Catse: Sorry this took so long! My last weekend was so crazily busy I completely forgot about this update. So here it is, once again, and pocky sticks to every body that so patiently waited on me! passes out pocky sticks of all sorts of flavors. Okay, well, the real busy chore over the weekend was that I got a new kitten, about five weeks old so she still clings to me like I'm her mother. If you're curious to what kind of cat she is, she's a Blue Point Siamese with big blue eyes. Okay, well, enough from me. I better get going so you can read this! Ja Ne for now and please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Yeah well...You know this too...Big Smile I'm so lazy, aren't I?
It took Cole and Christy about an hour or so to explain what they knew, explaining specifics about the area and everything.

"This place ain't nice." Cole told them, putting a sort of accent to his words. "There're people here that'd shoot you dead just for lookin' at them. There are many fights in the schools and people walk around with weapons. Not many cops around here do much either. There are a few that are good, but the others usually pull you over for bogus reasons or like to watch how a chase goes without even moving their asses."

"The demons here aren't really dangerous. We haven't seen a truly dangerous one in years. Most of the time, they're just lackeys of demon world coming here to escape the deadliness there. We usually don't shoot them unless they're a threat. You see, if we see a demon, we question him first, and if he proves to be lying, then we arrest him and send him to Spirit World from here. The one you saw at the Air Port though had been talking with us, and then walked away on us without fully explaining himself. We suspected him as a spy, and when I turned to talk to someone at the main port, my wonderful intelligent brother here shot the demon in the back." Christy explained. She was curled up in a corner of the seat, a file in her hand as she smoothed out her long nails.

Seika and Katai sat together on a small couch, with Haku in a separate chair, the two girls playing in one of the bedrooms together, and Cole sitting on the floor because he exclaimed that there were only too places comfortable enough for his butt, the floor and the back of a large animal like a horse or a bull.

Of course, being the guy that Seika was, he began to choke on his laughing, and didn't stop for five minutes, in which those that knew him shook their heads, already knowing what was running through his mind.

"Other than all that, we don't know much about your mission. Koenma paged us only this morning to tell us you were on your way here, but wouldn't give us any specifics. So, what are you here for?" Christy said.
The three downcast their eyes.

"Allow me to explain." Haku started after a moment. "You see, there were supposed to be four on our team. Seika, Katai, I, and another were together. The other was our leader, Kenya Nohara. He was killed a couple of days ago by a new enemy in Japan."

"Kenya Nohara, huh?" Cole mumbled. "I've heard that name some where."

"Of course you have you big dummie!" Christy shouted, knocking his head with her foot. "He's that Spirit Detective in Japan that killed that new guy Lord Rioko four years ago! Don't you remember anything!"

"Oh yeah! He had defeated an S-Class enemy while we were still getting a hang of defeating the little guys! He was a legend for us for a while. So he's dead? That's terrible."

"Yes well. That's why we're here. You see, he's not supposed to be dead. He was supposed to die with Lord Rioko, but he survived, so his death date was moved to a later time, and he died before that next date. Because of that, Spirit World refuses to revive him. But Koenma gave us an option. Have you heard of the Puzzle of the Zodiac?"

Both of the Texans shook their heads. "Nope. What's that?"
"It's an artifact." They heard a smooth feminine voice come from the balcony. Yoru stepped into the room, a black leather jacket draped over her shoulder. "Find all the pieces and one wish'll be granted. They want to revive their leader with it."

"But, aren't you a member of the team? Wouldn't you be lookin' for it too?" Cole inquired. Yoru gave him a death glare, walked past them, and went to the door.

"Hey! Where're you going!" Katai shouted, jumping up.

"None of your business meat-head. I got some things I need to get done." Yoru opened the door, and disappeared behind it when it closed.

"That's odd. She usually doesn't just leave." Seika added, and Haku sighed.

"She's not a part of our group. In fact, we all never wanted her with us. It was her father that made her come."

"What do you mean? How could her father make her come?" Christy inquired.

"You ever heard of Hiei?"

"You mean that ice/fire apparition? Yeah, we heard of him. Heard he was causin' a ruckus in Japan for a while, after he went there to collect himself a gang so as to steal some artifacts. Why?" Came Cole.

"That is her father."

"Ah…I think I see the resemblance."

"You haven't heard the rest of it."

"What's the rest?" Came Christy, pausing in the filing of her nails out of curiosity.

"She is our sworn enemy, yet she is Kenya's older sister, as Satou is her younger."

The scream of surprise rang all around the hotel room, catching both little girls by surprise in their room.

"So Hiei had three kids! That's crazy!" Cole shouted.

"And then that girl's father had to force her to come! You'd think she'd come willingly!" Christy added.

