DarkNinjaAyane- Before I start the story, I'd like to thank HieiFan666 for reviewing. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! Oh, and I'd also like to thank her for telliing stupid me that i posted up the same chapter... : P Umm… now with the story.
Recap- Chapter 1- A Ninja Detective
The detectives stumble across a ninja village. There, they met one of the three elites, Gosuma Imaru, and a young boy named Katsu. Everyone in the ninja village except for her fellow ninja detectives and Katsu utterly hates her. Later on, Hiro invites them to stay at their place for the time being. They talk about Akiya. Hayate told the Spirit Detectives that Akiya was nothing but garbage, and she accidentally overheard. Akiya ran away and Kohira, Keta, and Hiro wounded up having to chase her down and get her back. The young girl ran back to the house to escape by the back door only to be caught by Hayate, who took her to her room and locked her in using talismans. The detectives learned that the ninjas were Ninja Detectives and the ninjas learned that the detectives were Spirit Detectives. The ninjas seem to know Yukina somehow, and Hayate is about to tell the Spirit Detectives about Akiya's past.
Mission Over Mission Chapter 2- Akiya's Pain
Akiya leaned against the wall and slid down. Hayate's words would not leave her alone.
------Flashback------
She opened the door quietly to hear Hayate tell the four unknown people,
"… she was nothing but bad news. Soon, the village kept being attacked by other ninjas and demons. Many people died because that trash."
"Hayate, that's enough!" Hiro shouted.
Her hand dropped from the doorknob and fell to her side. Everyone turned to look at her, staring at her with shocked eyes. She ran away not waiting for an excuse of any kind.
-----End Flashback-----
Akiya got more frustrated as she thought about it. Was that what they really thought of her? Trash? She could here talking from downstairs and sat still, listening to the conversation.
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"She's the way she should be," Hayate answered. His comrades and the gang turned to look at him once more. "That girl will cause nothing but destruction towards people. You think she'll care for the likes of us? She'd kill us all off without hesitation or as much as a second thought."
"Hayate, that's enough!" Kohira shouted. "Why are you always trying to suppress her?!"
"I want to know about her past," Hiei said irritatedly. "I couldn't care less about her pathetic present life!"
The ninjas glared at him. Hayate's glare was the hardest out of the four.
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Akiya didn't want to hear anymore. She'd had enough of hearing herself get criticized for one day. Akiya laid down on her bed to get some rest, but she couldn't. She wouldn't fall asleep. She just couldn't sleep. Maybe she was too stressed. After twisting and turning in her bed for a while, she finally began to feel tired and eventually fell asleep.
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"I'm so sorry," Kurama apologized with much sympathy. "He's usually not this rude. Hiei, may I have a word with you outside please?"
"Hn," Hiei replied about to walk out the door and Kurama about to get up to follow him.
"No," Kohira suddenly said. "It's alright. He's not to blame. We'll tell you about her past."
"Kohira…" Keta quietly said.
"No, really," Kurama assured, "if you don't want to, that's perfectly fine."
"It's okay," Hiro joined. "It started about twenty-nine years ago. Akiya was a normal human ninja in the Makai. One day, she wandered through the legendary fox bandit's territory, Yoko."
This caught Kuwabara and Yusuke's attention.
"He found her trespassing and captured her, and then tortured her," Hiro continued. "He didn't kill her though. Yoko, being the cruel demon he was, took her to a friend of his, some other demon. They kept torturing her but they wouldn't kill her and put her out of her misery. Yoko's friend was a telepath. He found out where Akiya's loved ones were and brought them back, slowly torturing each one of them to death in front of her. What they did to her was just beyond what we call cruelty. They would torture her until she was on the brink of death, and then heal her and do it all over again. Yoko's friend had to leave one day, so Yoko took her into the woods and used her as his punching bag. She had lost so much blood and she was so injured that Yoko decided to just leave her there to die. She somehow survived and ended up on meeting Yukina. Akiya died saving Yukina from some demon that wanted her a few months later. When she was five years old in the Ningenkai here, Imaru saw her and took her into the village only to have many of the ninjas die protecting the village from being demolished by demons and other ninjas. He soon figured out that it was because of Akiya and, at first, he didn't really make such a big deal out of it. Akiya stumbled upon Yukina one day and had her come over to the village. That's when we met her. Yukina only stayed for about a couple of months when the village was attacked once again but it was a lot worse this time round. A lot of the skilled ninjas were killed… including some people we knew…and… Akiya was almost killed by this one incredibly skilled demon…"
The Spirit Detectives were silent.
