Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Reikai Tantei's Yu Yu Hakusho ❯ The Harlequin, part 1 ( Chapter 7 )

Hi! I'm Yo-ma! I'm using characters from various Fanfiction and will give the authors credit in the chapters they appear in. The next few chapters will introduce some characters from Koko-chan and the Blue Spanch. Please don't get angry with me for using your characters. If you want me to take the story off of FanFiction.Net, please tell me.

This is my story, it is YAOI (meaning male/male relationships for those unused to the anime world.) If you don't like it, don't read it! Got that?

I DO NOT OWN YU YU HAKUSHO!!! So don't sue me I don't have anything.

This occurs after the movies and ovas.

Thoughts are in Italics. ***** means change in scene.

Please Read and Review! I would love to hear anything you have to say! Flames are even accepted!

Here is some feedback for all of my wonderful reviewers!

Zaeria: Thank you for your Reviews! Here's a chapter all for you! I couldn't have Keiko bash Yuusuke's head in for leaving him, but I promise she will beat o him later on! Unfortunately, the pixies won't be punished anytime soon, it's in their nature to do what they did. I may have Yuusuke beat on them later on!

Monita: Hiei and Kurama are bonded, like the youkai version of marriage, but they can sense when the other's in danger. 'Wari's going to be in and out of the story until I finish the small series concerning the 'Quin, The Piper, and Van. (You'll meet the 'Quin in this small story.) This story is more like a collection of the adventures of the Reikai Tantei. So every few chapters can be a mini-story, or something like that.

dragonfoxloversforever and Talia: Thank you for your reviews, they've really helped me write on!

evvy: Read the section at the top. The real author knows about this, and is okay with it.

Katy, Anrui, Anya, and everqueen: You guys are the best! Sorry for the long wait, but my computer broke down and everything. So, I'm posting two chapters this time. Hope you like them. ^_^

On with the story!

The Reikai Tantei's Yu Yu Hakusho

Chapter 7 The Harlequin, part 1

The Lord of Demons sat on the throne that he'd built from the bones of his predecessor, staring at the ball of captive lightning that hung before him in the murky air of the great Hall, thinking of conquest.

With a word and a gesture, he commanded it to show him the worlds that hovered here together in the vastness of space as if for comfort against the terrible emptiness, linked forever together.

Linked, that is the word. He thought moodily. Only one world out of the whole lot is truly real. Each Lord would like to say that his is the real one, but even the dead Netherworld king would have to admit that it isn't so. He shifted to rest his chin on one fist, the rustle of his robes sending faint echoes in the dead-silent Hall.

The Ningenkai world is our anchor, our lodestone. It is also, he thought with some ironic amusement, masterless. Perhaps I can correct that oversight, if I can get past the security system.

Responding to its master's thoughts, the globe of crackling light showed the images of those he had thought of. A ningen that had died before his time and had been brought back, a silver kitsune, a Forbidden Child who bore a black dragon, a ningen with no other claim to fame than an unusual amount of spiritual energy and the build and brains of a water buffalo. There was also an oar-riding spirit-world girl, and a couple of temple priestesses, but they were generally peripheral players.

An unlikely group, but one that had steadily beaten off every single supernatural attack that had been thrown at them for years. Not even the Netherworld king had been able to survive his grasp for power.

This requires caution. I must think.

The Lord of Demons was an oddity among his kind. He was cautious, patient, and sneaky, traits that had been of great assistance to his ascending the throne.

The previous Lord had bulled his way to the throne by sheer brute force, and then had foolishly challenged the great Lord Enma of the Spirit World. Enma had prevailed, of course, sending his adversary's charred husk back to the Demon world in a paper bag. The inevitable scramble for power had begun shortly after this event.

Yashi had merely stood by and let the others kill themselves off before calmly assassinating the winner and taking the throne for himself. He was quite veil and had now problem with shooting an opponent in the back, after all. He hadn't stopped there.

He studied. He visited the shattered Netherworld in the far reaches of space, he spied on the other worlds. he would not be caught short just because he didn't know how another world worked.

But these guardian ningens, now. They had stood off assault after assault with hardly a hitch. How was he to get around them...

Yes! That's it! They have stood off those assaults because they were assaults! Everything that has attacked them has been single-minded, destructive. What would they do about something that wasn't? Something fey and whimsical?

