Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Paradox ❯ Youko Kurama ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Paradox

Rating: NC-17 for language, violence, adult situations, and Youko's dirty mind.

Summary: IY/YYH X-over! As if dealing with a lecherous monk, an overbearing hanyou, and a slave-driving taijiya sensei in the past wasn't enough...now Kagome has to face her newest challenges: a kitsune kung fu sifu and a koorime stalker in modern day Tokyo!

Disclaimer:
I don't own either
Inuyasha or YuYu;
Somebody else does.

This is a crossover with the animanga Yuu Yuu Hakusho. If you are unfamiliar with the characters, please look over the short explanation at the end of this chapter. This fic will be Alternate Reality after the Sensui arc in YYH and the Musou arc in IY.

I have just completed a major revision of this fic, and chapter 18 will be coming soon.

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Paradox

by Somnambulicious

Chapter 1: Youko Kurama

Kagome finished braiding her pigtails and checked her appearance in the locker room mirror. Short black yoga pants and a slightly fitted black t-shirt...not bad, not bad, she thought. She knew from experience that wearing monochromatic clothing makes it harder for an opponent to judge your moves, and she wasn't about to get her ass kicked in her first kung fu class.

She snorted to herself. Not that that was likely to happen. Every night for the past year, Sango had been training her in the taijiyado, the way of the demon exterminators. After the incident with Musou, when Kagome had put the others in danger just by being in the way, she had nervously pulled Sango aside and asked her if she would give her a few pointers. Sango had taken this as a request for full-fledged training, and she was more than happy to oblige. Of course, Kagome mused, that was probably because the first three months of training had been strength training, in which Kagome had to carry the Hiraikotsu for Sango...all day, every day, only to be subjected to even more grueling strength training at night.

After three months, Sango had gruffly proclaimed Kagome ready for the second part of her training. She still had to carry the Hiraikotsu during the day, but now, her evenings were spent doing kata and light sparring -- hand to hand and a little wakizashi -- with Sango. Her progression had been spectacular...until she'd had to spend a whole month in the modern era for the beginning of her final year of high school. Seeing Kagome's wavering kata upon her return, Sango had demanded that Kagome find a sensei in the modern era so that she could keep up her training while she was there.

And so, here she was, in the locker room of a Tokyo dojo, staring at herself in the mirror. Ayumi's older brother, who taught karate in Kyoto, had recommended this particular dojo, and Kagome was here for the only class that was held six nights a week: Beginning and Intermediate Wing Chun Kung Fu. Although she'd originally planned on taking karate, Kagome was excited at the prospect of learning a martial arts system that was only 300 years old. Nobody in the Sengoku Jidai knew this system, so perhaps that would give her an advantage.

Seeing the necklace draped around her neck, Kagome frowned at her reflection. She couldn't very well leave the shards behind, unprotected, in the locker room. She tucked the pendant beneath her t-shirt and prayed that the instructor wouldn't say anything about it. After the kuromiko Tsubaki had attacked Kagome with her own shards, breaking the fragile glass pendant they were housed in, Kagome had taken it upon herself to find a more suitable method of storage. Toutousai had been more than happy to forge an unbreakable chain for her, and Sango had supplied some youkai bone from her village to make a container that would somewhat shield that magic of the shards. To Kagome's surprise and delight, Inuyasha had carved the container with his own claws, fashioning a tiny bottle with a screwtop lid that he'd modeled after Kagome's shampoo bottle-top. As the years had passed, Kagome had come to regard her position as protectress of the Shikon no Tama with more and more seriousness, and she'd protect the shards with her life.

Straightening her shoulders and taking one last look in the mirror, Kagome turned and left the locker room.

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Standing in front of the mirror in the men's locker room, Kurama pulled his long black hair into a low ponytail as he felt Youko stretch with an exaggerated yawn.

'I don't see why you couldn't get a job doing something interesting,' Youko argued for the dozenth time. 'You're intelligent. You're passably good-looking. You could probably charm your way into whatever job you wanted. So tell me again why we're doing this?'

'This position has ideal hours for me, and the management is flexible. I can have Kurabara fill in for me when we're busy with other things. The pay is excellent for a college student.' Kurama recited his arguments by rote. 'Besides, you're the one who insisted that I learn Wing Chun before I even started primary school.'

'But it was new to me back then,' Youko reminded him. 'My curiosity was satisfied years ago. Can't we move onto something else now? We would be so very well-suited for a job in antiquities.'

Kurama sighed. 'For the last time, we don't need that kind of temptation. I thought I was going to have a heart attack the time you persuaded me to steal an entire Kangxi tea service from the museum.'

