Hey! Long time no see…guess I've been away for a while, huh? Sorry 'bout that; transitioning to high school was kinda hard…hahaha…

Just so you know, this chapter takes place maybe two days after Hiei leaves the Demon World. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: What, you think I own Yu Yu Hakusho? Who are you kidding? Huh?

– – – O – – –

Last time: Hiei's nightmares are starting to take over his sleep, giving him no rest. He envisions himself killing everyone, but most especially Yukina, the person most important to him. Now conned into a "vacation" in the Human World, Hiei wonders what to think of his newfound insomnia…

HAJIME
Chapter 2. Chasm

– – – O – – –

Touya of the shinobi had always been an early riser. It was a habit that he'd adopted at a young age – the lesson had been almost literally drummed into him by his master, who had taught the young demon that those who slept light and woke easily were those who were less likely to be killed as they snored.

Jin, on the other hand, was a different story.

Touya wondered, as he folded the blankets on his futon, if his partner's master had been a bit too lenient on him. The redhead was still slumbering peacefully on his bed, his eyes shifting quickly under his eyelids, watching the silver screen of sleep. His lips were slightly parted and occasionally curled into a grin. Touya rolled opaque blue eyes and shook his head. Even in sleep Jin was laughing.

Normally Touya would've left the other ninja alone, but today was important. They were leaving for the Human World within less than an hour and it simply wouldn't do to be late. Master Genkai had always been picky about punctuality and Touya didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her angry punches. He shook Jin's shoulder.

"Jin. Jin, wake up."

Jin swatted lazily at him with one hand and turned over, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like a curse. Touya frowned. "Jin, I'm serious, wake up."

What he got in return was a "Aw, shaddup, ya big blockhead."

The smaller demon wondered whether Jin was talking to him or the person in his dreams. "Jin. Jin."

No answer. Jin seemed to have descended back into the world of dreams again. Touya contemplated slipping an ice cube down the other demon's back to wake him up. The move was unoriginal – he'd done it just last week – but effective. Touya slipped into the bathroom for a few minutes.

When he came back, he was carrying a cube of ice in his hand. Quietly and swiftly, he placed the thing on Jin's neck and leapt back, waiting for all hell to break loose.

It didn't take long.

"What tha' hell!" Jin leapt straight out of bed and into the air. Most people would have come down after a few seconds, but not Jin. He stayed up there, twisting and trying to remove the ice from his back. Touya covered his mouth with one hand, trying not to laugh.

"Augh, ooh, that's cold!" Jin turned himself upside-down, coming face to face with Touya. His large, round blue eyes narrowed suddenly in suspicion. "Didya stick this lil' thingie down ma back?" he demanded, more than asked. Touya tried to widen his own eyes and look innocent. He couldn't quite pull off the facial expression, having not done it too many times in the past.

"No, of course not, Jin. Oh, dear, I wonder how that got there? Well, at least you're awake now."

Jin shook himself, making the ice cube slip out from beneath his shirt and onto the floor, where it started melting. Both shinobi disregarded the pool of water forming between them.

"Tha' was a mean trick, Toy," Jin griped, turning right side up again. "What time's it?"

"Oh, nearly seven o' clock," Touya said nonchalantly, crossing his arms. "Less than an hour before we have to be at Genkai's."

It took Jin a moment to register this, but when he did, his face took on an expression of horror worthy of a human comic book character. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, his jaw fell towards the floor, and his face lost all color so that it resembled the image of a ghost. Touya bit his lip to prevent a smile.

"Yer…yer…" Jin spluttered like a broken kettle. "Yer not serious!"

"Yes I am, Jin. Very much so."

Jin hit the ground with a thud, taking off running before Touya could say another word. "Ohgodohgod," the redhead muttered to himself as he disappeared into the bathroom. "Shitshitshitshit."

Touya chuckled. "Didn't I tell you to be ready?"

Jin poked his head out of the bathroom, mouth frothing over with toothpaste. With his wild, uncombed hair and panicked expression, he looked like a rabid dog that had just glimpsed itself in the mirror.

"Ya coulda woken me up earlier!" he accused around his toothbrush.

