Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Twenty-three: An Ounce of Luck ( Chapter 23 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Twenty-three: An Ounce of Luck

 

It had been weeks since Yusuke had quit his so called job as Spirit Detective, and instead of his mood improving over this period of time, it only seemed to get worse. Naturally, he hadn't spent a single second at school, but then, he hadn't spent a single second in the arcade either. His appearance reflected his demeanor, as well. He had stopped bothering to slick his hair back as he usually did, and was just letting it stick out wherever it so chose to, apparently totally disinterested with how he looked. He didn't really express interest in much of anything now, and this was reflected by what he occupied himself with.

 

Although, “occupied” is perhaps the wrong word, for when he wasn't lying in his room and staring at the ceiling, he was wandering around the streets of Tokyo. Sometimes, he purposely walked in the areas with the least amount of people so that he could be truly alone, and sometimes he walked in areas where he knew a local street gang hung out just so that he could get the satisfaction of spreading some pain around to other people. At the moment, he was walking through a small park and kicking an aluminum can as he went, feeling too bored with his ceiling to stare at it again and fairly certain that there were no gangs in the area that he hadn't already put in the hospital.

 

“Yusuke!” he heard Keiko call out to him, breaking the silence.

 

Almost every day, Keiko had tried to get Yusuke out of his rut, and at first Yusuke had actually responded to her, though what he said was far from pleasant. Recently though, he had decided just to ignore her altogether. Since she was the only one who really ever talked to him outside of his now departed friends, the result was that Yusuke hadn't spoken for days.

 

“Yusuke!” called out Keiko again as she ran up next to him. “I've been looking all over for you.”

 

Yusuke grunted, then kicked the aluminum can again.

 

“Yusuke, you have to snap out of this,” she continued, staring sadly at him. “You can't live out the rest of your life just sitting in your room and walking in parks.”

 

Yusuke abstained from grunting this time, though he still gave the can another kick.

 

“Please, Yusuke,” Keiko continued to plea. “They…they wouldn't want you to be like this…”

 

Yusuke crushed the can under his foot.

 

“Don't pretend like you know what they would want, the only people that know that is them,” he spoke suddenly, his voice quiet and his expression emotionless turned to look at Keiko. “I know that you're trying to help me, but I don't want your help, or anyone else's. You know what, why don't you just never talk to me again?”

 

Tears were gathering in Keiko's eyes and threatened to overflow as she backed away from Yusuke, shocked by his biting words. Yusuke just turned on his heel and walked slowly onwards through the park, not giving Keiko a second glance. He hadn't gone more than a few steps before he was interrupted again by someone calling his name.

 

“Yusuke, I need to talk to you!” Botan called down urgently as she burst through the trees, flying hastily on her oar. “A demon is on the loose in Tokyo and Koe-”

 

“I thought I told you I'm done with your stupid missions,” he sated, cutting her off as he walked past her. “So go tell Koenma that he can get himself killed cleaning up Spirit World's messes.”

 

Botan watched sadly for a moment as Yusuke walked onward before he rounded a corner and disappeared behind the trees. It was now that she noticed Keiko's current emotional state.

 

“I'm so worried, Botan,” said Keiko as the ferry girl dismounted her oar and walked over to the human girl to comfort her. “I'm worried that the Yusuke we knew may never come back. He's just so…depressed.”

 

“I'm sure he'll be back to normal eventually,” assured Botan as Keiko wiped some of the tears away from her eyes. “It just might…take some time…”

 

“I hope so, Botan, I really do…”

 

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At her family's shrine across the city from where Yusuke had just recently reaffirmed his unemployed status, Kagome was having her own issues, and it wasn't just the oversized backpack she was dragging wearily towards her house. Without Naraku interfering, at least temporarily, it had been expected that the hunt for more shards of the Shikon Jewel would be far easier than normal. It quickly became apparent that this was not the case. In the weeks that had followed, the team had recovered only one more shard, bringing the total up to three, which was exactly where they had been before the Spirit Detectives had arrived on the scene. On top of that, they had found no trace of Naraku.

