Chapter Twenty: Rin Itou.

Tamara wouldn't be off of work until almost 7 A.M., and it was only 9 P.M. now. Hiei had plenty of time.

He and Kurama were in Spirit World, walking toward Koenma's office. Ogres were coming and going, not really taking notice to the two demons.

"Why are you doing all of this for her, Hiei?" Kurama asked, looking over at his friend. "I know that you love her, but doing this is going a little far."

"I found Mukuro's father, and you're the one who have me the seed of the plant I used to trap him."

"Yes, but Mukuro's father tortured her, raped her."

"Tamara's parents caused her unforgiving pain that they aren't even aware of," the fire demon hissed. "The least I can do is give her the option of finding them."

Kurama sighed. Hiei went out of his way to help people and didn't even realize it. He'd helped Yusuke more than once without even wanting to. But they were scheduled to leave for a case the day after tomorrow. Was he going to travel with his new mate, possibly around the world, to meet her parents?

Koenma was in his teen form, stamping paperwork as he was two years ago when Yusuke had gotten his job back. Seemed old habits died hard, even with a new position of power. He only took a glance at the two.

"How can I help you two?" he asked. "If it's about the case, Yusuke should have the details. A demon has stolen-"

"That isn't why we're here," Kurama said. "We are here regarding a friend of ours."

Koenma stopped then, slowly setting down his stamp. His eyes were serious. "I take it that this is about that Tamara girl, the psychic that transforms into a demon once a week to feed on a single human."

"Yes, that's the one," Kurama said, sweat dropping. He didn't think Tamara was that bad.

"Yes, I've been concerned about her as well. I'd love to meet her. Seems she's got some explaining to do."

"Explaining?" Hiei asked, trying to keep it casual. Maybe Koenma didn't know yet.

"Yes, how she went off of the radar in Spirit and Living World on her thirteenth birthday, and shows up in an entirely different country as a twenty-one year old woman with psychic abilities."

Hiei didn't gulp, but he became a little nervous. That was when she'd disappeared into the Otherworld. She still hadn't been to Spirit World to tell them. Then again, she couldn't come here. Not yet. Not when she didn't want anyone to find out about the Otherworld, Walter, and Silent Hill.

"Not to mention that almost six months after she disappeared, the Wish House Orphanage that she was staying in went off the grid as well, including most of the people who resided there." Koenma sighed. "There's something wrong with that whole area."

"Well, we're not interested in all that." Hiei had to change the subject. He knew too much. "We need to find out who her parents are."

Koenma blinked. "That's what you want? That's in the file I gave Yusuke. Her mother is actually a resident a train ride away from Tamara's city."

Are you serious? Hiei thought. That was a waste of time when he could be off doing something else. Like training. Or figuring out why the Darkness Flame had marked Tamara last night. That sounded much more productive than coming to Spirit World for nothing.

"You know," Koenma began, "I remember a little bit of her mother's file. Her name was Rin. Itou Rin. She was a pretty girl back in her high school years." He snapped his fingers. "Ogre! Go get Miss Itou's file, please."

The ogre nodded and Koenma continued: "The people who raised Tamara were wrong. Rin was full-blooded Japanese, in Tamara's home country on an education visa. It's weird how Tamara looks like she's mixed with a Caucasian, right? That was where she met Tamara's father, who has been dead for about six years now." He tapped his chin with his index finger. "If I'm not mistaken, he's in limbo."

"Limbo?" Kurama asked. "Why on earth would you have sent him there?"

"Simple. Tamara's father and her uncle broke into a house and killed four of the five teenagers living there."

That had both of the demons silent for a little while. No one said anything.

"They're both in Limbo," Koenma finally said to break the silence. "Poor Rin had no idea. She was just having harmless fun with the older one. Her visa was almost over by the time Tamara was born, and she fled to some place called Ashfield, which was almost three days from the hospital Tamara was born in. Left her outside the security office of a subway station and went home."

That stirred something up in Hiei. So her father was dead. But this Rin was still alive and would be able to tell Tamara what she knew, if Tamara was willing to find out.

"Give me her address," Hiei said sternly. "I need to see her."

Koenma raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Crap. Now what was he supposed to do? Unless Koenma already knew that he had mated with Tamara. But there was no way. Spirit World wasn't on Hiei's back anymore. His probation period was over in Living World.

"Tamara has recently become Hiei's mate," Kurama said with a grin.

Hiei glared at the fox. Way to put my business out there, fox. I'll get you later for this.