"Yeah, well. Theirs is a weird family. Yoru despises her family, and tried to kill her brother and sister at one point, and I tried to kill her to prevent her from doing so. I thought I had. Then she showed up out of nowhere at the time Kenya was killed, and exclaimed that she had still wanted to kill him, and our new enemy did so before she did. She's basically exclaimed revenge on the Dark Lord for taking away her goal. Then, at the funeral, Hiei forced her to come with us; otherwise he would kill her with his powers. Believe me, none of us are happy she is here, but she does serve her purposes. She is a powerful ally, no matter how forced. She has survived the last four years after the damage I inflicted, and even frightens Hiei to the extent that he would have to use his Jagan on her."

"Wow." Cole and Christy said at the same time. "That's deep."

"So what are you looking for here? I've never heard of the puzzle, and I wouldn't know where to find it."

"Well. You see, the puzzle pieces are for every animal of the zodiac. Each piece has been materialized into the soul of certain people. We already have one, but we need eleven more."
"Where'd you find that one?" Cole asked, leaning forward.

"Seika had it. Because of it he grew about as strong as we did in a matter of months. Now, we don't know which piece is in this region, but Koenma insisted there was one here. Since you all know this area, he asked you all to help us. Have you any ideas where we can start?"

Both brother and sister thought about it for a while, and finally smiled.

"Well, there's a rodeo tomorrow, and tons of people pop up there! You might be able to find it there!" Christy exclaimed happily, Cole nodding in agreement.

"We have a problem." Seika told Haku after a moment. "We have no idea how to find this piece."

Haku nodded. "Actually we do. Our watches are programmed to search out and find the person with it when we're close. They'll beep if we're near one of the zodiac pieces."

"Next question." Katai started. "How do we get the pieces? I don't believe we brought a pair of tongs with us."

Haku thought about that a moment, and finally shrugged.
"I don't know."

"You don't know! You're supposed to have all the answers!" Seika shouted.

Haku frowned. "I'm a Child Genius, not Buddha."

"Well, we better be off." Christy stated, standing up. "We need our sleep, and you'll need all you can get to go searching tomorrow. We'll come by and pick you up early, so be ready. Good bye."

She walked to the door, but when she realized Cole hadn't stood up, she walked back, pinched his ear, and dragged him towards the door.

"Owowowowowow! Would you stop that! That hurts!"

"I wouldn't have to be doing this if you would just get going!" Christy shouted at him, and they disappeared behind the door.

"They're certainly strange people." Seika commented.

Haku glanced at them with a frown.

"What?"

"Well, I say we should check out the hotel. I'll take the girls with me." Katai offered, being unusually nice for her. She walked over to the room they were in, but stopped, turned around, and snatched Seika's ear. "You're coming too!"

"Hey!"

Haku nearly smiled as she dragged him off, gathered the girls, and disappeared out the door as well. All alone, Haku sighed.

This was going to be an interesting trip.

Just then, as he had decided that maybe a shower was his best way of relaxation, his watch beeped at him.

He checked it to find that Koenma had sent him a message.

For some reason, Koenma didn't like talking over the walky-talky system of the watches, so instead he sent written messages to inform them. This one told him that their watch beepers for locating the zodiacs had recently been out of commission, and that they had just barely fixed it so that it could work again. In the next two minutes, it would come back into effect.

Haku sighed. He hoped beyond a shout of a doubt, that they could find all the pieces and bring Kenya back. He also wondered, as he found the bathing utensils he would need, where Kenya was now, and how he was doing. He hoped that the Dark Lord wasn't harming him in any way, and that if he was, Haku would have a word to say to him. No one messed with his friends, ESPECIALLY since he had so much trouble in making them. That was his vow.

The clinking of glass echoed around the dark room as the spirit tried desperately to escape.

"What kind of material is this?" Kenya inquired, rubbing his ghost hands across the material. "Spirits are supposed to go through all materials."

"That is a special material I invented myself." A voice said from the shadows. "It's very effective in keeping things in one place as I'm sure you've noticed."
"Who are you?" Kenya inquired, sitting down Indian style on the floor. It was no use in beating the glass if he couldn't get through it without a physical body.

"Come now. The leader of the infamous Spirit Detectives of Japan should know the answer to that, don't you think?"

Kenya growled. "The Dark Lord…"
"Very good, very good. Word serves me right then. You are clever. Yes, I am the Dark Lord, but I would prefer you call me Sifirus. It is my name you know."

"Sifirus? What kind of a name is that?" Kenya inquired. A cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows, a golden medallion around his neck and silver cane in his hands.

"What kind of a name is Kenya Nohara? You sound half African and half Japanese."

Kenya snorted. "Very funny. Listen. I don't appreciate being held captive. I would much like to return to my body so if you could kindly oblige I'll make sure you keep some of your heart before I stab the living day lights out of it and your bird over there." Kenya gestured towards the black crow, that was now pouncing around his perch, looking agitated under his spot light.

"Corus doesn't like being referred to as a bird." Sifirus informed him, as the crow leapt up and landed on his shoulder like a loyal pet. "He's much too refined for that."

