Shadowess: Hi y'all! This is a story gift for dear Unolai, my wife. This story uses her character on her permission and is posted with her permission. I hope you all like this as much as she did!
Disclaimer: I do not own Jaiden, YYH, or anything Seasame Street/Park or whatever the heck it is.
Operation: Cookamunga
It was a warm day; warm and humid. Actually it was warm and humid and soaking wet. It was raining outside the Minamino residence. Too many times had she looked up to the sky only to get a raindrop in her eye.
"Ow, my eye. I think I should stop or else I'll go blind." A young girl spoke to no one in particular.
"Jaiden, if you don't want to get rain in your eye, come inside." A tall red-head spoke with green eyes shining in the scarce light.
"But I like the rain… Why does it have against me to want to make me blind?" Jaiden protested. "Sure, of course I've done too many rain dances and stuff and cursed up to the clouds for being against me but I had good reason for that!"
"Get inside or stay out there." A man with spiked black hair glared at her with his deep red eyes.
"B-b-b-but…" Jaiden pouted. Sure he was the one who gave her naughty thoughts about him from getting in trouble after pushing him. Sure he was that she pushed in to the water to make his hair droop. But that didn't give him the right to give her only those two options… What about her options! Jaiden glared right back at him with her bright violet eyes. "You can't tell me what to do."
"Stay out there then." Hiei crossed his arms. "Lock the door fox." He motioned to Kurama before disappearing to some location in the house.
"He can't tell me what to do! What about my choices that I really do have?!" Jaiden yelled up to the clouds, only to have them flash and rumble in reply.
She had always wondered what it'd be like to get hit by lightening, but then again, she could make her own electricity. Why would she want to feel it? To cross it off the list of things to do, duh.
"Well come inside before you get too wet. I don't want to have to clean the carpet again." Kurama told her before walking away from the sliding door.
"Yeah yeah, don't worry about your silly carpet." Jaiden waved him off. How could carpets be silly? It's not like they told jokes or acted out of the ordinary… They just sat there, and vegged. That's a funny word: 'vegge'. I'm going to create a whole new language where I shall be its sole understander person.
Just as Jaiden was thinking of turning to go inside, there was a flash in front of her, making her freeze then go in to a freefall. HOLY SHITAKI MUSHROOMS! Did I just get hit by lightening? But I didn't feel a thing! I see pretty colors in a swirl… Why does that look familiar?
Her butt came in to contact with something hard. She cried out in pain. "Ow, ow, my ass… ow… Damn you Sir Isaac Newton! I hope you stay dead so I don't come after you and kick your ass!!"
"Oh, I didn't realize that you were walking right in to that spot, Jaiden. Sorry about that." A voice came from behind her.
"Oh, I didn't realize that there was going to be a portal coming right up to where I was going to step so… I'm not sorry." Jaiden got up and crossed her arms defiantly. She was transported in to the Spirit World ruler's office. Koenma sat in his giant chair, booster seat included, with his pacifier held firmly in his mouth.
"While you're here, you may as well just wait until we get my other detectives in here. I have a special mission for you all."
"Are we going to go shopping for all the different kinds of cookies in the world?" Jaiden's eyes glittered with hope.
"…No."
"I quit." Jaiden looked up at the portal above her and tried to jump up to get through it.
"Jaiden, I would advise that you move in case the others start to fall through." Koenma warned her.
Jaiden moved out of the way just in time to see slick Yusuke, pompadour Kuwabara, long red-head Kurama, and spiked with white burst Hiei. Again with the hair.
"Ah, how good of you all to join me. Now, I have a very special assignment for you all." Koenma started.
"Now when you say 'special'…" Jaiden started.
"Don't go any further than that." Koenma warned her. He failed to see Jaiden sticking her tongue out at him. "Now, this mission is to acquire a certain individual. We do not know their true name or gender but we know two alias names and the general location." Koenma had a screen come down and show two names.
Prince Elmo.
Unolai.
"Our target calls themselves Prince Elmo and Unolai?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what it looks like?"
"Unfortunately… no. We don't know that either. We know that Prince Elmo is human though."
"But, Elmo is a little red furry guy off of that Sesame Street show." Jaiden gingerly rubbed her chin with her fingers. "So we are going to capture Elmo, who happens to be a prince of teaching me the ABCs and 123s… Elmo isn't human!" Jaiden ranted. "I always thought he was a child of Satan. He was my best friend through my younger years."
She earned herself a few strange looks from all who were present in the room.
"That Elmo that you speak of is a puppet." Kurama said.
