Lost Little Youkai

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By: Ryoko

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"You say he's a Youkai, right? So he shouldn't be too hard to spot . . . I mean . . . with a tail and all . . . right?" Yuusuke asked, leaning against the wall and scratching his head aimlessly.

"No . . . it would be harder than that . . . he's . . . he was able to shape shift . . . well . . . kind of, anyway. See . . . before the first village elder passed away, he taught Zeke a few tricks that I never had the patience to learn. Zeke's father was a full-blooded Youkai, and his mother: a pure human. As he trained with the elders, he was able to take on three forms instead of one . . . the form of a wolf . . . the form of an everyday human . . . and the Youkai that you all remember ME being. But, because of the mix that he was, Zeke also had a vicious side to him . . . one that could not be controlled . . . the villagers knew it as 'BEAST'."

"Explain? What . . . how did this 'BEAST' come about?"

"When the warring territories had grown too close to our village, Zeke hid away in the caravan that brought out our guerrilla soldiers. When he saw as much death as he did . . . well . . . that's when BEAST was born."

"What happened?" Botan leaned in closer over the side of the chair, now fully interested in the story.

"He exploded. I'd never seen him so enraged. Every living thing he got his hands on was engulfed in flames the moment he touched it . . . I watched him tear through the battlefield until nearly every single thing had been destroyed . . . then I had to stop him, no matter what the cost."

"How the hell'd you do that?"

"I used the only method I could think of . . . I threw myself in his path of destruction." He downcast his eyes to the carpet, wishing that he could no longer remember the pain . . . the Youkai had nearly KILLED him before he'd finally shut down.

*** (Flashback thingy) ***

"EZEKIEL! STOP!"

He couldn't control himself. He just kept burning everything in sight.

"STOP!" Kurama cried, grabbing the boy's arms and throwing himself into the younger Youkai. They landed hard on the dirt, which knocked them both unconsciouses. However, when Kurama awoke, he was no longer holding the boy he's gone down with.

"Zeke?" he coughed loudly, darting his eyes around in panic. "ZEKE?!"

*** (Now we insert an interruption!) ***

"Kurama? Kurama?" Yuusuke's voice repeated.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry Yuusuke. What is it?" he glanced up, filling with embarrassment.

"Can you tell us what he looks like? Or anything else about him? We decided, that we want to help you find him. Including Hiei and the other freak."

"I heard that Urameshi!"

"Shut up and let the man talk!" the detective snapped.

"I'm not sure WHAT he would look like . . . at least . . . not now anyway . . . "

"Hey! Don't let that get you down! What did he look like when you last saw him?" Botan pulled out a pad and pencil, scribbling as Kurama spoke.

"Umm . . . He had platinum silver hair . . . icy eyes, they look silvery from a distance. Pale skin. Pretty tall for his age . . . around now I'd say he was about 278 give or take a few decades. He always looked underfed, no matter how much he ate; I'd imaging he'd look like that now. And . . . that's all I can really remember . . . "

"Any markings that would help us identify him a little better?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, he has a really large tattoo on his back. It looks like a Hell Hound and seems to be crawling down his spine. He said it was his guardian. And he always wore this chain around his neck, saying that until it was torn in two, he was be owned. I never understood what he meant by that though."

"Is that it?"

"Uh huh. That's all I can recall."

"Hmm . . . this looks like a pretty good list . . . umm . . . one more thing . . . I'm going to enlist the help of the police department . . . would that be alright with you, or no?"

"I don't see why it would be a problem . . . unless he's a fugitive . . . "

"Great! And don't worry Kurama . . . we'll find him! No matter what it takes!"

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A/N: Damn that was a boring chapter. If I didn't already lose you . . . I thank you for putting up with it! I'm SOOOOO sorry! I didn't plan on it being this lame. But hey, there are MUCH better things to come. I swear it!

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