Author's Note: Only one new chapter tdy folks, I have work to do. Maybe I'll get another one out this week, but Thurs. I'm flying away and not returning until Tues. Oh, and thanks to Staci for pointing out a little booboo on my part. At school, Kurama is Suiichi Minamino, his human name. My bad!
Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei ran down the street to the park. During their last class Kuwabara had insisted he felt something menacing growing in that direction. Now they were chasing a demon by the name of Loki, a fairly disreputable character whose true form was unknown. At the moment he looked like an old man—who runs unusually fast. "Hiei, do you think you can get in front of him?" Yusuke shouted. Hiei narrowed his crimson eyes at his prey and disappeared.
Neko scowled and looked up. It had gotten dark, and was close to six thirty. She had wandered into a wooded area, maybe the park or outskirts of town, but her head was beginning to get that fuzzy feeling. She heard pounding feet before she saw the demon. He was the size of a child, but he had six horns crowded on his forehead that oozed blood so it ran down his face. She almost threw up at the sight of him because her stomach lurched from the corruption of his spirit energy. She was so disoriented, she didn't have the strength to run when he picked her up.
Hiei cut in front of Loki and stopped, his sword drawn and ready to go. What he saw baffled him. A girl with purple hair and dressed in an odd combination of jeans and a dress-like shirt was caught in the old guy's arms. Sweat was pouring down her face and she was breathing hard. Loki grinned and held a hand up near her throat. "Don't get too close, Boys, or the girl dies!" he threatened.
Hiei looked over the demon's shoulder and saw the rest of his company standing there, unsure if they should move. Kurama crouched and prepared to spring up at the demon from above. As he leapt into the air, the girl in Loki's arms convulsed. "Head—horns!" she cried, her eyes mere slit which quickly closed up again as her head fell forward.
Kurama managed to change direction and hit the demon's shoulder instead of his head. Loki just laughed as the attack bounced right off him. Hiei looked at the hostage closely. Her spirit energy was under a tremendous strain of some sort, chaotic in its movements near her skin where it seemed to cling. Was there something restraining it? He didn't think Loki had the power to place controls on another person's energy.
Loki tilted his hostage's head back and traced a nail along her neck. "Since I can't seem to get away, I might as well go out full!" He nicked her throat with his nail and bent his head down.
"No!" shouted Yusuke. He aimed his finger at the brute and prepared to fire.
Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke's hand and said, "Wait! Look!" He pointed. Yusuke and the others looked at the girl Loki was feeding off of.
Something around her started to glow. A light appeared at her throat. Loki screeched and dropped her. "What the hell?!" he shouted, half his face burned.
A locket on a ribbon around her neck was glowing with a golden light. A symbol, clear to Hiei and Kurama, but simply a round circle to the humans, appeared on her forehead. She floated to the ground and the glow died.
No one moved for a while, then Kurama came forward and bound Loki so he couldn't escape. The poor demon wasn't likely to run off, he was trembling so bad he couldn't stand and had lost control of his illusion so his true form was clear. Yes, there were sharp horns in his head that could have seriously wounded Kurama if he'd hit them.
Yusuke went to the girl. He frowned at her face and brushed her bangs aside. "Hey! It's that new girl from school! Uh, Neko—that's her name."
Kuwabara and Kurama came over. "Yup, she is," Kuwabara said. Then he gave Yusuke a smug look and said, "I told you she was a demon."
Hiei knelt by the girl's side and turned her head to the side so he could see her neck wound. It bled sluggishly. "She's no demon, or Loki wouldn't have tried to feed on her energy." He got a grim feeling of satisfaction from Kuwabara's wince. To drive the wound deeper, he asked, "Don't you agree, Kurama?"
Kurama paused a moment before answering. "Yes, but she is unique in her energy's potency and nature. It is unlike anything I have ever seen on a human." He looked at Loki and said, "Perhaps we should take her with us to see Botan. At the least her neck could be healed and her memory corrected."
Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, maybe Botan can help with that. Think she's home?" He started to walk away and the others made to follow. Hiei was just about to step over Neko when Yusuke turned and said, "Hiei, since you're right there, why don't you carry Neko? If one of us did, we'd just slow everyone down." Hiei glared at Yusuke, but the others were already leaving. Hiei scowled at the wench at his feet and picked her up.
Neko's head rested heavily against his shoulder as he caught up with his slightly taller companions. What was the big idea? They knew he didn't like humans. Humans were weak, ignorant, unable to survive in extreme situations. Of course there were those who were exceptions, like Yusuke and his red-headed friend. Thoughts like these dominated Hiei's mind during the stroll to Botan's apartment. They got a few stares, but people went about their business uncaring.
Botan answered the door with a smile. "Hel-lo!" she said in a singsong voice. "What's up?"
Yusuke gestured towards the fuming Hiei behind him. "We found Loki, but he'd taken this girl from school." Botan ushered them all in and closed the door. Hiei looked around for a couch or somewhere to put the girl down.
"Hmm…nice…" mumbled Neko. Hiei looked down at her in surprise. Locating a couch in front of the TV, he set her down. As he straightened, he turned to see everyone staring at him.
"What?" he said crossly.
Botan looked him up and down. "Hiei, when was your last growth spurt? You're taller."
