Okay, here we are. Case 2 Part 1 for The Hunter and The Hunted. Not really much to do with the case itself though, that really start in the next chapter, which may be a little on the late side, like a week.
Anyway I don't own Ghost Hunt or Vampire Knight.
Enjoy!
Case 2 - Within Castle Walls Part 1 - Castle Spirit
It had been almost two months since Imia began officially working at the SPR office and in that time she'd made friends with just about everyone on the team and integrated them all into her makeshift family, as it had been close to four years since she had actually been with the last living member of her blood family. She had cousins, which she had never met, only hearing stories about them from her grandfather when she had been young. She gave a small, sarcastic smile at the remembrance of her family and her two makeshift families that she had formed around her, for her sake and theirs.
Her team, the one that she'd formed back when she first started Hunting, had all been more-or-less alone with the twins having only each other left in their family and Imia herself still having her parents and both brothers at the point that she'd first met them. Frei she had given a name and somewhere to belong. Kotaru, her breathe still caught every time she thought of him, she had given a reason to live and shown him that there were still people out there who cared. The twins, Rei and Kai, had taken the friendship she had offered them, as well as the life that she had saved them from loosing. Akira, she remembered with a wince, had been given a home and safety, at least as much safety as one can get when ones line of work requires that you hunt down rouge Vampires. Frei and Akira had taken the roll of older siblings for everyone, acting as parents most of the last few years that the team had been complete. A wince pulled at Imia's features every time she remembered that she had been the one who ripped the team apart more than it had already been. Kai, the only member of her team who knew were she was, had told her the last time they met that he wasn't sure what would have been better, the team thinking her to be dead or them knowing that she was alive but unable to contact her unless she herself first contacted them. Kotaru had been a playful cousin who always had a smile on his face and a positive word to say. The twins were siblings who had a knack for electronics; they had been the ones who came up with the idea for the contact cameras, though Imia had helped them set them up.
The SPR team had done much the same thing. Masako-chan was much like Rei, only instead of putting up a cheerful mask to hide her feelings, Masako-chan used a snobby attitude to hide how lonely she really was, it was one of the reasons that she and Imia got along so well, they both knew what it was like to have no-one who knew the truth about who they were, and had become a sister to Imia. Lin-san, who still had a tendency of ignoring her every chance he got, was the silent uncle who always stepped in when things went wrong on cases. The Monk, Takigawa or as the team had taken to calling him Bou-san, was a cross between a mischievous older brother and a father. While Ayako was something of a cross between a fussing mother and teasing older sister, she certainly did plenty of both every chance she got. John, as always, was another big brother, Imia had to hold back more then one nii-san when she was talking to the blonde, as she knew that if she called him that, he would know in an instant who she was and would likely report the information to Ro-nii the first chance he has to pull out a phone. She wasn't quite sure were Naru fit into the little family that was SPR, nowhere she tried to place him felt right, he wasn't a brother or a cousin, she had even tried uncle.
A shake of the head and a groan later the teen was focussed on the empty office once more, empty only because Lin never left his own office and Naru was still in his, and wouldn't be out for another fifteen minutes. Half-past one he always came out to look over case files, along with a number of maps.
Imia throws a glance at the piles of cases that lay on her desk, sorted neatly into two piles, one for the cases that Naru had rejected for the rest of the team to look over when they decided to turn up at the office, the other was for the cases that had been brought in by the rest of the team and clients that had been by, seeing either Lin-san or Imia herself. A heavy sigh escaped her as she heard the gentle tinkle of the bell over the door leading to the outside world, her eyes glancing up at the door in question, only to widen a moment later when she saw that it was Masako-chan who had walked in, a thick bruise forming around her throat. Imia knew that her friend's home-life was far from perfect, but she had no idea it was this bad.
The two had talked about Masako-chan's family on several occasions but she had never mentioned it getting anywhere near this violent, she'd had a few cuts on her arms and the rare bruise marring her pale skin, the sort of thing that could be easily explained away as a moment of carelessness or an accident. This one had obviously been in a serious attempt on Masako-chan's life.
Standing swiftly from her desk chair, Imia herded her friend into the kitchen, which she had claimed as her territory almost as soon as she was through the door to the main office, nobody dared go further than to poke their head in there now, the Monk had been the slowest to learn and as such had been sporting thick bruises for almost a full week. Naru and Lin had simply accepted the arrangement, Naru calling for tea from his office instead of having to get up and get it himself and Lin receiving a cup at the same time. Both men had adjusted swiftly and silently.
