Raised

Chapter Ten

Piper's eyes narrowed nearly into points as she stared at the redhead. The topic of Spirit World was like a trigger in her mind. Despite the fact that she still felt a whole swell of emotions for Kurama's return, the anger and sense of ruthlessness prevailed in her head. Piper knew that Kurama could feel and see the difference as well, just like she knew that he knew to expect the change in her. He knew it would be one of her trigger topics which was why he'd gotten you into a good mood prior to bringing up the conversation, but not in such a good mood that she would feel a sense of betrayal betrayal. He'd also let her know that there was unpleasant news even before Yomi left. Which meant that he knew it would anger her but at the same time he wanted to make sure that the anger was at manageable levels.

He'd also made sure that she was too tired to do much about anything he said. That sneaky...conniving...bastard.

"Tell me you are not working for them," Piper practically demanded though it bordered closer on an accusation.

"Nothing is as simple as it seems," Kurama tried to tell her in a soothing voice.

His hand moved to brush some of her hair away from her cheek. The exhausted medium would have swatted at him if she thought it would have helped, or that she had the energy to spare. Especially when he went so far as to brush his thumb across her cheekbone to wipe off some dirt. He did it with such an air that made it seem like she was just some child he needed to explain complex concepts too.

"They imprisoned me for 500 years, kept me in a state of tormented dreams, hunt you down, dispose you of your first life, and then you give your service to them instead of regaining your freedom. Did I miss something?"

His hand casually moved back towards his side. Piper could see that he was conflicted as he lingered near her. He rocked back as she continued to stare at him through accusing, narrowed eyes. There was a resigned feeling about him, the kind that let her know, in a way, that he didn't see any merit with continuing a fight. Though as far as she was concerned this fight had barely begun.

"A lot has happened in the last five hundred years. Spirit World has a lot more power and authority over everything that happens over all the worlds than ever before," Kurama explained.

"That does not make me feel any better."

"It was not aimed to make you feel better. In fact, I hope that it puts you more ill at ease if anything," he continued. "They have the ability to spy on almost any person and have recruited formidable allies."

"Yourself included," she decided to wedge in there.

"Myself included," Kurama agreed, "in the right circumstances."

"They hunted you down," Piper said in a dull town.

"Enma's special forces hunted me down."

Okay, now he was going around the topic. Piper let out a deep breath. There wasn't a lot that she could say which described the amount of rage she had over the situation. Piper might not be spewing ugly words or anything of the like but that did not mean she didn't feel the white hot burn of what had happened to her. It was just that she knew profanities and yelling at potentially the closest person to her was not going to help matters.

"Enma no longer rules Spirit World," Kurama pointed out.

"Does it matter?"

"It matters a great deal," he said with a small smile. "Koenma is not the same kind of ruler that his father was. He makes mistakes and is infuriating but he is a far fairer ruler than Enma ever was."

"That is high praise from you," Piper spoke out.

It changed nothing though, not really. The millenia old medium knew it should have yet at the same time she just couldn't care about the change. Over more than three thousand years of being alive she'd watched the slow progression of Spirit World. It started as a filing system for spirits so that the world didn't get crowded with the dead and progressed into something that liked to have absolute control over everything. Even which living being could be in what world. Enma, they, had used you to do that last one.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Honestly? Revenge," Piper spoke evenly and he didn't look at all surprised by that. "For every misdeed that has been committed in the name of humanity. For locking me away for five hundred years. For being bossy know-it-alls. For so many things I do not have the energy to think about. It needs to be restructured if not demolished in it's entirety."

Kurama made a thoughtful sound. It was so strange - not something she was used to him doing. It must have been a habit that he picked up in this human life of his. Honestly she was used to him being two or three steps ahead of the conversation without the use of sound effects. Unless, of course, it was to cruelly taunt someone.

"Before you decide on anything, I want you to see the kind of life that Spirit World's control has resulted in for human and demon kind. After all, sometimes people need to do evil deeds to ensure a positive outcome."

"I can not ignore what they have done," she spoke in a sharp but quieted voice.

"I am not asking you to. Merely to see what such deeds have lead to," he assured her patiently. "Any choice you make, I want you to make it a well informed one."

