Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho © Yoshihiro Togashi.

The Seibu Project

By Zelia Theb; © Zelia Theb.

"We've got the impression that you're something that you're not. Anything you'd like to tell us?"

I glanced at him with distaste. Kuwabara might have been able to think of some sort of trickery, after all, he is rather whimsical. I chocked it up to eye-witness reports from men we had battle with.

"No." I watched as the interrogator relayed the message, though I knew by then that the man had heard me say "no" enough to translate it on his own. He grumbled a bit, and murmured something that, while I couldn't translate entirely, sounded as if he was going to turn to alternate methods of interrogation. He left the room with the translator and soon I was alone, or so they had thought.

"Kurama," I heard him mutter from the vent above me. I dared not turn my head, for it would have most likely alerted my captors to Hiei's presence. They had been keeping a close eye on me with the security cameras in each corner. Of course this would be a disadvantage had the power gone out. Since it was a military establishment, using a one-way window would be too dangerous. Their prisoners would need the solid concrete.

Within a few seconds, Hiei was no longer with me. I heard the sound of soft marbles hitting the floor behind me, and realized that my partner was truly brilliant. I had been entirely stripped of my pockets, and thus had been left with nothing but my fists to defend myself. But Hiei had left me with the gift of escape, and it was time to follow through with it.

Four men returned to the room at this time, two of them more heavily armed than my interrogators. The armed men moved toward my restraints, and the translator explained that I was being moved to another location. For that, the men had to release my limbs from the cuffs holding them to the chair. It was my chance. I allowed the seeds, whatever they were, to blossom and loom behind the men, who were too engrossed in making the quick move to notice the faces of my interrogators. I smirked and leapt forward, doing a handspring off of the table, barely missing the large chance of being encased within the floral growth myself. It wasn't long before the remaining two found themselves buried beneath the leaves.

I had expected an alarm to go off, however, it did not. It was then that I noticed the lens of the cameras were deformed and dripping like plastic icicles. I was still locked within the room, though, and there were no keys for this door, only electronics. I remained stationary along the wall near the door, and contemplated my routes of escape. The vent was easy, but there was no telling where it would lead to. I didn't want to hand over anyone's location, because if we could travel the vents, then most certainly the men could predict where we would exit.

After a moment of thought, a red light flashed on the security panel, and the door buzzed. I pressed myself flat against the wall and waited.

"We've got technical issues," a man said, head lowered, "and I wanted to make sure everything was...wha?" He caught sight of the situation and no later was he assaulted and brought to the floor. Carelessly he had neglected to put his key card away, so after obtaining a leaf-sprout, I also pocketed the card, under the assumption, of course, that security would have an all-access pass to the base.

Before making my exit into the hallway, I kept myself in deep thought. I knew that the security room would have to be nearby, judging by the short amount of time that had passed between Hiei's visit and the technician's. I could easily make a short stop and use the monitors to my advantage. I had settled upon it, I would find the security room, and study the movements of our captors.

Despite that cameras were on me the whole time, the security room wasn't far, just as I had anticipated. I made quick work of the remaining two officers, right before one had pressed a button that most certainly would have set off an alarm to my presence in the hall, and left them unconscious and tied among leaves in a corner.

The monitors were flashing through several different angles, all set on about a four second interval. Finding Kuwabara was easy, although I was infuriated at the sight. He was sobbing inside, I knew, yet still remained silent as a tough man beat him. It was nearly too much for me, but I kept watching, thinking that only Kuwabara had been kidnapped. It was until I saw what I knew was an image of Yusuke flip by through my peripherals that I questioned my way of thinking. Hiei had been in the vents, so that meant he knew we were missing. It also meant that Hiei had not been captured...but what had become of Yusuke? I double checked the other monitor, only to see Yusuke talking in a dazed state. Thankfully, they weren't being so violent. I would need to reach both of them.

