Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Half of What You See ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: -rubs head and chuckles- Just to warn you all in advance, this chapter may confuse you, but there are some things that had to happen for the plot to progress. (Don't eat me, Kazusa, I swear they'll actually have a real meeting soon enough!) -clears throat and composes self- At any rate, I again must take a moment to thank all of you who reviewed and emailed over what you think of the story. You're very sweet, and I really am delighted that you're enjoying yourselves. Even so much as to occasionally try to think up music to go with it. ^__~ -giggles- That should be enough rambling from me… Just that I adore you all, and I hope you continue to find the story an entertaining distraction.

~*~*~*~

By Any Other Name

~Half of What You See~

Souta fisted his hands on his thighs, every muscle strung taut as he looked from the grumbling, ancient looking man guiding the elegant cars further out of town and towards the thick forests that surrounded the hills and mountains. Fidgeting nervously, he slanted a look at the oddly familiar woman seated beside him as she clicked away on her laptop, trying to remember where he had seen this face… He gave up after a moment, twisted around to scowl out the window as his concern for Kagome's welfare increased.

"He won't let those two catch her, Souta-chan," Ankoji reassured him with a faint smile, reaching over to squeeze his hand.

"What?" he jumped slightly at the unexpected contact, eyes startled while his mind tried to snap back around to the conversation rather than his own imagination. "He-? Catch Kagome?"

She giggled softly when the driver muttered about the stupidity of youth, shaking her head at him before smiling wider at Souta, "Takashima. He's the cocky little twit you were chasing."

"Then… you know who kidnapped her!" Souta twisted around in his seat to face her, eyes intense as he gripped her hand firmly. "What's going on? Who are you?!"

"I told you, I'm Taiharuka Ankoji, Shinju-chan's cousin," she sighed and closed her laptop, setting it aside carefully to prevent any accidental data loss or damage.

"What do you want with my sister?" he set his jaw, trying to make that sound demanding and stern instead of pleading for information, or giving into his urge to grab her shoulders and shake her for answer. "Are you going to hurt her?"

The driver snorted in disgust.

"Oh hush, Jaken-san," she leaned forward to swat the old man on the back of the head. "And no, we aren't going to hurt her, Sou-chan, she's important to us. All we're trying to do is protect her and-"

"The miko is being taken back where she belongs," Jaken glanced over his shoulder, dark glasses reflecting the sunlight in a way that made Souta grimace and squirm until he turned forward again.

"Jaken-san means that we're only bringing her home," she frowned at him in disapproval for his intimidation tactics and sighed again. "Takeharuka-sama has missed her a great deal…"

"Takeharuka-? But-! How does such a person even know of Kagome?" Souta's mouth fell open when he recognized the prominent, corporate name. "My sister has never been involved in any businesses with-"

Ankoji's bubbling laughter cut him off, and she hurriedly waved her free hand to show that she meant no insult to his way of thinking when he frowned at her, "I'm sorry! You may not believe this, but without Kagome-sama, there's no way that Takeharuka would not be the enterprise that it is now. However, this isn't a business call, Sou-chan, it's personal."

"Personal?" he repeated in disbelief.

"Takeharuka-sama says that she is an old friend," she nodded with a broad smile. "A very close, old friend."

"But that would-" Souta's brows lowered, eyes searching her face until the meaning behind her words clicked. "Oh gods! He's-?!"

"From Sengoku Jidai," Ankoji shared a quick look up to meet Jaken's eyes in the rearview mirror before lowering her voice to inform him gently. "Our master is youkai."

He sat back against the door, taking some comfort from the cool glass against his hair as his mind reeled from the implications, "A youkai. They survived all this time? Then that means Inu-nii-san-!"

"It's more… complicated than that, Sou-chan," Ankoji cut him off before he could really get going, chewing nervously on her lower lip.

Souta fell silent, waiting eagerly for her to continue and clarify that statement.

