Time Tells All

"Sayuri wake up." A voice called but only recieved a groan and a mumble of 'five more minutes'. "Come on little sister get up now." The voice called again this time accompanied by a shaking feeling.

Sayuri opened her eyes slightly to see her brother sitting on the edge of her bed, a soft smile pulling at his lips and his hand leaving her shoulder.

"Shuichi?" She questioned sleepily as she peered at him. Her gaze slowly slid to the clock on her bedside table to see it read 7:30 am. "Why are you up so early? No, better question, why did you feel the need to wake me up as well?" She complained, pulling the covers over her head only to toss them right off as a thought crossed her tired mind. "Is mother okay?"

"Mother's fine, no unexpected calls from the hospital, I assure you."

"Okay good, so why am I graced by your presence, my dear brother, when I should be asleep still since it is the weekend and we do not have school?" She asked, curling up under her nice warm blankets.

"Because it is exactly that, the weekend, and I thought you might like to get an early start at trying to find out what type of demon you are." Shuichi replied easily not bothered in the least by her sacrcastic behavior.

"Yes, but did early have to mean before the sun fully rose? Why can't an early start for you mean like nine or eleven, some time in the afternoon? " she groaned trying to get comfortable and fall back asleep.

"Alright fine I can wait until then." He said not moving from his spot on her bed. Sayuri opened her piercing green eyes and looked at him once again.

"You're not going to leave that spot until I'm up are you?" Shuichi's smile widened slightly.

"No, I'm not." He stated simply, earning an exasperated sigh from the young red head.

"Fine I'm up, but I better get breakfast first, after a shower that is." She retorted as she sat up in bed and ran her fingers through her messy hair.

"Go and get a shower and I will fix us something to eat." He said rising from her bed and heading to the kitchen.

Sayuri yawned and stretched before leaving the comfort of her bed. She ran a brush through her hair to rid it of any annoying tangles it held then gathered her clothes she would wear for the day and went to the bathroom. Turning the knobs to where the water that flowed out was warm, she undressed and hopped in. She usually took her time in the shower, but she knew her brother would rather her hurry so they could start whatever plan he had to find out what her demom side was.

She had to admit she was just as curious as he was. There was another side to her she had no knowledge of, that she had lived several years never even knowing that she was actually a demon and just thinking that demons were just mythological beings of some sort often portrayed as evil creatures. Yet, now she wasn't so sure all demons were evil or cruel; Shuichi wasn't a horrible person. Yes he admitted to being a thief, but everyone has some bad trait right? Just because Shuichi's demon side wasn't a perfect citizen doesn't mean he was evil, did it? Was her demon side evil?

Sayuri sighed; these thoughts weren't getting her anywhere closer to the problem at hand. She had to find out what type of demon she was before she could do or know anything else. With that thought in mind she turned the water off, now finished with her shower, and got dressed after drying off. She towel dried her hair as she went back to her room to put her night clothes on her bed and ran the brush through her hair once again.

She looked in the mirror that was placed on her wall. She had gotten a good bit of rest last night compared to other nights, but dark circles still lingered under her eyes though they were a tad bit lighter than yesterday. She was dressed in dark jeans with a black t-shirt, a big difference from the pink uniform she was forced to wear for school, these were much more her style. She hardly ever wore light colors when she was able to choose her outfit which irritated her mother a bit, but she accepted that it was just the way her daughter was and for that Sayuri was thankful.

Glancing at the clock the girl realized it was almost eight in the morning. Grabbing a pair of black fingerless gloves she hurried to the kitchen to join her brother, who had just finished getting breakfast on the table.

"So what exactly is your plan Kurama?" She asked, saying Kurama in a strange way, as they walked through the woods. Kurama chuckled at her, knowing that calling him anything but Shuichi was odd to her.

"Patience dear sister, I want to get further into the woods before I tell you." He replied looking over his shoulder at his younger sibling who had fallen behind slightly.

"Waiting is killing me though!" She exclaimed running up to his side and grabbing hold of his arm. "How much further do you want to go? Aren't we far enough as it is?" She questioned looking between him and where she was going so she wouldn't trip or run into anything. He smiled down at her.

"Just through those trees over there is where I'll tell you, just a few more feet." He replied and Sayuri released his arm, curiosity getting the better of her as she hurried on ahead.

She passed the trees Shuichi spoke of and saw she was in a small clearing, but not the one she met Hiei and Gouki as well as that Spirit Detective in. She looked around at the trees and flowers that surrounded her until her eyes landed on her older brother who had emerged from the trees.

"I never knew of this clearing, how did you find it?" She asked, walking over to some wild roses that grew off to the side.

"Just years of wandering through here growing up. I had to relearn my powers, so to speak. I had to learn how to control them and learn to use my weapon in my human form and so I came to the woods. I thought you might like it here." He said slowly walking towards her.

"So you said it was a weapon you wanted to teach me about to find out what type of demon I am, right? Well what is this weapon?" She asked. She was still admiring the roses when she noticed Shuichi standing next to her and looked up at him. He raised a hand to brush back her hair from her face and when he pulled his hand away a beautiful red rose was held between his fingers.

