Chapter Five: The Crooked Young
I was dragging my feet at this point down the side walk. The cool air was crisp against my face and hands, yet a bitter reminder that it was far too chilly outside. Night time had arrived whenever I was able to leave the group, and after I had an extensive talk with Genkai and Kurama.
I clenched my eyes shut and stopped in my tracks. A wave of embarrassment flooded over the memory of the two of them, or what little I did remember.
"Genkai, I have reason to believe this is far more serious than you originally thought."
"Your concerned is not over looked, Kurama. However, it's nothing I haven't handled with her before."
I shook my head and proceeded to continue to walk.
My mind was within a fog as the events of the day played within my head. The funny part was I could only remember everything up until the point I was cornered by the insects, and barley anything from whenever Kurama escorted me to Genkai's aid. Every time I tried remembering what happened before Kurama finding me left me with a blank. It was frustrating enough that I couldn't remember what happened, let alone having someone like him finding me the way I was.
He found me vulnerable and afraid.
I clenched my jaw and fists at the same time as anger slowly crept through my body. I knew what had happened to me, and felt utterly ashamed at the fact that he had to see me like that. Or technically speaking, seeing her like that.
I stopped walking again and bit my lip, closing my eyes hard and running a hand through my thick mane, catching small tangles causing me to wince.
"Natalie you're fucking weak…" I mumbled, finally looking up and seeing that my house was closer than I thought. Had I been walking for so long or so little? I looked around me at the quiet neighborhood, confused for a moment and wondered if it had happened again.
"Goddammit!" I yelled while walking faster toward my home. I needed space from everyone, I needed to be in my bed and be asleep. Most of all I needed forget how fucked up I am.
I looked myself over in the mirror and thought of one word.
Death.
Not saying that I was an emotional wreck, or that I was very depressed and suicidal, but I literally looked like someone who was about to attend their own funeral. My eyes held dark circles under them from the lack of sleep from last night, and they lacked any brightness to them. My skin seemed paler than the fair tone it usually had, and my hair was flat instead of holding volume. I was lacking any kind of cynical luster today, and was left with just being dramatically hollow.
"Natalie!"
I exhaled and let my eyes roll so far back into my head I thought they would fall out of sockets. The sound of footsteps quickly followed by the burst of the door to reveal Clara's overly excited face.
"C'mon! We have to go!" She gestured with her hand for me to leave. I sighed and roughly grabbed my bag while brushing past her and mumbling.
"I can't even get a little privacy…"
"Why are you so grumpy?" Clara followed me down the steps and I waved her off.
"I didn't sleep last night, don't worry about it." I heard her scoff.
"Did you have a crazy night with that weird friend of yours?" I instantly stopped while turning on her quickly. The action brought her to a halt and the once playful expression on her face instantly turned to wide eyes and a light drop of her jaw.
"Where the fuck do you get off on calling him weird…?" My voice dangerously low for only her to hear. I took one step up the stairs to get closer to her face, a sneer etched on mine.
"Or have you forgotten what the hell we can do?" I snarled, glaring back at frightened bright eyes that now narrowed back at me. We said nothing more as we continued to descent down the stairs.
Once I stepped off the last step of the stairs I was then greeted by the small smile of my grandmother.
"Are you two all set, darlin's?" She asked.
I nodded while Clara said yes. I wasn't ready for school in the least bit. I had things to worry about, and I was never going to be able to contemplate them while in the distraction of Sarayashiki Junior High's two biggest goofs of them all.
(-)
Today was a cloudy day that threatened to spill rain at any moment. Honestly it represented my mood perfectly, not trying to be over dramatic or anything. The three of us, Yusuke, Kuwabara and I, were sitting outside during lunch to have a very important discussion of the events that happened yesterday.
"Well excuse me if I'm not a college boy philosopher grad, or some church dude talking about a higher calling, but to me none of this makes sense. This doctor knew he would die if he opened that tunnel, he knew!" Yusuke stated and sighed.
"That's freaky," Kuwabara replied while taking a bite of his food. "I just figured if they had a human on their side they would tell him what he's getting into, but he knew?"
I looked to Yusuke who nodded, eyes closed as if he were concentrating on the memory.
"Mhm, the whole shebang; he said he deserved to go because we were diseased or something…"
I shook my head.
"I just don't understand that myself. I know we humans are pretty fucked up, but we don't all deserve to die. We're not… diseased…" I sneered and shrugged. "That makes for another question though…"
The two looked up at me from their spots on the ground.
"What do you mean?" Kuwabara questioned.
"Yeah, whatcha thinkin' up there, Montgomery?" Yusuke added.
I scoffed and gave both of them a 'you should know better' look.
"I mean think about it you two either their leader is finding some really messed up people, or he's really good at persuading them, or hell even both! It just doesn't make sense that their leader could find seven people who are willing to open a tunnel and destroy their… their home!"
The two looked at each other as my little speech sunk in.
"You've got a point there, Nat…" Kuwabara mumbled.
I shrugged again and shook my head once more. "I don't know, it was just a thought really. Quite frankly I'm ready to find another one to settle this quickly—"
"Emergency!"
I instantly shot my gaze to the source of the voice and watched as a Botan came running toward our little group. Once she reached she had bent over to catch her breath, and I noticed that she had the handy-dandy brief case within her hand. Lifting a slender eye-brow I looked to Yusuke as he spoke.
