Author's Note: Thanks to the people who reviewed the first few chapters. I know it's not that interesting yet but I promise to update asap. I'm in my third year after all and I'm so busy with school and stuff that I barely have time to make the story. Anyways, to answer lunardestiny's question, Tenerie is not Mitsuki Irusawa. I can't tell you anything more about it or I'll spoil the story to you guys. Hope that answers it. And now, on with the story!
Chapter 2 - Let the Chase, Begin!
Kurama's school had been dismissed hours ago but the kitsune found himself still inside the class laboratory, doing a late project with a few of his other classmates. He held a glass beaker in one hand and was about to put a few drops of some chemical into it with the other when a student came in and called his name.
"Yo Shuichi! Some chick's looking for you outside the school building. Got a date or something? Didn't know you had it in you buddy. Some hot chick you chose." He said teasingly. The other students in the lab began to cheer and root for the kitsune jokingly. Kurama blinked in confusion as he placed the laboratory instruments down on the table.
That's odd...I'm not supposed to meet anyone outside the school today. Could it be Keiko? Botan? Shizuru? Yukina? Or could it be entirely someone else?
Kurama walked towards the window and peered down at the entrance, trying to find the person who was looking for him. As soon as he opened the window and looked out, a blast of strange energy brushed past him, almost pushing him back by force. He stepped back and stared down at the ground with wide emerald eyes. His heightened sense of smell easily caught the scent of youkai from a young woman near the entrance. Immediately he knew the woman wasn't ordinary. Although the woman had ordinary long light brown hair and bluegreen eyes, she stood out with the amazing power that was emitting from her. Her pale, smooth skin also shone out among the other students outside the building, giving her a lot more attention than she needed.
It looks like she isn't such a strong opponent to face, seeing her stand there foolishly with such strong energy. If we were in Makkai she would have been dead hours ago..but this is such a strange energy I'm sensing...what kind of power does she have? It's nothing I've ever felt before.
Not wanting to seem disturbed or worried at this predicament, Kurama smiled at the student who had given the message and turned to his other classmates. He was going to have to confront her somewhere less public.
"Do you guys mind if I leave early? It might be something important."
"Go on loverboy! We can handle the rest without you."
Kurama chuckled and shook his head at their senseless teasing. With another wave, he took his school bag and began walking out of the laboratory. He jogged through the hall, down the stairs, past other students who were lounging around out the door and into the open air. He caught sight of the same strange light brown haired woman standing right by the entrance gate, ignoring all the stares of the male students. When she saw him she motioned for him to follow her and began to walk away. Kurama had to run to catch up to her disappearing form which was headed for a dark, abandoned alleyway not far from the school.
He casually went through the alley and followed the smaller youkai who was walking ahead. From either side of him, garbage cans and crates of junk lay carelessly against the cold, dirty walls of the alley. He grimaced as he accidentally stepped on a pile of leftovers from the restaurant nearby and quickly wiped it on dry ground. After a few more steps deeper into the alleyway they reached the end of it and stopped. Kurama stood a few meters in front of her in silence, waiting for the woman to speak first. Bluegreen stared at emerald eyes for a few minutes until the young woman gave a sigh and broke the eye contact first.
"Yokou Kurama, I presume?" She asked him calmly. As unimpressive as her skills in hiding her energy signature were, she didn't sound like the weak person her powers proved to be. Not to mention she knew who he was and where he would be. Kurama's body tensed, as if warning him not to get caught off-guard by this mysterious woman.
"And who might you be?" Kurama replied in an equally cool tone. The woman looked around the whole alley before turning back to face him. It was as if she was afraid that someone might overhear them. Emerald eyes slowly but carefully glanced around the area as well and strangely sensed nothing unnatural near them.
Who in the world could be eavesdropping at us and why?
"My name is Tenerie and I am what you would call a magician." She said. Kurama's eyes widened in shock. The last time he heard of those youkais was many years ago during the Magician's War. And from what he knew, they were supposed to be extinct. He was about to ask her this question when she held up a hand. She had an idea of what his reaction will be, knowing the history of that horrible past, and was prepared to answer it.
"As you know, the Sorcerers and Sorceress weren't officially dead. There were only rumors and false assumptions about the issue. The truth is, one of the Sorcerers found me and decided to make me a Magician. It's as simple as that. But the problem is..." Tenerie at this point began to feel her eyes water. She closed them and paused to hold back her emotions.
Don't cry! It's not the time for that. Remember, you still have a mission to do for Lord Ronel. Once you find Derea and the necklace, you can cry your heart out all you want. With this thought in mind, Tenerie took a deep breath before looking back at Kurama and continuing. Trying as much as she could to push away the images running through her mind.
