Author's Note: Hello, all! I have been working on this for some time now and finally feel like I can publish it for you all to see! This is my first YuYu fanfic and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing it! Please let me know how it is! This is a slow burn romance, so buckle in and enjoy! (this has been updated on 08.06.20- yey quarantine and a lot of free time!)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters besides the one I created!
A Pink Promise
Chapter Four
He stepped through the portal in his living room and out into the mighty palace of the Reikai. Despite the roaring from the closing portal, the yelling around him was loud and vexing. In all the rooms of the Reikai's palace, Koenma had to make the busiest as the drop off location and no one could figure out why (Yusuke speculated it was because Koenma had accidently made it there and did not know how to change it). Kurama's toes had barely hit the tile floor and he was nearly trampled by one of the Reikai's inhabitants.
When the portal disappeared with a sharp 'pop' Yusuke turned toward him with a very brazen smile that caused a chill to permeate through him.
"Sooooo…" his elbow nudged Kurama's stomach.
He kept his green eyes away from the brown and pretended to be interested with a passing ogre whose hands were full of papers. More ogres bustled passed like the boys were traffic cones. Other ogres were yelling into telephones, or at each other, about souls and paperwork that still needed to be filed. It was hard to maneuver through the crowd without bumping into one of the beasts of the underworld.
"Seems busier than normal," he mused aloud in a poor attempt to divert his friend's attention. The smile on Yusuke's face gave Kurama an uneasy feeling in his gut. He had seen that smile many times from his friends, and even his mother, throughout the years when dealing with the subject of relationships. The group was under the assumption that he needed to date ... as if that was an option for someone like him.
"Speaking of getting busy," Yusuke shifted the conversation quickly and Kurama braced himself for the whiplash. "What happened while I was away?"
Internally, Kurama grumbled- he was not ready to have this conversation again. "I was hospitable, Yusuke." He felt the brown eyes on him. "You brought her to my home in the middle of the night and I made her some tea when she came through. That is all."
A clumsy ogre almost stumbled into the two and Yusuke pushed him into the wall as they passed. He did not break stride or eye contact. "That was all part of the plan, remember?"
"What plan?" Kurama turned and raised an eyebrow at his friend.
Yusuke sucked his lips into his face, "you mean… you didn't you get my email about it?"
"Wait." Kurama stopped in his tracks, confounded. "Your plan was to bring a girl to my home drunk in the hopes that something would happen between the two of us?" There was a bite to his tone now. Out of all the ideas Yusuke, and the others of their group, had had to find him a girlfriend, this was the most tasteless. For Yusuke to go as far as getting a girl drunk and dumping her at his house to play cupid was completely unacceptable.
"No! Nothing like that, Kurama. I meant," Yusuke dodged another ogre that was blinded by a stack of paperwork. "I mean my plan to see if Hana was really human or not."
Kurama deflated, surprised that he had jumped to conclusions about his friend. However, when he realized what the true intentions were, he rolled his eyes and continued towards the Reikai prince's office. Yusuke had to trot to keep up now. "Yusuke, we've gone over this before. We were given the wrong contact and that just happened to be her. So, what if she is a demon? She has nothing to do with this case. Koenma emphasized its importance to all of us and I do not think it wise for us to become distracted with other things."
Yusuke rolled his eyes quite dramatically, obviously not pleased with the answer Kurama gave. "I get that, Fox-boy, but you skipped over my question. Were you able to find out if Hana is actually human or not?"
"No." Kurama answered curtly. "I did not."
Surprisingly, Yusuke caught onto the redhead's suddenly sour mood and remained quiet for the remainder of the walk. During the much-needed silence Kurama faded into his thoughts as they hustled down the hall. In truth, there was not a solid answer to give to his friend's question at all. There was no spiritual or demonic energy from Hana that he could sense. However, his Shokubutsu no Ostendit reacted to her in a way he could not explain. He pictured the little plant again after he had stepped near it. The small and white flower had transformed into the gruesome vine that resembled his rose whip.
The plant's purpose was to display the person's disposition. With the increase of demons in the Ningenkai, it was a sort of a detector if someone had entered his home to do him harm. For someone to not have any sort of spiritual or demonic energy and cause the plant to transform perplexed Kurama. In fact, Hana and the whole situation was quite enigmatic to him.
