Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Keeper of the Worlds ❯ A Long Explanation in an Even Longer Tunnel ( Chapter 3 )

K, you people need to review!!! I can't think of titles or names on my own, I suck a lot at coming up with names for anything, I need your help. It takes two minutes to type up a review, it won't kill you to exercise your hands some…and not like that.

Anyway, now I need names for chapters 2 and 3, so pick one or come up with your own. And sorry for not updating in so long, but two hurricanes and assloads of make-up work from missing two-and-a-half weeks of school due to stress-related stomach problems sounds like a good excuse to me. What? I didn't mention I lived in Florida? Oh, well, I do, and right where Frances and Jeanne made landfall, so I had no internet for maybe a month…those were the darkest days of my whole life…*shudder*

On with the fic…

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Last time, on "Keeper of the Worlds": Hiei did something he was told, Jiyami unleashed a killer super-attack, and she and the Tantei entered one of the portals that the ICH's had been coming through…

~~A Long Explanation in an Even Longer Tunnel~~

The five of them stepped through the portal and came out into a stone-walled hallway, lit by torches in brackets placed at intervals of about fifteen feet between.

"Geez, what's with all these psychos with castles and their weird fetishes with Cultivated Humans?" asked Yusuke irritably, looking down the hallway to the point where the end was swallowed up in inky darkness.

"Yeah, you think some giant demons with a whole castle to themselves would have somethin' better to do than grow humans and think of ways to take over the world," added Kuwabara.

"Mm-hm, yeah, but most demons have one-track minds, if they have them, and can only consider what they need to do to get more power than anyone else. And of course, that's the reason why they can't be trusted. If they ever do make an alliance, it's only to gain strength, and is usually temporary. Someone is always going to die in those kinds of deals," answering Yusuke's and Kuwabara's questions. "But y'all should have known that, what with all the demons you've fought against already," she continued, starting down the hallway, with the Tantei following behind her.

"Kurama said earlier that you already knew his situation, and now you know how many demons we've fought, how the hell would you know all that when the last time you were here was when Kurama was still Yoko Kurama?" Hiei asked, flashing in front of her, and blocking her path, making it plainly obvious that he wanted an answer and wouldn't let her pass until she gave one.

"Ah, yes, I thought you would be the one to ask, Hiei, and I'd be more than happy to answer. However, I need a minute to think of how to best put it, so in the mean-time, I think we should keep moving," she replied, grinning, and pushing past him.

Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara had stopped walking when Hiei appeared in front of Jiyami, waiting for the impending bloodshed. They now stared at their shortest member's back, making sure they kept their distance in case he was pissed. He simply scowled, shoved his hands in his pockets and followed behind Jiyami, shocking the rest of the Tantei in his almost-calm (for him) manner.

"Hey, are y'all coming, or what?" Jiyami called over her shoulder, snapping them back to reality.

"Uh, yeah, coming!" they called back, running to catch up and slowing to a walk when they caught up, all still trying to figure out Hiei's odd behavior, especially that Jiyami had touched him and hadn't been killed, maimed, skewered, gutted, or something else generally thought to be unpleasant.

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Five figures surround a giant fire, lit on a pedestal in the center of the room. Chains hang from the ceiling or are mounted on walls, some holding long-dead skeletons, while others detain still-breathing prisoners, ranging from listless due to bondage, hunger, and thirst, to those screaming threats and promises of revenge, radiating fear of dying like a caged animal, and still others are empty, awaiting captives to be delivered into their waiting embraces.

The fire has been charmed to show the Tantei and Jiyami, although the figures can't hear what is going on.

Shadowy Figure 1: "I thought you said there were only four of them, and yet, I count five. Who is the girl?" a shrill female voice asked, trying to mask obvious annoyance.

SF 2: "Hmm, I'm not sure. But it doesn't matter. One more won't pose any threat to us," answered a deep, gravelly male voice, but no emotion could be sensed from this one.

SF 3: "Certainly you are right, but it would mean that our intelligence was defective. Perhaps we should have our spies hung from the roof and walls like the common thieves…" retorted a much shriller male voice, similar to the female's, but lower-pitched (imagine Baldok, but with better grammar).

SF 4: "You need to learn to control your bloodlust, the noxiousness of it is strong enough to kill. And our leader is right, one more is no threat, especially not a human female," added another male, this one a deep, monotone bass.

