Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters. I do own Riya Miyuzaki and other OC's of this story, though.
Author's Note: There might be some confusions here with regards to how should I call Kurama. This might give the explanation: when Riya's perception (third person POV) and thought were involved, she would regard to Kurama as Shuichi since that's how she met and know him. When it comes to Kurama's perception and thoughts (third person POV, as well), I'll be using his real name.
Warning: The characters might not be in their usual selves.
AT LEAST WE HAVE FOREVER
CHAPTER THREE
To Know Her More
"Shuichi…kun...?" Riya uttered in a soft yet surprised tone. And when she realized that, she clamped her mouth with her hand before turning her back from the man a few meters away from him.
Why in the world did I call him Shuichi-kun just now? She couldn't help but ask that to herself. And when she tried to remember her reaction earlier, that's when she realized why did she call her classmate Shuichi. That's right. I remember it now. He has the same hair color and eyes as the Shuichi-kun whom I've met before. But… it can't be him… she said to herself and then she sighed before facing him. This guy is not the Shuichi-kun from five years ago… and I'm sure of it…
But then her eyes widened when she saw him just a few feet away from her position. Okay, that's definitely weird on her part. How come she didn't hear him walk towards her? Was she really thinking too deeply for her not to notice or even sense him coming towards her?
She was caught off guard when she saw him smile. And because of that, she felt her cheeks burning. Well, who wouldn't be? Here she was on the rooftop alone with a handsome guy that somewhat looked a lot similar to the boy from her past. But then she guessed that Shuichi and this guy in front of her was just similar when it comes to physical appearance in some way.
But there's no way that Shuichi and this guy were the same person.
Kurama, on the other hand, was still curious to know why Riya suddenly turned her back from him a while back and why did she call him by his first name—his human name, that is.
"Why are you here? Aren't you going to eat your lunch?" he asked her after giving her a smile. He figured that he should at least be friendly to her if he wanted to get close to her.
She avoided her stares but she noticed that he was walking towards her in order for him to get close. And for some reasons, she couldn't even move an inch away from him. She could feel that her feet were somehow stuck on that position, as if preventing her to avoid him.
And since she couldn't actually argue with that, she just heaved a sigh before answering his question.
"I don't have the appetite, to be honest," she said without looking at him. "And besides, I couldn't eat when I'm just alone and some of our classmates treated me as if I did something bad to them."
But then, she didn't hear him say anything. And before that, she cursed herself for suddenly saying a lot of things to this guy that she didn't even know except for the fact that he's one of her classmates. Why did she do that, anyway?
She heard him sigh afterwards and that made her look up. And it surprised her to see him just a few inches away from her.
"I don't really know the reason for that, either. But rest assured, I'm not one of them," he said reassuringly that made her heart beat rapidly. It's something that only happened to her ever since she laid her eyes on this man back at the classroom. But then her thoughts were distracted when he spoke again. "By the way, I haven't introduced myself to you yet. Right?" She nodded in response. "My name's Shuichi. Minamino Shuichi."
Her eyes widened when she heard that name. Shuichi? His name is also Shuichi? Could it be him? Could he be the Shuichi that I've met five years ago? But if that is true, then did he happen to have his hair cut short? There's so many questions running inside her head but then…
"Do you happen to have your hair cut short?" she asked that rendered Shuichi skeptic. She never realized that she uttered one of the questions inside her mind.
She looked at Shuichi's green eyes. And she didn't know what to feel when she saw him shook his head. But then she couldn't deny that disappointment was one of the certain emotions that conquered her.
Why would she be disappointed in the first place? She couldn't understand that. And what she couldn't understand even more was the real reason why Shuichi followed her to the rooftop when he could just leave her alone.
"Why did you follow me here, anyway? You could have just left me alone so that you wouldn't get caught by our classmates talking to an outcast of the class. By doing that, you could ruin your good reputation here at school," she said.
She really didn't want to but she has to say it. After all, she finally knew the reputation that Minamino Shuichi had at Hanasakura Academy. But that's just some of the reasons that she had as of now why she wanted him to stay away from her.
"They don't have the rights to dictate whom I should befriend and not," Shuichi said soberly that made her focus her attention to him. "Besides, this is my choice. Whether my good reputation would be ruined or not, if ever I have one—" he paused and chuckled for some seconds. "—it would be their fault why it's ruined because they're the ones who were spreading the rumors. I don't have anything to do with it."
Okay. Now she somehow realized that reputation was the least of Shuichi's concern when it comes to approaching her. "But Minamino-kun—"
"Like I said, it's my choice," he said, stopping her from continuing to speak. "They just have to deal with it. Besides, it's going to be their problem and not mine. So it's okay." And then he smiled once again that made her heart skip a beat this time.
She just sighed as a sign of giving up. But she then realized that she'll never win in any arguments and debates with a smart guy like Shuichi.
