Southern Fried chapter 4

AN: Got to update a little early. Yay! Hopefully you guys like this chapter. The dialogue was a bitch to write.

Mickey-Jo and Dazzle traversed through the forest at a steady walk. Her posture was relaxed, the reins crossed over the pony's neck. Ol'Boy was criss-crossing her path sniffing here and there and occasionally marking his territory.

Despite their relaxed appearance, Mickey-Jo and her companions were on high alert. This forest was littered with demons and traps. A mile or so back on the top of a rise, she had seen a tall tree through a break in the forest canopy. The area was cleared about a hundred yards around the tree. That seemed like a good place to make a quick camp for lunch. She certainly didn't want to stop here in the middle of this forest. She suppressed a chill crawling its way up her spine. The demons were getting closer. They obviously didn't appreciate that a demon hunter was traveling through their forest.

Mickey-Jo was disgusted that there were this many demons in a HUMAN forest. Demons were NOT supposed to be on Earth! They were evil. They would sweet talk you all day long, rubbing shoulders and getting all buddy-buddy. Then while you were lulled into a false sense of security an arm creeped up and ripped your spine right out of your back. All demons were like this. No matter how nice or wonderful they seemed, they would always, ALWAYS, betray you.

Of course, humans could be like this too, but humans had a scale on the inside that tipped one way or the other. They could be reformed. Humans could turn bad, just as they could be turned back to good. Demons on the other hand, were all bad.

"Disgustin' rotten piles o' horseshit, the lot of 'em." Mickey-Jo grumbled. She blew a harsh breath out in a huff. Settling her hat more firmly on her head, she picked up the reins and urged Dazzle into a trot. While Mickey-Jo was confident in her ability with most demons, that was one on one. She wasn't the type of hunter that just waded in all willy-nilly. Her abilities lay in tracking, sneaking, trapping and killing with the least amount of attention drawn. The most powerful thing was her rope. It was spelled, and spelled, and infused with the energy and skill of a dozen demon hunters before her. That was the only reason she had managed to trap that short statured fire demon. He would have incinerated her in a heartbeat! She could take down two demons at a time, MAYBE three if they were really weak. She wasn't all that strong, but if you play to your strengths you can accomplish almost anything.

She shook her head at her motivational poster type thinking. She sounded like those "speakers" who went around the schools and rambled on and on and on about nothing. "Keep yer head in th' game, Mickey-Jo. Now ain't no time t'get distracted. Lose yer head that way."

Ol'Boy kept close to his mistress. His fur was standing on end. A low growl kept rumbling through his chest.

"Calm, Ol'Boy, calm. Mebbe they won' bother with us if we jus' keep goin'. But, with 'em bein' demons, there ain't no guarantee." She checked her compass. When she spotted the clearing with the large tree, it had been slightly northeast of her position. A straight line as the crow flies, but she had to meander through the forest, dodging traps and swamp holes. Not very fun stuff. Of course, the saltwater swamps and marshes of lower Louisiana were more hellish than this. Usually, there was a gator behind every other tree. As much as she hated doing it, the alligator population there was probably lowered quite a bit so she could survive on her hunts. Well, what else are you going to do when you come around a bend and gator lunges at you? Not become lunch, that's for damn sure!

Another rise in the ground and Mickey-Jo could breathe a little easier. The clearing was about a mile away. She could get to higher ground and not have anything sneak up on her. All of a sudden, Ol'Boy started barking furiously. He was facing their back trail. Mickey-Jo pulled Dazzle to a stop and peered through the thick forest air. Dazzle pranced, nervous. He kept tossing his head and blowing through his nose. One hoof pawed the dirt.

"Stinking human passing through Baldok's forest." A voice sounded from all around her.

Glancing in all directions, she spied the small red eyes of bats glared from the trees.

"Baldok was weak last time human came through Baldok's territory. But Baldok has healed!Baldok has gotten stronger! Baldok will not be beaten again!" the voice shreiked.

"Aw, shit." Mickey-Jo gritted out. She pointed Dazzle in the direction of the clearing, rammed her heels into his sides and slapped his flanks with the reins . "Dazzle! HYAH! Come on Ol'Boy!"

