Chapter 2! OMG, i actually finished it! The fight scene was hard, even though it's kind of short. Neina's a brisque tactician. (By the way, bonus points if you know where i got her name from) Enjoy.

Disclamer: YnM not mine. Neina is mine. So are any other characters you don't recognize.

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Sakuya Coureneina (a.k.a Neina) Kurosaki. That's what she said her name is. And that she is Hisoka's birth mother. After saying this quite bluntly, there was a resounding "Wha?" from everyone else in the infirmary, including Hisoka.

And that is why Neina found herself sitting on an examination table, finally dressed even if it was only in a white hospital gown, rubbing a sore spot on her arm. She glared at the hypodermic needle container that was feeding her blood into one of Watari's personally upgraded computers.

"We're doing a maternity test…" Watari muttered humorously to Tatsumi. "I feel like I'm on that American talk show, what's it called? Jerry something…"

Neina continued to rub her arm. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"I'd have to say, yeah, it was. You just claimed you're my mother!" Hisoka yelled.

"Agreed," Tsuzuki said.

"But I am your mother, Soka-chan!" In a flash she was off the table and had her arms were around him. "I missed you so much! You've gotten so big! And your hair's so soft." She knew this last fact from rubbing her cheek against it. Though a relatively slender woman, she was about two inches taller than Hisoka.

"G-get off!" He managed to push her away, turning the color of a cherry tomato. Though he still couldn't feel even residual emotions from her, having a grown woman cuddle you in front of your co-workers is embarrassing enough.

"That's it!" All eyes turned to Watari who had a huge smile on his face. "That's why she looks familiar. She and Hisoka are almost identical."

"What!" he yelled. "You take that back! I do not look like a girl!" But it was true. Both had delicate features, huge eyes, and long lean builds to their bodies. However, Neina's hair was a fairer blond, like corn silk, and her eyes were a lighter green.

"Really?" was Neina's response. She tilted her head and took a good look at Hisoka. "I think he looks more like his father, aside from the hair. That you got from me!" she finished proudly, twirling a lock between her fingers.

"You be quiet! I've never even seen you before!"

"Well yeah. You were just a baby when…" For a moment she was very quiet, a distant look on her face. It was as if her mind shut down for a moment. Just as suddenly she snapped back and smiled weakly. "You were just a baby when I had to seal myself in that tree. Didn't Runa explain everything to you?"

"Who the hell's Runa?"

"Runa. Your godmother? The one who should've been taking care of you until…" She paused again, but this time with her eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Hisoka, how old are you?"

A little put off by the change of topic, she was instead answered by Tsuzuki. "He just turned twenty." He was a little miffed at being practically ignored by the blonde woman.

"Twenty! Are you serious! Is he serious?" She looked between Tsuzuki and Hisoka in disbelief.

"He's right. I just turned twenty on October 10."

"Yeah, that's your birthday alright. Man, I stopped guessing at sixteen. No offense, hon." Before Hisoka could begin a rant at being called 'hon', Tatsumi cut in.

"Yes, about that…you see, Kurosaki-san—"

"Let's see, I was twenty-one when you were born, so that means I would be…ahhh! I'm thrity-eight!"

"Forty one," Tatsumi corrected.

"What are you, a calculator?" she glared at the accountant. "Let a lady keep some of her dignity and youth." Neina turned her attention back to the smaller blond. "Twenty…what the hell took you so long!" They all started at the sudden glare on her face. "You should've awoken me when you were thirteen! That's seven years. Didn't Runa explain this to you?"

"I don't know a Runa! And you are not my mother! My parents are Rui and Nagare Kurosaki!" An unintentional shudder went through him as all the horrible memories flooded him at the mere mention of their names, but this insanity had gone on long enough. Neina recoiled at that and blinked.

"Naga…re? No…no! Hisoka, he's not your father! Your father was—" There was a sudden blast as if from a fog horn and everyone jumped in surprise. They turned to see Watari smiling sheepishly as the printer next him typed out a page.

With a mutter that roughly translated to "Just when it was getting good," he snatched the paper up and scanned through it. Hisoka felt a surge of relief that this whole stupid charade would be over. They could lock this woman up in an insane asylum and be done with it. "Uh, bon?" Watari said uncertainly. 'Uh oh, that's not good,' Hisoka thought. "She's telling the truth. According to these blood tests, she is your mother."

