Disclaimer: Neither Hiei or YuYu Hakusho are mine.

Claimer: Chichiro and Ketsue are mine, Kaze is BritKit, Aria is FoxWitch. While not all the characters are mine, all writing, storylines and concepts in this fanfiction (Save any YYH references) are. This includes Nirvana, Spike, all shadowcats, the shadowcat species, Escque, Mahdaegrahs/entities, scorpios etcetera.

"What? What is it?"

"The charm Nirvana put on you must have also hindered your spiritual awareness," Kurama told me in a hurried voice.

Just how many effects does this dumb charm have? I wondered to myself.

"That was Koenma, with orders," he went on. The next part, which stunned and horrified me, made my eyes widen. "It seems that Hiei has been captured."

It felt as though my body was not my own. It was weightless, in a sense; I was barely aware of it moving forward, and I made no conscious effort to walk despite the fact my feet were still moving in the right direction. Captured. No matter how many times my mind echoed the word, it still felt foreign. Surely it was impossible to capture Hiei, wasn't it?

Once Kurama had relayed the message to me, he and Yusuke had temporarily ignored me while they spoke with one another about how best to approach the situation. Yusuke had suggested going to fetch Kuwabara from the human world—"Even he can help sometimes. I think he'll agree this is an exception to his No-Spirit-World-Related-Things-During-Classes rule."—and Kurama had agreed that it was a worthwhile idea.

"Ketsue and I will head to Nirvana's stronghold," Kurama had told Yusuke. "You and Kuwabara needn't rush—we will merely assess the situation and then report back."

I had felt like shouting, There's no way I'm just going to stake the place out; I'm getting Hiei back as soon as we get there. I had held my tongue despite. Perhaps if I had spoken my thoughts, I would have been given Yusuke's job and the former detective would have aided Kurama in my place. Sure, it probably would have actually been a smart move on their part to send Yusuke instead of me, but I was not thinking nearly so clearly right then.

"Ketsue."

Kurama's voice shook me from my thoughts, though my attention was only partially given to him. It was impossible to stop thinking about Hiei right then. I had only just gotten him back and this happened. And right under my nose, too… "Hmm?" My response was flat, without interest.

"Follow me." He indicated a rift-tear above us, which he had apparently been leading me toward.

I obeyed in silence. Only when I caught sight of the frozen landscape below us and realized once my feet touched the snow-covered ground that I recognized the place did I speak. "Where are we going?" I had once traveled across this landscape with Spike, and left it with Hiei.

"I told you already," Kurama replied, "to Nirvana's stronghold."

"Why here?" I continued on, feeling almost as though I was dreaming.

"It's the quickest shortcut." He glanced back at me. "And we must request aid."

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if it was worth it to bother to ask from whom or not. I chose to. "Who could we possibly find here? There's no one around to—"

In his usual manner, Kurama interrupted me quickly. "We will not find them in this world. We need to find the rift-tear to Z'chor."

"The shadowcats," I realized aloud. "But, why would they help us?"

"I'm not sure they will," the fox admitted easily, "but I'm willing to risk loss of time for the hope that they will let us call in a favor."

Favor…? I wondered, but was unable to ask him what he meant, as I spotted movement from the corner of my eyes and I stopped short, bewildered. Far below us, I could make out two forms walking the same direction we were heading—a girl and a man, by the looks of it. But the girl looked so familiar that I thought I must be imagining it; the way she walked and the uncommon length of her pale blonde hair…She was me!

"Kur—"

"Don't look at them, Ketsue," he interjected before I could finish speaking his name.

"But how…?"

"As I've told you before, this world does not follow the laws of the world you know," he began calmly. "The same goes for time in this place—it does not follow the flow that you are accustomed to. But, to be able to watch the future so clearly is…disorienting, to say the least. Look away."

The last sentence had been said with some force, and my eyes returned to my feet. Something about that image seemed to feel the need to haunt me, though—the form I'd recognized to be myself had been bleeding, and I had acquired no wounds that would show from that far away. The distance that my future self had been would take us quite a while to cover, perhaps half an hour, perhaps more. So what was to happen in that time…?

We had walked on a short ways before I could not contain myself any longer. "Kurama!"

He breathed in a little deeper than usual, letting the breath slip from his lips slowly; it sounded like a sigh of a particularly frustrated person, one who was trying not to become angry. "Yes, Ketsue?" he asked.

"What was that?"

"I've told you. Time does not—"

"That's the why, not the what," I interrupted impatiently. "Did I really…Were those really us?"

"Yes," he confirmed bluntly.

I didn't bother trying to respond.

As I mulled over what I had witnessed in my mind, my focus slid from making sure I was following Kurama, and I began to veer off the path of his footfalls unknowingly.

Kurama had just begun to form my name with his lips, likely to tell me I was getting off track, when there was a sudden explosion of snow from the side of us—the direction I was headed in. I was so disoriented by the force of it that it took me a moment to register that I'd been thrown backward some thirty feet and was currently sprawled on my back with my legs tangled in the branches of the tree my backside was leaned against.

