Disclaimer: Don't own YYH.

Update: Oh, and I updated faster because Wyvernwings, RebelWriter and several others have begged me to, so I decided that I will update every Sunday AND Thursday rather than Sunday only. Gets it done faster, anyway. The same cannot be said for Kara, as I don't have the whole thing done anyway. I hope you enjoy! And there's this new rule that says you're now not allowed to respond to reviewers, so I won't actually do it, but thank you everyone in general. And to one reviewer who begins with a W, yes, the last chapter was bland, but I am getting so tired of editing this damn thing from last year, so I'm not putting in as much effort with the revisions. I'm sorry if they do seem bland, but I really don't care anymore. So, here's my new philosophy:

BLAND POWER!

Chapter 58:

It's really, really them.

How can this happen?

Why are they here? Did something go wrong at the campsite?

In my delayed reaction, I almost let them walk right by. For some reason, they aren't noticing Botan just sprawled on the ground in front of them. Weird.

I yell up to them, but they are talking amongst each other too heatedly, and they don't even notice.

On a sudden inspiration, I drag one of Botan's legs out into the path. They still don't notice.

Let me rephrase that. They don't notice until Jin trips.

"Ack!"

"Jin, how many times do I have to tell you shut up?" growls Touya.

"No, I tripped! And…god…" He leans down and picks up Botan's leg. "It's Botan!"

"You're kidding." Kurama bends down to look.

Now's my chance. "KURAMA, JIN, TOUYA, LOOK TO THE RIGHT OF BOTAN'S LEG!" Man, I didn't know I could go that loud at this size. Imagine how high I could go at 5 and ½ feet tall…

They jump considerably, Kurama readying a rose whip.

Touya sees me first, and raises an eyebrow. "You know what, I'm not going to ask." He says, shaking his head.

"Katrina, is that you?" Asks Jin, picking me up.

I tell what happened. Kurama seems to be struggling not to say anything.

Everyone looks at him worriedly. "Er…Kurama?"

"Kat-rina, why did you…leave?"

"Um..." They don't need to know that it was because I was sick of them. Particularly not Kurama. Maybe I'll tell him if he ever gets high on pot.

"You…know…we would have…come with you." He says, his voice rising to a screech.

There's no answer for that. I've wondered about that myself as it is.

Jin breaks the extremely tense silence. "What happened to Botan?"

"Well, she's being corrupted. I tried to stop it, but it's probably taken over by now." I know it's hopeless. "Unless one of you can do something, that is."

"No, nothing. The best thing that can be done in a case of corruption like this is to kill the controller. Other than that, it's impossible to block. Our other option is for her to free herself, but that's not likely. That's all."

"I just feel like I've failed her…"

"Shut up, Katrina. Where's Hiei/Mie?" Ask Touya/Jin at the same time.

"Oh, Hiei. He was corrupted. I had to battle him. I won. Then I also locked Hiei in the closet by the lobby."

"I'm on it, I'll catch up," says Touya quickly, and picks up Botan. "I'll take out Hiei and put her in." And he turns around and walks out of view, even as Kurama says to wait. Kurama shakes his head. "He really seems to depend on Hiei. And where's Mie?"

"Mie?" I ask, confused. "I didn't take her. I had planned to go all by myself, but Hiei caught me. If Mie came along too, she didn't speak up."

"Ugh. Well, she left the same night you did. Where did you find Botan? And why are you so small?"

I proceed to tell them all about what happened, starting at Maurice and ending at Botan's identical predicament.

Jin smiles. "I knew you were smart."

I roll my eyes. "And as for Yusuke and Kuwabara and Genkai, they are all still locked up. Botan said Genkai was caught while she escaped." I tell them about the huge misunderstanding.

Kurama's reaction is similar to mine. "I can't believe it. The one day we were away, Genkai and Botan came back. I can't believe it."

"I know. It's really unfair. How have you guys made out?"

"Waiting for you to come back! We thought you had left on a walk and that's it. But noooo, you had gone on a little joyride---"

"Kurama, leave it alone. It's done with already. We need to focus on more than family issues." Whoa. Looks like even Jin has an inner scholar.

"What, like, fighting Sensu?" Asks Kurama.

"Yeah, what else? We have to save Botan, as well as the prisoners, and with Touya getting Hiei too. We should wait for him to return and get it over with already."

"Yeah, I guess it must be done. We've all been trying to ignore it, whether we're aware of it or not." I say. Kurama nods.

"So, Katrina, is there any way for you to get big again?"

"Yeah." I reach into my pocket and pull out the crystals. I eat the blue ones to grow, and the orange ones to shrink."

Kurama examines them. "Well, would you like to join us at human size?"

"Actually, I was hoping you would join me at my size." I say.

Kurama blinks. "Why?"

"You'll stand out too much at that height. We might be able to sneak by Sensu's minions if we just stay little."

