Halloa, all! I return again with a shiny, new chapter for y'all. Unfortunately for you, it's kinda short. Have fun with it, anyway. ^^

Disclaimer: I am not any sort of owner or proprietor of YYH. For all time. Seriously.

The front door slammed shut. Kurama shot up in bed, looking around as though expecting to find the source of the startling noise running around his room like a leprechaun. His emerald irises flicked over to the alarm clock on his bedside table. 4:43. Was his cousin just getting home? Loud clunking from the base of the stairs grew in volume as its originator, who obviously had no problem with the fact that half the neighborhood was probably waking to the amount of noise she was making, clomped up the stairs. He figured that she was still excited from the concert, shrugged it off, and curled up to go back to sleep.

Or he attempted to sleep, anyway.

The door to his bedroom flew open, smacking into the wall forcefully (and making a hole in the drywall, but Kurama would not find out until later). Umi stomped into the room, over to his bed, and stopped just short of getting onto his bed. Putting her hands on her hips, she glared violently at the figure of her cousin before snarling at him in something that sounded like disgust. He figured that she would go away if he pretended to be asleep.

She didn't.

"Kurama," she half-shouted, kicking him in the back with one of her heavy boots. "Get up."

The kitsune groaned. "What?"

"We have to chat."

"Can't it wait until morning?" he yawned, rolling over. As he opened a single bleary eye, he noticed the subtle movement of her hands: they clenched, the fingers flailed, then clenched again. It was the nervous twitch she'd developed from training her powers; the twitch only came out when her powers were trying to overwhelm her. Fear shot through him as he flew up in bed. "What is it?"

"I ran into Hiei today."

Kurama felt a stab of rage before getting the volatile emotion under control. "Where?"

"After the concert at a bar."

Resisting the urge, Kurama kept himself from asking why she'd been at a bar and focused on the matter at hand. "What did he want?"

She merely gave him a look. "You know. Go with him to Lord What's-His-Name's court, do something stupid, go home." Her hand twitched as she grimaced; she really needed to cut her nails.

"Damn it..." He sighed heavily, slumping forward slightly. Hadn't he told Hiei not to bother her? Now he didn't have the awkward task of bringing this up, at least... "Well, what do you think?"

"Who's this guy we're going to see?" He was pleased to hear the sardonic tone returning to her voice.

"Lord Youkai is the current leader of the Youkai Clan," he explained mildly.

Umi rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, gee, thanks Shuichi; now all my questions have been answered and I can set my course of action based upon the vast knowledge I have obtained."

Kurama couldn't help it: he laughed. She wasn't amused. "Alright, alright, listen:

Eons ago, in the time before the Barrier--that's the web which exists between the dimensions of the Makai and Reikai which keeps humans and demons apart--don't interrupt, I'll explain later--the demons never bothered to cross from their terrain to the humans; there was no need. There was one demon, named Youkai, who craved power and prestige: he wanted to rule the world. In order to do such a thing, he devised an evil plan.

One day he slipped into the human world. Once there, he went to the nearest concentration of humans and slaughtered all present, completely indiscriminately. They say the river ran red, but I don't believe that. Word of his exploits reached other demons, who began to recognize Youkai on his returns to the Makai. He gathered a mighty following; together, he and his followers returned to the Human World in their quest for notoriety and infamy. The result was what the human myths refer to as the Night of the Blood Moon. It is said that the carnage of that night introduced the humans to true demons, and it is from Youkai's name which they get the name for all demons.

After that night, a much greater number of powerful demons pledged allegiance to Youkai, and he was easily able to take over much of the demon realm. As he consolidated power, his minions continued ravaging the Reikai. Spirit World was in a rut, unable to do anything about it. Having run out of ideas, King Enma called Lord Youkai forth. Some deal was struck between the two, tradition stating that King Enma relinquished any authority existing in the Makai to Youkai, in exchange for the demon to stop others from harming humans. The aggreement led to the creation of the Kekkai Barrier, and the beginning of the Youkai's rule over the Makai.

To keep power within the family, the Youkai Clan has kept itself the purest of all demon clans, and power is transfered to the eldest son, as he is the most direct descendent of the Great Youkai. All demons know never to cross the rulers of the Makai, as the repercussions are...swift and...unpleasant."

