A/N: Well, here we go, my third story yay! *Grins broadly* anyway, you know the drill--Standard disclaimers: I don't own this brilliant anime/manga, wish I did, but I don't. I do however; own the plot, and my OC's Scarlet, Andrew, his mother, Damien and any other random character that is not in the YYH series.

Wilted Rose

Hiei sat lazily on Koenma's windowsill and watched Kurama as he leaned against the wall.

"Kurama," The red haired would-be demon looked up at his friend. "How long has it been?"

"Don't sound so annoyed Hiei." He answered with a slight laugh.

"What do you mean? They're forty-five minutes late!" Koenma yelled from his desk.

Kurama shrugged. "What else is new?"

Hiei growled dangerously and leapt from his perch on the windowsill. "I'm leaving if they don't get here soon."

Right on cue, some distance down the hall, muffled, but familiar voices could be heard.

"You see." Kurama stated matter-of-factly.

The voices became steadily louder as their companions approached.

"Now boys, you can discuss this later, Koenma is waiting."

"Listen carrot-top I won that last round and you know it!"

"In your dreams Urameshi!"

"What makes you think I would dream about you?" Disgust ricocheted off the walls. "I'll give you points for lasting so long, but all in all, I think you need serious help."

Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Botan entered Koenma's office a few minutes later quite unceremoniously.

"I'm terribly sorry for the wait Koenma sir, I found them in the arcade."

Hiei had returned to the window and Kurama, who was looking rather amused, leaned back against the wall.

"So who won?" He asked, unable to resist the opportunity for some fun.

"Kurama," Hiei growled threateningly. "Do you know what happens to a fox that pisses a fire demon off?"

"No Hiei, I don't."

"The same thing that happens to anyone else who does."

Kurama laughed nervously and watched as Yusuke and Kuwabara attacked each other. Even Hiei couldn't suppress a smirk as Botan proceeded to smack them with her oar.

"Break it up you two," she said solemnly, retracting her oar. "Alright Koenma I think we're ready." The two rivals found their chairs, still grumbling.

"It's about time, it's a wonder you two have made it this far as spirit detectives." The toddler exclaimed shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Yusuke yelled. "You gave us these positions pacifier breath!"

Koenma and Yusuke glared at each other for some time until Botan stepped in again.

"Now Koenma sir, what were you saying about a new assignment?"

"Oh, right!" He said breaking his glaring contest with the hotheaded teen.

"There is a new threat to the worlds."

"All three of them?" Yusuke asked, suddenly alert.

"A demon, not any ordinary demon mind you, has made her way into the Ningenkai."

"Her?" Kurama questioned.

"Yes, have any of you heard of a demon called Scarlet?"

Kurama's eyes flashed momentarily in shock, but only Hiei seemed to notice. When no one answered, the young master heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Have any of you heard of The Temptress?"

Both Hiei and Kurama snapped to attention.

"No." Kuwabara and Yusuke answered stupidly.

"The Temptress," Hiei started. "Is just a legend."

"I assure you she is very real." Koenma addressed him seriously. "In the Ningenkai she goes by the name Scarlet, and we have reason to believe that she has been living on Earth for a while; you see, about two years ago, we received reports of an S class demon that had been able to travel between the worlds."

When he paused to take a breath the rest were left a silent moment to contemplate the new information. An S class demon? Using portals? That sort of thing wasn't possible.

Was it?

"We set up searches, but no matter what we did, we never came across said demon. That is, until we heard a rumor attached to a demon named Scarlet. Only then did we begin to see the big picture."

"And that would be?" Kurama inquired.

"Actually," Botan answered. "The big picture is a lot BIGGER than we'd originally anticipated. You see, the only way that any demon at that level could even dream of making it through, would be if there was a contradicting energy in her body that would cancel out her demon signature. But only if that were possible."

"Is it possible?" Yusuke asked.

"It shouldn't be."

"But?" Yusuke persisted. There was always a "but".

"In order for that to be possible, she'd have to be a hybrid."

"A what?" Kuwabara whined. And they say that confusion is bliss.

"So you're saying that she's half demon, half---"

"Human." Koenma finished, cutting Hiei off.

"But that shouldn't be an option at all!" Kurama exclaimed.

"By natural law?" Koenma regarded them seriously. "No it should not."

"But obviously it is." Botan stated for them.

"Clearly." Hiei answered sarcastically.

"So now what?" Kuwabara asked.

"Well," Koenma sat thoughtfully, arms crossed over his chest. "Only two days ago she made herself visible."

"Alright, stop talking in riddles here shorty, you're confusing Kuwabara."

The carrot top was suddenly alert at the sound of his name. "That's right!" He said triumphantly. "Hey, wait a minute-Urameshi!" He yelled angrily at a snickering Yusuke.

"Idiot." Hiei stated dryly.

"Are you sure Kuwabara is the only one who is confused Yusuke?" Kurama chuckled.

"Let's just get on with this shall we?" Botan sighed.

"Right," Koenma started. Shuffling through his papers, he pulled out a blurry photograph. "Here."

They all looked dumbly at the picture, and even Hiei's sharp eyes could only make out the figure of a woman, with some kind of green outfit on.

"As you can see, none of us really know what she looks like."

"So what do you want us to do?" Yusuke asked.

