Disclaimer: Here we go again. I don't freakin' own the YYH characters! ...I wish i did. Especially Kurama. But not that way! lol

Chapter I - The Feeling

Luna's POV

I have never been the one that had premonitions about things or bad feelings or omens of any kind, most likely because I never believed in them. Not did I follow my instinct or gut feeling on a daily basis – I was more the person who thought things through as opposed to just making the decision on a whim. A fight, however, was a completely different situation. I hardly have any time to think when I'm faced with an enemy, especially an incredibly smart and fast one. If I can't trust my instincts then, what can I trust?

Regardless, I had a bad feeling about something. There's been an odd churning in the pit of my stomach and in my chest ever since we returned from the Demon World Tournament, which was roughly two months ago. And I only had this feeling when I was in control.

At first I didn't pay any attention to it, thinking that it's something that my body was trying to tell me that I forgot the signs of, like hunger. Even though I could see, hear, and feel everything when Iris was in control as clearly as if it was me, I didn't pay attention to such trivial details, therefore I said that maybe I have forgotten some things of when I had a body of my own. Not many of my descendants before Iris have given me this courtesy, so I wouldn't have been surprised if I did forget. But no, as time progressed, the feeling didn't go away.

Iris was true to her word and gave me the freedom I yearned for. Every time, in my peaceful moments, that feeling would come back. I wondered many times what it could mean, but I had no indication what so ever. I didn't know anything. I tried to ignore it, but my thoughts drifted back to that feeling nonetheless.

One thing I was certain about: something was odd, and it may trigger something terrible. At least, that's what my instinct told me. In times like this when it would be so strong, I would remember what my father told me. When everything else fails, trust your instinct. And I did, but I didn't like it at all.

I'm worried, I told Iris once thinking of my father's words.

I successfully caught her attention. About what? She asked, and I could picture her frowning.

I'm not sure, I said, annoyed with myself that I was uncertain, that I was unsure of my own instincts. But something bad is going to happen.

What more could there be? Iris sounded incredulous. I think we got more than our fair share of bad things, with demons lurking on every corner to get even with Yusuke, Kuwabara getting kidnapped, the Apocalypse and… she trailed off, sounding dazed. She was probably thinking of all the things that she didn't mention.

You are forgetting, I told her in a stern tone, that I've been doing this for over 400 years. There's always more.

Iris pondered on that, so she was silent for quite a while. In that silence, I drifted back to my thoughts and musings, but gathered nothing. I gritted my teeth in frustration that I was blind, that I didn't know what to look for, and especially, that I couldn't warn them at all. That "something bad is going to happen" was the best I could do.

So you don't know what we should look out for, Iris interrupted my thoughts.

No, I said and hated that I had to, but I know that it's coming soon.

I felt compelled to warn her somehow, even if my warning was vague. She was the only one I could warn though, because she was the only one that would understand. The fact that I could hardly pin-point on the issue made it all the more dangerous in my eyes. I didn't know what was coming, or how or give a concrete time, but I knew that it was serious and it was soon.

And so, that sinking feeling grew more pronounced as the days went on.

***

Kurama's POV

Something was amiss. I could feel it, but even more so, I could see it in Luna's eyes, and the way she's been acting lately. She has been around quite a bit after the Demon World Tournament, as I suspect Iris graciously gave Luna the gift of freedom and mobility she desired.

Iris… I missed her. I hardly got to see her at all lately, and I would frequently ask Luna of her wellbeing. She would always answer with roughly the same words, such as "she is well," or "she is doing fine," which was all very well and good but I never got to see her, her radiant smile, the mischievous gleam she'd have in her eyes or her graceful walk.

I felt guilty many times when I'd wish to see Iris because I knew she voluntarily chose to step aside more often, and also, because seeing Iris would mean Luna to be back in the place where she was destined to be and also despised: in the back of somebody's head. Therefore, I didn't speak a word to anyone of my longing.

All I could do is embrace the moments I would get to spend with Iris and I would keep a close watch on Luna when. That is, because I could see something was bothering her.

Luna has always been so keen on hiding her emotions on the outside and keeping a firm grip on the inside; something from that grip and control was slipping, I could see it. She seemed distracted somehow, not at all her usual composed self.

Most of the time, Luna's flash tattoos were swirling at a fast pace on the left side of her face, no doubt thinking, calculating. Once though, I was completely caught off guard, as when I looked at her, her face was completely clean of any flash tattoos – a first since I've met her. I looked into her eyes, which were a very rich grey, and read absolutely nothing. Then I understood. That was her natural eye color, with no tattoos to taint it.

