/| c o m i n g . hour [Open]

[Atrox]

The sun had long since begun to set over the city's skyline in magestic chromes of pink and blue. The chill in the air fortold of the coming winter. And the wind that swept between the buildings and over every street corner carried it on its wings.

"The library will be closing soon, miss." The elderly woman's voice carried over to Kyra's table.

The girl seemed submerged in her readings, elbows rested on the table as she nibbled her thumb.

"Miss Streete?"

The young girl looked up, soft blond hair shifting with the lightness of a feather at the movement. "Hm...? Oh. Yes, thank you. I won't be long." She said politely and glanced over at the clock. They still had about thirty minutes. Well, twenty, considering the time it took them to lock things up. She could push that.

Kyra looked back down to her book rested on top of several others that were sprawled out across the table. Most of them had to do with engineering of some sort, or college level core subjects. The one she was currently reading was quite different though, titled "Breeds of Aparitions". She had a feeling most of its content was just rumor, or speaking of a different breed of aparition altogether than where her interests lied. But it was still an interesting read and the knowledge of what most people believed was knowledge itself. And you could never have too much. Especially when your life may depend on it so completely.

[Kurama]

A bell tingled and chimed as Kurama opened the door, a rush of air caused by an air conditioner making his red locks rustle slightly. Taking a step forward into the store, he was met with a fmailiar sight of shelves filled to the brim with books.

Looking aorund, Kurama searched for the section he needed, and was instantly rewarded with the sight of it. Pink hearts and Red roses decorated the spines of the novels in the Romance section, and Kurama cringed inwardly. He was going over to his family home toorrow for dinner, and he usually brought a small present or gift for his mother and stepbrother.

Usually soda or candy or a new video game on occasion would make the younger boy happy. But his mother liked books. Especially romance novels. And he would go to great lengths for his mother to be happy.

Smiling at the only other person in this section, a 12 or 13 year old girl, it wasa amusing when she turned the same color as the boooks on the shelves and ran off to the coutner with a few books.

Picking out another cliche book about 'boy meets girl' and tucking it under his arm, he was about to head for the counter. That is, until the psycic girl sitting at a table reading a book caught his eye. Or rather, the title of the book caught his eye.

Breeds of apparitions.

That sounded like a good book to have out. But of course, they all knew how (in)effective spirit world was at keeping things from humans. Deciding to take a closer look, he walked over to a (much) more advance reading selection. After retrieving a book on BioChemistry or something of the sort he took a seat on a table somewhat far away from her. Setting the pink book down on the table, he opened up the book and began to assess the girl.

Something deinetly felt off about this girl...

[Atrox]

You would think someone like her could recognize a large amount of demon energy from miles away. But Kyra was still somewhat new to this and completely submerged in what she was doing. It wasn’t until the dinging of the bell temporarily broke her train of thought that her spirit awareness achieved the attention it needed. And the realization of just what was in the immediate area struck her rather hard.

Her eyes shifted up, but not her head, to the demon who had just walked through the door. Her gage of how powerful certain people were in their energy was still a little…well…glitchy, I guess you could say. She wasn’t entirely sure how to read it to an exact point yet. Oh sure, she could tell you where they were in the neighborhood, but she had been wrong before. And this was one of those moments she doubted herself.

Never in her life had she sensed a demon so strong.

Kyra looked back down at the book, her eyes slowly sweeping from word to word to avoid drawing attention but her focus was far from reading. He went around to two different sections then sat down. "Stay calm." She thought, mind shifting through possibilities as it searched for the answer of “what to do” about this situation. Kyra had sworn to protect her race from creatures like this and for the past year or so, she had. And swimmingly so. Her teachers had warned her about such powerful demons but there'd never been a problem with them in this city since she’d known how to tell the difference. Today was a first.

After a pause, she turned to glance over her shoulder at the red haired demon, forcing a smile if he were looking, then turned back around. She’d never seen a demon look so…human. Not without a disguise. But by now Kyra was pretty good at seeing through that kind of thing. Was she…wrong? No…no definetly not. Demon energy radiated off this guy like a stench, so thick it almost made her nauseous. Maybe he had a transformation? A shape-shifter of sorts? Or a demon that had taken over a human body? Demons weren’t handsome red-heads, last she checked.

But then again with the same question: what should she do?

What could she do?

Her eyes swept up to the clock on the wall. 10 minutes left.

