Winter's Rose, Chapter Seven

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One morning in the middle of spring Koenma walks into his office and shrieks in surprise. Sitting in the chair before the oversized desk is a very quiet Aislin, with three glittering jewels the size of her two fists arranged in a row on the wooden surface and a bag made of heavy canvas on the floor beside her.

"Hello, Koenma," she says flatly, no trace of emotion or subsonics in that once-vibrant voice.

"Geez, Aislin, don't do that!" the child-king snarls grumpily, but his attention is mostly taken up by the jewels. One is a ruby, one is a flawless piece of jade, and the third is a glittering diamond. "Um, are those what I think they are?"

"They are the remaining three Season Stones," she confirms, still toneless and expressionless. "I can no longer bear to keep them."

"You're also in the middle of Spirit World's detention facilities."

A humorless smirk bends her lips as if she's forgotten they can move that way. "I don't care anymore, Koenma. Do with me as you will. Nothing hurts now."

"Does that mean you would not struggle if I had you arrested and executed?" he asks carefully, and she shakes her head.

"No. I have had the last bit of revenge I will ever desire." And she places the heavy canvas bag on his desk without the slightest change of expression. "In case you're wondering, this is the head of Kendrik of the Axe. He was a human bounty hunter," she adds as though trying to provoke Koenma into one of his famous tantrums. "I believe causing the death of a human is punishable by immediate execution." A trace of emotion colors her voice, and he can barely believe what it is. Could she possibly hopeful about dying?

Wordlessly Koenma takes his seat behind his massive desk, still looking at the jewels and now the bagged head with troubled eyes. "Aislin, why are you doing this now?"

"The last reason I had for going on is gone, Koenma-san. Why continue without it?" she replies quietly.

"Is this about…Yoko?" Her entire body flinches away at the name, her fox ears popping up and flattening themselves to her skull.

"Please…don't ever say that name ever again, Koenma-san. I'd rather you kill me, first."

"Very well, Aislin," Koenma tells her calmly. "I hereby sentence you to three centuries of parole, to be carried out in a place of my choosing. You are to go over the candidates for future Spirit Detectives and other employees, to be received and sent in specialized boxes I will have provided for you. You will not engage in any further criminal activity, and you will surrender any and all information networks you have Whatever stolen property you have in possession will be turned in to the authorities. You will also inform me of every single known demon, apparition and whatever-else-type in your bloodline. Is that clear?"

"The things I have stolen are no longer mine," she informs him dully, "because everything that I owned has been given to the Lair, to the thieves that I no longer lead. Discuss the matter of property with them. The networks have already been disbanded and no longer function so they no longer apply. Your other terms are acceptable. Are we in agreement?"

"Your necklace and earring are still yours." A possessive hand clasps the ruby/silver pendant around her neck before moving to rub the blood-colored jewel in her earlobe, and cold turquoise eyes pin Koenma with an icy stare.

"These things have not been stolen and are mine by right. Touch them at your peril."

Koenma sighs and stretches out his hand, suddenly in his teenaged form. "Very well, Aislin. Agreed." With a slow nod, she reaches over and shakes it.

"Agreed."

He sits back, somewhat satisfied with the agreement, and presses a button on the arm of his chair. "Please start reciting your bloodlines, please."

Taking a deep breath, she does. "Human, one fourth. Ice apparition, one half. Fox apparition, one tenth. Earth demon, quantity unknown. Oracle demon, quantity unknown. Psychic demon, quantity unknown. Shadow demon, quantity unknown. Siren, quantity unknown. Storm demon, quantity unknown. Wind apparition, quantity unknown. Wolf demon, quantity unknown. Wood apparition, quantity unknown. Dragon demon, quantity unknown."

"Dragon?"

