Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Like Sakura Petals Falling... ❯ Kagome ( Chapter 5 )

Blanket Disclaimer: InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, YuYu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Perverse bastardizations of both can be blamed on me.

"Fair maid, white and red." - 'Hey Ho' by The Sneaker Pimps

Chapter Five (Kagome)

Kurama's head jerked up at the sudden rush of dark energy speeding toward the back of the shrine complex. Glancing up, the first thing his mind registered was a seething black cloud. Upon closer inspection, Kurama registered the black cloud to actually be a swarm of youkai bees.

Without second thought, Kurama took off in the same direction as the swarm---

--- and his step-brother.

As he rounded the final corner, reaching the quaint house's back porch, Kurama skidded to a halt when he was hit by a pulsing wave of purifying energy.

A myousa? Kurama thought in shock at the large glowing tree, rising rapidly from the ground.

«How'd he do that?» Youko demanded, gesturing mentally toward Shuuichi. «That little human of ours is full of surprises.»

Indeed. Kurama agreed, as he watched his younger step-brother chanting, with one hand raised to his chest with two fingers extended upward, and the other two curled back into his palm.

The swarming youkai bees flew with a deadly intent toward the two teen-aged boys. However, before they reached the schoolmates, the swarm veered its course suddenly to the pulsing tree. They flew up the tree in an endless trail of black.

"Shuuichi!" Kurama called out to his step-brother in concern.

Slowly, Shuuichi lowered his hand and turned toward Kurama with unfocused eyes. He regarded his step-brother for a moment before looking off in the direction of a copse of trees. Shuuiching nodded once, as if in understanding, then refocused on Kurama.

"The hive!" Shuuichi called back over the din, then glanced off to the trees again. "It--- she says it has to be destroyed."

She? Kurama wondered. There was no female here. No sooner had the thought drifted through his head, than the scent of sakura petals and pampas grass assaulted his senses.

«Her!» Youko rebelled against Kurama's control, shifting the kitsune's eyes from green to gold.

Stop. Kurama commanded his warring half.

"Hurry! The storage shed!" Shuuichi yelled, agitation clear in his tone

.

Kurama nodded once, then set out back-tracking the swarm's course to a small out building. Quickly, he reached to the base of his neck and grabbed a youki drenched seed from the base of his hairline. Pulling it out, he snapped his wrist down once, while entering through the threshold of the shed, turning the seed into his signature rose whip.

Spotting the demon's hive, Kurama made short work of the hive with precise, controlled flicks of his wrist. Once destroyed the bees instantly began to dissipate until none were left. Even the pulsing holy energy emanating from the myousa, like a beacon of purity, slowly ebbed away into nothingness, as well.

Breathing deeply, Kurama narrowed his eyes at the shattered box at his feet. Kuwabara's youkai attacks, he realized. He couldn't trace how they came through the Kakkai Barrier, because they were already in Ningen-kai.

«And the reason the shrines were attacked must have been because that's where they were when they--- awoke.» Youko supplied, proudly.

It would make sense. If any remaining youkai were to exist in the Ningen-kai after the Great Separation of the Three Realms; then they'd most likely be subdued in shrines--- perhaps, even temples. Kurama agreed, pressing a finger to his lip in thought. So, Koenma probably wouldn't notice the activity, either, if he wasn't looking for the anomalies specifically.

«Koenma is a fool.» Youko snorted back by way of retort.

"Minamino-san! Minamino-san?"

Kurama blinked at the sudden intrusion, and turned to the door as Higurashi-san reached the entrance.

"Higurashi-san?" Kurama replied, reverting his whip back into its dormant seed form. "Is everything alright?" He asked, joining her at the entrance.

"Your -step-brother, he's lost consciousness." The woman stated wringing her hands in worry.

"What? Where is he?" Kurama asked sharply.

"This way." Higurashi-san replied with a furrowed brow, and began to lead him back toward the family's house, only to stop before entering and regarding Kurama in a veiled manner.

