**************
The next morning.
**************
Botan, Yukina, and Keiko were busy trying to deal with a very unhappy Ayisa. Yukina helped her brush her teeth and Botan tried to keep her from attacking Keiko. Finally after an hour of "Let me at her!" and "If she comes anywhere near me!" the four girls were out the door and headed towards Kurama's house. They got to his front door and rang the doorbell. After several minutes of waiting, Kurama finally came to the door.
"Hey, Kurama! What's up?" Asked Keiko.
Both Botan and Kurama were in the background going "cough *Suichi* cough!" Keiko didn't seem to notice the intended "Suichi" and said, "What's wrong guys?"
"Kurama?" Ayisa asked suspiciously.
"Oh, silly Keiko!" She said in her bubbly voice, "You already said good morning to Ayisa Kurama today, this is Suichi."
"Um, Botan are you ok?"
Suddenly Botan's kitty face appeared and she said, "Don't worry Keiko, I'm perfectly fine! See, now why don't you say good morning to Suichi."
"Is there something you want to tell me Suichi, if that is your real name?" Ayisa asked.
"Um, that is, uh, no it's just me, just Suichi Minamino, no one else."
"Ok, whatever you say."
All of a sudden Meep floated out looking very depressed. He stopped in front of Ayisa and looked up. "Meep?" he said.
"I don't know what's wrong with him; he's been acting like this for a couple hours now, I hope Hiei is alright." Kurama stated, "Come to think about it, I haven't seen him since he dropped you off at Keiko's."
"Well he was acting kind of strange as we walked to her house; he kept hearing things that I couldn't." Ayisa said.
"I sense he is in some kind of danger." Whispered Yukina, "I don't know why, but I just have a strong feeling that he's in trouble."
"We should start at Keiko's and go look for him, I'm worried about him." Ayisa suggested, "Then I could use my nose to sniff him out."
"Good Idea Ayisa, I'll call Yusuke and Kuwabara and tell them to meet us at Keiko's house." Yelled Kurama as he went into the next room to use the telephone. He poked his head through the door and said, "Feel free to find something to eat and make yourself at home!"
The girls walked into the kitchen and tried looking for some food. Botan found some animal crackers and she and Keiko started eating them. They hadn't noticed Yukina and Ayisa staring at them with wide eyes.
"How can you eat those?" They asked.
"What, they're just crackers." Botan answered, "Why don't you try some?"
"You want me to eat something that looks like my other form, besides, that Human is eating them." Ayisa said in disgust.
"I'm sorry, but I love animals and could never eat anything made from or even looks like an animal, it just doesn't seem right." Yukina confessed.
"But they're just crackers, Kurama eats them." Keiko said completely forgetting about what happened earlier.
*Botan crashes to the floor* "Who Keiko, I thought Ayisa just said that she doesn't eat anything that may look like her other form, you meant to say Suichi just now right?"
Seeming to finally get the point, she quickly said, "Oh, right, Suichi sorry, I just got mixed up."
Ayisa looked at the two suspiciously, but didn't say anything. She rummaged through the cupboards and finally came across more of the chocolate cookies that Hiei had gotten from the store earlier. She sat down at the table and started to eat just as Suichi walked into the kitchen.
"Yusuke and Kuwabara said that they would meet us at Keiko's house in twenty minutes, so that gives us just enough time to grab our stuff and go. Once we get there, um, one of us will use their nose to track Hiei's scent, and we'll bring Meep along too." He explained as he walked towards the front door.
The girls grabbed their food and hurried after Kurama. As they munched on the crackers and cookies, Ayisa started to day-dream.
Wow, this all happened so fast, just the other day I came to the barrier wall and crossed over to the Ningenkai. It's hard to believe that I've finally made it closer to finding Yoko. After that dream I had, I new I'd find him here.
