Disclaimer: Reporter: Mr. President! Mr. President! Is it true that Amethyst Tiger does not own Yu Yu Hakusho?

President: Yes, it is. She will no longer be making those claims and she has promised to stop stalking the Yu Yu Hakusho cast. Isn't that right? (Looks over at me in a straight jacket)

Me: Yes Sir Mr. President, Sir!
Author's Note: Okay, here is Chapter 12. This story is coming to a close here, so don't be surprised if these next chapters start bringing you to a close. Well, onward worthy readers. Thanks!
Chapter: 12
"So why aren't there any people here?" Keiko asked. Her question was directed toward Kane.

The horned youkai's eyes darkened, and he let out a sigh.

"This place used to be quite lovely. It was nearly as advanced as Gandara, but not so much that the technology stole away from the cities natural beauty. Demons of various types lived here, and worked here. Many were just passing through. Although there were a few more problems involving crime and such than in Yomi's city, mainly because our Lord was not as obsessed with militarizing. Actually, he embraced much of the havoc that occurred here. He truly loved to fight. It was such a genuine love, and when he fought it didn't seem so terrible . . . in fact, he made it, in some way, rather beautiful. Of coarse, most skilled fighters who have a passion for that particular art have the ability to make combat seem like a dance, a waltz if you will."

Keiko crossed her arms over her chest, and cast her eyes toward the ground.

"Yeah, and then 'waltzing' is all they learn to care about." She mumbled.

Kane glanced at her, but disregarded the comment in favor of continuing his story.

"That is what this place was like when I, and my five companions came here. We were really just looking for a place to stay for a while and rest, however, we did not wish to go into Yomi's territory, as we had heard tell tale that he was somewhat of a . . ." Kane's voice trailed off, as his mind tried to come up with a word to describe the horned kind.

"Hard ass." Came a bitter voice.

Kane raised his eyebrows when he looked back at Kurama who had a rather disgruntled expression about his face. Keiko giggled, and Hiei smirked. Tain covered his mouth trying to muffle an amused grin, while Dimitre remained with a stoic look on his handsome face. Kane shrugged.

"Yes, for lack of a better word. Anyway, we had also heard that Urameshi's territory offered more freedoms, and his standard of government wasn't nearly as complex as Mukuro's or Yomi's."

Keiko rolled her eyes. "Makes sense. Yusuke failed government." She said.

Kane chose to disregard this statement as well.

"Anyway." He continued. "We weren't here for more than a few hours when a fight broke out between two merchants trying to sell the same product. Both of which were cheap anyway. The fight somehow dragged innocent bystanders into it, injuring many. As a collective group of six, we did what we could, but that was only so much. Nissa, my sister, and I healed as many as we could, while our friends did what was in their power to restrain, and keep individuals from getting involved. We could only do so much though. Eventually, Urameshi himself came down to break up the argument, and both merchants were sentenced to exile. They were very lucky really. Had such a thing occurred in Gandara, Yomi would have sentenced them to a far worse fate. But, moving right along, Urameshi recognized us for the help we gave, or rather, attempted to give, and he kindly invited us up to his castle. We were wary of the offer at first, but decided to go anyway. We told him about our pasts. Nissa and I, were at that time, still evading the slave owners of which we had escaped months prior. He allowed us to stay and work with him. He trained us so we learned to better our abilities. Under his tutoring we all moved up to middle B-class demons. Before we were only in the upper D-class. We owed him a lot, and still do to this day. Life was good, until . . . one day. This one day, it was very strange. He just began mumbling to himself about regrets. How he should have given it back, whatever 'it' was. He began to close himself off from everything . . . and everyone. He stopped eating, and he grew . . . ill. And then, one day we didn't see him all together. Slowly, demons began abandoning this place. The city itself began to fall apart due to raiding and destruction caused by less than respectful youkai. Everything turned to ruins, and that is how you see it now."

There was silence for an extended moment. No one spoke. The sky got darker, and shadows began creeping about the littered ground. A chill found it's way up Keiko's spine. She wasn't cold, but something about this dead place was unsettling.

