PART: B
The Minamino/Hatakana residence (Suuichi Hatakana's POV)
Later that night, I watched my older brother, my idol, the man I want to be like
when I grow up, sneaking out of his window in what looked like a white dress with a red
dragon emblem across the front and onto the back. Don't get me started again with the
stupid girly interests. Using the window was a good strategy, but, then again, that's my
step-brother, always being cautious and watching out for the rest of the family. His plan
to use the window is better than using the front door, considering he doesn't want us to
know he is leaving, but to where, I wonder. I had already assembled a backpack with
some food and extra clothing, just in case. Of course a lighter and a few cigarettes,
though, I won't end up smoking them, for fear that Suiichi will find out. And I definitely
won't, especially after I got chewed out by Shiori for having it in the house. That
conversation still sends shivers up my spine.
After taking a short leap onto the tree outside his window, he met some guy in a
black coat. I have seen this guy before, too. He is pathetically short, and doesn't talk
much. Period. I like his hair, though. It looks like a black torch with a stripe of white in
the front, it's kind of cool. I follow them crawling out my own window, but I use the wall
to climb down onto the pavement and not the tree.
"We need to stop at Yusuke's house to grab a couple of things then meet
Kuwabara, Botan, Touya and Jin at Genkai's house. Got it, Hiei?"
"Hn," Hiei said, "They are really going all out for one girl?"
"Not just one girl," Suiichi's voice sounded worried, "Children all over the
world are disappearing in the oddest places. We have to find them or it's our heads.
Koenma thinks he knows who is behind it. Let's get going."
They began leaping from tree to tree so fast that even running; I couldn't keep
up with them. It took me a while to recover from what I had just seen, but, at least, I
knew where they were going. To the south, behind Sarayashiki junior high was
Yusuke's…ah… apartment. It is only strange because most of the people around here
own houses and fancy penthouse or they own a piece of trash on the side of the street. In
this neighborhood, you are either really rich or really poor; Yusuke was right in the
middle.
This was getting too weird, maybe I was still rolled up in the bed sheets on my
bed and having an odd dream, but either way, I had to keep going, this was getting too
interesting to stop. They halted once to look for any people out in the open. Hiei looked
right at the bush I was hiding with that blood-red glare for a few seconds. His eyes made
me shiver slightly, but I regained my poise and stared back. He shrugged and turned to
Suuichi once again.
I tried hard to follow them through the park and do it as inconspicuously as
possible, hiding from bush to bush, staying on the grass side of the side-walk to avoid the
scraping noise of shoe-to-concrete.
They finally reached an apartment complex and went up to the apartment on the
far right, up the stairs. They didn't knock on the door because it was already unlocked.
My older step-brother slowly pushed the door open; listening to make certain no one else
was awake. Suiichi told Hiei to wait outside and that he would get Yusuke. It would
cause less of a fuss if anyone caught him, he explained. I couldn't even look up to see any
of the rooms in the complex because I was hiding underneath the stairs, but I could see
their shoes walk down the stairs with a boy. He looked a little perturbed and tired. This
younger looking boy had jet black hair and big, doughy-brown, half-awake looking, eyes.
He was wearing a loose-fitting blue shirt and a pair of blue jeans with a yellow jacket
hung comfortably at his shoulders.
"Why so early?" he yawned, "We could leave during the day, ya know."
"I know, but I didn't want to concern my brother and my mother with my
disappearance so I left her a note saying that I went to school early." I thought of the
same thing. That is so cool! We think the same thoughts and even though this is what he
does when he sneaks out; I still admire his sense of adventure. The Suuichi I knew is a
boring bookworm. The most adventure I ever get is a D+ on a test. Anyway, back to
Suiichi, they are about to leave for 'Genkai's'. Sounds like a place far, far way, I gulped.
"This time we are taking a car," Yusuke stated whimpering slightly, "Kurama is
the only one who can drive so..." He tossed some keys to Suiichi and they walked down
to a blue-green looking, Volvo-type car. Suiichi jumped into the drivers' seat and
unlocked all of the doors using that new one-key unlocking system, invented about three
years ago. There is no way I can keep up with them now, unless… I swallow and quietly
pop the trunk to get inside. I then close it in time for the car to quicken its pace forward.
If he ever knew that I was spying, boy, would I be in for it. Suiichi isn't one to crack
often, but I know I would, if I were him…
Suiichi-san would hit a substantially big rock and I would roll, so several times I
had to change the position I was lying in to avoid making too much noise. Most of
the time, I held on to the sides of the box they called a trunk, but my muscles were soon
sore and I had to find another way to lie still. After a while, could feel the car go in a
constant upward motion, like on a mountain or something?
After what seemed like an eternity, the car screeched to a stop in front of
someone's property. I popped open the emergency latch and before anyone could see, I
crept out of the car and hid in some of the bushes next to what looked like woods. My
brother and those other two guys walked up to this huge old-style dojo and an old woman
greeted them at the door. She was short with brownish-gold eyes. This old woman looked
to be about sixty years old or even more.
