Disclaimer: (tap tap tap) Is this thing on? It is? And they can hear everything? Oh well. I don't own YYH. What's that? The men in white coats are outside? And you forgot to turn it off? Oh-

Authoress's Note: Hello my faithful and loyal fans! Okay…my fic hardly has any reviews! WAH! Please recommend this fic to others if you have anyone you think would enjoy it! Thanks! That's all I can think to note currently, so RR ppl!

And now…to further stall since the last chappie was a HUGE cliffy…REVIEW REPLIES! Don't fall off!

Crystal Koneko: Originally it was just going to be slight Kurama/Yukina, but I like that pairing more now than I did when I started the story, so now it's gonna be more serious between them. And, my dear, dear Koneko, your loyal reviewing for all of my fics and your patience hath been rewarded! A bit ofHB in this chapter, I promise!

AngelSerpent91(a.k.a. Pen Against Sword.): I meant I didn't mean to be mean! Your review was fine. (Only thing was…I don't really like it when there's nothing positive or negative!) Sorry I misunderstood, it seemed like you said that those were their names in the series, and you're right, what does a demon need with a last name? Thanks for the review…but could you do me a favor? Next time, could you mention whether or not you liked the chapter? I don't want to sound mean, but I just can never tell whether you did or not…(feels stupid)

Eternal Light/Fire Dragon: I had to end it there because I am evil, and I knew it would make you all read this chapter even if the last one was bad! Which I don't think it was because I was pleased with it! But that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been bad, so…I'll shut up now.

Hisan Kage: YES! Ranma Forever! (sings) Ranma Ranma! Nabiki ryo ken! Ranma Ranma! Nabiki ryo ken!

No matter how much I want to continue stalling to see who'll fall off the cliff first…I must start the actual chapter. You may rejoice now. (Oh, and there was a sentence in the last chapter that was cut off. When I was describing the fight, it said, "All the while, the four boys had to dodge the spells cast by the frantic students that seemed to simply" After 'simply,' it was supposed to say, "Bounce off of them." This just means that spells used on demons bounce right off.)

Chapter Four

New Threats and Revelations

Then, all of a sudden, there was a flash of green smoke that curled up from the forest, forming the Dark Mark high up in the clear blue sky. The Mark seemed to smirk down at the students, and it held everyone's attention long enough for it's conjurer to cast another spell, this one malicious.

Dean Thomas's screams rang out over the grounds, his form writhed on the grass. Most of the students panicked, running for the safety of the school. A few ran to Dean's side, one of them conjuring a stretcher and levitating it into the school, the others making sure he didn't fall off as his body twisted and twitched uncontrollably. Some of the other students were still just standing there, dumbstruck. The Tantei were some of them.

Dumbledore came out of the school and ushered everyone inside, telling them to go to their Common Rooms. But before the Tantei could escape to the warm comfort of the Gryffindor Common Room, they had to search the forest for any trace of the attacker.

"This sucks." complained Yusuke as they made for the area beneath the Mark. "Why don't we get to go and relax like the others?"

"Because we, unlike them, have a job to do, Yusuke. That student was attacked, and you don't even care?" Botan looked a little ticked herself, but more at Yusuke than the task at hand.

"Not particularly."

"See? This is why I wonder how you ever got this job. Even Sensui was more caring than you."

The group had entered the forest and fell silent, listening for any movement in the thick underbrush and dense trees ahead. And, of course, there was nothing. No sound, no movement, no fleeting flash of color or light. Just trees and dirt.

"Maybe we should split up?" suggested Kurama. "Go off in groups of three and two in separate directions."

"Yeah, then we can cover more ground!" put in Kuwabara. Hiei laughed.

"Finally, you say something intelligent. I've waited so long for this day, Kuwabara. Congratulations."

"Well don't you love your sarcasm, Mr. Hiei!" remarked Botan hotly, pointing to Kuwabara. "Our friend Kuwabara has said plenty of intelligent things!"

"Like…?"

"Well, there was that time when…and then…" she trailed off. "Well, the fact remains Kuwabara can say intelligent things, and he just proved it!"

"Yeah, shorty! She's right!" Kuwabara stomped one foot like a child throwing a temper tantrum and looked away from the fire demon.

