Chapter 2: The Trial

Koenma's office is large and spacious. It looks and feels like royalty belongs in the rich colored walls and deep stained woods. In the far back lies his desk, covered with files and random papers, some just there to make it look as if he was really busy doing something. On his desk is a small laptop computer that is really his processing system for souls. His father, King Enma had finally given in to his only son's pleas for a more up to date way to file information though King Enma really believed in doing the things the old fashioned way. Behind this large desk is a large window showing the vast plains of the Soul Realm and the long winding River Styx. Reapers and Ferry Girls can been seen whizzing around on their oars which allow them to fly or cross the River Styx alone or with spirits that need to be processed. The burgundy colored walls are decorated with paintings of odd beings in strange places. In the middle of this sits the lordly prince anxiously awaiting the arrival of his captive and the trial that will undoubtedly change the future of his detective's lives forever.

Satori-sama: from here on out, its first person veiw. i luv first person!!!

Koenma:

I watch in silence as Kurama opens the door to my office looking bedraggled and slightly irritated. Kuwabara follows next his arms crossed and looking slightly less unkempt than the Human in front of him. Bringing up the rear was Hiei. He looked as he always did, his expression thoughtful, his words few, but his clothes had many rips and tears and I can see a large lump beginning to form under his hairline on the back of his skull. Over Hiei's shoulder is a figure encased in a plant like tomb, restricting any movement of the body beside the necessary function of breathing. Absent from my detectives is none other than Yusuke. He was here a second ago, hmmm...oh well, he'll come sooner or later.

After whipping out his katana and after slicing through the thief's bonds, Hiei edged back into the shadows he tends to favor over light itself. I don't take very much notice of this because, hey let's face it, Hiei isn't all that social. At least, not yet. The thief in a spiteful reverence gave me a bow mixed with a curtsey, providing her with a slight air of disrespectfulness. She shot me a smile that makes me freeze to my core. I have seen that smile before somewhere, but I cannot remember where.... hmm, I guess it doesn't really matter.

The thief looks pleased with herself as she sits down in the chair to the left of my desk, facing the detectives and myself. She stays silent and she keeps her secret to herself. I ask her nicely, hoping to get this critical bit of information out of her, "What is your name?" She looks startled as she replies, "Why do you care, you don't want to know me." I wince at her bluntness and I begin to wonder about her past. About what made her so bitter and snappy.

After a moment, I can't help but to see some similarities between Hiei and her. They are both very short for their age, well I don't know how old she is but I can tell she has been around for a while. They both have large brooding almond shaped eyes, though the irises vary in their vivacious shades of azure and crimson. Both also control speed faster than most eyes cannot follow without difficulty.

"Shall I name you then?" I say cruelly not wanting to play this game with her anymore. I don't have time to wait for her to come around.

I see her glare daggers at me and her body seems ready to hurl itself out of the chair and toward me, ready to take me down. I decide that I need to keep her restrained and I send a look at Kuwabara. Kuwabara shakes his head imply 'no way in the world are you going to get me to watch her'. Kurama looks drained and tired, and he should be. He has every right to be. That net he made out of the willow vines took a lot of spirit energy. Hiei nods and moves closer just beyond the edge of the light, making him seem menacing and powerful. Daja looks at him with an appraising eye, seemingly re-evaluating his strength.

Daja closes her eyes and upon opening them a stare of complete amusement fills them entirely. She says to me loudly as if presenting a battle lord or something of that nature, "The name is Daja. It sounds short and jagged, just like me." After a moment she adds, "and Koenma, I might as well warn you now, you ain't ever seen a girl like me." Her eyes turn a vibrant blue tinged with neon green and the look sends chills down my back that go all the way to the tips of my toes.