"Daisies represent innocence and purity." Yoko suddenly purred in the back of Kurama's thoughts. The silver fox felt that he needed to add his own observations. "I have always been fond of that characteristic in a woman... and ruining it."
Kurama was quick to silence the silver fox- already knowing where the ancient demon was going with that comment. He could hear a disgruntled 'tsk' in the back of his skull. Clearly, he was not humored that Kurama did not want to discuss the hidden meaning of the flower that sprouted for the girl.
It must have been a fluke, Kurama concluded, finally reaching their destination. He would have to deconstruct the plant to figure out where the issue was in the DNA. He wished he had the schematics that were currently stored in his desk at home. Koenma liked to take his time getting to their meetings, despite planning them himself. Having the notes would make the time seem less wasted. However, a green ogre opened the door before they could even reach for the handle and ushered the two of them inside Koenma's office.
Kurama was surprised to find Hiei and Kuwabara already situated in the room. Especially since Kuwabara had been whisked away this morning after Hana struck him. Yusuke seemed to have the same observation and marched towards their friend.
"So, you survived!" Yusuke did not hesitate and threw his arm around his friend's neck. Kuwabara, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, startled when his neck was tucked into Yusuke's armpit. "Did they find out why you're such a cry baby?"
"She ruptured my spleen, Urameshi!" He tried wrestling out of the brunette's grip. "Thank god for the Reikai docs fixing me up as quickly as they did, or I could have died!"
Yusuke laughed loudly and ruffled the orange hair on Kuwabara's head with his knuckles. "Yeah right, you dumbass. I've seen you go through much worse than a punch from a girl."
Kuwabara finally broke out Yusuke's grip, "I'd like to see you say that in front of her, Urameshi. Then, we'll see who's laughing."
The two continued to bicker back-and-forth. Kurama slipped to the back of the office and stood before the giant window behind Koenma's desk. Hiei was resting on the perch on the windowsill. His eyes were shut, and his arms were crossed over his chest. He was either sleeping or doing his best to ignore Yusuke and Kuwabara (which was becoming difficult as they two were bickering loudly). Kurama chose not to pester the fire apparition.
The Reikai prince had a breath-taking view of the river styx. Kurama took a long moment to enjoy it. The bright blue water cut through a cavern with mountainous peaks with sharp points that sprouted from the cavern's depth. There was the golden road that twisted and curved with the mountains that reminded Kurama of a snake. It was rare that he had moments to appreciate the two other worlds. The Ningenkai had wonders of its own, but it could never compare to the sights from Reikai and the Makai. With the Ningenkai now his permanent home he would steal as much time in front of this window that he could.
He suddenly felt the maroon eyes on him, and he braced himself for the same comment he had heard for the past ten years. "It is only your foolish loyalty to that human woman that is keeping you in that mundane life."
As ever, Hiei never wasted a moment to tell Kurama that he had made a mistake in choosing Ningenkai as his home. "Hn." He mimicked his friend, not in the mood to delve deeper into the conversation he had already had a hundred times.
The maroon eyes closed again, "hn."
The door behind them slammed open. The infamous Jorge, a blue ogre, followed someone in and quietly shut the door behind him. Kurama could not see who it was but could hear the small footsteps on the tile floor as they sauntered towards the mighty desk that was littered with stacks of paperwork in the middle of the room. It took a moment for the toddler form of Koenma to crawl into the leather chair. During that time, Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara made themselves comfortable in their own leather chairs that were stationed before the desk. Hiei chose to stay in the windowsill, as usual. The Reikai prince cleared his throat rather loudly when he made it safely into the chair. Jorge jumped forward and started to remove the pile of papers that hid Koenma, rather clumsily.
"Now," Koenma continued when he was able to see the three before him. "Thank you for coming in today, boys. I am sorry I was not able to meet with you last week when you requested, Yusuke." He folded his small hands together and rested them on the polished desktop.
Yusuke jumped to his feet before the Makai prince could continue. "About that, pacifier breath." He stepped forward and Koenma's cool demeanor dented slightly as the brunette slammed something on his desk. "Kurama and I were talking about this on the way in." Kurama replayed their conversation during their walk but could not recall any subject about the case that was brought up. Hopefully, it would not be about Hana, like Kurama feared. He could imagine Koenma's reaction if it were and he silently begged all the gods around them that Yusuke would be smart enough to not bring the girl up. "You want to tell me who gave you this information?"