"What is it Botan, they run out of your hair dye?"
Rolling my eyes very quickly I looked back to Botan.
"No time for jokes the tunnel to Demon World will be finished in a week!"
A week.
Seven days.
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I let myself gently lean against the mesh metal gate of the roof top. I gasped not for dramatics, but for the lack of breathing that had occurred. There was no possible way that the progression of the tunnel had been so rapid that it was nearly complete within a week. That was a ridiculous statement, but one thing was on my mind as soon as those words left her mouth.
How did this happen so quickly?
"What?!" Kuwabara exclaimed
"But!" Yusuke added
"No time for 'buts' either just listen!" Botan also added while setting the brief case down and opening it. As soon as she did the one and only baby ruler of Spirit World flashed onto the screen. I stepped closer next to Yusuke to get a better look.
"Yes, Yusuke, listen that's Botan's natural color. It makes no sense to tease her."
I narrowed my eyes and scoffed.
"Would you please get to the part about how our world is possibly going to end in seven days, please?" I snapped while folding my arms.
"Yeah, you told us three weeks just the other night!"
I watched as the small prince hunkered down a bit as if he realized that he had made a mistake, and knowing Spirit World's reputation with information I was probably right about that.
"…That's the thing about the information business…"
In the words of Botan; bingo.
Koenma reached with his hand to press a something out of the corner of the screen which instantly took us to another screen of a graphing example.
"…Always subject to updates. Look, Yusuke, we goofed; we assumed the tunnel's center point was on the surface, it was only after Kurama's teamed ventured to the area where the tunnel center point is suppose to be I ordered a depth analysis, and found that the center is 550 meters underground."
As Koenma explained the situation I watched the graph example intently. Basically we had assumed that the tunnel's opening was on the surface, but after Kurama's team found nothing there they reexamined the possibilities of it being underground, and what do you know, the tunnel's opening was actually underground.
The graph changed to give an overview of the distortion zone on the surface, and then once again to show the actual zone underground. It was far worse than what we had first imagined.
"I was being simplistic when I said the distortion zone took the form of a circle, it's really more like a sphere. The circle, or dorm, we see on the surface is just a cross section of its tip."
I ran a hand through my hair and turned away to try and process this information. What was the point of having Spirit World on your side, or working for them, if they were going to half ass their jobs.
"Urameshi," Kuwabara finally spoke gathering our attention. "Tell me what's on the screen, I can't see without my Spirit Powers. Like, what's he sayin'?"
I then looked to Yusuke who was silent for a moment and then growled.
"Sphere's and shit, Geometry is next year!"
And in that moment I swore I was going to kill him.
(-)
"Bye guys!"
It wasn't hard to get out of class for the rest of the day, honestly. All I had to do was sneak out of the school and follow Yusuke, Botan and Kuwabara's lead. We had decided to not waste anymore time cracking down this case and decided to go retrieve Kurama as well. So, as we reached the gate's of the school we all decided to go right… except for Kuwabara.
Botan, Yusuke and I came to a halt whenever he tried escaping from us.
"Kuwabara, hold up!" Yusuke called out.
Instantly Kuwabara stopped in his tracks but did not turn around to look at us.
"Kurama's school is this way, man. Did you forget that?" I asked while putting my hands on my hips.
"Yeah, don't tell me your directions gone south, too." Yusuke added.
I watched as Kuwabara looked down and apologized. "I can't go with you guys today…" he confessed.
I raised an eye-brow at him before looking to the other two by my side then back to him. He was acting awfully strange about this whole thing, and I wondered if he was just nervous and needed to do a few things in preparation for the end of times.
"Got the runs, or something?" Yusuke asked nonchalantly. I sneered in his direction while mumbling about how gross that was. Kuwabara, however, did not react to his question as I had thought.
"No… It's just…You know!" Kuwabara kept his gaze down for a moment before bursting out into nervous laughter, throwing his hand behind his head and scratching it. After his nervous laughter died down quickly he gave us an awkward look upon his face.
My upper lip was curled back, my head tilted and my feelings utterly confused by what he had to say.
"What the hell do 'you know' mean?" Yusuke questioned. "That time of the month for you?"
I scoffed and spun on him. I was about to say something to him until Botan slapped him on the shoulder.
"You're being a pig!" She exclaimed. In that moment I swore I would never forget my love for Botan's ani-sexist remarks. Lightly smirking I turned back to Kuwabara.
"On a serious note, what's going on?" I asked him, folding my arms.
"This is why…" He said in an all serious tone while holding up a piece of paper that was laminated. The glare from what little light there was made it difficult to read, but once I saw the view letters of the name that was bolded onto the piece of paper, a fire ignited within me of jealousy.
"Floor tickets… for Megalica's world tour!" Kuwabara announced while giddy laughing.
I clenched my jaw, eyes growing wide and the envy erupting even more. Of course, when I had spent so long saving my allowance and waiting for them to go on sale other obligations came up and I was unable to purchase the tickets. Who would've thought that one of my comrades was able to retrieve something I wanted for so long, that I'd probably give an arm and a leg for a floor ticket.
"You've got to be shitting me…" I mumbled while walking up to him and snatching the ticket right from his hands almost too quickly.
