"It is imperative that I speak to this Rushiyo alone."

"I don't think so!" Botan emphasized each word with a step and held up her clipboard. "I know there's more to this story than you're telling me. I'm taking notes, Kurama. You'll just have to deal with it."

Kurama paused before the dungeon telecom. "Please, reconsider. There's no telling which of my former colleagues he's in league with. Our meeting may be uncivil."

Botan lost all patience and smacked the buzzer with the clipboard. "Botan here, with Kurama. Let us in, would you?" As the doors slid open, she glanced over at him. "The more you try sending me away, the less I believe what you say."

At first, Kurama was silent; at the request of the gatekeeper, he withdrew his rose from his hair and grunted—he pressed his fingertip with his thumb, growing a drop of blood.

"What's the matter?" Botan stood on her toes to see.

"Thorns," he said, and after they received visiting passes from the gatekeeper, he resumed his sacking of Botan's nerves. "You say you doubt me. How can you question my loyalties after all I've done for your realm?"

"You're too secretive, Kurama!" Every cell they passed held a prisoner who hooted at Botan.

"Have I not answered your questions?" Kurama asked.

"You won't tell me any more about your involvement with the Band of Shadows, and if you give me probable cause, you bet I'll report straight to Koenma!"

"Quiet," Kurama snapped as they approached the cell holding Rushiyo. Botan stuck her tongue out at Kurama, but he ignored her and pulled a chair in front of the cell's force-field. "Rushiyo," he called to the demon inside.

From his cot, the jackal sat up, elbows on his knees. He turned to his visitors with a smile. "Lovers' quarrel?"

"What? Of course not! You'd better hold your tongue, mist—"

Kurama took hold of her wrist and met her eyes. "Please be quiet until you have returned to your room."

Botan closed her mouth more out of curiosity than a desire to comply, for as he'd spoken, he'd slipped a note into her hand, obscured by the length of her kimono sleeve. She realized he was asking her to trust him and to make no reaction to his sleight of hand; she clicked her pen and leaned against the wall behind Kurama's chair, hoping she was successful.

"You know why we're here, Rushiyo," Kurama began. "Let it be known that the more information you offer, the lighter your sentence will be."

"Nice to finally meet you, Yoko." Rushiyo rolled a magazine in his hands and nodded at Botan. "She could be a centerfold, you know it? You have great taste."

The cells adjacent erupted with laughter and catcalls; the ogre at the gate rattled the red bars of energy with a tasing rod, but the quieting effect on the prisoners was only temporary.

"Bold," Kurama said of Rushiyo's remarks. "Tell me how someone shrewd enough to recognize his own vulnerability speaks with your foolishness."

Rushiyo grinned. "Get to the point. Ask me why I stole it."

Botan scribbled to keep up, but Kurama paused long enough for her to get current.

"I know your reason," he said, and somewhere in his words hid a lie.

Rushiyo must have sensed it, too. "You don't say. Forgive me, Yoko, but I don't believe that. You don't know anything about what I've been doing."

Kurama cut him off. "My only question concerns your motivation for getting involved. Why would a thief of your caliber sacrifice his freedom only to send me a message?"

"My caliber? You're trying too hard, Yoko. Flattery won't work."

"Wait," said Botan, her hand on Kurama's shoulder. "What are you talking about, send you a message?"

Rushiyo's eyes lit up. "She doesn't know? You're more like the stories than I thought you'd be."

"Rushiyo intended to be caught," Kurama told Botan, who'd stopped writing. "The Band of Shadows masks the wearer's Spirit Energy, muffles their steps, and renders them completely invisible."

"That can't be right," Botan said, her pen stabbing in Rushiyo's direction. "Obviously not! He was wearing it when he was caught, Kurama. I verified it myself."

Kurama crossed his arms. "It is no accident that Rushiyo stands before us now. He knew that he would be caught, because the Band of Shadows that we have in the Evidence Room—"

"Yes, you already told me," said Botan, waving him off. "It's a fake, right? Then who has the real one?"

