Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Power In Many Forms ❯ Reaching Out is the First Step ( Chapter 10 )

Power in Many Forms

Word Count: 3681 (not counting the Disclaimer and Notes)

 

Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho, Inuyasha, Harry Potter, and Anita Blake are not mine; they belong to their respective creators. I hold no claim on them; just minor original characters.

 

Author's Notes: Getting it out later than I mean too. I blame the kittens…and the 4th, and my birthday…and a good friend of mine coming home from basic training and mp school. Heh, that's a lot of excuses. :slinks away:

 

 

XXX

 

 

Two sets of eyes; one honey and the other a dull green, stared at the cheerful two story residence with a flickering and nervous gaze. A third set; a deep emerald, sparkled in amusement and exasperation. Neville and Koenma had been twitchy all morning and while it had been entertaining at first Kurama didn't know what to make of it.

 

“Maybe I should do this some other time? I mean your mother is expecting to meet Neville today, not me.” Koenma cast a hopeful glance at his lover.

 

Kurama smirked at him. “Actually she's expecting both of you, and I'm under strict orders to bring you both to meet her. Now stop trying to weasel out of meeting my mother.”

 

Neville tried to cover his laugh by coughing into his hand, which earned him a weak glare from Koenma.

 

“Well, come on. Why are the two of you just standing there?” Kurama put a hand at each of their backs and began to push them toward the house, their feet dragging on the sidewalk the entire way. “I don't understand. I expected Neville to be a little nervous, even with the amulet. By the way, how is it working?”

 

Neville fingered the amulet Botan had given him that bypassed the language barrier. “Fine.” It was strange being able to suddenly speak and understand an entirely different language.

 

Kurama nodded and continued to push them toward the front door. “Koenma, you have been alive for several millennia, the passage of time means almost nothing compared to how long you will live. You are a demi-god, an immortal, what are you so nervous about?” By this time they had reached the front door and Kurama slid his arm between them to ring the bell. Koenma looked over his shoulder at his lover and gave him big watery eyes.

 

“Have you seen the way my Dad cowers when Botan has a weapon in her hands?”

 

Kurama snorted lightly and rolled his eyes. “My Mother doesn't have a collection of weapons like Botan does. She doesn't bite Koenma.”

 

“You're sure?” Neville whispered, and it carried a nervous edge.

 

“Perfectly.” Kurama put a hand on the boy's shoulder. “She'll love you.” He glanced pointedly at Koenma. “She'll love both of you.”

 

The door opened then and a woman of average height and dark hair stood in the threshold. “Shuichi!” Her exclamation was soft, but no less excited as she moved between Koenma and Neville to hug her son.

 

“Good day Mother.” He smiled as he embraced the slender woman. “How are you?”

 

“Wonderful. I've been cooking lunch for the three of you.” She stepped back and motioned them inside, closing the door behind them. “Now, let me look at the both of you.”

 

Kurama smiled as both his lover and great-grandchild fidgeted under her assessing gaze. She winked at him.

 

“Mother I'd like you to meet Longbottom Neville, my great-grandson.” Neville smiled nervously. “And my lover; Prince Koenma.” Koenma gulped and bowed respectfully. When he straightened Shiori enveloped him in a hug, much to the immortal's surprise.

 

“You should have come to meet me sooner Koenma-san. I like to keep track of the company my son keeps.” She scolded him gently before releasing him. Her smile was kind and Koenma chuckled.

 

Shiori turned to Neville who looked miserable, like he'd rather be anywhere else. Hurriedly she hugged him as well, tightly, and patted him on the back. “Welcome to the family Neville-chan, and welcome to my home. I wasn't expecting a grandchild so soon, but I'm so happy to meet you.” Neville blushed, but returned the hug.

 

The Kimono she wore was plain but soft, and her perfume was a gentle one, feminine and flowery and Neville wondered if this was what a mother's embrace was like. He glanced at Kurama, eyes burning a little from holding back tears as he held onto Shiori for dear life. She pulled back first and looked at him, confusion in her dark eyes.

 

“It's wonderful to meet you Minamino-san. Kurama is very lucky to have you for a mother.”

 

She smiled at him. “Please call me Shiori.” Her eyes flashed with mirth. “Or you can call me Baa-chan.”

 

XXX

 

Kagome smiled sadly at her son as he skipped ahead of her down the hall toward the Longbottom's sweet. She hated to ruin her kit's good mood, but he needed to know how to behave around Ginta's daughter and her husband.

 

“Shippo.” The kitsune stopped and looked back at her smiling, but when he saw her worried eyes he tilted his head to the side.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Come here.” He did and Kagome kneeled down to his level, glad she'd worn jeans because the floor was rather chilly.

