Title: The Challenge
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: This is the result of a challenge from a reviewer. Do not accuse the crappiness of this on my reviewer! Blame me, oh yes, blame me. I don't own most of the characters used here-in.

Chapter Two: The Prince and the Detectives

-500 Years Later-

"Well, you can just take this so-called mission and shove it up your--" Yusuke's Urameshi heated words were stopped abruptly as a flying apple hit Yusuke directly in the chomper. Before the poor apple could even hit the floor, Yusuke had crossed the room and was attempting to strangle the perpetrator. He had a fat lip now because of a small toddler who had a pacifier in his mouth. Amazing that he hadn't dropped the thing yet...

Kazuma Kuwabara and Kurama darted toward their friend-slash-leader. "Yusuke, let'em go!" Kuwabara demanded of the black haired boy. "He's like, a prince or something, so you shouldn't be strangling him!"

"That's not obvious." drawled a short boy in the corner, his hair sticking straight up like a flame. Kuwabara glared at this boy. Hiei was his name, and he was just a shrimpy jerk. At least to Kuwabara he was, anyway. "I wouldn't have known not to strangle royalty if you didn't mention it. Genius."

"I swear, Koenma, you're dead!" Yusuke yelled as his friends dragged him off the prince.

Koenma heaved in a great breath and said in a slightly wheezy voice, "Kill me after you do this!"

Yusuke was about to send a biting remark at Koenma when Hiei interrupted. "Yusuke, quit being a moron. Koenma bet us in a game of poker. Get over it. It's what people of power do to Pee-ons like us." Hiei pushed himself away from the wall and stalked out of the room. Yusuke did not simmer down though. Hiei's words only made him angrier as the truth came out. He had to be dragged away by Kuwabara and Kurama.

It was a while before Yusuke had settled down enough to be reasoned with. The four of them, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei, made up the Spirit Detective team. They fought for justice (a mad notion, Hiei thought), peace (peace exists only in solitary souls, in Kurama's mind), love (so hard to come by, Kuwabara knew from experience), and the Spirit World (that Prince would die, Yusuke was positive).

They did so well, that for a few months there had been no real organized threats. No one wanted to be so completely eradicated by Yusuke and his team. Plus, the fact that Yusuke and his team were winners of the Dark Tournament made them even more frightening of an opponent. But recently, apparently, Koenma had been playing poker with his fellow higher-ups and doing well, so he decided to throw the service of the Spirit Detectives into the pot.

"Really!" Yusuke steamed. "He's got cash comin' out of his bum like it's the squirts and he bets OUR SERVICE? The heck?" He crossed his arms angrily across his chest.

Kurama sighed. "It's really an important mission, he said." Kurama was skeptical of this, as were the rest of them. There were certified doctors for this sort of thing. Why did it have to be them? Koenma had really gone over the line that time.

Hiei, on the other hand, seemed morose about the idea. It was like the small demon was depressed but it was unexplainable as to why he would be. The demon always had delighted in the sight of others suffering, and now the place they were going to was one where people would suffer freely due to their own inner turmoil.

They made it to the Spirit World Psyche Ward where they were greeted with a green toad demon wearing a business suit. Seeing this man...demon...thing... made Yusuke angrier. Was this who had won a game of poker against Koenma?

Kurama greeted the short demon with respect. And he really was short. He was shorter than Hiei by three feet. "Lord Sesshoumaru," Kurama said respectfully.

The toady grinned. "That's right. I'm Lord Sesshoumaru, owner and creator of this psyche ward." Of course, Hiei was positive that the little demon was lying. A brief glance into the toad's mind revealed the truth of the matter. His real name was no where near 'Sesshoumaru'. He was just another power hungry toad, who tried to move up in the world by taking on a dead man's name and title.

Yusuke growled and brought his fist down on his open palm. "Just tell me who I gotta beat up so I can get home." Yusuke demanded. He didn't want to stay any longer than necessary, but no one could blame him.

The toady laughed, or croaked--Hiei couldn't tell which sound it was supposed to be--and said, "I don't need your services to harm anyone. I need you to keep a patient under control. Follow me." He turned and began leading the way toward a door on their far right. Through that door was a long brightly lit corridor encompassing several more doors that had picture windows showing darkened interiors.

"Whoa," Kuwabara said, looking around the white, sanitary place. Nurses wearing strange and revealing outfits were walking around with carts of medicine, heading toward certain rooms. They would fill tiny cups with three or four pills, and then they would enter a room, only to come out again with an empty cup. "What is this place?"

"A psyche ward, you moron." Yusuke growled. "Shouldn't you be in one of those rooms?"

Kuwabara growled at the offense. "Shut up, Yusuke!"

"Both of you shut up or I'll run you through." Hiei said coldly, his mood very sour indeed. They exited that hall through a door on the far end.

