Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Demonic Circus ❯ Jin, Touya, RInku: All Wrapped Up ( Chapter 2 )

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

TITLE: Demonic Circus

DATE STARTED: January 16, 2006

DATE COMPLETED:January 17, 2006

RATING: T

PAIRINGS: Some Kurama/Hiei and Jin/Touya. Barely noticeable unless you look.

DISCLAIMER: Yu Yu Hakusho? Not mine. Never will be.

BTW, I am not Australian nor am I Irish, so if the accents are wrong, I'm sorry!

~*~

Kurama groaned. The world was black, pressing in on him. Rolling over, he chanced opening his heavy eyes to see what his milieu was. The last thing he remembered seeing was the dark void he had been pulled into, a troubled Sasuke following close behind.

The settings had changed, but not by much. The room he now rested in was dark, bars obscuring his vision. The ground was hard and upon close inspection, there was writing, and dark splotches…

“You are awake, Suuichi.” Sasuke looked up from the corner of the cell, a tray of food next to him. He looked frightened, but Kurama wasn't about to show his captor any sympathy.

“What am I doing here? What is it you want from me?!”

Sasuke closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Ring Leader wants us to amuse his audience. It's…like a zoo or a circus in the Ningenkai. There are special wards on the bars, walls and floor so you can't escape.”

“Why did you trick me?!”

“The plan didn't go quite as I had planned, but I had to bring you here. I need the reward for each demon I bring Ring Leader.”

“You lied to get me. Doing all that just to get close. You're low.”

“Weren't you just as I? Did you not lie and trick beings out of their treasures? And I told you before, everything I said was true, even the part about not hurting you. Ring Leader needs to have a wide array of demons for his show. Kijo and I are among them.” He lay down on his side, staring up at the green eyes that peered darkly at him. “We will be disposed of when the people grow tired of us. Or, maybe he'll use your weakness against you to cooperate into getting more creatures for his show. That all depends on if he can use your power.”

“And what makes you so useful to him?” Kurama narrowed his eyes. Perhaps he could get the boy to reveal information, something that could give him an upper hand.

Sasuke curled into a ball, tears running down his young face. “I…I don't know!”

The fox bit his lip. What was going on here?! You weren't supposed to cry at a question like that! You were supposed to be proud of yourself, and brag about your worth. Apparently, little Sasuke wasn't a typical demon, and nor were his powers. He was as clueless as the kitsune about his dark future. “I didn't mean to upset you…”

“Don't apologize. I deserve your anger.” He sniffed, looking down at the ground.

“You don't belong here. You shouldn't be scared to live.” Kurama walked over to the little demon, still trying to get his legs back after the very turbulent ride to his current location. He sat down next to him and stroked his hair gently. No matter what his Youko side told him, he couldn't help but feel for the little one.

“Don't be nice!” Sasuke snapped, recoiling away. “You're not supposed to be!”

“And what makes you say that?” Kurama wondered. He grinned, watching the boy move away slowly.

“Because no one but my sister and grandfather have ever been! I don't trust you!”

“You did earlier. What makes you change your mind?”

“Because…because I betrayed you. I brought you here against your will. Who wouldn't want to hurt someone after that?”

“I'm trying to understand your reasoning. You said that you were doing this for your grandfather. What is wrong with him?”

“He's really sick.” Sasuke said, looking to the ground, new tears glistening in his eyes. “I don't know what it is, but it's a strange virus that is eating his insides, slowly killing him.” He shuddered and slid to the ground. Kurama watched his movements carefully, analyzing his body language, checking for anything that would indicate a false statement. “Beautiful Suzuka has been able to keep him alive these past three years, but the virus is progressing much too fast. Without a cure, he'll die. That's what we, my sister and I, work for. To pay for his treatments.”

“Where are your parents?”

He sniffed and wiped his eyes before tears could fall. “Dad's dead. He was a human, died protecting me when I lost control of my powers and hurt someone. They all called me a freak. Kijo and I had to run. Mom left shortly after I was born. She was a dragon demon. Left to go protect some newborn child. That was twelve thousand years ago, so I have no idea if she's even alive.”

“You're--?!”

