A/N: My apologies for taking so long in getting this second chapter out. It's longer and more long-winded (I tend to indulge in lots of dialogue) but the plot thickens. And I made myself write the rest of this at 1 am and I'm tired so I'm sorry if it seems to end abruptly. At any rate, I hope you enjoy. Please review!
The next morning, Yusuke got dressed and ate breakfast as quietly as possible so as not to wake his mother. She had done her best to not let him out of her sight in the last year ever since he returned, and he didn’t want her to start on him now. He loved her, and knew that she had worried about him constantly while he’d been gone, but she was smothering him. Luckily he managed to escape the house before she woke up. He left her a note and told her he’d be back as soon as he could. Which he really didn’t know how long that would be. Shouldn’t be too long, he thought.
At any rate, he was glad to be back in action. He inwardly hoped that this case would be interesting, even though he’d gladly do anything at this point. He knew he’d started as a spirit world detective in order to track down troublesome demons, but it had escalated to so much more. In all honesty, he never gave much thought to the fact that he was part demon. Granted, that would change if someone started hunting him, which had happened before but in a different sort of way. He really didn’t feel uneasy, though, hunting down other demons. If they caused trouble, they deserved to be hunted down. That was pretty simple in his opinion.
“Ah, who cares what anyone else says,” he said to himself. “At least Koenma gave me my job back.”
“It won’t be like the other times,” came a soft, deep voice from above him. Yusuke stopped and looked up, and was not at all surprised to see Hiei standing on the branch above him.
“Hey,” Yusuke offered. “Following me to the station?”
“Hn. I will not be riding that human contraption. I will meet you at the shrine.”
Yusuke snorted. “You’ll probably beat us there. So what’s this ‘it won’t be like the other times’? Quit being cryptic. And stop following me.”
Hiei shrugged. “Call it a fair warning, if you want. You are excited to be working for the spirit world again, which I do not understand, though I suppose you have always been strange. But there is something you should know.”
Yusuke gave him a look. “What’s this all of a sudden? You never offered valuable information before without someone having to practically wring it out of you.”
Hiei looked indignant. “I offer this information to you because it will affect all of us. You, me, everyone. They have not told you about the sacred jewel, have they?”
Yusuke frowned. “Sacred what?”
Hiei closed his eyes and nodded as though affirming to himself that he’d been correct. “The sacred jewel. Shikon jewel is its proper name…the Jewel of Four Souls. It is probably the most valuable and dangerous object in all of the three worlds.”
Yusuke rubbed his temple. “Wait…what does that have to do with this assignment?”
Hiei jumped down to the ground, and stood in front of Yusuke. “The strange energy Koenma spoke of, which surrounds the shrine, may well be the Jewel of Four Souls. It has been lost for several centuries. If it were rediscovered, and fell into the wrong hands, it could mean the worlds’ destruction.”
Destruction? That didn’t sound good.
Yusuke’s mind was reeling. “Why did Koenma forget to tell me about this?”
“He did not forget. He wanted you to find out on your own…but I did not. He intended to risk testing your resistance to your demon powers. The jewel’s power is greater than you could possibly imagine. It gives the weakest demon formidable strength, and sometimes invulnerability. It will draw you to it like a moth to the flame, and you will be burned.”
“You mean because of my demon side…”
Hiei nodded.
Yusuke glared at him. “You and Kurama both happen to be demons, you know. Why should I be more susceptible to the jewel’s power?”
Hiei shrugged. “I did not say you were. I merely wanted to warn you to stay on your guard and keep your head about you. Neither Kurama nor I wish to go on this assignment and risk giving into the temptation of the jewel. Even if I wanted to destroy the human race, which I must admit the thought has crossed my mind on some occasions, even I have to fear the jewel. But we have no choice.”
“So what? Are you telling me that I should tell Koenma not to take this case? I can’t do that. I can’t say no. Besides, Koenma just wanted me to check out this strange energy and report back to him. If the jewel doesn’t show up, then it’s all good, right?”
