Sunday, April 4, 2004

   Past Collides with Present: Chapter 6 Part 2
Kurama and Shuichi were headed home four hours later. Kurama had done as his mother requested and took Shuichi to a nearby park for an hour so everyone could gather at their house for the party. This meant that Kurama had to spend an hour listening to Shuichi ramble about the new demon stories he had gotten from Takeshi. Kurama really didn't mind this, even though he already knew most of the stories. He was actually quite interested in how much information humans had about demons. /And Shuichi has developed quite an interest in demons since 'Kaasan was kidnapped,/ he thought as they turned onto the street where they lived.

Immediately, his heart dropped into his stomach. Several police cars were parked outside his house. /Uh-oh,/ he thought. /Something tells me the surprise party is cancelled./

"Hey, what's going on?" Shuichi asked. Kurama ignored him and began to run. "Hey, oniisan*, wait up," Shuichi called after him.

They reached the house in record time. Kurama threw open the door and ran into the living room, not bothering with taking off his shoes. Shuichi stopped in the hall and sat down, out of breath.

A dozen police officers and detectives were in the house. Kurama could smell them all. Two were there in the living, interrogating Hatanaka. "Hatanaka-san," Kurama began. "Where's Mom? What happened?"

One of the officers moved toward him. "Sir, this is a crime scene. I'm afraid you're going to--"

"No, wait," Hatanaka said. "He's her son. He should hear what happened."

The officer nodded and moved away, and Kurama sat in a chair after finally taking off his shoes.

Hatanaka took a deep breath. "Shuichi, your mother's been kidnapped."

Kurama's eyes narrowed.

Hatanaka continued. "We have no idea where she is or how to find her, but there is a clue, albeit a baffling one." He paused again, knowing that the red-haired boy would read between the lines.

Kurama did. Taking a chance that the officers didn't know English, he spoke. "You didn't tell them about last week?"

"No. They don't need to think we're crazy on top of everything else."

Fortunately, the officers looked puzzled. One started to speak. "If you were saying anything we may need to know-"

"It was nothing important," Kurama interrupted. "Merely a personal issue between Hatanaka-san and myself. If you don't mind, I would like to know what this clue is."

The officer looked at him suspiciously, then nodded and said, "Follow me."

Kurama did. The officer led him into the kitchen, where three more officers stood, one of them taking pictures. Kurama stopped, his face growing pale. He didn't need to be shown where the clue was. He could see and read it with crystal clarity. The officer looked at him again. "Can you understand it?" he asked.

Kurama swallowed. "No," he lied. He wasn't about to tell the officers that the message on the mirror was written in demon language. Hatanaka was right. The police would just think they were crazy.

The officer was looking suspicious again. "Are you sure?"

"I have never seen any language like that before. What was it written with?"

The officer paused. "We're not sure.but.we think.maybe.blood."

Kurama, who had asked simply for appearance's sake, nodded. /That's exactly what it smells like. It smells like blood. It smells like my mother's blood./ He looked around and saw the feather on the counter. Picking it up, he looked at the edge. /He cut her with this./ His features tightened with anger, and he stalked back into the living room after tossing the feather out the still open window. The detective in there immediately began to quiz him about anything he may have thought was suspicious.

An hour later, the officers seemed to think they had gathered all the information they could and left. Shuichi just now noticed the birthday decorations and began to blame himself for Shiori being home alone, vulnerable to attack. While Hatanaka tried to talk his son out of this mindset, Kurama slipped his shoes on and started out the door.

"Wait a second, Shuichi," Hatanaka called after him. "Where are you going?"

"To Yusuke's," he lied. "I can't stand sitting around here with nothing to do." With that, he walked out and shut the door behind him. It was dark now, but still early enough that several people were out and about, so Kurama kept his anger and his demon side in check. The last thing he needed to do was transform right where the whole world could see him. He headed toward the park, which closed at sundown. He knew he could open a portal to Makai there unobserved. Of course, the local gang might be there, but Kurama could run them out without a problem. He'd done so before, and he knew that half the gang thought the park was haunted because of it.

The words of the message reverberated through Kurama's mind. ~Kurama: If you want her back, come to the fortress from which you took the enchanted bow and arrows. Come alone.~

Kurama had a very good memory, and he knew exactly which fortress the message had meant. He cursed himself with every step for getting his innocent mother into this mess. Silently, he walked through the park, making sure it was empty. Once satisfied, he stepped into a particularly dense clump of trees and used his energy to make it denser. He didn't want any trespassers to stumble upon this portal.

* * *

The only sounds that could be heard were a constant stamping and the shuffle of papers. Koenma had gone past the point of caring what the papers said. He only wanted to get finished, so he slapped a stamp on every paper, then shoved it into his outbox. He was almost at the bottom of the pile now. "Yes," he said softly, grabbing the last sheet of paper. Just then, George came in, carrying another three-foot-high stack.

"Here you go, Koenma, sir," he said brightly. Koenma fell out of his chair.

"George! Didn't I say that I've had enough for today?!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but your father requested that these be brought to you immediately."

Koenma sighed and resigned himself to another two hours of stamping.

Just then, Botan burst through the doors. "Lord Koenma, we've got a problem!" she cried, running into George and knocking over his stack of papers. George started complaining, but she ignored him and marched straight to Koenma's desk.

"This better be good, Botan," the toddler said. "I've got work to do."

"Kurama's mother has been kidnapped again," Botan said

Koenma almost fell over again. "Are you sure?!"

"Hai. Remember the agent we put to watch on the fortress where we think Shiori was being taken the first time? Well, she reported a few minutes ago. A strange bird demon just arrived there, and it was carrying a human woman!"

"And you're sure this is Kurama's mother?"

"Who else would it be?" Botan slammed her hands on the desk. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Well, first we need to contact Kurama."

"Too late. I've already tried. There were police officers all over his house until a few minutes ago, and I went there when they left. Kurama was gone, too, and I couldn't find him anywhere!"

Koenma put his elbows on his desk and held his head in his hands. /I'm getting a headache,/ he thought. "Great. He's probably going to take the law into his own hands." He looked up. "Find Hiei and tell him to find Kurama and assist him."

Botan looked surprised. "You mean you're going to let him take the law into his own hands?"

"Well, he is a detective, and I trust him to make the right decisions. Once you find Hiei, report back to me. In the meantime, I've got work to do."

*big brother

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