Old Flames (Invite Only)

[mugenginga]

It was right when Yuusuke let out his surprised shout that Mitsuyo also was leaping into the air as well with a similar amount of force. So similar in fact that they landed at about the same time. The same time that a giant bolt of lightning shot up from the grave, with a large spiral of fire and smaller sparking bolts of electricity dancing around it. Even after the initial bolt vanished, there was still a sheet of fire blocking anyone from seeing center of it from any angle from above, and the electricity continued to dance, arc, and spark around it.

The ground next to the grave hadn't stood a chance, and a cloud of dirt clumps had shot up and incinerated in a circle five feet out from the grave in each direction. The air held the heavy weight of a coming storm and the hair of both Mitsuyo and Yuusuke would be standing on end from the energy in the air, the energy that despite outward appearances was comprised entirely from Youki. The level of it Yuusuke would know from the later rounds of the Dark Tournament, from both his allies and his enemies.

The Youki that was spiralling around the area suddenly sucked inwards with enough force that even Mitsuyo took a step forward from the wind the energy alone had created. In a bright flash similar to a clap of lightning all of it was gone, and a figure stood with his legs spread on two thin columns of dirt that remained jutting up from the ground, roughly to either side of where the grave had been moments earlier.

The figure appeared more or less human, and of the right approximate age for high school. He was breathing heavily and his arms were spread to either side like his legs, his hands in loose fists. His head was down, shadow falling over his eyes, his back to Yuusuke. His hair was spiked, but it seemed less from style and more from the electricity that had been around him moments earlier. It was firetruck red, and Yuusuke wouldn't be privy to the taper like bangs that faded from orange to yellow due to his angle. However, the way his hair tapered in the back formed a sort of natural ponytail and faded in a simlar fashion. The visible muscles were lighter than most of the people Yuusuke knew, but still visible. There were a lot of very eerie resemblances to a demon Yuusuke had beaten before, and they didn't end there.

The figure's wore a red shirt similar to a long blouse, although there was nothing feminine about it. The collar was tall and black, and it covered his neck completely fron the front. It came around into a short v-collar from the front. His sleeves were long and widened out to the wrists, where they were tied down by a thick black strip tied around several times, the knot being at the wrist, which concealed the edge of the sleeves. The tails from the tie were jagged, like that of a flag that had been through many storms.

Around his waist, just above the bottom of the shirt, was a thick and extremely long bit of cloth that was such a pale shade of yellow that it looked almost off-white. It was tied in a fashion downright identical to the yokai Yuusuke wouldn't be able to avoid thinking of at this point, and even floated up in the same manner to define gravity. The only difference aside from color were the tin bells attached to the front of the cloth every inch or so. They made no noise despite the new arrival's breathing and seemed purely decorational.

His pants were reminsicent of that demon's as well, although they were yellow and went under the shirt rather than being part of a bodysuit. His socks were the same yellow as the tie around his waste, and his black shoes matched style like his belt did. Around his ankles were two tin bangles each, crisscrossed in an x-shape from both the front and the back.

And then the figure lifted his head for a moment, and without even paying any heed to Mitsuyo's presence jerked his head around and narrowed it at Yuusuke. And paused. A human? A human had freed him?! He looked a bit in shock as he stared at Yuusuke...

[Jilak]

Yuusuke really didn't like the way things were going here. From the lightning shooting up from the grave, to the incinerated dirt clumps, he had no reason to believe this would go well. Not to mention, if he hadn't moved at the moment he did, he'd be dead. There was no doubt about it. If the lightning didn't kill him, the spiral of fire probably would. And the Youki he was feeling didn't make him feel incredibly comfortable. In fact, he could remember it from the later rounds of the Dark Tournament. And with his reiki not fully regenerated... if it came to a fight, he could be in trouble. And with Yuusuke's habits of ignoring his limits...

He was barely able to keep his balance from the wind the energy created, at one point practically using the sword as some form of cane. And then...

