Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Her Spirit ❯ Beginnings and Endings ( Chapter 17 )

Kurama was just about to open his mouth to break the silence, far past the comfortable ensconce of friendly thought and deliberation and casually tiptoeing into the space between uneasy comrades who knew not which direction they would take, when a portal abruptly slashed through the energy around them and admitted a confused Botan and panicky Koenma.

The two stumbled into their park sanctum, hair frazzled and clothes askew as they hurriedly straightened themselves out and looked around them for any spiritually unaware eavesdroppers.

They all tensed, unsure of the Prince's purpose and easily able to view him in an unsavory light with the occurrences that had been thrust upon them. But Koenma ran both hands up his temples and messed up his hair, shaking them to dispel some numbness from his shock. His eyes flashed to them; unsure and guilty but hoping.

Kurama felt himself stiffen as he regarded his boss, all too easily feeling the urge to strangle him surfacing from his more demonic origins. He should have been out for his blood. But he stilled his urges and settled for glaring at the teenage form of the spirit ruler.

Koenma hesitated, but then he looked each of them in the eye and straightened his back with a deep breath…and he sat down on the ground. Kurama was very aware of other people's body language, and he had never, ever, seen Koenma purposefully place himself in a position where others would be viewed as his superior.

He tilted his head as he regarded the boy, watching as he took a deep breath to steady himself and seeing as he looked up to them in a plead for their silence so they could hear him out.

He thought it very noble of his more impatient friends as they settled with a glare to the prince and the tilt of their head; they were willing to listen.

Koenma stuttered out, a breath to low for even Kurama to hear before he cleared his throat and started. “It is not that this was a personal slight, you must understand that there have been mass panics about the barrier falling for centuries. Everyone who believed before was shamed and degraded for their foolishness.”

`Never mind the fact that the accusers also must have believed it at some point.' Youko shrewdly pointed out, all too easily recalling the intricacies and power play that made up the reikai politics.

A totalitarian system if he had ever stolen from one.

`Reikai has one ruler who delegates to his underlings, and even his son has no power unless through him.' Youko paused to eye the prince with predatory eyes. `He keeps Enma-ouji on a strict chain, fearing dissent even from his own flesh and blood and making the prince paranoid about crossing his own father.'

`I had no idea that the reikai system was so convoluted.'

Youko snorted. `I have no doubt that Enma-sama has his fingers even in the things he delegates. Trust no one, seems to be the totalitarian way- and with all the kings and rulers that must have passed through his gates I'm sure he knows all about betrayal and intrigue in the courts.'

Kurama shook his head, willing on some level to hear the prince out…another level of him screaming for him to turn his back and leave without a word. But this had all something to do with the Higurashi, and they had been left with a choice with her….

What do I do…?

It was always best to enter with both eyes and mind open.

“What exactly do you need?”

The reikai prince sighed, his whole teenage form deflating as if he needed the body mass depleted to force out the words. “We…I need your help.”

“Oh, and we are at your beck and call. We're not Dogs Koenma! We were a team, and you didn't think to tell us the finer points in a case!” Yusuke's voice was an angry hiss, far more telling then his booming shouts as to how far he'd gone into fury.

Kurama stepped up, gaze calculating and shifting between gold and emerald as his suspicion mounted. “What brought this about?”

Botan twitched in remembered shock or fear, he wasn't bothering to decipher, and Koenma drew himself up as his eyes shifted to the side and his clothes rustled with his shiver. Kurama caught Hiei's eye as the claret orbs narrowed and nodded his head in response.

“Koenma, Botan, we need you to tell us if we are ever going to work together.”

This statement sent Koenma into fury, standing up in a rush and cheeks blazing with incense and amber eyes flashing. “I know that! My father was the one who didn't want me to tell you, and I cannot act against him! But even he can't ignore the more pressing signs of the Heiwa no miko!!!” He stood there, hunched over and heaving with his emotion, and Kurama felt his lips twist up at the corners into a smile.

