InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Price You Pay ❯ Chapter 2

Now this is where it really begins!

--2--

~~~*~~~

 

In the small and tidy reception that belonged to the Spirit World's Prince, the small and tidy receptionist began the day's work with a cheery air. Her spectacles lay on the edge of her nose and had laid there, for probably most of her afterlife. It was a fashion long discarded, but being dead for so many years, she never felt the need to alter her appearance.

 

She loved her secretary job immensely. In the morning, things were usually quite calm in the office quarters and lacked activity of any kind. The only people seen were the assistants of the King and his Son.

 

She made no complaint, as that was how she liked her job, with no loud noises or disturbances. Though, in reality, Koenma's office was anything but calm.

 

The past few years had been especially disruptive: full of thieves, meddlers and dissatisfied reincarnates. She'd even had the trouble of the Spirit Detective, strolling around, causing havoc. Manhandling the ruffians was out of the question as she was old and frail, but she used her loud, projecting voice to ward them away.

 

`Ignorant fools,' she thought spitefully.

 

During the day, she was normally assisted by several of the ogres, known to run errands. They were her sole companions in the world and she cherished them dearly.

 

Though, there was one who she did not admire.

 

As George walked through the small reception door, the receptionist's hateful gaze met him. He tried not to shiver and headed for Koenma's door, hoping to leave without speaking to her.

 

Perhaps it was a bad day.

 

“George?!!” she called out to him, in a shrill voice.

 

The ogre resisted all temptation to flee, and instead faced the mad woman with a `pleasant' expression.

 

“Why Mrs Quirk! It's so nice to see you.” He stumbled at the lie. “I hope you are well?”

 

She ignored his courteous words and snapped in disapproval.

 

“What else would I be you incompetent halfwit?! I'm dead! Use some sense you buffoon!” then when she regained her composure slightly. “As Prince Koenma's assistant there is no excuse for your tardiness!” her snap echoed throughout the adjacent offices and down the lengthy hallway. “You are two minutes late and he is in a foul temper! See to it that he gets his favourite video and a nap.” She concluded with a flourish and dismissed him with an uncaring wave.

 

Immediately, George leapt into the office and closed the door behind him hastily. One hand wiped blue sweat from his forehead while the other gripped tightly to a black briefcase. He looked up at Koenma and relaxed at seeing him in a kind disposition.

 

At least that's what he thought.

 

“GEORGE!” the tiny boy yelled with an astounding ferocity. Anyone who didn't know better would assume the baby had matured lungs, but in reality it was the man of a thousand years that wore the body and had the power to alter it at will.

 

“Where have you been?” he demanded furiously, while striding up to the ogre.

 

George trembled at his boss' temper and knew that a tantrum would commence. The tall ogre prostrated himself before the prince in a desperate act of forgiveness. It was Friday so perhaps the Prince would not punish him, and maybe they could begin work without the usual act of violence delivered to him each day. That was his utmost belief…until he spied the shape of the lethal pacifier in the child's hand.

 

He sobbed inwardly. It was definitely a bad day.

---

 

 

Half an hour later, when the usual cleaners had repaired the damage done to the spacious office room, Koenma sat in his teenage form behind the desk, waiting for his loyal servant to begin with his daily report. Unfortunately, said ogre was currently more preoccupied with tending to the number of injuries he had received from his master. His attention was so dearly focused that he did not realise when Koenma's posture changed and became a lot more intolerable.

 

“George.”

 

Hearing his name called, George ignored his visible bruises and quickly snapped to attention. Before he could be told to, he opened the mysterious briefcase on the table so that Koenma could clearly see its contents.

 

For a moment, the Half God said nothing. Then:

 

“Who has done this?” he said calmly not showing how bothered he was by the contents of the case.

 

George winced at the tone, knowing the hidden emotions. He also winced at the question the prince had asked of him. He had hoped to spare the truth from Koenma for as long as possible, but because of the cleverly phrased question, he had no hope of succeeding. He had no choice but to tell him the truth.

 

He took a breath. “Prince Koenma, you must understand. This is not your fault; I have only just recently heard news of-”

 

“Quiet.” He commanded softly. George stilled and remained silent. “I do not want to hear of this, simply tell me what is going on.”

