Hey everyone...sorry about the late update again...what can I say? I'm lazy...a few weeks off did me some good though. I feel rejuvenate and have been doing some more writing...most of it on other stories that are not out yet... but my muse seems to have returned unexpectedly. So, I have managed to get some of this monster tamed into a few reasonable pages fit for your enjoyment. I hope that chapter eight is kinder...since it IS the point that will launch this story into the real plot.

Until later, read and enjoy!

Sylvannastar and Yabou

Chapter7

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Kuwabara once again found himself leading the others through the endless mounds of white the characterized the northern Makai. He glanced back several times to give Hiei a suspicious glare and received many narrow eyed looks in return. Though not considered the brightest individual, Kuwabara recognized his worth in the team as the strongest at recognizing and feeling out malevolent energies by instinct and spirit awareness. And right now his senses were tingling and burning with every dark look the fire demon glared into the back of his head. He could feel the smaller man's eyes on him and was alert to the silent scowl that warned him of the jagonashi's dissatisfaction with something that he had said or done. Not that it was an unusual feeling but this was rather more extreme then the normal waves of dislike that flowed so freely between them.

Yusuke wasn't helping at all either. The team leader was walking dejectedly with his head hanging slightly to hide the obvious pout on his face. A few grunted phrases spouted from him in cold clouds of steam as he ranted to himself about baka's and swords as he glared banefully at his boots. The vibes coming from him were prickling at Kuwabara with only slightly less intensity then the fire apparition's.

The only calm member of the group was Kurama who was fluctuating between energetic curiosity and pensive confusion. The fox spirit keep running every bit of information he had gathered from his observations on this mission through his mind and still came up with no concrete answers to the puzzle of the girl and her sword. He slanted a sideways look at the girl limply dangling in his friends arms and shortened his step so that he was once again walking beside Hiei.

Hiei ignored the fox when he began to match his steps and pretended not to see the questioning looks Kurama was tossing at him. If the fox had questions, he could very well keep them to himself. He was having enough problems restraining his own curiosity. And this was no place for an interrogation, nor was the girl in any shape to answer anyway.

He slowed his steps in an attempt to give Kurama the hint that he did not wish for, nor require company. Predictably, the spirit fox was just as adept at ignoring him and his subtle hints as Hiei was. Resined to the forced companionship, Hiei tightened his grip on the woman and looked at Kurama from the corner of one eye.

Kurama grinned happily at that singular sign of recognition and cheerfully added a lighter bounce to his step. "So?" he urged, wanting the fire apparitions opinions on recent events.

"Hn," Hiei answered and resumed ignoring the laughing fox.

"Right," Kurama teased. "That's what I thought too." He then turned his attention to the girl were he resumed staring with undisguised interest.

Hiei automatically followed that gaze and noticed that the sleeping girl in his arms had exchanged her death grip on the weapons for one fastened on his shirt front. He could tell that she wouldn't stay unconscious for long this time and was actually waiting for her to open those stunning blue eyes again. She would murmur in her sleep, strange names and garbled sentences.

Hiei caught the look that the silver spirit was now giving the girl and rolled his eyes. "She is injured, fox."

Kurama flashed him that stunning smile and chuckled. "What's wrong Hiei? Jealous? You were never interested before..."

Hiei ignored the teasing fox's blatant attempted to bait him and simply denied his allegation with a quiet "Hn."

"I would of course, wait until she was better," he taunted. "But don't worry, you'll always be dear to my heart."

Hiei chose not to dignify that with an answer. Instead he pulled the girl closer to him, unaware how telling that motion was to the observant fox. They had about a two hour walk before Yusuke's communicator would get a steady signal to Reikai's central office. Botan was supposed to be waiting to open a portal as soon as they called in their success.

"You realize," Kurama continued, completely unconcerned with Hiei's lingering silence, "If you stare at him any harder, he'll likely burst into flames." He gestured slightly at Kuwabara with one slim hand.