”You're not a normal demon, are you, sir?” She asked evenly, mentally, directed to the demon somewhat behind her. Her inner tone was a bit ridged despite the politeness of her wording. Kyra had only done this whole "mental communications" thing once and it had been a long time ago. But it was worth a shot. ”Why are you here?”

[Kurama]

His inner Youko smirked as the psychic began to freak. The nevvousness and uncertainty rolled of her in waves. There was nothing quite like the feeling of being an upper S-Class demon and lower classess scattering at your feet. Whoa, Kurama thought. That was definetly a Youko'ish thing to think. Gotta keep a handle on that.

Kurama had reached halfway through the book before she had actually said something. He gave a small chuckle. Normal? Last he checked, he wasn't anyway near the word. How often to demons posess unborn children?

.....Exactly.

"I'm sorry. I don't believe I know what you're getting at. And that book is an interesting read for a psychic like yourself."

Glancing lightly at the clock, he realized that there was only 10 or so minutes until the book store actually closed. He glanced at the pink book on the counter, and knew he'd have to buy it soon or the ladies at the shop would be angry. Then, he thought about the time the candy shop closed. Oh well, he could pick up a case of soda at the grocery store tomorrow morning.

"Why am I here? My mother wanted a book, and I was kind enough to go retrieve one for her.' He litghtly patted the cover of the pink book on the counter before returning to his book and waited for her to react.

[Atrox]

OOC:// Lol, she was speaking through her mind, but this works too. x3

Kyra looked thoughtful as she glanced down at the book, getting a firmer handle on her nerves now that they'd started talking though she couldn't explain why. "Yes...that it is."

She closed it, stacking it between her other books, trying to make it less noticeable. "Though it seems like a lower-level read than what the author is capable of, like he's directing it to an audience that he thinks doesn't know much about this kind of thing." Her eyes swept up to Kurama, sharpening slightly, "it doesn't hold much truth." Yeah...well...obviously, Kyra wasn't talking about the book. Kurama knew darn well what she'd been "getting at". She was a strange psychic asking a strange demon what he was doing there, come on now. She felt a small bit insulted that he assumed her to be someone who wouldn't know. But it was only a little and it barely showed; Kyra just wanted to know the answer to her question and the fact that he wasn't willing to plainly give it to her meant that it was either something BAD, or he just didn't think her as worth explaining it to. She may've been weaker than him, but he wasn't getting away with that.

Now that she was able to get a more thorough look at him, he seemed...familiar somehow. And she couldn't help from wonder if he was who she suspected...

"What's your name?" She smiled, "Your real name."

[/size]

OOC:// Sorry he's getting interrigated for the same thing in both your threads; I'm about to spice this up.

[Kurama]

Kurama smiled. This girl definetly knew how to use her words. Reaching the last page of his book, he closed the back cover with a creak and set it down on the table next to the romance novel decorated with hearts and the like. Leaning back against the back of the chair he crossed his legs and settled his hands into his lap, staring at the back of he girls head.

"I see what you mean. The author of my own book is not a good choice either. It seems that she acts as if sher know the subject, but she is painfully under - educated."' If she wanted to take a crack at him in the form of a book comment, he could do the same thing.

Smiling at her next question, he decided to get some information on this girl. "A name for a name, understood? You may call me, Kurama."

The Kitsune decided that he shouldn't foo laround with his human name, seeingas they were already past that point. However, he decided to skip on saying thew Youko part, knowing that there may be a chance she could be after him. Besides, he could amways leave her guessing if he didn't give her his full name. His smile disapeared leaving an unreadable face, a rose seed ready to be detached from his tresses and used for action. Altohugh, Kurama rather not have to destroy a store...

[Atrox]

Atrox almost laughed. Well, wasn't someone getting his hackles up?

"Maybe." She said thoughtfully at his first statement. And it was true, Kyra was fairly new to this, she wouldn't lie. But just because you didn't know the terminology for the color of your horse didn't mean you couldn't giddy up. She didn't need to be a Kentucky Derby winner to outpace the thugs around here. Kyra was patient.

"A name for a name, understood? You may call me, Kurama."

Kyra visually relaxed.

She turned, placing her arm across the back of her chair and peering over at him. "I thought I recognized your description." She said, the half-threatening undertone in her voice giving way to something much more friendly and less pretentious. "You were one of the guys who helped the last spirit detective, weren't you?" She didn't know that much about it. Just that there was something called a spirit detective that was a psychic who protected humans and went after bad guys. She knew there had been two demons to help the last one, their names and a rough description. She'd only had a hunch Kurama was who he was because of his power.