Uttering a little groan, I tried to clear my blurry eyes, though to no avail. Dimly, I recognized that I had hit my head on something, but I was more worried about Kurama than that at the moment. Hoisting myself up into a sitting position, I slid my legs gingerly from the branches, ignoring the miniscule scrapes along my calves and ankles from the rough bark of the pale, snow-covered tree I'd slammed into. Glancing blearily around, still lacking much range of vision, I made out the blurry shape of Kurama fending off…something. It was enormous, probably a few stories high by human measurements, and its shape was oddly feline-like.

Struggling to my feet, I was reminded again of Hiei's absence. Normally, I was used to feeling safe even when knocked senseless like this, safe with the knowledge that Hiei would and was able to defend me. But I was unaccustomed to battling alongside Kurama, and thus unsure of his abilities and priorities.

From nowhere, there were suddenly several more human-like shapes hurtling at the giant cat-creature, fighting with Kurama rather than against him, and it took me only a moment to recognize Spike's energy; so much for having to go to Z'chor to fetch them. As soon as the recognition entered my mind, I realized also that the giant cat's energy was similar to a shadowcat's, but not exactly the same; perhaps a different breed of shadowcat?

"Miss Ketsueki?" ventured a soft, though professionally stiff, female voice behind me.

My eyes were barely able to sharpen the image of Asakari's face enough for me to recognize her. "As…Asakari," I greeted her, surprised.

"Indeed, Miss Ketsueki. Now, if you could please follow me…?"

Without waiting for my response, she grabbed my arm and began to quickly lead me through the trees. Unable to see, I could do little but be frustrated at my blurred vision and follow the she-cat without protest. Said 'following' didn't last long, however, as Asakari stopped short suddenly and crouched behind a pair of trees, yanking me down with her. "If I leave to go aid them, will you stay here?" she asked me in a hurried tone.

"Y-yeah," I agreed uncertainly. I knew that if I tried to follow her, I'd fail miserably and likely trip and hurt myself, clumsy as I was. Thus, there was little arguing to be done. "Go ahead."

She leapt away in a shot, sprinting back toward the sounds of the battle.

I slumped from my crouch and sat against the tree, just then noticing how sensitive my left side was. Testing my ribs gently with my palm and fingertips, I found that I flinched upon even the slightest bit of contact and wondered briefly—without much interest—whether they were just bruised or if they were broken.

An ear-shattering roar suddenly split through the air like a lightning bolt that had struck far too close for comfort. Retrieving my right arm from where it had rested against my side, I pressed my hands to my ears for comfort even though the giant shadowcat's thunderous bellow had long since passed. "Damn," I whispered to myself, just then beginning to feel like a child again. Not only was I not able to fight, I wasn't even making the attempt—I should at least try, right? Besides, I was not being much help sitting there useless in hiding while everyone else risked their necks against the adversary, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew one of the main reasons Spike and his party had intervened was because he'd recognized my energy and had wanted to protect me.

I forced myself to stand again, more light-headed this time than the first. Drawing a hand to my forehead out of habit, I was surprised but not stunned to feel blood soaking my hairline and beginning to run down the contours of my face and into my eyes. Squeezing them shut, I scrubbed vigorously at my face, hoping to clear my already-failing sight at least the slightest bit and ensure that the blood did not make it any worse. It was, of course, a bad move on my part; closing my eyes and making my head move up and down with the rubbing motion only served to make me feel more air-headed and the slightest bit queasy.

Letting my legs slide from beneath me resignedly, I realized why Asakari had brought me back here—I really wouldn't be any use to them right then…Although, as I listened and picked up on the fact that the sounds of battle had ceased, I also realized that there was nowhere to be useful at—the fight had stopped.

I started as I heard Spike's voice at my side asking, "You didn't by any chance get a concussion, did you Ketsue?"

"Dunno," I answered truthfully, grinning in his general direction; I recognized him from the several other blobby shapes around me only because of his silver hair. "Probably."

"Good!"

He sounded so cheerful at the fact that it took me a moment to quote disbelievingly, "'Good'?"

"Of course!" he concurred quickly, with the same out-of-place note of joviality. "Now Mister Master-Fox-Thief over here cannot force you into any unnecessary battles."

"…Ah," I said flatly in reply. So he wasn't pleased about the concussion—he was pleased by the results of it and the fact that he apparently thought I'd be safer with one than without. "Well, y'see, that's gonna be a problem. 'Cause even if Kurama doesn't 'force' me into any 'unnecessary' battles, I'm probably still gonna try to fight in 'em because—"

"Yes, I know, your demon had been captured," Spike finished for me. "So I've been told. That is, of course, the reason I sought the two of you out in the first place—I intend to help."

Before I could bring up the point that I only remembered Kurama and myself being in the flash of the future that I'd seen, Kurama provided the reason for it: "And Spike has agreed to head off Nirvana's guard forces for us," he told me. "I figured we would be following a bit slower while your head clears some, so it will give him and his team time to eliminate some challenges for us."

