Title of whole story - "Shin Reikai Tantei" This chapter - 'Thicker then Water'- part one

This is the continuation of 'Beautiful Friendship', (like I said, there are more chapters to this ^_^) Anyway, the name 'Miyuki' came up in this story, and this is before we saw the ACTUAL Miyuki in YYH(like Yusuke would actually use this name after that episode...^_^), so bear in mind that this name being in here is purely coincidental...^_^ Also I need to point out that we used the new Samurai Troopers from Tenshi no Korin's 'Lost Legacy' story, which is not finished and might not end this way, but one can hope... ^_^

Kalerin woke up, at first he didn't know where he was, he still felt a little disoriented from waking up in so many strange places in so short a time, but opening sleepy fox eyes to find that he was now in his own room at the hotel made him yip with happiness. The mental message from Green was still bothering him as he remembered what the demon had 'sent' him, but he shrugged it off, knowing that he must accept the deal since Heero had told him he must follow though on whatever he promised. He changed himself into a human, and stretched, everything seemed to be very stiff. He took a quick shower, and while toweling himself dry, he went to admire the things that he had picked up on his shopping trip with his new friend Shoji. There was the multi-colored marble, in fact there were quite a few of them on the shelves, some of the bracelets and other jewelry that had grabbed his attention, and a small statue of a fox that he had just loved so much. It was cast out of white quartz, and looked so realistic it probably could have jumped from the pedestal at any time. He picked up his favorite clothes, Heero had called them 'shorts', explaining at the time that it meant 'short pants' and a white shirt, and got dressed. He heard the shower turn on in Shoji's room, and figured that he must have finally gotten up too.

He opened his door into the main room, and took one step outside before he noticed everything was different. The little kitchen had turned into a mini-bar complete with a bigger and very full fridge. There were now more doors then just his and Shoji's room as well as the main entrance. The TV had expanded, and the little playstation was now a little game center, complete with the playstation, a computer, a virtual game and several others. He stood there, transfixed by all the changes, and that was when one of the new doors on the other side of the room opened, revealing a sleepy-looking Hiei dressed only in his small black pants grumbling as he passed Kalerin. He didn't say a word, just went over to the new kitchen as if it had always been there, and made himself coffee. After he had downed a mug of it down in one gulp, he looked over at Kalerin and blinked as if seeing him there for the first time. "Morning," he said gruffly in his usual low voice and poured himself another cup.

The same door opened again, and Kurama smiled good-naturedly as he stretched and sat on the sofa, which had also extended into a longer couch curved in the middle. Kalerin waved, "Good Morning, Kurama!" Kurama looked at him and smiled, "Ohayo, Kalerin." Kalerin walked behind the bar and explored the new fridge. After some moments of surveying its contents, he settled on waffle sticks for breakfast and stuck them into the microwave. He noticed Kurama watching both him and Hiei from the reflection, and asked him if he wanted anything for breakfast. "Hmm... What you're having is good for me," Kurama said, and turned on the TV.

Kalerin was bring over both plates of the waffle sticks, when he noticed that both Kurama and Hiei had turned towards the door leading to Shoji's room. He paused and listened for anything, but he couldn't tell what had their attention. After a minute, Kurama was smiling and even Hiei had a smirk on his face. "About time...," he said to Kurama, but when Kalerin asked what was going on, Hiei and Kurama shook their heads, saying that he wouldn't understand yet.

He and Kurama were eating their breakfast, when Hiei brought over his own plate of waffle sticks as well. "I thought you didn't eat breakfast," Kurama said as he playfully hit Hiei on the arm. Hiei huffed, saying that he didn't but these smelled good so he had to try them. They then got into a mock argument, each time they said something to each other, they would dunk a waffle stick into each other's cup of syrup, which didn't help Kalerin at all since he was sitting between them. Finally, Kurama ended it when he became a little too excited as he dipped the stick into Hiei's cup. The cup spilled onto Kalerin's lap, and he was profusely apologized to by both, especially by Kurama who promised to get his clothes washed.

