Chapter Two: Regaining Spirit

In Koenma's office

Yusuke Urameshi paced back and forth in the large office, irritated by having been woken up and told to wait. Kuwabara was slumped over against the wall, probably asleep already. Hiei stood by Koenma's desk, watching the mazoku with what seemed like a bored expression, but Yusuke knew that Hiei wanted answers about this strange demon girl that he had found, which was the only reason why he was standing so closely to Koenma's desk.

"Who is she?" the fire apparition had demanded no more than moments before.

"I cannot say. Not until I meet her, can I know if it is truly her…" Koenma had replied with exhaustion. He had taken on his older form for this event, so the girl must be important.

'But why was she important?' the spirit detectives all asked themselves. As soon as Botan made her way back into the office they all looked at her, even Kuwabara had woken up to see her enter excitedly into the room.

"Well?" all four of the men asked at the same time in a slightly different tone. The ferry girl had expected the impatient tones from the human and half demon, but not her lord or the usually quiet fire demon. Botan just brushed it off since she had the knowledge of just who the girl might be; anybody would be anxious in meeting her.

"She is as beautiful as you described Lord Koenma! I believe that she might truly be the one." Koenma looked pleased, but her usually calming voice had only brought excitement to the underworld prince.

The black haired half demon stood in front of the blue haired bringer of death and asked in an annoyed tone, "Well where the hell is she then?"

Just then, Kurama and a black haired girl emerged from a blue portal which shimmered and disappeared. The girl had a guarded expression as she clutched a toddler in her arms closer to her chest, but gently enough so that she wouldn't wake it up. The kid was a demon as far as he could tell, and it looked almost identical to Kurama.

Did Kurama have a kid and tell no one! Yusuke kept his inner musings to himself, but one could see every emotion of his thoughts play out on his features. Hiei crossed his arms, and stared at the girl and the child whom he knew was no longer wearing all of his glamour. The girl looked at everyone new in the room, which is everyone except Hiei.

Yusuke saw Koenma walking past him with his hand outstretched in greeting and an idiotically large smile plastered on his face. It was then that he knew that this was the girl that Koenma was hoping for.

"Lady Kagome, welcome to Reikai." Koenma did something that none of them had seen him do to any other creature before. He bowed deeply as if she was above him in status, making Yusuke uneasy about the girl.

The strange long haired girl blushed and returned the bow to the underworld prince. "You are Kagome Higurashi, the Shikon priestess are you not?"

Kagome stiffened for a moment; she hadn't been called that name in months. She figured that if he was bowing to her, he had no intentions of harming her. "I Am."

And with that, Kurama gasped and stared at her, Hiei's eyes widened, Botan became giddy and Koenma smiled approvingly. Yusuke and Kuwabara stood next to the black haired apparition looking for answers. He stated simply, "She was a legend among the three worlds, but the humans eventually forgot her story. You wouldn't know of her."

Koenma nodded in agreement to Hiei's statement. "Tales of your journeys are still spoken of today. After so many years of your absence, it is an honor to meet you, to meet one of the creators of Makai."

…

Kurama had looked once again at the seemingly defenseless girl. Could this girl before him truly be the powerful priestess from demon lore? She seemed so casual, so normal in the alley that he would have just taken her for another mortal girl.

The underworld Prince escorted her to his desk, so that she could see the large screen of the television; on it were various scrolls and interpretations of a priestess in green with various other warriors around her. He had seen these before but only now did he match her likeness with the girl from the paintings. Kagome walked closer to the screen and inspected each of the photos for the first time and pointed to one. Koenma enlarged the photo for all to see.

"May I … have a copy of this one?" When she asked, everyone in the room could hear the sadness in her voice and Kuwabara nobly walked up behind her, and placed his large hands on her shoulders.

"Why is that one special?" he asked as softly as he could get his gravelly voice to sound, and to this Kagome laughed softly. She moved her hand over the large blond saber tooth cat that was at the bottom of the screen.

