Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Crazy in Love ❯ Let The Games Begin ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two is here! Huzzah! Extra big thank-you's to Kiwiwfruit and TAB for reviewing, and I hope y'all continue to stick with me- well, I know you will, Tabby. ^^ Soooo- here! Chapter Two! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own, never will, so sad, life sucks, boo hoo, I'm gonna go eat something.

(To Kiwiwfruit- sorry for the lack of detail in chappy Uno. It gets better… I hope. Just keep giving me your opinion and I'll try to improve, kay?)

******************************************

She smelled smoke. April's eye twitched open slightly. A bitter, acrid smell filled her nostrils. What was that? She opened both her eyes fully. The air around her was hazy and dark. The smell was even stronger now that she was awake. She was lying on her side- wait, where the heck was she? Hadn't she fallen asleep at the computer?!

April tried to sit up. She got about five inches before her head collided with a very hard, very solid something. Ouch. She tried to take a deep breath, but the haze around her burned her throat. She choked and covered her mouth with her hand. Trying to make sense of where she was, she looked around. She seemed to be- underneath something. She could see an opening through the smoky air where light was shining through. Twisting her body, April crawled towards that light, dragging herself with her forearms like an army cadet in training. Abruptly, she emerged into the light.

Coughing and shuddering, April sat up fully, blinking smoke out of her watering eyes. She was outside- in someone's backyard. She didn't recognize where, though. April turned her head to look behind her and gasped.

She was sitting in front of a house- or the smoldering remains of a house. There had obviously been a fire- smoke was billowing from the ashes and into the air. The house itself wasn't completely gone, but sections of it had been burned away- like some enormous monster had taken large bites out of it. Whatever parts of the structure were left had been charred black. April could see flames still flickering through a window. Although her instincts told her to get away, the fear and numbness of what was happening froze her to where she sat. April could see that she had been lying beneath the back porch. It was the only thing that hadn't burned yet. Though it was covered in ashes from the rest of the house, April could see patches of blue paint through the layers of ash.

I'm dreaming, April thought. That was the only explanation. This was some crazy dream caused by not enough sleep. But why would she be dreaming this? April had heard somewhere that dreams were caused by your brain replaying the events of what had happened to you that day, and she couldn't remember seeing anyone's house burn down…

But she had read about it.

That's right, April realized. Loren's fanfiction- the one April had been beta-reading- in it, the OC's house had burned down in the first chapter. Was she dreaming about that, then…?

A sudden tremor ran through April's body, as well as a searing pain in her chest. She gasped, but the pain was quickly gone. April put a hand to her chest, feeling for the cause of the pain- but froze as she felt something strange.

April sat up, looking down at her chest. Her eyes widened into a shocked stare. For a thirteen year old, April had always been relatively flat-chested, but now- well, bluntly putting it, she had boobs. They weren't big, but they were there.

April tried to resist the urge to poke. "Oh my God…"

Crash. April looked instinctively up. A section of the house's roof had just collapsed, realeasing a cloud of ashes and dust into the air. Through that cloud, April could see a figure standing on the remaining roof. She couldn't see the figure clearly, but April had the chilling sense that he- at least, she thought it was a he- was looking directly at her. She scooted a few inches back. Something about him terrified her…

The figure took a step forward, then froze and turned his head. April caught a glimpse of silver hair before he abruptly vanished. She blinked. The tension in her chest seemed to relax. Who was that man?

A loud voice cut through the air. "Well, look for her then! How far could one girl run by herself?"

Were they talking about her? Fear finally kicked in. April scrambled to her feet, looking around for an escape route. No time to run- she had to hide somewhere. Dashing across the yard, April flung herself behind a garden shed and flattened herself against the wall, trying not to breathe loudly. Even though her heart was pounding, that pain in her chest hadn't returned- and something about that voice was strangely familiar. Almost too familiar. In fact, now that she thought about it, she had definitely heard that voice before…

Okay, April, you can wake up from this crazy dream now! April squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head violently, trying to shake herself awake. Come on! Wake up! UP! Her hair flopped into her face. April raised a hand to brush it away- hold the phone. Something wasn't right.

