What Happens Next:

Suddenly, the monster froze up; then he disintegrated into a giant pile of foul smelling black dust. Something tinkled and shattered, then Syrin could move again.

"Mysa!" She screamed, and flung herself, sobbing, at her friend. "I couldn't move... it was so horrible...why couldn't I move?" Mysa just stood there, comforting her friend; it was all she could think to do. She had no answers for her.

Meanwhile, everyone with Botan was asking her the same question, though they were all much less emotional then Syrin. Botan shook her head and glared at them.

"This is why you people do what you do! The reason you couldn't move is because the demon was wearing an amulet that represses all excess spirt energy, making the person unable to move. THAT was the item stolen, THAT was what you were sent here to recover, when instead you went on rides." She glared at them. "Now it's broken, congratulations."

"Botan, scold us later. If that amulet was so powerful, how did the demon die?" Kurama asked, urgency in his voice. "What was it after, that it stayed here for so long?"

"I... I don't know." Botan said. She sounded defeated. "My book says nothing about this. Not how he died or anything. Nothing."

"That stupid human girl had something to do with it, the one with the black and red hair." Hiei said, glaring at the person he spoke about as she and her friend went to check on Kyo.

"How do YOU know, huh?" Kuwabara asked in a snotty tone.

"I'm not sure... She blurred right before the demon died, so it makes sense that she had something to do with it." They stared at him. "What?" Oh, that's right. He had forgotten to mention his earlier observations.

Syrin started to shake Kyo. Mumbling, he woke up.

"Syrin? My head hurts... and I'm hungry." Syrin started laughing. Kyo was fine, probably only got his head knocked about a little. Then he started to remember things. Sitting straight up, he grabbed Syrin's shoulders and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She said, with a smile, and he hugged her tight. This is where Botan and the others interrupt.

"Mysa! Syrin! Are you guys okay?" Mysa smiled at her friend.

"We're all just fine, Botan. How are you guys?"

"I'm fine, and you have to have a nuke to hurt these guys, so don't worry about it." The smile faded off of Mysa's face.

"Botan. What just happened?"

"To be perfectly honest, we don't know. Hiei has a theory, but not much proof for it."

"He was after Syrin." Mysa stated, and her face went as dead and blank as a piece of slate.

"What? Why would he be after Syrin?"

"He wanted her soul. That's all he said." Botan took a closer look at Syrin then she ever had before.

"Oh. It looks like we have a bigger problem then I first thought." Mysa looked sharply at Botan.

"What? Are more monsters going to come after her?" The hatred that had been smoldering in her eyes became a full fire at the thought.

"Yes, they are, I'm afraid. This is bad... If they wanted Syrin, they must be trying to resurrect Jang-kombe (again, made it up, don't know if it means anything, sorry if it does, pronounced as spelled), the demon 'god'. He was the most powerful demon to ever roam the earth, was here long before the gate was created. He wasn't an actually god, but he was very close, one of the higher ranking demons, and he was smart enough to get to earth. It took a lot to get that one in his grave, I would prefer not to see him walk again. (Ain't it great how anime's don't need a writer's convenience? One of the characters just knows everything about everything)"

"Why do they want Syrin, though? She seems ordinary enough to me. I can't sense anything special about her." Yusuke said.

"That's because her spirit energy is dormant. She's just a physical storage for spare energy in the universe. She can't use it, but she can be used to resurrect Jang-kombe."

"Then let's just kill her." Hiei said. Mysa stopped listening to Botan and fixed her gaze on Hiei. He had never been so afraid of a human in his life. Slippery visions of the death, disease and torture filled his mind, but it wasn't him dying and such. It was the deaths and such of every friend, and he was being forced to watch, unable to do anything. He knew it was only visions, but it was still horrible. With the visions came the knowledge that instead of dying, he would be trapped in a world where all he saw were these visions, until he believed them, and there was nothing else. The pressure on his mind was unimaginable. "Never mind." He squeaked out, and the thoughts stopped as she shifted her gaze.

