A hu... A HUNDRED REVEIWS? I am... so... HAPPY! (bawls)

Chapter Thirteen...A Change Of Plans

"Hello, may I help you?" asked one of the workers at the restaurant Keiko's father owned.

"Yeah, is Keiko around?" Kuwabara asked. It was the next day, and he hoped the brunnette was in a better mood now.

"Oh, now I recognize you!" the worker proclaimed, "You're the dingbat who charged in here yesterday! Hahaha! Keiko-san's upstairs in her room, I think. Go ahead and check."

"Uh, thanks," Kuwabara grumbled before walking to the curtain seperating the restaurant from the personal property built into it. He takes a few steps up the stairs that led to Keiko's room upstairs, but stops to look at the pictures hung on either side of the staircase. They were pictures of Keiko when she was younger, her and her parents. But the orange-haired man recognized a younger self in some of the pictures, along with a little boy with short black hair, "Duh, that's Urameshi," he murmured to himself. It had been a long time since he had seen Yusuke with long hair.

"Lost on Memory Lane?" asked a soft voice. Kuwabara blinks, and looks further up the stairs to see Keiko coming out of her room, closing the door behind her.

"Uh, no... Just thinking how it's so weird to see Urameshi in these pictures..."

Keiko walks down the stairs until she was one step above the one Kuwabara was standing on, "Not for me. I only saw Yusuke with all the weird markings once..."

"Oh, yeah... When his father's blood took over...," Kuwabara laughs slightly, "You remember? When he came to school that day, trying to hide his ten-ton hair in a baseball cap."

Keiko laughs quietly at this, "I remember. We took him straight to Genkai's."

"First time you skipped school. Ever... And then what? Oh, yeah. Genkai told Yusuke to live in Makai, because everyone would see he was a half-breed, and then gang upon his mom..."

"So he left."

"Yeah...," Kuwabara didn't know what else to say to the tone of Keiko's voice. He turned around on the stairs to look at the other pictures, "Hey, I remember this!" Keiko turned around to see what her friend was talking about.

Kuwabara pointed to a picture were all three of them were no less then ten-years-old, Yusuke smirking at the giant fish he caught, Kuwabara forced to help hold it up, while Keiko scolded Yusuke for gloating.

"Remember what happened after your dad took the picture?" Kuwabara laughs.

"Yusuke fell in the lake," Keiko smiles, finally happy.

"That's right, "Fell"," Kuwabara says evilly. They stare at the picture for along time, until Kuwabara remembers something, "Oh, yeah! Keiko-chan! Urameshi told me to give you this..."

Keiko stares at her friend while he fumbles around in his pockets for something. Finally he pulls out a necklace on a thin old chain. He hands it to a dumbfounded Keiko, how takes it with cautious hands, "Come on, it won't bite you... Then again, it is made of demon gold. Uh, forget I said that!"

Keiko ignores Kuwabara and is surprised to see the necklace is a locket. She opens it with a soft clicking sound. Inside on one side is a picture of Yusuke when he was a child, and on the other was a picture of Yusuke today, wild hair and all.

"He says you beat him up now, if you want. Whichever him you want to. "Throw me across the room all you want!" he said," Kuwabara finishes.

"...Thank you, Kuwa-chan," Keiko smiles.

"Well, I gotta be goin' now! Stuff's been happening in Makai, and I must help with all of my mighty power! Plus, my Princess Yukina awaits!" Kuwabara prclaims, the charges down the stairs, and out the front door.

It was early afternoon. Kurama hadn't gotten any sleep after the incident with Hiei last night. Not because he was super angry with the hiyoukai, just he was worried over what he might dream of.

Sighing, he rests against the wall of his room, knees hugged against his chest, forehead rested on his hands. He closes his eyes, listening for any sings of the storm outside, but there were none. It must have stopped. Sighing again, this time much louder, Kurama stands up, and calmly walks out to the hallway. It was only then he realized how quiet it was. Most of the time he could hear Yusuke talking, or anyone talking, for voices echoed inside the building. And it was not only quiet to the ears, it was quiet to the senses, too. He couldn't feel anyone else's presense nearby, anywhere. Not even Hiei.