"…Good," I managed finally with a weak smile, "but, uhm, nobody's bothered telling me yet why a giant cat just attacked us."

"Ah, that," Spike came in again. "Well, ever since he aided us in the Shadowcat war, Kurama and the King shadowcats haven't been on the best terms. So the rogues still attack him once and a while."

"But I thought—?"

"The 'Kings' are a species, not royalty," Spike went on before I could finish my question about having thought that Spike was the leader of the shadowcats. "And they are not under the same rule as my species—The Inuichi, in case you can't recall."

And by 'you can't recall' I was sure he meant 'in case Chichiro's knowledge of my breed hasn't carried over in the reincarnation'. His version was shorter, in any case.

"…Well?" It was Spike's voice again. "Are you going to sit there all day, Ketsue, or are you going to take my hand?"

I blinked several times in an attempt to clear my vision, and finally I recognized the fuzzy shape of Spike's outstretched hand, reaching out and linking my own into it.

"I suspect she couldn't see it," Kurama put in as Spike pulled me up quickly but surprisingly gently, making sure to steady me. He didn't let go of my hand immediately.

"No harm," the shadowcat said, finally letting his hand slip from mine casually. "Shall we, then?"

My vision was improving somewhat now that I was back on my feet, and I could see the rest of the group (Spike, Kurama and Asakari, as well as Kent—whom I'd just noticed) beginning to head in the direction Kurama and I had been going before the interruption. "But I thought you and the others were leaving?" I addressed Spike.

"Well, if you'd like for us to go sooner…" he began in an amused tone.

"That's not what I meant," I groaned, knowing he had enjoyed himself immensely in the attempt to make me flounder over a way to ask my question without offending him. "I meant that Kurama made it seem like you were going sooner, not that I want you to."

To that, Spike jested cheerily, "So you want us to stay?"

"That's not what I meant, either," I replied flatly, though Spike only chuckled.

"They will accompany us a short ways, Ketsue," Kurama spoke up. "Rogue King shadowcats often travel in packs, and I'd rather not attempt to fight one alone. Lord Spike seemed more than willing to escort us closer to our rift-tear."

It was the first time I'd ever heard anyone other than a shadowcat address Spike as 'Lord,' and I found myself especially surprised that it was Kurama who had done it.

"Indeed!" the mentioned shadowcat spoke up again, enthusiastically suggesting, "And during said escorting, I'll be more than happy to help Ketsue along until her vision clears."

For 'giving up' on me, I thought to myself with mild humor and mingled irritation as my mind drifted back to when he had said that 'things would have never worked out between us' because Hiei and I were apparently 'too perfect for each other', Spike sure is being persistent…

"Thank you, Lord Spike," Kurama said quickly, "but I believe Asakari will be fine for the task." Before Spike could protest, he went on, "I have some things I must discuss with you on our way; best not trouble Ketsue with anything else, yes?"

"I suppose," Spike agreed, though there was a note of severe disappointment in his voice.

I gave Kurama a grateful look, then glanced sideways as Asakari came up beside me and offered me her arm. Uncertainly, I began to link my elbow into hers, but she shifted her arm so that—while my arm was indeed linked around hers still—my hand rested atop of hers, which was as stiff and horizontal as the rest of her lower arm. I didn't bother asking why she was leading me like an eighteenth-century gentleman, and merely followed her lead and didn't comment.

There was silence between us the entire way back to the main path. Kurama and Spike spoke quietly with one another ahead of us some ten feet, providing a small break in the quiet, but Kent—who was bringing up the rear and, I suppose, guarding our flank—and Asakari seemed disinterested or unmotivated to have a go at talking.

"So, uh," I began uncertainly, just in the attempt to start conversation, "thanks for helping us."

"It was Lord Spike's orders," Asakari answered in a very business-like manner, apparently not picking up on the fact that I was hoping she'd help feed the chat by speaking more.

"…Oh." Though I was not exactly the most social person, I much preferred talk to silence in a situation like this, when someone I didn't know very well was leading me and simultaneously breaking my 'no-touchy if I don't know you' habits. Thus, I tried again in a somewhat friendlier way with, "Well, I appreciate that you asked if you could go back before, rather than abandoning me without any explanation—"

"Please," she interrupted, not looking toward me. "Lord Spike has forgiven you because he cares for you. I have not found myself to be so charitable, so please refrain from acting as though we are friends or allies."

I blinked once and then looked down, my stomach twisting. I knew uncomfortably what she meant by 'forgiven'—forgiven me for killing his closest ally. Honestly, my guilt over Zerathus had faded nearly completely, and I very rarely thought of the whole happening. I was uncertain how to respond to such coldness, and so I merely followed her in silence, trying to shove from my mind the fact that my hand had started trembling the slightest bit, and the uncomfortable awareness that Asakari would have felt it and known how great an impact her words had had.

