Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Grim's Promise ❯ Chapter Twenty One ( Chapter 22 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter books or Yu Yu Hakusho. I don't own any characters from Inuyasha either.

 

Summary: Two years before his death a powerful psychic made Sirius a promise. Now Genkai and Yusuke travel to London to keep it and throw the British magical community for a loop.

 

Warnings (These apply to the whole story): Swearing, fluff, angst, my weird sense of humor, and the occasional gross scene if Moldywarts is in the mood.

 

Spoilers: For the entire Yu Yu Hakusho television series, maybe a few things from the YYH manga, and books one through five of the Harry Potter series. Eventually, spoilers are possible for spells and some characters in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Unfortunately I won't be able to use the new teacher.

 

Pairings: As of right now, past Remus/Sirius and Kuwabara/Yukina are the only pairings.

 

 

A Grim's Promise

 

Chapter Twenty One

 

July 14th, Japan

 

 

 

Genkai growled in frustration as she searched the library shelves for the book she needed. From the day Yukina had told her of the vision, she had been planning on basing the new wards on trust bonds. While it was true that wards based on trust bonds were less reliable than blood wards, trust wards, given time to develop properly, also had the potential to be just as strong. But what had happened this morning had the potential to destroy any trust that had been built. On one hand, Genkai now not only had away to protect the boy, but to block his link to Voldemort. However, on the other hand, any trust that had developed between her and the boy and Yusuke and the boy was possibly gone.

 

She snorted softly and pulled the book down from the top of a shelf. She could deal with that problem when and if it occurred. For now, she needed to find a way to incorporate Yusuke's, and perhaps Yukina's, demon energy into the wards without destabilizing them. Carrying the book from the library, she passed Yukina carrying a load of fresh washed and folded laundry to Yusuke's room.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

As he shredded the dark green leaves, Kurama tried to ignore the unusual conversation taking place by the door. In all his years, he had never had the pleasure of listening to a cat, a snake and a Parselmouth try to converse. It was odd experience, especially with the snake acting as the translator. He tried to hide a wince as he added the leaves to the potion and picked up his spoon. “What are you three talking about?”

 

“Huh?” Harry said, and Kurama looked up to see him tapping his translation charm. “What did you say?”

 

“What are you three talking about?” Kurama repeated, stirring the potion.

 

“Not much,” Harry said, shrugging. “Hunting, where Hedwig is, where Yusuke went. That sort of stuff.”

 

“And the yowling Hana was doing earlier?” Kurama asked, glancing at the mewing kitten as he wiped off his knife. He smiled slightly when the potion turned a dark yellow. Only another hour of work and he could let it sit for a few minutes.

 

“She was upset that Yusuke didn't take her with him,” Harry said, standing up to look in the cauldron. “You know, there are quicker potions you could make. Less smelly ones, too.”

 

“Probably,” Kurama said, and he grabbed the jar of pickled flobber worm. “But it's been years since I learned magic, and I'd rather not risk learning a new one right now when I absolutely need it. I'll look for another one later.”

 

“Right,” Harry muttered, wrinkling his nose at the new stench coming from the jar. He went back to the door, and sat down again.

 

Except for the purring coming from Hana and the pounding Kurama was doing on the flobber worm, the next few minutes were extremely quiet, almost peaceful. That wasn't meant to last.

 

There was a strange popping sound from the living area quickly followed by Genkai's shout of, “Yusuke! Harry! What did I tell you two morons about property damage?”

 

Genkai's voice echoed across the courtyard, and Harry blanched. He looked up at Kurama with a pleading expression, and Kurama shook his head.

 

“You better go find out what she's yelling about,” Kurama suggested, mixing a silver powder with the flobber worm mush. “It'll be worse if you wait and Yusuke's not back yet.”

 

Harry made face as he stood up, holding Hana and Liam, and walked out of the room. Kurama smirked as he added the flobber paste to the potion, dodging the burst of purple smoke. If the wizard thought the animals would lessen Genkai's temper, he wasn't going to correct him.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Following Yukina from the bedroom, Genkai tried not to slip on the slime covering the floor. The door yanked open in front of them and she scowled at the wizard standing there. “Explain, now,” Genkai growled, elbowing the boy from the door.

 

“I didn't do it,” Harry said, moving to let them pass, wincing slightly at the large green patches of slime on Yukina's clothes. “I swear,” he said, tightening his grip on Hana when she tried to jump out of his arms to go play in the goo.