"I wish I could explain it to you, but it's not my place to tell you the story your sister doesn't yet know for herself," she glanced out the window for a moment to watch the scenery go past before looking back with a slightly melancholy touch in her violet eyes. "But I can tell you that a great deal of the youkai your sister loved in the past have survived until now. They have been waiting for a sign that the Shikon no Tama would give her back to them in this era."

"She has responsibilities to the Takeharuka family," Jaken informed him loftily, turning up his nose. "There were promises made to the master before the hanyou's wish went wrong and banished her to this filthy place."

Ankoji leaned forward to whisper to Souta, "Jaken-san has never managed to get rid of his distaste for the scent of humans."

"Then he's-?" Souta glanced back at the driver in surprise. Youkai?

"Ancient."

"I am distinguished, you insolent brat!" Jaken snapped out at her, waving one arm in a blustering manner as he turned off at their exit and turned the car up towards the mountains. "Your ancestors would be horrified at such lack of respect for your elders."

Ankoji snickered and winked at Souta, glad to see his lips curve up in amusement, "Jaken-san doesn't like to admit that he respects Kagome-sama, so he gets touchy whenever she is discussed in front of humans."

"Hmph!"

"See?" she gestured at him before patting Souta where he had yet to release her.

Souta was quiet, digesting all this information as he puzzled over just why all this was happening all at once. They'd had more than a year of silence from anything that resembled her life in the past, but now in one afternoon, she'd been yanked off the street and chased for gods knew what reasons… Then the car pulling up, Ankoji opening the door to hiss at him to get in if he wanted to see Kagome again… He reached up and rubbed his head with a contemplative sigh, But at least I'm in on it, this time. She won't have to face all this alone. But the way they speak of her, his thoughts tapered off as his eyes fractionally narrowed on the patient, attractive woman sitting beside him.

"What about you?" he finally challenged.

Ankoji's brows snapped together, head tilting to one side in confusion, "Me?"

"The way you talk about her," he gestured expansively, eyes never leaving hers to watch the shift of emotions. "Shinju has told me stories, but he speaks the same way you do. Like it's something directly effecting to your life instead of just respect for history."

Souta couldn't help but feel smug when he saw her eyes fill with amazement before they settled down to resignation and amusement, "You're a very astute person."

"I get that a lot," he nodded to acknowledge it, eyes finally drawn forward when they reached a massive gate stretched out across the path, glancing side to side at the high wall that disappeared into the trees. Holy shit…

"Simply put, Sou-chan, without Kagome-sama's power over the jewel, my family wouldn't have lasted beyond one generation," she murmured, reaching for her laptop again and opening it to access a link with the house and get them inside. "There are many things in our family that can be traced back to her influence."

Souta's head snapped around, eyes lighting with delight at the thought that struck him, "You're like Shinju? You're from Kagome's sons?"

Ankoji glanced up at him and shook her head, making sure the gate was opening before she expounded, "Not exactly… But if she hadn't had them, my ancestors couldn't have been born."

Souta blinked, obviously making an effort to puzzle through that on his own before he folded his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow, "Now I'm confused."

She made a soft sound of apology and glanced up at Jaken for help, smiling when he started grumbling again, but finally sighed, "The taijiya woman was barren until the miko gave her those two strange boys. Something about the way those two auras combined repaired the damage her weak human body had suffered."

Ankoji laughed at the mixture of insults and compliments, shaking her head at him, but keeping a critical eye on Souta for his reaction when he continued to stare at them in blank silence, "So you see… without her, it wouldn't have been possible."

Oh, Nee-san, wait until you hear this, Souta could feel his lips twitching, trying to spread into a huge grin. "Her friend Sango actually had children," he waited for her nod of agreement, "how many?"

"Three more," she let out a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding when he seemed to accept that with more enthusiasm than she expected. "She had two daughters and another son."

"Ahh!" Souta clapped his hands together once and took in a deep breath as he sent a quick prayer of gratitude to the gods. "They had a big family after all! Nee-san was so hopeful they would have more."