Sasuke's lips curled into a small smile. “Yeah, I don't see it, but grandfather, a demon who once worked for the Great Demon Lord Yomi, said that my powers would have something to do with my looks.” He stood back up.

“What are your powers?”

“They are something I can't control totally, but then again, time isn't something you were made to warp. I possess the ability to travel through time, and alter it to my will. Dimensions are easy to create, but very draining. Ring Leader…doesn't seem to understand that. We've been working with him the last six months. I've almost died several times, because when he looks at me…” He shuddered and whimpered before continuing, “I get scared, and lose control. Grandfather says that I try and keep myself young subconsciously because I'm trying to retain some sense of innocence that was robbed from me. I don't get it, but I don't get a lot of what he says.” He tried to smile.

Kurama sighed. “Then allow me to help. I'm sure I can help your grandfather, as long as we work together to bring down this `Ring Leader', okay?”

Sasuke nodded. “Okay!”

“Sasuke, what are you doing in there?” the weak and coarse voice of his grandfather entered their conversation.

“Just talking.”

“You shouldn't be talking to the animals. Come out dear boy. Ring Leader is sleeping.”

“His name is Suuichi, Grandfather.” Sasuke said irritably. “Not animal.”

“Fine, boy.”

The little demon sighed and waved to Kurama. “Thank you.”

Kurama nodded and watched the boy go through the bars, like he was made of air and come next to his grandfather's chair, solid. “Take care, Sasuke.”

“Hm. Did you have your treatment yet?” He said, turning to his elder and pushed him from the room, scolding the old man for skipping a dose.

Kurama sat back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. Who else would be caught and forced to suffer here like he was?

~*~

Touya groaned loudly. Jin was doing everything he could to wake the ice master up, and it was only 6:00 am, according to the alarm clock.

“Get up!” Jin said for the tenth time. It was the same thing every morning. The Wind Master had to see the sunrise on the roof of their home. That meant that he had to wake everyone up, whether they wanted to see it or not, on his way up to the roof. Touya was usually the first to be roused, but since he refused to move on his friend's orders, the entire house was up, and no one was happy.

“Shut up, Jin!” growled the little demon, Rinku, playing with his yo-yos while heading down stairs for breakfast. Chuu had already gotten up and started, the smell of eggs, fish, rice, and steak floated up through the halls.

Jin sniffed the air eagerly. “Le's get breakfast!”

“Come on, Jin! It's still so early!” whined Touya. He hadn't slept well last night; a nightmare had kept him from getting much needed rest. He spent most of the night trying to contemplate the meaning of it before it slipped away from his memory as if it wasn't even there. He tried to search through his mind for any remnant, but came up empty handed.

Touya closed his eyes, ignoring the wind Shinobi and tried is best to get back to sleep, but an object weighing down the left side of his bed told him that Jin was not going to give up that easily.

“Touya…” purred Jin, playing with his handsome lavender locks.

“All right, all right! I'm up!” He snapped, pushing up.

“'Bout damn time, Icy!” ShiShi snarled from the doorway.

The blonde clown came up behind him and pushed him along down the hall. “Get going, dammit. I'd like to get some work done today.”

“You're not going to run more tests on Chuu's cooking are you?” Rinku asked, coming back to the door, fully dressed. “Last time you did that, we couldn't eat for three days! Not that we wanted to when they finally rotted.”

“No, unlike you guys, I've found a way to make good money by using my mind. I've been making medicine down there.”

“So that's what those explosions were?” asked the ice master, climbing over Jin to get out of bed.

“Hey! We make good money too!”

“Yeah, Chuu cooks, and that helps make money, lots of it! And ShiShi, well, what do you do again?” Rinku replied, glancing up at the samurai.

ShiShi growled, a faint flush appearing on his cheeks. “I'm a bounty hunter, kid.”

“Not much of one,” Jin replied, standing up as well, handing Touya a pair of pants.

“Shut up! It's better than working with brats all day!”

“No, i's fun!”

“I know. Touya's working with you too, today, ain't he?” Rinku asked, making his yo-yo circle the doorway.

“Yep!”

Touya sighed in defeat. “Unfortunately. As if living with the five of you wasn't hard enough.”

