Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Yoshihiro Togashi VIZ Media and Funimation Please support the official release
Original Characters or (OC) created by YinYangSakura are owned by YinYangSakura
Story title is credited to The Buckling Bridge
Chapter 1 title is credited to buzzk97
(I couldn't make up my mind and I loved both of your suggestions, so thank you!)
Ghost Files: The Next Chapter
Chapter 1
As Time Goes By
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A young woman with hair as blue as the daylight sky flew on an oar just barely above the tree line, from town to town. Despite the bright pink kimono she wore, no humans below seemed to notice her. She would circle looking over specific areas, and look at a watch on her wrist before flying away to the next town. The towns were small and close, but still remained difficult as she was looking for one specific person. She kept one town in a specific area as her last check. She landed off her oar as she began to approach a temple. Stopping once or twice to look at her watch and around at the scenery, then would continue to the steps that lead to the temple property. She stopped just before the large gates.
"Hiei." She called out.
"I know you're here. Upon Koenma's request, I need you to show yourself." She waited while looking around.
"Hn." Hiei appeared behind her with his hands shoved in the pockets of his cloak.
She jumped from being startled and spun around.
"You don't have to be that way." She grumbled to him.
"You and I both know why you're here looking for me. Get this over with." He responded.
She nodded and looked to him with worry.
"Is it true?" She asked simply.
"Would I be here in Human World if it wasn't?" He replied then looked away with a heavy glare.
"I was afraid you would say that." She looked down with disappointment.
.
In Spirit World, Koenma was sweating lightly while on the communicator with a dark haired young woman. He pulled on the collar of his top while swallowing hard. He began stuttering and sputtering for words as the woman over the communicator looked on angrily and impatiently. As he was about to say the first thing that came to his mind, the young blue haired woman walked through his large office doors.
"Ah! Botan!" He cheered happily.
"What?! Botan's there now?" The girl over the communicator shouted.
"So glad you made it back! I'm so sorry Sakura, but I have important business with Botan I must get to. I'll have an answer for you about a team here soon!" Koenma quickly chatted to the communicator.
"Don't you dare hang up on me, Koenma!" Sakura shouted just as he closed the communicator.
"She's going to hold that against me." He sighed with a whine.
"A team?" Botan asked as she walked up to his desk.
"Yes, she's been asking for some sort of reinforcement help like Yusuke had. Unfortunately, all the demons she's captured so far refuse to take any offer of probation; in turn to help my new Spirit Detective on her missions. I've even gone so far as asked Kurama, but he is still helping Yusuke and trains for the Demon World Tournament when he can." He took a long heavy sigh.
"Speaking of Demon World Tournament. I have news from Hiei." Her stare turned serious.
"The fact that you found him in Human World already tells me the rumors are true." He placed his hand under his chin with deep thought.
"This is not good." He grumbled.
"He's already begun his reign by dismissing all the Demon Police that helped humans who would accidentally pass into Demon World." Botan explained.
"That would explain why Hiei is in the Human World. What about other demons?"
"From what Hiei saw and heard, nearly all of them vowed to stay in Demon World just before scattering. He thinks its because most of them are too afraid to be considered a Human ally to any Raiden followers."
"That would make sense. Considering that we know next to nothing about this Raiden guy, and he won this tournament with such ease is unsettling. We can only assume that he has some type of hatred toward humans since he dismissed the Demons. Until we know for sure, we have to stay cautious." Koenma explained.
Botan nodded in agreement. Her eyes widened with a sudden thought.
"Sir, would it be possible to ask Hiei to assist Sakura?" She asked.
Koenma jumped and nearly fell out of his large seat from the jolt.
"WHAT?! Are you insane Botan?!" He shouted then readjusted himself.
"Think about it, Hiei's now in Human World, its obvious where his allegiance lies. Maybe you can even bribe him with an extra incentive if he should refuse. Hiei doesn't seem to back down from a deal in his favor."
"I don't think so, the power difference between the two is just too large. Hiei would be doing all the work, and loathing me in the process. Sakura still has to count her Spirit Guns each day."
"Yes, but if you reassure Hiei that he's simply there as backup, it'll be even more enticing for him, right? He's only there to make sure she doesn't get killed while being able to take on these more serious cases."
There was a pause that came over the both of them.
"We really need to ensure we have Hiei on our side in case Raiden does anything to Human World, sir. This would be a great way to know with absolute certain that he is not neutral." She further explained.