 

George breathed in, and while exhaling he began to speak. “They live in the darkest of Spirit World, near to where the four beast gods lived. No one thought them of any importance, since many who live in those parts are tranquil spirits who are no trouble to anyone. But of the people who could live in this world and not become absolute, they are the most ruthless.” He paused for a small breath. “Do you remember when we first constructed the realms and all of the dead that attained bodily spirits were placed in our captivity?” He paused for breath. “Well. They were among those. Your spirit officials who noted me of this have kept this threat as quiet as possible. We do not want to draw attention to our situation.”

 

“What danger are we in if these people are dead and so far away?” Koenma asked indifferently.

 

“Well, that's the problem, they're not dead. And for the past few months they've been running loose all over Reikai and Ningenkai, branching off from the Dark Region. We don't know what they're doing in the Worlds but it can't be good. Across the river Styx we have very little influence with what goes on, but reports say that they are gradually crossing over to this side.”

 

Koenma put one hand into the case and brought out the object inside. “And this is what they've sent you?” he asked irritably, beginning to lose his cool. “This is their message to me?”

 

“No sir,” George lowered his head to whisper. “It was meant for your father.”

 

The demigod stilled.

 

Then, in sudden anger, he flung the bloodied head onto the floor viciously, watching as it rolled past the desk and remained in his heated view. George grimaced as heavy droplets of blood formed a crimson pool around the skull while its sunken holes for eyes, stared up at him.

 

He knew who it was. It was a dead ogre, presumably one that had journeyed too far on a particular errand. George turned away sadly, trying not to think that it could have been his head lying there, dismantled on the floor.

 

Facing back to his prince, he noted that once again Koenma was in the toddler's form. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Koenma sighed heavily.

 

“Well George you know what to do.” He instructed with his previous bossy air. “Have Botan call up the Spirit Detective and his team immediately.” He swung around in the overly large armchair so that his back was facing him. “Oh, and George. Before you leave, have someone come in to clean up the floor.”

 

“Yes sir.” George replied backing out of the office slowly. He had yet to turn the door handle when he was called upon again.

 

“Oh, and George.” Koenma lowered his voice threateningly, once again giving the impression of a man in a youth's body. “My father must never hear of this you understand? Be discreet when you next go out and tell no one except me where you go. When the team arrive, the situation will be dealt with immediately.” His voice lowered again. “They must be vicious and cruel.”

 

As the faithful messenger began to close the door behind him, his gifted ears caught a final sentence.

 

“No survivors.”

---

 

 

In the mass crowd that generally occupied the busy streets of Tokyo, a young woman struggled through, pushing and shoving the people around her.

 

`Move, move, move! I'm gonna be late!' she thought hurriedly.

 

The pedestrians walking beside her paused to view the only-just-turned-woman hurry along in a mad frenzy, running and pushing with ferocious force, while at the same time, stopping every once in a while to peer into shop windows and readjust her outfit.

 

`Looking good,' she thought distractedly, patting her hair down in the Wacdonald's glass pane, before remembering herself and resuming her rampage.

 

“I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late!'

 

`Calm down,' a soft voice called out in her head. `We're on time. Don't worry.'

 

Without realising it, Kagome smiled and instantly became more relaxed in her surroundings. She couldn't believe that just the presence of her spirit guardian could ultimately relieve her of all stress and worry.

 

Since the jewel had been completed, she had spent the last year returning to her previous schoolgirl routine. It was a lot harder to readjust to the new change, even though her family assisted her in every possible way. Every morning she woke up at dawn and had to wait two more hours before it was necessary to get up, and in the night, she'd found that before Inuyasha's rigorous training, her tired eyes would send her straight to sleep, but now, she spent hours in bed just lying there without feeling the least bit tired.

 

She admitted, it had been fun at first; seeing her family again and having the chance to reunite with the ones who had dared to sacrifice her for a better cause in the Past. But as the months progressed and neither she nor Midoriki had detected any traces of youkai in the vicinity, her days seemed to drag on and on, making it more of a struggle to bear the life she was born to live.

 

But then something happened.

 

One afternoon, when Midoriki was currently in possession of their physical form, she had discovered that, though there may not have been any youkai around, there certainly were a lot of humans with astounding spiritual awareness.

 

It had been a hard blow to the woman, realising that there were others who could perhaps be stronger than Kagome. This simply would not do, and to resolve the issue, Midoriki decided that a little schooling was in order. It was then, that her real training began.

