"What? You mean Kurama's sick because of that runt!" Kuwabara exclaimed after Yusuke finished telling him what Hinansho told him. After hearing Hinansho's confession, Yusuke called everyone to a meeting at Genkai's—Kurama's condition was stable enough at the moment, so there was no reason to worry. So far the only one who wasn't there, besides Kurama of course, was Hiei, no one had been able to reach him.

"I'm sorry, I forgot all about the curse my ex-lover put on me. I wouldn't hurt Shuui-chan on purpose." Hinansho apologized, his eyes red from crying, his cheeks wet, nose runny.

"Uh…you can stop crying now; we know you didn't do it on purpose." Kuwabara quickly replied, trying to figure out how to cheer Hinansho up.

"Yeah, it's not that bad yet. We just need to undo the curse, for that we need to find your ex-lover." Genkai spoke up, staring at Hinansho, who stood only around a foot taller than she did, observing his deep black hair kept wildly spiked, silently chuckling to herself.

"What's so funny?" Hinansho asked, perplexed by Genkai's amused expression.

"Did the fox have you spike your hair?"

"Yes…."

"Heh, thought so."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You remind Kurama of someone else, that's why he became your lover so soon, the stupid fox."

"Shuui-chan's not stupid, take that back!"

"Jeez…you took that too personally."

"…hm…." Hinansho fell silent, looking at the floor still annoyed at Kurama being called 'stupid fox.' Although he wished to remain silent, curiosity got the better of Hinansho. "Um…Genkai? Um…who do I remind Shuui-chan of?"

"I thought you'd asked that question." Genkai chuckled gazing at Hinansho knowingly. "Seeing as its no one here, it's not very necessary for you to know right now. As soon as you see him, you will know. Now, however, is the time where you answer our questions. First, what is the name of your ex-lover? Second, what sort of powers does he have?"

"His name's Karaikasai, and he mostly uses incantations—ancient spells and curses. Though he does know how to fight and use aura attacks." Hinansho replied, dismayed that Genkai hadn't answered his question.

"So this Karaikasai demon put a curse on you because he was mad about you breaking up with him and now Kurama's paying for it." Genkai stated closing her eyes once before turning her eyes back to Hinansho. "This demon must be extremely adept at spells to be able to affect a demon of Kurama's class."

"He is." Koenma interrupted stepping into the room in time to hear the demon's name. "Karai is an S-class demon, but most of his power goes into his spells and enchantments. He hardly ever fights with real combat techniques; he usually puts a curse on his opponent beforehand so his opponent can't fight."

"You certainly know a lot about this Karai demon."

"Well yes, he was prosecuted by the Spirit World in the past for a few misdemeanors. Nothing serious, just rude pranks that became dangerous." Koenma replied pausing for a second before continuing. "The only serious crime he did was selling his knowledge of spells to humans. Now some spells were not dangerous since it require use by a demon, but some were very dangerous and the Spirit World was forced to arrest him. He got off without any jail time in the Spirit World."

"But if those spells were dangerous…."

"Karai is very good at persuasion, his gift at speech enabled him to avoid jail time, and he hasn't been in trouble since. Though there was this strange occurrence around eight weeks ago…where he's been rumored to live, but there's no evidence he was involved."

"Eight weeks? Um…I…."

"Yes, Hinansho, what is it?"

"Karai and I broke up eight weeks ago. If he did anything it would have to be because he loss his temper. He didn't want me to break up with him. He ended up summoning a couple of monsters from the Demon World, but he sent them back after checking his temper."

"Well…so he was behind that." Koenma muttered, looking curiously at Hinansho who looked fearfully at him.

"You won't arrest him for that, will you?"

"You seem awfully protective of your ex-lover."

"I…it's…." Hinansho stammered, turning red, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Why did you break up with Karai?"

"That's…that's none of your business." Hinansho replied turning away from everyone's gaze, acting in a way that said he would not answer any questions on the subject. "I don't know where Karai is right now, I heard nothing about him since I left him in Kyoto to move here."

"You're sure…."

"Yes, I don't know where he is. I'm going back to the hospital to stay with Shuui-chan; you guys can do what you want to find Karai." Hinansho stood up avoiding everyone's eye as he strode out of the temple, intent on keeping silent. No one followed as he walked farther from the temple, deeper into the surrounding forest—oblivious to every sight and sound around him.

Tears fell from his green, emerald eyes dripping down his cheeks and to the ground as he stopped, leaning against a tree covered in shadow, gasping for breath between his sobs.

"Shuuichi…." Hinansho sobbed, quivering with fear and guilt over what he had done—he hadn't done it on purpose, but his careless forgetfulness was robbing his most cherish lover, of life and power. How could anyone ever forgive his fatal carelessness, he knew what curse Karai placed upon him, and knew Kurama could not survive it, only if the victim of the curse was of a higher class than the caster could the curse fail, and there was no class above S-class which Karai was. Hinansho could not bear to tell Kurama's friends this—they still had hope, even if it was an impossible hope, and Hinansho couldn't bring himself to take it away.