“Ya love us!”

“Yeah, right. Let's go.”

~*~

Chuu stared down at the food on his plate, waiting for the others to come down and eat. He had to work early today, and he was too tired to make sure they came down.

Rinku plopped down on his right, tired, but his fatigue was wearing off greatly. Jin came and sat down next to Rinku, Touya next to him. ShiShi and Suzuka were the last to join them, each digging in without saying anything to each other.

“Rinku, got your things for school?” Chuu asked lightly, before taking a bite from his eggs.

“Yeah.” He said dejectedly.

“Good. Jin and Touya are taking you to school today. ShiShi, you got a call from a Detective John. Said he had a job for you.” He took another bite before continuing in the same monotone. “Suzuka, Koenma was wondering if you got what he asked for done yet.”

“Jin, don't take the dishes onto the roof. You always drop them. The neighbors already think that we're crazy.” Touya grumbled.

“I wasn't! If ya were payin' attention, I was puttin' `em in the sink!” Jin replied huffily, placing the plate and silverware in the sink and running the water and sponge over them before placing them in the dishwasher and returning to his seat.

Touya groaned. He was too tired for this. He continued to eat at a slow pace; ignoring Jin's twitching ears that flicked his hair and goofy grin that was so close to his.

Every morning, the eager wind master woke everyone up and dragged him up to the roof to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, it took forever, and by the time that they actually realized what time it was, they were either late for work, or late taking Rinku to school.

Chuu, being Rinku's legal guardian in the Ningenkai, had to make sure Rinku got to school. It was one of those rules that all of them despised because it meant that all of them had to get up for breakfast. Chuu only cooked once and reheated food didn't taste all that great.

Reikai had gotten the house for them, but they had to maintain it, which meant working. Five demons in a human world…it wasn't an easy feat to find a good job with their limited skills and references.

Jin loved kids, as they were as hyper as he was, and could keep up with him. It was easy for him to get his job. He had taken Rinku to school one day, and the kids just didn't want to let him go. So, he was convinced by the principal to stay on and look after the latch key kids and the little kindergarteners during the school day.

Chuu's came by accident. They were actually surprised by his. No one knew he could cook. They had gone out to celebrate Jin's success in their new surroundings when he decided to complain about the way their food was cooked. He made a big ruckus and sent the female head chef home, leaving her hat and job behind. He decided to do a test run for the hell of it, and succeeded in beating ShiShi in their bet to see you would get a job first.

ShiShi signed up to be a bounty hunter, but rarely had a job. It didn't make things easy for him to rub in, as when he did get a job, it was low paying and not worth the work.

Apparently, Suzuka had found a way to use his brain to rake in some serious cash. He was doing little things the past year, but recently, a demand for his medicines increased greatly, and he was always busy, sometimes not sleeping for days because he had so much to do.

Touya, however, remained home most of the time, unless one of the others was short handed and required help. He usually kept the house clean, recorded favorite TV shows for his roommates, and made sure someone was there to bring Rinku home from school.

The Ice Master sighed and pushed up from his seat, taking his plate and glass to the sink and repeating what Jin did before placing them in the dishwasher and drying his hands. “Let's go before you drive me insane.”

Jin hovered from his seat, smirking in triumph before heading the ice Shinobi up to the roof.

~*~

The sun rose, the sky a beautiful purple, pink, light blue amalgamation. Touya sat quietly next to Jin who sighed in contentment, watching the sky with a dazed expression on his face.

No matter how much he was angry for being waken up so early in the morning, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed the peaceful time that they shared on the roof, watching the phenomenon the sun caused with the sky. The birds sang gently in their ears, nothing breaking the otherwise silent street except for Chuu pulling from the driveway in his sleek blue muscle car. It had set him back a bit, but they did need more than one car, especially today when they each had jobs to do.

“Righ'. We should go now.” Jin stood up, pulling the pale man to his feet.

Touya nodded. “So, ShiShi will drop us off at the school.”

“Yeah, we have a fieldtrip!” Jin was excited. He had never heard of anything of the sort, but he was very fascinated by the Ningenkai, and aimed to see everything he could. Touya grinned. He couldn't help but wonder how much his partner hadn't changed, but how much he had. He had become more relaxed, and enjoyed the company of the others, who met completely by accident.