Koenma opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again in silence. He stared at Hiei. The fire demon didn't have to attempt to read his thoughts to know what Koenma was thinking. Ugh. And here come the jokes…

Koenma nodded, closing his eyes. "Right. Well as soon as Ogre gets back with Rin's file, you may go speak to her as you please. But remember that Tamara is going to have to find out what you're doing."

"I'm going to inform her when she gets off work, actually."

The overgrown toddler nodded again. "Good. Well, boys, I have things I have to do. So if you'll be so kind, get business done. And good luck on the case."

The two nodded. The ogre nervously handed Hiei the file, not making eye contact. Hiei smirked. Seems he had a reputation in Spirit World as well. Ah, being feared had its ups and downs. Mostly ups, though. He managed to get a lot of things done at once.

It was midnight when he found the house where Rin Itsou lived. He didn't care if they would be sleeping or not. But the lights were on. That meant that someone had to be awake.

The house was simple. One story and nothing big. Flower beds in the front yard, and Hiei could smell a dog in the back. Normal house for normal people.

Too bad that the daughter of the woman living here was everything except normal. He knocked on the door only twice. He stood there, with his hands in his pockets. He could hear someone inside, see someone look out the window from his peripheral vision. They were going to have a weapon to try to fight Hiei off if he was any trouble.

"Hn." It was almost a laugh.

A man came to the door, and his eyes widened slightly. He was more than a head taller than Hiei was, but had a too-nice look about him. His hair was slightly grey. "Can I help you, young man?" he asked. He kept one hand behind the door. The one holding the golf club.

"Yes, I'm looking for a woman named Rin. Itou Rin." His face stayed serious. He'd try not to kill this man, but he wasn't going to make any promises.

"Rin? Why, what could you want with her?" the man asked. He looked worried. One so young wouldn't want anything to do with his wife, surely.

"It will only take a moment, I assure you." Hiei was getting tired of this. "I have no intention of causing her any harm. I simply have a question I thought better to ask in person instead of on a phone." That and Hiei hated human technology.

The man nodded, then closed the door. He could hear the golf club hit the wall as the man set it aside. Hiei smirked. Fear. Worked every time.

A woman came to the door next. She had grey eyes, like Tamara, and mousy brown hair that went down her back. Her hair wasn't near as grey as her husband's, but Hiei could tell that the woman was middle-aged.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asked. "Nothing's happened to Mikoto, has it?"

"Mikoto?" Hiei asked. Ah. Now he was getting somewhere.

"Yes, my son, is he alright?"

Strange name for a boy. "I don't know your son, Miss Itou," he replied. "I'm here about your oldest daughter. She's over twenty."

The woman's eyes widened, and then darted to the side. "Why, my daughter is in bed. You must have me mistaken for someone else."

"No, I have good sources." He looked over the woman's shoulder. Her husband was standing there. "Care to step outside for a moment? It won't take long."

She did as Hiei asked, her hands shaking. She was short, too. Taller than Hiei, but she was short nonetheless.

"Sweetie, my daughter is only twelve years old, I don't know what you're talking about." She was still trying to be polite, hoping Hiei would go away. No, he was too frustrated for that. If it wasn't for his better sense, the woman would be on her way to the apartment now.

"No, ma'am, you do have an older daughter. Her father and his brother killed four people after you came back from school."

The woman cringed. Oh, this was her. Tamara's mother. She had that same dark look in her eyes when she got angry or upset.

"How do you know about her?" the woman snapped. "I left her behind a long time ago."

"I know everything that you did, Rin." Hiei glared at her. "Your daughter's name is Tamara. She's merely a train ride away."

The woman looked like she was going into shock. "Who the hell are you?"

Hiei smirked again. "I'm no one. I just wanted to let you know that she might be coming to visit you. Without me, of course, I have other things to attend to, and she is twenty-two now, perfectly capable of taking care of herself." His eyes shot to the street for a moment. "Which she's been having to do ever since you left her at a subway security office in Ashfield."

"Shut up! Do you know how dishonorable it would have been for me to bring her home with me?" She was in Hiei's face. Brave woman, this one. "I wouldn't have had time for her! I had to go to work!"

"Why would it have been dishonorable? Because she was different?" Hiei backed away before he lost control. Fighting a woman was something that he had no problem doing, even if it was some weak human. "I was abandoned simply because I was born a boy. Tamara was abandoned because you weren't married? Because her father had dark skin? You're just as cold-hearted as the witches who made my mother abandon me."