As she closes her eyes, she rubs her wrists as if something is uncomfortable underneath the skin. Hmm. She looks as if she wants to sigh but doesn't want to show how tired or hurt she actually is. Might as well get to the point, so I say to her, "Daja. You have been found in possession of a highly powerful and stolen sword. How do you plead before the Prince of Souls?" She smirks at me and replies with her voice laced with mirth, "Guilty as charged!! Clap me in the irons, and let me serve my condemnation. It will be fun," she looks at my detectives, sending seductive eyes and smirks their way, "trying to escape again. Oh, Koenma, I suppose you haven't ever felt this, but the adrenaline pumps through your veins when you get chased. I would love to feel that thrill again, at least one more time before my life ends not that that would be bad mind you."

So, she wants to be put in the dungeon. That's really weird. And if I didn't know any better, I would say she was crazy. Well, actually. She very well may be mad for all I know about her. After thinking this over, I decide on a mild punishment for the blade wasn't that rare and she didn't seem all that wicked, just smug and conceited at her rotten streak of luck. "Daja, you have found guilty for your crimes. Your punishment is," I stop momentarily to think over my words, return to behind my desk, sit in my wonderful new rolly chair in front of my equally wonderful computer terminal in all its automated glory. No more rubber-stamping for me! Plus I hear that there are games on this machine...Ok, focus on the task at hand, Koenma. Focus, Focus... I stay quiet for a while longer, just to add to the suspense in the atmosphere.

"Damn you, Koenma! Just say it!" Daja says trying to control herself. I decide on continuing because I don't think Hiei would be thrilled about having to save me and Kurama and Kuwabara look as if they are to tired to even move. I say slowly, while moving papers around my desk making it look as if I was busy, "For your punishment, you will serve as Detective for me. Your service will be five years long. And the gods know that my current teams could use your help."

She looks taken aback, but then she snickers, which turns into a full fit of giggles, "oh your lordship, you have to be kidding. You do not really want me to be a full-fledged peacekeeper, do you? By the way, I do not help, I hinder."

"Daja," I reply seriously, "that is your punishment." Her face falls and she scowls, "hn." Another thing she has in common with Hiei. Must have been treated very badly, maybe abandoned or beat as a child. I suppose I will never know. Upon me telling her this judgment was final, she gained a new aura around her. This sensation was filled with coldness, colder than hoarfrost itself. It was also filled with revulsion and frustration.

I think about it and wonder if...I am rudely interrupted in my thoughts by a harsh voice asking me gruffly, "can I see Night Shade?" I look at Daja, and reply, "yes. Hiei and Kurama will escort you." I notice Kurama wince and Hiei look away. I mouth the words sorry to them and they seem to just shrug off my deepest apologies. Daja gets up and walks out of the room followed by her escorts and I can feel her aura get even icier.

I wonder if I did the right thing as I dismiss Kuwabara who informs me now that Daja punched out Yusuke and currently he is in the hospital zone. I wonder what he did do deserve the beating, but he probably deserved it. Botan knocks on my door and I smile. "Koenma sir, are you busy?" I silently control my emotions as my current head Reaper of Souls smiles her trademark grin and closes the door. "No, I am not Botan. You know I am never to busy to see you." She giggles nervously and grins again. She sits down in front of me and I nod at the file in her hands and say, "What is that?"

"Daja's file...I think she is not all she appears, Koenma sir." I lean back in my chair. "It says that this human was born in 1986 of the Human Calendar, but...the file has been tampered with and I can find nothing else about her but, her 'age' and her alleged favorite attack, which happens to be called 'Roll of the Dice'." I glance out the window and say distractedly, "Botan. Let's take a break, would you like to go on a walk." Botan's face looks confused for a moment until she realizes what I mean. She giggles and says lightheartedly, "of course, Koenma, I would love to!"

