Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Power In Many Forms ❯ Ice-cream Interlude ( Chapter 14 )

Power in Many Forms

Word Count: 2179

 

Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho, Inuyasha, Harry Potter, and Anita Blake are not mine; they belong to their respective creators. I hold no claim on them; just minor original characters.

 

Author's Notes: Much shorter than I would like it to be…but it just wouldn't cooperate. It took me by surprise and forced me to add it. >>; Totally delayed my writing of the day trip to London. *pouts*

 

XXX

 

Kagome let out a shout of joy as she flew over the forest surrounding Genkai's home. The demons living in the tree tops stayed quiet and huddled in fear, not daring to move with the powerful miko so close. Kagome knew this and let out another laugh as she spiraled down and let her oar skim the upper most leaves, sending the minor demons scurrying down the trunks.

 

She hoped Neville wasn't busy at the moment, for all she knew he could be asleep, but as luck would have it he was awake. And training with Hiei; poor kid. With another spiral she brought her oar safely and gently to the ground and walked to the small audience. Kuwabara was seated on the uppermost step that led to the porch, while Botan was seated one step below and looked quite comfy as she leaned back into him. Genkai was nowhere in sight.

 

“Where's Shippo?” Botan asked, her eyes leaving the mock battle between Hiei and Neville, and moving to her best friend.

 

“Harry offered to watch him while I picked up a few murder victims in the states. I came here to see if Neville wanted to go with me to fetch him. I thought I might repay Harry with some ice cream and some time with Neville.”

 

“That's good thinking.” Kuwabara murmured, his attention not fully on the conversation, his hands playing with the ends of Botan's hair.

 

“I thought Leah was patrolling St. Louis this week for souls. Why were you there?” Botan asked.

 

Kagome shrugged. “She was put on another assignment.” Botan gave her a confused look and Kagome sat beside them and whispered. “Enma seems to be concerned about removing Alice's seal and the effect it might have on her and Frank's recovery.”

 

Kuwabara looked at her with wide eyes and Botan gaped, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Neville's seal didn't give you guys any problems, why would Alice's be any different?” He kept his voice down, hoping Neville's hearing wasn't as good as Kurama's yet.

 

Kagome shrugged. “Her mind could very well be damaged beyond repair, and Enma's being very secretive about it. I don't know what's going on.”

 

Botan nodded. “I haven't asked either, and we certainly don't want Neville to get his hopes up if there's nothing to be done.” She sighed. “I'm sorry you keep ending up with St. Louis. It can't be easy.”

 

She frowned and looked at her friends. “I hope the locals catch that bastard soon. He's sicker than any fox has a right to be.”

 

Kuwabara blinked at Kagome and shook his head. “At least Shippo didn't have to see anything this time. You know you could leave him with Genkai, or Shizuru, heck the kid is old enough you could leave him on his own if—“ He noticed the glares both women were giving him. “Or I could just shut up.”

 

“That seems wise.” Hiei smirked and gave his lovers a heated look. “We're done for now. He shows promise.” He kept his gaze on them until he passed them and entered the temple.

 

“I think that was a hint.” Kuwabara chuckled as he stood and helped Botan to her feet.

 

“Mmm.” Botan nodded. “He either wants sex or he wants ice cream, it's hard to tell sometimes.” She giggled. “See you soon Neville, then we'll see how you do with something besides a katana.” She gave a brief wave before dragging Kuwabara into the temple.

 

“Later Kagome, Neville.”

 

Neville blushed as they went inside and glanced at Kagome. “I didn't know Botan knew how to fight.”

 

“Of course she does, she doesn't need to very often. She'll probably be training you with smaller bladed weapons, like daggers. However her personal favorites are a scythe and a baseball bat.” Kagome explained cheerily, enjoying the uneasy look Neville was giving her.

 

“And you?”

 

“Archery all the way.”

