"Birds of a Feather"

By: Robin Maxwell

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own anything? No, didn't think so. But just in case. I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or anything special, just the characters that you don't see in the show or manga and the plot. You got it? Okay!

Chapter one

Bad Omen?

Light gray eyes peered into crimson ones. They were filled with pain, lose, and hopelessness.

Did she expect death? Or want it?

They couldn't stop staring at one another, even after the rest of the group moved on, pulling her along.

Her chains dug into her pale skin as she was dragged away from the dark youkai. She wanted so badly to stay and just look at him. She didn't know why, but she felt as if there was something about him that she could relate to. What it was, she didn't know.

She turned her head back around, making her dark brown hair swing with it. No one else had seen him, and if they had, than everyone would have started to throw each other out of the way to try and save themselves. Even though they were all chained together, to prevent something like this from happening.

All of them were nothing but prisoners that became slaves. They were thieves, killers, and cold hearted bastards that would sell their own mothers for food. That is all that they were seen as, even though most of them weren't anything like that.

When the pack of slaves were gone, Hiei jumped down from the tree and stared after them.

Why didn't she give him away? She was the only one that had seen him, and yet she told no one that he was there. Why? He could have killed them all if he wanted to, and to tell the truth, he had been thinking about it when he first saw them approaching.

It had been awhile since blood had been on his sword. Too long. But that would all change soon.

But that girl. She just... stared at him, and he at her. The fist thing he noticed were her startling gray eyes, and then the small visible scar that traveled from the top of her eyebrow to the tip of her eyelid.

Hiei pulled himself out of his thoughts as he remembered why he was even in Makai. He had to finish the assignment given to him by Koenma.

With that, he leapt off.

XXXXX

"Yoshi, Masa, Haru, and Nadia." The youkai in all dark blue garb said. The four slaves stepped up to the two spiked, wooden doors. They could hear the crowd outside cheering and screaming for blood.

The doors opened and the couples of four chained together slaves ran out into the small arena. Two tiger demons stood before them, one with a large ax, and the other with two swords.

The crowd was screaming even louder now.

'There's only two of them? This should be interesting.' The only girl in the arena thought.

Nadia ducked as the ax came swinging at her head, taking down the demon chained to her. She used her short sword, the only weapon they were given, and cut off his arm. Once she was rid of his body, she flopped down on her belly as the same demon swung his ax at her again.

She rolled around on the ground as the curved blade made impact with the sand covered ground. Her feet rested on the ground flatly as she stood up and faced the white fur covered youkai.

Her gray eyes stared into his own ice blue ones. His lips curled up into a smirk, showing off his fangs.

He charged at her without hesitation, bringing his ax down on her head. It hit thin air, and then the ground.

"Where'd she go?"

He heard someone sighing behind him. He turned around just as she shoved the short bladed sword into his stomach. Blood poured out from the wound as it began to trickle from the corners of his mouth.

"Ah... grr...," He growled as he dropped his weapon and wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her closer to him. The sword went in deeper as he opened his mouth.

A small string of fire started to push its way up his throat and into his mouth, where it grew into a large ball.

The girl in his arms closed her eyes, trying to figure a way out of this. Only one thing came to mind, but she didn't want to use it. There had to be another way out of this. She tried to find a way out of his grasp desperately, but to no prevail.

He laughed as she struggled in his arms. The ball now had small wisps of fire flying from it and scorching her face. Her eyes opened just as she saw the other tiger demon's headless form being thrown at her and the youkai that was currently squeezing her to death.

They both went tumbling down to the ground, the fire ball grazing her shoulder. She freed herself from the demon's arms and raised her hand into the air, her nails elongating and then plunging deep into his chest. The rest of her hand followed as it wrapped around his life force and squeezed it until it burst.

His screams died down as she pulled half of her arm out of his chest and stood to her full height. The only slave left walked over to her and rubbed her head with his hand.

"Watch your ass next time. I won't always be here to do it for ya." He said in a playful voice.

She kept her gaze on the fallen demon and didn't even react to his words. When she didn't say anything as usual, he patted her on the back and walked off. The audience's cheers had grown by tenfold, yet she didn't hear them.

'He saved me. Again.' She thought angrily.

She turned around and walked out of the arena that was covered in blood, a few dead bodies, and broken weapons. She held her head down.

XXXXX

As they walked back to their quarters a few miles away, she searched the trees, looking for her mysterious demon.

She didn't find him.