Enma-sama had personally spoken to his son when they had first met the Higurashi, Kurama could only guess Koenma was sincere in this attempt. (He ignored the huffed remark from Youko, something along the lines of `…whipped…')

So be it.

“What happened.”

Botan tittered out something, and then squeaked when she realized it didn't make much sense to them because she spoke too low. She took a deep breath, “The reikai….the scales…I mean…” She shuddered and trailed off.

Koenma gave her an indignant look before he plucked at a strand of grass. “The reikai scales…they went off. Every single one of them. Reikai was a mess and all the power on either side of the barrier just kept growing, and then…” he gestured futilely with his hands, “it all just stopped.”

Botan shook her head frantically, wisps of blue hair thrashing into her face as she narrowed her eyes. “He means the scales stopped, shut down like all the energy in the world had disappeared. But that's impossible!”

Koenma sighed gustily and vaguely gestured with his hand. “We have never seen anything like it; ningenkai was practically glowing with spiritual awareness. And then it was gone- I can't determine if it was our scales or that it actually stopped.” His eyes shifted slightly before they refocused with a determined glint. “But power like that doesn't disappear- it builds and echoes along spiritual currents until it meets its target or enters a barrier.”

`So Koenma wants to prove he is trustworthy.' Youko purred and trailed his claw down his wrist as he thought.

Kurama tilted his head. `Then he is honest now, and he will be in the future.' Kurama straightened, “Where was the power culminating?”

The extreme look of relief on the prince's face was tempered by the fright of Botan's and the wary faces of his friends- friends who trusted him to lead them on the right path.

To the Higurashi.

.x.IiiiI.x.

The former reikai tantei and their escorts found themselves at the entrance to a public park- a beautiful expanse of leafy greenness that enticed Kurama on good days. Only that the park was full of people, and outside the gates media reporters and journalists and cults and protesters, and confused tourists and certified looking government officials as well as the militia were all crowded about.

They were briefly overwhelmed with the annoying buzzing of conversations and the natural noise of gathered crowds moving and frantically trying to keep their places before they grouped more solidly together and started to weave their way through the initial crowd.

`…here in a lonely local park there have been unauthorized loitering of mass crowds and even more rumors of terrorist organizations…'

`No more secrets! No more government control! Save our spirituality!'

`Praise the gods! I'll be rewarded…'

`What the fuck are you people doing! …'

`Please step away from the gates, sir. Iasked you to step away from the gates.'

`…*mutter* … the enthused mass at the local recreational area…*scratch scratch* no that's not right…'

Kurama shook his head to clear it of the mutterings of conversation they were weaving around, and almost had to physically shake his whole body when the feel of the crowd abruptly shifted. This was not the confused mingling of untrained and unable spirits who were confused and protesting and vulnerable…

Although most of these people were untrained, their auras reaching out sloppily, they were powerful. And they were gathered.

He felt the aura of his teammates drawing in on themselves at this development, and sent them a glance over his shoulder before swiftly turning to curve a path around the gathered power.

Kurama walked swiftly through the gathered, certain that the woman they sought would be in the thick of things. He felt ningen sizing him up with awareness, heard whispers inquiring about his allegiance, saw children laughing and running around with demon masks, glimpsed the courted of the Higurashi matriarch though she was strangely absent, vaguely recognized Souta standing next to some lanky teen as he gave him a judging glare, and felt the power building around him, clashing and swirling and mixing in some strange harmony he had never felt before.

The three energies were never supposed to mix like that.

He heard the whispers, unsure if it was the people around him or the power around him that made him hear so clearly. He could hear the swift pattering of his teammates and Koenma rushing behind him, knew that that soft wind like noise was Botan on her oar. But then he heard other things…

Laughter of the humans around him, vague bits of energy whisking about and humming some sort of approval, and the whispering excitement… `She knows this is where the three meet, see, the three worlds actually all join near here, so Reikai had to watch the barrier around Japan because it's where it meets see…'

`This is the only place where demons are able to break the barrier and actually enter the human world…'

Kurama felt one of his teammates stumble with a surprised exclamation at a trailing wisp of energy that snapped along their senses.