"Dragon. Remember my wings? Cat demon, quantity unknown. Hawk demon, quantity unknown. Horse demon, quantity unknown. All breeds of large felines, demon, quantity unknown. Illusions demon, quantity unknown. Reflections apparition, quantity unknown. Swan apparition, quantity unknown. Faerie blood, quantity unknown." She tilts her head to one side, eyes lifted to the ceiling and holding them there briefly before dropping her eyes back down to Koenma and shrugging. "I believe that is all of them. I will inform you of any that I missed or learn of in the future."

Koenma pushes another button on his arm-chair and nods. "Thank you, Aislin. Botan will escort you to your new dwelling shortly. You will be under close supervision, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well, Aislin. That will be all." And that is the last thing he says before the blue-haired Goddess of Death bounces in and smiles perkily at the nonplussed koorime.

"Oh, good morning! It's so nice to have someone turn themselves in for a change, you know! Just come with me, there's a dear, we have one of our lovely cottages picked out for you already, you'll love it! It has a blues and greens color scheme and a nice garden out the back and quite an extensive library!" Onward she chatters, ignoring the incredulous look Aislin shoots back at the amused Koenma as if to say 'is she always this bubbly??' as she is unceremoniously hauled out the large doors.

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That was fifteen years ago. I never really hoped that Yoko would keep his promise and return after ten years; that would have been foolish. Once a spirit enters Koenma's domain, that spirit does not leave without severe compensation being made for that occurrence. Fate does not like having her weavings unpicked. I have had a couple of visits from old friends, mostly Mizu and the new Thief-King, that brash pup Ikazuchi, but those, like my real smiles, are now very few and far between.

So. This is where you came in. I have a match with Urameshi in a few hours, and so I will stop here for now. I do not wish to disappoint the boy by being rusty.

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Once more aware of her surroundings, Aislin moves to refile Urameshi's folder that had been left at her elbow, only to find a page discretely left beneath her left elbow. It is a very dark violet, the typing a light cream. Surprise breaks through her neutral mask as the glacier-hued eyes scans the page with mild interest. "Well, well, how very, very fascinating. I wonder why Koenma didn't mention that Hiei Jaganshi is working alongside his new Detective. This should be very interesting indeed."

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"A test?" A boy with slicked-back raven hair and sparking brown eyes gives the small ruler seated behind the large desk a look filled with trepidation. "What kind of test?"

"One of my 'measuring sticks' she calls herself. I've sent three other detectives after her and all but one of them came back empty-handed and almost as blue as Ogre."

"Why? Is she water or something?"

"Ice, actually, among a lot of other things." Hiei, who had been leaning against the wall, perks invisible cat ears and turns unsettling maroon eyes towards his 'employer'.

"Anyone I know?" he questions, voice empty of inflection. Koenma shrugs.

"Heck if I know, Hiei. I know for a fact I haven't dug up everything in your history. You've probably heard of her nickname though. Ever hear of a woman named 'Whiteout'?" Hiei and Kurama stiffen, but Yusuke and a tall orange-haired boy named Kazuma Kuwabara just start sniggering.

"Do I smear her across an ink-stain or something?" Yusuke snorts jokingly, only to be regarded with disgust by Hiei (who he had expected) and Kurama (who he did not).

"You are an idiot, Yusuke," Hiei informs him coldly. Kurama turns unsettled emerald eyes towards the two human boys, his expression lost in the mask he sometimes wears, a habit left over from his thieving days as Yoko Kurama.

"This is no laughing matter, Yusuke, Kuwabara."

Yusuke snickers. "Aw, come on, you two! Why should I be afraid of someone named after fix-it goop?"

"You're thinking of the wrong kind of 'white-out', Yusuke," Kurama explains quietly. "We aren't talking about any kind of processed chemical, we're talking about weather. A 'whiteout' is a blizzard so fierce and heavy that it reduces visibility to nothing and can kill someone when they're just inches away from sanctuary. She is the retired Queen of Thieves, no less."

"So, what, did you know her, Kurama?" Kuwabara asks slowly, actually using his brain for once.

