Chapter three:

It had now been a full day since Ryushi had taken Kasumi as his prisoner. To her it seemed like she was just a tool now for his sexual desires, but she never gave in. Ryushi called her pet names and lifted up her skirt at will. She never did anything besides commanding him to keep his hands away from her. They wouldn't give her food or water and kept her locked up in a room full of talismans.

Kasumi looked down at her hand there was a large burn on it where they had tested a talisman on her. It seared her skin and left a mark. She had cried out in pain, begging them just to kill her and to leave Kurama out if it.

**Flashback**

The men dragged an unconscious Kasumi into the mansion. Her was hair in a mess about her. Blood trickled down from her shoulder where the bullet had grazed her. Her face was serene and she was unaware of what was about to happen.

They had brought her to a room and slowly Kasumi regained consciousness as they set her down on a chair. She felt weak and found it hard to remain conscious at the time. Then she saw Ryushi come closer to her holding what seemed to be a slip of rectangular paper with some form of ancient Chinese on it.

"This may hurt a little," Ryushi said with a wicked smile on his face.

Kasumi just then realized what he was holding and struggled but to be held down by two henchmen. Ryushi then grabbed her left hand and put the talisman gently on her skin and lightning emerged from it mixed with fire. The energy coursed through out her body causing her to let out an ear-piercing scream. When Ryushi removed the talisman Kasumi slipped off the chair and wept openly.

"Why are you doing this?" she cried. "Why don't you kill me already instead of this torture?"

"It wouldn't be fun other wise," Ryushi replied.

"Kill me and leave Kurama out of this!" Kasumi shouted.

"He's our target, or have you forgotten that, Kasumi?" Ryushi snickered.

"Kurama has done nothing to deserve this!" she growled.

Ryushi pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He took his time with his answer, enjoying himself by watching her grow impatient.

"What has he done to deserve this kind of hate?" Kasumi asked.

Ryushi exhaled some smoke and laughed, "Nothing, we just want him dead."

"You bastard!" she yelled.

"Men, seal up her room with these talismans," Ryushi stated and left.

**End flashback**

Kasumi now had to face the facts about her unusual life. It was a killed or be killed life and she wanted to protect her mother and older brother from this life, a life they didn't need to know about. A life of pain and suffering where the weak are killed for pleasure.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She recalled a happy moment from her childhood, her time of no worries. When Keisuke, her older brother, drove her and her friends to the mall one day while she was in the junior high school when their mother, Atsuko, told them not to go. They had so much fun that day until they got home that night.

Kasumi now smiled at that memory. Her mother had to be the most forgiving person. She only was concerned for Kasumi's safety and always told stories of the family. Kasumi's favorite was the story of when she was adopted into the family; her mother always said that she thought that Kasumi was special from day one. Every night Kasumi asked to hear that story, but always told her mother to stop before she got to the part where her father died.

Now, it seemed that Kasumi had faced her place in society as an outcast of man and among the demon race. Among others of her kind, the part of herself that she had been fleeing from. She had run long enough, for sixteen years, Kasumi never knew what to say to her family about herself. How was she going to explain to her family that she was a Kitsune hiding in a human body? It seemed hard enough to come up with an explanation to why a human child was in the forest alone. She didn't know what to say about herself; she had already been around for 500 years, sixteen of which were in human form as a brown haired, blue-eyed girl.

"Baka," she muttered to herself. "It was you who got involved with the Shigen and now it is you will get yourself out of this mess. But…how will I do that?"

Then a voice spoke in her head, "You will find away young, Anzu."

"What?" she asked aloud, "Who are you?"

"I am the youkai in you, I am Kasumi and you are Anzu," the voice said.

"No, I am Kasumi and Anzu!" Kasumi exclaimed. "We are one!"

"Not anymore, your feelings as a ningen are mixed, you cannot control them," the Kitsune inside replied.

"Stop kidding me!" the girl yelled.

"I am not, Anzu," the Kitsune whispered. "Someone is coming."

The inner Kitsune disappeared as quickly as she had come. It just came to Kasumi that she heard footsteps approaching her door. She growled to herself and looked at the wall with her normal expressionless face. It was just about the end of day one and she knew she had two more days left in this hell. The henchman came in holding a plate of food.