His expression changed from that of the stoic scowl it had been to one of confusion. The gent before him... had a fair amount of rather eerie resemblances to a certain Suzaku. It was rather unsettling, all things considered. Sure, Yuusuke was pretty certain the actual Suzaku was dead, but that was sort of beside the point. It was the principle of the thing. Finding some gent sharing a fair amount of similarities to one of Yuusuke's old foes was... actually it was incredibly unsettling.

So there was an incredibly awkward moment where Yuusuke and Suzu both sort of looked at each other in shock for a brief moment, Yuusuke sort of awkwardly holding on to the sword.

[mugenginga]

Mitsuyo had narrowed her eyes as she looked at the two interact. Well, that much appeared to be true. She took a single step forward to advance, and the new arrival jerked his head back towards Mitsuyo, looking ready to fight. It was kind of an impressive amount of balance he had going on, given that the bits of earth he had his feet on were only about as big as said feet and there was a whole lot of hole in the ground around them. Mitsuyo turned her head towards the new arrival.

The new arrival then chose to kick up with all his weight on one foot. The force kicked off a bit of the dirt and made his previous stands uneven. He landed next to Yuusuke and held out his hand towards Yuusuke, not taking his eyes from Mitsuyo. It didn't appear to be aggression at this point, merely caution. Mitsuyo stopped and watched his actions.

"Return the sword," Suzu ordered, his hand open expectantly.

[Jilak]

It should be noted here, for proper context, that Yuusuke was quite taken aback. He was lost in a world completely unknown to him. So far, the only two people he had met had been Mitsuyo, who was... yeah, and a gent whom greatly resembled one of Yuusuke's own old foes. Said individual was now asking for his sword back. The sword that Yuusuke had had to pour out an excessive amount of reiki to pull free in the first place. The sword that was probably incredibly dangerous. So it should be noted that most people would have run, or tried to stab him with is own sword, or something.

I don't feel it needs repeating that Yuusuke Urameshi is not most people. The thing is, under normal situations, he likely would have done the above as well. But there was just... something about this guy. Even though he reminded Yuusuke, appearance-wise, of Suzaku, and even though the only other person he'd met on the island had been... kind of a jerk, he oddly trusted him. Not like, trusted him enough to turn his back on him, oh no. Yuusuke still hadn't completely relaxed. But he at least trusted him enough to return his sword. For multiple reasons, really. Most importantly, whoever this guy was, he'd come from the grave the sword was in.

Good guy or not, the thing belonged to him. Not to mention, so far, he'd shown no malice towards anyone. Perhaps caution towards Mitsuyo, but it was to be expected. So while his appearance and relatively flashy entrance didn't instil utmost confidence in Yuusuke, the above helped. Somewhat. Enough for Yuusuke to give the sword back, at least, taking care not to cut himself on his blade.

Besides, if the guy decided to suddenly go insane and decide to kill both he and Mitsuyo, he was confident he could handle it. It was sort of his deal, taking care of things like that.

[mugenginga]

The new arrival wrapped his hand around the hilt of the sword as soon as Yuusuke gave it. Mitsuyo frowned at him and her youki flared, and the temperature around her dropped a few degrees in a flash. Her tail was flicking side to side, and she narrowed her eyes at the other youkai.

He had taken up a stance with the blade held out in front of him with his right hand, and his left hand up and with two fingers resting against the flat back of it. One could feel the pressure around him of him preparing to use his youki, and there was a bit of heaviness in the air similar to the moments before a storm. He spoke low to Yuusuke without turning his eyes from Mitsuyo.

"I don't know how you managed to undo the seal, but even I can tell your energy is depleted. You need to get away from here before things go bad."

"Do you seriously think you can fight me, Master of the Zhu-Que no Ken?" And then the flare dropped, and she shook her head, "Regardless, I'm not here to fight you. Either of you."

The new arrival blinked, before speaking in an annoyed and threatening voice. His stance didn't change, "Who the hell are you?"

