Hello! I know, it's been ages since I wrote the last chapter of this story, but I have to update it, like, now. Why? Because if I don't, I'll be thinking about it for weeks and I'll have rabid reviewers on my back even more than I do now. So, as my normal saying goes, ON WIT' THE FIC!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my twisted little mind.

Chapter 3: Knowledge Shared

---As much as Hiei hated him, he couldn't help but feel concerned about Yusuke. While Hiei himself may have been a merciless killer in the past with a strong stomach for dishonorable death, Yusuke had never seen the likes of it before he became a Spirit Detective. Cautiously, he took a quick glance at the human seated next to him, only a faint flicker of his worry breaking through his normal mask of stoicism.

---To say the least, Yusuke looked shaken and scared. Although he had not had any physical signs of a mental breakdown yet, the hi-youkai could detect that he wasn't that far from it either. As Koenma hung up the phone, Hiei glanced over his shoulder at the godling. Meeting the demon's gaze for a moment, he turned his tawny eyes to his battered detective. "Kazuma said that he's ready to come down, but Kurama can't be here until morning," he said slowly, watching Yusuke closely as the human's head jerked up at the first sound of his voice.

---"Why? What's up with Kurama?" Yusuke asked, seeming slightly suspicious. If it weren't such a serious situation, Hiei may have laughed at it. Right now, he simply understood; Yusuke was probably worried that Kurama either didn't care or had been killed by this unnerving assassin.

---Koenma also seemed to read this and continued cautiously. "He's sleeping over at Kuwabara's house and Kuwabara has reason to believe it would be best not to wake him up." At this, Yusuke looked confused. "But... I was studying over at Kurama's house before... before I came here," he said. "Why's he over at Kuwabara's place?"

---"Apparently Kazuma found a girl in need of medical attention and had reason to believe she wasn't human," Koenma replied carefully. Hiei inwardly groaned; there went the nitwit's chivalrous nature again. It was going to get him killed some day. "He suggested that the three of us go to his house and discuss things there," the godling concluded. "It may help to be in a familiar environment while I tell you about this, Yusuke." The human searched Koenma's eyes hard, then lowered his eyes and nodded. When he stood, both Hiei and Koenma could tell that he was straining not to collapse again, whether from exhaustion or weakness neither could tell accurately. "Right, let's go then," he murmured, heading for the door. He left Koenma and Hiei standing there, both worrying in their own ways about him.

---"Hiei." The fire youkai turned his head to glance at the Junior Lord of the Dead. "...Is there any possibility this might be..." Koenma trailed off, unwilling to believe that this might indeed be the person he feared it was. Hiei hesitated in replying, trying to find a way to confirm his own suspicions without alarming the godling. Finding no way to do so, he simply walked out, catching up with Yusuke in the hallway.

---Koenma sighed and shook his head, taking on his Ningenkai appearance with navy jeans, a white turtleneck, and a red sports jacket. Gazing forlornly after his detectives as he left his office, he hoped to any god that this wasn't who he'd feared.

---Because if it was, they stood no chance at all.

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---"Holiday quiet on these streets, except for some stubborn leaves that didn't fall with the fall, and now they clatter in vain." The song popped into Hiei's head as if placed there by magic. It was one of Yusuke's favorite bands; he knew because the human had walked into every meeting for the past two months listening to the American singers on his CD player. It fit right now, though, this song; the skies were clear and dark, making it easy to see the stars shining above in all their glory. While the leaves were still firmly attached to their respective branches, it was instead petals from the sakura blossoms that played like snow in the wind. How odd, he thought absently, that a song would be playing itself in his head right now. Considering the situation, of course.

---"Holiday skies, midnight clear, wind is high, hard to steer, old muffler rumbles like an old fighter plane in search of some rest, in search of a break from a life of tests where something's always at stake…" That part was true as well; the wind whipped abut the two dark haired Detectives and the Junior Lord of the Dead, not affecting two but biting deeply into the soul of the other. Hiei could see it on his face, though because he knew that Yusuke was trying to hide it, he said nothing. A car drove by, one of the only vehicles seen all night, its engine growling darkly like an underfed tiger. Hiei almost smiled; this song was an odd one. Why had he thought of it? Perhaps it had something to do with that line… a life of tests where something's always at stake… that was their lives, after all…

---"Where something's always so far. What about my broken car? What about my life so far? What about my dream, what about…? What about everything? What about aero planes and what about ships that drank the sea? What about… What about the moon and stars? What about soldier battle scars and all the anger that they eat? I am not in need…" It was strange, but this song, written by someone over three thousand miles away, fit their lives with a startling clarity. It never bothered Hiei to be so detached from the others. It was a necessity for him. Yusuke and the others needed each other, to laugh with and to fight with. With him, it was different; the scars on his heart constantly reminded him of what happened when people got too close. It was one of the reasons for him staying away from them, staying away from anyone he cared for at all. Many of the questions in the song he'd asked of himself, trying to find reasons to keep going when all he wanted was to finish what he started.

