InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Pressing Matters ❯ All Things New Again ( Chapter 2 )

AN: Alrighty then! None of you have any idea how flippen happy I am that you guys like this story! And when I say `you guys' I mean all the reviewers at MediaMiner.org-all of you at FanFiction.net well… Let's just say this chappie isn't dedicated to you. Anyways. Hopefully this chapter will clear up some of your questions… Oh! Real fast…

 

Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters. But the ideas and the plot are all my own. Plagiarism wont be tolerated, but you can ask. I might say yes. Probably will too.

 

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Pressing Matters

By: Tesmoname

Chapter Two:

All Things New Again

 

- - - - - - -

 

A moment of his time lay quiet in her hands

and she had never been more ashamed-

for in securing such precious hourglass sands

something within her heart had become inflamed.

Still he was becoming more and more adept

at pretending things were not as they seemed-

and it was suddenly obvious that he had not slept

in an attempt to hide her from his dreams.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Kagome shuddered as the cool night air began to blow into her room from the open window above her. Lethargically she reached up and shut it softly, not having the motivation to do much more than huff in slight annoyance when it merely blew open yet again. Yet she dutifully pulled herself up from her slouched position on her computer chair, working out the kinks in her back as she slowly straightened her spine. Slowly she reached over yet again to snap the window shut against the raging wind that blew harshly outside in the Tokyo streets. Kagome turned her eyes downward to find the security latch that would keep the blasted thing shut, and instead her cobalt blue eyes found the softest impressions of a footprint upon her window sill.

 

A footprint complete with almost dainty claw marks.

 

`InuYasha.' Kagome whispered to herself quietly, her eyes widening even as her fingers traced the faintest remains of proof, proof of fragile memories that were strong enough to bring her into tears. This footprint was all that she had left of her best friend.

 

The window no longer mattered, and Kagome didn't seem to mind the unforgiving wind that tugged restlessly at her hair. All her focus was on keeping her sorrow at bay. For it had been a week since she had last been to the Feudal Era, a week since she had hung around with the woman she considered her sister, the monk who was like a brother to her-the inu hanyou who had been her first love and then the best friend she could ever have wished for. A week since she had last seen the little girl Rin, and the taiyoukai who had become something like a vague sort of Godfather, someone to depend on to well…

 

`I can't see why I kept hooking up with demons… especially dog demons. But I guess that in the end the saying does hold true.' Her gaze looked lovingly at the framed photo she had hung upon the wall of her bedroom. It was a larger portrait of all her friends… or at least, all of her allies, because Sesshoumaru and Kouga stood haughtily in the background, along with some of her acquaintances like; Jinenji, Toutousai, Ginta and Hakaku, as well as their inconsistent companion Myouga the flea.

 

`Dogs really are a mans… girls best friend.' She thought giddily. And much to her relief, it had been about a week since she had been able to think happy thoughts about her friends, or even think about them without bursting into tears.

 

`Shippo my son…'

 

Kagome admitted that she missed them all terribly, and because of her sorrow over them, well…

 

It had taken her over two minutes to stand and shut the window-not the sign of an emotionally stable teenage girl. But she couldn't live in sorrow forever, besides… she had a lot of work to do.

 

-

 

“DEMONS! Be gone!”

 

At the cry from her grandfather Kagome didn't waste any time. She leapt away from the desk she had been working at and went right out of her open window. `Smooth move baka!' She chided herself when she saw the strange look in her younger brother's eyes.

 

But what could she say? After all it was only to be expected that she retain top-physical fitness if she was going to be running and fighting demons from the warring state's era, as well as her own.

 

Which brought her back to the situation at hand.

 

“Grandpa! Where are you?” She called out, but her question was rather useless-since she could feel the jyaki that permeated the shrine property. And so Kagome sprinted across the cobbled floor, and leapt over the random steps and ornate bridges that littered the site. Quickly she came upon the sight of her elderly grandfather, waving useless pieces of paper in front of three distinctly hungry mononoke demons.

