A/N: If anyone sees any spelling errors in this or other chapters, please let me know. I try to get all of them but... ah well. Enjoy.
O/C35: The gang brings Misaki, still in Sandra's body, back to the agency but Koenma informs them that there is no cure for the disease. All they can do is make Misaki as comfortable as possible. Botan runs out of the office crying and Koenma sends Yusuke and Kuwabara after her. Kurama and Hiei on the other hand are sent to Misaki's house...
--
The familiar density of the receiving room materialized around them.
"Names please. And state your business."
"It's Kurama, Zumi. And Hiei is here too."
"Oh!" he became more pleasant, "Welcome back Masters. How are you doing?"
"Zumi, Misaki is here too she—"
"Oh dear, welcome home Mistress! If I had known that you were returning so soon I would have—"
"Zumi!" Kurama interrupted again, "She can't hear you."
"I hope I didn't wake her." he whispered.
"Zumi, do you ever stop talking?" a weak voice spoke up.
It was silent for a moment.
"Mistress?" Zumi asked hesitantly; it didn't sound like Misaki.
"Yes Zumi. It's too much to explain."
"Alright then." Zumi trusted her.
"Some fire bread, Zumi. And ambrosia as well."
"Of course Mistress."
"I'm tired Zumi."
The room around them changed. They were in front of a door with a small cart that held two baskets of bread.
"Zumi I need you to stay in touch with Koenma."
"But Mistress, you've only just gotten home..."
"Zumi."
He sighed, "Yes Mistress." The intercom clicked off.
"Hiei put me down."
"You collapsed last time I did that."
Misaki knew she would probably collapse again if he did put her down. She reached out a hand to the nearby door, expecting it to open, responding to her spirit energy signature as always. The door wouldn't budge.
"Zumi!" she yelled at the ceiling.
"Yes Mistress?" His voice sounding smug. He had known she wouldn't be able to open the door.
"Just open the door Zumi," Misaki growled.
"Yes Mistress." Zumi replied dutifully as the door swung inward and he clicked away.
The room lit up with a soft glow that seemed to come from everywhere when they stepped into the room. Kurama grabbed the bread before he came in. Hiei put Misaki down on the bed and she lay back against the pillows, closing her eyes. There was a chair that Kurama pulled next to her, placing the baskets on a table near the bed before sitting down. Kurama grabbed a piece of the ambrosia while Hiei got a piece of fire bread and sat cross-legged at her feet. Misaki reached over and took a piece of the fire bread herself, taking a bite.
"I wouldn't suggest that Mistress, but then again you never really listen to me, do you?" None of them had heard the tell-tale click that signaled Zumi's return.
Misaki cursed and clutched her stomach, curling into a ball, and dropping the rest of the bread.
"What's wrong?!" Kurama asked.
"She isn't herself anymore. She's human. Humans can't handle the type of fire that goes into making fire bread. It's odd though... It should have burned her tongue. Usually people spit it out and it doesn't go as far as their stomachs." Zumi said.
"Her senses..." Kurama started, leaning close to her, "Misaki can you hear me?"
She nodded painfully.
"Her senses...?" Zumi questioned.
Kurama didn't answer him, "Can you feel my hand?" He put a hand on her cheek. She nodded again.
"Zumi does fire bread have any smell to it?" Kurama asked.
"Oh yes that's right! If she wouldn't have been able to handle it, it should have smelled enough to make her stop. But what does...?"
"That's two." Kurama mumbled, "Misaki open your eyes." he commanded.
Two blue slits peeked out from beneath her eyelids. He waved a hand in front of her face and she frowned at the fast movement, closing her eyes again. Kurama sighed with relief.
"There's still three more."
"Would you care to explain?" Zumi said impatiently.
"She's sick and going to die. She's at the last stage of the disease, losing her senses fairly quickly one by one and as she looses the last one, she'll die."
Misaki groaned, curling even tighter.
"Well the fire in her stomach will fry her insides before she ever gets a chance to die." Zumi commented.