"This is where we separate," Spike suddenly said in a louder tone than he had previously been conversing with Kurama in, so that the entire group could hear it. "We must be heading back and making sure that the rogue King has woken and bears no grudge for us deterring its assassination attempt."

"You guys…didn't kill it?" I asked quietly.

"Of course not!" he replied, sounding good-naturedly amused. "Why would we kill our own kind?"

"But—" I began, about to put in something about how he had said they were different species from one another, but Kurama interrupted me.

"Don't worry about it, Ketsue. It will not bother us again."

Asakari's arm suddenly slipped from beneath mine, and I realized suddenly that I had been resting mine against hers almost entirely, as it lowered limply without hers to support it. Embarrassed, I quickly acted as though I had meant to move to cross my arms and entwined them in front of me.

Being that my eyesight was steadily improving and I could see a bit better, now, I noted that the she-cat was near Spike again, and I picked up—again, uncomfortably—that she was eager to be away from me. She must hate me a lot, I considered miserably, looking away from Asakari.

"Good day, Ketsue," Spike said to me, apparently as a goodbye even though a normal person would have likely used 'good day' as a form of 'hello'. "I hope to see you again soon—and good luck with getting Hiei back."

For whatever reason, I felt touched that Spike had decided to use Hiei's name rather than calling him 'your demon'. I could only muster a, "Thank you," in response, though, before they were gone.

"Where—?"

"Up," Kurama explained, pointing toward a rift-tear I had not previously noticed.

Nodding, I lowered my gaze back to where the fox had been standing, only to find he had set off once again. "But—!"

"We'll use a different one," he interrupted promptly. Although I realized there was no point in him waiting for me to speak if he already knew what I was going to say, I found myself becoming irritated at his constant interjections. "The one they just left through is for the front gate. The one we seek is somewhat farther back away from Nirvana's stronghold."

"Why?"

"I am needed elsewhere," he told me calmly, "and so I must leave you there. But I will be able to show you better than the shadowcats what is required of you, so you will follow me."

What is required of me…? I wondered, but didn't voice it. He'd explain when we arrived.

My vision was nearly back to normal by then, and thus I knew why our path was familiar to me far quicker than I would have with dimmed eyesight. As I came to the spot that I realized was where I had recognized my "future" and now current self, I found that although curiosity begged me to look back, I could not. I knew that if I turned now, I would see myself, not an hour ago, watching my progress with wide eyes, and for whatever reason, that thought made the hair on my neck stand erect.

"Wise choice," Kurama commented beside me. I didn't bother raising the question of how he knew what I had been considering only seconds before.

Some twenty minutes and a pair of rift-tears later, Kurama held out his arm to stop me from moving forward and said, "A moment, Ketsue." Glancing up at him, I noticed that his eyes were focused ahead of us as he spoke next rather than at me. "When you enter Nirvana's stronghold, you must be very cautious. Although she has many guards, it isn't out of the question that Nirvana would attack you herself without hesitation—or send a higher-level ally of hers to 'greet' you. You must be careful, understand?" When I quickly nodded, he went on, "I am not sure where Hiei is being held—Koenma didn't provide us with that information, and I'm not sure he could have with what limited knowledge he has of the layout of this castle."

It was the first mention of Nirvana's lair being anything other than a 'stronghold,' and thus my eyes drifted sideways to see what Kurama was looking at. Sure enough, it looked very similar to a cliché representation of an ancient Scottish castle to me, though far larger and with demonic stone gargoyles glaring down forbiddingly from the various windows and towers. All of them seemed to watch us with their cold, sightless eyes, scrutinizing us and almost appearing as though they were debating whether to attack or not.

Ignoring my marveling at the magnificent structure, Kurama continued, "I am wary to send you on your own, but being that I have little choice, I will also warn you not to be seen unless absolutely necessary. Stay undetected as long as you can, and even once you are found out, hide whenever the opportunity arises. Avoid any battles you can get out of—and don't take any unnecessary risks."

Staring at him in disbelief, I wondered exactly how he expected me to do that—stealth was not my strongpoint, nor was I particularly concerned about myself at the moment with Hiei currently captured and depending on us.

As though he had read my thoughts, the fox shifted his calculating green eyes to me and said, "They will not be foolish enough to kill Hiei—don't worry about him. Just worry about finding him, and even then, try not to rush into battle without a plan. If you can, talk to him without their knowledge before acting; I'm sure he will have an idea if he's been given time to consider one."

Dread prickled at me as I wondered exactly what Kurama meant with the use of 'if', and his grave expression gave no comfort to my suspicions that Hiei could be in more danger than Kurama was choosing to let on. Nonetheless, I only nodded mutely again to show him that I had understood all that he had said.

"Don't forget any of that, Ketsue." He was preparing to leave, now; I could tell it by his tone. "Be careful, and stick to the shadows."

"And avoid the guards and fights," I added quietly, attempting to show him that I had taken in his warnings while simultaneously trying to distract myself from the horrid things I was imagining could be happening to Hiei right then.

