A/N: I'm going to post a chapter every other day for a while so that I can get myself caught up and stuff. So no worries mate. Just givin' meself an extry day to collect me thoughts. Enjoy the chapter!

O/C37: Everyone finally agrees that the only way they are going to save Misaki is by bringing Sensui back. Tahatchi tells them that he'll need Sensui's body to bring him back and fortunately Coahtu has already 'stolen' the body from Itsuki who took it into another dimension when Sensui died. Kurama appears and uses Misaki's pendant to transport them to her house, the only place that Tahatchi can do the resurrecting without affect the surrounding area. Genkai shows up as Tahatchi is working and tries to hold off Misaki's disease; Misaki has lost another sense: touch. Tahatchi manages to bring Sensui back, though Yusuke has to lend energy to help. Sensui picks Misaki up and restores Tahatchi and Yusuke's energy, telling them to follow him, and then he opens a rift into the realm of the dead. Koenma takes out an hour glass and turns it upside down. If the sand runs out before they return, they will become permanent residents with the dead.

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Tahatchi and Yusuke had to wait a moment before they could see. Sensui's long stride already carried him several feet away and they hurried to catch up.

None of them spoke as they continued to walk. Sensui would occasionally stop and look around as if searching for something. A few times he angled his direction before starting out again.

While Tahatchi had brought back countless souls before, he never had the opportunity to travel into the death realm before. Tahatchi took as many opportunities as he could to look around. He didn't see much. Or rather, he couldn't. A constant, heavy black and white swirling mist limited his sight. He did notice shapes in the mist, floating along.

The shapes caught his interest and he slowed down, trying to catch a glimpse of the haunting figures. Tahatchi realized that Sensui had stopped that he and Yusuke were several yards away.

"Do not stray." Was all Sensui said, "They would sooner have another member in their midst than leave you alive."

"What is this place?" Yusuke asked, his courage plucked to speak by Sensui speaking first.

Sensui walked for a moment longer before responding.

"This is the realm of the dead. Those who have not been judged by Spirit World rest here. Some remain only for an hour after death. Other will stay indefinitely, forced to wander these harsh mists, haunted by a feeling of incompleteness. That is a far worse fate than ten thousand years of torture for ten thousand cycles even though the soul ceases to exist after the torture is over."

"How many are here forever?" Tahatchi asked.

Sensui shook his head, "I do not know. Enough that if you can listen with ears that cannot hear their cries echo continuously for redemption from this in-between place."

Yusuke didn't understand the paradox and as he had nothing better to do, he tried to figure it out.

They could not count time here, for time did not exist. And they kept walking. Forever to them, and yet only for a moment as well. The simple vastness of the realm humbled Tahatchi.

Miles later, or maybe only feet they did not know, the fog seemed to lift a little and they could see a few meters in front of them.

Suspended in the air was Misaki's true body. Nothing looked like it was supporting her, her hair hung down and swept the ground, her arms hung loose. As they came closer, they saw that she was actually encased somehow. A clear encasement held her in place and she moved ever-so-slightly within it by whatever powers suspended her. Her face was almost too pale, her features too crystalline.

The three of them stood over her. Sensui put Sandra's body on the ground and reached out to put his hands over the enclosure when there was a fierce growl and a small cat jumped onto it, hackles raised and claws extended, intending to sacrifice its fragile existence within the realm to protect Misaki.

"I will not harm her. And I don't wish to harm you." Sensui picked the cat up by the middle and was about to move it to the side when its size suddenly been to grow and Sensui was suddenly underneath a much larger cat, bigger, and heavier, than even the largest tiger. The cat snarled again, its face and teeth inches from Sensui's face.

"Hitune? What are you doing here?" Yusuke recognized the calico fur which matched the color of the cat youkai.

The cat's slit-pupil eyes snapped over to Yusuke. The cat's snarl changed into a low rumble as it hopped off of Sensui and rubbed against Yusuke's side.

"I did not know you had died," Hitune said after he had changed forms. "It is a comfort to know a face within this place."

"Are you stuck here forever?" Tahatchi asked gravely.

Hitune considered the youkai before answering.

"You are like me!" he smiled.

"No, no he's not. Not really." Yusuke interrupted quickly.

Tahatchi was confused and he was going to ask what Hitune meant but Yusuke was frantically miming for him to not ask so he shut his mouth.

"To answer your question, I am dead." Hitune said to Yusuke, he turned back to Tahatchi, "And you answer yours, no. Though I find that there are many here who remain and it troubles me." His brow turned down with his displeasure.

Sensui had stood by this time, "May I release her?"

Hitune looked Sensui up and down, "You may, if you can." He shook his head, long calico hair shifting with the motion, "I find that I cannot for I do not have the power. Nor the means."

"How...why are you here?" Yusuke asked, almost afraid for the answer.

Hitune's cat-like eyes grew solemn, "I am dead."

"But you said that you aren't stuck here, so why are you still here?" Tahatchi said.

One of Hitune's eyebrow rose, "If it wasn't obvious, I was here trying to figure out how to release Misaki. I believe this to be only her body and while I did not know what I would do after I set her free, I wished to do so. I also vowed to protect her from the others."

"Others?" Yusuke looked around.

"The others. Hidden away in the surrounding mists. They fought for her at first but eventually they left me alone."

"Do you know how long you will have to wait before you can move on?" Tahatchi had to know as much as he could about the in-between place. He thought that perhaps he couldn't actually resurrect the dead and that he could only bring back those who remained in the realm, waiting for their chance.

