InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ Yusuke ( Chapter 29 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Well, I've been sick for the past couple of weeks with a fever, possible strep and a double ear infection (fun, huh?) and I finally caught up on my e-mails that accumulated over that time.

Disclaimer: (oops, I forgot to do this last time) Inuyasha, YuYu Hakusho, Nintendo, and whatever else is not mine.

Last time: “I… I guess so. It would really be the best for Shippou after all.” Shippou smiled quietly, he would finally have parents again.

He looked over his shoulder to the two demons, “tomorrow's a Monday, ditch class and meet me at eight.”

This time: Ding-Don—“it's about time you got here!” the bell didn't even finish ringing before the door was yanked open to reveal a slightly irritated toushin.

“Sorry Yusuke, but we are only a few moments late,” Kurama brushed past, smiling slightly. In truth, he was up quite a while earlier, looking for the diminutive fire-demon Hiei, who flit past in a blur to reappear by the window.

“Whatever, at least we can leave now,” Yusuke ran his fingers through his (for once) un-gelled hair and closed the door.

“Are you going to gel up your hair, or are you leaving it like that today?” Kurama asked, spotting the human carrot-top Kuwabara with his hair down also.

“Call it a disguise. Where we're goin', I got a bit of a different rep. Now are we goin' or not?” Yusuke called, grabbing his green jacket and house keys and ushering the others out of the dump called an apartment.

“Where exactly are we going anyway, Yusuke?” Kurama asked, looking around at the seemingly foreign settings of the opposite side of town. They had been walking and had even taken a short train ride all morning and was now in the more country-like part of town. Kurama had been all over this town, but this particular part had not caught his interest before. There was a shrine nearby and a few very small temples, but not enough to be somewhere to actually start a search for a powerful artifact.

Kuwabara and Yusuke exchanged looks and Yusuke gave him a small nod. “Errands,” Kuwabara answered, “we need to get something and then we'll go to the shrine.” They rounded a corner and a school came into view with the students milling around outside before the bell. The boys were in the typical uniform, but in black, and the girls wore a white and green fuku (girl's uniform) with the skirt that was almost embarrassingly short.

“First stop. You guys wait here,” Yusuke grinned a little and ventured inside the school grounds to meet the screams of fangirls, three in particular.

“Hey Kazuma!” one of the three girls yelled over, waving enthusiastically. Kuwabara waved back and nodded towards Kurama. The girl's eyes got really big and she pulled on the sleeve of her friend's blouse, she looked over and followed her friend's line of sight and nearly fainted in shock.

“Heh, looks like you have fans here also, Minnamoto,” came a voice behind them. The trio turned and faced the boy that spoke up; pushing along a black bike that matched his uniform. Although he had a distinctly `wolf demon' aura, he looked completely human. “My name's Hojo, and you're Suiichi Minnamoto, correct?”

Kurama bowed, “that is what my classmates call me at least, but I do not think I know you…”

“You don't. But your reputation precedes you and you knew my parents a long time ago.” Hojo bowed back and started fishing around in his backpack, “Kazuma, long time, no see. Are you visiting?”

“Yeah, we're going to the shrine after Urameshi picks up her missing work.” Kuwabara nodded, eyeing Hojo's backpack.

“That's good, but she's been gone about a month this time, it might take him a while to get everything.” Hojo's eyes lit up as he pulled a wrapped package out and handed to Kuwabara, “can you take this to them. It's for her Monocytosis. I'd give it to Yusuke but…” he looked over at the spirit detective turned demon and shook his head.

There was now a crowd of girls around him, ogling him like he was a celebrity. Yusuke held up his hands, attempting to push his way to the school, but the mass moved with him. The creepy thing was, there were even a few boys joining the girls now. Sighing and brushing his hair out of his face, he looked up at the building for a sign of some sort.

One of the girls was pushed from the back and she attempted to leap on the poor boy, taking him down to the dirt. When she sat back up, she was in sniffles, holding up a life-size doll of Yusuke. Said person sighed in relief and saluted to the other detectives from the steps of the school before slipping inside. “There's a reason,” Kuwabara grinned, shaking his head, “that he learned that trick.”

“That is a kitsune trick, I was not aware that Yusuke studied magic,” Kurama observed, silently hoping that the girls would not swarm him now.

“The bell's about to ring. I hope that you'll visit sooner next time Kuwabara, mom's still holding that order for you.” And with that, Hojo pushed his bike over to the racks and locked it up.

Luckily, the first warning bell wrung and the majority of the students dispersed, leaving the original trio of girls walking toward the gates and the three boys there. Hiei rolled his eyes, not wanting another encounter like the others, and flitted into the nearest tree. “Kazuma!” the same girl from before dragged her companions behind her, “why didn't you tell me that you knew The Suiichi?”

“'The Suiichi'…?” Kuwabara looked over at the crimson haired kitsune avatar. “Oh! He works for the same guy that I do.”

If possible, all three sets of eyes nearly fell out of their respective heads. “Y-you mean that you're working for a detective agency also? Wow…” the other two nodded and started migrating to in front of Kurama.

