Kokoro No Kaitou : Search For The Past



Chapter 2 : Youko's POV



~*~



I hadn't seen Midori in over a century. She was still as beautiful as she was when we first got together…



She looked like she was deep in thought, and was glaring hard at her sheets. Kuronue looked on with concern.



The door opened, and Amaya walked back in. She slowly closed the door behind her, and I could easily smell her tears.



I was instantly off the wall that I had been leaning against, and walked over to her.



"Amaya?"



She turned to face me, wiping away her tears. "Kurama-kun, Hiei left."



"Left? What do you mean, he left?" Kuronue asked.



She sniffled, and wiped at her eyes again. "He left to find Yukina. He said that he won't be coming back."



"He'll be fine, Amaya." I said reassuringly.



She nodded, and smiled. "Hai! He can take care of himself."



Midori spoke up. "She'll be killed if we don't find her."



"Find who?" Kuronue asked. "Yukina? Hiei can find anyone when he wants to, so don't worry about her."



She shook her head. "No, not Yukina. I trust Hiei to find her. I was talking about Tsuki."



"Oh."



Amaya looked thoughtful. "Where was the last place that you saw her?"



"At a town near the estate of a taiyoukai…I don't remember his name. But the town is called Bevelle."



I knew that town. Kuronue, Hiei and I had stayed there before, right before a raid of a nearby temple. It was rather small, and not very populated. But, there were plenty of places to keep a man very happy…



Kuronue stood. "Well, let's go after her. We can't just leave her out there by herself."



Amaya nodded. "Right! Give me a minute to get changed."



I grabbed her arm before she could leave. She gave me a confused look.



"Kurama-kun?"



"You aren't coming." I said. This Bounty Hunter was after tennyos… "You'll be safe here. Remember? You're a tennyo."



Midori blinked. "Tennyo? Well, you should bring her too. Auron knows how to track me down. He'll come here, and if we're gone, he'll just take her."



"And besides, Kurama, you know damn well that if you tell her no, she'll follow us anyways." Kuronue sighed.



Amaya grinned. "Well, looks like I'm coming whether you like it or not!"



I sighed, and let go of her arm. "Fine. Go get changed."



She gave a bow of thanks to Midori, who smiled, and then went to get changed.



I had a bad feeling about this…



~*~



We left for the town as soon as Amaya had changed. To my disappointment, it was not the same outfit that Leiko had given to her when she first came to live with us.



It was still a sleeveless shirt, black in color and tight on her, but it covered her entire stomach. She wore pants similar to the ones that went along with the other outfit, only they were slightly longer. And as usual, she had pulled her hair up into a ponytail.



Midori was impatient, so we had to try to get to the town before nightfall. And of course, we also had to go on foot, so I carried Amaya.



It took us all day to get to that little town, and by the time we did, my legs ached and burned.



I set her down, and she looked around, taking in her surroundings.



"So, where was the exact place that you saw her last?" Kuronue asked.



Midori looked around. "Um…"



Her eyes fell on a small cottage on the outskirts of the town. "There! We were passing by that cottage when the guards ran past. She probably hid there. It's an abandoned home."



Amaya looked over there as well. "No."



Midori looked back at her. "What?"



I looked back at Amaya as well, and was surprised. A crescent moon was glowing brightly on her forehead, which only happened when she was using her powers. Her eyes were glazed over, and her face was emotionless.



"I'm not there." She said in a monotone voice.



That voice scared me, and I quickly grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face me. But her gaze stayed locked on Midori.



"No. Not there, not there." She said.



"Amaya!" I exclaimed.



Snap out of it! What's wrong with you?



Her eyes suddenly watered up, and spilled over, though her face never changed.



"Help me, help me please." She said, still monotone. "I'm scared, so, so scared. There's blood, blood everywhere. That girl, the one right there, she's dead. He wants me next. Please, I'm begging you, help-"



A cut suddenly appeared on her cheek, and she seemed to snap out of whatever daze she had been in. The crescent disappeared, and her eyes returned to normal. She looked dazed.



"Kurama?" She said quietly, looking up at me.



"What the hell was that?!" Kuronue exclaimed.



She gingerly touched her cheek, and winced. "Ow!"



I sighed, and let go of her. "It was nothing."



"Nothing? Like hell that was nothing!" Kuronue shouted.



Midori snapped out of her daze as well. "Kuronue is right. That wasn't nothing. That was most definitely something."



