Chapter Three

Fake Evidence

"Hey Koenma, burn in hell." Yusuke said with a death glare.

Koenma's pacifier fell out his mouth. Botan clasped a hand over her mouth in shock and the ogre covered his ears. The group was in Spirit World, a rare treat, for the autopsy of the boys, or as Katani called him, Tithe's body. The team was waiting for the results as Spirit World's top mortician's examined the body. Yusuke's delivered Katani's message upon first entering the prince's office and was greatly enjoying the effects it was having.

I'll make a mental to thank her if I ever see her again. He thought. Out loud he said, "Relax, I'm just delivering a message from a friend of ours."

"She's our friend now?" Hiei asked. "I thought I had the delusion on friendship."

"What friend is this?" Koenma asked while placing his precious pacifier back on his mouth. Kurama explained the way of events of everything from the geyser of blue energy to their fight with Katani in the valley. He left out, of course, the details of her sickly sweet blood.

Hiei closed his eyes as Kurama retold the story. He remembered Katani's blood. He thought he had seen the blood in her during their fight and had inflicted such a large wound on her on purpose. He could see her right now with his Jagan eye. She was at some human stable packing. That must've been her home with her brother. He thought. Hiei started, she looked directly at him. How could she see him? It was impossible, inconceivable! She looked first startled then angry. He knew he should close his eye but he couldn't. It was impossible for her to see him. Katani's lips formed one word,

"Shardae…" A blue orb formed in her hand and she threw it at Hiei. His crimson eyes snapped open and he was breathing hard. His Jagan was blocked.

"Hey Hiei, you alright man?" Yusuke asked, concerned. The fire demon looked as though he had escaped death.

Hiei quickly regained composure. He did not like being the center of attention. "Do you own something called Phoenix Down, Koenma? The girl said she would be stealing it from you tomorrow."

Koenma thought for a moment. "Phoenix Down… Phoenix Down… Ah yes!" His face fell. "Oh no. Ogre, bring me the key to vault 767, and hurry you big blue moron!"

"Yes, here Koenma sir!" The ogre handed Koenma an oversized key. Koenma shoed the boys into the hallway and down a series of corridors.

"Tell us Koenma, is this the same Phoenix Down that is mentioned in the Archives of Verdict?" Kurama asked.

"The very same. I came upon it much by chance. An old detective of mine gave it to me. Unfortunately the Down was placed in a sphere and we have been able to unlock it."

"Did you try hitting it with a hammer?" Kuwabara asked.

"We actually did after a while. Nothing worked. Chisels, lasers, swords, magic keys, spells, fire, and even spirit attacks haven't put a dent in the sphere." Koenma stopped at a large door. "So we kept the project in storage until we could come up with a solution."

"A weapon that powerful should not be kept under such lack security." Kurama said with worry.

"Nonsense Kurama! With the four of you here I'm sure she wo-" Koenma opened the large double grated door to an almost empty room. The only thing inside was a note on a pillar where the Phoenix Down project should be.

Yusuke went to pick up the note and read it aloud while Koenma welled up with tears. "What is today but yesterday's tomorrow? –Katani"

Kuwabara scratched the top of his head. "I'm confused."

"You are truly an incompetent fool." said Hiei.

Kurama stood beside Yusuke and examined the note. Glancing at Koenma he whispered to Yusuke, "Would this be a bad time for an 'I told you so'?"

Yusuke looked at the whimpering leader of Spirit World nearly strangling his henchmen. "Yeah, it just might…"

"Koenma! Oh there you guys are. I've been looking everywhere for you all!" Botan ran in looking panicked. "I have horrible news!"

"What's wrong Botan? You look like you've seen the grim reaper." Yusuke said.

"This is not the time Yusuke. It's about your case. The boy Tithe, his body has already been autopsied."

"What do you mean Botan?" Koenma asked slowly.

"I mean he's been drained! He's a shell. He has no blood, organs, bones, even his skin and hair is lacking in spirit and genetic DNA! He's a ghostly shell held together by some magic I've never seen before!"

Koenma stopped gripping the ogre's windpipe and looked at the group. "You didn't notice this before?"

"Its not their fault Koenma sir, the magic was so powerful the morticians could not tell until they actually began to cut the body. This person knew what they were doing."

"She tricked us." Hiei said, a low snarl in his voice.

