A Glint in the Snow
By: Abby Ebon
Disclaimer: YYH and Gundam Wing do not in any way shape of form belong to me. However anything unrecognized and/or original characters do.
"His jailor and son will be the one to deal with it." She muttered a sense of impending trouble settled over the mixed group.
"And who would that be?" Heero asked suddenly very wary and suspicious of this group of Nekokikai.
"Why, Kori Rius, of course."
It seemed as if time itself was holding its breath- and no one spoke for a few seconds that seemed to last for an eternity.
"You are Rius's son?" Kurama murmured baffled though everyone could hear him. Kori flinched and looked like he would want to be anywhere else but there. A few of the Ancients coughed which sounded suspiciously like laughs.
"Well biologically yes, but he did really raise me." Kori muttered apparently still sore on the subject. Kori waved a hand at Mizu, scowling slightly at said Ancient.
"He and Bukimi raised me." Kori said folding his arms and looking rather like a scolded child. Duo noticed that both of the aforementioned Ancients were smiling fondly at the younger Nekokikai.
"How'd he escape?" Hiei asked, less concerned with who raised Kori but more concerned with the facts of Rius's escape. Kori's cheeks flushed and he glanced to the floor.
"The youngling made the mistake of not keeping proper watch of Rius." Kage spoke for him her scorn obvious. Kori seemed to deflate and hunch into him self.
"I told you I'd fix it and I will." Kori growled, spinning on his heel and striding out of the chamber angrily. Quatre flinched and rubbed his chest absentmindedly.
"You best follow him, he won't wait forever. He is as eager to go after Rius as you are." Kage spoke up, waving a hand at them and looking back down at the paperwork on her desk.
It was an obvious dismissal, and Mizu gave them a small smile to lessen the sting from Kage's abrupt dismissal. Yuusuke curious of what had triggered Kori's reaction and had followed him out the door.
When he- the other apparently equally as curious as Yuusuke, also went after him. That and he's our only way out, Yuusuke thought amused at the thought of being stuck here, he wondered who would go crazy first- them or the Nekokikai.
When they got outside Kori didn't slow down, in fact he did the opposite till they were near jogging to keep up with the Nekokikai's quick and long legged strides. Yuusuke spared a thought to wonder if Kori was truly this upset or just wanted them to follow him to get where ever he was taking them quicker.
As they were going so fast they didn't notice Kori was guiding them out of the village and toward a forest they hadn't seen from the hill Kori had showed them the city at. Yuusuke wondered if there had been an illusion to keep them from seeing the forest.
As soon as they were just inside the forest Kori stopped apparently having seen them. He seemed embarrassed as he didn't approach and Yuusuke couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him.
It seemed that no matter how serene Kori appeared he did have a temper when it came to his father. Then again Yuusuke knew that if he had a father who was insane enough to try to take over demon world he'd have a temper too.
"Kori, how did he escape?" Hiei growled out demanding an explanation from the Nekokikai. Yuusuke had to admit he was curious and judging from the pilot's expressions they were too.
"I took pity on him. He hadn't seen the forest sense my birth." Kori answered avoiding their eyes. Quatre apparently would have pitied Rius as well- or Kori. Yuusuke couldn't understand how the Nekokikai could be so stupid as to allow a son of a prisoner to guard them.
"Why were you left in charge of him?" Kurama asked, apparently the oddity bothering him as well. Kori sighed, and Yuusuke got the feeling that they had just asked more then what they thought they had.
"It wasn't just me guarding him- but I was in charge of the prisoners having recreation time. The others who work more closely with Rius had mentioned in passing that he and the other prisoners should see the forest. I knew that dangers but I thought chained they could not climb- I was wrong." Yuusuke frowned and Kurama didn't appear too happy either.
"So because you let them come to the forest- and your father just so happened to escape you have to track him down?" Duo asked a disbelieving expression on his face. Kori gave them a small smile and shook his head.
"What did Rius do to go to jail in the first place?" Wufei interrupted, suddenly remembering that the council had mentioned nothing of it. Trowa and Heero watched as Kori sighed and his eyes flicked to a tree as he started to explain not meeting their eyes.
"Before I was born my father was one of the most powerful members of the Council and Kage his best friend. Rius had only one more seat till he was Head of the Council, all he had to do was wait to be voted in." Kori plucked at the bark of a dead tree.
"He was too power hungry though, too late Kage found out about his plot to kill the Head of the Council, and by the time they found them it was too late and Rius had killed him. My mother died in childbirth so it was left to the Council to raise me- after all no one wanted the murderer's son…" Kori shook his head and smiled bitterly.
"In any case I made a mistake and your Mai-Kai and Sprit World are paying for it. Ordinarily it wouldn't be just my duty to get him back- but with others in danger it is the Wardens responsibility to bring the accused back dead or alive. If I fail then it's the Council's duty." Kori waited in silence for them to say something, anything, and resisted the urge to fidget.
"So you're the Warden here? Does it pay well? Good benefits?" Duo asked with his jokers grin, Kori snorted smiling slightly and the mood lightened just a little. Though Hiei did look interested in Kori's answer. Yuusuke fought the urge to laugh at the thought of Hiei in a police uniform- or even something not his usual black.
"I'm well enough off I guess." Kori said with a grin and a shrug. Kurama raised an eyebrow a small grin playing on his lips. Heero, Trowa and Wufei decided that if a murderer could escape in here then they'd better survey the area.
