Okay, well, as reward for your patience in sitting through and waiting with a rather short chapter, lo and behold, I have given life to the next one! An interesting one! With action! And excitement! And Lord of the Rings travel scenes! And stuff! So go, my readers, and rejoice in the majesty that is this chapter!

I hope I didn't get your expectations up too high, as that won't end well for you.

Disclaimer: YYH ain't mine. Huzzah?


The Makai, or at least the section through which they were walking, was completely flat and empty. Desolate, one might say. The plains were a strange shade of brown-grey-green, highly muted to match the blue-grey-purple sky. Umi stared blandly at the ground, examining the rather boring, patchy grass; it was a definite change from what she had been staring at. Or rather, who. For the longest time, she'd lagged behind both Hiei and her cousin--err, make that Youko--with a look of confusion mixed with disgust. Sure, Youko was still her cousin...technically...somewhere on the inside...but it was weird that he had this...other persona, other body, other self. The major difference between Jekyll and Hyde was that Hyde here was must less protective of her than Jekyll, more indifferent; the sad thing was that she knew she was going to need that protection right about now. And it wasn't like she could turn to Hiei for that; he was just--

"Umi," he repeated forcefully, stopping right in front of her. She looked up just in time to stop before running into him. When the girl finally came to her senses, he continued, "Are you alright?"

"Like you would care, but yes." The reply came out faster than her brain could think, and it was much meaner than it should have been. Of course, she didn't care that much, as she was still mad at him.

The fire demon shook his head, obviously questioning why he even bothered. "You need to focus. In the forest outside Youkai Palace holds the scum of the Demon World; they will tear you apart. So stay close."

Umi glanced between the two, trying to figure out which would be less awkward. That was a fruitless task. The fire demon turned back around and began walking again, the kitsune in tail, and finally the girl lagging behind.

After a few moments, along the nearby horizon appeared a tree line. It was dark, each individual tree some shade of black, dark grey, or dark mocha; the apparent density of the forest only added to the foreboding. An annoyance crossed her face as she sauntered behind the boys. That forest didn't look so tough; what made Hiei think she couldn't take care of herself? She'd show him. The first demon she saw would get a serious ass-kicking, that was for sure--

"Umi!"

"AH!" she shrieked, jumping back a few feet. Unintentionally, a bolt of lightening shot from her hand, jut missing Youko, who had reached out to grab her attention. "Good lord, Shu--Kur--You--whatever the fuck your name is! Don't do that!"

"I'm just making sure you're on your guard," Youko answered smoothly. At the odd mixture of irritation, confoundment, disbelief, and fear, he continued, "Something the matter?"

She shook her head. "Just weirded out, freaked out, and out of my element, that's all." There was a fraction of a pause as she considered to test how far she could push this half of her cousin for similarities, eventually adding, "Mr. Duckie Jammies."

Youko turned his attention momentarily toward his attire before replying, "My, what an ensemble." He seemed torn between laughter and disapproval.

Epic points to Youko for being mothafucking awesome. Umi snickered as his awkward response. "So, what were you saying? Something about paying attention or whatever?"

You need to focus so you don't get hurt; the demons in the forest--is there something distracting you?!" It was apparent that he was getting flustered by her severe case of ADD.

"The tail..." she murmured, watching as his tail swished back and forth in irritation. Youko smacked himself in the head before turning to Hiei.

"Perhaps we should put her on a leash," he suggested.

"Alright, alright," Umi ceded, throwing her hands up. "Alright, I'll focus. I just can't walk behind Kurama anymore; the animal appendages are far too distracting."

"Then walk up front," Hiei groused, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her forward. With him in front, her in the middle, and Youko trailing, the three entered the forest.

For the first ten or so minutes, the trio walked without conversation; the sound that the relatively stealthless human girl made by snapping every fallen twig into a thousand pieces was the only thing that prohibited silence. Finally, someone spoke.

"What did you mean?"

Umi looked up from watching her feet (in the all-too-vain attempt to not step on every bough and break it) to the back of Hiei's head. "I didn't say--or think--anything."

"Earlier. You made some crack about the harbinger of death. What was that about?" Hiei didn't look at her, but Umi could swear that his freaky third eye was staring at her, as though peering through her soul.

She shuddered. "It's nothing, really. Just a nightmare, that's all."

There was a pause. "With me in it?"