'They had it with the Ming collection.'

'And we couldn't just move it to the appropriate place?'

Youko sniffed derisively. 'If they don't appreciate fine antique ceramics enough to classify them properly, then they don't deserve to own them.'

'It was a private collection. The owner had nothing to do with the museum staff's mistakes.'

'Should've picked a better museum, then.'

Kurama couldn't argue with that.

Finally satisfied with the state of his hair, Kurama turned back to his locker and neatly stacked his street clothes, shoes, and keys inside. He'd jumped at the chance to teach this class when Kurabara had told him about the opening. Youko had insisted that he take kung fu classes as soon as he was old enough to stand on one foot. The Wing Chun form had been new to Youko, and he'd been curious due to his previous experiences with other forms of kung fu in the past.

The class was an hour a night, six nights a week, and Kurama hoped it wouldn't interfere too much with his studies. But he needed the income to help pay for his tuition and books at Tokyo University. Kurama didn't want to be a burden on Shiori, and so he was determined to be as independent as possible. Last year, his academic scholarship had just barely been enough to cover all of his costs, so he decided some supplemental income was in order this year.

Kurama left the locker room and entered the dojo, letting his eyes drift from student to student, searching for someone with promise.

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Kagome looked up from her place on the floor when she heard the door to the dojo close. She managed to quash her gasp of surprise when she saw the...ah...interesting specimen of a man who'd just stepped inside. He was dressed in red sweatpants and a form-fitting white t-shirt that showcased his muscular, if lean, physique. Long, dark hair cascaded down his back in a low ponytail, and his bright green eyes practically sparkled as he scanned the room. Is he foreign? she wondered, but when his eyes met hers, all rational thought ceased.

The guy staring at her from across the room was, quite possibly, as beautiful as Sesshoumaru. His gaze lingered on her for just a heartbeat before he broke away and walked to the front of the room. Kagome shook herself out of her daze and rose to stand.

Hmm, the cute one shows some potential, Youko observed in Kurama's head as he stared at the young woman stretching on the floor.

You can tell already?

Indeed. See the musculature, the definition? Even her forearms are strong. And look, she's limber, too. She could probably bend those legs all the way behind her--

"Good evening, class," Kurama said calmly as he strode to the front of the room, effectively cutting off Youko's fantasy. "Welcome to Beginning and Intermediate Kung Fu. I am your instructor, Minamino Shuichi, although you may refer to me as sifu." He covered his closed right fist with his left palm and bowed. Some of the students responded likewise, and the rest followed suit when they figured out what their classmates were doing. "Since this is our first class, I'd like to know how many of you have previous experience with martial arts." Five of the six boys in the class raised their hands, as did two of the four girls. Youko smugly pointed out that the girl he had noticed earlier was one of them.

"Would you each please give a short history of your experiences with martial arts? Oh, and your names as well, please," Kurama said, giving them all a brief smile that had the girls practically melting on the floor.

Two of the boys had a year's experience with karate, and the other three had negligible experience at best. One of the girls -- a tall, willowy teenager -- said she had taken judo for two years when she was younger. Kurama turned all his attention to the other girl with martial arts experience when she finally spoke.

"I'm Higurashi Kagome. I've been studying martial arts for the past nine months." Kurama frowned. It didn't escape his notice that she hadn't specified what she had been studying.

"Judo, perhaps? Or Aikido?" he asked, prodding Kagome into giving him further information.

Kagome nervously brushed imaginary dust from her shirt as she desperately searched for an answer. What do I tell him? Stupid! I shouldn't have come here in the first place! "Oh, a little bit of this and that," she finally answered with a smile. "A friend has been teaching me. And I have about three years of experience in kyudo." She added the bit about archery as an afterthought.

Kurama's curiosity wasn't satisfied with her evasive answer, but he didn't want to push the issue...yet. Instead, he had the class follow him in a few laps around the dojo to warm them up before moving on to a few introductory moves in the Siu Lam Tao, the first form in Wing Chun.

Kagome picked up the forms quite easily. Sango had stressed to her the importance of attention to detail, and although these moves were foreign to her, she felt that she had them down well enough by the end of the class.

After an hour had passed, Kurama decided that it was time to end the class. "You all did very well," he said with a slight bow. "I look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow night."

"Um, sifu?" One of the smaller teenage boys in the back of the class raised his hand. "I was kinda hoping we could, you know, see some sparring. If you don't mind," he added.

