Katsuyo stood outside of the huge doors, bouncing apprehensively on the balls of her feet. A little sweat trickled down her scalp under her hair, and she scratched the back of her head nervously. She contemplated wiping her sweaty palms on her pants, but she was sure that having damp handprints all over her clothes would not make a very good impression.
Well, she thought, It's now or never. With that, she closed her eyes and shouldered her way through the door before she could talk herself out of it.
"Koenma-sama!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, her eyes still closed and her nose pointed straight at the ceiling as she attempted to keep her chin up like her teachers always reminded her to do. "Spirit Agent Katsuyo reporting! You summoned me here, sir?"
"You don't need to yell, Kat!" a voice said from about the height of her knee, "I'm standing right here." Kat (who was slightly shocked that Koenma knew her nickname and was using it) opened her eyes and looked down. She was confronted by a knee-high boy wearing a blue and pink outfit and sucking on a pacifier. If she didn't know who he was, she would have burst out laughing, but under the circumstances she gulped loudly and stood even more rigidly at attention.
Koenma sighed. "You can relax, kid," he said as she made his way back to the huge desk in the center of the room, "Now!" With that, he whipped out a large stack of papers and began poring over them while Kat began to feel more and more like she was in very deep trouble.
"I see here that you've just become a Spirit Agent," he stated. It wasn't a question, so Kat didn't say anything. But she couldn't help fingering the badge on her jacket a little in pride. The badge was red and white, and read "Spirit Agent" across the top and bottom.
"In fact," Koenma went on, "You passed the test with flying colors." Kat felt a little better, and a lot prouder. But she still couldn't figure out why she had been summoned. Surely Koenma didn't just want to congratulate her on scoring highly on the exams she had taken.
"You're a pyromancer," Koenma said, sounding half surprised, "And have managed to bring your fire techniques to a remarkable level for someone of your amount of training. You have moderate spirit awareness, slightly better spirit strength, but your adaptability is at top marks. Yes…" He seemed to be contemplating something for a minute before looking satisfied. "Yes!" he declared, "I think you will be the perfect person for the job!" Kat felt a little dizzy.
"Umm…" she said quietly, "Sir?"
"The job!" Koenma repeated, "Katsuyo, I have an assignment for you!" Kat suddenly felt a lot more dizzy, but also considerably happier. She had just become a Spirit Agent a little while ago, and she had her first case already! She snapped to attention again, this time with a smile that was slowly threatening to split her face in half.
"Now!" Koenma said, jumping down from the desk to pace back and forth in front of Kat, "What do you know about the Spirit Detectives?"
Kat hesitated, trying to dredge up what little knowledge she had of the Earth branch of Koenma's forces. Earth had never particularly interested her, and she suddenly felt as though she was being drilled by her teacher.
"The Spirit Detectives work on Earth, eradicating what minor demons manage to slip out of Spirit World. They usually don't have as much training as the Agents, and are sometimes picked out of the human population as a needed?" Kat guessed. She hoped she had gotten it right. She had never been very good about studying Earth. She never expected to have to go there. But she certainly didn't want to look like a fool in front of Koenma. What if he decided that she wasn't ready for his assignment?
"Precisely!" Koenma said, turning back to his desk. Kat sighed quietly in relief. "In fact, the lack of training most of the Spirit Detectives get is the exact reason I need you. Listen closely! The only Spirit Detective we have right now is one who's just been picked out, and has only had a couple of cases. It's granted that they were difficult, and that he completed them, but I must say that it's mostly been dumb luck. His name is Yusuke Yurameshi. Kat, I want you two to be partners!" Kat felt like the bottom had dropped out of her stomach.
"S-Sir?" she asked in panic, "Sir! I can't! I mean, I would… I would be handling cases on the Ningenkai?"
"You bet!" Koenma said in a voice that brooked no arguments, "You will enroll in Yusuke's school, find lodging near where he lives, and generally live as a normal human. You will, of course, be informed when he gets a case, and it will be your job to accompany him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed!" Kat felt like she was going to faint.
"But sir! I-I…" she stammered. She blinked several times in disbelief. "How long will I have to stay?"
"For as long as I deem necessary," Koenma answered. Kat looked ready to spit molten steel, but she deflated quickly as she realized that the only way she would get out of this would be to challenge Koenma. That was something that she was sure she would never do.