"My name is Atrox." She said with a smile, almost deciding not to play fair and give her human name instead. But she liked to leave her human name out of stuff like this for the sake of her family.

[Kurama]

Kurama noted the way her tone changed, and decided to be less cold to her. Ah, so she knew about the spirit detectives. Well, actually mostly all demons knew what a spirit detective was, it was less known as to who the detectives were that was lesser known.

He knew now that she probably wouldn't be a threat to him now - not that she was much of one in the first place.

"Yes, I did work as a Spirit Detective. For a while." Memories of all the people he had met and worked with came to mind, Gouki, Yusuke, Hiei, Yomi, Jin, so many different demons, personalities and powers.

Atrox? That seemed like a strange name. Definetly now Japanese, and he was a Hundred percent sure that it was an Alias. Which proved the question - why did she need one?

Looking at the clock, he cringed - 5 minutes past. Standing up, he motioned towards the front desk. "I believe we have been keeping these polite ladies from their personal lives. We should make our purchases and let these ladies go home, yes?" He picked up both books and returned the BioChemistry textbook to its proper shelf and walked to the counter, placing the romance onto the counter and apologising to the workers for keeping them. Turning to 'Atrox', he paused and gave a polite smile.

"Shall we continue this conversation somewhere else?"

[Atrox]

Kyra blinked and glanced to the clock herself. "Oops." She said softly, grabbing the books and simply putting the ones she didn't want on the return cart to save time and joined Kurama at the counter.

She smiled appologetically to those "polite ladies" who were glaring daggers at the both of them as they silently rang up their books. "I'm sorry, Miss Yamoto. I guess we just lost track of time."

"If you weren't such a good kid I'd have your neck." Miss Yamoto said in a joking tone...to some extent, as she and her co-worker handed the two of them their bags. "Don't stay out too late now you two. There have been more murders here lately than there have been in quite some time they say."

Kyra's cheerful expression cracked at the mention; for the briefest moment, a darkness sliced through her eyes. Though she quickly vanquished it, glancing to Kurama as she turned to leave. "Stay safe, Miss Yamoto."

She let Kurama lead and she stepped outside behind him, her smile fading into more of a troubled expression. A chilly breeze swept up from the sunset smitten streets, flowing over her skin that seemed to glow from the golden hues splashed over the world. She pulled her coat more snuggly around herself at the chill, thoughtlessly, her mind dwelling on how wrong it was for two old ladies to have to worry about things like murder.

[/size]

[Kurama]

Pulling enough money out of his wallet, Kurama paid for his mothers book and listened in as the elderly pair of women gave them warning. It was a shame that these murders were affecting everyone so much. He himself had had many sleepless nights patrolling the city for any strange occurances. Which, unfortunately, were fruitless.

And if it was a demon (which it most likely was), there was no energy signature to trace it by, and without even a scent it was hopeless.

But back to the matter at hand.

Stepping out into the Sunset's light he could feel it turning into cool night air, and he felt the chill through his light jacket, and he sucked in a lungful of the cool air. Emerald eyes glowing in the dimming light, his jeans and shoes kept him warm enough, but he noticed how the girl, Atrox, also felt cold. He had an urge to be gentlemanly and offer his jacket to her, but he resisted seeing as she would most likely see it as a trick.

"Lead the way, Miss Atrox." He figured he should let her go where she wanted to and he would follow, no sense in making her trust him less by following him into a strange place.

And at least then she wouldn't be behind him.

[Atrox]

Atrox pushed her small hands into her whool jacket's pockets, using them to keep it closed around her chest as she started down the store's few steps to the sidewalk.

Her attention was locked on him for the most part, ears attentive to any abnormal or sudden sound that might signify he were trying to pull something, though her eyes swept the street half-heartedly. After understanding who he was, Kyra wasn’t expecting him to suddenly knife her quite so much. Or, at least…that anyone could tell. He was a demon…and thus far, Kyra had never met a ‘good’ demon. But she was good enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.

”The work as a Spirit Detective seems a bit unmanned.” She said, glancing over at a man calling a taxi on the other side of the street who was not a man at all. He wasn‘t causing trouble, so there was no reason to go after him, but was it only a matter of time? ”I’m sure you’ve probably guessed by now that I’m a demon hunter of sorts.“ She said, not looking at him, but gaging his reaction nevertheless. “It’s out of necessity.” Her tone wasn’t standoffish in the least, though, a teeny part of why she told him was for that exact reason. She wanted him to be aware, in case he did have a bit of what she continually saw on these streets in him. Mind games, in a sense. Or maybe "games" was the wrong word. But her point was that things were getting worse, and, in a way, she were trying to explain her suspicion that she knew he could pick up on to some degree. Just in case he were some form of…dare she think it…ally.