Kurama thinks it over. "Well, you make a fair point, but we need to fight his minions first."

It's my turn to blink. "Why?"

"Because they'll be guarding the door to the next room. We have to kill them."

I groan. "Okay, you win. I'll grow as soon as Touya comes back."

Kurama shrugs. "As you wish."

We wait for ten minutes more, and finally, Touya comes back, dragging a limp Hiei partially slung over his shoulders. Hiei is out like a light. I also see he's carrying Botan, though not as carefully.

Touya places them both down rather gently, and pulls a piece of meat out of his now very small pack. He motions to Kurama nothing I can understand, and Kurama places each of his hands on both of their foreheads and awakens them using the sacred words of command. Botan opens her eyes feebly, and Hiei follows suit.

They both see the beef jerky and literally leap fly through the air for it. Botan gets there first, and Touya gives Hiei another piece, despite his babyish pouting. They each tear it into shreds and eat like I've never seen anyone eat. Kurama hears something, searches around for a door, finds one at last not far down the hall, and after careful checking, pulls us into the unoccupied room.

Once Botan and Hiei have eaten their fill, they start talking immediately. Kurama shushes them and speaks in his normally calm voice.

"Touya, I thought you were going to leave her there."

"Nah. As I was walking back, I felt her free herself with my mind. I then realized she would be a useful fighter, so I decided to keep her. I got Hiei out quickly, and carried them all back."

"Okay. Is Hiei still corrupted?"

"No. Let's ask him why."

Hiei begins. "I have a stronger mind than Sensu thinks. He did place me under control, but I fought it after I had a heated discussion with Katrina in my Soul Cavity. It kept me sane and remembering who I am. So even though Sensu tried again and again to re-control me, he failed, and eventually got bored and stopped, I guess because he knew I was stuck anyway. He couldn't do it because I kept focusing on Katrina's points, and it protected me. Every thought I conceived was focused on that conversation. By then, my mind was really weak, and I had no will for anything. I stopped trying to live, and I really accepted myself for the first time. I accepted my death, and just lived."

"Mate, why didn't you break out the closet?" Asks Jin in a confused voice.

"I was too weak from fighting control. I thought about nothing else. I didn't realize I was in the dark and starving to death until I saw the door opened, and the light and everything else came flooding back, and that really awakened me. How did I get into the closet, anyway?"

Everyone stops breathing, knowing what he'd do to me if he found out, and Jin starts interrogating Botan instead. "How did you free yourself?" I'm quite sure Hiei noticed, but he's decided to let it go. Whew!

"I was never corrupted, you guys."

"REALLY?"

"Yeah, it was just the food they made me eat, the vairvain. They said it was parsley, but it really wasn't. The herb makes the ingester go insane with just 3 dosages. One dosage, you act against your normal personality. Two dosages, and you don't recognize your friends or family or even yourself. Three dosages…you let go of everything."

Everyone shudders.

"But you sure you're all right now, Botan,because I already told you that you tried to murder me."

"Yes, I'm quite fine. I'm glad you got me out of that junk heap of a prison cell."

"So am I."

"Oh yes, Katrina, you want to get big again now. You said you would." Kurama doesn't forget anything, does he?

I oblige, and eatthree of the blue crystals. I'm instantly 5 and ½ feet tall again.

Hiei asks, "Are we going to fight Sensu yet?"

Kurama answers, "Not all of us."

This is greeted with stunned disapproval. "Wha---what?"

"Well, look, some of us have to get Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Genkai."

"Who will?" I ask.

"All right, guys, no one argue. Someone has to do this, because what if fighting Sensu or his minions collapses the building? They'll all be crushed. The ones who will go are Hiei, Touya, and myself. Botan---"

A cry of outrage cuts him off. "You can't do that!" Yells Touya. "We are the strongest fighters! We are needed to take him down!"

"We aren't." He replies coolly. "She is." He gestures in my direction. As usual, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Touya snorts. "Play it your way. She may need our 'help'."

"No, Hiei, you, and me are all the stealthiest ones. We need to get past the guards to get to the prisoners. Now Katrina, Jin, and Botan have no stealth at all, and would surely get us all killed, so that is why they are doing the outright work."

Touya can't argue with a compliment. He snorts again. "So then, Botan, Jin, and Kitty will tackle him with their diapers?"

"Touya, stop being a jerk. Let's go." Says Kurama edgily.

He rolls his eyes. We open the door to the outside hallway, say our goodbyes, and watch Touya, Kurama, and Hiei leave. I can't even be mad at Touya for all the cruel things he said to my face. Much as I hate him, I don't want him to die. Nor do I want bro and Hiei to die, either.

I watch them depart, with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Whether it's for them or for me, I don't know, but I'm just very worried.

Now what?

Botan speaks. "So then, are we going?"

I nod. Jin does the same.

A/N: Can you find it in your hearts to review? JUST FOR ME? PLEASE?