Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Elementals ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Title: Elementals
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.

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Chapter Three: "I think you spiked the coffee with something"
Water Part 1/2

Kagome woke up with a start to find two faces peering over her. She blinked and they mimicked her before she raised an eyebrow. "Souta, Shippo, it'd be nice if you could back up a moment."

The two males stared at her and she found herself lifted from the bed. Her breath left in a loud strangled gasp as she was crushed between them before Shippo pushed her back and raked her over with his eyes. "You sure you're alright? No lasting fatigue?"

"I'm fine! You'd think I'd never had to sleep and recover energy before!" Kagome tried to move back, only to be turned toward the window. The room was quiet before Kagome's subdued voice rang out in the silent atmosphere.

"What am I looking at?"

"You've been asleep for almost four days. Hours after you went to sleep, it started. Fortunately, because of the heat, at first it seemed a blessing. And once the heat was gone, the ground was still dry. The first two days it wasn't too bad, we needed rain. Then the twins started screeching. Soon after we heard the first report. A miko that wasn't activated in the heat spell... was killed. And a soosaara that left our protection, one of the other two hundred, is also dead. Drowned in puddles less than a foot deep. It doesn't make sense. And now the water is accumulating."

Shippo stopped speaking as she opened the window and leaned out, staring down at the fast rivulets of water. Heat she could keep off, it didn't have a form until it was fire. Water was harder. She could not shield herself or them from water. The water was raised up a bit, maybe an inch, but already that made it hard to drive, hard to walk, and it was rising fast.

"Give me a half hour." The two boys left the room immediately and Kagome closed her eyes, exhaling harshly. It looked like there was no rest for her.

-

Four boys found themselves on a familiar shrine after the last twenty four hours had provided no clues and they had heard reports from Spirit World of at least two more deaths a few hours past, coupled with the earlier two. "Think she's awake?"

Yusuke understood immediately whom Kuwabara was talking about. They had, at Koenma's orders, (technically, they were volunteers now, and he couldn't order them around, but he seemed to conveniently forget that) been there the day before and were surprised to find she was still asleep. That had been shortly before a glaring kitsune had seen them off the property. "Who knows?"

"She is," Hiei answered with a smirk. Yusuke stared at him a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "Guess we'd better go in. Kurama, are you coming with us or seeing Keiko?"

Kurama glanced towards the sea of tents standing clumped together in the downpour and sent a penetrating look toward the house. "I think it would be better if I was not there. The less he sees of me, the better."

The other three gave him differing degrees of agreeing glances before leaving the wet kitsune to look through the tents in the rain as they headed toward the door. He gazed after them with a worried, thoughtful look barely seen through the hair plastered to his face. Sighing, the kitsune shivered and trudged through the rain to attempt to find which tent Keiko was in.

Yusuke opened the door after two knocks and stared inside. The house seemed a flurry of activity compared to the unnerving stillness of the past rain filled days. The golden kitsune inside stopped and turned, green eyes narrowing before dismissing them and lunging toward something under the couch. Herbs, weapons, and assorted other items flew through the air, including a bowl of oden which a familiar miko caught skillfully, digging in even as she flipped through the pages of a book.

Shippo grabbed at something beneath the couch, coming out what looked like a slim box. He put it on the table as Kagome threw the book over her shoulder. Yusuke ducked. "I always thought there were bookworms, not bookflies."

"You aren't funny," Kagome muttered, absently throwing what appeared to be some sort of strange orb over her shoulder, followed by the bowl. He caught that and he could feel her smirking at him. "Could you put that in the sink for me?"

Yusuke's eyes flashed and he tossed it in the general direction of where he knew her younger brother was standing. "When did you wake up?"

"Three hours, nineteen minutes, and thirty four, no, wait, thirty six seconds ago. You would not believe how much coffee is in my house. I can't understand why mother put it in so many different places. It's not like we'd drink it all. There's plenty left! Do you want to help us go through books? We're trying to find out what these things are and see if we can't find out where they come from, ya know, cut them off at the source? And of course - Oh, Shippo made more! You should taste this, it's great!" Kagome bolted away, following the smell of coffee, a bow and a quiver of arrows over one shoulder.

"I think she's had enough," Yusuke muttered.

"Humans have strange reactions to that liquid," Hiei stated.

"Do you want to try some?" Souta asked a bit wickedly as he wrote up wards. Kuwabara and Yusuke exchanged wide eyed glances, the image popping up in their head of a caffeinated fire apparition, eyes round and with a sword in one hand.