"Yes, but you realize to Hiei, this is just a glorified babysitting job." Koenma raised a brow to Botan while folding his arms.
"Bribery." She sung with a smirk.
After another pause for thought passed by, Koenma took a heavy sigh.
"What bribe do you have in mind?"
.
At Sakura's apartment, she was left pacing her living room. Muttering curse words under her breath with each lap she took. After a few minutes passed she slammed her communicator on the coffee table.
"That-! UGH!" She grunted then stormed over to her small kitchen.
She pulled out a water bottle from her refrigerator and took a large swig. She let out a heavy breath of air then stared into the blank space in front of her.
"Wait a sec. This is the second time Koenma's cut me off for 'important business' with Botan. She's also been acting more tense recently." She thought quietly to herself then looked out to her balcony doors.
"There's also something strange in the air. It's subtle, but the energy seems to be changing. I wonder what Koenma's not telling me."
She quickly put on her jacket, shoved the communicator in the pocket, slid on her boots and with the bottled water, stepped out of her apartment. She continued out of her building and walked several blocks winding around to eventually a dirt path that lead to a wooded area. She kept walking until she came to a clearing then took off her jacket.
"I can't continue to let Koenma or Human World down." She thought as she hung her jacket on a branch, then began training herself until the dark hours of the night.
BUZZ BUZZ
BUZZ BUZZ
She heard buzzing as she had paused to catch her breath. She patted herself down to find the source. She went to her jacket that hung, reached into a pocket and pulled out the communicator only to be disappointed that wasn't it. She reached into the other pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
"Hey Takeshi-kun, what's up?" She answered.
"Hey Sakura-chan! Naoki and I were wondering if you were going out drinking with the band tonight?" He spoke with optimism.
"Sorry Takeshi, but you know I don't drink anymore. Am I at the piano tomorrow?"
"You're no fun anymore! We only see you for work now. When are you going to loosen up and have fun like old times? You're up late anyway!"
"Thanks for calling me boring, Takeshi. Look, I've told you guys before, I took up a second job that means a lot to me. It doesn't pay well, but it doesn't mean it's not important. Now, am I waitressing or piano?"
"Yea yea, fine. Yea you're at the piano, see you tomorrow." Takeshi grumbled.
"Great, don't show up hung over." She smirked before hanging up. She sighed heavily while looking at the time.
"It is late. I should get home." She thought.
On her way back, she was stalled by a large man following her about halfway to her building. She continued walking, knowing he was fully human, just stupid. She smirked calmly to herself and purposely walked into a dark alley way, pretending to be digging in her pockets.
"What's wrong pretty girl?" The man came up behind her closely.
She turned to face him with a panicked look on her face.
"Uh-N-Nothing, I just need to get home!" She spoke with a shaken voice.
"I can help you!" He creepily chuckled.
"O-oh? Will you?" She looked on nervously.
"Yea, right after you help me with something." The man chuckled and grabbed her arm.
With swift, speed, and grace she circled her grabbed arm to grab him instead, then shoved him head first to a large trash bin. She then calmly went up to him, and pulled out his wallet. She reached to her back pocket and pulled out a small note pad and pen to write down the man's name from his I.D. After replacing his wallet to him and her notepad to herself, she moved to grabbing and twisting the man's arm. He let out a pitiful cry in pain.
"If you ever stalk ANY women or helpless person again, I'll make sure you wished you were never born. Understand?" She spoke with a calming rage that struck fear into the man.
"Y-yes!" He shouted.
She gave him one last strike of pain then walked away as if nothing happened. She fixed her dark shoulder length hair to a pony tail and went back to her path that lead her home.
She entered her small apartment while swigging water from her bottle. She hung her keys, placed the bottle back in her fridge and prepared for her nightly routine of organizing and bathing.
After her bath she proceeded to her bedroom and pulled out the note pad from her pants pocket.
"What an idiot." She sighed while pulling out the piece of paper with the name and placed it in a folder titled "Human Criminals" on her counter.
"I wish there was a way I could be trained to become stronger. Self training will only get me so far. I only wish Master Genkai would reconsider her retirement." She thought with a heavy sigh as she brushed her hair at her bedroom desk.
"I feel like more of a burden, than help to Koenma." She continued to think then shook her head.
"No, what I do is important. It helps Koenma focus on the more serious issues and not have to worry about low level demons." She said out loud to herself.