Hiei shrugged again, clearly disagreeing. “That is not all that will happen. It never is.”
Yusuke snorted. “Yeah, and why should I complain if something interesting comes up? I said I’d take this case and I plan to do whatever it takes to solve it.”
Hiei regarded Yusuke for a moment. “Hn…you haven’t changed.”
“Neither have you. Well, I’d love to finish this chat but I’ve got to get to the station. See you at the shrine.”
Hiei nodded and was gone without another word.
Yusuke found Kurama waiting at the train station, sitting on a bench. Beside him sat Kuwabara, which didn’t surprise Yusuke at all, but irked him nonetheless.
“I should have known you’d show up,” he told his rival. “Can’t miss out on the action can you?”
“Of course not,” Kuwabara replied. “You get all the fun. This summer has been boring so far, I want something to do.”
Yusuke glanced at Kurama, who merely smiled patiently. “Hey Kuwabara, what about Yukina? Won’t she miss you?”
Kuwabara’s face turned beet red. “Uh…well, she’ll understand,” he said in a strained voice. “She knows I’m fighting against evil…for the greater good…or whatever.”
“Yeah, sure,” Yusuke said, yawning. “Hey are those donuts I see for sale over there?”
At that moment, a cheery voice came out of nowhere and announced, “Never fear, your donut delivery girl is here!”
Yusuke knew who that was without even looking. He turned around to see Botan standing there, and her presence suddenly became much more welcome when he noticed the box of donuts in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other.
“Botan, how nice to see you. Thanks for the donut,” he said, opening the box and taking a nice, big, chocolate-covered one. “Coffee for me, too?”
“Silly boy, of course. I didn’t think to bring more,” she said apologetically, glancing at Kurama and Kuwabara.
Kurama waved his hand. “I don’t care for coffee,” he said. “Tea is my preference.”
“I’d like a beer,” Kuwabara said, half in hopes that Botan would give him one.
“Nonsense,” she said, waggling her finger. “Shame on you for drinking on the job, Kuwabara.”
Kuwabara sulked. “Hey, I was just kidding.”
“Yeah right,” Yusuke said with a mouthful of donut. “Hey Botan, why are you here?”
“To make sure everyone showed up and that you don’t get lost. I know where the shrine is.”
“We won’t get lost, and Hiei will meet us there. He stopped me this morning to tell me something.”
Kurama glanced at Yusuke. “Tell you about what?”
“The ‘sacred jewel’.” He stared at Botan pointedly. “Which Koenma neglected to tell me about. Hiei said that the jewel might have been found again. I didn’t even know that it existed. Does no one bother to tell me anything anymore?”
“There are a lot of things that you don’t know exist,” Botan replied, her voice not as cheery as before. “Koenma was hoping that the jewel wouldn’t be at the shrine…he doesn’t want it to be found. It is very dangerous.”
“If it were found and put in safe keeping, it could be purified,” Kurama noted.
Yusuke glared at him. “So you knew about it, too?”
“Not necessarily,” Botan said in reply to Kurama’s statement. “The very nature of the jewel is the nature of mankind. Good versus evil. White versus black…in this battle, there is no gray. It is a battle that is far from being won. Oh, look, the train is here!”
Taking advantage of the opportunity to avoid the subject, Botan rushed inside the train car and sat down. The other three followed her. Yusuke wasn’t going to let her off that easily; as the train started moving again, he asked, “Okay, Botan…question. Let’s say the jewel does turn up. What did he intend to do about it then? Was he going to let me use something that would be disastrous for me to use? Seems to be poor judgment on Koenma’s part.”
Botan glared and pointed a finger at Yusuke, “Don’t question Koenma’s judgment. He has a lot on his mind lately, and the last thing he needs is to worry about someone finding the Shikon jewel. It’s better if it remains lost. Forever.”
Yusuke’s eyes widened and he backed away. “Geez, touchy today, aren’t we? Ok, fine, so we’ll just worry about checking out this shrine and then reporting back to Koenma. Right?”
Botan attempted a smile. “Of course!”