"Because this is everybody. All of my friends." She scowled after looking over the portrait once again. "And a few of my enemies. Sango, Miroku, Shippo…" Instinctively, she petted the small ball of fur in her arms "Kohaku, Koga, Hakkaku and Ginta, Kagura, Kanna, even Myoga the flea!" She pointed excitedly to the small speck of a demon. "Akitoki Hojo! … and Inuyasha and Kikyou…" Her excitement dropped once again but on closer inspection she noticed something "It's missing someone… four someone's actually."

Koenma raised his eyebrow and inquired, "Who is it missing?"

Kagome turned back to him and let Kuwabara's hands drop from her person. Kurama watched as Yusuke walked calmly over to the orange haired giant and hit him while scolding in angry hushed whispers.

"Sesshoumaru." At that name, everybody froze. Kurama hadn't heard much of the legend since he was preoccupied during the time period, but he had heard the rumor that Lord Sesshoumaru of the west was involved, but that was thought to only be a rumor. "And Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un. They're not here…"

Koenma blinked quickly before asking the question that most of them were all dying to know. "So… Lord Sesshoumaru really was involved with the Shikon battle? He had denied all involvement."

The silver fox then remembered something, the look of how frustrated Hiei was when he came to him, how quickly he had agreed to retrieve Botan for answers. This only meant one thing—the short spiky haired demon could not read her mind, which meant he knew she was important from the start, to have a personal barrier around her mind that even the Jegan eye couldn't penetrate. Meaning that Hiei knew of her importance and was still rude towards her, which could be dangerous if she truly knew the ruthless lord. He shuddered at the thought.

"Oh, he was there alright, in the beginning he was always…" She broke off to hand the sleeping child to Botan, who cooed at his cuteness. "barging in all high and mighty, and pointing the tip of his sword at Inuyasha." Kagome pretended to hold a sword up in Yusuke's direction. "And without fail he would say, 'Today you shall die despicable half-breed!'" Everybody laughed at her cold imitation. Her eyes narrowed at Yusuke.

All of them knew or heard of Sesshoumaru before, so it wasn't that difficult to imagine. "But we got away every time… hardly ever were either of us uninjured though. Either Sesshoumaru would walk away with his arm missing or Inuyasha with a gaping hole in his gut!" She looked at Botan, shaking her head to stop herself from laughing. She barely knew these people; she should be wary about them but here she was, laughing about parts of her life story.

"Why do men always fight like animals?" she asked and the ferry girl shrugged while giggling, the boy still in her arms. Kurama was astonished at how young the priestess seemed. She was over five hundred years old and she still got excited over simple memories. To answer her question though, the men in the room quietly said their own answer.

"Honor," Kurama whispered, almost silently.

"Revenge," Hiei said bluntly.

"Reckless abandon," Yusuke quipped in.

"Power," Koenma quietly added.

"Jealousy," Kuwabara mumbled. The priestess shook her head and smiled at him. She was about to start talking about Inuyasha and Koga and their pointless jealous fights over her when, Koenma interrupted her.

"You mean to say that you were there during the fight that lost Lord Sesshoumaru's left arm? And you live to tell the tale?" He gazed at her in complete awe when she nodded her head. The girl laughed to herself at a wild thought; since the arm ended up going to hell with that evil sword, Inuyasha was probably still fighting with his brother even in death.

"I've seen many of his fights; I've even seen his true form…" She thought of the day that Sesshoumaru lost his arm and remembered her sheer fear of the large canine. If she saw him now, she probably would just find the big pup adorable.

Kagome blinked—she hadn't just thought that… had she? Blushing almost unnoticeably, she continued in her memories of the tall demon lord. "He never called me by my real name, and I had to intercept his attacks quite a bit when I needed to save Inuyasha. I never knew my arrow was that strong… But he has saved me plenty of times, if anything I owe my life to him… actually… I guess I owe my life to a lot of people." She rubbed the back of her head and looked at the ground in embarrassment.

Kurama's eyes widened at her statement about her arrows, and he threw an apologetic thank you glance towards Hiei. Would she have really killed them if she had had the chance? Since she had been frightened to such a degree he would not doubt it.

The underworld prince nodded and looked up at her with a completely serious expression. "Do you still have the jewel?" he asked, as if the matter was of life or death.

