Chapter One
What's With the Girl?
"The reason that I've brought you all here is very simple," Koenma said, walking back and forth theatrically across his table. He had to dodge some monstrous piles of paper, destroying the ominous affect.
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama were all seated in chairs in front of Koenma's desk. He had yanked them all from what they were doing in order to bring them to the Spirit World. He (apparently) had something important to discuss.
"Well, like I was saying." Koenma said, after a rather large stack of paper had fallen on his head. "The reason for your assemblage here is because I have a new teammate for you!"
Yusuke was lounging in his chair, nearly half asleep. Kuwabara was desperately scribbling out his science homework. Hiei was swinging his sword like a pendulum, trying to hypnotize himself, and Kurama was staring dazedly out a window. But when Koenma said "new teammate" they all stopped when they were doing and looked at him with faces mixed with shock, appall, and most of all, apprehension. They were all wide-awake and paying attention now.
"Please say that was just a trick to get our attention!" Yusuke said, horror-struck.
"No way!" Kuwabara said. "We have trouble enough with four of us!"
"What makes you think we need another fighter," Hiei said coldly. "I'm still trying to get rid of him," he jerked his thumb in the direction of Kuwabara.
"I agree. Why do we need another fighter?" Kurama asked. Koenma sweatdropped.
"All…uh… extremely valid questions." He said with a smile. "That will all be answered as soon as you meet your new teammate."
"Wait a minuet." Yusuke said, grabbing Koenma by the shoulder. "We don't know the first thing about this guy. Is he human or demon. Why is he here? All that stuff."
"I said, all of that will be answered after you meet your new teammate," Koenma said irritably. "What makes you say 'he' all the time? Your new teammate is a girl! I thought I told you that." Yusuke's face fell. He seemed to be in a shock at what Koenma said. His hand fell limply from Koenma's shoulder, but he still stared straight ahead, completely dazed. The reaction from the others was relatively the same.
"A GIRL?" they all said at once.
"Yes, now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go and get her." Koenma said. He disappeared from the room, leaving the group completely dumbstruck.
"I'm still deciding if a girl makes a new teammate better, or worse." Yusuke said, genuinely thinking about it.
"I don't care!" Kuwabara said. "My love is pledged to one person and one person only!" Hiei glared at him coldly.
"I don't care if she's the prettiest demon girl ever to walk the earth. A new teammate is a stupid idea!" he said.
"Not necessarily." Kurama said. "A new teammate might do us some good. You can't deny that fact that we could use some help." Kurama remembered their last mission, when they nearly were smothered by thousands of minor demons because Kuwabara was too noisy getting back the artifact that the demons had stolen. Kurama winced. He had never run so fast in his life. A fifth team player certainly would have made things better. The others seemed to consider this.
"You know," Yusuke said. "I think he's right. I mean, last mission, we sure could have used and extra!" Hiei nodded reluctantly.
"Fine. I suppose you're right. But, last mission wouldn't have been so hard if SOMEONE hadn't sneezed!" Hiei said looking at Kuwabara.
"Well sorry!" Kuwabara said. "I'd like to see you go through a dusty room and not sneeze once!"
"Shut up, will ya!" Yusuke yelled.
"Ahem," Koenma had returned, but there was no one near him. The new teammate was still in the doorway. "May I present to you, Miss Kayli Mitomoto."
Soft footsteps sounded from inside the doorway, and a girl slowly emerged from the shadows. Her hands and legs were bound tightly in chains that glowed with an eerie light. Kurama knew that those chains were draining away her energy, so that if she ever escaped, she wouldn't get far. Her hair was dark brown with red highlights—auburn it was called—and came down to the base of her neck. Her eyes were the sad color of cerulean blue. Wait, Kurama thought did her eyes just change color? I could have sworn they were a lighter blue than that! Her eyes just changed to a cold navy blue as she looked at all of them. Her face was pretty, with high, elegantly curved cheekbones and nose. Her eyelashes were ridiculously long, and cast shadows over her eyes. The rest of her body was just as pretty and elegant as her face. Kurama had to tear his gaze away from the chest area and look at the floor, but the sight of Kayli's legs wasn't much better.
