Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.

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Chapter 16 - "So, does anyone just know what the hell just happened?"

The sky of Mars was as red as Earth's had once been blue. It was odd and wrong and all Botan could do was stare at it as her hands slipped from her oar and another blast of wind separated her from her newly acquired transportation. Red eyes glared at her from above and below, and in Botan's mind, there was too much red to figure out which one she was supposed to be trusting.

Fire erupted from the ground, large and black and heading toward the laughing red-eyed face. It was a short burst, and Botan recognized it for the distraction it was when one hand shot out and caught her. Her instincts kicked in and her gun was out and shooting at the surprised flying demon even as the fire faded.

There was surprised and amused silence from behind her, and the slow simmering anger she was used to always being beneath the surface of her companion. She kept her eyes on the demon in the sky, who had one hand clutched to her right arm, looking surprised as it came away with blood. Botan felt a spark of vicious smugness.

"A lucky shot, I'm sure," The demon hissed, red eyes glaring at them. Red and pink eyes glared back at her. She seemed surprised at their audacity. "Why are you here? Don't you know what awaits in this woods?"

"Yes. Naraku," Botan said, letting all of her bitterness and hatred show. Then, under her breath she hissed, "You can put me on something solid now."

She waited a moment and then sighed. "You want another hand free, right?"

She breathed a sigh of relief when Hiei dropped her on the branch beneath him. Having nothing but air under her feet was unnerving without her oar. Then she raised her gun and pointed it at the demon in the sky.

"You know Naraku's here and you still came? By yourselves? I suppose you must be a bit suicidal." She was staring at them now, and made no move to attack them with her fan again. Botan knew why. It was a deadlock. She couldn't attack them without being damaged herself, and she could do them quite a bit of damage herself.

"That is none of your business," Hiei snarled at the wind demon above them. She shrugged her shoulders and let her feather drift.

"Actually, it is. I am supposed to stop intruders." This seemed to remind her of something and she raised her fan again.

Desperate to get as much information out of the demoness as possible, Botan yelled up, "Why would you work for him? Why obey him?"

The silence after her statement lay heavy in the air. Hiei's fists were clenched and Botan could sense the building youki behind them. This time it was just behind one arm and Botan's memories flashed to when Kagome had been looking at the boy's profiles.

"I have no choice," the demon said finally, standing on her feather and raising the fan. "He has my heart."

"What if we could kill him? That would release you, right?" Hiei was glaring at her now, but Botan ignored the bloodthirsty demon above her. She was focused on the despairing demon in the sky.

"By yourselves? Impossible!" But she was staring at them, and an inkling of what seemed to be recognition showed in her eyes. Despite her words, she nodded once and made no move to attack.

Hiei had no such qualms against attack, and raised his hand, the bandages falling off as he did. He never got his chance to attack because a different kind of black dragon shot out from the sky and bowled over the demon with a screech of what sounded like laughter.

"What is this?" the wind demon shrieked, staring up at the feathered and furred dragon who was much too big and whose large teeth and claws were much too dangerous, especially when they were snapping at her. She tried to raise wind against it, and suddenly a claw snapped out and ripped her fan to shreds.

"Is that Dedran?" Botan asked finally as the demoness fled and the dragon came closer.

"Yes," Hiei said shortly. She risked a glance and winced at the rage in his eyes. The dragon hovered across from them and Botan took time to look him over. He seemed to have stolen a lot more energy. Being twenty feet long with an even longer tail and eight feet high at the shoulder, Botan fervently hoped he was done growing. He definitely wasn't going to fit in the hover cars anymore, even curled up like he had been the last time.

"Come here," Hiei commanded. The dragon snorted and attempted to land on a tree. His eyes widened in surprise when the branches wouldn't hold and indeed, when he didn't fit between them. The dragon whined slightly.

"Dedran," He commanded again. The dragon hissed at him stubbornly and dove between the trees awkwardly.

"I wonder how he followed us," Botan managed as the dragon sniffed at something on the ground.