---"Get away and come with me. Come away with me and we'll see if I was right on that night that a future was made. Before time takes each year, like a knife cuts it clear, it's school, then work, and then life; that just sharpens the blade. I think about time for fun, I think about time for play, then I think about bein' done with no resume…" He'd said that only a few times in his life, and regretted it soon after. It was right, though; this song had pegged the meaning of life when so many people had tried to figure it out by themselves. All that was here was to live and learn; to sharpen the blade that is your soul. Whether you use it to kill or protect… Hiei shook his head trying to clear the stray thoughts as they continued through the city to the park. Common knowledge to all the Detectives was that through the small forest was the only fast way to get from one house to another, as they all lived pretty widespread in the city. Glancing up at the sky, he thought again about the song that was now starting to irritate him for its persistence.

---"With no one left to blame, what about fortune and fame? What about your love to obtain? What about the ring, what about…? What about everything, what about aero planes and what about ships that drank the sea? What about… What about the moon and stars? What about soldier battle scars and all the anger that they eat? I am not in need?" Why was this little tune being so persistent? What did it want him to say; that everything was going to be fine and that they'd be able to catch this killer before he decides to go after them? Hiei was never the comforting sort and was not going to start now. They'd all had their own hardships, him more than most, and they had to deal with the fact that sometimes there was just nothing you could do. He didn't need them to comfort him, and he never wanted it. He couldn't understand how it was that Yusuke could fall apart over something like this. Both of them have seen worse than an execution and had fought back against it hard and fast. Every time, it'd be the same thing. Why did Yusuke treat this differently?

---"Holiday quiet on these streets, except, for some reason, me. The hometown harbor light's bright; the sailboats clatter in vain. Holiday quiet, midnight clear, wind is high on this pier." The song was slightly off this time; though they could smell the sea on the wind that threatened to steal their warm breath from their bodies, the docks were miles outside of the city. But the wind picked up an even fiercer gale as they left the wooded enclave, snapping Hiei's cloak around behind him and revealing the hilt of the sword he carried on his back. Also, Hiei was never anything but quiet. Glancing up at Yusuke again, he noticed the almost lost look in the human's eyes, one he'd seen so many times before. This time, like many of the times before, he could not help him, no matter how tempting. The best help would simply be to let him alone and have him deal with it for himself. Looking away once again, it seemed to Hiei like he was forcing Yusuke to live the life he'd had himself. Well, it'd be good for him to learn to deal with things he couldn't change.

---"I find it hard to complain when compared with what about…What about everything? What about aero planes and what about ships that drank the sea? What about… what about the moon and stars? What about soldier battle scars and all the anger that they eat? What about… what about aliens? What about you and me, and what about gold beneath the sea? What about… what about when buildings fall? What about that midnight phone call, the one that wakes you from your peace? Well I am not, I am not, I am not in need." Hiei nearly sighed in relief as the song finally left his mind, giving him more room to think about the situation. He wouldn't be able to tell them much; it'd been a long time since he'd fought this particular enemy. Despite this, Hiei doubted the bastard's tactics, or motives, changed much.

---He looked up as Yusuke stopped, halting directly behind him and Koenma and glancing at what the two teenagers were looking at. It was Kuwabara's apartment, lights on and obviously with someone home, as they could see Shizuru out on the balcony smoking. The wind subsided to a mild breeze, and Hiei shifted his eyes to Yusuke once more, noticing that though the gales had stopped, the human's slight tremors hadn't. Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Hiei walked past him, startling Yusuke into following him up the stairs to the apartment.

---Kuwabara had been nowhere near sleep when he heard the door open. Mentally cursing at forgetting to lock the door, he stood from his chair, stretched his long legs, and walked out to see who'd entered… though, his rei kan told him instantly who it was. "Hey guys," he said quietly, walking up to them as quietly as he could. "Kurama's asleep on the couch, so we can talk in my room." The three other boys nodded and Kazuma glanced them both over quickly before leading them off to his room.

---It was the same as it'd always been; a bed in one corner, a desk in another, a bookcase along the wall (lined with his school books, mangas, and various other bits of reading material), and a single poster adorning the wall by his closet, for the World Championship Fighting Tournament. Kuwabara pulled the chair out from the desk, spun it around so it faced him, and sat with his back to the bookshelf, motioning for Hiei, Koenma, and Yusuke to take a seat anywhere. The human sat gratefully on the edge of the bed, while the demon kept his placid expression and leaned against the desk in front of the window and the demigod stood by the closet. "So shoot Koenma," Kazuma said. "What's going on? You didn't tell me much over the phone."