XXXXX

"Nadia." A raspy voice called out.

The brunette turned around to see her master standing before her, looking very pissed.

"I bought you for a reason, you know? So, tell me. What good are you if you don't use your full powers?" He asked her as he crossed his arms over his chest.

She just stared at him. Her eyes burning with hatred. She didn't have to explain herself to him.

She turned around and walked away from him.

"How dare you turn your back on me!" He yelled.

"40 lashes!" She heard him holler, as a group of guards surrounded her. She didn't even fight back as they grabbed her and took her to the beam, where they tied her hands up above her. The back of her already torn tunic was slashed open, revealing her back. Two, long vertical scars ran down her shoulder blades that were identical.

"Put the ring back on her." He shouted.

Two guards came and clasped a thick, metal ring around her ribs, just below her breasts. She growled at them as they accidentally touched her in a place that shouldn't be touched, by anyone.

"Bring out the whip."

One of the guards brought it out and stood behind her, smirking sickly.

"I'm going to enjoy this." The guard that had touched her while putting the ring on whispered into her ear. He pulled back and looked straight at her, his face a few inches from her own.

She spit on his face.

"Bitch." He screamed into her face as he slapped her.

She didn't even flinch.

He moved away from her and the man who owned her signaled the guard with the whip to begin.

'Fools. It's not like I'd use them anyway.' She thought to herself as the whip cracked down on her back.

She bit down on her bottom lip as it came down on her back again, and again.

"I can't hear her screams." Her master said.

The guard nodded in understanding. He brought it down harder, making the lashes on her back deeper.

XXXXX

The guard dropped the bloodied cat of nine tails(1) onto the table, looking angry. He looked back over at the girl that was hanging limply from the ropes and grunted as he walked off. She had not screamed through the whole punishment, even when they switched the whip out. Then, she had passed out.

A sword hurled through the air, cutting the rope and letting the slave girl fall to the ground. Her face hit the dirt as she lay there pathetically.

Two, rough hands grabbed her wrists and dragged her through the dirt to her cell. They threw her in the empty room and shut the barred door on her, laughing at her stubbornness.

"Maybe we'll come and visit you tonight. Would you like that?" One of them asked.

She just lay there, not paying them any attention as they walked away, still talking about her. She crawled onto her hands and knees and tried to sit up, but it hurt her back too much. She stopped moving when she noticed that the thin material of her shirt was about to come off of her completely.

Something was thrown in front of her from the cell next to hers. It was a shirt. She looked up and saw who had given it to her.

"Thought you could use it." He said. A hint of pity in his voice.

She grabbed the shirt and turned around on her butt and slipped the torn and bloody shirt off of her. She faced the wall, since she was in the last cell, and put the new shirt over her bloodied and torn flesh.

She sucked in her breath as the fabric stuck to her back.

"You know, you should just do what he says. It would make things a lot easier for you." The man who had decided to act as her older brother said.

She didn't say anything.

Sigh.

"I know you're not much of a talker, but you could at least say thanks or shut the hell up. Something like that." He stared at her hopelessly through the bars that he was leaning against. When she didn't say anything, he sighed again and turned away from her.

"Thanks, Akashi." A small, quiet voice said.

The man blinked.

"Your welcome, Nadia." He said with a smile gracing his lips.

XXXXX

The stolen scroll was thrown onto his desk, sending a few papers fluttering to the ground. Koenma grabbed the rolled up parchment quickly and opened it, his eyes scanning its contents.

A smile fell onto his lips, that was a mixture of relief and happiness as he rolled the paper back up.

"Good job, Hiei."

"Hn."

Koenma looked at him, the smile fading.

"What happened to the demon?"

"Dead." The Goth answered.

Koenma called in Botan and had her place the scroll back into the vault.

"Thank you, Hiei. You may go now."

A black blur disappeared out the door, leaving Koenma alone.

The toddler rubbed his butt in memory.

"I don't think I could have handled that again."

XXXXX

A few days later, and the whole gang was shut up in Koenma's office. Kuwabara and Yusuke sat down in front of the toddler, looking bored. The orange haired ningen had started twirling a piece of thread in between his fingers as the detective beside him sighed loudly in frustration.

"Any time today, would be nice Jr.," He said to the toddler that was standing haphazardly on a chair trying to find a folder in one of the top file cabinets.

"Shut it, Yusuke." He said as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

'Arrogant little-,' He thought, but cut himself off as he found what he was looking for.

