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an ever bigger thanks to Death101 - Fox version for checking over this chapter since for the time being my normal Beta is to busy.

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Chapter Eleven: Together

The training room was twice as long as it was wide. Smooth seeder wood covered the ground, the floor so polished that it bounced light off of it. A large set of window covered the east side, leaving people in awe ofview of every sunset. In one of the corners was a pile of pillows and furs, a place I had often came to read during my stays at the ranch.

I'd spent a great deal of time in this room, more than I would have liked to admit. Thankfully, unlike Yusuke, I had more good memories then bad when it came to training, mostly because a great deal of it was mental strengthening. Physical training was important too. Yourbody had to be tough to handle the demonic energy, but your mind had to be open and wide, for when bound together you share not just your own memories and thoughts, but your partner's as well.

I'd gotten some pretty wicked headaches the first few months I had taken up this job, and no amount of painkillers ever helped.

Kyo's throat clearing drew my attention to him as he walked over to me. Stopping in front of me, I had to look up to see his face. Sometimes I forgot how tall he was, he had his Inuit genes to thank for that I was sure. He sighed and placed a hand on my head.

"Izumi, before we begin, you have something more important to do." I looked at him in question, waiting like a dog waits for his master's command. He removed his hand and slipped it into the pocket of his coat pulling something out. I recognized the red and silver of Kuronue's pendant instantly and stared at it for a moment as he held it out to me. "I've undone the lock you put on it. You need to make amends with him before we can continue with your training."

I hesitated, fearing the bat demon's anger over what I had done. I had never liked it when friend wasangry with me, and I had always ended up crying when my father yelled at me. That was a while back now though, and I had grown enough I couldn't remember the last time I had cried for anything else other than the death of someone.

After a moment,I grabbed the chain and let the pendant swing back and forth in the air. Kyo smiled encouragingly at me before turning and heading for the door. "I'll give you some privacy.I'll be outside, so just come and get me when you're ready."

"Alright…"

I waited until I heard the faint click of the door closing behind him before I grasped the chain with both hands and drew it over my head. Running a finger over it,I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as his presence intertwined with my soul once again.

"Kuronue, come need to talk." I tapped the gem with my nail as if I was knocking on his door and blinked as red light illuminated it. Letting my eyes shift up,I watched as a faint outline appeared and slowly fill in until the transparent image of my partner was in the room. As I had anticipated,he didn't look pleased. His arms were crossed and his stance was stiff. His normally relaxed face was etched in lines of frustration and hurt. Biting my lip,I glanced down at me feet, knowing I deserved nothing less.

"What do you want,Master?" I winced at the hiss of his tone and then frowned at him, looking straight into his eyes.

"I know you're angry, but there's no need to be cruel,Kuronue." He snorted at me,glaring from under the brim of his hat.

"You sure? Because I'm pretty sure that's how you treated me last night. Put me in chains and used me." He was acting like the animal he shared genes with – pulling his lips back to show his teeth. At that moment I'd never felt as scared of him, and my body reacted by taking a small step back. The bat demon watched this and smirked cruelly."Not so commanding now are you Izumi?"

I don't know if it was his comment or the look in his eyes, but the fear was pushed aside for anger and I replaced my step with a large one forward. "What is wrong with you? You know full and well that last night you were out of were trying to order me around. Worse yet you brought up personal matters in the middle of a fight." As if to show how much that pissed me off,I stomped my foot into the ground and the dull 'thunk' echoed through the dojo. Kuronue looked startled but said nothing so I went on. "Your so called pep talk only made my emotions worse, and yes, sealing you was a bit extreme, and if I could I'd fix that by somehow going back in time, I would, but you weren't being fair,Kuronue."

By the end of it, my voice had gone from strong to weakas it cracked over the last few words. I scolded myself for letting my emotions once again interfere. Sometimes I really hated being female. "You really think it's unfair for me to tell you the truth?" I looked at the ghost in front of me with a slightly sad expression, I knew what he was going to say and I couldn't stop him. "You know how I feel about you, 've known for a whilebut have chosen to ignore it and pine after my old friend."