"Well, I hadn't planned on it, since this is our first class, but perhaps it would be a good way to gauge some of your abilities." Kurama thoughtfully tapped a finger on his chin as he looked his students over. "You," he said, pointing to a largish boy who had the most experience out of the class, "and..." He was about to point at another of the boys when Youko suddenly sprang forward in his mind and took control of his arm. "You," he heard himself saying, pointing at Kagome.

Youko! What on earth are you thinking? She's half his size, and she hasn't had any formal training!

Listen to me on this one, Youko calmly replied. You'll see.

Kagome was a bit surprised that she was chosen to spar with the rather beefy boy who was giving her a smug smirk, but she dutifully followed him to the side of the dojo, where she strapped on the padding and helmet that they would wear for sparring.

"I'll go easy on you, okay?" the boy said to Kagome in a condescending tone of voice.

Kagome fought the urge to glare at him and instead smiled sweetly. "Oh, thank you. I wouldn't want to break a nail or anything," she said. Lousy jerk probably couldn't break my nails if he tried, she thought to herself.

Once they were suited up, Kagome and the boy, whose name was Yukio, took their places opposite each other in the center of the dojo. The rest of the class and their sifu formed a wide ring around them. Kagome crouched easily into the fighting stance that Sango had drilled into her over and over again, while Yukio dropped into his own fighting stance.

"Begin," Kurama said, praying to whatever kami there were that this wouldn't end in disaster for Kagome. His prayers were unnecessary.

Yukio began with a rather slow punch aimed at Kagome's sternum, which she sidestepped without any difficulty. She delivered a sharp blow to the kidney as he passed her, which would've had him down for the count if he hadn't been wearing padding. As it was, the punch was still enough to make him wince.

Don't overdo it, Kagome, she thought to herself as she and Yukio circled each other on the mat. He was frowning now. Apparently, he hadn't expected her to land the first blow. He feinted to the left, but Kagome wasn't fooled, and she deflected the blow aimed at her face quite easily. She landed an light, open-palmed blow to the side of his head as he left himself unprotected.

Kurama watched his two students with a critical eye as they sparred, noting that Yukio had yet to land a single hit, while Kagome was doing quite well. She's holding back, whispered Youko, and Kurama had to agree. While she made contact often, Kagome's hits were light and controlled. But Yukio was getting frustrated.

After a couple of dozen failed attempts to strike Kagome, Yukio apparently had enough. He charged her, fully intent on tackling her to the mat. Kagome was too quick for the larger boy, however, and as she leapt out of his way, she landed a roundhouse kick to his back, sending him sprawling on the mat.

"All right," said Kurama, "I think that's enough." Kagome bowed to Yukio as he rose from the floor and turned her back to remove the padding. But Yukio would have none of that. In an instant, he landed a kick to the back of Kagome's right knee, sending her crashing down to the mat. The students' cries of indignation barely registered in Kurama's mind as he started forward to subdue Yukio, but Kagome was quicker.

Acting out of pure reflex, Kagome rolled to the side, leapt up off the floor, and brought Yukio down with a kick to the chest, all in a single move. By the time Kurama reached her side, she had Yukio down on the mat in an elaborate hold. The sifu's light touch on her shoulder brought her back to herself, and she released the boy to stand at Kurama's side, with her head hung low.

"I apologize, sifu," she said quietly.

Kurama reached out to grasp her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You have nothing to apologize for, Kagome. However, you, Yukio," he said, turning a fierce glare to the boy on the mat, "are no longer welcome in my class. You may ask the receptionist for a refund on your way out. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you." Kurama turned his gaze to the other students, who had crowded closer. "When I say a sparring match is over, it is over. You're dismissed."

The rest of the students left for the locker rooms, while Yukio tore off his padding and helmet and left them in the middle of the floor before stalking out. Kagome sighed and gathered what Yukio had left behind, placing the armor on a bench before sitting down to remove her own padding. Kurama watched her with interest. Youko was strangely silent, but Kurama didn't want to press his luck by questioning the fickle kitsune.

"Your friend must be a very good teacher," Kurama said as he walked up to where Kagome was sitting. She blushed prettily and refused to look at him.

"Yes, Sango is the best. But Yukio wasn't exactly a challenge." She glanced up to see Kurama's good-natured grin.

"No, I suppose he wasn't. We'll have to find you a more suitable sparring partner."

"Um...that would be nice, I guess," said Kagome, depositing the armor on the bench and standing. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow night," she said, bowing before she turned to the women's locker room.

"Until then," Kurama replied, heading toward the men's locker room.

