Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ One Last Wish ❯ The Keeper, the Scouts, and the Big Ones ( Chapter 10 )

One Last Wish

Chapter 10: The Keeper, the Scouts, and the Big Ones

Heaven Sent Tenshi

 

Myleen hit the ground rolling. Miryn's slender frame didn't seem capable of taking this sort of abuse, but it was. The slash on her cheek was framed with droplets of blood. Wearily, she sat up, wiping the back of her hand over the gash. Hiei stood behind her, his stern face set in stone.

 

“You're slipping up,” he murmured through clenched teeth. Myleen rubbed the back of her neck, pausing when she realized it was the same hand she had wiped her cheek with. Quickly, she rubbed her hand on the grass. Hiei's eyes narrowed. His hand abruptly connected with the back of her head, sending her forward, doubled over in the grass. “You're slipping up.”

 

“I'm sorry!” she grimaced, grabbing at her throbbing head. “I'm tired!”

 

“If you are in a life-or-death situation, you do not have the luxury of being tired. Get up.”

 

She sat up again, holding her cheek. “And I'm bleeding.”

 

“You are not in your old body. A cut like that will hardly faze you.” Hiei disappeared, reappearing near the stump again. “Get up. There're still six hours of daylight left, and I plan to use them all.”

 

Myleen stared at him, suddenly registering how long she had been fighting with Hiei, fighting to survive his onslaught. Her limbs were shaking a bit and her face was thinly coated in sweat and blood. She carefully rose to her feet. She stood on unstable legs; it reminded her of what it was like to stand up in her old body. She recalculated the statement; what it was like to stand up in her true body.

 

“I don't wanna do this anymore, Hiei. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm filthy, and I'm bleeding. This is my first day; you'll kill me if we keep this up!”

 

“I'm not going to baby you like your doctors did, Myleen. I'm not here to encourage you to try harder, or to coddle you or let you rest. I'm here to ensure that you will survive an attack by Kargon, and to do that, we have to see how far you'll go. Your mind might be tired, but your body has the capability of fighting for four days straight and still is able walk away. Do we understand each other?”

 

Myleen continued to stare at him. Hiei growled in frustration, diving at her with his sword raised to strike. Automatically, the girl's hands shot above her head, taking his sword, pushing it away and sidestepping him, using the kinetic energy behind it to send Hiei stumbling to regain his footing.

 

“Good,” he murmured, pulling his katana up and striking at her face again. She pulled back and, without thinking, lowered her body, attempting to kick his feet out from under him. Hiei jumped, landing several feet away. Myleen stepped back, relaxing. Her shoulders slumped, her head drooped and her spine curved ever so slightly. Her arms were at her sides as her white eyes glared straight through the fire demon. Hiei always detested Miryn's stance; it seemed cocky to him, as though she were taunting her foe.

 

~~~~~

 

Kurama paused at the doorway. Outside it, sitting on the steps, were Yusuke, Keiko and Kuwabara. Every once in a while, one of the boys would relay what they could sense of Myleen's training while Keiko listened with growing anxiety.

 

Kurama turned, leaning on the doorframe. “Spying?” he asked nonchalantly.

 

Yusuke turned toward him for a moment. “You could call it that…” He turned back, eyes fixed on a spot in the trees. “You can sense it, can't you?” Something in the boy's voice, something that was hard to catch, gave the impression that he was shaken by this demonic energy pattern, one unlike anything he had ever sensed before.

 

Kurama nodded. “Of course I sense it, Yusuke. It's quite difficult to miss.”

 

Kuwabara rolled his eyes, sitting back, “You can say that again.”

 

“How long have they been at this?” Yusuke wondered, looking to Kurama for an answer, as though expecting that he knew.

 

“They left just after day-break,” the flaming red-head pondered. “The sun will set soon, perhaps three more hours. I suppose it's been about ten hours.”

 

“How can they keep it up?” Kuwabara murmured, looking up to the sky.

 

“Well, it is Hiei,” Kurama mused, “And Miryn fought for her life all of her life; she had incredible endurance.”

 

“Has,” Keiko interjected, resting her chin on her knees. “What's going on now?”

 

“Not much,” Kuwabara relayed, looking at the trees again. “Guess they stopped.”

 

“Prob'ly not for long.” Yusuke stretched, standing up. “I'm going inside. All this is giving me a headache.”

 

Kuwabara nodded, “I should probably go home; Shizuru might be wondering where I am.”

 

Yusuke's eyes wandered back in his direction. “Since when'd you care what your sister thinks?”

 

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at him as he stepped off the stairs. “I'll be back tomorrow.” He waved his hand over his shoulder, in a fashion that seemed both dismissive and a good-bye.

 

Keiko blinked. “What about Myleen, though?”

 

“She'll be fine…” Yusuke disappeared into the building. Kurama chuckled at the pair.

 

“What about you? Can you tell me, Kurama?” she begged, her eyes large, her hands clasped together.

 

“I can.” He smiled at the girl. “But I believe Hiei's done the unthinkable; he's giving her a moment to rest. That… or he's rendered her unconscious.” Keiko looked a bit troubled by this. “Uh, don't worry, Keiko!” He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. “I'm sure they're just resting…” He turned and frowned in their direction, hoping he was right. It wouldn't be like Hiei to maim her, not with an assignment like this hanging in the balance. They both knew that, should they ever meet Kargon in battle, they would need Miryn's abilities on their side.

 

