Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Retribution ❯ The Awakening ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer- YuYu Hakusho and its characters do not belong to me. They never have.

A/N - I hope there are more than just some people reading this story. But special thanks to Mistress of Hiei Spasms for reviewing. You're the only one who has so far, and I thank you profusely for it. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Later.

-

Retribution

Chapter 4

The Awakening

-

The night passed swiftly once Meleena and Hiei had returned from their impromptu trip to the river. Plans were made for the capture of Hogoki and Gaganzi, and three of the detectives took watch duty while the others tried to get some sleep. As for the other four girls that had come with Meleena, they were all sleeping on the mat of vines that Kurama had manipulated earlier that day, but Meleena really could not go to sleep. The majority of the night, she just sat in front of the fire, watching the burning embers and thinking of her now dead partner, Blaize. Unfortunately, every time she thought of Blaize, she also thought of Koenma and what he had done that had caused Blaize's death. And that made her anger begin to boil more and more. More than once, she had let her emotions go, and caused Hiei or Kurama, or even Jin or Touya, to turn their attention to her until she reigned her power back under control.

Right before dawn, she once again went to the river nearby, wanting to bath some of the grime off of her before having to go back to the slave camp. As soon as she stepped into the running water, she could feel the warmth the tattoo on her back was giving off. She quickly washed off what she could and got out of the water, going back towards the encampment.

When she finally got there, all the detectives were up and ready to go. Yusuke sent her to wake the four girls and she did so without complaint. It was going to be one hell of a day, and she knew it was likely that their simple plan of arrest was more than likely going to go to hell in a hand basket the second they tried to arrest Hogoki. Still, her unending desire to survive long enough to take of Koenma's head for Blaize's death kept her focused on making it out of this place alive.

The walk back to the slave camp was made in quiet silence. The group of spirit detectives had made their plans for taking down Hogoki and Gaganzi, and needed only to wait for the appropriate time to strike. After they had returned to the main dealer's tent within the center of the encampment, and tracked down Hogoki, they secured the purchase papers for each of the slave girls. The ugly demon looked like he was in heaven when Yusuke threw two more bags of coins on the table to seal the deal.

Once the deal had been finalized, Jin, Touya, and Kuwabara left with the other four women, heading for the outskirts of the camp in order to let them go. The three men would be meeting back up with Yusuke and the others in order to make the arrests. Meanwhile, Meleena had been sent to gather her few sparse belongings along with Kurama while Hiei and Yusuke remained with Hogoki.

As the ancient fox demon and water demoness headed towards the serving slave's quarters, Kurama took in the mounds and mounds of dead and decaying bodies that littered the outside of the make shift medical tents.

"They are dying in droves." Kurama commented. "What is the cause of this?"

"It has been like this for a while." she said as she led them into one of the shabbier tents. "Something is killing off the lower level demons, but none of the healers that Hogoki brought in knows what it is. They can't stop it."

"Is there a pattern of infection"? he asked, watching as a number of demons who he assumed were hooded healers, tried different techniques on the ailing patients. "Perhaps a common source of some sort?"

"Most of them seem to think it is from something in the water." Meleena snorted in obvious disgust as they finally came to a small curtained off area where three raggedy cots stood side by side. "But I think it came from a batch of slaves that Gaganzi pulled off the outskirts of the swamps near the Southern borders.

"Did they die like these?" Kurama asked as she gathered up a small set of daggers and a ragged traveling cloak, which she threw on her shoulders.

"Surprisingly no. They were all just fine." she commented dryly, strapping the blades to her leg. "It as about four days after they got here that people started getting sick, and it has been downhill ever since."

'It seems that the slaves she speaks of may have had a type of dormant disease that did not bother them, but makes others fatally ill.' Youko commented. 'It is not uncommon.'

'That seems plausible.' Kurama said to the spirit as he looked at the various people ambling around. 'Have you ever seen this before, Youko?'

'A century or so ago, this happened, or at least something similar to it.' Youko said, looking at one particular demon who was coughing up green phlegm until a healer in a black cape came forward and handed him a steaming hot cup of something. 'But it eventually went away. I don't remember what it was...'

