Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wandering Souls ❯ A Cry in the Night ( Chapter 7 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Katzztar 
Hiei watches from the shadows as Kuwabara takes care of Chiko of the Supaida no Yoru.
Later, Kuwabara hears a girl's scream for help and rushes to help, finding three Spiders attacking trying to rape one of of his contacts, Tomei. Meanwhile, Kurama attemps to talk to a distraught Shizuru.
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.18.2004 | Updated On: 02.24.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 247 | Status: Work In Progress
Hiei watches from the shadows as Kuwabara takes care of Chiko of the Supaida no Yoru.
Later, Kuwabara hears a girl's scream for help and rushes to help, finding three Spiders attacking trying to rape one of of his contacts, Tomei. Meanwhile, Kurama attemps to talk to a distraught Shizuru.
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.18.2004 | Updated On: 02.24.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 247 | Status: Work In Progress
Ch.6 a Cry in the Night
The streets are deserted at 3:47 in the morning. As such, there are no witnesses as Kuwabara walked out of an alley. It would be four days before a local shop owner will find the corpse of the Supaida no Yoru gang member, Chiko. The obvious cause of demise is bleeding to death where the digits of the right hand were chopped off. They would never find the seven pieces that once were parts of intact fingers.
Hiei watched as Kuwabara walked away before he leaped from the rooftop to another, never looking back at the remains. His destination is a park on the other side of town. He thought of the earlier conversation with Kurama; they both are—intrigued—by the recent events concerning the human member of the team. Before, Hiei always thought that since Kuwabara grew up in Ningenkai, he was weak—end of argument. However, this gang warfare has shed new light on the subject. These gangs have struck a chord of familiarity with the two demons; they are not so different from the gangs back in Makai. It’s true that Kurama and Hiei were members of two different thieves’ gangs and not street gangs, but the laws governing the gangs are similar. Hiei remembered a pleased Kurama telling him that it seems that Kuwabara was raised by a gang. Hiei shook his head; it figured that Kurama would be amused by the fact that Hiei and Kuwabara had another thing in common. Hiei grimaced as he landed in front of a bench; he never thought that any ningen could have a harsh enough childhood to compare to a demon’s, especially his own.
The occupant on the bench spoke, bringing Hiei out of his thoughts. “You watched him with his second target as well, didn’t you?”
Startled, Hiei’s eyes went wide but he managed to keep his body still…mostly, as he spoke over his shoulder. “How many times must I tell you never to sneak up on me, Kurama!?”
~~on the other side of town~~
A lamplight buzzed as it flickered. Quite a few street lamps have either been broken or burned out in this poor neighborhood. Kuwabara sat down on a bench to think over of what he has learned in one night. The four ghosts helped provide conversation and an audience to hear what he learned and thought.
“There’s more to this than I thought. There is someone backing the two gangs, not even the aniki of the gangs know who though, only the leaders have met with him or her. I wonder…. could this person have provided the sword that beheaded you guys?” Kuwabara sat back rubbing his head.
Although all three were confused, it was Okubo that spoke up. “Why do you think that Kuwabara-san?”
Kirishima noticed the look in Kuwabara’s eye, a look that said there was more than it seemed. “Okay boss, come clean. What do you know?”
"In the files about your deaths, they mention the sword." The four ghosts were not shocked to hear any references to the Reikai anymore. It was the same night that the ghosts first went to Kuwabara that they found out that Kuwabara works with the current Reikai Tantai for the Spirit World. That fact doesn't bother them too much. They all knew about his strong sixth sense. It makes sense for him to have connections to the other world. It's the the fact that the current Reikai Tantai is none other than Urameshi they have trouble believing. That punk never had any psychic abilities before and now he has the number one psychic's job? 'It must be something about the way he died' was all Kirishima could say.
Kuwabara brought them out of their musings by continuing on about the sword."It has some strange features that clearly mark it as supernatural. Although it disappeared before it could be researched more thoroughly…along with your heads. The Spirit World still can’t find either.” In the short time that has passed, Kuwabara has pestered Koenma for any new information dealing with this case. So far there have been no new developments except Kuwabara waging a gang war. “Samejima and Tachikawa couldn’t have just found such a sword, even if they have been researching into the supernatural for the past year…. It’s more likely that they accidentally stumbled on a demon or another evil spirit that procured the sword for the mere havoc that it would cause…”
Pausing for a moment, Kazuma went on. “I learned from the interrogations that the ‘fearless’ leaders are absent at the time. Also I got the names confirmed of who all was involved in the attacks. And now I know where the hostages are, I can plan a rescue…”
“IEEEEEEEEEEE! HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME! RAPE!”