Another pause, more awkward than the last. "...Yeah..." She wasn't sure why, but telling him about her dream was different than telling other people; it seemed much more bizarre, obscene, and creepy in telling him.

Before anybody could open their mouth to make a comment, both Hiei and Youko stopped, having picked up on a few energy signals. During the process of determining from whence the demons were coming, one of the creatures jumped out from the trees, tackling the human to the ground and pinning her down. Hiei and Youko pulled out their respective weapons of choice, about to jump to her aid, but were halted by the arrival of other demons. With the slice of a blade and the crack of a whip, the new arrivals were cut into two or more pieces and collapsed to the ground.

Or so they thought. Apparently they'd missed one. And the only way they realized was by the loud cracking made only by bone breaking, accompanied by a high-pitched scream of pain.

Apparently she hadn't trained enough over the last year, because she simply couldn't throw the demon off of her. It didn't help that he probably weighed twice, if not more, her weight. The creature had her right arm pinned behind her back, and pulled it continually back until her humerus broke, causing her to scream. To her, the pain was absolutely excruciating; Umi had never broken a long bone before. Her body reacted before her brain could: long metal spikes shot from her back, impaling the demon in multiple locations. The pressure that had been applied to her arm dissipated, and, after a moment, the weight of the body was removed as well. One of the friendly demons grabbed her by the left arm and dragged her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Hiei immediately asked, even before she got her feet beneath her.

She couldn't answer without her voice cracking, and she didn't want to show weakness. Not now, not--

"This does not bode well," Youko mused gravely, lightly touching her arm and causing her to yelp. "How far are we from the palace?"

"Half an hour at the pace we've been going," Hiei informed quickly.

He didn't much like that answer. "Do we have anything to use to set the splint?" Hiei shook his head. "Damn it..." After thinking for a few moments, the fox demon pulled out a handful of seeds from his pocket. Infusing his aura into them, he grew a pair of thick, flat rods of dogwood and a length of vine to bind it all together. Touching her arm lightly, he stated, "Umi, I'm going to push the bone back into your arm, so brace yourself."

In a manner she felt was far too pathetic, she shoved her face into the crook of Hiei's neck, and gripped his hand as tightly as possible. Swiftly, Youko yanked her arm, extending it to its full length and causing the girl to scream again; his hands moved quickly, wrapping the splints around her arm. "There," he said as he finished. "That'll stay until we get the Youkai's healer to look at it."

Umi lifted her head up, one bleary green eye looking at what was her cousin on the inside somewhere. "Are we going now?" Her voice cracked once. Damn it.

A twang of pity shot through Youko; he figured that Shuichi's emotions toward his cousin were coming through. Stoic, he picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder, and gestured to Hiei as he darted off.


The Palace of the Youkai Clan was an enormous, Gothic structure, whose massive black granite walls and towering spires created the imposing edifice. Massive columns, enormous arches, immense flying buttresses, and considerable relieves decorated the building's exterior, alongside a menagerie of gargoyles (who, it turned out, were actually living creatures, who flitted and stretched and readjusted themselves every few minutes to maintain comfort). At either side of the enormous, intricately-carved doors stood a guard. The uniform seemed to be exactly the same as the one worn by Hiei; the only difference was the white embroidery on the shirt. The guard on the left tapped his halberd against the ground once to signal the other to hold his up as to block the approaching trio.

"Move aside," Hiei ordered, sending death glares at the ogres, who were at least twice his size. "Lord Youkai sent for these two."

The guard on the left shared a glance with the guard on the right. After a few moments, they relented with a look of begrudging reluctance. The fire demon shot them annoyed glances as he ushered the others between the black barriers into the dark abyss of the building.

Deep within the bowels of the palace, designed in a manner only even closely emulated exclusively in the medieval palace of Versailles (and even then, only imperfectly replicating the intricacies of the building), the three continued down a long hall. Although torches lined its walls, a feeling of darkness and oppression imposed itself on the surroundings. At each meeting point off the main hall stood another guard, each with the same contemptuous grin on their faces. Umi liked to think it was because of Youko's duckie pajamas, but she certainly suspected something else was to blame for their stares.

"Hey, Youko," she piped up, staring at the vaulted ceilings mindlessly.

"Yes, Umi?" he responded thoughtlessly, not bothering to look at her.

"Can you put me down now? I feel like a sack of potatoes."

"Can you walk?"

"My arm broke, not my leg."