"He died a year ago, killed while I was out of the house getting groceries." Kurama decided to interrupt her all of a sudden with a question that had popped into his mind.
"Your mentor was a Sorcerer, whether or not we take his age into consideration. He was a strong youkai who possessed incredible powers that defeated an army of Dark Magicians and youkais. How is it possible for him to be killed then? Any youkai he faced would be easily defeated with his powers. No one could kill a Magician let alone a Sorcerer that quickly unless the person is..." Tenerie knew where the discussion was going and shook her head in disagreement.
"Have you not heard of the history? All the dark magicians were killed during the war. It's impossible for one to have survived their attack. Not only that, the Sorcerers and Sorceress did not put up a school for young novices after what happened. No child of darkness could have learned how to use magic."
"I know the history and I agree with you. But we are not sure if the dark magicians really are gone. The possibility of a dark magician living among us is still probable. Either that or...there is a new and far more powerful adversary that the world will be facing in the future." Kurama ended. Tenerie trembled slightly at the thought. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes.
Was that what you meant when you said I should fight for what is right? Were you telling me that a new opponent is coming? Or maybe an old one will rise from the ashes again?
She opened her bluegreen eyes again, having obviously gotten no answer from the sky, and turned back her gaze to Kurama. " Right before he died, he told me to look for a purple necklace that he said was important to him. I don't know what it's for but I have a feeling it will lead me closer to the answers to my questions. And so I've been searching for this necklace ever since he died and finally found out from a reliable source that it's somewhere here in Ningenkai." She explained, excluding her other mission to find a woman named Derea. That will have to come in another time. For now, the necklace was her priority.
"And you want me to help you look for it." Was Kurama's reply as he began to understand Tenerie's purpose of looking for him. Tenerie nodded and looked around again, just to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them or planned to suddenly attack them while they weren't looking.
"Yes, that's exactly what I need from you Kurama. But there is another problem. There are other youkais looking for the necklace as well and they have been slowing me down ever since I left to look for it. If you agree to helping me, they might attack you as well. I am asking for your help but I will not force you to do something you don't want and bring you towards danger at the same time. So will you willingly help me?" She asked, looking at him with hopeful eyes. Kurama looked back at her and pondered on what she just said.
Hm...looking for a necklace might not be that hard...but as she mentioned, it is a bit too dangerous. I will be dealing with dark magicians or worse, even stronger entities. If I agree to helping her look, I would be putting myself-and everyone I care about-in great danger. And it doesn't help with the fact that her powers are too unhidden for my comfort...but I am quite curious about this certain necklace.
"I will help you out." Kurama answered after a moment's pause. "But I will search for the necklace alone. It seems you haven't learned how to hide your energy and so it's radiating from you very strongly. I suggest you stay as hidden as you can and wait for me while I look for this necklace." He added before Tenerie could reply. The woman closed her mouth and frowned, looking at the wall in deep thought.
He's right. I have to hide my powers so other youkais would find it harder to find me. But I wasn't taught how to keep my energy hidden. I was Lord Ronel's novice for only less than a year after all. I guess I will really have to depend on him. Hopefully things will go smoothly from here. Lord Ronel, I hope you're up there, watching over me. Tenerie gave a heavy sigh and looked back at Kurama.
"Alright. I agree to your condition."
switch scene
Seiki stared around the place with curious purple eyes. She had never been outside her own village and was excited to explore a new world. She walked slowly, looking at the small stores and houses that she passed by. She watched people as they went off about their business and ignored her presence. She looked at all the ningens, fascinated with them, their culture and everything about them. Never did she spot a human with big fluffy ears or long, sharp fangs. They all looked the same to her. She might have a similar appearance as that of a ningen but she knew she was a youkai. These people probably didn't even know youkais existed.
"THIEF! Get back here with my burger you damn bitch!" A man shouted, bringing Seiki back from her thoughts. The little girl felt herself being moved forcefully to the side as a taller, older woman with long raven black hair ran past her, carrying a burger in hand. Seiki turned around to find a portly, red faced man shaking his fist in the air in anger and trying as much as he could to follow the quick thief in the sea of ningens. The burger vendor, a thin young teenager, merely stood Where he was, blinking in shock and staring at his hand where the thief had stolen from without his knowing it. Seiki frowned and decided to follow the young theif.
A theif is bad, whether it's a youkai or ningen.
