Hiei of the Thousand Eyes
Chapter Two: Finders
Chihiro rolled out of bed, dragging the sheet with her. She wasn't one to be modest, but she hated that she did this with him. They were friends, and they were lovers, but they didn't love each other. She felt the combo somehow cheapened their friendship. She preferred sleeping with someone she had no attachments to when seeking release. Kaisei sat up behind her, the chill from the missing sheet waking him.
"Morning," he mumbled. Chihiro ignored him as she gathered her clothes. "Leaving so soon?" he asked from right behind her.
"I have to go," she said, not looking at him.
"No you don't," he chuckled, an arm snaking around her waist. She leaned back into his touch, seeking comfort in an old friend. She hated that she did this with him, but there was no one else who understood exactly how she was feeling.
"I have to find the rest of the artifact," she told him.
"You can put it off for a day."
"I need to tell Ryuoku that my dad's back," she said, turning in his grip so they were face to face. His bright blue eyes looked over her face with confidence. He leaned down and pecked her lips. "The only reason I work for him is because I need protection from my dad, Kaisei."
He smiled at her use of his first name. She avoided calling him that. "I can protect you, you know."
Chihiro pushed him away and continued to find her things. "No. You can fight. I can fight. That doesn't mean you can stop my father from getting to me. It's not about strength," she reminded him. "It's about power."
"Your dad just got out of prison. What power does he have?"
Chihiro turned on him. "Did you ever even know my father? No. You didn't." She rolled a hairband off her wrist and tied her long locks into a sloppy bun. "The only reason why I was safe while he was in prison was because I joined Ryuoku."
Kaisei placed his hands on her shoulders. "Chihiro," he said, "you need to calm down. Take a break from your stupid assignment. Take a day before going back to your boss. Today we'll just relax. Away from anywhere your dad will find you."
Chihiro scoffed. "And where's that?"
Kaisei smirked.
"I don't know what to tell you, Hiei," Koenma sighed, pushing and stamping papers across his desk. "I don't know who this girl is without a name. She doesn't have any spiritual energy to be keeping extra tabs on. I'm not sure what you want me to do."
"I want you," Hiei seethed at the toddler, "to fix these holes the humans fall through. Or maybe put up a barrier that keeps humans out of the Makai. Anything, really. Other than what you're currently doing."
"I will admit; it is curious why she has so constantly found her way into the Makai." Koenma paused in his stamping and actually looked up. "Perhaps you could figure that out."
"I don't work for you, Koenma," Hiei glared. "I don't care about why. I just want it to stop."
Konema continued with his paperwork. "I guess that's just on you, then," he said. "Like I said, I can't do anything without knowing who this girl is."
Hiei's mouth pinched in anger. "And if I learn her identity? What then?"
Koenma paused again, thinking it over. "I suppose I could put her on watch. Have our Spirit Detective figure out the why if she has the time. The lack of barrier has created an influx of low to mid-level demons who have a habit of creating minor problems with major implications, remember. Fubuki has her hands full most of the time."
Hiei turned on his heel, dismissing the Spirit Prince before he could be the one dismissed. "You're useless," he spat as his parting remark. "I'll get you her name."
It was well past noon by the time Yusuke rejoined the living. He had woken up hours ago and didn't even have a headache thanks to his demonic metabolism. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to face the world. Or more aptly, Kuwabara and Yukina. Although, when he heard crying, he couldn't help but investigate.
Yukina was excited to introduce her twins to Yusuke and Kuwabara showed them off like the obnoxiously proud parent he was. Yusuke felt like he fell into a stupor, holding each of them in turn and playing with them. They were so little. So fragile. Yusuke hadn't ever thought much about having kids. There were many people in his life that he took a sort of protective nature to. People younger and weaker than himself. He supposed that could be some sort of paternal instinct, or big brotherly-ness. But he never really thought about having kids himself.
Keiko wanted kids. She wanted kids with Sousuke, at least.
