The Forgotten Child
Chapter 12
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
The Kuwabaras' dojo was packed with parents
wanting answers that the children around them were
reluctant to give. All the adults were there
except for Hiei, who was taking a much needed nap.
The fight Hiei and Kurama had over the mysterious
youkai had drained the fire demon of what little
strength he had gained back during the night.
Hiei had resisted sleep, refusing to back down on
his position about the unknown woman. It was only
when Kurama agreed that the youkai would not be
sent back to the Makai before Hiei had a chance to
see her that his lover finally gave in and slept.
Kurama, not being a parent of one of the
accused children, stood at the back of the dojo
holding his well fed, sleeping son. He gave the
appearance of being totally absorbed in Kyuukai,
playing with his fingers and belly, but he
listened with interest to the fight that was
brewing between Yuusuke and Maryoku. He was
hoping that Yuusuke would shake some information
about Hiei's youkai out of the boy. He had found
out from Kuwabara that Arashi had let it slip that
the youkai was a youko. This information had
disturbed him.
After Hiei had fallen asleep, he had been
feeding Kyuukai when his son suddenly shifted back
to his birth form. Kurama could tell instantly
that Kyuukai's transformation was triggered by an
outside influence, but at the time, he was still
confused as to the cause. Now he believed that
Kyuukai could be responding to this youko, either
on his own or by manipulation. This youko had
helped Hiei in the cave and she had plenty of time
alone with the two of them, anything could have
happened. He didn't like the idea of this totally
unknown youko having any kind of control over his
son and his lover.
Kurama rested his gaze on Yukina and
Kuwabara. They were standing a little behind
Yuusuke as he continued to 'talk' to his son. The
two of them were watching as Yuusuke laid into
Maryoku with the full extent of his anger.
Earlier Kurama had seen Kuwabara hold his gentle
natured wife back as Yuusuke harshly questioned
their own children. When every question had not
been answered until Maryoku gave a nod of his
head, Yuusuke had ignored the other children in
the room and focused solely on the ring leader.
Kurama nonchalantly looked at the rest of the
kids that were seated on the floor, waiting to see
what would come from the fight. Arashi and Fuyu
sat side by side as always, but Fuyu was
constantly reminding her twin to keep quite. It
was pretty obvious that the other kids were still
a little upset that Arashi had given out important
information at the last interrogation by the way
they kept throwing him silencing glares. Kiseki
sat next to the object of his young affection,
keeping Mechiko company while she nervously
watched her brother get the tongue lashing of his
life.
"Well, maybe *you're* the one that needs to
go back to the Makai! I'm surprised you're not
there now! Don't you have some youkai to kill or
a kingdom to run or something?" Maryoku screamed
back into his father's face.
Kurama was as surprised as Yuusuke by the
boy's outburst. With a lightning fast movement
Yuusuke reached out and grabbed his son's
shoulders. His was angry enough that the careful
guard he placed on his powers slipped, and Kurama
could see the area around Yuusuke take on a faint
yellow glow. The room stopped in dead silence.
The only sound that could be heard was the rustle
of a bird in the tree outside. The stillness was
finally broken when Keiko placed a hand on her
husband's shoulder.
"I think that is quite enough, Maryoku. Put
him down, Yuusuke," she quietly commanded them.
Yuusuke slowly eased his hold on Maryoku
until the boy was able to jerk free. The two of
them locked gazes and practically ignored everyone
else in the room. Almost everybody.
"Maryoku, I told you last night that I wanted
answers, so you better start talking or it won't
be your father that you'll have to worry about,"
Keiko informed her son with a hard look.
Maryoku immediately lowered his eyes and
backed away, but remained silent. Keiko walked
away from her son and husband and sat on the stool
Kurama offered her. Kurama marveled at the
control she seemed to have over her husband and
son. He could understand Maryoku, because Shiori
has the same kind of power over him, but Yuusuke
was different. Kurama couldn't count the number
of times he had wished he had that kind of
influence on Hiei. He didn't want to control his
lover, but sometimes it would be nice to not have
to fight through every discussion.
Keiko pressed her hand against her rounded
belly and gave a sigh. Kurama stopped looking at
the standoff between father and son to give her a
worried glance. Keiko gave him a bright smile to
reassure him that she was fine and offered to take
Kyuukai. Kurama handed his son over and the
infant started to fuss at being moved. Keiko
paid no attention to Kyuukai's whimpers and placed
him at her shoulder to pat his back. Within five
seconds, the baby boy gave a big lunged huff,
turned his little face to Keiko's neck and went
back to sleep.
"Maryoku, they're going to find her
eventually. If not by themselves, then with
Koenma-sama's help. Maybe we should tell them
everything," Fuyu suggested as her twin looked at
her in opened mouthed astonishment.
"Yeah, Bro. If we tell them, maybe they
won't send her away," Mechiko agreed hopefully as
she crawled her way over to her mother.
Mechiko sat next to her mother's knee and
Keiko asked her if she would like to hold the
baby. Mechiko's eyes got big and she looked to
Kurama before accepting her mother's offer. Again
Kyuukai started to fuss, but as soon as Mechiko
mimicked Keiko's patting technique he quieted.
Kurama wondered were his son could have gotten his
easy to please demeanor, he knew that it didn't
come from either him or Hiei.
"It wouldn't hurt that they know exactly who
she is before they try and ship her off, Maryoku,"
Kiseki chimed in, watching Mechiko hold his
newborn cousin.