"Here you go," he said and put it on the table.

"I don't want it!" Kasumi replied.

The man said nothing and left closing the door behind him. He was a weakling, Kasumi could have knocked him out easily and fled for her lift, but she remained in her spot. She knew it was a foolish choice; then again, it was her choice to make. Maybe, it was her deep fear of being found out and being killed for it that scared her and kept her in place. Kasumi may have been begging for death, but she was deeply afraid of it.

Kasumi sat and stayed up most of the night, hoping, praying that Kurama wouldn't leave her there to die. He now had only two days to go and rescue her from Ryushi and his evil grasp.


Kurama wasn't fairing too well at home. Him and his mother sat down for dinner and watched the news. Kurama knew what was bound to be on the news that night and he was right.

"Last night a sixteen year-old girl from Tokyo was kidnapped," the news reporter said and a picture of Kasumi went on the screen. "Police say that there is no evidence that she has been kidnapped or that she has just run away from home."

Another woman appeared on the screen by an apartment building and said, "Sixteen year-old Takami Anzu was a normal girl, who achieved well academically, but her disappearance last night is a mystery. Her mother and older brother say that she is a very happy girl and would never run away, but there is still no evidence of either option."

"Oh, how terrible," Shiori Minamino said and looked over to her son, "Do you know her, Suichi?"

"Yes, mother, she was in my English class," Kurama replied.

Shiori looked sadly at her son, who sat with his eyes on his food, then at the TV. They were now onto the weather forecast for the week. Kurama finished eating and thanked his mother for the meal and went to his room. She watched him leave with a sympathetic expression on her face.

In his room Kurama sat at his desk with a couple of papers, mostly schoolwork. He just hoped that Ryushi hadn't done anything to Kasumi. Just then the phone rang and Kurama reached for the phone on his desk.

"Hello, Minamino residence," he said.

"Kurama, hey, this is Yusuke," Yusuke's voice said on the other end.

"Oh, hi. What's up?" Kurama asked.

"I dunno, you tell me," Yusuke replied.

Kurama scowled slightly, but responded cheerfully, "What do you mean?"

"Koenma, just told about the mission and it seems that you have a connection with the victim," Yusuke stated.

"'Mission'?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, a Kitsune, goes by the name Suigine Kasumi," Yusuke replied seriously.

"And Koenma told you this?"

"Yeah, who else would we hear it from? Hiei?"

"Did Hiei say anything?"

"No more then the usual…just sneered and left."

"I see…Yusuke, please don't get involved."

"Why, man, this is our assignment?"

"Because, the man, who is behind this, Ryushi, has it in for me and took her captive until I turn myself over to him. I have two more days left."

Kurama then heard Kuwabara yell in the background and Yusuke threw something at him. Kurama laughed lightly and sighed calming himself quickly.

"Kurama, don't tell me that you want to fight that bastard alone?" Yusuke asked.

"I do, it's my fight…I just need a plan," Kurama replied.

"I bet he's not doing it for respect or anythin', but get something from the gurl!" Kuwabara said in the background.

"Kuwabara, you're listening to our conversation!?" Yusuke shouted.

Kuwabara then laughed loudly into the receiver and Yusuke took that as a "yes".

"It's no big deal," Kurama said.

"The fox is looking for somethin'…like hot lovin'!" Kuwabara cackled.

"Kuwabara, this is no laughing matter," Kurama stated seriously. "Kasumi is in danger and Ryushi is trying to kill me while setting her up as a bait to lure me."

"And it's working," Yusuke said just as seriously.

"Yes," Kurama agreed.

"Then, let us help. Kurama, this shouldn't be a fight that you should handle alone. The man is human, right? So, Kuwabara and I and can take care of him, while you go save the girl," Yusuke replied.

Kurama was silent for a moment, "You shouldn't…"

"Ah, don't worry about us man, we don't go down that easily. I'll come over tomorrow and we'll think something up," Yusuke said and hung up.

Kurama hung up as well and sighed, "Then it's settled…my fight had turned into a group fight."

With that in mind Kurama went to sleep. He was uneasy all night, but he managed to get some rest.

~*~*~
a/n: Hey, sorry it took so long, I am being blocked from uploading fics, because of raised parental controls on the site. I will still update when I can.