Kuwabara wasted no time as he jumped up to raced to the girl’s cry. In less than a minute, he ran to the alley where the distress call came from. What he saw made his blood boil. Three thugs of the Supaida no Yoru assaulting a young woman, her top was already torn to the waist and only the bra covered her.
With one breath, Kuwabara ran towards the ruffians, his massive fist swirling. On hearing the ominous footfalls, the nearest spider spun around to see the looming adversary. He had only enough time to holler before Kuwabara’s fist smashed into his nose. A ghastly crack echoed as the fist connected.
“KUWABARA!” A second goon roared as he jumped into the fight—literally, with a flying leap.
The copper haired teen easily side-stepped the attack. With a fast spin to the side, he blocked a follow-up attack of a switchblade. The second attacker began to attempt to stab the tall hero as the third attacker rushed in. Kuwabara spun on his right foot as he brought the left foot up for a spinning kick. The third attacker fell with another crack as the kick connected with the side of his head.
With a sudden swipe, Kuwabara took the switchblade. The attacker’s eyes were wide as the blade cut through his throat. Kuwabara turned to face the girl as the thug fell to his knees, only to fall on his face—dead.
“Hey, it’s okay now. They’re gone and can’t hurt you again.” He moved to comfort the young lady but stopped as he remembered her state of dress. Blushing, he took off his trench coat to offer it to her. “Here, put this on.”
As she put it on, she raised her head to say “Arigato, Kuwabara-san”. Her voice prompted him to finally look closely at her.
“TOMIE!”
“Hai, it’s me… I…I was…ah, a bit careless and didn’t realize those Spiders of the Night were following me until was too late.” She hung her head allowing her blunt cut ebony hair to fall, effectively hiding her face.
An awkward silence stretched for a time until Kuwabara noticed that she was shaking. ‘Of course she would still be all nervous, she was nearly raped.’ With a gentle tug, he helped her to her feet. “Come on, I’m taking you to Meiya’s. She’s about the same size as you, so you can get some clothes.”
Tomei tried not to jerk away when he helped her up, but there was still a noticeable twitch. “I’m sorry; I know you won’t do anything. It’s just…I….” She took a moment to take a deep sigh as he waited patiently. “I guess I’m still jumpy.” She gave a small smile as he said it was okay and was to be expected. “Who is Meiya?”
“She’s another of my contacts, a street informant, like you are. She’s a good person despite the fact her brother is a son of a bitch...” He gave a gentle grin as he thought of how similar the two girls are.
Tomei was hesitant, she saw one thug get his throat slashed but he wasn’t alone. “What of the other two thugs?”
Kuwabara blinked in confusion then it dawned on him that she didn’t realize they were already taken care of. “They're dead, no need to worry. Remember how I punched the first punk? Well, I hit his nose in a certain way with enough force that it sent bone fragments into the brain. As for the other punk, well when my kick landed on his neck, it broke.” ~~20 minutes later~~~
“Hey Kuwabara-san, I wasn’t expecting you in the middle of the night. Or should I say this early in the morning?” The light brown haired teen lost her barely there smile when she saw the girl with him. It wasn’t the girl herself that caused the loss of the non-existent smile. Meiya wasn’t interested in Kuwabara like that; it was his friend that caught her attention two years ago. And since Kirishima was murdered, she had very little reason to smile. No, it wasn’t the girl that caused her to frown but the state of dress. “I’m assuming she was assaulted and nearly raped?”
“Yeah, I got there before three spiders were able to anything. This is Tomei, another one of my contacts. She’s still shaken up and need some clothing, so I brought her here.” Kuwabara gave Meiya a condensed account of what happened while Tomei took a shower.
“So they’re dead right? If you’re slacking off, I’ll hunt them down and kill them myself!” Meiya never had any tolerance for rapist and approved of the harshest punishments for rapists. She personally wrote to the city council and voted that all rapists should be castrated.