"We couldn't kill her anyways. If they happened to be in the vicinity, these people that are trying to bring him back to life, they could still capture her soul and use the energy." Hiei dragged Botan away abruptly.

When they were out of earshot, Hiei said, "I know how she killed him. She used her mind." Botan snorted at him.

"Please, Hiei. Can you sense any kind of energy around her? Was she frozen by the amulet? Hardly. This is..." She was about to say nonsense, but then remembered her particular history with this girl. "Why do you think she killed him with her mind?"

"Because when I suggested we kill her friend, she just stared at me, and I felt like... I was going to... die if I said one more thing she didn't want to hear." Normally, Hiei wouldn't be this generous with information, but he was shaken up by how she had seemed to burn a hole through his head with her eyes. He almost shivered, but controlled the impulse. Botan seemed lost in thought. Then she looked at him.

"I don't like this, Hiei. I don't like this at all. Because Syrin was the focus of the attack, we're going to have to be watching her; but if Mysa has some sort of power we've never seen before, we're going to have to watch her too... Hiei, you can watch Mysa. Make sure she doesn't kill anybody else or something, try to find out if she actually did it. That's an order." She said, when he was about to protest. "You're the only one who saw this shadow/blur thing, you'll be the only able to tell if she uses it. The rest of us will be watching Syrin." Hiei glowered at her, but didn't outright refuse, so she took it as a yes, and started to walk back to the others.

Hiei also glared at Mysa. Damn. Why did he get stuck watching the human idiot? But he had to admit; he was curious. Not only about how she killed the demon, but about sharpening his sword... he didn't think there was a way possible to get it sharper. And she had really appeared to know a thing or two about a good blade.

Of course, he didn't have to admit it to anyone else...

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Mysa and Syrin were waving goodbye to Kyo as his mom arrived to pick him up. Ducking into the car, he slumped into the back seat, and sighed heavily.

"Anything new happen?"

"... Not that I could say..." He didn't want to be locked up in a loony bin; he and Syrin

were finally going out, he couldn't afford to get put away right now.

Hiei rejoined the group just as Kyo's van went out of sight. Botan was talking to Mysa and the rest.

"Because the demon was after Syrin, we'll have to be watching her 24/7."

"I'll be helping too, of course." Botan looked at Mysa as she spoke, and Mysa just stared back, face entirely devoid of any emotion. The Grim Reaper wasn't flooded with the thoughts Hiei said occurred, but just the look on the woman's face was scary enough.

"... All right, I suppose so. Where can we hide her?"

"Spirit World?" Yusuke suggested. Botan shook her head.

"No, as a dormant energy, she can't go there without causing a lot of chaos. And chaos means lots of extra paperwork for me. So, it has to be somewhere here, on earth."

"We could always go to Syrin's house," Mysa said. "She lives in a fortress. If we just activated all the electronical traps as well as the ones she just has lying around, there's no way someone could get in and live." The rest looked at each other and shrugged. Sounded as good a place as any. "Good, then it's agreed. I'll drive Syrin home, and Botan can tell you all where she lives. I don't care how you get there, just do it soon." Mysa and Syrin began to walk away, but Botan stopped them.

"Wait! You can't just leave, after we already agreed to watch out for her!" Mysa rolled her eyes at Syrin, then turned to give Botan her full attention. "You could at least take on other person along. Think, Mysa; double the protection." The human girl looked back over at her friend, then slowly nodded.

"All right... but just one. He can come with us." She pointed at Hiei. "He's small and won't take up that much room. Besides, he's the only one of you that is openly armed, so if anyone thinks of coming after Syrin, they might think twice." She shot a grin at her friend. "I told you all those war games would pay off someday. Listen to me, I actually sound like I know what I'm doing." Syrin smiled back, but something about her smile made Mysa frown. Looking back at Botan, she said, "Well, we'd better be off. The sooner Syrin is locked away, the better." The two girls hurried away, and, with a dark glance at Botan, Hiei followed them.

"That's not like Hiei. He went with them without saying a word. Not even an insult." Kurama stated. Kuwabara made a kissy face at their retreating backs.

