Categories > Anime/Manga > Inuyasha > Foresight
Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or YuYu Hakusho. I don’t make money from this (as is evident by looking at my checking account) so don’t sue me!
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Foresight
Chapter 1
Four men could be seen walking through a park in the city of Tokyo. At first glance one would think that they didn’t care for each other much; two of the men seemed ready to beat each other to a pulp, another was acting the part of a frustrated peace-maker, and the last seemed to just quietly regard the others with complete contempt. But that was only what one would see at first glance.
Looking closer, anyone who had developed close friendships that had spanned several years would have seen the tell-tale signs that these men cared for each other. A fight would have really been a friendly scuffle as young boys sometimes do (or in this case men who weren’t quite ready to grow up), their mediator was less frustrated and more simply wondering if and when his comrades would ever mature, and the last…well he still seemed to hold a bit of contempt for the rowdy group, but the small beginnings of a smirk told that he had been tolerating similar events for quite some time.
Yusuke had called his old teammates a couple of days prior to arrange one of their annual “Man Days” so that they could catch up on each other’s lives and just generally keep in touch and goof around. Kuwabara and Kurama had been happy to comply, but Hiei needed his usual bribing to bring him this far into the city. And this was what brought them to this particular park after their lunch.
This park contained Hiei’s favorite ice cream vendor. And his friends were paying.
It had been several years since they had stopped their Spirit Detective work. With the exception of Hiei, they were all in their mid-twenties. They weren’t sure of their quiet partner’s age, but his appearance lead people to believe he was around twenty-four despite his shorter-than-average stature. He tried to avoid large crowds and spent much of his time either training at Genkai’s temple and watching over his sister or guarding the borders between the human and demon realms.
His closest friend, Kurama, had opened a chain of florist shops that were doing quite well. With slightly enhanced flowers, bouquets from his shops stayed alive and beautiful for a much longer period of time. Kuwabara had become a physical trainer a couple of years back, and even though his friends hadn’t seen it coming, everyone agreed that the profession fit him well. But the biggest surprise came from Yusuke.
The juvenile delinquent had apparently liked his work so much as a Spirit Detective that he had joined the police force. Stopping human thieves wasn’t nearly as exciting as battling demons for the safety of the world, but it usually kept him on his toes and allowed him to settle down with Keiko. He hadn’t married the elementary school teacher yet, but they were saving their money so that she could have her dream wedding and that was fine with him.
But it was days like this that they put all of their usual duties aside and reminisced on past adventures and how they did indeed miss the action of the old days from time to time.
Yusuke looked up questioningly at his carrot-top friend when he felt an elbow nudge his shoulder and was answered with a nod towards something in front of them on their path. When Yusuke saw what Kuwabara was referring to, he simply shook his head and laughed at his friend’s girl-crazy brain. He had to admit that the taller man had good taste in women even if he had never really grasped the proper way to ask them on a date.
Wondering what he suddenly seemed out of the loop about, Kurama turned his gaze in the direction that his friends were looking. Approaching them on the shaded pathway through the lush park was a woman who looked to be around twenty-two or twenty-three. She had fair, smooth skin that shone in the sunlight that broke through the canopy of leaves. Her hair was a dark and glossy ebony that swayed as she walked and was just grazing her hips. Her light denim shorts showed off long, toned legs while a simple black t-shirt accented a trim waist and overall curvaceous figure. She wasn’t a tall woman. She probably just topped a couple of inches over five feet. Dark sunglasses covered her eyes and she appeared to be taking her dog for a walk on the warm summer day.
With his attention now on the animal, Kurama could see that he was just as impressive as his owner. He almost looked like a very large, white German Shepherd with golden eyes, but there were certain features about him that weren’t right; a mutt possibly? His tags jingled from his collar as he walked along with a positively bored look. The impression of his boredom was only further pronounced to Kurama when he opened his jaws wide and flattened his ears in a large yawn that showcased his gleaming canines before he snapped his mouth shut once more.
Yusuke began laughing at both of his red-headed friends this time as he said, “You two might want to reel it in before she notices you ogling her.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem, Detective,” Hiei said in his normally cool tone.
“Come again? Last time I checked, that’s what got us of the male species either slapped or bitched at.”
Hiei held back the urge to roll his eyes at his ex-teammates comment. “Look at her again. She wouldn’t know it if you made the most obscene gestures your brain could come up with.”
With that, all three of the other men turned their attention back to the woman they’d been admiring and noticed one detail that they had managed to overlook. It wasn’t a leash that she led the dog with, but it was a harness and bar that the dog led her with. “She’s blind?” Kuwabara questioned. He suddenly felt slightly guilty for checking her out a moment ago.
After Kuwabara’s comment, a slightly awkward silence fell upon the group as they drew nearer to the woman. In the moment that they walked by each other, Hiei flicked his eyes over to glance at the woman and noticed something that gave him pause. Her eyes were downcast as though she were watching the ground. Stopping in his tracks, Hiei watched her for a few more feet as she got further away. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw her easily step over a fallen branch that the dog had not alerted her to or guided her around.