'Youko? What's wrong?' Kurama asked, careening his attention to the same place the fox's was, only to catch a glimpse of a woman's black hair and light eyes before the cape's hood covered up her features. 'Youko? What is it?'

'Who is that?' the spirit asked. 'Who is that woman?'

'How should I know? I didn't even see her face.' Kurama said. 'Why?'

'Ask the girl who she is.' Youko demanded.

'What? Why?'

'Just do it.' Youko growled.

'Fine.' Kurama turned to Meleena and frowned, nodding towards the now retreating woman who had caught Youko's interest.

"Meleena, who is that woman over there? The one with the black hood on" The demoness turned and looked across the sea of sick people, easily spotting the only healer in the tent who wore a black cloak.

"She's one of the healers brought in to help try to heal the slaves." she said. "All I know is that her name is Mira, and that she was once employed by Koenma in the Spirit World, but he later banished her for poisoning some Demon World dignitaries that had killed a member of her family."

"And now she's taking care of sick people" Kurama asked skeptically.

"Yeah, well, she's the best of the bunch that's been brought in so far." the demoness said, shrugging. "She seems to have more luck keeping them alive than any of the others. Ready to go"

"Yes." Kurama said. "Let's."

'Youko?'

'It's not her.' the spirit said. 'I thought it was, but it's not.'

'Who?'

'An old friend of mine.'

'Are you sure it wasn't her?'

'Couldn't be. The woman I'm thinking of would not poison anyone she was taking care of, let alone be exiled to Makai for it.'

'Who was she? Do I know her?'

'I don't want to talk about it.'

'Youko?'

"I said I don't want to talk about it, Kurama. Drop it!'

'Very well then. Have it your way.' Kurama conceded. The spirit detective led the way back to Hogoki's tent, where Yusuke and Hiei were still with the ugly demon. The moment they walked in, they could tell something had went wrong.

'We've got problems.' Youko commented dryly.

'What has Yusuke done now?' Kurama asked the fox, only to receive no answer. 'What is the problem, Hiei?'

'Apparently one of those slaves that the idiots let go was working for this bastard, and told him about the plan.' Hiei said calmly. 'Telepathy.'

"What seems to be the problem?" Kurama asked, walking up to Yusuke as though nothing was the matter.

"Change of plans." Yusuke said, a glowing finger pointed at Hogoki, who was covering. "He's coming with us now."

"And Gaganzi?" Meleena queried, glaring at the slave trader who had imprisoned her when a sudden gale of wind rushed through the tent, causing things to go flying all over. Screams could be heard outside, along with Gaganzi's distinct voice shouting over the din.

"Sounds like they got'em." Yusuke sniggered. "Jin, Touya, and Kuwabara have him pinned up with some of their underlings."

"You bunch will never get out of here alive" Hogoki snarled. "There's too many of us who want your heads. You won't make it out."

"We're going to have to fight our way out, then." Yusuke shrugged nonchalantly. "We've done it before. Any objections, fellas?"

"Not at all." Hiei smirked, his hand on his katana's hilt.

"Meleena?"

"No complaints here, Detective." she shrugged.

"You can't do anything, you worthless wench" Hogoki cried. "Your powers are neutralized by those bands"

"Really? You think so?" Meleena asked. "Let's try that theory, shall we?"

"There's no way you...AAAHHH" Hogoki screamed, dropping to the ground in agony and thrashing on the floor. "STOP! MAKE IT STOP, YOU BITCH"

"What did you do to him?" Yusuke asked, lowering his glowing finger to his side as another gale swept through the tent and Jin's merry voice was heard taunting his attackers.

"I just jacked his body temperature a little." she said with a sordid grin. "My capabilities allow me to control all qualities of water, including the boiling point. It's quite painful when ever bit of water in our body is heated to about a hundred or so degrees...maybe a bit more."

"We're supposed to bring him in alive." Kurama pointed out calmly as the ground underneath them froze solid, no doubt some of Touya's doing.

"It won't kill him." she said innocently. "Not anytime soon anyways. He'll just wish he was dead every time his heart beats."

"I really don't think you should..."Kurama started, but was cut off.

