FW: (waves) Yo. (has a headband covering one eye)

Botan: (sighs, exasperated) For the last time, you are not Kakashi!

FW: (runs a hand through unruly BADLY spiked hair) Whatever you say.

Botan: (ripping her hair out in frustration) …Ow!

Kurama: Need I point out this is a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction?

FW: No, just having some fun.

Kuwabara: Some fun.

FW: Mfhagots… rifsdst reslonges!

Yu Yu Gang except Hiei?

Hiei: (coolly uncaring)

FW: (rips off the scarf she had wrapped around the lower half of her face) God, how does he do that ALL THE TIME! Anyway, like I was saying, now… reader responses! Bara-Minamino-sama, here here for no s#xists! (thanks to everyone who pointed out it isn't racism)

Yusuke: (looks around) Hey, where'd you legion of psycho bitc-

Botan: (major death glare)

Yusuke: Er, girls, go?

FW: (shrugs) Most are under arrest for 1st degree murder.

Yu Yu Gang: (back away)

FW: (laughing) Demon of Evilness-sama, it's cool how you're actually interested in Yusuke and Kuwabara too! Bet (most) everyone else only cares about Kurama/Youko, Kuronue, and Hiei! Way to broaden your horizons! Speaking of whom, better get on with the actual story, huh.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Yu Yu Hakusho

START

Hiei stared, for once dumbfounded. Even his sharp mind had gone nearly completely blank, with the exception of a single thought reminding him of his first duty, to protect himself, "I am NOT going to be the one to tell Kurama this".

Koenma was still watching him suspiciously. He may have expected this question from Kurama, but not the uncaring demon before him. Sure, he knew the two fighters were close, but he also knew Hiei wouldn't want the infamous thieves reunited. Kurama would never himself ask because that would force Koenma to arrest him, having proven that he still had connections to the past he wasn't willing to severe. So Koenma had been content to let the matter rest, choosing to believe it would never be brought up.

Until now, it hadn't. To be honest, he wished it was still buried in his "To Do" pile.

"He's dead," Hiei finally repeated, still working to get his mind functioning and back under his control.

Koenma nodded. "Yes. He's in the Spirit Realm."

The taller (yes, taller. Koenma's in his baby form.) frowned. "I thought you said he was here."

"In a manner of speaking, he is," the ruler explained, looking over papers without really seeing them, just to avoid the cold red eyes. "The Spirit Realm is an extension of Spirit World. Everyone, demon or human, who dies ends up there."

"Enough of the history lesson, I don't need it," with a casual flick of the wrist, the stacked papers caught fire. "Pay attention while I talk, or you'll be the next object… incinerated."

Koenma nodded, sucking his pacifier furiously to ease his nerves slightly. "What do you want?" He said, struggling to at least SOUND in control.

Hiei thought for a moment. What DID he want? He wanted Kuwabara to stop courting his sister. He wanted to be the strongest in the world. He wanted Kurama to be back home, and not in serious suffering over his long ago loss. He wanted to know what was going on.

The first two would have to wait for later, and the third wasn't going to be done in Koenma's office, so he'd have to settle for the last. Now how to word it into a command without telling the prince anything….

"Let me talk to Kuronue," Hiei ordered.

Koenam visibly paled. "You know I can't do that, Hiei," he tried to reason. "You'll have to give me a reason aside from threatening my life."

Deep down, Hiei was impressed. Koenma was willing to give his own life to prevent him from talking to a dangerous spirit. He was putting his duty ahead of himself. He was starting to sound like a ruler.

On the surface, however, the demon was just annoyed. This complicated things more than he wanted them to be.

"Kurama's in trouble," Hiei stated simply, telling a half-truth. "Kuronue might hold the key." Koenma didn't look too impressed, so Hiei added, "Kurama is being taken over by Youko, and the first thing he will do once in control, is find his partner," pause, "and if you can't supply him, all the worlds are going to suffer."

That clinched it. Koenma nodded. "Wait here," he said, turning to leave the room.

"You're going to summon him," Hiei more stated than asked.

"No, I'm going to switch forms! I got to look cool for this!"

Had he been anyone else, Hiei would have face-faulted.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

(At the same time)

Kurama wasn't having as much luck getting what he wanted. The thief was long gone and had left few clues. Luckily for them, that was FEW clues, and not none.

Controlling the same body wasn't much of a problem for them. Their thoughts were almost identical now in their need to save a former friend, that only rarely did they argue about their next course of action.