The only thing now was to wait and see what was going on through a window.
Watching them through the window, they all sat on mats and I could see a short girl with
blue hair serving them tea. There was an orange-haired guy that I had already seen once
before. I even knew this guy's name, it was Kuwabara. He calls quite often to ask Suiichi
for help on his homework. He often calls late at night and asks for the answer to a
problem.
He was making funny faces at the blue-haired women and giggling like a school
girl with a crush. I guess the blue-haired man had not yet arrived. The one named 'Hiei'
was standing in a corner of the room with his hand at his side with a death-glare at
Kuwabara. He continued to glare and then looked out at the window as if he new I was
there. I quickly ducked and held my breath. Looking back up, the man named Hiei was
glaring at Kuwabara as the orange-haired idiot was now holding the lady's shoulder, as if
for balance.
I heard some footsteps running up to the door, so it was back to the bushes for me.
The shadow that had run to the door was the blue haired-man. He knocked vigorously on
the door. The blue-haired woman was quick to the door, "Touya I think we are mostly all
here, please, come inside," her soft, sweet voice barely reached my ears before he stepped
inside, shutting the door a little harder than he should have, and began conversing to
Suuichi-kun.
Inside (No one's P.O.V)
Kurama: "Touya, we have designed a search-team tactic where we all split up into teams
of three."
Touya: "What about the boy?"
Kurama: "I never believed my step-brother would go so far as to follow me, but I think
we might loose him when crossing into Makai. He is a big boy he can find his own way
from there."
Hiei had put in his two cents-worth here: "Hn. Damn ningen. What if he gets lost?"
Kurama: "I will ask Koenma to keep and eye for him. Suuichi is pretty smart on his own,
but he won't follow too much longer."
Yukina: "What is my job? I want to useful on this mission, because of the many times
you all and Kazuma have rescued me."
Hiei grunted and stole everyone's attention away from his unbeknownst twin sister: "You
may stay here and wait for Koenma." He muttered under his breath something about
killing Kuwabara for getting all of the credit for the rescues.
Kurama: "Team one is myself, Hiei and Kuwabara. We will first report to Koenma in
Reikai. Team two is Touya, Jin and Yusuke. We communicate through these small
compacts," he handed two to each team, "every couple of hours and it will be dawn soon,
keep your guard up."
They all filed out the door all silently except for Kuwabara. He continued to giggle to Yukina.
"Come on lover boy," Yusuke shouted in his ear. Kurama coughed loudly to get
their attention, "Yusuke go to Makai and get Jin he will be waiting for you guys."
Touya piped in, "He says he may have found a clue in the northern section Makai.
There are a band of pirate-demons along the coast."
Botan came down on her oar and jumped to the ground next to Yusuke. A along,
they were fighting the urge to look to the bushes were Kurama's brother was hiding.
Botan (in her infinite wisdom) pointed over into the woods and practically shouted, "Hey,
don't you see the… urgle…cough," Yusuke put his hand over her mouth quickly and
shushed in her ear.
He gritted his teeth and then said, "Botan we have a job to do," he had a tone of
urgency in his voice, "We should get going."
"Right," she replied catching his hint and turning to Kurama, "Let's go," she said
sounding a bit flustered.
The woods outside of Genkai's (Suuichi Hatakana's P.O.V)
Was it just me or did that lady just notice me and the other guy stopped her from
saying anything? If that was the case, the rest acted as if they did not care. I had a gut-
wrenching felling that they knew I was hiding there, but I am naïve enough to follow.
Suiichi-kun disappeared with the blue haired girl in the kimono, earlier identified as
Botan. After all I had seen already, them disappearing did not seem so strange, now.
The other two, Yusuke and Touya formed a portal that Touya was quick to step
through. The other, Yusuke turned to my hiding place and whispered something inaudible
to my ears. He stepped through the portal, but it did not close right away. I made a break
for it, leaping through it.
A falling feeling gripped all of my limbs and I felt a jerk at my chest before
landing softly on the cold, hard ground. Sitting up, I looked around. The woods were still
behind me, but a large grassy plain fell before me. It was the break of dawn and I could
faintly make out two silhouettes in the distance, which I would assume as the two people
I was following.
I ran forward only to find that the two silhouettes were two ugly-looking blue
monsters. One was of a stalky build and the other, which looked weaker, was carrying a
club with nine-inch nails protruding from all angles of the Neanderthal-ish, type weapon.
It hit me hard as I turned and ran back to where I had landed from the portal - I was lost!
The next thing I knew I was lying in a fetal position wondering why I did not just
stay in bed and go to school tomorrow and believe non of this was happening.
Somebodysomewhere- wait till you see how I torture the poor lost boy next
chapter! Have you ever heard the saying: "To assume makes an ass out of u and me"?
Well if you take out the: an, out, of, and you can spell assume? I thought that was the
coolest thing when I first found out, so I am passing it along to you readers for the sake of
…um…myself!