There are times then silence speaks louder than words and this was one of those times. Flat eyes stared at Meiya while Kuwabara stayed silent. She gave a half-hearted smile and gave an apology. Every one of the Menboku Yaiba or their contacts knows that Kuwabara does not approve of rape and has been known to kill rapists. The word on the street is that when he was ten, two Aka Doragon thugs tied him to a tree while they raped his sister in front of him. Neither of the Kuwabara siblings, Shizuru or Kazuma himself has ever confirmed or denied the tales. So they remain that, Tales of the Streets.
After Tomei had her shower, a change of clothes and a tall cold one…whiskey, she hates beer…her shaking had finally abated and she was ready to talk to this other contact of Kazuma’s. “I’m sorry; I was a bit of a basket-case earlier. I know Kuwabara-san told me your name, but…I…”
A warm and genuine smile graced Meiya’s face. “You were pretty shaken up, it’s okay that you forgot my name under those conditions. I’m Tachikawa Meiya.”
Tomei’s eye widen at the family name. “Are…are you…the sister to that bastard?” A bright red blush overcame her at that point as realization set in. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you!”
Instead of the anger she expected at insulting her hostess’ family, Tomei’s apology was met with raucous laughter. Meiya was doubled over in mirth while Kuwabara was chuckling. “Was it something I said?”
“Hai!” Meiya wiped a tear from her eye as she smiled at her guest. “You tagged that so-called brother of mine correctly all right! I would prefer not to acknowledge him at all.” A grimace came over her as she thought of the brother she wished she never had. “You’re probably wondering why I’m a contact for Kuwabara-san when my brother is the leader of the Aka Doragon. It’s simple really, I hate Akira. I blame him for our parents’ deaths.”
~~Meanwhile at the Kuwabara residence~~
Kurama watched as Shizuru tore yet another piece of paper up. He has been here since he left Hiei at the park an hour ago, intending to talk to her 'little' brother, Kuwabara Kauzma. However, the younger Kuwabara has yet to come home and the elder Kuwabara hasn’t been too talkative. It has been the last two days that Kurama noticed that Shizuru has acted odd. Over the past year and a half that Kurama has known the Kuwabara siblings, he has come to recognize the specific stare of theirs that indicates they are paying attention to a ghost. Needless to say, the siblings get ‘that look’ often at home. There are a score of ghosts at the Kuwabara home.
But why should Shizuru be unnerved? The ghosts have been here for some time. There couldn’t any….wait…aha, yes, there is most likely are some new ghosts here. “Shizuru…” Kurama jumped back as she spun around. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to startle you.” He offered her a chair as she attempted to slow her down her heart-rate. “I wanted to ask, has the ghosts of Kuwabara-kun’s friends appeared?”
With narrowed eyes, Shizuru regarded the rei-youkai. “Common sense would say yes, so why do you ask?” Normally, Shizuru wouldn’t snap at Kurama like that, she liked his normal demeanor of being quietly reserved. No, Shizuru would never foolishly think the fox is ‘polite’—he’s too cunning to be called polite. Kurama is both a kistune and at least several hundred years old, if not older, he knows the best way to appear unassuming and to get people to drop their guard is to pretend to be respectful and polite. ‘I’ll never fall for the act. It’s his acting skill that gets my respect.’
“My apologies for intruding but you seemed distracted by ghosts. Since you have some experience with them, I was wondering what would unnerve you so.” The last bit was rushed as he noticed the look she gave him. “Ah, I suspected there were ghosts because you and your brother get this certain look when you are giving your attention to ghosts.”
Both eyebrows shot up as Shizuru heard that comment. “What look?”
Unseen by Kurama, the ghosts of Okubo and Sawamura were laughing whole-heartedly. Kirishima smiled as he slung an insubstantial arm over Shizuru’s shoulders. “He’s right, you know. You do get this certain look when you focus on ghosts and such. That’s how we boys knew when not to distract Kuwabara-san.”
Kurama was perplexed, one minute Shizuru was talking to him, the next she’s zoning out…wait, it’s that look. Ah, there must be a ghost nearby. He was taken off-guard as a look that Kazuma knows best came over Shizuru.
