Catse: Yay! An update! Can you believe it! Whew! Well, before I get onto the story, I have a few things to say. I'm sorry this update is completely two weeks late (and three days) but I have a good excuse. You see, I've been looking for a job lately, and I ended up with one that lasted an entire week, not only that, but last week, I had the entire family over bugging me for soda and pocky and well, yeah, you get the picture. I really hate family visits. Schedules are tossed out the window (not like mine was doing very well in the first place) and then everybody has to grab your cheeks and tell you how big you've grown and you have to tell them that yes, I look in the mirror every day and see that myself. So, yeah. I have a very good excuse. Well, anyways, here's the update, and thank you to all reviewers and all that gave me offers of help! I am very thankful to all of you and without you, I wouldn't have the gall to go on with this story! Thank you everyone! Ja Ne for now!
Disclaimer: See chappie one...
The plane landed in Ireland a few hours later. The The plane landed in Ireland a few hours later. The group stumbled out, all half asleep from the trip, and hoping that they wouldn't have to take the plane so often anymore. They already knew they would, and held the deepest promises that they would hate planes in the future.
None the less, the group was prepared to find the next piece to the puzzle there where ever it was hidden. Koenma had told them that Ireland had a piece of the puzzle, but in who or exactly where they had no idea.
"So Haku." Seika yawned, glancing around. "We supposed to wait on someone here?"
"No." Haku answered, glancing around. "But we need to find a ride towards the Silverbirch in Tyrone. It's a three star hotel my mother got us arrangements at."
"It nice?" Seika inquired, but Katai interrupted him with a rather large yawn.
"Who cares? As long as it has a soft bed and plenty of food, then we're good. Come on, I think I see a Taxi." She growled, lugging her bags behind her. Seika shrugged and followed with Haku on his right, and Tsuki and Satou walking on his left. Yoru followed in behind, noticing just for an instance a black crow that seemed very intent on watching them.
'So…the Dark Lord knows where we are…? We better be prepared then. I'm not about to let that Dark Lord get in the way of my plans…even though we did have a little agreement…' Yoru thought to herself quietly as she followed the group. They did manage to find a Taxi, but even then they had to get two because of the size of the group that was traveling, so about thirty minutes later, they arrived at the Hotel ready to check in. Because of how simple the hotel was, they were paired off the same way as the last hotel, and given a room to each pair. Of course, Yoru, being who she was, demanded that she be allowed to sleep outside, because she didn't like being so damn close to everyone and everything she always said.
Once everything was arranged and rooms had been given, everyone gathered at the lounge downstairs for a little dinner together from the restaurant there.
Haku did the orders, because even though the group was beginning to understand English, the Irish English was a little hard to understand. Yoru was missing from their group of course, and none of them wondered where she was. Knowing her, she was probably off stealing some man's dog for her supper, and because of her lack of trust, she didn't eat anything anyone gave her unless she got it herself and cooked it herself. But in any case, no one was sad at her absence.
Once the food had arrived and everyone had eaten and drunken their fill, Haku wiped his mouth and proposed they decide how to search.
"Ireland doesn't have any Spirit Detectives here because the people around here usually take care of such problems themselves. So, we're pretty much on our own here. Koenma is very certain that the puzzle piece is somewhere here, in Tyrone, but we have to locate it and retrieve it. Seika, do you think you can try to locate it the same way you did in Texas?" Haku inquired. Seika shrugged and tried for a moment, closing his eyes so as to concentrate. He ended up with nothing, so the group figured he had to be somewhere close to the puzzle piece in order to find it.
"Well, what do we know about this place?" Katai inquired, leaning back in her chair. "I mean, we've already found out that those with the pieces have an extraordinary knack for some certain little thing, such as Seika and his fighting abilities and that kid at the rodeo with his weaving and carving and whatever it was he was doing. So what could be something here that would be of some use?"
Haku thought about it for a moment. He really didn't know. He hadn't really sat down to study Ireland in full, because he never considered he would actually visit.
"Well, I know there are many pubs here where a lot of the people spend their time drinking. Hm…" He continued to thought, but could really not bring anything up on the matter.
"How about we check the pubs first then? If there are a lot of people that stay at them, then perhaps we could have luck in locating our puzzle piece in one. Hell, for all we know the guy or girl could be the bartender with a knack at making entertainment out of pouring beer or somethin' like that." Seika announced.
Haku thought on that too for a moment, and finally nodded.
