Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Fires of Sekhmet ❯ Servants of Sekhmet ( Chapter 7 )

Fires of Sekhmet

By Jaguar Ki

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, I had to drag it out of my head kicking and

Screaming.

Chapter Seven

Servants of Sekhmet

It was . . . dark. It was dark and it was quiet; not completely quiet though, there were sounds. They were muffled and distant but noise all the same. Yusuke opened his eyes and stared at the flood of twinkling stars above him. They began to languish as clouds of smoke drifted over his head, but the wind would catch the drifts and bring back those beautiful stars.

He needed to get up-- he told himself to get up-- but instead he just laid there and looked up at that scintillant sky. It was a shame he couldn't do this more often. It was times like these that everything seemed to fit into place and the reason for it all was as clear as day. However, as usual, it was not to last and Yusuke lifted himself up as the yells and curses started.

"Kuwabara, are you all right?" He heard Kurama say.

"Oh man, my head is killing me. What happened?"

"Looks as if we came just in time," Said a soft, low voice.

"Huh . . . Who said that?" shouted Kuwabara.

"It's all right. It's just Touya." Kurama said.

"Oh . . . What's he doing here?"

"Cleaning up your mess, as usual." Hiei said with a hint of disgust.

"What's that suppose to mean, shorty?!"

"He was kind enough to dispose of those lions for us" said Kurama

"The disturbance in the spirit world has begun to spread, and Koenma thought you could use some help. "

"Oh . . . well thanks . . . but I would have thought of something eventually." Kuwabara said, ignoring the sarcastic snort from Hiei's direction.

"Are you all right, Hiei?" Kurama said, quickly to change the subject.

"Hn, as if you really needed to ask."

"By the way" Kuwabara interjected "Where's Urameshi?"

"The last time I saw him he was taking care of that human imbecile." Said Hiei.

"URAMESHI . . . URAMESHI" Kuwabara shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm still here. Gee, Kuwabara, didn't know you cared so much." Yusuke joked as he stared around at the crumbling remains of the museum. He couldn't help but the wince at the devastation surrounding him.

`Man, I have got to keep my Spirit Gun in check, could've brought down the whole building.'

"I . . .Well, I don't. How many times do I have to tell you, the only person allowed to defeat you-"

"Shut up! " Yusuke and Hiei said simultaneously leaving Kuwabara to mumble irritably to himself. There was a sound of shifting rubble and all conversation came to a stop. Everything was deathly silent as the seconds passed, and then a rough cough and a very irritated voice floated through the darkness.

"Crazy woman, jumping around like a lunatic * cough* . . . could have broken her silly neck"

"Who's that?!" Kuwabara yelled . . . again.

"That would be Jin." Touya said. "I take it you successfully dealt with our problem on the roof?"

"Uh . . . hee he . . . Yeah . . . you could say that." The room (which was now a complete and utter disaster) filled with pale light as the moon shifted over the improved skylight.

"What problem on the roof?" Hiei said making his way through the maze of rubble.

"Found me a little snoop." Jin said as he lifted something large from the floor.

With the help of the dull moonlight they gathered around and stared down at the `snoop' who was unconscious and bleeding in Jin's arms. There was a long stretch of silence then Kuwabara began to sputter.

"Hey, isn't she that girl from the park who was all wet and sneezing?"

"You know her?" Touya said.

"Well . . . not really, lets just say, she has a habit of turning up."

"What was she doing?" Hiei asked as he gave the girl a penetrating stare, His Jagan eye searching the slumbering girl. He forced down a snarl as he felt that same emptiness as before. `What is she?' She was certainly not a demon. He had no doubts about that. Human? Well, there was a part of her that felt human, but it seemed more like a shell, hiding another part of her that was . . . what? That seemed to be the question of the day.

"Looked as if she was taking a peek, so I went down and said hello and tried to take my head off, she did."

"No matter what she was doing, it would seem she is connected to the Sphere in some way." Kurama said. "This case has produced more and more questions each day, perhaps she could shed some light on some of them."

He took one slim finger and pushed back part of her hair. There was a large gash on the side of her head, and her cheek was starting to turn red and swollen. As if feeling his light touch the girl's body started to go into spasms and there was a raspy sound coming from her chest. Instinctively, Kurama drew is hand away just as . . .

`Achoo' Her eyes fluttered open for a split second and another sneeze squeezed its way through her lips before she passed out once again.

"Man, this chick is totally weird." Kuwabara said staring down at her.

"Yeah well, let's get what we came for and get the fuck out here. We'll let Koenma deal with her."

As if summoned by Yusuke's statement, a soft white light began to pulse beside him. The others quickly made their way over to the glowing Sphere. It was laying in a pile of black ash, pulsating light reflecting off a broken pair of thick glasses. They all gazed down at it in uncomfortable silence, as if not sure what to do next.

"Well, so much for the walking accident." Yusuke said, as he kicked the shattered glasses across the floor. "Kind of a shame too, he was good for a laugh."

"So . . . Now what?" Asked Kuwabara.

"Take it back to Koenma and let him figure out what to do with it." Said Hiei.

"What about that knife thing or whatever, he was looking for?"

" Without the Sphere it is nothing more then an ancient relic." Silence stretched among the five as Hiei's words sank into their minds. The shallow blue -white glow enhancing their expressions.

