Hey, I edited this chapter again so a few things are different, like the many pages I added to the end. So even though this is a repost, READ IT. Has it ever crossed anybody's mind that Hiei is legally a midget? Anyway, here 'tis…

I don't own TOYOTA!

blah – Hiei

blah Sanura

((blah)) Kali

: blah : Kurama

blah. Youko

:-:-:-:-:-

Kali looked out over a picturesque mountain view. Surprisingly enough, she was standing at the side of a road – a road that, because of all its narrow twists and turns, had driven Kuwabara to motion sickness. The group was less than a half hour away from their destination, and currently parked at the highest point the trail would take them to. Everyone was standing in a semi-circle around Kuwabara in an effort to appease him; now was her chance. Her wings shuddered and flapped a few times, as a warm up. She returned to the pulled-over minivan and left her jacket, boots and corset in the car, electing to lace on a pair of black dancing slippers with leather soles.

Hiei saw the demon-god undressing by the car and was mildly intrigued, even more so when she walked straight to the edge of the road and began stretching. In spite of his customary refusal to give in to curiosity, he walked quietly across the road and came to a stop a few feet from her side. Her wings folded and pressed tight against her back in anticipation. She turned to look at him, seemingly arguing with some idea in her mind. The cat's telepathic wall kept him out of the Kali's thoughts, but he could read her just by looking at her face. Apparently she had reached a decision, and proceeded to do something he definitely did not expect her to do. She smiled at him, grabbed his hand and whispered, 'jump.'

Before he could think or take offense in the fact that she was holding his hand, she had leapt off the cliff with as much strength as she could gather, and he found himself jumping too. The fire apparition inhaled sharply and shut his eyelids as tightly as he could as they soared out into the open sky – was he nervous? Surely not; he had felt nothing of the sort since childhood.

Air whipped at Hiei's face and tugged harshly at his cloak, but it was well worth it for the absence of his stomach and the lightness in his head. There was no gravity; there were no rules, no people to bother him, no one but himself and the goddess beside him. Gone were the stresses of his life, the worries and tensions and facades to keep up. He was simply there, soaring into blissful oblivion.

And yet, while he was floating without purpose, he had never felt so alive in his life either. Blood was singing in his veins and he was almost drunk on the fresh air in his lungs, his senses heightened and numb at once. One could almost call this floating sensation a high.

Hiei suddenly got an alarming feeling in his half-numb limbs, and opened his eyes to realize that they were presently hurtling toward an expansive forest of Giant Sequoias. That feeling was there again – fear, and a chilling apprehension of death that he had never felt before.

Kali laughed out loud. She could see it on his face, the expectation of death. She waited a few more seconds, until the tips of the sequoias were almost upon them, and let her wings spread out with a deafening 'whoosh.' Kali, who was an experienced flyer to say the least, easily turned her body to cope with the sudden change in direction. Hiei, however, fell victim to inertia. He involuntarily tightened his grip on Kali's hand as his body yanked up toward her.

That was, by far, the most unpleasant part of the ride. The remainder of the flight consisted of leisurely soaring and catching air currents, as well as enjoying the view. A vast expanse of forest lay out below him, endlessly sprawled over the mountains like a deep green blanket. Kali had refrained from saying anything throughout the excursion, a silence Hiei was more than happy to embrace. It took the little fire demon a while to remember that she was holding his hand. He opened his mouth to say something, but realized that if he let go he would inevitably plummet into the surrounding mountains. So instead he glared daggers at her hand, which was actually quite soft…and warm. And rather nice to hold on to.

"Is there some reason you're staring at my hand?" Kali interrupted his thoughts.

Hiei looked up at her with wide eyes, a subtle blush rising across his nose, before looking down again with an audible 'hmph.'

"Yeah…you need to work on your people skills," she advised. Kali kept her grin under control as she laughed inwardly at the surprised look on his face. "Should we start heading back?"

Hiei truly did not know how to respond to that. Being off alone with an attractive woman was not something he was used to; were there not rules for this sort of thing? He did not look forward to rejoining with the others, when he would have to deal with people being loud and disapproving of his solitude. But he did not want the girl thinking he enjoyed her company, either – no matter how true it was. In the end, he nodded in response and let his heart gradually sink on the way back.

