Kokoro No Kaitou : Search For The Past
Chapter 4 : Youko's POV
~*~
I was lucky that she hadn't pushed on the fact that I had said that I was her mate. And I was really thankful that she hadn't pushed me for a more…detailed description of what a mate was.
I didn't want to have to explain the…complexities behind mates…
But my real concern at the moment was what had hurt her…
She had said that it had happened during her dream…but how could that be?
Dreams were just that. Dreams.
And who was the woman that she was talking about?
Long black hair and bluish-green eyes…it wasn't ringing any bells.
I sighed.
Something was after her, and I was completely powerless to stop it.
How could I, if it attacked her while she was asleep? Hell, she was even attacked while she was awake! How could I fight an enemy that only she could see?
But who could attack her like that?
A psychic, maybe?
The Bounty Hunter named Auron?
The other question was, what would a Bounty Hunter want with tennyos?
Tennyos could heal, sure, but so could a koorime. If the ningens that employed Auron wanted a healer, they could just use the koorime that they caught.
What was it that tennyos had that koorime, phoenix demons, and - hell, and any other youkai! - didn't have?
Like hell if I knew.
That's why I wished that Hiei had stayed. He would've been able to figure this out.
But I was damn well going to try to sort it out myself.
I'd start with powers.
What powers did tennyos have?
That book that I had at home had a whole list of them, and said that the powers vary from maiden to maiden, but the one thing that every tennyo could do was heal (in various degrees).
Amaya happened to be very strong in that department - she could bring people back to life.
What other powers had been described…?
Clairvoyance, mental dominance, astral projection, telepathy, and some minor telekinesis. And…if I remembered correctly…there was also cross-species communication, and every once in a while, shape-shifting. I knew that I was forgetting something, but I didn't know what.
Still, why would a ningen desire any of these powers that I could remember?
Clairvoyance I could understand, but there were also ningens with the same ability.
So maybe it wasn't a power that the ningens were after…
What else did tennyos have?
I let my eyes drift over Amaya as I thought.
Beauty? After all, all tennyos were supposed to be incredibly beautiful.
But humans could be beautiful as well.
So that couldn't be it.
Maybe…well, tennyos could travel to heaven, if they had their feathered robes.
Amaya didn't have any of those.
And why would a ningen bother to kidnap a tennyo for that, when everyone knows damn well that only tennyos can travel to heaven? The robes only carried tennyos.
What else…?
There had to be something.
Something that I was missing…
Damn, I wish that Hiei was here!
~*~
"Kurama. Kurama!"
I opened my eyes, and saw Midori kneeling in front of me. She grinned. "Mornin', Sleeping Beauty!"
I looked past her to Kuronue and Amaya. The later was giggling. They were all already in their traveling clothes. Amaya was wearing her usual outfit, and Midori wore a tight white sleeveless shirt with baggy white pants tucked into boots of the same color. Kuronue was in the only thing that he ever wore out in public - his usual outfit as well.
I stood, and brushed off the seat of my pants.
"Ha ha." I said sarcastically. "Very funny."
Amaya smiled. "But you looked so cute!"
Midori nodded. "Yeah! Like a little kid!"
They both burst into a fit of giggles, and Kuronue shook his head.
"I don't think that a kid would ever say what he did."
"You were talking in your sleep, Kurama!" Midori laughed.
"I did? What did I say?" I asked.
Amaya blushed. "Um, well…"
"You were commenting on Amaya's 'sexy body' to say the least. Well, that was all that we could make out of your mumbling."
I looked over at Amaya, and she blushed again. My eyes traveled down to her shoulder, and I saw that she had removed the bandages.
"Is your arm better?" I asked, changing the subject.
She blinked, then nodded. "Yes. It healed even faster than I had expected that it would."
I nodded. "That's good."
"Come on, you two. I think I know where Tsuki might have gone." Midori said, walking out of the room.
Kuronue followed her, and I looked back to Amaya.
I scratched the back of my head nervously. "I hope I didn't say anything, er, too embarrassing."
She smiled, and shook her head. "No, you didn't."
She hugged me, and rested her cheek against my chest. "Most of it was pretty sweet before Kuronue and Midori came in."
"What did I say?" I asked, curious.
She let go of me, and took a step away, smiling. "Maybe I'll tell you someday."
I gave her a confused look, and she just laughed.
"Come on, before Midori comes back and yells at us!"
She grabbed my hand, and started leading me down the hall.
Whatever it was that I had said, it certainly made her happy.
I still wanted to know what it was though.
We walked out of the front of the inn, and both Kuronue and Midori looked ready to go. She pointed to the east, and said, "There."
