Ikigai (Hiei x OC)

THE STRANGER

Airi stretched her legs as far as they would go, reaching her arms back above her head. Dappled light filtered through the leaves of the tree above, shifting happily in the cool breeze. With Kuwabara sitting on the bench beside her, she felt perfectly at ease.

"Gorgeous day, isn't it Airi?" he asked, mirroring her stretch. "Almost makes me wish there was someone to beat up!"

She laughed, deeply and earnestly. His and Yusuke's predilection for fighting was utterly ridiculous, and, she was sure, rooted in an explosion of testosterone.

"Got the tickets!" Keiko said, holding them up in front of her face.

"Actually Keiko, give us five," Yusuke said from behind her. His energy was unsettled. "I just need to run to the store with Kuwabara."

With that, he grabbed Kuwabara's arm, yanked him off the bench, and strode off towards a side street.

"What do you think that was about?" Keiko asked.

"I don't know..."

Yusuke made it abundantly clear after returning to the city that, despite Genkai's wishes, Airi had no business helping him. He couldn't be responsible for her getting hurt, and the job was too hard to worry about taking care of anyone else. She understood where he was coming from but grimaced at the thought of being underestimated.

"I just need to run to the ladies," Airi said, getting up to feign a bathroom emergency. "Be right back!"

She ran off, dipping into the recess at the front of the movie theater, making sure no one was watching. Just as Genkai had shown her, she closed her eyes and began to meditate. First, she listened to her breath, smoothly filling her lungs. Then she focused on nothing but the sounds around her – the birds chirping, the traffic whizzing by, the conversations of passersby. She stayed like this until she found the part of herself she sought, that dark but comforting space in which her consciousness could safely reside. From within that space a bright, white light burst forward, surrounding her fully.

It was odd at first, the sensation of her body becoming invisible. There was a tingling in her limbs and a rushing feeling in her head that both subsided quickly. She stepped out onto the sidewalk, directly in the path of a group of teenagers. Waiting until the last moment to jump out of the way, she felt sure her transformation had worked. They did not look at her and made no efforts to go around her.

Not wasting any time, she took off in the direction Yusuke and Kuwabara were headed last she saw them. Luckily for her, she was able to sense both of their spirit energies from miles away. She tracked them five blocks, then six, before noticing a third familiar energy. Botan...

As Airi rounded the corner, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. Botan, standing above a green lifeless body, proudly holding a baseball bat over her shoulder.

"Ew, what is that?"

The outburst had given her away. She relinquished her shield and felt her corporeal form return to existence.

"Ah!" Kuwabara yelled, "I am so not used to that yet!"

"You followed us," accused Yusuke, in a tone she despised.

"I was worried. You seemed nervous."

"And you just left Keiko, huh?"

"Hey, you left Keiko too!"

Botan cleared her throat impatiently.

"To answer your question, I am quite certain he's a spy from the destination of your next mission. The City of Ghosts and Apparitions."