Satorisama- Ok, here's my newest chapter. I think if I were to describe it in 3 words, I would have to say it's: abstract, deep, and perhaps a little comedic near the end. Ok, so that wasn't just three words, but it was close!! Again, an abstract chapter, but... If you like it review! Or if you don't review!

Adressing Reviews-

Kitari- Thanks again! And I would love it if you could get your yyh luven friends to read my fic!!

Kitsune Kit- what did you think. I was trying to stay away from marysueness, but I dunno. I rely on you for my marysue detection, so please tell me when I've done something marysueish.

Spork- thanks for continuing to read this. Hair is about the 60's and Hippies avoiding the draft and getting ridiculed. It's really good. You should watch/see it. But it's got some nudity, so, watch thine eyes if you don't like that kind of stuff.

PainfulxRecovery-thanks for saying my style of writing is cool. The dream was my favorite part about writing that chapter, and I'm glad somebody liked it!! Kudos to you for starting a story!!! I can't wait to read it!


Chapter 14-Reunion

Hiei: She's back.

I was sitting up in one of the lower branches of the large maple tree in the park a few blocks from Kurama's school. It was late afternoon, and the sun was beginning its slow descent to the western horizon.

People were bustling about below my tree, carrying bags of decorations around and beginning to decorate the park with streamers, lanterns, and beginning to set up booths to buy food, toys, and souvenirs. It was busy below me, and the noise of the workers kept me from sleeping.

I was bored. I didn't want to go to Kurama's house because I knew that his family would be there, and I didn't feel like going back to Makuro's castle just yet. I was on leave at the moment, and I wanted to enjoy myself a little before going back to my duty in the Demon World. Something was nagging at me to stay in my maple tree and just watch all the unfolding events happening below. I wanted to observe the confusing ways of the humans, perhaps even interpret some of what as going on too. Everyone kept talking about a festival filled with lights and wonderful foods and good times, and I was vaguely interested in what that might be.

A couple of human women began to decorate the tree I was in. I didn't feel like being discovered, so I jumped from tree to tree until I found another large branch to recline on. I glanced below at the large crowd, and I saw a blue haired girl along with a short, brunette girl in the crowd. For a second I was unaware of what I had just seen.

As realization hit my mind, I did a double take.

There Daja was, walking along nonchalantly through the park with Botan. She looked nearly the same as before, yet older, as if she had aged in the six months she'd been part of the paper brigade in Spirit World. Her hair was tied back in a long braid and streaked with a vibrant red, no longer in the many braids with gems woven into them. Her skin had lost the sun darkened, barely-there tan it had gained from constant exposure to light and was now a paler tone. She was wearing a pair of dark, baggy jeans, and a light blue shirt, and she had a large duffle hoisted against her back and partly on her shoulder.

My eyes were glued to her as she walked below, her graceful gait the same as when she left as if nothing had changed, but I was frozen in place as she continued on her way with Botan.

It wasn't until after she left my immediate eyesight, did I move at all.

With one final glance with my Jagan eye at the girls now making their way down the street towards a residential area of the city, I fled to a more secluded area of the park to think.

"She's back." I whispered like a mantra as I jumped from tree to tree, almost flying between the thick, leafy branches. I thought I was rid of the confusing problem more commonly called Daja.

I grimaced as I stopped on the highest branch of the tallest tree in the park overlooking the busy city around the small slice of paradise that the park was to me. "Damn it."

With that, I made my way to back to the festival area of the park to sleep in my maple tree, were I am now reclining against the trunk, my hands behind my head.

A small smirk forms with out my consent on my lips, and I drift off into sleep with an empty mind save for that one terrible, troubling, yet bizarrely calming thought, she's back.


Kurama: The sunrise is beautiful this morning, I note as I look out the window taking a small sip of my freshly made green tea. The yellowish light bathes the city in a golden glow that makes me smile. The city of gold... My home.

In retrospect, this city is the best thing to happen to me. I've learned to care for others here. I've learned to love others here. My life is here. My human mother is here. My friends are here.

I sigh. For the most part, they are all here anyway except for Hiei, Botan, and Daja, though Daja isn't really a very good friend yet.

RING, RING!!!