:-:-:-:-:-

Sanura did her best not to sing. Really, she did. She clasped her hands together and began hopping up and down as an alternative. She also let out a noise that sounded like something between a squeal and a laugh, though she shut herself up when the other members of the group turned to stare at her. She could not help herself – Kali was flirting. In the dragon's strange, subtle way, she was flirting. Kali almost never did that, despite many urgings from Sanura. And so, in effect, the cat demon was overwhelmed with joy.

"Sanura, are you alright?" Kurama asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Oh, I'm fine," she replied with a wide smile. "It's just that Kali very rarely shows any interest in the male population."

"Really, why's that?"

"Most of them hold no emotional importance for her; she's a hard to get, one night stand type of girl…if that makes any sense."

"It does, though it is a little strange."

"Yeah, well, I'll never understand it."

"Not a one night stand girl yourself?" He preferred not to hear the answer to that, seeing as how the response would probably be one that disappointed him. But, as he reminded himself, conversation was good.

Sanura laughed and shook her head. "Only to a certain extent. The only bad thing about one night stands is that they only happen once." She left him with a fairly surprised and amused look on his face, smiling cleverly as she walked back to the van. Once safely enclosed in its aluminum cage she pushed an AC/DC CD into the CD player and turned the volume up.

I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track (Thunder)
I looked round
And I knew there was no turning back (Thunder)
My mind raced
And I thought what could I do (Thunder)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (Thunder)

Sound of the drums
Beatin' in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been – thunderstruck

Sanura was faintly singing harmony and tapping her left heel, absorbed in the music to the point that she did not notice when Kurama slid the side door open and peered inside to see what the woman was up to. Her ears twitched in his direction and the fox tensed for a moment, but she paid them no head.

I was shakin' at the knees
Could I come again please?
Yeah the ladies were too kind
You've been – thunderstruck

There was another minute or two of scattered lyrics and instrumentals, then the song faded out and the next track started up.

If your lookin' for trouble
im the man to see
If you're lookin' for satisfaction
there's satisfaction guaranteed
oh, I was cool as a bunny on ice
hotter than the rollin' dice
send you to heaven take you to hell
I ain't foolin' cant you tell

I'm a live wire
im a live wire
im a live wire
gonna set this town on fire

and if you need some lovin'
and if you need some man
you've got the phone and the number
and I got no future plans
oh come on honey you've got nothin' to lose
you've got the thirst
I've got the booze
give you an inch
take you a mile
im gonna make you fry

im a live wire
im a live wire
im a live wire
holy smokin' sweet desire

like a hotrod baby
oh stick this in your fuse box
oh cooler than a bunny on ice
hotter than the rollin' dice
wilder than a drunken mite
you're gonna burn tonight

"I was under the impression that you like the Spice Girls," Kurama said when the song had died out.

Sanura's right ear twitched in his direction as she turned to face him. "Why would you assume something like that?"

"Just a hunch."

Sanura smiled at him and nodded. "I'm sure."

:-:-:-:-:-

Botan seemed to be the only one noticing the quickly stolen glances between Kurama and Sanura. The two of them were not making too much of an effort to hide their efforts, and to the blue-haired fairy it was plain as day. Being that Yusuke and Kuwabara were male, she had little luck convincing them.

"Kuwabara, don't you want to see what's over here?" she asked hopefully, pointing at a random clearing. It was the seventh attempt at leaving the two demons alone.

"Uh, not really Botan. I'd rather stay on the path."

"Rrrr…Kuwabara! Get back here right now! You too, Yusuke!" The boys sighed, but followed her nonetheless. Finally, success.

"Where are you three heading off to?" Kurama asked politely. : Don't leave me alone with her. : Sanura frowned at him for some reason. : Every time I talk to her she walks off or starts talking to someone else…she must hate me, there is no other plausible reason I can think of. :

Sanura sighed and crossed her arms, oblivious to the explanation Botan was offering Kurama. Well then. It would seem that I hate Kurama she thought to no one in particular, making sure to exclude Hiei and Kali on that thought – they needed their quiet. Kurama turned to her and asked if she had said something, looking rather confused.