"Ah ha. Found you, you little devil!"

As he closed the drawer, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. A few files on top of the cabinet fell on top of him, sending papers everywhere.

"Don't everyone get up all at once!" The toddler said through gritted teeth as he stood up and placed the folder on his desk, glaring at everyone in the room.

Kurama paled as he rubbed his neck nervously.

"Sorry about that Koenma, I was talking to Hiei."

Kuwabara, who was, let's face it, as dumb as shit, didn't know what he was talking about.

"I didn't hear you guys talking."

"Hn. Fool."

Kuwabara looked behind him and started shouting insults at him, as Kurama tried to calm him down.

"We were communicating telepathically, Kuwabara." He said in a nervous tone, once again.

In the blink of an eye, Kuwabara was face down into the carpet, and Hiei was leaning against the wall as if he hadn't moved at all.

"HIEI, YOU BASTARD!" None other than Kuwabara shouted.

"Hn."

Yusuke still stared at the celling, unaffected by any of the things going on in the room.

"So, what are we doing this time?" He asked, his head still back and looking up.

"Well, if everyone would calm down, than maybe I'll explain it to you." Kuwabara was still muttering under his breath, but Koenma ignored him, like he always did.

"There's a demon named Shizuma in Makai that is a slave owner. His slaves fight in tournaments like the one you all fought in, except it's simply for pleasure and money with no humans. It's perfectly legal, except for the fact that a few humans have been disappearing from ningekai and into Makai. We believe that he has been using them as slaves to fight in these tournaments."

"Why would he want a bunch of puny humans to fight for him when he's got all those strong demons?"

Koenma looked at the only full-blooded human in the room and smirked, which you couldn't see because of his pacifier.

"He can bet against himself if he chooses to, and have the weakest slaves out there fighting for him. He chooses them because he knows that they will lose, and he'll get money. It's as simple as that."

"Oh." Kuwabara stated dumbly.

"So, what do you want us to do about it?"

"I want all of you to go to Makai and see if what our sources tell us is true. One of you will pose as the master, and the rest of you his slaves." (you know that didn't sound right!)

"You don't have to stay for long, just until you find out if that's where all of the humans are disappearing to."

"Whoa! I don't want to be a slave." Kuwabara shouted. Yusuke thought the same thing, and was about to voice his opinion when Koenma began speaking again.

"No one will buy that you are a slave owner, Kuwabara. I think it should be kurama."

So, it was decided. Shouldn't this be fun!

XXXXX

"Stupid Koenma, making us slaves! I'm gonna sock him one in the nose next time I see 'em!" Kuwabara said as they walked through the brush of Makai.

"Shut up already!" Yusuke hollered at him.

For once Kuwabara was quiet, though no one knew why. That was until they walked by the entrance of the village where the arena was. Three decaying bodies lay on display at the open mouth of the large, wooden doors.

Bad omen?

"They give me the creeps!" (anyone wanna take a guess at who said this! Anyone? Yeah, u got it. Kuwabara!)

"They're dead, Kuwabara. Calm down." Kurama said.

The boy shivered as he stared at their hollow eye sockets. A worm crawled out of one of them, making the big oaf shriek like a little girl.

"Baka." The shortest one of the group muttered.

XXXXX

After being registered for the small tournament tomorrow, all four of them went to the slave quarters where they would be staying for the next few nights. While the three "slaves" went to their new cells, Kurama went to the inn that was there especially for slave owners that betted in the tournament.

Yusuke and the others were placed in cells with one other slave since they were out of cells.

Kuwabara was thrown into a cell with a tall, muscly guy that had a horn on his forehead. When he stood up, he towered over the ningen by a good two feet.

"Who are you?" His deep voice rumbled out his chest.

"I'm Kuwabara." He stated simply, not at all affected by his size.

"And you are?"

"Rikuo."

The tall demon stepped closer to him and looked down at him, his eyes a brighter green than Kurama's.

"It gets quite lonely in here at night, my little friend." He said darkly. (hint hint)

"Oh shit!" Kuwabara yelled as he turned around and yelled for someone to place him in another cell through the bars. The guards only laughed at him. (he actually got something! I'm being mean, I'm gonna stop now.)

'Why did I have to end up with the gay one!' He thought desperately.

Yusuke didn't even have to talk to his new bunk mate, considering that the guy was passed out drunk.

'Nice. Always good to have a place remind me of home.' He thought as he scooted down the wall and nodded off to sleep.

