Morbid Identity Crisis
By Shizuru of the Darkness Flame
Ack..!! I haven't updated in so long!! Sorry peoples, I had a major case of writers block -.-;; I hate it when that happens... Anyways, here's the next chapter! Hope you like it... It's pretty much going to reveal the "mysterious" mission the Reikai Tantei got from Botan-chan... Sort of, anyways. Hehehe, I'm still leaving some parts in the darkness ::wink::
"Ningenkai is very pretty in the night, isn't it?"
"Hmph... I prefer Makai nights, Ningenkai is far too bright."
Hiei and Kurama walked slowly down the concrete sidewalks of the human world, their destination only a few blocks away. The moon was particularly bright that night, and it lit up the raven sky along with glittering silvery-white specks of luminosity.
"But you have to admit, the moon looks wonderful. It never glows that beautifully in Makai, does it?"
"My point exactly. I liked it better when it was distant."
Kurama sighed. Stubborn one, he thought. He stopped in his tracks a moment to look up at the sky. As he looked at the many patterns the stars created, he found one that surprisingly resembled a dragon.
"Look up there, Hiei. Look at that cluster of stars, over to the left. What do you see?"
Hiei rolled his eyes at the fox, wondering what the hell he was doing, then focused on the spot Kurama was pointing to, trying to figure out what excited him so much.
"I see... Spots. Spots of light. What else would I see?"
"Look closer Hiei..."
Hiei squinted his eyes, and concentrated once more. "A fox." he said. "I see a fox."
Kurama raised an eyebrow. "A... Fox? It looks more like a dragon to me."
"No, see? There's the bushy tail, and the pointed ears, and the paws..."
"No, no, that's a wing! And those are the spikes on its back, and the fangs..."
"What are you talking about? Those aren't fangs, those are the ears!"
Kurama chuckled. "Well, I guess you can look at it that way too." he said, as he and Hiei passed a run-down shack surrounded with junk and litter.
After a few moments of silence, Kurama spoke again. "You know... It is said that people see what they want to see in the stars."
Hiei looked up in interest.
"It is also said that they avoid seeing what they do not want to see..."
Does that mean I didn't want to see the fox...?
Hiei smirked. "Must be the reason humans are so ignorant. If they only see what they want to see, then half of what exists probably isn't known to them at all."
Maybe I'm the one who's being ignorant... Am I really ignoring my past? Am I avoiding seeing what I do not want to see?
Burying his thoughts away, Kurama put on a teasingly-fake hurt tone. "You know Hiei, I'm a human."
"No, you're not. You're still a little bit of Youko."
...A little bit of Youko? But in what way? Am I really still a bit of a heartless thief, a liar, a cheater?
Kurama decided not to think about it any further. I shouldn't be troubling myself with these useless thoughts when we've got a mission ahead of us... I've got responsibilities, after all...
Responsibilities? What responsibilities? You don't really have to help, you know. You've already done enough to pay for helping steal the artifacts of darkness... Why don't you just leave the others?
Leave the others? I may have paid for my crimes, but this has become my duty now! I'm a member of the Reikai Tantei!
Pfft. You wouldn't even be a member if you didn't steal the forlorn hope... See? You got to where you are by thieving.
No... No... No...
"We're here." Hiei remarked flatly.
"Oh, uh, yes..." Kurama said, snapping out of his earlier train of thought.
Hiei looked at Kurama suspiciously.
"Err, what? I was just thinking about... Something."
Hiei continued to stare at Kurama suspiciously for a few seconds, then dashed up the ridiculous amount of stairs that stood before Genkai's temple. Kurama followed, trying to catch up with the little demon's speed.
"Yeesh, what took ya?" Yusuke greeted the two at the top of the stairs. "And I thought I was late!"
Kurama smiled apologetically. "Sorry Yusuke."
"Yea, yea, whatever, let's just get over with this..." Yusuke yawned. "I really don't feel like being lectured for three million hours at ten in the night..." he mumbled as he entered the large temple, Hiei and Kurama following.
