Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Mazoku: Battle For The Throne ❯ Insights and Festivals ( Chapter 4 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: jazzy377 
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.01.2013 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 264 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.01.2013 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 264 | Status: Work In Progress
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Chapter Four
Insights and Festivals
"Hey, what did I say earlier? Get up or we're leaving you." Yusuke sounded rough,
but his movements contradicted him as he shook Keiko gently. Keiko rolled over.
"Keiko, he said quieter, "you wouldn't want me to grab your ass in front of your
parents would you?"
"No, Yusuke!" the demand came out as more of a whine.
"Then get up."
Keiko sighed, but rose to her feet and woke up Botan. Everyone else was already up.
The group began walking. The moon was still out, and the birds hadn't awakened yet.
The ground was rough, making Keiko curse the fact she wore sandals. She looked at
her other pair of shoes, slippers. Why didn't she grab her sneakers or something? Of
course how did she know her town was going to be blown up?
After about an hour or so of silence, Yusuke spoke up. "In a few hours, we'll stop
at a village for some supplies. If you need anything, get it there."
"Father, could I get some more shoes there? These really aren't for walking." Keiko
said.
"Keiko, we have to completely restart our life and now's hardly the time to think
about your dainty feet! Besides walking will be the first hard thing you've done in
your life. Do you know how much I've spoiled you? Do you know how much money I've
wasted on you? You little ungrateful-"
"That's enough, Hiroshi! Keiko isn't to blame for any of this. Please just stop."
Akemi, Keiko's mom cried.
Hiroshi sighed heavily and ground out an apology. Yusuke turned back. Keiko hadn't
said anything. She walked at her steady pace just staring at the ground. Botan did
the same. Obviously these outbursts were a normal occurrence.
"Hey!" Kuwabara cried suddenly. "I just realized. We've been walking with you guys
all this time and we don't know anything about you! What if you're trying to trap us
somehow to get information about our village!"
Kurama looked back. "You actually believe that we separated you from your village,
took you miles away, just to interrogate you?"
Kuwabara was slightly embarrassed. 'Well when you say it like that', he thought.
Hiroshi pointed at Yusuke. "Well, did you demon?"
"Why the hell are you picking a fight with me old man?" Yusuke retorted.
"I think you thugs have had your eyes on my daughter and her friends for a while
now. You're trying to use them for something. Your kind trains themselves to kill
people like us for no reason so why wouldn't I think something was wrong."
Hiei chimed in. "I get it now. The old man just has a death wish. Let me be the one
to end his obsessive talking. I want to kill him too," he added, pointing at
Kuwabara.
"Me! What did I do?"
"Your face hurts my eyes. To end such a grotesque being would make me a saint."
Sanosuke, who had for the most part ignored everyone, finally spoke. "Yusuke, I
think we're here. Is that the village?"
Everyone stopped their bickering and looked. In the distance there was the bright
glow of lanterns contrasting with the dark morning.
"Is that it? If it is, you can leave us in this village and be on your way," Hiroshi
concluded.
Hiei smirked. "You must have a death wish to want to be left here. This is one of
the few villages where demons and humans co-exist. They don't take well to outsiders
with attitudes either."
"Then why would you bring us here?" Botan asked.
"We had previous matters to attend to as well as some information to gather." Kurama
responded. "It's actually quite a good time for you all to be here. It would seem
that the village is holding a celebration of some kind."
Yusuke agreed. "Yeah, it's the annual Festival of Souls."
Sanosuke looked at him questioningly. "What's that? They never had that in our
village."
"Long ago, a great demon king fell in love with a human physician. The demon had a
child with her, but didn't know it. He'd left to fight a war. She died when the
child was six, and the kid was exiled for being half demon. The demon king came back
to find his mate dead, and him with a son to raise. Knowing his son would never
survive being raised by just humans or demons, he made a village of both, and they
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raised his child when he was away."
"But why is it called, the 'Festival of Souls'." Sanosuke wondered.
"The king called it that. He knew he could never be with the woman he loved in life,
but he hoped their souls would unite in the afterlife. The festival's basically all
about love and cherishing and protecting. Stuff like that."
Keiko smiled. "That actually sounds pretty romantic. That demon sounds really
sweet."