Ankoji bit her lip, eyes slanting away as she reached up and lightly pressed two fingertips to her forehead, "Shinju-chan wanted to tell her, but Takeharuka-sama wouldn't permit it. He's afraid we'll overwhelm her too quickly if we tried to tell her everything that happened. We've had our whole lives to hear the stories a little at a time-"

"When you actually paid attention to them," Jaken inserted irritably as they accelerated down the tree-lined drive once the gate locked back into place behind them.

"Takeharuka-sama believes the memories are too raw for Kagome-sama to hear when he is not there to absorb any excess energy," she continued as though he'd never spoken, more than used to Jaken's attitudes by now.

Souta made a sound close to a snort, pouting as he propped his elbow on the door handle and bracing up his chin on his hand, "One of these days, someone needs to explain to me how the hell all this works and what exactly happened. It's getting annoying that I don't know why everyone treats her so strangely."

"Be patient, human," Jaken snorted, glancing in the review mirror to scold him with his body language alone. "Whenever that damned jewel was involved, nothing was ever made simple."

Ankoji rolled her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh, "Please understand that it's not anything against you personally, or a matter of not trusting you… it's just that the family is very careful not to involve innocent bystanders in matters surrounding our past. We have too much death and destruction in our history to be taken lightly."

"But that's all in the past, isn't it?" Souta frowned at the somber air that seemed to grip the car.

"Not anymore," she murmured reluctantly.

"What do you mean?" he sat up, instantly alerted to the change in her attitude. "This is something to do with Kagome, isn't it? She doesn't have it anymore, I would have seen it!"

"Calm down, Souta," Ankoji tried to soothe him when he seemed ready to work himself up into a fit. "We know you haven't seen it, but there are still youkai who would hunt your sister down if given half the chance. It was the same in the past with the ones who tried to use for her powers, and her relationship to the jewel. Even if they died in the attempt, it was worth it try and hold her for a little while."

"Before the miko took control of the jewel, there was only one youkai who managed to control the effects of the jewel rather than give into its powers and allow it to corrupt him," Jaken's voice became even more impossibly arrogant, putting Souta in mind of some twisted little butler like he'd seen on foreign movies. "Doing so caused certain changes to the way things are now done."

Souta was even more confused, not liking it one bit and scowling in frustration at hearing so much to understand so little, "What changes?"

"As you are now aware of your place in the family, I expect Takeharuka-sama to explain the things you need to know," Jaken retorted, bringing the car to a stop outside an old-style gate and high wooden fence surrounding the main house and grounds. "Anything else is not your concern."

"Are you always such a nasty little prick?" Souta sat up, bristling at the implications that he was no more than an underling when it involved his own sister.

Before he could get an answer, the door opened and sent him toppling out backwards with a startled curse, wincing when his back his the ground and left him looking up at the upside down face of the boy who'd stolen his sister, "You!"

"Hi there!" Shippou held up a hand in a motionless wave, grinning widely at him before he reached down and yanked him up to his feet in a seemingly effortless motion. "Sorry about making you ride with Jaken and Koji, but we couldn't turn back for you with those guys on my tail."

"What do you mean? The redhead guy? What other one?" Souta stammered out the incomplete demands, trying hard to do something other than gape at the young man grinning so mischievously at him. "Where's Kagome?"

Shippou rolled his eyes as Jaken got out of car and pulled out a gnarled walking stick, dodging the half-hearted swing sent his way as he grumbled and stalked up to open the smaller door set in the wood, "Aw, c'mon, Jaken! You should be used to looking like that by now-!"

"Filthy human skin," Jaken snorted, turning up his nose at them both while Ankoji came around the other side to stand with them. "This is all your fault, you annoying kitsune! You had strict instructions not to react out of turn and you did it anyway-"

"Oi!" Souta reached out and grabbed Shippou by the shoulder, brows shooting up and abruptly releasing him when he heard a strange sizzle and watched the man's shoulder ripple and change ever so slightly. "The fuck-?!"

Shippou looked down and sighed, patting his arm and shrugging, "Don't sweat it, it's just the illusion."

"Illusion?"

