Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Rock My World ❯ Colder Than Ice ( Chapter 9 )

Dc- chan: I ish wearing my Santa Claus hat.

MCT: *ish wearing a Santa too* HOLIDAYS!!!

*~*~*~*~*

Kurama shook his head when he received Kira’s invite to a Christmas ‘Partay’ at her house. She had used the picture she had taken of a displeased Hiei whom she had mercilessly shoved into an elf costume a few days ago. There was no doubt about it that Kuwabara was probably laughing his head off at this very minute just by glancing at it.

-

“Are you going to go?” His mother asked wonderingly, “It was nice of her to invite you and I’m so happy that you two are getting to be friends now.” She smiled sweetly at him.

-

Kurama shrugged, “I suppose.” It wasn’t like anything bad could happen out of a Christmas ‘Partay’, anything was better then her annoying the hell out of him.

~*~

“Can you make her stop screeching like that?” Yusuke asked Kurama while covering his ears.

-

Kurama looked over to Kira who was singing incredibly off key to a Christmas carol and incredibly loud. It was obvious that she was enjoying herself as Kuwabara joined in with her causing the listeners more pain. They both bleated the song like a pair of banshees, Kira with a Santa hat (A/N: ^^) plopped on her head and wearing the matching attire of candy cane stripped stockings, red mini skirt, a white long sleeved turtle neck shirt and red and white converse. All in all, it was quite a sight.

-

“C’mon Yusuke,” Kira said in-between verses, “you’ll have more fun if you join in.” She began singing again once the song started up again causing Yusuke and Kurama cringe inwardly.

-

“It could be a lot worse,” Kurama noted lightly.

-

Yusuke seemed to nod, “Yeah, Keiko could’ve been here…” Not that he dreaded her or anything, it was nice to get a break once and a while from her nagging. And part of him doubted that she would have liked it here much anyway. She was probably studying at the moment.

-

Just then, Botan come in looking quite flushed with pink cheeks from the cold outside, “Kira, I need to talk with you.”

-

It didn’t appear that Kira had heard her for the teenage girl was still singing the chorus with Kuwabara, both in a merry mood and having an arm over each others shoulder completely enjoying the festive season.

-

Botan had to literally drag Kira away, “We need to talk!”

-

“Nani?” Kira blinked, “The song was just getting really good and my solo was coming up!” She cried like a little child as the ferry girl pulled her away from the festivities.

-

“You’ll live,” Botan sighed deeply taking Kira out into the hallway. “This is important.”

-

Kira maneuvered out of Botan’s grasp, “What is so important, then?”

-

Botan leaned in and whispered, “It’s about…Kokuei.” She trembled as she spoke.

-

Kira narrowed her eyes at the name, “What about him?”

-

“Koenma-sama doesn’t want you to get mixed up with him,” Botan explained hastily, “Koenma-sama was monitoring the last mission and saw you two interacting with one another.”

-

-

The teenage girl arched an eyebrow as if to say ‘What the fuck?’, but instead she said, “Excuse me, but he saved my life. I didn’t mingle with him out of my own free will.” A bit of rage flared in her as she frowned at the ferry girl in a sour manner.

-

Botan cast her usually sparkly eyes downward bashfully, “He just wants you to be careful, Kira, these are dangerous things. You have to be cautious.” She laced her fingers together and sighed.

-

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kira mumbled returning to the ‘partay’ in the other room as Botan stared after her with a worried expression.

-

“What was that about?” Kuwabara inquired when she returned and slung his arm over her shoulders once again.

-

She blew a strand of hair out of her face, “Just that I need to be careful or something…” If Botan had picked a different time to talk to her about Kokuei she wouldn’t have reacted like this, she knew that. It was juts bothersome that people thought she had no common sense when in fact she assumed she had more then most. That dream-nightmare- had already made her wary of Kokuei, but nonetheless she felt a strong attachment to him for some reason. The guy had saved her from a certain painful death after all. In a way she resented him for that, she hated feeling indebted to someone in anyway.

