Hi again! I didn't get the 3 reviews I was hoping for but I want to post this chapter cause I think its kinda cool. Let me know what you think and if I should proceed! Enjoy!
Chapter 5: The Phone Call
"Hello?"
Kurama opened his mouth to answer and found his throat dry. "Y-Yamamoto-san?"
"Yes. I take it this is Kurama-san?"
"Yes." Unsure of how to proceed, Kurama put the phone on speaker and set it on the table. They were at Yusuke's now, seated at his kitchen table. Hiei sat across from him and Yusuke himself stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Botan stood in the corner, trying not to draw attention to herself. The Fox demon took a deep breath and still, he could find no way to start. How the hell was he supposed to explain to a couple of girls that, even though he had attacked them, one of them was supposed to fall in love with him?
"You know, you called me and these phones have a limited amount of minutes."
"Yes, I know. ...Look, I just called to apologize. I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding on our end."
"... Okay...?" When Kurama didn't go on she heaved a sigh, making a loud 'whoosh'ing noise in the speakers. "What did you perceive the situation to be?"
Hiei glared at Botan, furious that she had not explained the situation better before. She backed up into the wall and held up her hands apologetically. Kurama attempted to explain. "When Hiei and I were at the tournament the other day we were made aware of a human psychic. We found this very strange. A friend of ours was standing across the way when you walked past and she appeared to be alarmed by your presence."
"The ferry girl?" Akari interrupted.
"Yes. We approached her later that day and she became very nervous and denied having seen you at all. The only explanation that we could think of for her behavior was that you and Ryu-san were blackmailing her. But, again, she refused to answer our questions."
Hiei's glare deepened. Suddenly, he spoke, irritation clear in his voice. "Is Ryu there?"
"Yes."
"Can't she speak for herself?" Kurama fought to resist smacking Hiei. The fire demon wasn't helping their campaign for understanding when he spoke to them in such a gruff way. Akari hesitated at the other end, as if waiting for an answer.
"Ryu-chan says that it's hardly any of your concern and that you guys seemed most interested in contacting me so there's no point in her taking part in this conversation." She didn't seem at all angry. Her tone was even and light, merely discussing facts with no emotional attachment.
Yusuke snorted quietly in the doorway. "That sounds like a girl for Hiei all right." Hiei turned his glare from Botan to Yusuke but the ex-detective wasn't the slightest bit affected and continued to grin widely.
"Exactly how many people are listening to this conversation?"
"Ryu apparently," Hiei growled, leaning his cheek on his fist in a manner that strongly resembled a pout.
"Only Hiei, our ferry girl friend, Urameshi Yusuke, and myself."
"Not that it's any of your concern." It was Kurama's turn to glare. Hiei grudgingly fell silent.
"Only," Akari scoffed. "But we digress. Please, if you would, explain why the ferry girl was alarmed by us."
Botan stepped forward and pointed to herself, indicating that she would like to be the one to explain. Kurama gestured to the phone, giving his permission. "Hi there Akari-chan. My name is Botan and I'm the ferry girl you guys were talking about. Not that you haven't guessed that already. But anyway, I just wanted to tell you what happened. See, I was bored one day in Koenma's office and I found this book in his desk. This book told me that you were Kurama's soul mate and Ryu was Hiei's soul mate but since I wasn't really supposed to know about that stuff I didn't want to tell them that. So when I didn't tell them, they thought that you had threatened me, even though you don't even know who I am. Of course, you know now but-."
"Botan-chan!" The blunette jumped and stopped rambling. Her voice had been getting faster and faster with every word and by the end they were all having difficulty understanding what she was saying. "Botan-chan, please calm down. Should your story hold to be true, all will be forgiven. However, the likelyhood of your explanation is slim. We will attempt to confirm what you have said and we will contact Kurama-san and Hiei-san later. Is there anything else we should know?"