SF 5: "Yes, human females are the weakest creatures known to any beings with half a brain. We have nothing to fear," finished another female, with a smooth alto voice and so perfectly masking any sign of emotion that one could think she had been born without any.

SF 1: "You're right, we should not question the leader. Please forgive my brother and me."

SF 2: "Make sure the same mistake is not made again."

SF 1&3: "Yes, sir."

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"K, well, I guess the best place to start would probably be at the beginning," Jiyami said, turning around to face the Tantei while walking backwards, and breaking the silence that had been in effect since she `asked' for a minute to think of how to phrase it.

Kuwabara and Yusuke listened in interest, while Hiei looked bored and was giving her a "get on with it" look.

"K, well, one day in chemistry class a few years ago, I wasn't exactly paying attention in the lab, and sort of mixed some highly-reactive chemicals. Well, that caused a big explosion, and I sort of got sent to another world," she began, looking kind of embarrassed that she hadn't been paying attention when mixing dangerous chemicals.

"How could you `sort of' get sent to another world?" asked Yusuke, while Kuwabara was staring at her with bulging eyes like she was something that should be in a glass jar of formaldehyde. Jiyami was sure that he could only walk because he already had been for the past couple of minutes and his feet were moving of their own accord.

"Fine, I did get sent to another world. Anyway, I met a guy there who helped me find a way home. However, we didn't just figure out how to get from there to my home world. We also-"

"Found the way to the main tunnel that connects all of the worlds," interrupted Hiei. "That still doesn't explain how you know so much about us," he continued, showing irritation that she was taking her sweet time in clarifying that point.

"K, you need to chill, I'm getting to that. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted (Hiei scowled even more at this remark), I went home, Mom was so happy to see me, blah, blah, blah, the search was called off, 'cuz I'd been missing for a few weeks and she had called in search teams and alerted all the federal offices that I disappeared in a blinding flash of fire and smoke in chemistry class, and to call her if I was found, and so the government called me in for questioning," she continued. "So, they asked me where I had been, and didn't believe me when I said that they wouldn't believe me-"

"Wait a minute, they wouldn't believe you that they wouldn't believe you, what?" asked Kuwabara, trying to piece together what she had just said.

"When I told them that they wouldn't believe me if I told them where I had been, they told me to try them, so in other words, they didn't believe that they wouldn't believe me," she answered, annoyed at another interruption.

"Oh…" he replied, obviously still confused, but too scared of getting on her nerves to pursue further explanation.

"So, anyway, I told them that I had traveled through the time-space continuum and landed in another world. And can you guess what happened?" she asked them, smiling.

"They didn't believe you because they're stupid American Feds., right?" guessed Yusuke, grinning at the ignorance of human adults.

"Yup, and they wanted to send me to a psyche ward, but they didn't have enough evidence of my insanity, so they continued to question me about exactly where I had gone. I finally got fed up and told them that if I got my watch back, I could show them. I guess they figured they'd humor me and get to send me to a pretty white room in a new coat, because they brought me the watch. Of course, I surprised everyone by opening the portal and taking them to meet the guy who helped me develop it," she said, grinning at the memory of their stupefied expressions when she opened the portal.

"So what? You still haven't-" Hiei began.

"K, when I say "chill", I mean that you need to chill. I'm almost there. Anyway, one of the Feds. recognized the guy who helped me, because he was also a major character in a t.v. show that his seven-year-old son watched," she said, and flashed another grin as she continued. "So, does that answer your question, Hiei?"

"If you mean to say that that's the case with us, too, then yes," Hiei replied, although he still looked shocked to find out that he was a character on some t.v. show in another world.

"Wait a minute! If we're in a totally different worlds, then how the hell can we be on some t.v. show in your world?!?" asked Yusuke.

"Well, I'm guessing that the author of the original manga that the anime is based on has some sort of psychic link to your world, and can also see into the future in your world, which is the reason why I thought that I had traveled through the time-space continuum instead of just dimensions or alternate realities. You see, the manga and anime are past this point in time in their plots, so that would mean that the author can see into the future here instead of how a normal psychic can see into the future in his or her own world. The same thing happened when I was sent to the other world in the explosion. I had gone to a point that had already happened in the manga and the anime," she answered, grinning at Kuwabara's and Yusuke's stunned expressions, while Hiei appeared unfazed and simply stored the information away.

