Warnings: ahhh…. One pissed off girl..

The Welder of BlackFire:

The Legend Lives Part II-Rose's Renaissance

Chapter Seven: Determination

"Hey, is it okay that we've put her in your room?" Yusuke asked as he leaned against the wall next to Kurama's door, which imprisoned an angered girl that they had abducted not long before. Kurama nodded.

"Yes. Don't worry, I expected her to come in in a rage, so I have taken precautionary steps to ensure she does not escape," he explained. Yusuke shrugged.

"If you say so," the boy said, straightening from the wall and turned to walk down the stairs. Kurama listened to Rose in his room to hear a satisfied snort from inside. Confused, the kitsune walked to the top of the stairs. Hiei looked up curiously and, taking his friend's hint, stood and walked up the stair. Kurama nodded toward his door and Hiei nodded, using his Jagan Eye to look into the room.

After testing the doorknob, assuring that it was locked, Rose pounded on the door, just for good measure, smiling. Perfect. All according to plan. She turned and looked around the room. A large window was across the room, in front of her, with some kind of thorny plant blocking its escape. Her eyes scanned quickly over the rest of the room, which was a modest affair. Nothing worth examining more closely. A bed sat in the far, left-hand corner, with a desk on her left. A bench sat in the right-hand corner of the room, near the window. A closet lay just beyond the desk, its doors shut firmly. She listened to Yusuke's sugar comment and grinned devilishly. The sugar really didn't have anything to do with it, although it did spark her adrenaline.

Suddenly, the girl felt familiar eyes on her back. Her grin vanished and a snarl replaced it.

"Hiei," she said in a loud whisper. The two that stood outside the door heard the threat in its undertones.

How did you know? Hiei asked her through his telepathy.

Your eyes. I could feel them through the door. You've watched me so often I've memorized the feeling, she told him as she turned back to face the door, a smirk tracing her features. She could hear him snort.

Kurama looked over at Hiei, asking a silent question without words.

"She knew it was me. She could feel it," the Koorime said. Kurama nodded.

What is she planning? Kurama asked silently.

To escape, Hiei replied.

Anything else?

I don't know. Thorn must have done it, probably to protect her from psychic demons, but I can't read her mind, the other explained. There is nothing I can learn now, he said, turning away, Kurama nodded, shocked, and followed.

Rose smiled and turned back around as she heard them walked down the stairs, taking another inventory of the room. The window exit was blocked, the exit she had hoped to take. She turned doward the door again, kneeling down to observe the lock. It was a strange lock, one she had never seen before. It was locked from the outside, with no keyhole in which to pick. She had picked many locks before, but never had she every seen one like this. Her eyes narrowed angrily as she saw the futality of her seach for a way to pick the lock, unless she did it from the outside.

"Damn you, Kurama!" she shouted, both her fists pounding on the door hard enough to make the majority of the house shudder. She could almost feel Kurama's inward smile.

Kuwabara looked up and shuddered, a bag of frozen peas pressed over his left eye, which was swelling heartily.

"Man, she still gives me the creeps," the tall boy said. "Even though she has almost no Spirit Energy."

"I wouldn't underestimate her. Thorn probably hid it before she left," Hiei said, leaning against a wall, listening to her pace on the floor above them.

"Yeah, well how do we know that she'll even help us?" Yusuke asked.

"We should work on trying to make her realize she contains this power first. Then, once she finds it, she'll want to explore it. She'll need help and we'll be there to assist her. When the time comes to fight, she'll want to repay us," Kurama said.

"Blackmail?" Botan asked. Kurama nodded.

"Yeah, well how do we know that she still has the power? What if Thorn sealed that away too?" Kuwabara asked. No one answered. No one wanted to think about that. They were all greatful when there came a knock on the door. Kurama answered it.

"Hello, Keiko," he greeted. "Please come in." Yusuke tensed and looked around fearfully for someplace to hide.

"Yusuke Urimeshi!" came a sweet voice, tinged with anger. Yusuke turned around slowly. Kuwabara grinned foolishly and Hiei smirked. Kurama smiled faintly. They knew what was coming.

"Ah, hey Keiko! What's up?" Yusuke asked with a stupid grin, his hand straying to rub the back of his neck.

"Yusuke, you said that you'd go shopping with me and we'd meet at the store at three. It is now four thirty!" the girl fumed, her hands on her hips.

"Really? Oh, well, I, ah, guess I lost track of time!" the boy said, his grin growing wider. The girl sighed and her arms dropped to her side.

"It took me forever to find you! I had to walk all over the place until I went to the Kuwabara's and Shizuru told me that you might be here with Kuwabara!" she said, but she looked relieved to find he was okay.

