Authoress says, "Hi!"

I'm having way too much fun with the Japanese names I looked up on the internet. It's a good way to find them when you're running out of creativity.

START CHAPTER

Yu Yu Hakusho

"Help!"

Yusuke bolted from the doorway where he had been standing and grabbed the basement doorknob to wrench it open when he recognized the voice as Ayame's. He jerked his hand back, startled, as he was hit by the equvilent of a spirit energy electric shock.

Swearing, Kuwabara pushed his way to the door, spirit sword already in hand. Bringing it up, he slashed at the door, expecting it to shatter. Instead, a demon territory was slashed and ribbons of energy pushed away.

Yusuke moved forward again and yanked the door open, half running, half tripping, down the stairs until he felt the telltale prickles of demon energy nearby. Snapping his head around when he reached the landing, he found himself looking at a woman who stood, smirking, across the room.

"Pleasure to meet you," she said, letting her lips shift to reveal several pointed fangs. She was a cat demon; ears, hair, and tail black as a starless night. Her eyes were a shade of glinting amber, the pupils those of a feline.

Yusuke's fists clenched as he realized that he recognized her eyes from before, and his lip curled back in a snarl. He did not trust his voice to reply, as his hands were shaking in anger already.

She smiled. "I'm glad to see that you know who I am already."

"Momo," Yusuke replied coldly, using the delightfully childish name mockingly.

She cat-demon rolled her eyes in disgust. "My proper name is Yayoi. That idiot girl didn't suspect a thing," she purred, her eyes squinting with pleasure. "She could tell that there was something abnormal about you and your friends, so when she felt my presence, she thought it was excess waves from you. I'm a psychic," she added offhandedly. "Like Hiei already realized. I can see into your mind. I can see...into your heart."

"Where the hell is Ayame?"

Yayoi grinned, flexing her clawed hands. "I don't think you'd like to see her right now. She's a bit...tied up."

Yusuke had expected to see Ayame tied up on the floor, bound and gagged, looking at him helplessly. He expected her to cry out against the gag, shouting his name. He was not prepared for what he saw next.

Yayoi smiled, and pointed to her left.

Yusuke saw the noose before he saw her face, pale blue. Her legs dangled limply, her eyes were glazed over. Yusuke slapped a hand to his mouth, nausea threatening to overcome him. Ayame had been hung.

It was Kuwabara who sensed it first as Yusuke stood, shaking, staring up at Ayame, that something was wrong. The edges of her body glinted orange. It was barely visible, but he knew it was still there.

He stepped forward and flung his spirit sword at her hanging body, flinching as it appeared to pierce through her. As he had thought, the image flickered and died. Yayoi pretended to pout.

"Oh, you didn't like that one? Pity, I put so much work into projecting that image." She seemed pleased with herself for how the image had affected Yusuke.

Yusuke's whole body was shaking with rage. His voice was deadly quiet when he spoke. "What did you do with her?" he asked acidly.

"Oh, nothing really." Yayoi's smirk was aggravating. "I have a few friends who were bored, and I have no use for a human girl. They, on the other hand..." She smiled as she saw comprehension dawning on the young detective's face. "Tamasine, Tomo, and Raidon can find a use for her, I'm sure."

Yusuke recognized the names as being masculine, and his eyes glinted maliciously. "That's it, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Yayoi held up a clawed hand. "Not so fast, Yusuke. Without me, you can't find your precious girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," came the automatic answer.

Yayoi rolled her eyes. "Judging by how fast you ran when she screamed for help, one can only assume."

Yusuke was about to reply, but Kurama cut him off. "Where did you send her?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm no fool. I can sense the last remainders of a portal. You did not clean up very well. Where did you send her?"

Yayoi's delighted grin faded. "Damn, I was hoping you were stupider than that."

Emiko clenched her fists and took a step forward, but Kurama threw out an arm to stop her from stepping into danger. She looked at him, and his eyes conveyed his emotions. They stood there for a few seconds before Emiko drew back.

Kurama's gaze moved back the feline demon frowning at him. Yayoi was silent.

