"--The deal? Do you know what's happening and what that was?" Someone said, probably Yusuke.

Not yet opening my eyes, I became somewhat aware of where I was. My left arm hurt, like it'd been strained. My feet were barely skimming the ground, occasionally bumping across rocks and I felt an arm around my waist. Someone was helping me along.most likely Kuwabara. I sensed the surroundings to be very familiar. It felt like my old home, my old territory. Then I knew it. We were traveling through Makai.

"That demon I was chasing earlier. He can possess any body he wants as long as he uses his current body to injure it and create a wound to enter through." Hiei's low voice answered, sounding practical.

"Well, then how did he get into you?" said a loud notorious voice almost in my ear.

That aroused me enough to lift my heavy eyelids and peer at the fast moving ground beneath me. I tried to move my head to look up at Kuwabara, but that just made it spin. It flopped back, not obeying me. I guess Kuwabara felt me stir, even if it was barely at all.

He slowed his pace a bit, "Oi, Kurama!"

"Is he awake already? I would've thought he needed more rest." Yusuke said, to my right.

"M-Makai? Why are we here?" I managed to ask; my voice was barely audible.

"To find Mukuro. Hopefully she'll be able to help us, hopefully." Yusuke replied.

Mukuro? I couldn't focus on whether she'd actually help or not. She was the type of person who usually didn't get involved if she could help it. Then again, this is pretty critical and I'll bet anything that this has to concern her. As if I had hit my head, suddenly all that had happened in the Reikai replayed in my mind. The whole incident...every horrible detail returned. Wincing, I remembered my wounds. Was Hiei with us? He should be. I thought I heard him, but I wasn't sure.

"Hiei?" I said with a gasp, raising my right hand to barely graze across my wound, which had accidentally opened and was now bleeding since I was straining to say on my feet.

"Hm? What, Kurama?", came a sullen reply.

"Did that thing tell you anything while he was in your body?" Unsteadily forcing out the words, that was all I could think about right now.

That demon had the time of his life controlling me. He did tell me some information, and judging by that I figured I was as good as dead. But here I am, free of him, my mind and body no longer seized from me. Why had he let me go? Devoid of any feelings, I thought he'd found the perfect body, and assuming this I figured he would use it to its full extent. This frustrated me, and grated my nerves along with everything else I had to worry about.

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked, having no clue.

Hiei gave a pained sigh, "Said he was planning to kill Koenma once he lured you all into the palace. Thought he'd kill us off. And as for me, I don't know."

"What about Koenma? Did he tell you he wasn't going to stay in your body? That he'd transfer to him?" Kuwabara said, finally getting the idea of what had happened. As close as you can get to understand it anyway, if you'd not experienced it.

"Kazuma-san!" a familiar voice cried suddenly.

I felt Kuwabara's grip tighten on my left arm. We were moving through some dense trees when my eyes poorly attempted to focus on a small form running in our direction. Was that aqua hair? I shut my eyes tight and opened them again. Blue kimono.I know that kimono. What a wonderful turn my body has taken thanks to these wounds. Feeling a cold aura, I knew who it was. The only female koorime I knew.

"Y-Yukina-san?!" Kuwabara howled, and stopped abruptly, "What are you doing here?!"

I winced at the sharp piercing quality his voice obtained so close to my ear. "Ow," I whispered, "Yukina?"

Once we'd stopped moving I was able to take in our exact location. Upon doing so, I gasped in alarm and surprise. This wasn't just any bunch of trees. Here, was a favorite meeting spot of my former gang that I'd stood at the head of back in my youko days. The infamous thieving gang I'd gained my reputation from. If that conniving demon was who I thought he was, there sure were a lot of questions to be asked. Kumo. I haven't really thought of him since those days.

"What the hell?" I just barely heard Hiei murmur, and I knew his jaw would be hanging open had be not been the person he was.

"Hey! Yukina, how did you get here? You shouldn't be able to get here and we shouldn't be able to get here. Oh man." Yusuke finally said, sounding like a confused child.