"Kurama," Kurama jumped at the sound of his name and looked questioningly at Koenma.
"What?" he asked.
"I hope you'll be happy to know that Kayli here is also a Yo-kô." Koenma said with a grin. Kurama looked up from his gaze at the floor and stared at Kayli in disbelief. Oh, boy. A Yo-kô vixen. This is going to be fun. Kayli flashed him a small grin, and for a brief second, her eyes turned a flirty azure blue. Kurama resumed his staring at the carpet.
"Now, can I see you all for a moment," Koenma said seriously. "Kayli, you stay out here." Kayli shrugged.
"It's not as if I can go anywhere." She said. Her voice sounded like a girl version of the distant roll of thunder. If thunder could have a girl version. Koenma nodded and ushered the boys inside the doorway.
"Now listen, and listen carefully." Koenma said. "Kayli may be your teammate, but don't get too attached." They all looked at him confused. Koenma sighed. "Don't let yourself fall in love with the girl."
"Alright," Yusuke said skeptically. "You mind explaining why we shouldn't do that?"
"Yes, I'll tell you why. You don't know why she's here, and in chains, do you? Well, Kayli used to lead bounty hunters and treasure hoarders on, so that she could steal all their treasures from under their nose. No one who's fallen in love with that girl has ever lived to say they were. Not only that, but she's a skilled fighter, and is a master of lightning and storms. She's dangerous, but she claims she only stole all those treasures to pay off a ransom for her sister. Apparently, the sister was killed anyway. She killed the one who was holding her sister, took all the treasures back, and turned herself in. It seems like a liable story and checks out, but still, be on your guard, and don't let your emotions get the better of you." Koenma finished and looked at them all meaningfully. His gaze rested on Kurama for a split second more. Kurama winced. Of course, he was infamous for letting his emotions get the better of him.
"Is that it?" Yusuke asked. Koenma nodded. "Yes that's it. When I mission comes up, I'll be sure to contact you all. It's summer break, isn't it? No school, that makes things a whole lot easier! Well, I already contacted everyone, and Kayli will be living at Keiko's house. To Kieko's parents, it's like a sister-sister program, where only children can see what it's like to have a brother or sister. A load of crap if you ask me, but the parents fell for it, so that's alright!" Koenma grinned happily. "You can all go home now, if you like, or you could stick around." he went out the door, leaving the group alone again.
"I can't believe she's going to be living with Kieko." Yusuke mumbled, following Koenma. Kurama watched him go, thinking about what the prince of the underworld had said. Don't fall in love with Kayli. No one who has fallen in love with that girl has lived to say they were. Kurama shuddered. That did not sound pleasant. Still, she seems to have reformed enough so that Koenma trusted her to be one of the team, and stay at Kieko's house.
Kurama shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts before walking out the doorway. Kayli was there, rubbing her wrists where the chains had been Koenma had obviously released her. Her Spirit Energy was slowly coming back to her. She had looked exhausted when she had first appeared in the doorway, but now, she was looking a lot more perky.
"Hiya," she said when she saw Kurama. She was still rubbing her wrist, but crooked smile was on her face. "You have no idea how much those things hurt." Her eyes had changed colors again, and were now a sparkling sky blue. An odd instrument lay on a cushion next to her. Kurama picked it up, and examined it. He undid a clasp at the top, and it snapped open. It was a fan. A solid metal fan. Impossibly thin metal plates slid together like armor, and slid back into a neat row when the fan was folded up. It had a design of winding ivy on the plates.
"Wow, how pretty," Kurama said turning it over.
"Wait! Don't touch that!" Kayli said alarmed. Too late.