"NO!" The twin shouts drowned out the speculative look in Hiei's eyes. The fire apparition shrugged. It was a simple human substance. Unfortunately, no one's opinions seemed to matter as Kagome bustled back toward them, coffee mugs in both hands, a bit tilted and some splashing liquid, but all at least half full.

"Here, why don't we talk about why you're here while we drink coffee?" When she looked like she was about to say more, Yusuke quickly took a cup from her, as did Souta and Kuwabara. Hiei was slower and Shippo was quick to come over with another cup as Kagome realized she'd given all of them away. All of them sat down and began to drink. Yusuke eyed the coffee and wondered if spiking it with alcohol would make the effects worse or better.

"We're here because of that," Kuwabara pointed out a bit warily, pointing out the window. Kagome blinked and tilted her head. "But why are you here? We're trying to figure out why this is happened, guess that fire one was telling the truth, but shouldn't you be out killing it or something?"

"We can't find it! You killed it last time, can't you kill this one?" Yusuke glared, a bit angry that she was shirking the responsibility she had taken up so easily last time. Kagome smiled a bit strangely. "You know, your aura spikes with your emotions. The energy is nice."

Souta and Shippo exchanged wide-eyed, shocked glances as Yusuke rocked back. Before any of them could do anything, Kagome jumped up and clapped her hands. "Right! Shippo, Souta, you have cell phones, right? Let's go! We'll split up... or, Shippo can go with Souta, since Shippo can't sensing anything either. I'll go left; you go right, call if we see anything! Let's go!"

"I think you spiked the coffee with something," Souta muttered aside to the kitsune. Strangely, Shippo only grinned and didn't seem inclined to disagree.

Yusuke stared at the vacated space across from his friends and glanced at first Kuwabara, then Hiei. He stopped to stare at the fire apparition calmly drinking coffee and tried to fight the sinking feeling in his stomach. "That was strange."

"Yes, I think it was." Kuwabara and Yusuke stared at the fire apparition. When did he answer something like that with something other than "Hn" or a snide comment?

"I say we bolt out of here and do our own searching before shorty goes berserk. Let Kurama deal with him," Kuwabara muttered as he slid toward the door. Yusuke, silently agreeing, crawled behind the couch and out of Hiei's sight before silently bolting toward the door. "SeeyaHieiBye!"

SLAM!

Hiei glanced at the door and smirked evilly, feeling oddly energized. He looked down at the drink in his hand. Perhaps there was more of this interesting substance?

-

Two hours of searching and Kagome was cold, wet, and tired. Now that she thought of it, she should have brought a canteen of coffee, or bought some. Not that many places were open. The water was rising very fast. The longer it rained, the faster it rose. Now she was walking through two inches. Not two inches that had fallen altogether. The ground that had been almost cracked by heat must have taken in the first foot or so. No, this was two inches of rain that the ground could not hold.

She wondered briefly how the demon was doing this. The last one had a jewel that kept the heat active, but she hadn't seen anything floating in the air. Not that she could see much farther than her own face through the rain. Still, if she had walked near it, she should have sensed something.

Finally deciding that the open streets weren't any help, Kagome cut into a park and walked beneath the trees, that way she was only getting down poured on, instead of drenched every second. She blinked and squinted as she saw movement in the trees. She shook her head and sighed. She must be imagining things. There was nothing there.

A lake came into view and Kagome stared at the water, her brow furrowed. Just now she was suddenly sensing something. It was like the other jewel, but different. And something else. Something was waiting. This had all the hints tickling at her senses that told her it was a trap.

She had defeated the last one. She could defeat this one. It hadn't even been that hard. Kagome forgot the hamper on her eyesight due to rain and walked a few cautious steps; confident she could deal with this one too. Nothing showed itself.

A few more steps and she was at the lake's edge. She could feel the jewel inside. She would have to swim to get it. It would be difficult, but it shouldn't take as much power.

"Think it would be so easy, little girl?" The water she had been stepping into moved and twisted beneath her feet. It grabbed hold and suddenly she was pulled in and shot up, tendrils of water holding her into the air. The shore had receded because of it, but the water was around her arms, and always moving. How could she break out of something that wasn't fixed but always pushing and moving and swirling?

She was looking into eyes that reflected like water, blue and rippling. Water ran down his skin and one cold hand reached up to touch her cheek mockingly. He pulled back with a hurt screech, staring at the burnt hand. A snarling mouth full of teeth bit into her wrist as the water squeezed her painfully. He pulled away when he began to burn and grinned. "Your blood tastes good."