'Yusuke. What were you thinking? Are you even okay? Was it because of what happened . . . between us? You could have come back. I wanted you back, but I . . . was to stubborn, had too much pride to come back to you. Was that the problem for you too? God I'm stupid, we both were, both are. We can fix this though, I know we can. Yusuke, I want you back.'

"Kane, have you noticed any unfamiliar demons in the city?"

A voice broke Keiko's solemn thoughts. It was Kurama. His question was more to the point than any other that had been asked thus far.

"Unfamiliar? No, not that I've seen, and I spend most of my time traveling the city in search of supplies that may have been left behind, and fending off scavengers, the wretched things."

"I see, so you haven't --"

"I have."

Everyone stopped walking and looked back at the icy eyed Dimitre. His hands were not in their usual place across his chest, but hung down by his sides.
Kurama's eyes narrowed in alarm, becoming nothing more than golden slivers. The fox looked oddly dangerous like this. "Where? What did you see?" He asked.

Dim's eyes were cast down to the ground. "A while back. I don't remember exactly when. I was down by the gates when I caught glimpses of a group of youkai. I couldn't make them out, and I went after them, but by the time I caught up with them . . . they were . . . gone."

"Gone?" Questioned Tain, making himself heard.

Dim nodded. "Disappeared out of thin air, it seemed. It was as though they melted into the shadows. I didn't say anything about it mainly because I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, or something. There was no way to explain what I saw. But, why do you want to know?"

"Because the ones that you saw were a group of thieves. They aren't very powerful, but their leader . . . well, we don't know anything about him. We think that he is using this city as a strong hold. Yomi believes that he may try a take over of his territory, and last we heard, Mukuro was just as wary of them." Replied Hiei, speaking for the first time in a while.

"Dim, have you seen them since?" Asked Tain.

The dark haired demon shook his head in a negative.

"I see, well, we'll talk of these things later. Let's go." Said Kane. Then he turned and began walking. They all followed, and no one spoke.

They were at a sort of stand still point. No one knew what to think, or say. There was no new information, not much of anything. And so, they walked in silence, each with their own respective thoughts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Nissa."

Nissa looked up at the sound of her name. "Hm?" She asked.

"Someone is coming."

She flipped her long brunette hair over her shoulder, as it was constantly getting in the way. Then she took a random strip of black leather and bound the silky strands together. The black leather strip went well with her ankle length, gray tunic and black sash around her waist. Underneath the tunic was a black, skintight shirt and on her feet were ankle high black shoes.

"You're sure, Cimmy?" She asked, her voice calm and collected like her brother's.

Cimmy was tall with dull, sky blue skin. Her perfectly, bright, white hair hung in many small braids, some of which occupied the top of her head in a most intricate, and lavish way. Her eyes, almond shaped and somewhat metallic looking, were golden in color. She was rather tall, lean, and slender. She wore pants that acted as a second skin, and a limp, slimming skirt of a white, see through material out lined in gold that hung low on her hips. Her upper body sported an equally tight, white shirt that hung off of her shoulders. The sleeves went down to the middle of her arm. Unlike the rest of her outfit, they were not so tight, but in stead hung loosely, and were made out of the same material as the covering over her pants. Her long, sharp looking nails were a shimmering golden color that imitated her eyes almost perfectly, and her shoes, white in color, were like that of Chinese or Japanese slippers. She was of elfin decent and therefore had the traditional pointed ears. She was a delicate looking creature, beautiful, and yet dangerous in appearance. Her voice was deeply feminine, and yet soft.

"Certainly." Responded Cimmy.

Nissa nodded. She knew better than to doubt her friend's senses. They were always accurate.

"From what direction are they coming?"

The snowy haired elf pointed toward the front of the castle. "There. It is Tain, Kane, and Dim, but three others accompany them. A silver youko, a fire youkai, and a . . ." She let her sentence trail off, and her eyes narrowed.

Nissa waited for a moment, before urging her friend on. "And a what?" She asked impatiently.