 

At least a small part of this could be attributed to Miroku's disappearance while Kagome and Inuyasha were meeting with Koenma. Not only did this leave the group down one member, but it also served to bring morale down even lower than it had been before. Shippou, being a child, had occasionally allowed himself to be distracted as children are, but even so, he would quickly snap back to the harsh reality on seeing the everyone's rather gloomy faces. Seeing Shippou so unusually unhappy had almost been enough to drag Kagome down into the emotional slums, but fortunately, Inuyasha had been there for her. Not in the warm, fuzzy sense of “being there”, of course, as that was not the kind of person he was. His demeanor, however, had remained the least affected by the recent events, and although he was quite a bit more serious than normal and was clearly exerting an incredible amount of effort to remain tactful in what he said, he nonetheless provided Kagome with an emotional pillar to lean on.

 

Sango, however, was far beyond such support. Not surprisingly, she had taken everything personally, from the Spirit Detectives unfortunate fates to Miroku's disappearance. The worst part about this was that her constant blaming of herself seemed to have a small bit of logic to it. After all, Hiei had sacrificed himself for her. While she had been relieved to hear that this sacrifice had not actually been deadly, Kagome had noted disappointedly that it was not nearly enough relief to make much of a difference to Sango, especially since she was also blaming Miroku's disappearance on herself. Kagome had known better than to pry on the issue, though it was not as though she had to. Like Miroku had, Kagome was able to put together the pieces and figure out just what kinds of feelings Sango had been experiencing towards Hiei. However, unlike Miroku, she had also realized that Sango also felt similar feelings towards the monk. It was at this point that Kagome decided that the issue was far too sensitive for her to even attempt to meddle in.

 

`In short, we've hit rock bottom,' thought Kagome as she opened the door to her house and gratefully dropped her backpack down on the ground.

 

No one was home, which wasn't surprising. It was, after all, the middle of the day, which meant Kagome's brother, Souta was in school, and her mother and grandpa were likely out doing some chore or another. For this Kagome was grateful. She felt so exhausted that she closed her eyes as she opened the door to her room and instinctively stumbled onto her bed.

 

“Oh my, it doesn't look like you're feeling that well either, are you?” said a worried and somewhat familiar female voice, causing Kagome to sit abruptly upright and turn in that direction.

 

“Oh, it's you…Botan, right?” spoke Kagome as her eyes fell on the blue haired woman that was standing by her window. “What are you doing here? This isn't about the Sacred Jewel, is it?”

 

“Oh no. No need to fret over that. Like Lord Koenma said, you're all cleared legally on that,” assured Botan. “Actually, Lord Koenma has a favor to ask of you. Is Inuyasha here?”

 

“No, he's in his own time. Do you need me to get him?” Kagome asked, rising reluctantly to her feet.

 

“That would be splendid, thank you,” confirmed Botan, then reaching into her robes and pulling out a videotape. “Now then, do you have a VCR?”

 

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Once Kagome had managed to retrieve Inuyasha from beyond the well, which, to Kagome's shock, had required only one sit, it had still taken them a few minutes to set up the VCR. Kagome had been far too busy recently to spend any time watching television or movies, so she proved rather inept in helping Botan with the task. Eventually, though, they did figure it out, and the tape finally began to play. After a rather lengthy introduction that had a plethora of fireworks form the image of Koenma's face on the screen with blaring rock music in the background, the screen shifted to an image of Koenma, the seemingly teenaged, pacifier sucking ruler of Spirit World sitting in a large padded chair by a crackling fire and donning a bathrobe. He also seemed to be holding a wine glass filled with what looked like chocolate milk.