"Is that where she think back to Jii-san's house." She said, before looking back to us. "When we were hiding from Auron earlier, he let us hide out at his house. When we got separated, she probably thought that we would all try to meet back there."
I nodded. "Right. Let's go check it out."
Kuronue gave a dramatic bow to Midori. "Lead the way, milady."
She rolled her eyes, but I could tell that she was flattered. She turned and started dashing towards the place. Kuronue followed her, and I quickly scooped up Amaya and followed suit.
She still seemed really happy, and it was maddening to not know why.
What had I said?
What was it?
I-
I narrowly avoided getting hit in the head with a low-hanging branch.
I decided to keep my focus on the path, and not on what I might have said.
Kuronue started slowing down in front of us, which meant that we were there. He stopped, and I stopped beside him. I set Amaya down, and she ran forward to join Midori on the front steps of the manor.
"Damn. Old coot had quite a nice place, eh, Kurama?" Kuronue said as he took in the landscape.
"Yeah. Huge, sprawling mansion, seaside residence. He's a lucky fool, that's for sure."
"How is he a fool?" Kuronue asked, looking over at me.
"Because who on earth gets a mansion by the side of the ocean, near a cliff that's obviously about to give way?" I said, pointing.
He followed my gaze to the cliff's edge, which was a mere three feet away from the end of the manor. It was indeed eroding, and probably would give way within the year. And when that happened, the mansion would go tumbling down as well, into the rocks below.
"Jii-san! Jii-san, open up!" Midori called, pounding on the large doors.
Kuronue and I walked over to them, and waited.
"Jii-san! Onegai, it's me! Midori!" Midori called.
"Maybe he went out." Kuronue suggested.
She glared at him. "Baka! He's got a curse on him - he can't leave the house without his soul getting ripped violently from his body!"
"That's…nice." Kuronue said.
"He was a body stealer. He used to violently rip the soul out of the body that he wanted, and then would take over it. A miko put a curse on him so that he would feel his victim's pain if he ever left the house." She explained.
"And she trapped him in a home that's going to eventually tumble over that cliff." I said, shaking my head. "Now that's what I call a bitch."
"Midori-chan, maybe he's just asleep. We should go in anyways." Amaya suggested.
Midori nodded, and opened the door. She walked in to the even more impressive interior, and Amaya walked in after her. Kuronue and I were in awe at the structure.
Huge pillars, fancy moldings, and engraving all over the place.
"It's like a palace!" Kuronue breathed.
"A damn lucky fool." I said.
Amaya and Midori looked back at us.
"You guys coming, or are you going to stare a little longer?" Midori asked.
Amaya giggled at that.
"Well, let's split up, Amaya-chan." Midori suggested. "You take the big silver idiot, and I'll take the flying one. We'll meet back here in five minutes. Holler if you find anything."
Amaya nodded, and took my hand. "Come on, Kurama-kun, we'll go check the east wing."
Midori grabbed Kuronue, and they went the other way.
~*~
Author's Notes: Woohoo! Another chapter down!! Oh, and let's see a show of hands - who wants Midori and Kuronue to get together?
Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Naoko-san : The movie never tells you exactly what kind of youkai Kuronue is, but I've heard people call him a chimera, a raven, a crow, and a bat. I think that since (so I heard) his name means black raven, I'm going to assume that he's a bird youkai. He doesn't cross-dress though...what made you think that?
Suzaku no miko : Yeah, a lot of people are telling me that they like Midori...I think she's really funny. Thanks for the really long review! I love long reviews!! ^___^
DarkVixenNisha : Thank you, Nisha-chan!
Kelly : Yay! I had been hoping that you would review! I thought that you were mad at me or something because my dad won't let us IM anymore. But I'm really happy now that I've heard from you again!
Kagome0102 : I'm debating if anything will happen between Midori and Kuronue. Maybe... Well, a mailing list means that I'll send you an e-mail whenever I update the story. And Kokoro No Kaitou means Mysterious Thief of Hearts, or The Heart's Mysterious Thief. My Japanese grammar is pretty bad, so it means one of those two... LOL. And I'm glad that the parenthesis helped you.
psychocatgal : He'll be gone for the rest of this fic, but he'll be in the next one a lot.
Abby : I'm glad that I've got a pretty accurate Kuronue going on here. That makes me happy. ^______^
Katie E. : I've added you to the mailing list, by the way. And I'm not so sure when the next fluffy (really fluffy) part will be. I'm not sure...
Story Weaver1 : Yes, that will be an interesting reaction, don't you think? Yeah, I did feel bad for her, but you're right. Youko paid lots of attention to her. I think he was a little OOC though...oh well, I'll try not to make him like that next time!
