Hello, peeps! How's it going? During the past month, I merged the chapters so they can become one. Just in case.

I don't own Yuyu Hakusho.

Chapter 13

Sakyo was having the last sip of red his wine from his glass as he stood in the middle of his office. He looked at the burning flames in the chimney with a contemplating look on his fine features. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind….He was ready to pour more of the alcoholic red liquid of his glass.

Then, Karasu entered the room by appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the room.

"I believe that the spies that destroyed my flower shop in downtown had been taken care of," Sakyo spoke without ever looking at Karasu.

"Yes, it was them. I had no doubt about it when I confronted them a little while ago."

Sakyo nodded in approval upon hearing those words. He didn't need to question Karasu anymore of the matter since he demonstrated to be fully capable of handling the spies and the situation. "So, Karasu, how do you like the Human World so far?" he asked, changing the subject between them.

"I admit is very dull compared to back home...What will actually make this world interesting if I can actually have my own way with the humans," Karasu answered very honestly.

Sakyo turned to look at Karasu this time with a frown on his face. "I'm afraid I cannot allow such thing to happen or I'll get in deep trouble with the gods that are above me," he explained sternly about breaking one of Spirit World's main rules on the Human World.

Karasu scoffed because he had to maintain a good behavior during his time in the Human World, which it ruined his source of amusement. In his mind, he wanted to go back to the Demon World at least until the beginning of the upcoming Dark Tournament on Hanging Neck Island. "I knew you would say something like that. So, why aren't the Toguro brothers doing your dirty work?"

"Oh, yes, about them, Tarukane hired them to work for his own dirty purposes. I let it happen so they can get all the information I need and keep me on the update."

"Like where Tarukane is getting the hiruiseki stones? Oh you are so devious, Sakyo," Karasu chuckled darkly because everything that Sakyo has been doing lately started to make sense to him. The human was very cunning for his own good, he thought being amused.

Sakyo smirked before speaking anew. "Tell you what: if you continue to work for me without you getting supervised by the Toguro brothers or having to rely on the uncooperative Bui, I'll let you have anything you want."

He thought that if he negotiated with Karasu to keep working for him, Karasu will be good for doing anything that was asked of him as he proved so on the previous task. But according to the younger Toguro, Karasu also demonstrated to be loose cannon with a mind of his own.

"Anything, you say?" Karasu was a little skeptical of the human's words.

"Yes, anything. You'll just have to name it," Sakyo said to finally convince the demon.

Karasu's violet eyes shone at that promise. He had to trust Sakyo on this one: he wouldn't lie once he gave out his word. "I will keep my end of the bargain, then."

The Next Night

In the attic of the old house, Kuronue leaned against the door with his arms crossed while he stared at the unconscious body of the fire demon. He recognized him: this was Hiei, the only existing Jaganshi from the Demon World. Kuronue had heard many things about his reputation as a thief and a killer… His skills can be an asset for his stealing expeditions: Kuronue will have to find a way to make him cooperate instead of leaving him and remaining unconscious in this old house.

"Hm?" Kuronue felt the various knock on the door. He moved to open the door to reveal Kurama. "Oi, I told you I would contact you on our first job," he said to him.

Kurama shook his head before answering. "I didn't come here for that. I need to check on Hiei."

Kuronue looked at Hiei and then at Kurama with a nonchalant look. "I guess he won't be able to wake up. Whoever bears the Jagan eye, and if it gets damaged in the slightest, then the user will not be able to regain consciousness," he informed almost in a cynical manner.

Upon hearing that, Kurama rushed to Hiei's side and knelt down before him. He inspected for the physical injuries, which they were a minimum and Kuronue did indeed watched for him like he said he would. "Hiei…I hope I can find a way to heal your Jagan eye. Hang in there for me please," he said in good faith. Despite of not getting along very well yet with Hiei, Kurama cared for him and his health like any other living being.

Kuronue frowned at sight of seeing Kurama caring for the one and only Forbidden Child….It was given that he was jealous of the undivided attention. "On second thought, we got our first robbery available, kid," he announced abruptly.

On the following nights for three weeks, Kuronue and Kurama stole at many spots of interest within locations throughout the Human World. Kurama was nervous at first but as they progressed in each robbery, he wasn't bad for a rookie. Kurama demonstrated to have ability for deciphering codes and solving puzzles and doing everything with a combination of stealth and grace. For Kuronue, it was sort of like working like he used to do with Youko Kurama in the past.

