Hey!! It's finally up! Whoope!! I got it done!! (does the happy dance)

I'm really sorry for the long wait-I thought I would have more time once I got out of school, but I was wrong. Horribly wrong. Bleh.

Anyway, there's a little bit of OOCness in this chapter (I'm really really really sorry!!) Just warning everyone. Other than that . . . .

I don't own YYH.

Please review!

The morning after was completely uneventful.

The tantei woke, and, after a small herbal breakfast provided by Kurama, packed up their bedrolls and left the campsite, stopping only to smother the ashes of their fire. Kuwabara was stuck with two bags as Kurama turned into a small white fox and darted off after the ki trail that lead to Yeirugan. Hiei vanished as well, leaving Yusuke and Kuwabara to travel through the forest seemingly alone.

"Come on," Yusuke said after about an hour, when he noticed Kuwabara lagging behind. "We have to keep up."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara groaned. "I don't walk this far normally!" He stumbled into a staggering run and came abreast of Yusuke, who was standing with his arms crossed waiting for his orange-haired friend. "Can't we convince Kurama to take a break?"

"If we take a break, that means we'll spend another night in this forest." Kuwabara jumped as Kurama appeared beside him. "And I'm sure that you'd rather not risk the man-eating trees that live here."

"Then let's get going!" Kuwabara shouted, marching in the wrong direction.

"Kuwabara?"

"Yeah?"

"It's this way."

"What!?" Yusuke demanded, Kurama standing in front of him with a sheepish look on his face. "You said it was only one more day's travel! Hiei said, too!" Hiei, who was currently camping in a tree, averted his eyes from the people standing below him.

"That's what we thought, Yusuke," Kurama explained. "We thought that it would only be a day's travel. But Yeirugan seems to be deeper in his territory than we expected." Kurama gritted his teeth as Yusuke paused to process the information. "I'm sorry, Yusuke. I don't know how much longer we could be out here. It's a matter of luck now."

The black-haired tantei sighed. "I suppose we should make camp, Kurama?"

"Yes," Kurama sighed. "I suppose we should."

"It's Kurama's turn to get firewood," Kuwabara announced, dropping the bags he was carrying. "He can deal with those stupid man-eating plants." Yusuke looked to Kurama, who shrugged and walked off.

"One of you should follow him," Hiei said from his tree. "The toddler told us to keep an eye on him, correct?"

"Yeah," Yusuke said. "But he'll know if we're following him. You should go, Hiei."

"Why should it matter if he knows we're following him?" Kuwabara asked.

"Because, baka," Hiei hissed. "It's an insult to his power. Us following him and keeping an eye on him constantly implies that we believe he is not capable of being on his own. How would you feel, baka, if someone said that to you?"

"Uh, pretty bad, I guess," Kuwabara mumbled.

"Exactly," Yusuke said. "So Hiei should go. He's good at hiding from people and not making any noise."

"Hn."

"Just go!" Yusuke shouted. "I don't want to spend time here arguing about it when something could be happening!" As if he were cued, Kurama came bursting into sight out of the underbrush with his arms full of wood, scaring Kuwabara and causing Yusuke and Hiei to fall into battle stances.

"Oh, it's just Kurama," Kuwabara breathed as the moment of shock passed. Yusuke lowered his finger-he had been prepared to fire a Rei Gun-and Hiei pointed the tip of his katana at the ground. Everyone stared at the kitsune, who was white enough to be passed as a ghost in a children's story book.

"What happened, Kurama?" Yusuke asked as Kurama caught his breath. "You're really white."

"I . . . I saw," Kurama gasped. "I saw Yuki."

"You saw him?" Yusuke asked. "Really?" Kurama nodded.

"Uh, guys?" Kuwabara questioned, looking from Yusuke to Kurama. "Why is this important?"

"A ningen isn't supposed to be in the Makai," Hiei commented. "Baka."

"It's a little more that, actually," Kurama put in before Kuwabara could reply to Hiei's remark. "Yusuke and I were wondering . . . perhaps Yeirugan had figured out about my human form and taken Yuki hostage as a way to lure me to him."

"But. . . . " Yusuke said, prompting Kurama into the next part.

"'Kassan and Keiichi-san have been finding bloodied clothes of his," Kurama said with a sigh. "There's no way he would be able to have the time to drop off his old clothes and pick up a set of new ones if he's being held captive."

"I bet he's just out with a buncha street punks," Kuwabara muttered.

"It's a possibility," Kurama said. "And besides, if Yeirugan really wanted me, he would have gone after 'kassan." He stopped here, a thoughtful look on his face. "But I'm sure that it was him I just saw."

