Along Came a Kitsune
:Kurama:
Youko
'Hiei'
Chapter 10: Turnaround
"…In other news, there has been another shrine murder. Our field reporter, Ayumi Tekani is on the scene. Ayumi?"
"Yes, I'm here at the shrine belonging to the Yuyami family. It appears that their daughter, Mai, was the one attacked. Like all the other victims, she was bitten in her side, a chunk missing, as if the killer ate it. Though with the correct medical care this wound would definitely not be fatal, she appeared to have died instantly. There was no sign of a break-in, and no weapon. There are no clues to indicate the identity of this mad murderer thus far. Standing with me now is…"
"Shippou, turn that off, now," Kagome said as she came out of the bathroom, robe tied securely and hair wrapped in a towel, and headed straight to her bedroom.
He complied. "But Kagome, aren't you worried? I mean, a youkai might be after you or something."
"I know a youkai's after me. And I'm sick of his annoying smile already. Tell him to back off." She threw her hair towel out the
"Kagome, I'm serious. We live a lot longer than humans. I'm proof of that! Someone could be holding a grudge against you!"
Kagome put on her best teaching smile. "Shippou, I'm sure that while that could be possible, just look at the pattern. They're young girls—not even one in college, let alone graduated—and live in shrines. If someone were after me, I'm sure they'd rather come straight for me rather than risking an entire shrine full of monks and mikos. It's just too random for a youkai that's supposedly targeting me. But I'll tell you what, next time I go to my family's shrine, I'll bring you, my big, strong kitsune to protect me."
"But—"
The phone rang.
"Hello? Yes, I saw the news, but…No, I…But…I'm trained to…You can stick it…But my lunch break isn't long enough!...No, I don't…Fine, I'll see you then."
Shippou listened as her voice changed from tired, to anger, to defeat. He raised an eyebrow as she set the phone in it's cradle.
"You're gonna be on your own for dinner. Sesshoumaru insists that I have dinner with him tonight, alone." She sighed, looked at her watch, adopted a look of panic, shrieked something about being late, ran about gathering her things, and was out the door before he could bother her again.
Kurama looked about the spacious office for the third time in a week. Fortunately, everyone had been gathered quickly and he wouldn't have to wait again while Yusuke decided to play hooky.
Koenma could be seen at his desk with a serious face that would look misplaced on any other toddler as he poured over the documents just placed on his desk by an ogre that worked out front.
As he appeared to have finished reading, Yusuke, being the diplomat he was raised an eyebrow and said, "So? I hope it's not just some youkai pounding on the barrier again."
Koenma looked at the boy with a grave expression that did much more than any yelling could ever do. "I only wish that were so, Yusuke. We in Reikai believe that youkai was a mere distraction to allow a murderer though the barrier." The push of a button and the huge television across from his turned on, the first image on it's screen being an enlarged picture of a girl's face with wide, terrified eyes. Another push of a button and it changed to two full-body vertical views of the girl, one (living) in casual clothes, the other of her covered from chest to knees in a white cloth, exposing one wound—a bite on her side. "The latest victim, Mai Yuyami, a direct descendent of a line of powerful monks and mikos beginning sometime in the middle of Sengoku Jidai," he read from a sheet. "Although for generations before this girl, no one in her family was more than a blip on the radar, she showed steadily. Died one week after her fourteenth birthday—"
"Stop it!" yelled Kuwabara. "Just stop it!" He grabbed the remote from Koenma and turned off the television.
"Hn. Squeamish?"
Kuwabara, after working with the cruel youkai for so many years, knew better than to take the bate. He merely glared at him.
"Enough, Hiei," said Kurama sternly. He turned to Koenma. "What's so special about this girl? You never showed us the pictures. What's different now?"
"This girl was the first one whose eyes were open, which means…"
"Which means that she sensed the thing coming," said Kurama in wonder.
Koenma nodded solemnly. "That's correct. It also unfortunately suggests that it's going after stronger prey." He paused to let it sink in. "This is also the third miko killing in a month, and there have been none relating to the youkai portion of the murders. Therefore, we believe that whatever it is has decided to go directly for the mikos. But we have no idea whether it's killing at random, or hunting someone down—which may be easy to assume since the targets have been narrowed down to one city—or doing it all for another purpose. Any way it goes, it all ends in the same way." The room was silent. "The destruction of the barrier."
Kurama's eyes shot open and Hiei's eyebrows furrowed.
"What!" shouted the two loudest of the group.
"Yes, I was rather skeptical at first as well. There's a man—well, his soul—whose been working down in Archives for the past five hundred years, and as it's his theory we're working off of, I asked him to come up here today."
"Man," said Yususke. "What'd this guy do to deserve working there? Steal your pacifier?"
