I am soooooooooooooooo sorry for taking almost a month to update. School is the main reason accompanied by my problems w/ my karate instructor and me getting a boyfriend. But this chpt is longer than all the others so hopefully that is enough to take ur threats down to just hurting me instead of killing me. Well, here's wat u've been waiting for. R&R!

Chapter 14: First and Final Kiss

Three teenage boys ran through the streets headed for an old cave. Demon Mouth Cave came into view. They got to the opening and stopped. Kurama couldn't stand it any longer. The human form twisted to that of Yoko Kurama. Kuwabara jumped when the fox made his entrance. He jumped again when Hiei teleported near them.

"Where is Rumaru?" the apparition scowled. Yusuke pointed down the cave. Yoko and Hiei sprinted into the darkness of the tunnel. The detectives followed. Two blurs of white and black recovered their outlines when they stopped in the room where Sensui and Yusuke had fought not too long ago. "Welcome. I'm glad you could make it." said an eerie voice. It came from the man standing in the middle of the cavern. He stood tall, his red cape reaching his knees. The smile that was plastered in his face was that of a lunatic. He brought it down a knotch, losing the teeth.

Yoko let out a low growl. "Rumaru, I assume." "You assume correctly, Yoko Kurama. It's nice that you came to try to save your best friend's daughter." He chuckled at the fox's expression of confusion. "Yes, I know that you were Kuronue's partner. But, I guess that wretched bat never told you about me." At this point, Hiei was trembling with anger; the opposite of Yoko who was, in lamest terms, keeping his cool. "Where is she?" Rumaru chuckled. "What's the rush?" The apparition drew his sword. "Damn it, where is she!"

Rumaru's twisted smile faltered, but it resumed its place a second later. He snapped his fingers and a cloud of red smoke formed a few feet off to his side. Once it cleared, Shinya stood next to his master carrying the komori youkai. "I'm afraid she is exhausted from our little party." Shinya said, knowing all too well that it would steam the fire demon. Hiei's grip tightened on the katana. "Let her go." stated Yoko as calmly as he could. "I don't think so. She's the reason I came to the human world. And now that I have her, we can return to Makai."

"What did Kuronue do that would have you going after Kurenai?" "Well, Yoko, it's a matter of equality. He took my child away from me, so I am returning the favor." The demon's grin widened. It was then that Yusuke and Kuwabara reached the cavern. The detective saw that everyone in the room had not seen them. He thought it the perfect moment to use his spirit gun. He crept along the cave wall. Yusuke was almost ready to shoot when he steped on a dirt clod. And since the majority of the people there were demons, the sound did not go unheard.

Heads turned to the noise. At first look it seemed to be a bad thing that the element of surprise had been lost for the detective. But this was the perfect opportunity for Yoko and Hiei. The kitsune dashed to Rumaru while the fire demon headed for Shinya. Rumaru turned back around just in time to evade a punch to his face. Shinya, on the other hand, wasn't that lucky.

Fist to face contact was made when Hiei reached his destination. It didn't do all that the apparition had hoped it would. The punch did knock Shinya back, but he still had Kurenai. Hiei teleported behind the demon with his sword drawn, ready to strike. Shinya, more worried about his own safety than that of his charge, moved out of the way leaving the unconsious girl to fall to the ground. The fire demon stopped his attack and caught Kurenai before she hit.

He blinked over to where Kuwabara and Yusuke were watching the fights. "Get her out of here." Hiei commanded of them. "But we can help defeat..." Yusuke was cut off. "No. The important thing is to get Kurenai to safety." the demon said firmly. The teenagers didn't get the chance to argue anymore for Hiei went back to deal with Shinya.

Yoko didn't seem to be getting very far in his confrontation with Rumaru. Neither of them had landed an effective hit. "I'm getting bored with this, aren't you?" chuckled Rumaru before jumping back away from the kitsune. "Shinya, get the girl!" Hiei's opponent smiled and winked where the others were running to the exit. "Kurama!"

