Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ THE WOLVES OF MUSHIYORI CITY ❯ The Spirit Detective's Rain Ends ( Chapter 18 )

CHAPTER 18: THE SPIRIT DETECTIVE'S RAIN ENDS

 

 

 

 

"I'm glad to see everyone in one piece. So, how's that giant, gaping hole I left in our defenses, Yu?" Mitarai asked over a mug of cold tea while everyone sat at an outdoor table of a coffee shop under a large umbrella.

"Surprisingly well. A few weak demons but nothing on par with a Scooby Doo villian or the like."

 

"That's what I figured. Morons think it's a really obvious trap so they're staying away."
"Yeah," Hannah said as she wrung the water from one of her socks, "They think that instead of under-resourced you're just moderately clever."

"And that mistake will cost them. Hopefully, they're overestimating me enough to send out one of their leaders with the next wave."

 

Between Kuwabara's spirit awareness and Mitarai's psychic connection with the mist he distributed around most of the city they knew that the time was right to rest and regain their strength.

After Mitarai received his situation report he asked Kurama about the tea that he brewed for them which launched him into a lecture about his methods for growing tea leaves a certain way in his apartment. After being through a gauntlet of battles and near-death experiences listening to Kurama's quiet, soothing voice talk about the do's and don'ts of brewing his own tea was the next best thing to being safe at home in a warm bed.

 

"They'll probably come through Irima Cave," Mitarai mumbled partially to himsef while resting his head on the table. "They know that the easy routes here haven't worked."

"What if they decide to take the easy way again?" Asato asked.

"....Then I guess the city's doomed because I'm going down to Irima Cave to meet with the leader and hopefully work something out. Maybe give them Amanuma and Hannah to leave us alone."

Mitarai felt too tired to put any humor in his voice. "If I can call out their leader and beat them in front of their army they might get scared enough to run back to the makai."

"And if it just inspires them to fight even harder?"

Mitarai finally found the strength to smile. "I'll be dead and I won't have to go to the surprise party Koenma's going to throw for me. My replacement will have to take over and defend the city."

Asato wanted to laugh or smirk but couldn't summon the strength. "And which dumbass did you pick to succeed you?" The smile on the Spirit Detective's face said far too much for Asato's liking. "Aw shit. C'mon, not me."

"Congradulations. Hannah didn't want the job."

 

Both Mitarai's and Kuwabara's heads jerked up from resting when they simultaneously felt something enter their general vicinity. Although Kuwabara kept repeating how weak the demon was like a mantra Mitarai didn't feel even slightly at ease.

"It's weak. Don't worry. We're fine."

"Kuwabara, if I could lift my arm I'd shoot you."

 

A water nymph that reached almost to Mitarai's kneecap stopped just in front of him and Kuwabara and cleared his throat.

"Masters Wladimir and Etrigan wish to congradulate you on defending yourselves against our weakest and most disposable soldiers. You have gained enough esteem to be considered a mild threat. Congradulations."

"Smart-ass little imp."
"Nymph. I'm a nymph."

Mitarai grabbed the small amphibious nymph by it's cloak and tossed it to Kuwabara who squirmed. "Eeeww, I hate frogs!"

"This might be a diversion so make sure everyone is spread out and on guard. Oh, yeah, and I need to borrow some money."

 

Kuwabara handed Mitarai a ten dollar bill.

"What's that for?" Sniper asked as he exited his hiding place.

"Go on and tell him, Mitarai," Kuwabara prodded.

Mitarai looked at Kuwabara's money and laughed at himself. "I know that as long as I owe someone money I can't die. Every time I go on a dangerous mission I borrow some money from Kuwabara. I haven't died yet so obviously it works."

"Obviously."

 

"You're coming with me, Snipe?"

"The others can handle themselves. Someone has to look out for you."

Mitarai weighed his desire of protecting his friends against his desire not to die alone. "Welcome aboard. You know you'd be a lot safer with the others. Just being in the general area of Kuwabara, Kurama or Yusuke is safer than this."

 

Sniper sifted through the remainder of the dice and marbles he used as ammunition. "One can hardly help their brother from a safe location. Okay, I could but not from that far away. I have my motorcycle stashed a just a little way back. Would you like a ride to Irima Cave?"

Normally, Mitarai would have declined a ride on a motorcycle on slick roads to a battle he was almost positive he would lose but normally he wasn't that tired.

"Sounds good."

 

"You know, Mitarai, I'm not gay or anything but if you need to relax before your big fight we could make a stop."

Mitarai tried to make out what Sniper was saying through the roar of the wind and rain even though he was sitting directly behind Sniper but couldn't.

