Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Barriers ❯ Ambush ( Chapter 7 )

She opened her eyes and found herself in a forest, surrounded by barren trees, their branches twisted and knotted into grotesque shapes. Behind her, she could see into the contrasting forest in her own world, verdant as it was wont to be in midsummer. She was aware of Kurama's hand leaving her shoulder, and she turned back around, hurrying to catch up with him and the rest of the group.

 

“Well, Botan, which way are we goin' here?” Yusuke asked pointedly. The group had decided to head for the ruins of the water apparitions' last known village. There, Genkai reasoned, they might find more information about the stones, and perhaps a hint as to the identity of the people who had taken one.

 

“Hmm… well, I think it's this way.” She said, waving her arm vaguely in a northwesterly direction.

 

“You think?” sneered Hiei, glaring daggers at her.

 

“Ehe…well…no one really knows where it is, you see. Lord Koenma found a map, but couldn't take it out of the repository. Regulations you know.”

 

Kuwabara's shoulders slumped slightly. He knew where this was going. “Botan, how many times did you look at the map?”

 

“Oh, you know… a few times…” At this, Kurama raised an eyebrow. “Okay, okay, more like one.” She laughed, a high-pitched sound that meant she was nervous.

 

“Oh, great, so we're lost in the forest already,” Yusuke snapped.

 

“We are most certainly not lost,” Botan countered empathetically. “We may have just… misplaced ourselves a little.”

 

Yusuke mumbled something under his breath, but the others just shook their heads. It seemed like this was nothing new to them. Shiki bit her lip nervously. If it's all going this badly already…

 

Her thoughts were interru[ted by Kuwabara.“Well, no use in standin' around here complainin' about it,” he pronounced, trying to mediate somewhat. “Let's just pick a way and go.”

 

“Yes, that's a brilliant idea,” countered Hiei, eyes flashing. “Let's just wander off without any direction.”

 

“Should we just go back through the portal and get directions?” Shiki asked practically.

 

“The portal already closed,” pointed out Botan. She brought her index finger to her chin, lifting her eyes skyward.

 

“Perhaps we should start by going that way,” Kurama suggested, pointing Northeast. “I can hear the sound of running water.”

 

The others grumbled, but generally seemed to accept this as a decent plan. If they were looking for a water apparition settlement, it seemed wise to start by finding water.

 

“Hiei?” The fire apparition nodded and hopped up into the nearest tree, keeping a good hundred yards or so in front of the others. Kurama for his part watched the back of their group, leaving Yusuke to lead the walkers and the other three to occupy the middle.

 

Kuwabara sighed heavily, and Shiki looked over at him. He had his hands folded behind his head, and was covering the forest ground in long, lazy strides, leaving the much shorter Shiki to take two steps for each of them. Botan for her part was floating along on what appeared to be a boat oar, humming to herself. Shiki began to wonder if anything could temper her cheeriness.

 

“Are you okay?” Shiki asked Kuwabara.

 

“Huh? Me? I'm fine,” he shrugged.

 

“Are you sure? You seemed awfully unhappy when we had to leave.”

 

He didn't respond, but it seemed Botan had clued into their conversation, because she giggled.

 

“Kuwabara doesn't like being away from Yukina for too long,” she snickered again when he shot her a glare.

 

Shiki nodded, this made sense. “She seemed sad to see you go too,” she ventured, hoping to cheer him. This wasn't entirely untrue, either, though whether Yukina's apprehension had been for Kuwabara's sake or not was hard to tell.

 

“Really?” Kuwabara cracked a smile, and leaned toward her with an expression of such childlike eagerness that she felt the corners of her mouth tugging upwards.

 

“Really.” The sensation of tension leaving the group was almost palpable. She would have tried the same with Yusuke or Hiei, but they were both otherwise occupied, not to mention a great deal more intimidating than affable Kuwabara.

 

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“They come.” Izumi's voice was impassive.

 

Kaito merely nodded. He had known this would happen. It made sense for them to come seeking information. It was just too bad that they would find an ambush instead. Truly, he didn't know why the Lord was bothering. It wasn't like this collection of low-class demons and humans could do any real harm. Then again, he supposed it was thinking like that which had toppled his Lordship's plans in the first place.