…and Kuronue ended up being fascinated with this special kind of human…

It had become a routine for Kurama to appear at Kuronue's mansion. He was sitting on a sofa in the living room as he waited for Kuronue to grace him with his presence and perform another robbery on a random location. Kurama wondered how long he was going to be playing robberies with the chimera demon and get this mission over…

"I have one last request: and this time, is your time to shine along with the shrimp, whom is already back on his feet and grumpy looking since this morning," Kuronue said as he appeared out of the blue with both hands on each of his pockets.

Kurama raised an eyebrow in alert. So Hiei was already conscious? Then what about the Jagan eye? Did it heal itself? He had all this questions flowing inside his mind right now.

"Anyways, you two are going to recover my pendant. I lost it years ago, and I got intel that it ended up in a rich mansion here on the Human World. You are going to meet up with the shrimp at this place," Kuronue said, and he handed Kurama a piece of paper that contained information about the last location to be robbed.

One hour later, Kurama made it to some distance of the gates of the rich mansion as indicated in the paper. He was able to sense Hiei's faint energy approaching him until Hiei appeared out of the blue, right next to him.

Kurama turned to his side, and he gave out a gasp upon seeing his partner already conscious. He slightly lowered his body and extended his arms to hug Hiei with all of his might. He was just glad to see him again. "Hiei, thank goodness you are okay! How did you get your Jagan eye repaired?" he said by Hiei's left ear.

"It doesn't matter now," Hiei answered curtly. He showed no reaction yet he seemed quite receptive to Kurama's display of affection towards him. Again, he was letting Kurama do whatever he wanted with him- let alone touch him, he thought… Hiei then had a snarl on his expression to change the subject in mind. "I can't believe that I have to run an errand for that low life," he said to himself.

Kurama stopped hugging Hiei to look at him on the face. "We don't have to do this, you know. This is our chance to capture him."

Hiei shook his head his eyes narrowed. "Hn. Let's get his artifact first, and then we will finally capture him," he basically paraphrased Kurama's plan to capture Kuronue once and for all.

Kurama nodded in understanding as he analyzed for a moment the plan. He thought that it was the best possible strategy to end the mission tonight of capturing Kuronue. "Yes, I will follow that strategy," he said in agreement.

The two of them were studying the outside area before deciding to enter the mansion:

'That bat demon…He used my words against me…' Hiei thought in his mind where Kurama couldn't hear him, and who was busying scouting the front gates of the mansion that they were about to steal from. He had a small flashback of this morning after he had regained his consciousness:

"Are you out of your mind?" Hiei said to Kuronue, who was smirking to him.

"Yes, as you heard me. You are going to recover an important artifact that belongs to me as a payment for my fine hospitality," Kuronue repeated in a cool manner to Hiei.

Hiei had a scowl on his face. "Like hell I would," he replied negatively. He was clearly refusing to do the dirty work for Kuronue.

"Well, you see, you are going to do it, Hiei…or Kurama will have to do it for you," Kuronue said as a possible warning to finally convince Hiei to bend his will and to do his bidding.

Hiei furrowed his eyebrows upon hearing the name of his human partner. "Kurama has nothing to do with your silly antics. He is a human, and you will get in large trouble with Spirit World and its laws," he said intelligently.

Kuronue looked thoughtful of those words. "Hmm… That is true. Then again, Kurama is a special kind of human…And, he is also beautiful. One of my personal goals would be stealing his heart. However, I am not the only demon who would mark him and take away his purity," he said with a pleasing smirk on his features.

Suddenly, Hiei got very hostile towards Kuronue as he clenched one of his hands into a fist: "No one will get near him while I am around! You hear me!" he threatened Kuronue if he even dared to touch Kurama.

He couldn't believe what he had just said…Hiei was in a loss for words. He felt so foolish all of the sudden.

Kuronue now had this haughty look: he had Hiei right where he had wanted him. "Tell you what, Hiei. As the Forbidden Child that you are, I will keep your secret if you actually cooperate on getting my artifact tonight."

"I will but on one condition: Kurama will work with me."

Kuronue grinned, accepting the condition of the fire demon. "It's a deal, my friend."

"That mansion seems poorly guarded…"

Kurama's comment brought Hiei out of his thoughts and back into reality.

Suddenly, Kurama got surprised. He was now able to see inside his mind the entire mansion from the inside. "What's happening?"

"I'm giving you a chance to see with my Jagan eye inside that mansion," Hiei explained to him briefly as his forehead glowed without the bandana covering it. "Did you have the chance to see where the pendant is located?"