"Hey, give it back!"
"Just let me see it!" I waved Kuwabara off while examining the ticket closely. It was perfect, no edges bent thanks to the lamination. It was colorful with nearly all the colors of the rainbow that shimmered on Megalica's name. I wanted this ticket, and at this point I was nearly ready to take it and leave everyone there. Before I had time to inspect anymore Kuwabara's manly hands ripped the ticket away from me before I could object.
"There you are, Kuwabara!" A new voice came from the side and I watched as Kuwabara's little gang of trusted do-gooders arrived and started musing about the concert.
"My life… is over…" I mumbled, sighing and groaning while putting a hand to my forehead. There was nothing more I wanted in life than to have floor tickets to one of my favorite bands ever, and this mother fucker over here was flaunting it.
"Montgomery, give me a break." Yusuke mutter while walking past me. I ignored his remark and watched what he did.
"You forgot something…" Yusuke said while putting a hand to Kuwabara's shoulder and stopping him in his tracks. In one swift movement I watched as Yusuke punched Kuwabara who was knocked to the ground instantly.
"We're saving the planet; no pop bands!" Yusuke yelled.
I scoffed while folding my arms. Megalica was totally not just a pop band if the fucker ever heard a song made from the, though I doubted that Yusuke was really the type to listen to that kind of music in all honesty.
"Pop band…?! How dare you call Megalica a pop band!" Quicker than the speed of light I watched as Kuwabara and Yusuke then proceeded to duke it out in front of the school, hitting and punching while yelling profanities at each other. I shook my head and stepped away to stand near Botan.
"Men, they're so petty." I mused as she nodded.
"Although you did seem pretty excited about that ticket, Natalie..." She observed while giving me an all knowing smile. I chuckled nervously and cleared my throat.
"Please, I wouldn't act so savage for it." At least not in front of you guys…
I then noticed how the two pulled away from each other, heavy breathing and glaring intensified between them.
"How would you like it," Kuwabara spoke. "if I had tickets to the world Martial Arts Championship, would you turn that down?!"
I looked to Yusuke who suddenly looked conflicted. For a moment he was silent before he growled and then groaned.
"Some hero!" Botan yelled at him. Although I was inclined to agree, my priorities were secretly skewed at the fact that I would probably go the Megalica concert and let the world perish. If I was going to die in an apocalypse then at least I was going to have one hell of a ride beforehand.
"This is a once in a life time opportunity," Kuwabara spoke up once again. "I bought these tickets a year ago and there's no way I'm gonna miss it. Even if the end of the world was tomorrow I'd still go!"
"Whatever, groupie just don't expect me to save your ass when it's demon season! " Yusuke hollered at him. With one hand on his hip and one eye closed while the other open to see Kuwabara's reaction, I was still fully convinced he was a fucking diva.
The two of them came face to face once again while in unison said 'fine!' and went their separate ways. Botan leaned over to whisper to me.
"And that's how the human race ended.
(-)
We had ventured to Meiou High only to find out a few things. Kurama, my dearest frenemy, was not there to begin with. Instead he had stumbled upon Kaito and requested him to come over to Yusuke's for an explanation, seeing as he might know something of his whereabouts. In the mean time I made a quick stop my own place to get a change of clothes and pack an overnight bag. We made the decision to stay together after the information that Koenma gave us, and the best place we knew to be safe while being able to stay in a generally close location was Yusuke's place. Shortly after we made it to his apartment, Kaito, Yana, Keiko and Genkai had arrived. I was a little confused as to how Genkai was aware of the meeting, but brushed it off and decided that she had made her own decision to come by.
So now we were in Yusuke's living room while discussing the updates we found out.
"Give me a break!"
Yusuke was not in the mood, however, for the news that we received.
"What do you mean he's missing?" Yusuke interrogated Kaito.
I myself was rather concerned and annoyed at the fact that one of our stronger fighter was 'missing' as they put it. I was holding a hand to my forehead while sitting at the small table where our group was seated. I was leaning against Yana who had his arm draped around my shoulders. Everyone else was calmly sitting down on the floor, except for Yusuke who aggressively stood up and hovered over Kaito at this point.
"He didn't show up for school today." Kaito explained.
I watched as my classmate grew visibly more upset at the fact that his teammates were slowly disappearing around him. I didn't blame him for it either; I was starting to get upset at the fact that our days were dwindling and yet our team wasn't really on top of things at the moment.
"Hiei then Kuwabara and now Kurama, you can't count on anybody! I just can't do this alone-!"
Yusuke's little rant was cut short by none other than Genkai who threw the small kettle of tea at his head. I was surprised at how he wasn't knocked unconscious by the action.
"Shut up…" She mumbled before turning back to the rest of us.
"Now that we know where these psychics are hiding we can mount for an attack, but it must be carefully planned. " Genkai continued.
"I've heard of Demons Door cave," Yana spoke up and drawing our attention to him. I raised an eye-brow at him lightly and listened.
"It's like an urban legend." He finished.
"I didn't know you were into that thing, Yana." I spoke softly to him, earning a small chuckle on his end.
"Not really, just something I've heard before." He replied while giving my shoulders a light squeeze.
Kaito, however, decided to move on. "It's said that scorned lovers go there to die, which shows that our enemy likes irony."
