Namesake
Chapter Nine
The Fairy King
"So, I wasn't going to say anything at first, but seriously Shuichi, you look like crap today." Luther said during a moment of silence in their break. She and Shuichi had been sparing since early that morning and if his performance was indication, he wasn't really feeling too good right now. "You should you are up to training? I mean if you need to rest then by all means lets head back to the temple. No one is going to hate you for taking a day off." she said.
He smiled over to her. "Thanks for your concern Luther, but I'm fine. I just had a rough night, that's all." he reassured her.
"Ugh, yea, I can relate to that. I had one of the craziest dreams last night. It was kinda hard to get any good sleep after that." she grumbled.
"Well it would seem like last night was just not meant to be a good night to sleep."
"At least not for us anyway. I'm pretty sure I could hear Yusuke snoring all the way back in my room."
Shuichi chuckled. "Yes, that was him. I suppose after a while you get used to the noise so you can tune him out."
Luther shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Yea, I guess so. I never really noticed that he snores until last night."
"That's because that was the first time that you have actually been conscious during the night." he said with a smile.
"Oh, and how would you know?"
"Because you snore too."
"I do not!"
"Funny. That's exactly what Yusuke says if you tell him that he snores."
Luther glared at him and threw a stick in his direction. He ducked his head to 'tie his shoe' when the stick got close and she just stuck her tongue out at him.
"You better watch it. If you leave it out in the open too long there is no telling who might reach out and snatch it from you." he said.
"Well if someone should then I'll just have to snatch it back then wont I?"
"What if they won't let you?"
"Then I'll just have to snatch something of theirs to trade for it." she retorted, giving him a look that dared him to even try it, even though her tongue was safely back in her mouth now.
He laughed softly. "Touche."
There was a silence between them for a while. Luther lost track of just how long she was laying there, beneath the shade of a large tree, just listening to the sounds of the forest as her body relaxed from the bounding she'd put it through. It was just so peaceful, so relaxing. She could feel her eyes getting heavy again, lulled into the comfort of sleep by the bird's lullaby. The sun acted as a warm blanket and the grass as a soft sheet for her already tired and worn body.
In this state of relaxation she didn't really think about much and her mind drifted back to the dream she had the night before.
"So, Shuichi, have you ever had a dream that seemed so real that you wake up and wonder if it was really a dream at all, or some memory that you forgot you had?" she asked suddenly, her eyes remaining closed as she twirled her pendant between her fingers.
Shuichi looked over at her, watching her carefully. Well, actually, his eyes were trained mostly on the bead that she was twirling around. His eyes flashed gold for a moment before returning to a dark emerald. He was going to have to handle this conversation carefully.
"I have had a few. Are you talking about the dream you had last night?"
"Yea, that's the one. It was pretty disturbing."
"What was it about?"
She began to explain to him about her dream. "I couldn't really see a lot. Or, really, it was more like I could see a lot, but I was only focused on this one particular area. There was this little boy, he couldn't have been older than six or seven, laying on the ground. His mother was bent over him crying, begging him to get up. Then another man appeared, an older man, and announced that the boy was dead. It just hurt so much and it was like I was right there, floating above them all. And then the mother looked up at me and said 'Kill him. Kill the man who would betray his son.' It was really really weird."
Kurama's eyes narrowed slightly as she talked, his eyes nearly black they had grown so dark. He was very very thankful that her eyes were still closed. "Yea, that does sound weird. Perhaps it was a memory from a past life or something." he said with a smile, trying to make it sound like a joke.
She bought it. She laughed. "Yea, in my past life I was a mother who lost her child, and in this life I'm a child who lost her mother. That sounds about like my luck."
He frowned slightly. He hadn't realized that she had lost her mother. That really was ironic. "I'm sure it was just a collection of things from your subconscious."
"Yea, I'm sure." Luther agreed.
"Hm. You're sure this is an incident from her past?" Koenma asked.
Kurama nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I know that incident well."
Kurama had come to visit Koenma as soon as he could once he learned about the dream that Luther had. It wasn't a good sign that much he knew, but since Koenma seemed to want to keep it a secret from Luther, Kurama needed to know what he could do next.
The toddler prince thought over it for some time before finally speaking again. "She can't know of her past, whatever the case. Perhaps getting Luther's mind off of things would settle her down some. "
"With Iago still on the loose do you really think its wise for us to be taking vacation time Koenma?" Kurama asked.
"I'm not talking about a vacation!!" Koenma snapped before settling back down into his chair. "You leave the distractions to me, you just keep doing what you've been doing. And whatever you do, you can't let her know about your past as Youko either. Understand, Kurama?"
