~High Voltage~
. . .
Chapter 6: The Deal
. . .
A child wandered down the dark hallways of what looked to be some sort
of old fortress, limping. Trying to hide the pain, for she had other things to
worry about. The hallways were never-ending; it was like a maze. She wondered
if she would ever get out. They would find her before she escaped.
'No.' She shook that thought out of her head. 'Mustn't give up.' There had to be a way out. She continued on
down the hall, walking at a faster pace. She turned right, then left, then
right, not knowing the correct way out. The place was just so huge...she had
never been this far before...
She turned around the next
corner and then something caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Her eyes
slowly traveled upwards, gazing upon the obstacle in her path. A large demon,
probably a lower-class one by the looks of him, was glaring down at her.
"How'd you get out,
kid?" He grabbed her arm, squeezing
it hard.
She bit her lip to keep from
crying out. With her other hand, she collected a purple and blue colored energy
and hurled it at him. She watched as the demon received a large shock, causing
him to loose his grip on her. But it was useless.
"Damn! You brat!" He raised a hand and brought it down hard
across her face, sending her flying backwards. "It's back to the cell
for you!" He strode back over to her
and grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to her feet.
A few minutes later, the young
girl was thrown back into a small, cube-like prison, bouncing across the floor
until she hit the wall on the opposite side and came to an abrupt stop. She
watched him leave her, securing the barriers that kept her inside. Her eyes
burned with hatred.
Someday.
Someday she was going to get
strong enough to escape. She would take revenge on all of them; she would kill
them for what they had done to her.
. . .
She woke up with a start, eyes
flying open and sitting up fast. The first thing she felt was a cold cement
floor beneath her, and then a head rush from sitting up too fast. That,
however, was the least of her problems. She stood up slowly and cautiously, not
sure where she was. The solid steel walls on three sides of her suggested that
she was in some sort of prison. The fourth wall was a transparent barrier. It
was dark and she couldn't see much.
...There had been a
fight...hadn't there?
Yes. She remembered it quite
clearly now. The Spirit Detective and his comrades had come to find her and she
had fought Hiei, the short one, although technically he was just the slightest
bit taller than she was. They must have brought her here. Why hadn't they
killed her?
She stepped up to examine the
barrier. It had been created using some sort of energy; she would be able to
break through it as soon as she recovered all of her spirit energy. That would
take a lot more time. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but
she was still very weak. If she were to fight again, she wouldn't stand a
chance. She regretted her decision to transform in battle. She had known at the
time that it was a stupid thing to do, but her ego had gotten the best of her,
and it had been so long since she had shown her true power to anyone; however,
she hadn't counted on Hiei realizing that she was using up all of her spirit
energy. He was smarter than she'd given him credit for; nothing like those
other half-witted demons that usually came after her. She didn't like him at
all.
The Shadow went to sit in the
darkest corner of the cell, making herself appear as small as possible. She
knew now that she wasn't going to be killed. If any of them had wanted her
dead, they would have done the job by now. No, they wanted her alive. But for
what? She had been a criminal for years; maybe they wanted to keep her locked
up here. If that was the case, then they were clearly underestimating her.
Hearing somebody's footsteps
coming toward her, the Shadow stiffened in the corner, listening. It wasn't a
heavy person coming her way, she could tell. A lightweight, but very powerful
nonetheless. If she had to fight this person, she would certainly lose. She
watched as the person came into the dim light.
"Shadow? ...I know you're
in there. I would like to speak with you for a moment, if I may."
She stood up. No use ignoring
him.
"You're the one called
Kurama," she said, remembering that he had been with the Spirit Detective
and the others.
"Yes," he nodded.
"What do you want?"
"To talk," he
answered simply.
This took her by surprise.
"Talk? What for?" She fixed her cold eyes onto him.
He shrugged. "I thought
you might want some company."
"I don't need
anybody." She crossed her arms, still partly hidden in the shadows.
"Have you always called
yourself the Shadow, or do you have a name?" Kurama chose to ignore her
comment.
"Why should I tell
you?"
"It was just a question.
You don't need to answer it."
There was a long pause.
Finally, she said, "Teilen. My name is Teilen." Saying her own name
felt strange, as she hadn't spoken it in years. "I never called myself the
'Shadow'."
"I see."
She left her place in the corner
to take a few steps toward him, into the light where he could see her.
"Tell me why you didn't kill me when you had the chance."
"That isn't the reason we
went to find you," he answered. "We only wish to have your
assistance."
"My 'assistance'? With
what?"
"I'm not sure, exactly.
Yusuke, the Spirit Detective, received orders from Koenma to bring you to him.
He needs you for something, although I don't know what that is."
"Koenma." She said
the name with hate. "He's been sending his detectives after me for years,
and I very highly doubt it was because he wanted my help for anything."
"He must need you for
something, because he has arranged for you to be escorted to his office this
afternoon so he could speak with you about it."
"Now which oaf of his is
going to 'escort' me there?"
"Actually, that 'oaf' is
going to be me," Kurama replied. He didn't seem very bothered about being
called an oaf. "Nobody else wanted to volunteer for the job."
She placed her hands on her
hips, a looking pleased with herself. "Huh."
"If you're ready, I will
take you there now."
"Oh, I'm ready. I can't
wait to find out what that wexa wants
from me."
. . .
Koenma was trying to sort out
all the paperwork on his desk when he heard three brisk knocks on the door.
"This had better be good,
I'm busy!" He yelled to the visitor. The door opened, revealing the
caller. "Oh, it's you, Kurama. I wasn't expecting you for another
hour."
Kurama walked into the room.
"Yes, well it appears that our Shadow has woken up sooner than
expected." He turned to look out the doors. "Come on inside,
Teilen."
She reluctantly stepped into
the room, crossing her arms and looking around the room as if she were bored.
Koenma was surprised to finally
meet the Shadow. "Well, this is quite unexpected."
"What's that supposed to
mean?" Teilen shot back at him, uncrossing her arms.
"Er—nothing. I just didn't
think..." He trailed off. "Anyway, you're probably wondering why
you're here."
"That would be a
start." She glared at him.
Koenma straightened up in his
chair. "Well, you see that fact of the matter is, I need you to help me
out with something."
Teilen scowled. "Yes, I
already know that. What I want to know is, what do you need me for?"
"We'll get to that as soon
as my Spirit Detective and the others arrive."
"Then tell me why I should
help you."
"Because I'm willing to
make a deal with you. Now, it's my understanding that you've earned yourself a
nice little piece of paper that says 'Wanted: Dead or Alive'. To earn this
fabulous award, you have spent years stealing precious items from all three
worlds—Human, Demon, and Spirit—and you also killed every one of your pursuers,
human and demon alike."
Teilen crossed her arms again.
"So what's your point?"
Koenma cleared his throat.
"My point is, I can make that little piece of paper go away. I can let you
off with good behavior if you agree to help me out," he explained.
"...Huh." There was a
long silence.
Koenma leaned forward. "So
do we have a deal, Shadow?"
She looked up at him. "How
do I know this isn't a trick?"
"You can trust him,"
Kurama spoke up. "Hiei and I were let off the hook in a similar way."
"That's right,"
Koenma agreed. "So what do you say?"
"Fine," she snapped.
"But after this, don't expect me to stick around and become another one of
your lackeys. As soon as this is over, I'm gone."
. . .
AN: Okay, that's it for chapter 6. If anyone's reading this, please
review it, I'll feel a whole lot better...
Next Chapter: Koenma's Story