Yusuke could not be more right. I hadn't taken that into consideration. The urgency of the current situation however had me occupied, but that didn't make it less important. Finally, she halted in front of us, trying to catch her breath. Yukina didn't look particularly terrified, but not calm either. She seemed accustomed to the surroundings, which frankly didn't shock me. I figured since she hadn't been in Makai in quite awhile, she'd have to adjust once more. Why was she here anyway?

"Uh, Yukina. This isn't the best time to visit." Yusuke pondered on how he was going to say this.

I had a strange feeling about saying so, but it felt right, "You know what's happening, don't you?"

To everyone's surprise, she answered, "Yes. I might be able to."

Kuwabara's jaw dropped, and he nearly dropped me, "Huh?! Did I miss something?"

"I think we all did, Kuwabara. Calm down." Yusuke said, patting him on the shoulder.

Yukina hugged Kuwabara, or at least tried anyway, "Kazuma-san! I was so worried!"

Hiei stepped forward to face his younger sister. Ripping off the ward he'd recently put on, he stared dead at her with his Jagan. Yukina then let go of Kuwabara, and returned the stare. I held my breath, suddenly wondering if Hiei was finally going to tell her. Yukina didn't flinch at the sight of the violet eye on his forehead that was testing her mental resistance. Her mahogany eyes narrowed a bit, and drawing a huge breath, dismissed the competition with a loosened sigh, eyes closed. My eyes grew slightly larger. Hiei smirked and, closing the third eye replaced the ward.

"Yukina-san?!" Kuwabara howled, and I could see that his face was contorted in perplexity.

Yusuke put a hand behind his head, looking awkward, "Um, er, let's move on to Murkuro, all right?"

Hiei gave a satisfied "Hm." and fell in step with us once again as we continued to make our way with Yukina. Why he didn't flit ahead like he usually preferred is beyond me.

At first I felt as though I should be wary about Yukina's sudden appearance and I was. But after awhile, finding myself sinking back into those deep subtle thoughts that were frantically trying to sort out the situation into pieces that could be recognized and solved, I decided that we were stable with this latest development.

How are we going to deal with all this? We hardly know what we're up against, even if it is one of the disbanded members of that gang. I never gathered that he would want to mess up the worlds so badly. Now I wonder why? I dug deeper in my memory, trying to recall something, anything that would help. Kumo did have something that made him happy and more than agitated me. He had Ryo, the only female member of the gang that I tolerated. A sullen, quick-witted feline spirit who attempted to override my position as leader, all the while making it seem that I was pressing unnatural hardships solely on her. For I had a short temper dealing with insubordination towards whatever orders I gave. Total arrogance, which added to my reasons for expelling both of them, was something I had really come to hate since bringing Kumo into the group, with Ryo unexpectedly tagging along. Kumo, a ruthless demon who could control the weather, had been somewhat of a friend to me in my earlier days. Of course, that was long ago, and his powers couldn't possibly surpass Yomi's.

"Man, how much longer till we get to Mukuro, Hiei? We've been running and running for hours!" Yusuke couldn't help but ask with some tiresome sharpness in his voice. We had been running for a while.

Then I heard Kuwabara mutter to himself, "I could've sworn I saw that tree five minutes ago!"

I hadn't really paid much attention to the trees, or any of the forest for that matter. I already knew most of it anyway. But when I tried to focus on one tree in particular, eyeing it until it was out of sight, I felt my eyes burning and looked away. After opening them again, though, a gust of new white snow from above swirled in our direction, and probably tried to get us lost.

Looking quite comfortable in the weather, Yukina said, "It shouldn't be too much farther, right, Hiei-san?"

"Yeah. Hopefully Mukuro's already figuring out who's behind this." Hiei replied, and I could just barely tell he wasn't enjoying the weather at all, but he was nevertheless very warm inside.

At least he has himself to keep him warm. All the rest of us were growing weary and desperate. I should tell them about Kumo. Though I never knew him to be one of mind control, but nevertheless it would be safer if Yusuke and the others knew. I might as well wait until we reach Mukuro, whenever that would be. My wounds had closed, or at least stopped pestering me, but I still felt extremely vulnerable.