‘Fox,’ Hiei addressed Kurama through their mental link. ‘That girl isn’t blind.’
Kurama turned to face his friend as Yusuke and Kuwabara watched in quiet question, knowing that the two were conversing silently between themselves. ‘What are you talking about, Hiei? Who would pretend that they were blind?’
Hiei grunted when he realized that he couldn’t answer that. ‘I don’t know. But I just saw her avoid something on her own that she shouldn’t have been able to see.’
‘Maybe you were mistaken? Come on, we’re almost to the ice cream stand.’ Kurama couldn’t help the small smile that made itself visible as Hiei immediately dismissed the girl and brushed past him and the two others as though he hadn’t been the one to cause their impromptu stop.
“Kurama?” Yusuke asked. He was curious as to why the young woman had gotten his normally cold friend’s attention.
“It’s nothing to worry about, Yusuke. Hiei simply thought he saw something,” the red head answered his friend.
With his pride getting the better of him, Hiei casually said over his shoulder, “I don’t think I saw anything, Kurama. I know what I saw.”
“Well what did you see??” Kuwabara questioned.
Hiei glared at the taller man for a moment and was about to answer when the attention of all four men was drawn back the way they had just come at the sound of a shriek. They saw the young woman crumpled to the ground, shaking her head and trying to wave off the help of a runner who apparently had just run into her. Her dog was by her side growling dangerously at the man, and hastening the runner’s decision to leave her alone.
Kuwabara, being ever the gentleman, strode towards the woman after the runner left her to make sure that she was really okay. When he got closer he could see that she had one arm wrapped around her dog’s shoulders and appeared to be crying. “Miss, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
Suddenly, as if his voice had brought her back to reality, Kuwabara saw the girl whirl around and try to stand up to call after the man that had just run into her. “Sir,” but she was stopped when she fell to the ground again. She looked to her leg and saw a large gash caused by a rock that had been in the path.
“Urameshi, stop that guy!” Kuwabara called out to his friend as he knelt down to help the bleeding girl.
Yusuke chased after the man who was now several yards away and couldn’t hear him due to the earphones that he was wearing. Just as he was about to cross the street after exiting the park, Yusuke caught up to him and pulled back sharply on his shoulder to get his attention. But much to everyone’s surprise, the runner stumbled backwards just in time to avoid being hit by the large truck that had been speeding down the road.
All of the men exchanged confused glances for a moment until Kuwabara heard the girl breath out, “Oh good…you can let him go now,” as she placed a relieved hand against her chest. Hearing this, Kuwabara waved for Yusuke to forget about it and helped the beautiful woman limp over to a nearby bench. He vaguely noticed that she hadn’t looked him in the face once.
When she was seated, she immediately covered her eyes with one hand as she heard more footsteps coming towards her. “Could you hand me my glasses, please?” She requested in a quiet voice. But before he could comply, he watched her guide dog gently carry her glasses to her between his teeth before placing them in her lap. “Good boy. Thank you, Shiro.”
Yusuke watched as she pushed the dark glasses back in place before he said, “That’s a pretty impressive dog. Where’d you get him?”
The first response he received was a warning growl before the girl said, “Stop that, Shiro. Be nice. And thank you, sir. He’s a good dog even if he’s a little over protective sometimes. And as for where I got him, he’s one of a kind. A friend of mine is sort of a breeder and he trained him for me.” All of the ex-Spirit Detectives were caught off guard by the radiant smile that she gave them, even if all of them didn’t show it outwardly. “My name’s Kagome, by the way,” she introduced herself as she extended a hand for anyone willing to take it.
Kurama stepped forward and gently grasped the offered appendage and shook it once before turning the hand over and placing a kiss on her knuckles. “My name is Kurama, Miss Kagome. My friends are Kuwabara who came to your aid a moment ago and is to your right, Yusuke who inquired about your dog and is to your left, and Hiei is further behind us. He’s a bit withdrawn around new people.”
Blushing prettily, Kagome responded, “It’s nice to meet all of you. But if my leg looks like it feels, I think I should probably get home and take care of it. Think you can help me, Shiro?” Not expecting any kind of reply from her companion, Kagome tried to stand once more only to let out a hiss of pain before stumbling back down to a sitting position. “Well this is just great!” She exclaimed to nobody in particular. Leaning back into the bench, Kagome allowed her head to tip skyward and pushed her glasses up into her hair to rub her tired eyes. “I don’t want to have to call anyone…he’s going to yell at me if he has to come get me again.”
Hearing this, Yusuke scoffed. “Your boyfriend sounds like a jerk if he’d yell at you because you needed his help when you were hurt.”