As I looked at her questioningly, trying to keep the worry from showing, her eyes slowly came back into focus again and changed color, turning a dark shade of red, as identically colored swirls formed around her eye and slowly faded into her skin at her cheekbone. I figured out by now that if it was this color and this particular design, it was annoyance she was feeling. But annoyance at what or whom? And what was the reason behind that feeling?

I didn't know what bothered her so deeply and I felt a rare pang of annoyance myself that she wouldn't tell me either. She would simply wave me off and say it's nothing, and look for something to do, something to distract her. Even more so, I kept a close watch on her, trying to figure out the reason behind her strange behavior on my own but I didn't get on any leads.

Still, I don't think anything would've prepared me for what was going to happen.

***

Kuwabara's POV

It's been more than a year since they left, first Urameshi, Hiei and Kurama, and not long after that, Iris too. That made me angry. Urameshi told me that Demon World is no place for a human, and yet Iris was going.

And I was left to defend Human World by myself. I was so angry for the longest time with all four of them that not even my studies could distract me. Shizuru kept badgering me though, with talks about my future and stuff – those were one of the few times I would simply forget.

My future… In the past, every time I thought about it I pictured myself fighting alongside Urameshi in Spirit World, and doing whatever mission we had at the moment and kicking some demon ass. But Urameshi isn't a Spirit Detective anymore and who knows when he's gonna come back, if he's going to come back at all. I don't know, because they didn't tell me. They hardly ever tell me anything, especially if it's important. It happened so many times before, after all, like in the Dark Tournament and—

No. I won't think about that. When I would get to that point, I would always shake my head firmly and try to concentrate on whatever I working on at the moment. And so the days passed. The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months, and the months soon turned to a year. In a year a lot has changed, including me, though I was proud that I got into the high school that I wanted. I had free time again, to spend with my buddies instead of memorizing formulas and all sorts of crap at my desk for those entry exams.

Still, all traces of pride were gone when I heard that they were back. Urameshi wasn't with them, so I had to put my plants of beating him to the pulp on hold. Hiei didn't come either. Only Luna and Kurama came back.

I shot questions and accusations at them, even though I knew I wasn't really angry at them. Kurama just stood there with his head bowed looking put down, taking it in although he didn't deserve it. Luna on the other hand, got angry at me back. She gave me a lecture I will never forget, and her words made me feel even more ashamed of myself, so I apologized.

It was then that I finally really saw her, and realized it wasn't often that I've seen her in the past. She only appeared in battles when Iris couldn't handle it anymore. I asked her about Iris and she told me not to worry, that she was well, and that she agreed to give Luna some time to herself, which I thought was really nice of her.

Not very long after that, Urameshi came down to Iris's house, while both me and Kurama were there. When I saw him, I was really torn between giving him a high five and welcoming him back or going with my original plan of beating him to the pulp. I decided on the second option and I started throwing punches left and right as soon as he came through the door. It was obvious that he was caught by surprise, but he recovered quickly and I felt that I was on a huge disadvantage. Crap, every time I saw him he was stronger than the last. The fight was getting brutal as he obviously got mad by the not-so-welcoming party.

What I didn't expect was to be suddenly caught by the back of my neck by an extremely powerful grip that it left me temporarily paralyzed. I wasn't the only one either, Yusuke got caught too, and then I saw Luna, holding us both, and man did she look angry. She had her eyes closed, her jaw was clenched, and her left side of her face had small flames burning around her cheekbone and up her eye.

"Fighting in Iris house has the potential of destroying something in here. If you break anything, you'll pay in limbs," she said in a dangerous voice and the she let us go roughly. I knew she wasn't really serious about breaking our limbs, but she sounded serious. I swear, as much as Shizuru scared me, Luna was a lot more frightening if she wanted to.

I saw Urameshi huff in front of me, tug at his jacket and look away. "I see that I've been missed."

"Yeah, so bad, I couldn't wait to throw some punches at you," I said, and despite myself, I grinned at him, feeling a lot more like it used to. Then, I tried to catch him by surprise again as I tried to punch him in the face. Urameshi blocked it and caught my fist in his apparently really easy. I put my entire strength in that punch and he didn't even seem like he put much effort into blocking it at all.

"Likewise," Urameshi grinned back, and leaned in closer, "But you'll have to do a lot better than that."

