The Shotgun Approach

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Would Be King

A/N: So, I'm back with a new one. This one popped into my head and wouldn't leave after I witnessed something fairly traumatic. An entire new OC was born from the chaos. And I hope everyone will like her just as much as you guys liked Kas.

This is set 8 years after the series ended. The shotgun approach is medical slang for when a medical team doesn't know what is wrong with a patient so they just order every test known to man and hopes one of them tells them something.

Happy reading.

PSA: Drug Abuse TW!

. . .

Spring - 2003

"Hey, we need some help over here!"

Screams. It was never good when people were screaming. When the call comes in at the dead of night. When my pager goes off way past midnight.

I awake from a slumber that is a little too deep to be natural. And I get up. I get up over and over. Because this is what I do – what I've always wanted to do.

"I'm coming, let me triage this patient first!"

The assessment is important, not something that should be skipped over or skimped on. So I am quick but thorough when I check over the prone man laying smeared across the pavement. He's bloody, covered in road rash and burns. But he's breathing. Which is more than I can say about several of the bodies lying around me.

I worked on every single one. I gave them that chance. But they were all lost causes.

So I moved on until I found one that wasn't.

Male. Demon. A stone eater to be exact (a weird species that weren't prone to violence...but they ate a lot of rocks, hence the name). He'd been tossed across the road after an explosion in a nearby building. It wasn't my job to figure out the cause. I was here for the injured. The dying and the broken. So I concentrated on him.

I checked his vitals. Sluggish pulse. Labored breaths.

I tagged him as urgent but he wouldn't die just yet. There were others that needed me first.

I pushed out a little bit of my power, staunching the bleeding, just in case. It wouldn't help those broken ribs though. But at least I could do something for the pain.

I ran to my team member that had called for aid, stripping off my blood covered gloves and hefting my triage bag over my shoulder.

I shot him a smile, feeling my lip pull up over my chipped front tooth. "Whatta ya got?"

Shou Warner was young – a child compared to many – of half Japanese, half American decent. He was one hundred percent human. And though he was young, he was smart and proficient and fast. It was unusual for him to ask for help. Which meant the patient he was currently administering CPR to was probably doomed.

"I can't stop the bleeding Ettie," he said.

The blood loss was the least of the guy's worries. The human beneath Shou's hands was covered in burns from head to toe, most second degree...but many bad enough to hit third.

I fell to my knees beside him, tossing my bag aside. It had nothing in it that would help me now.

I pushed my power through my fingers – concentrate...concentrate...

It mixed and melded and morphed into something that was actually useful. I dragged my fingertips down the man's chest, watched as the burns were coated in a thin but sturdy layer of ice and the blood pouring out of him froze solid.

"Okay, work on him slow, get him breathing. I'll hold him in stasis until we can move him."

Shou nodded, eyes wide, shaggy black hair falling into his eyes. "Right."

I was about to get up, to see if any of the other team members needed me. But a second blast, from the building beside the original site of the explosion, sent me on my ass. I fell back with an "oomph" scraping my hands against the pavement.

"Shou, are you alright?!" I screeched over the noise, thankful the buildings had already been evacuated.

Shou was hunched over his patient, protecting the wounded man from any further damage as best he could. "I'm fine!" he screamed, "Go help someone else!"

I didn't ask twice.

But the next patient I came across was the last one I had ever expected to see.

He was trying to drag himself up from the ground, wounded but not gravely. It was enough to be painful, however.

"Hey!" I called to him. He turned, but no recognition lighted his eyes.

"Don't get in the way, you could get hurt," he said, finally managing to clamber to his feet.

Urameshi Yusuke didn't look much different from the last time I'd seen him. He still kept his black hair slicked back, he still wore the same boring old jeans and t-shirt. But since the last demon world tournament his Mazoku markings had appeared...and remained. Whether it was just a manifestation of his power as it grew and grew and grew or just his personal preference, I didn't know. And I would probably never bother to ask.

"Are you working a case?" I asked.

His eyes widened momentarily and then the shock faded. It wasn't uncommon for people to know about his line of work.

"Yeah, something like that. You should get out of here," he said again, turning back to stare at the newest building being razed to the ground.

I took my chance while he was distracted and began to bandage his arm, which was bleeding the worst. He had minor scrapes and bruising on the rest of him, but nothing that would keep him down for long. "Clean those good later, okay?" I said.

