InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpected Ally ❯ An Unusual Quest ( Chapter 3 )

Unexpected Ally

disclaimer: YYH belongs to Yoshihiro Tagashi; IY belongs to Rumiko Takahashi; Unfortunately, I am neither one of them!

Chapter Three: An Unusual Quest

They had been driving in silence for almost twenty minutes. Well, silence wasn't exactly the right description. The four young boys in the van had not shut up since they had left the shrine. They had started off with enthusiastic exclamations about how this was `gonna be the best summer break ever!' which had quickly turned into discussions of what they would do at the beach. Then they had broken off into aimless talk about anything and everything under the sun that they could evidently think of: school, sports, video games, music, back to video games.

Still, with all the liveliness of the youngest passengers of the van, a slightly uncomfortable silence had taken the teenagers hostage. Well, that wasn't exactly true, either. Inuyasha had settled into his seat, leaning against the window, and appeared to be dozing. Appeared to be, because Kagome suspected he may just have been trying to avoid questions from Souta and his friends, all of whom were sure to soon be added to Inuyasha's Crazed Ass Fan Club.*

Juri, too, did not seem uncomfortable with the silence, as all her attention was on watching for the correct exit and following all the traffic rules. Still, the longer the older girl didn't talk, the more uncomfortable Kagome seemed to feel. This was the first time they had really seen each other, let alone spent any time together, since Kagome's trips through the well had begun, and she found it slightly odd that Juri didn't seem to be at all interested in why her childhood friend had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

Finally, Kagome couldn't take it anymore, "So, Juri-chan, how've you been? I haven't seen you that much, lately. Do you have a boyfriend yet, or is your father still being strict? This is gonna be great, huh? A week at the beach, just like old times!" Kagome's nervousness at being the first to break the silence seemed to make her gush more than usual. Kagome watched the other girl as she drove, trying to patiently wait for a reply. Her nervousness, it seems, was justified.

Juri let out an exasperated sigh as she prepared to speak, "Listen, Kagome-chan, I know you probably think this vacation is going to be all fun and games. Just like old times, right? But that's not why I am here, okay? I am sorry, but my plans for this holiday are much different. I was planning on waiting until we were at the cabin to burst your chipper little bubble, but it seems I am going to have to set down my ground rules for you right away."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Grunting sounds of struggle could be heard from behind a teetering stack of heavy luggage. Two thick white arms were wrapped around the stack, the knuckles on the attached hands turning even whiter, and the legs visible beneath the stack were beginning to buckle at the knees. A voice called out from behind the pile, "Jeez, Shizuru, did you buy up all of those new products they showcased? When I agreed to come to that hairdresser's convention with you, I didn't know I was going to play the part of your bellboy!"

The luggage tower began to lean to the right a bit too much, and Kuwabara Kazuma hurried to correct the imbalance, overcompensating and effectively starting a comical dance back and forth to keep the bags from falling.

"Oh, come on, little brother," Shizuru rebuked, turning around to look at the talking suitcases, "stop whining and act like the powerful superhero you're always claiming to be! It's just a few bags of clothes and hair products!" The smug girl turned back to her previous activity of carrying her purse and her brother's single suitcase into the front door of the apartment building.

Two pairs of eyes, one chocolate brown, the other emerald green, looked on the scene in amusement as they approached.

"Yeah, come on, Kuwabara, you can't handle a few travel bags? You really are a wimp, aren't you?" Yuusuke chuckled as he poked fun at his friend.

The sound of the voice behind him startled the tall redhead, and he promptly dropped the bags in surprise and looked around. "Urameshi, temee…" the boy cried as he spotted his friends, ran to grab Yuusuke, and promptly began to wrestle him for a headlock. Kurama looked on in feigned disinterest, though he was holding back a chuckle.

"I'm sure you're both very happy to see each other, but we should continue this inside. We did come here for a reason, after all, Yuusuke."

With that, the crimson-locked kitsune-boy strode nonchalantly to the discarded bags, picking up a few, and joined Shizuru by the front entrance. The older girl smiled thankfully at him.

