Her deep brown hair cascaded past her shoulders, framing her face in an
angelic pose. Naoko's breathing was steady and rhythmic. Botan and Yukina
seemed to have done a good job of patching her up. Her wounds had healed,
but she was still sleeping to regain her energy. She was still weak, but
not as bad as Sukina. The blond, sixteen-year old girl was on the verge on
exhaustion, not only physically, but also spiritually. Both of them had
never seen someone so exhausted. It was a miracle that she was still
breathing. When the boys had brought her in, they could hardly believe that
the girl was Su. She was so pale and wan.
As Botan and Yukina started to treat Sukina, Naoko awoke. She saw Sukina, but her sister's link to hers was still strong, so she wasn't that worried. Instead, she made her way slowly and quietly to where the Reikai Tantei was gathered. All of them were closeted in a room with Koenma, who'd gone to inform his father about the latest developments. When she opened the door, she saw all of them, except Hiei, playing cards. The short man was sleeping.
"Konichiwa," she said, walking slowly into the room.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Yusuke asked, as Kuwabara hurried over to guide her to a seat. She waved his offer away and sat down next to Kurama, picking up some of the cards Yusuke'd dealt.
"With my sister recuperating? I love her and all, but her 'chi' will never stay still. It's her nature to heal anything and everything in sight. If I stayed there, I'd be endangering her and driving Botan and Yukina nuts. I'd rather keep my sanity thank you," she said, looking at the cards critically. "I didn't know you guys knew how to play chor tai ti," she referred to a Chinese poker-type game.
"This isn't. In any case, what's your bet?" Kurama said, watching her carefully.
"We'll be going to deserted areas of Europe, America and then back to Asia. I suppose you've been told about the 'Chosen Ones'?" Naoko said, putting a card down and taking out a plain but expensive gold necklace as a wager.
"No. Koenma said he would tell us after he'd meet with Enma-sama," Kuwabara told her.
Sighing, Naoko put down her poker hand and collected her winnings (Straight Royal Flush- all 5 cards of the same suit, from 10 to Ace). Her tone was slightly annoyed. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk to Celeste about. They always delay things until the last possible moment… In any case, I might as well tell you," she replied, picking up her cards and frowning. Yusuke tried to get a look at her cards and was elbowed roughly.
"Don't even think about cheating, or I'll send you back to Nat and CJ," Naoko warned. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama shivered visibly. "Anything but that!" they said. Naoko smiled and kept on playing. *^_^*
"In any case," she exchanged three of her cards, "About forty thousand years ago, there was a major upheaval. The door to Makai was opened, and there were demons and all sorts of other beings wandering. It was about this time that a pair of sisters, Ruina and Suriela, was born. They were the best Demon Hunters and Enforcers anyone had ever seen. They were the ones who helped drafted the Reikai laws about Makai, Ninjenkai and Reikai, but there's been so much changes to it that it's unrecognisable. They were however, extremely important, because of their actions against the law- breaking Makai that caused certain factions of Makai to band together and to try and start a new order in Makai. This was, as you should know, Kurama, the beginning of the Demon Lords," Naoko said. She swore softly when Kuwabara won the hand.
"I know. But the Demon Lords were disbanded about the time of Elaine," Kurama said, only to hear Naoko's derisive laugh.
"Yeah right, kitsune!" she said. "That's the official version and you know it. The Demon Lords were defeated by the batch of rulers just before Mukuro- sama and the others appeared. That was less the 200 years ago. In any case, Suriela and Ruina eventually married and gave up Demon Hunting, but their children didn't. All of them followed their parents into Demon Hunting, and so it continued until the lines join and culminated in a young child named Elaine. Elaine appeared about ten thousand years ago. She lived only for thirty years, but in that time she managed to rule all of Makai. She had the help of a kitsune Makai named Sakura. Both of them exchanged the blood oath of sisterhood, and it seemed that somehow, Sakura and Elaine's genes were exchanged. Three generations after Elaine, Camellia, her granddaughter, founded the Kingdom of the Jewelled Moon. This was when the worship of Celeste began," Naoko said, grinning as she scored a minor win.
"What does this has to do with anything?" Yusuke asked, impatient.