I gaze at the phone for a second, before answering it. What is it, six, six-thirty in the morning? I've been up since five-thirty, but who else do I know that would be up at this time. Surely not Yusuke or Kuwabara for they are probably just falling asleep, and I doubt that Hiei's even knows what a phone looks like, let alone how to use one properly. Koenma would just send Botan, and Botan just comes to visit my house. Daja... Well, I'm not sure she would want to talk to anyone of us on the detective team. Since the Amulet of Tamashii case, she's been different, changed, touched in a way. She doesn't smile anymore, and she rarely speaks. When she does, it is to inform us of our next mission because Botan is unavailable to do so, and that has only happened once, about six months ago, right after the case that silenced the bright, blue-green eyed girl we had come to respect for her strength and astuteness.

"Hello? Minamino residence, Shuichi speaking." I ask setting my tea down on the kitchen table and pushing the talk button on the phone's handset.

"HI KURAMA!!!" A bubbly voice says happily through the phone. I'd recognized that voice anywhere.

"Hello Botan. How are you?" I say happily as the ferry girl laughs cheerfully for no apparent reason whatsoever, yet that is very endearing to me about her. I can't imagine life without her sometimes. She is always there to lighten a troubling situation, and there during the hard times to back me up in an argument with Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Good, and what's up with you?"

"I'm content with life right now. I was having some tea before you called."

"Oh." Botan pauses thoughtfully for a second. "Sorry about interrupting you Kurama. I'll call back later if you want me too."

I smile at Botan's caring words. "It is not a problem, and I have not been able to talk to you for two weeks. Why are you using the phone, if you do not mind me asking? I seem to remember you always coming over to talk in person when you had something to tell me."

Botan is silent a moment, but her giggles let me know she is still on the line with me. "Guess where I am right now!"

I run my tongue across lips to wet them to speak, and a rather smile erupts on my face. "You are here."

"Bingo! You win the prize! Koenma has me on vacation for awhile, so he's letting me stay in an apartment he has leased for two years."

"That's great news Botan."

"But that's not all. I have a surprise for you, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei if he's around. Actually, the surprise is courtesy of Koenma, and I'm just a delivery girl."

I listen thoughtfully as Botan asks me to meet her in the park near Yusuke's house later this afternoon. I write the information on a pad of yellow lined paper, and ponder what the surprise might be.

After saying goodbye to Botan, I set the phone down on the table and pick up my now cool cup of tea. After refilling the cup, I resume my post at the window.

What could Botan have for us?

The question bothers me while I sip my green tea and ponder the many items Koenma could have gotten us.

The sun's golden glow reduces to a warm yellow sunshine, and the day begins as routinely as the day can.


Yusuke: What the hell am I doing here? I could be doing something else, something fun even. But no, I'm stuck here waiting on a bench in a park for a stupid girl that probably doesn't remember that she called me to tell me to wait on this bench in the middle of the park for her.

"Geezus, Botan! Where the hell are you..." I mutter leaning back against the painted green, wrought iron park bench I am sitting on.

I continue to let my anger stew on the bench while I watch the committee of the Festival of Lights supervise the volunteers who are decorating the scenery with streamers and lanterns.

Botan better have something REALLY good to give me, because I'm not happy I had to be woken up at about six forty-five this morning by an overly spunky ferry girl that has no sense of time whatsoever.

"Damn her." I grumble as a woman decorates a tree close to me with many small paper lanterns. Women watch eagerly while men set up tent-like booths to sell stuff in.

Stupid people, so much fuss over a stupid holiday. No point in the festival, except it's a tradition from when the city was just a small town in the middle of nowhere.

"Oi! URAMESHI!!!" A loud and obnoxious voice yells from down the sidewalk and to the left.

"Hey, Kuwabara." I say as he walks over to me with a smirk on his face.

"You getting something from Botan too? Or are you just here because you wish you were getting something." He jokes as he sits down on the bench next to me.

"Well, that's the question isn't it." I say sarcastically, resting my hands on the back of my head. I frown at the latter half of Kuwabara's words and decide just to ignore that comment for now.

Kuwabara and I sit here for awhile before the familiar scent of roses enters our noses, and we look around for the approaching fox thief that we are currently friends with.

"Hey Kurama." I say as Kurama approaches from the path on the right on the bench. "Botan rope you into this too?"

