Chapter Three: Tension Mounting

"WHAAAT!" Botan's shriek could be heard echoing in the corridors of the palace. This...this was bad. "How can that...I mean, how is that possible?"

Botan had just finished being briefed on the next assignment for Yusuke. As Spirit Detective, it was his job to hunt down creatures like this horrifying beast, and it was her job as his assistant to deliver the orders and to do whatever she could to help him. She knew that Yusuke would not be happy to hear this, however. He'd only been back from the Dark Tournament for a couple weeks, he had probably been looking forward to some rest after that horrifying experience. And this...this could potentially be worse. "How can something like that exist, Koenma? I mean, I've seen it before, but not on this scale!"

Koenma sighed, resting his hands on a folder on his desk. He pushed it to Botan, gesturing for her to open it. "I don't know, but it does. I don't know how it could have gotten this strong without us knowing about it. I've heard that he comes directly from Makai, so that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, I guess. They have some...very strange things down in Makai."

As Botan knew well, Makai was the world of demons. Hiei, who even now had begun to occupy her thoughts, had come directly from Makai. And Kurama, to her left, had once dwelled there. It was the place that demons called home, and there were intensely powerful monstrosities in the deepest regions. But this didn't sound like one of those. "How good is he? I mean...Yusuke can take him, can't he?"

Kurama smiled just a bit, fielding this question. "What little reports we've managed to gather on him suggest that his fighting skills still leave something to be desired. Yusuke could beat him, certainly...but the trick is in reaching him. His gifts make that difficult. He doesn't have to fight; he has an army to do that for him."

As much as she hated to admit it, Botan had to put her questions on Hiei aside for now. This was more urgent, and there would be plenty of time to figure him out after this demon had been dealt with. "Okay," she sighed, "I'll go tell Yusuke."

Koenma nodded his head. "Thank you, Botan." Botan turned to go, but was stopped when she heard Koenma's voice again. "Kurama, I want you to find Hiei. What reports we have are sketchy at best. If anyone knows what's going on in Makai, it's going to be Hiei." Botan stopped for a moment, her mind hovering on that little piece. If Hiei was coming here, this may be her chance to...no, no, she had to focus. The mission was more important, she could worry about Hiei later. She only hoped there would be a later.

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Night had fallen over the city, and Yusuke Urameshi had retired to his home. The place had become little more to him than a place to stay the night, but it wasn't much of a loss. As he approached the apartment complex, he noticed the light was out. He didn't give it too much thought, however, as all it probably meant was that his mother was out getting herself plastered drunk, as opposed to staying in and getting herself plastered drunk. No big deal, really.

However, when he arrived on the doorstep and reached for the knob, he thought he could feel something different about the place. Something seemed off, though he couldn't quite place it. Slowly, carefully, he twisted the knob and eased the door open. The hinges made an eerie creak as the door swung open, meeting Yusuke with a dark, drab looking hallway. Keeping an eye out, he traced his fingers along the wall, finding the light switch and flicking it on. The light illuminated the hallway, revealing the typical trash and empty bottles dwelling on the floor that he had come to associate with this place.

With cautious steps, he eased himself down the hall, listening and looking for anything that could be out of place. And then he heard it in the room to his left, in the kitchen. Behind the door, there was a rustling sound, the sound of the bottles and garbage being disturbed on the floor. He wasn't alone in this place, and had to wonder just what was behind there. The lights had been off, so it couldn't be his mother. Was it a simple burglar, or was it a demon looking to ambush him in his sleep? Whatever it was, he was ready for it. Bringing his gun hand up, he began to charge his Spirit Gun, just as he had that afternoon. He could fire up to four blasts from his fingertip per day, and he still had all of today's charges. If it was a demon, it would regret messing with the champion of the Dark Tournament.

Bracing his wrist with his left hand, Yusuke kicked down the door, pointing his Spirit Gun straight at the source of the sound. "Freeze and drop whatever y...you're..." Yusuke almost fell over from the sheer stupidity of the moment. For there it was, rustling, sifting through the garbage, the creature that he had become so worked up over...here and now, he had his Spirit Gun aimed and charged to blow away a common rat.