Kurama nodded. "Of course."
"Yusuke, I thought you said looking at my boobs was Kuwabara's job." Luther said sharply as she rounded another kick toward Yusuke's head.
"I'm not looking at your boobs!" he yelled back as barely dodged her leg. He dropped down and swept his own leg toward the one she was standing on. He managed to sweep her foot from under her, but she quickly caught herself with her hands, pushing her body upward and flipping backwards, landing in another stance, waiting on him.
"Then what were you staring at, because you certainly weren't paying any attention to this match." She snapped, her accusing eyes boring into his as he charged her again. Once again they were locked into a fist fight and once again Luther's fist connected with the right side of his face as his attention was turned elsewhere. And once again Yusuke went flying.
However this time something new was added to the equation.
"Wow Urameshi, no wonder you don't like to spar with Luther; she's kicking your ass." Kuwabara said as Yusuke landed as his feet.
Yusuke glared at him. "She's not kicking my ass! I just can't concentrate while she's flaunting those things of hers around!" he yelled in retort.
Luther raised an eyebrow high. "Excuse me?! I'm not flaunting them! You just won't stop looking! You know if Keiko was here she'd kick your ass worse than I'm doing!"
"I wasn't looking!" Yusuke yelled.
"Yes you were!"
"No I wasn't!"
"Then how come you didn't block my punch? You always block my punch!"
"Kuwabara distracted me!"
"Hey, don't drag me into this, I wasn't even here!" Kuwabara said, holding his hands up.
Luther rolled her eyes. This was going no were. "What are you doing here anyway, Kuwabara?" she asked.
"Umm…Oh yea. Kurama sent me to come find you two. There is some strange demon at the temple that has Kurama and Hiei pretty nervous."
"Is he attacking?" Yusuke asked.
"Well he wasn't until shorty attacked him. They are tearing up the temple though and I think Genkai is going to have a heart attack if they aren't stopped soon."
Yusuke and Luther looked at each other and nodded before taking off through the forest towards the temple, Kuwabara following close behind.
When they got there the grounds of the temple had been separated into two sides. On one side stood the unknown demon. His jet-black hair was tied back in a pony tail, and his sharp blue eyes were boring into the two demons in front of him. On the other side were Kurama and Hiei, their weapons drawn, waiting for the next attack.
As Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Luther appeared on the grounds the demon looked up and stared at them and his stance relaxed. For a brief second the sides of his mouth twitched into what looked to be a smile, but as quickly as it came it went.
Yusuke was instantly beside Kurama, drawing in his spirit energy for the attack. "Are you two ok?" he asked.
"Yes we are fine, but this demon is a lot stronger than he looked."
"That's because he is an A class demon." Hiei hissed from the other side of Kurama. "There is no way we can defeat him."
"But what does an A class demon want with us? I thought we had an agreement with all the demons of Makai!"
"I don't know, we didn't exactly stop to ask questions, detective." Hiei hissed.
"Well then I will." Yusuke muttered before straightening up and yelling at the demon. "I don't know who you are or what you want, but you better get the hell out before I kick you out!"
"That wasn't exactly a question, Yusuke…" Kurama said, a sweat drop falling down his face.
However the demon didn't answer, in fact, he didn't even look in Yusuke's direction. In stead he continued to stare just behind him.
Yusuke twitched a bit when he didn't respond and he growled then yelled. "Hello, we are over here! What the hell he is staring at?" he muttered his last sentence, looking behind him to see what the demon was looking at. He was quite surprised at what he saw.
Luther was just standing there, a shocked look on her face. She had been frozen in the same spot since the moment they had made it onto the grounds, and she was staring directly back at the demon. They held each other's gazes for several more moments before Luther suddenly broke into a run, pushing her way through the line of Kurama, Yusuke, and Hiei and dove for the demon. The demon didn't move or turn away, in fact, he held his arms open to her.
The grounds of the temple were silent as the spirit detective and the S class demon embraced each other.
"…What the hell is going on?! Luther what are you doing?! I don't know how you do it back home, but we don't go around hugging our enemies here!" Yusuke yelled.
Luther glared back at him from her place within the strong arms of her demon. "He isn't your enemy you dumbass, he's my friend!"
"Your…friend?"
"So, you're the demon who trained her for the year in Makai!" Yusuke said as the group sat around inside Genkai's temple. Luther managed to initiate a peace talk that resulted in them going inside so she could explain things. And, so far, her plan was working swimmingly.
