Ok wow...chea...ok...all of you prolly wanna kill me right now. haha. i haven't updated in...over a year / O.o

wow...sooo sorry!

and i kinda wrote this...like...a LONG time ago...just found it...just realized i didn't finish this story...so i did today

sheepish smile

please dont kill me )

i'm putting up the next and FINAL chapter to this extremely long awaited story as soon as i put this one up.

ENJOY!

The Chase

Hiei was perched in a tree just outside the cave's entrance. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he wouldn't be able to survive the forest alone with the injuries he had, not to mention he had just realized that his katana was gone. Stupid bastard took my sword. I'll kill him the next time we meet up.

Just then the ground started shaking and he was thrown off of the branch he was sitting on. He landed with an "oomph" and sat up, rubbing his poor, aching head.

The small fire demon looked up just in time to see an arrow heading straight towards his face and jump out of the way. Hiei turned around and saw that the arrow had embedded itself in the rock wall behind him, right next to James' head that had just appeared out of the entrance.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

James yanked the arrow out of the wall and immediately recognized it as the kind that Zetsumei's army used. Throwing the arrow down on the ground, the fire demon ran towards his son, grabbed his arm and yelled "Run!" just as a few more arrows shot towards them.

He knew that just the two of them were no match for Zetsumei's army, no matter how skilled they both were at fighting. Neither of them had any weapons and both were exhausted from traveling and lack of food and water. If they fought the army, they would both surely die, and that's just what Zetsumei was planning on.

See, James had, in Zetsumei's eyes, betrayed him, and that was punishable only by death. Hiei on the other hand, would be captured yet again and tortured even more, and James would die before that happened to his son.

As they were running, an idea popped in his head. "We should go to the Ningenkai. They can't follow us there. Have you ever been there?" James was panting now. They hadn't gotten much rest from all the walking around the forest and they still hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the castle. It was really starting to take its toll on both of them.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Hiei was once again getting dizzy. He was getting sick and tired of all the dizzy spells, and he was hungry, and tired, and thirsty, and just cranky in general. And then there was James' question. Had he been to Ningenkai? Of course he'd been to the Ningenkai! Where else had he spent the past year?

He doesn't know that, remember?

…Hn.

"Yes I've been there. I'm part of the Spirit Detective's team remember? That's where they all live. That's where I was before I was captured by that lunatic."

"Alright. So we'll go there and we can hang at your friends' houses ok? That sound good to you?"

"Hn. Detectives having a stupid Ningen party called a Christmas party. I was supposed to go. I was actually thankful that that imbecile kidnapped me." Hiei was starting to become out of breath. All this running was really taking a toll on him.

"Why in Koenma's name would you be thankful that he kidnapped you?!" Now he was confused.

"First of all, don't mention that stupid pacifier sucking toddler of a ruler in front of me. He's annoying. And secondly, I was thankful because I wouldn't have to go to the dreaded party. But now, it seems I have no choice." This day just keeps getting better and better…

"Wait a second, you know Koenma? The Koenma?" he couldn't believe it. His son knew the son of the ruler of the Spirit World.

"Yes, unfortunately I know the idiot."

"How do you know him?"

Great…how was he going to explain to his father how he was one of the three who stole the three artifacts from the Spirit World's safe and had gotten arrested. Oh well, here goes nothin'…

"Did you hear of the three demons who broke into the Spirit World's safe and stole the three major artifacts?" I hope he doesn't think less of me now…

"Yes. All of demon world and spirit world knows about it. Why? Were you one of them?" he asked the last part in a mocking voice. Great, he thinks it's a joke. Wonderful. He decided to play it cool.

"So what if I was? What are you gonna do about it?" He asked nonchalantly. If he wants to mock me, then I'm going to mock him.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

James nearly tripped when Hiei said that last part. How could he be one of the demons who robbed the safe? That sounds like something me and my friends would do.

He is your son after all.

True…

"I'm not going to do anything about it. I heard you were punished enough when you were arrested." That'll surely get to him. Ha! As my own little punishment for him, I'll tease him about it for the rest of his natural life, and maybe even afterwards.

He looked back over at his traveling companion and noticed that he was glaring at him. James just smirked at what the reaction he got from his last statement. This is so much fun.

You really need to grow up.

Hey, I'm still young. I can be as immature as I want to be.

Yes but you're a father now, you need to set an example.

James thought about that for a little while. He really should be setting an example for his son, but then again, he was just as bad. Nah.

sigh

"But hey, why are you so distraught at the fact that you'll have to go to your friend's party. It can't be that bad Hiei." Surely nothing was worse than being Zetsumei's slave.

"You haven't met the Oaf yet. He's even more annoying than you." Hiei's pace was starting to slow as they kept trying to outrun the army. Luckily they had the advantage of only having two people, not nearly a thousand. James had mentioned before around how many soldiers there were in the army, and they were all very well trained.

"Who's this Oaf person? And why is he so bad? I bet I'll get along quite well with him." This day was actually starting to turn out pretty well for James, besides the fact that they were still being chased. The arrows had long stopped zooming at them, but the two travelers weren't about to take the chance of stopping and being ambushed again.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hn. I wouldn't count on liking him. He's the most annoying and idiotic human I've met so far. He's also in love with…" Hiei stopped there. He had forgotten that James didn't know about Yukina. Shit. Now he's going to want to know who I was talking about and then I'm going to have to explain and…ugh. This day sucks ass.

And sure enough…"He's in love with who Hiei?" Great, now what?

You got yourself into this one Hiei.

I get myself into a lot of things myself you dumb ass!

I've noticed…

Why don't you just go away and never come back?

Because then when you actually need me, I won't be here.

I doubt I'll ever really need your advice.

Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I'll leave you for now, but when you need me and I'm not here, you'll be sorry.

I won't need you, ever. Trust me.

If you say so my fiery little friend. But when you need me and I'm not here, all you have to do is apologize and I'll think about coming back.

Thanks for that useless piece of information.

You're quite welcome.

Hiei sighed. What was he going to say to James? Then an idea popped in his head. It was stupid, but it would save him the trouble of having to tell him anything about his having a daughter.

"You'll see when we get there. It's kind of hard to miss." There. That would have to do for now.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with me not liking him?" Oops. Wasn't counting on that one. Um…shit.

"It just gets annoying after a while. Trust me, you'll hate him." Hiei smirked to himself. He was getting good at making up things to say to get himself out of unwanted explanations.

They were still a bit of a ways away from the portal to the Ningenkai. It was at least another hour's run away. Truth be told, he was getting exhausted. And then yet another predicament arose in his head:

How am I going to explain this whole thing to the gang?