We are now 3 CHAPTERS AWAY from moving to an M RATING where 'Lone Wolf' will disappear from the default listings! :) You will have to change your search settings if you wish to find it!

This chapter got like.. Super out of control on it's length but… I just.. Couldn't stop… Cheers for the 5th of November; Remember Remember! ;P

Also a friendly reminder that I ADORE hearing from you guys! You keep me going! Reviews, PM's with Questions, Follows, whatever! Every time I get an email from Fanfiction I get all excited :P

I'm still working on the Poll Stories! Keep your eyes peeled for updates and don't forget to vote when the time comes! I will start gradually adding their summaries into my Author's Notes so you guys can get a feel for each concept!

Chapter 20: Kill Count

Kirazuki and Hiei stood atop the roof of Kajino Roiyaruzu, and they were almost completely surrounded by a crowd of the same putrid, reptilian demons they had encountered at Genkai's, all moaning incoherently in a sea of sound, some were even still scaling the back of the building to access the roof; how they had snuck so silently behind them was a mystery. How did they know they were here? Unless they had been tracking the first informant.. So much for the element of surprise.

"You gunna call for backup?" Kira questioned through gritted teeth in the chilled night air, her ears folded back flushly with her curled hair, her eyes fixated as she tried to count rapidly in her head.

"No," Hiei smirked, unsheathing his glinting blade from his hip, "Are you worried?" He replied snidely.

Kira let out a little chuckle, pushing her hands out in front of her as the surface of the roof began to freeze, spreading out from under her like a wave, "Try not to slip," She stated sarcastically.

"I'll do my best," He chuckled as he disappeared into the hoard.

"Cocky bastard," Kira muttered to herself with a smile; she placed both of her hands out in front of her with her palms facing up as they began to glow that ominous blue again, one by one she twitched each of her fingers upwards, and one by one large, human-sized spikes of ice burst from the coating upon the roof, impaling mindless demon after demon. But she knew there were far too many for this technique, she didn't have enough fingers to handle it this way, and they were closing in on her. Maybe Hiei's idea was better.

Her arm began to glow, her sword of ice materialising around it as she flickered straight into the crowd; meticulously cutting away at the reptiles as she moved, paying extreme attention to avoid their mouth areas. Maybe a little too much attention.

Hiei appeared behind the wolf, simultaneously removing the head of demon she had missed who was coming a little too close for comfort. Kira grinned sheepishly as she shoved her weapon down the throat of an attacker, "Good looking out,"

The fire demon shook his head with a smirk, "Not on your part," He taunted, turning to her side and beheading another reptile.

"I'm sorry we all don't have an extra eye to keep watch," She retorted sarcastically as she danced around to Hiei's left and swiped her foot across the ground while raising her iced-arm, impaling the enemy through the chest.

"I suppose it's a good thing.." He paused as he drove his blade through an eye socket, pulling outwards until it sliced through the temple and connected with the neck of another, "That I do for you," He shot back, before disappearing.

"I wonder how many there were…" Kira panted, watching as the ice upon the roof began to melt. It had to be hours since they were last inside, she was surprised no one had come looking for them; unless they were all asleep already. The cement top was littered with bodies and blood splatter slowly starting to mix in with the melting ice.

Hiei stood silently at her side, his hands in his pockets, before pointing to a small pile of corpses a few feet away from them, "There's 13," He said with a smirk.

As if reading his thoughts, Kira grinned, grabbing the back of the neck of a dead demon at her feet and dragging it into the same bunch he had just pointed towards, "14,"

One by one they worked away at piling up the deceased reptiles in silence until there was quite the sizeable mound, "What about appendages?" Kira asked, carrying a neatly stacked bundle of arms and legs.

Hiei shook his head as he threw another body into the growing pile, "Only torsos,"

Kira huffed as she dumped the arms unceremoniously, grasping another by the legs and heaving it, "83," She counted, before trailing off to retrieve another, "You know," She paused momentarily in thought as she swung one upon her shoulders and grabbed the leg of another, "Next time we should just count as we go,"

Hiei stopped from where he was tossing carelessly, raising a single eyebrow, "The next time we happen to be attacked by a hoard of demons.."

Kira grinned in return, flinging the two bodies into the pile, "90," She breathed, "And yes," She breathed as she trailed off to retrieve more.

