Winter: Hello and welcome to the next revised chapter of Lioness.

Wisdom: Winter doesn't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Autumn a.k.a Phantom Harmony, Freckles a.k.a Tenka belongs to Dreamchasereternity, Hinote a.k.a Vladimir belongs to EternalBlackNight and Capoon belongs to Winter's friend Todd.

Chapter Twenty-One: Stalked:

Morning had come and the group was still on the raft. Everyone but the toad demon was sitting around quietly basking in the warmth of the sun. Hiei sat by himself staring at the water while Kurama, Yusuke, Hinote and Kuwabara sat by Capoon and talked.

Flash and Autumn who gained by control of their bodies were in a corner talking quietly. Autumn laid on her stomach with her chin propped up in her hands while Flash sat up with her legs stretched out.

"I think you should take it," said Flash indicating to the crystal.

"But it's safer with you…well so says Harmony," answer Autumn.

"I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen," said Flash. "Well to me, I think you should take it."

"Don't be silly," said Autumn "You're just being over paranoid."

Flash groaned. "I guess…"

"So how long have you been working for Koenma?" Kurama looked at Capoon as he asked his question.

Capoon turned his cloak-covered head towards Kurama. "For a while now, I'd say almost 50 years."

Kurama nodded. "May I ask why?"

"The same reason as you and Hiei," answered Capoon catching the fire demon's attention. "I used to be a bandit but when I was caught stealing the crystal from the vault it was either a century in prison or, to work for him."

"If you were a bandit how come I never heard of you?" Hiei asked still starring at the water.

"I was just that good," Capoon smirked.

Hiei snorted. "Whatever."

Hinote's stomach growled. "Mmmmnnn, I'm hungry…."

Yusuke and Kuwabara's stomach growled in agreement. The three of them turned and stared at Flash and Autumn.

The two girls were rolling up their pants and taking off their socks and shoes in order for them to stick their feet in the warm water.

"Yo' Flash!" shouted Yusuke.

"What?" shouted Flash looking back over her shoulder.

"Give us your bag! We're hungry," Yusuke answered.

Flash sighed in slight annoyance as she tossed her backpack over to the guys. Unfortunately for Capoon, her caught it and the next thing he knew was Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hinote attacking him for the bag of food. During the brawl, Kurama was able to grab the bag. He pulled out a red apple and started eating it.

Flash sighed and rolled her eyes and Autumn giggled at their friends.

"Idiots," commented Flash.

"Aw, but you know you love us anyway," teased Autumn.

"Even so," said Flash. "I'll never admit it."

A few hours later:

The toad demon steered his raft up onto the shorelines. "This is where I take you to."

Flash took her feet out of the water and got up. "What are you talking about?" she asked walking over to him. "You are to take us down the river."

"My raft isn't fit for the water between the mountains…too many rocks. You have to walk from here."

Flash growled and reached for the toad's collar. Kurama quickly got in the way.

"Now Flash, we have no choice," said Kurama. "We have to walk from here."

Flash growled and walked over to get her shoes and the rest of her stuff. Once everyone had his or her stuff gathered Kurama paid the toad.

"Well, should we get going?" Kurama asked walking up to them.

Everyone turned to look up the narrow mountain path.

"Why do I have the strongest feeling this is going to suck greatly?" Kuwabara asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement as they began to march. As their trail continued for a few miles the group began to notice that it was getting narrower and narrower by the every couple of feet. Eventually Flash, who was leading stopped.

She looked back at everyone. "The path is too narrow to go any further! What should we do?"

"Does it can fatter up ahead?" Yusuke asked trying not get his voice lost in the strong wind.

Flash looked and turned back. "No!"

Kurama thought for a moment and looked up. "Yusuke tell Flash there is a ledge above us, we should try to get to it."

Yusuke looked up then at Flash. "Kurama said that the ledge above us is our best bet!"

Flash looked up. What do you think? She asked Lioness.

'Give me control and I should be able to get up there.'

Flash nodded and let her mind relax, slowly her dull golden eyes roll into the back of her head. Once they rolled back, her eyes were a piercing golden color.

Lioness looked at Hiei. "Can you jump up there?"

Hiei smirked and started to climb up the wall, jumping when there was enough space for his feet.

"I guess that answers my question," muttered Lioness to herself as she began to climb.

Capoon, who was next to Autumn put out one of his hands. "Your rabbit will be safer with me."

Autumn thought for a moment as she hugged the back Freckles had his head poked out of tightly. Finally she carefully passed the bag to Capoon.

Capoon took the bag and put it on against his stomach before he started to climb the wall.

Hiei was the first to make it atop the ledge. He looked down to see Lioness only a few feet below. Now, not wanting to responsible for his charge plummeting to her death, Hiei decided to have a heart and held his hand out. Once he got a hold of Lioness's hand he easily pulled her up and sat her down on the ground as they glared at each other.

Lioness got to her knees and pulled her backpack off her back. "I had Flash pack a rope, but I don't know if it's long enough to reach down there."

After pushing some stuff out of the way she was able to find the rope and tossed it to Hiei. Hiei began to unroll it. At this time Capoon had it close enough for Lioness to each down and grab freckles. Once she had him, Capoon jumped up onto the ledge and started to help Hiei.

Lioness took Freckles and put him down on the ground under a tree away from the ledge so he wouldn't get hurt.

Meanwhile, Kurama, Hinote, Autumn, Kuwabara and Yusuke hung into the cliff's walls while they waited. After a while the rope dropped down.

"Autumn you go first," said Kurama.

Autumn grasped the rope tightly and tied it around her waist. She tugged on it twice to tell the Capoon and Hiei she was ready. Once they began to pull her up Autumn started to climb the wall with her feet as she held onto the rope.

Everyone made it safely onto the ledge after Autumn in the following order for lightest to heaviest. Hinote, Kurama, Yusuke and lastly Kuwabara.

"Remind me never to do that again," said Yusuke.

"There's a tavern a good few hours walk away from here," said Lioness gathering up the rope.

Hinote looked at the sky. "Do you think we'll make it?

"Most likely not," said Capoon. "Our best bet is to just walk in that direction and hopefully find shelter by night fall."

"I guess we have no other choice," said Autumn picking up Freckles.

"Well…let's get going…"

Everyone sighed in union and continued to march on. As they walked in silence they heard a twig branch snap. Everyone quickly turned to the sound ready to defend him or herself.

"Show yourself!" demanded Yusuke.

Everyone watched the bushes intensely as they shook. Finally, a creature that resembled a male lion only larger slowly stalked out of the bushes. His eyes were narrowed at the group as he growled showing his teeth.

End Chapter:

Winter: My bad for not updating sooner. Terribly sorry. I'll try to update as soon as possible.

Please review.

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