*********** A couple months earlier. ***********
I'm so alone, I just wish there was an easier way out. I lost my parents and Yoko in the fire when I was just eight years old; I've been looking for an easier way to find him. I searched and searched for him and still I haven't even a scent or anything. I even destroyed those villages, I guess I thought that maybe one of the demons knew anything about Yoko, but I didn't even ask, I just charged in, killing everyone. Lately I've been getting the feeling that there's someone out there who loves me, but I don't know, it's so hard to find love when everything you love has been taken away. After a while, I went and had my jagan implanted and my eyes were opened. Then one night, right after I finished destroying yet another village, I fell asleep and had a dream. It was unlike any dream I had ever had. I heard a voice and saw a figure, but couldn't make out who it was. The voice told me to come to the Ningenkai where Yoko would be waiting for me. So I came here and couldn't smell him anywhere, I couldn't sense his spirit energy. I was alone again and this time I had nowhere to go. I heard about Yukina and the stronghold and thought maybe I could steal some loot and sell it for information about Yoko, and on my way I could save the girl,
"Ayisa!"
*********** Back to reality. ***********
"Ayisa, snap out of it." Botan said as she waved her hand in front of Ayisa's face.
Ayisa looked around and noticed that they were at Keiko's house. Yusuke and Kuwabara hadn't arrived yet so the five sat down in the yard and waited. Kurama sat wondering how Ayisa had been able to find her way to the Ningenkai and whether he should tell her the truth or not.
I don't know what to do; I thought that I'd never see her again. If I had known that she had survived the fire, things would have been different. I feel so ashamed, if I had just looked a little longer, she would have been safe and wouldn't have had to go through all the trouble to find me. I still wonder though, how did she find me here, how did she know to come to the Ningenkai? I've been stuck here for fifteen years and word was bound to spread that I was dead in the Makai. But what's done is done, I'm just glad that she's here now. But should I tell her, about who I am? She already hates me because I'm "human," she'd probably be happy to see me, but I don't want her to see me as a human, I'm not as strong as before and I can't bare to see her face if she ever found out the truth. But it's going to get complicated around here if everyone has to keep calling me Suichi. It's bound to get out sooner or later, it almost already has. I guess I'll just have to,
"Hellooo, Suichi, you in there?" Yusuke laughed as he knocked on Suichi's head, "come on, Hiei's lost and we have to find him!"
"He probably went to the supermarket to cause more trouble and make us pay for the damages." Kuwabara sneered, still upset about what had happed earlier.
"Well, whatever the cause, I'm sure he has a good excuse. Meep, would you scan the skies and bring us back anything that may help us find him?" Kurama asked.
"Meep!" He said as he transformed into a hawk and flew off.
"I think we should go this way." Kurama said, "As he started to walk down the street."
"Now, hey, what makes you so sure that Hiei went that way?" Ayisa snapped, "I have a way better nose and I think that I would know which way he went, and it sure doesn't smell like he went that way."
"Ok, then, we'll split up." He stated, "You can go that way and I'll go this way. We'll yell if we find anything and meet up later."
"Um, Suichi, what are we supposed to do?" Botan asked.
"Why don't you go with Ayisa, she doesn't know the area too well and she may need some help."
"Well ok, if you say so." She said as she walked towards Ayisa with Yukina, Keiko.
"We'll go look around between Keiko's and you house, ok Suichi?" Yusuke said as he walked towards Kurama's house.
Kuwabara followed adding a, "Alright Shorty, we're going to find you and when we do, you owe me a lot of money!"
Kurama went off by himself going where ever his nose told him to go. After a half an hour of searching, he finally caught Hiei's scent. He followed it to an alley way downtown. Just as he was about to check things out, Meep flew up to him. He looked over and saw Ayisa and the other girls. He looked over at Botan, Keiko, and Yukina. Keiko and Yukina looked like they just ran a marathon and Botan was sitting on her oar.
"What happened to you guys?" Kurama asked Keiko and Yukina, "You're so out of breath."
"She made us run, cough, all around town. Cough, Meep found us as Ayisa was sniffing out the city bank, cough, six miles from here. We ran the whole way here."
"What were you doing over by the bank?" He asked Ayisa, "Hiei's scent was nowhere near six miles away."
"How would you know?" She asked, "Your nose isn't as good as mine, a human nose is nothing compared to a kitsune nose."
"His scent leads into this alley way. My nose is better than the average human and I found his scent without any trouble."
