Kaleidoscope - Part 2


<That ki...>  Kurama stared after the departing boy, his wide green eyes
showing his surprise.  <So strange...>

"Shuuichi-chan?"  His mother questioned, concerned with her son's
distraction.  "Is something wrong?"

"Gomen, Kaasan," Kurama apologized, giving her a warm smile.  "I was
just a little concerned for Shuu-chan..."

"Oh, yes, of course!"  Shiori nodded gently, before returning  the
living room and her injured stepson.

Kurama glanced out the door once more, but Goten was nowhere in sight. 
Repressing a sigh, he closed the door, and went to fetch some afternoon
tea for his step-brother.  <Poor Shuu-chan, he'll have to miss his
soccer match this weekend... I wonder if he's realized that yet?>  He
gather the cups of tea and plates of cake onto a tray, carrying them
into the living room.

An anguished cry almost made him drop the tray in startlement.

"No soccer?!  How could this happen to me?!"

Kurama smiled sympathetically.  "There will be other soccer matches."

"I know," Shuuichi moaned.  "But I was looking forward to this game... 
If it wasn't for those stupid jerks..."

"What jerks?" Kurama asked, eyes narrowing.

"Uh..."  Shuuichi stalled, his expression apprehensive.  "The jerks we
were supposed to be playing against... I had a bet on with one of
them..."

"Oh, Shuu-chan!" His mother scolded in reproof as she collected up the
spare bandages.

<I think he's hiding something...>  Kurama was about to ask another
question when he sensed a brief glimmer of ki coming from nearby.  He
placed the tray on the table and excused himself, going upstairs to his
room.

Sure enough, a slight figure was perched on his windowsill, waiting for
him, his red eyes unblinking.

"Hiei,"  Kurama greeted the fire demon with a warm smile as he crossed
the room.  "What brings you here?"

Wordlessly Hiei held up a small object.  A cassette tape.  He tossed it
towards Kurama, and was gone by the time he caught it.  Kurama stared at
the empty window sadly.  <Couldn't you have stayed a little?  Hiei?  You
could have *said* something, at least!>  He sighed wistfully, shrugging
off the ache in his heart, before playing the tape.

"We have a problem," Koenma's voice informed him.  The son of Enma Daiou
sounded even more harried than usual; Kurama could almost hear him
tearing his hair out in frustration.  <Must be something important...> 
"Basically, we've had an escape from one of the Reikai holding cells. 
Meeting at the ramen house; Botan will give you more information.  And
be careful!"

The tape clicked itself off, leaving Kurama to wonder about just *who*
it was that had escaped from the Reikai's justice system.  <Why couldn't
he tell us more on the tape?>  He shook his head, collecting his
thoughts.

Moments later he was out the door and on the way to Keiko's family's
restaurant, having informed his mother that he was visiting a friend. 
<I just wish that that was the *only* reason I was going...  It's been
so quiet these past few weeks; I guess we were almost due a problem of
some kind.>

Kuwabara Kazuma and Urameshi Yuusuke were already there, sitting at a
table when he arrived.

"Hey, Kurama!"  Yuusuke greeted him.  "You know what's up?  That tape
didn't exactly say much..."  He scowled a little.

"Yeah, and where's the shrimp?"  Kuwabara chimed in.

"Hiei's coming," Kurama told him, sliding into a seat.  "He's the one
who gave me the tape - and I don't know any more than you do."

"Sorry I'm late!"  Botan's entrance was like a burst of sunlight, her
bubbly nature lightening the atmosphere in the restaurant as soon as she
walked in the door.  Yet, her eyes showed  a little anxiety, her smile a
trifle forced...

"Hn!"  Hiei snorted, leaning against a nearby wall, his sudden
appearance almost causing Kuwabara to fall off his chair.

"Argh! Damnit!"  His hands reached out as if on their own accord,
preparing to strangle the little fire demon.  Imperious red eyes looked
down on him in disdain.

"Please Kuwabara, not now!"  Kurama placated the angry red head. 
Kuwabara settled back into his seat, still glaring at the impervious
jaganshi.

"Eh, so what's he big problem, Botan?"  Yuusuke asked.  "Who broke out
of hell that's so important Koenma didn't want to tell us on the tape?"

"Uh... Well..."  Botan's faltering smile collapsed, revealing her
concern.  "The truth is - we don't really know."

"Nani?!"

"What do you mean you don't know?"  Kurama watched through narrowed eyes
as Yuusuke and Kuwabara leaned across the table with their demands.

"Botan, what happened to the Reikai's records for that cell?"  Normally,
the Reikai managed to keep track of everything that went on...

"Ano..."  Botan hung her head, one hand playing with the end of her blue
ponytail.  "They're gone.  We don't know what happened to them, or even
when they went missing!"

"So how do you know that someone was in there?"  Yuusuke wanted to
know.  "Maybe it was just empty to start with!"

"Yuusuke,"  Botan's tone was serious.  "The documents we *do* have show
that that level was closed off *because* all the cells were full!  And
all of those cells held youkai who were under sentences for as long as
their souls endured!"