He nodded again, with that same chilling, almost dark expression on his face. Then, surprisingly, he offered me a gentle smile and said, "Good luck."

And he was gone.

It took me a moment for me to force myself to look back toward the castle, my dread taking advantage of the silence to once again creep up on me. What could have been so important that he left me alone for it? I wondered bitterly. I would think Hiei, at least, would be more important to Kurama than whatever else Koenma needed him for…

But I knew such thoughts would not help me at all, and resignedly set off at a run toward the stronghold.

It crossed my mind when I realized that there were few guards around that the shadowcats must have already been through. If that was the case, though, why weren't there signs of it minus the lax in security?

Because they must have thought the same way as Kurama, I considered, and ducked out of the way as I sensed a guard at the last moment. Damn, damn, damn! I am not cut out for this stealthy crap! I much preferred just fighting the enemy, not hiding from them—but I trusted Kurama's judgment, and the shadowcats'. Thus, I suppressed my demonic aura as best I could. I had been out of practice of that sort of thing for a while, and there was no way I could risk going into my human form just to keep my energy from being detected; a human's scent would be more potent than a demon's, anyway, and far more out of place as well.

I was able to slink around several guards before I was forced to kill the first. I did it as quietly as I could, though seeing as how I had decided to dispatch of him because he noticed me and made an awful ruckus noting it aloud, I was not surprised to find several others in the vicinity investigate me as well. After that, I opted to pay better attention to be sure I stayed well out of the way of any of the guards; a few dead were not hard to hide, but if all the security suddenly went missing, I'd have a good bit of trouble trying to keep my invasion a secret.

When I was within the final two hundred feet of the castle, I crouched particularly low and glowered about. There were a couple of demons heading off in opposite directions of the gate, but none in the direct path I would need to take. So if I hurry… I decided to try to, at least. Streaking across the last several yards, I came within twenty feet of the castle, positive I had made it in safely—

—When a new demon guard appeared from nowhere, brandishing a sword that he wasted no time in shoving into my stomach.

Smooth, Ketsue, I thought as I winced, though I slashed off the demon's head before I moved to retrieve the sword in my gut. Charge blindly in. Yeah, that's exactly what he needs from you right now.

I poured healing energy into the wound as I pulled the blade out, hoping it would stop the bleeding before any other demons could catch the scent.

Ducking behind the nearest stone post—as several were lining the way to the stronghold, as though attempting to make the path seem more welcoming—I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw. I'm never gonna make it in, I thought despairingly to myself. I'm going in without a plan, not listening to Kurama's advice, and I'm trying to go through the freakin' front gate while also trying not to be seen. I suck at this.

"Ketsue," came a familiar, snide voice, "what are you doing? You're failing miserably so far at this, unless your version of a 'rescue' is hiding in plain sight right at the front of the enemy's base."

I stared disbelieving up into Hiei's cold crimson eyes. "But…Kurama said you were—!"

"Yes, well, whatever Kurama told you is of no consequence now," he replied, not allowing me to finish. Then, suddenly and quite randomly, he drew his katana from its sheath at his belt and brandished it before him. "Care for a spar?"

I didn't even make the attempt to reason with him. I had seen from demonstrations during the dark tournament that he would not be deterred from sparring, no matter how out of place or inconvenient. Thus, I merely summoned my metallic energy sword—which I had not used in so very long—and blocked his initial slash.

"Not exactly the most fitting place for a spar, is it?" I asked flatly, though I could barely hold back my relieved grin. So, coming here was a waste of time after all, if all he was going to do was ask for a spar right outside the gates. All that worrying for nothing...

I evaded a thrust toward my collarbone, weaving beneath a follow-through punch and whipping my sword toward Hiei's midsection, expecting him to block as he always did…But he didn't. I thought I was imagining things for a moment. Surely Hiei, of all people, would be able to dodge or block such a rudimentary attack? Yet, there he was with my sword pierced through his back, regarding me with a stunned, pained look on his face…

Sure, I always aimed to harm him, but I can't say I ever intended to. "I-I…" I stared a moment longer, having no idea what to say, then cried, "Oh my God! Why didn't you dodge?!"

Suddenly the feigned look of pain on his face was dropped and he started laughing. Like it was funny that I'd just—

But then, as it always did, it hit me that—duh—that wasn't Hiei and I had, in fact, just stabbed a transformed Nirvana. That thought was a much more welcome one, though I doubted that with all her shape-shifting ability that she would have allowed any vitals to be hit or to have even allowed herself to get any sort of mildly-serious injury. Sure enough, as she shifted back to her own form, the wound moved and replaced itself on the side of her stomach, barely a paper cut-thick graze.

"Oh, that was grand!" she cried with a positively delighted countenance. "Really, Ketsue-dearest, I wish you could have seen the horror on your face…"

Trembling with rage, I chose not to respond.

