The crimson sun had just started to sink behind the trees as night began to overwhelm the last bits of day.Another sun sets sadly on yet another wasted day, thought Hiei from his perch atop a tree near the edge of a forest. Many a day had he spent in this particular tree, pondering the worth of good and evil, virtues and vices, heaven and hell. Of course, there was no "heaven" as humans thought, merely the spirit world.

Foolish humans, Hiei thought. What a pity it is that humans can waste a whole lifetime hoping for something that doesn't exist. He snorted in annoyance.

Slowly Hiei sat up and stretched, his muscles either sore or numb from the hours upon hours of holding the same position. It would soon be time to head back to his accomodations to meet the rest of his comrades. Hiei snorted in laughter in spite of himself. Comrades? More like jailers. They were only united by circumstance, and the sooner the rest of them realized this the better.
Hiei swiftly maneuvered down from the tree and made his way towards his home. Up until recently he had been staying in a spare room at Koenma's palace. Unfortunately, due to some crackpot's essay in Leadership Magazine (to which Koenma subscribed regularly) Koenma had acquired the idea that living together promoted "teamwork" and "unity".

The arrangement had been made easily for a small condo to be rented in a rural area. The condo overlooked a dangerously steep cliff, beyond which the forest Hiei had just emerged from lay. Even further than that the sparkling lights of the sun upon the water shone form the ocean, creating a picturesque scene. Kurama's human parents had been more than happy to learn that he was awarded a scholarship to a famous "boarding school", and Kuwabara's older sister was aware of the situation at hand. Yusuke hardly went home either way, so it had all been settled in a matter of minutes; Team Urameshi was now living together.
Far from promoting unity and teamwork, it had just succeeded in giving Hiei another reason to be irked by their presence. Not that it bugged Hiei much anymore, he had become used to the fact. Either way, in his mind the pros (forest, training facilities, solitude and nature) far outweighed the cons (having to live in the same house with other beings). Although as far as Hiei was concerned, there was only one real benefit. He smiled inwardly to himself as he thought of it.

Sweet snow.


Yusuke whistled happily to himself on his way home from school, silently thanking the playful wind that ruffling through his hair for its antics that morning. He grinned almost lecherously to himself as he thought of the way it had flipped up Keiko's skirt that morning. Of course, Yusuke had paid for what he saw---the rather large red mark on his face attested to that---but, Yusuke mused, it had been worth it. Not just for the unexpected look at Keiko's undergarments, but also for the way Keiko had blushed so furiously afterward.

He raised his hand to his face while saying to himself, "Damn, that girl can slap harder than most of my opponents can punch." Just then, he caught sight of his watch which was promptly flashing MISSION in bold black letters on its screen repeatedly.

Yusuke broke into a run, saying loudly to himself, "Jeez, alright already, I'm coming!" He sprinted off in the direction of the nearest portal to Spirit World, leaving a few unfortunate and confused pedestrians behind him quite startled by his outburst.


Rio opened her eyes to the setting sun. Breathing deeply, she stretched and smiled. This was the life, she told herself. Rio had just recently moved out from under her parents' roof and struck out on her own. Now, give or take, not everything was quite as luxurious as it had been when she was living in the comfort of her parents' home, but it was worth it. Sitting up, Rio brushed off the old newspapers she had been using as a blanket. Checking to make sure nobody was in the yard, Rio crawled out from under the deck of the house she had been under. Slowly and quietly she had begun to sneak towards the gate only a few yards away when a loud banging of a door sounded and an angry yell issued forth.

"Hey! You! Stop right there, you hoodlum, you bum! When I get my hands on you I'll---"

Rio didn't wait around to see what exactly the housewife was planning to do when she got her hands on Rio, but she guessed that it wouldn't be pleasant. Before the housewife had taken three steps away from her back door Rio was out of the yard and around the corner, running for all she was worth. Eventually, after many a pant and wheeze, Rio came to a stop in front of a public bathhouse. Relishing the idea of a fresh bath, she sparingly paid for her ticket and made her way into the bathhouse. She had come at the right time, the bathhouse was empty. After trying to scrub as much of the muck on her body off as possible, she settled down to soak in the hot, steaming bathwater.

Ruefully Rio grinned as she imagined being chased by a an angry housewife in slippers.
That poor woman, Rio thought suddenly. She didn't ask for some bum to live under her steps, it's only natural that she would be angry. Sinking lower in the bath, Rio allowed the mimories of the past few days to flow back over her. Everything, from the moment she had told them she didn't want to study Law in college, how she didn't really want to settle down right after getting a degree. Placing her hand over her right cheek she could still remember the smart of the pain as her father slapped her.

