Catse: Here's the second to the last chapter! Yays! The last one is an extra I wrote just for the hell of it, and it's rather short, which is why I'm uploading it with this chapter at the same time. Well, there's not much to say, except that this Friday I will update the first chapter of Dance of Swords 3: Search for Revival. I don't have it written yet, but I know exactly how it will start. Oh well, I'll let you read now! Ja Ne!
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Disclaimer: Chappie one hosts this little thingy here...yeah...okay...ON WITH THE STORY: ) (Yeah, I'm hyper right now...)
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Kenya groaned when he felt the pain strike his abdomen, and opened up heavy eyelids to find a white space before him.
"Where…am I?" He croaked, and suddenly, the image of his mother was over him, a smile lighting her face.
"So you're awake. How do you feel dear?" She inquired, patting his cheeks and forehead with a cold wet towel.
"Fine…I guess. Where am I?"
"You're in the Hospital of King Enma's palace dear. You took quite a hit."
"Where is everyone…? How long have I been asleep…? Rioko…! Where is Lord Rioko! Is he dead! Is he—!"
"Geeze…you certainly are a chatter box, ain't ya…" He heard someone snicker from the side.
He turned his head with great pain, and saw that Suki sitting on the bed next to him, smiling.
"Good morning Kenya! Rioko is dead, you've been sleeping for two days, and everyone is outside waiting to see you. Did I answer all of your questions?"
Kenya smiled, glad to see that nothing had changed.
"Yeah. You did. You can tell them I'm ready to see them."
Suki nodded and turned on the bed.
"Hey guys! He's ready to see you!"
"Suki! This is a hospital! Be quiet." Suta scolded, and Suki turned with her tongue stuck out, smiling.
"Oops…" She giggled.
Just then, the door opened up at the far side of the room and Seika, Katai, Haku, Tsuki, Satou, Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, Hiei, Jennifer, Yukina, Keiko, and even Botan entered the room.
In an instant, he was flooded with questions on how he felt, if he was still tired, should they come back another time, did he think he could walk yet, did he have any bad dreams, had he already heard the Rioko was dead and gone with, and were they bothering him or rambling too fast.
Kenya chuckled, causing them all to fall silent and watch him, and then with a small hiss, he sat up, and accepted a glass of water from his mother.
"We heard the entire story." Yusuke acknowledged first, grinning so brightly that all of his teeth showed. "I have to say this! I'm impressed!"
"Yeah! You totally whooped that Rioko's ass! Much better than we probably would have done!" Kuwabara laughed.
Kenya smiled staring at his glass of water distantly. "It wasn't easy." He replied quietly, closing his eyes with a sigh. "It took everything I had and more." Then he looked and smiled. "But I couldn't have done it without my team."
"Grrrr! Kenya! That was so corny! Geeze!" Katai snarled, laughing.
Seika grinned. "Yeah! Stop lying! We all knew that if it weren't for you we'd all be lying on an operating table with our brains in a glass bottle and our eyes floating around in some martini glass!"
"Only you would think to put the eyes in a martini glass at a time like this…" Katai mumbled, staring at Seika almost in indifference.
Kenya smiled. He wasn't sure why, but now that they were all better and the threat was over with, he felt he could actually relax. He could actually enjoy life.
"So, how are you guys wounds?" He inquired, noticing that Seika was in crutches.
"I'm doing okay. The doctor here, for some reason, insisted I have crutches. Ain't got a single clue to why, but he insisted. I mean come on! It was only my stomach that got hurt! Not my legs!"
"Oh shut up. He gave you those crutches so you would stop doubling over in pain every time you took a step." Suki giggled, and the rest of them chuckled.
Seika raised a brow and smiled, glad that they could now laugh again.
"Are you're wounds feeling better? They should. I gave the doctor here a salve from Goosemerry juices, a healing herb in demon world. It's meant as a pain killer, but it lasts so you don't get addicted to it like you would the pills." Haku acknowledged, stepping to the front of the crowd.
Kenya smiled. "I don't think he used the salve."