"That doesn't make any sense," Yusuke countered. "If Yeirugan had him captured, he wouldn't be wandering around here alone, and the fact that he's doing so can only mean. . . . " Yusuke broke off, looking for the words to phrase his next thought.

"That he came here of his own free will?" Kurama provided. Yusuke nodded. "But ningens can't come here on their own. They need the assistance of someone with power enough to break through the barrier between worlds-namely, a youkai."

"He could have gotten kidnapped, broke free of his captor, and can't find a way out," Yusuke pondered. "That makes sense, right?" Kurama and Hiei nodded, but Kuwabara looked as if he were still working out the last minute of the conversation.

"I believe that's our best bet," Kurama said. "He probably has no idea what's going on. We should make sure before we approach him, though."

"I'll go," Hiei grunted. "If only to stop this, get on with the mission, and get back to my sweet snow." With that, he disappeared into the trees, his three so-called teammates staring after him blankly.

"Does he always have ice cream on his mind?" Yusuke demanded.

"I'dve hoped not," Kurama said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "But it seems that I was wrong."

Hiei located Yuki quickly-he could hear the ningen stepping on twigs and crushing the plant life beneath his feet. What confused the little fire youkai was that Yuki's ki was not upset or frightened. It was more aware than a calm ningen's ki would normally be, but it was calm. It was almost as if Yuki had been in the Makai before, and knew exactly what to expect. Hiei landed on a tree branch above Yuki's head as he watched the teen make his way through the forest. In the quiet, Hiei could even make out some of what the boy was saying.

"Stupid forests," he was grunting. "That's all that seems to be in this part of the Makai is forests." He walked a few feet before tripping over a tree root, tangling one foot in a vine hanging from the root's owner. "Agh! Stupid stupid plants!" He fought with the vine for a moment before he was able to free himself, and then went back to muttering. "I knew I should have stayed in the Ningenkai. At least it's easier to get food there-that and there's no killer plants."

Hm, Hiei thought as Yuki continued walking, the fire youkai following at a slower pace. He seems to know what he's doing here. But even if he's been here only once or twice before, he shouldn't be this calm unless he's extremely arrogant. He remembered one of Yuki and Kurama's fights that he had watched from a tree once. Which is a possibility, I suppose.

"So . . . I knew I felt that stupid ki signal around here somewhere," Yuki said, stopping in the middle of a path-like thing that he had been walking on. "But I can't find the owner of the ki." He sighed. "I've been up and down this path so many damn times and I never see a damn thing!" He whirled about in frustration, kicking at a few twigs that had fallen from the trees overhead. He looked up at the sky, and opened his mouth as if to scream, but paused. "Who's there?" He whirled until he was facing the tree that Hiei was hiding in. "I know you're there, youkai."

"You seem to know what you're doing, ningen," Hiei said from the tree. It was too late to worry about giving away his location, but as long as he didn't let Yuki see him. . . .

"What are you talking about?" Yuki demanded, setting his hands on his hips in the perfect imitation of an angry ningen female. "Who the hell are you, anyway?" His eyes narrowed. "I think I've heard your voice somewhere before, somewhere in the Ningenkai."

"Perhaps," Hiei said slowly. He didn't really care if Yuki saw him or not-it was the fact that he would deal with an angry Youko Kurama if the kitsune had to explain what one of his friends was doing in the Makai that kept him hidden. "Why does it matter to you?"

"I'd like to know of all the demons that can pass freely between the Makai and the Ningenkai," Yuki said. "Perhaps I can borrow assistance from them if I ever were to need it."

Hiei let out a short bark of a laugh. He really has no idea what he's doing! he thought. You don't just borrow assistance from a youkai. He opened his mouth to tell Yuki such, but the loud battle cry of an oni cut him off.

"Whoa, sounds like someone pissed the stupid thing off," Yuki commented from the ground.

Probably that baka, Hiei thought, referring to Kuwabara. Sure enough, there was a loud, frightened yelp that could only come from such a ningen, and Kazuma Kuwabara was seen running from the forest into the path that Yuki had been on and into the forest again. Unfortunately. . . .

"Hang on! That's Kuwabara! The one that hangs out with Shuichi!" An astounded Yuki announced.

Is there any other Kuwabara? Hiei wondered. He hoped not.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Yuki demanded. "And him, too!" Hiei looked back to the path, where Yusuke was darting across, yelling for Kuwabara to stop running and come help them fight. "What the hell? I didn't know Shuichi had friends that wandered between realms!"

"Yusuke, I must inform you, it isn't wise to run from an oni that size! They'll catch up!" Kurama wasn't very far behind Yusuke. "And this is where I saw-"

"Shuichi?!?!?" Kurama didn't stop running, but winced, refusing to glance over and look his stepbrother in the eye. "Shuichi, is that you?" As Kurama vanished into the forests again, Yuki took a step forward. "Shuichi! Hey!" Hiei sighed and bolted, intent on killing the oni someone had pissed off and showing his teammates how to deal with youkai in the Makai.

