Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Chains of time ❯ A Little Too Well Done ( Chapter 3 )

Hi Hi!! I'm really excited that people want me to continue this!! As I said earlier, I'm having to type whenever my mom, who broke part of her foot, doesn't need me to do something for her. I was going to put this chapter up yesterday, but it wasn't very Christmas-y. So, yeah. Anyways, on with the story!!

::Caution! I get somewhat grossly descriptive further down. Just to warn you.::

~…~ is thoughts

"…" is spoken (Japanese usually)

*…* is random Spanish phrases. Used later when Kaen cusses….as she cusses in whatever language I decide she should cuss in.

: Blah stuff: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, or much of anything else I mention in here. Except for my Shippô plushie that shows up every now and then….

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Chapter 3: A Little Too Well Done

**Reiki, approximately 6pm**

Koenma pressed a button on his remote controller, pausing the video report he had received a short time ago. One of the Reiki agents had been following two suspects in a recent case involving several artifacts that were supposed to stay in a vault located in Ningenkai when he stumbled upon the mutilated bodies of the suspects. When the call had come in, Koenma immediately sent a team to check the situation out since the Reiki Tantei was out of pocket for the moment.

Therefore, the Great Prince of the Underworld was stuck in his office with the horrific image of a half-cooked demon brain lying on the street in an alley somewhere in Tokyo. The only thing that was worse was although the thieves were there, the artifacts were missing. Again. Koenma whimpered and laid his head down on his desk.

This day couldn't get much worse. Unless of course the Reiki Tantei was suddenly out of the country and Koenma had to deal with this himself. Wonderful.

"Koenma, sir?" George, the blue ogre and Koenma's personal aide said, peering into the Prince's office.

"I told you only to bother me if the Reiki Tantei showed up!" Koenma said, rolling his head so he could glare at the ogre.

"Umm…sir? They're here," George stammered, opening the door so Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Botan could enter. They had decided it would be best if Keiko stayed behind. From what Botan had briefly managed to relay, this was not something Keiko would enjoy seeing. As George closed the door behind them, Yusuke looked at the monitor that hung near the door.

"So, that's our assignment?" Yusuke asked, peering closer at the screen. Since the shot had been taken before sunrise, the image was terribly shadowed.

"Actually, no. Your assignment is to find out why these demons stolen certain artifacts and what killed them," Koenma said, suddenly acting every bit like the Lord he was supposed to be.

"Artifacts?" Kurama asked. "Which artifacts?"

"Not the ones you, Goki, and Hiei stole, that's for certain. Those have been locked away even further in the Royal Vault. These demons apparently stole several holy weapons from one of the shrines in Tokyo, and whatever killed them stole the weapons themselves," Koenma explained.

"What kind of weapons?" Kuwabara asked, leaning up against the wall behind Koenma's desk. "Holy water and spell stickers?"

"I'm afraid the weapons aren't that replaceable. From what I've heard they're various naginatas, katanas, scythes, and other warrior weapons," the Prince of the Underworld said, crossing his arms.

"Pole arms and belted weapons…interesting," Kurama said, his youko kitsune side pouring through all the various demons that typically used weapons like those. "None were found with the bodies?"

Koenma shook his head. "The only thing found with the bodies was the burnt remains of what could have been a message," he stated. Koenma picked up the remote lying on his desk and rewound the video. Once the video reached the beginning, he pressed the play button and motioned for the boys and Botan to get to where they could see.

**Video start**

The images sputtered into a clear view off the Tokyo skyline, before panning down to street level. In the distance, lay two black lumps that smoked slightly. As the camera operator approached the lumps, two bodies, one missing a head and the other oozing its brain, could be seen.

"The suspects were found at 0500 today, but look to have been here for some time, possibly three days," a voice narrated as the camera zoomed in on the headless demon. "Agents have searched the entire area, yet nothing resembling a head has shown up."

From the looks of the body itself, it was surprising that only the head was missing. The carcass had been sliced from the right shoulder to the left hip, and was caked with blood. The intestines, which were still perfectly visible, were fairly charred, as though thrown into a grill and forgotten for a few hours, yet somehow to keep a juicy look. The left shoulder seemed to be in tact, except for the fact that it was ripped from its socket and lay were the head should have been. A single chain link, the kind used for chaining up a dog, was wrapped around the arm, and it too was charred black.

The camera slowly swung around to give an unobstructed of the second body, at which point the narrator continued speaking. "This body, due to its near completeness, allowed for an identification to be made as to demon type. However, considering that Oshi demons are common to find escaping into Ningenkai, it's no wonder that they were found here."