Hiei:

Damn. The back of my head just above where the top of the neck meets bottom of my skull feels as big as a rock or perhaps Kuwabara's head, if that is demonly possible for me. Why Koenma said we should escort her to whatever a nightshade is, is far beyond me. I chance a side glance at Kurama, and to my surprise, he is looking at me as well. His emerald eyes look sad an weary, almost making me want to tell him to bear the pain with honor as I do for I was beaten plus hurled against walls and I never once have complained about the splitting pains that rush through my body with every slow step I take, but I do not say anything because it would break Kurama's heart to know that I think he is weak. I turn my gaze back to in front of me, my eyes scanning Daja with interest that I don't show on the outside. She seems to be some kind of thief lord if that is possible for a human teenage girl. What is really interesting is the way she treated Koenma. It was like she did not care what happened to her, or what was done to her. Maybe she is just tired of having to go on day after day after day with an empty feeling inside. I am not sure I want to know anything about her other than her strengths and weaknesses, for we are on the same detective squad now and she could be a very strong ally when in serious conflicts. I sense, however, she feels differently than I do, as if she knows that her freedom has been violated and there is not even the slightest chance she may ever be free again.

The farther we walk from the trial, the more curiosity fills me with an itching desire to ask what the hell a nightshade is exactly for I have never heard of such a mysterious object named for a color of darkness. But as we start to make way for the front doors, I realize it must be some kind of animal or some object of that same general design. We head toward a large meadow and Daja puts her hand up over her eyes shielding out the bright sun's glares from her vision. After a quick survey of the land, she jumps on top of a slightly taller fence post and whistles a sharp sound that seems to be calling for something that resides in some land dreadfully far away.

A few moments pass and a strange sound fills the air. It kind of sounds like a galloping horse, but, the beats are very rapid making it sound like it is going very fast. Soon, a fast paced horse comes into my vision. Daja flips gracefully off the top of the pole and lands on the ground a few feet away. Over to her trots a small horse, maybe a little more than three inches taller than her, and she smiles, just barely letting her happiness show on her visage.

"Hey, nightshade. How you been doing in this strange pastureland?" Daja asks this vile creature with what seems to be a deep affection towards it. The horse answers with a whinny and a quick rear. "That bad, huh?" She says quietly. The horse bobs its head up and down as if saying yep, that's right. I watch with narrowed eyes as Daja runs her hands across the horse's back, then down it's legs looking for injuries. After a moment, she sighs and says, "this is it, 'shade. I have to let you go. Someone besides me can be your master now because I messed up and got caught. I am not worthy of your respect or devotion. Before you go, though, do you think we have one more stride in us?" The horse lets out a deep breath and Daja snickers, "me neither."

She strokes the horse's neck, twirling her fingers in the long thick mane sprouting from the skin along the ridge of the horse's back. She takes a long look at the horse and says finally as a means of emancipation for the steed, "Nightshade, stealthiest shadow of the darkness unto which only the bravest of flora and fauna venture, I release you from your long and misery inflicting servitude under the thief who bound you unto herself to ensure your own safety. May the shadows of the underworld leave you and you return to the light as you once were."

Daja pulls her hands back while still firmly grasping the black hair of the charger. Like a cloak being pulled off, the shadow left the horse. Its coat, once a deep raven color, now is a brilliant white comprised of every color imaginable. Daja is holding a deep black mantle in her hands. She lets it drop to the ground and disappear as she once again lays her hands on the mare's side. "As a means to prove your new found independence, I shall rename you for what you now have become. As pure as the dawn of time you are, before evil touched all the realms leaving it scarred forever with stains it cannot ever wash off. With this quality in mind, I christen you the Ethereal Dawn; light to all who cannot find their path for you will always be nearby to guide those to their dwelling places. May you, Dawn, have descendants whose number breaches the hundreds mark and are the most sought out animals all realms combined. As a token of my deepest and most heartfelt emotions, I leave you with a freedom I do not possess myself. Leave and live on, you are free from now until eternity." Daja removes her hands and looks towards the ground.