 

Letting Yukina past her and into the bathroom, Genkai stared at him for a moment before nodding. “Fine. Go get the cleaning supplies from the closet and get started on this.”

 

“But I didn't-“

 

Genkai held up her hand, cutting him off. “I believe you, but you and Yusuke agreed to clean up anything caused by the prank war. This,” she pointed at the slime, “is a prank.”

 

Harry grimaced at the mess, but he put Hana and Liam down in his room, shutting them in, reluctantly asking, “Yukina keeps everything in the closet by the laundry room?”

 

“Yes,” Genkai said, wiping some slime off her hands as he walked off. She looked back in the room, frowning. This wasn't Kurama's style, Hiei had no reason to prank Yusuke beyond yet he had already done, and the boy wasn't lying. That left Kuwabara. Looking at the mess, Genkai decided she'd let him off this one time and give him the same warning she had given Yusuke and Harry. With that decided, she knocked on the bathroom door.

 

“Yes, Genkai?” Yukina said softly, opening the door. She laid the wet towel she was holding down on the counter, giving the woman her attention.

 

“Harry's going to handle the mess,” she said, tilting her head towards the open bedroom door, and Yukina nodded slowly, clearly not happy with that idea.

 

“I thought you didn't want him doing any magic for the next few days,” Yukina said, frowning slightly in disapproval.

 

“I don't. He's doing it the old fashioned way,” Genkai said, pointing at the boy walking up the hall, carrying a bucket full of sudsy water and a few clean rags.

 

“Oh,” Yukina said, the frown smoothing out. She smiled slightly at the boy as he walked in the room, and he weakly grinned back. When he was back in the bedroom, she asked, “Should I keep an eye on him, just in case?”

 

Genkai nodded distractedly, thinking about something. “Can you check the rate his body's absorbing Yusuke's energy without him knowing? I need to get the prep work for the wards done.”

 

“Sure,” Yukina said, grabbing the towel from the sink. “Anything else, Genkai?”

 

“No,” Genkai said, shaking her head. “Just let me know how quickly he's absorbing it.”

 

“I will.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Ignoring the whiny mews and annoyed hisses coming from his room, Harry set the bucket and rags down. Giving the room a quick once over, Harry saw the plastic bag, rubber bands, and slime hanging out of a drawer, and quickly figured out that's where the slime had come from. Wanting to only do this once, he dumped clean the clothes that hadn't been hit into the closet, and yanked the other dresser drawers open, yelping when one of them proved to have a slime bomb inside.

 

“Kuwabara just made the list,” Harry grumbled, using a rag to wipe the slime off his face. He tossed the rag into the corner by the door. It was quickly joined by anything hit by the slime that he could get away with putting in the washing machine-clothes, towels, sheets, anything. With that done, Harry grabbed a clean rag and wet it in the bucket.

 

Scrubbing at the floor, Harry hummed a song under his breath. It didn't matter that he couldn't carry a tune to save his life; he just didn't want to be surrounded by quiet, something he had been having trouble with since he woke up for the second time. Until this morning's mishap, he had never noticed all the background noise in his head, but now that the link with Voldemort was cut off, he noticed it, or rather, the absence of it. It was quiet, and Harry didn't like it.

 

When the humming didn't work, Harry tried singing softly. That made it worse since the words weren't in his head but actually spoken, and he quickly quit. Scowling, he scrubbed at the tiny slime spots on the walls, and quickly moved on to the dresser then the floor, rinsing the rag out every once and while. Blinking at the clean room, he looked at the clock. Oh, boy. He was a seeker and he was naturally fast and had good reflexes, but he shouldn't be that fast. This was officially bad.

 

“What the hell happened in here?” Yusuke asked, walking in the room. “Why are you in my room?”

 

Harry turned to the door and threw the rag at him, scowling. “Someone set up slime bombs or something in your drawers. Yukina got hit. Genkai is not happy.”

 

“And you?” Yusuke asked, waving a hand at the streaks of green goo in Harry's hair. “How did you get it?”

 

“I checked the other drawers,” Harry muttered, scowling again when Yusuke snickered. “It's not funny. This was meant for you!”

 

“I guess this is why my boxers were in the hall,” Yusuke said, kicking the slime covered socks in the pile. “Kuwabara didn't want me running around nude.”

 

“Whatever, you're taking over,” Harry said, walking past him. Yusuke grabbed his arm.

