FCL64: We have returned! With chapter twenty one!
Kiyoshi: There's a miracle if I ever saw one…
FCL64: Shut up.
Kiyoshi: You know something I noticed?
FCL64: What?
Kiyoshi: You've been ignoring me a lot lately because "Anna writes herself," so you don't need my help on that story. The moment you stop ignoring me, you have inspiration for this story.
FCL64: There you go Kiyoshi. Forensic evidence that you write this story, not me. Happy?
Kiyoshi: It's not forensic evidence…
FCL64: Whatever. This chapter, Kiyoshi and I own quite a few people. The primary ones are Ayaka, Kaien and Kyo (owned in part by animegrlsteph). The ones we own all on our own (none of whom are actually in this chapter, just mentioned by name) are Zuberi, Lori and Xanthippus (pronunciation: zan (rhymes with van)- tip (rhymes with rip)- us (rhymes with…us)) Say it with me! Xanthippus!
Kiyoshi: Now moving on to the story after a half page of useless rambling from us…
As Kaien was telling Ayaka what his life had been since he and Hiei had split ways, Yusuke and Kuwabara were arguing with Koenma.
"Absolutely not," Koenma said. "All of Reikai's files are classified. Even as Spirit detective, Yusuke, you only have access to the criminal files. If we even have any files on this man you call Kyo, in all likelihood you wouldn't have the necessary clearance."
"You're the king of the Underworld," Yusuke snapped back, placing his palms on Koenma's desk and leaning forward. "Couldn't you bypass that, overrule it?"
"I could," Koenma replied, "but I won't."
"Why not?" Yusuke shouted, pushing himself away from Koenma and pacing angrily around the office.
Before Koenma could respond, Kuwabara asked, "Would it change anything if we told you he was the one who killed Kuronue, Kurama's old partner?"
"No," Koenma answered firmly.
"What if we told you there was a third member of that group, a girl named Ayaka?" Yusuke asked forcefully. "What if we told you she has a twin brother, Kaien? What if we told you that if one of them dies, the other will unintentionally cause massive amounts of damage, possibly in the human world? Would that change your mind?"
"As worrisome as I find that, I don't see how it's related."
"What if," Kuwabara asked slowly, "we told you Kyo wants to kill Kurama, Ayaka and Kaien?"
"Kill?" Koenma asked shocked.
"Yes," Yusuke snapped. "Kill. Murder. Do in. Assassinate. Off. Send to hell."
"Why?"
"Kuronue had a pendant that can cause great destruction. He gave it to Kurama as he was dying. Ayaka and Kaien have lockets with immense power. Somehow Kyo knows this and wants them dead for it."
Koenma looked at each of the teenagers before him for a long while before saying, "I'll see what I can do."
"Okay. Good. We'll be back in a few days," Yusuke said, suddenly in a much better mood.
"Wait, where are you going?" Koenma asked.
"As a group, we're visiting the people most likely to have information on this guy. Kurama and Hiei are talking to Yomi and Mukuro. Kuwabara and I are supposed to talk to you and Enki. Ayaka and Kaien are going to see a man named Zuberi."
"Zuberi…" Koenma muttered. "Where have I heard that name before…?"
"Kurama." Yomi's voice was as close to being surprised as it ever got. "To what do I owe this…pleasure?"
"To death. A man called Kyo wants me, one of my friends and her brother dead," Kurama answered calmly. With Yomi, it was often best to be straightforward; his intelligence rivaled Kurama's, and in the past thousand years his patience had developed. He was very much like Kurama on the intellectual field. And Kurama knew that it was useless to beat around the bush.
"And how do you expect me to help?"
"We know his name and what he looks like, nothing more. We need to know more if we hope to kill him."
"Why have you come to me, as opposed to Enki or Koenma?" Yomi sounded almost bored, but Kurama knew him well enough to tell he had captured his old partner's interest.
"Yusuke is speaking with Koenma and Enki. However, Kyo is a demon. Koenma has only limited knowledge of affairs of the demon plane. Enki has not been in power long. You, on the other hand, were long in a powerful position in the demon plane."
"Yusuke is speaking with Koenma and Enki," Yomi repeated. "Am I wrong in assuming that that means the two of you are seeking help from both Mukuro and myself?"
Hiei's eyes narrowed. He knew that the likelihood that he would ever trust this man was zero, possibly less. Neither did Kurama truly trust him, but that had always been the nature of their relationship. "That is correct," Kurama said. They walked the empty halls of Yomi's palace, and he spoke.
"The demon called Kyo was a powerful bounty hunter. However, roughly four hundred and fifty years ago, he simply disappeared. Vanished into thin air. All his work at hunting criminals ceased. There were rumors that he had been killed by one of his targets." Yomi smiled slyly. "Supposedly the fox demon. But it was truly the other way around."