She followed the thief's tracks as long as she could and found herself walking to an alley to the side as she caught sight of the woman's black hair. She turned around the same corner and stopped to look straight at the path in front of her which led into the darkness within. The walls loomed over her head, making her feel even smaller than she already felt. She walked a few hesitant steps foward and, sensing the creepy chills in the air, began to feel frightened. Deciding to go back and forget about the thief, Seiki turned around only to find her way out blocked by three men. One of them walked towards her and couched down to face her.
"Well, well, well. What's a cute little girl like you doing here? Where are your parents? Are you lost or something?" He asked sweetly. Seiki didn't like the three men and took one step back, the whole time staring at the man in front of her and never answering him. "What's wrong? Couldn't answer? Why don't you come with us so we can take you to your parents?"
"You can't take me to my parents. They're not here in ningenkai." She answered back as bravely as she could. The man blinked in confusion while his two companions began to chuckle.
"Not in ningenkai? What are you, an alien or something? Come on here and you won't get hurt, I promise." The man reached out his hand to hold her but Seiki stepped back as quick as she could. His friends immediately rushed after her and held her down to the ground before she could do anything else. They held her arms and pinned her short legs with theirs. Seiki tried to move her limbs but the men were too strong for her.
"Let me go!"
"Hold still kid! Stop moving! If you don't stay still we'll rip your legs out!" One of the men shouted as they struggled with Seiki. She began to cry, all the while attempting to kick and punch the men as much as she could. She knew she was too weak to defend herself from three grown up men but she was afraid and instinct had kicked in. She didn't know what to do anymore and began to shout for help. She didn't care who came to help her as long as they won't do anything to her and just leave her alone. All of a sudden, she watched a foot fly up towards one of the men's chin, sending him falling backwards to the ground. His friends stopped struggling with Seiki and looked up at the person who interrupted them.
"Who do you think you are missy, kicking our friend and interrupting us!" Seiki sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes, and looked over her shoulder to find the same raven haired woman she was chasing standing deep in the darkness of the alley. She couldn't see her clearly but she remembered the outline of her body vividly. The thief walked into the light, revealing herself to the men and casually crossed her arms at them.
"You three idiots were making so much noise that I lost my appetite. I can't stand watching desperate men go for young kids just because everyone else-even the dumber whores-rejected them." This angered the three and they stood up to lunge at the thief. But she didn't even need to move from her spot. Before they reached her a black wolf jumped from the shadows and bit the leg of one of the thugs. He screamed in pain and tried to pry the fangs from his leg while his two friends ran away in fear.
"You won't get away with this bitch! We'll be back." The last man shouted, finally pushing the wolf away and following his friends out the alley. Seiki gave a soft sigh of relief as soon as they were gone and began to stand up from the ground. She brushed the dirt from her clothes while she looked at the thief who was crouched down on the ground, petting the black wolf on the head.
"Thank you for saving me."
"Why did you follow me?" The thief asked coldly, ignoring the former's grattitude, while standing up and looking down at her in slight anger. Seiki looked down in embarrassment, partly wondering how the woman found out she was following her. When she was looking for the thief, all she thought was how wrong and evil it was. Now that she faced the woman, she had no idea what to say to her.
"Well, you see, you stole a burger from that man a while ago."
"So?"
"Stealing is wrong."
"Look kid, it's none of your business but if you must know, everyone steals something from time to time. If I don't steal, I won't live for long. That man was an obnoxious, fat jerk and he deserved a burger to be taken away from him. Get it?" Seiki was very confused by her words and just stared at her.
"Uh..."
"Now get lost and leave me to myself before I decide to bring you back to those idiots." She said. Seiki didn't reply to her and immediately began walking out. She didn't know whether the thief was lying about giving her to the three thugs but she didn't want to take any chances. She stopped at the entrance of the alley and looked around. None of the houses looked familiar to her and she had forgotten from which direction she came from. The thief had walked beside her now, the black wolf probably running off somewhere else, and gave a soft sigh.
"Kids...how annoying." She muttered before walking off across the street. Seiki had no choice but to follow the mysterious thief as she swerved past men and women. The thief continued walking, never stopping to look back and see if Seiki was following. Now that Seiki thought about it, the thief never mentioned that she was taking her back, nor did the thief know where she was staying. She wondered if she was even heading for the right direction to the innor if she was just getting herself even more lost in ningenkai.
