p"Master Suzaku!" the bird called in a high pitched voice.
p"Ah, Murg, there you are." the fourth Saint Beast greeted.
p"Looks like your colleagues have failed." sniggered the bird. The Saint Beast narrowed his eyes, even though it was hard to tell from the shadows.
p"Enough. What have you found on Detective Yuiko Urameshi?"
p"Something interesting and, I think, useful."
p"Oh?"
p"Peer into the human world. Keiko Yukimura! Yuiko Urameshi's only female friend. She's the only girl at their school who likes her. She has known Urameshi longer than that brute Kuwabara, and that's practically when they were still in diapers!"
p"Hm. Yes, I think she will be useful. By the looks of her, she's a smart girl, but nothing like Urameshi. . . . ." Suzaku trailed off in thought.
p"Something wrong, Suzaku-sama?" Murg perched herself on Suzaku's shoulder. "You know you can tell me anything you couldn't tell the other Saint Beasts." Suzaku swatted Murg away and walked over to the other side of the room. "Suzaku-sama?"
p"Murg, if you found an enemy of the opposite sex pretty, what would you do?" It took Murg a minute to realize why Suzaku was asking that. Murg screamed in shock and fell out of the air. She landed on the floor, beak opened, eyes almost popping out from the mere thought of it, nonsense noises coming from her non-moving mouth.
p"Y-y-you f-find U-Urameshi p-p-pretty?" Suzaku said nothing, confirming her guess. Murg then fainted. Suzaku put the flute he had in his right hand to his lips and began to play. If the song had words, it would sound like this:
piMy mindless minions, pGo seek - the girl I need, pDestroy her now, before Urameshi feels weak, pUnderneath my power of Dark Lighting, pGo kill Yukimura, pMy mindless minions, pDestroy her now before Urameshi falls at my hands, pUrameshi must see her friend's lifeless body, pBefore I bring her to her knees. pDestroy her now, before Urameshi feels weak pDestroy her now before I kill Urameshi./i
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pAt Sarayashiki Junior High School, Keiko was walking down the hall and past the teacher Mr. Iwamoto, one of the teachers who gave Yuiko a hard time in class just because she wasn't like the other girls.
p"Still here, Yukimura? You should go home and study. The standardized exams are coming up, and you could make the top 10. Unlike Urameshi."
p"Yes sir, I'll go home after I file these for the school newspaper." Keiko replied in a non-offended voice the best she could.
p"And Yukimura, stop associating with Urameshi. Her lack of studying, her skipping classes, and her bullying will rub off on you." Keiko narrowed her eyes. Yuiko didn't bully people! And Yuiko only stopped studying after she got hit by the car, so she wasn't that bad at it, and she only started skipping classes, so it must be for a good reason. Keiko just walked down the hall. Unknown to both Keiko and Mr. Iwamoto, one of the Makai Insects sat on Mr. Iwamoto's shoulder and crawled its way into the teacher's ear.
pBack with Keiko, she was in a classroom, stacking papers and humming to herself. Mr. Iwamoto then entered the room, an angered look about him.
p"Hello Mr. Iwamoto. Was there something else?" Keiko asked. Mr. Iwamoto gritted his teeth with his eyes glazed over.
p"I told you. Go home. Study . . . STUDY!" Mr. Iwamoto shouted. His fists started to shake uncontrollably and he suddenly lashed out at Keiko. Keiko dodged his fist and ran out of the classroom, screaming.
p'What came over him? His eyes were glassy, unfocused!' Before Keiko had anymore time to think, more of the mind-controlled people came toward the school, blood dripping from their mouths. Keiko stopped in her tracks. The sound of Mr. Iwamoto coming closer became louder and louder.
p"Students who don't listen to their teachers deserve to die, Yukimura! DIE!" Mr. Iwamoto yelled. Keiko shrieked and ran for it, the zombie people chasing after her. Suddenly, someone grabbed Keiko and pulled her into a nearby bush to hide her.
