"You want us to find what again?" Yusuke demanded, wondering if Koenma could possibly be serious about this.
"The Chaos Gauntlet," Koenma said, grumbling slightly. He did not like to repeat himself, and he liked even less to repeat the name of this particular artefact; the thing gave him the willies. "It is a brass and leather contraption that was originally designed to aid in the controlling of demonic energies that have attempted to take residence inside a human body."
"Sounds like a useful kind of power," Yusuke observed.
"Yeah," Kazuma agreed. "So why does it have such a wierd name as 'Chaos'?"
"It was created several centuries ago by a man called Lau Michi, who had been unfortunate enough throughout his life to be subject to many different demon possessions," Koenma explained, his fingers arched before him as he explained. "One demon, the last to ever possess his body, was captured in the gauntlet somehow. That demon was called Chaos. Hopefully, whoever has stolen the gauntlet has not been foolish to either put it on."
"Hopefully?" Yusuke asked, liking the sound of this mission less by the second.
"Chaos will be able to possess any wearer of the gauntlet, and if the possession does not kill the human then he will be able to escape confinement and cause, well, chaos, in all three worlds if he feels like it."
"What are we supposed to do when we find this thing then?" Hiei demanded from the door, having arrived late to the meeting. "Knowing our luck with missions, Chaos will be just gaining freedom by the time we reach the unfortunate who released him."
"It is for this reason that I have asked Shizuru to accompany you on this mission rather than Botan. Shizuru can both sense things and fight the demon if she is required to," Koenma explained, nodding to Kazuma's older sister politely.
Shizuru exhaled her smoke, stamped on her cigarette and returned the respectful nod. Her first mission with them had been when Botan was pregnant, and she'd been called on since to back up the boys when they needed the extra help. In this instance, however, she had a dual role.
"You're dodging the question," Yusuke pointed out. "And when you do that, it never means anything good."
Koenma cleared his throat, an awkward expression on his face as he tried to think of how to phrase it so that Yusuke and Kuwabara would understand. Shizuru cut in and saved him the embarrassment.
"I'm the bait too," she said, smirking. "I talked with Botan, apparently the only reason this Chaos guy possessed old Lau was because he was as feminine looking as Kurama. The demon likes to possess, and impregnate, human women. If he's out, then hopefully he'll jump into me, then I put the gauntlet on and the bastard is caught again."
"Woah! But Sis, what if this Chaos guy gets you pregnant, or kills you? You really want to go through with that?" Kazuma yelled, shocked that Shizuru would let herself be subjected to that.
"Shut up Kazuma," Shizuru said, bopping him on the head.
"If we're lucky enough to get to the gauntlet before Chaos is released, we just bring it back here? No special handling procedure?" Yusuke asked.
"The gauntlet is a containment device. Chaos will only be released if someone puts it on. No worries about anything else," Koenma assured, smiling around his pacifier.
"Kurama," Hiei called as the team left Koenma's office. "You were oddly silent in there."
The red-haired youth attempted to pull out a reassuring smile for his friend. He felt it waver, wobble, and knew that he failed when red eyes narrowed at him.
"This Chaos possesses bodies like a rapist, and killed Lau when he discovered he had accidentally chosen a man, only to be caught in the gauntlet. I am somewhat fearful for myself since Miss Shizuru's observation. What if, rather than choosing her, Chaos should decide that I am a more attractive female, only to kill me when he learns otherwise?" Kurama queried.
Shizuru overheard and snorted. "I appreciate you're a pretty boy, Kurama, but as long as you're wearing pants and I'm wearing a skirt, I think you'll be safe."
Kurama lowered his green eyes to the floor in shame.
"Forgive me, Miss Shizuru. I meant no disrespect to your own attractiveness, and I apologise for fearing for myself before you, who is in a far more serious position than any of us."
"I'll say it's serious!" Kazuma yelled, still distraught over the idea of a random evil demon impregnating his sister.
"I thought I already told you to shut up, Kazuma," Shizuru said, punching him in the head again as she walked passed him towards the portal that would let them out of the spirit world and into a part of the human world that as near to where the Chaos Gauntlet was supposed to be.
Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei shared a small smile at the sibling violence, something none of them had ever really experienced, and were both glad for and envious of.