Yusuke found himself in the middle of the forest, beating up some trees because none of the lowly demons that lived there dared to come near him.
"You done landscaping?" Kuwabara asked, his serious face carrying a hint of worry.
Yusuke didn't look back at his friend. His face was only another reminder. He wasn't aging. Not like the others. Kuwabara was a dad and Yusuke was still that punk kid who didn't want to go to school.
He punched a hole into another tree.
Yusuke wrenched his fist out, brushing off the chunks of wood that clung to his skin. He turned around, face set. Decision made. "I'm happy for you, Kuwabara. You got a good thing here. Don't ruin it." He gave Kuwabara's shoulder a solid squeeze before walking further into the woods.
"Where are you headed?"
"Back to the Makai."
"You just got back," Kuwabara said with confusion, although he still knew exactly what motivated his friend.
"I'll come visit sometime." Yusuke didn't look back as he continued on, disappearing through the dense foliage.
There was nothing left for him among the humans. A few friends, sure. But no future. Not anymore. That had been taken away from him the moment his heart stopped the second time. Maybe even the first, and everything since had been a cruel joke of false promises.
"What the fuck is this place?" Chihiro scoffed with a bit of amazement as Kaisei pulled a cloth off an old school pinball machine. They were halfway up a nearby mountain in some shrine that was filled to the brim with musty junk. "What the hell?"
"It was my grandma's," Kaisei said, crawling around to plug in some of the machines. "Or, well, not my actual grandma. We just all called her that." He stood up and brushed his hands on his pants. Kaisei smirked and leaned against the now ringing, dinging, and flashing machine. "She liked video games."
"I can see that," Chihiro smiled wanly.
"She owned this shrine. They moved all her things down here after she passed a few years back," Kaisei informed her. "Lived in the temple further up the mountain. Some family friends have it now."
"Oh, good, so we're only somewhat trespassing," Chihiro smirked. "So your not-grandma owned both a shrine and temple. Aren't those things usually public or whatever?"
Kaisei shrugged. "I think she owned the whole mountain, to be honest."
Chihiro whistled in response. "So, you're loaded, is what you're telling me. And you're hanging out with a member of the yakuza who needs to get back into her boss's good graces," she stalked over to him. "So I guess that means I should probably beat you up. Steal your goods?" Chihiro placed hands on either of her friend's hips. One hand slid closer to the inner seam of his pants.
"I thought yakuza don't steal things? Against your code of conduct?" His eyes glazed over in that familiar way all men's do.
"Your right. We earn out shit." Chihiro chuckled and reached past him to turn on the soccer game. "Bet you five bucks I'll whip your ass in this."
Kaisei laughed and buried his face into her hair. "You're on."
They wasted the next few hours playing one game after another, continuing the bet with every new challenge.
"Why did your granny have so many of the same system?" Chihiro asked as they plugged in one of the many janken games. She noted the sticker that told her what score was a "passing" mark.
Kaisei shrugged as he stood. "No clue," he said too innocently. "Now stand over while I even the score."
Chihiro watched as Kaisei beat every rock, paper, scissors that popped up with the machine's choices. "How did you do that? It's a game of chance," she scoffed.
"You try," he said, stepping back.
Chihiro started the machine over and continued to only match three times out of all the rounds the game gave her. "What the fuck?" She turned on Kaisei and shoved his chest. "Did you rig this?"
"It's been sitting in this dump since like the 80s. How did I tamper with it just to play this one game of janken against you?" Kaisei nodded to the karaoke machine. "Wanna sing?" Chihiro only gave him a dead faced glare. "Fair enough."
Chihiro pointed over to the punching machine. "Bet I can hit stronger than you."
Kaisei laughed. "You're on."
Chihiro punched first, landing a solid 110. "Not too shabby," she said, blowing on her nails in a mocking matter. The systems at the arcade in downtown only went up to 150.