As Kalerin was changing, Kurama was exploring his room and waiting for the dirty clothes. He was examining the shelves that had all of Kalerin's treasures, when he saw the quartz fox. "Wow, this is really pretty, Kalerin, where did you get it?" Kalerin looked over and smiled, "I got it three blocks away, at this nature store. I can take you over there when I get the chance." He then turned serious as he pulled on a blue shirt. "Kurama, if I may ask, well, what did happen to you? Were you really a kid?"

Kurama took the shorts and shirt from Kalerin, and shrugged. "Well, it was kind of an act, in order to test you..." He looked very sheepish. "You see, there was actually nothing wrong with me. But I'm sorry for making you go through that for nothing."

Kalerin blinked, then smiled, "That's all right, Heero said I would have to go through several tests, that's how I would get more tails which show how much experience I've had. I just didn't think that I would have my first test this early. But I guess Shoji didn't know about that, since he's a human kitsune basically. "

Kurama winced, "Yeah, I guess he was taught only the rudimentary skills. He didn't have someone that knew the rest of the training, only his uncle who was also busy with teaching young Jonathon his skills to be what he is now." He smiled, and as they closed the door, Kurama turned to Kalerin, "Maybe we should teach him _how_ to be a fox, ne?" Kalerin nodded eagerly, and they sat over by Hiei, who was still drinking his coffee and watching the TV.

About an hour later, the main doors opened and Koenma and Kuwabara walked in. Kalerin had learned that the small girl that he had been with the previous night had been his wife Yukina, as well as Hiei's sister. Hiei hadn't looked happy as Kuwabara introduced her to Kalerin, but Kurama had told him in a whisper that Hiei had actually approved of it secretly, as long as Kuwabara treated her well, which he appeared to be doing. Kuwabara exuberantly greeted Kalerin and asked how 'the new couple' was doing, which resulted in several people shushing him immediately. He shrugged it off, looking around the new hotel room, and gave a shout of joy as he spotted the new game center. "Cool, I've always wanted to try this!" He picked up the helmet, and turned on the game. By flipping with his hands, they could see on the screen in front of him that he was picking games. "Aha! This is it! SwordMaster in Ancient Japan!" He began to swing his arm as if he had a sword, yelling that he was the best as he beat enemy after enemy that rushed him.

Koenma gave him a long-suffering look as he also greeted Kalerin, "How are you doing today, Kalerin?" Koenma asked as he sat at the computer. "I'm doing all right, I like the new hotel room, what happened?" Koenma smiled and looked around, "I felt that you deserved this, since you passed the test and we misled you so much." He tiredly glanced again at Kuwabara as he whooped in passing into the second level. Koenma got a speculative expression, and winking at Kalerin, he hurriedly typed something into his computer. Kuwabara was getting ready to take on another enemy, when suddenly there were ten of the soldiers surrounding him. They all proceeded to attack him at once, and he was only able to take out three before he was 'captured' by the enemy. Kalerin smiled, even though he felt it wasn't fair of Koenma to do that to Kuwabara, who had gotten tired of the game and walked over to the kitchen.
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Shoji woke up to the smell of breakfast and the sound of people talking outside. He stretched, still feeling somewhat sore from everything that happened in the time since he had come to Tokyo. He smiled down at Yusuke, who was still embracing him, and touched his shoulder slightly to wake him up. "Come on, Yusuke, it's a little past noon... I promised Kalerin I'd go shopping with him again."

Yusuke opened his eyes slowly, and looked up into Shoji's face. "Do I really have to? I don't have to go anywhere for a while, now that this business of recruiting you guys is done, and plus you smell really nice..." He made a wet and very sloppy-sounding kiss on Shoji's chest, and Shoji blushed, laughing softly as his lover kissed him very deeply. After several minutes, they finally got out of bed. Yusuke hadn't brought any of his clothes with him yet, though he was planning to move his things into Shoji's room, so Shoji let him borrow some of his clothes. "Oh, Yusuke," Shoji said, brushing his hair, and remembering one of the visions he had seen in the Makai. "I had this one dream where you were lying in a bed and there was this young girl kissing you. Who was she?" He saw Yusuke freeze as he was buttoning Shoji's borrowed shirt, and give him a strange look. "You... saw her?"