"She never lied, she did keep her word by giving us the body and that was all we asked for." Kurama pointed out.

"Well I kind of figured that included all its contents!" Yusuke yelled. "She doesn't want us to find out what her brother is."

"Did you figure that out all by yourself or did someone help you detective?" Hiei asked passively.

"Come now, Hiei." Kurama said.

"Boys I want her here. She's stolen Phoenix Down so she must obviously have some planned use for it and she is kin to this Tithe so she has the golden blood as well correct?"

They all, except Hiei, nodded.

"Find her, bring her here. Capture her with force if need be. She is dangerous from what you've told me and with Phoenix Down she can only get stronger. Find out all you can about this golden blood and bring her here alive. That means you Hiei."

"Hn."

"She has also committed crimes against Spirit World now so while you're out catching her I'll be here thinking up a proper sentence. Yusuke, I'm giving you these. They are for when you have caught her. From the information I have gathered about her on my own I doubt she will come willingly." Koenma handed Yusuke a pair of golden handcuffs. Yusuke smiled evilly.

"I love my job."

Botan hit him over the head with her oar. "You disgust me!"

"Yusuke that is appalling." Kurama stated.

"Filthy human." Hiei said.

Kuwabara just smiled with Yusuke. "Dude, can I borrow them when you're done?"

"No Yusuke! Those are Spirit Cuffs! They zap spirit energy and make the wearer helpless. Though to be put on the victim has to be weak already or the cuffs will break so be warned, those are a one shot deal. Snapping them into place using some of your own spirit energy to initiate it activates them and saying a certain code activates the absorption. On second thought…" He took the cuffs from Yusuke and handed them to Kurama. "I think everyone would feel a lot better if these were in your hands Kurama."

"Hey!"

"If you insist Koenma." Kurama said and put the cuffs in his pocket.

"What should I tell the morgue?" Botan asked.

"The body should sent the Tokyo government, they can deal with it."

Kurama felt his blood boil, "We promised we would give the body proper rites." He said, trying to keep his voice steady. What's wrong with me? He thought. He could feel his blood rising in furry at the thought of the boy's body being thrown aside casually.

"Well she promised us a whole body. What's the big deal Kurama, why do you care?" Hiei asked.

"Kurama's right, we promised. Koenma give us the body. Hiei you're good with fire right?"

Katani fell on the bed. How did Hiei see her? She had blocked psychics with her barriers yet his Jagan Eye found her at Rising Crest Stables. She had swiftly scared him off using her light sphere and now she was looking around at what had been her place of employment for the last year. She had not been home in a long time and would not go home for a long time. True, she had been living and working at Rising Crest for a while now but Tithe had always preferred to stay at home on Jokatsu Mountain. They stayed separated a good deal of the time so if one of them was found the other wouldn't be in immediate danger. They had gone by different last names in public. That wasn't necessary anymore.

Getting off the bed she packed the remainder of her possessions, a small journal, leather repair kit, a few spare outfits, and last but not least a tiny crystal box lined with silver inscriptions round the edges.

Katani sighed as she ran her fingers over the grooves of the intricate letters. She alone knew what they meant. In a secret language they said her name. The language was known to her alone. She had known no one else in the world who could speak it save her brother. She supposed it was the language of her people, whatever they were. She could speak and write it fluently and the words flowed like poetry from her lips.

Once she had gone to a professional linguist in America and asked him if he had heard the language.

"Young lady I know of every language in the world, if I do not know it I can at least tell you what area it is from, please speak it for me."

She had said a simple sentence in her tongue, "Do you know of what I speak?" but what the man heard was "Kola hakla zas vali xas hjae?" He had stared at Katani with wide eyes. Then demanded to know who she was and where she came from and what language she had spoken.

"Please maiden, please teach me that beautiful speech!"

Katani had fled as fast as she could and never returned to America after seeing a picture of her with a reward for information of her whereabouts being offered in the local newspaper.

Katani was happy with one thing, nature seemed to understand her speech. When she spoke to the plants and animals they seemed to respond and tried they best to answer to her words. If she called Feer in her secret language he would respond fast and clear.

"Feer…" She whispered his name and opened the box. Inside was a small clear crystal blood gem that had been created from Katani's most painful experience, her birth. The crystal was clear and in the shape of a sphere. None could tell of its origin.