 

`Snake, figures… Pig? No, wild boar. And last but not least-eh? Not mononoke demon, but a neko youkai with some skill…' “Well damn.” She whispered quietly. Mononoke, or animal demons, would have been slightly simpler to handle, but now she had some half wit to deal with too?

 

“Grandpa get away from there!” She cried out quickly, her slated blue eyes begging him not to argue with her this once. “Let me deal with them.” Kagome murmured as he drew closer to her, bringing the demons with him.

 

“Yess old man, leave the pretty girl to uss, we will ssurely have fun with her!” The snake demon boldly began to weave its way closer to the duo, and Kagome dropped down into a fighting stance.

 

“Go, protect the others.” She told her senior before rushing the creature before her. It took maybe a moment, but that was all the time she needed to leap up and wrap her legs around the serpents frame, where his neck would be if he had one. She swiftly placed her hands over his eyes and unleashed a rather controlled amount of purifying energy… or rather-what she `deemed' worthy of being called controlled, to anyone else this was raw, unleashed power-something she seemed to have no control over. But since it just killed the snake and didn't turn it into ashes, Kagome called it controlled.

 

Now the boar mononoke…

 

This was going to be a tad more tricky since these wild-pig demons were known for their ferocity, much like their more mortal counterparts. Still, a half-formed plan was working in her mind as the creature charged at her with it's spear-like tusks. Fleetingly Kagome imagined herself impaled on one of those infected appendages…

 

`Eeww.'

 

Well she wasn't going to let that happen!

 

So for a few minutes she simply evaded the tusks and the hooves, and the boar in general, as much as she could.

 

`A plan? Who has a plan?' She asked herself over and over as the boars movements became increasingly erratic, thus harder to predict. `Oh what did I do to deserve this?!'

 

He rushed her.

 

He missed.

 

He died.

 

If only it had been that simple.

 

Kagome had spun out of the way at the last possible second. Not because she thought she could take it by surprise, but because she had been caught up in appraising the other youkai. And so she had barely evaded the sharp spears. But she did manage to use the situation to her advantage for she once again raised her hands to lay against the demon's hide before releasing yet another blast of raw purification.

 

`Note to self? Learn some new tricks.'

 

The neko youkai had been watching her, and when she destroyed the last of his companions, he attacked.

 

Unfortunately for her, he had a sword.

 

And it was sharp.

 

The cool metal bit into her shoulder, the sting of the sharp blade causing her eyes to water almost instantaneously. “Damn-it.” She hissed between clenched teeth as the demon continued to apply pressure to the blade in her shoulder.

 

It was then that she was hit with inspiration.

 

Determination left a steely glint in her eyes as she pressed the palm of her hand into the edge of the katana, another sting erupting on the flesh-but this one was more bearable. Kagome then swiped her hand along the sword before flinging her blood at the demon's eyes. Blinding him.

 

`Thank you InuYasha!'

 

But she wasn't quite out of the woods yet, she still had to kill the thing. “Souta! Throw me my bow and-

 

The long bow, accompanied with her quiver of arrows, came skidding across the Shrine grounds. In surprise she looked up in time to see her brother present her with two thumbs up.

 

“You get `em sis.” He whispered, hero's worship evident in his twelve year old voice.

 

Kagome smiled at him and nodded. With new motivation she notched the shaft into the bow and took her aim.

 

“You little bitch! More will come, and you will all DIE-

 

His ramblings ceased with an ungraceful gurgle of blood that rose in his throat. The arrow had struck true, just as she had hoped it would.

 

“Well.” She whispered, eyeing the mess with distaste. “I'm not cleaning that up.” She mumbled, but was surprised when her mother answered.

 

“Yes you are. You killed it.”

 

Blue eyes widened to the size of saucers. “But mom!”

 

Mrs. Higurashi merely smiled at her daughter pleasantly before saying, “Come now Kagome. It wouldn't be fair to make your grandfather do it. And I don't want Souta anywhere near this mess.” At seeing her daughters rising ire she continued, “besides. Didn't that Sango friend of yours teach you about the importance of harvesting the useful items from demons?”