Hiei chuckled, shaking his head, "It's not exactly a common occurrence,"

"Twice in one month seems pretty common to me," She said with strain, picking up 3 corpses at the same time: one over her shoulders, and one leg in each hand. Hiei simply smirked, she did have a good point. Kira chucked one of the two on the ground into the pile and heaved the second off of her shoulders, "Exactly," She grinned, turning her back towards the fire demon and grabbing both of the corpse's legs, swinging it around towards the pile. Instead of the normal thump, she turned curiously as she heard an odd 'oomph', but her hands quickly darted up to cover her mouth as her jaw fell open, "I am so sorry,"

Hiei lay among the pile of bodies, having been hit squarely in the chest, and grunted as he roughly shoved the deceased body off of his torso, propping himself up on one elbow to glare at the small framed wolf who stood a few feet away from him.

Kira began to snicker from behind her hands, approaching the irritated fire demon and extending a helpful hand, "Didn't you just criticise me for not looking out?" She teased through her laughter. Hiei narrowed his crimson eyes, but reached his opposite hand up none-the-less in acceptance.

Kira yelped as she was roughly yanked down into the pile of of bloodied reptiles, face first, with the majority of her landing on the only warm-bodied demon in the heap; it was now Hiei who couldn't seem to contain his laughter, "Hiei!" She scolded in panic, quickly scrambling onto her hands and knees to keep as much of her dress clean as possible, "Botan told me not to ruin my dress!" The fire demon raised an eyebrow with a smirk as he observed her (already) blood covered dress from battle; Kira followed his vision before sighing heavily, her head dropping dramatically onto his chest, "I knew I'd ruin it.."

Hiei smirked, shaking his head at her antics as he closed his eyes, "Naturally,"

Kira's head snapped up, a dark, steady glare aimed at the fire demon, "Do you want her to haul me off to Limbo?"

Hiei blinked a few times, quite taken aback for a moment by her sudden outburst. His brain tried to turn up some snide comment to combat her with, "No," Was all that came out like word-vomit, and he instantly regretted it seeing the look of surprise on the wolf's face, but it was quickly replaced with a wide grin which simply increased his regret, "Don't let it go to your head, Mutt," He muttered grudgingly, glaring off to the side.

Kira's grin quickly filtered to a smile, enjoying the rare moment of discomfort on the fire demons part, "I think the abomination is growing on you," She asserted with a certain sureness.

Hiei sighed as he peeked at the little ice demoness from the corner of his eye; it was true, he certainly let her get away with a hell of a lot more than anyone else ever would, especially for someone who had claimed he had a death wish within 20 minutes of meeting her; she consistently challenged him, not only in physical battle but also in his own boundaries and comfort zones. Maybe, after hundreds of years of partially self-inflicted solitude, it was finally time he started to entrust himself to someone other than, well, himself.. "She's my sister," He said suddenly before he could stop himself, another thing he instantly regretted saying.

Kira wrinkled her nose and tipped her head to the side, her smile dropping as her brow knitted in confusion, "What?" That was not the rude come-back she expected, or even the same topic, as she attempted to rake her brain for a meaning.

Hiei shook his head, his fists involuntarily clenching as he moved to push himself up; that sparse moment of openness certainly didn't last long, "Nevermind,"

"No," Kira spoke forcefully, placing both of her hands (and a majority of her body weight) on his torso; but her mismatched eyes suddenly widened with realization as she connected it the conversation from before the hoard, "You're the brother she's looking for…" It all made sense, and she could suddenly see them in one another, recalling how his eyes were the first thing she had noticed about Yukina. Hiei narrowed his eyes as he pushed himself up again, wanting to escape the conversation, but she just pushed back, "No, you're going talk to me. Why haven't you told her?" She asked irritably: the woman was on a wild goose chase for someone who was right in front of her this entire time, it didn't sit well.

Hiei stayed silent as he wrestled with his thoughts inwardly, there were really 3 options at the moment: Just tell her the truth; run, but risk her telling Yukina; or kill her. The latter seemed a tad extreme. He sighed in defeat, relaxing into the pile of corpses, but Kira still kept her weight on him to prevent his escape, "She… Deserves better,"

Kira's jaw fell open incredulously, "She deserves to know," Her voice was laced with a strange combination of appall and sympathy, "She's looking for someone who's sitting right under her nose,"

"I spent the majority of my life as a bandit who killed for fun, and I'm now a convicted Reikai felon," He shot back stoically, narrowing his eyes again, "Yes, I'm sure she'd be so proud.."

