Arigatou, minna-san for your kind comments! Plus, you're helping me reach my goal of 50 reviews by Chapter 12 (hey, I can hope, right?) Hopefully, I won't have to keep going back and summarizing the last chapter, but I'll humor you. Rinku showed up, and the girls were rather unhappy when they were told that they'd have to stay inside. Big mistake. A giant seagull named Loki crashed through the window and attacked them. Kelsey and Kia drove them off, but in the process, they revealed themselves as the Mirror Holders. And so, Kia and Kelsey have set off to find Ashita, the Creator of the Mirror, with Z as their guide. Also...I only own three people in this chapter. I own Kia, Ashita, and Tsukai. ONLY THREE!

Hiei: Stop whimpering.

Kia: *glares at him* I'm not.

Hiei: What do YOU call it, then?

Kia: I call it...umm...umm...Taking inventory.

Jin: o.o

Kia: Heh...anyway, thank you all for the reviews! I must start Chapter 11 now! Yay!

Kurama: *chuckles* So enthusiastic.

Kia: *pokes him* Stop taking my author notage space, darn you!

"Nice place," Kelsey remarked, glancing up at the reddish-brown sky overhead.

"Well, this IS Makai..." Kia sighed. "Let's go find Ashita."

"Sure. Any idea where she is?"

"..." Kia sweatdropped. "Not a clue. Z only said that the dragon would take us..."

***Flasback***

Three figures ran in the darkness, pelted by rain.

"Don't you think you're being a little too hard on Shishiwakamaru?" Kia called to Kelsey, heartily wishing that she was under an umbrella right now...or, at the very least, the rain would let up. It wasn't that she hated rain-she loved it- but the constant downpour from above made it hard for her to see more than five feet in front of her, and the icy water was slowly numbing her body.

Kelsey pushed her wet bangs out of her eyes. "I'm not."

"Oh?" Kia rolled her eyes, grateful for the darkness that hid the motion. "Wasn't it just two days ago that you were chasing him around the house with your sword, screaming, "Die, Shishi, die"?

"..."

"And weren't you the one that told Shishiwakamaru that you'd rather see him die than Loki, because the seagull had more taste than he did?" Z added, grinning.

"I choose not to reply to any of those questions," the blonde girl said with as much dignity as she could. "I bite my thumb at you both."

"Bite my..." Z looked at Kia, confused. The other girl laughed. "It was from an English play, Romeo and Juliet. Biting your thumb is basically a gesture of insult." She looked vaguely surprised. "I can't believe I remembered that."

"Ha! It is because thou art a sirrah!" Kelsey said gleefully.

"Thou...art...what?" Z seemed to become even more puzzled.

"Never mind." Kia shook her head. "She's in a dramatic mood again."

By the time they reached an abandoned children's playground, Kelsey and Kia were conversing rapidly in Spanish, and Z was ignoring them both, keeping an eye out for the entrance to Makai.

"¿Kelsey, eres tu nervioso?" (Kelsey, are you nervous?)

"¿Yo? ¿Nervioso? ¡Ha! Tomaré esa gaviota estúpida y la empujaré encima de Netami's-" (Me? Nervous? Ha! I'll take that stupid seagull and shove it up Netami's-)

"Usted es espantoso yo, guerrero de Schoolbags." (You're frightening me, Warrior of Schoolbags.)

"Demasiado malo, hoja de la galleta." (Too bad, Cookie Sheet.)

"¡BASTANTES con las hojas malditas de la galleta!" (ENOUGH with the cookie sheets!)

"We're here," Z interrupted with a hint of amusement in her voice.

The two stopped squabbling and looked at her. "Where?" Kelsey said curiously, casting her gaze around to rest briefly on the rusted swing set, the broken seesaw, the sandbox filled with broken glass.

"There." The hanyou pointed to the rickety old slide. Kia let out a small gasp as she saw a floating oval of bright green light hovering right over the top stair. "That's it?"

