Chapter 4: The fox and the wolf maiden

"What do you mean she's not in her room?!"

Hinageshi winced at the toddler's high pitched scream. "Anou… when I came to her room, everything was left in place… and she wasn't there… maybe she went to spend some time in Ningenkai?" she added the last uncertainly

Topaz orbs blazed furiously at the red head before him before sighing. "Maybe…" knowing his ferry girl, she probably went to Ningenkai to spend some time with Keiko and Shizuru… maybe even with Yukina… demo… why can't I help feeling that something's bad is going to happen? Leaving his morbid thoughts behind, Koenma, in his toddler form looked at the stack of papers on his desk and rubbed his temples. This is going to be a very long day… looking up, he looked at the young ferry girl and dismissed her.

What if she's not in Ningenkai?

At that thought, Koenma started, "Hinageshi."

"Yes, Koenma-sama?"

He frowned and looked at the purplish skies of Reikai, maybe he was just being a worry wart… demo it wouldn't hurt to make sure, "Hinageshi, go to Ningenkai and make sure that Botan is there. If you find her, tell her to report directly to me, immediately."

As Hinageshi left, he mentally assured himself that their resident Deity of Death is merely spending some time with her friends at the human realm… nothing really to worry about.

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Kurama watched as the people passed by the window. It was already late afternoon and Yusuke had called Keiko and asked her to bring their picture which was taken last summer when they all went swimming and asked her to meet them at this little café. His mind went back to the incident earlier when they had met a certain ferry girl's mother. Shizume had looked nothing like her daughter… the hair, the face… everything… well… everything except their eyes. Looking deep in Shizume's eyes, he was very much reminded of a bubbly ferry girl from Reikai.

"I wonder if Botan-kun knows all about this…"

Looking from the window to his fellow detective and friend, he sighed and remembered Botan's question to him a couple of days ago, how come?, he sighed. "Iie, Kuwabara-kun. I don't think Botan-kun has any idea about her past… and I don't think she'll be thrilled to know that she was hidden from her own parents."

Yusuke looked at him closely. "And you know this?"

The red head sighed. "Because she's already having some dreams about her past and it's scaring her…" at the looks that was thrown his way he sighed again, "she came to me two days ago asking about the dreams that she was continuously having for the past few months… after meeting her mother, I think her memories are now resurfacing…"

The demon incarnate grinned. "Hey! Then that's good! If we tell her the truth, maybe she'll agree to help us!! I'm sure she would want to know about her past anyway!"

Hiei snorted and glared balefully at Yusuke. "And what? Lead her directly to Kurusake? You heard Koenma, he's currently tearing Makai apart looking for her spirit."

Kurama nodded at Hiei's words. Looking behind Yusuke, he noticed Keiko coming inside the café with someone trailing after her, when Yusuke's girlfriend stopped beside their table, he recognized the little girl to be another ferry girl. "Keiko-kun, Hinageshi-kun…"

Sliding on the seat beside Yusuke, Keiko smiled at her friends and placed the picture on the table. "Sorry it took me this long. I had to find that picture from all my things."

The fox incarnate looked at the picture on the table and back to the ferry girl now seating beside Kuwabara, a trickle of unease crept up his spine as hec watched her worried face. "Hinageshi-kun, did Koenma send you over with a message for us?"

At the shake of her head, Keiko looked at the four detectives. "Ne, Yusuke, what's going on by the way? First you ask me for this picture, now Hinageshi's looking for Botan-chan. We've already called Shizuru and she told us that Botan's not there… only her and Yukina."

Hinageshi lifted her eyes to the tantei, "Anou… Koenma-sama wants Botan-san back at reikai immediately… and since she is assistant to the tantei… I assumed that…"

Yusuke frowned. "She's not here, and…" he stole a glance at his fellow detectives, "I don't think she has any idea about our new mission right now."

"Where in three worlds could she be?" Hinageshi whispered worriedly

Kurama glanced at the picture on the table and felt his world shift a bit as he eyed the image of their bubbly ferry girl in the picture.

Botan…

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Yusuke swore out loud as they tried to keep up with the silver apparition ahead of them, he, Kuwabara and Hiei were currently sitting on Puu's back as they tried to keep up with the legendary thief. "Do you think that she's with that wolf demon already?"

Hiei merely kept quiet but his eyes hardened as he watched his friend move quickly from tree to tree in search of the ferry girl. From all of the tantei, he was the only one who knew of the kitsune's affection to the ditzy girl… the moment that they had realized that Botan was nowhere to be seen, both in Ningenkai and in Makai, the kitsune transformed immediately into his demon form and stormed back into Makai to locate the young woman in question, surprising the other two detectives.