[Jilak]

Yuusuke blinked for a moment. He... wasn't quite sure how to address the current situation at first. So... wait. But... what? Right, so, he hadn't expected the guy before him to suddenly go rogue and stab him or something, that was quite unlikely. But he at the least expected him to be somewhat less civil, or arrogant like Mitsuyo. He wasn't expecting him to suggest Yuusuke leave, however. He was so taken aback by this reaction that he didn't choose to ask what exactly Z... Z... Zero whatever referred to.

On the other hand, however, he wasn't exactly the type to just... abscond. There were many times in his life when it probably would have been most logical, such as his second encounter with Toguro, during which he was invited to the Dark Tournament. But... he didn't, because it wasn't who he was. But the individual before him didn't seem hostile, so that was... something to work with, at least?

"You're probably right, pulling the sword out gave me some pretty major Dark Tournament flashbacks. But I've gotten through worse with almost no energy, and me being here means I probably have a case to take care of, so even if I wanted to get away, I shouldn't." Yuusuke responded, chuckling a bit. It was just so... odd. Here he was in a graveyard with two relatively powerful Yokai, and neither had yet decided to attack him. One even seemed to be a pretty cool guy, for that matter.

What Yuusuke wasn't saying, though, was that the situations he'd mentioned? Yeah, he'd powered through those mostly based on luck. With Rando, he lucked out and had a bit of swamp grass in his ear, forcing Rando to shrink himself. From there, it was a simple matter of falling. The fight before that, he'd planned on taking the two of them out together but gotten lucky and fallen in a swamp...

But to be fair, in those situations, he was more or less completely without energy. Now, he might be able to, if his luck persisted, get a shot of the reigun out. What happened from then, though... if it came to it, he'd figure it out when it happened.

[mugenginga]

Mitsuyo gave a small smile at the new arrival's demand. It was ice cold, there was nothing of kindness in it. She took a step back and turned her eyes away from Suzu as she turned to look behind her. The new arrival didn't respond to Yuusuke and was watching Mitsuyo for her next actions. She suddenly leapt into the air and Suzu's eyes widened. Yuusuke would see her blur as she jumped from tombstone to tombstone. Not as fast as Hiei, but it was only for his Reiki he'd be able to sense her. The new arrival's own youki flared and a flash of fire came out from the sword as he lifted it up and slashed at thin air in Mitsuyo's direction.

An arc of lightning suddenly shot from it, and hit a tombstone where Mitsuyo had leapt off seconds earlier. He pulled his sword to the side in a horizontal slash and the lightning changed direction mid-air. Mitsuyo let out a tch sound, not slowing her movement any, and unless Yuusuke was paying attention to the next tombstone to land on he wouldn't have time to see it suddenly become soaked and then flash freeze - he'd just see it become covered in ice and shot up a wall of ice, which the lightning hit and shattered, sending shrapnel everywhere.

The new yokai followed her movement with his eyes and as soon as she seemed prepared to land behind him and Yuusuke, the Spirit Detective would find himself being shoved out of the way with enough force to break the ribs of a normal human as Mitsuyo... suddenly landed five feet away and spread her arms.

"I'm an ally," she said. Both her Youki and the new arrival's remained flared. Lightning was sparking around the new arrival and dancing across his sword along with wisps of flame. Mitsuyo pointed at the sword with a swift motion, "But if you insist on fighting me I won't hesitate to kill you. I'm taking the blade with or without your living body."

[Jilak]

In retrospect, it was actually good that Genkai was nowhere to be found. Because, to be completely honest, she would be absolutely livid with Yuusuke. He'd wasted so much energy pulling the new arrival's sword out, to the point that he was practically on empty. The old hag would have never let him hear the end of it. Regardless, it wouldn't really help his current situation. Here he was, almost completely depleted of energy, with two rather strong yokai. Though, oddly enough, the new arrival seemed to be on his side, for some reason.

