Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Demon of Makai ❯ Chapter 9

I know I haven't updated in a long time, and I apologize over and over to you, the readers. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. My best friend came down from Tennessee for a week, and I couldn't update while she was here. I will try to do better. Can't promise anything, but I'll try.

 

Oh, I think I forgot to put this in earlier. Some of the characters act OOC at times. If it bothers you so much that you can't focus on anything else, point it out to me, and I'll try to fix it. My computer doesn't like me to edit my chapters, but I'll try it anyway. Thanks.

 

Serena SilverMoon: It's not fun having a computer that won't work; I know how you feel. My Internet was down earlier, so I couldn't update sooner today. Yes, lots of fun is heading their way. Or maybe they're heading for the fun? Either way, they'll run into each other.

 

~*~

 

Ow! Why are there rocks in my bed? Crystal didn't want to get up, but there was no way she could get back to sleep with rocks in her back. Opening her eyes, she saw a ceiling that wasn't hers. What?!

 

She snapped up and looked around. It looked like they were in the forest that they had just been in, but it didn't have the same feel. Looking down, there was the rest of the group. They were all on the ground, unmoving. She would've panicked, but she could see them breathing.

 

Then she noticed that there were four more additions to their group. She had seen them at the shrine, helping with the selling. The closest one had curly orange hair and looked like a thug. The second one was a black-haired boy who seemed to have a sad aura at times. The third one was Hiei. What is Hiei doing with them? Maybe they're friends of his, or something. And then there was the last one. Almost immediately she recognized him as the redhead that ran Jordan over. His hair was a bit disarrayed, but it still looked good.

 

Now the others were waking up, all moaning and groaning about their backs. Getting up was a pain, but with a bit of help from Jordan and a tree she managed to get back on her feet. She tried to ignore Jordan for the moment, who was cursing under her breath; apparently, she had landed on her tail wrong, and it was giving her a lot of pain. No one (aside from Jordan) seemed to be in too much pain. There was muttering and dirty looks at the ground, but there didn't seem to be any broken bones. Jordan's profanity was starting to get on her nerves, however.

 

“Jordan?” she said too sweetly.

 

Now Jordan knew she did something bad and was about to get it. “Yes?” she said.

“Do you know who dropped in with the rest of us?”

 

She shook her head. “Follow me.” There was no arguing with that tone, so Jordan hung her head and followed like the obedient tigress she was. Crystal stopped right in front of the redhead, who was currently helping up the orange-hair.

 

“Excuse me, but is your friend all right?” she asked him.

 

He looked at her, laughter in his eyes. “He will be fine, eventually. Thank you for your concern.”

 

She heard a gasp behind her and felt rather than saw Jordan trying to hide behind her. I knew she'd recognize his voice. “My sister and I were worried that he might not be okay, as he isn't up yet.”

 

She could see something click in his mind. “You were--I--you were there when I knocked that person over. Wait, that was your sister. Is she all right?” There was sincere concern in his eyes as he looked at her.

 

I can see why she's taken with him. “She's fine. In fact, she's right here.” She stepped aside, revealing a cowering Jordan. Looking embarrassed, Jordan straightened. It looked like all her blood had gone straight to her cheeks; they were redder than a tomato.

“Hello, again. I wasn't expecting to see you so soon.”

 

Jordan still said nothing, her face steadily getting redder.

 

He turned to Crystal and asked, “Is she all right? It looks like she might be a little sick.” He looked at Jordan in a concerned manner.

 

“She's fine,” Crystal assured him. “She landed on something wrong, that's all. She'll be okay later.” Sparing a glance to their surroundings, she asked, “Where are we? I don't remember this place or getting here.”

 

He smiled. “This is Makai, the Demon World. My friends and I were going to close the portal that connects this world and ours.”

 

Crystal laughed at his bewildered expression; people were always telling her more than they intended to. “Why were you going to close it?”

 

“It's our job.”

 

“You get paid to close portals?”

 

“We don't get paid, and we just make sure that demons don't make trouble in our world.” His confused look kept spreading. “I don't know why I'm telling you this. You probably think I'm crazy.”

 

She shook her head. “No, I've heard and seen things more unbelievable. Well, it was nice talking to you. Maybe we can do this again sometime.”

 

He waved at them. “Maybe. I think we'll be traveling together, so that may very well happen a lot. Until then, good-bye.”

 

“Bye.” She dragged Jordan, who still hadn't said anything, back towards their other companions. That shook Jordan out of her paralysis.

 

“That wasn't nice,” she snapped. “What did I do to deserve that!?”

