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PART 1

In The Blood

By: Gemini

Reikon no Shoseki

Chapter 1:

500 years ago

(A lone woman lay panting on a bed of grass, the shade of a large tree partially covering her yet exposing her body to the moon less night. She was clothed in rags of white and black and her body was bruised and straining as she lay panting on the hard, unforgiving ground. Screaming, she arched her back and groaned out in pain as her lower regions urged her child further into the cruel world, a world the once beautiful woman was now eternally aware of. Panting, coughing, and crying tears of agony, the woman laid back after her contraction passed and a single tear slid from the corner of her husky gray eyes. She had no strength left in her body, she had no idea how she was supposed to bring a child into the world...a child conceived in love, but loved by only one.)

"What is your name?"

"………"

Koenma tried in vain to get a response from the floating apparition in front of him. Any response, even a twitch would've done. Unfortunately his efforts were once again in vain.

"Do you remember anything about your death?

"………" Nothing, not even a blink.

The tall, beautiful, well-endowed woman floating in front of his wide oak desk made no attempt to speak, move, or even twitch an eyelash as he continued questioning her, gaining the same response after every question; complete and utter silence. Long, ash-blonde hair lay along her back in long, ragged clumps, and her once bright blue eyes were staring emotionlessly ahead at a blank spot on the far wall. This was wrong.

Something about this situation was entirely wrong.

For the first time in his entirely long life, Koenma was stumped; absolutely 100 percent stumped. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. This was the third spirit in less than two weeks that had made the journey to spirit world only to act practically catatonic in his presence. Scratch that. The woman was catatonic, like a spirit vegetable.

Koenma trembled inside, trying in vain not to express to his assistant how truly frightened he was at these ghastly turn of events. And things had been going so good lately, but alas, all good things must come to an end. But why did the good have to turn into something so wrong?

'This is not good.' Koenma sighed to himself, rubbing his temples. This woman should not be this way, in fact she shouldn't have been there at all. A small chill traveled up his spine at the prospect that he just might have to call in his retired team; something he knew they would not appreciate. Especially Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara, who were just beginning to get on with their separate lives. Hiei wouldn't like it because, well, he's Hiei and there are very few things in life Hiei likes. The only one who might be just a little happy about calling the team would be Botan. After retiring as Yusuke's assistant, she'd gone back to her old job of directing souls to the afterlife. To say the least, she was becoming a bit annoying, popping into his office at random times, simply wanting to 'talk' or 'catch up'. Honestly, he'd never seen Botan act so desperate for company since she was but a newly born Grim Reaper.

Yusuke had returned a year ago and looked to be settling in with Keiko. He was still being dragged to school, something which shocked everyone, including Kurama and Keiko, since High School started even earlier then Junior High. But something about Yusuke had changed after his whole stint in the Makai. He was driven, more passionate about wanting to find his place in the world. Whenever he was feeling discontented, he would simply make the journey to the Makai, occasionally accompanied by Kurama and even Hiei, if the temperamental apparition wasn't too busy working for Mukuro.

Kuwabara had changed the most and had severely applied himself while Yusuke and the others were off gallivanting in the tournament. He was more serious and goal-oriented, not to mention less cocky and arrogant. He was studying much harder then he ever had in his entire life and was still very much in love with Yukina, taking the time to visit her on his days off from school. He and Yusuke were still best friends (though neither Yusuke nor Kuwabara would ever admit to that) and still roughhoused like always.

Kurama had, much to the surprise of everyone else, decided to hold off on going to college, having graduated from his High School just before the start of the Makai Tournament. Everyone had assumed he would simply go back and finish school once he had put his past behind him, but he had surprised everyone when he informed them that he was moving out of his mother's house and working at his step father's firm for the time being. To this day, no one knew the real reason why he hadn't completed his schooling, seeing as he graduated with top honors, but no one bothered to question him either. It was doubtful he would have answered them anyway, as Kurama was still as aloof as ever when it came to his personal life.

Hiei still lived with Mukuro and worked as part of the border patrol, seeing as he would still be serving for another two years at least until the next tournament would commence. Hiei rarely visited the Ningenkai anymore, though he made it a point to stop in from time to time to check on Kurama (seeing as how they were partners and Kurama was just about the only one Hiei trusted) and even Yusuke once or twice. Now, he mainly just showed up whenever Yusuke or Kurama traveled to the Makai to train, spar or simply to attain some fresh air.

