The next day was a Saturday, so Kat took off for the forest without so much as swinging by Yusuke's house to throw something at him through his window or shout an insult to wake him up. Yusuke didn't mind, and was rather relieved that he didn't have to deal with her. She had seemed really angry for some reason (no reason, in his opinion). So without even considering looking for her, he slicked his hair back and donned his usual green outfit. Soon he was happily wandering the streets.
He had a surprisingly normal day, and even he had to admit that without Botan or Kat around, his life had been pretty boring (despite the odd fight). He was heading home and it was already dark when the first really strange thing happened.
He had to stop suddenly when something came into his path and, though he was walking as though he didn't care if he stepped on it or not, it didn't move. Finally, he looked down to see what it was.
Yusuke blinked and stared at the little cat that had a reddish hue to its fur with a green bow around its neck, which was looking adoringly up at him. Cats usually didn't usually look adoringly at him. Actually, they usually hissed and tried to scratch him. The cat turned and began to trot away. It stopped after a few seconds and looked back at him expectantly. Yusuke blinked.
Wait a minute. He thought. Cats don't look expectantly . . . The cat started to look slight annoyed. They don't look annoyed either. . . The cat trotted back up to him, sat then looked expectantly up at him again. Yusuke stared down at the cat.
"What? You want me to follow you or something?" he asked. The cat gave him the look Kat usually did when he stated the obvious. Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Alright. I get the picture." The cat looked mildly pleased. Then it turned and strolled off.
Yusuke followed at a leisurely pace, trying to make it look as though he really wasn't following the cat with the green bow. Finally, they entered a semi-dark alley. The cat trotted over into the shadows and disappeared.
"Well?" Yusuke asked. "What did you want to show me?" A bright flash issued from the shadows, momentarily blinding him. If he hadn't seen the shadow on the moon above him, he would've been toast.
As Yusuke stumbled to avoid the attack, the cement where he'd just been splintered with a crack. As he righted himself, he saw a figure land mere feet from the splintered cement. The figure stood and turned.
"Well, I always thought you humans were stupid and gullible, but I have to say, you take the cake," she stated. The figure was a fairly short woman with piercing, green, cat-shaped eyes and wearing a green dress that cut off at about mid-thigh with two slits up the side to the woman's waist. The dress had no sleeves, which made the smooth skin on her arms have a bit of an eerie glow in the moonlight. There was a loop of fabric at her hip where a scabbard with a long katana hung. What was very peculiar about her was not the fact that she'd almost appeared out of nowhere, or the fact that, even though her features looked about his age, she was only up to his shoulder.
What was most peculiar was that this woman had the features of a cat. She had a pair of reddish cat ears sticking out of her head, a brownish tinge on the end of her nose, and a reddish tail swished to her ankles. A green bow the same color as the earlier cat's tied her curly red-colored hair back at the nape of her neck.
"Uh . . ." Yusuke started. "This may seem like a stupid question-"
"Probably," the woman confirmed. Her voice had a slightly sultry tone to it. Yusuke rolled his eyes. "You know, Kat used to do that a lot," she added wistfully.
"You know Kat?" Yusuke asked.
"Used to. But that's not the point. What's your pathetic question?"
"Um . . . out of curiosity . . . are you that cat I saw earlier?" Yusuke asked. The woman rolled her eyes (ironically looking just like Yusuke as she did).
"No stupid. I'm the talking elephant you saw flying in the sky."
"But I never saw…" Yusuke started, but the woman interrupted.
"It's called sarcasm, you idiot. Of course I'm that cat. Now, if you're quite finished, my mission is to kill you." The cat woman leapt high into the air over his head. "And I always succeed on my missions!" Yusuke jumped out of the way with a yelp as the woman came down, obviously intending to bash his head in with her foot. Yusuke rolled to the side, but then returned to his feet.
"What the…" Yusuke started to exclaim, but was cut off as he had to dodge a swipe of sharp claw-like nails that grazed his cheek. The cat-woman leapt back, her lip pulled up in a sinister smile.
"Next time, these claws of mine will rip your head off," she snarled gleefully. She leapt at Yusuke a second time, but this time her attack was stopped by a large fireball that came sailing towards her. The cat-woman leapt out of the way, but not before the attack caught the end of her dress and singed it. The cat-woman landed gracefully a few feet away, looking down at her dress in annoyance. "Well damn," she sighed, "I just had this washed too." The cat-woman looked over to where the fireball had come from, and, upon seeing Kat standing there (who looked slightly shocked) she smiled that same sinister, mocking smile.
"Well look, if it isn't little Miss Backup. Still takin' care of the babies I see." The cat-woman laughed. Kat seemed to still be in shock.