I look at Kurama and notice that he looks sympathetic towards Daja. I consider my own feelings and suppress them. It has taken me so long to hide these emotions in my soul. Emotions only get you in trouble, so why follow them blindly to your demise. I look at Daja again. Her eyes look as dark and stony as green can get as the horse takes a few steps away and turn around to look at Daja again. It looks sad as Daja nods and looks toward the horizon with a blank face. The horse trots up and nudges Daja one more time. Daja absentmindedly rubs the sides of the horse's head and says, "You will remain with me in memory for ever and a day." With that the horse turns around and gallops off, leaving its former master behind to watch it sprint into the distant horizon. Daja sighs and slumps against a post in the fence. She crosses her arms and closes her eyes. Kurama looks undecided with his next course of action, so I pursue my own by saying, "was that your pet?"

"No. My first ally in a long time that noble mount was," Daja replies not even opening her eyes to show respect to us. The disrespect of that is beginning to annoy me.

Does she not know who I am?

I am the Forbidden Child of the Demon World, I am Hiei...

Does she know this and choose not to acknowledge it...

She is puzzling... She sparks a curiosity in me, an interest that worries me...

Kurama clears his throat, an annoying human habit he had picked up in the 18 years he spent growing up on that wretched planet earth. Daja answers him without even letting him say his question. "The black cloth you saw is unimportant. I advise you to not ask me any questions under the Penalty of Dice. May you live until your dying day never knowing what the specifics of that punishment is." She turns around and shoves her hands deep into her pockets. Daja starts to walk away in a brisk manner or style leaving us behind so she can sit under the dying fruit tree a few feet away.

She curls herself up into a ball with her back against the trunk. She rests her head on her cupped palms and watches her feet as if they are the most interesting things in the cosmos. She reaches in her pocket and pulls out a gold coin, which she promptly casts across the grass. But, it wasn't a gold coin, more like a gold charm. I watch as Kurama goes to examine it. Daja glances at him as he picks it up and turns it over in his hands a few times. "Daja, this is a challenge coin of a high ranking battle lord."

She replies by saying, "So, what's it to you human filth?"

"How did you come across it," he asks in a nicer approach.

"I won it along time ago, when I was a naïve little girl who thought there was good in everything and you just had to look for it. How wrong I was for strength is the only thing you can rely on besides your own self. I will be as frank as I can with you Kurama, I don't like my past. Bring my past up again and rest assured you will meet with a tragic accident." She stands up and flexes her hands and spreads her palms face up to show the means of which Kurama will meet our reaper friend Botan in a most unlikely way.

In her palm lays two normal looking dice except for two things. The dots on each façade of the cube are inlaid with a differently colored gem for each surface. The second thing is that the corners are edged in steal, forming sharp corners of which wounds could be made with easily with. "These are my dice. You never want to play with them because they are deadly to all those whose luck is abysmal," Daja says warningly. She replaces the dice in her pocket and says slowly, "I think I will return to my punishment for the reason that you both are not worth my time anymore."

She looks at both of us with blank eyes and she dashes off towards the castle and I see her jump from treetop to treetop all along the way. She stops on the one a few branches ahead of me as she realizes Kurama and I are still following her around. She jumps to the ground and sits with her back up against another tree. She plays with her dice on the ground in front of her and says, "you wanna play?"

Daja:

It has been such a long time since I asked anybody that simple question. So long in fact, I don't think I like bringing up such a game from my past. But the more I think about my dice, the more I come to find out how important they were in my self-upbringing. Maybe it was the way they always seemed to roll in my favor or the way the sharp steel edges could slice through any substance when required to do such. Before I know it, a memory long forgotten plays before my eyes submersing me into a past that is so dreadfully surreal that I have to remember that it really did occur in my time.

-flashback-

The dice must land on six for me to even have a chance of winning any of my stolen treasure back from my liege lord. He is always so frightfully corrupt with greed stealing all my plunder upon his word that I owe him for everything I am in my entire being. Today his luck must change in my favor for the dice will only aid their owner and never the opponent of said possessor. I remember coming across these dice in my childhood. Their lovely ivory faces inlaid with precious gems I have collected just for that specific purpose. The steel plates I painstakingly cut to fit for the corners are sharper than perhaps my sword it self, but if I had my sword I wouldn't have to use my dice to regain my treasures.

