Well, here's the second chapter. Again, I appologize for my absence from this story.

Heero sat propped against a tree, wrestling his home made bandage over the small but deep cut on his forearm. He cursed slightly and began the effort anew, glancing up at the others for an instant. Duo stood icily still as Hiei took careful aim with his katana and sliced the collar off of the pale teen. WuFei, having already been freed of his bonds, lay on the ground groaning and caughing occasionally.

Kurama reached up to his head, absently smoothing his long silver hair as he stared at the boys. "So . . . How exactly did you get here?"

There was a moment of silence before Trowa spoke up. "Our friends were captured and we followed, simple as that."

The braided boy – who was still rather pale – snorted. "This isn't supposed to happen. I mean, the war's over! We're supposed to get a break."

"Hn." Was Heero's only response.

Hiei looked over the humans slowly. These kids were involved in the war in Ningenkai? And now demons had kidnapped them and brought them to Makai. "Koenma is going to throw a fit if he finds out about this."

"What do you mean if I find out?" The sudden, nasal voice made even Hiei and Heero jump slightly, the latter reaching for a gun that was no longer there, not that he had any ammo left anyway. The toddler ruler of Reikai stepped from between the trees, glaring at Hiei. "And you're darn right I'm going to throw a fit, the three worlds just got back in balance!"

"Koenma-sama, it's not a big deal. We'll just send them back and that will be that." Kurama flashed his best smile, trying to quell the impending tantrum.

"What about Quatre?" Asked the pilot of heavyarms.

Kurama looked away, face darkening. "Gomen . . . I doubt he, I mean it's unlikely he'll survive long enough for us to find him."

Trowa glared at the fox. "I won't leave him." He turned into the forest, determined to find his Quatre . . . somehow.

"Matte, there's no need for that." Koenma called out to the boy. "I actually think he is most definitely alive." There was a moment of silence, everyone waiting for an explanation. Koenma shuffled his feet nervously. "We, uh, received a ransom letter. Sort of."

Immediately, the letter was snatched away by Heero, then Trowa, finally coming to rest in Kurama's hands. He read the note quickly, eyes widening. The pilots and one fire demon around him glared slightly. "What does it say?" demanded Duo who was trying to jump up to read the note over the fox's shoulder.

Kurama sighed, then drew a breath to read the note aloud. "'If you want to see the blonde again, come unarmed to the Northern forest in nine days. He will be alive, but only if you do not act foolishly. Then you can join him in his fate.'"

The boys stood in silence a moment before curses went through the group. "There's more," the godling said, silencing them. "These boys weren't chosen at random. Hiei, Kurama, we need to get the others together for this one. I'll explain everything once they get here."

Quatre looked quietly up at the ceiling of his current room. Another cold, unfamiliar slab of rock or whatever the buildings in this strange land were made out of. He looked over to the door of the small room as he heard something outside. Well, felt something outside was a better way to put it. He stared at the rotting wood for nearly a full minute before it opened to reveal a very large blonde man. Or . . . creature. He certainly looked like a man, but he had to be some sort of monster, just like the rest of the creatures in this world. Quatre tried to scoot away from him, but his back was already against the wall and there was no where else to go.

The man walked forward. "Don't worry, little blonde, I'm not going to kill you. Yet. I came to see how you were. No broken bones? Loss of feeling in your limbs? Headache?" He moved within arms length of Quatre and bent down to examine him closer. "That last shock was pretty big, I want to make sure I didn't pay for damaged goods."

Quatre swallowed the lump in his throat. "What do you want with me?" It had become obvious he hadn't been bought just for a cheap snack.

The man chuckled. "It is a shame I will have to kill you, little one. You are quite beautiful and I do so hate to waste that. But it is not you I am after, but your ancestors."

"My ancestors? What . . ?"

"No, of course you wouldn't know. The yokai blood has thinned far to much for you to make any use or sense of it at all. But they know. I can garauntee they know. And I'll make sure they suffer."

Quatre pushed harder against the wall. This creep wasn't making sense at all. Suddenly, the man had shoved something into Quatre's stomach. Quatre's eyes lost focus and red and black spots filled his vision. His hands went instinctively to the dagger, gripping the part of the blade that had not split his flesh and adding more of his blood to it.

The man laughed coldly. "So beautiful, even in pain! It is a shame it had to be you. But don't worry, your friends will come soon enough. And then you can die and the suffering will be over. Sleep now, little blonde. It will seem clearer in the morning." Quatre fought the darkness that had begun to steal his sight. He had to stay awake, had to do something to defend himself. It was no use, though, and he dropped into unconsiousness listening to the insanity of his captor. "Sleep. They'll be here soon, then it will be better. Go to sleep, little one. My Quatre."

