Tren: Welcome back! After another long foray of no posting, I'm back.

Aillas: For HOW long exactly?

Tren: Long enough.

Aillas: You mean, right now.

Tren: …. Yeah…

Aillas: I know you too well.

Tren: Hmm… a grand flaw in your design.

Aillas: (sighs) this chapter is going to be confusing.

Tren: Indeed. Think it rather Quintin Tarantino-esque.

Aillas: Which, for the movie illiterate of us, means…??

Tren: Lot's of flashbacks!

Aillas: Oh joy, you extended the budget, then?

Tren: Nope.

Aillas: (sweatdrop) Lovely. Bankruptcy here we come…

Tren: Good to have you back, love.

Aillas: (muttering dark words as he walks out of the room)

Tren: Sooo… enjoy!!

"I… I can't believe you."

Koenma's lecture had gone on now for what seemed like half an age and still the toddler hadn't taken a breath. Currently Keichi was timing him in his head, but he knew there was truth behind the words. He wasn't lucky, he knew that.

"What do you have to say for yourself!?"

"I didn't see the piano wire."

The glint was still haunting Keichi as he leaned back on his bed. Despite the words of advice given to him by the bat demon, he was still thinking about stealing it. It wasn't just a passing thought anymore, it was bordering on obsession. Folding his arms behind his head he thought long and hard. Just how would he manage to get the item, whatever it was? After all, the blacksmith was notorious for being overly protective of his weapons. Looking over, he noticed Samui was fast asleep, same with their other room mate. Slipping up, propped on his elbows, he glanced out the small flap of their tent and noticed the glowing red light coming from the forge. He had to steal it, he just had to. Sliding off of his sheets he pulled on his plain black flats and gently pulled his bag over his head to sling across his chest. Careful not to make a noise, he left the tent, never looking back. That item was his. Whatever it was…

"Didn't see the piano wire!?'

The color Koenma was turning was unheard of, even after all his years of art classes. Keichi just stood there, taking the "concerned face" that he usually donned when talking with teachers, grateful that the Godling before him didn't know of this particular trick, he simply nodded his head occasionally while wondering if the color was more scarlet or magenta.

"I was under the impression that you were a better thief than that!!"

"Oh?" Keichi smiled sweetly, his expression as pure as fresh driven snow and mocking the toddler, "As it turns out, he was a better thief than me."

When he finally reached the lean-to shack, Keichi was surprised to see the glint was coming from a wall. Just his luck, it was probably just some crystal in the granite. Sighing, he reached behind him for a dagger to carve it out when, as he looked out of the corner of his eye, he caught the spell. An illusion. Grinning, he sidled up to the rock like a bar lizard to his next victim, a sly grin spreading from ear to ear.

"You thought you were clever, ne?" he whispered, his voice practically shaking in glee before he began to pick away at the spell with light, nimble fingers. Though he was talented at removing spells, whoever placed it was far better and it took him what felt like half and age and singed most of his finger tips. Sucking on one absentmindedly, he finally tore through the last bit of the layers of magic to find a door. Grinning around his fingers, he mumbled out something that would have sounded like "score" if it wasn't for the obstruction.

"That's not what the guild believes now. You're life is over."

"Is that metaphorically or literally, sir?"

He was being difficult on purpose and he knew it would grind down on Koenma's last nerve, but, really, it wasn't a day if he hadn't tortured the poor junior. Giving him his usual trademark grin he waited for the response.

"Does it even matter?"

"I would most certainly think it would. One actually involves the stopping of my heart. And just between you and me, I would rather not die, after all, whatever would you do with my soul then?"

"You know exactly where it will go."

"Oh…."

Pushing upon the door, it didn't even creak. It was easy… too easy. Though he knew it was cheesy to think that, he also knew it to be true. If there was one thing that his teacher most certainly drove home in him was that if it was easy, it was too easy. Slipping through, his feet barely touched the floor, light as a feather, but it wasn't enough. There was an angry whistling noise, and as he dropped to the floor, the bridge of his nose was sliced by a sharp object. Whatever it was disappeared seconds later into the other wall, but he had the nagging feeling that it was a leaf. Moving his body back into it's stand position, he took a breath. Alert to the trap now, he saw the points, the vines ready to strike him with leaves. What's worse was that they weren't listening to him. Whoever it was had better control, and he was beginning to get the idea of just who this thief was. Taking a deep breath, he raced forward, ignoring the cuts on his skin and clothes as the leaves tore through him.

"Yes, 'Oh', you moron."

There were times Koenma doubted why he considered Keichi an asset to the team. Then he was reminded that he really didn't have a choice.

"Well, I couldn't resist. It was mocking me!!"

"Mocking you?"

"Yes, it was mocking me," Keichi nodded his head in confirmation but Koenma continued staring at him like a moron.

"Keichi…?"

"Yup."

"It's an inanimate object," Koenma said bluntly.

"Yes, I know," Keichi replied patiently, as though his point of view really should be obvious.