Kagome couldn’t help but laugh at the disgruntled tone he used in his voice as she placed her sunglasses back over her closed eyes. “I never said the guy I was talking about was my boyfriend. He’s just an old acquaintance who lets me live with him,” she explained as she pulled a cell phone from her front pocket and flipped it open.
She was about to press Sesshoumaru’s speed-dial button when she felt the small device disappear from her grasp. “Here, we’ll call you a cab so you won’t get in trouble,” Yusuke offered.
Looking sheepish, Kagome rubbed her arm and said, “I didn’t bring any money.”
“You guys got money for a cab?” Yusuke questioned his friends. They’d only planned on lunch so he frowned at the negative response he received. “Well damn…where do you live? Maybe we can help you walk there.”
“I only live a few of blocks away, but I don’t want to be any trouble. You’ve done more than enough…”
Kagome continued to argue back and forth with Yusuke and Kuwabara about accepting their help for several minutes, but while their light bickering was taking place there was another conversation that only two individuals were privy to. ‘Something isn’t right about that dog, Kurama,’ Hiei said. 'It’s not pure, but it had demon blood. A human shouldn’t have something like that. And have you noticed that it hasn’t taken its eyes off of either of us?’
Kurama continued to study the animal that had placed suspicion into his and Hiei’s minds as he answered, ‘I have noticed as well. What do you suppose it’s doing with such a young human woman? It doesn’t seem to have the kindest personality from what I’ve seen.’
Thinking about the question for a moment, Hiei answered, ‘She said that a friend bred and trained it. It could have been assigned to specifically look after her.’
‘That could very well be the case,’ Kurama agreed. ‘But who is this girl that she knows someone who can breed something like that? And why would she need such protection?’
‘Hn…maybe we should try to get in touch with Koenma. Only another demon could train something like that and command it in such a way. That means something is going on in the Human World and Spirit World doesn’t have a clue, as usual.’
Returning their attention back to the argument at hand, it appeared that the boys had won as Yusuke was helping Kagome to stand by wrapping her arm around his shoulder and his arm around her waist. “Alright, so which way to your place?” Yusuke asked with a victorious grin.
Kagome merely shook her head with a small grin and called to her dog, “Shiro, let Mr. Kuwabara hold your harness and you can lead the way.”
“Hey, don’t call me “Mister,” alright?” Kuwabara told her lightly. “It makes me sound old. I’m only twenty-five.”
Kagome laughed as she responded, “Fair enough, but that means that you can’t call me “Miss” either. Just plain “Kagome” is fine.”
And so the five of them made quite a sight walking down the sidewalks of Tokyo with one man helping an injured woman limp along, one very large man being led by and equally large dog, and two abnormally handsome men bringing up the rear. It was quiet for the first block or so until Kuwabara once again broke the silence. He had questions that he just couldn’t keep to himself anymore. “Those are cool sunglasses; where do blind people get there sunglasses? Were you born blind or were you in an accident? What—?” was all he managed to get out before Yusuke let go of Kagome’s waist for a moment, causing her to falter for a step or two, to reach over and hit his friend in the back of the head.
“You idiot!” He yelled. “You don’t just ask people stuff like that! What were you thinking?! If you want me to hit him some more, Kagome, just say the word. Kuwabara doesn’t always think before he opens his big mouth.”
Kagome found herself laughing again. She didn’t remember laughing this much in one day in a very long time. There was something about the men around her that made her feel at ease. ‘It’s almost like being back in the past again,’ she mused to herself before saying, “Don’t worry about it, Yusuke. You guys remind me of a couple of my friends. And to answer your questions Kuwabara, these are just some regular sunglasses that I picked up. I just painted the lenses black so that they completely covered my eyes. I have no idea where other blind people get their glasses. As for being blind, I guess you could say it happened in an accident. I definitely wasn’t born this way.” She giggled lightly when she saw Kuwabara stick his tongue out at Yusuke from the corner of her eyes.
“You said you painted your glasses? Can I see them?” Kuwabara asked.
Closing her eyes, Kagome lifted the small frames from her face and handed them to the tall man.
“So how much farther do you think your house is? I didn’t even know that there were houses in this part of town,” Yusuke observed.
“Well I don’t exactly live in a house,” Kagome explained.
Lifting an eyebrow in silent question, Yusuke voiced, “So then where do you live?”
Lifting her face to the sky for the second time that day, Kagome opened her eyes and looked at the tall buildings towering around them. “I live there,” she said as she pointed to a tall building with a tinted glass front before closing her eyes once more.
Yusuke and Kuwabara, as well as Kurama and Hiei this time, looked on in shock and surprise as they looked up at the towering hotel across the street from where they were walking. “How the hell can you live there?!” Yusuke exclaimed.
“The guy I sort of live with, Sesshoumaru, is what you would call a “hotel tycoon,” I guess. He owns several more buildings like this one. But he lets me live on one of the upper floors of this particular building,” she said with a smile. “He stays in this building from time to time, but he does have an actual home—a penthouse across town.”