Now this was an interesting line of thought. Lord Yashi had several creatures among his troops that would fit the bill, but he rejected that notion. He had ruled with an iron fist for so long now that his demons were totally compliant, like animated marionettes. Boring. Boredom had been a problem for him for several decades now. He needed a challenge.

"Bring me the Harlequin." He commanded.

A group of demons that had lined the walls of the hall like grotesque statues came to life and scrambled out of the room. Lord Yashi felt some well-earned smugness as he waited, fingering the ring on the middle finger of his left hand.

The Harlequin, easily distracted as he was, had been difficult to capture and harder to control. Lord Yashi generally kept him locked in a huge crystal when not trying to break his spirit. A clatter of claws on stone heralded the demons' return as they struggled under the immense weight of the rock.

The Harlequin was visible inside, a tall man-shaped creature in red and black. Two long curved horns, striped red and black, curled around and down from his temples. A black cape decorated with the four card suits in scarlet draped his shoulders, concealing a tightly-muscled, athletic body beneath. High cheekbones and large eyes, now closed as if in sleep, dominated the black face, and a faint smile seemed to be a permanent feature. A heavy gold collar encircled his neck.

The demons set the stone down and backed away, bowing and scraping, from their master. With a gesture from Lord Yashi, a crack formed in the crystal, spreading until it resembled a tower of cobwebs, and then shattered. The Harlequin landed on one knee in the shards, shaking his head muzzily.

"Harlequin." Lord Yashi said, calling his slave to attention.

Two luminous, pupilless yellow eyes stared into his as the Harlequin snapped his head up and bared sharp white teeth in fury.

Then, with a soundless shriek of pure rage, he leaped high into the air, cape spreading out like wings behind him, a silvery sword in one hand. But before he could bring the bitter-sharp blade down on Lord Yashi's head, a force field knocked him sprawling to the floor.

"Now really, Harlequin," Yashi said gloatingly. "We can't have that. Do calm down."

As he spoke, the collar around Harlequin's neck blazed with light and he screamed silently again, this time in pain. When the glow abated, Yashi spoke.
"I have a job for you, my bicolor servant. These people in the Ningenkai-" He caused the globe of lightning to show several images, "Yu Yu Hakusho, they call themselves-Find them. Confuse them. Do your best to kill them. I will be watching."

The Harlequin had gotten to his feet while his master had been talking, and now spat on the floor at Yashi's feet, and flickered away into the shadows between worlds before Yashi could do anything about it.

Yashi fumed for a moment, and then calmed himself. the annoying little twerp would have quite enough trouble once he found the Spirit Detectives.

*****

Yuusuke ambled out of the theater, munching on some leftover popcorn. It was early in the evening, so he didn't have to hurry home just yet. "I think I'll stop at the Arcade for a while." He said thoughtfully. "They should have gotten that new game machine in today."

The shortest route to the Arcade was through a maze of gloomy alleys, but Yuusuke wasn't worried. After spending a few years fighting things with more teeth and tentacles and claws than your average mugger, a mere street gang would seem like shooting fish in a barrel.

He wondered absently if he would have to pry Kuwabara off the new game before he got a chance to try it out.

Halfway through the alleys, though, Yuusuke's instincts started screaming. Something was behind him somewhere, watching, waiting for the right moment.

He turned around slowly, searching the shadows for any movements, ears straining for any sound. Seeing and hearing nothing, he continued on his way.

There! He'd heard something, soft footsteps not quite in synchrony with his own. Someone was following him. Once again, he stopped and looked around.

Nothing on the ground or the walls-! The roof! The alley he was in ran right behind a house that had ornamental Fu dogs perched on the corners, and the one on the near corner had been damaged somehow. It seemed to have been replaced, only that new statue bore little resemblance to its fellows.

The hairs on the back of Yuusuke's neck stood straight up as the "statue" turned its horned head and treated him to a glowing topaz gaze.

"Who are you?" Yuusuke yelled. "What do you want here?"
The Harlequin did not answer. Instead, he leaped lightly off the roof to land in the alley right behind Yuusuke.

Yuusuke sprang away just in time to dodge a fistful of what appeared to be... confetti? Yuusuke paused, confused. He had been assaulted before with all manner of things, but confetti was new to him. A steely rasp from his left made him look up.

The Harlequin stood under the glow of a street lamp, holding a long, slim sword over one shoulder and watching Yuusuke with amused curiosity. "Crap," he thought, "this thing's taller than Kuwabara, and agile!