 

“Well, you were using too much profanity,” Crystal informed her. “Besides, I thought you'd love for another chance to see him.”

 

“How could you do that to me?” Jordan whined.

 

“I just told you,” Crystal said curtly, leaving her sister to sputter and fume behind her.

 

Kagome walked towards them. “Do either of you know what happened?”

 

“According to them,” Crystal pointed towards the group of four, “we're in a place called Makai.”

 

Kagome visibly paled. “Makai?” she asked.

 

Crystal nodded. “Have you heard of it?”

 

“Yeah.” She didn't go into an explanation, and Crystal didn't ask, seeing the pained look on her face.

 

“What are we going to do now?” she asked, trying to get Kagome's mind on something else.

 

“Ask them what's going on.” Kagome marched over to Hiei and began interrogating the poor fire Koorime.

 

“Let's steer clear of her for awhile,” Crystal suggested; Jordan nodded, forgetting to fume at the sight of Hiei under Kagome's fire.

 

~*~

 

“So let me get this straight,” said Kuwabara. “We're staying where we landed for some unknown reason, and we'll be looking after these people as well?”

 

“Yes, and the reason isn't quite as unknown as you might think,” answered Kurama. “Hiei won't leave them, and since they're staying here, so is he, which means we have to stay with him.”

 

“Why does he want to stay with them so much?”

 

Kurama took a deep breath. You can be so thick at times, Kuwabara. “I think he's grown rather fond of them. After all, he works with them, the same as we do.”

 

“What? These people are from the shrine?”

 

Kuwabara no baka, who ELSE would they be? “Yes, they are. There's Kagome right there, giving Hiei a verbal lashing. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to cut her off or cut her throat yet. He doesn't normally have this much tolerance for humans. Or anyone, for that matter.”

 

“Maybe he has a crush on her,” Kuwabara said gleefully.

 

“Maybe,” agreed Kurama, looking thoughtful.

 

“Or maybe he was too busy listening to you two talking about him to retaliate,” came a voice from behind them. They spun around; Hiei was standing right there, arms crossed and glaring at them. “Do you spend all your spare time talking about someone who acts differently than what you're used to?”

 

I guess he's finished being beaten like a rug by Kagome.

 

Hiei smirked as Kurama's thoughts reached him. “For your information, she wasn't `beating me like a rug' and she only wanted to know how to get out of this place.”

 

“And what did you tell her?”

 

Kurama's always too concerned about how much other ningens know about our job. “I told her the truth. We have to find the demon that made this thing and bring it in. Once that's done, we can go home.”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Kuwabara cried, waving his arms around. “Koenma didn't say anything about tracking a demon down and taking it back with us.”

 

“Well, if he can make one portal, he can make another,” Hiei said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If we don't stop him, he'll only make another one, and this won't be any good.”

 

“Whatever you say, shrimp, though if you don't watch that attitude of yours, I might just have to punch your face in.” He rubbed one fist into the other hand while trying to look menacing.

 

“Why do we even bother with this buffoon?” Hiei asked Kurama in a bored voice.

 

“Hey!” Kuwabara cried, but Kurama shook his head, chuckling. “He's a good asset to the team. He's saved our lives on a number of occasions.”

 

“He's also the reason we've almost lost them on more numerous occasions,” Hiei shot back.

 

“Be nice, Hiei,” Kurama warned.

 

“Hn. Anyway, they're staying here for the night, and I doubt that the Detective will leave them.”

 

“Then we are staying. It's not like it's any different than a normal workday, except we normally go home to sleep.”

 

Hiei used his speed to make it into the trees before he could say any more. His youkai hearing picked up what the baka said next.

 

“I wish he wouldn't do that. No one should move that fast, even they are that short.”

 

“Baka,” he muttered. “Why do I put up with him?” He leaped through the trees before stopping by a stream, where Robin was sitting. Coming up silently, he could see she was staring passively into the running water, her knees drawn to her chest. “Did something happen?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

 

Startled, her head jerked up at the sound of his voice. Seeing it was him, she relaxed slightly. “I was just thinking about how stupid I am,” she replied. “I just panicked when I saw Amon. If I had just kept my cool, then we wouldn't be here!” She buried her head in her arms.

 

Hiei looked at her, nonplussed. “Who?” he asked, thinking, If he's hurt her, then I'll make sure he suffers for it!

 

“Amon. I used to work with him in the STN-J. We would hunt witches before I was declared a witch.” Her arms muffled her voice, but his ears picked it up clearly enough.

 

“Any reason why your status changed?”