Koenma's brown eyes fell to the crumpled-up piece of paper. He picked it up carefully, obviously not trusting the detective, and investigated it. His large, brown eyes turned to slits when they reached the bottom of the note. "This is the name that I gave you for contact to Kamata?" He did not sound entertained.
"Did you happen to look up who it was before sending us out?" Yusuke was suddenly fuming, and he had crossed his arms over his chest. Kurama realized that Koenma must not have been informed yet that their first lead, for a mission that had started over a month ago, was a fluke. Kurama primed himself for the quarrel that was inevitably about to happen.
Koenma blinked one. Twice. Then blanched and covered his face with a small hand. "What happened?"
"It was just a human girl that had no connection with Kamata!" Yusuke slammed his fist on the desk.
"There is no way!" Koenma tried to out yell the brunette but was ineffective due to his squeaky voice. "That was a solid contact from a reliable source that cost us a lot of money. What did you do to mess this up, Urameshi?"
"We did exactly as you instructed. We found her at work, and we put the tracker on her car. She ended up at some car show!" Yusuke was nearly crawling onto the desk at this point. "Kuwabara got his nose broken. I almost died in a car crash again and it was all because you gave us the wrong contact!" Kurama sat back in his chair knowing that Koenma was, in fact, wrong but too stubborn to admit it. Yusuke stretched and came face-to-face with the prince of the Reikai. "If you think you're right, go ahead and prove me wrong."
"Jorge!" Koenma yelled, as if the ogre was not inches from him, and refused to break eye contact with Yusuke. He threw the piece of paper at the poor ogre, "Find the file for this name right now!" He looked passed Yusuke as the blue ogre ran from the room. "Kurama, you were able to track down Hana, right?"
The brown eyes were desperate as they met the green ones. Kurama almost felt bad for the prince. He shook his head from side-to-side gently, not enjoying that he was being pulled into this. "Yusuke is right. The contact given was wrong."
Koenma's face fell and Jorge came running back into the room. In his large, clawed hand was a manila folder. He came to a halt beside the desk and presented it to the prince as if it was a valued artifact. Koenma ripped the file from the offering hands and began reading. His brown eyes skimmed the paperwork and when he reached the bottom, he groaned. Tossing it onto his desk, he massaged his eyes with his thumb and index finger. "I don't believe this." He could be heard mumbling under his breath.
Kurama reached out for the file as Yusuke started another scuffle with Koenma about how much work he had put into tracking down Hana and for it to be a waste. Kurama was surprised at how thin the file was. Inside was only just a page with a short timeline of activity and a picture of her smiling paperclipped to the corner. He did realize that the entries started in 2007. Was this not the file that was supposed to be made when she was born? If he was correct, she was in her twenties and there should have been much more information from the years 1990-2007 and on.
This file started when she was in California at the age of twelve, with check-ins from Madrid, London, Spain, Brazil, and finally ending in Japan. Within the notes there were dates scratched out with red pen. He looked closer and through the scribbles he was able to decipher cause of death: car accident' many times. There were other causes of death like: 'jumping from a moving car' or 'smashed by train' and the most gruesome 'stabbed.' He removed the paperclip that held her picture onto the file and one more fell into his lap. It was a mugshot of a younger Hana, probably when she was twelve years old, with a black eye and a busted lip.
"Can you just tell us who we are looking for and why?" Yusuke slamming his fist on Koenma's desk pulled Kurama from Hana's file. While Kurama was lost in thought, Koenma had climbed onto his desk and was nose-to-nose with Yusuke. Kurama wondered what he had missed.
The prince took a moment to answer, as if debating what to divulge to his detective team. Finally, he sighed, and he fell back into his chair. "I wanted to wait to find our link before revealing more to you." He rubbed at his eyes again and was very somber. "You are looking for Jiro, the right-hand man of the Yakuza."
"The human mob? Formula breath, that would have scared me twelve years ago, but that's nothing compared to the shit Toguro was involved in." Yusuke grumpily mumbled with his arms crossed over his chest. He had returned to his chair when Koenma had. "What does that have anything to do with us?"