 

“Hello Kagome and Inuyasha, I hope that you are well since we met last. I apologize for not meeting you in person, but I'm very busy doing incredibly important things all the time, so I'm afraid that this tape will have to fill the unimaginably massive void left by my absence,” began the recording of Koenma though Botan muttered something about naps when Koenma said he was busy. “At any rate, I have sent Botan with this tape to ask you for your help. Yusuke is refusing to return to his duties as Spirit Detective, so I'm afraid that I must ask you to replace him for the time being.”

 

“Replace him? Just who the hell does he think we are? Mercenaries?” scoffed Inuyasha before he was shushed by Kagome.

 

“There is a low level demon that has been wreaking havoc at a local museum. He is a low level, but so far, he has killed two security guards and ruined most of the exhibits,” continued Koenma's recording. “Fortunately, I have managed to use what connections to the human world I still have to destroy any recordings of the demon and seal off the museum even after the local police finished their investigation, which I also diverted away from discovering the demon's presence with my unparalleled greatness. I need you two to go to the museum and eliminate the demon for me. I know that you must have your hands full with your own troubles, but you're the only people I can turn to until Yusuke snaps out of his current state. Also if you accept my offer, this videotape will give you each a cookie. It's chocolate chip.”

 

With that, the screen went black, and Botan ejected the tape.

 

“Cookies?” questioned Kagome, looking a little bewildered.

 

“I'm afraid so. It took me a good thirty minutes to pry them out of the tape without ruining it,” Botan answered with a sigh. “Lord Koenma's misconception of what a videotape can do aside, I'll give you two a few minutes to think about this.”

 

With that, Botan left the living room, leaving Kagome and Inuyasha alone. Kagome looked at Inuyasha, not even having to speak to convey her question. After a moment, she got her response. It was a nod.

 

“We owe it to `em, right?” he added, and Kagome nodded in agreement. “Besides, I've just got a feeling that this is more important than just a low level demon…”

 

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It had been decided that they would wait until nightfall to head to the museum, although Kagome and Inuyasha had wanted to do it right away. Apparently, Botan did not share the opinion that Inuyasha wearing a baseball cap was sufficient disguise for the half-demon. When the sun had finally gone down, the pair was off, with Inuyasha carrying Kagome on his back as he leapt across the rooftops. At last, they arrived at the museum's rooftop, and, using a key Botan had given them, unlocked the door that led to the stairwell and entered the building.

 

The museum was dark and quiet, and it did not help that they had entered into the “Fossils” section with the skulls of various prehistoric creatures staring at them with hollowed eyes.

 

“What the hell are these things Kagome?” asked Inuyasha as he put his face nose to nose with a raptor skull. “They don't look like any demons I've ever seen.”

 

“They're called dinosaurs, Inuyasha,” answered Kagome as she removed an arrow from her quiver and held it at the ready in her bow. “I'll tell you about them later, but for now, all you need to know is that they're very expensive and you can't break any of them.”

 

Reluctantly, Inuyasha backed away from the fossil and sniffed the air. After all, the sooner he killed this demon, the sooner he could find out about the dinosaurs.

 

“Found the bastard. Stay close to me, Kagome,” he said, and then began to lead on down the hall.

 

They passed all kinds of exhibits as they walked through the halls, but neither Inuyasha nor Kagome paid much attention to them, choosing instead to focus on finding the demon. Eventually, they had made their way into the “Japanese History” section of the museum. Coming to a stop right next to a door that said “Historians' Offices”, Inuyasha again sniffed the air before hastily drawing the Tetsusaiga.

 

“Come on out! We know you're here, demon!” he bellowed, having never been a fan of cat and mouse games.

 

“Out, you says? You wants my shinies, doesn't you? Hee hee, you wants to gets me out so you can take the shinies,” came back a high pitched, hissing voice. “You tries to tricks me, but you can't tricks me. I'm too smarts for you.”

 

“Well, at least we know why he's hanging around in a museum. He likes shiny things,” said Kagome, slightly bewildered.

 

“I don't care about your stupid stuff, I'm here to kill ya you pest! Now come out!” Inuyasha yelled at the demon again.

