Why Can't We Enjoy the Simple Things In Life?
"Spirit Sword!" His energy materialized in his hand instantaneously and Kuwabara began slashing at his opponent. Shippo clung desperately to Kuwabara's shoulder racking his mind for a way to help.
A thick tentacle swiped at Kuwabara, its target being Shippo, and missed when the red head stumbled over a rock. Seizing his opportunity, Kuwabara chopped off the tentacle and lunged at the demon. The demon manipulated its remaining tentacles and managed to drag its body back into the lake where it was out of Kuwabara's immediate reach.
Shippo yelped when Kuwabara suddenly jumped to the side. Opening his mouth to ask about the sudden movement, he closed it again when the smell of blood reached his nose.
Kuwabara's blood.
Peering down over the human's shoulder, Shippo gasped at the sight of the tentacle that had been hacked off, squirming through the new hole in Kuwabara's side. Seconds later Kuwabara had cut the tentacle again, and tossed both halves to the ground in front of him.
They both watched in muted horror as the tentacle pieced itself back together, before slowly inching its way back towards the octopus demon in the lake.
"It regenerates?" he heard Kuwabara whisper.
Shippo closed his eyes and thought. This wasn't normal, of that he was sure. Most demons didn't regenerate and those that did should require more time, unless…
"Kazuma, do you see a jewel shard?"
"What?" Kuwabara blinked, it was a shock to hear his first name, but more so to be asked about a jewel shard. "What does a jewel shard have to do with killing this thing?"
"A shard of the Shikon no Tama, it's the only thing that I can think of that would make an octopus regenerate."
Kuwabara vaguely remembered hearing that name but pushed it aside to focus on the demon. In the center of its head a strange dim light emitted from the creature, and he could barely make out the shape of a shard of something.
"Is it that thing in the middle of its forehead?"
Shippo turned to ask Kuwabara why he was asking him, when he realized the human was mostly unaware of the Shikon no Tama. "Probably, we have to get that out before we can kill it. Naraku probably gave it a shard of the jewel so it could take us out."
"Well, we'll have to let him know that we're not that easy to kill. I can make my spirit sword longer, but the longer it gets the less accurate I'll be. How can we get closer?"
"Leave that to me," Shippo hopped off of Kuwabara's shoulder. "Transform!"
Kuwabara blinked a little at the larger bird standing in front of him, before shaking his head. "Let's go!"
"Yuusuke." He turned around at the sound of his name. Blinking in shock at the sight of the person standing in front of him, his mouth started opening and closing no sound coming out.
"Botan?" he grinned, turning around and hugging the girl tightly, while his other hand drifted significantly lower.
The people on the street just walked around them, no one bothering to tell the two that they were taking up space, mostly because they valued their lives.
"Yuusuke, this isn't the time. I'm glad to see you, but something has come up. Koenma needs to speak to you."
"We're going to have to save the world again, aren't we." he groaned.
"I'm afraid so."
"So, where's the suitcase?"
"What?"
"Video tape?"
"Yuusuke, what are you talking about?"
"You said the toddler needed to talk to me, how's he going to do that if I don't have a means of communication to do so?"
Botan sighed. Same old Yuusuke, never using his head.
"Yuusuke, Koenma not supposed to contact you anymore, any of our old methods of communication can be tracked by King Enma."
"So, I'm going to Reikai?"
There were times Botan missed being able to spend time with Yuusuke, and being his assistant. Of course, there were other times when she really didn't, and right now was one of those times. "Yuusuke, just follow me."
It had been eighteen hours, twenty-one minutes and some seconds since Souta had been kidnapped. It had been seventeen hours, twenty-one… twenty-two minutes and a few seconds since Shippo's illusion had worn off, and they'd realized it had actually been Shippo who had been taken. It had been five minutes since Kagome had last cursed Naraku's name.
She'd gone through a frustrating day of school; everybody had been on her case because she couldn't concentrate. What was she supposed to do? Ignore the fact that her kit, had been nabbed while saving her brother. Ignore the fact that while she sat safely in her classroom, Shippo was probably being tortured to death. Ignore the fact that— How had Sango done this? !
It was frustrating; all her friends cared about was Hojou and her "bad boy boyfriend". But then again, that wasn't exactly fair. They didn't know what was wrong with her, and if they did (assuming they didn't lock her up in a wacky house), they would have been more understanding.
"So, Kagome, how's Inuyasha." Ayumi asked.
"Is he in town?" Yuka cut in.
"Yeah, Kagome, how come we've only met him that one time?" Eri joined the fray.
"He's fine, I'm not sure, and he doesn't come around often or for very long."
The other three stared at Kagome confused, silently wondering what her problem was. Kagome blinked before realizing the way she was acting.