"Just my luck," Yuusuke said aloud. "I go out for one evening alone and I get assaulted by a psychotic mime."

That did it. The faint smile on the Harlequin's face disappeared and he sprang forward suddenly, sword flashing in a dizzying pattern.

Yuusuke ducked and dodged for all he was worth, only to get knocked sprawling by a backhanded blow to the face.

He got up unsteadily, shaking his head to make the stars go away. When his sight cleared, his adversary was standing still, watching him impatiently with narrowed eyes.

"What's he waiting for?" thought Yuusuke.

The Harlequin hissed softly through his teeth and put away his sword. In one smooth movement, he then stood tiptoe on one foot while bringing his right hand up to point straight at Yuusuke.

As the tip of his index finger began to glow, Yuusuke felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. It seemed that he wasn't the only one with a Rei Gun. A flicker of movement caught his eye just then, for the flowing finger was merely a diversion for the real attack. With a swift frisbee-throwing motion, Harlequin let fly a deck of razor-edged cards that pinned Yuusuke to the wall, followed by a ball of flame that would have burned Yuusuke to a crisp if he hadn't torn himself free just in time.

Singed and leaking blood from dozens of small cuts that hurt like hell, Yuusuke glared at his adversary as it laughed silently and produced another fireball. Instead of hurling it, however, the Harlequin began tossing it from hand to hand, adding more and more until he was juggling a ring of flame. With a mischievous smile, he began throwing them at Yuusuke.

Yuusuke, however, had had enough of this and decided to return the favor. "Rei Gun!!" he shouted and let fly with a searing beam of blue light that lit up the alley with an actinic flare, aiming straight for the center of the ring of fire.

For once, his unorthodox aiming didn't work. Instead of being overloaded by a new influx of raw power and exploding dramatically as he should have, the Harlequin caught the beam and held it in the center of the ring, still juggling.

The ring flared higher, brighter and miniature lightning crackled of the ring and the juggler, crawling over the walls. The Harlequin was delighted and showed it, grinning broadly, tossing the fires in ever more confusing patterns, totally distracted.

Mesmerized by the blinding display, Yuusuke completely missed the smaller, brief flare of light at the Harlequin's throat. What he did see, however, was that the juggler's expression suddenly changed from delight to pain, and then to anger, eyes flashing red.

The pattern shifted again, and Yuusuke found himself looking straight down the bore of Hell. The Harlequin was furious, fighting for control of his mind as his cursed master tried to force him to release the ring at Yuusuke. Harlequin wasn't having any of that. He liked this ningen kid with the fast moves and nifty Rei Gun. With a supreme effort, he yanked himself sideways as the force exploded away from him, slagging an abandoned tenement into a lumpy puddle. Breathing heavily, he flashed an apologetic look at Yuusuke, and left.

Yuusuke was officially boggled. Confetti, cards, and rings of fire for no reason from a totally silent opponent.

He knew how monsters and demons worked, and that was not it. They usually had a reason, they never used confetti, and they always made a lot of noise.

Your average Supervillain would happily spend half an hour running of his mouth before attempting to blow your shorts off, never mind that this one also caught and channeled a Rei Gun blast without breaking a sweat. Yuusuke decided that his mother could survive a little worry and headed off toward Genkai's temple.

*****

It was full dark when he got there, but the windows were warmly lit by candle light. Sliding open the door, he saw Genkai, Hinageshi, and Yukina sipping tea.

"There you are, Yuusuke," Genkai said. "I thought you had forgotten that we were meeting here tonight. I was just about to send Hinageshi out to find you." She paused a moment, getting a good look at him as he stepped into the light. "Yuusuke, what happened? You look like a train wreck."
"Genkai!" Yuusuke howled. "I'm hallucinating!"

"That must have been some hallucination," Yukina said, putting down her cup. "They generally don't leave you looking like a train wreck."
"This one did." Yuusuke sat down with a thump and accepted a cup of tea from Yukina. "It was a psychotic mime, only I shouldn't call it that 'cause it goes ballistic if you insult it. Where's the first-aid kit?"

Hinageshi giggled, but Genkai stared straight at Yuusuke. "Tell me what happened." She said, deadly serious.
Yuusuke flashed her a startled look, but proceeded to tell her the story of his fight. As he did, Genkai stood up and opened a hidden compartment in the wall and withdrew a large, yellowing scroll.