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pYuiko ran ahead of the boys, every now and then taking a leap forward. "Now I get my shot! Finally!" Yuiko said happily. Hiei stared after her, thinking about the way he acted when she almost fell into the lava pit and the way she acted after he had defeated Seiryu.
pb"Really? Sixteen? Man, am I in trouble whenever we have a rematch!" "Ah ha ha hah!"/b
pIt wasn't until Yuiko gave a surprised shout that Hiei came out of his reverie. Hiei blinked and came to earth just in time to hear Kurama and Kuwabara say, "What's wrong?" at the same time. Yuiko took out the communication mirror that Botan gave her out of her back pocket.
p"She could have told me she had set this thing on vibrate. That way I wouldn't have put it there. Sheesh, almost felt like someone was touching me there." Yuiko commented. Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara all blushed. "What's up, Botan?"
p"Yuiko, I'm with Yukimura and the infested humans are after her with murder on their minds!" Botan informed.
p"What!? Get out of there, now!"
p"Will do." Yuiko heard Keiko shout "Look out!" and the sound of rock breaking. Suddenly, she could only hear static.
p"Botan? BOTAN!?" Yuiko closed the communication mirror and broke into a burst of speed. "Come on! We don't have much time!" The boys shook their heads and chased after her. "There's the stupid tower! Just have to run a few hundred stairs!" Kurama narrowed his eyes to see farther away and suddenly grabbed Yuiko's shoulder to stop her. "What are you doing?!"
p"Look over there." Kurama stated, pointing forward. Yuiko turned her head away from Kurama and gasped at the green human-looking things in front of them. She would have blushed when she noticed they were all men and weren't wearing anything if she wasn't so pissed off.
p"Damn it!" Yuiko spat.
pKuwabara's jaw dropped. "It'll take forever to take them down. And why aren't you covering your eyes, Yuiko!? They're all naked and they're all guys!"
pKurama ignored Kuwabara's latter comments. "True, it will take time we don't have."
pYuiko's hands rolled up into fists. "Forget head-to-head, Kurama! I'll just knock 'em all down with a new trick I learned which I like to call Shot Gun!"
pHiei grabbed her right fist, the one she was about to use her Shot Gun with. "Don't extend yourself. You'll fall right into Suzaku's plans." Hiei said. Kurama closed his mouth. The red-head was about to say the exact same thing!
p"Then what do you expect us to do, three-eyes!? There's no other way through!" Yuiko shouted. Hiei had to remind himself that she was ticked before going murderous swordsman on her for the three-eyes insult.
p"Up there. See that window?" Hiei replied. Kuwabara and Yuiko looked up. The window was about a kilometer high.
p"Jeez, shrimp, we're not grasshoppers!" Kuwabara gawked.
p"And how do you suppose we get up there?" Yuiko demanded. Hiei and Kurama both noted that she was very rude when she was angry and worried at the same time. Not to mention quickly acted before she thought.
p"I have an idea." Hiei let on. Moments later, after Hiei explained his plan, Kurama knelt down on Kuwabara's shoulders and Hiei stood on Kurama's back. Kuwabara was struggling under the weight.
p"You okay?" Kurama asked.
p"Why me? Why me all the time?" Kuwabara whimpered. Kuwabara began to run as fast as he could, Yuiko running after him. "Don't leave shoe marks on my back, Yuiko, or I'm gonna get you!" Yuiko didn't reply. "Make this count!"
p"Hup hup!" Yuiko shouted. She stepped on Kuwabara's back, pushed off, landed on Kurama's back, pushed off again, stepped on Hiei's back and pushed off again, and shot at the window in question. She grabbed the window sill and climbed up into the tower. "Thanks! If we live, dinner's on me and I'll make Diaper Bags pay me so we can split the paycheck!"
p"We'll hold you to that!" Kuwabara called back to her. "And Koenma doesn't pay you?" Yuiko had left the window before Kuwabara had even asked his question. Yuiko ran into Suzaku's lair and saw Keiko and Botan on a huge screen.
p"KEIKO! BOTAN!" Yuiko screamed. She saw Suzaku, a blonde human-looking demon with two red antennas that at first looked like a hair ornament for his bangs. "YOU!"
p"Now, now, Detective, if you are going to fight me, you should at least know my name. It's Suzaku. And -" Suzaku looked down at the still unconscious Murg on the floor. He sweat dropped. "the unconscious thing with feathers on the floor there is Murg." Suzaku looked back at Yuiko who looked angrier than she had ever been in her entire life. 'I knew she'd probably look prettier in person, but she looks absolutely beautiful when she's furious.'
