Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Slight Problem ❯ Confrontations ( Chapter 7 )

Here's Chapter 7 of Slight Problem! Please review and tell me what you think!

 

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho... just Natalie and Lisa.

 

***************************

 

Kurama showed them around the palace, including the grounds which were filled with a variety of plants and several koi ponds. The air in Spirit World was fresher than any the girls had ever encountered, much to their delight and great relief.

After the tour had been concluded, Kurama lead Lisa to the kitchens since she was complaining of hunger, and left Natalie to her own devices. She looked around the entrance to the palace where they had left her and frowned contemplatively. Deciding that she really should carefully go over everything that had lead up to their arrival here, and try to determine exactly what went wrong, she decided to head back out onto the grounds to have herself a good think.

She found herself a large tree nestled by one of the larger ponds and she settled down beneath it, sitting so she could look out over the water while she tried to determine what had gone wrong when she and Lisa had come here. Not that it wasn't cool as all hell that they were here or anything, but the two of them DID have family back home, and Lisa had a job that she most likely wanted to get back to as soon as possible.

Natalie sat under that tree for what felt like hours, going over the situation and circumstances again and again in her mind, trying to pinpoint something that might have triggered the transportation of their physical bodies, but it always came out the same.

She didn't have a fucking clue what had happened. She didn't know why they had been transported here physically, and more to the point, didn't have a clue how to get them back.

She sighed heavily and leaned her head back against the tree. Maybe she was just thinking too hard and it was something obvious. But how obvious could something be when there had never been an incident like this one occurring before? By the very scope of this situation, it would seem that there would be something obvious that was the cause, but since she couldn't pinpoint anything in the methods they had used to come to be here, it had to be something else.

But what?

She could do nothing but shake her head as she stared out over the water, trying to go over the situation in her mind yet again.

 

*****************************

 

Lisa very graciously thanked the cooks for making their meal for her, complimenting them on their culinary skills, before she joined Kurama by the door once again. He lead her down the hall once more.

“Feeling better now that you have something in your stomach?”

She smiled. “Yes, thankyou.”

He frowned a little. “I wonder why Natalie never joined us... you would think she would be trying to spend every spare moment of her time with you now that things have been cleared up.”

She shook her head and waved it off. “If I know her as well as I think I do, then I'd bet she's gone off somewhere to try and find a way out of this situation we're in. When she gets to thinking, she likes to be alone. Besides, she knows I'm safe. We've watched you guys long enough to know that you're not going to hurt us now that you know the truth.”

He couldn't help but smile a little. “And what an amazing truth it turned out to be.” He looked at her. “So... you've watched us fight before... on television?”

She nodded. “Yup. The series itself is called Yu Yu Hakusho. Yusuke is actually the main character, and the series started off when he died to keep a little boy from getting hit by a car. It went on from there.”

He nodded. “Yes, I've heard of that. In exchange for having his life given back to him, he was given the job of Spirit Detective.” He cast a glance at his companion and saw her mouth set in a frown. “Is something wrong, Lisa?”

The girl blinked and gave him a smile. “Oh, it's nothing... I was just thinking, is all.”

He blinked, curious. “About what?”

She looked at him and, although she could have evaded the question, she decided she may as well answer it. It was something that was bothering her, after all.

“Well, I've known Natalie for a long time... and she's always been so sure of herself. It just bothers me that she doesn't know how it is that we're here in the first place. She's the one who got us here, and if she can't think of a way to get us back home...” She blinked. “Not that it's not way cool that we're here physically, you know, now that you guys know how we got here and where we're from and we don't have to try running and hiding because we're afraid Hiei's going to kill us for knowing his secrets, and all, but...” She sighed. “I wasn't expecting to be whisked away like this. My Dad's gonna be going out of his mind when my roommate tells him that I've gone missing, and I'm gonna be fired from my job, for sure! I can't even imagine what Natalie must be going through, though... she was just visiting me from out in the country where she lives with her parents. She's still out there with them at her age because they're getting older and she does what she can to take care of them.”

