Hello all. Long time reader here. Please let me know what you all think!
Chapter One.
"The pacifier Prince wants to speak with us" the short fire demon hissed towards his fox friend.
"Will he ever stop?" The fox answered with a smile.
Here it was, the good team back together again. It had been some years since they stood together like this in the spirit world.
"Hey baby breathe! Why aren't you making Hideki do this mission? Where is he! Don't you know I have a life to live!" The team's leader yelled towards the child looking Prince.
"Hideki is actually on a mission himself right now, Yusuke. Besides, this one is super easy. It's just a quick rescue mission. If the missing person wasn't such an asset to me, I would have had Hideki find her as soon as he got back." Koenma spoke with darting eyes.
"Hn, what asset of yours?" Snickered Hiei. He knew of the people Koenma found important. What asset of his did he send away.
"Her name is Ryuuren. She's a dragon spirit that keeps certain rivers alive in the human world..." the Prince was interrupted mid sentence.
"We're saving a dragon lady!?" The red headed man proclaimed clapping his hands.
"Is it actually a dragon?" The leader questioned, glaring daggers at the Prince.
"No Ryuuren would not appear as a dragon if I'm correct." Kurama noted, index finger on his chin, pondering.
"Excuse me, would you all listen!" The short Prince whined from his desk. The pitch of the whine made the group pause their conversation. He huffed, finally able to continue his speech from earlier. "Kurama is correct, she should not be in her dragon form. Ryuuren will most likely be very weak. You see, a few of her rivers have dried up. I can't get ahold of her and we can't find her on the radar. Unfortunately the only info I can give you on her where abouts are the rivers she protects."
Yusuke sighed heavily. "You called us in for a wild goose chase with a dragon?"
"She's not all dragon, she lives a human like life right now." Koenma huffed, crossing his arms.
"What dragon demon in the right mind would openly spend their energy protecting human waters?" Hiei asked curiously. Female dragon demons are a rare sight.
"Well she's in the midst of dealing her sentence to pure herself. She's been so good recently, I got a feeling she got herself into trouble. But her spirit cuffs hold her back. If the trouble is serious, she can't fight back." Koenma muttered, scratching his head before getting his television ready to show details. "She doesn't really talk to me, so I'm not to sure who would have been a threat to her but Botan will be showing up tomorrow to go with you all."
The television switched on with a map of several rivers. "I believe she must be around one of her rivers. But this one is her home, I think if anything she might be around this area." The area to cover is huge, leaving the group in huffs of aggravation.
"This will be the face you will be looking for..." The Prince continued. The television played a picture of Ryuuren. She was a short spirit. Possibly shorter than the fire demon in the room. Her hair wore a shade of pastel pink that hung down to the middle of her back, despite how knotted it looked like. Her skin was pale but, held a glimmer it seemed as the light in the photo caressed the skin it touched.
"Why is she dealing with a sentence to pure herself?" Kurama asked. The dragon spirit looked pure. It seemed impossible for the little one to be dangerous.
"Hideki brought her down after she went on a rampage several years ago. I gave her the choice to live in the spirit world and train to be a grim reaper, or she could pure herself of her actions by behaving. She started multiple tsunamis after simply being bored, she said." Koenma answered with a grim shake, remembering the coldness the little monster shot at him. Hiei wore a smirk. A bored dragon girl stuck in the human world.
"A rampage like that! How terrible was it? What is her ranking?" Kuwabara voiced with wide eyes. "How did Hideki stop tsunamis?"
"Well when you find her, she should feel like a D rank... But they are spirit cuffs, maybe she might not be a D rank anymore. I never thought to keep track with it." Koenma nervously chuckled. "I was actually surprised Hideki brought her in the first time. Before the cuffs she was a high A rank."
Yusuke sighed heavily. Keiko would definitely be upset knowing he had to leave her once again. "Genkai is expecting you all tonight. Get rest. Botan will arrive in the morning. I suggest you all wear hiking clothes." Koenma smiled waving them off.
The night had passed too quickly it seemed. The morning came in, birds loudly chirping.
"Good morning boys! Are you ready to help me find my Ryuu-chan!?" The blue happy spirit clapped her hands as the men of the party arrived to the meeting point. Hiei's eye twitched. The sound of the bubbly grim reaper's voice never failed to itch his skin uncomfortably.
"Botan, you personally know Ryuuren?" Yusuke piped while stretching with Kuwabara. Botan nodded with a frown.
