Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Watching You ❯ New Mission ( Chapter 3 )

BlackRoseVixen05: Hello, and welcome to the third chapter of “Watching You”. Thanks to all who reviewed. Thank you for keeping my fic alive. And now, on with the fic.

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

 

Chapter Three

 

After walking for at least twenty minutes, Yusuke and Kurama found themselves at the staircase to Genkai's temple. Yusuke scowled at the massive tower of steps. He'd always hated them. Or rather, he hated climbing them.

 

Kurama noticed Yusuke's scowl and he couldn't help but chuckle. Yusuke would never change. Kurama walked ahead of the Spirit Detective and started up the stairs. Yusuke sighed deeply and soon followed suit.

 

Halfway up the stairs, Kuwabara's voice caused the two to pause. They turned to see Kuwabara and Xandra running up the stairs behind them. Both Yusuke and Kurama stopped to wait for the other Spirit Detectives to catch up to them.

 

“H-hey there, Urameshi,” Kuwabara panted as he and Xandra finally caught up.

 

“Yo, guys,” said Xandra, who wasn't out of breath at all.

 

“'Bout time you guys got here. What kept ya?” Yusuke asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

 

“Well, heh heh, it's a pretty long story, ya know…” Kuwabara said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

 

“Well, actually, Yusuke…” started Xandra, stepping in front of Kuwabara, “Kuwabara was supposed to meet me outside of his house after I told him about the meeting. It took me all of forty-five minutes to get there, and yet when I arrived, he was nowhere to be found,” she tattled.

 

“And just where were you?” Yusuke asked Kuwabara. Kuwabara chuckled nervously and mumbled something.

 

“What? I didn't quite catch that,” Yusuke said, grinning.

 

“I was in the bathroom, okay?!” Kuwabara yelled.

 

At this, Yusuke broke into wild laughter. Kurama tried desperately not to laugh, and Xandra merely chuckled. Kuwabara blushed and turned away from his friends.

 

“It wasn't that funny,” he mumbled as he stomped past the others and continued up the stairs.

 

Getting their laughter under control, Yusuke and the others followed after Kuwabara. Soon, they made to the top of the stairs and reached the temple.

 

As they approached, they found Genkai sitting on her front porch talking to Koenma, who was proudly sporting his teenage form. Botan was there also. When she saw them, she squealed loudly and ran to greet each of them.

 

“About time you brats showed up. Any longer and I might have died,” Genkai “greeted”, crossing her arms.

 

“Heh, nice to see you too, ol'lady,” Yusuke said, smirking playfully.

 

“Enough with the social pleasantries. We have a serious problem. Let's go inside and I'll explain,” Koenma said, walking through the temple doors. Genkai followed, as did Yusuke and the others. They all took seats on the floor and just as Koenma was about to speak, Xandra spoke up first.

 

“Hey, does anyone know where Hiei is? I mean, shouldn't he be here?” she said.

 

“I am here,” said a voice from the corner.

 

All eyes turned to the left side of the room, and sure enough, there stood Hiei. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded in his usual laidback fashion.

 

“Well? What did you call us for?” Hiei asked, glaring at Koenma. The prince of Spirit World cleared his throat, preparing to explain.

 

“You see, lately, the demon world has been overrun with insects,” he began.

 

“So? What's new?” said Yusuke, dryly.

 

“These insects are quite different from the ones we saw on the Sensui case, Yusuke. They're like mutants. They are running wild in Demon World and some have even crossed into Spirit World. We, in Spirit World, think some might have even come here,” Koenma said.

 

“But if there were, we'd be able to sense them, right?” Xandra asked.

 

“Ya know, I did sense a faint trace of demon energy last night,” Kuwabara said, scratching his head.

 

“You did? Where?” asked Yusuke.

 

“I think it was comin' from the park, but I'm not sure,” Kuwabara said.

 

“Yusuke, why don't you and the others go take a look in the park, just to be safe?” Koenma suggested. Yusuke nodded in agreement.

