FW: Now… what you've all been waiting for… the sequel to The Trials of a Marching Band! Sort of.

Kuwabara: The horror!

Botan: Not again… (little "you're hot" flying around her head)

FW: I said SORT OF. It's more about Youko trying to find Kuronue, really. It's been in my head for a while, and it really won't go away.

Yusuke: You mean like the "French episode"?

FW: Uh….

FLASHBACK

French Teacher: (waving hands around like she's trying to hypnotize the class) You WILL get a 100 on your French test, or you will be forever cursed! And your lunch will taste funny!

FW: (thinking) If it's cafeteria food, it'll taste funny anyway. (goes right ahead and fails)

PRESENT TIME

FW: Yeah, that was kinda weird… Je deteste le francais! (means "I hate French!" if I got it right. If not, well, I did say I fail.)

Kurama: (enlightening the reader) When she received her score back, Ferris was paranoid for weeks.

FW: ALL my food tasted weird!

Hiei: Hn. You had a cold. Of course it would taste different.

FW: I'm a very spiritual person! But getting back on subject again, even if you DIDN'T read The Trails of a Marching Band, I think you should be able to follow along fine. This is really just building off an idea that was introduced. Sorry, little/no band "fun" this time. All eyes on Youko and Kuronue!

Youko: (burning bugs)

FW: Hey, stop that!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho

Summary: Is Kuronue alive? The possibility haunts Youko, and he'll break every rule to find out. Including Spirit World's, and Kurama's. Sort of a sequel to The Trials of a Marching Band.

START

"Kurama… Kurama… hello, are you in there?" Yusuke waved his hand in front of his red haired friend, who only stared blankly back in response. "HEY FOX BOY!" He shouted, causing a few people to stare, now yanking on the blood colored hair.

That did the trick. The fox punched him right in the face, purely a reflex, "No one touches the hair." Kurama blinked, clearing his senses in time to see Yusuke rubbing his bleeding nose (from the hit, not, er, anything else people!) and his mouth hanging open in shock. "I'm sorry, Yusuke…."

Beside the famed Spirit Gun wielder, Kuwabara had slumped across their fast-food restaurant booth in not so silent bouts of laughter. The now bleeding teen whacked him off the head to shut him up.

Kurama allowed a smile, but really only a half-hearted one at best. After the band incident, things had gone back to "normal", more or less. Hiei had for the most part disappeared, only showing up every now and then to Kurama; he didn't doubt the others had had no contact with him since Senior Night.

Yusuke's C or better average had dropped almost immediately, now that he only returned to school when Keiko forced him. Surprisingly, Kuwabara had begun to attend regularly, and when his older sister had inquired him about it, he simply said he didn't want to grow up to be a loser like her. True or not, it probably wasn't a good idea to say.

Kurama himself had gone back to his own life with more trouble. He knew things may have happened while he was in his coma-like state, and Youko had handled everything, but he didn't know what. Of course, Botan had filled in what she could, but he knew he was missing an important piece of the puzzle. Youko would stir more often that usual, especially at night. Sometimes violent, and it would take everything the human side had to keep him submerged. More and more often, he was forced to "zone out" to completely focus on keeping the fox at bay.

Which is what had just happened.

Unfortunately, while going over all this, Kurama had, again, zoned out.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were staring at him intently when he came back to reality. "Are you ok?" Kuwabara asked as soon as the green eyes showed signs of recognition.

"Yeah, you've been out of it a lot lately," Yusuke added.

"I'm fine, really," Kurama said, standing to leave. Youko was already surfacing, and Kurama was feeling claustrophobic in his own body. He didn't need his friends to see him like this, to worry.

They watched him go, not convinced. "I hate it when he does this," Yusuke muttered, still looking at the now closed door the fox had walked out of. "Something's up, and he doesn't tell us."

"I know," Kuwabara agreed solemnly. "My awareness is picking up on Youko more and more. Before it was just like a presence I felt when they were mad, but now…."

Yusuke turned to see him better in surprise. "What?"