"What happened, Masako-chan?" Imia questioned as she retrieved the first aid kit that she had placed in one of the cupboards above the sink, taking a bottle of Aspirin while she was there. As Imia turned around, she noticed that her friend was glancing sadly at the floor tiles, ignoring the question and avoiding looking at the older girl. "Masako." She stated tiredly. Her friend looked up quickly then, though she moved her neck as little as was possible, knowing that Imia only ever called someone by their name without an honorific when she was being deadly serious or she held a greet deal of dislike or affection for someone, and even then it was rare to hear a name without an honorific.
Masako tilted her head as Imia directed to allow the older girl to examine the extent of her injuries. "He had been drinking again and hadn't been happy before he left the house. I was the obvious target." Her words were quiet but Imia heard them, barely containing a snarl as she saw the depth of the bruising.
"You're not going back there." The words fell from the young Kiryuu's lips in a cold tone that she usually reserved for fights, with Vampire's or street thugs who thought that she would be an easy target didn't matter, it coated the order and made it clear that even if Masako argued with her and attempted to return she wouldn't get far. Imia had long ago proved to be the more adapt at any kind of conflict, verbal or physical, it made no difference to the constantly alert teenager.
Masako's grey eyes saddened faintly then. "I don't have anywhere else to go though, he made sure of it." She gulped, ignoring the pain that flared in her throat, at the positively evil glint that had taken up residence in her friend's eyes, making the Amber of the illusion sparkle a dangerous golden colour.
"You can stay with me and if he tries to get you back…" She trailed off, letting the faint spark of crimson energy that flittered briefly around her do all the explaining necessary before reaching out and gently running her fingers over the bruise, smearing a thick paste over the discoloured flesh. Giving a satisfied nod, Imia carefully wrapped a bandage around the neck of her friend, handing over two Aspirin from the bottle as she did so.
The younger girl downed the pills gratefully with a gulp of water from the glass that was passed to her, doing her best to ignore the uncomfortable scratch of the bandage around her neck.
Heaving yet another heavy sigh, Imia gently placed her hand on the bandage, her palm barely brushing the fabric, and focussed on the PK that she held at her command. Her stores of PK may still be drastically lower than they had been, and she may have been restricted to using what of the energy she had for reading the imprints and tendrils that remained in an area, and then only the strongest of them, but she could still manipulate the tendrils of power to create a barrier or illusion around a small area, nothing much larger than human size. She was creating and maintaining her own illusion without the aid of the power that she had stored in her earrings now, which she took as a positive sign that she was recovering after draining her stores down to nothing two years ago.
Another nod later and Masako was directed to the couches in the office while Imia set about preparing tea, knowing that her boss would be calling for a fresh cup soon. Sure enough just as the kettle whistled, Naru emerged from his office with a call of, "Mai, Tea." It had irritated Imia that he didn't even say please, but she'd gotten used to the Narcissist's lack of simple courtesy. Ignoring the young man, she continued with preparing the tea.
A twinge of pain in her shoulder had Imia hissing quietly, the old injury hadn't hurt badly enough to get more than a twitch of facial muscles since she was eleven. Now, as pain flared to greater heights than she'd felt in over three years, Imia found herself gripping the counter top hard enough for her knuckles to turn white and leave small imprints just to keep upright, her teeth digging deeply into the inside of her cheeks to prevent a cry of agony leaping from her lips, blood trickling from the cuts that were forming making her face twist in distaste as the coppery liquid filled her mouth and trickled over her taste buds. As soon as she was able to move without the aide of a counter the teenager hurried out to distribute the three cups of tea, sparing only a moment to spit the blood in her mouth into the sink, most days she would have a cup out in the office with Naru, exchanging verbal barbs while they dealt with their respective piles of work, today however she had chosen not to, and she found herself grateful of that fact. Placing the final cup on Lin-san's desk, she didn't even wait for the usual nod of thanks and simply hurried back to her domain, where she could safely loose herself in the memories that were threatening to overwhelm her.
