Run Away Forever Chapter 20- Old Friends, New Enemies

Hiei stood frozen, unable to do anything… more like not sure of what to do. He had been completely off guard. After what seemed like minutes later, Akiya broke the kiss. Hiei still didn't move. It was as if he was completely paralyzed.

"Wha…" he was at a lost for words.

"You… must know by now…" Akiya said.

"Kn-know what?" Hiei asked, pretending not to know as he tried to recover from his shock.

She stared at him, then smiled lightly.

"Nothing…" she replied quietly as she turned around to a rising sun. "It's… already morning…"

"Y-yeah…" he said.

-----Koenma-----

"Ogre!" Koenma called.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I'm leaving you in charge," Koenma said, surprising George. "If the detectives come by, tell them I'm away. I don't want to be disturbed for a while."

"Yes sir," George replied obediently, not questioning the prince at all.

Koenma walked out of his office and down the hall. He was really in trouble. After a few minutes of walking, he went into his private office at which he had just arrived at. The prince took a seat and rubbed his eyes in fatigue.

-----Yusuke-----

"Yo Keiko!" Yusuke greeted his girlfriend as he showed up late to where they were supposed to meet up for their date.

"You're late Yusuke!" Keiko scolded. "You know, it's rude to keep a lady waiting!"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied. "I've only heard that about a billion times already…"

"That's because you always late!" she argued.

"Okay, you've made your point," he gave in. "Geez… so what are we going to watch?"

"Actually, I was thinking that we go somewhere else instead," Keiko replied.

"Like where?" Yusuke asked.

"Well… I was thinking that maybe we can take a walk or something at the park," she suggested.

"Uh… okay… sure…" he replied.

-----At the Park-----

Yusuke and Keiko were walking on one of the paths at the park.

"Hey Yusuke…" Keiko called.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"I know this mission that you have to do right now is really important, but please be careful…" she said worriedly, causing Yusuke to look at her in confusion.

"Relax Keiko," Yusuke said, trying to comfort her. "Haven't I always come back in one piece?"

"That's not the point Yusuke!" she shouted with tears in her eyes. "I just… I just don't want to lose you again!"

Keiko hugged Yusuke tightly, shocking him.

"Keiko…" he trailed off as he put her arms around her to calm her down. "Don't worry about me… I promise nothing's gonna happen, and you know I've never broken a promise to you before."

"But… what if you get caught off guard?" she asked, still in a worried voice. "Like right now!"

"Huh?"

Yusuke looked at Keiko.

"Ke-Keiko!" he shouted as he grabbed her arm, stopping the knife right before it stabbed him. "What're you doing!"

Keiko kept pushing the knife towards Yusuke's throat as he tried to keep himself alive with great difficulty.

"Keiko, stop it!" Yusuke shouted. What the hell's going on!

"You're going to die Yusuke…" she said. "And I'm going to be the one to kill you. This is one promise you won't be able to keep…"

He frowned a bit when she started talking again.

"So… tell me Yusuke… what will you do… when something like this happens…? Will you kill me… or will you die…?"

Keiko! Yusuke thought desperately as he held her back. Dammit! I can't hold her back for much longer! Not like this!

Keiko chuckled.

"Snap out of it Keiko!" Yusuke shouted as he punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground.

He got up and readied himself for whatever else she was going to try to do… except, she didn't move. Yusuke lowered his guard and walked up to her.

"K-Keiko…?" he called, getting no response. "Keiko!"

She laid there motionlessly on the ground.

-----Kurama-----

"Mother," he called as he closed the door after he entered the house. "Mother?"

"I'm in the kitchen Shuichi," she replied.

"Did you need something?" he asked as he appeared next to his human mother.

"Yes, I'm terribly sorry to bother you," Shiori apologized. "Did I interrupt something important?"

"No, not at all," Kurama replied.

"Oh, that's good," she said relieved. "Would you mind if you run out and buy the groceries for me today? I'm expecting a guest soon so I don't want to be away if they arrive…"

"Oh, sure. That's no problem at all," he said as he looked around for the grocery list.

"The list is on the refrigerator honey…"

"Oh…" Kurama turned around to grab the list, but as soon as he did, he spun back around and grabbed his mother's arms.

He stared in shock at the emptiness in his mother's eyes and the claws that suddenly appeared on her fingers. She was trying to choke him. Either that or slash him in the back.