"Impressive," Kaisei smiled, "before you notice the sticker saying you need at least 120 to win." He tapped the offending sticker.
Chihiro's jaw dropped. "What?" She turned and punched Kaisei's shoulder. "Like that didn't hurt."
Kaisei laughed, rubbing the spot Chihiro hit. "Ouch. No one can claim you don't know how to punch." He then reset the punching bag and smacked it lightly. The game flashed a 200.
Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Okay, now I know this is broken."
Kaisei shook his head with a cocky grin and directed her to the vintage fighter pilot game.
When Hiei returned to the Ningenkai he began his search for the loathsome female. Koenma was right, without a flashy amount of spirit energy it would be impossible to signal her out from the thousands of other benign humans. The only advantage to the woman falling into the Makai so often was that he was now familiar with her energy.
It didn't take too long to pinpoint where she was. He was surprised and enraged to find her so close to Genkai's temple. Genkai was the only human he ever respected. Perhaps Yusuke, but he was no longer human so that no longer counted. The idea that this meddlesome human was on her property made him think killing her might be the swiftest course of action, damn the consequences.
More surprising was the strong energy next to her. When he jumped over to greet them as kindly as he was capable of, the stronger human was outside the temple geared for a fight. He recognized the human, vaguely.
The boy reared back with surprise. "Hiei?"
"Sato, what's going on?" a familiar girl's voice called from inside. A few moments later the troublesome girl he was searching for stood in front of him. She blinked a few times and tilted her head, her forehead scrunching.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
Hiei didn't let surprise show on his face, but he couldn't help his confusion as he turned his focus back to the boy. She shouldn't be able to remember him.
"You're the Detective's twin," Hiei stated, seeking confirmation.
"Kaisei Sato." The boy nodded. "Is something wrong?"
Hiei could read the worry off the boy. Disaster was a fair assumption when a demon marked as Yusuke's ally shows up unannounced. He directed his attention back to the girl. "What is she doing here?" he demanded. He may not be as skilled at puzzles as Kurama, but even he could piece together the implications of the human falling into the Makai plus a connection to the Spirit Detective's brother. Being on Genkai's territory was an added suspicion, plus her vague recognition of him. It looked as if she were trying to get close to something, something she wasn't supposed to.
"I brought her here to play games," Kaisei snapped, already losing his patience. "The deed may be in Kuwabara's name now, but Genkai was as much my family as yours and she wanted this to be a safe haven."
Hiei near rolled his eyes. "Don't pick a fight," he warned the boy. "Without your sister you wouldn't stand a chance against me."
The girl cocked an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe. A display of calm neutrality despite the fire behind her eyes. "Oh? And what am I? Hotel wall-art?"
Hiei would have laughed if he were not so annoyed. "You couldn't even touch me, let alone do any damage," he informed her. She bristled.
"Naya-chan," Kaisei warned her, stepping slightly in front of the girl. She seemed surprised by his actions.
"Kaisei?"
"This is ridiculous," Hiei muttered before letting his Jagan flash underneath his headband. The girl fainted, going to sleep at the use of his power. She only managed to miss hitting the floor by the grace of her friend's speed.
"What is this about, Hiei?" the boy snapped.
"Your friend has been falling into the Makai at a rate frequent enough to become a personal annoyance," he said. "Give me her name so I can report her to Koenma."
Kaisei looked between Hiei and the girl. "The Makai? But Chihiro doesn't have enough spirit energy to survive two seconds in that place."
"All the more reason to report it to the Reikai. If even the most mundane of humans are able to slip into my world, we have growing concerns. Keep an eye on your friend." He looked down at the girl. Her face was unremarkable, but the tattoo snaking up her arm was distinctive enough. Chihiro Naya. He had what he needed.
In an instant, he was off.
Chihiro woke up with the same groggy feeling she had been experiencing when she went searching for shard pieces. Only this time, instead of a weird dream about a man with a third eye, it was a clear memory of that same man, speaking to her and Kaisei.