She had been playing in the garden with her brothers, John, Rei and Kai, the twins having been visiting at the time, Kotaru, who had been passing by the Kiryuu mansion when they had been heading outside, and the Kuran siblings, Kaname and Yuuki. Everyone had been enjoying the sun, even if Zero and Ichiru had been wary of the vampire, unaware that Yuuki, who had had her vampiric powers and memories sealed by her mother, was in fact Kaname's little sister, Kai, Rei and Kotaru having gotten to know both siblings while staying at the Kuran mansion only the year before. John was always just a naturally trusting person and didn't mind in the least that a member of their little group was still drinking human blood. Her injury had occurred when she and Ichiru had gotten into an argument, it had been over something stupid and pointless that she couldn't even remember now, she'd run off crying at the end of it, her brother calling her a baby as she darted into the trees that lined the back of the property. She had gotten lost in the trees, unable to use her instincts to find her way out because of how distraught she was. Three days later Zero found her, curled up in one of the trees with a thick gash running between her elbow and wrist. It had taken him over an hour to get her down. She'd lost her footing and slipped on the bark of the tree, falling down to the ground heavily and landing on her right arm. She knew that she'd blacked out from the pain, she didn't need her brother telling her when she woke up, her head resting on his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her and his own head resting on hers as he slept. They'd stumbled out of the forest a day and a half later, both covered in mud and Imia's arm and side coated with a thick layer of dried blood, her mother had given her very strict orders to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Her shoulder had been set back into place when she woke the next morning, Zero sitting beside her bed, his head drooped slightly in sleep and his hand clutching hers so tightly his knuckles had paled to almost white. It wasn't until that night that she found out that Zero had punched his twin; Ichiru had been sporting the bruise for anther three weeks before it even began to fade, and she'd made them both promise not to fight with each other again, no matter what happened. They'd all been confined to the house for almost three months straight with only Imia's team and John stopping by to give them news from the outside world, Kaname had been advised to keep his distance from the Kiryuu twins and Yuuki had gotten a nasty cold, Cross-san, who had taken the girl in and was a member of the Hunter's Association, had summarily banned her from travelling so far away, after confining her to weeks of bed rest. A thin scar was still visible on her arm after almost ten years, though it, like all of the others, was hidden behind the layers of illusions that Imia had cloaked herself in.
With a mirthless chuckle the teen swallowed two Aspirin as she hurried around the kitchen, putting away medical supplies, running water into the sink to wash away the evidence of blood and taking out tea cups and setting the water to boil again in preparation of the client she could sense coming up the stairs to the office.
Just as the whistle sounded that the water was boiled a faint tinkling reached Imia's ears, a small smirk of satisfaction slipped onto her lips as she prepared the tea and left the kitchen. She could feel Naru's Sapphire eyes fixed curiously on her and Masako-chan's faintly irritated glance but ignored them both, simply placing a cup of tea in front of them both and another across from them, where a man in his late forties with greying hair and dulled brown eyes was making himself comfortable.
"Thankyou…" The man said, fixing his dull eyes on Imia.
Her keen eyes caught something in those eyes that she was all too familiar with, sorrow and a great deal of stress. A small smile flittered onto her face as she settled into 'client mode'. "Tanayama Mai, I'm an assistant-slash-receptionist-slash-tea-brewer-slash-cleaner here."
Imia's smile widened faintly as the man laughed quietly, glad that he was amused and knowing that it was difficult to find any amusement in the world around you when you were so filled with your own sorrow and more than the average businessman's yearly stress load at once. "Tanayama-san. I'm Ikari Rentaro; my family owns a castle in the mountains."
Both Naru and Masako-chan's eyebrows rose at that, Imia simply tilted her head faintly like a curious cat.
Ikari-san chuckled at their expressions and nodded in confirmation. "Areas of the building have fallen into disrepair but whenever we try to repair the areas something will happen, either to one of the workers that had been hired or a member of my family who was living at the castle at the time. The last few times deaths have occurred, twice it was members of the construction crew and another three times it was members of my family."
Eyes narrowed faintly, Imia glanced at Naru, whose eyes held a faint hint of shock. She nudged his ankle lightly; when he glanced at her out of the corner of his dark blue eyes she gave him a threatening glare and managed to convey that she would poison his tea if he didn't take the case. By the quiet gulp that she could hear, the older teen had understood the warning and didn't plan on testing the young assistants temper. Many things Naru may lack, but self-preservation is not one of them.
"We'll need three rooms, one for our base and the others for sleeping." Naru said, his eyes glinting faintly in fear.
Ikari-san smiled faintly. "How many people are going to be coming?" He questioned.
Imia's eyebrows shot up into her hairline as she caught a flicker of something familiar. A frown marred her face as she turned to walk over to her desk, leaving Naru and Masako to conclude the meeting with the client. What was that? I know that I've felt it before. She thought tiredly. With a shake of her head, she brought herself back to reality and offered a smile to Ikari-san as he was leaving. The older man returned the smile with a faint one of his own and Imia could feel her own smile widening at the renewed glint of hope in his eyes, lighting them from the dull muddy brown that they had been throughout the entire meeting to a light shade of Amber brown.
