Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Thief in One Life, A Thief in the Next ❯ Tea and Talk ( Chapter 13 )

A/N: Here’s the new chapter, brought to you today by the miracle of caffeine. I don’t own anything. Oh yeah, and don’t mind the abrupt start. I didn’t want to have to rewrite what I’d had before. Read and review.

A Thief in One Life, a Thief in the Next

Chapter Thirteen

Tea and Talk

“Says the demon who used to almost kill himself training,” Yusuke snorted.

“He wasn’t that bad, Yusuke,” Kurama defended.

“Was too,” was Yomi’s piece.

“I’ve never known you to quibble, Yomi,” the kitsune said, shooting a shrewd look at him that was wasted on the blind demon.

“We surprise each other every day, old friend,” Yomi commented, bringing his cup to his lips to take a slow sip. “Though if I had staff like yours under my command, they would be my strategists, not my maid servants.”

While the others talked, Yukina set her tea and blanket aside, walking over to Wufei. “I could heal you now if you would like.”

Wufei nodded to the koorime, jolting as his leg chilled from her touch. Smiling apologetically, she set to work, mending bone and putting torn and brushed muscle to rights. Skilled hands removed the splint with practiced ease. The Chinese man gasped when there was no pain. “Amazing…”

“You may wish to refrain from walking on it too much for another day still, Chang-san, but the break has been repaired,” she said before moving to Heero, who was, much to his chagrin and Kuronue’s amusement, seated on the chimera’s lap, the pair of them sharing a large blanket. “I suspect that it’ll be the same with your arm, Yuy-san.”

“I apologize if this is a rude thing to ask here, Yukina-san, but what are you?” Quatre asked, awed with her abilities.

“Think nothing of if,” she said, smiling brightly. “I’m a koorime, an ice maiden. We’re natural healers and I myself have done extensive training.”

Yusuke toasted the healer with his teacup. “Hear, hear. I’ve lost count of how many times she patched us up after missions.”

“Missions?” Heero asked, eyes narrowing.

“Oh yeah, forgot that you were still unconscious when we went around explaining things,” Kuronue said, resting his chin on Heero’s head, much to the human’s annoyance. “Yusuke, along with my brother and brother-in-law, used to be in charge of keeping the demon masses in line and out of the human world. Detectives of sorts.”

“But we’ve been retired from that job for a long time,” Kurama added in. “Though I do believe that ruling is a task far more demanding.”

“Not to mention more hair raising for Koenma-sama,” a woman’s voice said from the door. The woman in the pink kimono from before, Botan, stood there. “The three of you made him nervous enough when you were serving under him, but now ruling the Makai? If he weren’t a god and so young, I think you’d have killed him through stress one of you causes him alone.”

“Hey, the lady of death is back,” Kuronue said cheerfully, waving to her. She squeaked and started to inch away. “I know, I don’t bite much anymore. Would it help if I apologized for sinking your oar when you ferried me over last time?”

“How do you sink a flying oar?” Quatre asked, tilting his head curiously.

“Don’t you dare tell him,” Botan said quickly as the chimera opened his mouth to explain. “Do you know how much trouble I was in by the time I made it back to the office? Ferry girls and souls are not supposed to actually go into the River Styx! I had to do all of Koenma-sama’s paperwork for nearly two years, and that was on top of my normal duties! We got so behind it took us nearly five years to catch up!”

“So that’s why it was so easy to steal things from the vault for those years,” Kurama mused, smiling innocently when Botan sent him a withering glare. “Really Botan, I was a thief. Did you expect anything different from me?”

“You raised him,” she growled out, threateningly raising the oar that had materialized. “So by proxy, it was your fault.”

“Why are you here, ferry girl?” Hiei asked, scowling.

She squeaked again under the force of the glare. “Koenma-sama’s coming here tomorrow night to investigate the humans’ presence here.”

“Should we be honored that the lord of the underworld himself is coming to see that we aren’t torturing the poor creatures to death?” Yomi asked humorously.

