"At least I'm finally here," Kurama said as he looked up at his school building, now an hour late for class because his train was late. As he started talking toward the building a strange shadow appeared before him.

"Where do you think you're going?" a young man with long red hair tied in a pony-tail, green eyes, and wearing a blue kimono stood in front of him, "Kurama. I know who you are. You might be pretending to be a human now but the fox smell stays."

Kurama asked, "And who might you be?"

He asked, "You don't recognize an old enemy when you see one? I guess not, since I'm in a human form."

"Akita?" Kurama asked. He nodded. "I wondered when you'd figure out I was here but I didn't expect you to take so long."

"Well," Akita replied, "I heard almost right away that you escaped alive and were hiding in living world as a human but I figured you weren't pathetic enough to do that. During the dark tournament I found out that not only was it true, but you're helping humans now. I never thought you'd stoop so low."

Kurama demanded, "What do you want?"

"Just to see what you're really like now," he replied, "you'll sense me now and again." He disappeared into the shadows.

"Shuichi?" someone at the front door asked, "What are you doing standing there? You better have a good exuse for being late."


Instead of staying behind like he usually does, Kurama scurried off campus right when school got out. He sensed Akita watching him in the distance but hurried to Kuwabara's and Yusuke's school right away. "Kuwabara," Kurama said as he saw him leaving the front gates with his friends, "You wouldn't happen to know where Yusuke is, would you?"

"No," he answered, "but he skips a lot. I haven't seen him much the past few days. Did you try the arcade?"

"No."

"What's the matter?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hey, Kuwabara!" one of his friends called, "What's the hold-up?"

Kurama said, "There might be something wrong, I need to talk to Yusuke and Genkai at once...Hiei would be helpful too but I'll never find him, there isn't enough time." He looked around and noticed Akita's presence.

"Hey, I can help too," Kuwabara said, then turned to his other friends, "sorry guys I'm going to have ditch this time. See you later!"


As they walked to the arcade Kuwabara asked, "So, what's the deal?"

"I'd rather not have to explain this multiple times," Kurama said, "just be on the lookout for someone with red hair and green eyes."

"You mean like you?" Kuwabara asked. Kurama nodded.

A flying shadow suddenly appeared in front of both of them. "Hiei?" Kurama asked.

"You're being followed," Hiei said.

"And what do you know?" Kuwabara demanded, "Where did you just come from anyway?" He started looking around nervously.

Kurama asked, "Is that really you, Hiei?"

"Why do you think I'm joking?" he asked, "a fox disguised as a human is following behind you, did you just lose his scent or something?"

He said, "I'm just making sure you're not Akita in disguse. Could you help us find Yusuke?"

"You still didn't answer my question, shorty," Kuwabara said, "where did you just come from you freak?"

Hiei said, "Yusuke's deep in the mountains with Genkai."

"Fine," Kuwabara said, "just ignore me then."


"So what's going on?" Yusuke asked as he took a break from playing video games with Genkai.

"Akita's always been a rival of mine," Kurama explained in her living room with everyone present, "we always wanted the same things and we often ended up attacking each other in the end. In my final days as Yoko he cornered me and injured me to the point where I had to run. Then I ran into someone in the SDF."

Yusuke asked, "The who-now?"

Genkai explained, "They're King Yama's defense force for all of spirit world in case anything goes to hell. When they're not waiting for orders sometimes they venture into demon world and stir things up out of bordrum."

Kuwabara asked, "So one of them forced you here?"

"Basically," Kurama said, "I figured Akita would try to come back and finish me off sooner or later but after 10 years I thought he moved on."

Hiei said, "It's obvious he hasn't forgotten."

"Yes," Kurama said, "and he's gotten stronger these last 15 or so years, I can feel it, and I only have my human strength."

Kuwabara asked, "Can't you just transform back into Yoko like you did before?"

"Even if I did," he explained, "I'll only have the strength I had back then. He's even stronger now. There's no point in wasting all of that energy in transforming."

Hiei said, "He's here." He turned and looked outside.