"I'm sorry guys, it's just that—"
She didn't have time to finish whatever lie she was about to make up. Ayumi had let out a scream as her long curly hair was fisted and yanked by someone, dragging her into the alleyway they had almost passed.
"Let her go!" Eri cried, following Kagome who had dashed in after Ayumi. Yuka gasped, whipping out her phone and calling the police at the sound of a loud slap followed by a cry of 'You bitch!'
Kagome yanked Ayumi out of reach of the guy who was now clutching his face in pain. "That ought to teach that creeper a lesson! Way to go, Kagome!" Eri cried out.
"Thanks Kagome." Ayumi was trembling slightly, and so Kagome pulled her into a hug.
"It was no problem, let's go."
"Where do you think you girlies are going?" a voice from deeper inside the alleyway questioned.
"Home." Kagome replied, turning on her heels.
Eri let out a scream as somebody grabbed her shirt and pulled her away from her friends. A knife cut through her shirt, and the struggling Eri went straight to the ground. Immediately she began crab walking backwards. "Thanks for making my life easier, babe." Her legs were yanked forward, causing her arms to give out and her head to smash into the floor. Somebody crawled over her and she could feel the panic kicking in.
Kagome shoved Ayumi towards the street and launched herself at the guy; she only had one shot to do this. Once in range, she shot her leg at the guys face; kicking him under the chin, raising his head a bit. His head went up enough for her to deliver a devastating slap to his cheek sending him spiraling to the ground. Grabbing Eri's hand, she pulled the girl up and shoved her towards their other friends.
She let out a gasp when something smashed into her head, sending her spiraling to the ground. Her name being screamed was the last thing she heard before she passed out.
"Koenma, why are you a toddler? Don't you normally come here in your 'cool' older teen form?"
"Yuusuke, that form requires me to use energy."
A blank stare.
"Why did I hire you again?"
"Because I'm an ass kicking expert, and the exact opposite of Sensui."
"He also died at a convenient time." Botan added.
Koenma sighed. "That sounds about right. Thankfully, Kurama has enough brains for the two of you."
"What about Kuwabara?" Botan asked.
"Kurama should have enough brains for Yuusuke. Kuwabara doesn't need Kurama's brain anymore; he is at the top of his class."
"Hey! If I could kindly remind everyone of the science test we both took."
"You took a science test?" Koenma raised an eyebrow.
"Before I died."
"Which time?" Botan giggled.
"The first time wise guy. Kuwabara got a seven, and I got a twelve, so I'm smarter!"
"That may be true, Yuusuke, however Kuwabara's school work has shown an astounding amount of improvement." Kurama's smooth voice cut in.
"As have my ass kicking skills."
"Kurama, where's Kuwabara?" Botan asked.
"I couldn't locate him, and Shizuru still has no idea as to where he could possibly be."
"Damnit! For this mission you guys are going to need his spiritual awareness."
"Calm down, Koenma, I'm sure our spiritual awareness combined should be more than enough."
Everyone turned to stare at Yuusuke. Silence reigned for a moment, only to be shattered by laughter.
"What spiritual awareness!" Botan managed to ask between fits of laughter.
"Kurama's and min—" he was cut off by Koenma rolling off his chair.
"Kurama, what the fuck is so funny?"
"The thought of you with spiritual awareness." Botan answered.
"What? I have plenty of spiritual awareness!"
More laughter.
"If you don't stop laughing, I'm going to leave!"
Silence again.
"Yuusuke, you've never trained or practice your spiritual awareness. It's only slightly higher than when you first became a spirit detective." Koenma explained calmly.
"What? That's not possible!"
"It is."
"What do you need our assistance with?" Kurama cut in, destroying the chance of the upcoming arguments.
"A demon, he was much stronger than even an S-Class." All eyes turned to him.
"What? Is that even possible, Koenma?" Koenma turned his eyes to look into Botan's worried ones.
"It is. As you know the three worlds have existed for millenniums. However, it was only in the past three or four hundred years that they were enforced."
"What do you mean?" Yuusuke was actually interested in what Koenma had to say for once.
"Demons used to roam the human realm all the time, without consequence. Because of that, they had an extremely large food source, which in turn caused them to become extremely powerful. In fact, currently the most common demons are the E-Class, but back then it was the B-Class that mostly roamed. In a sense, their E-Class was our B-Class.
"So, when the demons were forced into Makai, there were several demons that were much stronger than an S-Class."
"But?" Yuusuke said.
"But, quite a few of them were human eaters, and so they died in these past few years, or they became weaker as time wore on. Actually, all demons became weaker as time wore on and they were cut off from their food source. There are still a few alive, lurking in the bowels of Makai. This demon that just appeared out of nowhere is of that class… or should I say these demons."