"I would bet not. The doctor here has his pride you know! The last time I cut my finger while cooking, I tried to use a band-aid on it and he, for some reason, insisted I have a painkiller medicine and a cast on my finger! Heh…He doesn't like anyone to tell him how to do his job!" Botan acknowledged laughing.
"What were you doing here in the hospital if you were planning on using a band-aid?" Kuwabara inquired, looking confused.
Yusuke smiled. "Probably trying to pick up a boyfriend! I saw you goggling the doctor here…"
"Was not!" Botan shouted.
"Was too!"
"WAS NOT!" Suddenly, an oar appeared in her hand and she whapped him over the head. "Take that!"
Yusuke rubbed the growing bump on his head, and glared at her. "You didn't have to hit me…"
"That still doesn't answer why she was here when she was just going to use a band-aid…" Kuwabara continued, and suddenly, both Botan and Yusuke pounced on him.
"Oh my…You shouldn't be fighting here. This is a hospital…" Yukina began, and suddenly they stopped and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry." All three mumbled.
"Hey Tsuki…How are you feeling…?" Kenya inquired, looking down at his cousin.
She smiled, putting her hands before her mouth shyly as she smiled.
"I'm alright. How about you?"
"I'm good." Kenya replied truthfully.
"Okay…I'm glad!" Tsuki chirped, Satou smiling brightly next to her.
"You had us all worried Kenya!" She acknowledged, a giggle on her lips.
Kenya raised a hand and patted their heads, his own smile taking over his face.
"I didn't mean to do that. You know that." He replied, and Satou giggled. "I know."
"But still, in any case, you did have us all worried." Suta continued. Kenya looked up from his mother's face, and glanced at his father, who was stoic and quiet as ever.
When his father nodded his acceptance, Kenya nodded back out of respect. His father was proud. He could see that without even hearing the words.
"Here Kenya. This is a replica of the salve Haku gave the doctor. He may not use it as treatment, but if you have pain you can apply it." Kurama acknowledged, handing a small mustard bottle to Kenya. Kenya accepted it with thanks, and set it on the table. He didn't think he was in enough pain to need it.
"So, where is Koenma?" He inquired, looking around. It was the one face he didn't see there.
"Oh him…He's chatting with his father at the moment. He should be here soon to talk to you himself. King Enma wasn't too happy with the fact that you disobeyed his orders." Yusuke piped in, leaning on Kuwabara's shoulder.
Kenya nodded, but because of that one answer, he was flooded with a well of new questions. "Are you all mad at us for doing what we did?"
"Not at all…" Suta replied, with everyone else nodding. "Actually, we already knew you would disobey."
"You are our children after all." Kuwabara stated.
"And we used to do the same thing." Came Yusuke, snickering.
"But King Enma is a different subject." Kurama began, sitting down on the bed. "He may give you a punishment, no matter the fact that you obliterated an enemy that was far too powerful for even us to handle."
"Yes." Hiei added. "You have…succeeded us in power, and ability. You deserve to be the detectives."
Kenya smiled, just as his team-mates did, just as Koenma walked in the door.
"Well…I finished the meeting with my father." He stated the obvious, as he strode elegantly over to the bed. He had a box in his hands and he set it on the table.
"What did he say?" Katai inquired.
Koenma sighed. "He was very angry with the fact that you disobeyed him, and us. But he also took into account what you managed to do in the disbehavior."
Everyone cringed, waiting for the taboo words to come out and break them. And they came.
"He has already stated you would be punished for the accounts of the following: Disobeying direct orders; using dangerous means of transportation in which is supposed to only teleport one, into teleporting yourselves and the lives of hundreds of children; in entering demon world without permission; in entering enemy grounds without permission; in fighting and defeating the enemy without permission; and…"
Every cringed again as they waited for him to finish. It took him a moment to do so. "For knowing when a direct decision was the wrong one, when it involved so many lives that might be lost. You saved a thousand children two days ago, and they are all safely back to their families once again. Your punishment…" Koenma reached over to the table, and picked up the wooden box. When it was set in his lap, he opened it to reveal a glint of silver.
There, on the velvet red pillow, were four badges with the symbols for each world inscribed into a triangle. Spirit world, Demon world, and Human world, and at the top, carved into an extra bit of silver, was the title of Spirit Detective, and below it stated in clean black letters "Saviors of the Peace".