The red-haired boy winces at a painful memory. "Yes, I did, once. We worked alongside each other for quite a long time, actually, and I do not believe she is aware of my change in species or status. And I would like to keep it that way," he adds, with a meaningful look at Hiei. The fire apparition merely gives one of his famous 'hn's and resumes staring off into space. Meanwhile Kurama turns wide, troubled eyes towards Koenma as the implications of Koenma's information actually sinks in. "And you have her in your employ?"

"Well, no, actually," Koenma admits. "I have her on parole. She's been 'working' off her sentence instead of spending it in a Reikai prison."

"Are you insane?" Yusuke bursts out. "You've got a woman like that on the loose??"

"I want to keep my prisoners alive until it is time for them to go free or to execute them, Yusuke!" Koenma snaps. "If I were to imprison her, she'd probably freeze everyone to death and walk out the front door."

"Only if they annoyed me," a calm voice counters flatly, and the younger people turn to the large door. A slender woman stands there, dressed in white wool with snowshoe-hare fur trim, looking utterly comfortable in the heated room. Her costume is not so out of place if one were to put her in the human streets on a cold winter's day. Besides the heavy fitted pants and fur-lined boots, her hooded coat has a built-in collar/shawl that ends at her elbows, and black fingerless gloves that encase her deceptively slender hands. Kuwabara instantly starts drooling and the woman gazes at him measuringly before looking over at Koenma. "Can I just freeze him now and save myself some annoyance?" Everyone face-faults, and Yusuke is the first to rise, snarling, "No, you can't freeze him!"

"Uh, I'd prefer it if'n you didn't," Kuwabara says weakly, and the woman shrugs.

"All right, behave yourself and I won't. Deal?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever!" Kuwabara says hastily, and Kurama groans in dismay, Hiei regarding the tall human boy in disgust. The fire apparition's face clearly asks 'can you get any stupider?'. Kuwabara and Yusuke turn to the red-haired boy questioningly. "What, Kurama?" The woman flinches at the name, and looks over at him like the others.

"Your name is Kurama?" she says in a pained near-whisper. A slight, brief inclination of his head is all the answer the ningen-fox gives her and she pales. "Then forgive me if I act untowardly to you. I knew someone once by that name."

Another nod before Kurama turns to Kuwabara and answers the orange-haired boy's question. "You did not make her define what 'behave' meant, nor did you put a time limit on the agreement."

"Which leaves the details of either quite vague," Aislin agrees, recovering her composure in a remarkably short time, and then she turns to the small fire-apparition and gives him a brief, shy little smile. "Hello, Hiei."

"Hello, Aislin. It's been a while," he replies calmly, nodding. She nods back, hands laced behind her back, all her weight balanced on one foot, the other resting on its toes behind the first's heel. He looks her up and down as though checking her health, and allows a tiny smile to curve his own lips. "You're looking well, given the circumstances."

That shy smile gets a shade bigger. "You, too, porcupine head. Never thought I'd live to see the say you'd be working for the good guys."

"You're one to talk, snowflake," he retorts almost playfully, and then they notice everyone but Kurama staring at them.

"So you do know her, Hiei," Koenma says in mild irritation. Identical blank faces are turned to him, and their shoulders lift in unison accompanied by "Hn."

"Oh, great," Kuwabara groans, "now there's two of them. Except one's a girl. And her hair's white."

"You tread on the line of misbehaving," Aislin warns him with no change in inflection or expression. "Mind your step." Then she startles Yusuke by turning to him and looking him over from head to toe, gaze never wavering, always measuring, and mildly curious.

"Take a picture," the boy mutters in her direction. "It'd last longer."

The corners of her mouth twitch again, the ice apparition amused at his audacity. "Indeed it would. You must be Urameshi-san. My new informants have been rather enthusiastic about you--you should be flattered."

"How's zat?" he asks suspiciously.