"I only ignored it because I will not allow what you want to happen to come to pass,Kuronue." He scowled even though what I said was soft.

"If I'd thought for a minute that Kurama would ever take you seriously,I wouldn't have never encouraged you to go after him-"

"That doesn't change the facts,Kuronue." I watched his face flash over emotions – pain, frustration, heartache – I could feel them all and I knew how much he wanted things to be different between us. I shook my head, blond locks fluttering around me like the wings of a tired bird – I was tired, so tired of the same repeated words between us. "I won't choose the path that Kyousuke did. I will not let myself love someone who can never really be here with me."

I saw him wince and after a moment of looking upon him as one might look upon an experiment; I walked forward, pressing my lips. His cool blue eyes watched me like one watched a movie they had seen before. He already knew all of this; he just kept hoping if he tried hard enough I'd change my mind. "Their life doesn't seem so bad…you said your self he's happy with his life…"

"Kuronue…" I reached up with my hand and moved to touch his cheek. I watched quietly as my hand passed through his image like it passed through the air around us. I felt nothing. I never would. I let my hand pause for a moment on the other side of his face before pulling it back to my side. "You can't even touch me. You've known for a while how I feel about you and how I feel about Kurama. They are very different. You can't ask me to change them only to end up in a solitary life speaking to a ghost for the rest of time."

It was a sad effect that happened to some Soul Detectives, because it is always a partnership of both sexes, it can be easy for one to fall for the other. The intensefeeling of the bond made you feel so close to them, so safe that people fellin love with the dead, just as my master did years ago. The truth of the matter was that being Soul-Bound meant that the two people were perfect for each other, that they were soul mates. I sometimes hated Spirit World for being so cruel.

Kuronue stared at me for a long time before letting out a long breath, the anger long gone from his eyes. He only looked a little sad that I had refused him again. "I have no right to ask you do to such a thing. I often forget that my life left me long again and that I am simply a passenger in yours. I shouldn't have said those things to you."

I gazed at my friend, thinking about his words and chewed on my lip as I did so. There had been a time when I had loved him that way – or at least I had thought it was love – I suppose it would be easy enough to do so again. But I had been given a second chance at life, and while I knew any chance at the life I had once dreamed of years ago was gone,that didn't mean I'd given up on being with the person I cared for the most.

Even if he was pissed at me…

"And I had no right to lock you away. We both made things worse than they should have been." I smiled at him holding up my hand and giving him a thumbs-up "So let's call it even and get back to saving the world,alright?"

He blinked,raising his eyebrows at me so high that they disappeared under his hat. Then all at once he snorted and shook his head. "You are a ridiculously strange woman, Izumi." Grinning at me,he mirroredmy motion. "You are right though, it is time to focus on the matter at hand. Who knows how long those dunderheads will live without us."

"Not long, I mean, think about it. How much would they know if I hadn't been keeping close tabs on Koenma? I swear, we have the two top ranked students in my school working together and they still ended up needing the aid of a woman." I put a hand on my hip and cocked it. "If only there were more female bad assess like me…"

We both laughed at that and I felt the tension in the room slow leave. I'd been prepared for hours of shouting at each other, but I was glad it had not come to that.

The sound of the dojo door open drew our attention, and I turned my head to see master Kyo poke his head in side. "Hey, you guys all set yet? Times a wasting, or in our case, I guess it's not."

I rolled my eyes, finding his timing to be a bit to spot on. Though I know he wouldn't have eavesdropped on us, I got the feeling he'd stayed close enough to hear anything too loud – like screaming.