"M-mother!" he exclaimed.

"Shuichi… what are you doing?" she asked. "You're hurting you mother's arms… let go…"

"Mother, stop this!" Kurama yelled.

"I said you're hurting mother Shuichi…" Shiori repeated sternly as she pushed towards Kurama harder.

Kurama was losing his balance. He pushed his mother away and quickly moved behind her. Before she could turn around, he hit her on the back of her neck, knocking her out.

-----Kuwabara-----

"I'm home…" Kuwabara announced as he entered the house.

"Kazuma, welcome back," Yukina greeted sweetly.

"Y-Yukina!" he exclaimed. "What're you doing here in my humble home my sweet?"

"Oh, well—"

"Kaa-zuu-maa-!" a much less delightful voice called his name, cutting Yukina off.

"Oh, sis…" Kuwabara said nervously. "W-what is it?"

"Why is my CD player in pieces!" she asked.

"Oh… uh… my friend borrowed it and he kinda dropped it and broke it," he replied, still a bit nervous as he walked by her and halfway up the stairs before she yanked him back down by his shirt.

"That was my favorite CD player!" Shizuru fumed.

"R-realax Sis! I'll get you another one!" Kuwabara quickly said. "I get you a better one th—whoa!"

He barely dodged the punch that Shizuru threw at him followed by a kick that he dodged by tripping over his own feet.

"Stop stumbling around and stay still Kazuma!" Shizuru yelled as her punch connected with is face, sending Kuwabara flying back, completely shocking him.

"Si…Sis…?" Kuwabara called as he stared at her. Something isn't right… it's like a feeling in my gut. She… she was seriously trying to kill me! And over a CD player too!

Shizuru's eyes flared as Kuwabara whipped around and ran right out the door.

"Wait! Kazuma!" called a sweet voice.

"Y-Yukina!" he replied as she ran up to hug him, causing him to blush as he forgot about everything else. "Oh Yukina. You have finally confessed thou love for—"

He was cut short when he got blown away by Yukina's blizzard.

"Ow!" Kuwabara cried, then stupidly said. "Like they say I guess, love is pain…"

"Oh Kazuma…" Yukina said sweetly as she and Shizuru walked up to him.

Shizuru cracked her knuckles.

"I love you very much Kazuma, as a sister of course," she said with a smirk, making Kuwabara shutter.

"And I love you very much too Kazuma," Yukina said, innocent as always.

"W-wait!" he said. "I take that back! Love has to be painless! Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

He dashed down the street with Shizuru and Yukina right on his tail.

"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!" Kuwabara shouted as he coincidentally ran into Yusuke and Kurama. He jumped behind both of them.

"What the!" Yusuke said confused as he turned around to look at Kuwabara. "What the hell's wrong with you? Have you officially gone insane? Not that you always weren't…"

"Save me! Save me! Save me!" he pleaded.

Yusuke and Kurama looked up to find Yukina and Shizuru glaring at Kuwabara with blood thirsty eyes. Kurama and Yusuke held back a laugh.

"Yukina with a will to kill…" Kurama said. "That's something new that you won't see everyday."

"Now that's what I call girl power…" Yusuke said amused.

"That's not funny Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted as he suddenly flew back.

The moment abruptly turned serious when Yukina blew them away with her blizzard again.

"Damn I wish Hiei were here to see me do this!" Yusuke said as he shot his Spirit Gun at the two girls, blowing them away.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Kuwabara panicked. "What're you doing Urameshi! You just killed them!"

-----Spirit World-----

Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara marched in through the Spirit World gates and right to Koenma's office. Yusuke kicked the door opened only to find a surprised George look up from Koenma's desk.

"Alright, where's pacifier breath?" Yusuke asked.

"He's away right now," George answered like Koenma had asked him to.

"Away my ass!" he argued.

"Yeah! That guy never leaves this place!" Kuwabara agreed.

"It's very important," Kurama said calmly.

"I realize that, but I'm afraid he's away for the moment," George repeated.

"I think that's a lie," Kurama accused openly, knowing for a fact that Koenma wasn't away.

George shifted nervously.

"Now, if you'd be so kind as to tell us where Koenma really is…" he said calmly.

-----Couple Minutes Later-----

The door to Koenma's private office slammed opened, making him jump. He looked up with a stunned expression on his face.