~~~~~

 

They only had twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to get in, grab the girl, and then get back. After their twenty minutes were up, the portal would collapse, and time would start again.

A group of large, brutish demons were sent in first. There were three of them, standing eight and a half feet tall, weighing at least a ton each, and clothed in heavy demonic armor which radiated a purple-black energy. They were C-class demons, but possessed an ability that sent them into blind rages, which would up their status to B-minus-class. These fits only lasted forty seconds, however and could be potentially devastating for their own group if used at the wrong time. Kargon used them as guards or heavy-fire scouts. They could shrug off most attacks, and were the most logical to send in first, incase time hadn't frozen as planned.

 

With these demons was their keeper; the only demon, besides Kargon, able to control the monstrosities. The Keeper was small, often sitting on one of the large demons' shoulders, directing them where to go, what to attack, and when to kill. The Keeper was the “brains” of the demons, as they couldn't do more than take orders and destroy whatever they could reach. He took orders from Kargon himself, and only from Kargon.

 

As they entered, they took careful note of the fact that nothing moved. The demons that had created the portal had fulfilled their second task; freeze time on the other side. Everything was still, including the night wind, which had, not moments ago, played in Myleen's black hair.

 

A pair of lengthy creatures sprang over the giant demons' shoulders. These creatures wore a skintight suit which favored battle; it wouldn't catch on anything during a skirmish and was tougher than rhinoceros hide. They were muzzled and bound to a tether which was held by the Keeper. The Keeper had recently been ordered to care for them, after the incident with their original handlers. It was also after this incident that the creatures were muzzled. Behind the steel-cage muzzles were three jaws, arranged in a triangular fashion, two beneath and one atop, lined with teeth like sharks, triangular and jagged. Kargon referred to these two creatures merely as Scouts. They were the true scouts, though they acted as Dobermans more than anything.

 

The Keeper motioned to the demon behind him, an informant for the other side. It scurried behind one of the huge demons as the small one perched on its shoulder released the leashes. The Scouts took off at a mad dash, checking the area for movement. The Keeper kicked the demon he rode. It lumbered forward, the other two just behind. If the Scouts sensed danger in any form, they were to report back to the Keeper.

 

Onward the group strode, until they were sure it was all-quiet.

 

“Go back and tell Master Kargon the plan is going accordingly. I don't think we'll meet with resistance, but if we do, we'll take care of everything.”

 

The informant nodded, bowed, and did as he was told, disappearing back into the blue-black, swirling vortex of a portal. With his exit, the group continued on through the frozen gloom.

 

They reached their target in five minutes, Myleen's hospital. The Scouts were waiting outside the doors as the gargantuan demons approached them. The Keeper signaled to them with his left arm; they nodded simultaneously; no danger lurked in the unmoving building. The Keeper nodded as well, urging his ride toward the hospital.

 

The demons were so large they wouldn't fit through the doors. They snorted and grunted, testing the frames, wondering if they could bend or break them enough to squeeze through. The Keeper laughed at their efforts, sliding down from his mount.