Kurama silently agreed. Within the years since the last dark tournament and Yusuke's demon blood awakening, the spirit detective gang had been disassembled. However, in recent years, the Reikai had created a program that allowed demons to enter the Ningenkai with special visas. The four were brought back as a special operation force for the extreme cases, and rarely ever used. Kurama clung to the excitement like an addict to a syringe.
Since returning to the Ningenkai, after the kingdoms of the Makai were dismantled and their second Dark Tournament, Kurama had returned to his human life. He graduated from high school, then college, and was now working at his stepfather's firm. It was mundane and he missed the exciting life he could have in the Makai. So, despite how he craved any sort of thrill from investigating the human gang, he could not help but wonder why it was their case to solve.
Koenma took his time to choose his words carefully. "We believe that Jiro falsified his identification when he applied for his visa." He tossed another file onto the top of his desk. "His file says that he is a water apparition and was entering the Ningenkai to see a flower festival. However, he did not return when his visa expired, and we have been searching for him ever since."
"So," Kurama interjected while Yusuke inspected the new file. It contained everything Koenma had just explained but typed out in formal font. "Has Jiro committed any crimes besides not reporting back to Reikai?"
Koenma fumbled his thumbs together, "well…"
"This is such bullshit!" Yusuke jumped from his chair again, his temper flaring. "You accused me of failing at my job because you gave us the wrong information about something that hasn't even happened yet?" The brunette was nearly yelling. "Why are we dealing with this and not your special operative team? Isn't that their job?"
"Yusuke, please." Koenma pleaded, "there is more happening than you know."
"Then. Tell. Us." Yusuke almost hissed through his gritted teeth.
Koenma sighed. "We do not know what type of demon Jiro is. He used a special device to jam our system when he went through... He falsified all his records so he could enter the Ningenkai and now he is working with the Yakuza dressed up in a kabuki mask. The plan was for you to find him before any damage could be done."
"You mean, you want us to find him before the information leaks out that there is a weakness in the Reikai's visa system?" Kurama fixed the prince with a hard stare.
Koenma gulped, "you could also put it that way..."
"Why don't we just send Hiei out to track him, and then we can move on him?" Kuwabara suggested.
"Don't you think that has been done?" Koenma barked back, clearly irritated that this meeting was not going as he had planned.
Kurama glanced passed the prince and at Hiei in the windowsill. "Why have you not been able to track him?"
He could see the glare through the windows reflection and was glad it was not targeted directly at him. The fire apparition did not speak and Kurama's elan vital chilled realizing how deep this was.
"We believe Jiro is a new breed of demon, or one that has not yet been discovered. He is untraceable, even by Hiei's jagan eye. Whoever this demon is, boys, if you encounter him do it cautiously. We believe that he is more dangerous than any other demon we have encountered before."
Sean fidgeted in the seat next to her as she drove them through the city. His head was constantly swiveling as his blue eyes tried to absorb as much of the sights as possible. Hana feared he would give himself whiplash. She was reminded of her first drive through Tokyo and left him alone. She had seen many things in her travels, but the excitement of coming to a new city was always the same. Especially for Tokyo, and she almost envied Sean. She had been here now for eight years and knew that she would never have that excitement for the city again.
"This city is great," Sean nearly cheered as he straightened in his seat.
"There's always something going on." She shrugged as if the festival they were passing was no big deal. She could feel his blue eyes on her, as if studying her. She turned towards him with an eyebrow raised.
"You aren't from here, are you?"
Man, what is it with people lately? She rolled her eyes to herself. Recently people seemed to make it a point to inform her that she was foreign. "You are correct, sir."
He smiled, as if proud of himself. "Thought so. You don't have a funny accent when you speak English."
"Well, at least one of us doesn't." She took a turn and Sean laughed, even though she was making fun of his southern drawl.
"Where did you live before here? Did you live with Han there, too?" He was very excited.
"California, and for a little bit. I met Han when I was twelve." She started to slow down, the arcade she was looking for was at the end of the street. She ended the conversation before it could get any deeper, "are you ready for this?"
His young face went serious as he gave her a curt nod. Hana felt the guilt grow in her stomach again. Han was convinced that Sean would be able to handle the dangers they faced doing what they do, but Hana still did not agree. She saw a wildness in Sean's blue eyes that needed to be reined in. She could only imagine the trouble he had done to get himself stuck in Japan to avoid jail time in America. He was young, stupid, and still had a chance to get out. She wanted to keep him safe and out of this world, but per Han's request, Sean was assisting her today in collecting a missed payment from a client.