"There you two are!" Botan jumped as she saw the three enter. "It isn't like you to be late, I was starting to worry you would miss this mission!" she said, perhaps a little too energetically for such an hour.
"Hello." Yukina said quietly, waving lightly at the pair. Kurama smiled and waved back, then looked down at Hiei. He did the same, and for once, he let a genuine smile grace his features. He really cares for his sister, doesn't he? Kurama thought to himself. How sweet, it's just too bad he won't tell her who he really is...
Kuwabara was sitting beside Yukina (as usual), his eyes never leaving her. At the sight of this, Hiei growled slightly, but kept quiet in order to avoid any possible suspicion that might arise. He then walked across the room and sat by a window, a bit far from everyone else. Kurama sat cross-legged by Yusuke, and silence fell on the room as Genkai and teenage Koenma entered, both looking a bit worried.
"I see you're all here." Genkai acknowledged dryly. A moment after she entered, Yukina left the room.
"Where're you goin', Yukina-chan?" Kuwabara asked immediately, as Yusuke rolled his eyes and Hiei growled again.
"I've got some chores to do," Yukina said as she walked off to another room, "and I'm sure it's not my place to be here if you're all going to discuss missions."
Kuwabara frowned at the ruby-eyed girl, then turned to Koenma, who was trying to catch everyone's attention.
"Ahem." Koenma said, obviously trying to appear very dignified. "Listen up, everyone. We've got a new mission."
"Gee, who would've known?" Yusuke said sarcastically.
"Shut up Yusuke, we don't have any time for your wise cracks. This is very serious. An extremely powerful demon has just escaped from Makai into Ningenkai, and he has been going from city to city, slaughtering humans at random and collecting their souls to sell in the Makai black market. So far, there have been around fifty humans dead. Although, this demon appears to be very intelligent, so he has been making the deaths seem regular. This is why the media in Ningenkai hasn't caught on yet."
"Making the deaths seem... Regular?" Kuwabara questioned. "How do the hell do you make random deaths seem regular?!"
"Well," Koenma said, "the demon has been attacking sick people who can't afford doctors, seniors, and newborns. Also, he has been setting up accidents that look normal, such as someone falling off a tall building or misusing a sharp or dangerous object of some sort."
"That's horrible!" Kuwabara said, utterly disgusted. "But how does he do all that stuff without being noticed?!"
Koenma sighed. "The demon doesn't actually need to set the humans up physically to kill them. All he needs to do is take possession of their souls, which apparently, he has the power to do. This is a very rare power, and the only ones who could've taught this demon to use it died centuries ago, which tells us that he is indeed, very old. Anyways, the demon takes possession of the souls, and makes the humans die one way or another. Then, when the souls leave the body, he makes them come to him, thus preventing them from being lead by Botan to Reikai, and sells them in the black market, where many soul eating demons are eager to buy them."
Yusuke and Kuwabara looked horrified. Kurama, who had come across this sort of thing but now disapproved of it, lowered his eyes and shook his head slowly from side to side. Hiei, of course, kept a poker face.
"So..." Yusuke said hesitantly. "Where do we start searching for this guy?"
"We don't know..." Koenma said. "This demon is very good at masking his energy. He's very hard to track down. We've last seen him around Tokyo, but we're not sure."
"Well, what do you know?!" Yusuke replied, slightly angered.
"We know that this demon is a fox demon, much like Kurama." Koenma said, and everyone turned their eyes to the redhead, who felt slightly uncomfortable. "As I said, he should be centuries old, because he has power to possess and control souls. The demon is supposed to be very tall, have black fox ears, navy blue hair, and dark purple eyes, but that information was only attained by listening to rumors that have been going around Makai, so we are not very sure. His name is supposed to be Tsuchikage." (A/N: doesn't Tsuchikage mean earth shadow? My guess is based on a Naruto book... ::sweatdrop:: someone tell me if I'm wrong...)
At the sound of the demon's name, Kurama went pale and his forest green eyes widened, his mind unable to comprehend what Koenma just said.
Tsuchikage? It... It can't be!! I thought... This can't be happening...