"I don't recall," she answered sweetly. If he was not aware that that was her speaking then he needed no reason to find out. Sanura continued toward a clearing in which the two demons could take a break from their walk. Neither of them was tired, but it was still nice to stay in one place for a bit.

"That's odd, I could have sworn…oh well," he shrugged it off and followed the cat down the trail. The sequoias, which stood at least a hundred feet tall, were devoid of leaves for the first thirty feet of growth, creating a natural ceiling over the forest floor. The giant trees took up little space in the soil, much to the advantage of various ferns and smaller trees that grew at random intervals. Light filtered in through the thousands of transparent leaves and added a slightly damp, green-tinted glow to the atmosphere. Somewhere in the distance a river rapid tumbled noisily over underwater boulders, creating the faint sound of roaring water.

Sanura could hardly stand it. It was too quiet, Kurama thought she hated him and Botan was trying to play matchmaker. A lot of good that was doing, the guy had said roughly ten words to her so far. She was never the type to start a conversation, and even if she had been, what would she say? She knew all the basic information about Youko's past as well as Kurama's, and they certainly were on no terms to discuss any more-than-basic information. In similar situations, being the physically oriented creature that she was, Sanura typically gave up all hope for conversation and settled for 'assessing the physical attributes' of her company. Unfortunately for her, Kurama had worn rather uncooperative clothing, dressed with his usual sense of modesty. Therefore, as far as she was concerned, the only remaining option was sleep.

She leapt nimbly to the bottom branch of one of the smaller trees and made herself comfortable, leaning back against the trunk. She propped her left foot against a knothole and folded her hands across the bent knee, letting her right leg stretch out along the length of the branch.

Kurama watched all of this with mild interest, the Youko in him taking note of the fact that she was wearing sheer silk – possibly without underwear. Before his perverted mind could digest that any further he decided to attempt conversation, choosing to ignore the obvious disinterest the woman was showing. "Did you and Kali attend the entire tournament?"

"Yup. We saw every second of it, courtesy of Koenma; he was nice enough to get us tickets. We met a few of the other teams, as well." Kurama nodded and a corner of the cat's mouth curled up in one of her devious grins. "If you're waiting for me to say something about y'all's fighting, you've got another thing coming." She said to him in English, testing to see if he could speak it well.

The fox looked up at her at the word 'y'all,' his confused scowl accenting the slant of his clever eyes. "What exactly does y'all mean?" he answered her in perfect English.

Sanura burst out laughing at the way he said 'y'all,' with his nose scrunched up as if the word smelled fowl and his mouth tense as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. She understood his discomfort with it. He had most likely learned proper English in school, and 'y'all' was definitely not proper. "There's no exact anything about it. It's slang for 'you all.' People usually only say it in the southern part of America."

"I see. If you don't mind my asking, why would you use a slang word?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Sanura was leaning forward on her knee at this point; she was almost interested.

"Well, for one thing you were not raised here –"

"You sure about that?"

"After hearing you ask that, no."

"Too bad. You were right," Sanura sighed and planted her left hand on the branch behind her, then swung her body over the side of the tree limb and landed neatly in the grass below. She walked silently back to the path and followed it to the other side of the clearing before turning back to Kurama. "Are you going to stand there for ever and a day, or come with me?" One red eyebrow rose up in surprise as he started forward. "Tell you what…since I know pretty much everything factual there is to know about you, why don't I give you a bunch of useless information so we can get past this 'awkward silence' phase."

"Sounds reasonable."

"Wonderful…so you know about my parents. I was born in 68 B.C. and raised in Egypt, but I got tired of that so I convinced mom to let me visit dad for a few years. I couldn't find him, of course, so I just camped out in Japan for a while – that was around 15 or 20 B.C. or something. Anyway, I got bored again and decided to trek through Asia by myself. That wasn't the brightest idea, but hey, I was only seventy-something. So I learned a little Chinese on my way through there and then went up north through Russia. That lasted about two months before I headed south to India, where I met Kali and Shiva. Shiva was Kali's husband at the time. Spent a few years there and then Kali died, so I thought I'd check out Israel. That definitely wasn't fun, seeing as how Jesus had just been crucified and raised from the dead and all that, so everything was pretty much chaos.