p"HAND OVER THAT WHISTLE RIGHT NOW! OR I'LL NOT ONLY POUND YOUR FACE INTO THE GROUND, I'LL HUMILIATE YOU IN FRONT OF ALL OF DEMON WORLD BECAUSE YOU'LL NOT ONLY LOSE TO A HUMAN, YOU'LL LOSE TO A HUMAN iGIRL/i!" Yuiko yelled at the top of her lungs. She yelled so loud that the boys outside could hear her quite clearly. Suzaku sighed a content sigh and made the hand signal that one uses when trying to get a dog to come toward them. Yuiko growled and ran at him. She punched him in the stomach and made a grab for the Makai Whistle, but he made it just out of reach. Yuiko stood on tiptoes and she still couldn't reach it. Suzaku made a note that the girl's eyes were a chocolate brown before leaping backward.
p"This battle has only just begun. You thought you'd get the whistle that easily?" Suzaku asked. 'She may be pretty, but I'm not going to let her get the Makai Whistle.' Yuiko ran at Suzaku and gave him a barrage of kicks and punches, using everything she knew about head-to-head fighting except for her Spirit Gun or her new attack Shot Gun. Suzaku was badly deflecting all of it with one hand, but he was superb at making sure she did not get the whistle. 'She's fast. Not just fast, lighting quick. Amazing that a human girl could be so powerful. The demon fairy tales always foretold the human female to be weak and pathetic, but she's only a teenager and I'm having difficulty.'
p"SPIRIT GUN!"
pKa-BLOOM! Part of the ceiling tore away from the tower and flew sky-high, allowing the thunder claps to be heard louder and the lighting to be seen. Rain fell from the clouds, drenching both of them. Suzaku was panting and Yuiko was confused on why her Spirit Gun hadn't blown him to pieces. Suzaku suddenly started laughing.
p"Now that I have access to the sky, you will die right here and now, Urameshi. But first," Suzaku glanced at the screen. "we'll see your best friend and your assistant be slaughtered." Yuiko blinked and turned to the screen, only to see Keiko trying her best not to break down into tears and Botan doing her best to stay calm.
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p"Okay, Keiko, it's going to be okay. Don't cry. Yuiko will defeat the Four Saint Beasts, destroy the whistle controlling those people, and everything will go back to normal." Botan reassured. They had lost the zombie-people for now.
p"Why does Yuiko have to do this? Who are the Four Saint Beasts? And how can a whistle control so many people, including my teacher, Mr. Iwamoto? And, who are you anyway?" Keiko questioned.
p"There isn't enough time to answer all of those questions, but I can tell you my name. I'm Botan. I'm your friend's assistant. Not to mention a friend of Yuiko's as well." Keiko calmed down and took a deep breath.
p"Okay. Since you're a friend of Yui's, I trust you completely." Keiko picked up the closest phone and called 9-1-1. "No good. The phones are out."
p"Figures. They've cut us off. Now what?"
p"The faculty room!"
p"That's it! Other teachers! They can help. Good thinking, Yukimura!"
p"Please, call me Keiko."
p"Alright, Keiko." The two girls ran to the faculty room. Mr. Takenaka was sitting in a chair.
p"Mr. Takenaka! There are these people outside who are acting really weird, and they kept on chasing me! And one of them is Mr. Iwamoto!" Keiko exclaimed. She got no response. "Mr. Takenaka?" Mr. Takenaka fell face down on the table, blood dripping from his nose. He had already been rendered unconscious before they had entered the room. Keiko and Botan both gasped in surprise and fear. "We're all alone." A cackling sound came from behind them.
p"Yukimura!" Mr. Iwamoto called. Keiko and Botan ran for it, Keiko screaming.
