Wheeeeeeee!! spins in circles Heh . . . k . . . I'm done.

Anywho . . . this chapter be done, that it be.

And I can't think of what to say other than please review.

Yuki paused, hand outstretched. A moment later, said hand fell to his side, and he blinked several times, trying to clear the overwhelming sense of dread that had just overcome him. He could hear Yusuke and Kuwabara behind him, wondering why the teenager had stopped, and raised his hand once more. The feeling of dread wrapped about him, and he dropped his hand again.

"What's the matter?" Yusuke asked from behind him. "You keep on acting like you're gonna open this portal and then you just stop."

"I-I'm sorry, Yusuke," Yuki said. "I just . . . every time I raise my hand to make this portal, I get this sense of dread, like what's gonna happen after we go to the Makai is gonna change my life forever."

"What's gonna change your life forever is what's gonna happen if we don't get Shuichi back in time for this fight," Yusuke growled. "So come on, Yuki!"

"R-right," Yuki said, raising his hand and focusing his yoki into it, ignoring the ominous cloud swirling over him. A few seconds later, a black hole opened in the air before the team, waiting for them to enter it.

"Uh, Urameshi, how long is this gonna take?" Kuwabara asked as Yuki stepped into the portal. "'Cause I told my sister I'd be back by dinner."

"Baka," Yusuke replied. "Because unless-" He paused, looking for Yuki, and seeing he had already stepped through the portal, continued. "-Kurama is stupid enough to get into a fight and send out a strong energy signal for Yuki to track, we have to search the Makai on foot until we find him. Do you realize how frickin' huge that place is?"

"I think," Kuwabara responded, and was ignored by Yusuke as he stepped into the portal. "Wait up, Urameshi!"

"Keep up," Yusuke replied as Kuwabara appeared in the Makai. "So . . . Yuki. Feel his ki yet?"

Yuki opened his eyes, pulled away from his concentration by the tantei's question. "No," the teenager replied. "Sorry, Yusuke, but I think we're on foot for now."

"You're back?"

"I never left."

"Yes you did."

Hiei gave a small sigh. "Yes, I left, and yes, I'm back." He jumped down to join the kitsune again, who was still staring at the same pond he had been last time Hiei had seen him. The kitsune seemed to be content staring at the water. "Kurama. . . . "

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't tell me to go back, because I'm not," the kitsune mumbled, bringing his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, and burying his face into his pants. "I don't have to deal with anything here, save a few youkai here and there."

"By anything, you mean that brother of yours, right?"

"Stepbrother."

"Kurama, stop it, dammit!" Hiei got to his feet, his hands clenched in fists. "You aren't acting like yourself! You're not saying you won't go back ever, are you? What about your mother? What about the detective and the baka?"

"I just . . . don't want to have to deal with Yuki," Kurama said, sounding completely miserable. Hiei sighed, sat back down, and waited for the kitsune to begin to act like himself.

"Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five. . . . "

"Kuwabara, what the hell are you doing?"

"Counting the bodies we pass."

Yusuke grimaced. "Well. . . . " There were too many youkai bodies for comfort around here. "That's pleasant."

"Get used to it," Yuki called from somewhere ahead of the two tantei. "We're stuck here until we're sure Shuichi is somewhere else." That didn't stop him from grimacing himself as he stepped carefully over a freshly dead youkai, on whom decay had barely begun to set in. "I hope that he's somewhere else."

"Me too," Kuwabara agreed, tripping over the body Yuki had just stepped over, landing face first in a pile of soft, brown waste that no one could put a name to. "Get it offa me!"

"No thank you," Yusuke said, jumping over Kuwabara and taking the lead.

"That's just mean," Yuki said, watching Kuwabara shriek in a mixture of terror and disgust for a moment before grudgingly going over to help the orange-haired boy. "This is just sick." He hauled Kuwabara to his feet, and the search continued.

"Kurama, do you sense that?"

"Sense what?"

"Baka kitsune!" Hiei said, taking the moment to hit Kurama over the head with his bare hand. "There's yoki all around us, the same kind, I might add, as the stuff that Yeirugan's castle was coated in."

Kurama's eyes widened, sensing it as well. "Do you think it's him?" The silver youko got to his feet, ears flat against his head as the feeling of the yoki drew closer to where they stood. "Damn it, it is."

"Do you think he'll-" Hiei began.

"MOVE!" The small fire youkai was pushed out of the way as Kurama jumped from where he had been standing. Hiei grunted as he fell, hitting the ground hard, rolling out of the way when he felt the yoki spike again, signaling another attack.

"Kurama!" Hiei called.

"Stay still!" It was Kurama's voice, but Hiei had the feeling that the kitsune wasn't speaking to him alone. "I got him!"

Hiei blinked and took the chance to look around. "Bamboo?" Several lengths of the stiff plant were driven into the ground, clustered particularly around where Hiei and Kurama had been standing before. "What the hell?"

"Hiei, did anyone ever mention that Yeirugan's a youko?"