"Yes…The pendant is located in the office. I can't feel a trace of energy nowhere in the mansion," Kurama replied to Hiei.

The Jagan eye stopped glowing on Hiei's forehead… Since there was no one inside the mansion, now it was a good opportunity to grab the pendant since there was no one in the mansion. "Well then, let's get to it."

Hiei and Kurama entered by the front door, which it was unlocked and there was no security technology or any type of guards…They didn't bother to question the lack of security so they made it quickly to their destination: the office. Once the two of them reached the open door of the office, which it had already the lights on:

"Good job, you two."

Hiei growled upon seeing Kuronue standing in the middle of the room as he swung the red pendant on one hand. "You sneaky low life, you were using us all this time!" he exclaimed, wanting to kill him with his bare hands.

"I really wouldn't put it that way," Kuronue said with a serious look on his face. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Back at the old mansion, the trio was in the living room:

"Okay. Tell me this. What was that all about? Why did you send Hiei and me to steal from that mansion?" Kurama had to inquire Kuronue and his real motives of this stealing, which it quite literally a waste of time, considering the fact that nothing important has been done. Kurama thought about this in his short and recent experiences in stealing.

"It was easy, yes…However, I couldn't do it myself thanks to a certain dark demon named Karasu. He is very powerful and luckily, he wasn't there tonight," Kuronue explained to Hiei and Kurama. He had an encounter with Karasu a month ago, which he almost lost if he had his pendant in the first place.

"I see…"Kurama had this thoughtful look…and also a very sudden bad feeling of the situation.

Kuronue was able to sense Kurama's instant apprehension. When he was about to speak up his concern-

There was an explosion outside the mansion:

"He's here!" Hiei exclaimed as he acknowledged the one capable of doing that unique ability with explosions, and the three of them ran to outside the place to find none other than Karasu in the flesh.

Karasu had this harsh and determined look on his eyes. "Well, well, well…If it isn't the little group of deviants responsible for stealing from Sakyo's place," he said coolly…He knew of the presence of them lingering through Sakyo's mansion at distance and after they were gone, he had decided it was the best time to hunt them down until they had reached their hideout. He turned to look at Kurama with a disapproving look. "My darling, how could you get involved with these two? I'm disappointed with you right now, and I will punish you."

Kurama was frozen on his place yet he tried to gather the courage to fight Karasu.

Hiei stood before Kurama and got ready to face Karasu once more. He would defeat him tonight! "You will be fighting me! You and I have a score to settle!"

Kuronue just stood beside Kurama and crossed his arms to his chest. Hiei was not going to fight Karasu alone. "Kurama is off limits for you, you crow," he simply said.

Karasu chuckled at the bravery of the fire demon and the bat demon…"How disturbingly sweet, Kurama…Your boyfriend was supposed to die the other night and this obnoxious thief must be taken care of—they are willing to throw their own lives for you. I will have to retire for now. Next time, if any of you two mess once again into Sakyo's business or his mansion, I will not hesitate to end your pathetic lives. Before I leave, here's a little taste of my power as a reminder to my fair warning."

Hiei, Kurama and Kuronue readied themselves and they could feel a sudden rise in Karasu's energy:

"Commit it to memory!"

Upon that being said by Karasu, the entire area of the mansion exploded in an atomic fashion…

Before the flames of the explosion could ever reach him, Kuronue had reacted quickly by taking Kurama in his arms and flew as fast as he could to the forest area that was within some radius. He dropped to the ground and used his own body to shield Kurama underneath him as the events of the explosion dissipated.

"That bastard!" Kuronue was for the first time in a long time furious because of Karasu's pyromaniac tendency…He was ready to search and destroy Karasu with his bare hands. He stood on his feet but he was stopped from doing so.

Kurama, who already recovered from the shock, grabbed Kuronue with his arms before he would do something stupid as hunting down Karasu for destroying his treasures and the mansion in general. "No one got harmed this time. Don't go after him, please... I don't want anybody to get hurt or die because of me," he said gently, almost in the verge of tears.

Kuronue could see the genuine emotion on Kurama's emerald eyes…He held Kurama to him with his strong arms as a response. He reassured Kurama as he caressed his red hair with one hand. "All my treasures… but all that matters is your safety, Kurama. That psychotic crow won't get to you. I promise," he promised as he held the human tightly to his body.