All her thoughts were interrupted when a beautiful golden brown falcon landed on her head for a second before flying off. Seiki looked up in surprise and felt even more surprised when she saw the familiar rooftop of the old inn. She looked ahead of her and saw that the thief had disappeared in the sea of people. A lot of thoughts crossed her mind but since she was still a child, these thoughts were not dwelled upon for long. She entered the inn and found that Tenerie was still out. And so her day ends with her sitting on the bed, waiting for her caretaker to come back.
switch scene
Kuwabara grumbled to himself as he sat down on the swing at the park and watched Yusuke pace back and forth in deep concentration with boredom. They had searched as much as they could in the 1 hour provided by the detective but found no leads to the necklace they were seeking. It was virtually impossible to find a simple necklace, in a big world, with absolutely no idea of its whereabouts. Botan came around that time and landed on the ground gracefully.
"Where's Kurama?" Yusuke asked her, never stopping to look at her or to take notice of her. Kuwabara sat up straighter and wished with all his might that the grim reaper came with good news. Botan smiled apologetically even if the detective couldn't see it and answered with an answer that she knew Yusuke wouldn't like.
"Sorry Yusuke. His classmates told me he went off with a girl somewhere and his mother said he wasn't home yet." At this Yusuke cursed to himself. Not only were they getting nowhere in the search, Kurama wasn't there to help them out too.
Great. This missionkeeps getting better and better.
Kuwabara sighed heavily and stood up from the swing. Then he checked his wristwatch and looked back at Yusuke. "It's getting late Urameshi and Shizuru's probably getting worried. Maybe we should just call it a day and look for the necklace tomorrow together with Kurama." Botan merely nodded in agreement. Yusuke looked at his friends and sighed as well.
I guess he's right. But I don't want to waste my weekend looking for a stupid necklace for the toddler...
"What are you three doing here in the park? It's getting late and shouldn't you two be at home doing your homework by now?" A female voice asked both of the men. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan turned towards the source of the voice and saw a brown haired brown eyed female in a student's uniform standing a few yards away from them.
"Hey Keiko. Konema has another mission for us and we just took a break from it." Yusuke explained. Kuwabara on the other hand was too busy staring hypnotically at Keiko to speak up. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. Keiko noticed this and couldn't speak from the shock she was experiencing. Botan was glaring at him and was about to hit him with her oar when Yusuke growled at Kuwabara and smashed his clenched fist on the ningen's head first. It was obvious the three had misinterpreted Kuwabara's actions.
"Stop staring at her you big perverted idiot!" Yusuke yelled at him. Kuwabara fell down to the ground but immediately went back up and angrily took Yusuke by the collar of his shirt. His head was throbbing in pain but he had to ignore that for the moment. He had found something more important.
"I wasn't staring at your girlfriend like that baka! Take a look at this." He quickly reached out towards Keiko to get something, still holding onto Yusuke's shirt collar. Keiko was about to scream when Kuwabara pulled something from her neck and shoved it at the detective's face. Botan opened her mouth to yell at Kuwabara as well when she stopped and realized what he had taken.
"What the hell are you doing Kuwabara?" Yusuke cried.
"Just take a look at this!" Kuwabara practically screamed. Yusuke obliged, still having no idea at what Kuwabara was thinking, and watched a familiar, beautiful, small purple gem twirl beneath the silver chain. His eyes widened as what he saw slowly registered in his mind. Kuwabara smiled triumphantly, glad that he had finally gotten Yusuke's full attention.
"This is it isn't it Urameshi? This is the thing we've been looking for."
switch scene
While Yusuke and the others were having this little amusing scene, a mysterious girl stayed hidden in the shadows of a large tree, a few meters away from them. It was already dark, but the girl could still see the group and watched them converse with each other. A smile came upon her red lips as the eyes caught the moonlight's reflection of a familiar looking silver necklace. She was about to move away from the tree when a golden brown falcon suddenly flew towards her and perched upon her shoulder. It tugged at a lock of her raven black hair, catching her attention, before opening its beak to speak.
"What other troubles are you brewing this time?" It asked her in a suspicious tone. The woman turned to the falcon with a indignant look on her face.
"Nothing! What makes you think I'm causing trouble? I'm just standing here, minding my own business, until you arrived and ruined my peace and quiet." She argued.
"Well that is how you usually start your antics."
"For your information, I don't cause trouble nor do I look for it. Instead, trouble finds its way to me no matter where I am. It's not my fault all the people I meet are such tactless assholes." The falcon sighed and shook its tiny head wondering to himself-as he always did-how on earth he ended up going with this agressive, mischievious woman. The raven haired woman ignored him and went back to watching the group.
"If you're not making mischief what are you still doing here then? It's getting late and we should get back home as soon as possible." The falcon told her, its voice low but calm and gentle. The mysterious girl answered but didn't turn to look at the bird, her eyes still focused on the necklace in the ningen's hand.
