A/N: Yes!!!! This is actually my fourth chapter!!!!!
Azumi: Took you long enough, geez.
Reikachan14: Shut up! It's not my fault that someone lost my disks!!! I looked all over the place for them!
Hiei: Looks like we have an absentminded authoress. This is great.
Reikachan14: Leave me alone…. On to the disclaimer!!!! I do not own any YYH characters, though as much I wish it I can't! =( But I do own Azumi!!!! ^_^
Azumi: Uh no you don't.
Reikachan14: What? Yes I do! I created you. What do you mean I don't own you?
Azumi: I'M A HUMAN BEING!!! NOT A PIECE OF CATTLE OR A TOY THAT YOU OWN!!
Reikachan14: You're actually a figment of my imagination…
Azumi: Really?
Reikachan14: Yup.
Hiei: Wow. You sure have a lot of time on your hands.
Reikachan14: Watch!! I can make her disappear!!!
Azumi: I dare y-- *disappears*
Hiei: Where'd she go?
Reikachan14: I sent her to my story!!! Off you go Hiei!!!
Hiei: Wha-- *disappears*
Reikachan14: Enough with my ranting! On with the story!!! Remember any type of reviews are welcome!!
The group had lost some time when they had to dress Azumi's wounds. There would be a few scars, though barely noticeable thanks to the healing salve Kurama gave her. They quickened the pace of their trip. Hiei and Kurama walked far up in the front, leaving Yusuke and Kuwabara to watch Azumi. Koenma was probably going to be very interested in this and all of the Rekai Tantei sensed a new mission approaching.
Kurama glanced at Hiei for a moment and turned his head back towards Azumi, "So tell me Hiei, how well does she fight?"
"That demon was very low class Kurama, even Kuwabara could have defeated it easily. Yet, look at her. Her breathing is labored and she's probably dizzy as hell from the blood loss. She seemed stronger when I met her all those years ago, probably because I was so weak. Now, even Kuwabara could probably beat her. It's shameful." Hiei kept walking. "Her speed does not even rival mine anymore. Fighting her would be cruel."
Hiei and Kurama began to slow their pace to join the rest of their group once more. They had been walking along in silence now, all of them keeping an extra special eye on Azumi, much to her dislike. She gave all of them dirty looks in return. They were treating her like a child and she did not appreciate it at all. A sudden ringing filled the air breaking the spell of silence. At first, no one did anything. But then Yusuke reached into his back pocket to pull something out.
Azumi looked at him, disbelief shown plainly on her face until she busted into a fit of giggles. Hiei looked at her, as if ashamed that he was in the same party as her. *Does she laugh at everything? She reminds me of the ferry girl*
Yusuke hesitated before opening his communicator, "What is it now?"
Azumi caught her breath for a second before she answered, half laughing. "Why are you carrying around a girl's compact mirror? Don't tell me you have to check your make-up."
Yusuke's face burned red and he was ready to punch her or yell, but luckily Kurama stepped in. "You see, that's actually a communicator. It's kind of like a walkie-talkie only you can see the person on the other end. It's just made to look like a compact mirror, so it'll be less conspicuous."
Azumi nodded, serious. She turned to look at Yusuke again. " Sure, no one will suspect anything if they see a GUY using a compact mirror!" She shook her head.
Yusuke got up in her face," Listen, I didn't get to choose what this looked like so shut your face already! Hey!!! Are you even paying attention any more?"
Azumi stared pasted Yusuke to his hand, where a blue haired girl had suddenly appeared on the screen. "Yusuke… Yusuke, will you please stop yelling at the poor girl already and pay attention?" Botan raised her voice so she could be heard over Yusuke's scolding.
"Uh, yeah what is it Botan?" Yusuke backed away from Azumi to talk to the ferry girl.
"Yusuke, I don't remember anything in your briefing telling you to bring a girl back with you. What did you do now?"
"Me? I didn't do anything. Something weird happened, she fell through a portal or something in a lake and ended up in Makai. I think Hiei knows her too, but she doesn't recognize him at all."
He waited a minute, as Botan began to shuffle through some papers looking for something. She picked up a paper in triumph, "Bingo. Hmmm, this is a paper containing all the scheduled breaches and portals to be opened temporarily, but there aren't any scheduled anywhere for at least a decade. She can't have fallen through a portal unless she or someone else created it."
"There's another thing too, demons are after her, and she's not normal. Something weird is going on. I need you to get us to Rekai, we need to talk to Koenma about this."
"Right, he'll probably have some files on this girl, but what's her name?"
"She says it's Azumi, but Hiei called her Ayaka at first. That's all we have, she's an orphan so she doesn't have a last name."
"Alright, I'll open the portal to Rekai now. Oh yes, and congratulations on your case."
