Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ With Every Drop of Blood ❯ The Calm Before the Storm ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any YYH stuff and I won't through the rest of this fic

And to Umeko Saito: I wouldn't have it any other way than with a little Kurama/Mai/Yusuke!! : D

And so, without further ado, I give you Fire Angel!

Thoughts

'Kira'

Fire Angel

::The Calm Before the Storm::

Two Months Later

Light danced across the stage and music echoed through the audience. A girl twirled across the floor to the beat of the tranquil song. She wore a flowing, flamenco-styled gown dyed in a deep red. Her crimson hair was plaited elegantly on top of her head (and luckily shielding her curiously pointed ears from the onlookers).

The dancer spun gracefully between the pillars of light as the captivated audience watched her every move. Her skirt swished around her legs as the silk ribbons from her waist twirled.

Near the back of the auditorium, five other watched the girl as she danced elegantly with the music.

Kuwabara leaned over towards the boy next to him, "You know, Mai looks pretty hot, Urameshi—"

Yusuke sent him a dangerous glare, "Shut...up," he threatened and showed him his fist, "Or you'll be watching the show in the hospital room..." he said, "Besides, she's Kurama's girlfriend..."

"Hey dimwit, will you two shut up?" Genkai hissed from down the row.

The Detective scowled and folded his arms just as the song ended.

Mai spread her arms out in from of her and swept them forward in an elaborate bow. The audience applauded and some even rose from the seats for an ovation. The dancer smiled brightly as she listened to the applause filling the air.

The five also rose, but made their way along the side of the auditorium towards the back-stage entrance.

The entered the stage just as Mai appeared from behind the curtains. Her cheeks were flushed and her heels clicked on the wood flooring.

"Kurama-kun!" she exclaimed and almost immediately flung her arms around his neck, giving him a quick—but affectionate—peck on the cheek. She turned to the other four when she caught sight of them, "And you guys came too!"

Botan grinned, "We wouldn't miss it! Except for Hiei, that is..." she added with a slight fade of her smile.

Mai beamed with excitement as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, "I'm just surprised Yusuke made it."

The Detective crossed his arms, "Yeah, well it wasn't as though it was of my free will..." he grumbled, but the dancer playfully nudged him in the shoulder with her fists.

"Aw, Yusuke, I knew you cared!" she laughed.

He muttered something inaudible as the girl continued to grin.

"Let me just get my coat and I'll meet you all around the front, okay?" she chirped as she started to prance off.

The others agreed and after about five minutes, she came racing down the steps towards the group.-

"Ready!" she called. When she reached them, she soon found herself walking beside Kurama and the pair timidly wrapped their hands around one another. Yusuke watched them from the corner of his eye distastefully.

They hadn't gone ten feet however, when Mai felt a sudden chill race down her spine. She glanced around warily half-expecting to see the others looking too. Even after two months, her Spirit Awareness was still growing, but she was surprised that Kuwabara hadn't sensed it too; he was supposed to be the one with “the tingle”...

Odd...she thought.

But—there it was again! Her eyes darted warily around her and at the crowd exiting the school. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though...

She sighed, Too much stress—

Suddenly, her eyes locked onto the center of the crowd. She knew it was there, she just couldn't see it...but it was there nonetheless.

"Mai? Is something wrong?"

The dancer turned swiftly towards Kurama and forced a smile, "I'm alright..." she told him innocently.

-:1:-

Mai massaged her heels gingerly back in the spare bedroom. With both dance and training, she was completely fatigued. And tossing her outfit onto her chair, she quietly curled up under her covers.

She still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there earlier; watching her and the others. It wasn't an aggressive sense, just an eerie one that seemed to constantly unnerve her.

She sighed heavily and plopped her head on her pillow when she suddenly remembered she had a History test the next day (A/N: ::shudders::)

"Crap..." she murmured wearily.

-:1:-

Mai's PoV

"Yusuke..." I whined irritably as I kicked the Detective out of bed, "Come on, wake up or we're going to be late!"

He mumbled something into his pillow and turned his back towards me.

I groaned, "Get your lazy ass up and out of bed, Urameshi!" I demanded, but still he didn't stir. I thought for a moment before sighing overdramatically, "Well, I guess Genkai can always beat the crap out of you in training..."

Yusuke growled as he tossed the bed sheets off of him, "Alright, alright...just give me another minute or so..." he yawned.

I sighed in exasperation this time as I went to go stand out in the hall. It took another five minutes or so before he left his room. Immediately, I grasped his wrist and dragged him through the house.

"But I haven't had breakfast..." he complained weakly.

"Fine!" I snapped and shoved some random food into his hand, "Here's a bagel; eat it on the way to school."

He groaned and trudged after me slowly as I swung my backpack over my shoulder. The Detective seemed to purposely drag his feet as we made our way down the hill in front of the temple.

"Hurry up, Yusuke! Botan and Kuwabara are waiting for us!"

The boy yawned, "Yeah, whatever..."

I sighed with frustration as I turned and grabbed him by the collar. He didn't have time to protest as I towed him down the path. When I did finally let go, we had already come across the road.

"Jeeze, why are you so mad all of a sudden?" he asked lazily.

