Hey guys! I'm really sorry about the huge disappearing act I pulled in February! Moved house a few times, and things had been hectic. On top of that, there was no internet for a very long time, so I'm really sorry! I recieved a few messages complaining about my disappearance, and I'm sorry. I promise, before I suddenly up and disappear, I will have the three remaining fictions on this site finished before that happens. This is the first one on the list to be finished. Anyway, I didn't want to come back with just one chapter to put up here, I've got three key chapters in one hit for you all here, just because I'm really sorry. I don't know when the next time I'll be on is, but I hope it will be soon. I'll have more chapters to post next time, I promise =3 Thank you for sticking by! And I'm sorry!
-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT: Obscurus Iniustitia
Silence rung throughout the area as the minutes ticked away, as Koenma stared down at the empty drawer with a stunned look across his face. The empty drawer held evidence that paper had previously been held within the wooden drawer, a few choice scraps of paper from the perforated pages of a tear out book remained scattered in the bottom, however, nothing else remained. He couldn't seem to get a hold of himself, the sight of the empty drawer was the most alarming sight he had seen since he had found out that Yusuke was half demon. His eyes shifted from the empty drawer, to the bin that remained just past the drawer, and, he saw that the bin was empty, completely. The bin was never empty, it took him hours to yell at the ogres to empty it for him, and he didn't leave it empty before.
He blinked, snapping himself straight up as if he had been staring at something that was foul and disgusting, and as his wide eyes scanned the rest of the office to try and locate anything else that was out of place since he left that morning, and he couldn't seem to spot anything, aside from a closer look at the papers sitting on his desk confirming the one thing that was making him begin to panic – Someone had gone through all of his papers, everything that he had in his office. Every pile on the top of his desk was out of their specific order, and stacked in the worst arrangement he had ever seen. If the drawer hadn't been emptied, he would have automatically set his conclusion to the ogres being lazy and making a disgusting arrangement of his papers again. Not this time though.
Shaking his head quickly, he place his gaze straight back down to the open drawer to his right, taking in the sight of the wooden, empty expanse with an intense gaze. The drawer was almost full that morning, he had just finished reading through the limited papers on the investigation of the black metallic substance that had covered the whole shopping district from that incident weeks beforehand, and now every shred of evidence was now gone. He looked to the papers on top of his desk, scanning how much had changed – He had only been gone for two hours at most, it was only one in the afternoon at that moment, and it was obvious that whatever, whoever had gone through his office had been long gone.
He stood up suddenly as he thought he heard someone calling him from the other side of his office door, though, as he looked up at it, he felt himself lose the remaining colour in his face as he realised there was no one there. Letting out a breath to calm himself down, he looked down at the little computer device sitting on the side of his desk, and even that was moved from it's previous place in the drawer on top of where Meia's papers had been. Hearing a familiar voice calling his name again, he bit down on his lip, closing his eyes and waving his hand over at the part of the room that he normally set his portals – the carpet was really worn down at that place, and the weaving of the carpet base was beginning to show. He needed to get that replaced soon, though that was the last thing on his mind at that moment.
The swirling mass of purple energy appeared in it's usual place, so usual that Koenma looked away from it as soon as he knew it was in place, and, he began to grab the huge piles of papers and merely dump them onto the floor next to the desk, not even taking a glance as the papers on the larger piles tipped over and scattered themselves all over the floor and out of order. This was all too convenient, far far too convenient. The many attempts to have her killed, the incarceration before her death, then upon her disappearance, all papers and possible signs of her have either been destroyed or stolen. This was far too close to be coincidence, far too close for it to just be the luck of the draw. Koenma was willing to bet his right hand on foul play, and he was positive that whoever was at the root of the problem, was in connection with his father. This was all planned, it just had to be planned. Everything went to hell the moment Meia was captured, and King Enma was taking full advantage of it. It was even beginning to cross Koenma's mind that King Enma might have had his fingers in all of the attacks and disappearances over the past two years.
The faintest footsteps met his hearing, and, he didn't look up as the silhouette of the silent fire apparition and the bitter spirit detective leader appeared not that far from the portal. Koenma felt a look of curiosity hit the side of his face as he merely pushed the last pile of paper onto the huge mound of scrambled papers, sending the papers so far as to hit the wall three meters away.
"What's up, Pacifier breath? Spring cleaning?" Came Yusuke's voice, dragging Koenma out of his momentary mindset of foul play.
"No, Yusuke, I'm not!" Koenma spat, and, he saw sudden alarm cross Yusuke's face. He let out a breath as he felt his agitation begin to boil into frustration and anger, and, he looked up at Yusuke after a few moments. "What do you want now?"
"Uh, came in ... to check if you found anything." Yusuke spoke hesitantly, and as Koenma's eye twitched, he spotted severe discomfort over the spirit detective's face.
"No, Yusuke, we've not found any clue into what has happened!" Koenma seethed, and, he saw a blank look cross Yusuke's face. "And there's not going to be an investigation!" He spat as Yusuke opened his mouth to speak.
