Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu hakusho. I do, however, own the plot of this story and whatever original characters in it.

Chapter six

Kaleh watched as the youko disappeared into the shadows, not even making a sound. After some time, Kaleh heard some muffled noises, like small animals growling. The sound repeated itself two more times, in two other locations. Soon after, Kurama returned.

"It is done," he simply said before disappearing again in the night.

Kaleh shivered once more. He didn't knew what happened down there, but that youko must be really powerful to take out three youkai patrols in the blink of an eye.

Resuming to his watch, he noticed a small red-headed silhouette crawling towards the central fireplace, noticeable only from a high position like his.

Kurama?…he thought. What the heck? Is that his human form? He looks like a girl.

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Eliminating those three patrols was the easiest thing Kurama ever did. They didn't even realize what happened to them before it was too late.

Crossing the woods enclosing the camp, Kurama approached the leaders' spot. His feet were light and didn't make a sound or left a track. Hiding his youki was easy enough. He knew he could release it anytime.

He waited a few minutes for all the patrols to be close enough to hear what was about to happen, and then he launched his attack.

Kurama's dagger flew through the air and landed right between the eyes of Galuk, killing him instantly. The remaining leaders turned around swiftly, only to discover a red-haired man standing dagger in hand.

"It looks like one of the humans escaped us," said Nork.

"Yeah, and I've come to finish you, you dirty bastards!" exclaimed Kurama defiantly, doing his best to sound like an angry human villager, which wasn't that hard really considering he was angry and already had the human part.

The laughing of Tyag diverted his attention.

"You're bold, human, but not enough! Nork! Kill him!"

Before the lizard youkai could react, Kurama had launched his dagger towards Tyag. The demon, still laughing, was hurt in the abdomen. His laughing transformed into a scream of rage and pain, while Kurama swiftly dodged Nork.

All of this had only taken a few seconds, and the dagger Kurama had launched had fulfilled its purpose: the leader was enraged enough to follow him and his scream had attracted almost all the patrols.

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This human more and more enraged Tyag. Despite his weak appearance, he had managed to escape him and his mercenaries, although almost all of the patrols had come to his call. Then, the mercenaries' chieftain realized that the human was trying to escape them.

Oh no you don't! thought Tyag.

He yelled an order to his mercenaries in a barbaric language. Immediately, the youkais proceeded in pushing the human towards the east of the valley. The number of enemies to face was too much, and the redhead was forced in the ravine.

Finally, after minutes of pursuing, the human was cornered, his back to the cliffs, surrounded by the youkais. Tyag grinned triumphantly, and ordered his men not to attack him. He wanted to kill the human himself.

"So," said the demon, smiling, "it looks like you're trapped boy!"

But to Tyag's surprise, the redhead didn't seem to be terrorized as he should be. In fact, he was smiling.

"Oh no, Tyag the slaver," he said with a cruel smile, "it's you who has fallen into my trap!"

"What?"

But suddenly, a blinding light appeared, sheltering the human from the youkais eyes. At the same time, Tyag felt the rising of power. A power so terrible that he began to choke. When calm returned to the forest, the mercenaries discovered a silver youko standing in the place of the human.

"Who are you?" asked Tyag, his eyes wide in terror.

"My name is Kurama," answered the youko with a smile.

"Kurama?" Tyag blinked a few times before realization strike him. "Not the…"

But the words never left his mouth, for the next moment, apocalypse was unleashed from all sides upon the slavers. And while the fight took place, Kurama idly thought that it was getting pretty annoying to have people ask if was really was Youko Kurama…

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Once he saw the youkais running after Kurama from above, Kaleh left his place and stealthily proceeded to the cages. To his surprise, only one guard was left to look after the prisoners, and Kaleh disposed of him quietly.

Kaleh reached first for the men's cell. One of the guards spotted him as he approached:

"Kaleh! What are you doing here!"

"Obviously, I'm getting you out of this mess!" replied Kaleh, rolling his eyes at the guard's stupidity and putting his dagger in the lock.

"We thought you were dead! How did you survive that house's collapsing?"

If sweatdrops were real, Kaleh was sure they would all be drowned by now. Great, how am I supposed to explain that? He briefly considered saying that the ugly duckling (don't ask, you don't want to know. I swear you don't) had saved him, but then decided that the image didn't fit the youko and wisely decided to settle for a more neutral answer.

"I…received help from an…unexpected ally."

The guard raised an eyebrow at that, and nearly said that he thought Kaleh was going nuts. Suddenly, the guard's eyes widened. Kaleh turn around just in time to see a dozen of mercenaries before engaging them in combat.