"He should obey me," Hiei snarled, ignoring the question and the obvious answer of the mind links.

"Why? Botan asked evenly.

Hiei glared at her. She stared back him, trying to keep calm and not be upset. No one should automatically assume that anyone else should obey them. It was all about free will.

"He's mine," Hiei explained grudgingly.

"You're also his," Botan pointed out reasonably, almost afraid that the fire that she knew was still brimming behind his eyes would be turned on her. Then Dedran was up again, flying awkwardly through the trees with a familiar piece of wood clutched gently in one claw.

Botan gasped and almost fell out of the tree as she reached for it. Hiei glared and reached out to grab the back of her shirt. She didn't even appear to notice. The human girl was too busy reaching forward and laying her hands on the oar. Dedran hummed gleefully at the joy in her voice as she thanked him. "Oh, I didn't even see where it landed. Thank you Dedran!" Then, slyly, she said, "You're a good dragon. The very best."

All she heard was the hum turning into a rumble that sounded almost like a growl but was more like laughter. Dedran's red eyes glanced up to Hiei slyly. 'She likes me. I got her oar. I'm nice to her.'

'I care why?' He asked sarcastically, being silent out loud as he let go of the girl and she stared at the oar. Dedran laughed out loud and in his mind and with a suddenness that surprised both of the humanoids, he flipped his head down and under Botan's branch. The tree shook as his shoulder bumped it and Botan yelped as she lost her balance and fell onto the waiting neck.

'You're supposed to return now. You've been out her for hours. The others were getting a bit worried. I see you found the beginning of where it is at least.' The dragon was swift to maneuver his way up through the trees and away from his angry bonded. Despite that it was a life bond, Dedran didn't put it past Hiei to attempt to kill him out of spite.

"We're going back," Hiei said to Botan, a bit smugly as he had managed to get ahead of the dragon to say it. Then, "Stay on him. The oar is easier to be blown out of the sky.

'Of course it is.' Dedran grumbled but already he was gaining altitude and stretching his wings to sail over the land. Hiei dropped back to the ground and ran beneath them. Botan hadn't heard a word that Dedran had said to Hiei but by the look in their eyes while they had been talking, Dedran was no longer the subservient little beast he had been when he was born.

The dragon wondered briefly about the wind demon he had separated them from. There was something strange about her, and the energy he had stolen from her. She smelled... like there were pieces of her missing. It was strange. He wondered if he should ask Tairi or Elako about it. Then his eyes spotted the campsite and he threw it out of his mind. They wouldn't know anything about it anyway.

Botan laughed out loud when the black and red wings folded up and the dragon dove toward the dragon. She already knew that this was going to give everyone heart attacks. She didn't really care right now. The rush of air around her as her hands fisted into the long fur of Dedran's neck was amazing. She felt a bit disappointed when his wings opened and they were suddenly still as he took two sweeps of his wings to land a bit ungracefully on the ground. "Amazing," she murmured to him before he folded his legs underneath him to let her off.

She slipped off with oar in hand and could feel the stares from her friends. She grinned up at with eyes bright with the joy of flight. The dragon behind her rumbled with laughter and she glanced backward to see Hiei standing there with his arms crossed and glaring at the dragon.

'What are they talking about?' Botan asked Ketria. The wingless dragon glanced up.

'I can only hear Dedran's half, and only because he's letting me. I think Hiei is scolding him about that. Dedran seems rather apologetic.' Ketria paused, tilting her pink-scaled head. 'He's grown up.'

'So have you,' Botan pointed out reasonably before risking a glance at her friends. Kagome's lips were pursed and her eyes were dancing as she glanced between Botan, Hiei, and Dedran. She was obviously trying not to laugh. Sango simply looked speculatively at her own silver and gold gryphon, who was looking right back. Kikyou was thoroughly disapproving from the thin line of her lips to her narrowed eyes.

"That was awesome!" Souta was the first to speak, and his eyes were wide as he looked up at the dragon. "Was it fun?"