Nirvana, not bothered in the slightest by my silence, merely swept my katana aside carelessly and went on, "It was even better than that look you had when Murtur and I charmed you—brilliant!"

Now that she had provided me with an excuse to try and push the mental image of me nearly killing Hiei—though of course it had merely appeared to be him, I was still shaken—I glared steely at her and grabbed the topic of the charm quickly. "Why did you even bother," I asked, "if you knew how short-lived the charm was?"

"Because," Nirvana told me plainly, with the sort of exasperation a parent uses with a child after they've tried to explain the same thing over and over again, "it would buy me at least a little time. After all, you couldn't tell them where Hiei was or how you were separated if you could not speak normally enough to be understood. I hadn't counted on that damned kitsune being there…"

"Or counted on the fact that I didn't know where Hiei was anyway," I added flatly.

She considered it a moment and then grinned toothily. "True, now that you mention it. You wouldn't have known because you were oh so obedient in listening to my consent charm."

I had thought Nirvana would be annoyed to realize a flaw in her plan, but she just used the opportunity to annoy me. Arguing with her seemed about as winnable as arguing with Hiei.

I expected her to attack again, though of course this time in her own form, but she merely smiled with severe false kindness before she indicated the castle. "I'm sorry, I interrupted your infiltration attempt, didn't I? My apologies. Though I must say, using the front gate is a bold move indeed…" She turned around, not seeming to notice my disbelieving gaze following her as she casually retreated. "Oh, by the way, don't worry about being seen. The guards at the front are switching just now—better hurry!" And then she vanished.

I didn't need to be told that Nirvana being helpful was a blatant sign of a trap. Then again, this entire mission seemed one big trap; after all, why else would they capture Hiei alive?

Still, even if this was indeed a trap, I had little choice but to walk into it. I couldn't just leave Hiei there, could I? Besides, Kurama and the others were counting on me as well—I had to try.

It seemed that getting into the stronghold would be the easy part. As Nirvana's hint had suggested, there were no guards immediately inside the castle, and the hall was clear. I could sense unfamiliar demonic energies approaching, however, and knew that I had to hurry. Sprinting down the entryway hall, I had leapt up a ridiculously long-seeming, thirty-foot-wide flight of stairs before I found the first turn to duck into, a place where I could not be spotted by the oncoming guards. Though, as I glanced sideways and caught sight of another being standing a hundred or so yards from me, already watching me and drawing a golden-hilted katana from its sheath, I realized not being seen would be very hard.

The demon must have been seven feet tall, at least; shaggy black hair fell about his face and into his pale, piercing eyes. He was astoundingly good-looking…and somehow familiar.

"You…" I whispered softly, narrowing my eyes at him and taking a step closer, barely aware I had done it.

He watched me a moment with a sort of wariness before he squinted at me abruptly as though something had clicked within his mind, and I knew he had gotten the same sense of déjà vu I'd felt when I first set eyes upon him, had felt the same, seemingly misplaced familiarity looking into my face…And suddenly his eyes widened as though he were stunned, and he sprang back from me, his sword lowered as though he had no further intent to battle me. And sure enough, when I took another step toward him he turned down the corridor he'd come from and took off quickly without a single word.

Rushing to follow him, I skidded to a stop when I came to the long, empty hallway he'd ran off toward, disappointed. Who the hell was that…? And in the back of my mind, I knew that for whatever reason that he had not run from fear of me—he had run from fear that he'd be forced to hurt me. Why do I know him? But no answer quieted the string of questions that assaulted my mind, and I heaved a great sigh as the more pressing query came to mind—Why had he known me?

From no where, a sensation close to what I'd felt when I'd seen Chichiro's death thanks to the effects of Hiei's jagan months ago swept over me. My vision was blackened immediately, and I had to struggle to head for the nearest empty room in the hallway; I knew it was empty only because I could not sense any life energy within it.

Leaning up against the wall and sliding the door shut as quietly as I could behind me, I closed my currently blind eyes and waited for whatever flashes of Chichiro's memory were to follow.

As with the first vision-like experience I'd had like this, I first saw a face and nothing else; it belonged to the strangely familiar male demon I'd just encountered. Then, slowly, other details leaked into my perception and I was able to observe the 'scene' properly.

He was standing across from a tall demoness, though compared with him she seemed dwarfed. I recognized her blue fox ears immediately—Chichiro. The true Chichiro, whom I was the reincarnation of, not my yami.

"You really don't remember, do you?" she was whispering in a soft, injured tone.

"Remember what, woman?" the demon spat in return. "I've told you—my family was killed. You've no right digging up the past like this; I've put all of that behind me, and I'm not going to allow you to just—"

"Why would I lie?" Chichiro cried, a note of desperation in her voice. "Please! I am not your enemy!"

"Any who pose as her are my enemy," he responded coldly. "You defile her memory, coming to me as you are with your wild claims. She's dead, and unless you hope me to believe you are some sort of ghost, you may as well give it up now."

Chichiro uttered a somewhat wild laugh, shaking her head disbelievingly. "How can I defile my own memory, huh?"