`So this is where they planned to take it down, really it has been so weakened already you know she'll do it easily.'

`Of course she will!'

`I wonder if the demons that worked with them are still alive.'

Kurama twisted his torso so he could weave his way through one such crowd of these humans, not stopping to apologize when their conversation had to be interrupted for his passage.

`Did you see that spirit she was talking to? It looked exactly like some monk in the times of…'

He saw a flash of youki light its way across the barrier, illuminating it in such a blatant physical manifestation that Kurama wondered exactly how great the three worlds were if the illusion of being separate entities was this palpable.

`Shikato has been hanging around the miko's brother…something about family or the like…'

`Do you think everything will go as they recorded?'

`They predicted the call and the need…'

`They will answer it.'

Kurama felt Hiei pacing beside him as the people parted with these whispers and smiling excited looks. He couldn't help but think it was like watching people at gift giving days…they were all excited of the prospect…but unsure and afraid of getting exactly what they want in fear of messing it up or not getting what they want and being disappointed.

They finally reached the end of the crowd, the center of the park abruptly so free of the encroaching groups that he heard his comrades stumble slightly at the sudden change. He was right to seek the miko there, and he easily made his way to her now that he didn't have to battle the mingling crowd.

She had her arms gently crossed, fingers tapping some jaunty beat against her bicep and shoulder as her chin tilted and her smile beamed. Her eyes were wide and mirthful when she turned to him in acknowledgement, and her smile opened to reveal a flash of white teeth before she sent her attention back to the area in front of her.

Kurama stepped cautiously up to her side, wondering exactly where the powers were originating as Hiei stepped up a few paces behind him.

“I was wondering when you guys would get here.” She gestured with a casual hand over her shoulder to the reikai prince. “The ruling spirits are idiots but even my call would have set them off.”

Kurama opened his mouth to say something, anything really, to get her to explain the call and exactly what was going on…but he was cut off by the arrival of the young man who had been standing near Souta and then the Higurashi son himself approaching with a scowl on his face.

Kurama briefly murmured a greeting to the boy when he introduced himself as Shikato and then startled as Kagome giggled at something her brother had mumbled.

“Souta-kun, behave. I'm sure Sesshoumaru would like to spend more time with you. It's not only Shikato who is excited.” Souta pouted briefly but it was quickly displaced with a laugh as Kagome messed up his hair affectionately.

Kurama cleared his throat and watched in fascination as the Higurashi siblings turned to him with startlingly similar movements. He sucked in a breath, briefly wondering what reikai had gotten into…and then dared. “Reikai had a rather interesting experience with their scales…”

He let the sentence hang as Kagome smiled and Souta snickered.

Shikato piped up cheerily from his position beside Souta, and smiled as he distractedly glanced around and spoke. “That would have been Kagome-sama, at first anyway…and then it would have been the ningen Eschew and then the spirits that got pushed along and then…” His mouth was covered by an aggravated Souta, although small mumbles could still be heard and you could tell the boy was smiling in spite of it.

Souta shook his head in exasperation. “Let him in on one thing and he goes crazy.”

Kagome giggled and then sharply turned to survey the people gathered behind her. Kurama watched the two boys settle down and peruse the crowd as well, and turned slightly so he could speak to his teammates without losing sight of the strange trio.

“There is something really wrong here, I've never felt energy mixing like this ever, and I am a kitsune.”

Hiei abruptly snapped his head to look at him, his claret eyes flashing and his voice lowering. “The mutterings are about another call going out but I can't read well enough in this crowd to clarify.”

Yusuke sighed out a growl and furiously rubbed at his hair, glowering at the crowd and the fields in front of them. “If I didn't like this family so much, I'd say that they were too much of a hassle to let free.”

Kuwabara startled and turned wide eyes to them and his gaping face briefly went vague and unfocused with his thoughts. He shook his head and spoke in a hushed and reverent and forceful voice. “They are good people.”