"For them to praise you as they do, you must have a skill level somewhere near mine. That's getting quite rare these days. They are well aware of my capabilities, and your predecessors have not ranked nearly as high in their opinion, nor are they happy with my single sparring match against the younger Toguro just after that foolish wish he made." Those turquoise eyes take on a faraway look as she remembers. "Hm. Come to think of it, he wasn't that much of a challenge back then. I wish I'd had a chance to fight him in the last Tournament, when he was at his best, but the Council never called me back for it. Ah, well, cannot change the past, can we? Let us look to the present, which is my match against you." Her eyes turn clear again and focus on him. "Lead the way, Detective."

Yusuke looks over at Hiei, disconcerted. "Yo, Hiei, is she always this random?"

The fire apparition snorts as though holding back a laugh. "Only when she's eaten a pixie." To everyone's surprise, Aislin turns faintly pink and looks dismayed.

"You wouldn't!"

"I might."

"I'd have to mention all those times that you--"

"All right! I'll keep my mouth shut."

"You're finally getting sensible." Sighing, Aislin turns back to Yusuke and tilts her head to one side in inquiry. "Are you going to fight me or not, Detective? If you aren't, I'm going back home where the temperature is somewhat more to my liking."

Automatically obeying the implied order, Yusuke's feet begin walking without telling his brain, so it's a second or two before he realizes that he's moving. He simply shrugs and keeps going once he does, but he looks over his shoulder to ask a question of the white shadow just behind him.

"So, I guess this place is a little warm for ya, huh?"

"Mm, not quite. You see--"

"Hey, ice-apparition lady," Kuwabara interrupts her, coming up behind with Kurama and Hiei trailing along in his noisy wake. "How do you know the shrimp back there, anyway?"

Briefly Aislin considers doing something about his newest breach of manners, but decides to answer his question instead. "Hiei and I have been allies for longer than I care to recall…wait, I never learned your name. But if I remember the applications Koenma gave me about the time Urameshi was signed on, you must be Kazuma Kuwabara, correct?"

"Yeah!" the orange-haired boy says cheerfully. "You mean you remember?"

"I remember your description," she replies dryly, with an utterly deadpan face, "which was, I believe, 'long on rei, short on smarts'." Yusuke bursts out laughing, with Hiei smirking in the background at Kuwabara's discomfiture.

"Now, now, Aislin. You shouldn't confuse the idiot," the fire apparition says with a hint of impish humor lurking in his eyes. "Using long words like 'description' will make his brain short out."

"Really?" she asks, beginning to show a bit more life. "What about you, porcupine head? Did you get a new notebook to write my bigger swearwords down? As I recall, you seemed to have trouble remembering anything longer than four letters."

"Hn. My memory is just fine, snowflake. What I'm worried about is how you'll fare against the Detective. You've been a thief and a monk for too long--I'll bet all your muscles have gone soft." Yusuke and Kuwabara--who is distracted from the beginnings of tantrum--stare as the two elemental apparitions walk past them, calmly insulting each other without so much as batting an eye at the worst of it all. Aislin walks the convoluted path through the offices and hallways with the ease of practice, and they arrive at the training arena without getting lost once and without anyone giving her directions. Inside, the white-haired woman tilts her head back and raises an eyebrow in mild surprise.

"Well. This place has certainly gotten bigger since I was here last."

"You've been here before, Moors-san?" Kurama questions lightly, and she nods with absentmindedness, too busy cataloging the changes to really pay attention.

"Once or twice, I believe, while Koenma was originally constructing it and again when he wanted me to test it. I think he's added at least twenty feet to the height of it, and a good thirty yards of diameter." She brings her attention back to earth and smiles again briefly. "So. Beginning. I would appreciate a warm-up session, if that is all right with you, Urameshi-san."

"Kurama?" Yusuke does not want to be tricked into an open-ended agreement like Kuwabara if he can help it. The fox-human shrugs.