Koenma cursed to himself, coming out of his reverie as he spotted Botan standing nervously in the corner, shooting confused glances between him and the speechless woman. Immediately his mind tuned into the problem at hand. This woman shouldn't be this way, though sudden deaths do occur, whenever a person's body passes, their soul breathes new life in a sense and completes the journey to Reikai. However, spirits were not supposed to be as their physical bodies. They were not supposed to act, well--dead.

Bodies became catatonic and soon become spirits or ghosts as they make their way to the after life. But once they cross over they should appear as they did in real life.

As it was, Botan had picked this latest case up not even a half an hour ago and knew right away that something was wrong. For one, this woman's death was clearly accidental, meaning it was not an assigned death. See, from the moment of a child's birth, that child has been given a destiny, a specific path to follow, a life to lead, all supposed to lead up to their scheduled, preordained death. Whether the death is peaceful, painful, or otherwise, it was all planned. That was how things were supposed to be. They weren't supposed to be like this. You see, when a being dies, or 'crosses over' as many humans were calling the great journey into the beyond these days, the spirit breathed new life in a sense, living their days in either Reikai's heaven or hell (until they filed for reincarnation); simple as that, but these spirits...

Sighing, Koenma rubbed his eyes and tried once again, still attempting to converse with the silent apparition.

"Please, please," Koenma stopped and scowled, wondering if he really was as whiny as Yusuke claimed he was. "Tell me who you are, who killed you, and why."

"………"

Not a peep, not even a blink.

Koenma caught a glance at a blank folder, a folder which should have had this woman's entire life story displayed in a carefully organized fashion. It was Botan's job to collect a newly deceased soul's folder upon the pickup of a new soul; a folder that all people carried throughout their lives (sort of like an invisible book that wrote down everything about you and what happened during your life span) however when she retrieved this woman's 'book', she came across a startling revelation. Instead of a folder containing some pretty crucial and very badly needed information, it was blank; as blank as the woman standing slouched in front of his desk. If this hadn't happened twice before, Koenma might have had no cause for concern. After all, mistakes were often made when you were dealing with billions, upon billions of souls that needed to be organized, judged, and placed. It was easy to misplace someone's information, but only after the folder has been delivered. It was as if this woman's entire life had been completely erased, like she'd never existed at all.

Koenma gave a low whimper and buried his head into his pint-sized arms, oblivious to the sounds of discomfort Botan was making from across the room.

"Is-is it time sir?" She trembled, with excitement or fear Koenma had no idea.

Wordlessly, Koenma gave a single nod and Botan practically flew from the room before he could speak again.

"Botan!" Koenma shouted a bit too loudly, apologizing when Botan came careening back into the room, eyes wide with panic as she sat half on top of her oar.

"What, what is it!" She burst out, glancing around excitedly. "Did I forget something?"

Despite himself and the seriousness of the situation, Koenma couldn't help but chuckle at the look on his Ferry Girl's face. Her flushed skin was bright and glowing, her eyes were wide in confusion, shock, and terror.

Koenma simply sighed and turned to the motionless entity still standing stalk-still in front of him.

"Please take this…woman…to a room. I can't place her if I don't have any information on her and I want some Reikai doctors to check her out, see if the psychics can come up with a reason for her---condition."

"Of course, Koenma-sir," Botan replied, taking the arm of the woman and placing her on the oar, wrapping her arms lightly, yet solidly around the poor spirit before starting off slowly instead of fast, so as not to startle the woman if indeed she was more 'awake' than she appeared. Botan quickly found a room, alerted a passing Reikai doctor and had just started out the door when a whispered word called faintly from behind caught her attention.

"….c-cold…." Botan let out a little shriek of fright at the haunting sound. She gasped, startled, turning back to face the ghost, but the woman was still as motionless as ever as she sat on the edge of a crisp white bed, arms placed delicately at her sides, body slumped slightly, and eyes as hazy as they had been in Koenma's office. The blank look was still present in the woman's eyes and Botan shook off the feeling of increasing terror. 'Oh, Botan, you silly girl, you're just hearing things,' she told herself, trying to giggle in vain, though it came out sounding a bit strained and fake.

