ME: Oh jeeze. It's been FOREVER since I updated any of my stories. I feel like a really bad authoress now. I'm soooooo sorry readers!

Hiei: You better have something that makes up for the long wait. You made this story. You better take care of it.

ME: Uh-oh…I better update more for all my stories then. Lol. Ok, so to this story then. Hehe. Well, let's just say I have quite a few twists in this one that people will positively love. Oh and by the way Hiei, I'm so sick and tired of Yukina not knowing you're her brother. In this story……

Hiei: You wouldn't!

ME: Maybe I would…maybe I wouldn't. What do you think Hiei? Will I do it? Or am I just trying to get you fired up?

Hiei: What I think is too graphic for this story and it would be out of my character to say it.

ME: (nervous sweatdrop) ah, heh, heh, heh……anyway. Before my muse decides to let his murderous plots slip, let's say the disclaimer and get this show on the road!

Hiei: (silent, sending authoress a death glare)

ME: Uh……well, ok then. I don't own Yu-Yu Hakusho and if I did I would be a very, very, VERY happy child. Lolz. Ok, so chapter start!

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Chapter 2: Nightmare

A low, annoyed growl escaped the apparition's lips as Hiei came to a stop near the edge of a clearing. A steady river of crimson flowed over the right side of his face and he brought his hand up to clean his eye. Hiei had managed to tail his attacker for a great while, but was finally forced to rest due the blood loss. His almond shaped eyes were alert as they scanned the trees around him. All was silent and still. Hiei was sure something was lurking just beyond his sight, but his mind was focused on other matters.

"This is what I get for agreeing to work the Reikai," Hiei hissed as he leaned against the trunk of a tree to work on the bleeding gash on his head.

"Its sounds as though you're annoyed. I shall end that for you!" a rasping voice screeched from his right. Hiei barely flicked his katana from its sheath in time to defend himself and soon found a mini army standing against him. Each demon was heavily armed with its own taste of weapons and each stood six feet taller than Hiei. The fire apparition was soon assaulted with swords, knives, axes, and various other weapons that each had its own danger attached to it.

"Annoyances," Hiei sneered as he easily dodged through the attacks. In a matter of moments, Hiei viciously lashed out against his foes with a gleaming blade longing to meet with an enemy's throat. It soon received its wish as Hiei pressed the blade to a demon's blue skinned throat and effortlessly tore it clean in half. A shriek pierced the air as a crimson stain decorated the entire area. Hiei just managed to catch a glimpse of the demon's still beating heart and moving lungs before he disposed of the corpse and moved onto the next enemy. In short order the entire clearing was decorated with rust colored blood staining the ground and dripping from various points all around. Pools of blood reflected the rising sun and Hiei leaned against another tree trunk unaware that he managed to find the only clean one left. His left arm was bleeding slightly and the gash in his hairline was pouring blood again. The few demons remaining circled in on their prey and Hiei tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.

All time seemed to freeze for a moment before Hiei suddenly lunged forward and plunged his sword deep into the chest cavity of the nearest enemy. He turned his sword like one would turn a key in a lock and suddenly ripped it towards the sky. The sound of tearing flesh echoed all around the clearing and the demon's insides were exposed for all to see. Hiei tossed the demon's body aside with a sneer and growled, "So one of you did have a backbone. Let's see if anyone else does!"

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The demon with long black hair suddenly appeared at the entrance of a cave on a beach and froze for a moment. The sound of waves crashing against rocks met their ears and water dripping from the inside of the cave echoed out to their ears. The demon's body relaxed slightly and they spoke in an obviously female voice, "Well, at least those fools were useful for something. They stopped him before he could get too far after me."

With that she moved into the cave with a walk that seemed more like a glide. Her footsteps didn't even echo as she moved deeper into the cave and the surrounding slowly began to change. More demons began to appear along the path and each gave a deep respectful bow as she passed them with an annoyed air. The cave walls began to modernize and the entrance of an underground base began to form.

"So you've come back," a voice called out from the shadows to the cloaked demoness. She stopped and waited as a demon with midnight blue hair came to her side. They too were dressed in a black cloak but their mask was white with markings that symbolized "poison."

"Kane," the answer was short, sweet, and to the point. The demoness began walking forward once again and the demon identified as Kane moved into step behind her.

"Has something disturbed you?" he asked casually as he moved in front of her and pushed open a set of large demon crafted doors. The demoness nodded in acknowledgement as she walked past him and Kane silently shut the door behind them.

