Once again, Anei opened her eyes, but immediately closed them as she saw what time it was. Taking a pillow and pressing it over her head, she groaned.
"Why is my alarm set for SEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING?!?" she shouted. She heard laughing outside her door. Recognizing the laughter, she scowled into her pillow. "YUSUKE, KUWABARA, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!" Yusuke said he found Kuwabara in his house with a large lump on his head yesterday after school got out and he was filled in about what happened.
Even louder laughter echoed through the halls as the two idiots clambered away so they wouldn't have to face her early morning wrath. Anei scrambled out of bed so the two wouldn't get away, but then an evil smirk fell upon her lips. Koenma said she could if she concentrated hard enough...
She pictured where Yusuke and Kuwabara were headed and concentrated hard on a barrier of her energy. She knew she looked like an idiot, standing out in the hallway and squeezing her eyes shut. But the sudden crash made it all worthwhile. She headed down the stairs and smirked at her cousin and friend. Both were on the ground, nursing large lumps on their foreheads. Crossing her arms, Anei sat on a couch, folding one leg under and listened to the satisfactory whines.
"Anei, did you have to make it so thick?"
"Aww...man, that really hurt!"
"Dammit, how am I gonna get rid of this bruise?"
"I look hideous with this giant lump on my head! As if I didn't just have another one!"
She laughed. "You guys are such babies. And Kuwabara, you're hideous without the lump anyways."
"Yeah, you were the one who made it, you didn't run into it!" Yusuke complained. Rising, Anei sighed and went into the kitchen. Once again, Shidousha was in there. He looked up as she entered, but she avoided his eyes. It was awkward, knowing that she loved him and after all the time of not seeing him, he could have found someone else to marry. It was upsetting, really. She could feel his green eyes on her the whole time she made her morning tea, and sitting down next to him.
"So...how's the Ookami?" Anei asked, starting their conversation.
"Fine. How's...uh...your...uh...how's Yusuke?" Shidousha stammered, not knowing what else to say. Sticking his head in the kitchen, Yusuke looked at the two.
"Somebody call?" the Spirit Detective asked.
"No, sorry, Yusuke," Anei replied. He shrugged his shoulders and disappeared. Turning to face her ex-fiancee, she said, "As you can see, he's fine." An awkward moment of time passed as the two sipped their tea quietly.
"Hey, um, Anei?" Shidousha finally asked.
Anei raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
"You do know where Daifu is, right?"
The ex-convict blinked twice, frowning a little. "Well, I thought he was with-" Anei's eyes widened as she remembered the words of Tsuba.
...go and rescue Daifu...
She smacked her forehead and cried shrilly, "How could I forget? I'm such an idiot!" Abruptly, she stood, banging her knee on the table. Shidousha stood to make sure she was all right, but she seemed oblivious to the bruise now forming. Anei grabbed the Ookami leader's jacket sleeve and dragged him out of the kitchen, sprinting down the hallway.

Slamming Koenma's office doors open, she shoved her way through ogres, dragging Shidousha the whole way. The Prince of the Spirit World glared at her while she made her way through.
"You know, someone could've easily been behind that door," he growled when they finally made it. She shoved Hiei out of the way. "And that wasn't a very nice thing to do to the person who rescued you." Anei almost lost the reason why she came in here from this news.
"Yeah, whatever. Send me and Shidousha to the Demon World. Now," Anei demanded, roughly releasing Shidousha.
A look of bewilderment came across Koenma's face. "What? Why?"
"Because my dad is being held hostage!! That's why!!" Both Koenma and Shidousha looked surprised. Anei glanced at them both, as if expecting them to do something."Well?!" she asked loudly. "Don't just stand there and stare! Make a portal near these 'Kage'!!"
Anei's final word echoed through Koenma's large office. "Did...did you just say...K-Kage?" Anei's gaze passed over the faces of the many people and ogres in the room. Every single face was staring at her in shock, and this was making her very self conscious.
"Out," Koenma said to them all; he too, was staring at her. For a moment, the many beings didn't move, but when Anei started shrinking back in embarrassment, they trudged out slowly. "Hiei, tell the others to come here."
Anei walked over to one of the wooden chairs and sat down, Shidousha doing the same. She sat rigidly, as if even more invisible eyes continued to stare at her. Footsteps shuffled through the open door of Koenma's office. She was wondering how she was such an idiot. She had forgotten in the event of being poisoned in the principal's office. Actually, when she was sitting there, thinking in Okinawa-sensei's class, she was thinking about disappearing into the shadows and then, as soon as she was far away, she was going to go to Spirit World and demand that Koenma send her to the Kage.
"Whaddya want, Binky Boy?" Yusuke asked. "I was busy." He shoved his hands in his pockets. He and Kuwabara both had bandages on their foreheads.
"Yeah, busy trying to kill me," Kuwabara argued.
"You two, don't even start," Botan told them, waving a finger at them. Yusuke attempted to bite it off.
"Yusuke - !"
"Enough!" Koenma said loudly. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Shidousha. You all are going to the Kage territory, to rescue Anei's father."
"Uncle Daifu? Why do these 'Kage' people keep coming up? It's been that way since Anei got out of jail," Yusuke said.
"Hold on a second!" Anei started before Koenma could even start. "Why can't I go? It's my father!"
"Yes, exactly. He's your father, meaning the Kage want you." Koenma crossed his little arms as Anei glowered at him. She already knew that!
She stood angrily, punching the wall next to her. Shidousha's mouth hung open as he saw she punched through it. She was still oblivious to the pain and she looked down darkly at her feet. "Koenma," she started I understand why you don't want me to go. But I told you I can take care of myself. Was I not thrown in prison when I was only thirteen?"
"Age does not matter -"
"But isn't it true that I was beaten when I tried to escape? Beaten because I refused three square meals of ogre crap? Beaten when I started a fight with an inmate because they almost raped me Shut up you two -" Yusuke and Shidousha were about to curse out Koenma. "Was I not in jail also because someone was going to do the same thing, and I killed them for it?"
Koenma stared calmly at her after her rant in which she finally revealed how she got the scars. "Fine. You may go. But this is the only time I will allow you on a mission. And I suspect you need to make some explanations to them all." He waved his hand and a swirling portal appeared. "The explanations will be given once you're back. You need to focus on this mission."