---"I think it may be best for Yusuke to tell you what he saw first," Koenma answered slowly, glancing at the human on the bed.

---Yusuke was quiet for a moment, staring at the floor as if he didn't know where to start. Before either of his friends or his employer could prompt him, however, he began to retell the story with the detail of a real investigator and the flat, emotionless tone of someone who'd rather not be reliving it. By the time he'd finished, he hadn't looked up at either of them once, and Kuwabara was stunned. There was someone killing off Spirit Detectives and Koenma wanted the four of them, the newest group of Detectives, to go after him? It didn't make a whole lot of sense, considering that Yusuke was in no shape to go anywhere yet.

---"So, why'd you guys come down here instead of waiting 'till Kurama woke up and sending for us?" he asked cautiously, trying feign stoicism like Hiei so often did. The master, however, noticed the apprentice's underlying question and tone, the one that spoke volumes by not being spoken: Why did you put Yusuke on this case, Koenma?

---Truthfully, Hiei wondered the same thing. Yusuke may understand what they're dealing with, but he was in no condition to fight. Physically, perhaps, but his mental state was bordering on shattered. Kuwabara would never be able to take on this threat; there was no way the human was strong enough, physically or emotionally, which left him on a state almost as bad as his friend's. Kurama… the kitsune was a different story Hiei did not want to try and press. He would most certainly be strong enough as a demon, but his human heart was subject to the ruthlessness of their adversary. He was so in thought, he didn't realize that Kazuma had asked another question and Koenma had answered.

---"Do you know who we're dealing with, Koenma?"

---"…Not entirely. I never knew the man. But I believe that Hiei knows exactly who he is and how we may be able to defeat him."

---Hiei looked over at the others when he realized that they were looking at him; Yusuke's brown eyes calm and impassive on the surface with inner turmoil, Kazuma's blue ones reflecting his worry easily while hiding his calmness and calculation, and Koenma's remaining gentle yet firm in their prompting. When they realized it seemed he hadn't heard the question, Kazuma repeated it. "Koenma said that you know about this guy, Hiei. Have you met him before or something?"

---"Yes," he answered, trying to hold back the bitterness of the memory. "I've met him and fought him. He's been dead for a while now, though." He did not tell them exactly what plagued him about this, but he didn't need to as another voice spoke.

---"Well, it appears that he's back." The voice came from the door, and all of them looked over to see Kurama, seeming amazingly disheveled and tired. His eyes told them differently, that he was listening intently and wide awake, as they glittered like a pair of gems in the light. "Who exactly are we dealing with, Hiei?" he said calmly, flicking his eyes to the demigod before resting once again on his much shorter friend. Though it sounded like a question, it seemed more like a demand from its sharp undertone.

---"…" Hiei hesitated, not wishing to expose them more than he had to. Deciding on his words carefully, he spoke briefly and stoically, wishing to keep them as detached from this as he needed to be.

---"His name is Daren, or was when he was alive. He was what's known as a fiend, a creature that is not a human, demon, angel, or spirit. Humans commonly refer to them as devils, creatures of utter darkness and evil. He lived, and ruled, in a realm of these creatures, known as Yamikai, or the Dark Realm." Hiei paused, as he knew that at least one person-

---"There's a whole realm of people like him?"

--- -had a question. Turning his crimson gaze to Kazuma, he nodded once, but it was enough. The human paled slightly, then looked to Yusuke, Koenma, and Kurama to see their reactions. Yusuke remained the same; completely impassive, and Koenma did not seem at all surprised by Hiei's declaration. Kurama, however, had that look of calculation and concern that he wore oddly well on his young face. It seemed that the information, however brief, was enough to concern him. "What else can you tell us?" he asked slowly, as if trying to sort the information carefully as he sought more to make the conjecture complete.

---"…Very little that you need to know." Kurama looked up at him sharply, eyes glinting like daggers in the light. "What we need to know, or what you think we need to know?" he asked, trying to draw a reaction out of Hiei.

---To put it simply, it worked.

---Hiei glared darkly at the kitsune, his own phantasmal eyes flashing darkly in anger. Though his face did not set any different than before, the four other boys could see the shadow cross his features. "I know what you need to know," he murmured, his voice so low it seemed almost a growl of a dangerous animal. "And you only need to know what I've told you. Anything else will get you killed."

---"We're dead anyway, so why don't you tell us to humor us?" The response startled everyone, as it had not come from Kurama, but Yusuke. He'd maintained silence throughout Hiei's calm explanation, but now looked up at the youkai with both vengeful and fearful eyes. "After all, if he's that strong, who's going to say that we won't take whatever secrets he has to our graves," he mused darkly, not noticing how the others were staring at him. Hiei seemed to wrestle with the idea for a moment, glancing away so not to see the look in the younger Detective's eyes. After a moment, though, the idea won and he sighed in exasperation, running a hand irritably though his hair. "Fine," he grumbled darkly. "Where do you want me to start, Detective?" He nearly spat the word out in his irritation.