His words did nothing to settle the anger in the woman's system. Piper was sure he knew that. But she had to admit that his words were logical, the kind that she would have told him had the situation been reversed no doubt. Of course, she still liked to think that she wouldn't have paired up with Spirit World no matter the situation. Even if Piper didn't know all of the details of why he entered their service, she still couldn't fathom any good reason for him to have done such a thing. It still felt like betrayal after everything that they had been through together. And the only thing that helped ease that sensation was the fact that she knew he felt that particular emotion of hers from being so close.

"One of these days, curiousity is going to kill me," Piper mumbled with a dry sort of humor and self-depreciation.

The redhead didn't smile persay, but the look was lighter. "It's a good thing you're not a cat person then."

She stared at him quizzically for a moment to try and discern what he meant. It was a new phrase that she had yet to encounter. The confusion wasn't strong enough to be transmitted through the soul bond, not like the anger and sense of betrayal, but Piper was sure that he got it based on the expression on her face.

"It's a saying. Generally a lot of people jokingly categorize themselves and others based on what kind of animal they prefer to be in contact with."

She nodded in understanding, "Evidence shows that I am more of a fox person then.

This time he smiled at the ironic humor. He'd been fishing for the compliment to reassure some sense, of course, and she knew that. But Piper saw no harm in giving it to him.

"Do you still trust me?"

"Sadly, Kurama, I don't think I can ever stop trusting you," she told him honestly. "We are two halves of the same coin."

Without any other words being exchanged he brought his arms around her. It was a slightly different feeling than what she was used to from him. Despite the fact that he was the same soul and almost the same person she remembered, he was in a very different body. His arms were slightly shorter and the height was different. But he carried her without an issue still so there was no need to bring any of that to attention. Besides the most interesting thing was that as she was pressed closer to his chest than before, Piper could feel a faster heartbeat. Youko Kurama may not have been a demon, whom she was convinced didn't have heartbeats at this point, but he was never a human either. Until now, of course. Which meant that he had never had a heart beat around the same rate as hers. It was so strange.

"The fire," Piper whispered without moving.

Kurama looked down at her but nodded. She could hear the earth being pushed up as his energy slipped into the ground. Embolden tree roots around her makeshift campsite pushed dirt up onto the fire to smother it until it went out. Not once did either of them look back to make sure that the flames were completely out as he continued to walk through the forest. That did not mean that it was a carelessness for the environment; it was just that both of them knew the amount of dirt it would have taken to successfully put out the fire and she trusted him enough to make such calculations without having to be second guessed.

After about two minutes of walking, Kurama stopped. Even in the dark he seemed to know exactly where he was going. What surprised her the most was the fact that as he stood there he seemed to tense up. She could feel the tension in his fingers as he held onto her. They tightened around her arms and her legs ever so slightly. It was enough to indicate that whoever was coming, or whatever was happening, he didn't trust one hundred percent. Piper would have been more surprised if he did, though.

"I convinced Koenma to allow us to speak in private until we got to the portal location."

He didn't need to tell her anything more for her to understand the situation. Spirit World had a spy or something following them, listening in and reporting back. Whatever she said they would probably try to use against her. And no doubt they would use it against him as well, especially if he was the one who had been sent out to secure her. Piper trusted Kurama with her life so she knew he wasn't likely to turn her back into Spirit World. Which meant that he'd gone out on a limb and used whatever amount of trust they had fostered over the years as leverage for her freedom. Despite Kurama's words on the subject Piper was pretty sure that meant that they were still evil bastards who needed to be taken down. The only difference was that she wasn't going to say anything aloud.

"I understand. Where are we going?" The medium questioned.

Changes of topics generally were better than leaving a silence. Especially if someone was reporting back to another. Silences could be taken exactly for the truth - that there had been more said or meant behind the words than what was actually said. Silences were used between people who knew each other intimately well in lieu of direct speech.

"To Japan. It is where I have been living for the past twenty years."

Well that almost answered one question. He died his first death approximately twenty or so years ago. Which gave him twenty year living in the human world. Judging by the fact that his spirit energy was well above what he would have needed to return to Demon World, there must have been something to tether him to the Human World. Especially since he waited so long.

"Let me guess, the first ten years didn't go as planned?"

She already knew the answer. The flick of his emerald colored eyes down to her face just confirmed her suspicion. There was a lack of negative emotion in his facade nor did anything negative cross the soul bond, though, which gave her a clue that it wasn't all bad. Piper was going with the idea that something had held him back. More likely someone. It would have had to have been one wonderful human that tethered the legendary Youko Kurama to a mortal existence. As mortal as he could be at least.