She jolted up, searching around. She was still in the shrine full of arcade games.
"Kaisei!"
Seconds later the sliding door opened and he popped his head in, nonchalant as can be. "Yo."
Chihiro jumped to her feet, head racing with the events she was remembering. "Who the hell was that guy? Why the hell am I asleep on the floor? What the fuck just happened?" He had asked about her. What she was doing there. It made her worry that this was someone her dad sent, somehow.
He seemed at a loss for words. "Oh. Um. That guy," he trailed off. He looked back outside with a frown. "How much exactly do you remember?"
"What the shit is that supposed to mean?" Chihiro asked. "A random guy shows up. Asks about me. Threatens both of us. Then all of a sudden I'm waking up on the floor." She was seething, trying her best to keep her cool. It felt so similar to all of the times she had missing memory, all the times she woke up with strange dreams. She was trying to hide how terrified she really was. Luckily she had a lot of practice doing just that, even from Kaisei.
"He was nobody, Chihiro," Kaisei said, trying to placate her. "Nothing happened."
"You called me Naya-chan," she said. "You only use my last name when you're trying to sound commanding. When you're scared." Similar to the way she only called him by his first name when her defenses were down. They both used each other's names to make and break the boundaries between them.
Kaisei sighed. He walked over and looped his long arms around her slim waist and dropped his forehead against her shoulder. She let him. "That guy was strong," he whispered into her neck. "Stronger than either of us, or both of us. But he's an ally, of sorts. To my extended family, I guess. All I can tell you is that he wasn't here to harm you."
"How did I fall asleep?" she asked him, unsure if she would get a response.
She had always known Kaisei to keep secrets. He didn't talk much about his sister or his mother when he transferred into her class in first year of high school. He was dodgy about his home life and his past. He kept things vague and then focused on the other person. She could recognize the tactics because she used them herself. They found a sort of solidarity in each other, neither prying too much because they knew what it was like to keep secrets. They were comfortable in the silence of their pasts and put their attention instead on the present and the future.
Kaisei found out what she was hiding eventually. The daughter of a boss, hating the life but finding herself trapped in it. It was when she sought out Ryuoku and his protection that Kaisei stepped in and tried to stop her, but her mind was made up. She skipped out on going to university and instead got her first tattoo. It was detailed in such a way she could get a full body design if she ever wanted to, but Chihiro always sort of imagined finding a way out of the drugs and gambling and extortion.
So Chihiro understood secrets, and accepted that Kaisei kept them. But this involved her. She needed to know.
"It looked like you fainted," he told her. She pushed him away, hearing the half-truth. It looked like she fainted. But it wasn't her delicate sensibilities that put her to sleep.
"Take me back, Sato. I want to go home."
Yusuke had swapped beating up trees in the Ningenkai for beating up trees in the Makai because even here no demon wanted to approach him. It wasn't until he had almost destroyed one of the few forests in Torrin that Hokushin came and asked him to stop.
"We weren't expecting you back so soon," the bald demon stated.
Yusuke took a deep breath. He felt the tattoos on his body slither back towards his core before disappearing off his skin all together. The still unfamiliar sensation of hair on his back left with it. "Plans changed. How many days until the next Makai Tournament?"
"Four hundred and seventy-eight," Hokushin replied. Yusuke was glad they had finally reached a point where Hokushin treated Yusuke as an equal rather than a lord. Having "Your Lordship" tagged at the end of every sentence was annoying as fuck.
"I need to train," Yusuke told him, looking around at the mess of fallen trees. "My endurance isn't strong enough."
"You're going to compete again?"
Yusuke nodded, mind still trying to figure out how to push himself further. What would the old hag do, he asked himself.
"Do you mind if I ask why the change of heart?"
