300

It was no secret that Hiei's patience was the farthest thing from infinite, and that any allowances made on his part were few and far between.

There were flaws in the immigration system, as there are indeed in any system. It took just once for a youkai to find out that the kind, pretty young woman working in the Refuge was not just an ice demon, but a Koorime.

It didn't take much longer for humans, their greed easily equal to that of demons, to get involved .

They planned carefully, and indeed it began without a hitch. They made sure her husband was working at the time, after all. The girl fell for the story when the newly-immigrated youkai called her up, telling her that he was incredibly confused by some of this, could you come over please? She did so, and they were waiting for her. There were wards, but she had been through this already.

Yukina could have gotten out of this trap on her own.

Hiei decided that she shouldn't have to try.

He burned the place to ground, whoever inside that wasn't Yukina be damned.

Koenma had little choice in the matter, really. Rules were rules, and a deal was a deal.

Kurama and Yusuke likewise had little choice when they fled along with him.

Kuwabara was simply grateful to have his wife unharmed, and refused to take part in anything that would make him seem otherwise.

They fled the Spirit Defense Force all through Makai. It was almost a game.

Yusuke had never felt the thrill of being chased before, and his enthusiasm was catching. Kurama felt like he was a thief once again, and even Hiei was beginning to enjoy himself.

It took a month for the weariness to begin to settle in.

200

"Hatanaka residence, Shiori speaking."

"Mother?"

"Shuichi? Shuichi, you're alright! Where are you? Do you need help?"

"Mother- I'm fine. Everything's fine."

"You just disappeared, Shuichi-"

"I know, Mother," he told her. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Can you tell me what's going on, Shuichi?"

"I decided to go on vacation suddenly, and when I got here to Paris, there were all sorts of troubles with my passports and phones and such."

"I wish you would stop lying to me, Shuichi."

There was a pause on the line as her son chose his words carefully. She wished he wouldn't. "A friend is in trouble," he finally said, slowly, as if testing the waters.

"What kind of trouble?"

Another pause, just long enough for Shiori's heart to jump into her throat. "Trouble with the highest of authorities, Mother."

"What?" She said with a choke. "What are you going to do? What are you getting involved with, Shuichi? Which friend?"

"Don't worry, Mother," he told her. "The situation is under control."

"Under control? Shuichi-"

"Mother, I have to go now."

The dial tone sounded.

100

"I am never busting your ass out of jail again! Next time, you can rot!"

"You don't mean that, come on Keiko!"

"You better believe I mean that!"

"You love me!"

"That's not the point! The point is that just because your friends do something reckless doesn't mean you get to go run away with them without even telling me!"

"C'mon! Keiko! Look, Keiko. I solemnly swear that the next time one of my friends does something stupid, I will tell you first."

Keiko glared, and huffed, but let him give her a kiss.