If only he's the Shuichi-kun that I was waiting for a long time… She couldn't tell why she's hoping that the Shuichi in front of her now was the Shuichi from five years ago that she had been waiting for.
Kurama could only look at her face after saying his point. He didn't really understand why but from what he could conclude, Riya was pushing him away from her by saying something about reputation and sort. It's true that he's maintaining a good reputation but he could feel that Riya was someone who wouldn't actually do something to ruin someone's reputation.
"Why did you follow me out here, anyway?" he heard her asked that made him quite startled.
It took him a few moments to gather his courage before answering her question. "Do you really want to know the reason?"
But she just raised an eyebrow. He laughed at that. "Alright. I was actually going to ask you to be my project partner for our Literary class."
That definitely surprised her. "Me? Why me?"
"Because I want to be my partner," he simply said.
But that wasn't exactly the answer that she was looking—and eventually, expecting—for.
And somehow, Kurama got the message of that expressionless look on her face. That made him decide to answer her truthfully… somehow. "I know that you'll be an excellent partner and I can see that. When you answered the equation earlier and when you wrote an English essay for our English subject, I know that you'll be a reliable partner. Honestly, I don't want to deal with someone who can't be of help. Or at least that's what I thought when I decided that." He scratched the back of his head after that.
She could see that by looking at Shuichi doing an act like that, she could tell that he definitely looked like a normal teenage boy, a normal person. But from the moment their eyes met, she could tell that he was not. She didn't know why but that's what she could feel from him. And that's one reason for him to stay away from her as much as possible.
But somehow, she couldn't make him… no matter how hard she try. Or maybe she haven't really tried hard enough.
She then tried to look at his eyes and she could see the truth vividly expressed in them. So he's really telling the truth…
"Alright, I'll be your partner, then," she declared and without facing Shuichi, she began to walk away from that place. And of course, she passed him by as fast as she could.
Without a word, she finally left. But she couldn't deny that her heart was somewhat… happy. And after a few moments, she smiled while walking away from that place without looking back.
And she didn't realized that Kurama faced to her direction and smiled as she walked away, letting her disappear from his sight once again.
"I guess I could say that this is going to be an exciting school year for me." It would be even more exciting if you're not trying to push me away from you, Riya. But that thought only remained in his mind.
Later that day…
Yusuke was staying on the rooftop of the school, leisurely lying there. It was already the end of the last period for the day that's why he went there since Botan actually contacted him. According to her, Koenma would be contacting them regarding a new mission for him and the others. Botan would be giving them some of the information and if there were more questions, Koenma would most likely answer them.
But since he lied there waiting for more than thirty minutes, he kept on yawning because of boredom. That's when Kuwabara saw him when the door opened. Along with him was serious-looking Botan.
"It's about time you got here, Botan," Yusuke said lazily as he got up from lying on the floor. "So what about this new mission that Koenma was saying? Was it really serious?" he asked her. But then he frowned when Botan only gave him a sober look that he was not used of. "Botan?"
The blue-haired girl sighed heavily that made it even more suspicious. "Koenma-sama said that he would give you the mission but then we have to wait for Kurama and Hiei to come here, as well."
"We're already here, so you can give the mission's details to us," a familiar voice said that made them look around to know who it was. They weren't surprised to see Hiei and Kurama standing on the top of the fence.
"Kurama. Hiei. What are you doing here?" Yusuke asked as the two approached him.
"We were contacted by Koenma and he said that we should meet up with you today," Kurama answered. "But I could guess that the mission is quite serious just by looking at Botan's face right now."
"You're right," Botan said that made them look at her. "The mission is quite serious since Koenma-sama happened to have received the news about this a while back and he wanted to have you guys solve this before something worse happens."
Hiei didn't say anything regarding that but Kurama saw him frowned. And for that, the shorty most likely…
"Was it about the seven legendary weapons protected on the seven different regions of the Demon World and the Spirit World?"
Botan's eyes widened when Hiei said that. "You know something about it?"
But then, Hiei just kept quiet.
"Seven legendary weapons? What about them?" Kuwabara asked.
But before Botan could say anything, she brought out the brief case and opened it. The screen inside displayed Koenma with a serious-looking face. Only this time, it was different.
"Alright, Koenma! What the heck is going on? What are those seven legendary weapons that Hiei was talking about?" Yusuke asked immediately in a loud tone to somehow break the tense atmosphere. But then he figured out that it was a failure since Koenma's expression didn't change one bit.
They saw Koenma sighed before facing them. "Those seven legendary weapons were some of the treasured and heavily-guarded artifacts of the ancient times and they were being protected on the seven regions of the Demon World and the Spirit World. But these weapons weren't just ordinary artifacts like those stolen by Kurama and Hiei before. These were the weapons that could cause a terrible dimensional distortion once they had clashed into each other."