Hiei chuckled. "Hn, if she knew him she wouldn't think so, would she Yusuke?"
Yusuke laughed. "Hell no!"
The group arrived at the village just as the sun began to rise. The shops were
opening up and the chatter of people rose.
Yusuke handed Pu over to Sanosuke. "Get whatever you want. Just make sure you can
carry it on a trip. Go with Keiko and Botan though." He turned to Keiko. "Watch over
him."
"Wait! Where are you going? This festival's about protecting people, and you're not
even gonna be around!" Sanosuke pouted.
"I'll be back in a couple hours so just have fun, okay?"
With that Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama took off. Kuwabara looked around nervously. "What
is it, Kuwabara?" Botan asked.
"I can feel so much demonic energy here; more than I've felt in my life. If
everyone's so hostile here, why would they ditch us with a kid?"
"Yusuke didn't ditch me. I know because he left Pu here."
Keiko smiled and took Sanosuke by the hand. "Come on, Sanosuke let's see what's
around here."
"What! Have you lost your mind?" Hiroshi shouted.
"Don't worry. We'll be fine. Kuwabara, stay with my parents, okay?"
Sanosuke, Keiko, and Botan went off to the different shops. Sanosuke went to a
vendor selling toys. He looked around and picked up a few things: a ball, a spinning
top, some books, and some colored pencils. "I want these."
The man held out his hand. "That'll be 1,683 yen." (That's around twenty dollars.)
"Oh, I don't have that."
The man scoffed. "Then leave kid."
Pu rose to eye level with the vendor. "Pu." The vendor looked confused. "Is that
Yusuke's spirit beast? You're with Yusuke?"
Sanosuke nodded shyly. The vendor laughed. "Oh, you should have said something
earlier. This whole celebration is for him and his mother." The vendor began packing
Sanosuke's toys.
Sanosuke smiled and gave a thank you before walking back to Keiko.
"Did Yusuke give you money?" Keiko asked.
"No, the vendor gave all this stuff to me for free because he said the festival was
for Yusuke," answered Sanosuke, bouncing his ball.
'The festival's for Yusuke? Does that mean he was the boy in the story?' thought
Keiko.
Yusuke sighed. He hoped things would have gone more smoothly at the last village,
but he'd lost his cool.
"What will you tell Raizen when you meet him, Yusuke?" inquired Kurama.
"Whatever comes to my head. He's already pissed at me anyway. All he does is
complain about how I put him to shame." Yusuke chuckled. "I bet he's throwing the
biggest fit right now."
Yusuke looked around until he spotted a familiar bar. "Ah, he's probably in there,
let's go. By the way, where did Hiei runoff to?â€
"He said something about seeing Yukina."
"Oh well. That's cool. We should be done here pretty quickly anyway."
The two walked in the bar and scouted two tall figures. One was sporting a Mohawk
with a silly grin on his face while the other had wild red hair and an even sillier
grin.
"Chu? Jin? How's it going? It's been a couple of months since I've seen you, and
when I find you, Chu is plastered already. Big surprise."
"Shut up, Yusuke. You know I'm only sober when I'm drunk!" Chu screamed laughing.
Kurama sweatdropped. 'To think he's one of the strongest fighters in the world.'
Jin practically jumped from his chair at the bar and lifted up Yusuke. "Yusuke! Have
you come back or are you still trying to avoid being king?" Jin set him down.
"I'm not avoiding it. My father is king now and that's how it's gonna be for a
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while. I'm doing some detective work on the elders."
Chu swayed over to the group. "What about them? Have you gotten any leads?"
Kurama shook his head. "No, we know that there have been some humans that have been
working with demons to overthrow Raizen. The thought of humans and demons
co-existing has been labeled taboo to them. However, the last village we went to
didn't show any signs of treason."
"No, they were unrelated from what Hiei could find, but they treated their own kind
like shit. Especially that Kaemon guy" commented Yusuke, his eyes narrowing.
"So what happened with that village?" asked Jin.
"Destroyed, but never mind that. What information have you found?" answered Yusuke.
Chu scratched his head before simply shrugging his shoulders. "We're just like you.
We thought we found a couple leads in these little remote places, but it never
seemed to go anywhere. The whole thing sounds more like some crackpot theory even
though we have a little evidence."