Kira sat silently for a few minutes with her eyes narrowing in return, her brain chipping away at and processing the information presented to her; heavily debating her next course of action… She suddenly twisted her left hand into blood-stained shirt, jerking him upward roughly; Hiei, quite honestly, expected she was about to punch him in the face. But his eyes widened as she, instead, embraced him, and he froze, "You're so wrong," Kira spoke sadly as she shook her head against the side of his before pulling away to look him in the eye, "But it's not my secret to tell…" She assured with a small smile.

Hiei sat entirely stunned and still, it wasn't often he was caught so off guard; but it also wasn't often he confessed parts of his past while sitting in a massive pile of corpses with a perplexing test-tube creature seated on him, either, "Thank you," He finally spoke with relief, his eyes darting to the ground like a guilty child.

"Thank you," Kira boldly placed an icy hand on the fire demons cheek, turning his entire head to force him to look in her direction, "That counts as your one thing," She spoke quietly, but there was an odd glint in her mismatched eyes.

Hiei knew he was about to make another 'mistake' as he felt the cold send a chill down the back of his neck through his spine; for once, he felt almost vulnerable as Kira closed the space between the two, connecting their lips ever so softly. He pushed back with a sudden force that seemed to spin the roof of the building, inhaling the scent of fresh water and dried blood as his own heated hand found it's way to her frigid cheek, and he could feel the rhythmic patter of her heart against his chest. For a few short moments, the entire Makai seemed frozen in time, and there was only the collision of fire and ice, and it was as close to any other living being either had ever been.

Kira was the one to separate the two, lowering her forehead onto the bridge of Hiei's nose as both sets of shoulders rose and fell rapidly, both trying to find their way back to the ground, "96…" She spoke in the smallest of wavering whispers, her eyes still closed as she tried to fend off the fading vertigo.

"What?" Hiei questioned, his brows furrowing in confusion as his crimson eyes popped open.

"There's 96 dead bodies in this pile.." She said only slightly louder.

"Yes," Hiei chuckled, shaking his head with a ghost of a smile, "96."

"I don't understand this.." Kira groaned, placing her forehead on the coffee table in front of her with a sigh of defeat.

Yusuke sat across from her, and Kuwabara sat at the end of the low table, both grinning and snickering amongst themselves; Yusuke's hands were empty, while Kuwabara held a single playing card in his hand, "Looks like the dirty dog loses again," The Spirit Detective teased, noting Kira's hand full of cards.

Kurama laughed from where he was seated on the couch watching the quarrel, "To be fair, you two were fairly.. Vague with the rules,"

Hiei sat on the windowsill in the hotel room, a characteristic smirk upon his face while he listened to the banter. The group had spent the majority of the day in Yusuke, Taryuu and Kuwabara's room playing various card and tile games against each other until it was time for their meeting, Kurama had actually found it quite unusual that Hiei had willingly spent the day with them all. Kanami had already retreated back to the room she shared with Kira to get ready for the night; while Taryuu had trailed off somewhere in search of food.

Kuwabara grinned at the fox, "At least we didn't make bets,"

"Oh man," Yusuke laughed from next to him, "We could be rich by now!"

Kira glared at the pair, "I'm not that bad!"

"You haven't won a single game!" Yusuke burst into a snorting laughter, while the small ice demoness chucked her cards in his direction, "Oh c'mon, don't be a sore loser!"

"Kira," Kanami spoke softly from the door, dressed in a floor-length silver dress, her hair oddly well-mimicked to the previous day. She must have a photographic memory of some sort, Kira thought, "You should get ready now,"

Kurama nodded in obvious agreement to this statement, "Yes, we should begin our preparations as well,"

Kira sighed as she stood, ignoring Yusuke and Kuwabara's seemingly contagious laughter as she followed the meek psychic to their room, closing the door behind them. The hotel rooms were very… Posh. Decorated in the same manner as the rest of Kajino Roiyaruzu, with crimson walls trimmed in gold; a massive crystal chandelier hanging in the center of each room above a coffee table constructed of pure glass and several mahogany embellished pieces of furniture. Two bedrooms branched off from the sitting areas, as well as a single bathroom between them; if it had a small kitchenette it would almost be like a little apartment. She trailed her across the sparkling, white marble bathroom floor, where she plucked her now dry, once blood stained heels from the bath tub.