I rolled my eyes at to what Kaito had to say, not because it was obnoxious but because of the fact that the enemy was probably some poetic psychopath that was trying to make a statement with little things like that.
"If we don't have a plan it'll be suicide as well…" Kaito finished.
"Hey!" Yusuke shouted drawing all of our attention back to him. "I don't need a lesson from you too, rookie!"
As Yusuke turned away I heard him mumble something about Kaito's freckles and how they were stupid, and although that was uncalled for I couldn't help but snicker at his words. This earned me a pair of narrowed eyes from Kaito himself.
"Hold on, Yusuke!" Keiko stood up to try and stop Yusuke, but stopped short whenever he yelled from his position in the living room.
"Everyone just leave me alone; I'm going to the arcade!"
With Yusuke's final words we watched him as he left his own home while slamming the door. Sighing I sat up and leaned forward to prop my elbow on the small, round table and look to Genkai.
"I don't know what's gotten into him," Keiko spoke up once again. "he really shouldn't be going out alone…"
She looked between me and Genkai for some possible insight. I sighed again.
"He's just stressed because of this whole situation, honestly." I offered my thoughts to her, which she nodded to.
"Give him some space," Genkai said. "if he's that stupid then he deserves to die."
Although I found that a tad bit harsh I understood where she was coming from… sort of.
"But," Genkai added. "I suspect he's worried about Kuwabara."
With that being brought up it was starting to sink in how it was just too dangerous to go out without someone there as back up, let alone going out with no Spirit Powers or anything to help aid him. I bit my lower lip as my own concerned feelings started to wash over me.
"Oh," I looked to my side at Kaito who was now looking at me. "I forgot to mention this to you earlier, Natalie, but I was a bit preoccupied with Yusuke's interrogation for Kurama." He stated while then pushing the front of his glasses high on the bridge of his nose.
"Mention what?"
"I didn't see Clara today in school; is she ill?" He asked.
I blinked while giving him a confused expression.
"Well, no, she was dressed and everything for school and we even dropped her off there… since when did you keeping tabs on my sister, Yuu?"
He started to stutter out a reply but I held my hand up to stop him.
"I don't care for your reasons, never mind. Honestly she probably was skipping school to hang out with her high school friends. She does that from time to time."
Kaito nodded then and shrugged, trying to play off his stuttering episode.
I sat straight up and stretched before getting up and grabbing walking over to grab my jacket.
"I'm going for a smoke," I said while turning to look at Yana. "you wanna come?"
"Nah, I'm good for right now." He said. Nodding again I quickly made my way out of living room to stand outside. The cold air that rushed to greet my face felt much needed after the heated moment that Yusuke created. Lighting up and I looked out at the city that was in front of me and started to think. Clara usually said something about skipping school just in case her cover was blown. She usually warned me so that I'd be able to back her story up with our grandmother. It was an agreement between us that was nearly vital even so we wouldn't get in trouble.
'It's not like her to forget that…' I thought while pulling out my phone. Instead of texting I just went ahead and called her.
Taking a drag of the cigarette the phone went to voicemail after the second ring. Taking the phone away from my ear I sneered at it.
"This bitch did not just hit the Fuck You button on me…" I mumbled while calling her back. This time it went to voice mail after the first ring.
"Okay." I scoffed and shoved my phone back into my pocket. Pretentious Princess of here was probably spending the entire day getting fucked up or something. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
We were all waiting at this point.
Botan had graced us with her presence shortly after Yusuke left, but since then nothing major happened. We all sat at the table, minus Keiko who was worrying herself by looking out the window at the rain that finally started to pour. Yusuke had yet to return, and neither did Kuwabara, so we all had no choice but to sit and wait for them.
I instantly perked up at the sound of the door opening and closing, snapping my head to see who was walking in. To my surprise it was not Yusuke, Kuwabara or Kurama, but a young woman. She had light auburn hair that looked nearly flawless and lovely yet concerned doe eyes. She looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on how I knew her.
"Shizuru…?" Keiko spoke.
"Hey guys," The young woman's raspy voice greeted us. "do you know where my baby-bro is?"
I looked over to the others for some kind of explanation.
"At the rock concert, or so I thought." Botan said while shrugging. It dawned on me why this woman named Shizuru was Kuwabara's sister.
"oh, yeah… Kazuma mentioned something about that…" Shizuru mumbled while sweeping her hand through her hair. She looked troubled, and it wasn't hard to tell that she was worried for Kuwabara.
"Shizuru," Keiko spoke up once again. "you look really worried."
"Me?" Shizuru questioned then shook her head. "No, just… got a bad vibe that's all."
I raised an eyebrow as both Botan and Keiko looked at each other as if that were a sign. So this girl had a bad vibe? I didn't exactly see what the big deal was until it hit me. Kuwabara himself was a very gifted psychic so of course maybe his immediate family would also be psychic as well. If that was the case, then maybe Shizuru's bad vibes were much more important…
"Maybe we should escort him home…" Kaito suggested while looking to Yana. I looked to both Yana and Kaito as my boyfriend-thing agreed. They both started to stand until Genkai spoke up.
"Sit down," She said. "you remember the kind of trouble we had with the Doctor; your friend is still confined to a hospital bed. Kuwabara made his choice tonight; we can't split our group further."