His words echoed in her head. "No daughter of mine will disobey me. I have no daughter named Rio, GET OUT!"

Shaking her head out of its slight stupor to bring it back to the present, Rio gave herself a sympathetic smile.

I know I can make it on my own, she thought. I'll show them wrong. I'll become something so great that they can't help but acknoweledge me as their daughter!

Rio stood up, clenching her fists at the thought of triumph on the horizon. "Yeah!" She shouted emphatically.
Too late she realized that she was no longer alone, and an elderly woman gave Rio a shocked look while her two young charges giggled. Rio blushed and quickly got out of the bath.

After dressing quickly, Rio toweled her hair dry. Looking in the mirror, she could hardly believe that the girl looking back at her in the mirror was her own reflection. Short, spiky black hair accented a face with deeply set brown eyes and a face that was slightly too angular. Rio could tell easily that it was not the only part of her body that had decided to loose its healthy curves. She had lost weight. Her shirt hung loosely, and her bra had to be cinched another notch tighter than usual to make it fit comfortably. Her pants seemed to only be held on by the belt sinched tightly about her waist. The outfit she had been wearing the night she left her home now hung loosely on her unhealthy frame. The only thing that still seemed to fit, Rio mused, was her shoes. Sighing, Rio ran her fingers through what was left of her hair. Two days ago she had sold her lusterous black hair for dinner to fill her belly. There were still a few dollars left over, but it hardly seemed fair that she had lost her beautiful hair. After a moment of frowning, she brightened up and smiled at her reflection.Quietly she said to herself, "It's just hair, it'll grow back."


Yusuke was expecting mass chaos. He was expecting ogres to be running everywhere, running into each other and mixing their stacks of important papers. Yusuke was expecting just about anything except for the scene he encountered as he burst through the double doors into Koenma's office, shouting at the top of his lungs "I'm here!".
Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara and Koenma sat close to Koenma's desk, speaking quietly and calmly.

Startled at Yusuke's shout, Koenma looked up at Yusuke and glared. "It's about time! We've been waiting over half an hour! Sit down!"

As Yusuke sat in the only spare chair, Koenma stood and crossed to the wall behind his desk. Tapping it with the eraser of a pencil from his desk he asked it politely to show a map of Tokyo, Japan. As the screen flickered to life, Koenma cleared his throat and began speaking. "As you should remember, about six months ago we uncovered a demon masquerading in Tokyo as a human, breeding with women to have half-human half-demon offspring. I did not realize the severity of this situation until I found out that this demon was just a plant." He looked over with a dramatic sweep of his head only to find bemused looks upon his listeners' faces.

"Er, not a real plant, but a demon only placed there by a higher power to attract our attention. They wanted us to notice someone, to notice something. And we did. This girl!"

Koenma pointed melodramatically at the screen, his dramatic face instantly turning into a mask of horror as an image of himself asleep at his desk flashed onto it.

Trying to ignore the howls of laughter from Yusuke and Kuwabara, he continued. "Oh, nevermind the picture, then," he said awkwardly. After taking a moment to glare at Yusuke and Kuwabara, for their continued laughter, he went on. "We have found a girl of slight suspicion in--"

"Wait, Koenma." Yusuke interjected, his guffaws having turned into the occasional chuckle. "Who placed that other demon there in the first place so that we would notice this girl?"

Koenma looked slightly uncomfortable. "Well, in that case it was descovered that it was my father, King Enma. He gives strange hints like that sometimes. Moving back to what I was saying," Koenma continued, trying to avoid further conversation about his father. "We have found a girl of slight suspicion in the general area that we found the other demon in. She has been observed since detection without incident. However," Koenma gave the boys a look that almost dared them to interrupt. "While she has not caused any disruption so far, we cannot allow her to go on much longer being unaware of what she is," he finished.

"But...What is she?" Kuwabara scratched his head in puzzlement.

Koenma coughed. "We...Er, we don't know yet. That's why we need to bring her here for testing as soon as possible. She works at a night club full time, so it won't be hard to find her. This won't be much of a challenge for the four of you, so place try to obtain her without incedent. Please try to make her as cooperative as possible. Kurama has been one of her regular observers and has gained a substantial ammount of trust by doing so. Let him get her outside before you do anything. Lord knows I can't afford to pay for any more property damage," he finished, trailing off with his last sentence.

With that, the team was dismissed.