Between school, homework, spending time with his human mother, and spending time with Harry – which usually involved further studies in the delicate art of brewing or training together using the techniques that Genkai had listed for Harry's use – Kurama worked on improving his personal relations with the Spirit World, particularly Koenma. He wanted his criminal record expunged, and Hiei released. For preference with his criminal record expunged as well. He had his reasons for committing the theft in his favour, and when he explained why Hiei wanted to take over Spirit World – access to resources that would allow him to find his lost twin sister – Koenma allowed that they might be able to grant some allowance to mitigating circumstances towards the fire demon as well.
It ended... well enough, he supposed. Hiei was released from prison and there was the promise that working with the Spirit Detective on at least one case (depending on how hard it was) would see their records completely cleared. Provided, of course, that they committed no further crimes against Spirit World law.
A littler more discussion – including introducing Harry to Koenma – led to Hiei being ordered to live with Harry where the human would act as a sort of parole officer. The story Harry told Shiori (and anyone else who asked) was that Hiei was an estranged relation of his late godfather's staying with him because of family issues.
"That is to say," Harry always said in a confiding tone, "he has issues with his family, much like my godfather did when he was alive. Best to not talk about it."
This all suited Kurama just fine, having all the people he actually cared about in one place. No offence to the Detective, but Kurama didn't know him well enough to slot him into the same category as Harry, Hiei and Shiori just yet. All this meant that spending time with Harry now generally included spending time with Hiei – especially when he became interested in the potions Harry was teaching Kurama to brew. He also joined in the training sometimes. Of course, Hiei just as often disappeared – either to train on his own or continue searching for his sister.
Harry had wanted to offer his magic as a way to perhaps point Hiei in the right direction at least, but when he looked up tracking spells... they all needed something. A name would be enough, but only if the person being tracked was within ten miles. That his wand hadn't so much as twitched when he'd tried meant that Yukina was too far away to be found using the only method they could realistically use. They didn't have any of her hair or blood to use to make something that would locate her signature, and they definitely didn't have a device keyed to a different type of tracking spell that had already been placed upon her person. Hiei's blood wouldn't work for trying to find his sister either, any tracking device made with his blood would just lead to him. There was a saddening lack of magics that could be used for finding blood relations. Lots for verifying blood relations, but not for finding them. It was most unfortunate.
Then again... some of the training was pretty... unfortunate as well. Things like balancing on one finger above a spike using their energy to hold them up. This was particularly hard for Harry, who couldn't seem to get up onto one finger at all without help. Then he went to Genkai for his first fortnightly 'progress assessment', and she showed him how it was supposed to be done. She had him standing his ground against energy attacks as well before he returned home the following Monday. He could handle the sleeping on a bed of nails (in place of with snakes, with permission from Genkai, as he could talk to them), the incredibly rigorous physical workout regimen, even the meditating on a bonfire for a week wasn't too bad (and that was without the flame-freezing spell that made being burned at the stake a not only survivable experience for the magical population during the witch hunts, but a pleasant one). There were other things too of course. Climbing a five-metre high bamboo pole with weights on every limb as fast as possible (every morning when he wasn't doing some other exercise that meant he couldn't move from his spot), going a full day without use of one or more of his limbs (generally having the limb or limbs strapped rather than applying magic to prevent its use), and leaving town to meditate under a proper waterfall (the shower just lacked the pounding downward force) every weekend that Harry didn't go and see Genkai just to name a few.
This quasi-routine lasted for six months before Kurama and Hiei got a call from Koenma about that 'helping the Spirit Detective on a case' bit that they'd agreed to. Harry was due to return from Genkai's the next day, so Koenma called him at her temple to fill him in – at the same time letting Genkai know that he needed Yusuke back, and she had initially said a six month apprentice-ship.
Genkai was reportedly not happy, mostly because Yusuke was even more of a slacker than he was a dimwit, and hadn't applied himself to her satisfaction.
Harry still drove the kid back to his apartment the next day on his way home, though he might have left out the bit about him only being released from Genkai's training because of a case that needed his immediate attention.
Hiei and Kurama both hummed and quietly smirked in amusement when Harry admitted that to them when he got home and found them waiting for him in his kitchen.