He nodded, his features turning a little sympathetic. “I understand. Your family will be worried about you, and her family will be worrying about her. And in addition to that, she will also be worrying about the well being of her own family, since it sounds as if she takes great care to make sure that they are doing well themselves.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I don't know who it would hit harder if we wound up being stuck here permanently.” She shivered at the thought of never seeing her home or her family again.

Kurama looked at her for a long moment, and then he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her his patented smile. “You should not think too much on the matter, as of yet. Right now, you don't know if you're trapped or not. For all we know, your friend may come across the solution to this dilemma and have the both of you home tomorrow.” He started leading her down the hall. “Come, let's drop this subject for now. Push those worries from your mind. We'll find Yusuke and Kuwabara. If I know them, they're enjoying their usual banter and I know that their immature antics never fail to amuse me.”

Giving a small smile, Kristi nodded and allowed him to lead her down the hall.

 

******************************

 

Natalie was feeling more and more frustrated by the second. She had gone over the scenario for the umpteenth time in her mind, going over every single teeny tiny minute detail of the technique they had employed and had come up with absolutely nothing to explain how they had gotten here physically. It was just totally impossible, and yet here they were. In the Yu Yu Hakusho universe, able to SPEAK with and even TOUCH the characters!!!! But WHY?!

No answer was coming to her.

She moaned and gripped the side of her head. “Come on, girl, THINK!! What the fuck happened to let us come here physically?! What went WRONG?!”

“I hear it's a bad sign when you start talking to yourself,” came a voice from behind her. It was a voice she instantly recognized.

She sighed. “A sign of insanity... which I will happily declare myself if I can't figure this shit out!”

“Hn.” Hiei came to stand in front of her. “I notice you put the ward up around your mind again.”

She frowned. “Yeah, so? You already know what you wanted to know from the start, so why would you care if I have it up again?”

He crossed his arms. “I never mentioned this because there was no point to it, but when I used my jagen eye on you to determine the validity of your claims, I noticed that you had a small region of your mind completely and thoroughly block off.”

She laughed harshly. “Look, Hiei. You know every single minute detail of my personal life now. I wasn't going to let you see the knowledge I have pertaining to magick and the Craft. You're powerful enough and don't need that knowledge anyway.”

He smirked. “Yes, and you have quite an interesting personal life, if I do say so. You've had four boyfriends, and two stalkers, one of which you considered a friend before he...”

“HEY!!” She glared at him. “If you came out here to discuss my past relationships, then fuck off, Hiei! I'm not interested in discussing them with anybody, so what makes you think that I would be any more inclined to discuss them with YOU?!”

His smirk grew. “I hit a sensitive topic, did I? Since your experience with the one named Dave, you never could bring yourself to get close to another boy...”

She snarled immediately and was on her feet in an instant. She glared at him, instantly hating his arrogant expression. He was just loving the fact that he had knowledge about her to use to press her buttons, knowing fully well that if she tried to use any of the knowledge she had to counter his own, that his sword would be against her throat before she could blink. “I can see that I'll have to find another place to think in private,” she said in a carefully level tone of voice. She walked past him without another word and started back to the palace.

Before she got ten steps, he appeared in front of her again, his arms still across his chest.

She knew then that trying to get away from him was pointless. She could never hope to match his speed, and he would only continue to cut off her path of escape. Natalie knew she had no choice but to play whatever game Hiei was planning.

“Why did you come out here, Hiei? What do you want?”

He smirked again. “I couldn't help but notice when I was in your mind, who your favorite character in our show was...”

She laughed harshly again. “Oh, NOW I see where this is going!” She smirked and crossed her arms, returning his look. “Okay, Hiei... you've got me. You are my favorite character... or you were when I was back home watching you on a TV screen. Maybe I even had a bit of a crush on you. But I should point out that seeing you on a TV screen and meeting you face to face are two entirely different things. Back home, you had a certain charm and malicious quality that was endearing. In person... you're a total and utter asshole. Just to put your mind at rest, in case you were wondering if I was planning on making a play for you. Besides, I don't intend to be here long enough to start having any kind of a relationship.”

She walked past him again, satisfied that she had gotten her point across.

“Why? Because you're afraid of a repeat of what happened with Dave?”

Hiei didn't have to cut her off this time, because she stopped cold in her tracks at the casual way in which he had said those horribly cruel and heartless words.

