If you really need to read the disclaimer again, then refer back to the first ten chapters.

Ch.17

The pair woke up to see, first, weak patches of sunlight filtering through the tree tops and second, the person they had spent the entire night with.

"Morning," Jamie smiled up at him.

"Morning" he answered. The night before, Kurama had been in such a daze that he had not even noticed the small details that were now obviously apparent. The light brown hair that had previously been tickling him under his chin was surprisingly soft, and her long bangs covered her eyes so that he had to brush them away in order to see them. Once he managed to get a good look at her eyes, which had always appeared black from a distance, he noticed were actually a very dark shade of brown.

It was these small details that Kurama held most precious, but hopefully he would have the rest of eternity to discover them.

"Hey, Kurama, Jamie, are you guys out there!" a voice that sounded like Yusuke's shouted.

"Looks like they are looking for us," Kurama told her. She gave a smiling nod in answer before standing up with him quickly following her. When the two of them returned to the group together Jamie had to suppress the urge to laugh at the looks they were receiving.

"Soooo, what exactly happened last night," Yusuke asked his partner once the initial shock had worn off.

"Hm, nothing," the fox answered as he slipped an arm around his new lover. To the insightful the action told them everything; to the stupid the indication went right passed them. Though it's not like either of the people in question cared what the others thought.

"Hey," Mike interrupted. "Before we continue this hero business, you wouldn't happen to have any food on you would you?" Seeing as how the Reiki Tantei could not let their charges go unfed, Kurama quickly grew a few fruit bearing trees to supply a sufficient breakfast. Once he had finished, Kurama had been planning to return to his place next to his lover, but before he could say anything she was whisked away by her friends. This left him a bit uneasy, he was feeling overly possessive at the moment, but he decided not to make anything of it. Besides, if all went well, they would have plenty of time to spend together.

"Alright spill, what happened," Jordan pried once they were a safe distance away from everyone else. An entire group consisting of Jessica, Erika, Stephanie, Yami, and Jordan were all dying to know exactly what had gone on between there young friend and the fox.

"Yes, do tell," Jessica emphasized.

"Well…um," Jamie hesitated. How much should she tell them?

"You have to tell us," Yami pushed. "What did you two do all night?" In a moment of clarity it became obvious to Jamie what her friends really wanted to know.

"Nothing of what you're thinking," she answered with a fake act of disgust. "To make it simple he came to comfort me, and…" she hesitated again. How was she supposed to explain this? After a moment of thought and her friends urging she cautiously continued with the explanation. "Apparently he had some mixed feelings for me sense he saw me on the field when we got kidnapped. After talking to me last night, and that's all we did, he realized that he loved me." Yes, she knew it was a lame explanation and it left out the best part, but that was all she felt ready to tell them. It only took a few more questions for the others to figure out that she was not going to go into anymore detail and they returned to the others.

When his lover came back Kurama simply gave her a questioning stare.

"They were curious," she answered the unspoken question. Then, just to clarify, she added "I didn't tell them much." Kurama acknowledged her explanation with a nod and a warm gaze and handed her one of the freshly grown apples.

Eventually they continued on their usual hike. Although this time the fox was sticking rather close to his lover. The love between them was brand new and they were still experiencing the clingy, needy feeling of newly inspired passion.

As predicted, the group reached their destination that same day. They were now currently standing on the outside edge of the barrier and trying to decide which way to go next.

"Ok Mr. Sensitive, this one's all you." Yusuke rounded on Kuwabara. "Where do we go from here?" Without argument Kuwabara reached out his senses and almost instantly located an identical, yet smaller energy source as the one they had just left.

"That way," he indicated somewhere off to the left. "About a three hour journey."

"Well let's get going," Yusuke commanded. "I don't know about any of you but I'm really getting sick of this mission." With a whole hearted agreement the group continued their trek in the direction indicated. The trip was surprisingly boring. No one was saying much of anything and they were currently traveling through a rocky waist land so the view was not very entertaining either.

"Well, this looks interesting," Hiei smirked. The group had been nearing their destination and had reached the edge of a cliff to come across a rather disheartening seen. In the basin below them was what looked to be a copy of the army they had previously fought.

"Aaaaaaaaugh!" Yusuke exclaimed in frustration. "We don't have time for this." With everyone looking at the obstacle in dismay or calculating just how long this would take, no one noticed Travis's intense stare at the opposing demons.

"I think I can help," he spoke up, startling everyone into silence.

"Oh yeah, and what can you do?" Kuwabara countered.

"Oh they don't know do they," Jessica exclaimed. Every member of the Reiki Tantei gave the girl an inquisitive look, although it was Aryn who explained.

"What do you think that demon was doing to us the whole time we were in his possession, treating us to a bed and breakfast, I think not." After hearing this Yusuke turned his attention back to Travis.

"Alright, do what you can." Once given consent Travis set to work focusing his energy. Reaching out he latched onto every one of the demons, well he really did not know what it was he was holding on to. Energy, soul, whatever it was that made them up. Once he had a secure hold on every one of them he twisted and dragged at whatever could find. A painful cry went up from the hoard of demons before they all fell to the ground, not dead, just unconscious. Travis slipped his energy from his still victims and returned to his normal state of mind.

"Well, there you go," he commented, the entire Reiki Tantei just stared at results of the boys power.

"Wow," was about all Yusuke could say.

"Hn," Kurama assented. He, along with Hiei, had been the first to overcome their shock. "I see Korran truly did create some powerful beings."

"Hn," Hiei wordlessly agreed before carefully starting his way down the steep cliff. He was not about to over the boy's, and the rest of his friend's, power. Not as long as the humans were on their side. If any of them did switch over and try to oppose them, then he would worry about it. Until then it was just needless stress. The rest of the group decided to follow the little fire demon's example and started their way down. Everyone except Kurama that is who hung back until he was standing next to his lover behind everyone else. Once everyone else had some distance away from them he grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him.