"Yes, I'm the unfortunate soul who got stuck to her for a year. Koenma deemed that was proper punishment for my crimes, but I think it was a little…zealous." Oberon said with a small, bitter smile.
"I wasn't that bad was I?" Luther asked, a mock expression of hurt on her face.
Oberon smiled down at her. "No, my dear, you were worse than anything words can describe."
Luther glared at him but couldn't help but smile a bit. She knew she had been a horrible kid, especially back then, but it had been a great year for her.
"Yes, that sounds a lot like the Luther we know now." Kurama remarked.
Luther turned and glared at him "I'm not that bad…" she muttered.
Everyone laughed, except Luther of course. She wasn't happy with this conversation topic, so she decided to change the subject.
"So, exactly why are you here Oberon? Its not like we have been staying in contact or anything." She asked, honestly confused as to why he had just shown up.
"What, a teacher can't look in on his pupil after a few years?" he asked in return.
"Well yea but it was so sudden. I mean, I didn't even know you were in Ningekai."
"You shouldn't have known little one. From what I've heard you've been kind of busy."
Luther smiled sheepishly "Yea, kinda…" Suddenly she yawned a little, quick to hide it behind her hand.
Oberon smiled at her and ruffled her hair a little bit. "Don't worry little one, I'm going to be here for a while, so we'll have time to catch up." He turned and looked at the others. "I'm sure you are all tired and I don't mean to keep you awake."
She looked up at him with a concerned look. "Well where are you going to stay? I mean, if Genkai doesn't mind I'm sure it would be alright if you stayed in my room."
He laughed a bit and shook his head. "No, I've got another place to stay. Thanks for your concern though." He said as he stood. He nodded to the others. "It was a pleasure to meet you all, I'm sorry for the scare."
"Ah, its not problem, as long as you aren't planning on attacking anyone." Yusuke said.
Oberon nodded. "I assure you that isn't my plan." He said before turning back to Luther "I'll be seeing you again soon little one."
Luther smiled and nodded, standing "I'll walk you out." She said.
Oberon gave the small group a bow before turning and heading out, Luther at his side.
There was a moment of silence in the room before Yusuke finally spoke.
"I don't like him."
"Neither do I. If he was here to see Luther then why didn't he just say so in the first place?" Kuwabara asked.
"Koenma sent him." Kurama spoke suddenly.
Yusuke looked toward him. "Why would he do that without telling us?"
"He told me he was planning to do something, but he wouldn't tell me what, otherwise I would have warned you." Kurama explained.
"But that still doesn't explain why he sent him."
"To take her mind off a few things, that's all."
"Like what?"
Kurama was silent then.
"Kurama?" Yusuke asked, watching his friend carefully.
Kurama stood. "I think I'm going to turn in early tonight guys. I'll see you all in the morning."
"Wait, Kurama!" Yusuke said, reaching out for his friend as the he walked out the door.
"Leave him, detective. What you want to ask him can be asked later." Hiei said from a corner of the room.
Yusuke sighed and looked back at the door that Kurama had disappeared through. Something wasn't right here and he was going to get down to the bottom of it.
As Kurama made his way down the hall he heard someone else coming his way. He looked up just in time to see Luther returning from seeing Oberon off for the night.
She smiled to him slightly. "Hey Shuichi. You heading to bed?"
Kurama smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm going to try and get some sleep tonight for our sparring session tomorrow."
"Oh, actually, if it's ok with you guys, I'm going to go train with Oberon tomorrow, for old time's sake."
He blinked a few times and then nodded. "Of course. I'll take the time to train with Hiei then. I think he's been getting bored."
Luther laughed a bit. "Alright. Well then I'll see you in the morning." She said with a smile as she began to walk past him.
"Alright, sleep well Luther." He said with a smile.
"You too, Shuichi."
The two began to walk their separate ways but then Luther stopped and turned back to him. "Hey Shuichi, I have a question."
"Yes, Luther?"
"Why did Kuwabara call you Kurama?"
Haha! I bet you all thought that was a typo on my part didn't you?
Wow this is a long chapter, although not the longest. I couldn't decide where I wanted to cut it off, but I had this ending planned from the beginning of this chapter, so I figured why not.
Anyway, a big thanks to LoneHowl and Icekitsune4ever for reviewing on the last chapter. As far as I know they are my most loyal readers and I appreciate it oh so much.
Icekitsune4ever I can't wait to read your story. I'm going to be looking forward to it!
Anyway guys please read and leave me a review. Reviews make me happy and if you review a lot then you are very likely to get a very special surprise!