 

“Don't be so hasty, my puny minded creatures.” He approached the door, which he could easily pass through. “This dimension is not accustomed to our presence; it doesn't understand what a demon is. That means we, as beings who don't belong, can by-pass their physical laws.” The demons looked at him, stumped. The Scouts puzzled over his words as well, though they understood him more than the brutes behind them. The Keeper pressed his hand against the wall beside the door. “We can do things these humans cannot in their own realm, things humans in our own dimension cannot. We do not belong, and we do not follow their rules.” He pressed his palm into the wall harder, his hand materializing through the surface. “We are not constrained by their constraints; we are not trapped behind their walls…” His arm passed through the wall, his hand appearing on the other side, visible through the door. “We are free to roam this dimension in any way we please.” The demon walked through the wall, motioning for them to follow through the glass. And follow they did.

 

They roamed the halls, quickly finding Myleen's room. A group of doctors and nurses were crowded around the door. The foremost doctor, Dr. Galen, nearly had his hand on the door, ready to push it open. The Keeper motioned to the room. He grinned; he could finally fulfill his master's wishes and deliver to him the body of the sacrifice. He threw the door open, entering the room as his demon bodyguards followed him inside. He took the curtain separating the door from the patient in his hand and turned to them.

 

“Master Kargon will be most pleased to learn that we will return with the girl,” he announced to the others, jerking the curtain back, offering a hand to Myleen's bed. The demons stared at the bed, and then at the Keeper. The smallest demon looked at them confused at first, then angry. “Well! Retrieve her—” He gasped. The bed was empty. He looked around wildly. “Find her!” he demanded of the Scouts, “Find her and bring her to me!” The Scouts nodded, leaping onto the bed, sniffing at the sheets, retrieving the scent. They looked up suddenly, bounding out the door, hot on the trail. The Keeper scrambled onto the demon's shoulder. “After them!”

 

The Scouts led them out the hospital and down the street. As they ran, the Keeper kept a careful eye on his time-piece. They had twelve minutes before the portal closed and time restarted.

 

The trail ended in an empty room in an apartment building several blocks from the hospital. The Scouts sniffed at the floor. They grimaced. Something was wrong with this place. They investigated the chest in the corner. The foul scent that sent shivers up their spines was coming from the chest. The Keeper strode across the wooden floor, opening the chest. It was completely empty. He frowned and scoffed at the Scouts.

 

“You lost the trail, didn't you?”

`We lost nothing', the Scout standing closest to him hissed ethereally, sound floating bodiless in the air.

 

“Then where is she?!”

 

`She isn't here', offered the other.

 

The Keeper growled. “Then where?”

 

`We don't know', the second continued.

 

“Then you lost her!”

 

`The trail ends here. We cannot find something that isn't here.'

 

The Keeper knelt down before the chest, pounding his fist on the lid. “Find her.”

 

`We cannot find something that isn't here,' the Scouts repeated in chorus.

 

“Find her! I don't care how! I want you to find her now!”

 

The first Scout bore down upon the Keeper, his sharp claws grasping his vest, tearing into it and into his shoulders. `She does not reside in this dimension, you fool. She was taken.'

 

The Keeper narrowed his eyes before they glowed a menacing green. The Scout howled in pain, reeling back, falling against the opposite wall. The second Scout looked back in horror.

 

`Brother!'

 

“Do not dare attack me else you will meet with a most unpleasant fate,” he informed the pair. The large demons behind him laughed; they knew all too well the psychic abilities their sub-master had. “Now, tell me how you know this.”

 

The younger of the two Scouts, the uninjured one, tended to his brethren. Slowly, he looked back at the Keeper. `There's an odd scent here; it disturbs us. We've smelt it before, when we passed through the gate. Except, this smells different…'

 

The eldest Scout looked up, hell-fire burning in his eyes. `It isn't demonic, humans made it. Humans from our side came here. The stench of the Spirit World is about as well.'

 

The Keeper paused. He turned and mounted the demon again. “We don't have much time. We need to get back to the portal.”

