The Welder of BlackFire:

Thorn's New Life-The Legend Lives

Chapter Seven: The New Mission and Kurama's Encounter

"Yusuke!" came a cheery voice from the apartment kitchen. The boy sat up from his bed groggily.

"Botan, do you have any idea what time it is?" Yusuke asked, looking at his clock with blurry, sleep-laden eyes.

"Of course!" the girl said, standing in his doorway. "Its almost eight in the morning! Oh Yusuke, you sleep way too much. C'mon! I have a new mission for you from Koenma!" She held up a video tape, waving in front of his face eagerly. "So let's go to Kuwabara's to check it out!"

Yusuke groaned and fell back on his bed. His hand went to cover his eyes as Botan burst open the curtains in his room, letting the light flood through.

"Botan! I've been sleeping for less than a week after fighting in the Dark Turnamate and he already wants me go on another mission! Its only been five days!" he moaned.

"C'mon, Yusuke! It can't be that hard. He knows you need a rest and he wouldn't push you onto anything stressful so soon after your battle. Let's just go see what he has to say," the ferry said. "Now get dressed and call Kuwabara to tell him we're coming over," she said, walking into the living room to talk with Atsuko. Yusuke grumbled before finally tumbling out of bed.

Half an hour later, Yusuke and Botan were walking to Kuwabara's house along the sidewalk. Kurama and Hiei joined them moments later. They were greeted at Kuwabara's house by Shizuru, who brought them up to her little brother's room.

"So what's the mission about?" Kuwabara asked, placing the tape in his VCR.

"How are we suppose to know? That's why we came here! To figure it out!" Yusuke said in an exasperated growl. He was clearly still upset about being woken from his slumber.

"Well you don't have to get so touchy about it!" came the retort.

"Stupid human," Hiei said.

"What did you say, Shorty?" Kuwabara asked, turning toward the fire demon with a glare.

"You heard me," came the smug reply.

"Please, stop you two," Kurama intervined, stepping forward to come between the two insult-throwing boys.

"Yeah, cut it out. Let's just watch the tape in peace," Botan said. Kuwabara grumbled something that no one heard as he pressed play on the VCR.

Koenma appeared a moment later, sitting in his over-stuffed chair in his office.

"Hello, all. Koenma here. I know that you are all still unrecovered from the battle in the Dark Turnamate, but this mission should not be difficult. A few demons passed through a portal into the human world and have been causing a lot of mischief. Most of it is innocent, stealing precious jewels from jewelry stores, nothing more. Yet. But if they become too confident I fear that they will resort to more violent crimes. Your job is to stop them. I don't have much information to give you on them other than there are five of them. They are lower-class demon's and shouldn't be any trouble for you. The western half of Spirit World is currently assigned on another, more urgent mission and so I am forced to assign you to this one. You will have to take a plane to America to take care of them. I want this mission delt with quickly, before it gets out of control and becomes more than it already is. You have one week before your flight leaves to take you to Los Vegas." The toddler explained all this calmly, his binky jerking as he spoke. The tape blanked out a few minutes later after the credits that consisted mostly of Koenma's name.

"Hn. Sounds easy enough," Hiei said from his position standing next to the wall.

"Easy enough for you to say, you're fully recovered," Yusuke said as Kuwabara ejected the tape from the VCR.

"So are you, Yusuke," Kurama said.

"Yeah, but I'm still tired. I'm going back home to get more sleep. Need to keep up on my beauty rest if I'm to preform at my peak!" he said with a grin as he walked out of the room.

"Yeah, better get strong, I don't want to have to save you because you didn't get enough sleep!" Kuwabara called after him.

"Who says that you're going?" Hiei asked in a grunt.

"Don't think you guy's are leaving me behind, Shrimp! I'm comin' along whether or not you like it!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Hn. Then you'd better stay out of the way and let the professionals deal with it," Hiei replied as he left. "Its bad enough Kurama and I have to babysit you constantly without you messing things up."