The male demon opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted before he could speak.

"How can you not trust your little sister, Keicchirin?"

My consciousness slammed back into my body, away from that fragment of my past life. Keicchirin…?! My…brother?

It was true I could not remember anything of him but what I had just seen…and that alone was not as much of a memory as it was a vision of something I should have remembered. So why had this sudden wave of sentimentality swept over me when I considered the word 'brother'? It was like seeing Kurama for the first time in this lifetime and feeling as though we were long lost best friends, a kind of carried-over friendship from my past life. The same thing had happened seeing Tamiko again, as well.

That's why he looked like that, I realized then. He knew I was Chichiro's reincarnation. But, then, why did he run…?

Hiei had told me some time back that Keicchirin had killed other possible reincarnates that Chichiro had chosen outside of me, because for whatever reason he believed he knew which would be best for her. Apparently he'd decided on me. So why was he shying away like that?

Your incompetence astounds me sometimes, my little Hikari-dearest, drawled my yami's voice.

I thought you were dormant, I mentally growled in reply, without much kindness.

Yes, well, things change. She paused a moment, but did not allow enough time for me to question why she had suddenly intervened. She answered without my prompting instead. Keicchirin is under orders from Atenre—isn't it obvious? He would risk harming us if he came anywhere near us. Best to play innocent and act as though he'd never seen us than to try and reunite and end up forced to kill us.

What do you mean? I asked. Atenre wouldn't have enough of a hold on him to force Keicchirin to kill us, right? I had used 'us' rather than 'me' merely because Chichiro's wording had rubbed off on me. Honestly, I had no idea why she had included herself as being a part of me—she rarely did. And besides, he's working for Nirvana right now if he's here, isn't he?

To my surprise, Chichiro's loud, cruel cackle of a laugh was what first answered me. Then, Oh, poor, simple-minded other half of mine, don't you have any scrap of intelligence whatsoever? This so-called 'stronghold' isn't under Nirvana's power—if it was, she would have killed you back there, wouldn't she?

Now that Chichiro brought it up, if Nirvana had been in charge of the security of this place, she would not have helped me to get in even if it was a trap. So Atenre's controlling this, then?

Of course. And I suspect he's here, too. He has more of a grudge against Hiei than Nirvana anyhow.

Many questions raced through my mind, but I sensed Chichiro slip into dormancy once more a moment before I could ask any of them. A low, irritated sigh spilled my lips at the same time as a frustrated growl rumbled from my throat. She did that on purpose, I thought angrily to myself, knowing full well that she had been deliberately unhelpful after whatever point would have presented the opportunity for self-gain. Though with all of her talk about wanting us both and Hiei to die, I don't know what she could possibly get from helping me now…

Deciding not to puzzle over my yami's oddities any longer, I stood from where I had been sitting against the wall, and cautiously opened the door back into the hallway. Once sure the coast was clear, I slipped out, lingering a moment just outside the doorway.

Which way? I wondered, then mentally slapped myself. I needed to find Hiei, so I needed to try and sense him. Doing so immediately after the realization came to mind, I caught the faintest trace of his energy and decided quickly that Atenre—or whoever had imprisoned Hiei in the first place—was trying to suppress his aura. Hell, to any other person, they had probably done a good enough job that the fire demon would have been undetectable, but I could sense him better than any other person I knew of. There was no hiding him from me at such a close range.

Recalling Kurama's warning to be careful, alert and not to be seen, I decided to use a trick I hadn't had use for in a long time; in fact, I hadn't used this specific one much at all since the night that Hiei had arrived—my spiritual 'radar'. I picked up energy signals well enough, sure, but I rarely focused enough to see where they were coming from and actively sought out what kinds of energies they were.

Closing my eyes only as long as I dared, I picked out the best path to where Hiei was being held and then set off.

I chose to avoid any demons that I could, and found ways to try and slip past those I had to pass close to. Most times, it worked. The rest of the time, when I was forced to fight, I only had to be careful not to use too much energy, else I could have been detected. Luckily for me, though, most of the guards set in random places about the corridors were lower-class, or at least less intelligent B-class. Only a few A-class were about, and those I avoided entirely.

Suddenly, the faintness of Hiei's energy signal was far more extreme, and then all traces of it disappeared. For a moment I panicked, caught between thinking I'd lost track and thinking that something had happened to him. Then, I merely forced myself to remain calm. Find him, I told myself, commanding my body to keep moving toward where I had last sensed him. Find him and you can see why you lost his signal.

It was odd to me how placid I was able to make myself, all things considered. I decided it was simply because I'd already been panicked enough over Hiei's capture, and I would not be so easily worked up for an extended time quite so soon.

Although I could not be absolutely positive that it was where I had sensed him, when I silently passed by a massive wooden door with metal bars striped horizontally down its entirety, I oddly felt as though I would find Hiei behind it.

