Author's Note: Wow. Ninety reviews with only seventeen chapters. You guys rock! Here's an extra chapter just for you.

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Hiei's eyes were open.

All three of them.

The Jagan was blazing especially in the center of the fire demon's forehead. Hiei wasn't looking particularly at any of them. He was staring straight ahead, his eyes sightless and unmoving.

Yusuke, frustrated as he was, took to banging on the glass.

"HIEI! HIEI CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

Slowly, the three eyes fell down to peer at Yusuke. A flash went through the fiery red depths of the two primary eyes. The third simply stared on.

"He's recognized you!" Kurama breathed in shock. Yusuke turned to face the red headed man, his own eyes blazing in anger. True, Hiei might have been his least favorite of the group due to his sarcastic manners and bad mood, but no one had the right to hurt or incarcerate his friends.

"Then start helping me! Don't just stand there!"

Kurama inched forward, uncertain. His eyes were swollen with guilt and pity with his friend standing here before him in this prison, completely unaware of what was being done to him. Kurama only felt worse due to the fact that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Hiei? Hiei can you hear us? It's Kurama. And Yusuke? Kuwabara is here too, with Inuyasha and Kigeko. Do you remember them?" There was no answer. "Hiei?"

The fire demon merely continued to bob up and down, his eyes dancing from one face to the other, uncertainty growing in them. Kurama strained to hold back a roar of anger.

Balling up his fist, he punched the glass hard.

Much to the amazement of Yusuke and the others, the glass didn't crack at all. This only made Kurama angrier.

"This is rather unlike Kurama," stated Kuwabara with a frown. "He's usually so cool and collective."

Yusuke nodded in agreement. It was well know that Hiei and Kurama were friends, best friends if there was such a term in either of the demon's books. Neither liked being helpless, and now that Kurama was standing here unable to discern what it was that made this glass so impenetrable, he felt nothing more than that.

Silence, and then suddenly;

"Let me try."

All turned to see Kigeko approach. Yusuke stepped aside, as did Kurama. Kuwabara, who was already a safe distance away, backed up more.

"What are you planning on doing?" asked Yusuke. The girl shrugged, a slight hint of humor flickering in her eyes. Yusuke moved to ask another question, but a steady glance from Kurama silenced him. Kigeko had her eyes closed. Balled fists were tensing and flexing, as though preparing themselves to hit a force harder than stone. She was muttering to herself, words no one could understand.

It wasn't a spell. Kigeko's face didn't have the supreme expression of concentration that one needed to perform a spell. Instead, it seemed as though she were recalling past memories. All of them knew that anger was what triggered Kigeko's powers, but no one had had to see her conjure up the emotion herself.

Then, as though a switch had been turned on in her head, Kigeko opened her eyes.

A glaring red light lit behind her pupils, and the hair on her head spiraled upward, spiking in an almost direct ninety degree angle. Claws grew on her fingers the exact length of her palms. Kigeko was no longer human, but demon once more. A demon without a shape, and powers that had no anchor.

Yusuke understood that powers like that could be very dangerous if they were not properly controlled.

Kigeko plunged her deadly hand deep into the glass, or attempted to. It didn't drive through, but her nails did leave scratches. This was a great improvement considering that Yusuke's Spirit Gun and Kurama's Rose Whip had done nothing.

Hiei watched this on the other side of the glass with a slightly amused expression.

Kigeko, however, did not notice this. In ecstasy due to the blind rage she was in, the full formation of her powers were beginning to take place. The nails grew longer in her irritation at the glass. Fangs sprouted from her upper gums, and the ears on her head grew to a high point that protruded beneath her spiked hair. No words escaped her lips, only guttural howls of anger.

Fifteen minutes into this archaic display of ferocity and pent up rage, Kigeko resumed her normal human physique. Her hands were bleeding terribly, but she had definitely made some progress.

"Your turn." She sighed tiredly, and allowed herself to rest up against the nearest wall.

Not paying attention to her dilemma, Kurama nodded and sent forth his Rose Whip once more. Now, with the major facing of the cylindrical chamber having been cut away, the whip was able to cut deeper into the glass, but only slightly.

"Here, let me try." Volunteered Yusuke.

"WAIT!" Hollered Kurama. "If you destroy the chamber and the wirings through his body you could kill him," the fox turned to Kuwabara. "Use your sword."

"What?" Kuwabara raised an eyebrow.

"Use your sword to break the glass the rest of the way." Kurama repeated.

Kuwabara nodded. Summoning his sword, he tightened his fingers about it's hilt till his knuckles whitened from lack of blood. Then, with a might roar, he allowed the spirit forged weapon to come crashing down upon the cylindrical shape.

All that was left of the chamber came crashing to pieces.

Kuwabara was swept from his feet as the strange liquid flooded onto the floor. He coughed and sputtered, wet and angry.

"What is this stuff?" He asked, lifting his hand to find it covered in a slimy substance. Kurama was at his side, frowning. There was a rage flaming in his eyes that Kuwabara had never seen before. Fearful, he scooted aside slightly.

"It is a chemical substance that subdues the powers of any demon when they come in contact with it for too long."

It was Yusuke's turn to frown.

"The effects aren't permanent, are they?"

"That depends," Kurama answered, his eyes now turning sadly to the limp form of Hiei. He'd still not been disconnected from the wiring and tubing that had maintained his life source while imprisoned. "On how long he has been held within the fluid."

Yusuke's frown deepened. Together, he and Kurama began to carefully unsnap the wiring and tubing that scarred the fire demon's body.

Suddenly, one of the muscled arms whipped out, grabbing Yusuke brutally about the arm.

"What--ha-happened?" He choked desperately, his eyes wide with confusion and, Yusuke might have guessed, fear.

"You've been held within a chamber of Makai-Fluid," said Kurama with a sad sigh. "For quite some time, if I may add."

Hiei frowned. "How long exactly?"

"That we do not know."

Now increasingly angry, Hiei moved to stand. Of course, he was going to see if he had been rendered permanently powerless. But his body was not strong enough and would not be able to pull out of the affects quickly enough, if they were would at all.

Weak and powerless, Hiei slumped over. Yusuke caught him just in time.

"Careful there, buddy." He warned, his voice croaking and his young face etched in concern. Hiei shrugged him off and grunted. The only thank you Yusuke knew to expect.

"C'mon! Let's get going!" Kuwabara urged. "We still have to rescue Yukina!"

A flash of fire passed through the red eyes of Hiei, and the Jagan quavered slightly in the center of his forehead. He'd nearly forgotten. That bastard had Yukina. Hiei nodded curtly, not meeting anyone's eye.

"Are you sure you can make it all right?" Kurama voiced his concerns, as he often did in the case of a friend's well being.

"I'll be fine!" Snapped Hiei. "You needn't worry about me." Shakily, the fire demon stepped forward and off of the platform that had once held his chamber. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Kuwabara and Inuyasha nodded.

Yusuke grinned, eager to get the move on.

"Let's go."

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Author's Note: Well, there's that then. Sorry I keep throwing all these fillers at you. You people must hate me.