"When do I begin sir?" she asked resignedly, almost dazedly.
"Immediately!" Koenma stated, sounding relieved that Kat hadn't put up a fight, "Yusuke should just be getting out of school now. You may go meet him, and from then on you're on your own!" He turned his back to her, strode back over to his desk, and began to stamp papers. Kat got the feeling that she had been dismissed, but she couldn't seem to make her legs move. Then she felt her eyes begin to water, and she rushed out of the room before Koenma realized she was crying.
****
Kat stood in front of Sarayashiki Junior High with a scowl on her face. She couldn't believe that she was actually on Earth, the only place she didn't want to have to go. She remembered when she was chosen to be trained as a Spirit Agent. She had been very young. Since then, every day of her life and been filled with her training. She had learned to fight, learned to bring her pyromantic skills to the level at which she could use them effectively, and she had been prepared for the day when a huge case would come just for her, and she would be called upon to be a hero.
"But instead, I'm stuck on Earth with a baby Detective taking care of the cases no one else cares about!" she shouted. It got a couple of stares from people on the sidewalk nearby, but she didn't care.
Kat was fifteen by Earth years, and tall, with chocolate hair and eyes the color of brown sugar. Like most pyromancers, her skin was tanned nut-brown. She wore a tank top under a blue denim jacket, and loose pants held up with a drawstring. She had taken off her Spirit Agent badge so as not to attract questions, although she still had the long metal-lined pockets on the sides of her thighs that were filled with shuriken. They had always been her weapon of choice, and she felt naked without their familiar weight at her sides. Besides that, she now looked very much like a normal human girl. Only someone with excellent spirit awareness would be able to tell that she was from Spirit World now, and Kowenma had assured her that spirit awareness was not a common trait among humans.
Just then, the bell rang. The harsh clamor was greeted by a low rumble of voices and footfalls as the students rushed out of the building. Kat scanned the crowd, trying to pick out the Detective she was supposed to be looking for. She had seen a picture before she had left, so she was reasonably sure that she would be able to find him.
However, after the initial wave of kids had passed, she still hadn't seen him. She wondered if she had missed him in the crowd, and was about to go look for him, when someone tapped her on the arm.
"Excuse me," someone behind her said, "Are you new here? You look sort of lost." Kat turned to find a sweet-looking girl with brown hair that hung in pigtails and wearing the Sarayashiki uniform. "I'm Keiko Yukimura!" the girl added.
"Oh!" Kat said finally, "Arigato, but I'm not lost. I'm Katsuyo. I was looking for Yusuke Yurameshi. He goes to this school, right? Do you know him?" Keiko's face suddenly darkened.
"You bet I know him!" she growled, "That brat Yusuke! No one takes me seriously as class representative because our class has such a low attendance average, and whose fault is that? I'm-too-good-for-school Yusuke, of course! You'd be lucky to see him in a classroom once a week! I'll bet he's out brawling with Kuwabara! At least he comes to school sometimes." Keiko seemed to radiate energy as she continued to point out every one of Yusuke's shortcomings. This did not improve Kat's mood.
"Umm," Kat interrupted, "Can you tell me where his house is? I really need to find him."
"Sure!" Keiko said, "It's…" Suddenly, she looked like she had just realized something. "Hey! Are you part of that weird thing? You know, the Detective job? Is this about a new case?" Kat blinked several times.
"Hey!" she said finally, "No one's supposed to know about that! How did you…" Keiko smiled at Kat's shock.
"Don't worry," she assured Kat, "Only I and a few others know. Botan told me about it after Yusuke's last case."
"Botan?" Kat asked weakly. She had been under the impression that no one on Earth knew about the Spirit Detectives."
"Yeah!" Keiko went on, "Botan is Yusuke's friend. She's really nice! Maybe you'll meet her when you find Yusuke." Kat gaped silently. It seemed that she still had a lot to learn about the Spirit Detectives.
****
"Well," Keiko said a few minutes later, "This is his house, but you'll be lucky to find him here. He's probably out somewhere fighting, like I said before."
"Arigato, Keiko!" Kat said, "I'm sure I'll find him eventually." Keiko looked at Kat a little warily.
