Me: Heyo! (Raises hand for high five)

Readers: (cricket cricket)

Me: (Slowly lowers hand) ooooookaaaaaaaaaay then. First of all, I would like to thank my lovely reviewers from last chapter, Scrunchy #don't even ask#, Littlekawaifirefox #Gah, long name!#, and probably two of my favorite authors on Fanfiction, EVER, Blackbelt and psychicfiredemoness! #huggles all four# You guys are awesomely awesome!!

Hiei: Dear Gods, she's hyper.

Me: Nu uh!

Hiei: How do you explain that bag of candy behind your back?

Me: Uh...(Shifty eyes) Happy birthday Hiei! #shoves bag into Hiei's arms#

Hiei: What the-

Me: R&R!

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Chapter 10: Fear the Boom

When Naomi opened her eyes again, she found everyone looking up at her in a daze, almost as if they were mesmerized by her words. She smiled and jumped down next to Gato. "Is that everyone?"

Gato stared at her blankly, his eyes losing their glazed look. He shook his shaggy head. "Yeah, I think so." He mumbled.

Naomi nodded and grinned back at Hiei. "Oh Hiei! Want to play a game?"

Hiei glared at her, and he 'hn'ed. "Hn, I refuse to play your childish-" But he cut off. Suddenly, Hiei smirked. "Wait. You don't play childish games."

Naomi's grin widened. "Nope! It's time for a rousing game of 'Who has the best Idea to destroy the freaking fortress that held my village'!" She summoned Hiei with a flick of her Wolfie tail before walking towards the forest.

Kuwabara then stepped forward, stammering. "W-Wait! You're just going to leave us hanging? What happened to the boy? Is he dead?"

About half the villagers anime-fell. Everyone else, including Naomi and Hiei, just stared at him blankly. Naomi sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed. "Human," she muttered, "Even for your species, your intelligence is pathetically low. If I wasn't rushed for time, I would castrate you here and now, just to save the human world the ache of having two of you."

Yusuke burst out laughing at the threat. Naomi stared at him strangely for a second before inching away. Kurama was trying to be polite and not laughing. But that was a losing battle straight from the start. He was doing a very poor job of it, if his red face and biting his lip was anything to go by. Botan had her face back into Kurama's shoulder, her shoulders shaking even more in laughter. Hiei smirked at Kuwabara's shell-shocked face before nodding to Naomi and going into the forest.

Naomi hurried after him, but turned back. "My friends!" She called her village. "I beg of you, please, stay close to the detectives! They have promised me they will not harm or arrest you. But if they do, you know what to do." Her villagers nodded. Naomi disappeared into the trees where Hiei was waiting for her. He opened his mouth to say something, but Naomi held a hand up to silence him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and the shadows rose up around them.

When they were in the Shadow world, Naomi didn't move her hand from Hiei's shoulder. "For what it's worth," she said quietly, "I'm still wondering if I made the right decision in protecting you." She released him and ran away, towards the fortress.

Hiei stayed rooted to the spot, staring after her with wide, stunned eyes. "She regrets not letting him kill me?" He whispered to himself. Then he stood up straighter and narrowed his eyes. "If that's how she feels, then fine. I don't need her anyway. I was just fine without her for ten years. I can live without her."

Naomi looked back at him. "Are you having fun talking to yourself? Or do you want to come and blow the place up?"

Hiei glared at her. "I don't need you to do that."

Naomi narrowed her own eyes. "But you do need me to get you out of here. So unless you want to be wandering the darkness for all eternity like a tortured soul, come."

Hiei snarled. "I am NOT a damn DOG to come at your command!"

Naomi growled dangerously. "Oh, so then you AREN'T Koenma's lap dog? You DON'T go to him when he summons you? You DON'T do what the fucking toddler says?"

Hiei's eyes flashed red, but he said nothing. He instead barged past Naomi, shoving her aside. "Let's just get this over with. I want you and the others out of my life as soon as possible." Hiei didn't see the flash of pain in Naomi's eyes before they hardened and she nodded.

The journey to the fortress was made in silence. But that was okay. Both were content to be left alone. Soon, the prison-like building was looming above them. Naomi paused to glance up at it before leading the way right to the heart of the place, deep in the center.She paused underneath a large room with four furnaces. Four conveyor belts fed a constant stream of coal into each of their gaping mouths. The walls were lined with trams filled to the brim with the black, burnable stones. Multiple robotic hands were shoveling the coal onto each conveyor belt.