"Tsu-Tsunami?" she exclaimed, looking as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"In the flesh." Tsunami said, still grinning that awful grin. It was then that Kat seemed to come out of her reverie.
"You can't be Tsunami! She vanished!" Kat exclaimed.
"Faked my own disappearance. Easy enough to do if you know how and have the right... connections." Tsunami snickered. Kat deflated visibly.
"God, Tsuna-chan. What's happened to you?" she whispered. Tsunami just smiled again, then took off. Kat growled, suddenly angry, then took off after her. Yusuke stared after them for about two seconds, before following behind. As she ran, Kat drew something off of her belt that almost looked like a walkie-talkie. "Mondo . . . I found her," Kat said tersely into the little black thing.
"Over." was the only reply. Kat stuck the walkie-talkie thingy back on her belt, and then continued after the woman. The woman she thought had been her friend.
They finally ended up in another darkened alley, a high fence separating the woman from freedom. Tsunami landed on the fence, jumped to a nearby roof, then faced Kat. She knew Kat did not have the jumping power she did, and therefore could not reach her.
"Dammit! Come down here and fight!" Kat shouted up at her. Tsunami just smiled, but her smile faded as she caught a flash of silver in the moonlight. Tsunami barley brought her arms up in time to block the attack. Yusuke stared in surprise. Another cat person! This one was a male, about 5' 7" with long, wild brown hair tied back into a braid, though two brown cat ears stuck out of his hair. On his wrists he had some sort of contraption that looked like long steel claws. Yusuke saw Tsunami lean back and kick out her foot, sending the other cat man into the air and over her head. The cat man gracefully did a flip, then landed with the silence of the cat he seemed to be on the roof a few feet away from Tsunami. Tsunami smiled the same smile at the man, and spoke.
"Ah, I see. Mondo joins the cavalry," she mocked, "And how have you been, Sugar?"
"Shut up," the cat-man named Mondo growled at her, "You aren't Tsunami." Tsunami laughed at his statement.
"Hate to break it to you, Sugar, but I am. And I know everything about you." Tsunami mocked. "You're attack style is one of a hidden weapons technique, and you usually don't care for hand-to-hand combat. You're favorite food is ramen, especially the instant kind, and your favorite desert is mocchi. You like to ride on the Ferris wheel and hate roller coasters. You like to go on missions that involve thinking and don't really care for missions that are just pure brawn and no brain." Tsunami blinked innocently at him. Mondo looked stunned. "How am I doing so far?"
"The real Tsunami said that she had devoted her life to fighting demons. She would never do the things you're doing!" Mondo shouted at her. At that comment, Tsunami's eyes seemed to become unfocused for a second, and she looked at him blankly.
"That's right . . ." she whispered. A second later, she seemed shake herself out of it. "No, no, no. The OLD Tsunami said that. But not this Tsunami. Oh no . . . I've got a new set of rules now. The ones that I live by. And nobody . . . I mean nobody, is going to hold me down." Tsunami took something off her ring finger, then tossed it to Mondo. Yusuke saw it glint briefly in the moonlight before landing in Mondo's shocked hands. "That is why I won't be needing that anymore. If you know what's good for you, just stay away from me, okay? Pretend I never existed!" With that, she disappeared. Mondo stared at the thing in his hands, his eyes hooded by his bangs. Suddenly, he turned, and with a howl of an angry cat, punched his fist into the roof he was standing on.
"Mondo, what is it?" Kat called up to him. Mondo jumped down to her, then held out his hand to show her, as Yusuke peeked in for a closer look as well. Kat's eyes widened and she gasped. Yusuke only frowned in reply.
"It's a ring of some sort." He said, once again, stating the obvious. Kat stepped on his foot. "Ow!"
"Shut up!" she growled at him.
"Naw . . . it's okay Kat. He doesn't know." Mondo sighed heavily. Kat looked pityingly at him.
"C'mon Mondo . . . you're gonna want a bowl of ramen." Kat told him, pulling him away as he tossed the ring into a corner. Yusuke looked over to it. Eventually, curiosity won over, and he ran over and picked it up and stuck it in his pocket . . . .
****
Tsunami seemed to fizzle into the room like a broken TV set, finally becoming solid. She landed gracefully on the floor, not making a sound. The silence in the room stretched like a taut rope, until Tsunami said, "You know what, Rhint, if you think you're hiding, you are mistaken." A husky laugh filled the room and a man came out of the shadows. He was about the same height as Mondo, and wore a grinning metal mask that covered his entire face. He was wrapped in a long cape with robes underneath, and not one bit of flesh was visible, even though it was hot and stuffy in the stone room. It must have been horribly uncomfortable, unless he was hiding from something other than cold.
