A.N.: I'm on a roll! And I'm sorry, Sugar, but you're going to be on the edge of your seat for most of the fic.

Chapter 11

My second day at school wasn't nearly so easy. Each and every one of my teachers were surprised that I had all the work done already. They were even more surprised when they looked it over and it was all correct. Akashi accused me of cheating somehow, and I laughed at him ("If you taught half as well as Minamino did, this would be one of the top schools in the country.") Takenaka backed me up; he already knew what Red was capable of at the academic level. Akashi didn't like that. Next he accused me of threatening Red into doing the work for me. He never would have said that if he'd met the guy. Again, Takenaka shot him down. Minamino returned home safely and with no complaints of my behavior, and Akashi had better back off or he'd get 'reviewed'.

Looks like Takenaka was the only worthwhile teacher in this school. Go figure.

I get through most of the day without incident, when I hear some punk talking about me faking my death. So of course I had to 'correct' him. I told him he was welcome to talk to the doctors and ask how well I was faking, and that if talking wasn't good enough, then I could use my fists to pound the information in. He panicked, and since we were still standing in the classroom, said that I could prove myself on the basketball court tomorrow, with witnesses. Doesn't matter how I beat him, either in a fight or in a game, his head was mine. I agreed, and told him he'd better be ready to lose, 'cause I wouldn't hold back.

Later that night…

"Geeze Botan, what's so important? I had almost beaten the last boss."

"I'm just here to deliver your first detective item. Ta-da!" she held up a small magnifying glass on a keychain. "The Secret Spyglass! It's used for looking through barriers, like walls and fabrics." She handed me the glass and I started looking around. Botan took offense when I lingered on her kimono (wow, it works great!), and bashed me upside the head with her oar. "You must use it wisely."

Okay. The oar hurts. Not gonna let her catch me in the future.

"Fine. Anything else?"

"Nope, that's all for now."

Next day came around, and I had fun in gym for the first time in a while. We had to have teams, since there wasn't enough room in the gym for the two of us to have our game at the same time everyone else had gym, but that was okay. I still won, but it wasn't by much. It's been a really long time since I last played by the rules.

Then the punk forgot his place and tried to take a swing at me. The teacher saw him, and saw me knock him on his ass with one blow. "If you can't win at your own game," I told him, "then you shouldn't play mine."

I got yelled at for punching the guy, then Iwamoto came blustering in, calling me a thief. He said a lot of stuff went missing from my classmates while we were in gym, and that I was the only one missing.

"What? Yusuke wasn't missing. He was playing basketball the entire time." The gym teacher piped up, and some students who had stayed behind vouched for me too. I couldn't have stolen anything, I was too busy winning. On a hunch, I pulled out the spyglass and glanced through Iwamoto's pockets while the guy was arguing with the coach. Takai's ugly pen was in there! Right on cue, Takenaka came in, and I told him Iwamoto was trying to frame me for stealing.

"Liar! He'll say anything to get out of trouble."

"Then why don't you empty your pockets? See, nothing in mine." If looks could kill, my remains would have been splattered on the wall behind me. "Go on, then. Let's see your pockets."

"You little-!"

"Mr. Iwamoto!" I seriously think Takenaka was my favorite teacher. "Yusuke has made a valid point. If you had nothing to do with this, then you won't mind showing us your pockets."

"I don't have to do this." He stomped off, Takenaka still pestering him. Thankfully I didn't get detention (not that I would have gone anyway), but I hadn't gone two steps when the world went grey and Koenma burst in, screaming about an emergency.

"You know it's really hard to understand you with that pacifier in your mouth."

"This is no time to be a smart-ass! We've got trouble!"

"What kind of trouble?" How bad could this be?

"The kind where the Living World could go to Hell if its not fixed!" Yeah, that's bad. Koenma told me about the vault and the three items stolen. He also told me about the three demons that robbed him.

Goki was your run-of-the-mill criminal. Twelve previous convictions, kills bounty hunters for fun, and eats souls. Ugly guy too, with horns all over his head.

Hiei didn't have any prior convictions, but was cold-blooded and focused. Not a good combination to go against. He didn't look like much, more like a kid, until I saw his eyes. Yeah, he's a killer. Damn.

Kurama. That's a surprise. At least I know what he was doing last night, and I've got a pretty good guess as to what he's doing today. No prior convictions and a master of disguise. How do they know he has no priors if he's a master of disguise?

Koenma stopped me before I could run off, and taught me the Spirit Gun, warning me that I could only use it once a day until I got stronger.

At any rate, the demons were supposed to be somewhere uptown, so that's where I went looking. For once I was grateful to see so many rich kids—they made Goki stand out like a sore thumb. Hiei and Kurama were with him, all three moving for the park that led to downtown. I figured that following them would be better than announcing myself (I normally wouldn't mind 3-1 odds, but knowing that at least two of them were hardened killers? No way.), and kept a respectable distance between us.

I hadn't noticed the clouds until it started raining, chasing away the few people in the park. The three stopped in a clearing; I guess it was their 'clubhouse'. I hid where I could hear them over the rain.

Hiei pulled out the sword and started slashing at trees (Fuck, he's fast!), and that sword must have been the one I was looking for, because every chunk of wood separated from a tree became a demon! The wood demons didn't live long, but I shudder just thinking about what it could do to a human.

"Excellent! This blade is perfect for my needs. A demonic army will make things so much simpler!" Why would Hiei need a demonic army?

"And with the Orb of Baast, it'll be simple to keep them fed. Let's go have fun." Goki grinned at the Orb as it started glowing.

"I'm afraid I must back out of this alliance. Sorry."

"What? You're leaving?" Hiei looks surprised.

"I don't care if he leaves, but the mirror stays with us. Hand it over." Eh, no. Not happening, dumb-ass. Even I know that.

"I'll keep it, thanks. I still have need of it." He's so calm.

Goki didn't like that and charged Kurama, only to collapse with his body in eight pieces. Hiei lowered the sword looking up at Red. Fuck me! I didn't see him move!

"Hiei?"

"Consider that a 'thank you' for everything you've done for me. Are you still insisting on being foolish?"

"You are the last person I want to hear that question from. And yes, I am."

"What a waste. Just be sure to leave the mirror where I can find it."

"I can't do that, Hiei."

"WHAT?"

"I know the price to pay to use the Forlorn Hope. It will not help you in your quest, so I have no qualms in returning it to the Spirit World. Take the sword, and do what needs to be done." Kurama picked up the Orb and left. A snarl, and Hiei was gone as well.

I moved to follow Red, but rustling from the clearing got my attention. The pieces of Goki were moving! Not just moving, but reshaping, becoming mini-demons.

"The fuck?" oops, guess I was a bit loud. All eight of them turned their eyes to me, growling and flexing various limbs. Moving as one, they leaped to attack. "Shit!" Hiei had cut Goki apart with the Shadow sword, so instead of just killing the guy, it turned him into a bunch of demons. Just great.

I swung at them with everything I had (those teeth and claws were sharp, dammit!), and barely succeeded in throwing them in a pile. They started picking themselves up, and I panicked. I used the Spirit Gun for the first time, putting every bit of my energy I could scrape up into it. The eight mini-demons were fried, and finally stopped moving.

I won, but that really wore me out. No wonder I can only use it once a day! I looked myself over, no serious injuries if I don't count my uniform. Thank goodness.

"Urameshi?" I turned. Kurama was very surprised to see me.

"Red?" I was even more surprised when I blacked out.