Disclaimer: Don't own YYH and all invented characters, such as Katrina Kon, are pure fiction.

Chapter 44: Annoyance

"Remember, Katrina, we can't be seen."

"Kurama, that's the tenth time you've told me."

"You've been known to act rashly."

"Wha---but Hiei does too! I don't see you bugging him!"

He makes an impatient noise. "I don't care. As you are my sister,I get to boss you around. Mwahaha. And for thatcomment,let's go over the plan again. You say it, it's your turn."

Jeez, he's such a pain. "It's simple, dear brother. All we have to do is get close to that TV like screen where Jin and I fought Red and Blue, and we're golden. We have to find out news about the others, to see if they were captured or not." I take a breath. "Then, we just have to watch for a headliner."

"And…?"

"And...I am so going to rip you limb from limb if you don't stop that."

"Katrina!"

I sigh loudly and aggravatedly. "If there's no headliner about captives, we go to search for them ourselves. Happy now?"

"What else?"

Humph. Guesshe doesn't take me seriously. "Go soak your head."

"Good idea." SaysTouya angrily. "What is up with all of the disguise?"

So am I. "Yeah, why all the secrecy, Kurama? Don't tell me our wittle boy's getting pawanoid!" I pinch and wiggle his cheeks the way grandmothers do.

He glares at me, and sweatdrops as well. "Well, we have Mie. We don't want her captured again. She could be really useful, in the way of getting into the castle."

"Oh course, dear brother. Shall we proceed, dear brother?"

"Stop calling me 'dear brother'!"

"Certainly, dear brother." I giggle. Jin also laughs.

He (Kurama)makes a noise like an angry cat. Mwahahahah! Serves him right.

We start to move, finally. We were just standing there, on the hard cold ground, waiting for him to get on with the plan.Mind you, it isn't a very good plan, but it's all we've got so far. Of course, Hiei and I are in front, to navigate for my poor dear brother.

Okay, now I'm annoying myself. Scary.

I am in a bad mood. It's just one of those days where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or in my case, the metallic ground. What I wouldn't give for that garden in Koenma's quarters!

I'm not feeling very hopeful about this whole let's watch TV in demon-land plan. For one thing, we checked three times earlier today, obviously also on the TV, but still no significant reports. At least, nothing about Yusuke, Kuwabara, Genkai, or Botan. Ever since I brought back Mie, Kurama has been in this annoying mania that we have to find everyone else. I don't have the heart to tell him that he's wasting his time. They've met a major block somewhere, and if that's the case, there's not much that we can do. I say we should get on with killing Sensu and then finding them, but no one listens to me. Why should they listen to me? I only know what's best!

Perhaps it is because of my bad mood that I feel we are taking so long. Is Kurama dragging his feet, or what? Or maybe it's Touya. Evil Touya…Or maybe it's just because of the fact that we're in the fog again. Kurama took us out into the fog, and then jabbered endlessly so as not be heard (huh?) and no we are trekking back to the TV. I have more important things to do!

I mentally shake myself violently. I usually start to hate everyone when something bad is about to happen, but I hope that this time I am wrong.

Ah, now here we are! As I step into the village, I feel a lot better. This place is becoming my home. Horrid. There are plenty of demon folk today, I guess because everyone, including me, woke up really late. It's almost like everyone's getting comfy here but me. Since this TV is the only one that we know of here, everyone crowds here every day. I can't believe I missed it whenI first got here. I was probably too shocked at the stench, or the relief of finding some kind of civilization. It's true: it does smell horrible in here, but there is less fog. Kurama once explained to me that the fog dissipates outward, so the capitol is cleaner, but it is still smellier because of Sensu.

You know what they say: the more power, the more stink.

Well, maybe they don't say that, but that is teh system for demons. Work with me here!

What I really don't get is the fact that nobody agrees with my idea that breaking in would be the best option at this point. They just keep saying that we've got to wait the Unaccounted Four, which is what we call them, to arrive. But I don't think they're going to arrive. It's been a week already. The way I see it, the Unaccounted Four either:

Got lost and are still out there somewhere, on the edge of starvation undoubtedly

Been captured

Died.

There's just no other way. I tried to think that they're having a nice tea-party somewhere, but I have had to come to grips with reality. I have been in this fog for two days over one week, 9 days, and I am by no means used to it. But my companions are all pureblooded demons, so maybe they don't mind it as much. Half demons notice it more. I'm glad that I'm not completely human, though. The fog, which has been steadily worsening, wouldn've killed me in a second.

We crowd around the screen. I keep tripping over Mie's overlarge robe hem. Jin gave her his robe, because I guess he's been here before so he wouldn't stand out. Not like Mie, anyway. A human in this mess? Dead meat before you could say 'oops.' And that's not counting the fog.

I continue to stare at the blank dark screen. I hate movies, demon or real. They always take forever to start.

Finally, some demons fall silent, and gradually so does everyone else.

The screen starts to glow a blood red, as well as furry headed Sensu slaughtering bunches of demons. That's his seal that I saw earlier. Then, it glows white, and switches to a tubby little creature. Mie stands up and blocks my view.

Angrily, I elbow her out of the way, and I stand on tiptoe and view the screen. This is really quite interesting, at least for a demon attraction. It would have been more interesting, though, if I hadn't been here so many times before.

