Hahaha, I know these chapters are kinda short, but the last one is gonna be a tad bit longer. I still don't own YYH, by the way =]

Chapter 38! Yaaayyyyy!

A Human(oid) Portal

"Fuck!" Snapped Yusuke, trying hard to push backwards. Demons were walking out of Jonathan! And the hallway was not a very conductive place to fight. There was no room to really maneuver. Kurama and Kuwabara were forced to follow, being pushed back by the heavy blows of a demon bigger than most wrestlers. Kurama's whip was out and flashing, lights blinding him as Kuwabara's giant sword formed and Yusuke shot energy ball after energy ball at the large demon. Two smaller demons were flanking him, cackling meanly. They were identical, flickering in place.

Sagaku was bearing down on Jonathan, the metal coil around her wrist melting and reforming in her hand. Jonathan fell against the wall, using it to bear his weight as he kicked out at her. She dodged the kick, thrusting her hand hard against his throat.

"Maybe you'll know who I'm talking about if I call them Shoseki and Nenriki. What did you do to them?" She growled.

"Oh." Jonathan chuckled, sounding hoarse as he tried to talk through a constricted throat. "You see, I have a group back home in Georgia." He kicked again, this time catching Sagaku hard in the thigh. She thudded painfully against the wall right behind her. The hallway truly wasn't a good place to fight, but it was too late to move now. "They were researching and practicing. They knew demons were out there…they just couldn't fight them." Sagaku dodged his punch, and then thrust the palm of her hand up. His nose cracked and he groaned, falling sideways before straightening and grabbing a handful of her hair. He let go with a cry of agony as his hand came in contact with her opal chopstick.

"So you just rode in on someone else's glory?" The short girl leapt at the boy, dropping him to the ground.

"Oh no, they needed me." He smashed the side of her face. "I'm the only one that can summon demons." She had clearly witnessed that, as now her mate and friends were all tied up in skirmishes. The bangs coming from the living room definitely didn't sound good.

The demon tried to move to Dayne, but the colored strands were forming a thick, translucent wall between them. He growled, frustrated, and waved his hand dismissively at the lights. They only formed more thickly.

"I see you have your own collection of souls, dear." He sneered at Dayne. Her eyes widened, even as she tried to control the reaction. Souls? Oh god, she hoped not. The demon's sneer transformed into a grin as he saw the look on her face, though. "I see you didn't realize that's what these were. So how do you feel, knowing that hundreds of souls are unable to continue on to their resting place because of you?"

"They're not souls." Dayne denied, even as she wondered if they could be. Two were swirling tightly around her – the bright green one that was the color of Kurama's eyes, and the magenta one that had caught her eye the first time. Up and down her arm they traveled, barely grazing her skin. She could feel static, pulling her arm hairs up and down stiffly, growing stronger and stronger.

"Dear, if you truly believed that, your face wouldn't be turning so red. Let me take your soul and you won't have to worry about embarrassment or other useless emotions anymore." He beckoned invitingly, his voice so smooth and lovely that Dayne could feel wheels in her head turning at his offer. It was a sick sort of magic, his voice.

"Is that how you convinced Jonathan?" The girl snapped angrily, stepping forward. Her wall moved flexibly, the colors moving like birds to swirl crazily above her head. The green and the magenta tendrils remained close at hand.

"He called me forth." The demon's voice was sly, pleasant. Dayne's back was already set. She knew a mask when she heard it. And his smile wasn't fooling her either. "And he can keep his soul without humanity. He can't have humanity without his soul."

Kurama and Yusuke had somehow ended up back to back, facing off with the twin demons. Kuwabara and the hulking demon were pounding each other heavily, moving slowly towards the kitchen. "Fuck, these little demons are fast!" Yusuke exclaimed, panting slightly. The demons switched places frequently, making it even harder to get a grasp on them. Kurama's rose whip flashed out once more, another seed in his hand, ready to make contact. He just had to stop one of them demons for it to work. At least he knew Jonathan wasn't in the room with Dayne, as long as Sagaku was holding up.

"What does that have to do with my friends?" Sagaku grunted, dropping into a crouch to avoid Jonathan's fists. They connected heavily with the wall. She dove at his knees, knocking him off balance swiftly as she stood back up.