"Yeah. Just like Oscar and the Cookie Monster guy." Yusuke added.
"Don't forget Big Bird!" Kazuma included proudly.
"Wait, Elmo was a puppet…? He was a PUPPET?!" Jaiden cried out in despair. "I plead my first true childhood crush to a puppet!?" How could this be!? What has this world come to!? If Elmo was a puppet, how can I trust any of these people… They could be puppets too… She looked over each of them. Hard to see the strings on these guys but Koenma however…
"Now if you are done, listen to what I need to inform you so that we may carry on with this delicate operation!" Koenma had a little vein sticking out from his head.
"Delicate operation? So Elmo is getting a nose job?" Jaiden thought of a picture of what Elmo would look like with a different nose. Not a good image.
"I'm ignoring that. Prince Elmo, also known as Unolai, needs to be brought here. Your objective is to seek and –"
"Destroy?"
"NO!" Koenma yelled at her, making her be silent for a brief moment. Long enough for him to talk. "You are to seek and retrieve."
"How are we supposed to find Unolai if we don't know what he/she looks like?" Kurama asked.
"Unolai will be in the Netherlands, appearing 19 to 20 years of age, will be working as a nurse, and speaks both Dutch and English." Koenma looked through his papers to check if he missed anything.
A Dutch nurse going on 20 or something… Sounds familiar. Jaiden rubbed her chin again. I need some lotion or something for my chin… Or my fingers. I can't tell which body part needs it more.
"Now the only other lead that we have is that Jaiden will most likely recognize Prince Elmo once she sees them." Koenma pointed to her, making all eyes landing on her.
"Really? How would I know?"
"I'm not entirely sure on that. Now head out and start asking around for Prince Elmo or Unolai!" Koenma hit another sequence of switches, making them all fall through another portal together.
"CURSE YOU SHORTY MCFREAKPANTS NEWTON!!" Jaiden cried as she free-fell on to something not quite hard as a floor, but rather more cushioned. She looked down and saw that she was on top of…
"Hiei? How did you get down there?" Jaiden asked the black-haired demon below her. So now the tables have turned! HAHA! Wait… why hasn't he thrown me off like a stray leaf?
He stared or glared at her with his ruby red eyes. They flashed with something familiar, so familiar that it sent shivers up Jaiden's spine. She got up and looked around. Nothing seemed recognizable. Why in the seven hells would Koenma assume that she would know who the heck Prince Unolai or whatever their name was anyway?
"Let's start with the nearest hospitals and other care homes." Kurama spoke to the group of them.
"Why not let the shrimp look around with his Jagan? He could get a lot more ground covered." Kuwabara stated.
"While you guys have fun with that, I'm gonna go and find a library or place with snacks." Jaiden turned on her heals and started walking without them. She had no idea where she was going of course but like they say, when all else fails, follow your gut. Tummy tells me food is in this direction.
"Meet back here in two hours, Jaiden!" Yusuke yelled to her.
"Sure thing, slick!" she called back without so much as turning her head. Not that I'll know it's been two hours. Does he think I'm wearing a watch on my naked wrists? Naked… Naked Grape… that's booze. I'd like some alcohol. I don't know what the drinking age limit is here… I should get a fake ID. Who would make one for me for free? Or for freshly baked cookies?
And so Jaiden walked on. And on. And on. Finally she came across an internet café. "Perfect! I can get food and look up stuff at the same time!" Jaiden let a grin creep across her face. Inside, she got herself some kind of sandwich with chocolate sprinkles on it. It was a chocolate sandwich! How cool was that?
Seating herself down at a computer, she brought up a search engine and typed in 'Prince Elmo' and 'Unolai'. The first thing that came up was a site called 'fanfiction'. "Weird…" She opened the page and was greeted with a profile. Blah blah blah… cool pose thing… my name is Annemieke er… whats-er-name.
Bingo!
"Where is Lucy when you need her? Or was her name Botan…? I don't know. I still think she's a Lucy." Jaiden muttered to herself. "Well a first name is better than nothing."
She got up and took the chocolate sandwich with her out the door. She took a bit out of it. Man it was good! "This should be all over the world! Chocolate sprinkle sandwiches; it's too good for you!" Jaiden grinned and devoured the rest of the sandwich. Well, the case of the hungry stomach was now solved, now to find a solution as to location of Annehe… Anne something… Prince Elmo! Ya, Prince Elmo.
"Let's see… the nearest place where nurses could work is technically a high school with the school nurse and what not… Binki never said exactly what kind of nurse Prince Elmo was." She muttered, looking up to the sky above.