 

The young woman blinked owlishly a few times before a large smile blossomed on her face. “You know, she did. I am sure that I could make some useful weapons from the boar tusks. And that snake's skin would be great armor!”

 

She smiled up at her mother. “But can you mop up the gore? I have a lot of work to do-and I think that maybe I should put a shield up over the shrine…”

 

“Kagome? What is happening? Why are all of these demons showing up so suddenly?”

 

Kagome sighed and began to walk towards the carcasses. “I don't know mom,” but her hand rose to touch the middle of her chest, “I don't know.”

 

- - - -

 

Hiei sat in the midst of the forest, his dark form merely another shadow in the ever darkening fall of night. Even the shock of white that highlighted his hair was unable to ruin his camouflage. In fact, the young demon would have been made out as just another murky silhouette, had it not been for the twin glows that surrounded his rigid frame.

 

His vicious crimson eyes were shut tight, his jaw was clenched, and his muscles jumped and slid over one another beneath his dark cloak-all of which were signs that he was in great pain.

 

“Dammit!” The harsh abruptness of his voice in the dead of night startled a pair of sleeping grouse from their comfortable slumber, sending them squawking and scrambling away from the clearing. Now Hiei was the only remaining, breathing being within the secluded grove of the dark forest.

 

Pale fingers nimbly tossed the black cloak from his shoulders, exposing bare arms to the winter night's frigid chill. Yet he was unaware of the condition of the environment, or if he was aware-then he paid it no mind. The elements, however adverse they became, were hardly an obstacle for one such as himself: a demon with the ability to harness the elements of ice and fire.

 

And yet, it was these two opposite elements that were causing him such pain.

 

The Black-Dragon that was wrapped around Hiei's arm, had begun to move-slowly, ever so slowly, towards his heart… to devour it.

 

And the Jagan, the artificial third-eye that had been so painstakingly implanted upon his brow, was slowly, ever so slowly, working loose the threads that held together his fragile, but hard won sanity.

 

For the past two months the Forbidden Child had had to relive every painful memory, every emotionally torturous moment since the birthing of his existence-he had had to remember things that he had thought to forget… these flashbacks, accompanied by shooting pains throughout his body, had long begun to wear upon the bruised soul of an already broken apparition.

 

And so, he watched as the dragon once again writhed upon his shoulder, moving fluidly amongst the iridescent moonbeams and fellow darkness. Haunting yellow orbs glanced up at his own before burying itself once again in his skin.

 

He allowed the air to hiss through his teeth as he breathed in sharply from the pain. “Damn.” He whispered again; sweat falling down his bare forehead.

 

The bandages that had concealed both aspects of his torment lay in disarray at his feet, both of their purposes long since rendered useless.

 

As the pain from the dragon's relentless digging faded for the moment, Hiei allowed himself to fall back onto the harsh surface of the nearest tree. With a breathless moan he slid down the trunk to sit amongst his discarded bandages.

 

He let one leg lay stretched out before him, but brought the other up towards his chest. On this leg he propped his cursed arm and fell into thought.

 

`When did I loose my damned control?' His other hand came up to swipe at the perspiration that had accumulated on his face before falling limply to the grass, his energy rapidly fading away into nothingness.

 

`When did everything fall apart?' Hiei thought to himself, his eyes trailing over the traitorous appendage as he thought over his situation.

 

From what he had been able to gather, the elements within his body had always made him a little on the unstable side, causing him to have tendencies towards extreme violence and then frost bitingly cold cruelty. Polar opposite elements bringing out polar opposite tendencies to his soul-completely throwing him off balance. Because of his unstable soul, he had never had complete control over the Black-Dragon, and it had in turn, always destroyed a little bit more of him when he used it. This soulful and physical instability had given the Jagan enough of an opening to turn its malicious forces inwards.

 

And for this Hiei cursed himself. He had been with the Jagan inside of him so long that he had forgotten that it was its own entity-it thought for itself. And because it was naturally a destructive creation, it had turned its energies on its opposite-the dragon.