“Kirishima!” Her scream bowled Kurama over. “I don’t care if you are dead, you get your damned arm off me, you scum! You know that I don’t like anyone to do that!” Shizuru ignored Kurama as he went to sit in a chair…on the other side of the room. With a sigh, she turned to face her guest. “Sorry about that, you’re right about Kazuma’s three friends being here. Kirishima always likes to annoy me by slinging his arm over my shoulder.” After getting them something to drink, Shizuru sat down opposite of Kurama. “Yes, the three friends are here…as well as another.”
Her ambiguous hints teased Kurama’s curiosity. “Another?”
“Hai, he’s the ghost of the man that saved Kazuma when he was…born.” Shizuru whispered the last word.
That piqued his curiosity. “Why does that disturb you?”
Shizuru looked at him with guilt-ridden eyes. “It was my fault. Kazuma would never would have to be saved, our mother wouldn’t have died if wasn’t for my stupid mistake.”
TBC Author’s note= Rei-youkai- A youkai reborn in human form.
Shizuru isn’t certain just how old Kurama is. In one part of the show they indicate he’s 400, then later when they introduce Yomi, they say Kurama’s 1000!
I got the inspiration for Kurama starling Hiei from Shonin Jump. There is a story that happens between story arches of the Saint Beasts and of Rescue Yukina, A story (of many) that they never put into the show. “The Hell House Projects’ is about two half-demons who impersonate Yusuke & Kuwabara. The fakes are causing a lot of trouble, esp. with Kanse thugs who in turn tackle Kuwa’s posse: Of course Yusuke and Kuwabara go after them…. Problem is, after they are still new to using their spirit energies and used up their store of it fighting the Saint Beasts. For that reason, they are very sore, it hurts to move, they have barely any energy to move—they are virtually invalids… Okubo, Kiri & Sawa literally have to help them stand up at one point! Hiei and Kurama are asked to ‘keep an eye out and protect’ them…much to Hiei’s displeasure. Hiei is watching the fakes using his Jagan eye when Kurama sneaks up on him… he IS surprised (so I am NOT making Hiei OOC) his eyes are wide and his shoulders show some smudging...the way an artist would indicate that a shiver, jolt, or a slight jump of movement has occurred. Hiei says ‘Do not sneak up me’ to Kurama. In the end… Hiei beats up an entire gang of half-breeds that were backing the impostors, and then the Kanse guys beat the fakes up LOL.
I blame movies for the bit about hitting the nose in a specific spot with enough force would send bone fragments into the brain…….
The streets are deserted at 3:47 in the morning. As such, there are no witnesses as Kuwabara walked out of an alley. It would be four days before a local shop owner will find the corpse of the Supaida no Yoru gang member, Chiko. The obvious cause of demise is bleeding to death where the digits of the right hand were chopped off. They would never find the seven pieces that once were parts of intact fingers.
Hiei watched as Kuwabara walked away before he leaped from the rooftop to another, never looking back at the remains. His destination is a park on the other side of town. He thought of the earlier conversation with Kurama; they both are—intrigued—by the recent events concerning the human member of the team. Before, Hiei always thought that since Kuwabara grew up in Ningenkai, he was weak—end of argument. However, this gang warfare has shed new light on the subject. These gangs have struck a chord of familiarity with the two demons; they are not so different from the gangs back in Makai. It’s true that Kurama and Hiei were members of two different thieves’ gangs and not street gangs, but the laws governing the gangs are similar. Hiei remembered a pleased Kurama telling him that it seems that Kuwabara was raised by a gang. Hiei shook his head; it figured that Kurama would be amused by the fact that Hiei and Kuwabara had another thing in common. Hiei grimaced as he landed in front of a bench; he never thought that any ningen could have a harsh enough childhood to compare to a demon’s, especially his own.
The occupant on the bench spoke, bringing Hiei out of his thoughts. “You watched him with his second target as well, didn’t you?”
Startled, Hiei’s eyes went wide but he managed to keep his body still…mostly, as he spoke over his shoulder. “How many times must I tell you never to sneak up on me, Kurama!?”