“Man! How many more of us can you fit in this damn cell?!” ShiShiwakamaru shouted to the oni who had just moved two more prisoners in the cell with a full four already. There were only two beds.

“Sorry, space is limited,” he replied exasperatedly. He closed the door, the six demons staring each other down.

“Shimatta!” he yelled out of the cell.

“Be quiet, you're vulgar attitude is irritating me.” Touya snapped. “Did you think we wanted you two in here either?” He glanced at the blonde with clown make-up on.

“This was our spot firs'!” Jin grumbled, floating just above the top bunk.

“Look, you blame Urameshi and his stupid followers! It's his fault that the freaking jails are getting packed!” ShiShi snarled.

“Shut up. We don't need to argue.” Chuu said, rubbing his temples.

“Go rot.”

Rinku walked over and kicked ShiShi in the shin and ran behind Chuu for cover. ShiShi moved to return the hit but stopped, Chuu's azure stare forcing him to back down. Chuu was much bigger than he was at the moment. “You're lucky, brat.” He snapped.

“No, you are, bloke. Stay away from me mate.”

The rest of the day was done in silence, curse words floating around between them all. Eventually, sometime in the middle of the night, the Prince of Reikai decided to pay a visit.

“Go away!” ShiShi spat, throwing the shirt he was using as a pillow at the cell door.

Koenma chuckled lightly and shook his head. “I've come to offer you a proposition, but if you don't want to hear it, I'm sure someone else will.”

“What is it, and make it quick.” Touya said coldly, not turning to face the toddler.

“I've come to offer you an out.”

All six heads popped up, fully alert and willing to hear anything he had to say now. “A way out of here?” Rinku asked, shaking with excitement.

“Yes. I need to free up some of the space here in the jail and I have a couple places in Ningenkai—“

“We'll do it!” ShiShi interrupted, not hearing anything about the catch, and not letting the others hear it either.

“Great! You'll be moved tomorrow.”

Needless to say, because ShiShi wouldn't keep his mouth shut, they all got stuck, living in the same household. It didn't bug them so much anymore. They learned quite a lot about each other, trained often and enjoyed each other's company. They had learned the moods and how to respect the differences each one had, making it more bearable then the stuffy, tight Reikai cell they had all been shoved into.

Not only did they have to live in the same house, they had to do jobs for Reikai. Whatever that Yusuke and the other Tantei were not able to get to at the time. That caused a conflict of interest. Chuu of course worked it out, he seemed to play big brother to them all. He made sure there was food in the house, that they ate healthy, and everyone was taken care of before he left for work.

No one totally understood why he put himself in such a position, but sometimes, they secretly thanked the gods that did it. Separately, they were able to survive in the Makai, but Ningenkai was a much different story, and he was able to make the transition easier, and made it smoother for the rest of them.

Touya followed Jin back inside, quickly dressing in a white t-shirt and blue shorts before grabbing his role list and sitting down at the kitchen table. Rinku was scribbling down some last minute work on his homework while Jin took his sweet time getting ready to leave.

“Hey, Touya? A negative times a positive. If the positive number is bigger, it's positive, right?” Rinku asked, looking up from his work.

“No. A negative times a positive is always negative. You are thinking of adding and subtracting.”

“Oh, right!” Rinku continued to scribble when ShiShi came down from his room, dressed in a full arsenal, ready to catch his bounty. Touya rolled his eyes and stood up as Jin came barreling down the stairs, a bag of hard candy in one arm and his role list in another.

“Le's go!” The four marched from the house, Touya making sure Suzuka at least knew that he had to go shopping and that the list was on the fridge next to Rinku's perfect test grade.

The ride to school was short, Rinku doing tricks with his yo-yo the whole way there. It wasn't more than a mile away, which they could walk, but Touya thought it safer to drive rather than walk because Jin had trouble keeping his feet on the ground. They hurried into the school, Rinku tossing his homework in the bin beside the door before going to his seat.

Jin and Touya hung around the teacher's lounge, waiting for the announcement that they would be leaving soon. They didn't wait long and soon they were pushing Rinku's classmates along to the bus, heading to the science center.