"You wouldn't wake up, idiot. Now just be quiet and hurry. We have to leave soon."

Twenty minutes later, they were out of the inn and walking down the road. Jin floated a few inches off the ground, making him seem even taller and causing several demons to glance strangely at him. Touya made an annoyed face. "Do you mind?"

"Wha'?"

"I know this is Demon World, but it still disturbs some people to see someone walking on air. Save it for when you're alone."

Jin scowled but obliged, touching down onto the ground. "Where're we goin', Toy?"

"Not far. There should be a passageway somewhere around here."

They continued on at a brisk pace until they were out in the wilderness, their footsteps muffled by the carpeting of soft leaves. Jin looked up at the thin sliver of sky above them. "Looks almost like th' trees is curtainin' th' sky, eh?"

Touya agreed – it was quite dark for early in the morning. He turned to answer Jin, then froze. "Wait. Did you hear that?"

Jin's ears twitched. "Hear what?"

He got his answer a moment later when something fell out of the tree and hit the taller shinobi's back, knocking him flat. Jin cursed and kicked off from the ground, hovering a few inches above the thing that had hit him. His eyes widened.

"Is that…"

Touya moved to his side, kicking the object over. It was revealed to be a bloody corpse of some unidentifiable demon, its ugly face forever twisted in an expression of terror. The two shinobi looked at it for a moment, then Jin bent down to investigate the cadaver.

"Definitely dead, I'd say."

"Recently too, by the looks of it," Touya commented. "Look. The wound on his chest is still bleeding."

He glanced up at the trees. "I don't sense anyone else nearby, but we should be careful for the rest of our trip."

Jin nodded, solemn for once, and the two demons continued onward. Each was wrapped in his own thoughts, both somewhat disturbed by what had just transpired.

Dead bodies were not common in the demon world. But though neither Touya nor Jin had discussed the wound on the murdered demon's body, they both knew that it wasn't natural. The injury was laced with shreds of the darkest energy, still strong though their master was most likely far away.

Such power, so rare in this part of Demon World, was troubling.

The remainder of the trip passed in relative silence.

– – – O – – –

How had it come down to this?

That was the question that plagued Yusuke Urameshi as he watched the dimensions rush by his window. Seated next to some demon he had never met, seen, or sensed in his lifetime, he was riding on a state-of-the-art Spirit World shuttle. On a one-way trip to a Spirit World prison cell.

Barely twenty-four hours ago, there had been a knock on his door. The ex-Spirit Detective, recently turned eighteen, had answered it to find Botan on his doorstep. Her eyes were red-rimmed; she'd been crying. Then she had told him that she'd take good care of Keiko for him, and not to hate her for this, please.

He hadn't known what she'd been talking about until five Spirit Defense Force officers had popped out from behind the bushes, hitting him simultaneously with several powerful knock-out rays.

The shuttle was stopping. The demon that had been sitting next to him was shaken out of his sleep, but Yusuke took no notice, even as one of the guards came by a swiped a card through his cuffs, releasing him from the seats.

"C'mon," the officer grunted, pushing Yusuke's hands together so that the magnetic cuffs clicked together again. "Let's go."

Koenma was waiting there personally for him, in his teenage form. His eyes were filled with sadness and remorse, much like Botan's had been, as he waved the guard away and approached the young man who had once worked for him. "Hello, Yusuke," he said softly. "I didn't think that we would meet again."

Yusuke laughed, the sound rasping against his dry throat. "Didn't think we would either. What's my crime this time? Being born?"

Koenma didn't so much as crack a smile at the joke. "Yusuke, this is serious. My father was the one who ordered for you to be arrested."

"Thought the evil Ma-zoku was gonna screw up everything again?"

"No!" Koenma snapped suddenly, looking angry and pained at the same time. "You've been convicted, Yusuke, for killing a human being."

Silence reigned for a moment, then Yusuke chuckled dryly. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not."

"How the hell would I have killed a human, dammit!" Yusuke howled despite the pain that ripped through his throat when he said those words. "I am a human!"

"In my father's eyes, you are now a Ma-zoku." Koenma sighed. "Yusuke, I really don't believe you did this, but we have no proof. All we know is that the tapes show you attacking these innocent people and then running off. Your energy signals and everything match completely."

