Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Mayakashi ❯ Chapter 17 ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Bleach, or YuYu Hakusho, or any of the anime/manga characters.

Warnings: Mild Language and Violence

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Kagome was awoken from sweet dreams of silver hair and golden eyes by a massive power that suddenly took form, her eyes wide.

“Momma, what's here?” Shippo asked from the bed that she'd recently gotten for him and her brother.

“Nothing to worry about, sweety,” Kagome whispered before she got up.

As quickly as was possible, she got into the most impressive clothes her pregnancy allowed, and left the children to their sleep.

She quickly found the Spirit Detectives gathered at the front of Genkai's house, and before them stood a grim-looking Koenma. As soon as she entered the scene, the prince focused in on her, and she felt a chill run through her.

“What is it?”

“I received news. And it's not pleasant, I'm afraid,” the teen said, frowning.

“Okay… It's too early for being cryptic. Just hit me with it,” Kagome said between jaw-cracking yawns.

“Alright. Aizen's making his move.”

Kagome's eyes widened, her blood pressure spiking instantly.

“W… When?”

“I had a spy in his midst… He died getting the information to me. Aizen's going to mobilize in a week.”

“A… A week? Are you serious?” Kagome gasped.

“Yes. And there's a bigger complication. It would seem that somehow, the Shinigami have found out about the youkai and Makai. And we have no idea which of the worlds Aizen is going to attack, beyond the fact that it won't be Hueco Mundo, as he already controls it.”

“It'll be the Makai,” Kagome said, her certainty giving the prince pause.

“You're positive?”

“Not absolutely, but it's the most assured guess.”

“Why's that?” Yusuke asked, frowning. “It seems like he'd be more likely to run to the Soul Society and wipe out any resistance first.”

“Aizen had Naraku's help last time, and he still lost. If I'd been a little faster, he would've died,” she added, glaring at the ground. “Anyway, from what I know about him, he's a strategist and a master planner, but he was seriously thrown when we annihilated his forces. If he's like Naraku, he'll make sure his forces are as strong as absolutely possible this time instead of assuming they're invincible, and to do that, he's probably going to have the strong youkai who haven't left the Makai join him before he attacks Soul Society.”

“I do hope you're wrong,” Koenma said, staring at the ground.

“I do, too… So we have seven days. Seven days to get ready.”

“Will you be ready by then?” he asked, eyeing her stomach.

“Yukina believes I'll be delivering within the next three days. Until then, Master Genkai, can we get to work on the Spirit Wave?”

“Six months and you haven't mastered it yet?” Koenma asked, eyes wide.

“I haven't mastered it yet, no. So I'm determined to be able to by the time this week is over.”

“Then we'd better get to work,” Genkai said, moving past them.

“Koenma, if the Shinigami know about the Makai, then they know about everything. Tell your daddy that it'd be in the best interest of everyone if he didn't go off and kill all the Shinigami. Aizen's a serious threat, and I don't know that the Reikai alone will be enough to fend him off. He sent out an entire army yesterday, just to test us. If he has that kind of numbers to spare, he'll need all the help he can get.”

“You realize he may try to kill you for just saying that, right? My father's not the `forgive and forget' type.”

Kagome's head bowed, and her body tensed.

“If he does, then I'll go down fighting. But if he's going to kill me just out of spite, I hope he realizes that there's a lot more good I can do alive than dead… so to speak.”

“Ugh… You're picking up on Yusuke's bad habits. I'll be sure to inform him, assuming he doesn't already know. Oh, and Yusuke, I'd advise you get Keiko. Just in case.”

A portal appeared, and the prince vanished. Suddenly, Kagome found herself with Yusuke's arm around her head and Hiei smirking at her.

“What?”

“Well, you've openly threatened the uptight bastard. You're officially a Spirit Detective, now, I believe,” Hiei said, smirking.

“Yup. Man. It wasn't quite as dramatic as when I suddenly came back to life and threatened those pansies that work for him, but it'll do the trick,” Yusuke said, smirking. “Well, I'm gonna follow the toddler's advice for once. I'll be back in a bit,” he said before taking off to retrieve his wife.

“So, shall we get started?” Genkai asked, taking a stance.

“Sounds good. Hey Hiei, think we can work on my control later?”

“Sure,” Hiei said, turning away. “And sorry I missed out on the fight last night. Sounds like it would've been fun.”

“Nah, don't worry about it. I'm sure Makuro appreciated it.”

At the sudden, violent shade of bright red that formed on the youkai's face, Kagome giggled. And then, with a low growl, he was gone in a flash, and Kagome took several moments to regain her composure.

“Well, that's interesting. I don't believe even Yusuke would get away with that,” Kurama said, smirking.

“Nah. He likes me too much to kill me,” Kagome said with a smirk.

“Oh?”

“Hey, you're not the only youkai teaching me to better use my youki… though I definitely hurt less when I'm training with you.”

“Yes, well, learning how to summon a demonic fire is much harder on the body than ordinary plants.”

“True, but I think that I left an impression on him when I accidentally set off the dragon and didn't get hurt.”

“Yes, that probably did help matters,” Kurama mused.

“So it would seem… I didn't really get the chance to thank you, before,” Kagome added, suddenly serious.

“Thank me?”

“For saving me yesterday. If you hadn't let Youko take over, I wouldn't be alive. And if you weren't you, I'd have died a while ago.”

“Well now, where's all this coming from?” Kurama asked, looking at her in surprise.

“I don't know… I mean, it's not like I'm the ungrateful type, but I just felt it had to be said. I know despite how in sync you two are, you don't like letting him take over. So thank you for doing it yesterday,” Kagome said, blushing heavily.

