Well, I'm not too sure how the first chapter went over, but here's the second. For everyone reading this: I won't demand reviews, but I would appreciate them. Writers like to know what their audience thinks about their pieces and this site allows for direct feedback through the review system. So, please, let me know what you think.
Anyway, here is the next chapter. Please enjoy!
Also, as with chapter one, notes about mythology included in the chapter are placed at the end. If you have other questions about stuff in the story that I don't explain enough, please feel free to ask.
There is No Love in Death
Chapter 2: A Quick Introduction
The four boys looked up the outside of the apartment building.
"Are you sure it says she lives on the eighth floor?" Kuwabara whined, "'Cuz that's a long way up."
"Yes, Kuwabara, she lives in apartment 8D with her mother and father," Kurama assured him.
Yusuke walked forward and pressed the button labeled 8D, "Let's just get this done and over with."
A crackling came over the intercom and a masculine voice came through.
"Who is it?"
"We're Michi's friends, from school," Kurama began, "We wanted to stop in and say hi to her as well as drop off the assignments she has missed."
That was their story, how they were going to get in to see the girl. Apparently, after having an 'episode' – or so her parents had come to call her breakdowns when she had been confronted by one too many spirits – in school, they had been keeping a close eye on her, letting her out of the apartment only to see the plethora of doctors that had promised to fix her 'mental problem.'
The man on the intercom sighed, thinking carefully about whether he should allow them up there or if he should just go down and take Michi's assignments from them.
"Oh, dear, let them up," a feminine voice issued, "She hasn't had a single visitor and human interaction will probably do her some good."
Apparently the man forgot to take his finger off the button because all four of the boys could hear the conversation very easily over the intercom.
"Alright, alright," the man finally ceded, "Just a moment."
The crackle of the intercom dissipated and a buzz was heard from the gated door. Kurama and Yusuke sighed; everything was going according to plan.
A muted purple glow under Hiei's bandana shut off and he smirked. It had taken only a second or two to manipulate the woman's mind and force her to persuade her husband into inviting everyone up.
The apartment was simple and homey.
Family pictures decorated the walls and many flat surfaces; a couple plants to keep the balance and flow of good chi in the house stood in corners. The windows were framed with white eyelet curtains which were drawn back to allow the sun in, making the use of electric lighting unnecessary.
"Mr. Furubashi, it is a pleasure to meet you," Kurama stated after taking in his surroundings, "And Mrs. Furubashi, might I say you keep a lovely home."
"Thank you, dear," the tall, thin woman said in surprise while the medium height, slightly overweight businessman nodded his head in response.
"Michi is in her bedroom, but be careful, she is not feeling well," Mrs. Furubashi continued, "If she starts getting out of hand, please come retrieve us. We wouldn't want another of her episodes to occur if it can be prevented."
"Oh, yes, of course," Kurama replied with utmost sincerity, "I was not there when she had her episode at school, but I heard it was quite the scene – talking about spirits bothering her. She is alright, isn't she?"
"Oh, yes, at the moment she is doing so-so. She has dips and rises in her illness. She is, in fact, rising out of one of her lows right now," the woman replied, "That is why my husband was so worried about visitors at the moment. We don't want her to have a relapse."
"Completely understandable, Mrs. Furubashi," Kurama assured the woman.
"If you could please point us in the direction of her room, we would greatly appreciate it."
"Of course," the woman replied, "Me and my mouth, always so willing to start up a conversation."
Michi's room was the second door on the left, or so Mrs. Furubashi had told them, but when Kurama politely knocked on the door, no reply was issued.
"Miss Michi?" he asked as he knocked again.
"Are you in there?"
She did not reply.
Even after Yusuke tried knocking – a bit less politely than Kurama did – they did not receive a response.
"Now what?" Kuwabara asked.
Kurama and Yusuke shrugged. They had figured on getting past the parents as being the difficult part, but this was proving to be slightly aggravating.
"We go in now," Hiei finally answered Kuwabara's question.