Yusuke nodded and smiled before he closed the communicator. "Okay, Botan's going to open the portal now so we're going to Rekai."
" A portal?" Azumi squeaked, "another portal?"
Kuwabara laughed, "Don't tell me you're scared."
Her eyes narrowed, " Fine, I won't."
A swirling mass of blue light evolved out of the stillness, the gateway to spirit world. Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Kurama jumped in. Hiei was about to follow when he noticed Azumi's hesitation.
"I thought you said you weren't scared?"
" I never said I wasn't, and I never said I was. What do you care anyway?"
" You don't make any sense, when my sword is at your throat you talk like you're the one about to kill, but you're ready to run away and hide from a mere portal. You're acting like a coward."
She gave a nervous laugh, " Well, I figured if you killed me no one would be around to miss me. I was also pretty confident you wouldn't because your friends wanted to keep me alive. If you wanted me dead, I'd either be dead now or wandering around the forest right?"
"Hn, it's not safe to assume anything about anyone, especially me."
Azumi rolled her eyes, "Whatev—"
Hiei gave her a quick push, her chatter was beginning to grate on his nerves, but he quickly followed after. He could hear her cursing at him the entire way through.
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When Azumi and Hiei finally landed in Rekai, the rest of the Tantei were already conversing with Botan and a young man sucking on a pacifier.
Kuwabara turned around to grin mischievously, "What took you guys so long?" His voice hinted at what he was thinking of.
Hiei and Azumi simultaneously snorted in disdain of one another. The girl who Azumi had seen on the communicator's screen made her way toward her. She smiled, her features lighting up and amethyst eyes glowing as she introduced herself and her boss.
" Hello, you must be Azumi. I'm Botan, and this is Koenma-sama."
"Um hey. This is actually the warmest greeting I've gotten so far, except for maybe Kurama, but I'm pleased to meet you…" She looked past Botan to Koenma, cocking an eyebrow. "Not to be disrespectful or anything, but what's with the binky?"
Botan gave a uneasy giggle, "I'll explain later. But right now, we have some very important business to attend to."
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They had all settled down in Koenma's office, nice comfy chairs were brought in so they could rest. Koenma sat calmly in his seat before he motioned Botan to take a seat.
"As most of you have probably figured out, Azumi is not a normal ningen. In fact, she isn't human at all, from what I've seen I suspect that she's a wind demon, and a very important one at that, especially, if someone is sending demons after her. The one that attacked you in the forest was a stray, and barely had any strength whatsoever. You got lucky that time, but luck won't save you forever. I suspect that professionals will be after you in no time."
Azumi swallowed down the lump that was building in her throat, " You mean assassins right? Who ever wants me dead is going to send hit men to kill me." A feeling of dread started to build within her. "Wow, this day just keeps getting better and better." She added sarcastically before she held her stomach; she could feel it tossing and turning from worry.
" Unfortunately, that is exactly the case. The reason for this is veiled in mystique, mostly because we barely know anything about your past life as a demon. Your file as Ayaka showed next to nothing. The only clue it left was the coordinates to a secluded forest in Makai."
Kuwabara smiled, "So that's where we're scheduled to go next?"
Koenma shook his head, "We will go there, but not yet. It's too dangerous considering. Azumi has shown fighting ability, but she's going to have to lay low for a while. If she goes into that forest, alone or with some help, she going to have to be able to defend herself. If we send her in now, it'll be like sending a lamb into a den of lions, even with backup. If she were separated from the group the consequences would be devastating, though mostly for her."
Yusuke looked at the ground, " So in other words, she's our next assignment. We have to protect her."
"Exactly, but that's not all. I also want you to train her, all of you." He looked at each of them meaningfully.
Botan looked around through the silence, "So, you said something about lying low for a while, I do have an idea for that…" She waited for some sort of encouragement.
Kurama nodded, "What is it Botan?"
She flashed a dazzling smile, "Well… if you were an assassin, you'd probably expect your prey to be holed up somewhere, kept in secret. You'd never expect your target to be going out into public in Ningenkai on a daily basis, just like you'd never expect them to go to school. They probably think that since the Rekai Tantei know that they're after Azumi we're going to try to hide her in some secluded place in the mountains or something. They'll never expect us enrolling her into college… Do you see what I'm getting at?"
"You're right, but how will we get her enrolled there? It costs heaps of money to get in, unless you're a brain like Kurama." Yusuke stated.
"Yeah, and what if the assassins try to attack her at the school?" Kuwabara added.
"Well, the second problem can be easily fixed, you all can enroll with her and get the same classes. But I'm afraid that I have no ideas for the first problem…"
They all sat silent for a minute until Azumi slowly raised her head. "I have a way."
"And?!?!?!?" The whole room asked at once.
