Set 20 years after the events of Yu Yu Hakusho, The After Years focuses on Yusuke's daughter, Rieka, and Kuwabara's son, Hiro, as they join a new generation of Spirit Detectives.
(contains cursing and some violence, on par with the show)
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The sight of his violet eyes on her broke her calm, if only for a moment. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and watched as her father leapt onto the platform of the arena with ease. He crossed his arms and glared at Izanagi, who sat looking up at him as peaceably as a child.
"I'm not exactly an honorable enough person not to hit someone who isn't on their feet, particularly if that someone has threatened me or my own. So if you're just gonna sit there, don't expect to that to spare me from kicking your ass."
Izanagi chuckled, "You're not going to hit me."
"What makes you so sure?" Yusuke retorted.
Izanagi flicked his wrist, and polaroids splayed out at Yusuke's feet. Yusuke scooped them up, and his eyes widened as he took them in. "See anyone you recognize?" Izanagi taunted.
"Urameshi, what are those pictures of?" called Kuwabara.
Solemnly, Yusuke spread them out like cards in his hands, "Keiko, Yukina, Shizuru, and Shiori--Kurama's mom."
Everyone's eyes widened, but Kuwabara was the one to leap up and sweep the photos out of Yusuke's hand, "What is he, some kind of stalker?"
Izanagi snapped, and the other four members of his team appeared from the other side of the arena. The first was a boy in his teen years, who dressed all in dark colors. His nose and mouth, along with one eye were covered by a black cloth, leaving a shock of white hair and a single cloudy blue eye visible.
Another was tall and lanky, like someone had stretched them all out on a taffy pull. He was a scrawny, pimply teen with bright pink hair--not exactly the type one would consider to be especially threatening.
The third was a blonde girl who popped her gum with disinterest, and the last was a kid no older than ten with spiky brown hair. His jaw was set in a grimace.
Peering at them, Rieka noticed that all four wore a strange black collar around their necks. A red light pulsed from a small receiver on each of them.
Izanagi gestured to his team, as if he were a game show host presenting a prize, "Each of my teammates is fitted with a collar, as you can see. Each one is linked to a communicator for someone we have on the outside who has been watching those four women quite closely. If one of their pulses stop, then the signal will be set to kill whichever individual they were linked to. Of course, I can't say I remember which one is which." He added a syrupy smile to the last part, and then, seeing the rage build in Yusuke's eyes he said, "Oh, and if you decide to simply kill me, don't think they won't fight to the death--or simply kill themselves. They are quite committed to, unless I give my release signal."
"You bastard," Yusuke said through clenched teeth.
"Of course," Izanagi continued, "If Rieka kills me, their orders are to cease and desist. So what'll it be, detective? Risk losing your eldest child, or your wife and the one not yet born?"
Yusuke was positively seething with anger. The knuckles on his clenched fists whitened as he shook. He heard a voice call over the waves of his anger. It was Rieka.
"I can do it, Dad," she said as she climbed up onto the arena, Mike right behind her. He looked into her eyes, which were a reflection of his own eyes, brown and shining, "Trust me. I got this."
"Rieka," he said, "I can't just--"
"Hey, I got a stake in this too. She's your wife but she's my mom too, y'know?" She even added a smile, full of false confidence.
Yusuke's dagger eyes returned to Izanagi, "I have a condition."
"Oh? What's that?" Izanagi said wryly.
"We all fight at once. But if one of my team members can overcome one of yours without killing them, then we can go help Rieka."
Izanagi tapped his chin, "Hmm, and if I kill her before then?"
"Then there's nothing in this world that would stop me from killing you."
Izanagi smirked, "I think I might be able to take you on, with her power added to mine. So you know what? You're on. Though I seriously doubt you will be able to incapacitate my team before then."
A familiar voice came over the speakers. It was Nao, the ref from the previous matches, "So, are you guys ready to start the fight?" Squinting, Rieka could spot her in an announcer box above the stands.
"I believe so, miss," Izanagi called.
"Okay then," called Nao, "This ought to be interesting, but it's more or less a battle royale, so it's legal! Izanagi and girl-child, whatever your name is, stay in the central arena. You others, pair off in the four corners outside of the arena. Might I also suggest that our patrons with ringside seats fall back a few rows. You are now in the 'splash zone.'"
There was some muttering as people and yokai alike shifted. The four remaining paired off seemingly at random. Kurama with the boy with the white hair, Kuwabara with the stretched-out one, Hiei with the youngest looking of the bunch, and Yusuke took the gum-popping blonde girl.
Even though she was surrounded by allies, Rieka had never felt more alone as she stood in the central arena facing Izanagi. A smile warmed his violet eyes as he stared at her.
"You know," said Rieka, lowering her stance, "I haven't exactly just been waiting around all this time for you to eat me. I've been training."
"Oh?" said Izanagi scanning her up and down in a way that made her shiver. His eyes rested on Mike, "So the baby girl's gotten a new pup?" Mike snarled and barked at him, looking as fierce as he was able to for his size.
"That's not exactly what I meant," she said. The stalling had given her enough time to concentrate on her left arm, and the sacred energy pooling there. Electricity sparked and trickled first in her hand before igniting the rest of her body. She shifted her stance, her left hand open to him as if offering him the gift of her lightning, and stunned, Izanagi saw that her eyes had changed from their docile brown to a dazzling blue. "We are ready for you." The voice was no longer simply Rieka's voice, but a double voice, combined with that of someone much older than her.
Izanagi's expression changed from awe to delight at the sound of it, "Oh, Kanya, how I've been longing to see you appear."