"Is this the one that got you?" She asked, opening the scroll when he had finished.

Yuusuke nearly choked on his tea when he saw the illustration. Topaz eyes and a faint smile, slender sword in one hand and a fireball in the other. "That's him!" He said, wiping his face with one sleeve. "Who is that?"

"He is the Harlequin, and you are lucky to be alive. Or maybe not. It's rather hard to tell with this one."
"Huh?" Was Yuusuke's brilliant answer.
"Exactly. You said that you had just seen a movie?"
"Yes. And I was finishing my popcorn on the way out."
"Hmm." Genkai studied the faded script for a moment, then scowled. "What movie was it?"
"A remake of 'Ran'. Why?"

"Nothing in here about him hating good movies. Or popcorn." Genkai muttered. "Yuusuke, I will warn you to be very careful for a while. The Harlequin is exceptionally powerful and unpleasantly arbitrary. He is easily distracted, but totally unpredictable, and needs no reasons for what he does. His appearance here could spell utter disaster, or merely a strange week. Keep an eye out for him and report his actions to me. This is important, boy! Don't forget!"
"Yes ma'am!" Yuusuke said, saluting.
Genkai smiled at his irrepressible attitude and dug the first-aid kit out of its cabinet. "Here," she said. "Patch yourself up and go home. Your mother will be frantic. I will inform the others about this."

Genkai was right, as Yuusuke found out about a half-hour later. His mother was frantic.

*****

The following evening, Kuwabara walked alone along the streets of the town, casing his turf and thinking.

Genkai had sent him a letter earlier in the day that made now sense whatsoever. It seemed to make perfect sense to Yuusuke, who had scampered off after school just because some of the school's wrestling team had treed a stripey mime on top of the flagpole that afternoon.

Kuwabara had nearly laughed himself sick, watching the jocks barking around the base of the flagpole like hounds around a treed raccoon. Come to think of it, though, Yuusuke had been jumpy all day. Maybe he owed the mime money or something.

By now, Kuwabara had reached the western edge of his territory, an old basketball court that had been built by the local government in the hopes that the gangs would give up war for sport.

Fat chance. You can't do ambushes in basketball. He leaned against one net to watch the last remnants of a spectacular sunset and took out Genkai's letter. It was hard enough for him to read her calligraphy as it was, and the failing light made it harder. Something about a harlequin, whatever the hell that was.

Soft running footsteps accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a basketball hitting the pavement made him look up. As he did, the sounds stopped abruptly.

"What?" He muttered, looking around for the player that was not there.

Something went foom and lit up the court right above his head, and Kuwabara dove for the sidelines as the Harlequin slam-dunked a fireball through the net, crisping it and leaving a perfect chrysanthemum scorched on the pavement.

Kuwabara scrambled to his feet in a fighting crouch, ready to face any adversary. What he faced, however, was no simple, everyday crazed arsonist. It was the mime from earlier that day, only it wasn't funny anymore.

Few times in his life it was that he had to look up to meet the gaze of any man, but as it approached him, smiling, his heart froze. This thing wasn't human. No man had glowing topaz eyes, or moved as though he were weightless.

"Get back!" he barked, manifesting his Rei Sword.

The Harlequin grinned like a crescent moon and drew his own sword with a metallic-silken sound, loud in the evening stillness.

Kuwabara returned the Harlequin's smile and attacked, knowing that steel blades shattered under the burning onslaught of the Rei Sword. He was surprised, therefore, when the Harlequin not only knocked his attack aside but launched a dizzying array of slashes that left Kuwabara defending desperately, driven back step after step.

Finally, backed into a corner, he resolved to sell his life dearly to his foe, who hadn't stopped smiling since the fight started. Then, to his amazement, the harlequin disappeared.

Kuwabara stepped out into the court, looking around suspiciously. This fight reminded him of the sparring matches that he occasionally had with Hiei, who had a rotten habit of vanishing whenever he got bored or was losing.

Someone dragged a finger up his backbone suddenly, causing him to yelp in surprise and whirl around. Nobody there.

A pinch on the butt made him spin around again, only to face nothing. Then the unseen hands sprinkled something that prickled down the back of his neck. With a roar of rage, he turned a third time, and this time the Harlequin was there.

Before Kuwabara could react appropriately, though, one black-and-red hand snaked out and honked his nose soundly. It sounded rather like a bike horn.