"Y-Yusuke! Kurama! Kuwabara!" he exclaimed, obviously shocked at their arrival.

"Alright, what's going on?" Yusuke asked.

"What do you mean?" Koenma asked, pretending to be clueless.

"Don't play du—"

"The girls, all of them, were attacking us," Kurama said, cutting the impatient detective off.

"What gives you that idea?" he questioned, knowing that it was pointless.

"When Keiko starts trying to kill me with a friggin knife!" Yusuke shouted.

"And when Yukina wants to kill Kuwabara," Kurama added, making Koenma sweat drop even more as he apparently held back a laugh.

"I see she's finally let her true feelings out…" Koenma said jokingly.

"That's not funny dammit!" Kuwabara shouted, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Why is it that I got double teamed by my love and Sis but you guys only get to fight one person each!"

"Joking aside, what's really going on?" Kurama asked again, staring into the prince's eyes.

Koenma stared at the three who looked at him determinedly. He knew they wouldn't leave until they got an answer out of him.

"Alright," the prince sighed. "Rejuko has Yukina and the others…"

"What!" the three of them shouted at once.

"Why didn't you tell us!" Yusuke shouted.

"Wait until I finish," Koenma said calmly, the detectives settling down with great effort to listen to what he has to say. "If my assumption is correct, he wants to use them as bait."

"As if that wasn't already obvious…" Kuwabara mumbled.

"If you recall, a few months ago, I mentioned something about the Talismans of the Three Worlds," he continued, ignoring Kuwabara. "It takes a large amount of spirit energy, which I'm sure Rejuko won't feel like wasting, to activate it. More than that, not only does he have to activate one, but two for whatever he's planning."

"And what does this have to do with Keiko and the others being captured?" Yusuke asked.

"He plans to paralyze us…" Kurama said more to himself than to answer his question. "If he holds them captive, we won't fight back. He intends to use our spirit energy instead, and to assure that we cooperate…"

"Are you serious?" Kuwabara asked.

"What the hell's wrong with you Koenma!" Yusuke shouted. "We could've done something if you told us earlier! Who's side are you on dammit!"

"I'm afraid I went wrong when I asked Akiya to join us," Koenma replied quietly. "From there, Rejuko only had to wait for everything to slide into place… he had us right from the beginning, and I'm afraid that it's drawing near the end now…"

There was no response from anyone.

"But… that isn't right…" Kuwabara said. "I mean, we can't just throw all the blame on Akiya! She didn't know this was gonna happen either!"

"I know," Koenma replied. "But it's hopeless now. It won't be long until he's ready to activate both talismans… it's already beyond our grasp. There's absolutely nothing we can do to stop this…"

The three detectives were surprised at the tone of Koenma's voice. It was sad and completely drained of hope.

"Where is this Rejuko shit head?" Yusuke asked, Koenma looking up at him as if he was stupid.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" he asked. "I said that it's too late! There's nothing we can do!"

"I don't give a shit what the hell you think right now. I sure as hell won't sit around and wait for my ass to get blown to pieces Koenma, and I don't think any of us are, including Hiei and Akiya."

"We might as well attempt to stop this," Kurama agreed. "We've done the impossible before. I'm sure this time won't be any different."

"Rejuko is different from any enemy you've faced before!"

"C'mon! The only difference is that he's gonna get creamed more than all the others guys we've creamed before!" Kuwabara said confidently.

Koenma couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"But—!" he cut himself off. The determined and confident look in the detectives' eyes had rekindled his hope, making a small smile appear on his face. That's right. When did I care how hopeless a situation seemed? They've never failed me before, and they won't now…

"Koenma?" Kurama called, seeing as how he had gone silent.

"We'll wait for Akiya and Hiei," he replied, sounding the complete opposite from the depressed tone he had used before. "Once they arrive, then I'll tell you guys what to do. Rejuko's already laid out the invitation. All we have to do is accept it."

-----Hiei and Akiya-----

The two were quietly walking back through the woods. Hiei was still shocked from what had happened earlier between him and Akiya. He secretly glanced over at her.

What am I doing…? Hiei questioned himself. This is ridiculous…

He glanced at her over once more. Hiei noticed that Akiya seemed to be a bit nervous about something.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something's… not right…" she replied as they both stopped and stared ahead.

