When the door opened a crack he held up his badge, "Detective Kaisho… OEA." He whistled softly when he entered the foyer. Everything was marble, expensive and opulent. One night here would be a year's wages probably. He could really get used to a place like this.
The taiyoukai was half dressed, wearing an unbuttoned black shirt loose ink colored hair unbound. He casually entered the living area which had a generously stocked bar and sat on a white leather couch folding his arms and legs staring up at him… actually glaring up at him with cold intense hazel eyes that flashed gold for a moment revealing his true nature.
"This is the second time tonight I have been disturbed." His deep voice cut the silence. "Ask your questions and get out."
The wolf shivered at his voice and the intense wavering of his youki swelling with his anger. "My superiors have extended their sincere apology for disturbing you Lord Nandeska." He watched the demon just shrug his shoulder as though their apologies were inconsequential. It should matter the OEA didn't kiss just anyone's ass. "I just need to take a statement as to what happened here."
"No accusations?" Sesshoumaru raised a brow at the rather young bushy haired wolf standing before him. "Your predecessor did enjoy throwing theories."
Kaisho grinned, "Yea I've heard the stories. I worked as a street cop for a few decades and a detective for another before I had to 'have an accident' and retire."
"Quaint tale." Sesshoumaru tilted his head to the side resting his cheek on a fist, "What does that have to do with me?"
"I'm not Colonel Ayame, that's the point. I don't jump to conclusions." Kaisho defended himself at the rather catty bastard, "I need your statement so I can get out of your fur." It was quiet for a moment before Lord Nandeska spoke next recanting the tale of some street random neko gang chasing after a human that leapt to her death. "Did you recognize any of these nekoyoukai?"
"I would not degrade myself."
"And the victim?"
"I repeat my last statement."
"Ah." Kaisho knew with this one pulling answers would be like pulling teeth. "Can you give me a description of either the gang or the victim?"
"The youkai were a bunch of juvenile neko or hanyou neko, the human was as any other human… black hair dark eyes and short."
"Juveniles…" Kaisho hummed, "Did they have tattoos that were visible?"
Sesshoumaru pointed to his jugular area, "They all had something similar."
"Damn." Kaisho muttered under his breath.
"These kids disturbed me without warrant… is there something I should know about them?" Sesshoumaru pressed the detective.
There were so few demons left in the world, it was instinct to run away from predators as powerful as Lord Nandeska. For them to come into his direct aura had to mean this human was more important to them than losing their lives to someone who could easily take it. "Alone they're just stupid kids together they're just petty criminals. They steal, fence stolen goods and just wreak mayhem."
"There is more to it than what you are telling me."
"The gang itself is nothing really noteworthy, but to go after someone around someone like you means they're just lackeys for something bigger."
"Organized crime?" Sesshoumaru huffed, "Just where were you when someone came to my office to try and kidnap me? In fact no one came, odd considering I relieved that human of his left arm."
"I wasn't working otherwise I'd have been there within the hour." Kaisho grinned, "I'm sure that particular human didn't need that arm." The lord, for the first time that night, smiled. It was a hint of a smile but a smile none the less.
"Anyone with money can hire them." Sesshoumaru pointed it out.
"Yes but they don't go near taiyoukai." Kaisho tapped his pencil on his notebook, "I just wonder who this girl was that they'd risk all for her?"
"She was a priestess." Sesshoumaru almost smiled when the detective had this stunned/shocked expression.
His pencil slipped from his fingertips and hit the ground. "Are you certain?"
"I have lived long enough to never forget the imprint of purification."
"You felt her?" he asked incredulous at this bit of news. No one is that powerful anymore.
"Indeed." Sesshoumaru sipped some wine, "From quite a distance away, why do you think I engaged in such a meaningless fight."
Kaisho pocketed the notepad. "I have to go."
"Must I turn myself in I did kill a few of them."
Kaisho shook his head taking his coat and hanging it over his shoulder, "I've got it covered."
"Effective." Sesshoumaru leaned back, "See yourself out."