“And he just lets you live here, free of charge?” Kuwabara asked in quiet awe.
“Hmm? Oh, no! He’s not that nice!” Kagome joked. “He paid for me to go to business school and he made me manager of the building. Now I pretty much run things here for him with another friend’s help while Sesshoumaru does business elsewhere in the country and around the world.”
“Uh huh…” Came Yusuke and Kuwabara’s response in unison.
“I’ll have to think of a way to repay you guys for helping me,” Kagome offered as they entered the large building’s main floor. As soon as the other employee’s saw Kagome’s physical condition, muffled orders of “Find Mr. Yamata!” could be heard as several desk clerks and bellhops scattered.
“You don’t have to do that, Kagome,” Yusuke assured.
“And you didn’t have to help me home, but you did anyway,” Kagome countered as she moved to stand balanced with most of her weight on one leg in front of the men who had helped her that day. “Why not come back here for dinner tonight? The hotel has a couple of great restaurants that are all top-notch, I promise! You’re more than welcome to bring guests, of course,” she offered with a bright smile, her eyes still closed. “Oh, do you mind if I have my sunglasses back now, Kuwabara?”
“Sure, sorry about that,” he answered bashfully as he placed the forgotten glasses back in her outstretched hand.
“Well then,” she said as she pushed the dark lenses back in place and put her hands on her hips. “I expect to see you back here tonight—all four of you—plus some guests. I can’t take “no” for an answer after all that you’ve done for me. Everything is on me, so just clean up nice and we’ll all have a good time getting to know each other better. It’s good to make new friends. It can get a little lonely here from time to time.”
Kuwabara was about to ask what she meant but didn’t get a chance to as a new, loud voice echoed through the large lobby.
“Kagome!” A man looking to be around twenty-five or twenty-six bellowed. “What the hell happened to you?! Who are they??”
“Calm down, Shippo,” Kagome tried to calm the man down with a nervous laugh. “I fell down in the park and these guys helped me get home, so be nice to them! I’ve invited them to come back for dinner tonight as a way to say thank you.”
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei all went on high-alert and felt their muscles tense as they took in the man who had now turned to seemingly size them up. It was obvious that he had been exercising when a hotel employee had gotten him. He was in loose, black sweatpants and a red muscle shirt. His muscles we just as well defined as Yusuke’s and he stood an inch or two taller than Kuwabara. He had short, wild auburn hair that was set off by his lightly bronzed skin. But what unnerved them the most were his piercing teal-green eyes. They weren’t a natural color that any human would have, and the fact that his aura practically screamed danger right now wasn’t helping his case.
They were almost positive that they were staring at a fairly powerful demon that was standing right in the middle of a very nice hotel in downtown Tokyo. But they were also almost sure that he could tell what they were as well.
As the staring contest ended, Shippo turned to face them fully and pasted on the best businessman attitude that he could, considering that he was still sweat-soaked from his work-out. “I am Shippo Yamata, co-manager of this hotel. I appreciate you helping my friend and partner; you have my thanks,” his voice had smoothed into a deep, rumbling timbre as he addressed them. “If one of you would please leave your contact information at the front desk to your right, one of us will contact you within the next hour or two. I feel that I must speak with Miss Higurashi in private. Excuse us,” he said as he dropped his professional air once more and picked Kagome up bridal-style and walked towards the nearest elevator. Once inside, Shippo whistled for Shiro to join them and the dog ran and cleared the elevator doors just in time.
Yusuke and Kuwabara were left scratching the backs of their heads as they looked at their more demonic teammates. “Well this isn’t how I pictured the day going,” Yusuke said as he walked to the front desk to give them his name and cell phone number.
When he joined the rest of his group outside of the hotel, they looked at each other in silence for a moment, each unsure of what to say or do. “So,” Kuwabara began, “what just happened?”
Kurama was about to recap the situation, but Yusuke beat him to the punch. “We met a hot, blind chick in the park that hurt herself. Then we helped her back to her house, which is actually a big-ass hotel, and found out that she isn’t so blind after all since she can see to paint her sunglasses and point out the building she lives in. Then we got sized up and brushed off by some demonic big-brother, partner guy. Now it looks like we’re coming back here for dinner with the girls. Is that about right, Kurama?”
“That covers most of it. But I believe Hiei and I are going to try to get in touch with Koenma and see if he knows anything about this. You have my phone number for when Mr. Yamata or Miss Kagome calls you, Yusuke, so please keep in touch. If we find Botan, am I correct to assume to invite her along for supper as well?”
“Yeah, why not? Kagome pretty much said “the more the merrier,” right?” Yusuke asked in return.
“Yes, well I’ll talk to you later then. Let’s go, Hiei.”
That said, all men went their separate ways, but not before giving the large building one more glance and a thought of, ‘What’s going to happen tonight?’