"No, I was told to come, and, as you can see, I am here. I did not have plans today, and meeting with Botan did seem like something to pass the time." He says smirking that smirk he has that reminds us of the fox thief that is part of his soul. The smirk is scary and joking at the same time, a constant inconstant in our constant consciousness of all our cronies.

Note to self: never use constant or any long "C" more than once in the same sentence. It is very confusing when you are angry with a certain ferry girl who should be here by now.

Kuwabara leans back against the bench and look serious as he rubs the back of his head in thought. "Do you think Botan stood us up?"

Kurama laughs softly and leans up against the freshly decorated tree as the women leave to decorate another. "No, I just believe she has messed up with our time system again."

"I HAVE NOT!" Botan says loudly from about 100 feet down the pathway to the right dragging something behind her as she walks up to Kurama, Kuwabara, and me who stand up to great our annoying ferry girl friend. "I WAS DETAINED BY THE SURPRISE!"

"Hello Botan." Kurama says as Botan brushes the hair out of her eyes and wipes the sweat from her brow when she finally reaches us. I suppose I could have walked down there to meet her, but, she made wait for like an hour, so didn't because I was still aggravated.

"Hello, boys. Well, at least you three are here." Botan looks around sadly for the currently MIA Hiei and shrugs her shoulders. She turns the to side and hold her arms out in a cheerful manner as if displaying something... but all that's there is air.

"Um, Botan? There is nothing there." Kuwabara says snickering as Botan whips around looking every which direction for whatever she has brought with here.

"Crap." Botan runs to the nearest tree and looks up into the branches. "YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!!!"

The tree shakes for a second before falling still again.

"NOW!!!"

The tree shakes again, this time something, or rather someone, falls from the branches and lands gracefully on the ground.

That person, or rather woman, brushes off her clothing and turns to face us, her blue-green eyes shining a moment before going dull. Her reddish-brown hair is tied back into one single braid, but many strands have escaped their bondage in that solitary plait. She plays absent mindedly with her blue shirt's sleeve. "It's been awhile, detectives."

Kurama looks astounded as the girl speaks and takes a step forward. He immediately smiles as she sticks out her small, pale hand to shake his large smooth one. "It's been too long, Daja."

Kuwabara explodes into a happy shout, and throws himself at Daja, who immediately dodges his attack. He shouts expletives as she uses her foot to ram his head into the ground. "DAJA! YOU FLIPPING, STUPID—GAH!!!"

Daja's eyes go all the way blue and she realizes what she has done. "Kuwabara..." she whispers as her eyes get cloudy, and she leans down and helps Kuwabara back up.

"What was that for!?!" Kuwabara yells as Daja backs away from him. Daja grins and Kuwabara immediately takes a step backwards to get away from the now insanely grinning girl a few feet away.

"You never attack someone who is stronger than you." Daja says mockingly, crossing her arms across her chest in a matter-of-factly sort of way.

Kuwabara just takes another step back as Daja takes a step forward to stand in front of me. "Hey, detective."

I smirk. "Hey Daja. How's life?"

She looks up and me, and for a split second, her eyes look a lot like my mom's after she's been out partying all night with a few bottles of sake. "I'm... okay." She looks down for a second before continuing. "Pushing papers all day isn't the best... you know how Koenma can get."

I smile reassuringly and put an arm around her shoulder, laughing as she stiffens up at the small gesture of friendship. She looks up at me confusedly, and I laugh even harder. "So you're here with Botan. How long you staying, anyway?"

"Till whenever Koenma wants me back."

I laugh, and so does Kuwabara and Botan. This causes Daja to smirk; like nothing has happened since the last time we saw each other. Everything is the same between us when she smiles, like it was before she was reassigned when we were all gathered at my house to discuss the next case, the case that changed all the rules, the case that changed the way the game is played, the case that changed everything. With a simple smile, she's brightened all of our days, returned us to the team we truly are, the family we are.

A simple reunion between friends can change the playing field drastically, and our field has just increased tenfold because of one straightforward girl who changed our lives forever by just being a part of it.


Satorisama- Anyway, how did you like it? School's been hectic, but I thought I should at least strive for at least a chapter a week. Whadidyah think about this one? REVIEW!!!

Late night, come home, Work sucks, I know. She left me REVIEWS by the stairs, REVIEWS let me know she cares!!!

(Blink 182 all the way!!!)