Athena Zandrite
Blady blah not mine, etc. Togashi is amazing and I take no credit for his work. Don't take my fic and I'll keep writing. Fair trade, no?
Thanks for the positive response guys, I feel all warm and fuzzy! In answer to Yukina, I write her as in character as I can, I don't think she comes across any differently than she does in the show. So I hope that's a good thing for you? As to those asking about pairings, ^^;; I will mention it later, keep reading and you'll find out. MWAHAHA that means you HAVE to read if you want to know! Marketing strategy! Oh hush now, I'm not evil! Really... Oh and to Hekigan, Botan happens to be my favorite character, and because of RPs, the one I'm most used to imitating and deciphering so yes, she plays a large part in the story. Yay? Anyway, onto the fic!
"Nice to meet you." Keiko bows to Ken and Youji as Kurama introduces them.
"And this is Shizuru Kuwabara."
The taller woman nods at the guys and then looks at Kurama.
"So let me get this straight… a youkai that can shape-shift is the one that killed Terazuma-kun in the play and now he looks like their friend?" Keiko asks thoughtfully.
Kurama nods in affirmation. "So they've insisted on working with us and I can understand their concern."
Ken rubs his neck and smiles at Keiko who only comes up to his shoulder in height. "I'm sorry we're intruding."
Keiko smiles warmly. "Don't worry about it, Hidaka-kun. I can't go outside so it's nice to see some new faces."
Shizuru turns and leaves the room appearing a few minutes later with a tray of tea and cups, which she sets on the coffee table. "Tea anyone?"
Kurama begins explaining what has been going on in detail as Shizuru doles out the steaming liquid.
After about half an hour of description, then questions, Kurama finishes talking and glances at the door as he hears Botan shrilly arguing with the police officer.
Shizuru stands and moves to the door, opening it up to see the police officer and Aya sizing each other up.
"Shizuru-san!" Botan looks overjoyed at the interruption, stepping between the two men. "We're back!" She smiles. "Sorry but he wouldn't let us in. Isn't that mean?" She musses her face into a pout and fixes it on the police officer who mutters something then steps aside, looking embarrassed. Botan practically bounces into the house. "Wah! Kurama-kun, we found him!"
Aya follows her in looking irritated.
"Found him?" Youji asks, holding a cup of tea out for her.
Botan beams at him and takes the tea. "Yeah, so now we know where he's staying." She hugs Keiko. "Keiko-chan! You're looking well! I'm glad!" she turns back to the group. "Well we followed him all the way back to an old condemned house. But the weird thing is, he took a woman's soul on the way. It must have been quick and painless, he didn't even harm her body." She tilts her head putting a finger to her chin in though. "Which worries me because as far as I know that's impossible. I mean, even demon vampires have to tear a body apart to take the soul, unless they're using one of the spirit stealing weapons. But those are all catalogued and accounted for in the Spirit world treasury." She stops and sips her tea.
Ken holds his neck looking worried. "Demon vampires?"
"Mm." Botan agrees into her tea. She looks up and smiles at Ken. "Gouki was the first one Yuusuke ever fought but they're pretty low level demons. All they are is brute strength with bodies stronger than steal. They're not very smart. Yuusuke was kind of weak then though so we nearly both got eaten." She frowns remembering the incident. Her fingers tighten around her tea cup and she looks down into it with her bangs obscuring her face. Keiko watches her but her mind is also elsewhere, and she bites her lip in worry.
Kurama speaks up. "But we're not dealing with something that Reikai has common encounters with. Perhaps we could get Hinageshi or Ayame to look up something fitting this description in the reference room?" He gently touches Botan's arm to get her attention again.
She shakes her head then smiles at him. "Mm! I'll do that right now." She stands and sets her tea down on the table. "I'll come by your place tonight and let you know if we've found anything. Ran-san knows where the demon is staying." She looks at Aya then her face hardens into a reprimanding look. "Make sure he doesn't go on his own. He's worse than Yuusuke, at least Yuusuke had spirit power…"
Aya looks as though he's about to stand and gut Botan but she slips out the door as quickly as possible with an impish grin on her face.
She slips past the guard and around the house where she pops an oar out of thin air and zips away.
