Chapter Four: "Red Sky"
ONE HOURS AND FIFTY-NINE SECONDS
Two hours.
Genkai faced away from her remote mountain compound, watching the storm unfold. Before her, a legion of trees spread out in every direction, as far as her old eyes could see. They were black and indecipherable in the windstorm, undulating like inky waves, rippling back and forth like a raging sea during a tempest.
She stood at the topmost stair, the tips of her toes pressed against the edge. Hours passed. The storm waged its war, the sky darkened until she could barely decipher the treetops from the wrathful night sky.
And she watched.
SEVEN HOURS AND FIFTY-NINE SECONDS
Eight hours.
Genkai rocked on the balls of her feet, hands clasped tightly behind her back; it was a gesture that helped keep everything attuned—her body to her mind, her mind to her spirit's core. Every few seconds the sky was lit with the crooked fingers of lightning, allowing a glimpse of embattled black clouds and treetops. Every few seconds she caught sight of the long, unswerving stairs of her temple, and clasped her hand tighter.
She stood, watching the stairs, protected from the onslaught of rain in a luminous sphere she had conjured from her spirit energy. The storm's war had yet to cease, and she ignored the ache in her back, the innate, unsettling feeling that the weather's change had nothing to do with nature, and everything to do with demonic energy.
And she waited.
TWELVE HOURS AND FIFTY-NINE SECONDS
Thirteen hours.
"Genkai, there you are. What are you doing out here?"
Her eyes snapped open, pulled from her meditation. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, mainly because it pulled at her nerves like a rubber band being stretched to near breaking point. She eyed the newcomer cantankerously, peering up into glimmering pink eyes and sighing at the concern within them.
"Quiet, girl. Watch."
Like the hours before, the storm was still fulfilling its course.
Thunder boomed, reverberating throughout the compound and trembling beneath her feet. Botan squeaked and hurried beneath Genkai's sphere of energy when a powerful gale swept across the treetops and towards the temple mouth, peering wide-eyed at the relentless storm that surged and thundered and pitched everything back and forth.
Lightning quaked.
But the sun was rising far off on the horizon, smearing the dark clouds gray and the treetops into a ghostly green-black hue. Soon, the sky turned red, the color of life and death, the color that possessed no in-between.
"Red sky at night, sailor's delight," Genkai muttered. "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning."
There was a moment of silence.
"Well, that's not creepy at all."
Genkai snorted, and was about to reply, when, suddenly, the storm ceased.
Everything went still as death. The treetops, the rain, the dark as night clouds all halted, frozen as if time itself had stopped. Genkai's breath hitched, eyes alert and flitting about her temple's surrounding ocean of trees, small hands curling into white-knuckled fists.
"Genkai," Botan whispered, eyes wide with fear. "What's going–"
"Quiet."
And then there was an implosion. The forest rippled inwardly, trees pulling at their roots like they were being sucked towards some invisible vortex in the distance. The rain clouds shuddered in descent, the sky brightening and reddening the strangest of reds with every second.
Genkai braced herself, grabbing hold of Botan, reinforcing her protective sphere with more energy.
Then, once again, everything ceased.
And an explosion of sheer, unrestrained spirit energy occurred. It nearly knocked Genkai down, nothing but a pure invisible force with the greatest magnitude of power she had never once encountered, not with Yusuke, not with Toguro, not with herself as one of the most powerful psychics alive. It left her hunched over from its colossal impact, breathless and nearly gasping, jarred straight through to the bones and feeling her skin begin to warm and then sizzle.
For the first time in a very long time, Genkai felt a tinge of fear. A fear of the unknown, the inexplicable, something that her years of extensive training, of the most painful of meditations and regimens, could never prepare her for. Genkai gritted her teeth.
As quickly as the energy came, however, it vanished.
There were no aftershocks. All was silent, eerie, but it was the mere calm after the storm, that empty, weightless silence left in catastrophe's wake. The silence felt stagnant after the warring winds and clouds, after the implosion, after the explosion of spirit energy, but at least now this silence was natural. The red sky, she eyed with tetchy disbelief, was not.
Now able to gather her bearings, Genkai's lungs began to ache, realizing then that she had been holding her breath all along. Something clutched at her forearm, supporting her when she began to pant heavily.
"Genkai!" Botan gasped, bent down at her level, appearing completely unaffected. "What's wrong? Are you all right? What happened?"
Genkai furrowed her wizened brows. "You didn't just feel that?"
"Feel what?"