"Yuto Nakamura is the owner of this arcade, thanks to a generous loan we gave him. You would never know it by the way he dresses." Hana threw the gear into the park right outside the arcade. There were neon signs that lured the innocent in like an anglerfish did with its little light. "He's missed his payment for the past two months, and we are here to collect."
"So, what's the plan?" Sean's blue eyes were filled with excitement.
She motioned towards the door, "you're going to go in and get it. He usually hangs out in the back near the plinko boards. He'll be in a cheap suit."
Sean's jaw dropped to the floor. "By myself?"
"Of course," she released her seatbelt and turned to him with a 'what did you expect' kind of shrug. 'You took down the sumo wrestler to get his payment. I'm sure this one will be a lot easier. He's much smaller."
He glared as hard as his blue eyes could. "I don't want to do that again!"
She tutted a finger at him, "unfortunately for you, you don't have the option of declining when Han calls with a job. You show up, shut up, and get the job done."
"What kind of business are you guys even doing?" Sean's blue eyes were slits now. "Han never explained it."
"What part of showing up and shutting up did you not understand?" She cocked her head to the side with a mockingly apathetic shrug. "You're here to work, not to ask questions."
Sean combined an eyeroll with a groan and climbed out of the car and onto the sidewalk. "What was this guy's name again?"
"Yuto Nakamura. Skinny, rat-tail hairstyle." She ducked so he could see her through the open car door. "He's a little weasely." He turned and stomped off into the arcade, disappearing in the hazy cloud of cigarette smoke.
"Time to get to work," she hummed to herself as she reached under the steering wheel. Her fingers unclasped the straps from the pouch keeping her beretta secured. She walked to the passenger side of the car and faced the entrance to the arcade. She could hear yelling coming from the depths of the game hall but was not sure if it was Sean or someone losing to Nakamura's rigged games. She rested against her car, making sure the pistol tucked in the back of her pants did not do any harm to it.
While she waited, an elderly couple strolled up with their arms interlocked. The husband paused outside of the doorway with his tiny, brown eyes enthralled with the blinking lights. He turned to his wife and silently begged. The elderly woman tried to argue but seemed to be failing as he was already dragging them inside.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hana called out to them. The two pairs of brown eyes turned her with glares, clearly unhappy that she was spying. "In about..." she glanced down at her watch and calculated that Sean had been inside for nearly five minutes already. "...thirty seconds, the place is going to empty out."
A little early, but a loud crash came from inside. There was a scream and the occupants by the door came running out. The elderly couple quickly scurried off. There was another yell and Hana stepped forward and drew her beretta. A tall, thin man came running out but skidded to a halt before his forehead could slam into the end of her pistol.
"Hello, Nakamura." Her voice was steady and full of faked amusement.
His brown eyes went large as they bounced between the gun and her. "Seoul-Oh!"
"Nice to see you again, Nakamura. You know, the last time I came to see you, it was for the same reason I am here today." She reached out and grabbed a fist full of his shirt. He was trembling so hard she could feel it through his starchy button-down shirt. "Do you think I enjoy coming all the way down here just to see you?" She eyed his rat-like face.
"P..p.. please don't hurt me!" He stammered with his eyes glued to her pistol at her side. "I have the money. I swear!"
Sean came running out and his blue eyes were wide as they landed on the weapon in her hand. "Woah! Hana, do you think that's really necessary?"
She ignored him. "If you have the money why didn't you say so?" Her voice was sickly sweet. She gave him a smile and both Nakamura and Sean relaxed before her. "Can I have it, please?"
He seemed to have forgotten the last time he had not paid, and Hana had to come down. Nakamura tried to pull his shirt from her grip, his sweaty fingers fumbled with her wrist. "Well… you see, the problem is-"
She cut him off with a sharp shake. Her voice was very serious. "The only problem is that I do not have the money in my hand right now. My associate went in to collect and look where we are now. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today, or I would have added to your bill already."
"I'm going to have to move something around and I will get you the money by Monday." He was stammering and his dark brown eyes were darting between her and the pistol, unsure of what he feared him more.
She pulled the hammer of the beretta back with her thumb. "No, I'll have the money now, thanks."
Sean jumped forward, "Hana, there's no need for that." He was trying to position himself between her victim and the loaded pistol.
