Chapter 5: Tears of a deity

Kurusake watched his former comrade and smirked. It had been two hours ago that his daughter had turned the youko in and he still can't help to control the laughter that threatened to explode. Now that his daughter left the two of them alone in the vast chamber, he knew that the kitsune watched him warily and closely.

The silver haired kitsune watched as Kurusake sat in front of him, still struggling from the shock and surprise at Botan's actions a while ago, he stared at the wolf demon before him and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Something amuses you?"

The wolf demon then howled in laughter ticking the kitsune even further, when his laughter subsided, he watched the demon before him with silver eyes still twinkling with barely concealed amusement. "Kurama Youko… the infamous Kurama Youko," he shook his head then. "I'm surprised to find you working for Reikai my old friend… if I'm not mistaken, Kuronue would be laughing his head off if he knew about this."

A pained expression flitted through the kitsune's face before it disappeared. "If you haven't heard… Kuronue's dead."

The wolf merely sighed and nodded. "Yes. I have heard of that. Sit down, Kurama… unlike what my daughter thinks, I'm not about to tear you from limb to limb after you've trespassed my territory… you did after all help me build what I have now."

The kitsune merely shrugged and went before the wolf demon and sat in front of a low table across from him. Kurusake took a cup and drank from it. "Knowing you, Kurama, I'm sure that being a tantei was not of your choosing… am I right?"

The silver haired youkai merely chose not to respond to that question, "I didn't know that you took in a ferry girl as your mate."

Kurusake merely nodded and smiled. "I believe you've already seen, Shizume?" at his nod he continued, "There are a lot of things here that we've wanted, but when I first laid my eyes on that woman, I knew that I just had to have her… may Reikai damn me for it, I do not care. She is one in a million… as is my daughter that has been lost to us."

Kurama looked at him, "It has been, what? Centuries, since Botan died… why look for her only now?"

"That is because Shizume and I had resigned ourselves to the fact that she is indeed dead and that we would never see her again… until I happened to see her during one of my raids. I could not believe it at first, but I tracked her down and knew that it was really her. But before I could get my hands on her, she flew away and it was then that I knew that she was currently in Reikai… How about you, Kurama? Were you really planning to steal them both back for Reikai?"

Amber orbs looked at him and nodded. "It was what was ordered to us by Koenma… we were only following his orders… after all, we do work for him."

The silver eyes wolf looked at his friend. "I understand… since you are my friend Kurama, and we have gone a long way at that… I would not hold you in a dungeon nor have you killed. I will not treat you as a prisoner but as a guest here in my home… but you will never be allowed to step out of the barrier… once you do, you pronounce yourself as my enemy. I cannot have you racing back to Reikai about my place here as well as the location of my daughter and my wife" he added the last seriously.

Kurama looked at his old comrade and nodded.

That would also give me time to know why the hell Botan is so pissed off at me.

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Sighing as she watched her reflection on the clear waters before her, her mind wandering back to the events that had taken place for the past few weeks. When she had known everything about her past, she was filled with an irrational anger to Reikai and everyone who knew of her past… that included a specific handsome kitsune. When she had first seen Kurama inside her father's grounds, she could barely think clearly, all she wanted to do was rip him from limb to limb at his treachery. Using his recognition and his friendship, she was able to lure him and allow her demon guards to take him in. When she looked in his eyes, she knew that he was surprised and shocked at her actions. It was as if he had no idea why I was so pissed off… a few hours after that, she had seen the kitsune yet again, wandering down the halls of their palace, when his eyes met hers, he made his way towards her, but before he could come near her, she glared at him hatefully and ran away from him. It was then that she had heard from her mother, that Kurama was a former colleague of her father and that was the reason why he was invited to stay in the palace as a guest, instead of a prisoner.

Three weeks now… and I still can't find the strength to face him… the anger and fury was gone now… but what replaced it was sorrow and depression. I trusted him, I cared for him deeply… demo why didn't he tell me… why didn't… tears blurred her vision and she let her tears fall as she lowered her face in her hands. Baka! He doesn't even know of your feelings for him, for all that you know, he might think of you as just as his friend. At that thought, she let all of her sadness out and cried under the pale light of the moon.

Watching as her daughter cried softly beside the fountain and sighed. Leaning on her husband's side she laid her head on his shoulder as they watched their daughter silently from the side. "I've already tried to talk to her, anata… demo, she's not really talking… she would just smile and the say that everything's alright… even when it's not…"

"It has been years, koi… she's a grown up now… much more than we would like to admit… there are just some things that we cannot fix…"

"But it doesn't mean that we don't have the right to know or at least try to help her!" she bit out vehemently.