"Damn . . . thought I had you fooled that time," he said, rubbing the back of his head, sounding as if he would be smirking if his face were visible. Tsunami untied the bow in her hair, letting the reddish tresses spill around her face.
"You have to wake up pretty early in the morning for that," Tsunami told him, setting herself down on the couch. She shrugged. "Even then, it'd be tough." Rhint clenched his fists once, and then relaxed as he resumed his quiet self-confidence. He didn't really like being sized up too much . . . it was bad for his ego.
"Care to test that theory?" he growled, reaching for a long whip that was coiled at his hip. Tsunami smirked, pleased that she'd pissed him off once again. She stood, acting as though this was a waste of her time. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, and gave him a smirk.
"Ready when you are," she smiled. The two glared at each other, then leapt, simultaneously, towards the other. The two drew back as if to attack each other, but just as they moved to strike, they bounced off a large barrier. Tsunami and Rhint landed across from each other with a thump. "Ow . . ." Tsunami wined, rubbing her nose. "What the-?"
"You two should not be fighting," a low voice drawled, "Tsunami, why is it that you failed to complete the mission I sent you on?" Tsunami flipped her hair again.
"There were complications," she drawled uninterestedly, "It was no big deal. I'll get him next time."
"Complications or no, I expect my orders to be followed." The voice sounded so angry that Tsunami was suddenly afraid.
"Complications…" Rhint muttered under his breath, sounding pleased that Tsunami was in trouble, "If you ask me, this bleeding heart freedom fighter didn't have the guts to do what needed to be done."
"It's not my fault!" she insisted, "That dumb Spirit Detective had some friends that showed up." The voice was silent for several seconds.
Then, "I hope you remember what is at stake here. You will follow my orders, or suffer the consequences." Tsunami stared at the ground.
"Of course."
****
Yusuke fingered the ring in his pocket as the cat-man, now wearing a bandana to hide his ears, slurped down his tenth bowl of ramen.
"How much are you going to eat?" Yusuke asked, looking bored. Kat stomped on his foot again. "Ow! If you step on my foot one more time I swear I'll—"
"Would you shut up!" Kat hissed in a whisper. "You can tell how much he's depressed by how much he eats! Obviously he's very depressed, so leave him alone!" Yusuke scrunched up his face in a look of disgust.
"Hey you! Cat-boy!" he said, nudging Mondo under the table. Mondo lowered his ramen bowl and looked at Yusuke in mild interest. "Who was that girl anyway? You know, the one with the cat ears!" Mondo blinked at him, half a noodle still hanging out of the side of his mouth. Kat looked about ready to kill him. Mondo set the bowl down as Kat raised her fist to pound Yusuke.
"Kat, leave him be. He was there. He has a right to wonder." Mondo told her. Kat froze mid-punch, glancing at Mondo. Finally, she sat back in her seat. Mondo sighed, leaning forward. "That woman, Tsunami . . . she is," Mondo laughed humorlessly. "Well, was my fiancée." Yusuke frowned.
"So? What happened?" he asked. Kat replied for Mondo, because it looked like he wasn't about to speak any time soon.
"Tsunami was a friend of mine. I've know her ever since I've joined the force . . . at least, I thought I knew her." Kat sighed. "About four months ago, she disappeared. Many speculated that she'd been killed. I mean, even at school- I mean our academy for Spirit Agents- and stuff, it was dangerous. Youkai are everywhere in Spirit World, and deaths at the school weren't exactly unheard-of. But Mondo and I didn't think so. If a really powerful demon had come anywhere near the school, we would have known. We were all in our final year, and we would have been told so that we could look after the kids and everything. There were five-year-olds in some classes, and it was our job to protect them… but anyway, she was more than strong enough to deal with low-class youkai, like you saw. So Mondo and I have been on the lookout for her for four months . . . and now she finally appears . . . God, I would almost prefer that she had died…" Kat was staring distantly out the window.
She stared for a long time, looking sad, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Mondo went back to eating ramen furiously, and Yusuke tried to look decently concerned until it became boring and he wondered when they were going to leave. He didn't have long to wait.
"Oh, shit!"
Kat suddenly sat up ramrod-straight and looked horrified. Yusuke and Mondo noticed immediately and jumped to look. Yusuke looked out the window where Kat was now pointing energetically and he, too, suddenly looked terrified.
Ghost, who was just outside the window of the noodle restaurant they were in, turned, recognition dawning on his stunned features. As he turned all the way around, a Desert Eagle handgun also became visible. Kat and Yusuke flinched visibly.
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, dear."
"What's going on?" Mondo asked.