Now happened to be one of them.

"We have to send Mother a message of some sort, so she won't worry," Kurama tried to reason.

"You can fix it up later," Youko disregarded the concern of his other half.

"What am I supposed to tell her?"

"That you got kidnapped."

"That won't ease her worrying!"

"At least it's not really lying, like you always do," Youko said, finishing the conversation. That always did it. The guilt of constantly deceiving his mother. Sometimes the human was too predictable.

"But we still have to send her a message."

Youko audibly groaned. Maybe his trump card didn't quite work this time.

"…Are you done talking to yourself yet?" A small, mouse-like demon asked softly. Like his animal counterpart, the demon was timid, and it showed in the way he constantly fiddled with his tail. Had he known he was implying the terrible Youko Kurama was crazy, he would have been begging for mercy.

Youko sighed, thinking, "This body doesn't have any intimidation factor."

He could hear Kurama snickering at him.

Audibly, the redhead snapped, "If I'm not, it is none of your concern. All that is, is your duty. You are to search every room in this… for lack of a better word, inn, for a chain-sickle. Only when you find one is your life secured."

The mouse demon flinched as if hit, and softly said, "Sir, I can't do that. Privacy policies…."

The half demon glared. If this tiny creature wasn't necessary, he would be dead. "I'll say it again: Only when you find one is your life secured."

Deciding not to press his luck further, the innkeeper scurried away toward the rooms.

Kurama and Youko were then left to wait.

Whoever had stolen from them was a fool. Even unable to tell that it who his prey was, he still should have had the sense to kill his adversary. It was best to leave no chance for revenge. Mistake number one.

He had been too anxious to completely cover his footsteps. Kurama, had managed to notice the no longer perfect grass within minutes of looking. Mistake number two.

Mistake number three, the biggest of all, was the dead body of a traveler demon that was unlucky enough to happen upon the thief. The body had the barely conceleiced footprints on both sides, and was covered in chain-sickle cuts. The thief had been so intent on escaping he'd sealed his own death, when taking the extra few minutes may have saved him.

The village the famous Youko and human now graced had been found through simply following his trail, and the only inn in town would probably hold the demon, unless he happened to live here, or had kept traveling. Once reaching the stone village, it was impossible to follow his trail.

"Frail human nose, it makes tracking so much more difficult," Youko muttered darkly.

"Yes, but this body keeps us from being swamped with unwanted attention," Kurama added.

"Maybe I like the attention."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "I bet you do…."

Before Youko could come up with some quick retort, a high-pitched scream sounded from the upper levels of the building. As one, they raced toward the sound, passing countless closed doors.

Kurama almost asked how they would know which room, but instantly disregarded the idea, realizing exactly how stupid it was. Weakened as it was, their nose was far more powerful than that of a human's, and was already picking up the distinct smell of fresh blood.

Only one room's door was opened, and the fox came to a complete stop just inside. Slumped against a wall was the ill-fated innkeeper, a deep fatal wound already haven stolen his life. His blood had splattered across the wall and floor, and Youko nodded once in thanks for spreading the scent sufficiently for him to have followed. It had been a quick death, and they hoped it had been painless. At least, Kurama did.

No other living soul currently inhabited the room with them. The window was open. With one last confirming glance at the mouse demon, Kurama and Youko jumped out after the window, Youko following the faint unfamiliar scent on the innkeeper, particularly strong on his wound.

A wound created by a chain-sickle.

Youko was smirking, enjoying the hunt.

&&&&

The first thing that crossed Kuwabara's mind when he first woke was usually something like "God I hope it's the weekend," or "I am NEVER drinking that much beer again."

Today it was "The aliens are stealing my brain!" He snapped awake and shoved what he thought was high-tech Martian equipment, but was really just Yusuke's poking finger, away from his forehead. Breathing heavily he quickly scanned his surroundings: no aliens or anything, but he was in a cage with Yusuke, which was almost as bad as far as he was concerned.

"Mornin'," his companion greeted him, sitting Indian style with his back pressed against the bar wall. "Suppose you have no clue what's going on either?"

Absently rubbing his aching neck, Kuwabara shook his head. He sat up, not really knowing what else to do. "I remember some fuzz-guy though. And he got us," the teen was embarrassed to admit that they were captured by the pathetic demon. "So now what?"