The second body was no more attractive than the first. Although the head was still attached, the skull had a six-inch circular section missing, allowing the brain to spill out onto the ground. The rest of the body was simply sliced repeatedly, with some parts burnt only slightly. Several pieces of leg could be seen nearby, more than likely cut off to prevent the demon from running off as the first was killed. The amount of dried blood on the carcass made it thankfully impossible to determine what was or wasn't hanging out of the body cavity. However, Yusuke was certain he saw the large intestine flopped out of one of the lower body cuts. The face was contorted into a death scream, with blood dried to the demon's jaw. A burn scar on the neck showed that the demon had been choked, possibly with the same chain found on the dislocated arm of the first demon. A few more chain glittered and rusted in the dried pool of blood in which both bodies laid.

"Despite thorough efforts to find any additional suspects or the stolen items, nothing was found other than these remains. A proper search will be conducted upon my lord, the Mighty Prince Koenma's request," the narrator stated, as the video feed crackled out and went blank.

**Video end**

Koenma turned off the video unit and placed the remote on the desk. No one said anything as the images replayed in their heads. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Botan biting back tears that threatened to give away her horror. Even goddesses of Death have difficult times with the worse forms of destruction. Still, no one, human or otherwise, could manage to say a word.

"And you have *no* idea who did that?" All attention snapped to the dark corner near the door. The shadows shifted to reveal a short, black-haired demon.

"You did that, didn't you, Shrimp?" Kuwabara yelled at Hiei, pointing at him.

"Imbecile. Why would I waste my time on such weak demons?" Hiei stated, red eyes glaring at Kuwabara.

"Besides, if he did kill those two, there wouldn't even be carcasses left," Yusuke said, rubbing his forehead with the back of his head to signal `Jagan eye.' Hiei responded by grunting.

"You mentioned a message had been found near the bodies," Kurama said, turning to Koenma. "What did it say?"

"I don't know. It was written in a Makai dialect that isn't in any of our records," Koenma said, sifting through the stack of papers on his desk. "This was all we were able to copy off the paper before it disintegrated," he said, handing the copy over to the former thief.

Kurama held the paper to where he could read over it. He was on the verge of reading it a third time when Yusuke interrupted, asking what it said.

"Whoever copied this miswrote some of the characters, but I recognize the style for the most part," Kurama said. "It's a northern form of the characters."

"Well then, Kitsune, what does it say?" Hiei asked, leaning against the wall as Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan crowed around the tall boy.

"From what I can read, it says, `Since I know quite well that Prince Enma will receive this, I have very little doubt that he can read this. However, if that brat can find a way to understand this, I have only this to say to you in the time I have: the items which these poor excuses for thieves have stolen are now in my care, and shall remain there until I find out what I want to know. Until that time or until the Brat figures out who I am, then the items shall be well hidden. The information I am seeking is no real concern of yours. Just know that should you find me, do not expect to stop me easily. The only person who would be able to stop me is….'"

"Is who, Kurama?" Botan asked.

The boy shook his head. "I can't read any more of it. The rest was probably burnt off."

"At least we know that whoever killed the demons stole the items," Kuwabara said.

"The Imbecile finally says something intelligent," Hiei murmured. Kurama smirked; he had heard that comment perfectly.

"Where was all this found?" Yusuke asked, looking at Koenma. Koenma said nothing, but his face was steaming.

"Sir?" Botan asked, leaning towards Koenma, who face was beginning to match the color of Kurama's hair.

"That…that…arrogant…overconfident…" Koenma growled. "YUSUKE!!! Get out there now and find that prat!!" The Holy Prince screamed pointing at the door.

"Where was all this found, though?" Yusuke asked again, annoyed that The Royal Potty-Trainee was directing his tantrum at him.

"YOU'RE THE DETECTIVE!! YOU FIGURE IT OUT!!!" Koenma screamed, before dropping into his chair and spinning it away from the three stunned `humans', one speechless ferrywoman, and one smirking fire demon. The five looked at each other, before quietly leaving the office.

**Yusuke's house, about 8pm**

After witnessing the Royal Tantrum, it was decided that Botan would stay up in Reiki and figure out what she could, while the boys returned to Yusuke's, since his mother was on a liquor sampling road trip. The boys were gathered in Yusuke's room, all sitting in various, uncluttered spaces. They had been questioning Kurama as to what exactly the note had said, hoping that he hadn't left anything out. Continuously, the answer they received was that Kurama had read everything the note said, and there was nothing in it that pointed to who the person, demon or no, was.

"The only connection that can be made is that this person does not approve of Koenma," Kurama said softly from his seat at Yusuke's rather unused desk. He had turned the chair so that he was sitting sideways in the chair, with his elbow propped up on the desk.