"The demon the infiltrated this base turned out to be the infamous Hiei Jaganshi. He attempted to pursue me, but was forced to retreat and deal with a battalion of our subordinates. Yet, he wasn't as angry as he should've been. There was…a smugness that stayed around him even as I put more distance between us. I'm curious as to see if he did anything else than just take one mere folder from us," she answered in a thoughtful tone as she called a cloud of shadows before them. Both demons stepped into the swirling clouds of black and soon stepped out of its depths to enter a huge room rivaled by Koenma's office. One large terminal stood high before them and various other terminals lined the walls around it. Demons were dashing around frantically and the room was instantly thrown into an utter chaos.

"Kane, what is the meaning of this?!" the cloaked demoness hissed in a tone that was dripping in murderous intent.

"I leave for ten minutes and all goes to hell," Kane muttered under his breath as he moved to the middle of the room. He raised his hand high over his head and released a sonic wave that sent all the demons to their knees in a matter of seconds. He waited for the sounds to pierce all of the demons' eardrums before relenting and roaring, "NOW IF YOU PATHETIC FOOLS ARE COMPOSED ENOUGH, REPORT YOUR SORRY EXCUSE FOR THIS DISORDER!"

A satisfied chuckled escaped the demoness' lips and she moved to Kane's side. She stood calmly beside him and moved a strand of black hair from her face as her eyes began sweeping over the demons assembled before her. All became silent and a low ranking demon stepped forward with his eyes firmly planted on the floor at their feet. He shifted uncomfortably before his superiors and finally whispered, "The thief was more cunning than we thought. That folder wasn't the only thing he tampered with before he left us."

Kane stiffened and stole a quick glance at his superior. He saw her eyes flash a demonic red for a moment and he took a step to the side as she hissed, "What was tampered with and who was the demon guarding it?"

The subordinate demon swallowed and whispered, "I was guarding it."

Kane move three feet away and shot the other demon's an expression that dared them to make any unnecessary movements. All of them immediately froze and she hissed in an even more deadly tone, "What. Did. He. Take?"

"He…he downloaded all the information that was in that file on a disk and then…" the demon trailed and swallowed hard knowing this last piece of information would be his last. He looked at her with pleading eyes and finished, "He deleted everything from the hard drive."

The air instantly froze and no one saw the demoness move before her hand was plunged deep into the demon's chest. She slowly turned her hand within his body and chills raced through all those watching as she suddenly ripped her hand free of his flesh. His corpse fell to the ground at her feet and she held high the hand that she threw into the demon's torso. Many of the demons flinched as they caught sight of their comrade's heart beating in her hands. She slowly tightened her hand around the organ until her nails punctured through the demons heart. Rivers of blood poured out of it and she finally crushed it so all the blood exploded around the room. A crimson rain fell over all the demons and the leader spun on her heel. Her eyes flashed a demonic red once again and she said, "If another slip up like this happens again I'll tear each one of you to shreds. Now get back to work! We have a job to do!"

The demons instantly set to work for fear of the demoness' rage and Kane slid up to her silently. He placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "You'll be relieved to know the Urameshi received his half of the pendant."

"Good. Now it's only a matter of time before my plan can be put into action. We only have to disposed of some minor annoyances along the way," she answered as he hand moved to her own neck and fished a small cord from her cloak. At the end of the cord was the other half of Yusuke's pendant showing Yin, "Soon. It'll all happen soon."

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The red-haired kitsune couldn't even control his legs as they began to sprint through the forest where he was told Hiei would be. The smell of blood was thick in the air and Kurama couldn't be entirely sure, but he swore that he could smell Hiei's blood mixed around with it all. Kurama's speeded increased drastically and he leapt over a fallen log to find a clearing decorated in Hiei's sense of décor when it came to a battleground. Kurama barely missed his foot splashing a pool of blood and he looked around with wary eyes. Hiei was clearly not in any mood to be disturbed and he'd have to take a careful approach to keep his own head firmly on his shoulders.

"Now it's all just a matter of finding him," Kurama muttered glancing around the area with an unfathomable face.

"You…won't have to look far, Kurama," a voice suddenly said from his right. The kitsune turned in surprise to see Hiei standing between two trees looking rather pale. His arm was wrapped in strips of his own cloak and dried blood seemed to shine out from within his hairline. Kurama had never seen his friend look so worn since the demon tournament in the Makai.