“Yes, I help solve cases along with my companions,” Kurama gave a graceful bow, hiding the growth of three red roses. “And may I ask your names, ladies?” he requested, standing up and presenting the flowers.

The girls introduced themselves as Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka and took a rose each, giggling.

“You don't want to be late girls, we'll be back tomorrow so you can see us then,” Yusuke called, walking across the grounds with a cute smile. The girls giggled some more and ran off, right as the second warning bell wrung.

Yusuke watched until the girls made it inside before turning to the boys, holding up a manila folder, “first mission accomplished, you hungry?”

“ARG!” Kagome flopped down face-first onto her makeshift futon and started kicking her legs, “I'm so BORED!” the others had assured her only a few more days, but this was starting to become REDICULUS! She'd finished all of her homework (and then some), played with Shippou as well as given him as many lessons as he could handle at the time. And now there was NOTHING to do. Miroku and Sango had even been called on to follow a possible shard rumor in the next town, so she had no one to talk to. And Inuyasha was just as antsy as her, taking to working on the village's firewood for the next year (like they needed it). Miroku said it was sexual frustration, but what would he know about temptation, going on dates with Sango daily.

She'd even taken to using the straw as craft material, shredding it into flexible fibers and weaving it into various shapes. Who would have guessed that basket weaving was a good pastime for someone with claws? Without the strong ribbons of fabric to hold the edges together, Kagome had come up with some smallish mats that now tiled the floor that wasn't covered with the leftover hay.

“What I wouldn't give for a Nintendo right now,” Kagome groaned, adjusting her head in her arms so she could watch Shippou. The kitsune had taken to an afternoon nap and Kagome was beginning to think that it was a good idea, nothing else to do anyway. Come to think about it, Shippou had been sleeping a lot lately, and taking seconds on his meals also. Kagome shrugged it off and gathered Shippou into her arms, lying down with him on the futon with a blanket covering the two.

Shippou shivered slightly and Kagome opened her eyes a crack, checking if the blanket was covering him completely. It was, but Shippou continued to shake almost imperceptibly, scrunching up his face in pain and sweating. It looked like he was having a nightmare. Kagome started growl/purring and started to stroke Shippou, hoping to break him out of the dream. Maybe he was sick? Inuyasha did say that youkai didn't get sick, but Shippou was still a child and all…

“Shippou? Shippou honey, are you alright?” Kagome propped herself up on an elbow so she could see better.

“It hurts,” Shippou mumbled, keeping his face scrunched up and curling into a ball.

“What hurts, honey?” Kagome whispered, trying to see if anything was wrong.

“Everything. My arms, my legs, my head, everything,” another spasm hit and he curled up tighter.

Kagome picked him up and he curled into her body. “How does it hurt? Is it hot, cold, tight…”

“Tight momma. Make it stop!” a growth spurt. When her brother had one, it was only a little one in an arm or leg that didn't hurt very much. Shippou's eyes were leaking from the pain, soaking her haori. She didn't know what to do, but when Inuyasha or the others got back she could ask them.

“I don't know if I can do that right now sweetie, but I'll try,” Kagome now felt like crying herself, she didn't like feeling helpless, even as a human. She would have given him some of the pain medication that she had in her bag, but with being youkai she didn't know how it would react with his body. From personal knowledge, it wouldn't have worked anyway. She was only half youkai and many of the medicines now made her sicker than before the medications ever since she transformed.

Alone, all alone. With no way to contact anyone outside the hut, she couldn't even ask Kaede if she had any suggestions. Kagome took to rocking back and forth and humming a small song that she had heard when she was little. Underneath the humming, Kagome was subconsciously whimpering a help that was above human hearing that would carry for quite a distance.

A couple of minutes later, the hut snapped with energy, “ah, motherf… erg!” Inuyasha attempted to cover up a curse as he nursed his burnt fingers.

“Inuyasha?” Kagome moved toward the partially open door, still cradling Shippou.

“Yeah, you were calling…” Inuyasha sat down on the other side of the door and looked at what he could see of Kagome.

“… It's Shippou. I think he's having a growth spurt or something…” Kagome looked down, re-adjusting Shippou so his head was resting on her shoulder.

Inuyasha grinned and shook his head, “it's about time. I was starting to think he'd always be the runt.”

“Inuyasha!”

“Okay, fine,” Inuyasha held up his hand, “but this'll speed up things though. We don't want to put him through this more than we have to, don't we? Tomorrow's the full moon, so I guess I'll have to go first instead of you.” Kagome nodded, not necessarily liking the idea, but agreeing nonetheless.

“Remember that other outfit that I brought back when I got your armor?” Kagome nodded her head, “when Shippou can move around a little, help him into that. I'm going to go get a plant that'll help him in the meanwhile. Good thing it grows close.” Inuyasha stood up and walked into the forest, leaving Kagome and Shippou alone again.

Kagome sighed, she had a feeling that it would be like this often: waiting for others to get back and complete boredom. Standing up, she moved to her nearly buried backpack and with one arm started digging through to the bottom.

“Hey Yusuke! Where've you been?” a man in a green apron waved, picking up an apple from one of his produce stands outside of the store.