"On the contrary, young man," said a suave voice from behind the opening doors, "I achieve Enlightenment and decided that staying here would be much more interesting than that boring Nirvana." This came from a man with black hair and a gold earring with purple robes and a staff. "Good afternoon, everyone. My name's Miroku. Now, before I make Koenma over there wanna try to reincarnate me or something, why don't we get down to business?" He cleared his throat. "Once upon a time in Sengoku Jidai, there lived many peoples—monks, miko, taijiya—whose purpose was to kill the youkai threatening to kill humans. During this time, a powerful youkai emerged, seeking the Shikon no Tama—I'm assuming you all know what that is?" They all nodded—it was a common legend from history class. Miroku continued, "Anyways, in the end, he was defeated and after that many youkai were weakened, went into hiding…For whatever reason, they weren't bothering humans all that much. During this time of peace, training against youkai became more lax. Then, for some mysterious reason, all of the youkai began to slowly disappear until it was very rare to ever see one. Because of this, miko training became more geared toward healing, taijiya toward normal bodyguards, and monks did simple blessings. Although shrines and such remained, we no longer were completely necessary. And yet, we never lost our powers that made us what we are, it's simply that they were forgotten. Of course, by this time I had passed on and realized that a barrier, based on pure energy, separating the youkai and humans had been erected. So it's not that it's impossible for a modern-day miko or monk to purify a youkai or for a taijiya to hurl a huge boomerang made of bone at a youkai. I believe it's simply because our energy—our essence—is being put unconsciously toward maintaining the barrier, leaving you and your spirit energy, or youki, to do the dirty work. If our murderer knows this, or even if he doesn't, it is possible that if enough mikos are killed, the barrier could weaken considerably." Miroku finished with a smile before disappearing from the office with a bow.
"And there you have it," said Koenma.
"So what do you expect us to do?" asked Yusuke.
"Until we get any leads as to who or what this thing is, or what it wants, I expect all four of you to patrol all of the shrines around the city throughout the night—every night. I will be dispatching some of our people as well, but I doubt they'd be able to really do any damage. I'll have Boton give you any updates or specifics." That, they all knew, was their dismissal.
As they stepped through a portal, Kurama heard Hiei's "voice."
'I don't trust that Miroku. There were too many holes in his information.'
:Yes, I agree. He only gave us the barest skeleton of what he knows:
We'll have to tread carefully around him. He could either help or seriously hinder us.
The other two nodded before heading their separate ways.
Kagome looked across the two-person table in a secluded corner of the most elegant restaurant in town, Four Seasons, to her dinner partner, Sesshoumaru, whom she doubted had ever heard of fast food in his long life. Every time she met up with him, she had to rush home to grab a dress.
He hadn't spoken a word past a short greeting. But she wasn't worried, that's how it always was with him—she talked and he steered her toward the main objective of the meeting with as few words as possible.
A waiter returned to their table with her virgin colada and left quickly. She took a sip. Delicious. "Shippou's alive." He nodded as if he knew as much. Probably did. She went on. "Unfortunately, his boss or friend or whatever he is took a liking to me. He keeps popping up in places I frequent."
"Species?"
"Kitsune. Maybe hanyou."
"Ah."
"Anything I can do about it?"
"Kitsune are very curious. He will not let you go until he is no longer curious. Put up with him and he will soon leave."
Kagome smiled and took another sip. "Sesshoumaru…how many youkai are actually alive? I mean, at times, like when I was in high school, I felt great amounts of youki at one time, then nothing the next day, and now I'm beginning to see more when before I thought all youkai had died out."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Your wish on the jewel was for humans and youkai to exist peacefully. You said nothing about coexisting. Instead, a barrier began to take root, one that separates Ningenkai, the human world, and Makai, the youkai world. However, this barrier, in order to hold back the strongest youkai, lets through some weaker species. Of course, some stronger youkai are able to find ways to sneak through, or have special access across the barrier." She immediately knew that he was one of the special access youkai but had no idea why. "To answer your question, there are millions of youkai left, but very few exist in Ningenkai."
Kagome nodded, digesting the information. Silence passed between the two again. A waiter came to take their orders and left.
"Sesshoumaru, I'm worried," she said quietly. "Do you think that a youkai could have survived all this time, with a deep grudge against Inuyasha and me? What if all these innocent girls are dying simply because I survived?"
"It is possible."
"I want to go out and destroy it. I can't let this happen."
"Without help, you will die."
"Then what do you expect me to do?"
"You will do nothing," he said, voice filled with authority, "until this Sesshoumaru says you may act. In the meantime, my employees are keeping watch on the shrines for reconnaissance and can act if necessary. You will be contacted if you are needed."
Kagome wanted to argue, but she could tell by his eyes that this was the best she could get. "Yes, Sesshoumaru."
AN: I hope everyone had a great New Year. Good luck to all!
Please keep in mind that all my classes this year are upper- or college-level. On the bright side, I finished my correspondence course and now that that's not taking up all of my free time, I will hopefully be able to work a little on chapters here and there. The next time I know I'll be able to update is in March, during my spring break.
For reviewers, if you are signed in, I will be able to reply to your review with the new review reply feature if you have any questions or seem confused about anything. If you're not a member, and your question can't wait till I post my next chapter, please either email me or leave your email in your review and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Kiki Smythe: No, I didn't skip a chapter. It's just the next day.