"You didn't come back last night," Kanami spoke from the door as Kira removed her normal baggy white t-shirt and black shorts casually.

"I don't like the indoors," It wasn't a complete lie at least, "Animal genes, I'm sure," Kira grinned as she reached in her small backpack by the sink, slightly curious what Botan's second dress choice was, but pulling out the second pair of underwear and bra the grim reaper had chosen.

Kanami smiled gently, but her eyes held a certain sadness, "I guess I wouldn't know the feeling…" Even though she had been raised with the others, who were all different to begin with, she had always somehow been the odd one out; she couldn't relate to any of them on that level.

"Can you help me?" Kira grumbled as she feebly chased the back clasp of her bra in circles like dog chasing it's tail. Kanami laughed at the sight, but helped her none-the-less, "You really aren't missing out on much, I promise," She offered as the psychic latched her bra, "Look at Taryuu, he get's positively enraged at the drop of a hat. Dragon genes. It's actually a pretty flawed system for big bad super demons, crossing them with creatures," She added thoughtfully as she stood, holding up Botan's second pick: it was the same style as the last, but the silky fabric was white, and only the small cap-sleeves had an elegant black filigree on them.

Kanami giggled lightly, "I have noticed that,"

"With an animal spirit comes animal traits," Kira muttered as she tugged the thin piece of clothing onto her shoulders one by one. Kanami reached out, zipping the dress up the back, "Thank you," She sighed with relief, not wishing to chase the zipper around in circles. She glanced in the mirror briefly, her hair had completely lost it's curl from the previous day, "Like hair that won't stay.."

Kanami smiled gently as she picked up a brush, "Let me," She insisted, "I can at least fix it like mine,"

Kira breathed a second sigh of relief, positive she would be hopeless at the task, "Thank you once again,"

"You didn't return last night," Kurama spoke slyly from where he was buttoning his white dress shirt in front of the long, sleek body mirror, only the smallest hint of a smile playing at his lips.

Hiei raised an eyebrow, stopping the movement of his hands as he attempted to tie the black tie around his neck, "When do I ever stay inside?" He questioned rhetorically, getting quite agitated with the piece of fabric around his neck, ripping it from his collar and trying again.

"I'm just reminding you," The fox paused as he tipped his own collar up, lacing his tie under it and beginning to work away at it, "This isn't the time to become distracted,"

Hiei, once again, was clearly irritated by the persistence of the fox; this was the third time he'd been unnecessarily intrusive, "And I'll remind you that I don't get distracted,"

"We aren't dealing with your average, everyday demons, Hiei," Kurama continued coldly, tightening his tie before laying his collar down over it, "Kira already tried to kill you once. The dragon and the psychic, as well as those we are pursuing, will likely all have the same kill switch should things get out of control. We are in the middle of a highly sensitive mission right now, with highly sensitive allies, and I apologize for the.. Less than fortunate timing of things, but they are essentially caged animals being released. They are all experiencing and experimenting with things for the first time,"

Hiei sighed as he finally managed to fasten his tie around his neck, before a scowl found it's way onto his face. She may have tried to kill him, but he handled it, and now he knew how: it was a pointless thing to add, "I don't know what you're getting at, fox, but-"

"You know exactly what I'm getting at, Hiei. Don't assume I'm blind," Kurama cut him off stoically as he lifted his jacket onto his shoulders, "If anything should happen, I know the course of action we have to take," He paused as he finished buttoning his jacket before continuing, "And I would be able to carry that duty out if it came to it, but I don't believe the same could be said for you."

"Where the hell is this guy?" Yusuke groaned, tipping his head back impatiently against the booths wall where the group of 7 was currently awaiting.

"Right there," Kira replied in a flat tone, pointing to the large double doors between the casino and the hotel foyer: sure enough, the second informant had just entered, trailing his way up the stairs towards the conference rooms.

Yusuke blinked a few times in an attempt to gather his surprise; the wolf had a good eye, "Alright then, let's move.." The group of 7 quickly filed out of the booth, making their way through the crowd once again, "Hey Kira, try not to get lost," The Spirit Detective finished with a grin.

"Be quiet," Kira muttered irritably as they finally hit the massive doors, entering sparkling clean, white marble floored foyer.