"Then it must've been someone else!" Yusuke said desperately. "Tell your stupid daddy that I didn't do it! You believe me, don't you? Then tell him!"

Koenma's eyes were overbright now. "You don't understand, Yusuke," he whispered. "My father can't afford to risk the lives of innocent people. You're going to be put in Spirit World Prison for an indefinite amount of time, until we figure out who the real murderer is." He bowed his head. "I'm…I'm sorry, Yusuke," he finished, his voice breaking. "Please…forgive me."

The Prince of the Spirit World walked back to his office with a heavy heart. Even though he tried to wipe his mind clean the way a teacher would wipe a blackboard blank of graffiti, he couldn't erase the betrayed, accusatory look in Yusuke's eyes as the guards led him away.

– – – O – – –

It wasn't dark, like most of his other dreams – it was bright, shining with every color of the rainbow. Kazuma Kuwabara couldn't make sense of it.

A few images flashed randomly through his mind, mostly memories of his sister and his cat. Then foreign visions came into his subconscious, showing him a dark figure sitting in a prison cell. His green-tinted raven hair was disheveled and on his wrists were a pair of metallic, magnetic blue cuffs. Dark eyes the color of chocolate, usually bright and sparkling with life, looked dull and sad.

Urameshi? Kuwabara thought, and the figure looked up and smiled.

Hey, doofus. Didn't think you'd ever get to sleep.

Why're you here? Kuwabara asked, his dream self floating before Yusuke's form. The young Toushin leaned back and stared up at the skylight above him, seemingly miles away.

Oh, you know. Killed a few humans, whatever.

You killed a human! Kuwabara reeled back in horror. I can't believe you, Urameshi! And all along I thought you were a pretty decent person, for a demon!

Yusuke scowled at him. Ah, come off it, you big oaf. I didn't kill anyone. I was framed.

Kuwabara stopped ranting and stared at him. Whaddaya mean?

Means we're in big trouble, idiot, Yusuke snapped, clearly in no mood to discuss this with his friend. Look, find Kurama and let him know – I'm in Spirit World Prison. Someone's running around the Living World, and if you don't get to Kurama fast, that mystery guy's gonna frame him too.

But…what about you, Urameshi? Kuwabara asked.

Don't worry about me, Yusuke said, chuckling mirthlessly. They'll give me a little time 'cause Koenma told them to, but I'm not gonna stay here forever. Now get your ass moving.

Kuwabara could feel himself floating up towards consciousness.

Oh, and…Kuwabara, Yusuke murmured, almost too softly to hear. Tell Keiko…tell her I said sorry, okay?

Then Kuwabara woke up to darkness and a pair of eyes glowing at him out of the shadows. "Yah!" he yelled, backing into the headboard of his bed and waking Eikichi, who had been sleeping next to him on the bed. The cat mewed plaintively. "Who the heck are you?" Kuwabara demanded of the figure standing at the foot of his bed.

The stranger moved closer, and from the light of his open window, Kuwabara caught a glimpse of who it was.

"Kurama?"

A slow smile spread over the fox's face; a truly nasty expression that would've fit Hiei, but not Kurama. "Sorry," he said in a mockery of his usual polite tone. "Wrong number."

Blinding, sickening pain. A scream. Kuwabara realized through the haze of agony that clouded his mind that it was his own scream. Eikichi screeched.

– – – O – – –

Kurama had a feeling that his Christmas vacation wasn't going to be a relaxing one. He was in Tokyo with his mother, visiting one of Shiori's old high school classmates, and already felt the stress of the trip taking its toll on his body. Kanako, Shiori's friend, was kind enough, but her daughter Mako was a decidedly different story…

"Shuichi, would you like some more tea?" Mako was obviously smitten with him, even though they'd only met half an hour ago. Kurama shook his head, smiling weakly. His teacup was still full.

"No, thank you, Mako. I think I'll be all right for now." He scooted just a bit closer to his mother to get away from the girl, but Mako was persistent. Kurama gazed up at the ceiling, pleading for some higher power to save him from this horror.