Naomi sneered at it. "Technology is for Ningenkai. Demons shouldn't be using it. It's not made for our world."

Hiei stared at it. "Perhaps the being behind the kidnap of your village is human."

Naomi's ear flicked at the word 'your', but she made no other movement. "Hiei, the village is made up of demons, humans, half-breeds, and all sorts of creatures. I don't care how powerful a human is, it can't kidnap an entire village." Her eyes scanned the entire room. "But what is the purpose of so much coal?" Her eyes finally caught sight of pipes, leading from each furnace to a single pipe that went into the next room. "The furnaces are just a front. That coal isn't used for heat at all."

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "At least, not temperature heat." Naomi glanced at him inquisitively. "During my...," he hesitated to find the right word, "travels," Naomi snorted, "I have heard talk of a new weapon powered by natural elements. I never bothered to figure out what element powered them. But maybe..." He trailed off.

Naomi nodded and followed the single pipe through two more rooms. When the pipe ended, Naomi stopped and stared in astonishment before turning to Hiei, smirked. "Hiei, I think we have found our means of destroying the base."

#With detectives and villagers#

The villagers stared at the detectives with distrusting and slightly fearful eyes. The only one that paid them any attention was Botan. She stared back at them, nervous sweat dripping down her face. She wasn't as strong as the boys, so she had every right in the three worlds to be nervous at the threatening stares. Yusuke tugged her ponytail, pulled her head backwards to stare at him. She blinked at him upside down half-smile. "You aren't scared of them, are you?"

Botan chuckled nervously before gravity finally took it's toll, and she fell backwards onto her back. "Ow..." She groaned before sitting up. "Or course I am!" She stood up and glanced back at the crowd of demons. "That entire crowd is made up of demons that could rip me apart! I'm not you boys, I can't defend myself!" She was quickly growing hysterical, and she knew it. But Botan didn't try to stop herself. She just continued her rant. "You're strong, Kurama's smart, Hiei's fast, Kuwabara is..."She had to think for a bit. "Brave?" She said lightly.

Kurama smiled at her softly. "And you are very resourceful, Botan. But don't worry. We won't let anything hurt you."

Botan puffed a sigh of relief before returning Kurama's smile. But an explosion sounded in the distance before she could even open her mouth. The entire forest shook, causing people to stumble and/or fall to the ground. The branches on the great tree creaked as they swayed. A blue blur rushed into the clearing, following quickly by a black blur. Naomi and Hiei appeared in the center of the clearing, panting. Naomi's eyes were shining and, despite still catching her breath, she was bouncing around Hiei in circles.

"That was AWESOME!" She shouted, coming to a stop next to him. She smiled brightly at him before shifting her feet excitedly. "I take it back; I'm glad I rescued you."

Hiei turned his eyes to her shining black ones and for a second, had a problem getting his breath back. 'So she doesn't hate me??' he thought confusedly. Hey, just because Hiei didn't SHOW emotions, it doesn't mean he HAS none. He mentally shook his head while physically rolling his eyes. "I couldn't care less about it." He said. This time, he did see the flash of pain in her eyes. He instantly felt guilty, but kept his eyes cold. 'It's better this way.' He thought sullenly. Hiei turned his back on Naomi and stated in a cold voice. "Move out. Now. I don't want you breathing the same air as me for much longer."

A growl rose from every demon in the crowd, but Naomi silenced it with a wave of her tail. Her next words were harsh, but Hiei knew her well enough to know that she was hiding her pain and sadness from her villagers. "Then at least escort us home. Your ex-kin are still weak from their containment." Her gaze was challenging. "You owe us all at least this much."

Hiei growled and glared at her. "Fine!" He snarled out. She knew his honor code wouldn't let him leave a debt unpaid. But inside, he was happy. She wanted him around. He spun on his heel and stormed over to the big tree. He surveyed the village with a cold eye. 'They won't go far tonight.' He went back to Naomi. "They won't be strong enough to go ANYWHERE without some rest." He glared at his ex-villagers. "You heard me! Go to sleep, and get a lot of rest. We move out early tomarrow." He ordered before flitting to the forest.

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Me:I typed all that in two days. And for the first time, I didn't write the entire thing before I typed it up!

Hiei: Wow. Miraculous.

Me: growl Silence, Jaganshi. Review please!