After that, they fell silent. None of them had much to say after that little outburst from Botan, whose normally cheery disposition had still not fully returned. Her smile did not reach her eyes, and she looked worried. Yusuke wondered if she, too, were worried that he might find the jewel and go all hostile like Hiei indicated he would. What was everyone’s deal? As if he needed all the extra anxiety from everyone else about it.
Even Kuwabara said nothing, sensing the tension in the air. He looked back and forth at everyone, wondering what the big deal was. The Great Urameshi, who hadn’t been in school since before he left for the demon world, looked, for the most part, calm and collected. However, his eyebrows were furrowed together in concentration, and his jaw line was set stubbornly, as if he were inwardly arguing with himself. Kuwabara normally would be all too glad to pick a random fight with Yusuke, but had developed sense enough to know when to keep his mouth shut. It wasn’t as fun, of course, but he’d survive.
Kuwabara’s gaze then shifted to Kurama, who was as silent and stiff as ever. The serious expression was, of course, pasted on his face like a mask. Kurama very rarely let his inner worries and fears, or whatever else he was thinking about, show on the surface. But Kuwabara could see very plainly a strained sort of anticipation in Kurama’s green eyes. And, Kurama was fidgeting with a stray lock of hair, something he also never did. He was nervous about something.
Again, Kuwabara had no idea what the deal was.
And finally, his attention focused on Botan, who looked as though she’d rather be anywhere but there. She was glancing at Yusuke out of the corner of her eye, which Yusuke, thankfully, didn’t notice. She was also tapping her fingers on her knees impatiently, and biting her bottom lip. She looked more nervous than Kurama, who really didn’t appear nervous unless one was looking closely.
Kuwabara was just glad to have something to do. Summers were boring, and while he looked forward to seeing the lovely Yukina every day, he had been itching for an adventure. Where Yusuke went, fights usually ensued, so he wasn’t about to miss out on the fun. Besides, if Yusuke was working for Koenma again, Kuwabara wanted to be there.
He still hadn’t recovered from the last major case Yusuke had taken on. The Sensui case. The image of Yusuke being impaled with holy magic had never left Kuwabara’s memory. Granted, Yusuke was still alive, but Kuwabara had vowed in that instant that he would be there to save Yusuke the next time. Perhaps that was taking things to the extreme, but he didn’t care. He also would never admit it in a million years to anyone.
***
About a half an hour later, they all arrived at the shrine, including Hiei. Standing across the street, they saw the gates that read “Higurashi Shrine” and below it a sign that read “Tours Available”.
“Tours?” Yusuke wondered aloud.
“Yes, it used to be a very well-known shrine; it has been in the Higurashi family for centuries,” Botan replied. “The first family built it to honor the battles between demon and man.”
“Yeah, yeah, so Koenma told me the same thing,” Yusuke said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, so how are we going to get in there and look around for this energy source or whatever?”
Kurama smiled. “We could say that we’re students working on a project, a study of local ancient shrines and their dedications.”
Botan nodded. “That’s a good idea! We’ll take the tour!”
Yusuke groaned. “No, not the tour! I hated listening to boring lectures in class; why would I want to listen to one now?”
Hiei snorted. “Hn. I do not want to pretend to be a human.”
Botan giggled. “Well, think of it as a new experience for both of you.”
***
Being the head of the household was not easy. At least that’s what Kagome’s grandfather was thinking when he saw a group of teenagers standing outside the shrine entrance. They looked anxious and impatient, something else he had trouble dealing with. Being old and not as fast as everyone else wasn’t easy, either…as he was still discovering while living with two young grandchildren.
Sota was a quiet boy, really. Content to play his video games and ride his bicycle after school. There was very little trouble with him, and he did very well in his classes. Bright, and reserved, something his older sister, Kagome, was not.