Kat grabbed Mondo by the wrist and stood up. "We're going, now!" With that, all three exited through the door that was farthest from the one Ghost was now quickly approaching. Kat looked terse, Mondo looked confused, and Yusuke shouted over and over, "I told you we should have killed him when we had the chance!"
****
By the time they lost Ghost, it was late. Yusuke looked furious, Mondo was still confused (as no one had taken the time to explain anything to him), and Kat was looking for a likely roof to sleep on while pointedly ignoring her two companions. Yusuke opened his mouth to say something, but Kat held a finger up quickly, interrupting, "Don't tell me! We should have killed him when we had the chance and it's all my fault, right?" Yusuke closed his mouth again.
Mondo tried next. "Kat, I'm getting tired. If you aren't going to tell me who the boy was, can we at least find a place to sleep?"
"My house is right over there," Yusuke put in, jerking his thumb to the side, "Just a few blocks away." Kat was about to call Yusuke a creative name and clamber onto the nearest roof to sleep on, but then she began to contemplate the prospect of a bed, even a couch, or anything softer than the top of a building.
"Fine," she spat, "So long as your mother doesn't ask questions."
"She's probably too drunk to wonder what a crazy bitch and a guy with cat ears are doing in the house anyway," he assured her. Kat swatted at the back of his head.
"I'm not a bitch," she said uninterestedly, "And as long as Mondo wears his bandana…" She stared at Mondo. "Shit…" she moaned suddenly. Mondo looked alarmed.
"What?" he asked. Kat pointed at the top of his head. Then Yusuke noticed too.
"Oh. He's not wearing his bandana," he observed.
"It must have come off while we were running!" Kat fretted, "Oh, man! What now?"
"Well," Mondo suggested, "It's late, so there's no one around. If we hurry, maybe no one will notice." They all began to hurry. Unfortunately, just as they rounded the corner, Mondo had to stop quickly to avoid crashing into a spacey-looking girl who was clutching a large bag of groceries. Before Mondo could hide his ears, she reached up and yanked one of them curiously. Kat, her brain racing, miraculously managed to remember a completely random bit of information from one of her classes about Earth.
"It's a coz-tum!" she blurted quickly.
"She means a costume!" Yusuke added. He had caught on to how important this was, as Kat was sweating bullets, and Mondo had frozen up completely. In fact, if this girl didn't buy their explanation, it would be a major violation of Spirit World law.
"Oh," the girl muttered, "Then did you come from a party?"
"Yeah!" Kat babbled, "A costume party! With lots of costumes! And people dressed up! In costumes!" She trailed off nervously. The girl blinked slowly.
"Then what are you?" she asked. Kat stared, trying to figure out what she meant. The girl tried again. "What are you dressed up as?"
"Um…I, uh…that is to say…" Kat stammered unhelpfully.
"A psychotic bitch," Yusuke offered. The girl blinked again, now staring at Yusuke.
"Oh," she said again, "What about you?"
Before Yusuke could say anything, Kat butted in, "The village idiot."
"Oh," the girl said one more time, and everyone held their breath. "Okay, then." And she walked away. Everyone let out a collective sigh. Mondo stared at the two of them.
"Well," he observed, "That was stupid."
****
The night passed uneventfully. They got to Yusuke's house with no further problems, where Yusuke found a baseball cap for Mondo in case his mother came in. Mondo flopped on the couch and seemed to be instantly asleep, and Kat glared flatly at Yusuke until he sighed and told her that she could use his bed. Yusuke tried to shove Mondo off the couch, but the latter, without waking up, turned a little and hissed. Yusuke tried again and was rewarded with a shallow scratch across his cheek from Mondo's claw apparatus, which he was still wearing. He decided to sleep on the floor.
The next morning everyone was feeling a little better, so they went for a walk while they tried to decide what to do next.
"If she tried it once, it makes sense that she'll try it again," Mondo pointed out, "Whatever her objective, it's obvious that she wanted Yusuke dead." He spoke in a flat tone of voice that made Kat worry. He was clearly still getting used to thinking of Tsunami as an enemy.
"Well," Yusuke put in, "So we're just going to wait for her to try and kill me again? Why don't we make the first move this time?"
"Cause we don't know where she is, dimbulb," Kat said through her teeth. She was happy to be working with Mondo again, even if it was only temporary, but Yusuke's presence was still a constant reminder of her imprisonment on Earth. After all, Mondo would probably be gone as soon as the Spirit World learned that he had left.
"We need to think of why!" Mondo continued, "I don't understand why she would do something like this. I have a feeling that if we can figure out her motive, we'll figure out how to stop her. She's not a bad person."
"What I want to know is why she's trying to kill Yusuke," Kat replied, "I mean, if you're going to be an assassin, at least assassinate someone who's worth something. Besides, she doesn't even know Yusuke!"
