Bleargh. Is anyone even still reading this thing? Anyway, I took off the other fic because the moderators were complaining that it was more of an original story than a fic. Soo…..oh well, I suppose. Anyway. Let's continue, shall we?
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As the final shreds of night faded from the buttery yellow morning, an unearthly ruckus filtered through the windows of the tallest tower or the biggest building.
Kurama and company had spent the night in Reikai, mostly because Yusuke had to have an initiation party for Mirakuru, and after six straight hours of beer (they actually got Koenma drunk) and loud, thumping music, no one felt like taking the long trip back to Nigenkai.
"So what do Reikai Tantei do, anyhow?" Mirakuru asked, probably one of the most sober in the room, addressing no one in particular.
"Well, basically we-" Koenma began, swaying on his toes.
"WE FIGHT!" Yusuke shouted, still slightly tipsy from the beer. "AND FIGHT AND FIGHT AND FIGHT!" he continued, waving a beer bottle and singing at the top of his lungs, painfully off-key. "AND fig-ig-ight. . ." he wheezed, before falling into a deep, alcohol induced sleep.
"Ok, we do that too, but our main job is to-" Koenma started again.
"We clean up everyone else's messes." Hiei replied stonily. Unfortunately, that effect was killed by a slightly drunken hiccup.
"I wouldn't exactly call it that. It's more like-"
"We save hot girls! Like my Yukina. . .Yukina Yukina Yu Yu Yukiiiiiinaaaa" Kuwabara singsonged, still completely intoxicated.
"SHE'S NOT YOUR YUKINA, YOU OVERGROWN CHIMPANZEE!" Hiei roared.
Believe it or not, 27 bottles of beer can make even Hiei drunk.
"CHIMPANZEE! (Well, the way our dear Kuwabara says it, it sounds more like "shi-pahm-shee") YOU WANNA PICK A FIGHT OR SOMETHING YOU STUPID LITTLE MOUSE! HAHAHAH MOUSEY MOUSEY MOUSEY!" Kuwabara babbled.
Hiei's eyes flashed red, and something in his mind snapped.
"GRABBLESHIZZAPOO!"
He lunged for Kuwabara, katana in hand. Then two disappeared into a swirling cloud of dust that occasionally emitted bloodcurdling screams.
"WHAT THE REKAI TANTEI DOES IS!" Koenma screamed shrilly, trying his best to make himself heard over the Kuwahiei cloud.
"We keep the peace between the three worlds." Kurama finished, the only one besides Mirakuru not to have touched any beer.
"NO WE DON'T! WE KEEP THE PEACE BETWEEN THE THREE WORLDS!"
Koenma exploded.
"That's what I said." Kurama sighed. I knew Yusuke never should've given him all that beer. . .it's bad for a little kid like that . . . I can't believe that Mirakuru, Botan and I are the only ones not completely stoned.
"Good morning guys! Do you want your eggs sunny-side up or scrambled?" Botan beamed, bursting through the office door, brandishing a frying pan. A suspicious trail of smoke wafted through the door, following her.
The tendril of smoke drifted into Yusuke's nose, and his face twitched as he inhaled it. Then he inhaled a little too much for his lungs to handle, woke up, blinked, saw the smoke and promptly dove underneath Koenma's desk, shouting: "GAH! IT'S KUSARI! EVERYBODY DUCK AND COVERR!"
"YOU IDIOT! IT'S ME!" Botan yelled back and smacked him upside the head with her frying pan.
"Oh. My. God. Botan! You set my kitchen on fire!" Koenma screeched, jumping up and down frantically.
"YAHHHH!" George ran into the room, wielding a fire extinguisher. "Where's the fire?! WHERE'S THE FIRE?!?" He screamed madly. Then he spotted Koenma running around in little circles and sprayed him mercilessly.
"NOT ME! THE KITCHEN!" Koenma squawked, his voice taking falsetto to a whole new level.