"Will you be coming with us?" Kurama asked curiously. "To Maze Castle I mean, to help put a stop to the Saint Beasts."
Harry shrugged. "As an adult who is at least partially responsible for your well-being, I probably should tag along. On the other hand, I could be useful on this end keeping the infected under control," he answered.
Hiei smirked. "I know which I would prefer," he stated. "The Saint Beasts would be a more challenging fight, and I am actually allowed to kill them, unlike the pitiful humans of this world."
Harry chuckled, then pulled down a little leather pouch from a shelf. A moke-skin pouch that would shrink if anybody but him tried to open it, and that held a good amount of wizarding money. Just for casual shopping trips to the few local (and well-hidden) wizarding shops he'd managed to find in the area. He took out a single silver coin and tossed it to Hiei.
The shot demon caught it and glared at Harry, silently demanding to know what the human was up to.
"If it comes up heads, I'll go with you two. Tails, I stay here," Harry said.
Hiei nodded and positioned the coin over thumb and forefinger, a quick flick and the coin launched into the air, spinning as it rose then fell. Kurama snatched it out of the air and slammed the coin down onto the back of his other hand before peeling his palm away to reveal the result.
"Heads," Kurama stated with a smile.
"I guess I'm taking you on a little 'educational outing' then, aren't I?" Harry asked Kurama with a grin as he took back his silver. "I'll tell Shiori. You put on something other than your school uniform. It wouldn't do to get it damaged in a fight after all," Harry pointed out.
It was a couple of hours before Botan fetched them to go through the same small breach she'd already sent Yusuke through, despite his protests, (and Kuwabara, who'd volunteered). This allowed plenty of time for Hiei to be sharpen his sword, Kurama to switch his uniform for the clothes he used when training with Harry and Hiei as well as choose a selection of seeds, and for Harry to change into his dragon-hide armour and stock a wallet (with expansion and feather-weight charms) full of healing and restorative draughts.
The sight they arrived to when they emerged from the breech was both entertaining and slightly depressing: Urameshi and Kuwabara being overwhelmed by a horde of extremely minor demons. A small flex of their energies sent them all running.
"It seems you could use some help," Kurama observed from where the three of them landed on a branch.
"If those nothings were too much for you, then we're going to have some serious trouble," Hiei added grimly. Lightning flashed dramatically overhead, prompting the three of them to jump down from the tallest lightning conductor in the area apart from the castle itself.
"Hello," Harry greeted with a smile.
"What are you guys doing here?" Yusuke asked.
"Even that fool Koenma realised that it would be foolish to rely on humans to try and eliminate the Saint Beasts," Hiei quipped, his tone completely and contemptuously disparaging.
"Koenma has also assured us that by helping you with this job we can clean our slates in Spirit World," Kurama added more pleasantly. It was his usual artificial-platitudes tone that he most often used when talking to his classmates.
"Chaperone," Harry offered flatly with a single raised hand.
"I guess Koenma heard me complain," Yusuke said with a chuckle. "Hey Kuwabara, you remember Potter-san and Kurama from Genkai's tournament, right? And this guy is Hiei."
"I don't really have a clue what's going on, but it sure is nice to have a helping hand," Kuwabara said, a smile on his face.
"'Helping' is not the right word," Hiei stated, his expression looking to be only a few muscle-twitches away from rolling his eyes. "Koenma may regard us as equals, but I do not. Once we get inside, I suggest you let us do the work. As far as I'm concerned, we're babysitting."
Kurama closed his eyes and hummed a quiet chuckle, agreeing without words.
"Chaperone," Harry reiterated as he pointed to himself.
"Listen, you puny jerk-face," Kuwabara objected, bending to bring his face closer to Hiei's. "I'm gonna have to beat you up if you keep talkin' down to us that way."
"Let's avoid fighting," Hiei suggested. "You're not worth it," he added firmly. It was essentially his whole reason for not fighting most of the people on Earth. To him, they just weren't worth the effort. Or the prison sentence if he, a demon, killed any human he did fight.
"Oh that's it!" Kuwabara objected, pulling his fist back and launching it at Hiei, who simply stepped out of the way.
And into a very confrontational stance up in Urameshi's face.
"But you, Detective, are a different story," Hiei informed him. "I plan to take my revenge on you, so consider this fair warning."