REVIEW!!!
Chapter 4 : Youko's POV
~*~
I was lucky that she hadn't pushed on the fact that I had said that I was her mate. And I was really thankful that she hadn't pushed me for a more…detailed description of what a mate was.
I didn't want to have to explain the…complexities behind mates…
But my real concern at the moment was what had hurt her…
She had said that it had happened during her dream…but how could that be?
Dreams were just that. Dreams.
And who was the woman that she was talking about?
Long black hair and bluish-green eyes…it wasn't ringing any bells.
I sighed.
Something was after her, and I was completely powerless to stop it.
How could I, if it attacked her while she was asleep? Hell, she was even attacked while she was awake! How could I fight an enemy that only she could see?
But who could attack her like that?
A psychic, maybe?
The Bounty Hunter named Auron?
The other question was, what would a Bounty Hunter want with tennyos?
Tennyos could heal, sure, but so could a koorime. If the ningens that employed Auron wanted a healer, they could just use the koorime that they caught.
What was it that tennyos had that koorime, phoenix demons, and - hell, and any other youkai! - didn't have?
Like hell if I knew.
That's why I wished that Hiei had stayed. He would've been able to figure this out.
But I was damn well going to try to sort it out myself.
I'd start with powers.
What powers did tennyos have?
That book that I had at home had a whole list of them, and said that the powers vary from maiden to maiden, but the one thing that every tennyo could do was heal (in various degrees).
Amaya happened to be very strong in that department - she could bring people back to life.
What other powers had been described…?
Clairvoyance, mental dominance, astral projection, telepathy, and some minor telekinesis. And…if I remembered correctly…there was also cross-species communication, and every once in a while, shape-shifting. I knew that I was forgetting something, but I didn't know what.
Still, why would a ningen desire any of these powers that I could remember?
Clairvoyance I could understand, but there were also ningens with the same ability.
So maybe it wasn't a power that the ningens were after…
What else did tennyos have?
I let my eyes drift over Amaya as I thought.
Beauty? After all, all tennyos were supposed to be incredibly beautiful.
But humans could be beautiful as well.
So that couldn't be it.
Maybe…well, tennyos could travel to heaven, if they had their feathered robes.
Amaya didn't have any of those.
And why would a ningen bother to kidnap a tennyo for that, when everyone knows damn well that only tennyos can travel to heaven? The robes only carried tennyos.
What else…?
There had to be something.
Something that I was missing…
Damn, I wish that Hiei was here!
~*~
"Kurama. Kurama!"
I opened my eyes, and saw Midori kneeling in front of me. She grinned. "Mornin', Sleeping Beauty!"
I looked past her to Kuronue and Amaya. The later was giggling. They were all already in their traveling clothes. Amaya was wearing her usual outfit, and Midori wore a tight white sleeveless shirt with baggy white pants tucked into boots of the same color. Kuronue was in the only thing that he ever wore out in public - his usual outfit as well.
I stood, and brushed off the seat of my pants.
"Ha ha." I said sarcastically. "Very funny."
Amaya smiled. "But you looked so cute!"
Midori nodded. "Yeah! Like a little kid!"
They both burst into a fit of giggles, and Kuronue shook his head.
"I don't think that a kid would ever say what he did."
"You were talking in your sleep, Kurama!" Midori laughed.
"I did? What did I say?" I asked.
Amaya blushed. "Um, well…"
"You were commenting on Amaya's 'sexy body' to say the least. Well, that was all that we could make out of your mumbling."
I looked over at Amaya, and she blushed again. My eyes traveled down to her shoulder, and I saw that she had removed the bandages.
"Is your arm better?" I asked, changing the subject.
She blinked, then nodded. "Yes. It healed even faster than I had expected that it would."
I nodded. "That's good."
"Come on, you two. I think I know where Tsuki might have gone." Midori said, walking out of the room.
Kuronue followed her, and I looked back to Amaya.
I scratched the back of my head nervously. "I hope I didn't say anything, er, too embarrassing."
She smiled, and shook her head. "No, you didn't."
She hugged me, and rested her cheek against my chest. "Most of it was pretty sweet before Kuronue and Midori came in."
"What did I say?" I asked, curious.
She let go of me, and took a step away, smiling. "Maybe I'll tell you someday."
I gave her a confused look, and she just laughed.
"Come on, before Midori comes back and yells at us!"
She grabbed my hand, and started leading me down the hall.
Whatever it was that I had said, it certainly made her happy.
I still wanted to know what it was though.
We walked out of the front of the inn, and both Kuronue and Midori looked ready to go. She pointed to the east, and said, "There."
