DMG: Thanx for all the reviews! Sorry this is taking so long, I never seem to have any time since the summer started! I never meant for this mission to drag on so long – I'm going to need a few more chapters to wrap it all up!!!! After that, I can get into more romance… Sorry for the relatively short chapters, I'm really trying!

Nothing has changed since last time ~ I still don't own Yu Yu Hakusho!

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        Two pairs of eyes widened in surprise and horror. As you may have guessed, these eyes belonged to Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were spying. Kai and Hiei were also watching, against their will and better judgement. They argued that Kurama didn't want to be observed; Yusuke pointed out that he would be watched anyway, so it didn't matter.

        "Did you see that?" Yusuke asked.

        "I'm not blind!" protested Kuwabara.

        "Really?" Kai asked sarcastically.

        "I gotta go talk to him," Yusuke said, starting to get up.

        Kai jerked him back down by the collar. "Don't do that!" she hissed. "It will only make it worse. He doesn't need your sympathy!"

        "Hn," agreed Hiei. "Demons are much stronger than you pathetic ningens."

        Kurama sighed deeply then turned around. "You can all come out now."

        The four miscreants disentangled themselves from the bushes.

        "Uh, heh heh," Yusuke grinned.

        SMACK! Yusuke fell on the ground. Kai stood over him, fist raised.

        "Wha was that for?"

        "For being an insensitive jerk."

        "But-" She cut him off and turned away.

        "You just said –"

        "I don't understand women," Kuwabara complained.

        "For once I agree with you," muttered Yusuke.

        "I'm all right, truly I am," Kurama said to Kai.

        She raised an eyebrow.

        "This has happened before."

        "REALLY?" Kuwabara asked. He had walked up to join them. "When? I thought you didn't date!"

        Kai slapped a hand to her forehead in exasperation. Hiei rolled his eyes.

        "He is about 1500 years old."

        "Oh." SMACK!

        "I see stars," Kuwabara giggled.

        Kurama laughed lightly. "Youko has more experience in these areas. He would have suspected something right away. I suppose Shuuichi (?) is still quite innocent in some ways. He will learn."

        Kai smiled. "You know, Kurama, you're a lot tougher than you look."

        "Thank you."

        Yusuke whispered to Hiei, because Kuwabara was still seeing stars, "Isn't it a sign of insanity when you begin to talk about yourself in third person?"

        Kai heard. SMACK! BAM! Yusuke ducked just in time to receive only two grazing blows on opposite sides of his head. Hiei's loose fist collided with Kai's open palm. Her fingers closed around his. Realizing what she was doing Kai dropped her hand with a slight blush. 'Good thing it's dark,' she thought.

        They decided to move on, because no one thought they would get much sleep that night. Hiei studied his hand while no one was looking. What had she done? And what the hell did it do to him?! Kai was both frustrating and confusing.

        "Kuso!" he cursed softly under his breath. There was no time for those kinds of thoughts. They were on a mission.

        The sun rose behind a bleak layer of gray clouds. "There!" Yusuke shouted.

        "Where?" (Must I explain who said this?)

         "Right in front of you, moron," Hiei said.

        "Who would want to live in an ugly place like that?" Kai asked.

        Kurama opened his mouth.

        "I know it's good for defense; those walls sure do look difficult to breach, but they all let intruders in by the front door! It's a waste of work, building that thing. And it's really ugly!" Kai finished.

        The boys just shrugged. It didn't matter anyway.

        "What are we waiting for?" Yusuke asked. "Let's move!"

        Dark clouds rumbled close overhead. Before the unfortunate Reiki Tantei had gone a step, the heavens opened up and dumped rain by the buckets on their heads.

        They ran towards the castle. Strangely, they did not have to fight their way inside.

        "I don't like this you guys," Kuwabara said nervously.

        "This is not a walk in the park, moron! You're not supposed to like it!" Hiei snapped.

        "Let's just continue," Kai said, ignoring them. "I'm sure Mokkan is not going to make this easy for us. We should be on our guard." She had changed to her full-demon form.

        "Demons like this like to have challengers waiting at set intervals," Kurama observed.

        "Right, we'll keep an eye out," said Yusuke. "Come on, Kuwabara!"

        (Kuwabara had been staring vacantly into space for the duration of this conversation.)

        Kurama proved correct, as always. The first challenger was waiting in an open chamber at the end of the first hall.

        It was a fairly impressive looking beast, with no distinguishing characteristics and no apparent weapon. So it would be a fistfight, then.

        "Who's going to fight?" asked Yusuke.

        Kai didn't volunteer. She disliked fistfights; they were not her specialty. Besides, it was no fun without weapons.

        "I will!" declared Kuwabara.

        "I think the rest of us should move on."

        "Hn."

        "Catch up when you're done, Kuwabara!" shouted Yusuke.

        "Hope you're ready to die, human!" the demon shouted as he began the charge.

        The group left with the sound of the battle in their ears. The next corridor was a long one, twisting and turning in an attempt to dishearten trespassers that managed to fight past the first demon. But it too opened into a large stone chamber with a demon standing in the middle.

        This one was vaguely canine in appearance, though Kai could not name its exact species. It was of middling stature, though much taller and heavier than Kai herself, or any of the Reiki Tantei, for that matter. What was interesting about this one was the large chain scythe that the demon gripped in its hands.

        "I'll take this one."

        "Are you sure about this, Kai?" Yusuke asked her incredulously.

        She gave him a flat-eyed stare. "You think I can't handle it?"

        "But he's twice the size of you!" he protested.

        "You should have learned by now that size doesn't matter in the demon world," she replied calmly.

        "That thing could split you in two."

        Kai put her hands on her hips and drew herself up. "This is because I'm female, isn't it?! I thought you of all people would know that gender doesn't matter in the demon world, either."

        Yusuke began to protest once more, but Kurama spoke first.

        "Give it up, Yusuke," he said.

        "Let her fight," growled Hiei.

        Kai gave him an oddly satisfied glance. She stepped into the chamber. "The rest of you, go!" She waited until their footsteps had faded away before turning to the demon. "I wonder if you can swing that thing properly?"

        "Want to find out, pussy cat?"

        "I hope she'll be alright," said Yusuke worriedly. "I'm starting to get to like her."

        "She'll be fine," said Kurama.

        "A weapon like that is very powerful," said Hiei, "but is no use at all if the opponent is fast enough to dodge the attack. Kai is very fast; she should have no problem."

        Yusuke still didn't look convinced, so Kurama pointed out that they had troubles of their own ahead.

        "You're right," he conceded.

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DMG: That took me FOREVER to write. I decided to stop there because I had no more ideas for people to fight. And, of course, I wanted to get this up. I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE CLICK THE NICE LITTLE BUTTON!!!!!!!! ^_^