"Ouch!" Kurama said, dropping the fan. Deep red blood dripped out from a cut on his palm. "What the hell IS that?"
"It's called a Wing Fan." Kayli said, picking it up. She took out a cloth from her pocket and wiped off the fan. "That metal on it was forged by lightning. It can cut through stone like a knife though butter. Lucky it was only your palm, and not your fingers," Kayli grinned wickedly, her eyes changing to azure again. Azure when she's flirting or teasing, navy blue when she's unsure and angry, sky blue when she's happy, cerulean when she's sad. Kurama said, going over all the colors in his mind.
"Here," she said, throwing the cloth at him. "Bandage yourself up, before you bleed to death," Kurama tied the cloth around his hand, embarrassed.
"Um… sorry about that," he said uncertainly. She shook her head, her eyes fading back to sky blue.
"No problem. You didn't know." She said. "You're Kurama, right?" He nodded. She smirked, her eyes flashing azure. "I'll remember that," Kurama felt himself blush.
"So you're the female that's supposedly joining us?" Kayli turned around. It was Hiei. Kurama saw her eyes turn to a light navy blue. She didn't know what to make of Hiei yet.
"Oh, hello," she said, good-naturedly. "You must be Hiei." She stuck her hand out, but Hiei didn't even flinch.
"What makes you think that you can be one of us just like that?" he said. Kurama closed his eyes waiting for an explosion. If he had learned anything from Kayli in the past few minuets, it was that her emotions could change in a flash.
"I don't," Kayli said, still in good nature, but her eyes had turned a shade darker. "I think I need to earn everyone's trust first, don't you think?"
"I suppose. In order to be a part of anything, you must have trust." Hiei said reluctantly. Kayli's eyes turned back to sky blue.
"Oh, I agree. I suppose it will take a while to earn your trust though. But if Yusuke and the others can do it, I think I can too," she smiled. "Don't you think, Hiei?" He whirled around and glared at her.
"Look, female, you might think you have me all figured out, but that couldn't be farther from the truth." Hiei snarled. Kayli's eyes did not waver from their color. She shrugged.
"Alright then." She said, as if it was no big deal. "See you around then," she waved goodbye to Hiei. He stopped glaring at her. He squinted his eyes as if he was trying to figure something out, but couldn't quite grasp it. He looked her up and down like this once, before finally relaxing.
"You're… different." He finally said, before striding off. Kayli grinned.
"Well, I better get going." Kayli said, looking at her watch. 'It's nearly dinnertime at Keiko's house. I'll see you later Kurama," she walked off with a wink. Kurama watched her go until he couldn't see her anymore.
"Odd little thing," Kurama mumbled to himself before walking off. It was hard to believe that someone like her killed everyone who loved her. But she had to have some kind of affection, or why else would she do all of that for her sister? Despite Koenma's warning, Kurama felt as if he had to find out more about Kayli. There was something about the girl that perked his curiosity.
I'm just going to find more about her, that's it. Kurama assured himself. I am not going to fall in love with her. All I am going to do is figure her out. That's it. Nothing wrong with that at all. Finally convincing himself that his thoughts were true, Kurama walked out from the room and into the clear night sky. He looked up, but the twinkling stars gave him no answers. He heaved a sigh and decided to just go home. He avoided looking up again, because the navy blue sky reminded him of Kayli too much. He knew it was going to be hard, not becoming attached to Kayli. Maybe Hiei was right, and a new teammate was the worst possible thing that could happen.
But was Koenma all that right? Kayli apparently only did all of her seduction and murder because of her sister. Now that the sister was dead, there was absolutely no reason for Kayli to seduce anymore.
"Stop kidding yourself, Kurama." He mumbled to himself. "She's a Yo-kô vixen, and if you know regular Yo-kô foxes, imagine what a vixen is like."
However, all of this reflecting just boosted the curiosity he had about Kayli. All warnings aside, Kurama had to find out more about Kayli, even if it meant throwing his heart away.