Kaisho set his personal business card on the coffee table, "I doubt it, but if they bother you again let me know."
Sesshoumaru held the glass of liquor to his lips unmoving as he heard the wolf detective leave his penthouse suite. As soon as the door shut he slowly smiled, his eyes partly turning red in the low light. Just knowing she was a priestess the detective easily surmised she had perished and the neko gangs took her body.
He already knew who was behind this it was only a matter of time before the OEA figured it out if they hadn't already surmised it. There would be hell to pay but he had lived through this blight several times over… he would live through it again.
No he was more interested on their intended victim.
.
To Wash it all Away
Twenty One
.
"She fell. She's dead." The cat kept his head bowed as he recanted what had happened.
It was a traditional style room in dark woods cast in the low light of candles and air thick with incense. The gang of neko's stood in the middle before a shadowed raised platform where a man sat in the dark on a tatami mat sipping sake from a saucer shrouded in a dark cape.
"Yet you are empty handed." His deep voice was quiet and did not echo off the walls but was stern enough to cause the subordinates to wince. "You were told to bring them to me… dead or alive."
"T… the dog general was there."
"I see." The man leaned forward. There was a long pause when as he sipped his sake. In a calm voice he said evenly, "I am disappointed in you."
"We can't go up against a taiyoukai!" The neko leader growled, "We lost five easily we barely made it out alive. You said bring the bodies, fine… but you never said anything about going up against someone of that caliber."
"Yes I heard your excuses." He cut them off, "You are dismissed." He waved his hand and the small group turned and left him in silence.
A tall woman came out of the darkness into the soft light. She had one yellow eye, one blue and wore a powder blue that matched the color of her cropped hair.
"Yoru, their services will not be needed anymore." He sipped his sake.
She turned into the darkness, a smirk on her face as her hand rested on the hilt of her katana.
.
.
"She wants to see you."
Kaisho looked up to see the pale creature staring at the ground in front of him. She wore all white accenting pure white skin and her blind eyes whose irises were a pale shade of grey. She was an apparition, one foot in the waking world another in the spirit world. He was used to her 'creepier than anything else he had ever seen before' presence but she was a nice kid… she even liked to eat ice cream and watch movies even though she was blind and technically the walking dead.
He sighed and stood up grabbing the stack of files he had been working on knowing it was only time before he'd be called to her office.
"She isn't alone."
Kaisho paused. "What do mean?"
"The 'others' are here as well."
"Fuck." He swore under his breath and ran his claws through his long unruly black hair.
"And… the liaison."
Kaisho growled loudly, balling his fists together drawing blood with his claws. The girl began to braid his hair tightly and securing it with a black cord. It was no use, a lot of strands came out already and his messy bangs would not be tamed. He shut his eyes and with some concentration his elfish ears and talons dulled, naturally reddish eyes turned dark brown and his tail disappeared.
"Good luck." She whispered watching him walk down the hall towards the High Commander's Chambers. She shivered lightly knowing there were some human behind that door.
Kaisho stood under the only beam of light in the darkened room. A few sets of eyes stared back at them, his heightened sense of smell easily picked out the human liaison.
Heels echoed off the bare walls as a tall thin woman stepped out into the light staring at him with deep red eyes. She wore a black suit, black hair slicked back into a single bun making her pale white skin and tipped ears stand out.
"Commander Soutan?" He asked worriedly at her demonic appearance in the presence of humans.
"My natural form was requested." She turned and stood beside him facing her demons… the members of the administration human liaison. They were under constant threat from the human governments, the administrating always hovering over their shoulder making sure everything was by the book and keeping to the code the humans laid out for them. Lapdogs to human government… that's what the OEA was. In other countries it was different but in Japan they couldn't so much as sneeze without asking a human for permission first. If there was a job he hated more than cleaning toilets it was his commander's job… not only was she the High Commanding Officer for the OEA's policing force she was also a 'catch all' that stood between him and every agent and this political bullshit.
