Within the next few chapters (I think it should work out to be Chapter 23, maybe 24, as long as my mind doesn't fork in a different direction) Lone Wolf will be moving to an M Rating, so it will NO LONGER appear on the main default setting listings, if you haven't yet "Followed" it may disappear from your list unless you change your search settings! :)

I'm sorry this chapter is like.. Twice as long as normal! I try to keep it between 1,500-2,000 words so you guys don't have to spend forever reading one chapter, and I actually cut quite a bit out of this chapter to make it shorter but it's still longer than usual :P Maybe the chapters will just start being longer, who knows!

Chapter 19: Card Reader Tales and Tongues

The inside of Kajino Roiyaruzu was dimly lit, with crimson walls decorated in all shades of gold, and massive crystal chandeliers hanging throughout the entire building. Barely clothed, beautiful women walked around the entire area, entertaining drunk men, human and demon alike, in exchange for large rolls of cash or sacks of gold coin. Partitioned booths with tables inside lined two of the walls, a bar lining the third and on the fourth was an entrance to the next adjoined room, where hundreds of game tables were spread out and dozens of bright, flashing slot machines rang out; beyond the gambling portion there was a pair of enormous, french glass doors on the other side of the casino which led out into the pearly-white marble foyer of the hotel. The air was thick with cigar smoke and above all else, it was incredibly loud.

"Why does anyone find this pleasant?!" Kirazuki shouted out to no one in particular as the group attempted to weave its way through the massive crowd of patrons to a secluded booth or table where they could await the arrival of their first informant, her ears folded back in an effort to block out some of the noise.

"Simple minds are amused by simple things," Hiei replied only a few feet ahead of her with a scowl, placing a hand on the shoulder of what appeared to be a troll and shoving him roughly out of the way.

Kira couldn't even see where they were headed as they made their way down the line of crowded booths, filled with all sorts of boisterous drunk beings clouding her senses; slowly but surely the space between her and the rest of the group grew larger as she tried to keep up with them; until she let out a panicked squeal as she was yanked to the side into one of the crowded booths, "Please tell me you work here, darlin'," A large brown-skinned demon grinned; clearly the one who had plucked her from the group. The entire booth was putrid with alcohol as their mindless laughter filled the small cramped space.

Her first instinct, of course, was to put him and everyone else in the booth through the wall, but Koenma's speech about no violence rang loud in her mind as she was jerked down onto the lap of the culprit, "No, I don't," She replied irritably, shoving herself up roughly and attempted to exit the confined space.

"Maybe you still wanna do some work?" The drunk demon grinned, reaching out a massive clawed hand for Kira's arm and yanking her back again.

'Screw Koenma's rules,' Kira thought to herself, quickly slipping her hand to the back of his shaven head, "No, I don't," She repeated through gritted teeth, slamming his head down onto the table with enough force to snap the thick, polished mahogany top and sending the dozens of half filled and empty, thick whiskey glasses shattering across the booth. Maybe he just had a hard head. She quickly slipped out of the area, ignoring the amazed occupants within it and scanning the crowd for the familiar faces of her comrades.

Shit. She was lost.

Kira searched for, what felt like, an entire hour (although in all reality, it was around 15 minutes), the sheer drunken shouts were beginning to overwhelm her senses once again, 'There has to be a bathroom or something around here..' She thought to herself grudging, sweeping the walls quickly with her mismatched eyes until they focused in on a doorway between the drinking and playing areas, 'Good enough for me,' She swiftly ducked into the room, leaning against the back of the door with her back to shut it with closed eyes as she exhaled a sigh of relief; the noise was almost instantly dulled, 'Thank goodness..'

"We have a taker," Came an unfamiliar, shaky voice from the shadows.

Kira's eyes flickered back to life, momentarily threatened by the stranger; but instead she was greeted with what looked like a very, very elderly woman sitting stoically at a round wooden table, dressed in a mess of tattered dark green robes, her wiry, short auburn hair poked up at all sorts of strange angles around her long, pointed, elfen ears and hauntingly silver eyes; her skin was like a pale grey-blue slab of leather stretched across her bony frame, and she had what looked like a faded white tattoo spanning across the bridge of her nose to her jawbones, "Who are you?"

The elderly woman smiled, patting the table top before her, "Come, come," She motioned with her other hand, "My name is Shizen, you need not worry, child,"

Kira cautiously pushed herself from the door, scanning the dark room for any signs of foul play; it seemed safe enough, truly there was really nothing but the old woman and her table, which she slowly took a seat at, "What are you?"

