel, her brother, and so many other things. She was still blind.
She was beginning to think there had never been a time when she hadn't been blind.
End Chapter 1
There will be Makai scenes soon, don't worry. Unfortunately, they probably won't answer your questions. Also, many of you I didn't respond to personally because I can't answer your questions without giving things away. Any other story, I would have.
Thank you to Yusuke's Angel, Teen15, Katzztar, C4n4di4nG1r1535, FoxylilRaven, MysteryLady-TX, and Kill-all-flamers210
Winged Knight: grins It "seems" a lot of things, doesn't it? But, Sesshoumaru is evil, yes. You have no idea how fun it is to read reviews and know I seem to be confusing people. Especially with Kuronue and Kagome.
Kura-kun's-lovr: Good! It's supposed to make you wonder! pleased Thanks for the compliments, sorry I can't answer your questions. If I answer about pairings then everyone will know and I do love at least some of them to be surprised.