"Is that where she think back to Jii-san's house." She said, before looking back to us. "When we were hiding from Auron earlier, he let us hide out at his house. When we got separated, she probably thought that we would all try to meet back there."
I nodded. "Right. Let's go check it out."
Kuronue gave a dramatic bow to Midori. "Lead the way, milady."
She rolled her eyes, but I could tell that she was flattered. She turned and started dashing towards the place. Kuronue followed her, and I quickly scooped up Amaya and followed suit.
She still seemed really happy, and it was maddening to not know why.
What had I said?
What was it?
I-
I narrowly avoided getting hit in the head with a low-hanging branch.
I decided to keep my focus on the path, and not on what I might have said.
Kuronue started slowing down in front of us, which meant that we were there. He stopped, and I stopped beside him. I set Amaya down, and she ran forward to join Midori on the front steps of the manor.
"Damn. Old coot had quite a nice place, eh, Kurama?" Kuronue said as he took in the landscape.
"Yeah. Huge, sprawling mansion, seaside residence. He's a lucky fool, that's for sure."
"How is he a fool?" Kuronue asked, looking over at me.
"Because who on earth gets a mansion by the side of the ocean, near a cliff that's obviously about to give way?" I said, pointing.
He followed my gaze to the cliff's edge, which was a mere three feet away from the end of the manor. It was indeed eroding, and probably would give way within the year. And when that happened, the mansion would go tumbling down as well, into the rocks below.
"Jii-san! Jii-san, open up!" Midori called, pounding on the large doors.
Kuronue and I walked over to them, and waited.
"Jii-san! Onegai, it's me! Midori!" Midori called.
"Maybe he went out." Kuronue suggested.
She glared at him. "Baka! He's got a curse on him - he can't leave the house without his soul getting ripped violently from his body!"
"That's…nice." Kuronue said.
"He was a body stealer. He used to violently rip the soul out of the body that he wanted, and then would take over it. A miko put a curse on him so that he would feel his victim's pain if he ever left the house." She explained.
"And she trapped him in a home that's going to eventually tumble over that cliff." I said, shaking my head. "Now that's what I call a bitch."
"Midori-chan, maybe he's just asleep. We should go in anyways." Amaya suggested.
Midori nodded, and opened the door. She walked in to the even more impressive interior, and Amaya walked in after her. Kuronue and I were in awe at the structure.
Huge pillars, fancy moldings, and engraving all over the place.
"It's like a palace!" Kuronue breathed.
"A damn lucky fool." I said.
Amaya and Midori looked back at us.
"You guys coming, or are you going to stare a little longer?" Midori asked.
Amaya giggled at that.
"Well, let's split up, Amaya-chan." Midori suggested. "You take the big silver idiot, and I'll take the flying one. We'll meet back here in five minutes. Holler if you find anything."
Amaya nodded, and took my hand. "Come on, Kurama-kun, we'll go check the east wing."
Midori grabbed Kuronue, and they went the other way.
~*~
Author's Notes: Woohoo! Another chapter down!! Oh, and let's see a show of hands - who wants Midori and Kuronue to get together?
Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Naoko-san : The movie never tells you exactly what kind of youkai Kuronue is, but I've heard people call him a chimera, a raven, a crow, and a bat. I think that since (so I heard) his name means black raven, I'm going to assume that he's a bird youkai. He doesn't cross-dress though...what made you think that?
Suzaku no miko : Yeah, a lot of people are telling me that they like Midori...I think she's really funny. Thanks for the really long review! I love long reviews!! ^___^
DarkVixenNisha : Thank you, Nisha-chan!
Kelly : Yay! I had been hoping that you would review! I thought that you were mad at me or something because my dad won't let us IM anymore. But I'm really happy now that I've heard from you again!
Kagome0102 : I'm debating if anything will happen between Midori and Kuronue. Maybe... Well, a mailing list means that I'll send you an e-mail whenever I update the story. And Kokoro No Kaitou means Mysterious Thief of Hearts, or The Heart's Mysterious Thief. My Japanese grammar is pretty bad, so it means one of those two... LOL. And I'm glad that the parenthesis helped you.
psychocatgal : He'll be gone for the rest of this fic, but he'll be in the next one a lot.
Abby : I'm glad that I've got a pretty accurate Kuronue going on here. That makes me happy. ^______^
Katie E. : I've added you to the mailing list, by the way. And I'm not so sure when the next fluffy (really fluffy) part will be. I'm not sure...
Story Weaver1 : Yes, that will be an interesting reaction, don't you think? Yeah, I did feel bad for her, but you're right. Youko paid lots of attention to her. I think he was a little OOC though...oh well, I'll try not to make him like that next time!
REVIEW!!!