 

“About this morning-“

 

“Don't worry about it,” Harry said tersely, pulling his arm out of Yusuke's grip. “You didn't do anything wrong.”

 

“You're angry though,” Yusuke observed and Harry nodded.

 

“It doesn't have anything to do with you,” Harry said quickly when Yusuke tensed. He rubbed his scar, frowning. “It's quiet now. I never noticed it before, but my link makes a lot of noise and now it's not. It felt good at first, but now it's getting hard for me to concentrate without it there.”

 

“You told Genkai yet?” Yusuke asked, bending down to pick up his clothes. He stood up, holding most of the pile in his arms.

 

“Not yet,” Harry said, bending down to pick up what Yusuke missed. Carrying the socks and pillowcase, he picked up the bucket and followed the other teen to the laundry room. “I was planning on going in a minute. There's also another weird thing.”

 

“Yeah, like what?” Yusuke asked, dropping the pile on the laundry room floor, motioning for Harry to do the same.

 

“I'm faster. I got all the slime up in less than thirty minutes,” Harry said, and Yusuke laughed.

 

“That actually sounds normal,” Yusuke said, grinning as he tossed some clothes into the washing machine. “After Yukina or Genkai heal me, I usually get a temporary energy boost. Don't worry about it, but tell her anyways.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

After that, the day seemed to pass much more pleasantly for Harry, especially when Genkai finished questioning him about the side effects and the small energy boost he had experienced. While the fact that Harry found being alone in his head bothersome seemed to disturb her, Yusuke had been right about the energy boost. Genkai completely ignored it, saying it was normal after a healing or energy transfer. But she also warned him that when it wore off, he was going to be absolutely exhausted, most likely passing out on the first available surface.

 

Harry just shrugged that off, figuring it wouldn't much different than what happened after training with Kurama. Thinking of that, Harry remembered a question he wanted to ask the kitsune and went to go find him, Yusuke following since he had absolutely nothing better to do than annoy Harry. Hana and Liam also followed the pair, determined to get revenge for being locked away, not at all happy that the plants had ignored their threats this time.

 

“Why don't you go to the arcade?” Harry asked, pulling the door to the potions room open.

 

“Because, I have no clean clothes,” Yusuke said, plopping down by the door. “Old school uniforms and suits are not good for running around town in. I could get in a fight and be forced to go shopping again.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Harry said, remembering his torture session with Kurama and Keiko. He sat down next to Yusuke, leaning against the doorframe. “That would be bad.”

 

“Is there a reason you two are in here bothering me?” Kurama asked, glaring at them briefly before continuing to chop the thin roots. “This does require some concentration.”

 

“I followed him here,” Yusuke said, pointing at Harry, and Hana and Liam voiced their agreement. Kurama looked at him, and Harry just shrugged, petting Liam.

 

“I have a question.”

 

“Then ask,” Kurama said.

 

“You said my plants need energy to survive, but you never said why,” Harry said. “I know it has something to do with them coming from the Makai, but I don't know why that makes such a big difference.”

 

“It has to do with the Makai itself,” Kurama said, pressing his knife against the roots to squeeze out the juice. He drained the juice off into the cauldron and tossed the roots away before picking up the spoon to begin stirring the potion again. “The Makai is full of demons, and most demons, by nature, are very violent creatures. We argue, we complain, and we fight over the stupidest things. The stronger the demon, the less likely they are to fight, but the weaker ones are constantly using their energy in fights to settle their differences. All that fighting leads to excess energy in the air, and the plants have mutated to feed off of it. The human realm, outside of certain areas, doesn't have this problem.”

 

“Those areas are where wizards live?” Harry asked, thinking of the Devil's Snare he had growing in his room.

 

“Some of them,” Kurama said, smiling slightly, still stirring the potion. “Others are places like the old battlefield farther up the mountain. That place practically thrums with energy.”

 

“What about the blood?” Yusuke asked quietly, giving Kurama a hard look. “Makai air's full of blood.”

 

“It doesn't affect the plants I gave him,” Kurama replied, pretending to ignore the disgusted expression on Harry's face. “And I'm not going to give him any of those. They'd kill him before he could do anything with them.”

 

“There's blood in the air there?” Harry asked, still stuck on that. He looked at Yusuke with wide eyes. “How do you breathe?”

 

“You get used to it,” Yusuke said. “Eventually, you even stop noticing it. I lived there for a while, Harry, and it never bothered me besides a few sneezes my first day. Kuwabara's been there a few times, and he says he doesn't even notice it.”

