FW: (crawls back) Is Mage gone…?

Mage: (long gone)

Hiei: No.

FW: (covers eyes and ears)

Confused Reader: Huh? How's she covering eyes AND ears? What, does she have four arms?

FW: (randomly has four arms to cover all said parts) Hm… when did this happen?

Kurama: I'm getting stupider just watching her….

Kaito: (one time appearance because I despise him) Stupider isn't a word. (disappears)

\Kurama: It's already occurring!

FW: (extra arms slowly fade away) Right, to business affairs. I never have, and never will beg for reviews. It is entirely the readers' choice. But right now, I just want to thank everyone who has. When I finished reading them today, I was just like "Ya know what, I'm going to write the next chapter NOW!" So thanks for the inspiration!

Youko: (glaring at reviewers)

Yusuke: She would have written sooner or later anyway.

Youko: I'd accept the postponement.

FW: Just a thought, but don't most fangirls like it when you glare anyway? (all salesperson like) And the lovely Youko-

Youko: (chokes, even though he wasn't eating)

FW: -glare! Take as many pictures as you like! Speaking of Youko, sillylittlenothing-sama, yeah, that "Who's your daddy" thing was kinda… out there, but I had that in my head before I even wrote the chapter! Don't really know why, but I REALLY wanted to write it!

Sillylittlenothing-sama: (blink blink)

FW: And next, Demon of Evilness-sama, interesting idea about someone else having stolen the Eye of Tepurt… but that would complicate things, and my simple mind can't take it. Great idea though!

Kuwabara: (proud of himself for outsmarting Youko)

Hiei: (snickering at Youko) The cleverest thief….

Youko: Shut up.

FW: And last, but not least, thanks to everyone who defended Kakashi's ungayness! And YYH is a ton cooler, I'll never abandon it!
Yu Yu gang: (collective gulp)

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho

START (and a few hours before we left off….)

Youko had stolen the jewel and passed through the barrier by midnight. Less than two hours. He was getting out of practice.

As of now, he was deep in a makai forest, (FW: (kicks herself) How cliche...) leaning against a tree. Which one exactly, he hadn't bothered to find out. As for the priceless artifact, it was clutched firmly in his hand. He looked down at its blood red surface and frowned. To be honest, he had no idea how it worked. Or how to use it.

"Show me where Kurnoue is," he commanded, feeling a little stupid for talking to an inanimate object. Wait, WAS it inanimate, right? Well, regardless, nothing happened. "Tell me where the chimera Kurnoue is," he repeated, a little more urgently. The fox thought he saw something shimmer deep inside the opaque gem, but nothing more.

"SHOW ME WHERE KURONUE IS, DA#N IT!" He screamed loud enough to make Keiko proud. All his efforts were wasted however, as it was to no avail. He growled, letting a little more of his fox side show through the innocent human body. Then he chucked the jewel at a tree.

The possessor smirked at the satisfying BLUNK of it connecting with a tall tree. Such an old artifact would be sturdy enough to handle one throw, he figured. So without concern, he leaned back to sleep himself. Full control was so alien to him, it exhausted him mentally.

Without a care in the world, he let himself drift to sleep. He could always continue his "progress" with the Eye tomorrow.

&&&& (hours later, back in Spirit World….)

"You can't be serious," Botan wailed.

Kuwabara contradicted her immediately. "What's the Eye of Tepurt?"

Yusuke scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Wait a sec… wasn't it the jewel that tells you where someone is?"

Botan immediately changed her expression from horrified to relieved. "Bingo! At least SOMEONE has a memory span greater than my goldfish!" She aimed the last comment at Kuwabara.

"You have a goldfish?" Said detective asked, completely missing the point.

"Well, no, but that's not the point-"

"Aren't we talking about something important?" Yusuke asked, annoyed. When the others turned their attention back to him, he continued. "Why's it such a big deal? I want to know where Keiko is…" he put his index fingers on his temples, mimicking a mind reader. "Oh wait, she's at the mall!" Fingers down. "How could I have gotten by without such an amazing thing-a-ma-jig! Hmm… maybe with a CELL PHONE!"

"You don't understand the extent of this!" Koenma yelled, frustrated. "It's not made to find school friends, remember how much trouble we had finding Sensui? If it weren't for Seaman, we would be in a world full of demons."

Kuwabara looked at him, even more confused now. "But that was a good thing-"

"Yes that was a good thing," Koenma cut him off, impatient. "But it can be used for bad things too. All of you are fairly popular in demon realm. And no, Yusuke, not in an autograph signing way. Whoever has it can track down any of you, no matter where you hide. Or your friends, your family. Or demon world politicians, anyone. It's an assassin's tool."