 

This time, he got a response, and something was seen dropping from the ceiling and landing onto the floor. It was a lizard demon, this much was gathered easily since it appeared to be simply a larger, uglier version of the animal that it was associated with. It was wearing something that didn't look normal, but neither Inuyasha nor Kagome could see it that well in the darkness. This didn't stop Inuyasha from leaping straight at the demon with intent to kill, but it made Kagome squint to get a better look at the demon. Suddenly, as Inuyasha was in midair flying at his target, she figured it out.

 

“Wait, Inuyasha! Don't use the Tetsusaiga, he's wearing a bunch of the museum's valuable artifacts!” she cried out causing Inuyasha to twist in mid air to avoid the lizard demon as he flew past it.

 

Inuyasha was about to yell at the girl, but he was now close enough to the lizard demon to see that she was right. The “strange clothing” had in fact been a mishmash of beautiful necklaces, belts, crowns, and any other kind of gilded or gem encrusted artifact you could possibly find in a museum, and the demon had managed to find a way to put all of them on at once. Cursing, Inuyasha reluctantly sheathed the Tetsusaiga.

 

“Hee Hee, can'ts hurt the shinies cans you? Then I'll kills you and take all yours shinies!” spat out the Lizard demon, and then let out a hiss as it leapt towards Inuyasha.

 

“I'm sick of listening to that damned hissing!” yelled Inuyasha, and almost effortlessly landed a powerful right hook onto the lizard demon's jaw, sending it smashing it straight through a suit of samurai armor and the wall next to the door that said “Historians' Offices”.

 

“You! Die!” cried out the lizard demon as it rose from the rubble of what was once someone's office while Inuyasha stepped through the hole in the wall.

 

The demon never even got a chance to attack, as it found Inuyasha's claws piercing right through its jugular. The demon emitted a pathetic gurgle, and then collapsed as blood spurted out of his throat like a small fountain, effectively dying all the jewelry he was wearing crimson.

 

“Inuyasha! You got blood all over that stuff!” chided Kagome as she stepped into the office. “And you wrecked this poor person's office!”

 

“Feh, I didn't break them. They can be washed off can't they?” he scoffed, poking the corpse of the lizard demon with his foot.

 

Kagome sighed and tried to assess the damage. The office was now effectively filled with a mixture of rubble from the wall and the splintered remains of what once was someone's desk. There was a sign that had the name of its owner, but only the surname remained intact: Himura. A small cardboard box that said “information on Battousai” on it had somehow survived the destruction, although it had been tipped over and its contents spilled onto the ground. There was a couple of journals, a bound stack of letters, and quite a few photographs that had been scattered onto the ground, though most of it didn't warrant more than a glance. One of the black and white photographs caught her eye, however. In it, five people were standing in front of the gates of some kind of compound. In the front of the group was a smallish samurai with a scar on his left cheek, to his left was a young woman, and to her left was a small boy. Behind them were two fairly tall young men, one with wild hair who was wearing fighting gi, looking positively sick with anxiety, and the other…

 

“Inuyasha! Look at this picture!” cried out Kagome suddenly, and Inuyasha walked over to peer down at the photograph over he shoulder. “That's Kuwabara!”

 

Sure enough, the fifth person in picture, curly hair, stupid grin and all, was Kazuma Kuwabara. There was no question. Hastily, Kagome turned the photograph over, and to her great relief, found faded wording on the back.

 

“It even has the date on the back! The exact day is a little worn off, but the month and year are right here!” she exclaimed. “Come on, we have to get this to Yusuke!”

 

“Right, let's go,” agreed Inuyasha with a nod.

 

After Kagome took a moment to climb onto his back, Inuyasha took off running, leaving the lizard demon's corpse rotting in Himura's office. At the speed they were going, they would have been able to reach Yusuke in no time at all. However, it took them at least ten minutes to figure out how to get back out of the museum, and once out, it took them another five to figure out that they had no idea where Yusuke lived. Needless to say, both parties blamed the other for getting lost.