Shizen smiled yet again, a kind, almost all-knowing smile that one would expect from a grandparent, "You needn't worry, girl," Kira narrowed her eyes to this repatitious statement, "I am a reader, one as you've never seen before,"

"And what's a reader?" She asked quickly, scanning the old woman as she reached for a deck of what looked like playing cards in the center of the table, grabbing them in her trembling hands and flipping them over before offering them out to Kira: they appeared to be completely bare.

"Come, place your hand here," Shizen insisted, motioning to her outstretched hand, "Let me show you," Kira did as she was told, outstretching a pale hand and placing it gently atop the deck of blank cards. The elderly woman placed her own calloused hand over Kira's for just a few moments, before withdrawing both hands and the deck and beginning to shuffle.

"What do you do?" Kira questioned, her shoulders relaxing slightly; she didn't appear to be any kind of threat, she could barely even sense any energy from her.

"I know your past, I know your present, and I know your future," Shizen smiled wisely as she explained, setting the deck face down in front of her when she had finished mixing them.

Kira tipped her head quizzically: Certainly that wasn't possible, "How?"

Shizen chuckled with a shake of her head, "How do demons wield the elements? How do some humans sense the dead? It is a gift, little one. You will see," She smiled mysteriously, drawing up the first card, which now, somehow, had a picture on it. The old woman set it down on the table before her, "You've led a life many would consider.. Tortuous," She paused momentarily with the smallest hint of a smile, moving the first card to the side, "But you don't view it as such. You believe these trials were.. Necessary," Kira briefly recalled Keiko's disdain for the actions of their upbringing: Perhaps the old woman was just a lucky guess.

Shizen drew up another card, this one, as well, already had a picture on it, Kira could vaguely make out what looked like some sort of blade with a bright white background behind it, "You dabble in the art of death," That wasn't a very difficult guess, they were in the Makai, it would be quite common, especially in Kajino Roiyaruzu, "But for the greater good, your business has purpose. You fight for what is right," She moved that card to the side as well, drawing up yet another; her elderly smile widened, "You have a vast appreciation for the world's beauty, yes?" Kira nodded to this; surely it wasn't a rare trait, "You are a child whose eyes have finally opened. You appreciate what so many take for granted because you see not with just your eyes, but your soul," She chuckled, shaking her head lightly. Shizen drew another card and her entire demeanor seemed to shift drastically; her vibrant silver eyes darkening as they narrowed and her "Beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing,"

Kira tipped her head to the side, her ears giving a small twitch; was she talking about her? No, she couldn't be. She was.. A wolf in wolf's clothing. The notion almost caused her to grin unceremoniously, "The what?"

"There's someone you must not trust," She warned ominously, raising a pointed finger, "This person masquerades behind a facade,"

"Who is it?" Kira asked cautiously.

Shizen chuckled with another small shake of her head, placing the card to the side with the others, "That, the cards cannot tell you or even I," She drew another card from the top of the deck, and again her entire demeanor had shifted: her haunting eyes widening as her trembling jaw fell open a fraction, "Never in my lifetime.." She murmured faintly, placing the card down on the table. To Kira, it simply looked like an image of winged men; she couldn't quite read the old womans expression. Shizen's eyes snapped up to meet her own, "The Archangels," She practically whispered, "Trust me when I say, I have never before you drawn them,"

"What are they?" She questioned, tipping her head to the side.

The old woman reached a tremoring hand forward, placing it on Kira's, who flinched involuntarily from the contact, "You are destined for great things in these worlds," She spoke with a small smile, but before Kira could press the topic, the door slammed open; she instinctively whipped around, accidently tipping her chair over as her hands glowed an icy blue - only to find two familiar figures standing in the doorway.

"What. Are you. Doing?" Hiei practically growled through gritted teeth, his fists balled in the pockets of his cloak; Kurama was standing at his side, looking equally as displeased.

Kira grinned sheepishly, the glimmer at her hands beginning to dissipate, "I got lost,"

"Our.. Meeting is here," Kurama spoke cryptically, casting a momentary glance towards Shizen in obvious mistrust.

Kira nodded to the pair, her grin falling from her face as she turned to face the elderly 'card reader', "Thank you," She said quickly before joining the demons at the door, "Let's go then,"

Kurama sighed as the trio began making their way through the crowded, noisy casino area of the complex, "How did you manage to get lost?"