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pYuiko stood gaping at the screen. "KEIKO!" Yuiko yelled. Yuiko remembered a time where Keiko was just as scared as she looked on the screen. Keiko still had the small scar on her palm from when she and Yuiko had fallen from the rock pile they had been climbing on and fell butt down into the deep icy water. Yuiko, being the stubborn and dumber one of the two, almost drowned that day, scaring the hell out of Keiko. Yuiko glared at Suzaku. The evil demon was laughing.
p"Her expressions make this seem so real, so defiant. She's the perfect star for this horror flick." Suzaku commented, smirking at Yuiko. Yuiko ran at Suzaku again and attacked him constantly. It was two minutes of punching, kicking, and snatching for the Makai Whistle before Suzaku made the fight much more interesting. He lifted his free hand up to the sky and jumped away from the girl. Yuiko took several deep breaths, trying to slow her heartbeat. It was really hard for her to think with so much blood going to her brain. Suzaku smirked. "You will die now. Fist of Dark LIGHTING!" Lighting shot through the sky and Suzaku caught it in his bare hands. Murg finally regained consciousness and blinked. She had missed most of the fight! The bird saw the lighting in Suzaku's hands and saw Yuiko panting away like a dog.
p"Ha ha ha! You're going to die! You're going to die!" Murg chanted, laughing in her annoying high-pitched voice. Suzaku ran at Yuiko, making to hit her with the lighting in his hand. Yuiko leaped out of the way, the lighting barely touching her, but she abruptly felt like she was being electrocuted with ten thousand volts of electricity. Yuiko could help but scream in pain. Suzaku stood up, looking deeply amused and lustful.
p"You look so beautiful when your face is twisted in pain. The human race just doesn't appreciate you, do they? Don't see why. You are the only one who has even stood a chance against me in a very long time. You even have the good looks to rival your power." Suzaku knelt down to get a better look at Yuiko's tortured expressions. "I pity you. So gifted, yet no one cares. I can fix that, though." Yuiko began to hyperventilate. Her body had stopped hurting, but she stung all over, her lungs didn't seem to want to work, and her heart had stopped for a moment. "I can grant you demon hood if you promise to destroy all of the humans who took you for granted." Yuiko got up on her hands and knees.
p"Get away from me, sick-o!" Yuiko demanded, slapping him across the face. Suzaku glared at her. So pretty, so powerful, everything that a demon male would want in a female, but the attitude really needed to go.
p"Very well. If you do not want to become a demon and be my queen, I'll have to kill you and make you an example for the rulers of Spirit World that I, head of the Saint Beasts, should not be taken lightly, and that they should grant my request of getting rid of the barrier holding me captive here." Suzaku raised his hand to the sky again. "FIST OF DARK LIGHTING!"
p"GYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHRRRRRGGGGGGGGH!" Yuiko screamed in agony, rolling around on the floor. The pain surged through her so quickly that it hurt even more. She felt like her heart and lungs were being ripped out at the very touch of Suzaku's attack. She didn't know what was up, down, right, left, or the state of anything anymore except for her pain. When the pain slowly went away, she weakly got up off of the ground. She couldn't think straight. The sounds of Keiko crying and shrieking for help was the only thing she could concentrate on anymore, besides trying to stay standing upright. She had to destroy the whistle and help Keiko and Botan! She had to! They were the only female friends she had! "Suzaku." Yuiko gasped. Suzaku narrowed his eyes at her in a bored way. "I'm going to deliver you to hell even if I have to go there myself." Suzaku blinked and gasped, surprised to say the least. "You've scared the living heck out of my best friend, and you've set loose murderous zombies on her and Botan. For that, I'm not going to let you live. Even if I have to die in order for that to happen!" Suzaku stepped back. There was no way she could do that in her state. But, just in case . . . .
p"Fine." Suzaku said, closing his eyes. "Guess I'll have to kill you before you get to have a chance to fulfill that vow." Suzaku got into a weird pose with his ankles together, his knees bent, legs turned outward, his hands together with his fore fingers pointing upward toward the sky. "Demonic Array of Darkness!" Yuiko gasped in shock. Suzaku turned from one person, to seven demons who all looked like the first Suzaku. Like they were reflections of the real one. "I know what you're thinking. This is just some trick to catch me off guard, but I assure you, all seven of us are real. It's no cheap illusion. All seven Suzakus have the same strength, same powers as the first one." Yuiko gaped at the seven Suzakus. She was having trouble with one demon, and now there were six more. She was so dead. So very dead. All seven Suzakus raised their hands above their heads and Yuiko braced herself for what was bound to come. "Fist of Dark Lighting!" Yuiko dodged most of the assault, but was hit by the last one. She barely noticed that it didn't have so much of an effect this time.