Yusuke turned his head toward the gaping hole in the outside wall. Dark eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he stared out into the empty street, now illuminated by the pale moonlight. `Something's not right with this picture.' He thought to himself. His mind was muddled and refused to focus. In light of what they had just been through, with the flaming cats, a cave in and the ice shinobi's news, this was hardly surprising. Still, Yusuke couldn't help thinking that this was an important piece to this ever growing puzzle. Finally giving up he turned back to the others.

"All right, everybody, let's get out of here, somebody grab that thing. I don't have to explain to the cops . . ."

Yusuke stopped and looked around at the crumbling building. That's it. That's what's wrong. The cops, with the amount of disturbance they had made tonight, someone should have called the police by now.

"Uh . . . is it just me or should we be hearing sirens right about know?"

Everyone turned around to stare at him and seemed to listen to the hush of the empty street.

"He's right, this is not something that would go unnoticed for long." Kurama said.

Hiei grabbed the sphere and in unison, they all turned and headed for the door. They had no problems getting back outside, The halls were empty and there was an odd sense of vacuity. Coming outside, that same feeling pressed upon them as they made their way across the lawn, eerily vacant of security.

They were halfway across and the tall iron fence, backlit by a flickering street lamp was plainly in sight. Kuwabara who was in the lead cried out just before his body was thrown back by some invisible force.

"AHHH! What was that?" Kuwabara whined as he rubbed his squashed nose.

Kurama took a few steps ahead, his arm raised outwards. There was a small flash of light that made him wince and quickly yank his hand away.

"It would seem someone has placed a barrier around the grounds, a powerful one at that. That might explain why no one noticed all the devastation we caused."

"An acute observation."

"Huh? . . . who said that?" yelled Kuwabara. The voice was airy and seemed to come from every direction.

"Dammit, now what?" Yusuke whispered as he readied his spirit gun. The bushes on the other side of the barrier shook as a large and a familiar black cat crawled out.

"Well, we meet again." Said that same bodiless voice as the cat walked to the edge of the barrier.

"Hn. A cat with telepathic powers, not very original if you ask me." Said Hiei. "I take it you're the one responsible for this?"

"Yes, that would be me. You hold two things that are of great value to me. I can't just let you walk out of here."

"Hey, look here, fur ball." Yusuke shouted, the tip of his index finger glowing. "I'm tired, hungry, I want to go home, and I'll be dammed if some fucking house pet's gonna stop me. So either you take down this barrier, or I will."

"Calm yourself, human, I will be more then happy to take down the barrier if you will answer a simple question."

Kurama placed a hand on Yusuke's shoulder and gave him a small smile. The spirit detective sighed and backed down, for the moment.

"We will answer your question, if you will answer two of our own?"

The cat was stone still, his gleaming golden eyes narrowed as if thinking over Kurama's request. After a moment the cat sat on his haunches, wrapping his tail around his front paws.

"Deal. Ask your question."

"Who are you?"

"Very well, my name is Hossam and I am the High Priest of Bastet, sister of the Lady Sekhmet, whose property you hold."

"You don't really expect us to believe that, do you?" Hiei spat angrily.

"Believe what you want, but it is no concern of mine. That being your second question, you will answer mine. Why do you seek Sekhmet's Sphere?"

"We don't want the stupid thing." Yusuke said. "We were just supposed to get it away from that moron before he screwed up the universe."

"I see. All right then." Hossam blinked and the air began to shimmer as the barrier was released. Not wasting a single second he jumped into Yusuke's arms.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Yusuke said as compensated for the feline's extra weight.

"Your going to see this Koenma, are you not? I shall be going with you."

"Oh . . . Well, I guess tha - . . . Hey, how did you know about that?"

"Because, he's been watching us all night." Said Kurama.

"Again, an acute observation."

"Oi! , I hate to be raining on your happy moment here, Yusuke, but could we light a fire under this party? This girl is heavier than she looks." Jin said as he shifted her in his arms.

"Not to mention that the sun will be rising any minute." Touya added.

"Right, just let me call Botan." Yusuke dropped Hossam on the ground and reached for into his back pocket and pulled out something that looked like a small make up compact. He flipped it open and there was a brief sound of static, then Botan's voice.

"IT"S ABOUT TIME, YUSUKE URAMESHI, YOU BETTER NOT BE CALLING TO SAY YOU DIDN'T GET THE SPHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"No, no, I got it, Jeez, what are you so pissed off about?"

"WHAT . . . WHAT!! . . . .THAT'S WHAT!!!!!!!!!!"

The others gathered around Yusuke to stare down at the tiny screen. Six jaws dropped to the floor as they watched several figures that could only be described as oversized sunflowers run cross the room. One of them stopped, seeming to realize it was being watched and waddled up to the screen. Beady black eyes stared back at them unblinking as a long pink, petal-like tongue slipped out of its mouth to blow a loud raspberry before it ran off with a high-pitched giggle.

"YOU SEE!" Botan's face appeared on the screen again.

"THOSE THINGS ARE EVERYWHERE! THEY'RE WORSE THEN THOSE EXPLODING FUZZ BALLS, WHICH BY THE WAY ARE STILL * BOOM* HERE."