Author's Note: Hi everybody! I am sosososososososo sorry that I haven't been able to update. So here we are, my new chapter, finally up. I am doing this science project, and I had to work with lime. The powder, not the citrus thing. Anyways, it turns out that it eats away human skin, and I was stupid enough to get some on my hand. It hurts like hellfire and it's all red and raw. Man, it sucks. Stupid project. Ok, sorry. On with the story!

(Oh, and I'm listening to Ordinary World by Duran Duran. It'll go good with this chapter if ya listen to it while reading.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Hakusho.

Kurama woke up about midnight, instantly awake and alert. He felt a strange ki coming from Ren's room next door. It felt so familiar, and yet so outlandish at the same time. After a few moments of hesitancy, the fox got up, determined to find out who it was.

Creeping into the hall, Kurama stopped in front of Ren's door, pressing his ear against the door. The voices were muffled, but he could still make out what they were saying.

"—I have to keep this up?" Ren was asking.

"Not much longer. The Ryokun and the fire demon have been seen at the base of Trickster's Cavern. A day, two at the most, I promise."

Kurama didn't recognize this voice, though he felt as though he should have. He did, however, know what 'the Ryokun and fire demon' meant.

K'Ray and his so-called enemy, Hiei.

"Oh, good!" Ren squealed. Kurama heard her clap her hands. "I've been counting the days until I got to see K'Ray's dead body."

Now Kurama was confused. Didn't Ren say that she and K'Ray had been best friends? Why would she want to see her dead?

"I knew that would make you happy," the mysterious voice said. "We have to arrange a way to get Kurama over to my hideout in Trickster's Cavern without him suspecting a thing."

"But how?" Ren inquired. The mystery person laughed softly.

"Just leave that to me, my dear," he replied. "Just continue your marvelous façade as the adoring comrade."

"Fine," Ren sighed.

Kurama had heard enough. So, he was being tricked this entire time. Hurrying back to his room, the fox packed some supplies. He slipped on his boots and padded out the door, determined to find K'Ray and Hiei on his own. Maybe then he would get the answers he needed.

It was cold and raining. K'Ray struggled to the top of a ledge, turned back, and helped Hiei up. The fire demon was having a miserable time in the frigid weather. As he scrambled onto the rocky cliff, K'Ray looked down, measuring their ascent.

"Curse it all," she muttered to the wind. "We've been at this all day and we haven't even hit the halfway point. And what about shelter? I am not sleeping in the rain."

"Will you quit griping?" Hiei snapped. He shivered, pulling his hood lower to ward off the icy droplets.

"No. I'm very happy with whining, thank you very much," K'Ray retorted. She turned, looking up toward Trickster's Cavern. "Well, there's no avoiding it. We'll have to stop and search for shelter."

"Not a chance! We have to find Kurama, not a place for you to primp."

"Primp? Interesting word choice, my friend." The Ryokun smiled, violet eyes shining. "But do you really think it'll help Kurama if we slip on some wet rock and break our necks?"

"Hn. Whatever," Hiei mumbled. He walked along the ledge until he found a cleft in the mountainside. It was a trail that wound around the face of the mountain before becoming lost among the cliffs. "Here. There's a trail here."

"Good." K'Ray took Hiei's hand and pulled him along the trail. "C'mon. I'm sick of being wet."

The two demons walked along the trail for a good hour before any sign of caves was seen. As the first opening was spotted, K'Ray became excited and ran ahead.

"Hey! Come back!" Hiei snapped, but the girl was already hidden by the tall evergreens that shadowed the trail. Cursing fluently, Hiei picked up speed and followed K'Ray's scent through the forest.

After a couple minutes of traveling, Hiei found the cave they had seen from a higher ledge. But there was no sign of K'Ray.

Hiei walked into the clearing, immediately wary. He surreptitiously put his hand close to his katana, in case it was needed.

Suddenly, a large group of unfamiliar kis came up behind him. Spinning around, Hiei came face to face with the oddest people he had ever seen.

They looked human enough from the neck down, clad in the scarlet flowing robes of forest priests. But their heads were those of owls, slightly larger than a normal man's head. The leader, whose robes were embroidered with purple designs, regarded him with round, unblinking yellow eyes.

"Who are you, and why are you near our temple?" the owl priest asked. Hiei stared at him in shock for a moment. How the heck did he talk with that beak?

"My name is Hiei Jaganshi," the fire demon replied. "I meant no harm to your temple. I was passing through with a companion." The polite words tasted bitter on his tongue, but Hiei knew that if he wasn't respectful, he would probably have to fight some very well trained priests.

And when it was twenty to one, respect was the way to go.

"A companion, you say?" the priest asked. "Do you mean the Ryokun?"

With a wave of his hand, two of the owl people came forward. K'Ray was standing between them, looking very frustrated. Hiei was confused. Why hadn't K'Ray killed them when they touched her?

But then he noticed the wards wrapped around the girl's arms, from wrist to elbow. Her legs were covered in the same way, and the wards were painted with designs very similar to the ones Gama had used on Kurama when they fought at the Dark Tournament.

Hiei cursed violently. Why did that stupid girl always get caught! Hellfire, she was more like the fox than he had originally thought.