"I can hack my way into the computer and give all of us believable scholarships or program it to say that we have paid our tuition. It'll be hard too. I'm not sure if I can pull it off…"
Botan smiled in disbelief as she walked to her side, "You're a hacker? I couldn't tell by looking! However did you learn?" There was laughter in her voice.
Azumi started to blush fiercely, " Well, I was the only one who used the computer at the orphanage. That was because there was absolutely nothing on it. I started to pick up a few things after a while and eventually I learned how to hack into restricted zones. I didn't steal anything, just looked around…and every once and a while I'd download a couple games and movies for the kids. But trying to pull this off is going to be tough, I'm no expert and I don't know if I can do it."
Botan jumped up, "Well what are you waiting for? Come on, you should at least try it! I'm sure you can do it."
" You can use my computer," Kurama offered. " It has a very fast connection, so you shouldn't have too much trouble with it."
Azumi nodded, "Once I get in, if I get in, the rest will be easy. I'll just enroll all of us as new students right?"
"Don't forget about me. I'm not going to be left out." Botan shouted, and no one disagreed with the plan…except for Hiei.
"I will not attend that ningen school. I refuse."
" Hold on a second, you can't refuse." Shouted Koenma.
" Looks like I just did."
" Hiei." Kurama gave him that look, one that he knew so well. He hated the fact that all of the people in the room had black mail on him, except for the ningen oaf and Azumi.
"Hn, fine." He turned away and walked out of the door, his black cloak trailing behind him. *I need to speak with Koenma. He's not telling us something; I can feel it*
They all filed out of the room on their way to a Ningenkai. Azumi stopped a minute as she felt a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Oh, hey Botan. How are you?"
"I'm fine, but what about you. All of this is pretty hard to swallow, especially so quickly. You seem to be adjusting well, but you look a bit pale."
Azumi laughed, though a little bitterly, "I'm glad I seem to be adjusting well, because on the inside I'm a little hysterical. I'm surprised I haven't thrown up yet."
"Oh dear, are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah, it's just…"
Botan bent down to look into her eyes, "What is it? Go ahead, you can tell me."
Azumi let out a tired sigh," I've believed in this type of stuff my whole life. I wished it were real, and I wished it would happen. I never really thought how I'd actually feel when it happened. I'm excited and scared all at once. Most of all, I'm confused. I've had dreams."
Botan's face took on a quizzical look, " What do you mean dreams?"
"I've had them, since I came to the orphanage. You see they found me when I was just a child. I was wandering aimlessly and I had no memory of who I was. Ever since the first night I spent there, I had weird dreams. But they seem more like memories, they're so real."
" What are they about?"
"Well they al—"
An orange head popped out from around the corner, " Geez, I thought you guys disappeared or something. Come on, aren't we going to Kurama's so Azumi can do her hacking thing?"
Azumi rolled her eyes, "Yeah we're coming, O' Impatient One. Hold your horses." She turned to Botan again, "I'll tell you later."
"Tell her what?" Kuwabara asked. Azumi just ignored him, " Tell Botan what? Come on, I want to know!"
"Mind your own bees wax Kuwabara!" Azumi shouted at him. Botan laughed as they made their way to Kurama's apartment.
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They arrived at Kurama's house at around four o' clock in the afternoon. He quickly unlocked the door and motioned his friends to enter. It was all dark until he flipped the light switch and illuminated the room. A vase of red roses sat in the center of a small mahogany table covered in papers. The white tiled floor shone, and reflected the light making it bounce across the room. There were plants all over the room.
"Nice place. Where do you keep your computer?" Asked Azumi as she inspected the room more carefully and admiring it.
"Right here," Kurama opened a cabinet that, sure enough, held the computer. "So, how long do you think it'll take you to get in?"
"Well," Azumi eyed the computer and thought for a second, "let's just say that it would be a good idea to bring your sleeping bag and pillows."
"That long? " Yusuke shouted.
Azumi lowered her head, "Yeah. If I were a professional, or even close to one I could probably crack it in less than an hour, but I'm just an amateur. I don't do this for a living you know. Kurama, you're going to have to stay here, I need to know your school's website. I guess the rest of you could do whatever, eat or something…" her voice trailed off and suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Yusuke answered it with a yelp of surprise. "K-Keiko…" In fact, it was also Shizuru and Yukina.
"Yusuke you jerk!!! What do you do when you get back from mission? Do you go visit Keiko so she knows you aren't dead lying in some ditch in the middle of no where? No! You go to Kurama's house. You can't even call!" Keiko shouted angrily.
"It's not that big of a deal Keiko… Cool down, I think I see steam coming out of your ears." Keiko glared at his attempt to make a joke. Yusuke just laughed nervously in response. Shizuru and Yukina slid past the couple quietly and retreated to safer territory.