". . . And a ningen young woman."

"A human? Here? Why would they bring a human here?"

"There is no danger. They are here to help."

"How can you tell?"

"I do not feel any negative intent."

Nissa bit her lip. Her right hand flew to her hip and her fingers began to tap wildly. She paced.

"How far off are they?" She asked.

"A few yards away."

The horned demon stopped, and faced her friend. Indigo eyes widened in alarm.

"From the castle!? Are you kidding me?"

Cimmy raised a white eyebrow.

"Right. You don't joke." Nissa said, visibly deflating. "Very well, let us meet them in the front in case of any problems. Please fetch Timerie, would you?"

A simple nod of the head was all that the elf gave before dematerializing into a sort of white mist and disappearing. Nissa, in the meantime, made her way to the front gate. She grabbed a torch on her way out of the kitchen where they had been residing for the past hour or so. The dim, orange glow created sultry shadows on the wide hallways as she walked, and her eyes glowed softly, making the dark scamper away into unlit corners. For darkness is a coward if challenged, and a foe only when feared. Nissa was not scared of the dark, for she had spent many a year in small dark places that smelled of waste, sweat, and blood. She had fallen asleep listening to the lullaby of screams of agony. She woke up every morning only to find that yet another slave, like herself, had died from illness, or from whatever punishments were bestowed upon them. Of coarse, there were times when they weren't always dead too. Sometimes, she would wake up only to find a mangled body lying there next to her. The slave owners rarely disposed of the bodies. Yes, often they would still be alive, making choking sounds in their throats, gurgling up blood, missing body parts, just lying there unable to move, to think, unable to understand anything except impending death, and the pain that would soon end because of it. Sometimes their arms would fly up and catch her wrist or ankle, and tug violently at her, begging her for help. She had only been a child. What could she have done? When this happened she would just stare at them with eyes full of sympathy, and wait quietly until the grip loosened and the fingers released her. That didn't always happen either. There were times when she would have to literally pry their fingers apart in order to be released. Of ten times she would be left with bruises or cuts. The bodies of these poor demons would be left to rot on the floor, the same one that she, and her brother slept on. They would be there every night that they lay down to go to sleep, and every morning that they awoke. Time would ware on and those still, lifeless corpses would still be there, and eventually the body began to look more like a bloody pile of bones and exposed inner body parts. The stench was terrible, the insects that it drew tended to be very unfriendly, many times they were venomous. However, she and her brother were immune to illness or venom, anything life threatening, as they were healers. Their power had not been developed at such a young age, and so it was not within their bounds to be able to help those other slaves.

Nissa looked up as she neared the front doors. She gave one a gentle shove, and it swung open. The fading light blinded her for a moment before she finally accustomed herself to it. She saw them then, walking out of the gray mist. Kane was leading them, which wasn't surprising really. As they neared, she kept a stoic expression, for she was still wary of these new comers. However, Tain shattered her solemn mood when he waved at her, and she saw the large grin spread across his handsome features. Reluctantly, she waved back and flashed the faintest of smiles.

Kane greeted her with a hug, and a peck on the cheek.

"I've brought some company, sister." He said. "The youko is called Kurama, and the fire demon is Hiei. The human is Keiko. They're here to help us. They claim that they can help Yusuke."

Nissa acknowledged each of them with a smile or a nod of her head.

"My name is Nissa, and I'm glad to meet you all. Please come in." And she stepped aside graciously offering them all entrance.

Kurama, Hiei, and Keiko all did as asked, and went in. Keiko found herself somewhat intimidated by the huge hallways. It bared an empty feeling like Yomi's. She frowned. 'Leave it to Yusuke.' She thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chocolate eyes opened half way. He let out a painful cough, and shifted his position on his bed. Such a pitiful sight this boy was. Once a strong, determined individual, and now nothing more than a frail creature lying in a pool of self-sorrow. And yet, something flashed in those eyes, something. It was as though the voice of recognition had just whispered something in his ears. A single word tumbled from his lips.

" . . . Keiko . . ."