A/n- I'm losing inspiration for this story... The way I have it planned, I have at least 6 more chapters to write. I'm thinking of either discontinuing it or putting it on hold. If enough of you review saying you want me to continue, I will sit down and really get to work so I can just finish it before school starts and I'm too busy to write... You tell me what you think I should do...

Chapter Thirteen: False Accusations

It was a beautiful Friday night. The sky was clear and full of light given off by the moon and the stars. It was one of those nights where you just wanted to go outside and sleep in a secluded area to appreciate the stars and indulge in all of night's pleasures.

Avari left her window open so that the cool, soon to be summer breeze could flow in. She was the only one present in the temple at the time. Genkai and Yusuke had gone out for late night training in the woods. She would have gone with them, but it had been a busy week for her and some alone time was what she needed.

The clock on her bedside table read 10:30 p.m. In other words, time for bed. She laid her head down on the soft pillow and allowed sleep to take over.

2 A.M.

Only a few hours had gone by since Avari had gone to sleep. It seemed that there was no one around as a gust of wind picked up, blowing the curtains away from the sill of the open window.

A dark, mysterious figure peeked into the open window and, once it realized the coast was clear, climbed into the window.

Inside, the figure did nothing more than noiselessly tiptoe into the room and place a green-glowing object on top of the mahogany dresser. As "it" was quietly going back towards the window after completing the task, a floor board creaked. Avari rolled around over in her sleep after the slight disturbance, but did not stir any more. The figure moved on and succeeded in climbing out of the window and escaping from Genkai's property unnoticed and undetected.

Saturday morning, 10 A.M.

Avari's eyes shot open. An annoyingly loud beeping sound had been set off. What the hell was that noise? It was coming from right next to her on her left. She looked over and sure enough, her compact was sitting there on her bedside table, ringing.

"Oh, its only that," she muttered, letting out a groan. Hastily, she grabbed it, flipped it open and looked at it. "Hello?" She let out a little yawn.

"Avari," Koenma, who's face was on the screen, said. "I need to have a serious talk with you."

"What's it about?" Avari said groggily.

"I'll tell you when you get here," Koenma said in all seriousness.

"Alright, I'm coming," she replied, sighing in defeat.

"And don't forget to bring your compact and all of your spy gadgets," he added quickly before she closed the compact.

Avari pulled the covers off of her and stretched, letting out another sleepy groan. She walked across the room to her closet and grabbed the nearest jeans and shirt.

As she dressed, she began to wonder why Koenma had asked her to bring her gadgets with her. Surely, if he had been calling about a mission, he could have just explained it to her on the compact. Maybe he was going to upgrade her equipment... or have her turn them in for new ones!

She had finished dressing now and was placing her brush on top of her dresser when she noticed something. There was a ring there that hadn't been there before. Had Yusuke or Genkai left it there for some reason? She picked it up.

It was a very stunning ring, what with its deep, emerald green gem set on a glittering golden band. She could have sworn it was giving off a faint, hardly noticeable glow of green. Curiously, she placed it on her ring finger. It fit perfectly. What a nice treasure to find...

I guess it's mine now. It was in my room, after all, she thought. As the old saying goes, Finders keepers, Losers weepers.

In Spirit World, 11 A.M.

Avari had just been spit out onto the floor by her portal, which she conjured up with her Portal Necklace. Now, she was standing before Koenma's office doors as ogre after ogre ran this way and that with papers a mile high. At that moment, Jorge Saotome, the blue ogre, walked by.

"Hi, Jorge," Avari said rather cheerily, giving a little wave.

Jorge just looked at her. His eyes seemed to widen in surprise, or was it terror? He squeaked and quickly turned around to run back the way he had come.

Why he did this, Avari didn't understand. Jorge and her had always been good acquaintances. Why would he be scared of her? Perhaps he was nervous about something else? Had Koenma throw him out of his office again for doing something idiotic? Pushing it into the back of her mind, she opened the double doors.

Behind them, she found Koenma seated at his desk. He motioned for her to sit down in the chair before his desk. As she did so, he refolded his hands and placed them professionally on his desk.

"Avari, where exactly were you last night?" Koenma asked, staring directly into Avari's violaceous eyes.

"I was at home asleep, like any normal person," Avari replied. Why was he asking such a simple question?

"That's not quite the truth, from what I saw. Maybe you'll understand when you see this," Koenma said. He pressed a big, green button on his desk. The TV screen behind him switched on and a video started to play.