 

Keeping this in mind, he strode confidently to block their path. The first to arrive was the little fire apparition, the one who had severed his threads after the blood-traitor's granddaughter had caught him by surprise. Signaling to Izumi and Hirato, he chose to let them be noticed. Skulking around in the shadows did not suit his pride all that well.

 

“You,” hissed the red-eyed demon.

 

Kaito smiled venomously. “You remember me? I'm flattered.”

 

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Hiei snarled and drew his sword. He wasn't going to be caught unarmed this time. His opponent, however, seemed unconcerned. He waved to someone behind him, and two others emerged from the trees.

 

The woman looked much like the leader. Both had the same features: angular jaws, fragile-looking noses and large ocean-blue eyes. They were the same height too. Aside from gender, the only thing that differentiated the pair was the length to which their coal-black hair was cut. The man wore his to his ears, and his sister's (as Hiei reasoned she must be) was cropped at the chin.

 

The other man had been at the temple as well. Decidedly more muscular than the other two, he was about Kuwabara's height and kept his blond hair much shorter. All three wore black stealth outfits, though the woman's impractical azure sash indicated that they weren't really all that concerned with remaining hidden.

 

It was she that stepped forward, hefting her own weapon, a large scythe that seemed far too large for her to wield effectively. Her brother waved her back. Hiei, however, was not one to wait when there was a fight to be had, and launched himself forward before he could be once again entangled in a web of binding threads.

 

Faster than was rightfully possible, the blond one was in his way, catching Hiei's blade between his hands. Hiei's eyes narrowed; he jumped backward just as the rest of the group caught up with him. If this guy could move fast enough to intercept him of all people, than these fools may be something to be reckoned with after all.

 

“Now, now, I see no need to be like that,” the leader said in an almost bored tone. “We haven't made any move to attack you yet, nor will we necessarily have to.”

 

“Is that so?” Asked Yusuke disbelievingly. “And why the Hell should we believe you?”

 

The water apparition (as this was almost certainly what he was) sighed. “Perhaps we should start another way. I am Kaitou. This is Izumi-” he indicated the woman with the scythe- “and Hiroto. We work for someone who is… interested in the Stones.”

 

“Interested?” Replied Yusuke. “You went to a whole lotta trouble for just being `interested,' don't you think?” He crossed his arms. Frankly, Hiei was in complete agreement. There was no way these fools weren't enemies, so why did they bother with this charade?

 

“That was… an unfortunate mistake. We did not mean to harm anyone. Rather, our Lord requests that we entreat you to join us. Word of your various… exploits has reached his ears, and he is rather impressed. Such people are precisely the type our Lord wishes to have serve under him.”

 

At this point, he was cut off by a visibly seething Kuwabara. “Like Hell we'd ever join you guys! You march into our world, steal something from Shiki, and try to kill all of us and you think we'll join you? What kinda stupid world do you live in anyway?” At this, he summoned his spirit sword to his hand and charged forward.

 

Idiot, Hiei thought. Did he learn nothing from what happened when I tried that?

 

And indeed, the result was much the same. Hiroto blocked his path and sent him flying. Kuwabara tried again, but was repelled a second time.

 

“Perhaps I should have made myself more clear,” said Kaito. “What I meant was, you will join us, or you will die.”

 

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Kiku's corner!

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to the endnotes. Hopefully you all liked this chapter. It was mostly setup and whatnot, but I tried to include a little action and human (well, demon) interest as well.

 

And now for the reviews! Actually, I think only one person reviewed this time. Sad panda! T.T but thanks to midnightsprite, who reviewed not once, but three times! That's something else. This chapter is dedicated to you for sure.

 

Thanks to Beth for the fastest turnover rate ever. Literally same-day return people, that's pretty freaking amazing! I'll give you a few days off before I send the next thing lol.

 

Thanks to all the readers as well, you guys make it worthwhile, and I mean it.

 

~Kiku~