When Shinya reached Yusuke and Kuwabara, a cage of thorns surrounded him. "What the hell!" The plant prison took Yoko's attention off of Rumaru. Next thing he knew, he was flying backwards from a blast of electric energy. "Wrong move." smirked Rumaru. He stalked over to where everyone else was grouped together.

"Get away!" Yusuke pointed his finger at the demon. The tall boy next to him formed his spirit sword. Rumaru kept walking. "I warned you!" The spirit detective's fingertip began to glow a faint blue. But before he could fire his spirit gun, Rumaru held both of his hands out in front of him, lightening shooting out from the palms straight towards the teenage boys. They were hit dead on, slamming them into the stone wall and causing Kuwabara to drop the komori.

Kurenai hit the ground. She had started to stir when Yusuke and Kuwabara had hightailed it to the exit. The collision with the hard surface fully awoke her from the weariness. Her dark eyes darted over her surroundings. Yusuke and Kuwabara were struggling to stand, Yoko doing the same about ten yards away. She saw Shinya trapped in the cage of thorns and Rumaru walking to her. The demon stood over her with the sickest look of glee plastered on his face.

"It's time to go, my dear." he said. Kurenai crawled away in an attempt to create space enough for her to fly into the air. It was useless. The mans grin grew. But, locked in his own determination to get the girl, Rumaru forgot about the one person still roaming free. Hiei sprung out of nowhere and slashed at the demon from behind.

Rumaru sensed the apparition and dodged the attack. He jumped back as Hiei stood protectively over the komori. "This is getting old." said Rumaru. He held out his hand. A flash of lightening shot out like before. But this time it hit the cage around Shinya. It surged for a moment, miraculously not harming the one inside, before the vines crumbled in scorched pieces to the ground.

The rest of the Rekai Tantei had recovered from the shock(AN:no pun intended) and were now hurrying to surround Kurenai. Shinya ran at Yoko maniacally with his sword raised. The kitune was about to block, but the man and his weapon disappeared in the middle of the attack. He made his presence known once again when the sword slashed at Yusuke. The boy never saw it coming, but luckily for him, Kurenai did. She whipped out her scyth to stop the blade from making contact.

"Enough!" bellowed Rumaru. Kurenai and Hiei suddenly felt a familiar pain in their heads.
That same pain from just a few hours earlier. But this time, they weren't the only ones. Yoko, Yusuke, and Kuwabara fell to tehir knees. Although, it was different than before. It was worse. The pain was nearly five times worse. "It's time to choose, Kurenai! Come with me or watch the slow and painful deaths of your friends!"

The bat demon's eyes lined with tears of physical and emotional pain. 'This can't be happening! Father, why did you have to die? None of this would be happening if you were still here.' She looked around at her friends, her godfather, and the one she had fallen for. Kurenai tried to beat the pain and stood up. "Stop! I'll go! Just stop this!" she yelled. Rumaru smiled and let up on his mind attack.

"Good. Come along then." Rumaru turned and walked back to the center of the cave. Out of nowhere, a glowing orb formed two feet above the ground. The opening grew until it was big enough for someone to step through. Rumaru looked back over his shoulder and smiled (AN: he does that quite often, don't he?). Shinya sheathed his sword, walked over to the portal, and disappeared inside. The demon still standing there looked Kurenai straight in the eye.

A chill ran down the komori's spine. This was it. She could no longer run away from her fears. She took a step forward, but Hiei caught her arm. "No." he said sternly. The others made to move towards her, but they were stopped in their tracks by some unseen force. Unseen, anyway, until they looked back to Kurenai. She had her free hand outstretched in front of her facing them.

"What the hell!" Yusuke exclaimed. "I can't move!" Him and Kuwabara struggled against the invisible binds. Yoko knew it was futile to try t escape. Kurenai was determined to keep them out of danger and she wasn't going to let up. "Kurenai! Don't do this!" yelled Hiei. The komori demon easily pulled her hand from his frozen grip. She looked at him with eyes full of love and sadness. "I'm sorry, Hiei." she said leaning into him. Hiei felt her lips on his. Somehow overcoming the binds, he returned the kiss fully.