SatoriSama: Alright, this is a short chapter, but I'm only again setting up the next few chapters. I hope you like it, because I reveal what Kurama was thinking about during the meeting. Anyway, I don't really have anything else to say, so… yeah…
Reviewers:
Venusgreenight: VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!
Painfulxrecovery: I'm sorry you found the last chapter boring, and I HOPE you don't find this one boring. Once they are in the city, things are going to heat up.
Sillylittlenothing: THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I'm happy that you enjoyed the way I tell my story. It was sorta strange hearing that I'm doing something different by switching pov's in the middle of chapters. I don't think I can tell it any other way. And about Kuwa-kun (he and I are pals now I guess, we both get ignored at least), I just cant figure him out enough to try to tell the story from his pov. Ah, anyway….
IntoTheWakingDawn: Thanks you so much for being open minded enough to give my story a chance. YOU ROCK!!! Do continue to rock because the world need to continue to shake.
Veronica: Fanfic is what gets me through the week as well, and I am glad I was able to do that for you too. I hate school, so, yeah… THANKS!!!
Chapter Nineteen: Asphyxiation
Yusuke: I scan the thick, guarded stonewall with interest. It is built in a way to keep unwanted demons out, and everyone else inside the protective wall. Guards sort though demons wanting to enter the city, sending the rejected back into the night, and the accepted into the glittering nightlife of the city.
I sigh. You would think waiting in line would be at least be somewhat entertaining. You know, with so many people getting rejected and all.
The line moves forward.
I can't believe that this is the best plan we could think up. To wait in line, and make it look like we're tourists. Kuwabara sighs and gives me that "you're dead" look he has, and I answer with one of my own signature looks, the "back off or I'll hurt you" look. Kuwabara quickly turns around, and out of the corner of my eye, I see…. Did Hiei just smirk? Now life is complete. Not.
I wonder if I can get him to do it again. I start making up crazy plans to make Hiei look happy for once in his life, when I suddenly realize that if I am trying to get Hiei to act like a normal person, then I must really be bored because I'm sure that everybody who knows Hiei knows that for him to be happy is practically impossible. But that doesn't stop us from worrying about him though….
The line moves forward.
Kurama: This city…
It has been too long since I've been in this city…
More than twenty years ago… so long ago…
I was still Youko…
Every memory, thought, wish, lust is flooding back… so vague… but familiar…
I was… different… colder…
Her…
Running a hand through my hair, I glance at Hiei. He looks deep in thought, perhaps to remembering his past. I'm sure with his previous occupation, his been in this city of thieves before. I sigh, memories still returning from their dormant places deep within… From the soul I keep inside… the silver fox…
I have heard the stories many storytellers spin in the light of fires of the legendary bandit Youko Kurama. In fact, the entire Demon World seems quite acquainted with my… exploits… So many tales of my thievery, deceit, my trademark arrogance and treachery… the hearts I broke, the homes I destroyed… the lives I took… the souls I stole…
I don't know why this is affecting me so much. I've been in the Demon Realm so many times since I bonded with this human body. In reality, I should not be feeling this… Remembering my past but should not bother me… but…
People have said that I can't even remember the names of all my lovers, that I've had too many I cannot keep count. They were each special, a flower I could pluck from the thorny vine, the scummy place I called home. I never mistreated my lovers, for they had treated me so well in the first place, but the stories tell of my harshness, that I didn't not care for any of them, that I simply used them for their bodies… the pleasure they could give…
It's not true… that's not true…
I remember all of them…
All of them…
She… she was different…
Hiei: This city gives off an ominous aura; the Jagan is picking up feelings of which I mostly cannot identify with: hostile feelings, trusting feelings, caring feelings… lustful feelings…
My mission is clear. I am to assist Yusuke in anyway I am needed. My goal is to ultimately aid in the successful retrieval of one Zane Gensou. I have pored over the file many times, studied all the charts, strategies, the floor plans, the handwritten notes in the margins of every page…
I have everything I need in order to complete this mission sucessfully, but why… why do I feel like I have left something behind…
Those handwritten notes…
Daja wrote about her experiences in this town, how the Vaev'shaj keep to themselves, how the abandoned buildings can make average hideouts, how the walls are too thick to break through and too tall the scale without a guard noticing, how to navigate the long alleys easily, how to leave a trail only you and those you trust can follow. She wrote about Zane Gensou's special guard force, their special abilities, the way they operate, the way they tortured their captives for information… She didn't explain how she knew these things, but the rough, yet surprisingly neat handwriting kept on giving advice. How to keep tabs on more than one person at a time without using the Jagan eye, how to cheat at card games without getting caught, how to spike a drink without getting noticed, how to blend into a crowd effortlessly, how to… the notes go on and on.
I stare at the sky for a moment, and then look back at the wall. Daja is right, it would be hard to pass over or through that wall without anyone noticing.
Yusuke and Kuwabara did not seem all that interested in the thick notebook Daja assembled for the case. They only read what was necessary, and they ignored everything else, everything Daja wrote for us and intended for us to read.
I have read the entire notebook many times, but still the simplest of her remarks riddle me to no end. "The mirror doesn't only have one reflection." What mirror was she referring to as she wrote this? Was she even thinking straight when she wrote some of these notes in the margins? Were they simply a means to confuse me, to puzzle me? Were they a game she could play, where I was the pawn and she was the player?
As hard as I try to believe that Daja's intentions were merely on a level to get us through a tough case, I can't help but to deep down think that somehow, this case means something more to her.
Something she will only share in riddles…
Those handwritten notes…
The closer to the city we come, the more emotions the Jagan picks up, and right now, an asphyxiating sense of foreboding is flooding over me, a feeling I have no problem identifying with.
SatoriSama: Not much of an ending thought… BUT, for all of you who are wondering what the Vaev'shaj are, the answers are coming…. (ooo, the suspense!!!). And for you people that miss Daja's ridiculing and thoughtful presence, she will play an important role in this case, you'll just have to tune in next time to see. Warning, contents under extreme pressure and are prone to spontaneous combustion, SatoriSama signing out.
Song o' the Review thingy:
This may never start tearing out my heart… and I'd be you REVEIWER!!! Lost your sense of fear, feelings disappear… can I be your REVEIWER!?!