 

“I don't know. They all knew I was a Fire Craft-user, so I don't know what gave someone the idea that I was a witch.” She sounded so sad that he wanted to find whoever did this to his “mother” and punish them.

 

“I'm sorry,” he said awkwardly. The words rarely, if ever, crossed his lips, and they felt strange, stranger than even the first time Kurama had him try sweet snow. He wasn't sure that he liked that feeling.

 

She lifted her head up and looked at him. “It's not your fault. There's nothing anyone can do about it now, since it's been about a year since I worked with them.” She sighed. “I miss them, though. They were the first people I knew here in Japan, and they were all nice. But that part of my life is over now, and I can't get it back. Right now I'm stuck here in Demon World and I have no clue how to get back.”

 

“We have to find the demon that made that portal, take him in to a certain someone, and go home.”

 

“How are we getting home?”

 

“With the little device a certain someone gave us. It creates a portal to Ningenkai for us to go through, but it only works once. We have to find the demon who made the first portal because he'll only make another one once we close this one.”

 

“I see. Who is this `certain person'?”

 

“Our boss. It's best that you don't know much about him, because some of us are a bit paranoid that it'll be used against us.”

 

“Are you one of those paranoid people, Hiei?”

 

“Perhaps.”

 

Robin turned her gaze out to the water. “You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I don't get offended easily.”

 

“I just don't think it's relevant what our job is or who we work for. It isn't something you'd be ashamed of.”

 

“You don't have to justify anything with me, you know that. We'd love you if you were a murderer.”

 

That's a little too close to the truth for comfort. Better change the subject. “Are you going to follow us and try to find the demon?”

 

She nodded. “We don't know anything about this place so I think it's better to stay with the ones who do have a clue as to what's going on.”

 

They were silent for a while, just watching the water run past. When the light started to disappear, voices called them back to the others. Somehow they got shelter up; it wasn't much, just Kurama's handiwork with the local plants. Of course, no one outside the Reikai Tantei knew that; the others were just told that the some plants around here grew faster than normal. There was only so much he could do, however. Three different “living quarters” were erected. They weren't big, but it was enough. One for the Spirit Detectives, one for the girls, and one for the other boys.

 

At the moment, Jordan and Kagome were trying to light the fire; so far, they were unsuccessful. Their kittens weren't helping any. They were very fond of the firewood, and were playing hide-and-seek in it, causing their two humans to look for them every few seconds. Sighing, Robin said good-bye to Hiei and went to help light the fire.

 

“Let me do this,” she ordered, causing the other two to get out of her way after grabbing their kanekos. She glared at the wood and it burst into flames.

 

That's Robin for you. He left them and went to see what the rest of the Reikai Tantei were doing without him. He took to the trees to make faster time. Perched above them, he listened with a little disgust at what they were discussing. Girls? Really, don't they have something better to talk about? Like, for instance, where the demon we're tracking is?

 

Kuwabara was the one currently talking. “My Yukina is the most wonderful girl alive,” he gushed. Hiei was not at all pleased that this idiot was still infatuated with his sister. If he dares make a move on her, I'll rip his heart out!

 

While Kuwabara was talking about “his Yukina”, Yusuke leaned over to Kurama and commented, “It's a good thing that Hiei isn't here. He'd rip his heart out if he heard Kuwabara talking about his sister that way.”

 

Kurama smiled in agreement. “Yes, it is a good thing. I wonder why Hiei refuses to let him or Yukina know that he is her brother. I have a feeling that Kuwabara would stop speaking like that in his presence, as it isn't a good idea to talk about that to her own brother.”

 

“Hey, Kurama,” called Kuwabara, causing them to stop their conversation. “Do you have a girlfriend? I mean, with your looks, you could snag any girl you wanted.”

 

He blushed. This cold-blooded thief actually blushed! “Um, not at the moment, no,” he stammered, caught off-guard. Now this isn't something you see every day. “I did have one, once. That was how I met Hiei. He thought I was the demon that stole something from him, and I thought he was the demon that took her away. We eventually sorted out what had happened, and he helped me get her back.” I remember that.

 

“What about you, Urameshi?”

 

Yusuke's face became a blank mask. “No.”

 

Even the thick-witted baka knew that this wasn't a safe subject around Yusuke. “Oh.” Then he went on anyway. “Well, there's bound to be someone out there for you. I mean, there's five, no, four unattached girls here. You can try one of them.”