The interpreter was getting impatient. I wouldn't drink the water, and his little buddy hadn't come back yet. In fact, I'd say that the guy was getting worried. Hell, I'd be worried if they forgot to catch Hiei too. After about five minutes, the guy did a double take at my bindings, and left the room. At first I was kinda pissed; I enjoyed watching him squirm. But then after a while, I felt that good old smirk creep across my face, and I knew that somehow, somewhere, Hiei was causing trouble.

I checked the strength of cuffs on my feet. Nothing too difficult to break. My hands were free; and judging by what I probably told them, it was pretty dumb of them to let that happen. Of course, I thought about what would happen if I blasted my foot off. As I finally got up the nerve to just go ahead and try it, footless or not, I heard an electronic beep at the door and immediately acted as if I wasn't doing anything. And I was damn happy to see who I saw.

"Kurama!" I exclaimed quickly. He brought up a finger to his lips to shush me, and then moved next to me to inspect my ankles. I was just so relieved to see that he was alive at that point.

"Yusuke, we must be quiet. I'd rather not alert them to our location," he warned.

"Ah," I deduced, "so that's why those guys never came back to get me."

"Exactly," he replied. As bone-breaking flora broke the links between my ankle cuff and the chair, I looked to the cameras in the corners with fear. I had wondered, wouldn't they see us in here anyway? Kurama quickly caught on, and explained, "I was in the Security Room already. The equipment has been destroyed."

I nodded with approval. It was good to have a guy like this on my side. But I had to know.

"What happened to you guys? Where's Kuwabara?"

Kurama sighed heavily as he helped me to my feet. "We walked right into a trap. Kuwabara's sixth sense must have been dulled." I watched as a tear formed in the corners of his eyes. Crying? He had done so over his mother, I know. I had seen the weariness in his face the second time I had met him.

"Kurama?" I had muttered. We made our way to the door and then to the next room, or the observation room, I guess, when he answered.

"They're beating him. They must know he's only human, and are taking advantage of that."

"They didn't beat me," I quickly retorted. "I'm human too. What the hell is their problem?" I was angry. More than angry. Furious. Kuwabara was a tough guy though, but he'd been through just as much as the rest of us. He was taking that beating for us. For me. I wished that for once I wasn't the leader, that I could repay everyone for protecting me all the time.

"They knew you were the leader," Kurama replied, confirming my angst, "and I can only bet that somehow they got you to reveal what we were..." I thought of the water and cringed. Some leader I was; I was easily suckered into telling them everything.

I had no time to reflect, though. Kurama touched me lightly on the shoulder and nodded, and suddenly I was following his lead through the hallways. After turning a corner, I started smelling what I can only describe as burning metal. Kinda gross, really.

"Hiei..." I murmured. Kurama nodded in agreement, and without warning, turned heel about ninety degrees and used a key card to get into a door.

The guy inside made some sort of surprise remark in English before I knocked him out. Kurama then went to the next door, and after a bit of yelling from the other side, I finally heard Kuwabara's voice.

"Kuwabara!" I burst into the door, knocked some guy in the face, and then he shouted my name too. I snickered as I continued the brawl in the tiny room, all the while making sure that none of the guys got in Kurama's way of freeing Kuwabara. It wasn't as easy as I had thought, but thankfully after what seemed like only a few seconds, my friends had joined in. It wasn't long before the bad guys were entangled in vines.

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara said, wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth. "Where did you come from? Where's Hiei?"

"I dunno," I replied. "He started the forest on fire and I was captured."

"So he's still out there?"

"Yes, Kuwabara," Kurama answered. "He's the reason I was able to escape...and find you all."

What was he up to? Was he looking for the rest of us, or was he trying to create the biggest diversion ever? Or even worse?

"We gotta find him!" my friend exclaimed, something I didn't think he would ever say. We all nodded, and made our way into the corridors once more.