"Yes, yes, we're all good and chummy again." Kyo nodded his head moved inside and slipped off his cowboy boots. The dojo was one of the few places where he took off his boots – a pair of leather shoes I'd given to him two years ago for Christmas. I had claimed you couldn't own a ranch, and not have cowboy boots. He walked over to us, nodding his head at the ghostly bat demon standing a few feet behind me.

"Alright then, we better get started. We have roughly six hours before the sun goes down. I'm guess you want to be out of here by then?" I nodded my head, grimacing at the thought.

"Yeah, things are getting pretty tense back in the city. I'm worried the team will need my help." I wasn't sure they would, but I wasn't about to leave it up to chance.

"Then I'll use one of my time rift spells. I can turn each hour into about two days. That will give us twelve days to complete your training for the broken limiter."

I nodded my head again, thinking about how badly the last time rift training had screwed me up. I'd only spent about a month up here during a school break but up here in the mountains, I'd been training for almost a year.

Kyousuke took a deep breath before he lifted his right arm and pushed the sleeve up. On his wrist a silver armband spread over his arm a good few inches. It reminded me of the bands that ancient pharaohs had worn as a symbol of power. In the middle of the band was a large clock face, the elegant numbers written in Roman numerals and fringed with gold. From the first time I'd seen it, I'd thought about the jewelry a friend back home had worn all the time, consisting of gears and metal. She'd called it 'steam punk'.

Kyo held his hand over the watch like object and closed his eyes. I watched quietly as demonic energy started to swirl around him, making his outline glow a deep purple red color. It was always marveling to watch someone else use a soul bound power. I often wondered what I truly looked like then I used it.

Kuronue snuffed a bit, and I saw his ghostly form step up beside me as a figure appeared next to my teacher. She was see-through as well, but something about her always seemed more solid to me. She was beautiful, an enchantress out of a fairy tale, with very light blue hair that could have passed as white and was shop short, curling around the base of her neck and pointed ears. Her eyes were covered as always, with a deep purple cloth that weaved through her hair and tied off in the back. She was not blind, for the outline of glowing white eyes shone eerily through the fabric. She wore dark clothes and a long flowing cloak the same color as her eye wrap.

This was my master's partner, Rem, the last know time mistress in existence. To this day, every time I saw her, I still felt the odd chill of her power and the sudden wooden stiffness in my limbs at such greatness.

When Kyousuke open his eyes, they were a very pale blue, almost as white as the rest of the eye. As the glow around his body receded, I knew that the thirty mile radius of land that the ranch consisted of was now held in a time rift where hours and days could go by and yet the sun of the outside world will have barely moved. He looked to Rem for a moment, and they shared a smile before both of them looked to Kuronue and myself.

"Now then, let's get to work."

...

Days passed, and while I trained and the sky changed colors, I knew that only minutes were passing outside of the ranch grounds. It was an interesting yet almost creeping feeling, and it often left me confused when I left the time rift. It was much like having jet lag – yet instead of hours, it was days or even weeks of exhaustion that I couldn't explain to someone I had seen only days before.

While in the time rift, I trained rigorously throughout the days, meditating for hours and then working with energy control. After that came endless hours of harnessing the new energy, then a bit of combat training with Kyo. While it was not very physical in nature, the mental and spiritual effort often left me falling into bed every night. I had heard of what Genkai put Yusuke though and was glad that my master was not she.

On nights when I wasn't too tired,] Kyo would allow me breaks and we'd take the horses up to the cliff side and watch the stars for hours. Tonight was such a night, the last night before the time rift would closed and reality would come charging back in to my face, and I would have to get back to work. For now though I enjoyed the peaceful night and leaned back on my hands, watching the food cook over the campfire. From up here I could see everything, as if I were nothing but a spectator. Part of me wished that was the truth, yet I knew I wouldn't be happy doing so, after all, not standing on the sidelines it what got me this job.

"Master?"

"Hm?" He looked up from testing the hotdog that was just starting to brown in places. "What is it?"