"What?"
"Nevermind."

 

Pessimism told Mitarai to expect a demon army awaiting him at the mouth of Irima Cave but his logic told him that the cave's myriad of tunnels would even pose a challenge for their army, even more so since they had more bodies to maneuver through.

 

"As far as they know the only opening to our world is in that cave," Mitarai said pointing to Irima Cave before dismounting Sniper's motorcycle. "They have to come from there. They kept getting turned back at the other holes in dimesions."

Sniper couldn't tell from the tone of Mitarai's voice if he was confident or trying to convince himself.

 

"I'll take it from here. Go make sure everyone's okay."

"Is this your version of humor? First off, I'm not leaving you to face an army by yourself. Second, I'm not leaving you alone, period. You're going to die old and of natural causes, Kiyoshi Mitarai if I have to kill off the rest of the world to make it happen." Mitarai pulled out one of his water guns causing Sniper to laugh.

"You should know by now I'm not afraid to die."

 

Mitarai lifted his gun and pointed at his own temple. "I know. You're afraid of me dying, though. I have a better chance of surviving what's coming through that tunnel than a water spear through my brain. Leave and save my life, okay?" He managed his best reassuring smile as he reached inside his hooded shirt with his free hand and presented the Saint Jude medal Sniper had given him.

"Hopeless causes, right? I'll be fine."

 

"You're a real pain in the ass to protect, you know that? Fine. I'll go, but if you die I'm cutting a bloody path through the human realm and the makai."

"That sounds fair."

Sniper turned back and Mitarai tensed his trigger finger. "Relax." He took off his Saint Dismas medal as well as the Buddhist mala beads he kept wrapped around his right wrist. "You'll need all the help you can get."

 

Not until Sniper was well beyond the horizon did Mitarai take his gun from his head for fear of being knocked out and dragged to safety.

The water that had previously guarded the opened dimensional holes rushed toward him. Mitarai pulled up his hood and surveyed his personal pond and raised his hands and parted the water then covered the mouth of the cave with a mostly impregnable water shield and concentrated on evaporating the rest of the water which put much more of a strain on him than he had expected.

 

He rested against a nearby rock and shifted through several degrees of consciousness until being knocked awake by a sharp pain.

Seeing Hannah towering over him holding a katana answered his initial questions about what happened to him.

"At least you used the flat side to hit me. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Sniper sent me to look in on you. You moron, you would have slept through your own eviceration had they come through the tunnel already." She squatted beside him. "Deep down...really deep down, some part of me didn't want you to die, Mitarai...but mostly I'm here to make sure you won't make any plays for my man."

As much as he wanted to laugh Mitarai couldn't. "You? Jealous of me? Funny. Trust me, Kuwabara's totally queer for you, Hannah. I'm thinking of moving on to nerdier, more obsessive men."

 

Making a silent agreement to speak no more on the topic of romance Hannah put on a pair of headphones and watched the cave for signs of demon activity while occassionally poking Mitarai to keep him awake and his shield in place.

 

Hannah placed a hard elbow into Mitarai's ribs when she noticed two scouting demons at the mouth of the tunnel just behind Mitarai's mist barrier. Mitarai stretched out his mouth with his fingers and brandished his tongue as Hannah stuck out her tongue while pulling down her lower eyelids with her index fingers.

 

Disappointingly, instead of rushing into Mitarai's water wall the two demons turned their backs to report their findings. He assumed that the scouts were sent from one of the main areas where the caves forked. He knew the cave well enough that he could determine it would take a little less than an hour for the rest of the demons to arrive at the mouth of the cave.

To kill time he decided to linger between consciousness and sleep as long as he could.

 

"Hey, Mitarai, death finally decided to stop for you."

Mitarai widened the slit of his eyes and noticed small armored demons lining up at the mouth of the cave just behind his barrier. "How kind."

 

He yawned and wrenched dry his wet shirt. "Do I look like an imposing spirit detective?" He asked with a smirk.

"You better pray that these demons are intimidated by soggy guys with horrible taste in music."

Mitarai kissed his Saint Jude medal. "Done."

 

As Mitarai slowly approached the tunnel Hannah went about creating weapons and sticking them into the ground for easy access. He glanced back to see Hannah standing amoung a large collection of swords and spears who nodded that she was ready.

The demons at the front of the line futily tried to chip away at the water shield not knowing that Mitarai's territory bent dimensional rules in a way that made his water creations indestructable save for someone with the ability to transcend dimensions.

Mitarai assumed that his luck was bad enough that they had one such specialist.