"As long as she doesn't end something with 'agreed' 'bargain' 'deal' or the like as a question, I don't think you need to worry, Yusuke. She simply wants to warm-up, but does not want to make you impatient, yes?" he finishes with a rising lilt, turning it into a question for the slender ice-apparition.

"Correct, Kurama-san." Again, she winces, and asks him a question of her own. "Gomen ne, but is there another name you go by? I'm afraid that name brings back some painful memories." Yusuke and Kuwabara blink in confusion at their friend, who nods understandingly.

"The name most know me by is Suichi Minamino. Will that suffice?"

"Yes, and nicely, arigatou. Will you please be my warm-up partner?" Everyone blinks at the sudden switch in topic but Kurama simply shakes his head no.

"I am not so foolish as to go against the Whiteout, even in a sparring match. Perhaps Hiei will oblige."

"Hn," is the indifferent reply as the black-clad boy steps forward and eyes her in speculation. "Fine."

(I'd forgotten how well Hiei can spar when he wants to…)

The two elemental apparitions stand in the center of the ring, the others on the sidelines as spectators, Kurama as the referee, and watch each other warily. "Fighters, your weapons," Kurama reminds them calmly, and Hiei smirks at his opponent.

"Same old trick, right, snowflake?" Her reply to him is a flat-out glare and the rising of the hair on the back of her skull. Defiantly she brings one hand up as a fist, the other flat with the palm pressed against her fist's thumb. When she pulls her hands apart, a glittering blade of ice is formed in their wake, flashing under the bright lights when she swings it experimentally.

"Same old trick that has yet to break against you, dragon breath."

"Take your positions," Kurama commands them, stopping the new round of insults before it can properly begin, and the two settle into neutral stances, blades raised above their heads to shine under the lamps. When the two nod warily, he snaps out, "Begin!" and leaps back to avoid the broad sweeps of their swords and the voids of air that follow them.

Yusuke and Kuwabara can't even see their movements while the emerald eyes of Kurama dart back and forth, following the pair with utmost care. He highly doubts a referee with be needed to do anything more than call time when the warm-up is over, but he has also spent his entire existence planning for those kinds of doubts when they inevitably become reality.

A crater suddenly forms off to his left; a slim form rises from it, dusts themselves off, and flits back into the air with an annoyed 'hn'. That would have been Aislin, Kurama thinks to himself. Probably using Ice Armor as she usually does. Another crater, this one's made by Hiei, who growls as he reenters the fray. A few more craters and explosions later, the two stop and stand there, simply gazing steadfastly at the other.

Then a slow, wicked smile blooms on Hiei's face, and he offers, "Fire and ice?"

"And itching to slice," comes the wickedly-amused reply, and the two bring the points of their katanas to bear on each other's hearts. A globe of red-and-white power flares into life between them, rapidly growing until it reaches the size of a basketball as they pull the points of their swords towards the side. Kurama pales, and he quickly flattens himself against the ground, protecting his head with his jacketed arms. Yusuke and Kuwabara are not so quick to follow his example before the sphere implodes and sends shockwaves rippling across the entire arena, rattling the walls and creating a circle of crazed concrete below the place where the sphere had hung.

When Kurama raises his head cautiously, he instantly covers his mouth and nose with a piece of his tattered jacket to protect against the dust clogging the air. With a relieved sigh he finds most of his clothing intact; his jacket took the brunt of the attack, leaving his shirt and his pants only ripped here and there. Hiei and Aislin stand where they had before, actually grinning from ear to ear, blades resting against their shoulders. A few seconds more and the dust settles, the two combatants losing their smiles when an outraged screech echoes around the training area.

"HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME, YOU INGRATES! I KEEP YOU FROM THE DEATH PENALTY AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME??"

The two elementals scowl at each other and point accusing fingers. "You forgot to disable the cameras," they growl in unison, and scowl harder.