"Yusuke. I think we've been this way already. We should be there by now." I trailed off, shielding the immense snow from my face.

There was no response. "Urameshi?" Kuwabara called, looking around.

Just then I heard a thump, and when I turned to look to where Yusuke had been standing, I caught a tiny glimpse of red. Was that long, red hair? A ferocious aura misted over and was gone. Ryo had red hair..could it be her? The snow stopped immediately and it became extremely warm. Yusuke was gone.

I heard Yukina let out a frightened gasp.

"Yusuke! Damn, where is he?" Hiei spat in fury, eyes darting every which way.

"Enjoying yourself, Kumo?" I said in an undertone.

"Urameshi!!! Urameshi!!!" Kuwabara screamed, "Come back you bastard!"

As the temperature rose, I became aware of the shallow gash in my cheek that I had forgotten about. It was stinging, and I guess with what little I had said had opened it up. Why take Yusuke? It's not like he's harmless or defenseless, or done anything to Kumo, so wouldn't they be after me? Heat waves were rising steadily and it was near impossible to sense anything that might be lurking near. Hiei can't be doing well in this heat, for his case being a fire demon and all. After running so far, Kuwabara had to be sweating too. Yukina is most likely stable with the weather, though, her aura was still freezing. I could still sense her anyway. I wiped my brow, trying to think straight.

"Hiei, can you manage? I've got some things to explain, so let's wait until we reach Mukuro." I said, very edgy and hurried.

Hiei turned to me sharply, "What?"

We had stopped and Kuwabara had set me down on a nearby rock.

Kuwabara was so uptight.I could tell he wanted to use force to make me tell them then and there, "Kurama!! Tell us what? You know something?!"

I looked away, "So, where did Botan go?"

Hiei was eyeing me strangely.

"Well, it's just that I figured we might as well let Mukuro.." I trailed off, deciding I didn't think Mukuro should know this. It didn't really benefit her, so why bother?

"Go on." Kuwabara urged.

I shook my head and recollected my thoughts, speaking a little stronger; "I know who took Yusuke and who's been causing us all this trouble. From the incident in the Ningenkai up until know. In fact, I know him personally.know both of them."

I could tell this aroused their attention. Kuwabara's face, not confused or screwed up with anger, remained neutral. Hiei's brow was creased into a frown, though. I decided to fill them as thoroughly as possible.

"The one who caused the weather to shift so quickly is Kumo. He was a member of my gang back before I came to the Ningenkai and became part of the Reikai Tantei. He continually disobeyed me and wreaked havoc upon Makai even before he was a thief in my group. You might have heard of him, Hiei. I had my doubts when I let him enter, but somehow I felt that he could be trusted; he had helped me in one particular robbery long before that."

"Anyway, about a day later, this feline demon just walked into us when we were discussing breaking into the palace. Said that she was already part of the gang. I had no memory of this and told her to leave. Then Kumo started barking at me and wanted to know why I wouldn't allow females. That demon, Ryo, had actually been following our trail, and tried to convince me that she had been separated from him: like they meant to join my thieves together. Not wanting to start a conflict and possibly lose authority, I let her in. As far as I know, all Ryo did was try to become leader and trouble me. There is nothing more I can think of as to why Kumo would want control over the Reikai."

"I had a lot to deal with when Yomi was with us, so I have no clue where he and Ryo went after we disbanded." I stopped talking. Memories I hadn't recovered since my reincarnation were coming back to me.

I looked back up from the ground to Kuwabara. His mouth was open ever so slightly, his face etched with bewilderment and something else I couldn't define. Hiei hadn't taken his eyes off me, though. I uttered an unintelligible sound in realization that it was just Kuwbara, Hiei, and I. Where was Yukina?

I felt a bead of sweat trickle over my gash and I flinched. I whispered, "Where is Yukina?"