"Thank you, Kurama. At least someone is helpful," she looked in her brother's direction again to see the two boys were now deadlocked, each in a headlock, and neither one budging to let go first. Shizuru rolled her eyes. "Come on, you two! Or are you conceding that Kurama here is more of a man than the two of you combined?"

As she turned to enter the building, Kurama caught a slight wink from her. He shook his head as he chuckled at the looks of disbelief on his comrades' faces, knowing full well Shizuru had purposely challenged their masculinity to get just such a reaction. They were, after all, always calling him the bishounen of the group. Kurama followed her inside, leaving Yuusuke and Kuwabara fighting over who would carry more bags.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So, wait, you guys are telling me there've been four escaped D-classers since 9 o'clock last night? Why hasn't Koenma called you in yet, Urameshi?"

The black-haired boy merely shrugged his shoulders from his laid-back position on the couch, looking up at his friend, who had leapt from the sofa opposite him when Yuusuke and Kurama had revealed the reason for their visit. Shizuru was leaning against a wall, taking it all in as she observed their conversation, smoking her cigarette in silence. Kurama sat back in an armchair, his legs and arms crossed, contemplating.

"I've been wondering that very thing, Kuwabara," Kurama's smooth voice answered, a puzzled expression on his face. "He usually calls us all in for the slightest hint of a threat to the barriers, but four youkai in a span of less than twenty-four hours suggests a notable weakening of the barrier between Makai and Ningenkai, yet we've had no word from him."

Yuusuke cut in, "Maybe it's just a fluke and we're reading too much into this. We all know what a worrywart Koenma is. If he's not concerned about it, why should we be? We've handled them all just fine, anyway, and they've all been pretty harmless to begin with."

"Yes, Yuusuke, but let's not forget the other reason we came here," Kurama turned his attention once more to the standing boy, "Kuwabara, we were also wondering if you'd come across anything similar on your travels; seen anything or sensed anything? We should at least try to investigate whether these incidents are isolated to Tokyo or if the problem is more widespread."

Kuwabara thought about the question, trying to remember having any strange feelings in his awareness in the past three days. He couldn't think of any. "I don't remember anything," he said, shaking his head. "If I had, I definitely would've tried to find it. It would've kept me busy while Shizuru was at her hairdresser convention-thing. There was nothing to do in that little town, not even a decent arcade!"

"You're getting off-track there, Kazuma," Shizuru broke into the conversation, "I remember having a foreboding feeling…" She let the statement trail off, taking a deep drag from her cigarette. All three boys looked at her in surprise.

"Why didn't you say anything, Shizuru?!!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Well, for one, little brother," the sandy-brown-haired girl began, slowly exhaling a long stream of smoke, "it was a distant feeling, like it wasn't happening yet, and when it did, it wouldn't be in that town. That's why I planned our trip short, instead of staying the whole five days. I had a feeling you would need to be back here today, and you are. I didn't tell you earlier because you couldn't have done anything about it then. Now that we're back, maybe you can. Look, I won't try to tell you guys what to do. You're the detectives, not me, but I do believe that these incidents are not just a fluke. That feeling I have is getting stronger with each passing hour, and I don't think it'll subside anytime soon."

Yuusuke stood up and walked over to the girl, studying her calm face skeptically. "How can you say that so calmly, Shizuru? If what you're sayin' is true, you've had this feeling since before you two even left on your trip. Why aren't you more shaken up or worried?" he questioned her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I imagine," Kurama answered easily, standing up as well, "Shizuru is used to these feelings, as she's had an extraordinary awareness all her life. She probably feels something similar every time something big is on the horizon for us."

"That's true, Kurama," Shizuru answered, "but it's much worse this time than it's ever been before. I'm calm because you guys have never failed before, and I don't expect you to this time, but that doesn't mean you should be careless. Don't just wait for the other shoe to drop before you get proactive about this, or you could fail."

