Bayton looked down at her spirit detective charge and sighed. He just looked so sad. He was essentially in the fetal position on the floor just inside the door way and he looked entirely exhausted. Sweat was streaming down the side of his face, he had bags under his eyes, and he'd gotten more muscle. The reason the last part was sad was because Yukasa had only been at this training compound with his dad for a little over 4 weeks and to see muscle improvement like that must mean he was working really hard.
The compound in question was the old Genkai compound about 2 hours south of Yukasa's hometown. It was owned by Yusuke's old mentor Genkai, and when she died the property was put into the care of Yusuke and his friends. The property itself was fairly expansive with over 200 acres. The outer wooded area of the compound functioned as a demon sanctuary for any demons living peaceful in human world. The inner most part had five buildings consisting of a large arcade with spirit energy related games, a large fighting chamber that was completely dark, two separate Dojos, and a larger house with living arrangements. Bayton wondered how many times Yukasa had even seen the big house.
"How have you been?" she asked hesitantly.
"Exhausted," he said not looking up from the floor.
"That bad huh?"
"It's like torture, but apparently I'm getting something out of it."
Bayton looked over Yukasa muscles and smiled, "You are getting something out of it. I mean you might not be able to tell but I can. Plus, it can't be that bad!"
"He was shooting at me and he managed to hit me so he made me run four miles!"
"You can run four miles?
"I can now," he said still looking at his feet.
"You alright?" she asked. "You haven't moved very much."
"Oh that's the spirit cuffs," he responded.
"Whoa, aren't those the things that make it so you can't move unless you're fully exerting your spirit energy?"
"Yup!" Yukasa said rolling over.
"When did you get those on?"
"About the first minute I got here," Yukasa answered.
"You ran 4 miles in spirit cuffs!" Bayton said in disbelief.
"I can now," he answered.
"WOO!"
Bayton looked over at the source of the woo. In the middle of the main room was Yusuke bouncing up and down and wearing grey sweatpants and a T-shirt that read 'Makia Tournament 2002'.
"Come on son!" he screamed as he ran over. "It's time to go for a run!"
"Didn't we just go for a run, dad?" Yukasa asked.
"Yeah, but today's spirit cardio!" his father said with a smile.
"Wasn't yesterday spirit cardio?"
"Every day is spirit cardio! As long as you can keep on swinging you're eventually gonna win the fight!"
"Didn't you die twice!"
Yusuke let out a sigh of exasperation, bent over, and began speaking quietly to his son, "Now Yukasa I know you're tired, but-"
"This is the part where you tell me if I don't do this I'm going to have to balance on the spikes again isn't it," Yukasa said the sadness evident in his voice.
Yusuke ruffled Yukasa's hair.
"My son is so freaking smart," he said with a smile.
Bayton could feel Yukasa exerting his spirit energy, and saw the golden glow of the spirit cuffs around his wrists and ankles. He struggled to pull them apart, but Bayton could see that he was going to win. She was actually incredibly impressed with her Spirit Detective's progress only four weeks ago his energy had been so minuscule she could only feel its presence if she hugged him, but now she could see the bright blue energy erupting from his body and she could feel it every strong from five feet away. It was still a long way away from the whole 'you can see it from the next town over' thing his father could do, but it was certainly some intense progress. Finally, Yukasa stood up. Bayton stood up with him and smiled.
"Before you guys go do whatever the hell you're going to do; I have a message from Konema," Bayton said as she walked out of the house. "He wants you two to stop going into spirit world for your training. He's picked up blips from you on spirit world radar. He understands you guys can probably handle yourselves, but he doesn't want anyone else getting lost."
Both Yukasa and his father did the same movement of raising both eyebrows in surprise. Bayton thought it was cute but didn't understand why they would be surprised at all.
"Bayton," Yusuke said. "We haven't let this compound in four weeks."
"Ok that's weird," she said. "I'll tell Konema." Bayton took out her phone and started typing a message.
"Don't bother!" Yusuke said. Bayton looked up and saw that Yusuke had a devilish grin on his face.
"Why not?" Bayton asked.
"Well, he's probably not going to believe you anyway, and this is a perfect first case!"
"Huh!" Yukasa said. "Can you do that?"
"I know I can take your spirit cuff off while you're on the case," Yusuke said.
Yukasa ran up to his dad holding out his hands.
"Anything you say dad!"
"HA! Nice try, go pack some food and water for the trip!"
Yukasa ran off inside the house.
Bayton looked over Yusuke trying to see if he was serious or if this is some sort of joke.
"You do realize that your sending your son and I to do exactly what Koenma warned us not to do, right?"
"You think I haven't told Konema to fuck off in more colorful ways before?"
Bayton smiled. Yusuke was notorious for his problem with authority and so was Bayton. She had been hoping that Yukasa would have inherited that trait too, but instead he'd gotten a good head on his shoulders.
"You still exiled from the upper levels of spirit world?" Yusuke asked.
"Yeah they don't take the sin of pride lightly up there," Bayton said desperate for the topic to change. "It's actually why I got to babysit your son, they needed someone who could give 24/7 watch."
"Good things grow out of a lot of shit after all," Yusuke said and then he started laughing.
"I guess you and I are the prime examples of that?" Bayton asked.
"But for some reason spirit world actually made the right call," Yusuke said looking up into the sky.
"Yeah well I'm not the biggest fan of spirit world judgment," Bayton confessed.
"Neither am I that's why I went to demon world!"
"Was it better there?" Bayton asked wondering why Yukasa's father was leading her down this road.
"Nah it was shit there too," Yusuke said then he suddenly became very serious. His entire expression hardened and he looked Bayton directly in the eye. "But I learned there that it doesn't matter where you run you can't run from yourself."
Bayton was surprised at Yusuke's sudden change in demeanor and tone. He'd somehow gone from incredible goofy father to strangely authoritative advice giving father in three seconds flat. Yet both seemed to fit him, the changes didn't seem out of place on his face, but rather that both fit perfectly just not at the same time. He slowly looked away once again up toward the sky and Bayton wondered just how much of her sin Yusuke knew or if she just wore that chip on her shoulder really well.
When Yukasa came out of the house Bayton sighed in relief. He was wearing the same clothes and now had his satchel slung across his shoulder.
"You sure took a while," she said trying to deflect attention. "I was getting worried."
Yukasa gave a mock laugh. "HA! Let's see you try to read ingredients while keeping your spirit energy fully exerted and balancing on top of a step later."
"I could do it in my sleep!" Bayton said.
"I think I might have done it in my sleep before," Yusuke said looking at Bayton with that same devilish grin. Yusuke laughed at his own joke and snapped. The golden glow of the spirit cuffs appeared again, but it suddenly shattered and dissipated.
Yukasa actually jumped for joy. "Oh my god! I can move!"
"Yeah well move over this way so we can get going!" Bayton said as she unbound her sheath from her side and slid her Katana hilt first into it. She felt her energy flood into her katana. Most people didn't know it, but the oar of a reaper is almost part of them it is more than a chunk of wood. The reaper can't necessarily feel it like a limb but they know where it is at all times like a limb. She dropped her katana and it began floating just above the ground. She jumped up and landed on the tip of her sword. She loved the feeling of being weightless and free. There were many things she'd hated about her previous job as a regular reaper, but flying had been the saving grace of it all. Suddenly she felt a pressure on the sheath of her katana.
"So how do you expect me to stay on this thing again?" Yukasa asked.
"I'm going to tell you the same thing my reaper told me," Yusuke said. "Hold on!"
"To what?" Yukasa asked.
Bayton didn't waste her opportunity. She took off toward spirit world Yukasa screaming all the way.