 

That's when Hiei decided to drop in. “If you paid attention at all, you'd know that those girls are not what you ningens call `available'.” He continued after seeing their blank looks. “Robin is with Michael, but that's the obvious one. Kagome loves the person who acts as Inuyasha, which leaves three. And I think one of them has it in for you.” He pointed to Kurama, who gave him the deer-in-the-headlights look. “That leaves two.”

 

“Why am I cursed with this kind of luck?” asked Kurama.

 

“It's your looks, fox,” Hiei answered him anyway. “Now, I believe that the food is being cooked.” That did it. Kuwabara streaked past, intent on getting his hands on whatever's cooking, Yusuke not far behind.

 

“Shall we, Hiei?” the fox asked. “I'd rather not go to bed with an empty stomach.”

 

Dinner was…interesting. All the human boys seemed to be having a contest of who can eat the most. It was noisy and a little dangerous if you got in their way, but it provided entertainment. After it was done, Kurama and Hiei volunteered to be on the first watch; it was asking for trouble if you traveled with humans and didn't put up some sort of sentry. There were only low-level demons around, so the two friends sat by the fire, staring into its light.

 

Hiei finally broke the silence. “I've noticed that you've been preoccupied lately.”

 

His friend nodded. “I'm afraid so. I'll try to do better.”

 

“What's on your mind?”

 

“It's nothing.”

 

“I think that it's quite a big nothing for you to just stare into space with a thoughtful look on your face. It's a female, isn't it?”

 

“Perhaps.”

 

“I think I know who has your mind.”

 

“Really?”

 

He could at least sound a BIT worried! He looks like he could care less! “It's that girl you knocked over. Jordan, I think her name is.”

 

He shook his head, smiling ruefully. “You know me too well, Hiei. There's something…off, about her. I'm not sure what, but she's different than a regular human. So is her sister. Neither of them is fully human.”

 

“I know. They have different auras than normal ningens. They take their power from certain animals. Crystal is like a swan; clean and graceful. Jordan has lots of strength from one of the big cats.”

 

“The tiger,” Kurama mused. “I'm not surprised. Both descriptions fit them well.” His face took on a worried look as he looked at Hiei. “Tell me, which one `has it in for me'?” he pleaded, his eyes shining with slight fear.

 

“I don't know if you should know. After all, if you can't find out, maybe you shouldn't know,” Hiei taunted him. He immediately regretted this, as Kurama gave him the puppy look and unshed tears sparkled in his eyes. He does that FAR too well! “It's Jordan,” he said, defeated.

 

“I was afraid of that,” Kurama sighed.

 

“Oh?” Hiei questioned.

 

“She is a tiger; I am a fox. The two don't get along too well.” He returned his gaze to the fire. “I would only end up hurting her if I accepted her.”

 

“Then tell her that,” Hiei told him. “She'll pine away for you, just like the other females do, unless you tell her you absolutely can't accept her.”

 

“I don't know if I can tell her,” Kurama said in a pained voice.

 

“Don't tell me you've fallen for her,” Hiei said in disbelief. “You, falling in love?”

 

“It's not like we can help it,” he said defensively. “I just have to stay away from her. That's all.”

 

“You foolish fox. THEY'RE TRAVELING WITH US UNTIL WE CATCH THAT DEMON!!!!!!!! YOU CAN'T STAY AWAY FROM HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

 

“Keep your voice down. Or do you wish to wake everyone in camp and in the surrounding area?” Hiei reluctantly lowered is voice.

 

“Kurama. You know that you'll only break her heart. I don't think that it'll work out.”

 

“Why do you suddenly care if she's hurt? Not to be rude, but normally you could care less about humans.”

 

“You happen to be my closest friend. I'd rather not see you making a big mistake. Besides, we have to work with her, and it's hard seeing someone you don't like every day and have to be civil to that person.”

 

“Sounds like you and Kuwabara,” Kurama said in amusement. Hiei said nothing. “Hiei, you know I have plenty of self-control, but this will strain it. Don't you think we could drop them off in a town or something?” he asked hopefully. “Then we could track the demon down faster, and we wouldn't have this problem.”

 

“If that's what makes you happy, fox,” he replied, stifling a yawn.

 

Kurama looked at him in surprise. “Since when did you give in so easily, and when did you start getting tired?”

 

“It's past my bedtime, that's why I gave in and why I'm tired,” he growled at the now quietly laughing fox.

 

“You've really changed, you know? Ever since we came to the Higurashi Shrine, you've changed. I think it's for the better. I don't know how or why, but you're different.”

 

“I know,” the fire demon replied. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked at Kurama with surprise.

 

“Our shift's over,” he explained. “Let's go wake up the next set of watchers.”

 

~*~