Genkai opened her mouth to reply, but before she could do so, a bright white orb manifested itself to her left. For a moment the two were blinded. Botan shuffled and helped Genkai quickly to her feet while the orb expanded further and further, a stark illumination that offered no brief glimpse to the other side. This, at least, was expected, a more normal and welcoming sight that had Genkai nearly sighing with relief.
Time seemed to finally continue. The red sky brightened into sunrise hues, streaking shades of pink and orange above the treetops. Genkai, despite herself, cracked the smallest of smiles.
Yusuke Urameshi waltzed out of the portal, eyes perpetually lit with mischief. Behind him the rest of the gang appeared, Kuwabara's orange head popping through like a sunlit beacon. His brows were furrowed in something more synonymous to confused than surprised—which, frankly, was not surprising.
Botan stifled a gasp.
Hiei appeared, and once again Genkai found herself unnerved. The fire demon was holding himself with extreme care, his movements much more deliberate than usual, and upon seeing the multitude of scattered lesions across his chest, revealing heavy swathes of blood and a strange silver beneath, she understood why. The pain in his movements, however, did not breech the normal expression of aloofness on his face. He clutched his sheathed katana like a vice, eyes locked into a glare and looking no less deadly than usual.
The portal zapped within itself, disappearing once Kurama had stepped through.
Genkai stiffened, gaze narrowing onto the form of a small, unconscious creature—a girl, of all things—draped carefully in his arms. But before she could step forward for a better view, feeling an unsettling, familiar amassment of spirit energy radiating quietly like some dormant volcano from within her, Yusuke was bounding towards his former master, grinning broadly.
"Yo, grandma, guess what?" he said, shoving his hands into his jeans and raising both arched eyebrows with devilish mirth. "We brought you a souvenir!"
— — —
Yusuke watched Hiei through narrowed eyes. Hiei, in turn, watched Kurama through narrowed eyes.
Honestly, the spirit detective was more amused than suspicious. Stunned a bit, because the last time he saw Hiei coming this close to completely losing his shit had been when the detective discovered Yukina was Hiei's long lost twin sister and accidentally blabbed about it to Kurama and, damn, the vein that had protruded from the fire demon's forehead as he threatened him over and over and...
Well, it now was making a reappearance.
He frowned. Sure, Hiei chronically had a stick up his ass and made his katana look like a butter-knife if one compared their sharpness, but he hadn't been this crusty before their mission in the forest. Then he shrugged, knowing that trying to make sense of Hiei was a waste of time; Yusuke hated puzzles more than he hated Kuwabara's breath, both of which gave him instant headaches.
In tandem when it came to creepy stares, the fire demon was still eyeing Kurama. For the past ten minutes Hiei had paced the length of Kurama's immaculate room like some prowling, caged animal, scrutinizing the fox demon who was meticulously storing supplies into a rucksack. His eyes betrayed the aloof expression on his face, which were glinting like freshly honed blades. His fists clenched and unclenched.
Yusuke suppressed a smirk, envisioning the fire demon raising his hackles and hissing like some crazed wet cat on crack.
Still, the sight soon had pressure building behind his eyes. It'd been years since Hiei was this prickly. He was unpredictable and moody and elusive, with a moral code so intricate (and somewhat twisted) that it constantly caught Yusuke by surprise. Sometimes it was difficult to tell what would make him tick or not, and now was no exception.
Yusuke rubbed his temples. And here we were having such a dandy ass day, too.
Then he saw it: the red flash of Hiei's eyes towards the open door, the blindingly swift glance that only someone with demonic blood could detect towards the stairs, towards the room that held the unconscious, strange, white-haired girl.
The demon with the silver blood.
The supposed Okuda, the first demonic race to inhabit the Makai, who possessed inexplicable powers and wealth, whose history was so shrouded in mystery that their existence had been deemed more myth than veritable truth because their reign had been chronicled into forgotten, archaic tomes written in a dead language.
Or whatever the hell Kurama had droned on about earlier as they summoned a portal.
To Yusuke, the girl was no different than any other demon he'd encountered, and he'd encountered many since becoming Spirit Detective and altruistic defender of the human world. Was she strange? Sure. Deadly? Clearly. But the Ningenkai was a large place inhabited by a diverse populace. The demon world was no different, only that survival rates were drastically lower and being knocked down a few pegs on the food chain was a common occurrence.
No big.
He'd dealt with worse.
She was no threat that they couldn't handle, and if she really was the sole survivor of an ancient, extinct race? Kudos to her. Someone give her a cookie. To him, she was the shadow that trailed them in a haunted forest, who had a righteously impressive spirit energy and weird ass tattoos.
