Riz:

This fanfic will be dedicated to SatAnubis116, who I have never met, but loved like my own sister...

Chapter Twelve: Twilight; The Reality of Things

The light bulb flickered in its last dying breath, gasping for what little electricity it can take in. Turning on the tap, Roviel sniffed in disgust as copper flecked water gushed out. And just when she thought life couldn't get any worse. Washing away the dirt, she checked the time on her watch. Still have ten minutes, that's enough time. No need to hurry, rea...

The sound of a crashing body shook the half-lit room, sending cracked tiles exploding on the filthy ground. Running out, she skidded around the corner, necklace in hand for any attacks. Rushing over to the platform, six still bodies met her amber gaze, each of the fallen youkais well and truly dead. Heaving a sigh of relief, Roviel glanced at her companions. The sweet scent of roses lingered in the air, no doubt the red-head's work. Standing beside the kitsune, the soft scrape of steel against wood shivered in the night air as Hiei sheathed his katana. A flash of orange caught her gaze, the Spirit Sword blinking out of existence as Kuwabara stood before his kill, the hard eyes gazing down from his emotionless face at the dead youkai. Abruptly he turned away, looking down the deserted track in cold silence. Seeing the three, the tawny eyes softened slightly. Good, no one's hurt. It was becoming increasing harder to get medical supplies, and they can't always rely of Youko... Pulling the thin gold chain down around her neck, one slim brow rose in Kurama's direction.

"Bounty hunters again?"

His eyes caught hers, the worn emerald orbs only a ghost of what they were before. Mustering up a fake smile, the red-head nodded.

"It would appear that the price of our heads have just rose by another half a million dollars. Lucky that they attacked us now, and not separately. Although no more than a high B class, they proved to be quite adapted at surprise attacks."

Shifting slightly, Hiei transferred much of his weight onto his better leg. It was a cold night, and the wind cut deep into her bones. Seeing the fire apparition's action, Roviel felt pity for the black-clad figure. If her bones ached, then he would be suffering now with his legs...

"The train's here."

Kuwabara's flat voice reached her ears, followed by the distant sound of the train rolling towards them. Watching him, she still find it hard to believe that only seven years ago, this soul-less man was once a young, loud, energetic boy who fell head-first into a frozen pool because he was too drunk from losing at poker. But then again, there are a lot of things she still can't believe, like...

The screech of wheels broke her thoughts, followed by the tortuous groan of the door opening. Walking into the carriage, one red-gold eye gazed at a mother and her baby, the woman now cowering in fear at the sight of the four. Seeing this, Roviel sighed. It's going to be a long ride...

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The twisted iron poked painfully into her right thigh, this earning it a smothering death-glare and the chance it be whacked off completely from the seat. Kicking away the offending piece of metal, Roviel shifted in the half-stable seat, twisted round and gazing over at Kurama, who sat quietly behind her.

"How was it? Keiko alright?"

The fox turned to her, and a faint hint of a smile flickered on his face.

"Keiko is still the same as ever; her condition has neither improved nor worsened. Jin has made sure that she is safe from any youkai out for revenge, and I can see that she's in good hands. You?"

Roviel leaned back against the train's battered seat, one amber eye turning upon the seated Kuwabara a seat to her left. She watched him, noticing how his knuckles were white with pressure as his hands tightened into fists, how the muscles around his jaws twitched ever so often.

"It was good for him. If anyone can help the boy, Yukina can. I left them together for a few hours and had a chat with Youya and Shizuru, asked them if there was anything I could help with, like food supplies and such. Turns out they had their own connections, and had enough stuff to keep those three going for some time yet."

She paused in her speech, one finger tracing a rip in the seat padding.

"It's a shame, that he can't live with them. The boy might even be healing if he was with his sister and love."

Kurama leaned forward, a small smirk on his face.

"Since when have you become so sentimental?"

"I haven't. Just that I think that it might be the only way to help him, since none of us can do anything."

Although she wasn't looking, Roviel was sure that the fox's smirk widened with her remark. Sighing, he sat back in his own seat, the sound strangely loud in the near deserted carriage. Having seen the four seat themselves earlier, all of the humans immediately ran for the other carriages, no doubt locking the doors as they went. Folding his arms across his chest, the mocking smile slipped from Kurama's face.