 

He shook his head and chuckled. “I'll remember that.” He placed the wooden katana he'd been practicing with on the porch. “So why are you here?”

 

Kagome grinned. “Well, I thought we might go pick up Shippo at Harry's and then go for ice cream.”

 

“Harry too?”

 

“Yep.”

 

Neville grinned at her and pushed his sudden case of butterflies aside. “Great!”

 

xxx

 

Harry smiled encouragingly at his younger charge, exceedingly thankful that he had made the spur of the moment decision to look after Shippo for the day. Sneaking out of the house had never been easier or more fun; they'd even managed to slip the member of the order that had been posted to keep an eye on him. Shippo's brand of magic was extremely useful. The twins would love to meet the little fox; though he wasn't sure Kagome would appreciate their influence on her son.

 

He had woken up that morning to a bright eyed and bushy-tailed kitsune who proclaimed, while bouncing on the bed, that he was hungry enough to eat a dragon. A few leaves later and they were out of the house and off to a restaurant with the Dursley's none the wiser. His `body guard' was left to watch what appeared to be Harry writing letters at his desk. Shippo's skills made slipping away much easier than sharing one invisibility cloak, even if he did feel rather silly with a leaf stuck to his forehead.

 

It was intriguing that Shippo didn't need to use any incantations. Just a leaf on each of their foreheads to act as a focus for the spell, and a little bit of energy that Shippo called youki. The boy had compared it to Harry's natural ability to use magic.

 

Once they were far enough away from Privet Drive Shippo had ended the spell causing the leaves to drift to the ground. Harry thought he could no longer be surprised, until with a poof of smoke Shippo changed his appearance. The fox-boy looked like any other kid on the street.

 

The rest of the day had been spent showing Shippo around Little Winging, not that there was much to see, but he seemed captivated by everything that Harry and every other Muggle born took for granted. More than once he wondered what Neville would think of these little things.

 

“Thanks for today Harry.” Shippo smiled from beside him on the swing set they occupied, and jettisoning Harry's mind back to the present.

 

“You're welcome; it was good to get out of the house.”

 

“Mom can pay you back for the food.”

 

“Nah, I have plenty of money. I'm just glad I let Hermione convince me to exchange some for muggle currency.”

 

They sat in comfortable silence for a while when Shippo lifted his face slightly and sniffed the air. He grinned and looked over his shoulder. “We have company.”

 

Harry blinked and looked over his shoulder as well and nearly fell off his swing when he saw Kagome and Neville walking toward them. “How? Wasn't Neville in Japan?”

 

“Yeah, but so were we. Mom flies all over the world, bringing Neville here is easy. It's not that different from the way Wizards travel, with those part keys.”

 

“Port keys.”

 

Shippo waved off the correction. “Whatever they're called.”

 

Kagome and Neville had reached them and the Miko was giving her son a strange look. “Imagine my surprise when we discovered Harry wasn't in his room. Really Shippo, you need to make your toys more interactive. Neville nearly panicked when the fake Harry didn't respond to anything

 

.” Neville blushed and sent her a half-hearted glare. “It was a good likeness; I should have figured it out sooner.”

 

Shippo pouted cutely at her, while managing to look proud of fooling Neville at the same time. “Adding intelligence to the dolls takes more concentration and time.”

 

Kagome sighed and gave him a soft smack on the shoulder. “And if the Wizard guarding him had decided to drop in for a chat?” Her son grinned sheepishly at her.

 

“Oops.”

 

“Luckily Wizard on guard seemed more intent on the liquor he was drinking, so no harm done this time. He's practically unconscious; to protect him and the house I put up a temporary ward. So we have a couple of hours at least.”

 

Up to this point Harry and Neville had been overly absorbed in the conversation between mother and child, conveniently avoiding any and all eye contact with one another. Harry had a sinking feeling in his gut that he was going to ruin things with Neville the way he had with Cho.

 

“Where are we going?” Shippo asked, immediately bounding off the swing.