Hiei let out a grunt as he darted a yard away, swiftly jumping off of the tree trunks. I saw and felt Ryo not too far off. I ignored my objecting body and, dashing in that direction, I left Kuwabara, who shouted and pursued me. As I ran, my insides contorted in shock to my sudden movements, but it could not be helped now. When I got closer, I realized that it wasn't just Ryo, but Yukina also, who was standing right next to her. I dodged a stray branch of a nearby tree and came to stop just feet away from them. Both of them were just staring, and Ryo was looking right into my eyes. Frowning, I was preparing to draw out a short young bamboo branch from my hair, in hopes though that it wouldn't come to that. My breathing was short and quick, and I knew that my body was enduring a lot.

"Kurama? Come to visit us?" Ryo said suddenly, her voice not at all harsh. It was just the opposite, in fact.

It looked as though Yukina broke away from her daze, and she looked at me, saying: "You know Ryo?"

"Huh?" I said, peering at her uncertainly, "I knew her long ago. How do you know who this is?"

Holding her hands, Ryo actually didn't look threatening. Standing there placidly, her strawberry hair fell well past her waist, in the same loose ponytail she'd obtained since I last saw her. Her petite brown tail swished back and forth, not having changed at all, and her brown catlike ears perched on top of her head contrasted with her hair. But she hadn't kept the outfit that all the members wore. I don't think she was ever fond of it anyway. Ryo had a blue short cut kimono-style top that exposed her mid-section but had no sleeves. As for her pants, they were none other than of Chinese origin and were gray, lubricated with curving green lines and numerous slits in the sides. If these were genuine, I wouldn't know. I did question her shoes, which looked to be made of animal hide. I wonder where she got all these clothes from, or who.

Yukina was fiddling with her sleeves as she said, "Well, she used to visit me in my village back when we were little."

Just as I was wondering where Hiei was, he came to stand beside me, his shape temporarily a blur after zipping here from wherever he was before. I couldn't speak, feeling like I was already supposed to know this fact by the look on Yukina's face. Hiei looked up at me, his eyes already reprimanding me for not doing anything about Yukina's supposed captor, or why I was just standing there, looking through them with harsh belief.

Ryo ignored Hiei's presence and explained sheepishly, "Kumo attacked Yukina thinking she was someone I thought badly of."

I had the sudden urge to laugh. "Really. Well, why is Kumo trying to mess everything up, including my mind? Can you tell me that Ryo?" I asked.

She shook her head and spoke wistfully, "I am no longer Kumo's companion, if that's what you're thinking. He left me, because I had no desire for revenge or to destroy the Reikai. I had--other, more important things to take care of."

Hiei scowled and demanded, "Where is Yusuke? And why the hell did you invade my mind?!"

"That was Kumo, Hiei. He wants to confront me, I guess." I said, not that sure of my words.

Hiei raised his eyebrows but did not take his eyes off of Ryo as he said, "So, you have some unfinished business in Makai, Youko. He must think there is nothing simpler than overtaking the Reikai, and hell, why not Makai too? Ningenkai can't be too hard."

Yukina spoke up in alarm, "Mukuro is not here!"

"What? We've been walking for nothing?! Argh!!" came a voice from behind.

I turned on my heel to see a red faced Kuwabara standing there, gawking at the scene. He seemed to be all right, aside from the icicles hanging off of his yellow coat and that his hands seemed a bit burned. They looked red and tender. What had Kumo done now?

"Kuwabara! What happened to you?" I asked, not so tensed up.

Kuwabara took his eyes from me to Yukina, "Yukina-san! You're here! Umm, I'm not sure about that, Kurama. That Kumo guy? Yeah, he said that he was waiting for you. That bastard! He's probably gonna try to beat Urameshi!"

Yukina's eyes lit up at the sight of Kuwabara but she did not run to him. She repeated, "Mukuro is gone. We have to stop him, now."

"What does she want?" Kuwabara said as he pointed to Ryo and grimaced, "Don't tell me you're with him!!"

Ryo said nothing but I thought I saw her eyes flicker for a moment, looking like the confident feline of the past. But it suddenly left, and I wondered what this was all about. Kumo wanted my body, or so it seemed, but he was nowhere near our location, and I couldn't sense him either. What a screwed up mess, and the fault was mine. My former colleagues, my former responsibility.

