Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters. I do own Riya and other OC's of this story, though. And that includes the plot.
Warning: The characters might not be in their usual selves.
AT LEAST WE HAVE FOREVER
CHAPTER 8
A Meeting Amidst The Battle
The next day…
It was still the regular mornings for most of the students of Hanasakura Academy but Kurama felt otherwise. Not only it wasn't regular but also because it was quite peaceful since neither the demon shinobi nor the Legendary Weapon Wielders made an appearance so he was able to rest that night.
But seriously, who was he fooling? He knew pretty well the real reason why that morning was unlike any other mornings he had greeted along the way. And he was quite happy to know that reason.
When he arrived at the classroom, he immediately looked at the certain spot of that place. And he smiled when he saw the girl who became the reason for that day of his to be different.
He saw Riya reading something on some papers on her hands and she was thoroughly reading it. But before he could even greet her as soon as he approached her, he saw her stopped from what she was doing and looked up. He was caught off guard for some seconds when she looked at him before she smiled that made him hold his breath.
"Good morning, Shuichi-kun," Riya greeted in a happy tone that he hasn't heard from her since she transferred to that school and it was really a good thing.
At last, you're trying to regain your true self, Riya, Kurama thought as he returned the gesture before proceeding to his seat. And after that, he looked at her and the papers she was reading.
"You're quite busy, I see," Kurama commented. "Don't read it too seriously or you'll get wrinkles of your forehead because of you frowning a lot," he said before pointing on her forehead gently. He was glad to be able to see her smile because of that.
"Sorry. I was rereading the draft I made for our project so I could tell if I have mistakes or not. I don't want to have a failing grade because of this, you know," she said without looking at him.
He could only smile at that. "I also made a draft but I left it at home. Will it be okay if I could get your draft to have some comparison and so that I could start merging our ideas regarding our project?"
She nodded and then looked at him. "Sure thing. I'll just do some editing so that it would be understandable and organized at the same time. But you're going to help me do that, right?"
"Of course."
And that morning continued with the two of them discussing what they were going to do with their Literature project. All the others could do was to watch them like that. They thought that what Ayako did yesterday only made them closer than before, which was not supposed to be. But Kurama could care less. As long as Riya was alright, that was all that matters.
Speaking of which, they haven't seen Ayako that whole morning. She hadn't attended any of her morning classes that day. And it was weird for Riya to feel worried about the person who destroyed her precious Snow Rose. But she has to thank her, still. It was Ayako's actions that led her to finally find Shuichi.
"Are you alright, Riya? You've been spacing out," Shuichi asked her that startled her a bit. She just gently nodded as an answer.
But she could tell that he wasn't convinced with her answer. That's why she just gave him a smile before speaking.
"I'm alright, Shuichi-kun. I was just thinking about… something else. So there's no need to worry," she said reassuringly.
"Are you sure? You really don't have to hide your problems to me. You can tell me anything," Shuichi insisted.
She just nodded and then continued what she was doing a while back. He then sighed as a sigh of giving up and resumed revising her draft.
Little did they know that a certain someone's fate will be set in motion because of what was about to happen later that one particular day.
Riya was about to head out to the Chemistry Laboratory to hand out a file to a teacher there as per request of Miss Ryuuzaki. And as she walked the hallway leading to that room, she suddenly stopped to her tracks when she saw someone she was not expecting to see.
"Kirisawa-san…" Riya muttered but then she frowned a bit when she noticed Ayako's eyes that stared at her. They were… sad in some way. It was also saying that Ayako had become vulnerable somehow. And that's what she couldn't understand.
It was a complete silence between the two girls, not to mention there weren't any students or teachers on that part of the hallway. It was just the two of them. That silence between them lasted for some minutes before Ayako decided to speak.
"You must be wondering… why I didn't attend my classes today," Ayako said that made her slightly surprised.
How in the world did she know that? But… she really does look and sound vulnerable. What exactly made her like that? Riya couldn't help asking that to herself as she continued to look at Ayako.
She was startled when the brunette called her.
"Miyuzaki, I'm… I…" But somehow, Ayako was flustered and that made Riya frown a bit. Then Ayako looked at her again, with slight determination evident in the brunette's eyes. But that sort of determination wasn't actually scary unlike before. Ayako was just… determined.
And she smiled because of that.
"If you want to say something to me, you don't have to be flustered and be shy about it. I won't eat you even if I wanted to because you destroyed my precious Snow Rose," Riya said in a form of a joke and not as a threat. "There's a really big reason for you not to attend your classed today, right?"
Ayako's eyes widened before nodding.
"Could it be that… I'm one of those reasons?" Riya asked but she got no response from Ayako.
It took Ayako a while to finally answer when suddenly, she noticed Riya looked out the window and had her eyes narrowed while doing that. Ayako was confused because of that since that was the first time she saw Riya that serious.
And before they could even react, both of them saw a dark ball of energy about the size of a basketball hovering around and stopped in front of the window where the two girls were most likely near. It suddenly emitted a dark glow before exploding.
