A.N.: Sorry for the delay. This chapter simply refused to be started.

And Yusuke has such a potty mouth!

I'm not sure when I woke up, but when I did realize I was awake, I also realized I didn't recognize the room I was in. The furniture was too nice, the floor was clean, hell, the walls had paint on them! This so wasn't my room, or any room in my house, for that matter. It wasn't Keiko's or Matsu's or Kuwabara's either. So who…

"Ah, you're awake." Minamino. Kurama. Whatever he's calling himself these days. I sat up 'cause, honestly, he makes me nervous, and I really didn't want to be flat on my back near him.

"Was I out for a while?"

"Almost two days." Say what? "I was beginning to worry if you had spent too much energy destroying Goki." Yeah, well… "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Uh-" Shit. How do I explain to him that I'm hunting him and Hiei? "Well, it's kinda complicated-"

I had no warning. One minute he was standing at the foot of the bed, the next he had me pinned on my back, hands by my head, nose to my neck.

"What the HELL are you doing?" I screa-uh, yelled. I didn't scream, I yelled in surprise. I tried to struggle, but damn he was strong!

He sat up, not releasing my hands, and definitely upset. "You smell like the Underworld." His eyes went cold. "You're their new bounty hunter."

"Red-"

"How long." It wasn't a question. It was a demand.

"I wasn't assigned to you until you stole the mirror. I had no idea you weren't normal until I got the case, I swear!"

He looked like he was considering my words. "And now you want the mirror."

"Would a 'pretty please' work?"

For a long minute, I seriously thought he was going to kill me. Then his shoulders started shaking, which became quiet chuckling, which then became laughter. He fell on the bed next to me, letting my hands go and allowing me to sit up. One look at his face, and I had to smile. He really should laugh more, made him look less stressed out.

"So is that a 'no'?" I couldn't resist asking. Slowly, his laughter died down.

"Not yet. I still need it." At least he was still smiling.

"What for? Please tell me it's not something stupid, like taking over the world. 'Cause if it is, I may have to fight you for it."

"No, nothing like that. I have a personal need for the mirror. I promise to give it to you when I'm finished." There was something odd in the way he said that. It put me on edge.

"And when will that be? Diaper-breath has me under a time limit here."

"Tomorrow night."

Red was nice enough to let me have his bed while he went and slept in another room, though I didn't get a lot of it. I waited until he was asleep before I snuck out the window. Thankfully, he had a tree just outside his window, which I used to climb down. Through the yard and out the gate, Botan caught me halfway down the street.

"Yusuke! What have you been doing? I've been trying to talk to you for two days now!"

"Well, why didn't you just pop in the house?"

"I couldn't! He's got some extremely powerful wards around his house. I just couldn't get through! Why did you stay there for two days?"

"I was out cold!"

That shut her up. For half a second. "Tell me you at least got the mirror?"

"I'll get it tomorrow."

"TOMORROW? What are you waiting for? You need to get these artifacts before the week is up!"

"What happens when the week is over?"

"That's when Emperor Enma steps in to get the items back. Everything's fire and brimstone with him; we'll be lucky if he only sinks Japan!"

"That's lucky?" Shit. I was joking when I told Red I was on a deadline, and now I find out there's a real one?

"You have to get that mirror! And the two artifacts Hiei has!"

I almost told her that Red had two, but one look on her face told me that correcting her was a bad idea. "Don't worry, I'll get them back. Promise."

"Good. I'm also here to give you more detective items." I got three more detective items; the Concentration Ring ("This will boost your attack power, but it will leave you exhausted. Use it only as a last resort."). The Demon Compass ("This compass will help you track demon energy around you. The stronger the demon energy the greater the range to track."). And the Mystic Whistle ("The sound made by the whistle can only be heard by those in tune with their spirit energy. The greater your spirit energy, the louder the noise. I can get twelve kilometers on a good day!"). She finished with a plea to hurry up, then flew away.

Red was waiting for me when I climbed back through the window.

"Koenma has you on a short leash."

"You have no idea. At least here I don't have him popping in at two in the morning. He's just like a regular toddler; if he can't sleep, neither can anyone else."