"Yeah, listen to the kid." Nakamura stammered, quivering again. "I'll pay him!"
Sean turned to her with a smug smile. Hana rolled her eyes and shrugged and released her victim. "I hope you realize what you're doing."
The American turned towards Nakamura with a smile, "See, nothing wrong here. Now, if you could just get us the money that would be great."
Nakamura glanced between the two and Hana recognized the fallacious look he had behind his brown eyes. He jumped forward and pushed Sean to the ground and made sure to bump Hana with his other shoulder before sprinting down the street. Sean cursed as he hit the pavement and Hana fell back onto her car.
She turned back towards the American with venom on her tongue. "I fucking told you, Sean." She stepped and pulled him to his feet by his grey shirt. "Because this was your great idea, you get to go get him." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a thin, metal bracelet. She slammed it onto Sean's wrist before turning back to her car.
"What the hell is this?" He inspected the thin metal.
"It's a tracking bracelet. I'll be able to find where you are. And remember," she warned before sliding into her car, "if you don't catch him, his payment is going to be added to your bill."
He cursed something before running off in the same direction of Nakamura. She slammed the car's start ignition button and the machine roared to life. After hitting a few more buttons on her steering wheel a part of her dash lifted and slid away to reveal a screen. She tapped the file button in the top left corner before selecting the file linked to the bracelet around Sean's wrist. When it recognized where he was, the screen zoomed into the city map onto the red blinking light that represented Sean's location.
Her foot hit the gas and she was speeding down the road. Ignoring the honks from the cars she had just cut off, she zipped through traffic in the same direction of the red blinking light on her screen. She took a turn and came to a screeching halt when she hit stopped traffic. She gripped her steering wheel with a curse brewing in her mouth. The traffic before her was not moving, despite the green light.
"Come on!" She cried out and slammed the car's horn. But the traffic still did not move. She waited another second, aspirated that the lights were against her. Groaning, she turned the car onto the sidewalk and started for the light around the stalled cars. A group of young boys jumped out of her way, but no one else was on the sidewalk. She took the right and slammed on the gas pedal, shooting off down the road.
She glanced at the map and realized Sean was just ahead of her. There was a small alleyway on her left which was just large enough to squeeze her car through. When she slid onto the main street, a body hit the left side of her car and went flying over it. She stepped out, grateful that her calculations were correct, and found Nakamura sprawled out on the ground. He was just coming to when she approached him.
"Was that really worth it?" She nearly chuckled as he struggled to get away from her. She reached out and pulled him towards her by his pants leg. "You wore me out from all that running and made me realize that I need to hit the gym again. I think I'll add that to your bill."
"What?" He was struggling to catch his breath. You can't do that!"
"Actually, I can. Since it was your fault that I realized I needed to get back on the wagon." She released his pants, but first wiped her hand clean on the cheap fabric. "I'll be adding 500,000 to what you owe me today."
His thin, sweaty face turned red, "I don't have that kind of money!"
He tried to stand, but she flicked him in the forehead, and he fell back to the ground. "But you have the time for a marathon? Don't do the crime, Nakamura, if you're too stupid to pay for it."
Sean came running up, out of breath. "Hana," he wheezed. "Thank god."
"Yeah, good thing I got him, or you would have been running all night." He took the time to glare at her before hunching over to gasp for breath. "You'll be walking him back to collect his money. I added 500,000 to his bill so don't let him weasel out again."
"What!" Sean straightened, "that's bullshit. I just ran all this way!"
She shrugged returning to her car. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I say he's a runner."
"You never said that!" He was marching up to her with his blue eyes nearly flaring red. "I am not walking that guy back by myself."
She reflected back to their conversation while perched outside of the arcade. She might have forgotten to mention that he had ran on her, also. Instead of confessing, she shrugged her shoulders. "You should have been listening better. And, do you really think I'm letting either one of you sweaty assholes into my car?" She laughed to herself, "Take him back, collect the money, and call Han. He'll be waiting for you."
Before he could argue, Hana reached out and removed the bracelet from Sean's wrist. She turned to Nakamura and slammed the metal around his, much thinner, wrist. "If you get any more funny ideas, this will let me know. Now, be a good boy and take Sean back to the arcade."