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"He doesn't take surprises very well, does he?" Neina asked. She watched with a large sweat drop resting on her head as her son banged his head against the wall. They had done the test again with the same results coming back. A third time and the computer actually printed 'SHE'S YOUR MOTHER, GET OVER IT,' across the top of the page. That's Watari's computer for you. "I think I'll wait for him to absorb all this before I tell him anymore."

"I think that would be for he best, Kurosaki-san," Tatsumi agreed.

"Please, call me Neina. You already call Hisoka 'Kurosaki-kun' so lets just try to avoid Kurosaki confusion. That goes for all of you. Except for you, Hisoka. You have to call me Mom!" she laughed.

"The hell I will, you psycho! As far as I'm concerned, you're just someone who escaped from some weird magical tree and claimed I was your son. Which is exactly what you are! You're probably some kind of demon, because I can't even feel anything from you! Explain that!"

Neina arched one of her eyebrows, which made her look even more like a female Hisoka, and crossed her arms. "I would if I knew what you were ranting about, Soka-chan."

"Bon's an empathy. He can feel people's emotions," Watari clarified.

Neina's eyes widened and her hands fell to her side. "Is this true Hisoka? Are you empathic?" Hisoka felt a shiver run down his back. The expression on her face was…nothing. It matched what he could feel from her, just blank. Everyone else squirmed uncomfortably, knowing what a sensitive issue this was for their coworker.

'Great, another woman claiming to be my mother is about to reject me because of my power...' he thought morbidly. Squaring his shoulders, he stared at her defiantly. "Yeah, I am." There, he said it. Maybe now she would leave in shame and never come back.

Neina bent her head so her face was curtained by her flaxen banes. "Oh, Hisoka…" she breathed. Then suddenly her head snapped up and he recoiled in fear. The woman had a huge smile on her face and her eyes looked like they were sparkling with stardust. "I'm so proud!" she squealed, wrapping him in a bear hug.

"Huh?" he replied intelligently. This wasn't how he saw this going.

"I'm so proud of you, Soka-chan! Do you know how rare a trait empathy is, even for blooded psychics? It was a one in one-hundred thousandth chance you would inherit it, and you did! Maybe you do take more after me after all."

"What do you mean?" Tsuzuki asked. He was confused as hell, like everyone else, but he was also getting tired of this woman suddenly hugging Hisoka like that. "What's a 'blooded psychic'?"

"It's someone who inherits a great deal of psychic ability from their parents. Hisoka only has his empathy because…" she pointed to herself proudly and grinned, "I'm an empath too!"

"Huh!" they all chorused.

Neina nodded. "I'm a really high level empath, but it was still a slim chance that Hisoka would inherit my ability. I'm also a great—"

"So it's your fault…" Hisoka muttered. Neina stopped and turned back to him. He was staring at her with such hatred that she thought she would feel herself burst into flames at any moment. She gulped, wondering if he was about to burst a blood vessel.

"Hisoka?" She reached out to grasp his shoulder but he swatted it away viciously.

"It's your fault. It's your fault I'm like this! It's your fault!" Neina was suddenly hurtled back by a blast of energy. She hit the wall and slid down in a daze. Hisoka, realizing he had once again lost control of his power, ran out of the room.

"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki called after him. "I'll go try and calm him down. See if she's alright." Tsuzuki ran after him as Watari and Tatsumi helped her off the ground.

"I'm sorry, Neina-san. Kurosaki-kun has some issues with his powers from…"

"Please, don't go any further, Tatsumi-san." Watari and Tatsumi were both surprised at the calm tone of her voice as she straightened herself. "I want Hisoka to tell me himself what made him do that. I caught glimpses when he hit me, but I want him to tell me. He's a powerful empath, I really am proud, but his shields are pretty weak against my power. But he appears to have some powers I didn't see coming." She brought up her arm which was singed and bleeding and raw with welts and gashes.

"I'll get you a bandage!" Watari began to scramble through his supplies but she just smiled.