She gave herself an assertive nod then went to bed.
.
.
.
The next morning started off like any other work day. She got dressed, ready and out her door while sipping on her coffee from her thermos. She walked out of her building and paused for a moment to put on her sunglasses. The sun was bright, but not warm on this cold morning.
"The air definitely is changing." She thought as she took another sip then continued on her way.
Once she entered her work place she tried to hurriedly walk without being noticed for her clock in.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" An older man from behind a dinning counter called.
"Good morning, manager." She replied with less enthusiasm as him.
She pushed herself through the employee doors. She walked up to her locker while swigging her coffee. She noticed her manager had followed her.
"I don't mean to sound obnoxious, but like I asked you before. Many, many times. Could you please not play those more outlandish songs?" He forced a soft spoken voice.
"So I take it you've come up with a way to reject paying customers requests when they ask for a song you don't like?" Sakura turned to him with the same forced soft spoken behavior.
"Oh…uh, well…No." The manager stumbled his words.
"Well you could simply make a book of the list of songs customers can choose from to request? Oh, but you did that before. Didn't you make the list so small that we ended up losing most of our customers?" She asked which caused the manager to stumble over his words more so.
She took a deep breath for patience, finished exchanging things from her locker and closed it.
"I don't mean to speak out of place sir, but if you don't like music so much, you shouldn't manage a piano restaurant. But since you do, you should probably look into finding more music to like instead." She put on her uniform blazer and walked passed him.
"If it's not a skirt, its puffy shoulders." Sakura thought as she fidgeted with her blazer. She made her way to the piano and hit some keys to make sure it was tuned. Before sitting, she opened the bench to pull out her music and organized it on the piano.
"Good morning!" A young man tried shocking Sakura with his sudden appearance. Without a blink or flinch she continued looking at her papers.
"Morning Takeshi-kun. I see you're rather chipper for being out late last night." She stated without much interest.
"You've inspired me!" He proudly stated. She paused a looked at him with a raised brow of skepticism.
"You went from partying day and night and rarely ever seen home. To now working two jobs and being responsible and health conscious! I figured, if you could do it, so could I!" He smirked proudly while winking at her.
She stared at him for a few seconds while in deep thought. She winced as her conclusions puzzled together.
"There was a fight at your favorite bar so it closed early, didn't it?" She asked with a continued disinterest tone.
Takeshi's eyes widened in shock.
"How the hell did you know that?"
"Firstly, your hair isn't as well kept as you normally have it. Which told me your 'inspiration' tale was a lie. Secondly, your favorite bar isn't far from where I live. As I was on my way home last night, a man tried to assault me. It's not usual for the area so, putting two and two together; it only made sense for the usual bar flies to have been kicked out." She explained then continued back to her papers.
"Wow you're like a female, modern day Sherlock!" He stated with awe.
"I'm not going out with you." She replied back.
Takeshi busted out a loud, sharp, chuckle.
"You will though! You noticed my hair, which means, you care." He winked again before walking away.
"And this is why I hate human men. I don't care, but if HE cared, he would have asked about me being assaulted." She thought with a heavy sigh.
.
Sakura looked desperately at the clock as her shift started to come to an end. Day shifts were never fun since the night time was when all the customers usually came. Playing more upbeat music helped keep her and the other staff alert and awake during slow hours. Her manager still refused to understand the need.
"Only five more minutes to go." She thought as she finished a song.
"I can take one more request before my shift is over!" She forced out a happy tone over her microphone.
"I'd like to request one!" Botan cheered as she walked up to the piano.
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as Botan handed her the request piece of paper. Botan was wearing a yellow vest over a white turtle neck and high waist jeans. Not how Sakura has usually seen her.
"Botan?" She blinked.
"Let it Be by the Beatles!" Botan smiled.
Sakura blinked again and nodded before Botan turned her back to go sit down at a table. Sakura snapped herself back into reality and performed the song while trying not to speed up the tempo, too noticeably anyway. She was immensely curious as to why she was there without warning. Once she finished her song, she took her bow and mouthed to Botan to wait. She rushed to the locker rooms to pull off her work blazer and exchange for her personal things. Hurriedly putting on her jacket while rushing out to meet Botan. A part of her was concerned she would leave before getting to talk. She made it out of the back room in time to sit with Botan at her table.
"My, that was fast!" Botan smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Sakura cut to the chase.