"We're not going back...yet. There is something I need to do first." The falcon would have raised its eyebrows if it had one. It stayed silent, looking at where the woman was looking and made a small noise which sounded like a mix of a gasp and a squawk. The woman chuckled at the weird sound her falcon had made.
"Is that...what I think it is?" It asked in a soft whisper. The smile on the woman's lips grew wider as she climbed up the tree and crouched on one of the trees' stronger branches. The falcon guessed the silence was an answer in the affirmative and asked his next question. "Who are those people and how did they end up with the necklace?"
"They're Konema's spirit detectives. I saw the blue haired girl once together with the toddler on one of my journeys to the Spirit World. And as to how they got that necklace, well it was merely a coincidence that it ended up with that ningen woman. It looks like the rumors have reached the higher authorities and now the prince is ordering his men to look for the necklace as well." The falcon sensed the woman's muscles tense as she prepared herself for the jump. He flew away from her shoulders and landed softly right beside her to avoid being caught in the middle of it all.
"I know what you're thinking and I know what you're planning to do. All I want you to know is that you must not hurt these ningens no matter what. We do not need to make a scene and attract any kind of attention, especially the spirit ruler's." He reminded her. The woman turned to her falcon and gave him an innocent smile. Her eyes, though, were twinkling brightly with mischief and excitement and that was what worried the falcon the most.
"Oh don't worry Fal...I'll be very careful." And with that, she jumped off in the deep silence and headed straight for the group, unseen by the naked eye.
scwitch scene
"Now do you believe me? I saw this on Keiko's neck and realized it was the one we've been looking for!" Kuwabara explained. Yusuke was still staring at the item in silence. He didn't know what to say. They have been looking all over Ningenkai for the necklace for an hour only to find it right under their noses the whole time. He felt suspicious of its authenticity.
In short, his pride just didn't want to accept the fact that Kuwabara had found the necklace before he did.
"Where did you get that Keiko?" Botan asked the girl. Keiko looked up in thought before answering the blue haired grim reaper.
"I was shopping with my friend the other day when a lady who sells beautiful necklaces and other accessories called me over and presented me with it. I found the necklace really pretty so I bought it from her." She explained. "Is this your mission for Konema? To look for a necklace?" Botan nodded in reply to her question. "I see."
Yusuke decided to just forget about worrying whether the necklace was the one they've been looking for or not and just hand it over to the spirit ruler, thinking that this way, he would get the weekend he had been looking foward to. "Now that we have the necklace, we don't have to waste our saturday doing one of the toddler's missions. You better give it to Konema right now before something else happens to it." He told Botan. The grim reaper nodded in agreement and held out her hand to Kuwabara, who still held the necklace in his hand. The ningen was about to give it to Botan when all of a sudden, a strong breeze came by and brought dust all over their vision. Everyone in the group was stunned and couldn't react quickly to what was happening. They covered their eyes and mouths as they tried to get away from the strange cloud of dust. Just as it had come suddenly, it disappeared just as fast, as if the cloud of dust never existed and was just in their imaginations.
"What the hell was that!" Kuwabara cried.
"That was no ordinary breeze or cloud of dust." Botan said in agreement.
"It might be a distraction for us. Do you still have the necklace in your hand, Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked, turning to the red haired ningen. Kuwabara grinned proudly and held out his clenched fist to the detective, only to find it empty. He stared at his hand for a long time before he realized what just happened and began searching himself frantically, looking for the necklace in a whirl of panic.
"It has to be somewhere here! It just has to be!" He screamed. At that moment, they caught sight of a large number of strange beings running past them towards the opposite direction. Kuwabara took one look at the group and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I sense youkai energy in those guys." He said. Yusuke didn't reply to him but managed to overhear one of the running monsters and widened his eyes as he listened to what it said.
"That woman has the necklace! After her!" Yusuke turned to Kuwabara, took him by the collar and began dragging him along, following the trail of youkais into the streets. The ningen had no choice but to follow as much as he could while screaming angrily at the detective.
"Let me go Urameshi. I can walk on my own!"
"Then start running baka before we lose track of them! Botan, Keiko, we'll let you know what happened as soon as we get back the necklace from them." He cried before they disappeared into the darkness along with the youkais. The girls stared at the direction they ran into, looked at each other and sighed.
"I guess I'll just go home then." Keiko told Botan. The grim reaper smiled.
"Let me take you there. It's dangerous to walk out alone at night." With a small thank you, Keiko walked beside Botan to the direction of her house, her thoughts wandering towards Yusuke and Kuwabara.
I hope they'll be alright...