Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. Note: If this chapter is a little off, it is because I was re-reading it while chatting with chocolate, sugar, and cake-high people while in the computer lab at school.

Chapter 5: Dead of Night

Koko

I didn't care where the hell she was, but I was going to get my sister back. Stupid Snowball just had to get his ass in the way. We all packed some things together and stood in the room where Neko had vanished. I sniffed at the air, which was pungent with my mother's catnip. She always smelled like catnip. I think it was to keep everyone else deluded to her "beauty".

Kurama was patiently waiting for me. I had to hand it to the guy. Most fellows I knew who had their fiancé snatched from them by their soon-to-be mother-in-laws would be raving right about now. Snowball hovered near the edge of the room, his slim red eyes glaring at anything that moved.

Namely, me.

We decided to leave Kuwa-baka in the present. It was just me, Yusuke, Snowball, and Kurama. I found the residual rip my mother had made in the time stream and made an incision of my own. Unlike Bri, I'd retained several of my physical cat demon traits, including the ability to jump time. I was grateful that I'd listened to my mother's constant nagging about my "great" heritage.

Now, it was going to save my sister's life.

I stuck my head into the swirling red vortex that I'd sliced open and took a big, long drag of the air. My mother had been this way, without a doubt. I signaled to the others to follow me as I dove through the hole. Once everyone was standing in the "hall" between the time rifts, I sniffed for my mother's catnip smell again.

"This way," I said. Hiei snorted indignantly, but clammed up with a glance from Kurama.

I was grateful to the fox. He always knew how to get Snowball's trap to shut once it was open for the flies. I did have to admit, he wasn't nearly as annoying as Kuwa-baka was in that area. Yusuke was just amusing. But the Snowball always had something derogatory to say that was rarely funny, let alone enough to make me laugh.

A lot of people say that they're shocked that I know how to laugh. Bri did that for me, after so many long years of being with my catnip-sniffing mother. She made me laugh again, where only my dad had before her. I missed my dad, but I guess it's all the better that Sakyo took his place.

At least Sakyo doesn't want to release hell on us anymore. It's no secret that he likes Shizuru, though Kuwa-baka doesn't seem to get it. For some reason, everyone seems to think it is some kind of big secret. I dunno. Even Bri seems to ignore it. Well, I can hardly blame her after all that happened.

I stopped short. "The smell's dissipating. Back this way."

I walked back and forth in the tiny hallway, the others following me every dang step of the way. Like little lost puppies. Finally, I found where the smell was strongest and made another incision. It opened easily. It had been torn recently, I deduced. I indicated to the others to follow me through the hole.

I had to admit, I wasn't expecting the ambush. My mother really had gone out of her way to make us welcome. A group of demons bared their teeth at me. I backed up toward the hole. They were way stronger than I was. Suddenly, I wasn't at the time rip's entrance anymore, but on the ground.

I saw a flash of black, and then blood spattered as the headless corpses crashed to the ground. Hiei wiped the blood off of his sword onto the grass nonchalantly.

"Hn. Weak girl."

I scowled. "That's a fine way to—"

"Keiko!" Kurama warned me. I sighed and rolled my eyes at him.

"Don't use that name on me anymore, kitsune," I said. "I don't like that name." My mother gave me that name. I hate it. I hate it so much. I climbed to my feet, brushing the grass from my jeans.

He smiled, very small. "I'm sure you're glad that we came. We must press on."

I nodded, giving Snowball one last glare as I sniffed for my mother's scent again. Over the scent of the demons' blood, however, I couldn't find the catnip smell.

"The blood's masking her scent," I said, scowling.

"Let's step away from them, then," Kurama said. I sighed and nodded. We walked away from the bloody mess that Snowball had made. I caught the scent of catnip in the air and grinned.

"Got it again."

I led the way once more. We were in a forest. Trees covered on all sides. I could smell many other kinds of demons around, but I could also smell humans. It was a little disturbing to catch both scents mingling so easily together. The faint scent of catnip was all I had to go on.