"Hiei, are you-"

"I was merely caught off guard. It's nothing of-" Hiei began until a jolt hit his body and his eyes widened in surprise and pain. The apparition fell forward and Kurama barely caught him before he hit the blood-soaked ground. The red-head instantly smelled demonic poison mixed with Hiei's blood and realized that the wound on his head had been worse than originally thought.

"He won't last much longer in these conditions. This isn't going to be easy," Kurama muttered as he instantly began forming a plan to save his friend.

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Genkai stood calmly at the entrance of her temple and closed her eyes. Her faded pink hair blew all around her and her age seemed unnaturally pronounced as she listened to the wind rustling the trees around her. Genkai had little knowledge of the situation at the Reikai, but she could tell something was horribly wrong. Her dreams had told her that much. The latest dream, however, greatly disturbed the fighting master and she didn't know how she was supposed to take it.

"Yusuke…what's happening to my dimwitted apprentice this time?" the old woman muttered looking up into the sky warily. She then heard quiet footsteps behind her and Genkai turned to meet the soft eyes of the ice maiden, Yukina. The young demoness looked at the old woman and shifted uneasily from one foot to another as she moved some of her mint colored hair from her face. Genkai instantly sensed something was greatly troubling the ice maiden and she asked, "Is something wrong Yukina?"

"I…it's just…well…" Yukina's voice trailed and she looked off at the rising sun. It was still rather early in Ningenkai and both could sense the hidden tension that fell upon the humans. It wasn't distinct enough to be noticed by the humans and they remained blissfully unaware of the dangers as those who could sense its dangers worried for them.

"Was it a dream?" Genkai asked looking back among the trees before her.

"Yes…I'm worried about Kurama and Hiei…" Yukina whispered to the fighting master. Genkai blinked in surprise and slowly turned to face the young girl. Yukina saw the old woman's face and said, "Maybe it's just that Botan said that there was something wrong that caused me to dream bad things but-"

"I think you know more about this than even you realize," Genkai answered as another sound quickly came to her ears. She looked down and saw a sight that caused her entire body to freeze for a moment before saying, "Yukina, please go set up a bed and be ready to help us when we need it. You had a right to be worried."

The young ice maiden didn't even think twice at the sudden orders as she spun on her heel and ran back into the temple. Genkai on the other hand met the two figures that were struggling to make it up the stairs and attempted to help them as she asked, "What happened to him, Kurama?"

"Well, it seems he met with some unexpected resistance and they used thee surprise to their advantage. That or he poisoned himself which I find nearly impossible," Kurama answered as Genkai moved to help him support Hiei's limp body, "I managed to treat some of the poison back on the demon plain, but he's still in danger. This is one of the strongest poisons I've ever encountered in my entire life."

"Yukina is preparing a place for him even as we speak. We should be able to help him in short order," Genkai replied as the quickly moved up the staircase without disturbing Hiei. A shiver of concern hit Genkai and her mind instantly went into a whirl of thoughts about her young apprentice. What would happen if her dream became a reality? Genkai paled slightly and she answered it quietly to herself. They'd all be killed.

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"So, may I ask why you dragged both of us out here this early in the morning? I mean I'm used to it, but did you have to drag Keiko out here?" Yusuke asked yawning slightly as Keiko stood quietly beside him. She was still halfway asleep and slightly irritable about being pulled into what could be another mission, but she quietly listened to what the blue-haired ferry-girl had to say. Yusuke on the other hand was more than willing to voice his annoyance as he continued, "Last I checked, you said you wanted us at Genkai's place at one. Not just a little after sunrise."

"Something's gone horribly wrong and even though you're not technically a Spirit Detective anymore we need your help. Have you had anything strange happen to you lately? Something appeared that shouldn't have?" Botan said looking apologetically at the two standing before her.

"Well, this strange little necklace appeared if that counts for anything," Yusuke answered pulling the cord out from under his shirt. He held it before him for a moment as he continued, "It's nothing strange, but I just can't get the damn thing off. It attacks me whenever I try to."

"So, Koenma was right. This isn't good at all," Botan muttered quietly as she bit down on the edge of her thumb in thought. Keiko shifted slightly in annoyance and she looked over at Botan waiting for her to continue. The ferry-girl seemed to notice the stare and looked at both of them saying, "You see, we had Hiei in the Makai looking for something that could possibly help us control this without involving you. From what we gathered when he last sent his report, Hiei had managed to get the files we needed. Just as he was telling us what was going on the communicator suddenly had a glitch and we lost contact. We waited a while for Hiei to deliver the files himself, but he didn't show up at all. So we sent Kurama to go find him and we lost contact with him too. We have no idea what's going on."