-

“You should listen,” he said taking up the same tone that Botan had, “she wasn’t wrong.”

Kira lowered her head, “I know.” She looked over to Kurama who’s blazing emerald eyes felt like they were piercing through her very being, she glared in return at him before returning her attention to Kuwabara, “But…it was specifically about Kokuei. She told me that Koenma wanted me to be careful concerning him.”

-

Kuwabara cocked his head to one side, “Kokuei?”

-

“That guy I met at the club a while back, remember him?” She paused then mumbled, “Seems he has an affinity for me.”

-

Kuwabara shrugged indifferently, “He definitely gave off a weird vibe…” He hadn’t really thought about the guy to be honest since that night at the club, he assumed that this Kokuei probably had an acute sixth sense or something like he did.

-

Kira bit the nail on her thumb, “Well, he is a youkai.” But what kind? Just thinking about all these complications gave her a slight headache.

-

“Just don’t worry about it,” he reassured her, “we’re here to have fun, aren’t we?”

-

Kira felt a smile pull at her lips and nodded, “Hai.”

-

“Besides, it’s no fun singing carols without you. ”

-

Kira laughed at this, “Yeah, I guess. They must miss my off key singing, let’s go back and give them hell.”

-

“I doubt that, but why not?”

~*~

Kira wasn’t in the mood for school and it occurred to her that she hadn’t attended even one day of it since her first, which was hardly considered a full day, probably a small fraction. Her mother hadn’t seemed concerned to much about it which made her wonder why, her mother most likely suspected that Kira had gone back to her old ways of being a kind of delinquent and she wasn’t completely wrong. Kira got into a scrap or two on the streets, but she always managed to veer away from the cops.

-

The holidays had seemed way too short though and she was now starting to hunt for the other Sage Youkai which proved to be difficult for her for she hadn’t completed her training at Genkai’s.

-

“Why aren’t you going back to finish?” Kurama asked while they were scouting the city.

-

Kira honestly didn’t know herself, maybe it was because she felt unusually vulnerable there, “It’s a little late isn’t it though, we only have about three and half months left and at the rate things are going at…this will take awhile.”

-

“It would be easier if someone had learned how to sense them,” he muttered as they made there way down the snow covered street towards where they were supposed to rendezvous with the others.

-

She punched him softly on his shoulder, “Then get another pyschic if you want.” She knew they couldn’t get another though, even if Genkai had trained one of them or someone else they wouldn’t be able to sense these specific youkai like she could which was all the more to gloat about the ability. And gloat she did.

-

He stared hard at her, “You know we can’t.”

-

“Besides, I don’t even know what their presence feels like so we could have missed them for all I know,” she said then knowing that was the wrong thing to say.

-

He glared at her from the corners of his eyes, but said nothing in response.

-

“Don’t fret over it,” she coaxed in a soothing voice, “I’m sure their youki will probably feel a lot like Hosaki’s speaking of which, how is she?” Not that she actually cared though, she just wanted to change the subject.

-

“She’s fine, but she’s staying in Reikai now,” he replied solemnly.

-

Kira was secretly glad that the youkai hadn’t woken up, but she didn’t share that out loud, “So, how was your Christmas?”

-

“Quit changing the subject Kira,” Kurama said firmly.

-

Kira pouted at that and gave him a cold look, “Don’t you catch on quickly?” She grumbled quietly folding her arms across her chest.

-

Just then a sharp feeling shot inside of her making her pause midst ride like a lightning bolt had shot through her body. She immediately jerked in the direction which she felt it came and grabbed Kurama’s wrist before sprinting towards it in the opposite direction they were going. He reluctantly followed her though her grip on him felt like it was chafing his wrist. She led him through the busy streets, never wavering from where she was going.

-

After what seemed like an hour of sheer sprinting she stopped in the downtown area where the buildings were rundown and bums resided.