"YOU'RE BOTH UNDER ARREST! I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAD KASAI AND AISU UNDER MY ROOF THE WHOLE TIME!! YUSUKE! BE USEFUL! DON'T LET THOSE TWO LEAVE!!"

"What's gotten the toddler in such a temper-tantrum?" Yusuke groans from his sprawl a few feet inside the arena wall. He climbs out, holding his aching head and fingering the rents in his clothes ruefully. Aislin shrugs indifferently.

"We forgot he didn't know about us."

"Who's 'us'?" Kuwabara manages, climbing over the wall and dropping onto the arena floor with a grunt. His sweater is in shreds, his shirt isn't far behind, but thankfully his pants are relatively intact. Kurama gets over his amazement and gestures grandly at the two still standing quietly at the arena's center.

"I'd like to introduce you to Kasai and Aisu, the second greatest thief-pair known in the Makai and Reikai. They've been on the most wanted list for nearly eight and a half centuries."

"Seriously?" Yusuke stares with new respect at the two small beings glaring at each other over the crazed ground between them and snarling. "I didn't think they were that old."

"Damnit, dragon breath, it was your turn to shut off the be-damned security cameras! Now look what you did!"

"Me?? You're the one who forgot that that idiot didn't know about us!"

"What's that got to do with anything??" She practically minces over the broken ground to jab her finger into his chest. "You the one who knows where every single camera is! Koenma's probably rearranged this place three or four times, and I have no idea where he's hidden the twelfth camera!"

"If you were paying attention we wouldn't have to deal with this in the first place!" He slaps her hand away and points his katana to her throat, to have it completely ignored.

"The attack was your idea! Don't go blaming all of this on me, you arrogant, stubborn, stuck-up hedgehog!"

"Dim-witted, opinionated ice-block!"

"Block-head!"

"Bakayarou!"

"Kisama!"

"Ikeike!"

"Prick!"

"Weakling!"

"Male chauvinist pig!"

"Che!" Hiei yanks his blade away and starts stalking off, looking utterly disgusted. "That's so inaccurate it's ridiculous!"

The three other males just blink while Aislin actually grins and sticks her tongue out at him. "Hah! I win!"

"You cheat."

"I have a lot of time to read," she corrects. Hiei is actually smiling, and the two humans boys are getting confused.

Kuwabara finally points in the pair's direction and looks over at Kurama. "I don't get it. They were biting each other's heads off a second ago."

"That's just how they are. I don't quite understand it myself."

Aislin turns her attention back to Yusuke and reverts back to a nearly emotionless state. "Well, Detective, before Koenma's weakling ogres get here to try and arrest Hiei and I, how about you and I have that match?"

"Uh…" Yusuke blinks and shrugs fatalistically. "Yeah. Sure."

Hiei walks over to the side of the arena and takes up a perch on an undamaged portion of the wall dividing the floor and the bleachers, Yusuke walking over to the ice apparition and settling into a defensive stance, ready to begin. The petite female nods in approval at the well-guarded pose before raising her ice-katana above her head and moving into an offensive position herself.

"Apologize to Koenma for me when you wake up," she says before disappearing. A heartbeat--a very fast heartbeat--later the hilt of her katana connects hard with the back of his head. Cursing and snarling, he staggers forward, whirling to find a rather startled but very pleased Aislin standing behind him.

"Geez, what the hell wazzat for??" he demands, rubbing the growing lump gingerly before cautiously shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. Aislin merely goes back into her stance with something akin to excitement sparking in her eyes.

"I have to say I'm impressed, Detective. It takes a pretty hard head to withstand one of my blows. That fact that you're still quite conscious speaks volumes for your stamina."

"More like stupidity," Hiei corrects her from his vantage point, making her chuckle and Yusuke glare. And then the lights go out. Literally. Every single light suddenly turns off, plunging the spacious area into complete darkness thanks to the fact that there's not even a window. Yusuke quickly sends his senses outward, trying to locate his opponent before she has a chance to strike, but this kind of thing has never been his forte.