"Look, we can argue about this later." she said. I do believe we have company, gentlemen. It would be rude to keep them waiting with only your three friends to entertain them, now wouldn't it" She reached down, palmed a set of the daggers and calmly walked out of the tent and into the fray that was going on outside. Jin's merry voice welcomed her into the fight, and the Detectives in the tent looked at each other with varying amounts of amusement when they heard her call back to him.

Yusuke took one look at the screaming demon writhing on the floor and shook his head.

"She's worse than you, Hiei." he laughed. "Remind me not to piss her off, will ya?"

"Hn." Hiei growls. "Let's get this over with."

The battle outside had disintegrated into a free for all. The spirit detectives and Meleena had somehow gotten split up as the fighting progressed. Like Hogoki has said, there were many a demon who were willing to die to get to who they considered traitors, and they were making their presence known.

With Hiei and Kurama fighting back to back, Jin and Touya picking them off from the air, and Kuwabara slashing through the masses with his spirit sword, Yusuke was left leveling the place with his spirit gun. But, despite the fact that there had been thousands of demons within and around Maze Castle, there were surprisingly few who had decided to retaliate against them.

Of course, had Yusuke taken the time to look, he would have notice that despite the large number of demons present, the majority of them had contracted the disease that was killing them in droves. There by making them easy targets. When another wave of angry demons presented themselves to him, all bearing some sort of makeshift weapon in their numerous hands, he turned his attention to the present. After all, it wouldn't due to get himself killed by a bunch of pissed off, low classed demons the day after his daughter's birthday. She was waiting for her present from her daddy.

-

Meleena managed to make it back to the healer's tents in record time after dismembering a number of demons who had tried to get in her way. Her main concern was for the healers who would be caught up in the fracas if they stayed around long enough. As she rounded a corner, she saw the black cloaked Mira trying to get a dozen or so demon children out of the way and beyond the campsite to safety.

"Mira?" she called. "What are you doing? Get out of here?" The demoness in question whirled around, a curved metal scythe in her hands held in front of her defensively.

"Meleena?" she asked, recognizing the slave immediately. "What in Kami's name is going on here?"

"Koenma's detectives have arrested the heads of the slave ring, and are currently trying to fight their way out." she said quickly. "I was coming to see if all the healers were out of the way."

"We're all out." the dark headed woman said, her silver-gray eyes trained on the running figures of the children she had let go. "I let out who I could."

"Good." she said, palming a dagger and throwing at an incoming demon that had decided to attack them. Unfortunately for the poor green creature, Mira let the scythe fly at the same time Meleena threw the dagger, effectively decapitating the demon before she pulled it back.

"Are you going back to spirit world with them?" Mira asked, knowing of the girl's connection to Spirit World and the ruling family.

"Yes. That little bastard has some things to answer for." Meleena growled, pulling the woman out of the way of a falling pole. The ground had started to shake, and Meleena had no doubt that Yusuke was trying to level the whole damn place.

"Do something before you leave?" Mira begged, running beside the demoness and towards the edge of the camp. "Destroy it all."

"Urameshi's working on it." Meleena said dryly as the ground underneath them shook violently. "Any particular way, or does it matter"

"Destroy it and set it aflame."

"What?" Meleena asked, shaking her head in confusion when they finally got clear. "Why"

"The virus that is killing them off will continue to spread unless it is destroyed here and now."

"But there is still healthy..."

"The healthy ones have already fled." she said sadly. "The only ones left are fighting. Burn the city to the ground if you want to stop it now."

"We don't have time for you to gossip, woman." Hiei's angered voice called out from behind them. Before Meleena could clarify who it was, Mira had already sent the scythe flying towards the little demon. Hiei just dodged and glared at the girl.

"He's okay, Mira." Meleena called. "He's one of Koenma's detectives." The woman just nodded and strapped the scythe to her side before turning back to Meleena.

"Burn it all to the ground." she said again. "Devil's fever cannot survive in flame."

"Get going and we'll take care of it." Meleena said. The dark headed woman nodded and pulled her hood back over her face as a set of leathery bat wings extended from beneath the cloak and pulled her up into the air. "Where's Yusuke?"