As she left, Botan took no notice as the woman's head turned slightly and her eyes flashed once before glowing an eerie golden color, two twin diamond blue tears falling out of each eye, before she blinked once and her eyes faded into a husky gray, her mind once again lost to her silent fate.

"Mmm…lunch," Yusuke breathed to himself as he lay half slumped under his favorite tree while devouring half of a ham sandwich in a single bite. He rubbed his aching belly, belching rather rudely, ready to peer into his sack lunch, wondering if Keiko had packed him anything decent to eat.

Since his return to school just last year, Keiko had taken to packing his lunch for him, part of his motivation to actually attend the stupid dump; not that she would ever know should he skip a class or two, since she was in a grade higher than him, in the same class as Kuwabara. Much to Yusuke's surprise, he'd been accepted back to school, but he hadn't been able to attend with his graduating class. Instead they'd held him back a year, seeing as he'd missed a great bit while off fighting in the Demon Tournament. He was 19 now and should have been a senior with two of his best friends, however he'd missed a great deal of crucial schooling while fighting in the tournament, and he'd had to do some major studying and test taking to even be accepted into high school. Yusuke mentally gave thanks to Kurama for having the time and patience to help him with his school work. Keiko had tried to help him as well, but she was easily frustrated with his lack of concentration and angered quite frequently at his blasé attitude. Kurama, however, had much more patience and came up with new innovative ways that kept Yusuke on task long enough for the information to actually sink into his brain.

He didn't really care one way or the other which grade he was in. It wasn't like he had much else to do after high school anyway. No college would accept him, even though he managed to surprise everyone, Keiko more so, by attaining fairly decent grades.

'Who would have ever though that I, Yusuke Urameshi, could actually learn something from this stupid place,' he snorted to himself. In all honestly, if

Yusuke were being truthful to himself, part of the reason he'd hated school so much in the first place, was because of his teachers. Practically everyone, except Takanaka, had unfairly marked him as a bad apple as soon as he'd stepped foot on campus. True, his reputation had started much earlier than junior high, but the teachers had added fuel to the fire, telling students to be wary of him, and finding new ways to make sure he failed his tests or got into trouble. So why would he want to attend class when all he would receive were low marks and snide comments about his character?

"Grr." Yusuke growled to himself, being mindful not to power up, lest he want to draw any unwanted demons his way. With Enki's laws enforced the barriers had been dropped, but that didn't mean that the occasional demon didn't pop up just to give him some shits and giggles. But they were all weak fools; none of them could hold a candle to the power he possessed in his finger. "Hmph, let them come," he grumbled, smirking.

"Maybe that's just what I need today. Things have been too quiet lately and I could use a little exercise. Don't want to get fat now." He openly grinned at his last thought, knowing that in his physical condition, that was probably impossible, seeing as how he still maintained a flawless physique brought on by years of careful training and Genkai's 'evil boot camp.' 'Hm…speaking of that old crone, I wonder what she's up to these days.'

"I didn't take you as someone being particularly vain, Yusuke," a soft alto-sexy voice spoke up. Yusuke ignored his tree-hugging friend in favor of scowling at the last few contents of the sack. Yuck. He hated oranges. Didn't Keiko know him enough by now to remember something like that? And she claimed she knew everything about him. With a sneer and a half growl he wordlessly caught the apple thrown by a rather cheerful spirit fox, tossing him the orange in exchange. He took a bite out of the juicy red apple and looked up as Kurama leapt gracefully out of the tree and sat down beside the grumbling Toushin, taking out a wicked-looking penknife and peeling the orange.

"I'm not, that's your area of expertise," Yusuke taunted, wincing as a blade of grass rubbed him enough to give him a small, yet annoying, paper cut. Yusuke simply sighed and lifted his arm, swiping away the tiny droplet of blood, before settling a dark look at his red headed friend.

"What are you doing here anyway?" He demanded, his look more curious than angry.

Kurama shrugged and his eyes glimmered with humor. "Afraid someone might see us and ruin your reputation?"

Yusuke gave a chuckle and swiped another blade of grass, popping it in his mouth after disposing of his apple and tossing the sticky mess away.

"No, I'm more worried about yours."

When Kurama gave him a curious look, Yusuke shook his head and grinned.