He paused, waiting for a reaction. Kurama didn't respond, and his face remained inscrutable. Yomi sensed that Kurama was unperturbed and continued, still with a slight grin on his face, "Rumor also had it that he was the one responsible for Kuronue's death." Kurama's face hardened, and it was evident Yomi sensed his distress. However, Yomi went on as though nothing was wrong, "The only other thing I can tell you is his profession. He was not always a bounty hunter. Up until about seven hundred and fifty years ago, he wasn't. His original trade was a metalworker and jeweler."
"Jeweler?" Kurama asked, glancing significantly at Hiei, who nodded in response. By now, Kurama had regained his composure, and Yomi could sense no physical reaction from Kurama, only the vague interest in his voice. Even now he and Kurama were involved in a match of wits.
"Yes," he replied. "Jeweler. I am sorry I have nothing more for you."
"Thank you," Kurama said slowly. "You have been…most helpful."
"I suppose you won't be gracing us with your presence at dinner tonight?" It was a very guarded invitation, given only for the sake of etiquette. Kurama and Hiei both knew they were not truly welcome.
After briefly contemplating accepting Yomi's offer, just for the sake of adding some interest to the match, Kurama said, "Thank you but no. We must be going. We won't intrude on your hospitality any longer."
Yomi nodded. "So be it, Kurama. Until we meet again."
"Until we meet again," Kurama muttered at Yomi's retreating back.
As they left, Hiei asked, "Hospitality?"
Kurama grinned wryly, the look almost reminiscent of Yomi's only a short time before. "Our relationship has always been a push and pull of intelligence, patience and cunning. It used to be he was too hotheaded to match me because my patience and calm far outstripped his own. But now…now his patience has increased, and the game is much more complicated."
"Is there really any good reason I should trust you any more than I trust him?" Hiei muttered.
Kurama glanced at him. "Probably not."
Three days later…
"Hey, Enki," Yusuke said.
"Yusuke," Enki said in surprise. "It's been a while."
Yusuke chuckled. "Yeah, sorry. You know my life is in the human world. It ain't exactly an easy trip from there to here."
"True." Enki smiled.
"Is he always this…easy-going?" Kuwabara muttered.
"Pretty much," Yusuke replied easily. "Enki, Kuwabara. Kuwabara, Enki."
Enki nodded to Kuwabara. "Pleased to meet you." Kuwabara nodded back, still bewildered. Nearly all of the demons he'd ever met had tried to kill him at one point or another. "Well, Yusuke," Enki said. "Shall we discuss your reason for arriving unannounced over lunch? I assume this isn't merely a social visit."
"Sounds like a plan."
Twenty minutes later, over a simple lunch of sandwiches, Yusuke asked, "Are you aware that, outside of the tournament, Kurama and I are friends, and that Hiei, while not a friend, is a fairly reliable ally in times of need?"
"I know it now. Go on."
Yusuke explained the situation, hardly touching his food. He finished with, "We need information on Kyo. We thought you might be able to help."
"How long can you give me?" Enki asked.
Yusuke looked at Kuwabara. "You're the one who's actually going to finish high school. How many days does that give us?"
"Two weeks…fourteen days…" Kuwabara muttered. "Assuming it will take us three days to get back to Koenma, we can give you a week," he said, venturing to address Enki directly.
Enki thought it over briefly before he said, "I will contact some people. You said Kurama and Hiei were going to see Yomi and Mukuro? Okay. I don't know how much information I can get you in such a short amount of time."
"That's fine. Anything at all is good," Yusuke replied, leaning back in his chair. He caught sight of the sandwich he had taken only one bite of. He grabbed it, nearly swallowed it whole and quickly caught up to the number of sandwiches Kuwabara and Enki had each eaten.
"Why exactly are you annoying me with your troubles?" Mukuro asked. "I think I missed that part."
Hiei glared at her. "I'm not in the mood, Mukuro. Three days ago I had to hold my silence when Kurama was speaking with Yomi. I like him even less than I like you, and I'm still in a bad mood."
"Last time we met, you were in no position to order me around," she replied mildly, a wicked grin on her face. "And you have given me no incentive to help you."
"I have not been sitting around all day since we last met." It was an obvious attack on Mukuro's day to day habits, and her eyes narrowed. Hiei, too, glared as he continued, "Incentive: Kurama has a pendant that could destroy you on his slightest whim. If you value your life…"
Kurama's eyes flashed to Hiei. Suggesting he could control the pendant was a huge gamble. But the look on Mukuro's face, a glare they all knew she was using to mask a slight fear, told Kurama Hiei's bluff had worked. "Well?" he asked calmly.
Mukuro's glare never once broke as she sat on her throne and explained, "Kyo was long a powerful bounty hunter. But for much longer, he was a jeweler. He specialized in powerful artifacts. For a price he would set any stone or gem into any kind of metal to make any kind of jewelry. His work on creating such…trinkets all but ceased when he became a bounty hunter." Her eyes glinted in the low light.