The video showed a figure darting down a long tunnel. There was a swish of silver hair as it narrowly missed being hit with hundreds of tranquilizer needles. The scene switched to another location, where the same figure was punching numbers into a security panel. The doors before the person slid open and it walked in. Seconds later, the figure emerged from the doorway and seemed to be putting a little package into its pocket. When it was done doing that, it took off in a sprint again. It was here that you got a closer view of the person. Koenma paused it. To Avari's utter surprise, there on the screen, undoubtedly, was... her!

She gaped at this. She had neverbeen anywhere that looked like that. According to the time on the video, it had been 12 A.M. when she had taken the object. That was when she had been home, sound asleep. She didn't know what to say. How could she deny doing that when the proof was right there in front of them?

"That was a video from the surveillance cameras down in Spirit World's vaults. I was very surprised when one of my security guards informed me that the Ring of Euphoria had been stolen and showed me this video. Do you know how serious this is?" Koenma said before Avari could say anything.

"Koenma, I didn't-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"At first, I didn't believe it. Once they did a DNA scan and it matched yours perfectly, I had to," Koenma said. He lowered his voice. "Do you know how much trouble you could get in? You could be arrested and thrown into jail for years. I thought that I would just call you down here first and talk about it before resorting to drastic measures."

"Koenma, you have to believe me! I didn't do that!" Avari pleaded, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Avari, if you didn't do it, then why is the Ring of Euphoria on your finger?" Koenma said, lifting up an eyebrow andpointing at her left hand.

Avari brought her hand up to her face and looked down at the ring on her finger. It was the ring she had found on her dresser and put on this morning. This was the Ring of Euphoria? How had it gotten into her room in the first place? Had someone controlled her mind and made her do it? Had she been sleepwalking?

"You must be mistaken. I found this ring on my dresser this morning. I had never seen it before then," Avari replied. "Someone must have set me up! You know you can trust my word! I've been working for you a long time!" Koenma had to believe her. She knew she hadn't done it and she didn't want to go to jail.

"Avari! You saw it all! From what I know, you did it and that's that!" Koenma exclaimed. He stared at her. "I am sorry, but I am going to have to fire you from Spirit World. The trust we had has been taken advantage of and no longer exists."

"If you really trusted me, you would know that I'm telling the honest-to-God truth!" Avari yelled. His stares were boring holes in her. She could feel her eyes beginning to water. Why didn't he believe her?

"I would like you to hand over your spy gadgets, compact and, above all, the Ring of Euphoria before you leave," Koenma said sternly. He was still staring at her. "I don't want to create a mess, so do as I say, please."

Avari could tell he wasn't going to listen to her anymore, no matter how much she pleaded or protested. Without hesitating, she slammed the ring and herspy gadgets down on the desk. She did not look Koenma in the eye the whole time.

"Thank you, Avari," Koenma said, his voice a little softer than before.

Abruptly, Avari turned around and headed towards the door, without looking him in the eyes again. The walk from the chair to the door seemed like it took forever. Finally, once her hand was on the door knob, she paused. She turned around and looked up at Koenma.

For the first time, he noticed her eyes were red and puffy. Her nose was slightly pink as well. Her mouth was cast down in a quivering frown. She looked absolutely miserable. Looking Koenma directly in the eyes, she spoke.

"Koenma," she started. "I looked at you not only as an honest and fair ruler, but also as the brother I was supposed to have... But now... I don't know..." She continued to stare at him for a moment to allow for the words to sink in.

Before she turned around to leave, Koenma saw a single tear fall from her eye and down her already tear-stained cheek. This made him break inside. He had just broken a young girl's spirit. This was not just any young girl, this was his close friend... No, this was his sister. He had a deep feeling of regret, but knew that he had had to do it, all for the sake of Spirit World.

Without another word, Avari turned around and walked through the door. She let it slam behind her.

Once on the other side, Avari leaned against the cherry wood door. She allowed herself to slide down onto the floor, the door still supporting her back and her legs sprawling out on the cold, marble floor. Tears began to stream down her cheeks at an even faster rate than before. As the ogres continued to go every which was in this room, she just sat there, contemplating.

Being a spy was one of the few things that gave her purpose in life, along with Genkai and her friends. The job that she loved doing most was now gone... and it wasn't even her fault. She may have even just lost one of her closest friends, too. Why did this world have to be unfair!

She continued to sit there, sulking in her grief. Then, something hit her. She remembered the warning from one of Yamiko's men a few weeks back. This whole thing had probably been Yamiko's doing! He just got her fired and ruined a friendship in one blow! That bastard... When she saw him, she was going to wrip him limb from limb!

A new rage was ablaze inside of her, but soon died down. Alas, she did not know where Yamiko was... She would just have to wait until he came for her locket. He was going to do that sooner or later. He probably just wanted Avari to suffer a little before he did. She would have to be prepared for the worst in the future.

-To be continued? You tell me!