"Oh. Gomen nasai, Koenma-san." George said calmly, entirely unperturbed after coating his employer in white foam. He grinned sheepishly and bowed before running out the door. Or, at least he tried to. Yakunan stopped him dead in his tracks.
Letting out an involuntary squeak, George turned a strange shade of indigo and joined Yusuke underneath Koenma's desk.
Yakunan resembled a squished marshmallow turned gray and moldy with age. His eyes sat wide apart on his flat face, and his jowls sagged to below his chin, on which grew a wart, on which grew a single hair. In short, he looked absolutely ridiculous. Worse yet, there was something like a giant toothpick sticking out from his forehead.
"I'm sorry to interrupt the comedy act, but I was sent here with orders." He advanced on Koenma, who was glued to the center of the room, trembling with fear.
In Tantei mode now, Yusuke got to his feet, and blocked Yakunan's path to Koenma with a flashy display of speed.
"Interrupt the act? Why? It would be so much more fun if you joined in," Yusuke grinned cockily, cracking his knuckles.
"Run," he hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
"I-I-I can't." Koenma said shakily.
"Grrr. . .Dammit!" Yusuke swore, and scrambled to knock Koenma out of the way, but found he was moving sluggishly, as though through molasses. "The hell?!" he cried, struggling to lift his feet.
"Interesting, isn't it? That just happens to be the psychic ability of my horn here." Yakunan grinned maliciously and tapped the "toothpick" protruding from his forehead.
"Hey! Marshmallow head! You don't scare me!" Kuwabara yelled brashly.
Yakunan's eyes narrowed and his pupils dilated: snake's eyes. His expression flickered from amusement to barely suppressed fury.
"You'll regret that." He snarled, glaring disdainfully at the bulky human. "Before I was simply going to take the twerp and his precious bottle here, but now I think I'll pay a visit to that Koorime you were talking about. Yukina, her name was?"
As Kuwabara turned a ghastly shade of blotchy white, Yakunan slung Koenma over his shoulder.
Mirakuru, meanwhile, found that if she concentrated her willpower enough, she could regain normal movement. She could sense that the horn's power was too weak to completely subdue more than three people.
"Arrow of the Moonfire!" Mirakuru traced the crescent to create the bow and arrows, but no trail of light formed, and no arrows solidified.
"What?" she gasped. Frowning, she reached up to her hair to use one of the ninja stars, but found nothing there. She glanced down and saw that the warrior's kimono had disappeared and she was wearing her normal street clothes.
"Aww, isn't that cute. The little princess is trying to summon an attack. Smooth move, thanks for letting me know who you are. C'mon girl." Yakunan bent down and picked up Mirakuru by the waist.
"PUT ME DOWN, YOU BASTARD!" she shrieked, more furious than scared. She jabbed her elbow against the small of Yakunan's back, where his spine should have been, and again at the base of his thick neck, two well known pressure points. To no avail. Yakunan looked more annoyed than hurt.
Yakunan blasted another hole in Koenma's office and leapt out. At about the same time, Kurama broke free of the spell and summoned an extra long rose whip that wrapped around Yakunan's leg. The rose whip tightened, but instead of stopping, Yakunan let go of his leg. Literally. Whatever marshmallowy substance he was made of writhed and bubbled, growing a new, stumpy leg in its place.
"May your soul burn." Mirakuru said bitterly when she saw there was no possible way to get back to Koenma's palace.
Yakunan snorted. "It's your so called Tantei that must burn. And the rest of Reikai," he growled.
"Why?" Mirakuru asked, falling neatly into the trap.
"Because if they hadn't deserted the Elves at the last battle, you would have lived out the life meant for you, a normal life, and never been reincarnated."
That stopped Mirakuru in her tracks. Could it possibly be that. . .? No way, what am I thinking? Kurama told me the story, Kuronue had become a thief! But what if he lied?
"How could a whole people have been wiped out by one battle?" Mirakuru challenged.