 

“Mama?”

 

“You need to be on your best behavior while we're in the room, alright?”

 

“Of course…but why?”

 

Kagome bit her lip. They'd both seen some horrible things in their travels during the Feudal Era, and she'd tried to shield him when she could. But to be prepared for the next half hour or so she needed to be straight with him. “Neville's parents have been in a hospital nearly all of his life. They are injured so badly that they cannot take care of themselves, much less Neville.”

 

Shippo's eyes widened. “How did it happen? Neville didn't talk about his parents much the other night.”

 

“They were tortured, Shippo, with the worst pain imaginable through magic. Koenma said it was one of three curses that are forbidden among the Wizards. They were driven insane, and their minds are broken.” She looked into his green eyes, her own very serious and sad. “They're not the way they're supposed to be.”

 

Shippo shivered and Kagome hugged him before standing again. He reached for her hand, gripping it tightly; as if he were a few years younger and together they walked the rest of the way to the door. “If Alice hands you a gum wrapper make sure you thank her.” He nodded warily and Kagome opened the door.

 

They stepped inside to find Ginta in a chair with Alice in his lap, his eyes distant as he hummed a lullaby. His clawed hand stroked her white hair in gentle motions. Alice looked younger; her eyes were closed in a restful sleep while her father held her.

 

Shippo moved away from Kagome to stand beside the chair Frank sat in. The Wizard's eyes were half open staring at nothing, and completely empty. Slowly Shippo touched Frank's arm, trying to get a sense of the human's aura, but he shuddered at the lack of response and the empty gaze.

 

Kagome took a chair opposite from Ginta and waited for him to finish. Shippo, glad to be away from the eerily empty Frank hurried to sit at her feet, snuggling against her legs.

 

They waited for a while until Ginta finally stopped humming. In the quiet that followed, Ginta slowly came back to himself, blinking his eyes until they focused on Kagome, then Shippo. He smiled at them, though it was a small one.

 

“How are you Ginta?” Kagome asked softly.

 

“As well as can be expected…I'll make it. You know…after she was born we had already given her a name.” He continued to stroke Alice's hair.

 

“What was it?” Shippo all but whispered.

 

“Kaitei; Sirius-san said she was a very brave woman. One who enforced laws; I wish things were different.”

 

“We all do Ginta.” Kagome murmured.

 

“So, what brings you two here? It's not the most sought after place in Reikai.”

 

Kagome bit her lip, a flicker of doubt tried to worm it's way into her mind, but she gave it a mental kick and met Ginta's eyes. “I wanted to talk to you about Neville.” He stared at her for a moment before nodding.

 

“I'll always trust your judgment ne-san.” He said it with such solemnity that Kagome had trouble keeping her voice steady.

 

“I think that Neville should see where he comes from, all of it. Kurama and Koronue can tell him a lot; show him all kinds of things. But part of him is a pack animal.” She kept up the eye contact. “I want to introduce him to Kouga and the Tribe, if they're willing.”

 

Ginta looked thoughtful for a moment. “That…that would be good; having a pack is a huge deal for a wolf. Loners are some of the loneliest creatures.” He shuddered. “All that time chasing after Naraku was horrible, our tribe slaughtered till only the three of us were left. But the tribe is large again, or it was when I left.”

 

“I was never sure what had happened after I left.” Kagome whispered. “I just…the jewel was whole again and all I knew was that I couldn't bear to leave Shippo behind. The next thing I knew I was home, Shippo in my arms, and the well wouldn't open for me anymore.”

 

“We wandered for a while and met up with a couple of smaller packs that had lost their leaders due to Naraku's killing sprees. A few decades later Ayame had tracked us down and it was like Kouga was seeing her for the first time.” He shrugged. “I guess she'd finally grown up enough for him to take notice. It helped that you were gone, he'd had time to mourn your loss.”

 

Kagome sighed. “Maybe someone else should be the one to go talk to the tribe then, to see if they want to meet Neville.”

 

“No.” Ginta's eyes became steely and resolved. “It needs to be you One-sama. We didn't just lose an ally when the jewel took you away; we lost one of our own. We lost kin that day and we mourned you, it wasn't just Kouga; Hakaku and I missed you too.” Kagome's eyes watered. “They would be glad to see you, the both of you are tribe, are pack. You need to let them know you're okay.”

 

Kagome reached forward and took Ginta's hand in hers. “Okay. I'll be the one to talk to them…that is if you think I should tell them about Neville.”

 

“Absolutely,” He grinned at her and it was proud. “It was a good idea, thinking that he'd need to know about his pack.” A glance at the quiet Shippo made him rephrase. “Our pack; our tribe; our family.”