I bit the bottom of my lip once more while running a hand through my hair.
"But he's defenseless without his spirit power!" Botan spoke up. "And Shizuru has a bad feeling."
"We're going to have to leave this to Yusuke." Genkai replied. "He's grown up a lot since the tournament and he's protective of Kuwabara. Unless he's an absolute dolt than he didn't really go to that arcade."
"Yeah?" I questioned while looking back to her. "How well do you know Yusuke? He tends to usually do the stupid thing."
Genkai raised an eye-brow then sighed understanding my point.
"But for his sake I better be wrong. If I see him he's going right through the fucking door." I added.
(-)
"PIECE OF SHIT!"
I watched as Yusuke was thrown back and tumbled out of the door way. I briskly walked forward to loom over him, face scrunched in anger and heavily breathing.
Yusuke propped himself up on his elbows while glaring up at me.
"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" He yelled.
"KUWABARA'S OUT AND ABOUT DOING TRA-LA-LA AND YOU ARE OUT AT THE ARCADE?!" I spat back while stepping closer. I ready to pounce at any moment.
"I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO THE ARCADE; WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME, NATALIE?!"
"TO FUCKING PROTECT YOUR FRIENDS, ASSWIPE!"
"Enough!" Genkai stepped passed me and stood in front of the heated Yusuke. "Kuwabara can't use his powers, and killers are stalking us ergo you decide to go and play pinball!"
"It's his fault! Kuwabara shouldn't have left me to go and watch some pop band!" Yusuke retorted.
I folded my arms and huffed a couple of times while listening to the rest of his rant. Yusuke sat up and folded his own arms while narrowing his eyes at me, sitting there then finally speaking again.
"Besides, he's all out of juice like you said. Why would those guys waste their time on a non fighter?"
"He hasn't lost it, he just hasn't awakened it yet." Genkai revealed.
At this point Botan had joined my side and was staring at Genkai along with Yusuke and myself. What did she mean by 'awakening'?
Genkai sighed and looked down. "Yusuke," She said "notice your friends energy next time you see him; it's like a hatching egg. There's a perfectly good reason why his power has been gone since the end of the Dark Tournament."
Genkai then looked back up at the confused yet enthralled Yusuke who was clinging to her words. I had to admit that I was also quite interested in what Genkai had said.
"Kuwabara is gifted with unparalleled spirit awareness. I believe his body sensed it and has been preparing for it since the tournament without him consciously knowing it. What I fear is if the enemies realize this he won't be their last target, he'll be their first."
I immediately looked up at Yusuke who looked to me at the same time, panic etched on his face along with mine. In a heartbeat we both set off running away.
"Well thanks for telling me so soon!" Yusuke called back. I heard Botan call after us but I paid no attention to this. Right now I was beating myself up for not trying to stop Kuwabara when I had the chance, and I knew that I wasn't the only one thinking that either.
(-)
All three of us had been running until we finally made it back to Yusuke's apartment. See, it was the strangest thing that happened to us. We had been running through the heavy pour of the rain when all of a sudden a burst of energy had erupted from the opposite direction we headed to. It was stunning and strange to feel, but when we followed it we had ended up back at the apartment.
Upon arriving we found Kuwabara and his friends… and one more face I wasn't expecting to see.
I thought that he had been doing his own thing, because that's usually how it went, yet Mitarai was there on the ground all bloody and battered. He wasn't in the condition that the other four were in, but a giant gash across his chest was all that set me off into hysterics. No matter what I did he did not come through.
Yana did his best to calm me down, but I believe that it was probably too much.
At this moment I had sat up from the couch, in the dark and quiet of Yusuke's living room. Yana was lightly snoring on the inside of the couch, and I had opted to share with him while lying on the outside. Instead of slumber I was completely consumed with troubling thoughts, and my mind racing with them.
I eased myself off of the couch and made sure not to disturb my lover, and then walked lightly to grab my cigarettes and head outside. I had a headache and the only thing that was going to help me was to try and smoke it away.
I lightly turned the knob and slid past the small opening while pulling the door closed lightly. Sighing I turned around and nearly screamed if it weren't for the hand to cover my mouth. A pair of verdant eyes looked at me with reassurance before pulling his hand away. My heart was racing from the encounter, and from his touch… but mostly from the encounter, don't get me wrong.
It finally registered to me that Kurama was standing in front me, fine and completely unhurt. The sense of relief was overwhelming causing me to drop my cigarettes and embrace him.
I knew I had caught him off guard considering he took a step back and the sound of a small gasp was heard.
"You better never do that shit again!" I yelled into his chest while quickly pulling away from him, my cheeks were a flustered pink and my eyes trying to express some form of being upset, but were brimming with tears.
He blinked for a moment then raised an eye-brow.
"You weren't worried, were you?" He asked.
"No, don't do that, I was worried and a little pissed off…" I hissed while bending over to pick up my cigarettes. I side stepped him and walked over to the where the balcony of the front porch was at. Through a quick process I was now taking hit after hit to try and calm my nerves.
Kurama was safe; thank the almighty Emna that he wasn't attacked.
Kuwabara was safe but still recovering, but at least he was in a safe place. His friends were even healing wonderfully, too.
Mitarai… I wasn't sure how he was going to end up. At least he was now in safe hands now, although no one was really excited to have him here. He did attack our team mate and his friends.