"Yeah! Don't you read up on your demon lore?" Shippou snickered and motioned for him to follow as they trailed after Jaken. "Holy magic always melts through any of our illusions, that's why we try to steer away from it. Bad for the ego to watch something that takes us decades to perfect just going poof because someone has tingly hands. You can work around it if you're good, but-"

"Kagome-sama, Shippou-chan?" Ankoji reminded him sternly when she realized he was about to go off on a tangent about his favorite topic. "Where is she?"

"Where do you think?" he folded his arms behind his head and shrugged. "I hadn't even opened the door to the car all the way before he was there and hauling her off to the house. We probably won't see them until tomorrow."

Souta was back to feeling dizzy, absently ducking through the open doorway and just as quickly launching himself backwards with an alarmed shout when he found himself looking at a diminutive little… thing with bulging yellow eyes and a staff that appeared to be made from two heads, "GOOD FUCKING GODS!!!"

"What is-? Oh! Don't worry, it's just Jaken," Shippou assured him, unsuccessfully trying to smother his laughter behind his hand at Souta's reaction and the equally sour look on the toad youkai's face as he turned his back and hobbled his way towards the largest structure. "We don't have to worry about humans seeing us in here, so most of the time we don't bother putting on our nice `normal' faces."

Souta had his hand pressed over his racing heart, wide eyes going from Shippou's face to Jaken toad thing, and back around to Ankoji. Unaware of the look Shippou was sending over his head to her when she bowed and informed him, "I have to find my cousin before he manages to get himself hit over the head by Kaze-kun."

"They're brushing me off, aren't they?" Souta grumbled as he watched her walk away as well, leaving him alone with this bizarre boy who looked at him with too much knowledge in his pale eyes.

"Not really, they just wanted to give you and me some alone time to get to know each other better," Shippou tilted his head, seeming to be listening for something for a moment before he motioned for Souta to follow him again, heading in the same direction Jaken had taken a moment ago.

"Why would they want to do that?" the confusion was back, suspicion and worry nagging away at the back of his mind as he continued to look around in an effort to spot some sign of his absent sister.

"They just figured you should get better acquainted with your big brother."

~*~*~*~

"You trusted Kurabara with something like this and didn't even bother to tell us about it?" Yuusuke hissed furiously, slamming his hands down on the desk and wishing for the hundredth time that Koenma hadn't regained enough energy to be restored to that teenage body. He would almost trade his right arm about now to have him back in the toddler form to pick up and shake him in his effort to vent his frustration.

"I told you, Yuusuke, it's a peaceful investigation," Koenma informed his casually, unable to stop his eyes from slanting over at the two youkai watching him with piercing intensity. "Nothing youkai in nature, simply a large amount of energy under the control of one man."

"Hiei and Kurama say it is `youkai in nature,' you over-grown excuse for a wannabe god!" Yuusuke pointed back at them.

At least the years have made him more creative, Kurama observed in a distracted manner, most of his attention set on ignoring Youko's own growled demands that his questions get asked.

Hn.

You're still annoyed with me for not telling you I had spotted your ghost, aren't you? he spared a brief look at the annoyed hybrid before looking back at the insult trades between their "boss" and their dubiously appointed leader.

You could have handled the situation better, Hiei informed him crisply. I don't care if you want to have sex with that particular human, but with her, we have more than your personal gratification at stake.

`Our gratification is not less important than yours just because yours is supposed to be intellectual or some bullshit reason like that,' Youko retorted. `She'd probably feel more inclined to answer our questions if we had a relationship instead of just demanding answers as if we were some random lunatic off the street.'

Like walking up to her and asking her to bear your child is going to give her a better impression? Hiei arched an eyebrow in sardonic inquiry.

She didn't run, did she? Kurama bit down hard on his tongue to hold his blank expression when he saw Koenma's knowing eyes slide over their direction again. You can't blame me for that little damned kitsune coming out of nowhere and kidnapping her just because it's the second time she's been in front of you and disappeared.

I can and will, Hiei's chin kicked up the slightest fraction of an inch. If you hadn't been so busy staring at her and trying to convince her to jump on you right there, you would have seen that brat and been able to move her out of his reach.

