I opened my eyes, feeling something on my head. I shook my head and a little grayish bird flew away, leaving one gray feather behind. 'Hn, Kage must be pretty irritated. Not my fault.' Judging from the sun which was still partly hidden, it was very early. 'Might as well visit our little impatient friend.' I checked on Inuko and tried to sense if anyone beside me was awake. No one. Good.
I was running all the way, wanting to get the 'job' over with. Kage created one single portal leading to a secret cave, where he held his illusion and where he lived.
I arrived in the middle of the meadow. Not too far away from there, behind an icy cold waterfall, the portal was glowing. Carefully sniffing the air near it, I knew that Kage was awake and, beside his pet wolf Akari, he was alone.
I jumped into the portal and 3 seconds later I fell on the hard ground. I was in the ice cave Kage was living. 'Damn! I never could land gracefully here!' I cursed in my mind, getting up from the floor and brushing my pants.
"Hello, Kikyo." a cold voice rang through the silence "Finally, you came."
"Yeah, yeah... Let me in, will ya?" I asked irritated. The inside of the cave wasn't the warmest place, also the 'ride' through the portal gave me a shiver from the cold.
One of the stony walls melted, revealing a huge room. I went inside and the wall grown big and hard again.
"Do you have the gem?" a person came from the darkest corner of the room.
"Why, I missed you too, Kage." I sneered, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Don't be so sentimental. You're here to make business. I must admit it, you are very good at it... Kikyo..." finally, Kage showed himself.
He was an ice and illusion demon, we kinda grew up together. I remember very well, that when I was only a brat, he loved to fool me with his illusion games. As years passed, I learned how to defend myself from his tricks. Our relationship is weird: we aren't friends. Maybe we were a long time ago, but it ended. Now, we are only partners. Both of us are too stubborn to actually admit it, but we care for each other.
"Yes, yes, here's the gem." I grabbed a little jewel from my pocket and tossed it to Kage.
"Splendid. Now, what would you like in return?" he smirked and I returned it.
"Hmmm... To be honest, I have no idea." I admitted, sitting on a chair. Another figure came from the shadows, this time it was a big reddish-brown wolf. Her name was Akari and she wasn't any ordinary wolf. She was much bigger than other wolves, had sharp teeth, long claws and she was very strong.
Before I met Inuko, Akari was my criminal partner. Sometimes, Kage called us the 'WD Team'. 'WD' is for 'Wolf (and) Dog' or 'Wild Dog'.
Akari walked over to me and I petted her head. We could understand each other's body language or sense our current emotions. Well, I was partly a dog after all.
"Hello Akari." I greeted the wolf. She licked my hand in response.
"I think I've got just the thing for you." Kage said. He raised his hand and a gun appeared in his palm. It looked like an usual weapon, but I knew it was special. Every single weapon made by Kage, the Illusion Ice was special.
"Let me explain. The bullets of the gun, after hitting the target, can turn into an ice block or, if you put more Spirit Energy into it, can make explosions. The more Energy you put into the bullets, the bigger explosion will be." my partner explained, giving me the gun. I liked it...
"Awesome, as usual. Thanks, Kage." I said, putting the gun in my pocket.
"I'll send you info about your next target tomorrow." the dealer promised.
"Oh ya, about that..." I grew nervous inside "You see... Inuko got captured and I was forced to be a... Spirit Detective." I ended, closing my eyes. '3... 2... 1...'
"You WHAAAT??!!"
"Kage... Don't worry, okay? Chill..." a sigh escaped my lips.
"CHILL?! MY PARTNER-IN-CRIME IS A DETECTIVE!!" Kage was pissed. Akari whined and ran to her corner. I was sooo much in trouble...
"Kage, look... I didn't have much of a choice! Ah, forget it, I still will be helping you. Besides, as a... Detective I will have access to many important documents!" I tried to calm him down. It seemed to work and Kage's eyes went back to normal (when he was yelling, his eyes were wide open).
"O...Okay then..." he sighed deeply.
"So we're cool, right?" I wanted to make sure.
"Yes, we are. Nothing will change... Between us." he said seriously.
"Sweet. I gotta go now, I'll send you a message when I'll be free. See you then." I waved "Bye, Akari."
I was about to jump in the portal, when a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned around to see Kage.
"Something else?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Promise me..." he whispered.
"Huh? Promise what?"
"That... We will be partners... No matter what..." he looked a bit pale and I was wondering why. I gave him a tiny smile, not a smirk, a smile and put my hand on top of his.
"No matter what I will be your partner. Just like on the battle with the Gray Neko's NekoCat... We fought together, remember?" I said softly. That side of me knew only Inuko, Akari and Kage.
"See you soon, Kage..." I jumped to the portal and 3 seconds later, landed in the cave behind the waterfall.
The sun was now higher in the sky, so I had to hurry. I ran to Koenma's mansion as fast as I could, then I climbed to my opened window.