And who had also saved Hiei's life.
For now, that was enough. Kurama wanted answers and Yusuke wasn't about to believe anything without seeing it firsthand, which he thought was rather mature of himself.
Grinning smugly at the thought, Yusuke glanced to his right at Kuwabara, whose arms were folded over his chest and had a leg propped against the wall he was leaning against. He looked just as uneasy as he had when Kurama first theorized about the girl's racial identity, an expression that was soon joined by Genkai when she first set eyes on her.
Yusuke snorted. Suspicious, big-headed worrywarts. They should start a club.
Looking away, however, he caught it again. The abrupt, lightning-fast glance towards the doorway. Hiei's angry red eyes flashed towards the stairs as he stalked past the threshold, unaware that Yusuke had yet again noticed the brief flicker. The fire demon's jaw tightened every time he passed the opening, his aura tangibly bridling with an intense, fiery heat with each passing moment.
Ah, Yusuke thought, stuffing his hands into his jeans. And here I thought Hiei was beginning to play well with others. Leave it up to him to be pissy when someone saves his life.
Then he caught Kuwabara shake his head in his periphery, looking even more troubled. Or constipated. Yusuke couldn't decide.
"So that's the plan, huh?" Kuwabara inquired, nodding towards Kurama, who was neatly tucking a canteen of water into the rucksack. "Why not take one of us with you? You know, as backup. Sounds stupid to go alone."
Yusuke muttered, "Anyone taking you as backup is stupid."
"Because," Kurama began, unaware of the withering glare Kuwabara shot Yusuke. "Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin and in some cases, it is better to deal with such alone. She may not be inclined to help, if she is inclined at all."
"Sounds like a real basket case to me," Yusuke said. "Are you sure about this, Kurama?"
"Completely. Skata is a renowned anthropologist, specifically when it comes to the Okudas. Not to mention the only one in the three worlds. No one else will bring better aid," he replied. Then he sighed, pulling the strings to the rucksack closed. "Still, it won't be a pleasant reunion."
Yusuke smirked. "You can thank Yoko for that. It takes some big balls to steal something, return it, then return again for information on what you stole."
"Precisely," Kurama smiled faintly. "It's fortunate that her intellect is vast, but unfortunate that her savant memory is flawless. I doubt she will have forgiven me. Still, I must try."
"Why don't you just take her with you?" Kuwabara asked, frowning.
"Skata won't let logic be misguided by anything personal." Kurama pondered his next words, "Her logic differs from our own, which makes her unpredictable. Her insatiable thirst for knowledge has long ago whittled away what conscience she once possessed, which also makes her dangerous. I would not trust her around any creature that is not conscious to defend itself."
"And they say chivalry is dead," Yusuke muttered, then he finger quoted mockingly, "What else can you tell us about the 'Three Worlds' Only Living Okudean Anthropologist Extraordinaire', or whatever the hell she calls herself."
"Skata," Kurama reiterated, chuckling without mirth. "Let's just say she has a special skill set, one that I would not wish performed on my greatest foe."
The silence of this revelation had the desired dramatic effect on Kuwabara, whose orange eyebrows spiked into his hairline. Yusuke raised one of his own, letting curiosity sink in and the undertone of danger in Kurama's words flair into a challenge.
It was then, however, that Yusuke noticed Hiei had halted from his incurious pacing. Instead, he stood in the threshold of Kurama's room, a black, smoldering speck within the simple elegance of the white-walled decor. His eyes, glimmering and turbulent, flickered from Kurama to Kuwabara, landing on Yusuke and tapering, but he did not speak.
Yusuke frowned, wondering abruptly if the meaning behind the fire demon's behavior ran deeper than mere irritation of his life being saved by some wild chick in a leaf bikini, and was about to ask when Kuwabara spoke.
"So, what are you hoping to gain from all this?"
Kurama's eyes flickered from Hiei to Yusuke, having caught the exchange. "I'm hoping to borrow the tome I mentioned in the forest, or at least a translation. Skata had been in the midst of translating it when I first stole the tome. I am betting that she has finished."
"Sure, translating a dead language," Yusuke shrugged. "That shouldn't take long at all."
"Yusuke, I stole that tome nearly 900 years ago."
"Wow. Hey, looking good, man."
Kuwabara frowned. "And if it's not translated? What then?"
"Dude, Kuwabara," Yusuke quipped. "You're being uncharacteristically smart. Stop it."