Kurama raised his eyebrows. "What are you not telling us, Mukuro?"
She cocked her head to one side. With her eyes locked on Kurama, both her voice and her eyes dead, she said, "There was another man. When Kyo was still a jeweler, it was his apprentice. When he became a bounty hunter, that same man became his partner. He was called Xanthippus."
"What information do you have on him?" Hiei demanded.
"I have heard he was nearly as talented at setting stones as Kyo himself. But word is that when they turned to bounty hunting, he would scry their targets in a diamond he set himself, gathering information. Kyo would scry with him occasionally but did not possess his talent for the art. Kyo would then take the information Xanthippus had obtained from his diamond. He would use it to take down their target before they had a chance to fight back. Xanthippus himself remains a mystery. He hides in the shadows, watching and waiting. Unheard, unseen, his presence unfelt by those he is watching." Mukuro's eyes were analyzing every emotion that passed across the faces of the two men in front of her.
"In other words," Kurama muttered, "We have not one but two people to kill, and Xanthippus is an unknown quantity and invisible on top of that."
A wicked grin replaced the blankness that had previously covered Mukuro's features. "Yes." She called to her guards. "See them out."
"What will we do if Zuberi has moved, Kaien?"
"Go back to Kurama's. If he has left, it could take months, years, even decades to find him. It took us ten years to find him last time."
"I suppose." They walked toward the place they had found Zuberi seven hundred and ninety seven years before. They reached the house and found it charred and collapsing in on itself. "What happened here?" Ayaka asked in horror.
"Fire?" Kaien asked.
Ayaka rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I got that one. I meant intentional or sporadic? And if intentional, demonic flame or matches? Can you give me an answer to that?"
"It wasn't demonic flames. The destruction isn't great enough. The house would be completely gone if that were the case. However…I couldn't tell you if it was arson or spontaneous combustion." He grinned, his ears twitching in amusement.
"Our lives possibly hang on us finding this man, and you're making jokes," Ayaka muttered. "Typical." After a moment staring at the destruction, Kaien turned to leave, but Ayaka grabbed his arm in a viselike grip, her claws digging into his forearm. "Wait."
"What?" he asked.
"You and Hiei killed everyone, which resulted in having all the time in the world to collect the treasure inside. Kurama, Kuronue and I analyzed and snuck in. It was vital to notice details with a glance."
"You're point being?"
"While you didn't notice it, I saw the piece of paper. The small, white, unburned slip of paper." She pointed with her free hand to a small glint of white peeking from the ashes.
Kaien smiled. "You would notice that. Ayaka?"
"Yes?"
"Could you let go? My arm is starting to hurt. I may be a fox too, but that doesn't mean your claws don't hurt."
"Oh, sorry."
They stepped carefully through the doorway, across the burned door itself. Ayaka picked up the slip of paper. "For he will never leave/His daughter strong and pure/To aid you in your quest/He leaves you these clues four:"
Ayaka handed it to Kaien who looked it over a moment before saying, "Does that mean there are more papers?"
Ayaka nodded. "Probably."
They dug through the ashes of the abandoned hut eventually coming up with four more slips of paper. Ayaka quickly organized them into the most logical order. Kaien then read aloud, "If you're seeking the one/Who can read in the stone/He has moved, he has left/You're too late, he is gone. There is nothing left here/After he left this place/The invisible trail/Leaves but one single trace. For this is a riddle/And its answer rings true/With orange and turquoise/Zuberi waits for you. For he will never leave/His daughter strong and pure/To aid you in your quest/He leaves you these clues four: You've met her already, for a start/Unlike many, she stays true to her heart/Her hair and her eyes set her apart/And healing is not a forgotten art."
"That doesn't sound like any riddle I've ever heard or seen," Ayaka muttered. "And I've seen a lot of riddles. I've solved a lot of riddles and broken a lot of codes. It is obvious there is something more going on with this riddle than meets the eye, but I can't think what."
"As usual, you're overanalyzing, Ayaka." Kaien smiled. "It is so simple it almost makes me want to laugh."
"Explain."
"He's with his daughter. At least one of us has met her, and he knows that. She is a healer. Her hair and her eyes set her apart. Earlier in the riddle, if you can really call it that, he mentions the colors orange and turquoise."
Ayaka shook her head, a look somewhere between confused and amused on her face. "No… you don't think…? Is it really that simple?"
Kaien nodded. "Let's go see Lori."
Hurrah! Onto reviews. Sorry that this chapter was a little...weird.
Foxgirl Ray: Here's the next one (already?). Yes...Kaien is quite...interesting. Glad you liked seeing what he's been doing.
White Rose Fox: Thanks for the awesome!
animegrlsteph: glad you enjoyed Kaien's pov. I wasn't sure...