Her hair was longer than it should be. And silkier. April opened her eyes, grabbing a strand and examining it.

Her hair was blue. Dark, cerulean blue. April was reminded of the time she had dyed her hair for Halloween so she could go as Botan. Just to make sure, April tilted her head, sweeping all her hair over her left shoulder- and dang, there was a lot of it. No mistake- her hair was rich, dark, cerulean blue- and waist-length.

This dream was getting too weird for April's comfort level. Her hair looked just like- like-

Chiu's?

April stood numbly as the wheels turned in her brain. Chiu was the OC from Loren's fic. Chiu had hair like this. Chiu's house had burned down. It couldn't be… could it?

Thump.

April jolted in shock and panic. Something- or someone, had landed on the roof of the garden shed. She whirled around, ready to scream if she needed to.

Immediately, April bit her tongue. She couldn't believe it. She had almost screamed, but not because she was afraid. It was because the person who had landed on the shed behind her was dressed all in black, had gravity-defying hair, and was looking down at her with piercing crimson eyes. And holy crap, he was hot.

Hiei turned his head. "Over here!" he called, before looking back down at April, who could only gape in amazement. Yes, that was most definitely Hiei, her all-time favorite Yu Yu Hakusho character and bishounen. And he was looking at her. Right at her. With those unbelievably sexy red eyes- stop it! This was a dream! She was going to wake up soon!

Three boys came running towards the shed and stopped in front of April, who turned her head so quickly she heard something pop. She was now in the presence of all four of the Reiki Tantei. Her legs were shaking. She could practically feel her eyes bulging out of their sockets. She probably looked like a fish.

Yusuke stepped forward. "Hey, you okay?" April couldn't find the energy to nod. She suddenly realized it was his voice she had heard- telling the others to look for her. Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Hello? Say something?"

"Now I know I'm dreaming," April blurted. She could feel her knees trembling. "This is what I get for reading fanfiction before bed."

Yusuke raised his other eyebrow. April couldn't blame him. She sounded like an idiot, but she couldn't help it. Yusuke must have decided to ignore her, because he spoke again. "Riiiiiight- well anyway, my name's Yusuke Urameshi." He turned and gestured to the two redheads standing beside him. "That's Kuwabara, and that's Kurama, and that's-" He pointed up to Hiei, who was still on the roof. "-Hiei."

"I know," April said without thinking.

"What?" This came from both Yusuke and Kuwabara. April flinched. Stupid, stupid mouth!

"Nothing. Ignore that. I haven't taken my medication today." Oh yes, she sounded like an idiot. Yusuke and Kuwabara settled for staring at her. Kurama jumped into the conversation.

"Yusuke, shouldn't we find Botan?" Even as moronic as she felt at the moment, April could sense the note of urgency in his voice. Yusuke looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Right." Yusuke looked directly into April's eyes. "Look- we can't explain everything now, but we need you to come with us. All right?"

April didn't trust herself to speak. She nodded, holding her lips tightly shut over her treacherous mouth.

"Are we going or not?" Kuwabara asked loudly. "All this smoke is clogging my throat up!"

"Maybe that's not a bad thing," Hiei said, sounding bored. "Then we won't have to listen to your irritating complaints, especially when nobody cares."

"You little-" Yusuke clamped a hand over Kuwabara's mouth to keep him from finishing his insult. Kurama gave Hiei a reproachful look.

"Hiei, now isn't the time." Hiei crossed his arms indifferently. April could have laughed if she wasn't clueless as to what was going on. It was exactly like a scene from the show. Yusuke let go of Kuwabara and adressed the whole group.

"Come on, let's get going already."

*

They had been walking for about ten minutes. April was following behind Kurama as their little group walked down a city street. She had no idea where they were going, and she didn't want to talk in case she made an even bigger fool of herself, so she was following quietly. On any other occasion, April would have been trying to get close enough to The Kurama Himself to see if his hair actually smelled like roses or if that was just a rumor, but right now she was too busy trying to make sense of the situation she had found herself in.