Rushiyo's smile dried Botan's heart. "My sister."

She didn't miss Kurama's gasp, though he remained seated and calm. "Who's his sister?"

"Meinuko," Kurama said without looking at her. "My bride."

#

Botan just wanted to take a shower. She felt completely filthy after being in the dungeons for so long, and even if the most disgusting thing about the place was the language of its inmates, she knew bathing would clear her mind.

Kurama had told her to go on ahead and report to Koenma while he remained with Rushiyo, hoping to cross-examine him. "You can watch on the screen," he'd said, having walked her out of the dungeon. "If you think I'm up to something."

Koenma broke her out of her thoughts. "His bride, you say?"

"Yes, sir," Botan replied automatically, not looking Koenma in the eyes.

"Well, that does make sense." Koenma rubbed his chin. "Until Rushiyo escaped a few weeks back, the only demon to ever successfully break out of Spirit World prison was Kurama, fifty years ago."

Botan gasped. "Well I never knew that."

"You never needed to." Koenma hopped off his chair and sealed his office door. "Believe me when I say this, Botan. We are not happy to hover over Kurama like this. But with this enlightening connection to Rushiyo, we can't be too careful with Kurama's case. Because of his VIP status in the Spirit Detective Department, he has access to security levels no former felon ever should have. We cannot simply cut his access, either. Doing so would shake his faith in us."

Botan remembered the note Kurama had passed to her, and almost brought it up; however, Koenma's worried expression and Kurama's hint to open the message only when in her room made her keep it a secret for the time being. "Yes, sir."

"Kurama must have shared the method to escaping our dungeons with Meinuko, who then shared it with her brother. Yes, that's perfectly sensible. Only I hope they don't tell anyone else. And how will we keep Rushiyo from escaping this time?" Koenma resumed his seat at the desk and put his cheek in his palm. "I need a vacation."

Botan stopped herself from saying "Yes, sir," again, choosing instead to smile sheepishly.

"Why are you being such a basket case?" Koenma shot her a look. "Don't be surprised that Kurama had a wife. It's not the same as being married here or on Earth, I promise you that."

"It isn't?"

"Of course not! Demon World isn't that formal. Wife isn't even the right word. They probably spent a lot of time together as thieves. It's only natural that two people become more than coworkers." Koenma startled himself with his words. "Not that I want anything more from my coworkers! You're all my subordinates, anyway, and that would look bad."

Botan laughed. "Don't worry, Koenma! I only strive to be a professional."

"Yes, I noticed that last week." Koenma's face broke into an impish grin. "You sure didn't like when Kurama kissed you, huh? Ha ha!"

Botan went pale just before Kurama requested entry. Koenma buzzed him in and dismissed her.

"Lucky you left when you did," Kurama said with a polite smile at her. "Writing is difficult after 'lights out.'"

Botan nodded with an expression of confusion; that was a weird way for him to put it, but Kurama was not his normal self around people from his former life. "I'll see you around, Kurama."

As she left, she heard him ask Koenma about the Evidence Room just as the doors slid together, silencing any further talk.

The note nearly burned a hole in her sleeve; yet she could not account for why she was excited to read it. Perhaps it was a follow-up to the kiss he'd planted on her last week . . . or maybe it was his apology.

What if it's a love letter? asked the part of her that she hated most. It couldn't be anything of the sort; Kurama evidently had someone already.

Meinuko . . . What a stupid name, she thought, then smiled; Kurama had said the same thing about Meinuko's thieves, the Red Glove Gang. Their first day together at his school seemed like too long ago, now. He was only a teenager there, a biology student and a model son to Shiori. Here, now, he was a married man, though he'd been so before he was even born to Shiori. Eighteen years without his bride . . . he could have kids for all she knew!