~*~

Rinku sat in the back with a girl, showing her his tricks with his yo-yos. Jin was handing out candy and telling watered down versions of his adventures in the Makai. Of course the kids thought these were cool stories, although they believed he made up. Touya grinned and turned from the back of the bus to the teacher who sat next to him, looking out the window very afraid. It seemed that she didn't have many good fieldtrips, and Jin was a kid at heart himself. That didn't ring well for a chaperone.

Eventually the bus halted outside the Science Center and the teacher went to get the tickets, Touya and Jin lining up their students into rows. They each had seven, and in Touya's case, he got five girls and two boys who looked like they got beat up everyday after school. He sighed inwardly and glanced at Jin. He had two girls, four boys and Rinku, which never made a great combination at all.

The teacher returned and handed them their tickets. “We'll meet in the cafeteria on the third floor at noon. We'll eat lunch, and then go to the music show and then head back to the bus. Just don't kill anyone today.”

“Okay! That gives us a lil' over four hours!” Jin said happily. “Le's have some fun!”

Touya sighed and watched them leave before leading his group in a different direction.

~*~

“Mr. Touya?” asked one of the little girls.

“Yes?” he asked, looking up from the strange contraption that reacted when he touched it with strings of light that acted like static electricity.

“I have to go!” she groaned.

“Oh man…uh, did anyone see the restroom?” He asked the others who were busy with other electric inventions.

“Yeah! I gotta go too!” complained another student, a boy this time. Touya mentally slapped himself. Why didn't he get a map? “Look for a sign guys. We'll all go at once so we don't have to find another one for a while.” He quickly stared at the signs, looking for the bathroom.

“There it is Mr. Touya!” pointed the little boy. Touya's eye twitched. They were standing across the hall from it the whole time! Today is not my day.

“All right, to the bathroom, all of you so we don't have a repeat til lunch.”

The seven children each went to the separate bathrooms, while Touya stood outside. He watched Jin's group pass by, the energetic wind demon waving to him and playing with the machines with the other kids, fascinated by the human inventions laid out before him.

After ten minutes, all but one boy, Yuki, had returned. Touya told them to stay put while he went to check on the little boy. He caught Jin's eye who nodded and pulled the ice master's group towards his.

~*~

“Yuki? Are you okay in here?” Touya asked, checking each of the stalls. He found the boy, passed out in the final one. “Yuki!” Touya lifted him into a sitting position, checking his pulse. “What happened?”

“I couldn't have him interfering in this. If he were to scream, I would probably miss on this very opportune chance to do my job.” Sasuke hopped down from his perch on top of the stall.

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing out here? Your group is on the other side of the building!”

“Too easy.” His eyes turned gold and a golden webbing pinned the ice master to the ground.

“What the hell is this?”

“A gift from my sister. All the cages I use to capture my prey are made by her. I just bring them through time, to the exact spot in time when I require them.”

“Kid, you have no idea who you're messing with.” Touya moved to turn the webbing to ice, but retracted his hand, receiving a burn.

“The Ice Shinobi Touya, living in Ningenkai for twelve months with five other demons on a pardon from Reikai. You like to use a sword made of ice over your right arm, and the attack your most known for is the Shards of winter. I study extensively before I make a move. Unfortunately for you.”

~*~

Jin's ears perked up. His eyes wandered over to the door where he had watched Touya go in almost seven minutes ago according to the clock on the wall (Touya taught him how to read clocks!) and he still hadn't come out of the bathroom yet.

“Stay `ere.”

“Wait, Jin, where you going?!” Rinku asked.

“Jus' checkin' somethin'.” He replied walking over to the door.

“So what made you come after me? There's no bounty, at least, not that I know of.”

That was Touya, but who was he talking to?

“Ring Leader…is looking for demons. I must go out and find those he believes worthy for his show. You're just a pawn in all this.”

“You sound like a pawn to me…”

“You state the obvious. I have no choice. There is no backing out now. Suuichi should have friends. I'm sure he is lonely.”

“What'd you do to Kurama?!”

