Title: Of Angels and Demons

Chapter 2: At the Fair

Rating: R

Disclaimer: The only characters that I own in this story are Jake Noriko, and Dakan.

"Whoa," was the only statement a dumbfounded Noriko could manage.

"Yup, pretty impressive, isn't it, Noriko?" Jake asked, as Yusuke and the others just managed to catch up.

"Dammit," Yusuke choked, trying to catch his breath. "How the hell did you to get here so quickly? Wow, is that the Ferris Wheel?"

"Sure is," Jake replied, as Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei appeared next to him. "Well, now that everyone's here, I think we can enjoy the fair."

"Enjoy, what the hell do you mean, enjoy? We're here on business, remember?" Hiei scolded.

"No, my freakish little friend, I am here on business, you are here because somehow you got it into your pointy little skull that I can't take care of myself," Jake corrected him. "As for these three," he motioned to Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara, "They are here because they like fairs."

"Uh… yeah, fairs. I like fairs. I'm not here for the girls at the fair," Kuwabara said sarcastically.

"Whatever. Anywho, You four go off and have fun. I'm going to take Noriko and go meet up with my 'business associate'," Jake added, steering Noriko towards the fair grounds.

"He's so weird," Kuwabara said, watching them walk off. "But that Noriko girl is pretty hot."

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"Hey, Spike!" Jake called out as they reached the spinning teacups. At the mention of his name, the redhead shuffling his cards through the air and looked up.

"Jake, long time, no see," Spike shouted, waving to Jake. The crowd that had gathered to watch card tricks made sounds of disapproval as their attention left the cards and shifted to some of the fairs amusements.

"Noriko," Jake said turning to the girl he had brought along. "Can you stay here, I've gotta talk to Spike for a quick second."

"Uh, alright," Noriko said uneasily. Who the hell was this Spike person? Why did Jake need to talk to him alone? What if they were going to jump her? No, she thought, shaking the worries from her head. Why would Jake have rescued her and given her a place to stay if he was just going to try and do exactly what he had saved her from?

"Great," he said, thanking her, then running over to meet up with his friend. "Just holler if you need anything!" he shouted towards her. And with that he began to talk with this new person, "Spike". She watched the two interact for a little bit, talking back and forth, with the occasional laugh thrown in.

Oh well, she thought to herself, at least now I have some time to collect my thoughts. What a hell of a day. First, my own mother throws me out of my own home. Well, not my real mother, she thought, reminding herself that she had been adopted when she was five. Let's see, first I get thrown out, and then I almost get raped. Thankfully, Jake was there to break up the party. He seems kind of nice. He's either very reserved, or very one-dimensional. Then there's Hiei. He's rather vicious, but he's kind of cute. That Kurama fellow seems nice, but he's definitely hiding something. Yusuke is a little rough around the edges, but he seems loyal to whoever this Kayko girl is, so I guess his heart is in the right place. Then there's Kuwabara. Rude and obnoxious, he kind of scares me.

"…Girly girl." The gruff voice shocked her back to reality. "I said, watcha doin', girly girl? You know, it ain't safe fer someone like ye to be out here all alone."

Noriko turned. The owner of the gruff voice grabbed her shoulders. Noriko opened her mouth, ready to scream…

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"Damn, man, I haven't seen you with a girl in a long time. Good for you." Spike said, patting his old friend on the shoulder.

"Hey, Noriko and I aren't like that. No girl will ever take Sara's place."

"Whatever you say, man. Ya know, I got kinda worried when you signed off active duty so suddenly. Was like you dropped off the face of the Earth, or something."

"Well, I got married, what'd you expect, overtime? Plus, I'm back now, and like hell I'm leaving again. But, pleasantries aside, I have to talk to you about something."

"Shoot."

"Well, it's about Noriko. I think The Big Boy may know something about her that we don't. Hell, I found the girl getting roughed around by, Ithink - I think - two of his lackeys," the Hunter told his friend.

"You're kidding," he said, turning to look at Noriko. "So, what do you thinks so special about her that Dune might send his grunts to go get?" At this, the Hunter merely shrugged. What is so special about her? The two remained in place, talking it over for a bit. "Well, looks like we've no choice but to run it by the spooks at HQ."

"No," Jake demanded. "This is my problem and I want to sort it out first. Just me and the Spirit Detectives. Settled?" he asked, reaching for his friend's hand. Before they could shake on it, though, a shrill cry sliced through the air.

"Jaaaaake!"

"Oh, fuck berries, Noriko!" And, with that, he took off towards the origin of the noise.

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…And scream she did.

"Jaaaaake!" She hollered out the name.

"Heh, no one c'n save ye know, girly. Yer commin' wit' me te meet me master. Y'know, he's very interested in ye, an' he got real upset when ye didn't come back wit' his escorts."

"So those two punks did belong to Dune. And lemme guess, so do you?" Jake figured, appearing behind Noriko's potential attacker.

"Ye be guessin' right, mister, eh…"

"My name won't be important to you."

"Yes, I s'pose the names o' dead men matter only to their families," mocked the thug. "Ye see, I'm not like those two thugs Dune sent after the girl. Ye'll be no match for me an' my precious here," he said, petting a mangled claw on his forearm.

"Oh, lemme guess, you're Dakan of the Undead Claw."

"Aye, that be me."

"I thought you were a mercenary."

"Well, I… Hey! Enough small talk, I'm taking the girl, and if I need to go through ye, so be it." Dakan lunged at Jake, who seemed to just glide out of the way.

Dakan turned again, but Jake's movements were so fluid, it looked like he hadn't moved at all. Dakan stumbled, and that's when Jake saw his opening. He wrenched his katana

Where'd he get that sword from, Noriko found herself thinking

From its sheath and cut through the attacker's back. Dakan fell to the ground, well his top half did anyway. Jake kicked over the bottom half, just as Hiei and the others and Spike reached the sight of the battle.

"What happened?" Hiei asked, looking over the dead mercenary.

"Nothin' much," Jake answered, then turned to Spike. "Hey, bud, we're gonna be takin' Noriko down to HQ, alright?"

"Sure, s'your building," Spike confirmed

"Yeah, but we're supposed to tell another Hunter when we take a non-Hunter to the base. Alright, Noriko, you're now a Hunter-in-training."

Okay, this is the story so far. Sorry I'm so slow in updating, but I never have time to get on the computer. Anyway, the story's goin pretty good, so read and review. Oh, and, although I'm not the type who usually recommends fanfics, zip on down to my friend Sakadora and read You Got To Have Hope.