Hiei walked into the moon lite cell and peered around, not seeing anyone until they opened their eyes. They were an eerie silver, and he couldn't help but stare into them. They reminded him of something... or someone.

They didn't move, nor talk. Their eyes closed shut, not even curious as to know who was in there with them. Oh well, it didn't bother him in the least to have a silent room mate. And he was tired too.

He fell asleep soon, his guard never dropping.

XXXXX

The sun light stung his eyes irritably as it burned down on his face. An arm was thrown over their face, but it did little use as the sun still beat down on his skin. It was hot!

"Dammit!" He swore loudly as he sat up and looked around tiredly. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out where in the hell he was.

'Huh? Oh yeah, the stupid mission the toddler send us on.'

He yawned widely as he stretched and then stood up. That's when he noticed a pungent smell coming from behind him. He turned back around and looked at the demon that was lying face down in the dirt, not moving.

Yusuke took a few steps over to him and tapped him lightly with his foot. Nothing. He didn't it again, and still no response.

He turned the guy over onto his back and saw a bug crawl out of his mouth.

"Yuk!" He said in disgust as he fell backwards onto his ass.

"Do the dead scare ya, kid?" A guard that had snuck up on him asked. Yusuke looked behind him and saw the demon in a dark blue outfit similar to Hiei's.

"You better get use to it, unless you want to end up like that guy over there." He said with a laugh. He started to walk away with Yusuke yelling after him. He stopped.

"You want him out of there?"

Yusuke growled.

"I think I'll wait until it's time for you to fight before I get someone to drag him out of there."

With another laugh, he walked off.

"Bastard." Yusuke mumbled.

XXXXX

Hiei's morning was probably the best out of the three of them, considering his cell mate wasn't dead, or a flaming homosexual! (i love that phrase. And no, i ain't got nothing against gay people, just remember that!)

When he was greeted by the rising sun he opened his eyes and peeked over at the demon he was sharing his cell with. Well, technically it was their cell, and they were sharing it with "him."

His eyes widened slightly, yet unnoticeably at the same time, as he stared at the defeated looking creature before him.

It was the same girl that he had seen the other day when he passed through Makai. (who didn't know that?)

Since she was asleep, he could look at her more carefully and not get caught, by her at least.

He stared at the scar more closely now and noticed that it started a bit higher than the top of her eyebrow and covered about half of her eye lid. He also noticed the way she was leaning against the wall, huddled up in the corner and leaning over. Her head lay on top of her knees with her arms hanging lazily by her side. She looked as if she was trying not to put pressure on her back.

That's when he felt someone's eyes on him.

"She's not much of a talker, but a hell of a fighter. She may not look it, but she's a lot tougher than she lets on." The guy in the cell next to him said.

Hiei looked up at him.

"Hn."

The demon laughed.

"I see you aren't much of one either. I guess you two will get along well, then."

Hiei said nothing to this statement. He was surprised that the girl hadn't woken up during his chatter. The brotherly demon noticed his stare on the girl.

"She just doesn't like to listen. She'll probably be out for another hour or so, knowing her."

Hiei looked at him questionably after he said this.

"Don't hurt her, and I won't have to hurt you." He stated as he stared Hiei in the eye.

Hiei's own eyes bore into him, not letting up. Guessing that the overly protective male was either her mate or something, he didn't take too much offense at his words. But he wouldn't take it as a threat. The demon slumped against the wall close to him seemed more of a threat than he did.

The door to his cell opened and he was greeted by two guards in dark blue cloaks similar to his own.

"Get up, wench!" One of them yelled as they entered the cell. He didn't even look at Hiei. The girl in questioning popped one eye open and then closed it again.

"Didn't have enough of me the other day, did you?" The guard asked.

"Nadia, please get up." Akashi said.

"Stay out of this!" The other guard yelled into his face.

Nadia opened both of her eyes this time and stood up. She didn't even look at the guards as she passed them. Hiei now understood why she hadn't had her back on the wall. It was covered in bloody welts. The back of her shirt was covered in small trails of blood.

"You too, boy." One of the guards directed at him. Hiei moved, only to get away from these goons. They disgusted him.

They weren't the only ones being emptied out of their cells. The day had started, and people were crowding into the arena, ready for a bloody battle.

XXXXX

So, what do you think? People sayI need to work on how long my chapters are, so I hope this is long enough for you guys!If not, than screw that!Please review, if you want me to add another chapter to this!

Later,

robin