"When those stupid fan girls of yours (both boys shared equal horrified looks and shuddered) get wind that you're hanging out with The Yusuke Urameshi, your reputation as being the perfect model student will be tarnished beyond your control. Hell, they'll probably be after you more, convinced you're some sort of delinquent in disguise…how little they know." Yusuke laughed as Kurama growled and his eyes flashed gold. He was about to make a leap for the smirking detective when both men heard what sounded like a girlish shriek of fear.

Both boys were mildly surprised in the midst of their play to spot Botan careening towards them at a speed which shouldn't have been possible. However, seeing as this was Botan and the cheery woman was prone to going faster than the average Ferry Girl, they weren't too terribly worried when she practically fell out of the sky, crashing into the tree above their heads. Yusuke shook his head as Kurama murmured, "the poor tree," and went to aid Botan out of the foliage.

When she and Kurama emerged, Yusuke began laughing, immediately spotting little twigs and leaves sticking out from all over her hair. Even Kurama had covered his mouth, light chuckles escaping from behind his hand.

"Yusuke, you jerk!" She cried, smashing her oar over top his head after she came out of her daze.

"Ow, Botan, what was that for!" Yusuke cried, clutching his head with both hands. "Geez."

After everything had calmed down and Yusuke stopped hopping around, Kurama turned to Botan and calmly addressed her.

"How are you Botan? Is there a reason you've come?"

"Oh," Botan blinked. "I totally forgot! You have to come with me quickly!"

Yusuke and Kurama went on alert, becoming serious (well more serious than before), though inside Yusuke knew this had to do with a new case of some kind.

"What's up, Botan?" Yusuke growled. "Are we being pulled out of retirement? Don't tell me that toddler's finally found something interesting for me to do."

"Er, well, sort of," Botan laughed nervously. "Please, just come. I promise you we wouldn't have even considered calling you in if something major hadn't happened. He's even sent word to Mukuro."

Now that was a surprise which raised even Kurama's eyebrows. If Koenma tried to contact Mukuro, he must be searching for Hiei…and the little fire apparition had always caused nervousness in the tiny lord. For Koenma to even attempt to bring Hiei in, something extreme must have occurred.

"Of course we'll come," Kurama answered for them, taking note that Kuwabara's energy was heading straight for them. It took only a matter of moments before the tallest member of their little entourage was upon them as he stopped and braced his elbows on his knees.

"Hey, I felt Botan's energy all the way across campus. What's going on?"

"We don't know yet, dodo-head," Yusuke growled, though his growl was laced with fondness and familiarity. "And we would have known by now if we weren't waiting for your sorry ass."

"Grr, there's no time for this," Botan growled, grabbing Yusuke and Kuwabara by the back of her shirts and taking off, Kurama sitting calm and composed behind her as he helped hold onto the two quarreling ruffians.

'Some things never change.'

Yusuke couldn't help but feel a little rush of excitement flow through him as he and his crew clamored along behind Botan as they hurried to meet with Koenma. It had been a long time since he'd had to deal with any problem, besides the occasion stupid oni stirring up trouble. But he was retired and Koenma had yet to call him back on duty, seeing as how his father still wanted the Toushin quite below the earth, preferably in hell. As it was, his steps began to pick up the pace and he practically ran into the office, only partially noticing that everything was silent and not anything like his first trip into Reikai.

"What do you want now, you diaper-wearing, pacifier-sucking--"

'Oh, great,' Koenma moaned, tuning his detective out. Over the years he had long since learned to wave off the Toushin's taunts and jeers, though this was clearly not the time to be doing so. He just didn't have the patience to deal with Yusuke's crap today. 'Not this again. I was hoping he would have grown up a bit, but it appears he still hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut.'

"Yusuke!" Koenma bit out sharply. "Now isn't the time, we have a serious problem."

Contrary to most believers, Yusuke wasn't stupid. He did know when Koenma was being completely serious and the somber feel of the room left little doubt in his mind that this wasn't simply a prank nor a 'simple mission'. Still, he couldn't resist one more jive. After all, it had been so long.

"You need a diaper change?"

Koenma rubbed his temples, willing himself not to get upset. He was too worried to be upset.

"We have a serious problem that needs to be dealt with, immediately." Koenma decided to start, without any of his detectives 'opening the floor' so to speak.

