InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ The Rescue 12 - Splitting Up ( Chapter 34 )

The Blue Anshan

By Alesyira

Summary: As they draw closer to the tree she wants to try and save, the group decides to briefly split up.

Chapter Rating: T. Language and some unpleasant imagery.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Togashi Yoshihiro. OCs are my own. I make no profit from this piece of fiction.

Arc 4 - The Rescue 12 - Splitting Up

- the present -

The group of five slowed as one just before midnight.

Kagome began to recognize the area from the visual instructions given to her by the Goshinboku. She wanted to reach out with her magic to see what they were coming up against, but she wasn't sure how obvious such an action might be and didn't want to risk accidentally lighting up like a miko-beacon. She stopped and closed her eyes, instead allowing whatever traces were around them to come to her. Sadness, pain, rage, and fire trickled in through her skin, and she shuddered as a tear welled from the corner of one closed eye.

Her hand clenched on her bow with her resolve. Surely between the five of them, they'd be able to do something productive, and she'd be able to go home and try to forget this whole mess.

Kuwabara's gaze slid to his right to look at the strange girl in their midst as she tensed. It made him uncomfortable knowing she harbored some kind of suppressed or hidden power. He could sense the fringes of something bright out of the corner of his eye, but every time he looked over at her it blurred into the indistinct nothingness of a mundane human. Even the youki she should hold traces of, given her appearance, were like a mysterious void thanks to the weird vine she carried around. He'd never say it out loud to offend such a seemingly nice girl, but he was quite set in his impression of her. 'Freaky.'

Kurama rest his palm against a tree and gleaned much about the situation that awaited them. His lips pressed into a firm line, both angry at the wrongness the spirits of the forest were conveying and a little bit pleased that this last portion of their mission would be much more of a challenge than just some girl wanting to save a tree. 'This is bigger than we thought.'

A chill crept up Hiei's neck, and he could taste the remnants of fire magic in the area. He was a little surprised that the entire area hadn't gone up in flames. His eyes narrowing, he tightened his grip on his blade.

(Yusuke's nerves were on edge with all the tense anticipation he could sense from the others, and he was just about ready to say 'Fuck it' and run in with finger guns blazing.)

Kurama spoke first, breaking the building tension. "We should split up for just a moment to check out what's ahead." He glanced down at the girl. "We won't be gone long."

Kagome immediately protested, "I should be the one doing this - it is my responsibility."

"We aren't going to do anything, just a quiet scout-ahead and some planning. We know this realm better than you, and I don't think we want any more surprises." He paused, giving her a quick glance. "You should tend to that," he added, indicating the gauze they'd taped to her side.

She frowned in irritation, but pulled her backpack from her shoulder and leaned against the solitary boulder at the edge of the clearing, intent on making quick work of replacing her bandages.

"Who goes and who stays?" Yusuke asked, cracking his knuckles with a grin.

Kurama touched his fingertips to the closest tree, closing his eyes for a moment as he read the forest for more information. "I think the three of us should go and take a look at what's ahead. Hiei might be the best one to leave behind with Kagome, as it seems fire youkai have been our biggest threat today."

Kuwabara didn't say it, but he was relieved that they wouldn't be leaving her alone with Kurama. It was obvious that he was far too interested in the injured female, and it wasn't right that he kept trying to take advantage of her. She looked like a kitsune, sure, and they were supposed to be all sensual and stuff, but this girl was practically human, regardless of what she looked like. He didn't believe for a second that she had a drop of youkai blood in her.

He knelt before her with his best placating smile and took her hand gently in his own. "Miss, we'll be right back—ten minutes if nothing goes wrong! You'll be safe with Hiei."

She glanced uncertainly at the quiet and always-irritated member of the group. They were getting really close to her goal, and she felt uneasy that they would split up like this right now, especially after what had happened just a few hours earlier the last time Kurama had said he'd 'be right back'.

It was a terrible idea.

Dangerous.

Someone was going to get hurt.

She cringed. If she'd been quicker to get to her destination, she might have been able to wrap up this trouble by now, keeping them all out of it. If she'd been able to come without the damned vine causing trouble, they might not have had to come track her down to keep her from killing people/things.

Damnit it wasn't her fault those jerks kept…

GAH! She scrunched her eyes closed and screamed internally.