Kurama smiled to himself because Kuronue had listened to him as he received greatly the warm affection and returned it... Then, Kurama got alerted and he quickly faced the tall demon: "I can sense many spiritual energies coming this way. You better run, Kuronue, or you will get caught."

"So you are letting me go that easily, huh?" Kuronue asked to remind Kurama that it was his mission to capture him. This very moment was the best opportunity to do so.

Kurama shook his head, unwilling to arrest and proceed with his duties. "Hiei and I will get you some other time. Now go," he insisted to the other. Kuronue had saved his own life earlier from being caught in Karasu's atomic explosion. He thought that he could at least spare Kuronue this once just to be fair.

Kuronue nodded silently, and he let go of Kurama to run away from the area without being detected by anyone else.

Kurama watched as Kuronue left, making sure at the same time he doesn't get seemed by anyone…

Just then, Hiei appeared out of nowhere next to Kurama.

Kurama almost jumped in his place. "Hiei! Are you all right?" he almost forgot about Hiei. He thought that Hiei had somehow made out of the explosion with his teleport ability. He was finally relieved because no one got hurt.

"Where is the thief?" Hiei asked to Kurama without hesitation. Just before he could take Kurama and teleport out of the explosion together a little while ago, Kuronue had beaten him first to it.

"I—" Kurama was nervous and a loss for words…How was he going to explain to Hiei that he let Kuronue go just out of mercy? He was certain that Hiei wasn't going to agree with him since the fire demon took all the given missions and cases seriously without involving his emotions.

"Hiei! Kurama! You guys are all right!"

The two of them turned to look at Botan, who just landed on the ground from her oar. She stood in front of them.

"What are you doing here, ferry girl?" Hiei was sort of surprised to see Botan but he didn't show it. Ferry girls usually are not within a crime scene investigation that was lead by the spiritual realm, or so he thought... unless she was assisting Yusuke in a case or something.

"There has been a report of a massive nuclear-atomic explosion in this area and I came to check along with the investigation team, whom are checking the crime scene right now," Botan explained to them.

"Hn. Long story short: it was a dark demon named Karasu. He was responsible for it."

"Yes, as Hiei just said to you. We became Karasu's only witnesses for the display of his true powers. He's very strong for a demon," Kurama explained more or less of what happened to Botan.

Hiei's eyes remained on Kurama. It was interesting that his partner omitted the fact that Kuronue was the entire time with them….Speaking of which, where was he?

Botan sighed as she proceeded to explain the new instructions. "It is the best not to go after him, as so Koenma informed. He also told me to tell you to cancel the current mission and wait for a few days to either resume it or start on another mission."

Hiei nodded. He thought that it was wise this time to retreat in order to avoid another encounter with Karasu. "Understood. I'll take Kurama to his house," he announced.

Botan nodded to Hiei. "Okay, I will stay here with the investigation team. You two are free to go now."

"Thank you, Botan. Stay safe," Kurama said to Botan before he and Hiei suddenly teleported from the forest to the front of a familiar house.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Hiei. I—"Kurama got himself interrupted when he noticed that Hiei had this intense look on him. "Is something the matter?" he asked because Hiei seemed suspicious of him but he remained calm under the pressure of the intense gaze.

Hiei shook his head. He wasn't ready to say what was currently on his mind to Kurama. "It's nothing. I'll see you in a few days," he said curtly before disappearing again into thin air.

'Hiei sure is acting strange…I'll take a long shower. It has been tough these days.' Kurama thought tiredly before entering his house through the front door.

A few days later:

Kurama was in his own room finishing his long Biology homework that was due for the next day on his study desk. He had managed to get acquainted with his homework of all school subjects these past days. He let out a sigh on his seat…He was kind of bored and along with something else: "No sign of Hiei yet…I hope Kuronue is doing all right… I better check on the missions that we have left to do," he said out loud.

Kurama took out the red folders from one of the desk drawers and placed them on the desk. He opened the first red folder that was on top of the others. His eyes went wide when he had just finished reading the information of the next mission:

"It can't be…" he breathed as read and analyzed the information all over again.

Maya Kitajima's soul is nowhere to be found. Her restless spirit is lingering somewhere in the Human World for over a year now…Please, do find her. Use the assistance of Botan so Maya's soul can be put to ease and to be guided to the Spirit World as her final destination.

A/N: On the next chapter, Maya finally appears and Kurama finally reunites with her. Moar memories for Kurama to remember! And the connection between Keiko and Maya will be also explained, in case anyone noticed that one. We are like halfway of this saga to finish!