As if on cue, his cell phone rang. Shiori shot him a reproachful glance – she disliked it when phone calls interrupted important personal meetings – but Kurama could not have been more relieved. Murmuring a hasty apology to his mother and her friend, Kurama escaped out into the hallway quickly. He paused for a moment, wondering if Mako would follow him out.

Better to be safe than sorry…

He opened the door and slipped outside, sitting on the doorsteps and flipping his cell phone open. "Hello?"

His eyebrows rose rapidly as he listened to the voice on the other end. "What?" he gasped, voice low. "When did this happen?"

Kurama sat in silence, gazing at the house across the street without really seeing it, his shoulders tense as he listened to his caller. "I see," he murmured, standing. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Just let me make my excuses to Mother." He hung up, but stared at the phone thoughtfully for a few moments.

Kuwabara's in the hospital.

Shizuru hadn't sounded panicked, just cool and resolute. That in itself wasn't a surprise – Kuwabara's sister wasn't really the type to freak out in a crisis – but what had startled Kurama was the almost hostile tone she'd used when speaking to him.

"Kurama, I think you'd better come to the hospital for a bit. We…we need to talk."

"Shuichi?" His mother opened the door behind him. "Is everything all right?"

Kurama debated for a moment whether to lie, then decided that the truth was probably best. Well, at least part of it. "Kuwabara's in the hospital," he told her. Shiori's eyes widened and she brought a hand to her mouth in shock. Kurama could understand this; Shiori had met Kuwabara at some point in the last few years and had thought him a sweet, if somewhat awkward, young man. "His sister just called me," he went on, voice heavy. "I'm going to have to go to the hospital."

"Oh, Shuichi," his mother whispered, her eyes already starry with the threat of tears. "I'm sorry…is he all right?"

Kurama sighed. He wanted to reassure his mother with a positive answer, but he had none to offer her. "I really don't know," he said honestly, and watched his mother's eyes flood with tears.

– – – O – – –

Shizuru was sitting in the waiting room when he arrived. Kurama was surprised, however, by the two girls that accompanied her. "Keiko? Yukina?"

"I came as soon as I could," Keiko told him in an almost defiant tone. "Just because Yusuke's not home doesn't mean I'm going to follow his example."

Kurama hid a smile. Yusuke's girlfriend through and through.

Yukina stood and bowed slightly. "I was in town," she murmured quietly. "I thought…maybe my healing powers would help Kazuma a little bit…" She trailed off as her eyes became overbright again. Shizuru threw the unlit cigarette she'd stuck in her mouth and patted Yukina's shoulder.

"Stop crying," she said, gently but sternly. "It's not going to help Kazuma one bit."

For some reason, she was looking at Kurama with an almost hostile expression. The redhead felt uneasy at the thought. "Shall…shall we go see Kuwabara now?"

Lying on the hospital bed, the orange-top was deathly pale from loss of blood, but his breathing was even. Eikichi the cat was curled on his master's chest, pawing gently at Kuwabara's ashen features and meowing as though calling to him. At Kurama's questioning glance, Shizuru shrugged.

"Thought baby bro would like having his cat around," she explained in a voice husky with emotion.

Kurama could sense the tears in Kuwabara's life energy reflected in his body. "I've rarely seen such precision," Kurama murmured.

"You should know," Shizuru snapped at him, now sounding angry. "You're the one that did it."

Kurama stared at her in bewildered surprise. "What…what do you mean?"

Shizuru threw something at him. "This is what I found…lying next to him."

Enclosed in a plastic Ziplock bag was a fully-bloomed rose. Kurama pulled it out, feeling the vibrant red petals with disbelief. "I…"

"Residue from your energy was all over his room. I never thought you'd do something like this, Kurama," Shizuru whispered. "Why would you want to hurt Kazuma? He trusted you. I trusted you. We all trusted you."

The fox's fingers clenched involuntarily around the stem of the rose. Sharp thorns dug into the palm of his hand, drawing blood, but the fox took no notice. "I didn't," he murmured, staring unseeingly at Kuwabara's face. "I didn't…I didn't do this to him…"

Shizuru swiped an angry hand across her eyes. "I want to believe that too, Kurama," she said sadly, "but can you prove it?"

