Original AN: Hey all, this is my second posted story, and my…somethingth written one. YuYu Hakusho doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, but the idea of the reaper demon comes somewhat from the Harry Potter dementors, so anyway, enjoy my second fic!
AN as of 7-13: Well, I saw some things I needed to fix (the chapter dillys…I think I need to fix all of those…ugh). I also gave a tish more of description to the reaper's appearance, so I hope I've made the picture a little clearer, sorry! On with the story!
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Ch 1
Serena rubbed her tired eyes as her wrist watch read "10:23".
Sighing as she stretched, she cursed the planes for being late. Her boyfriend of two years was coming home today after a three month stay in France with his aunt, and she couldn't wait for him to come home.
After what seemed like ages, the gates finally opened and people began streaming to family members or friends as they were greeted back to Tokyo, Japan. Standing on her tiptoes, Serena saw him.
His brown hair was a little longer than usual, and was now in a low ponytail. Another thing she noticed different was the blonde woman that was hanging off of his arm. She was scantily dressed and hugged his arm tightly…a little too tight for Serena's tastes. 'Hold the phone,' she thought as she confusedly made her way to him through the throng of people. As soon as she reached him, he glanced at her for a short second or two, looked away, and kept walking.
'What is he doing?' Her muddled brain was finally set back into drive as someone shoved her none too gently. She sent the man an angry glare before she walked over to a near by bench and sat down. Her head fell into her hands as she suddenly remembered all of the weird things between the two of them. He would barely talk to her over the phone, and sometimes wouldn't call her at all. If and when he did talk to her, the conversations were always short and his answers clipped, usually stopping when she heard a door open.
She then realized what happened.
Her boyfriend had replaced her…with a blonde whore from France.
Slowly she rose and began to run.
It was a strange run…she felt as if time had slowed as her thoughts raced through her mind, and she had to continuously think about running and getting out of there for fear she would collapse and break down right there. After what seemed like forever, she burst through the airport's door and rushed to her car. Fumbling around with the keys, her shaking hands finally grasped the right one as she unlocked her door and slumped into the seat. She put the key into the ignition and helplessly let her head fall to the rough textured steering wheel.
'You knew it would happen Sere…so why didn't you listen to yourself?' Her inner voice was not what she needed right now as she felt ready to burst.
'I thought he loved me…he told me he did and said he would wait for me like I said to him before he left.' After a few good minutes of letting the shock sink in, her first tear finally fell.
--
A half hour later, her sobs finally subsided as she heard her cell phone ring. Roughly grabbing her purse as she tried to regulate her breathing, she rummaged around until her hands slipped against a small keychain that was connected to her phone. Picking it up by that, she freed it from the dark confines of her purse. The small charm was of a rose that he had given her before he left. 'A lot of good it did,' she thought sourly as it was ripped from her phone and tossed carelessly to the backseat. 'Always have this with you, because it will keep me bound to you,' she mocked as she opened her phone to see who was calling. 'Great, just who I need.'
"Hello?"
"Yo, Serena! I thought you were going to be home by now; what's keeping you?"
'Just like my brother Yusuke to yell at everything. I'm really going to get if from him when I tell him about Josh.' She took a deep breath and gathered her courage, but it all whooshed out in a small sob.
Yusuke's voice and demeanor immediately changed when he heard his twin sister sob instead of reply. "Oh Serena, tell me what happened, ok?" 'It's probably that jerk, Josh,' he thought on his end of the phone.
From his position on the counter top in the kitchen of their small house, he listened to her sob out her story. When Yusuke hadn't immediately hung up with his sister, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara all walked into the kitchen, wondering why he was still on the phone.
Hiei glared at him. "I thought you were going to be a moment, Urameshi," he ground out testily. 'I thought that girl would be back by now, and the rest of us on the mission.'
Kurama shook his head at the three eyed fire apparition. 'Calm yourself, Hiei,' said the fox telepathically. 'Something's not right.'
Kurama got a grunt as a reply and sighed as his attention went back to Yususke.
"Well, do you think you'll be able to drive yourself back, Sere? I really don't want you to, considering your condition, you know?"