"You know," she said, "You never answered my question. Is this about a new case?"
"No," Kat said quickly, "Don't I wish! Now that I'm stuck down here on Earth, I'm probably never going to get a case!" Keiko looked at her a little strangely, but was silent. She shouldered her book bag and headed for the street.
Kat stood in front of the door for a few minutes before knocking impatiently. After a loud crash and a series of bumps and calls of "Just a minute!" the door opened and a face appeared. It was a tall, thin woman who looked a little disoriented. She had long brown hair that was very disheveled, and eyes that were half-closed and sleepy. She was clutching a brown bottle and had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
"Oh!" the woman muttered dazedly, "Are you a friend of Yusuke's? Sorry, he's not home." Kat stared. She had seen very few humans in Spirit World, and only Keiko and the rest of the Sarayashiki students on Earth, but this by far was the strangest-looking of them all. She seemed sick, or as if she had just been hit hard on the head.
"Umm…" Kat said finally, "Do you know where he is?" The woman seemed to be staring past her. Kat tried again.
"Are you Yusuke's mother?" she said a little louder, "Do you know where he is?"
The woman blinked a couple of times and focused back on Kat. "Yeah, I'm Yusuke's mom," she muttered. Kat waited uncomfortably before repeating herself.
"Do you know where he is right now?" she asked again.
"Who?" Yusuke's mother asked dazedly.
"Yusuke Yurameshi!" Kat shouted impatiently, "I'm looking for him! Where is he?" Yusuke's mother blinked violently before saying confusedly, "Sorry, he's not home. Are you one of his friends from school?" Kat stamped her foot, frustrated.
"Never mind!" she shouted in the woman's face, "I'll find him myself!" At that, Kat stomped off with a newly kindled hatred for Earth and all of its inhabitants.
****
It was almost half an hour before Kat found him. She followed her spirit awareness to several likely places, but all turned out to be either mistakes on her part or simply the wrong person. Kat hadn't realized that there were so many people on Earth with noticeable spirit energy.
Right as she was about to give up and go wait at his house, she saw Yusuke's face through the window of a restaurant. He was wearing a green outfit and huge sunglasses, and had scruffy-looking black hair. Kat sincerely hoped that he wasn't as stupid as his mother seemed to be.
She strode inside, looking furtively around at the boys and girls seated around the place. Some were eating, and others were just sitting and talking. Yusuke was gazing out the window, looking bored with the world in general.
"Yusuke Yurameshi?" Kat said officiously, "May I have a word?" A few people stared, but no one moved. Yusuke looked over his glasses at her.
"Sure," he said, "In fact, you can have six: If Koenma sent you, buzz off!" Kat jumped at his immediate hostility, but then darkened.
"Whether Koenma-sama sent me or not is none of your concern!" she insisted, "Come outside with me right now and I'll explain." Yusuke made a superior-sounding noise in his throat.
"If you've got another case for me, you can forget it," he said, looking back out the window, "I just finished one! Now get lost." Kat kicked him in the shin so hard that he yelped.
"Come!" she shouted, "Now!" Her words were punctuated by a few tongues of flame licking the ends of her hair. She hoped no one had noticed. Sometimes, when she got really angry, all of her hair burst into flames.
Yusuke, though, definitely noticed. He grabbed her wrist and, before she could say another word, they were outside and down a short alley. Yusuke looked very tense.
"I hope no one saw that," he said simply. Kat was a little shocked, but she quickly jerked her hand out of Yusuke's grip.
"Listen, you!" she shouted, "I had it under control! You didn't need to drag me outside. I'm sure no one noticed." Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"I thought you wanted to go outside," he said, "If you want, we could go back in and you could give me the stupid case in front of everyone!" Kat mouthed wordlessly, but quickly realized that he was right.
She hated him for it.
"So, did Koenma send you?" Yusuke asked in a long-suffering voice.
"Yes," Kat snapped, "But it's not what you think!" She took a deep breath before going on. "Yurameshi, I don't like this any more than you're going to, but…" Kat stopped. Suddenly, the idea of them as partners seemed too good for this punk. She changed the wording slightly.
"Koenma sent me to baby-sit you, Yurameshi," she ended, satisfied with Yusuke's indignant expression, "He wants me to make sure you don't get into trouble, so I have to look after you for a while until you get the hang of being a Spirit Detective." Yusuke looked ready to kill.