Maryoku's hands were tightly clenched at his
sides as he continued to look at his feet.
Everyone in the room waited for him to speak.
Maryoku finally looked up and focused on a point
somewhere behind his father as he addressed Fuyu.
"Go get the pictures and the paintings,
Fuyu."
The young girl scrabbled to her feet as
Maryoku focused his gaze briefly on each adult in
the room. The young man paused briefly when his
gaze turned to Kurama, but continued onward.
"And the box. I want them to know exactly
what kind of 'monster' they want to send to her
death."
Fuyu stopped dead and looked uncertainly at
her parents. With a nod from her mother, she
quickly headed to the door of the dojo. The
adults watched and were surprised when she stopped
at the entrance and leapt to the top of the door.
She walked along the 3 inch wide ledge with cat
like grace, and then scampered across one of
crossbeams of the ceiling. Fuyu handed a photo
album, six portraits covered in cloth and a metal
lock box that been hidden in the rafters down to
Kiseki. The adults inched closer to get a better
look at the paintings as Kiseki revealed them.
The first was of Fuyu and Arashi. It was
painted in bright watercolors and had a cheerful
took to it even though only one of the people in
it was smiling. Fuyu and Arashi were sitting back
to back, Arashi perfectly straight, legs crossed
while his sister was reclined back at an angle
that made their heights slightly mismatched.
Because of the difference in height, Fuyu's head
was leaning back against her taller brothers
shoulder. Her face was turned towards the painter
with a serene smile, as if she were completely
content.
Fuyu's short blue hair and the edges of her
sheer white dress were being tossed by a wind that
could be seen by the snow flakes being tossed
along with them. The ends of her blue bangs were
in front of her red eyes, making them appear half
closed. She had one knee upraised and both of her
slender bare arms rested on it, and there was a
bouquet of frosted wildflowers in her hands .
Arashi sat like a guardian in his royal
purple outfit with gold braids along the sleeve
and collar. His arms were crossed in front of
his chest and he was looking straight ahead of him
so that he was in profile to the painter. He
looked much older than his 11 years with his
facial features set in such a serious and almost
regal pose. While Fuyu's side of the painting was
set off with a background of soft lavender,
Arashi's side was a kaleidoscope of bright colors
that swirled in the same pattern as his sister's
snowflakes. In the bottom left corner was a deep
red paw print.
Yukina took the painting from her daughter
after it was unwrapped and just stared at it,
amazed.
"The youko painted this?" Yuusuke asked Fuyu.
"Her name is Kitsuryuu, *not* 'the youko',"
Maryoku answered as he thrust another unwrapped
painting at the adults.
Keiko took this painting before anyone else
had a chance to. It was of Mechiko in two
different poses. The first was in the foreground
and showed her from the waist up. She was
stretched out on her side with one arm propping
her up. For once she was wearing a clean and
unripped school uniform in dark blue. There were
several thin white ribbons holding back her
shoulder length hair. Each ribbon was long enough
to drape down to the ground, but each one took a
different path, some went down her arm, and some
came across her throat. Mechiko's free hand was
plucking a yellow flower from the vivid green
grass and there was a thoughtful look on her face.
The next pose was set behind the first in a
sky blue void. The young school girl of the other
pose was gone and in her place was a fighter that
knew she had no equal. Mechiko's hair was longer
and wilder, flowing around her on a unseen wind.
Her hair had lost it's light color in favor of a
much darker brown, but her eyes retained their
silver sheen. She was in a crouched position with
her right leg bent at the knee and her left knee
against the ground, giving the impression that she
had been captured him mid-leap. Her left hand
rested next to her knee, while her right was
holding three youki blades between her fingers.
The most striking difference between this pose and
the last was that Mechiko had dark blue markings
on the right side of her face and sharp fangs
protruding from the snarl on her lips. The
markings were typical for a Mazoku, and were in
the same design as Yuusuke's except they were
rounded where Yuusuke's were sharp points.
"Since when could you do this, Mechiko?"
Keiko asked her daughter as she pointed at the
second pose.
Mechiko looked very sheepish under the
combined looks of her father and mother, and
scratched the back of her head to try and hide her
nervousness.
"Well, you see... I kinda... accidentally got
kinda mad," the girl answered.
"She got pissed because Kitsuryuu was kicking
her ass," Arashi butted in.
"Shut up, jerk!" Mechiko threatened.
"You mean you have been fighting with this
'Kitsuryo' person?" Kuwabara asked as he moved
closer.
"Kitsuryuu! Her name is Ki-tsu-ryuu, and
yes, we train a lot," Fuyu told her father.
"All of you?!" Yukina asked startled.
"Well, not all of us. Mostly just Mechiko,
Arashi, and sometimes Fuyu, but every once and a
while I'll join in too," Kiseki told his mother.
"And exactly how long has this been going
on?" Yuusuke asked.
All the kids looked at each other and
shuffled around a bit before the glaring eyes of
their parents made them talk.
"We've known about Kitsuryuu for a little
over a year, but Koori has known her for about
two," Maryoku finally answered.
"Koori?!" all the adults gasped at once.
"Yeah, she's a little stinker, isn't she?"
Arashi stated with a reverent smile.
"You're trying to tell us that you have been
associating with a youko living on this mountain
for two years, training and using youki strong
enough to do this," Yuusuke pointed to the picture
of his daughter," and we haven't known about it?"