Yuusuke whistled.  "That's a pretty tough sentence..."

"*Now* do you understand how important this is?"  Botan pleaded.

"Hey, don't worry!" Yuusuke grinned at her.  "The Urameshi Team can
handle it, no problem!"

"I, the Great Kuwabara Kazuma, will single-handedly apprehend this
villain, and prove my valour to my sweet Yukina!"

Hiei glowered, obviously unhappy about Kuwabara's attachment to his
sister, but unwilling to risk Yukina's happiness by doing something
about it.  

<Hiei has to admit she cares for Kuwabara.  If only he could see what
I...> 

"Just be careful, all of you!"

"Any idea of where this escapee could have gone?"

"We think he headed here, to the Ningenkai,"  Botan informed him, "but
we can't be sure.  Oh, and there might be more than one."

Yuusuke groaned.  "Any other good news?"

"Un," Botan shook her head.  "I think that's all for the moment.  I'll
be back if we find out anything else!"  She pulled her oar out of its
dimensional pocket, and flew off back to the Reikai.

<This is going to be a hard mission - to find an unknown youkai, with
unspecified powers, who *might* be in the Ningenkai...>

"Oh, she's gone already?" Keiko asked as she walked past, carrying a
couple of bowls of ramen.  "What was it about?"

"Ah, another mission!"  Yuusuke informed her.  "An important one!  So I
can't stay around here to help out! Sorry, Keiko!  Duty calls!"  He was
out the door in a flash, followed swiftly by the tray Keiko had been
carrying the bowls on.

"Yuusuke, you lazy jerk!"  Keiko scowled after her boyfriend, scowl
turning to smile as the tray hit his head.

"ITE!"

"Serves you right!"

Kurama smiled, and excused himself quietly, leaving the others to their
lighthearted (if heavyhanded) bickering.  A dark shadowy figure joined
him as he walked out the door.  Kurama suppressed a smile of delight,
that the fire demon was walking by his side, so close�

"Who was he?"  Hiei asked abruptly.

Kurama blinked startled emerald eyes at the question.  <Who was *who*?> 
He looked down at Hiei inquiringly.  

Blood red eyes stared directly ahead, not looking at him.  "At your
house, this afternoon," he elaborated almost grudgingly. 

"Goten?  He brought my brother home�"  Kurama frowned, remembering. 
"His ki - it was strange, powerful�  Do you think�?"  He turned to his
friend, wide-eyed.

"Hn."  Hiei shrugged briefly, before flitting off.

Kurama sighed, smothering the urge he felt to chase after the swift
little youkai.  He had other concerns - <Like whether that Goten is the
one we�re looking for�>  He considered the matter as he continued
through the park, past the couples and playing children.  <I don�t think
he is - he didn�t seem hostile in any way; but appearances can be
deceiving�>

He paused in the middle of the bridge crossing the duck pond, leaning
over the railings to stare at his reflection.  The red hair and green
eyes of Minamino Shuuichi gazed back at him, unblinking; yet
superimposed over that, it seemed to him that he could see the
silver-haired, golden-eyed face of his youko self, his youkai form that
he had so recently regained, after being forced to abandon it, dying, in
the Makai�

Youko Kurama had been a cunning thief, treacherous as any other of his
kind.  Minamino Shuuichi was just as good a thief - <I proved that when
I stole the Mirror of UtterDark> - but he was far more gentle and
compassionate in this life than his youkai self had ever been in all his
centuries of experience.  <I can�t call that �life�.  I never
appreciated *life* until Kaasan taught me how�  I owe her so much, yet I
can never show her my true self�>

He closed his eyes against the pain that the thought brought with it. 
Shiori had done so much for him, yet he could only repay her with lies� 
<No - I *could* tell her - but would she be able to accept me still? 
I�m not at all what she perceives me to be; or rather, I am far more�>

A faint trace of ki caused him to start upright, spinning around to face
the direction he had sensed it.  <There!>  He moved swiftly, stealthily,
to the other side of the park.  The sense of the ki grew ever stronger
and clearer as he neared its source - the dark-haired boy, Goten.

Kurama halted, leaning one arm against a tree, peering around it at the
other boy.  He was standing still, gazing at the sky, a slight grin on
his face.  He turned unerringly to gaze directly at Kurama.

"You were looking for me?"  he suggested, black eyes gleaming.

Kurama bit his lip, then cautiously walked towards him, stopping a few
paces away.  "I was just thinking about you,"  he acknowledged.

"Really?"  The grin broadened, the eyes laughed.  "Fancy that - I was
thinking of you, too."

Kurama blinked.  <What�s he up to?>

Suddenly Goten was right before him, one hand cupping his cheek, the
other his neck.

"Want to know what I thought?"  he breathed into Kurama�s ear, kissing
his cheek lightly, fingers flexing.

Kurama�s emerald eyes glazed over as he collapsed into the boy�s arms.

**********

Rhionae
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/3226/fanfics.htm