Author's note: sorry long time no see... i don't really like this chapter for some reason... please review... i know it's crappy but i'd like to hear from you guys any how... so here you go...
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Chapter 6: Sensei
"Yokiko, what's the matter? You look pale this morning." Enki commented as she entered the dinning area.
"I'm fine," Yokiko said irritated.
Enki shrugged. "I hope you weren't taught to speak this way by your former master."
Yokiko eyes turned to slits, "Can we never mention the past, Enki? My former master is none of your business." Then she started picking through her food. They remained quiet for a few minutes.
"You shouldn't be blaming yourself, Yokiko. Past is past after all." Yokiko remained silent last night's nightmare filled her head once more.
> > >
"Be careful, the stones are tricky. Anything and everything here might set off a trap."
"Hai," Yokiko replied as she continued to pick through the passage way completely mirroring the moves by the one leading her. This was no simple task.
It was dark, Yokiko could barely make out her leader a few feet in front of her. She was finally allowed her second mission. Yokiko took pride in that, finally getting a mission that actually mattered.
It was top secret, only she and the one before her were briefed by Koenma himself. She's been training twice as hard for this mission. They were to retrieve a stolen artifact, it was taken by a gang of shape shifting demons. It was finally her time to show that she was worth her sensei's time and effort.
Her sensei lifted her hand. Yokiko stopped immediately and listened. Her heart beating hard against her chest. Then suddenly her leader melted into the shadows. She had yet to master that technique. So she stood there and waited. Yokiko did two back flips. Not more that a second later two arrows were imbedded on the ground where she was just a moment before.
Her sensei appeared behind her. "Make it for the end of the corridor. The arrows are poisonous." Yokiko rush forward, only a few inches behind her mentor. They went through the corridor dodging arrows and knives with every step.
Nearing the end, a large stone door stood. Her sensei's hand crackled with energy and hurled it forward. The door blew open. They flew in.
Light assaulted her eyes, Yokiko drew her hands to her face and waited for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. When her vision cleared, she was in a large hall and the end of it was two poles tied to them was a woman.
Her short brown hair falling over her face, she was stripped of every piece of clothing, bits of her flesh were missing in various places, bite marks still very evident and her blood created a pool beneath her. Her hair clung to her face, blood-soaked. The metallic smell of death was in the air.
"Damn," Yokiko uttered under her breath.
"Scared, Yokiko?" her mentor asked.
Yokiko shook her head. "No, sensei, just surprised. I should bring her down." She walked pass her mentor and towards the girl, hiding her paled state of shock. Perhaps she was expected to be a professional. And death was part of everyday activity of a Tantei.
"Good, little girl. You did learn something after all."
That was not her mentor's voice. Yokiko turned, but it was no longer her mentor who stood there but a thin reptilian-like demon, a shape shifter. Yokiko drew her sword. "Sensei!" she called out.
"Oh, she can hear you, little one. Assuming, my minions haven't eaten her ears yet." Said the demon in a sadistic voice.
"Sensei!" Yokiko called out again.
The demon sighed. And in a blur rushed towards her and knocked her of his path. The demon now stood beside the corpse of the woman. "Sensei, you student calls." It mimicked her voice. Yokiko's face further paled as the demon pulled the dead of the girl back, her hair falling away from her face.
"Anjiru!" Sensei!
> > >
"The past makes the future, Enki." Yokiko replied through gritted teeth, "the past is where the future was built."
Enki sighed. "Stubborn aren't you?"
Yokiko smirked then changed the subject. She really didn't like to talk about Anjiru's death, "So, about why I'm here."
"No, I have no idea where Yomi is."
Yokiko sighed, "Is he really that hard to find?"
"Like looking for a specific one inch seedling in a rain forest, Yomi knows how to hide. What does he have to do with anything? You still haven't revealed why you're back yet."
"Are you familiar with the Nissanyo scrolls?"
Enki raised an eyebrow, "Pretty old, forgotten, fictional."
"Believe what you want, Enki. There is a passage a story of a stone. It was forged by Galor, supposedly a gift for the wedding of his only daughter and the god of the sea, Hial. It was customary between the gods to give bits and pieces of their powers to the heirs of their throne. Galor was the god of death and plague. Hial evidently betrayed the family. Using the stone he killed Galor and sealed his body at the bottom of the sea. In a desperate attempt, Hial's wife concocted a drink and tricked Hial into consuming it. In his sleep, she killed him using one of her father's fangs whose poison carried the purest form of death."
"I know this childhood story," Enki continued, "She then tried to seal the stone and returned the fang to her father's grave. But to accomplish the sealing of the stone, it required a blood and spiritual sacrifice, the daughter of Galor killed herself and the stone was seal at the bottom of the sea in the World of Forgotten Creatures."
Yokiko nodded, "but unfortunately seals can be broken, and the daughter has grown impatient. She sacrificed herself for the world to remain in peace so that no other god may inherit the power of death and use it to his or her own devices. The daughter's blood has dried, Enki. The stone craves more. The stone calls to a bearer, a chosen of pure heart, an innocent, but also of strength. The purest and sweetest blood."
"And you think it's Yomi?" Enki laughed.
"Oh please, Enki, of course not Yomi." Yokiko replied as she rolled her eyes. "The stone is awakening and I have to stop it, like that's something new. If it is released, death will spread through all three worlds. And somehow Yomi is tied into this, the mere fact no one has seen him for three years is already disturbing."
"That's always the case isn't it? The apocalypse agenda. Are you certain it has something to do with Yomi? Talk to the gods lately?" Enki joked.
Yokiko smiled, "Very funny, how does one receive messages from the heavens, Enki? These little messages won't let me sleep. It's annoying, I'm doing this for the sake of them shutting up."
"I assume then that you will be heading to Gandara. Talk to the temporary manager?"
Yokiko nodded, "Someone there must know where Yomi can be located."
