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

A/N:

Nothing important to say, except that physics is a bitch.

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When Betrayal is Too Much Part II

"This is insane..."

Hiei rolled his eyes, sincerely hoping that the stupid, revenge crazy, ningen, onna shinobi knew what she was doing. He couldn't believe he had been coerced into doing this. Coerced, dragged...not to mention he didn't think the shinobi could bring back Kurama or the Detective alive. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to go into that cave.

Hiei took one last look behind him, and crept after Asha, Yusuke, and Kurama. He wasn't a coward, it was just a really good idea to stay away from the initial fire.

He caught up with the group easily. Asha went slowly along the ground, the two other tantei following suit. Hiei opened his mouth to comment, but a scalding look from Asha as she whipped her head around was all it took to silence him. 'She sensed that? What else was she gifted in exchange for her first-born?'

The four inched along, all but Hiei crouched in the shadows. Every muscle was tensed, every nerve on fire, aware of the slightest change in the environment. Slowly they moved, not daring to go any faster than the pace Asha set. Every foot was picked up gently, and placed back down with even more care. No stone moved a hair to give warning to their approach. But then...

Yusuke's hand dislodged dust particles, which took to the air and assulted Kurama. He took an intake of breath. He knew he was doomed. The worst part was, he could see the demons in the next section of the cave. He could see the game of darts they were playing, the meal they were eating. He heard their raucous laughter and their evil jibes. And he knew that if he sneezed, they could very well be as good as dead. Kurama stopped moving. Hiei halted with him, confused. Kurama futilely waved his hand in front of his nose, trying to clear the dust. It was no use... "choo!"

The demons stopped laughing—Asha sprang! Six demons fell before they knew what had happened. As soon as they saw their dead companions fall to the floor, they jumped into action. Yusuke catapulted himself from his crouched position, yelling like a madman.

"And so the game is up," muttered Kurama.

"Nice going, kitsune." Hiei drew his sword, and cleaved two demons in two with one stroke.

"It wasn't my fault," he looked at the dust on the stones. "Thanks," he drawled sarcastically, and he too joined the fray.

Demons fell left and right, and still more came. For every one, three were his replacement.

"Shimatta!" screamed Yusuke. "Koenma wasn't joking when he said that this guy had a major crime ring going!"

"Has anyone seen--" Kurama ducked to avoid a blow "--Asha?"

They heard an inhuman roar. Even the blood that ran through Hiei's veins ran cold. "I think she went to go take on the big guy," commented Yusuke. The demon's froze as they turned toward their master's sound, and the tantei took advantage of this moment to take out as many of their number as possible. Still it wasn't enough.

The tantei moved, each in their own dances, knowing that Asha had just attacked Toushi Koi, and trying to get to her in time, before she got herself killed. But it was like trying to walk through water: the faster they tried to reach the ningen shinobi, the slower they seemed to go.

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She could see his face, ashen grey, not nearly as intimidating as it had been when she first saw him those many years ago. His eyes had lost their blood red hue, now more rusty—the dulled eyes of an old man. Asha noticed his claws; they were long, but they looked fragile, like they would break if they tried to scratch even human flesh. It appeared as if he hadn't heard the noise that was going on in the other room. Was he unable to hear, then? At this point it did not matter. If the element of surprise had been lost, at least he thought that he was safe in his own partition. 'Which means I have the upper hand here...'

She was beginning to over think this. It was time to act. She jumped. Her dagger in hand, pointed toward his skull.

Asha landed, causing Toushi Koi to emmit a deafening scream. She wrapped her legs around his chest to secure her hold. Her hand gripped his neck, pulling it forward as she aimed her knife at the back of his head. She thrust. And the knife bent.

"Shit. They always said you had a thick skull."

The assassin was bucked off of Toushi Koi's back. Attempting to stay on amidst the rocking would have broken her neck. So she fell back on Plan B.

"I hate hand to hand fighting. Especially with big guys." She tossed the unusable knife away.

Toushi Koi began to laugh, a deep, ugly, rumbling laugh. It was something pulled from the very depths of Makai. "I remember you!" The demon roared. "You're the one who tried to kill me to avenge your puny friend. That was an enjoyable kill, because it was for pure fun!" His laugh echoed threateningly through the room. If Asha had been thinking properly, she would have been terrified. As it was, she launched herself at the large demon's face.