She almost walked past a nursing home for the mentally handicapped and spun on her heel, going up the path. This would be a good place to start. Going inside to the front desk, she asked for any nurse whose name starts with 'Anne' that's around 20 years of age. To her luck, there was only one person in the entire building on staff that was that age. (AN: let's pretend that's true, k?)
After hearing the Dutch over the intercom with the name that Jaiden couldn't pronounce even if her life depended on it, a young woman came down towards her.
"Hi there. Can I help you?" the girl spoke to her.
She looks so frickin' familiar…Jaiden cleared her throat. "Hi, um, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Jaiden asked. I have to kidnap you but we don't need to get in to the details in here.
"Uh… sure, I guess." The girl went outside with Jaiden. "What did you want to talk about? And do I know you? Cause you look really familiar."
"You actually look familiar to me too but honestly, I have no idea who you are. But do you go by the name of 'Prince Elmo' or 'Unolai' on that fan-fiction website?"
"Yeah, I do. But who are you?"
"My name is Jaiden Sterling. I'm sorry about this but I have to kidnap you for a while for some reason that I don't even know." Jaiden grabbed hold of her wrist.
"WHOA HOLD ON A SECOND!" she cried out. "Are you serious? You're name is Jaiden Sterling?" Jaiden nodded. "No way… You have to be some crazed fan or something."
"Last time I checked my name was Jaiden Sterling. I'd show you my birth certificate but I forgot it in my other pocket. Of which pair of pants that it's currently in; I have no clue at the moment." Jaiden started to pull her along.
"So why are you kidnapping me? I know I forgot to update that story last night but come on!"
Jaiden wasn't listening. "Koenma should have given me a communicator, damnit. I really need to contact the guys to tell them to stop snooping around the other hospitals cause I found Unolai."
"Who are your friends? AND LET GO OF MY WRIST!!"
Jaiden let her go. "No need to yell, I'm right here." She rubbed her ear. "I'm looking for two guys. One has long flower red hair, another one has outrageous black hair with a white star burst in it. I don't know why but I think I have a hair fetish with these guys. Anyways, another one has orange pompadour style hair, and the last guy has grease-slicked black hair."
"You mean like those guys over there dressed up as Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke?" she pointed to a group of guys coming up to them.
"Oh yeah! That's them!" Jaiden wanted to praise her for having a good eye-sight towards finding stuff. "But wait, how did you know their names?"
"Um, but they're dressed up as anime characters."
"So have they been deceiving me all this time…? I'll ask them." Jaiden turned to face them.
"Jaiden, is this Unolai?" Yusuke asked first.
"Are you really Yusuke or just a bunch of guys dressed up as… what'd you call them?" Jaiden asked.
"Anime characters." Prince Elmo said.
"Right, thanks. Are you guys really who you are or are you dressed up as anime characters?" Jaiden asked. "Cause if you are, that's completely unfair cause I don't have a costume!"
"What gave you that idea, woman?" Hiei raised an eyebrow at the two of the girls.
"She did. Oh ya, this is Prince Elmo."
"Prince Elmo, or would you rather be called Unolai?" Kurama asked.
"Uh, whatever is okay with you. Now really, why are you dressed up as Kurama from that anime show? It's not exactly Halloween. It's February!" Prince Elmo exclaimed. "Why am I even out here? I'm going back to work." She turned on her heels and started back towards the building.
"Not so fast, Unolai." Yusuke jumped in front of her. "Our boss wants to talk to you for some reason."
"Let me guess, his name is Koenma?" Prince Elmo scoffed. "Yeah… right… I'd like to see you pull that trick off."
"Alright then." Jaiden grabbed her again and held on to her. "Portal before I decide to let go and get more chocolate sandwiches!"
"Hey! Let me go before I go kung fu on your ass!" Unolai struggled against the grip around her.
Kurama pulled out the special communicator and contacted Koenma. Within seconds, they fell through another portal in to his office.
"Damnit! Koenma, if you do that one more time, I swear I'll break in to your vault and wreck up the place! I hate Isaac Newton for realizing gravity!" Jaiden rubbed her rear as she stood up.
Unolai looked around. "I must have fell asleep in the activities room… Or slipped on some juice and hit my head pretty hard. There is no way that I am in the Spirit World that has an ogre named George over in the corner!"
"Yup! That's George!" Jaiden waved to the ogre, who shyly waved back.
"Prince Elmo aka Unolai?" Koenma asked from behind his desk.
"Come on… tell me this is a dream. Cause I'm not in my story! Jaiden is only a story and you guys are copyrighted by someone else who I can't remember at the moment." Unolai said.