Yusuke shrugged idly. "Already tried busting us outa here. Spirit gun kinda just blew up in my face when it hit the bars. Literally." He winced at the memory. Kuwabara stifled a laugh, having now noticed his friend's more 'sunburned face' appearance, much to the detective's annoyance. "Guess we just wait for Kurama to come save the day, probability dragging Hiei in by his ear." They snickered.

"But first the bad guys have to gloat. They always have to gloat," Kuwabara added, and they snickered again. Until the ugly demon from before actually swaggered in.

The boys glanced at each other. "Had to jinx us, didn't you."

&&&&

Koenma took a deep breath, not entirely sure what he was about to do was the right decision.

He'd led Hiei into a pure white, circular room, completely undamagable as far as he knew, and impossible to exit from the inside. Koenma would leave, then return with the spirit. Jorge would release them at a previously set time. It looked impossible for things to get out of hand.

It didn't ease his nerves at all.

What Hiei had to say next didn't make him feel any better either. "You won't be in the room with us, or listening."

"Or course I'll be here! I'm not leaving you two here to talk about and do whatever you want!"

Hiei glared, "Yes, you will. Or this will be a waste of my time. I don't like wasting my time."

The prince sighed, knowing a lost cause when he saw one. He turned to leave, the doors opened. "You'll have half an hour. Don't go over." Hiei nodded, even though the ruler's back was to him.

At the doorframe, he turned, looking the fire demon in the eye. "Whatever happens here, whatever's said, promise me it'll never reach Kurama. Not through you, or Yusuke, or Kuwabara, or any other loophole. He can never know. Anything. Got it?" Hiei refused to answer. "Promise me, or we stop this here."

Hiei heisted, before nodding once.

The prince left him with that, leaving him alone in the unfriendly room.

It seemed far too soon afterwards that the door was again opening. Hiei would have liked more space in between. Luckily for the world, Hiei didn't always get what he wanted, and this was one of the instances he didn't. Instead he watched indifferently as the figure slowly entered and advanced.

Hiei had never seen Kuronue, and he wasn't impressed. He was forced to assume in life, the demon had been more foreboding than the crumpled creature in front of him. His wings were drooping and ripped; he would never be able to use them, and the living demon doubted he could even move them. Everything about him was torn and limp, in fact, from his muddy clothes, that would barely considered rags anymore, to his long split end filled hair pulled back into a high ponytail. There were cuts and scrapes all over his body, though no blood, moist or dry was visible anywhere. Hiei assumed ghosts no longer had blood to spill.

The only feature that seemed alive was his eyes. Bright and calculating, they were taking in Hiei as well.

"I don't know you. Should I?" Kuronue asked in a voice weak with disuse.

"No," when Kuronue raised an eyebrow he added, "I'm here about Kurama."

The bat took a deep breath, and began rubbing a wrist, trying to relieve tension, or pain. Or both. "Revenge then," he accused, never looking away from the red eyes in turn staring back.

The wrist cracked, and Kuronue winced in pain. Hiei had noticed his state, but was only beginning to realize what it meant. The body is left behind in death, any abuse endured would stay with the corpse. So then the injuries must have been obtained AFTER death, which meant…

"You've been sentenced to h#ll," Hiei stated, ignoring the bat's previous statement.

The spirit chuckled humorlessly. "Did you expect better for an infamous thief?" He was now rubbing the other wrist, seemingly satisfied with the first's results. "Highest level the brat's got to offer. I should be honored." His dry laughter was interrupted by equally dry coughs.

The fire demon was starting to doubt his earlier promise to Koenma would be a problem. He would never even think of telling Kurama of the torture Kuronue was being put through.

"But you mentioned Kurama?" Kuronue brought them back to topic, and Hiei remembered his time limit.

"The pendant, it-"

"Burned him?" Kurnoue finished, and the other narrowed his eyes at being cut off, much to the bat's amusement. "Did it work?" He asked eagerly.

"Did what work," even what was obviously a question, Hiei could make sound like a statement.

"Did he stay in the human world!" Kuronue exclaimed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The massaging hand stopped momentarily to slap his forehead in annoyance, but winced upon contact. He resumed his earlier task.

"No," Hiei said sharply. "He went looking for you." Kurnoue seemed to deflate even more at the news.

"Oh."

He would never admit it, but he had no clue what was going on. Deciding to change that, he ordered, "Explain. Now."