"Why did he take Yusuke?" I asked slowly, looking at Ryo defiantly, "What good can Kumo get from this; he has no purpose for Yusuke, right?"

She twitched, and her tail was whipping around faster now. "Don't ask me Kurama. He's right over there!" the feline retorted rather mockingly all of the sudden.

My eyes narrowed and darted about. Hiei had been searching the area already with his Jagan, and it seemed that he hadn't anything peculiar to report, until now. He growled and reached for the hilt of his sword. I spun around, only to be tapped on the shoulder from behind. Gulping in air with difficulty now, I found myself staring into Kumo's pale green eyes. Glowering at him, I gripped the branch tightly and started beckoning energy towards it. This was difficult.

Kuwabara kept surprisingly silent, probably gaping at the demon that had been the influence for this predicament.

"Hmm, we meet again. Physically, anyway. Did you enjoy that little bit earlier? Heh, never thought that the lowly, misbehaving Kumo would be able to mentally bring you to your knees, did you Youko?" he declaimed, amusement in his voice.

Only mere inches were between his face and mine, but I didn't back away. My appearance remained devoid of emotion as I studied his aura and what he'd possibly schemed up to push me towards the edge. Surely not my loss of sanity again? What could Hiei possibly be planning; he most likely knew that this was my situation and I would have to resolve it. Kumo was my business, after all.

"What is your cause for this Kumo? Tell me: Do you still crave leadership now or are you just trying to get my attention?" I didn't carefully choose my words as I do with other people, preferably humans or even at times my friends; I had no intention to just blow it over with mindless talk.

Just as he was about to answer, he scowled and directed his speech to Hiei, closing his eyes, "Do you mind?"

I looked past Kumo to see Hiei, who's Jagan was gleaming a fierce iridescent green, and it appeared as though its power could cast his mind astray- this would succeed in making him vulnerable. But, I doubt that Hiei thought that Kumo was going to see it clearly when he wasn't even facing the eye, much less detect its prying gaze due to the nature of its stealthy craft. I cast Hiei a look of warning.

Hiei rolled his eyes and closed the Jagan. With an obvious air of annoyance, he said, "Hm. It seems that you are so conceived as to set up the rest of your lowly life for foolish revenge and also grasp tightly to your childish grudges."

Then Kuwabara got the nerve to come into the 'conversation' after constantly stealing glances in Yukina's direction: "I guess you never stopped to think about the Reikai Tantei, did you?"

Kumo opened his eyes and turned to Kuwabara. "What? How cute; is this some kind of attempt to resurrect the gang you lost Kurama?" he mused, grinning.

I retained my cold stare and answered, "No. I can plainly see that a certain someone has deranged your way of thinking though, Kumo. Did Ryo just get too boring for you?"

The grin was replaced with a stern gloomy expression. I assume he ignored and silently denied this, because he simply sighed and looked into my eyes once again. His features then portrayed a disappointed fanatic of some kind

"Speaking of old times! What ever happened to the slick youko? I am very displeased indeed, Kurama. No, Shuichi is it? Taking this fragile human form. Pah!" he said quite seriously, which was abnormal when coupled with his facial cast.

I couldn't respond to that. Quite mesmerized at his apparent knowledge of my human name, I did little more than frown at him. Certainly, though, I expected any and everything but this: Kumo reached a hand to gently lift up a lock of my hair that fell in front. Moving it between his fingers and examining, he pouted. My face contorted with disgust and my eyes widened. But that was all he could do before I extended my palm to his forehead and shot out a thick bamboo stem which pummeled him and sent him sprawling on the other side of the clearing, where Ryo had been standing. Where did she go?

Rage flooded through me as I forced the stem to stream further across his body and it branched out, wrapping its gangly arms around him. Panting, I gave it all the energy that I'd collected earlier. Hand quivering, I stopped and gasped for breath. My shoulders heaved and I took a shaky step forward to inspect what damage I'd done. Jet-black hair that reached to the middle of his back was spread across the limp body, and the green of the bamboo was clearly visible entwining around him.