And it was with that final remark that they heard the whispering and shuffling of the crowd go silent, and their attention was turned to the trio smiling as Shikato lowered his hand from where he had raised it to the sky. “Our miko has blessed us!” a muffled whisper of awe ran through the ranks in reply to his shout, “our miko has guided us!” Shouts of joy and encouragement echoed through the mass, “And more importantly our Miko is here!” A resounding cheer shook the spirit detectives where they stood- like the ground itself was reacting to their fervor.

Souta stepped up proudly, shoulders thrown back and face smiling and making his brown-blue eyes sparkle. “Let the final call resound true and strong!”

Clapping and whistles were accompanied by stamping feet and bright grins, the so called ningen Eschew yelling and hollering their agreement.

It suddenly went deathly still as Kagome stepped forward, and her smile was so strong her blue-brown eyes were curved into crescents and her very aura seemed to pulsate with her joy.

“The time has come…” she paused and opened her eyes to gaze serenely over all those gathered, and spare the confused reikai employees a playful wink, “Let the whole earth resonate with our unity!”

And with her shout the spiritual power that had been whisking about them rose and seemed to solidify before the blinding array of colors and strength was pushed into the field.

There was a collectively held breath.

And then a much different power came rushing back, swirling and twisting through the gathered and seemed to scream with the force of all the different youki in it.

Another cheer went through the ranks as the youki returned to the field, and then Kurama was forced to brace himself with a wider stance as he felt the collective powers gathering and mixing and fighting…

And his eyes widened as he sucked in a breath.

He could see it.

…and then uniting.

The barrier flickered, pink and blue and green and red…colors flashing and clashing with sounds that almost deafened the soul- for that was what was affected by the reality of the barrier.

Vague shadows and shapes and scents.

Kurama shook his head and turned to gape at the female standing serenely beside him- not only was she serene in the face of this dilemma but her eyes were heavy lidded with satisfaction and her lips were smirking in pride. He shook his head again, clearing it of the supernatural fog to watch a fog of more physical qualities - the air of reikai and makai and ningenkai clashing - as it rolled along the ground in grabbing wisps and curled up his legs like clinging spider threads.

Figures blurred from the misty turmoil, seeming to be birthed of the haze itself and not there through any natural means. The fog appeared to reveal physical forms of demons and spirits, but it was like the mist itself was creating them, infusing them with breath and life before his eyes for some divine purpose never before realized.

The mist vanished without a wind to dissipate it, an abrupt silence sending his ears ringing and his body swaying before he could steady himself.

And when he did he stumbled again.

In front of him what was once an enclosed park now extended miles to the West. Shadows and sunlight battled where once fog obscured, and Kurama could only stagger and gape at the sheer number of those in front of him; wolf (wolf?), water, dragon, hanyou, elementals, snake, tanuki, neko…

They all at once thrust a fist over their hearts, every single last one of them synchronized with solemn formality, before a single trembling voice rose out; “Miko! We greet thee!” And they all bowed to bended knee as one entity.

A sudden cheer rang through their ranks, and Kurama was startled when an answering call rang up behind him, having forgotten entirely the presence of all the gathered ningen who had seemed aware of demons and myths and legends…

He spun on his heel to watch as the humans thrust one fist into the air and the other crossed over their hearts, not bowed down but faces raised to the sky to gaze off in respectful distance even with the joyous intimate grins fighting their way onto their faces.

He briefly shared bewildered and awed glances with his teammates and caught the incredulous look of both Koenma and a nervously giggling Botan before he spun to face the demons again.

.x.x.x.IiiI.x.x.x.

Okay, first half of end done, next chapter is…dun dun dun duuuh…THE END! Oh yes, and Kagome should act like Miroku and an adult kitsune, upon reflection that is who she spent the most time around (I mean positive time people XP). So she would absorb some of their qualities. I do it all the time- it's like an inside joke amongst friends to do the same action at the same time without any thought.

Enjoy!