Brows lightly furrowed, Kurama makes it to the entrance way, opening the doors. The storm was, indeed, over, only a few gray clouds in sight. But no one was outside. The fox was alone.

"Does the foxy-boy not like to be alone?" asks a feminine voice, alien to Kurama's ears. He didn't like the hidden notes in that voice, either. Kurama looks around, not finding anyone, thinking it would be better to stay near the building. And then, painfully sudden, a youki explodes in front of him, and a figure forms there.

Not prepared for the sudden mental explosion, Kurama blinks a few times, a headache forming, "Don't you like me? That makes me very sad...," pouts the others person. Kurama focuses, and takes in the form of the other youkai, taking in every detail for future referance.

It was a woman. The first thing he noticed were the braids she had in her dark hair. They curled around in odd directions, looking much like brown snakes. Her face wasnt pale, in wasn't tan either, and she had a dark marking under her right eye which was brown as well. She wore a red dress, which had strange markings all over it. In fact, everything about this woman was strange.

"Are you the one who sent the youkai dolls after Yusuke?" Kurama asked suddenly.

She laughs, "No, it was my Ensho-sama! I'm here to take you and the half-breed!"

"Why me? I'm no hanyou, not like Yusuke, anyway."

"Oh, we figured that a while back... A demon encased in human flesh. That's even more of an abomination than Hanyou! We only want to put you out of your misery!" she shrieks, and leaps toward the fox. Kurama immidiatly reaches for his hair, pulling out a seed to form his whip. He strikes out at his opponent, who makes a surprised sound. She jumps back, but the whip manages to scrape her leg, "Why're you fighting? You should appreciate this assassination!" she growls.

"I'll appreciate nothing of the sort!" Kurama lashes out again, but the other jumps up, and pulls something of her own out of her hair. It wasn't a seed, no. It was the to chopstick-like things holding up her hair, which, even with out them, still curled about her head. She hold the two sticks inbetween her first to right fingers, a flicks her wrist forward. The fox is surprised to see the opposing weapons stretch out towards him. They go to fast for him to dodge, and one stick flies past either side of his neck, but they were still touching him. Next surprise was the feel of blood trickling down his neck. They were razor-sharp, embedded in his hair, and the woman was still holding the bases in her fingers.

"I think you know what will happend if I twitch my hand even in the slightest," the woman smiles wickedly, "Loose the whip," Kurama complies reluctantly, "Now... tell me were yours little pals are."

"I don't know," Kurama replies truthfully, knowing she wouldn't believe him. The woman frowns, and presses her weapons into the fox's neck lightly, causing the blood to flow more frequently.

"You're lying."

"I'm not," Kurama says, earning more pressure on his neck. He closes his eyes and smiles.

"What's so funny?" the woman was angry now.

"Well...," Kurama starts dreamily, reopening his eyes, "If I'm going to die here, I'd at least like to know the name of my killer before I go. Espescially if it's a beautiful woman like you."

"Don't sweet talk me. Why should I tell you?"

"Why not? It's not like I'm escaping anytime soon," Kurama's smile was oddly blank.

"Fine. I don't care. It's Sren."

"Sren... And what's the name of your friend over there?"

"Ue? I thought I told her--!" but as Sren turns, expecting to see her partner Ue, she sees only trees, and realizes she's been tricked. She turns back around as Kurama grabs her weapons and snaps them.

"Lucky for me, they were only sharp toward the ends. You might want to fix that," Kurama advsises, earning a growl from Sren. She charges at him, but he brings his elbow up to her neck, and pushes foward. This causes her breathing to stop momentarily, and push her to the ground, with Kurama on top of her, now pulling her arms over her head.

"Damn you!" she yells. She kicks and lurches around, but nothing moves her opponent off of her.

"Calm down, or I'll be forced to do something else to you, so don't push me," Kurama stares her down, and she stops, but her body was tense, "Now, who is this Ue you mentioned?"

"Not telling," she was running out of breath because of the weight on her stomach. She merely glared up at the fox.