"Yes," Botan answered simply.

"Will he take anyone else?" Souta asked hopefully.

"No." Hiei glared at everyone, especially Botan and Dedran, and the dragon simply yawned and curled up in a ball. While he still looked huge, he looked much smaller than before.

'Flying is overrated,' Ketria murmured into Botan's mind. Botan smiled at her soothingly, feeling the worry that seeped into her awareness.

'It's fun, but you're still my dragon.' Ketria seemed content with that.

"So why did we have to come back?" Botan asked out loud. Then she took another good look around. "And why does it seem that Dedran isn't the only one to have reached full growth?"

"There was an attack while you were gone. We sent Dedran out to get you before you were captured. It appears Naraku knows we're here, so scouting is probably a bad idea," Kagome answered.

"We did get close," Botan offered up as a feeble protest, but her heart wasn't in it. She crossed over to the rest of them and took a seat on a nearby stump, the oar lying across her lap. "Though there was a wind user there..."

Botan frowned as something stirred in her mind. 'A sickle through the air caught by the wind.' She heard, a melodic male voice intoning it. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. She had before only know things that had to do with the Prophecy and known the public lines. A true line hadn't simply appeared in her mind before.

"Botan?" Kagome asked, worry in her voice. Everyone was staring at her. "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"Sorry. I'm fine," Botan said, smiling weakly. The girls frowned at her and Inuyasha snorted but she shook her head and kept her mouth shut. There were red eyes on her again and she kept her face looking away from his.

'Hiei knows there's something wrong. They all do, but he knows it has something to do with the wind user, outside of what happened on scouting. Dedran says you should tell him,. Neither of them knows what happened. Are you going to? Tell them about... the line?' Ketria was staring at her with pink eyes and Botan shook her head slightly.

There was suddenly a strange tightness in the air and Rin's Xellkar and Shippo's Nashi got to their feet, both bristling. A moment later the other Setrans followed. Botan cried out in shock as a voice echoed across the clearing in a language she hadn't heard for centuries. Words of power that chilled her to the bone. 'Spirit Guide' the voice said as it clawed into her mind, echoing in her mind and the Setrans. The others could hear but didn't understand. Memories were taken and ripped a part and the voice echoed again in that language, leaving behind only those parts of her that remember her other life. Desperately she flung her awareness toward Ketria - who was dealing with an attack of her own.

"Botan?" A girl asked and Botan's memory raced to try and remember whom it was. There was some cursing and a lot of panic around her and then a hand gripped her chin hard and she was forced to look into red eyes - and one purple one as a bandana was ripped away.

"Out," Hiei commanded and there was a moment of shock before the presence retreated quickly. As it left, she could feel the clear amusement and she suddenly saw clearly the way to Naraku. Then everything went dark.

"So, does anyone just know what the hell just happened?" Yusuke asked, crouching down by the unconscious form of Elako. His eyes were narrowed and his muscles were tensed and there was a faint shimmer of blue reiki around him that made him look particularly dangerous. Eight of the ten Setrans were unconscious along with Botan.

Kagome, though she had Tairi's head in her lap, was staring at Nashi and Xellkar, both of which appeared none the worse for their own ordeal. Out of no where, the ten Setrans and Botan had started reacting, screaming, growling, shrieking, and Botan had just curled up with a cry of surprise and shock. But after a few seconds, Nashi and Xellkar had both begun glowing, ice and lightning crackling around them.

'It was an invitation,' Kagome heard an unfamiliar female voice think clearly, and Nashi's blue eyes stared into hers.

"Did everyone else just hear that?" Inuyasha asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes," Kurama answered, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Xellkar and Nashi. Shippo and Rin, sensing the suspicion, crowded in closer to their Setrans and glared at the others.

'We're special. Don't worry about it. We... feel emotions a bit better that's all. There are disadvantages. But we were needed. Shippo and Rin are young and we'll grow up before they. We're no more powerful than Tairi is or Elako will be, really. Our power is just different.' Xellkar's eerie black eyes stared at them and Sango cleared her throat.

