The Welder of BlackFire:

Thorn's New Life-The Legend Lives

Chapter Fourteen: The Mission Tape and Hiei's Assignment

"Yusuke!" Botan screamed, running through his appartment. "Yusuke where are you?"

"Agg! Quit shrieking, Botan. I can hear you loud and clear," Yusuke grumbled, rubbing his ears.

"Hurry up! Get out of bed! Where's Hiei and Kurama?" she asked, her face shattered with urgency.

"How the hell do I know?" he asked, still rubbing his abused ears. "Why?"

"Hurry! Get your ass out of bed and go to Kuwabara's. I have to find them," she ranted, running from the room. Yusuke heard the apartment door slam and Botan barrel down the stairs.

"What the hell is her problem?" Yusuke grumbled, shaking his head and stumbling out of bed. He called Kuwabara and told him Botan was ranting on about something and that he would be over to the red-head's house in fifteen minutes.

"Stupid girl. Dragging me out of bed like that. On a Saturday too. Stupid, stupid girl. She didn't even tell me what hell was going on," the spirit detective mumbled under his breath as he walked sulkily over to the Kuwabara house, his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans.

*Meanwhile*

"Kurama!" Botan screeched as she tried to refrain from bolting up the stairs into his room. Mrs. Minamino was down stairs, happily cleaning the kitchen after letting the Grim Reaper inside.

"What's wrong, Botan?" Kurama asked, meeting her half-way down the hall.

"Kurama! Where's Hiei?"

"He's outside my window, why? What's wrong?"

"Get Hiei and I'll meet you two at Kuwabara's in five minutes. Please! Hurry!" she begged, running down the stairs and closing the door behind her, trying in vain not to slam it, yet failing. Kurama walked quickly back into his room.

"Hiei. I think Koenma has answered your call for a mission from last week. Botan just ran in telling us to be at Kuwabara's in five minutes," Kurama said to Hiei, who was sitting comfortably in the tree next to his window.

"Hn. Finally. It took him long enough," Hiei said, standing and ffitting (ya know, that sound they make in the anime were he disappears at super-speed? ^_^ hehe) away. Kurama turned and opened his door, rushing down the stairs and out of the house.

'Something must be wrong if Botan is so upset. I wonder what it could be,' Kurama thought. He arrived at Kuwabara's house a few minutes later. He ran upstairs into Kuwabara's room, were the rest of the gang was waiting. Botan was pacing nervously.

"Kurama! Finally!" Botan cried.

"Botan, what's going on?" Kurama asked, stepping into the room.

"Koenma gave me this tape. He said it was urgent and you were to be informed immediately," she said. "He didn't tell me anything about it other then it was important," she said, taking the tape out and placing it in the VCR and pushing play.

After the introductions, a worn-looking Koenma stared at them from the screen. "Kurama, Hiei, I heard that you are currently training the one named 'Thorn'. Now, I know for a fact that her name is not Thorn, for no one exists by that name that matches her description. Although I don't know what her name is, nor very much about her, I do have some information about her. I cannot release that information at this time, but I do know that the power she possesses is stolen. I need you two, since you are currently training Thorn, to restrain her and escort her to Spirit World. That is all for now. This is urgent and I ask that this mission be carried out immediately." With that the screen went into the ritual of credits before blanking out.

Everyone stared at the screen for a moment.

"Hn," came a whisper. Thinking it was Hiei, the group ignored it. All but for Hiei, who ran to the window and flung it open. The voice was feminine. And he knew it.

"Yo, what's up with Hiei?" Kuwabara asked as the black-cloaked demon jumped out the window onto the roof of the building. Kurama thought a moment before running to the side of the building, searching for the fire escape that ran down its length to get to the roof.

"C'mon, let's follow them," Botan said, running after Kurama with Yusuke and Kuwabara scrambling to their feet in pursuit.

Hiei jumped to the top of the building in a leap, landing in a crouch, his eyes up on the black-clad figure in front of him.

"Hn. Don't run," he said to her. She smiled, her long brownish black hair winking soft golden smiles in the sun.

"Hn, yourself," Thorn said, placing her right hand on her hip, her keen ears listening as Kurama rushed to find the fire escape on which her hand lay, unnoticed, on an invisible handle.

"I take it, by using your powers, you heard what Koenma had to say." She nodded. "Then you know I could turn you in right now." She smiled dourly.

"I am quite aware of what you could try, Hiei. Whether you'll succeed or not is a chance, a slim one, but still a chance, all in its own. And I know that you are conscious of the fact that I have the upper hand. I know much more about you then you know of me. But," she said, a small breeze ruffling her hair and pants as well as the bottom of her shirt, revealing a sliver of her hard stomach. She stared into his eyes with her own, which had suddenly grown into a deep and endless blue. Hiei refused to be pulled into the trance that she coaxed him into and her expression hardened at his stubbornness. "I do See that you did not seek me out just for the pain of my knocking you senseless," she continued, her eyes returning to their normal, bright green. Hiei's ruby gaze flamed angrily at her. "You know it don't you? Well I suppose that you had enough sense to realize it. I will admit that you are no idiot. Unlike, well, a close friend of, let's say, the one you watch over, hm? Don't give me that look, Hiei. Yes, I regret saying anything before but that's no reason to give me that snarl.