"Who the hell did you guys piss off this bad?" WuFei was muttering under his breath.

An equally grumpy Yuusuke glared at him. "How long have you got? The list should only take a few days."

"Yeah," came Kuwabara's voice, "But most of them are dead or in prison. And the ones that aren't are too dumb, weak or scared to try something like this."

Yukina leaned against her beloved and looked at Koenma. "But, why these boys? They're warriors, difficult to deal with. Why go after such difficult targets? And what does it have to do with us?"

Koenma looked out the window. "Wait for Botan, she should have the detector." Puzzled looks were directed at the toddler. Almost as if hearing her name, Botan appeared through the opening on her oar holding a small box. Koenma took the box and opened it, examining the contents before nodding and looking up.

"There is no easy way to explain this. I believe that these boys were chosen because of their pasts. About fifteen years ago, or maybe it was more recent than that . . . there was a breech in the barrier between worlds. Actually, I think I sent you guys to investigate it. Anyway, several things happened then. The war was just starting and, though whatever broke through the barrier didn't affect the start, they most certainly helped determine the finish. A number of children, some hundred or so, I believe, went missing. Turns out they were kidnapped as potential fighters in the brewing war. These boys, though not in the original potentials, were selected. I think that was why the demon or demons went to Ningenkai. To ensure it was these boys. A little after that time, I discovered that youkai blood was influencing the path of the war and there were several threats made on the lives of my tantei. If I'm right, your own descendants were meant to be used against you."

Yuusuke frowned. "This is all very educational and disturbing, but what has it got to do with us?"

The boy received glares from Kurama, Hiei, and the Gundam boys save one. Duo looked puzzled, "I don't get it either. I mean, so what?"

WuFei stepped towards his lover, annoyance making him forget the pain of his body. He smacked the braided pilot. "Baka! He's saying that we are their progeny!"

Duo's mouth dropped open and he looked at the godling for confirmation. "That's what this is for!" Botan cheered, removing the 'detector' from it's box. It looked like an odd sort of monocular crossed with a gun, the handle sticking out of the bottom at an odd angle.

Koenma took the thing and approached Heero. "We're going to find out if this theory of mine is right." He thrust the thing at his first victim. "Just take the handle and let me look into it." A bit shocked, Heero complied.

Several seconds passed in silence. Then minutes. After about five minutes, Koenma turned to Botan. "You have the book?"

"Hai, Koenma-sama." She extracted a book from the sleeve of her kimono, larger than her book of deaths.

Koenma looked into the detector again. "Check Yuusuke, four or five generations I think."

"Hai." The blue haired girl flipped quickly through the pages. "Here it is. Yuusuke had a son, who had a daughter, who had another daughter. One Erik disappeared as a baby from her home when there was an attack on the house." She looked up. "He's the right age and physical type. We have our first match!" She smiled, raising one finger into the air.

Heero and Yuusuke exchanged an odd look. "Hn." They both said, eliciting a chuckle from most of the room.

Koenma then turned his attention to the next nearest boy – the lucky Trowa. He had the detector jammed into his hand and Koenma bent again. The silence stretched nearly ten minutes this time before Koenma grumbled and pulled away. "We'll come back to you." he turned to WuFei who took the device before it was even offered to him and waited. Koenma let out a growl. "Darn it, I can see the power, I know it's there. Definitely about fifth generation away. But I can't figure out where it's from!" He straightened. "Well, it's not any of the tantei, so I guess that settles that."

He rounded on Duo, but paused before he reached him. He snapped his fingers and his face lit up. "Human! Of course." He turned back to Trowa to confirm the hypothesis. "Definitely some power there, but you're human, not youkai." His grin widened. "My record is improving." He rounded on Duo, offering the device.

Hesitantly, the final pilot took it and waited expectantly. Koenma glanced into it and immediately looked up again. "I'll have to talk to you later." More than a little confused, Duo nodded as the god retreated.

"I checked on the way over here," said Botan pointing at the book again. "Yukina, I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure Quatre is your great grandson."

The ice demoness shudered and clutched at her husbands jacket. "We have to get him back." She sobbed.

If anyone is wondering, I've basically made the assumption that Yuusuke and Kuwabara have both been granted demonic life-spans. Also known as I'm too damn lazy to write this fic without them. However, you will not be seing Keiko as she was human no matter how you look at it and the writer in me just couldn't justify her still being alive. sighs Oh well. Probably no one out there is finicky enough to care anyway.