"Would you like a drink, Keiko?" Kurama asked the girl.

"Thank you, that would be wonderful," she said. "Next time, tell me when you're not going to be on time, Yusuke." Yusuke nodded and moved over on the couch so she could sit down. "Why is everyone here anyway?"

"Ah, just picking up a package for Keonma," Yusuke said hastily.

"Oh?" she asked. Yusuke nodded. Kurama returned and handed her a drink. "Thank you. Where is your mother, Kurama? I haven't seen her."

"Mother is out on business for the next few weeks," the kitsune explained.

"Oh."

Hiei listened as Rose re-tested the door's lock. Her pacing was slower, he noticed. He tuned out the people around him as they engaged in further conversation.

Rose tried to turn the door's handle again. Nothing. She stood there a moment, thinking. Okay, everything has a back door, and emergancy access. This should be no differant. She studied it again. Just a normal handle, but where there should have been a lock was nothing. Ingenious for someone who didn't want anything escaping from the room. Well, it should have been no differant, although it was. She turned back toward the window. She had gotten the strangest feeling that, no matter how hard she tried, she would not be able to break the vines. She shook her head. Stupid thought. She placed a hand on the vines. They felt sturdy like an immovable tree branch under her hands. They must be made of some kind of tough plastic or rubber, she thought. Finally, after a few minutes of trying to tear the plant, she stopped. She would have to find something to cut them with. She looked around again. There was the desk beside the door, right across from the window. She walked over to it. It was clean, neatly kept. The computer was off and there was nothing on the writting area. She quickly tested the drawers. All of them were locked. Damn. But that wasn't all. She looked at the locks and found they were the same as the doors. And the day she remember to put a paper-clip in her pocket too! Hey, it was handy to have when you needed to, umm, well, get into places. Geez, it was easier ripping out tusks from a rabid hog than it was to escape from here. If only she had her duffle bag. She might find her pocket knife in there from a camping trip (a solo one, might I add) a few weeks before. Damn it all again! Next time, she would think things through more throughly. She had just been to excited too think about that.

She sighed and moved to sit on Kurama's bed. Okay, think. She could hear them talking downstairs and, and hour or so later, the door opened. Four people exited. She strained her ears to listen more closely. The girl who had come into the house not long before, her steps were light, Kuwabara, who's steps were heavy and wide-spread, Yusuke's, who's she remembered from earlier that day, and Botan's, whose were cheerful and bouncy. Two left. Hiei and Kurama.

She sighed once again and fell back on the bed, which smelled like blooming flowers. She stared at the ceiling, thinking. The sugar was leaving her system and she felt slightly sleepy. But that didn't matter, she had only used it to spark her anger so she might get thrown into a room and escape. Well, her plan had kind of worked. She scowled, but it hadn't really worked. After all, she hadn't escaped.

She listened to the two downstairs as she thought. They were quiet. Okay, well, they had to let her out sometime. When they did, she'd say she had to go to the bathroom and go from there. They couldn't keep her locked up forever. She looked at her watch. Almost 9:30. She could hear Kurama walk into the kitchen. Well, they had seemed kind enough. She shook her head. No way! They had kidnapped her! They were they enemy and she couldn't trust them, no matter what. She ignored that little voice in her head that said she could. It was stupid of her to get trapped like that. She could have struggled a little more. She could have refused to go down the hole-thing. Anything! Now she was thousands upon thousands of miles away from home, in the hands of the minions of someone called Coin Moo or whatever, who probably wanted her dead. Great. What a wonderful life. She sighed and put her hands behind her head. Well, she'd get out of this somehow, she'd always managed to get away before. Although, she couldn't ever recall being in the hands of someone who might have wanted to kill her. The stakes were high this time. Curse it all. She found herself wondering what her other self would have done. Agg. She shook her head violently, clearing her mind of the thoughts. It didn't matter, she wasn't like that anymore. She'd just have to rely on her usual skills.

"Rose?" came Kurama's soft voice on the other side of the door. Startled, the girl sat up quickly. "Would you like something to eat?" Stupid boys and their stupid ability to walk so quietly. She thought a moment, contemplating. They were going to feed her? Even though they wanted her dead? Well, she was hungry. She should eat before she made her great escape.

"Rose?" he asked again.

"Yeah," she said, standing. She listened as he unlocked the door. It didn't sound any differant than that of a normal lock. No matter, she'd be gone soon enough. Kurama opened the door to see her standing in front of him, waiting with a glare. She turned the glare to him with her deep, dark eyes as she walked from the room. He followed her down the stairs and gestured into the kitchen. Hiei already knelt, a little grumpily, beside a short table. Kurama gestured for her to take a seat. She paused a moment before kneeling beside a disgruntled Hiei, copying his posture. Kurama set plates and bowls before them filled with rice. It looked to her that they expected her good behavior.