A seldom forgotten part of Kurama jumped with excitement at the mention of the rare jewel that thousands of demons had been after for its power and paid full attention to what her answer might be. That jewel had almost aided a demon in conquering the world, had created a new world. He needed to know if she knew where it was. When the demoness reached around her neck and pulled off the small lifeless stone, he was shocked to say the least; for something that small to hold that much power…

"The souls have been put to rest, but… this is it." Kagome handed the small sphere to the prince and smiled when his eyes grew. He held the gem as if it were made of thin glass.

"Wow, that's so cool. How powerful was it?" Kuwabara asked, while Kurama snuck closer to get a better look.

Kagome smiled at the human with a wisdom that was older than her time. "It was said to multiply the strength of its user tenfold. For either demon or human, it could make any desire come true, no matter how tainted, no matter how pure. Even if just a shard fell in the wrong hands, thousands of humans and demons alike would succumb to its user."

Yusuke walked up to her from behind and rested his elbow on her shoulder since she was that much shorter than him. Her shoulder was the perfect height arm rest. "So, you're the real deal huh? So are you a demoness or a priestess?"

Kagome blushed and chewed her lip before speaking. Now everyone glanced towards her, waiting for her answer. Shaking her head, the priestess looked up at the one who had asked the question and replied in a slightly amused tone. "Well… the funny thing is, I'm a demoness. One hundred percent youkai blood, but… I still have all of my priestess powers."

Everyone remained silent, as if each of them were determining in their own ways how this was possible, but even she didn't know. At that moment Kagome didn't truly care how it was possible. She could not pay attention to the glances that were thrown her way, or the soft sounds of Shippo breathing in his deep sleep. When the demoness closed her eyes, she could hear nothing and see nothing, but she felt the heat of the mazoku's skin through her clothes and couldn't help but lean into it. Moments after, she realized what she was doing and jerked away from the green-clad boy's touch and turned around, eyes wide and face flushed. She tried futilely to rid the visions of beautiful bare skin and soft caresses. Suddenly, a hand was placed gingerly upon her shoulder.

The Miko spun around in one swift movement and slapped it away. "Don't touch me," she stammered through confusing pants, her body shaking with an emotion that she hadn't ever felt before. There was hurt in Kurama's eyes from her actions while he retracted his hand to his side. The priestess didn't even know why she had agreed to coming here in the first place.

"Kagome…" the redhead said, trying to coax her to listen to them. Everyone had said her name in surprise when she lashed out, but she didn't hear them. She could only hear Kurama, who was the closest to her.

Kagome continued to back up until she had her back against the wall. She couldn't think; all she felt was the fear of being backed into a corner like an animal. She stared up at him with wide blue eyes as she slid to the floor.

"Kurama! Stop it you're scaring her!" But the silver fox wasn't listening to the others either. They were too reluctant to venture any closer to the frightened priestess, which was why Kurama knew that he was the one that needed to calm her.

"Kagome…" he whispered to her again, "you're alright Kagome…"

She watched him as he moved to her level and just as he was about to reach his hand out to softly touch her forearm she screamed. "N... no!" Her scream was loud and long enough to cause everyone in that sector of the building to stop everything and look towards the prince's office door.

Shippo jolted awake just in time to see Kagome burning the red-haired demon away from her with a shock of blue light that snapped her hair tie and frayed her shirt before she fell limp to the ground. "Kagome!" the tiny boy shouted as the rest shouted Kurama's name with varying degrees of concern.

Bolts of blue purifying Miko power surged around both limp forms before ceasing to spark once more. The child ran over to the only being in this world that he could still consider family, but she didn't move. "Ka…gome?" He shook with tears. It took everything little demon had just to move the hair out of the front of her face. "Kagome, please... Wake up."

No one knew what had happened to the girl; the only thing that they did know was that she had tried to purify their friend who was now just barely clinging to life.

…

Botan watched all of this with a look of horror upon her face. She knew that seeing to her friend was the right thing to do, but her female intuition told her to comfort the child. Almost reluctantly, lady death began to slowly walk in the direction of the legendary priestess and the small demon who was difficultly attempting to place the girl on her back, but the girl wasn't budging.

