Sora: Chapter FOUR! I'm now half way done with the re-editing. Soon, hopefully, I will begin on the new chapters.
Note: I began this fic a ridiculously long time ago, and then I did not know everything about Yusuke's ancestor Raizen, I just knew Yusuke had demon heritage, so the real Raizen does not play a part is this story.
Quote: "Stress: A condition brought on by the over riding of the body's desire to choke the life out of some jerk." Anonymous
That noise was truly getting on his nerves. That constant tick tick tick, coming from that thrice accursed clock above Kurama's plain bed. His eye twitched in rhythm with the annoying piece of machinery: tick tick tick. Glaring at the offensive timepiece, Yusuke wondered if Kurama would be mad if he destroyed it. Probably. If he remembered correctly that particular clock had been a gift from Minamino-san to her son.
What was taking the fox so long? Yusuke had come here straight after his talk with Koenma, but Kurama had been busy helping out his mother in the garden. Of course, Yusuke mused to himself, I should have known that Kurama wouldn't leave a garden willingly.
Staring at the slowly ticking clock Yusuke continued to wonder about random facts, things like whether Kurama knew about 'Residential Demons'- he probably did- or whether he should just give up in the school category- his teacher seriously had it out for him, even if he tried to do well that particular teacher would do everything in his power to fail him. Perhaps he should drop by the shrine; Kagome had said that Auntie and the bozu wanted to see him.
The door opening brought Yusuke out of his musings. Kurama stood in the doorway, quietly closing the white door behind him as he entered his room. The green-eyed boy gazed questioningly at Yusuke's dark eyes. Cracking a lopsided grin, Yusuke wondered if Kurama thought he was going to attack him. The two boys continued to stare at one another, green eyes calculating the situation; brown eyes judging what to say. In the end he didn't have to say anything. In the way of teenage boys 'sorry' was hardly said out load, it just became a known fact among close friends. Smiling slightly, Kurama slid into the chair by his desk.
Leaning back against the wall that held the most annoying piece of machinery every created, Yusuke cocked his head. "I just had an enlightening talk with the Baby. Wanna know what it was about?" Kurama merely raised an eyebrow, silently telling his friend to go on; it wasn't often that Yusuke's talks with Koenma turned out 'enlightening.' The younger boy took the hint, "What do you know about 'Residential' Demons?"
Nodding, Kurama leaned back into his chair, turning to look out the window. "Not much," he murmured, "As Youko I was among the lower classes, a thief is not welcome in the higher demon societies. As a result I've only heard little peaces here and there. I know that the barrier was created with not only Spirit powers, but also that of demons. Part of the agreement that the Spirit Lord and the Demon Lord agreed on was that some demons, those who passed a test, would be allowed to come and go to the human realm as they pleased. The stories varied as to why the Demon Lord would want this, some saying he wanted to keep an open door in case an opportunity to destroy the Spirit Realm ever came up, and others even going so far as to say the Demon Lord loved a human. Whatever the reason may have been, the agreement had been struck." Sighing Kurama turned his emerald eyes back toward his friend. "The demons who are allowed to become 'Residents' must pass a yearly test that determines if they are a risk to humanity and if they can hide their demon attributes. So far only the demons that fall under the 'lord' category have been able to attain a 'residency' permit. Not only is the Spirit World strict when it comes to the test, but the Demon Lord also pays close attention to who comes to the human world."
"So you know about as much as the Baby," Yusuke sighed, closing his eyes. "Brilliant."
Studying his friend closely Kurama asked, "Why do you wish to know this?" It was a generally know fact that Yusuke went out of his way to avoid learning about anything that didn't concern him, or at the very least the end of the world. And even then it was had to get him to listen rather than just rushing into things.
"Kagome, you know the girl that dragged me away?" At Kurama's nod he continued, "Well, she's an old friend, and I just found out that she's friends with a bunch of these so called 'Residential' Demons. It's kinda unnerving to see her with that type of crowd." Yusuke's dark eyes clouded with worry. "I guess I just don't trust demons, especially not demons of that strength."