Yusuke sighed. After all of that, there were no answers. There was nothing to show
for all their searching. "Okay, well I guess I'll be going back to dear old Dad with
nothing. I'm sure he'll like that."
Jin patted him on the back. "Ah, listen. We know something's going on; we just don't
know what, when, who, and how. They're gonna make a move though, and that's when
we're crush 'em."
Yusuke smiled. "Yeah. Well, I’ll go enjoy the festival, and stop by again soon.
Until then, lay off the booze, Chu!"
They laughed and parted ways. They were in the center of the village when Yusuke
heard Pu.
"Give it back, Pu! I'm serious!" Yusuke looked to see Pu and Sanosuke fighting over
some dumplings on a stick. Yusuke walked over to them. Sanosuke saw Yusuke and
pointed to Pu.
"He won't give back my food." Yusuke shook his head. "Don't worry about it; we'll go
get something else to eat. Where are the girls?"
Sanosuke motioned to a kimono shop. Yusuke and Kurama walked toward them.
"Keiko," Botan giggled, "come on out. I'm sure you look fine." Botan was wearing a
lavender kimono with a magenta bow and ribbon in her hair.
"Playing dress up, are we?" Kurama asked, smiling. Botan shrieked. The boys laughed.
Keiko peeked out the changing room. "Oh, I didn't know everyone was out here."
Botan glared at the boys. "Neither did I."
Keiko stepped out wearing a beautiful navy kimono with light purple and white
flowers and a big yellow bow.
"Oh wow Keiko that kimono was made for you!" Botan exclaimed.
Keiko laughed. "Not at this price! It's over 16,000 yen, my dad would kill me. I do
love it though." Keiko giggled and spun around in it. Botan joined her, laughing
until they were both in a giddy fit.
"Hey, if you aren't gonna buy it, get out of those clothes so we can go eat," stated
Yusuke.
Keiko stuck her tongue out, and she and Botan changed. Yusuke smiled and pulled out
around 17,000 yen and gave it to the ogre selling them.
"Hey when those two girls come out, wrap up the blue kimono, will ya? You can keep
the change."
The ogre thanked him graciously. Kurama pulled out some yen as well. "Could you do
the same with the lavender kimono, thanks."
Yusuke smirked, "Can't think of your own gift, Kurama?"
Kurama smiled back. "You, know Yusuke, imitation is the highest form of flattery."
Keiko and Botan walked out. "What are you guys talking about?" Keiko asked.
"Nothing, where's your parents, and that one guy, Kuwabaka?" asked Yusuke to Keiko.
"It's Kuwabara, and they're still at the entrance of the town. My father didn't
trust this place much." She answered sheepishly.
"Ok, well let's get them and go eat."
After meeting up with everyone, they went to Yusuke's favorite ramen shop. They,
well Yusuke, was greeted by the head waitress.
"Hi, there sir," said a busty demon waitress to Yusuke. "If you need anything at
all, don't hesitate to ask." She rubbed her cleavage not so subtlety against him.
Yusuke wrapped his arm around Keiko. "I'm fine thanks. What about you, babe?"
Keiko was blushing madly now, but shyly said, "I'm fine."
The waitress looked at the two before pouting and walking away. She then turned to
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Kurama. "Well, if you need anything-"
"Kuwabara, do you need anything?" asked Kurama winking.
Kuwabara was drooling over the waitress. "Uh, yeah I need a lot of things,
like…chopsticks! I'll need a ton of chopsticks and-"
"Sorry, I'm on my break now." The waitress left promptly, but not before waving at
Yusuke.
"Slut." Yusuke murmured disgusted.
Botan looked at him. "I would think you liked those type of girls."
"Yusuke shook his head. “If they're flirting like that with me they're doing the
same thing to someone else. I mean obviously. She went right to Kurama after me.
Beside I don't like girls that hit on me. I want to always be the one on top." He
said winking.
"Uh, Yusuke? Your arm is still around me."
Yusuke smirked. "Yeah, I know."
Keiko squirmed in his grasp. Yusuke finally let go after some colorful words from
her father.
The group sat to eat when Kuwabara noticed someone missing. "Hey, where's that spiky
haired shrimp?"