I shifted a bit, twisting my hands in my lap as I looked out at the forest below us; the ranch was nothing but a small brown square in the distance. "Did you ever know the spirit detective that was before Yusuke?"

"You mean Shinobu Sensui?" When it was just the too of use e often left Japanese mannerisms behind, seeing as he was Russian and I was America – even if we did both have Japanese blood in our vanes.

I nodded my head, shifted my eyes down to my lap as I waited for him to respond. I listened to him shuffle around behind me as he opened a bag and pulled sticks from the fire. I glanced up as he sat down on the log next to me and handed me a plate with a hotdog and bun on it, a small pool of ketchup next to it. Looking at it, I smiled; he always indulged me with my 'silly American food' as he called it though secretly I think he liked it too.

I took a bite, chewing it slowly as I watched him lean back slightly to look up at the stars, ignoring his food for the moment. "I only met him once in person. But I heard a lot about him from… from Shino." He paused for a moment I regretted asking him. Shino had been the Soul Detective before me and had been Kyo's first student. He'd died a few years before I'd been recruited.

Clearing his throat he sighed."He always commented that the boy had a very strict sense of justice. That he moved along one line of thought and anyone who contradicted his ideals upset him. When I met him, I got the same feeling, but his power was so different, I could see why Koenma hired him. I still remember how horrible the prince felt after he was sent on that mission and he went MIA." He looked at me as I dipped my food in the ketchup and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

I chewed and swallowed before I answered him. "It's becoming rather apparent that he is most likely the one behind the tunnel. I interrogated one of the psychics in league with the whole thing and that was the answer he gave me. I knew who he was of course, Koenma had me review all the past detectives as part of my training, I just hadn't wanted to believe…" I bit my lip trailing off, unable to finish my thought.

"That one of us could true out so bad?" I nodded my head, again looking at my master's eyes. He smiled slightly, picking up his food and examining it. "Anything is possible, Izumi. We all have the potential to do great harm to this world. What makes people different is whether or not they choose to do so."

We eat in silence for a bit and I finished off my hotdog and grabbed another. I could hear our horses making small sounds as they walked lazily in the grass behind us grazing. As I swallowed the last few bites of my meal and wiped at my mouth on an, already stained up sleeve.

"I'm worried, I said after a minute and felt Kyo's eyes land on me again. "I'm worried about how this will all end. Shinobu was one of us, and he is human. Yusuke has shown he does not have the will to kill them. I hate to think what might have happened if Genkia hadn't saved the Doctor's life. I know Kurama and Hiei have no problem with death, but they are on probation and are not supposed to kill." I ran a hand through my hair, and still felt a bit perplexed as it ended so soon. My hair was a good few inches shorter now thanks to Umeko. "Koenma doesn't normal expect us to kill humans but we have…" Looking to my master, I saw him gazing at me with a solemn face. "It is our job to stop those who cross the line. I have no problem with it, I haven't for a while but… will I really have to be the one that will kill him?"

I wasn't even sure that was possible, even with my new level of strength. I was sure the boys were above me, or that at the most they were equal with me. I wasn't a hero, I never had been, and I didn't fight the bad guys and save the world. I did my job and then I left. I didn't do many straight out fights and my battle with Umeko was proof of that. So how could I manage to kill a rogue Spirit Detective?

"You will find a way my little Luna Strok, you and your friends." He shifted his gaze back up to the sky. "I have no doubt that in the end you will win, because the five of you are the strongest I have ever seen to defend this world of ours. You must remember to always have faith in yourself, and in the ones around you. Never forget that you are not alone."

I shifted, pulling one foot up onto the log and resting my chin on the raised knee. I didn't reply to him then, but just sat there and thought about his words. I let my mind wonder after a while, thinking of everything and nothing all at once. Looking at the sky I mused silently with Kuronue about how powerful and bright every star was and began to wonder just how many there were. Counting the stars above, I realized then that even though each of them was beautiful, together they left one speechless.