Yusuke smirked. “His new detective’s probably just too afraid that we’d serve him up for dinner to come without the full special defense team, and Koenma knows how we feel about them.” The last part of the comment was said with a meaningful glance toward Kurama, who glowered at the title. “And I guess the royal brat thinks that we wouldn’t hurt an old friend.”

“Actually, he has some questions he needs to ask Kuronue-san about his activities over the past eighteen or so years,” Botan said with a careful glance toward the chimera, who gulped. “Especially the last four.”

“Hey, I did that stuff in human form, with a human identity and human abilities,” Kuronue protested. “I’m sure there’s a loophole in the laws about that stuff.”

“Which is one of the three reasons that you haven’t been arrested already,” the ferrier admitted. “He’s had the oni looking into it.”

“And the other two reasons?” Kurama prompted, eyebrow raised.

The woman was stopped from answering immediately by a pair of servants entering and forcing her into a chair before pressing a steaming cup into her hands. A third wrapped a blanket around her shoulders firmly before all three vanished, leaving a confused grim reaper and several amused demons. “What just happened?”

A sound that suspiciously resembled a snort came from Yusuke’s direction.

“Oh, right, the other reasons,” Botan said, gathering her wits to her. “Well, as you can probably guess, one of them goes furry every sickle moon and isn’t allowed to enter any gardening contests because he’d always win.” She cast a meaningful glance toward the kitsune. “And I don’t think you really want me saying the other in front of the humans here, and I like my head where it is, thank you.”

“How long can you stay this time, Botan?” Kurama asked, a friendly smile putting the woman at ease. Business was over, so they could be old friends again.

“Koenma-sama thought that it would be better if I didn’t try coming home at night, and it’s rather pointless to fly to Reikai in the morning only to turn right around, so I’m allowed to stay at least until Koenma-sama completes his work here.”

“I, however, should be leaving for Gondara now that I’ve finished my tea,” Yomi said, standing up and leaving his blanket folded on his chair. “I trust your party will come there soon as well?”

“Of course,” Kurama said, nodding. “Just as soon as Chang and Yuy have fully healed.”

“Not me, I’m afraid,” Yusuke said. He set down his empty cup on the table. “I’m headed back home after I’ve seen Koenma. I love my generals, really, but they don’t know how to stand up to Asato in the slightest. Like Keiko used to say, like grandmother like granddaughter. I don’t want to have to rescue Chuu after he’s lost a drinking game to her again.”

“So Botan, how is that little project of Koenma’s going?” Kurama asked once Yomi had left, led by yet another servant despite the unnecessity of the act.

The ferry girl smiled brightly. “He finished the paperwork for it yesterday. Of course, processing will take a while, and then there’s the preparation and the actual act, but all of that should be done by the end of next month.”

“Next month? Wow, I’d better get to work preparing him a room then,” Yusuke said, blowing hair from his eyes. “Really doubt that he wants to stay here all the time.”

“Him?” Yukina asked, tilting her head to the side. “Who are you talking about? Botan?”

“It’s a surprise,” Botan said with a grin. “You’ll have to wait to find out. Koenma-sama’s been working on it for years.”

A slumping of the body in his arms alerted Kuronue to the fact that Heero had fallen asleep during their conversation, and a quick scanning of the room showed that he hadn’t been the only human to do so. “Alright, I think it’s time for all of us to call it a night. Wouldn’t you say so, Kurama?”

Seeing that his mate had also dropped off, seeing no reason not to, Kurama nodded. “I believe so. Botan, Yusuke, the usual rooms?”

“That would be wonderful, but I think I need a bath first,” Botan said with a happy sigh.

The various demons and spirits pulled themselves to their feet, nudging the humans awake enough to follow servants to guest rooms. Kuronue voted to carry Heero and let him sleep. “Goodnight everyone. There had better be coffee in the morning.”

“Only you, Kuronue,” Kurama laughed softly. The sitting room was empty within moments.