Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.
Author's Note: Hi whoever's reading this, I wanna say thanks to Kagome141414 for reviewing after every chapter it makes me happy inside! This one's for her and whoever else happens to pick up this fic in the future like Wolvesrain17 thanks guys for sticking with it. Also this is when Terry makes her first real appearance yay. Mind you she's kind of a pussy, like no lie but she'll get better, I mean sheltered kids usually fly off the handle once they get out into the real world so that'll be interesting to write hopefully. Have fun, read and review feedback ideas etc are always excepted.
With Little Difficulty the Target is Acquired
The sun was bright and the town was busy, many gathered around and gawked at the people lined up on the stage and occasionally, one would step up to the demons at the side and attempt to exchange money for one of the paraded party members. Among them was one tan and very tattooed girl, when being introduced they had labeled her as an "exotic beauty" she didn't understand the logic and kept her head low, her dark hair shading her eyes attempting to make herself look less interesting. Her tall pointed ears twitched and her head snapped up causing the dangly gold trinkets in her ears to twinkle and glitter in the sun. Her captors had kindly decided to leave her with the original attire that the youth had fled the village with feeling it would make her look more high class and boost the price one would offer. A few nights ago she had heard them one night saying that after they sold her they intended to keep her gold jewelry and the fine silk fabric that strung itself across her to decorate the clothing she wore further in order to sell someplace else for a larger profit. However her thoughts on her captors were causing the apparition to stray away from what she just heard, voices asking about her although not directly.
"Are you sure the guy said it was this town?" Yusuke asked his much shorter companion in annoyance, "I mean it was kinda hard to understand him after you broke his arm."
"I'm sure detective. Not to mention the stench of that blasted chimera runs straight through these streets. How could you possibly think that they didn't at least pass through here?" Hiei replied showing more then just mild irritation.
The boys had made surprisingly good time in their search, they'd split up in groups of two in order to cover more ground in less time. On the map there were five locations left to look at. Kurama and Kuwabara went to the first three locations figuring that the most intelligent and the most spiritually aware members of group should look at older clues in order to tip off the brawn of the group who were looking to make a direct confrontation with their targets. Upon investigation it was discovered that the men who captured the young demoness were slave traders; most likely a group that Mukuro had been looking to capture for quite some time. When coming upon this knowledge Hiei was almost excited to be apart of their death feeling that it would be one of his opportunities to prove his worth as her future heir.
"Hey over there," Yusuke said eyeing the edge of the town where a large gaggle of demons were gathered. "Whatever their sellin' over there must be pretty damn awesome." He chuckled, running with his companion over to the group and shoving their way through the crowd to get a better look.
"Far left detective, I believe that is the girl you desire."
And low and behold Hiei was right, on their far left stood a girl who had at least four foot nine inches give or take with skin the color of brown sugar and eyes paler then a canary's feathers. Elaborate tattoos adorned her body, they curled and swooped around every visible inch, some bursting into more complex shapes, others slimming into simpler ones or breaking all together to never connect with the vast family of patterns behind them but instead beginning anew.
The young girl stared into the distance, her ears twitching as she heard the voices speak about their journey and their discoveries; about a group of slave traders in possession of a chimera, a young brown skinned demon decorated with tattoos. Was her luck really that phenomenal?
"Please come this way. I'm right here." She begged in her mind, wishing with all her might that the thick metal crown was not snapped across her head. Low and behold her prayers were answered and from the group of demon buyers stepped two young boys. One was tall with broad shoulders in comparison to his waist, his hair was short, tamed, and forced straight behind him away from his face save for a few rebellious strands. Though he was clearly young his eyes had the harsh seriousness of a man who'd experienced much violence in a short amount of time. The shorter boy was not much taller then she, but the look in his bloody crimson eyes told her that behind the height was something bigger than anyone could possibly imagine. She gazed into those eyes, her usually relaxed yellow ones now wide with fear as they begged to the man before her; she wanted this man and couldn't understand why.
"Buy me." She whispered, though no one could hear her over the roar of the crowd.
The stout little demon at the side running the auction noticed her interest and laughed allowed whole heartedly ignoring the crowd for a moment as he stomped towards her, the stage rumbling under his massive three towed feet. When he reached her he clutched her chin between his three sausage-like fingers and turned the whole head towards himself but her eyes remained fixated on the red globes that stared back at her with complete disinterest.
"I've never seen you look up at any crowds in any town you've been in since we got you little kitten. What demon got your fancy so much that you decided to stop looking so pathetic?" He asked as though it were an innocent question. His eyes followed the girls and landed on...nothing. The group of demons was still there but the one that her stare lined up with clearly wasn't, there was a gap in the crowd and it made the man cock his eyebrow in suspicion his fanged mouth frowned and he moved along the stage continuing his sales. He was nervous, sweat running down his face, he was in enemy territory. The slave trade had become illegal in Alaric many years ago and he was risking a lot selling here but the shadowed figure who had helped him trap his psychic prize had promised him that the queen of these lands would be unable to track him with the use of his newly attained chimera. The taming of which was also owed to the same shadowed figure that had led them to the fire that consumed the young psychic's village.
Hiei smirked at the now sweating demon from somewhere near the back of the crowd, he and Yusuke had moved back as soon as they'd gotten noticed. They wanted to stay hidden until the opportune moment figuring that causing a scene here would be illogical, and all those who were sold could easily be tracked once the demons responsible were caught or killed. Much to Hiei's pleasure it was indeed the group that Mukuro had been asking him to look for, though he was embarrassed to say he couldn't find them before. He knew it was for the simple fact that though his Jagan eye is strong it could be easily thwarted by the chimera. However it was becoming increasingly more unclear as to how such a low level demon could come to possess one let alone tame it.