Stopping abruptly, I lingered a moment between the decision to move on or go through the door as instinct told me to. I decided that, because I had yet to experience a time when instinct had proven wrong, to trust my gut, though that was easier said than done. The door was protected with some sort of energy charm, one that was likely hundreds of times stronger than a human lock and which prevented any energy attack from affecting the door at all. Frustrated after several attempts too break in, I just drew back my right leg and, with a massive swing, kicked the door in through brute strength. The lock may have held forever—but the wood of the actual door was a different story.

Darkness yawned before me. I almost stepped forward before I realized that there was not a room immediately after the door, but rather a set of incredibly steep stone stairs that likely led to one. Gingerly taking the first unnerving step, I descended the curved staircase quickly, plunged into unrelenting darkness almost instantly.

I nearly doubled over when I reached the bottom of the staircase, for my eyesight had not entirely adjusted to the dark yet and, having not realized I had gotten past the last step, had tried to step down another and came very close to losing my balance.

I stared for a long moment straight ahead of me, fully aware that I could see little more than a foot ahead of my face. The longer I tried to penetrate the darkness, the darker and more forbidding the room seemed to become.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I decided to try and call upon my other 'yami' for help once more. Aletta? She, having been dormant for so long, was not quick to answer. Only the thoughts of my own mind answered. Aletta, I need you—where are you?

As much as I love to help, dear, came her groggy-seeming voice finally, I'm finding myself a bit offended that you only missed me when you decided you needed my help.

…Sorry.

No matter, she assured me, changed suddenly as though my quick apology had cleared her of all bitterness. What did you need me for?

I can't see a damned thing, I told her, exasperated by the fact now that I thought it more clearly and had told someone else. Can you lend me your night vision?

Not even going to let me out, are you? she grumbled to me, though relented, Fine. Take it. But give it back when you're done.

Not having even the faintest of ideas how she expected me to 'give it back,' I quickly agreed. Instantly, my eyes pierced through the darkness with the preciseness of the sharpest of knives.

Glancing about, I recognized exactly what the room was and murmured to myself, "How cliché. A friggin' dungeon?"

"Ketsue," greeted a dark, monotonous voice from the depths of the shadows across the room.

Feeling an uncontrolled smile spread across my face, I ran to the inner corner of the enormous bottom floor of the building. Although my vision had improved, it was not quite strong enough to penetrate the deepest corner from which Hiei's voice had issued. There was a stray trail of light from the shattered doorway that now seemed so far away, however, that was shining directly on the sharp red eyes of the fire demon I had been seeking, the eyes that were currently watching me with rapt attention. "Hiei—" I began, but was cut off.

"Why did you come?" There was a guarded manner in which he spoke; did I hear a note of resentment in his voice?

Startled, I said in a small, fairly hurt tone, "To rescue you. Koenma told us you'd been—"

"I didn't need to be rescued, you prat," he told me scathingly, an odd mixture of coldness and something else in his face. It was altogether the funniest and most aggravating thing Hiei had ever said(1).

Feeling my own face growing hot, I spat, "Well, maybe if I'd known you be so welcome to my help I'd have not tried at all."

"What makes you think I would not have preferred that?" he snapped in return.

"Gee, I dunno, the fact that most people care if they survive or not?"

"And you think for some reason I value my life over yours?" he snarled back to me with the same coldness as before.

I tried to think of a comeback for the split second before I registered what he'd said; when it connected, I started, stunned into silence even though my mouth was already open and ready to supply a biting retort.

Our conversation did not need continuing anyhow, as seconds later Hiei's cool, crimson gaze swept to the side as the remains of the dungeon door were suddenly cast down the long staircase with a resounding crash!

Silence entered the room only moments before quiet, deliberate-sounding footfalls told that someone else was heading down the stone steps and toward us.

It was too late to hide, I knew, and so I only stepped closer to Hiei, putting myself in front of him even though I was still several feet away from him

The figure descending the steps was tall; I could tell that even though so far the stranger was a mere silhouette. He—as the figure was indeed masculine—was not quite the height of Keicchirin, but he was not far off and was a couple of feet taller than me still.

He stopped just before he hit the bottom step. "So there you are, reincarnation of Chichiro Ketsueki," addressed a firm, surly voice from before me. Eyes narrowing against a sudden onslaught of light issuing from various places along the stone walls of the room, I stared toward where a tall demon with waist-length, blue-black hair stood, regarding me with cold amusement.

My eyes had never rested on him in my lifetime…But Chichiro's had. Fear dawned within me, crawling up my spine in the form of a cold shiver, and as I met the intense gaze of the newcomer, I whispered his name in quiet horror as I recognized him without a hint of a doubt: "Atenre…"

Authoress's Note: It may be shorter than usual (Not by too much, though), but I still really liked this chapter. Not entirely sure why. I think my writing style may have changed a bit lately…Gotta say I'm pretty sure I like it more. XD

1—Somebody has been reading too much Harry Potter. -Sweatdrop- I admit, chances of Hiei saying "prat" are slim…but it's still an amusing thought.