"I didn't mean to cause you concern." Kurama stepped to my side, resting his arms on the edge of the patio. "I had important business with Koenma that needed to be addressed."
I exhaled while raising an eyebrow to him.
"Prince of Diapers had a business meeting with you? That's strange… Why?" I questioned.
He looked from the corner of his eye and gave a small smirk before looking back out at the city.
"It was more or less on a situation. I find it more convenient if we discuss this with the others tomorrow." He replied. His expression seemed more serious than before, and there seemed to be an underlining meaning to what he said. I looked down and exhaled again and went for another hit.
"A more pressing matter…" I started while looking down. "Kuwabara… he… was attacked." I said softly while then looking up to Kurama. His look hardened and looked down then back to the city skyline.
"What happened?" He asked.
I sighed while flicking the cigarette ashes and turning to him.
"He went out to the Magelica concert with his friends, and… well…" I bit my lower lip and looked down. "The enemy attacked him…"
I took a peak up to see Kurama's reaction. He stood there looking down at me with a look on his face that I couldn't exactly place. He seemed to be studying me and my words, and I did not like whatever was calculating within that mind of his.
"You're not telling me something, aren't you?" He questioned. I rolled my eyes while turning away from him; of course he would ask that.
"It's just…" I took another hit, and as I continued speaking I focused on how the smoke came out with my words. "I know the kid… very well."
"Did you tell anyone else?"
"Yeah, I did actually. It was kind of obvious that I knew him whenever I, uhm, freaked out." I responded and shrugged. "I just… I don't know why he would do this. This isn't like Mitarai at all."
There was silence for a moment as we both looked out at the skyline. The rain had finally stopped and the air was filled with the smell of rain on cement. The lights were twinkling with different colors of yellow, orange and some even blue from the streets. It was a beautiful picture that I was able to experience.
I flicked my cigarette out and went to turn around, feeling as though the conversation was probably over with Kurama leaving me hanging, until I felt a hand lightly grab my wrist. I stopped in my tracks and looked up at Kurama.
"We're going to help your friend, Natalie." He said in such a tone that held reassurance.
I turned around to face him fully, he released his hold on my wrist and for a moment all we did was look at each other. I couldn't do that for too long, so I looked down.
"He's just a kid, Kurama… and that doesn't excuse what he did, but this guy must've hypnotized him or… or something!" I was getting desperate for excuses for Mitarai, but no one has ever had his back. I've always been there for him to help him through the bullies. Now I was afraid that they weren't going to see the boy that I knew did not have an evil bone in his body.
"Natalie," I was pulled out of my thoughts and looked up at him and found that he was closer now, almost too close for my comfort. What was he doing? What was he thinking?
"We're going to figure this out; we're going to help him. Do you understand?" His words ran through my head a few times. The only thing I could think of to do was nod and look down while quickly turning away from him. I needed to clear my mind off of Mitarai, off of my worries and off of Kurama's promises.
(-)
It was sunny and a beautiful day outside. I could hear the birds from the back patio where I was standing, smoking a cigarette to try and calm my nerves. I had awoken to the fact that Kuwabara's friends had been healed completely, and asked me to replace their memories and create a different scenario so they wouldn't be burdened with last night's events.
It was hard to create such memories and to make sure I covered everything, plus creating memories just wasn't my forte. I was used to controlling people to do my bidding.
After we sent them on their not so merry way, we decided to try and wake Mitarai for an interrogation. I took the lead and said I'd wake him, but my nerves were shot. I was soon pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the sliding door open. Turning around I saw Yusuke coming out with a soft smile on his face.
"Hey, Montgomery."
"Hey, Yusuke…"
I turned back around while flicking ashes off of my cigarette, while waiting for him to join me. When he didn't I turned back around to look at him again.
"What is it?" I asked
He grimaced while putting his hands in his pockets, looking down then back up at me.
"I think Goldie Locks is about to wake up; you should probably be here when that happens." He replied.
I nodded while then flicking the cigarette bud and walking with him back inside. The cool air from inside rushed to greet me as I made my way with Yusuke into the other room. Everyone was in there, minus Kaito and Yana who had volunteered to make sure that Kuwabara's friends were okay.
Everyone was gathered around in Yusuke's bedroom, ready for whenever Mitarai would wake up. He was stirring in his sleep, and my instant attention was to him. My pace quickened as I went to his side and watched him for a moment. He was sweating profusely, he was grimacing and his body was twitching. It was obvious that he was having a nightmare about something, and I wondered if it was about last night.
"Ready to wake him up, Nat?" I turned to see that Yusuke was straddling a chair, Kurama next to him with one hand in his pocket. I looked down and nodded while then looking back at Mitarai, my eye-brows furrowing and sympathy were etched into my features.
"Mitarai…" I said softly while placing a hand on his shoulder lightly. He twitched from the touch but didn't wake up. "Hey, Mitarai…" I said a little louder and leaning closer.
This time his eyes snapped open and his jolted up from his sleep. I pulled back and placed my hands on his shoulders firmly, but not aggressively.
"Hey, wait, calm down." I said while on hand ran through his curly blond hair, watching him as he panted and looked around. "It's just me, it's Natalie."