"Aw, looks like shrimpy's got a girlfriend!" Both he and Yusuke cracked up, and would have continued laughing if Botan hadn't smacked them upside the head with her oar. Looking very annoyed, she said,

"He's doing me a favor, okay! Trying to help figure out how the demon died. Hiei has a hunch on who did it, and he's doing a lot more then either of you are right now! So just leave off!" Yusuke and Kuwabara rubbed their heads gently and whimpered. 'What's got into her!' Yusuke wondered. Botan was just honestly worried about Mysa and Syrin. In the four years she had known them, they had grown rather close. She shook her head, clearing it of past memories, and set about giving the boys their instructions. Once that was done, she reported all the events to Koenma.

Almost all. She 'forgot' to mention the ten times she rode on the LieDetector.

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Mysa and Syrin were booking it to get to the car. Not running, just walking really fast. Hiei kept pace with them, and wondered why Mysa kept looking over her shoulder, watching his companions. When they reached the car, his friends were out of sight.

"Is it okay now?" Syrin choked out in a shaky voice.

"Yeah. They can't see us." Mysa answered. Syrin let out a huge sigh and collapsed into

the convertibles back seat. She sat there a moment, doing nothing, then put her head in her hands and started to shake.

"Oh, god..." She whispered. Mysa said nothing, going around to the other side of the car, and digging under the driver's seat. She came up with a pillow in her hands, and she handed it to Syrin. Still shaking, Syrin lay down in the back seat, resting her head on the pillow. Mysa got in the driver's seat and rested her head against the steering wheel.

Hiei watched all this in disgust. Why did humans have to be so emotional? Shooting Mysa a look, he said, "I'm supposed to get into this thing with you driving?" Mysa sighed, lifted her and, and rolled it on her shoulders until she was looking at him. Quietly, she said,

"Listen, katana. I don't know your name. Frankly, I really don't care at the moment. But my friend had just gone through her first near-death experience, okay? She happens to need some time to come to grasps with her mortality, and until she does, would you just mind shutting up? Yes, you're supposed to get into the car. I won't be driving until she's settled her issues. One more thing, though. I picked you to come because I knew you don't give a flying rat's ass about emotions. You have it written all over your face. Because of that, I knew you wouldn't get all weepy over her breakdown, and offer her sympathy, which she really does not need right now, and I know you wouldn't go telling everybody about this. Syrin has a lot of pride. When this is over, and I find out that anyone besides us three knows about her current condition, I'll come after you. I don't care who or what you are, or how little a chance I might have. I don't care what you say about me after this. But one whisper about her, and I'll chase you down to the ends of this earth and any other." There was a long silence in the car.

Hiei didn't know what to say to that. He didn't know whether to be amazed at her stupidity for being willing to die over her friend's pride, or awed by her fierce loyalty.

"Hiei." He said finally.

"What?"

"My name. It's Hiei." There was another long silence, then Mysa said,

"Well, Hiei, you have some kick ass hair." Both were startled by a large laugh from the back seat. Grinning in relief, Mysa twisted in her seat to look at Syrin. The life was back in her face, and her eyes were twinkling with suppressed laughter. "Yay! She walks among the living once more!" This proved too much for Syrin; her laughter poured out of her, a flood of it. Mysa joined her, and when their fit was over, she asked seriously, "Are you okay now?" Syrin smiled at her friends concern.

"Peachy. Let's go! If I'm under possible attack, this gives me an opportunity to rig some more traps!"

"Breathing is a good enough reason for you to build traps."

"What luck to have both opportunities at the same time! I get to build double the traps! Come on! Let's go!" Mysa smiled a crazy woman smile that Syrin knew all too well. Tapping Hiei on the shoulder, she said, "Well, Cool Hair, you might want to buckle up." Hiei snorted. "Suit yourself." Syrin used all three buckles in the back seat to strap herself in. "GO!" She yelled; and go they did.

Pushing one hundred, they squealed onto the highway; Hiei was fumbling with the seatbelt, and Mysa was laughing like a mad woman as she wove perilously between the cars. Other drivers leaned out of their windows and screamed as the black convertible whizzed by; Mysa and Syrin continued where they had left off earlier, screaming obscenities back at the other drivers.