The scent led us away from the trees and into a very small hamlet. There were humans all around, and I spotted quite a few looking at us. One look at their dress let me know that we weren't in any recent time periods. I hadn't expected this to be so. I approached what looked like a normal girl and asked her where I was and what year we were in.

"Lady, we are in the year of our emperor 23 and you are at the village Sai. What brings you here in such strange garb?"

"We are in search of a woman who has stolen from us," I answered. "She is a hanyou, very wicked and tall." I kept my speech simple and plain, since that was what the girl was using.

"I have seen two hanyou go through here, one inu and one neko. I couldn't tell their gender, Lady. They both headed for the mountain."

I smiled and thanked her. "The neko, then, did you see the path she took?"

"She bypassed the torii, but she is following that path there."

The girl pointed to a traditional temple entrance. It hummed with energy. If either Hiei or Kurama tried to go through it, they'd be fried. Probably Yusuke and me, too. We would have to bypass the torii gate as well. Torii were "programmed" to keep out demonic energy. Too bad they didn't extend much farther than the physical gate.

"Thank you," I smiled again. "Come on, guys. We'll take the same route."

The girl bowed and left us. I led the way around the torii and followed the strengthening scent of my mother's catnip. It had been so faint at the village that I hadn't been sure it was her. But now, I was positive. There was no mistaking that scent.

We found the temple just fine, but when I reached the front entrance of the place, I sighed in frustration.

"She jumped again!"

"What?" Kurama asked.

"The scent's cut off…Dang. She jumped right here."

I sought gently with my sharper-than-average nails for the opening in the fabric. It smelled fresh. We dove through into the "hall" again and I scented out the opening she'd made once again. I led the way through into the next time period and stared straight at my mother's retreating back.

Kurama was on her in a flash, his green Rose Whip anchored around her neck. She fell with a choked gasp and glared at him. Yusuke was on her with his Spirit Gun at ready and Snowball had his katana trained on her neck. She was trapped. I glared at her, what little respect I'd had for her gone now.

"Where is my sister?" I growled.

"Half sister," Tsuki growled back. The strong odor of catnip flooded my senses, but I'd long ago learned to resist their temptation. "What's wrong with you, Keiko, I raised you to be like me!"

"You raised me to hate you and you kept my sister from me," I said. "Now, what did you do with Neko?"

Tsuki smirked. "She's with her lover-boy." Her eyes batted at Kurama, who tightened the whip around her neck. "With the real Youko Kurama. Nothing major. If the old him hasn't already killed her."

"It's your call, Koko," Kurama said, his whip shaking in his hands. "What do we do?"

I rose my energy enough to find the truth. "She's telling it right. Kill her."

I turned around and walked away. The sound of blood spattering is all that I wanted, and it is all I got.

Eeks. Koko just asked Kurama to commit murder for her. But something tells me this isn't the last we see of Tsuki! MWHAHAHAHAHA--hack, coff

Okay, I am sorry for my chocolate-induced evilness.

SilverDragon: That was the master plan all along was to get her to meet Youko. Thanks for telling me the author, it definitely escaped my head. Now just to find my head…

Kuramafan: Yup. Cries I have to accept it, too. I just saw the episode where it explains Yomi and Kurama together…Eek. I think I'm glad I learned about it through fanon first.

PrincessKandra: Actually, I think she's already figured it out…but I could be wrong…I kinda forgot the majority of the plot behind this…I've already moved on to two other fics…lol.

Suntiger: It's your fault! Your fault I couldn't concentrate! LOL, I'm just kidding. You guys were great to talk to. See you again soon!

Saori: Oo It's amusing? I didn't really mean for Youko to be amusing. Kuronue, yes. I figured, you know, we didn't get a very good long look at Kuronue's character, so I guess I'll have to fill in the holes.