"What are you talking about, Koenma?" The alarm rang in Kurama's voice.
"The energy signal of thousands upon thousands of demons, all around a B-Class, was caught traveling in the Ningenkai. The way it was transmitted suggests they were all combined into one form, making it much stronger than your average S-Class."
"Well, there only B-Class, how can they amount to an S-Class."
"Yuusuke," Botan started, "it would be like fighting a thousand Toguros in one sitting."
"Oh."
What else could he say?
"Kagome!" Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi cried in unison.
Five guys appeared more guys appeared from the alleyway, the guy that Kagome had first slapped tossing the pole to the ground.
"Little bitch! I get her first." Eri's attacker sneered picking himself off the ground.
"I don't think so!" Eyes snapped over to the newcomer.
"Aren't you a pretty little flower?"
Sango snorted, her eyes darting over to the three girls shaking in fear. "You girls should get out of here."
"We can't leave Kagome here!" Yuka cried.
Sango blinked but nodded.
"Come on, baby. Come play with us." One of them flipped out a knife, and Sango raised an eyebrow at him.
"You want to play? Okay." And she lunged.
Shippo watched in amazement as Kuwabara picked up the jewel shard. It became a much lighter colour despite a bit of the murky taint remained in the center of the shard. "We have to find a way to fully purify that."
"Huh, it gets even purer?"
"Yup, but you're not Kagome or Kikyo, so you can't fully purify it."
"What if it touches the other shard?"
Shippo blinked a little, what other shard? Oh.
He jumped up, snatched the shard from Kuwabara's hand, ran across his body, lifted his shirt, and placed their newly acquired jewel shard against the one in his back.
Instantly, the shard became the bright pink it was when Kagome touched it. Giggling, he ran back around Kuwabara's body and handed it to him. "See."
"Wow, that's pretty." Kuwabara mumbled. "Shall we continue looking for a way back to Ningenkai?"
"What?"
"Home." Kuwabara said.
"Yup!" he chirped in reply. His stomach growled. "Umm, can we find some food first?"
"Sure, it'll be no problem. Let's go, Shippo!" He slipped the jewel shard into a sack that held a necklace he planned to give to Yukina.
"Yeah!"
"You have it!" a voiced hissed.
"What?" Kuwabara and Shippo asked in unison.
"I don't know what it is, but it beckons me, offering me the ultimate power!"
"What's he talking about?" Kuwabara asked.
"He can probably sense the jewel shard!"
Kuwabara heard the little voice in his head scream at him to move to the left. As always, he listened to it. The demon's claw left deep gorges where he had been standing seconds before. A large… they had no idea what it was standing before them.
"Lunch is going to have to wait, isn't it?" Shippo groaned.
Kuwabara didn't answer, just sighed and summoned his spirit sword.
"Any leads, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked as Inuyasha returned from his search.
"No." was the growled response.
Miroku sighed and crossed his arms, wandering how both Naraku and the demons could have vanished off the face of the Earth. That just wasn't possible unless... That was it!
"Inuyasha, I think I know where Naraku is!"
"Where? Why didn't you say so earlier!"
"I thought it was a rumour, it never occured to me it could be real!"
"I don't care, where is he?"
"In Makai."
"Where? You can't just make places up!"
"I'll explain later, when Kagome and Sango return."
"No, you'll explain right now!"
"So?"
"This is Yukina, his love interest." A picture of the ice maiden was placed in front of him. "This is Shizuru, his older sister." Another picture. "At the top is Kurama, and at the bottom from left to right, Hiei, Yuusuke, Keiko, Botan. They are his closest friends and, with the exception of the girls, powerful fighters." The last picture.
"Can you get me more information on his friends?"
"No, but Hiei lives here in the Makai; Yuusuke and Kurama reside in Ningenkai. Is that enough my lord?"
"To live?"
"Yes."
"Of course." He watched as the demon breathed a sigh of relief. "You can live as a part of me." In a flash the demon had been absorbed.
"Naraku," he looked up at the intruder. "I believe that the girl Yukina is also Hiei's sister."
"What makes you think that, Kanna?"
"It's in the eyes."
He didn't respond thinking over his options carefully.
"Has Kagura been sufficiently broken."
"Yes, Naraku."
"And Kohaku?"
"Yes, Naraku."
He chuckled. Those fools, they probably didn't even realize it. He could absorb and detach anyone and everyone at will. They wouldn't be expecting Kagura or Kohaku. This was almost too easy. All he needed now was to get his hands on Shippo and Yukina. After all, you can never have too many hostages.
TBC
Hehehehe, how many of you though it would be Inuyasha coming to save the day? Not this time. In the next chapter there should be even more Kuwabara and Shippo, Yay!