By now, April had reluctantly faced the fact that she wasn't dreaming. But then, if she was really stuck in the Yu Yu Hakusho world, how had she gotten there? And how was she in Chiu's body? And why had the Reiki Tantei been looking for her?

Maybe… April thought back. What had she been doing before she fell asleep? She had signed off of AIM- and then she had put her head down on the mouse pad- what was on the screen? Had she forgotten to close her browser window with the fanfiction?

That had to be it. Hard as it was to believe, that had to be it. April had fallen asleep while reading fanfiction, and had been transported into the fanfiction. Which meant that, right now, she was living the fanfiction. Either that, or she had gone crazy.

At the moment, April was hoping she was crazy. As cool as it was to be associating with the characters of her favorite TV show, she didn't want to be a character in a fanfiction. She wanted to have a normal life, one that didn't include being randomly zapped into alternate universes or dimensions. And besides…

April glanced at Hiei. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, walking slightly behind and the the right of her. Even if she was here, and Hiei was real- she couldn't even flirt with him! April gave a quiet moan of longing. She couldn't count how many times she wished that Hiei had been real, and now that he was, if she tried to flirt with him, he'd probably kill her. Okay, maybe not kill her, but still… physical pain was not high on her list of priorities.

Yusuke (the designated lineleader) turned suddenly down an alleyway between a pharmacy and some fast food place. The rest of the group followed him, April included- more than a little confused. The alley ended in a brick wall. Yusuke squatted down, leaning nonchalantly against it.

"And now we wait. She better not have forgotten where she's supposed to meet us- although knowing Botan, I wouldn't put it past her."

April blinked. So they were waiting for Botan here? Kurama sighed. "Yusuke, that wasn't nice."

"No, it wasn't, although I'm certainly used to it by now."

Everyone looked up simultaneously. Botan was floating down on her trademark oar, carrying a silver metal briefcase. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to be offended," she added, scowling at Yusuke. The delinquent in question merely shrugged and stood, stretching.

"Oh good, you're here. Now maybe you can explain to us why we were supposed to bring her-" he jabbed a thumb at April- "with us?"

"Say what?" April stared at Yusuke. "You mean you don't even know why you had to come get me?"

"Nope." Yusuke looked expectantly at Botan. "So come on, cough up some answers."

Botan landed in the alley, glaring at Yusuke. She opened the briefcase, muttering something that sounded like, "Some people could be a bit more polite about these things." She pressed a button, then stepped back so that everyone could see the screen inside the case. Yusuke knelt down for a better look; so did Kuwabara. April leaned forward, peering at the screen over the top of Kuwabara's poofy orange hair.

At first, the screen was black. Then a large amount of static covered the screen. At first April thought she wasn't seeing or hearing anything because she didn't have any Spirit Awareness, but then she heard Kuwabara say, "Hey Botan? Your TV is broken."

"What?" Botan blinked, staring at the screen. "That can't b-"

A voice came suddenly from the briefcase, making everyone jump. "Arrrrrgh! Where's the 'On' button for this stupid thing?"

"Try the red button, sir." This voice was much deeper than the first.

"I don't need you to do my job for me, Ogre!"

"But I'm your assistant, sir! It's my duty!"

"Go do your duty somewhere else! I'm trying to make this darned contraption work!"

"But, sir, if you just push the red button-"

"I TOLD YOU! I DON'T NEED A BABY-SITTER! IF ANYONE'S GONNA GIVE ORDERS AROUND HERE, IT'S ME!"

"Koenma, sir- your blood pressure!"

Yusuke was cracking up. Out of the corner of her eye, April could see Kurama supressing a grin. Botan hovered anxiously over the briefcase.

"Koenma, sir? Can you hear me?"

"What? Botan? Is that you?"

"Yes sir- um- I think Jorge is right, sir, the red button should work…"

"FINE!" Koenma's voice practically erupted from the speakers. "Fine! If everybody in Spirit World thinks they can do my job better than me-"

The static onscreen disappeared and was immediately replaced with Koenma's face, which was red and had paused in the middle of yelling. Yusuke had fallen over with laughter. Hiei, who was standing a few feet away, was looking at him with that special 'I-think-you're-a-moron' expression that only Hiei could pull off. Koenma cleared his throat, embarassed. "Where's Yusuke?" he demanded, clearly eager to draw attention away from himself.