"Hn," Hiei said again with a trace of genuine amusement seeping through the normal indifference. Hiei gladly took up the mental image of the tall human consumed in fire and smirked slightly. It was especially gratifying considering just how annoying it was to watch the idiot caressing the mysterious katana. A sword that no one else could touch. A sword that had mysteriously appeared in the hands of a human girl. A sword with powers they could only guess at. A sword that had refused him...

Thinking about that weapon in the hands of an idiot pissed him off. Something that powerful and that unique had no place in the hands of that ningen goon. Hiei went back to scowling as he watched Kuwabara run his big paws over the hilt of that strange blade again and again.

"It seems strange that a demon blade would refuse the touch of a demon but accept that of a human." Kurama displayed a knack for following Hiei's line of thoughts without effort. If you didn't know them, you would think that the fox was the one with the ability to invade the minds of others. In truth, he simply had a natural ability to pick up the ways that others thought and acted and could predict them well enough to give the impression that he knew their thoughts. It was handy in battle, but vaguely irritating other times.

Hiei twisted his lips in a soundless snarl and felt his energy spike unnecessarily with his anger. The girl twitched in his grasp and several small worry lines appeared on her face. She wasn't dreaming anymore, and was slowly working her way back to consciousness. He watched her face for several heartbeats before he was interrupted by Kurama again.

"She will wake soon?" the fox spirit asked him.

Hiei nodded once and faced resolutely forward again. He had hoped to get her to Koenma before that, but with the speed they were going, he doubted she would wait that long. Koenma would surely have some answers...and a few healers around.

A sharp movement in the front of the line drew their attention to their team leader. Cussing in typical fashion, Yusuke shoved the long hair that came with his demon transformation out of his face and called Kuwabara to a halt. Impatient with their progress, Yusuke stopped to flip open the compact communicator. The screen in the cover stubbornly remained blank and unresponsive and the young detective frowned darkly at the device. "I can't believe this. The fate of three worlds could be resting on faulty technology...We should be close to the pick up point by now," he sighed. He snapped it closed to watch Kuwabara begin to play with the sword.

Kuwabara couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. He knew that there was something about the ancient katana that the others were concerned about, but he felt nothing. There was no tingling of his senses, no tickle to pinpoint the source of their frustration with the thin strip of metal. He lowered his brow in confusion and swung the blade several times through the snow before pulling it completely from its sheath. The blade looked worse than its protective cover and Kuwabara wasn't the only one eying the sword critically.

"This is a magical artifact?" Kuwabara questioned and swung it several more times at an imaginary enemy. Just for fun, he took a mocking swipe at Yusuke and was surprised to see all three of his companions dive for cover.

Hiei jarred the girl hard against his shoulder when he jumped out of the idiot's path and felt her grip on him tighten. He cursed silently at the oblivious baka and shifted her weight gingerly to slightly free his sword hand in case he had to take more direct action. Hiei's best defense was offense and he had no problem with taking Kuwabara's head from his shoulders if he moved to threaten them again, intentional or not...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING AT?!" Yusuke shouted after he finally surfaced from the snow drift he had taken refuge in.

"Oh, come on, Uremeshi. You know I would never actually hit you..." Kuwabara cajoled. He rubbed the back of his head with one hand and pointed the sword at the nervous detective with the other in an absent minded gesture.

"As if you could!" Yusuke fumed and fisted his fingers together but resisted the urge to knock some sense into the idiot. That technique had proven wasted on the other human, but was still satisfying on another level. Yusuke chose instead to cross his arms over his chest and stare defiantly at the dull katana.

"Put it away," Kurama softly told Kuwabara. "That is no toy."

Kuwabara heard the subtle threat in the kitsune's words and recognized the danger that they signified. The fox rarely made demands and when he did, there was good reason. Though he had not personally seen the threat in the dented sword, he trusted Kurama's judgement enough to quickly comply. Kuwabara hastily sheathed the blade again and shrugged apologetically.

Yusuke snorted, his mood soured considerably more then it had been. He scowled angrily at Kuwabara as he dug a hand full of snow out of the neck of his coat. "Baka," he accused.

"Hn," Hiei agreed, his disdain for the other clear in that one sound of agreement.