 

With Kaede, there had been the lack of time, skill and provisions during her priestess training. Not to mention that the woman was old, slightly crippled and blind in one eye. It was not trying on Kagome physically, if not only slightly to her spiritual ability. Whereas with Midoriki, she was taught from inside the mind and was always schooled with intense precision. They had unlimited time to practice and though they couldn't spar physically like she had with Kaede, her skill was immense and she was no slacker. Not having a body couldn't stop her from achieving total success.

 

Sometimes they stayed at home, while Midoriki made her memorise and write down the names and methods for some particular spells and seals. On other days when the sun was shining, she went to the nearest park or the shrine, to find a secluded spot and practice some moves that she had learnt.

 

After sometime, her powers escalated to an entirely new level. They progressed so far that the purification soon became more like a sixth sense to her and she could use it instinctively without any hesitation at all.

 

It was during those days that the two of them finally resolved their issues with each other. Once again, it had been hard to do, since both of them were extremely stubborn. But, reconciliation is inevitable between close friends, even if they adopt the roles of student and teacher as they had done. One apology from the elder solved all earlier disagreements and the souls blended harmonically once more.

 

Still she was amazed. Even after all the years of being together, they were still two completely different entities with separate minds of their own.

 

`Thank kami for that,' Midoriki crooned, `I don't have any idea what I'd do if I couldn't distinguish my thoughts from your … rather wild ones.'

 

`What!?' Kagome exclaimed in disbelief. `Your thoughts are just as screwed up as mine, if not worse, you big liar!'

 

A laugh echoed in her head before the contact fizzled away with a pop. It was a constant game between the two to tease each other like that. Discerning the differences between them and guessing how long it would be before they grew sick of each other was another popular pastime.

 

She knew that they had a genuine friendship that defied all others; stronger than mother and daughter and yet, not so entwined that they were identical. A better grouping would be sisters, with a ten year gap dividing them. Though in reality, their gap was more than ten years.

 

As she walked away from the busy high street, Kagome fingered the dead stone that hung on a silver chain around her neck.

 

Opposite to her previous prediction, the illustrious Shikon No Tama was not destroyed; in fact it looked exactly the same. The only thing that had changed was that it no longer retained any magical properties of its own, and the strong ethereal glow that had once shone as bright as the strongest star, had faded into the dead pinkish shade of a gemstone.

 

It was not a complete loss; from the jewel's supposed demise she had gained freedom and the chance to live a life unbound to priestess duties. Not to mention, she had gained a damned beautiful necklace to show off to her friends!!

 

As she neared her house, she spotted two girls dressed in plain clothes chatting by the side of the street.

 

`Oh God! Speak of the devil, its Eri and Yuka!'

 

She had no chance of avoiding them; they seemed to be standing directly in the path between her and her home. She was sure it was an ambush of some sorts, designed by them to stop her from ever reaching refuge.

 

`Those cunning bitches!'

 

“Kagome!” Eri squealed in a horrendously high pitch as she ran towards her friend. “Good to see you, we had no idea you were coming home!”

 

Liar, liar, pants on fire. “Yeah, I just went out to the library for a bit and I just got back…” she trailed off making a hopeful glance at her other, more `alert' girlfriend.

 

Unluckily, Yuka chose that moment to stare at the sky, consequently missing the pleading look.

 

“So Kagome we were wondering how you've been.” Eri continued happily. “It's been a year since you recovered from your illnesses but you still don't hang out with us all the time!”

 

`I wonder why…' “Um, it's nothing you guys! Its just I have so little time with all my catching up to do.”

 

That was a part truth. She had been working a bit more than usual…but not too much. Midoriki's advanced aptitude for learning allowed her to relax and still get good grades.

 

`Ah! The bonuses of having an ancient do your homework!'

 

“Well Kagome …maybe you can come hang out with us now?” Yuka asked brushing her hair back from her face.

 

“Um… well, guys...you know I've got to be home...and I…well, um…”

 

“Oh come on Kagome! You hardly ever go out anymore.” Yuka said irritably. “You don't even have a boyfriend, or at least a good boyfriend!”

 

`Funny,' Kagome thought, without any humour at all. `They still think I'm with Inuyasha...'

 

`Get that stupid girl to shut up,' Midoriki snapped. `She needs to learn to be quiet.'