So there was that, at least. Yuusuke wasn't certain it would be much, though. With how fast Mitsuyo moved, even if she wasn't as fast as Hiei... this was troublesome. He was in no position to fight, but he couldn't exactly leave it in the other gent's hands. Even if it hadn't been the reason Yuusuke was sent to the strange island, he couldn't let the sword fall into her hands. He had no idea what exactly a Zhu-Que no Ken was, or even if he could trust the new arrival more than Mitsuyo, but it was obvious that hers was the greater of two evils, here.

His musings were stopped, however, when he was shoved with a large amount of force. He rolled as he hit the ground, pushing himself back to his feet a bit awkwardly. Based on the pain in his abdomen, he assumed he would at least have bruising around his rib area, if not a few broken ribs.

"Dammit, Koenma. What the hell do you want me to do here?" Yuusuke thought to himself, scowling.

[mugenginga]

The new arrival took a quick step to the side, positioning himself between where Yuusuke had landed and where Mitsuyo stood. She raised an eyebrow at the action, but didn't move. The electricity dancing around the air had dropped again, but the red haired Yokai showed no sign of backing down.

"Then you'll pry it from my dead fingers," he said, his voice flat. He let his eyes flick over to the icy tombstone and smirked, "You really think the Blade will accept you? A master of water and ice? Even with me dead it will reject you."

And in a harsh low voice, for Yuusuke's ears only, "By staying here you're just going to get in my way. Get the hell out of here!"

Mitsuyo let out a long sigh, as if she were dealing with a child. She raised a hand and three streams of water fell down from three raised fingers, entertwining as they went, forming a chain. What hit the ground wasn't water, but a sickle shape formed of ice. Rising up from it as the water continued to fall from Mitsuyo's hand was a thick chain. She reached over with her other hand as the final bit of water formed a smaller version of the sickle shape. She snatched the chain with her other hand and quickly snapped it taught, taking an offensive position. The red-haired yokai glared at the display.

"I really don't want to kill you. It will be far easier for both of us if you just come with me with your weapon," Mitsuyo stated. She was, surprisingly enough, still calm.

[Jilak]

Yuusuke looked over at the other gent as he all but commanded him to leave. He frowned. He'd already had to put up with Mitsuyo's arrogance for an indefinite amount of time, he really wasn't up to someone else telling him what to do. It didn't help that he'd landed on this creepy island with absolutely no explanation for where he was or what he was doing here. Truth be told, while he'd made the assumption, he wasn't even sure Koenma had been the entity to send him here.

His frown grew deeper as Mitsuyo spoke. She was as arrogant as ever. That was great. Just great. Here he had the new arrival commanding him to run away, Mitsuyo being Mitsuyo, and Yuusuke generally being upset at more or less the entire universe, and it really wasn't good for his calm. Yuusuke's response began in the form of a growl before evening into a relatively calm tone.

"Just shut up, okay?! I'm getting really tired of being looked down on, and it's bad enough that you remind me so much of that Suzaku guy! I might be somewhat drained, but you and I both know that it would be pretty bad if she got her hands on your sword! So just calm the hell down and give me a minute here!" Yuusuke responded, somewhat exasperated. Relatively calm for him was still pretty angry.

He stepped forward, having to step around the relatively new arrival. He wasn't stupid enough to get blatantly within Mitsuyo's range, but he wasn't about to hide behind the new guy like some sort of scared child.

"There's only one reason I could think of that you would need a sword that probably won't even accept you. I don't know who the hell you're working for or with, but as Reikai Tantei, it's my job to stop you either way." Yuusuke called out, hands curling into fists. He was using this as an opportunity to observe the graveyard, in an attempt to come up with some form of plan.

"Crap... she's fast, hitting her from the front's going to be pretty impossible... have to think of something quick, or we're both in trouble here!" Yuusuke thought to himself, eyes narrowing.

