Tarnished Gold
chapter 2
by M.E.
Tarnished Gold
By: M.E. (Magnificent Entity)
(manda_hunter@yahoo.com)
Part Two: Midorishine
She walked along quietly, face turned down watching her feet. In one hand she held a beat-up brown school bag, the
other was continually tucking back her silky black hair as she trodded along. Her pale brown eyes saw nothing, weren't
even watching for anything as she moved. Every now and then she would pause and lean against a building, seemingly to
atch her breath, though how she could get exhausted so fast would have been wonder to her watcher if he hadn't
been one of the few trusted with the secret of this girl. A snarl broke out across his face as he remembered what
the elders had told him. What had their ancestors been thinking, allowing such a creature to live? It was
disgusting, that's what it was. Didn't they know the danger that she represents? Didn't they
know that you can never really stop such a manifestation of pure evil by way of
trickery? Yes, death was the only way to stop such thing. And so the youko elders had traced her, slowly and
painfully, using the curse that had been set on her centuries before to find and follow her ki. It had only
been a month ago that they had finally found their quarry, who was hiding in the Ningenkai as a high
school student. Location confirmed, they had gathered the best and the brightest youko assassins that they could find, sending
them to the Ningenkai with only one task in mind: to destroy the accursed girl.
Smiling, the watcher waited till his prey had turned onto a deserted street before preparing to attack. After all, it ouldn't do to have people who weren't part of his mission become involved- not that he had any particular sympathies for ningens, he just didn't want to draw anyone's attention to what was going on. There were rumors abroad that a Reikai Tantei team was operating in the area.
Shifting his weight easily, the assassin sprung from the building, leaping at the girl. The chase had began.
Bearing down on Miku, the assassin drew out his weapon, a long thin katana, the double edged blade gleaming in the sun of the late afternoon. However, right when he was about to pierce her straight through, she spun around, book bag swinging in a wide arc, hitting him squarely in the face and knocking him backward a few steps.
"It's started, hasn't it," Miku growled, standing in an offensive stance, wielding her bag as if it where a mace. Her light brown eyes shimmered with a determination to live, to survive.
Leaping to his feet, the green-haired youko said nothing before speeding forward to attack her. She backed up, blocking his swipes with her bag, and, at one point, twirled around, letting a fully loaded kick loose in such a way that her attacker got all one hundred and twenty two pounds of her right in the balls. While this did buy her some time, she still wasn't finished. Stretching out, Miku caught up the handle of his katana, which he dropped when she kicked him. Hand grasping the grip in a practiced manner, she dropped her bag, it would only hinder her now, and not be of any use.
Across from her the assassin had regained his feet, and was bringing his hands together in a deliberate motion, an unhappy grimace on his face. "HA!" he screamed as he let loose his attack, a concentrated ball of ki, powerful enough to take out anything up to a lower B class on contact. Now smiling with triumphant, the youko stood in a possessive stance in the middle of the street.
Still gripping the katana, Miku gasped, her eyes widening. She hadn't thought of ki attacks, assuming that if her attacker was any good at them he would have used them earlier instead of the sword. She didn't even have her school bag to help cushion the attack, even though she was pretty sure that it wouldn't have done much. All this was decided in a matter of milliseconds, and, squeezing her eyes shut, she held the katana out in front of her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to leap out of the way in time. Thus she awaited her eminent demise.
Only to have nothing happen.
There was a slight jolt, and, opening one eye carefully,
she saw in amazement that the ki ball had been reflected off the polished blade of the katana, sending it back on
the one who had created it. With sense of sick fascination, she watched as it obliterated the
youko, as well as the masonry wall he'd been standing in front of. Ouch. Shaking her head, she knelt down, pulling off the sweater
that she was wearing. Carefully wrapping the sharp blade in the material, she tucked her bundle under one arm, reached
over and picked up her bag. Then, standing, she resumed her walk home.
I could have died. The thought is shocking, stunning, and for some reason it also contains a certain degree of
enticing interest. Death- yes, death is most likely my only escape from them. But I think it's too late now, I fought
back, I choose death over life, and now I can't switch. Wish I had had more time to make a choice, but they didn't
give it to me.
Because I don't have much ki, I don't waste it on things like monitoring what's going on around me. Luckily I've preserved my youko instincts over the years, or I wouldn't be alive at this moment. Luck. What a stupid thing to stake your life on- unfortunately, I don't have anything better at the moment.
I wonder what the authorities will make of that wall.
In truth, the local police ignored the situation completely, and the owner of said wall was actually able to
collect a hefty sum from his insurance company, blaming the whole thing on a small tremor, that had supposedly upset
the already unstable structure. There were, however, other authority figures that were very concerned. In particular,
one junior chief of Reikai Administration.
Looking up from the before him to fix a steady and unnerving look on his employees, Koenma cleared his throat. "There's been a recent problem of youkai crossing through the separating barrier," he stated clearly, golden eyes unblinking. "We were just ignoring them, but one of them decided to attempt an assault on a ningen yesterday, it has been necessary to bring their presence to your attention.
They're upper C class, possibly low B, but not anything stronger."
Cracking his knuckles, Yusuke grinned, "Well then," he drawled, "it shouldn't be to much of a bother to send 'em packing." Beside him Kuwabara grunted in agreement, grinning like a fool.
"Do you have any other information for us," Kurama queried, a studious look in the black depths of his green eyes.
"Actually, I do, for once." Pulling a sheet of paper down from one of his surrounding stacks, he consulted it briefly. "It appears that you won't have to deal with the one who messed up yesterday, somehow his attack doubled back on him, conveniently eliminating the problem." Kurama nodded as Yusuke digested the information, already coming up with several different ways to take care of the situation. After a few minutes in which nothing was said, the group of tantei decided that Koenma was done and they could go. However, right before they left the room Koenma b gan speaking again, this time in a quiet, sad voice that carried easily through the silence that stood in the room. "One other thing," he said softly, "they're all youkos." And so, it began.