"Well, first the crowd got in the way, then some drunkard thought I worked here, and then I was even more lost," She cringed at the unpleasant memory.

Both Hiei and Kurama seemed to instantly lighten in their moods, casting sideways glances at each other with mysterious matching smirks, "The oaf with his head through a table," The fire demon stated as they trailed through the massive glass doors into the hotels lobby.

"That would be the one,"

The group of 7 sat around a long, polished, deep mahogany table in matching black leather office chairs; the room was fairly empty, a vase of roses sat on a singular stand in the corner; there were no windows to speak of and the only entrance point to the entire room was a single doorway. At the head of their table sat their first informant, his pale green shoulders hunched nervously as his entirely black eyes darted from person to person.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us," Kurama spoke diplomatically from his seat, his hands folded disarmingly on the tabletop in front of him. The lizard-like demon nodded stiffly, waiting for him to continue, "I trust you're already well aware of why we're here?"

The informant nodded again, "Miss Tatsumi and Tobikuma," His voice quivered when he spoke.

"Do you know where they are?" Taryuu asked suddenly from where he was seated next to Kira, who kicked him hastily under the table. He was certainly not the best person to be questioning the nervous man before them; his sheer size would certainly be intimidating, and the poor demon was already clearly shaken.

"It is a cave," The informant answer cautiously, his brows furrowing, "We weren't permitted to know where," He added quickly, seeing the flicker of hope in Ryuu's eyes, "We were blindfolded before we got near," The dragon huffed loudly, folding his large arms over his broad chest; he knew it was a long shot, but he had to at least try.

"Can you tell us about any of their motives? Why they are doing this?" Kurama spoke in a characteristically calm tone, glancing momentarily in Ryuu's direction, his thoughts the same as Kira's.

The informant shook his head slowly, "They spoke of 'the others', they want 'the others', but I do not know who the others are,"

"The other abominations," Hiei confirmed with a snide smirk. Kira raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes and tipping her head slightly in his direction, obviously displeased with the phrasing; he simply returned the gesture in an unusually mock-manner.

"Do they have a psychic?" Kanami interupted the tense atmosphere, her fingers twisting in her lap; Kurama grasped his temples between his thumb and pointer finger; why couldn't they just leave the questioning to him?

The informant nodded once again, "I have never met him, but they've spoken of him often," He paused momentarily, his shoulders relaxing at last, "He stays far from them.. We aren't permitted to know much, only that their cause is just,"

Kurama cleared his throat to draw the reptiles attention back in his direction, "They've given away no vital information?"

"Liberation," The scrawny demon let out a strangled chuckle, "They always speak of liberation, they promise us liberation."

Kurama sighed as he leaned back in his chair, his emerald eyes closing. This information was nothing they couldn't have pieced together themselves, "I do have one more question I'd hope you'd have a sure answer to," He leaned forward again, "How many followers do they have?"

The informant, for the first time during the entire meeting, laughed, an almost eerily somber laugh, "This psychic takes the minds of lowly demons... They have hundreds, if not thousands,"

Kirazuki sat atop the roof of Kajino Roiyaruzu, her legs dangling precariously over the edge of the brick-walled building as her heels clicked rhythmically against it, watching the hollow, unfamiliar faces of the crowd entering and exiting below; her shoulders hunched as she fiddled mindlessly with the tiny stones on the necklace from Yukina. Their first informant was practically useless. Surely there were millions of caves in the Makai. And of course Tobi and Sumi wanted the others; they'd have an army never seen before. Did they want to seek vengence on the Reikai? Take control of the Makai? Obliterate the Ningenkai? Perhaps even all three? There had to be more to their scheme than just liberation for the others.

She sighed as she heard the rusted steel door to the roof creak open roughly, never looking away from the patrons on the ground, "Come to join one of the abominations?" She spoke bitterly, listening to the familiar footsteps tap their way across the thick cement roof. Instead of the rude, cocky reply she expected, there was a moist 'plop' on the ground behind her. Curiosity got the best of small demoness, turning to glance at whatever it was.

It appeared to be… A pile of bloody, severed tongues? Kira blinked in confusion, looking inquisitively towards the fire demon standing behind her, who looked quite pleased with himself, she could see various fresh blood stains on his white, collared dress shirt, although she wasn't sure where his coat or tie had disappeared to. She peered back at the sizable mound of body parts before the wires connected in her mind, "The oaf with his head through a table," She quoted him.

