Okay, I'm reeeeeally sorry about not updating sooner. However, it's not JUST because I'm lazy. I'm very shaky on how well this is written, so I edited it a lot and still held off on posting it as a result of my insecurity. But, I figured that I've made people wait long enough for an update, so here it is anyway, despite my qualms.

And then I thought I'd updated and waited for days for reviews, not realizing I hadn't actually updated. Sorry about that.

"Talking in Japanese." 'Thinking in the speaker's native language.' .:Telepathic stuff:. "Makai dialect."

AAAAA – Change of time/place or whatever.

Note: As I am lazy, all thoughts are in the speaker's natural language. I'm just keeping it the same style for simplicity.

Another Note: I've gotten a lot of reviews that say they notice the lack of spelling/grammar/typographical errors in my writing. In fact, almost all of them have said that. I'm not sure if that means that I'm just that good, or that many people are just that bad...Just something I felt like saying.

Disclaimer: Skava is mine. Yusuke, Koenma, Botan, and Keiko are not mine. Hiei and Kurama are not mine (DAMN!). None of the YYH people are mine, but the new people are.

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Skava

Chapter six: Capture?

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"Hello Skava. Glad you could join us." She whirled around to face the darkened room. Everything seemed deserted, the gem was lying in the middle of an empty room surround by a protective glass shell, and her sight was not picking up any auras. The entire room seemed completely empty; no body was showing through the dark room. And yet she had definitely heard a voice. It was loud and rather cold, though she couldn't understand the words. But how could it be? Was it possible that someone could shield themselves from even her sensory vision? No! No, it couldn't be! Suddenly, her sixth sense took a dive in prominence as the room was brightly lit with a white and glowing light. She had to shield her eyes until they could adjust to the new light, then gasped at what she saw. Plants lined the walls, clinging to it like vines, and all of them had glowing lamp-like objects instead of flowers. They were disturbing, and obviously something that came from the Makai. However, she soon forgot this when she saw that she was, indeed, not alone.

Two attackers were spaced in the middle, one that resembled a human teenager but was obviously something more, and the other…Wait. She had seen him before! She drudged up a memory of a few months ago, when she was still searching for information on this blasted temple that no one knew anything about. She had been attacked, and then she had killed them. And then that black clad one had appeared. What was his name?! Then she remembered. Hiei. His name was Hiei. She scanned the room, and noticed the presence of a third, hidden in the corner of the room, surrounded by the vines. They seemed to be almost petting him, as if they were glad to be in the same region as him. The vines were clearly originating from the clawed hand that protruded from the mass of vines, however, she could not see who it was that controlled them. However, she realized that he was not intending to come after her and turned her attention back to the two at hand.

"You. Hiei. I know you. I thought you agreed that you wished me no harm." The teenager snorted.

"Hiei, you actually said something like that? Who would've thought?"

"Shut up Yusuke. I had no interest in fighting her, which was all, and at the time, she was not a mission. Things have changed." He said, switching from the Japanese Skava couldn't understand to the Makai dialect, directing the last comment back to the thief.

"Hmm. Well, I will not forget this." At that moment, she disappeared. In fact, she had merely started running, but to an untrained eye it would appear that she had simply vanished. She darted along the wall line looking for a blind spot on her opponents, her speed occasionally taking her up the surface of the wall. She jumped between the vines, not wanting to touch them. However, she made the slight mistake of jumping too close to the clump of vines that were centered around whoever was controlling them. Immediately, long tendrils reached out to snag her and she leapt backward in mid-air, landing in a crouch on the ground, then quickly speed away to avoid being grabbed by the plants that weren't aware of the fact that they weren't supposed to move.

As she ran, another was following her. When she had escaped reach of the vines, she turned around to face them, just to make sure she safe. However, she found herself face to face with none other than Hiei. She reeled back, surprised, and couldn't help but gasp a little. He was fast! She leaped out of the way as his sword came out and moved to cut her, and darted to the other end of the room. However, before she could even catch her breath Hiei was once again in front of her. He smirked, and the sword came down.

However, it bit only air and the wood where she had once been. Hiei stood up, and looked around the room. There she was, clinging to a vine in the corner of the room up near the roof, panting slightly and looking more than a tiny bit scared. He would not allow her to escape. He signaled to Yoko in the corner, and the vine that she was perched on was suddenly active, wrapping itself around her in an attempt to bind her. However, she drew out her sword and cut them away, then fell to the ground with a slight thud. She rose immediately and found herself blocking an incoming sword as Hiei began slicing at her in full force. With a lightning series of slashes and stabs, Skava found herself on both the offense and defense. She actually began to find herself grinning as she faced her toughest opponent ever.