Kurama took a sip of water before saying, "He had business to take care of so we
probably won't see him the rest of the night."
The dinner was uneventful. Botan and Keiko talked about all the shops they'd gone
too, and Sanosuke showed the training clothes and the toys he'd gotten.
"Well, Yusuke said, "All you'll need is a weapon, and you'll be one of us."
Sanosuke beamed. Hiroshi scoffed. "You say that like it's actually a good thing to
be a demon. You're getting the kid's hope up anyway. Humans could never be as strong
as demons."
Kurama and Yusuke exchanged a glanced. "With all due respect sir, I know of couple
people with human blood that have far surpassed most demons."
The conversation was cut short to the sound of fireworks. The group walked outside
to see brilliant colors spark the sky.
"Oh wow!" exclaimed Sanosuke. Yusuke smiled and lifted him up on his shoulders.
Keiko watched them, and smiled. 'He really can be sweet.'
Yusuke turned and saw her staring. He smirked. "What, you like what you see?"
"Oh, shut up. I was admiring the fireworks."
"This is only the first of two nights of this. Tomorrow will be even greater."
Kurama stated. "Tomorrow is also the time that the men give presents to the women
and children that mean something to them. Everyone meets in the center of the
village, and exchanges gifts."
"Does everyone go?" asked Botan. "I mean what if you don't have anyone special in
your life? What if you know you won't get anything?"
Kurama gave a knowing smile. "You can't be sure of the future until it's become the
past. Most girls think they won't receive anything, but they are highly mistaken.
Everyone cares for someone, and the festival of Soul is an ideal time to show that."
Yusuke yawned. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I'm beat and the fireworks are over so I say
we rent a room and sleep for the night."
"I agree with Yusuke." Kuwabara said. "I have to be in top shape for when I meet the
love of my life!"
"Yeah, well I'm sure he wants to meet you too." Yusuke chuckled out.
"He? Hey, wait! I'm not gay!"
The group laughed and walked away, leaving Kuwabara behind to grumble to himself.
After finding an inn, everyone retired to their rooms.
Botan shut the door to her and Keiko's room. "Okay, girl talk officially begins
now!" she squealed out.
She jumped on Keiko's bed. "Okay, be honest, do you like Yusuke? Because I really
think he likes you!"
Keiko hit her with a pillow. "No, he's doesn’t, and get off my bed!"
Botan just giggled. "Seriously, he likes you, and I know you like him too so just
admit it."
"I think he's kinda cute I guess, but it's not like I'm in love or anything."
"So you admit he's cute?"
"I said kinda," Keiko defended.
"Well, I kinda like Kurama." Botan said this quieter.
"I knew it! Everytime you guys talk, you get all shy. I bet he thinks it's cute
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though," Keiko reassured.
"I bet he just thinks I'm weird and dumb." Botan replied.
"No he doesn't. I bet he got you something for Festival of Souls too."
"If he actually got me something, then you definitely got something from Yusuke."
Keiko lied down, and turned to Botan, who had gone to her own bed.
"Hey, Sanosuke told me he heard that Yusuke was the reason for the Festival of
Souls. He was the boy. Do you think that's true?"
Botan looked slightly shocked. "Well, if you think about it, it would explain his
human appearance and demonic strength, but wow. Well, that's something to ask him
about tomorrow."
"Yeah..."
Keiko listened to Botan's breath even out as she slipped into sleep.
She didn't want to tell Botan this, but her old life was already fading. She was
used to shopping with Botan, and watching Sanosuke, and even being flirted with by
Yusuke. She'd had more fun today than she'd had in a while. It was troubling why she
didn't feel more grief over her village, but already it seemed like dream. Keiko
sighed. She was adjusting nicely, but was still in the dark about so much. She'd
wanted to ask Yusuke what was going on, but he was always with somebody or gone.
'Well,' she thought, 'if Yusuke likes me so much, he should want to spend some time
with me alone. If I can get him alone, I'll get all my questions answered.' Tomorrow
she would make him explain, and she wouldn't take no for an answer.
Ok so I tried making it noticeably longer to make up for the wait so here you go! I
found my muse again, I think I have a good direction for this story. Will update
soon. At least once a month from now own because I have a new laptop! Anyway review,
and tell me what you like so far!