 

Hiei believed that the two appendages seemed to represent the opposing forces within his own soul. The Black-Dragon was fire with its violence and ferocity, and the Jagan was ice with its cunning ways, and manipulative destruction. The two naturally opposed each other, and so it had always taken so much more strength to control the forces from turning on each other, and inadvertently-turning on him.

 

It had been like so for centuries. Hiei had reined over the elements and the powers with an iron-willed grip… a grip that was slowly becoming undone.

 

Even now he was unsure of what had led to the deterioration of his control, what had caused him to become so soulfully unstable.

 

It was almost his birthday. In just two more days the new moon would rise, and the war within him would come to a climax.

 

It did bother him slightly that Koenma had known about his little problem, and then had announced it to the rest of the team. Now he almost wished that he had stayed behind just a little longer to hear out what he said to the rest of the group.

 

`I could always ask the fox.' But no, his pride-though one of his greatest strengths, was also becoming his greatest crutch. And he had a bad feeling that if this problem of his didn't kill him, then his pride would.

 

And so, he resolved himself to seek out the kitsune tomorrow, when the sun was well on its' way to the zenith, because by then the pain would have dulled enough for him to move about.

 

`Tomorrow then' He whispered to himself as he gathered the tattered remains of his energy in an effort to stave off the next round that he knew was coming.

 

- - - -

 

Yusuke huffed in annoyance as he continued to speed up the steps that lead into Genkai's shrine. `Why the hell does there have to be so many?'

 

Eventually though, he reached the summit and continued his mad dash right into the house, not even bothering to knock.

 

“Where is everybody?” He asked to the seemingly empty room. It was then that he detected movement by the window and turned quickly to find Hiei seated on the edge rather precariously.

 

“Dude? You look like shit.” He whispered with what could have been empathy. The effect was ruined however, when Genkai and Kurama entered the front room, both of them supporting a young boy who had various cuts and burns across his body.

 

The burns covered most of his body-but they glowed with an angry red aura that was shattered with black.

 

“What the hell happened to him?” Yusuke asked wide-eyed, his entire body covered in scrapes and bruises from the most recent attack of demons that had happened on Ningenkai. “It looks as if he was… burned?”

 

`Very astute detective. Many more observations like that and you wont have to attend `school' anymore.'

 

“Shut up Hiei, no one has time for your sarcasm. If you haven't noticed, there are hordes of demons just fucking waltzing down the streets! And I,” Yusuke jerked his thumb at his chest, “had to fight my way through them just to get here!”

 

The elderly woman who had been hovering over the broken body lifted her head sharply, “Shut up you dimwit-as you can see, this boy has been injured-

 

“Well-no. I really didn't notice.” He replied angrily.

 

`Wouldn't be the first time.' The black clad apparition shot back, amusement coloring his usually bored tones of mental conversation.

 

“As you would also note, if I hadn't been interrupted, is that these are not mortal burns-it looks almost as if…”

 

The young Spirit Detective rolled his eyes, “Spit it out grandma! I don't have all fucking day! I have to find Keiko, make sure she is okay-and Kuwabara too.”

 

“They are here.” Hiei said, his arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the wall. He tossed his head over his shoulder, indicating the hallway next to him. “Koenma had me fetch them,” he scowled.

 

Yusuke, however, was relived. “Well that is one less job that I have to do.” He then raced down the hallway in search of his girlfriend.

 

Genkai starred after him with nothing short of exasperated annoyance. “That retard will be the death of us all.” She spat out bitterly, eliciting an agreeable `hn' from her solitary companion.

 

She sighed wearily before turning back to the boy she had dragged in from the crater in her forest. `These burns… they are most unusual. He must have been caught in a fight between demons.'

 

Kurama had remained silent through the entire exchange; although he did frequently send glanced towards Hiei. He refrained from speaking until Yusuke and Kuwabara returned to the front room.

 

“Now that we are all present,” he began, “does anyone have any idea as to what is happening?”

