Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

I've figured out a better way to write chapters. Instead of sitting down to write one all at once—as I am prone to do with too many things, including physics tests—I'm going to write in increments. So we'll see how fast they get out then.

-------------------------

When Betrayal is Too Much Part I

"I'm waiting for your decision, Koenma. I am getting impatient. Not to mention a life is hanging in the balance."

"I-I-I...I'll call in Kurama and Hiei." The Reikai Prince sighed in resignation. He had thought that Asha had forgotten about her target. He should have known that when it comes to assassin's and their targets, they have a one-track mind.

"Make it fast."

"Will you let me go now, Asha? Pacifier breath is bringing in your backup."

"You're my insurance Yusuke. I'm letting you go until we are within sight of the target."

"So I'm coming with you..."

"But of course."

Silence began to take over, to surround Asha, who still had her thumb placed on Yusuke's jugular. He wanted to squirm away from her touch, but the sharpness of her nails discouraged him from doing just that.

Finally, Botan slammed the doors to Koenma's office open. For a moment Yusuke thought he was dead. How could Asha's fingers not have slipped at that noise? But then he was thankful for her stone quality in that moment, for her thumb had not cut his throat, and he was still very much alive. Whether he would be in a few hours was still unknown.

"What is this Asha?" Kurama's quiet voice was firm, cutting through the last bit of silence that had tried to creep back in to the room.

"This is a necessary measure to insure that you," she nodded toward the red-head—who was looking much more flustered due to the fact that it was two in the morning and he was dressed in loose sweats and a thick green sweater—and his dark companion—who looked much the same as he always did—, "come along with me to take care of some unfinished business."

"If it's your business, shinobi, you should go alone."

"Oh, I would, but for the fact that certain technicalities begged of me to demand of Koenma his permission, and the small but easily remedied problem that if I kill my target, another will rise to his place. Crime ring; it's typical."

"Uh, Asha. Can I get up now?"

"Yes. But I'm going to bind your hands with rope." She pulled thin twine from a pocket at her belt, previously unnoticed by the tantei. "Don't go getting any ideas, Red. This stuff is purely manufactured, not a bit of living material in if at all."

"He won't be able to fight!"

"Right now, that's the entire point."

When Asha had finished tying Yusuke's hands, she hauled him up from the ground, as he recovered his footing. As an extra measure, she placed a dagger at his back.

"Now, Prince, honor your word, and open a portal to our destination."

"Asha—isn't there something I can say that would change your mind? This is suicide!"

"If I die, the least I can do is take as many of His demons and Him with me to Hell's gates." Her eyes glinted with a strange light.

"I'd take that as a no," Yusuke said.

Koenma heaved a sigh. "Very well. Just try not to get yourself killed."

"As usual," Asha muttered.

And a bright mass of swirling green appeared in front of the four. Asha motioned Kurama and Hiei into the portal with her knife. After they had entered, she pushed Yusuke in, not letting go of his elbow.

"So it will end."

------------------------

Asha exited the portal, her hand covering her hostage's mouth.

"No I will not let you go."

Yusuke only raised an eyebrow.

Asha looked at each one of her companions in turn. "I suppose you'll be wanting an explanation for my behavior." She released Yusuke.

"Damned right, shinobi. Why the hell did you drag us all here?"

"For the record, those two came willingly."

"Hardly."

"You could have let him die, Hiei."

"But we're buddies, so he wouldn't do that...right?...Hiei?"

"Hn."

"Oh, that's reassuring."

"Hush Yusuke. I want to hear the shinobi's excuse."

"Ah, yes. My 'excuse.' Sit down. This isn't exactly the shortest story in the world:

I was a very lonely child. In fact, I'm sure most people thought me as weird, and not a little deranged. I did very little talking. My parents tried taking me to a psychiatrist, when I was seven, but he refused to see me ever again. I think that may have something to do with the fact that I threatened his life if he so much as asked me how I felt.

Asha chuckled.

I was smart and intelligent, all my teachers thought so, but they told us that I lacked compassion in my life...that I needed friends. Of course I thought differently, but my parents did everything they could to get me to go to social events. It didn't help that I hated ice cream.

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"It's set up Hiei. Shut up."

And so my sixth school year came around. And I met an angel. I can't remember how we met, all I know is that we did. Within a very short time we became inseparable. We even got to the point where we could finish each others thoughts—even know what the other was thinking without saying a word. And then my ninth school year came. It was at the end of that year, in May, when I lost my angel to a demon. I was at her house. The windows crashed, and we heard her parents scream. I remember them still...