He looked up at me, fear and confusion in those big ocean blue eyes that soon showed a type of sadness that was starting to break my heart.
"Natalie?" Mitarai's voice was soft with child innocence. I nodded while smoothing out his hair some more and then letting go of him.
"Welcome back." Yusuke spoke up while interrupting our moment of friendship. I leaned back up while moving over to sit on the side of the bed near Mitarai. I had the perfect angle of looking at Yusuke and Kurama from my left, and Mitarai on my right.
"Y-you're Yusuke…" Mitarai finally spoke this time.
"That's right, Goldie, and that's my bed you're sleeping in thanks to the human freight train bringing you back so we could stitch you back up." Yusuke pointed his thumb over to the mess that was Kuwabara.
He was bandaged up, sleeping and snoring away. Shizuru mumbled something I couldn't quite catch but gave a small smile to anyway.
"His companions," Kurama spoke drawing all of our attention to him. "Your victims, have survived as well. They informed us all about the encounter with you, than we erased their memories of last night so they wouldn't be burdened by the darker truths."
"Like another human fighting for the wrong side." Yusuke added harshly. I didn't bother looking at Mitarai, but could feel him looking back and forth between me and the others.
"Kuwabara tried to save your life after you tried to kill him," Yusuke went on. "You think your psychic pals would've done that? You owe him big…"
I looked up this time to watch Mitarai looking down, confliction was written all over his face, and even most importantly, regret. It wasn't until Kuwabara's sleep talking did I realize how intently I was staring at Mitarai.
"You don't understand… You haven't seen what I have… We should all die…" He spoke, keeping his gaze down on the bed in front of him.
"Clarify all, you mean your fellow psychics?" Kurama asked.
"No," Mitarai answered. "I mean all of us; humans." With a quick shake of his head Mitarai looked straight up at Yusuke and Kurama. "You'd all think so too if you saw the video tape!" he exclaimed.
"What video?" Botan asked from the back.
"Yeah, and say it with more feeling!" Yusuke added. I shot him a death glare that earned me a shrug from him.
Mitarai looked away from us and down at his hands before he spoke again.
"It's… the video they label: Chapter Black."
"You've seen it?" Kurama cut in quickly while drawing our attention to him. I raised an eye-brow and looked between him and Mitarai.
"Yes, I have, every single minute of it." Mitarai confirmed.
"What's Chapter Black, Kurama?" I finally spoke, giving him a strange look. He was literally a complete encyclopedia of information it was so obnoxious.
Kurama kept his head down as he spoke, wide eyed and concentrating on his thoughts and speaking.
"It's legendary… Hiei's wanted to get his hands on it for years…"
I rolled my eyes at the mention of that little brat. Damn him and his abandonment to this team.
"That good of a flick, huh?" Yusuke asked while drawing Kurama's attention to him. Kurama nodded while continuing explaining what this mysterious video tape was about.
"It's a piece of intelligence supposedly kept in the deepest parts of Spirit Worlds records department. Over its millennia of existence, the human race has committed many heinous crimes against humanity. This video is a compilation. It documents every unspeakable acts of horror, and it's said to run thousands of hours."
At this point I kept my eyes on Mitarai in shock. If this poor boy, this boy that I befriended, was forced to watch this documentary of wars, murders, rapes and anything else I wondered how he didn't crack after watching it. Or maybe, in fact, he already had and that it why he resulted in attacking my comrade.
"I knew well of the tapes exsistence," Kurama went on. "but I never thought it'd be a factor in this case."
"So many horrible things marching across that giant screen…" Mitarai muttered, but was loud enough for us to hear.
"You don't know how we really are, what we're capable of…" He looked at me from the corner of his eyes as he continued to speak. "If you saw it, you'd think differently too."
For a moment I actually thought he was directing that at me, which caused me to lightly shake my head. I was in way over myself with this case.
"You'd understand we're doomed… and so… we have to—"
Suddenly I watched as Yusuke jumped up and kicked his chair to the side, my eyes were wide with shock from what just happened.
"Have to what, Sir Judge, have to get us all eaten the hell up by some blood thirst monster?!" Yusuke yelled.
I moved slightly in the way of Mitarai and was ready for any more out bursts from Yusuke or anyone else who became passionate about defending the human race. I gave a warning stare to Urameshi to make my point clear.
"That's right!" Mitarai retorted. "You're defensive because you don't know the truth. Humanity seems good because you were born in a peaceful time, but wars are nature; it'll always come back. Have you ever seen hundreds of frightened people standing in line waiting to be killed in a camp? Have you seen horsemen raid a village, dancing on the burning corpses of their victims, crushing them as they sing happy songs? Have you ever seen a gigantic bomb wipe away millions of people who haven't even picked up a weapon!?"
Mitarai was in hysterics at this point, and I couldn't hide my distress or sympathy any more as my hand covered my gaped mouth. I could see the terror in his eyes, and I even felt the horror in his voice. Mitarai looked at his hands as he continued to speak.
"Civil war where the mom is hacked down in front of her child, or a child in front of her mom, and the solider breaking up the family, leading them to the fire and his eyes enjoying the torture…" My dear Mitarai's voice broke, and from the other side of the room I could hear sniffling as Shizuru lead Keiko out of the room.
I shook my head and looked down and away from them, gathering myself as much as I could before looking back to Mitarai and putting a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a bit but relaxed under my touch.
