Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Chapter 3: Samurai and Shinobi
As the day dawned in Makai, the sky illuminated three humanoid figures.
One was a male dressed completely in black and seemed almost completely human except for his aura, which indicated that he was part demon. He also had dark purple hair and sharp gold eyes that constantly moved. The other two were both females. One had pale blue hair and pupil less eyes of the same color while her outfit was variations of the color. She, like the boy, was also part demon and gave that fact away with not only her aura but also with the fact that the air around her was cooler, proclaiming her a Koorime. The last member of the small group was the oddest of the three. She looked normal, dark hair in a waist length braid and green clothes, but she gave off no aura. She might as well not be there. Another oddity of the girl was that, unlike her companions, she was completely relaxed. By her manner you would think that she only thought that she was walking through a park. But she knew full well where she was.
"So, this is Makai? Doesn't seem much different from Ningenkai."
"It is different. Unlike Ningenkai, demons can attack us at anytime," the boy said. The girl rolled her eyes.
"I know that, Rai. But I don't sense any demons nearby. At least, any demon above a class C." The boy, Rai, opened his mouth to reply but never got the chance to reply.
"Regardless of their strength, it would be a better idea to act as though they were higher. I would rather not have to waste my energy on them but, if I have to, I would rather hit them before they hit me. Also, when I last saw my brother, he was a low B-class and was occasionally mistaken for a high C-class," the Koorime told the two.
"Though, he's probably a bit stronger now…" she mused.
"Hopefully, he'll be a low A-class at least," Rai commented. "Right, Yuuzuki?"
"Yes," the green clad girl agreed. "If he's not though, I can help him get strong enough to be an A-class." Grinning at the other two, she said, "Even if I'm not as tough as Genkai, I can help others get stronger. Besides, I get the feeling that Genkai wanted you to train with me a little, Tsurara." The Koorime nodded to the statement. Turning to the purple-haired boy, Yuuzuki smiled. "You're also welcome to join us if you want to, Rai."
"I just might. And please, call me Kuronue."
"Why? I've always known you as Rai until last night. Besides, if we're going to meet shinobi and they're still mad that you stole something from them, won't they try to kill you?" she pointed out. "What do you think, Tsurara?"
"I'll agree with what Yuuzuki said. When I left, they were still furious and I seriously doubt that they suddenly forgot their grudge." Rai swallowed nervously.
"I never thought of that…"
"Be glad that Yuuzuki did," was all that Tsurara said before throwing an ice spear into a tree where a demon was preparing to attack from. The demon fell from the tree, dead.
"Nice one," Yuuzuki commented with an appraising look.
The three traveled for two more days with nothing more than a few minor demon attacks before they met a slightly stronger demon.
It looked to be like a goblin or troll with its boulder like body and sharp teeth. It hadn't noticed them as it was busy attacking a smaller demon. They might have passed by unnoticed except that the troll threw its prey their direction. As soon as it saw the boy and two girls, it temporarily forgot about the unconscious demon.
It roared before charging at them. The two demons jumped to the side. Yuuzuki, however, dropped her bag and jumped forward to land in front of the unconscious demon. Bracing herself, she grabbed the charging troll and threw it to the side with seemingly little effort. That just made the troll angrier though. It stood back up and prepared to charge again, but it never got the change to go more than three steps.
After she had thrown the troll, Yuuzuki had put both of her hands out in front of her before pulling her right hand back past her ear. At the same time, green light gathered above the extended index finger of her left hand before it followed the path of the right. Once the troll had began to charge, the raven haired girl uncurled the fingers of her right hand and released the arrow of Spirit Energy.
The arrow struck the troll in the middle of its forehead and killed instantly. The two demons watched in amazement.
"Wow…" Kuronue breathed. Even though he was Yuuzuki's friend, he had never really seen her spar or train outside of their 'lessons' with the other.
"'Wow' indeed," the Koorime agreed. "That's definitely not something that Genkai taught her…"
Both then shook off their amazement and approached the girl who was now kneeling next to the other demon. As they did, a glint on the ground caught the former thief's eye. Walking to it, he found the glint to be caused by a large blade. Carefully picking it up, he noticed that it was attached to a long pole; a naginata. He was very doubtful that the troll carried it; unless it liked that it was shiny and wanted to have it. If that was the case, then it had to be newly acquired. Moving over to the three, naginata in hand, he found out what the owner of the weapon looked like.