Shoji blinked, "Yeah, you were glowing with a gold light, and a clock was chiming..." He didn't finish as Yusuke bowed his head, and a pang of loss and sadness overwhelmed Shoji. He gasped, and held onto the brush tightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up--" Yusuke shook his head, and clasped Shoji's hand. "It's all... right. I'll tell you later..." Shoji nodded, emotions not his own still washing over him, and embraced Yusuke, whispering, "I understand... Please feel better soon... Yusuke."

Yusuke smiled slightly, and took Shoji's head in his hands. "Now let's not start that up again, we do need to make an appearance, or else they'll tease us for sure, which I bet they are already..." He grumbled the last part, and kissed Shoji again. Finally, they were ready to exit the room.

After they had gone into the main room, which Yusuke was right about the teasing, though Kalerin was giving everyone a innocently blank look, obviously not figuring out what was going on. Shoji blushed anyway, and then looked around. He blinked at all the changes, and looked at Yusuke and Koenma, holding up his hand to everything new. Before he could say anything, Koenma told him the same thing he had told Kalerin before, and Shoji only nodded, unsurprised. He felt a touch at his shoulder, and there was Kuwabara who winked at him before he gave him a plate of breakfast. To Shoji, who hadn't eaten since he and Kalerin had left Green's castle only two days ago, this was a feast. He ate hungrily and quickly, ignoring everyone's expressions until he was finished. Then he looked up to see everyone watching him. "Umm... Well, I kinda hadn't eaten anything for about two days, so of course I was hungry." Shoji then noticed the stranger with the long red hair, "Umm... May I ask who you are?"

Kalerin spoke up before he could answer. "Shoji, you should know, we had to watch him when we first got here." He grinned, as if it were a joke. Shoji's eyes grew wide, and he sat in a chair close to the TV. "Kurama? This is you?" Kurama nodded, and looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about all of that..." His eyes took on a mischievous glint as he looked at Hiei, "Though it was fun..." He smiled at Shoji, "I'm glad that you were able to succeed, and also that you passed your first test as a Kitsune."

"Test?" Shoji stared blankly at Kurama, and Kurama and Kalerin nodded to each other, knowing they had assumed correctly. "Don't worry, Kalerin and I can teach you about the ways of the Kitsune, so you aren't surprised by every new thing that comes up." He thought for a moment, then smiled again, "How about today, after we go on that shopping trip Kalerin and I were talking about." Shoji smiled slightly and nodded, "Yes, thank you very much, Kurama."

Botan entered the hotel room, clutching a very full-looking bag. "Hold on to that thought, you guys all got mail!" She smiled cheerfully, and continued playing her part of mail delivery. Koenma got quite a few of the letters, though they turned out to be bills. He looked at them with a angry glare, and sighed, saying, " I am the Junior Lord of the Dead, I must do everyone's paperwork when they die, and here I am, paying bills. Apparently not enough work for them, I guess..." He got to work on the computer, filing what he could. One of them he stared at for a while, mixed emotions crossing his face before he passed it to Yusuke. "This isn't a bill, it must have gotten mixed into my mail."

Shoji had gotten a few letters by this time, and paused in opening them to look at Yusuke, getting a weird emotion of anxiousness coming from his teammate. Yusuke was skimming through the letter hurriedly, and glanced at Shoji, who was watching him with a curious and concerned expression on his face. "Oh, this?" He held up the letter, "I just have to meet someone, one of my old friends who is in town just for tonight. You don't mind, do you?" He smiled, and waved it off. "Don't mind me, look at your own mail. I see you got one from your family." Shoji smiled slightly and looked down at his own mail, and finally opened them up.

He wasn't surprised to find out that his family had known all along that he was going to be gone for a long time, in fact they had contacted the ReiKai to train him. Ever since he had discovered he was a kitsune demon, he had let his parents, Uncle Shin and his cousin Jonathon know, so in case something happened, like say the random changing into a fox at the supper table, he wouldn't freak them out. His parents had then sent him to his Uncle, who had more knowledge of legends and otherworldly powers then anyone else on Hokkaido. He'd always wondered why his parents brushed it off though, it wasn't strange enough that they'd once let it slip that he did have another sibling somewhere, but he could find no trace of his brother or sister.