His ears ring with a second casual blow to his head, deafening him to the faint sounds of wind moving around him, cold numbing his ears and nose and slowing him down that much more. He takes a guess and strikes off to his left, rewarded with a pained 'oof' and the sound of stumbling footfalls.

"Heh, not bad, kid," Aislin says from somewhere in the darkness. "Didn't see that one coming."

"Genkai used this same trick when she was pickin' a student," is the short reply. "Dark doesn't phase me much." A punch-kick combo connects, then her elbow slams into his jaw, the heel of her palm to his solar plexus. Gasping for breath against the last, Yusuke stretches and strains his abilities to find her. A whisper of wind behind him makes him whirl and snap his foot out in a powerful roundhouse kick. His whole body is jarred with the force of the impact, knocking him off balance but sending his opponent flying by the sounds of it.

"Very good," is a pain-filled cough a few moments later, sounding rather distant. "That actually hurt. Looks like I'll be able to--" A pained cry rises from her and everyone else when the lights are suddenly switched back on, half-blinding everyone and filling their visions with little colored dots. Yusuke blinks away the spots and searches for the white-haired spirit, finding her to his right and against the wall, bleeding from mouth and nose and directly beside a startled Kurama.

Standing in every entrance is a score of ogres, most of them carrying weapons and shields, none of them looking very happy. Aislin spits out a mouthful of blood and gazes calmly around her. "Guess we'll have to put the match on hold, Detective. Koenma-san has sent the half-time show."

Jorge steps forward, looking very authoritative and carrying a pair of energy-sealing cuffs. "Aislin Moors, a.k.a. Whiteout, a.k.a. Aisu, and Hiei Jaganshi, a.k.a. Kasai, you are hereby under arrest for--"

"Grand theft, breaking and entering, second and third degree murder, and resisting arrest," the two ex-criminals finish in unison, sounding extremely bored. The ocean-eyed woman straightens and gingerly feels her nose before adding, "We've heard it all before, baka. Now, shoo. You interrupted a match."

"Go on, guys, I got it all under control," Yusuke adds reassuringly, waving his hand at them in a dismissive gesture. "As you can see, I'm winning." He notices the extremely dangerous glare he's getting from both the small elementals, and inwardly winces. Boy I'm in for it now. But the ogres are beginning to look doubtful.

"I'll make you a deal, okay?" Aislin suggests reasonably. "You all go and wait somewhere with a nice view. I fight the Detective, and if he wins, you can arrest me and I go without a fight. If I win, we get to pretend you never found out about my third alias. Agreed?"

"NOT A CHANCE!" Koenma shouts from a loudspeaker. "You've got a rap-sheet as big as the empty space in Ogre's head to answer for!"

"So put me on another couple of centuries of probation," is the coldly logical reply. "It's not like all of these fools can defeat me, anyway." A few of the ogres are nodding fervently in agreement from their places.

"C'mon, Koenma," Yusuke adds in a wheedling tone, "our match was just gettin' good. You can't let it end there, can ya?"

"Can and will, Yusuke," Koenma snaps back. "With this new information I have a much better idea of her abilities, and you are nowhere near her level. You hear me, Yusuke? You're going to get your ass handed to you on a silver platter with crème broulet sauce."

"But I was winning, wasn't I, Ais--Aislin-san?" Yusuke looks around, bemused to find his opponent gone without a trace except for a few spots of blood. "Damn, Hiei, she's faster than you. Hiei? Well, hell. They're both gone."

"THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!" Koenma nearly screams. "FIND THEM, now!!" All the ogres salute and file out, one remaining at each entrance as a guard. Yusuke walks over to his remaining friends, hands tucked behind his head, looking very disappointed.

"Stupid Koenma. The fight was just gettin' good, too."