The fox-demon raised an eyebrow. "Has your friend ever shown any signs of spiritual powers? Most Residential Demons stay in what are called 'Communities,' they tend to band together. Just because they live in the human realm doesn't mean they like humans. I believe it's more for the atmosphere of the human realm, the demon realm has a dead-feeling to it." Yusuke grumbled, shaking his head negatively. As far as he knew, Kagome had no knowledge of the supernatural. "Do you know the names of the demons?" Kurama asked, his curious gaze turning to Yusuke.
Yusuke nodded, "A bunch of Wolf-demons from the look of it. Didn't see anything else, must be a pack. They're all over that fancy restaurant, Sakura's." Yusuke closed his eyes, not noticing the look of concern growing on Kurama's normally placid face. "Kagome called the head-honcho Kago, or something like that. He seemed real protective of her…" Yusuke trailed off, noticing how still Kurama had become.
"Kouga?" was the only word the red-head asked, and at the other boys nod Kurama slipped out of his chair and started to pace. "You're friend must be truly something Yusuke-kun, Kouga is the Wolf-Prince, the head of all wolf-demon tribes. He's one of the four demon Lords. I knew he came into the human world often, but the idea that he would be consorting with humans in such a manner never crossed my mind."
"Great," Yusuke groaned, leaning forward and covering his face within his hands. "So, as usual, we know absolutely nothing about the situation. Why can't that stupid toddler ever get enough information for us?" He glared toward the window. Than flung his had back and rubbed his hands on his face, giving a shout of 'GAH!' Before flopping side ways onto the bed causing it to creak under his wait. "My life sucks."
Kurama merely smiled. It was good to have the old Yusuke back.
-
It was dark by the time Yusuke made it to the shrine. Lanterns light the sidewalk and steps leading up to the shrine grounds in a soft flickering glow. Sighing he started the long climb up, cursing his luck to have chosen to come visit on a festival day, but he had promised Kagome, not to mention Auntie and his mother. The shrine was doing well, Yusuke noted, as he pushed through the crowed that was spread to nearly the top of the stairs. Stalls had been set up all over the place with strings of lanterns hanging between them, giving the usually empty shrine a cheerful glow.
By the Goshinboku, the giant sacred tree, a small stage had been set up. A group of what had to be performers was milling about it, preparing props and practicing lines. Kagome was on the stage, setting up a sign in one corner. Grinning, he made is way over to her. He managed to make it half way before he was attacked.
"Yusuke-san!" cried the joyful voice of a young boy as two arms encircled his neck. Stumbling, Yusuke quickly shifted the boy around so that he was held in an arm lock. Grinning wickedly he gave the boy a nuggy, "Hey bozu, not getting into to much trouble I hope." The boy gave a look the just cried 'I'm innocent!' Yusuke, being the one to teach Souta that, didn't believe it for a second. Giving one last nudged with his hand Yusuke released the boy. "Go make sure your mom doesn't need any help. You're the man of the house and should help out."
"Wha? But I haven't seen you in ages! We need to catch up on games and you still need to show me how to through a punch!" the boy complained, pulling out the big guns as he gave Yusuke the puppy eye look. Rolling his eyes Yusuke merely pushed the boy in the direction of the house. Muttering something about 'not buying it, bozu' before he finished his stroll across the grounds to Kagome.
"You really should come by sometime next week, Souta really wants to hang out with you," Kagome said, flashing him one of her brilliant smiles. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered, waving his hand at her as he observed those surrounding the stage. Most were demons he noted, wolf-demons from their feel. So they were all probably a part of Kouga's clan. What surprised Yusuke was that none of them seemed to be bothering with disguises.
Noticing his wandering gaze Kagome laughed. "They help out with the show. Gramps got it into to him to have us 'spry young creatures help bring in the business with retailing's of the old stories.' Most of my helpers are a part of Kouga's family, it's rather big." She gave a small laugh. "They have a competition every year to get the main role. It's rather funny."