"Can't new friends just surprise each other with a 'hello'?"
"Not when they work for Spirit World, Botan." Sakura's expression dropped from a panic to relaxed.
"Is that all this is? Because you worried the hell out of me." She asked while leaning back in her seat.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause you a fright of worry. I'm actually here to bring you some good news! Directly from Lord Koenma!" She smiled proudly.
"Good news?" Sakura looked confused.
Botan had lead her out of the restaurant to Sakura's training area in the nearby forest.
"Why can't you just tell me what the news is?" Sakura asked completely confused.
"Well, it wouldn't be as fun, silly! Besides, Koenma wanted to talk to you directly about it. Didn't think it would be appropriate to do this in public eye." Botan explained as she pulled out an iPad looking tablet from her bag. She held it and faced it toward Sakura as Koenma appeared on the screen.
"Ah, Sakura…Sorry for not being able to give you a decent 'head's up' call first, but we realized your communicator wouldn't be near you while at work." Koenma stated.
"I should just keep it with me anyway. But it's alright, what's this 'good news' Botan mentioned?"
"There's something near by." Sakura thought.
"You requested and I answered!" Koenma cheered proudly.
"Months later..." Botan muttered.
"Hey! What counts is that I answered!" Koenma shouted back.
"Answered what exactly?" Sakura asked.
"Glad you asked! Sakura Takahashi, it's time for you to meet…Hiei!"
Botan turned while holding the spirit tablet to reveal Hiei behind her. Sakura's eyes widened then looked to Botan with confusion then back to Hiei.
"Uh-Nice to meet you, Hiei-san. I'm assuming you will be working with me?"
"Hiei used to be in Yusuke's team years ago. However, with some convincing, he has agreed to help train and assist you on any missions you cannot handle on your own." Koenma explained.
"Wait-whoa! This is 'Dragon of the Darkness Flame' Hiei?! No! I'm sorry, but he has a HISTORY with loathing humans and last time I checked, I'm very much a human! Not only that, he is WAY stronger than me! This is completely unfair by ALL means!" Sakura shouted with panic.
Hiei shrugged and turned his back to leave.
"Hiei! Where are you going?" Botan stopped him.
"She obviously feels she can handle things on her own. Let her." He stated.
"Don't forget our agreement Hiei!" Koenma shouted through the tablet.
Hiei stopped in his tracks and hesitated before turning back. He glared as he walked up to Sakura.
"Listen here Ms. Detective. You are the infant, and I am the superior. If I have to babysit you during any missions, then we do things MY way. During any training sessions that I may feel gracious enough to give you, then you will accept them WITHOUT complaints before, during or after. Do you understand?" Hiei spoke sternly.
She glared on at him while thinking before her answer.
"Are you sure this was a good idea, sir?" Botan quietly asked.
"This was YOUR idea!" Koenma replied.
Sakura looked down at the ground in front of herself deep in thought as Hiei waited for her answer.
"This is my only chance to be properly trained. My spirit energy won't grow otherwise! I have to take this opportunity or else I may never come across one again!" She thought quickly.
"Yes, I understand." She spoke while looking him dead in the eyes.
Hiei smirked with satisfaction. Botan handed him a communicator like Sakura's.
"I didn't need one before." He glared at her.
"Yes and we had a hard time getting a hold of you during dire times." She explained.
"It's part of your agreement, Hiei." Koenma added.
Hiei took it reluctantly and shoved it in his cloak pocket.
"Speaking of agreement. Sakura, since you live alone and Hiei is now part of your team, you must make a spare key to your place for him. You are now responsible for each other."
"What?!" Sakura's eyes widened yet again.
"It's a new rule I've come up with. It'll help with bonding and trust building. Plus, It'll help incase if either of you become injured, you can help each other without having to travel to Genkai's."
A moment of frustration and heavy sighs passed.
"Good, since we're all in an agreement here...Sakura, you can reopen that case you've been wanting to finish. Hiei, you're to assist her. Whether you do it tonight or not, is up to either of you. Thank goodness this highly awkward introduction is over with! I have work to do! Botan, I'm out!" Koenma finished as the screen turned black.
Sakura looked up with hope filled eyes as she watched Botan put the tablet back to her bag.
"Alright you two, play nice and be safe!" Botan smiled as she summoned her oar to fly off.
"What case?" Hiei asked, still with his stern voice.