"How am I a story? Am I in one of those reality shows where you can't see the camera?" Jaiden looked around at the corners of the room. "Cause if that's true then I need to destroy those tapes."
"Unolai, I'm sure you don't need an explanation of who we are, but I'm sure you'd like to know why you're here." Koenma started.
"Yeah. That'd be great to know."
"I can't say exactly yet so I'll have Jaiden, Kurama, and Hiei take you around the castle to see what's what. I'll have Botan come and get you when needed." Koenma dismissed the four of them. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, I need you two to stay here."
Jaiden, Kurama, Hiei, and Prince Elmo went out the door. "So… am I dead?"
"I don't think you are. You look alive to me." Jaiden shrugged. "So what is your story about?"
"You pretty much. I know what is going to happen to you too. Well… except for this. I didn't write this part." Unolai said. "Maybe she wrote this…"
"What was that? Who wrote what?" Kurama asked.
"Oh nothing." Unolai smiled. "Well, Jaiden, apart from this, I know what you're going to be doing when you next go on missions or to Kurama's house."
"So… you're like the Goddess or God or maker to me? I'm not a puppet am I? Am I like that insanely annoying person from that TV show who just won't frickin' die!?" Jaiden earned a few silent moments. "If so, that'd actually be pretty cool; since I won't be able to die. I AM IMMORTAL! FEAR ME!!" she gave her infamous cackle, which ended with coughing. "Note to self: work on maniacal laughter."
Unolai just laughed. "You are definitely Jaiden Sterling."
"Thank you. Thank you." Jaiden gave a low bow. "I will gladly give encores upon payment of money."
"Why do you think you're here, Prince Elmo?" Kurama asked.
"Not a clue. All that I know is that I'm supposed to be working my shift, get home, go on the computer, update my story, read other stories, and stuff like that. Oh, and I have a cake at home waiting for me."
"A cake? Is it your birthday?" Jaiden asked.
"Actually yes." Unolai smiled. "I'm officially a year older today." She made a dramatic cool pose in the corner of the hall that they came upon. "Alas! I am becoming old!" She let herself move away from the wall. "So… this is the real deal right? You're Yoko Kurama, with two spirits in one body and former thief slash thieves?" Kurama nodded. Unolai turned to Hiei. "And you're Hiei Jaganshi with the cool attitude, keeper of the Jagan eye and killer dragon, and that no one knows your real age?" He nodded lightly. Unolai went up to him and whispered in his ear. "I know you got frisky with Jaiden. I made it happen." Prince Elmo was given an infamous glare that sent shivers up her spine. "Um, ya. So Jaiden! Girl talk!"
Jaiden smiled and went up to her, then put some distance between them and the guys. "What kind of girl talk?"
"Which of the boys do you like most? I can make the relationship get deeper with time." Unolai winked.
Jaiden rubbed the back of her head. "Well you wrote me technically, so you know what to do. Besides, isn't it bad to know your future and shit?"
"Point taken." Prince Elmo looked around at all the rooms and noticed one that seemed out of place. "Hey, what's in there?" It had a group of stars in the shape of cards embellished on the door.
"I've never seen this door before." Kurama inspected it. He put his hand on the door handle and opened it up, allowing a lot of mist to enter the hall at their feet.
The atmosphere became almost exotic in a dark way. There were incense and candles all around. Mirrors, crystal balls, velvets, and all things superstitious were around. The four of them entered the room and closed the door behind them. A strange mystic music played in the background with the sound of rhythmic drums, strings, and chimes.
"Welcome, we have been waiting for you…" a voice came from ahead of them. "No need to be on the defensive. We would just like to offer readings. So take your hand off your sword, Hiei."
"Come in, sit down. Don't mind Duck." Another voice came from the same area.
"Duck?" Jaiden blinked. Something fuzzy rubbed up against her leg. She looked down and saw a black cat with golden eyes staring up at her, purring affectionately.
Two girls dressed in dark dresses of the modernized-Victorian style came forward from the darkness. One was short with brown hair and white bangs. The other stood a bit taller with white streaks in black hair and had black-framed glasses on her nose.
"I'm Kyla. This is Nyssa." The shorter girl introduced. "Hello Unolai, Jaiden, Kurama, and Hiei."
"Uh, hiya?" Unolai waved awkwardly. She looked at Nyssa. "You're Nyssa?"
"Yes I am. Now hush hush, come sit and I will read your fortune, birthday girl." Nyssa beckoned her to a chair. "We'll start with a simple reading. Three cards representing the past, present, and future." She pulled out a pack of purple cards. "Shuffle the cards around on the table in a clock-wise motion. Make sure they're good and mixed."