Yusuke sat up, still snickering. "Don't break out in a diaper rash, I'm right here. Now are you gonna tell us whatever the hell is going on with us getting her?" He pointed over his shoulder at April, who was staring transfixed at the screen, trying hard not to laugh as well.

"Ah, you found her without any trouble then?" Koenma asked.

"Well…" Yusuke trailed off. Kurama took over.

"We went to the address Botan gave us, but-" He paused. "The house had already been attacked."

Koenma's face was suddenly serious. "That's what I was afraid of." He sighed. April was confused. Was that why the house had burned down?

"Attacked by who?" she asked. Koenma looked at her.

"The followers of a very powerful demon," he answered. "We don't know who he is, but we do know what he's after."

"Which is what?" Yusuke prompted him.

"The Jewels of Three Worlds."

Huh? April thought. Kurama looked thoughtful.

"Jewels of Three Worlds…" he murmered. Kuwabara turned to him.

"You know what they are?"

"No," Kurama admitted. "I've never heard of them."

"With good reason, too," Koenma added. "Those jewels are unbelievably powerful- when used correctly. Now listen up, all of you- this includes you most of all, Chiu. It's time for a history lesson.

"Those three jewels were created millenia ago by Reikai to represent the three worlds- which, of course, are Makai, Reikai, and Ningenkai. In fact, at the time, the Meikai existed as a world as well, so there were four. Each jewel was manifested with the spirit of their particular world- that is to say, whenever an inhabitant of a world died, their life force would be absorbed by the jewel representing that world."

"Life force?" Yusuke interrupted.

"But I thought ghosts went to Reikai," Kuwabara added, confused.

"They do," Koenma explained. "But there's a difference. A ghost is only the soul of a dead being. Life force is the remaining energy of that soul. To separate the two, all life force went to the jewels. In essence, those jewels were the life force of the separate worlds. When Meikai was destroyed, its jewel went with it. But the other three remained- thus, the Jewels of Three Worlds."

"But if those jewels have been absorbing life force for thousands of years, then they must have countless amounts of energy by now," Kurama said, thinking aloud.

"Exactly." Koenma nodded grimly. "The life force of an entire world, sealed into one small gem- Reikai took the utmost precautions to ensure that those jewels remained safe. But-"

"Someone managed to steal them," Hiei finished. April jumped slightly, she hadn't realized he was listening. He was standing behind the group, leaning against the alley wall, his arms crossed.

"Someone tried to," Koenma corrected him. "They only succeeded in obtaining two- the jewels of Reikai and Makai."

"So, the Ningenkai jewel is still safe?" Yusuke asked.

"For now. It's your job to make sure it stays safe until Reikai can identify the demon that stole the other two jewels. We don't know if he's in Makai or Ningenkai, but we do know that he has many followers, and he's immensely powerful. Or even if he wasn't, he is now."

"What, we have to keep the third jewel from getting stolen?" Yusuke asked. "So are you gonna give it to us or something?"

"Actually…" Koenma fidgeted uncomfortably. "The jewel is already in Ningenkai."

"So we have to find it?" Kuwabara asked.

"Not really…" Koenma hesitated. "You see- well, the thing is-"

"Wait." Everyone looked at April, who was staring dead at Koenma as her brain processed the information. "If they needed to find me- and my house was attacked-" Then did that mean…

Koenma sighed. "I'm afraid so."

"Huh?" Yusuke looked from the Koenma to April, then back to Koenma. "Fill me in here, pacifier breath, I'm drawing a blank. What does this have to do with Chiu?"

"We were pressed for time," Koenma explained. "The jewels themselves are made purely of spirit energy. To condense all the energy they contained into a physical form could have taken us weeks- even months. We didn't have that time. Our only choice was to transfer the jewel into the body of a human- someone with a high spirit awareness. The closest one was-"

"Me," April finished for him. Or rather, Chiu, since she was in Chiu's body. She was Chiu. And right now, if what Koenma was saying was the truth, Chiu had a billion years worth of spirit energy floating around inside her. That was a scary thought.