She watched the two, both equally grumpy, in her rear-view mirror as she drove away. "Hopefully this will make him realize he does not want to be a part of this anymore." She thought aloud and turned on to a small road. Shops and restaurants were on either side of her. She must have stumbled upon a residential area after Nakamura's race through the city. She passed a ramen shop and she thought of Yusuke for the first time since she had crashed his friend's home in a panic. It had been a couple weeks and there had not been any more surprise drop ins from him or his friends. For a moment, she let her mind drift and wonder what was happening with the brunette.
At the end of the road was a park and she was forced to stop and let mothers cross with their children. They gave her small waves, their other hands filled with their children, as they scurried across the street. Hana startled when she realized the smallest boy that had been left behind. She waited, expecting one of the mothers to realize she had left her child behind and run to get him. However, when no one paused, Hana tapped on her horn gently to get their attention. The women jumped and pulled their children closer and turned to her. Hana signaled back to the boy left on the corner, who was staring at the three with large and sad brown eyes. The women gave her puzzled looks and quickly left for the park.
That doesn't seem right… Hana thought as she pulled forward and into a parking spot. Something in her gut did not feel right about leaving the boy behind. He was young and even from across the street she could tell he was crying. It bothered her that no one else seemed to share her sympathy for the boy. She scoffed at people's ignorance.
She fixed her sunglasses as she approached him. He was so little that he had to crane his head back to look her in the face. She crouched down to meet his tear-filled gaze.
"You alright, kid?" He tilted his head to the side and the tears stopped. "Why are you out here crying?" But he remained silent with his unblinking stare. Her patience thinned. "Look, kid, are you okay or not? Because if you are, I have better things I could be doing."
"You… you can see me?" He finally broke his silence with a voice that was raspy from crying. He tilted his head further to the side with an eyebrow arched.
It was her turn to tilt her head to the side, "Of course I can."
He took a step back from her and did not hide his alarm. "You must work with the oar lady."
Hana laughed dryly, "I really don't. Stop playing around, kid. Where are your parents?" She looked around the park to see if there were any adults who looked worried that a stranger was talking to their child. Yet again, no one seemed to pay them any mind. In fact, people seemed to be avoiding the crosswalk she stood in front of. A few people went to cross but paused when they saw her kneeling on the ground and turned to use the other a few feet down. She rolled her eyes at them as her irritation grew.
The kid must not fit into their social standards. The thought made her so angry, she had to take a breath in before she started cursing. "I'm going to try again, kid. Where are you parents?" Tears filled his eyes and she could tell this wasn't going to be as easy as she originally thought. "Wait! Wait! Wait! I just asked a simple question!"
But the tears still fell. She let him cry it out, despite how awkward she felt. Kids had never been her forte. When his sobs started to dry, she tried again. "Kid, I'm here to help you. Come with me and we can find your parents. Could you tell me your name?"
She reached out to offer her hand, but he jumped back as if she was actually a taser. He looked up at her with his brown eyes wide as saucers. He was like a small rabbit staring into the eyes of its killer.
"That's what the lady with the oar told me, too! She wants to take me away so Mommy can't find me!" And then he was gone. So fast that it took Hana a few blinks to register that the little boy was no longer in front of her.
"Wait, kid! That's literally the opposite of what I said I'm going to do!"
She ran after him. He had made it into the jungle gym before she could even cross the street. She jumped up the plastic stairs with one bound. Two girls, probably nine years old, startled when she landed in front of them nearly foaming at the mouth.
"Did you see where the little boy in a white shirt went?" But they stared back at her dumbstruck and silent. Hana huffed and pushed passed them, "Gods, I hate kids."
Where she had entered the play, area had four tubes that led in different directions. She hoped for the best and chose the left tunnel and pushed her way through the herds of children. All seemed surprised to find an adult in their territory. She finally found him right as he stuck his legs into the mouth of a slide.
"Wait!" She called out and sprinted forward and hoped that he would listen to her. But his little head disappeared down the slide and she dove in after him. She could hear him cheering, but she slammed headfirst into the side of the slide when it took a turn. The small metal bits that kept the slide connected, kept shocking her and there were four more turns before she shot out of the end of the slide and rolled to a stop in the mulch. "Son of a-" She was twisting over to be right side up and the small ears around her and the curse deflated in her mouth.
Through the gaps of the children's legs that had started to surround her, she could see the boy running off the playground and deeper into the park. She jumped to her feet and pushed through the crowd, ignoring the yells from both parents and children and sprinted after him.