"Gonna ignore me, huh?" Kuwabara demanded, getting up and trying again, only to miss again.
"Hiei, we must face this current business before you start your own," Kurama said gently.
"Don't worry, Three-eyes," Yusuke answered with a smirk. "If we survive this, I'll be glad to take you on. Now is this a perfect team, or what?"
Kuwabara growled at Hiei, who turned up his nose at the teen.
"Well, now this is homey," Yusuke said sarcastically when they reached a clearly constructed opening in the wall surrounding Maze castle.
"Is it bad that I know someone for whom that would not be a sarcastic comment?" Harry asked semi-rhetorically from the rear of the group.
"Is this someone still alive?" Kurama queried.
"No," Harry answered with a shrug. "I killed them before moving to Japan."
"Then it's not too bad," Kurama answered.
"So... We're just gonna walk right in?" Kuwabara asked.
"Any prize worth having usually comes with a risk," Kurama suggested.
"I say we make 'em come out here and fight us up front like they're not a bunch of sissies!" Kuwabara declared.
Hiei actually chuckled. Normally, that was quite a difficult achievement, but he seemed to find great amusement in the tall teen's idiocy. "Your sense of strategy is amazing," he commented.
"Are you talkin' to me?!" Kuwabara demanded.
"Let's go!" Yusuke snapped, made somewhat tense by all the talk going around when he was much more a man-of-action sort of person. Having given the order, the kid suited actions to words and led them into the tunnel.
They were almost out when something entered the tunnel from the other end.
"Welcome to Maze Castle," greeted a... flying eyeball. It was mostly purple around the white of the eye, with a yellow iris and had bat-like wings sprouting from the sides of its... well, of it, and a few tentacles hanging below, but no mouth to speak of. Or with. Which made things a little confusing.
Kuwabara obligingly stated the obvious by saying: "Whoa, it talked..."
"Those who wish to enter Maze Castle must first be tried by the Gate of Betrayal," the eyeball-bat continued, its tone somewhere between informative and amusedly smug.
"What do you mean, 'tried'?" Yusuke asked the minor demon.
The eyeball-bat flew out of the tunnel towards the wall that was in clear sight of them all, only to find that Harry was waiting for it, wand drawn.
"After long enough, you learn to stop stopping to ask your foe stupid questions," Harry said firmly once a small red flash had left the eyeball-bat comatose on the ground. "You coming, kiddies?" he asked with a smile. "Or do you want me to pull this switch he was going for?" he added, raising an eyebrow pointedly as he jerked his thumb at the lever in question.
"Coming!" the two teens yelped, running the last bit out of the gate, Kurama and Hiei right behind them.
Botan checked in with them not long after, reporting that progress was slow, and Yusuke asked Kurama what he knew of the Saint Beasts – not having actually been told much about them before being shoved through the portal.
"Spirit World intelligence pretty much forgot about this place after the barrier went up," he answered. "As for the Saint Beasts... well, I think you will be surprised when you see them."
"More like terrified," a deep, gravelly voice intoned, a malicious laugh echoing through a door they had only just reached. "Please come in."
"Okay, I'm surprised," Kuwabara said, flinching back when the light from the burning torches showed them the being that was waiting for them.
"I am Genbu of the Four Saint Beasts," the thing said. "Behind me is a stair way that is the only way up to the castle tower. You can either defeat me and take it, or you can die, and I will drag your corpses to be hung from pikes as a message to all of Spirit World. Come, fight me all at once, so the last of you doesn't get lonely as he waits for death to come."
"He's a rock Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelped, eyes wide. "How are we supposed to fight against a talking rock?!"
Kurama stepped forward. "Please let me handle this one," he requested firmly.
"You sure that's such a good idea?" Yusuke asked quietly.
"It would be ill advised for all of us to attack without first knowing his power," Kurama answered calmly. "Besides, I need to get at least a little bit of the credit for this mission, don't I?" he teased as he looked over his shoulder at them, particularly locking eyes with Hiei as a smile danced across his lips and shone in his bright green eyes. The implication that the shorter demon would deal with all of the Saint Beasts on his own if Kurama didn't put himself forward first.
Hiei abruptly looked away, suddenly more interested in a portion of the far wall.
