Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Intertwinement ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2:

 

Din awoke to a feeling of great discomfort throughout her entire body. It took her a moment to realize this was because she was lying on her stomach on something hard and bumpy. She opened her eyes, and a barren, gray wasteland met her vision. Pushing herself up, she glanced around, and a shiver ran down her spine. Wherever this place was, she had a strong feeling she didn't like it.

 

Standing up, she glanced at the sky and raised her eyebrows. Unless there was about to be a serious thunderstorm, she was pretty sure lightning streaking across the sky in multiple places every two seconds wasn't normal. It was pretty cool though. Now, how to go about figuring out where the hell she was…

 

Deep, throaty laughter behind her broke her out of those thoughts. She turned around to see a red-skinned beast with four horns growing out of its forehead. Din grimaced. Okay, first she and her friends get pulled into a black hole by an ugly monster, and now another one was standing in the middle of some creepy wasteland laughing at her. Could this day get any weirder?

 

“<Look what we have here. It's a little human girl. Have you come here to be devoured by me?>” the creature said in a gravelly voice, leering at her. Din frowned. Was it speaking Japanese? She was pretty sure she recognized “ningen”, the word for human, in that statement.

 

`Well, at least it's somewhat intelligent,' she thought. `Although, that may turn out to be a bad thing.'

 

“Watashi wa Din desu (my name is Din). Hajimemashite (nice to meet you),” she said.

 

The beast looked confused for a moment, and then it laughed again, throwing its head back. “<Ha ha! You're pretty funny, aren't you? Too bad I have to eat you now?>”

 

He lunged at her, and Din jumped back. Okay, big ugly monster attacking her—bad. Running away—good. She turned heel and started running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She could hear, and feel, the creature's thundering footsteps behind her. She stole a glance over her shoulder to see the thing drawing ever closer. `Damn, he's fast for a big lug,' she grumbled, and tried to speed up. It was no good; a few seconds later, a hand reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled, kicking her legs, but his grip was tight.

 

He held her up to his face and grinned. “<Thank you again for delivering yourself so neatly into my hands. Now, say bye-bye.” He squeezed tighter, so much that anymore and her ribs would snap. She squirmed in pain as he raised her to his mouth and opened wide.

 

`Oh, shit no, I am not going out like this,' she thought angrily, but there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes and held her breath, deciding she didn't want the smell of nasty monster-breath to be the last thing she remembered before dying.

 

She felt the sensation of falling, and knew the end was near. She landed with a painful thud on something hard and dry. Wait a minute…she was pretty sure even monster tongues were wet and mushy. Daring a peek, she opened one eye, to see that she was sitting on the ground, and her black skirt and fishnet top were wet with something dark and sticky. It was blood.

 

“<Hmph. Too easy. You shouldn't have pissed me off,>” a male voice said. Once again, she couldn't understand him, although she recognized it as Japanese.

 

Din looked up to see a teenage boy dressed in a black robe and pants. In his hand held a katana dripping with blood. Her heart rate quickened; he was very cool looking, but he was also short, even shorter than her. On the other hand, if one counted his hair, which was black and spiked up at least half a foot into the air, he was definitely taller.

 

He glanced over his shoulder to look at the corpse of the bloodied and now headless creature he had just slain, and his eyes, red as blood, fell on Din. He frowned. “<Who are you?>” He paused, and his eyes narrowed. “<A human? How did you get here?>”

 

“Yeah, I can't understand a word you're saying,” Din said. She stood up and brushed herself off as best she could—not that the blood was going anywhere anytime soon. “Well, that's not entirely true. I did understand `ningen', but that's about it.”

 

Hiei raised a brow at the human girl standing before him. She had repeated the word `ningen', but beyond that he could not understand her at all. A smirk spread across his face. “<I see; you don't speak my language,>” he said. “<You should know that I despise humans, but you're too pathetic to waste my time on, so I will spare you. I'm sure some low class demon will finish you off soon enough, anyway.>”

 

Din watched as the boy turned and started to walk away. Now he was spouting off something about demons. Well, whatever. She wasn't about to stay here waiting for another weirdo to attack her, and since this guy had, as far as she could tell, saved her, she may as well follow him. After a moment, the boy glared back at her.

 

“<Why are you following me?>” he demanded.

 

“Watashi wa Din desu,” Din said, since she had no clue what he had just asked her and introducing herself seemed like the best route.

 

Hiei cocked an eyebrow at her. “<So, you can speak some,>” he commented. “<Regardless. I don't care what your name is. Stop following me.”

 

“Onamae wa nan desu ka (what is your name)?” Din asked; he apparently wasn't going to give it himself. Now she was reaching the end of her knowledge of the Japanese language. Her parents had hired a Japanese tutor for her in eighth grade, but once she started high school she'd had to quit, so she didn't get very far with lessons only once a month for less than a year.

 

“<My name is of no consequence to you,>” Hiei told her. This human brat was starting to annoy him. “<Now leave.>”

 

Okay, apparently he didn't want to tell her what his name was. Din shrugged and continued following him. And then, out of nowhere, he was standing in front of her, and the blade of his sword was pressed against her neck. She choked on her own breath and leaned backwards, staring fearfully into his gleaming red eyes. She hated to admit it, but this guy was scary as hell.