 

“Ice cream.” Kagome smiled. “Any place decent to get ice cream here Harry?”

 

Harry nodded. “We're not known for it but there is a shop further in town.”

 

“Then what are we waiting for, let's go.”

 

xxx

 

Harry had been right. So far he and Neville had hardly exchanged a word. Which was strange because they'd been fine at the end of term…all those letters had changed things. He idly wondered if he was doomed to be alone and plagued by awkward moments.

 

He sighed and watched Kagome clean ice cream off of Shippo's cheek before pushing him on a swing. The kid had practically inhaled his ice cream…and somehow managed to avoid a case of brain freeze.

 

Neville nudged him with an elbow and looked at him. “Are we going to avoid conversation forever?”

 

“I was wondering that myself. I keep reliving that awful date with Cho in my head.”

 

“You do realize that I'm not a girl.”

 

Harry blushed, his entire body suddenly feeling hot and with a surge of Gryffindor courage he met Neville's gaze…and froze. Neville was…different. His eyes while still the same dusky green, were flecked with gold. It was as if his friend had found some sort of hidden strength. It wasn't overbearing, or smothering…just different; then Neville smiled and the moment was over. Harry shook his head and searched his mind for something to say.

 

“Are you going to tell me what's going on?”

 

Neville looked away for a moment. “A lot has happened…sometimes I wonder if any of it is real…it's like I'm afraid to look at it too closely.”

 

Ah, this was familiar territory. Harry nodded and smiled. “I felt the same way when Hagrid showed up and told me I was a Wizard. You're afraid it will all go away if you think about it too much.”

 

“Something like that.” Neville paused to take a bite of his ice cream. If muggles did anything better than wizards, it was ice cream. Muggles didn't come up with disgusting flavors like grass or blood. “And…there's a lot of things that I can't talk about without Kurama's permission. It's all pretty fantastic and unbelievable.”

 

“I guess it would be. Grim Reapers, fox demons, time travel. That is pretty unbelievable.” Harry snickered.

 

“Yeah…it gets better…or worse. I haven't really decided yet. There are more demons involved, some death…it just takes a while to explain. Would you mind waiting until next week?”

 

Harry blinked. “Next week?”

 

Neville nodded and met Harry's confusion with a timid smile. “Kurama and I will be back then.”

 

“You mean for our…our trip to London?” Harry asked, his heart skipping a beat.

 

“Yeah, will that be okay?” Neville stared at Harry, giving what he hoped was a pleading expression. Explanations had to wait.

 

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. “If we're…if we're going to do this than I guess waiting will be okay. I want…I want something I've never had before.” He blushed again and dared to look back at Neville.

 

Neville was blushing as well, but his smile was bright and happier than Harry had ever seen it. “Me too.”

 

xxx

 

“Is this really necessary?”

 

King Enma looked over his shoulder at his son. “Probably not.”

 

Koenma glared at his father. “That city is a dangerous place, things can only escalate.” His honey eyes sharpened. “What do you know that I don't? Have you been kissing up to the hags of fate again?”

 

Enma did his best to look innocent…but Koenma's gaze was growing angrier by the moment…certainly not the result he wanted. “If it makes you feel any better Koenma, the hags of fate aren't speaking to me right now. Not even I know what will happen, or where those boys will decide to go.”

 

“But you're pushing them in the right direction?”

 

“Something like that.”

 

“Just don't tell Kurama, he might try to kill you for messing with Neville.” Koenma glared at his father again before slipping out of Neville's quarters.

 

Enma sighed, wondering where exactly their relationship had taken a turn for the worse. He really wasn't cut out to be a father. However he couldn't help but do this, it was a gut feeling. His smile was bitter as he placed the brochures on the bed and walked out of the room. Hopefully Neville would make the right choice. The bonds between the realms needed to be reaffirmed, and only certain individuals were capable of doing what needed to be done.

 

XXX