The kids stopped their embarrassed movements
and they all turned to look at Kiseki, who was
unsuccessful in trying to find a hole in the floor
to hide in. He looked up quickly at his father's
grinning face and then looked back down at his
shoes. He started blushing furiously knowing he
was the one who had been responsible for keeping
their training sessions hidden from the adults.
"I've been using a kind of damping field were
we fight so that you couldn't tell what we were
doing," Kiseki mumbled.
"That isn't important right now," Kurama said
from behind them as he came closer, "I want to
know more about the youko."
Maryoku gave Kurama a cold look, which the
red head took without a blink. Kurama needed to
know all he could about this youko, and her
influences. The two of them were at a stand off
until Fuyu thrust the forgotten photo album into
her uncle's hands. Kurama broke his visual link
with Maryoku to look at what had been given to
him.
It was a normal enough album, all in black
fake leather and on the front cover were the
words, 'Kitsuryuu's First Birthday' in gold print.
The first picture Kurama turned to was of a silver
blue fox sitting in front of what he could now
recognize as the cave Hiei had been in. There was
a caption under the photo that said, 'Kitsuryuu's
first picture'. The photo directly underneath it
was of the same fox, but this time she was rubbing
at her eyes with her paw. It's caption said,
'Kitsuryuu's first encounter with flash
photography'.
Kurama slowly turned each page and studied
the pictures closely. They could have been
pictures taken at any kids birthday party except
for the fact that the birthday girl was actually a
fox. There were balloons, a cake with a single
candle in it, little paper hats on each of the
kids and the fox, and a sign hanging off a tree
with 'Happy Birthday Kitsuryuu' in big red print.
Each of the kids must have taken turns taking
pictures, because all of them could be seen in at
least two or three of the photos. It was pretty
obvious when Koori had the camera, all of those
only showed people from the waist down. There was
a very interesting picture of the birthday cake
exploding and sending chocolate projectiles in all
directions. The caption under that one was, 'Must
teach Kitsuryuu the difference between blowing out
the candle and blowing up the cake!'. Kurama
actually caught himself smiling. It reminded him
of Hiei's first birthday they had together. When
he had told the fire demon to blow out the
candles, Hiei had put his hand over the cake and
turned them 'off'.
Kurama continued to turn the pages. They
were mostly pictures of the giving and receiving
of presents, but he suddenly stopped when he spied
one that was very different than the previous
one's. This new photo had most of the kids in the
shot, except for Maryoku and Koori. In the
foreground, Mechiko was smashing a piece of ruined
cake in Kiseki's face while the lavender haired
boy was applying a liberal amount of chocolate
icing to her hair. In the back ground, Kurama
could just make out Arashi being pinned to the
grass by a young lady with waist length red-black
hair. She was threatening the boy with a handful
of cake in one hand and holding him still with the
other. Fuyu was between the set of wrestlers and
was apparently trying to stop them.
The girl had her back to the camera, so he
couldn't see her face, but he could tell that she
didn't have a fox's ears or a tail. He flipped
through the last few pages quickly, looking for a
better picture of the girl, but each of them only
showed her back or a glimpse of a profile. He
started to wonder if there were any good full
frontal photos, until he turned the last page.
That last picture was of Kitsuryuu sitting
against the tree that had the banner and her name
just above her head. She was sitting so that her
left foot and ankle were under her and her other
leg sticking out to the side. She was wearing
Maryoku's school uniform jacket and apparently
nothing else. The top few buttons of the black
jacket were undone so that the collar was off her
right shoulder. She had the hem of the jacket
tightly clenched in her hands and was pulling it
down so that it would cover the tops of her
thighs.
Kurama looked closely at her appearance and
noticed that her hair was damp and that bits of
her long hair were clinging to the bark of the
tree above her head, as if she had slid down the
trunk. She was giving the camera a coy smile that
just barely tipped the corners of her mouth and
her eyes were fixed on the photographer. Deep,
warm, red eyes. Hiei's eyes.
Kurama felt a little stunned at actually
seeing the youko that had captured Hiei's
attention so completely. For a moment he thought
that maybe this 'Kitsuryuu' was playing some kind
of game. Changing her appearance to suit Hiei.
But this photo was taken months ago, if the date
on the first page could be believed, and there was
no way anyone could fake that color. He
automatically read the caption that came with the
picture. 'Maryoku's present' was written below it
in a handwriting that was different than the rest.
"What is this?" he asked Maryoku as the boy
turned a brilliant shade of red.
"That's Mechiko's idea of a joke," he
stammered and tried to pull the album out of
Kurama's hands.
"No, not that. I thought she was a youko.
Where are her ears and tail?" Kurama asked as he
held on to the album, refusing to let Maryoku hide
behind it.
"She doesn't take youko form unless she's
frightened..."
"Or really pissed off," Arashi finished for
Mechiko.
"That was only that one time and she passed
out almost immediately," Mechiko told him annoyed.
"It was long enough to kick your butt," he
said with a smirk.
"Hey! I won that fight."
"You only won the fight because you hit the
ground last. You passed out before the fox did.
If it hadn't been for the collar she would have
finished you in a minute."
"Hold on! Wait a minute," Yuusuke said as he
pulled the two apart, "I want a full account of
what has been going on since the beginning. I
want details like: were did Kitsuryuu come from,
when did you met her, how strong she is and how
much 'training' you have been doing."
