Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lunacy and Excitement ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing that is owned by somebody else, and I am leaving it at that.

CHAPTER ONE

Everything was changing. Everything was staying the same. Kyoki sighed once more as she let the events of the boring school day sink in. Two more days. That was all she had to go before she was home free. Two days time would mark the beginning of the summer months. Then the boring life style she become accustomed to would start up again.

Get up, go to school, come home, go to sleep, and then endure it for another one hundred eighty-five or so days.

Always the same routine. Day after day. Year after year.

This time though, Kyoki felt something different. Something was building up. What it was, she didn't know.

She could feel it in her blood. Her soul--her very being and spirit--called out to it. It was a beacon, a fire. And she was a moth being lured to the flame.

Too bad she had to ignore it for six more years.

In the beginning, life had seemed good…it had seemed perfect. But the fairytale dream had all but shattered completely with the sick twisted fantasies of perverted men and wandering hands that had no need to be where they were.

The memory made her shudder at the lingering thought of her first best friends stepfather. He had always given Kyoki chills, even before she knew what instincts were. She had tried her hardest to evade him, but he was like a shadow, following her every move.

After several attempts, she had finally decided to tell Stephanie, his wife. She tried to tell him to stop, but he denied any and all accusations. And he still hadn't discontinued the disturbing past time.

Stephanie tried, though even she was scared of his temperament. All in the household knew how dangerous he was if too many buttons were pushed, and no body wanted that. Billy had received a blow from the whip for not knowing how to use it. D.C., or Destiny Christine, had to duck out of the path of a flying fork because she had prepared his dinner incorrectly. Stephanie gained the verbal assault for not acting as a proper housewife and keeping the house clean.

He had scared Kyoki to no end, and she was eternally grateful when he decided to leave.

Her childhood had been a fair one, but in tenth grade, the same grade she was about to leave, something strange happened. She began to feel the emotions of those around her, expressing it through poetry and songs. Kyoki knew it wasn't her own: she had neither experienced heartbreak nor love. She didn't even believe in the latter, so how could she be familiar with it?

She felt as if she had no one. Her friends had moved a long while ago and, though they still talked and wrote letters, it wasn't the same. It never would be. The scars on her right arm over the pulsing blue vein proved that. Too bad she hadn't cut deeper…

Even her family was leaving her. They laughed at her fears, the way she acted and the way she dressed. They laughed at who she was. Sure, they probably thought it all to be one humongous façade, but it hurt, damn it!

It had progressed to the point where Kyoki had to cry herself to sleep every night, wishing something would happen. Anything. No matter what it was. She would sacrifice anything and everything. Not like it really mattered anyway. She had nothing to lose. No friends. No family. No sanity. No emotions. Not for the human race anyway…Well, an exception for children.

She couldn't explain what she felt that day, or that week, or that month. She just had a gut feeling.

Kyoki hummed the tune to one of her songs, "Fearless Desire", as she walked home, the lyrics running through her head.

"Hold me tight

As we watch the lights display in the sky

Flashing in the clouds above

You whisper into my ear And I haven't anymore fear

Lay me back in the grass,

You're lips on my lips, you're hips on mine

As your hand slides up my thigh

Your kisses still linger upon my fingertips

Your marks lay across my neck

I am yours, as you are mine

My home is in your arms

My mind is blank, I cannot think straight As you hold me tight

And watch the lights display in the sky flashing in the clouds above

You whisper into my ear And I haven't anymore fear

Take me to your bed And lay with me all night

Do with me as you like I am at your mercy

Your lips travel over my skin Your tongue trails across my body

My breath quickens My heart stops As you hold me tight

And watch the lights display in the sky flashing in the clouds above

You whisper into my ear and I haven't anymore fear

My body screams as you press into me

And you cover my cries with your mouth over mine

Feeding a fire with Fearless Desire"

Her mother would probably be mad at her for not taking the bus, but Kyoki had the great desire to walk, even though it was a four-mile hike to the house. Oh well, her feet, her time. Her life. Though sometimes it didn't seem like it.

Everyone looked up to her to make a fortune, make straight A's and good grades, to be an exact replica of their dreams and desires. But Kyoki didn't want that.

What she wanted was to follow her heart, to fulfill the sudden aspiration to run away and head to Los Angeles for some unknown reason. She had no more rational thoughts. All she had anymore was insanity, and she reveled in it.

A silent tear traveled down her rosy cheek as she remembered her normal, exciting, and fun life, when she was naïve about the Truth. The truth about where you went when you die.

Every one had always said, "If you're a good little girl, you'll get into Heaven. But if you're a bad girl, you'll go to Hell, where the Devil resides. You don't want to live with Satan, do you?"

Kyoki remembered shaking her head at the statement, not wanting that evil beast of a man--if that was even what he was--to be granted satisfaction. However, lately, she had been leaning the other way. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to meet her Dark Maker? After all, it was never written that Lucifer was evil, he just questioned God's authority, and got thrown out because of it. So he might not be as bad as everyone said, besides, all great leaders, good or bad, have to fall at one point or another, right?

