DISCLAIMER: WOULD YOU QUIT IT?! I DON'T OWN HP OR YYH!

Chapter 14: Revelations

Thia emerged from the hospital wing in two days, irritatable and more than a little skittish

"So? Did they use the Veritaserum yet?" was the first thing that she asked when she saw her friends.

"Well hello to you, too."

"Cut the crap, Yusuke, I'm not in the mood."

"Then yeah, they did. Sheesh, women. You say a single polite thing and they bite off your head," he muttered.

"And? How did it go? What'd they say?"

"Sit down and we'll tell you.

The Previous Day:

The two prisoners sat in the dungeons, under even more precautions than their predecessors. They were bound by magic, steel, and ropes. And then there was the sallow Severus Snape, once again glaring at his "charges" down his hooked nose.

"Severus, the Veritaserum?" Dumbledore asked, with no further preamble. Instead of only two members of the team following in his wake, there were four, all with murderous looks on their faces or with equally murderous thoughts on their minds. It was exactly 2:10 in the morning. This had better be good.

Three drops were proved to be not enough of the potion to get the demon to divulge his secrets, but seven seemed to be the lucky number.

"What was your master planning by sending you here?" Dumbledore asked, voice cool and his demeanor matching it.

"He was matching up the skill of his opponents. I believe he deemed them worthy."

"And what does Lord Tsurin want from Lord Voldemort in return for his sevices?"

"He wants support from the worthless humans that Lord Voldemort calls his servants." The demon rolled his eyes.

"What does Lord Tsurin want the support for?"

"My lord wants support to-" The demon's wrist began to sizzle menacingly. "He wants the support so that his minions can roam freely in this world and the next."

And then they were nothing more than puddles of mucus-colored acid.

"'his minions can roam freely in this world and the next...' I suppose that you have found the solution to this problem?"

"This world means Human World, naturally," Kurama said, thinking, How obvious.

"And the next means Spirit World," Kuwabara joined in.

"And Tsurin wants passage into both with the help of Voldy-poo." Snape's jaw nearly dropped.

Voldy-poo?

"Hn. They'll find it's not easy to do so."

"But Koenma has to be told anyway." Yusuke yawned largely.

"That is true enough, Mr. Urameshi. I will send an owl to your friend, Botan, who is currently residing in the Order of the Phoenix's safehouse. No doubt you will all wish to go back to bed. Professor Snape, would you please escort them out?"

"And so that's it. Tsurin wants domination over Spirit World and free passage into and out of the Human World. Though, exactly how he plans to do that with humans on his side is a mystery."

"Simplicity. That's all anyone wants from these evil lords! Simplicity." Thia sighed. "Well, what else happened?"

Yusuke smirked. "Potter, Weasley, and Granger got detention from Grandma."

"Seriously? What were they doing?"

"Talking during one of Genkai's lectures."

"Urameshi, you forgot to mention that you got both of us into detention along with them." Kuwabara glared at the other boy.

"Oh. Yeah. Well, SHUT UP, Kuwabara!"

"But it won't be a real detention, then," the girl interjected before they could start hitting each other. "That's not the type of thing that you get detention for. You get ten points off Gryffindor for talking in class, bobo. And I highly doubt that Hermione was involved. Genkai probably has an ulterior motive."

"Ul-what motive?"

"Forget it." Thia muttered something about a dictionary to Kurama (who laughed) and Hiei (who smirked).

"Where are we going, Professor Genkai?"

"Oh, come on, Weasley, don't pretend you don't know where we're going. You, Potter, and Granger have been here plenty of times before."

"The Room of Requirement," Hermione breathed, wondering how in the world a new teacher would know of it.

Kurama, Thia, and Hiei were waiting for them on the seventh floor, right in front of the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy, looking bored.

"Thank you all for coming. Now let's get this room set up." Quickly, Genkai paced across the hallway thrice, apparently deep in thought. Her third time across produced a large, polished door. She pushed it open and in they went.

It was similar to the D.A. practice rooms in that there were cushions on the floor and bookshelves on the walls, but the instruments that used to be on the shelves were missing and the books were not on the Defense Against the Dark Arts, but rather were titled things like: Demons, Demons, Demons: Who's Who of Demon World and The Three Worlds: Harmony and War. Both girls seemed to be resisting the urge to rush over and devour them all with their eyes. Kurama was likewise struggling against the temptation, although he knew the books would not tell him anything that he had not already known.

"Professor Genkai, what are we doing here?" Harry asked, not at all at ease. Maybe Genkai really wasn't a member of the Order. What if she was an undercover spy for Voldemort? What-

"I'm asking the three of you to listen to me very carefully. There are things that I'm going to tell you right now that I'm sure you won't believe, but I'm going to tell you anyway, since no one else wants to. Now there's something called Spirit Energy and it flows through us all. With some it's a very ordinary level, and those types of people are what you call Muggles. Others have a higher level, enough to create what is known as magic. And these five have an even higher amount." The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher gestured at Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Thia. "The three of you have some pretty high quantaties of it, as well.

