"Aku Wakahisa…he's been around longer than you Kurama!" Koenma remarked. "Do you have any idea what artifact he holds in his possession?" Kurama asked. Koenma seemed lost in thought for a moment, "well…the only thing I can think of that matches your description is..err…I cant recall the name, but it's a round golden locket engraved with ancient demon writing…legend says it can transform any human into a demon..but in order for it to work..it requires blood from the owner's kin. "Cheza's blood…" Kurama muttered. "The thing is that locket has been lost for centuries…." . "Do you know how to locate Aku ?" Koenma shook his head, "no I do not..he disappeared soon after Cheza's mother perished..I do know he resides in demon world….but that's all I know".
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Cheza you cant! Just wait for Kurama to come back…" Kuronue exclaimed. She was stuffing her backpack with clothes, "No! I can't sit here and do nothing! He killed my mother!" Cheza retorted. Kuronue sighed, "And what do you plan to do if you find him? He's a bounty hunter! Your just a.."
Cheza glared daggers at the bat, "Shut it!" she interrupted. "Im coming with you then" he declared.
She slung the backpack over her shoulder, " Kurama will want to wait for him to come to us…but if we come to him….. we'll catch him off guard…". She opened her apartment door, and the four piled out. She decided to bring Alice along this time..and Kuronue..well he was coming on his own accord and his little spirit beast refused to be separated from the bat. For some odd reason his spirit beast liked to sit on Alice's back, Alice didn't mind, she actually liked the little guy.
/\\/\/\/\/\/\
"Cheza? Im back!" Kurama yelled at her front door. He had told her to lock it just to be safe, even though Kuronue was watching over her for him. Yusuke opened up his door and walked out, "She took off with bat man somewhere". "WHAT!"
The fox took off in search of Hiei, he would know where they were.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
The foul stench of demon world flooded her nose, "I hate that smell…" Kuronue shrugged, "its not that bad". Alice had a disgusted look on her face, a dogs nose is waaaay more sensitive afterall. Kuronue took Cheza's hand in his as they began to walk into a forest she was familiar with, "Stay close to me..this is no place for a human". Cheza remembered walking in these woods with Kurama not that long ago, when they had gone to bring back Kuronue . "Do you even know where youre going?" the bat asked. "Well… Im not sure where to start looking for my..for Aku." She didn't want to call him father. "I have an idea…theres an old friend of mine that lives..well lived not to far from here he would probably know how to find him..although its been centuries since we spoke..he might not even be alive anymore".
"I guess it's a start" Cheza replied.
/\/\/\\/\/\/\
Hiei jumped down from the tree he was in, "Theyre in demon world". Kurama hadn't even asked him where they were yet, " demon…world?". His normally calm and pleasant demeanor instantly changed and his face contorted into consuming anger. His eyes flickered gold, and mist began to engulf him. Soon, Yoko appeared. In a silver blur he vanished for Hiei's site, it was pretty obvious where he was headed.
/\/\/\\/\
"whadda know! hes still alive and kickin!" Kuronue exclaimed. A ferocious looking demon dog was growling at them from behind a chain fence, Alice was growling right back. "How do you know he's alive?"Cheza asked. They had walked up to gigantic tree surrounded by a chain fence. A small door could be seen in the center of the tree, "he lives in there!" Kuronue smiled revealing his fangs, "yep! That there is tinkerbell his pet dog..I can sense his spirit energy..hes defiantly inside". Cheza stared at the hellhoud, "why the hell would he name that dog tinkerbell!" Kuronue shrugged, "I'll admit..hes kinda weird..but you'll like him!". Kuronue opened the gate and was fixing to walk in when Cheza spoke, "What are you doing! That dog will rip us to shreds!". Kuronue laughed, "Are we talking about the same dog here! He wouldn't hurt a fly!" Kuronue walked inside and the dog's tail began to wag excitedly, its whole demeanor changed. Cheza was hesitant to enter still, but she did along with Alice and Kuronue's little spirit beast. The dog ran over to Alice and began to sniff her, she swore "tinkerbell" was making googley eyes at Alice. Kuronue knocked on the door and soon footsteps could be heard. "Whose there!" demanded a deep voice. "Kuronue!" he replied. "This better not be some kind of joke! " Kuronue's mysterious friend began to unlock several locks on his door before opening it. His eyes widened and he looked like he had seen a ghost, "you…Kuronue it really is you! I thought…Yoko told me you died".
