Unlikely Places
The soft cry of wailing souls was a hum to the Spirit Detectives as they followed Botan down the corridor to Ko-Enma's office. Yuusuke and Kuwabara didn't look particularly happy, but Kurama and Hiei remained indifferent. Ogres of various exotic skin colors hurried past, making sure to not get in the path of the very important persons. The blue haired reaper dodged one young ogre and stopped in front of two large doors. She pressed a button on the voice pad next to the doors and spoke their names. In a few moments, the double doors slid away from each other and revealed the large office. Sitting at a desk piled high with papers was the toddler prince of the spirit world.
"All right, toddler breath. What d'you want?" Yuusuke asked loudly, marching into the office. Many startled ogres turned to stare with widened eyes at the youth.
"Yeah, we're retired!" Kuwabara announced.
Ko-Enma hopped up onto his desk, holding a small remote controller in his hand. "Could you stand to do one last mission for me?"
"No." Yuusuke said tersely.
"Yuusuke, why don't you hear what the mission is first?" Botan asked, crossing her arms.
"Why?" Yuusuke turned to look at her. "I already know what I'm going to say."
"Uh, Urameshi…." Kuwabara whispered, "What are you going to say?"
Yuusuke's response was his fist connecting with Kuwabara's head.
Ko-Enma aimed the controller at the television screen and pressed a button. Immediately, the screen lit up to show two pictures.
The first picture was a girl, appearing to be no older than about seventeen. She had bleach blonde chin length hair, cut so that it grew shorter as it went towards the back of her head, and the bangs were solid black. Poking out of her hair was a pair of black cat ears, each pierced many times. Her eyes were cat like and ocean blue, the edges stained with gold. Her neck had a small scar obviously made by a sword. Her lip was pierced on the right side and so was her navel. On her right upper arm, she had a tattoo of two wolf heads in front of a full moon, one black wolf and one white. Above her left breast was a yin-yang tattoo and barb wire wrapped around her waist. She was athletic and pale with a black cat tail. She wore a black push up bra and a long sleeve fishnet shirt attached to the hem. Her pants were baggy and black, with chains hanging in loops from the pocket. Her shoes were solid black converses.
The second picture was of a man with shining, feminine leaf green hair down to his hips. His narrow eyes were a vicious blood red. He had a thin, hourglass figure with a weak structure. He was pale and tall, with a strange air of power. Visible fangs showed over his bottom lip, and his nails were sharpened into claws. He wore a loose, white kimono that showed most of a large tattoo of a black, upside down cross on his chest.
"The girl is Sion Chimia, a hanyou neko youkai." Ko-Enma explained, looking through a stapled packet of papers. "The man is the demon lord Frey. He's been out of power for about a century now, but we recently found that he owns a stronghold in a much uninhabited part of the Makai."
Yuusuke stood with his arms crossed, tapping his fingers on his elbow and tapping his foot impatiently against the floor. "So what?"
Ko-Enma inhaled deeply and sighed. "He's starting to stir up trouble. He's trying to cause a war with another lord, which he hopes will cause a chain reaction throwing Makai into turmoil again."
"What about the king?" Kurama asked. "Shouldn't he be dealing with this?"
"He requested back up." Ko-Enma replied.
"What about the girl?" Hiei asked indifferently.
"Sion is the most well-known, trusted servant to Frey. She has been for years, but we have no records on her past." Botan said, reading from a paper in her hands.
"Point?" Yuusuke raised an eyebrow.
"She's the only servant we have information on. We thought you might like to know what you're up against." Ko-Enma said, glaring at the black haired high school student. "Well?"
Yuusuke rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking over the pictures on the screen. "Hm… No." He turned around and left the office.
"Hey, wait up, Urameshi!" Kuwabara called and ran after Yuusuke.
Botan frowned at Ko-Enma, "We tried, sir."
Ko-Enma sighed and looked to Kurama and Hiei. The fire youkai had started to head for the door as well, but was stopped by Botan blocking the entrance, her arms spread across the frame. "No, wait!"
Hiei turned to glare at Ko-Enma, who gave a sheepish grin, holding his pacifier between clenched teeth.
x – x - x
The soft padding of socks against a wooden floor and the subtle clink of small chains traveled down the porch of the stronghold. The sounds stopped in front of a door. It slid back, the padding of feet was heard once more, and then the sound of the door sliding closed.
Sion stood in a large, empty room, her clawed hands holding a tray of food. The opposite wall of the room was made up of two huge sliding doors that were open, showing the back porch walkway and garden; beautiful mountain ranges standing in the distance. Frey sat on the porch, twirling a newly budded flower between his fingers. His long hair was brushed and silky, falling easily over his shoulder and splaying across his back. The strands moved freely as he turned his head to look at Sion.