"Minamino-san, may I ask you a question?" She asked him, after a moment's hesitation.

"Of course." Kurama replied distractedly.

"You aren't human, are you?" Higurashi-san stated more than asked. "At least, not entirely."

Kurama stared at the woman in open shock, winning a lilting laugh from the woman.

"Don't worry, Minamino-san." She replied after she sobered from her amusement. "You'll always be welcome here." She said with a sad smile as her expression grew distant, then cheered up once more.

"Come." She gently summoned as she entered the house.

«Clever little wench.» Youko purred in amusement.

Yes, she is very perceptive. Kurama concurred as he entered the house, following Higurashi-san.

~*~

Shuuichi felt safe and warm. He drifted and flowed, encompassed by a gently warm presence. There was something familiar about this place he was drifting in, though Shuuichi couldn't remember being anywhere like this before.

"Shuuichi?"

Shuuichi frowned and did his best to turn away from the beckoning voice.

"Shuuichi."

The voice was more commanding this time. Shuuichi moaned his complaint as he tried to swim to the surface for this comforting haze.

"He's coming to!" Cried out another voice in obvious relief.

Souta? Shuuichi thought, turning his head toward the voice in a lolling fashion. Shuuichi struggled a moment with heavy eyelids before finally succeeding in opening his eyes.

"Shuuichi." Shuuichi raised his eyes at his step-brother's soft voice.

So that's who was calling me. He realized as his vision focused on concern-filled green eyes. "Eh..."

"Welcome back." Minamino spoke gently. "You had us worried." He added, squeezing Shuuichi's shoulder gently before releasing it.

When did he grab it? Shuuichi wondered, as the last of the warmth from his previous haze seeped away. Must have been while I was unconscious. Shuuichi concluded after a moment.

"What happened?" Shuuichi asked groggily.

Minamino and Souta exchanged a glance, before Souta cleared his throat. "You collapsed." He replied tentatively.

"Huh?" Shuuichi grunted in confusion at the answer he received.

"Actually," Minamino interjected politely. "We don't know what happened. We were hoping you would tell us."

"Me?" He asked blinking at the two.

There was a knock at the door, suddenly distracting all three of the room's occupants.

"I made some tea." Came a kind voice, proceeded by Souta's mother entering the room carrying a tea service tray. "Oh, Shuuichi-kun is awake!" She exclaimed happily upon looking up. "I'm so glad!"

Higurashi-san set the tray down on Souta's desk carefully, before turning back to the boy lying on her son's bed. Laying a motherly hand upon Shuuichi's brow, she smiled softly and nodded.

"Good. No fever." She said. "Help him to sit," she ordered in a motherly fashion. To Shuuichi's amused surprise, both his step-brother and Souta immediately set about carrying out the task.

"Thanks," he offered quietly once he was again settled with a steaming cup of tea in his hands.

"Drink." Higurashi-san ordered again with a gentle nod to the tea.

Shuuichi hurriedly took a sip of the tea in acquiesence to the woman's firm tone. He couldn't help but smile at himself, as he watched Souta's mother offer his step-brother a cup of tea. Sipping at the warm liquid, Shuuichi eyes idly traveled over the wall of photos opposite him.

"Her!" He exclaimed, sitting bolt upright in the bed.

"What?" Higurashi-san asked in a start.

"Who?" Minamino added, steadying Shuuichi's tea cup before he could spill or drop it.

"Her." Shuuichi repeated, with an impatient gesture toward a photograph of a girl on the wall.

"Who? Kagome?" Souta asked, retrieving the photograph in question before offering it to Shuuichi.

Beside Minamino, Higurashi-san stilled, resting her hand on Shuuichi's step-brother's shoulder absently as she stared at the image of the smiling girl.

"Yeah. It was her." Shuuichi nodded, then frowned. "Only she looked--- older."