“I told you...” she said, barely able to contain herself from whirling and attacking the koorime, “that I have no interest in discussing my personal life with you.”

Hiei's smirk went wider as he could smell her aggression building steadily. Yes, my little ningen... let's see you truly enraged.

“You know that my jagen eye does more than simply allowing me to enter a person's mind... if I concentrate hard enough, I can have that person do whatever I wish. Not even that little ward around your mind would be able to stand up to that.”

“You and I both know that you have more honor than that, Hiei. Don't try to pull this bullshit with me.”

He chuckled. “Oh really? Isn't that what you thought before? Didn't you think that Dave would never pull what he did? Did he not, in fact, promise you verbally on several occassions to never bring you harm or take advantage of you in any way before...”

She whirled, her eyes flashing murderously at his words. Hiei's smirk turned into a malicious smile. “ENOUGH!!! YOU'RE CROSSING THE LINE, HIEI!! NOW SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!!”

His smile was malicious and bloodthirsty as he continued to look at her unwaveringly. “You think you know me so well... just as you thought you knew him. Did you not consider him your best friend before you met Lisa? Such a horrific betrayal you experienced... is it any wonder that even five years later, you still have a difficult time trusting men?”

“I SAID SHUT UP!!!!!” she roared, and her aura flared to life around her.

His eyes glinted in almost eager anticipation as he crouched low in a fighting stance. “Or what? You'll attack me? Then come on, ningen!! Let's see your power, with no one to distract you, and no fear of harming innocent bystanders!! I DARE you to come at me with everything you have!!”

He felt his smile widen as she wordlessly launched herself at him, accepting his invitation.

 

*****************************

 

Lisa and Kurama stood off to the side, bemused expressions on their faces as they listened to Yusuke and Kuwabara's verbal argument.

Yusuke snorted. “I think you're setting an impossible goal for yourself, Kuwabara. I mean, how long have you been trying to convince Yukina to go out with you?”

The boy growled. “Listen. Urameshi!! It's not impossible, you know!! I just gotta keep working at it!! She'll fall for my charm eventually!”

Yusuke smirked and crossed his arms. “Sure... when Koenma switches from Pampers to Pull Ups... right Lisa?”

The girl was struggling not to laugh as she waved her arms around frantically. “Hey, don't bring ME into this conversation! I'm an innocent bystander!!”

Kuwabara, meanwhile, clenched his fists and continued on with the argument. “Hey!! My lady Love will fall for me yet!! Just you watch, Urameshi!! Next week, I'm taking her to the cultural festival and...” Suddenly his narrative stopped and his eyes went huge as he whirled. “What the hell???”

Yusuke blinked, the teasing light in his eyes vanishing immediately. “What's up, Kazu?”

“Natalie's spirit energy just sky rocketed!! It didn't feel this high when she was fighting those demons in the city yesterday...” Then his expression turned horrified. “AAAHHH!!! SHE'S FIGHTING AGAINST HIEI!!!!!!”

Their eyes all went enormous now. “SHE'S WHAT?!?!?!”

Lisa was freaking out immediately. “WHERE ARE THEY?! WE HAVE TO STOP THEM!!!! HIEI COULD KILL HER!!!!!”

“They're out on the grounds and it feels like...”

Lisa shot off before he could finish his sentence.

Kurama shot off after her “LISA!! WAIT!!!”

Yusuke nodded. “C'mon, Kazu!!” He shot off, his friend and rival hot on his trail.

 

****************************

 

Lisa raced out into the grounds of the palace and looked around. It only took her a half glance to locate her friend who was furiously fighting Hiei. She went to charge for them, hoping to bring the fight to a stop, but Kurama caught up with her and quickly restrained her.

“Let me GO!!! We have to stop this or...”

“LISA!! If you get between Hiei and an opponent, then he won't hesitate to take your head!!”

“But... Natalie can't fight against someone like him!! She had trouble against those demons in the city and they were weak compared to you guys!!”

Yusuke came up to stand beside them, watching the fight. He blinked, watching, and then frowned contemplatively. “Don't worry. Hiei's going easy on her.”

