A/N: Come chapter eleventy-seven, the title of this chapter will make total sense. For now, it's (probably) meaningless (it's a nod to the "monster of High Road").

Chapter 22 – The Dragon Slayer

Yusuke, Hiei and Touya stood patiently in the front yard of Mukuro's headquarters as they waited for Mukuro herself. They had been stopped – as Yusuke had suspected they would be, after how his own men had greeted him back at his tower – by Mukuro's guards; but, unlike their experience in Tourin, the guards had said that they would be allowed inside just as soon as Mukuro had screened them herself. Standing in the yard had given Yusuke enough time to grow bored and start looking about himself, which had led to him realising that Mukuro's entire estate was far creepier than he remembered it to be. He had always found Mukuro a little bit creepy, and arriving at their destination at nightfall had probably only added to the creepiness of the area, but the lack of the usual ambient noise of Demon World – like thunderstorms or fighting – only made the atmosphere even more unsettling. Yusuke could hear every footstep as the guards moved about the yard, hear the rattle of every chain, clink of every sword against a holster and the occasional sigh.

When Mukuro finally did arrive, she walked out of the main entrance flanked by two enormous demons, her chin tilted slightly downwards and her uncovered eye thinned. She walked with determination and purpose, and although it was a relief to see her unchanged, it was also a little worrying to see her looking vaguely irritated.

"What brings the three of you here?" she asked as she stopped, still several feet away from Yusuke and his two remaining team-mates.

Yusuke glanced at Hiei from the corner of his eye, expecting him to take the lead as they were, after all, facing his friend and boss. But Hiei remained frustratingly quiet, and, mostly out of wanting to end the awkward silence, Yusuke ended up answering Mukuro instead.

"We need help," he said. "We came here because we were hoping you'd lend us some of your guys."

Mukuro, who had watched Yusuke unblinkingly as he spoke, stared at him for a moment longer after his last word before pointedly shifting her gaze to Hiei.

"We were assembled by Spirit World to counter the Dark Force's rising," Touya tried, despite the fact that Mukuro's attention remained fixed on Hiei. "There were eight of us initially, but three of our number have been slain, one has fallen victim to the enemy's influence and another has been detained fighting off the enemy to allow the three of us to continue here to seek help."

Mukuro kept her eyes on Hiei but still neither of them spoke.

"I get that you probably don't want to just hand over half your guys to us," Yusuke added. "But we know where the Dark Force is and who he's using as his latest puppet, so if we had more guys, we could go out there and stop him before he gets here."

"The situation here in Alaric seems quite calm," Touya said. "However in the remainder of Demon World, that is not the case."

Mukuro shifted her attention to Touya, fixing him with the same intense look she had given Yusuke and Hiei.

"Gandara is in ruins and we believe Yomi himself has perished," Touya added.

Mukuro nodded, her expression softening almost imperceptibly.

"Come inside," she offered. "You can rest and get some food. In the morning, we can discuss how you can help defend Alaric."

She turned around and started to walk away, and although Hiei started after her without question, both Touya and Yusuke remained, each exchanging looks of alarm.

"Hey, wait!" Yusuke called after Mukuro. "We didn't come here to join you, we came here to get some people to join us!"

Mukuro stopped, the two men either side of her stopping also and Hiei pausing behind her.

"Come inside," she said, looking back over her shoulder at Yusuke. "I think the situation may not be quite what you think it is."

"You have good news?" Touya asked.

Mukuro moved her eye to him.

"Just come inside," she replied.

She turned away and continued on, her foot soldiers and Hiei following her without hesitation. Yusuke turned to Touya, who looked suddenly worried, which only made Yusuke all the more apprehensive about what lay ahead of them.

"So… You think she has bad news?" he asked.

Touya shook his head.

"I don't know, Yusuke," he said. "But we can't agree to stay here and work as guards for Mukuro's empire. The rest of Demon World will fall and we will lose track of the enemy."

"I'm not staying here to play dumb guard dog to her," Yusuke replied.

Touya's eyes wandered to something above and beyond Yusuke's head, and Yusuke turned to see one of Mukuro's guards stopped a short way behind him, looking quite miffed.

"No offence, buddy," Yusuke called over to him.

He grunted and trudged on and Yusuke turned back to Touya.

"Well that was awkward," Yusuke muttered.

"Yes, just one more reason why we shouldn't stay here," Touya replied.