Unolai shugged and spread the cards out on the table. After a few minutes, there were three cards set in front of her. "So now what?"
"We start with the past." Nyssa flipped the card over that was to Annemieke's left. It was Death upside-down. "Death Reversed. Don't worry, it's not bad. You were unable to let go of something dear to you, but you found a way to part with what meant so much to you." The center card was flipped. "You're present is Judgment. It stands for a time to reform. Someone from the past will come back in to your life, giving you a second chance or opportunity to do or say what you missed out before. You now have the time to press on to gain success in life." Prince Elmo nodded as the last card was flipped. "The Magician speaks for your future. You will have a meeting of minds with another to spark a new adventure. It can range from a plan with friends to a project that you may be working on or want to start. You'll have the chance to show what you're made of and show your ability to keep the peace amongst ones surrounding your plans. Keep focused and you can achieve mastery in the workplace to earn a fortune."
Everyone blinked. "Wow… That's cool." Annemieke slowly nodded then got up. "I always wanted tarot cards but I can't find them."
Kyla went out back and pulled out something wrapped in a dark ribbon. "Here. Consider this a gift from the two of us."
"Thank you." Prince Elmo smiled and looked down at her gift. "Yay! I got cards!" she hugged them close to her body.
"I want my fortune read!" Jaiden jumped up and down.
"Then have a seat." Nyssa smiled. She did and followed the same steps that Unolai did for her reading. "Your past is represented by The Star reversed." Nyssa pointed to the card. "Your world was in a low cloud cover, it was hard to spot the stars overhead. Like it was difficult to see the star-crossed lover on the other side of the bus, or you let yourself feel down. You felt stiff, slow, hard to move around on a day-to-day basis. The trick to get out of that low period was to blow the clouds away. You told yourself that 'every cloud has a silver lining'." Nyssa flipped the center card. "Your present is represented by Death upside-down. Now, you are reluctant to let go of what you hold dear to your heart and mind. You're trying to come back to life with a new perspective." Jaiden mutely nodded. The last card was flipped. "Your future is seen over by Temperance. The love you may be worried about may turn in to something more magical." Her eyes strayed between Jaiden, Kurama, and Hiei. "Kindness and admiration will be turning in to a deeper love, and you shall earn a greater respect from others as you give more respect towards others."
Jaiden continued to nod mutely as she process everything in her mind.
There was a knock on the door before it opened. A girl with blue hair popped in. "Hi! Koenma wants you all back now. Oh! You must be Annemieke! I'm Botan." She went right up to Unolai and shook her hand. "Now come with me, please."
Kurama, Hiei, Jaiden, and Prince Elmo followed after Botan after bidding farewell to Kyla and Nyssa. Strangely, the door disappeared as soon as they left. It was as if it was never there. Approaching the giant doors, it opened up to allow them inside.
It was dark. Darker than a black-out in the middle of a cloudy night.
"Uh, some lights would be great, Koenma." Unolai tried to look around. "Hello?" Usually Jaiden would be trying to make comments to convince Koenma to get the lights back on, or at least get someone to shed some light on the situation.
Spotlights hit her, causing a temporary blindness.
"SURPRISE!!"
"Happy Birthday, Annemieke!" The voices of the entire Spirit Detective crew, except for Hiei, cried out for her.
The lights in the room came back on, revealing balloons, cake, presents, and everyone wearing party hats. She was surprised; genuinely surprised. It's not often that you get a surprise party from characters that aren't actually supposed to exist.
"OMFGBBQ!" Was all that came out of her mouth.
"I think she likes it." Yusuke grinned. "Let's get this party started!"
A paper crown was placed on Annemike's brow. And it was as it was. They partied.
Annemieke had bid her farewells and everything to everyone. She sat up in the attic in front of her computer, recalling everything that occurred during the partied. She received many gifts. Amongst them were brass knuckles from Yusuke, hand-made toy cat from Kuwabara, a perfect sketched portrait of everyone from Jaiden, and a bouquet of roses from Kurama that were charmed to never wilt.
They were all glamorous gifts but none of them came up to the greatness of the one that Hiei gave her. She sighed in blissful daze, touching her lips gently with her fingertips...
The End
Shadowess: I wrote this while I was on my vacation in Cuba! Thank the many gods and goddesses that we had one plug out of eight that could take this kind of plug! But anyways, Reviews are Love but not forced, duckies! hands out free cookies You all get cookies if you choose to review or not!