"Shut up, Urameshi," Kuwabara replied, glaring. "You dumb-dumb."
Yusuke grinned. "And you're back."
Kurama cleared his throat. "We leave her fate in the hands of Koenma, which may be the result regardless. Still, this is a chance to gain further knowledge into the Okuda. Never in my life would I have guessed that one would be discovered alive. It is...remarkable," Kurama's voice drifted off, until he snapped to attention and swung the rucksack across a shoulder. "Until then, it's best if you four keep an eye on her."
"Three," a rough voice announced from behind Hiei, making both Yusuke and Kuwabara jump in surprise. Genkai appeared in the threshold once the fire demon moved aside, looking tense and tired. "I can't dawdle any longer."
She strode into the room, hands clasped behind her back, brows furrowed. Her lips were pinched together, something Yusuke noticed she only did when something was truly unsettling her. As was his natural reaction when someone around him was troubled, Yusuke adopted a cockeyed grin.
He folded his arms across his chest. "Those old bones still shaken from the disturbance in the Force this morning?"
Genkai's entire face pulled together as she gave him a withering look, striking out a hand with abrupt, blinding speed and conking Yusuke over the head.
"Dimwit," she grumbled, eyeing the four and raising a brow at Hiei before turning back to Yusuke. "What I'm saying is that I'm leaving. Don't miss me too much. This girl's presence in correlation to the blast of spirit energy earlier is no coincidence. I need to have a chit chat with that nappy-wearing leader of ours."
Kuwabara smothered a grin. "Aw, c'mon, Genkai. No need to talk about Yusuke in front of him like that."
Yusuke glared, about to unleash his own wisecrack when Genkai whacked him in the shin as she strode towards the door.
"Don't do anything foolish," she said, eyeing Yusuke. "I'll be back by this evening."
"This right here," Yusuke replied, gesturing to his face. "This is me waiting with bated breath."
Genkai ignored him, turning to Kurama. "She's locked down in the guest room. Botan volunteered to tend to her wounds since you're leaving and Yukina is currently returning from Hyouga. And as difficult as it may seem to you, Yusuke, it's best if you all remain as quiet as you can. That girl is no shrinking violet. She's got thorns, even in her sleep."
Yusuke noticed the mentioning of Yukina had Hiei's head snapping in attention. When he strode forward, glaring heatedly at everyone in turn, something churned warily within the pit of Yusuke's stomach, something that instinctively readied itself for danger. The red-hot intensity surrounding the fire demon was far from friendly, and suddenly Yusuke was reminded of when he'd first encountered Hiei, of what sort of chaos he was capable of, that he could still be just as relentless.
Hiei's eyes locked onto Yusuke and, finally, he spoke.
"You think it wise to cage her?"
He knew it wasn't a question. The fire demon's voice was hard as granite and accusatory. His face was nothing but sharp corners, eyes lit with something hotter than dragon's fire. Yusuke kept his voice cool, more concerned for than wary of his friend.
"Hiei, chill man."
"She is far from caged, Hiei," Kurama said quietly, and Yusuke had the inkling that the fox demon could read Hiei far better than he could, that only he knew what was truly amiss.
Hiei's eyes flashed towards Kurama.
"Fools. We've just cornered a savage demon," he said viciously, "What do you think she will do when she wakes? What do you think a wild creature cherishes most of all?"
"Urinating in bushes?" Kuwabara offered.
Hiei's nostrils flared, glaring so fiercely that Kuwabara shrunk back. Then his eyes settled onto Kurama, then Yusuke. "Freedom, idiots."
Kurama smiled faintly. "And to think you initially believed she was weak."
"Whatever strange energy she has, she hides it well," Hiei replied caustically. "Has it entered into your thick skulls that we are all prey? Why do you think she tracked us down in that forest?"
"Concerned, Hiei?" Yusuke raised a brow.
"Yeah man, I've never heard you ask so many questions," Kuwabara considered. "Color me impressed."
"Kuwabara," Yusuke snorted, "It doesn't take much to impress you."
"Then why did she protect us?" Kurama asked. "Protect you?"
Hiei growled, and the hairs on Yusuke's arms prickled at the sound. It was deep and guttural and reminded him that Hiei was the master of the flames from the Makai, the master of the dragon he formed with them, the only master in existence. They were all dangerous, but this danger radiating off him was different, something inexplicable. Something new.
Yusuke frowned and took a step forward, but stopped when Hiei rounded on him.