"Thank you, but I can manage myself, Watari-san." Bringing up her other hand, she breathed on it and they both jerked in surprise to see a bright green flam spring to life around her hand. She pressed it just above the burn and pushed it downward, sparks and crackles popping off as she did so and lighting her face in an unnatural glow. When she was at the end she swept her hand away and it looked as if there had never been a burn in the first place.

"As I was saying before, I am a great empath…and an even greater sorceress."

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Tsuzuki ran all over Meifu looking for his partner. He checked the break room, their office and Watari's lab since no one would go in their and risk being turned into something. When he realized he wasn't in the library either, he really began to worry. Finally running outside the building, he saw a familiar form hunched under the cherry blossoms. Approaching carefully, he plopped himself down next to the teenage form.

"Hey. Feeling better?" he asked quietly. Hisoka turned his head to the side to hide his face from him.

"It's her fault," he muttered. "She gave me this. Everything's her fault."

"So I take that means you've accepted she's your mother?" Tsuzuki asked.

"No!" his head snapped up in annoyance and he glared at the older man.

"Then how can you blame her if you don't even believe she could give you your empathy?"

Hisoka glared and turned his face away again. He hated it when Tsuzuki made sense. Tsuzuki could only make sense when the rest of the world didn't, and this was one of those times. "I still don't like her."

"That's okay. To tell the truth, I don't either. Something about her is rubbing me the wrong way. Don't give me that look. I'm capable of not liking someone. Take Terazuma for example. And you didn't like me at first, right?"

"I hated you when we first met, if that's what you mean. You were, make that are, childish, weird, you have the mentality of a five-year-old—"

"This is about you and her, not me! You didn't like me, let's leave it at that. But over time, you and I got closer as coworkers and eventually friends, right? Right?"

"Yeah, I guess…" he muttered. It was true; they were a lot closer now compared to then.

Tsuzuki smiled despite himself at hearing his partner finally admit that out loud. "Well, maybe you learn to like her too. If not as a mother, than at least a friend."

Hisoka glared at his hands. "Let's say she is my…mother. Does she honestly think I'd welcome her with open arms, after she's been gone for so long? Does she think she can pick up from here like nothing happened?"

Tsuzuki sighed and reclined against the tree trunk. "But she does seem to genuinely care about you, Hisoka. I can't dislike her for that. You have to realize, she probably doesn't know what's happened to you. She's been inside a tree for the last couple of decades, so to her you're still her little baby. Ow, don't hit me! Meanie! I'm just saying, give her the benefit of the doubt and try not to blast her to pieces, kay?"

Damn. Tsuzuki was still making sense. Hisoka sighed and banged the back of his head against the tree. "Do you think anyone would mind if I went home and rested for a while?"

"Nah, I think you could use the rest. You've had a long and kind of crazy couple of days."

"Kind of?" he raised one of his eyebrows, and Tsuzuki vaguely wondered if that look was genetic.

"Fine, it's been insane. Let's go finish up those papers and I'll walk you home."

"I don't need to be walked home! Stop treating me like a kid already!" They both stood and casually walked away just before the tree they were sitting under was pushed over with a rumbling crash.

Looking back, they both blanched and Tsuzuki muttered "Oh hell."

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"Thank you again, Wakaba-chan, Watari-san. I never would've figured out what would be acceptable to wear in this decade without you," Neina called from inside the dressing room.

"It's no problem, Neina-san. I'm glad to help. Incoming!" Wakaba tossed another pile of shirts and various other paraphernalia over the door. "You know, I'm just kind of curious…Neina is such an unusual name. How…"

"Yes, I was wondering that too! It sounds so exotic. So mysterious." There was a soft laugh from the other side of the door.

"Usually I'm told it's weird. It's short for Coureneina. My full name is Sakuya Coureneina Kurosaki. It's from my mother's si-iiiiide!" There was a loud thump from the other side of the door.

"Neina-san, are you alright?" Wakaba asked worriedly.

"Yeah…I just, uh…fell over trying to get the pants on." Wakaba laughed, trying to hide it behind her hand even though the other woman couldn't see. Watari just laughed hard and slapped his knee between guffaws. "Ahem, yeah. As I was saying, it's from my mother's side of the family. My father was full Japanese, but my mother was half Japanese, half…I don't want to talk about it." The sudden annoyed tone left no room for argument, but succeeded in peaking both the scientist's and the miko's curiosity. "Anyway, she gave me my middle name. She said it means 'water lily's heart' or 'heart filled with rainwater'."

