Chapter Finished! (Just about twelve hours after I updated the site with the unfinished version of this chapter my writer's block lifted andI was able towrite the rest)

"Please…I…what do you want from me? I'll do anything, just don't…."

"The Necros orb."

"Huh?"

"Tell me where the Necros orb is and I'll let you go."

"I…my brother, Karasu, has it."

"WHAT!" Youko glared at Karai hoping that he'd heard wrong, that the demon hadn't said that Karasu had the Necros orb. "Karasu has the Necros orb! You let him get that orb! You…you…."

"I couldn't exactly help it, he's the one who gave me the bite on my side; he's my master, I…."

"But you should've still been able to resist, Karasu isn't inhabiting the body he was in when he gave you that bite so his control over you isn't complete." Youko snarled, his fear over Karasu having the Necros orb in his possession overwhelming him, along with the angered frustration caused by being one step behind the sadist demon when he usually was three steps ahead of his enemy.

"But…I…."

Meanwhile back at the mountainside cave, the Necros orb glowed intensely bright, encasing the fox cub's body in a blinding white light that slowly faded as the seconds passed. Before the light dimmed completely a bright ray of light shot deep into the distance fading quickly into the darkness.

Growling briefly as he recovered from the shock the bright flash of light had produced, the fox cub looked around the cave hurriedly, his gaze resting on the Necros orb, no longer glowing, laying still on the ground to his left. Stepping toward the orb, the fox cub picked it up in his mouth, his eyes gleaming. Then he walked away from the cave and into the surrounding forest.

During this time, Hiei and Yusuke searched relentlessly for Ku-chan while Genkai stood behind to watch Akiko (Hiei insisted on this just in case Akiko grew even weaker) they both decided that the fox cub must still be in the forest somewhere—Ku-chan had never really been anywhere else his whole life, Hiei had kept to the forests surrounding Genkai's temple for the past weeks. Therefore Hiei assumed that Ku-chan had gone to one of the places they usually stayed in the forest, and so those were the places he and Yusuke headed (the detective had to keep checking Hiei from using his demonic powers—they didn't need the fire-demon to kill himself by overexerting his human body).

It was during their search of all of the fire-demon's hangouts that they saw the bright light glowing intensely from the mouth of a mountainside cave that Hiei had recognized as the one he'd been at when he met Ku-chan. Full of trepidation, Hiei ran to the cave entrance, hoping to find the fox cub and he did, but something seemed amiss—Ku-chan stared at him in a way he never stared before. This look in the fox-cub's eyes reminded Hiei of someone else, of someone he never wanted to see again—but it couldn't be, it just couldn't be him.

"Ku-chan?" Hiei stepped toward the fox cub, unable to look away from those cold eyes—no warmth shone in those eyes now, as though the being behind them lacked some vital part, but how could the loving fox-cub be so cold now—it was like he was someone else.

"Hiei! Oh, looks like you found him." Yusuke spoke as he ran up to the fire-demon seeing the fox cub just a moment before he called out.

"Detective." Hiei mumbled, glancing once at Yusuke, before turning to pick up Ku-chan, blocking the apprehension from building up inside him, but as soon as he touched the fox cub a stab of pain, intense, throbbed from his shoulder paralyzing his entire body for a moment from the force.

Dropping Ku-chan, falling to his knees, Hiei clutched his right shoulder, grimacing in his pain.

"Hiei! What's wrong?" Yusuke asked fearful for the fire-demon who appeared as though in intense pain. However before Hiei could answer he fell unconscious falling the rest of the way to the ground.

Meanwhile, far into the distance, in a solemn, abandoned mansion surrounded by trees, a figure with long black hair and pale skin awoke, his throat covered with dry blood from where a wound, now healed, had been. Blinking his stony eyes as he stood up, clutching his head hazily, apparently trying to make sense of his surroundings, the man stepped forward toward an open window.

"Where? Wha…?" The man muttered staring, dazed, out the window at the sky before gasping, eyes wide with sudden realization. However the gasp was obstructed by a mask covering his mouth and nose, a mask he brought his hand to in disbelief. "I'm…I'm…." He whispered, his eyes turning stoic, unreadable, as he caught sight of his reflection in the window glass—every single clue as to what he thought disguised expertly complete. "The Necros orb must have…but I…he…."

Glancing briefly at the sky and then closing his eyes calmly, he chuckled, his eyes gleaming with bemusement when they reopened. "I can't wait until he realizes what happened, hah." Stepping away from the window he sat down on a chair after surveying the large room decorated with intricate, gloomy trinkets and such. However he only sat for a second before suddenly standing back up—he had sensed someone's aura drop severely. "No, he can't die…damn."