The demon which the troll had attacked was female with very pale skin and white or very light silver hair that was styled into two buns. Her eyes were hidden behind closed lids that were lightly colored pink. The shirt and hakamas were torn with blood staining the area around the tears. The fabrics original color looked like it might have been white and blue but the blood had made the colors unrecognizable now.
The air became cooler as Tsurara began to heal the demoness' major wounds. Once she was done with that, the petite demoness suggested that they move off the road. Yuuzuki nodded and retrieved her bag while Kuronue gently picked the pale demoness up. They then moved into the forest to rest and heal the unconscious demoness.
Ningenkai; Genkai's Temple
Yuusuke whistled as he climbed the stairs to his ex-master's temple. He was planning to take the six demons who were currently her pupils to a nearby hot spring he'd found. And this time, he was going to get the ice master to join them. The battle demon was tired of Touya always refusing to join them when he invited the six on an outing. Yuusuke was even prepared to drag the ice master if he had to. Turning in the direction that the six lived, he greeted Yukina as he passed. He didn't see Genkai anywhere along the path to the cabin though he could sense that she was nearby.
Upon entering the cabin he found only five of the six demons present and all of them looked horrible. He blinked in surprise and confusion at the sight before blankly asking, "What happened to you guys? And where's Touya?" The five turned only their heads to look at him.
"Hey Yuusuke," Jin greeted. Yuusuke began to get worried when he noticed the lack of the usual energy in the normally energetic redhead's voice. "How are ya?"
"Better than the five of you by the look and feel of it," he answered dryly. "What's the hag making you do? You all look awful."
"Apparently, we left all the housework undone and Touya did all of it in the little free time we had," Suzuki explained, for once not saying anything about not looking awful. At the answer, the battle demon frowned while he took a seat at the table.
"What's that gotta do with how you look?"
"Genkai found out," Chuu mumbled. "When she yelled at us, she said something about Touya hardly sleeping between the chores and training but still managing to complete both perfectly."
"Then she said that we were gonna do the same and has kept us busy with training and chores ever since. We haven't had any free time since," Rinku finished.
Shishi nodded. "As for Touya, since he was the one who did everything, Genkai gave him a break by having him escort one of her friends through Makai."
"Damn," Yuusuke muttered. There went the plan of getting the ice master to join them on an outing.
"WHAT ARE YOU FIVE DOING? TAKING A BREAK?" The six jumped. "TOUYA DIDN'T GET BREAKS! IF YOU'RE DONE WITH CLEANING THE CABIN FOR NOW, ALL OF YOU COULD DO WITH SOME PRACTICE! AND IDIOT, WHATEVER YOU'RE PLANNING TO DO WITH THEM IS NOT GONNA TO HAPPEN UNTIL I SAY IT WILL!" The five demons jumped to their feet.
"Sorry Yuusuke. Bu' it's not a brigh' idea fer us ta cross 'er righ' now. We'll see ya later," Jin called as he and the other four ran out the door to do as Genkai had ordered.
'O-kay…so they won't be able to go to the hot springs…' he thought. 'Well, at least I know why Touya always refused to join us. I really doubt that Rinku, Chuu, Suzuki and Jin really noticed a mess unless it affected them. And Shishi is either always meditating or practicing with the Banshee Shriek.' He sighed. From what the guys had said it might be awhile before Genkai would let them have a break.
With Tsurara, Yuuzuki and Kuronue; Makai
Kuronue and Yuuzuki watched as Tsurara healed the demoness they had 'rescued'. Tsurara was very good at healing even though she must have rarely used those powers. Each bruise faded away into nothing and every cut knit back together leaving only a small scar in their place. Soon the only signs that she had been wounded were her torn and bloody clothes. As the Koorime finished her work, the air warmed.
"I've done all can," she announced. "We'll have to wait for her to wake up now." Both of her companions nodded. The only boy of the current group then turned to the aura-less girls.
"Why did you protect her? You don't know her at all and, for all we know, she could kill us the moment she wakes up," he pointed out.
"She won't," the other replied confidently. "She has the aura of a samurai about her. That means that she won't attack without cause. Also, she's a mid A-class demoness and would be a good member to be on our team if she wishes to be."