-

“Why are we down here?” Kurama questioned once she let go of him.

-

“One of them is here somewhere,” she answered hardly audible. She scanned their surroundings quickly wondering how she herself knew, it was like a gut feeling that shook her entire body. “There,” she grabbed him again, but this time by his jacket as she dashed over to an alleyway where four men were standing over a fallen figure who was crying, it sounded like a girl. She pushed Kurama forward, “That’s the youkai on the ground.”

-

“How do you know?”

-

“I just do,” she replied sharply in a hiss.

-

One of the men grabbed the fallen girl who was covered in a dark navy cloak, “Now do you want to be cooperative, sweetheart?”

-

Trusting what Kira said, Kurama stepped forward, “It would be wise to let that girl go.”

-

He dropped the girl who fell onto the ground and gave out a loud sob, “What do you want?” His three friends turned their attention away from the girl to Kurama and Kira. The slowly encircled them grinning maliciously.

-

Kira smirked smugly and punched her fist into the palm of her hand, “Good, I need to relieve some stress.”

-

Kurama rolled his eyes, “What stress are you under?”

-

They stood back to back sizing the four men up and before any of the men could react Kira kicked one of them in the stomach and Kurama punched one of them in the face and with a sickening sound, broke his nose. Blood covered Kurama’s fist as he then grabbed another man by the jacket collar and kneed him in a certain area where it really hurt as Kira unleashed a furious combo of punches and kicks on the fourth. All in all, at the end of the brawl the four men were sprawled on the ground in a bloody heap unconscious from the brutal beating.

-

Kira went over to the crying girl on the ground, “Are you okay?” She asked gently.

-

The girl sat up and removed her hood to reveal saddened glittering blue eyes and astonishing turquoise bangs that jetted out and short straight icy blue hair that barely touched her shoulders. She bit her trembling lip as a tear fell down her cheek, “H-hai…but you shouldn’t have troubled yourself with this.” Her voice was sorrowful and gentle, Kira had to actually reconsider the fact that this girl who looked about her own age was a youkai.

-

“It wasn’t any trouble,” Kira replied trying to sound cheerful as she helped her up. She then glanced over to Kurama, “And you doubted my abilities.” She smiled, “Anyway, are you alright…ano…what’s your name?”

-

“Koyuki,” she replied quietly blushing a little, “you really shouldn’t have bothered.”

-

“Well, you weren’t doing anything,” Kira said then noted a purple bruise on Koyuki’s face, “Did they do that to you?”

-

Koyuki nodded looking ashamed, “I know I should have protected myself, but I just…I’m just pathetic for an ice apparition.”

-

“So, you’re a Koorime?” The question dame from Kurama who was standing next to Kira.

-

“Iie.” She shook her head, “Just a regular ice youkai.” Her voice sounded a bit hesitant as if she was afraid of speaking.

-

Kira didn’t know whether she should feel sympathetic or unimpressed. Koyuki didn’t seem like she would be the ‘noblest and most worthy’ of her race to be one the Sage Youkai. Maybe Kurama was right and she had just sensed another youkai’s youki and Kira should have continued her training under Genkai, “Well, you’re safe now.” She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets.

-

Kurama seemed interested in Koyuki, “Why are you in Ningenkai? It’s quite dangerous if you can’t protect yourself.”

-

Koyuki’s blush deepened, “I was looking for someone, I was told I might be able to find him in Ningenkai because he was in the Dark Tournament.”

-

“The Dark Tournament ended a while ago,” Kurama doted, “He’d probably be back in Makai now.”

-

The ice demoness looked somewhat crushed by that, “I figured as much, but it’s hard to return to Makai once you’re out of it, I don’t really want to go back all that much truthfully.”

-

“Well some places here are probably just as bad as Makai,” Kira chimed, “some real hell holes here too.” Kira then asked, “So who is this brother of yours? Koenma might be able to help, I think.”