"Hey, wouldn't it be better if we all attacked together?" Yusuke asked as Kurama turned away from them and continued to approach the foe.
"You are clearly underestimating Kurama," Hiei snipped at the detective. "I choose to fight beside him, to be his partner, so that I never have to fight against him," he informed the teen as Kurama approached Genbu. "Watch. He's more cut-throat than I am when it comes to battle, and unbelievably precise."
"The only reason you stood a chance against Kurama at Genkai's was because I'd already worn him out so much before hand," Harry added to what Hiei was saying. "That, and you have the devil's own luck."
Of course, there was also the fact that, over the last six months, Kurama had made more of an effort to drive himself back to his previous level of skill (that of an A-class demon) than Urameshi had at improving himself. Certainly, Kurama had finally re-mastered his favourite weapon in that time-frame, something which had been annoyingly elusive for years.
"I don't know guys, he's still a talking rock," Kuwabara said hesitantly.
"Sir," Kurama said as he stopped just a couple of metres away from his opponent. "The first move is yours."
Unseen at the back of the group, Harry slammed the palm of his hand against his forehead and dragged the hand down over his face, looking out between his fingers. He knew Kurama was a great strategist and all, but letting your opponent take a free hit just so that you can learn how they attack is almost always a bad idea.
"Hey! He's doing something freaky with his tail!" Yusuke called out.
Something that Kurama noticed himself, and didn't completely dodge, taking a strike against his stomach. But at least it wasn't his head, and he did manage to land on his feet, even if he was injured.
Genbu laughed, and bragged, explaining to them just how his attack worked. He was stone, and he could combine himself with any other stone, and so he could effectively use his tail as a weapon from any point in the stone room they were in, and furthermore he could use the stone of the room to extend his tail as required for his attack.
It was impressive, intimidating, but as Kurama proved shortly, not impossible to beat. Even when Genbu proved that simply dicing him up with the rose whip wasn't enough to stop him. Most particularly, Genbu being in lots of little pieces made it easier for Kurama to finish him off, by finding and destroying the part of his brain that actually held him together the right way.
Still, despite his composure, Kurama was injured. The initial attack that had gotten him in the gut, and taking the barrage of stones flying at him so that he could catch that one bit had left Kurama in less than perfect fighting condition.
"Good work Kurama!" Yusuke congratulated, gaze fixed on where Genbu had been.
Kurama, for his part, finally let his knees give out from underneath him – to be caught by Harry, the chaperone with the medical supplies who was more focused on the shorter people he was minding than he was on the enemy.
"Hey, are you okay?" Yusuke asked as he, Kuwabara and Hiei all rushed to Kurama's side.
"If Kurama is injured, we're going to have some problems," Hiei announced, his concern carefully hidden from the two teens he was standing with.
"Sorry about this," Kurama said softly, an arm cradling his injured stomach.
"Not as sorry as you will be when you taste the blood-replenishing potion," Harry quipped, taking one such vial out of his wallet and pressing it into the fox-boy's hand. "Drink," he ordered, and took out his wand to spell any and all injuries closed. "When we get back to my house, I'll have you strip and apply salve to everything, mark my words."
Kurama chuckled, downed the potion, and pulled a face at the taste before handing back the vial.
"I reckon you've earned yourself a break," Yusuke said to Kurama as the red-head took his own weight again.
"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "I'll handle the next one."
~oOo~
The next one was Byakko, a tiger-like monster with a big mouth and even bigger opinion of himself, but dangerous all the same. Especially dangerous to Kuwabara, who insisted that he'd 'dibs-ed' the next fight and he was going to darn-well fight it! Even if his legs were shaking and Byakko was more inclined to laugh at Kuwabara than take him seriously as an opponent.
An attitude that was somewhat justified with the way Kuwabara was flailing about against four monsters that Byakko created from his hair, and further had them chase him down the narrow strip so that he could spear all of them in a line with his sword. Which didn't stop them coming, so he had to keep running.
"Do you think he knows it's a circle?" Hiei asked as Kuwabara went around the side of the tower where they were waiting.
If he didn't before, he certainly did when he came upon the other end of his sword, grabbed it - "And then you just twist and seal!" the boy declared as he stepped back, the four monsters all held in place around the tower with his sword going through them all. "That's a little move I like to call the Spirit Sword Monster Beast Donut!"