Hiei had to admit that he was impressed. He had finally met an opponent that might actually be able to beat him with a sword. He found that he was actually enjoying the challenge, it was something new. He'd found someone that was not only as fast as he was, but also as skilled as he was at his own weapon of choice.

Now it is time to remind the readers that Hiei and Yoko are not the only fighters in this room. Yusuke had originally been put off by how fast she was and had been looking for an opening to attack, but finding none as Hiei continued to pursue the thief. However, when Hiei began to truly engage her in sword combat, they were starting to stay mainly in one place, and he found what he was looking for.

Skava was truly being impressed with her opponent. So far neither of them had managed to land a blow on the other, they were that equally matched. However, her uplifted mood was quickly shattered as she found herself lying on the ground, clutching her stomach. Reviewing what had happened in her mind, she recalled a fist contacting her midsection, but everything was becoming blurry. She grimaced in both pain and self-berating.

'Skava, you idiot! You forgot about the other fighter! That was a stupid, naïve, inexperienced mistake to make! You should know better than that! You DO know better than that! What the hell were you doing?! Always, ALWAYS, know how many people are around you, and NEVER forget that they may not fight one-on-one! You IDIOT! Now you're going to DIE because of you made a rookie mistake! Wait…why aren't I dead yet?'

Hiei started at the fist coming up and quickly dodged out of the way, though he knew that it wasn't meant for him. Skava crumpled to the ground and he had to quickly abort his coming attack to avoid cutting both her and the Toushin that had chosen to interfere. He backed up and viewed his fallen opponent. She was doubled up on the ground, obviously in pain. He grimaced. He didn't like it that Yusuke had come in when Skava had obviously forgotten about him and was not prepared for his attack, but there was really nothing that he could or would do.

Yusuke grinned.

"Finally! I've been waiting for an opening! Hey Hiei, she's almost as fast as you are."

"As fast."

"What?"

"She is just as fast as I am if not a little more."

"…Wow. That's something new. Well, I don't really want to kill her, and Koenma said we didn't have to. You want to just bind her and bring her in?" Hiei nodded, and then started as Skava began to rise.

"Hey, Skava! Get back on the ground and we won't kill you!" Yusuke yelled, switching to Makai for her benefit. He was not all that surprised to hear a feral growl emanating from the silver demon in front of him.

"In your dreams. You hit hard, human boy. So hard, that I don't think you are human at all. But that's no matter. I will not be caught by the likes of you." So saying, she struggled to her feet and leapt up to the wall, clinging to yet another vine. Her reaction time was still a little slow, but she could feel the pain receding as her muscles recovered. Her eyes focused on the gem in the middle of the room, a shimmer above it revealing the glass case around it. If she could just reach it…She leapt off the wall and flew through the air, forgetting about the vines. Although they were a little too slow to fully snag her, one did manage to snag her leg for a second before breaking, tripping her off balance.

Hiei saw her fall through the air, and prepared himself for the crash that would follow. He almost winced when it came, and was quickly over at the pedestal, grabbing Skava's hands to pin her to where she lay. Yusuke followed, and together they pinned her significantly, as Yoko stepped away from the vines that had covered him. Skava was still struggling when she saw the silver fox step forward out of the mass of vines. Hiei watched her eyes widen and her struggles weaken as she took in what she saw.

"Yoko," she breathed in reverence. The silver fox raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? So you know me even just by my look? I am impressed." She laughed slightly.

"Of course I know you! I'm a thief, remember? You are a legend among thieves!" He really had no reply to this, but just reached into his hair, and drew out a seed. Hiei saw this.

"Yoko, I would prefer that we don't kill her."

"I know, Hiei." To most of the people's surprise, she laughed.

"So. You don't even have the guts to kill me. Come on? What's the problem, Yoko? The fearless, merciless Yoko finally getting soft? Ass-holes. If you're going to take me, then just kill me." Yoko grimaced.

"The worst way to be defeated is to be taken alive. I know this." He walked over and the flower that had sprouted in his hand reached forward to cover her mouth and nose, releasing its pollen. Sleep was immediate.

A/N: Yes, I know I'm not very good at writing combat scenes, so if it sucks, oh well. I'm assuming there will be a few more, but I may hopefully improve. Hopefully. If not, then I will just lose a few readers that get angry with me and stop reading (but not before flaming me about how much my combat writing sucks). Ah well, that's life.

Review Responses:

Queen of Roses: Thank you, I try. .. Writing humor is more amusing to me than being serious. Wow, I just realized how obvious that sounds…Eh, whatever. You get what I meant.

Helpful? (Yes, the person's actual user name): Believe me, I'm trying. Sigh.