He let me go then slapped me on the back. "It's good to see you, man," he said and it seemed like he really meant it. What the heck, I thought, I can't stay mad at him. I can't stay mad at anybody, I'm not good at holding grudges. So I just gave in, glad that I had my old friend and partner in crime back.

After we settled our issues, or should I say, after I settled my issues, Urameshi asked Luna what was up with Iris and she gave him pretty much the same answer.

I hardly saw Iris at all these past two months since they came back, and the weirdest thing was that Luna was acting different. I remember her always being on her guard and always aware of everything that was going on around her. Lately, I caught her many times by surprise, maybe even startled her with an out-of-the-blue question or comment. I also caught her quite a few times dozing off.

I wasn't sure if there was anything to really worry about, or she was just distracted or caught up in her own thoughts. So instead of drawing conclusions, I asked Kurama about it or if anything unusual happened in Demon World. He would always shake his head, but I could tell that it wasn't in a negative answer, but more that he didn't know either. And if Kurama didn't know, I'll be damned if I have a clue.

***

Yusuke's POV

I've only been back in Human World for two months and there was already trouble. I swear, I am really starting to believe that it's following me around. Hell, I like trouble, but there are times – rare times – when I want some peace and quiet too. Maybe spend some time with Keiko. Do something normal for a teenager and not fight for my life in a far-away place that's populated by ugly-ass demons.

But no, as soon as I come back, I had to be ambushed in my friend's house by some weirdo who thought it was funny to attack upon an unsuspecting visitor. It took me a few seconds to realize it was just Kuwabara and that a few good punches ought to do the trick. But no, not this time. He fell to the floor and almost knocked a table over in the process, and then came back up as if that was just warm-up. Then, I saw he was really angry and tried to play it light, although I left really bad for what happened.

It worked, and he soon calmed down, but that was after Luna caught us by the back of our heads and gave us a death glare. Just when I thought my problems were over, I noticed as the days passed that Iris wasn't coming around, almost at all. I mean, she's my friend, we've been through a lot together with the team, and there was a strong bond there. Of course I wanted to know how she was. I tried not to think anything of it, but then, when I saw how weird Luna was acting, it got me wondering.

What the hell is going on? Luna doesn't doze off. It goes against the principle. It would be like me saying to somebody who just attacked me on the street "how about we just talk this over?" instead of punching back, or Kuwabara dissing his Honor Code. It just didn't happen. At one point, I couldn't take it anymore, and I burst out.

We were all in the living room, me, Luna, Kurama and Kuwabara. The three of us were talking, but Luna was obviously not following, she was lost in her own far-away land again. And it wasn't the fact that she wasn't following that bothered me, it was just that she wasn't acting herself. I mean, I didn't pretend to be a psychologist, and I sure as hell didn't think I was very smart, but I could tell when one of my friends is acting weird, and although I haven't seen Luna very often until now, the few visits gave me a very good idea about her.

And, like I said, I burst out.

"Ok, what is wrong with you?" I almost bellowed at her. My tone must've distracted her form whatever she was thinking, because her eyes slowly came back into focus and looked at me. Only then did she realized that I just raised my tone at her because her face hardened as her eyes started glowing a faint dark and small flames appeared around her left cheek.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and I would appreciate if you didn't raise your tone at me," she snapped at me, and I was very tempted to just get into a fight with her, just so I won't see that blank look on her face again.

"The hell you don't! What's the matter with you lately?" I asked her, trying my best to make my voice not so…testy. Kuwabara was looking at me, and Kurama was closely watching Luna, though I had no idea what either of them were thinking.

"I'm just thinking, that's all. Just because you don't doesn't mean that the rest of us don't use our brains either," she sounded annoyed and more like herself. Still, for some reason I had the feeling that she wasn't telling me everything.

But I already asked her twice. I'm not the kind of person who persists for answers. Sure, if it was a bad guy, it would be easy. I would just take them by the throat and threaten him with my new awesome demon powers. But since this was Luna I was dealing with, as strong as I was, there was no way I would want to cross her, especially after I saw the whole tornado-thing she did in the Demon World Tournament. "Fine," I said, resigned and very annoyed and frustrated all the same, "Whatever."

I went toward the door, but I was interrupted before I could leave. "You leaving, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked me.

I didn't turn around as I answered him. "Yeah. I'll see you guys later," and closed the door behind me before anybody else can ask anymore questions.