Botan's eager voice and another letter waving in front of his face interrupted his speculation, and he blinked, before realizing that the letter was for him. "Oh, umm, thanks Botan," he said, and took it out of her hands quickly before he got embarrassed even more. He opened it, and recognized the handwriting before he read it, "Oh, wow, it's from my cousin Jonathon!" he exclaimed, and read through the letter quickly. Kalerin looked up from his letter from his friend Heero and asked, "Cool, what did he say?" Shoji grinned, "He said he'll be here today to meet me." He looked at the letter, then at the clock on the wall. "Oh, my, he'll be here in two hours!" He then remembered the shopping trip, but Kalerin had apparently already guessed what Shoji was about to say. "Oh, don't worry, we can always do it again. It's not like Tokyo is going to disappear any day." Several of the other people cringed when Kalerin said that, and Shoji and Kalerin looked at each other, mystified. "Don't mind us," Kurama said, smiling once more. "Just something that we had to take care of a while ago."

Yusuke took his hand, and looked at him steadily. "Now you have a great time, and don't worry about me. I don't know when I'll get back, but just have fun with your cousin, all right?" Shoji nodded, smiling, but was not prepared as Yusuke bent down to kiss him. Shoji blushed, knowing everyone was watching(and smiling), but he couldn't help it as he held onto Yusuke. Yusuke left the hotel room with the promise of bringing his things to move in, and Shoji escaped into his own room to get ready.

Kalerin was thinking of what to do, when Kurama tapped him on the shoulder, "You know, we can do that shopping trip today anyway. Then we can have some fun later tonight, and take you to several parties going on." He took a look at Kalerin's clothes and shook his head, "That won't do, we might as well take you clothes shopping too. Doesn't that sound good, Hiei?" He smiled over at Hiei, who glared at him as if going shopping would involve being run through with a sword.

Shoji was waiting in the lobby of the hotel, dressed in some clothes he had borrowed from Kalerin(since his own were very informal), when a very familiar voice shouted to him over the noise. Shoji smiled as his cousin Jonathon ran over, dressed very nicely for once with his sapphire eyes eager. "Cousin Shoji, how are you today? I haven't seen you for almost a month! Look at you!" Shoji grinned, and hugged his cousin, "I'm doing all right, I love it here in Tokyo and it beats taking care of my family's house."

As they left the hotel, Shoji turned to his cousin, "So how was the training exercise?" Jonathon gave him a blank look, causing Shoji to explain, "You know, the one Uncle Shin told me about, the one that you had to do without me. Did it go well?" Jonathon blinked, and shrugged, "Oh, oh yeah that... It went all right, I sorta had to work with other people on it." Shoji gave him a weird look as they went into the subway tunnel four blocks away from the hotel, knowing that Jonathon was not telling him everything, which was rare since they didn't keep secrets from each other. To Shoji, Jonathon was like a brother, since they were about the same age and had been raised together.

"So, what brings you to Tokyo anyway?" Jonathon asked, and much to Shoji's chagrin, he was now the person that had to hide things. "Well, I uh, I'm working for the people that own the hotel. Uncle Shin apparently recommended me to the manager, and now I live in Tokyo as I have off for the holidays."

"Mmmm... I see..." Jonathon was clearly not convinced, but he didn't say much out of the concession of his own untruthfulness. "Where do you want to go tonight?" Jonathon asked, changing the subject very deliberately. "I know you've only been here a few days, so I can show you some of the hot spots, if you don't mind."