The dice tumble and stop with the sides showing five and one face up to the world proclaiming the wonderful number six. I take this chance and pick up my dice to roll for my final turn, and instead of throwing the cubes in question towards the ground, I aim to kill....

Shuddering I shake off this memory of death and soon another strange memory is being played in front of me of my past...

-flashback-

"Daja what do you think about Damien? Is he a good enough addition to the team?" I contemplate this notion for a moment, then reply, "he certainly has potential." "See! I told you that I was right! Am I good, or am I good?" I balance in a different position on top of the five story high pole, and reply, "sometimes I wonder, Willow. What makes you so cheerful? Our life has no purpose, no happiness, no love, or anything but death and destruction plus the side act of stealthy stealing. I honestly don't feel the cut of an enemy blade any more, or the prick of my dice," I shift positions and stare up at the moon while doing a one handed handstand. "I guess it is just being able to live out my life in my home realm. You know that I was sold as a slave when I was young. When you spared me I vowed to life as a free woman, a happy free woman. I haven't failed yet. And what about you Daja? What makes you so sad?" I lose my balance at this age-old question from the beginning of my time and tumble towards the ground. I just keep falling and falling into a great endless expanse that continues like a black hole....

I stare at my hands when I regain my vision only to have my clarity stolen away again by another memory...

-flashback-

Grrr... there are so many of them...too many of them.... at least for just me to handle easily with out breaking a sweat. God I wish I hadn't of left the ship to search for Damien. Me and my stupid impulses. Damien is a big boy; he can take care of himself, so why did I feel the need to find him.... I whip out my favorite weapon in situations like this, my old friends, my dice. Upon throwing them at the ground, their gems send out a brilliant infusion of light and I take my cue... I slaughtered them all, but why? When did I become such a heartless unfeeling creature? Did I learn nothing from Willow, or from the invincible duo of Evander and Archimedes? Or...or.... from Damien himself? I am such a cold-hearted creature; I don't deserve to be alive. After all, my own mother didn't want me as a daughter, let alone did my father or my race... I suppose the world would be a better place with out such scum like myself...the cold, it chills to the bone...the snow falls gently from above, like a dusting of small feathers from the heavens. But as soon as I begin to think about allowing my self to enjoy the snow, I am ambushed again. Again, my cold heartless side takes over and I enjoy seeing my enemies fall... fall over the edge of the cliff... over into the dark foamy water... swirling around, mixing the fresh and salt water with their bile and blood. I feel for once whole and complete, instead of torn and in pieces. I see Damien's face in front of my eyes and I shrug it off. He doesn't matter now that I have this... I feel like I have power, a power where I can control the fate of someone's life. It feels good..."

I feel something empty inside once more. The numbness filling my body spreads to my soul, allowing me to once again become the unattached murderer I once was. I can feel my eyes change color and my hands tighten their hold on my dice. The sharp edges cut into my hands, creating wounds that run deeper then I have ever gained before. I release my grip to let the dice fall to the ground. The blood flows over my unclenched fist and I smile. The warmness of the red liquid feels nice on my skin. It feels like it should be on my hands...it feels right. I gaze down at the forest floor and notice my dice are covered in my own blood as well. I look at Kurama and smile again. He looks taken aback and surprised. I rub the tips of my other hand's clean fingers in my blood and drag them over my cheek, forming a pattern of wavy lines. I am now in mourning officially for my past life. I tear off my coat and smear my hands on my pants. I am a mess of blood, covered lightly with my own juices and feeling as high as a cloud overhead. I am about to pick up my dice and run them up and down my arms, but I feel a hand restrain me and I look at Kurama's face. He looks sickened and I feel good about causing this sense of disgust with in him.