"They're waiting for you, woman." Hiei growled, grabbing his katana and turning. "Urameshi sent me to find you after you disappeared. So let's go." Meleena only nodded and turned back towards the encampment entrance where she could see Jin flying around and using his winds to knock more and more half-dead demons away from their team.

Not far ahead of them, another group of sixty or so demons had gathered near a small stream and headed straight for Meleena and Hiei. Before Hiei could even think about killing them all, Meleena harnessed her own demonic abilities and caused the water in the stream to rise up, gather, and rush over the murderous demons like a tsunami, washing them away...and more than likely drowning half of them.

By the time they got to where the head dealer's tents had once been standing, the fighting was over with, and the spirit detectives were taking inventory of their prisoners. They had managed to get both Hogoki and Gaganzi, along with the suppliers who had been hauling the human children into the camp to begin with. Meleena caught sight of Hogoki and grinned wickedly. He was still thrashing around in the utmost pain, and she had no intention of undoing what she had done. He'd deserved it for what he had done to her.

Unfortunately, Kurama intervened and asked her to stop her torture of him. Since she knew the kitsune's reputation as a hard-hearted demon, she just shrugged. When she walked over to the slave traders, they cowered in fear of her, backing away as far as they could. She used her foot to kick Hogoki over onto his back, and the demon grappled out blindly in pain.

"Make...it...stop..." he choked, his face a mix of red and purple. "I beg...of you...stop it..."

"I ought to kill you right here for what you've done, scumbag." she said, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. "But I think a few thousand years in the void ought to rectify what you've done. I'll make sure to tell Koenma just as soon as I'm done beating him to within an inch of his own immortal life."

"Please..." he pleaded, his voice harsh from screaming nonstop. He reached out to her for some sort of help. Meleena just balled her fist up and knocked the living hell out of the ugly demon, knocking him unconscious and lifting her manipulation of his blood in the same swing.

"Bastard." she hissed.

"Is everyone okay?" Yusuke asked, looking at his team.

"All present and accounted for, Urameshi." Touya said simply.

"Well, I think our job here is completed." Kurama said, using one of his plants to stop the blood flow from a wound in his stomach.

"Yeah, Urameshi." Kuwabara complained. "Get Botan here to get us out of this place, will ya? This place looks like a massacre."

"Mos' o'em were dead 'fore we ever got start'd." Jin said, his ears wiggling slightly as more flies landed on them.

"We need to get rid of the bodies." Meleena said simply, walking over to Yusuke.

"Why?" Yusuke asked, not seeing any point in getting rid of the mounds of dead bodies surrounding them.

"The virus that has been killing all of them needs to be gotten rid of." she said, trying to reason with the man in front of her. "It's the only way to stop the disease from spreading any further."

"The toddler didn't tell us to burn it." Yusuke said, scratching his head.

"I'll take care of Koenma." she said, her patience wearing thin. "Just do it." Yusuke shrugged and pulled out a communicator from his pocket, calling for Botan and Hinageshi to come and get them.

"You heard the lady, Hiei." he shrugged. "The last thing we need is some stupid virus making us sick. Koenma will have us trying to fight that next."

"So?" Hiei asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Burn it all."

-

Koenma settled back into his chair and looked at the assembled mix of demons and humans he called spirit detectives. Yusuke and Kuwabara were arguing about something while Kurama and Hiei regarded them with slight interest. The two ex-Shinobi members merely watched as Kuwabara grew increasingly frustrated with Yusuke before he finally threw his hands up in defeat and settled down into a chair.

"I'll make this brief." Koenma said importantly as he shuffled a stack of papers in front of him that contained the detective's reports from the search and rescue mission they had just come back from. He was in his adult form, seeing as how Yusuke seemed to take orders from him more easily when he was on a level playing ground instead of a toddler.

"What is it, toddler?" Yusuke demanded. "We already told you what happened. So why the hell are we still here?"

"I was merely going to congratulate you on a job well done, Yusuke." Koenma said plainly, glaring at the part demon boy. "Meleena was recovered and the slavery camp dismantled. You all done very well. Although burning it to the ground seemed a bit harsh, Hiei."

"The girl told us to do it." Hiei bit back. "Yusuke agreed, and I followed orders."