He grinned at me, "Always. Thanks Ettie."

The recognition was there now, shining in the chocolate color of his eyes. "You remembered," I said, taping off the bandage.

"I was a little dazed before, but how could I forget that face?" His grin grew, before he batted my gloved hands away and ran off, back into the fray, back to help any survivors, yelling a "Thank you!" as he went.

I smiled to myself, picking up my equipment. I hadn't thought he would remember me.

Before the first demon world tournament, long before the barrier had been taken down by Koenma, I had been an outcast, a heathen, a human sympathizer as many called me. I helped those that fell through worm holes. I saved human slaves. I patched humans and demons up alike.

In the Makai I worked as a healer.

Here, in the Ningenkai, I was a full-time paramedic. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I took a quick glance around, noticed that everyone that needed help had been helped or tagged. The bodies would be taken away in black bags, the families would be informed...but not by me.

I wondered if the others were here with Yusuke. If they were off fighting too. Team Urameshi was legendary after all, even years later, after they had mostly disbanded. There names were still whispered with reverence – but Yusuke's so much more than the others. After all, he was the one who had started the demon world tournament, who had brought about the demon and human unification. He had won the last tournament and that was his first act as King. For demons and humans to live in harmony.

And while it had been a lovely pipe dream...it was just that – a pipe dream. Demons had come to the Ningenkai alright and not all of them caused problems, in fact many didn't. But the ones that did...well, you ended up with situations like this. Which is why King Urameshi spent most of his time here instead of in Tourin where he belonged.

I began to walk away, back towards the entourage of ambulances, their lights flashing brightly in the night. It was time to go home.

I pulled a bottle out of my pocket. Took out a tablet. Swallowed it dry.

What a night.

. . .

Later on – as I was making sure the last of the patients had made it safely to a hospital – I was cornered out by the Emergency Room's loading dock. King Urameshi had followed me all the way here, it seemed.

"What can I do for you Urameshi-sama?"

"Stop with the formalities," he said, "I hate them."

I hummed thoughtfully, casting him a wane smile. I was wearing thin. I marked a few things off on the clipboard I was holding, last minute paperwork that would need to be filed.

"Come out for a drink with us?" he asked. "Ya' know, as like a thank you and all."

I looked up with a raised eyebrow. "At this hour?" It was nearly seven in the morning by then.

He laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Don't be such a stiff, come on."

I passed one of the trainees – Amiya, I think. Amiya Momo. I handed her the paperwork, instructing her to give it to Shou before King Urameshi could drag me off. I stumbled along beside him, our height difference making me have to practically jog to keep up.

There was no height stipulation to become a paramedic, as long as you had the upper body strength to move and lift a patient if you needed to. And thank the gods for that, because I was an even five foot and wouldn't be growing anymore.

The King of the Makai wheeled me around the corner of the building, marching me towards a car waiting in the parking lot.

The car itself was nice, a slick black sedan with blacked out windows. I didn't say a word as the king wrenched open one of the doors and shoved me into the backseat. I felt like I was in one of those mob movies, where someone gets kidnapped and then gets a gun pointed at their head.

I half expected it as I shifted awkwardly in my seat. There were two other people in the car. One distinctly human smell...and the other, well, it was an odd mix of demon and human and gave me the creeps.

The driver, the one that smelled odd, turned to smile at me. "You've brought a guest Yusuke." Not quite a question.

I realized belatedly who it was – long bright red hair held in a plait down his back, eyes of a deep green, a cunning aura surrounding him. Youko Kurama. One of the four members of team Urameshi. The fox who had abandoned his demonic heritage and life of thievery to become a human.

Yusuke chuckled, as if sheepish, climbing into the backseat beside me. "Don't you recognize her?"

At that the last occupant inside the car turned around – brown hair styled in a pompadour, brown eyes, plain by all accounts besides his muscular build. I remembered that he bleached his hair in his youth, making it a bright unnatural orange. It seemed he'd stopped that habit. It made me realize how many years it had been since I had seen the entire team together. I think the human component of the team, Kuwabara Kazuma, was present at the last tournament but he hadn't competed. Not like years previously where he'd lost in the prelims.

Kuwabara squinted at me, "The face is kind of familiar..."

"You going blind in your old age?"

"Screw you Urameshi!"

"I've heard you aren't a very good lay, so I think I'll pass."

This sent Kuwabara into frenzy. He pulled off his seat belt, intent on climbing into the back so he could punch the king's lights out.