All of a sudden I feel a slight push and pull action and I feel myself falling towards the terrain. Unfortunately instead of landing on the arid ground, I fall into a small pond. I continue to descend until I hit the bottom. I rest here on the pond's mucky floor before deciding to come back up to the surface for air. I swim up for what seems to be forever and I break the surface eventually. I climb up over the edge onto a rock panting and most likely resembling a wet cat of the Human Realm.

"You are ill." Kurama begins to dry me off with his shirt. I look at his chest and wonder what it would be like to stab. I push him away before I get the guts to go through with such an idea, I could be sentenced to death if I killed him. But, is life really that important anymore?

"What do you care? You are nothing but a stupid human. You know not of what I suffer from," I growl at him reopening the wounds on my almost healed hand. Again blood flows from the wounds allowing me to return to myself. Myself? No, I am not myself, am I?

Kurama slaps me across the cheek, and I don't feel the sting that should accompany such a harsh blow. Instead I wait with my head turned, waiting for him to slap me across the other cheek. I am just testing him now, he can sense this much. He knows that I want to see him slap me again. Instead he grasps my hand and begins to heal it once again. I pull it away and look at him. I can feel my eyes flicker back to the kinder version of my self, my old self. I regain my poise and my harshness while saying, "you shouldn't do that."

He looks at me and frowns. "Why?"

I think about my answer, mapping it out in my head before I say it out loud. I know that I can't be anything else then what I am and he wouldn't understand what is like to go on each day without feeling the touch of another and recognizing grass' familiar feeling on your legs as you run, or the soft breeze blowing gently on your face. "If you knew you still wouldn't understand." I cradle my hand in my opposite arm and gently reopen the wound again, letting the urge to kill drain out of me. Kurama picks up my hand once again to heal it. A smaller hand grabs his wrist and pulls it back. Hiei's hand. Why? Do you know what plagues me? Do you know what I am? Do you understand? I shake off my questions as I realize I am staring at him with my original blue eyes, no longer the green of my murdering self. I look away and let my face gaze down at the pool of blood on the ground. My blood... That should be enough to stem that desire. I look at my scarf and pull it off. I wrap it around my wrist watching it get covered in blood. The beaded decoration strings look out of place on my bandage so I rip them off, but I leave the trim because it took a long time to sew that on and I couldn't just tear off such a time consuming work.

"Hn" I mumble as I realize how much blood I have lost tonight. Enough to make me go pale, that's how much blood I have lost. I try to jumpstart the regeneration of that liquid by offering some of my life energy to my heart to let it beat faster. I open my eyes again to look about me and I see Kurama's face nearly five inches away from my own, examining me. I guess I looked menacing because he backed up and muttered he was sorry. I shrug it off; apologies are never heart felt really. I get up and look at my self, still a mess of water and muck so I look behind me at the reflecting pool. And before I know what I am doing, I jump into the pool once again, but I know the stains I want to wash off will never disappear. I am stained with countless deaths. I sit on the bottom for a long time just sitting, reflecting on everything. It's so quiet down here on the pond's floor. Nothing can disturb me down here. But I guess I was wrong to think this because a pair of strong gentle hands pulls me up to the surface. I sputter and cough up water while someone yells at me.

"What in all the hells did you think you were doing?" Koenma bellows at me standing next to Botan looking at me soaking with pond water and sitting on the ground. Kurama stands next to me soaked as well. So he was the one who jumped in after me. His loss of dryness is his own fault I would have come back up eventually...I suppose... I choke and cough up a little water clearing my lungs. It is a burning hot liquid in my throat, making me cringe and writhe with every breath I take and I know that it is my fault. I jumped into the water knowing the consequences. I wipe my mouth off and grimace. Stupid, I mumble as I feel a slight twinge radiate from the cut. I forgot about my hand. I can take it however. Botan looks surprised at me. I turn away from her and gaze at Hiei. He looks as dry as a cracker and content with his place in things, he does understand... I suppose...

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