Pausing to gather his senses, Kurama stood on top of the highest tree in Makai, his amber orbs glittering with fury. If anything happened to her… closing his eyes, he concentrated on finding her ki, when that didn't work, he used his other senses to try and see if he could locate her that way. Hiei a while ago had already tried finding her using his jagan, unfortunately it failed at doing it's task when he could not find the ferry girl or her mother. Eyes snapping open when his nose caught the faint scent of peony in the air. Eyes glittering and his ears twitching, he sniffed the air again and moved so swiftly that the other three detectives were surprised at his sudden movement.

Urging Puu faster, he leaned over to shout at his friend. "Oi! Kurama! Did you find anything?"

"I'm not sure… but I think I caught the scent of peony in the air…"

Kuwabara frowned. "Peony? What's that got to do with Botan?"

Hiei sighed and rolled his eyes. "Baka ningen. There's no peony here in Makai…"

The taller teen bristled at his words but then stopped when his last sentence hit him. "No peony… then that means…"

"Kurama caught the scent of that ferry girl."

Hiei's eyes widened when he sensed the faint barrier that stood in their way, "Stop the bird! Kurama, watch out!!!" as his words left his mouth, they were thrown forcefully backward when they crashed onto the barrier.

Groaning, the fox demon shook his head and looked at his surroundings, checking if his friends were right behind him, eyes widening in surprise, he stood up fluidly and watched as his friends started bickering with each other. He watched as Hiei looked over to his position then looked over to the other two detectives and talked to them. After a few minutes, the three rode back behind Puu and left.

They didn't see me. He thought as he watched as Puu disappeared from his sight. Looking up, he then realized that when they crashed headlong to the barrier, Puu's massive size created a ripple that when the rest of them were thrown backwards, he on the other hand, was thrown forward and into the protected area of the barrier. Looking at the clearing and the forest ahead of him, he thought about the way Hiei acted and when they had left without looking for him… stopping abruptly, he stared back at the area where he thought the barrier was and realized that it also acted as an illusion to protect this area.

But what is it protecting? Moving cautiously forward, the then noticed that the scent of peony was stronger in this area. Clenching his clawed hands into fists, he stepped into the forest only to be stopped with a low, husky chuckle from his side. Quickly materializing his rose whip, his eyes widened when he saw the very object of their search standing not more than five feet away from him. Arms crossed below her breast, she leaned casually on the tree with her legs crossed, her unusual azure hair was left down and gently moved with the wind, but what surprised him was the amount of youkai ki that she was emitting and the ears perched on top of her head and the softly swinging tail curled up on her waist. When she opened her eyes, it gleamed dangerously of amethyst and silver.

She pursed her lips and grinned dangerously at the kitsune apparition before her, "Well, well, well… if it isn't our legendary kitsune… what are you doing here? There is nothing for you to steal here."

Letting the whip disappear from his grasp, he watched her closely. "I'm not here to steal anything, Botan-kun"

Her eyes flashed dangerously. "If not to steal then what?"

"We were looking for you."

She laughed softly, "Looking for me?" she looked at him, amusement twinkling in her bright amethyst orbs, "Why in three worlds would you be looking for me, Youko Kurama? I'm perfectly situated where I should be. I'm home…"

He stepped forward to the ferry girl. "I'm here to bring you back to Reikai."

Amusement faded from her eyes to be replaced by fury. "Yes. That's what Koenma-sama ordered you, did he not? Did he order you to steal my mother, too?"

Irritation flickered in his gaze. "I'm not here to steal anything, I'm going to take you back home, Botan-kun…"

She chuckled dangerously and shook her head. "I'm afraid you've got it all wrong, Kurama-kun… it would be classified as stealing if you're going to take something away from where it should be… and I assure you… I am perfectly aware of where I am and who I am, now." Giving him a ladylike snort, she turned to face him fully and waved her hand, in a few moments, he was surrounded by five demon guards with their weapons aimed at him. When one of the demons came and roughly held his arms, Botan came forward and looked up to his confused amber orbs. "You on the other hand…" she whispered softly, "Are trespassing on my father's land… and so…" whipping around, looked at the other demons surrounding them and barked her orders. "Take this kitsune in and bring him to father," smirking dangerously at him, "let's see what he's going to do to thieves and trespassers like him." At her words he was roughly pushed forward by the youkai holding his arm.

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AN:

Hi minna! This is the 2nd update that I've done in quite a while… when I have extra time, I'm going to finish my card captor story… and see if I 'm upto making a sequel to Eternally Bound. Hehehe… that is if I get to finish this story as well as my other pending stories… or which ever comes first. Hope you like this story minna! Revies please!!

Aoi-chan