 

Shippo smiled then. “We'll do our best Ginta.”

 

“Good. Kouga and Ayame will be glad to see you both. They'll be happy that you're both safe and alive. Hakaku too.” Alice shuddered in Ginta's embrace then, a small whimper escaping her dry lips. “Would you…will you tell them that I'm okay? That I've been reunited with my daughter, though not under the best of circumstances.”

 

Kagome nodded, her eyes tearing up again. “We can do that Ginta. We can definitely do that.”

 

xxx

 

She had cloaked herself well, using a sort of glamour to hide her presence. The last thing she needed was to make herself known to the human she watched. Gil had mentioned that under great stress, the woman called Anita could get rather trigger happy. And while bullets wouldn't cause any lasting damage, they would still hurt her, getting shot was not a good idea.

 

So far the day had been rather boring, she'd followed Anita from her home to the building where she sat in an office and talked to people wearing expensive clothes. That had been extremely boring and she'd almost lost interest, not really understanding why Gil said that this one woman, this single human was so important to the city's inner workings among the preternatural community.

 

Whatever it was that made the tiny human so special and respected had yet to be revealed, as it was not evident by sight alone. All day she had followed, keeping out of sight and nothing had seemed unusual. Except…except she could tell that the human could sense her. Her cloaking was perfect, her youki hidden; there should have been no way for Anita to know she was being watched. But even from a distance a stranger could tell that the dark haired woman had grown more agitated as the day went on. She could tell that someone was watching her. And it amazed her to no end.

 

But still, it was boring, and only a temporary watch. She was only keeping an eye on the woman for her young lover; Gil was convinced that due to her involvement with the attacks that the mad fox would focus on her. The idea had merit, but when the enemy was insane it was hard to guess their next move. And Anita had put herself in the middle of it, going so far as to wound Mason with silver bullets.

 

So here she was, sitting just outside a cemetery at night, watching the woman talk to more humans in expensive clothing. She felt a shiver of excitement flow through her and couldn't place where it had come from. Something was about to happen there among the graves. Her golden eyes narrowed as they watched Anita walk in a circle around three rather fresh looking graves, the ground covered in the flowers of mourners.

 

Oh…her young fox hadn't mentioned that Anita was a Necromancer. She could feel it now, the cold chill of death magic emitted from both the woman and the circle she had walked, and it was strong, terrifyingly strong. Even demons were wary of this kind of magic, but something was different. Everyone heard stories in some form or another how death magic went wrong. What Anita did was controlled, nonthreatening, routine even.

 

The zombies were raised, given time to answer questions and then laid to rest once more. It was anticlimactic at best and she wondered why some of the well dressed humans looked frightened. Well controlled zombies were nothing compared to other things.

 

She snorted and made to leave, keeping her veil in place, not wanting to give her position away, lest the Necromancer started shooting. When she moved a familiar scent tickled her nose, one she had smelled more than once on her lover. Mason was here and he had somehow escaped her notice until then.

 

xxx

 

The spot between my shoulder blades itched, and had been all day, I don't know how, but someone had been watching me…all damn day. It made me edgy and I don't always think straight when I'm edgy. It hadn't even been a hectic day. A couple of hours at the office, a meeting with a potential client, a few errands and three zombies to raise. Not a bad day. Though the zombies had been a little tragic.

 

Randal Birch had been a healthy man in his late forties when he'd died in a freak accident with his son and daughter-in-law. There were no wills so the family had come to Animators Inc. to get things straightened out. Randal, Darren and Cindy had answered the questions with no trouble. And the now widowed Mrs. Birch got to say goodbye to her family. That was one thing about this job I appreciated. Sometimes I was able to provide some closure, help the families of the deceased move on. It was the only nice thing about it…zombies still tended to freak the general populous.

 

But that was beside the point, something had been watching me all day and I was sick of it. I was in the middle of shoving my machete back into my zombie kit when I felt the prickle of lycanthropic energy closing in on me fast. I managed to grab my gun and pull it out, and was in the process of aiming at the oncoming pony-sized red fox when a blur of silver and black tackled the shifter in mid leap. I blinked and got to my feet moving swiftly after the snarling ball of flashing teeth and claws, I kept my browning aimed at the center.

 

They rolled among the graves, crashing into tombstones with abandon before the red fox managed to get a lucky swipe in when the silver figure banged her head against a marble statue. And then he ran; I got a shot in before he disappeared back into the woods. It had been Mason. I'd recognized the form.