"Speakin' o the little lass, wher'd she get to?" Jin asked, zoning in on the prince of the Spirit World.

"Yes, I was wondering that myself." Kurama said. "Shouldn't she be here giving you her report as well?"

"Meleena is currently resting in the medical wing." Koenma said, brushing the question off easily enough. "She exhausted her powers after they had been dormant for so long, and is currently sleeping." The toddler ruler took a deep breath and settled back into his chair, about to dismiss the group of boys when the doors to his office burst open, allowing a very agitated looking Botan and a terrified Jorge to enter into the room.

"Koenma!" Botan said frantically. "We've got a problem. A MAJOR problem!"

"What is it now?" the demi-god asked.

"Meleena is on her way here to see you." Jorge quaked. "And she looked none to happy about what had happened."

"She shouldn't be here. She has no business being out of bed!" Koenma yelled, standing up from behind his desk.

"Just like a bastard like you has no business being on the throne to Spirit World." came an angry voice from the doorway. Everyone in the room turned to see Meleena, obviously in much better shape than Koenma had said, storm into the room and go up to Koenma, pushing Jorge out of the way in the process. She raised her hand and punched the spirit world ruler hard enough to send him flying across the room and land against the wall with a sick 'thud'.

She then crossed her arms and glared at the dizzy body of the demi-god, who had returned to toddler form upon hitting the wall. Botan rushed over and tried to help him up, her own anger quite apparent.

"You ungrateful witch!" Botan screamed. "How dare you lay a hand on Koenma? Do you have no respect?"

"He's fine, ferry girl. Quit your screeching." Meleena said, her voice devoid of any emotion. "With a head like his, it'll take more than a punch to hurt him. I'd be more concerned with the damage to the wall." Behind her, the spirit detectives were contemplating whether to try and restrain the girl, or just sit back and watch the show of Koenma getting chewed out by the very woman they had just rescued from the slave camp.

-

"Should we intervene?" Kurama asked, watching as the water demoness crossed her arms and waited for Koenma to get back up. "She seems quite angry."

"And miss seeing the little brat get thrown around by someone else" Yusuke asked, looking at his red headed friend. "Are you kidding me? I've been wanting to knock some sense into that asshole for a while."

"Wonder what's wrong with her?" Kuwabara asked stupidly. "She wasn't this mad during the fight earlier."

"I do believe it has something to do with Koenma sending in this Blaize person. And then said person getting killed." Touya said, watching the scene play out in front of him.

"Little lass 'as a kill'r right hook." Jin commented easily, leaning against the wall and smirking at Koenma's misfortune as Meleena decked him once again. "A'sides, we got no business in Koenma's affairs."

"He's right." Hiei commented. "Let him deal with her."

-

"Meleena, what is the meaning of this?" Koenma asked.

"What were you thinking, you stupid bastard?" she yelled. "How could you send Blaize into that place, knowing she was not better than some weak human?"

"I would watch my mouth if I were you." Koenma barked, getting to his feet. "You of all people know I'm no toddler."

"Then take that pacifier out of your mouth so I don't feel so bad about knocking the piss out of you for being so damned stupid!" she challenged, curling her fist up into a ball as though she was about to deck him again.

"How dare you, you silly girl?" Botan asked, eyeing the demoness crucially. "Who do you think you are, accosting Lord Koenma like this?"

"Who are you to be questioning me?" Meleena asked, her attention temporarily trained on the ferry girl at Koenma's side.

"Botan, pilot of the river Styx." she said firmly. "And Lord Koenma's future bride." Meleena's face hardened even more and she swung around to Koenma once again.

"Future bride?" she asked, her temper rising even more. "Future bride? You bastard, is this the woman you're placing in Blaize's rightful spot?"

-

"What?" Yusuke asked, completely confused. "What's Blaize got to do with this? I thought she was dead"

"Botan's taking her rightful spot?" Kurama asked. "She doesn't mean that this Blaize woman was once Koenma's lover, does she?"

"More than likely." Touya commented.

"But why's she so angry about it?" Kuwabara asked, scratching his head.

"She's probably family to Blaize." Kurama said. "A sister, or perhaps cousin."