"Patience, Yusuke," Kurama sighs. "I suspect you will be able to resume shortly." Right on cue a white blur sweeps around the entrances, leaving every single ogre very much unconscious and the entrances sealed with heavy sheets of ice at the same time as a black blur zips around the beams above them. The black blur plummets to the ground within moments and resolves into Hiei holding fistfuls of wires just as the white blur stops in front of Yusuke and becomes a mildly annoyed Aislin.

"Got all the cameras, Hiei?" Aislin asks quietly, and the spiky-haired male holds up the wires and nods.

"There's not a working camera for five city blocks around here," he informs them in a low voice. "If you want to finish the match, Detective, I suggest you do so quickly."

"Well, okay then!" Yusuke says cheerfully, popping his knuckles and walking back towards the center of the ring. With a mildly amused smile and a slight shake of her head Aislin follows him, creating another blade to replace the one she seems to have lost.

"Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," she states calmly, "it looks like I'll be able to use more of my power than I thought." Yusuke just snorts.

"I knew you weren't goin' all out. How much were you usin'? Ten, twenty percent?"

"Five," Hiei informs him flatly. "And this is based off assumptions that come from knowledge more than a century old. I doubt she's gotten weaker."

"You doubt correctly." Aislin shoots him a light glance before returning her gaze to the cocky teen before her. "On my word. Begin."

And the two vanish from everyone's sight. Well, almost everyone's; the only reason Hiei can see them move is because he's using the Jagan eye. The other two have to settle for flashes of rei collision and the explosions from blocks or strikes connecting.

"Come now, detective, surely you can do better than that?" Aislin questions Yusuke mildly as she practically dances around the arena, having no trouble with the rough terrain or the maintaining of her incredible speed. Yusuke treats the gaping holes and torn up concrete like an obstacle course, the slabs acting as springboards and cover.

"Hold your horses, wouldja?" he mutters back, glancing left and right to keep her in his view, brain working furiously to come up with a way to beat this opponent--who is suddenly showing a whole hell of a lot more skill than Hiei. A couple of swear words later his brain settles to the task, processing rapidly. And the first thing he notices is that though she's in a heated room, and actually exerting herself, the coat she wears has yet to come off. Or even be loosened. And if she's part ice apparition, then she should be able to withstand the touch of her own weapon, but she's wearin' gloves.

He reverses direction with a screech of sneakers on gravel to avoid a strike with the flat of her blade to his shoulder, hands coming up automatically into a guard position in a desperate effort to avoid the blow. She sends him weaving and bobbing with more combinations, her tiny smile growing more and more pleased when he begins to prove himself the challenge she desires and has waited for. Yusuke's plan finishes forming and when she offers him an unwitting opening in her defense, he attacks. Lightning-fast punches blur centimeters around her upper body and sides, but he 'misses' his strike every time.

"Does that foolish excuse for an attack have a purpose?" she asks in curiosity when he leaps away again, breathing a little harder from the exertion of performing his attacks while dodging all of hers. Her eyes widen in frightened dismay and she stops in mid-motion as her coat falls off of her body, sliced at the shoulder-seams, side seams and arm-seams, but otherwise intact. Kurama and Hiei both gasp in deep concern when she reenters stumbling into their normal view, her upper body clad only in a thin grey tanktop, katana falling to the ground and shattering into a million brilliant shards that rapidly melt under the glare of the stadium lights. Shivering violently, arms wrapped around herself, she falls to her knees and bows her head in anticipation of her opponent's final strike.

Which doesn't come. She manages to lift her head again to see Kurama virtually sitting on Yusuke and about ready to spit nails before a heavy black cloak is wrapped around her and she is whisked away through the maze of corridors, the sounds of crumbling ice fading behind them. Closing almost colorless eyes, she rests her cheek against whipcord muscle and whispers three words before plummeting into the depths of unconsciousness; "Thank you, Hiei."

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Gomen ne: a form of 'I'm sorry'

Kasai: fire

Che: shit