 

“<Do not make me repeat myself again, human.>” He spat `human' as though it were filth in his mouth. “<Do not continue to follow me, or believe me, I will kill you.>”

 

The girl just stared at him with fear-filled eyes. Well, threatening someone who could barely understand him probably wouldn't get him too far, but then again it might. Slowly, he lowered his sword and re-sheathed it. He pointed behind her, opposite of where he was going, looking pointedly into her eyes. “<Understand?>”

 

She nodded and backed up a few steps. “Wa-wakarimasu (I-I understand),” she said.

 

Hiei smirked and turned around, pleased with himself. This girl might not understand his language, but at least she wasn't stupid. Then again, a defenseless human running around in the Makai was not exactly smart. Which raised the question of how she got into the Makai in the first place. “Hmph,” he muttered. It hardly mattered. He could care less what those pathetic humans did, as long as they didn't bother him.

 

~*~

 

Loud voices filled her mind, giving her a headache, and something kept poking her in the side. Jessa opened her eyes to see a blue-haired girl kneeling beside her.

 

“<He~llo!>” the girl said in a cheery voice.

 

Jessa blinked at her, not understanding what this girl had just said. “Huh?” she mumbled; she was still half-asleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. No, she was still surrounded by a mob of multi-colored ogre things, and this one girl with the blue ponytail and a pink kimono. Jessa sighed. She must've eaten too many cookies before bed again. Wait…she hadn't gone to bed. She shook her head as she remembered what had happened, deciding it was best not to think about that right now. Instead, she turned her attention to the girl kneeling beside her.

 

“Who are you?” Jessa asked.

 

“Oh, do you speak English?” the girl asked. This time, thankfully, Jessa could understand her.

 

“Uh, yeah, what language do you speak?” Jessa asked.

 

“Well, to be exact, I speak Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Romanian, and I'm still learning Hindu,” the girl said, counting off on her fingers as she listed the ton of languages.

 

Jessa blinked at her. Was it even possible to know that many languages?

 

“Anyway, my name's Botan,” the girl said, standing up and holding out her hand to help Jessa up. “What's your name?”

 

“Uh, Jessa,” she replied, letting Botan pull her to her feet. She looked around again. “Where are we again?”

 

Botan laughed. “Why, Reikai of course, or the Spirit World in your tongue!”

 

“Uh huh,” Jessa said. “What's up with all the ogre people?”

 

“Oh, these are all King Yama's helpers,” Botan replied, not really providing an explanation. “Speaking of which, I have to take you to see him now, or rather, his son. You're still living and we have no idea how you got here!”

 

“How did I get here?” Jessa asked, letting the cheerful girl lead her through the multiple rooms of the humongous building they were in. The ogres were all over the place—carrying stacks of papers, talking on telephones, typing on computers. She was pretty sure even cookies couldn't make her dream this up.

 

“You fell from a hole in the ceiling, and beyond that we don't know,” Botan said. “That's why I'm taking you to Koenma, so we can figure out what to do with you.”

 

“Riiight,” Jessa mumbled. Like she actually had any clue what this girl was talking about.

 

They reached a pair of pink and gold gates, which opened when they approached, revealing a desk stacked with papers. Sitting in the desk chair, stamping the papers, was a…toddler?! Jessa gawked at him. It was a toddler, dressed in blue and yellow with a blue hat that said “Jr.” on the rim and a pacifier in his mouth.

 

“Lord Koenma, I've brought you the girl,” Botan said, bowing.

 

The baby…Koenma? looked up from his papers to see the two girls standing there. “Oh, hello there,” he said, jumping on top of the desk and hopping down to stand in front of them. “I assume you speak English, then?” Jessa nodded, trying to contain her laughter. She was unsuccessful, and doubled over, clutching her stomach while she laughed her head off.

 

Koenma eyed her curiously. “Is she alright?” he asked Botan.

 

“I-I don't know,” Botan said. “Is something the matter, Jessa?”

 

“No, no,” Jessa gasped, her fit of laughter finally dying. “I'm alright, nothing wrong!” She looked at Koenma, and fell into another fit.

 

Koenma and Botan watched her, patiently waiting until she stopped laughing. “If you're quite finished,” Koenma said, sounding irritated with her. He must have caught on that she was laughing at him. “We have some serious business to discuss. For instance, what you're doing in the Spirit World, even though you're obviously quite alive.”

 

Jessa pondered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Beats me.”

 

“Did anything unusual happen to you today?”

 

“Well, there was some black hole and then an ugly monster grabbed us and pulled us into it. That's the last thing I remember,” Jessa told him.

 

“Interesting…” Koenma began pacing the room thoughtfully. He stopped and turned to Botan. “Botan, I'm going to investigate this situation. In the meantime, get her a job or something so she stays out of trouble. And keep an eye on her.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Botan said, bowing. “Come on, Jessa, let's go find something for you to do.”

 

Jessa made a face. “You want me to work?”

 

“Well, you can't just stand around and do nothing all day; there's all sorts of bad things that could happen to a living human in the Spirit World, and until we find out something about what's going on, we can't have you wandering around the Human World either,” Botan said. “Don't worry, I'll find something easy like filing papers!”

 

“Great,” Jessa mumbled. She could tell there was a long day ahead of her.