"I know!" Yusuke agreed sarcastically, "If she's had to put up with you for most of her life, I don't see why she didn't try to knock you off." Kat swatted halfheartedly at the back of his head.
"What if she's working for someone else?" Mondo put in before Kat and Yusuke's verbal tension became physical. But then the full impact of what he had said hit him. "Yeah!" he continued, "That makes sense! What if she's being controlled? Then it would be a good idea for whoever's doing the controlling to make her kill someone she isn't close to. You know, to make sure of her loyalty."
Kat looked pained. "Sorry to burst your bubble, pal," she said, "But if she was being controlled by mind tricks or magic, then the one behind it still wouldn't have known all those things about you. Besides, it takes a lot of power to do something like that, especially if the target is as strong-minded as Tsunami. He, or she for that matter, wouldn't have wasted power making Tsunami talk to us so lengthily." Mondo looked crestfallen.
"What if she's being blackmailed?" Yusuke asked. Kat and Mondo thought about that for several seconds, then stared at Yusuke as if he had sprouted carrots out of his ears.
"He's right!" Kat exclaimed, sounding surprised, "It's the perfect explanation!"
"Then what's she being blackmailed with?" Mondo wondered. He thought for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers happily. "It must be one of our lives, either Kat's or mine, or maybe both! That's why she didn't go through with killing Yusuke when we showed up!"
Kat and Mondo stared excitedly at one another, then turned to stare at Yusuke again.
"How did you think of that?" Kat demanded, "You don't know anything!" Yusuke chose to ignore her final comment and her apparent astonishment that he had had the idea.
"I've had to work against blackmail before," he said, "Rival gangs and teachers use it a lot. The problem is, until we figure out what she's being blackmailed with, it doesn't matter. Even if you're right, and it's one of your lives, we still don't know how this guy plans on killing you, right? If we can't guard against it, it's useless."
That sobered everyone a little, and they continued to walk in silence.
"Well," Kat said suddenly, clapping her hands in a let's-get-to-work kind of way, "Obviously the only thing to do is to go on like nothing has happened. Just stay on your guard all the time. But we're not going to get attacked as long as we stay together, so we've got to split up. We'll only learn more when we get attacked next." Mondo looked a little nervous.
"But where am I supposed to go? I don't even know the way back to Yusuke's house!" he pointed out.
"She's only going to try to go after me, right?" Yusuke said, "You two go off somewhere and I'll wait for her to show up."
Kat nodded her agreement. "Fine," she said curtly, "Be careful." The boys stared at her, and she jumped a little.
"I mean…" she added quickly, "Not that I care! But knowing you, you'll go all macho and stupid, and I know that if I had an excuse like hers I'd use it to kill you! And if you die, I'll have to answer to Koenma! I'm supposed to be baby-sitting you, remember?" She scowled at both of them. "Meet back at Yusuke's house in two hours! Go! And quit laughing at me, I can see that!"
****
A half hour later, Yusuke was getting bored when he realized that he was being followed. It was only a strange feeling, but it kept up even after he had rounded a few corners and ducked through a building. Finally, he entered an old warehouse and stood in the middle of the floor.
"Alright," he shouted, "Whoever you are, come on out!" He tensed, looking around for sharp claws to streak toward him or an energy attack to strike. Instead, a tall figure appeared out of the shadows and answered him.
"Yurameshi?" he said, sounding surprised, "What are you doing here?" Yusuke blinked a few times.
"Kuwabara?" he asked, equally surprised, "What do you mean, 'what am I doing here?' You were following me!"
"No I wasn't!" Kuwabara insisted, "It was something with huge spirit power. I felt it when I was walking, so I tried to follow it. I even saw it once or twice, like a shadow. It was running along the rooftops."
"Your friend has excellent spirit awareness," a voice suddenly said, "I intended for only you to notice my presence." Kuwabara jumped and Yusuke whipped around to face the sound. Tsunami stepped out of the shadows.
"So, back again?" Yusuke shouted, "You should know that I won't go so easy on you this time!" Tsunami ignored him, and continued as if he hadn't spoken.
"I guess I'll just have to kill you both now," she said, "But that's not so bad. After all, it's one more baka ningen where we don't have to worry about him." But even as she spoke, her face looked intensely sad, and she shook her head back and forth continually. Yusuke hesitated. Then Tsunami mouthed slowly, soundlessly, "He. Can. Hear. Me."
"Why do you want to kill me anyway?" he asked quickly. If whoever was holding her captive could hear what she said, he would have to try to get information out of her while pretending that she had done nothing but threaten him. "I don't understand. If you're so evil, why not try to kill your psycho-bitch friend or your kitty-eared fiancé?"