"Hiei, to walk into a girl's room uninvited is not-"
"Well it's not like she's going to invite us in," Yusuke cut Kurama off with his hand on the doorknob, "So we'll just have to be a little rude."
Yusuke slowly opened the door and peeked into the room.
"Hey, Furubashi, you in here or what?"
The girl still did not respond.
"Urameshi, maybe she's not in there," Kuwabara said, "Maybe she got sick and tired of her parents locking her up and she ran away."
He gasped.
"Or maybe one of the spirits kidnapped her!"
"Kuwabara, spirits are not corporeal and cannot kidnap a person unless they were to possess him or her, and most spirits she attracts do not know how to possess a person anyway," Kurama said, assuaging the teen's sudden case of paranoia. "They are only mere human spirits and are looking for the afterlife, not a host."
They opened the door a bit further, enough to squeeze inside the darkened room.
Michi's room faced east and the afternoon sun had to wind its way through alleys and taller buildings as well as around her apartment complex to reach inside the one window in the room, leaving barely enough light to see the silhouette of a young girl shaking on her bed.
"Ah, Miss Michi, there you are," Kurama said kindly.
The four boys walked completely into the room and Kuwabara shut the door behind him.
"Go away," she whispered in a broken voice.
"Go away, go away. I can't help you."
Kurama turned to give the boys a worried look.
"We're going to have to jump right into this. Hiei, sound-proof the room please."
Hiei nodded his head once and pulled a black round object out of an almost imperceptible pocket in his cloak. He placed the disk against the door and pushed a blue button in the middle of it. Instantaneously a blue shimmer surrounded the room and the four boys breathed a sigh of relief; they would not be overheard.
"That's a pretty cool thingy Koenma gave us," Yusuke said as he studied the object that clung to the door.
"It is definitely coming in handy," Kurama agreed before turning back to the shaking girl.
"Miss Michi-"
"I told you. I can't help you. Please go away!" she begged.
She finally looked up and the boys could barely recognize tear-stained puffy cheeks and blood-shot eyes filled with fear and pain.
"Please!" she begged, "Go away. I just want to get better."
Kurama walked forward with an empathetic face on. "Miss Michi, we are here to help you," he corrected her.
A thud came from over by the door and both Kurama and Michi turned to see what it was from.
"Ouch," Kuwabara groaned from the floor next to the desk.
"Shin: an item used for finding objects in the dark," Yusuke recited as he suppressed chuckles of amusement.
Hiei smirked as he furtively pulled his foot back in from where it had been when he tripped the orange-haired teen.
A small, light giggle emitting from the afflicted girl was quickly killed as the spotlight was placed back on her.
"Look," she said, her voice a bit stronger than before, "I can't help you. I don't know why all you spirits keep coming to me. There are plenty of better people that can help you if you can't find your way to the afterlife."
"You think we're spirits?" Yusuke asked.
"Well, you don't feel like non-spirits, even if you don't feel like normal spirits, but there is something off about all of you," the girl replied honestly.
"Except for maybe him."
She pointed at Kuwabara who was sitting on the floor rubbing his knee, which he had landed on.
"I know that was you, shorty," he scowled at Hiei, "So once we get this done and over with, you better watch your back."
Hiei sneered at him, "I'll be sure to."
Michi watched the exchange and stared at Hiei. The more she could make of his appearance and attitude, the stronger aversion she felt towards him. She wasn't sure why: other than his height, he was not bad to look at, but something about him just pushed a button somewhere deep inside her.
"What do you want human?" Hiei asked the girl, uncomfortable with her staring.
"You're the most different," she said, "You don't feel anything like other people."
"Good," he growled. "I would never want to be classified with humans."
"Miss Michi-" Kurama began.
"If you're going to talk to me, you might as well call me Michi," she interrupted, "There's no need to be so formal."
"Ah, yes, Michi," Kurama tried again, "I would like to assuage your fears. We are not spirits, although we are not all human either."
"Continue," the girl said eyeing each of them warily.
"My name is Kurama and I am possessed by a fox spirit."