She chuckled lightly at that thought. Who knows, maybe one day her wish would come true…

Luckily, she made it home before her mother. Kyoki was quite surprised, especially by the fact that she had walked four miles in two and a half hours, give or take several minutes.

She quickly retrieved the dead spider she had drowned in bug spray the night before from the shower, shuddering and muttering things about "stupid perverted arachnids" and their poor choice of timing. No matter, she wrapped it in toilet paper and flushed it down the toilet, just in time to hear the boxer dog, Rocky Bal Boxer, barking at the burgundy Nissan X-Terra pulling into the mulch driveway.

She hurried into her room after mixing her mother a drink: a shot of Vodka and approximately two cups of diet coke.

Several hours later, as she was strumming her guitar lazily, her phone rang. Kyoki cautiously picked it up surprised someone had called.

"Hello?" she asked suspiciously, as if it were some kind of prank.

"Konnichi wa, tomodachi!" the voice on the other line called out, obviously speaking Japanese, a language both she and Nekkyo had learned independently. They currently blamed it on anime, manga, and fan fiction.

"Konnichi wa, Nekkyo! Doshitano?" Kyoki asked.

"Nothing much," her friend answered truthfully. "What's up with you?"

"Same as you," she sighed. "My life has become even more boring than I thought possible. Gods, I can't wait till we get to L.A!"

"Me neither, but I gotta ask you: Why do you wanna go so bad? It's like you think the sooner we get there, the better life will become." Nekkyo paused a moment before continuing, swallowing the piece of chocolate chip cookie she had just eaten. "It's gonna be even worse there. We don't even know anyone like we do here."

"You and I finally decided on a nice place, don't you dare back out on me now," Kyoki warned with a growl.

"I'm not!" Nekkyo retorted, ashamed of the assumption her best and only friend had made. "I'm just telling you that it's going to be hard. What if we can't pay for the rent? Or somebody robs us? What are we going to do then?"

"You're such a pessimist. You're only thinking about the bad things, think about some of the good stuff, too." Kyoki was going to leave it at that, but suddenly was hit with something that would make her friend laugh. "Like finding a nice young lad to sire that blue eyed baby boy your father wants so much and the one I had a dream about. I'm sure we could hold auditions like we did for the band. `Good day, sir. Do you wear boxers or briefs? Is the blue-eyed genotype in your family recessive or dominant? Can my best friend bear your child?'"

Laughter was heard from both ends of the phone line.

"Who knows," she continued, "Maybe you could turn into a female Miroku and ask that question as an occupation, and then say, `I am but a humble servant of Insanity and my crazy father's will for me to have a son before he dies.' I'm sure that would go over real well with the press!"

The mirth and amusement continued to pass through the receiver until they hung up, both saying their farewells to each other until they spoke again.

Kyoki sat for a moment in silence, reminiscing about how her Sister-chan could lighten the mood so much with a mere conversation. Sometimes it was amazing how much a simple call could do to someone's psyche.

~*^0^*~

Kurama chuckled at the antics of Yususke and the current naïveté Kuwabara was showing off as the two argued over something he had long since lost track of. He looked over at Hiei, who was sitting in a shadowed corner of the room, glaring in aggravation at the two humans that had decided not to heed his earlier warning of keeping their mouth's shut.

Fortunately for them, he was in no mood to waste his time on simple ningen matters that had no meaning to him. He was, however, rather impatient today, his rage slowly rising at the absent-minded toddler, Koenma, who was the current ruler of Spirit World.

The grand entrance of said `child', made Yususke and Kuwabare jump; Hiei and Kurama remained un-phased. The shocked duo glared at Koenma, but he seemed not to notice.

"Hmmm…Let's see here…" he murmured, glancing briefly at the group in front of him at the head of his desk. "…No, that wouldn't do…Well…No…How about…Nope, too insufficient…There's always…"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" yelled Yususke, cutting the child Prince off. "Did you call us here for an important mission, or what?!"

"Actually, I called you here because I sensed a strange aura around your cousin's shrine, Yususke. Every now and then, a demon aura shows up. Then, somehow, they miraculously disappear and…"

"And, let me guess, you want us to go investigate it, right?" interrupted Yususke, sighing as Koenma nodded his head.

"Yes, that's exactly what I want, Yususke." He turned to the side, calling, "Botan!"

"Yes, Koenma, sir?" the blue haired ferry girl piped happily, appearing in a pink kimono, and hovering in mid air on her oar.

"Open a portal to the Higurashi shrine for Yususke and the others, and make sure they don't get into too much trouble."

"Oh…Uh, yes, sir," she replied before transporting herself and the four boys to the shrine.

What they saw made Yususke groan and mumble, "Oh, damn…"

Ahead of them were numerous steps, gratefully not as many as Genkai had, but all the same too many.

They marched their way up, Botan changing to look more human, and Hiei already resting upon the limbs of the God Tree. As they came to the large doors that made the shrine's gates, they saw an old man sweeping. Yususke walked up to him.

"Hey! Gramps, is Kagome home?" he asked.