 

A moan grabbed my attention and I aimed at the…well I wasn't sure what she was. She had silver hair, silver fox ears on top of her head and black bat wings. Loose fitting black pants and a long sleeved white shirt seemed to flow around her even though she was lying on the ground where no breeze stirred.

 

“The hell?”

 

Narrow eyes opened and an eerily gold gaze took in me and my gun a little warily. It took her a second to focus but she managed to. And she gave me a small smile and ever so slowly started scooting away from me.

 

“Hold it.” She froze. “What the hell was that all about?”

 

I hadn't been expecting her to answer me. “I prevented the mad fox Mason from mauling you.” She said it a little slow; as if I were a simpleton…and it pissed me off.

 

“Not that, you've been watching me all day.”

 

She blinked. “I was asked to watch you.” I started to say something but she held up a clawed hand for me to wait. “I did it as a favor to Gil.” We stared at each other for a while. “Are you going to shoot me?”

 

I sighed and lowered my gun, allowing my body to relax. “No.”

 

“Am I allowed to leave?” I raised a brow at her. “Gil said that you keep the human laws.”

 

“If…if Gil trusts you that's enough for me…for now anyway.” She nodded at me and got to her feet, more graceful than my scramble before. “You should know…” She paused and gave me a steady gaze. “Gil is going to try to go after Mason.”

 

Her gold eyes looked sad, haunted. “That is why I must kill the mad fox first. I care greatly for my Akai-chan. I wish no pain upon him.” She bowed to me and took off in the direction Mason had gone, her silver fox tail waving behind her.

 

I shook my head as I flipped the safety back on and holstered the browning. Gil was running with a pretty strange crowd these days.

 

xxx

 

Harry had been tossing and turning restlessly for over an hour, sleep was doing a good job of avoiding him. The past couple of nights had been the same, every night he would lie awake wondering about Neville and what recent events meant, if anything.

 

Questions swirled around his head: How did Neville's instant relative know the Grim Reaper? Was she really the Grim Reaper? What did Neville mean when he said Kurama's lover was well connected? These and more plagued him and kept sleep from him, though the Dursleys seem unperturbed as they snored away down the hall. He thought vaguely evil thoughts at them and he turned yet again, trying to get comfortable, when he heard a tapping on his window.

 

He opened his eyes and saw a red blur outside his window. “Ron?” He reached for his glasses and slipped them on. The red blur turned into a young woman with red hair, who hovered on an oar, much like Botan had. “Definitely not Ron.” He motioned her to come in and she floated through the window, he shivered a little, that ghostlike ability was creepy. Belatedly he remembered his manners.

 

“Hello. I'm Harry…Can I help you?” He asked her, not at all sure what she might say.

 

“I have a letter for you from Neville-san.” She pulled an envelope out of a messenger bag hanging across her chest.

 

“Are you a courier of some sort? Botan delivered the last letter.”

 

She gave him an odd look. “Botan is my superior; she asked that I bring this here.”

 

“And who are you exactly?”

 

“My name is Ayame, I am one of the Spirit Realm's guides.” At his blank look she rolled her eyes. “I'm basically a few steps down the pole from Botan. I'm one of the reapers she is in charge of. Botan is head Guide.”

 

“Oh…um…how exactly does Neville's relative know the head…reaper.” Harry winced at her stern look. “Guess I shouldn't have asked that.

 

“If Neville and Kurama-san choose to share such information that will be up to them; I am not a gossip.” Her eyes grew kinder and she handed him the letter. “I have a few errands to run, but I will be back in a few hours to collect your response if it's ready.”

 

“Thank you. It will be.” She nodded at him and flew back through the glass of the window. “That is still creepy.”

 

Eagerly Harry finished crawling of bed and made his way to the desk where there was a small lamp. He switched it on and hurriedly opened the letter from his friend, who in ways was becoming closer than Ron or Hermione could ever hope to be.

 

<i>Harry,

 

Sorry about Botan, I'll ask her not to do that so much. She's just a very spontaneous woman. Her lovers seem well adapted to her antics though. Better them than me; I wouldn't know what to do with someone who is constantly on a sugar high.

I'm going to be fairly busy the next few days; Kurama's taking me to meet his mother Shiori. It might get really interesting, because Koenma (Kurama's lover) is going to meet her for the first time as well.

Is Hedwig alright? Botan said she ran into some trouble. There's a wicked barrier around this place and owls can't get through. So that's why Botan delivered my last letter.

Kurama seems to be okay with our Holiday together; but nothing solid yet. I'll write you again once I get a few things cleared up. He wants to meet you, I hope that's alright.

I'll close for now; don't let the Dursley's give you too much trouble.

 

Neville</i>

 

 

XXX