He stood up and flicked a button on his computer board bringing up a picture of three individuals, one being the entity he'd previously tried to question. "In the past two weeks something magnanimous and over all chilling has occurred that could upset the balance of the three worlds as we know it. We have here three spirits that cannot remember a single shred of information about their life, not even their own names."

"What does that mean?" Yusuke broke in. "What do you mean they don't remember anything?"

Koenma looked for a way to explain this to the young Toushin when Kurama decided to cut in and explain before Koenma lost what little patience he possessed.

"You see Yusuke, when you die, as you've already experienced, you become a ghost. You already know this. However what you don't know is that from the time of your birth to the time of your death, all the events in your life have been recorded and preordained. From the bad to the good, from the horrifying to the supernatural, everything that has ever occurred in your life has been written and recorded in a type of book."

Yusuke mulled over Kurama's words thinking back to the time of his first death, the first time he met Botan. All of a sudden his mind sprouted the picture of a younger-looking Botan holding some type of book in her hand, her lips moving as she read about his life as a misunderstood delinquent.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that, that little book that Botan carried around has every single moment of my life written in it?" Yusuke asked, a bit of awe shining through his voice. That must be a pretty thick file, he snickered to himself. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, you said that everything was preordained and that means…I WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE THEN! That's why you didn't have space, because I wasn't supposed to fill it! And that's why you brought me back, because I was supposed to save the world and die several times over. Are you telling me that my destiny was supposed to be this way, that I was supposed to work for you, that my death wasn't an accident and that someone beyond my ability to see or comprehend, created that destiny for me!"

"Precisely," Koenma stated, a bit amazed himself. He hadn't thought about it like that before. Fate really was a funny bitch.

"That's it, give me that book!" He demanded stalking over to Botan, mentally wondering what else he would have to go through before his 'scheduled' death, true death. Not the dying and coming back to life thing like the last three times. Botan backed up and Kurama stopped Yusuke, reminding him that he was here because of a case and not for personal reasons. After all someone had to be the voice of reason.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Yusuke mumbled, turning back to face Koenma and shooting Kurama a small smile of thanks. His powers were brimming off the hook and if he were really being honest with himself, he actually rather liked his fate. He liked being more than the average human and he liked having the sense of security his powers gave him. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what else was in store for him. Seeing as he was a demon, he was pretty sure he'd live a much longer life span than everyone else, well the humans at least.

"So what's the problem then?" Kuwabara asked, gazing at the pictures, wondering why all the spirits looked as if they had seen a ghost when they themselves were ghosts.

"What do these book thingies or whatever youcall them, have to do with those spirits?"

"The Reikon no Shoseki, is the general name for every book meaning Book of Soul. For example, your book is Reikon no Shoseki: Yusuke Urameshi. The problem is that these souls didn't come with a Reikon no Shoseki."

When he got blank stares from Yusuke and Kuwabara, Koenma turned a speculative eye onto Kurama noticing the spirit fox mulling over this new piece of information. Koenma knew the mind of the fox was a powerful thing and inside Kurama was doing all he could to hold in the outburst sure to emerge, if he were anyone else. No doubt, the genius had already fit the pieces together. To bad, this was only the beginning and not even the fox's brilliance may be able to solve this mystery.

"So what you're saying is that you have no records of those three whatsoever, am I correct?" Kurama started slowly, being mindful of how he proceeded in his

speech. "You have no name, no identity to go by; you don't even know if they're human or demons that inhabited the Ningenkai for a short time before

expiring." He accused, eyes narrowed and desperately wishing to know what this meant. Something like this shouldn't have happened. Kurama knew well of Reikai's Reikon no Shoseki having spent time in Koenma's personal library when he needed information. He knew that every soul was assigned a passage in life, so as to help judge the person once their soul passed on.

"Tell me, Koenma," Kurama theorized. "These spirits…they are without speech and/or movement, are they not?"

He watched as Koenma nodded his head wearily. "We have here three spirits who cannot remember anything. Everything, all their records, anything that would prove their existence has vanished, disappeared, been wished away. There is nothing left to prove that they ever lived at all. Do you understand what this means?"

