Yay, the next chapter is finally up. ::Jumps for joy:: Ok, now that that's over, on to the fic.

Chapter 11 Riddle Solved

Yuusuke woke up finding himself in a room that wasn't his. He slowly sat up and looked around: "Where am I?" "You're in my room. Which is back on earth," Kuwabara said. "You've been asleep for three days," Kurama added. "Feels like I've been out for awhile," Yuusuke said. "I called your mom and told her where you were, and school looks like a ware zone so you don't have to worry about that," Kuwabara said. "And what about the girls, Keiko, Botan, Mayline and the others?" Yuusuke asked. Kurama and Kuwabara looked away. "Hey, what happened? Where are they?" Yuusuke asked, starting to panic. Kuwabara and Kurama's faces tensed a little. "Hey, you'd better do more than clenching your teeth. Tell me what happened!" Yuusuke yelled. Just then, Botan, Keiko, and Kylie came through the door. "I know that yell anywhere. What's up, Yuusuke," Botan said. "Keiko, Botan, Kylie, you're alright," Yuusuke said. Kuwabara began to laugh as well as Kurama. "Oh my god. You should have seen your face," Kuwabara said. "Sorry, Yuusuke. He insisted," Kurama said.

"So if you guys are alright, that means Mayline is too, right?" Yuusuke said. Kylie and the others looked at the floor. Kuwabara and Kurama stopped laughing and did the same. "No more tricks you two," Yuusuke said. "It's no trick, Yuusuke." Yuusuke turned to Kylie. Kylie held out Mayline's broken sword. "Mayline was badly injured, and she's been unconscious as long as you have been and that's not all," Kylie said. "What?" Yuusuke asked. "If we don't figure out the riddle by mid-night tonight, Mayline'll be a bitch for life," Kylie said. "That's not good. What's the riddle again?" Yuusuke asked. "Light is concealed while darkness roams. Fight fire with fire eye to eye. Why?" Kylie asked. "I think I might have figured it out. Kurama, what kind of demon is Hiei?" Yuusuke asked. Kurama had a confused look on his face: "He's a fire demon. Why do you ask?" "Don't you guys see it? Light is consumed while darkness roams. You've already figured that part out as being her emotions. Now think of the last part. Fight fire with fire eye to eye," Yuusuke said. "I think I know what you're saying," Kylie said. "Yeah, the fire with fire means fire demon with fire demon, and the eye to eye means jagan with jagan," Yuusuke said. "I think you're right, Yuusuke. We've got to find Hiei. Search the whole city. He'll be here somewhere," Kurama said. "Why can't Paprika just do it?" Kuwabara asked. "Maybe because I don't have a jagan. Now let's split up and find Hiei," Paprika yelled. They all went outside while Miko watched over Mayline.

Paprika took her cell phone and headed for the woods. Sara and Kylie went to find some of the highest places around. Kurama and Kuwabara headed for the water to see if they could find him. Paprika looked at her watch. It was getting dark. "Almost 9:00. Where could he be?" Just then, her phone rang. "Hello?" "PAPRIKA, HELP!" "What's wrong, Miko?" "I think Mayline's starting to wake up. What do I do?" "Knock her out. Use the baseball bat." "But the metal will hurt her even more." "Not the metal one, the wooden one. It wont hurt her as much. She's got a hard head." "Ok, if you say so." Paprika then hung up and produced her ore. "HIEI! WHERE ARE YOU?" When no answer came, Paprika got on her ore and flew over the trees. "HIEI! PLEASE! WE NEED YOUR HELP!" Still no answer. Paprika sighed and whispered, "Hiei, where are you? Mayline needs you."

"HIEI! HIEI!" Kurama yelled. "HIEI!" Kuwabara yelled. "We've searched almost all of the high buildings, but he's not there," Kurama said. "I know. How many places can the dwarf be?" Kuwabara asked. "He could be anywhere by now. The last I saw him was after we dropped you two off at your place. He just vanished after that," Kurama said. "Would he go back to the spirit world?" Kuwabara asked as they headed to the last tall building. "I doubt it. Koenma would surely try to capture him again," Kurama said. "Well, this is the last one. I can't feel his energy," Kuwabara said as they looked up the 62-floor building. "HIEI. ARE YOU UP THERE?" Kurama yelled. There was no answer. "I guess he's not here. We'd better head back," Kurama said. "Yeah. I hope we find him soon. It's already 10:00," Kuwabara said as they headed back to the house. "Me too, Kuwabara. Me too," Kurama said.