"What?" Hiei whirled to face his friend. There, bound tightly in front of the white-haired kitsune was another, a black-haired youko. Hiei was struck speechless by Yeirugan's resemblance to Kurama. Except for the coloring, the two could have been twins. Yeirugan glared daggers at his white-haired counterpart, his red eyes narrowed to slits in anger. "That's. . . . "

"Yeah," Kurama said. "This is Yeirugan."

Named, the black youko let out a harsh bark. "Kurama, I saw you die." His lips graced into a wry smile, one that gave the cold-hearted Hiei the shivers. "And then I felt a challenge from you . . . in the Ningenkai, no less! What were you doing there?"

For what was probably the first time in his life, Hiei was completely confused. Yeirugan spoke to Kurama as if he knew and perhaps cared for the kitsune, but Kurama didn't seem to share the same feelings, Hiei reasoned as Kurama stared at Yeirugan with no emotion on his face. Hiei, who hardly ever talked anyway, swallowed his questioning confusion and watched the scene play out.

"What I do in the Ningenkai is nothing to you," Kurama said. "For all you know, I'm robbing ningen stores blind, or perhaps have taken on a ningen form and a respectful life."

"A respectful life?" Yeirugan laughed. "That's a good one, Kurama. Care to try me again?"

"Not particularly." Kurama's ears were still flat against his skull, showing Hiei that he was ready for a fight. "I'm glad you finally answered my challenge. What took you so long?"

"I didn't pay any attention to it until I came back to the message that the Reikai Tantei were after me," Yeirugan replied. "If this Yusuke Urameshi is as strong as I've heard, I might just lose. I figured I better take care of impending matters before then." Yeirugan looked to the vines ensnaring him. "Now, release me, and fight. Or do you care to cheat and just kill me as I am?"

"You can break out of those," Kurama hissed in reply. "Or have you gotten fat and lazy to the point where you can't even do that?" The question was rhetorical, and one could easily note the sarcasm by one look at Yeirugan's light frame.

"Ah, Kurama, making me do all the work," Yeirugan teased as his yoki spiked. The vines, instead of slithering away back into the trees as Hiei expected, turned brown, withering, and fell to the ground. Hiei blinked as they rose and shot towards Kurama, who jumped, and snarled as they flew harmlessly past him. "Now who's this little guy?"

Hiei found himself caught, and looked down. Dead vines wrapped about his body, pinning his legs in place and his arms to his sides. The fire youkai growled, his temperature raising, trying to burn the vines from his body. "What the hell?" The heat vanished, and the vines stayed. "What are you?"

"Didn't Kurama tell you? I'm a youko."

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "Youkos can't control dead plants. Only live ones."

"I wasn't finished," Yeirugan grinned. "I'm a half-youko. Want to know what the other part of me is?" His grin widened as Kurama came charging at him from behind. Yeirugan dodged, and Kurama went crashing into Hiei, the vines wrapping about the kitsune as well. Kurama let out a yell, struggling against his bonds. "How rude, Kurama, interrupting our conversation."

"Bastard," Kurama hissed in reply, still struggling.

"Anyway, would you like to know what the other half of me is?" Yeirugan held out both hands, suppressing his yoki into them. The captives wrapped in dead vines let out strangled yells as the plants tightened their grip. "I'm part necromancer."

"Then . . . that's what gives you this ability," Hiei reasoned, gasping for breath as the vines continued to tighten around his chest. Red eyes narrowed as their owner was deprived of oxygen. "Release us!"

"No, the fight has begun," Yeirugan said with a smirk. "And I have captured my opponent. I can deliver the killing blow now." He stepped closer to his captives, raising a sword. "Too bad your little friend is going to be in the way, Kurama."

"You . . . bastard!" With his body running out of air, Kurama's white hair began to turn pink, then red, his ears growing smaller and vanishing. As he finished reverting in to his human form, Yeirugan's eyes widened.

"This is . . . amusing," the half-youko said. "A ningen form? I didn't know you were serious, Kurama."

"Ba . . .stard," Kurama gasped, noticing the Hiei had fallen unconscious next to him.

"Did you guys feel that?"

"Feel what?" Yusuke turned to Kuwabara, who was standing completely still, looking somewhat frightened. "What's the matter Kuwabara?" The tantei glanced up-Yuki was a ways ahead of the two. "Is it Kurama?"

"Yeah, I felt his ki, but before that there was this weird yoki that reminds me of Yeirugan's castle," Kuwabara said, shivering.

Yusuke cursed. "Do you think it could have been Yeirugan himself?"

"I don't know," Kuwabara said. "But it freaked me out."

"Guys!" Yuki came dashing back to the two tantei, looking breathless. "Listen, I found Shuichi's ki, but it's fading away, fast! I think he's going to die!" Kuwabara and Yusuke looked at each other, frightened. "Come on! This way!"

"He's not gonna die," Yusuke growled. "There have been way to many times where we thought he was dead for him to just die."

Kurama couldn't breathe, and saw darkness gathering at the edges of his vision as he heard Yeirugan laugh through a loud ringing in his ears. He had given up on speaking, saving what little oxygen he could get for his lungs. Thoughts floated through his mind in disjointed fragments of sentences. One moment he would be cursing his foolishness, and the next wondering about his stepbrother.

