A/N: 'Kay, just to warn you, this story does involve an original character of mine. Her name is Reishi (my name in Japanese), but she's not a Mary-Sue. She's just there in the background… You'll see who she is in a minute. I don't like putting in OCs, but I just liked this one so much that I did. uu Pardon and review, please!

4. Curiosity Killed the Kitsune – Seven Billion Escaped Souls
Later that night, Koto crept downstairs to her master Jiusenki's underground lair. This was where his other apprentice, an intelligent part-human who lived in the Makai named Reishi, usually worked. Reishi was the technical mastermind behind Jiusenki's plot to eradicate the earth so he could take over and merge it with the Demon Realm. Reishi was very skilled with computers and human technology, and thanks to Jiusenki's somehow endless supply of money, the team had many large electronic gizmos and monitors in the underground lair.

Koto looked around the room. It was dark; there were no lights. The screens of the gigantic computers were coal-black and blank like the eyes of a possessed soul. Souls… Koto thought. Where did all the souls go…?

It was a question that had bothered her ever since Jiusenki had explained his plan. If he was going to wipe out the earth, he needed a place to put the souls of the people he vaporized. Jiusenki planned to use them as a sort of bargaining chip for something from what he loosely mentioned to her, but Koto wasn't sure what. She then looked to her right and saw a medium-sized cylindrical chamber with a neon, gel-like substance bubbling inside of it.

Koto approached the cylinder and put her hand to the glass. It was cold, leaving her handprint in the misty condensation. She then peered deeper into the neon-green gel and saw a little furry fuzzball. She squinted, trying to get a better look at it. She still couldn't see it very well through all of the liquid in the chamber. Frustrated, Koto pounded a large button on the flat panel in front of her. The button opened up the cylindrical cage, and the fuzzball flew out. The neon-green gel stayed suspended in midair.

Koto reached out and grabbed the fuzzball, peering at it closely. Whatever it was, it somewhat resembled a flying, hamster and pufferfish crossbreed with wings and a beak. Its eyes were golden and bulging, and its little chicken-like feet scratched against Koto's hands. The bird-like creature then opened its beak and let out an ear-piercing screech that could wake the dead. Koto dropped the animal and clamped her hands over her sensitive fox ears. Ugh, that screaming is horrible! It's so loud! she thought to herself as the bird continued to shriek.

Koto heard footsteps tramping down the stairs. It could only be Jiusenki and Reishi, coming down to see what had created that awful noise. Koto gulped; she knew she was in trouble now…

And to make matters worse, the bird-thing flew up out of the underground dungeon, out of the cracked window on the above floor and out into the darkness outside. "No!" Koto yelled, trying to dash up the stairs to grab the bird again, but it had already left.

"Koto!" Jiusenki's booming voice roared as he emerged from the left-side staircase. Reishi had come down the opposite set of stairs, the ones that led from her room, wearing a steely cold scowl on her pale face.

"Um…" Koto trembled, her fingers fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt.

"Koto!" Jiusenki yelled, bending down and shoving his face in front of Koto's.

"Yessir?"

"What are you doing down here?" he demanded, spit flying in Koto's face.

"Um… um… nothing, sir!" Koto said in a rush.

"Nothing, eh?" Jiusenki scoffed. "Then explain to me why the whole entire world just escaped through the crack in the window!"

"The… whole… entire world, sir?"

"Did you even know what that thing was?" Jiusenki roared.

"N-no, sir!"

"That thing was the object that held all of the souls of the world! Everybody who died in that earthquake has his or her soul trapped inside that animal!" Jiusenki explained gruffly. "Now, thanks to your carelessness, they have all escaped!" Jiusenki was fuming mad, his white, scaly dragon face taking on an ugly reddish hue. Koto was frightened, shaking madly as she met the dragon demon's angry glare.

"I… I didn't know!"

"Obviously!" Jiusenki shouted, his voice shaking the room. "Our plan could be in real jeopardy now! If anyone were to find that bird, they could set the souls free and our plan would be ruined!"

"Highly unlikely," came Reishi's drawling voice from behind the shadows. The young woman brushed a lock of dark brown hair from her piercing green eyes and continued. "As creator of the Soul-Carrier, I was in charge of putting an unbreakable code on it. Should anyone happen to stumble upon it, they would never be able to crack its code by the time we take over Spirit World. Also, remember, Jiusenki, that there are only two people left on Earth in the first place. The chances of the fox demon and the fire demon finding it are very slim to none."

Koto gasped. "F-fox demon?" she questioned.

"Yes, fox demon, girl, just like you," Jiusenki spat. "You know, the two who we spared from the earthquake!"

"Fox demon…" Koto repeated, squeaking on the words. "Fox demon…"

"What's your problem?" Jiusenki questioned angrily. "You say that like you don't know what I'm talking about!"

"No, it's just that…" Koto started, her voice barely above a whisper. "When you told me to save the 'fire demon and his red-haired friend', I didn't know you meant the fox one, Kurama! I saved the other red-head, Kazuma Kuwabara!"

"You WHAT?" Jiusenki roared, a few bits of plaster falling down from the ceiling from the volume of his voice. "YOU MEAN YOU SAVED THE WRONG MAN!"

"Uh… uh-huh," Koto nodded, shrinking her head into her jacket. "Oops…I'm sorry…"

"Sorry's not goina cut it," said Jiusenki smoothly as he pulled back his massive fist and socked Koto hard in the stomach, sending her reeling backward into the wall. Reishi's eyes followed as the kitsune slammed against the wall and slumped down, her lip bleeding. She said nothing as Jiusenki continued his assault and continued to beat Koto into unconsciousness.

NEXT TIME: ADVENTURES INTO LONLINESS – THE ACHING HEART OF A FIRE DEMON!
Reviewer Responses!

Animefouryou: Thanks for the review! I will update soon.

Peeka-chan: Lol, 'kay, no problem. I knew what you meant. Lmao, yeah, I guess Hiei is part ice maiden… I wasn't thinking about that when I wrote this… Too bad, 'cuz if I did, I would've gone on and on about the possibilities and probably turned this into some sick sort of mpreg fic… O.o;; Wait, that's a bad thing, isn't it:shrugs: Eh… Anyway, thanks for the review:-P

Izandria Johnson: I think this chapter explained briefly what happened. Let me know if it doesn't make sense! We shall see what becomes of Hiei and Kuwabara… :folds hands: We shall see… And, to answer your question, yes, that does mean that I only have a total of 17 chapters. It really doesn't add up to much when I take into account how short they all are… :frowns: Sorry if that's a disappointment, but once I get all of my old fics posted here, I will start on my newer ones, and they are longer. Thanks for reviewing!

--crazykitsune17--