Caught up in his own thoughts, Hinansho failed to notice how a blanket of silence quenched the noisy, hyped-up forest or how a sudden darkness, deeper than night fell in upon him. Hinansho noticed none of this until the sound of footsteps resounded loudly through the silence.

"Who?"

"So you're the one." A voice snarled in the darkness, anger, hate—intense malice wrapped up in a growl. It was a voice tinted in evil, laced with hatred deeper than the pits of hell and greater than the emptiness of space.

"Who…are…you?" Hinansho stammered, quivering uncontrollably, heart pounding wildly in fear—the very darkness seemed to radiate with the horror and hate concealed in that voice. "Why are you here?"

"To kill you."

"Why?"

"It's the only way to save him."

"Him…? I…oh!" Hinansho gasped as he realized who the voice meant by 'him.' "You mean…Kurama?" Silence was the only reply, however Hinansho felt the hate-filled darkness flicked with a different emotion—it wavered only for a moment, but long enough for Hinansho to grasp the truth. "You…you're the one Genkai said I remind Kurama of! What's your name?"

"Shut up." The voice growled, masking the sound of footsteps as he lunged at Hinansho, swinging the sword blade at Hinansho's throat. The deafening silence, however, increased the intensity of the swooshing sound of the sword swing—Hinansho dodged it before it struck him, falling to the ground as he did so. Hinansho's attacker however was quicker than he had anticipated, lunging at him again right after the first attack missed. Blood spurted out from the gash left across Hinansho's chest from the sword's blade, the force of the blow knocking Hinansho ten feet through the air to land by a riverbank where darkness hadn't reached.

"Please…I…."

"Shut up." His attacker seethed, stepping onto the bank of the river, the sword in his right hand, blood dripping from its blade. Hinansho studied his attacker's appearance—black spiky hair, intense red eyes gleaming with a suspicious hatred, short stature—only an inch shorter than Hinansho.

"Who are you?"

"Be quiet."

"But…."

"SHUT UP!"

Hinansho fell silent at the sight of his attacker's face contorted in rage, eyes glowing with an evil hatred—something unreal, unnatural, glistening in their reddish hue. He had seen that same glint in a person's eyes before—that glistening anger and unnatural rage shone brightly in the eyes one other person, eight weeks ago.

"Heh, kill him." Hinansho gasped at the words spoken by that all too familiar voice, a voice and tone he heard only eight weeks ago.

"Karai! No…."

"Heh. Die!" Karai lunged at Hinansho striking the human boy in his abdomen with his clawed right hand, breaking through the skin and exiting through Hinansho's back, blood splattering from the entrance and exit wounds.

"Ka…rai…why…?" Hinansho gasped, coughing, blood shooting and dripping from his mouth as he spoke, tears streaming down his cheeks. Eyes blurred with tears, weak from blood loss, Hinansho fell limp, despair consuming him, swallowing him deeper into weakness, his gaze drifting to his ex-lover's right arm—then he knew. Realization whelmed throughout him, causing him to fight against the drowsy weakness threatening to overpower him.

"You're…not…Karai…." Hinansho muttered raggedly before falling unconscious.

Feeling the human boy fall limp, the imposter Karai let go of his hold on Hinansho, his arm covered with the boy's blood. Slowly he turned to the person standing behind him, smirking at him as he licked the blood on his arm.

"You did your part well, Hiei."

"Undo the spell you put on me."

"Undo? Why don't you like the new you?"

"I fulfilled my part, now fulfill yours and change me back, take your mark off me!" Hiei growled revealing the mark on his right-shoulder, tattoo-like, the image of a stretched out bird—like a crow. Anxious to return to his old body, he had agreed to allow the demon to place a spell on him, he had gotten his original body back but not he wanted the controlling mark taken off.

"No. You did not kill Hinansho."

"What's it matter? He's dead! Now take the spell off!"

"Hah hah! You think I'm foolish enough for that? Hah! No, I'll keep that spell on you."

"You bastard! I'll kill…." Hiei made to lunge at the imposter Karai but with merely a wave of his hand, the imposter flung Hiei away without touching him—then bound the fire-demon with energy bonds before Hiei hit the ground. Bonds of green demonic energy bound Hiei's wrists behind his back, and to his neck. A final bond bound Hiei's legs together—immobilizing him. "Bastard!"

"Heh, delightful. You look so…enticing in bondage, you're physically helpless and yet your spirit is unbroken." The imposter spoke, lustily, grabbing the fire-demon by the hair and bringing his lips down roughly on Hiei's unwelcoming ones. A zap of energy to the mark on Hiei's shoulder loosened the poor fire-demon's defenses—Hiei's lips parted against his will, and his entire body seemed out of his control. The imposter demon explored Hiei's mouth with his tongue, his pleasure intensified feeling how reluctant and frustrated the fire demon was at the loss of control over his own body.

"We're going to have fun tonight."

"Bastard!"

"I'm going to love breaking you." The imposter smirked, lunging at Hiei with lustful sadism, intent on overpowering the reluctant fire-demon.

Unseen by either demon, someone, concealed in shadow sprung away from the scene carrying the body of Hinansho in his arms, stalking quietly through the forest.