Kurama and Botan knew exactly what it meant. It meant something powerful was building, something powerful enough to erase a person's identity. Yusuke and

Kuwabara caught on as well, each concerned that they may be facing yet another faceless enemy, one that clearly possessed true power, power unlike anything that has ever seen before.

Yusuke's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. He was sure as hell not going to let some shadow entity get the best of him. He wanted to solve this case before anyone else wound up with these same sad results. Your death was supposed to bring you to paradise, not drive you deeper into insanity--unless of course you deserved it. In Reikai, what you've done in life has a way of coming back to bite you on the ass, especially if it was something bad. The three entities on the screen looked nothing like the lively individuals that inhabited Reikai. It was apparent that they were not granted a happy passing. But they should have been entitled to a happy after life and he was going to make damn sure this didn't happen again.

"And what do you want us to do about this, Koenma?" Yusuke demanded, a bit forcefully, surprising them a bit at his tenacity. Koenma reasoned he shouldn't be so surprised. When Yusuke was concerned or angered about something, he made damn sure the world knew it. It's what made Yusuke as powerful as he was. Rage was a powerful motivator to the young, and more often than not, brash Toushin. And he took great care in kicking ass whenever there was ass to be kicked.

"I want you three to investigate each scene the bodies were picked up from. It is apparent that the three spirits were murdered, since Botan picked up each and every one of them without a body in sight."

"Kami…no body either," Kuwabara gasped, truly frightened and sickened by what he'd heard.

"Kuwabara, your spiritual powers should be able to at least pick up the feelings and emotions of the places, giving you somewhat of an idea into what happened. And take Hiei as well, since his Jagan Eye will be useful in picking up anything else."

At that second, the double doors on the other side of the office flew open and Hiei stalked in, arms crossed in front of his chest, mouth open and waiting to mouth off to the first person who dared speak to him. Before he could even speak, Botan was already rushing

Kuwabara and Yusuke out the door, while Kurama grabbed onto Hiei, paying no mind to the slight, angered growl Hiei let off at Kurama's handling of his person.

"What's going on fox?" Hiei bit out, while Kurama leaned down and began explaining the situation.

Kuwabara shivered, fear racing up and down his spine, upon the realization that something was terribly wrong here. It was late into the night and it was the third location Botan had brought the four teammates to after picking up only a few minor details from the last two 'hotspots'.

Glancing around the darkened alleyway Kuwabara shivered, abhorring the feelings and emotions he was picking up. He shook off Yusuke's hand clenched in his shirt, who was attempting to keep him walking, and stopped dead in his tracks as a horrifying feeling swept through his entire body, goose bumps shooting up and the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention. Interestingly enough, Hiei had stopped as well, exchanging confused glances with the dumbfounded spiritualist as he too picked up on the left over impressions of this place.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked gruffly. Although not as spiritually aware as his two friends, even he was picking up on some pretty strong vibes, and not the kind you wanted to be exposed to.

"Kuwabara, are you picking something up?" Kurama murmured, placing a comforting hand on his taller friend's shoulder, attempting to calm the gentle human. He knew a human's mind was a fragile thing and the feelings left over in this alley could not have been very pleasant. He mentally applauded Kuwabara for keeping it together as long as he had.

"It-it was here," Kuwabara stammered, sending thanks to Kurama and Yusuke for their combined efforts. "She was killed here. The blonde woman Koenma showed us a picture of. She died here, at this very spot. I can feel it." Kuwabara groaned internally. It was times like this he really cursed his psychic awareness. He didn't want to be feeling this, feeling her. This place felt off. She felt off. Something horrible had happened here, to her.

Yusuke and Kurama looked to Hiei who gave a simple nod of confirmation to corroborate with what Kuwabara was relaying. Hiei gritted his teeth and fought like hell to prevent these feelings from affecting him. He had seen his own fair share of death and murder in his long life, but recent events in the past few years had opened up a space in his heart he had long since identified as pity...something he had allowed himself to feel for no one, not even himself.

"Murder," Hiei stated, unemotionally.

"Pain," Kuwabara echoed, shivering as he attempted to block out the lingering sensations of the dead woman.

"Fear," Yusuke picked up, moving closer to his teammates, though he would deny it should anyone say he was doing it for comfort.