"Yes. For now that is our best bet. Not only that, but we might hear something about the person with the puzzle from some of the people there."
"Okay! Sounds good to me! How about we get going? I don't feel tired right now and now I'm energized! Come on!" Katai announced, leaping up from the table. Seika nodded and stood up with her, and the two, followed by the two little girls, marched out of the hotel together. Haku shook his head, sighed, and followed suit.
It didn't take them long to find the first pub, and when they entered they nearly wanted to run out again.
There were people singing some old folk song in the bar! And not only that, but they weren't a very good choir, or at least never would be with the display of drunken voices trying to sound good together.
Seika's eyes popped out of his head and he turned around, leaping for the door.
Katai caught him by the back of his shirt and dragged him farther in, muttering something about chickens and how they couldn't fly the coop when scared.
They sat in the bar for a little while at a small rickety table, but after a good thirty minutes where Seika didn't pick up anything, their watches (which they had decided didn't work at all in finding the puzzle pieces) didn't give them any clues about the place, and when no one gave them any information that was useful, they stood and left, heading to the next pub. The same thing happened there, and they ran to the next pub, and then the next.
Finally, at the sixth pub, Katai decided that she would enter first just to see what the inside was like. They had all had their fill of Irish Drinking Songs and loud laughter and spilled beer and the stench it all brought, and considering Katai was the only one that wasn't sick yet, they all agreed she should go in. Unfortuneately, when she went to open the door, someone rather happy opened it before her, and knocked her to the ground in a stupor.
The man stopped, looked down with happy greenish blue eyes, and laughed again, looking very jolly.
"Well now, looky what we got here? You look like someone I used to know you know!" he said in a very heavy accent.
His orange hair was tussled about on his head, with a tiny, strange looking horn sticking out of the middle of it. His ears were pointed outward, like the of a demon, and his arm bands, black pants, slippers, and white muscle t-shirt displayed that he was a hard working trainer in the martial arts.
The group stared at him much the same way he stared back, and then, from behind, a man slightly taller then him followed out, just as cold an expression on his face as Haku usually had.
"Jin, what have you done now?" He inquired just as calmly. He had a thick mat of grayish blue hair that formed a sort of turban on his head with several greenish hairs that stuck out of the right side of his hair line like the claws of a beetle. His eyes were slanted and blue, with only a small angular pentagon of hair to show as brows above his eyes. His clothing involved the ninja shoes, that exposed the heel and toes, dark blue loose pants, and a black top with a piece of cloth draped from one shoulder over to his waist. He crossed his arms and glared at the new detective team, seeming almost to see right through each of them.
"They do look like someone we know, don't they?" The man called Jin stated, and the one with blue hair nodded.
"Yes, although from where I can't remember."
"Hey guys! What's goin' on! We's about to sing anothah song in heah!" Another voice echoed with a child's laughter. The man with the blue hair stepped out of the way for another man with blue hair, only his was in a Mohawk that ended in two fluffy ponytails. He was much taller than both Jin and the other guy, and wore a jet black leather top with no sleeves that had a white sort of fur lining at the collar, and a chain that ran along one hip of his tight black pants. There was a weird sort of little red band across his nose, and his eyes were tiny and black. "Well, whattaya know? Whatta we got here boys?" He inquired, coming in closer. He stopped with an "Oof" when a little boy, looking about eight or nine pounced on his back. He wore a colorful red and yellow baseball cap that covered his mess of brown hair, and his wide blue eyes looked at them almost innocently and expectantly. Three little red stars lined the part under his right eye, and his outfit was bright red with yellow sleeves, and a small turquoise hand bag that held his yoyos.
"Who you guys talking to?" He asked innocently as Katai stood up and dusted herself off.
"Who the hell are you?" She asked back instead, looking rather angry.
"Ah! Wait, now I remember who yah are! Yah had me wonderin' yah know! Made me thinkin' and thinkin' but now I know! Yah're Yusuke's kid right? Yah'd have to be 'cause he's the only one that talks like that to people he don't know that well." Jin commented, putting his hands behind his head rather happily.
Katai stared at him in surprise for a moment, looking a mixture of confusion and wonder.
"How do you know my Dad?" She inquired, crossing her own arms.
"Ah! So that's where I seen yah! I knew I had to of! They're the new detectives of Japan if I know 'em correctly. Name's Chu. I fought yur Dad in the Tournament. He's quite a fine fighter if I do say so myself!" the man with the blue Mohawk mentioned, as the little boy on his back looked at the group.