'I guess Inuko is up' I thought, glancing at the empty bed.
"She's downstairs, eating breakfast." a cold voice came from behind me. I spun around. There, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, stood Hiei. He was glaring at me with his cold red eyes. I exchanged his glare.
"So, you're a telepath? Useful, huh?" I smirked, trying to cover the nervous feeling inside my stomach.
"Where were you?" he ignored my question.
"On a walk. As your idiotic friend said earlier, I must take walks. Especially in the morning." I sneered. Then there was a long silence, when I tried to remember how to put up a barrier in my mind, so Hiei couldn't read my thoughts. I think I succeeded, because the fire demon just 'Hn'ed and pushed himself from the wall, walking to the door.
"Breakfast is ready." he said, leaving my room.
When I was sure he was gone, I sighed deeply and fell on my bed. That was close. Too close.
I have to be careful next time.
My ears perked up and my tail twitched as a delicious smell filled my nose. 'Oh, no...' I jumped off the bed and within two, maybe three seconds I was in the kitchen. Inuko smiled at me politely and gave me a cup full of hot, delicious chocolate. I drank everything in one gulp.
"Hey, don't eat the cup!" Yusuke laughed when he saw me licking the chocolate from the cup, making the dish clean.
"Yeah, Inuko was right, you DO love chocolate!" Kuwabara joined Yusuke and they were both laughing.
"Now I know what to make you instead of coffee." Kurama smiled.
"Feh." luckily, no chocolate stayed on my face. Chocolate was my BIG weakness since I was a child (puppy?). I couldn't resist it then and I still can't resist it now. And now they know about it. Damn.
The door opened suddenly and three girls entered the kitchen. The first one had blue hair, pinkish eyes and she wore a pink kimono. For some reason she held the smell of death.
The second girl, a pure Ningen, had short brown hair and brown eyes.
The last girl was an ice demon, I could tell right away. She also had blue hair, but her eyes were red. Her smell was the same as Hiei's.
'Is she Hiei's sister?' I wondered. I was about to ask her, when...
'Don't you dare talk about it, inu-onna!' Hiei's voice shouted in my mind. I winced slightly and the three girls spotted me. I had no chance to run...
"AAAHH! SUCH CUTE EARS!!" the Ningen girl yelled.
"LET ME TOUCH THEM!! PLEASE, LET MEEE!!" the death-smelling one squealed.
"N-NO!! GET LOST!!" I tried to run away from them. My ears were pulsing with pain because of the noise the whole scene caused. Yusuke and Kuwabara were laughing even harder, Kurama and Inuko were trying hard not to laugh, Hiei was smirking. Chaos. And Hell to my ears. I'm just glad that they didn't see...
"OMG!! TAIL!!"
"KAWAII!!"
'You were saying, inu-onna?' Hiei mocked me.
'Oh, just shut up!'
After showing the girls that I can bite, everything calmed down and we all sat around the table. Kurama brought breakfast and Yusuke and Kuwabara started piggin' out.
"So, who are you?" the pink-eyed girl asked me.
"Hn. You should introduce yourself first." I said, still angry for before.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" the girl chirped "My name is Botan, I'm the Grim Reaper."
'That explains the smell... But she doesn't look like a Grim Reaper... Too cheerful' I nodded.
"This is Keiko," she pointed to the Ningen "and this is Yukina."
"Hello." Yukina greeted politely.
"Kikyo." I muttered, looking at the food.
"And this little girl is Inuko, Kikyo's daughter." Yusuke pointed at my companion while smirking and chewing the meal. Keiko and Botan widened their eyes.
"You have a daughter?!" they shouted in unison.
"Not really. But we're close." I glared at Urameshi.
"Oh. Anyways, Yusuke, Kuwabara have to go to school tomorrow, with Keiko of course." Botan said "And Inuko too, Koenma's orders."
My eye twitched madly. 'What... The... HELL??!!!'
"Over my dead body. Inuko is staying here or I'll go with her." I growled, feeling my anger rising.
"But, Kikyo-san..." Yukina spoke up. My right ear perked up a little. Only Inuko was calling me per 'Kikyo-san'...
"No. If Koenma insist to send Inuko to school, then I'll go with her. For protection." I stood up.
The last time we separated ended awfully. Inuko almost got killed! And I won't allow that to happen again.
"Koenma, the puppy-chic wants to go after Inuko to protect her." I looked at Yusuke to see him talking to a pocket mirror. "Uh-huh, fine. See ya." he turned towards me "As long as no one will see you, go ahead."
"Feh! Who said I have to get a permission..." I turned my head, an annoyed expression plastered on my face.
Inuko got all the books she needed. She also got an uniform. She looked really pretty in it.
It was 7.35 now and me, Inuko, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Keiko were ready to go.
"Remember, Kikyo..." Botan started warningly.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go already!" I cut her off.
A portal appeared and we jumped in.