"And now here's the part where you'll doubt my sanity, but let me tell you, I've got all of my marbles.

"Demons. They're not fairy tales, even though that's what most people will want you to believe. They're real and you've seen them. Those creatures in the common rooms were demons under the leadership of Lord Voldemort and his comrade, Lord Tsurin. And you've been in the company of two other demons since day one of your sixth year. Come here, Hiei and Kurama.

"Hiei is a fire demon and Kurama is a fox demon, though he's in his human form at the moment. And if you think that there's no proof that all of this is true, then may I ask Hiei if he would please take off that bandana?"

"Hn." If anything, the revealing of his eye to three mere humans with only an adequate amount of Spirit Energy was demeaning! But still, the white bandana was soon off of his forehead and clenched in his fist instead, revealing Hiei's Jagan eye.

"That- that's not real... Is it?"

"Damn right it's real, Weasley. Now, lesson number three: There are three worlds in existance today. The first is Human World, which is where we are. The second is Demon World, which is, naturally, where demons usually live. And the third is Spirit World. It is there that you go after death, and where they sort you out. Yusuke was appointed the Spirit Detective of Earth by Koenma, the prince of Spirit World. When Dumbledore needed help this year in watching over you all, he applied to Koenma for it."

"Dumbledore did what?"

"Don't blame the headmaster for it, Potter. I've heard how you hate being protected, and that's why I'm telling you all of this without any censorship. But you saw what those demons did the other day. There was no way that you could've beaten them without these five. The reason why the demons are attacking in the first place is because their master, Lord Tsurin, wants control over Spirit World as well as entrance from Demon World into the Human World. Apparently, Lord Tsurin and Lord Voldemort have become close allies. But there are so many other pieces of the puzzle that we need to collect." Genkai sipped on a cup of tea that had seemingly materialized on the shelf just moments before.

"And that's what you need to know. You are excused from the detention that I gave you earlier." Genkai turned her back on them.

"But- Professor Genkai!"

"What is it, Potter?"

Harry thought for a moment, then began, saying, "Professor Genkai, is there any way that, er, we could learn to do that stuff? I mean, that's part of the Defense Against the Dark Arts, isn't it? So why-"

"I thought you'd ask that, Potter. And the answer is yes, there is a way, if you've got the Spirit Energy levels for it. The only question is, do you have the willpower to do it?"

The three students seemed to think hard about this for a few minutes before turning to each other. Then, understanding the looks in each others' eyes (Ron's was more of a negative, but that was only a minor detail), Harry nodded.

"Very well. Let's get started."

Author's Notes: Ooooookay. As you can see, I'm using the terms 'Human World', 'Spirit World', and 'Demon World' as opposed to 'Ningenkai', 'Reikai', and 'Makai' because I'm an idiot who doesn't feel comfortable using those terms.

Well, I'm back from vacation. (duh) It was only just a weekend affair, as my bros have school (I happen to be the genious of the family). And yet, three days in New Jersey can be... how shall I put it?... HELL. Not because there are no phone lines, no, that's not it. It's because I was stranded in a nice suburban house with no phone, no computer, cruddy weather, and six adolescent boys. Okay. Now picture six athletic and... um... unintelligent boys, one of whom screams the word 'MONKEY!!!' repeatedly in the early morning while I'm trying to sleep. And then there's lazy, sarcastic, angsty me. Yeah. Like that's going to be a pretty picture.

Okay, I'm just about finished rambling... Tune in next time for Chapter 15! Review, please!

Responses:

YYH-Yu-Yu-Hakusho-Fan, shadowkitsune, EverKitsune, and kidakash Thank you for the reviews!

Fleetgoddess14 I hope this chapter answered your question!

Meghann 300 rabid fan girls, huh? No wonder he was like a rabbit! I feel your pain... My brothers are able to fend for themselves, but my younger cousins... Whew, I hate babysitting them. Thank all things sacred that I don't live with them... shuddershudder

Slave2anime Hiei is all yours! I agree with you about the Hiei pairings all the way.

SilentTruth COOKIES!!!

Rose I had the entire Kurama-carrying-Thia thing in my first draft of Chapter 13, and then I cut it at the very last minute! I've been kicking myself for it ever since... And I actually had the foresight to bring my binder and a couple of pens so that I could write during the vacation! About my bookcases: I'm notorious in my family for having a book collection the size of a small library. sheepish grin Fantasy books are the main denomination, but I've got 12 X-Men comic books (I read more comics than my brothers, sadly enough). And then I've got my minimal amount of manga! I have 1-5 of Cyborg 009, Ruroni Kenshin #4, and 1 and 2 of Saiyuki. I always want to get Yu Yu Hakusho, but half of the time they're not there and the other half of the time, my family is dragging me out the door before I can actually look at it. pouts At least I have a Shonen Jump magazine that has one little chapter of when they were facing the Saint Beasts... and at least it's the one with Kurama vs. Genbu!