Kurusake merely chuckled and held his wife closer to him. "Daijobou… she'll open up… just give her time…"

Unknown to them, another pair of eyes was drawn to their daughter now resting quietly beneath the pale moonlight. Kurama watched Botan from afar, trying to gauge why her hate for him was so strong. What had he done to earn such hatred from her? She who was so happy and carefree all the time, the one person that he had been drawn to because of the light that she would bring to them, he wracked his brain to the reason why she would look at him with such hatred. Keeping his distance from her, he merely kept watch. He satisfied himself from watching her, what would make her smile, what would make her laugh, the things that would make her sad, make her angry. The few weeks that he had stayed here had given him the perfect opportunity to know the ferry girl… but there were things that still eluded him… such as the reason why the smile that she would usually give doesn't reach her eyes anymore, why won't she talk to him, smile at him, why she would give in to tears in the middle of the night, especially when she thought that no one was looking. He looked down at his clawed hands and fisted them, aside from the confusion as to her reaction to him, what bothered him was that he wanted to see her smile again.

I want her to smile at me again.

Amber orbs glittering in determination, he strode forward towards the now slumbering ferry girl. Slowly stroking her hair with his clawed hand, he quietly reveled at its softness before stopping in surprise when he heard her soft voice call out his name… it's tone light and laced with sadness and longing. Longing? Unable to keep the masculine smirk that made its way to his lips, the fox then gently lifted the girl into his arms and stealthily made his way towards her room. Stopping before her door, he already had his hand on the handle when he looked down at the girl in his arms. Deciding that he finally wanted to get some answers, he moved back from her door and made his way towards his own chamber.

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"I don't understand, he couldn't have disappeared into thin air!!"

Hiei sighed and looked at the carrot topped ningen that had gotten his beloved sister's heart, What in three worlds did she in this baka?!, It had been three weeks already since they went out to Makai to search for the ferry and got separated with Kurama when they crashed into an unseen barrier.

Yusuke looked at Hiei, "Hiei, you told us that you sensed a barrier in front of us before we crashed into it, didn't you?" At the fire demon's nod, his dark eyes glittered, "You don't think that Kurama was able to enter that barrier?"

The koorime merely nodded. "It's possible that he was able to go past the barrier, and from what Mokuro told me, the area that we bumped into already marked the territory of Kurusake."

"Then we have to find a way to get into that barrier and get them out! I want Botan back!!!" Koenma yelled out loud. The prince of the spirit world had been throwing a fit ever since they realized that his best ferry girl was no where to be seen and was now possible that she was under Kurusake's realm. Hiei's crimson eyes glittered dangerously but he merely kept quiet. He wanted no part of this idiotic mission, to him, Reikai should have just left the ferry girl with her parents and not bother them. Kurusake was and after all a demon and he knew that most demons were very possessive… and knowing his friend, he knew Kurama was going to find a way to locate the ferry girl and take care of her in his own way. So, basically, there was really nothing important for them to do.

After leaving the gates of Reikai, they were now ensconced in Kuwabara's house, talking about the details of their mission with Keiko, Yukina and Shizuru. Yusuke swore darkly, "How the hell are we supposed to get in that barrier. It's even a miracle that Hiei here was able to detect it!"

"Maybe you could try shooting one of your reigun to the barrier, that might give you time to create a ripple and enter the barrier…" Shizuru volunteered.

"Yeah, and grab the attention of all youkai in those parts and even alert Kurusake that we're already on his doorstep?" Kuwabara grumbled.

Keiko and Yukina looked at each other worriedly and looked at Hiei in surprise when he spoke, but his words captured everyone's attention as well.

"I think that we should just let thing this slide. Obviously there's nothing that we'd be able to do here… this trouble started in the first place when Reikai altered the ferry girl's life when they kept her past from her, they should have known that one way or another, Kurusake would find out where they had kept their daughter… and as for that kitsune, he's been around much longer than we have and knows that wolf personally, if there's anyone who would be able to fix this mess, it would be that kitsune himself."

Yukina looked at the fire demon before them, "Demo… what about Botan-san? She's a ferry girl… her ki alone would cause a riot in the youkai communities…"

Hiei snorted and looked at his sister, "She is a ferry girl, but she is also part youkai. If she is with Kurusake, then there won't be any problems with that ferry girl. That wolf is going to find a way to revert her back into her youkai form."

At his words the rest kept quiet, digesting his words until Yusuke spoke, "Then, Kurama is on his own then."

The other two merely nodded in assent while the girls kept quiet, their eyes showing their worry and concern. "I hope that they'll be alright…" Keiko then whispered.

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AN:

Hello minna! Finally updated! Hehehe,, I'll try my best to upload the next chapter by next week. Hope you guys like this chapter and hope to hear more revies!!

Aoi-chan