The only reason she was able to catch up to him was due to him foolishly running out onto the marina and trapped himself on the wooden dock. By the time she reached the boy, she was gasping for breath. She was hunched over, trying to appease her lungs. He, however, did not appear as if he had just ran through the park during the warm weather. His shirt was still starchy straight and not a strand of hair was out of place. His brown eyes were wide, though, and he resembled a caught rabbit again.
"Could you tell me your name, kid?" She fell to her knees so she could be eye-level with him, but mostly because her knees were shaking.
He looked a mix of anger and guilt and rejection. He took a moment before answering "Kyo."
"My name is Hana," she held her hand out for him to shake. His brown eyes narrowed at her hand, but she continued to wait. "I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. I'm just trying to help." And finally, after keeping her arm extended until it started to ache, did Kyo finally reach out and shake her hand. Hana realized he was very cold. "Kyo, are you okay?"
He nodded slowly, but his eyes were glued to their entwined hands. "we're glowing?"
But Hana could not see anything out of the ordinary. "Maybe you just need some water, kid."
"Actually…" He looked up at her with a smile on his face. "I feel great! Whatever you just did really helped!" He jumped forward and threw his hands together behind her neck and hugged her tightly. She almost tumbled backwards but was able to catch herself with her free hand before they could. "I think I'm ready to go with the oar lady when she comes back."
Hana went to ask who the 'oar lady' was, but someone behind her spoke. She almost dropped Kyo with her surprise.
"Bingo!" Whoever cheered, "I'm so glad to hear that, Kyo."
"Oar lady!" Kyo acclaimed and released Hana. He ran for whoever was behind them. "Hana found me, and she made her hands glow and now I'm not scared anymore!"
Hana turned and found the small boy hugging a blue haired girl clad in a beautiful pink kimono around the knees.
"Is that so?" The girl turned bubble gum pink eyes towards Hana, and she raised a delicate blue eyebrow. Her face contorted from a smile to a 'I think I know you' look which confused Hana even more. Hana had never met the girl before, but she was still trying to figure out where she had seen Hana and a silence dragged on for much too long.
"Well, if you're the one the kid kept talking about then he's your problem." Hana stood and dusted herself off. "It was nice to meet you, Kyo. Have a nice life."
"Wait!" Little arms were wrapped around her knees and she almost stumbled forward. "Can't Hana come with us?" The question was directed towards the blue haired girl.
She giggled, "no, silly. Only you get to go."
"Oh," Kyo dropped his head. "Why not? She saw me, I bet she'll be able to see everyone else!"
"Listen here, Kyo." Hana fell to her knees, despite their objection. "If you plan on going anywhere, I need you to promise me that you won't go running off like you did today, okay? It's really dangerous out there and you probably have your parents worried sick." His guilt filled face almost made her feel remorseful for lecturing him. She quickly thought of something that always made her happy when she was Kyo's age. "Promise me you'll be good?" She held her pinky finger out towards him.
He lifted his head with a big smile on his face. "Deal!" He nearly yelled and interlocked their fingers. He gave her one last hug and ran towards the blue haired girl. "Okay, oar lady, I'm ready."
The blue haired girl gave Hana a smile before turning away with Kyo's small hand grasped in her own. For some reason, Hana's heart felt as if something sad was about to happen. Hana watched the two retreat until a group of mothers walked into her line of sight. When they finally passed, the two were gone.
"This has been one weird as hell day."
She sighed and stood to her feet. The walk back to her car took some time to figure out. While in her chase for Kyo, she did not realize how far they had gone into the park or how intricate the paths were. They twisted and parted and met again multiple times, but she never seemed to pick the right path that would lead her back towards her car. When she finally did, the sun was near to setting and she swore to never return to the park again. Her beautiful Mazda was loyally waiting for her exactly where she had left it. She dragged her sweaty and aching feet to the car door. The lights blinked and it beeped at her when it recognized the key fob in her pocket. It was like a warm hug from a friend.
"I wonder if Han picked up Sean yet?" She wondered aloud and removed her phone and keys from her back pocket. From the reflection in the car window, she could see that her bun was starting to unravel. Good thing I'm going home, and no one is going to see this mess. She thought.
A hand curled around her elbow and she nearly shrieked.
15