”Why is it that demons can come here so freely now?”

[Kurama]

Following Atrox down the steps, Kurama noticed her posture as being highly alert, and he didn't care, as he wasn't going to pull anything unless she did first.

Indeed, Koenma did need to step up the Spirit detective work, seeing as the old team was only used in times of crisis. But now that the barrier was down it was mostly demons who wanted to escape the mindless killing and power trips of the other, boodthirsty demons in the Makai. If they weren't causing trouble and they werent using their non-human abilities to stand out then they were allowed to live peacefully.

A Demon Hunter? That was the strange vibe he recieved from her aura. But then, why was she allowing him to be behind her, he would think that this hunter would be more suspicious of a much more powerful 'prey' walking out of sight. However, his mind drew back to the talk of being a Spirit Detective, and accorded it to that.

"Do you not know?" He asked after she asked her question. "The Kekkai Barrier which used to Seperate the Ningenkai and the Makai used to only let low level Demon through and they were quickly caught if they caused trouble by the ex-Rekai Tantei, but it has been taken down and now any power level is allowed through legally by Rekai." Kurama explained, looking at Atrox with a small smile. He would've thought that she knew, but maybe she hadn't even been to Demon World, much less knew the workings of it.

[Atrox]

The city park was on coming up on their left now, the playground bordering it closer still. Did she not know? Kyra didn't even know what a "Kekkai Barrier" was. It wasn't hard to gather of course. Contex clues, folks. But she couldn't help from wonder what kind of person would take away such a barrier. Those demons had their own world, let them fix it up and make it safer as opposed to coming over here and screwing up the humans'. It was a curious thought though. Surely Koenma and their whole "administration" cared about humans. But if they would allow demons to run a muck here, that must mean they believed there were good demons.

Or it was some kind of underlaying, political reason.

"Do you think that's wise?" She asked as she sat in the swing, looking up at him with her dark, watchful orbs as a breeze swept up from the park. Kyra was testing him in a way, yes, trying to learn more about him and this as she gaged his answers. But her hackles were no longer up.

[/size]

[Kurama]

Looking at the Park coming up, he followed the smaller girl to the empty playground and leaned against one of the many poles holding up the brightly colored structure. It was fully nighttime now, and the street lamps flicked on, bathing most of the playground in a weak, yellowish - halo of light. However, he had managed to pick a spot where he stayed in the dark shadows of night.

The kitsune knew that she was going to analyze his answer, so he gave her a run of the mill answer. Lets see her deal with that. "I find it perfectly acceptable and an advancement in the unity of both worlds. Many of the demons that come here to Ningenkai come to escape the bloodthirsy and powerhungry demons who live in the Makai. Ningenkai is a place where demons can live peaceful lives without the constant fear of being attacked or captured." He recited the words spoken by many as if reading out of a book because that was the explanation given by Rekai and Enki. He briefly wondered how she would react to that, seeing as there was nothing actually to get out of it.

And as long as the Demons from Makai who crossed over didn't cause human world any serious trouble, Kurama could care less.

But on the other hand, some demons who came to Human World came to attack and kill humans, or even to take over Human world and turn it into something like the Makai. Not like that didn't bring back memories...

Something Kurama noticed about the girl now was that she wasn't so tense, meaning she wasn't acting like he was going to lash out and try to kill her at any second. That seemed like an improvement in the non-existen trust she had for him.

[Atrox]

"I find it perfectly acceptable and an advancement in the unity of both worlds."

So many protests and so many counters formed in her mind at those words, but Kyra kept them inward as she sifted through which one to go with, which way to approach. So was that how everyone thought? Or, at least, everyone whose thoughts mattered? Or was it just this demon...defending his own rights? Like the kid who tried to justify why it was okay for one person to get so much while everyone else did without, simply because, at the time, he had all the cake.

Or maybe she just had him edgy, or he didn't understand...like a hard-core liberal who couldn't understand why people thought it was good to be allowed to own a gun, a week before someone broke into his home and kidnapped his little girl.

There was an extended silence that she didn't respond, so long one would wonder if she had any intention of doing so at all.

"Tell me something, Kurama," She said softly, patiently. Her fingers were clasping the swing's chains loosely, as her eyes rested on a distant hill in the park. "is there anyone in this life you love?" Her gaze lowered, and moved slightly toward him, "Your mother?"