"Well, I still don't understand why Koenma hasn't contacted us if there's a threat to Ningenkai. I mean, what's he so busy doin' in Reikai that he doesn't notice four breakthroughs? All he does is stamp papers all day, right?" Kuwabara added his two cents to the conversation.

"Whatever it is, it must be important if this situation is going unnoticed. I think we should do a sweep of the city and try to contact Reikai. Yuusuke, do you still have that compact Botan gave you?" Kurama asked the detective.

Yuusuke rubbed the back of his head with an open palm, thinking. "Oh… yeah, I've still got it. I think it's at home in my room somewhere. We can stop by and get it while we're checkin' out the city."

A plan in place, the three boys headed out of the building.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"George! George! Where are you?!!" A voice demanded from behind many tottering towers of paperwork stacked on and around a large desk.

"H-Hai, Koenma-sama?" The blue oni answered his boss nervously.

The past two days had been absolute chaos in the Reikai offices. A catastrophic misfiling of Judgment files had resulted in a mass of lost paperwork having to be replaced on short notice, in order to avoid an even bigger catastrophe of having 400-odd souls basically unregistered and unaccounted for. The delay this caused resulted in limbo being filled up with those still awaiting judgment, their paperwork quickly stacking up in Koenma's office, and setting him behind at least two weeks. Then, there was the other new development, which they still hadn't even begun to figure out.

"George," Koenma called out again from behind his paper prison, "will you do something about all this paperwork?! Get me some assistants in here, or something! I've got to address that surge of reiki that showed up on the monitors this morning, but I can't leave this mess unmanaged. Father will spank me for a week straight if he finds out about this, and he's coming back tomorrow!"

"Hai, Koenma-sama!" George bowed to the paper wall and left to do his master's bidding.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kurama ducked as another book was tossed towards his head, barely missing him and hitting Kuwabara, who had just walked in behind him, squarely in the chest.

"Oof… Urameshi!!"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on," Yuusuke answered, still tossing things over his shoulder, oblivious to what they were hitting, and making an even bigger mess of his room than it had been before he began. "I know it's gotta be here somewhere!" Yuusuke grunted as he tried to dig more junk out from under his bed to look for the Reikai compact communicator.

"Perhaps you left it somewhere else, Yuusuke?" Kurama offered, peering around the room at the mountainous piles of clothes, manga, video games, and who knew what else. Kurama, for one, thought he probably didn't want to know.

Yuusuke finally sat back up and slumped against his bed. He, too, took in the state of his room, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Maybe I did," he admitted, "but I can't think where…"

"Jeez, Urameshi, your room is a disaster area. You should put up warnings or something," Kuwabara exclaimed suddenly, still holding the old school English textbook that had hit him. It's brief flight through the air had been the most use it had gotten in years, if not ever.

Yuusuke ignored him. "Let me see… the last time I had it… Keiko made me go to the last day of school before summer break… and I…" Yuusuke's eyes went wide as he jumped up and started searching his room again, flinging things back and forth as he tore down piles and made new ones. He searched his closet frantically, coming up with nothing. His search of his room still unfruitful, he went to search the rest of the house.

The two redheaded boys stared after him, dumbfounded. Within a couple minutes, the black-haired boy returned, still empty-handed, a crestfallen look on his face.

"Well, Urameshi? `You…' what?" Kuwabara ventured.

Yuusuke turned to leave once again, signaling them to follow with a jerk of his head. They followed him to the front door, replacing their house slippers with their shoes just as Yuusuke did, and walked out the door.

"Are you going to let us in on your epiphany, Yuusuke?" Kurama asked, unable to hold his intrigue back any longer.

Yuusuke merely continued walking, down the stairs, out the building, and onto the sidewalk in an all-too-familiar direction. Kuwabara and Kurama followed, curious.

After about ten minutes of silently following, Kuwabara was fed up, "Urameshi! Will you tell us where we're going already? Are we heading where I think we're heading?!!"