~~on the other side of town~~
A lamplight buzzed as it flickered. Quite a few street lamps have either been broken or burned out in this poor neighborhood. Kuwabara sat down on a bench to think over of what he has learned in one night. The four ghosts helped provide conversation and an audience to hear what he learned and thought.
“There’s more to this than I thought. There is someone backing the two gangs, not even the aniki of the gangs know who though, only the leaders have met with him or her. I wonder…. could this person have provided the sword that beheaded you guys?” Kuwabara sat back rubbing his head.
Although all three were confused, it was Okubo that spoke up. “Why do you think that Kuwabara-san?”
Kirishima noticed the look in Kuwabara’s eye, a look that said there was more than it seemed. “Okay boss, come clean. What do you know?”
"In the files about your deaths, they mention the sword." The four ghosts were not shocked to hear any references to the Reikai anymore. It was the same night that the ghosts first went to Kuwabara that they found out that Kuwabara works with the current Reikai Tantai for the Spirit World. That fact doesn't bother them too much. They all knew about his strong sixth sense. It makes sense for him to have connections to the other world. It's the the fact that the current Reikai Tantai is none other than Urameshi they have trouble believing. That punk never had any psychic abilities before and now he has the number one psychic's job? 'It must be something about the way he died' was all Kirishima could say.
Kuwabara brought them out of their musings by continuing on about the sword."It has some strange features that clearly mark it as supernatural. Although it disappeared before it could be researched more thoroughly…along with your heads. The Spirit World still can’t find either.” In the short time that has passed, Kuwabara has pestered Koenma for any new information dealing with this case. So far there have been no new developments except Kuwabara waging a gang war. “Samejima and Tachikawa couldn’t have just found such a sword, even if they have been researching into the supernatural for the past year…. It’s more likely that they accidentally stumbled on a demon or another evil spirit that procured the sword for the mere havoc that it would cause…”
Pausing for a moment, Kazuma went on. “I learned from the interrogations that the ‘fearless’ leaders are absent at the time. Also I got the names confirmed of who all was involved in the attacks. And now I know where the hostages are, I can plan a rescue…”
“IEEEEEEEEEEE! HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME! RAPE!”
Kuwabara wasted no time as he jumped up to raced to the girl’s cry. In less than a minute, he ran to the alley where the distress call came from. What he saw made his blood boil. Three thugs of the Supaida no Yoru assaulting a young woman, her top was already torn to the waist and only the bra covered her.
With one breath, Kuwabara ran towards the ruffians, his massive fist swirling. On hearing the ominous footfalls, the nearest spider spun around to see the looming adversary. He had only enough time to holler before Kuwabara’s fist smashed into his nose. A ghastly crack echoed as the fist connected.
“KUWABARA!” A second goon roared as he jumped into the fight—literally, with a flying leap.
The copper haired teen easily side-stepped the attack. With a fast spin to the side, he blocked a follow-up attack of a switchblade. The second attacker began to attempt to stab the tall hero as the third attacker rushed in. Kuwabara spun on his right foot as he brought the left foot up for a spinning kick. The third attacker fell with another crack as the kick connected with the side of his head.
With a sudden swipe, Kuwabara took the switchblade. The attacker’s eyes were wide as the blade cut through his throat. Kuwabara turned to face the girl as the thug fell to his knees, only to fall on his face—dead.
“Hey, it’s okay now. They’re gone and can’t hurt you again.” He moved to comfort the young lady but stopped as he remembered her state of dress. Blushing, he took off his trench coat to offer it to her. “Here, put this on.”
As she put it on, she raised her head to say “Arigato, Kuwabara-san”. Her voice prompted him to finally look closely at her.
“TOMIE!”
“Hai, it’s me… I…I was…ah, a bit careless and didn’t realize those Spiders of the Night were following me until was too late.” She hung her head allowing her blunt cut ebony hair to fall, effectively hiding her face.
An awkward silence stretched for a time until Kuwabara noticed that she was shaking. ‘Of course she would still be all nervous, she was nearly raped.’ With a gentle tug, he helped her to her feet. “Come on, I’m taking you to Meiya’s. She’s about the same size as you, so you can get some clothes.”