The Harlequin sprang back half a court away as a fuming Kuwabara slashed furiously at him. Kuwabara didn't mind being offed honorably in a fight with such a fearsome opponent, but he absolutely refused to be made fun of by this one and let him get away with it.

With a roar, he charged his foe, intent on slicing that mocking smile in half. The Harlequin spun once like an abbreviated ballet dancer and came down in a crouch, bringing his hands together with a resounding smack.

As he did, his cape flared out and dozens of small, brightly colored fireworks whizzed out, whistling and crackling, and headed straight for Kuwabara like a horde of starved mosquitoes.

Forced to deal with the swarm of firecrackers, Kuwabara did not see the Harlequin's collar flash. What he did see, as he crushed out the final whizzing mote, was a red-eyed whirlwind of gleaming steel coming right at him.

Again he was driven into the corner, this time fast enough to make him hit his head on the wall. He faltered briefly as he sight doubled, and refocused just in time to see the point of Harlequin's bitter-sharp blade heading right for that spot between his eyes.

Somehow, instead of shish-kebabbing Kuwabara's brain, the sword wound up buried in the brick wall just above his ear, opening a small, thin razor-cut on his temple.

He heard the hiss of the Harlequin's breath and watched the redness fade from the yellow eyes. The Harlequin, no longer smiling, pulled his sword from the wall, gave Kuwabara a deeply apologetic look, and disappeared into the shadows.

Kuwabara remained flat against the wall, trying to get his heart started again. Something copper-salty dribbled into his mouth, his own blood. He staggered out of the corner, bruised, burnt and boggled, wiping the cut on his temple with one sleeve. His back still prickled from whatever it was that the Harlequin had poured down there.
"Well," He said absently. "at least I know why Yuusuke was so twitchy today."

Then he headed for Genkai's Temple at a dead run.

"Genkai!" He wailed as he slid open the door. "I'm hallucinating!"
Genkai, Yukina, Hinageshi, and Yuusuke were there, and none of them looked particularly surprised to see him.

"You too?" Yuusuke asked, pouring him a cup of tea. "He must have gotten you pretty badly; you've got confetti leaking out of the back of your shirt."
Kuwabara chugged his tea in one gulp and held his cup out for more. "What was that thing?" He asked. "It looked like a clown from a really weird circus, but it fought like three ninjas at once."
"Didn't you read my message?" Genkai asked. "I know you got it, Kuwabara."
"So I can't read your handwriting." He said, sipping his second cup of tea. "Big deal. What's a harlequin, anyway?"

Yuusuke put his face in his hands and sighed. "C'mon, man," He said. "Don't you ever look up words you don't know?"
"No."
"This is the Harlequin." Genkai said, displaying the scroll.

Hinageshi had to hit the floor to avoid the spray as Kuwabara lost control. Yukina got up to get a towel.
"It's a good picture, isn't it?" Yukina asked, mopping up the puddle.
"Yeah."
"What were you doing when he attacked you?" Genkai asked. "Don't leave out any details. This creature is capricious, and potentially hazardous. I'd like to know what he was doing here, and just what attracted him."

"I was in that old basketball court, watching the sun set and trying to read your letter."
Genkai scowled over the ancient scroll. "No, this says nothing about him disliking sunsets, messages, or sports arenas. Tell me about your fight."

Genkai listened attentively as he, rather embarrassed about some parts, told her the whole thing.

"The same as what happened to Yuusuke." She mused. "A relentless barrage of fighting techniques that make Yuusuke's strangest ones look boring, followed by a narrowly averted death-blow. And a silent apology. Something is very wrong here."
"No kidding." Yuusuke and Kuwabara said in unison.
"What is it?" Asked Hinageshi.
"There should be no pattern at all to his attacks." Genkai replied. "He should also be making some sort of sound, laughter and the like. It may just be a coincidence that the two attacks are alike, but I doubt it, especially because he has been silent both times. The Harlequin is well known for being noisy."

"So what do we do?" Kuwabara asked.
"Keep an eye out for him. Whatever you do, don't try to fight again, or you may not survive the experience. Watch what he does, and then tell me about it. Yuusuke has the same instructions."
"Yes sir, ma'am sir!"
"Don't you start."

To be continued...

And that the end of Chapter 7. How did you like it? Do you have any ideas for me to use? I'd love to hear them. Read and Review.