The bearded man knew he couldn't resist long with only a short sword and dagger, but he knew that he could take one or two of them out before being killed. Suddenly, one of the youkais fell on his right. Then one on his left. Finally, there was only the one in front of Kaleh remaining, a funnily enough bright pink demon, which the man achieved with one last blow.

"Well, that was close!" said the orange-haired man in front of him.

"Yeah," approved a brown-eyed man. "But these were pretty weak demons: we didn't even had to use our ki!"

"Hn!" was the only remark of the third.

Kaleh looked at them with shock:

"Who are you?" He finally croaked out.

The brown-eyed man looked at him, then said with a goofy grin on his face:

"I'm Yusuke, this is Hiei and the big mouth there is…"

"I'M KUWABARA KAZUMA THE MIGHTY!" declared the orange-haired man. "I'M…"

But whatever he was about to say never got out of his mouth, for Hiei jumped on him and began to beat him, from which ensued a classical fight Hiei/Kazuma. Not even bothering to notice, Yusuke exclaimed:

"Well! What about getting your friends out of there?"

Kaleh approved after some time to admit the fact that three other powerful beings were helping him.

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The villagers, under Kaleh's direction and Yusuke's group protection, were fleeing the valley when a silver fox appeared at their side.

"KURAMA!" yelled the three companions.

"What…you know him?" asked Kaleh, puzzled.

"They're my friends," said youko Kurama in a growl, although I would very much like to know what they are doing here…" Yusuke smiled. Kuwabara smiled. Hiei frowned because he didn't understand what the two bakas were smiling for – having Kurama angry wasn't a good idea. A series of glances later, Yusuke pointed to Kuwabara, while Kuwabara pointed to Hiei.

"It's all his fault!" they said. Hiei raised and an eyebrow and silently pointed at Kuwabara (who else?).

They all looked at each other, then….

"It's all his fault!" Yusuke at Hiei and Kuwabara at Yusuke. Hiei kept pointing at Kuwabara. When they noticed this, the two others were upset. Kurama could feel a headache coming.

"Hiei!" chided Yusuke. "You're supposed to point to me!"

"Why?" asked the fire demon.

"Because it's how the game goes!"

"What game?"

"The game where we all point at someone else and no one agrees on who's the culprit!" Yusuke pouted.

"Why?" Hiei was lost. What the hell were they talking about?

"Because that way Kurama will never find out!"

This was getting annoying. "Find out what?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes. Hiei was either faking it, or he was incredibly stupid at times. He took a breath to try and explain patiently to Hiei what was going on. Of course, he had forgotten about a certain big mouth.

"So he doesn't find out that Yusuke and I tried to find what he was doing and that you helped us tracking him shrimp!" he blurted. Everyone's eyes went wide, and then Kurama's energy started crackling in the air.

The youko was starting to have a headache. Then, looking at the exhausted humans, he said: "We should stop and make camp for the night."

"What about those slavers?" asked Kaleh, trying very hard not to laugh.

"If Kurama is here, it means that you have nothing to fear from those demons anymore!" exclaimed Yusuke. He should have known better than talking. The youko raised one eyebrow. Yusuke gulped.

"I'll deal with you later," Kurama said and then turned and leaved them standing there.

Soon after, the humans had settled around campfires, and were eating vegetables that Kurama had generously (and to almost everyone's surprise) summoned. Of course, even after a threat by one of the most powerful and feared youkais around, the threesome weren't satisfied. So they crept silently up to the sole person who could possibly answer their questions.

"Hey! Kaleh!" Yusuke hissed.

"Yes?"

The three companions gathered around him with devilish grins on their faces, making the man feel nervous.

"Do you happen to know who's the fox's lover?" asked Kuwabara.

"Huh? Lover?" What are they talking about?

"Yeah! The owner of the blond lock!" asked Yusuke with an evil grin.

To their surprise, Kaleh ended out laughing, sprawled on the floor, and he stayed like that for about twenty minutes. When his laugher finally calmed down, Kaleh, unable to speak yet, guided them to a small fire on the outskirts of the camp. What they saw there dumbfounded them all: Kurama - that millennia aged, cruel and insensible youko - was rocking a small blond girl of about six years old in his arms.

"What? You mean…she…That's impossible!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Kurama hissed. "She's sleeping!" Then more menacingly: "If you wake her up, I promise I will kill you!"

The others gulped (well, except for Hiei) and decided wisely that no comments were required.

The End.

Author's note:

Well, here you have it. The final chapter. Wow, I actually finished a story. (big smile) Go me! (cough) Anyway, hum, reviews.

Well folks, this is the end of it. To all those who reviewed, thanks a lot. Reviews are fuel for writers. :D I don't know if I'll ever write a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic anytime near soon, but oh well. Maybe.

Until next time,

Ellenlome.