"Like what?" Hiei asked again.

"I dunno," Akiya answered. "It feels like Hayate and the others are near… by…" she trailed off, slightly worrying Hiei. This feeling is really making me uneasy…

Suddenly, a chuckle was heard and echoed throughout the woods.

"Keen senses as always Akiya," complimented a familiar voice, one which the two of them dreaded whether they admitted or not.

Hiei was immediately on guard, ready to draw his katana the moment his enemy made the wrong move. Akiya's hand moved towards a kunai strapped on her thigh.

"Must we be so tense?" he asked as he stepped out into the clearing.

As they expected, it was Rejuko…

"This must be a coincidence," Rejuko said casually, as if they were friends or something along those lines. "Akiya, we haven't met in a while now. And you as well, Hiei was it?"

Neither of them replied.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" he joked as he merely turned his body to the side to dodge the kunai that came from Akiya's direction.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Is that anyway to ask someone a question?" Rejuko asked, pretending to be offended as always.

Akiya threw another kunai at him to vent out her anger only to unexpectedly have someone jump out of the shadows to deflect it. Soon, one more person accompanied the first. Rejuko watched as Hiei and Akiya's faces showed a completely stunned impression though Hiei tried to hide it.

"K-Kohira… Keta…" Akiya said in disbelief.

"It's been a while…" Kohira greeted, Keta keeping silent.

Rejuko smirked. "Since we're all here, I'd like you two to meet my new… subordinates, other than the kids of course… you can come out."

Hiro appeared from the shadows.

"Akiya, glad to see you're doing well," he said.

Hiei looked around. "So where's the arrogant fool?" he asked.

"Right behind you…" he answered as Hiei turned around to see him with a kunai to Akiya's throat.

Hiei flinched.

"Now, now Hayate, don't harm her," Rejuko warned. "We're not here to kill anyone this time."

Akiya was still too shocked to speak. True, she knew that Hiro and the others had attacked their village, but she didn't expect them to be on Rejuko's side. And more than that, Hayate, who would've killed anyone that threatened her, had a kunai to her neck.

"I'm sure I don't need to introduce you guys," Rejuko said, sick humored as always. "Anyways, we should be on our way now. See you soon…"

He walked by them with the others except for Hayate following. He had still yet to free Akiya. Hiei didn't move.

"You're not keeping your promise very well," Hayate said to Hiei. "I thought I told you to protect her…"

With no further comments, Hayate lowered the kunai and followed Rejuko. It took a few seconds before what Hayate said actually hit her.

"I thought I told you to protect her…"

She spun around to look at his disappearing back.

"Hayate!" she called out to him.

Akiya fell to her knees, alarming Hiei.

"Hey!" he yelled in concern as he knelt by her side.

She didn't respond in any way to him at all. She just sat there, staring dazedly ahead of her.

"Hey!" Hiei called again.

Akiya still didn't respond. She was lifeless.

"Hey!" he shouted, lifting her up by her shirt. "Snap out of it! Now!"

She slowly looked up at Hiei and simply stared at him. Suddenly, shocking Hiei once more, she wrapped her arms around him and fell to her knees again, holding him tightly. After a few seconds, Hiei finally recovered from his shock. He looked away, blushing ever so slightly. Hayate's words kept echoing in his mind.

"I told you to protect her…"

Hesitantly, mainly because he had never done this to anyone before, he put an arm around her comfortingly.

-----Thirty Minutes Later-----

The ogre had directed Hiei and Akiya to Koenma's private office.

"So, what were you two doing?" Kuwabara teased.

"Indeed, we've been waiting for quite a while now," Kurama indirectly agreed.

"I don't know what the hell they were doing and I don't care," Yusuke said. "All I care about is if you're ready to kick ass or not."

"Watch you back Detective. My sword might be sticking out of it," Hiei threatened.

"Trust me, this is one ass I've been waiting to kick for years now," Akiya said.

"Alright, let me give you all your next assignment," Koenma announced, feeling refreshed by everyone's strong determination to beat Rejuko.

-----Next Chapter's Preview-----

Run Away Forever Chapter 21- The Mission Begins: A Whole Other World

Yusuke and the others go in pursuit of Rejuko and the girls in a whole different world. With obstacles and traps waiting for them around every corner, they're gonna have to be on full alert and watch their backs… especially for traitors…