"Who does approve of the Toddler?" Yusuke asked, staring up at his ceiling as he kicked the blanket off his bed.

All the boys turned to the window, except for Hiei, who had to abandon his position in the window and unlatch the window. As the fire demon stepped out of the way, Botan sailed into the room astride her oar. After landing, the ferry woman sat at the end of Yusuke's bed and placed her oar on the ground.

"Well?" Yusuke asked, as he was forced to sit up so Botan wouldn't sit on his feet.

The lavender-haired girl took a breath before answering. "I managed to find out where the attack occurred, and that Koenma arranged for it to be hidden from Ningen who could possibly stumble on the scene," she explained, looking at all four pairs of eyes that were focused on her.

"Fun. A road trip," Yusuke mumbled. "So much for a free weekend…"

"We should get going if we want to get there with some light to spare," Hiei said, glancing out the window as the sun began its slow setting. The others nodded and stood up, except for Kuwabara, for sat on the floor, staring at his knees.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked, prodding Kuwabara with his foot. The tall boy shifted his gaze up to look at Yusuke.

"You remember that girl from earlier? The one at the arcade?" Kuwabara asked.

"The annoying one? What about her?"

"She isn't human."

"You said that earlier."

Kuwabara sighed. "Maybe I'm just guessing, but do you think she's the one we're looking for?"

"Are you kidding? I didn't sense anything from her," Yusuke sneered. "Anyway, let's go. Koenma yelling at us was annoying enough once."

"Are you coming?" Botan's precise accent floated back through the house to them.

"Sure," Yusuke said, as Kuwabara stood up next to him, and walked out of the house.

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"The boss will be very happy this time, right?"

"Yeah. After losing those weapons, Uron and Nukat were lucky to have been killed," came the response as the two Oshi entered the open-air carrying bags filled with various daggers and hand-sized scythes. The demons grinned to themselves as they hurried along the rows of warehouses and alleys.

"No one would dare to attack us! Not with these," the first demon laughed, the sound harsh and grating in the silence of the night air.

As the demons passed one of the many alleyways, a shadow separated from the darkness and crept along behind the two demons.

~No one, hmmm? Too bad I'm not just anyone…~ the shadowed figure thought, as slender hands gripped the length of silver chain forming around one black-clothed arm. The hunter allowed a quiet chuckle to escape as the footsteps of the two demon prey slowed to a stop just around the corner.

The hunter crept closer to the corner, making no sound, despite the loose pants and heavy boots. ~It is time, my prey, to give your precious treasures over to me…~ Uncoiling a section of chains from around one arm, the hunter dropped into a crouch.

Neither Oshi saw the chains come until their bodies were pierced by the silver metal, their blood splashing on the moonlit ground.

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Hehehe….I'm evil. Cliffie!!! Yet this was the fastest chapter to write. Gomen nasai about the description of the video. I watched Pirates of the Caribbean today. Those cursed pirates kinda put weird mostly dead images in your head. Hehehe…Plus I like JP. Rarr!!

A/N (Also known as `Phoenix, what were you thinking?'):

1. `Naginata' is Japanese for `glaive', which is a weapon similar to a scythe, except the staff is four to five feet long usually with a long metal blade capping the staff. This definition comes from Tamora Pierce, and was the best I could find. See a pic of Sailor Saturn if you're more visual. She carries a glaive.

2. `Oshi' means `dumb people' in Japanese. You know that demon that showed up when Yusuke and Kuwabara find out about the Saint Beasts? That one that Botan whapped with a baseball bat? I have dubbed that an Oshi demon. If it has a real name, let me know.

3. Koenma and a Royal Tantrum…is anyone not surprised?

4. Precious…Hehehe…"They gots it! They have the precious!! Stupid, fat, Hobbitsies!!"

(I couldn't get this line out of my head all day, so I had to use `precious' at some point.)

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Review Responses:

*Hotaru Noel: My first stories were the cliché OC types. I guess writing those and realizing how annoying they can be made me stop. Oh well. See The Battle Fought for an example of how pathetic I was….

*Kurome Shiretsu: I don't mind at all!! I was so excited when I saw your review!! Sorry about misspelling your name…is it supposed to mean `black bud'? I really thought hard before starting this. I wanted to make sure I got the relation thing to work. I glad it drew you in!! Hehe…Kaen…definitely my fave OC that I've written. Just wait to see about her `tude though. Thankx for putting my on your favorites list!! I'm really, really happy!! =^_^=!!

Until next time!! Ja!! Meow!! =^_^=!! I go sleep now. Ick….11:18p…..