"We'll let them get out of the village so we don't hurt any innocent people. I'd hate to end up on Mukuro's death list for accidentally torching her town while I was on a mission." Yusuke mumbled to his friend while in the process of pulling out the small communication device from his pocket and giving Kurama a call, much to his luck, he and Kuwabara were already on their way their direction.
A few hours later the two demons sat around a campfire some distance away from their village counting their profit, their beady little eyes gazing greedily at the piles of gold, coins and other currency that littered the blanket they had placed them on. The chimera lay curled around the carriage which now contained only one lonely copper-skinned girl. Her captors had gotten an offer for her from the servant of a powerful demon, they received a large sum of money and were promised even more should they safely deliver her to a camp that was nestled farther west of their previous location and they couldn't have been happier. The girl however, was terrified at the prospect of her new home especially with the thoughts of her almost saviors swimming in her mind.
"Was I not the target that they desired? Why did they turn away from me?" She thought, tears welling up in her eyes. "Hush! Tears are meant to be shed for others not myself. The Creator has a plan Terryal; this is fact and you are fully aware of it! The Creator has a-"She chanted before a large cry startled her from her thoughts.
The carriage shook with the cry of the guardian chimera outside, she could feel it pounding its monstrous feet against the earth as it sprang from its sleep to defend the property from whatever had shown itself outside. She heard her captor's voices screaming for the chimera's help, their tones were high and freighted and she shoved her hands against her ears bidding the sound to go away. Flashes of the night she fled her village came to her in waves, the noises, the screams, it was the same. There was a large crushing sound from the wooden wall behind her back and she felt gravity throw her from her seat. Something had smashed into the carriage and she now found herself lying on the wall that was once opposite from her realizing that the force had knocked her prison onto its side, with a quick look at the damage she struggled to her feet remembering how difficult movement was with her ankles chained so close together and her wrists tied. Luck was on her side again when she noticed the door had been knocked open with the force of the blow.
"Oh freedom!' she thought, "I'll flee in the heat of battle, I'm small and will go unnoticed."
She waddled her way to the door, sitting on the length of it and rotating her body so she could place her feet down first, then ducking her head under the short width of the door, attempting to be quiet and remain unnoticed. As soon as she left the caravan she was met with the stench of blood and the carcasses of her dead captors. All their cuts were clean as if sliced by an expert blade and the thought of how they died suddenly made the young girl feel light headed. Her face paled and she stifled a scream as she watched one of the intruders use only his finger blow the head clean off the nearly one story tall chimera and thus it was dead, its body creating a small earthquake around the tattered remains of the camp.
"Hey Urameshi watch it that thing almost fell on me!" Shouted the scruffy voice of a tall orange haired boy with beady little eyes; he ran around to meet his companion, who merely laughed at his tone as he ran his hand through his already slicked back hair.
"Clearly I have found myself among more monstrous creatures then before. Creator what do you desire me to do? What can I do?" the girl thought as she stared in revulsion of their carelessness, "They stole life from these people. Have they no shame?"
"It seems there's no need to retrieve Terryal from her cell," Commented one boy causing her to jump and stare into the deep green eyes of the second tallest member of their renegade team. The crimson haired teen smiled gently at her causing her stomach to churn.
"He smiles at me! He has aided in the death of another and still he smiles! Still he-"She thought cutting herself off to duck her head behind the trailer letting her stomach force what little she had eaten that day out of her. The faces of her family swam in her mind, the carnage, the blood, the scent of death and smoke. All these things went through her head when she had seen the bodies of her captors on the grass. She fell to her knees her face still pale, her skin was cold and drenched in sweat and her vision was becoming blurry. She gazed lazily at the boys who were now running towards her, fear creeping up the back of her neck and she could know longer ignore her body's strange gain in weight; she collapsed on the spot.
"Man she sure is jumpy." Kuwabara noted as he cradled her in his arms while Kurama went to work on his restraints and the band across her forehead.
"You would be too if you had seen what she has Kuwabara. Besides she lived in a sheltered society where violence never occurred. Seeing this much gore is probably very upsetting I can guarantee she won't be very trusting when she wakes up." Kurama explained discarding the last of her restraints.
"Please, there is no reason to make excuses for her; she's weak just like a human. Its disgraceful to think that she belongs to our race." Hiei said heartlessly. "I'm just glad this mission is over so I can return to Alaric."
"Hold up there Hiei," Yusuke interjected, holding an arm out in front of their retreating member. "I don't know what binky breath told you, but he told me that WE were all assigned to play body guard for this girl and keep our ears open for clues as to who actually trashed her life. We as in you too." He finished with a wide grin, knowing that Hiei wouldn't appreciate the news.
The teen was right; the fire apparition glared at his partner for a moment however he knew that the show of anger would do nothing to make the boy back down. Instead he folded his arms across his chest and cursed Mokuro, knowing that she probably chose not to tell him this fact for her own amusement. Kurama chuckled to himself as he helped re-position the tanned female in a piggy-back position across Kuwabara's large shoulders. The thousand year old fox knew that Mokuro would leave out the part about Koenma needing his assistance beyond this point to ensure that he would actually help the young prince. Kurama knew as well as Hiei that since he had accepted the mission there was no turning back now unless the three eyed demon wanted to give up his chances for Mokuro's throne.
"Well we've got what we came here for so let's get back to the human world. The sooner we get this over with the sooner I can return to Alaric." Hiei grumbled as he made his leave towards the portal they had entered from, making no attempt to wait on the rest of the team.