"I know that, we all know that. But what happens if Kuwabara suddenly goes into one of his killing rampages? I think that Yukina would be able to calm his mind down, but I do not wish to take the risk to find out if it works every time. Better leave it be."

A chill breeze pushed into the carriage, surging through shattered holes in the windows and invading the lukewarm air inside. The wind bit into her, causing the youkai to wince as she moved her arm. Normally no more than a slight pull, the numerous scars running down her shoulders and right arm tightened painfully in the cold, scraping against muscle as she rubbed the limb. Seeing her discomfort, Kurama looked out of the near destroyed window.

"A few more minutes before our stop. When you get home the fire still ought to be going, so it'll be warmer there."

She nodded slightly, a silent acknowledgement for his concern. In her mind, Roviel chuckled dryly. So much have changed, she was becoming so soft...

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The station was once again deserted and devoid of any working street lights. Both were much appreciated by the group, as they wished to attract as little attention as possible. Somewhere in the distance, the drunken laughter of some liquor filled youkai rumbled though the air, but nothing else. Standing there, Roviel pulled her grey trench coat tighter to her as she eyed the other three.

"Well? If there's no plans, then I want to go home where it's warm. Any objections?"

Kurama shrugged, the kitsune's claret locks having taken on a very wind-swept look. Hiei gave a nondescript "Hn" and glared at the clouded night sky, as if everything that has happened was its fault. Kuwabara stayed silent for a few moments, the void-like eyes staring at Roviel with blank intensity. Finally he nodded slightly, and started walking towards the direction of his house.

"There is no one here, no life, no warmth. Home is where we all belong."

Having long gotten used to the boy's now strange way of talking, Roviel let out a long breath as she watched the black shadow of his back disappearing into the night. Staring after Kuwabara, Hiei gave another "Hn" and walked away also, limping softly as he strutted away. Biting down hard on a sudden attack of the sneeze, Roviel turned one eye onto the red-head.

"Coming?"

He nodded, and soon caught up with her fast strides. They walked down the dimly lit road in silence, each alert for the tiniest hint of someone following them, the faintest flash of a metal blade. Suddenly sound of bodies crashing exploded from a alley up ahead, followed by two figures speeding out from the lane and running towards Roviel and Kurama. Tensing up, she was about to attack the two strangers when the kitsune stopped her.

"They are only humans. No doubt trying to find some food when one of them fell, causing the noise. I presume that neither of them have a Tolerated job, so they are running for the fear of being discovered."

The two bolted past her, having been too scared to notice the youkai's presence in the shadows. She watched the two human's running forms, seeing how one stumbled slightly, but resumed running the second they regained their balance. Soft footsteps before her announced that the kitsune had already walked off; his leisurely pace making her wonder how the red-head could be in this cold weather and could still walk this slowly.

Trotting after Kurama, Roviel opened her mouth to ask him the question when all went black. Or rather, the world before her faded, sucked into a infinite void of dark nothingness. Hands reached out frantically, touching and grasping onto the solid roughness of a brick wall. Leaning against the wall, Roviel forced her breathing to calm, her heart to steady. The sensation of this emptiness felt strangely familiar to her, although the youkai could not think of any other time when she had one of these black-outs. In the matter of seconds it stopped, the hollow expansion falling upon itself and allowing life to come back to her once more. Blinking at the sudden return of sight and sound, Roviel stared at her surroundings, confusion and shock evident in the tawny orbs. Finally her blank stare found the form of a very worried looking Kurama. She stood there, stared at the kitsune until he shifted under the scrutinizing. Taking a step away from the wall, Roviel gave a experimental poke at the red-head, to which he yelped and grabbed her hand.

"Roviel, are you alright? What happened just then? Did you see a black hole of any sort?"

She frowned at him, pulling back her hand and trying to sort out her thoughts.

"Yea, there's this big hole just before, and I was feeling off-balanced. Then it just went away, as quickly as it came, and then I saw you here, standing in Nigenkai and looking all comfortable. Where's whelp and the others? Aren't we supposed to be going on that mission Koemna gave us just then?"

