Rea: I don't own YuYu Hakusho

Chapter 21

Minna woke up again a while later with some of her energy returning. She looked around the dark room, taking in her surroundings as best as she could. She sighed as she saw no one around. She was stuck with herself.

I wonder if anyone misses me… Minna asked herself. She sort of doubted that anyone would care that she was missing. Well, they would care, but that was probably only because Minna was the one factor that could determine the fate of the world. Images shot through her mind of her life at Koenma's place. Memories of training with Hiei, of laughing with Yusuke and Kuwabara, of cooking with Kurama, and of hanging out with the old Icama went through her mind, one after another. Minna smiled humorlessly.

I miss them. I can't believe that I miss those jerks! I miss them even after they left me alone for eight years! After they cut off all contact with me I miss them! Geez… Minna silently let a single tear roll down her cheek as she listened to the silence that pressed in around her. A memory of a nightmare came back.

She had been looking for silence. She was young back then. Silence had always been something to be enjoyed. The nightmare changed that, though. There had been blood, humanoids, and everything until Hiei had saved her. Silence had never again been enjoyable to Minna. It almost seemed to suffocate her.

A noise came from the corner of the room. Minna quickly pretended to be unconscious as someone entered the room.

.:With Team Urameshi:.

"C'mon, guys! Koenma said that it was over here!" Kuwabara yelled, pointing to iron gates in front of a large mansion. Yusuke looked at it warily.

"I don't think that we should go in that way, Kuwabara. It doesn't feel right. What does your sixth sense tell you?" Yusuke asked, never taking his eyes off the gates. Kuwabara was silent for a moment before bursting out again.

"My sixth sense tells me that through those gates is the quickest way to get to Minna!" Kuwabara sighed as he tried to relax. "Look, I know that I didn't exactly have as close of a relationship with her as you guys did but…she's really important to me, too, you guys! I just want her back safely, you know?"

Yusuke patted Kuwabara's back. "I know, Kuwabara. We all want her back. However, we need to be in one piece by the time that we find her so that we can help her. Got it?"

Kuwabara sighed. "I know. Let's see if we can find a better way through…."

"Found one," Hiei said from behind the gates. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama walked over to the gates as he opened them and saw at least fifty different bodies of demon footmen and mind-controlled humans. Yusuke smirked.

"I guess you really miss Minna, huh, Hiei?"

"Hn," Hiei said, turning away. "All I want is for there to be a world. I don't care what happens to that kid."

"Liar!" Kuwabara yelled.

Hiei turned to face him with fire burning in his eyes. "What did you call me, moron?"

"You heard me, Shorty! You're lying! You want Minna back just as much as we do! Probably more 'cause of how much time you guys had to spend with each other! Why don't you just admit it!" Kuwabara yelled.

Hiei glared at Kuwabara but did nothing. He finally turned away and walked towards the house. "We don't have much to worry about. She'll be able to hold on for a few more hours, at least. She doesn't give in easily."

Kurama smiled as he followed Hiei into the mansion. Yusuke and Kuwabara stood, dumbstruck. Hiei turned and glared at them.

"ARE YOU COMING OR NOT!" he yelled, making Yusuke and Kuwabara run after Kurama and Hiei. They entered the mansion without a sound, ready for battle.

.:Mystery Cavernous Room That's Holding Minna Prisoner:.

Minna was pretending to be unconscious as she heard footsteps entering. There were more than one set of feet coming from the corner of the room, where there must have been a door. She heard breathing that was more like panting from one body and normal breathing coming from whoever was left.

"Is she unconscious?" one voice asked. It sounded like Icama, but it was a much more evil voice. It almost sounded like the teacher from Sarayashiki….

"Unggg," the other thing said. The female took that as a yes.

"Good. Paucity! Go get Cruelty and the rest of them. I think that they'll be quite pleased with my little present," she said. Paucity dragged his feet across the floor and through the door as a loud bang echoed through the room.

The woman walked across the room to stand in front of Minna. She scoffed and took Minna's chin in her hand. The woman looked at each side of Minna's face and tsked.

"And you're supposed to be the world's hero? Ha! You're a little girl and a half-breed demon at that. You're nothing. And yet, everyone makes such a big deal out of you." The woman released Minna's head and stood up. She kicked Minna in the gut and yelled. "You're an abomination! Your own grandparents wanted you dead! You're worthless! But everyone makes such a big deal out of you….

"Because of you, everyone went at war. Because of you…Daisuke died. DAISUKE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" the woman kicked Minna in the gut again, but with much more force. Minna had to bite her lip to keep from making a sound. "You're a child! Why couldn't anyone kill you when you were a baby! It would have been so much easier and no one would have gotten killed. The world would have been a better place if you would have just died!"

The woman sank to the floor and began sobbing. Minna opened her eyes and stared at the floor. She listened to the woman sob for about ten minutes before looking up at her.

It was the same woman who had killed her parents. The same one from the school. The same one that wanted her dead but was now sobbing in front of her.

"Would that really have solved anything?" Minna suddenly asked. The woman jumped and glared at Minna.

"How long have you—" the woman began.

"They would have gone on fighting anyways. Daisuke, whoever he is, still would have died. Normal people can't avoid fate," Minna said, letting a small tear fall. "It takes a really strong person to choose their own fate…to make their own decisions and do it for themselves, not because someone else told them to."

"What are you talking about?" the woman asked, clearly annoyed that Minna had heard her ranting and raving.

"How did you get into Icama?" Minna asked, staring into the woman's eyes with almost no emotion. "Icama's almost the strongest person I know…I've looked up to her ever since we were little. How did you get into her head?"

The woman smirked. "Is that your last request or something? To know the weakness of your 'dear friend'?"

Minna smirked. "Sure. We can call it that."

The woman laughed. "It was easy when she was all preoccupied worrying about you. We were just lucky that you weren't responding to her and blocking her out. Without that, she wouldn't have been half as worried and it would have taken much, much longer to penetrate her mind."

"I see," Minna said, turning her eyes back to the floor. "So you're saying that it's my fault that she's probably dead?"

"She's not dead. Not yet, anyways," the woman said, twirling her finger around bright green hair.

"Were you the one that took her over?" Minna asked.

Minna could hear the smirk in the woman's voice. "Of course. It's my specialty, you see."

Minna looked into the woman's cold eyes. The woman suddenly looked very uncomfortable and began fidgeting, as if she were trying to get away but she was unable to. Minna's frozen black eyes held almost no emotion as she stared at the woman.

"Then you shall be the first to die," Minna said.

The woman was jerked out of her horror by the sound of the door opening and footsteps coming. She took one look at Minna before running over to the visitors. Minna was staring at the ground with her hands in front of her. She smirked as she examined the burns around her wrist from the tree roots that had held her prisoner. They were now incinerated and lay in a pile of ashes on the floor.

"You will die," Minna whispered to the silence, "you will be first."

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Rea: okay. I'll admit it. I had a ton of fun writing this chapter and the last one! I'm on a roll! However, as I'm writing this, it's 10:16 PM and my mom's about to get mad at me for being on the computer…still…anyways, hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews:

AnmarRanma: haha! thanks for all those reviews! it made my day! anyways, sorry you didn't really like the last chapter...things won't exactly improve, i think...(i'm being pessimistic)

CrazyDeafGirl: ALI HAS WHITE HAIR! ALI HAS WHITE HAIR! haha...JUST KIDDING! DON'T KILL ME! haha...sorry, Ali. I had to. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!