Sakura looked at him with almost tear filled eyes that cause Hiei to pull back from his angry behavior. Just slightly.
"It was one of my first cases. I was hunting down this demon that was taking children's souls in a vicious way. He was very random with his victims. Always in a different area, time, day, everything. I was finally able to catch him just after he had abducted his next victim. But by the time I caught up with him…" Sakura paused with a heavy breath.
"Basically I had to witness him ripping into this helpless girl's body and slurp on her soul. I used all of my spirit energy into one shot. I thought it would have been powerful enough to at least knock him out."
"But he was too strong. That's what happens when you let soul eaters feast too often. The girl is dead, get over it. Do you want to seek your revenge tonight or not?" Hiei bluntly offered.
Sakura blinked as she stared offended at Hiei.
"Get over it?! How can you say such things? She was just a child and her blood was all over the place! I had never, nor hoped to ever witness something like that! Her life was taken because I was too slow and weak to do anything about it. And so many other kids SINCE has had to suffer the same fate! I live with that guilt daily!"
"Good for you, but I can say it because as you stand here yelling at me about your complaints, another child's life could be at risk! Now will you get over the ONE death you happened to witness? Or will you continue to STAND here to wallow while others die?!"
Her eyes widened this time with an awakened shock. She regained her composure by straightening her clothes and fixing her posture.
"Ok...thank you. I suppose I needed that. Come with me." She turned her back and lead the way out of the clearing. With her back turned she wiped the small tears from her eyes quickly.
"What now?" He asked impatiently.
"I have to change and grab my weapons. Plus, I can give you my spare key while we're at it." She explained.
She lead the way to her apartment building as the sun began to set. Her pace quickened with anticipation for her vengeance. He followed her through the lobby, stairs, and hall of the building. She looked to him once they reached her door.
"This is it." She said to him as she shoved her key into the handle.
She gestured for him to go in.
"What's wrong?" She asked when he didn't move.
"I don't do 'girly things'." He mumbled. Almost sounding embarrassed.
"Ok, neither do I." She replied with a shrug.
He looked up at her with half interest. She offered him in a second time, and he slowly stepped in with her closing the door behind him so she could kick off her shoes.
"I only wear this because of my job. Spirit Detective work doesn't pay, even though I wish it would." She explained pointing to her white blouse and pink bowtie.
"Make yourself at home, I'm going to change and get your key, then we can head out." She went to her room, closing the door behind her.
She sighed heavily and quickly got changed. When she finished, she went to her 'junk' drawer in her room and grabbed her spare key. She thought for a moment while holding onto it.
In the living room, Hiei stood there looking around at her bland room. If it wasn't gray, it was black.
"Hn. No pink." He thought with a smirk.
Sakura stood at her desk in her room while staring at the key.
"I never thought I would pull out this key again." She thought heavily before walking back to the living room.
Hiei turned to her, not seeming to have moved from where she left him. She gave him a weird look, then noticed his shoes were still on.
"Here's your key. Um, just curious, you know about taking your shoes off right?" She asked him while handing him the key.
"I'll tell you now, and I won't repeat myself. I don't and won't conform to human standards." He explained while shoving the key into his pocket.
"That's fine, I was just curious so I can tell you my only rule, clean up after yourself. As you can see, I like things clean and put away." She gestured to her living space.
"All I ask is you do your part and keep it that way. Other than that, consider this place as yours as well."
She nodded to him and went over to a wooden file dresser on the other side of the room. She pulled out a map and brought it over to her kitchen counter to unfold it.
"It's far?" He asked as he followed over.
"Kind of. His feeding ground is an abandoned decrepit building, it's over here. But I haven't been able to trace his actual living space." She pointed the location on the map.
"If the area is completely abandoned then his living space would be further. But this looks like it's close to residences." He noted.
"Yes it is, I think he's living in the area, but I haven't been able to track him."
"It does seem heavily populated. With it being dark now, it'll be to our favor to inspect the feeding ground first."
"I've inspected it before,"
"How long ago?" He cut her off.
"W-well I occasionally still check during the day, when he's not there. Just to make sure he hasn't changed feeding grounds." She stuttered.
"How long?" He asked again.
"About two weeks ago." She quickly spat out.
They both paused.
"A lot can change between then and now. Come, we're leaving." Hiei walked toward the balcony sliding doors.
"Uh, Hiei-san?" Sakura asked.
He stopped and turned to her without a care for expression.