Botan choked at the sight of the tears of frustration falling down his cheeks and onto his small hands. He just wasn't strong enough to help her. The ferry girl froze dead in her tracks when she heard her friends behind her.

"Come on man! Don't do this!" Yusuke could be heard yelling.

"Get up, you stupid fox… Just get up already like you always do!" Kuwabara said, while pounding his fist into the pavement.

"You'd better not die on me Kurama." That one almost ripped her heart out; Hiei hardly ever shows concern towards anyone, even if it was in the form of an order.

Botan wouldn't let herself look back, though, for she was currently on a mission of her own. 'Kurama is going to make it,' she continued to tell herself as she took a few more steps towards the girl. 'No one is going to die… she just got spooked.'

As soon as she kneeled by the priestess, the little boy growled at her as if daring her to go near his Kagome. But she didn't listen; instead she patted the boy on his head and began to lay the girl on her back.

Shippo blinked and helped her do so. Tears streamed down her face when the she felt that the priestess's vitals where strong, but then the guilt of leaving her friend hit her.

"She's fine… just unconscious," Botan told the boy who clung to her in thanks. There was no longer any emotion being shown upon her face, but regardless she returned his embrace. Moments later, Botan had her compact device to her ear and pressed speed dial, begging that she would pick up. Those four rings felt like forever but the relief washed across her entire body when, just before the fifth ring, an older lady picked up.

"Hello?" It took her a while before she was able to speak, but the boy's voices being muffled in the background kept the elder woman listening.

"Master Genkai… There's been an accident, and we need your help…" Shuffling could be heard on the other line.

"Botan, where are you? Who is injured?" The ferry girl held her breath, only letting it out when she knew that she wouldn't choke over her words. "We're in Spiritworld… We need rooms for Kurama… and the priestess who injured him."

Shippo looked up at the blue haired girl with tears in his eyes. He would give anything to get her to believe that Kagome isn't a bad person, and that she wouldn't have attacked the man unless she had a good reason to, but he knew that this was urgent and he would have to fight for his friend's dignity later.

"Botan! What are…?"

But she cut Genkai off. "I need to go!" Before the compact clicked shut, the elder priestess could be heard frantically demanding more information. But Botan needed to get to work.

…

Master Genkai placed the phone loudly back on its hook. A young ice maiden ran in from outside and before she could ask what was going on, the small, yet threatening elder began barking orders. "We need two rooms ready this minute. Fetch fresh water, towels and bandages, now!"

The two dispersed into a set routine of preparing rooms, but at a breakneck pace. Genkai was setting the herbs that she would most likely need in front of the doors of the side by side rooms when the portal opened in her living room.

Kuwabara leaped into the room, carrying Kurama in his arms since he was the largest and it was easiest for him to carry the tall fox. The tall orange haired man ran around all of the furniture to get to her.

"Master Genkai! You gotta save him!" Others from their party began to pile into her living room, but she took one look at the fox and pointed to the door that led to the room that would be the redhead's for the time being. Last to come out of the portal was Lord Koenma with a black haired girl in his arms. She was hardly in the same condition as the fox, but she would look at her later. There was no way in hell that she would allow Yukina to look in on the girl if she had done that to the fox.

After pointing Lord Koenma to her room, she left through the door that Kuwabara had gone through and shortly after said oaf was kicked out of that same room. As soon as she was alone in the room with Kurama, she was able to truly assess the damage that the stranger inflicted.

His breathing was labored and he was wet with blood. His shirt had been burnt away along with most of the skin on his upper chest. Genkai shook her head and grabbed the right herbs that she would need to cool the pain of the burns. She only hoped that his current demonic energy hadn't been purified.

"You stupid fox," she scolded his limp form, hoping that he could hear her. What had he been doing with a priestess of that much power? It had been hundreds of years since the last priestess of such strength had been around but she had to have been dead by now. And so she watched over the boy for over five hours for any sign of improvement, if there was none… she knew exactly what she had to do.