"How pretty!" they both said.

There was a pause. "You think? My grandmother said it was an omen that my life would be filled with grief and sadness." Though both generally people persons when compared with their respective partners, Wakaba and Watari had no idea how to respond to that. Her voice had sounded neutral, but it was such a strange thing to say so calmly. They were thankfully saved when their shopping buddy opened the dressing room door and stepped out. "I like this one the best. What do you think?"

Her buttercup blonde hair was pulled back and braided so that the end tapped her back just above her tailbone. Her pants were a milk-chocolate brown and looked sturdy, like they could take a beating and still be wearable, but were still cute. The shirt was a simple black three quarter tee, but it hugged her like a second skin and accentuated her pleasing figure well. The shoes were simple black boots, American army surplus almost.

"Simple and tomboyish, but it actually looks really good!" Watari exclaimed.

Neina laughed. "Not bad for a forty-one year old with a son, huh? I dress depending on how I feel, and right now I feel like I could use some exercise. I've been stuck in that tree for far too long!" Her face suddenly fell. "I just realized I don't have any money. How am I going to pay for this?"

"Don't worry, it's on us!" Wakaba exclaimed.

"Oh no, I couldn't. I mean, you already said I could stay in the infirmary, asking you to pay for my clothes would be too much."

"Nonsense. You can't go around wearing that hospital gown everywhere, so just consider this a gift. I'm sure Hisoka will be more comfortable around you if you're dressed, as well." Neina blinked a few times but smiled.

"Thank you." She bowed and they bowed in return. "By the way, why does your office have a department store in the basement?" Watari laughed nervously and Wakaba pretended to be fascinated by a floating dusk particle. It had been agreed that Neina was not to know where she was or what they really were until absolutely necessary. For now she was under the impression that they were a kind of psychic private eye agency and Hisoka was currently interning. This was actually Wakaba's idea, stemming from seeing Terazuma walking back towards their office on their way down to the store.

"Um, hey, why don't we go looking for Hisoka? Most likely he'll be in the library trying to calm down." Neina immediately perked up and they almost thought they saw a pair of cat ears perk up from her head as well.

"Library?" They led her away, after paying for her clothes of course, and up stairs to the double doors leading to the library. Watari opened the door for his female companions and Neina's eyes lit up when she saw the shelves upon shelves of books spanning the spacious room in front of her. "I'm…in heaven!" She almost skipped into the room, caressing the spines of the nearest books.

"No, but you're not far off," Watari muttered. "It's official," he said louder, "you're definitely Hisoka's mother."

Neina turned her head, her hand never leaving the shelf. "He likes books?" They both nodded and she smiled brightly. "Well, that's at least one thing we have in common then, hmm?" Before they could respond there was a loud crash and a lot of rumbling through out the building. "What was that?"

"Oh no, please tell me Tsuzuki isn't about to destroy the library again!" The younger Gushoshin yelled, coming out from stacking books on the other side of the shelf.

"Did that chicken just talk?" Neina asked. There was another rumble, this one shaking the entire foundation and they all went down like dominos. "Never mind. It's coming from outside!" They bolted from the library out to the front of the ministry building and stopped at the steps in surprise.

What looked like a dragon made of ripped flesh and protruding bone was ripping up the area all around him, flailing wildly like a puppet whose string were being jerked every which way. One of its eyes was a milky white and the other looked enraged. It was slobbering a kind of acidic substance all over the cherry blossom orchard, reducing them to piles smoking mush.

"Why is there a reanimated corpse of an Egyptian Serpent Tail attacking us!" Neina yelled. Watari wondered how she knew what kind of dragon that was, as fetid as it looked right now, but shrugged with a bashful look on his face. Why would a dragon be attacking a detective agency?