It didn't look like Umi could raise her eyebrow any more than she was, and the blatant disbelief on her face made such a caricature of herself that Kurama couldn't help but laugh silently. "What is it?" he inquired between snickers.

"There's a fucking demon mafia?" she asked, incredulous. "An inbred mafia, nonetheless? Do you really expect me to believe that?"

He nodded once. "It is the truth. The current Lord Youkai, Lord Yami, is the 54th Lord of the Realm. He is known to have a bit of a temper, so try not to enrage him."

Umi made a noise that was unmistakably unique to her: it meant to convey a tone in the grey area betwixt irritation, disgust, sarcasm, and superiority. "Tsch, he'll get over himself if we're gonna help him." Her words were strong, but the look on her face gradually became unsure.

"Something else on your mind?"

"What could he want us to do for him?"

Kurama sighed. "That, I can only speculate upon." When she looked like she wasn't going to reply, he rolled back over in another attempt to fall back asleep.

That attempt didn't last long, either.

"Well, let's go find out!" Umi exclaimed, smacking him on the arm in excitement.

"Can't this wait until tomorrow?" he groaned, looking over his shoulder. "We have until Friday to go."

"The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back," she responded, hopping up. "Come on!"

"Umi--" It was too late. She was already out of the room, and the thunking noise signified that she was making her way down the stairs. He sighed heavily, getting up from his bed and casting a glance at the clock. 5:27. Supposing that he should be getting up at about this time anyway, Kurama stretched in order to get the blood flowing before shuffling down the stairs after his eager relative.

"Umi, do you even know where you're going?"

She stopped, sighing heavily. "No." Bothered, she turned around and watched as her cousin walked up the mostly empty street toward her, turning into an alleyway before reaching her. Flustered, Umi followed him, confounded as to where he could be going. He opened a door to a seemingly random building and went in, her filing behind.

Kurama knelt on the ground, knocking on the stone tiles. Before she could even begin to ask what he was doing, he apparently found the special tile of awesomeness and lifted it up. From the depths of the abyss exuded a combination of an eerie green glow, thick whitish fog, and an unspeakable, indefinable feeling of dread.

Umi unintentionally shuddered. "What's down there?" When Kurama shot her a curious glance, she clarified, "It just feels like something...evil...is down there..." Amusement glimmered in her cousin's viridian eyes, prompting her to interrupt what she knew was going to be a scathing comment. "I'm not afraid, if that's what you intend to insinuate!"

"Of course you're afraid; all mortals quake with fear at the aura of the Demon Realm."

Both Minaminos immediately snapped their attention to the pile of boxes in the corner of the room. Sometime since they'd arrived, he'd entered, and was watching with amusement.

Umi glared at him, while Kurama got up to stand at her side, just in case. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here to escort you to Lord Youkai," Hiei answered simply. Of course, had they bothered to truly examine him, they would have realized that, since he was currently wearing what Kurama could have identified as the uniform of the Youkai Palace. He wore a long, blood-red Chinese shirt with black trim; a long-sleeved white shirt underneath matched the swirling, curvy pattern of white embroidery on the black trim and the single stripe which went down the length of his crimson pants. The white cloth which covered his third eye and the black slippers on his feet were of the attire in which he was usually seen. Gesturing toward Kurama's body, he murmured, "Glad you've gotten dressed up to see Lord Youkai."

Kurama smirked as he glanced at his attire. "I figured Lord Youkai would enjoy my duckie pajamas."

Hiei shook his head. "Just get in there," he groused, forcing himself to control the urge to kick his friend in annoyance. "And Kurama, they would prefer to see Youko over Shuichi. If you would...?"

"Of course." When Umi looked over to ask what Hiei was talking about, she was no longer staring at her red-haired, green-eyed cousin; now, he was a silver-haired, gold-eyed demon: his nails had elongated into claws, his canines lengthened, and a silver vulpine tail and matching ears had appeared on his person. The new additions distracted her greatly--to the point where she didn't even notice he was still wearing those blue and yellow duckie pajamas--and only snapped out of her trance when he spoke again in a much deeper voice than Shuichi had ever managed. "Shall we go?"

And that's the end. Tragically short, yes, I'm aware. But that just means another chapter quicker! :D Review for the win.

I'm frightened by what I see
But somehow, I know that there's much more to come
Immobilized by my fear
And soon to be blinded by tears

~Whisper, Evanescence