"Because the history is important and I don't want you guys to ask me for backgrounds later," she said, shouting as she put down a perfect flush (author's note: I wrote this down in an exercise book and didn't want it to get lost… This part is mine! It's copyrighted! At least ask me BEFORE you use it, please?? *puppy dog eyes*).
"Anyway, Camellia's daughter, Serinate, had a daughter by the name of Cara. Her eyes and her daughter's were both golden, like a certain kitsune we know. Their distant cousin was a Demon Lord named Minai. There was an emergency, and Minai left his family with Serinate. Minai had a son named Kitsune, and he and Cara went through a shirt period of mutual dislike before falling in love, etc. From then on, there was plenty of inter- marrying between the two houses, but about five thousand years ago, there were two princesses. Cara and Camillie StarLight(DreamCasters were born about a year apart from each other. They were the last of Serinate's line that could wield the objects known as the Crystal Rose. They were direct descendants of Serinate, but since the Crystal Rose had been broken in six pieces by then, there were also descendants of Serinate who could wield the Rose. Shortly after the Jewelled Moon's golden years, which were during the reign of Cara and Camillie, the Kingdom disappeared. Their descendants though, survived. The Chosen Ones are the direct descendants of Serinate's line. They're the ones who can actually Wield the Crystal Rose," Naoko said, finally putting down her cards and finishing her explanation.
"And you're one of them?" Kurama asked.
"At the very least, I'm one of Cara's. Su's Camillie's. The Crystal Rose has been hidden, and in order for us to find it, we need the other 'Chosen Ones' too. Their powers should come in handy as well. By the way kitsune," she turned towards Kurama, "we're distant cousins, eighty-times apart," she said, enjoying the look of bafflement of his face.
Koenma wasn't pleased that Naoko had told them nearly everything, but she digress. There were some things about her and Sukina that she didn't tell them. "I don't want their souls to be endangered like the girls and mine were. They're too important for you to lose. Koenma, if we fail, they're our last line of defence. They're the only ones who can show the others the way," she told him.
"I wasn't aware that some of them had souls," the young god muttered sulkily.
"All of us do. The only ones who don't are the ones from Hell. They're the ones who were created with the main purpose to destroy us. Keep an eye out for the Janioes. Rumen will try to stop us, and his Janioes will be his main weapon. Get rid of them before they fester," she said, leaving the office for the infirmary, where she knew that Botan and Yukina would've noticed her absence by now.
As Botan and Yukina started to treat Sukina, Naoko awoke. She saw Sukina, but her sister's link to hers was still strong, so she wasn't that worried. Instead, she made her way slowly and quietly to where the Reikai Tantei was gathered. All of them were closeted in a room with Koenma, who'd gone to inform his father about the latest developments. When she opened the door, she saw all of them, except Hiei, playing cards. The short man was sleeping.
"Konichiwa," she said, walking slowly into the room.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Yusuke asked, as Kuwabara hurried over to guide her to a seat. She waved his offer away and sat down next to Kurama, picking up some of the cards Yusuke'd dealt.
"With my sister recuperating? I love her and all, but her 'chi' will never stay still. It's her nature to heal anything and everything in sight. If I stayed there, I'd be endangering her and driving Botan and Yukina nuts. I'd rather keep my sanity thank you," she said, looking at the cards critically. "I didn't know you guys knew how to play chor tai ti," she referred to a Chinese poker-type game.
"This isn't. In any case, what's your bet?" Kurama said, watching her carefully.
"We'll be going to deserted areas of Europe, America and then back to Asia. I suppose you've been told about the 'Chosen Ones'?" Naoko said, putting a card down and taking out a plain but expensive gold necklace as a wager.
"No. Koenma said he would tell us after he'd meet with Enma-sama," Kuwabara told her.
Sighing, Naoko put down her poker hand and collected her winnings (Straight Royal Flush- all 5 cards of the same suit, from 10 to Ace). Her tone was slightly annoyed. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk to Celeste about. They always delay things until the last possible moment… In any case, I might as well tell you," she replied, picking up her cards and frowning. Yusuke tried to get a look at her cards and was elbowed roughly.