"Then that must mean that the rest of you are the team's children right? I am Touya." The one with the blue hair commented, bowing politely.
"I'm Rinku!" the little boy on Chu's back announced, clambering over to see them better. "Nice to meet you!" He held out a tiny hand and the group took it, wondering who's kid the little boy was.
"And I'm Jin! Nice to meet yah! So, whats a team from Japan doin' here at a time like this. Almost couldn't figure yah out!" Jin announced, his fanged smile never leaving.
"What's all that racket?" A deep voice asked from within in the pub. A man with purple hair that came back in a pony tail, and a white top with blue bottom in hakama, stepped out of the pub to stare at them with red eyes. Two of his purple hairs stood up on his forehead, making him look like he had antennae.
"Ah Shishi. You're just in time!" Rinku announced. "It's Yusuke's daughter! See! See! She looks just like him doesn't she?"
"Yusuke's daughter? I didn't know Yusuke had a daughter." Shishi said quietly, looking over the group. "And who are the rest of you?"
"Allow me to make the introductions. I am Haku Minamino, Kurama's son. This is Seika Kuwabara, Katai Urameshi, Tsuki Kuwabara, Satou Nohara, and our other companion, Yoru Nohara is off on her own as of the moment."
"Nohara? Who's that? I don't recognize the name." Chu inquired, folding his arms so as to keep the busy.
Seika looked him straight in the eye and answered him. "It is Hiei's last name sir."
"WHAT?" The small group shouted.
The other group covered their ears to prevent them from getting damaged, and once the other group calmed down, they began to ask questions.
"So Hiei has two children?" Jin inquired, beginning to float in the air. "Whodda known?"
"Actually, Hiei has three children. The third was killed a few days ago." Haku explained.
"Really? What's his name?" Touya inquired, closing the door to the pub and leaning next to the door.
"Kenya." Seika answered. "Kenya Nohara. He was our leader."
"Is that why you're here?" Came Shishi. "Is there something here you need for you to be so far away from home?"
"Now that you mention it, yes." Katai began, hands behind her head now in comfort. "Have any of you heard of the Zodiac Puzzle?"
"Zodiac Puzzle? What's that? Sounds like some weird incomibob thingy." Jin acknowledged, his hands also behind his back.
"Incomibob?" Seika's eyebrow raised as he asked.
"We've stopped tryin' to make sense out of the words he makes up." Chu replied thoughtfully, the little boy Rinku coming up to stand next to him as he placed his hand on his chin. "Anything he says, we just go with."
"So there is a piece of this 'puzzle' here, and you're hoping to look for it, yes?" Touya inquired, looking as calm as he usually did.
Haku nodded. His blue eyes seemed to glint green as he talked. "Yes. Unfortunately, we know very little about the puzzle and its whereabouts. Perhaps you may help if you've heard anything that strikes interest."
"Nope. Not yet." Shishi answered truthfully.
Touya kept his eyes on Haku as he talked, thinking only to himself and not out loud like his companions.
When the group of demons offered to help and began traveling with the Detective's team, Touya came up next to Haku and walked with him.
"You're a lot like your father." He mumbled as they traveled to the next pub in hope of clues.
"Why do you say that?" Haku's eyes glinted in the frigid night air. He really did have Kurama's wisdom imbedded in his twelve year old body. Touya had to give him that.
Touya had not known Kurama for very long. Heard his legend as Yoko, certainly. But never really gotten to know him. The only time they really had met had been first in the Dark Tournament and then next during the war of the Three Kings, where Yusuke, Mukuro and Yomi had come together in a second Dark Tournament, and he had been called upon by Kurama to serve with Yomi. Of course, that went down the drain the day Yusuke proposed the Dark Tournament remake, so he hadn't really known Kurama that well.
But he could still see, in the eyes of Kurama's child, that same intelligence that made the kid look as if he knew more of what was going on than he let on.
"Your eyes. Kurama's eyes always shined when he knew something the other person didn't. You have that intelligence in your eyes."
Catse: Sorry to leave you on a cliffy, but I just couldn't think what to write next. Are you suprised? I had tried thinking about a good team to be in Ireland, and for some reason, Jin's face just kept popping up, so I thought I'd put him in here. The reason why he's here, and what they'll do to help will be revealed in the next chapter of this story, so please don't hate me! (hides under computer desk) Ja Ne for now!