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AN: Well then! I hope everyone enjoyed!
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Foresight
Chapter 1
Four men could be seen walking through a park in the city of Tokyo. At first glance one would think that they didn’t care for each other much; two of the men seemed ready to beat each other to a pulp, another was acting the part of a frustrated peace-maker, and the last seemed to just quietly regard the others with complete contempt. But that was only what one would see at first glance.
Looking closer, anyone who had developed close friendships that had spanned several years would have seen the tell-tale signs that these men cared for each other. A fight would have really been a friendly scuffle as young boys sometimes do (or in this case men who weren’t quite ready to grow up), their mediator was less frustrated and more simply wondering if and when his comrades would ever mature, and the last…well he still seemed to hold a bit of contempt for the rowdy group, but the small beginnings of a smirk told that he had been tolerating similar events for quite some time.
Yusuke had called his old teammates a couple of days prior to arrange one of their annual “Man Days” so that they could catch up on each other’s lives and just generally keep in touch and goof around. Kuwabara and Kurama had been happy to comply, but Hiei needed his usual bribing to bring him this far into the city. And this was what brought them to this particular park after their lunch.
This park contained Hiei’s favorite ice cream vendor. And his friends were paying.
It had been several years since they had stopped their Spirit Detective work. With the exception of Hiei, they were all in their mid-twenties. They weren’t sure of their quiet partner’s age, but his appearance lead people to believe he was around twenty-four despite his shorter-than-average stature. He tried to avoid large crowds and spent much of his time either training at Genkai’s temple and watching over his sister or guarding the borders between the human and demon realms.
His closest friend, Kurama, had opened a chain of florist shops that were doing quite well. With slightly enhanced flowers, bouquets from his shops stayed alive and beautiful for a much longer period of time. Kuwabara had become a physical trainer a couple of years back, and even though his friends hadn’t seen it coming, everyone agreed that the profession fit him well. But the biggest surprise came from Yusuke.
The juvenile delinquent had apparently liked his work so much as a Spirit Detective that he had joined the police force. Stopping human thieves wasn’t nearly as exciting as battling demons for the safety of the world, but it usually kept him on his toes and allowed him to settle down with Keiko. He hadn’t married the elementary school teacher yet, but they were saving their money so that she could have her dream wedding and that was fine with him.
But it was days like this that they put all of their usual duties aside and reminisced on past adventures and how they did indeed miss the action of the old days from time to time.
Yusuke looked up questioningly at his carrot-top friend when he felt an elbow nudge his shoulder and was answered with a nod towards something in front of them on their path. When Yusuke saw what Kuwabara was referring to, he simply shook his head and laughed at his friend’s girl-crazy brain. He had to admit that the taller man had good taste in women even if he had never really grasped the proper way to ask them on a date.
Wondering what he suddenly seemed out of the loop about, Kurama turned his gaze in the direction that his friends were looking. Approaching them on the shaded pathway through the lush park was a woman who looked to be around twenty-two or twenty-three. She had fair, smooth skin that shone in the sunlight that broke through the canopy of leaves. Her hair was a dark and glossy ebony that swayed as she walked and was just grazing her hips. Her light denim shorts showed off long, toned legs while a simple black t-shirt accented a trim waist and overall curvaceous figure. She wasn’t a tall woman. She probably just topped a couple of inches over five feet. Dark sunglasses covered her eyes and she appeared to be taking her dog for a walk on the warm summer day.
With his attention now on the animal, Kurama could see that he was just as impressive as his owner. He almost looked like a very large, white German Shepherd with golden eyes, but there were certain features about him that weren’t right; a mutt possibly? His tags jingled from his collar as he walked along with a positively bored look. The impression of his boredom was only further pronounced to Kurama when he opened his jaws wide and flattened his ears in a large yawn that showcased his gleaming canines before he snapped his mouth shut once more.
Yusuke began laughing at both of his red-headed friends this time as he said, “You two might want to reel it in before she notices you ogling her.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem, Detective,” Hiei said in his normally cool tone.
“Come again? Last time I checked, that’s what got us of the male species either slapped or bitched at.”
Hiei held back the urge to roll his eyes at his ex-teammates comment. “Look at her again. She wouldn’t know it if you made the most obscene gestures your brain could come up with.”
With that, all three of the other men turned their attention back to the woman they’d been admiring and noticed one detail that they had managed to overlook. It wasn’t a leash that she led the dog with, but it was a harness and bar that the dog led her with. “She’s blind?” Kuwabara questioned. He suddenly felt slightly guilty for checking her out a moment ago.
After Kuwabara’s comment, a slightly awkward silence fell upon the group as they drew nearer to the woman. In the moment that they walked by each other, Hiei flicked his eyes over to glance at the woman and noticed something that gave him pause. Her eyes were downcast as though she were watching the ground. Stopping in his tracks, Hiei watched her for a few more feet as she got further away. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw her easily step over a fallen branch that the dog had not alerted her to or guided her around.