-

Koyuki took a few moments to answer, but when she did her voice was as soft as ever, “He’s a Shinobi…his name’s…Touya.” Her voice might have been nothing more then a whisper, but they heard the named crystal clear.

-

Kurama sounded almost alarmed which in turn surprised Kira, “Touya?” His eyes widened as big as saucers when he repeated the name.

-

“Hai, do you know him?” Koyuki sounded hopeful.

-

“Not well,” he admitted, “but my team faced him in the Dark Tournament.”

-

“I suppose they lost,” Koyuki said somewhat bitterly.

-

Kurama didn’t mention that he had been the one to fight the ice master, he had no reason to trouble her further. Who knows how long she had been in Ningenkai searching for him. He didn’t want to think about it, “Hai, but he was an excellent fighter.”

-

She shifted a little, “Sometimes I think he should have been the Sage Youkai, not me.”

-

Kira arched an eyebrow, but didn‘t hide the expression of boredom on her face, “So you know about the Sage Youkai thing?”

-

“Of course,” Koyuki responded bashfully looking the other way, “that’s why I’m so mortified of myself. My ice powers are nothing compared to his. I can barely summon ice upon will, I’m truly pitiful.”

-

“Well in any case, you should come with us now,” Kurama said strictly, “Did Koenma know you were in Ningenkai because Botan mentioned he knew where you were?”

-

The ice youkai nodded, “Hai, he gave me permission about half a year ago to come here.” She twirled a finger around a lock of her hair.

-

Kira felt pained when she heard that, ‘She’s been looking for him here for six months, I’m surprised she’s still alive if every ningen that comes upon her treats her like that.’ She eyed the bruise once more and winced, “He’s right, you’d better come with us.” She held out her hand.

-

Koyuki took it uncertainly.

~*~

Kira was once more at Kurama’s place which had become a habit for her to be. After each day she would go with him to his place and either walk home or Shiori would give her a ride. Kurama didn’t seem to mind that much since she didn’t threaten him anymore and she realized that they were getting along much better nowadays that they were with each other everyday. A supposed pleasant change, but she felt herself changing more and more with each conversation she had with him, which each contact she had with him. He seemed to notice it as well.

-

“You’re different, I just can’t place what is different,” he commented while lounging on the couch.

-

She, once again, was sitting on the ground cross-legged, “I don’t know what is different either, it’s weird.”

-

“Maybe you’re maturing,” he teased gingerly.

-

“Could be or maybe I’m…” she trailed off. That wasn’t the reason for today though, it was Koyuki and thinking about how horribly she must have been treated by people. It was like a vicious cycle, she could imagine a youkai harming a person, but not the other way around.

-

Kurama seemed to know what she was thinking, “It’s not that simple, ningen and youkai alike can be equally cruel.” He paused then continued, “Her situation is a lot like Yukina’s now that I’m thinking about it.”

-

Kira nodded, Kurama had explained t the whole Yukina thing to her after that day on the ice ring quite thoroughly. “It’s funny, I’d never imagine that youkai could love one another.”

-

He chuckled in response to her naiveté, “If you think that’s odd then there are a lot of surprises in store for you.”

-

Kira contemplated that indecisively as she stared at a snow globe in front of her. She picked it up and shook it a bit and looked into it as the fake snow whirled around the North Pole thinking how lucky somebody would be to live in a perfect world like a snow globe, where what maybe Kurama was saying would make some sense.

*~*~*~*~*

Dc-chan: I’m so sorry that I didn’t update yesterday…certain complications prevented me from doing so.

MCT: No, you were reading that stupid book you got for Christmas for six straight hours that you had been dying to get your hands on for the last six months.

Dc-chan: Well at least I finished it…and I was also writing up an outline for another two other stories that I was thinking about writing. A KH fic and an original/non anime one called Dragon Academy or something…oh and the other present for you lovely readers…YOU ALL GET POCKY BECAUSE IT IS GOOD AND YUMMY!!!