"But anyway, I Saw that you're not here to turn me in. You enjoy the hunt, do you? Ah, will so do I. But, unfortunately for yourself, you will not be the hunter. I will."

*

"Kuwabara! Where the hell is the fire escape?!" Yusuke growled.

"How the hell do I know?! I was always right here before!" the boy shouted. Kurama examined the wall of the building where the ladder was supposed to be located.

"Well they don't just disappear!" Yusuke snapped.

'What is going on? Its as if the escape just vanished without a trace. That's impossible,' Kurama thought, running his hand along the brick.

*

"Quit kidding yourself, Thorn. Apparently Koenma knows all about your power. All I need to do is find a weakness in it," Hiei replied, making Thorn's smile grow wider.

"Oh, come now, Hiei. You already know my greatest weakness, conscious of it or not. But now I should not be telling my newly-found enemies my weakness', eh?" Thorn said, her tone amused.

"If you knew we were eventually going to be your enemies from the beginning, then why did you seek us out so willingly?" Hiei asked.

"Do you know the saying? Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Well I have added to that saying for my own purposes. Keep the people you can trust close, and your enemies closer. And when you think that you can't get your enemies any closer, pretend to be their allies and gain their trust. But now, I've already told you, as well as the rest of your group, why I came to your aid. I had a debt to pay, remember?" she reminded him.

"Toward Koenma. He said you stole a power. That was your debt?" he asked. Her expression darkened and became irked. She growled.

"I stole nothing." Her tone became sweet. Her face played the role of an innocent child.

"Bull," Hiei said impassibly.

"Oh hardly, Hiei. But think what you want. Now that Koenma has at least a lead, then you will soon find out the truth of my tale. Unless, of course, his sources are as unreliable as I presume. But, Hiei, unlike your friends and, at times, yourself, I never underestimate my enemy." She looked down, listening to the cursing of the boys below her. "Now I must go. I have told you too much, and I'm sure I will not like the consequences of my actions. But sometimes the hunt is more fun when the prey thinks they have the advantage, don't you think?" She smirked. Her imaged fluttered and dissapeared. Where her hand lay moments ago appeared the railing to the fire escape and the tell-tale sounds of four people bolting up its steps.

"Hiei!" Kuwabara said. "What the hell are you doing up here? And how did the fire escape disappear like that?"

"Hn. Thorn was here. I heard her," he said, replacing his hands in the pockets of his cloak.

"Why didn't you stop her then?" Kuwabara demanded.

"I didn't feel like it," he said with a shrug.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kuwabara growled, his fist clenched.

"Hiei," Kurama began, only to be stopped by a meaningful glare from Hiei's bright, sienna eyes.

"Relax. I'll get her soon enough. She doesn't seem to be able to resist teasing us. If we refuse to stalk her, she'll wonder why and come back to bait us. Leave this mission to me, it will keep me occupied in this boring world," Hiei explained before ffitting (the sound again ^-^') off again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Authoress' Note: hello all! ^_^

Yusuke: I didn't know you were going to make me look like an idiot! -grumble- stupid authors.

WHACK!

Yusuke: @_@ gaa.

J: -eyebrow twitch- what did you say about us wonderful authors? -holding bloody ladle-

Yusuke: -suddenly innocent- nothing! ^_^ nothing at all!

All: -chuckle-

Hiei: yes! Do I get to kill anyone?

J: -glare- no!!! well…-thinks a minute- no, I wont let you kill them.

Hiei: -pout- damn.

Kurama: why don't we do reviews now, since this can only get worse.

Yusuke: -nearly recovered from the ladle-lashing- I agree.

J: aww, okay. You're no fun Kurama.

Kurama: -smile- ^_^.

Rose Whip of the Darkness Flame- oo! I didn't know Kurama's name was spelled like that! I got it from a Kurama-dedicated shrine, although I did see the 'a' version somewhere else, I just chose the 'e' one. Whoops! I should start having him proof-read stuff like that I guess.

Kurama: -nods-

Anyway, I've been working on our school play, which is why I didn't update last week. Sorry for the wait. Agg, stage crew is harder than it looks! We performed Fri and Sat and I had practice all last week. @_@. And little sleep. I read your fics too. They're awesome! Keep up the good work! Yeah, Kurama's stumped ^_^. Poor wittle foxy! Lol. Well, the questions only grow more complex, so stay tuned!

Hiei's1girl- glad ya liked the chapters! Keep reading, because something happens and secrets are revealed very soon!!

J: alright! Thank you all for reading! Now……

REVIEW!! -giggle-

All: -rolls eyes-