Hiei was laughing like crazy. "Stupid ferry onna, comebacks don't work if you can't back them up, especially if you're trying to defend someone else!"

"Um, guys?" cut in Yusuke, putting an end to Hiei and Botan's little skirmish. "We should split up like Kurama said. Me, Kuwabara, and Kurama will go right, and since you two seem to like bonding so much, you can go left. Go out a ways, then you guys hook left again and we'll meet back here."

"Of course, go ahead and stick me with the liability." muttered Hiei under his breath. Botan's flushed face turned redder.

"I am NOT a liability!" she yelled, summoning her oar and making to hit Hiei with it. Yusuke stopped her.

"She's proven to be useful before, Hiei."

"Like how?"

"She scouts for us on the oar."

"And she won't be able to do that here, because the canopy the branches make would stop her from breaking to open air. Any other Botan-is-useful theories I can disprove?"

Yusuke looked thoughtful. "None that I can think of."

"Yusuke!" screamed Botan, winding up and swinging the oar at him. Yusuke fell to the ground and popped back up, rubbing a swelling lump on his head.

"Crazy onna!" he yelled. "C'mon guys, let's leave our cute little married couple alone."

"WE ARE NOT A CUTE MARRIED COUPLE!" Hiei and Botan yelled as the others turned right, laughing and poking fun at their 'married couple.'

Now both were red with anger. Botan turned left on her heel and stomped off, leading Hiei in a diagonal line deeper and deeper into the forest. They walked for some time before Botan said,

"You know, you really get on my nerves sometimes."

"Same to you, dear idiot onna."

Botan kept on her way, silently fuming and imaging several very graphic and painful ways for Hiei to die.

And then she stomped down, unknowingly setting off a trap set for animals in the forest. A rope with a noose tied into it tightened around her ankle and pulled her up and upside-down into the tree.

She screamed and tried to wiggle her leg out of the rope. Hiei just stood there and laughed as she struggled in vain with the rope.

"Better you than me, onna! Thanks for warning me about those traps!" he laughed harder and made to walk off. However, his triumphant walk-off was ruined when he stepped into a trap right next to Botan.

Botan stopped struggling and started laughing, clutching her stomach as fits of violent laughter overtook her. Hiei just hung there, his expression blank.

"Oh, Hiei! If only you could see your face! Your expression is simply priceless!" she slowly stopped laughing and wiped the tears from her eyes. Hiei looked at her and shook his head.

"You will pay, onna. You will pay." He unsheathed his katana and swiped at her rope instead of his own, hoping that she would fall and hurt herself. His plan worked. Surprisingly, though, he felt bad about it afterward, almost wishing he hadn't tried to hurt her. It was almost like he cared.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing her head. Just as Hiei was cutting his own rope, a convenient gust of wind came and blew him to the side, toward Botan. When his rope broke, he flew sideways for a moment and landed on Botan.

"Meep!" she yelled, looking up into his red eyes with an odd expression. He had the same look on his face. They were both breathing heavily. And, at just the right moment, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama broke through the trees on their right with grave expressions. But graveness was soon replaced by laughter in the threesome. Well, twosome, Kurama just smiled.

"See? I told you guys they were just like a married couple!" laughed Yusuke, doubling over slightly. "But I never thought it would be this bad. Getting it on in the forest, are we? Hiei, are you just getting in touch with your primitive roots?"

"Shut up detective." growled Hiei, getting up and brushing himself off. He picked up his sword, which he'd dropped in the fall, and sheathed it, watching Botan get up from the corner of his eye.

"It was an accident." explained Botan hurriedly, her cheeks red yet again from embarrassment. "We stepped into some traps and-"

Kurama cut her off. "It's okay. There's something more important at hand." He was obviously trying to make the mood of the conversation more serious, but Kuwabara and Yusuke were still sniggering at Hiei and Botan, who were trying to act as though nothing had ever happened and they were intent on listening to Kurama.

"We found this in the forest," he began, handing Botan, who was closer, a piece of parchment with a chink missing off the top. On it, in neat handwriting, was a note.