"You know, you remind me of someone...," Kurama mentions offhandedly, looking up slightly. He lets out a strangled noise as something whisks past him as he dodges, accidently letting his opponent go. He gets up quickly and sees another woman near by, presumably Ue.

"Sren!" she calls, her voice much kinder than her partner's, "We have to go! Ensho--"

"But what about the mission he gave us?" Sren hisses.

"This is more important, now come on!" Sren glares at Kurama one last time, then runs off with her partner.

Kurama stares at were the two once stood, until a pang from his neck tells reminds him of his wounds. And reminds him he had no idea where anyone else was. He puts his palms over his cuts, letting the blood drip onto his hands, "Where is everybody."

"Away on their own business."

Kurama turned back to the doorway, and sees Hiei walking toward him, "And where were you?"

"Watching that woman; that is, until you took care of her," Hiei answered plainly.

"You were out here?"

"Hn," Hiei answered. Kurama sighs, "So, where is everybody. Exactly?"

"Yusuke's off to meet the idiot at the dimentional divide, and I believe Yukina's off somewhere with Mukuro."

"Should they really be doing that? I mean, with what just happened..."

"Those two women were after Yusuke and you. I don't think they really feel threatened."

"But she's still your sister," Kurama presses. Hiei looks slightly surprised, "I'd think you'd have at least one shred of protectiveness toward her..."

"Don't question me."

"Oh, that's right," the fox started harshly, "I'd forgotten. Once the subject comes to something you're uncomfortable with, you just kick and hiss until it's changed. Or is it that you really don't care for her?"

"Shut up," Hiei growls.

"Fine," Kurama sighs, "I'm tired of talking to you. And bleeding. I'll be inside," Kurama strides past the hiyoukai and walks inside.

"What do what us to do now, Ensho-sama?" Sren asks her master, half cautiously, half angrily.

"I've come across some interesting tidbits of information," Ensho answers.

"Really? Like what?" Sren presses. Ue wishes she would be more respectful; did Sren have no idea what Ensho could do to her? Ue did, herself. That's why she was even working for him in the first place.

"Besides the hanyou and that human covered demonic soul, there seems to be a koorime at the site as well."

"A koorime?" Ue speaks up.

"Koorime? What the hell's that?" Sren asks.

"It's a female demon. When it cries, it's tears harden into hiruiseki stones, which are very valuable," Ue explains, but then turns to Ensho, "But why? Aren't they supposed to all be on that floating island?"

"Yes... But there definatly is one there. I'd like you to capture that demon, too," Ensho answers calmly.

"Alright... So it's: capture the demoness, kill the hanyou and the abomination, and kill anyone who gets in the way," Sren smiles.

"Why can't Kugou and my son, not that I want him to, join in on this?" Ue asks.

"Hmm," Ensho is thoughtful, "I suppose this is just something... that requires a woman's touch...," he finishes. Ue gets a chill up her spine, not a good one either, "You may leave now."

"Sir!"

"Oh, Kurama-san! What happened?" Yukina asked when she came back with Mukuro, seeing the bandages around the fox's neck.

"The enemy came, didn't they?" Mukuro asked.

"Yes...," Kurama answered, "It was two women. Sren and Ue."

"You got their names?" Mukuro raised an eyebrow, "How did you manage that?"

"I have my ways," Kurama smiled.

"If you call sitting on one of them a "way"," Hiei muttered to himself. Kurama gave him an odd look.

"I can heal your wounds for you," Yukina piped up, "They look painful."

"That'd be nice, thank you."

Little did they know, their enemies were concealing themselves and their energy in the vast forest nearby, "Which girl are we after?" Sren asked.

"I believe it's the shirter one. With the light green hair. Yes... she matches the discribtions of koorime I've heard."

"Good, because the one with orange hair gives me an odd feeling. Should we wait until the hanyou comes back? I heard he was off somewhere..."

"No, we should just get the redheaded one and the koorime now. I heard the hanyou was at the dimentional divide."

"Get him there?"

"Yes..."

Alright then, let's go."

BUMBUMBUUUUM

Ah, I'm so evil.