While the others were looking for Hiei, Miko was standing about 10 feet away from Mayline holding a wooden baseball bat in her hands. Mayline began to stir, and Miko was shaking in fear. When Mayline slowly sat up, Miko raced over and hit her as hard as she could with the bat, breaking it in half and sending Mayline to the floor. "Oh man. Guys, please hurry back. I wont be able to knock her out again," Miko said. She then picked Mayline up and put her back in the bed and stood on the other side of the room.

"Where is he? There's only so many places he could be," Yuusuke said as he looked in all of the trees by the lake. Just then, the cell phone that Kylie had loaded him rang. "Hello?" "Yuusuke, anything?" "Not even a trace of him. What about you Paprika? Found anything?" "Only a trace of his sent here and there, but that's about it. I've searched almost all of the area. Right now I'm heading to the last acre of forest, and it's almost 11:00." "Well, he's defiantly not here. We're counting on you Paprika. Mayline's heart is on the line and so is our sanity." "What do you mean by our sanity?" "Cause if Mayline is going to be a bitch again, we'll all surely go crazy." "Oh ha, ha, very funny." Yuusuke laughed as he hung up the phone.

Paprika hung up the phone and got on her ore. She headed over to the last place that was left to check. It was at the center of the forest and had some of the highest trees there. *Hiei has to be here. It's the only place that the people wouldn't go. It's too far into the forest.* She had a hard time landing considering the fact that it was full of trees. She finally made it to the ground and pulled out a few leaves out of her hair. "That reminds me. I've got to give Mayline a hair cut," Paprika said. She began to walk through the area, looking up every tree and around every boulder, but there was no sign of him. "Damn it all. Where are you?" Paprika yelled as she punched a tree as hard as she could. The tree cracked in half, and Paprika saw something jump out of it into another tree before the tree hit the ground. "You should be more careful." "Who's there?" Paprika yelled. A cloaked figure dressed in black jumped down. "Hiei, where have you been? We've been searching all over for you," Paprika yelled. "What do you want?" Hiei asked. "Your help," Paprika said. Hiei cocked an eyebrow.

Yuusuke and the others were now at the house waiting for Paprika. "Where is she? It's 11:30 already. There's no way we're going to be able to undo the curse in time," Kuwabara said. "Don't loose hope, Kuwabara. If Paprika's anything like Mayline, she'll surprise you with the things she can do," Kurama said. Soon, they saw Paprika running up to them. "Did you find him?" Yuusuke asked. "Yes, but he's being stubborn. He won't come. He said that Mayline being a bitch again would be better," Paprika said. "That little brat. I'll teach that dwarf to say something like that about Mayline," Kuwabara yelled as he took off running. "Hold on Kuwabara, you don't even know where he is," Yuusuke said as he and Kurama went after him. "He never did say that, did he?" Kylie said. Paprika gave her one of her devilish smiles and whistled into the night. Hiei appeared in front of them and followed Paprika into Mayline's room.

Miko was in a corner of the room shaking in fear. "It's ok, Miko. You can leave now," Paprika said. Miko quickly got up and ran out the door. Hiei walked up to Mayline and pulled back the covers. She had bandages over her wound that was starting to heal. Blood stained parts of the sheets that she was laying on, and she looked slightly pale. "She will heal herself once she wakes up, but we want you to free her of her spell before she does wake up," Kylie said. Hiei nodded: "Just make sure that the others don't return." Kylie and Paprika nodded and left the room. Hiei brushed some of Mayline's hair out of her face and away from her jagan. "Now, it's time to see what you're really like," Hiei said as he entered her mind. Mayline began to thrash and scream as she felt him intrude her mind: "Get out of my head." *Mayline, I'm going to help you. Let me try to free you from Machete.* Mayline clamed somewhat but was still thrashing a bit. Hiei didn't care and kept going farther into her mind. He saw memories of her past and battles she fought long ago. *What is this place?*



Well, Paprika found Hiei, but Hiei's only got about a half an hour to free Mayline. Will he do it in time or will Mayline remain in a world of hatred and anger?