"I'm going to regret this... But what did you mean by an invitation?"

'That was Naraku, using an old language and power words - it won't work again, don't worry. At the end, he imprinted a way for us to get to him - a trap of course, but he wasn't lying. We'd be able to tell,' Nashi informed them, and Kagome shivered. That they could at any time tell if they were lying or not didn't sound fun.

"So wherever he said we're to go - he really is there?" There was a bit of excitement in Yusuke's tone and Kagome saw Kikyou grimace.

"Did you forget the word 'trap' in there?" Miroku asked nervously.

"Traps were meant to be sprung. As long as we know its there, we're up for it," Kaede said confidently. A few black looks headed her way, but she stood up straighter when Yusuke grinned at her.

"Unless that's what he wants us to think," Souta challenged, but with an easy grin.

"Oh you know we're going," Rin scoffed, and everyone turned toward her. "What choice do we have? Once the Setrans are up to it, we're walking right into it. Naraku knows it, we know it. But he can't know how powerful we are. We'll make."

"Yeah," Keiko said nervously. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"I hate you," Inuyasha said darkly as he freed Keiko from the embrace of a deadly tree with his claws. "Did you really have to go and say it? Even like that, ya know fate's just goin' to come and bite us in the ass."

"Don't blame her then, blame fate," Naraku said as he slipped around them to put a ward on the tree. Immediately the tree froze and became inert. "We're almost there, anyway."

'Easy for him to say. You have no idea how hard it is to fly up here. Well, for most of us. Those of us who don't enjoy lightning strikes,' Zasar complained darkly and Inuyasha squinted, his golden eyes narrowing as he saw his white and black phoenix flapping about in the storm cloud.

'See anything?' He asked.

'No. Better to ask Elako or Xellkar. Elako doesn't mind the storm and Xellkar's... Well, he's Xellkar, isn't he.' Zasar's mental voice sounded pleased that Xellkar was with them.

'Why do all of you except Tairi seemed pleased with them?' Inuyasha asked curiously. It was clear by the horse-like Setrans body language that she did not like the two youngsters.

'She's giving up a place to them. Until now she and Elako have been the undisputed leaders. Now that's only partly true. While they're leaders now, and may always be of us eight, when there are more Setrans again, she and Elako will always be second to Nashi and Xellkar.' Zasar replied, oddly without his usual snark and insults.

'I don't get it.' Inuyasha grumbled.

'Naturally not. You're not a Setran,' Xellkar interrupted and Zasar's laughter echoed with Xellkar's in his mind. Inuyasha snarled skyward and then turned around at a cough. He glared at the smirking pair standing there.

"Shouldn't you two be helping the others?" He asked pointedly.

"Nope. Everyone's waiting for you now, Inuyasha," Yusuke said with a smirk.

"Go to hell," He mumbled as they both continued grinning at him, Kagome holding a hand up to her mouth and trying to pretend she was coughing. He strutted past them, holding his chin up and his arms crossed. They followed silently behind him and he noted the blue shape weaving in the trees. Tairi was there, and it definitely seemed she, like the others, was full grown now. Well, everyone except Elako, Xellkar, and Nashi.

He had the surprise of his life when he saw the rubble that must have once been a doorway and all of the Setrans now gathered, waiting. "What the hell is that?"

"The door was too small," Hiei explained shortly and Inuyasha almost objected before he actually looked at it and began to laugh.

"Dedran or Ketria?" He asked with a smirk at the glaring Hiei and the blushing Botan.

"Both," Kikyou replied, smiling slightly.

"Now they know we're here," Kaede said with a frown.

"They?" Rin asked, and her eyes ticked to Kaede's a bit sharply.