Yusuke laughed at himself for getting so worked up. After putting his finger away, he left the rat alone with the words, "Good luck, we ran out of food three days ago." He closed the door on the rat, and headed for his bedroom. He just barely missed the rat turning its attention back up to the door for a moment, and the green glow that overtook its eyes for a couple seconds. It closed its eyes, and when it opened them again, they were normal. Immediately, the rat leapt off the empty bottle it was perched on and followed to the door. Zipping through a hole that had been chewed in the wall, it followed after Yusuke,

Yusuke stepped into his room, through the door at the end of the hall. There wasn't much to this place, just a mattress to sleep on and a dresser on the side wall. The mattress wasn't the most comfortable, but he'd had worse sleep during his training in the mountains with Genkai. Just having a mattress felt like a luxury to him now. Hell, just getting to stand on his own feet rather than balance by his fingertip on a sharp spike felt like a luxury to him after what Genkai had put him through.

He dropped down hard onto the mattress, savoring the feel of something moderately soft beneath him. His thoughts wandered to Keiko first, wondering where in Japan she was now, and if she was enjoying herself with her grandparents. But no matter how hard he tried to focus on her, his thoughts kept going back to that morning, to the mystery that was Yoshi Tsarakino. The man had been quick to come and quick to leave, which begged the question of why he had come at all. What was he doing there, and why? Yusuke almost felt like he'd been tested, but why? And what had this man meant about a special interest in his business? Was he referring to Yusuke's job as Spirit Detective? And what had Kuwabara meant by two souls? Was that even possible? He'd have to remember to ask Botan or Kurama about that one.

Things were just getting more and more complicated. Yusuke rolled over onto his side and rest his head on his pillow, while his thoughts kept returning to Tsarakino. He didn't even see the rat from the kitchen, which had now taken up a place behind his dresser, its eyes constantly watching him. He did, however, notice the rumbling crash in the hallway, as a great deal of trash and bottles were forced out of place and something moderately heavy hit the floor. The rat couldn't be that heavy, so what was– "Dammit, Yusuke, how can your mother live like this!" He knew that tone, and he knew that feminine voice with the English accent. Botan was here.

If the rat could smile, it would. Things were just about to get interesting, and it tucked itself back into its crevasse beneath the dresser so as to eavesdrop without being noticed. It listened as Yusuke headed down the hall to help the newcomer. It couldn't recognize the voice, but it sounded female. From the reports of the tournament, this was likely either the brown-haired girlfriend, the blue-haired assistant, the light brown haired psychic, or the gray-haired master. It sounded too young to be the old crone, and he doubted the psychic had much interaction with Urameshi, which left only two options.

The hallway was filled with laughter, and the sound of Botan's protests. "Don't laugh, help me up!" Botan had tripped on one of the bottles and done a faceplant into a mountain of trash. She was not a happy spirit right now, even as Yusuke offered her his hand and helped her to her feet. "I swear, one of these days I'm sending you an ogre to take care of all this garbage."

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad." Yusuke's mood was lightened by Botan's clumsy arrival, and he led her back into his room, where he could sit on the mattress and talk. He didn't know why she was here, though he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the events of this morning. This was the perfect time to ask her about Tsarakino, to find out if she knew anything, but before the opportunity came along, Botan spoke.

"We have a bit of a situation on our hands, one that needs the work of a Spirit Detective. There's a fairly nasty demon that's been spotted in your area."

Yusuke nodded his head, thinking back to that afternoon. "I think I met him already. Pretty creepy guy. I would've had him, but he has this black smoke trick for disappearing."

Botan was surprised to hear this. Koenma had told her the demon was still in hiding, and had not shown itself yet. "Well...that's good to hear, I guess. What did he say?"

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders. "Something about being interested in my 'business', he called it. He seemed in a hurry to get in and out, though. I'm not sure if he was being serious or not. Whatever he was doing, this Tsarakino guy seems to have Kuwabara on edge."

Botan blinked her eyes, now confused. "Tsarakino?"

Yusuke nodded his head. "Yeah, Yoshi Tsarakino. Isn't he the demon you were talking about?"

Slowly, confusedly, Botan shook her head. "Um...no...the demon I was told about is named Fjerin."