By that time I was just tired of all things ancient culture, so I walked up to Scotland and lived for 400 years as a hermit in Inverness. By that time there were decent boats, so I stole one and more or less used my magic to find and get to North America. Don't look at me like that, it's not as hard as it sounds," she defended herself from a disbelieving look of Kurama's. "I spent Lord knows how long with a number of different native tribes, then took my leave again and took a trip through the French territories in what's now Canada. So that was in the early 1500's…what did I do after that?"

She bit her lip in concentration, much to the frustration of a certain fox. We should take her now, there's no one else here. Youko had been pestering him about this topic for the last few hours.

: We hardly know her and that would be irresponsible, besides. :

Responsibility is not my concern.

: Obviously not. : The redhead's strides slowed a bit as a result of his pre-occupation, giving him an uninterrupted view of the cat's silk-clad legs.

You can see just as well as I can how long her legs are, and would you just look at those hips? You can't deny your needs forever. The silver fox sent a torrent of images and memories of his past lovers through Kurama's head, resulting in a fairly immediate need for the aforementioned desires.

Sanura very nearly lost control of her laughter. Despite the humor of the conversation, she did feel sorry for the righteous half of him, and so concluded that she would try to distract him from Youko. After all, she could use her telepathy. She did her best to quiet down Youko's voice in Kurama's head, though it was rather difficult without being caught.

"Right…I decided I didn't like French people so I stayed just long enough to learn the language before catching one of the ice barges out of Quebec. They wanted to go around the far north of Canada, over the ice no less, to get to Russia. How stupid is that? It would never work. Anyway, all I wanted to do was get to Alaska, which is where we met the ice sheet of the century and had to stop. So I got off in Alaska and hiked to Nome, where I spent a few months building another boat. I then went back to Japan, only to find it in a demonic uproar that I didn't really want to be part of.

That was about the time that the Kekai Barrier was being put up, and Koenma needed help rounding up demons that were still in the human world. So I helped him with that in exchange for a portal to Egypt, where I met up with mother for a few decades. Then, for no reason whatsoever, I left for Arabia. After a few months on the back of a camel I overheard some nomadic salesmen telling a story about this amazing winged creature in Kurdistan. And I thought, 'hey, that sounds like fun,' so I ran off to Kurdistan to find this winged…thing. It turned out to be a dragon by the name of Natesa, and she was terrorizing the Turkish villagers for fun. She told me that she was the reincarnation of the goddess Kali, and that she remembered me from the past life.

So we left the poor townspeople alone and went to America – Georgia, to be exact – until the end of the Civil War. As soon as reconstruction started we took the first ship to England, and trekked to Scotland from there. Kali absolutely fell in love with Scottish life and refused to leave until World War Two flared up. She finally agreed that we needed to go somewhere else, so we took a train to Egypt and stayed with my mother until the late eighties."

"At which point you returned to Japan, and received a job offer from Koenma," Kurama finished for her.

"Very good. And we've been working for him since." Sanura sighed, glad to be done talking. Her life was getting too long to explain anymore.

"It makes sense, then, that the two of you take care of the international work."

"That it does." The trail opened into the clearing the minivan was parked in, and the two demons found a very impatient spirit detective waiting for them as well as Botan and Kuwabara.

Botan, for one, was laughing slyly and positively leering at Sanura. "Just what took you two so long?" Kurama blushed at that, though the cat next to him laughed.

"Naught but useless chatting, Botan…why so interested?" The fairy girl resorted to her nervous laughter instead of answering, much to Sanura's amusement. About that time, she heard Kali laughing in her mind.

((I'm so evil,)) She managed to think around her laughs. Sanura frowned and asked what that was supposed to suggest. ((Just watch,)) was her only reply.