"Well I agree with you Touya," Yusuke said. "And I'm glad that you agree with me, but what about Hiei? Or is this gonna turn into another one of those situations you were talking about before when the group has three members and one might not agree with the other two…"

Touya's face changed slightly into a look that really made Yusuke feel pessimistic about the direction their mission was taking.

"We should prepare ourselves for the possibility that we may have to leave here without managing to recruit any additional help," he said.

"Yeah, I thought as much," Yusuke grumbled.

"And we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that we may have to leave here without Hiei."

Yusuke paused before snorting out a short, nervous laugh.

"You're kidding me, right?" he said.

Touya solemnly shook his head.

"What happened to "don't split up the team"?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't think we'll have any choice in the matter," Touya replied. "I suspect Hiei's loyalty to Mukuro will make him want to remain here as she has requested."

In the back of his mind, Yusuke still believed that, as faithful as he was to Mukuro, Hiei was still that little bit more faithful to Yusuke. And of course to his sister Yukina.

Although apparently he thought they had both betrayed him by having a child together behind his back.

Yusuke's face dropped: until that moment, he had almost forgotten that Hiei had accused him of being the father of his sister's child.

"Let's go inside for now," Touya advised. "I could be wrong. I just don't want to fool myself by being too optimistic."

Yusuke nodded and together they jogged after Hiei, eventually catching up to him halfway down the entrance corridor of Mukuro's headquarters, where he and Mukuro had stopped, along with the two foot soldiers who had been flanking Mukuro.

"These two will take you to the mess hall," Mukuro told Yusuke and Touya as they joined them. "We'll join you later."

Yusuke opened his mouth to ask what a mess hall was, but words failed him when Hiei followed Mukuro down a side corridor and the two foot soldiers moved over to block Yusuke and Touya from following them. Yusuke slowly moved his eyes to Touya, who merely raised his eyebrows slightly in an almost sympathetic "I told you so" look.

The bad feeling Hiei had experienced on the approach to Mukuro's headquarters had only gotten worse, especially so as he followed her down the confining corridor to her office. She had not said a single word to him since they had left the others in the main hallway, but he was almost glad of the lack of conversation, as it saved him the humiliation of accidentally giving away how apprehensive he actually was. When they finally entered her office and closed the door, Hiei found himself simultaneously relieved to be away from everyone else and suddenly curious as to why Mukuro had taken him so far from the others and closed the door.

"Sit down, Hiei," Mukuro said.

She started towards her large chair at the back of the room and Hiei stiffly moved over to a seat at the desk in the centre of the room, sitting into it.

"I'll start with the obvious," Mukuro said as she settled into her chair. "I'm not giving you any of my men. I appreciate what you're doing and that you need help, but you have powerful allies in other places who can help you. I intend to remain here no matter what. Even after Demon World falls, I will still be here. Just as I was the last time and the time before that."

"That's fair enough," Hiei conceded. "Just try not to let the Dark Force get the better of you."

"You do remember that I was one of those who sent it back to its prison and ended the last Dark Age?" Mukuro replied.

"Yes, but Raizen is no longer around to help you."

Mukuro gave Hiei the sort of dark look that would have, earlier in their acquaintance, been a cause for concern.

"I have others who are capable of helping when the time comes to send it back to its prison," she eventually answered.

"Yes. Aren't you glad that I arrived when I did?"

There was a brief – and yet incredibly tense – silence before Mukuro replied.

"I don't expect you to stay here with me at this time."

Hiei wondered what she meant with her response.

"You think you can handle this without me?" he asked. "Because the last time you needed Raizen, and nobody here is stronger than me."

"I understand that you have commitments in other worlds that you might feel compelled to aid at this time," Mukuro cryptically replied.

"Hn, I understand now," Hiei retorted. "You don't want me here because, without the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, you think I'm weak."

Mukuro paused again – which was so unlike her, Hiei was beginning to suspect that she was placating him – before answering.

"That's not it. I know you made a deal with your friends to protect the three worlds and you have to honour that. For your sake and for theirs."

"You're hiding something."

When Mukuro paused yet again, Hiei stood up abruptly, his chair falling down behind him.

"I did what I had to do to ensure that you would survive this Dark Age," she said. "As soon as it's all over, we can have this conversation again. But until then, if you want to survive this, you have to trust me."

Hiei lost a little of his ire as confusion crept in.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, forcing himself to sound more angry than curious.