"That doesn't matter," he seethed, then pointed at Yusuke. "Release her, detective. Now. Take her back to her forest."
"She is littered in scars," Kurama continued. "Perhaps she has been looking for a way out."
"Does she look like she belongs amongst us?"
"Hiei, are you not at all curious about her nature? Her powers are unheard of. Extraordinary. It is not your decision when it comes to her fate."
"And it's yours?" he snarled.
"Hiei, she may be wild, but she is also sentient. Capable of introspection, intelligence, and emotions that a feral creature is not."
"Unlike some," Kuwabara murmured to Yusuke, who elbowed him in return.
Hiei scoffed. "Unbelievable. You want to tame her."
"Hey, man," Kuwabara said, pointing at him. "You weren't exactly braiding friendship bracelets when we first met, either."
Yusuke almost laughed, disbelieving how adamant and wrathful and so close to losing his cool Hiei was. Despite the anger and inherent sense of danger that loomed around him like some raging, fiery storm, it was almost refreshing to see the fire demon concerned over something other than Yukina remaining ignorant of his blood relation and the strict swordsmanship regiment he put himself through each day.
Hiei's attention snapped on him, glare narrowing upon seeing the crinkling of Yusuke's eyes, whose train of thought had him beginning to smirk. In return, Hiei growled again.
"Listen to yourselves. She is a demon of an unknowable class, unknowable energy, more powerful in a way that we don't understand. I was the one that fought her and I—"
"Died," Kuwabara amended.
"Yes, while she resurrected you back to life," Kurama continued.
"And healed you with her blood," Kuwabara rejoined.
Yusuke nodded, "Her silver, Okudean blood."
Hiei's eye twitched, his fists clenching and unclenching. Yusuke could see that even though Hiei Jaganshi held the crown for being the three worlds' most stubborn jackass (which was probably why they got along so well, Yusuke surmised), it was clear that he was epically losing this argument. One telltale sign was that Hiei's right hand kept involuntarily fluttering towards the katana hilt at his side, which he only did when feeling the need for some serious therapeutic beheading.
Hiei closed his eyes, jaw locking for a moment. Everything about him was coiled, quavering anger. When he opened his eyes, the fire demon exhaled sharply through his nostrils.
"Hn. I hope you know what you're doing, detective. She may look pleasing to the eye," he said, each word dripping with menace, "but don't forget that you've all just caged a wild creature."
There was a moment of silence, then Yusuke snickered.
"Dude, did Hiei just say that she's hot in an odd, inadvertent way?"
Hiei's expression turned murderous, but even Kurama indulged in a smile. Kuwabara guffawed and high-fived Yusuke, who turned towards Genkai to do the same. Yusuke's smile, however, only grew when his old, crotchety master rolled her eyes, muttered something darkly to herself, and disappeared through a portal she had opened moments before. Kurama followed suit, face returning to its mask of equanimity and nodded to Yusuke in farewell.
Then, just as the portal zipped shut, it occurred.
An implosion, and then an explosion, and the three stumbled beneath the force, the shock of being caught off guard. Abruptly, Yusuke felt the strangest heat surge against his spirit energy, sizzling beneath his skin with the strangest familiarity. It had the intensity of a thousand suns, nearly buckling his knees by its abruptness, and then there was a star-burst of light in his vision that turned everything white.
He blinked repeatedly, hitching his breath against the onslaught. It felt like being struck with pain that held no pain, like being pitched back and forth under a sea of sheer power, rendering him unable to properly think or move. That pissed him off, and he fought against the sensation, scowling as he opened his eyes.
And then it stopped.
The first thing Yusuke heard after the ringing in his ears ceased was the crashing of glass upstairs, and he saw Kuwabara huddled over, trying to catch his breath. His face was ashen, whiter than the walls of Kurama's bedroom, and was now trying to blink away the haze in his eyes.
Hiei, however, had a hand clutching the frame of the doorway for support, tendons popping along his arm, the wood creaking and splintering beneath his vice-like grip. His other hand was pressed against his chest, where hours before had been fatally impaled with the glittering black spikes of a rock demon's mace.
A colorful curse was on the tip of Yusuke's tongue when Botan stumbled onto the stairway landing, looking stricken and panting heavily.
"Um, guys," she said, pink eyes lit with panic. "She's awake and, well, let's just say that she currently does not play well with others!"
— — —
Author's Note: Let it be known that I am ridiculously sorry for the wait (a little over a year—CRAP), but a vast thank you to all those who still follow this story despite that. Pleasedonttomatome.