"Well, we know that besides Naraku, there's the other one, the wind demon, right? He might also have others that are working under him in the castle. I mean, most of his lower class demons are attacking our armies in space or on land, but he could have some higher level ones here, waiting for us," Souta said, and Kagome watched the three intently. For a moment a sad smile settled on her face and then disappeared. She had not time for this. They were just growing up so fast, and she couldn't stop it.

Kagome opened her mouth to say something and then stopped when Tairi nudged her. She looked back quizzically. Tairi's blue eyes stared into hers. 'Get on.'

Feeling like she was enduring some ritual, she slowly got onto the Setran. She had ridden a horse before, and other creatures, most of them had for training, but she wasn't very good at it. To her amazement she found that she didn't have to do much balance at all.

'Later we'll have to make me a proper saddle. You probably won't be able to fight and ride at the same time without one just yet. But if there are any traps - not ambushes but real traps, we'll be better equipped to handle them this way,' Tairi explained quietly. Kurama was also now riding Sako and Botan was on top of Ketria. It would be a tight fit for the large dragon and Kagome hoped the building - it wasn't really a caste, just something very large and old - was big enough for the land dragon.

"Let's go," Yusuke said when it seemed that all the arrangements had been made. he carefully didn't look at Elako and Elako avoided his gaze.

As everyone else started forward warily, Rin dropped back between Kaede and Souta and glanced at Kaede. "Well?"

Kaede looked at her solemnly. "Can't you sense it?"

Souta sighed and he looked up at them with troubled eyes. "I wish he wasn't here. That we were wrong." He paused and then whispered, "Do you think Dad knew?"

"No," Rin said with a slight frown. "Because if he did, Sesshoumaru-sama would have known as well and he wouldn't have let me come. They don't know."

Kaede looked forward to the female taijya who had just ducked under poisoned arrows that spat from the wall. "Neither does she."

"Right then." Souta gripped his staff and kept his mind calm. There was no conversation for a minute as they dodged traps and then Souta looked out at Rin from the corner of his eye. "Are you ready?"

"I am if you are. They're all going to be real mad at us though." Rin's eyes fell to the floor and she bit her lip. Then her ears heard the faint tick and all three of them jumped forward as the floor caved in behind them. "Wonder how the others missed that."

"Who knows?" Souta asked carelessly, and then said softly, "We're almost there. Can you feel it?"

"I can," Kaede whispered as the doors opened and then looked at Rin, whose eyes seemed unfocussed. Souta moved closer to her protectively, his eyes scanning the darkness along with everyone else. Only Shippo seemed to notice that they were slightly off to the side from the rest but he appeared to be keeping it to himself.

"Rin? You're probably going to have to do most of the work here. I'm his best friend and Kaede's his... whatever, but you're the only one of us who we all trust no matter what." Souta took a deep breath and took his eyes off the darkness in front of them for a moment to look her squarely in the eyes. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Yes," Rin answered, and her eyes and hands flashed as something flashed out of the darkness. The sickle hit the newly erected barrier and fell to the floor with loud, sharp, clang of finality.

Laughter echoed from the darkness as shapes stepped out from behind them and to their sides. Three stepped in front of them. One was the wind sorceress, her red eyes looking at them impassively and with a faint sneer. Naraku hung behind them, well out of attack range. And next to the wind sorceress was a boy, perhaps at most fifteen years old. With a jerk of his hand the sickle was pulled back, the chain held loosely around one hand. He gazed at them out of sad brown eyes and his black hair was pulled up behind his head. An inarticulate cry tore from Sango's throat.

"Kohaku," Kaede said and the hurt within heart was bared to the world for everyone to see at her choked voice.

"Kaede," There was pain there, and determination. "You shouldn't have come."

"Not as easy as you thought it would be, is it little soldiers?" Naraku said, directing his comments toward the older teenagers.

The doors slammed shut behind them.

/Ö/

All right, all reviews will now be answered with the reply feature, unless of course you aren't registered or don't leave an e-mail, in which case I'll leave a line of thank yous. After this chapter. This chapter will not have thank yous, but then again I directly replied to a few of you.