 

The water wall morphed around Mitarai a few feet ahead of him and pushed back, aside or simply crushed the unfortunate demons that were in his way. He singled out one scaly green soldier who looked particularly afraid and placed his foot on his chest as he pulled out a typed note with the company letterhead of one of Koenma's dummy corporations.

At first he laughed at Yu's idea of such a formal method to offer a surrender but while waiting for the demons to come Mitarai decided that he would be as diplomatic as he could be...save for the soldiers he had crushed on his way into the cave.

He decided that a show of force would also be good.

"Take this to your leader. I'll wait here."

 

As his control over his territory waned Mitarai backed up and waited for the ogre concentration breaker that Yu had warned him about. He maintained his train of thought by reciting song lyrics he knew by heart and could in no way forget to help jam any telepathic intereference that might be projected his way.

By the time he noticed two large demons slowly walking towards him he was forced to mutter the lyrics out loud to keep his focus.

"Are you the Spirit Detective?" Asked the gray ogre.

"I'll serve your ass like John Macenroe, if your girl steps up I'm smackin' the ho. Word to your moms I came to drop bombs, I got more rhymes than the bible's got psalms." Mitarai felt the pressure in his brain ease and rubbed his eyes after taking his hands off of his ears. "It's about time you quit. My head's too full of song lyrics to penetrate. Let's discuss the terms of your surrender."

 

"Surely, you're joking," said the ogre.

"If I were joking I would have introduced myself as The Gas Face Killa, the lone Japanese member of the Wu Tang Clan. Or I just would have asked if your refrigerator was running."
"What?"
Mitarai raised his tired and mostly limp right arm to point at the tall wind demon behind the ogre. "Nevermind. You. We discussing terms or what?"

The wind demon flanked by two smaller demons holding spears stopped at the small series of holes Mitarai put in the water to have a two-way conversation.

"Surrender now and you will not be harmed."

The night's frustration and exertion fully caught up with Mitarai then. "I'm not in the mood for a dick measuring contest with you. You can't get through my wall and you're too afaid to use the other routes into the city because everyone you've sent through has died. Go back to the makai and let us put the kekkai barrier up again. No one else needs to die."

 

Wladimir pondered for a moment. "I will face you personally in combat."

Mitarai and the ogre Etrigan simultaneously moaned and slapped their foreheads.

"Fine. Whatever. I just want to go home."

 

The demon army retreated into Irima Cave as Mitarai and their leader arranged a set of rules for their battle.

"No outside interference, so your ogre buddy there is wearing an inhibitor. You beat me all you have to do is get through the rest of my people. We start when they get here." Mitarai extened his hand which the demon stared at momentarily before shaking it.

"Agreed."

 

A small pebble knicked Mitarai's ear causing him to turn his head in the direction of Sniper who waved him toward himself.

"Kuwabara wants to see you."

Mitarai held out his right hand and spread his fingers in what he hoped was the universal sign for "Give me five minutes".

 

"Kuwabara, I got stuff to do. This demon thing, change into something clean and then sleep like a dead man. This better better be good."

"I just wanted to ask a question is all. ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?! I could probably kill you by pushing you over right now and you think you can take on a strong B-Class demon?"

Mitarai yawned and craned his neck in a circle. "What was that, Kuwabara?"

He noticed Kuwabara's balled up fist and the surge of his spirit energy and tried to his best to placate his friend before he could be killed.

"You need to stay here. Kurama and Yusuke too. You three will scare him off too soon. I wear him down some then you guys come in and scare him off just by standing there and looking all badass. You three are like nukes. Best for scaring people, not for actual use. Besides, you guys are all the scarier when you don't fight. Just the very concept of your power will freak them out even if I lose. If I win they'll stack up my power with yours and won't even think about coming here for some time."

He managed his best and most reassuring smile and patted Kuwabara on the shoulder.

"You just stand there until the end of the fight and be the monster under bed, alright? Never in a million years will you be as powerful as you will be in the imaginations of those poor demons."

 

Mitarai turned back to the cave and stopped. "Hey, Kuwabara? If things had been different you'd have given me a shot, right?"

Kuwabara thrust his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels while trying to think of a response.

"Sorry, but you're just not my type. Besides, I've seen how you treat your friends, I'd hate to see how you'd treat a lover."

To his surprise Mitarai found himself chuckling but still couldn't stand to turn to face his friend. "I could die. You could have at least lied to me, you dick!"

"Survive and I'll buy you a taco."

Feeling a little too choked up for words Mitarai raised his thumb and headed off in the direction of Irima Cave.