"We're here," he announced.

Piper gently turned to look in front of his path. There was a shimmery slice through the air that only the most spiritually aware person could see. It wasn't like the portals between worlds as it gave off a slightly different, drastically less ominous feeling. She already knew the rough area that it would take them to - Kurama had told her not but a minute ago that he was taking her to Japan.

"Wait," Piper spoke quietly.

Kurama stilled instantly and looked down. She tried to put him at ease with a softened smile. There wasn't a hint of panic or anything in her body, no more to be expected, nor could she feel anything else through him. There was just a few questions she wanted to ask before stepping back into the country.

"Any major events I should know about for the country that happened in the last...oh, five hundred and fifty years? The language is certain different. I could not understand Shura at all when Yomi showed back up. Thankfully, on that subject, Yomi is a wonderful teacher. And judging by your clothing, that has certainly changed as well. What else? Have they moved the capitol from Heian-kyo yet?"

The man who held her rather securely smiled and laughed. "Yes, it's now located in a place called Edo and the imperial system itself has been revised plenty of times. As for all the other questions burning your mind, they will have to wait. We will have plenty of time to talk once we settle in. But I will warn you that we will attract plenty of stares on the way back to where I live. Unfortunately Boton was unable to get it any closer than twenty-five meters."

"What will draw the most attention? The fact that you're carrying me, the way that I am dressed, or just my appearance overall?"

It didn't take a genius to know that her clothing was completely out of date. Not that it was ever a direct style of any region she'd been to. It had been, in fact, a hodgepodge of things. She had, after all, traveled quite a bit in the early days. Or what she had considered a lot then - now she knew there was a whole lot more to explore. Even with the little exploration Piper had done, she knew that she didn't have the facial makeup to blend in with the population she remembered seeing. Then again she knew that foreign trade (if the country had allowed it in) would have brought different people in for different looks. If Kurama's human body was anything to go off then there had been some diversification over time. Not that everyone looked the same before but she couldn't remember seeing anyone native to the island with hair was red as his. Back in the British Isles, sure, but not in Japan.

"You will draw attention but I believe it will be the fact that I am carrying you which will draw the most," Kurama explained.

"Then set me down," Piper replied.

Even as he moved to set her back on her feet, his look was cautious. She didn't blame him for that. The woman knew that she didn't look her best - she definitely didn't feel her best. And she had told him a few times by this point that she didn't have the energy for much.

"How is the view on women and alcohol consumption?" Piper asked as she tried her best to stay steady.

Seriously if she could fall asleep and not move until she was all better, she would. That sounded so appealing right now. But Piper knew better than most that was not a winning strategy. At least not until she was in a safe environment to do so.

"It varies but it will serve," Kurama replied.

Piper nodded and leaned against his arm, taking a deep breath. And then as soon as the air filled her lungs she held her breath. It wasn't that hard to fake being intoxicated; she knew exactly how she was when she was drunk. Thankfully Piper didn't have to act like she really was when she consumed too much alcohol.

The brunette leaned against him as she continued to hold her breath. It took her a few minutes to get as red in the face as she needed but by that time he and already lead her through the portal. The world which appeared before her eyes was drastically different from anything she left behind. There were so many lights and people bustling by on the streets. The clothing was bright and vivid on everyone, not just the wealthy. And all of this being done while the sun was just cresting over the buildings. All of which had materials she couldn't quite put her finger on. They scattered the sound of everything going on around her in unrecognizable patterns.

So much for pretending to be drunk. With all the stimuli going on around, Piper's really felt like she was drunk. So drunk that she was hallucinating fantastical, unrealistic things. She felt Kurama's hand squeeze her shoulder as his arm wrapped around her back and under her arm to keep her steady. Piper didn't have to fake anything at this point because there was just so much to take in.

"It will be alright," Kurama spoke in a reassuring voice.

"It is a lot to take in," Piper explained breathlessly.

"You have time so relax."

"Easy for you to say. You had the last five hundred years to get used to it," was her retort.

She knew that anyone who passed them, and overheard her, would probably think she was insane. The good part was the fact that no one seemed to pay attention to the words of the person they thought was drunk. There was also the fact that people didn't really seem to care to listen at all. Anyone who noticed them at all seemed to stop and stare, their mouths ever so lightly open and their eyes widened.

"You are a fast learner," he said with a self-assured look on his face.

"This is likely to be my ultimate test."