 

~~~~~

 

Kurama sat on the porch, sipping tea with Genkai. The sun had just set and the fire that had burned so intensely in the west had faded to ash as blackness swallowed the sky. A sliver of a moon burned through the night, casting weak rays of light upon the ground, highlighting the treetops. The clouds in the sky made the stars hard to see and the moon was struggling to keep her foothold in the inky night. Kurama watched the tree line for motion; he hoped Hiei and Myleen would be back by now. Just as he was about to turn to Genkai and ask her what she thought of the matter, the bushes stirred.

 

The redhead rose from his cushion. Hiei's white starburst was visible in the moonlight, as were his eyes. Kurama sighed; that had to be them. He stepped off the porch and approached his teammate. He was a bit startled though when he noticed Myleen was absent.

 

“Where is she?” he asked, peering over Hiei's shoulder, staring intently at the tree line.

 

“She's coming…” the other grunted, pushing his way past him. Kurama couldn't help but notice that Hiei's right eye was beginning to swell and he was nursing his sword-hand.

 

“You didn't leave her, did you?”

 

“Leave and test are two different things.”

 

“Hiei, you didn't!”

 

“I'm testing her tracking skills. She found her way in; she will find her way out.” Hiei annunciated the last phrase carefully before approaching Genkai. “It's your turn tomorrow. If I train her for more than one day at a time, she won't survive it.” The old woman sipped her tea before responding.

 

“That task was assigned to you, Hiei. You exclusively.”

 

“And if I choose not to train her?”

 

“Ask Koenma.” She sipped at her tea again.

 

Hiei growled, disappearing into the gloom. Kurama looked back. “Why do you think he's so desperate to keep from training her?”

 

“Might have something to do with that shiner of his.” Genkai rose from her cushion. “Myleen will be fine, Kurama. You can come inside if you want.” She turned and slid one of the doors out of the way.

 

“I'll stay here,” he informed her. “I may be able to lead her here easier.”

 

“Alright, suit yourself.” She entered the building and shut the door behind her.

 

Kurama turned, closing his eyes. She wasn't as close as he had hoped. Her energy level was low, though still distinct. He could follow it and hopefully not lose it. He reopened his eyes and took off at a run. He ducked and swerved, dodging tree limbs and trunks. Branches reached out to him, snagging his clothing, but he didn't care. Leaves berated his face, but he brushed them off.

 

He neared her. Slowing to a jog, he pulled a small branch back. Myleen was kneeling on the ground, staring at the dirt under her. She looked up suddenly. Her face was covered in an undesirable mixture of dried blood, sweat, and dirt. The slash on her cheek was scabbing over and there were several little scratches on her brow and chin. Her bottom lip was split and still bleeding and she kept her left eye shut tight. Kurama knelt before the girl, holding her chin in his hand.

 

“Are you alright?” he asked, wiping at a trickle of blood that reached from the outside of her brow to her chin.

 

“No,” she whimpered. She paused, steadying her voice. “I'm done having this dream; I'm ready to go home now.”

 

“Myleen…” He couldn't bring himself to correct her again. He stood up and offered her a hand. She took it, slowly rising to her feet. “You can't go home… But I can take you to Genkai's, alright?”

 

Myleen nodded. “Ok…”

 

~~~~~

 

The Keeper reeled backward in fright, diving under the paper-laden table. Kargon's body was burning an intense golden light, streaks of black creating a cage around him.

 

“She what?!” he howled, his now-white eyes turning to the Keeper beneath his table.

 

“I'm sorry, Master!” he pleaded, pressing himself against the wall of the tent. He nearly fell through it. Kargon was suddenly under the table with him, grabbing the Keeper's vest, pulling him close, his energy gone.

 

“Explain to me how my best reconnaissance team could possibly have failed me!”

 

“I'm sorry, Master!” the Keeper repeated. His fear dripped down his brow. “She wasn't there!”

 

“Who took her?!”

 

“We're not sure, Master; the Scouts claim it was humans from our dimension, that the Spirit World might have something to do with it!”

 

Kargon shoved the Keeper backward, tumbling out of the tent, into the ashen dirt. He rose from the ground, straightening his robes as he peered down at the table's surface.

 

“Damn it, Koenma; I know you have something to do with this. You and your shoddy little Spirit Detectives…” He pushed a layer of papers aside, revealing a group of photographs taken by photographers around the Demon World; Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and of course, Hiei. “I suppose I will have to use a different approach…”