It was as Hiei had predicted; some unsuspecting fool had tried on the gauntlet, allowing Chaos to possess their body, and then skipping out before death of the host once again tied the demon to the brass claw that had been dubbed a gauntlet.
Kurama was quick to grab up the object, a plan suggested by Shizuru as they were following Kazuma's sixth sense and Yusuke's spirit compass. If Kurama obviously had the gauntlet that would contain Chaos, then he wouldn't have to worry about being targeted. Hiei stayed closer to Kurama as they fought to kill the demon – as the fastest of them, if Chaos did possess Shizuru he could get the claw onto her hand quicker than any of the others.
The demon was stronger than had been anticipated. Kazuma, who was a great deal stronger than he had been on his first mission, was swatted out of the way like a fly by the black-and-gold-clad demon. Yusuke wore the creature down a great deal, between punches and shots of his spirit gun, but was also, like his idiotic friend, pushed aside by a large, leathery red wing. Kurama and Hiei fought in tandem, striking with their weapons and backing away, not allowing their opponent to land a hit on either of them. Kurama had to hold onto the gauntlet after all, and if they didn't kill Chaos, then Hiei would need to get the thing onto Shizuru's arm to contain the beast if it managed to possess her.
Shizuru herself hung back, smoking mostly. Since she had first joined the team as an active member, rather than simply as a member of the cheering squad, Koenma had given her the spirit gun as well – something he did for all detectives – and Genkai had trained her further in its use. Unlike Yusuke or Genkai who put as much as they could into each shot though, Shizuru carefully controlled exactly how much spirit energy she put into her bullets, and generally she stuck with enough to make it feel like the person she aimed at got bitten by something small and nasty. She didn't go for the explosives much, but acute pain worked just as well for her. Occasionally she'd aim a bullet at Chaos' face, ear or neck – the only parts of him apart from his wings that weren't covered by his black jump-suit or gold armour.
Seeing that Hiei was about to be hit by one of those wings, Shizuru fired another small shot at the demon, the first one she had aimed at his wings. Chaos roared in pain even louder than he had for any of the other attacks. Yusuke smirked from where he was starting to sit up on the ground, an expression that was mirrored in Kurama and Hiei's faces. So the wings were the demon's weakness?
Kurama and Hiei both managed to slash at the large appendages as Yusuke fired a shotgun off from behind the beast, peppering the expansive wingspan with burning spirit energy.
Chaos roared again and dived towards Shizuru, furious that the woman had revealed his single vulnerability. He would possess her, and regain his strength while he occupied her body. His own body dissolved as it dived into her mouth, which she had conveniently opened in shock, and then could not close as she attempted to scream in pain.
Hiei quickly took the gauntlet and slipped it onto Shizuru's arm. Another scream was heard, in the voice of Chaos. Once again, he was trapped. This time, however, he was trapped within the body of a living human, rather than the enchanted possession of a dead one. He was inside her body, but he could not control her as he usually would in a possession, and he could not move freely through her body to tamper with vital organs as he would normally delight to as well. He was trapped.
"Gotcha," Shizuru said, closing her hand within the polished brass claw. "I may be stuck with you pal, but you're not getting away with anything while you're in my body."
The faces of all the males fell in shock. They had not realised at the time, the gauntlet was not going to extricate the demon from Shizuru and contain Chaos within itself, but rather acted as a cage within Shizuru, holding the demon within her, but apart from her at the same time. She would not be able to take off the gauntlet, or Chaos would be able to come and go within and without of her as he pleased.
"Gee Sis, how're you going to explain your new, er, glove to your work?" Kazuma asked as the group walked down the halls of Spirit World headquarters to see Koenma.
"I'm not. I can do my work wherever as long as I have my computer. No big deal," Shizuru answered casually, pulling her cigarettes out of her pocket carefully with her new claw and finding her lighter with her unadorned hand.
"So you're gonna be home all day now?" Kazuma asked, vaguely horrified at the idea.
"Shut up before she hits you again, Kuwabara," Yusuke advised.
Kazuma's eyes bugged slightly and settled on the claw on Shizuru's arm – the one she usually hit him with while she held him still with the other.