"Well, that shines a 'ole new light on the subjec', now don' it?" Jin said, shrugging.

-

"Do you plan on stripping her of her abilities and forcing her to live in the human world when you've had your fun with her? Just like you did to Blaize?" Meleena growled, totally ignoring Yusuke for the moment.

"Blaize is dead." Koenma said icily.

"No thanks to you." the woman said, glaring at the toddler as he turning into his adult form once again to better deal with the enraged demoness in front of him. "You sent her in there, knowing damn good and well that she was in no shape to go on a mission."

"She knew the consequences before she accepted." Koenma said, placing his hand around Botan's waist and pulling her close to his side, which only made Meleena more angry. "She knew what she was going to face."

"She was stripped of all her demonic abilities, you bastard! And by you no less." Meleena yelled, walking up to him and pinning him with a death glare. "She was dying, and you still sent her in there! I was doing fine by myself, and you decided to send in someone you knew I would have to look after! She was no batter than a human when she got there! You knew she was going to die in that camp, right in front of my eyes, and you sent her anyway! Just so that she would be out of the way and not question your union with another female! You selfish bastard, you probably was hoping I'd have been killed as well!"

-

"Okay." Yusuke said, slightly surprised at the accusations the demoness was presenting to his boss. "I suppose it is safe to say Blaize is an old girlfriend."

"And I do believe it is safe to say that she is ready to take his head off." Touya commented easily.

-

"Now wait just a minute!" Koenma yelled, his temper finally peeking through. "You have no right..."

"Oh, but I do." she stated firmly, her own voice eerily calm suddenly, her eyes flashing angrily white at the demi-god in front of her. "Do you forget who I am? The mark I carry?" Koenma backed down immediately, a flush covering his face.

-

"Mark"? Kurama asked. "What mark?"

'The tattoo on her back.' Youko pointed out.

'She said it was a mark given to only the family of the ruling spirit world, or someone who had proven to be loyal to them.' Hiei added.

'But what would that have to do with this?' Kurama asked.

'No clue.' Youko said, grinning as Koenma paled to almost white. 'But it is fun watching him get torn apart by the girl, isn't it?'

-

"No, I do not." Koenma said, stepping back. "I know all too well." Meleena stepped forward one last time, balling her fists up and knocking the man to the ground one last time.

"Her blood is on your hands." she said, her voice eerily quiet as her spirit energy spiked again and again. "And yours will be on mine if I ever see you again."

"That's enough!" Botan said angrily. "No one threatens Koenma! Get her, Yusuke! Don't let her leave this office!"

"If you want to keep all of your limbs intact, Detectives, I suggest you ignore the ferry girl and keep your hands to yourself." Meleena said, looking at the half dozen men standing behind her. Yusuke actually did not even more to apprehend the angry girl, so Botan looked to the others in the room, searching for someone who would help her.

"Leave her alone, Botan." Koenma said dejectedly, getting up from the floor once again.

"But, Koenma..." Botan said, shaking her head. "This is treason against the royal family of Spirit World. This girl is asking to be killed."

"Oh, that's a laugh, ferry girl. Yeah, go ahead. Kill me if you want." Meleena shrugged. "It's your ass on the line when I see King Enma. I'm sure he'll be most interested when he finds out that I was killed on your orders, considering the circumstances." Koenma actually blanched white and sat back down in his chair.

"What do you want from me, Meleena?" he asked, looking at the woman.

"I don't want to see you again." she said simply. "I don't ever want to hear or speak with you again. You can find yourself a new investigator. Because I don't ever want to see you again" She turned around and began to walk towards the door, only to stop and look back over her shoulder at him, smirking evilly. "After what you've done, you'll be lucky if you're granted your union to Botan."

"You wouldn't." Koenma said, glaring at her.

"I wouldn't" she asked rhetorically. "You should have thought about that before sending Blaize in on a suicide mission. Or you never should have gotten me out of that camp." She turned forward and walked out of the office, leaving a very pissed prince, a shaken ferry girl, a cowering ogre, and one group of overly confused spirit detectives.

-

A/N - Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.

Remember to review. I want to know what you are thinking about this story.

Later,

A.A.