"Because I haven't had any sleep for the past week and I have a damn test today," I muttered as I stormed off down the sidewalk.

Yusuke tried to stifle a yawn, "Well maybe if you didn't stay out so late with Kurama you wouldn't be so tired..."

I whirled on him, "Excuse me?"

He shrugged, "I'm just saying that you spend a little too much time with him..."

"Well you're the one to talk, Urameshi; you seem to spend a lot of your time with Keiko..." I returned with an icy glare. This had to be the hundredth time since Kurama and I started going out that Yusuke had brought up the subject.

But he didn't answer and instead turned his head away.

I stopped and turned to him; his silence catching my attention, "Yusuke?"

"...Keiko and I…are just friends now..." he said quietly.

I felt my body go numb and I bit my lip nervously, "I...I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

The Detective shrugged again, "Yeah, well...I didn't want her to get hurt again; it just wouldn't have worked out."

Again? I fell silent and looked down at my feet.

But before either of us could say anymore, a blast of wind whipped around us. I cried out slightly as my skirt began to fly upwards and I swiftly pulled it back down.

"Dammit, Hiei!" I told him as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, "Do you always have to do that?"

"Hn," the apparition replied and turned to the Detective, holding out a little black tape, "The baka from the Spirit World wanted me to give this to you," he muttered.

And as soon as Yusuke took the tape from him, Hiei was gone.

I cocked my eyebrow as I studied the video, "Do you think he meant Koenma?"

Urameshi shrugged carelessly and tossed the cassette into his bag, "Yeah, probably..."

-:1:-

About seven hours later (A/N: I'm not quite sure how long school is over in Japan, but that's about how long it is for me...) Botan, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Mai left the school traveling together in their little group. The two girls followed slightly behind the boys as they made their way towards Kazuma's house.

"Man, I think I bombed that test..." Mai mumbled sadly as she dragged her bag along the pavement.

Botan forced a reassuring grin, "Don't worry about it; if you did, I can always help you study!" she laughed, "But then again, you might want to have Kurama help you instead!"

The dancer blushed as her face turned the color of her hair. Ahead of them, Yusuke quickly glanced backwards, but then returned his attention to the ground in front of him.

"So, Urameshi...what's with the tape anyway?" Kuwabara asked when he noticed the video in the Detective's hand.

He shrugged, "I dunno...Hiei came along this morning and handed it off to me. But I guess we'll figure it out sooner or later."

"Yeah, but remember your promise, Urameshi;" he told him, "I'm not going to be apart of any more of these missions, got it? Personally, don't wanna try and get my head blown off again—damn Byakko was one pain in the ass..." he muttered as an afterthought.

"Yeah, yeah..." Yusuke replied calmly, "If you're backing out, there's always Mai..."

And hearing her name, the girl smiled at the two of them and gave them the thumbs-up. Kazuma's face fell slightly and mumbled something that sounded like 'Well you don't have to replace me...'

It took another minute or so before the group made their way to Kuwabara's house. The red-head readied the VCR with the tape as the other three settled down around the TV. Kazuma pressed a button and quickly scooted back to a place on the ground.

Koenma's face then appeared on the screen (A/N: I haven't seen this episode before so I sort of have to improvise so don't get mad, please).

"I have a new assignment for you all," the toddler said as the screen flashed and showed a picture of a mansion in the center of some sort of forest, "A mafia boss by the name of Tarukane has taken the ice apparition, Yukina, hostage..." his voice told them as the screen changed again.

This time, it was a screenshot of a young girl with pale blue hair and deep red eyes. She sat behind what appeared to be a caged window at the top of the mansion they had just seen.

Immediately however, Kuwabara glued his face to the screen (almost literally) as drool oozed from the corner of his mouth, "She's...pretty..." he droned

Mai rolled her eyes and gripped him by the ear, pulling him back down, "Down boy," she told him as Koenma started talking again.

"Yukina has the ability to transform her tears into priceless jewels and therefore Tarukane is planning to use the gems to make his fortune—"

Kuwabara suddenly leapt to his feet as he clenched his fists, "That bastard!" he cried so loudly causing everyone else to sweat-drop, "I'll make him pay for doing this to my beloved Yukina!!"

"Uh, Kuwabara—?" Botan started

But the red-head had already ran—more like pranced, however—out the door even though the tape continued to roll.

"However," the toddler continued, "There is a little bit of a catch..." he said as his face reappeared on the TV, "Yukina is also Hiei's sister and therefore he must not know about her. Knowing him, he'd be bound to killing anyone that got in his way...

"It's your job to rescue Yukina and make sure that Tarukane is stopped."

The screen went black then as the remaining three looked at one another.

Kuwabara's sister, Shizuru, however stood quietly in the doorway holding the tray of tea she was going to bring in to them. Although, her eyes remained on the T.V. screen they had been watching as a puff of smoke rose from the cigarette in her mouth. After a moment, she merely rolled her eyes; Kazuma was always being weird...something like this wasn't anything new (after all there was that time where she could have sworn she saw him flying out the window with that blue haired girl).

"Here we go again..." Yusuke sighed.

-:1:-

A/N: okay, well I'm running out of ideas and it's getting late. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter so far and I'll try and update soon!!

Ciao!!!