Shoji nodded, and smiled. "Thanks, Jonathon for meeting me here, to tell you the truth, I was really missing you as well as my family." Jonathon waved it off, saying that since he was here in Tokyo, he might as well visit. The train arrived, and as they climbed aboard, Shoji realized something that he had never considered. Since his ancestor Ryo had popped up after several years, he now noticed the similarities between Jonathon and Ryo. His cousin's black hair was longer and a bit more wild, but they had just about the same eyes and even the same personality. In fact, they could've almost been twins. Jonathon reached across the aisle to wave his hand in front of Shoji's face, and he looked at his cousin curiously. "I know you haven't seen me for a month," Jonathon said, laughing. "But you don't have to memorize my face."

Shoji blinked, and shook his head, "That's not it... I was just... thinking of something... You know, looking into no where, that kind of thing." Shoji shrugged and smiled, putting up his hands, "Come on, I always do it, you always make fun of me about my brain going on a trip. So what were you planning for tonight then?"

They went shopping at different places, and purchased many things(Jonathon insisting that he pick out several sets of clothes in case Shoji got to go 'clubbing'), then after signing the purchases to be sent back to Shoji's room at the hotel, they decided to eat. Jonathon took Shoji to a restaurant where they could sit and talk. As they were conversing about Hokkaido and home life, Shoji became aware of something. His bracelet, which had been quiet all day, suddenly quivered. He looked at it, which caught Jonathon's attention as it flashed from the lamp on the center of their table. "Wow, what is that?" He pulled on the bracelet to try to get it off Shoji's wrist, but it wouldn't move. "This is a weird bracelet, it feels very unusual. And this hair?" He touched the hair, and snatched back his hand as if he had been shocked. Shoji was very surprised that it would react to someone else touching it, and examined the bracelet, but nothing happened to him like it was to his cousin.

Shoji shrugged innocently at his cousin, who gave him a suspicious look, but he continued eating. The talking picked up again, and as they finished eating and got up to leave, Shoji froze as he saw a familiar person several booths away from them. As they drew nearer in order to leave the restaurant, Shoji discovered to his amazement and shock that not only was it Yusuke, but he was talking and laughing with a young girl. She was very beautiful, with long brown hair and large brown eyes, but strangely Shoji felt a touch of familiarity as he saw her. He went cold all over, and clenched and unclenched his hands, alerting Jonathon that something was wrong. He looked at Shoji, then to where his cousin was looking, and made an accurate guess. "Let me guess, you and him are..." He didn't finish the sentence, but Shoji nodded, not trusting himself to say anything. As they walked past, Shoji made his eyes look elsewhere, but he could tell that Yusuke had now noticed him and was watching him. Jonathon and Shoji exited the restaurant, and it was all Shoji could do to keep from taking out his kodachi to turn the nearest tree to kindling, but he restrained himself by the fact that he knew he couldn't use naked steel on the Tokyo streets.

Jonathon had been watching him quietly, and now said grimly, "If you want me to, I can take care of him." Shoji flinched, and stared in horror at his cousin, "No! I mean, no, maybe he has a good reason. I really don't think we should do anything right now except go back to the hotel..." Jonathon put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, though his blue eyes were still filled with anger, "It's all right, I'm here, I'll spend the night if you want." Shoji nodded, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill over his cheeks. Jonathon sighed, and looked back once more. "I can go back in there, no one treats my cousin like that..." Shoji shook his head, and gave his cousin a look filled with determination. "No, I can take care of it... Let's just go to the hotel, please?"

His cousin nodded, and they headed back to the subway. As they passed an alley, a sudden noise made Shoji turn around just in time to see several dark figures running towards them. Shoji tried to stay close to Jonathon, but a sharp cry coming from another alley revealed more heading towards them. He took out his kodachi to defend himself, but lost sight of Jonathon as he battled some of the others. The men were already surrounding him as he backed into a light pole, and was about to try to take out the first one that approached, when he made a ghastly discovery as his power of true sight kicked in - the 'thugs' were demons! He was trying to get over this surprise, when something grabbed him and a cloth smelling of chemicals was put over his nose. 'Oh, nice going, you left yourself open...' a little detached voice said in his mind as he struggled, and he was about to tell it to shut up when the lights of the city started to go out of focus. As he vaguely felt several pairs of hands picking him up, the last thing he saw before blackness claimed him was a flash of red light that seemed like it was blazing from an intense fire.

to be continued...