Yuusuke ignored him once again, speaking to the kitsune instead. "Hey, Kurama, you know how to break into locked buildings, right?"

Kurama quirked a brow. Okay, his curiosity was definitely peaked. "I never forget anything I take so long to perfect, Yuusuke," the boy answered smoothly, a hint of Youko's kitsune pride coloring his tone.

"Good, that'll make this a whole lot easier," Yuusuke replied, cracking his knuckles before clasping his hands behind his head as he walked.

They walked about ten more minutes before the question of where exactly they were headed was unmistakably answered. The big brick building that was their new highschool loomed into view as they rounded a corner, and Kurama understood that he would soon be breaking and entering into his place of education. He would have to make sure he could not be caught, as it would ruin his unstained human reputation. It would be simple enough, however, and he had no second thoughts.

"Are you gonna tell us what we're here for now, Urameshi?" Kuwabara tried asking once more.

"Urasai, Kuwabara!" Yuusuke was irritated at himself enough as it was, without Kuwabara hassling him. He couldn't believe he had done it in the first place. Then again, how often was it that he actually brought it with him to school, anyway? He hardly made use of it, since he rarely attended class. Yuusuke shook his head at himself, "Let's just get inside, first. You'll see soon enough."

Kurama set to work scouting out every point of entry imaginable on the school. All the main and secondary entrances were locked and chained with a padlock. All the windows were locked tight, as well, and had metal-barred shutters locked over them on the outside to discourage just what the boys were attempting.

Kurama, however, was not discouraged. Quite the opposite, in fact. His inquisitive kitsune nature was taking over; this puzzle would be solved, and soon. Kurama took one of his seeds from his hair, concentrating his youki on it to help it grow, then brought it near the lock on one of the side windows. It was a small, vine-like creature, with vines almost as thin as spider silk. Its looks, however, were deceiving, as it was strong enough to rip the bars off the window if Kurama so desired. In this situation, though, stealth was required. They would leave the school exactly as they found it, minus one mysterious item.

The vines climbed into the lock on the `shutters', picking and prodding at the inner-workings until a satisfying `click' was heard by all. Kurama swung the bars out on their hinges and directed the vines to slip in through the miniscule space between the window and the frame. The plant obediently slipped in and unlocked the inside lock, allowing Kurama to pull it open and all three boys to slip inside.

They shuffled down the hallways full of lockers, following Yuusuke silently. Finally, he came to a stop in front of his own battered locker, turning the dial on the combination lock to the numbers required to open it. At least… he thought those were the right numbers…

`Damn, who'd have thought I'd actually want to remember my combination?'

He tried several more times, several different combinations of the same numbers, to no avail. He just didn't attend school often enough to know the numbers by heart.

"Let me try." Kurama knelt by the locker, putting his ear close to the lock as he turned it this way and that. Finally hearing the faint clicks he was waiting for, he found the right combination, pulled up the handle, and stepped aside for his friend.

"Wow, I wasn't even close, was I?" Yuusuke stared at the crimson-haired boy in awed respect, before remembering the task at hand.

Kurama tried to act indifferent to the praise, but the kitsune in him couldn't help but preen over the words. No one noticed, however, as the attention was now on the insides of Yuusuke's locker.

The locker was full of schoolbooks, badly graded papers, unfinished and untouched homework assignment sheets, all kinds of trash and a couple suspicious-smelling lunchbags. On top of all this was stuffed a black schoolbag, seemingly brand-new as Yuusuke rarely actually brought it to school.

This particular item was exactly what they had come for. Yuusuke tugged at it, managing to get it out with only a minimal amount of the locker's contents spilling onto the floor. Kurama grabbed the lunchbags before Yuusuke could stuff them back in with the rest of the fallen items, and dropped them into the nearest trash can.

Yuusuke set the bag down and unzipped it, searching for his prize. Finally, at the bottom of the bag, he found it. "Aha!" he exclaimed as he wrapped his fingers around the item and pulled it out for his companions to see. In his fist he held the small compact communicator that had started this unusual quest. Satisfied to have found it, he put it back in the bag, zipped it, and shouldered it as they made their way back to their window entrance. They hopped out the window and Kurama closed it, directing his vine to lock it all back up before they left.

