I don't own YYH or any of its characters; however, I do own Sonna, and the story line so don't even think about copying it.

Fall of Okkoto

Chapter 4
Catching up

"Man, this place looks dirtier then the last time I was here," Yusuke said, looking around at the dead trees, and the pollution in the air. In fact, it was so dirty that there was no sky to even see. That's how the Makai was, though. Looking ahead of him all he could see was a stretch of barren dessert; there was no grass or vegetation around them. Yusuke grinned; he wondered what Kurama thought about this. He turned around to see if the fox was disappointed but to his own disappointment Kurama wasn't even paying attention; he was talking quietly to Hiei who had been the last one exit the portal into the Makai. "It smells funny, too." Yusuke voiced aloud to no one in particular.

"Yeah and its—" Kuwabara had just begun to start his own line of complaints when once again a female voice spoke up from behind him.

"It's beautiful," replied a very happy Sonna. She continued to smile as she walked in front of the group to get a better look of what was ahead of them. "I haven't been able to come back here in years. I almost forgot what it looked like."

"Are you—" Yusuke was just going to comment on how crazy he thought she was for thinking the demon world was beautiful but Kuwabara had stepped in before he could finish his sentence.

"How come you haven't been here in a while?" Kuwabara looked curiously up at the water demon. Even though Koenma had assured them she could be trusted he wasn't so sure. Maybe some things about her past could clear up some trust issues he had with her.

"Koenma kept me away; I've been in Reikai all this time. My trial kept getting postponed for some reason so he felt it necessary to keep me locked up." (look at previous chapters for why she was at Reikai)

Hiei unconsciously issued a low growl from his throat at the thought of his friend being held against her will. Kurama, being the only one to hear it, looked down at the fierce fire demon and chuckled silently.

"Koenma put you in prison. Wasn't it horrible?" Kuwabara asked stupidly.

"He put me in one of the nicer ones, seeing as I didn't come off as much of a threat to him. In the one I stayed in they didn't use torture although I was almost certain I would die from boredom."

"Your not mad at him?" Yusuke stared at her with interest. He would have blown up at Koenma for asking him to lead the Reikai Tantei even if he had killed people before.

"No. I live in the present, not the past. Besides, I've been in worse."

"You mean you've been in another prison before?"

"Um……… Yeah" Sonna was swiftly loosing interest in the subject. She did not want to talk about her bad past. She hadn't told anyone before and she wasn't going to start by telling ningens whom she had only just met.

"Enough, let's complete the mission." Hiei glared at them all, letting them know the conversation was over. He sensed that Sonna did not want to talk about it so he left it to himself to shut the stupid ningens up.

"We need to get to some trees and vegetation," Kurama mentioned to the now quiet group.

Yusuke grinned, remembering what he thought earlier. Obviously Kurama was bothered by the absence of plants.

Kurama who had been watching Yusuke, sighed. He could tell what he was thinking so he decided to answer his unspoken question. "The plants and trees will give us cover against enemies who attack. We are now standing right in the open so we should get moving." Yusuke's face fell; he had been wrong ounce again.

"Don't worry, there's a forest a couple miles ahead of us," Sonna explained. "It will probably take the rest of the afternoon to reach them."

"What, a whole day? How long is this whole stupid mission going to take?" Yusuke yelled.

"Depends on how fast you can walk."

"But—"

"Then let's get going or we'll never make it to the forest before sundown." Kurama interrupted before Yusuke could finish what was probably going to be a rude sentence.

With that Sonna walked a little ahead of the group leading them to their goal. Yusuke and Kuwabara followed and close behind them walked Hiei and Kurama.

"Master, the spies have told us of strangers that are headed this way," The servant kneeled in front of a dark throne-like chair that was cast in shadows. The whole room was black and the man couldn't see his nose, let alone his lord sitting in front of him. "They are crossing the desert and are headed for the Forest of Grat. My Lord, we await your orders."

There was a long pause in the room before an evil laughter sounded from the man in the shadows. "The Forest of Grat? Do you know what lives in the Forest of Grat? Why Grat himself lives in the forest of Grat." There was more cold laughter; it could've made the bones in any demons body tremble at the horrible sound. "Do nothing. Grat will take care of these intruders before they even make it to the castle."

"Yes, my master." The servant got up, bowed, and left the room to relay the orders to the awaiting officers.

The man sitting in the throne thought about the news some more. There were only few who knew the way to his territory and most were dead. 'So who could it be?' he thought to himself, and then it hit him. 'She's coming back for more. I will indeed have much fun in these next few days.' If the room hadn't been dark, a large grin could have been seen from the mysterious figure.

"It's getting dark. Lets rest for a bit now that we've reached the forest." Kurama said as they reached a small clearing. It was a perfect place to set up camp with the enclosure of trees and the thick canopy to stop the smoke from the fire from reaching the sky. "We should be safe here as long as one of us keeps a look out."

"I will." Sonna was walking around the clearing checking for danger signs as she said this. She really wasn't tired at all; she used to go days without food or rest at a time while she was on assassination missions.

"Good, then I'm going to sleep." Yusuke walked over to a log that was on the outside of the clearing and plopped down. Soon he was fast asleep, snoring loudly but not as loudly as Kuwabara who had just laid down a little ways from Yusuke to sleep himself.

"Humans," Hiei muttered. They were good for nothing. Hell they couldn't even take a little walk without complaining the whole way and now this. They still needed to get the firewood and with the two idiots down for the count that meant more work for themselves. However, Hiei had to admit he had grown close to them; maybe not so much as Kuwabara but he definitely trusted the detective. He would get them back in the morning.