"Uh, well, it's been a long day. What do you say we get some sleep?" Kohira asked trying to cut everything off.
Everyone nodded.
"Well now, to get you all settled in," Hiro said. "Yusuke, why don't you sleep in my room? Kohira, Kuwabara will sleep in your room. Kurama, you can sleep in Keta's room and Hiei, you sleep in Hayate's room. Okay?" he finished.
Everyone nodded except for Hayate and Hiei who both just stared at each other.
"Well I'm goin to bed," Yusuke said tiredly. "If you two ever get done with your staring contest, then you both should get some rest too."
Hayate and Hiei both glared at each other until they reached their rooms and went in. Once they were in their room, Hayate threatened Hiei.
"I better not hear another ill comment about Akiya or else, I will kill you," Hayate warned dangerously.
"You should listen to yourself talk and compare it to what you say about her," Hiei said evenly. "If you think that I speak ill of her, don't even try to compare
what I say to what you say. If I speak ill of her, then you speak worse of her."
Hiei sat in the corner farthest from Hayate's bed and closed his eyes to get some sleep. Hayate growled while closing the light and sleeping.
-----Next Morning-----
The ninjas, Hiei, and Kurama were up around five while Yusuke and Kuwabara still slept. Hiro walked over to Akiya's room and unsealed her door and knocked.
"What?" came Akiya's voice. She sounded fine now. "Come in."
Hiro opened the door and went in closing it softly behind him.
"You alright?" he asked her. "Sorry about last night."
"It's okay," she answered. It was silent.
-----In the Living Room-----
"Keta and I are leaving now," Kohira told Hayate. "Don't forget to meet us at the training building at eight."
Hayate didn't answer but she knew he heard her.
"We must go and meet someone for a bit," Kurama said.
"Sure," Kohira replied. "You know where we are if you need anything."
Kohira and Keta left. Then about five minutes later, Kurama and Hiei left to go see Koenma.
Hayate went upstairs and stopped in front of Akiya's room. He was about to go in to see how she was after what happened the night before when he heard Akiya ask Hiro,
"Does Hayate really think that way about me though?"
"No," Hiro answered. "He's just having a hard time. There are things… that he doesn't want to accept… and he doesn't know who else to put the blame on. That's all. Don't think much of it."
"How can I not think about it?" Akiya asked a bit shakily. "He has every right to be mad at me. His only family died because he protected me. I feel so… low…"
"Akiya-chan, do you know why Hoyuta-san died to save you? It was because he knew Hayate cared a lot about you even if he doesn't show it," Hiro said softly. "I know Hayate's been acting cold towards you, but that's because he doesn't know how to handle these things correctly."
"You know, Hiro-san, I think that… Hayate-san is feeling the exact same way I am. He probably feels sad and alone. Even if he's always surrounded by good friends like you, nothing seems to be able to pull him out of his pain. I know how he feels, because that's how I always feel. Nothing can ever get me back to the way I was. I hate being so… alone… and I hate it even more knowing that I caused Hayate-san the same pain!"
Hiro didn't reply back. Hayate decided that he shouldn't disturb her and went outside.
-----Later-----
Hiro left her room and went outside. Akiya looked at the clock. It read 7:40. She went to wake up Kuwabara and Yusuke who were still fast asleep. They both groggily got up.
"You guys should wake up now," Akiya said to them. "It's already 7:40. We're supposed to meet the others at the training building by eight."
"7:40!!" both Yusuke and Kuwabara shouted together. "That's so early!"