Kuwabara still didn't look at him, preferring to stare straight ahead. "His energy's always flaring when I sense him now. Before, he didn't care until his own life was at stake, then he leant Kurama his power."

Yusuke tried to make sense of this. "So… Youko's just feeding Kurama energy now?"

"No. It's all staying with Youko. Kurama's not getting anything-"

"But nauseous," Yusuke finished, starting to understand. "And let me guess, this all started after the band thing."

Kuwabara nodded.

Yusuke took a long sip of his drink. "We need to find Hiei."

Kurama headed back to his own house, in something of a daze. He knew walking out like that would only make his friends worry more, but for the time being, that was the least of his concerns. On the top of his list, was the small group of demons trailing him.

He'd picked up on them shortly after he'd left Yusuke and Kuwabara, and as of yet, had done nothing. They weren't much of a threat, and he was sure the other two could handle their own cluster easily if any were following them as well.

"Maybe this is what I need," Kurama thought, still not showing any signs he knew they were there, "a chance to let Youko out, just for a minute. Maybe he'll be satisfied with some bloodshed every now and then."

Normally it would be a fatal mistake to get distracted, and one of the demons tried to take advantage of his momentary carelessness. A blue, winged lizard aimed a short sword at his unguarded back, but Kurama's reflexes, always quicker, sent him nimbly jumping out of the way.

"ROSEWHIP!" Three dead, four more. Now facing them, he could see this was an organized attack. They were all identical to the first, meaning they must have some kind of connection. Whoever sent them had an idea in mind: to kill either all the detectives, or just him. He'd have to remember to ask Yusuke later if they were attacked as well.

A searing pain to his chest caused Kurama to gasp and drop to his knees in pain. Did one of them attack…? No, he would have seen, and none of them had moved from their formation.

He tried to stand, but never managed, he was in far too much pain. Dizzy, he watched the demons glance at each other in confusion, before forgetting any technique they may have had and rush him. They were anxious to kill their prey, and said prey couldn't stop them.

Luckily he had allies who could.

They were all slain before one of their attacks could reach him. Weapons clattered noisily to the ground, as did their heads. Kurama managed to lift his head enough to see whoever had saved him.

Hiei glared down at him, jagan unleashed and staring just as coldly. He roughly yanked the redhead to his feet, yelling "What's wrong with you? Letting your guard down." He watched in barely hid surprise as his friend yelped at being moved and slid to the ground again.

He looked him over quickly, looking for any kind of injury that would cause the fox such pain. No blood, no scratches, no cuts, nothing at all.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked more gently, reaching down to carry him back to his house.

"Don't." Kurama choked out, knowing his intentions. He didn't want to be moved. Not yet.

Understanding, Hiei sat against a tree, waiting for his friend to regain his strength.

They waited for what felt like hours, before the pain faded completely, and Kurama had no proof at all of the hurt he'd felt. He stood easily and indicated to Hiei he was fine and going to go home.

Just in case, Hiei followed.

"What happened," Hiei demanded once they had started walking in the house's general direction.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. His right hand came up unconsciously to his chest, as if somehow that would give him the answer. His eyes narrowed as he felt a slight bulge under his shirt.

While Hiei watched in confusion, Kurama slowly pulled the object out from his shirt. Kuronue's pendant, he recognized immediately. Directly over where the searing pain had originated.

"Kuronue's pendant… burned me?"

END CHAPTER 1

FW: So, why would the pendant burn him? Find out next time I feel like writing!

Yusuke: (reading boredly off a badly drawn script) "But how did Kurama get Kuronue's pendant."Oh, that's a question mark. K… "but how did Kurama get Kuronue's pendant?"

FW: (smiles!) I'm glad you asked, Yusuke! In the second movie, that demon guy who copied Kuronue had it. When Kurama killed him, he took it!

Yusuke: But how did that demon guy get it?

FW: How should I know? Anyway, that's the first chapter. If you want to review, cool! If not, cool! And if you want to flame, that's cool too. I'll take it in stride!