Kurama winced at her loud voice and gestured frantically for her to be quieter.

"Calm down. Now tell me the last thing you remember before the void."

She tried to calm down, taking in deep breathes and allowing her heart to slow.

"The last thing I remember was that the brat told us to go and find the black-market dealer guy... What, did I say something wrong?"

Because as he heard the news, the kitsune's face changed from that of worry to wretched hopelessness, looking for all the world if he's just heard that from now on, he's going to be the most unlucky person on all three worlds. Groaning into his hands, the fox continued his strange actions for some time, until Roviel decided to poke him out of this miserable sight.

"Hey, what's with you? What's wrong with what I just said?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong is that the mission you remember happened almost five years ago, that's what's wrong! Great, a flashback at this time. Lucky it didn't happen while we were at the train station."

Roviel just stared at Kurama, not a single word processing through her brain.

"...Eh?"

Kurama sighed loudly, gestured her to follow him as they walked down the streets once more.

"It's like this. Around seven years ago, you started to have these memory blank-outs. Anytime, anywhere, for no apparent reason, chunks of you memory will just vanish. Sometimes it's just forgetting what you ate for breakfast, while other times years are washed away from your mind, like now. None of us know why this happenes to you, even the great library of Rekai holds no information of this."

She digested this, taking it in piece by tiny piece.

"So does that mean I'm losing my memory?"

"Oh by all means no. The blank-outs, what we now flashbacks, are only temporary, and once it's finished, all your lost memories returns. Although once you are out of a flashback, what happened during the blank-out will be all white for you. The longest flashback was for two weeks, we had to make you catch up on all the stuff you did while you were in the flashback."

Now she was the one sighing; the realization that one was losing bits of their memory for no evident reason or illness of any sort was not the best thing to learn, and the fact that one's missing five years of memory just isn't what the greatest of things one needed.

The night was cold, and she curled her hands together, finger interlaced to defrost them. Something brushed against her right palm, a cold hard curve running down the skin. Frowning at this, she lifted her left hand and examined this object.

It was beautiful, crafted to perfection. The length of golden ivy twisted upon itself, forming a ring of two lines, each curling and twining upon the other in life-like grace. Wanting to inspect this further, she grabbed hold of the ring and pulled.

Pain flared in her chest, biting fangs of jagged fire coursing up her body. Letting go of the ring as if it was going to bite her, Roviel grabbed a fistful of Kurama's clothing, spun him around, and shoved her left hand before his face.

"Where did I get this thing?"

It was an interesting experience, watching the kitsune's face turn from its normal color to white, then several shades of red, then white again, but this time with a slight tinge of green. Cold sweat broke out over his face, and she was sure that the red-head's wishing for the earth to swallow him up that instant. Trying and failing to pry her metal grip from his jacket, the kitsune took in a deep breath.

"It's a very complicated story. But before I tell you, please swear that you will not try to kill me when I'm done."

"Deal. Now out with it, fox."

"It's like this. Around three and a half years ago, Koenma received a letter threatening to blow up many major cities in Rekai unless all of the Reikai Tentais were to meet them at a certain castle in Makai. Not wanting to see if the threat was real, all of us went to the arranged spot, hoping to capture the person behind all this. What we found was something very different from what we all expected."

Kurama cleared his throat nervously and glanced down at her right hand. Lifting one brow, Roviel let go of her death-grip on his clothing, arms now crossed across her chest.

"...And?"

"The enemy was an old acquaintance of Youkos'. It seemed that they had a...misunderstanding, and Youko left her without a word. The letter was just to make Youko come to her so she could get her revenge for being left behind. But unfortunately, the thief decided at the last minute not to come with us, and so when the youkai saw that there was a certain person missing, she was furious..."

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"Kurama, are you alright? Don't move, I'll take care of this bitch."

Yusuke charged at the youkai, only to stop dead in his tracks as she pressed her katana hard against Kurama's throat.

"Make one move and he'll be dead in seconds. Don't worry, I have no intention to kill any of you, I just want to fulfill my revenge against Youko."