Akiya smiled and left the room and went to the living room to wait for the two. About fifteen minutes later, they both came down still looking tired. Yusuke looked around a bit and then asked,
"Hey, where did Kurama and Hiei go?"
"I think they went to talk with someone," Akiya answered.
Akiya opened the door and there they were. Kurama and Hiei stood there. Kurama smiled at her. Akiya smiled back and looked at Hiei who just seemed to stare at her. Her smiled began to fade. Kuwabara, Kurama, and Yusuke were already talking to each other though none of the three other than Kurama seemed to notice the two standing there staring at each other. Kurama sensed Akiya was uncomfortable so he asked her a question.
"Oh, Akiya," he began asking, "where is the training building? Weren't we supposed to meet the others there a couple minutes ago?"
"Oh yeah," she responded smiling slightly. "Let's go."
Akiya walked out the door with Yusuke and Kuwabara following behind her arguing over how big the building was going to be. Hiei and Kurama walked a bit behind the group.
'Is she really the girl?' Hiei asked telepathically to Kurama.
'Hiro said that Yoko tortured her and so did you… It must be her.' Kurama answered. 'Poor girl…'
'Hn…'
They reached the building after a few minutes of walking. Akiya continued to lead the way in the building as she stopped at the door and swung it open. Hiro, Hayate, Kohira, and Keta were all already there.
"What took you so long?" Kohira asked playfully. "C'mon. Let's start training. We have just enough people for six matches."
Kuwabara looked around and counted on his fingers.
"Wait a minute," he said. "Aren't there only nine of us?"
"Twelve," Keta said pointing to a corner.
Three children were waiting patiently there. The Spirit Detectives noticed the little boy with the light brown hair and orange eyes right away. It was Katsu. Beside Katsu was a little girl a bit shorter then him. She had bright blue hair that went a few inches past her shoulders, and were in a braided pigtail, and soft purple eyes. Next to her was the tallest in the group. The other boy had orange hair and sharp blue eyes. All three of them ran over to Akiya and hugged her. The children smiled at her and she smiled back. Kurama and Hiei stood there, wondering how she could put on such a smile after all the pain she's gone through and is probably still going through. Akiya turned to the Spirit Detectives.
"This is Katsu, Mika, and Yomi," she introduced, gesturing to each child in turn.
"What?!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "These little kids are gonna fight? No way! I'm not gonna fight them. It's against my honor code to fight girls and helpless people!"
"Actually," Keta informed, "they're not as helpless as they seem."
"No way," Kuwabara argued. "They're kids."
"Ummm," Akiya began, directing her question at the Spirit Detectives. "Just asking but… who's the weakest in the group?"
"Kuwabara," Yusuke said immediately.
"The ugly guy," Hiei said at the same time.
"WHAT!!" Kuwabara shouted angrily as he turned to Kurama. "I'm not weak! Right Kurama?! Tell em! And who's ugly Hiei?!"
Kurama sweat dropped. "Sorry Kuwabara," he said.
"WHAT!!" Kuwabara shrieked again. "You too?!"
"Okay then it's settled," Hiro said. "Kuwabara and the kids make two matches. The rest of us make the remaining four. Who wants to go first?"
"I do! I do!" Mika volunteered excitedly.
"Then I'll fight too!" Yomi volunteered also.
They both stepped into the ring and took their fighting stances. Hiro waved his hand and the fight began. The Spirit Detectives were amazed at the children's skills. They were only about five or so and they fought almost as well as Kurama. They planned their attacks just like Kurama. Not only that, they were fast; much slower than Hiei, but almost as fast as Kurama. Their stamina was also impressive. They both kept taking hits and wouldn't go down. After a few minutes had past, Imaru came walking in. Mika and Yomi stopped fighting and bowed, then ran and hid behind Akiya as Katsu was doing. He greeted everyone as he glared at Akiya.
"Hello. I'm terribly sorry for yesterday," he apologized. "I was in a bad mood."
"It's alright," Kurama replied politely.
"Oh, a friend is here to see you four boys," he said looking at the Spirit Detectives.
Botan walked in the door with a huge smile.
"Hello!!" she greeted cheerfully.
