Chapter 19

Difficult Missions

Hiei woke to the sunlight shining directly into his eyes. 'Hn. What an unpleasant way to wake up.' Dusting off the leaves that had drifted onto his clothes, Hiei stretched and slowly stood up. He felt refresh, despite all the emotional stuff the day before. The sound of rushing water brought the demon's attention to a nearby stream, where he took the liberty to bathe and clean up. Who knew how long the mission would last, and how long it will be until he takes another bath.

The fire demon looked up at the sky. It was almost time to meet up at Koenma's office. Hurrying and putting his clothes back on, Hiei sped to his destination.

Everyone's eyes darted towards the door as it opened. It was no surprise, really, as to who came through the door. But instead of a bright mischievous smile and a daring glare, Yusuke Uremeshi walked in with his head down. He almost stumbled across the chair he was to sit in, and promptly sat down without a word. Questioning glances darted from person to person.

The room turned suddenly silent until a loud boisterous voice broke it. "OKAY!! Who are you and what have you done to Yusuke Uremeshi!" Kuwabara obviously couldn't keep quiet anymore.

Yusuke looked to his teammate. "I'm tired ok? Gimme a break, even I can't be energetic all the time."

"Uh...? You can't?" Kuwabara scratched his head.

"Well, now that everyone's here. Let me start the mission briefing." Koenma peeked at Yusuke worriedly for a second, then back to the issue at hand. "Kurama, Kuwabara. You two are going as cooks, or kitchen help in this case. I assume you two know how to cook?"

"Umm... does boiling an egg count?" Kuwabara asked, still trying to think of anything else he could make.

"Baka. That hardly requires work. They'll kick you out of the kitchen for sure." Kurama crossed his arm. "I, on the other hand, can cook."

"Well then, I guess you will just have to learn to cook, or work at the stables again. It should be safe for you there now, Kuwabara. I heard they fired the stable master. Something about sleeping on the job." Koenma took out something from behind his chair.

"No way! I won't go back there. I'll learn. I promise." Kuwabara's eyes grew big as he realized what Koenma was about to hand him.

"That's the attitude. Anyways, if you're willing to learn, here's a cook book." A loud BOOM sounded as the book landed on the table.

"T-That's a cookbook? You sure it's not the encyclopedia?" The book was almost five inches thick. It's condition looked as if it hadn't been used in centuries, with dust flying out at random directions, forming a sort of circle around the ancient manuscript.

Koenma dusted off the front cover. "Yep. It says here, Complete Recipes of the Demon Cuisine." Kuwabara fainted at those words. "Now that I look at it, it is kind of a big book. Hehe." Konema gave a light chuckle.

"Koenma, how about our mission?" Yusuke felt bad for his red-haired friend, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Y-your mission? Hehe...let me see. Umm...well...hmm..." Koenma pretended to be thinking.

"Spit it out already!" Yusuke yelled out, his hands clenched into fists.

"It's nice to have you back to the living again, Uremeshi." Hiei smiled at the seemingly rejuvenated spirit detective.

"Ah-hem. Your mission, Yusuke, and Hiei, is to infiltrate into Narako's castle without them knowing your true identities. You have to be sneaky, silent, and deadly to achieve your goal. One mistake can cost you your life." Koenma started lecturing.

Yusuke couldn't sit there and do nothing anymore. It was obvious that Koenma was trying to delay telling them their mission, but why? "Look, you insignificant toddler. You better tell us this mission or you're going to be handling it by yourself!"

Koenma couldn't stall anymore. "Fine. I was just trying to remind you a bit about the things you have to do to prevent you from dying on me. I mean, I can't have you forget the basics and revealing our secrets can I?"

"Koenma..." Yusuke growled.

"The enemy is probably plotting something while we waste our time, Koenma." Kurama said in a disapproving voice.

"Ok, ok, I'll tell. But promise me you'll do the mission, and not bite my head off." Koenma crossed his fingers.

"Fine. We really don't have time for this." Hiei spoke up.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever just tell us." Yusuke had to agree, I mean what else can he do? Besides, it can't be worst than what Kuwabara has to do, right?

Koenma sighed in relief. Smiling, he finally told them of their mission. "I've set it up so that both of you are to enter the castle as dancers!" The cheerful tone of voice not only didn't motivate Yusuke and Hiei, it also brought them dangerously close to strangling the toddler. "Hey! You've agreed not to hurt me!"

The two reluctantly sat down quietly, their glares putting Koenma at a very uncomfortable position.

"Huh? Dancers? Where?" Kuwabara woke from his sleep on the floor. "Are they hot?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes and hit him over the head. "Baka."

"Ow! What'd you do that for!" Kuwabara rubbed at his head.

"We're the dancers you idiot." Hiei sighed. The things he does for these missions. 'First a dress, now dancing? What did I do to deserve this?'

"So... what kind of dancing are you guys doing?" Kuwabara asked, not knowing that Koenma had only started telling them the mission.

At those words, two pairs of eyes looked daggers towards a certain person behind the desk, who was, at the moment, trying to disappear from the chair. "Umm... hehe. You don't have to know anything. They'll teach you once you get there. You just have to smile and look pretty."

Hiei took a step towards Koenma. "Have you ever seen me smile?"

"Ya, but you looked scary. Like you're about to kill someone." Kuwabara answered the question.

"Exactly." Hiei said.

"I have no problem smiling." Yusuke presented himself with a big evil smile.

Koenma screamed, holding his hands in front of him. "Ahhh!! Get away from me. You guys are evil!"

"Yes, so how are we supposed to smile anyways?" Yusuke asked.

"I guess you guys don't have to smile, just look pretty. Now let's see what costumes you can disguise yourselves in. Hmm...now I have pink and green."

Hiei quickly spoke. "I call green." He smirked as Yusuke cursed at his luck.

Yay!! I updated!!! So...What'd you think??