DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the original Yu Yu Hakusho characters, or Evelyn Hunter. The latter is the sole property of Gina Leone, and the former belonging to Yoshihiro Togashi. Also, Kumiko Yenma belongs to Nicole Summers...Plus Kumori is technically the property of well, my dear Kumori (she knows who she is x3) Thanks for reading!

A/N: Sorry this chapter is brief beyond all reason; there'll be more soon ; I hope…

Chapter Eleven:
" 923 816, is the sound of that flicking your switch.…"

The forest stood freakishly quiet. Fuko looked around and wondered where the hell she was. She looked down once again to find herself in the white kimono with red sash.

"The dream…it's continuing!" She thought excitedly. She looked around. Wind whistled through the branches making eerie moaning sounds. Fuko (or whoever she now was) shivered. Twigs snapped behind her as she whipped around. It was the same fox demon from before. He looked very uneasy, gold eyes darting back behind him gave the hint that he knew he was being followed. His gaze returned to her.

"What is it you wanted to tell me?" Fuko found herself saying.

"Moriko…I…listen I…." He began. A strange clicking sound was heard, though Fuko wasn't sure what the sound came from, but whoever she was at the moment did. Fuko found her gaze snapping upwards.

"Watch out!!!" She exclaimed, jumping in front of the fox demon. A loud 'BANG!' was heard as Fuko felt a searing pain penetrate her chest. She felt ribs snapping and internal parts being seared by the fiery lead that had pierced her.

"A…gun…." She thought, falling forward. The fox demon let out a yell and grabbed her.

"Moriko…no…" He whispered, eyes full of shock and misery.

"Why?" Fuko whispered to him.

"Don't ask why!! That'll make him feel bad!! It's not his fault!" Fuko mentally argued. But whoever-she-now-was (Moriko, it seemed), did not pay her thoughts heed.

"I..I didn't mean…" The fox demon began.

"Why?" Moriko cried. The world became dark as Fuko found herself dying.

"Great. Twice in twenty-four hours. That's gotta' be a record somewhere..." She thought despondently. She heard her name whispered.

"Fuko…? Hey Fuko… come on…." Fuko found herself dragged once again to the light of day.

◊†◊

The first thing that came to Fuko's attention as she woke up was the light. It was everywhere, and it hurt her eyes. She squinted and slightly raised her right arm to put it over her eyes, but immediately decided this was a bad idea due to a searing pain she felt. She gave a shout and let it drop, using her left arm instead to drape over her face.

"Hey, somebody close the blinds!" She heard Yusuke command, though his tone sounded more relieved than authoritative. The clicking sound of someone shutting the blinds was heard. Fuko let her arm drop, quite happy about the lack of sunlight. Her eyes adjusted.

"Aren't I dead yet?" She asked no one in particular, rather exasperated. A loud bunch of excited shouts was heard.

"She's alive!" Kuwabara was heard shouting.

"Knew she would be." Came the tone of her newest friend, Kumori.

"I'm so glad!" Kumi smiled.

"I was so worried that I'd have to be the one to deliver her…I'm so happy she's okay!!" Botan sobbed happily, hugging Kumi.

"Hn…." Hiei grunted, though he too seemed a bit relieved. Kurama said nothing. He just stood by the window, a very subtle smile on his face. Fuko sat up, very dizzy.

"Whoa…um…yeah…so what's going on?" She asked everyone.

"You pretty much died, and you ask us 'so what's going on'?" Hiei inquired, raising an ebony eyebrow.

"Um…yeah?"

"…Well we were hoping you'd tell us what was going on." Yusuke replied. All eyes fell on her with inquisitive looks.

"Eehh….I think you guys should go first." Fuko stated.

"Alright." Kurama said after his moments of silence. Fuko nodded.

"So what went on? Why did you guys come after me?" She asked. Kurama explained what had happened….

†

Hiei sat upright in his bed. Something wasn't right. He got out from under the covers and walked over to his window, ruby eyes scanning the darkness. He saw a figure running. He closed his eyes and focused on the jagan in the middle of his forehead. He saw a close-up of the running figure; it was Fuko.

"Of course. Who else would be cause for me to wake up in the middle of the night? " He thought with irritation. But something still wasn't right…. she was in an odd outfit with a blade at her side He got an odd feeling. He went and woke the others.

†◊†

The four boys of Team Urameshi sped off into the night.

"Why is she running off again? I thought she was getting better…" Kurama said to the others. Yusuke was silent as was Hiei.