"You made it!" Yusuke continued to tease, ignoring the wolf's protest as they made their way to the elevator.

Kira grinned slyly as the elevator doors whizzed shut, Kurama pushing a button to bring them to the top floor where the conference rooms were, "I don't think Keiko would be very happy with your attitude…"

Taryuu burst into laughter as the elevator jerked, beginning its upward journey, "Now that's worse than Tobi and Sumi," He joked, as Yusuke screamed incoherent apologies and protests at the ice demoness.

Kurama cleared his throat, obvious addressing the rowdy parts of the group, "It's time," He spoke darkly as the elevator doors whizzed open again, revealing the same hallway they had been in the previous night.

"Hopefully he's not as useless as the last," Kira muttered as they walked the dim hall to the same door they'd used yesterday. Kurama knocked gently at the thick mahogany, waiting patiently for it to creak open just a crack.

"We're from the Reikai," The fox spoke kindly with a smile. The demon at the other side of the door hesitated, before slowly opening and allowed them entrance into the room. The 7 sat in the exact seats they had the previous day, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us," Kurama mimicked his past speech.

"Thank you, for meeting me," The second informant smiled. He was far less on-edge than the first.

"Our first question-"

"Do I know where they are?" The reptile continued to smile, a sly tone in his voice, "I don't know exact locations, but I know it's a large cave north-west of here. Underground, if I'm not mistaken,"

Kira tipped her head curiously; perhaps the first informant had known he was being tailed after all, and that had been why he was significantly more nervous than this one. Kurama blinked a few times to regain his composure, "Do you know what their motivations are? Our first informant told us they wish for liberations, and 'the others'," He explained calmly.

The second informant nodded gently, "Yes, they want 'the others' to be liberated, they want revenge of some sort, and they whisper quite often of Alpha when they speak of them, I am unsure who or what Alpha is,"

"Kira.." Yusuke spoke through gritted teeth, his chocolate eyes darting towards the wolf.

"They can't control the others without their leader," Kira finished thoughtfully; her mind vividly recalling her nightmares she had, what seemed like, long ago; where she had joined with the pair in slaying her comrades… That wouldn't happen.

"How do they plan on that?" Taryuu's voice almost held offense as he scoffed, "She won't leave…"

"Unless they just plan to kill me in order to dethrone me," Kira grinned, this would be a welcomed challenge; there was no way they could manage that. Their plan seemed all too flawed.

"No," Kurama interjected, "If they were to kill you, that would just put Taryuu into your position and they'd be in the same spot as before; most of the others seemed to carry ties of loyalty, it would serve only to cause an uprising against them,"

"So they just want her on their side then.." Yusuke confirmed.

"Perhaps they plan to use the psychic?" Kurama offered darkly.

"I'm too strong for a psychic," Kira sighed, leaning back in her chair as she folded her arms behind her head casually, "Best of luck to them,"

"Do you know anything of this psychic?" Kanami added to the conversation suddenly as she addressed the reptile, leaning forward in her seat.

"Not very much," The second informant frowned, "He stays very far, I think they wish to conceal his identity," He paused, his long tail giving a gentle swish through the air, "He is strong, perhaps even unrivaled in his abilities; I have witnessed, from afar, him take the minds of hundreds of demons at a time-"

"Were you at the temple in the Ningenkai?" Kurama interrupted.

The second informant nodded slowly, "I was sent strictly to observe all of your abilities, gather information on your fighting styles; so I apologize in advance that they are already aware,"

"Well that's embarrassing," Kira muttered under her breath, glaring at the table. That definitely wasn't up there in her top 10 best performances, whatsoever.

The reptile chuckled gently, "Master and Mistress were none too pleased with your injuries. I can assume, then, you are who they referred to as Alpha?" Kira nodded firmly to this statement.

"So they do want her alive…" Kuwabara muttered, his fists clenching with anger. Taryuu had to be right, there was no way she'd join them willingly. So how did they plan on taking her?

"I thank you for being so.. Open with us," Kurama smiled kindly, "Is there anything else you can tell us we may need to know?"

"They are ready for you," The second informant warned darkly, "They already know you are here, and they are already waiting with an army…" He paused, standing from his seat as he looked directly at Kira, "And they will stop at nothing to get their hands on Alpha,"

Keep an eye out for Lone Wolf 'Chapter 21: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'!

I must say I am VERY excited for the next chapter! It's already half done!

-B.J.