"The Elves were never numerous. They didn't have a country, so to speak, more like a large city, situated at a median point between the other four worlds. They were keepers of the peace, extremely long lived, more so than all the other races. A child was born every 50 years or so." Yakunan shifted his grip on Mirakuru, jolting Koenma in the process. He smirked viciously. "Once the Elves were overcome, and their city destroyed, then the Reikai jumped in."
"Shut up." Koenma said. He glared at Yakunan. "You know that's not true. Stop telling her lies."
"You're in no position to tell me to shut up. And let's leave this up to her. She's old enough to chose what she believes in, wouldn't you agree?"
Moments later, they arrived at Kusari's fortress, called the Mydariga. Its banners were ripped and torn, their bright colors faded. The fortress must have been the center of economy a long time ago. Now it looked more like a tomb.
"Put me down, damn you! I'm perfectly capable of walking." Mirakuru said giving Yakunan a solid kick in the chest.
"And let you escape? Do I look that stupid?" he scoffed. Then he noticed the wry looks on Koenma's and Mirakuru's faces, and realized what he'd just said. "On second thought, don't answer that question." he muttered, wrenching open the rusty padlock and shoving open the door.
He lumbered down a long corridor, and turned into a smaller hallway. There were no doors in this hallway, only a tapestry on the far end that hid an angular silhouette.
"Put her down, Yakunan." A familiar voice said from behind the curtain. "Stay in the corridor with the twerp. I want to talk to our little princess."
Just hearing Kusari's voice made Mirakuru shudder, but she did her best to appear brave and strong. She took a deep breath and pushed aside the musty red cloth.
"What do you want with me?" she demanded.
"Nothing more than to tell you the truth about your beloved Tantei."
"You didn't have to take me by force." Mirakuru said calmly. It was hard to keep herself from flying into a rage, but she knew her life depended on her ability to keep Kusari talking.
"But then you'd have resisted me and made this a whole lot harder. Now let me speak with no further interruptions. I'll start with Kuronue. He was the heir to the throne of elves. He was falsely accused of theft, and executed. What's worse, you beloved Kurama did nothing to save him as the Reikai police took him down. He simply watched from a distance. Then they throw me and my partner into jail. For what? Trying to take what is rightfully ours. And what does this have to do with you? Well, now you're next in line for the throne, which means you'll never have a normal life again. This all King Enma's fault. If he hadn't waged war with the demons, the elves would never have died, and you would have lived out your fated life, and would not have been reborn. So do you see our side of the story, princess?"
Mirakuru's breath caught in her throat.
"Y-yes." She stammered, turning over his words in her mind. They were certainly plausible, especially since her memory was still fuzzy around the edges. But how could they, who were so kind, betray her? And how could she betray them? Yet, Kusari was Elven, as was she. Why would he, one of the few remnants of her race, lie to her? Kusari's words were like numbing poison. Now she truly started to doubt her friends.
"I do see your side of the story," she admitted guiltily.
"Good. Now, all we need is the amulet, and all will go according to my plan. Do you know where the amulet is?"
This stopped her in her tracks. "I did not say I believed you, merely that I saw your side of the story," Mirakuru replied angrily.
"With your amulet, you can regain the full content of your memories, and realize the fullest extent of your power," Kusari soothed. "It is nothing but a good thing," he droned, his voice monotonous velvet.
Mirakuru almost reached up to finger her necklace. But something stopped her. Her intuition told her never to give up this amulet, that somehow it was the key to a happy ending. She really wasn't sure who to believe, but the amulet seemed like something she should never give away. And how could she be sure it was the right amulet, anyway?
"No, I don't know anything about an amulet." Mirakuru replied firmly.
"Are you sure? Search your memory. It will revive all elves that were reborn, and then we can take vengeance on--"
"No!" Mirakuru snapped. "I told you, I don't have it!"
Kusari glared at her, but it was beyond his power to read her mind. "Fine," he snarled. "Yakunan will show you to your quarters," he said tersely, and left the room with a swishing of heavy cloth.