Yusuke turned to face his second in command, his friend since before Raizen died. "The first tournament, I fought to make the Makai a better place. Since then, I only fought to fight." He clenched his fist and walked past Hokushin. After a few paces he stopped and looked across the horizon of the desert landscape he called his home. "This time, I fight to win."
His words settled between them. A challenge. A promise. If Yusuke were serious, this would prove to be the most challenging tournament yet.
"Good," Hokushin grinned. "Then let's begin."
Chihiro let Kaisei follow her into her apartment. He had been uncharacteristically trying to get in her good favor since they started their trek back down the mountain and the train ride into the city. It was annoying the ever living fuck out of her.
When they got in, Chihiro dumped her bag and checked the tin lunch box quick enough Kaisei wouldn't see. Everything was still there. She felt antsy. It didn't matter that she was tired from the train, or that the sun had already begun to set. Chihiro swapped out her sneakers for the tall boots she had been using to muck around in the sewers.
"Woah, where are you going?" Kaisei asked.
"Out. I should find more pieces of that damn artifact." She ignored the fact that she was getting her floor all gross and stomped over to her hidden weapons case.
"How do you even find those things anyway? The last shards could be anywhere by now," Kaisei asked.
Chihiro shrugged. "Maybe I'm psychic," she grumbled, rolling the lock combination in place.
Kaisei laughed like that was the funniest joke in the world. She paused what she was doing long enough to shoot him a clear what the fuck face. He only grinned and shook his head so she went back to her safe.
"Come on, Chi. Can't this wait until tomorrow? It's late."
"No."
She pulled out her double blades, the ones short enough she could hide them in her jacket. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kaise reel back.
"Woah. Why are you brining weapons with you?"
Chihiro ignored him and pulled out one of her side arms. It fit snuggly in her hand, almost looked like a child's toy, but it packed a hell of a punch. She checked the safety lock before loading it.
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BRINING A GUN!?"
"Say it louder, why don't you," Chihiro hissed. She snapped the magazine into place before pulling out the chest holster she had. Chihiro pulled it on like a very strappy vest. Her gun and short swords fit in it nicely.
"Naya!" Kaisei snapped.
Chihiro stood to face him. "I'm going out. To do what I should have done today instead of wasting it playing video games with you. And I'm taking weapons because my dad has been here."
She nodded to her bed. The sheets were perfectly made. Kaisei remembered that morning when they left. He had rolled out of that bed and thrown the sheet behind him. They hadn't looked at it twice. On top of her pillowcase was a folded paper triangle, the same color red as her sheets.
"What's that?" he asked, wary.
"His misguided attempt at an olive branch," she sneered, pulling her jacket on to hide her weapons. "One day out of prison and he sends me heroin."
"God damn it," Kaisei spat, snatching up the packet and running to the bathroom. A flushing sound could be heard seconds later.
Kaisei had come to her the night before because he had been keeping an eye on her father. So she wouldn't have to. He may have never met the man, but Chihiro was already pretty messed up by the time they met first year of high school. She often wasn't in school for days at a time. She always looked terrible when she did show up, heavy make up doing little to hide the bags under her eyes and nothing to stop the twitching. He helped her detox three times. The last one stuck mostly because her dad was finally behind bars.
Chihiro was halfway out the door by the time Kaisei rushed back. He put a hand out to stop her. She expertly flipped him to the floor.
"I need to do this," she told Kaisei as he forced his way back to standing. "I need to be not here. I need to be doing something with a clear objective that isn't alcohol and I need to do this alone."
"I don't want you out there by yourself," Kaisei pleaded, knowing even with all his skills, she was really good at giving him the slip.
"He's not going to kill me," Chihiro reassured him. "I'm the only one with any violent intent. For the most part." She shrugged. "Come by the club tomorrow. I'll be fine."
Kaisei watched her go. Unless he wanted to blast her with raw spirit energy, he was powerless to stop her.