Both demons sighed at the answer. It figured that Yuuzuki would be able to think of the tournament while fighting. But if Takuya didn't join and this demoness did, at least they would only have to find one more demon.
Just then, the said demoness groaned and began to stir. The three quieted as they watched her. She shivered before her eyes opened revealing pink irises surrounding cat-like pupils. Sitting up, she noticed the three pairs of eyes on her and reached to her side. When her hand met the ground, she looked startled and looked down to find that whatever she had been reaching for wasn't there. At that, she tensed; bracing herself for any attacks and preparing to attack if needed. Yuuzuki prevented either from happening.
"Don't worry; we won't attack or harm you. We stopped a troll demon from sending you to the Spirit Realm and healed your wounds." The demoness relaxed slightly at that.
"Then, I thank you." She then frowned. "You have no aura, yet you can be seen and walk this realm. How is that?"
"Eh? Oh, sorry. It's habit for me to completely hide my aura. I'm not used to letting others sense it."
"You are very good at it and it is wise to hide your aura in Makai. What is your name?"
"Watashi wa Takenaka Yuuzuki. These two are my friends and traveling companions; Tsurara…" she gestured to the Koorime who nodded in greeting. Yuuzuki then pointed to Kuronue, "…and Minamoto Rai." The boy winked at the demoness before pulling out the naginata and offering it to her, pole end first.
"I found this and a bag near the place where you were attacked. Are they yours?" he asked though he already knew the answer. She nodded as she took the naginata.
"My name is Yukitsume. Thank you for returning it; it has been in my family since it was forged from my ancestors' claws."
"You're welcome. If you don't mind me asking; why are you traveling Makai?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"We are looking for my brother," Tsurara answered. "And before you ask; yes, I know that all Koorime are female but I am only half Koorime." Yukitsume nodded at the answers. She had heard of the Forbidden Child, the male fire demon who was half Koorime, and guessed that Tsurara's brother was that demon. Yuuzuki added onto the first answer.
"And after we find him, we hope that he will join us to fight in the Dark Tournament." The samurai blinked at that.
"You plan to fight in the Tournament?" The three nodded. "Then…may I…join you…? I aim to bring honor to my family again and…"
"Say no more, Yukitsume," Yuuzuki grinned. "I was going to ask you anyways. Even if Tsurara's brother joined us, we would have been one short. Just one thing; during practice, don't cut us to ribbons. I don't think that it would be a good idea if Tsurara used all her ki healing us." The demoness chuckled and agreed. The four then prepared to sleep and talk the night away.
Toranin; Makai
After the failed attempt to take the demons to the hot springs, Yuusuke returned to Toranin. Entering his study, a mountain of documents awaited him to sign on almost every available surface of the desk. He sighed.
"I never agreed to this when I agreed to be the heir."
"Then what did you agree to, Yuusuke?" The mentioned demon spun around at the voice, preparing a Spirit Gun as he did. Behind him stood a red haired fox demon, calm despite the Spirit Gun aimed at him.
"Kurama! Ya nearly gave me a frickin' heart attack," the battle demon complained as he dissipated the Spirit Gun. Kurama just smiled.
"At least I don't attack you as a greeting. Also, I sent a note ahead of me informing you that I was coming for a visit."
"Didn't hear a thing about that. I was in Ningenkai visiting the guys and Keiko yesterday. So, what's this visit about?"
"What, I can't visit an old friend for the sake of it?" the fox demon asked, teasingly. "Actually, I bear a message from Yomi. The Dark Tournament is coming up, as you probably know, and Yomi proposes that a representative of each area of Makai compete together as a team. Yomi has selected me as the representative of Gauharu. The other areas I have visited so far have all declined to join the team."
"And what makes you think that I'll join?" Yuusuke asked.
"For one thing, it gets you out of signing papers," he pointed out, chuckling when the Demon Lord growled, glaring at the mentioned papers. "Besides, you're Urameshi Yuusuke, formerly Tokyo's most feared street fighter, and the chosen heir to the strongest Demon Lord. You'd never turn down a fight."
"Damn right! I'll join!" Kurama grinned at the former Spirit Detective's enthusiasm.
"Yomi will be please to hear that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see Mukuro about Yomi's proposition. Though, I'm anticipating no disagreement."
"Don't you ever sleep? It's pretty late already so why don't you stay here for tonight? Kami-sama knows we have more than enough space. Even if you do leave now, you'll have to sleep before you get halfway to the boarder."