 

“Right, let's go, guys,” Yusuke said, standing from his seat and dashing out of the temple, followed closely by Kuwabara and Xandra. Kurama was about to follow them, but stopped suddenly before he was completely out the door.

 

“Koenma, have you received anymore reports on the burglary we investigated yesterday?” Kurama asked, glancing behind him to look at Koenma. The demigod shook his head.

 

“I'm afraid not. No reports have been turned in as of yet,” he informed. “We never even found out what was stolen. Hopefully something will turn up soon. Why do you ask?”

 

“Just curious,” was Kurama's reply before exiting. He quickly caught up with Yusuke and the others; they then proceeded to the park.

 

In The Treetops

 

The cloaked figure had listened as Koenma talked with the spirit detectives. Its pointed ears twitched with curiosity as their conversation drew to a close.

 

`Insects?' it wondered, taking off after the group as they left the temple.

 

At The Park

 

As Yusuke and company arrived at the park, he ordered a spread and search. Each person went to a different part of the park to look for anything strange. If anyone happened to find anything, they were to signal the others with the communication watches given to them by Botan. Besides being two-way radios, they also had a built in tracer.

 

Kurama split from the group and went to search the western part of the forest. From what he could see, everything was normal. He was about to report back to the group when his sensitive ears heard the faint sound of buzzing.

 

Turning swiftly, Kurama extracted his rose whip, lashing it to his left. The buzzing stopped, and a small preying mantis-like Makai insect fell to the ground. Its body had been sliced in half, but its wings, legs, and pincers still twitched with life. After a few moments, the bug's twitching ceased and it died.

 

Kurama carefully picked up the insect and examined it closely before tossing it aside. He looked off in the direction the bug was flying and wondered if there were more. Giving his whip a slight squeeze, he dashed off in the direction the bug was headed.

 

As he ran in the direction of the bug, he noticed several more small insects flying ahead of him. His emerald eyes narrowed as he followed them. He trailed the bugs until he found himself inside a thickly wooded area of the forest. He slowed his run to a jog as he searched for the insects. He had somehow lost sight of them.

 

He stopped to look around for a moment, trying figure out where they had gone. From above, a faint hissing and clicking sound caused him to look up. Kurama's eyes widened as he saw four sets of eyes looking down at him.

 

He quickly jumped out of the way as four massive preying mantis demons leaped from the treetops. They hissed and snarled ferociously at the kitsune. A light smirk crossed Kurama's face as he switched on his tracer watch. He knew he would have to hold off the bugs until Yusuke and the others got there, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

 

One of the bugs charged at Kurama, trying to grab him with its pincers. Kurama easily dodged and tried to use his rose whip to slice the demon insect in two. But to his shock, the whip just bounced off its shell. Kurama quickly realized what he had done wrong. If he wanted to kill the beast, he would have to slice it where the shells of its segmented body connected.

 

Coming to terms with his mistake, the kitsune issued a fatal blow to the demon, cutting its large body in half. The fox smirked again as the insect screeched and fell to the ground. He then turned to face the other three insects that were circling him. A sudden movement behind him made the fox turn to face the first demon's corpse.

 

The front half of the demon was still very much alive. It pushed itself up with its scythe-like claws and as the fox drew his whip again, the insect knocked him to the ground. Upon impact with the demon's claw, the kitsune winced as the smaller spines cut into his skin.

 

He fell to the ground, clutching his chest in pain. The mantis demon once again raised its claw to finish the fox. As the beast swung its giant claw downward, Kurama closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come. But it never did. He opened his eyes to see that the mantis had been sliced down the middle of its skull.

 

“But how…?” the fox whispered.

 

Kurama's eyes then fell upon his savior. Behind the dead demon's body, stood the stranger he had seen the night before. The kitsune quickly got to his feet, not knowing what else the stranger had planned. A snarling sound caught both Kurama's and the stranger's attention as the insects began to circle them. Kurama looked away from the insects for a moment to glance at the stranger again.

 

“Who are you? Why did you save me?” Kurama asked, his voice holding a slightly cold tone.