"'Found it'? That thing almost took my throat out!" Yusuke looked appalled at Kurama's little understatement. "Someone threw it at us, and it hit a tree. We couldn't get the dagger out, it was stuck in there permanently for some reason, so we had to just rip the note out. Hence the chunk of paper missing from the top."

"'Surrender Hogwarts before the new moon, or a student will die. Will DIE. Send any students home, and we will kill their families. You are warned.'" Botan read with an odd tone of voice. "Well then, they mean business, don't they?" Hiei took the note and read it for himself before handing it back to Kurama.

"We might as well head back," said Kurama, rolling it up and putting it in the pocket of his loose white pants. "whoever left this is long gone. They wouldn't have hung around long after delivering their master's message."

The others nodded in agreement and headed out and back for the castle, picking their way carefully through the trees.

The five were allowed to go back to the Gryffindor Common Room after reporting to Dumbledore and handing over the message. After reading it, the professor had told them not to tell anyone about the note and to act as though they'd found nothing in the forest. He also told them to rest up, because whatever the enemy was planning for Hogwarts, it was not going to be pleasant. The new moon was in twenty-six days.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were huddled up in a corner toward the back of the Common Room, whispering to each other intently.

"There's no denying there's something weird about those students." said Harry, his brows furrowed. "What school teaches stuff like that?"

"Harry, they came from a different culture, a different time zone, a different country." countered Hermione, exasperated. "There are different wizarding practices, you know. To each his own."

"Hermione is right." put in Ron. "Their school may teach things like that."

"And Japan has a huge history of legends and myths of demons and monsters. Who are we to say that they're just myths, hm? What if there really are demons in Japan, and the Tokyo school trains students to defend themselves against them."

"What do you mean? We know there are demons, we saw that today. Why isn't Hogwarts teachingus about them?" Harry retorted.

"Maybe demons aren't native to here. Maybe someone's bringing them here."

"And that someone is…?"

"You know who I'm thinking, Harry."

As previously mentioned, the group was in a very heated debate. They were all so intent on listening to each other, that they didn't even notice the Tantei as they approached and stopped, listening for a moment. Kurama laid a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"And who might you be thinking?" asked Yusuke, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" questioned Hermione, turning around and looking up at Kurama. "Voldemort."

"How much of our conversation did you hear, anyway? Didn't your mothers teach you eavesdropping wasn't polite?" Harry said in an annoyed tone.

"We heard enough." retorted Botan.

"And my mom never has been one to instill good ol' values." added Yusuke.

"Who's this 'Voldemort,' guy?" inquired Kuwabara.

"You don't know?" asked Ron in disbelief. Hermione started explaining.

"He's the most evil wizard of all time. He…" she paused, deciding to save the killed-Harry's-parents part for another day. "He came back from the 'dead,' two summers ago."

The Tantei's faces changed, each one with a different reaction to this revelation. Yusuke's went from curiosity as to who Voldemort was, to anger that no one had even bothered to tell him they knew who the Tantei was after. Kurama looked only mildly perturbed, for the same reason as Yusuke. Kuwabara looked quite mad once the news set in, and Botan looked like she was remembering something. Hiei looked like…Hiei….

"Well, thanks for the info!" she said, smiling at Hermione. She turned around and faced the others. "I need to tell you guys something!" she murmured, grabbing Yusuke and Kuwabara's wrists and pulling them along, expecting the other two to follow her through the quiet Common Room to a corner. (The students of Gryffindor were all huddled together in small groups of friends, speaking in low tones and stealing glances at the Tantei every once in a while. The attack had obviously scared them.)

Once in a quiet corner, she explained how Harry's parents had died and why the boy had the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. She also said that Voldemort still had had quite a following, even after he was dead. So, when he came back alive, it was like he'd never been gone. All his faithful inner circle came back, and he'd busted out many who were still in prison.

"We're not dealing with any pansy, here."

There ya go. Not much of a cliffy this time, but I'm feeling nice. Review please! And special thanks to Hisan for helping me get over Writer's Block!

Oh, and sorry I wasn't very descriptive this chapter. It was a lot of dialogue, I know, but I was trying to get a lot across so...yeah. How'd you like it? Review now, please! (Also, with the humor factor, I'm not going to change the genre because IC humor isn't generally categorized as humor. At least with me. And I at least think this was IC. Thoughts, please?)