Kurama blinked. How exactly did they plan to confirm the story? But it would do no good arguing. So, reluctantly, he allowed the conversation to end. "No, I suppose not. Hiei and I will be awaiting your contact." There was a small 'click' as the line went dead.
"You tell them that you guys are soulmates and they want to confirm it and get back to you?" Yusuke gave each of them a strange look. "What kind of girls do you attract?" Suddenly, Akio began to scream. Yusuke groaned and disappeared down the hall, leaving the 2 demons to their thoughts.
Akari gave Ryu a look and Ryu glared back. "I told you not to go before the call."
It was a bad idea to just blindly assume their ignorance and it still is. Koenma's desk? Akari nodded and Ryu stood reluctantly, stretching. Before entering the mountain again she gave the psychic a long look. Akari, she jumped, keep in mind that whatever I find is irrelevant. We aren't exactly in a position to have soulmates right now. You know that better than anyone.
Akari flinched and didn't say anything. Without another word, Ryu disappeared into the tunnel.
She made good time back through the winding passages, taking short cuts that only she could remember and avoiding the mazes of stalagmites with practiced ease. She'd lived in these tunnels and trained here for years. She had grown tired of them quickly but they were the secret to her life. She flew through the room Akari had been pacing in and the passage beyond. Rounding a corner, she caught sight of the portal to the Makai first, a writhing mass of bright red; then Reikai, a swirling electric blue.
This was Ryu's life, jumping from one place to the next on a whim, slipping in anywhere that caught her curiosity and leaving the same way she came, without notice. Every now and then she did favors for a select few demons, namely one of Enki's advisors that liked to know what people were up to, and was paid handsomely for it. However, she was unemployed in every sense of the word and had no income.
She took a moment to gaze into the Makai portal, then shook her head. No. There's no point.
Taking a deep breath, she launched herself into the Reikai. The portal trip was short and when her feet finally touched solid ground she found that she desperately missed it. Something about being between the worlds, in total darkness, with no one's energy pressing in on her own. She felt free there. But there was no time to be free right now. In 1 week, the shit would hit the fan and she had to be ready, including being prepared for whatever those idiots in Spirit World were planning.
The portal put her down in the middle of a forest about a mile from Enma's castle. Without a sound she moved west rather than north towards the castle, circling around a stand of rocks. She didn't want to be seen near the portal. If it was found her entire operation would be shut down and she would be trapped in the Reikai. She went more than 2 miles before changing direction.
Ryu followed a half-moon path until she was about 400 yards from the castle wall. Like clock-work, a breach opened in the wall security every 15 minutes. It only lasted a few seconds but that was all she needed. She had become very fast.
Inside the courtyard, she touched down and ducked into some low brush near the wall as one of Enma's soldiers appeared from a side entrance. He glanced around, clearly bored out of his wits, and then disappeared inside once more. She watched him pass a window down the hall and extended her energy. Nobody else was there. Silently, she pushed off the wall and appeared in front of the side entrance, slipping in and jumping to the rafters.
Another energy was coming. Taking note of the dust on the other rafters, she stayed put. If she disturbed the dust and it fell, the approaching ferry girl may notice.
The dark-haired woman passed slowly, her kimono shuffling slightly. Once she walked by Ryu's hiding place, the demon took off. She didn't want to spend too much time in the castle.
It took time to navigate the halls to Koenma's office and by the time she reached the filing room she was getting frustrated. People were up and about today, discussing the Makai Tournament in hushed voices.
She suppressed her energy before entering the room. The ogres that were rushing about didn't pay any attention to her, too caught up in their work. As long as they didn't notice that she was a demon they would forget her in an instant. She wove through them slowly, moving forward and backward and twisting out of their way in her attempt to cross the room.
Most people didn't like them. They were weak and smelled and couldn't hold an interesting conversation to save their lives, but Ryu liked them. They were funny, organized somehow amidst this chaos. She enjoyed watching them work and if Enma's guards didn't make her so damn nervous she would stick around to do so.