"Tell me where they are and maybe I'll knock them off next," she said, looking intense.
"They're safe."
"Are they?" And she looked at him pointedly, tilting her head as if trying to give an idiot a clue. Yusuke realized instantly what she meant. Kat and Mondo weren't safe. They had been right. It was their lives that Tsunami was being blackmailed with.
"Maybe I'll let them die in a gallant fight, going out in a blaze of glory," Tsunami went on, "They'd like that, wouldn't they, those trained heroes. Or…" She paused, and gave him another 'hint-hint' look. "Maybe I'll come quietly in the dark, and get them in the backs when they aren't expecting it, like an assassin in the dark."
"What do you mean by that…" Yusuke started, but Kuwabara cut him off by shaking his shoulder.
"Hey, man," Kuwabara hissed, "I'm sure this is important, but I've gotta tell you…" Yusuke shoved him away.
"Not now, idiot!" he shouted. Kuwabara didn't give up.
"That girl," he said, "She's not the shadow I saw on the roof." Yusuke turned to clock him, but was flattened as the realization of what he had heard sunk in. Even Tsunami looked horrified.
"What?" Yusuke demanded.
"Yeah," he confirmed, "It didn't look like her. It was taller, and wearing a cape."
A new voice, coming from high above, greeted his words. "How interesting," it said, "I am impressed. I was under the impression that my skills would allow me to pass undetected among ningen, but you were able to see me. You must have a tremendous sixth sense." A figure dropped to the floor from the ceiling, where it had been sitting on the lip of a large hole. It landed right in front of Tsunami, facing her, so that all Yusuke could see was a long cape. "Of course," it concluded with a smug tone of voice, "That won't help you now."
"Rhint!" Tsunami shouted, an edge of panic in her voice, "What are you doing here?" At his sudden appearance, she stumbled back and almost fell, but was able to right herself and face him.
"The boss sent me after you to make sure you followed through on your duties," he snarled, "And it's a very good thing. If I hadn't been able to see you, we never would have guessed that you were in fact passing the Spirit Detective information. Such a clever girl. I'll bet that, given enough time, you would even have given him enough to find our little hideout."
"I wouldn't…" she whispered, "Please…"
"Shut up, you worthless piece of filth!" he shouted, and backhanded her viciously. With a whimper, Tsunami crumpled to the floor. "I'll deal with you later," he told her, prodding her with his shoe, "But first, Detective, I believe I'll have to kill you. You simply know too much, and that's never safe, is it?"
Yusuke tensed, and muttered out of the side of his mouth, "Kuwabara! You've got to go find Kat. She's that girl you saw with me in the alley a few days ago. Do you think you can track her down by recognizing her spirit power?"
"I only saw her that once," he answered, "It won't be easy."
"Try," Yusuke said simply, "And when you find her, tell her to forget the plan, and go to my house right away. I'll meet you guys there in a little while. Go quick, okay?" Kuwabara nodded tersely and ducked behind some boxes, and slowly began making his way to the exit.
"Think fast, Detective," Rhint said, sounding amused. His voice brought Yusuke back to the situation at hand just in time to notice that Rhint had snapped his whip idly towards Yusuke's face. Yusuke reflexively ducked his head sideways, and the whip missed him. "Not bad," Rhint sneered, "But your luck won't last long. I'm much faster than you."
Meanwhile, Tsunami pretended to still be dazed on the ground from Rhint's blow while she watched the scene unfolding. Crap, she thought to herself. Now she would have to do some quick thinking.
Yusuke watched Rhint's whip carefully, flinching at it's every small move. Rhint noticed this, and quickly scooped up a marble-sized stone from the ground and chucked it at Yusuke's face. Yusuke wasn't watching for it, and it bounced off his forehead, making him hesitate for an instant. In that instant, Rhint lashed his whip out and around both of Yusuke's ankles, bringing him crashing to the ground.
"Out of luck, Detective," Rhint sighed, "Really, I had expected more."
In an instant, Tsunami got a perfect idea.
He snapped his whip towards Yusuke, who was still on his back and winded. But to Yusuke's surprise, he was not cut to smithereens by Rhint's rope, but instead, found a smaller body blocking the blow. Tsunami was crouched in front of Yusuke, the katana she had been wearing held in front of her. The whip had wrapped around the middle of the katana, preventing it from hurting either Yusuke or the sword's wielder. Rhint tugged on his weapon, but to both his and Yusuke's surprise, the whip did not come free. Nor did Tsunami, who had a tight grip on her katana, move an inch. The little minx was stronger than she looked.