"Ryuu is a dear friend of mine." She mentioned, however her frown faded as she clapped. "That's why I'm here to guide you all, I know how to get to all her hiding spots." She smiled.
The team had been climbing to the first listed spot for the past hour. Even their speed didn't help the ongoing trip further up into the woods. Kurama and Botan chatted together most of the way up, while Yusuke and Kuwabara made jokes about Koenma's new spirit detective. Hiei trotted along, wishing for an enemy to appear so that his boredom would disappear.
"So she's a whiny water dragon?" Yusuke chimed over hearing Botan's and Kurama's conversation. The blue haired girl pouted slightly, crossing her arms.
"I wouldn't say whiny, she just seems like she can't control her emotions. But she's a good person, really." Botan defended her friend.
"Water dragon?" Hiei repeated more to himself.
"She's like polar opposite of you, why are you so curious?" Yusuke snickered, grabbing the fire demon by the neck with his arm.
"Female water dragons are extremely rare. They're said to be quite strong. I'm pretty sure he wants to fight the dragon." Kurama chuckled, defending the fire demon at the same time.
"Wouldn't it be a damn shame if someone put out his fire?" Kuwabara snickered, claiming a laugh from Yusuke.
"You idiots," Hiei grunted. The two men had recently started to throw puns given any possibility.
"Here we are!" Botan beamed. They had arrived at a clearing. The River's water seemed still. The clearing rich in forage, while the air's melody sang with chirping birds. Right at the edge of the clearing laid a little hut, buried in ivy. "That's her cottage there, if she isn't in there we can at least rest for a little bit."
The team made their way to the hut. Botan opened the door, trying to make sure the door didn't squeak open. Kuwabara's nose scrunched as the energy behind the door hit his face. "I sense something..."
"This may be an easier mission than we thought." The team leader sighed. His eyes glaring at Botan. "Did you all even bother to check here before sending us out?"
Botan nervously chuckled, waving her hands around. Yusuke heard her mutter something about Koenma as his eyes settled on the figure on the bed.
The hut was small. It contained a bed, a small suitcase, and a small area to eat at. On the bed laid the little dragon. She didn't appear all that human thought. Peaking from the sides of her head laid white horns that curled backwards, the point of her horns reached above her pointy ears. The little dragon didn't even stir. Her face seemed pale and sweaty. Botan gasped at her friend. The little one was sick.
"Botan, how long have you not heard from her?" Kurama questioned, getting closer to the sleeping demon. "She's really sick, we might have to take her back to Genkai." He added while his hand met the dragon's forehead. Her eyes fluttered open quickly, but she couldn't fight herself to stay awake. Her forehead was warm, running a fever.
Kuwabara sighed moving closer to the dragon girl, bending over, hooking his arms under her body. She doesn't weigh a lot so the movement is fast. Once again her eyes flashed open, in a swift movement she butted her horn into his head earning a yelp. Kuwabara had dropped her to the floor, holding the bump on his forehead. Surely a bruise will show in the next few days. "Botan?" She questioned while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her eyes scanned her home. There was Botan and four men. She noted some of the men wrecked of human. "Why are you here?"
"Ryuu, you haven't reported in for a month. Koenma and I began to worry." Botan smiled, bending down to meet her friend on the floor. "Are you okay? You have a fever."
"I seem to have gotten a cold I guess..." The dragon said with a goofy smile. "I thought if I just laid around I'd get better."
"I see you two share intelligence," Hiei snorted crossing his arms. The girls ignored his remark, catching up about what had happened in the last month.
"That's Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara." Botan told her friend, pointing at each in the party as she introduced them. The dragon nodded looking at each male.
"So why are you hanging out with humans? You wreck." Ryuuren asked, itching her nose.
Kuwabara let out a whine as Kurama chuckled. Hiei joined in with a smirk. "Well you know I work with humans a lot Ryuu." Botan sighed dragging her friend up with herself from the floor. "I love your demon form though, super cute. But you know Koenma told you not to..." Botan reached out to rub the demon's horns. Ryuuren leaned into the warmth.
"I know but my human form feels like I'm dying," Ryuuren whined. "I've never been sick before and this way it didn't seem too terrible. But that's why I put up the shield. Koenma can't see me that way." She added with a smirk.
"Well if you reported in like you should have, Koenma would have helped you." Yusuke interrupted the girls. "We should get going actually. He wants to see you."