Jin was done listening. Whoever this kid was, he was dangerous if he had already caught the Youko. He burst into the bathroom, forcing the boy to turn around in alarm. Jin attacked, his right arm already encircled in his mini-tornado. His arm hit the ground, tornado fist dissipating, but he missed his target entirely.

“Jin!” Touya called from his crouched position in the final stall. “Did you get him?”

“No, missed `im.” He growled, looking around the room carefully. “Ya all righ'?”

“I will be once you get me out of this damn thing!”

Jin shook his head, laughing at the ice master's expense. “Ya were always bad a' traps.”

“Shut up and get me out of here, dammit!”

“All right', I'm comin'.” Jin walked carefully over to his ice demon friend, still wary of the child who managed to capture not only Touya, but Kurama as well. He got burnt as well when he tried to pull of the webbing holding Touya captive.

“It is easy to play on another's emotions. The humans have made you soft.” Sasuke declared. The net disappeared from Touya, but a cage surrounded them both.

“Wha' is up with this kid?!” growled the wind Shinobi.

“He can bring things through time, and I'm assuming that includes himself.” Touya replied.

“Ya serious?!”

“Don't worry. You won't get hurt. It's a little fun.” Sasuke muttered.

“How were you able to get Kurama?”

“By accident, but you can ask him when you see him. We should be going—“

“Jin! Yassur ran off even though you told us not to!” Rinku stomped into the bathroom. Sasuke's eyes doubled in size. He didn't realize the third was here as well!

Rinku took in the sight quickly and had Sasuke trapped in an instant. The little demon struggled, but could not seem to work his power to escape. Rinku wasn't on the list for capture, so he hadn't bothered to make sure he could lure him in. He had to save up power to transport the two captives he already had and just as he was about to, a demon walks in who was supposed to be no where in the vicinity.

“What…what have you done?!” Sasuke demanded, still struggling against the tightening strings.

“I learned early on that a good way to stop your opponent is by warding their powers. These are universal wards, even to keep an evil little bastard like you in check.”

Sasuke pulled even more on his bindings. “Let go!”

“Let Jin and Touya go.”

“I can't!”

“Why's that?!”

“Why would I tell a little kid like you?!”

“You don't look any older than I do!”

“Sasuke!”

“Kijo!” Sasuke relaxed the moment he heard his sister's voice. She was there and she would take down the little brat who trapped him and they could return and get their rewards for bringing in Touya and Jin.

Kijo raised a whip made of the same yellow power that made Jin and Touya's cage. She brought it down, not on Rinku, but close enough to knock him over and drop his yo-yos.

Sasuke pulled free from the strings and rushed over to his sister, clinging to her free arm.

She pet his head and smiled down at him. “Gramps thought you might need some help. Taking on all three was a bad idea. I know you want to get away, but you don't want to get killed, do you? Now come on. How about a little friend to keep you company?”

Sasuke nodded, letting his sister work. She wrapped the whip around Rinku, keeping his hands close to his body. Sasuke retrieved the yo-yos he had been using so he couldn't use them against his sister. With her free hand, she made signs, muttering along with each movement before a final net appeared and entangled Rinku within its grasp.

“Now let's get them in their proper places.”

Sasuke nodded, eyes glowing gold again, the dark void appearing to carry them all away.

“Son of a bitch!” Rinku yelled.

“Rinku, Chuu is going to kick your ass!” Touya snapped, although he wasn't really concerned about Rinku's foul mouth.

“Yer one to talk…” Jin muttered as their cage was pulled in.

Kijo hoisted Rinku up and followed after them, Sasuke running in close behind.

~*~

Foxsoul: Um, well, yes and no. It depends on how you interpret it.I've been looking over the chapters I have typed up and it all depends on the way you look at it. Sorry I couldn't elaborate any more on it, because when the idea first came to my head, it was, but, now it's a little different than I originally thought.

Kahuffstix: (Both MMO and FFN) Thank you. I've never really had a consistent reviewer before! ^^ Thanks for the review.

Marikalay: I'm working hard on improving my writing (My other ones really sucked). Thanks.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY OPINIONS, OR IDEAS, LET ME KNOW!Megamileucothea at yahoo or you can AIM me at megamileucothea.