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Chapter Four
Insights and Festivals
"Hey, what did I say earlier? Get up or we're leaving you." Yusuke sounded rough,
but his movements contradicted him as he shook Keiko gently. Keiko rolled over.
"Keiko, he said quieter, "you wouldn't want me to grab your ass in front of your
parents would you?"
"No, Yusuke!" the demand came out as more of a whine.
"Then get up."
Keiko sighed, but rose to her feet and woke up Botan. Everyone else was already up.
The group began walking. The moon was still out, and the birds hadn't awakened yet.
The ground was rough, making Keiko curse the fact she wore sandals. She looked at
her other pair of shoes, slippers. Why didn't she grab her sneakers or something? Of
course how did she know her town was going to be blown up?
After about an hour or so of silence, Yusuke spoke up. "In a few hours, we'll stop
at a village for some supplies. If you need anything, get it there."
"Father, could I get some more shoes there? These really aren't for walking." Keiko
said.
"Keiko, we have to completely restart our life and now's hardly the time to think
about your dainty feet! Besides walking will be the first hard thing you've done in
your life. Do you know how much I've spoiled you? Do you know how much money I've
wasted on you? You little ungrateful-"
"That's enough, Hiroshi! Keiko isn't to blame for any of this. Please just stop."
Akemi, Keiko's mom cried.
Hiroshi sighed heavily and ground out an apology. Yusuke turned back. Keiko hadn't
said anything. She walked at her steady pace just staring at the ground. Botan did
the same. Obviously these outbursts were a normal occurrence.
"Hey!" Kuwabara cried suddenly. "I just realized. We've been walking with you guys
all this time and we don't know anything about you! What if you're trying to trap us
somehow to get information about our village!"
Kurama looked back. "You actually believe that we separated you from your village,
took you miles away, just to interrogate you?"
Kuwabara was slightly embarrassed. 'Well when you say it like that', he thought.
Hiroshi pointed at Yusuke. "Well, did you demon?"
"Why the hell are you picking a fight with me old man?" Yusuke retorted.
"I think you thugs have had your eyes on my daughter and her friends for a while
now. You're trying to use them for something. Your kind trains themselves to kill
people like us for no reason so why wouldn't I think something was wrong."
Hiei chimed in. "I get it now. The old man just has a death wish. Let me be the one
to end his obsessive talking. I want to kill him too," he added, pointing at
Kuwabara.
"Me! What did I do?"
"Your face hurts my eyes. To end such a grotesque being would make me a saint."
Sanosuke, who had for the most part ignored everyone, finally spoke. "Yusuke, I
think we're here. Is that the village?"
Everyone stopped their bickering and looked. In the distance there was the bright
glow of lanterns contrasting with the dark morning.
"Is that it? If it is, you can leave us in this village and be on your way," Hiroshi
concluded.
Hiei smirked. "You must have a death wish to want to be left here. This is one of
the few villages where demons and humans co-exist. They don't take well to outsiders
with attitudes either."
"Then why would you bring us here?" Botan asked.
"We had previous matters to attend to as well as some information to gather." Kurama
responded. "It's actually quite a good time for you all to be here. It would seem
that the village is holding a celebration of some kind."
Yusuke agreed. "Yeah, it's the annual Festival of Souls."
Sanosuke looked at him questioningly. "What's that? They never had that in our
village."
"Long ago, a great demon king fell in love with a human physician. The demon had a
child with her, but didn't know it. He'd left to fight a war. She died when the
child was six, and the kid was exiled for being half demon. The demon king came back
to find his mate dead, and him with a son to raise. Knowing his son would never
survive being raised by just humans or demons, he made a village of both, and they
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raised his child when he was away."
"But why is it called, the 'Festival of Souls'." Sanosuke wondered.
"The king called it that. He knew he could never be with the woman he loved in life,
but he hoped their souls would unite in the afterlife. The festival's basically all
about love and cherishing and protecting. Stuff like that."
Keiko smiled. "That actually sounds pretty romantic. That demon sounds really
sweet."
Hiei chuckled. "Hn, if she knew him she wouldn't think so, would she Yusuke?"