"Wait. What kind of collar are you talking
about?" Kurama asked with growing interest.
A roar of thunder sounded and made the adults
jump, but the children were so focused on the
question he asked that they didn't notice. The
rain started after the thunder and Kurama was
surprised that so much time had passed since they
had entered the dojo. Maryoku reached into his
pocket and pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked
the box and handed it to Kurama, still closed.
Kurama looked at the boy's grim expression
and slowly opened the box. He nearly dropped it
in surprise when he saw the four leather wards
inside. Each one was black with a series of
interlocking triangles along its length. It was
easy to see that they had been ripped off of the
previous wearer, because that was the only way to
remove wards like these.
"Where is the other one?" he asked, worry
evident in his voice.
"Still around Kitsuryuu's neck," Maryoku
answered, "Have you seen them before?"
"A very long time ago, when I was younger
than you are. I was working my way through the
thief guild when I came across a youkai that had
wards like these," Kurama picked up one from the
box, there was a crackle of energy from the ward
to his hand that he quickly dispelled.
"This is the reason that we never knew that
Kitsuryuu was around," Kurama said with a snarl as
he threw the leather back in the box. "These
wards were designed so that human priests could
completely control youkai. I thought that they
had stopped using them centuries ago."
"Why would they stop using them if they
worked so well?" Kuwabara asked.
"They stopped using them because the wards
don't stop youkai from having powers, the wards
just repress the ability to control and use youki.
They work by making the youkai use their power
constantly by drawing it out of the body. They
found out that the wards would deteriorate and
finally break. The result was a extremely
powerful youkai that had no clue as to how to use
that power. They either self-destructed or went
on killing rampages. Exactly how long has
Kitsuryuu had these on her?"
"She doesn't talk about it, but from what we
have been able to figure out she was maybe five or
six when she was captured by the human hunters,
and we think that she's sixteen now. Do you think
that she's in danger because of the collar?"
Maryoku asked alarmed.
"I don't know. I'd have to see her
before...." Kurama didn't finish his statement as
a very bedraggled and wet Hiei stumbled into the
room.
The fire demon was holding his left side and
breathing heavily as he limped his way over to
Mechiko and the infant she still held. Hiei
almost savagely pulled Kyuukai from the girl and
preceded to unwrap him from his blanket on the
floor. No one thought to move as Hiei began to
run his hands over his son's legs and arms, paying
particular attention to the boy's left leg.
Kurama came to Hiei's side and tried to stop
him, but when he became aware of Kurama's
presence, Hiei started to run his hands over him
in the same manner. Kurama noticed that the fire
demon's third eye was glowing red beneath the head
band and the wet bangs that were plastered to it,
while his natural ones were half closed. Kurama
realized that Hiei was looking for a physical
injury on one of the two people he loved.
"Hiei, what's wrong? What do you see?"
Kurama kept asking his lover, but Hiei didn't
respond.
Everybody was so captivated by Hiei's unusual
behavior that they didn't see Koori enter the room
until she was standing beside Hiei. She had a
back pack that was stuffed to almost bursting on
her shoulder and the sketch book Kurama had seen
earlier. Koori pulled several items from her
pocket and handed something to her uncle.
"Kitsuryuu said to give you this and to say
that she is sorry that she took it from you,"
Koori said as she backed away from Hiei.
Kurama couldn't see what she had given his
lover, because Hiei was clutching it in both his
hands. Kiseki went to his little sister and tried
to place a hand on her shoulder. Koori jerked
away from him and then narrowed her eyes.
"You promised that she wouldn't go away!" she
screamed at Kiseki and the boy drew back in alarm.
"Koori, honey. What are you talking about?"
Yukina coaxed.
"Kitsuryuu is gone and she said she's not
coming back, Momma. She even cried," Koori gave
Yukina the rest of the objects she had pulled from
her pocket. "Kitsuryuu never cries, Momma."
Yukina gasped when she realized she held
eight perfect tear gems in her hand. She knelt in
front of her daughter and placed her other hand on
her youngest daughter's shoulder.
"Are you sure Kitsuryuu cried these?" she
asked and Koori gave a nod and then crossed her
arms in front of her chest, standing her ground.
"Kazuma, come look at this," Yukina told her
husband, holding her hand out for him to see.
Kurama held Hiei loosely around the shoulders
as he started to relax from the waking dream he
seemed to be having. Kurama kept his attention
divided between his lover and the Kuwabaras as
they inspected whatever Koori had given Yukina.
He wanted to get a better look at what had Yukina
so interested, but with Hiei leaning so heavily on
him he couldn't move.
"But those can't be tear gems, Yukina. You
said that only your family line has this trait,
unless you had a kid you haven't told me about!"
Kuwabara joked.
Kurama felt ice enter his veins at his
friend's teasing remark. His head started to spin
as pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know he had
begun started to come together. Kitsuryuu's deep
red eyes that were so much like Hiei's. Sixteen
years old, the age was right. Kurama looked down
at Hiei and watched his lover finger the strange
looking ornament in his hand. If Kitsuryuu was at
least part Koorimei that would explain why Hiei
hadn't run. Tear gems that only Hiei's line
should be able to create. Kurama glanced at his
son that was now a baby but had been a fox kit
only a few short hours ago, something he shouldn't
be able to do without his mother. He realized
that Kyuukai was changing in accordance to his
closest female relation, his sister. His sister,
his and Hiei's daughter. Their forgotten child.