 

“It's like the smog in town,” Kurama said, pausing in his stirring. He tapped his fingers ten times, and began stirring in the opposite direction. “The air on the mountain seems a lot cleaner than what you'd find in town, but five minutes after you arrive, you no longer notice it.”

 

“I guess that makes sense,” Harry said. He yawned and suddenly felt really, really, really tired. “Genkai wasn't joking about this wearing off, was she?”

 

“Nope, but you'll wake up in about two hours, completely fine again,” Yusuke said, jumping slightly when Harry leaned against him, yawning again. “Hey, who said you could sleep on me?”

 

Harry didn't answer, already asleep and breathing deeply, and Yusuke sighed dramatically, muttering, “I am not a pillow.”

 

Kurama shook his head at him, rolling his eyes. “You should carry him to his room. The last thing I need is Yukina coming in here with a camera to capture the cuteness of you playing teddy bear,” he said, smiling when Yusuke glared at him.

 

“You know, maybe I should just sit here until she shows up,” Yusuke said, smirking slightly. “Being caught like this might be worth you being stuck like that for week.”

 

“And Yukina will definitely show the picture to Kuwabara, and Kuwabara will borrow the picture and show it to all his friends, who will tell their friends, and so forth. Eventually the whole town will know Yusuke Urameshi is a great, giant teddy bear and not to be feared,” Kurama countered, laughing softly at Yusuke's panicked expression. “Of course, that would come with the bonus of having to reprove your manliness to the world, but Keiko would be mad at you everyday for the fights, and Genkai-“

 

“Fine, I'll take the kid to his room,” Yusuke said angrily, gently cradling Harry in his arms as he stood, stumbling slightly. “Maybe by the time I drop him off, my clothes will be done.”

 

“See you at dinner,” Kurama said, waving a hand at the door, silently asking the wooden door to close. He smiled when the door shut, blocking out most of the grumbling Yusuke was doing as he carried the wizard away. “Quiet at last.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Turning away from the painting of the lion, Harry looked around his soul room in confusion, not quite sure how he had gotten there. It didn't make sense for him to be here; he was only meant to come here while meditating, not while sleeping. Sighing, he began walking towards the center. Figuring out how his mind worked was next to impossible. It never played by the rules.

 

Harry paused, listening to the strange sounds coming from the center. It almost sounded like animals. Being careful to not make a sound, he crept closer, hiding behind a bookcase when he reached the center. Peeking around the bookcase, Harry's jaw dropped. The bigger animals from the last shelf were playing. The wolf and Kneazle were chasing the fox, and the fox was trying to catch a small black blur running across the carpet. He looked up when he heard a lazy roar, and saw the small black dragon floating through the air, laughing softly at the other animals and occasionally shooting fire balls at the Kneazle and wolf. If the black blur was the dragon…

 

Harry jumped when the black blur ran straight into his leg and he stared down at the dazed animal. Shaking his head, he knelt down and scratched its head. “Are you okay?” he asked, and the black wolf looked up at him, showing off its doggy like grin and bright green eyes. “Guess so,” Harry muttered, silently praying his smile didn't look that goofy.

 

The small wolf yipped at him before licking his hand and darting back out to play with the others. Harry sat down and watched the animals play, ducking when the dragon sent a ball of flame his way. While it was kind of nice to know what he was represented by now, this had to be one of the messed up non-Voldemort dreams he had ever had.

 

 

Author's Notes: Sorry about this being so late, but it's up. And I'm so late getting to bed. I'm going to be an absolute brat in my classes this afternoon. Oh, well. Editing this so I could post it was worth it. If you had a question in your review, I'll post them on my livejournal. Considering the announcement on the FFnet homepage, I don't want to risk anymore review responses here. Good night, everyone.

 

Okay, this is Mediaminer and I can get away with posting these here.

 

Khaosfire: Thanks, I'll fix that. Sometime after I wake up, hopefully.

 

Sesshy81: You're exactly right. If I could draw, I would. The picture's so clear in my head.

 

Calikocat: You know that Yusuke/Harry I'm working on? The beginnings of it are on FFnet under the same user name. It's called Snapshots. Or you can find it on my livejournal http://www.livejournal.com/users/brennanight/ Personally, I think it's easier to read there. The format didn't come out right on FFnet.

 

Shakeval: The one person I really want to add from the sixth book, I can't. He just doesn't fit anywhere.