"That's why they were placed to different regions to avoid that clash," Kurama stated. "But what would be the effect of that dimensional distortion to the Human World?"
"A lot," Koenma said soberly. "Not only to the Human World but to the other realms, as well. The dimensional distortion caused by these weapons could devastatingly destroy the barriers that separated the three realms. And I'm sure you know what will happen once the barriers were destroyed."
Yusuke and the others didn't have to say anything regarding that. As Koenma stated, they already know what will happen once the barriers were destroyed and the result would definitely be devastating.
"So what about those weapons? What do you want us to do about it?" Hiei asked in a rather stern tone, but no one budged to that.
"According to our spies that roamed the seven regions where the legendary weapons were kept, four of the weapons had disappeared without a trace. There were no signs of forced entry on any of the places and vaults where they were kept and protected indicating that the weapons were stolen by force or just simply vanished."
"Seems to me they were transported it using some sort of translocation spell," Kurama commented.
"Yes, we haven't ruled out that possibility but most of the translocation spells were actually leaving a trace of its spiritual energy from the scene where something or someone were teleported. In this case, only the spirit energy from the legendary weapons were left."
Somehow, Yusuke got the point where the information would lead them to. "So you want us to find out the location of the culprit who might have stolen those weapons?"
"It's true that I was planning to ask you do that. But this would be extremely dangerous for all of you, especially since we learned that those four vanished weapons ended up on the Human World."
That definitely made them shocked.
"Is that the reason why you called us?" Hiei asked. For Koenma, it was said as a statement rather than a question. That's why the toddler-looking guy nodded in response.
And then Kuwabara asked something. "What does the four weapons looked like? Do these weapons have names?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, the names of the weapons were exactly what they are. The three weapons that didn't disappear and currently under our protection were the Staff of Shimmer, the Rose Daggers and the Lance of Snow. As for the weapons that you need to find, these were the Dragon Sword of Flame, the Arrow of Wind, the Flute of Melody and the Scythe of the Deep Waters. I'm warning you, these weapons are extremely valuable so you must not destroy them. Your mission is to retrieve the weapons and to apprehend those who had them the soonest possible time. Do that whatever it means necessary leaving only minimal damage as possible, if you could."
The gang could tell that Koenma was extremely serious about this. If these weapons fell in the wrong hands, then they're doomed. They didn't have any idea about the powers of those weapons. But if these were considered extremely valuable, then it might be that they possess an immense amount of power to be able to have the capability to cause such a terrible dimensional distortion.
Yusuke sighed before speaking. "Alright. When do we start searching for these weapons?"
"Tonight," Koenma simply said. "But you have to be careful. It's not only you who were searching for these weapons. You might come across some of them and you know what to do when that happens."
Yusuke and the others decided to head home first before they start their search. Even though they had no idea what kind of weapons they were looking for, it really didn't matter. What mattered most to them was the fact that it was extremely hazardous when used to evil.
Kurama was walking on the sidewalk as his route to his house when he unexpectedly spotted something on the corner of his eyes. When he turned to give it a good look, he couldn't help but to show a smile when he had a clear view of what he had seen.
It was Riya, coming out from a bookstore with her school bag and a paper bag in her hands. He saw her gave a bow to the store clerk before leaving. But he saw that before she took a step, she glanced at his direction and that was when he saw her purple eyes slightly widened. Even weirder, both of them just stared at each other for a short while. It's as if their eyes were just enough for them to somehow communicate with each other.
But just like a while back at school, her eyes began to become devoid of any emotions. He saw her bowed to him and then just like that, she left. He frowned at that but for some reasons, he couldn't even move his feet to follow her.
"It seems that a girl caught your attention, Kurama."
He was inwardly startled when he heard that voice. But then he didn't bother to look in order to know who it was. That person who spoke walked towards him and stopped just beside him.
"What made you say that?" he asked that made Hiei scoffed. He just smiled at that. Anyway, he's already used to it. And then he let his sight follow the path that Riya was walking. Once again, he's letting her disappear from his sight. "I could somehow feel she's keeping a certain mystery. Her eyes were somehow cold but… it would just appear to be her camouflage to hide her emotions… Emotions that might break her heart apart in some way. I just couldn't tell what."
"Hn."
But Kurama somehow expected that answer from Hiei. After all, he knew the fire demon to be a man of few words and he respected that.
Now, he realized that he was about to solve two mysteries. With which one of them, he has to solve it on his own.
First mystery: Miyuzaki Riya. But since it's just the first day that he met her, he might have some time for him to get close to her. And second: the seven legendary weapons in which four of it ended up in the Human World. But how could that happen without leaving a single trace around the place where they were kept?
He began to walk away, but before he did that, he looked at Riya while she slowly disappear from his sight. And as he walked away from there, images of Riya began to fill his mind that absolutely made him confused about it. In a way, he couldn't understand that.
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