Tomei tried not to jerk away when he helped her up, but there was still a noticeable twitch. “I’m sorry; I know you won’t do anything. It’s just…I….” She took a moment to take a deep sigh as he waited patiently. “I guess I’m still jumpy.” She gave a small smile as he said it was okay and was to be expected. “Who is Meiya?”
“She’s another of my contacts, a street informant, like you are. She’s a good person despite the fact her brother is a son of a bitch...” He gave a gentle grin as he thought of how similar the two girls are.
Tomei was hesitant, she saw one thug get his throat slashed but he wasn’t alone. “What of the other two thugs?”
Kuwabara blinked in confusion then it dawned on him that she didn’t realize they were already taken care of. “They're dead, no need to worry. Remember how I punched the first punk? Well, I hit his nose in a certain way with enough force that it sent bone fragments into the brain. As for the other punk, well when my kick landed on his neck, it broke.” ~~20 minutes later~~~
“Hey Kuwabara-san, I wasn’t expecting you in the middle of the night. Or should I say this early in the morning?” The light brown haired teen lost her barely there smile when she saw the girl with him. It wasn’t the girl herself that caused the loss of the non-existent smile. Meiya wasn’t interested in Kuwabara like that; it was his friend that caught her attention two years ago. And since Kirishima was murdered, she had very little reason to smile. No, it wasn’t the girl that caused her to frown but the state of dress. “I’m assuming she was assaulted and nearly raped?”
“Yeah, I got there before three spiders were able to anything. This is Tomei, another one of my contacts. She’s still shaken up and need some clothing, so I brought her here.” Kuwabara gave Meiya a condensed account of what happened while Tomei took a shower.
“So they’re dead right? If you’re slacking off, I’ll hunt them down and kill them myself!” Meiya never had any tolerance for rapist and approved of the harshest punishments for rapists. She personally wrote to the city council and voted that all rapists should be castrated.
There are times then silence speaks louder than words and this was one of those times. Flat eyes stared at Meiya while Kuwabara stayed silent. She gave a half-hearted smile and gave an apology. Every one of the Menboku Yaiba or their contacts knows that Kuwabara does not approve of rape and has been known to kill rapists. The word on the street is that when he was ten, two Aka Doragon thugs tied him to a tree while they raped his sister in front of him. Neither of the Kuwabara siblings, Shizuru or Kazuma himself has ever confirmed or denied the tales. So they remain that, Tales of the Streets.
After Tomei had her shower, a change of clothes and a tall cold one…whiskey, she hates beer…her shaking had finally abated and she was ready to talk to this other contact of Kazuma’s. “I’m sorry; I was a bit of a basket-case earlier. I know Kuwabara-san told me your name, but…I…”
A warm and genuine smile graced Meiya’s face. “You were pretty shaken up, it’s okay that you forgot my name under those conditions. I’m Tachikawa Meiya.”
Tomei’s eye widen at the family name. “Are…are you…the sister to that bastard?” A bright red blush overcame her at that point as realization set in. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you!”
Instead of the anger she expected at insulting her hostess’ family, Tomei’s apology was met with raucous laughter. Meiya was doubled over in mirth while Kuwabara was chuckling. “Was it something I said?”
“Hai!” Meiya wiped a tear from her eye as she smiled at her guest. “You tagged that so-called brother of mine correctly all right! I would prefer not to acknowledge him at all.” A grimace came over her as she thought of the brother she wished she never had. “You’re probably wondering why I’m a contact for Kuwabara-san when my brother is the leader of the Aka Doragon. It’s simple really, I hate Akira. I blame him for our parents’ deaths.”
~~Meanwhile at the Kuwabara residence~~
Kurama watched as Shizuru tore yet another piece of paper up. He has been here since he left Hiei at the park an hour ago, intending to talk to her 'little' brother, Kuwabara Kauzma. However, the younger Kuwabara has yet to come home and the elder Kuwabara hasn’t been too talkative. It has been the last two days that Kurama noticed that Shizuru has acted odd. Over the past year and a half that Kurama has known the Kuwabara siblings, he has come to recognize the specific stare of theirs that indicates they are paying attention to a ghost. Needless to say, the siblings get ‘that look’ often at home. There are a score of ghosts at the Kuwabara home.