"Do want your companion back?" the owl priest asked. Hiei rolled his eyes.

"That would be nice, yes," he said. The owl priest ruffled his feathers but didn't comment.

"If you pass our ordeal, you and have the Ryokun back and we will show you the way to Trickster's Cavern. That is where you want to go, is it not?"

Hiei was surprised. "Yes, but how did you-"

"Enough. To gain all we offered, you must pass through the Cave of Nightmares. Sounds easy, right?"

"Piece of cake," Hiei sighed. Great. Another stupid demon religion voodoo thing for him to undertake.

"When you go through this cave, it will show you your heart's truths. And your heart," the priest paused as he bent to look Hiei in the eye, "your heart is in turmoil about who it values the most. You do not know whom you would sacrifice yourself for when the time comes, and it scares you. But beware, for the truth about who you love might break you."

"Hn. Can I just get this over with?" Hiei asked rudely. He hated doing these stupid things! What was the point? What was it going to prove?

"Follow me." The owl priest turned and began to walk towards the cave behind him, Hiei a few steps behind. The priest stopped just before the entrance, motioning towards the velvety darkness before him. "As soon as you step inside, you will not be able to come back. When your heart learns the truth, you will be able to return. All right?"

"Whatever," Hiei snapped. As he walked inside the cave, he heard K'Ray shout.

"Be careful, Hiei! Come back to me!"

The fire demon smiled before plunging into the darkness.

Kurama paused in his hurried escape from the village. He looked back the way he had come, surprised to see how much ground he had covered during the day. The city lights were just small twinklings far away.

He sighed, pushing his wet hair away from his face. It had begun to rain almost as soon as he had left the hotel, and now it was about an hour until nightfall. The fox surveyed his surroundings before deciding to try tackling the cliffs as long as he had light.

Kurama started the hard climb, carefully feeling for handholds as he made his slow ascent up the side. The tricky thing about Hiroku Mountain was its structure. For about a mile it was sheer cliffs up. After that, it looked more like a mountain, complete with forests, trails, everything.

The fox had a hard time of it, slipping a few times and having to double back. Sometimes the ledges widened and Kurama could rest, but it was a rare thing.

As the sun began dipping behind the hills, the boy was at an impasse (yes, that is how it's spelled.) The ledge he was on jutted inwards. A large gorge split the rock near the base of the next cliff that soared upwards on the mountain face. Kurama would have to cross the rift if he was to continue, but how?

Steeling his resolve, the fox leaned over to gage the distance to the bottom. It was deep and very dark, maybe a hundred-foot fall. Not something he wanted to experience. After walking along the rift for a while, Kurama was dismayed to discover that it didn't narrow anywhere, and the smallest place was a good fifty feet across.

The fox kneeled down, taking a seed from his hair. It was a steel-leaf runner, one of the few vines that had a thick enough stem to grow in a horizontal path in mid-air without dipping to the ground. He coaxed the vine to take root in the rift's lip, and with some spirit energy had it grow across the gap to the other side like a bridge. After guiding another couple vines to grow along the original, Kurama estimated it was strong enough to support his weight.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped tentatively onto the makeshift bridge. The vines dipped an inch or two, but otherwise held. He placed both feet onto the vines, thanking Inari for his natural gift of balance. He took another step, and another, and was soon in the middle of his vine bridge.

A brisk wind lifted his crimson hair, causing it to float around him like a fiery hair. Kurama's breath caught in his throat as the breeze brought a bitter scent to him.

BloodRacers.

The bestial creatures were grouped at the lip of the rift. They looked like massive, six hundred pound tigers, with flat, down-thrust, angular faces and glaring slanted eyes. Their six inch claws were stained a bloody red, hence their name. The fur was a velvety, sapphire blue, and their faces were streaked with black stripes. Their barbed, whip-like tails slashed the air behind them.

Kurama quickly studied the group and thanked Fate that these were all males. For both sexes of BloodRacers look exactly the same, except for one major difference.

Females had wings.

One of the BloodRacers placed a heavy paw on the vine bridge. The vines protested but luckily held. Kurama took a few quick steps toward the opposite ledge, knowing that if he didn't make it in time, he would most likely die from the fall.

The BloodRacers growled in frustration. One of them began to roar throatily.

An answering cry resounded from the darkness below. Kurama's head whipped down just in time to see a female BloodRacer come soaring from the depths, its eagle-like wings spread wide.

With a growl it swooped at Kurama, its deadly claws clipping him on the shoulder. The fox cried out as he swayed dangerously to the left, nearly falling. He began to run, desperately heading for the other side.

He never made it. The female BloodRacer's crushing jaws closed around Kurama's shoulder, cracking bone. The force of the impact sent Kurama forward, his feet leaving the bridge.

Both he and the flying demon tumbled into the rift's yawning depths.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Please don't kill me! I really didn't want to end the chapter here, but I decided it would be an excellent cliffhanger. What is Hiei going through in the cave? What about Kurama? I will update really soon, I promise. Things are just kinda rough in my life right now, so no guarantees. But I will try my best! Pleasepleaseplease review! It would mean a lot! Thanks everyone! Until next time!