The pony jumped into a frightened gallop. Mickey-Jo fumbled with the clasps on her violin case. If she could get Sissy out, she could at least slow down the demon. Based on her senses, this one was a little stronger than she was. She wasn't going to take any chances. Her goal was too important to die right now.

Gripping Dazzle's heaving sides with her knees, she managed to get out her violin and quickly sawed off a succession of sharp, jangling notes. The demon behind her made a strangled choking sound.

Kurama, Hiei and Yusuke jerked like they had been hit. Yukina gave a small gasp.

"Was that-?" Yusuke's eyes were wide.

"It sounded like-" Kurama started to get up.

"Let's go." Hiei was out the door.

Kuwabara jumped up in confusion. "Hey guys, what's going on?! What happened?"

Yusuke paused at the door. "That crazy cowgirl again! Come on Kuwabara let's go!"

The group raced out of the temple and towards the forest behind it. When Yusuke saw where they were going, he smirked. "Hey Kuwabara, remember the last time we came through this forest?"

"Chee-hee. Yea I do! Seems like so long ago!" Kuwabara replied.

"Would you two stop fooling around and focus?" Hiei said irritably. "We have to figure out where that came from!"

"Geez, shrimp. You got the hots for this girl or something?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Shut up and get to sensing, Mr. Sensitive!"

"Ok, ok, I'm doing it."

What they weren't telling him was that Hiei was slightly worried about Yukina. This demon hunter was one of those who just killed demons, regardless of who they actually were. Yukina was innocent and pure and wouldn't harm another living thing. This stupid human was getting NOWHERE near his sister.

Kuwabara had his face screwed up in concentration. "She's headed northeast. Going pretty fast too. There's something behind her."

"With this forest being the way it is, I'm not surprised." Kurama murmered.

"What are we waiting for then?" Hiei sped off.

They got through the forest with ease. As they broke through the brush and came to the clearing with the gargantuan tree, they looked around. Nothing was there.

"Are you sure she was heading this way, Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked. He slowly turned around in a circle.

"Uh.. yea..." Kuwabara blinked. "This is where she was headed im sure of it. The energy signal wasn't all that great though, and it got smaller."

Movement across the clearing caught their attention. A stumbling figure led an exhausted horse into the clearing. A hound dog paced tiredly beside them. A rope was tied to the saddle horn and the bundled body of a demon was dragging the ground behind them. Girl and horse stumbled a few yards into the clearing and stopped.

The boys raced over there. At the sound of their footsteps Mickey-Jo lifted her head. Her eyes narrowed and flickered to the demon behind her who was moaning pitifully. "You jackrabbits come all th' way out here to tell me this'n is a friend o' yers too?"

Yusuke stopped a few feet away from her and looked at the bat demon. He blinked in surprise. "Hmm. Nope. Not him."

Kuwabara poked Yusuke. "Hey, Urameshi, it's that the crazy bat demon you said you ran into during Genkai's test?"

"Yea it is. I strung him up by his wings the last time we met."

Mickey-Jo sighed and fumbled getting her crossbow untied from her saddlebags. "Good. You won't be having no problems with what I'm about to do then."

They watched, slightly curious, as Mickey-Jo took a bolt from the quiver, loaded the crossbow and went to stand at the demon's head.

Baldok was still moaning curses at stupid humans when she pointed the crossbow point blank at his head and fired a shot. Baldok's death shriek was quick and shrill. The boys watched in fascination as the body of the bat demon shriveled and shrank until it was nothing but a husk.

"What... what did you just do? How did you just do..." Kuwabara asked, mouth hanging open.

Mickey-Jo called the rope back to her and hooked it on her belt. "Old voodoo priestess I met in Louisiana used a lot of shrunken heads and such in her workin's. She managed to find a way t'get it done a mite faster. I help her hunt down a demon or two that was botherin' her, and we modified her little voodoo to fit my needs."

"Why," Kurama asked, "Do you need to shrivel up the bodies of demons?"

"Makes doin' this easier." Mickey-Jo took the machete from her back and grabbed the shriveled wrist. With a quick move, she cut the smallest finger from Baldok's hand.