Meanwhile back in the forest clearing Karai and Youko froze and stared into the darkness, both sensing the abrupt drop in that familiar aura.

"Hiei's in trouble." Youko muttered, furrowing his brows as he debated whether to find the fire-demon or to stay here and make sure nothing happened to Kurounue—he didn't trust Karai to be careful enough to protect the demon in Hinansho's body.

"…." Karai nodded slightly and then turned pale when the bite on his side throbbed with new pain—a pain that burned through his veins and filled him with terror.

Trembling Karai stepped back, his attention on a different aura signal some miles away—a dreadfully familiar aura, though it felt a tad displaced. It seemed a little different than before, but so what, it was still wholly the same aura—and it could only mean one thing.

"He's alive." Karai whispered, still shaking terrified by the aura signal, wishing that he'd been mistaken.

"What?" Youko turned to stare at Karai, noticing for the first time that the demon trembled in fear facing the direction opposite the one the Spirit Fox faced. "Karai, what do you mean?" The Spirit Fox asked, wondering what got Karai so riled up, though it was apparent that they were concerned with two separate things.

"He's alive. Ka…my…my…."

"…." Youko stared incredulously at Karai before turning his attention to where Karai stared, trying to pick up whatever aura signal had upset the demon, not thinking it would be significant until he sensed it. "No!" Youko growled, bristling, eyes narrowed—now it was apparent why Karai was so afraid and why Hiei's aura had diminished significantly—Karasu was alive, his aura strong and whole except that it was somehow different than before.

Anger rushing through him, anger derived from fear, Youko glared at Karai murderously. "Now you see why giving him that orb was a horrible idea?" The Spirit Fox growled ready to pounce on Karai in anger even though he had no physical form to do so. "That orb was a revival orb! And you just hand it over to him! It's your fault he'd revived!"

Gulping, Karai stepped back again and ended up falling to the ground, fearful of Youko's justified rage and terrified of Karasu's strong aura signal. "I'm sorry!"

"…." Youko glared at the shivering Karai detested by the demon's actions. "Pitiful, a coward like you is not worth killing—no wonder Karasu didn't stick with you, you must've been his easiest capture. I bet he doesn't even have to snap his fingers for you to become submissive, pathetic."

"…." Karai turned red at Youko's words, but he didn't say anything in his defense, for while he wasn't as cowardly as the Spirit Fox made it sound, he wasn't far from it.

All of his life he'd preferred being a pacifist, much to his family's dismay, and he even learned a difficult spell to change his appearance so that he could make a new life for himself. Ever since he mastered that spell he'd been disguising his true form—even now he wore a disguise, his whole present appearance was artificial due to the spell.

"…you don't even have the pride to deny being a coward—despicable." Youko seethed, turning away from Karai, glancing back only once to speak before leaving. "You don't even deserve to be called a demon."

"…." Karai only stared as Youko jumped away into the forest. Shivering from fear still he inhaled deeply, tears forming in his eyes as he continued to sit, unable to figure out what to do now.

"Maybe you should forget your cowardice and help defeat Karasu." A voice spoke suddenly breaking the silence, and surprising Karai who stared bewildered for a second at Kurounue who stood next to him.

"You…you're awake…."

"Yes, I've actually been conscious since right after you surrendered the orb to Karasu." Kurounue whispered taking in Karai's appearance intrigued.

"You…I…."

"I enjoyed hearing you and Youko fight over me." Kurounue chuckled, giggling harder as Karai wiped the tears from his eyes. "You lost to a bodiless demon—no wonder you settled for a human boy."

"Please don't remind me how cowardly I am—I know already and I don't want to hear it from those lips."

"Can't bear listening to Hinansho's voice saying you suck, that you're pathetic?" Kurounue smirked, studying Karai's response closely; the cowering demon closed his eyes and placed his hands over his ears trying desperately to drown out Kurounue's words. "Hm, pitiful."

"Stop speaking."

"Eh? You are pathetic, a coward. You're…."

"STOP!" Karai shouted surprising Kurounue with the harshness in his tone, harshness derived from his anger and embarrassment.

Shocked, Kurounue jumped back, barely dodging the aura surge Karai sent at him, un-eased by the attack—Karai must be very upset if he'd attacked Kurounue while he was in Hinansho's body. He never attacked him before, even when Kurounue attacked him once in anger, Karai had just turned the other cheek—both figuratively and literally, so his present attack, though small, was surprising.

"Karai…."

"Get away from me."

"But…."

"GET!"