Upon hearing Feer's secret name the gem glowed and showed Katani his location. He was scaling Mt. Jokatsu, heading to Katani's home to secure it and prepare it for their long absence. He was no ordinary horse. Katani had Feer her whole life and knew him inside and out. They were their own herd. Feer slipped on a lose rock and Katani caught her breath only to let it out again in a low stream when she saw her sun stallion bravely catch himself on the slippery slope and race up the mountain without any sign of exhaustion. She smiled and ran a hand through her hair.

"Relerto…"

The crystal dimmed and Katani thought about the detectives who were after her. What more could they want from her? They had her brother, wasn't that enough for them?

A tear rolled down Katani's check and she wiped it away with the underside of her palm. She grit her teeth and thought if she could figure out one of their names in her language. Then she could track them and see how they liked being hunted. "Yusuke Urameshi" She said using the accents in her language. The crystal did not respond. She tried again. "Kuwabara." Nothing. "Hiei." A dull glow but no picture from the crystal.

Katani thought about the fox named Kurama. Hadn't she heard about him from somewhere? He was the one who had healed her. She thought about him. His deep green eyes, his flowing red hair, what? Katani shook herself mentally. She was just not thinking of that… no… was she? Katani focused on the jewel.

"Kurama." She thought, without meaning to, how beautiful his name sounded in her language accents and wondered what his secret name was. The jewel glowed brightly. Katani gasped, the jewel glowed and Kurama of the Makai appeared. He was standing with the other detectives and they were talking with a woman, she looked familiar…

"Hannah!" Katani practically screamed. Hannah was another stable hand at Rising Crest. She was telling the detectives where Katani's quarters were. "Oh crap…" Katani placed the jewel in the velvet lined box and snapped the lid shut, stuffing it in her pack. She threw it over her shoulders as fast as she could and ran out the door.

"Kitty, we'll be missing you around here." Ty, a groom said to her as she tore past. He stopped her by grabbing her wrist. Ty was very strong. "Whoa, hold on, what's the rush Kitten?" Kitty, or Kitten when he was serious, was Katani's nickname to Ty. He spoke to the horses in a way that reminded Katani of herself and it tore her heart up to leave him. He felt like a second brother to her. He obviously wanted to be much more. Ty was by definition a hunk. His short and soft blonde hair with hazel eyes drew all the girls to him, except Katani. She liked him as friend, nothing more, and nothing less.

"I'm sorry Ty, I've really got go." Katani tried to pull her wrist away gently but Ty pulled her closer. Katani felt herself go numb.

"One minute won't kill you, Kitten."

"It just might." She muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Ty, I really have to go. It's a family emergency. I promise I'll come back and say a proper goodbye." Katani realized there was only one way she could get away. She'd have to shock him into letting her go. "I'll really miss you Ty." Katani tilt her head back and quickly kissed Ty on the lips.

Ty, after a year of friendship only speeches was shocked. He froze. Katani felt his body seize up and before he could collect himself and make the kiss deeper, as she knew he soon would, she tore herself away and ran past a rider and his horse.

Ty stood there with a hand behind his neck and smiled. "I knew it," he said with a smile. Behind him he head a rustling and saw four boys go into Katani's old room.

One of them cursed loudly. "She's not here! Where the heck did she go now!"

"You boys looking for someone?" Ty asked though he felt pretty sure he knew the answer and didn't like it.

"Yes, by any chance do you know a girl named Katani?" A boy with startling red hair and green eyes asked.

"If I do?"

He could tell instantly that he had made the wrong move. These men were after Katani and no way would he tell them where she went but he shouldn't have said that.

Next thing he knew the shortest one had him in the back of one of the empty stalls with a sword blade pressed tightly to his throat. "Tell us pretty boy or I will cut out your legs and feed them to the demons that crawl in the streets."

"She went to the clubs on fifth." he lied.

The blade was pressed tighter against his neck till a little red blood trickled down. "You're lying."

"Ok, ok! She went that way. I don't know where. She left in hurry. She said she had a family emergency."

The swordsman seemed content with this and sheathed his blade on his back. The four boys left in hurry and Ty quickly caught his breath.

Hannah walked by leading a bay mare and saw Ty in the stall. "You ok Ty?"

"Yeah I'm good." He stood. "Did you see four boys come by a minute ago?"

Her leather colored eyes smiled in remembrance. "Yeah they were looking for Katani. Sweet kids aren't they?"