We got cocky, now that we were all nearly reassembled, save Hiei, and carried on conversation like stealth no longer mattered. Kurama explained where he had been already, and mentioned seeing an exit. We ran and ran, and it came up that we would have no idea where we would be once outside of the building. We already knew that we weren't in that bizarre and haunted complex, but we must have been close. Both Kurama and Kuwabara couldn't place their finger on the time it had taken them to get from the forest to the building, and I simply wasn't paying attention. I probably went into shock from Hiei's little trick, which would explain it. Had I listened, I might have been able to escape that guy.

Before I knew it, my inner thinking caused me to stumble like a drunken bum off the streets, and fall face forward. I always knew that there was a reason I never stopped to think about my actions; it was a major weakness. Time seemed to slow down exponentially as Kuwabara reached to bring me to my feet. The mechanics of guns sounded like thunder, and when time finally sped up, Kuwabara and I had stepped into the hands of the enemy, with our heads pressed deeply into the barrels of cold metal arms.

Kurama was frantic. His eyes were broken and wide, and his stance was that of a mother in despair. I couldn't see anything else, but I knew that we were outnumbered. A man on my side was in charge of the gun, and a separate man was holding me at the chest. I could only assume the same for Kuwabara. It was a smart move on their part. Had it been just one guy holding us back, that would have put them at a disadvantage, leaving them with but one arm to do everything. And against unarmed opponents, there was no risk of the open men on the flanks getting hurt.

A man came from behind Kurama, and gave out fast and strict orders in their native language that I could not even begin to recall my movie knowledge to figure out. Kurama's eyes narrowed in anger, an anger that I didn't even know existed inside. It was something Hiei had only mentioned Kurama was capable of, and even then I didn't think Hiei even knew much more beyond the tales that spread in the Demon World.

"They're gonna kill us," was all Kuwabara said as Kurama's hands shot forward. The seeds didn't even have a chance to take root in the ground before they sprouted into rock-hard stalks that pierced straight through the gunmen. Probably out of sheer disbelief, the men loosened their grip on us, and in unison, Kuwabara and I smacked their jaws with our elbows, hitting a pressure point and forcing them to stagger backwards.

But these guys musta been running on batteries, because they just wouldn't go down. Kuwabara and I fought on, and after letting forth a bit of our auras, we were able to get them knocked down. I turned around to check on Kurama, hearing Kuwabara mutter about how the gunmen were dead, only to see that the fifth man was on the floor as well.

He had been slain by Hiei, who was cleaning his knife on his clothing. Kurama was breathing hard, staring down in shock at what he had done, complimenting Hiei, who didn't seem to care one bit.

"G-guys," Kuwabara stammered, breaking the silence. "We sh-should...g-go."

"Hn," Hiei stated bluntly, staring at our shocked companions. "Koenma said it was fine. Go ahead and stay here if you want to do this over and over again."

"Damn it, shrimpy! Shut up!" shouted Kuwabara. "These guys just died!"

"I'm sorry, everyone..." Kurama whispered in vain.

"Feh," Hiei scoffed. "What are you sorry for? Saving your comrades from death? Idiot."

"Hiei!" Kurama shouted.

I had to step in, once again, and teach these kids a lesson in escaping.

"Hiei's right, even if he is being a jerk about it," I yelled. "Now let's get our asses in gear and we can cry about it later over a chick-flick and chocolate, got it?" The redheads hung their heads low, and just stared forward. I had to perk them all up, after all, that's what a leader, no matter how much of a dumbass he is, does, right?

"I don't wanna stay here, guys. We gotta get back home. We gotta tell Koenma what happened to all the other guys who came here. We gotta talk about that monster roaming the base." Nothing happened, I had to switch gears. "We gotta see our families."

We burst out of the exit and into a mud slosh. The weather hadn't given up yet, and neither would we. We linked hands, Hiei's to mine, mine to Kurama's, and Kurama's to Kuwabara's, and ran fast through the forest, following Hiei's lead. All sorts of mud and twigs were kicked up and sticking to our hair and faces, but it didn't matter anymore. After running a couple hundred meters into the trees, I began to smell the smoldering scent of pine and wood.

"Ignore it!" Hiei shouted, "It's controlled."