"They don't mock."

"Then obviously you haven't gone through finals."

Gasping, he doubled over his knees as he stared at the stone pedestal. It was plain, nothing fancy carved into it, and frankly, a complete disappointment. Luckily, the item it was displaying was well worth the time and energy. Leaning over it, hands outstretched, his gold eyes were reflecting the belt.
It could only be described as glorious. Set with precious stones the size of his fist, it seemed to glow in anticipation, as though longing for his touch. As usual, Keichi spoke to it as he went to work on the protection spells, his voice hushed and husky, his body quivering in excitement. All the while he was assuring the item that he would indeed own it, he could hear the distant words of their teacher's lecture on demon history. It had to do with his father… he could remember that…

"You disgust me."

"The feelings mutual." Keichi assured the toddler as he crossed his arms over his chest and could hear Samui and Midori playing rock-paper-scissors in the background.

What WAS it the teacher read about… He should know, it was his father they were talking about. As he undid the second spell he could remember that it was about a challenge. Then, the words rang true. "Whoever steals this is a far better thief than I." Looking at the belt, his eyes grew wide. This was the item they had learned about! The belt his father had hid in a place "nobody would every find" with spells "Nobody could break". It took mere seconds to register.

Any sensible person would have stopped; their intelligence sated, and leave the item, forgetting the glint. Then again, Keichi had never really been sensible; it was his major failing as a reasonable being. Now there was a challenge. Pulling his hands back he cracked his knuckles and set to work with a renewed vigor, muttering under his breath.

"Unbreakable spells my arse."

"Really, what is wrong with you?"

"We've been trying to figure that out for awhile now, Koenma," Samui chimed in, his voice droll as he beat Midori for the 82nd time in their game. It seems she didn't understand the concept that you don't challenge a psychic to a game like Rock-Paper-Scissors.

"Was he asking you?!' Keichi snapped, glaring at the blue haired half demon who just shrugged as Midori groaned, unwisely choosing rock.

He wouldn't be able to tell you how long it took to take off every spell, but he could tell you how satisfying it was to see the belt laid bare before him. Grinning triumphantly, he blew off his fingers, a few were bleeding from a backfire or just the fact that he was touching the spells but he didn't notice, let alone care. Sliding his fingers under the smooth metal, he could feel the weight of the stones and he longed to feel the facets and cuts on the precious jewels. There were no spell for weight, so he felt safe as he turned to leave. And perhaps he would have made it too, if it wasn't for one small detail he had overlooked.

"I thought you were better than this," Koenma admitted and Keichi just hung his head, partially in real shame, partially to humor the poor Junior Judge.

"So did I."

Just as he was out the door, Keichi felt a slight tug. Nothing much, barely notable but he looked back to see the light give it's tell tale glint off the piano wire attached.

"Oh…" there was the twang as the wire snapped. "…shit…"

The alarm split the silence in half like a samurai to a watermelon. Ears flattening against his head, Keichi took off running. He'd already set off the alarm but he'd be damned if he let himself get caught. He was making great time. That is, until Samui, stepping out of his tent, trying to figure out what all the commotion was about, saw his auburn haired partner racing off like bat out of hell. Therefore, he did what made sense. Holding out his hand he effectively caught the strap of Keichi's battered, dying satchel bag and practically cloths lined the thief as he fell flat on his back.

"Keichi, what are you doing?" he asked, his voice sharp and unamused.

"Huh? Uuuuh…. Nothing."

"I never believed you when I trusted you, nothing has changed. WHAT are you doing?" Samui asked, crossing his arms over his chest as Keichi scrambled back to his feet.

"That would be… RUNNING!" and he was off again.

Koenma sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. There was something distinctly depressing about all of this, though he couldn't place it just yet.

"What are you going to do about all of this?"

"Well, I TRIED returning it but I forgot the receipt," Keichi rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping off his voice as he leaned back slightly in boredom.

"Be serious for once."

"Hmmm…. No."

After the short diversion that left Samui in the dust, Keichi continued his running. Meanwhile, Samui was sighing. Grateful that Midori had done her job and retrieved their information, he snuck though the crowded, busy pathways to her tent, kneeling down at the flap to whisper loudly enough for her to hear, and hopefully not her room mate. Luckily, it worked as she poked her head out, half dressed, making the poor boy blush.

"Hm? Samui? What's the matter?"

If Samui was perverse, he might have though something less of Midori for appearing in such a manner, but he simply knew she didn't like sleeping in too much clothes. Sighing, he looked away, face darkening in hue as he tried to contain his stutter.

"K.k.keichi took off somewhere," he mumbled, gazing up at the sky in embarrassment.

"Huh? Wait, WHAT!?" Pulling on a loose tank Midori hurried out of her tent, grabbing the few things she was allowed to bring on the mission and was already pulling on a pair of flats.

"It's exactly like it sounds, the alarms went off, and barely a minute later I caught Keichi running past our tent like a madman!"