They left quietly after telling Quatre where they were going. Though they knew the demons had much keener senses then they did, still they didn't like not doing something worth while.
"Are all Wardens thieves?" Kurama teased his old friend, tracking the two humans- and one half demons movements, while trying to get Kori to relax. He had learned early in meeting the Nekokikai that a stressed Kori was someone who jumped at shadows.
And 'shot first and asked questions later'- as the human sang went. Smirking Kori rolled his eyes as Duo laughed. While Quatre grinned, reminded of Wufei and Duo on a lesser level.
"No- only the cute ones." Kori teased throwing an impish grin at the Kitsune, Hiei huffed annoyed with the two's flirting. Yuusuke shook his head chuckling, and then glanced at Heero who had stopped just a little ways away from them.
"Guess that rules you out." Yuusuke muttered, while Kurama and Kori gave him funny looks. Yuusuke gave them a careless grin and then noticed the pilots were coming back. Duo grinned at the three excited that they might actually get to be doing something now.
"Find anything?" Kori asked with a small smile. Heero shook his head, and he and Wufei stood on either side of Duo while Trowa had walked so he stood near Quatre. Kurama and Hiei glanced at one another.
"There was a river near by- but that was it." When Wufei said this a curious expression crossed Kori's face. Frowning and tilting his head he headed in the direction Wufei had came from.
"What is it Kori?" Kurama asked as he and the others followed Kori to a rushing river. Kori wouldn't answer just then crouching and scooping a hand into the water only to let the water trail out.
"He didn't climb- he swam, he must have discharged his powers in an illusion and to cut the chains." Kori murmured softly Hiei and Kurama shared puzzled looks and Wufei raised an eyebrow snorting slightly in disbelief.
"You can tell us all that by putting your hand in the water?" Wufei asked with sarcasm, Kori sighed and rolled his eyes. Above him Kurama chuckled and Hiei shook his head while Yuusuke looked as if he didn't believe what he had heard.
"Hello? Nekokikai here- I don't need magic powers to smell!" Kori exclaimed with no little amount annoyance at the humans ignorance of demons- after all wasn't one of his friends one?
"How is that going to help us?" Hiei asked softly eyes following the rivers path. Kori got up and started following the river flow, the pilots rolled their eyes as Yuusuke, Hiei and Kurama followed leaving them to either follow Kori and the others or be stuck in a forest.
"It might offer an explanation to how Rius got out of Youjakai." Kori's statement seemed to puzzle even the demons- for which the pilots were glad. It meant the Nekokikai didn't always make any sense to them either.
"You see the river which this lake runs into leads to Kaz-Kai, your world." Kori muttered waving a hand in the pilot's direction apparently distracted by his thoughts. The pilots shared puzzled glances.
"I thought your council said full demons couldn't get into Kaz-Kai." Heero voiced their thoughts, Kori nodded. Duo watched the water- there was something strange about it- the water was normal enough Kori had proved that- but their seemed to be something in it.
"We built the barrier remember? If you know how something was built its easy to break it." Kori explained while all the pilots paled just a little. Thanks to Yuusuke and Genkai's training they now had some control over their spirit energy but even they knew they couldn't hold their own against an army of demons. They had enough problems with Oz.
"You mean it's no longer there?" Whispered Quatre abhorred, Kori paused and they saw the lake and Duo's eyes widened. He knew why the river bed seemed familiar- the same crystals as in the cave littered the river bed- but seemed to grow in the lake. Shooting out like daggers and glistening with deadly beauty.
"The barrier? It's still there but as the council said whenever something tares into the barrier it takes them energy to fix- energy from these crystals whose energy is even harder to get even for a little tare." Kori explained, Quatre would have sighed with relief if his breath hadn't been caught by the lake.
"Your father swam into that?" Hiei asked softly crimson eyes narrowed, he saw no way to go in or come out without cutting yourself apart. Duo shuddered at the thought of swimming into that lake.
"No. He swam under it. Under it is a cavern- rather like that cave, and its dry." Kori answered, backing up into the rushing rivers edge, the pilots and others watched him warily suddenly having a bad feeling about this.
"What are you doing?" Asked Hiei worried for the Nekokikai's mental heath, as if sensing his thoughts Kori chuckled, which served to worry them all the more. The pilots glancing between each other, wondering if the demon was as crazy as his father but had everyone fooled.
"We have to swim in too- only way to get those Gundams- did you call them? To get rid of the ones Rius had made." Kori explained, and the pilots knew he was right but hoe they wished he was wrong- or that there was another way to their world.
"See you in the cavern." Kori said with a smirk sliding into the river water and letting the current carry him to the lake. The others watched with morbid fascination as the Nekokikai disappeared under the imposing crystal structure, but no bloody remains reapeared.
So Yuusuke, Kurama and Hiei deemed it safe to try and slid into the river after him. Heero looked at the others shrugged and followed Hiei; The remaining pilots looked between each other and while they had mixed feelings about it they decided they couldn't abandon their world- or their Gundams to the tender mercies of the demons they had befriended.
Duo was the last to slip under the crystal structure and it was a journey of rushing water and color, not knowing what was up or down. His lungs stinging till everything stilled and he saw the surface and breathed in deeply. A helping hand pulled him out and he looked up to see Kori's smile- they were the only one in the cavern but before he could demand an answer.
The water he had come swirled and raised up an enclosed them and the eerie music returned and when Duo could see past the wall of water the other pilots and Yuusuke, Hiei, and Kurama were there.
AN: Well what do you think?