…

Hiei watched as Yusuke paced the hallway in front of the doors, back and forth for the past hour and a half. It was starting to get on his nerves, but that wasn't the only thing that was eating at the shorter demon's thoughts. He knew what nobody else even bothered to think—this was his fault. If he hadn't gotten the fox involved, he wouldn't be in this situation at the moment. Kurama was lying practically dead in the next room because he hadn't bothered to watch the girl from a distance, to study her until he knew more about her past and her abilities. He neglected to see that she was a demon of all things.

Hiei tightened his grip on the wooden arm of the couch, and the weak material splintered like toothpicks under his angry hold. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but Kurama was his friend now, and he wouldn't lose his friend. He had almost lost his sister once, and that was petrifying. This was a similar experience.

Hiei angrily jumped out of the couch, and disappeared out of the door and into the night. If this were any other circumstance, the fire apparition would have gone to the demon plane where he could have killed as many demons as he wanted, but he wouldn't go far. The training grounds were just beyond the various shrine buildings. It would have to do.

By the time Hiei had placed his sword back in his sheath at his side, trees and student training equipment were in pieces and scattered across the ground. That hadn't relived his stress at all, and the slightest movement in the trees that were left drew his full attention.

"Show yourself," he demanded, his senses clouded. The ice maiden stepped through the trees and was holding on protectively to a few strands of her ice blue hair.

"I was just… watching, Mr. Hiei." She stumbled over her words shyly and her shy words became fright when she noticed the demonic purple that had leaked into the dark haired demon's red eyes. "I… I hope I wasn't intruding…" She bowed, half expecting him to slice her head off with one graceful swipe of his blade. The blow never came.

"Isn't it dangerous for you to be walking the shrine at night?" he asked coldly. His eyes gradually faded into their original shade of crimson red. If she had come a moment earlier he could have killed her by accident, and then he would have never forgiven himself. Because she was his twin sister.

"I just… remembered that you and Mr. Kurama would spar around here… and… I followed."

And she still didn't know it. Hiei smirked to himself and looked away from her. She had worried about him. That pleased him, but it shouldn't. She should have nothing to do with him; it was for her own good.

"You shouldn't be here." But she didn't listen. Yukina walked up closely to him, close enough that he needed to back away so that he wouldn't touch her. She was holding her hands cupped over one another right below her neck, her crimson eyes pleading with his own.

"Please, Mr. Hiei. Allow me to spar with you until Mr. Kurama gets well. Master Genkai will make him well, I'm sure of it."

Hiei's eyes widened slightly. He knew that she knew nothing of fighting and that she was just worried about him since he was the only other person who was not pacing or passed out. This time he thought over the pros and cons of his actions. Surely, Yukina couldn't learn of their shared blood if he was just teaching her the basics of self-defense.

Hiei took another step back and simply nodded in agreement to her question. He hated to admit it, but with just her presence, the frustration and anger that he had felt no less than moments ago was already dissipated.

The fire demon stood less than three feet from the ice maiden and held out his palm in front of her. "Punch," he ordered, and she nodded intently. Her stance was all wrong, her legs too far apart and her arms too tightly clenched, although he could see that it was, however pathetic, obviously copied from watching his when he would practice with the fox. Then she punched his palm. She honestly tried, but she hadn't even had enough force to move his fingers.

Hiei scoffed and looked at her with one eyebrow raised. "Pathetic," he said, and she looked towards the ground in embarrassment. Shaking his head in what he hoped looked like mock defeat he addressed her again. "Change your stance into a more comfortable one and loosen up. Try again." At this, Yukina looked at him with astonished wide eyes. If she didn't know any better, she would have actually thought that Mr. Hiei was being… kind.

…

The next morning, everyone had been awakened at the crack of dawn by a surge of energy that had burst forth from Kurama's room. Reluctantly, they agreed to Koenma's orders to not barge into the room and demand what the old witch was doing to their friend. Not much later did Keiko show up at the shrine. Yusuke had called her last night to talk with her about the redhead and he ended up begging her to not run the shrine at night, but to wait until the morning when it was safer. True to her word, she had run. Her short hair was tousled every this way and that and her breath was heavy from running up the numerous shrine steps.

