As a special birthday gift from me to the fans, I'm posting at least two new chapters and making a drabble a full story!
It was supposed to be a simple delivery run. Nothing Fon hadn't sent her on before and it wasn't like the area was known to be dangerous.
Portland was under the control of a Royal, but not one of the more...unstable ones.
Fon had approved of it before Tsuna even sent her out to deliver a time-critical refill of spices to one "SpiceFox", who was one of his many online apothecary friends. She had taken over for her brother when he was killed.
So he was quite surprised to get a rather panicked e-mail from SpiceFox about a few hours after I-Pin would have arrived in America.
Did you send a little girl to make the delivery?
Tsuna was on his computer in an instant.
GrimmFire- What happened?
SpiceFox- There's a Wesen active targeting kids, and a little girl was taken that fits the description of the one that delivered the same spices I ordered from you a few days ago. Nick said he has a lead, but I thought I should let you know.
Tsuna didn't even hesitate. First he called Fon, then Hibari.
GrimmFire- I'll be in Portland ASAP. If she's found please keep an eye on her...she does understand some English but she primarily speaks Mandarin and some Japanese.
Upon learning the time frame they were dealing with, Tsuna cursed.
"What's going on?" asked Reborn.
"I-Pin went missing after I asked her to make a delivery to one of my friends. Fon approved it, but apparently there's a Wesen active that's targeting kids and she might have been taken. There's no way in hell I'm spending three days just to get in and out of America," said Tsuna flatly.
Reborn was on his shoulder in an instant.
"What are you planning?"
"Calling in a favor. So long as we clear it with the Royal in charge of the area, no one needs to know we were there. Besides, the Varia has private jets and Mammon likely won't complain since it means we'll owe them a favor or two for it," said Tsuna.
Reborn couldn't help him. This wasn't a mafia or a civilian problem, but something to do with his heritage. He was still playing catch up and reading the books.
Even if he did have a lot of fun playing with the weapons Tsuna had at his disposal, like the ax. How many people could say they were able to get their hands on an authentic German battle ax that had killed people before? Most of them were in museums or collecting dust!
Tsuna was on his phone speaking in rapid fire German. A look of relief crossed his face.
"Mammon said that they could divert the jet to land in Namimori in an hour, but I can't bring more than two people with me. You don't count, though," he added.
"Takeshi and Hayato," said Reborn.
"That was my idea too. Ryohei's too loud and someone has to stay behind to take care of the town while his girlfriend runs the shop. And if there's a Wesen targeting kids, that automatically excludes Lambo anyway."
It was a good thing the Varia was able to ignore security checkpoints. Tsuna didn't think the rent-a-cops that littered the airport would have liked his carry on bag or the weapons inside.
Hey, he was a Grimm, not an idiot. Even if he did reluctantly leave his battleaxe behind.
In Portland...
Rosalee heard the bell jingle, but didn't really expect the people who came in. Generally speaking teenagers didn't really frequent her shop and she was fine with that.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
The 'lead' teen wore some rather stylish sunglasses that mostly sat on his nose and obscured most of his eyes. He took one look at her and partially smiled.
"Are you SpiceFox?" he asked.
Rosalee paused.
"GrimmFire?" she asked carefully. "I wasn't expecting you to show up so fast."
"Or be so young?" he guessed.
Rosalee kept her silence.
"So are you a..."
"Yes, I'm a Grimm and yes I run an apothecary the same as you," said Tsuna tiredly. "Just because I can see Wesen doesn't mean I have an insatiable urge to cut heads off whenever they show their other forms. Hence the sunglasses."
"Maybe I should introduce you to Nick. He's the one looking into the missing children," said Rosalee.
"It would be appreciated. Tell him if he needs a translator I am fluent in several languages...makes it easier to read the books," said Tsuna.
Elsewhere in Portland...
"Shishishi... So this is where you've been hiding."
"What do you want?" demanded Renard.
"Nothing, just extending proper courtesy and alerting you that one of my Grimms is in the area to retrieve a lost apprentice," said Belphegor.
"Lost apprentice? Are you talking about the little girl that was taken?" asked Renard sharply.
"It's rare for him to call in a favor, so we brought him with us along with two of his partners. You'll need them to translate, since the girl is barely passable at understanding English," said the figure on the boy's shoulder. "The other two are Wesen."
"What kind?"
"A Balam and a Scharfblicke," said the smaller figure.
"I can't have a random foreign civilian joining a case," said Renard.
"If your Grimm has any sense, odds are he'll discreetly bring Tsuna in as a translator or something. Knowing him Tsuna went straight to the first apothecary he could find to make contact, considering I-Pin was only in this town to make a delivery," said the smaller figure dismissively.
In the Spice Shop...
"You said you had something on the missing kids?" asked Nick.
"Not quite," said Rosalee.
Nick saw three teenagers.
"Is there a problem here?" asked Nick.
"Are you the detective in charge of finding the kids that went missing?" asked the smallest teen. He had a pair of sunglasses on, which Nick found odd.
"I am."
"I'm I-Pin's brother. I came as soon as I heard she went missing, since I was the one who asked her to bring a delivery to Portland."
"You sent a seven-year-old to make a delivery?" said Nick incredulous.
"Her teacher said it was fine. I-Pin is very dependable and she should have come straight back. And I couldn't really deliver the spices Rosalee asked for through the mail."
"That's child endangerment, you know."
