Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Mission Impossible ❯ Convincing Koenma ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters thus associated with it. I own only my muses and the storyline.

Kagome: All right, my two favorite muses are back from vacation, so they'll help me finish the rest of this story.

Raven: *stretching* Yeah, it was so nice to be away from Kagome for a while.

Kagome: *advances on hapless muse*

Nathaniel: Not really. I'm glad I'm back here now. After all, Kagome needs us, right?

Kagome: *strangles Raven* Hmmm? Oh, yeah, of course. *smiles gratefully* Thanks Nathaniel.

Nathaniel: No problem, really.

Raven: *makes gagging sounds* Could you please let me go now?

Kagome: Oh! Of course. Gomen Nasai. I've just been stressed without you two.

Raven: *rubbing throat* Don't mention it.

Kagome: Anyhow, please read, enjoy, then review, okay?

Raven: Oh, and special thanks goes to Ice-Princess-Amber for her multiple reviews and encouragement on this story.

Chapter Ten: Convincing Koenma

It took several hours for the Reikai Tantei to weigh all their options and reach a decision. It had only taken them five minutes to decide to do as he asked of them. The next four hours were spent debating how best to approach Koenma with their request.

They finally decided on the simplest method, which was to bring the little prince to them and let Ashitaka try to convince him. After all, he had managed to convince them, hadn't he?

They trooped back out to the living room to find an amusing sight. Apparently, the dog demon had gotten bored waiting for them and decided to play with his guard a bit. Ashitaka was now free and pointing Hiei's sword at its owner, who was entangled in the vines. He didn't appear to have hurt Hiei physically, although his pride was another matter altogether.

What astonished them the most was the fact that they were both participating in a rather civil conversation. As they watched, Ashitaka, not realizing they now had an audience, lowered the katana and made a sharp gesture with his hand, which resulted in the vines promptly dropping the little fire demon. Grinning, Ashitaka handed Hiei his weapon and moved over to a corner of the room, where he sat down and leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes.

Hiei just glared at the insolent youkai and snarled something unintelligible, to which Ashitaka just smiled softly. Turning around, Hiei motioned for the others to enter the room, offering no explanation as to the seemingly sudden turn of events.

They told Ashitaka of their plan, and awaited his response. They were all startled when he started to chuckle, which soon turned into full-blown laughter. Slowly he pulled himself back under control enough that he could talk.

"You all wasted over four hours of my time to decide that?! I could've recommended that solution in about three seconds. What the hell were you all debating about that took so long?!"

Genkai, irritated from having to deal with Kuwabara for the past four hours, snapped, "We weren't sure that actually letting Koenma know we knew where you were was such a good idea. He could try to capture you and bring you in immediately for punishment."

Kurama gently took the reigns of the conversation and spoke more gently. "Koenma also doesn't know that you and Yusuke are, essentially, the same person, and we aren't sure how he's going to react once he finds out. We were trying to come up with a tactic that would work without revealing too much to Koenma, but this is the best we could come up with."

Ashitaka just nodded. That explanation made far more sense to him than Genkai's. After all, the youkai was actually stronger than Sensui had ever been, and Sensui had been able to stop his magic ring. Capturing him would be all but impossible. The only reason it happened the first time was because Yusuke was still in control and he couldn't fight it. After all, he wasn't the dominant at the time-the ningen and hanyou were.

Assured that he was amenable to their plan, they sent Botan to bring the message to Koenma, leaving Hiei, Kurama, Genkai, Kuwabara, and Yukina behind to guard the youkai.

Once Botan had left, Kurama turned to Hiei and asked the question that had been bothering him when he first walked into the room. "Why didn't we hear a struggle when he escaped?" he asked.

Hiei just gave a soft "Hn," and refused to answer more than that, still glaring at Ashitaka. The inu youkai, however, was not intimidated and answered the youko's inquiry.

"You didn't hear a fight because I put up a silencing charm beforehand. It requires very little ki, so I didn't have a problem doing so undetected. Even an s-level devil would have had trouble detecting the charm. I might've lost the fight if he had used his kokuryuha, but had he done that, he would've killed me, along with Yusuke and the rest of you."

