Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Her Spirit ❯ Quirks ( Chapter 6 )

I thank all my reviewers! Especially one not signed in Katzztar, and our mutual affliction with knowledge of the bosozoku. Ahem. I really don't want to bring in their past, because that would be how other people would accept him, and you'll soon find out that Kagome doesn't think like that. Soooo, yes, I am updating more now. U--

I am Not looking to make this a romance, so if there are any hints of it it's because you are imagining things. Hmm. I am more gearing this towards a family bond, like my one shot Kitsune. But nonetheless, enjoy!

.x.

Ms. Higurashi turned at the sound of her children's laughter, missing it and rejoicing in it. Just as she was about to mount the stairs and greet their day, she heard her fathers voice ring out across the shrine. In curiosity she moved to the front door, closer to her than the window, and opened it to greet the sight of four teenagers - even if one was rather short - and her father near the top of the shrine steps.

She walked out to them, wiping her hands on her apron and smiling in amusement until she heard what her father was saying. “I won't have you disturbing this house at such and early hour!” He waved an admonishing finger at their faces. “If you wanted to greet my granddaughter in any respectable way you would wait until the sky had become a true blue.”

Ms. Higurashi smiled and approached the group, wondering what had truthfully set her father off. She stood by his side and he leaned up to whisper, “Demons,” in a hiss. Her eyes widened and narrowed before settling into the masking genial expression she always wore.

“I welcome you to the Sunset shrine.” She glanced curiously at the odd group; she could tell two of them were rebels, having lots of practice picking that type out of a crowd during the festivals so she knew who to watch.

The other three didn't fit; one was visibly anti-social, and the other held the air and grace of a scholar…or a ballerina. Ms. Higurashi held back a snicker as she thought this. She knew he wasn't, as her daughter had been one before and she could tell that his grace was from a totally different form of exercise. But the image of him in a pink tutu gracefully prancing around a room of mirrors was too much, especially with his long red hair.

She snickered.

Her father turned to her with a pole-axed expression and shook his head before turning back to the teenagers and clearing his throat. She sobered herself up and smiled more openly this time. “Forgive us; we are not used to guests so early in the morn.” That was a lie, but they certainly wouldn't know that. It was a weekend, and the die-hard religious only came to the shrine early during the weekdays- when they felt they needed guidance to make it through their day.

The smaller redhead bowed acceptingly and she almost snickered as his hair shifted across his back and drew her attention again. “Forgive us, we forgot the time. Our two friends,” he gestured to the antisocial and smaller rebel, “were anxious to meet your daughter, we had met her previous in the Reikai hospital; and the doctor from Reikai requested to look over Kagome again.”

Ms. Higurashi cast a questioning glance at her father who shrugged and turned back to his sweeping, all the while glaring at the boys and muttering `demons' and `not right' under his breath.

.x.

Kuwabara shifted uneasily as he watched the old mans aura. He felt the shivers course down his spin when he sent a particularly nasty glare at their demon companions, and Kuwabara just knew that he knew. It was hard to tell at first, but after a while of him blocking their way onto the shrine and paying particular attention to the more demonic of the spirit detectives, Kuwabara could tell he knew.

He sighed.

The elder slowly made his sweeping arcs further away from their group, and pretty soon Kuwabara could barely make out his angry sweeps and only faintly his muttered words. He turned to his friends and caught the eyes of the fire demon. There was something there, not normally present in the fire demons eyes so as Kuwabara could catch it.

He was curious.

Kuwabara shook his head and followed his friends after the lady, entering the humble household and comfy atmosphere of a family's house. The first thing he noticed was the aroma of breakfast being made, and his nose almost bid him follow, but then the laughter of a child and a woman greeted him from the upper-level of the house- Kagome and Souta.

He watched Hiei listen intently to the noises in the house before he slowly started to relax, a sure sign that there was nothing obviously harmful to them at the moment. Ms. Higurashi showed them to the living room, telling them to make themselves comfortable before she went into the kitchen.

The laughter drifted down the stairs again, and Kuwabara watched. Yusuke's whole head turned in curiosity, Hiei's eyes shifted ever so subtly, and Kurama smiled as he turned to face the stairs. The two siblings came in view at the bottom step, Kagome's face losing its smiled as she spotted them. The calculating look appeared in her eyes, and Kuwabara wondered if she ever relaxed around `strangers'.

Souta chirped out a good morning to his mother before he turned to face them along with his sister. “You guys are back already?” He asked. Kuwabara almost grinned when he noticed Souta was avoiding looking at Kurama. The fox looked suitably put out, and Yusuke was almost smirking as he watched the boy.