"Keep moving," Yusuke barked the order. "I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

Kuwabara heaved a long suffering sigh but obediently twisted around and shoved his way through the drifts again. He wasn't fool enough to keep pissing them off, though he didn't know what he had done to begin with. And he refused to question them now. He had no desire to get trussed up and left behind when Botan came to get them. Kuwabara scowled at the thought for the simple reason that they would actually do it if they thought they could get away with it.

The team stayed quiet and brooded for the next half hour as they followed Kuwabara's path, though at a more respectable distance then they had previously held. They caught sight of him turning to look over his shoulder from time to time to convince himself that they were still back there and plowed on.

The hesitant beeping of Yusuke's communicator interrupted their individual introspective pondering.

"Finally!" Yusuke exclaimed and flipped open the top of his communicator. "Oi! Botan!"

"Hai, hai!" She answered with enough cheer to set their teeth on edge. "Ready to come back to Reikai, Yusuke?"

Way ahead, Kuwabara heard the high pitched sound of Botan's giggles and rushed back to crowd Yusuke's shoulder as the team gathered around their leader. Yusuke growled several unflattering things at the grinning ferry girl that she easily ignored.

"Just open the fucking portal!" he shouted into the device.

The small figure of lady death casually pouted at the detectives and injected a whine of her own at them. "Mou! There's no need to get so mad at me. I'll be right there." Her image flickered once before fading away completely.

Yusuke snapped the compact shut and flopped over backwards where he sunk several inches into the soft snow and moaned. "Kami, it will be good to be warm again..."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at them all and felt a strange reluctance to leave. Now that he knew that they would be in Reikai's central office in moments, he knew that both sword and girl would be taken away from him and he would get none of the answers that he was so determined to have. If Koenma thought that he could get away with it, he would strictly deny the existence of both human and katana as soon as they were out of the detectives' sight. Hiei refused to let this case go so easily. This time, he was interested.

He stared into the sleeping face of the ningen in his arms. She still seemed so fragile. The pale skin against that ebony hair and the angry red of her wounds stood out sharply. He felt the urge to trace those cuts and imperfections with his fingers but shook it off when an idea that had been teasing him from the moment he had seen her came back to the surface. After all, she was no longer dying...

Suppressing the conflicting waves of guilt and anticipation, Hiei allowed his Jagon eye to crack open under his headband. He stared intently at the peaceful face on the sleeping girl and contemplated the strange way that he hesitated to take what he wanted from her mind. She's just a ningen, He told himself. Just a woman...

Hiei refused to back out when the female pouted slightly in her sleep. He would not be swayed by a weak human girl. He took a deep breath and focused silently before he allowed the Jagon to widen and examine his charge. Then, he took the opportunity and peaked into her mind...

(Co-authored section! )

Kagome twisted her fingers absently in the torn material of her once white school shirt. Even in her dream scape, little reminders of the most horrific moment of her life, like the tattered cloth, followed her. No matter how much she concentrated, how much she tried to focus on other things, better things, there was always some small detail that brought the darkness back.

Kagome allowed the winds of memories past sweep over her without any awkward attempts at catching them. She had been in this place before and knew that any moves to do so would only frustrate her. However if she sat quietly, then perhaps the memories that would choose to linger would be of happier times.

She recalled the last terror of Inuyasha's transformation into his full demon state with a clarity that needed no reminding. Yet her mind could not seem to let it go. It was like there was a piece of her that was broken and she could only recall the bits of her life that had led her to the edges of despair. Kagome mentally thanked whatever force had saved her from those last moments of that particular memory. That strange warmth, a blanket of protectiveness had returned with a suddenness that had driven the hurt away and left her here...

She looked around at the swirls of nothing until another picture formed of its own violation. This time, she neither repressed the image with what little control she still possessed, not did she try to turn from it. She recognized that these things were all moments in her life that meant something. All of them, no matter how inane, was a reminder. A reminder, a reason, a warning, they each had a purpose.

Kagome calmly gazed at the shifting image, holding back the ebbing fear that it would be that one terrible moment in time replayed yet again. But when the colors solidified she sighed in relief, content to watch a simple reflection of kinder times. When a familiar puffed tail materialized, she even managed a slight smile in the privacy of her mind. She watched....and she remembered...