"Korran," he pressed "what did he do to you?"

"You know," she answered after a moment of thought "I'm not really sure." Kurama released her but she didn't move away from him. He was not going to press. This had to be hard to adjust to and being interrogated would only make things more stressful. As curious as he was he was about the human's new abilities he would not press and would just to see for himself. "I think we should catch up with the others," he voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Yes, we should," he agreed and the two headed off to do just that.

After carefully picking there way across the body filled valley and scaling up the other side, the group found themselves staring at a large grey metal building. That was it, no other structures in sight.

"So, I guess this is the place," Yusuke said, although the comment was not necessary.

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed with him. He tried the door and as expected found it locked. "Well it looks like the King of Thieves can help us out on this one." However before Kurama could act Aryn stepped forward.

"If you don't mind I'd like to try. Travis isn't the only one with powers around here."

"By all means," the fox offered. She did not need to be told twice. In one smooth motion she jumped to a near by window sill and one more leap landed her safely on top of the building. She disappeared and barely a minuet latter she reappeared opening the entrance for them.

"Um…what's your power again?" Yusuke asked, quite befuddled. Her stunt and the speed at which she had accomplished it could rival Youko.

"Dormant Cat Demon," she answered him with a grin. "Or it was until Korran tampered."

"Oh…um…" Yusuke trailed off, not quite sure what to say, although the awkwardness did not stop them from taking advantage of the open door.

Upon entering it was quite obvious that this lab was much different from the last one. It was eerily quiet, and instead of the sterile look of white it felt more like a dungeon with cold metal walls and stone floor.

"Where do we go from here?" Botan asked the silence.

"Our friends are behind a large door at the end of the hall," Sam answered her seeing as how the silence was not responding.

"And how do you know that?" Yusuke asked her. These kids were really starting to confuse the hell out of him. He hated it when he didn't know something and others did and these teens were riddled with one enigma after another.

"I can feel their fear from here," she responded with a sheepish blush of embarrassment. Yusuke stared at her, baffled.

"She's an Empath," Yami offered, before turning her attention to the girl in question. "Can you do anything to comfort them?" Sam merely nodded in answer before focusing her energy on the two scared souls and trying to surround them with as much peace and tranquility as possible.

It was not long before they reached the end of the hallway and discovered themselves stuck behind a large metal door that covered the entire expanse of the hallway.

"Looks like we'll need Youko's skill after all," Yusuke mused. "Unless Cat Woman has a few more tricks up her sleeve."

"It's a solid wall," Aryn countered. "I can't dissolve through it or anything."

"It was just a joke," Yusuke reassured with his hands up in an open gesture to show that he meant no harm. "Kurama…" Even without finishing the question Kurama knew what Yusuke was trying to ask. There was a complex lock system on the door but by simply growing a small vine through the paneling he should be able to activate it. He could have, anyway, if he had been able to touch the door. When his hand came within an inch of the door there was a crackling sound and Kurama jerked back a hand that now donned reddened fingertips.

"It's warded," he needlessly explained. "Odds are none of us can touch it."

"Then how are we supposed to get in," Yusuke half shouted half groaned. This mission was going from bad to worse with every passing minuet.

"With a key," a voice behind them answered. The voice was reveled to belong to a woman with blond hair. The Reiki Tantei had never seen the woman before but the others instantly recognized her as Shaylan. To help with the image, Erik was standing right next to her. "We can open that door."

"And who the hell are you," Yusuke shot a bit too harshly, his nerves already on edge.

"They're two of Korran's assistants. They helped with the experiments," Erika offered. Of course that did not make Yusuke trust them anymore. However before he could voice his opinion he was cut off by Erik starting up a quarrel with his partner.

"Shaylan, what are you doing? You are not honestly going to help them?" Erik, by nature, had a weak demeanor, but he was trying to put all he authority he had into his voice wile at the same time pleading her to tell him his assumption was wrong.

"What if I am?" she asked looking down at him. In reality he was only about two inches shorter than her but she still tended to tower over him.

"You can't," he countered. "HE will be furious if we help them. And you know what he is capable of doing to us." She nodded her head in agreement.

"I know, but you've seen what he has done to those kids I can't sit idly by and let this continue. Not when there is something, anything, I can do to help." When the man in front of her hesitated to respond she continued. "We've talked of one day stepping up to Korran; well why not now, when it will do some good." The sheer conviction in her eyes told him that she was not about to back down so he gave in, as he always seemed to do when it came to her.

"Alright, if you're so determined then I might as well go along," he said with a shrug. Shaylan's sharp eyes sparkled with a light that none of the teens had ever seen after hearing her partners answer.

"Hold on," Hiei spoke up. "We still didn't say we would trust you."

"You know what Hiei, I think we can trust 'em," Yusuke said with a smile. After hearing the woman's heartfelt plea he truly did feel that the two of them could be trusted. The two of them seemed to hate Korran almost as they did. "So you can get us into this room?" Both Shaylan and Erik nodded in agreement. The woman, who was the one in possession of the key needed, walked over to the door, but just as she was about to put the odd trinket onto the even odder slit it was supposed to fit she halted and turned back to the group.

"I fit wouldn't be too much trouble," she began "could we come with you when you leave. At Yusuke's consent she gave a small smile and continued to her previous task. There was an assuring click sound before the doors slowly began to open. Shaylan quickly scurried to the back of the group before the room was revealed. Once it was the sight that met their eyes appalled them.

"Oh, my god," Yami whispered, thought the words were heard only by herself.

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