When Hiei caught up to the rest of the group, Yusuke and Kuwabara were spread out on the ground, panting, and Kurama was bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard, apparently not as worn out as the other two.

"How far did we run?" Kuwabara asked once he had the breath.

"I dunno," Yusuke replied. "Far enough. That stupid thing isn't chasing us anymore."

"Because it's dead," Hiei put in. "Cowards. Running away from something as simple to kill as that."

"I had my Rose Whip out before Kuwabara ran," Kurama said between breaths, making a feeble attempt to defend himself. The kitsune looked over at the ningen. "Nice job provoking it, by the way." Hiei gritted his teeth to keep from asking what Kuwabara had done.

"Hey! I thought it was a big, ugly rock!" Kuwabara protested. "I bet you would have run, too, if the rock you were sitting on suddenly moved and attacked you!"

"Nah, I would have fired a Rei Gun at it," Yusuke said. "Kurama would have hit it with his rose whip, and Hiei would have sliced it up with his sword." Kurama and Hiei nodded. Yusuke sighed. "Whatever. It's dead and we can get on with this stupid mission."

Kurama shook his head. "And the bad news is that Yuki saw us."

"WHAT?"

"I heard him call my name when I ran across that path," Kurama said. "He said something else, too, but I couldn't make out the exact words."

"He wanted to know if it was really Kurama," Hiei said. "He didn't seem to think that it was."

Kurama nodded thoughtfully. "What else was there?"

"He was tracking a ki signal, and he acted like he had been here before."

"WHAT?"

"Like it sounds," Hiei said, crossing his arms. "He wasn't nervous, he wasn't scared. He acted like he knew where he was going, and said he was tracking a ki signal." He glared at his companions, as if he were daring them to ask for more information.

"If he can track a ki signal, that means that he's either a very aware ningen or a youkai," Kurama said, sitting down on the ground and resting his chin in his hands. He looked at Hiei, debating for a moment, and then asked, "Did he say what kind of signal? Or who he thought it belonged to?"

"No," Hiei grunted.

"That's odd," Yusuke said. "Tracking a ki signal that you don't know."

"That's assuming that he doesn't know it, Yusuke," Kurama countered. "He could know very well who it is." His eyes landed on Hiei. "What exactly did he say?"

The fire youkai made an irritated noise. "He said that he'd been up and down that path many times, and that he never sees a damn thing. He also mentioned that he can't find the owner of the ki." Hiei glared at each of the others, one by one. "Need anything else?"

"I think that'll do, Hiei," Kurama said. "Thank you. This puts us in an odd situation. I believe we need more information before we come to any conclusions, but the only way to do that is to ask Yuki directly."

"And the problem with that is?" Yusuke prompted, seeing his friend had something else on his mind.

"If we were to ask him about ki signals, we'll also have to tell him that we saw him here," Kurama continued. "Then we'll have to explain how we got here and why we were here." He paused. "Basically, we'd have to explain everything that has happened to us."

"Why would he want to know all that?" Kuwabara asked.

"He's curious," Kurama said. "That's usually how all my conversations with him go. I'll tell him something, and he'll want to know more, and more, until I finally get fed up with it. Then he gets mad at me and starts insulting me. Then we fight." The kitsune sighed. "But that's not the point. I don't want to tell him anything because we don't know who he is. Yes, he's only a highschool student in the Ningenkai, but so are Yusuke, Kuwabara, and myself."

"I get it!" Yusuke said, pounding a fist into the opposite palm. "We don't know if he's for or against the Rekai Tantei. He could be hunting us or something. Maybe that's why he was here-maybe it was our ki he was tracking."

"But he said it was a signal," Kuwabara commented, confused.

"I might be partly to blame," Kurama cut in. "Ever since I found out Yeirugan had come into power, I've been sending out a ki signal with a challenge in it. Yeirugan himself has yet to answer the challenge, but that doesn't mean that someone else can't track it."

"Kurama!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"Gomen nasai," Kurama muttered. "I didn't realize it would cause this much trouble."

"So he's tracking Kurama's ki," Yusuke sighed. "Kurama, is there any way you can avoid him back in the Ningenkai?"

Kurama shook his head. "Once he gets back, 'kassan'll have me with him all the time," Kurama said. "She gets worried even when we tell her where we're going. And Yuki just vanishing like this and bringing back bloodied clothes. . . . "

"I see," Yusuke said. There was silence. No one wanted to talk about anything that had happened. Eventually, Kurama said that it was getting dark, and insisted that they all go to bed.

That night, Kurama couldn't sleep.