"You've gotten a human involved in matters that she should never have known about." Hiei stepped from the shadows that had hidden his presence. "For that alone, you deserve death."

"Traitor," Yayoi hissed, her ears twitching. "Why would you take the side of a human child? If anyone should die, it's you."

"Do not confuse business with compassion," Hiei said curtly. "I don't care about that girl personally, but if she was to die, it would be all over the news. You're running the risk of our world being exposed. It doesn't matter whether humans can see demons or not. They would discover us someday."

Yayoi laughed delicately. "You over think the situation, Hiei. I'm only here to cripple the human world's defenses. With Yusuke subdued, there are only three others left to protect the humans. But each of you has a weakness." Yayoi's eyes rested temporarily on Emiko before flickering back to Hiei. "Even you."

"Such as?"

"Yukina." The word cracked like a whip, affecting both Hiei and Kuwabara in a similar way. Shock first, then anger.

"If you touch Yukina, you're dead meat!" Kuwabara sputtered, raising his fists.

Hiei did not say anything, but his silent anger was venting off in waves. Just by glancing at him, it was possible to tell that he would have slaughtered Yayoi at that moment if he did not have a high level of self-control.

Yusuke was nearing his breaking point, using all his willpower to stop himself from screaming until his voice was gone. He was furious that a person could vanish under his nose when he had been striving to protect her from demons the entire time. To think that he had never noticed anything unusual about Yayoi's cat form hit a sore spot.

It was a mutual feeling amongst all his friends, who had high levels of spirit awareness. It was odd, almost abnormal, that none of them had noticed her.

Kurama seemed to be thinking something along those lines. "How is it that you managed to disguise your demon energy from us? I know that it was no coincidence."

"Simple. That cat body I was using was an animal that I possessed. With an animal, levels of energy are muted by a great deal. I was, in entirety, a cat until earlier. You didn't notice because nothing was wrong with the waves. There was enough energy where you could tell I was there, but you could not tell that it was coming from a cat." Yayoi seemed very pleased with herself.

"And don't even get me started on how I got here. It was easy to find a weak point in the dimensional barrier. All I had to do was rip a hole in it to saunter right into this world. Closing it afterward was simple as well, welding with demon energy."

"I've heard enough," Hiei said sharply. "Your pointless ramblings about your so called genius won't be enough to save your life. If you think you are going to leave this house alive, you didn't plan ahead as well as you thought." He unsheathed his sword.

Yusuke pointed a glowing finger at Yayoi. "Tel me where Ayame is, and I'll make this quick. Otherwise..." He trailed off, knowing Kurama would fill the pause.

"Your death will be drawn out and painful. A seed will be planted in your arm. It will grow a plant that will eat away at that arm until it is only a bone. The same will happen with the rest of your body, saving your heart for last so that you can watch it stop beating."

Emiko couldn't help but smile at that. Kurama knew that above all, pain could frighten anyone. Oddly enough, she considered it a good quality to be able to inspire fear in even the blackest hearts. At least, in Kurama it was.

Yayoi's composure wavered for a split second. Her eyes widened a bit before she could control her reaction. She laughed, but her voice carried a note of worry now. "I don't believe you're capable of doing that."

"It will be a shame to see you die in such a manner when a method much less painful is offered."

"If you tell me where Ayame is, it's gonna be me that kills you, not him. And I'm not very good with precision, so it'll be one spirit gun blast. You won't feel a thing." Yusuke knew that without her knowledge, it could be too late when they finally got to Ayame. It was better, in this case, to bargain with the enemy.

Yayoi was no longer so confident. "Well...I..."

"Weigh your options carefully," Emiko muttered.

Yayoi sighed. She knew she had no chance of escape now, but she had not planned on this. She had not known that Kuwabara could cut through her territory in the first place, proof of how ill prepared she had been. "I will tell you where she is, but I cannot guarantee that you will get her back."

"Our existence makes it a guarantee."