Yusuke laughed. "Hell no!"
The group arrived at the village just as the sun began to rise. The shops were
opening up and the chatter of people rose.
Yusuke handed Pu over to Sanosuke. "Get whatever you want. Just make sure you can
carry it on a trip. Go with Keiko and Botan though." He turned to Keiko. "Watch over
him."
"Wait! Where are you going? This festival's about protecting people, and you're not
even gonna be around!" Sanosuke pouted.
"I'll be back in a couple hours so just have fun, okay?"
With that Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama took off. Kuwabara looked around nervously. "What
is it, Kuwabara?" Botan asked.
"I can feel so much demonic energy here; more than I've felt in my life. If
everyone's so hostile here, why would they ditch us with a kid?"
"Yusuke didn't ditch me. I know because he left Pu here."
Keiko smiled and took Sanosuke by the hand. "Come on, Sanosuke let's see what's
around here."
"What! Have you lost your mind?" Hiroshi shouted.
"Don't worry. We'll be fine. Kuwabara, stay with my parents, okay?"
Sanosuke, Keiko, and Botan went off to the different shops. Sanosuke went to a
vendor selling toys. He looked around and picked up a few things: a ball, a spinning
top, some books, and some colored pencils. "I want these."
The man held out his hand. "That'll be 1,683 yen." (That's around twenty dollars.)
"Oh, I don't have that."
The man scoffed. "Then leave kid."
Pu rose to eye level with the vendor. "Pu." The vendor looked confused. "Is that
Yusuke's spirit beast? You're with Yusuke?"
Sanosuke nodded shyly. The vendor laughed. "Oh, you should have said something
earlier. This whole celebration is for him and his mother." The vendor began packing
Sanosuke's toys.
Sanosuke smiled and gave a thank you before walking back to Keiko.
"Did Yusuke give you money?" Keiko asked.
"No, the vendor gave all this stuff to me for free because he said the festival was
for Yusuke," answered Sanosuke, bouncing his ball.
'The festival's for Yusuke? Does that mean he was the boy in the story?' thought
Keiko.
Yusuke sighed. He hoped things would have gone more smoothly at the last village,
but he'd lost his cool.
"What will you tell Raizen when you meet him, Yusuke?" inquired Kurama.
"Whatever comes to my head. He's already pissed at me anyway. All he does is
complain about how I put him to shame." Yusuke chuckled. "I bet he's throwing the
biggest fit right now."
Yusuke looked around until he spotted a familiar bar. "Ah, he's probably in there,
let's go. By the way, where did Hiei runoff to?â€
"He said something about seeing Yukina."
"Oh well. That's cool. We should be done here pretty quickly anyway."
The two walked in the bar and scouted two tall figures. One was sporting a Mohawk
with a silly grin on his face while the other had wild red hair and an even sillier
grin.
"Chu? Jin? How's it going? It's been a couple of months since I've seen you, and
when I find you, Chu is plastered already. Big surprise."
"Shut up, Yusuke. You know I'm only sober when I'm drunk!" Chu screamed laughing.
Kurama sweatdropped. 'To think he's one of the strongest fighters in the world.'
Jin practically jumped from his chair at the bar and lifted up Yusuke. "Yusuke! Have
you come back or are you still trying to avoid being king?" Jin set him down.
"I'm not avoiding it. My father is king now and that's how it's gonna be for a
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while. I'm doing some detective work on the elders."
Chu swayed over to the group. "What about them? Have you gotten any leads?"
Kurama shook his head. "No, we know that there have been some humans that have been
working with demons to overthrow Raizen. The thought of humans and demons
co-existing has been labeled taboo to them. However, the last village we went to
didn't show any signs of treason."
"No, they were unrelated from what Hiei could find, but they treated their own kind
like shit. Especially that Kaemon guy" commented Yusuke, his eyes narrowing.
"So what happened with that village?" asked Jin.
"Destroyed, but never mind that. What information have you found?" answered Yusuke.
Chu scratched his head before simply shrugging his shoulders. "We're just like you.
We thought we found a couple leads in these little remote places, but it never
seemed to go anywhere. The whole thing sounds more like some crackpot theory even
though we have a little evidence."