Slowly, one by one, he handed the badges to everyone according to their name and description on the back, and each of them put them on.
"Your punishment, is to be the new, Official, Spirit Detectives of the three worlds, and to command it as the officers of Peace. Congratulations. You are now the new Detectives of our future."
Everyone smiled, and then laughed with Yusuke's outburst.
"Hey! That's no fair! I did stuff similar to what they did and I never got a cool badge like that!"
"Yeah!" Kuwabara agreed, Kurama smiling, and Hiei glaring with a roll of his eyes at his old teams antics.
"Alright. We'll get you one made." Koenma replied.
"Make mine gold!" Yusuke acknowledged, smiling brightly.
"Mine crystal!" Came Kuwabara.
"Make sure you write on it, "The OLD Men of the OLD Spirit Detective Team." Suki giggled, and Yusuke and Kuwabara whapped her over the head as she fell over laughing at their expressions.
Kenya laughed with them, but suddenly, he remember a few questions he wanted to ask.
"Oh yeah…where's Yoru by the way?" He didn't care if she were living. He just wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be out there harming anyone right now.
"We don't know." Came the truthful response from Kurama.
"When we went to where Haku had killed her, we found a pool of blood but nothing else. We're not sure if one of the demons from the village walked away with her, or if she was still living and picked herself back up. We only know that there was no body." Koenma added.
"And Shadow…? Is he still in Seika's body?" Kenya asked. They all smiled, and suddenly, he began to wonder what had actually happened to his Great Uncle.
"Nah…He left Seika's body—" Katai began, but Seika cut in and finished for her. "More like I ticked him off and rammed him out."
"In any case—" Katai again began, but this time she was cut off by Haku. "He had left to the outer diameter of the mansion, but had remained in order to try and find another victim. Upon our exiting the premises, Tsuki—"
"How about you let her finish?" Kuwabara cut in, with a glare from Haku. Haku finally nodded, and Tsuki, shyly with her hands at her mouth still, continued. "I saw him in the tree, and I walked up to him. I said I wanted to play with him and he told me to go away, but I insisted that I wanted to play. Because everyone was beginning to look at me, he said he would play, and he came down."
"Then she caught him in the same net she caught Seika in the first time we met him, and walked by us as if it were nothing new to be dragging a spirit behind her, just like last time!" Katai cut in, but she seemed to shrink when everyone glared at her. Tsuki blushed, and Kenya, feeling proud, patted her on the head a second time.
"I had a feeling you'd be the one to catch him. I think you also should be a part of the team."
Tsuki giggled but shook her head. "No. I'm too young. I need to train a little more first." Kenya nodded. "We'll be waiting. How about you Satou?"
"I agree. I'm too young and I need to work harder if I want to be as powerful as you!"
Kenya chuckled. "Don't work too hard, or you may surprise yourself. Anyway, where's Shadow now?"
"He's been sent to the afterlife. We wanted to send him to Limbo, but, considering how he did manage to help you a little, we lightened the charge, and instead had him sent somewhere else. You all won't have to worry about him ever again."
"Good." They all sighed.
Kenya sighed the heaviest, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Good..."
"By the way Seika, how did you get him out?" Katai inquired, looking enthused.
"I turned into a Chibi and danced across his eyes!" Seika answered, causing them all to fall head over heels into the ground anime style.
After that, they all looked at him as if he could have done that all along, but chose the last, most serious moment to do it.
"And what about your pet Seika? What about Niko? What happened to him? I didn't see him when we were fighting with Rioko."
"Oh that." Katai giggled. "Actually, when I took the children, Seika somehow put a message into Niko's head, and when I delivered the children, Niko flew off into Lord Enma's palace. He's the reason all of our parents showed up to help out. Seika told them when I had forgotten to say it, that we may need reinforcments and to send them just in case."
They all laughed, and Seika turned beet red, his own smile just as wide as everyone else. When asked where his pet was, he explained that he was exploring Spirit World while they visited.
Things went on like they always did after that, only, different in a sort of way.
About three days later, Kenya was well enough to go to school again, and although he had no friends there other than his team, everyone seemed ready to welcome him back.