"Ah yes," said the toady, as if he had forgotten something. "You won't be needing those." He snapped his fingers and instantly the four were swarmed by nurses who took any semblance of weapons away before another word could be said.

Hiei glared at them, but then they were gone. For a second, the group thought they were losing their sanity; those had been humans for sure, and no human could be so quick, could they? Then the toady was leading them toward a solitary door, one with light emitting from the picture window. "What are we doing here if not to beat someone down?" Yusuke asked, as if they weren't already told they were here to babysit.

The toady began to unlock the eight locks that kept the door shut. All the other doors they had seen only had one lock... What was behind that door?

The four Spirit Detectives flinched as the door was opened finally, but felt immediately foolish to see that it was just a young woman inside, sipping a mug of semi-warm liquid while she sat in a rocking chair and looked at a painted picture of a window on the wall.

From what Hiei could see, the inside appeared to be a small version of a irregularly child-safe home. No electrical outlets were anywhere within reach and neither were the things that were plugged into them. Nothing was any further than a foot off the ground, and everything was rounded. There was not a single sharp edge to be seen.

The cup in her hands didn't even appear to be breakable. It looked like a strange plastic. The blankets on the bed were stitched there so they couldn't be used to create a noose. Simply put, everything was safe.

The toady walked into the room. "Kagome, I've brought some friends for you." He grumbled, as if pleased he didn't have to put his own people in the room with her. All four of the boys were wondering what was wrong with the lady in the chair. She looked perfectly normal to them, except the fact that she was staring at a fake window.

"Jaken, you silly toad." The woman said, turning to look at him with a smile on her face. "How many times must I tell you? My name is Kikyou. I am the priestess, I am the Lady Priestess Kikyou, and you should address me with such respect that you would give a priestess."

Yusuke muttered, "I wonder if she realizes she said 'priestess' like a thousand times in a row..."

Kuwabara whispered back, "I donno, insane people kinda freak me out though, 'cause they look normal."

"This number includes you two idiots," Hiei grumbled and they glared at him. Kurama stepped in between the two angryhumans and the annoyed demon. The four entered the crowded room at the toady's urging. "This is a waste of time." Hiei hated everything about this place, including its sanitary walls. Especially its perfectly white blankness.

"Ah, I have company." said the woman, was her name Kikyou or Kagome? They all decided it was Kagome, considering crazy people had notions they were always someone else. "Jaken, don't be so rude. We should serve tea and cake. Might you fetch some?"

The toady grumbled about it. "Fine. Get acquainted, Kagome. They'll be staying for a while." The toady squeezed out past them and the door shut with a clang. They could hear all the locks clattering behind them and it made them all nervous to be alone with this apparently crazy woman. She wore a white shawl and white cotton trousers. Her black hair and dark blue eyes contrasted dangerously with her pale skin and the white room.

Those eyes turned toward them and they all flinched again. It was one thing to be dealing with a character who they knew could think properly or at least somewhat and knew what they were dealing with. It was another thing to deal with a character who could possibly have unordinary amounts of personalities, unending amounts of mood swings, and do unnecessary actions that could end up in fatality.

She chuckled at their unease. "Do not be alarmed. My name is Lady Priestess Kikyou, as you well know from my argument with Jaken. What are your names?" She never stood. She just sat straight in the rocking chair as if she really were a bit of the hierarchy in her blood.

They wondered if they should tell her their real names. When no one spoke, Hiei stepped forward and took action. He figured he might as well treat insanity with more insanity, because he sure as hell wasn't going to tell her his real name. "My name is Zen. My companions are Masakazu," he pointed to Yusuke, "Yoshimitsu," he pointed to Kuwabara, "and Sakurako."

Well, Kurama didn't look too pleased with the fake name doled out for him. Hiei couldn't see anything wrong with it... So it was a girl's name, big deal? He did have that feminine look to him no matter what form he took, so really there shouldn't be any complaints on his part. It wasn't Hiei's fault that Kurama looked like a girl.

The woman who they were assuming to actually be called Kagome smiled so wide it was nearly blinding. "What lovely names you have." she said. "Zen, Masakazu, Yoshimitsu, and Sakurako! Oh, how I adore those names. Would you like to have a seat and hear a story? I knowa lot of good ones..."

They all exchanged glances and leaned against the wall as if that was how they were most comfortable. "We'd like a story," Hiei said. It was as if he had experience in dealing with weirdos... Well, he was a shrimpy insane guy to begin with, Yusuke thought, but that was beside the point. He brought a chuckle out of the woman.

"Oh, you silly boys. I suppose the cold floor isn't comfortable." They shook their head in agreement. That was a good lie especially since she gave it to them.

Zen/Hiei
Masakazu/Yusuke
Yoshimitsu/Kuwabara
Sakurako/Kurama

That's just crazy. Not sexy crazy either. Just plain crazy.