"What?!" Yusuke shouted. "Are you out of your mind toddler? You want us to take care of that?!"
He pointed to a corner where a five year old child was sitting on a couch. "We're fighters, not a childcare facility!"
"Um… Well, you see, her parents are good friends of my dad's, and something happened, so they entrusted me to take care of their child." Koenma shrank back a little.
"Well, they can jolly well come back from that something and take care of her!" Yusuke shot back.
"That would be pretty impossible, I'm afraid. They're out searching for a counter spell for the curse laid on her." Koenma inclined his head slightly in the direction of the child.
"So now we not only have to take care of a child, but one with a curse on top of that?" Yusuke yelled.
"I'm afraid so."
"Well, she can't stay at my place." Yusuke grumbled, "Won't be a good influence on her."
"She can't stay in mine either, my sis would probably kill me if I brought her back." Kuwabara said.
Everyone turned to look at Kurama. He took a small step back. "I've got absolutely no experience in caring for a small child…"
"But your mother can help. C'mon, you're the only one whose home has a suitable environment for a child."
Kurama relented. "I'll have to ask my mother first…" he said somewhat uncertainly.
Almost before the words were out of his mouth, he found a phone being offered to him.
"Call her now."
He looked at Hiei, wondering where he got the phone from. Resignedly, he took the phone and dialed the number.
Koenma looked at the phone, and found it somewhat familiar. Gazing at his desk, he had a sudden realization: the phone was gone!
Hiei had taken it from his desk. Apparently, he was more anxious about getting rid of the child than he appeared to be.
"Um… Yes, so I was wondering if you could let her stay in our house for a few days."
Kurama tried to explain to his mother why there was a need to let a child stay with them.
"Yes…Thank you mother. Bye." Kurama put down the phone. "She said yes."
Yusuke and Kuwabara whooped in joy.
"So now we'll just have to bring her to your place." Yusuke said, walking towards the child. "C'mon kid, let's go."
The child looked up at him. Her eyes were deep and dark, the purest shade of black. She smiled, jumping off of the couch. She reached out and grasped hold of Yusuke's hand.
"Hey, look, she likes you!" Kuwabara said.
"There's no need to state the obvious," said Hiei, turning around and preparing to leave the room. "Though someone like you probably does in order to comprehend it."
"Hey, take that back." Kuwabara shouted.
"Now, now, there's no need to quarrel," Kurama interjected. "It's getting late. Let's just go home."
Grudgingly, they followed his advice and walked towards the portal created by Botan.
"Good luck taking care of her!" The ferry girl seemed rather too cheery.
The Reikai Tantei stepped out into the cool night air. The child let go of Yusuke's hand and walked towards Kurama. He bent down so that she was at eye level. "Hi, my name is Ku…" he then thought better of it. It would not do for the child to call him Kurama in front of his mother, after all. "Shuichi Minamino. What's your name?"
"My name's Eleanor," came the soft reply. She then caught sight of some flowers nearby. She wandered over to the bushes. "The flowers are pretty," she said.
"Do you like flowers?" Kurama asked.
Eleanor nodded vigorously.
"Here…" Kurama gave her a rose.
Eleanor looked at the flower wonderingly, before reaching out and taking it from him.
"Thank you," she said, smiling dazzlingly.
Just then, there was a pulse of youki. The Reikai Tantei looked up just as a demon stumbled into view. It was large, about two times the size of a human. It was also rather strong.
The Reikai Tantei split up to attack the demon. Kuwabara charged in with his spirit sword, prepared to kill the demon in one attack. However, just as he was about to hit it, he was suddenly repelled by an invisible barrier.
The demon merely stood there and laughed. Yusuke fired his spirit gun. It hit the demon point blank. However, when the smoke cleared, it was still standing there, seemingly unharmed.
Kurama and Hiei tried in turn, but none of the attacks even reached the demon. It stood there, laughing at them all.
Eleanor was standing by the side, watching their futile attacks. Looking at the demon, she noticed that it was holding a emerald in its hand. Puzzled, she tilted her head to the side. The gem was not emitting any power, yet she just had a feeling that was the one that was creating the barrier.
"I want it! Give it to me!" Eleanor demanded, pointing at the jewel the demon held.
"And what if I don't, little girl?" the demon laughed.
Eleanor's eyes narrowed. "You dare to say no?" she asked, her voice threatening.
"Yes," the demon replied, still laughing. "What're you going to do about it?"
The rest of the team had stopped fighting, looking at the exchange between the demon and the little girl. Eleanor sprang forward, determined to hit the monster for laughing at her, when suddenly, she was being held back.
"What are you doing?" she snapped at Kurama. He did not bother to reply.
As if on cue, the rest of the Reikai Tantei started attacking the demon again. Eleanor bit and scratched at the arms holding her. "Let go of me!" she screamed. Turning around, she tried to kick Kurama in his stomach. However, he stopped it easily. Having expected that, Eleanor followed it with another kick to his side.
Kurama was caught by surprise, not having expected a child to do that. His grip loosened slightly. Eleanor twisted out of his grip and headed straight for the demon. Snarling, she jumped onto its back while the others were attacking it from the front. It howled in rage and tried to reach Eleanor, but failed to.
Eleanor climbed onto its head and grasped hold of its horns. "Give it to me, now!" she yelled.
"No, no, NO!"
Angered, Eleanor slipped down slightly and tried to claw out the demon's eyes. The rest of the team had stopped attacking the demon for fear of injuring her. The demon released the jewel in order to hit Eleanor. However, Eleanor jumped off it at the very moment to
catch the emerald.
The demon ended up hitting itself. "Spirit gun!" Yusuke fired his attack now that Eleanor was safely out of the way. The demon smirked. The attack had not worked before. After all, the jewel protected him from all spiritual… Wait, the jewel?
The demon's face was twisted in shocked realization just as the attack hit and it was obliterated.
With the threat over, the four spirit detectives surrounded Eleanor. "That was really, bad of you, Eleanor," Kurama said, his tone quietly chastising.
"I'm sorry," Eleanor said, looking at the ground, seemingly downcast. "But I wanted the jewel and he didn't give it to me," she added defensively.
Yusuke snorted in laughter. "She's even more self-centered than you, Hiei."
"Hn," Hiei did not bother to comment.
"You can't always just take what you want," Kurama said. "Besides, you were putting yourself in danger."
"But-but… It was attacking all of you, and it wouldn't give me the jewel, so…" Eleanor's eyes filled with tears. "I was scared and angry and… I'm sorry."
Kurama sighed. "It's okay; just make sure that you obey next time."
He looked at the scratches and tooth marks on his arms. Inwardly, he was amazed that such a small child could cause so much damage.
"I'm really sorry…" Kurama looked up and saw Eleanor's eyes glistening with tears. "I didn't mean to hurt you…"
She searched in her pockets. "Here," she offered Kurama a sweet. "Mama always gives me sweets when I fall down or get injured. It always makes things better."
"Aww…That's so nice of her…" whispered Kuwabara.
Kurama shook his head, smiling slightly. "No, there's no need. I heal very fast."
"Are you sure?" Eleanor asked looking worriedly at him.
"Yes, I'm sure." Reaching out, he grasped hold of her hand. "Do you like ice-cream?" he asked.
"Yes," Eleanor answered.
"Well, we can eat some when we get home, okay?"
"Yay!" she cheered.
"I guess this is where we part." Yusuke commented, shrugging.
None of them had noticed the triumphant glint in Eleanor's eyes.