"You--- you saw her?" Higurashi-san breathed out in shock her fingers gripping Minamino's shoulder until her knuckles turned white. She raised her other hand to her chest as she lifted pleading, brown eyes to Shuuichi's own. At his nod, fine tremors began to course through her delicate frame as she visibly paled.

"When? Where?" She demanded desperately.

"Outside. When those--- things were swarming." Shuuichi answered warily. "She..."

He never got a chance to finish as Higurashi-san rushed out of the room.

"I---" Shuuichi turned to his step-brother, and then to his friend; only to meet confusion and concern in the first, and grief-stricken worry in the latter. "Did I say something wrong?" He asked in a small voice.

"Kagome? Kagome!" Higurashi-san's frantic, keening cries drifted into the room through the window, causing Souta and Shuuichi to both flinch at the pure anguish it carried.

Shuuichi rushed to the window, peering out in time to watch Souta' mother collapse in sobs, as her father hovered over her; no doubt, trying to comfort the distraught woman. Shuuichi peeled his eyes away from the scene unfolding below as his step-brother's hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"I didn't mean..." Shuuichi trailed off with a worried glance back out the window.

"I know." Minamino replied softly.

"My sister," Souta spoke up, eyes trained on the forgotten photograph, as he held it carefully in his hands. "She--- disappeared three years ago." The boy swallowed thickly then shrugged. "My mom, she just--- worries? I guess." Souta explained in a taut voice.

"It must be hard." Minamino offered in a comforting tone.

Shuuichi could have hugged his step-brother at that moment. Minamino always knew the right things to say to smooth away any bad situation. Damn him!

"Yeah," Souta sighed. "Everyone's assuming the worst." His shoulders sagged, then he reared his lean athletic frame up in defiance to some internal demon. "But I don't believe them. She'll come back. She always does."

"Faith is a powerful force." Minamino replied sagely with a kind smile.

Souta nodded at the elder youth. "Yeah," he whispered.

Minamino turned to Shuuichi. "Perhaps, it would be best if we left." He suggested in a hushed tone.

Swallowing, Shuuichi nodded his agreement. "We should go. I'll talk to you later, Souta." Shuuichi addressed his friend nervously. "Sorry for any trouble I may have caused."

"No, no!" Souta replied shaking himself from his thoughts. "You were no trouble. We should be thanking you both--- for earlier." He replied quickly. "I'll show you to the door."

~*~

«Kongo Souha!»

Hiei's head jerked up, then blinked in complete disorientation. Where the hell was he?

Claret eyes slowly surveyed the sylvan environ he found himself in, not recognizing any of it. Frowning he spied an area that looked as though it had recently been excavated. With some further investigation, Hiei found himself in the remnants of some ancient shrine of some sort.

Was this were that miko statue of Kurama's had been discovered? And why the well was he here?

Damn this jagan. Hiei growled low to himself.

~*~

Red eyes glowed in the dark by the dozens as they surrounded the shimmering pink figure.

"The jewel!" Hissed out one voice in the darkened and closed museum's wing. The voice was echoed by other voices as the eyes glowing forth from shadowy, often disfigured forms.

The statue let out a high-pitched ring as a crack in the statue's surface appeared and quickly grew into a fine fissure running the length of the form.

"Mine!" Cried a distorted voice in lustful avarice as the demons rushed in on the glistening sculpture.

«Kongo Souha!»

The wing was suddenly consumed by a blinding light and an immense wave of purifying energy. Shards of pink diamond flew out from the epicenter with deadly precision, impaling and purifying the invading youkai. A din of demonic screams rose to deafening screams, before silencing as though cut off sharply by a switch.

When the light slowly faded away, the entire exhibit remained in shambles. Diamond spears jutted out of walls, display cases, and the floor from where they had embedded themselves. The lurking youkai and oni completely destroyed by the awesome display of raw power.

The stature was also completely obliterated, leaving behind no trace of its existence. Where it once stood, no lay a collapsed, pale, and naked figure of a young woman.