"We're leaving this way; your way takes too long." He briefly explained.
"While that may be true, I don't jump off buildings." She sheepishly followed him after grabbing her boots.
"You are truly in dire need of training. Get on my back." He knelt down.
She hesitated for a moment, but knew better than to object.
"He could kill me without even knowing he's moved." She thought.
She slipped on her boots, hesitantly stepped over to him, placed her arms around his shoulders and wrapped her legs around him as he lifted her. He easily moved to the balcony edge then jumped off. Sakura gasped and held in her much wanted scream until they arrived at their destination. They let go of each other at the same time and Sakura fell to her back, luckily on soft ground.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Hiei scowled.
"Nothing…just have a fear of heights…" Sakura's voice squeaked while forcing herself to catch her breath from holding it.
She was aware of her unreasonable fears, and knew she would have to face the heights sooner or later. She got herself up and dusted off to walk with him into a lightly wooded area. They stopped just behind a thick tree. Hiei peeked around it to see the decrepit building that was lit by a bonfire on the outside.
"He might be close." He whispered.
"Can you sense him?" Sakura asked.
Hiei turned his gaze to the other side of the tree trunk and pulled Sakura to kneel down with him. They quietly watched the ogre saunter to the building. Hiei brought a finger to his mouth to signal silence to her.
"No shit Sherlock." She thought.
Sakura peeked by Hiei and saw the same ogre that murdered the little girl in front of her. She began to feel her heart race and anger fill her eyes. Hiei turned to her and saw her eyes burning with rage.
"What the hell are you doing?! Calm down, your spirit energy is rising!" Hiei scolded her through telepathy.
She looked at him with confusion until she remembered:
With her first weeks of becoming a spirit detective, she was granted temporary passes to spirit world. She kept hearing about how it was a shock Koenma was permitted to have a new spirit detective. She felt compelled to learn about the previous spirit detectives to know what had happened. She learned all about Yusuke and his team, among other things.
She nodded her head to him and calmed herself down. They went back and watched the ogre until their sight couldn't follow him into the building. Hiei tried to see if he could peek through the empty windows before turning back to Sakura.
"You need to keep your emotions in check, Detective." He whispered to her.
She nodded and looked down almost ashamed.
"Your emotions are tied to your spirit energy. Haven't you learned that already?"
Their conversation was cut short by a quick shot of a scream echoed from the building. Quickly followed with sounds of wet splashed and snapping of bones. Hiei's gaze snapped to the building then quickly back to Sakura whose eyes widened in horror.
"Detective!" Hiei snapped to her, but his effort was too late.
Spirit energy flamed around Sakura as she quickly stood then stormed into the building through the open window. Invading through the building she quickly forced her way to the ogre ripping through an adult body. Overcome with a blinding rage she still launched full force towards the demon.
"Spirit punch!" She shouted as her spirit energy surrounded her fist just before she hit the creature.
He fell over and slid as blood spat out of his mouth. Hiei appeared behind Sakura as he assessed the situation.
"You're lucky he's not as strong as he was when you last saw him." He observed.
"I'm stronger myself." Sakura huffed.
"Not as much as you would need to destroy him. If you were alone, you would be out matched."
"UGH!" The ogre grunted as he stood up holding his injured face.
"I can take him!" Sakura smirked.
"You already used one of your shots with that hit! Don't be a fool!"
"So you're the spirit detective I allowed to live!" The ogre shouted and pointed to Sakura.
Sakura glared at him.
He was right, he could have easily killed her that first day she found him. Her spirit gun bounced off his head causing him to notice her, mid meal. She froze and he knocked her unconscious. When she came to, she knew she was lucky to be alive.
Her anger rose with remembering what happened. It was from that moment that she drowned herself with guilt of not saving the poor girl he feasted on. While Hiei's words gave her perspective, she still wore the burden of each missing child she knew was dead.
"Calm yourself!" Hiei directed her.
"Aren't you a demon?! Why are you helping a human spirit detective?!" The ogre shouted at Hiei.
"What I do is none of your business, ogre."
"My name is Tenma! You will respect me, human lover!" Tenma growled to Hiei.
Just as Hiei was about to reveal his identity to Tenma, Sakura launched herself forward fists first into Tenma's gut, without warning. Hiei's eyes widened to what he witnessed. Tenma fell back holding his abdomen, while Sakura jumped back ready for her next attack. She trusted her arms forward with a pointed finger. Her spirit energy concentrated to her finger.
