DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters in this story. I'm merely borrowing them for my own entertainment.
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To Look Upon a Rose: Chapter 7
-Koenma's pov-
I sank down in my chair, glad to simply be alone. For the past two days I'd done nothing but scream orders and make reassurances. The ferry girls had gotten their escorts, my father his report, and my soldiers their reinforcements. But still, six criminals remained uncaught.
I reached for the list of names, now expanded to full background reports for the remaining escapees. Thumbing through, I reached the file on Miakami Ryuen, the B-class whose report I'd never been able to finish.
"Name: Miakami Ryuen. Male. B-class. Previous convictions: 0. Imprisoned under special order 50067."
"Special order, hmm?" I turned toward the newly installed computer and brought up the prisoner's file, curious to see what he'd done to provoke me into issuing a special order of arrest. I found the file relatively quickly, considering my aversion to computers, and leaned forward to read the report.
"Miakami Ryuen, also known as…"
I gasped. Everything began to fall into place: the youki bomb, the B-class youkai, the dead guard, the special order… I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before. I could have saved everyone so much grief had I only realized sooner…
I punched the button for the intercom and yelled for Botan. The ferry girl appeared only a moment later, frowning as she hurried into the office.
"Go find Kurama, Botan," I said before she could speak. "Tell him Karasu's escaped."
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-Hiei's pov-
I knew something was wrong as soon as I stepped through the gateway. Power hung in the air, neither ningen nor youki, not of the living but not quite dead, either. I felt as if I should recognize it, but couldn't quite place it. Yet somehow, I knew it was tied to Kurama.
No matter how much power I poured into my Jagan, I could not sense Kurama's youki. I knew he was near, still in the Ningenkai; but all I had was a vague feeling of him, hazy and churning with fear. Something was amiss, yet I refused to panic until I knew for certain what it was. First, I had to find Kurama.
I started toward his house at a run, landing in the tree outside his bedroom a few minutes later. Still, I could not sense his youki, and the sense of his presence had not gotten closer. With the beginnings of fear starting to worm their way into my heart, I rapped on the window and reached down to open it.
"Shuuichi-"
I froze as Shiori's pale face appeared in front of me. The woman let out a choked scream, barely a sound but enough to send me scrambling back to keep from falling out of the tree. How stupid could I have been to let a ningen startle me, especially when I knew she was in the house!
"Hiei-kun, wait! Hiei!"
I was ready to jump out of the tree and back into the night, but something in her voice stopped me. She sounded desperate… and afraid. I straightened and turned back to face her.
She reached out the window, her hand hanging in the air imploringly. "Hiei-kun, please, do you know where my son is?"
I blinked, a shiver running up my spine despite my cloak and scarf. "I thought he was here."
"He was," she said, shaking her head. Tears glittered in her dark eyes, tears she stubbornly refused to let fall. "I, I heard him cry out, and I came in to wake him, but he was already gone. I don't know what – it was only a few minutes after I heard him. He couldn't have just disappeared!"
My heart turned cold at her words, and all the guilt I'd manage to suppress came rushing back. For someone to overpower Kurama, the kitsune must have been injured – or his opponent must have been powerful. Had I not run away like a spoiled child, I would have been there to protect him.
I glanced back at Shiori, ready to jump out of the tree, when I saw the rose in her hand.
Kurama's rose.
That's it. I hadn't been able to sense his youki, but the rose was teeming with it. With any luck, I would be able to trace the energy in the rose to its source – to Kurama.
I glanced back at Shiori, then tore the ward off the Jagan. I had no time to worry about the ningen's reaction; my only thought now was finding Kurama.
Shiori gasped as the Jagan began to glow, ripping through the surrounding energies like a knife through fog in search of Kurama's familiar youki. The energy in the rose burned beside me, lighting a path through the darkness that had settled around us. I followed it toward its source only to have the light disappear suddenly as if someone had snuffed it out, sensing that I was no nearer to Kurama then when I started. I searched again, this time more thoroughly, but still could sense nothing. Something stood between the rose and Kurama, something not even my Jagan could penetrate from this distance.