Hiei looked down at himself and almost gasped. His clothes were too small. Looking at the others, he noticed he could look Yusuke in the eye. He suddenly got a feeling of pleasure, from something which had nothing to do with making another person suffer. It was an odd thing, but he liked the change.
Kurama looked past Hiei at Neko. "Perhaps she is the source." They then all crowded around Botan's couch and conveyed to her the events of Loki's capture with the demon curled up in the corner as Botan healed Neko's wound.
Botan frowned when she was done and said, "Perhaps she has a former spirit detective as a parent? There are dozens of possible reasons for her to have such unusual spirit energy, but I would think Koenma would have taken notice. Such power as you describe is new to me. Maybe I'll ask when I bring Loki up." She cleaned up Neko's top and tried to wake her up.
"Neko, Neko, you need to wake up!" she shouted in the girl's ear. No response, not a twitch. Each of them gave it a try, except for Hiei who had gone off to the side after the healing so he could meditate and try and organize his abilities within his taller self. As he did this, his clothes grew and covered him once more. When he opened his eyes forty minutes later, the others were distractedly dripping ice water on Neko's face.
"Could we just take her home?" Kuwabara asked. "Take her to her room and let her parents wake her up."
Botan looked worried. "I don't think that's a good idea. Maybe Loki started to feed on her soul and it got damaged? Whatever is wrong, we should do something about it before her parents find out." She leaned her chin on her hands. "Besides, to wipe away her memory of this I need to be able to catch her mind through her eyes, and I can't do that is she's asleep."
Yusuke snorted. "I've tried it and it didn't work. Is there another way you know to do it?"
Botan shook her head. "No, but it should work unless she's being protected against memory alteration." She checked her watch and stood. "It's just after seven, I should take Loki in soon." She walked over to the curled-up demon and both faded. Hiei watched her fly off outside with the demon in tow, then looked back into the room.
The other guys were still huddled around the girl trying to wake her up. Ten minutes later, Kurama was gazing out the window, Kuwabara was snoring in the corner, Yusuke was trying to balance the remote on one finger, and Hiei sat at the opposite end of the couch, glaring at the possible source of his growth spurt. His inner reflection had revealed he was stronger and faster than ever, and his spirit energy had reached a new level. But why? How?
Curious, Hiei got up and over to the end of the couch where Neko's head was. She looked like she was asleep. Their previous attempts to wake her had proven otherwise, but how do you wake someone up from an unnatural sleep? Hiei cast a quick look around the room to make sure no one would notice if his idea failed, and leaned down.
He rested his lips on the spot on her neck where Loki had cut her. Almost instantly he felt her body tense up and he backed away. Her breathing quickened and her hands flexed. Hiei looked up and noticed the other three were looking at him in wonder. He got a smug sense of satisfaction and sat back. The girl stretched and sat up. As she turned and dropped her feet to the floor, her eyes opened.
Neko sat up and turned to stand. Her eyes fell on a strange guy sitting on his knees in front of her. She then stared at his hair. Yes, it was the same boy as the one in her dream! Just now she had been submerged in a world of scents. She'd been a passenger of some kind, carried around by someone who'd passed lots of other people. At the end, she had been mostly alone with this other person and had gotten to know their scent well.
Just now she could smell it again. It had woken her up, and now she knew it was this—boy? young man?—who was the source of this spicy and warm aroma. As she noticed this the scent faded in everything but memory. Neko's attention was shifted when someone stepped between her and the stranger. She looked up and saw someone familiar, Yusuke. "So you're awake," he said.
Neko looked around and spotted a couple of other boys from school. Then she saw the clock on the TV, it read seven thirty. She felt panic grip her heart. Neko jumped to her feet. "I've got to go! My dad's probably home by now and he'll throw a fit if I'm not there!" She started for the door, but at that moment, it opened and a young woman came in. She had light blue hair and pink eyes, and looked strange. Neko frowned. It was like she had double vision that overlapped.
The woman smiled and Neko realized she was much younger than she had seemed. "Hi! I'm Botan! I'm so glad you're awake."
Neko looked back at the guys in the apartment and then back at Botan. "Um, I'm Neko. Is this your apartment?"
Botan nodded, closed the door, and Neko found herself being guided back into the kitchen. Botan put Neko in a seat and then rushed about making some tea. "Don't worry about your folks, I left them a message that you were over here. What kind of tea would you like?"
Neko blinked. "Uh, lemon." Botan opened a package, stuck the tea bag in a mug and set the kettle on the stove. Then Neko found a plate of cookies in front of her and Botan sat down beside her and smiled.
"You must feel rather odd after having a demon feed on you and waking up in a strange room," Botan said, as if trying to make light conversation.
Neko still felt a little confused. "Um, yes, it is a little different from what I'm used to. Do you know what's going on? One minute I'm looking for a book store, the next I'm in some wooded area and feel so sick I pass out." She paused and said, "That is, after that oozing mess picked me up. What happened to him?"
Botan smiled. "Oh, the guys took care of him! They were chasing him and you just happened to cross the demon's path."
Yusuke had been listening from the doorway and decided to ask, "Botan, why are telling her all this? Aren't we supposed to try and keep her from knowing any more?"
The kettle whistled and Botan went over to pour the water. "I talked with Koenma and he had some interesting news." She set the mug in front of Neko, who stared at it as if it were hot mud. Botan didn't seem to notice and just turned to face the guys in the doorway. "It seems Neko is the first human magician."