Imaru smiled. "Well I'll leave you youngsters alone."
He walked away and shut the door.
"So what's up Botan?" Yusuke asked. "Oh yeah, by the way, this is Hiro, Kohira, Keta, and Hayate. The three brats over there are Katsu, Mika, and Yomi. So… what did ya want?"
"Hello," Botan said again to the new people. "Well anyways, um… may I please talk to them personally?"
"Uh, sure," Hiro said. "We'll be outside. Katsu, Yomi, Mika, c'mon."
All of the ninjas including Akiya began to walk out.
"Uh, wait!" she called. "Akiya, this… concerns you."
"Um, okay," she answered as the others gave her a quick glance and left.
Once everyone was out the door, Botan began.
"First off, my name is Botan," she said mainly to Akiya. "I'm an assistant. Now to the point," Botan said turning to the detectives. "Koenma has another mission for you guys. You have to kill a demon named Rejuko. I believe, Akiya, that he has attacked this village before quite a few years back. Am I correct?"
"Yeah," she replied. "He's the guy that killed nearly half of the ninjas and villagers here. Rejuko is extremely powerful. The thing is, he's not just a demon. He's a ninja who believes that ninjas shouldn't be used as a bodyguard or anything like that. He attacks and kills everyone who opposes him, whether they're human, demon, or whatever. I heard that he was trying to destroy the three worlds to restore peace to the ninjas, or some nonsense like that."
"That's the guy we have to stop?" Kuwabara asked. "He sounds strong."
"He's strong compared to you, you mean," Yusuke corrected as he chuckled.
""HEY!!!!!" Kuwabara shouted.
Suddenly, Hiro sent Akiya a telepathic message.
'Akiya-chan! Get out here! Now!!' Hiro sent.
The group noticed Akiya's eyes widen a bit before she ran out the door.
"Akiya!" Kurama yelled after her as they raced out the door following her.
Once they got outside, Akiya's eyes widened in shock as did the others. There were many villagers and ninjas lying motionlessly on the ground. She scanned the area near her for her friends and the children. After scanning the place over and over again, she finally found them confronting an enemy who looked like Rejuko. She raced over to them and found Imaru there as well. The gang followed.
"Akiya!" Kohira shouted. "Help us!!"
She got into a fighting stance and pulled out a kunai. Rejuko chuckled and let a small portion of his spirit energy towards the group. The children and the ninjas jumped one way while the Spirit Detectives jumped another way. Imaru disappeared behind Rejuko and threw some shuriken but it bounced off of him. Rejuko had used his spirit energy to shield himself. He speedily turned around and knocked the old elite to the ground. Imaru got up right away back with the ninjas. The small group that was fighting Rejuko formed a small boundary between them, the villagers, and the demon ninja. It was the only thing that separated the villagers from the fight and kept them safe at the moment.
Nobody moved. Everything was quiet except for the light wind that kept blowing. Rejuko smirked and charged straight ahead taking out his kunai. He aimed for the three children who were shoved out of the way by Akiya, who barely managed to dodge the hit. She took her kunai and ran it upward intending to slash him but he blocked it with another kunai. Hiro performed a series of hand seals and yelled out,
"Hundred Bolts!!"
Lightning flew from his hand and raced to Rejuko. He just smirked and deflected the attack by transferring his spirit energy to his kunai and cut right through the attack. Hiro suddenly fell to his knees. He had been stabbed with Rejuko's kunai in the stomach. Hiro smirked and pulled the kunai out of his stomach as Kohira secretly performed a series of seals behind her enemy.
"Razor Water Blast!"
Water shot out of her mouth. It wasn't just regular water though. It was razor sharp. As soon as Kohira called out her attack, Keta began to perform her hand seals. Rejuko pulled out another kunai to block the water attacks when Keta shouted out,
"Windy Breeze!"