"You OK, Kurama?" Yusuke asked the redhead, slightly worried.
Kurama snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Yusuke, a panicky look on his face. "Y-yes... Yes, I'm fine..." he mumbled.
Koenma stared at Kurama suspiciously. "Do you happen to know this Tsuchikage guy?" he asked.
"No! I mean, err, n-not really... I've heard of him, b-but I d-don't really know h-him..." Kurama continued to stutter, face still pale, eyes unfocused.
Koenma raised an eyebrow at the fox's strange behavior. "OK then... Well, that's it. I suppose you can all go now. Just be sure to try tracking him down soon, OK? This is very serious, because not only is this demon killing many people, he is also disrupting the natural process of souls going to Reikai, which could lead to severe chaos over there. I'd rather you all get started on this case tomorrow, in the morning even."
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"So... We meet at my house tomorrow at 9:00 AM, and take a bus to Tokyo from there?" Kuwabara asked.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Yusuke said. "Hiei?"
"Hn."
"Whatever. Kurama?"
Kurama stayed silent and continued gazing at the sky with wondering eyes, walking a little behind the rest of the group. It can't be... There's no way Tsuchikage is in Ningenkai... Koenma must've gotten the name wrong... After all, he said he wasn't sure, right?
"...Kurama?"
But then again... When I last saw him, Tsuchikage did say he was mastering an ancient technique... But it can't be, there's no way he could learn how to do it so fast! It's impossible, isn't it?
"...Kurama!"
But mastering the Dragon of the Darkness Flame was also said to be impossible, and Hiei mastered it... Oh Inari, this is horrible...
"Oi, Kurama!!" Yusuke waved his hand in front of Kurama's face. "You gonna say anything?"
Kurama continued to think for a moment, but when he realized Yusuke was trying to get his attention, he immediately jumped and snapped back into reality.
"I-I'm sorry, I was just... Thinking... What were we talking about?"
Yusuke sweatdropped. "Umm, we were saying that we were gonna meet at Kuwabara's house at 9:00 AM tomorrow, and leave for Tokyo from there." he said, a bit confused with Kurama's uncharacteristic lack of alertness. What's up with him? Maybe he knows something the rest of us don't...?
"Alright." Kurama said. "I'll be there."
"Cool." Yusuke said, and headed off in a separate direction with Kuwabara, both walking to their houses.
When they were out of earshot, Hiei immediately turned to Kurama and stated, "You know this Tsuchikage person, don't you?"
"I don't know what your talking a-about Hiei..." Kurama said nervously.
"You stuttered." the other remarked dryly.
"It's cold outside." Kurama countered.
"You're wearing a jacket."
"That doesn't mean I can't be cold, you know."
"Hn, whatever you say. But if you want to tell anyone... You know who to come to." Hiei said, before zipping off to the park.
Kurama stood where he was and blinked, surprised at Hiei's words. Did... Did he just offer me support? Kurama asked himself inside his head. Wow... He sure has changed. On a normal occasion, Kurama would be happy about this, but this certainly wasn't a normal occasion. Kurama was still worried about Tsuchikage, and the whole mission made him queasy with uncertainty, and even fear. And on top of all that, that irritating voice in the back of Kurama's head kept bugging him, never letting him be...
A little white lie, you said. Just a little white lie. But where, pray tell, will it go from there? For how long are you going to continue to lie, lie until everyone dear to you figures out you're a liar and abandons you?
...For how long Kurama? For how long?
...And chapter three is done! Yay! I actually kinda like this one... Much better than my other chapters, in my opinion... Mwahaha, and it has a cliffy-ish ending too. But whether it's good or not is up to you guys to decide... So please review! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update! And plus, reviewers get their very own copy of Hiei. ::smiles::
Hiei: what's that supposed to mean?!
Duuuh, didn't you know? I found a copying machine, so now I can copy you! ::grins:: this should make me some money...
Hiei: -.-;; um, Shizuru, those only copy paper. Even I know that.
Oh, um... ::sweatdrop:: sorry then, you'll just have to stick to peanut butter cookies! See ya next chapter! (I hope).