Toushi Koi batted her away with his hand. "Like cat and mouse, eh, little human?"

"As long as you're the mouse."

"You make me laugh, human. Maybe I'll keep you for a pet."

"Hardly." And Asha began her own dance. It was one from which only one would survive.

She ran around the monolithic demon, gathering speed little by little, until she was a blur to his eyes. All he saw was a black streak, that had managed to lift itself onto the chamber's stone wall.

'He's massive. Anything that massive will move slowly and will fall harder. Get ready to crash Koi.'

Asha bent her legs, and jumped to attack Toushi Koi's back once more. She unsheathed another dagger, piercing the demon through his right lung. He roared again in pain.

"One puny human..." he began to cough up blood. He was weak, and Asha was merciless. She slashed again and again at his back. He tried to turn and fling her away, but she was too fast. She used her speed, her rage, her skill; everything she had learned in preparation for this moment came together. Again, and again she plunged her dagger into the demon's lungs, drawing it across his chest. She kicked him with all her might, cracking ribs and breaking blood vessels. She would not let him live. He would die, tonight, at her hands.

Finally, Toushi Koi fell, crashing to the ground, shaking the cave with one last roar before he died. Asha walked around her kill. The thing that she had pursued for so many years was gone. The monster that had plagued her life and her dreams had been destroyed. She walked around the demon, occasionally nudging it with her foot. Asha stopped her pacing at his head. She looked at it, comparing it to the memory of it that she had seen in her mind as she slept at night. The real head looked sickly, thin and stretched. It was strikingly obvious that Toushi Koi had been standing at Death's door.

"That wasn't nearly as satisfying as it should have been."

"Hn. Come on, onna. Help us finish the rest off."

"You watched?"

"Precaution."

"I can take care of myself."

Asha turned and ran out of the chamber to destroy the rest of Toushi Koi's demons. As soon as she entered the other partition, her ears were met with yells of the dying, the grunts of the fighting; her nose could smell the blood spilled on the stones, the sweat rolling off bodies in the mêlée.

She threw herself heedlessly into the fray. Asha was tired, yes, but there was a surge of adrenaline running through her body that didn't let her know that fact. As she twirled through the mass of demons she didn't notice the numerous cuts she was receiving. All she knew was that she was killing the lackeys of the demon she had hated most, and they were now dying faster than their comrades could replace them.

Her rhythm was perfect. Slice, thrust, pull, throw, pull. Her daggers found their mark at every turn. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yusuke as he fought for his life, his energy renewed at the sight of Asha's ferocity. She ducked as Hiei flipped over her head, decapitating the demons surrounding her. She watched Kurama for a fleeting second as she turned in her rhythm to find new targets. And then she saw Him. She ceased her dance as she gaped at the moving corpse of Toushi Koi.

She screamed incoherently, unable to move, looking on as Toushi Koi grinned evilly at her. He was alive? 'Impossible, impossible, impossible--' Her mind was moving one track. The demon turned, walking away from the fight. As soon as He was out of her sight, Asha stepped forward to run to him. To stop him, to kill him, to do something, she didn't know what.

That is, she was, until a voice yelled, "Arrow!" Kurama ran towards her, his hand maneuvering his whip into action. She bunched her muscles, and sprang up, somersaulting over whatever danger she had been warned of.

She landed safely, and as she did, Kurama collapsed onto the cave floor. Instantly Hiei was at his side. Yusuke didn't notice and kept fighting the remnants of the crime-ring who hadn't yet retreated.

"Take that!" Yusuke swung his fist, sending the lanky demon he had been fighting flying into a wall.

At last, it was only the tantei, and Asha.

Asha's eyes wandered over the dead demon's. She grabbed her daggers out of the pile of bodies, wiping them off on whatever cloth the demon's wore.

"I've never understood why demon's have red blood, like humans, when they have such black hearts." Asha surveyed the scene, this time for prizes. She chose a sword with a gold hilt, a gilded falcon on the grip. "A Chinese sword. I wonder from where they plundered this?"

"Enough spoil digging, shinobi. Look what you've done to Kurama."

"Hm. Interesting." said Asha as she looked at the arrow that had passed through Kurama's right shoulder. "Good thing it wasn't his heart, right?"

"What did you do, Asha!" Yusuke cried.

"What does it look like, Detective. Kurama's been injured by a poisoned arrow because Asha didn't have sense to turn around and attack. You would have left him lying here, wouldn't you." The latter part was directed at Asha.