Kuwabara nodded. “My good friends wanted to meet you two.” Kagome shifted her weight as she noticed his wording; `two'. “This is Yusuke, and the shorter one is Hiei. Both are demons, or something of the like.” The boy's eyes widened as he glanced at them, and he noticed Kurama quickly shift his head to the female.

“You're the kid that doesn't like Kurama?” Yusuke bluntly asked.

Souta grinned sheepishly as he started stammering out his reply; Kuwabara watched him, he was polite to the point of it becoming painful, and him stammering to convey some excuse was rather cute. He grinned.

Kagome smiled at her brother, taking a moment to glance at the two newcomers before she covered his mouth. “My brother is very wary and very protective of me, Yusuke, it does not mean that he dislikes Kurama-san.”

Kuwabara smiled and gave the kid a hearty pat on the back as he greeted him more personally. He genuinely liked the kid, having noticed the way he adored his older sister. It kind of reminded him of the way he would act so tough to protect his sister but really hide behind her when the going went too rough. Their streets had made them grow up that way, and is sister was the best of anyone at intimidating those bigger than her and protecting her little bro.

Kurama turned his back on the group and Kuwabara could just make out the amusement lacing through his aura as he watched them covertly out of the corner of his eyes. `That fox gets too much amusement out of this…he's just a kid.'

Kuwabara shook his head and started asking about the cat he'd been told about.

Souta grinned up at him unabashedly and ran up the stairs they had come down earlier. Kagome gave him an odd look, and he again had that fleeting rush of something whispering along his senses before soothing and flowing back to the woman. He grinned unsurely at her and watched an ancient knowledge light her eyes before she gave him a small smile- it looked more mischievous than he needed.

He shook his head and the smile gentled before she turned to the kitchen. “I believe my mother is making some food, are you guys hungry?” She didn't wait for a reply as she walked through the archway into the kitchen, only pausing briefly to glance up the stairs when the running footsteps of her brother could be heard coming down.

Kuwabara grinned as the young boy held up the kitten proudly, taking note of how well the cat's hair shone and the intelligent light to its eyes. He nodded his head. If a boy his age took such good care of a kitten without neglecting it then he was a good person. No one decent could resist a kitten, but it took someone really great to actually care for it to the extent he could see Souta did.

He grinned wider and took the kitten- Buyo junior. The cat purred happily and he watched Souta start babbling about how the firemen had given to it to him as a gift around two years ago. He had gone to thank them for getting them out, and they had surprised him with help from his mother. Kuwabara thought it rather sweet really.

`Such a lively kid. Heh.'

The kitchen was warm and lively and he watched as Kagome hugged her mother slightly from behind and whispered something in her ear before playfully shoving her brother into a chair and sitting beside him. Her mother turned around with a tray of tea, and she set it on the table before she lifted the kettle and offered it to them.

The doctor that accompanied them remained oddly silent, and Kuwabara got the shivering sensation that he would remain so and wouldn't draw attention to himself. He had thought that he wanted to question the girl on her condition, but now he was only here to observe, and Kuwabara turned his face away with disgust.

He would rather have come alone if coming as a team meant that Koenma would wheedle in the presence of his reikai employee- and there was just something off about examining them in their natural environment and setting them off their natural behavior due to that presence.

Kuwabara accepted his tea with thanks and sipped it slowly as he watched the siblings. He couldn't help it. They interacted like partners in a dance; a kind look here, strong helping hand there, guiding smile there, and a casual sustaining touch there.

The comfortable silence was their music and he watched in wonder at the ease with which they related to each other. “They told me that you met them in the hospital.” Their mother threw in a questioning look and Kuwabara straightened under her mothering gaze. She seemed protective.

Kagome cleared her throat softly; “Yes, Kurama and Kuwabara-kun greeted me at the hospital, their boss Enma-san wanted to question me as to the conditions of my coma.”

Kuwabara almost snickered. She was rather good at twisting her words around. Like her mother didn't need to know that she was being held suspect for magic use and was suspected of contacting a power source previously unknown. If there was one thing Koenma hated it was the power he knew nothing about.

Higurashi-san's face cleared and she nodded her head, accepting the truth Kurama had given when they first arrived. Souta glanced curiously at his sister, and Kuwabara just caught the tiny wink she sent his way before his face lit up with a grin and he went back to his tea.

He glanced to his friends, checking to see if they caught the silent exchange between the siblings as well; they hadn't. The doctor looked up in time to catch his questing look, but Kuwabara gave him no indication of his thoughts. Kurama was watching the mother move around the kitchen as she made her way out of the room, probably calculating her feelings about her just returned daughter, and Hiei was looking out the window to the tree bearing the sacred paper chain of the shrine. Yusuke was playing with the cat, Kuwabara grinned, he could tell by the way he was smiling slightly and his foot was shifting under the table. Kuwabara grinned even more.