Serena smiled softly. Her brother could be sweet if the need arose, which it apparently had. "No, I'll be fine." She wiped her eyes with her free hand and asked if the guys were over.
"Yeah, they're all here...why?" Yusuke glanced to the three guys assembled in his living room who were "pretending" not to listen.
"Well, just tell them hi I guess, and to apologize for taking so long on the phone with you."
He could hear her sigh on the other end, and protested. "No, it's ok, they don't mind!" As if his little sister could see him, he began rubbing the back of his head in nervousness.
"Don't fake it, Yusuke," said Serena as she turned the car on. "I know Hiei is getting impatient; that's who he is, after all. Kurama most likely looks like he doesn't mind, but really does, and Kuwabara's probably just spacing out or talking about your next mission."
Little did she know, she had it right on the dot.
Hiei was now pacing and muttering about 'stupid girls' and 'we need to get a move on'.
Yusuke heard Hiei's last comment and frowned as he clicked the phone off. "Not until she gets home safely, Hiei. Mom would murder me if she wasn't home yet and we were gone."
Hiei was beyond irritated. "Then where is your mother, Urameshi?" He began pacing again as he waited for the Spirit Detective's answer.
"She can't be a good parent in one day, Hiei," Yusuke deadpanned. "She may have been sad when I died, and happy to know I wasn't, but she can't do a 180 in no time!!" Both boys were now nose to nose as their argument escalated.
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Serena sighed as she pulled onto the highway and made her way home from the airport…short one passenger. She glared at the empty seat and quickly turned her eyes back to the road. 'Well, I'll definitely get a lot of stuff done on my music,' came the irritable thought.
She wrote music in her spare time, and was fairly good at it. She performed in a few small Irish themed pubs singing different versions of some folk songs she learned. Rewriting them for a modern day era was difficult, but she loved challenges. And whenever she would get mad at her brother, mother, or anyone else, she would always lock herself into her room and write until her eyes wanted to fall out.
Sighing, she exited on her street and slowed to a normal speed. She couldn't stand the silence anymore and turned her radio on to see if there were any good songs she could sing to. A strained smile crossed her face as the remix of "Smooth Criminal" came on and turned the volume up on her radio as she screamed a long with the lyrics.
The song finished as she pulled into the driveway and removed the keys. Sighing and stepping out of the car, she readied herself for some kind of yelling from any four of the young men in the house.
When the door was opened and she stepped in, she heard Hiei and her brother yelling back and forth. She cleared her throat and wanted to sink into the floor as both of the boys glared at her. Swallowing nervously, she waved meekly and said "You guys can leave now, if you want."
Hiei huffed and picked his sword up from its position of leaning against the wall. "It's about time." He stormed out the door and expected the others to follow.
She turned sadly to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry if I kept all of you waiting for longer than you wanted to be," she said as she took off her shoes and she walked into the house the rest of the way. "Something unexpected came up at the airport."
"Yeah," said Kuwabara. "I thought you would be bringing Josh home…" 'Creep,' thought the orange haired boy angrily.
She shook her head as her eyes flamed at the boys' name. "No, I don't think any of us will be seeing him again." Just as she was about to walk dejectedly to her room, warm arms came around her and squeezed. She leaned her head back into her brother's shoulder and whispered her thanks.
Yusuke hugged his sister tightly and gave her a comforting kiss on her hair. "Don't worry…he was a creep anyway," he said as he let her go. Sighing to let the rest of his brotherly love out, he walked over to the remaining two members of the team. "We don't know when we'll be home, so take care of the fort while we're gone, ok?" Receiving a nod and a thumbs up, he walked away.
Serena's gaze fell on Kurama, and she smiled. "Nice to see you, Kurama." She bowed and gave a small smile.
Kurama bowed and smiled in return. "Always a pleasure, Serena. We shouldn't be too long, but if you need to contact us, you know where the communicator is, yes?"
"Yes, I have it in my pocket at all times, Kurama." She reached to her pocket and removed it to prove her point. "Thank you for your concern, but you'd better get going if you don't want Hiei to get any angrier."