“I got a job and couldn't get away until now. Actually, I'm working right now!” Yusuke laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

The man chuckled and shook his head, “well, I need my store boy back, so tell me next time, okay?” he lobbed the apple towards Yusuke.

“Okay Mr. Tashi, I'll try to come down more often.” Yusuke caught the apple and waved back.

“It seems to me that you come down here often Yusuke,” Kurama observed, watching practically every storeowner on the small street greet Yusuke and even a few times Kuwabara.

“Yeah, this is where I got my rep for being `The Great Urameshi.' With how often I skipped school and disappeared, everyone assumed that I was in a gang, but most of the time I was here helping the stores to get a little money so mom wouldn't end up on the streets. I even lived—good morning Mrs. Koko! —here for a while when mom was really bad.” Yusuke laughed and threw out his arms, “this is my gang of two-thousand men!”

Another owner, this time of the local bakery, came out laughing. “Long time, no mooch! I have some day-olds if you want them.”

“Aw! C'mon Mr. Daikon, it was only once, and besides you weren't gonna sell them anyway! Can Kuwabara have my share, `cause he didn't have any breakfast.” The storeowner nodded and ducked inside, bagging a couple sweet rolls and a jelly bun. By the time he got back outside, Yusuke was further down the road talking to a little kid.

“He moves fast. How long are you guys staying this time?” he asked, handing Kuwabara the treats, “give one to Yusuke, you both look too skinny for your own good.”

“Don't know, it all depends on what happens at the shrine. Thanks for the rolls Mr. Daikon!” Kuwabara waved, joining the other two.

“There you go, Kyo, you'll be able to kick harder if you turn your foot that way, okay?” the little boy, Kyo, nodded and tried to kick Yusuke, but was blocked with a smile. “Keep working and maybe we'll fight some time!” the boy grinned and went back to his kata stances.

“Hn, detective, don't we have a job to do?” Hiei demanded, jumping down from the trees to walk by Kurama.

“You guys might, but this is my job. Besides, she's not even here today, so why hurry?” Yusuke strolled ahead, his hands locked behind his head.

“You just don't want to climb the stairs, right?” Kuwabara asked dryly behind a half-eaten sweet roll.

“Don't remind me.” Yusuke shuddered, “and I'm always complainin' about the old hag's stairs! How she does it every day for school, I don't know.” Speaking of stairs, they turned the corner and there they were. Starting at the sidewalk with a Torii gate with the sign `Higurashi shrine' nailed to one side.

“Whoever said that all temples have to have so many stairs should really rot in hell.” Yusuke mumbled as he approached the gate and put his hand on it. The paint was newer than the last time he visited, as well as the actual wood that the gate was made of. And the stairs too, they had the sharp corners that said `I'm new' for at least the first twenty steps.

“She wasn't kidding when she called, ne (right) Kuwabara? The entire entrance was smashed just like she said.” Yusuke passed the gate and felt the barest amounts of spiritual energy brush against him, “and she's been practicing. Kuwabara, why don't you climb first so if you pass out from exhaustion we can catch you before you fall all the way down.” Kuwabara gave Yusuke a dry look, ruined by the powdered sugar of the jelly bun, and started climbing.

“Here,” Inuyasha tossed what looked like a bluish-green carrot-like plant through the opening in the door. “Cut the root long way and have Shippou lick the juices from it. That should be able to work immediately and when it does, you can boil some tea from the stems that'll be a bit easier to get down.” Inuyasha instructed, sitting down as close to the door as he could.

Kagome did as she was told and took out a cutting board and a paring knife. It sliced quite easily once she got past the outer peel, like an avocado almost. When she separated the two halves, she had to grimace at what she saw. The juices were very viscous, the only thing that she could think of to describe it was slimy.

As Kagome sat Shippou up to lick it, she could only imagine that it tasted as bad as it looked. Several times he gagged, but continued to take it anyway. After lapping up one half, Shippou went limp. Kagome panicked, lifting Shippou to her eye level and tried to get him to respond to anything.

“Kagome, calm down. He's only asleep!” Inuyasha barked, wishing that he could come in and calm her down. “It's a sleeping plant, so just put him down before you wake him up!” as in response, Shippou's head rolled forward and he gave a little snort. Kagome sighed in relief and hugged the inert kitsune before putting him down on her futon.

“I have to make some tea with what's left, right?” Kagome got the pot out, but often glanced over at Shippou nervously, as if he would disappear if she turned her back.

“Just the stems though. Using the root is poisonous in tea, and the leaves wouldn't do anything.” Kagome nodded absently, adding water to the heating pot from the water bucket that Sango had left full before she left with Miroku. One thing that she learned from traveling in the feudal era, aside from packing efficiently in that bottomless yellow bag of hers, was how to make tea from practically anything.

Sigh. Sorry guys, but this is a short chapter. I promise that something will actually happen next chapter. I just hope that you'll excuse Yusuke for being OOC, `cause that's the way that I'm making `em!

Oh! And “Monocytosis” isn't actually a disease. The literal translation is `one cell disease.' Yeah, I got it from a friend of mine that seems to suffer from this constantly…

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