"Was that supposed to be like some sort of magic trick?" She joked. The way he had presented the rose reminded her of the tricks adults would fool children with by making them think they had something in their ear.

"The rose is the weapon, or at least a form of the weapon I plan on teaching you to use. If you can that is."

"What do you mean if I can?"

"Finding out if you can use this weapon will help us narrow our options, slightly, for what type of demon you are for only animal demons can use a rose whip."

"Rose whip?" Sayuri mused then hopped up excitedly. "Oh! You mean that weapon you used to cut down the trees that night I found out you were Youko Kurama trapped in a human body?"

"I guess you could put it that way, but yes that is the weapon I was referring to."

"Well then teach me." She replied with a smile.

"It's not as simple as you're making it sound. First you must be able to transform the rose seed into a rose." He stated returning the rose he had in his hand back into it's baby state and pulling out another seed and handing it to Sayuri.

"This is really not the best way to start you off to be honest, but I think with how stubborn you are, you should be able to handle it. Just don't expect to successfully get a rose soon. It will take practice."

"Right." Sayuri nodded looking at the small flower seed in her hand. "What do I do Shuichi?" She asked, her smile gone and enthusiasm dwindling.

"First you must learn to focus your spirit energy, then send it to the seed and will it to grow into a rose." He explained the best he could to her, showing her how he could transform the seed into a rose.

She looked down at the seed in her hand before closing her eyes. She tried to concentrate all of what she believed was her spirit energy into her hand and then to the seed; picturing in her mind the seed changing into a rose like her brother's had. When she opened her eyes again, she frowned at the seed she held.

"Just keep trying, it's going to take quite a bit of practice since you are not familiar with using your energy like this." Shuichi encouraged.

"Not familiar, is an understatement. I haven't got tht tiniest clue on what my spirit energy is."

"And yet, you still managed to focus and release some of it a moment ago."

"Really?" She asked finally looking up at her brother, hope shimmering in her eyes.

"Yes, you've got the right idea of what to do, it's just that you have no memory of focusing and unleashing your energy that it's difficult for you to control. When you were concentrating on growing the rose, I could sense a spark in your energy, meaning that you were storing it up, but instead of flowing into the seed like you had hoped, it just dissipated." Kurama explained to his younger sibling who took in every whord carefully.

"Is this what you meant by not the best way to start me off? That I shouldn't be practising growing this rose, but rather on energy control?"

"Yes, that is what I meant, but giving you the task of growing that rose is a motivation of sorts. I know you Sayuri, if you are an animal demon and are able to use the rose whip, then you will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. That's just the way you are with certain tasks." Shuichi replied.

"If only I was that way with school work huh?" She joked with a laugh that caused her brother to chuckle lightly as well.

"Yes, it'd probably improve your grades and get the teachers to stop comparing us."

"Then I'd be as smart as the brilliant Shuichi Minamino, not to mention piss of Kaito with hiw smart I am." Sayuri laughed as she mentioned their annoying schoolmate.

"He would be quite annoyed with you." Shuichi agreed. "Especially if you continued to show him up, by getting the second highest scores in the school."

"Second highest, what, am I not allowed to be tied with my older brother for top scores?"

"I've got a reputation to uphold here and I can't be shown up by my little sister, now can I?" Shuichi replied with a smile.

"You have no worries there, trust me. I have no intentions of taking your place as top student." Sayuri replied looking around the clearing once again."Shuichi, what was the purpose in bringing me here today rather than staying at home and explaining the rose whip?"

"So we wouldn't be cooped up in the house on such a nice day, plus, I just thought you'd like this place so I wanted to show it to you."

"Thank you."

"For what little sister?" Shuichi asked, a look of confusion coming across his face at the quiet tone if her voice.

"Showing me the clearing, trying to help me figure out what type of demon I am, just... For always being there for me. I'm glad you never left to return to the makai, I don't know what I would do without my big brother watching out for me." She said looking up at him with a small smile. Shuichi returned it and walked towards his younger sibling, pulling her into a hug.

"There's no need to thank me Sayuri, I'm your older brother, it's my job to watch out for you." Sayuri wrapped her arms around his waist as he spoke, but soon the two siblings let go. "Now let's go home for a little bit and then go see mother."

"Or we can just head over to see mother and not stop at home." Sayuri replied forgetting about practicing for the moment as she tucked away the rose seed into her pocket.

"You don't need anything from home? No homework that needs to be done?" Shuichi questioned and Sayuri glared at him.

"You just had to bring up my homework, didn't you?" She groaned before sighing in defeat. "Let's go back to the house then."

Her brother laughed at her comment which earned him a shove from a smiling Sayuri before they began to head home to pick up her school work and go see their sick mother. The rose practice would wait, but not be forgotten about. Sayuri refused to give up on learning to use this weapon; she wanted to do anything that would allow her to discover what she truly was.