A small thin set man stepped forward in oversized suit with small square glasses staring critically up at him. "Detective Kaisho." He looked through the file he had tucked under his arm, "It says you're a wolf?"
"Something like that." He folded his arms shifting his weight on one leg.
"You were hired onto the OEA a few months ago." He held out his hand, "I am Kato, the liaison."
Kaisho stared at the man's proffered hand but did not reach out to shake it.
The human simply dropped his hand uncaring that he had been slighted. "I know what you must think of my organization but assure you I am an ambassador of sorts to oversee operations."
"To make sure we're all leashed properly?"
Soutan pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kaisho shut your mouth before I shut it for you."
The human smiled slightly as he affixed his glasses opening the file he had under his arm. "Quite an impressive resume you have. You were the senior detective investigator at the police precinct before retiring. You have some of the highest letter of recommendations from all your captains. I am surprised you only stay on only ten years at a time."
"When my coworkers start to age I have to quit, change my name and move to the next city."
"Yes we followed your records through all the way to your enlistment in the army in World War Two." He looked up at the wolf who looked like he just turned 21.
"That's right." Kaisho shifted nervously, "I was there when they dropped the bomb… saw some shit that give me nightmares. You humans and your wars..."
"Before that record there is nothing. There is also a gap in parentage."
"I'm a wolf, we live in packs. All of the bitches raise all the children." He shrugged. "I'm no lord or anything."
"Your father was, wasn't he? What of your mother?"
Kaisho glared at the human, his eyes momentarily turning red and an unnatural wind began to swirl around him.
"Mr. Kato." Soutan stepped forward, "Internal investigations into my own forces are handled by this agency… not yours. He was chosen because of his recommends. I suggest we get to the point."
"I just have one quick question before we begin. Why did you never enlist with your own kind's policing agency?"
"Can I be blunt?"
Soutan rolled her eyes, "When aren't you?"
"I had more freedom masquerading as a human."
"I see." The emissary closed his files. "Since joining you've closed many cases. I commend you for your work but recently…"
"I did everything by the book like I'm supposed to. I could do more but I don't because I'd get my hands slapped." He growled lowly.
"We are not questioning your investigations Agent Kaisho." A demoness' soft voice spoke up from the shadowed area.
"Oh really?" He somehow didn't buy that bullshit and told them as much.
"We are just questioning the cases themselves." A bird demoness from the shadows called out. "There was a report of a rogue that was given very little attention."
Kaisho nodded, "We took a statement but there was not much to go on. I've posted patrols in the area just in case the demoness returns."
"Could this rogue be the same as the one who assaulted the civilians at the park?"
"Lady Ambassador we have many rogues and unregistered demons." Kaisho answered her, "This may just be two separate cases."
"What else is being done about this case?"
"None, it's hard to go on the two kids statements they were both high at the time."
"Did you try taking their memory out with a thought chaser?" The bird demoness offered.
"Our thought chaser can only pull out their memories."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning… they were extremely high on drugs and so she can only see what they saw… it's unclear, unfocused and gives us no clues." He already lined this out in is reports. They pulled the humans memories but it didn't do them any good. The thought chaser, a demoness that can read thoughts and memories with a single touch, only saw a blurred image of the darkness two red eyes staring before the creature overpowered them.
"That isn't good enough Agent." The bird demoness tutted, "The human governor does not buy our tale of a random wild creature attack he wants answers and you're in charge to give us those answers."
"That's enough." Soutan chimed in. She put her fingers to her forehead rubbing the bridge of her nose softly, "You'll have to smooth this over with him Lady Ambassador."
The bird demoness scoffed, "It is hard considering the victim is his own son."
"A son that was on drugs, something not released to the media and if he wants to keep his good name he'd better back off." Soutan glared. "We have leverage in this matter, deal with it." She barked at the bird demoness.
"Commander Soutan…" The human emissary began.
"No human is above the law Kato!" Soutan slammed her fist on a desk leaving a rather large imprint on the metal. Everyone took a step back at her outburst crackling lightning covered her form momentarily before she composed herself. Straightening her suit she looked at the human squarely, "Should we ignore the bigger picture?" She said watching him shift uncomfortably from one foot to another.