Amaya looked confused. "Kurama?"



"Let's just get into town. It's too late to search for the girl." I said. I didn't want to talk about this anymore.



I walked past Amaya, and headed towards the inn, still slightly upset about the words that had come out of my angel's mouth.



~*~



We only had enough money between us to afford two small rooms (Amaya had insisted that I should actually pay for something for once in my life). So, the girls bunked together, and Kuronue and I took the other room.



After Kuronue and I settled down into our separate futons, he spoke up.



"What do you think happened to Amaya today?" Ha asked.



"She seemed almost…possessed." I said quietly.



I stared at the ceiling, and Kuronue was quiet as well for a minute before continuing.



"But by who?"



I growled at him. "Do you honestly think that I know? All I know is that that bastard hurt her somehow. He cut her cheek…" I gingerly touched my own.



Again, we were both silent.



"Kurama…"



"Hm?"



"She scared me too." He said, barely audible, even to my sensitive ears.



I sighed, and faced the ceiling. She really had scared me…



"Do you think…do you think that this Bounty Hunter will come after Amaya?" Kuronue asked.



I thought about it for a second. "Unfortunately, Midori said that he was after tennyos. Amaya is a tennyo, so we can only assume that if the opportunity arose for him, he would take her."



Like hell! Nobody's going to take her while I'm around!



"We should probably make sure tat one of us is near her at all times." He said.



I nodded, then realized that he couldn't see me. "Yeah."



I heard him yawn. "Well, after that run, I'm a bit exhausted."



"Yeah."



"Night." He said.



"Night."



I heard him roll over in his futon, and I remembered what I wanted to ask him while we were on our way here.



"Oi, Kuronue!" I said.



"What?" He snapped. "I'm tryin' ta sleep!"



I smirked. "What do you think about Midori?"



He was quiet, and I could see that he was blushing. Gotta love being a kitsune. Great night vision.



"Um, well, she's…uh…"



"Hot?" I finished.



"Well, yeah, but I mean, she's…"



He was definitely red in the face now.



"She's got a great body…" I said.



"Yeah, but-"



"Long legs…"



He blushed.



"Busty…"



He started to squirm.



"Sexy voice…"



"Kurama-"



"And not to mention that she'll never ever change. She's a phoenix demon, after all."



"So I like her, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?!" He growled.



I snickered. "Something like that!"



He glared at me, though he was still blushing. "I hate you."



I grinned. "I know."



"Really."



"I know." I replied.



"Jerk."



"Asshole."



"Man slut."



"And like you aren't."



"Not as bad as you."



"Yeah, but still, you can't call me a name when you're one too." I countered.



He stuck his tongue out at me, and I rolled my eyes. "Oh, that was mature."



"Why thank you."



I laughed, and he did too.



Someone banged on the wall, silencing us both.



"Shut up and go to sleep! We can hear you two girls giggling over there!" Midori called.



I could hear Amaya laughing.



"Whatever you say, O Grand Princess of the Room Next Door!" Kuronue called back in an overly-dramatic voice.



I could hear both of them giggling now, and Kuronue smirked.



"Well, night for real this time, fox."



"Yeah, bird."



I settled down into my futon, and fell into a deep sleep.



~*~



Author's Notes: We got some teasing going on there, which I thought was necessary to lighten up the mood. ^__^ I love Kuronue so much! He's awesome!!



Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!



Suzaku no miko : Thanks for reviewing Amaya's story, Miko.

Kagome0102 : He's not leaving forever...just most likely for the rest of the story. He's in the next one though. He's in the next one a LOT. Was koibito one of those words? It means lover, just so you know. Thanks for giving me that suggestion - I didn't take it as a diss. It means that whenever I use a Japanese word, I'll put it in English in parenthesis after the word.

Story Weaver1 : Yes, the first two stories do happen before the series (that means the first story from both POVs and this one), but the next story happens during the series. That's all that I'm going to say about that. ;P

Katie E. : Well, thanks for the review!!

LuckySpirit : Wai! You reviewed my story! ^______________^ I'm soooo happy! LYLAS, Lucky-chan! And yes, I'm gonna miss Hiei too. *sniffle* But you know quite well that he's gonna be in the next story! I make spelling mistakes all of the time - you should know that by know! I forgot to run spell-check, just like I forget everything else! LOL. I didn't know that you read my online stories…or were you just so bored out of you mind that it actually seemed like a good idea at the time? LOL.



Review!!