Yusuke and Kuwabara blanched. Hiei narrowed his eyes. The cowgirl then took the finger back over to her pack. Opening the largest one, she pulled out a large jar. This jar was filled with dozens of shriveled fingers. Red, blue, green, yellow, all the colors of the rainbow. Some had claws, some had spines, some looked vaugely humanoid.

"Ok that's just sick!" Yusuke cried. "Why are you keeping FINGERS?"

The cowgirl merely smirked as she opened the jar. Her head recoiled and she wrinkled her nose. "Sweet baby Jesus that's smells like nine-day old roadkill." She dropped the finger in with the others and quickly capped the jar. There was a small surge of energy from the fingers and she quickly put it back in the saddlebags. When the flap opened, there were rune-like etchings on the inside of it. As Mickey-Jo closed the flap, it glowed softly for a few moments.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question." Yusuke said. "Why are you keeping fingers?"

She smirked at him. "Ev'ra serious hunter gots their trophies."

Hiei hmphed. "There's more too it than that. Did you think we didn't notice the seals on that bag?"

Mickey-Jo glared at him. "I see they let ya out o'your cage again, demon spit."

Hiei growled and his hand shifted to grip the hilt of his sword.

The cowgirl rolled her eyes. "Keep yer panties on, boy. I ain't gotta string you up like I did last time. These other fellas would kill me. And I cain't die just yet."

"Last time was a trick." Hiei spat. "A cowardly trick. I could kill you before your next breath."

"Children, please," Kurama stated, "No need for death threats." He turned to the cowgirl. "Mickey-Jo, can I ask what you're doing all the way out here?"

She groaned and dropped to a sitting position. That was when the boys noticed she was ragged. Her shirt was torn on a sleeve, her boots were muddy. There was a cut on one cheek that had congealed and looked slightly greenish around the edges. Her hands had a few small scratches and the knuckles on one fist were swollen and bruised. Ol'Boy walked stiffly up to her and licked her wrist. The dog's hair was matted and his muzzle had fairly deep gouges.

"I was movin' my camp closer to the part o' town I needed to be at. Got stuck in that gosh-darn blasted forest." She looked up, her eyes feverish. "Do ya know 'xactly how many demons are in them woods? Way too damn many!" She rubbed her face with her hands, wincing as she touched her cut on her cheek. "Gotta get that taken care of," she murmured. "No tellin' what kinda demon poison's in there now."

But as she got to her feet, her eyes fluttered and she dropped like a stone, cowboy hat falling off onto the ground. Ol'Boy whined and snuffled at her hair.

The boys stood there for a moment, unsure.

Kuwabara turned to the rest of them. "Well, we can't just leave her here!"

"Sure we can." Hiei scoffed.

Kurama sighed. "No, we'd better take her back." He walked over to Dazzle and stuck out his hand. The pony eyed him warily but reached out his nose and blew softly on it. Dazzle dipped his head and gently pawed the ground. "Yusuke, will you get her on the pony's back?"

Yusuke shrugged and hoisted the unconscious Mickey-Jo across the saddle. Ol'Boy growled softly, but allowed the boy to handle his mistress when he saw they weren't hurting her.

Hiei's mouth flattened into a line. "She's nothing but trouble."

Kurama smiled softly at his friend. "As long as we keep her away from Yukina we shouldn't have any problems," he said in a low voice.

The fire demon looked annoyed. "See that you do. This human doesn't care if the demon in question is good or bad. She just kills. If anything happens to Yukina, I'm holding you responsible, fox." He disappeared.

Kurama watched the black dot jump into the forest with a worried look on his face. Hiei was right. Mickey-Jo was set to put a crossbow bolt right into Hiei's head before she even knew anything about him. Everything he heard about Americans, specifially the cowboy-type, was that they were stuck in their ways, and didn't respond to change very well. That's just what he heard of course. Everyone is different, and she might surprise them.

Back at the temple, the females were gathered outside awaiting their return. Genkai lifted at eyebrow at the sight of Kurama leading a dog and horse with an unconscious girl across its back, but surprisingly said nothing and walked inside.