The redhead thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Point taken. Even if I travel all night, I would get there tomorrow. I'll accept your offer. Thank you, Yuusuke."
"No prob. Just don't call me a bad host. I doubt that I can leave this room tonight. I'm not sure but I think that most of those need to be signed by tomorrow," he said, jerking his thumb at the papers.
"Alright. Would you like help sorting those? I still need to talk to you about our team."
"Suit yourself."
Kurama nodded and took a stack of the documents, sorting them by date they needed to be signed by. "Mukuro should allow Hiei to join us but that will still leave us at a team of three…"
The Edge of the Shinobi's Land; Makai
"Doesn't look much different than when I last saw it," Kuronue remarked, peering through the trees. "I think that I could find…"
"Maybe you can but Takuya won't listen to you," Tsurara interrupted. "Besides, the traps were improved after that incident and by the looks of it have been doubled. I'll go since Takuya will listen to me and I know how the traps work."
"Sounds good. We'll find a place to camp near that grove we passed awhile ago," Yuuzuki said, not bothering to argue with the demoness. Closing her eyes, she allowed her senses to expand over the forest then pointed north-west. "I can sense a demon with fiery ki over there. It's a low A-class. It might be you're brother because I don't sense anymore demons that can use fire. I'll take your bag so that you don't have to worry about it." Tsurara nodded in thanks before running into the forest.
"Is it wise for her to enter the land belonging to the Shinobi?" Yukitsume asked as they turned to find a place to camp. "The tales of the Shinobi are very…descriptive at how they treat strangers in their land; especially females."
"She once lived among them. If you want more details, ask Tsurara when she gets back," the raven haired girl shrugged. "Either way, she did have a point; her brother is more likely to listen to her without having to bang his head. It's best that she went."
"But I could have told her brother that she wanted to talk to him," Kuronue whined. He wanted to see if he could get past all the improved traps. His friend rolled her eyes.
"If you really want to, go ahead. Just don't haunt me if the shinobi kill you for having an aura that is almost exactly like the aura of someone they hold a grudge against. I'll take you're bag and we'll find a camping place."
"On second thought, he would probably have wounded me before I could say anything. I'll come with you." Yukitsume rolled her eyes and wondered why he was here. He always wanted to do something but whenever anyone pointed out the possibility of getting killed, he changed his mind. If he didn't want to die, he should have just stayed at home.
Tsurara jumped from a branch to the ground before jumping back up into the trees. The shinobi had added more traps since she and Jin left but they were all old ones and she could easily spot them.
'This is the work of the Shinobi? They have been slacking off since I left…' she thought before sensing an approaching aura. Pausing in a tree, pupil less blue eyes watched as a red haired male demon entered the small clearing. Seeing the familiar demon, she allowed a small portion of her shield down to let the demon below her sense her aura. The demon started and began to look into the bushes and trees.
"Tsurara?" he called softly. The demoness smirked slightly and dropped from her perch.
"Long time no see, nii-san."
"Tsurara!" He embraced her quickly before releasing her. "What are you doing here looking like that? You know what the Shinobi do to females that they find on their land that they didn't bring here."
"Yes, I know. But you also know that 'he' is not welcome here since he left as well. And I'm not planning to stay long. I just came to give you an invitation."
"What invitation?"
"I'm going to compete in the Dark Tournament again. So far, the team that I'm a part of is one member short. Would you like to be the fifth member?" Takuya blinked at the invitation but confusion was soon replaced by thoughtfulness.
"I'm not sure…the Shinobi will have my head for running off even if it's to compete in the tournament…" Tsurara, seeing where this was headed, smirked. She knew that her brother liked being a part of the Shinobi as much as she liked being dishonorable. In other words, he wanted to get out some way that didn't get him killed. His hesitance was just to make sure that he could get out of the Shinobi Sect and live.
"Afterwards you can live with me and Jin. Our housemates are a little wild but they're okay. Just be prepared for a lot of hard training."
"Sounds fine. I can handle more training. Should I get a bag of stuff and meet you at the edge of the land?"
"No. The Shinobi are all about secrets, right? Let's leave like the shinobi, quickly and unnoticed. At least then, we have a head start before they start hunting you." The fire demon nodded and both jumped into the trees, leaving the Shinobi Sect and unwanted pasted behind.