'Well I'm certainly not going to run away from a free meal,' she thought as they began to eat. 'Its just a good think I like rice.' They were all silent while they ate. Hiei seemed distraught over something. It was clear he did not like sitting at the table, not to mention using chopsticks seemed to anger him as he dropped them and cursed. Forks were much better, Rose thought, although she settled into learning how to use the utencils easily, as if she had used them often before and her fingers remembered the movements, even if her mind did not. It was not long until they had finished and Kurama had cleared away the dishes. After doing so he sat down again.

"We know that you did not mean what you said to Hiei," the kitsune said as last, breaking the silence with his melodious voice.

"I mean everything I say," she said blandly. Hiei snorted beside her.

"You were just trying to escape by hoping you'd get thrown into a room with a window," the youkai said. She didn't say anything, but pursed her lips into a hard line. He looked at her suggestively. "Am I right?" She shrugged.

"And what if you are? It doesn't matter," she said. She stopped and climbed to her feet.

"Going somewhere?" Hiei asked. She glared at him, planting her hands on her hips.

"I need to use the bathroom, if that's okay with you, Mr. High-and-Mighty," she said sarcastically. Hiei snorted and Kurama nodded, explaining that there was a bathroom across from his room. She nodded and turned away. She walked quickly up the stairs, eager to be gone. She opened the door. Only to find there were no windows.

"Damn!"

Both boys smiled. Fooled her, that they did. (sound like Kenshin!). Kurama stood and walked into the sitting room. Hiei followed. He took a seat on the sofa and buried his nose in a book, struggling to hide his smile as Hiei sat in a straight-backed chair behind the sofa. Rose came down the stairs a moment later, scowling. Hiei didn't bother to hide his smirk. She glowered at him.

"Something wrong?" Kurama asked, keeping his boice bland even through his slight smile.

"Nothing," she said with a snap, taking a seat on a recliner, crossing her arms in a pout. They sat in silence for a long time, the girl unconsciously tapping one foot in the air as she fumed, her right ankle resting on her left knee. About two hours later, the captive spoke.

"I expect to be released before next Saturday," she said. "Unharmed," she added.

"Hm," Kurama said, seemingly too far ingrossed in his book to register her words.

"You can ignore me all you want, but I will be leaving before I have to take the Regents tests," she said. Her foot tapped more furiously. Kurama nodded half-heartedly, clearly ignoring her. She snorted and looked away, out a slowly darkening window, tightening her arms around her chest.

"Why does this Coin Moo want me?" she asked a while later. Kurama glanced up at her. The setting sun was nearly gone and the darkness blanketed her tanned skin. Her eyes were alight, even in the shadows, even though her bangs, which had fallen from behind her ears, and framed the sides of her face, shielding his view. He could still see the light through the thin curtain.

"He'll tell you soon enough," Hiei said gruffily.

"Is he your boss?" she asked.

"He is the ruler of the Spirit World," Kurama said. She turned to look at him.

"I guess that means I'm in trouble?" she asked.

"No," the kitsune said.

"Then why does he want me? And I want the truth," she said, her voice stern, like a commanding officer demanding a soldier to recite a message.

"We've already told you. We need your help," the kitsune said.

"And I've already told you that I have nothing that can help you. I don't remember, and I have no power."

"We are aware of that. Your other self told us you would remember nothing," Kurama said, putting down his book. He watched confusion flit across her face from the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You told us before you left," he said.

"Why?" He hesitated. The truth was that they had been after her as an assignment from Koenma and had been told so that they would not hunt her after she left, but he shook away the thoughts. He didn't want her to think they were still enemies.

"So that we wouldn't try to find you." She was silent. She was good at diciphering and read between the lines of the sentence easily. She knew very well that they were the enemy now.

"Well, you've found me, defenceless might I add, with only the title of a murderer to my name," she said scoffingly.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked quizzically. She snorted.

"I know that you must have been told by now about the view my fellow students hold of me. I killed those people. I am a killer." She glanced at them. "Yet that doesn't seem to phase you."

"Hn, where we come from you learn to live with it," Hiei grunted.

"You are demons, aren't you?" she asked quietly. Kurama nodded slightly. She nodded to herself.

"Thought so," she said, looking back toward the window.

"How?" Hiei asked. She shrugged, her expression wrinkled in confusion.

"I don't know. I could just......feel it," she said. She blinked and shook her head, ridding the idea from her head. "Forget it. I never said anything." Hiei glanced at Kurama, who glanced at him as well. She could sense demonic Spirit Engery?