"Then get the parrot to speak, or are his refined tastes too casual for that too?" Kenya inquired. He wasn't afraid of this man. Sure his ghost form was held in one spot, but no one could really kill a spirit. It was one thing he had learned over time. All spirits either checked in or didn't into Spirit World. Those that didn't were the ones that haunted the world looking for a way out of eternity. Those that did were either reincarnated or sent to suffer in the depths of Limbo, the very epitome of pain and blood. As of yet, he still didn't know of anyone that could kill a spirit.

"Tough words for someone in a glass bottle." Sifirus chuckled, and the crow preened it's feathers, looking amused.

"Yes well, I'll find a way out of here and then I'll return to my body."
"Don't you know boy? You're dead. Your funeral was yesterday." The Dark Lord exclaimed with what sounded like a smile in his voice. "They all think you're gone!"

"That's not true! They're trying to find a way to bring me back! I know it!" Kenya argued. "Otherwise, why would you be holding me here and in "one spot" as you so wonderfully put it, unless you were afraid I'd be able to kill you once and for all like the last guy that tried to destroy us."
"That other being was nothing. He was a fool to allow children to attack him, even though he knew that the power of a child is always underestimated due to their age. You proved that yourself if memory serves me correctly."

Kenya growled. How dare he talk about the difficult battle he nearly died in over four years ago as if it were a simple mistake? It was a dark and evil deploy on the world and he chatted about it like it was a math problem he didn't solve correctly!

"They're trying to get me out of here." Kenya continued, keeping in balance his own confidence in his friends, along with his belief. "And they'll get me out of here. You just see."
"Fool." A scratchy refined voice said. "You will die in that cage. I know you will." The crow leapt off his masters arms and flew over the glass bottle, cackling. "You will die! You will die! Just as I died in my cage! You will die here!" Sifirus walked over to the door and extended his arm, beckoning the crow.

"Come Corus. You've some work to do. We must keep an eye on our state of affairs."

The crow seemed to nod in mid air and flew over to his master's arm, landing delicately and unusually to a crow. The two walked out, leaving Kenya as a dead spirit in the dark, waiting for a miracle.

Haku had emerged from the bath as the rest of his team returned. Satou and Tsuki with delight about something, and ran into their room, completely disappearing behind the door.

"What's with them?" Haku inquired in Japanese.

"We told them we'd go swimming in the pool downstairs tonight. We don't know this place well, and tomorrow is the only time we'll be able to get out, so we figured we'd spend at least tonight that we're stuck here with some fun. Why are you wet?" Seika inquired, poking the wet bangs that hung in clumps around Haku's face.

"It's called a shower. Look it up." Haku replied, walking away as he rubbed the towel on his shoulders over his face to dry it. "I think I'll come to the pool too. I'd like to see more of the hotel, just to get a view of what mother insisted we stay at."

Seika gave Katai a look of confusion, in which she shrugged and returned to her own room. The temporary leader of the team sighed and went to the same room Haku had gone to, in order to change into his swimming trunks.

A few moments later, completely clad in swimming gear, they stepped to the door and opened it.

In the doorway, Yoru stood with a look of agitation on her face, her hand extended to open the door.

She gave them a quick look up and down, and snarled. "I gather you're trying to be like the other humans in this hotel. Stupid." She brushed past them, practically shoving Katai out of the way, and retreated back towards her balcony at the end of the room.

"Sometimes I wonder if she does that for laughs." Seika murmured as Katai began to growl.

"How dare you shove me to the side like I'm NOTHING!" She snarled, fists raised, growl emanating from her clenched teeth.

"You are nothing. I thought you knew that already." A voice said from the balcony.

"Why you?"

"Come on." Seika mumbled quietly, grabbing her shoulders and shoving her out the doorway. "No time to start fights here unless there's something to start a fight for."

"But I—!"

"No buts Meat-head. Just keep going."

Haku shook his head as the little girls ran out of the room squealing in excitement. "This is going to be an interesting afternoon."

Catse: There, what do you think? Please review! I like the part where Kenya meets Sifirus the Dark Lord. You see, I've noticed in a lot of my past stories, my bad guy was really fake, so I wanted to make someone really realistic this time, who's smart enough to know the steps to taking over the world. And of course, like any really good badguy should know, you have to get rid of you top enemy in order to make clear passage. In this case, Kenya is the top enemy because he's the one that got rid of the last destroyer. So, I usually don't do this, but I'm going to give a preview to next time's story below. I've got it already planned, so I thought you might like to hear about it.

Next Chapter: The Rodeo Begins!

Cole is an excellent rider, and Christy knows a ton about what's going on around, and the search for the Zodiac peice becomes both hazardous and funny as the team searches for any clues they could use. But what happens when drunk cowboys try to get a date with Katai, and Seika tries his hand at bull riding? And why does Yoru keep disappearing like she did in this chapter? You'll find out later in The Rodeo Begins.

Don't I just sound so much like an episode announcer? Ja Ne for now!