=====
end chapter 12
Chapter 12
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
The Kuwabaras' dojo was packed with parents
wanting answers that the children around them were
reluctant to give. All the adults were there
except for Hiei, who was taking a much needed nap.
The fight Hiei and Kurama had over the mysterious
youkai had drained the fire demon of what little
strength he had gained back during the night.
Hiei had resisted sleep, refusing to back down on
his position about the unknown woman. It was only
when Kurama agreed that the youkai would not be
sent back to the Makai before Hiei had a chance to
see her that his lover finally gave in and slept.
Kurama, not being a parent of one of the
accused children, stood at the back of the dojo
holding his well fed, sleeping son. He gave the
appearance of being totally absorbed in Kyuukai,
playing with his fingers and belly, but he
listened with interest to the fight that was
brewing between Yuusuke and Maryoku. He was
hoping that Yuusuke would shake some information
about Hiei's youkai out of the boy. He had found
out from Kuwabara that Arashi had let it slip that
the youkai was a youko. This information had
disturbed him.
After Hiei had fallen asleep, he had been
feeding Kyuukai when his son suddenly shifted back
to his birth form. Kurama could tell instantly
that Kyuukai's transformation was triggered by an
outside influence, but at the time, he was still
confused as to the cause. Now he believed that
Kyuukai could be responding to this youko, either
on his own or by manipulation. This youko had
helped Hiei in the cave and she had plenty of time
alone with the two of them, anything could have
happened. He didn't like the idea of this totally
unknown youko having any kind of control over his
son and his lover.
Kurama rested his gaze on Yukina and
Kuwabara. They were standing a little behind
Yuusuke as he continued to 'talk' to his son. The
two of them were watching as Yuusuke laid into
Maryoku with the full extent of his anger.
Earlier Kurama had seen Kuwabara hold his gentle
natured wife back as Yuusuke harshly questioned
their own children. When every question had not
been answered until Maryoku gave a nod of his
head, Yuusuke had ignored the other children in
the room and focused solely on the ring leader.
Kurama nonchalantly looked at the rest of the
kids that were seated on the floor, waiting to see
what would come from the fight. Arashi and Fuyu
sat side by side as always, but Fuyu was
constantly reminding her twin to keep quite. It
was pretty obvious that the other kids were still
a little upset that Arashi had given out important
information at the last interrogation by the way
they kept throwing him silencing glares. Kiseki
sat next to the object of his young affection,
keeping Mechiko company while she nervously
watched her brother get the tongue lashing of his
life.
"Well, maybe *you're* the one that needs to
go back to the Makai! I'm surprised you're not
there now! Don't you have some youkai to kill or
a kingdom to run or something?" Maryoku screamed
back into his father's face.
Kurama was as surprised as Yuusuke by the
boy's outburst. With a lightning fast movement
Yuusuke reached out and grabbed his son's
shoulders. His was angry enough that the careful
guard he placed on his powers slipped, and Kurama
could see the area around Yuusuke take on a faint
yellow glow. The room stopped in dead silence.
The only sound that could be heard was the rustle
of a bird in the tree outside. The stillness was
finally broken when Keiko placed a hand on her
husband's shoulder.
"I think that is quite enough, Maryoku. Put
him down, Yuusuke," she quietly commanded them.
Yuusuke slowly eased his hold on Maryoku
until the boy was able to jerk free. The two of
them locked gazes and practically ignored everyone
else in the room. Almost everybody.
"Maryoku, I told you last night that I wanted
answers, so you better start talking or it won't
be your father that you'll have to worry about,"
Keiko informed her son with a hard look.
Maryoku immediately lowered his eyes and
backed away, but remained silent. Keiko walked
away from her son and husband and sat on the stool
Kurama offered her. Kurama marveled at the
control she seemed to have over her husband and
son. He could understand Maryoku, because Shiori
has the same kind of power over him, but Yuusuke
was different. Kurama couldn't count the number
of times he had wished he had that kind of
influence on Hiei. He didn't want to control his
lover, but sometimes it would be nice to not have
to fight through every discussion.
Keiko pressed her hand against her rounded
belly and gave a sigh. Kurama stopped looking at
the standoff between father and son to give her a
worried glance. Keiko gave him a bright smile to
reassure him that she was fine and offered to take
Kyuukai. Kurama handed his son over and the
infant started to fuss at being moved. Keiko
paid no attention to Kyuukai's whimpers and placed
him at her shoulder to pat his back. Within five
seconds, the baby boy gave a big lunged huff,
turned his little face to Keiko's neck and went
back to sleep.
"Maryoku, they're going to find her
eventually. If not by themselves, then with
Koenma-sama's help. Maybe we should tell them
everything," Fuyu suggested as her twin looked at
her in opened mouthed astonishment.
"Yeah, Bro. If we tell them, maybe they
won't send her away," Mechiko agreed hopefully as
she crawled her way over to her mother.
Mechiko sat next to her mother's knee and
Keiko asked her if she would like to hold the
baby. Mechiko's eyes got big and she looked to
Kurama before accepting her mother's offer. Again
Kyuukai started to fuss, but as soon as Mechiko
mimicked Keiko's patting technique he quieted.
Kurama wondered were his son could have gotten his
easy to please demeanor, he knew that it didn't
come from either him or Hiei.
"It wouldn't hurt that they know exactly who
she is before they try and ship her off, Maryoku,"
Kiseki chimed in, watching Mechiko hold his
newborn cousin.