"So what kinda are you two?" she asked, looking back at them. They hesitated slightly.

"I am, well, kind of, a fox demon," Kurama said. "And Hiei is a fire demon."

"How can you 'kind of' be a fox demon?" she asked.

"Its a long story," he said, his voice suggesting they change the subject. But Rose was not to be so easily put off. She sat up straighter and got comfortable.

"I have time," she said, hinting that she literally had nowhere to go to in a hurry and that she had nothing better to do. Kurama gave a small sigh.

"I'd rather not talk about it now," he said.

"And I'd rather not be here right now, but I am," she said with a slight snap. Hiei smirked. Ha, the girl caught the fox by the tail. Kurama hesitated before hastily unraveling a vague story of how he had escaped to the human world to escape death. She sat quietly, without moving, but Hiei could tell that she was keenly interested.

"Hm, so how did you end up working for Coin Moo?" she asked, twisting around the demigod's name unconsciously. The fox youkai told her about the stolen artifacts, sparing her many of the details. She listened paciently, rolling what he said in her mind and studying it like a valuable artifact that might prove useful later in life.

"So what about your powers?" she asked quizzically. The darkness was growing thick. No one bothered to turn on a light.

"What about them?" Kurama asked.

"Well, I can already tell by that thing in your window that you work with plants and somehow you did something to it to make it strong," she said. "I want to know about that." An idea came to Kurama.

"Let us make a deal," the kitsune said suddenly. Rose pulled back her curiousity with a harsh check of reins, replacing it with mistrust.

"What kind of deal?" she asked wearily. Hiei glanced at his friend. What was the sly fox up to?

"I'll tell you what you want to know, as long as it is within my ability to tell you, and you help us by staying two weeks so we can find out for sure if you still this power. And if not," he continued as she opened her mouth to argue. "Then you are free to go home and we wont bother you anymore." She was silent. Hiei could see her glaring through the darkness, trying to read Kurama's face to see if he was indeed sincere concerning his treaty.

"Everything?" she questioned. Kurama nodded. "And you'll never bother me again?" Kurama nodded once more. Her eyes must be sharp if she could see through the dark, Hiei thought. She hesitated.

"Alright. Two weeks from today and not a day more. I guess it couldn't be that bad." She shrugged. They wouldn't want her dead if she had this power. They seemed trustworthy enough to make an arrangement with. Kurama smiled to himself, the slight expression hidden by shadows. "Under one condition," she added.

"And what is that?" Kurama asked.

"That I not be treated like a child," she said.

"Agreed," Kurama said. They shook on it. The past repeated itself once again.

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

Authoress' Note: first off, all I gotta say is YOU CAN'T TELL ME SUGAR DOESN'T MAKE YOU ACT DIFFERANTLY! other than that, w00t! Finally, another chapter. I know that no one here knows about where I live, but here we have a festival and we have a king, queen and court selected to represent it. Well, I did the contest we call it a personality pageant, not a beauty contest, or I definitely would not have won and I won the spot of Queen. So my personal life went to hell. Everything came after my 'queenly duties' as they were soon called. So hence the reason for the lateness of this chapter. I swear I will start getting back on track and update more regularly! Plus my friends are starting to read this, and they're really into it, so its like… -evil glare from friends- when I don't update. -sigh- so thank them when I start to get off my ass and update. Thanks to all!

Reviews:

Dyinglight:

New reviewer! first off, thanks for actually looking at my stories :P glad to see they're enjoyed . About the plot twists, personally, I can't stand a story were you know exactly what's going to happen. Hence the reason for all of the catches in the story line and unexpected things. Lol, I'm happy to see that they're understandable. I tend to get side-tracked sometimes and make things confusing. Here's an update for you .

Ensatsu-Kokoryu-Ha:

Hiya again! awesomely long review, which I love . Lol, revel in the action! :P although there is far more to come just wait and see! Lol. And Rose didn't exactly kick Yusuke's butt.. She just kinda… umm… well I guess she kinda did . Glad to see you find Rose interesting. I try to make her interesting. Not too strong, but quite rebellious. :P it goes against nearly every Mary-Sue I know, which is why she is this way they're always like 'oh! Of course I'll help you!' . anyway. Lol. And if I was Rose I wouldn't be listening to much reason either, I mean, these freaky people just walked in and kidnap her! Its like.. Wtf?! Lol. And you'll see what's up with the memory thing later I'm not giving any spoilers in this story :P. I LOVE THE LONG REVIEW! thanks!

miyako14:

:P awesome rabid fan girls, that we are! . Thanks for the review!

I hope to see more of my original reviewers in the future! I haven't seen many of them it quite a few chapters! But thank you all who reviewed and find this story interesting.

J