"Both of you!" Botan yelled, "Stop it now! Both of your noses are perfectly fine. The only thing that counts is that we're closer to finding Hiei." "Yeah, ok, I'll stop fighting if that human stops fighting." Ayisa answered.
The tense group walked into the alley way and Ayisa transformed into her fox form and started to sniff around. The girls searched everywhere, around trash cans, along the walls, but they found nothing. Kurama had mysteriously disappeared and was up on the roof, looking down.
The scent of demon is everywhere, what happened here last night? The smell of gas is even here. Is it possible that he was defeated and taken away?
He thought he saw a glimmer of something, he jumped down to get it, but Ayisa walked up to it before he had a chance to get to the strange glimmered object. She carefully picked it up with her mouth and transformed back into her original form. She looked at it and saw that it was a choker with a bright bead at the end.
She held the choker and showed it to everybody. "It's just a choker; it couldn't be Hiei's could it?"
Kurama took a better look. "It's definitely Hiei's, it has his scent and that's his hiruiseki stone. Something must have happened to him, he would never go anywhere without this, much less leave it in an alley."
"Look at the dumpsters and boxes; they've all been sliced through. There was a fight here and Hiei was part of it. He must have been attacked, there was a definite struggle." Botan acknowledged.
Suddenly Kurama heard a voice in his head, "Kurama, can you hear me?" It was Hiei using his telepathy.
"Hiei? Where are you?"
"I don't know, it looks like I'm in a warehouse, but I'm not sure. Some demons attacked me last night and I got knocked out."
"Don't worry, we'll find you."
"And be careful, the demon who's holding me captive, AHHHHHHH!"
"Hiei! Hiei are you there? The demon who's holding you captive is what?"
"Suichi? Are you ok?" Yukina asked as she looked at Suichi who had a panicked expression.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just heard from Hiei, he used his telepathy to reach me and he said that he thinks he's being held in a ware house, but he's not sure where. He was about to warn me, but something must have happened. We should go find Yusuke and Kuwabara and then try to find Hiei."
Botan, Yukina, and Keiko were busy trying to deal with a very unhappy Ayisa. Yukina helped her brush her teeth and Botan tried to keep her from attacking Keiko. Finally after an hour of "Let me at her!" and "If she comes anywhere near me!" the four girls were out the door and headed towards Kurama's house. They got to his front door and rang the doorbell. After several minutes of waiting, Kurama finally came to the door.
"Hey, Kurama! What's up?" Asked Keiko.
Both Botan and Kurama were in the background going "cough *Suichi* cough!" Keiko didn't seem to notice the intended "Suichi" and said, "What's wrong guys?"
"Kurama?" Ayisa asked suspiciously.
"Oh, silly Keiko!" She said in her bubbly voice, "You already said good morning to Ayisa Kurama today, this is Suichi."
"Um, Botan are you ok?"
Suddenly Botan's kitty face appeared and she said, "Don't worry Keiko, I'm perfectly fine! See, now why don't you say good morning to Suichi."
"Is there something you want to tell me Suichi, if that is your real name?" Ayisa asked.
"Um, that is, uh, no it's just me, just Suichi Minamino, no one else."
"Ok, whatever you say."
All of a sudden Meep floated out looking very depressed. He stopped in front of Ayisa and looked up. "Meep?" he said.
"I don't know what's wrong with him; he's been acting like this for a couple hours now, I hope Hiei is alright." Kurama stated, "Come to think about it, I haven't seen him since he dropped you off at Keiko's."
"Well he was acting kind of strange as we walked to her house; he kept hearing things that I couldn't." Ayisa said.
"I sense he is in some kind of danger." Whispered Yukina, "I don't know why, but I just have a strong feeling that he's in trouble."
"We should start at Keiko's and go look for him, I'm worried about him." Ayisa suggested, "Then I could use my nose to sniff him out."
"Good Idea Ayisa, I'll call Yusuke and Kuwabara and tell them to meet us at Keiko's house." Yelled Kurama as he went into the next room to use the telephone. He poked his head through the door and said, "Feel free to find something to eat and make yourself at home!"
