Whoo! Spring break!
-cough-
Ahem. Anyways.

Thank you to those who reviewed…

Chapter 17:
Du Weldenvarden Farcai, 14thShrineMaiden, Koji Jaganshi, Konane Shadow Wolf, xxDream Theaterxx, CryOfTheGhost, MikoHatome, Keia Mizuki, xXThEDeAdLyAsSaSsInXx, mary

Chapter 18:
ToboeShi, Du Weldenvarden Farcai, CryOfTheGhost, Koji Jaganshi, Konane Shadow Wolf, 14thShrineMaiden, Keya, Keia Mizuki, xXThEDeAdLyAsSaSsInXx, Nyx, Mary, RyokoOfTheDarknessRising, Mizuki-chan, Foxlover

…You guys continue to kick major ass!

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 19

The words felt like a slap to the face. Kana looked at Koenma, astonished. "But…why?"

"It wasn't their orders to start with, I'll tell you that. At first I sent out the Tantei only to find the demon and bring him or her back here. As you may not know, wolf demons now are very rare, and their powers are extraordinary. I was hoping that in some way I could recruit this demon to our side, so to speak. However, when I found what was left of his records, I discovered that…this demon is incredibly dangerous. There was no other option other than to kill him, to stop him from performing his nasty deeds."

"Do you really mean that?"

Koenma let out a heavy sigh. "It was – is – their orders, Kana." He coughed. "Anyways," he continued, looking around the room, searching for something. "I was only saying this for your safety. You must know what they plan to do." Koenma played around with his thumbs again. "Whether you like it or not, you are imperative to this mission. You play a big role. The Tantei need you to complete this mission. The demon has taken a liking to you, and he will come for you again." His voice lowered. "And the next time, you may not be so lucky as to have Youko come save you."

Kana looked to the floor, unable to meet his gaze. They find her brother again, and they will kill him. But now, there's no hope of them completing their job without her. They wouldn't really kill him, would they? Demon or not, he's still Aki…

"Kana."

Koenma's voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up at him.

"My question to you is this: will you help them?"

There was a long pause as Kana thought about those words. He was asking for her to aid in her brother's death. If she helped them, he was going to die. That was it, wasn't it?

Then again…

She thought of Deimus - his voice, his actions, that night three days ago, everything, even her father's death. It was hard to believe that he was possessed the body of her brother. They were so different. Deimus couldn't possibly be her brother. The only thing the same about them was the fact that they shared the same body. There was no way that she would aid in killing her brother. But Deimus, on the other hand…

Kana looked right into his eyes. "I will not help them kill my brother," she said, her voice strong, "however, the Tantei are my friends, and I will help them getting closer to the demon. I will help them in killing the demon, not my brother."

Koenma sighed, nodding. "There is one thing you must know – if they do get their hands on the demon, there is no guarantee that your brother will be safe. They share the same body – your brother may not survive at all. Do you accept the risks?"

"I do."

Koenma visibly relaxed in his chair. "You are a strong girl, Kana. The Tantei are lucky to have you. And now--," he placed his hands on the desk, "Botan?" he called out. There was a pause, then a loud creaking noise as the door swung open.

"Yes, sir?"

"Escort Kana back home," he ordered. To Kana, he added softly, "it is time you went back. Thank you for taking the time to come here. You will be hearing from me again soon."

Kana nodded, turning slightly to look at Botan. Unsure of what to do, she gave a small bow, then followed Botan out of the room.

"What will happen now?" Koenma sighed.

Kana followed Botan through the huge hallways, afraid that if she slowed down, she might suddenly lose her. She was going so fast, always talking.

"I've heard a lot about you from Yusuke and Kuwabara, you know," Botan was saying over the loudness of the ogres that passed them by, "it's nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah," she answered absently, not hearing anything Botan had just said at all.