"Uh, is that Hisoka and Tsuzuki?" he said for a quick diversion. Neina's head whipped around to see that indeed her son and his partner were currently trying to hold the dragon off. Tsuzuki couldn't find someplace to remain still enough to summon anything and Hisoka was equally occupied trying to avoid the strikes from head, forearms and tail. He was trying hard to cast a spell but the moment he stopped a scaly paw wrapped around his middle and lifted him off the ground.

"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki yelled. The dragon's venomous mouth was mere feet away from consuming him when something crashed into it from above. Hisoka the death grip eased and he quickly flew out and away. He looked down, expecting to see a phoenix or dragon or white tiger, and gawked when he saw a petite woman with a long braid standing on the dragon's head.

"Try that again, acid breath, I dare you!" Neina yelled into the demon dragon's good eye. The corpse growled and reared up. She jumped off with a flare of spins before landing perfectly and smirking. 'Man, I haven't done this in a while,' she thought. 'Here's hoping I'm not too out of practice.' She dashed forward, dodging to the left when his tail tried to crush her. Vaulting over the scaly appendage, she planted her hands on the ground in back of him and concentrated hard.

Vines of every imaginable species rose up from the earth and lashed the dragon down like ropes. He struggled, snapping as many as he could before the sheer number forced him into submission. Twisting her hand into a new signal, she held her breath as the rumbling started under ground. Releasing it, huge rock spikes rose up and pierced the dragon along its spine like spear heads. One last wet breath and it stilled.

By now everyone in the ministry had gathered on the front of the building and was gaping at the corpse on their front lawn. Hisoka and the others walked the span of it, wondering at the huge rock spikes. "How did you…?"

"If you hadn't run out earlier, you would've heard me explain that I'm also a sorceress," she smiled. Hisoka winced, wondering how she could smile after he hit her. Even Tsuzuki had been a little peeved when he'd first done that. "I practice western style magic, inherited from your grandmother. I learned all about different kinds of magic and paranormal creatures from my master when I was younger. And from that I can tell you somebody went through a lot of trouble to set this up. Corpses of Egyptian Serpent Tales are hard to come by and to reanimate one so well is not easy. Does anyone want to tell me something?" she asked, eyeing everyone who had gathered round. There was no answer and most appeared to try and find a nearby pebble or the cool skin of the dragon very interesting.

"Fine, I'll find out eventually. I have my ways, hee hee…" She let that last thought linger in the air as she climbed over the carcass and once again stood on its snout. Narrowing her eyes, she reached back and suddenly pierced milky white eye with her hand. Several people stepped back in disgust and a few of the secretaries fainted. Watari, though looking a little grossed out, watched in utter fascination as Neina retracted her hand. In it rested a blue orb about the size of a cantaloupe.

"What is that?" he asked.

"It's what brought this guy back to life, if only for a short while. You infuse an orb like this with stolen life essence and implant it in a corpse to reanimate it. Boom, instant zombie! Relatively easy to dispatch though, since it's not securely tied in." She shifted the orb to her other hand and shook her now free hand to get some of the blue slime off of it. Then she brought it to her nose and sniffed delicately. Her tongue flicked out across the side of her hand and everyone recoiled at that, even Watari and Tatsumi. "Hmph…no one I recognize, so probably not after me…" she muttered. "Any of you piss off a necromancer lately?"

She jumped down as everyone began muttering to themselves, trying to think of anyone who had it in their power to do something like this and wanted to attack Meifu for any reason. When she landed, the orb suddenly slipped from her slick fingers and crashed to the ground. There it broke almost clean in two. "Damn! Ah well, it's not much use now any way. All the power went from it when I broke the connection."

"What's that inside?" Tsuzuki asked. Neina bent and picked up the folded not that had rested inside a hollow space in the orb with a frown. Flipping it open, the frown increased.

"'To my jewel, my doll, and all their friends. Just to remind you I'm still here. Love, always, K.M.'. Who's K.M.?"

Hisoka stopped breathing and lunged at the note. "Give me that!" He wanted to read it himself. He had known one day that evil presence would come back into their lives, but could that really be today? On top of everything else? The moment his fingers touched the paper, however, his body ignited. The curse marks were thrown back into fiery life and he doubled over with a strangled shout.

"Hisoka!" Neina yelled. She caught him and helped him to hit the ground a little softer. "Hisoka, what's wrong! Hisoka? Hisoka!"