But why should Shizuru be unnerved? The ghosts have been here for some time. There couldn’t any….wait…aha, yes, there is most likely are some new ghosts here. “Shizuru…” Kurama jumped back as she spun around. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to startle you.” He offered her a chair as she attempted to slow her down her heart-rate. “I wanted to ask, has the ghosts of Kuwabara-kun’s friends appeared?”
With narrowed eyes, Shizuru regarded the rei-youkai. “Common sense would say yes, so why do you ask?” Normally, Shizuru wouldn’t snap at Kurama like that, she liked his normal demeanor of being quietly reserved. No, Shizuru would never foolishly think the fox is ‘polite’—he’s too cunning to be called polite. Kurama is both a kistune and at least several hundred years old, if not older, he knows the best way to appear unassuming and to get people to drop their guard is to pretend to be respectful and polite. ‘I’ll never fall for the act. It’s his acting skill that gets my respect.’
“My apologies for intruding but you seemed distracted by ghosts. Since you have some experience with them, I was wondering what would unnerve you so.” The last bit was rushed as he noticed the look she gave him. “Ah, I suspected there were ghosts because you and your brother get this certain look when you are giving your attention to ghosts.”
Both eyebrows shot up as Shizuru heard that comment. “What look?”
Unseen by Kurama, the ghosts of Okubo and Sawamura were laughing whole-heartedly. Kirishima smiled as he slung an insubstantial arm over Shizuru’s shoulders. “He’s right, you know. You do get this certain look when you focus on ghosts and such. That’s how we boys knew when not to distract Kuwabara-san.”
Kurama was perplexed, one minute Shizuru was talking to him, the next she’s zoning out…wait, it’s that look. Ah, there must be a ghost nearby. He was taken off-guard as a look that Kazuma knows best came over Shizuru.
“Kirishima!” Her scream bowled Kurama over. “I don’t care if you are dead, you get your damned arm off me, you scum! You know that I don’t like anyone to do that!” Shizuru ignored Kurama as he went to sit in a chair…on the other side of the room. With a sigh, she turned to face her guest. “Sorry about that, you’re right about Kazuma’s three friends being here. Kirishima always likes to annoy me by slinging his arm over my shoulder.” After getting them something to drink, Shizuru sat down opposite of Kurama. “Yes, the three friends are here…as well as another.”
Her ambiguous hints teased Kurama’s curiosity. “Another?”
“Hai, he’s the ghost of the man that saved Kazuma when he was…born.” Shizuru whispered the last word.
That piqued his curiosity. “Why does that disturb you?”
Shizuru looked at him with guilt-ridden eyes. “It was my fault. Kazuma would never would have to be saved, our mother wouldn’t have died if wasn’t for my stupid mistake.”
TBC Author’s note= Rei-youkai- A youkai reborn in human form.
Shizuru isn’t certain just how old Kurama is. In one part of the show they indicate he’s 400, then later when they introduce Yomi, they say Kurama’s 1000!
I got the inspiration for Kurama starling Hiei from Shonin Jump. There is a story that happens between story arches of the Saint Beasts and of Rescue Yukina, A story (of many) that they never put into the show. “The Hell House Projects’ is about two half-demons who impersonate Yusuke & Kuwabara. The fakes are causing a lot of trouble, esp. with Kanse thugs who in turn tackle Kuwa’s posse: Of course Yusuke and Kuwabara go after them…. Problem is, after they are still new to using their spirit energies and used up their store of it fighting the Saint Beasts. For that reason, they are very sore, it hurts to move, they have barely any energy to move—they are virtually invalids… Okubo, Kiri & Sawa literally have to help them stand up at one point! Hiei and Kurama are asked to ‘keep an eye out and protect’ them…much to Hiei’s displeasure. Hiei is watching the fakes using his Jagan eye when Kurama sneaks up on him… he IS surprised (so I am NOT making Hiei OOC) his eyes are wide and his shoulders show some smudging...the way an artist would indicate that a shiver, jolt, or a slight jump of movement has occurred. Hiei says ‘Do not sneak up me’ to Kurama. In the end… Hiei beats up an entire gang of half-breeds that were backing the impostors, and then the Kanse guys beat the fakes up LOL.
I blame movies for the bit about hitting the nose in a specific spot with enough force would send bone fragments into the brain…….