"Coming from a Grimm, that's saying a lot," snarked the silver haired teen. "Last I checked it wasn't uncommon to start training children to hunt rogue Wesen before they're even ten...especially since girls inherit the gene earlier."
"Are you saying the little girl is a Grimm?" asked Nick.
"Our teacher is, and he suspects she might have the gene but it's too early to tell. Considering her fighting style, she should have been safe enough and it was a simple delivery run," said the smaller teen.
"What are your names?" asked Nick.
"Tsuna, and this is Takeshi and Hayato. We're from Japan," said Tsuna.
"And you sent a little girl all the way from Japan to make a delivery? How did you make it through customs so fast?"
"The Royal who's in charge of our town gave us a lift. As for Customs...officially we're not actually in the country since we're not staying around," said Tsuna sheepishly. "Going through legal channels would have taken far too long and there's no way I was going to waste time when I-Pin's life could be at stake. I just hope I don't end up called in to act as Belphegor's alibi."
"Who's Belphegor?" asked Nick.
"The Royal who gave us a ride," commented Hayato. "He went to meet the Royal in Portland as a sort of head's up that we're going to be joining in on the hunt for whatever took I-Pin, since it's sort of protocol among them."
"Besides, you'll need us when you find her. I-Pin can only speak Chinese fluently and she won't accept being around adults she doesn't know, no matter how well-meaning they are," said Tsuna.
Nick gave the kids an odd look, but didn't try to tell them no.
"Look, are you planning to interfere? It's officially a police investigation and it would be pretty difficult to explain why I'm bringing in three teenagers that legally shouldn't be here."
"If you can show us your books we can do the research for you," offered Tsuna. "I even came with a peace offering of copies of the ones I have, including a few potions books that I've already handed over to Rosalee."
"...You made copies?" said Nick.
Tsuna held up a USB stick.
"I have a lot of free time and it doesn't hurt that our town is pretty peaceful. We've made an agreement with the locals a long time ago where they keep the less savory practices to areas we aren't obligated to report, like the Roh-Hatz. It also helps that we have a Hexenbiest judge on our side who's willing to send the worst criminals for the Wesen to deal with."
Tsuna took one look at the trailer Nick had for his Grimm research. It was pretty well organized, considering, and he was already looking over the herbs and ingredients Nick had in his spice rack.
"Siegbarste Gift? That's pretty damn rare..." said Tsuna with appreciation.
"Really?" asked Takeshi.
"Rare and has a pretty potent scent," said Tsuna. He was so not opening that in an enclosed space. Besides, he had smelled it before during training.
It had taken two weeks for his sinuses to clear up from that.
"So any idea what we're dealing with?" asked Hayato.
"From what Nick showed me, I'm fairly certain it's La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman. It certainly fits the profile," said Tsuna.
"How do we deal with this one?" asked Reborn.
"No idea. According to all sources she's a ghost. I think the most we can do is find the kids and keep them from any water sources until midnight has passed, because she's only active once a year until then," said Tsuna. "Which means we need to find them first."
"Ghosts don't exist," said Reborn.
"Reborn, you were literally dumped into the deep end of a world involving people who can do animals shifts. Are ghosts really that impossible for you?"
"And he's a cop," said Reborn grimacing. "The kind that are nearly impossible to bribe off."
"Look at the bright side... best case scenario we have another Grimm to talk to and we're well outside his jurisdiction anyway," said Tsuna cheerfully.
That being said, he wasn't about to wait for the rookie Grimm to find the kids.
Tsuna had a list of where the children were taken, and he had willing cohorts, one of whom knew how to drive.
Besides...they had a cheat in that I-Pin was a borderline Active Sun and Takeshi had been learning how to use his Rain as an echolocation device. He knew damn well what her Flame felt like, which meant that they could drastically reduce the search areas. Especially since this particular ghost required rivers to get around, which made his trick even easier to pull off.
Around 11:30 (in which a less-than-amused Nick already called the number Tsuna gave him to ask where they were), Tsuna and his group were already heading down the river to where Takeshi had finally gotten a 'ping' off I-Pin's flames.
"Nick, we have I-Pin and possibly the other kids. I'm sending the location where we're at, and Hayato can lead you to us," said Tsuna.
He was already racing to find the kids before midnight.
At least they were able to rescue I-Pin and the two boys before the ghost dragged them with her into the river.
"Big brother!" said I-Pin enthusiastically in Japanese. It was pretty clear from the way she was hugging him that she knew him.
"I am so sorry, I had no idea that particular ghost was active in the area today," said Tsuna, hugging her right back.
"It alright, big brother. I-Pin make delivery like you ask!" said the little girl happily.
"I know, and you were a very good girl. It's just bad luck you got caught up in this," said Tsuna. "I think you deserve to have an entire weekend, just the two of us training with possibly Hibari and Fon."
I-Pin perked up at that. She loved training with her master.
"Oh, and before I forget..." said Tsuna, pulling something out of his pocket. "Here's the digital scans of my book collection. If you need translations just ask Rosalee for my contact information."
He had already friended her on Skype to make it easier to chat and share recipes. The two of them got along like a house on fire.
Nick... had absolutely no idea how to deal with this. At least the kids were safe, which was really all that mattered. And what was with the sharply dressed toddler on Tsuna's shoulder? It was giving him a bad vibe just looking at him.
(It did not help that Reborn sensed his unease and smirked with a very dangerous aura at Nick.)