Yusuke looked up and caught his look, he scowled. He stilled and straightened his back, taking a sip of the sweet tea. Kuwabara just grinned more. Yusuke would never admit to having a soft spot for anything furry and wide-eyed.

He blamed Puu.

.x.

Yusuke looked up at Kuwabara threateningly before snarling silently and directing his gaze to the family. He caught the girl casting him a curious glance, and he was startled to see her eyes flash with humor and not distaste when she glanced over at the reason for his dark expression.

His gaze turned curious as he watched her, unconsciously mirroring her previous look. They had been right, for someone whose muscles had been in a state of apathy for over three years she moved around like she had never left the waking world. And her hands-

Yusuke shivered.

Her mother had made her way outside to greet their grandfather, and he watched in a detached manner as they moved out of the detectives hearing range, and theirs. He turned to the siblings with a hungry expression and a manic grin. “So, how did you tick Koenma off so well?” He leaned onto his fingers as he laced them under his chin.

Souta laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head, hair flying everywhere as he closed his eyes. His sister half-scowled half-smirked, taking away his hand and smoothing out his hair for him.

“Yusuke!” Kuwabara exclaimed, trying to bat the question away as he caught the gleam in the woman's eyes.

“I want you to call me Kagome, as I don't take you for someone who would stick to formalities.” Yusuke smirked at her deduction while he leaned back into the seat of his chair to listen to her talk; she had a nice voice. Maybe it was because it hadn't been used for so many years, but it took on a soft quality he hadn't heard from anyone else. “I do believe that your boss started it.”

Yusuke spluttered; unsure whether to laugh at the immature insinuation or her, or to defend his boss as he was expected. He settled for a quiet chuckle.

He could see the gleam easier now, and he was strongly reminded of the color of rough stones before they were cut to perfection for a lady's accessory. He kind of liked them when they were in the rough…

“That's your boss too?” The boys tone, although curious, was also disgusted and Yusuke found himself desiring to point out that he wasn't there by choice to redeem himself in the child's eyes.

“I kind of owed them a debt kid.”

The kid nodded slowly and then the information sunk in. His eyes shot up to him and widened in wonder. Before his question was asked he turned to his sister. She shrugged benignly and smiled wryly at her brother- as if to say she wouldn't know, and that it was his question to ask. He turned to face him again: “What did they do to deserve that?”

Yusuke startled. It wasn't everyday that someone he just met implied that someone had to deserve his aid. He took a moment to glance at his friends faces as they listened and wondered at the look he saw Kuwabara give him. It held an epiphany, a silent understanding he reached on the situation. Gods he needed the help now. Yusuke cleared his throat, “They kind of brought me back to life.”

Souta sat back heavily, a rather disbelieving yet awed expression on his face. His face turned to confusion and he turned to his sister. “Would the gods be able to interfere like that?”

Yusuke looked up to watch the miko answer, and was rewarded with her looking straight at him as she formed her response. There was something in her expression… “If it suited their plans they would. He would have to have died unexpectedly, the gods hate not being in control of something like that.” She looked own at her little brother with a smile. “Yusuke must have done something they really didn't anticipate. It would have been something so unusual and supposedly out of character they hadn't made any fall back plans, then he would owe them a debt for all the trouble he put them through because of their stupidity.” She let a sly glance reach up to him, “The deities are all like that you know, controlling little bastards.”

Souta gasped at her words, the blatant disrespect causing his open mouth to stretch into a smile before his laugh rang out into the room. Yusuke himself was surprised; he hadn't really looked at it that way before. He snickered.

Souta was still letting out little chuckles as he watched him and Yusuke found himself warming up to the boy - this boy who looked up to his sister for the answer to anything - and the boy who could give him some answers.

Yusuke grinned like the Cheshire cat and had to bite his tongue lightly against his cheek to keep himself in check. It was true, which made it funny, but they were getting off track.

Kurama spoke up. “She put Koenma into a corner, and he was rather angry at her words and her brother's intervention.”

Yusuke felt his eyebrows raise as his interest peaked. “You intervened with the toddler?”

He blushed before he sat up straighter and put on a very mature expression. “He was disrespecting my sister; no one will be allowed to do that.” His nostrils flared as he glared out into space and memory. Hiei looked at him oddly, and Yusuke watched as the boy held the gaze for a scant time before turning to look up to his sister.

Weird.

