A/N: Well, this is as good a time as any to tell the story's length. It is 16 chapters long, most chapters are longer than this. I am currently working on a sequel and several sister stories for it that won't follow any continuous line. They will be shorter than this, just little side stories. I don't know how long the sequel will be as I just started writing it, but maybe about as long as this one.

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

AAAAA – Change of time/place or whatever.

Note: In an ever increasing display of my laziness, if no one else is around that speaks a different language; speech not being in italics simply means speaking in the speaker's native language, regardless of what that is. Even if they are speaking out loud.

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Skava

Chapter nine: Deliverance

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Kurama sighed. He was incredibly weary. Skava had continued to wake up, quicker each time from the flower. Yusuke had not hesitated to knock her out by use of force, but even that didn't hold for long. Finally they had turned her over to Koenma. At the moment he was back at his house, sitting at his desk, trying vainly to focus on his homework.

'It's over. Focus. What is the equation for a circle that has…Why am I still thinking about this? She was a thief, and we had an obligation.' An image flashed across his mind. She was looking at him, and she was scared. Her eyes looked innocent in a startling way. The bright metallic silver tended to offset the mind and create a cold look, but as she'd looked at him…all he'd seen was bewilderment and fear. He was worried about her, though he didn't want to admit it.

.:Kurama:.

.:Oh. Hello Hiei. You are thinking about her too?:. There was a pause before the fire demon replied.

.:Hn. It irritates me:.

.:Are you worried about her as I am?:.

Kurama almost laughed as he literally felt Hiei shake his head.

.:I do not know. I want her out of my mind. I do NOT like having her keep popping into my head. It is possession, it is violation, and I can't stop it… I want to kill something:.

.:Well I won't stop you, but make sure it's not human. Go into the mountains away from civilization. And try to just pulverize a rock:.

.:Hn:. He felt the connection break. He shook his head.

"Now what?" He murmured out loud.

AAAAA

Skava groaned as she groggily came out of her drug-induced sleep. She shook her head and immediately regretted the action.

"Oh man, those flowers are HELL. I have a high immunity for those things, but DAMN! They really make the head pound. I feel like I have twenty ogres in my head, clawing and screaming at the back of my eyeballs trying to rip my head open so they can wreck apocalyptic doom on the unsuspecting world." She paused for a minute, contemplating what she had just said.

"Wow, I need help. Anyway, where am I?" she looked around the room she was in.

"Oh crap. What is it with people and dungeons? They are ALWAYS dark, cold, stone, and dreary! Would it KILL them to get some lights or something?" Establishing to herself in her own way that she was indeed captured; she decided to see how much she could move. First she tried to stand up. That was good. Then she tried to stretch her arms in front of her. That was bad. She could move them, but not very far. She looked down at her manacles. They were of a metal that only melted at incredibly high temperatures. She knew by this point how to tell what a lock was made of.

"Tricks of the trade," she muttered under her breath, "Can't get by for this long without learning something. Let's see what we're dealing with now." She focused her power to concentrate on her shackles, and began to probe the locks mentally only to be immediately slammed back into her own aching head as the protection spells forced her back.

"Ok…so that didn't work. Let's try something else." She managed to place a hand over one of the shackles and started with a basic breaking technique. It almost worked, but about ten seconds in she received a nasty electric shock from the chains.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you." She looked up in surprise, having failing to notice the arrival of a kind of guard. He didn't look too fearsome, he was hardly even wearing armor, but he was carrying a VERY nasty looking pike and what looked like some kind electric shocker. As for the demon himself, he seemed to be a simple kind of ogre and most likely not very bright. He noticed her eyeing his weapons.

"Don't worry. These won't be used on you unless you warrant it. And trying to escape warrants it. If I were you, I would just stay put until Koenma decides what to do with you."

"Yes, but if you were me then I would be you. And if I were you, I would shut up and not try to stop me." She glared and her captor of the moment with nothing less than extreme hatred. He almost shuddered at her venomous glare but reminded himself that there was really no way she could do anything. She was in middle of the rather large room, chained tight, and he was safely on the other side of the gate. All her weapons had also been removed, her sword and two daggers that they had found in her shirt sleeves as well as the other thin dagger attached by a cord hanging around her neck and the ones stashed into her belt/sash line.

"Hmm," he replied in a carefree manner. "That insolence will not go unnoticed. However, I will not punish you at the moment as per Koenma's request. So just try to get comfortable." She growled like a feral beast, lifting her upper lip enough to show small but entirely pointed fangs. He turned away from her and left, calling behind him.

"You get fed in an hour. Don't try anything between now and then. After that you will be fed twice a day, less if you act up. And no, you will not get any freedom to move or exercise period, or the chance to confer with other prisoners. Though I'm not sure why anyone would want to, we find that by allowing the prisoners to talk to each other let's them escape." With that he was gone, leaving Skava snarling behind him.

A/N: Sorry about being late. I've given up trying to get on any sort of schedule.