The girl's eyes widened.
"Hiei is a fire demon," Kurama continued as he pointed at the short dark man that Michi could not find in her heart to even give a chance to.
"And Yusuke is a resurrected human. He needlessly sacrificed his life and has sworn to protect the human world from certain demons to repay our boss, Koenma, for his second chance at life."
Michi just looked at them all blankly before snorting.
"Whatever. You can tell my parents nice try on the way out, alright?"
"Michi," Yusuke butted in, "Your parents are trying to get you to think you aren't seeing spirits but hallucinating, right?"
"Well, yes-"
"We're trying to tell you that you are seeing spirits," he interrupted, "We're also trying to tell you why. Now listen up, because this can get a little boring."
Yusuke and Kurama then went into a small history lesson on the three worlds and the existence of other beings such as demons.
"You yourself are actually a reincarnation of another being," Kurama finally told the girl.
"You were Shi no Yuurei, Death's Ghost, a Shinigami. You were the connection between Spirit World and Human World. Spirits were attracted to your power and drawn into their rightful resting place by it. On your sixteenth birthday, your powers from that past life reawakened, drawing spirits towards your location, but your memories remained locked away. We are here to help you regain your memories and your rightful position in the Spirit World."
Michi shifted uncomfortably on her bed.
She had to admit that their story was intriguing and that a part of her agreed with them wholeheartedly.
"If I believe you? What happens then?"
Kurama sighed in relief; they had finally gotten through to her.
"If you decide to believe us, then we will call in our coworker and allow her to do what she has been assigned," he then answered.
Michi bit her lip as she stared at the quilt on her bed. She thoughtlessly picked at a loose thread as she decided whether she would believe these strangers or not. Their story did make sense. They weren't trying to fix her or lock her up like everyone else was. They were treating her like a normal person.
She looked up at her door in panic as she heard her mother's clacking footsteps heading towards her bedroom door.
"Now is the time to decide," Kurama prodded her – they had to leave before her mother kicked them out or decided to stay in the room with them just in case her daughter had another 'episode.'
"Alright, let's go!" Michi whispered harshly as she tugged on Kurama's arm.
They rushed over to the window and one by one hopped onto the fire escape. They reached the ground a minute later and finally realized that Hiei was not with them.
"We'll give him a couple minutes," Kurama decided and almost missed the frown Michi gave his comment.
The couple minutes were unnecessary, however, because fifteen seconds later Hiei jumped from the eighth floor landing of the fire escape to the ground, slipping the black disk he had placed on Michi's door for privacy in a hidden pocket in his cloak and deftly sheathing his katana.
Michi and Kurama both saw the blood drip from Hiei's left hand.
"What did you-?" Michi began but Hiei cut her off.
"Hurry up and call the ferry woman," he ordered Yusuke with a very aggravated growl, "I tire of this mission."
Then he began to walk away.
Michi turned to Kurama with a torn and pleading look on her face.
"Did he just-?"
"I am sure he did not," Kurama replied soothingly, "He knows the consequences resulting from those actions and would rather not risk the punishment."
The two looked up to Michi's bedroom window with worried looks, however, as Yusuke shut his communicator and Kuwabara chased a stray kitten down the alley.
"Botan will meet us at my place," Yusuke offered, pulling Kurama and Michi out of their silent worries, "My mom's out on the town so she won't be back for a day or two."
Kurama nodded before turning to Michi, "Please, stay with us and we will take you to meet our coworker who will explain everything else to you. She will also probably be able to better answer anymore questions you may have."
A troubled look washed over Michi's face. She glanced back up at her window momentarily, her dark brown hair shining in the small patch of light that wound its way over the buildings and into the alley, and stared at her room in a contemplative manner before sighing and turning back to face the three boys.
An almost imperceptible nod was her final agreement.
"Wow, you look so much like Machiko!"
Michi had been trying to retain a neutral façade in the wasteland she had found herself in the moment Yusuke opened the door to his apartment when pink eyes had suddenly jumped in front of her.