"You're a little to philosophical for me, Fox boy," Yayoi replied sardonically. "She's not in demon world yet, but she will be soon. Tamasine, Tomo, and Raidon will make sure of that."

"Why?" Yusuke asked, causing her to scowl.

"Why? Like I said, she's your weakness. Once she's out of the way, you'll be vulnerable. Maybe even willing to give up your own life to save hers." Yayoi had to smirk a little at that thought.

"But why there?"

Yayoi chuckled. "I guess you aren't nearly as smart as your bandit friend over here. Demon world is a big place. With any luck, you won't find her before it's too late. In human world, it's too easy. Missing person ads and so forth. You know what I'm talking about."

"All that jus' to get at Urameshi? I don't get it."

Yayoi scoffed at Kuwabara. "You're an idiot, so I expected as much."

Kurama turned to his human friend. "Undeniably, Yusuke is strong. He is one of Koenma's most valuable weapons. With him out of the way, more demons could pass into human world. Even with the rest of us here, Yusuke's presence is almost a requirement. We could manage without him for a while, but his name is well known in demon world. Knowledge that he is gone would cause an outpouring of demons into human world. We wouldn't be able to hold them all off."

Kuwabara nodded in silence, understanding the simplified version fairly well. Yusuke had been listening as well, and he was becoming impatient.

"Where are these demon assholes anyway?"

Yayoi seemed to have had enough. "Haven't you heard enough to make you realize the situation is hopeless? One of you has to die to solve this."

"I'm not letting her die," Yusuke said quietly. "It's my fault she got involved in this."

"Yusuke," Kurama interjected softly. "I do not mean to play the devil's advocate, but-"

"Then don't," Yusuke interrupted piercingly. He sighed. "We have to find her. You," he said, pointing at Yayoi. "You're coming with us. Show us where we can find her, and I'll let you go in demon world instead of kicking your ass here."

"I do not fear death."

"Fool." Hiei snorted. "He's offering to take pity on you, and you won't accept it. Do not let your pride get in the way."

There was a brief silence before Yayoi seemed to break a little. "This was supposed to be simple. None of you were supposed to get inside my territory in the first place!"

Kurama looked at her for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he realized that a very important piece of the puzzle was still missing. "Who is in charge of this?"

Yayoi folded her arms. "Raidon is. He sent me here to get the girl. He said it would be worth my while to help him, and the reward would be co-leadership of human world...once we conquer it, that is."

"Whore," Yusuke spat. "It's only 'cause you're a chick."

Yayoi clenched her hand into a tight fist, but didn't say anything.

Emiko watched her reaction. "You love him, don't you?"

Startlingly, Yayoi frowned, crossing her arms and looking away.

Emiko smiled a little. "I understand now. He promised you that you would always be his right hand woman if you did him a favor."

Yayoi's lip trembled, and it was then that everyone saw her for what she truly was. An average demon, dragged into a tangled affair because of a simple emotion. She loved Raidon enough to risk her life for him.

"You're lovesick for something that may not even be real," Emiko reasoned.

"Don't say that!" Yayoi cried, tears brimming unexpectedly in her amber eyes.

"It's the truth, Yayoi. To be frank, if he doesn't already love you, he never will. Ultimately, you would be living a lie. I can tell that you don't want to do that. And what if he lied to you about all of this? He could be using you."

"Stop! Stop it!" she cried, tears flowing down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. "It's not true!"

As Yayoi crumpled to the ground on her knees and wept into her clawed hands, Emiko did something unexpected. Stepping forward, she crouched and put her hand on the sobbing demon's back comfortingly.

"He doesn't love me at all," Yayoi said between sobs. "I'm such a fool."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. You're heartbroken. Now where the hell is Ayame?"

Yayoi looked up, her pretty face tearstained. "I'll take you there."

END CHAPTER

I love names that mean stuff. Examples: Yayoi March, Tamasine and Tomo twin, Raidon – thunder god...

Ack! My shirt is riding up and my pants are falling down!

Haru: That was more than I needed to hear. Could someone beat me with a mallet until I forget what she just said?

Authoress out and about.