"Loss," Kurama finished, without so much as a blink, though his soul was feeling a strange sort of emptiness. He too had seen and accomplished much in his life span, seeing as he was still a few centuries older than Hiei. And while he too was no stranger to murder, pain, and death, he had yet to see anyone die without leaving so much as a hair behind. Even his plants eventually regurgitated what they ate, coughing up bone and ash as they spat out the leftovers of their prey.

"There is something else isn't there?" Kurama speculated glancing at Hiei and noticing the Fire Apparition was frowning at something.

"Fox," Hiei stated bluntly. "She was being hunted."

"What!" Yusuke burst out. "What do you mean she was being hunted; by a demon? And what kind of demon would have the power to blank a person's existence?"

"But it wasn't," Kuwabara whispered, eyes wide with horror. He could practically hear the screams of torture and pain the poor woman suffered before her death. He even picked up the stray sounds of some kind of screeching animal, roaring in triumph as it bit into her. He closed his eyes and the images vanished before he could see what it was that was attacking her.

"Wasn't what?" Yusuke whispered, finding he was dreading the answer as much as everyone else.

Strained silence met him before Kuwabara answered in barely a whisper.

"A demon."

Yusuke looked to Kurama and Kuwabara, as Hiei nodded shortly, confirming the human's suspicions.

"What was it?" Yusuke asked, while Hiei blinked and Kurama shrugged. Both demons knew there were several other types of powerful entities in the world, and that it could be anything.

"We should return to Spirit World now. Koenma should be made aware of this," Kurama murmured softly before clasping his hands together and praying that the murdered woman find peace eventually. No one should have suffered such a horrifying death, nor should they be forced to live in Reikai in such a paralyzed state. He hoped one day someone would find a cure to heal the spirits so they could go on to live a happy after life. He just hoped that none of his friends would ever have to suffer such a fate.

Koenma knew two things the instant his detectives walked through the door; one, they had found something, which ultimately should have been cause for relief, and two, that 'something' wasn't good. By the somber faces of Kurama and Hiei and the slouched forms of both Kuwabara and Yusuke, Koenma could tell this was not going to be good.

Ten minutes later his suspicions were confirmed. "You're telling me neither human nor demon killed them?" He blinked, wondering why Karma had decided to punish him by giving him the biggest case of his life, knowing that before the case was solved, many more people stood the possibility of dying.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed. "Both Kuwabara and Hiei can attest to that."

"And you're sure it couldn't possibly be some sort of hanyou or hybrid of some sort."

"Look, toddler, we told you what we know, so stop asking us shit," Yusuke demanded tiredly, not even attempting to hide the exhaustion on his face as he kept his attention on Kuwabara who had to be helped over to the soft couch by Kurama. Kuwabara's psyche was all tapped out and his mind was distraught over the deaths of three seemingly innocent individuals. Above all, Kuwabara hated senseless killed and the harming of innocent people. It was part of his ever faithful code and why his soul remained so pure and never changing.

Koenma sighed, rubbing his temples together, as a new possibility began to take shape. It was possible, truly possible, that he might have to call in an old ally, someone he knew might hold the answers to which he needed. But there was a problem. The woman held no loyalties to Reikai and he was truly loathe to ask her to meet with him, seeing as how he had said some particularly nasty things the last time he called her in.

To say the least, they'd had a bit of a conflict the last time they'd come into contact with each other. And however truly immovable and emotionless she acted, there was no telling how she felt or if she still carried a grudge. But it seemed as if he had no choice, if what his detectives were telling him was accurate, she would be a very valuable asset, if indeed she carried the secrets to whatever he was dealing with.

Under the watchful eye of his detectives, Koenma took out a ruby red pendant, Kurama's eyes narrowing as the pendant looked remarkably similar to his old partner's, though there were several differences. Koenma paid his detectives no mind, Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei watching him carefully, wondering what he was doing. He held up the wicked talisman in the form of a large tear drop and roughly the size of his hand and began the spell that would call her to him.

His mouth began moving and even Kurama with the sharpest ears struggled to hear what it was Koenma was whispering; but the words spoken didn't sound at all like any known language, not even the Demon Language sounded anything like this. It was like a cross between French and Spanish with a twist of something darker and a bit more sultry, the words both flowing and alien as Koenma chanted the spell. Once he was done, he sat down and waited, knowing that she would appear in time. No matter how many times the vivacious creature said she hated him, his father, and the Reikai, she always did come when he called for her, if not simply to humor him, but to drive him insane with her vicious cruelty and that satanic mischievous side that tended to border on deranged. Her sense of humor was really whacked out.