"Keep close to me," she said, "it's easy to lose someone right around here," she finished, and Kana nodded, hearing her this time. She sped up her walk to stick closer to the kimono-clad girl.

They turned a corner, and came to a spacious room filled with ogres of all different colors, each doing something different. Some were talking animatedly; most were running around with huge stacks of papers. It was a scene of total chaos. Kana felt her eyes bug out of her head. What was this place?

As she was staring, she realized suddenly that Botan was gone. "Botan?" she called out, her voice getting lost over the noise of the ogres. "Botan?" she shouted, feeling desperate. She didn't know her way around here! How was she going to get home?

She quickly caught a glimpse of pink and blue somewhere in the commotion. Without thinking, she headed towards it, dodging the paths of various ogres in the process. She couldn't stop now. If she did, she feared she might be trampled by the ogres running around wildly.

"Botan?" she screamed, not expecting to get an answer. She looked around, trying to see anything that didn't have horns or claws. She ducked as an ogre came by with a stack of towering papers threatening to fall onto her. "Botan! Where'd you go?" she cried, whirling around in circles.

"Hey, get out of the way!" an ogre cried. "What are you doing here?"

Kana turned to the voice, but it was quickly lost in another sea of ogres running around. Damn it, she thought. Where the hell was she going? And where did Botan go?

"Hey! Botan!" she screamed, earning nothing but a few dodgy glances from ogres. Obviously screaming wasn't going to help anything, now was it? Kana sighed, defeated, and continued to make her way through the pandemonium. It was hopeless to look for someone here. She would get out of here, then find someone to help her look for Botan another way. Yeah, that sounded logical.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed her, pulling her away from the noise and commotion. "Hey--!" she protested, unable to see the person who was dragging her.

She was helpless as she was pulled through the chaos, realizing that she was getting out of here. They turned the corner, down another hallway, away from all the mess of the busy ogre-filled center. Kana let out a sigh of relief, glad to get away from the huge crowd and noise. It was only now that she got a glimpse of the one who had pulled her out of the mess.

"Kurama?" she said incredulously.

It was Kurama. She looked at him in something of shock and disbelief, unable to process the fact that he was actually here. But he was, he was here…and she was happy.

"Thank you," she said.

"What were you doing there?" he asked her.

Kana shrugged. "I was just following Botan," she said helplessly. "But then she was gone, so I tried to go find her."

"Not smart," he said, looking back. "It's hard to get through there as it is. Trying to find someone is next to impossible."

"I realize that now," she answered, hanging her head, but she couldn't stop the grin stretching on her face. It really was Kurama. "How'd you get here, though?"

"Koenma called us here," he shrugged. "Yusuke and the others should be around here somewhere too. I was on my way there when I saw you."

At the mention of Koenma's name, she suddenly remembered the conversation she had with him. "Kurama…" she began softly, and Kurama turned to her, hearing her tone change.

"Yes, Kana?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"I made up my mind." At this, he cocked his head to one side, waiting for her to explain further. "My brother came for me again, three days ago." She looked at him, waiting for a reaction.

"It's not safe for you anymore," he said softly, shaking his head a little. He didn't sound surprised or shocked, just…sad.

"Someone saved me, someone who claimed to know you," she continued, and at this Kurama visibly stiffened, which she thought was odd. "And it was only when I stopped him from killing my brother did I realize something."

Kurama paused, waiting to hear what she had to say.

Kana took in a deep breath, feeling herself on the edge of tears.

"He really isn't my brother anymore. Even Koenma told me that. He really is gone, forever. There's nothing I can do about it." Now she could feel the tears dripping down her cheeks, but she did nothing to stop them. Kurama came over silently and gently held her. She did not cry while she was in his arms. She had done enough of that before.

They stayed that way for a while, not speaking, just holding each other. Kana broke the silence. "You're going to kill him, aren't you?"

He didn't hold back, nor did he sugar-coat his words to keep her in denial. "Those were our orders. Yes." He held her tightly; as if afraid she might suddenly leave upon hearing those words.