---"At the beginning. How'd you meet him and why do you know so much about him?"

---"…I met him in the Dark Realm. I had been hired to kill someone there, and he saw my work. I worked with him for over three hundred years as his second in command and battle tactician."

---"That explains a bit, but not enough," Kurama pushed. "Why did you kill him?"

---"…" That question was not so easily answered, mainly because Hiei didn't know how exactly Kurama knew he'd killed Daren. Hiei had to think hard before replying so that he wouldn't give too much away. "He went insane and tried to kill me. I simply retaliated in kind."

---"What exactly is the Dark Realm?" The question came from Kazuma, and once he asked it, it seemed like the first question they should have asked.

---"A world of eternal darkness and evil." Koenma replied to this question, his tone dropping bitterly as he remembered it from the sole time he was forced to visit it. "It feeds off of your fears and turns them into ideas for others on how torment and kill one another. Humans who go rarely survive, angels cannot enter for the sake of their sanity and purity, and demons… often lose any control they once had. Bloodlust runs rampant, and one ruler holds a hand over them all."

---"Though, since that ruler has been dead for the past three thousand years-" Hiei continued on Koenma's track, but was suddenly interrupted.

---"Three thousand years?" Kazuma exclaimed, staring at him in disbelief. Hiei, however, continued as if there had been no interruption. "-And the regency died off one hundred years ago, there has only been a ten-year monitoring of the Realm to make sure it doesn't go out of control and try to take over any of the other realms." The silence that greeted his words he welcomed, as it gave him time to prepare for any further questions.

---"…How do we stop him?" Yusuke asked slowly, still trying to process everything clearly. Hiei looked at the Detective hard, trying to see behind the mask of detachment he'd covered his face with. He saw the same he had before; fear and retribution. Breaking the eye contact, he glanced among the others; from Kazuma's topaz tones to Kurama's forest shade to the golden-tawny hues of Koenma. When Koenma shook his head solemnly, Hiei looked back to Yusuke.

---"We can't," he replied softly. "At least, not yet."

---"Why not?" Kuwabara exclaimed, tensing as if he were going to jump up from his chair.

---"There's a new wrinkle in the problem that was not there three thousand years ago," Hiei growled in response, detesting the lack of faith the ningen had in him.

---"And that would be?" Kurama asked, maintaining calm so another fight would not erupt between the two extremes of their group.

---"…There's an innocent involved this time," Koenma answered softly. Everyone looked to him as he began his own explanation.

---"According to various reports made by the other Reikai Tentai before they were… killed in action, Daren has his original form. However, his aura is not at the strength that it used to be, nor is it any longer pure fiend. In fact, right now it is mostly human."

---"So he's taken a host body," Kurama confirmed, watching the demigod as he nodded solemnly. "That matches with Yusuke's account of what he said."

---"Yes. I knew that he had a host, a young girl about your age, Kuwabara," he motioned to the human boy in the chair, "but I do not know exactly who she is or what she looks like."

---"So we're in the dark about who she is," Yusuke mused. "But if she is Daren's reincarnation, doesn't that make her aware of what she's doing?" Koenma shook his head, startling all of the Detectives before him.

---"She's an innocent, as I said. She wants nothing to do with what he's doing as far as we can tell."

---"They're two separate entities?" Kurama asked, surprise flashing across his young features.

---"Not entirely. But they do have a separate consciousness each."

---"What do you mean by that?" Kazuma asked. Hiei was also curious, though he would never admit to agreeing with Kuwabara.

---"…His soul and hers partially fused while she was still in a fetal state," Koenma explained slowly. Before he could explain further, the pocket communicator in his pocket rang with an oddly cheery jingle. Pulling it out and opening it with a casual flick of his wrist, he questioned the screen. "What is it?"

---"Ah, Koenma-sir," came Botan's slightly timid voice. "We have a bit of a situation down here…"

---"I'll be right there." Flicking the communicator closed, Koenma looked back up at his Detectives, each holding his gaze steadily as he set it upon them. Without any explanation, he "bwinked" out of the room. For a moment, there was silence as the Detectives contemplated the information they'd either given or received.

---Then, Shizuru entered the room. "Kazu, your pet's woken up," she stated, "and she's wondering where she is."

End Chapter

Okay! Reviewer responses are here! Note, this will be the last chapter I will be doing them because I will either thank you in person (if I know you) or I'll give you a Reviewer Reply (if you are an writer).

codenametatsu – Thanks. I hope you enjoy this chapter. --smiles--

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Review please! The next chapter will be up… eventually…