The waif-like woman suddenly sprang to life with a shuddering gasp and choked sob, as she began to shiver violently.

~*~

Kurama made his way back to his apartment, cutting through Ueno Park, letting the sight and smell of the thousands of sakura trees lining the pathways calm him. He'd been allowed to return to his now roach-free apartment only yesterday. Though he'd enjoyed his visit and stay in his mother's hom; he had sorely missed the privacy he'd grown accustomed to while living alone.

The stars emerged in the night sky, too dim for human eyes to see in the drowning light of Tokyo. Glimpsing them through sakura petals, Kurama felt the day's tension, finally begin to melt away.

To say it had been a long day would have been a gross understatement. Once he and his step-brother had left the Higurashi shrine, Shuuichi had talked and worried non-stop about the mysterious attack and ghostly girl he'd seen.

"Do you think I saw a ghost?" Shuuichi had asked him, only for dark eyes to widen in fear. "But if it was a ghost, then Souta's sister would be dead, right? Shit! Poor Souta-kun! He and his family must think I'm crazy." The teen had rambled on and on.

After their arrival home, Kurama had then been besieged by his mother with worried questions. Apparently either Higurashi-san, or Higurashi-sempai had phoned the Hatanaka residence to inform them of Shuuichi's condition.

Two lengthy interrogations later, Kurama was finally released to his own devices. When the hell had his life metamorphed into a bad prison film?

«I still can't believe that brat saw her, and we didn't.» Youko snorted, coming completely from left field to Kurama's current train of thought.

What? Kurama asked in annoyed exasperation. There was no peace for him tonight.

«Her!»

Kurama rolled his eyes, grateful there was no one to witness the uncharacteristic funk the kistune found himself in.

Not this again. He replied warily.

«She calls to us.» Youko insisted resolutely.

You're sounding like a broken record. Kurama dismissed, figuratively turning his shoulder on his youko aspect. The youko huffed back, pointedly ignoring him in return.

Kurama was about a block away from his apartment's complex, when he spotted the figure of a young woman in an ill-fitting dress and jacket. At first he dismissed it, until he noticed her weaving, unsteady walk, followed by her lack of shoes.

"Miss?" Kurama called out, frowning as he quickened his pace. Catching the girl as she stumbled, and nearly collapsed; long, ebony tresses pitching forward obscured her face from Kurama's view.

"Miss?" Kurama repeated, helping the girl back to her feet, and steadying her again when she nearly collapsed again. He didn't smell alcohol on her, nor illness. What was wrong with her?

The girl looked up at him with a blank, unfocused expression, brushing hair from her face. He brow creased delicately as she gazed about her, then back to Kurama at the sound of his voice.

"Miss? Do you need some help?" He asked the girl, gripping her upper arms lightly as she continued to sway on her feet.

Large brown eyes studied his face, squinting in her attempt to focus. She gasped, her pink tongue taring out to moisten her lips before speaking in the faintest of whispers.

"Shi-Shippo?" The name fell from her lips, dying quickly in her throat as she pitched forward into his chest, a sudden dead-weight against the kitsune.

Kurama shuffled the unconscious girl in his arms trying to rouse her with no success. Sighing, he lifted the girl's limp form into his arms at a complete loss for what he should do with her.

«Keep her.»

I thought you were off sulking. Kurama shot back at the newly awake addition to his ever-growing list of problems.

«But you just got us a prize.» Youko pointed out, its curiosity spilling forth.

One that thinks we're someone named Shippo. Kurama added in dismay.

«A prize is still a prize.» Youko dismissed loftily.

Kurama frowned at the sudden glib cheer emanating from the youko. A couple walking along the sidewalk, paused giving him an odd look. Kurama blushed remembering himself and the unconscious girl in his arms.

Sighing heavily, he trudged his way to his apartment, with his little bundle in tow, and a gleeful fox chattering excitedly in his head.

A very long day, indeed.