Yuki. . . Kurama's thought trailed, and he found himself unable to finish as Yeirugan stepped closer. Kurama wanted to gather his ki and attack the other youko, but couldn't find the strength or the thought coherency to do it.

"Having fun, Kurama?" Yeirugan looked into Kurama's glassy eyes for a moment before chuckling to himself. "Ah, of course you can't answer me. You're about to die from loss of air."

Yeirugan. . . . The name held importance, Kurama knew, but he couldn't tell why. All he knew was the darkness that spread over half his vision. If he could just close his eyes, he might feel better. But he couldn't. He didn't know why.

"Suffocation is such a boring method to use," Yeirugan whined. "There's no talking to your victims and hearing them scream in response. Only this shallow breathing thing everyone insists on doing." He looked over to Kurama, who was moments away from passing out. "Ah, how I wished you would be different, Kurama. But in that weak ningen body, you're the same as everyone-"

"GET YOUR FILFTHY STINKIN' HANDS OFF HIM!!!!" Kurama fainted as he heard Yuki's voice, followed almost immediately by Yeirugan's scream of pain. A smile played over his lips in a half-daze of release.

". . . uichi."

"Shuichi!"

"Uh. . . . " Kurama moaned as he came to, feeling a dull, throbbing pain in his head as he opened his eyes. Yuki's face hovered above him, concern battling with slight anger in his eyes. The kitsune frowned, then stopped as his head protested. There was some reason that he didn't want to deal with Yuki, but he couldn't remember what it was.

"Shuichi," Yuki said, his lips falling into a frown. "What the hell were you thinking?"

That might have had something to do with it.

"Yu . . . ki," Kurama said, blinking to clear his vision, and trying to sit up. He failed miserably about halfway there, and settled for letting Yuki gently lower him onto his pillow. "Where am I? The last thing I can remember is passing out in front of Yeirugan . . . and you . . . screaming . . . oh."

"That's right," Yuki said, crossing his arms and leaning back in a chair that Kurama suddenly realized he was sitting on. They were in his darkened room, with only a few fragments of murky light floating in through his window. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I came and saved your ass."

That brought back a new memory in Kurama's mind. "Where's Hiei?" This time Kurama was up, his hands grabbing Yuki's collar. "What happened?"

"I was just about to tell you," the teenage boy said. "Anyway, by the time I got there, Hiei was out, you were two seconds from it, and Yeirugan was mumbling about being 'the same as everyone' when I attacked him. That's when you passed out, and when Yusuke and Kuwabara got there. They went to you and Hiei, untied you two, and joined the fight until Yeirugan fled."

"He ran away?" Kurama demanded.

Yuki nodded. "When his yoki vanished, I carried you back to the portal while Yusuke carried Hiei." Yuki paused, looking over Kurama. "That was two days ago."

"I was unconscious for two days?" Kurama demanded, ignoring the thoughts entering his mind. Only after his words did he pause and go over them. "Then . . . who . . . took care of me?"

"Sometimes it was otosan, sometimes Shiori-san, but for the most part, it was me." Kurama stared speechless at Yuki while another thought came to the teenager. "Oh, and Hiei woke up yesterday. He's fine." Yuki paused. "Well, as fine as Hiei is going to get."

"Thank you."

"What?"

"Thank you . . . for helping me."

"Shuichi, are you okay? You sound . . . like you're about to cry or something." Yuki moved until his forehead hit Kurama's, his eyes staring deeply into Kurama's green ones. "It's about . . . what happened before you left, right?"

"I. . . . "

"Yuki? Shuichi?"

"Shiori-san!" Yuki moved his head, whirling it around.

"'Kassan!" Kurama quickly noticed his mother's form in the doorway, regarding her sons with moist eyes.

"Shuichi!" Shiori cried, rushing forward into the room to embrace him. Kurama wrapped his arms around her in response, burying his face into her shoulder and inhaling her scent. His muscles, which had been tense ever since he had remembered the fight with Yeirugan, relaxed. "Where have you been?"

"I'm sorry, 'kassan," Kurama said as she pulled away from him. "I just . . . wasn't thinking."

"What happened?" Shiori asked, looking between the two.

"N-nothing," Yuki said quickly. "Sorry, I would have called you, but Shuichi wanted to know what happened."

"I see." Shiori sounded doubtful, but with some urging from Yuki and a promise to Kurama that she'd be back later, she left the room, leaving Kurama to glare at his stepbrother while said stepbrother sweatdropped profusely.

"What did you tell her?"

"That I found you unconscious in an alleyway on my way home from school and that we shouldn't take you to the hospital because I was sure that you just needed to sleep it off."

"That has got to be the worst story I've ever heard," Kurama stated bluntly.

"Hey, I was in a rush, gimme a break," Yuki whined. Kurama grinned in spite of himself as Yuki stuck his lower lip out, mock-pouting. "Hey, at least she was too worried about you to punish you for running away."

"True," Kurama said. "Thanks again, Yuki."

"Not a problem."

Side note: "Youkos can't control dead plants, only live ones" I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it is here, just to work in with my story. You'll see what I mean.