 

“I don't think that's true Yuka.” Eri cut in before Kagome could speak. “He got her that expensive jewelled necklace didn't he? I mean, I've never seen anything like it before!”

 

Both of them turned to ogle the stone that hung around her neck, and briefly, Kagome wondered what they would say if they had seen it in all its splendour, brimming with its hidden powers.

 

“Well I suppose…” Yuka trailed off uncertainly, slightly mesmerised by the brilliance of the jewel.

 

Taking advantage of her friend's disposition, Kagome pushed past her roughly and ran towards the house, ignoring their startled yells.

 

“I'll see you guys at some other time, okay?” she called back to them, before running into her home and latching the door firmly shut.

 

`Finally.' Midoriki said. `I thought you'd never escape!'

 

Kagome laughed out loud and let loose the pent up air she'd been keeping inside. She had made it home at last!!

 

`Are you sure what you're wearing is good enough?' Midoriki questioned.

 

Kagome shrugged dispassionately, and walked out back to the wellhouse, where, after making a quick prayer to the Buddha, she hefted herself over the well, hoping that she wasn't late for Sango and Miroku's wedding ceremony.

 

`We are not late,' Midoriki chided exasperatedly. `Can't you cease worrying for at least two seconds?'

 

`Sorry,' Kagome stated sheepishly, watching the swirls of mystic blue haze that surrounded her as she fell. `It's just that I haven't seen them in a while and I want to be perfect for their special day.'

 

Midoriki huffed in her most unfeminine manner. `You-? Perfect? I doubt that you could ever be perfect Kagome.'

 

Now Kagome didn't normally care about those catty little comments Midoriki made, but for some reason this one had penetrated her thick, double glazed barriers and had managed to inflict some sort of emotional damage.

 

So naturally, the only thing left to do was retaliate.

 

“Well it's not like you're perfect either,” she snapped. “I mean, you… you like… snore when you sleep!”

 

Midoriki smiled to herself. `Is that really all you can come up with?' she said, enjoying the silence that came after her words. “Well to be honest… you're right. I am not perfect and I doubt that I could ever be.”

 

Knowing that after she spoke, Kagome would probably ban her from coming to the surface ever again, Midoriki gave her last statement.

 

`And that is because I am fused with you. Nobody could live with you and continue to attain perfection.'

 

Pause.

 

`Damn.'

 

`I win.'

 

Midoriki: 1, Kagome: 0

---

 

 

Four individuals walked through a Rekai portal on their way towards a secluded mountainside. It was a general feeling amongst all that they would enjoy this particular expedition, more so than they normally would.

 

The tallest one felt most at ease in their current surroundings, as he had feared they'd been assigned to the other more foreboding world, Makai. He didn't say out loud how relieved he felt, but the others could sense it anyway.

 

Without a doubt, this was the simplest and most gruesome assignment the group had ever been set.

 

Simply find the vermin, and kill them.

 

Koenma had been very strict in his orders that he wanted everyone there dead, and for those who were already deceased, they would be sent to the Nether World via a Spirit Hunter's gun he had supplied them with.

 

The slightly shorter redhead was not as enthusiastic about the device as his companions were, due to …unfortunate previous experience. He had already decided that he would not be the one to use it and would gladly leave it to his friends, who would, no doubt, enjoy it more than he would.

 

Walking beside him looking extremely bored was his shorter, more reclusive friend. It was not in his nature to express more than boredom, so to see glimmers of a grin threatening to surface was slightly unsettling. He would be the one to enjoy this particular mission most of all, and would merely see it as a time to `stain his blade.'

None of them spoke a word as they made their way forward, and the only sound heard was the occasional footfalls of their feet as they ran.

 

The silence was good.

 

Well to him at least. Not to the fourth, and most carefree member of the group. As the leader, he had full responsibility for any mistakes his group made, though really, he was the one most likely to abandon all the rules.

 

He was restless normally, but today even the hushed, predatory excitement in the air had caught onto him and with the utmost discipline, he refrained himself from talking out loud.

 

Yes, silence was good.

 

Being a youkai of interesting origin, he had learnt to accept and achieve many, many things and learning patience was only one of them. Controlling his anger was another, though it was generally a much harder lesson.

 

He enjoyed silence with a passion, particularly because he had so little experience of it. At work, with his friends there was never a moment of peace and neither was there any at his hectic family life back in Ningenkai. Even when he was all alone, he was still denied any peace.