Oh the girl was exceptionally bright, but ‘reserved’ was not in her vocabulary. She wasn’t wild, or anything like that, but she came and went so fast that Grandpa barely even had time to make up new excuses for her while she was gone. She got so angry with him, too; what did she want him to do, tell people the truth? Did she think him mad? If he told everyone that she was jumping into a well to travel back to Feudal Japan, fighting evil demons alongside her half-demon companion, everyone would certainly think him mad. Perhaps she wanted him to be locked away for good in an insane asylum.
Kagome’s mother, bless her, was content to sit back and view the goings-on with little to say. She simply smiled and did what she could. While he made excuses for Kagome and did random upkeep on the shrine, Kagome ran around with her friends in the past. Life was strange.
Not that it really mattered in the long run, he supposed, musing to himself as he went to greet his young visitors. He wondered if they were looking for Kagome, and began to work up a new excuse for his absent granddaughter.
“Ah, hello,” he said to them. “What brings you here today? Are you looking for Kagome?”
They looked at each other, confused, and shrugged.
“No,” answered the pretty redhead, and Kagome’s grandfather was amazed to hear a deep, masculine voice come from such a pretty face. He shrugged it off; children were stranger and stranger these days, anyway. He shook his head as he realized that the redhead was still talking.
“…wondering if we could take the tour of your shrine,” he was saying. Grandpa’s ears perked up at the mention of ‘the tour’ and a huge grin was plastered on his face.
“You want to take the tour, do you? Well, I don’t hear that often anymore. Is this for some sort of school project?”
They all nodded, and the blue-haired girl replied, “Yes, we’re interested in hearing about your shrine and its history.”
At the word ‘history’, all was said and done. Grandpa’s eyes widened and he ushered them all in, practically slamming the gate shut in their wake. Finally, someone who wanted to hear him talk! He could talk for days about his beloved shrine.
“Well, today is your lucky day,” he said, practically beaming with joy. “I’m all too happy to help you out. I know all about this shrine’s history. It has been in my family ever since it was built almost six hundred years ago.”
Yusuke noticed Botan stiffen out of the corner of his eye. He briefly wondered why she was so uptight, and shrugged it off, trying to listen to the old man.
“I am the head of the Higurashi household,” he was saying. “You may call me Mr. Higurashi, or Grandfather, if you wish. It is up to you.”
Grandpa led them through the shrine, stopping at the huge tree in the center of the courtyard. “This…is the Goshinboku, or ‘God-tree’,” he said, gesturing towards the top where its branches stretched out, providing a shade from the sunlight. “It has been here, in this same spot, for over eight hundred years, long before the shrine was ever built. Legend says that in those times, a half-demon was pinned to this tree with an enchanted arrow. He stayed there, near death, for fifty years. Finally, he was awakened, and the enchantment was broken!”
“So, is that the significance of the tree?” Yusuke asked, genuinely interested. He, like the others with him, could sense a strange aura around this tree. Something that none of them could explain or even begin to understand.
“The significance of the tree,” Grandpa continued. “is that it represents both captivity and freedom. It also represents love and hatred; you see, the priestess who imprisoned him was also in love with him. And years later, her reincarnation freed him. That is how the legend goes, and it says that the two of them were tricked into hating each other. It is representative of the negative and positive emotions of the soul, and how eventually, if you strive for it, good will come out of the bad.”
Hiei snorted, but surprisingly said nothing. The old man led them on, and they followed. He talked for a while about little odd things, like the diversity of his ancestors; some were warriors, some were monks, some were merely common folk who tilled the earth and lived normal, simple lives. All throughout the centuries, the shrine had lived through disaster after disaster, and had been spared certain destruction. It had been kept from being sold during hard times and had endured fires, vandals, and the Second World War.
“In fact,” Grandpa said. “Its greatest survival was during the time of the age of civil wars. At that time, there were terrible battles being fought between those who wished to conquer the entire land, and those who wished to allow Japan to grow and develop as a nation, rather than being divided. It was a time of hardship. Dark times, darkness at work everywhere. In that time, it is said that demons roamed free, causing chaos and strife everywhere they went. My ancestors built this shrine to honor the battle they fought with a terrible, ferocious demon of tremendous power and cruelty.”