p"You and your friends are going to die! Yes you are! Ha ha ha!" Murg laughed evilly. Yuiko narrowed her eyes at Murg.
p"SHUT UP YOU STUPID BIRD!" Yuiko shouted, hitting the green feathered animal with her fist. Murg coughed weakly and fell to the ground, once again unconscious. Or dead. Yuiko couldn't tell. "SHOT GUN!" The Suzakus were attacked with thousands of energy bullets. She was, surprisingly, able to kill two of them. The first Suzaku growled at her. "There's plenty more where that came from! If you call off your other yous, I'll be able to concentrate it all on you and we'll see which one of us deserves to be the victor. Think about it. The human race will be squashed out of every demon's worry because the strongest protector they had fell at your hands with only one of you having to fight, if you kill me. Better than wasting a perfectly good trick on a human girl like me, isn't it?" Yuiko, though didn't show it, was caught off guard at her deal-making with Suzaku. Suzaku seemed to be thinking about it and the other Suzakus disappeared.
p"You have a very good point. I'm rather impressed. I thought all you humans were idiots." Suzaku commented.
p"JUST FOR THAT I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS JUST AS HARD!" Yuiko yelled at him. The fight then continued, both of them getting rather beat up and the whistle, shockingly, lay on the ground completely forgotten.
p"FIST OF DARK LIGHTING!"
p"SHOT GUN!"
pOutside, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara stood among the fallen brainwashed minions of the Saint Beasts and saw the lighting and spirit energy clash. Kurama gasped, Kuwabara gawked at the sky where the two forces were slowly disappearing in sparks, and Hiei just stared upward at it.
p"Someone's going to die." Hiei stated.
p"Then what are we standing around here for?! We've gotta help Yui!" Kuwabara exclaimed. The three of them ran up the tower.
pBack with Yuiko, Suzaku was lying on the ground, dead. Yuiko was inching toward the Makai Whistle, ready to smash it. The zombie humans were close enough to Keiko and Botan to kill them now, and that wouldn't be pretty. Yuiko grabbed the end of the whistle and crushed it with her bare hand with the last of her strength. She then passed out, waiting for the boys in her unconsciousness.
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pKeiko and Botan were backed into a corner, surrounded by the brainwashed humans. Mr. Iwamoto held a long knife you'd find in a Japanese restaurant in his hand and was laughing.
p"Time for you to die, Yukimura!" Mr. Iwamoto shrieked. Keiko screamed for Yuiko, and suddenly, all of the people under the Makai Whistle's control fainted and fell to the ground. A grin spread across Botan's face.
p"She did it, Keiko! Yuiko saved the Human World!" Botan exclaimed. Keiko smiled and the two of them high-fived each other.
p"YES!"
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pHiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara finally reached Suzaku's lair and gasped at the state the room was in. The place was falling apart. It took searching for them to see Yuiko lying on the ground, the remains of the Makai Whistle in her right hand.
p"Yuiko!" Kuwabara and Kurama cried. Hiei stayed quiet, but his expression was proof that he was worried about the girl. The three of them ran over to her. Kurama knelt down and felt her pulse.
p"She's barely hanging on. Her pulse is faint and she's barely breathing." Kurama stated. Kuwabara gritted his teeth together. He was NOT going to let his best friend die! That just wasn't an option!
p"Get out of the way!" Kuwabara shouted, pushed Kurama away from her. Kurama blinked in surprise. "All she needs is a bit of energy, and you two's demon aura won't do a thing!" Kurama opened his mouth to say that in Kuwabara's state, giving energy wasn't a very wise thing to do, but the site of Yuiko in a dead-like state made him keep his mouth shut. Hiei didn't even bother to tell the human boy about it. Kuwabara grabbed Yuiko's wrist and flowed his energy into her to save her life. Kurama and Hiei watched, as silent as a lioness hunting zebra. Soon, Kuwabara fainted from giving all of his energy.