"Don't even think about cheating, or I'll send you back to Nat and CJ," Naoko warned. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama shivered visibly. "Anything but that!" they said. Naoko smiled and kept on playing. *^_^*
"In any case," she exchanged three of her cards, "About forty thousand years ago, there was a major upheaval. The door to Makai was opened, and there were demons and all sorts of other beings wandering. It was about this time that a pair of sisters, Ruina and Suriela, was born. They were the best Demon Hunters and Enforcers anyone had ever seen. They were the ones who helped drafted the Reikai laws about Makai, Ninjenkai and Reikai, but there's been so much changes to it that it's unrecognisable. They were however, extremely important, because of their actions against the law- breaking Makai that caused certain factions of Makai to band together and to try and start a new order in Makai. This was, as you should know, Kurama, the beginning of the Demon Lords," Naoko said. She swore softly when Kuwabara won the hand.
"I know. But the Demon Lords were disbanded about the time of Elaine," Kurama said, only to hear Naoko's derisive laugh.
"Yeah right, kitsune!" she said. "That's the official version and you know it. The Demon Lords were defeated by the batch of rulers just before Mukuro- sama and the others appeared. That was less the 200 years ago. In any case, Suriela and Ruina eventually married and gave up Demon Hunting, but their children didn't. All of them followed their parents into Demon Hunting, and so it continued until the lines join and culminated in a young child named Elaine. Elaine appeared about ten thousand years ago. She lived only for thirty years, but in that time she managed to rule all of Makai. She had the help of a kitsune Makai named Sakura. Both of them exchanged the blood oath of sisterhood, and it seemed that somehow, Sakura and Elaine's genes were exchanged. Three generations after Elaine, Camellia, her granddaughter, founded the Kingdom of the Jewelled Moon. This was when the worship of Celeste began," Naoko said, grinning as she scored a minor win.
"What does this has to do with anything?" Yusuke asked, impatient.
"Because the history is important and I don't want you guys to ask me for backgrounds later," she said, shouting as she put down a perfect flush (author's note: I wrote this down in an exercise book and didn't want it to get lost… This part is mine! It's copyrighted! At least ask me BEFORE you use it, please?? *puppy dog eyes*).
"Anyway, Camellia's daughter, Serinate, had a daughter by the name of Cara. Her eyes and her daughter's were both golden, like a certain kitsune we know. Their distant cousin was a Demon Lord named Minai. There was an emergency, and Minai left his family with Serinate. Minai had a son named Kitsune, and he and Cara went through a shirt period of mutual dislike before falling in love, etc. From then on, there was plenty of inter- marrying between the two houses, but about five thousand years ago, there were two princesses. Cara and Camillie StarLight(DreamCasters were born about a year apart from each other. They were the last of Serinate's line that could wield the objects known as the Crystal Rose. They were direct descendants of Serinate, but since the Crystal Rose had been broken in six pieces by then, there were also descendants of Serinate who could wield the Rose. Shortly after the Jewelled Moon's golden years, which were during the reign of Cara and Camillie, the Kingdom disappeared. Their descendants though, survived. The Chosen Ones are the direct descendants of Serinate's line. They're the ones who can actually Wield the Crystal Rose," Naoko said, finally putting down her cards and finishing her explanation.
"And you're one of them?" Kurama asked.
"At the very least, I'm one of Cara's. Su's Camillie's. The Crystal Rose has been hidden, and in order for us to find it, we need the other 'Chosen Ones' too. Their powers should come in handy as well. By the way kitsune," she turned towards Kurama, "we're distant cousins, eighty-times apart," she said, enjoying the look of bafflement of his face.
Koenma wasn't pleased that Naoko had told them nearly everything, but she digress. There were some things about her and Sukina that she didn't tell them. "I don't want their souls to be endangered like the girls and mine were. They're too important for you to lose. Koenma, if we fail, they're our last line of defence. They're the only ones who can show the others the way," she told him.
"I wasn't aware that some of them had souls," the young god muttered sulkily.
"All of us do. The only ones who don't are the ones from Hell. They're the ones who were created with the main purpose to destroy us. Keep an eye out for the Janioes. Rumen will try to stop us, and his Janioes will be his main weapon. Get rid of them before they fester," she said, leaving the office for the infirmary, where she knew that Botan and Yukina would've noticed her absence by now.