"We need you to bring her to us, for a number of reasons. First, she is an outlaw that hasn't been seen in almost 17 years, second, she is highly coveted in the Makai, and she may have information we need. And finally, the only reason we were able to locate her is because of her sudden increase of spirit energy. For the past two days there have been brutal slaughters all over the place. Not one single person was left alive. We believe that she has come across a catalyst that has been increasing her power greatly. We're not really sure what she plans to do with it; in fact, we're not quite sure what it is period. You need to find her, AND the source of her power before it gets out of control and ends up in the hands of some loony out on a power hunt. Are we clear?"

They all nodded in unison, except for Hiei, who offered his trademark "hn". As they stood to go, Botan showed them out and explained to them one last detail Konema had forgotten to mention.

"Because none of us can be sure exactly who she is as a human, we need you to make her use the lioness as proof. Don't bring anyone in that you're not certain is The Temptress okay?"

"Yeah sure." Yusuke waved her off absentmindedly. "Is there a time limit?"

"Nope, you have as long as you need." She said cheerfully, producing her oar. "Well, I'm off, some teenager skipping school was just hit by a car." She winked as she hopped up and started to fly away.

"Ha ha, very funny." Yusuke fumed as everyone else began to laugh.

~*~

Back in the Ningenkai, after a quick stop at Kurama's house to talk to Shiori, the awkward group of spirit detectives walked down the road to Yusuke's house. Knowing that Atsuko probably wouldn't be there, it was decidedly the best place to converse, and on Kurama's request, to form a plan.

As they walked, Hiei was becoming impatient with Kurama. He was hiding something from the rest of them. Suddenly Yusuke spoke up, breaking him from his thoughts.

"So, who is this "lioness"?"

"Well," Kurama answered. "She's, actually---" he laughed nervously. "It's rather hard to explain."

"Is it?" Hiei asked coolly. Kurama was taken aback by his implications.

"The Temptress was one of the many feared of the Makai, she is an expert actress, making any believe what they want to believe and she's extremely good at it. On top of that, she's strong and doesn't just rely on seductive tricks to destroy an opponent. In a nut shell, she is a worthy adversary who lures her prey into a fight that they can't win." Hiei finished smartly. "But Scarlet is new," he added. "She never did have one distinguishing name."

"What was she called back in the Makai?" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei shrugged. "It varied depending on preference, lioness, sphinx, temptress, she answered to all of them." He smirked and continued. "There was one name though, that she hated, and the only ones who ever spoke it had a death wish or they were just stupid."

"What was it?" Kuwabara prompted.

"Kitten." Hiei answered flatly.

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "How is it you know all this? I thought you said she was a legend?"

"She became a legend after she disappeared. Most great warriors do. But before then it wasn't uncommon to hear about her."

"Oh." Yusuke nodded.

Kurama took it from there, glancing at Hiei out of the corner of his eye as they walked.

"She is more of an assassin then anything else, other than that, there is not much more that you don't already know."

"Really?" Hiei asked turning to him, eyebrows raised all too innocently. They stopped walking as all eyes fell to Kurama.

"What's that supposed to---?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about fox." Hiei snarled.

Kurama swallowed. Hard.

"A while back, maybe twenty-five years ago, there was a growing rumor in the Makai that The Temptress had found a new playmate." Hiei started, spitting the words at Kurama. "At the time it was a well known fact that she did what she did for her benefits only, so the only logical explanation was that she had found a lover."

"So?" Kuwabara asked. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Hiei glared at him. "Moron, the rumor was that she had an infatuation with a certain thief in the Makai." He paused to look hard at his red haired teammate. "The one and only Youko Kurama."

Kurama flinched. Dammit, this was NOT good.

"And then, eight years later, about the time when Youko was thought to be killed, she disappeared."

"But, well," Yusuke fumbled, looking for a way out for his friend. "It could have been a coincidence, right?" He said looking to Kurama hopefully.

"It could have been." Kurama said answering him before Hiei could."But---"

~*~

I'm really proud of myself for this; I truly believe I've stepped up a level as a writer. Although, I must admit that the characterization had me wading into deep water. I was afraid that I would "over use" certain characters, like Yusuke and Kuwabara, because they are simpler and easier to relate to. But I did however, find that it was much easier to fit all the necessary humor as well as drama in, if I pretended that I was watching them on just another episode of Yu Yu Hakusho, instead of writing it. And I must say that I'm rather pleased with the results.

If you read closely, you'll find an underlying theme of jealousy between Hiei and my OC, this, as it turns out, will be the basis for my story. But since Hiei isn't exactly one to outwardly show his emotions, it will be very subtle.

I believe that my favorite scene was: "Alright, stop talking in riddles here shorty, you're confusing Kuwabara."

The carrot top was suddenly alert at the sound of his name. "That's right!" He said triumphantly. "Hey, wait a minute-Urameshi!" He yelled angrily at a snickering Yusuke.

"Idiot." Hiei stated dryly.

That line still makes me smile ^^.

Though another problem I encountered was with my OC, Scarlet. There was soooooo much information about her that I needed to cram into one chapter, I felt that I may have overwhelmed everyone with her description *sweatdrops*. But I hope you'll thank me later, it'll make chapters to come a lot clearer. All in all, I think that this chapter is a success, but you tell me.

All questions, comments, and/or reviews will be responded to in my authors notes, and as for updates, I'm not quite sure when the next is coming, but have faith, it will.