She took a deep breath. She had only directly killed one bad guy this trip. Just one, and he had been about to melt her.

Kill or be killed, right?

She didn't feel any better, but she smiled and nodded at Kuwabara as he stood. She could picture getting along with that one easily. He looked tough and menacing but he had a genuine kindness that radiated from him.

The three slipped away into the darkness, leaving Kagome with Hiei. The clearing was small, just about six feet across. Sparse pink tufts of grass sprouted up in the few places that the sun might reach the forest floor through the thick canopy that stretched out into the darkness above them. Next to the boulder she'd leaned against was a weird purple bush with luscious thick leaves that shivered and rustled suspiciously in the absence of any breeze. She tried to ignore the nonstop weird of the realm and slid to the ground with new gauze and medical tape in hand.

She sighed as she took in the ruined state of her clothes. The most recent tear was a foot-long rip along her ribcage, easily wide enough for her to pull apart the edges and peel off the bandage that she had already bled through. She grimaced. Why was she bleeding so much lately?

She glanced up at the quiet hi-youkai standing watch nearby. He looked so mad about being stuck with her. She doubted he was even paying attention to her. Well, with as irritated as he looked, she hoped he wasn't paying attention to her. He stood stiffly at the edge of the small clearing, his hand on the hilt of his sword, staring out into the deep darkness of night that had encompassed the forest.

She wondered what the others might find ahead, and she briefly wished for more tidbits of information like the Goshinboku had been able to provide. The ever-so-helpful vine was behaving exceptionally well as a tendril held the fresh gauze pad to her wound while she taped down the edges. She felt guilty it kept getting injured, but was thankful it seemed to bounce back after each mishap.

She considered what it might be like to be able to communicate with all the plants she came in contact with. Maybe her abilities would improve over time and this sentience her vine showed would boost into actual conversation. She had a vague suspicion that the fox could talk to her vine, and she didn't like thinking about what it might be telling him.

Her thoughts shifted to how much time she'd already wasted on this mission. Gods, her family. How long had she been gone, now? A day? Days? She couldn't figure out how long ago she had stepped off the bus.

She rubbed a hand over her face, trying to banish the guilt of leaving her family on short notice at such a difficult time. She sent a silent prayer to anyone listening that her grandfather would still be amongst the living when she returned. The gauze in place, her bag repacked, and the shreds of her poor shirt tugged somewhat back into place, she looked up at the silent male standing mere feet away.

And then she looked and remembered. "When the vine got you," she started, hesitantly, "what did it feel like?"

What an odd question to ask. She looked down at her hands, unsure what made her think of it. Even now, she could feel gentle tugs and nudges along the skin of her back where the vine had burrowed into her flesh. It was kind of creepy, but having it there for a year had become her new normal.

"Like getting stabbed."

She was surprised he had bothered to answer her, especially such an obvious response. "I didn't mean that part. I meant more along the lines of side-effects from the toxins. I can't feel any effects, but I've seen what happens to others, and they usually aren't around long enough for me to ask questions."

He glared at her, then turned his attention back to the forest.

"Sorry, never mind…" She watched him roll his shoulders, and she wondered if he was bored or anticipating the upcoming fight.

It was strange to be in such close contact with people these last hours. Thanks to Kurama's knowledge and his preventative medicine, she didn't have to be constantly on guard to keep her distance out of fear for their health. She didn't have to worry about keeping the vine tucked close to her at all times. Didn't have to think about what might happen if it got curious about something near her.

These four males behaved around her as though nothing was really amiss, and she'd almost been able to relax. Well, aside from a few brushes with death over the last several… hours?…

She sighed, rubbing her face again.

She didn't really know how much time had passed. She supposed it didn't matter, so long as everything ended up alright. (She really needed a cross-realm cellphone.)

She looked at him again. Really looked. It worked pretty well to take her mind off the angst of missing her family and being so damned concerned about how much time had passed. His black hair had an interesting disagreement with gravity, and the silvery white strands in a star pattern reminded her of people she'd seen that had experienced a terrible shock. Youkai had such an interesting variety of colors, markings, patterns, and styles that she wouldn't be surprised to discover he had zebra stripes hidden under his dark sleeves. She slapped a hand to her mouth just barely in time to cover her sudden laugh with feigned cough. The last thing she needed was to start giggling at an angry youkai.