Then the water disappeared from beneath her. The laughing pale face was blue tinged with blue eyes and hair almost clear blond with tints of blue, and that was what she saw before water enveloped her. Frantically she managed to keep her head above and was held there as well. A chuckle came from behind her. Remembering the layout, she was sure there was a rock there. "My predecessor was a pathetic heat elemental. Surely you didn't think I would be as easy? Remember the last thing that touched you, that you ever saw, was the thing that killed you. No friends to save you. When you're dead, I'll take the Shikon no Tama away and it will strengthen me. The world will be filled with water before the day is out."

"Bastard," Kagome hissed as she struggled futilely against the water, helpless and panicking.

"Indeed. That isn't very far from the truth at all. But, I have no time for a chat. Goodbye, Guardian." With a swirl of current she was pulled under, choking and flailing beneath the water pushing her downward. Her hand brushed against something and above the surface the creature writhed as pain flashed through him and the jewel cracked, but didn't break apart. The skies cleared and the rain suddenly stopped before the current took her away from what she had been touching. The being snarled. It would take days before the jewel had reformed itself enough to take his power again. That was fine, he'd simply use the Shikon no Tama to fix it when she was dead.

Relaxing, he had the water fix her in place, concentrating. Just another couple of minutes. The creature was quite enjoying himself. His water beings were off killing her kind, and here he was, killing her himself. Afterward he would drink her blood and take her jewel as his own. He would take over the Council and all of their kind, and all three worlds! "Poor little miko. Tragic really, I'm sure. Be glad it wasn't the head of the air elemental. He would have done something quite different. Are you dead yet? It's getting quite tiresome, holding you like this."

He never even saw the punch that through him slamming into the forest. He sat up with a gasp and a shriek as his power faltered. He needed to be perfectly centered to control them as he did, and his head was twirling. He glared up and looked wide-eyed at the enraged male before him. A dark haired male was stalking toward him. The water elemental laughed wildly. "Fine, kill me. It won't do you any good. Maybe if you're quick, you can save her. Kill me, or sentence her to death? Such a choice. But if you kill me and let her die, who will destroy the next jewel? Those untrained whelps?"

The elemental found he was speaking to empty air. The majin had already disappeared. The water elemental snorted and pushed himself up. Right now he couldn't manage enough control after the miko burning him and the majin slamming him like that. So he would let the other attempt to save the miko. Not that he could. The water going into her lungs would have drowned her by now.

Laughing despite his setback, the elemental stumbled off to find a place to whole up for the week. Then he would begin again.

-

It had taken far too long for Yusuke to find the girl. She wasn't breathing. He could tell that. But it didn't mean anything. He didn't know exactly how to do CPR, but he knew what it was. Unfortunately, Yusuke was panicking and for once afraid that he couldn't control his strength enough to hurt her. Sure, she was stronger than a normal human, but how much of that translated to physical strength while she was unconscious?

"Fuck it," Yusuke muttered. Even if she didn't start breathing, as long as he got the water out of her, he could always give her some of his energy. The reiki, despite that she seemed to have a different type, would probably still translate into life energy. Youkai would obviously hurt her more, being what she was.

"It's 2 breaths and fifteen depressions of her chest, Yusuke. Please hurry." Yusuke whipped his head around from where he was kneeling above the unresponsive miko and was about to snap as to why she didn't try herself. Then he realized it was Botan. In her grim reaper form. He hurried.

Botan lowered her head as a form solidified behind her, glaring and a bit angry. She spoke quietly. "We needed you."

"You still have me." Botan shook her head at the girl's response and Kagome snorted. "Please. Watch this. I've still got it, even if I don't, you see?"

Botan had absolutely no idea what the dead girl was talking about. "He can stop. There's another way. There's a jewel. Tell him to let his youki... not go into it, but flow around it while thinking about what he's trying to do. That's all it needs to help me out. It will, you know."

Botan stared at the serene girl and then quivering, passed on the directions. Yusuke stared at her hard before carefully taking the chain he saw and pulling it along until the jewel was in his hand. At the same time, Kagome in spirit placed her hand on the physical jewel. Botan let out a shuddering gasp. "You!"

And then there was nothing. And then water was being coughed up and Kagome quickly passed out again after heaving all the water up. Botan had gone pale and Yusuke was simply even more confused. "What the hell was that?"

"I'm... not quite sure. But if I'm right... We're very lucky that she isn't dead." 'And that she's on our side,' Botan thought. A dark miko was something to shudder at. A dark Guardian was something to tremble in fear at. This Guardian turning dark was something to hide from until she passed by. And then run the other way.