It was late into the night and Yusuke and Kuwabara were sleeping peacefully on the couch, while Kurama and Hiei stayed standing with their eyes closed, enjoying the dark and letting their senses relax a bit. The whole office was flooded with darkness, which should have had everyone asleep hours ago. As it was, Hiei and Kurama were both still puzzling over the strange deaths, though their faces reflected none of their thoughts. Koenma was the only one still alert, knowing that with his next guest, it was wise to keep up your guard.

Almost as if he'd cued her himself, wicked laughter floated into the room, seeming to caress everyone from all sides, startling the detectives, who jumped and tried to pinpoint the exact location the sounds were coming from. Koenma winced, knowing that she wouldn't be seen unless she wished it so.

"Oh how the tables have turned." A voice, husky and seductive, pierced the heavy silence, Koenma trying in vain to snuffle his rapid breaths, though he knew she could smell his nervousness from wherever she was. She was cruel like that. And she enjoyed games, some of her favorites seeing him squirm and trying to get him in trouble with his father…something that always seemed to occur whenever she was around. She got some sort of sadistic pleasure from it.

"Kagome," Koenma said eyes searching for the figure he knew he wouldn't be able to find.

Hiei was growling loudly, a bit miffed that someone had been able to get by his senses without him feeling them. Kurama's eyes were shifting from emerald to gold and back again as it seems Yoko had awakened at last, attempting to aid his counterpart in discovering the apparent female's whereabouts.

"Oi! Come out whoever you are and maybe, just maybe, I won't kick your ass!" Yusuke taunted, refusing to shiver when what felt like a finger, ran down the center of his spine.

Koenma never noticed as a shadow-encased figure emerged from behind, but his detectives sure did, however only by the increasing darkness her shadow created. Seeing their reactions as all four's gazes were directed behind him, he stiffened when he felt the hand on his shoulder, gasping as sweat began to run down his face. Why, oh why, did this woman delight in causing him such fear? Even Hiei on one of his worst days didn't scare him as much as this woman did.

Kagome allowed a smirk to drift across her face, though she knew not even the piercing eyes of the fox avatar she sensed, could see it. She chuckled and placed her milky white face, almost translucent in the darkness, next to his ear, inhaling deeply and delighting in the tiny ruler's fear as it gathered and bunched beneath her superior senses.

"What have you summoned me for?" She asked at last, her voice booming out through all corners of the room and yet it couldn't have been louder than a whisper.

"From what I understand you find my kind repulsive." Kagome finished coldly.

"I-I don't-," Koenma defended weakly, cursing himself for acting so weak in front of his team. He was supposed to be a ruler, a Kami. Why couldn't he will his body to cooperate? Although, perhaps it was because this particular devil woman gave him the willy's like you wouldn't believe.

"I believe your exact words to me were 'you bloodsucking, bitch from hell' and something about 'dead whores', 'pole dancers', and 'coffin bait'. Where you got all those creative parallels from I'll never know," Kagome stated calmly, pursing her lips. "Although, I do have to give you points for being the most original."

Koenma winced upon hearing the words pour like honey from those full lips. He couldn't deny it---after all it was true. But she had started it. He had simply asked her a question she refused to answer and it had angered him severely. But perhaps he did get a little carried away when he had threatened to drive a stake through her heart, calling her a 'paranoid harpy' and telling her to keep her information since it 'probably wasn't very useful at all, like her'. She had merely laughed off his threat, informing him that others had tried and failed and he would be no different.

And right now, Koenma knew he needed to grovel like he never groveled before, like he used to do to his father before learning to stand up to the old tyrant. And above all things, Kagome was a proud creature and detested being insulted in the manner that she had. It would indeed take a lot of groveling and some well-placed compliments to get her to answer his questions and maybe find the answers he was seeking.

One thing was certain, though. Whatever he was going to do, he needed to do it now.

Well that's it...and a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig thank you to our only reviewer, FuzzyPurpleWatermelons for being our ONLY reviewer. Please, continue to read this story and when you do, remember to leave us a review!

GeminiKK