Hey lovelies, back with another chapter. I've been on vacation in an apartment with no internet access unless I hike down to the local mickey d's. But I was very encouraged by the numbers for the first chapter, so, if just one of y'all could drop me a line and tell me how bad I suck, i'd love it very much.
Oh! and the disclaimer, which I forgot. Don't own YYH, or the characters thereof. The only thing I own is the plot and pyro, k? On to the fic...
The rabbit hole opened up near this very Japanese castle looking building, kinda like the pictures I'd seen in history class of the Forbidden City, but friendlier somehow. We walked inside, down a hall and through a roomful of loincloth-clad multi-coloured beings before stopping at another door.
Yusuke paused with his hand on the door. "Look, I don't know what form he's decided to take today, so don't be surprised if you have to talk business with a toddler, ok?"
"Trust me, after today, nothing can surprise me anymore. Lead on, zombie." I sighed. I piched the bridge of my nose to hold off the headache threatening to break.
The door opened to reveal a teenage boy sucking a pacifier standing next to a way oversize desk. He saw me and seemed to smile. "Ah, you're here. I am Koenma, ruler of Spirit World, um, what you would call the afterlife."
I looked at him a moment. "So you're, like, another face of Hades then?"
His eyes widened slightly. "That is what they call me in Greece. You're more adaptable than your report suggests."
"Ok, so I'm in Hades, talking to Hades, and I'm still alive. I'm good with that." I nodded once, to settle the info in my head. Not many people get to visit Hades and live to tell the tale. I just hoped I wouldn't have an Orpheus-like ordeal. Wait, afterlife... "Please don't tell me its time for me to visit the Goddess in the Summerland already."
"No, she's not asked for you yet. You still have some things to do." The teen god winked at me. "Now, I'll assume that Hiei found something important in your head, based on Kurama's reluctance to be very near you."
Kurama was, in fact, leaning against a wall on the complete opposite side of the room. At Koenma's words, Kurama and I shared a glance, then turned away and stayed silent. On my part it was just to keep the memory Hiei had found out of my conscious thoughts.
Hiei stepped forward, obviously reveling in his revenge on me. "She is an incarnation of the demon Lotus. The fox was well acquainted with her."
"I can feel you smirking oni-san. I'd be careful continuing this revenge." I growled.
"That would explain Kurama's behaviour." Koenma coughed and looked slightly uncomfortable. "Pyro, you have the benefit of going through two lives and a mental blockade between that time and now. For Kurama, the wound is a bit more open."
"Still, Hiei didn't have to bring it up in such detail." I glared at the three-eyed demon. That damn oni would definitely be getting an earful later.
"Now, that said, you are the first of her subsequent lives to posess her full powers. That you were able to mimic a demon's attack is evidence enough to this fact." Koenma continued.
"Ok, so, the bitch could mimic. I really don't like her, I've had some conversations with her, she's taken over once or twice, and I really hated the way she treated people. I've got control, and locked her away in a box in my head. She likes to do things I just can't do, no matter who has control of my body at the time." I said. Things were beginning to make sense now.
"Lotus had the Empathic gift as well. She seemed to feed on forcing people to feel things." Kurama said softly. He didn't look up, just stared at the floor.
"I modified that power in this human incarnation." Koenma sounded pleased with himself.
"You're the one who made it so that I feel other people's emotions instead of just sensing them? I hate you most of the time." I said in as flat a tone as I could manage.
"Hate me if you must, but it was necessary to keep the demon part of you in check." Koenma sat in the oversize chair behind the desk and started shuffling papers. "As is the measures you are about to be taking. We have set up a temporary safe house for you in the less populated middle of your homestate. You and the detectives will hole up there until it is safe to move you to our main safehouse. You may not go near your human friends and family."
Yusuke opened the manila folder held out by the god.
"Just how long do I have to abandon them for? Can I tell them anything?" I yelled in shock. I almost went to throttle the god at the desk, but restrained myself.
"A year at the very least. We have a decent cover story for you, its in Yusuke's folder." Koenma said.
"You are getting called out on a field writing trip. You're going to be training at a remote temple in Japan and writing about the experience as a novel." He grinned. "We get to go home for this job guys!"