Maryoku's hands were tightly clenched at his
sides as he continued to look at his feet.
Everyone in the room waited for him to speak.
Maryoku finally looked up and focused on a point
somewhere behind his father as he addressed Fuyu.
"Go get the pictures and the paintings,
Fuyu."
The young girl scrabbled to her feet as
Maryoku focused his gaze briefly on each adult in
the room. The young man paused briefly when his
gaze turned to Kurama, but continued onward.
"And the box. I want them to know exactly
what kind of 'monster' they want to send to her
death."
Fuyu stopped dead and looked uncertainly at
her parents. With a nod from her mother, she
quickly headed to the door of the dojo. The
adults watched and were surprised when she stopped
at the entrance and leapt to the top of the door.
She walked along the 3 inch wide ledge with cat
like grace, and then scampered across one of
crossbeams of the ceiling. Fuyu handed a photo
album, six portraits covered in cloth and a metal
lock box that been hidden in the rafters down to
Kiseki. The adults inched closer to get a better
look at the paintings as Kiseki revealed them.
The first was of Fuyu and Arashi. It was
painted in bright watercolors and had a cheerful
took to it even though only one of the people in
it was smiling. Fuyu and Arashi were sitting back
to back, Arashi perfectly straight, legs crossed
while his sister was reclined back at an angle
that made their heights slightly mismatched.
Because of the difference in height, Fuyu's head
was leaning back against her taller brothers
shoulder. Her face was turned towards the painter
with a serene smile, as if she were completely
content.
Fuyu's short blue hair and the edges of her
sheer white dress were being tossed by a wind that
could be seen by the snow flakes being tossed
along with them. The ends of her blue bangs were
in front of her red eyes, making them appear half
closed. She had one knee upraised and both of her
slender bare arms rested on it, and there was a
bouquet of frosted wildflowers in her hands .
Arashi sat like a guardian in his royal
purple outfit with gold braids along the sleeve
and collar. His arms were crossed in front of
his chest and he was looking straight ahead of him
so that he was in profile to the painter. He
looked much older than his 11 years with his
facial features set in such a serious and almost
regal pose. While Fuyu's side of the painting was
set off with a background of soft lavender,
Arashi's side was a kaleidoscope of bright colors
that swirled in the same pattern as his sister's
snowflakes. In the bottom left corner was a deep
red paw print.
Yukina took the painting from her daughter
after it was unwrapped and just stared at it,
amazed.
"The youko painted this?" Yuusuke asked Fuyu.
"Her name is Kitsuryuu, *not* 'the youko',"
Maryoku answered as he thrust another unwrapped
painting at the adults.
Keiko took this painting before anyone else
had a chance to. It was of Mechiko in two
different poses. The first was in the foreground
and showed her from the waist up. She was
stretched out on her side with one arm propping
her up. For once she was wearing a clean and
unripped school uniform in dark blue. There were
several thin white ribbons holding back her
shoulder length hair. Each ribbon was long enough
to drape down to the ground, but each one took a
different path, some went down her arm, and some
came across her throat. Mechiko's free hand was
plucking a yellow flower from the vivid green
grass and there was a thoughtful look on her face.
The next pose was set behind the first in a
sky blue void. The young school girl of the other
pose was gone and in her place was a fighter that
knew she had no equal. Mechiko's hair was longer
and wilder, flowing around her on a unseen wind.
Her hair had lost it's light color in favor of a
much darker brown, but her eyes retained their
silver sheen. She was in a crouched position with
her right leg bent at the knee and her left knee
against the ground, giving the impression that she
had been captured him mid-leap. Her left hand
rested next to her knee, while her right was
holding three youki blades between her fingers.
The most striking difference between this pose and
the last was that Mechiko had dark blue markings
on the right side of her face and sharp fangs
protruding from the snarl on her lips. The
markings were typical for a Mazoku, and were in
the same design as Yuusuke's except they were
rounded where Yuusuke's were sharp points.
"Since when could you do this, Mechiko?"
Keiko asked her daughter as she pointed at the
second pose.
Mechiko looked very sheepish under the
combined looks of her father and mother, and
scratched the back of her head to try and hide her
nervousness.
"Well, you see... I kinda... accidentally got
kinda mad," the girl answered.
"She got pissed because Kitsuryuu was kicking
her ass," Arashi butted in.
"Shut up, jerk!" Mechiko threatened.
"You mean you have been fighting with this
'Kitsuryo' person?" Kuwabara asked as he moved
closer.
"Kitsuryuu! Her name is Ki-tsu-ryuu, and
yes, we train a lot," Fuyu told her father.
"All of you?!" Yukina asked startled.
"Well, not all of us. Mostly just Mechiko,
Arashi, and sometimes Fuyu, but every once and a
while I'll join in too," Kiseki told his mother.
"And exactly how long has this been going
on?" Yuusuke asked.
All the kids looked at each other and
shuffled around a bit before the glaring eyes of
their parents made them talk.
"We've known about Kitsuryuu for a little
over a year, but Koori has known her for about
two," Maryoku finally answered.
"Koori?!" all the adults gasped at once.
"Yeah, she's a little stinker, isn't she?"
Arashi stated with a reverent smile.
"You're trying to tell us that you have been
associating with a youko living on this mountain
for two years, training and using youki strong
enough to do this," Yuusuke pointed to the picture
of his daughter," and we haven't known about it?"
