Karei sat there, tapping her clawed hands on the table. The snake youkai that was assigned to keep an eye on her was starting to get annoyed.
Karei noticed a vein bobbing on his forehead.
Maybe just a bit more… Karei thought to herself.
"Is it time yet?" she asked again.
"No…" the snake youkai snapped.
"Is it time yet?"
"No…"
"Is it time yet? Is it time yet? Is it time yet? Is it…"
"No…No…No…NO…"
Suddenly, the snake youkai drew the knife from its sheath and aimed for Karei's hand.
Karei looked on with wide eyes.
"God Blimey! Perfect aim mate!" she said with a British accent that she often caught her mother using when speaking to her grandfather in English.
"What do you mean?" the snake youkai asked, narrowing his slit eyes. "I missed…"
Karei's eyes went bigger as she took a look where the knife landed. It was right in the gap between her index and middle finger.
"Wow…" was all she said.
"Lee! How many times do I have to tell you! Don't harm the girl!" Ryuka shouted, as she made her way down the steps into the small room.
"She started it…" he muttered, pointing at Karei. Karei narrowed her golden eyes.
"I did not." She said.
Ryuka harshly grabbed Karei's chin.
"Don't test us, sweetheart." Ryuka said sickly sweet. "We can kill you, you know…"
"No you wouldn't…" Karei said, putting together every last ounce of courage that she had. "I don't think your boss would like that very much…"
Ryuka gave Karei an angry look, but she released her.
"Just wait… my little puppy… when I get the chance… I'll teach you a lesson for having such a sharp tongue."
"Can't wait…" Karei said, giving Ryuka a very Sesshomaru- ish look.
Ryuka stormed out of the small room. Lee started to laugh.
"Kid, you're way over your head with her!" he hissed.
Karei just gave him a look.
"I gotta go to the bathroom…" Karei said, making the laughter stop immediately.
Akiya opened the door to the apartment she lived in. As soon as she took off her shoes and placed down her bag, a small set of arms wrapped around her neck.
"Mommy!" a little girl with silver hair covering her head, along with a set of dog ears and two pink stripes on each cheek and wrist. She wore a light blue sundress, with house slippers to match.
"Hi Michiko…" Akiya said smiling, hugging her 4 year old daughter back.
"Daddy! Mommy's home!" Michiko shouted, running to the back into the house.
"I know, I know… Chiko… clam down…" a dog hanyo said, trying to calm down the little girl, while holding a baby boy in his other arm.
Akiya smiled at the little scene. Little Yukio started to wiggle when he saw his mother.
Unlike Michiko, Yukio had elf ears and red stripes on his smooth cheeks and wrist.
"Kids a little feisty today, Soichiro?" Akiya asked her mate.
"Just a little…" he replied with a smile.
Otonashi Soichiro was an inu hanyo with shoulder length silvery hair, golden eyes, and one red strip on each wrist, from Kyoto, who moved to Tokyo the same year Akiya passed her entrance exam into the Elite. The two met at one of the local bars where elite members were most likely to be found, him to find a relative, her just hanging out with the guys.
A year later, Akiya and Soichiro felt a strong enough connection that lead to a memorable night. That was the year that Akiya retired from the Elite, moved in with Soichiro, and gave birth to Michiko.
After Yukio was born, Akiya and Soichiro talked about getting married soon. But, since Akil called to bring her back into the Elite, things have to be placed on hold for the moment.
Soichiro noticed the glum look in Akiya's eyes.
"Ki… is something wrong?" he asked.
"We'll talk later…" Akiya replied quickly, while being dragged away by Michiko to show her her latest crayon drawing of the day.
"Akiya's been re- instated?" Sayuri asked.
"That's right. Akil just called her while you were upstairs and told her." Sesshomaru replied.
The two were sitting alone in the living room. Rin was upstairs talking to Kaulani online.
Sayuri sighed.
"At least… they're putting on people that Karei knows on it…" she said, snuggling closer to her mate. "I think she would have taken the 'don't interact with strangers' thing a little too seriously if just other people went to save her…"
Sesshomaru shook the mental picture of that out of his head. He gave Sayuri's shoulders a gentle squeeze.
"Don't worry…" He said, as soon as he sniffed out the incoming tears from Sayuri. "We'll get her back…"
"I hope so. If anything happens to her…"
"I don't think Kohaku or Akiya's going to let anything happen to her…"
"I… know…." Sayuri said, drifting off to sleep.
Akiya walked into the Youkai Elite building in downtown Tokyo the next day.
"Lieutenant Nakamura!" one of the fellow elite officers stammered, as Akiya walked through the hallway, into the board room.
She decided to go with the black dress slacks, matching coat, and a creamy colored dress shirt, with gold earrings and necklace. Nothing too flashy. Her hair was currently cascading down behind her. She picked at the hair tie around her wrist that was going to pull her hair up later. She finally reached her destination, slid her access card into the card scanner, and entered the room.