Kuwabara rushed to Yukina and took her hand, pulling her inside. "Come on, Yukina, I want to finish that awesome tea of yours."

Yukina gazed questioningly at the wounded girl. "But.. I can help heal her.."

Kurama shook his head. "That wouldn't be wise, Yukina. This girl is... difficult. We'll explain later."

She almost looked like she might argue, but followed Kuwabara inside anyway.

Hiei walked up beside Kurama, but didn't look at him. "Remember what I said, Kurama. Anything happens to Yukina..."

"I know."

Hiei walked inside.

Just Yusuke and Kurama were left with the girl and pony show. They looked at each other, gave a sigh and took Mickey-Jo down. They laid her on the porch and Ol'Boy scurried up and laid right against her side, head on her chest. He blew out a long, sad breath and his tail thumped slowly on the wood.

"Yusuke, would you get a big bowl of water for the horse?"

Genkai came out of the temple as Yusuke was going in. "I want a full explanation when you get back, boy." When she got a sarcastic affirmative, Genkai moved to stand beside Mickey-Jo. She had a ceramic jar in one hand and offered it to Kurama. "A healing salve I made myself. That should take care of that cut on her cheek."

Kurama obeyed the implied order and slathered the yellowish cream over the cut. Mickey-Jo grimaced in her sleep, but otherwise stayed still. Yusuke came back with the bowl of water and set it on the end of the porch. Dazzle moved forward eagerly and started drinking, making small slurping sounds.

"This is quite a surprise." Genkai said. "Who is she?"

Yusuke leaned against the wall. "Her name is Mickey-Jo. She's from America, obviously. We don't know all that much really. Other than the fact she's hunting some sort of demon."

"Not the one she just killed?"

"Nope. She calls herself a demon hunter, and apparently kills any demon she comes across. Hiei almost met the business end of her crossbow. That's how we first met her."

Genkai raised both eyebrows. "Hmm. How did she manage that."

Kurama pointed to the rope still attached to Mickey-Jo's belt. "It was that rope. I first thought she was much stronger than she actually is, but most of the power I sensed came from that."

The old psychic crouched down and stretched out a hand to hover over the rope. Her expression became calculating. "Now I'm not surprised Hiei managed to get trapped in this thing. It's very old, and very powerful."

Yusuke peered forward. "What's in it?"

"Old, strange magic. I don't recognize it, but its powerful nonetheless."

"She mentioned something about voodoo." Kurama said. "Her crossbow bolt shriveled up the bat demon she had caught in your forest and then she cut his finger off. Apparently she keeps the fingers from those demons she has killed in a jar."

Genkai shrugged. "I've heard about it before. I haven't met too many psychics from America. In fact, I only remember meeting one." She snorted. "And he was very obnoxious."

A bark of laughter came from Yusuke. "It must be something about Americans then."

As she turned back to go into the temple, she ordered the boys to tie up the horse and bring Mickey-Jo inside to one of the rooms. Ol'Boy whined and growled alternately when they handled his owner. He followed them close through the halls and jumped on the bed when they laid her down. He resumed his previous position and ignored the boys.

Yusuke looked at Kurama. "Should we do anything about the dog? His nose looks like shit."

"I have something here I think would help him."

Yusuke shrugged and made his way back to the room where everyone else was waiting. When he sat down, Yukina looked at him. "Where is the dog?"

He blinked. "Uh, the dog?"

"Kazuma told me the dog was hurt. Deep scratches on his nose. I can heal him."

"Don't worry about it. Kurama says he's got something for the mutt."

Yukina nodded and smiled. She was worried about people, and probably animals, who would kill her without a second thought, simply for not being human. Yusuke felt a trickle of nervousness and had to admit to himself Hiei was partly right. The sooner Mickey-Jo got away from this temple, hell, out of Japan! The better.

End chapter four! Keep in mind this is slightly AU. In the first season, after Yusuke's run in with Baldok the anime just showed the demon strung up by his wings in a tree, not necessarily dead... I thought I would throw him in there to really tie in she was close to Genkai's temple.

Tell me what you think! Review! Review!