"I'd get outta here if I were you." she told Yusuke calmly, not taking her eyes Rhint. Yusuke frowned.
"Huh?" he asked. Tsunami rolled her eyes, exasperated.
"You heard what I said. Are all you humans this dense?" she asked. Yusuke wrinkled his nose at the insult. This time, she turned to look at Yusuke. "Look, if I can kick your ass, than he," Tsunami motioned with her head towards Rhint. "Will have no problem doing the same." Yusuke flushed at her veiled insult.
"You cannot kick my-!" Tsunami sighed and cut him off.
"Look, do you have a death wish or something? I can only hold him off for so long." True to her word, Tsunami was slowly starting to slide forward towards Rhint, her grip on her katana loosening.
"But what about-?" Yusuke began to ask, but Tsunami cut him off.
"I can take care of myself. Tell Kat that the door will open at 1800 hours. She'll know what to do." Tsunami told him, turning her gaze back to Rhint. Yusuke opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it, then turned and retreated.
"Well, well, well." Rhint drawled. "Looks like the kitty finally shows her claws." Tsunami spat like a cat.
"You fool." Tsunami replied. "You messed things up so bad! I had him right where I wanted him! It's a good thing I salvaged what was left of my plan after you jumped into it!"
"What?" The puzzlement in Rhint's voice was evident. Tsunami straightened, sheathing her katana.
"You really are an idiot," Tsunami went on, "Couldn't you see that I was playing him along? Everyone wants to believe that I'm still a good guy, right? All I had to do was act the part a little, and he trusted me perfectly! He would have let down his guard, and I would have been able to draw him right into a trap. I was planning on bringing him back to the boss alive. A prisoner is much more useful than a corpse anyway."
Rhint looked nervous, like he might have really done something wrong. "But then why did you tell him that the boss can hear what we say? You could have just talked to him and drawn him in even easier. The only reason you would do otherwise is if you really thought you were going to get away with it!"
Tsunami flinched. She hadn't remembered that, and didn't have an excuse ready. But she kept up her unconcerned façade perfectly, and flipped her hair a little while coming up with an answer.
"Oh, come on!" she drawled, "No one's that stupid! If I didn't let on that the boss had some kind of control over me, he would never have bought it." Rhint now looked thoroughly guilty, believing that he really had messed up Tsunami's perfect plan. Tsunami almost sighed in relief.
"Okay, hotshot," he muttered, "So what's the new plan? You said that you found a way to salvage it."
Tsunami was ready this time. "Remember how I told the human that the door will open at 1800 hours?" Under his mask Rhint raised an eyebrow as if to say "Ya, so?" Tsunami rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious, but continued anyway.
"Well, the door I was talking about was the door that connects the Spirit World and the Human World. When that door opens, it's a Spirit Detective's job to guard that door and make sure no spirits or humans cross over that doorway. When Kat hears that, she'll think that I was trying to get her some piece of vital information, and she'll be there to try to put a heroic end to our plans. But the gate isn't opening. That's a load of bull. But now we know that they will be at a certain place at a certain time, and we can get there early and make ready a nice little present for when they arrive, if you catch my drift." Rhint raised his eyebrows, and then grinned evilly beneath his mask.
"I gotta hand it to you, kitten. That's a pretty good plan."
****
Yusuke ran back to his house. Tsunami's message meant nothing to him, but obviously it would mean something to Kat. He knew that whatever it was, it was clearly important, so he ran as fast as he could in case every second counted.
He flew through the door and almost crashed into his mother.
"Yusuke!" she shouted, "Watch where you're going, can't you ever just walk somewhere? And how about all these people? You never even asked me if it was okay that you invited a bunch of friends over!" Yusuke stared at her a little blankly. With the memory of recent events still pounding his head and his mother's absence for the last few nights, he had totally forgot to provide for the possibility that she might be home.
"S-Sorry, mom. I'll tell you all about it later," he stammered, and rushed past her into the living room where everyone was waiting.
"Tough luck, man," Mondo remarked, but he seemed to find the exchange between Yusuke and his mother amusing.
"Okay, okay," Kat interrupted, "I'm sure this is very interesting, but what happened? Why did you call us all back here?"
Before Yusuke could begin his story, Kuwabara said, "Y'know, I'm pretty sure that there's a story behind this, and I want to hear it! I'm not just going to run around and be your messenger boy, I want some answers! I mean, come on Yurameshi! It's not like we haven't fought demons together before!" Everyone stared at him.
"He knows about demons?" Kat asked, sounding furious, "And Spirit World and all the rest?" Yusuke nodded sheepishly. Kat looked ready to explode. "He. Is. A. NINGEN!" she shouted, "How could you…"
"Oh, don't worry so much, Katsuyo!" said a chipper voice. It was immediately followed by its owner, Botan, who rode in through the window on her oar. "Kuwabara is a special case. Yusuke didn't break any laws, so don't go lecturing him!"