Sensu's news reporter, or who I suppose must be his reporter, is talking again. It's a fat blue thing with glasses. It jabbers about agriculture and their plans for the human world. Slaughter, death, pain, suffering, torture, blah, blah, blah. Tell me another demon hobby! Something that involves miniature golf!

Here we are. Captain Tubby takes a deep breath. "And now, on with the BREAKING HEADLINE! Under the RECENT CAPTURES section---"

"This could be it," I hiss to Kurama. He shushes me urgently, which doesn't help my ticked-offed-ness.

"---Two humans have been successfully captured! Yes, you heard me, in demon world!They are believed to be the infamous Spirit Detective Yusuke and his sidekick whose name is unknown!" I almost laugh at the thought of Kuwabara's reaction to being called a sidekick.

"They are being held in Sensu's palace! Here…" The screen changed, and two very beat up boys appear to be hanging, by thick ironwrist chains. I feel instantly bad for them. I'm surprised their clothes haven't completely fallen off, with all of the tatters on them. It is indeedYusuke out cold to the left, and he is slightly drooling. To the right is Kuwabara, who is very much conscious. He keeps summoning a very pretty orangenergy sword, and slices at the chains viciously. Much like Touya and I with Kurama's plant, he isn't having much luck.After every fruitless try, the crowd laughs.It is actually pretty funny, it he weren't in such danger.

"C'mon, what's gonna happen..." mutters Kurama.

The screen switches back to the oddly colored demon reporter. "Their fate includes getting their soul energies sucked right out of their shells to feed the Lord Sensu's growing project! Also, for your own interest,there are believed to be two more tasty human women! The hunt is on, find them if you please! Another bit of information…let's see…" He pathetically shuffles through his papers lying on a mahogany desk in front of him. "Ah, yes, openings out are being watched for the human scum. Any humans caught will be transportedto Sensu for anice lunch, and so will be their demon handlers if there are any. Turn in those human females should you find them and receive a fabulous award! And with that, our broadcast in concluded!"

The screen fades back into its original state of stormy gray. Several demons grumble about how short the broadcast was and all walk/slither/crawl/I don't know how they go -back to their homes.

I can't believe it. Now that the broadcast is over, shock is settling down.Someone captured YUSUKE? The strongest of the strong? The one who triumphed over Tiguro? And with Kuwabara with him too…was it those Parasi? Or was it Sensu himself? Just what the hell of a demon are we dealing with here?

And 'two human women.' That meant that Genkai and Botan arestill in a lot of dangerous...danger, but by no means caught. Looks like we'll have to search for them next.

Guess the others have reached the same conclusion. We all form a little chatting circle.

Kurama speaks. "Looks like we know who we're looking for."

I say, "Yes. One question, though. What will they do with Yusuke and Kuwabara? What did that punishment mean?"

"We'd best not think about that---" Starts Mie, turning slightly green.

"Well, with ordinary humans, they would be eaten alive." Mie excuses herself, and Kurama loos vaguely amused. "But not with these guys. Because of their incredible spirit power, they are going to be used to feed something. A project of Sensu's."

"You're KIDDING! What is this project?"

"I'm really not sure," answers Kurama slowly. "Because demons seem to be obsessed with destroying the human world, it must have somehting to do with a kind of doom device. Just...let me think on it." He says irritably, glaring at us all watching him intently.

"Ok. Tell me more about Sensu. I need to know about this guy if I can ever hope to defeat him." I say.

"Whatever. All we know is that he's aLower ClassA demon, and---"

"Lower class A demon?"

"Oh, that's the way the Spirit world judges demons in terms of strength. A is the highest, F is the lowest."

"Wow! What are all you guys?"

Jin speaks. "Well, I think I'm in the upper C class. Been a while since I checked with Koenma in the matter. And my little cousin here," (he lookes at Mie's green face fondly. He told us a while ago that he was the one who raised Mie, and that she was really important to him. Since we brought her back, his mood has increased dramatically, if that's even possible.) "Well, Mie is in the upper D class."

"I think I'm a B class…" says Touya uncertainly. "And Riku...well, he's...I dunno. I never really cared."

"Riku?"

"A demon that looks like a human child. His power is yo-yos. Don't ask. It's a kind of hypnosis thing. Hemultiplies himself.But he's not here even though he's a powerful player because his mother said no."

"That's pathetic."

"I know." Says Kurama. "But he is very strong.Almost kicked Kuwabara up a tree."

No one else speaks. "Well…Hiei…Kurama?"

"We're both upper B," they say in unison.

"My dad?"

"Between an A and a B...or something like that."

"Tiguro?"

"---Now come on, this is getting stupid---" begins Touya.

"Upper B class."

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"And me?"

Kurama and Hiei glance at each other.

"C'mon guys, I don't care if I'm lower F class or upper A class, I just want to know."

Hiei and Kurama whisper with each other. Finally, "I'll ask Koenma to tell you when we get back, ok?"

"You already know, though! I know you do!"

"Yes, but we think…we know for a fact that knowing your class level can greatly change your battle style for the worst."

"How so?"

"Just think on this. Let's say an UpperB class demon was going to fight a level B class demon. If the upperB class demon knew how powerful he/she really was, then that might cause him to get cocky in the upcoming fight, and in doing so, lose as well. Because technically, the higher level demon has the advantage. Not that that's your scenario, but it was just an example. Purely hypothetical."

"Wow, I'm an upper B class! Go me!"

"That's not..."

"Yes, it is, you liar. Can we get going, now?"

"Please." Says Touya.

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