"That's different from how he normally acts?"

"Didn't ANY OF YOU try and stop him!?"

"Oh yeah, sure, make US responsible for him," Midori shot back, glaring as she tried her hand once more at the game, but losing again, her hand making a sort of formation halfway between scissors and paper.

"Koenma, it is impossible to control Keichi on a GOOD day," Samui added, shaking his head at the girl before him. For all the years he'd known her, it seemed she didn't really learn.

"Don't blame the peons, Koenma," Keichi said with an all knowing tone.

"…." It was tempting for the junior judge of the dead to hit the thief before him. VERY tempting.

"Alright, so Keichi's on the lam. Should we head out too, or do think he'll come back?" Midori assessed the situation calmly as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. "Knowing Keichi, he will keep running until the danger is over and find himself lost," Those were the facts in Samui's mind and Midori sighed.

"Alllright… well then, I recommend that we try and find him. If alarms are going off, the last thing we want to do is to be pulled into this. We'd have more than enough trouble if they found out who we work for. Ready?" he hefted the small bag over her shoulder and Samui motioned to his own.

"Of course."

"Good."

"Don't you care!?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."

"Really?" Koenma couldn't believe it. Keichi… feeling guilt over his actions. This was perhaps the best breakthrough in the history of the world. Or at least, that's what he thought until the thief spoke again.

"Yeah. I'm soooo grounded."

"…what?" maybe he heard the boy wrong.

"You heard me! My dad is going to be livid."

Keichi was making great time. It was amazing how, when under stress, people can really exceed their body's limits. In fact, at this rate, he'd never be found!! What joy!! Grinning with his same reckless abandon, he was surprised to find himself falling towards the ground. When did THAT happen!? Pushing himself up he glanced around to see that he had tripped over a rather short, rather dark individual, who just smirked.

"Thought you could shirk your duties? Hm?"

"I can't believe you stole that DAMN BELT!!"

"Really? I can't believe it's not butter."

"This is a time to be serious, Keichi, not to be a smart ass," Koenma's glare could have set small children on fire. Luckily, Keichi was neither small, nor a child, though the latter was still up for debate.

"Better than a dumbass, sir."

"Not in the mood."

"Riiiiight, well… we proved one thing, right?" Keichi ventured timidly.

"And that would be….??"

"I'm as good as my dad?"

"Get out of my office before I find something heavy to throw at you…."

Tren: Another chapter done.

Aillas: Is it just me or was this arc rather lame?

Tren: It is.

Aillas: Alright, here to explain just what happened is… a special guest?

Tren: Yup.

Aillas: who?

Keichi: Yo (walks in and raises hand)

Tren: Lovely!!

Aillas: Not him.. (groans and covers face)

Tren: The honor is yours, Keichi.

Keichi: Alright, this arc was subtle. Remember how the teacher told the students about how my dad hid this tacky belt, right?

Tren: It's hardly tacky.

Keichi: Toe-may-toe, Toh-mah-toe

Tren: You're not making any sense.

Aillas: WHEN DOES HE?!

Keichi: Anywho, that's what I stole, in which my father technically passed down his partially self appointed title of King of Thieves.

Tren: Thanks. You may leave now.

Keichi: will do.

Aillas: So, now that the chapter has been explained… it brings up an interesting point.

Tren: And that is?

Aillas: How bad a writer are you when you need to explain a story arc?

Tren: (bows head) pretty bad. BUT!! Keichi gaining this title is important to the storylines to come!!

Aillas: What's next for our hapless wanna be rekai Tentai.

Tren: Cross dressing.

Aillas: WHAT!? O.o

Tren: Let's answer reviews!!

Aillas: TELL ME!!!

-ShadeSpirit: It's alright, I take too long to update! Wow, this story is gonna be 2 years old!? OMFG!! I.. I can't believe I'm still writing it… As for the ghost… Yesh, that IS Kuronue, my biggest crush from the ENTIRE anime… and he's only in the move!! (tear). And the object, Yes. Keichi stole it. Little klepto.

-HieiFan666: You finally read it!! YES!! Appoline is off doing something else, there is a reason why she did not join them, you'll find out later. She's an enigma!! And yes, the school is getting sick of all the excuses, but then again, back when their parents were there, the school went through the same thing!! laughs and come next chapter they'll be pissing the school board off some more!! LOL.

-LunaForest: Yes, it was a ghost and it is Kuronue. (who is amazingly sexy!!)

-Vitanie Tora: OMG! I'm not alone! I cried over the same thing as your friend, and Yes. The ghost is Kuronue. I'm glad you all got that! This is actually a pretty sad climax… it just sort of died. (laughs) Yes, I'm glad to have Aillas back, obviously, and I hope Yuki enjoyed his stay!! How was your camping trip?

Sabs: Ugh… yeah, the misplaced sentence was due to I fixed it.

Tren: that's all.

Aillas: CROSSDRESSING!?!