Kurama laughed slightly. "Well, it's not very often that he gets that way." His face suddenly went serious as he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "You know he's not mad at you, right? He just was getting frustrated about the mission."
She nodded and whispered, "I know." 'Wow,' she thought, 'this feels really nice.' She felt herself redden at the direction her thoughts were going in.
"Kurama!! Get your kitsune keester out here right now!"
Serena and Kurama broke apart laughing so hard they thought they would faint. "I think you'd better get going," said Serena as she pushed Kurama to the door.
He laughed as the blonde haired sixteen-year old shoved him to the door. "Fine, fine, I will, ok?" He was shoved to the doorway in no time, and he bent over to place his shoes on his feet. "Take care, alright?" And with that, he was gone with the others.
She smiled. "I hope their mission is quick," she murmured as she looked around the now empty and quiet house.
--
After a marathon of music writing, Serena removed her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes. Soon, her earphones followed her glasses, and her ears were then rubbed. "I need softer earphones." She was about to get into bed when she heard a creak down the hallway. Her ears rang with the intensity of the music she had been writing, but she carefully listened for it again.
When the creak sounded again, she was instantly on edge. 'I know it's not Mom…she said she would call when she was leaving the club…which,' she thought with an irritated sigh, 'she still hasn't yet.' She began ranting in her had about 'partying mothers' when a huge crash sounded through the house.
She was so scared she could actually feel the blood drain from her face. 'It's not the guys either,' she thought as she grabbed her baseball bat and headed for the living room. Her right hand came lose from the bat as it looked for the communicator her brother had given her a few months ago, and pulled it out of the pocket in her pajama bottoms.
As she entered the living room, she felt herself go as white as a sheet. It was rather tall, with long, skeleton like fingers that were searching for…something. 'The aura around this thing…I don't know what it is…but it's cold,' she thought as she shivered. The demon was handsome in a cold way, its white hair slicked back from it's pale face and dark eyes. It turned and she barely ducked back behind the corner of the wall in time to not be seen.
Turning back to its work, it touched a plant, instantly killing it. 'A Reaper demon...' Her brother told her about those. She dashed back into her room and pressed the alert button on her communicator as she set her bat down. It would be of little use. Seconds later, a bruised and battered Yusuke came onto the screen.
"Hey sis, what's going on?" His breathing calmed as he took in her death like appearance. Her eyes were wide and trembling, her normally peachy skin was as white a ghost, and the communicator was shaking.
"I hate to interrupt," she whispered, looking over her shoulder as a large crash came into her ears, "but I have a problem."
Yusuke and the rest of the team also heard the crash and they were all crowded around the communicator. Hiei was even standing behind Kurama and keeping an ear open trying to appear uninterested. "What is it?"
Another loud bang went over the communicator as Serena dodged into the closet and closed the door. Seconds later, a flashlight was switched on as it eerily cast shadows over her face, making it look even whiter. "It's a demon in the house Yusuke," her shaky voice replied. Short gasps were coming from her lips as she tried to calm herself down.
The teen with black hair grabbed the communicator tighter as he hung on every word his sister said. "What kind?" A cold sweat had broken out on his body, and he shivered as he waited for the type of demon that had broken into the house with his defenseless sister.
One word shattered the calm walls he had over his face. "Reaper."
Not a second after the word was uttered, the closet door slammed open to reveal the demon smiling grimly at his prey. A long bony arm reached for the girl as she screamed her brother's name as she scrambled away, dropping the communicator face down in the process.
However she wasn't fast enough to avoid it completely. An icy gaunt finger brushed her ankle as she rushed under his legs.
She instantly felt herself slow down and weaken. 'Can't stop, need to get away,' were her fractured thoughts as the adrenaline pumped through her system. She scrambled up, but once again was not fast enough. The demon grabbed her neck and pinned her to the floor as she felt its cold aura begin to slowly wrap itself around her already shivering body. The coldness seeped into her bones and slowly and achingly began replacing her warm blood with a chilling emptiness.