The sun was just beginning to play its colors across the sky, signaling the coming setting of the sun. It would be completely dark within about two hours. They decided to finish their sweep of the city before contacting Koenma, just to make sure nothing was overlooked.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Juri glanced to her left at the now-sleeping Kagome. She really did feel bad for having to bluntly correct Kagome's plans for the holiday. It wasn't Kagome's fault that Juri was only along because of her brothers, but she'd be damned before she let the enticements of a beach vacation ruin her chances at going to Tokyo University.

She'd already failed the entrance exam once, and her father would have her head if she failed it again. She had less than a year to retake it, and all her extra time since her initial failure had been spent either studying or attending yobiko. She would make her family proud, no matter how many vacations she had to give up. Her brothers, however, had been promised a great summer break, and as neither of her parents could spare the time from work, she had been `volunteered' as their chaperone and chauffeur for the trip.

Oh well, she would just have to make the most of it. That is how she had made the decision to study during the day, while Kagome took charge of the boys, and take the responsibility over at night so she could still study while they ate and played video games. She'd hoped it wouldn't be too much responsibility for the 16-year-old, but when she'd seen that Kagome had brought another friend, she had felt less guilty about her intentions. Surely this boyfriend of Kagome's would help her out with the youngsters.

Juri shook herself from her daze, shifting her concentration completely to the road ahead of her. It was nearing sunset now, and the sun was glaring off the nearby water, dazzling her eyes and making them water a bit. They were currently driving next to some rocky cliffs overlooking the sea, as Juri brought the vacationers closer and closer to their resort destination.

`Won't be too long now,' Juri thought to herself, ready to be done with driving for the night. The rest of her passengers were asleep, though Inuyasha's ears, unbeknownst to the others, were still highly attentive underneath his ballcap, smushed as they were. Not that he could hear much of anything, beyond the inside of the car, over the sounds of the engine. Juri just wanted a cup of tea and a bed to collapse on. Oh, yes, she was so ready to be done driving.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

From atop a rocky, tree-covered cliff, a small hole began to grow in the Ningenkai barrier. Suddenly, a body leapt deftly from it, landing right at the edge of the darkly-shaded cliff and peering down. Acquiring his target, he eyed a silver van driving along the bend in the road, just a few meters away from his position above the road. He judged the distance, preparing to leap, when suddenly the thick `swoosh' of heavy metal slicing through the air met his ears.

The youkai turned his head to meet the fool that would threaten him, meeting glowing claret eyes, and realizing too late that the night air was not all that had been sliced through. His body split apart in numerous places, blood spurting to the ground, just as the recognition of his fate crossed his face. He fell to the ground, dead in a muddy pool of his own blood, his eyes still wide in shock.

The katana was wiped off and resheathed before the van had completely passed below the cliff. Hiei trained his eyes on the silver vehicle until it was out of sight, wondering what was so special about it that his prey would've risked his life waiting for the right moment to jump to it. He shrugged his shoulders, and with a soft, "Hn," ran off again, quicker than the eye, if there had been any living eyes there to see it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Little did he know that he was being watched, as were all the toys in this game. Only a fool would send thieves and assassins out without keeping an eye on them, and therefore the watcher had seen each new player as they'd quickly dispatched of the watcher's newly-acquired lackeys. The watcher's eyes narrowed, but not in anger, no, quite the contrary. The expression was one of sheer pleasure. They had expected this. Everything was on track, exactly as it was meant to play out. Perhaps a slight variation here or there, but the end results were still right on track. A rare grin spread across the watcher's face. Yes, this expression was definitely the beginnings of the ultimate evil gloat. This game would be… most enjoyable.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

`Kitsune…'

Kurama heard the voice in his head, though it was not his own. He stopped on the sidewalk to wait for the inevitable appearance of the owner. `Hiei?' Kurama answered back into his friend's mind.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara stopped as well, when they noticed their friend had stopped. Following Kurama's gaze, they looked up to see Hiei flash before their eyes as he leapt from a rooftop to where they were standing.