"The Takeharuka enterprise doesn't seem to be involved in anything that links to the Makai or even anything illegal by human standards," Koenma broke off their internal fight by rising to his feet and folding his hands together behind his back. "Kurabara has been working for him for the past two years, and has nothing but good things to say of his coworkers and bosses. He says they're eccentric at worst, but that even the youkai who work around him are content to blend in with the humans in a peaceful manner. As far as we can tell some of them have never even been in the lower realms."

"How is that possible?" Kurama interrupted before Yuusuke could continue his rant at the temporary ruler. "I thought that every youkai was banished when the barriers were created."

Koenma sighed, reaching for a massive folder on the corner of his desk and flipping it open, "We thought every one of them was banished, but these youkai are proving our beliefs to be incorrect."

"And you didn't think this was worth mentioning?" Yuusuke flung his hands up expansively, even as he leaned over to try and see what was drawing his attention in that stack of papers. "Why did you ask Kurabara to do this without telling us about it?"

The unspoken accusation that he'd left them out of the loop because of their own youkai bloodlines hung heavy in the air, and Koenma arched an eyebrow as he slid the folder back away from him, "Kurabara comes off as harmless. Over-enthusiastic and a bit strange, but he was the most likely out of your group to not set off any suspicions."

"Harmless?" Yuusuke's voice was incredulous. "Kurabara? He's a fucking thug!"

"So are you," he shrugged nonchalantly, smiling around the ever-present pacifier at how much he was enjoying riling the detective. "It's what got him the position in the company, you know. He is one of the directors of security for that office, but you know what I mean."

"Why didn't you send Kurama if you wanted someone who would look harmless?" Yuusuke ranted and gestured expansively to the kitsune standing with false casualness a few paces behind him. "He's at least pretty, he could have charmed someone into giving up the answers."

"I did not want to alert them to other youkai poking their noses into their affairs on the chance that it was a issue of concern," Koenma brought his hands to rest on either side of that folder again. "Youkai can sense each other and they would have known in an instant that Kurama was a kitsune, and one that they didn't know. Granted, it may have brought him in front of the head of their operation right away, but it was too risky."

"You think I can't handle myself with a few Ningenkai youkai making themselves cozy amongst humans?" Kurama tilted his head to one side, his voice carrying a silky edge that had Hiei mentally telling him to back down before they could see Youko's ulterior motives to this particular topic.

Koenma's eyes narrowed ever so slightly on him, quiet for a moment until he shook his head and chalked the behavior up to kitsune pride, "I'm aware that you can handle yourself, but putting all of you together in a volatile situation is usually a good way to start an all out war. Which I am trying to avoid," he tapped a finger nervously against the file in front of him, scowling at it momentarily as he scanned a few lines.

"What is that thing?" Yuusuke finally gave up trying to be discreet and all out demanded.

"Just brushing up on my knowledge of ancient history," Koenma smiled again and avoided actually answering as he sat back down, steepling his fingers together to regard Yuusuke's blazing eyes and the other two youkai barely concealing their curiosity from his senses. "There have been some minor issues that have seemed to be dredging up pieces of a few silly legends."

"Such as?" Hiei tilted his head as he pondered what kind of punishment he would get for stealing a file off Koenma's desk, and whether or not the result would be worth it.

Not yet… we'll consider it if he gives us that smirk one more time though, Kurama assured him with a slight frown. He knows something.

No shit, Hiei snorted.

"Nothing to be of concern yet," he waved that off casually. "Just a human soul-"

"A girl?" Kurama arched an eyebrow, straightening slightly as he interrupted while Youko went perfectly silent in anticipation.

"Actually, no. A man," Koenma's brows furrowed, eyes turning more speculative as he regarded them. "Why do you ask?"

"Hiei recently found a human girl that he couldn't feel," Yuusuke answered when it was obvious Kurama wouldn't this time, leaning his hip on the desk and slanting a look down at the top paper while Koenma's attention was turned. "Some sort of warm ghost."

