Chapter Ten

I ended up deciding to rewrite this... I just felt uncomfortable about that literal collar...

When the ruler of the afterlife comes calling, normally you obey, right? And in order to even be called, you have to alive first, right? So then why, by all standard definitions of "life", was this so called "Yuki the shapeshifter" not even in existence?

This was the question.

An annoying and possibly job-ending question.

That plagued Koenma for days.

...Ok, not quite days but with the amount of shuffling through papers he had been doing, it felt like it. It was probably closer to day than days. One, singular, goddamned day.

Maybe he was going a little insane.

Yuki did not exist anywhere in Spirit World's files. Not even a whisper. Yuki was a literal enigma. Nothing about him was known (Koenma honestly wasn't sure if the demon was male or female, but demons in general can be a little hard to tell even if Yuki's androgynous body made it even worse... shapeshifters of his caliber normally didn't have set genders, but goodness this was going to get hard...) except his appearance (which probably wouldn't stay set for any given amount of time so it was unreliable) and name.

"George!" the Spirit Ruler yelled, his babyish voice bouncing off the walls and hallways.

"Yes sir?" the blue ogre poked his head through the door, carrying more files.

"Put those back," Koenma sighed, waving his hand. "It doesn't look like I'll be finding anything about this 'Yuki' character unless I directly ask."

"Are you sure...? I got every file I could, excluding the vaulted ones, of course, and these were hard to carry back-"

"Just do it!"

"Yes sire!"

"So you're a shapeshifter?" Botan asked, tilting her head.

Yuki nodded. He was beginning to grow tired of her pestering. Maybe it was under orders, but god, he wished she would stop. He could only deal with people like her for minutes and then it was too much. She reminded him of the giggling girls that formed loud, obnoxious gaggles at lunch with their heavy make-up and cheerleader-like clothes (too short and too bright). Maybe not as bitchy, but definitely loud.

"Are you like Toguro or what?"

He shrugged.

"You're pretty quiet."

A single shoulder shrug.

"Is your hair naturally that color, or do you make it like that?"

Nothing.

"Are you ignoring me now? You're ignoring me, aren't you. Rude."

"Please leave me alone," Yuki whisper begged.

"Botan-san," an ogre guard called from outside the cell.

"Yes?"

"Lord Koenma requests that you "either get your butt back to work or escort our guest to me".

"Why is everyone so rude today?" the blue haired Grim Reaper huffed, fixing her kimono and extending a hand to Yuki. "C'mon, we've got to go see Lord Koenma about your situation now."

Koenma was surprised to see the change in Yuki. Previously, their face had been rather animated, but now their eyes were half-lidded and unfocused. Nothing else about them changed, but it felt like Koenma was looking at a prisoner that had been in a cell for years.

He cleared his throat and his mind before beginning.

"Demon Yuki, as far as any research goes, I have not found any record of your existence in our archives. Thus, you are deemed as a 'ghost' to us."

"Ghost? Last I checked, I was still alive," Yuki narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, well, I don't quite mean literally," Koenma coughed into his hand. "You're a ghost in the sense that we don't have a record of you. And yet here you are."

"Ok..."

"Even so, we normally don't tolerate ghosts since they have been known to keep a bad track record." The Spirit World ruler pressed his hands together. "However. I am going to give you a chance. I am going to call in a specialist and see if you are telling the truth about your memory."

A specialist. "What happens if I fail this test?"

"If you fail, then you will be executed immediately."

Yikes.

The specialist, as it turned out, was the black haired demon known as Hiei. When he was brought in and saw Yuki bound in chains and sitting on a chair, his red eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth.

"I didn't come here to play your little detective game, Koenma," he snarled.

"If you cooperate, then I will give you 100 years without persecution," the little toddler shot back without batting an eye.

Hiei seemed to think about the offer before he frowned and turned back to Yuki. "Let's just get this over with."

"I completely agree," Yuki nodded.

It was just a little unnerving to see the small demon taller than Yuki, but more than that, it was the glowing spot underneath the bandana. Which was wuickly torn off and revealed a horizontal slit that opened up into a third eye.

Ooh boy.

Shut up.

Yuki frowned. A voice?

"I said shut up," Hiei snarled, red eyes shut.

Oh.

Red eyes snapped open and Yuki jumped in his seat a little.

"Shut. Up."

"Ok..."

You're already unbearably loud with your voice.

Am I?

Yuki felt mildly amused.

Hiei's eyes shot open again and he leaned in.

"Stop. Thinking."