Botan, Kurama, and Azumi turned the corner. "I thought I heard yelling…" Spoke Azumi absentmindedly.
"Yeah, maybe because you did!" Yusuke retorted, turning away from Keiko.
"Yusuke, there's no need to be rude," said Botan defending Azumi. "She doesn't know this happens on a regular basis."
"It does not!" The detective argued.
"I'm afraid she's right Yusuke." Kurama added.
"No she's not!"
Botan clicked her tongue, "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt Yusuke, remember that."
"Whatever," Yusuke muttered as he turned around to talk to Keiko again, but she wasn't there. He walked into the living room to find her still fuming as she sat silently by the window. He walked toward her quietly, but not quietly enough.
"Go away Yusuke." Her voice was flat, not normal for her.
"Will you please tell me why you're angry exactly?" Yusuke pleaded.
She stared at the window, not bothering to glance at him. "I thought I did."
"Well I'm stupid remember? People need to explain things a couple times over before I can understand." Yusuke joked.
"I worry about you Yusuke. I want you to know that. You spend more time on your missions now, even if they are easy, I get scared that you'll never come back…"
Yusuke's eyes softened, "I—I'm sorry Keiko. I've just gotten so used to this stuff being easy I thought you would stop worrying so much by now."
"But I don't. That's the point, I'll never stop worrying. I want you to promise me something."
"What is it?" Yusuke asked slowly.
"I want you to promise me that if you go somewhere on your next mission and it's not too dangerous, you'll take me with you."
"Whoa! That's a bit much Keiko!" Yusuke shouted.
"Promise me Yusuke." She stared at him. "Yusuke."
Yusuke growled, "I don't like the idea but fine, I promise…"
He earned a small smile from Keiko, and a peck on the cheek. She got up and sat next to Yukina and began to chat with her, Botan and Shizuru.
Yusuke got up to go get a soda when he ran right into Azumi. She smiled, " That was sweet you know."
"Yeah big deal. Aren't you supposed to be hacking into the computer right now?"
"Yeah I will, but um… I think you better save that girl before she drowns in Kuwabara's drool…" She motioned to Yukina, who was blushing as Kuwabara was praising her and telling her all of the heroic things, he did. "Apparently he likes her. You know she seems really familiar."
Yusuke laughed nervously, "Yeah well, we've known that for a while. Do you want a soda?"
"No thanks, I've got to go. Try not to make your girlfriend angry again Yusuke." She laughed to herself as she made her way to the computer again.
"She's not half bad I guess. At least when she's not smacking people upside the head with rocks." Yusuke commented to himself.
Azumi sat at the computer concentrating, fingers flying across the keyboard as each code she punched in was wrong, wrong, wrong. Hours passed, it went from five to six, six to seven, seven to eight. Now it was eight thirty and she still hadn't cracked the code yet.
"Aren't you finished yet? I thought you said you were supposed to be good at this."
Azumi ignored Hiei, "Don't you have someone else to insult for a while, I'm trying to concentrate."
"What is up with all that racket that machine is making?" Hiei complained. A constant sharp noise erupted from the speakers every time she pressed enter.
"That noise lets me know the code is wrong, so I have to keep trying."
Hiei smirked, "Don't tell me you're weak and dumb."
Azumi narrowed her eyes, "Well, Mr. Macho Man, why don't you give it a try if you're so good at everything!" Hiei stared blankly at her. She smiled with triumph. "That's what I thought. If you'll please excuse me, I need to keep working."
Hiei left the room to go find a snack, not noticing Azumi's eyes following him as he rummaged through the fridge. She grinned as she turned back to her work. Two or three more hours passed, until she finally broke the code. Her fingers were sore and her mouth was dry. She barely got up at all, she checked the clock on the wall it was 11:45. She walked throughout the house, only to find that everyone had fallen asleep. Kuwabara and Yusuke crashed on the couch, Keiko, Botan, Yukina, and Shizuru, all shared the guest bedroom. Kurama had fallen asleep while finishing some homework for one of his college classes, and Azumi couldn't find Hiei. She walked into the living room to look out the window where Keiko had been seething when she was angry at Yusuke.
She stared out the window, watching the stars shine and the half moon that enveloped the city in it's fragile light. Azumi's eyes turned to the tree, which cradled a dark figure in its boughs. Azumi watched with amusement as her eyes observed Hiei's sleeping form. He seemed so peaceful, sleeping like an innocent child, though she couldn't use the same description when he was awake. To her, he resembled and an angel fallen to earth as he slept there in the moonbeams.
I feel so tired. I guess I'll just lay down for a minute and I'll go crash with the other girls. Azumi yawned and closed her eyes. She stayed there the whole night, falling asleep by the window.