As he entered, Kurama could hear the boys from his class excitedly discussing the sparring demonstration.

"Did you see that last move? Yukio's face was so red!" The boys laughed at that comment.

"Yeah, I can't believe the 'sick girl' could pull that off. When did she find the time to train?"

"Sick girl?" Kurama couldn't suppress his natural curiosity. Kagome was sick?

The boys turned toward him in surprise, apparently a bit shocked to see him there. One of them spoke up.

"Yeah, Kagome goes to my school. She's always missing class because she's sick."

"I heard she had leukemia last year," said another.

"And then there was that bout with lupus."

"Don't forget the malaria."

"And foreign accent syndrome."

Kurama couldn't believe what he was hearing. From what he could see, Kagome was in top physical shape. And what on earth was 'foreign accent syndrome?' The boys left the locker room, and Kurama decided to shower before he left.

While he was scrubbing his hair, Kurama finally realized that Youko hadn't said anything since Kagome's fight. Youko? What's up? What did you think?

There was a long period of silence before Youko replied. Something about her form...she shouldn't know those moves, he said with a seriousness that shocked Kurama.

What do you mean??

Those moves, especially that last combination... The only people I've seen fight like that died out centuries ago. The taijiya...

Taijiya? Kurama was getting a bit annoyed with Youko's vagueness. What the hell was he talking about?

Demon exterminators. The last of the taijiya lines died off three hundred years ago, when the barriers were formed. Kurama caught a glimpse of an image that must have been out of Youko's long memory: a masked man, wearing what looked like a catsuit with odd blue armor, holding a kusari-gama. They didn't want to pass on their fighting style, since it would only be used against humans after the demons were banished.

Then where would she learn such a technique? She's obviously had no real formal training, since she turned her back on her sparring partner before he bowed. Kurama asked.

That is a very good question. Kurama could feel Youko purring in delight. It seems that we have a good puzzle on our hands, my friend. A very good puzzle, indeed.

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The YuYu Hakusho Characters:

Urameshi Yuusuke: When he was 15 years old, he pushed a child out of a car's path and was killed when the car struck him instead. He was returned to life, but he owes a debt to the prince of Reikai, Koenma. He serves as a spirit detective to pay off his debt. He skipped school often, much to his (sort of) girlfriend Keiko's consternation. He was constantly getting in fights. His main attack is the Rei Gun (spirit gun,) in which he blasts a shot of ki at his opponent. Yuusuke is the leader of the Reikai Tantei.

Kurabara Kazuma: Yuusuke's friend and rival at school. He has a large amount of spirit energy, and thus was invited to become Reikai Tantei (spirit detective.) He can use his ki to form a fiery sword at will. He is not the most intelligent person in the series, but he is a good fighter and loyal to the end. He is in love with Yukina, Hiei's sister.

Botan: The blue-haired ferry girl of the dead. She takes the souls of the departed to the afterlife, in service to Koenma. She rides a floating oar sometimes.

Koenma: The "Junior" ruler of Reikai. He stands in for his father, who is the king of the spirit world. At the beginning of the series, he is portrayed as a toddler with an adult voice. Later, he sometimes appears as a teenaged boy.

Youko Kurama/Suuichi Minamino: A kitsune and human avatar. Youko was a 400-year-old kitsune thief who was killed in a trap in Makai. He sent his spirit out into Ningenkai and joined with a newborn child, Suuichi Minamino. The two spirits, kitsune and human, coexist in the same body. Youko Kurama takes his true form (overtaking the familiar redhead's body) a few times in the series, but only when magically induced or under severe threat. Kurama serves as a spirit detective as part of his sentence for stealing a magic artifact from Makai. He is a plant-user, and uses youkai plants from Makai to heal or to attack his enemies.

Hiei: Hiei is half fire youkai, half ice youkai. His mother was one of the Koorime, a race of self-reproducing ice maidens who live on a floating island in Makai. She broke with tradition and fell in love with a fire youkai, giving birth to twins: the mixed breed boy, Hiei, and the full Koorime girl, Yukina. Hiei was almost immediately thrown into Makai and abandoned, only to be found and raised by a group of thieves. He has a Jagan eye implanted in his forehead, which gives him enormous telepathic and telekinetic abilities. He protects his sister, Yukina, who lives in Ningenkai, but she does not know that he is her brother.

Terms:

Reikai: Spirit World, where Koenma rules;

Makai: the Demon World;

Ningenkai: the Human World;

Kekkai Barrier: the barrier that separates Ningenkai from Makai;

Reikai Tantei: Spirit World Detective.

Edited 17 May 2005