"Idiot," Hiei commented quietly.
"I think 'monster beast donut' is a perfect name," Kurama countered in his 'platitude voice'.
Yusuke laughed and turned to face Byakko. "Scuse me sir, I don't like this one. You got chocolate with sprinkles?" he taunted.
"To call something a 'monster beast' is redundant, and donuts are supposed to be edible," Harry said. "That isn't. But whatever. There's still Byakko himself to kill, remember kiddies?"
"I do wish you'd stop lumping me together with them every time you say that," Hiei growled, even as Kuwabara headed back to face the tiger.
Byakko didn't take well to being taunted by his 'prey', and destroyed his own beasties and the tower they surrounded.
Still, Kuwabara attacked, and attacked stupidly. He managed to win stupidly too. Or at least, they thought so for long enough to get a quick call from Botan. Then Byakko was roaring again and inviting them down to his 'lair' to finish the fight. Which meant Kuwabara. Brat even managed to impress Hiei with his honour code – a creature much more simple than Hiei's own, but that a human had any honour code at all impressed the short fire demon somewhat.
Much more impressive was that Kuwabara won again, even if he did nearly die in the process, again. Which really pissed of Yusuke, and kinda revealed just how much he valued his friend, the way he broke down when he believed the worst had happened.
"Okay, he fell into the lava pit, now I am going to force healing on you," Harry stated firmly once they'd gotten Kuwabara back up onto the platform where they were standing.
Kuwabara grumbled, but acquiesced, especially complaining about the taste of the potions Harry fed him, but they were on the move again fairly quickly, especially once Kuwabara picked the right door for them when they hit the maze part of Maze Castle.
Hiei's fight against the next Saint Beast, Seiryuu, was easily the fastest fight so far, which made sense considering how very fast he was capable of being when he cared to. Of course, an ice master against a fire demon wasn't really going to work that well for the former, especially when he didn't know he was facing a fire demon. His actions before and after served to confuse his team mates a bit though. He had his own honour code after all, a very complex one that only he completely knew and understood, not even Harry and Kurama who had both been actively trying pretty much since they had met the small demon.
On top of that, Hiei was beginning to actually like the humans he was currently being forced to work with.
"Well, you're unharmed," Harry declared easily. "Do you want a pepper-up potion anyway?" he offered, the vial of potion half pulled out of his wallet already.
"No, thank you," Hiei answered in a tone that counted as polite from him.
Harry shrugged, and put the potion and his wallet away without making a fuss, then checked his watch. "We've been here three and a half hours already," he stated, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead in surprise.
"Really?" Yusuke asked. "It doesn't feel like it's been that long."
"I'll bet it's felt like longer to Botan-san, having to hunt down bugs in a city of all things, and dealing with infected people," Harry pointed out. "I suggest we wrap this up in time for the evening meal, hmm?" he suggested. "No more stopping to admire the scenery."
Heads nodded, and the Detective led the way through the next door at a run.
They did stop once on the way to the tower though, when Botan called again – to let them know that the infected people were hunting Yusuke's girl Keiko, likely with the intention of causing said girl severe bodily harm and/or death.
Harry passed around the pepper-ups and all five of them were running even faster than before – that is to say, Hiei was going at his top speed and everybody else was (for once) able to just about keep up with the speedster as they all raced for the tower. As far as the wizard was concerned, it was a damn good thing he'd been following Genkai's training regimen so seriously. The only time he'd come close to this speed before had been when he was on a broom or in his car; he'd never been this fast on his own two feet before.
They were almost at the base of the tower, almost to the door, when out of two side doors a whole lot of plant-human hybrids came out to block their way.
"What are these things?" Urameshi demanded with a growl.
"Cultivated humans," Hiei answered.
"Humans grown like plants in fields to be used as slaves, or cannon fodder as the case may be," Kurama explained slightly. "These ones look a bit more plant-like than usual though."
"Pod people," Harry translated. "Emphasis on the pod." He took out his wand. "Incendio!" he yelled, pointing the little stick at them, making a sweeping motion across the spread of foes blocking their way. They each and every one caught light and fell where they stood, turning into piles of ash and charcoal. "We've got somewhere else to be, remember?" he reminded them all sharply as he put the wand away and charged through the fire that wasn't all dead yet.