The old man looked up at him, leaning on to his broom as he stood as straight as he could manage.

"I'm afraid she isn't feeling well. Her arthritis is really getting to her, and…"

"Grandpa!" Kagome chastised, walking from the well house with her large yellow backpack hanging casually over her shoulder.

"Now it's arthritis?" Yususke asked, rolling his eyes at the senile fool that stood before him. "I'm surprised he hasn't `given' you cancer yet…"

He trailed off as he saw his cousin's gleeful blue-gray eyes staring at him.

"Yususke?" she asked, disbelieving, in a whisper before lunging at him and strangling him with a hug. "I can't believe it's you! It's been so long! Why didn't you come and visit? Oh, I have so much to tell you!"

She drug him inside, the others following, while Kagome's grandpa resumed sweeping. She told them about the well, and it's time traveling ability to go back five hundred years to Sengoku Jidai; about Inuyasha and how he was helping her find the shards of the Sacred Shekon-no-tama, which she had incidentally shattered; about Sango, the last Taijiya--with exception of her brother, Kohaku, who was at Naraku's mercy--and about Miroku, the Buddhist monk who inevitably had two curses upon his hands: the wind tunnel, and his `groping problem'. Then she told them about Shippou, the small fox kit that she and Inuyasha had rescued from the Thunder Brothers.

She told them of Naraku, how he desired to posess the jewel and taint it; of Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha's older half-brother, who wanted to kill him to gain the Tetsusaiga, who hated humans with a passion and somehow managed to travel with the small human girl, Rin; of Kouga, the leader of the wolf pack, and his unhealthy obsession with Kagome.

Yususke, Kuwabara, and Botan just blinked as Kagome stared at them and Kurama and Hiei, waiting for a response. Silence ensued, creating a pregnant pause.

"Wow…" Kuwabara sighed, seemly over taken by the girl's story.

"Oh, my!" Botan suddenly exclaimed. "What will Koenma think when he finds out you didn't have to fight anyone this time!"

The front door burst open, someone calling Kagome's name.

The girl in question began fuming, then shouted, "Inuyasha, sit boy!"

A silver haired boy slammed into the floor just as he was entering the living room.

"What was that for?!" he yelled as he jumped up. "I didn't do anything this time!"

"I haven't even been here for a full hour, Inuyasha! And already you're trying to drag me back to the feudal era!" Kagome retorted. Loudly.

"I was not!" Inuyasha openly denied, his furry ears flattening atop his head. "I was coming to tell you that Sango and Miroku have to check out a demon sighting in a nearby village!"

"Oh…"

Kagome was taken aback by his answer. Normally, he would have come only to drag her back, or to check up on her while she dreamed, making it his nightmare of course.

"Feh. Who are they?" he asked, looking at and pointing to the small group staring blankly at them.

"Oh! This is my cousin Yususke and his friends…um, what were your names again?"

Kurama chuckled, while Yususke and Kuwabara had wide grins plastered across their faces.

"I'm Botan," the blue-haired ferry girl replied happily, before introducing the others. "This is Kuwabara. Kurama. And Hiei," she said, pointing to each one in turn.

The tall, orange haired Kuwabara grinned even wider. Kurama, the red headed green-eyed boy, bowed politely, smiling slightly. Hiei, the short fire apparition, just averted his red gaze.

It wasn't long before they all went home: Yususke to the house he shared with Atsuko, his mother; Kuwabara to the place he live at with his sister, Shizuru; Kurama to his mother's place, with Hiei teleporting behind him through the trees.

Kurama knew Hiei felt out of place in the Human Realm. He did too, at first. But he had someone to care, someone who was there for him, even when he didn't want her to. He had a mother. Hiei had no one.

He could have a sister, but he doesn't want the sweet and caring ice maiden to know that he is her brother. Hiei was hiding his identity from her. He didn't want her to be hurt, and he didn't want to seem weak by caring for someone. But someday he would have to face the truth, and how he dreaded the day…

Kurama entered his room, having a short chat with his mother on the way. Hiei sat outside on the tree branch, staring in through the window.

Let me in, fox, Hiei said telepathically.

The glass barrier slid open, allowing him to enter the chambers.

I am surprised, Hiei, Kurama began, also within the confines of the mind, I did not think you would come here. You have been a bit agitated lately, and I am beginning to wonder why.

You mean your Kitsune curiosity is getting the better of you.

`Oh, he's a smart one,' Youko purred. `Can we keep him?'

I'm not in the mood for your sick Kitsune fantasies, fox, Hiei growled, fire alighting his crimson eyes. I came to talk, not visualize what you are obviously thinking.

`Oh? And what would that be?' Youko asked innocently while sending obsenity through the fire apparitions brain.

Could you two kindly stop arguing? You're getting as bad as Yususke and Kuwabara, Kurama interjected, cutting off the verbal and very visual war going on between the spirit inhabiting his body and the short demon standing beside the window. Unfortunately, the hostilities continued.

"What am I going to do with you two?" Kurama sighed out, running a hand through his regal red mane.