The Tantei had just begun their final leg of the city-sweep after leaving the school. The streets were eerily quiet for summer, though they were in a rather deserted area of town to begin with. They had not come across anyone or anything they shouldn't, however, in the twenty minutes since they'd left the school. The boys had just started to relax a bit about the danger, but now Hiei stood before them of his own accord.

If Hiei had decided to seek them out, there was definitely something up, and it couldn't be good.

"Hello, Hiei, so nice of you to grace us with your presence," Yuusuke greeted sarcastically.

"Hn," was the only reply.

"Well, short stuff," Kuwabara demanded, "you gonna tell us why you suddenly decided to drop in on us or what?"

Hiei merely shrugged his shoulders slightly, rolling his eyes so only Kurama could see.

Kuwabara bristled at the obvious snub, finding great displeasure in the fact that Hiei was now doing almost exactly what Yuusuke had about an hour beforehand. Kuwabara began to step forward to challenge the short-statured youkai, fed up with being ignored, when Kurama cut in.

"I assume, Hiei, that you've also stumbled across the situation we've recently discovered concerning the Ningenkai barrier and Makai escapees. Would you please tell us about your experience, and we will share ours?"

Hiei leaned up against the side of a building, crossing his arms and feigning disinterest, but silently agreeing to share his information. "You go first," he insisted, cocking his head towards the kitsune.

Yuusuke and Kurama proceeded to tell, once more, of the four separate youkai they had discovered crossing into Ningenkai.

The first had been seen the night before by Yuusuke, on his way back from dropping Keiko off from their date, just after nine. It had run right past him as it tried to assimilate itself into Ningenkai. Yuusuke had promptly come up behind it and knocked it upside its head. He had meant to just knock it out, but it was a weakling and died quickly from the head trauma.

The second escapee was caught by Kurama about two hours later, as he was strolling through nearby woods. The portal had actually opened up just two trees away from where Kurama had been perched in a tree, feeding his ki off the abundant natural plant life, and giving some of his youki back to encourage more healthy growth. It had taken all of 6 seconds to produce his rose whip and snap it at the unsuspecting youkai, slicing his head clean off at the neck.

The third youkai had essentially walked right into the two boys as they left Yuusuke's apartment building. Kurama had gone to Yuusuke's house early that morning to tell him about the youkai from the night before, and, discovering that his friend had had a similar experience, they'd decided to check out the city together.

When the third youkai's portal had opened on the roof of Yuusuke's apartment building, he had hurried down the stairs, trying not to attract attention to himself by leaping off the building. Unfortunately, he had run right into the backs of the two Tantei as they descended the steps. A small blast of the spirit gun had taken care of that one.

The fourth, as we already know, met the two boys in an alley in the early afternoon, being dispatched by a spirit gun shot that was much larger than needed. All four youkai had been no more than D-class.

They told Hiei how they had then inquired after Kuwabara, learning he had not had any similar experiences. Shizuru's warning was recalled, and they explained how they had come to decide another city-sweep was in order. Kuwabara took it upon himself to remind Yuusuke of how he had misplaced the Reikai communicator, and the school break-in that followed. This actually earned a soft chuckle from the hybrid, which Kuwabara seemed pleased with, since it wasn't him being laughed at.

"So, now, that's where we are," Yuusuke finished, "looking to get an `all-clear' of the city before we contact the toddler and do his job for him." The boy smirked, "Okay, Hiei, now it's your turn."