"I'm going to help you with your mission. I know I let him get away a few days ago, and I won't let it happen again."

Kurama opened his mouth to say something, but just then Botan came running around the corner.

"Kana!" she cried, coming to a halt in front of the two. "Where'd you go? I was looking everywhere!" she stopped, looking from Kana then back to Kurama, who broke apart way too quickly. Kana was busy wiping at her eyes, and Kurama pretended to be staring up at the ceiling. A devilish grin spread on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry if I interrupted something," she said, a hand covering her mouth, winking.

Kana and Kurama reached out for Botan as she tried to walk away. "You didn't interrupt anything," they said in unison, and Botan blinked, looking surprised.

"Well, if you say so," she said, not sounding entirely convinced. She looked at Kurama. "Shouldn't you be at Koenma's office? He's waiting for you."

"Um, I was on my way there…" he started to explain, but Botan interrupted.

"And Kana, it's about time I brought you home." She grabbed Kana's sleeve and started to drag her down the hallway. She could only look back at Kurama helplessly.

"So, you and Kurama, huh?"

Kana blinked, looking at Botan. They were flying extremely fast through the night air, heading back towards her aunt's house. Kana blushed, hoping that Botan wouldn't see.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, and Botan laughed.

"Don't be embarrassed! I think it's cute!" she crooned, and that made Kana feel even more self-conscious. She gripped the oar tightly, afraid she might fall off. Looking down wasn't such a good idea…

There was a pause before Botan continued. "Not gonna talk about it, huh?" she said, swooping to the right quickly to avoid a tree as she lowered them closer to the ground. "That's all right," she said, giggling.

Kana rolled her eyes to the sky, wishing she would stop. This was the Grim Reaper? She hardly seemed to fit the description at all.

"To come to think of it, I think I heard Keiko saying something to me in passing about the two of you, but she wasn't really sure…" she nudged Kana with her elbow. "She said that you two would be good together, you know."

Kana blushed furiously, and looked for a way to change the subject. "There's my house," she called out, pointing into the near distance. Or, maybe it wasn't. She couldn't really tell, since all the houses were alike, but at least they were at her neighborhood now.

"Is it?" Botan cried, banking quickly to the right. Kana yelped, teetering on the edge of the oar for a moment dangerously before regaining her balance.

She studied the broad expanse of the nearly-identical houses, searching for her own. At last, as Botan soared above the next street, she spotted hers, the one with the open window. Without warning, she expertly guided the two of them through the open window, the oar disappearing from right below them as they entered her room. Botan and her crashed somewhat smoothly onto the floor of her bedroom.

"Well, that was interesting, now wasn't it?" Botan cried somewhat breathlessly, and Kana placed a finger to her lips, indicating that she be silent, in case that her aunt or someone else in the house may still be up.

"Thank you for taking me home," Kana said, in the same breathless tone as Botan, who smiled at her, having thoroughly enjoyed the ride there.

"No problem!" she said happily, and again her oar materialized out of nowhere. "I'd better be going," she added, hopping onto the oar. "We'll see each other soon!" she shouted as she zoomed out the window, and Kana peered out after her as she flew up, up, up, into the sky, until she was nothing more than just a tiny little speck, just like a star.

A week passed without any fuss. Of course, it depends on what 'fuss' is in your dictionary. There hasn't been a word from Koenma, Botan, or anyone else for that matter. And there were no visits from any demon of any kind. Things went back to it had been, when she first moved into her aunt's house.

"Kana?"

Kana poked her head out her bedroom door. It was her aunt. "Yeah?"

"Can you go in the garage and get a garbage bag for me?"

"No problem," she answered back, loud enough for her to hear. She left her room and headed down the stairs, making her way to the garage. As she passed her uncle's work room, she couldn't help but stop, hearing him talking in a hushed tone.