"… So far, the only thing we have against Onigumo is that he's been bribing public officials from shutting his company down. Other than that, we got nothing. No motive to take the girl…" Sano said, as he continued his brief with the other Elite members working on the disappearance. Kohaku stood in the corner, taking notes. He was there as a representative of the Tokyo Police Department. Akiya cleared her throat. All attention turned to her.
"Gentlemen, this is Lieutenant Nakamura Akiya. She has just recently been taken out of retirement and she will also be in charge of this investigation." Sano said, introducing her to the rest of the group.
"Thank you, Matsuba- San… would you care to explain again, why that man…" Akiya said, pointing at the projection. "… Is on the suspect list?"
"That's Onigumo Naraku…" Sano said. "A day before the kidnapping, Mr. Tashio said that Onigumo stopped by his office, asking about a merger. He refused. That's a potential motive. However, the day after the kidnapping, Onigumo finally found that merger with a Ritoki Kentaro, CEO of Kansei corp.…"
"I want a check done on Ritoki." Akiya immediately said. She recognized him as Sayuri's ex- fiancée. "I have a feeling that the two are connected somehow. Now it's our job to find out what."
"You heard Nakamura…" Sano said. "Meeting adjourn."
As Akiya walked out of the board room, Sano, Akil, and Kohaku went after Akiya.
"Sis… what are you thinking of?" Akil asked.
"Right now, it's a theory… but I think that Naraku and Kentaro joined forces, due to their companies merger. Naraku is following the alibi that he and Kentaro were out that night, making the final arrangements of the deal to go through. But that's a little off, considering that earlier that day Naraku went and placed the deal on the table for Sesshomaru."
"But… he and Ritoki could have been in negotiations about their merger beforehand." Sano said.
"I highly doubt that." Akiya said.
"Why?" Akil asked.
Kohaku instantly had a brain flash.
"Because Onigumo inc. and Kansei corp. aren't in the same league." He said.
"Exactly…" Akiya said. "Onigumo Inc. is a stock business, while Kansei Corp. is a computer company, like Tashio Corp.…"
"That's makes a little more sense…" Sano said. "But why merge the companies?"
"Believe it or not… the head of Kansei Company also has a connection to the Tashios." Akiya said, finally reaching her old office.
"Which is?"
"Ritoki Kentaro was once engaged to Tashio Sayuri." Akiya replied, taking a seat in her chair.
The three men stood there surprised. It was surprising how quickly Akiya was throwing things out the window that made a whole lot of sense.
"His motive for his part of the scheme was to get back at Sayuri…"
"I remember my sister mentioning something about how he tried to get Sayuri back when she and Sesshomaru were still dating." Kohaku said.
"But… enlighten me on this relationship…' Sano said, raising a hand.
"Why exactly did Ritoki and Tashio- san break the engagement?"
"Because… Sano- san… Ritoki couldn't resist the call of the wild. She caught him with one of her friends the day before the wedding." Akiya replied.
Sano nodded.
"Thank you, Nakamura. We got extra information. Now I'll run that check on Ritoki for you…"
Sano left the office. Akil went and closed the door.
"Are you sure you're not basing it on your grudge against Naraku?" Akil asked, placing his hand on Akiya's desk.
"Honestly… a little bit…" Akiya said, staring out the window.
"How do you know him, Akiya- san?" Kohaku asked, making his presence known in the room.
Akiya turned towards Kohaku.
"Naraku and I were dating back when I was still training to join the Elite. He was also trying to join. But he failed. He got insanely jealous when I made the cut. Since things got abusive after a while, I broke up with him. The rest is history."
"I still can't believe you went out with that scumbag…" Akil said, clenching his fist. Akiya cleared her throat to gain his attention back.
"But on the other hand…" she said, looking both men directly in the eye. "Naraku and Kentaro is our best bet as to who kidnapped Karei. They may have not done it personally, but I'm pretty sure that Naraku has connections to youkai that would do his bidding, with the right amount of cash. I should know. After living with him for an odd number of years, I know how Naraku's mind works. We already figured out the who, but now we just need to find out the where.
'Akil, Kohaku, you guys are the only ones that I can trust with this, other than Sano. Kohaku, when you get back to the police station, report what went on in the board meeting, not the extra information that was recently discussed here in my office. Sorry, but the Police Force has been known to screw things up to the situation being beyond repair, so let's leave them in the dark for a few things."
"Right, Akiya- san…" Kohaku replied.
"Akil, you and I are going to go down to forensics and find out more about what was found at the scene."
"Then let's go already. I barely have time to waste." Akil said, as he started to head out the door. Kohaku went after him, followed by Akiya.
She was dead sure that Naraku and Kentaro were behind it all, but all she lacked for the moment, was evidence and proof. And that's what she was going to get to work on…
Hikaru- San: Oh… things are getting interesting. Don't you just love those people that always have their gears going?
Any who… read and review por favor!