"If the incident you were involved in on High Road hadn't kick-started another Dark Age, I never would have done what I did."

Hiei faltered as the last of his anger gave way to a sickening blend of curiosity and concern.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked again, his voice low and his tone hinting at his concern.

"Do you remember waking up from your injuries that day?" Mukuro asked.

"I remember waking up in a healing tank," Hiei replied. "With my arm a mess."

"But you had your arm when you awoke?"

"Yes, obviously, just as I have it now."

"You don't remember anything before that?"

"The last memory I have before that is collapsing on High Road."

"Because that wasn't the first time you woke up after collapsing on High Road."

"What?"

"That was third time you woke up after collapsing on High Road."

Hiei paused for long enough to scour his memories for any hint of having awoken any earlier than the moment he could remember doing so before shaking his head when he found no traces of any such recollection.

"I don't remember that," he said.

"I know you don't," Mukuro replied. "I thought it was best that way."

The idea occurred to Hiei then that he had, many times over the four years since the High Road incident, toyed with the idea of asking Mukuro to erase his memories of the event.

"You erased my memories?" he asked. "While I was in the healing tank? You had no right to do that!"

"You wanted me to," Mukuro replied. "And I didn't erase your memories, I just helped you lock them away. When the Dark Force has been securely returned to its prison, I'll help you unlock the memories – but not before that time."

Hiei thought back to the High Road incident again, at first remembering how he had tried so desperately to stop the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and only barely managed to before losing his arm. He thought maybe his pride had been the reason for him not to want to admit to what had happened, but as he thought about what might have happened the two other times he had apparently woken up afterwards, he found his mind wandering to what he could remember of the final time he had awoken and broken his way out of the healing tank, and that thought process led him to the same place it always inevitably did: to the unsettling memory of Botan wailing nonsensically at him about something that made no sense.

And, amongst her ramblings, she had insisted that the two of them had done something on High Road that day: something he could not remember.

"I want my memories back now," he concluded.

"I can't do that," Mukuro replied. "For your own safety, I can't–"

"Don't give me that crap, give me back my memories!"

"I can't do that, and I can show you why."

Hiei pulled a face at Mukuro, but she was unaffected.

"As you know, the walls of this building are comprised of the body parts of my victims," she calmly continued. "And that includes eyes, some of which can act as cameras. I have a recording I can show you that will demonstrate to you why I can't return your memories to you. Would you like to see it?"

"There's nothing you can show me that will change my mind," Hiei flatly replied. "You had no right to interfere and I want my memories back!"

He was infuriated at the idea that Botan knew more about what had happened that day than he did.

"We'll see," Mukuro said.

"Yes we will!" Hiei said indignantly.

Mukuro picked up a remote control from the armrest of her chair and pointed it at a screen mounted on the side wall of her office.

"This recording doesn't have sound, but you won't need to hear what's happening to understand what's happening," she said.

Hiei turned disinterested eyes to the screen as it flickered to life. The recording had been made in a small observation room on the top floor from an eye mounted in the roof by the back wall. It showed Hiei standing by the large window overlooking Alaric, his back to the camera, one arm leaning against the glass and the other hanging at his side as a bloody stump. Hiei frowned slightly as any scepticism began to fade: he had no memory of being there with only part of his arm, and so Mukuro truly must have closed off some of his memories. As he watched, Mukuro entered the room behind him and, judging from the movements of her hands, she was talking to him. He did not respond or even move from his position, and the moment continued that way for some time before Mukuro stopped, in the centre of the room, and stood very still. Hiei started to wonder if the recording had been paused, as the picture had become so still it seemed more like a photograph than a video: but when he saw his own head twitching slightly, he realised that he was answering Mukuro.

Hiei moved closer to the screen, studying more closely the image of himself replaying. On closer inspection, he could see the sinews of his remaining arm twitching as he clenched his fists more tightly against the window. There was no way of guessing what he was saying as he kept his head down and remained facing away from the camera: but when he finally stopped talking and Mukuro began talking again, the exaggerated hand movements she was using struck him as odd, as she rarely gesticulated so wildly. After several silent seconds of watching her waving her hands about, Hiei finally saw himself turn around, and what he saw made him glad that the video was missing an audio track.

He looked terrible.

He looked as bad – albeit without the tears or unkempt hair – as Botan had when she had come to see him after the High Road incident.