“How did they win?” Yusuke asked, actually interested in this bit of history.
Grandpa rubbed the beard on his chin. “You know, I’m not sure. I know that at the heart of this matter, the Jewel of Four Souls resided. It was a terrible troublemaker in those times, that little jewel. Such a tiny object, and it caused such vast amounts of terror and destruction.”
They were all ears now. “Tell us, where is the jewel now?” Botan asked.
He looked at her strangely. “It’s lost, of course. No one knows where the jewel is today. Don’t you agree that it’s best if it remains hidden safely away?”
“What if someone found it?” Kuwabara asked. “Couldn’t it do damage still today?”
“Yes, of course, but I doubt that someone is going to find it now,” he said hastily, and deliberately looked at his watch. “Oh goodness, I’ve got to run. Feel free to look around, if you like. However, stay out of that shack over there, it’s deteriorating. Don’t want any of you to get hurt.”
They looked at each other, then back and the old man, and nodded. “Sure thing,” Yusuke said.
With that, Grandpa practically ran back into the house, leaving the five of them standing there feeling a little put off.
“He sure got out of here in a hurry when we wanted to know about the Shikon jewel,” Botan said. “I think he’s hiding something.”
“He knows where it is,” Hiei spoke up, matter-of-factly. “I could see it in his eyes.”
“So what? We can’t just barge in there and demand that he give it to us,” Yusuke said. “Although that’s normally what I would do…anyway, let’s check out this shed that he didn’t want us to go in.”
Much to their disappointment, all they found in the old shed was a dry well. However, all of them, including Kuwabara, agreed that there was a strange feel to it, like something wasn’t quite right.
“It’s just a well,” Botan said, though not convincingly. “Do you suppose maybe he’s hiding something at the bottom of it?”
Yusuke smirked at her. “Why don’t you find out?”
Botan looked down, and could barely see the bottom. It looked empty. “I don’t see anything.”
“Then he’s either jumped all the way down there, buried it, and climbed back up. If you ask me, he doesn’t look like he’d take the effort to do that much.”
“Either way,” Kurama said. “We can’t stay in here much longer.”
“So what do we do? We haven’t found out anything!” Yusuke protested.
“Then we do nothing but wait,” Kurama replied.
Hiei nodded, and added, “Of course. We wait. Keep watch. Something will happen eventually.”
Frowning, Yusuke crossed his arms and huffed. “Hmph. Fine. We’ll wait.” Still grumbling, he marched out of the building. The others followed him, rolling their eyes.
As they were about to leave, Kurama found himself staring at the tree. That huge, ancient tree. He didn’t know what it was about that tree that seemed to just…call to him. Beckon, if you will. Finally he could stand it no longer, and told the others to wait.
Standing, facing the tree, he reached to lay a hand on its bark, and almost drew it back out of sheer reflexes. He felt it; a strange humming, a vibration that could only be felt by a spiritual being whether holy or demonic. Some mortals could feel it, but most only felt the minor things; a change in mood, perhaps. It was a holy tree. Demons could not touch it; mortals could, but demons could not. The demonic blood coursing through his veins made it difficult for him to touch, but he laid his hand upon it, regardless. A warm feeling spread through him as though he’d been blessed. It was quite possibly one of the best feelings he’d ever felt. When he withdrew his hand, he was smiling.
The others watched this in silence, wondering what exactly had taken place. But they could not wonder long. About that time, they heard the door to the shed open. Confused, they turned and saw a girl standing there staring at them. They stared back, speechless.
She was about fifteen, maybe sixteen, with long, dark hair and a green and white school uniform. She was carrying a huge backpack and was pushing a pink bicycle with her free hand.
Overall she looked pretty normal, but they all knew that there was something very abnormal going on here.
One, because they could sense an extremely powerful energy that seemed to emanate off of her. Not to mention that Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei could smell the scent of a demon. It was faint, enough for them to know that she, herself, was not a demon, but she had definitely been in contact with one.
And obviously she hadn’t been in that shed just a moment ago.
***
Stay tuned for Chapter 3!