The wind began to pick up and began to spin towards Rejuko as Kohira's water attack headed towards him as well. Their attacks unexpectedly came bouncing back at them, scrapping them a bit. Akiya charged in with her kunai as Yusuke prepared his Spirit Gun and as Kurama got ready to summon his Rose Whip. Kuwabara got ready to summon his Spirit Sword while Hiei just stood where he was, like Hayate. Rejuko sent a stronger blast of energy this time at Akiya but miserably missed. When Akiya turned around a bit, she noticed that he wasn't aiming for her! He was aiming for the detectives! Kuwabara scurried out of the way as fast as he could as Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei jumped out of the way. Botan, however, wasn't moving. She was too frightened to do anything. Then, right before the blast hit, Botan had somehow moved ten feet away from where she was before. When the smoke cleared, Akiya saw that Botan was surrounded by the three children. They had actually saved her despite their inexperience in real battle. By the time Akiya turned around, she noticed that the Spirit Detectives and her ninja friends were charging into battle as Hayate performed a series of hand seals.
"Fire Meteor Shower!" he shouted as rocks engulfed in fire came crashing down on Rejuko as the Spirit Detectives' attacks hit.
The smoke was thinner from where Akiya was standing and noticed that their attacks were being redirected to the original owner of them. She didn't have enough time to warn them or do anything big so she performed a Shadow Replication as three clones popped up beside her and knocked Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Kohira, Keta, and Hiro away and took the blast instead. Akiya herself knocked Hiei and Hayate out of the way taking at least half of the blow. Everyone landed safely except for Akiya who was quite injured. Imaru charged in as Akiya shouted for him to stop. She ran in charging at Rejuko as well but he ignored her as he once again, knocked Imaru to the ground. This time, he used some kind of ninjutsu and bound the old man to the ground with some vines as he prepared to kill Imaru. Akiya threw some shuriken at the demon ninja and they all hit him but he seemed to not feel it at all. He took out another kunai and engulfed it with his spirit energy and ran it downward toward Imaru's heart but luckily for the old man, Akiya was able to deflect the attack with her kunai enough to miss his body. She created a clone that got Imaru out of there. Once he was untied, she did a series of hand seals.
"Frozen Bullets!" she shouted as circular, frozen ice balls sped in Rejuko's direction.
She was too focused on the battle to notice that Imaru had run off behind him and tried to attack from behind. When Akiya finally noticed where Imaru had gone, she ran as fast as she could after him. Rejuko once again ignored Akiya's previous attack as he sent a blast in her direction. The young girl dodged it but then realized that it wasn't her he was aiming for. It was Imaru! She abruptly stopped midway through her dodge and leaped in Imaru direction, knocking the old man to the ground with her on top of him as she took the full damage of the blast for the man who hated her most.
"Akiya Ni-chan!!" the three children shouted in worry.
All of the ninjas, including the children, and the Spirit Detectives all attacked at once as Rejuko created a barrier and easily blocked all of their attacks. He frowned. Akiya struggled to her feet falling to her knees, but the look in her eyes stayed strong.
"This village is disgraceful," he spoke for the first time since they've been there fighting. "Are you satisfied with the thought of ninjas being used as tools for the rest of their generations to come?"
"It's better than causing others pain for something that greedy!" Akiya shouted to him. "You're pathetic! A ninja would never be like you! They wouldn't care about such a thing! That's what makes us superior to you!"
"You are still young," he replied. "I will come back once you have made your final decision, and if it is the wrong one, then I will kill everyone here."
"This is my final decision," she said firmly.
He just smirked at her and left. Akiya struggled up as Imaru got up and glared at her for a while. Then suddenly, he raised his hand and smacked her in one swift motion. Akiya took a step back, eyes wide in shock.
"How dare you touch me with your filthy hands?!!" he yelled. "Don't ever come near me again!"
Everyone was stunned at what he did to her. She had just saved his life! The villagers all walked to Imaru and thanked him for saving the village. Then they all glared at the girl and walked away whispering. Imaru walked away angrily with the help of his female assistant, Jiruma. Akiya stood there for a while. Kurama was about to approach her and try to comfort her when he felt a hand grab his shoulder firmly and stop him. He turned around to find Keta. She shook her head slightly.
"We should leave her alone," she said quietly. "It's best in this—!"