Whatever had happened that day had affected him as badly as it had her.

"Do you understand now?" Mukuro asked from behind him.

Until she had asked the question, Hiei had still thought that he wanted to know what she had helped him to forget: but when faced with the choice, he gave the only answer that made any sense.

"I understand," he said. "I don't want to remember that."

Clearly it had been something concerning the Dark Force, and if he remembered it, he might become vulnerable to becoming the enemy's next victim.

Or maybe he – and Botan, for that matter – already were under the control of the Dark Force.

Yusuke poked the tip of a sharp knife at the bloated fish on his plate. Demon World cuisine took a lot of getting used to, and he preferred to only eat food he absolutely knew the origin of: though he suspected what was in front of him was just a raw squid of some type. When a third jab of the knife made a popping sound and the gelatinous mound deflated into a shrivelled pile of goo on the plate, he sat back in his chair and sighed. Across the table from him Touya's plate of food was untouched, though he suspected that was not because the ice demon was as disgusted by the meal as Yusuke himself was.

"Hiei's been gone a long time," Yusuke commented.

"Yes," Touya replied. "I don't like sitting idle at a time like this either."

"That wasn't what I said," Yusuke pointed out.

Touya met his eyes and smiled slightly.

"In a way it was," he said. "I don't see any harm in us going outside and walking around the yard. Perhaps we might learn something. It appears Mukuro is still trying to operate the Border Patrol, if we could liaise with some of the guards involved, they might be able to tell us how the situation is in other parts of Demon World and if there have been problems with demons escaping into the living world."

"Demons escaping into the living world?"

Yusuke dropped his knife to the table with a clatter.

"Let's go," Touya suggested, rising from his seat.

Yusuke stood up and briefly looked about himself, realising that dropping his knife had apparently attracted a bit of attention his way, and none of the faces watching him looked pleased by the interruption.

"Tough crowd…" he grumbled as he followed Touya out of the mess hall – which was, he had learned, another name for a cafeteria.

Outside the sun was starting to rise, though Yusuke had long since lost track of time and what day it was, he was still vaguely surprised that he had been up all night and that Hiei had been missing all night after disappearing with Mukuro upon their arrival. He wondered what was so interesting and so secret that Hiei had to discuss it alone with Mukuro: and he began to suspect that maybe what Touya had suggested about Hiei ultimately opting to remain behind in Alaric might yet prove to be true. He began to think that, if Hiei did refuse to leave Alaric, he would need to get – at the very least – Kurama to come to Demon World to help bolster their efforts to stop the Dark Force, and possibly even Kuwabara and Kuroko Sato's two kids, since those two at least appeared quite capable: though taking Kurama, Kuwabara and the Sato siblings did leave the living world with no defences and very vulnerable. Yusuke wondered if the living world even needed any defences, as, apart from some demon insects, the situation there had seemed quite sedate when he had last visited. He had left Puu there, and although the spirit beast was not exactly a warrior, he could produce a powerful barrier – with a limited range, but that ought to be encompassing enough to protect those left behind in the safe house if they gathered close to him.

Yusuke was so caught up in his own thoughts – a state he had allowed himself to drift into, as the yard outside had proved to be full of the same boring drones trudging about – that he did not really notice that everyone appeared to be moving towards one end of the yard until he heard Touya say his name quite sharply.

"Huh?" he grunted, turning to the shorter demon.

"This doesn't look good, we should investigate," Touya replied.

He was pointing in the direction the others were all moving, and, looking over that way, Yusuke saw a Border Patrol vehicle slowly rolling back into the front yard, being pushed along by four bulky guards, the others all gathering around either side of it and talking frantically amongst themselves. The vehicle looked as though it had taken some damage – which, given the durability of the vehicles, indicated that it had come under substantial attack – the windows were blow out and the crew absent, the cockpit sprayed with blood and entrails. Yusuke could only see one side of the vehicle, but by the way the guards were acting, he assumed the side outwith his line of sight had the same point of interest as the side he could see: another passage had been written in blood, denoting another message from the enemy.

"Damn it, not this crap again…" Yusuke grumbled.

He nodded at Touya and together they hurried over to the nearest side of the vehicle, again finding four lines of text appended with a squiggly, indecipherable symbol.

"The mulberry bush that blooms in the light, and stands tall for the sake of his honour, has lived for too long in an assumed role, but will not bend to the mighty acer," Touya read aloud.