"Don't just stand there and gape at the mountains." Frey said turning back. "It's unattractive."
Sion held back a scowl and walked over to Frey, setting his breakfast down in front of him. She turned to leave but Frey held up a hand to stop her.
"Why are you always in such a hurry? Stay with me for a while and visit."
Sion reluctantly turned back around and sat next to the green-haired lord.
Frey watched her as he picked at his meal, eating small bits and pieces. "Why are you so unhappy, Sion? You have all that you need here. Food, water, over-accommodating shelter…"
"But I don't have what I want." She said tersely.
Frey forgot his breakfast and turned his full attention on the half-demon in front of him. "Want? Want? What could you possibly want?"
Sion looked to the mountains, not responding. No matter how she answered, she knew she had lit Frey's fuse, and it wasn't a very long one.
Frey followed her gaze and understood exactly. "So, you want to leave?"
No response from the neko.
Frey laughed and it sent chills running up Sion's spine. "You seek your freedom, huh? I'm afraid, that's one thing I can't give you, dear."
"Why can't I just go to Parlo? I'll come back!" Sion protested; turning her gaze to Frey's burning red eyes. She held eye contact, keeping a stern expression. She didn't want to show any weakness.
"I can't let you do that." Frey said in a low voice. His fuse had almost burned up.
"You always tell me you trust me the most. Apparently, either that was a lie or it isn't enough to leave, even just for an afternoon!" Sion bared her fangs, her hands balled into fists.
Frey stood suddenly, his hair whipping about his face. "You're questioning my judgment?"
"Yes," Sion stood up. "I am!"
The fuse was gone. Frey's palm connected forcefully with Sion's cheek, sending the blonde tumbling off the porch into the dirt. The angered demon lord stood over her, glaring down with such fierce sternness it could make a mountain move out of the way. "No one stands up to me. Especially you, Sion Chimia."
Sion glared up at him, but said nothing. She pulled herself up and left the room, brushing off her clothes and trying to retain what dignity she could. She slammed into her room and grabbed the nearest object, that happened to be a small mirror. She busted it against the wall and dropped to her knees, punching the floor. In the shattered shards of mirror, she could see her left cheek swelling up and turning a mutated rose color. She gingerly touched her two fingers to it and quickly pulled them away, hissing from the pain and slamming her knuckles into the glass, cutting them up.
She was tired of it all. Frey would never let her leave, not even look over the stone walls surrounding the stronghold. She would be imprisoned as his slave forever, endlessly enduring his mood swings, desires, and sexual wants. She leaned against her bed and picked up a sliver of mirror. She stared into it for a moment, admiring how much it resembled a dagger.
It's been a long time, Sion thought, turning the mirror fragment over and over in her hands, since I had thoughts of suicide.
It was the opportune moment for an interruption, a moment that was taken. The door slid open and a figure paused at the threshold, looking quickly to Sion. Immediately, he was down on his knees in front of her, snatching the mirror from her hand.
It was a young demon man of about eighteen. He had dark brown hair to his shoulders that he always kept pulled back in a ponytail, easily showing everyone his brilliant amber colored eyes. He was tan skinned and tall, about 6'2", with an average build. He appeared to only be human, but he had demon energy.
"Sion, what the hell do you think you're doing, eh!" he exclaimed, holding up the sharp object.
"What does it look like?" Sion replied coldly, standing up and going to her desk. She pulled out a small notebook and began looking for a pen, trying to ignore the demon's presence. She opened to a blank page and began to write.
He sighed and dropped the fragment to the floor. "You and Frey fought again, eh?"
Sion paused in her writing and sat tense, then continued to write more rapidly than before.
"Sion it's me, Jiro," he said walking up to stand behind her, a pout on his face. "You can tell me anything."
Sion slammed down her pencil and turned around. "I want to leave. I can't take it anymore."
Jiro's lips curled up into a smile, but he didn't yet respond.
Sion growled and narrowed her eyes. "What? You think it's funny?"
"No, no." Jiro shook his head and grinned at her. "I have a solution to your problem."
Sion raised an eyebrow, turning full around in her chair to face him. "What do you mean…?" she asked hesitantly, as if unsure about what he had said.
Jiro kneeled beside Sion and whispered into her ear, "Remember the tunnel?"
Sion nodded in response, her anxiety growing.
"It's finished."
x – x – x
The next night after all in the stronghold, even Frey, had gone to bed Sion rose from her warm bed covers and placed her feet on the cold floorboards. She dug around under her bed for a small, black duffle bag which she laid open on her bed. Quickly and quietly, she packed an extra set of clothes, her journal, and a few other personal belongings. Slowly sliding open her door she looked up and down the empty hall. She picked up her shoes, slung her bag over her shoulder, and headed silently towards the kitchens.