That got another laugh out of Red.

Red skipped school the next day and I followed him around, helping him clean what little dirt was in the house and puttering around the garden. He made lunch (Damn, he knows how to cook! I can't tell Keiko he's better than her, she'll kill me!), then he surprised me.

"Here, I believe this is yours." He gave me the Orb of Baast.

"Red?"

"Consider it a down payment. I'll give you the Forlorn Hope later tonight."

We left his house and walked in silence until we reached…

"The hospital?"

Here is where I met Shiori. Red's mom. I was blown away by the obvious affection between them, as well as the terrible scars on her arms.

"You've brought a friend, Shuichi."

"I have. Mother, this is Yusuke Urameshi. Yusuke, this is my mother, Shiori Minamino."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Hey, don't look at me like that. I can behave if I want to!

"Nice to meet you, too. Such a polite young man." I'm pretty sure my face went as red as Kurama's hair. He didn't bother hiding his smile, the jerk.

"Get some rest, mother. I'll be nearby if you need me."

"I will. I'm so happy you've brought a friend around."

"I'll have to bring him around more often then."

Red led me up to the roof, and stared out at the sunset.

"So, your mother's ill?"

"Yes, but no one knows with what. The doctors are stumped, both on the illness itself and the treatment. All they are sure about is that she's getting worse. And somehow, I can't help but think that it's my fault."

"Your fault? How? You're top student in the district, obviously a prefect son-"

"I'm also a demon."

"Red…" How am I supposed to reply to that?

"A Kitsune, to be precise. For centuries, I was the greatest thief in the Demon Planes. Then I was fatally wounded by an Underworld bounty hunter. I was not ready to die, so I gave up one of my tails to leave my body behind and fled to the Human World. It was a risky maneuver; without a body, my soul would soon break apart. Luck was on my side, and I found a woman in the early stages of pregnancy. I was able to posses the fetus, and months later, I was born Shuichi Minamino.

"I was a difficult child. I knew if I could endure just ten years of humanity, I would regain my powers and I could leave. But when I was seven, I almost had an accident that would have set me back another ten years, at the least. Without any thought to her own safety, mother caught me."

"So her arms…"

"She caught me. In one moment, she taught me how to love. And I…I could not bear to leave her-"

"Minamino-san, come quick!" a nurse burst out of the door, looking panicked. We followed, and found chaos. Shiori was fading, fast. The doctors thought it was going to be her last night alive.

Red led me back to the rooftop. Night had fallen, and the moon was just above the edge of the roof.

"Yusuke, do you know why it is called the 'Forlorn Hope'?"

"No. Why?"

"Because the mirror will grant the user their greatest wish, for a price."

"You mentioned a price to Hiei. What is it?"

"My life."

Oh no. He isn't—

"I shall use the Forlorn Hope to save mother. She's met someone, a nice man from her job. He'll look after her."

Red set the mirror on the ground and called it awake. He agreed to give his life so Shiori would live, and the mirror started draining his life away. Watching his aura drain away into the mirror was on my top-ten list of 'Horrifying Shit that WILL Give me Nightmares'. I couldn't take it.

"What-?"

"Hey mirror! If you can hear me, take my life instead!"

"Yusuke-!"

"Shut up! You're an idiot if you think your mother would be happy being alive when you were dead! I've seen a mother grieve over her dead child and I refuse to see it again! So shut up and live, you selfish jerk!"

"Wish granted!"

I woke up to Botan's worried face. "Yusuke…"

"Where's Red?" it was just us on the rooftop.

"He's downstairs. Shiori has made a complete recovery, and Kurama refuses to leave her side."

What a relief! "And the mirror?"

Botan held up her hands, the mirror clutched tight. "In light of your noble request, I decided to forgo the payment. Perhaps if more people had made wishes like yours, I would not be known as the 'Forlorn Hope'."

"Too right! And I'm taking this guy back to Koenma. Remember Yusuke, you still have two artifacts left. And Hiei's no pushover."

"Leave him to me. And tell Koenma to go easy on Kurama."

She nodded and took off.

Now to talk things over with Kurama.