YAY a longer one! Oh and again, I don't own Mount Hiei.

They arrived at the base of the mountain. It was quite large, but there was a walkway up it. Kurama looked at the walkway, studying the structure. He then began to walk the other direction, taking just about as steep a path, but trying never to cross the path of the walkway.

---You're not walking on the wood? ---

-No, Hiei. It's a trap. It'll break the moment I'm at a fatal distance from the ground. –

---And you know this how? ---

-The supports stop half way up the mountain. –

---Hn. ---

Kurama kept climbing, and pretty soon it got unearthly cold. He envied Hiei for his resistance to temperature changes, but somehow, he had the feeling that this unnatural cold would enter his bones as well.

A ghost swished in front of him. It was a female, a young girl, clothes torn, blood running down her pale, see-through skin. She looked up at him with pained, pleading eyes. She opened her mouth to call to him, but couldn't make a sound.

Kurama looked sadly at the girl. So this was the first trap. She looked real enough, she was probably real looking to humans, and so they would try to help her. Then she'd kill them. And if they tried to fight her, others would aid her because they'd know how horrible the trespassers' souls were. Bowing his head in respect, Kurama walked straight through her.

He continued up through the foliage. He shivered every now and then as a blade or something else passed through him, but he knew that the ghosts' power was derived from belief, the belief of their victims. So long as he knew in his heart that they couldn't be real, he wouldn't be hurt.

He chuckled slightly as he heard Hiei growl in annoyance. He had the same knowledge as Kurama, but of course his dark energy would draw them to flock around him. There was nothing Kurama could do about that.

Kurama mounted the top of the mountain about an hour later, and, stooping, gathered some of the mint leaves. He was careful, however, not to let the leaves be hurt, and immediately regrew the stems where he had cut his mint. The ghost that had come to inspect him cocked its head. A pearly voice spoke out at him.

"You did not hurt them."

"That wasn't the intention."

"You did not come here to hurt our peace?"

"I came to gather a few leaves of the mint, nothing else."

"What good could our mint do for you?"

"I wish to perform a ceremony, which needed it."

"You will pay for cutting our mint. A task or a life."

"I'll take the task, thanks."

"Our mint will never translate, never spread from the mountaintop. Only the strongest may even view it. Some of us do not agree. We feel that this garden should be the sanctuary for all of us, not just a select few. If the mint were more diverse, all of us could enjoy it. Grow the mint over the mountain; leave not an inch free. Then you shall be free to go."

"All right, that shouldn't be too hard…" As he walked down the mountain, the mint followed him, rolling over the mountains. Hiei glared at it and zipped away. Once Kurama had covered the ground it grew, so that he didn't have to walk over it. Once he got to the bottom he leaned on a tree and surveyed his work. He looked at the protector.

"There's your mint, but be careful. Now that the people who live around here can see that there's more than just a haunted hill, they'll come here, and tourists will come by the thousands."

"We will keep them from touching the mint." She stroked a leaf. "Thank you, trespasser."

"Thank you," he said, bowing. He then turned and left. Hiei sneered at the now green hill, and followed him.

"So what's next, fox?"

"A diamond from the ravens' nest," he said, looking troubled.

"Tell me again why I'm helping you."

"You didn't have to come."

"Hn."

"Why, do you know something I don't about these 'Ravens'?"

"You'll find out when you go near."

"…Fine, Hiei." The two walked into the waiting portal.