A/N: Finally! I have posted! I'm having to do this on my mom's computer because my has gotten some sort of virus...again. I swear that this is about the fourth virus I've gotten since getting my computer for Christmas a year ago! Oh well, here it is! Enjoy, b/c I don't know how long the next one will take...

Kurama and the Amulet of Truth

Yoshimi stepped out into the forest woods of the demon world. She stared in awe at the strange trees. Kurama came out of the portal behind her. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"Different," Yoshimi replied vaguely. She had had a strange feeling about this place ever since she had gotten here. Which had only really been a few seconds. Maybe it was just her stomach. She hadn't eaten breakfast this morning after all. She decided to put it out of her mind for the time being.

"Be careful and be quiet," Hiei warned. "You don't just waltz on in to demon world. Something has to be around here." He flitted cautiously through the nearby bamboo stalks, then returning to the forest floor. "That's strange," he said. "There isn't anything here. I'm not picking up any energy."

"Maybe we should be going," Yoshimi suggested. "It might not be a good idea to stay here too long."

"You're right," Kurama agreed. "According to this locater, our destination should be through these trees." He started moving quietly through the bamboo forest towards their destination. Kurama, too, had had a bad feeling from the start. This place seemed almost familiar… However, he did not have time for pondering these things. Kurama had to concentrate on the matter at hand: finding out where they were heading.

"I think that our destination is just up ahead," Kurama said quietly, after they had been walking a few minutes. "Just around this bend."

"Why couldn't Koenma have given us a portal closer?" Yoshimi asked. She was getting scratched up by the numerous plants of the demon world. Hiei, however, was having no such problems, preferring flitting through the trees to walking along the ground,

"I suppose he just wanted us to be able to sneak in and check if the amulet is there, and get right back out," Kurama suggested. "Here we are!" They had rounded a corner of the forest, and in the distance, through the numerous they could make out what seemed to be the mouth of a cave. It was like a literal mouth, with jagged teeth and glowing red eyes.

"It would be best for you to wait in this corner of the forest while Hiei and I searched for the amulet," Kurama said.

"Don't you need me to locate the amulet?" Yoshimi asked. "Isn't why you brought me with you in the first place?"

Kurama seemed to consider this fact for a moment. "Hmm…In that case, I suppose it is necessary for you to come with us. But be careful and stay close to Hiei and me."

Yoshimi nodded. "Okay. I'll be careful." She felt a twinge of anticipation. What was going to happen? Could she really find the other half of the amulet? She didn't know exactly how this locating thing worked. Yoshimi took a deep breath and tried to relax. It didn't really work.

They crept to the cave palace and flitted in through a side entrance. Carefully, the group entered a deserted corridor and collected their bearings. Kurama turned to Yoshimi. "Which way do we go now?" He asked her. Yoshimi opened her mouth to reply "left", but as she was about to say it, she felt like an invisible string was tugging her to the right.

"L-Right," Yoshimi said, changing mid-word. "I think we need to go right." Kurama nodded, and they took the right corridor, flitting along as stealthily as possible. Yoshimi deftly felt that invisible string tugging, showing the way. Her sureness showed in her movements, and convinced Kurama and Hiei that this was certainly the right way.

Yoshimi finally stopped at the corner of two corridors. She jerked her thumb up the corridor adjacent to them, indicating that the door was guarded. Kurama nodded. "Leave it to me," he mouthed. He flitted to the edge of the corridor, and grew a plant with long, snaking vines that instantly snaked up the walls and over the ceiling to the two demons standing guard at the door. The plant strangled them without a sound. Kurama darted to the door and motioned for Hiei and Yoshimi to follow.

"This door will undoubtedly be guarded by something other than demons," Hiei pointed out. "It probably has spells on it as well."

"Hmm…" Kurama thought for a minute. "This could pose a problem."

"Let me try," Yoshimi said. She had no idea why she had just said that, but she had a feeling that she could get past those spells. Yoshimi held her hands together and light flashed from them, hitting the door. It instantly disintegrated, and they could see before them the room where the amulet half was held.

"The floor is probably booby-trapped," Kurama said. "We should proceed carefully."

"Right," Yoshimi said. "Leave it to me." She started to summon the pendant across the room. She felt that she could do this because she had a strange connection with the pendant. It was as if the understood each other. As the amulet half fell into her hands, she felt a wave of triumph. She had done it!

"Okay," Yoshimi whispered. "Let's go!" But Kurama wasn't moving. He was staring off into space, as if transfixed by something. For Kurama had suddenly realized why this place had seemed so familiar. This was the greatpalace of the Demon World. The place he had been robbing with Kuronue when they had been caught. The place that Kuronue had died. As the memories came flooding back, Kurama stood paralyzed, attached to the spot.

"Kurama, what's wrong?" Yoshimi asked, staring concernedly up at his face.

Everything was coming back; it all started to make since. The bamboo forest, the cave with a mouth like a huge monster. He could see it like it was yesterday.

Kuronue and I had just stolen a mirror from the palace of the demon world. We were running away when suddenly, Kuronue's pendent was cut and fell back onto the path. I tried to convince him to leave it, but he said he needed it. As he returned to get it, he was ambushed by bamboo spikes from overhead. They pierced him, and surrounded him, trapping him. I tried to go back, but he just told me to run on, to save myself. And I did. I saved myself and left him to die.

"Kurama, we need to go now," Hiei hissed. "We shouldn't linger here."

Kurama turned suddenly to him. "Hiei, do you know where we are? This is the palace ofdemon world, where the artifacts that the Spirit World hasn't managed to capture are stored. This is the place where my partner Kuronue died."

"And we'll die too if we don't leave!" Yoshimi exclaimed. "Look, I realize you're having an emotional flashback, but that was the past, and we need to worry about now. As in, how do we get out of here?"

Kurama nodded. "Right I'm sorry. I just…" He trailed off. Yoshimi put a hand on his arm and looked up at him understandingly.

"I know," she said. "But as we've said before, we really need to go!"

"Okay," Kurama said. "Let's go." And the three of them flitted back to the portal, the amulet half now in tow.