‘Fox,’ Hiei addressed Kurama through their mental link. ‘That girl isn’t blind.’
Kurama turned to face his friend as Yusuke and Kuwabara watched in quiet question, knowing that the two were conversing silently between themselves. ‘What are you talking about, Hiei? Who would pretend that they were blind?’
Hiei grunted when he realized that he couldn’t answer that. ‘I don’t know. But I just saw her avoid something on her own that she shouldn’t have been able to see.’
‘Maybe you were mistaken? Come on, we’re almost to the ice cream stand.’ Kurama couldn’t help the small smile that made itself visible as Hiei immediately dismissed the girl and brushed past him and the two others as though he hadn’t been the one to cause their impromptu stop.
“Kurama?” Yusuke asked. He was curious as to why the young woman had gotten his normally cold friend’s attention.
“It’s nothing to worry about, Yusuke. Hiei simply thought he saw something,” the red head answered his friend.
With his pride getting the better of him, Hiei casually said over his shoulder, “I don’t think I saw anything, Kurama. I know what I saw.”
“Well what did you see??” Kuwabara questioned.
Hiei glared at the taller man for a moment and was about to answer when the attention of all four men was drawn back the way they had just come at the sound of a shriek. They saw the young woman crumpled to the ground, shaking her head and trying to wave off the help of a runner who apparently had just run into her. Her dog was by her side growling dangerously at the man, and hastening the runner’s decision to leave her alone.
Kuwabara, being ever the gentleman, strode towards the woman after the runner left her to make sure that she was really okay. When he got closer he could see that she had one arm wrapped around her dog’s shoulders and appeared to be crying. “Miss, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
Suddenly, as if his voice had brought her back to reality, Kuwabara saw the girl whirl around and try to stand up to call after the man that had just run into her. “Sir,” but she was stopped when she fell to the ground again. She looked to her leg and saw a large gash caused by a rock that had been in the path.
“Urameshi, stop that guy!” Kuwabara called out to his friend as he knelt down to help the bleeding girl.
Yusuke chased after the man who was now several yards away and couldn’t hear him due to the earphones that he was wearing. Just as he was about to cross the street after exiting the park, Yusuke caught up to him and pulled back sharply on his shoulder to get his attention. But much to everyone’s surprise, the runner stumbled backwards just in time to avoid being hit by the large truck that had been speeding down the road.
All of the men exchanged confused glances for a moment until Kuwabara heard the girl breath out, “Oh good…you can let him go now,” as she placed a relieved hand against her chest. Hearing this, Kuwabara waved for Yusuke to forget about it and helped the beautiful woman limp over to a nearby bench. He vaguely noticed that she hadn’t looked him in the face once.
When she was seated, she immediately covered her eyes with one hand as she heard more footsteps coming towards her. “Could you hand me my glasses, please?” She requested in a quiet voice. But before he could comply, he watched her guide dog gently carry her glasses to her between his teeth before placing them in her lap. “Good boy. Thank you, Shiro.”
Yusuke watched as she pushed the dark glasses back in place before he said, “That’s a pretty impressive dog. Where’d you get him?”
The first response he received was a warning growl before the girl said, “Stop that, Shiro. Be nice. And thank you, sir. He’s a good dog even if he’s a little over protective sometimes. And as for where I got him, he’s one of a kind. A friend of mine is sort of a breeder and he trained him for me.” All of the ex-Spirit Detectives were caught off guard by the radiant smile that she gave them, even if all of them didn’t show it outwardly. “My name’s Kagome, by the way,” she introduced herself as she extended a hand for anyone willing to take it.
Kurama stepped forward and gently grasped the offered appendage and shook it once before turning the hand over and placing a kiss on her knuckles. “My name is Kurama, Miss Kagome. My friends are Kuwabara who came to your aid a moment ago and is to your right, Yusuke who inquired about your dog and is to your left, and Hiei is further behind us. He’s a bit withdrawn around new people.”
Blushing prettily, Kagome responded, “It’s nice to meet all of you. But if my leg looks like it feels, I think I should probably get home and take care of it. Think you can help me, Shiro?” Not expecting any kind of reply from her companion, Kagome tried to stand once more only to let out a hiss of pain before stumbling back down to a sitting position. “Well this is just great!” She exclaimed to nobody in particular. Leaning back into the bench, Kagome allowed her head to tip skyward and pushed her glasses up into her hair to rub her tired eyes. “I don’t want to have to call anyone…he’s going to yell at me if he has to come get me again.”
Hearing this, Yusuke scoffed. “Your boyfriend sounds like a jerk if he’d yell at you because you needed his help when you were hurt.”
Kagome couldn’t help but laugh at the disgruntled tone he used in his voice as she placed her sunglasses back over her closed eyes. “I never said the guy I was talking about was my boyfriend. He’s just an old acquaintance who lets me live with him,” she explained as she pulled a cell phone from her front pocket and flipped it open.