"That wasn't a question, Hiei."

"Quickly, Detective. Call Koenma, ask for a direct portal to the infirmary."

Yusuke opened his compact, doing as Hiei dictated.

"Dude, Koenma, we have a situation. Kurama's hurt and we need a portal to the infirmary, now."

"I'll open one right away!" squeaked the small prince.

A few moments later, the signature swirling green appeared. Hiei hoisted Kurama onto his shoulders.

"Let's go, onna."

"Hm. I'll humor you."

Yusuke quirked an eyebrow at her words, and stepped through the portal. Hiei stood waiting.

"Do you not trust me, Hiei?"

"Not anymore."

"But you did."

"No. Before you hadn't given me a real reason to not trust you."

Asha sighed. "Very well," and followed after Yusuke.

Hiei glanced at the carnage around him. "One ningen shinobi had the power to persuade all of this." And he was gone, the portal closing behind him.

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Kurama lay unconscious in the starch white hospital bed. He was breathing, up and down, slowly, painstakingly. Every few breaths or so, he would suck in air harshly, making his throat protest in agony. Tendrils of his hair was matted to his face, sweat trickling down as his body fought the poison. His eyebrows furrowed, his breathing quickened. A damp cloth was placed on his forehead by a silent Botan, calming him for the moment. There Kurama lay, oblivious to the drama playing around him.

Asha was slammed up against the wall. The force of the blow was so strong, she was surprised she didn't go through. The shinobi blinked her eyes, trying to stop the spinning images in front of them. Hiei held her there as she struggled against the pain, desperately holding back the tears that now threatened to spill as she felt the stinging from the back of her head.

"You didn't even think about what your actions would do, did you onna?" Hiei's voice was soft—dangerous—and Asha knew that he would have killed her had Koenma not been standing right behind him.

She attempted to remove the angry Koorime's grip from her neck. "I'm an assassin, youkai, I save myself and no one else!" Asha's voice hissed venomously, as it croaked from her crushing windpipe.

"Wrong answer," Yusuke interjected. His voice was far from the chilling calm of Hiei's. "If one of the people you're working with is lying unconscious, you protect them. Dammit, Asha, my friend is on that bed right there and I don't know if he's going to live!"

The assassin shifted her eyes to look at the red head, since Hiei would not let her move her entire head. Her eyes glinted in the moonlight, filtering through the badly curtained window. When they rested on Kurama's form, they seemed to soften with...doubt? care?

"He will live, Detective," she said quietly.

"And how do you know?" Yusuke yelled angrily.

"He will want to reap his revenge upon me."

"Er...oh...but...he's still there! He might not live! He might die, and then--"

Asha was fed up with Yusuke's spluttering. "You know the laws of the street!" Her voice began to rise. "It's kill or be killed! Bully or be bullied! I help myself and no other! Once I would have saved Kurama, but that was a long time ago. I've changed! I witnessed my best friend and her family DIE! Killed by that brute Toushi Koi. My anger and hatred that day could not possibly have been surpassed. When that demon came to me, and offered me powers, I didn't think to refuse. Speed, strength, silence, to know everything that goes on around me, not to mention an unimaginable lifespan to boot. I was not a naïve little girl, no matter how young I may have been. All I had to do was give him my firstborn child, and do some tasks as an assassin-for-hire. Kill or be killed Yusuke. I chose kill!"

The room was silent as it rang with the echoes of Asha's passion. Koenma was stunned at the knowledge a demon gave her those powers; Yusuke was shocked by her conviction, and Hiei—let her go.

Asha dropped to the floor as the demon turned his back to her. "Hn. That is still no excuse for abandoning Kurama. He trusted you, and you betrayed his trust. Now he is lying as still as the grave, fending off a poison for which there is no known cure." Red eyes burned with hatred, anger, and a spark of fear? Hiei faced Asha once more. "If Kurama dies, I will kill you."

With that, he fled out the window, as something hard and round clanked to the floor.

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A/N

My sincere apologies for the delay. School found a way to get in the way again, what with lethargy, physics, the play...ugh. SO many lines to memorize for Shakespeare.

Hope you like it. Just in case someone forgot, replies to reviews are on my site (see my profile) due to the fact does not allow replies in the actual documents. As for when the next chapter comes out, no idea. Have a marvelous Thanksgiving, for those of you who celebrate it.