"You found an unprocessed ghost wandering in that city?!" Koenma was on his feet, eyes wide and one eyebrow starting to twitch furiously. "Dammit, Bo-!"

"She wasn't a ghost," Hiei cut in before he could finish that bellow for the overworked ferrier, waiting until he was certain he had the deity's full attention before he expounded on that remark. "She was alive, but she had no aura. It was just an empty space that blended in completely with everything around it."

Koenma's head cocked quizzically to one side, blinking as he tried to process that odd description, "That shouldn't be right… All the artifacts that were capable of hiding a living aura like that were either destroyed back in the feudal ages, or they were collected and locked into highly protected vaults."

"Hence our inquiry," Hiei folded his arms and waited for more of and answer than that.

"You're certain it wasn't just a mistake? Maybe it truly was a ghost possessing a human girl?" he shook his head and closed the folder, opening a drawer of his desk and stuffing it inside to make space for him to hop up and sit cross-legged on the surface.

"My eyes can tell a ghost from a human," Hiei's eyes narrowed, lifting a hand to meaningfully press a fingertip to the white band wrapped across his forehead. "That girl is not a spirit, a mononoke, or any other sort of intangible thing. She was alive, and she was invisible to inhuman senses."

Koenma sighed, reaching around him to sift through the other files and absently sort them for a moment before he answered, "Anything else?"

"Her name is Kagome," Kurama offered when Youko prodded that bit of information they recalled. "That's what her brother called her."

Fingers drummed impatiently across the desktop as Koenma turned his gaze up skyward and murmured to himself, "Why do I recognize that name…?"

Kurama and Hiei shared a look while Yuusuke reached out and grabbed the front of Koenma's shirt, "This is really getting old, brat. Just `cause you got bigger, it doesn't mean you can jerk us around!"

"Touchy, touchy! I ought to send you to Makai to clean up for manhandling me like this," he waited until he'd been released, smoothing a hand down the front of his shirt in an exaggerated motion. "Anyhow, it's simply a name. I think I saw it on a label or something."

`He's lying,' Youko growled thickly.

I'm aware of that, but we can't exactly do anything at the moment, Kurama reached up to tuck his hair behind his ear, letting his fingertips linger on the seeds hidden in the thick mass.

Except see how much he knows about this situation directly, Hiei had a shrewd gleam in his eyes that only appeared when he was plotting something particularly sneaky. "What about someone named `Miroku?' She seemed to think Kurama was a person by that name," he closed his eyes with a deceptive casualness that belied the way all his sense had attuned to Koenma.

A stack of papers slid to the floor, bringing a string of blistering curses from Koenma as he hopped up and instantly tried to sort them all out while Kurama walked forward to help him. He was muttering to himself as he gathered pages, stacking them haphazardly to set them back up on his desk and pin them all with a stern look, "You've all become overly paranoid if you think that everything is a conspiracy simply because things have been quiet lately."

This is a first… Koenma is usually the one suffering from paranoia, Kurama glanced over the pages he'd helped collect, frustrated at seeing perfectly normal records on what looked like a human thief who'd died ages ago. Supervising reincarnations maybe?

Whatever he's doing, he's trying to keep us from investigating that girl or this Miroku person, Hiei's brows drew together slightly. Accusing us of his behavior pattern… We should be disgusted.

"But I'll tell you what," Koenma set one hand on the small of his back and leaned back slightly until they all heard the distinct popping sound. "If you're that bored, I have a job for you that could use your skills."

I have a bad feeling about this, Kurama absently handed the loose pages back when Koenma held out a hand for them.

"You'll love it," he assured them loftily, hopping back up onto the desk and grinning around his pacifier. "You get to spend some time in Makai and kill things."

Here we go, bullshit mission to try and steer us away from the real situation, Hiei would have smirked at having called it so accurately if he wasn't so irritated at having the proof they were being kept from something important.

I'm sure that the permission to randomly kill things in Makai will make up for your frustration, Kurama folded his arms over his chest, trying to soothe Youko when he started up a new rant about leaving his lover alone with a dog and a little brat kitsune for too long without his supervision.

