Author's Note: I'm back from hell! (Florida) and this lil' northern girl found paradise a bit too humid and hot for her taste. I can't wait to go to Alaska… Oh, and Nakoruru, I know I slipped up, but that's because in the real world people with orange hair are called redheads. Sorry about that.

            The next weekend Neko returned to Spirit World and resumed her training. Once in a while Koenma would pop in and give her a few hints, but he was usually absent, leaving her to figure it out on her own. Later, Neko figured out that Koenma had never known a true magician before and her training was basically things he only knew in theory from demonic mages. Her father seemed oblivious to his daughter's absence. When she returned, beaten and battered, it was to an empty house regardless of when she arrived. By the time she woke up for school Monday, he would already be up and making breakfast with his usual brisk morning energy. She didn't see many of her own features in him, but he had pictures of her mom that made it clear that there wasn't much room left for him.

            When Neko returned each weekend, it was always in plenty of time for her to rest up for school. She suspected that there was some kind of time flux Koenma was using to assist her in her training, giving her a week in her house of tortures for each day she was gone from the living world. Kuwabara was the first to sense this.

            He was sitting with Yusuke outside before class on Monday when Neko walked by. She didn't stop to wave to them, just stumbled into the building. Yusuke sighed and shifted his position a bit against the wall. "Urameshi, have you noticed anything strange about Neko?"

            Yusuke looked at Kuwabara doubtfully. "Did you get hit in the head again? Of course she's strange, she's a magician."

            Kuwabara shook his head. "Not that. Every time she comes back from one of her lessons with the kid she's changed. Bit by bit her energy is shifting, like yours did when you went off to train with Genkai." To Yusuke's shock, Kuwabara looked serious. "I think she's aged a few months on us."

            That afternoon, Yusuke watched Neko in math and decided Kuwabara was right. Neko carried herself in a more aware way, she acted more mature and began to take class work more seriously. She still laughed with her friends and chatted it up like the best of them, but she was still…off.

            The real shock came when Yusuke was called down to the principal's office. "What now? I haven't done anything!" Yusuke muttered as he trudged down the hall. As he approached, the door opened and Hiei walked out—wearing a black uniform.

            "Hiei?!" Yusuke said. The demon looked at Yusuke and calmly walked past.

As he did so, he whispered, "Botan sent me a message from Koenma. One of your classmates is an earth demon." Yusuke watched Hiei walked down the hall and blinked. Why send in Hiei? Wasn't three out of four—no—four out of five, good enough to track down a single demon? It would have to be someone new, but who?

            "Mr. Urameshi," said a voice from the office. Yusuke jumped to attention and went in.

            Hiei looked at the schedule he'd been given. The school principal had been easily duped without uncovering his jagan(third eye on forehead), a testament to humanity's weakness. He knocked on a door and went in. He took his time looking over the class before the teacher fixed his glasses and asked, "May I help you?" Hiei handed the man the principal's note and took a seat in back. The teacher set the note on his desk and said, "Just sit in back…okay, you've already done that." He held out a hand towards Hiei and said, "Class, this is Hiei Flame, our new student."

            Heads turned, and Hiei managed to scare the curious onlookers off with a sweeping glare with the exception of one. Light brown eyes clashed with red ones from across the room. Hiei felt his control of his emotions slip a moment and his breath caught. So, she was in this class. The teacher tapped his pointer on Neko's desk and she turned around. Hiei sat back and mused about his need to be there.

            Botan's message then came to mind. "Hiei, Koenma wants you to enroll at Sarayashiki High to fish out an earth demon we believe has taken to hiding amongst the students."

            Hiei had looked up momentarily from his study of an ancient demonic text and said, "Forget it, the other three are in there already."

            Botan wasn't finished, though. "He's a renegade from Spirit World, an honor-less demon who is known to most as Kennichi—"

            The mention of that name had sold him. Hiei guessed that Koenma knew of the history he had with the infamous "Kennichi." It made Hiei's blood boil to think that demon was living freely as an innocent human. He'd agreed on the spot. The next thing he knew, he was standing in a fully furnished apartment with the school address on a piece of paper sitting on the kitchen table.

            At the bell, Hiei filed out of the class with the rest of the students and looked at his schedule for the next room. Neko was in that class as well. When the last bell of the day rang, Hiei smelled something rotten—figuratively speaking. Why was he so conveniently in all the same classes as that girl? Her presence bothered him, breaking his concentration. Granted one or two of the others was in a few of the classes, but why Neko?

            Kurama, Kuwabara, Yusuke and Botan were waiting outside when Hiei joined them. Botan winked. "How do you like high school?" she asked.

            Hiei glared daggers at her. "I think I would do a better job just spying on the students than being one. Just consider my schedule as a sign." He handed it to her and the other three looked over her shoulders. Yusuke finished first.

            "Hey! You're in all the same classes as Neko!" he said.

            "What about me?" Hiei turned and saw Neko standing behind him. Her gaze switched from Yusuke to Hiei and became challenging. "Why'd you come here?"

            Botan stood between them and said, "Hold on! We've got a new mission and he's here to help, so keep the staring contests to a minimum." Neko huffed and marched over to the wall. With seemingly little effort, she hopped up onto the ten-foot brick wall and looked at Botan expectantly.

            Kuwabara frowned. "Hey! How'd you do that?"

            Neko arched an eyebrow and smiled teasingly. "I'm a magician, it's easy once you get the hang of it." She looked back to Botan. "Well? What's going on?"

            Botan blinked. "Uh, right. Well, there's this earth demon Koenma has been tracking for years. Well, trying to track really, our latest informant claimed he'd taken on a human form and our sources led us here."

            Yusuke looked lost. "Why would such an intelligent demon hide in our school? It doesn't make sense."

            Botan held up a hand. "Ah, it does if it has who you're looking for." They waited. "We don't know who just yet." (If this were a more anime-like fic I'd have them fall over right now, but I just don't write like that.) The assembled spirit detectives then realized that was all the information they were to get.

            Hiei spun on his heal and walked away. Neko hung her legs over the other side of the fence and jumped down. The others made ready to go, but Botan grabbed a hold of Yusuke's collar and said, "You three hold up, there's more that I'm not telling you while Hiei and Neko are around." Now they were interested. She leaned forward conspiratorially and said, "We have some idea of who it is Kennichi is looking for—either Hiei, his old rival; or Neko, the first human magician."

            Yusuke leaned back. "Wouldn't it have been helpful to tell them?"

            Botan shook her head. "Koenma doesn't want Neko's training to be interrupted, because she'd probably try to track him down if she thought she was the source. Hiei would insist on handling the matter on his own for personal honor. Neither one may know, we must try and keep them apart so we can figure out which one Kennichi is after and what he looks like."

            Kuwabara snorted. "Keeping them apart shouldn't be hard, they're like a cat and dog." (This is an amusing comparison bcs 'neko' means 'cat.' Moan if you wish at this bad joke. J)

            Yusuke and Kurama traded a look. "Maybe not, they both feel miffed if we don't include them in a case or fight, and they have all the same classes," Yusuke said.

            Kurama nodded and said, "And then there's the feelings they have for each other." Botan and Kuwabara stared. "Yusuke and I watched them when we brought Neko back from her first training trip. Hiei was very protective and surprisingly gentle—until she woke up."

            Botan frowned. "I see. I'll inform Koenma and see if we can do something about this. Hopefully it's nothing. I'll talk to you later." Then they headed home.