InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Ultimatum ❯ Chapter 21

Ultimatum

Chapter 21

Boxing King

 

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I give up, in a good way mind you, but I still give up. -_- Everyone just keeps pointing out all these successful attempts and whatnot where the soul was successfully removed and replaced in the shows, and so on. While I love getting stuff like this, since I use it to make my tale better, I think I am going to have to say pretend you don't know any of them. I haven't actually watched either show in a long, long time, so I forget all of this. Soooo, the rules I'm mentioning, such as a soul never being successfully reinstated or whatever, pretend they are real. :D K? :D Cause I give up on catching all the loopholes and putting them in the tale. I caught a nice number, but boy, you guys all remember everything! Not that that is a bad thing, it just means there are going to be inconsistencies. So, feel free and mention them, cause I love the feedback, and it helps the story from my point of view, just recognize that they probably won't be fixed in the story itself. Also, don't take this as criticism, just an f.y.i.. I love you all!!! And now to the next chapter.

 

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Kurama frowned idly, nimbly flicking a pencil between his fingers as he sat next to Hiei's prone form.

 

Naraku knew what was going on. It was an obvious fact - they had said it all to the spider. For whatever reason had possessed them, they had assumed that he would still want to trade.

 

And he did. It had to mean something.

 

Through the years of solving intricate puzzles of any kind, Kurama had found that it was easiest if he laid the facts out. Time-honored tests rarely failed.

 

They had supposedly sucked out Kagome's mind. They might have sucked out Hiei's mind either in conjunction or in place of Kagome's mind.

 

Naraku knew it all, yet he still wanted to trade. He knew Kagome most likely had no mind, yet he still wanted her body. That meant one of either two things: the Jewel was in Kagome's body, or at least the secret to the Jewel was. Or, it meant that Naraku knew how to reinstate Kagome's mind.

 

Kurama threw the pencil at a nearby wall. They had to discount the first idea on the grounds that no one could sense the Jewel in her body, and Kagome had never said anything that might have led any of them to believe that the Jewel was indeed residing in her. They were screwed if that was in fact the location - there was no way Yusuke was going to renegade on the deal for Keiko now. In all honesty, Kurama just didn't think that was where the Jewel was. Sure, it could be, but his gut told him different. As a thief that sought treasures between all three realms, he had an inkling of an idea of where precious gems were often hidden. Granted, his head had been kind of absent throughout this entire debacle, but it was strongly leading him in a different direction. He decided to trust his gut.

 

Which left the second possibility: Naraku knew how to take out and reinstate minds.

 

It was entirely too plausible. The demon was significantly older than 450 years, and it was likely that Koenma and his team hadn't even interviewed Naraku when “researching” the project.

 

So, it had to be assumed that Naraku knew how to take out and put back someone's mind. Could he do it with Kagome? Was he expecting to get the bottle containing her mind with the bottle? Did the mind have to be near the body to be reinstated, or was keeping it in the safe not good enough?

 

Kurama thunked his head on the wall he was leaning against. Or did they even have Kagome's mind? It could very well be Hiei's mind in the bottle.

 

If that was the case, then was Kagome's mind simply dormant in her head? Was Naraku controlling some aspect of her mind and making it seem like she was soulless? The demon probably knew what the state looked like. If that was the case, then they did indeed have Hiei's mind.

 

Or, both of their minds could have been sucked out and put in the same bottle. Would the souls have mixed? If so, there was no way they would be able to give the bottle to Naraku.

 

Kurama thunked again. There were so many possibilities, and Naraku was such a sneaky bastard that all of them seemed possible.

 

His eyes snapped to the doorway when it slowly squeaked open. Kuwabara stood shadowed by the door. “Any change?” Kurama simply looked at the man. As if he wouldn't alert everyone to the slightest change in Hiei's condition.

 

“We didn't think so.” Kuwabara fidgeted slightly. “So, we have an idea.”

 

Kurama frowned. “No offense, Kuwabara, but why are you the one delivering this news?”

 

A weak grin flitted across Kuwabara's face. “Yusuke had to get work off some steam, so he's in the gym pounding all available ogres in sparring. Koenma thinks it would be best of he stayed clear of you for a while.”

 

Kurama smirked slightly at that last bit. “You know, if Hiei is ever reinstated, he is going to kill Koenma.”

 

Kuwabara snorted. “Oh, he knows. He's already making plans to take a mysterious vacation until Hiei cools down. He figures it would take at least a hundred years.”

 

“So what's the plan?”

 

Kuwabara stepped farther into the room until he could comfortably sit next to Kurama.

 

“You probably aren't going to like. I thought it was pretty damn clever myself. All three of us were kind of brainstorming and it just popped out.”