"And I won!" crowed the young demon from the restaurant, Ryu. He was wearing the traditional cloths, dark red in color. Kagome just shook her head, muttering something underneath her breath, than she turned her attention aback to her childhood friend. "Tonight we're doing the first half of the Shikon no
Tama legend. The part where the half-demon and miko were tricked into betraying each other by the foul bandit turned demon." Yusuke nodded, he remembered that one, not particularly well, just the gist of the story. When they were children both Yusuke and Kagome had become experts at blocking out Grandpa's ramblings and Yusuke had long since blocked most of the stories from his mind. "The reenactment doesn't happen till around ten, until than we can have a look around."
"Alright," Yusuke grinned, helping Kagome down from the stage, her traditional miko garb swishing softly with the motion. Grabbing his hand she dragged him into the midst of the crowd. Yusuke had to admit. Forgetting the daily stresses of his daily life was a welcome change, especially if it meant being with his best friend. He was really enjoying himself…that is until he saw the reason for his most recent pity fest. Keiko was strolling down the lane between stalls, her arm draped through the arm of her companion, a young male with a rather dull face.
Before Yusuke could duck behind a stall, they couple spotted them. "Kagome-chan!" the boy greeted in such a cheerful way that made Yusuke want to punch him even more. "How are you feeling?" his face had a look of concern upon it.
Kagome's mouth twitched. "Just fine, Hojo-kun," she replied, a false grin pasted to her face. "Who's your date?" she asked, not noticing how tense Yusuke had suddenly become. "Oh!" the boy's eyes widened pathetically, "this is my girlfriend, Keiko. Keiko meet my good high school friend Kagome."
Keiko? Kagome shot Yusuke a concerned look, finally notice the state her friend was in. "Well," she said stepping in front of Yusuke as if to shield him, "it was a pleasure to meet you, I do hope you enjoy your night, but as of now we must take our leave. We've got the show to set up after all." The fake grin became painfully obvious, and the two in front of the miko and detective remained just as oblivious.
"Of course," Keiko's date replied. "Take care not to hurt yourself during the show Kagome-chan and I hope to see you in school tomorrow." Kagome repeated a similar farewell, paying more attention to the Spirit Detective than the annoying people. "She dumped you for that twit?" Kagome asked as soon as the two were out of earshot. "She must be the stupidest female on the face of the Earth! Hojo-kun has a personality like a wet noodle!"
"Guess that means I'm even more worthless," Yusuke muttered. The next thing he knew was that little white spots were dancing before his vision, and an aching pain in the back of his head. He turned to glare at Kagome. Her hand was still raised threateningly, posed to take another strike should her friend prove more foolish than she thought possible. "We are not going down that path again Urameshi Yusuke!" She snapped. "That girl isn't worth two cents if she can't figure out how good you are. Now, you are going to have fun tonight even if it kills you!" With that she grabbed hold of his arm and proceeded to drag him about the festival, doing her best to make him forget about his ex-girlfriend troubles. She succeed for the most part, Yusuke was even able to enjoy the show put on by the demons and Kagome. The only problem with it was the reminder that Keiko would probably have done the same in the Miko's place. She just didn't believe in him enough to believe he could change.
It was a depressing thought. True, yes, but depressing. But as Kagome smiled down at him from take her bows on the stage he couldn't help but feel that was okay. After all, Keiko was only one person, and he had a few people that would trust their lives with him. And that, he realized, grinning back at the black haired girl, was good enough for him.
This chapter was posted 07-13-08, hopefully the rest of the 'new' chapters won't take so long to update.
Please please please review. I've gotten quite a few 'added to favorites,' but no reviews to accompany them. If you like the story enough to add it to your favorites, you might have an idea on something I cold improve on, and if it isn't on your favorites than their must be a reason why. I love reviews! They tell me how people like (or hate) my writing and give helpful hints on how to improve.