Disclaimer: We don't own it. Or the Regents. Or any lingerie shops.

Thanks for reading up to this point. If you're a Gaia-resident, you can leave reviews on the Times of Change topic instead of here. Thanks, Rayvnne! And on it goes...

Chapter 3: Tests and Daggers

The next day, Miko held her pencil poised over her Earth Science Regents answer sheet. She sighed and ran her fingers through her frizzy blonde hair. Last question…come on, I know this…

Her eyes lit up suddenly. She smiled at the simplicity of it all and marked "A".

"Oh yeah, I'm good," she said to herself as she put down her pencil and stretched. Miko looked around the gym at her fellow students as they struggled through the test. Her gaze met Kisa's who sat in the row next to her; she had finished much earlier.

"Easy," mouthed Miko. Kisa gave a half-smile and shrugged, then went back to her doodling. She stopped for a moment, then slipped the scrap paper under the desk and turned it to face Miko. Across the top was written, "Kisa- anime form!" A sprightly anime girl beamed from the page. She had long dark hair and wore a flowing white dress. Miko grinned and wrote on her scrap paper, "DRAW ME!"

She showed the message to Kisa, who gave a secretive thumbs up and began to draw. Miko watched for a minute, then yawned widely. Wow, I'm tired. Must be this heat wave, she thought sleepily. Folding her arms on her desk, she rested her head on them. The test won't be over for another hour…I guess if I can even get to sleep, I'll take a nap. Closing her eyes, she thought dreamily, Maybe Kurama will show up…that last episode was so cool…

Miko looked ahead of her, and saw a dark, barren landscape. No color stood out; nothing brightened this cold and frightening world. Gnarled trees stood like tormented souls, and rocks were hardly more than evil, shapeless lumps stuck in the ground. She shivered at how real it was, then a flash of white caused her to look to the right. A dark haired girl stood next to her, wearing a long white dress. A shock hit Miko…Just like Kisa's drawing! She looked horribly serious with fear covering her face, which she tried but failed to mask. Uneasiness grew in Miko; she knew something was wrong. This was not one of her ordinary anime dreams, where she had fantastic adventures with Kurama or whatever. The girl turned to her and said urgently, "Miko! Where is everyone?"

Then Miko was flying, the putrid air swirling in her face and giving her none of the pleasure she usually got from a flight. A flight? But I've never flown. A strange chanting sound filled the air, something she couldn't make out. Then she was screaming, "Yusuke? Hiei? Kurama? Kisa! KISA!"

Then she saw Kurama falling, falling with nothing to stop his gut-wrenching descent. The confidence and unshakable calm she knew him for had vanished, and all that filled his emerald green eyes was pain and desperate fear. His mouth was open in a silent yell for help as he fell…his eyes locked with Miko's, and everything else disappeared except their frantic connection. Then an evil laugh rang out behind Miko, and a nightmarish force grabbed her that refused to let go…

"HARIATO!!!!!"

The whole regents hall was startled from its absorption in formulas and calculations by the piercing scream. Kisa whipped her head around to see Miko slip from her chair to the floor.

"Miko?! Miko!" Kisa jumped up, knocking her desk over. Her anime drawing fluttered to the ground as Kisa fell on her knees beside her friend. "Miko?" The girl didn't answer; she only held her face in her hands and shivered uncontrollably. A teacher joined Kisa on the floor, and was about to suggest this heatstroke victim be taken to the nurse when Miko looked up. "Kisa?" she whispered.

Miko saw Kisa's face for only a moment, and thought she might have whispered her name before her world faded into darkness.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In the center of town, two figures walked down the street. Although both were of the same race to any human who saw them, they seemed like they didn't belong somehow. One might think that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The first was tall, with features worthy of any movie star. His bright green eyes stayed calmly fixed on the way ahead, and his long red hair was tied back in a ponytail. The second was shorter, with shrewd red eyes that darted around much more often than his friend's, as if he wasn't at all trusting of those around him. His shining black hair was slicked back with copious amounts of gel. Both people wore blue jeans and leather jackets. One would never guess they were demons in disguise.