"I guess somebody's feeling better," he murmured, amused, as he set the girl down.

"I'd feel a lot better with a couple Valium and a doctor," she snarked, working very hard not to look at her ghetto cast, lest she begin thinking of the pain again.

"Lord Youkai will provide a capable healer," Hiei informed, earning matching, unamused glances from the other two.

"How is it that you came to work for Lord Youkai?" Youko inquired, raising an eyebrow. "You aren't known to be of the subservient type..."

Hiei hn'd, looking away. "It was an offer I was unable to refuse."

"If you say so." Youko was obviously unconvinced, but didn't care enough to continue the conversation. This was most probably because they had arrived at the largest door that the girl had ever seen in her entire life, including the front door they had walked through a few minutes prior.

Enormous, ornate, the black marble doors loomed over them. Gold accents around the trim and on the hardware stood out in stark contrast to the blackness. At first, the intricacies prompted her to think that she was looking at the Gates of Paradise; however, the detailed relieves were not of holy, religious images, instead consisting of morbidity, mayhem, and madness. It was hard for her to decide if the door was mocking blasphemy or simply macabre mimicry; luckily, she was spared making that decision by the loud fwoosh noise made by the slabs as they opened, allowing the three to enter.

The Royal Hall was wide, open, and spacious. High arched tray ceilings were supported by many, many wide columns. At the end of the length of blood-red and gold rug leading from the door to the other side of the room was a pair of thrones, seating one individual at the moment, with a guard on either side. The light from the large arched windows on the right side of the room only revealed half of the face of the person sitting on the left throne.

He seemed to be a regular human, judging on his looks alone. A middle-aged man, he managed to hold a heavy authority over the court with his barely-past-his-prime powerful build, draped in a fine black-and-vermillion pinstripe suit and just-for-show crimson cape. He had bright tangerine eyes, narrow, knowing, hidden beneath the shadow of his wavy, lightly graying, amber hair. As Hiei approached, he dropped to one knee for a moment before returning to his feet.

"As per your request, Lord Youkai," Hiei began, working hard to keep his gaze averted. "I have brought you the assistants you seek, sir." Perhaps Lord Youkai didn't notice, but Youko and Umi both certainly thought that Hiei was having difficulty with all that respect.

"Very good, Hiei," Youkai murmured in a low, nearly paternal tone. Turning to the newcomers, he simply smiled. "Youko, Umi, welcome."

Youko bowed deeply, as custom dictated. Umi waved. Youko grabbed the elemental by the wrist and dragged her to the floor. "Genuflect," he hissed, "show some respect." When the two returned to their feet, Youkai continued.

"I am pleased that you would come in my hour of need. For, as you must know, I am continually forced to show my authority to Spirit World every now and again, as Lord Enma tends to forget. It seems that it is time again to reassert my power over him. I intend to achieve this by way of thievery of a valuable item which will be sorely missed."

"How may we assist you, sire?" Youko inquired respectfully.

"You will be a part of my personally patroned team to retrieve this item," Youkai informed factually. "You will bring to me the Key to Paradise."

"Hold up," Umi interrupted, unclear. "If we steal the Key to Paradise, then how are dead folk supposed to get into the good afterlife?"

The leader laughed at her audacity and utter cluelessness. "They don't, human girl; they don't."

She blinked. "So do you intend on giving it back...like, ever?"

"Umi," Hiei chastised, glaring at her in a manner which clearly meant that she was to shut her mouth before she got somebody in trouble.

"Perhaps," the leader replied, pensive. "If Koenma is willing to pay the right price..." After he thought for a moment, he returned to the matters at hand. "Well? How about it? Will you take up my task?"

Before Umi could say anything else to insult the court or get them all into trouble, Youko quickly answered to the affirmative. Youkai appeared absolutely pleased and simultaneously haughtily justified. As he sent them away, he added a command to one of his guards.

"Bring them some more appropriate clothing. They cannot commit crimes in my honorable name in duckie pajamas."


Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I am seriously entertained by the idea of Youko running around the Makai in his duckie pajamas (I am also entertained by the idea that Kurama even HAS duckie pajamas), but alas, that saga has to end. Oh well. Hope y'all had fun, and I'll see you on the reviews/update. Ciao!

P.S.: Super special awesome bonus points to whoever can pick out the Disney quote in this chapter. Yeah, I suggest you go back and read it again; it's in there. :D

But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside.

~Mr. Brightside, The Killers