“Well, since we're being honest, you're right. I despise having to rely on my former self's power instead of using my own to gain victory. But, as it was you in peril and you had no other way out, we both agreed that you would need aid, and I couldn't break out of that barrier. So, you're welcome, I suppose.”

“Well, that's touching,” Genkai mocked, bringing their attention to her. “Now, if you're done with all the touchy feely crap, how about we get you ready to fight a virtual apocalypse.”

With one last look at Kurama, Kagome launched forward, taking a stance before Genkai.

“Hit me with everything you've got,” Genkai stated, power building around her.

Kagome planted her feet, energy building in sheets around her as her eyes began to glow silver.

“Meiin mestuju ressai. Kohaku kyo chojin, komei eikyaku. Ko. Jo. Sai!”

The power exploded upwards, the ground shaking around the miko as she charged Genkai.

The old psychic, despite her looks, moved with incredible speed, dodging strike after strike of Kagome's fists. And then, Kagome pointed at where she was about to move, and when Genkai avoided the blast of energy, the miko pounced.

“Spirit Wave!”

Her fist connected with Genkai's chest, and power exploded outward. Unfortunately, outward meant everywhere. Including the user.

Kagome barreled backwards, smoke rising from her arm as pain surged through her.

“That was pretty good. You've gotten better control. Apparently, you learned more than we thought, since you used it on instinct before.”

“Yeah, but it still blew up in my face,” Kagome grouched, sitting up.

“Really? I could've sworn I had something to do with that. Maybe I gave my praise too easily,” Genkai mocked, smirking when Kagome's jaw dropped.

“What!?”

“Well, since I'm the one who created the damn technique, it makes sense that I'd know how to make it backfire,” Genkai scoffed. “But still, that was pretty good. You can still get better, though. If I'd still had my maximum ability, I could've easily used all that raw power and killed you with it.”

“Well, maybe not. I'm sure you could've used all the power, but don't forget, I have mastered the other techniques of yours.”

“Yes, and in only six months. I wish the dimwit had the kind of discipline you do,” Genkai sighed.

Kagome simply smirked, letting her muscles slowly relax.

“Well, let's work on mastering control.”

The rest of the morning was spent working tirelessly to master control over the Spirit Wave, and Genkai was right. After using it on instinct, Kagome suddenly had a mastery over it like she would never have expected possible.

As the afternoon rolled around, Kagome found herself being pulled into playing games with Shippo and Souta, which seemed to somehow give her more energy as they went. Finally, Souta got tired, and Kagome joined the Spirit Detectives for lunch, her muscles weary.

“Kagome?”

“Yeah, Yukina?”

“What are the odds that those Shinigami friends of yours will get along well with us, if we meet?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“Well, from what you told me, until recently, they thought all youkai to be dead. And when they found a few survivors, they immediately attempted to rectify the situation,” the ice maiden said, her face a mask of concern.

“Ah… Don't worry about it, Yukina. With Shippo, Sesshomaru, and Kagura around, they've somewhat changed their opinions. Some are still wary, but most of them just accept it now… though I'm not sure how they're reacting to the discovery that there are a lot of youkai left.”

“So, they wouldn't just attack, right?”

At that, the others, who'd been listening silently to their exchange, focused on Yukina with laser intensity.

“Don't worry about that, Yukina,” Kagome said, wrapping an arm around the youkai who she'd quickly come to be close friend with upon her stay at Genkai's. “Even if they did attack, which I seriously doubt they would unless there was a particularly evil youkai that attacked them all first, they wouldn't get very far.”

“Oh?”

“You assume that we could kill them,” Hiei mused, eyeing the miko with amusement.

“Well… yeah, kinda. But that's not what I meant. If anyone but a Lieutenant or Captain were to attack, there'd be very little danger of them doing much to anyone here, including Shippo. It's not that they're all weak, but my aura kind of has a… bad effect on those who haven't been trained to withstand strong spirits' influences.”

“'Bad effect'? What the hell's that mean?” Yusuke asked, eyes narrowed.

“Well, let me put it this way. I've been here six months, learning to unlock and use all my powers, in every form. Before I came here, I didn't even have a thousandth of the power I have now. And when I was in Soul Society, even if I suppressed my powers to uncomfortable levels, it was a bad thing for any Shinigami who wasn't at least Lieutenant class to be near me. With a few exceptions, but I haven't figured that out, yet.”

“And why was it a bad thing?” Kurama asked, his kitsune curiosity rearing its ugly head.

“Well, they tended to get sick. Violently sick. Shinigami auras don't react well with mine, for some reason which I've yet to completely figure out. There are a few who aren't Lieutenants who could get near me, like my sort-of-sister Rukia, or Botan, but most of the others avoid me. Which was a very odd thing, because when I worked at healing them with the medical squad's barracks, the opposite was true, to the point where just being near me seemed to heal the lesser injuries.”

“Strange indeed.”

“So, that was a long aside, but the answer would be you don't have to worry about them attacking. You'd probably hear them getting sick long before they showed up.”

“Okay, then.”

“Besides, they wouldn't go after you, anyways. Hiei's way scarier looking,” Yusuke said, laughing at the growl said hiyoukai released in response.

“Well, you may have a point, there,” Kagome said, giggling.

“Maybe so. Just remember, we've still got training to do later, Kagome,” Hiei mused, smirking when Kagome gulped.

The rest of the day passed unbelievably quickly, with every moment spent on Kagome's training. By the end of the day, she was bruised, thoroughly beaten, and exhausted. The second her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light…

 

A/N:

hiyoukai- fire demon

Well, there's yet another new chapter! I hope you're enjoying and will keep enjoying to the end. I don't know how well I'm handling Kurama's sophisticate speech patterns, but I think I'm doing a pretty good job with it (but I never realized how lengthy it would be to give him dialogue as a main component of the story). As always, be sure to tell me what you think, be it good or bad. See you next time!