Kurama sees her disappear out the window then turns back to the sound of Ken and Youji snickering at Aya's look of complete exasperation. He smiles as Keiko and Shizuru join the boys and begin laughing, much to Aya's dismay.
"So you see, KoEnma-sama, we've found the youkai but we don't know how to approach it because… well, it's not normal." Botan's voice is raised above the sounds of rustling paper and a stamp going at thirty miles an hour. She is facing what looks like a wall of papers, but peeking through the stacks, KoEnma is visible in his toddler form madly stamping away as he listens to Botan's story.
"So you haven't really gotten anywhere, is that what you're telling me?" he asks sounding irritated.
"Well I was wondering if you could spare another ferry girl to research demons of this sort while we keep an eye on it." Botan says trying to keep KoEnma in her sight as he plows through stacks of paper.
"Un. Get Hinageshi. She's supposed to have a break soon anyway." KoEnma mutters and waves her away.
"Thank you, KoEnma-sama." Botan bows and leaves the room, stopping an Oni on his way by.
He looks panicked as she grabs his arm, but recognizes her and smiles balancing the files in one large, powerful, green arm and rubbing his head. "Botan-san, how are things going on Ningenkai?"
Botan smiles. "Well, not so hot, but we're working on it, Sam. By the way, have you seen Hinageshi?"
He looks thoughtful, scratching the area right behind his left horn. "Ah yes, she was on her way to G-section." He blinks as Botan hugs him and then takes off down the hall. He smiles after her retreating figure, then picks up the dropped stack of files and goes back on his way in the malay of the foyer.
"Hinageshi-chaaaaaan!" Botan's voice rings out through the hall as she chases down the smaller girl, gathering the skirt of her kimono and padding down the hall.
Hinageshi stops, red hair swinging in front of her face for a moment. "Botan-san?" she asks turning and pushing one of her gi sleeves up. "What's wrong?"
Botan stops and pants a bit, then starts into a long and sometimes slightly distracted story about what she needs help with. When she finishes she smiles at Hinageshi. "So could you lend me a hand in the reference room?
Hinageshi looks at Botan with wide happy eyes. "Of course, Botan-san! I love it when I get to help you out! But it sounds awfully scary you always get hard assignments." She watches Botan laugh and rub her neck.
"Well, I guess KoEnma-sama trusts me with them."
The girls enter the reference room and begin searching through shelves of books on rare demons. The search is long and soon they are less enthusiastic. Hinageshi is perched on a ladder in front of a shelf, a large book sprawled across her lap, the blue binding offsetting the red fabric of her hakama when she hears a squeal from Botan and a crash.
"Botan-san! Are you ok?!" she hops down and runs to the next aisle to see Botan in a little heap of books rubbing her back through her kimono.
"Ahh.. yeah, I got excited." She smiles sheepishly and holds up the book she was reading. The title reads, 'Mythology of the Western World'. "I think I've got something."
Hinageshi helps Botan up and Botan begins explaining. "Apparently across the western part of the world, especially in Christian and Jewish mythology there was an Eve before Eve existed. Her name was Lillith. But there are tons of different stories about what seems to be the same woman. Some people said when Adam was created he was both male and female, but then God cut him in two and there was Adam and Lillith. Some people said that she was made out of the filth of the earth and the sediment and Adam was only made out of clean earth. Anyway, her origins don't matter. It says here that she was known as the child-slayer but it doesn't describe what she would consider children. The Greeks said she would kill thousands of her children a night, she cleaves to them in order to kill them and insinuate herself into their spirits." while it's mythology, most myths really are based in fact and this might help us a little!"
Hinageshi looks doubtful. "But still, that doesn't sound very promising. Does it say how to defeat her?"
Botan flips through the book. "Hmm… it says something about an amulet but no real description." She looks at Hinageshi. "I'm going to go tell the others what I've found. See if you can find information on the amulet, ok?"
Hinageshi nods and the two separate.
((Information on Lillith at: (http://www.lilithmag.com/resources/lilithsources.shtml) Lillith Magazine. I will be taking a few privileges with the demon version of Lillith but this is a general background for anyone curious))