"Oh great," Yusuke groaned. "First he was talking about snow and now it's all about gardening. Two things I hate, don't know anything about and don't care about."

"We should check the other side," Touya replied, unperturbed by Yusuke pessimism.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to see what other cryptic crap he's scribbled down…"

Yusuke and Touya walked around the edge of the guards – the fact that they had all gathered closely around the vehicle to read the messages only confirmed to Yusuke that they were idiots, since the lettering was large enough to be read from the other end of the yard – until they had reached the other side of the vehicle and gained sight of the second verse, which was again ended with a small squiggly symbol.

"Fulfilling the promise hastily made, and overcome by inexperience, untruths told with surface and break apart, the tree will grow in darkness eternal."

Yusuke's face twisted as Touya finished reading aloud the second verse.

"I have no idea either, I'm afraid," Touya offered, upon seeing his reaction. "But the method the message was delivered by is more telling than the message itself. The enemy is clearly targeting us: how else did it know to leave a message for us in that little market town we passed through? And now, destroying one of the Border Patrol vehicles, one of the symbols of order in this world and protection of the living world, clearly the enemy is trying to intimidate us."

"I'm not intimidated by something that doesn't have the balls to meet me face-to-face," Yusuke replied. "But we need to get back to Chu and we need to find Enki."

"That is perhaps the key to stopping the Dark Force," Touya agreed. "But first I suppose we should clarify whether or not Hiei intends to continue on our journey with us."

"Right…" Yusuke said. "If we can even find him…"

He had hoped that the commotion in the yard would draw Hiei outside, but there was no sign of him, which meant that he and Touya would have to return to waiting in the mess hall: and Yusuke had little patience left for sitting around waiting for Hiei to decide whether or not he was going to honour his promise to remain with the team until the Dark Age was over.

"We could use this moment of general distraction to sneak inside and locate Hiei," Touya suggested. "Under normal circumstances, I would never advise we force our way into the restricted access areas of Mukuro's headquarters, but this is too urgent to wait any longer."

"I like the way you're thinking," Yusuke agreed. "Let's do it."

Together they quickly and quietly crossed the yard: but as they neared a door back inside, Hiei stepped out.

All three stopped.

Something about the look on Hiei's face told Yusuke he had come to deliver more bad news.

"I can't. It's not something I can do. I have thought about it, but I just can't."

"Won't you even consider it?"

"I already have considered it. I'm not being frivolous. I just can't do it."

"Is there nothing I can do to convince you to change your mind?"

"No… I'm sorry."

Kurama smiled in spite of himself as Kuwabara and Fubuki started to snigger into their hands. All three of them were on the porch watching a scene unfolding in the centre of the front lawn, one that was proving to be a welcome and relaxing distraction from the situation inside the safe house.

"Cucumber is very good for your skin," Shiori insisted, picking up a slice of cucumber from the plate she had placed down at Akira's side. "You can even apply it directly, putting it on your eyes like this."

She leaned her head back and placed the slice of cucumber on her eye to demonstrate her point, but Akira looked even more disgusted than ever: however he quickly hid his repulsion when Shiori lowered her head again and looked directly at him.

"I've tried it before," he said patiently. "Many times. I just can't eat it. It tastes like perfume."

"But you have such lovely skin, don't you want to keep it nice?" Shiori asked.

Akira started to turn red in the face and lowered his head self-consciously.

"Maybe you just don't like it a certain way," Shiori tried. "Have you tried it in sushi? Or as part of a salad or sandwich?"

"I can still taste it," Akira muttered. "The juices get into everything else it touches and it makes everything else taste like perfume. It ruins salads and sandwiches."

"Maybe just try a thin slice."

"I hate it the most when it's thinly sliced. It feels all slimy but it's still crunchy, and the feeling of it like that makes me feel sick."

"How about in cubes?"

"Then you have a cube that's just made out of the slimy seedy bit in the middle, and that's the worst part."

"A cube from the outer edge."

"I don't like the ridged skin."

"But lots of vegetables have a ridged skin."

"I don't like them either."

Fubuki turned away and giggled into her hands.

"The kid is hilarious!" she said. "I love it when he's so blunt and determined and then he apologises for it – but he's only apologising in case he's offended anyone, he doesn't care if they think he's stubborn and rude!"