In Art class, the teacher had posted Seika's drawing of Shadow up on the wall outside the classroom for everyone to see, proud of the artwork of her student. That classtime, they all drew something interesting. Katai a picture of the entire group, doing her best to make them all look as realistic as possible even though she didn't have talent, and even Seika had to admit it came out pretty well. Kenya drew the new image of his swords, combined as one, and he had to admit that it came out pretty accurately like the real one. Seika on the other hand drew an interesting piece, his artwork showing through it in great heaps. It was a drawing of a silverish blue dragon and a greenish black serpant entwined in battle, their fangs extended at each other, with the faded soft blue of a rabbit in the middle, looking up at the fight. Kenya had to admit it was an awesome piece, but only Katai and Seika knew the real meaning of it. Seika was the dragon, the snake was his fear, and the rabbit was Tsuki, the new thing he had found to protect. At Gym, they finished ahead of everyone, and again had a small duel, only this time, it was Kenya verses Seika, and the brawl was simple and short, with it coming out as a draw. Later that afternoon, the fire bell rang, with all of the students pouring out of the classrooms to find a certain girl and boy standing in the hall smiling.
"Hah! Got you out of your rooms!" Katai hollered, and Seika whooped, and suddenly a sweat drop appeared on everyone's skulls.
Of course, they had a chat with the principal, but surprisingly, they didn't really get into trouble.
Kenya smiled. It seemed as if everything was back to normal, only now, everytime there was a case, the new Detectives met it head on. It wasn't long before their silver badges were known all over Demon world, and demons kept out of their way when they saw them coming, knowing someone was in trouble and they didn't want to be in the middle. Like the Detectives they were, they were sure to show their badge before fighting their opponent, just to show who was being messed with.
At lunch, Haku came to visit with a lunch for everyone, stating that his mother made it and if they gave any comment on her cooking he would split their heads open. Of course, later, they found out that his mother didn't know how to cook, and that Haku actually owned a cook book, so they deduced that he had cooked it. In any case, the food was good, and they were sure to compliment, in which Haku tried to hide the smile he had of knowing he now had friends he could call true.
The old team watched from a distance, their own smiles hard to mask.
"They've grown powerful." Yusuke remarked, leaning against a tree, his arms crossed.
"No kidding. And they don't become arrogant about it either." Kuwabara added, hands on hips.
Kurama nodded, and chuckle came from his throat. "They have a strong friendship. One it took us almost a year to learn, and them less than a month."
Hiei nodded his agreement to it, and smiled. His son had surpassed him in the art of the swords, and he had to admit, he hadn't even thought of the combination of the Flaming Swords. He still remembered the talk he had had with his son, in which they had decided that Kenya's swords would sit on a mantle piece, and would only be used if he really needed them. They were too powerful for normal missions, and now that Koenma had constructed a system where the level of the mission was classified, they could figure out when the swords would be needed. None the less, all four of the students met every weekend to train up and make sure they kept on their toes, like true Spirit Detectives. Satou and Kenya trained every morning and afternoon, same as usual, only he had noticed that a new fire burned in Satou's eyes. It was like she now knew that she had to catch up, otherwise the world would get ahead of her.
His son had made him proud, and he knew it.
The day after that, they all attended the funeral of Arune, in which she was buried with her parents. It had taken some research to find her parents, but once found, they were delighted to find that the two plots for the twins had been kept where they were, for the parents had believed the bodies of their children would be found. Soon after, they found Enura's remains, and buried them next to Arune, making sure to title on their tombstones their differences. Arune was the betrayed, and Enura was the killer of the betraying. Because of all they endured, they were buried with a large audience, of all the detective families, and many from Spirit world coming to the funeral.
All was back to normal, and hopefully it would remain. For now, there were detectives that were powerful early protecting the Earth. Now, there were beings with cause to defend the worlds.
Now, there was a Weapon Master, and his team, to defend them all.
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Catse: Well, there's that chapter! What did you think? Did I miss anything? If so, please review and tell me, other than that I think I covered pretty much everything that was left with a question. Okay, well. I've got to update the next chappie, so Ja Ne for the moment!