But Kurama reached around and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, forcing him back into his seat. "Now, now. You'll ruin the leather," he said.

"Oh shut it, you rich bastard."

Kurama's lips twitched, mirth making his eyes shine. "Back to the matter at hand. I'm afraid I do not recognize your friend Yusuke."

The king sighed, "I guess that makes sense considering she tended to mostly me and Hiei."

Hiei.

That name.

That person.

I didn't want to think about him. He'd been my most unruly and difficult patient to date, and I had treated some real assholes.

I should be grateful he was not among the members inside the car.

"Wait, treated?" Kuwabara hummed for a second, forefinger and thumb placed on his chin. "Ah! That healer from all the tournaments right?!" He turned to me with a shit eating grin, proud of himself for remembering.

"Yeah," I said. "That's me."

My name is Etternia. But everyone just calls me Ettie.

I'm around the age of sixty-five, but I lost count somewhere in the fifties. The years sometimes just bleed together.

If you hadn't already guessed, I'm a demon. A rare one. They call my species Elementas and I can control all the basic elements – earth, wind, fire, and water.

When I chose to become a healer my parents disowned me. I still don't talk to them. I probably never will, and that's okay. Because I love what I do.

When I came to the Ningenkai the first thing I did was enroll into a human college. After that I learned how to drive (I totaled two cars before I got the hang of it. Humans made it look so easy). And when I was handed my degree I took it and ran – I became a paramedic. And now, after years of hard work, I'm the lead on my team. I'm the one who answers the calls, who is the first on the scene in any kind of disaster.

I still run the medical tent at all the tournaments.

And I've patched up every single member of team Urameshi a time or two.

But even if I hadn't, any demon worth their salt knew their names. Knew what they had done for all three worlds. What they still did.

I held my hand out for him to shake and smiled, "I'm Etternia. But you can call me Ettie!"

The bar the king chose was anything but royal. It was a total dive, but a homey one. It had a nice atmosphere. The décor was simple, the booths and tables worn. The bar had seen many a glass and an elbow. The seats were comfortable and broken in. Someone was up on the tiny stage singing karaoke.

I felt my lips stretch into a grin. This was okay.

When no one was looking I took a tiny bottle out of my pocket and shook out a tablet. I swallowed it dry without a thought.

We sidled up to a booth in the back, half hidden in shadow. There was a man already there, nursing a drink, a sour look on his face.

I almost turned around and left. Almost.

But my curiosity got the better of me. And I slipped into the booth beside Kuwabara, the king taking up my other side and Kurama sliding in next to none other than Jaganshi Hiei. Mukuro's right hand man.

Some speculated that he was perhaps even her lover, but after all these years there had never been any definitive proof. I would have to limit myself to a single drink or I would end up making a fool of myself and asking him that very question.

Just like the others, he didn't look too much different despite the time that had passed. His hair black as soot still reached towards the ceiling. He wore all black other than the white headband wrapped around his head. And his face might as well have become stuck into a permanent sneer.

But his eyes...well, those were always so much nicer in person. The nicest thing about the man in fact. That red so deep. I could see why some women found him attractive.

"Hey, Hiei! I didn't think you'd show!"

"One more second of this incessant howling and I'm leaving," he growled.

The king rolled his eyes and then turned around in the booth, snapping his fingers at the bartender. "Any way you can get this moron to shut the hell up?" he said, indicating the drunkard up on the stage howling into the microphone.

The bartender shot him a nasty look when he walked by, but did as he was asked. The drunk was hauled out of the bar a moment later and thrown out into the street.

"That wasn't very nice..." I mumbled.

"Don't tell me you liked his vocals...or lack there of," said Kurama, his lips quirked into an odd little grin.

"No, not particularly, but he has just as much right as anyone to be here."

"No one with a voice that can make a person's ears bleed has a right to anything," snapped the fire demon.

I cast my gaze downward, towards the table top, eyes scanning the scribbles and etches persons long past had placed in its once glossy surface.

"Who is this irritating child you've brought along Yusuke? Her whining is no better than the drunk's singing."

"I'm not a child," I said to the table.

My hands were starting to shake, but not from fear. I wasn't nervous. Especially not after the pill. No, I had expected such behavior from him. In all these years he had never changed. I didn't think he had the capacity to.