"Your mom's wasting her time, Kurama," Kuwabara added, turning to Kurama. "I've tried to make Akira try all sorts of food for years. It never works."

"I'll let her know," Kurama replied. "But not right now. Right now my mother's obsession with trying to feed Akira is keeping her occupied, and the longer she remains distracted, the less likely she is to notice how long she has been here or anything bad that happens in the news."

"Well in that case, it looks like your mom is gonna be distracted until the end of time," Fubuki said, rolling her eyes.

"I say let them enjoy the silence, because it doesn't look like it's gonna last long."

Kurama turned as Kaisei moved out to join them on the porch, holding his communication mirror open.

"Message from the boss," he said, turning the communicator around to show Koenma's solemn face.

"And I'm afraid it's bad news," Koenma said.

Kurama, Kuwabara and Fubuki moved in closer to the mirror and Kaisei peered down over the top of it.

"The border between Spirit World and Demon World is surprisingly clear and quiet, but unfortunately the same can't be said for the living world," Koenma said. "Something major has entered the living world, and it's causing havoc less than five miles outside of Tokyo: if that chaos hits the city, what is currently a headline story for the local news will rapidly turn into a headline in the global news, and panic will prevail in the human realm. Get in there quickly and get rid of the problem."

"Can do!" Fubuki said cheerfully. "And Kaisei's on guard duty – again – which means he misses out – again."

"No," Kurama said. "Kuwabara will stay here – he's still not fully healed – and Kaisei will come with us."

"Good luck," Koenma said, before the screen of the communication mirror went blank.

Kaisei closed over the communicator and stuffed it into his shirt pocket.

"I'm happy to go," he said.

"I'm happy to stay, but are you sure you can manage this one without me?" Kuwabara asked Kurama.

"Yes, we'll be fine," Kurama replied.

He was unsure exactly what awaited them, but after witnessing Akira stand up to a B-class demon whilst under the restraint of the Spirit World prison issue collar, and after seeing glimpses of how much faster and stronger he was without it during their training session when he had managed to convince Akira to let him remove the collar, Kurama decided that this latest event would be an ideal opportunity to remove the collar and test how Akira could handle himself against a genuine threat. He was sure it would take some convincing for Akira to allow him to remove the collar, but Kurama felt that he was starting to understand how the boy's mind worked: for all he was sometimes stubborn and often reserved, he had a genuine desire to be agreeable and to not let other people down, and as he seemed to be starting to trust Kurama, he thought that he might be able to use that opening to convince Akira that it would be okay to let him remove the collar in the presence of others.

Kurama was almost certain that turning Akira loose would do no harm. He was almost certain that Spirit World had misjudged the youngster. There was a slight chance that, without the collar, Akira might lose control of his own power – because clearly he had never trained to the fullest limits of his natural abilities – but there was a part of Kurama that wanted to see just how ruthless Akira could be, if only to try to fathom what had happened to the SDF officer named Shun-Jun during their training session.

Along with Kaisei and Fubuki, Kurama started across the lawn, both Shiori and Akira standing up as he approached.

"Excuse me mother, there is somewhere I must go," Kurama said to Shiori.

"That's alright," she replied with a soft smile. "I'm having a nice time here with Akira."

"Akira has to come with me, I'm afraid," Kurama said. "But Keiko and Shizuru are still inside, and I believe they're about to start watching a movie. Why don't you join them?"

"Alright," she said. "It is lovely here. I'm glad I let you convince me to come here for a short break. It is very relaxing."

As Shiori headed back inside, Kaisei, Fubuki and Akira all gave Kurama flat looks.

"I had to tell her something," he whispered.

"You lied to your mom?" Akira asked.

"He could hardly tell her that he was taking her up here so she wouldn't get attacked by demons," Fubuki pointed out. "Though he could have come up with a better excuse than telling her that this was just a short break…"

"What are you gonna tell her when she's still here three weeks from now?" Kaisei asked.

"You lied to you mom?" Akira asked again. "I never lie to my mom!"

"We should hurry to the bus stop," Kurama said.

"I can't believe you lied to your mom…" Akira muttered.

Kurama sighed quietly, inwardly hoping that whatever they were going to confront was something that could be swiftly and simply dealt with.

Hiei could tell by the look on Yusuke's face that what he had come to tell him would not go over well: but he had no other choice.