"Are you sure?" There was a pause. He must be talking on a phone. "I'm doing my best, all right? I can't do very much at this point; I barely see or talk to the kid." Another pause. A sigh. "Look, all I'm asking--," he stopped, as if getting cut off. Kana strained to hear more. What was he talking about? "It's hard enough blocking all her damn phone calls. At least one of them calls everyday. I know you told me to keep her isolated, but it's getting harder and harder. One of their calls is going to slip right by me, or they could come here and visit…" Kana suddenly felt chilled. Was he talking about her? "If you're not going to pay me, then I might as well just stop right now." A longer pause, and then a sound of satisfaction. "Thank you, thank you, you know that's what I wanted…" His voice was getting lower. Kana was desperate to hear more. She heard a gasp, and then his voice returned to normal. "No! No! Please, I'll do it, anything you ask…just please, you must give me…"

"Kana?"

Kana yelped, trying to scramble away from the door as quickly as she could. She landed on a heap on the floor, looking up at her aunt helplessly.

"Now, what on earth are you doing, dear?" she asked kindly, her face clearly showed her amusement. Her uncle's door opened and Haruhei's head poked out.

"I'm taking an important call," he growled, and when he saw Kana, he seemed to pale. She stared at him, trying to see his emotions. She felt nothing but anger at him now. He had been talking about her, hadn't he? And who was he on the phone with? She glared at him, trying her best not to get up and run over to him to give him a nice whack across the cheek. But suddenly, everything made sense now…

"I'm sorry, honey," her aunt said soothingly, trying not to get him too upset. He shook his head angrily and retreated back into the room, slamming the door behind him. Her aunt sighed. Kana got up from the floor, brushing imaginary dirt off of her jeans.

"I'll go get the garbage bag," she mumbled, heading quickly for the door leading out to the garage. She grabbed the box that contained them and pulled one out, heading back into the house and giving it to her aunt. She couldn't make eye contact with her.

"Kana, what's wrong?" her aunt asked, concerned.

Kana blinked, shaking her head. "Nothing," she answered.

It was dinner time, and Kana came downstairs to sit at the table. Ayamu and her uncle were already seated, and Kana made sure to give her uncle a dirty look before sitting down. His eyes widened, and for a moment he looked afraid. Perhaps he knew that she knew.

Her aunt put some spaghetti onto her plate, and smiled at her as she seated herself. "So," she began, trying to find a conversation-starter. "How was everyone's day?" A few mumbles, nothing in particular. Her aunt looked disappointed. She turned to her uncle. "Well, Haruhei? How was yours?"

"Yeah," Kana chorused, suddenly looking up at him, "how was your day? How many phone calls did you block?"

At this, her uncle's eyes widened with fury. Her aunt looked puzzled. "Kana, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing, its nothing--," her uncle interrupted quickly. Kana smiled.

"No, actually, I think it is something," she said, glaring at her uncle now. She could see that out of the corner of her eye that Ayamu was watching with interest. Kana folded her hands onto the table, smiling. "Do you remember that time, a few weeks ago at the dinner table, when we were talking about my friends?"

"Yes…" her aunt answered slowly, looking back and forth from her to Haruhei, completely confused.

"Turns out, they have been calling, haven't they?" she looked at her uncle, cocking her head to one side, her voice sounding unnaturally perky. Her uncle said nothing, only glared at her. "They have. Only I never knew. You know why?"

Her aunt looked completely lost.

"He's been blocking the calls. He's been picking up the phone and answering, hanging up, never telling me that they've called. Trying to 'isolate' me, isn't that what you said?"

"Now, you listen--," her uncle started angrily, setting down his fork with a clatter.

"Haruhei, is she telling the truth?"

"Yes, I am! Tell her. Tell her what you've been doing for the month I've been here." Kana stared at him, holding onto the edge of the table to stop herself from launching herself onto him in fury.