"Rai, stop pacing. Tsurara's fine," Yuuzuki sighed as she watched her friend, upside down, as she did handstand push-ups. Yukitsume was practicing with her naginata a short distance away while wondering how much trouble she would get in if the demon-steel staff 'accidentally' connected with the boys' head.
"But you don't know if that even was her brother," Kuronue almost yelled. "For all you know she was found by a different Shinobi and can't escape."
"I didn't know you cared," a dry voice commented before two figures landed behind the former thief. Standing up, blue pupil less eyes regarded the boy before their owner continued, "You don't need to worry about me. I am currently an A+ level demon and I have no doubt that Yuuzuki could sense if I was in trouble." Kuronue opened his mouth to retort but was cut off before he could get a word out.
"Is this one of your housemate, Tsu? Because weird seems to be a better description than wild."
"Fortunately, not. This is Minamoto Rai but he would prefer to be called by his past name, Kuronue."
"Kuronue? You're the bat demon who successfully stole from the Shinobi's Vault? That Kuronue?" Takuya exclaimed looking delighted. The purple haired boy blushed and rubbed the back of his head, use to a negative reaction his old name brought. Tsurara, noticing his embarrassment and confusion, quickly explained.
"Takuya's first master was guarding the vault the night you stole from it and was killed. Even for a shinobi, he was cruel. Takuya's next master was considerably kinder. He has always wanted to thank you for that."
"My second master was not considerably kinder. The only one who would have been considerably kinder was Otou-san," Takuya argued. Tsurara rolled her eyes; apparently, they had this conversation before.
"The shinobi wouldn't have let Otou-san train you. And compared to your first master, the second was much better. Now, can you please let me finish introducing the others on the team?" Silence met her question and the Koorime took that as a cue to continue before pointing to the cat demoness. "That is Yukitsume. She just recently joined us when we…met her on the road."
The demoness samurai nodded in greeting as she reached a lull in her pattern dance. Her naginata then returned to a blur of silver as the pace picked up.
"And finally, Takenaka Yuuzuki. Yuuzuki was the one who started the team and will help us get stronger by the time the tournament begins." The girl pushed up harder than before to free one hand, which she waved in greeting.
"'Youroshiku! I'm glad to hear that you decided to join us." She then flipped back onto her feet and motioned for her teammates to join her around the fire. They joined her and sat down, confused. "We should decide on a team name soon. Tonight we can at least get some ideas down. We'll decide later, but I would like a general idea of what we should be called. And please try not to choose something that only applies to you."
All five lapsed into silence as they thought about what they wanted their team name to be.
Yukitsume was the first to speak, "I do not know about any of you, however, I would like our team name to be something honorable."
The half Koorime twins nodded. "We can agree to that," they said simultaneously. They gave each other a wry smile before turning back to the other three.
"While we did what ever our Shinobi masters told us to…" Takuya began.
"…We tried to be as honorable as we could," Tsurara completed. Yuuzuki chuckled at the sentence completion.
"You two really are twins." Seeing their confused looks, she explained, "Usually only twins can complete each others sentences seamlessly or speak in sync." They shrugged. "Rai, your thoughts?"
"What would honorable be considered when in battle?" the boy asked.
The cat samurai answered, "To give your opponent a fair chance. You do not attack them with a weapon if they are unarmed, attack from behind or, if you disarmed them, allow them the chance to retrieve their weapon."
The bat hanyou grinned, "I can do that. I actually prefer a challenge when fighting."
The raven-haired girl grinned at how easily they agreed. "I like that idea. Why don't we call ourselves…Youki no Meiyo?"
"Youki? But aren't you a ningen, Yuuzuki?" the purple haired boy asked, confused. The questioned chuckled.
"Actually, I'm a hanyou. I don't know what kind of youki I am though; I thought that maybe I could figure it out if I saw the youki here." Realization dawned on Tsurara.
"So that's why you said demonic energy when you told Lady Genkai that she reacts more violently after you snuck up on us."
"Yeah. So, what do you think of calling our team Youki no Meiyo?"
"'Demons of Honor'…I find it suitable."
"Sounds good to me."
"We're fine calling ourselves that."
"Then it's settled; we are Team Youki no Meiyo," the raven haired girl announced. The other four grinned and nodded.