As Botan unlocked her room door, she tried to conceptualize Kurama's hypothetical offspring; would they look like Kurama's demon form, with silver hair and cold eyes? Or would they look like their mother, who must have some resemblance to her black-eyed, crooked-mouthed brother?

She left her clothing on the floor and stepped into her shower, scrubbing at the wrist Kurama had touched. Then she remembered the note, and tried to keep herself from rushing; it didn't matter what he wanted to say to her, because he already had a woman. Botan growled, tears welling in her eyes. Why should she care? At least now she knew they should be professional. Yet that didn't explain his kiss.

Was he just using her until he returned to Meinuko?

#

Botan brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and hung her towel to dry over the door. Her kimono lay discarded on the floor, and somewhere within its folds was the note. She sifted through the fabric until she lifted the heap and shook it, hoping she hadn't dropped it somewhere in the halls.

A little clap sounded against the tile; the folded note had fallen at her feet. She jumped before she realized the gasp was her own.

It was little—not at all big enough to be a love letter or an in-depth apology. In the corner was a brown dot: blood. She calmed her racing heart, telling herself that he'd punctured his finger on a thorn from his rose, that it wasn't a big deal.

But he never does that, she thought.

Now that the note was here for her to open, she was almost frightened; she had nothing to expect. Finally, frowning and determined, she unfolded the little scrap. Botan almost didn't recognize the writing; it was unusually sloppy, and she didn't see the point of writing a note if she couldn't read it. She strained her eyes to make out the brief message:

Silence is safety. Invisible. Stay away.

"What in the world?" Botan tightened her bathrobe around her waist and padded to her bed. She lay back, staring up at the pink canopy, but not truly seeing it. Silence is safety . . . he must not want me to say something. I didn't tell Koenma about the note, so I'm ahead on that count, at least. I hope that's what he meant.

She looked at the scrap again. Invisible. Did he truly think the Band of Shadows they had in custody was fake? And unless he had wanted to truly confuse her, she was certain he wouldn't have insisted the real artifact granted its wearer invisibility. If this were true, then Meinuko must have the ability to watch them all; she was never caught by Spirit World, and so her DNA was not in their records. Botan remembered the Artifacts of Darkness disaster—the alarm had begun to sound just as Kurama, Hiei, and Gouki had come into the palace. Even if Rushiyo were Meinuko's twin, his Spirit Energy was his own; the Spirit Defense Force virtually had no way of detecting Meinuko if she were to come on the premises.

If Kurama had the foresight to warn her about Meinuko's invisibility, should she keep it secret from Koenma? Wouldn't that be exactly what the Red Glove Gang wouldn't want? Or something? Did the note insist on silence about the contents of it as well as its existence?

Botan rubbed her eyes. He was putting too much faith in her.

Stay away. From what? He was the one who'd called her into Living World! Who does he think he is?

Someone knocked on her door. Maybe he was still in Spirit World, and had come to explain his note! Botan threw her legs over the bedside and peeked into the peephole.

She tucked her note away and opened her door to Jorge Saotome.

"Oh, Botan, it's awful," he panted. "Kurama stole the Band of Shadows and fled to Demon World!"

#

And that's a wrap! How do you think this will play out? Do you all instantly hate Meinuko? Sorry about her stupid name; stupid names are my specialty. ;]

What is Fox-Boy up to? I can't even keep all his thoughts straight, and I've written them down; I've even numbered them! Alas, he has a very complicated brain.

Let me just say, I effing love writing to Koenma and Jorge. They're the most official couple of the series, no foolin'. I think they can legally get married in Canada. I'd definitely march for them. Shup, you would, too.

Sorry about the slow rate of updatery, but as the plot thickens, my brain is weighted down. It's hard to keep everyone's motivations clear to the reader, but not enough to make the plot predictable (I hope.).

Please leave flaming, fawning, and other f-words in the review box below! Zee, zah, zoxy wax. Voodoo.