For a moment there was silence. Total, pure silence. Haruhei did not move, his eyes darting around the room as if to contemplate what to do next.

"You should know better than to listen in on calls that have nothing to do with you," he said finally, his voice in a dangerous whispering tone. Her aunt looked at him, shocked.

"Haruhei! Why have you done something like this? You knew she was upset about her friends to begin with. Why would you do something like this? It's so unlike you…" her aunt went on and on, but Kana could no longer hear the words.

"It does have something to do with me," Kana interrupted, answering her uncle's previous sentence. "It was me you talking about. So tell me," she continued, her aunt had fallen silent now as she watched Kana. Her uncle's gaze was on her unwaveringly. "So tell me, who is it you were talking to? Who put you up to this, I wonder?"

"No one," he answered smoothly, in the same odd tone he took with her before.

"Really? That's strange. I remember you talking to someone else. Who told you to do this to me? And what did you hope to receive in return?"

"You know too much," he hissed.

"Maybe I do, but then again, maybe I don't. I am going to find out who put you up to this, because you have no idea what it was like living here without any word of any of my friends back in Meiou, thinking what you said about them!" she shook her head angrily. "I can't believe I ever listened to you."

"Kana, dear," her aunt said, and Kana realized that she had gotten up and walked over to her, her hand placed onto her shoulder. Her touch made her feel weak all of a sudden, as if her strength seeped out of her. She realized how much the events the past two weeks had affected her. All she wanted to do now was to sleep, sleep away everything, and find out that maybe all of this was a dream, a horrible dream. "Go upstairs. Let me handle this now."

"I--," Kana started to protest, but something in her aunt's eyes made her stop. She silently nodded, giving in. She did not even look at her uncle as she swiftly left the kitchen, seething with anger…and sadness.

"Kana, may I come in?"

Her aunt's voice. Kana couldn't help but grimace a little. At least an hour had passed since she had been sent up into her room, and, despite how tired she felt, she couldn't bring herself to go to sleep. Something kept her awake.

"Yeah," she called out, and her aunt entered her room slowly, giving her a sad smile.

She looked unsure of what to do with herself. "Kana, I'm so sorry…"

Kana shook her head. "You had nothing to do with it."

"Your friend called again a few minutes ago. The one I met at the funeral that time, remember?"

Despite herself, Kana felt her heart jump a little bit. "Kur—Shuichi?" she had to kick herself inwardly when she almost let his 'nickname' slip. She kept forgetting that he went by Shuichi to everyone else.

"Yes, that's his name," she said, nodding and smiling. "And I answered this time, so don't you worry about anything anymore. I explained what had happened for the past month." She paused, as if expecting reaction. Kana stood stock-still. Where was she going with this? "He's a nice and respectable young man, Kana. I can't believe I never really realized this before."

Kana had to smile at that. Kurama always seemed to be the sort of kiss-up to adults or those in a higher rank than he was.

"I know it's not my fault," her aunt said slowly, watching Kana intensely now, "but I feel very guilty about what had happened. I don't know why Haruhei had done what he did, but it was wrong. He should never have done such an awful thing." Her aunt took a deep breath. "Here's what I decided: since you haven't had any real contact with your old friends, I figured that I'd let you go back there for a week or so, when the upcoming school break comes about. That way you can spend some more time with your friends."

Kana's eyes widened, looking at her aunt in disbelief. "Are you…serious?" she asked carefully, as if afraid her aunt would turn around and say 'April Fools!' or something else equally ridiculous.

"Of course I am!" she said brightly. Kana's mouth dropped open, and in her mind she quickly did the math – there was only a few more days until her school let out on a week long break…so that meant it would only be a few more days until she saw Yusuke, Kuwabara…and….

Kurama….

"Your friend has offered that you stay at his place, and in any other circumstances I would have said an outright no, but your friend is different. It's too bad we didn't have any respectable young men like that back when I was your age. You're very lucky to have someone like him, Kana," she coughed, and then smiled at Kana. "He's going to come here at the end of the week with his mother and bring you to his place for the school break."