Botan gave a meek "Oh," and looking worriedly at the boys. As far as she knew, she was pretty unknown, so not in quite as much danger, but the detectives before her, and the two that weren't….

Koenma's gaze softened at her scared expression. "But as long as these two hurry, there shouldn't be a problem," he laughed to lighten the mood. "They averted the apocalypse, finding a rouge thief should be no problem!"

Yusuke mock saluted. "We'll do our best chief!"

Koenma returned to glaring. "You better!"

&&&&

Kurama slowly returned to the world of the living. AKA, he woke up. This "world of the living", however, wasn't exactly his world.

"Was I kidnapped and brought here?" He wondered, the only explanation he could think of. Quickly, he checked himself for any kinds of injuries. None, except for a headache. "Thin air," he reasoned easily. Makai air could take a moment to get used to, especially when normally residing in the human world.

That still didn't explain why he was there in the first place though.

It was then that he felt Youko coming to as well, and it all made sense. "Youko… what… did… you… do," he asked through gritted teeth. Dealing with Yusuke and Kuwabara for so long had taught him to suppress anger and annoyance pretty well. So even the knowledge that his other personality had taken over, and happily skipped off to another universe, dragging him along for the ride, wasn't enough to make him lose it.

Youko laughed a little nervously, knowing full well how dangerous his human half was. "I thought I'd wake up first," he said, using Kurama's mouth to talk.

Losing some of that patience, Kurama pushed him aside. "You will communicate through thoughts, not my physical body."

"I don't think you're the one calling the shots anymore," Youko said forcefully, taking full control. Keeping a struggling human inside, he walked casually, as if there wasn't a war under the surface, toward the tree he'd thrown the jewel at earlier.

Frowning at his inability to find it instantly, the fox crouched and searched for the important object. Green eyes widened in horrified surprise, realizing it was gone. Someone had snatched it.

"What are you looking for?" No answer. "You owe me an answer at the least," Kurama said angrily. Still holding on to his reserve….

"The Eye of Tepurt," Youko muttered, not fully able to believe the jewel was gone.

"Well where is it?" The human asked, fully intending to return it ASAP.

"It would appear someone stole it.

No answer.

"Kurama?" Youko asked. "Maybe he died from shock," he thought sarcastically. "It would make this easier…" he added, somewhat wistfully, forgetting that Kurama could hear his thoughts.

"You managed to lose a sacred treasure?" Kurama asked slowly, the calm before the storm.

"It was STOLEN."

That was the last straw. "Let me process this properly. First, you possessed me, when we both have an agreement where you won't, you steal an artifact from Spirit World, escape to the makai, and then lose the artifact."

"It was STOLEN."

In a pretty good imitation of Youko, Kurama growled, perfectly frustrated.

Youko sighed. Inside their head, Kurama could see his expression change completely. From its usual cocky, I'm-so-much-better-than-you face to a more… lonely one? Youko, lonely, ha! That's what it was though.

"I didn't tell you, but…"

Kurama listened intently as Youko explained Kuronue's possible survival. He didn't interrupt once, and had to work to keep his eyes blank. Even so, he could feel some of the pain filtering through. Kurama may not have known Kuronue personally, his memory belonged entirely to Youko, but he still couldn't bring himself to abandon the bat who'd once been Youko's, maybe even his in a way, best friend.

Finally, Youko ended his speech, and waited for the reaction. Kurama slowly smiled, a small, sad one. "If what you suggest is true, why are we waiting?" Youko's golden eyes widened in surprise. "We'll find that jewel, and if nothing else, discover the truth."

Smirking identically, their spirits combined to fill the body they shared.

Neither Kurama, nor Youko was in control.

They both were.

And both were now responsible for whatever happened next.

END CHAPTER

FW: Holy crap this story is coming out completely different that what I envisioned it.

Botan: Good or bad?
FW: Dunno. (sweat drop) Whoever reviews can, and probably will anyway, tell me. Not that I'm begging!

Hiei: (leaning against the wall)

FW: Enjoy your bit of rest for now Hiei; next chapter focuses a lot on you.

Kuwabara: I thought this was about Youko and Kurama.

FW: It is, but since Hiei's Kurama's best friend, he's got to be important too, right? And also, Kuronue.

Botan: But won't that spoil whether he's alive or not?

FW: Yeah, but how he's going to be in this is probably not how anyone'll expect! And no, it's not a memory. Anyone to guess, I'll, uh, do something for you. Don't really know what yet, but….

Yusuke: (about to do that little finger gun to the head thing, exasperated)

Kuwabara: (grabs his fist) Idiot! Think for a second!

Yusuke: Oh yeah, spirit gun….

FW: ………So anyway, review if you want, don't if you don't, and flame, it's cool. I'll take it in stride!