Almost all of the students of Hanasakura Academy suddenly felt the ground shake terribly at the same time they heard a loud explosion. To their surprise, it was near the Chemistry Laboratory.
Kurama was already outside the building when the sudden earthquake and the explosion happened. When he looked up to observe, all the color in his face drained as he saw the thick smoke coming from the area near the Chemistry Laboratory.
Walls destroyed, windows shattered and the heat from the fire began to increase that would possibly melt or weaken the structure it ran over.
But that was not what actually made him quite… frightened. It was the fact that Riya was on the area of the explosion. Time seemed to stop; he didn't know what to do. And then he noticed a certain figure—a demon shinobi to be exact—floating in mid-air inside the smoke.
"What happened here?" someone asked behind him that made him turn around to have a look at that person.
"Hiei…" And then he looked at the silhouette of a demon shinobi in the smoke. "Why would they attack this school with so many people around?"
"Worried about your princess, Kurama?"
He was surprised to hear that from the three-eyed demon. But before he could say anything more, Hiei spoke again.
"I guess the demon shinobi is not our only problem," Hiei said and then looked at a certain direction just a little above the school.
On the rooftop, to be exact. He saw someone holding a familiar sword.
"Yumi…" Kurama muttered as he gazed both on the rooftop and on the area of the explosion.
Protect Riya for me, Kurama. She's still alive inside the building but I guess she'll be having a hard time going out. I'll deal with the demon shinobi along with the other wielders. You have to save her… before it's too late… Yumi said to him telepathically. And that finally made him regain his determination to do it. He faced Hiei before he left.
"Could you call Yusuke and Kuwabara for me? This has something to do with our case and I don't think we'll be able to handle it with just the two of us."
Hiei looked at him nonchalantly. "What are you going to do?"
"I have to save her," Kurama said with full of determination. "But I have to hurry up. The heat from the fire would soon cause some parts of the building to collapse. I might not be able to save her when that happens."
And with that, he left Hiei there somewhat puzzled as to what he was really thinking of doing.
On the rooftop…
"You really have some bad habit, Kaori," Yumi said icily as she held on to her sword.
The Dragon Sword of Flame.
Surprisingly, it was a different Yumi that appeared here unlike the first time she made an appearance to the Spirit Detective's team since her form right now was turned to a 4'11" girl with blond hair at thigh length, purple eyes and a fair skin tone. The form she had before was a 5'2" girl with shoulder-length blond hair and green eyes.
The demon shinobi Kaori just smirked before scoffing. "What can I say? I was raised like that… to be an excellent demon shinobi."
Yumi remained sober that made Kaori fixed a stance.
"You better say your prayers before I finish you, Fire Wielder," Kaori said and then began to charge at the blonde that caught her a little off guard.
But just as when Yumi began raising her sword, she saw a katana stabbed Kaori to the chest through and through. Not only that, she also saw the one who did that in a fast speed. She then watched the demon shinobi catch her breath while holding her through and through wound. After that, she looked around to see the one who did something like that to Kaori.
A few feet away from her, she saw a short person (just about her height since she transformed back to her original form) with black spiky hair and a white bandana on his forehead. His red eyes were both fiery and cold at the same time when she looked at them.
"You're a fire demon, aren't you?" Yumi asked rather than asking what she really wanted to ask. Baka… just because you got slightly amazed by his speed. But seriously, his eyes were as cold as ice… which was unusual for a fire demon.
Hiei didn't say anything which she took as a yes for an answer. But then she heard him spoke when he looked behind her.
"Behind you!"
Yumi immediately turned around and then she saw Kaori approaching her with the sword raised. She tightened her grip on her sword's hilt and poised for battle. After that, she closed her eyes and suddenly activated her own spirit energy before transferring it to the Dragon Sword of Flame.
"Dragon Sword Reform… Flame Sickle!" she shouted and then her sword began to glow bright red. After some seconds, it was then turned into its visible form.
A silhouette of a long sickle covered in flames.
With that, she faced Kaori and threw the sickle to the demon shinobi.
Even though Kaori was fast, the sickle immediately surrounded her and its curved blade struck her through the heart. After a few seconds, Kaori's body was set ablaze and was immediately turned to ashes since the burning chain of the sickle still surrounded the demon shinobi.
It was something that Hiei had never been able to observe, not even once. He could see the fire being channeled from Yumi's hands to the chain in order to burn the severely injured demon shinobi.
The sickle disappeared after the body turned to ashes and then returned to its sword form.
"This is one skill that I must only use to fulfill my duty of protecting my mistress's life. But I don't expect you to understand me," Yumi said sadly while looking at the sword before she looked at Hiei who was somewhat baffled with what she said.
And with that, the Fire Wielder vanished after being surrounded by several helixes of flame. But that left Hiei to ponder on what Yumi said.
Must only use to fulfill her duty of protecting her mistress's life… He scoffed after that.
"What foolishness…" he mumbled. "There's no way you could protect someone with that kind of weapon you have. It will only lead to your death…"
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