"Maybe she just wanted to go for a walk?" Suggested Kuwabara.

"At night with a wazikashi? Yes…of course." Hiei mocked, rolling his ruby eyes. Up ahead there was a spider demon, slain, corpse still warm.

"Did she do that??" Yusuke asked, looking at the demon's body. Kurama walked over and inspected it. He shook his crimson head.

"No. This was the work of another demon…let us hope that whoever it was didn't decide to run off with Fuko…" He replied. There was a rustling in the bushes, and they all snapped to attention in their respective fighting stances. Out from the bushes stepped a wolf-bat demon.

"What?" She asked, looking at their hostile stances. They eased up a bit.

"Did you slay this demon?" Kurama inquired. The bat-wolf looked over at the spider body and nodded.

"Yeah, what of it?" She asked, eyes glinting in a challenge.

"Was there a girl with it?" Yusuke asked. The girl's eyes wandered over to him, and her mouth twitched in a smile.

"Yusuke Urameshi…ah…you're looking for your sister aren't you?" She inquired. Yusuke twitched.

"Where is she?!" He demanded. The girl put her clawed hands up in a gesture of peace.

"I did nothing but save her. She ran off…said she was challenging someone who controlled her destiny. I didn't like how she sounded so I followed her. She grabbed a bracelet down from a tree and vanished." She told them all. They exchanged a glance. What did Fuko mean…?

"Can you take us there?" Yusuke asked, eyes entreating.

"But of course loves." She replied.

"Thank you…" Kurama said.

"Think nothing of it. Just keep up." The girl whirled around and sped off into the forest.

◊†◊

They had found the bracelet with the help of the girl (whose name was Kumori, they discovered.) As soon as they all held onto the sleek metal bangle, they found themselves being swept away to another place altogether. They found themselves in an abandoned old manor.

"Fuko's inside." Kurama told them, catching her scent. They ran in without a moment's hesitation. They sped through the house, slamming open doors to reveal things like closets, bathrooms with cracked mirrors, bedrooms with furniture cloaked in white sheets, rather appearing like large awkward ghosts. There was a door at the end of the hall.

"It's gotta' be there." Kuwabara said. The team plus Kumori sped to the door and kicked it open. They saw Fuko on her knees, hands to her throat, making choking sounds. In front of her was an apparition from their past…paler than death with raven hair; it was Karasu. Kurama was the first to react. He sped forward and slammed Karasu in the face with a fist, sending him reeling off to the side. Karasu slammed into the wall and Kurama looked to Fuko, who was unconscious and not breathing.

"What's wrong with her??" Kumori demanded, running over to her. Hiei's eyes strayed to the mark on her upper arm, shining bright purple.

"That mark is doing it. We have to get rid of it." He said. Meanwhile, Karasu was getting to his feet. Kurama whirled around to meet him, eyes blazing like green tongues of fire. Karasu chuckled.

"Hello there Kurama. Long time no see." Kurama slid into a fighting stance, rose whip out and ready to attack. In the mean time, Kumori had stretched out Fuko's arm. Hiei had his katana out.

"This is going to hurt like a bitch when she wakes up." He muttered. He slashed the skin of her arm with the tattoo clean off. He tore his shirt and wrapped it around the wound, which was beginning to bleed profusely.

"We have to get her back before she bleeds to death." Yusuke said to everyone. Kurama kept his eyes on Karasu.

"I'll allow you all to leave. I shall see you all again in due time if you have that little traitor with you." Karasu replied with a chuckle.

"Kurama, let's go." Hiei told him, slinging Fuko over his shoulder. Kurama turned, and exited with the others while Karasu began to laugh, finding the whole ordeal rather amusing.

†

Fuko looked at them all and bit her lip.

"So…that's what happened?" She asked.

"Yeah…now we need to know; why were you there?" Yusuke asked, eyes dead serious. The entire room was silent. Fuko sighed.

"923 816, is the sound of that flicking your switch…
815 194, does this mean you don't trust me anymore?
Does this mean you don't trust me anymore?"

She quoted with a British accent from the song "Flicking Your Switch" by Ladytron. They all kept their eyes on her, though some looked a tad incredulous that she'd think of music at this point. Kurama got the point of it though.

"That depends entirely on your answer." Kurama answered her indirect question. Everyone grew quiet again.

"I guess it's story time again." Fuko said with a sigh, sitting up in her bed with a wince. She looked at them all; honest eyes ready and waiting to hear her tale.

"Grab your juice and cookies kiddies…I'm going to spin you one hell of a yarn…"

†◊†