Yusuke grabbed her arms as soon as he saw her—scolding her that she shouldn't have actually ran—but as quickly as he yelled at her, he pulled her into a tight embrace and shook with unshed tears. For claiming to be as strong as he was, the spirit detective was still a rather emotional guy, though he would deny it immediately.

Kagome was still out cold, but otherwise she was just exhausted. No one could explain what had happened to her the night before, nor did anyone wish to speak of it.

Keiko and Yusuke sat on the couch as they talked; he still needed to inform her about all of last night's events so that she was up to date with everything. Hiei sat alone on the windowsill across the room from them, attempting to think of nothing in particular. Kuwabara was speaking to his sister on the phone since it was also his turn to explain where he was the night before and what had happened. Shizuru, in turn, decided that she needed to be there for Keiko if everything turned out for the worst, and so she was on her way as they spoke. Koenma had left back to the spirit realm on business and demanded that he be informed first thing if anything changed, and Botan was sitting against the wall that was between the two doors talking to Shippo in her lap. He still hadn't mentioned his breed once. Yukina was making tea to calm everybody's nerves as well as doing a halfway decent job of hiding her soreness from the night before.

As if on cue, Genkai and Shizuru entered the living room without warning from either ends, and everyone, except Hiei, jumped in surprise. The pink haired elder sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table as everyone stared at her for answers. The orange haired boy sat across from the master with his sister and patiently waited as she slowly sipped her tea. Only after the peppermint and caffeine entered her system to keep her awake did she speak.

"He's alive." Everyone in the room except the fire apparition let out the breath they were holding and hugged the person next to them. Yukina, who wasn't sitting next to anyone cupped her hands over her smile and gazed towards Mr. Hiei to share her relief, but the look on his face made her look back towards the elder priestess in confusion.

"But?" Hiei asked with irritation clearly written upon his face. The tone of her voice was wrong, she had left out an important fact and he was going to find out what.

Genkai nodded in his direction and sighed from fatigue. "But I had needed to do exactly what Kurama had planned on doing as soon as he gained the power." At this, Yusuke looked confused like mostly everyone else in the room but then realization dawned on him.

"You needed to release his full demonic energy. That's what that power surge was!"

Genkai nodded slowly before grimacing. "Precisely, Yusuke. Doing that fully changed his body. He is no longer part human, but the demon that he was before being reborn. You have all met him at the tournament I believe. This also means… that his human restraints are broken, and his true Kitsune nature will no longer be confined."

Kuwabara was only slightly confused. Kurama was no longer Shuichi Minamino, but Youko Kurama. "So he will go back to being a thief again?" He didn't know what exactly they were talking about; his nature that was who he was right? So he wasn't who he was anymore?

"No you fool." Everyone glanced up at Hiei, who was now standing on the sill. "He will be the same person with the same morals and memories. He will just be stronger, possibly more blunt, and he will have demonic… urges that you are not familiar with." And with that Hiei went into the room where he knew that he would find the silver fox demon resting.

"And that means?" Yusuke asked while thinking intently. Genkai sighed deeply and took another sip of her tea. The nitwits needed everything spelled out for them.

"Every demon has an urge or need. Hiei's is to kill, Yukina's to please and yours to be with your human. It depends on your breed. It's only a matter of time until you learn Kurama's."

….

A/N- Tsarashi Contrary to common belief Kurama and Youko are not two people. If you paid any attention at all to both the anime and the manga it specifically states that Youko's soul entered the fetus of an unborn child who had yet obtained a proper soul, thus stating that the fox demon soul was the only soul inhabiting that human body. As soon as he had the energy Youko was to regain his fox form but he restrained himself after his 'mother' neglected her own well being to insure her son's safety, not knowing that her child had lied about himself his entire life. The part in the story that seemed to confuse people was at the Dark Tournament just before 'Youko' turns into 'Suuichi' he seems to speak to himself as if he were two people. (I cannot remember the exact words spoken at this moment) What people do not seem to understand was that this moment was only sentimental. He was saying goodbye to his true self whom he would not see again until he released his true form completely or he drank the time elixir. (Although even I, Tsarashi, will admit that, yes, it is fun at times to make Kurama have voices in his head. But not in this FanFiction) If you have any questions do not be afraid to ask.