Kuwabara frowned at that last statement. "Wait a minute. You're as powerful, if not more so, than that creep Sensui was. Why would the shrimp's attack have killed you? It's weaker than the midget's magic ring."

Ashitaka nodded, pleased at the ningen's insight, although he knew from Yusuke that such insight was even rarer than being brought back from the dead four times before reaching the age of twenty-five.

"It is magically weaker than Koenma's ring, but it can still kill me simply because of its very nature. It is a dragon made of the fires of hell. As such, there is a great deal of dark power involved. As I was originally created of dark emotions and thoughts, the addition of the kokuryuha would have overloaded my body and destroyed me by causing a type of system crash."

Hiei just blinked at this newfound knowledge, then smirked. "That's why you didn't try to kill me or escape when you had the chance. You were afraid that I'd release the black dragon despite the fact that other people were in this temple." Then he frowned. "I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing, though."

Ashitaka just nodded, confirming his suspicion that he was afraid of the kokuryuha. Then he closed his eyes again, figuring he'd better get some rest before the little prince arrived.

After all, he was planning on letting Yusuke back out at some point during the conversation and needed to ensure that he'd have enough energy left over to at least partially control the boy.

He was woken rather abruptly by loud yelling originating from outside. It appeared that Koenma had arrived and was incredibly pissed off, and the others were trying to soothe him before bringing him into the living room.

Lifting his head, Ashitaka noticed that Hiei had once again been left playing guard while the others were busy arguing with the little prince. Hiei noticed that he was awake and just gave a short nod in acknowledgment.

About this time, Yusuke also woke up within his mind and began talking to Ashitaka. `How long you figure it's going to take them to get him calmed down enough so that he doesn't kill us out of hand?'

Ashitaka smirked inwardly, and replied, `Probably never. He'll probably unleash his attack first, then ask questions.' Yusuke agreed with him, and judging by his expression, the little koorime agreed as well.

Sure enough, Koenma entered the room in his teenage form and attacked Ashitaka with his magic ring, apparently trying to destroy him before he had time to escape.

Ashitaka leapt to his feet and snarled, "I don't think so, little pest!" and called forth his own power to counteract Koenma's. He drew upon his ki and set a shield up around himself. Then he pulled out his next trick. While still maintaining his shield, Ashitaka withdrew and let Yusuke take control.

As soon as Yusuke's ningen body appeared, the warrior began to shift again, changing into his hanyou form. Markings appeared on his skin, tattooing across his body. His hair grew long and shaggy, cascading down his back. His eyes changed from a warm brown to a cruel crimson, and he snarled at the little prince.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You don't have the power to hurt me, and attacking me isn't going to get you anywhere. Don't you have any brains in that thick skull of yours?" Ashitaka approved, much to Yusuke's amusement. After all, it wasn't everyday he felt free to insult the brat to his face.

Yusuke twisted his hands and made another gesture, and the shield disappeared, permitting the power to hit him. Smirking, he used a trick that he had learned from watching Hiei with his kokuryuha, and drew the power into himself, thereby making it a part of him.

He knew he'd pay later, but since Ashitaka would take over at that time, it wasn't that big a deal. As much as he hated to admit it, having the youkai inside of him wasn't so bad, although he despised losing his freedom in such a way and was determined to rid himself of his captor once and for all.

Grinning triumphantly as the last of Koenma's attack was absorbed and blended with his own power, Yusuke glared at the teenager. "You don't stand a chance in an attack, Koenma. I'd suggest you calm down and listen to what the others were telling you before I decide that I've had enough of you and your childish ways."

Hiei snorted at the last comment, and Yusuke glanced at him, then flushed abashedly. He really didn't have room to talk, since he was considered to be insolent and childish when compared to the other members of his team, Kuwabara not included.

Fear showed brightly in Koenma's eyes, and he froze, staring at his spirit detective, realizing for the first time just how powerful he truly was. After all, he had nearly beat Youmi, one of the three rulers of the devil world, in a tournament, and he had since then practiced to become even stronger and more powerful. Added to that was the fact that he had the power of a full-grown youkai in his arsenal.