"That's it," Z agreed. "You'd better hurry. It won't stay open for long."

Kia and Kelsey cautiously climbed the stairs, then paused at the last one. Kia, who was one step below Kelsey, glanced down at their hanyou friend. "Arigatou, Z-chan..."

"Hai, Arigatou," Kelsey added.

Z nodded. "If all goes well, you should see me later. Good luck!"

"You first," Kia told Kelsey. The girl nodded and leapt into the portal. The remaining one took a deep breath, then followed. Neither of them could have known or expected what was to await them when they returned.

***End Flashback***

"I don't see a dragon," Kelsey said calmly. "In fact, I don't see anything alive out here."

A tumbleweed blew past.

Kia stared at it. "Okay, it feels like we're in some really weird movie right now." She turned to Kelsey. "Now all we need is a bunch of evil things and we'll be just ducky."

Kelsey looked past Kia, then choked on whatever she had been about to say. After a brief coughing fit, she pointed behind the girl. "You got your wish."

Kia turned. She stared down at a group of little creatures that vaguely resembled gerbils. "Umm...they don't exactly look very evil."

Her friend snorted. "Neither do you."

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"You tell me, Healer." Kelsey grinned, then mouthed "cookie sheet".

The girl turned pink. "Kelseeeey....."

"Hmmm...you're right. They DON'T look very evil." Kelsey knelt and poked the leader, a little white fellow with brown spots. "Hey there, fuzzy."

The "gerbil" opened its mouth to reveal a set of very large and pointy teeth and snapped at Kelsey's hand. Fortunately, she yanked it back before it was separated from her arm. "What the hell was THAT?"

"That was a gerbil with very dangerous teeth," Kia said helpfully, pulling Kelsey to her feet. "Just back away very slowly..."

The two girls took a step back. Then another. The gerbils rose up in a giant wave of fur and teeth and bore down upon them.

"Forget that, RUN!" Kia yelped. They sped off, with the creatures pursuing.

"Can't...we...just...blast 'em?" Kelsey panted, glancing back. "They might be nutritious! Yummy, yummy!"

"Anything with teeth that large is probably poisonous!" Kia retorted, swooping down and grabbing a rather large rock. She hurled it at the wave.

A gerbil leapt up, grabbed the rock, and swallowed it.

"Um?" Kia sweatdropped. "No normal gerbils!"

"First seagulls, now gerbils!" Kelsey moaned, grabbing Kia's wrist and dragging her along as she sped up. "What's next-turkeys?"

Hearing a loud roar, Kia risked a look back. "Kelsey."

"Nani?"

"Now you've done it."

"Turkeys?"

"No. Chickens."

Kelsey almost fell. "You're kidding."

"I wish I was," Kia said grimly. "Take a look."

Kelsey obeyed. A flock of seven giant chickens (about Loki's size) was racing after them, stirring up clouds of dust. "Shimatta! We're gonna diiiieeeee!!"

"Please tell me this is a bad dream..." the brown-haired girl looked faintly ill. "Why does this ALWAYS happen? Why not sea monkeys? SEA MONKEYS ARE NICE AND HARMLESS!"

"There's your answer right there," Kelsey informed her. "Why sea monkeys, when you can instead have killer seagulls, vampire gerbils, and giant chickens?"

"Silly me," she agreed, sweatdropping.

Kelsey released Kia's wrist and turned around. "Let's just kill some of them."

"Normally, I believe in protection for the animals..." Kia looked at the approaching attackers. "But, in this case, I'll make an exception."

"Right!" Kelsey said cheerfully. "Besides, chickens aren't an endangered species!" Grinning, she lifted her hands up over her head. The earth shook and Kia silently (and politely) asked the wind for assistance. It obliged and the gerbil wave was instantly sucked into a massive tornado, squealing angrily. The ground split, cracks undulating out from where the two girls stood. Four of the chickens fell into the earth, and then it closed.