She had tears in her eyes. Hiei didn't care. He tossed a piece of folded paper toward her, and began to walk away, hands still in his pockets.

"You're not even worth telling her about, Rin. But I'll do it simply because she's always wondered what you sounded like, looked like, hell, felt like. That's her phone number. I hope you can give her a call before I get to her."

No, she reminded him too much of the women from the glacial village he'd been born in. Casting out a newborn because they were different from the rest. Tamara and Hiei both deserved better than that. It didn't matter what they had to do.

Hiei should have burned her to death. Mortal Flame would have sufficed just fine. But Tamara was capable of that all on her own. She didn't need Hiei to do anything except push her toward her goals, as she'd never accomplish them on her own.

It's not that Tamara was lazy. She just didn't want the world to become too real. The Otherworld did that to people, he supposed.

Rin couldn't believe what that young man had said. How dare he show up late at night and spring her with such news? That part of her life was behind her.

But she still picked up the piece of paper, unfolding it to look at the phone number. Was this really her daughter's phone number? How on earth did she get to this country? Hadn't she been adopted eventually?

Then again, how would Rin know? She didn't even have the decency to name her daughter when she'd left her lying there on the dirty concrete that night. She'd just wanted to get on the plane home as quick as she could. Her parents still to this day had no idea that Rin had been pregnant in the first place. She'd managed to keep it a secret from her whole family, even her husband and her son, who was now in high school himself.

What was she going to do now? Should she call or just wait for her to come here? What would she say to her daughter? What would her daughter say to her?

She couldn't picture her face, but she knew it would be in tears. Angry tears. Asking why she'd been left, who her father was and why he was gone, telling stories of how she coped with being an orphan. Rin wasn't sure if she could handle that.

She wondered if her hair grew out black, like her father's, or brown like hers. She wondered whose eyes she'd gotten. She wondered if the girl was cocky and a smartass. Wondered if she was the type to hold a grudge to those who'd wronged her.

She went inside, looking at her husband with sad eyes.

"What did he want?" he asked. "Surely nothing is wrong with your mother or Mikoto."

"No, neither of those things." She took a deep breath. She was going to have to tell him now. "I had a daughter twenty-two years ago, in the west. It seems she's found her way here, and wants to meet me."

Her husband didn't know what to say, she could tell. He wasn't going to be violent, he wasn't that kind of person. "You have a daughter?" he said after a few minutes. "And I know you don't mean our daughter. Mari is asleep."

She nodded. Yes, the twelve year old she'd given birth to was in her bed, not a care in the world. "I had her while I was in college overseas. I left her there, without anything. Not even my name or one for herself." Tears sprang in her eyes. "I'm sorry I never told you. I just didn't want you to think I'm a horrible person…"

She began to cry, and the slightly older man hugged her tight. They stood there for a few minutes, her sobs echoing in the house.

"Invite her to dinner," he whispered. "Let's go to bed. You can call her tomorrow."

"No, I'm going to call her now," she said, pulling away and headed for the phone in the living room. "I've gone twenty-two years without knowing my child's voice."

She punched in the number wrong three times before she got it right. She was nervous. She really didn't know what to say.

It went to voicemail. Hey, you've reached Tamara and Hiei. We're prolly working right now, so leave a number so we can get back to you. Say bye, Hiei.

She heard her daughter laugh and a male's "Hn" on the other end. Had that boy been Hiei? Was that her boyfriend?

She heard the beep after she heard Tamara say she was just joking with him and not to walk away from her. She went blank. She started to cry again. What on earth did she say to a child she hadn't seen in twenty-two years?

"Hello, Tamara." She sniffled. The words hadn't been loud, but she knew it was audible. She made it up as she went along, her husband sitting by and holding her hand.

Alessa smiled. She was wondering when that boy would hurry up and find Rin. Tamara had every right to know who her mother was.

And to know that she wasn't a monster, as Alessa's had been.

Her bogeyman came into Nowhere, his large knife dragging behind him. He almost seemed to sigh.

So he found her? he asked. Took him only six months.

"Relax, my dear. They haven't been dating that long."

They're now officially mated, as of about three days ago, and he's done nothing but good. I just think he should have done it sooner.

"And why is that?"

Because it was obvious from day one who he was.

Yes, that was true. And Hiei had probably known that as well. Her eyes rolled back as she saw the future again. A future made, destroyed, and then made whole again by her own hands. Yes. The next six months were going to be wonderful for her. Quite amusing, heart-wrenching, and even sweet.