"And who are you, to be looking after me?" he asked indignantly, "I'm Detective of Spirit World!" Kat snarled a little.
"You are Spirit Detective of Earth!" she snapped, "You are the earth-based branch of Koenma's forces against youkai, and definitely the weakest of them. I am a spirit agent, and I come from Spirit World, where we get real training and actually know a thing or two. You are a last resort, whereas my comrades and I are the first line of defense, so don't think I'm not any less disgusted by this!"
"But why would he send someone like you?" Yusuke insisted. Kat flinched. Pyromancers were rare, even in Spirit World, and had always been associated a little too closely with fire youkai. She had always been a little discriminated against for it, but she hadn't thought that Yusuke would be able to tell.
"I mean," Yusuke went on, "You're a girl!"
Kat gaped for several seconds after a slight double-take. "Why, you!" she gasped, lost for words. She was a girl? What did that have to do with a single thing? She clenched a fist and cocked it to punch, and Yusuke thought he saw a few tongues of flame squirt out from between her fingers.
Just, then, probably stopping a confrontation that would have resulted in one or more fatalities, a tall boy with curly red hair rounded the corner into the alley. He had several lumps on his head, and his right eye looked like it was going to become a massive bruise.
"Yurameshi!" he shouted, breathing hard and looking somewhat dazed, "You can't just run out on a fight like that! You chicken!" Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"Kuwabara," he sighed, "I left you and your gang back there fifteen minutes ago. And I didn't run away. You were out cold. That means I won, okay?" Kuwabara didn't seem to be listening.
"Well, I've found you now!" he shouted, "And now I'm going to finish what we…" Suddenly, he happened to glance at Kat. "Hey…" he muttered, "Another pretty girl…" Just as suddenly, he rounded on Yusuke. "You creep! Keiko's supposed to be your girlfriend!" Yusuke turned the color of a beet.
"Keiko is not my girlfriend!" he screamed with a definite note of panic. And, as the two boys came nearly to blows again, Kat backed against the wall. A single tear ran down her cheek as she found herself suddenly overwhelmed by the prospect of spending another second on this miserable planet.
I hate Earth! Kat thought, and then she turned her tear-streaked face to the sky and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I hate Earth! THIS ISN'T FAIR!"
****
The next day, Kat went to Sarayashiki Junior High for her first day of classes. She had been informed that Koenma had already handled her enrollment, which had given her the distinct feeling that everything had been worked out without her, and that she had no say in what happened to her life. Needless to say, this did not make her happy.
Even though Yusuke would have loved to cut class, Kat quite literally dragged him along. If she was going to a stupid Earth school, hell if Yurameshi wasn't! Much to her horror, Koenma had also arranged for her to be in all the same classes as Yusuke. When she realized this, even though she knew it made sense, she had accidentally caught the corner of her schedule on fire in her anger.
"I'm going to have to learn to control that," she muttered to herself, trying to keep the burned spot covered, "In Spirit World it may freak people out a little, but here on Earth I could get in real trouble!" However, her resolve was put to the test when, right as she and Yusuke neared the first period classroom (the former dragging the latter by the front of his shirt), he wriggled free and escaped up to the roof. Just then, the bell rang, so Kat had to duck into class quickly instead of following him.
The first thing she noticed (and this was the first thing she had to be happy about in a very long time) was that Keiko was in her class. Kat quickly chose a seat very close to her. Keiko gave her a funny look for a moment, but then smiled warmly. Kat grinned back, happy that she seemed to have made one friend.
Shortly after everyone had settled into his or her seat, the teacher (who Kat thought looked a lot like her old Spirit Awareness teacher, who had not particularly liked Kat) announced that the class had a new student. Kat stared blankly until the whole class had turned to look at her, and she realized with a start who the teacher meant. With a red face, she stood quickly and shuffled up to the front of the class. Kat had never liked standing in front of a class, but she stared and the ground sheepishly as the teacher warned the class not to pick on her, and the class in question tittered quietly at Kat's embarrassment. After she shuffled quietly back to her seat, she spent the rest of the class staring into space mutinously.