Roughly two minutes later wind started picking up, dust began blowing away and leaves rustled in the trees. Sanura picked up the rhythmic 'whoosh' of Kali's widespread wings, and the dragon herself appeared in the sky with Hiei in her grasp. Kurama had to stifle a laugh at the site of the little fire apparition, who was holding onto to both of Kali's arms with all he had in him. Said demon-god was smirking, and Sanura could tell right away that she was going to do something regrettable.

:-:-:-:-:-

"Unless you want to end up on your ass, I'll need both your arms," Kali informed him, grasping his right hand without further warning. She pulled him around so that he was facing her, then tipped her legs up, effectively lowering him so that he hung from her arms. There was a mischievous glint in her eye that made Hiei slightly nervous, though her firm grip on his wrists made struggling pointless.

Everything after that happened too quickly for either of them to remember. Hiei's feet hit the ground, he felt himself go sprawling backward, and suddenly she was on top of him. His immediate reaction was to fight back, jerking his arms and legs in an attempt to free them from her grasp. It was considerably useless; her grip was firm and his legs were pinned under her hips, which rested on his thighs. In a last effort he heaved his thighs upward, successfully throwing her forward.

His brilliant plan backfired just a bit, for instead of falling clumsily off of him Kali laughed and landed securely on his chest. This was fine with her, but did not go over so well with Hiei. A growl vibrated through his chest, causing the woman above him to laugh once more.

She placed both his arms in her left hand and let the other slip down her captive's side, raking her fingers so gently they almost tickled. He involuntarily shivered, much to the delight of a certain demon-god. She giggled softly and whispered, "You don't have fun much, do you?"

"I try to make use of my time," he growled. She mentally noted that his breathing was slightly off and repositioned her hips, struggling not to laugh at his reaction.

"We need to fix that." Her voice was smooth, roughly melodic and seductive as hell. It washed over him like music and persuaded his reluctant muscles to ease, let his mind stray from his responsibilities. His next breath carried in it the fragrances of vanilla and musk, and after inhaling deeper, he discovered an underlying whisper of Jasmine. His eyes drifted shut and he breathed in again, searching out the delicate trace of it in her sweet scent. He loved the smell of Jasmine. The fact that she kept readjusting her hips and rubbing against his already rigid member was not at all helpful, as enjoyable as it might have been.

Just as Hiei was getting comfortable – perhaps even content – with the arrangement, she lifted herself up, grazing him one last time, as her lips broke into a suggestive grin. 'Her full, red lips…agh!' Hiei shook his head to clear the thoughts from his head and hopped back to his feet in a blur of black. He tried his hardest to be mad at her as she walked away, but for some reason he could not bring himself to it. A nagging voice in the back of his head was telling him why he had trouble staying mad at her, but he dismissed it as a side effect of the lack of oxygen in his brain.

:-:-:-:-:-

Sanura woke up to the sun nudging at her squinted eyelids. After attempting to block out the sun with her arm she found that most of her body was covered with Yusuke, Hiei, or Kurama. That last one she had no problem with, but someone's hair gel was seeping through her black silk – and that was what woke her up. Carefully removing various body parts from her own, the cat demon stood up and leapt cleanly out from the middle of the pile of her friends.

Kali awakened soon after and the two of them pieced the previous night together over tea and honeydew. The end conclusion was that they had returned at some wee hour of the morning and collapsed because of a mixture of alcohol and exhaustion, and both women distinctly remembered dragging the boys to a bar Sanura had once worked in.

Everyone was still asleep for the most part when Kali's cell started beeping; not that she noticed.

"Why do have an ass if you don't answer it?" Sanura got her attention. (AN: this is an inside joke from wonder falls, the tv show. she's talking the bartender and his cell rings – it's in his back pocket, but he doesn't answer. so she says 'why do you have an ass if you don't answer it? and we say that now.)

"Right." Kali walked over to her black canvas shoulder bag and dug around, stepping on Hiei in the process.