Somewhat, but not completely.

"It shouldn't take you too long," Koenma was saying, shuffling through all the pages impatiently until he finally came across the one he wanted and held it out to Yuusuke. "I want you to locate this youkai, no matter what it takes, and make sure that he's still actually in that level."

"Why?" Yuusuke scowled at him angrily, passing off the page to Kurama and Hiei. "I don't have time for this, Koenma, I have a family now, you know. Keiko'll skin me if I'm off on a wild goose chase and miss Ryou's birthday."

"If you hurry, you should be finished in plenty of time to get back for that," Koenma turned up his nose. "Honestly, Yuusuke, if you took your duties seriously you could have them finished in no time at all."

"What do you expect us to do with this Musou if we do find him?" Kurama frowned when he noticed there were several portions of the page that looked to have been blanked out purposefully.

"If you do see him, simply let him be and report back," he held out his hand, arching an eyebrow when Hiei refused to return it for few more minutes. "I don't care if you kill any youkai in the way, but all I want you to do is be certain that he's still there."

"Koenma-" Yuusuke started to growl, but the deity held up a hand to cut him off.

"Humor me for once," his tone abruptly turned serious. "It's very important for me to find out if he's within the Makai."

"Why?" Kurama tilted his head ever so slightly to one side. "Why only this one person?"

Koenma sighed and leaned back again, stuffing the page back into the stack, "He may prove dangerous to one person in particular if he were to escape. A carry-over obsession, if you will."

"A carry-over from what?" Kurama pressed, just as irritated as Youko with all these half answers. What in the hell could be so important that they were running around on an errand for a single demon inside Makai while Koenma purposefully kept them out of the loop for these investigations Kurabara was performing?

"His life," Koenma gave him a look as though it should have been obvious. "Now if you don't mind, the sooner you leave, the sooner you'll complete this mission," he made a shooing motion with one hand. "We still have far too much work to do for me to be loitering around, so I'll have a portal ready for you outside."

Hiei balked a little at being shuffled out of the office so rapidly, scowling at the oni who had stepped from seemingly nowhere to herd them out and taking satisfaction in their fear as they backed away. He turned his gaze to Koenma's, determined to pass along without unnecessary words that he wasn't fooled in the slightest by the redirection, and that he wasn't intending to let this slide without a full explanation.

Kurama caught his shoulder, giving him a slight tug to turn him away and follow Yuusuke out of the familiar office, We have time. Let's figure out where Musou fits into this mess, and then we can confront him over what's in that damn file.

`I'd rather know what legend he was researching,' Youko added, trying in vain to turn Kurama's head back around to look behind them. `For a file that big, it'd have to be a hell of an important one…'

Although, why he would actually be reading folklore doesn't make sense, Kurama stubbornly refused to give into Youko's desire, focusing instead on where Yuusuke had stopped, arms folded and foot tapping impatiently to wait for their portal.

Unless something about it is true, Hiei's voice had a chill to it that had both Kurama and Youko in agreement when they glanced at him in mild alarm. Something that we youkai shouldn't know.

Kurama would have responded to that when the portal opened and Yuusuke stepped through, sighing and shaking his head as they followed him out onto one of the barren plains of the Makai. He tried to ignore Youko's sigh of delight, the way he could feel his soul expanding and purposefully drawing in all the energy around them like a drug, but it was just too warm, too sensual for him to tune it out completely.

`It wouldn't be this distracting if you let me roll around in the woods, you know,' Youko chuckled at him, highly entertained at Kurama's reaction and deliberately provoking it. `You were pushing it on how long we'd gone without soaking in what makes us strong.'

That's enough, Youko, Kurama felt the blood rise faintly in his cheeks, his body growing too warm for a moment until it meshed inside him and settled out to a rather mellow echo.

Yuusuke turned around, looking past them with a frown at the portal until it slowly closed in on itself and rippled away, leaving them alone before he looked down at the two of them, "What does the name `Onigumo' mean to you two?"