A questioning sound rose in her throat as she heard Naru calling her from across the office.
The heavy irritated sigh that her boss gave was easily heard by the young psychic. "Call the others and tell them to be here at ten a.m.. And remind them not to be late this time." He ordered before turning his attention back to his papers.
"Yes sir, Narcissist-sama." Imia returned with a sarcastic bite to her words and a roll of her eyes.
From the faintly amused light in Masako-chan's eyes Imia could tell that Naru's expression was something to look at. A small smile flittered back onto her own features as she turned to the phone on her desk so that she could begin informing the rest of the team, telling them that Naru wanted the at the office at nine a.m., it was the easiest way to ensure they would be at the office at ten.
It was two tired and overworked teenage girls who walked back to Imia's apartment that evening, Masako having been talked into helping with the paperwork that littered the office in neat piles. She also managed to get roped into covering for the disguised psychic when she left around mid-afternoon. What Imia had done during the time she was out of the office was anyone's guess.
Slipping the key to the front door from her skirt easily, Imia opened the door, gesturing her new roommate to enter ahead of her. The younger girl entered the apartment and looked around the spacious entry.
The quiet sound of the door clicking closed as Imia stepped into the apartment caused the young medium to turn, eyebrow raised in question.
"Well, this is the apartment. It's fairly large so there shouldn't be any real problem with space. Your room is on the left of the main area." A hand gave a sweeping motion in the direction indicated even as slim shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. "My room is on the opposite side, so don't worry about making to much noise, it doesn't really carry that much in here anyway. Kitchen is just through those doors." Again, a hand gesture accompanied the words. "And the combined living room dining room is right beside it. There's a bathroom attached to each of the bedrooms."
About the only word, that poor Masako could formulate was an almost strangled, "How?"
Imia shrugged again, letting her illusion dissipate with the usual flash of crimson energy. "The Kiryuu family was pretty well off, so I got a fair amount after my parent's death, even if the majority of the money and all of the properties were left to Ro-nii. Hunting is a rather lucrative profession, it needs to be what with all the injuries that Hunters receive on most missions and the high death toll, Naru's paying me plenty as well. And school hasn't made much of a dent in that." Imia sighed sadly then, walking further into the apartment, Masako trailing behind the silver haired girl. "If you need anything, clothes for instance, your more than welcome to take the credit card on the counter in the kitchen, I've got another one I can use. For tonight and tomorrow morning you can borrow some of my clothes."
There was such sadness in the silver haired psychic's voice that Masako felt a small amount of pity mixed with sympathy, she understood what it was to be alone. Her mother had given her clothes and food, tended to her injuries when she could and ensured that she had a day or two to recover from her fathers treatment, never had she had the chance to truly experience love.
The younger psychic was drawn out of her thoughts at the sound of a door opening. The room beyond was neatly ordered, a desk sat in one corner with a laptop closed on its surface, a notebook and history text sitting to onside of the computer while a photo in an ornate frame and a small calendar sat on the opposite, a bed with pale blue sheets and a lilac pillow was resting against the wall opposite, a bedside table held two more photos in plain oak frames beside it, a door leading to one of the apartment bathrooms was opened on the wall between the desk and closet. While not overly elaborate Masako had to admit that it was a beautiful room with the few paintings that adorned the walls depicting mountain scenery and rivers.
Masako was so lost in her assessment of the bedroom that she only noticed her friend standing beside her with a set of clothes over one arm and set of bedding in the other when the older girl cleared her throat, causing the black haired girl to spin around with a squeak.
Imia simply shook her head and handed over the jeans and loose fitting shirt before walking out of the room, closing the door lightly behind her. The invitation to change in Imia's bedroom while the girl herself went to set up the room that Masako would be staying in was left hanging unsaid in the air.
Changing out of her kimono and into the more practical western clothes took the young medium the bare minimum amount of time it took to drop the traditional attire to the cold wooden floor. She would be thankful to never wear a kimono again, she'd seen enough of them over the six years she was forced to wear them already. Once fully dressed in the rather comfortable clothes that she had been lent, the young medium walked over to Imia's bedside table, curious of the contents of the two simple frames that stood on the wooden surface.
The smiling silver haired girl was easily recognised as Imia in both of the photos, she supposed that the group of silver haired people in one of them was the older psychic's family, and the other group was the friends she had heard of from the stories that Imia had told her during the time that they'd known each other.
Imia silently entered her room to find that her friend was looking at the photos on her bedside table. It took the youngest Kiryuu sibling only a moment to decide that she would answer whatever questions she could if Masako asked them. Therefore, it was silent feet that the silver haired teen crossed the wooden floor to sit on the edge of her bed, clearing her throat again when she was comfortably situated with her legs crossed at the knee.