Hiei's eyes snapped open and grew wide, and his sword was in hand before Kali's foot was off his leg. He was just about to slice the clumsy idiot in two when the clang of metal on metal sent his sword flying into the wall – right next to another one. It was smaller than his own, but just as long and made entirely out of glinting white silver, with two twisted dragon tails on either side of the handle. He moved to pull it out of the wall and inspect it, momentarily forgetting the incident with Kali, – who was talking obliviously on her phone – but the weapon vibrated and yanked its self out of the wall. It made a noise somewhere in between a whirr and a zip as it flew in the direction of the dining area.

He followed the sword to Sanura, who caught it in her hand with expert ease while pouring tea with her other hand. "Can't have you decapitating my best friend," she explained, and offered him the tea. He refused.

"You must be thirsty, we haven't eaten since day before last." She reasoned, pouring him a cup and setting it in front of him.

"I don't need human food."

Kali walked into the dining and argued, "She didn't say you needed it."

"Very true," Sanura nodded and pointed at the cup. "Drink it or she won't give your sword back."

Kali flashed the blade in front of the fire demon's face before stuffing it into a loop in her jacket – to the left of her generously endowed chest. She then flicked her wrist up, index finger pointed to the heavens matter-of-factly. "Tea is essential to developing one's deeper thought process."

Hiei only crossed his arms and leaned back against the chair, looking out the window as if entirely uninterested and confident he would get the sword back later.

Sanura blew a raspberry at him as Kali poured another cup for her self, along with a piece of pita bread. "Koenma wants us to go to Texas."

"Rodeo?"

"Uhuh."

"Oh great, I love those." A dry smile fixed itself on Sanura's face. "And you're coming? I find this highly unusual."

"Cowboys, my friend. Cowboys."

Hiei narrowed his eyes just slightly, barely enough for Sanura to notice. She laughed openly. "He's jealous, Kali, he's jealous!"

Kali immediately began to poke him. "It feels something? Impossible." She looked genuinely skeptical for a moment, but went back to her breakfast without another thought. She finished her fifth cup of tea and drew Hiei's sword again, slicing it through the air with amateur strokes that nearly drove him insane – and made Sanura laugh.

"Hmph. You may be able to kick my ass fist-to-fist, but I could take you with a sword any day," Sanura smirked at her.

"Is that a threat?"

"Promise."

"Bring it."

The two of them readied their weapons and bowed, then began a curious series of lunges and blocks, most of which the koorime had never seen before. While they engaged in this ridiculously slow combat, they skipped back and forward in the most predictable pattern ever conceived.

"What on earth are you attempting to do?"

"Fencing, oh feisty one." The cat kept her eyes on Kali's sword, though she did look up briefly as Kurama appeared next to the refrigerator. At that point she decided not to continue the frivolous swordplay, so she promptly knocked the blade from her opponent's hand. Her own sword returned to her strap with a futuristic whirr as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Don't forget!" Kali yelled after her.

"Texas, I know!" She hollered back.

:-:-:-:-:-

Sanura walked out of her room, having showered and dried her hair, to find everyone waiting for her. She wore a black flared skirt that ended at mid-calf, along with a black tube-top with laces up the front, both made of silk. Kali, on the other hand, had settled for a pair of black cargo capris, silk slippers, and a red tank-top with a black lace pattern on it. Her hair was twisted up into a clip and a few ringlets fell down in the front to frame her face.

There was awkward silence for a bit, and the only sound in the room was the distant clattering of silverware as Yusuke and Kuwabara took the opportunity to devour more food. Botan was trying not to laugh at the other two boys, as was Sanura, and Kali remained painfully aware of the cleavage that particular tank-top gave her. Hiei's eyes had widened immediately after seeing her, and the first – and only – thing he could think to do was turn his face so she was unable to notice the blush. Kurama had yet to stop staring at her, a condition which was not helped by the demon occupying his thoughts at the moment.

The silence was finally broken by Sanura, who burst out laughing and shook her head as she retrieved her weapons. A short while later the plane tickets were all sorted out and everyone piled into a taxi to head for the airport.

:-:-:-:-:-

so…I know it's been forever since I updated, and there's really no excuse for it but laziness. I will be adding to/editing 'standing down' so if you want to check that out, come back in a week. buhbye!