Kurama knew he couldn't. He searched the room desperately, as though he could find all the answers written on the walls, or perhaps the real culprit lurking under the desk. But no. There was only the unconscious Kuwabara, Shizuru, Keiko, Yukina, Eikichi…

Wait. Eikichi.

"Does Kuwabara's cat sleep with him?"

Shizuru looked slightly bemused at this sudden question. "Yeah," she said. "Kazuma won't live without her. Why?"

Kurama picked Eikichi up. "I think…I may have just found a witness."

Being a fox, Kurama had an affinity with most furry mammals and could connect with their minds to some degree. He planned to utilize that power right now, placing one finger on Eikichi's forehead and closing his eyes.

It was like watching a static-distorted rerun. Kurama watched through Eikichi's eyes as Kuwabara awoke with a yell, then spotted the glowing eyes at the other end of the room. "Who the heck are you?" Kuwabara's voice asked, strangely warped.

Kurama watched himself appear. However, with Eikichi's senses, he could smell a barely perceptible, strange odor of something foreign underneath his own scent. It was very faint.

But it made all the difference.

He watched as his copy smirked in a very Hiei-like fashion. "Sorry. Wrong number."

His whip flashed so quickly that Kurama himself couldn't believe it. Kuwabara screamed, and Eikichi let out an earsplitting shriek. The fake Kurama knelt by Kuwabara's head and smiled down at him.

"Urameshi won't be escaping," he whispered. "And neither will your friends. Of course, I have nothing personal against you, but I can't have you spilling the beans to anyone else who might help. You'll be taking a long nap while your friends," Here his grin cracked even wider, "suffer."

Kurama's own eyes flashed open and he breathed deeply. Eikichi yowled and dug her claws into his hand, showing that she clearly did not like strangers in her mind.

Shizuru was staring at him. "What happened?"

Kurama didn't answer at first, drawing a breath to steady himself. "I know what happened," he murmured.

"How?"

"Eikichi told me."

– – – O – – –

Normally, if someone had told Shizuru Kuwabara that animals could talk, she would've called them completely insane.

She thought the sanest, most intelligent person she knew had gone completely nuts. Maybe a couple squirrels in the attic of his ancient brain, termites eating away at the woodwork of his sanity. But here he was, stating calmly to her that her baby bro's cat had told him who the real culprit was.

So she said the first thing that came to mind.

"You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not," Kurama said.

"You've gone crazy."

"No, I have not. I am just as sane as you are."

"Then maybe I'm not sane," Shizuru countered. "You're telling me that Eikichi told you who hurt my baby bro?"

"Yes."

Shizuru searched his eyes for the signs of a lie, a sadistic joke. She was very good at spotting even the best liars, and if Kurama had been anything but truthful, she would've found him out instantly.

But there were no lies, no ulterior motives in those verdant depths. Shizuru breathed slowly and tried not to scream. Kurama wouldn't do this to Kazuma. He had no reason to.

"I…I believe you." I hope.

– – – O – – –

Half an hour later, they were back at Shizuru's apartment, seated around the circular table and speculating.

"So, here is what we know," Kurama said after a few minutes of discussion. "Yusuke is out of the picture, captured by people who don't want us to find out where he is."

He heard a shuddering gasp, possibly from Keiko, but forced himself to continue on. "Kuwabara, with his powerful sixth sense, was probably able to somehow able to communicate with Yusuke, possibly in a dream. The unknown enemy, discovering this, rendered Kuwabara comatose in my form, thus incriminating me in the eyes of the Spirit World. Two birds with one stone."

"Shapeshifter?" Yukina suggested quietly.

"Not enough. Shapeshifters only copy appearances, and Kuwabara would've been able to sense that it was someone else and not me." He turned back to Keiko and Yukina. "Do you remember Mitsunari Yanagisawa, from the Sensui case?"

"How could I forget?" Keiko muttered. "His hair is the freakiest thing I've ever seen."

"This person has power very similar to his in that he can copy everything from mannerisms to physical appearance to energy signatures."

"You think Yana did this?" Shizuru asked skeptically, eyebrows raising a fraction. Kurama, if he had been anyone else, would have snorted. As it was, he merely shook his head with the faintest ghost of a smile tilting his lips.