"Don't! You idiot!" Hiei shouted.
"Spirit gun!" She shouted as she fired her shot right as Tenma opened his mouth with a cough.
Her shot aimed right into his mouth and flung him backwards. Sakura was even thrust back from her shot slamming herself into one of the few remaining walls. Hiei stood there in shock of what he witnessed. He looked to her as she panted.
"You knew he would open his mouth at the perfect time." Hiei stated.
"I'm not as stupid as you may think." She smirked.
She forced herself away from the wall and rushed to Tenma's knocked out body. She watched the recent soul he ate float out of his mouth and away. Sakura looked over solemnly at the dead body the soul couldn't return to. She then pulled out her communicator and called Botan.
"Soul eater case closed, he's available for pickup to prison."
"Wow that was fast! Be right there!" Botan replied.
"Hn...you didn't kill him. Why?" Hiei looked over at Tenma then to Sakura.
"Tch, and use all of my spirit energy? I need to get home some how." She shrugged.
Hiei saw through her false response, but didn't care to pry. She summoned the spirit cuffs onto Tenma before Botan took his unconscious body away. After Botan was out of sight, Sakura walked to one of the shrubs near by the building then came back holding a jug of gasoline.
"I placed this near by the last time I checked on the area. You might want to step away for a moment." She explained.
Hiei grabbed the jug from her hands.
"You'll only get it on yourself." He stated.
He poured it over the building as Sakura walked over to the bon fire. He dropped the empty jug within the decaying building then approached the spirit detective.
"Are you sure you want to burn it?" He asked.
She nodded while a gaze of regret came over her face.
"It's the least I can do to repay the lives I couldn't save." She looked down.
"Hn." Hiei picked up a piece of wood from the bonfire and handed it to her.
"Thank you." She took it, looked back at the building frame and tossed the burning stick to the building.
As the flames overcame it, she brought her hands up in a short prayer.
"I want to apologize to you." She said as she dropped her hands, finishing her prayer.
Hiei looked to her, confused if she was speaking to him.
"I didn't realize he wasn't nearly as strong as he used to be. Apparently the area became aware of children going missing. He was weak and hungry and I was able to easily take him on without your help. So, I'm sorry for wasting your time." She explained.
"What made you think the people were aware?" He asked as the flames roared in front of them.
"The body that was there, that was a young adult. He obviously became desperate to eat any soul he could get. If I waited any longer I would have missed my chance. He would have found a new area, for sure."
"Don't lie, you knew before you stormed in." He scolded her.
Sakura's eyes widened as she turned her gaze to him.
"That scream that we heard. You could tell it wasn't a child. I don't know what you're trying to hide, but you can quit lying. You didn't come to this area before because you knew he was too strong for you. If you had continued to think he was too strong, you still wouldn't have stormed in there the way you did. So now tell me, why didn't you kill him with your last shot?" Hiei asked again, obviously deciding to pry this time.
Sakura blinked with shock as she realized he saw through all of her cover ups. She looked away with a deep breath.
"Alright, I wasn't counting on you backing me up right away, but I was also waiting for Koenma's permission. He refused to allow me to fight Tenma, knowing that I would be killed. But when it comes to killing these demons, just because they're criminals doesn't mean they deserve death by my hands. My name isn't karma. Besides that, haven't you heard of Chapter Black? I don't care to do the same thing those humans did to those demons. I don't find it very fair at all that, if demons kill humans, they instantly have a bounty for their heads. However, if humans kill demons, no one blinks an eye. Just because they're not human, doesn't mean they don't have families, that they don't deserve vengeance. That they didn't have a future that was robbed from them. My job is Spirit Detective, not Grimm Reaper." She looked at Hiei one last time then turned to walk away.
"Hn." Hiei smirked.
He was impressed by her. He started to see why Koenma chose her for his newest detective. Hiei was once inspired by Yusuke when they first met. He saw a piece of that with her, he only hoped to continue to be impressed and inspired by her.
"Where are you going?" He walked up behind her.
She stopped and looked at him.
"I brought you here, I'll return you to your place." He offered.
She hesitated for a moment. As much as she hated heights, it beat taking the train. She looked up as she heard sirens at a distance, obviously approaching the area. She quickly turned back to Hiei and nodded. He crouched down for her to get on his back and they took off before anyone witnessed them.