The girls walked into the kitchen and tried looking for some food. Botan found some animal crackers and she and Keiko started eating them. They hadn't noticed Yukina and Ayisa staring at them with wide eyes.
"How can you eat those?" They asked.
"What, they're just crackers." Botan answered, "Why don't you try some?"
"You want me to eat something that looks like my other form, besides, that Human is eating them." Ayisa said in disgust.
"I'm sorry, but I love animals and could never eat anything made from or even looks like an animal, it just doesn't seem right." Yukina confessed.
"But they're just crackers, Kurama eats them." Keiko said completely forgetting about what happened earlier.
*Botan crashes to the floor* "Who Keiko, I thought Ayisa just said that she doesn't eat anything that may look like her other form, you meant to say Suichi just now right?"
Seeming to finally get the point, she quickly said, "Oh, right, Suichi sorry, I just got mixed up."
Ayisa looked at the two suspiciously, but didn't say anything. She rummaged through the cupboards and finally came across more of the chocolate cookies that Hiei had gotten from the store earlier. She sat down at the table and started to eat just as Suichi walked into the kitchen.
"Yusuke and Kuwabara said that they would meet us at Keiko's house in twenty minutes, so that gives us just enough time to grab our stuff and go. Once we get there, um, one of us will use their nose to track Hiei's scent, and we'll bring Meep along too." He explained as he walked towards the front door.
The girls grabbed their food and hurried after Kurama. As they munched on the crackers and cookies, Ayisa started to day-dream.
Wow, this all happened so fast, just the other day I came to the barrier wall and crossed over to the Ningenkai. It's hard to believe that I've finally made it closer to finding Yoko. After that dream I had, I new I'd find him here.
*********** A couple months earlier. ***********
I'm so alone, I just wish there was an easier way out. I lost my parents and Yoko in the fire when I was just eight years old; I've been looking for an easier way to find him. I searched and searched for him and still I haven't even a scent or anything. I even destroyed those villages, I guess I thought that maybe one of the demons knew anything about Yoko, but I didn't even ask, I just charged in, killing everyone. Lately I've been getting the feeling that there's someone out there who loves me, but I don't know, it's so hard to find love when everything you love has been taken away. After a while, I went and had my jagan implanted and my eyes were opened. Then one night, right after I finished destroying yet another village, I fell asleep and had a dream. It was unlike any dream I had ever had. I heard a voice and saw a figure, but couldn't make out who it was. The voice told me to come to the Ningenkai where Yoko would be waiting for me. So I came here and couldn't smell him anywhere, I couldn't sense his spirit energy. I was alone again and this time I had nowhere to go. I heard about Yukina and the stronghold and thought maybe I could steal some loot and sell it for information about Yoko, and on my way I could save the girl,
"Ayisa!"
*********** Back to reality. ***********
"Ayisa, snap out of it." Botan said as she waved her hand in front of Ayisa's face.
Ayisa looked around and noticed that they were at Keiko's house. Yusuke and Kuwabara hadn't arrived yet so the five sat down in the yard and waited. Kurama sat wondering how Ayisa had been able to find her way to the Ningenkai and whether he should tell her the truth or not.
I don't know what to do; I thought that I'd never see her again. If I had known that she had survived the fire, things would have been different. I feel so ashamed, if I had just looked a little longer, she would have been safe and wouldn't have had to go through all the trouble to find me. I still wonder though, how did she find me here, how did she know to come to the Ningenkai? I've been stuck here for fifteen years and word was bound to spread that I was dead in the Makai. But what's done is done, I'm just glad that she's here now. But should I tell her, about who I am? She already hates me because I'm "human," she'd probably be happy to see me, but I don't want her to see me as a human, I'm not as strong as before and I can't bare to see her face if she ever found out the truth. But it's going to get complicated around here if everyone has to keep calling me Suichi. It's bound to get out sooner or later, it almost already has. I guess I'll just have to,
"Hellooo, Suichi, you in there?" Yusuke laughed as he knocked on Suichi's head, "come on, Hiei's lost and we have to find him!"