"We heard whispers that they were in contact with an elusive Hanshoku." Jonathan rolled into the opposite wall, using it to force himself back onto his feet. He grinned at the girl. "This is the first real conversation we've ever had. Isn't it fun?" He punched unexpectedly. The metal in the girl's hand engulfed his fist, crushing down.

"Tons. Why did you need a Hanshoku?" The metal was inching further up his arm. His face was skewed in pain now.

"To tunnel through the barriers of the worlds. Only Hanshoku can tap into stones in all three worlds to do it." He was hissing in agony now, attempting to beat Sagaku with his spare hand. It was burning her, but most of the blows glanced off to the side, due to her stones and the shifting metal.

"Did Ned and Sam tell you how to do that?" Sagaku asked, her face dark and her lip twisted into a snarl that she didn't sound.

"No, but they accidentally let slip that there was a skilled Hanshoku here in Japan." His shoulder crunched beneath the metal. He screamed.

Hiei's katana thrust one last time at the demon, at the base of the throat. The demon dropped. He turned out of the bedroom they had fallen into during the fight, and came face to face with his mate crushing the human the other girl kept saying was her friend. He couldn't sense any other demons around the other girl, so he stayed to keep an eye on his mate. He wasn't going to step in unless the human showed signs of being able to hurt her.

With a cry, Dayne thrust the long tendrils of colors that surrounded her at the demon. He lifted a hand, and other colors came flying up in front of him, twisted and warped. There was a keen crying noise, almost strong enough to make Dayne cover her ears. The demon flew at her, the twisted, screaming strands of murky color following him. The two tendrils that stayed at her hands wrapped around her fists, and when she went to punch the demon in the face, something similar to electricity flowed through her. She missed his face, but his shoulder sizzled when her fist made contact. He reached out to grab her. One of the brighter tendrils, one of hers, slipped into his hand. He withdrew with an agonized jolt. Dayne danced back, her long ribbons of color once again following her back.

"They're not stolen souls." She grinned eerily at him. She could feel power shifting inside of her – power and knowledge. "They fight willingly to help me." It was true; the colors were in front of her, shielding her from the twisted jabs of his own murky souls. Even trying not to think about it, Dayne couldn't help but wonder if one was her dad.

"You have less power when you let the souls use you." The demon sneered, his arms sweeping up grandly. The decaying souls flew up in the air, forming something similar to a tidal wave.

"You think you absorb their power?" Dayne laughed, watching the tidal wave of souls form even larger. "You only absorb their hatred." She lifted her own hands, pointing her fingers upward. The colored souls swept up her body, caressing past her skin as the stretched to cut off the wall of souls.

"Then I'll absorb yours as well, and with it those souls." He dove at her once more, his voice no longer so smooth and charismatic. It was coarse and angry, and even as she punched and bit at him, kicking hard at his knees, his demonic strength was forcing her fast to her knees.

He couldn't steal a soul unsurrendered. She would not scream. The strand of green was flying back to her, spinning past loose strands of murky souls that had been separated from the others in the wave.

With a growl, Kurama finally planted the seed on the quick demons. Both Yusuke and Kurama were forced to jump back when a tree erupted over the two demons, easily bending them under its steadily growing roots.

"What," Yusuke panted, "is that?" He aimed his finger at the struggling twins, building up his energy.

"It's just an oak tree. They're very heavy-weight, and I didn't dare use demonic plants in the ningenkai." Kurama answered, panting as well. Yusuke fired. The tree and its two occupants exploded. "I've got to get to Dayne." Kurama bolted to the hallway. He knew which room she was in, and after shoving past Sagaku and Jonathan, the latter who was getting interrogated even while he was slowly dying, and dodged into the room of Dayne's father.

Dayne wasn't moving from where she sat crumpled to the floor. She was clearly dreaming, her eyes half-closed with concentration on the world few had access to. Kurama took wary steps up to her, watching for whatever had caused her to collapse. He couldn't see or smell or even hear anything in the room but her. He knelt down cautiously, wondering if he should remain standing in order to defend the fragile girl better, but he couldn't see anything to defend her against. He reached out a shaking hand, touching her cheek.