She yelped and stumbled backwards, caught just in time from falling onto an old and greasy take-out container by Kurama.
"Oh, dear me, I'm so sorry, it's just been so long since I've seen Machiko and seeing you, when you look almost exactly like her – well, you should because you kind of are her – well, it just shocked me and got me all excited," Botan rambled as she backed out of Michi's closely monitored personal space.
"You feel familiar," Michi murmured as her gaze landed on the floor in front of her. Too many strangers at one time tended to make her quite nervous, especially when she had just been tossed into a completely new and otherworldly situation.
"Well, hopefully I would be familiar," Botan waved off the statement, "We were really close friends! Now, onto why I'm here."
With that, Botan reached into her obi and pulled out a small vial filled with a few drops of silvery liquid.
Kurama gasped at the sight.
"Is that…the Elixir of Life?"
"Why, how very perceptive of you, Kurama," Botan replied cheerily, "Yes, this is the Elixir of Life. Michi must drink it before she can once again take on her form and position as Machiko. Her mind and soul have been tainted due to her life in the Human World. She must drink this before I can take her to Spirit World for the rest of the process."
She turned to Michi, "Got that?"
The overwhelmed girl nodded meekly as she took hold the small vial with a nervous smile, "Like Lady Kaguya and the Moon People."
"Bingo!" Botan replied with a wide smile, "Now, drink up!"
Michi downed the silvery liquid, the lightness and ambrosia-like taste leaving her feeling very heady for a few moments.
Botan winked at the boys as they watched in awe while the silvery glow of the liquid washed over Michi from head to toe before it faded.
The glazed and unfocused look had just about disappeared from Michi's face, along with the giddy smile and light, intermittent giggles when Botan said her goodbyes to the boys.
"You can stop by tomorrow and meet Machiko!"
Kurama and Yusuke nodded while Kuwabara walked up to Michi, "It was a great pleasure meeting you, and I am sure it will be a great pleasure meeting you tomorrow as Machiko for your beauty outshines that of any woman in Tokyo!"
Michi blushed but remained silent, turning to Botan so as to tell her she was ready to leave.
Botan nodded in acknowledgement of the silent statement and gave a final wave to the three boys in attendance, "See you tomorrow!"
And, just like that, the two girls disappeared.
Chapter 2 Notes
Lady Kaguya and the Moon People: There once was a poor, old bamboo-cutter and his wife who did not have any children. One day, while cutting down some bamboo, he saw a light coming from a reed he had just cut. Upon inspecting the strange light more closely, he saw that it contained a tiny girl, about four inches tall. The man picked her up and carried her home to his wife who immediately accepted the girl as her daughter.
Three months later, after the bamboo-cutter miraculously came into a large fortune in much the same way he had found the girl, the four inch child grew into a beautiful woman over night. So as to interest young, rich men into pursuing her, she was treated as a lady and was told to act like one as well, which she gladly did. She was then finally named Lady Kaguya. Many men sought her hand in marriage, including the Mikado, but Lady Kaguya would not accept any proposal.
One night she told her father, the bamboo-cutter that her time on earth was through and she would be leaving soon; the people from her land, the Moon, would come back for her. Upon hearing the news, the Mikado posted guards around the bamboo-cutter's house to wait for the people that would try to steal the woman away. That night, clouds came floating down from the sky with dozens of beautiful, glowing people on them. They demanded the Lady Kaguya be returned to them and, eventually they won out. The woman said a tearful goodbye to her earthly parents and partook of the Elixir of Life which purified her body and soul, which had become tainted during her time spent on earth. They then placed the Celestial Feather Robe on her shoulders and, after giving a box with a vial of the Elixir of Life and a formal apology on a scroll from the Moon People to the Mikado she disappeared into the sky.
The Mikado, in his mourning, gave the fate of the Elixir to one of his servants who took it to Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Suruga, and burnt both the Elixir and the apology. The smoke from that fire still "curls from [Mt. Fuji's high peak to mingle with the clouds of heaven."