The other four just stared after him for a moment before Yusuke said "You heard the man!" and charged as well. The others followed quickly after that.
They'd just crested the top of the stairs in time to see Harry raise his wand again.
"Accio whistle!" he said, his tone demanding as he pointed his slim stick at the large thing being held by the last Saint Beast.
The whistle jerked up, even in the demon's hand. It rose, it tugged the foe along a couple of steps before he grit his teeth, dug in his feet, and refused to move any further. He had to take hold of the whistle with both hands to keep it from wrenching free of his grip.
Then there was a bird in Harry's face and he was forced to release the spell so that he could stop it from scratching his eyes out. "Bloody bird," Harry growled. "Sectumsempra."
"Ooh!" the avian cried as her entire front turned into a bloody mess before Harry grabbed one of her feet and threw her at a wall.
"This one's mine," Yusuke growled, stepping up to the plate to take on this, the last of the Saint Beasts.
"I am Suzaku," he declared, self-importantly, now that he was no longer in danger of being dragged towards Harry by the whistle he was still holding onto. "I've been watching a movie," he added smugly, gesturing to the great screen behind him where Keiko and Botan were on display, running from the people who had been infected by the makai insects.
"You," Urameshi said, both fists tense at his sides. "Have pissed me off."
"What was that you did?" Hiei asked quietly as the four of them stood to the side and just watched the fight.
"To the bird? It was a particularly nasty curse developed by my potions instructor when he was about the Detective's age. Before with the whistle? A summoning charm. I can summon just about anything within a mile that isn't tied down in any way. If it's behind a locked door then it will come from a half a mile and somewhat damaged, less damaged if it's behind glass. If it's being held onto tightly like that whistle though, not so easy, as you saw. Having line of sight helped of course, but I'd venture that unless that thing is tougher than it looks that he came very close to breaking it just to keep a hold of it," Harry answered. "Only works on inanimate objects for any real distance though. Anything living can't be more than twenty metres away, and it is possible to spell things against the summoning charm. Annoying, but even magic has its limitations," he explained with a slight scowl.
"Oh look," Kurama commented with a slight smile. "Suzaku has made more than enough replicas for us all to join in the fight and not get in the Detective's way."
"Goody," Hiei purred with malicious glee, removing his coat and drawing his sword before he charged in and engaged one of the foe.
"That's almost two each," Harry commented to Kurama just before the red-head did the same as his friend.
"Harry?" he asked, pausing curiously.
"I'll keep trying to get the whistle, but I'm the medic for this, remember? And I still suck at hand-to-hand combat in general when I don't have surprise on my side. I'd throw curses around when I've got a good shot, but I'm afraid I'd only get yelled at for 'interfering'," Harry answered with a smile
Five summoning charms, four dead Suzaku's, a couple of seriously beaten up teenagers, and a regenerated Suzaku (thanks to his little trick of summoning back all the energy that he had split into the other six), and Harry slammed his hand into his forehead for being stupid.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the enemy.
Suzaku gasped in shock when the whistle flew from his hand, which let Yusuke get in a very solid punch that sent him flying straight into Hiei's waiting sword. The whistle, on the other hand...
"Confringo," Harry said quietly, wand carefully aimed at the troublesome item that was still flying through the air towards him thanks to the disarming spell. The blasting curse lived up to its name and reputation, causing the whistle to rather explosively catch fire, hence be destroyed, hence fail to sustain all the makai insects on Earth, and by that measure ensure that Keiko and Botan were safe from the people who had been infected.
"Potter-san, you're pretty cool for a grown-up," Yusuke complimented as Harry started checking everybody over for injuries that needed treating.
Kuwabara was the worst off, having pretty much been laid out by one of Suzaku's lightning bolts, but thankfully he had a very strong will to live, and would survive the near-death experience. The Detective was close behind him, having taken three of the things to various body-parts as well as having a lot of general 'being thrown across the room' type injuries. Hiei and Kurama were tired, but had dodged Suzaku's attacks on their persons much better than the other two.
It was pepper-ups, blood-replenishers, water and chicken soup all round.
"Yeah, well, I was a lot like you when I was a kid," Harry answered the boy absently. He'd just lost a lot more of his fights when he was a kid.