 

And then, for the first time, the stranger's eyes locked with Kurama's. Deep indigo bore into emerald green, as if searching for something. The stranger's face was still hidden by shadows, but his eyes were in clear view. The stranger said nothing, but his stare was unwavering.

 

`Those eyes…' Kurama thought. `I know those eyes…'

 

“Kurama!” Yusuke's voice called.

 

Kurama turned around to see Yusuke and the rest running towards him. He turned back to where the stranger was standing, but he wasn't there anymore. Kurama looked around the treetops, but couldn't see the stranger anywhere. With a sigh, Kurama went to join the others in battle.

 

Yusuke and Kuwabara were fighting one mantis together while Hiei and Xandra each fought one. Xandra manifested three sutras in each of her hands and was about to finish off the mantis demon. As Kurama rejoined the fight, the mantis Xandra was fought ran away from her and began to attack Kurama.

 

“What the…?” Xandra said, blinking.

 

The mantis rapidly swung its giant claws at Kurama, who dodged. The fox so busy dodging attacks that he didn't notice that the mantis Hiei was fought approached him from behind. For some reason, each mantis was going after Kurama. They didn't seem to be too concerned with anyone else.

 

As Kurama continued to swiftly dodge the constant attacks, Xandra tossed her sutras at one of the demons. The sutras attached to the demon's forehead and it began to thrash and flail, trying to get them off. Moments later, the demon, unsuccessful in getting rid of the sutras, burst into flames.

 

The mantis stumbled around, shrieking in pain from the flames. While flailing, it accidentally crashed into another mantis, causing it to catch fire as well. The two insects soon fell to the ground in an ashy heap. Now, only one remained. Yusuke smirked at this.

 

“I'll take care of this,” he said, aiming his right pointer finger at the beast. Once enough energy was charged into the tip of his finger, Yusuke fired his famous Spirit Gun at the mantis. The demon could do nothing to block and its entire upper body was blown away.

 

What was left of the demon's body fell to the ground with a loud thud. Yusuke grinned and blew the smoke away from his finger, as if it were an actual gun. Xandra used her dispelling sutras to dispose of the corpses and the job was done…for now.

 

A Short Time Later

 

After the gang reported back to Koenma, it was time to call it a day. The friends walked in silence for a long time until Yusuke spoke up.

 

“Hey, Kurama, why were those bugs after you?” he asked. Kurama looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.

 

“I'm not sure, Yusuke. It was strange,” the kitsune replied.

 

“Well, I guess it's not important. What really matters is that now we know those bugs are here,” Yusuke said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

 

“Yes, and that's not all…” Kurama mumbled, more to himself than to the others.

 

“You say something, Fox-boy?” asked Yusuke.

 

Kurama glanced behind him. In the distance, on top of a building, stood the cloaked stranger. Even from there, Kurama could see the stranger's indigo eyes watching him. The two stared for a moment before the figure disappeared again. Kurama turned to Yusuke and smiled slightly.

 

“No, nothing,” the fox said quietly. His mind drifted back to meeting the stranger in the park. Why had the stranger saved him? And for some odd reason, Kurama couldn't help but feel as if he knew the strange person. It's just that…his eyes. Kurama knew them. Sighing softly, Kurama shook his head to clear his mind.

 

`Thank you, whoever you are,' Kurama thought, glancing behind him once more.

 

The Rooftops

 

From the rooftop of a near by house, a small, but genuine, smile graced the cloaked figure's pale face. He watched silently as Kurama and others disappeared around the corner of a building.

 

When they were out of view, the figure reached a pale hand up to remove the hood of its cloak. Long raven hair spilled from under the hood as it was pulled off. The figure raked its hand through the silky strands as they whipped around in the night breeze.

 

“You're welcome, Kurama. See you soon,” he said, with his smile never leaving his face.

 

End of Chapter Three

 

BlackRoseVixen05: Whew! Well, there you have it, people. The third chapter. I hope you all liked it. And thanks again for reviewing the last one, but it's gonna take a little more this time. I will not be updating again until I have five or more reviews. Please do not let my fic die! Review!