"Not until Yukina, Botan and Genkai let me know it is secure again. That demon invasion last year did a number on the protections there." Koenma said, then dismissed us.
I was allowed to collect what I would need before getting basically locked in a house with three demons and one rather odd human. My apartment was first, then my parent's house, to collect the rest of my things, as I had been in the process of moving out.
That's where Kuwabara met Mittens, my cat. The silly beast was named for the cat in Bolt, because he looks just like her.
"You can't just leave him here! Aren't you supposed to be watching him for your parents?" Kuwabara protested.
"Dude, he's a cat. He'll be just fine. The food and water dishes are filled, and will last at least a week." I sighed. I already wanted to curse the god what made me have to deal with these people.
Kurama walked in with Mitten's plastic carrier. "Stop, Pyro, you won't win the argument. The oaf has a huge soft spot for cats. Now, this is his carrier, correct?"
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nosed as I nodded in the affirmative. Gods, this is shaping up to be a long year ahead.
Which brings us up to where I started this story, two days and countless trips over the cat.
"Baka ningen." I heard Hiei's snide remark coming from the window. He seemed to have a strange penchant for sitting in windows, like he couldn't decide if he wanted to be in or out.
I rolled my eyes.
"What, you disagree?" Hiei asked. It was the most he'd said to me since Koenma's office.
I tapped my forehead. "Vous-etre folle, mon amie.*"
Kurama snickered behind the minimal cover of his hand.
"Comprend-toi?**" I was a little excited that I wouldn't have to translate to have at least one person laugh with me.
The red head pinched the air with his thumb and forefinger. "Un petit pou***. I took a year or two as an elective."
"Really? I took three semesters as a requisite for college. Its fun to swear in, n'est-ce pas?****"
Hiei was glaring at me again. It seemed to be a hobby of his.
I refused to meet his glare this time, staring contests with him were almost as boring as a staring contest with the cat. "I can feel you trying to get at Lotus again. Do I need to send that thought from the other day, and expand on it?"
I looked up in time to see him go a little rigid and his eyes widen slightly. "You wouldn't!"
"I so very much would. I really don't want the bitch to get out." I smiled sweetly.
Yusuke shoulder bumped me. "You never did tell me what it was that got three-eyes' boxers in a bunch like that."
I stood and turned to the black-haired demon. "Could you accompany me to the store? I'm going either way, because Kurama's a freaking health nut and didn't get any caffine." I winked to tell him I'd spill on the way.
"Those chemicals are no good for your mind or body." Kurama stated flatly. His arms were crossed, and he overflowed with disapproval.
"I'm an addict hun, withdrawal is not pleasant, and I won't quit cold turkey if I have to deal with the king of evil glares over there." I replied, crossing my arms and meeting his disapproval with my current level of discomfort. It was a dirty trick to pull, but I wasn't in my right mind because of the withdrawal.
Kurama pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll have to quit eventually."
We got halfway to the store before I spoke. "You have to swear you won't breathe a word of this to anyone."
"Of course." Yusuke grinned.
"I'm serious. You tell and I'll let Lotus rip off your arm and shove it up your ass." I hissed, so I wouldn't get the cops called out for terroristic threatening.
"Ouch, ok, I swear." He laughed a little, to cover up the small tremor of fear.
I took a deep breath, to keep myself from giggling at the big tough guy afraid of little old me. "I had a little mental image of Hiei, and Kurama, and Kurama's wicked whip..."
Yusuke arched an eyebrow at me.
I blushed a little. "Hiei was tied up..."
The shocked look I got for that was priceless. "You are sick, woman! Those two are more like brothers than anything."
"Well, he wasn't being very nice, and I can't help it if my mind makes up scenarios to punish people who are mean to me. Its not like I wanted him to see it, or even that I thought it would ever happen!" I protested. The argument was suspended while we went into the store.
Back at the safehouse, we walked in on a fight about to get very messy. Hiei and Kurama were fighting, and the anger in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Judgin from Yusuke's shock, I figured this was completely out of character for both of them, to fight this viciously.
I saw Hiei call up a black fire and ran to break them apart.
Evil cliffie, I know.
*you are crazy my friend. Feminine spelling and pronunciation, as an insult. I use it all the time.
**you understand?
***a little bit
****isn't it so, or is it not