She cut short when Akiya fell to her knees. Everyone except Hayate and Hiei ran over to her.
"Akiya Ni-chan," the children yelled.
Hiro helped her up and began walking to their house with everyone following. Botan hadn't said a word since the fight. It was unusual. Normally, she would have been cheering and really hyper after what just happened. After all, Rejuko did leave. Nobody thought much of it though. When they reached the house, Botan was back to her normal self. Hiro took her to her room and let her rest.
-----Two Hours Later-----
Akiya came back down perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened. She took a seat next to Keta and greeted the guests. It was the first time she really got to look at the Spirit Detectives and talk to them.
"So you guys are Spirit Detectives," she said with a smile.
"Yup," Yusuke answered.
There was a knock on the door. Imaru came in as he glared at the girl once again.
"You five have another visitor," he said to Botan and the detectives.
"Koenma?!!" the Spirit Detectives shouted.
"What are you doing here Koenma-sama?!" Botan asked.
"No reason," he said coolly.
The detectives introduced Koenma to the ninjas as the ninjas introduced themselves to him. They sat and talked for a while after that when Koenma suddenly asked an unexpected question.
"Hey, Akiya, may I please talk to you personally for a bit?"
"Why?" Hayate asked suddenly. "If you have anything to say, why not just say it?"
Koenma looked him in the eye.
"Because what I'm about to talk to her about has to be completely up to her. I can't have you guys around to comment and try to make the decision for her. She has to choose for herself. It's very important… mostly to Akiya." He paused for a moment, as if hesitating, then added, "I'm going to offer her something that will be a very tough decision for her. I can't have any of you interfere with her choice. It would only make it tougher. Akiya, would you please come with me for a bit?"
"Uh, sure," she answered quickly but a bit hesitantly.
She got up and followed Koenma outside of the house. He led her to the front of the woods about a couple of feet away from the house.
"Akiya," he began, "I know everything about you right now. I know about your past with Yoko and his friend, I know about how you came to this village, how they're treating you, and much more."
"And?" she asked, unsure of what he was trying to say.
"I know that you're going through a lot of pain," he said seriously.
Akiya flinched a bit. "That's none of your concern," she said quietly.
"I'm going to be straight and honest with you," he said ignoring her. "This village isn't as good as you think it to be. Why do you want to continue to live in a village where they hate you in return of you saving the village? They don't appreciate you. You know that you're only going to cause yourself much more pain by forcing yourself to stay here. Are you just going to keep making yourself suffer as payment for your sins? If you're going to make amends, then at least do some good for other people while you're at it."
"I already owe this village much more than I have," she said.
"What have they ever done for you that you need to be in debt with them?" Koenma asked her.
"A lot of people have died because of me… and they took me in, didn't they? That's enough reason."
"They took you in just to have someone to put their frustrations and blame on, just to have someone to look down upon and torture. I think that you've done far more than they could repay you. Akiya, they hate you. They never even bothered to take a look at how you were on the inside. You're full of pain… and you're alone."
"What is it to you?!" she asked getting frustrated herself.
"Here's my offer," Koenma said, "You can either join my team and become a Spirit Detective and escape the pain and make friends and have fun, or, you can stay here… and continue living the way you are. I'm not going to say anymore. It's completely up to you."
Koenma walked into the house leaving her there to ponder over her two choices…
-----Next Chapter's Preview-----
Mission Over Mission Chapter 3- Akiya's Decision
What will Akiya choose? She has close friends in the village, but Koenma's little speech left her unsure of that fact. Are they really her friends? Or are they just people who really actually think nothing of her, and just keep her around so they can have something entertaining to keep them occupied by watching her suffer? Akiya doesn't want to believe what Koenma had told her at all, but she knew he only spoke the truth and that he was right. If she chooses yes, then she must abandon everything she ever believed in and cut away the only people who ever cared, or at least acted like they cared, away from her life forever, and who knows what else when she joins as Spirit Detective. She knows what will happen if she chooses no, everything will continue the way it is, but will another chance of an offer such as the one Koenma made her ever be able to come again?