"Of course, since the Feds. found out about the time-space continuum, they've been trying to replicate the technology that I use to travel between the worlds. However, I swore that I wouldn't give them the opportunity to do that, so in the mean-time, they've got me going around, making sure everything stays balanced and nothing comes up that could possibly cause a massive, multi-world apocalypse. It really isn't a bad gig, I just wish they'd let me drop out of school. But they say it would look suspicious if one of the smartest kids in school just disappeared, and they won't let me say that I'm transferring, it sucks…" she finished, looking wistful at the thought of getting out of school just to kick the asses of giant demons, evil spirits, and total loonies with cool powers.

"Yeah, I hear ya. Stupid Koenma doesn't care about how much stress I'm under what with school and evil demons always trying to take over the Ningenkai," Yusuke said, walking with his arms behind his head and adopting an `it sucks, but I'm stuck with it, and I can't do anything about it' look.

Hiei snorted, Kuwabara burst out laughing, and Kurama and Jiyami both smiled at this statement. Like school was really causing Yusuke stress.

Yusuke noticed their expressions and took up a defensive air, "What?! It's true! Keiko's been bugging me a lot lately about how much I skip, and it's really been a major pain having to listen to her all the time!"

"You can't really say that it's school that's stressing you out then, can you?" asked Kurama, fully aware that Yusuke was irritated now, and that he really shouldn't be annoyed any more.

"Gggggrrrr…shut up, fox," he replied, storming ahead and demanding, "NOW WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE END OF THIS DAMN TUNNEL?!?"

"Y'know, places like this are usually booby-trapped, we really should make sure that no one goes off alone," Jiyami said, quickening her pace as she added, "and thanks for making us have to run, Kurama."

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SF 1: "HA! If they're stupid enough to let one of their members stray, they certainly won't be any challenge for us! One of us could destroy them all! Oooohh, let me be the one! I will drown them all!"

SF 5: "Heh, please! I insist that I be the one to kill them. Nothing will be left of them once I incinerate them!"

SF 3: "No, no, no! I want to slice them to ribbons! I will carve them nicely to serve as our dinner!"

SF 2: "Shut up! Your incessant whining is grating on my ears! I am the leader, and I shall decide who will go first!"

SF 4: "Please, sir, allow me to be the first. I will bury them alive and we will never have the unpleasantness of seeing intruders again, for they will be mounted at the perimeter for all to see the horrific way that they died, as a warning. No one will dare challenge us again."

SF 2: "Yes, you will be the first to go. Now, set up your ambush."

SF 4: "As you wish."

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After another five minutes of walking, Jiyami and the Tantei finally came to a fork, where on both sides was a spiral staircase, with each one going both up and down.

"Well, what do we do?" asked Yusuke, apparently trying to figure out which way was the right way to go.

"Kurama, any ideas?" inquired Jiyami, turning to her friend.

"Why ask me?" questioned Kurama, taken aback that he had instantly been put on the spot that way.

"Because, you're the thief, fox," answered Hiei, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world (which it was).

"Oh, right, um, give me a minute, and I'll tell you," Kurama replied, looking back and forth between the staircases in indecision.

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K, I think that adequately explained Jiyami's job and some other stuff that might have been confusing. If there's anything else that needs explaining, ask in a review, I will try to answer it in the next few chapters.

Also, I NEED NAMES!!!! Can you guess who still needs naming? Bingo! Bingo! Bingo! That's right! It's the five Shadowy Figures! K, in case you didn't get it, which you probably didn't because I didn't elaborate much, they're based on the five Chinese elements, which are, in order of the SF's, water, wood, metal, earth, and fire. Send me names and what they should look like. I WILL USE YOUR IDEAS!!! YOU JUST HAVE TO SEND THEM TO ME!!!

Chapter titles:

Introduction of the Bad Guys

A Long Explanation in an Even Longer Tunnel

Another Giant Castle Run by More Elemental Demons

I think you can think of something better than that, but if you can't, vote. After all, that's what today is all about. Unfortunately, both candidates suck, but anyone old enough to vote should because it's still our futures. K, I'll stop ranting before I scare off readers…

Also, I need other characters. Fill out the form and send it in. Please? I really need your help. And interactive stories are fun…k, that was scary, just review, and help me with character ideas. Remember, voting's important, your voice does count, especially in the world of fanfiction. Review.

Thanks!

Ja ne!