The kids stopped their embarrassed movements
and they all turned to look at Kiseki, who was
unsuccessful in trying to find a hole in the floor
to hide in. He looked up quickly at his father's
grinning face and then looked back down at his
shoes. He started blushing furiously knowing he
was the one who had been responsible for keeping
their training sessions hidden from the adults.
"I've been using a kind of damping field were
we fight so that you couldn't tell what we were
doing," Kiseki mumbled.
"That isn't important right now," Kurama said
from behind them as he came closer, "I want to
know more about the youko."
Maryoku gave Kurama a cold look, which the
red head took without a blink. Kurama needed to
know all he could about this youko, and her
influences. The two of them were at a stand off
until Fuyu thrust the forgotten photo album into
her uncle's hands. Kurama broke his visual link
with Maryoku to look at what had been given to
him.
It was a normal enough album, all in black
fake leather and on the front cover were the
words, 'Kitsuryuu's First Birthday' in gold print.
The first picture Kurama turned to was of a silver
blue fox sitting in front of what he could now
recognize as the cave Hiei had been in. There was
a caption under the photo that said, 'Kitsuryuu's
first picture'. The photo directly underneath it
was of the same fox, but this time she was rubbing
at her eyes with her paw. It's caption said,
'Kitsuryuu's first encounter with flash
photography'.
Kurama slowly turned each page and studied
the pictures closely. They could have been
pictures taken at any kids birthday party except
for the fact that the birthday girl was actually a
fox. There were balloons, a cake with a single
candle in it, little paper hats on each of the
kids and the fox, and a sign hanging off a tree
with 'Happy Birthday Kitsuryuu' in big red print.
Each of the kids must have taken turns taking
pictures, because all of them could be seen in at
least two or three of the photos. It was pretty
obvious when Koori had the camera, all of those
only showed people from the waist down. There was
a very interesting picture of the birthday cake
exploding and sending chocolate projectiles in all
directions. The caption under that one was, 'Must
teach Kitsuryuu the difference between blowing out
the candle and blowing up the cake!'. Kurama
actually caught himself smiling. It reminded him
of Hiei's first birthday they had together. When
he had told the fire demon to blow out the
candles, Hiei had put his hand over the cake and
turned them 'off'.
Kurama continued to turn the pages. They
were mostly pictures of the giving and receiving
of presents, but he suddenly stopped when he spied
one that was very different than the previous
one's. This new photo had most of the kids in the
shot, except for Maryoku and Koori. In the
foreground, Mechiko was smashing a piece of ruined
cake in Kiseki's face while the lavender haired
boy was applying a liberal amount of chocolate
icing to her hair. In the back ground, Kurama
could just make out Arashi being pinned to the
grass by a young lady with waist length red-black
hair. She was threatening the boy with a handful
of cake in one hand and holding him still with the
other. Fuyu was between the set of wrestlers and
was apparently trying to stop them.
The girl had her back to the camera, so he
couldn't see her face, but he could tell that she
didn't have a fox's ears or a tail. He flipped
through the last few pages quickly, looking for a
better picture of the girl, but each of them only
showed her back or a glimpse of a profile. He
started to wonder if there were any good full
frontal photos, until he turned the last page.
That last picture was of Kitsuryuu sitting
against the tree that had the banner and her name
just above her head. She was sitting so that her
left foot and ankle were under her and her other
leg sticking out to the side. She was wearing
Maryoku's school uniform jacket and apparently
nothing else. The top few buttons of the black
jacket were undone so that the collar was off her
right shoulder. She had the hem of the jacket
tightly clenched in her hands and was pulling it
down so that it would cover the tops of her
thighs.
Kurama looked closely at her appearance and
noticed that her hair was damp and that bits of
her long hair were clinging to the bark of the
tree above her head, as if she had slid down the
trunk. She was giving the camera a coy smile that
just barely tipped the corners of her mouth and
her eyes were fixed on the photographer. Deep,
warm, red eyes. Hiei's eyes.
Kurama felt a little stunned at actually
seeing the youko that had captured Hiei's
attention so completely. For a moment he thought
that maybe this 'Kitsuryuu' was playing some kind
of game. Changing her appearance to suit Hiei.
But this photo was taken months ago, if the date
on the first page could be believed, and there was
no way anyone could fake that color. He
automatically read the caption that came with the
picture. 'Maryoku's present' was written below it
in a handwriting that was different than the rest.
"What is this?" he asked Maryoku as the boy
turned a brilliant shade of red.
"That's Mechiko's idea of a joke," he
stammered and tried to pull the album out of
Kurama's hands.
"No, not that. I thought she was a youko.
Where are her ears and tail?" Kurama asked as he
held on to the album, refusing to let Maryoku hide
behind it.
"She doesn't take youko form unless she's
frightened..."
"Or really pissed off," Arashi finished for
Mechiko.
"That was only that one time and she passed
out almost immediately," Mechiko told him annoyed.
"It was long enough to kick your butt," he
said with a smirk.
"Hey! I won that fight."
"You only won the fight because you hit the
ground last. You passed out before the fox did.
If it hadn't been for the collar she would have
finished you in a minute."
"Hold on! Wait a minute," Yuusuke said as he
pulled the two apart, "I want a full account of
what has been going on since the beginning. I
want details like: were did Kitsuryuu come from,
when did you met her, how strong she is and how
much 'training' you have been doing."
"Wait. What kind of collar are you talking
about?" Kurama asked with growing interest.