In the last tournament, held just two years ago, Hiei had come up against Enki's wife Kokou...and he'd lost miserably. This tournament he had taken the loss more personally than the ones before it, because Urameshi Yusuke was slated to be in the finals. The fire demon had wanted a chance to test his strength against him, to prove once and for all who the strongest of the team was.

And while I had known all this, I still had been unsympathetic after I had treated him for blood loss, not to mention sewn up the massive chest wound Kokou had given him. The other demon had given me nothing but snotty remarks, if he spoke at all, and more than half the time he'd been combative. He was down right impossible to treat. It had taken all my willpower not to just walk away. As it was, I had frozen him to the bed so he wouldn't run away. Although, given his heritage, the ice was short lived.

I was certain he would not have forgotten that incident.

I didn't know if I should be glad that he had. Or offended that the bastard didn't remember me.

A drink was placed in front of me despite the fact I hadn't ordered one. I raised an eyebrow at the king and he just grinned. "Try it."

Everyone had been given the same thing, I realized. Other than Hiei, who had a glass of something downright foul smelling. And the way it was colored...black and purple...and gross. I almost thought I might have seen a raw egg in it, just before the fire demon gulped it down in a single shot.

"What are you staring at?" he snapped a moment later, noticing my gaze.

"Hiei, can't you ever just be civil?" Kuwabara bemoaned into his own glass.

"That's Hiei for you, cantankerous even when he's in a good mood," Yusuke laughed.

"It's like taking a grumpy old man and a child with homicidal tendencies rolled into one out for drinks," said Kuwabara.

In which Hiei replied, "Says the ignoramus with shit for brains."

"Why, you –!"

I spent the rest of the morning entranced by this group of men's dynamic – the way they talked as if they were enemies...but not. The way they insulted each other at the drop of a hat, then turned around and started a mundane conversation about their job. It was hard not to laugh.

I was mostly ignored, not that I minded. I sipped my drink...and just watched.

When it came time to leave and the king insisted Kurama gave me a ride home, I shook my head no. My ride was back at the ambulance station and I much preferred that over a stuffy car.

"At least let us give you a ride there," he said, head hanging out the front passenger's window. He'd fought (and beaten) Kuwabara for the seat.

"That's okay," I said, "I'll manage just fine."

He sighed but nodded, "Alright, if you're sure."

"I am."

"Thanks again...for patching me up last night."

"I was just doing my job."

A smile of unknown origin bloomed across his face and it didn't match the words that came out of his mouth, "It might be your job, but that doesn't mean it needs to be thankless."

He waved goodbye, rolling the window back up. I watched them for awhile as Kurama's car drove away, until they turned a corner and I couldn't see them anymore.

I wondered if this would be my last encounter with the king and his entourage...or if this was the start of something much bigger.

I pulled the tiny bottle out again. Shook it once. Not many left. I took one out and swallowed it anyway.

I was about to begin my trek back towards the ambulance station, when a voice from a nearby ally stopped me in my tracks. "What kind of healer is also a drug addict?"

The smile on my face twitched once...twice...and then got stuck somewhere between a grimace and an awkward grin of shame. "I have no idea what you mean," I replied smoothly, walking past the ally.

Hiei was there, leaning against the brick wall of the bar, arms crossed over his chest.

I could feel his glare even when I was several blocks away from the bar. And by then I had managed to control my features. But no amount of fake bravado could hide my utter shame.

Because the fire demon was not an idiot. He was an observant bastard to be sure.

And he certainly wasn't lying.

My name is Etternia. But everyone calls me Ettie.

I'm a full-time paramedic. I love what I do.

I'm what they call an Elementa, a rare species of demon.

And...I also happen to be a drug addict.

Who figured.

. . .

A/N: I swear there is an actual plot here. And this entire fic idea came completely out of left field. As usual (because I'm obsessed), this will end up being an OC/Hiei fic. But it'll be a super slow burn. I'm doing my research on the aspect of being a paramedic, because while I have basic medical knowledge, I am not familiar with the EMT/Paramedic field of work (or at least not to the point I'm comfortable writing about it without doing proper research). I really hope everyone will like Etternia. She was born from something tragic, but she herself, is not a total tragedy (although she's a pill head!).

And do not fear! Ticking Timebomb has not been abandoned or put on hold! I just had to get some of this out of my head. The updates for this one will be super slow, lol. At least until TT is finished!

Please tell me what you thought, feedback would be greatly appreciated!