A gigantic castle loomed over them as they stepped through the portal. Kuwabara whistled quietly. Shidousha stood closer to Anei. She seemed to be scared of something.
"Hurray…another castle…" Yusuke muttered as they started onward.
"Anei, what's wrong?" Shidousha asked. They followed behind the other four and she looked away.
"I don't wanna talk about it…" she murmured, rolling her large sleeves up. She was still wearing one of Yusuke's overlarge shirts and another pair of Keiko's pants. She was extra sensitive at the moment, watching and waiting for something to happen. She could feel something big was around. Her eyes scanned everywhere.
"Okay...when you do, I'll be here, got it?"
She gave him a small smile and nodded. And she knew her attempt at the grin was futile-Shidousha knew her like the back of his hand.
Hiei sprinted ahead of them all and took care of the guards at the gate. Anei's muscles tensed she could feel the same power as the one that took control of her. That was the huge power. Her gaze flickered over to Hiei when he came back and saw he was tense, too. This power was exactly the same as the one she lost control of three days ago. Hiei had recognized it was well.
"What is this whole 'Kage' stuff about, anyways?" Kuwabara asked as they headed towards the castle.
"Koenma told us we shouldn't be thinking about that, and I agree with him. We need to focus on any enemies that might attack us." Kurama stated.
"Anei, are you alright?" Shidousha interrupted. The half-shadow demon had stopped and froze, staring at the ground in front of them. The other boys stopped, wondering what she was doing. The strange power was suddenly concentrated on one area up ahead of them and she knew it would obliterate everything that would cross it.
"You four, move back very slowly, and be careful," she said with a fierce tone. She wasn't sure of the exact boundaries of it.
"Why-?"
Her eyes shot to Kuwabara. "Just do it."
They all stepped backwards until they were all behind Anei. "Okay, Yusuke, shoot a Spirit Gun straight in front of us."
"Anei-,"
"Don't argue!" she growled, her gaze shifting from him and in front of them again.
Muttering something about people can't tell him what to do; he aimed his Spirit Gun and fired. As the spirit energy blast shot towards the wall of the castle, it passed the abrupt end line of trees. As it did, a cylinder of black energy shot out from the ground and zapped the Spirit Gun into oblivion. All of their eyes widened and Anei smirked, mainly at her cousin.
"What were you saying, Yusuke?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes in reply.
"How're we gonna get pass that?" Kuwabara asked.
"Well, since Hiei can go so fast without activating the trap…"
The fire oni looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I am not going to carry all of you fools across," he told them, crossing his arms and looking away.
Anei shrugged her shoulders. "Suit yourself, I'll just go run ahead and hope for the best. It was nice knowing you all. When, you take back my dead body, please have it cremated. That is, if you can even recover my corpse..." But another idea popped into her head. "Actually..." she grinned. "All of you get around me, and close. I think I can do a variation of my shield..." As the others gathered around her, she concentrated really hard and formed a strong shield at their feet. "Let's go."
They walked slowly so that Anei could concentrate, but she urged them faster so all of her energy wasn't drained.
After everyone was safely passed the black obliterators, Shidousha walked even closer to Anei, putting his arm around her waist occasionally, because he knew that she was weaker than before. She was going to cover her aura just in case she got weaker and they all refused to let her fight. Especially Shidousha, he was probably going to notice eventually and then pull her aside, tell her to go home or stop or whatever. He was just that way. That was probably one of the very few things that they fought about.
Halfway to the Kage's doors, the team found another trap. That trap was the classic trap door, and when they fell to the bottom, they were all knocked unconscious, either by the fall or by someone thumping them upside the head.

Voices echoed through the dark chamber.
"Are you sure she's alive?" one voice said, concern deep in his tone. "I mean, you had to use two Bikou Bakudan on her just to get her unconscious. Those are very deadly."
"Yes. Look at the monitor. Her heart beat increases every second." There was a pause. "I think she's awake."
Anei could feel eyes on her. Slowly, she opened her own, but she still saw nothing but darkness. She tried to move her left wrist, but she couldn't. Her whole body was numb. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came. It was a terrifying feeling, knowing something was there and you couldn't move, see, or hear, not even talk. There were two presences in her mind, and she assumed they belonged to the voices. They were probably there to see if she was awake or not.
"Ah! Look at that! She's smart, isn't she?" the first voice asked-it was a woman's, she finally decided in her muddled mind.
"Yeah. Extremely...it wasn't that hard to figure out anyways. Listen, I've got to get back to Teishi." In her dazed mind, she knew the name clicked, but she couldn't figure out where she heard it. One of the presences left her mind, but she still heard him talk. "Fuzen wants us to do some more training."
Once again, Anei tried to talk, but nothing happened yet she apparently spoke anyways.
"Oh, dearie, you don't need to talk so loud," the female's voice continued.
So, I can talk…she thought, while putting her mental walls up. She wiggled her fingers. They were there, and suddenly fully optional.
In the next moment, a large, painful something entered her arm. She screamed at the top of her lungs-even if she couldn't hear-cursing everyone involved with the searing pain. Her walls fell down, and the woman's laughter echoed in her head.
"That'll teach you to block me out."