Kana could feel her eyes bugging out of her head. She couldn't be serious. This was…unreal. Completely fake. Suddenly she realized she had been staring at her aunt with her eyes wide and her mouth open for the past minute like a complete fool and stopped immediately, flushing.

"Thank you," she whispered, giving her aunt a hug, something she had never done before.

"It's the least I could do, dear," she responded warmly, patting her on the back. "You're welcome."

It had seemed that the rest of the week passed by like it was nothing. When Friday came, Kana was ready to race out of school and get home, but something stopped her this time.

"Fair maiden, fair maiden!"

Kana stopped and turned, seeing Kuga running down the hallway to meet her in the lobby, right by the school's entrance.

"What's up?" she asked him as he came to a stop in front of her.

"What are you doing over vacation?" he asked her, his eyes wide like a child's.

"I'm going away," she said, not getting into it as deeply as he may have expected. His face seemed to fall.

"Oh…I see," he said, his voice lowering. His voice brightened as his continued on: "Well, have fun, wherever you're going!" He stopped, as if trying to remember something. His eyes seemed to light up as he reached into his bag and pulled out a bracelet. "I want you to take this." He clipped it onto her, and Kana studied it. It was silver, very plain, but with a charm that dangled off of it that resembled a single ruby red star. She smiled at it as she looked it over.

"Thank you," she said.

"You like it?" he exclaimed, looking excited. "Don't take it off, okay? It's really something special. Well, I got to go. I'll see you at the end of break!" And with that, he opened the doors and headed outside. Kana watched him go, then opened one of the doors and left the school.

All of her things were packed; Kana was greeted by them when she walked through the door of her aunt's home. He was supposed to be coming sometime within the next hour.

"Kana, is that you?" her aunt called out. "Why don't you come in the kitchen and help me cook while you're waiting for your friend to come." Kana headed into the kitchen as her aunt was speaking, and greeted her. She was standing over the stove, stirring a steaming pot. She handed the wooden spoon to Kana. "Can you stir this for me while I look for the noodles?" she asked her. Kana nodded, taking the spoon and putting it into the pot to stir.

"Thank you dear," she continued, smiling at her. She looked outside the window. "Ooh, that's not good," she said. Kana turned to look at her.

"What's not?"

"It just looks like there's a storm on its way," her aunt said, looking at the heavy dark clouds that hung in the sky.

A half an hour passed, and it had started to rain – hard. Kana stole a glance out the window and winced at the torrential downpour outside. It's all right, she told herself. Not even the weather can destroy a good evening.

Her aunt walked to the front door and took a peek out the window near the door. "Kana!" she called out, trying to get her attention. "Kana, he's here!"

She felt her heart start to pound as she followed her aunt, looking outside as well. Yup. That was his mom's car. Her aunt made herself busy, grabbing Kana's suitcase and an umbrella, as well as her jacket, and stuffing them in Kana's arms.

"Put on the jacket, it's pouring outside," she said, waiting for Kana to zip up the jacket before handing her back the suitcase and umbrella. She gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Be good, all right? We'll see you when you get back."

Kana gave her aunt a hug, whispering a quiet 'thank you' before putting her hand on the doorknob and opening it, stepping outside into the rain, putting up her umbrella. The rain pounded incessantly all around her, and the umbrella did little to protect her shoes from all the puddles she managed to step in as she made her way down the driveway. She gripped her suitcase tightly as if it were a lifesaver.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the car door opened, and Kurama stepped out, shielding himself from the rain with an umbrella as well. Kana stopped short, watching him. He stood stock-still, watching her. A minute must have passed, maybe more.

He held out his hand gently, smiling softly. "Come on," he said warmly, "let's bring you back home."

Long chapter! Whoo!

Until next time!