The faint start with which her friend turned was more than worth the small amount of effort that it had taken to silence the gentle sound of her sock covered feet.
Breathing slightly heavier than normal and wincing at the discomfort that rose around her throat as they pulled more than slightly against raw nerves it took Masako a few moments to manage a few words. "Are they…" She gestured at the picture of the silver haired family and no more words were needed to convey her question.
"My parents and brothers." Imia confirmed with a nod. "That photo was taken the day before my birthday."
Something in Imia's voice told Masako not to press the subject further, knowing that her parents at least were dead. "What about the other group?" The medium inquired instead.
There was a faint smile on Imia's lips at that as her lilac eyes turned to the photo in question. "My team. Though they were really more of a second family than work colleagues, they still are." With a shake of her head, Imia pointed out each of her team members. "The twins are Hina Rei and Kai, awful cooks, they can barely boil water without setting something on fire or burning the attempt, exceptional fighters though. The blonde is Frei, a more silent man I have yet to meet; his vocal cords were damaged before I found him so he has an excuse well known to everyone. The other girl is Kurai Akira, who enjoys a good fight as much as most of the kendo club at school, she has a nasty right hook too, so if you ever meet her, do not make her mad at you. Our last member was Getsui Kotaru; he was a year older than me. Kotaru died about a week after that was taken."
The faint sound that Masako made at the information was one of understanding and sympathy. The young medium through her grey eyes around the room, looking for a distraction. She found one in the digital clock that lazy blinked red numbers at the two teens. "I think I'll head off to bed, I want to go and get some clothes before heading into the office in the morning."
"Sure." Imia rose from her bed, making sure that Masako found her way to her room without trouble, set of pyjamas in hand, before returning to her own room for the night. Knowing that she would get very little sleep anyway the young psychic continued working on her project.
When dawn broke over the city Imia considered it an achievement to have gotten three hours sleep, a quick shower and cup of coffee ensured that she was fully awake as she continued her project were she had left it not long after midnight.
Two hours later and Imia was sitting in the kitchen sipping her third coffee of the morning and munching on a slice of toast. As the last of the steaming liquid was drained from the cup Masako came out of her bedroom, grabbing a slice of toast from the plate on the table as Imia moved over to the kitchen and brewed a cup of tea before returning to the table.
Dropping the tea off with the medium Imia walked to her room to collect her bag, packed and ready for the case, slinging the fabric case over her shoulder she returned to the main area of the apartment with her illusion in place. The sight that greeted her upon returning to the main area of the apartment was one of Masako tapping her foot impatiently by the door, a small suitcase in her hand and wearing the same jeans and shirt, that she had been lent the night before. The two slipped on their shoes and left for one of the earlier opening shops.
At 9:45, exactly the two youngest members of SPR walked in the door of the office to find that only John, Naru and Lin were there yet. Naru grunted and Imia took that as her cue to go and get tea, leaving her bag with Masako and offering an apologetic smile to John.
The teacups on the tray that she walked from the kitchen with were quickly drunk, Naru having taken three cups himself, causing the disguised teen to shake her head almost fondly and simply walk over to the kitchen with the empty cups to wash them, having no clue when anyone would be at the office again.
Just before ten, the last of the SPR team hurried into the office, apologising for being late while arguing with each other.
A glare from Naru silenced the two. "Now that everyone is here we can go over the files quickly and leave."
Nobody argued with their boss, though Imia went along with it more out of amusement over the others reactions than fear of her teenage boss.
The castle is over three hundred years old, so it's relatively young considering some of the other places I've seen over the years. The east wings seem to be the psychic hotspots from the information that we have. This activity began almost fifty years ago, though it has gotten worse over the past three or so years. Imia thought as she read over the files, a small frown pulling at her lips, something about the time the activity started to worsen made her feel uneasy.
She was startled from her thoughts as Naru announced that they were leaving. Imia had to shake her head slightly to clear it as she followed the rest of the team out of the office, Lin-san locking the door behind him, and down to the company van and Bou-san's car. John and Masako slipped into the back seats of the Monks car, while Bou-san and Ayako took the front. This arrangement left Imia with her boss and Chinese co-worker in the van.
Knowing that it was likely to be a very silent ride Imia pulled her well worn copy of Shakespeare from her bag as she slid into her seat, absently clicking her seat belt into its proper position as she flipped through the pages, looking for the last place she had been reading, upon finding her place the teenager settled back for a long ride.