"And how do we stop that?" Hiei asked.
"You're the fire youkai. Draw it out of her." Zumi said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
Hiei held his tongue, more concerned with helping her than retorting at him. He concentrated, reaching through the fire he had and drawing the inferno in her stomach out.
Slowly Misaki relaxed as the hellhole disappeared.
----
"Any luck?" Yusuke asked as he and Kuwabara came back in the room.
Koenma looked up from his desk and raised and lowered one shoulder, "How is she doing?"
Kuwabara grimaced, "We couldn't catch her."
"She went off wailing like a banshee." They both collapsed into a couple of chairs, "So what now?" Yusuke asked.
Koenma's face was drawn, "I don't know."
"I feel so helpless!" Yusuke said, pounding a fist onto the table, "What can we do?"
"If she stays in that body, she dies. So she needs her body back." Kuwabara sat in deep thought.
"And it's no longer in this world, or the human one." Koenma added.
"So...it's in some sort of alternate dimension?" Kuwabara couldn't quite grasp what Koenma was saying.
Koenma sighed, "No if it was it would make it a whole lot easier. It's passed on into the death realm. That's Botan's expertise, sort of, but what with her wailing around blaming herself for what's happened..." He didn't have to finish his sentence.
"Isn't there some sort of back up Reaper?" Yusuke threw his hands in the air, "Yah know, in case this sort of thing happens and the regular Grim Reaper can't do her job?"
"This sort of thing hasn't happened before," Koenma put his elbows on the desk and rubbed his temples, "So no. No one who can do what we need them too."
"Which is what?"
"Journey into the land of the dead and bring her body back."
"There's got to be somebody with that sort of talent. Like some sort of spirit detective or something."
Kuwabara made a face.
"You know what I mean!" Yusuke snapped.
"I certainly do. While there may be someone with that type of capabilities, it would take much to long to find them. I have the next best thing."
The three guys turned towards the door. Coahtu filled the frame, holding a young kid by the scruff of the collar. The kid, who she tossed forward, stumbled a little and looked back at Coahtu with the slightest expression of contempt before cleaning off imaginary dust on a sleeve.
"Who is this?" Koenma asked her.
"Tahatchi, the death youkai, always at your service if the price is right." Tahatchi added, making a sweeping bow.
"While it isn't strong enough to travel, and its powers have been restricted because of their properties, I know it's perfectly capable of doing what is needed."
"It?" Yusuke looked Tahatchi. While looking like a perfectly normal human child of maybe seven, Tahatchi had a black tail with a spade shaped tip weaving through the air.
"Oh yes I remember the trouble with had with this one. Quite a few years ago if I remember correctly. Resurrecting all of those dead people." Koenma shuddered, "You made a horrible mess. Took Misaki and Sensui weeks to put everything back together again."
Kuwabara flinched at the mention of Sensui. The memory still haunted him. And how could Misaki stand to associate with that nasty guy?
Noticing Kuwabara's reaction, Koenma bit his lip, "I shouldn't have told you they were partners. It wasn't my place. Misaki will have my hide when she finds out."
"It?" Yusuke said again, a little louder. Tahatchi looked like a boy to him; he wore regular street clothes and while his hair was an odd color for someone his age—it was grey and white—he seemed normal otherwise.
"It. A youkai who is genderless." Coahtu explained.
"But you can call me a he if it makes you feel better." Tahatchi supplied.
"What's this plan you have Coahtu." Koenma asked warily.
"Tahatchi resurrects someone who can go after Misaki's body."
"Do you think I'll allow it...him to do that?" He retorted.
"You will, because you know Tahatchi is the only who can do it. And you know that he is the only one who will dare to go after her." Coahtu responded coldly.
By the emphasis Coahtu put on the 'he', Yusuke and Kuwabara knew that she wasn't talking about Tahatchi. The air became tense as Coahtu and Koenma glared at each other. Koenma broke the edgy silence by looking down.
"It's the only way?" he asked quietly.
