THE DARK CIRCUS
Chapter 2
By: Twilightspire
Natalia created by Amy Salazar
Natalia tried to concentrate on not concentrating. Meditation was always difficult for a girl with ten thousand things on her mind; which is why she came out to the forest behind the temple for her morning meditation. Shorin was over again. The child Avatar had been spending more and more time here lately. It wasn't that she didn't like Shorin but he could be damn annoying sometimes and the last thing she needed was more distractions. She eased her body into the silence that came with total relaxation. Slowly she felt herself starting to drift away to wherever it is she went when she spent time in meditation.
A loud high pitched ringing sounded out like a bomb-burst in the serene quiet. The noise startled Natalia making her jump and scream. She stared at the small black and grey cell phone with such menace it should have melted and lay upon the ground smoldering. As if it could feel the impending end of its life; it rang again in defiance. Natalia rolled her eyes at its impatience then with a flourish flipped it open.
"What!?" The voice on the other end stopped breathing for a moment like it was completely caught off guard. Natalia just sat there, phone at her ear, and waited patiently. There was another moment of silence and Natalia started losing her patience.
"I'm sorry; do you always answer the phone like that? I sure hope not, especially not your Spirit Phone." Natalia could almost hear the frown on Koenma's mouth.
"Anyway, I have another mission for you, when you are ready," said Koenma. At least over the phone Natalia could picture something other than a toddler giving her orders. She never did understand why the hell the Spirit World was run by a toddler or why the hell if he had so much power why he didn't just grow up already.
"Hold on a sec Koenma," she replied as she dug out her laptop, the Demon Compass, and two USB cables from her carry-all. She opened the laptop and booted it up. As Koenma waited she plugged both USB cords into the laptop, and then connected one cord into the compass and the other one into the phone. "Okay Koenma I'm ready." The laptop sprang to life and began downloading the file from Spirit World.
"So what am I looking at?" The file finished downloading. Natalia leaned over the computer and began to download the pertinent information into the compass, then opened the file Koenma sent. It took a moment for the computer to open the file but after three different sections opened up for perusal.
"If you will kindly open the file for missing persons I will begin," said Koenma. Natalia clicked on the "missing persons" file. It opened up showing a total of thirty-two people, all psychics with a range of techniques and skills; all of the psychics were from the Bukasen region, Natalia's jurisdiction. She quickly scanned the names and was surprised to see that she actually recognized a few of the names. Xiao Ling had been cultivating a new way to heal through herbs and a concentrated dose of Spirit Energy. Aki Yamato was studying how to channel Spirit Energy into a weapon and then using that weapon to destroy inanimate objects. Miss Saiya Hiromoto who was using a unique talent to contact the dearly departed; now they were all missing, presumed dead.
"As you can see, several psychics have disappeared, which is most disturbing. Intelligence has yet to locate any clues to their whereabouts or how they disappeared. I have a hunch though and that will bring us to the next file." Natalia nodded, knowing he couldn't see it and opened the next file labeled "Strange Demonic Aura outside of Bukasen."
"Once again it is time for the Dark Circus, an event that attracts several local apparitions. The financer of this ordeal has remained anonymous, even under the most stringent of investigations. The Dark Circus is a vile event, picture an old fashioned mortal circus and add the Demonic and you start to get the picture. Now, fifteen years ago, the Dark Circus suddenly disappeared. Before that it was an annual event that hosted murder, blood, and gore, a rare case of cannibalism and rape; kind of a demon grab bag of cruelty and vice." Natalia could almost see Koenma shudder with the imagery.
"So, the ten thousand dollar question Mr. Koenma is: Why in the hell haven't you shut it down yet." Natalia didn't try to disguise the anger in her voice. Demon vice almost always involved cruelty against mortals; even with Natalia's questionable past she would never stoop that low. After all the barbs slung at her from Koenma and he can let crap like this continue.
"The same reason why I let the Dark Tournament continue; it keeps the apparitions quiet for a few weeks easier to track. It has never gone this far before." Natalia was still seeing red. She didn't even let what Koenma said sink in.
"So you are telling me it was okay as long as they weren't killing your precious little psychics? What the hell is wrong with you?! Humans are humans; you can't just let the damn demons get away with doing that to people, EVER!" Natalia was standing now holding the phone away from her ear so she could shout better. Koenma's voice exploded in retaliation.
"Pretty words coming from a reincarnated Wolf Spirit, that I saved I might add."
"Stuff it diaper rash, you didn't save me it was that woman from the SDF and you know it," she replied while sticking out her tongue to emphasize her point.
"And who the heck do you think authorized that dog girl?"
"You couldn't even authorize a diaper changing binky boy!"
"Binky boy?! Arrrrrrr…" Koenma began sputtering and tripping over his words in his anger and embarrassment. Natalia smiled. 'Another round to me,' she thought and hung up the phone. Now that that little bit of fun was over she looked back to the computer screen. According to the reports, the Circus had to be just beyond Bukasen's border. What was the third file? She clicked it open and waited for the file to appear. She looked through it briefly but dismissed it for now. The file was about six fighters that had gone missing from Demon World around the same time that the Circus opened. After a brief glance none of the names stood out to her, so she reopened the other files and reread them. A thought occurred to her after she was done with the first report. She wondered briefly if Kurama knew about any of this. He was the Demon Master of Bukasen now, so he should know something about it. She decided to call him later, Koenma had been awfully cranky anytime Kurama was brought up ever since he took on this new position and left his Spirit Team. She snapped the laptop closed after disconnecting the USB wires and slipping on the Demon Compass. She sighed one last time. It was such a beautiful day to be ruined by Spirit Detectiving. She packed away the rest of her items and began the long trek back to the Temple of Three Walls.