She could barely hear her brother and friends shouting over the communicator on the floor where she had dropped it. Her arms tried grabbing at the freezing claws that were taking her life, but she could barely lift them. 'They feel so…heavy…' They slowly rose and grabbed his hands.
The laugh he emitted raked painfully against her ears as she struggled to breathe.
"It will do you no good," he ground out as he watched her thrash about. The cold eyes were clouded with pleasure as he watched her try to release its hold. "You know," he rasped as cold breath wafted over her blue lips, "it's been a while since someone lasted this long. I wonder," the demon murmured seemingly to himself. "Do you have some dormant powers in you, little one? Maybe that's what's keeping you here…" He lifted a hand and trailed it down her face.
She shivered as the cold air of its breath and the long finger trailed over her quickly cooling face. Her breath seemed to disappear…and what was stranger was it seemed as if she didn't need it anymore. The beating of her heart slowed until it completely stopped, and it frightened her not to hear the loud hammering it had been doing before. Her body let out a last spasm before she felt herself die.
But, why was she still conscious?
"Hm…." The demon seemed confused as he removed his hand from her cold form. "How are you still conscious?"
She slowly sat up and reached her hands to her face…but she didn't feel anything but a cold numbness. Her hands were quickly pulled under her gaze, and she was shocked to see her skin a sickly grey color. She felt herself becoming frightened, but quick breaths didn't come. Shaky hands grabbed her throat as she felt for a pulse and breathing…but was horrified to find neither.
She finally found her voice. "What the hell did you do to me?!" Her legs brought her up and she stood before the demon as he gazed at her. "Well, I was supposed to kill you like I did the plant in the living room…but it seems like you have another power within you that is preventing you from dying." He calmly rose to his feet and began to disappear.
Her hand reached for him, demanding the demon to stay. "Wait! Will I be like this forever?"
The demon smiled coldly, revealing white teeth that looked too perfect. "There is a way, but you will have to find that out for yourself, little one." It finally disappeared, leaving her cold and frightened.
Screaming suddenly broke her from her stupor.
'Of course, the communicator,' she thought absently as she reached to pick it up.
Usually, it was cool against her palm, but she was shocked to find it warmer than her own hand. Her voice was level and cool as she spoke. "I'm still here," she said calmly, not letting the boys see her face. 'If it looks like my hands, it'll be grey, and a not very pretty sight to see.'
"Are you ok?! Serena, answer me!!" Yusuke was panicking now. He ran a sweaty and shaky hand through his gelled hair, messing it. 'If it's a reaper and it did its job, how is she still talking to us?' He almost didn't want to now the answer.
Serena was now standing in front of a mirror and sadly looked at her face. Her eyes were dull and void of any life they once held, and her face was ashen and cold to the touch. Her lips were cold as well and her cheeks stiff. Slowly, but surely, she lifted the communicator to her face, causing the boys to gasp.
"Serena, what happened?" Kurama was shocked to see Serena in such a state. 'She looks…dead…but how is it possible that she's still standing and thinking?' His eyes began to water as they took in the appearance of the once lively girl. What happened to his Serena?
-Yours, Suiichi?-
'Be quiet, Yoko. This is serious.'
-I know it's serious, Suiichi,- the fox demon replied quietly. –How was she 'killed' by a reaper demon, yet is still 'alive'?-
Kurama's emerald orbs were still locked on the image on the communicator. 'That's the question on everyone's mind, Yoko. And it's one I'm sure we will all be determined to discover.'
Kurama and Yoko stopped speaking as Yusuke's voice commanded Serena to stay in the house. "We'll come as soon as we can. Our mission wasn't too far, and we're finished, so we'll be there in no time at all, Serena. Just stay calm."
To the entire world it did seem like the girl was calm. 'That's only because I can't shed tears anymore, or I can't breathe.' Her face looked distressed, but couldn't show any other emotion. Her chest was tight with sorrow, and her heart was aching...at least she thought it was. She was stunned to discover a wetness trailing from her cheeks and was horrified to find blood instead of water.
She despairingly looked out the window at the storm that had broken a few seconds ago and asked 'What will I do now?'
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Read and Review, thanks!
-MoonFace01