"The only way." she echoed.
Koenma took a deep breath and let it out, resigning himself to this last resort.
"Then let's get this over with." Koenma hopped out of his chair and stood in front of Tahatchi, his face very grave. "Tahatchi, I hereby remove the ban on your powers as I am the one who ordered the ban years ago. But only on the condition that you become a spirit detective."
Tahatchi crossed his arms, "What's the catch?"
Yusuke and Kuwabara burst out laughing and Tahatchi eyed them uncertainly.
"You're helping us out with this next mission." Koenma said.
Tahatchi's face grew superior, "I can see that I'm the only one who can help you with this so called 'mission'. Surely my powers are worth more to you than that."
Swiftly and unemotionally, Coahtu grabbed the back of Tahatchi's shirt and lifted him in the air, spinning him around so she could look him in the eyes. Tahatchi's legs dangled uselessly. Her grip was like cold iron and her gaze matched it.
"You may want to rethink that response." Her fire-hair flushed blue.
Tahatchi seemed nonchalant.
Coahtu cocked her head at him, "Your powers are worth your life." She finally said.
That shook him up.
"Want to say that differently now?"
Tahatchi nodded.
Coahtu set him down and he adjusted his shirt before turning back around. Everyone waited expectantly for his new response.
"I would be honored to help you out. In any way that my powers could be of use, I humbly request that you inform me of such so that I may serve you. I bow unworthy to be in your presence." He bowed again, mockingly.
Coahtu casually kicked him in the behind which was so perfectly positioned in front of her, "Don't push your luck."
"So what's this plan? Anybody care to inform the rest of us?" Yusuke spoke up.
"Tahatchi has enough control over his powers to resurrect him, and in such a way that he can still travel back into the death realm and bring the body back for us."
"Why can't Tahatchi just talk to this dude for us, ask him to find Misaki's body and then Tahatchi can bring back the body?" Kuwabara had a bad feeling about who this guy could be.
"It's easier to straight up resurrect someone than to talk to them. If the body is all that's in the death realm, I can't bring it back. It needs a spirit in order to return." Tahatchi answered.
Coahtu nodded, "And he isn't strong enough to hold a link for very long."
"You didn't have to mention that," Tahatchi mumbled.
"Yes I did. Your explanation was not explicit enough."
"Alright. Let's put this plan into action." Koenma decided.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I never agreed to do this." Tahatchi held out his hands and took a step back, bumping into Coahtu. He looked up at her frowning façade and grimaced.
"Actually you did agree when you said 'in any way that my powers could be of use—"
Tahatchi interrupted Yusuke, "Just hear me out, okay!"
Koenma indicated that he should continue.
"Have you people really thought this through? The consequences for bringing back the dead? And what about me? I could die from this you know, just because of the strain."
"That didn't stop you years ago from doing the exact same thing on a large scale. And you didn't die then either," Koenma noted, "I didn't know that you gained a conscious in the time you've had your powers restricted."
"Well...I...uh...no! No I haven't! It's just...well I since I've been lacking in my powers...what if I loose control? I haven't done this in forever. I may not have died then but my hair wasn't always this color you know!" Tahatchi took a piece of the hair in between his fingers.
"That was a small price because of the strain. Having odd colored hair doesn't kill you." Coahtu replied.
"Yeah but being an amateur does!" he complained.
"Point well taken. You're doing it anyway."
Tahatchi began to protest again but Koenma held up a hand to stop him, "I promise immunity to anything that could happen."
He considered it before agreeing. "Alright. Now who are we bringing back?"
Coahtu and Koenma exchanged glances.
"It's her fault we have to do this." Coahtu shrugged.
"I already told them anyway."
"Misaki really is going to have your hide for this." Coahtu's eyebrows rose.
"Told us what?" Yusuke wanted to know.
"I already told you about Misaki and Sensui being partners."
Both Yusuke and Kuwabara's eyes widened as they realized just who Tahatchi was bringing back to life.
--
Thanks for reading!
-lotsm