"Do ya guys hear that?" Kuwabara called from the back, bringing our attention to the shouts of men and the shrill shrieking of a creature we had left back at the complex.

The demons' grips became harder on us as our feet increased their tempo across the forest floor. Gunfire and rain blended together into one harsh pitter-patter that kept us going. Whether or not the bullets were aimed at us or the beast, we didn't know. We didn't care. We just moved forward, ignoring our obvious fatigue and hardships, putting all of our trust into Hiei and hoping that we wouldn't be faced with more terrible decisions.

The sounds of violence became quieter as the storm raged on. We collectively came to a halt upon recognition of the gate we came through. Its lock was still broken and it seemed as if no one had been there since we had been. After stepping through, we took a moment to collect ourselves and reassess our situation. Kurama took the time to work his powers and relock the gates with rock-hard vines.

Kuwabara wiped his brow. "What now?" he asked.

"Hn," answered Hiei. "Since the Detective was smart enough to have everyone hand me their communicators, I was able to contact Koenma. He was supposed to have sent for us in the exact place we had been left."

"Right," I nodded, stretching one last time before joining my comrades in their walk towards our rendezvous. It seemed like we had made it there in no time, and our safety was nearly a one-hundred percent guarantee.

I leaned on a tree to relax and reflect, only to be reminded by Kurama that it wasn't safe to do in a thunderstorm. I shrugged and sighed, thinking that after all I'd been through, a little lightning wasn't going to do me in. After all, long ago the beast Suzaku had tried doing the very same thing.

Hiei was staring at me intently, and I stared back. The ghost in the archives had made mention of his feelings for me, and I was wondering why I hadn't noticed it any earlier. I figured that he might have eventually stared away, but he didn't, and inside that sparked something that scared me. I realized that I was a real person, someone that other people would continuously care for, and someone that could change even the most hardened of individuals. Just like my funeral. I didn't deserve these people around me.

"Spirit Detectives," a male voice said, diverting our attention upwards. It was Jack, the very same guide who had come here with us.

"Finally," Kuwabara complained, receiving a concurring nod from Hiei.

"Hmm, indeed," the guide said. I was surprised at how arrogant he was, and wondered if Koenma just enjoyed surrounding himself with those sorts of people.

"Where's Botan?" I asked in unison with a flash of lightning.

Jack grumbled. "She waiting for the four of you with Koenma."

"How're we all gonna fit on that little stick?!" exclaimed Kuwabara, pointing to the oar that Jack was hovering upon. The guide frowned, producing another oar from his left hand, and left it up to us to figure out who was sitting where.

And once we did, we were zipped off to Spirit World in a flash. Once there, we weren't even greeted by Botan or anyone even recognizable. A few ogres immediately took us to hotel-type rooms, and informed us that we were to clean up before our meetings. Granted, the whole royal treatment was rather nice, even if said treatment made us feel like our foreign caravan had just been captured by the king of the lands we had invaded. Kuwabara said it best before we parted to our separate quarters.

"Kinda feels like we're under house arrest." I looked at him, annoyed because I wanted to coerce myself into believing that it was all over. From the looks I got from my other comrades, though, I knew it wasn't.

To Be Continued...

I have to say, I didn't enjoy this chapter one bit. The second-to-last chapters are always difficult for me, because I know that I have to end the story soon, and that I need to set the end up.

There was a lack of Yusuke's inner reflections, and I couldn't really find a way to fit them in there without being redundant.

As for a massive spoiler for the first 6 chapters...

As we know, most of the story has been told through Yusuke's point of view, and it was mainly to the interrogator that had captured him at the end of Chapter 6. Earlier on, there is a weird spot where another person is talking (when the boys split up between the archive and the lab). That is Kuwabara's perspective right there. So it was a hint that the boys were being questioned.

Now, with the advent of events in this chapter, it only has to make you wonder - what's the final twist to this story and who are the boys speaking to now? And just who was Kuwabara talking to if Kurama claimed that he was being beaten?

All are things to think about.

-Zelia