Yusuke sighed. After all of that, there were no answers. There was nothing to show
for all their searching. "Okay, well I guess I'll be going back to dear old Dad with
nothing. I'm sure he'll like that."
Jin patted him on the back. "Ah, listen. We know something's going on; we just don't
know what, when, who, and how. They're gonna make a move though, and that's when
we're crush 'em."
Yusuke smiled. "Yeah. Well, I’ll go enjoy the festival, and stop by again soon.
Until then, lay off the booze, Chu!"
They laughed and parted ways. They were in the center of the village when Yusuke
heard Pu.
"Give it back, Pu! I'm serious!" Yusuke looked to see Pu and Sanosuke fighting over
some dumplings on a stick. Yusuke walked over to them. Sanosuke saw Yusuke and
pointed to Pu.
"He won't give back my food." Yusuke shook his head. "Don't worry about it; we'll go
get something else to eat. Where are the girls?"
Sanosuke motioned to a kimono shop. Yusuke and Kurama walked toward them.
"Keiko," Botan giggled, "come on out. I'm sure you look fine." Botan was wearing a
lavender kimono with a magenta bow and ribbon in her hair.
"Playing dress up, are we?" Kurama asked, smiling. Botan shrieked. The boys laughed.
Keiko peeked out the changing room. "Oh, I didn't know everyone was out here."
Botan glared at the boys. "Neither did I."
Keiko stepped out wearing a beautiful navy kimono with light purple and white
flowers and a big yellow bow.
"Oh wow Keiko that kimono was made for you!" Botan exclaimed.
Keiko laughed. "Not at this price! It's over 16,000 yen, my dad would kill me. I do
love it though." Keiko giggled and spun around in it. Botan joined her, laughing
until they were both in a giddy fit.
"Hey, if you aren't gonna buy it, get out of those clothes so we can go eat," stated
Yusuke.
Keiko stuck her tongue out, and she and Botan changed. Yusuke smiled and pulled out
around 17,000 yen and gave it to the ogre selling them.
"Hey when those two girls come out, wrap up the blue kimono, will ya? You can keep
the change."
The ogre thanked him graciously. Kurama pulled out some yen as well. "Could you do
the same with the lavender kimono, thanks."
Yusuke smirked, "Can't think of your own gift, Kurama?"
Kurama smiled back. "You, know Yusuke, imitation is the highest form of flattery."
Keiko and Botan walked out. "What are you guys talking about?" Keiko asked.
"Nothing, where's your parents, and that one guy, Kuwabaka?" asked Yusuke to Keiko.
"It's Kuwabara, and they're still at the entrance of the town. My father didn't
trust this place much." She answered sheepishly.
"Ok, well let's get them and go eat."
After meeting up with everyone, they went to Yusuke's favorite ramen shop. They,
well Yusuke, was greeted by the head waitress.
"Hi, there sir," said a busty demon waitress to Yusuke. "If you need anything at
all, don't hesitate to ask." She rubbed her cleavage not so subtlety against him.
Yusuke wrapped his arm around Keiko. "I'm fine thanks. What about you, babe?"
Keiko was blushing madly now, but shyly said, "I'm fine."
The waitress looked at the two before pouting and walking away. She then turned to
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Kurama. "Well, if you need anything-"
"Kuwabara, do you need anything?" asked Kurama winking.
Kuwabara was drooling over the waitress. "Uh, yeah I need a lot of things,
like…chopsticks! I'll need a ton of chopsticks and-"
"Sorry, I'm on my break now." The waitress left promptly, but not before waving at
Yusuke.
"Slut." Yusuke murmured disgusted.
Botan looked at him. "I would think you liked those type of girls."
"Yusuke shook his head. “If they're flirting like that with me they're doing the
same thing to someone else. I mean obviously. She went right to Kurama after me.
Beside I don't like girls that hit on me. I want to always be the one on top." He
said winking.
"Uh, Yusuke? Your arm is still around me."
Yusuke smirked. "Yeah, I know."
Keiko squirmed in his grasp. Yusuke finally let go after some colorful words from
her father.
The group sat to eat when Kuwabara noticed someone missing. "Hey, where's that spiky
haired shrimp?"
Kurama took a sip of water before saying, "He had business to take care of so we
probably won't see him the rest of the night."