She was about to press Sesshoumaru’s speed-dial button when she felt the small device disappear from her grasp. “Here, we’ll call you a cab so you won’t get in trouble,” Yusuke offered.
Looking sheepish, Kagome rubbed her arm and said, “I didn’t bring any money.”
“You guys got money for a cab?” Yusuke questioned his friends. They’d only planned on lunch so he frowned at the negative response he received. “Well damn…where do you live? Maybe we can help you walk there.”
“I only live a few of blocks away, but I don’t want to be any trouble. You’ve done more than enough…”
Kagome continued to argue back and forth with Yusuke and Kuwabara about accepting their help for several minutes, but while their light bickering was taking place there was another conversation that only two individuals were privy to. ‘Something isn’t right about that dog, Kurama,’ Hiei said. 'It’s not pure, but it had demon blood. A human shouldn’t have something like that. And have you noticed that it hasn’t taken its eyes off of either of us?’
Kurama continued to study the animal that had placed suspicion into his and Hiei’s minds as he answered, ‘I have noticed as well. What do you suppose it’s doing with such a young human woman? It doesn’t seem to have the kindest personality from what I’ve seen.’
Thinking about the question for a moment, Hiei answered, ‘She said that a friend bred and trained it. It could have been assigned to specifically look after her.’
‘That could very well be the case,’ Kurama agreed. ‘But who is this girl that she knows someone who can breed something like that? And why would she need such protection?’
‘Hn…maybe we should try to get in touch with Koenma. Only another demon could train something like that and command it in such a way. That means something is going on in the Human World and Spirit World doesn’t have a clue, as usual.’
Returning their attention back to the argument at hand, it appeared that the boys had won as Yusuke was helping Kagome to stand by wrapping her arm around his shoulder and his arm around her waist. “Alright, so which way to your place?” Yusuke asked with a victorious grin.
Kagome merely shook her head with a small grin and called to her dog, “Shiro, let Mr. Kuwabara hold your harness and you can lead the way.”
“Hey, don’t call me “Mister,” alright?” Kuwabara told her lightly. “It makes me sound old. I’m only twenty-five.”
Kagome laughed as she responded, “Fair enough, but that means that you can’t call me “Miss” either. Just plain “Kagome” is fine.”
And so the five of them made quite a sight walking down the sidewalks of Tokyo with one man helping an injured woman limp along, one very large man being led by and equally large dog, and two abnormally handsome men bringing up the rear. It was quiet for the first block or so until Kuwabara once again broke the silence. He had questions that he just couldn’t keep to himself anymore. “Those are cool sunglasses; where do blind people get there sunglasses? Were you born blind or were you in an accident? What—?” was all he managed to get out before Yusuke let go of Kagome’s waist for a moment, causing her to falter for a step or two, to reach over and hit his friend in the back of the head.
“You idiot!” He yelled. “You don’t just ask people stuff like that! What were you thinking?! If you want me to hit him some more, Kagome, just say the word. Kuwabara doesn’t always think before he opens his big mouth.”
Kagome found herself laughing again. She didn’t remember laughing this much in one day in a very long time. There was something about the men around her that made her feel at ease. ‘It’s almost like being back in the past again,’ she mused to herself before saying, “Don’t worry about it, Yusuke. You guys remind me of a couple of my friends. And to answer your questions Kuwabara, these are just some regular sunglasses that I picked up. I just painted the lenses black so that they completely covered my eyes. I have no idea where other blind people get their glasses. As for being blind, I guess you could say it happened in an accident. I definitely wasn’t born this way.” She giggled lightly when she saw Kuwabara stick his tongue out at Yusuke from the corner of her eyes.
“You said you painted your glasses? Can I see them?” Kuwabara asked.
Closing her eyes, Kagome lifted the small frames from her face and handed them to the tall man.
“So how much farther do you think your house is? I didn’t even know that there were houses in this part of town,” Yusuke observed.
“Well I don’t exactly live in a house,” Kagome explained.
Lifting an eyebrow in silent question, Yusuke voiced, “So then where do you live?”
Lifting her face to the sky for the second time that day, Kagome opened her eyes and looked at the tall buildings towering around them. “I live there,” she said as she pointed to a tall building with a tinted glass front before closing her eyes once more.
Yusuke and Kuwabara, as well as Kurama and Hiei this time, looked on in shock and surprise as they looked up at the towering hotel across the street from where they were walking. “How the hell can you live there?!” Yusuke exclaimed.
“The guy I sort of live with, Sesshoumaru, is what you would call a “hotel tycoon,” I guess. He owns several more buildings like this one. But he lets me live on one of the upper floors of this particular building,” she said with a smile. “He stays in this building from time to time, but he does have an actual home—a penthouse across town.”