She blinked and looked at him in surprise. “He's what???”

Kurama watched as well and nodded, keeping a firm hold on Lisa's arm in case she tried to run off again. “Yusuke is right. He is blocking her blows more than anything, even though with his speed, he could easily do more. He is keeping himself defensive more than offensive. I don't know what brought this on, but... I don't think he intends to kill her.”

Kuwabara frowned. “What I don't get is that Natalie's aura flared up before Hiei's. In other words, I think SHE attacked HIM.”

Kristi's eyes went wide and she looked at him. “WHAT?! Are you sure?!”

He nodded. “Yeah, she's the one who dealt the first blow, all right...”

The girl gaped. “What's she THINKING?! She knows that Hiei's stronger than she is, so why would she even bother trying to attack him? Besides, back home, he was her favorite character! It doesn't make any sense!”

Kuwabara stared at her. “SMALL FRY was her favorite character?!” He crossed his arms and snorted. “Well, there's no accounting for taste, I guess...”

Then, as they watched, Hiei delivered a hard punch to Natalie that sent her flying. She slammed into the ground before she managed to vault herself upwards and land back on her feet. She held her jaw and took in a few deep breaths, as she glared at Hiei who stood only twenty feet from her, still smirking in that arrogant manner.

“Is that all you've got, ningen?”

She snarled and her aura came to life once more. “Not even close, asshole!!”

“ENOUGH!!!” shouted a voice off to the side.

All turned and saw Koenma and Botan standing there, Koenma having taken on his adult form as he frowned at them.

Hiei scowled slightly and then simply vanished from sight. Natalie scowled as well and headed for the entrance to the palace.

Lisa broke free of Kurama and came forward then, catching hold of her friends arm. “Natalie!! What the hell were you thinking?! Why were you and Hiei...?”

“I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!!” her friend shouted at her before breaking out of her grasp and starting off once more.

Lisa frowned and shook her head. “Oh, no you don't!!” She cut Natalie off again and stood between her and the entrance. “You're not going anywhere until you tell me why you and Hiei were fighting!! If he had wanted to, he could have killed you!”

Natalie looked at her friend for a long moment, her features still hard. “He brought up Dave, if you must know. And that's all I'm going to say about it!” Then she walked around her friend and entered the palace.

Lisa blinked in surprise. “Dave?” Then realization came to her and her eyes went huge. “HE DIDN'T!!!” She shook her head in shock. “Wow... I didn't think Hiei would ever sink so low...”

The three Rekai Tentai looked at her, as Koenma stepped forward. “What is it, Lisa?" asked the son of King Enma.

The girl blinked and then hesitated. “Well... I think I know why she attacked him now... but it's not really for me to tell you. It's not something that Natalie likes others knowing, and the only reason Hiei knows is because he used his jagen eye on her earlier today and found the information himself. But I still can't believe that he would sink so low as to dare mention it to her...” She sighed. “Let's just say that Dave is someone that... hurt her in the past. Before she was able to defend herself as well as she can now. I'd elaborate, but if Natalie found out... she'd kill me, best friend or not.”

Kurama frowned slightly, and Youko spoke up in his mind.

Then I guess we'll just have to find out what it was ourselves... We can't have Hiei and Natalie fighting like that.

I agree. We'll speak with her about it when she's had a little time to cool off, Suichi said.

Koenma looked at the grounds. “Well, at least their battle didn't cause any damage...” He sighed. “Well, so much for a distraction from my work... it was nice while it lasted, though...” He turned, reverting back to his infant form and returning to the palace himself.

Yusuke frowned thoughtfully, and then shrugged. “Well, it's over now, whatever it was. How about we get back inside and have a game of Mahjong? Anyone interested?”

Lisa blinked a little and then smiled a little sheepishly. “Um... I've never played it before...”

Kuwabara grinned and put a hand on her shoulder. “No problem! We'll teach you how! Come on!”

The three of them headed back into the palace, putting the incident between Natalie and Hiei out of their minds for now.

 

*************************

 

You find out why Hiei was acting like such an asshole in the next chapter. And you also learn why his words pissed off Natalie like it did when Kurama questions her himself!! Please Read and Review!