"What? Why not?" Yusuke demanded immediately.
"BECAUSE, YUSUKE!" Koenma shouted, and for the first time in all the time he had dealt with Yusuke, the spirit detective actually shrunk back in reaction to Koenma's outburst. Koenma narrowed his eyes upon the stunned spirit detective as he focused hard on lowering his voice. "Meia has been classed as MIA, an investigation's forbidden, and there's nothing that you, or even I can do about it." Koenma seethed, and, there was no real movement from Yusuke. Hiei however, just watched in that condescending manner that he always watched the people around him in, and, it didn't make his attempt at calming himself down any easier.
"But – what about that huge fight over executing Meia–"
"My fathers the one that's forbidden the investigation!" Koenma almost spat, and Yusuke's dumbfounded expression didn't exactly help his temperament. "So, if you don't like it, then you can just leave, because I don't have the patience to deal with your insolence!" He really wanted to go throw many projectiles at his father, anything that would inflict some kind of harm upon him at that moment, but he couldn't, and all he could do was brood over his fathers 'Under the Rug' ploy.
"B-but – what about that woman you took into custody?" Yusuke spoke hesitantly, and, Koenma felt the anger suddenly disappear for a few moments. He had completely forgotten about the suspect that Yusuke had taken to disarming and almost crippled. He didn't answer, staring at Yusuke for a few moments as he thought on that statement. His grip on the investigations and answers might not have been entirely stolen from him after all. His father might not have taken everything, just yet. Koenma glared at the desktop after a few moments, taking a few seconds to think on his actions carefully before he decided.
"Go and pack Meia's belongings, everything that you can." Koenma spoke, receiving a deadpan look from Yusuke. "Just do it, now." Koenma spoke, and, as he stood up in his seat, he saw a frown cross Yusuke's face.
"Fine." He grumbled, turning around to head back through the portal. Koenma looked at Hiei after a few moments, who was still standing just next to the portal on the right.
"Do whatever you want, I'll ask for your report next time." Koenma spoke in a brisk manner, and as he leapt out of his chair to head out of the office, he felt a condescending glare hit the side of his face as he moved. The doors opened, and closed without too much problem, and as Koenma ran down the corridor to the right, he waved his right hand to close the portal.
I forgot about the suspect, I can't believe I forgot about the suspect! Koenma thought, sprinting down the corridors towards the prisoner cells, though there was only three beings in there – the last prisoner taken was from over four centuries beforehand. The interrogation, he was supposed to be conducting it, and he would have conducted it before if he hadn't of found that his papers had been searched through.
Turning down the corridor to the right on the other side of the castle, Koenma slid to a halt at the open door. The prisoner ward, wasn't as empty as he had previously thought – Four spirit world soldiers were standing on either side of the door to one of the cells, the special forces unit that had come and essentially twisted his arm into leaving the disappearance site fifteen minutes beforehand. In fact, as Koenma saw another of the soldiers step out of the cell, he felt his anger beginning to rise into full force as he saw the red haired soldier from that morning.
No, this can't be happening! Not now!
"What is the purpose of this!" Koenma demanded, his teeth gritting together forcefully as the soldiers other than the leader of the group looked to him.
"Escorting Miss Kuroi to safety, Lord Koenma." Came that cold, stone voice of the soldier from before, and Koenma felt all of the frustration he had been feeling over the past four months just burst into full flame.
"She was taken into my custody! Not yours!" Koenma seethed, and, the leader of the group of soldiers just looked at Koenma casually over his shoulder.
"And she was taken into custody under false pretences. Miss Kuroi is a victim of your spirit detective's out of control behaviour." The soldier spoke, and Koenma saw him turn to face him casually, folding his hands behind his back. "Therefore, we have complete jurisdiction over her safety."
"My father's to blame for this too?" Koenma spat, and, he saw the soldier smirk slightly.
"King Enma has given us specific orders to eliminate anyone who oppose, and as such, even one such as yourself, cannot intervein."
"You're acting to support the corruption in this world! Not fix it!" Koenma shouted, and, that smirk across the soldiers face turned into a broad, gloating grin.
"We swore complete loyalty to the rule of King Enma, as such, we will do whatever we can to aid out king in whatever he sees fit." The leader spoke, and, as Koenma stood there motionless, he saw the soldiers step away from the door of the cell. "Miss Kuroi, it's time to leave." Koenma watched, feeling the last of his anger suddenly fade away to make room for the sensation of futility. As the soldiers walked past him and to the door down the left end of the corridor, a large, severely beaten figure slumped out of the cell. The form of Barnette, smirking toothily at the silent toddler ruler cackled in laughter that sounded inhuman.
"You can't touch me!" She howled, her voice sounding deformed as she walked in a carefree manner. "Your little brat's gone! And there's nothing you can do about it!" Nothing could have made him feel that useless, that inferior at that moment. There was nothing he could do, he just watched as the last hope he had to finding some form of answer stumbled out of the prisoner ward, untouchable to everyone that was not King Enma himself.