Everything was dark and eerily quiet. The only light came from a candle sitting on the counter in the kitchen and the full moon outside. Sitting around the candle was Jiro and a young girl of about fifteen. She had flaming red hair in a bobbed haircut and grey eyes. A pair of small black horns resembling a devil's grew from her skull and her nails were sharp like claws. She was short and thin with milky colored skin.
"Sion?" she asked before she could see the hanyou.
"Yeah," Sion replied, stepping into the candlelight.
"Ready?" asked Jiro and Sion nodded. "Aiko will lead you through the tunnel."
"Take this." Aiko held out a small brown parcel to Sion, which she hesitantly took. "It's food, just in case of an emergency."
"We'll keep Frey occupied as long as we can, eh?" Jiro said and walked into the narrow pantry. He kneeled down and knocked on a couple of floorboards. Finding one that fit the sounds he was searching for, he dug his fingers along the cracks and pulled it up.
The space was just big enough to fit one person, if they inhaled. Aiko grabbed the candle and stepped down into it. "Follow the light. There's a lot of misleading tunnels to confuse others."
"And here I've always been told to not go towards the light." Sion said dryly, looking with distaste at the tunnel.
Aiko pursed her lips together and got down on her hands and knees, using one hand to hold the candle out ahead of her.
Sion stepped down and turned back to look up at Jiro. "Thanks." She said awkwardly.
"It's no problem." He smiled sadly. "See you around, Toyru." He said the name with strong affection.
Before Sion could respond in any way, a clatter sounded from outside the kitchen door in the hallway. Sion ducked into the tunnel as the trap door shut above her. Inhaling deeply and closing her eyes for moment, she shoved her duffle bag along as she began to crawl after Aiko. Her mind was swirling from the closed space and she thought she going to pass out. The constant bombardment of thoughts did her zero good as well. Was Jiro all right? What was that sound outside? Was she going to get caught? How long would Frey let her go?
After a long time of crawling through the dirt, Aiko stopped. She pressed her ear to the ceiling of the tunnel and hesitated for a moment before pushing up a rock and inspecting the area by sight. She climbed out of the tunnel and turned, pulling out Sion's bag so that the cat demon could climb out.
Sion stood up and took a deep breath, thankful to finally be out of that cramped passage. She took her bag back and looked about where she was. The landscape was beautiful and peaceful. The mountain ranges that she often studied rested against a navy blue sky sprinkled with stars. A full moon shined down on them, lighting the forest path leading to Parlo. It was all such a refreshing sight, and it almost felt new to Sion. It'd been so long sine she'd last seen it.
"Good luck, Sion." Aiko smiled with a hint of jealousy. She climbed back into the tunnel, pulled the rock over the entrance, and was gone. Sion immediately headed down the path, planning to walk nonstop until the sun set the next day.
After about an hour of walking, she began to loosen up and just stroll along. Though it didn't show, she was thrilled to finally be free, but afraid that she wasn't quite out of Frey's clutches yet.
She was lost deep into her thoughts, so much that she didn't hear someone approaching. She stumbled forwards as the hilt of a weapon bashed her in the back of the head.
She panicked thinking that is was one of Frey's fighters come to retrieve her. She spun around as the demon lunged at her. She didn't have time to defend or pull a weapon, so she was knocked to the ground under the weight of the nasty, green reptile demon. She immediately shielded her face with one arm, sending a punch to the demon's head.
Then there were two snarls and a horrid cry from the demon. She opened her eyes to see two wolves, one black and one white, ripping the demon limb from limb. She struggled to her feet, watching the wolves with amazement.
The wolves didn't let up until the demon was most assuredly dead. They walked to Sion, blood dripping from their jaws. The cat demon cautiously held out her hand and the white wolf nuzzled against her palm.
"Why did you help me?" Sion asked as if they could answer, starting to feel emotionally attached to the beautiful creatures. "Why do you seem so familiar…?" She pondered this as the wolves took her affection for granted.
A howl came from a distance and the wolves' ears perked. After another howl, they were gone, running through the trees at a quick pace. Sion stood and watched them until she could no longer see their forms, and then started along the path again.
Night faded into day, but she continued to walk, though she felt fatigued. She pulled some bread from the brown parcel Aiko had given her and munched slowly to edge away her hunger.
By sunset she was insight of Parlo. When she finally arrived in town the moon was high overhead. Without much thought, Sion rented a room in the inn and passed out on the bed.
x – x – x