"And you think you're better than those people on the tape?!" Yusuke shouted while his frustration showed. He obviously wasn't going to let slip what happened, but I didn't blame him.
"Well I know I'm not and neither are you! No one can be!" Mitarai explained.
"What about Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked which drew my attention to the resting heap of a mess that was my comrade. "He saved you, and you know last night when came to for a minute I asked him: 'Stupid, why the hell did you save that jerk?' and he said: 'Because Urameshi, in his eyes he was crying for help'."
I looked back to Mitarai while letting my hand slip away from him. There was conflict in his eyes, and the regret returned as well. Ocean blue eyes started to fill with tears, and I felt my heart aching once again.
Yusuke scoffed while putting his hands behind his head. "I thought it was a pretty stupid thing to say at the time, but now I see that you're scared and I can see why. A big oaf like Kuwabara, he's got that bully look you must hate, but he cared about you… bet you weren't expecting that."
I watched as Mitarai looked down then leaned forward to start crying. I bit my lower lip while tilting my head to the side just watching him.
"Every night," Mitarai started. "I see them, the victims on the tape I've always seen myself like them, but then in my nightmares I'm the one holding the weapons, you know? Like, all along it's been me doing those terrible things, and I feel dirtier and dirtier like I need to make up for something, but I don't even know what! Like I'm the bully!"
I finally sat next to him while throwing my arms around him, holding him and smoothing out his hair as he apologized over and over. I threw a heated look to Yusuke and Kurama.
"That's entirely enough, okay? You got what you wanted, now please give him some space!" I exclaimed. I felt him wrap his arms around me tightly, holding me like I was some kind of life preserver.
Yusuke and Kurama stared for a moment before Kurama nodded and looked to Yusuke.
"Clearly, he must face his own demons before he faces us."
The two of them walked away and I heard the back patio door open and then close. I started trying to calm down Mitarai by rocking back and forth and 'shh'ing him lightly.
"Mitarai, hon, you have to calm down, okay?"
"I-I'm sorry, N-Natalie…" He whimpered out while looking up at me, and taking both of my shoulders into his hands firmly, but not aggressively. He looked me dead in the eyes with tears pouring out.
"I-I just wanted everything to stop!—"
"I know, it's okay! You're safe now…" I put both of my hands on his cheeks, pulling him into another gentle embrace for a moment before pulling away. "I'll be right back; Botan will take care of you for the moment, okay?"
He nodded while looking down. I got up and went to the living room and paced, nearly ripping my hair out. I couldn't believe what I heard. I was so upset for him, and even a little at him. I couldn't be too upset at him considering this wasn't exactly his fault; it was that mans fault. I cursed under my breath, then again and again.
I started to breathe heavily, and I did my best to calm myself while running my hands through my hair and trying my best to slow my breathing. I then started to fan myself with one hand and the other wiping under my eyes trying to get rid of the tears that had started to fill up.
I sighed while then putting my hands on my hips, nodding lightly and then almost started walking back into the room where Mitarai and Botan would be, instead I heard the most interesting shouting I've ever heard.
"EARTH TO TODDLER BITCH!" It sounded like Yusuke…
"You better speak now BEFORE I FOREVER SHOVE THAT PACIFIER TEN INCHES DOWN YOUR THROAT!"
Yes, that was definitely Yusuke Urameshi. I blinked while then heading back into Yusuke's room to see him was on his brief case.
"Hi, Yusuke, I'm glad to see you've recovered some enthusiasm. It's good in small doses." I heard Koenma speak as I rounded to look at him from the other side of the brief case.
"Kurama says you knew who's been behind this the whole time! WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME!?"
I let my shock show once again as I stared at the small prince. I swear he was literally the worst boss in all of three worlds. Fuckin' idiot.
There was serious silence from his end for a moment before he spoke.
"…I wasn't positive until the video tape; only one man has a copy of that, I just didn't want to believe it."
"Cut to the meat, pal!" Yusuke pursued.
"…As you wish, Yusuke." Koenma said solemnly. He looked up at us with an expression I found hard to believe a toddler could ever make. "The name of the master mind is Shinobu Sensui."
It clicked so perfectly together, the tiny puzzle pieces just fell in their rightful place as I realized what I couldn't remember from that day. I started to shake and I was worried someone might notice, so I looked down, continuing to listen but saying nothing.
"He was the Spirit Detective of the Earth before you came along." Koenma finished.
Double whammy, and I could tell no one was expecting this kind of news. This was a bigger problem than we all had imagined. It was ridiculous to think that we were going to handle this within a week, let alone with someone who was a former Spirit Detective.
Only, if only, had I been able to see what was coming next.
Authors note: Ahhhh yes! More drama-llama! I'd just like to say a few things for those who are confused about our dear, dear Natalie Montgomery.
Her story deals a lot with depersonalization and the some prospective from others within her life. I know you must be confused with some of the things that are happening to her, but don't fret because they will all be answered in due time. I actually wouldn't mind to tell you the secrets of Natalie, but privately. If you don't have an account then you are more than welcomed to try and figure out a way to send me an email, or even speak to me on my Tumblr about it! If you have an account you may shoot me a message to simply ask; I'm totally up for it!
You can find my Tumblr on my page, too.