Hiei smirked in return, "And his moronic friends," Kira couldn't help the momentary laugh that escaped her, quickly covered her mouth in an attempt to contain the rest; he narrowed his crimson eyes, clearly growing defensive at her reaction, "What?"

"Is this your way of apologizing?" She asked through her laughter, and it was confirmed by the return of his signature smirk; it was.. Sweet. In some strange, twisted way, "I could've done that myself, you know,"

"But you wouldn't have," He sighed, seating himself next to the wolf on the high ledge.

"Because I listen when I'm told no violence," She replied casually.

"Is that why you put his head through a table?" Hiei retorted without missing a beat.

Kira opened her mouth to reply, but truly, she had nothing: he did have a point, "Fair enough,"

"Any particular reason you're on the roof?" He asked with a smirk, peering down at the stumbling crowd below.

"For one, I share a room with Kanami," She joked lightheartedly before confessing, "It felt… Unfitting to spend my first night in the Makai inside," She still felt restricted; the lights from Kajino Roiyaruzu and the surrounding buildings were so bright that they blocked out most of her sky view; it was better than inside, but she still wanted to run.

"Fair enough," Hiei leaned back to place his weight on his palms in a relaxed manner.

"Any particular reason you're on the roof?" Kira asked, mimicking his motion as she tore her sight away from the ground.

"To apologize," He stated simply; 'abomination' may be a tad harsh, even for him. He certainly knew what it was like to be considered one, considered something that went against the natural order of things, something that roused an unwarranted hatred. That, of course, wasn't something he would confide.

Kira shook her head, absentmindedly picking up one of the severed tongues between two of her fingers and holding it at eye level, "Such a strange body part.." She muttered to herself, releasing it into the crowd far below, "Thank you," She finally said, watching as the bloodied appendage hit a dwarf-looking demon directly on the top of his head, "I seem to thank you an awful lot,"

Hiei shrugged one of his shoulders casually as he peeked over the ledge to watch the panic that ensued over the renegade tongue, "Unnecessarily,"

"No, you've done.. a lot for me," Kira said with a sudden force, "Everyone has, beyond simple comradery," She paused, fiddling idly with her bracelet Keiko had given her, "It's… Strange, how some.. Mismatched group can awaken everything you've always been made to keep in slumber,"

"Hn," The tone of his voice was an amused one, almost mixed with a chuckle, "They do seem to have an uncanny ability for that," Truth be told, he knew that exact feeling, although he wouldn't have worded it so eloquently.

"Sounds like you know the feeling.." At least she wasn't the only one. Taryuu had always been an outgoing, friendly individual, they simply enhanced this; she on the other hand had always had to live up to something, focus on being at the top and staying there, keeping control and order, she was never an equal like she was here. Hiei didn't respond, so Kira continued, "I don't find that fair,"

Hiei blinked, as if being stirred from a daze, "What?"

"You," She said pointedly, narrowing her eyes, "You get to poke around in my dreams, my memories, my thoughts; but you tell me nothing," She said matter of factly, crossing one of her legs over the other.

Hiei shook his head with a chuckle, "I'm not exactly the poster child for heart-to-hearts," He stated dismissively, "There's not much to know,"

"I don't believe that," Kira followed quickly, "Everyone's shared at least one thing with me since I've been here.. Except Kuwabara, but he's been too busy following Yukina like a lost puppy," Hiei cringed involuntarily at the statement, "Like that. Something about Kuwabara and Yukina blatantly bothers you, but I have no idea what. It's like a puzzle,"

"Perseptive," Hiei gave a little nod, "It's nothing you need to know," He replied in a calm, even tone, glancing towards the wolf from the corner of his eye.

Kira rolled her eyes with a huff, relaxing on her palms yet again, "I'm going to find all the pieces eventually," She laughed to herself, as if she'd just accepted some great challange, peeking up at what little she could see of the sky.

His eyes widened a fraction at this bold statement, before a smirk filtered it's way onto his face, "Good luck then," Maybe that wouldn't be such a terrible thing.

Kira smiled silently to herself as her mismatched eyes set on the two moons of the Makai, she was sure if it wasn't for Kajino Roiyaruzu, it would be a remarkable view. Her ears gave a small twitch as she heard an odd shuffle behind the pair, her head quickly snapping around to see what it was.

Oh, she wished she hadn't..

Keep an eye out for "Chapter 20: Kill Count"!

- B.J.