Rolling his eyes slightly, like a teacher explaining to a kid who's just trying to prove a teacher wrong, Kuronue started his narrative. "There are millions of souls in the afterlife. Too many to count, in just my corner. We talk, to distract ourselves from our pain. Stories, legends, anything. It's how I found out Kurama was still alive," his eyes shown with fondness for his partner. "Clever fox…" he resumed his subject with an impatient nod from his listener. "A demon arrived, a blue lizard, or something. He was anxious to tell his life story, wasn't used to the suffering. He talked fast, and I couldn't catch all of it, but he mentioned a scheme to kill Kurama."

Hiei thought back, trying to remember why a "blue lizard (or something" rung a bell. He mentally snapped his fingers. The demons that had ambushed Kurama, only moments before the pendant betrayed him. "What else?" He pressed eagerly.

Kuronue shrugged. "I never talked to him again. He went insane in the hour.

"So you used all your strength, to burn him," he stated, showing exactly how little the bat's plan made sense.

He sweat dropped. "I didn't really know what else to do. Planning was always Kurama's job." Hiei had an almost irresistible urge to kill him, just out of annoyance. "I hoped Kurama would remember I'm dead, that he can't help me now," he continued, and the urge evaporated. "Or that he would... think I hated him. And wouldn't feel the need to save me."

"If you know him as well as you believe, then you should know he would go to help wheather you liked it or not. And he wouldn't let a minor detail like you being dead stop him from his heroic, melodramatic save."

Kuronue grinned, and the mood seemed to lighten. "I guess not," he laughed a little, before growing serious again. "You'd better hurry. Kurama's tough, but then again, so was I."

Hiei was silent, but understood, and was content to let the quiet fill the rest of the space to when Jorge opened the door. It seemed Kuronue had other plans though. "I almost didn't warn him," he nearly whispered, talking to himself mostly,eyes no longer focusing on the short demon. "So many go crazy from the torture. I thought it was bad when I was alive, but it was nothing compared."

Hiei was starting to tune him out, not keen on listening to a sob story.

"He's my anchor now. When he joins me, we'll be able to block it out, and it'll be just like old times."

Hiei couldn't help but feel some disgust. He was actually waiting for his best friend to die, just to ease his own pain, ignoring the fact that Kurama would be feeling it next to him. Assuming of course that Kurama even went to h#ll. Which he wouldn't, right?

"Sorry to ruin you afterlife, but he'll never join you," Hiei sneered.

The bat's eyes instantly locked onto his again, and the sneer was matched. "Do you honestly believe 16 years of good will make up for centeries of evil? He'll join me alright, it's only a matter of time."

The door was opening, and armed guards were making their clumsy way into the room. Determined to leave dignified, Kuronue walked between them, brushing their grabbing hands away. His wings looked a little less droopy.

He stopped, and turned back, the sneer gone, a look of hope taking its place. "I do look forward to seeing him again, but take care of him until then, alright?" The guards were dragging him out of the room, their prey too weak to resist. "I'll take your word as reassurance!" He called back before he was dragged out of view.

As he left, Hiei found himself making a third promise to his rapidly growing collection. He would never allow Kurama to go to h#ll.

He was just wondering how many of them he'd be able to keep.

END CHAPTER 5

FW: Drama! Yay! I started writing this chapter a week ago, but what with my grampy getting wicked sick, getting rushed to the hospital myself, then Christmas, I've been kinda busy.

Kurama: And yes, you read that correctly. FW was rushed to the hospital.

FW: By a volunteering kid I know too. Talk about awkward. But if I hadn't, then there's the possibility I could have died-

Hiei: A tragedy.

FW: -so I guess it's a good thing he did. So in return, this is about twice what I normally write! Happy? Hope so. It's hard keeping Kuronue and Hiei in character, just because Hiei's so quiet, and honestly Kuronue didn't get much tv time. I had more for Kuronue to say, but couldn't find a way to connect it! (bangs head against wall) Stupid FW!

Yu Yu Gang: Should we stop her? Naw...

FW: Ok, so now a contest because I want to issue one: Hiei's got to go after Kurama right, it's a best friend thing! You're bud's going to get murdered, you help, right? So how's he going to (try to) convince Kurama to go home without telling him about Kuronue? And what about the Kuramas?

Hiei: Congratulations. You've hit a new level in stupidity.

FW: Yeah, that is kinda really... out there, but... And now it is 3:02, am, so I think I'm going to go sleep. Night! Review, don't, flame, I don't really mind. I'll take it in stride!