After checking to make sure that the short battle was over, the Reikai Tantei filed into the room and finished their explanation, which Koenma had brushed off in his anger and eagerness to finish off what he felt to be an abomination.

Koenma listened this time, and slowly horror dawned on his face as he realized what had happened to Yusuke and how Ashitaka was born. When they finished their explanation, he turned to Yusuke, but addressed Ashitaka.

"This still doesn't change everything. In light of the new information I have just received concerning the circumstances surrounding your creation, the punishment need not be so severe. However, you still must face punishment, and you must leave Yusuke to do so."

Yusuke was already shaking his head. "No, that won't work, Koenma. If he knows he's facing punishment, no matter how severe, he will not leave. He has almost complete control now, and will not relinquish it just so that you can bring him to face trial and punishment for a crime that wasn't entirely his fault."

At Koenma's puzzled gaze, he clarified, "He was created by me, by the negative emotions and bloodlust I harbored deep inside my mind. When he came out, it was simply because he had nowhere else to go, and he had no mind when he killed. Therefore, much of it was my fault."

Then, upon consideration, he added, "Not that I'm volunteering for punishment either, mind you. I wasn't aware that such a thing could happen, and I wasn't exactly in my right mind at the time either."

Ashitaka added a demand, giving it to Yusuke, who then voiced it out loud. "Ashitaka also demands that if punishment is waived, and he agrees to be separated from me, that he not be killed in order to perform the separation. I'm agreeing with that one. There is no way I'm going to let you guys kill me again. If you try, I'll fight it with everything I've got," he threatened, dead serious.

Koenma just stood there, stunned for several long moments, as everyone waited with bated breath for his decision. Finally, sighing in defeat, he agreed to Ashitaka's demand and negated the punishment, setting him free. In return, Ashitaka agreed to leave Yusuke to his own body.

Of course, this brought up the second problem. Koenma had no idea how to go about separating them without killing them, and so turned to Genkai for suggestions. She just looked at him and shook her head, then said, "I would think that Ashitaka would know how to separate them without killing him, so perhaps we should be looking to him for answers."

Thoroughly chastised by the wise ningen, the others turned to Yusuke, who was conversing with Ashitaka about the various options they had for separation, as well as ways to guarantee that the little pest didn't go back on his word and try to arrest Ashitaka anyhow.

Finally they reached a mutual agreement that wouldn't harm or humiliate either of them, and Yusuke turned to the rest of the people in the room. "Here's the deal. We can do the separation ourselves, since we both agree to do so. However, in order to complete the process without harming either one of us, we need a boost in power."

With this he turned to Hiei, and made his request. "We need you to attack me with your kokuryuha. The added dark power will create an overload, but if I'm in control, I can absorb it like I did with Koenma's attack, so that it doesn't harm Ashitaka. Your attack is the only one powerful enough, and dark enough, to provide the boost we need. Will you do it?"

Hiei studied him through narrowed crimson eyes for a moment, then gave an abrupt nod. "I will do it." Then he added, "But only so this can end. I'm getting tired of the constant arguments, and I can't leave until the mission is complete."

Yusuke just smiled indulgently at the little koorime, and said simply, "Good. Let's do it!"

Kagome: All right, I know that chapter was long, but I just couldn't find a good place to stop it.

Raven: *irritated* Could somebody please explain to me why italics don't show up on fanfiction.net and why the spaces that Kagome puts between the end of the story and the commentary aren't there?

Nathaniel: We have at least one more chapter to go, plus an epilogue. Maybe more. *considers for a moment* Anyhow, the more reviews Kagome gets, the faster she writes these chapters.

Kagome: Yes, see? Listen to the wise boy. He knows what he's talking about. *grins* Very good, grasshopper.

Nathaniel: Huh?

Kagome: *manic grin*

Raven: *shrugs* I don't understand her sometimes. I don't think she got enough sleep last night.

Nathaniel: Oh. Anyhow, people, review please. Arigato!