“And he just lets you live here, free of charge?” Kuwabara asked in quiet awe.
“Hmm? Oh, no! He’s not that nice!” Kagome joked. “He paid for me to go to business school and he made me manager of the building. Now I pretty much run things here for him with another friend’s help while Sesshoumaru does business elsewhere in the country and around the world.”
“Uh huh…” Came Yusuke and Kuwabara’s response in unison.
“I’ll have to think of a way to repay you guys for helping me,” Kagome offered as they entered the large building’s main floor. As soon as the other employee’s saw Kagome’s physical condition, muffled orders of “Find Mr. Yamata!” could be heard as several desk clerks and bellhops scattered.
“You don’t have to do that, Kagome,” Yusuke assured.
“And you didn’t have to help me home, but you did anyway,” Kagome countered as she moved to stand balanced with most of her weight on one leg in front of the men who had helped her that day. “Why not come back here for dinner tonight? The hotel has a couple of great restaurants that are all top-notch, I promise! You’re more than welcome to bring guests, of course,” she offered with a bright smile, her eyes still closed. “Oh, do you mind if I have my sunglasses back now, Kuwabara?”
“Sure, sorry about that,” he answered bashfully as he placed the forgotten glasses back in her outstretched hand.
“Well then,” she said as she pushed the dark lenses back in place and put her hands on her hips. “I expect to see you back here tonight—all four of you—plus some guests. I can’t take “no” for an answer after all that you’ve done for me. Everything is on me, so just clean up nice and we’ll all have a good time getting to know each other better. It’s good to make new friends. It can get a little lonely here from time to time.”
Kuwabara was about to ask what she meant but didn’t get a chance to as a new, loud voice echoed through the large lobby.
“Kagome!” A man looking to be around twenty-five or twenty-six bellowed. “What the hell happened to you?! Who are they??”
“Calm down, Shippo,” Kagome tried to calm the man down with a nervous laugh. “I fell down in the park and these guys helped me get home, so be nice to them! I’ve invited them to come back for dinner tonight as a way to say thank you.”
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei all went on high-alert and felt their muscles tense as they took in the man who had now turned to seemingly size them up. It was obvious that he had been exercising when a hotel employee had gotten him. He was in loose, black sweatpants and a red muscle shirt. His muscles we just as well defined as Yusuke’s and he stood an inch or two taller than Kuwabara. He had short, wild auburn hair that was set off by his lightly bronzed skin. But what unnerved them the most were his piercing teal-green eyes. They weren’t a natural color that any human would have, and the fact that his aura practically screamed danger right now wasn’t helping his case.
They were almost positive that they were staring at a fairly powerful demon that was standing right in the middle of a very nice hotel in downtown Tokyo. But they were also almost sure that he could tell what they were as well.
As the staring contest ended, Shippo turned to face them fully and pasted on the best businessman attitude that he could, considering that he was still sweat-soaked from his work-out. “I am Shippo Yamata, co-manager of this hotel. I appreciate you helping my friend and partner; you have my thanks,” his voice had smoothed into a deep, rumbling timbre as he addressed them. “If one of you would please leave your contact information at the front desk to your right, one of us will contact you within the next hour or two. I feel that I must speak with Miss Higurashi in private. Excuse us,” he said as he dropped his professional air once more and picked Kagome up bridal-style and walked towards the nearest elevator. Once inside, Shippo whistled for Shiro to join them and the dog ran and cleared the elevator doors just in time.
Yusuke and Kuwabara were left scratching the backs of their heads as they looked at their more demonic teammates. “Well this isn’t how I pictured the day going,” Yusuke said as he walked to the front desk to give them his name and cell phone number.
When he joined the rest of his group outside of the hotel, they looked at each other in silence for a moment, each unsure of what to say or do. “So,” Kuwabara began, “what just happened?”
Kurama was about to recap the situation, but Yusuke beat him to the punch. “We met a hot, blind chick in the park that hurt herself. Then we helped her back to her house, which is actually a big-ass hotel, and found out that she isn’t so blind after all since she can see to paint her sunglasses and point out the building she lives in. Then we got sized up and brushed off by some demonic big-brother, partner guy. Now it looks like we’re coming back here for dinner with the girls. Is that about right, Kurama?”
“That covers most of it. But I believe Hiei and I are going to try to get in touch with Koenma and see if he knows anything about this. You have my phone number for when Mr. Yamata or Miss Kagome calls you, Yusuke, so please keep in touch. If we find Botan, am I correct to assume to invite her along for supper as well?”
“Yeah, why not? Kagome pretty much said “the more the merrier,” right?” Yusuke asked in return.
“Yes, well I’ll talk to you later then. Let’s go, Hiei.”
That said, all men went their separate ways, but not before giving the large building one more glance and a thought of, ‘What’s going to happen tonight?’
O-O-O-O-O-O-O
AN: Well then! I hope everyone enjoyed!
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