The dinner was uneventful. Botan and Keiko talked about all the shops they'd gone
too, and Sanosuke showed the training clothes and the toys he'd gotten.
"Well, Yusuke said, "All you'll need is a weapon, and you'll be one of us."
Sanosuke beamed. Hiroshi scoffed. "You say that like it's actually a good thing to
be a demon. You're getting the kid's hope up anyway. Humans could never be as strong
as demons."
Kurama and Yusuke exchanged a glanced. "With all due respect sir, I know of couple
people with human blood that have far surpassed most demons."
The conversation was cut short to the sound of fireworks. The group walked outside
to see brilliant colors spark the sky.
"Oh wow!" exclaimed Sanosuke. Yusuke smiled and lifted him up on his shoulders.
Keiko watched them, and smiled. 'He really can be sweet.'
Yusuke turned and saw her staring. He smirked. "What, you like what you see?"
"Oh, shut up. I was admiring the fireworks."
"This is only the first of two nights of this. Tomorrow will be even greater."
Kurama stated. "Tomorrow is also the time that the men give presents to the women
and children that mean something to them. Everyone meets in the center of the
village, and exchanges gifts."
"Does everyone go?" asked Botan. "I mean what if you don't have anyone special in
your life? What if you know you won't get anything?"
Kurama gave a knowing smile. "You can't be sure of the future until it's become the
past. Most girls think they won't receive anything, but they are highly mistaken.
Everyone cares for someone, and the festival of Soul is an ideal time to show that."
Yusuke yawned. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I'm beat and the fireworks are over so I say
we rent a room and sleep for the night."
"I agree with Yusuke." Kuwabara said. "I have to be in top shape for when I meet the
love of my life!"
"Yeah, well I'm sure he wants to meet you too." Yusuke chuckled out.
"He? Hey, wait! I'm not gay!"
The group laughed and walked away, leaving Kuwabara behind to grumble to himself.
After finding an inn, everyone retired to their rooms.
Botan shut the door to her and Keiko's room. "Okay, girl talk officially begins
now!" she squealed out.
She jumped on Keiko's bed. "Okay, be honest, do you like Yusuke? Because I really
think he likes you!"
Keiko hit her with a pillow. "No, he's doesn’t, and get off my bed!"
Botan just giggled. "Seriously, he likes you, and I know you like him too so just
admit it."
"I think he's kinda cute I guess, but it's not like I'm in love or anything."
"So you admit he's cute?"
"I said kinda," Keiko defended.
"Well, I kinda like Kurama." Botan said this quieter.
"I knew it! Everytime you guys talk, you get all shy. I bet he thinks it's cute
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though," Keiko reassured.
"I bet he just thinks I'm weird and dumb." Botan replied.
"No he doesn't. I bet he got you something for Festival of Souls too."
"If he actually got me something, then you definitely got something from Yusuke."
Keiko lied down, and turned to Botan, who had gone to her own bed.
"Hey, Sanosuke told me he heard that Yusuke was the reason for the Festival of
Souls. He was the boy. Do you think that's true?"
Botan looked slightly shocked. "Well, if you think about it, it would explain his
human appearance and demonic strength, but wow. Well, that's something to ask him
about tomorrow."
"Yeah..."
Keiko listened to Botan's breath even out as she slipped into sleep.
She didn't want to tell Botan this, but her old life was already fading. She was
used to shopping with Botan, and watching Sanosuke, and even being flirted with by
Yusuke. She'd had more fun today than she'd had in a while. It was troubling why she
didn't feel more grief over her village, but already it seemed like dream. Keiko
sighed. She was adjusting nicely, but was still in the dark about so much. She'd
wanted to ask Yusuke what was going on, but he was always with somebody or gone.
'Well,' she thought, 'if Yusuke likes me so much, he should want to spend some time
with me alone. If I can get him alone, I'll get all my questions answered.' Tomorrow
she would make him explain, and she wouldn't take no for an answer.
Ok so I tried making it noticeably longer to make up for the wait so here you go! I
found my muse again, I think I have a good direction for this story. Will update
soon. At least once a month from now own because I have a new laptop! Anyway review,
and tell me what you like so far!
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