She smiled and looked up at their group, taking note of the way they sat- he could tell by her curious gaze. “You came for something more.”

Kurama glanced at him before he took up the thread of conversation. “Our boss is just as curious as we are, and we wanted to get to know someone who would possibly be working with us in the future.”

She tilted her head, reminding him of a curious cat's posture even as her eyes reminded him of the large predators he had seen in those magazines Keiko had. Her brother stood up, taking his cup from the table and placing it in the kitchen sink with a rinse before sitting himself back down, much closer to his sister than before.

They turned to face their group as one, and Yusuke was startled at the emotion that invoked in him. It wasn't so much fear, oh no he knew what real battle fear was like, and he knew how to overcome it; but this was an unsteady nervousness, brought about by something you didn't understand but was invariably faced with anyway. Screw demons…they'd fall after a minute under their gazes.

“My sister owes no debt.” Souta's brow furrowed as he tried to think of a way they could make her work for them. “She is not obligated to help you.” It was stated with a very threatening growl, and Yusuke might have been intimidated if it wasn't coming from such a small person.

Yusuke smirked at the young boy and was about to open his mouth and explain that they would only call upon for the favors when Kurama opened his mouth, or rather, Kurama cleared his throat before he ever so politely interrupted. “Actually, Kagome does owe Reikai something…” Yusuke sighed at his intellectual tone, to some it sounded smart and wise. Yusuke sometimes felt it got on his nerves, it always made him feel inferior. Yusuke sighed again in the short interval before he glanced up.

A power was rushing along his senses, gradually building and warning him that something was offending this power. His gaze turned to the boy; his face was darkening with his emotion, and he was glaring at the fox. He could see the emotions playing across the boys face as Kurama explained the debt owed to Reikai to pay for her coma. Yusuke wondered how Kurama got his shit when they really never talked to Koenma about it.

But the boy wasn't the source of the power, no; his head was drawn to Kagome. Her eyes were narrowed, and at intervals she glanced at her brother in worry. Kurama had stopped talking a moment before, but her brother was still staring at him as if he had said something sacrilegious on their sacred shrine.

Kagome's eyes snapped to them, and the fury in her gaze matched the power rising in the house. An old man came down the stairs, coming up behind Kagome and placing a hand upon her shoulder and her brother's. She calmed and stood up, her chair scraping against the floor with her abrupt action, and ringing through the silence heavy in the air.

Her gaze jerked towards the door and the reikai tantei stood as well, following her out into the yard just outside the door and near the sacred tree that stood proudly over her form. She turned to them, gaze softening upon their countenance before she drew herself up. “You should leave.”

Kuwabara nodded, tilting his head in thanks for her hospitality before taking a step towards the stairs they would have to descend to leave her property. Hiei was already waiting at the top of the steps, watching them interact with their enigma.

Kurama turned reluctantly, and Yusuke knew that he was still curious but that they had overstepped a boundary these people held dear.

Don't mess with the family.

Yusuke sighed and stepped up to the plate, taking over a question he was sure they would all like answered. `God this job was maturing me too much.' “Just answer me this.” She nodded her head and waited for his question. “Why are you so powerful now? You were in a coma, now you are fully trained.”

She gave him that odd little smile of hers with that strange gleam in her eyes, before she turned slightly to the tree to rest a palm upon its marred surface. “Yusuke, things need not have happened to be true.” Her eyes closed and a dreamy smile graced her face as she turned it up to warm in the sun as it filtered through the trees branches. “Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and mist and ashes and forgot.”

Yusuke nodded his head awkwardly, wondering how that could relate to her experience before he heard Kuwabara call out his name. He gave her a genial nod, wondering about what went on in the minds of this family while he walked over to his friends. `I really don't…'

Yusuke heard her whisper as he walked away. “And eventually everything is forgotten. Can you tell me the difference between shadow-truth and fact Yusuke?” It made him shiver.

He went to his friends turning his head slightly to watch her enter the house. He turned to his team, knowing that they too had heard her whisper, and that they too were wondering what she meant.

No time like the present to find out…

 

.x.

Quick lesson: Miss is before a woman is married, Mrs. (missis) is when they are in a marriage, and Ms (pronounced miz) is for the widowed or divorced (it is generally polite to call someone this if you don't know their status).

And I'm sorry that I can't give people a timeline, because I am not avid reader of YYH, I only have read up to Genkai, and in Inuyasha my viewing is sporadic. Talk about life ne? Anyhow, I just wanted to apologize if things confuse you because they are not canon, let's just say this is one very twisted AU that has its roots in trying to apply canon to an original plot okay? Lol.