"Hiei, we have to leave here," Touya said. "The Dark Force has attacked the Border Patrol, it won't be long before it comes here, we have to try to stop it before it gets this far."

"No," Hiei flatly replied.

Yusuke turned to Touya.

"Could you give me a minute alone with Hiei?" he muttered.

"Only a minute, time is of the essence," Touya said.

"Sure," Yusuke agreed.

Touya nodded and moved away. Yusuke watched him go before slowly turning back to Hiei.

"Don't do this," he said.

"Do what?" Hiei echoed.

"You know what," Yusuke replied. "That thing you're thinking of doing, don't do it."

"I don't have time to guess what you're hinting at, Yusuke," Hiei told him. "That patrol vehicle isn't the only thing the Dark Force has sent back here after us."

"What are you talking about?"

Hiei's eyes moved away from Yusuke as he saw, on the distant horizon, exactly what he had come to tell Yusuke about. And so, since Yusuke was apparently not prepared to listen to him, he simply pointed towards it. Yusuke looked back over his shoulder for a prolonged moment at the approaching hurricane before slowly turning back to face Hiei again.

"So what happened to Chu?" he asked in a low voice.

"I don't know," Hiei replied. "But he isn't amongst those approaching."

"Those?"

Hiei pointed over at the horizon again and again Yusuke turned, this time looking a little more carefully and apparently noticing that the hurricane was not the only hazard drawing closer to them. He turned back to Hiei looking paler and finally a little concerned.

"We have to make a decision, Yusuke," Hiei told him. "We either stay here and fight shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else here, try to hold this base, or…"

Yusuke leaned forwards slightly and raised his eyebrows as he waited for Hiei to continue. Hiei paused a little longer as he had been sure that their other option was obvious, but when Yusuke held his position, he realised that the mazoku was either not thinking the same way as him or else unable to see the one other option they had left.

"Or we fall back."

"Fall back?"

Hiei grunted in irritation: he had not expected to have to be so explicit, he had assumed that Yusuke would understand.

"If we remain here, we will become entrapped here," he said. "And as long as that is the case, we will be here until the Dark Age ends: and that means we are entrusting the SDF to protect Spirit World from falling and Kurama, Kuwabara and the humans to protect the living world. Are you happy with that? Are you confident that the armies of the other two worlds can hold their own against an enemy that has gone through our defences like a hot knife through butter? Because I'm not. I'm not one for running away from a fight, but I'm not about to let this bastard trap us here – which is what it's about to try to do – so I'm leaving here and I'm going back to the living world to face the enemy there. That "safe house" won't stay safe if we don't go there to guard it."

Yusuke looked surprised and slightly confused.

"And I'm not leaving without you, Yusuke," Hiei added. "So any thoughts you have about waiting here to nobly avenge the deaths of your friends should be put aside, because I will drag you back to the living world by force if I have to."

Yusuke looked weird.

"Hiei…"

"I mean it Yusuke. Get Touya and let's go."

"I could kiss you!"

Hiei dropped out of range, barely managing to escape as Yusuke lunged at him. He looked up to see Yusuke's arms closing around empty air.

"Stop joking around, idiot!" Hiei snapped at him.

"I thought you weren't on our side!" Yusuke said. "I thought you were gonna turn on us! I actually thought you were gonna either want to stay here with Mukuro or else you were gonna turn around and say you'd been working for the Dark Force all along!"

"Don't be such an idiot, Yusuke!" Hiei snorted, straightening up and side-stepping away from him. "I told you before: I don't let anyone or anything control me. Nothing and no-one ever has, and nothing and no-one ever will."

Yusuke was starting to look unsettlingly happy and so Hiei turned his attention to Touya, standing some distance away pretending not to hear what they were saying.

"We're leaving," Hiei called over to him.

"We should go right now," Touya called back.

Hiei turned to Yusuke, who nodded enthusiastically, and together the three remaining members of the Demon World team started towards the back of the yard.

Next Chapter: The LW team find a message from the DF and realise that agents of the DF have reached the LW and Kurama realises that Akira harbours a lot of resentment towards Hiei. Jin catches up to the DW team and brings an unusual form of back-up to battle against them (this is one of the first real instances why it will be obvious why I took the Dragon from Hiei). The LW team find the situation in Tokyo is much worse than they expected, and Kurama quickly comes to regret freeing Akira from the binds of the collar when she turns her increased might on one of her own team mates. Chapter 23 – So Numb