A roar of thunder sounded and made the adults
jump, but the children were so focused on the
question he asked that they didn't notice. The
rain started after the thunder and Kurama was
surprised that so much time had passed since they
had entered the dojo. Maryoku reached into his
pocket and pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked
the box and handed it to Kurama, still closed.
Kurama looked at the boy's grim expression
and slowly opened the box. He nearly dropped it
in surprise when he saw the four leather wards
inside. Each one was black with a series of
interlocking triangles along its length. It was
easy to see that they had been ripped off of the
previous wearer, because that was the only way to
remove wards like these.
"Where is the other one?" he asked, worry
evident in his voice.
"Still around Kitsuryuu's neck," Maryoku
answered, "Have you seen them before?"
"A very long time ago, when I was younger
than you are. I was working my way through the
thief guild when I came across a youkai that had
wards like these," Kurama picked up one from the
box, there was a crackle of energy from the ward
to his hand that he quickly dispelled.
"This is the reason that we never knew that
Kitsuryuu was around," Kurama said with a snarl as
he threw the leather back in the box. "These
wards were designed so that human priests could
completely control youkai. I thought that they
had stopped using them centuries ago."
"Why would they stop using them if they
worked so well?" Kuwabara asked.
"They stopped using them because the wards
don't stop youkai from having powers, the wards
just repress the ability to control and use youki.
They work by making the youkai use their power
constantly by drawing it out of the body. They
found out that the wards would deteriorate and
finally break. The result was a extremely
powerful youkai that had no clue as to how to use
that power. They either self-destructed or went
on killing rampages. Exactly how long has
Kitsuryuu had these on her?"
"She doesn't talk about it, but from what we
have been able to figure out she was maybe five or
six when she was captured by the human hunters,
and we think that she's sixteen now. Do you think
that she's in danger because of the collar?"
Maryoku asked alarmed.
"I don't know. I'd have to see her
before...." Kurama didn't finish his statement as
a very bedraggled and wet Hiei stumbled into the
room.
The fire demon was holding his left side and
breathing heavily as he limped his way over to
Mechiko and the infant she still held. Hiei
almost savagely pulled Kyuukai from the girl and
preceded to unwrap him from his blanket on the
floor. No one thought to move as Hiei began to
run his hands over his son's legs and arms, paying
particular attention to the boy's left leg.
Kurama came to Hiei's side and tried to stop
him, but when he became aware of Kurama's
presence, Hiei started to run his hands over him
in the same manner. Kurama noticed that the fire
demon's third eye was glowing red beneath the head
band and the wet bangs that were plastered to it,
while his natural ones were half closed. Kurama
realized that Hiei was looking for a physical
injury on one of the two people he loved.
"Hiei, what's wrong? What do you see?"
Kurama kept asking his lover, but Hiei didn't
respond.
Everybody was so captivated by Hiei's unusual
behavior that they didn't see Koori enter the room
until she was standing beside Hiei. She had a
back pack that was stuffed to almost bursting on
her shoulder and the sketch book Kurama had seen
earlier. Koori pulled several items from her
pocket and handed something to her uncle.
"Kitsuryuu said to give you this and to say
that she is sorry that she took it from you,"
Koori said as she backed away from Hiei.
Kurama couldn't see what she had given his
lover, because Hiei was clutching it in both his
hands. Kiseki went to his little sister and tried
to place a hand on her shoulder. Koori jerked
away from him and then narrowed her eyes.
"You promised that she wouldn't go away!" she
screamed at Kiseki and the boy drew back in alarm.
"Koori, honey. What are you talking about?"
Yukina coaxed.
"Kitsuryuu is gone and she said she's not
coming back, Momma. She even cried," Koori gave
Yukina the rest of the objects she had pulled from
her pocket. "Kitsuryuu never cries, Momma."
Yukina gasped when she realized she held
eight perfect tear gems in her hand. She knelt in
front of her daughter and placed her other hand on
her youngest daughter's shoulder.
"Are you sure Kitsuryuu cried these?" she
asked and Koori gave a nod and then crossed her
arms in front of her chest, standing her ground.
"Kazuma, come look at this," Yukina told her
husband, holding her hand out for him to see.
Kurama held Hiei loosely around the shoulders
as he started to relax from the waking dream he
seemed to be having. Kurama kept his attention
divided between his lover and the Kuwabaras as
they inspected whatever Koori had given Yukina.
He wanted to get a better look at what had Yukina
so interested, but with Hiei leaning so heavily on
him he couldn't move.
"But those can't be tear gems, Yukina. You
said that only your family line has this trait,
unless you had a kid you haven't told me about!"
Kuwabara joked.
Kurama felt ice enter his veins at his
friend's teasing remark. His head started to spin
as pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know he had
begun started to come together. Kitsuryuu's deep
red eyes that were so much like Hiei's. Sixteen
years old, the age was right. Kurama looked down
at Hiei and watched his lover finger the strange
looking ornament in his hand. If Kitsuryuu was at
least part Koorimei that would explain why Hiei
hadn't run. Tear gems that only Hiei's line
should be able to create. Kurama glanced at his
son that was now a baby but had been a fox kit
only a few short hours ago, something he shouldn't
be able to do without his mother. He realized
that Kyuukai was changing in accordance to his
closest female relation, his sister. His sister,
his and Hiei's daughter. Their forgotten child.
=====
end chapter 12