"Hey!-" the carrot-top began, but the demon was gone and he knew it was a futile effort. "Stupid...I'm just as good..." he grumbled.

"Don't worry, Kuwabara. We wont leave you behind," Kurama said with a small chuckle as he too left. It was very amusing to watch those two argue. And to think that one day they could be inlaws.

Kurama walked down the street, his hands in his pockets and his stride cheerful. Suddenly, about half a block down the street, the feeling hit him, as if an explosion had just errupted behind him. He was in a large crowd of people when his pace slackened considerably, and his green eyes were suddenly keen to the people around him. There was a power near by. And it was very strong. His eyes shifted in hope of catching a movement of the one who was stalking him. He took a sudden left, into a dark alley. He walked along, his pace confident. At the end of the alley he took a right behind a large building. He could feel the energy following him, but keeping a safe distance away. He stopped suddenly, his chin high.

"Do you always stalk people without their knowing?" he asked, not turning to look around. A quiet chuckle came from the shadows.

"Well I was quite sure that you knew I was following you." The voice's owner walked from the shadows behind the kitsune. Kurama gave a short, quiet laugh.

"Hm, well I guess I did," Kurama replied. He turned around to face the girl. "Why were you following me, Thorn?"

"No real reason. I was just wonder how long it took you to realize I was there," Thorn said with a shrug.

"And was your wonder satisfied?" he asked with a small smile.

"Yes."

'This is not a good thing. She followed me for nearly an entire street block without my knowing. She could easily have been an enemy and caught me off guard. Again, I get the impression that she possess ancient powers. I wonder if she uses them just for healing, or prehaps for other uses...' Kurama thought.

"Is this what you meant by meeting us again?" he asked.

"Well, not really. I've hardly met the group again. But I must give you credit. I knew you were perceptive, but your intelect is amazing," the girl replied, stepping from the rest of the shadows, her boots soft on the concrete, her elongated shirt flirting with the top of her pants.

"Thank you," Kurama said, his tone calm and low.

"Hm, you're welcome. Well, I've found out all I've come to discover. I'll be seeing you again soon," she said, turning and waving over her shoulder.

'I'm sure you will. And it should be an interesting meeting if it even remotely similar to this one,' he thought as he watched her melt back into the shadows. Her energy signature dissapeared with her image.

'Oh, it will Kurama,' Thorn thought to herself silently. 'It will.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Authoress' Note: Okay, here's the second chapter I promised, because six was so short. Enjoy!

Yusuke: -groans, picks tree needles from hair and clothes- stupid trees.

J: don't make me throw you out the tall window!

Yusuke: -stupid grin, waves hands in surrender- no no! that's okay!

J: -growl- good, now, go out and buy me more cookies.

Yusuke: -grumbles- okay, fine. Damn cookies….

J: -sigh- good, now that he's out of the way I can concentrate. Hmm, so howja like this chapter? Okay? Yeah, well the next one I make fun of Yusuke and Kuwabara and make Botan a total ditz.

Kuwabara: hey! Why make me an idiot?

Hiei: you can't change what is…..-grunt-

Kuwabara: hey! Take that back, shorty!

J: -growl- cut it out. But Hiei's right -Kuwabara fumes- and its your stupid insistance on honor and kittens….

Kurama: I don't think it is wise to give away the next chapter.

J: oh, yeah, huh? Well, then you'll just have to wait! Hmm I ask for one review for the past two chapters and I'll get the next up ASAP as soon as I see the review! Just because it makes me type, copy/paste, rewrite faster. Thanks! And for being such a good reminder person Kurama, I give you and Hiei the honor of doing the disclaimer.

Kurama: -nods- I'd be honored.

Hiei: -grunt- sure

Kuwabara: -grumble- suck-up -glare from J- -innocent grin-

Kurama: J-chan does not own anyone from Yu Yu Hakusho.

Hiei: But she owns Thorn and BlackFire

J: review please! -Yusuke walks in- COOKIES! -attacks bag-