 

"One last chance," Mitarai yelled out as he entered the circle of demons and psychics outside of Irima Cave. "Give up and you can just get a lame jail sentence. I'll talk to Koenma and get you a nice cell." He turned to the demons that made up the circle. "You guys can just go free. I always throw back the small fish." He turned back to Wladimir. "It's a good deal. I advise you to take it."

 

The tall wind demon finished tying back his long silvery hair and knelt down to look Mitarai in the eye. "Human, I appreciate your misguided attempts at a non-violent solution but despite the fact I lead an army I'm just a grunt at heart. Win or lose, live or die, I just want to fight."

Mitarai looked up at the gray sky and around at the damp ground and dead caterpillars.

"You sure? It's a crap day to die, Wlad."
"It's never a good day, human."

 

Mitarai nervously checked the water level of his guns while Wladimir idly took a spear from one of his imp spear carriers.

The first round of water gun fire was returned to Mitarai's face with a stiff gust. Before he could wipe the water from his face he narrowly dodged what he assumed was an intentionally slow and sloppy strike from his opponent.

Fatigue forced Mitarai to abandon his role in the early stage of the fight where they felt eachother out instead of attacking fully. He stomped in the nearest puddle and slapped the airborn mud and water to the demon's direction which solidified mid-air and took Wlad by surprise by scratching him. Using the minor distraction to his advantage Mitarai knelt to scoop up a handfull of muddy water and formed a liquid sword which Wlad delfected with his left hand leaving only a small slash on his palm.

 

Wladimir looked at his hand and grunted before taking up his second spear in his wounded hand. Mitarai found himself too distracted wondering how someone could handle two spears single-handedly to notice another gust of wind propelling a spear into his left side while the other struck the side of his neck and knocked him down.

 

Using the blood from his wound Mitarai formed another sword and cut away the spear which impaled him. He whipped the excess blood in Wlad's direction and caught him in his left eye with a number of minuature monsters formed from his blood instructed to eat away at whatever they landed on.

Instead of attacking, both parties fell to the ground and took up defensive postures. Wladimir held out his remaining spear to fend off future attacks while Mitarai formed a muddy water shield around himself while trying to contend with his dizziness.

 

After a round of vomitting Mitarai decided the time was right to utilize his hidden weapon mostly because he doubted he could maintain consciousness much longer.

Mitarai charged the demon who blew him back with a tremendous gale only to fall prey to the puddle of water he stood in which Mitarai had previously bled into. He struggled against the watery hands holding his feet into place and didn't notice the fall of rain which fell like ice picks.

Minor cuts surfaced then grew larger before they could heal as another drop of rain fell like a blade from the sky. His attempts to blow the water away acted only as temporary stop-gap solutions as the pointed water monsters rebounded and attacked him again.

 

Mitarai wobbly stood and stumbled over to Wladimir who blew him back once more but with less force. As he couldn't gather the strength to stand once more Mitarai waited and watched as the increasingly desperate Wladimir blew back his deadly raindrops all the while concentrating on the few beads of sweat he transfered to the demon via a handshake before the fight had begun.

He propped himself up on his side and waited for his trojan secretion to totally invade his enemy's body. As little as Mitarai knew of demon physiology he assumed that a horde of ravenous microscopic monsters destroying everything in their path as they rampaged through their body would not be beneficial.

Once the fair-haired demon was nothing more than a husk futily struggling against death Mitarai made his way over to him and pushed him over.

Sheerly for theatrics Mitarai formed a large water sphere and crushed the dying demon.

 

The demons in attendance gaped at their leader's dead, mangled body and then at the three psychics walking up from the horizon the collective power of which made the strength of the human who had killed their strongest warrior seem microscopic in comparison.

Mitarai took a deep breath and did his best to maintain a semblence of bodily control.

"You can go home now. Just...you know, don't eat humans so much."

 

The minor demons retreated into Irima Cave. Only the ogre Etrigan remained. He picked up his former leader's corpse and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

"I'll know not to underestimate you next time, Detective."

Mitarai laughed and coughed simultaneously. "See ya next siege, Etrigan. One moment." He reached to the ogre's neck and removed the collar inhibiting his powers much to the demon's confusion.

"Why?"

Mitarai shrugged. "I won already. No sense in being a jerk about it. 'Sides, you spared my friends. Would you mind if I offered some advice before you go? Next time, just walk away."

 

Once every demon had left his sight Mitarai collapsed to the ground. Kuwabara took him in his arms.

"That's the end of Spirit Detective Mitarai Kiyoshi. Lousy detective, but a decent enough guy."