"Well I guess we should try to at least start a fire," Kurama said as he started walking towards the trees in the hopes of finding dry firewood.

"Hn." Hiei and Sonna followed him assuming the humans could take care of themselves for five minutes.

"They're seem to be strangers in our woods, my lord," the demon said to his liege, who was sitting in a group of other, more powerful demons. They had just sat down for the night with their daily meal of rats and rabbits. "Three of them are humans." All of the demons crowded around the campfire laughed and licked their lips at the latest news. His master grinned and lifted up a hand to stop them.

"We will wait until midday tomorrow and eat their bodies tomorrow night."

"But my lord Grat, why not tonight?" One of the demons sitting next to Grat whined.

"We are not to waste this meal. Besides, humans taste better when they are rested." With that said, Grat and his fellow demons laughed loudly. All were thinking about the next day.

The fire, what an interesting thing; it was deadly and dangerous but beautiful and relaxing. Fire could burn down buildings in a matter of seconds killing all inside, but it could also warm the victims of the cold allowing them to live another day. Yes, the fire was an intriguing substance.

Sonna sat staring calmly into the fire. She was on watch duty and the others had long since given in to the world of dreams. The others, what did she think of the others? She smiled, Kuwabara was not too bright at times but she could see he was very loyal to his team. Yusuke was a brave and courageous man. To her he seemed trust worthy. Kurama was not what he seemed, human on the outside, demon on the inside, a very peculiar combination indeed. And then there was Hiei, a very powerful fire demon and her very close friend. Or at least he had been. 'I wonder what Hiei thinks of me now? I haven't seen him in so long. I wonder if he trusts me still.'

Sonna sighed; she had missed him very much after she left the camp. They had grown very close, or so she thought.

Suddenly from nowhere there was a quick rustling from the trees above her. She turned her head sharply but as quickly as it had come it died away. Turning back at the fire she tried to hide a sudden look of surprise but failed miserably. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn't even notice two crimson eyes staring at her from across the fire.

"You can go rest, I will take over the next shift," the fire demon grunted. He had been watching her from the trees and it looked like something was bothering her. Hiei inwardly scolded himselfwhy did he come down here? What did he care if she was unhappy?

"No, I don't mind staying up." She focused her gaze directly at him. Hiei was not one to show feelings like this. If it had been the past he would have just let her stay up all night without showing any sign of caring. 'These ningens must have changed you, Hiei,' she thought to herself.

"Hn."

She giggled silently he definitely wasn't one for words. "Hiei what's that on your forehead? You never used to wear a headband," she asked him, now noticing the white headband covering his forehead. She already had an idea of what it was.

"My Jagan, I got it a few years after I left the group."

Sonna nodded. From what she heard the Jagan was a very painful thing to get implanted. The operation caused great pain to the victim and even left them powerless for years. Hiei had defiantly been through a lot in his life. "Why Hiei?"

Hiei paused for a moment as if to think of an answer. "So I could find my sister, and the teargem that my mother had given me before she had died." Why was he telling her all of this? He had never told anyone of his past before, not even Kurama, yet here he was telling this demoness, whom he had not talked to for centuries. However, talking to her made him feel comfortable and relaxed; something no one else he knew could do. With her around he felt safe and whole. In fact he had not only gotten the Jagan eye for those two things but he also had gotten it implanted so he could find her.

"Did you find them?" Hiei had already told her what had happened to him on the Koorime island when she had first met him, therefore he didn't need to elaborate further. This news however surprised her; he had loved his teargem dearly even though he would never admit it.

"Yes and no. I found my sister but not my teargem."

"What's she like?"

"She's innocent and the complete opposite of me."

"Then I may not like her," Sonna teased. "I bet she is happy to have someone like you."

"…………….I didn't tell her."

"Nani?"

"My presence would only stain her innocence. It is for the best."

"Hiei, you idiot. If she's even halfway decent she is probably looking for her brother, when in reality he's right in front of her and unwilling to let her know. She probably thinks you don't like her or that she's unworthy to be called sister to you."

Hiei winced. He never thought about that. "But she doesn't know."

"Are you so sure about that? Trust me Hiei a sister always knows." Sonna sighed, she hadn't meant to yell at Hiei like that but sometimes he could just be so stupid.

"Hn." Hiei looked away from the fire, he suddenly didn't want to be here. Sonna was disappointed in him and he didn't want to make it worse.

"I think I will take a rest." Sonna then got up from the fire and walked across to the edge of the clearing opposite of the others. "Goodnight Hiei." She said to him as she leaned against the tree ready for sleep to claim her.

"Goodnight, Sonna," Hiei whispered softly as he watched her still form in the moonlight.

TBC-

authors notes- Wow I'm actually beginning to like it and I may even continue when I'm finished and right a sequel.

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ-

I need help! I made my oc a water demon but I can't think of any cool water attacks to give to her. If you guys have any ideas don't hesitate to review or e-mail me at the faster I get your replies the faster I get the next chapter done.

I also wanted to know if any of you guys were hard core FF7 fans. I wanted to incorporate Sephrioth(sp?) as my villain in my other fanfic, A New Experience (if you guys have not read it I currently have the first to chapters posted.) The only thing is, is that I got stuck while trying to think up stuff about him. So If you guys aren't busy and are fans of FF7 just give me your e-mail and I'll send you my questions.

Have you guys seen the new movie with Ruroni Kenshin called Samurai X. I want to get it but I figured I should ask you guys how it was so I don't waste my money. If you've seen it tell me, Is it worth my money?

Thanks you guys for reviewing they really help out when I'm trying to get my ass moving for the next chapter. (lol)