Chapter 6
Sophie cried out in frustration. "Damn it!"
Shuichi's head shot up over the back of the couch. "Did you just swear?"
Sophie growled loudly before crossing her arms over her chest in protest. "I can't find ANYTHING!!" She yelled as she jumped out of the chair, storming up and down the front of her desk. "There's nothing on anyone who would steal an object from a shrine let alone something that dangerous. I haven't found anything indicating any recent cataloging of Necromancy abilities. There hasn't been a necromancer since the eighteen hundreds." She stopped. "Unless he's kept himself a secret for this long, there's nothing anywhere on any system about him."
Shuichi watched Sophie pace continuously for several moments before he added in his thoughts. "Do you think it's not a necromancer?"
She shook her head. "It's not possible to raise a body unless you have some form of necromancy in your system. I've already tried looking down that path anyway." Before Shuichi could think about something else Sophie continued. "I've also looked at demons and regular humans. There are no demons high enough level in the Ningenkai to warrant necromancy type abilities and no regular humans have enough spiritual energy to perform the ritual. Either this man is that good ay hiding himself from everyone or he's not even alive himself."
"Well we know he has to be living, to perform the ritual you have to have living spiritual energy."
"I know…" Sophie huffed still frustrated. "I've hit a dead end. I can't find anything." She slumped to the floor burying her face in her hands.
"Hey…" Shuichi murmured as he came around the couch and knelt in front of her. "Maybe you just need to take a break from your work; you haven't left the house in days."
Sophie moaned and flopped onto the floor. "I can't…"
Shuichi sighed, tickling her stomach lightly. "Come on… When's the last time we've been on a date?"
Sophie shot up, her eyes opening wide and sparkling with happiness. "A date?"
Shuichi smiled at her. "Yeah, we'll go on a date, go get dressed in something you want to wear out."
"Where will we go?"
"Tsk tsk tsk. That's cheating. It's a surprise, now go get dressed."
She smiled and leapt off the floor running into the shared bedroom.
Shuichi smiled at her retreating back then plucked the vibrating cell phone out of his pocket. "Hello Yusuke… No she's not been able to locate anything on the suspected necro… if Koenma wants to put you on another case then go we're at a dead end here. Maybe Kuwabara or Hiei should go see that priestess Veleda and see if she's had any type of vision regarding the body that has been taken or the soul or even the guy… Yeah I'll notify you as soon as she's found something." He sighed closing his phone and wondered, not for the first time, if Yusuke, and possibly Hiei, was using this new case as a way to push past the death of the girl they all missed.
"Ready?" Sophie questioned.
Shuichi shook his head to clear his thoughts and smiled. "Of course." He held his arm out for Sophie which she took with a smile.
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Shuichi walked over to Sophie holding a cup of ice cream out to her. "No thinking about work."
Sophie shook her head and smiled taking the cup. "I know I'm trying not to." She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder as he sat down. "It's so nice to have you to myself finally."
"It's nice to finally have you away from that computer." Shuichi answered.
Sophie blushed. "I'm sorry… I just wanted to catch this man."
Shuichi kissed her head and sighed. "I know… I do too."
Sophie leaned back slightly and brushed her lips against Shuichi's. "I love you…"
Shuichi smiled at her. "I love you too."
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Yusuke groaned shoving his hands in the pockets of his school uniform. "I can't believe he's made us come out here just to catch some low level demons that are robbing some stores…"
Kuwabara scanned the area outside the broken jewelry store window. "Well we need to do something while Sophie or Veleda find us a new clue on our suspect."
"That's true Yusuke." Botan piped in as she scanned the area with one of her tools. "We're going to have to sit on our hands until we can get something useful."
Yusuke kicked a shard of glass by his shoe. "This sucks…"
"Oh hey look over there." Botan said as she pointed to a group of odd looking boys.
"They're demons." Kuwabara answered as he walked over to her.
"I'll bet they know something about the robbery or were involved." Yusuke said joining them.
"Let's find out shall we?" Kuwabara walked over to the group. "Hey guys." He said as he approached them. "Think you can help me out with what happened here?"
The guys stared up at Kuwabara, whispered among themselves then decidedly scattered.
"HEY!!" Kuwabara chased off after two of them while Yusuke went after the other three.
"Why can't they ever make it easy for us?" Yusuke growled.
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Yusuke tossed the guys he had knocked out before Botan as she readied a transport for them. "I'm so sick of these kinds of demons…"
"Yeah, me too." Kuwabara answered as he brought his over to add to the pile of unconscious low-class demons.
"I wonder how many more of these we're going to have to do until Sophie can find us any information…" Yusuke muttered.
"We could go ask Veleda." Botan answered.
"Let's go." Yusuke answered.
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Yusuke and Kuwabara huffed up the last step to the temple.
"I can't believe there are so many steps to enter this damn place…" Yusuke wheezed.
"I can't believe she still lives here." Kuwabara added.
"Can I help you?" A small girl asked carrying a broom two times her height.
"We're looking for Veleda."
The girl blinked her eyes the same color as Veleda's, a cloud blue. "Did sissy do something wrong?"
"No no, we're just curious about something that she's helping us with. Is she around?"
"This way." She said running off into the temple, Yusuke and Kuwabara followed. "This is her room." She said as she pointed to a door.
"Thanks." Yusuke pushed open the door. "Veleda!" he cried as he saw the girl unconscious on the floor.