Hiei looked up towards the increasingly setting sun as he spoke, his tone almost bored as he spoke matter-of-factly. "I was spending some time in Makai with my katana," he began. Kurama chuckled softly behind his hand, but did not interrupt. Hiei ignored his friend's amusement at his preferred pastime and continued, "I'd dispatched of a number of low-class youkai already, and was about to retire my weapon for the day, when I noticed someone creeping around. He was going back and forth, feeling the air with his hand, when he seemed to find what he was looking for and stopped. That's when I saw that his hand had disappeared into the air, and realized he'd found a weak spot in the barrier. I figured he might be a bit more of a challenge than I'd had all day, since he appeared to be about a class `C', so I followed him. Unfortunately, he did not put up any kind of fight at all."

"Where had the portal opened to?" Kurama questioned.

"It was a wooded cliff near a white sand beach resort, about four hours out of Tokyo by ningen travel. He was preparing to hitch a ride on a van passing below when I came upon him," Hiei shook his head in disbelief at the memory, "It was pretty foolish. He could've escaped into any direction, but decided to wait to time a jump from a cliff onto a moving vehicle. I was suspicious of his actions, but could sense nothing special about the van or its passengers. The only thing I picked up was a faint dog smell, but I believe that many ningen beach-goers like to bring their… pets… with them?"

The three boys nodded in the affirmative, all thinking on the description the black-haired youkai had just imparted to them. The incident had taken place four hours out of Tokyo. It wasn't isolated only to their city, and from the actions and, seemingly, higher demon class of the latest one, it seemed Shizuru may be right. Something bigger than `upstarts trying to make a name for themselves by crossing the barriers' was happening here. The question now was… what? Why? Who? Okay, there were quite a few questions, actually.

Yuusuke made up his mind. It was definitely time to contact Koenma.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

About half an hour after her wishing for a bed had begun, Juri was actually enjoying the object of her desires, curled up against the many pillows with a cup of tea and one of her many schoolbooks.

The rest of the cabin's occupants were still busy settling in and unpacking everything.

The cabin actually turned out to be more of a beach cottage, set amidst the campgrounds, and rented out to those that would rather experience living on the beach amidst the nature of the surrounding forests, rather than the modernized, cookie-cutter experience of the resort hotels. It had three bedrooms, the biggest of which was furnished with two sets of bunkbeds for the young boys. There was also a full-size kitchen with a Western table and chairs set, a dining room with the low Japanese table and cushions, living room with full entertainment system, laundry area, two bathrooms, one of which having the traditional Japanese-style soaking tub, and a covered, fully-furnished front porch.

Once the food was put away, Kagome took out the containers of leftovers her mother had packed in the cooler for their dinner that night. She heated what needed heating in the microwave, specially preparing a few instant ramen cups for Inuyasha, and set out dishes and chopsticks for everyone. Juri took her food into her room to continue studying.

After eating, they settled in for a relaxing night of watching and playing video games. Inuyasha caught on pretty quickly to the fighting games, and quickly had a score the younger boys strived for. His fan club was now firmly in place; though, of course, that had not been his intention.

Eventually, they decided to go to bed. Kagome's room had only one bed, but there were extra futons in a storage closet, which she set up on her floor for Inuyasha. Sleep came easily to both, as they were finally getting used to the idea of not being in constant danger as they slept.

End Chapter 3

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Words First Appearing in Chapter Three:

temee: very rude way to say "you," comparable to "you bastard," though many times it is simply dubbed as "why you…"

kitsune: fox

bishounen: pretty boy

hai: yes

oni: a type of youkai

reiki: spiritual energy

urasai: impolite term meaning "shut up!" or "damn, that's annoying!" or can describe something that is really obnoxious. The literal meaning is closer to "noisy." Mostly, it is translated in dubs as "shut up," though

yobiko: cram school; may be attended for a year or two between high school and college to better prepare for entrance exams

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A/N: * Inuyasha's Crazed Ass Fan Club (ICAF) is a real club on Yahoo! Groups; feel free to join if you love Inuyasha or anime in general! We are in no way associated with the RIFs, and things are really fun there. We're like a big family! Check us out: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icafclub/

Inuluvr: Thanks for your review; here's an update! Glad you like the story! ^______^

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Reviews are so welcome and greatly appreciated!