"You mean the jewel thing is inside her?" Yusuke practically yelled.

"But sir," Botan interrupted, "if the jewel could only be posessed by someone with a high spirit awareness, why couldn't you transfer it to Yusuke? Or Kuwabara?"

"Too risky," Koenma replied. "Yusuke and Kuwabara already have a large quantity of Spirit Energy as it is. To transfer Spirit Energy of this magnitude into their bodies could cause internal conflict and could leave them either severely injured, or drained of all their Spirit Energy."

"But how does that make it okay for me to have this thing?!" asked April, beginning to feel more than a little panicked.

"You're not in danger because although your spirit awareness is high, your Spirit Energy is relatively dormant. The jewel itself can't harm you."

April sat back, thinking about all of this. Kurama took the opportunity to speak. "So- our job is to guard Chiu until you can find the demon trying to obtain the third jewel?"

"Exactly." Koenma nodded. "This means that at least one of you has to be with her at all times. And be warned that the jewel can be extremely sensitive- any physical damage to Chiu could trigger the wrong reaction. So she can't be harmed in any way. Under no circumstances are these rules to be broken- do all of you understand that?"

"Sure," Yusuke agreed. Kuwabara nodded.

"Understood," Kurama said. He turned his head. "Hiei?"

Hiei stared at Kurama for a moment, then closed his eyes. "Hn."

"Great, it's all settled then." Yusuke clapped his hands decisively and climbed to his feet.

"Not quite," Kurama corrected him. "Where's Chiu going to be staying? I hardly think any of our parents would approve of her living at our houses."

"Not to worry," Botan chirped. She had closed the briefcase and was on her feet. "I've already spoken with Genkai, and she's agreed to let Chiu stay at the temple. All things considered, it's probably the safest place for her to be."

"That's an understatement," Yusuke remarked. "That place is surrounded by so many wards, a demon flea couldn't hop its way in." He glanced over at Chiu. "Looks like you get to stay with Grandma, lucky you."

"You're okay with all of this, right, Chiu?" Botan asked gently. April straightened up, not answering. In less than an hour, she had found herself stuck in the Yu Yu Hakusho world, being guarded by the Reki Tantei, with a nameless, power-hungry demon stalking her, and reservations being made for her at Genkai's temple… and she couldn't even flirt with Hiei!

Suddenly April thought of something. Koenma's words came floating back to her. 'The jewel can be extremely sensitive- any physical damage to Chiu could trigger the wrong reaction… so she can't be harmed in any way.' That meant…

April felt like screaming for joy. That meant that she could say anything she wanted to Hiei- and there was nothing he could do about it!

"Chiu?" Botan was looking at her expectantly.

April shook herself back to the present. "Yeah- I'm fine." Her voice was trembling with excitement.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kuwabara peered suspiciously at her. "You look twitchy or something."

"No- no, it's nothing. I'm okay." April looked around at all of them. "It's just-" As her eyes fell on Hiei, she bit her lip to keep from giggling. Hiei raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked irritably. The words sprang into April's mind. She couldn't help herself.

"Oh, nothing- you're just really cute, you know that?"

The expression on Hiei's face was priceless. The expression on Yusuke's face was hilarious. But it was the expression on Kuwabara's face that almost drove April over the edge. She barely held in her laughter. He looked like- like- like Yukina had just announced she was going Goth or something.

"You- you just- you didn't-" he stammered. His face color was somewhere between chalk white and pale green, resulting in a pasty yellow color. April grinned before winking coyly at Hiei, relishing the dumbfounded look on his face- very unlike him. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

******************************************

Oh geez- I feel so sorry for Hiei. ^^ Well, this chapter took me almost four days to write, but I think it was worth it- at least I hope it was. It's- *stops to count* seven pages longer than the last one, and there's a lot more going on- so I hope y'all enjoyed it! Please review! Thankies!