The rest of the classes passed just as badly, if not worse. Kat had never had need to learn things like algebra, she knew absolutely nothing about history (the history classes she had taken in Spirit World had covered things like demon invasions, not Ancient Rome) or science (Kat had never thought that she would have to know about Earth science). By the end of the day, Kat was miserable.
****
As soon as school let out, Kat leaped to her feet and cheered out loud. This earned her several stares, but she swept up her books and escaped before anyone could laugh. After dumping her books in her locker (which was swinging open a little, since she had managed to break the lock) she raced up the stairs to the roof.
"Yurameshi!" she shouted as she burst through the door, "If you think you can ignore me just because you're a Spirit Detective, then you…" Then she blinked a few times and shut up. There was a girl in the Sarayashiki uniform sitting with Yusuke, and Kat was well aware that she wasn't supposed to be talking about Spirit World around humans. She tried to think of an explanation for her outburst, but luckily she was spared from having to make something up by the very same girl, who jumped down from where she had been sitting. She was tall and had light blue hair. There was something very familiar about her. Something that Kat couldn't quite put her finger on…
"Oh, you must be Katsuyo!" the girl said happily, putting her hands on Kat's shoulders, "I've been waiting to meet you ever since Koenma-san informed me that a Spirit Agent would be coming to help us! It's so nice to meet you!" She began shaking Kat's hand energetically. Kat's eyes got very big.
"Yu- Yurameshi!" she shouted, her voice quavering the tiniest bit, "How the hell many people have you told about Spirit World?!" The girl, who was still shaking Kat's hand, laughed.
"Oh, don't worry about me!" she said in a musical voice that sounded like it had never had anything to be unhappy about, "I'm Botan, Yusuke's assistant!" Kat immediately brightened, realizing that what had seemed familiar about the girl was the fact that she was from Spirit World.
"Yes!" she crowed, "Finally! Someone from Spirit World! My gosh, how do stand staying on this miserable planet?" Botan laughed again.
"Are you joking? It's wonderful here!" she said cheerily, "Besides, I get to wear this cute outfit!" Botan plucked at her sailor-girl skirt. Kat grimaced. She hated wearing skirts.
"Anyway, Yusuke would do better to keep his big mouth shut in cases other that this!" Kat put in. She was talking about Keiko, but neither seemed to understand.
"Oh, you mean Keiko?" Botan finally realized, "Oh, don't worry about her. I didn't actually tell her anything, just that Yusuke is working at a part-time job for delinquents!" She was grinning at her own cleverness, and Kat almost burst out laughing too. When she looked for Yusuke to see how he was reacting, he was already at the bottom of the stairs. He had started to make his escape sometime before Keiko was even mentioned. Kat quickly dragged him back up, though she wasn't sure why. It would have been just as well if she hadn't had to deal with him, but she had felt that he deserved to be dragged somewhere.
"Well," Botan said, switching to an all-business sounding voice, "I was just about to tell Yusuke about a case that we have to take care of." Yusuke moaned.
"What?" he shouted, "I'm not going…" Botan clamped a hand over his mouth and went on.
"It won't take long," she promised as Yusuke struggled, "It's just a minor demon that managed to slip into Earth. There's only one complication."
Yusuke managed to struggle free right then, and put in moodily, "Yeah, I might have guessed there would be! I never get simple cases!" Kat rolled her eyes.
"I think," she said haughtily, "That it sounds like exactly the kind of boring case I was expecting. I doubt that I'll ever get an interesting case now that I'm stuck on Earth!" Botan gave her a funny look, but went on.
"This demon's name is Shingo. He has dangerous psychic powers, which he has used to take a human hostage," she said, "It is probable that Shingo will attempt to use this human against us, since he knows that we cannot harm innocent humans." Kat rolled her eyes.
"The hostage is the complication?" Kat sighed, "That's nothing! We grab the human, de-spell him, and drag the demon back to Spirit World." Kat crossed her arms and leaned moodily against the side of the stair railing. "I'll bet this is all I'm ever going to get to do here. Earth is for the Earthlings. I belong in Spirit World, where we get real cases!" Yusuke's patience snapped.
"You don't call a telekinetic demon with a human hostage a real case?" he shouted, "You stuck-up brat! Just because you're from Spirit World and I'm from Earth doesn't mean you're superior!"