 

His other side made sure of that.

 

Kurama wondered if perhaps living inside a human boy's body was enough to make a demon insane. He didn't think so, so there was really no excuse for the Youko to behave the way he did. Just because he couldn't move about freely didn't give him the right to annoy him so much. He wasn't even suffering! He wasn't the one who had unwillingly been forced to share his body with a dangerous killer for nineteen years, and then due to said killer's insistence, practice his newfound youkai abilities till they were fine edged!

 

`Stop complaining.' The voice commanded. `You'd be dead without those powers.'

 

`So?' he retorted calmly. `You didn't want to give them to me. Besides, the only reason you can't stand for me to be weak is that it would lower your status among demons.'

 

That, at least was true, the inner demon admitted to himself grudgingly. It was already a hard blow to the proud youkai that he had been reduced to sustaining himself by inhabiting a ningen body. For the human to grow up weak, would be the most defeating thing of all in his thousand years of life.

 

Nevertheless, his counterpart had turned out to be resilient against most foes. The plant manipulation had been a great triumph for him since that was the hardest part of mastering the powers.

 

Over the years he realised that, in a strange almost kind way, he felt tender bits of emotion for the kid. As males, they didn't really need all of the emotional friendship and bonding that females would have gone through, but somehow, they still managed to retain a general `likeness' between them. They got on well most of the time, and when they didn't, they just ignored each other.

 

He couldn't ignore Kurama completely though, considering that he was his only link to the outside world. With his job working alongside the Spirit Detective, he was assured many, many kills, though sometimes he got bored of fighting and returned to The Human World. (He had learnt in this new life, that human entertainment was almost as good as killing people!!)

 

In the past, during some of their most difficult battles, he had been forced to take control of their body and fight, or else risk losing Kurama's life. It was then that the boy lost all strength. Being human he was restricted to certain things and could be hurt easily. Though Youko had forced him to bear with it, the pain had often led him into serious injury.

 

`Yes, but not anymore.'

 

He'd discovered that gradually, the youkai spirit in him had seeped into his human body, making him almost full demon in strength. Nowadays, he was perfectly capable of defeating any enemy that Hiei and Yusuke could, even in human form.

 

That was why he didn't let the Youko out as much as he had done before. There was just no need for his assistance.

 

`No need?!' the demon scoffed sceptically. `You flatter yourself too much Kurama.'

 

Indeed he did. It was a fatal flaw in his personality that he could only just manage to hide. Most things, like his vanity and self -obsessive -ness were due to his demon half's character, slowly blending into his body. This one though, was entirely constructed by him; he didn't know why or how, but it was there, and there wasn't much he could do about it.

 

Glancing ahead, he realised that they had long since reached the mountain base. The land was coarse and rough, while all around them; the vegetation was dark and unsettling, as if a menacing aura resided in the vicinity.

 

`Though it's not the nature that's strange in this place,' he thought, slowing his pace to a walk. Koenma had assured them there would be plenty of villains waiting to be killed, but from what he could see, there wasn't a single demon, human or spirit anywhere around them.

 

“Damn!” Yusuke cursed, obviously realising the same thing.

 

Kurama turned towards Kuwabara and Hiei, who both seemed to be pouting in disappointment under their identical masculine cover-ups. He would have laughed at them, if the situation hadn't been so serious.

 

The situation was puzzling. Had Koenma been mistaken about their location? Or were they too quick, and had somehow managed to escape them, without their group realising it?

 

He knelt down on the ground slowly, and while Youko thought over their situation, he relaxed a bit, and studied the plants a bit more closely. `Poisonwood…hmmm.'

---

 

Above the mountain, fifty or so people were hurriedly making their way down the mountain, via an alternate route. Most of them were dead, while few, mostly the leaders, were middle class demons herding their followers forward. They had seen Koenma's forces approaching, and by the speed and swiftness of their Lady, they had managed to escape unharmed.

 

A little bit away from the rest of them stood a young woman, hidden beneath a tree. She stared at the group Koenma had sent to destroy her, with annoyance. One of them was missing!!

 

Angrily, she turned away from the scene and strode away with lengthy, vicious strides. She would receive assistance in claiming what was rightfully hers, even if it meant killing everyone in all three worlds to do it!

 

~~~*~~~