"Botan?" Yusuke said, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, first of all," she told them more seriously, "I'm looking for Mondo. Spirit Agents aren't allowed to just sneak off to Earth when they feel like it, even if they aren't on an assignment." Mondo tried to make himself small.
"But that was only first," she continued, "Second of all, I got a message from Koenma, and he told me that there has been a sudden epidemic of minor demons attacking almost everywhere! Every single Spirit Agent is currently assigned to a case, which almost never happens. They are minor demons, so the cases don't take long, but as soon as the Agents get back they have to get going again, because there are always plenty of new cases waiting. It's pandemonium!
"We have tracked the center of all this madness to Earth," she continued, "Apparently there's a mastermind hiding somewhere, and we think that all these attacks are just a prelude to the true attack. But even so, we can't spare anyone who's already working in Spirit World. That's why we want Mondo to stay here. After all, we're going to need all the help we can get here on Earth."
After discussing what Botan had just said for a while, Kuwabara reminded them all of his request, and Kat explained why she had come to Earth and the situation thus far. After that, Yusuke continued with his story of how he had spoken to Tsunami in the warehouse.
"The gate to Spirit World!" Botan breathed, "They must be planning to open the gate and let all the demons through to Earth! But how did they get so much power? It should be impossible to open the gate from the outside!" But Kat and Mondo just laughed.
"Oh, she's not talking about that gate!" Kat insisted, "That's only what she wants the bad guys to think!"
"Right!" Mondo went on, "She's talking about the gate of opportunity!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuwabara asked.
"And how do you know that?" Yusuke added.
"It means what it sounds like," Mondo said, shrugging, "The gate of opportunity is opening, so this is our opportunity to save Tsunami!"
"We know because that's what she always used to say," Kat added, "She would tell us that our gate would open some day and we would get the case of a lifetime. Whenever she said 'gate' she meant opportunities."
"Then we should be there at 1800 hours?" Yusuke asked, "That's when the opportunity will present itself?" Kat stared at him.
"Of course not!" she scolded, "Are you dense? She said that within hearing distance of the other guy, what's-his-name, Rhint? Okay, so that's what he'll think. Now he's planning on us being at the Gate between Earth and Spirit World at 1800 hours, which is six PM. He'll want to set a trap for us, so he and Tsunami will be there a few hours earlier then that."
"Tsunami will be playing along, of course," Mondo added, "Because that will keep the bad guy happy and we won't use his trump card to punish her."
"Trump card?" Kuwabara asked.
"Sure," Mondo said, "That's us, me and Kat. If the bad guy thinks he's been betrayed, he'll kill us."
"By the way, Detective," Kat said, "Did she manage to tell you how this bad guy was planning on killing us in such an event?" Yusuke shook his head.
"No," he said, "She just hinted that your lives were in danger."
"Well," Kat sighed, "It can't be helped. In any case, we need to be at the Gate of Judgment right now, so we can be ready when Rhint and Tsunami show up!"
****
"Well, here we are," Rhint sulked. He was still very put out after Tsunami had berated him. It was five PM, and Tsunami had just led him to the gate of betrayal. The doors of the gate towered above them, stretching on to what seemed like forever. The place had a very eerie feel to it, with the colossal gates and the ethereal clouds that they stood on.
Tsunami glanced around nonchalantly. She couldn't see her friends anywhere, but she supposed that meant they were hiding in wait. She tried not to think about what would happen if they weren't. What if Kat and Mondo hadn't understood her message fully? What if they were going to walk up to the gate confidently an hour from now? What if she would have to watch her best friends fall into a dangerous trap and a gruesome end before she could even warn them? It was all a matter of timing. If she showed her true colors too early, they would be killed before she could get there to protect them. If she did too late, then they would fall into the trap Rhint was planning and she would have to watch helplessly.
Or, of course, they might have understood her perfectly. That would mean that they were waiting somewhere nearby, waiting for the gate of opportunity to throw itself wide.
"By the way, kitten?" Rhint said, startling her out of her musings, "What did you have in mind for this trap? Pitfall? Ambush? Magic barrier?"
"You can't dig a pit in cloud, fool," she hissed, "And you can't work the kind of magic a barrier would need here. The Gate provides too much interference. After all, it's a masterful work of spirit power as well as art."
"However," said a chipper voice, "An ambush seems like a perfect plan, doesn't it?" Botan leaped out of her hiding place in the thick clouds, closely followed by Kat, Mondo, Yusuke, and Kuwabara.