 

Kurama patiently waited for the rambling to finish. Kuwabara was prone to talking a lot when he got the chance, and today was no different. The only reason he was sitting through it was that he was Kurama's only contact with the team. And the man occasionally had decent ideas.

 

“We figure we sucked out both souls. And if not, and we only took out Hiei's, we perform the operation again on Kagome. If the bottle fills up, then we have her mind. If not, then we sucked both out at once.” Kuwabara slanted his eyes at Hiei.

 

“And, Kuwabara?”

 

“We want to put a mind back in Kagome before we give her back to Naraku.” Kurama's eyes grew angry. “But!” Kuwabara shouted, stopping the pending tirade, “it won't be Kagome's.” His eyes widened in shock.

 

“You want to put Hiei's soul in Kagome's body?” he asked aghast, leaning forward.

 

“Yes.”

 

“It won't work,” he snarled. “Her body would reject his soul. Bodies are attuned to just one soul.”

 

“Not when they are connected.” Kurama fell back into the wall in shock.

 

“They have a connection already, a connection so deep that we suck out Hiei's mind instead of Kagome's, and their powers randomly switch between the two.”

 

“It wouldn't work. Naraku would be able to sense that Kagome had suddenly been turned to a demon - the soul gives the essence that everyone senses. He would be able to tell.”

 

“We actually thought of that objection, too. We mask his presence. All he has to do is pretend to be Kagome. Shorty can act in a life and death situation. And if he can't, we knock him out before handing him over.”

 

“What the hell do you think to gain by putting Hiei's in that man's grasp?”

 

“Well, we keep the Jewel. That really is a top priority. But, more importantly, we get someone into the enemy's camp. Someone that can fight, someone that would be able to kill Naraku once he lets his guard down, someone that has a dragon sitting in his hand.”

 

“You know,” Kurama mumbled while thinking, “that's technically incorrect; it's not in his hand…”

 

He glanced up at Kuwabara sharply. “I've been thinking about all of this. Naraku accepted that we were going to give Kagome to him without a mind. He has to have a trick up his sleeve. I figured that he had to know how to transfer minds - take them in and out. If he does, and he figures out about Hiei, and we have Kagome's mind sitting all alone in a bottle, there is a possibility that he could just call it to her body. Her mind wouldn't be safe.”

 

A goofy grin settled on Kuwabara's face. “We put her in Hiei's body. With her soul attached to a body he wouldn't be able to just call it.”

 

“We can't give her access to the Jagan.”

 

“Koenma is sure that he can put a temporary seal around the Jagan. While Hiei would be able to get around, Kagome doesn't have such fine control over her mind. Koenma is positive he can stop Kagome's access.”

 

“The dragon might only function in conjunction with the Jagan.”

 

“That is a risk that we shall have to take. It's not like we can't ask Hiei when we put his soul into Kagome. If he says no the whole idea, we suck out their souls again and give an empty body to Naraku.”

 

Kurama frowned. “I can't think of any other objections.”

 

Kuwabara grinned. “We did our best to think of everything, this time. Naraku shouldn't be able to access the Jewel, and Hiei will be able to kill the bastard. The only catch is the time limit. Naraku is going to contact us in hours. When he does, he'll be ready to trade. This has to be done by then. We also have to keep this completely between us - we can't afford another stupid link to Naraku. Ogres have been combing the palace for any type of bug, and we think that's the only one. They apparently got rid of the pests long ago in this realm, so the only reason that one was there was because we brought it in.”

 

Kurama looked pensively down at Hiei. They had to figure out how to get his soul back in his body one way or another. If they managed to take out the enemy, all the better. He was almost one hundred percent sure that Hiei would agree with him.

 

“Let's do it. Let's switch their minds.” Kuwabara nodded and stood.

 

“I'll call the others.”

 

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Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and Koenma were all clustered around two prone bodies. Koenma nervously connected Kagome to the machine once more. He started the process with a nervous glance at Kurama.

 

With a small click, the bottle began to fill.

 

The group collectively let loose a relieved sigh.

 

After a few moments, Koenma took out Kagome's new bottle and carefully connected her old bottle. He swallowed hard. If this didn't work, Kurama was going to kill him. His finger reached forward to push the reverse button. Oh god, Hiei was going to kill him if he woke up. He hesitated slightly before roughly pushing the button and scrambling to the back of the group.

 

The machine buzzed slightly. The entire thing began to shake as it tried to reverse its work. Finally, with a small click, it emptied the bottle.

 

Everyone leaned forward, anxiously watching Kagome's face.

 

With a shudder, her eyes snapped open. They swiftly glanced at each face before settling on Kurama.

 

“Fox, what the fuck is going on?”

 

Kurama gave a shaky smile before outright laughing.

 

“It's good to see you again, Hiei.”

 

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