[mugenginga]

The gent standing in front of Yuusuke froze up as the Spirit Detective mentioned Suzaku's name. Mitsuyo blinked and narrowed her eyes in confusion, her grip tightening on her weapon. The new arrival narrowed his eyes at Yuusuke's back as he stepped in front of him, and the confusion in Mitsuyo's eyes became an aggressive glare as the teenager lectured her.

"How do you know Suzaku...?" the new arrival spoke deliberately through grit teeth. The way he was glaring at Yuusuke was harsh enough that the boy would probably feel like the yokai's eyes were burning holes in his back.

"Why don't you enlighten me, Spirit Detective? And while you're at it, why you are just now choosing to inform me of your position?"

[Jilak]

Yuusuke sighed before responding to either individual. So the fellow now behind him did know Suzaku. Yuusuke had sort of been hoping that their similarities were just some huge coincidence. Alas, that didn't seem to be the case. He wasn't sure of their relationship, but either way, it made him somewhat uncomfortable. Taking down Suzaku had been amongst his first few cases, so it was a bit of a sore point.

"He and those other 'Saint Beasts' of his wanted the right to enter the Ningenkai. So I stopped him. It's a bit of a long story, and I still don't entirely trust you." Yuusuke informed the other fellow, keeping his eyes on Mitsuyo. Being literally stabbed in the back wasn't part of today's plans.

"I didn't tell you earlier because it wasn't important at the time. You were just an individual from Kurama's past that he hadn't felt was important enough to mention. A bit arrogant, but otherwise you seemed harmless." Yuusuke said, responding to Mitsuyo.

[mugenginga]

The yokai frowned at Yuusuke's explanation. The Four Heavenly Beasts? Suzaku had taken the name of the Vermillion Bird out of sheer arrogance, and he'd found three other demons to follow him? He turned his attention back to Mitsuyo as Yuusuke answered her question.

"What the hell is a 'Reikai Tantei'?" he growled towards Mitsuyo, although the question seemed more offered to the situation as a whole and anyone that could answer it.

And it appeared it was the one thing that could make Mitsuyo lower her guard. Her tense stance was thrown off by a blank look of surprise, and then she gave a cruel grin and chuckled. The laughter only grew, and while ther ewas no illusion of her being unable to react to a flash to any attack, it was clear she found something absolutely hilarious.

"You are so blind to what the world has become, and yet you still wish to defy me? How adorable!"

[Jilak]

Yuusuke's eyes widened for a brief moment. Due to his timing, it would appear to be in response to Suzu's question. To be fair, it was, in part. He was perhaps the first demon Yuusuke had run into to be unaware of what the position of Reikai Tantei entailed. Mostly, though, it was due to something that had just occurred to Yuusuke. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he had. If he could just keep this conversation going a bit longer...

"As Reikai Tantei, it's my job to handle yokai that would damage the ningenkai or the reikai. I'm a bit surprised that you don't know, though. I just assumed Koenma would put the word out or something." Yuusuke responded, frowning. Mitsuyo was unpredictable, not to mention smart. His plan would be nearly impossible to get off, and it relied on a heavy mount of shenanigans.

Not to mention, he'd need the other fellow's help for it to work. And he wasn't sure he could trust him, which really didn't help his current situation. Today was just one of those days where he should have just stayed in bed, he felt.

[mugenginga]

The new arrival glared at Mitsuyo's laughter, and then one could all but see the light bulb go off over his head. And his guard significantly drop as if he'd gone into shock. His sword was still held up, but anyone that ran at him would be able to knock it out of his hand. Perhaps surprisingly, Mitsuyo didn't. She instead turned her head and gave a disturbingly charming smile at Yuusuke.

"Explaining it to him would be quite useless, Urameshi Yuusuke," Mitsuyo said, "As would mentioning the prince's name."

"How long..." was what the red haired yokai managed to say. He further loosened his grip on his sword as Mitsuyo taunted him by speaking to Yuusuke. The anger that should have been in his voice was nothing but shock, "Reikai Tantei? Koenma? How long did that bastard have me sealed...?"