"She's fucking cold," Botan barely heard the mutter, but she did notice when the girl was wrapped in a familiar green jacket and hoisted up by a certain toushin. She floated beside them as he strode back toward her home. "Looks like you saved another life. She'll owe you, you know."

"I'm not going to have someone owe me for their life Botan. Everyone deserves a chance to live." Botan sighed at his answer and pressed ahead anyway.

"This isn't something you want to throw away. Especially... Well, they might be insulted if you do. At least think about it. There are a lot of things she could help with besides this crisis, and a life debt is a precious thing." They were already arriving thanks to Yusuke deciding the faster she arrived the better.

"Koenma wants her for something." There was a steely note in his voice and Botan grimaced. He picked up on things a lot faster than he used to. "He will, when he realizes who she is."

Botan blinked as Yusuke's anger flared slightly, his ki doing the same... and she could have sworn there was a small answering flare of energy that wrapped around and calmed his own. Impossible. She couldn't be seeing it. Mentally, Botan firmly decided she hadn't seen it. And even if she had, this was one thing she couldn't tell Koenma about unless she was absolutely sure. Even then perhaps it would be a bad idea. Koenma sometimes was desperate for help, especially in situations like these that cropped up. Then again, Koenma had saved Yusuke's life once, and Yusuke had saved Kagome's.

Sighing at her own personal dilemma, she barely noticed Yusuke and a kitsune arguing. Or Kurama and Hiei standing between them. "Look, I just want to know what the fuck is going on here. She was dead, and then Botan told me to do something with this stupid jewel, and she was alive again? What the hell is it, and just who the hell are you people?"

There was utter and complete silence and Taji was the first to creep up and touch the miko. "She's alive, right? She seems a bit cool."

"She was colder before," Yusuke mumbled as he glared at Shippo. The golden kitsune glared and then wrenched the miko away from him and out of the jacket, snarling for unknown reasons until he spoke. "Now she smells like you."

"Tough luck." Only Taji and Souta weren't paying attention to the tense situation now. And the twins. Because those four had noticed the strangeness of how close their energy had been, almost wrapping around each other. Souta looked confused. Taji didn't. He was grinning a bit. Before smoothing it over. But not before Souta caught it. With narrowed eyes he resolved to corner the boy later and demand what was up.

"Get out-" Shippo began. Botan frowned. "He just saved her! You can't throw them out!"

Souta frowned as Shippo snarled. She was right. He moved through the water on the ground, relieved there was no more following but not so glad that his feet were still getting wet. "Take Kagome inside Shippo, leave him alone. We owe him a debt."

The kitsune stared for a moment before sighing and nodding. "I beg your pardon." There was a flash of a grin, a flash of the normal Shippo, his eyes twinkling. "And I am glad you saved her. Who else could we annoy if she wasn't around?"

Kurama, watching from the sidelines, frowned. There was an image in his head, not of the kitsune, but of a pendant with the kitsune's energy on it. And blood. The pendant had been one of his great steals - and one of his easiest. But how had it related to the kitsune, exactly?

"You people are freakin' insane," Yusuke muttered. Souta flashed him a bright, trademark Higurashi smile and glanced around. "C'mon, 'class' is starting. Me and Shippo are lecturing right now, mostly Shippo answering questions about demons, once in awhile I get to teach the boys - and the girls who want to use one - how to use a staff. I picked it up easy enough."

"Sure. Why not? Let's see what class is like here. Hopefully not as boring as real school." Yusuke fell into step behind the boy as he headed over to the God Tree.

-

"I have a question." It was a soft spoken girl of sixteen, being egged on by other girls around her, all of them giggling and grinning with sly looks about them mischievously. Yusuke and Souta exchanged glances as Shippo waved for them to go on and ask.

"What about mating marks? We've heard... well, Souta mentioned them a bit earlier and we were wondering about them. What... How... Well, we know part of how..." The girl trailed off, blushing horribly.

Shippo didn't miss a beat. "Mating marks, as you call them, are misleading. Only a few species, most of them animal, actually physically mark their mate. And there are different degrees of mates, depending on the species. Kitsunes, for instance, can take many permanent mates... but though that mate is theirs, she or he could also be mated to many others. On the other hand, we can also choose one life mate. Permanent mates, despite the name, can, through a ritual, be released. Life mates are just that, tying one's life force to the other. It is rarely done among my kind."

"Other markings can be making marks on their very scent, or on their emotions or powers. Then it would show in their aura when it flared. Soul marks can also be made. Those are few and far between, and a bit complicated. Not everyone can have them I will go into that later, your precious teacher has a whole book on it and related markings. Besides that, there are also plain aura markings, where the mark always shows around them. That is also a difficult one, but more commonly seen. Especially on the beings who use energy in the most undiluted form. Perhaps I should suggest to mother that she make up a class list. I'm sure you could all benefit from taking specific classes."