 

Genkai snorted. “Isn't it obvious? The barriers between the worlds have fallen away. Demons and the dead are now walking the mortal realm. I have also heard that in some places, our plane just merges into the next.”

 

“Merges?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“Yes, almost as if it just flows onto the next plane of existence.”

 

The young kitsune avatar was already coming up with several paradoxes that were making his head ache. “And where has Koenma been?”

 

“I don't know?” All five of them turned to the doorway to see Botan shuffling on her feet uneasily. “The last time I saw him, the Spirit world was falling apart. I am not sure if he can appear anymore.”

 

“Appear?” Kurama questioned while motioning her to sit beside him. This action did not go unnoticed by the rest of the Spirit Detectives.

 

The Ferry Girl nodded, “Yes, his father is bound by spirit and blood to the spirit world. I am not sure if his soul will remain on this plane of existence while the Rekai ceases to exist.”

 

Yusuke frowned. “But aren't the worlds `merging' as grandma here says?”

 

Botan shook her head. “The barriers have merely fallen away. And so the Rekai no longer exists on this plane. It was simply.. it was a space you know? Like a little pocket that existed between the worlds. The barriers were maintained in the Spirit World, and so-it had to be destroyed in order for the barriers to fail as completely as they did.”

 

“So the dead can walk because-

 

“There is no barrier between this world and the River Styx. This worlds portal to the afterlife.”

 

“So if we want to speak with Koenma we would have to go through that thing?” Kuwabara murmured, surprising the group.

 

“I don't know. I am not even sure if Koenma was bound to that world like his father was-

 

“I wasn't.”

 

Once again the occupants of the room, save for Hiei and Genkai, jumped at the abrupt voice emanating from the doorway.

 

Genkai scowled, “Do any of you know how to knock?”

 

Koenma brushed her comment aside and plopped down next to Botan, a large yellow back pack sitting in his large lap. “I just fell. The rest of the gods are stuck on the other planes of existence. They wont be able to return until the barriers are re-formed.”

 

Yusuke was the first to speak up, “Well then how do we go about doing that?”

 

The demi-god sighed, “You must find the cause.” He glanced warily at Hiei before continuing, “And you must bring her here to me, alive!”

 

“HER?” Kuwabara yelled, earning himself a groan from the body that lay between them all. Four pairs of eyes stared down at the figure in surprise before blinking owlishly.

 

“Who is that?” Kuwabara and Botan asked in unison.

 

But to their surprise, it was Koenma who answered. “His name is Souta Higurashi. And I think that you have found our means of tracking down the criminal.” His eyes then bore into each of the detectives before settling back down on the boy.

 

“Kagome Higurashi.”

 

- - -

 

AN: Shorter chapter. Sorry bout that.

 

RESPONSES:

 

Ryukotsusei: Thank you very much for your comments! And yes, that is my intended pairing-though I hope that doesn't ruin it for anyone else. And if it does-ah well, bite my inspiration. Anyways, I hope this chapter was just as enjoyable for you as the last one. Though I admit it was a bit-actionless.

 

Kin-chan Pandun: I always love your reviews. To say the least I am sorta embarrassed, eheh. See-I blame my horrible spelling and grammar (the reason behind the mysterious word irion `Botan hid behind her irion like staff') on the fact that I am lacking a beta reader. Which I guess isn't really an excuse seeing as I do have a perfectly good SpellCheck tool on my Word. But that whole sentence was referring to how Botan likes to hit people with her oar and it tends to hurt them as if they had been hit with a metal baseball bat. Hence-iron (not supposed to be irion but oops!) Maybe I will edit my chapters later but well… I am sorta lazy. Thank you for reviewing! You always leave such detailed and helpful reviews, and therefore this chapter is dedicated to you and all who reviewed my story on MM.org

 

-Ookamie san the anime lover: Thank you for your comment on my poetry, I am actually very pleased you took notice-thanks a lot! But this time I WILL SPELL CHECK! Woowhoo.

 

-inuyasha92689-juana-chan: Thanks for reviewing, it means a lot!

 

Again, I apologize for my bad spelling and grammar.