"What does that mean?" Yuki wrinkled his nose. "If I stop thinking, I'll die."

"Stop thinking at me you idiot."

"Ok, alright. I'll try."

Yuki figured he meant to not think about anything specific. To just sit and relax. Which probably could've been easier without the constant itch in his brain. And it felt like said itch was moving around but not going deeper.

"Is it possible to finish this anytime tonight?" Koenma mumbled.

Apparently, Koenma had said something that made the itch go away and Hiei glare at the ruler.

"Maybe if she stops putting up barriers," he growled.

She?

"Hey, what do you mean by 'she'?" Yuki butt in.

"She? I never said that," Hiei's glare went to Yuki.

Then why did I hear 'she'? I should be male right now.

"You said it."

"I did not. Now shut up. It's hard enough to do this without you talking."

"Well?" Koenma asked after Hiei put the bandana back on.

"She's telling the truth. To an extent," came his reply.

"What does that mean?" Koenma and Yuki chorused.

"Her memories are jumbled. Some are recent and vivid, like the tournament, others are simply snapshots. All of Demon World."

"What?" Yuki wondered aloud. "But I've never been to 'Demon World'."

"What were these 'snapshots' of?" Koenma asked.

"A mechanical city. A white room. A mask. Now, are we done?" Hiei narrowed his eyes.

"One more question. Were they anything you recognized?"

"No."

"Very well. You may go."

"You passed the test, but just barely. We still have no idea what those memories of yours are. And since you claim to have never been to Demon World, we are at impasse," Koenma sighed, folding his hands.

"So I'm free to go...?" Yuki asked.

"No. I am placing you under supervision so that we can keep an eye on you."

"I'm being placed under house arrest, in other words."

"Yes. You will be given a tracking device that you are required to wear. It doesn't matter where."

House arrest, as it turned out, was more like a temple arrest. Yuki's parole officer was a little old woman with faded pink hair. His ankle monitor was a little hoop earring that he couldn't take off. Now he sat in a little kitchen with Botan and getting... "acquainted".

"So this is the 'ghost', huh?" the little old woman narrowed her eyes at him (a lot of people seemed to be doing that lately).

"Yup!" Botan chirped. "This is Yuki, Genkai-san!"

"Yuki, huh? Fitting."

"Thank you...?"

"First things first, Yuki, you aren't the only demon in this house, and if you even think about going on a rampage, I will be there to personally introduce you to my fist and the ground. And trust me, your relationship will be intimate. Understand?"

Yuki nodded. Grandma Genkai seems a little scary. Best to avoid her bad side.

"Yukina!" Genkai called, facing the inside of the house. "Come here!"

"Yes, Genkai-san?" a soft voice came from outside the kitchen. A small blue haired girl with bright red eyes emerged.

"Oh!" Yukina gasped.

And suddenly, the entire world had flipped.

Heeeeeey! So I slipped in some references that I absolutely would love for people to guess. I'm going to give you a hint as to one of the references. "Stop thinking at me, you idiot." This is the reference. I'm giving this one a hint, since it's probably the hardest one.

So for those of you who read the previous incarnation of this chapter. I hated that chapter. Which is why it doesn't exist anymore and this one has taken its place. This chapter is much better. For those of you who didn't see the previous incarnation... good. Trust me.

Anyway, on to speaking about some things. The reason why Yuki heard "she" was because the translator not only translates words. It translates the intended meaning. There aren't any pronouns (like she or he) in Japanese. The closest you get is with "koitsu" and "konoko". And those aren't really pronouns. However Hiei doesn't use those. Not to differentiate at least. His way of speaking is rougher and a little more scathing. The reason why Yuki heard "she" was because Hiei was speaking 'about' a girl. When Yuki asks about it, they use "konoko". Which of course, is not what Hiei said. He's not a tsundere. Not in this fic.

Onto the other topic I wanted to talk about. Hiei scans Yuki's mind to find out whether or not they're telling the truth about losing memories. This theory is still a work in progress, but here it is. What Hiei technically scanned was the body's mind. Like muscle memory. He didn't quite scan all of Yuki's mind. What he did scan was the most recent events. The tournament. These are still being processed, and thus haven't been sealed away. As for why they're sealed, that's another matter. The barriers that Yuki puts up are mental ones. Melanie didn't really have a good mental state. Her mind has been put into the demon's but it still works as hers (for now). I hope that explains some stuff.

Wow this end note is long. I'm sorry. Really.

NEXT TIME: INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS

DFTBA! :)