His voice dropped down to a purr suddenly. "I'm sure I can teach a few of you the lower ranks of markings. Perhaps personally."

"Oh gross. I so didn't need to hear that." Shippo and the class appeared not to hear the low mutter from the doorway as a pale and exhausted miko stumbled toward Souta and Yusuke. "How's class coming?"

"What the fuck are you doing up?" Souta blinked as Yusuke beat him to the question. Except he would have said "hell". The boy shrugged and leaned forward to catch his sister as she half fell toward them.

"I was going into a normal sleep. Not unconscious, just regular. I don't... I can't really sleep normally like that. Not when the house is so empty. So I woke up. And I just... it feels so empty in there, so I came out here." She frowned as she picked apart her words carefully. She didn't know how to explain it properly. Souta smiled and chuckled. He got it. He really did. It was obvious when you knew her. Yusuke didn't get it. He looked about to snap at her. Souta shook his head slightly at him.

"Sit down Kagome, and enjoy the show." Souta patted the long root they were sitting on and she slid between the two boys, watching as the kitsune flirted for another moment before he tilted his head and then stiffened before turning to glare at her. She knew that glare. It was the disapproving one. She hadn't been able to sleep properly! It wasn't her fault!

Her face must have shown some of her thoughts because he rolled his eyes and turned back to the crowd, only to face another question, this time with less blushing and more curiosity. "What about mixed breeds? How are they born? Can a non-animal demon mix with an animal one?"

Kagome glanced at the girl in surprise and tried to remember that face. Eventually she'd be teaching them too and this one was sharp. Not too much younger than herself. Maybe she could actually help teach after some basic knowledge had been given to her. Kagome already knew she couldn't get away with simply training them. They needed knowledge to back it up. Unfortunately, she was a bit short on that. Her expertise was not in the how everything worked and how it could be manipulated.

She tuned the rest of the lesson out and instead observed the crowd. In the back was Keiko, listening avidly with the remainders of what must have been a blush on her face. Probably all the talk of the mating marks had gotten to her, especially since the redheaded kitsune avatar was sitting at the back of the crowd with her. Despite that, she was soaking in all of the information Shippo was dealing out.

Her eyes moved on to the boy sitting on the left side of the crowd with a child on either side. Taji and the twins were huddled together. They looked isolated from the rest. It seemed an unconscious move on everyone's part but it vaguely disturbed the miko. The twins' auras twisted something, turning darker, and that was part of it. Whatever had been done to them was obviously permanent. Perhaps one day she would find someone who would prove that she was wrong.

She could have said Taji was only being isolated as well because he was with them, but it was something more. He radiated an oddness that seemed to put the untrained humans off kilter. Kagome was frustrated to realize that whatever they felt seemed to mean nothing to her. She couldn't feel anything strange. He was just a teenage soosaara.

Her gaze turned to the last person she wanted to inspect and Kagome was startled to meet wary and reluctantly curious brown eyes. She shifted her gaze away but once aware of it she could feel his eyes still on her and she took a quick glance at Souta who appeared entirely absorbed in Shippo's lesson before shifting slightly in an attempt to better face the toushin.

"Thank you. I owe you." Blue-gray eyes peeked up through her bangs to see his face change to a startled expression and then flash into something unreadable. "The only thing you owe me is seeing this thing through to the end."

Kagome frowned slightly. At this point, she had been slowly getting the feeling she didn't even have a choice in that anymore. "There's more than that. You saved my life."

"Just let it go!" He kept his voice low, but sharp. Kagome was confused and when she opened her mouth to question him he stood up, shaking his head. His face was set and still unreadable as he backed two steps away and then strode away, his back tense and a bit angry. Kagome found herself very confused.

She glanced around to find that everyone at least appeared to still be absorbed in the lesson. She almost stood, something tugged at her to find out why he was had walked out so stiffly. But the chatter of the trainees cut through her thoughts and she glanced up to meet the gaze of the three isolated children. Another gaze was on her and she glanced to her side and saw Souta scrutinizing her. Unsettled by their sudden interest she turned back to watch Shippo teach and flirt, ignoring the receding aura she could still sense at the edge of her weakened range.

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Reviewer Responses:

Rose Fury: I like Taji too, he's mostly a secondary character but he has his own part to play in the future. Thanks for reading and reviewing, I'm glad you're still reading!