Roviel snorted at this, and beside her, Kuwabara smirked.

"I don't know how stupid you are lady; Youko's not here, or are you blind?"

The youkai grinned at this, and with one hand still holding the blade to Kurama's throat, pulled out two small rings with her other hand. Kissing her captive's cheek gently, she slid one of the rings onto his left hand. A dim glow pulsed from the metal for a moment before fading to become just an ordinary ring. Holding the remaining ring in her hand, the youkai laughed.

"Yes, my dear Youko is not here, but his human is. To me, knowing that this boy here, one who had not long ago housed the great thief, is taking the fox's punishment for him is enough to satisfy my anger. Now, before I leave, let me explain what I have planned. You see, these are not ordinary rings, once one is worn, the other must be on another person's finger within five minutes, or the wearer dies. Once put on, a curse is activated. This means that if one of the wearer goes off with another person, then both the wearers will die from the curse. If one tried to remove the rings by any means, then they will suffer extreme pain, one that if continued, will take their life. The curse will only be released if one or both of the wearers die.

I designed both the rings and the curse myself, hoping to teach Youko a lesson on his past mistake with me. But since he's not here, I'll have to use this human instead. Oh, and did I mention that it's already been four minutes since the boy's worn the ring? One more minute without someone else taking up the other end of the curse, and he's going to die. Bye."

And with that she disappeared, blinked out from the room. The ring that was in her hand fell to the stone floor, clattering down the pavement and rolling to a stop before Yusuke. Gawking down at the ring, Yusuke's stare moved from the ring to Kurama, who was now in a very bad shade of white, then back to the ring again.

"Quick people, someone take that ring!"

"Yea, but who?"

Edging away from the cursed jewelry, Kuwabara bumped into Roviel. Turning, his face went from fright to happiness. Turning around, the boy yelled at Yusuke and Hiei, while pointing a finger at the only female member of their team.

"Hey guys, I think I got the answer!"

All three heads snapped towards her; Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei. Each stared at her for a split second, before sheer delight lit each of their faces. Staring at her team, Roviel could not understand why they were all staring at her and looking so happy, that was, until Yusuke gingerly picked up the ring and held it out to her. Then it struck her...

"You've got to be joking..."

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She had promised not to kill him before, but the burning desire to throttle the kitsune surged up her, waves of raw anger pelting against her skull. She did not scream, but instead whispered in a deadly hiss at the red-head.

"So now I have to be stuck with you for the rest of this life?"

"Yes."

"Why couldn't you just die back there?"

"You put the ring on with free will."

"Couldn't Koemna take the curse off then?"

"Unfortunately no."

"Yea well, why me?"

He frowned at the question.

"Why do you mean?"

"WHY ME YOU BLOODY IDIOT!"

"Calm down, please."

"YOU TRY TO CALM DOWN WHEN YOU ARE IN MY BOOTS!"

"Hush, people are going to hear you."

"DO I LOOK AS I CARE?"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Glowering at the now seriously mad Kurama, Roviel breathed hard through her nose.

"Fine, just tell me why you couldn't go and be stuck with someone else. Like Hieifor example."

Kurama's jaws hung open for a moment, his mouth trying to make sound come out. In the end he succeeded, yelling so loud that it would have make Yuki proud.

"DO I LOOK GAY TO YOU?"

The corner of her lips twitched, and she bit down on the fast widening grin. Even in times like this, her sense of dark humor was still there.

"Well, now that you mentioned it, there was the time..."

"AGH! WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER?"

It's a rare sight, the kitsunebeing mad. But when he does, Roviel have learned that even the most reasonable of words would not get through his brain, and that the only way for him to calm down was to stay silent. Sadly, that was something she could not do. And so Roviel ran after him, a crooked grin playing upon her face as all thoughts of the ring forgotten in her attempt to enrage the red-head further with yet more comments concerning his sexuality.

Yes, yes, I know. Kurama and Kuwabara are not themselves. There is a reason for that, you'll only find out if you keep reading. Also, my problem with this fanfic still exist. What genres do I put it in? Someone, anyone, HELP!!!!