Kurama stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked around. Hiei, who was surveying his surroundings scornfully, ran straight into him. Scowling, he stepped hastily to the side. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Did you feel that?" said Kurama curiously. A trio of girls stood staring at him up ahead; when the two started walking again and passed them, they giggled and whispered amongst themselves. Hiei rolled his eyes. "As much as I could feel anything with every female swooning as you pass by."

"One of the dark angels said his name. This could mean trouble."

"I suppose it could," said Hiei only half-sarcastically. He glared at another girl who tried and failed to catch Kurama's eye. "I don't see why Koenma had to make your dimension form so damn attractive. All this attention you're drawing to us is distracting to our search efforts."

A small smile formed on Kurama's face. "Oh, is it?"

"Shut up fox, you know exactly what I mean."

Kurama sighed, but didn't change his forward gaze. "Koenma needed to make our forms in this dimension as close as possible to those we possess in our own. Otherwise, changing us back would be somewhat more difficult." He swerved to the side and stopped by a storefront. "Try to sense them again. We're wasting precious time."

Hiei nodded and halted beside him. He closed his eyes, and if someone looked carefully at the bandanna on his forehead, they might have seen a slight glow. Kurama watched him patiently for a moment, than glanced up. Three young women were coming out of the shop now, which just happened to be a lingerie shop, squealing in delight over their purchases. One caught sight of Kurama, who had already looked away and now stared intently down the road. She began to whisper to her friends, her voice audible to both demons' ears.

"Now, just take a look at that. Have you ever seen anything you've wanted a piece of more?"

Hiei concentrated harder, wishing they'd found these two troublesome kids hours ago.

The second woman giggled. " I dunno. He is hot, but the one with the black hair isn't that bad either. You know how I like the short ones."

Hiei's eyes flashed open and he spoke tersely to Kurama. "Hurry up, let's go. It's this way." He started forward; a well-built teenage boy walking in the opposite direction pushed past him. "Outta my way, shorty," he said rudely.

Hiei snapped. He grabbed the boy by the collar and pulled his face down level with his own. "I would watch what you say a bit more carefully," he hissed through clenched teeth. He then yanked the boy into a narrow alley with little effort. He slammed him against a wall and pulled out the dagger hidden beneath his jacket. Pressing it to the boy's throat, he smiled fiercely as the young human stuttered in terror. "What did I tell you?"

"Watch what I say! WATCH WHAT I SAY! Don't kill me, man, come on!"

"Hiei," said Kurama in a low voice, placing his hand on his partner's shoulder, "it would be unwise to attain a police record on your first day in a new dimension." Hiei shrugged off his hand and, after glaring at the boy for a moment more, released him and pushed him back onto the sidewalk. "I'll let you walk alive for one more day, child. And remember what I told you," he said quietly, his fiery red eyes blazing. The boy gave one final terrified glance, and ran off.

Hiei looked after him for a moment, then turned to Kurama. The red-haired demon had a small frown on his face, but when he opened his mouth to speak, Hiei shook his head. "No," he said in a calm confident voice. "I put that boy in his place. The people of this dimension are driveling, senseless idiots, and they need to be taught a lesson."

Kurama put one hand in his pocket and glanced up at the sky. "That may be true, but in order to find the dark angels, we need to survive this dimension. Threatening its inhabitants may not be the best path to take." He began walking down the alley. "In any case, let us try to find these girls as soon as possible. Hariato may start sending his own agents to retrieve them if we don't first. Perhaps as early as tonight."

Hiei trailed behind him. "Any particular reason we're walking this way? My Jagan pointed north."

"Yes, but I have a feeling that the people on the street back there may not want to see us again for a while."

Hiei sighed sharply and pushed past Kurama, who only smiled and followed.

Kurama: /sweatdrop/ You let Hiei attack a human?

Hiei: Hn. It was hardly satisfying.

Samurai: Yes, but it did give you something to do.

YEM: Eh heh. Feedback = next chapter! Thanks.