|| A Bouquet of Red and White Roses || [Yu Yu Hakusho Fan-fic] {Edits}

Things Worth Considering

"You guys were always together as children. I guess It's only natural for you to look for her."

[Ciel POV]

I slightly narrowed my gaze as I examined Shiori's hair piece. Not only was it broken, but it was beginning to shatter. Some of the blue flowers had already fallen out of its place. Moreover, the barrier that Ao had been talking about was almost gone. There was just a faint trace of it now. I sighed in dismay and set the hair piece down on my desk. Afterwords, I stood up and walked over to my window and watched the clouds that quickly passed by.

Was there a gust today ? I was about to go out on my balcony when I heard a knock on my door.

"Ciel ?", someone called out from the other side of the door. "Are you busy ?"

The voice belonged to Mizuki. I walked over to my door and opened it to see him standing there with a nonchalant expression on his face. "I know it's been depressing here lately", he said, "But you have a guest. There's someone downstairs waiting for you." "Who ?", I asked, closing the door behind me. Mizuki turned around and started walking back downstairs. "I don't know", he replied sarcastically. "Why don't you come downstairs and take a look for yourself ? From what I can tell, she's really eager to meet you. It seems important." I frowned at him before following after him. Who could he be talking about ?

My eyes widened when I saw her standing in the middle of the living room. When she spotted me, she smiled and raised her hand. The others gave me a sympathetic look as I made my way downstairs. "Is that.. really you ?", I asked when we were finally standing face to face with each other. She nodded her head and grinned. "Hello Ciel", she said. "It's been a while. Have you been well ?" Behind her, I could see Botan grinning at me. "What do you think Ciel ?", she asked me from where she was standing. "Just when things were getting a bit more troublesome, I happened to run into her at Genkai's. That's a good sign right ?" I smiled at her. "I think you've save us really", I replied. Botan laughed. 

Oka reached over and patted my head. "So I've heard of what happened to Shiori", she said with a sad expression on her face, "How has the situation been treating you ? You haven't done anything irrational yet have you ?" I chuckled and shook my head. "At least not yet", I mumbled. Oka sighed and placed a hand on her hip. "That's good to hear", she sighed in relief, "It would've been very bad if you had already gone ahead without knowing something about the situation." "And that 'something' is ?", I asked. She grimaced and glanced down at her arm. That was when I noticed the bandages. I looked up at her, waiting. She must've realized that I was waiting for an explanation because the next thing she said was, "Wait until everyone is here. And then I will explain." So we did. It wouldn't be until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon that everyone was at the house. Even Izumi had decided to stop by.

"Are you all familiar with Spirit Chains ?", was the first thing she asked us. A majority of us nodded our heads. "It's a link that connects us to other people isn't it ?", Mizuki asked from upstairs. "Bingo~", Oka replied optimistically, "In a way it's almost like the Red String of Fate." "Minus the love", Juuji added from the kitchen counter. "But what about them ?", Asai asked. "Why bring them up all of a sudden ?" "Because right now they're very important", Oka said with a smile. "How so ?" "As you know, Spirit Chains are spiritual links that connect us to other people", she explained, "From my understanding, everyone in this house has a connection to Shiori. It doesn't matter what it is or how it began, but it seems like she has been in your lives long enough to change something about it. Yes ?" "That's right", Sara replied. "But that doesn't exactly answer the question", Asai muttered. Oka smiled. But it seemed empty. "And that's what'll lead us into the next part of this explanation", she said.

"What would happen if a Spirit Chain were to break ?" 

"Either something is blocking your connection with that person", Izumi reluctantly mumbled, "Or..." "Someone dies", Kurama finished, keeping a nonchalant expression on his face. Oka nodded and sympathetically smile at him. "Correct", she replied softly. "That's why I brought it up. Since Shiori seems to have a special place in your lives, I thought that it would be a good idea to give you some insight. The stronger your connection is with a person, the stronger the Spirit Chain is. If something were to happen to Shiori, you would know right away. It's also the same for everyone in this room, excluding myself and maybe even a few others. You have all been together for quite some time now. I assume that you're close enough to have a chain." 

"What else was there you wanted to talk about ?", I asked, staring at her arm, "For instance, what happened to your arm ?" "Oh yes, this", she mumbled dully as she raised her arm. "We seemed to have had an unexpected guest. Eion, from the Makai Council, is here in the Human World." "What !?" "But how !?" Oka lowered her arm and frowned. "I would tell you if I knew", she slowly replied, "But I don't, so there's not much I can do right now. All I know is that he's been here for a while. It wouldn't be until just yesterday that I'd happen to run into him by chance." "You've been here for a while then ?", Tsukiya asked. "That's right."

"You seem really updated with what has been happening around here", Seiji said dryly. "Is it possible that you know why Shiori left so suddenly ?" "I do", Oka replied, putting her hands together. "Which was ?", I asked. "Are you familiar with something known as a 'Glass Box' ?", she asked. I glanced around to see that no one had moved. Instead there were exchanged glances. "A box made of glass", Mizuki called out. Oka chuckled at him. "Almost", she replied.

"A 'Glass Box' is a device that is exclusively created in Makai. However it's more of a prototype item. Only a fair amount of people about its existence, including myself. It was created by the council quite a long time ago and from what I know, it captures spirits. No one knows the reason to why it was originally made, but it leaves a person quite restless. The reason to why Shiori suddenly got up and left was because your friend, Wakahisa-san, I believe, was placed in one by Hanae's duplicate." "Seriously ?", Izumi asked. Oka nodded. "So that's why we couldn't find her anywhere !" "What exactly does this 'Glass Box' do ?", Kurama asked. "Sadly not a lot is known about how it functions", Oka sighed, "But Shiori seemed to have known what it did. And judging by the way she suddenly left can only mean that it's bad." I grimaced.

"Oka, have you visited Ao or Sotaru ?" "No, not yet", she replied, "I was planning to stop by after coming here." "They said they saw Shiori." "Oh ?"

"But there were problems."