She hadn't had more than a few minutes of no-thinking downtime since she'd run across the team of detectives. Now that she had nothing to do but wait for the others to return, she found herself needing to make a conscious effort to not reach out with her senses to discover more about the quiet youkai. She crammed it down and kept a lid on it, determined to not draw any additional attention to herself.

Earlier, when he'd had his hand around her neck while trying to force some answers, she'd thought he felt pretty normal, but every so often as they'd traveled she got a sense of something wrong. Maybe a curse or some trinket keepsake that had a bad spell on it. The curiosity was suddenly eating through her self-control and she tried focusing on anything other than what she might discover by releasing her hold on her magic.

Maybe that line of muscle twitching in his jaw. A nice jaw, really. And an angry-looking mouth. And those crimson eyes determinedly glaring out at the dark woods where his teammates had vanished a few minutes prior.

-o-

*She keeps staring at me.*

'Ah, maybe she's interested in our silent teammate and is just dying to ask some questions.'

~Have you ever been the fixation of a female kitsune? It's like nothing else…~ Youko sighed in bliss, bringing some choice visuals to mind.

*I've been your fixation long enough to know I'd rather not with another of your kind.*

Yusuke tucked his hand into a pocket and frowned at Kurama. "This chick, Kagome, looks pretty different from when I saw her at the noodle shop. What's the deal? Is this a disguise or is she really a kitsune?"

"We still aren't sure. Hiei and I suspect she might be an avatar."

"That lady can't be a youkai, at least not anymore than I am," Kuwabara said quietly, sure of himself as they moved through the woods. "None of you could see the light, but whatever she did to take out that other youkai was something we haven't seen before, and it doesn't fit anything I've seen in the Makai."

Kurama nodded thoughtfully. "She's told us that she doesn't have youki because the vine takes it from her, which would only make sense if she didn't need youki to survive. There is a missing piece to this puzzle that we don't have. Something she can't—or won't—tell us."

The three paused simultaneously, peering through a break in the trees at a large clearing ahead. The scent of woodsmoke had grown steadily stronger after they split off from the other two, and Kurama's senses were screaming the danger that waited for them. They could see a single youkai standing quietly in front of a massive, ancient tree, staring up at what remained of its extensive branches.

"A god tree," Kurama whispered, barely holding onto the appearance of calm in the face of Youko's sudden overwhelming rage. "These trees are very rare and almost always sacred. The damage done to this one is extensive." Youko immediately busied himself with inspection of the injuries and calculations about whether they'd be able to repair enough to save the tree, if they stopped this bastard before more destruction occurred.

They examined the surrounding area, noting several charred corpses, presumably others that had attempted to stop the youkai or just stumbled into a bad place at the wrong time. "Only one enemy. Could be S-class. I don't recognize him. This youkai seems to be a complete unknown." 'Look familiar to you?'

Hiei's response came a moment later, and sounded a bit distracted. *No.*

Kurama smirked, unseen by his comrades as they surveyed the damage. ~Don't let that female do anything I wouldn't do.~ Youko's teasing was a welcome distraction from the anger he'd felt at the destruction of the area.

"Not sensing anything else nearby, but this guy seems strong enough to be serious trouble," Kuwabara helpfully added on, drawing their attention back to how they were going to fix this without making it worse.

"Man, how was this chick planning to save her tree? Her bow doesn't look like it's gonna be much of a match to stop a fire youkai of this strength. Ch, who even uses bows anymore?"

It was a good question, and one that had been on his mind lately. The girl had been blindly running toward danger and based on the trail of destruction she'd left behind her, had seemed to be able to easily avoid or decimate obstacles that threatened or blocked her passage, at least until fire had come into play. She had no apparent ability to protect herself from fire-based attacks.

"We can probably take him out easy. There's five of us. But one wrong move here…" All three of them seemed to be on the same page that a miscalculation here could result in the entire clearing in flames and destroyed.

'Hiei, I think we might need to leave this one to you.'

Another pause before he got a response. *Surprising.*

It lacked the normal level of disdain Hiei liked to inject into his one-word responses. What were they up to back there? 'We are heading back now. We have a short time to plan our approach and any attempt at negotiating.'