Kagome examined a stone in the palm of her hand; its smooth surface cool against her skin. Smiling vibrantly, she looked over to the small kit sitting by her side, carefully watching her for any sign of pleasure. "It's beautiful, Shippou. Thank you very much. Where ever did you find such a magnificent present?"

He beamed brightly back at her, cerulean eyes shining with child-like joy. "I found it when we stopped at the river this afternoon to eat lunch. Inuyasha said it was stupid." He pouted, turning to give aforementioned demon a quick glare. "But I knew you would love it."

The miko nodded happily along with his story, "Of course I would-."

A loud sound resonated through the small group's campsite as a raging woman stormed to the fireside. Magenta eyes shined with fury, and her hands clenched violently by her sides.

"Sango-sama, I did not mean to…my hand slipped!" A man in violent and black robes tottered after her, quickly grabbing her hands in his own and kneeling on the ground in front of her. "Surely, you cannot blame them."

Kagome let out a small "O" of surprised distress fall from her lips when the image faded into smoke and was wisped away into the realm of her own unconscious. She let her trembling shoulders droop at the loss and watched the spinning swirls collide and merge with the others.

Before another could take its place, a small prodding of her contained powers warned her of some new problem. She could no longer spread her senses outward, so she had to be content to look within for a hint of the trouble that was surely coming. A careful touch upon her nerves and the thrill of youki stunned her. She had spent so long under carefully contained barriers of both her own and others making that the sensation of being invaded seemed so impossible, she had trouble believing it. The touch was not evil, not mischievous, but seeking, searching, and that was so much worse... Kagome felt the firm intrusion of another into her own mind and panicked.

(End of co-authored section. Thanks Yabou!)

Botan opened the portal with ease and stuck her head through to make certain that it was in the right place. Yusuke's scowl was, oddly enough, a comforting sight to the frazzled ferry girl. Just because they had been out longer than anticipated, she had remained on alert until the call had finally gone through to Yusuke's portable communicator.

"There you are!" she scolded and waved at them. "Over here, guys!"

Yusuke and Kuwabara dived for the opening without warning the blue haired woman of their intent and she barely moved away in time to avoid a collision. She watched in concern as they shimmied out of their jackets and blushed when she noticed the missing shirts. Clods of snow melted in puddles on Koenma's office floor as they stripped from the constricting material and slumped in various chairs.

Botan twisted her head back around to look through the hole in the wall that led to the frozen region of Makai and met Kurama's amused green eyes. He stepped from one world to the other as soon as she murmured her apology and got out of the way.

This time her focus on the sedate kitsune was more curious than concerned. The fox spirit was calm as usual, but there was a light in his eyes that only showed when he had found a new puzzle, a new challenge. Botan briefly wondered what that could possibly be when they had gone to the emptiest place in the three lands when she remembered that there was still one more member of the team to collect.

Botan twisted back around and stared at the hole in the barrier that was slowly draining her energies. When the fire demon refused to show, she wrinkled her nose impatiently and stuck her head back through the opening. "Hiei? Are you coming now?" she asked, searching for the black that would stand out in all that white.

Botan's felt her jaw go slack as she stared at the figure poised in perfect stillness just on the edges of her portal. "H-Hiei!" she exclaimed and pointed in horror at the wounded woman draped in his arms. "What have you done?!"

She rushed through the opening and had to drag her feet through the cold snow to get to the two creatures on the other side. She was vaguely aware of Kurama following her to watch the proceedings with interest. "Hiei!" she gasped again and frowned when she received no response. "H-Hiei? Hello?"

Botan waved her hand in front of his face but he remained stone still and his eyes were distant. Even the hesitant tap on his arm provided no reaction. She turned to the slightly frowning kitsune now watching them from the safety of the Reikai Central Office and shrugged.

"Hiei?" Kurama called out, concern for the fire apparition in his voice. "Botan, get in here." Kurama told the girl after a sufficient pause confirmed that there was something dangerously wrong with the jagonashi.