"I will make this disappear." The human muttered.
Kaisho shifted his eyes from his commander to the human, "What aren't you telling me?"
"Kaisho." Soutan turned towards him, "I read your initial report last night… I would like you to tell everyone here your findings."
"Efficient." The human was impressed. He had never witnessed such punctuality in any human precinct.
"I would also ask that you withhold the name of the taiyoukai whom you interviewed as you did in your reports." Soutan looked over her shoulder to the human and the members of the administration.
Kaisho grinned.
"Commander Soutan you are commanded to not withhold information in this." The human argued.
"You can requisition the name of this demon if you don't like it but I wouldn't suggest it, you'd have to go higher than the president for that and seeing as there is no one higher then… it is a fruitless pursuit." Soutan was glad that at least one of them had enough governmental pull that his anonymity was assured. Besides herself only Kaisho and the Founding leader of the OEA knew Lord Nandeska's true nature… and name.
Kaisho recanted the events that Lord Nandeska had told him the previous night especially pointing out the markings the neko gang had on their necks.
"They went into the presence of a greater demon, killed the girl and took the body…"
"Her holy power was confirmed… it was a priestess." Kaisho cut in.
The members of the administration began to mutter amongst themselves at the news. His superior merely stared down at him in silent contemplation of the situation at hand. They were fixated on the subject of the murder of an alleged priestess. Sure you couldn't swing a dead cat in Japan without hitting some sort of shrine but real priests and priestesses with any scrap of holy power was a rarity.
After the holy cleansing that wiped most of the demons from the face of Japan many years passed and humans began disbelieving in their existence. It was after decades, when the demons that still lived had licked their wounds sufficiently did they ever retaliate, slaughtering anyone with the gift of purification, and then through time natural selection did the rest. The third eye grew atrophied… humans simply did not have the power anymore.
Those demons still old enough to remember that time hold fierce hatred towards them… but others learned that these humans that were gifted their powers at birth no matter how latent had incredible restoring properties, regenerative properties. When the humans of this era learned the only natural enemies to demons were those of holy power they sanctioned banishment for anyone trying to harm one, and death for anyone who murdered one. There were black markets of body snatchers that claimed to sell the hearts of holy figures. They sold for millions but most of them weren't real.
"That is… interesting news." Soutan whispered softly.
"Just how interesting?" Kaisho heard the pause in her voice. His commander stared at him for a moment before looking over her shoulder, red dangling earrings chiming with her movement. Obviously their superiors were withholding information from him.
Soutan walked over to the emissary who handed her a folder he had been carrying. "We found your assailants." She handed Kaisho the file.
The wolf opened up the file looking down at the pictures he raised a brow and looked up to his Commander.
"They were all executed, beheaded. Their bodies elegantly displayed in a public park in the Tokyo district frozen in place. We have a cleanup crew there right now." She whispered to him. "You perhaps do not know much of our Raven List, demons sentenced to death without trial."
"I know enough about your assassins." Kaisho muttered, "This MO fits the description of your pantheress, Yoru." He may be a mouthful but he wasn't stupid, he'd read their hit lists employing trained mercenaries to find them. The pantheress assassin had a black mark on her, a warrant out for her death. There were demons in the OEA whose job it was to specifically hunt her down. Street word was she didn't work for anything less than a million per head. She was a political assassin her hits were major corporate heads, taiyoukai… people of immense power. So for her to slaughter a bunch of petty criminals was beneath her.
That is of course… unless she was working for someone.
"Oh no." He whispered. Pieces began to fit in a puzzle he did not want to solve. "It's him… isn't it?"
"There is a possibility that the hanyou has regenerated once again."
Kaisho felt the cold shiver at thought of dealing with 'the other' once again. "That's not possible." No one knew why he could not die, how he could survive the times they killed him but he did… does… and the world isn't ready for another world war.
.