"They have already called me on, but I had found Misaki and I refused to go."

Sensui looked up from his work, "You may never get that call again."

"I do not care." Hitune drew himself up to his full height.

Tahatchi and Yusuke both had new respect for this youkai.

"How...how did you die? No one ever knew. You just up and disappeared...around the same time Misaki disappeared." Yusuke recognized once he thought about it.

Hitune sighed deeply and looked at Misaki's body. "I left the agency, breaking my house arrest. Then I arrived here. Had I not known I was already dead, I would have mourned for the loss of my life."

"So you were killed?" Tahatchi pursued further.

Hitune eyes seemed to look inward but he didn't respond. Whether he had heard Tahatchi or not, they couldn't tell.

"That means you were here for...seven or eight months." Yusuke told him.

"Really? That doesn't seem right, but then it couldn't be wrong. I believe time passes differently here. Or perhaps time simply doesn't pass at all. You cannot tell."

"What is it like?" Tahatchi asked.

"What is death like? You ask a hard question. Here death is simply waiting."

Tahatchi frowned, "That wasn't exactly what I meant."

"Perhaps your desire was to know what sensations are felt. Sadness, anger. Is that what you wish to know about?"

"I think so."

"Then that question is easier. You hunger, there is no food. You thirst, there is no drink. You try to feel what you felt in life, but those simply are not here. Even the hunger and thirst are not the same. The food you desire is that which is beyond these confines. The drink, something sweeter than life. You feel sad, but that is not the right word. Some are angry about their deaths, the atrocities that occur during life. And as you remain here longer, all of these things are amplified. If I could pity, I would for those who must stay forever.

"So I have answered your questions, what of you? If you are not dead, why are you here?"

Tahatchi and Yusuke looked at each other and Tahatchi shrugged.

"Misaki isn't dead. You were right. This is just her body. What makes her who she is...that is within this body." Yusuke gestured to Sandra's blonde-headed figure.

Hitune crouched down by Sandra, muttering something incoherent to himself.

"If this is indeed her, the life force within is ebbing fast." He leaned over her.

"How can you tell?" Tahatchi knelt beside him.

"You must look with eyes that cannot see."

Hitune's statement was eerily similar to Sensui's when talking of hearing but Sensui didn't appear to notice.

Hitune frowned when he looked at Tahatchi, then over to Yusuke and finally Sensui.

"What?" Yusuke didn't like the expression on his face.

"You...all of you...this place drains you. Even now your bodies are attempting to fight against the realm, but it is a losing battle. While your spirit energy is not affected, your life energy is receding. And it will continue to do so, and in exponentially larger amounts."

"So we're dieing?!" Both Tahatchi and Yusuke exclaimed. They whipped around to face Sensui who was still working on the barrier.

"That is why time is of the essence. Even here where time has no grip, it will still affect you. You do not belong here. Not yet. The other world still keeps you." Sensui said in his quiet voice.

"But not for long," Hitune added, standing up again.

Misaki had heard Hitune's words when he first knelt down and now she responded, eyes opening.

Hitune sunk back down to her and saw that her eyes where milky-white, the ability to see, and thus the color, depleted. He touched her arm.

"Misaki? Can you hear me?"

She looked directly at him, but did not see him. Neither did she feel his hand on her shoulder.

"Hi...Hitune?" She said weakly before her head fell back to the side.

"What has happened to her?" Hitune asked frantically.

"The body she's in...it's contracted a rare disease."

Sensui listened in, though he didn't stop what he was doing.

"She's steadily gotten worse." Yusuke continued, hesitantly, "I think that...in the last stages...you lose your senses. Or something. And as she loses the last one, she'll die."

"Was that the last one?" Hitune whispered.

"No, she can still hear. I think. I hope."

"Done." Sensui sat down, his whole body tired from the exertion.

They all looked over as the encasement shimmered before winking out.

"You've freed her!" Hitune said with awe in his voice.

"It will take more power than I have to return her to this body." Sensui admitted, "Will you lend me yours?"

"Gladly." Tahatchi said. Yusuke nodded agreement.

Hitune shook his head, "Had I anything to give, I would be more than willing. I'm afraid I have nothing but the desire for her to be revived."

Misaki trembled within Sandra's body. She had been trying so hard to listen to every word that was being spoken because she knew that was her last hope. For a moment, she considered letting go, but Hitune, sensing her thoughts, leaned close to her ear and began talking to her. She latched on to his voice and struggled as it faded.

Sensui placed a hand on Yusuke and Tahatchi's shoulders for a moment. They collapsed when he removed his hands, feeling as though they had just ran an impossible distance.

As he moved his hands over Sandra and Misaki's bodies, he began to glow.

The other three watched as something moved onto his hand, passing from fingers to wrist to shoulder all the way up and down the other arm but when it reached his hand over Misaki's body, it stopped and Sensui's face became drawn as he concentrated harder.

"Misaki you must listen! You have to let her go! She's already gone and you cannot do anything more to help her while you stay in her body!" Hitune said urgently, "And you will die if you stay! Then you will be of no help to anyone!" He snarled the last words at her.

Sensui continued his desperate fight to restore Misaki to her body.

Hitune could see that Misaki was almost gone and if she died now, she would take Sensui with him. He realized that this was why Sensui did the transferal himself.

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Thanks for reading, as always!

-lotsm