"I wonder if you have gained some extra powers now that you hold that Chaos fellow captive," Kurama suggested, stepping up to distract the conversation from a Kuwabara sibling altercation, as entertaining as he knew it would be, particularly for Hiei.
"To early to say," Shizuru answered, shrugging casually. "Koenma might know, but we'll probably find out as we go along. Feel like helping me out with that?" she asked generally, her brown eyes moving between Kurama and Hiei.
Hiei shrugged. He liked Shizuru well enough, if only he didn't have to deal with her brother so often, but the way the oaf was attempting – however abysmally – to woo Yukina made it very difficult for Hiei to avoid the fool.
"It would be my pleasure," Kurama answered, smiling. "I'm deeply curious about this new arrangement between yourself and the demon."
"We all are, I think," Shizuru quipped as she pushed open the door to Koenma's office.
"You're back!" he cried happily, but his face abruptly fell when he saw the gauntlet on Shizuru's arm. "I am sorry, Shizuru. I do wish it had not come to that."
The woman waved off the concern. "Don't sweat it too much, Junior. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to this job." She gave a canted half-smile and drew another lungful of her cigarette.
"I've got a question," Yusuke said, interrupting the slightly damp silence brought about by Koenma's regret and Shizuru's attitude.
"What, punk?" Shizuru said, raising an eyebrow at the kid who wasn't exactly a kid any more.
"So this isn't a regular possession – where the demon would take control of the body and the person have no knowledge or control over what their body does, right? And it sure as hell ain't a merger like Kurama's got going, or whatever I am, so what is it?" Yusuke was clearly trying to understand, but he wasn't able to figure it out, and he'd been thinking it over ever since they'd realised that Chaos was caught inside Shizuru.
"Prison, with me as the warden," Shizuru explained, as simply as possible. "I can hear Chaos griping and pouting and throwing a tantrum at being caught, but he can't do anything about it because I'm still in charge, thanks to this here claw," Shizuru lifted the brass monstrosity up for emphasis. "Hopefully, with a few tests, I'll know if I can steal some powers from Chaos as well as use my own, and learn to shut out his damn whining so that I don't have to listen. Bastard is aware of what is going on around me, but before we left Koenma erected some mental shields for me, so at least he's keeping out of my thoughts."
Kurama and Hiei nodded their approval of the young deity's forethought, and Yusuke held a hand to his chin while he tried to fit that information into his head, nodding only when he'd figured it out. Kazuma still wasn't taking it all that well though, and passed out.
Shizuru was listening to Kurama and Hiei talking about training ideas as they climbed the stairs to Genkai's temple when about half-way up she stopped where she was, growling softly.
"Look buster, your options are sit down and shut up, sit down and shut up, sit down and shut up or try what Kurama did, though I don't like your chances."
The two demons exchanged a vaguely confused look before turning quizzical expressions to the woman.
"Chaos is grumbling and apparently still determined to impregnate me," she explained.
"So why did you suggest he imitate the fox?" Hiei asked.
"If he merges with human DNA and re-starts his own life in infancy, rather than just leaving a seed of himself and moving on... well, it's a whole new ball-game," the woman smirked.
"It was certainly an experience that changed me," Kurama admitted, smiling softly as he allowed himself to be momentarily distracted by thoughts of his own human mother. Snapping out of it, he thought to ask why she didn't like his chances.
Shizuru smirked. "Because I went through puberty without ever having a period."
Hiei didn't understand what had just been said, having never been educated in a human school about bodily changes regarding adulthood. Kurama stared, jaw hanging open in shock.
Shizuru nodded. "You've figured it out, Red. Translation Hiei, I'm infertile. I can't have kids, as far as I know anyway, without several scientists being involved."
Hiei's eyes rounded in understanding.
Shizuru chuckled, then broke out into full laughter, having to brace herself on her knees to prevent falling on the stairs. Wiping a the tears from her eyes, she smiled up at the two demons.
"Sorry, wasn't laughing at either of you. Chaos heard the conversation, I was laughing at him."
The demons nodded and the trio resumed their climb to Genkai's temple.
Genkai was waiting for them, a grim expression on her wrinkled old face.
"I heard the news," she said, stepping down from her porch to approach Shizuru. "This action is both very brave and very foolish of you."
"I know," Shizuru answered. "But it's done now."