Asha's eyes closed. Her mouth moved again, forming the words that were so hard for her to say. Kurama wasn't sure, but he thought he could see a tear at the corner of her eye.

She ran downstairs. I grabbed for her, but I missed by a hair's breadth. I replayed it in my mind later: if only I had reached a little further. If only she wasn't so fast! She stormed down the stairs. I followed after, what else could I have done? Call the police, call for help, run to the neighbors...but then I couldn't think. She was in front of me, standing on that last step, and then she wasn't. I slipped on her blood, and as I fell, I saw her eyes, empty, lifeless. They looked fake, like glass...I saw his face. The face of her killer. I have not forgotten him, nor the name he yelled as he watched me fall on the steps, onto the broken glass: Toushi Koi. These are the scars I have from that night, and that glass--

She lifted the sleeves of her high necked shirt, to show the multitude of scars about her forearms. Her pale skin was contrasted sharply by the black of the fabric, and the light of the Makai moon.

This scar--

She lifted her hand to touch the scar about her left eye, and ran down her collar bone.

--is the medal I bear from my first attempt to face the murderer of my one and only friend. I escaped with my life.

Her eyes opened, and they glistened with unshed tears, but her gaze was hard.

A/N: The next few lines contain rather racy stuff, involving infants and demons and...use your imagination. Skip to the bolded dashed lines below if you don't want to read it.

"Do you understand now, Tantei? I vowed that I would destroy that trash that defiled my life. I put myself through hell for three years, to gain the skill and the knowledge that an assassin usually acquires from an entire lifetime. I traded my first born child for the ability to be fast—Hiei-esque fast."

"So your first born child will be...what, exactly?"

"I assume it was eaten horribly by a blood thirsty demon."

"You already had one!"

"Yes Yusuke. I went to a bar in the human world, got myself pregnant and then forced myself to give birth early. Then the demon I promised it to showed up and I handed it over."

"Did you even care?"

"I didn't want it. I had it so that when I did want a child, I wouldn't be forced to give one I loved up to a cruel and terrible fate. I did what I needed to do, Kurama. I know that it may be difficult to understand, but it is not so unlike you using a poor human woman to give birth to you so that you could become powerful once more."

Asha received no response.

----Racy stuff stops here-----

"Come on. The faster we get going, the less I need to put this off, and the faster you can go do more important things."

"Her own child?"

"I'm rather surprised that she's not a demon. I'd swear she was if she wasn't human."

"Hiei, that's the closest thing to a compliment I've ever heard you impart on a female ningen."

"Hn. Whatever Kurama."

----------------------

After a couple of hours of trekking through dense underbrush ("Why couldn't Koenma have put it closer?"), and fending off a group of demon bandits ("Hn. Lowlifes."), they arrived at a cave.

"I was really expecting a castle, here. If this guy is as pompous as you say, Asha."

"With Toushi Koi, expect the enexpected."

"Right. Story of my life."

"Mine too, what a coincidence. Now shut up."

"Aye, aye, shinobi."

Asha flashed her dagger under Yusuke's throat. "Detective, unless you want to lose your life, stay quiet when we enter that cave. No screaming, no coughing, not one sound if you don't want this mission to go out for naught. Do you understand?"

Yusuke stayed quiet.

"Good. Let's go."

Asha walked forward. The wind fluttered for a moment about her, waving her loose pant legs, and sleeves, displacing her meticulously braided hair. She ignored the strands as the blew into her eyes, and melted into the shadows. Yusuke followed after, still in his pajama sweats and PT shirt. He wore only thin shoes. All he had were his fists in this fight; his eyes showed his worry.

Kurama and Hiei looked at each other. Yusuke was going blind into a situation he knew nothing about. But the shinobi had presence, and commanded authority over everyone around her. Kurama gave a slight shrug. He hoped she knew what she was doing. He started toward the entrance to the cave as well.

Hiei looked to the sky, still black and pinpointed with stars. Small specks of light, across an expanse... "This is insane..."

-------------------------------

A/N:

Don't forget people, if you want to see replies to your comments (because doesn't allow them in script), and updates on my story, or want to hear about other events in my non-influential as-of-yet life, go to my website. If you go to my profile, you'll see the link "homepage." Yeah, click that.