"Close enough," Kia told her friend and they set off again. The remaining chickens and about fifteen of the gerbils that hadn't been swept off to OZ pursued.

"Can't...keep...running..." Kelsey gasped, as she developed a stitch in her side.

"What else can we do?" Kia asked her, also gasping for breath.

"Call for assistance?"

"Oh, why not?" Kia took a deep breath. "HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP!!" She screamed.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, before either girl saw it coming, they had been caught up in a giant claw and were being borne upward.

Kia inspected her claw. It was bright red, with several nicks on the skin. She glanced up at the owner of the claw. It turned out to be a humongous crimson dragon, who regarded them with golden cat-slitted pupils.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire..." Kelsey muttered. "Or is it the other way around..."

"Oh, calm yourself, child. I'm not going to eat you."

Startled, the two stared at him. "You talk!" Kia exclaimed.

"Of course I talk. Ningens talk, youkai talk, why shouldn't I? My race is older than both of theirs anyway."

"Gomen..." Kia muttered, chastened.

"That's the better," the dragon said, mollified. "My name is Tsukai. I hope that you are Satsukiame and Kelsey."

"That's us," Kelsey confirmed. "But...how do you know who we are?"

"Ashita asked me to bring you and Satsukiame to her," Tsukai replied, ignoring the brown-haired girl's muttered correction of "Kia". "I hadn't been able to spot you...when I heard a very clear...and loud voice calling for help. You have a very good voice, little one," he told Kia admiringly. She muttered under her breath. Tsukai chuckled and pumped his wings vigorously, catching a thermal in the air and picking up speed. "To Ashita's, Mirror Holders!"

Back in Ningenkai...

"So they got through?" Kuwabara asked Z anxiously, as the girl sat tiredly on the couch, sipping a mug of hot chocolate and a blanket wrapped around her form.

Z smiled. "They got through. They're in Makai now."

"I hope they're all right..." Mikage whispered. "They've never left Ningenkai before."

Kurama chuckled. "They'll be fine. We were worried when YOU first went to Makai, and you're still in one piece."

"No thanks to Kuwabara," Hiei murmured. "That foolish baka almost got us killed."

"Well, shapeshifters are a devilish breed," Touya said. "Small wonder that they confused him."

"Posing as my Yukina-san..." Kuwabara gave an anguished moan of longing. "It was horrible."

"And then there were those gerbils," Yusuke said slyly. Suzuki snickered. "GERBILS?" (oh, if you only knew, Suzuki-san...)

Mikage blinked suddenly, then shivered. "There's that feeling again. Please..." She clutched Kurama's arm. "Don't leave...keep an eye out. There's something lurking...too close. I wish I could stay, but..."

"You have to get back to Kari," Kurama finished for her, smiling kindly. "I understand, Mikage. You haven't returned to your little sister yet. Please don't worry about us."

"I'll be here, in case something happens," Z added reassuringly. "The males need some female intuition and I'm willing to provide it!"

The blonde girl smiled at her. "Arigatou, Z." She turned and left the house. But the feeling remained...*Something's going to happen to them...and Z and I are powerless to stop it...come back to us quickly, you two...*

Somewhere...else...

"Ah, yes...the little telepath suspects..." A long pale hand with even longer black fingernails moved lightly over a glowing purple orb. "I suspect it will soon be time to move in."

*OOC*

Wow. This is interesting. What is Netami planning? Why is Mikage worried? And what awaits Kia and Kelsey as Tsukai bears them to where Ashita awaits them? Poor Kia...can't get away from cookie sheets, even in a different language! Next chapter...

* The girls FINALLY meet Ashita (took awhile, didn't it?). But what is the strange feeling they get from her assistant?

* Both Kia and Kelsey find out some very interesting things about their pasts, their present...and their future.

* Netami begins the first stage of her plan.