Chihiro had marched her way to the movie theater. It was still busy and lit up and would be for a while. It was around here she had last slipped off into who knew what kind of fugue state before waking up in her room. She figured it was as good a place as any to start searching again for more translucent golden shards.
When the artifact shattered, and most of it fell down the drain, Chihiro had started her search at the scene of the trade. Some shards were still just sitting around the curb. When she finally got the grate off the drain, even more shards were in a large heap. Luckily it was just a storm drain and there hadn't been rain recently. The bed was pretty dry if not full of gunk.
However, a large part of the thing was still missing.
Some of it had been swept further down the drain and into the sewers proper. She had to find a loose manhole and climb underground. Some had rolled far enough away from the crash and picked up by passersby. Chihiro hoped that the few she found in other people's possession were the only ones. No one wanted to give their shard up, even when she threatened them. It was a hassle she didn't want to deal with. Not to mention the distances a person could have traveled by this point. The shards could be anywhere and she'd never finish putting the artifact back together.
Chihiro didn't think this was the case. She kept finding the pieces. Even when she blacked out there were times it was just in her possession. She was never one to believe in the supernatural, but it was almost as if the artifact wanted to be put back together. Chihiro buried the thought away, dismissing again how the pieces fit so perfectly together it was as if the item had never broken. There was no such thing as magic. And if there was, there was no way Chihiro would be involved with it.
She turned down the alley that led behind the movie theater. There was likely a sewer entrance there that wouldn't garner her a lot of attention when she tried to pry it open. It was a skill set she never knew she needed, but now was practically a master at. Sure enough, there was a manhole.
As Chihiro knelt down, pulling a mini crow bar out of her bag, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. It glinted, kind of like the shards. This was how things worked. She went to where she thought she might find it, and she found it. Chihiro wondered again if she was psychic or that the artifact was magic, but shook her head. She had been watching too many conspiracy theory documentaries. Ancient Aliens was always playing when she got home at 3AM, tipsy but not drunk enough to pass out.
Although, it was getting harder and harder to ignore how different this acquisition of Ryuoku's was. She didn't know what is was, or why her boss had wanted it. But her need to get out and search for the shards had been gnawing at her stomach all day. Like a compulsion. Like an addiction. Chihiro shuddered. She never wanted to feel that sick sort of need again.
Chihiro pushed aside a stray box to get a better look at the shimmer. "What the?" she whispered. There was a hole in the ground that traveled a bit up the side of the wall. What should lead to some storage unit of the movie theater seemed to instead be a bottomless pit. The shimmer seemed to be coming from somewhere in the impossible hole.
"Maybe it's not actually that deep," she told herself. "It's just too dark to see." Chihiro reached for the shimmer, hoping for another shard piece. It always seemed just out of reach. She scooted closer to the hole's edge, straining her hardest to reach the shard. She scooted ever closer. Just a little bit further. She was sure the tips of her fingers were brushing against it. Just. A little. More.
Chihiro wrapped her hands around something. A moment of triumph made her grin before she lost her balance. And slipped through. She didn't have time to register that she was falling until she hit the ground.
Above her was a speckle of black floating amongst a green sky. She was sore all over, but somehow not otherwise injured. Based off the trees nearby, that fall should have killed her. Her hand was clasped around a shiny golden shard, a big one too. Another edge piece.
She stood, looking around in confusion. This seemed almost… familiar. There was no one around. Nothing around. Just a few trees and what looked like the ruins of a walled city a kilometer or so away.
She turned away from the city. There wouldn't be people there, and something told her it was dangerous regardless. The green sky gave her the creeps. It felt polluted. She'd call it a smog effect except there were no factories. No anything.
Except another shimmer in the distance. The shard in her hand almost felt like it was vibrating, letting her know a brother was near.
Chihiro forgot the green sky. Forgot the black hole she fell through. Forgot the impossibility of her circumstances. She forgot everything except the swords on her back, the gun at her side, and the shard shinning in the distance.