"It's not like Hiei or Kurama to get in over their heads. They're usually the ones that always manage to have complete control over a situation," Yusuke said thoughtfully as he looked up at the sky. He closed his eyes for a moment before turning around and wrapping his hands around Keiko's. He stared into her eyes and said, "Listen, Keiko. I have to help them out. I know I said I wasn't working for them anymore, but I can't just leave them in the situation that they're in. Please understand this."

Keiko stayed quiet for a moment as she thought over what Yusuke had just said. She then looked back into his deep eyes and said, "I understand, but you better not expect me just to sit on the sidelines this time. I want to be right there with you if I can."

"It's not safe for her just to sit around either, Yusuke. Demon-related fights are breaking out all over the place. It wouldn't be a surprise if one of them caught Keiko. She'd be safer with us," another voice said from their right. All three turned to see Koenma in his teenage form walking up. He stopped and said, "Besides, we're just seeing how hard this is going to be. Hiei and Kurama have resurfaced…and they have some disturbing news on what's going on."

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"WAAAA!" Kuwabara shouted diving out of his bed to dodge a flaming beam falling from his ceiling. The orange-haired fighter had woken up to see his house, which he just had recently bought for himself, in flames. He jumped up from his spot on the floor and ran over to where his cat, Eikichi, was asleep. Using a gentleness that only those close to Kuwabara knew he had, he scooped up the cat and hid her away in his jacket. The fighter managed to grab his wallet and some shoes before bolting out of the room. Kuwabara made a mad dash down the hall but found that the stairs of his second story house were blocked by a raging inferno. Eikichi made a concerned meow from Kuwabara's jacket and he said, "Don't worry, Eikichi. I'll get us out of here if it's the last thing I do."

With that, Kuwabara turned to the window and dove out of it without a second thought. He rolled on the ground for a moment and managed to keep himself from withstanding any injuries. After a moment or so, Kuwabara stood and pulled Eikichi out of his jacket. He smiled down at her and said, "I'm pretty awesome, aren't I?"

"That's an arguable statement," a low hiss said behind Kuwabara as his back suddenly erupted in pain. Blood poured profusely from the wound he had just sustained and Kuwabara threw Eikichi to safety as another blow slammed into the side of his head.

"Damn," Kuwabara said as his world began to fad in and out of focus.

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Kurama stood quietly and looked over the room. Yukina was nearly glued to Hiei's side making sure the wound on his head was completely cleaned of the poison and Genkai was standing just outside the door waiting on Botan and the others. Something was nagging at Kurama from the back of his mind as if something, or someone, was being forgotten. The kitsune dismissed it as nerves and looked back at Yukina. It was hard to believe that Yukina had no idea she was tending to her brother because of how careful and caring she was. Although, it wasn't much of a surprise as such treatment was Yukina's nature.

But something was bugging Kurama. It was the look in Genkai's eyes as they were climbing the stairs. Something had gone severely wrong and she wasn't sure if they could fix it. Kurama knew that things were slowing becoming worse, but he was sure his comrades could easily get through anything. Well, that's what he had originally thought before he had a disturbing vision the night before.

Before he could think any further into it, Genkai stepped back into the room saying, "Botan is bringing the others. They should be arriving shortly."

"Hopefully, they'll be able to put my mind at ease," Kurama said closing his eyes for a moment.

"I'm not so sure. There's something…wrong. We're forgetting someone," Genkai whispered so quietly that not even Kurama's hearing could catch it. In truth, she was absolutely right.

She just didn't know how much she was going to regret it.

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ME: Well, that's the second chapter of this story. I really plan on updating more. I'm trying to type this stuff out during Study Hall since I have nothing better to do. I also work on it over the weekends if nothing else gets in the way. So maybe some new chapters will come faster.

Hiei: Feeling a little blood thirsty?

ME: What's funny is that my mom read over some of this when I wasn't looking and asked me if something was bothering me. Lolz. I'm just writing what I like and liking what I write. I can't help it. Lol. Anyway, I hope all the readers liked this and I'll maybe get some more reviews! (puppy eyes) please review people!

Hiei: She would really like some feedback on this story and she may even take suggestions later on for something that will affect the story line. She refuses to tell me and for some reason my Jagan doesn't seem to be able to make her.

ME: So come on! I know there are people reading this! Please! Review!