Cheza noted Kuronue's friend had an eerie similar appearance to Vegeta from dbz. Although there were differences, he was a fire demon like Hiei, and he was much taller than Vegeta. "whose the girl?" he asked looking over at Cheza. "Yoko's old lady" Kuronue replied. "He sure knows how to pick em! I wish I could get a girl like that!". Cheza was turning bright red at his comment. "So what brings you here?" his friend asked. "I need help locating a certain bounty hunter". His friend moved aside from the door, motioning for him to enter. "Well come on in and I'll see what I can do". The two entered, Alice stayed outside with "Tinkerbell" and Kuronue's spirit beast.
The fire demon sat down at a large wooden table in the kitchen part of the tree house. It was scattered with maps and such. "Whats this bounty hunter's name?" his friend asked. "Aku" Kuronue answered.
"Aku!" His eyes widened a bit, "you mean that son of a bitch that nearly killed Yoko!" Kuronue had a confused look on his face, "what?". " I overheard some demons talkin soon after Yoko dissapeared..they said a bounty hunter named Aku had badly injured him… and chased him into human world somewhere..no one knew if he had survived or not..but overtime stories began to surface that he had been spotted in human world." Kuronue clinched his fist, "so this guy was the one that nearly killed Yoko…." Cheza remained silent as Kuronue soaked in this new information. "Do you know where he is?" His friend nodded, "I've been keepin track of em …and I'm pretty sure I know where his hideout is". His friend rummaged through numerous maps before finding the one he was looking for. "Look, you see this map…I got this off of a thief." Kuronue studied the map, his indigo orbs stopping on the picture of an island floating above Makai. "That island is nearly impossible to get to..the only way is to head to the mountain of mythical creatures to find a griffin who is willing to take you there…but Im positive that's where he is". Kuronue and Cheza exchanged glances, "we'd have to take a train to get to the town closest to where the mountain is located….then it may take weeks to get to the top of it since you and Alice cant fly…"
"oh yeah..you can fly! Why cant you just fly to the island with me on your back?" Cheza asked. "he wouldn't be able to pass through the barrier that surrounds the island…only griffins seem to be able to pass..but I can help ya out and get ya to the top of the mountain within a day" Kuronue raised an eyebrow, "how?".The Vegeta look-alike stood up and walked over to one of his kitchen cabinets, "I have a potion the girl can take to turn her into a bat demon like yourself..its temporary of course..hell..I even have a potion that can turn that dog of yours into a bat demon too! then the three of you can fly to the top!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Kuronue smirked, "you make a cute bat demon Cheza..and Alice you don't look half bad either!" Cheza snapped her wings out and began to flap them. She got about 10 feet off the ground before she went plummeting back to the earth, Kuronue caught her right before she hit the ground. "I'll have to teach you how to fly..its really not that hard". Alice had taken to the skies herself, she was flying all around like she had done it her whole life! "She's a natural!" Kuronue exclaimed. Kuronue proceeded to teach Cheza how to fly until nightfall had arrived. "well I guess we'll have to wait until morning to catch a train…the potion wont wear off for a couple more days so we don't have to worry about time" Cheza nodded, "where are we going to sleep?"
"There's an Inn close to the train station..I don't have any money..but its pretty easy to sneak into"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Morning had arrived and Cheza was now staring out the window of the train, it was slowly beginning to take off. She scanned the crowd of demons waiting for the next train, her eyes met with an all too familiar pair of golden orbs, "Kurama!" she exclaimed. Kuronue looked out the window to see Yoko staring at them with a bewildered look on his face. "I guess hes wondering why you're a bat demon now…" Before Kurama had a chance to do anything the train sped up and within a split second it was gone from his site. "what the hell! Why are we going so fast!what about Kurama!" Cheza exclaimed.
"It'll take about 20 minutes to reach the town were headed to..I'm sure Kurama we'll catch up with us..although Im not sure I want him too…" "What do you mean?" Cheza asked. "He's not going to be very happy with us…"