p"Hn. Guess we'll have to carry both of them out of here." Hiei commented. "I'm not carrying the oaf. You can do that." Kurama huffed to himself, then remembered how many times Yuiko had hit Kuwabara on the head for doing something she didn't want him to do, so if she didn't want to be carried out of the rubble, he didn't want to be the one getting punched in the face, so the red-head somewhat changed his mind and slung Kuwabara's arm over his shoulders. Hiei picked Yuiko off of the ground and held her bridesmaid style. Kurama raised an eyebrow at him. Hiei glared at Kurama. "I'd carry her like a potato sack, but I wouldn't want her to punch my face into the dirt for treating her body carelessly while she was unconscious. Unless I wanted a concussion, that is." Kurama chuckled at Hiei's concussion comment and the two demons went on their way to the Human World.
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pYuiko woke up and found herself in someone's room. She sat up, gasped from pain, and grabbed her shoulder.
p"Are you alright, Ms. Urameshi?" asked a soft voice. Yuiko looked up from her hurting shoulder and saw Kurama's human mother.
p"Mrs. Minamino?" Yuiko asked.
p"Yes, that's me. Suiichi's mother. We met in the hospital, remember?"
p"Yeah, I remember." Yuiko replied. It was hard to forget the day she had been told that the boy everyone knew to be Suiichi Minamino was actually a demon named Kurama who had stolen the Mirror of Forlorn Hope to save his 'mother' who really wasn't his original mother. "But, where am I?"
p"The guests room in Suiichi's and my house." Mrs. Minamino explained. "You've been out for three days, and Suiichi and your friend Kuwabara have been keeping an eye on you every chance they get. Your school has been a total mess. Kuwabara said that your teacher Mr. Iwamoto was being questioned by the police and that your principal Mr. Takenaka was in the hospital with a brain tumor." Mrs. Minamino frowned, but brightened up in a soft and peaceful way. "But enough about bad news. You'd you like a cup of tea?"
p"What about Keiko and Botan?" Yuiko questioned. Mrs. Minamino blinked in confusion.
p"Who?"
p"Keiko and Botan! They were trying not to be killed by a bunch of freaks the last time I was able to contact them!" Yuiko knew she shouldn't be shouting at the poor woman, but she always yelled when she was worried. Mrs. Minamino gasped and her hands went to her mouth.
p"I-I'm afraid Suiichi and Kuwabara didn't tell me anything about them." Mrs. Minamino admitted. Yuiko's eyes widened as she thought of only one possibility on why they wouldn't tell.
p"Wait. They're not - oh crap." Yuiko muttered. "Where's the closest phone?!"
p"Here's my cell phone." Mrs. Minamino said, taking out her cell and handing it to Yuiko. Yuiko quickly grabbed it and called the Yukimura residence. She heard a ringing sound for a long time before someone picked up.
p"Hello?" asked a male-sounding voice, and it wasn't Mr. Yukimura.
p"Kur- Suiichi?" Yuiko inquired.
p"Oh, hi Yuiko."
p"What are you doing at Keiko's?" There was a long pause. "Suiichi! What are you trying to hide!?" There was the sound of laughing in the background and it sounded an awful like Kuwabara. Yuiko narrowed her eyes. "Why is there laughter in the background?" Kurama burst out laughing. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY!?"
p"S-sorry! It was Kuwabara's idea, I swear! Ha ha ha!" Kurama laughed. "H-he th-thought it would be funny to make you think Keiko and Botan perished. I was against it though, but he insisted. Ha ha ha ha ha!"
p"You sure sound like you thought it was funny too! The next time I see the both of you, I'm punching both of your faces in, got that fox-boy!? How dare you and Kuwabara trick me like that! Making me think Keiko and Botan died!" She then hung up and accidentally threw the cell phone at Mrs. Minamino. "I apologize for threatening him, but Kuwabara's used to having his face bashed, and I'm not gonna take that sitting down!" Mrs. Minamino smiled at her.
p"To be honest, I would have grounded him if you hadn't taken it into her own hands."
pYuiko raised an eyebrow at her. "What's the point of grounding? You're only helping them learn to break away from certain things. Trust me. Kicking their butts is a much easier way. Always works with Kuwabara." Mrs. Minamino laughed good-heartedly and Yuiko chuckled a bit too.