"Eeh..." Kuwabara grimaced as he murmured this. Yukina hesitated, and hastily made her way to us. She looked worn out.

I glanced over to Hiei and he couldn't hold back a smirk. "There's the only way to deal with that."

I would have laughed, but that claimed too much energy. I turned my eyes back to the motionless Kumo. Nagging at me was the logical idea that he was far from dead and could enter my mind at any time. Just that disturbed me. How had he mastered such a trick?

For a few crawling minutes we just stood there, not really knowing what to do now. The only thing I was preoccupied with was becoming physically stable. I did not sit down however; my mind was still too jumpy to even turn my back on Kumo. Just now my nerves were worn down to a thin strand. Yusuke then came back to my pensiveness. If Kumo was here, then were was Yusuke?

"Umm," Kuwabara suddenly stuttered, "Wh-where's Urameshi? Er..."

Yukina gave a helpless shrug and with a new air of righteousness, said, "Not sure. He is probably nearby. We should wait for him to find us."

"I can't see the point of taking Yusuke in the first place," Hiei said with a sigh as he peered at the purple sky, "It's not like they have anything to settle."

Kuwabara gave a look of indifference and, which made my mind spin, started languidly chatting with Yukina. I shook my head with dismay. Yusuke shouldn't be too far away, unless Kumo was extremely crafty and had him travel an even longer distance. As soon as I had taken my eyes off of Kumo, I heard a rustling noise and I whipped my head back in his direction. Pupils dull and staring, he began to rise and my vines gave way to his free movement; they slid off with no resistance. My hands balled into fists as I waited for him to say something.

Kuwabara then turned around, gaping, "Wha?! Come on!!"

Kumo stood on his feet, the black flowing tunic he wore ragged and dirty. His eyes still looked distant, like.he wasn't all there. What could've happened to him? He beckoned the air and Ryo quickly emerged to stand next to him, her face playing a confident grin. She licked her lips with a sudden malice.

"Damn you! Just fight us and stop wasting our time!" Hiei boomed, aiming the tip of his sword at Kumo.

Kumo said and did nothing. He continued to stare into nothingness, and I didn't see that familiar spark in his eyes. I couldn't wonder anymore about what was going on, because Ryo started advancing on me, claws outstretched and flexing. Her deep sapphire eyes were scrutinizing mine as she made her way over to me, tail bristling. I could see in my peripheral vision, Kuwabara jump frantically from one foot to the other, pulling at his hair. There was no way to know what Hiei was doing, or what Kumo might be thinking to do.

I tensed up, preparing to summon my Rose Whip. When she was about a foot away, she came to a halt. Her claws retracted from her petite fingers and the puffy brown tail smoothed, hanging limp now. Narrowing my eyes, I was completely unsure of what Ryo would do now. Every muscle in my body stiffened and a shiver ran down my spine as she stepped closer, laying a hand on my neck. Her hand caressed the sides and moved up to stroke my face. Suddenly I was frozen; I could barely move my head, but the rest of my parts were paralyzed. She was mere inches from me. My mouth was slightly open now, and I could feel my muscles twitching. Those blue eyes were sucking me in.I couldn't remove my gaze from them. Ryo gently rubbed my cheek with her thumb, but still said nothing. A bead of cold sweat slid down my forehead. Standing there, hands at my sides, I suddenly recognized fear to be one of my feelings right now. What was happening to me? I've never been-afraid of her. Her touch was inflicting no pain, just fear. All I could think about was Ryo and what she was doing to me; this had to be just another knack of hers to trap me. To trap me? What made her think that I could be drawn in by her? Something was wrong; I doubted myself; I hadn't been prepared for this. I have to prepare for her? My face twisted into a grimace of confusion. Now my head was buzzing, and I wasn't even paying attention to any rational thoughts I might have. I just continued to stare into those pools of azure, and I subconsciously saw the reflection of my own dull emerald eyes. ***