When Hiei saw that the convertible had come within a hair's width of another vehicle, he turned to Mysa and screamed above the wind,

"ARE YOU CRAZY, YOU DAMN BAKA!" Not moving her eyes from the road, she answered him.

"WHY YES, I DO BELIEVE I AM!" With an evil cackle, she swerved dangerously close to a Hummer. "YOU HALKING WASTE OF MONEY!" She screamed at it.

"SHE IS." Syrin yelled in a better answer to Hiei's question. But, it seems that craziness is contagious, because Syrin started smiling Mysa's smile. "MYSA!"

"YEAH? GET OFF THE ROAD, GRANDPA!" She saw Hiei staring at her. "WHAT? THAT WAS MY GRANDPA, AND HE KNOWS HE'S TOO OLD TO BE DRIVING!" Hiei looked at the car she was yelling at, and, sure enough, there was an old man driving just like Mysa. Odd thing was, he was wearing a big yellow Carmen-San-Diego-type hat with a petrified squirrel on top, and he was driving a little clown car. (That's what I want to be when I grow up! Well, if he was female, anyway)

"MYSA! STOP YELLING AT YOUR GRANDPA AND LISTEN TO ME! I DON'T THINK WE'RE GOING FAST ENOUGH! I CAN STILL TALK!" Mysa didn't bother to answer, at least not vocally. Instead, she pushed the pedal to the metal. Slowly the needle inched toward 200 mph, and Hiei clutched the leather of his seat in a well disguised panic. He was certain they were going to die, especially with this baka at the wheel.

Hiei's POV- in his mind, this is what he's saying 'SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!'

Mysa's POV- Demonic smily face, with smile getting bigger and bigger as it screams 'WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' until smile is bigger then the head

With a huge jolt, they stopped abruptly in the street of a small neighborhood. Bewildered, they watched as a small man with red hair, all dressed in green, and horribly drawn, ran across the hood of Mysa's car, screaming,

"You'll never get my Lucky Charms, you sons of bitches!" He was on the ground again, and running up the street. A gang of similarly poorly drawn young boys stopped for a breather next to the car.

"He's right," one gasped out. "We'll never catch him this way." Looking at each other, they nodded, pulled out semiautomatics, and gunned down the leprechaun. Picking over the body, they not only got his Lucky Charms, but also his stash of hash, and all the money that was on him. Grinning at each other, congratulating themselves, it was soon agreed to go 'wabbit hunting', because it was said that the Rabbit had stolen some good 'Trix', and that it was much wanted by kids everywhere. They started drawing up plans right on the spot.

"HEY! Ray-Ray! Get your ass over here, kid!" Mysa shouted. The boy who had first suggested the guns looked up, sighed, and trotted over.

"What do you want, My-San?" He muttered.

"If you see Sis before I do, tell her I'm gonna be at Syrin's for an indefinite period."

"Fine. Can I go now?"

"Sure. Just remember it. If I find out that you forgot, I'll make sure that sniper gun in my closet never finds it way under your Christmas tree." The boy's eyes widened, he nodded, and ran off, quickly getting his friends out of the road.

"Those ten year olds have guns." Hiei stated. Mysa snorted.

"Of course they do. They hang out with my cousin Ray-Ray." Syrin spoke up.

"Mysa, this isn't the way to my house."

"I know. We're making a quick stop at my house first. Got to get some stuff." She slammed on the gas again, and away they varoomed. Hiei wondered in his mind, 'What the fuck have I gotten myself into?'

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A couple minutes later, they screeched to a halt outside Mysa's house. Hiei muttered, "And you say the demon was her first near death experience?" Mysa heard him, and answered back just as quietly, but with a smile in her voice: "Her first that I didn't have a hand in." Hiei turned to look at the house.

'What. The. Fuck.' He thought.

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W.W.- I hate that fucking Lucky Charms guy. I also hate that damn rabbit. Toucan Sam is also on my hit list. Damn bird thinks he's so cool...