"No. But someone with powers similar to Yana's could have done this easily and gotten away with it."

"Eh…" Shizuru sighed and chewed pensively on the end of her cigarette. "Well, we don't know that many people with a sense like that. Maybe we should ask Genkai."

"It's a good plan. We should leave now, before anything else happens."

Shizuru's phone rang then, startling all of them. Kuwabara's sister recovered quickly and pulled the phone off its cradle. "Yeah?"

Her eyes widened, and Kurama had a vaguely amusing thought. This is the day for surprising phone calls.

Shizuru listened for a moment, nodding her head and making "mm-hm" noises at regular intervals. "Sorry, but this is kind of a bad time," she said. "Can I call you back later?" She hung up but didn't look at the group for several seconds, instead staring at the kitchen counter as if it held all the answers.

"Shizuru?" Yukina said tentatively. The other woman started.

"I'm fine."

"Who called?" Keiko asked.

Shizuru directed her gaze to Kurama, who felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"She said her name was Kiyoko Mitarai," Shizuru said slowly, and Kurama felt a surge of recognition at the name. "Kiyoshi Mitarai's mother. She said that her son's in the hospital and just woke up an hour ago. Apparently, he told her to call this number."

Of course, Kurama thought. Kuwabara was – is – one of Mitarai's best friends. But why Kuwabara? Why not one of his friends in Mushiyori City?

"She said that Mitarai wants to talk to us."

There was some kind of connection building here, but Kurama couldn't quite figure out what it was. "How was he injured?"

Shizuru shook her head. "Attacked, I think."

There's a link here. Yusuke's disappeared without a trace, and Mitarai wakes up in the hospital and wants to call Kuwabara. But Kuwabara's in the hospital… Kurama flashed back to one of the things Kuwabara's attacker had said.

"Urameshi won't be escaping, and neither will your friends. Of course, I have nothing personal against you, but I can't have you spilling the beans to anyone else who might help."

There were only so many people who had the power and authority to capture and contain someone like Yusuke Urameshi.

Kurama bolted upright, nearly knocking his chair over. There's just one more puzzle piece to fit in. "Shizuru, do you have Botan's number?"

The young woman looked startled. "Yes, I do, but – "

"Call it. Now."

Shizuru almost protested, but the light in Kurama's eyes warned her against doing so. She reached for the phone, dialing the familiar numbers. A tense hush fell over the room as Yukina and Keiko exchanged glances, confused and somewhat frightened.

Ring…ring…click.

"The number you have called has just been disconnected. Please try again later."

"Disconnected?" The gleam in Kurama's eye brightened. "I thought so." He was holding his communicator in one hand. Its small screen was filled with static. "The line to Koenma doesn't work either, and he can't blame it on bad telephone service."

He was seeing it now, all the connections coming together rapidly fast inside his head.

"We have to get to Mushiyori City."

And that was when the window shattered.

– – – O – – –

Hiei woke up to find Yukina gone. Gods, he cursed, jumping down from his tree to land lightly on the ground. As he'd learned in the last few days that he'd been here, the koorime didn't leave Genkai's dojo very often except to visit Shizuru and Keiko in town, and that was only on rare occasions. Hiei marched up to the doorstep of the dojo.

There was a note on the door, hastily scribbled. He recognized the handwriting.

Gone to town, it read. Kazuma in hospital. Will be back as soon as I can. –Yukina.

Hiei shook his head. The idiot's gotten himself hurt again. Typical. He glared for a moment at the note, then leapt down the long line of steps in front of the dojo at a breakneck pace. Soon he was only a black blur, zipping along the road to town.

As much as he disliked the fool, he couldn't deny that he was vaguely curious as to how badly hurt Kuwabara had to be in order to scare Yukina into rushing to town like that. Hiei leapt onto the roof of a nearby house and stared down at the town, trying to locate the hospital.

He was going to get some answers.

– – – O – – –

So this was kind of a mismatch of my first draft and my second and some new stuff that I kinda threw in to fill it up. Whoo, ten pages of this…okay, so, hope you like it. I sure didn't…