It took a full 15 minutes to navigate the mess of the filing room and she veered left immediately after, toward a side hall. When she found an empty room she ducked into it, noting security cameras and the tiny air vent in the corner. The guard in the security room wouldn't catch a thing on the monitors. Upon reaching the vent, Ryu produced a screwdriver, though it turned out to be unnecessary. The vent was already open.
Shit! What the hell is going on?
When she extended her energy into the vent, she found a small demon within, just outside Koenma's office. Swearing colorfully in her head, Ryu pulled herself up to the vent. It was small, barely enough to fit her head and shoulders through, but she had become accustomed to it over time, considering how often she was here. Spirit World had tough security but the things behind that security were worth all of the risk.
It took several minutes to travel the length of the vent and several more minutes to do it quietly when the demon would be within earshot. When it was just around the corner, Ryu pulled out a small knife and with one heave she pulled herself into view and flung the knife. It wasn't exactly the place she wanted to fight but the imp-like creature didn't see it coming and went down without a sound. She tried to hurry down to it to push it further down the vent before the blood began to leak out but she got stuck for a minute along the turn. She swore again. She always got stuck here!
But she made it in time. Koenma was in his office, just starting to doze off. Ryu sensed 3 more demons in waiting, one outside the window, one in a second vent across the way, and the 3rd was a type of demon she'd never seen before that seemed to be completely made up of shadow, hiding behind the camera that was focused on Koenma's desk. It was a hit. And a pretty damn noisy-looking one too. What idiot planned this? If they were lucky, that shadow demon would get out alive. And now she had to kill them, get the book, and get out before anyone noticed. She was screwed.
But she had to think fast, Koenma was gonna fall asleep any minute now and that was when they'd strike. She did her best to hurry around the vents and took out the second demon the same way she'd taken out the first. The more she studied it, the more confused she became. This one was the same as the other and she had never seen anything quite like either of them before. They were small, with cat-like hind legs, leathery red-brown skin, a head too big for its body, and bat-like ears that hung down to its shoulders.
She began to wonder what kind of demon was hanging from Koenma-sama's window sill. It was rather big and she couldn't imagine how it had escaped the attention of all of Enma's guards on the wall.
Ryu monitored the shadow demon's energy carefully. When it was sure that the prince had fallen asleep it seemed to drape a part of itself over the camera, the rest of its body dropping to the floor silently. Even she couldn't achieve that stealth. The second demon slipped quickly in through the window, its slick skin the same yellowish color as the stone walls of the castle. Ryu pushed open the loosened vent and pulled herself through.
When the demons realized that she wasn't one of their companions they attacked. The demon from the wall dropped to the floor and its skin changed to blend in to the plush red carpet of the office. When she blinked, it flew forward. She easily knocked aside the impractically long claws and she grabbed it by the forehead, sending shoots of energy in through its eye sockets to shread its brain.
Quick, clean, and silent.
The shadow demon backed away. She let it. She didn't want to kill it yet because it was still covering the camera. She approached Koenma's desk and began checking the drawers. It just so happened that behind the top drawer on the left, the first one she checked, there was a small book. Just as she was reaching for it, the shadow demon charged.
Swearing, she killed it with a blast of energy that went straight through it. Koenma didn't stir but the darkness in front of the camera and the shadow demon itself seemed to evaporate and the other demon was still laying exposed on the floor. She ducked behind the desk, snatched the book, and sprinted through the window, knowing that the horrible resolution of the camera wouldn't show her unless someone slowed down the tape to look. She dropped a good 4 stories and landed hard on the ground below, in a garden.
The only cover around was an oversized rose bush. The thorns cut into her skin, despite her best attempts to avoid them, but at least she was out of sight. An alarm began to blare from somewhere above her and every guard on the wall turned to face the castle. Several of the guards ran to cover the entrances and exits of the castle, even some she didn't know existed.
Seeing her chance, Ryu made a run for it.