Kat grinned at him. "Oh, 'superior'?" she taunted, "That's a big word. Did you learn that the last time you went to school? That would make it, what? Last year?"
"And where did you go to school?" Yusuke wondered, "Or did you burn it down because someone made you mad?"
"I'll burn this school down if you make me any madder!" Kat shrieked, and she looked serious enough that Botan decided to step in.
"Now, now, you two!" she said firmly, stepping (rather bravely) between Kat (who looked ready to spit magma) and Yusuke (who was seriously considering tossing Kat off the roof). "Isn't this just a little childish?"
"NO!" they both shouted, trying to shove around Botan to wring each other's neck.
WHACK! BANG!
Botan stood with her metal baseball bat that she had pulled out of Hammerspace, ready to deal out more blows if either should try to attack again. Kat sat on the ground alongside Yusuke, holding her head.
"Ow!" she moaned, "That hurt!" Yusuke echoed her complaints.
"Oh, you'll live!" Botan said, cheerful again, "Come on! We've got a demon to fight!"
****
"So how are we going to find Shingo, anyway?" Kat asked. A few minutes had passed, and all three were now walking out of the school grounds. Kat had exercised a bit of her spirit awareness, but she couldn't sense any demons. She also didn't feel like telling Yusuke or Botan that spirit awareness was not her strong suit.
"Oh, I thought that the great, mighty Spirit Agent should be able to find it for us!" Yusuke said. Kat looked like she had a headache.
"And maybe the great, mighty Spirit Agent will burn the sniveling, idiotic Detective's dick off if he makes another sarcastic crack about her or where she comes from!" Kat said back, imitating Yusuke's sarcastic tone.
"You should have a little more respect!" he shouted, "Earth is just as good as Spirit World, and Detectives are just as good as Agents! In fact, my last case was to take down the Four Saint Beasts! And I did it!" Kat snorted.
"Koenma would never send a human on a mission of that importance!" she hissed, "I heard that the Beasts were destroyed when they attempted an invasion of Earth, but of course it was an Agent who finally killed them!"
"You're wrong!" Yusuke shouted, looking very pleased with himself, "I took on all four, and I beat them, no sweat!" Kat appeared to be thinking very hard for a second before smiling evilly.
"You know," she said slyly, though she was still astonished that he had taken on a case of such magnitude, "I think I did hear something about that! You only took on the final beast! The first three were destroyed by the demons Hiei and Kurama, and you had to tap into your life energy to win your fight. The only reason you survived is because some other human saved you! But I thought that was a Spirit Agent, not a Detective. If it had been one of us, we would, doubtless, have handled it easily." Botan brightened.
"Oh!" she said, "You mean Kuwabara! He's the other human that came!" Kat looked confused for a moment, then laughed.
"You mean that boy you were fighting with yesterday?" she crowed, "You needed his help to win?"
While Kat and Yusuke argued on, Botan answered a sudden call on her communication mirror.
"Yes, Koenma sir?" Botan said when she saw who it was.
"Botan!" came a voice from the mirror, "We know where Shingo is, more or less. A while ago we discovered a rather large group of humans headed towards the woods on the edge of town. They are presumably under Shingo's mind-control technique, or maybe something else could be at work." He proceeded to give Botan directions to the location of the humans, and told her to follow them to Shingo. "With any luck," he said, "This should be an easy one. But don't forget about his hostage or the safety of the humans you are now following! We don't want anyone getting hurt or killed or any mass mayhem breaking out!"
"Right, sir!" Botan said as she snapped the mirror shut. She turned to Yusuke and Kat. During the time she had her back turned, Yusuke had managed to make Kat mad enough to make the contents of a nearby trash can burst into flames. Kat was now trying to force Yusuke's head into the flames while Yusuke kicked her repeatedly in the shins.
"Come on guys!" Botan called as though there was nothing out of the ordinary going on, "We've got a lead. I'll explain on the way." Kat looked up, and the flames immediately dissipated. Yusuke took the opportunity to pick Kat up and throw her into the smoldering ashes. Kat came up sputtering and spitting ash. Fortunately for Yusuke, Botan was hurrying away and Kat had to follow quickly or be left behind. She promised to herself that she would kill Yusuke later.