"He probably went to the supermarket to cause more trouble and make us pay for the damages." Kuwabara sneered, still upset about what had happed earlier.
"Well, whatever the cause, I'm sure he has a good excuse. Meep, would you scan the skies and bring us back anything that may help us find him?" Kurama asked.
"Meep!" He said as he transformed into a hawk and flew off.
"I think we should go this way." Kurama said, "As he started to walk down the street."
"Now, hey, what makes you so sure that Hiei went that way?" Ayisa snapped, "I have a way better nose and I think that I would know which way he went, and it sure doesn't smell like he went that way."
"Ok, then, we'll split up." He stated, "You can go that way and I'll go this way. We'll yell if we find anything and meet up later."
"Um, Suichi, what are we supposed to do?" Botan asked.
"Why don't you go with Ayisa, she doesn't know the area too well and she may need some help."
"Well ok, if you say so." She said as she walked towards Ayisa with Yukina, Keiko.
"We'll go look around between Keiko's and you house, ok Suichi?" Yusuke said as he walked towards Kurama's house.
Kuwabara followed adding a, "Alright Shorty, we're going to find you and when we do, you owe me a lot of money!"
Kurama went off by himself going where ever his nose told him to go. After a half an hour of searching, he finally caught Hiei's scent. He followed it to an alley way downtown. Just as he was about to check things out, Meep flew up to him. He looked over and saw Ayisa and the other girls. He looked over at Botan, Keiko, and Yukina. Keiko and Yukina looked like they just ran a marathon and Botan was sitting on her oar.
"What happened to you guys?" Kurama asked Keiko and Yukina, "You're so out of breath."
"She made us run, cough, all around town. Cough, Meep found us as Ayisa was sniffing out the city bank, cough, six miles from here. We ran the whole way here."
"What were you doing over by the bank?" He asked Ayisa, "Hiei's scent was nowhere near six miles away."
"How would you know?" She asked, "Your nose isn't as good as mine, a human nose is nothing compared to a kitsune nose."
"His scent leads into this alley way. My nose is better than the average human and I found his scent without any trouble."
"Both of you!" Botan yelled, "Stop it now! Both of your noses are perfectly fine. The only thing that counts is that we're closer to finding Hiei." "Yeah, ok, I'll stop fighting if that human stops fighting." Ayisa answered.
The tense group walked into the alley way and Ayisa transformed into her fox form and started to sniff around. The girls searched everywhere, around trash cans, along the walls, but they found nothing. Kurama had mysteriously disappeared and was up on the roof, looking down.
The scent of demon is everywhere, what happened here last night? The smell of gas is even here. Is it possible that he was defeated and taken away?
He thought he saw a glimmer of something, he jumped down to get it, but Ayisa walked up to it before he had a chance to get to the strange glimmered object. She carefully picked it up with her mouth and transformed back into her original form. She looked at it and saw that it was a choker with a bright bead at the end.
She held the choker and showed it to everybody. "It's just a choker; it couldn't be Hiei's could it?"
Kurama took a better look. "It's definitely Hiei's, it has his scent and that's his hiruiseki stone. Something must have happened to him, he would never go anywhere without this, much less leave it in an alley."
"Look at the dumpsters and boxes; they've all been sliced through. There was a fight here and Hiei was part of it. He must have been attacked, there was a definite struggle." Botan acknowledged.
Suddenly Kurama heard a voice in his head, "Kurama, can you hear me?" It was Hiei using his telepathy.
"Hiei? Where are you?"
"I don't know, it looks like I'm in a warehouse, but I'm not sure. Some demons attacked me last night and I got knocked out."
"Don't worry, we'll find you."
"And be careful, the demon who's holding me captive, AHHHHHHH!"
"Hiei! Hiei are you there? The demon who's holding you captive is what?"
"Suichi? Are you ok?" Yukina asked as she looked at Suichi who had a panicked expression.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just heard from Hiei, he used his telepathy to reach me and he said that he thinks he's being held in a ware house, but he's not sure where. He was about to warn me, but something must have happened. We should go find Yusuke and Kuwabara and then try to find Hiei."