Shiori's reiki blazed beside me, much stronger than I'd expected but still nowhere near as strong as Kurama's.
Kurama's reiki!
I'd become so accustomed to Kurama's ningen guise that I'd forgotten that it wasn't his true form. Despite being a youko, Kurama's body was ningen; therefore, he had ningen reiki as well as demon youki. If I couldn't sense his youki, maybe I could find his reiki. I opened the Jagan again, aware of Shiori staring wide-eyed beside me, and sought out the pattern of Kurama's reiki, using Shiori's as a guide.
My power skimmed thousands of humans, searching out that unique energy print. The task was nearly overwhelming; there were tens of thousands of ningen here, while only a handful of youkai were close enough for me to sense.
After several minutes of no success, I was ready to give up. My energy was waning; I'd had the Jagan open almost constantly since I arrived in the Ningenkai. Guiltily, I let it fall shut.
A tongue of familiar energy flickered at the edge of my perception, and I snapped the Jagan back open. Kurama! But something was wrong; I could only faintly sense his reiki, and I still could not find any trace of his youki. Something was blocking his youki, some other presence: the strange energy I had sensed upon arriving in this world.
Crouching down, I prepared to jump out of the tree, but a hand on my arm kept me in place. "Please," Shiori murmured. "Where is he?"
I stared back at her, meeting her determined gaze in silence. Her hand tightened around my arm.
"Why should I tell you?"
I'd often hated Shiori. She was the only being in all the worlds beautiful enough to capture Kurama's heart, the only one able to steal the most precious possession of the Makai's greatest thief. Because of her, Kurama was trapped between worlds, unable to choose one and not willing to give up either of them.
I met her eyes, ready to disappear into the darkness, and was shocked to see tears streaming down her cheeks. "Because I care about him," she whispered.
It was then that I realized Shiori loved Kurama as much as I did, maybe even more. Theirs was a bond that could never be broken, not even by death. Or by me. But then, didn't Kurama and I share our own bond? It was different, yes, but no less powerful. It existed separately from the one he shared with Shiori, yet was somehow entwined. I knew Youko Kurama could never care for someone like Kurama did for me. It was this ningen woman who had opened his heart and shown him how to love. Shouldn't that count for something?
Rival. Family.
"He's somewhere in the park," I said before flitting back into the night.
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-Botan's pov-
My kimono fluttered about me as I soared through the nighttime sky of the Ningenkai, crouched low against the wind. My heart raced almost as fast as my oar, thudding loudly in the silence that had fallen over the city. Images raced through my mind, memories of the Dark Tournament and our first encounter with Karasu. What if I was too late? We'd nearly lost Kurama once to the youkai. I didn't want to see it happen again.
I finally reached his house, breathless and shaking, and flew around to his window. The room was empty. I realized that I couldn't sense his youki inside, and Shiori's ningen energy was absent, also.
Oh, no. I hovered outside the house for a moment, trying to think clearly through the maelstrom raging inside of me. Had Karasu already found him? It had only been two and a half days since the youkai had escaped. He couldn't have done that much damage in so short a time… could he?
I turned, heading away from Kurama's house. I had to find Yusuke. With Hiei off somewhere in the Makai and Koenma tied up in the Reikai, I didn't know who else to turn to. I just hoped Yusuke was home.
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A/N: Phew! That was a long chapter! Much longer than I'm used to writing, I just couldn't squeeze everything I wanted into a short chapter. The next chapter might be a little long, also. I should have that out in a few days.
Just to let you know, All the names on Koenma's list, including Karasu's, are made up. I don't know if Karasu has another name, I just used that as a subplot for the story. But he is a B-class. ReikiTantei.net has a list of all the character's classes, which is where I got my info from.