-1"What's going on here?" Yusuke demanded.
The pair looked up sharply. "What?"
"Why are you so upset, and why do you look so ill?" he pressed.
Koenma sighed. "Kuri is Mae's son…and Kurama's."
The two lowered their heads in regret, while the others gaped, even Hiei.
"You never told me you had a son, Kurama," the fire demon sounded almost amused.
"I never knew," the kisune gritted between his teeth, glowering at the mother of his child.
"I thought you were dead. You were supposed to be dead!" Mae replied defensively. "I didn't expect Kuri, obviously…" she bit her lip.
Kurama's gut seemed to have fallen to the floor. His palms were clammy, and a great sadness filled him. A girl had slept with him in his past as the bandit to lull him into a false sense of security, so she could poison him and save her sister from a monster's clutches, but what she didn't consider was getting pregnant in the process. Somehow though, he couldn't remain terribly upset at her. Upset at the situation, yes, but not at her. She had thought him dead, and as such, hadn't considered telling him. She had raised a baby on her own, and he hadn't turned out well. She must have felt wretched. And it was true, she had never lied to him.
He sighed heavily and nodded. "I understand" he said softly.
"Thank you," she, too, sighed, this time in relief.
"As much as this warms the heart, there's a demon on the loose who could be coming straight to the castle if you five don't hurry up!" Koenma fretted.
They all nodded, dazed, and left in awkward silence.
"So…how old are you?" Yusuke asked, shattering the proverbial ice, if you will.
She surprised them all with a bout of amused laughter. "I am four hundred and twelve, for your information."
Kuwabara's eyes bugged out. "FOUR HUNDRED?!"
"And twelve," Mae agreed with a sniff.
"Geez, you're older than that old biddy, Genkai," Yusuke whistled.
"Well, I am a demon, remember?"
"Still…" Yusuke shuddered.
"I'm younger than two in your party," Mae said, intrigued by the boy's repulsion to a number.
The two demons looked as innocent as possible.
"No way! You two are older than her?!" Yusuke demanded, tripping over a rock in his surprise and nearly falling flat on his face.
They both nodded.
"I never-" he began, but stopped immediately and perked up as a nearby bush rustled.
"Who's there?" Kuwabara demanded, his eyes wild.
"I am the demon Asuka," a low, seductive voice purred, "Prepare to die."
The five exchanged disbelieving glances.
"Asuka, is it?" Mae asked, her voice dripping with amusement.
"Yes, Mae. Be afraid," the voice in the bushes replied.
"Hmmm…the last I checked, you were offering very improper services to lower-level demons for the demonic plant, Syycum," Mae smiled briskly.
"Quiet, you inferior slime!" Asuka screeched.
"Why?"
"Because I said so!" the bush seethed.
"That's not reason enough." Mae shook her head scoldingly. It reminded Kurama of the voice his mother used to use on him when he was an unruly tot, and he wondered if Mae had used it on her son. Their son. It still shook him to think that.
"You wretch!!" Asuka cried, springing out of the bush and making a bee line for the four-hundred-and-twelve-year-old. Her hair was stringy and falling off in patches, and the bags under her eyes took up half of her wan face. Her waxy skin was stretched into a hideous sneer.
Mae stood calmly, waiting.
At the opportune moment, when Asuka was mere inches away, Mae hunched her shoulders and vanished with a crack.
She reappeared almost instantly, still hunched, across the clearing, a teasing grin on her delicate face. "You are a tad too presumptuous, if you don't mind me saying so."
Asuka yelled something unintelligible in her fury, and dove yet again at the shadow demon.
Mae frowned disapprovingly and spread her palms wide like blooming flowers. Two vapor-like wisps of shadow appeared in her hands, which she shaped into daggers and flung at the charging thunder demon.
They hit, one in the heart, one between the eyes, and Asuka fell to the forest floor with a soft thud.
The detectives blinked once, twice, in amazement.
"T-that was flippin' awesome!" Kuwabara exclaimed, a tad nervous at their new ally's strength.
Mae pressed out a pleat in her cotton skirt and smiled humbly. "Why, thank you, Kuwabara."
He blushed.
"Well, shall we press on?" Mae asked briskly.
"Uh…yeah…press…on…" Yusuke nodded, sharing his comrade's fright.
"Are you alright, Yusuke?" she asked, coming closer and frowning in concern.
"Yep!" he perked up, blushing as well.
"You look a little feverish…" Mae persisted, feeling his forehead. "Hmmm…maybe not," she shrugged.
"How did you know her?" Hiei asked.
"What?"
"The demon, Asuka. She called you by your name. How did you know her?" he repeated.
"She used to be my roommate when I was in my two-hundreds. I moved out right before she really got into demonic drugs, but I've seen her at markets from time to time," Mae said, with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Hn." was his reply.
They continued on, climbing and slicing through the thick foliage at their own pace.
For the second time that day, something pounced at them, this time from the vines hanging overhead.
"Weeaaahhh!" a pitchy voice caterwauled as a deep violet demon swung through the trees in their direction. "Ooohh, pretty girlies, pretty girlies!" it bounced happily, dropping to the grassy floor noiselessly.
It was a tall demon, leanly muscled and white of hair. His skin was deep purple with zebra-like markings. He was staring his white eyes at Mae possessively. "Yummmm."
Mae glared and took a cautious step back. "I'm not a dog biscuit, now go!" she called over the distance.
The demon remained ignorant, and proceeded forward.
"He said 'girlies'. There is only one, isn't there?" Kurama said suspiciously.
"Actually, no. There are two," a feminine voice answered behind him.
He whirled around quickly, and met a tall, gangling girl with short ice-blond hair chopped in an edgy bob. Her face was geisha-like, but masked slightly by the multiple piercing in her nose, eyebrows, ears, and navel. She smiled spritely at them and walked up beside Mae.
The shadow demon gasped and threw her thin arms around the girls shoulders. "Sister!"
The girl returned the embrace and squeezed her eyes shut. "Mae! I'm glad I finally caught you five. I've been tracking you all day!"
"Why?" Mae asked with a puzzled blink.
"Because I want to help," Ruki explained warmly.
"You are most welcome to join us," Mae nodded eagerly.
"I thought so," Ruki laughed.
Meanwhile, the purple demon had been drawing closer, and closer, until all that was left between he and the girls was a foot. As silent as a dove, he reached out and grasped them both by the arms. "All miiiiinnnnee," he cooed, flinging them up in the air and scrambling up the nearest vine to his nest.
Both girls sat, shocked, in a bed of straw and spider webs. "W-where are we?" Ruki asked.
Mae leaned her head over the side and peered over. And gulped. It was a good seventy feet to the ground. She could barely make out the tops of her teammates' heads.
"Well?" Ruki pressed impatiently.
"We're up in a tree," Mae said distantly.
"A tree?!" her sister gawped.
"That's what I said," Mae nodded.
"Why???" Ruki buried her head in her hands and groaned. "This is stupid!"
"I agree. But we should wait for him to come up to tag him. I don't know if I can hold you in my shadow for that long if we tried to escape. Not unless we were on the ground.
Ruki nodded mutely.
In three minutes, the purple demon reared his white-crowned head over the edge of the nest, and smiled at both of them.
They glared.
"Pretty girlies, pretty girlies, all mine," he sang, lost in his own world.
"Not on your life," Ruki shook her head roughly.
"Pretty girlies, pretty girlies, all mine," he repeated, unaware of her retort.
Mae sent her sister a look saying 'get ready for take off' and struck. She didn't estimate him to be much of anything in a fight, and sent a wicked punch at his cheek.
He stumbled back, then looked up, his face angry. "Bad girlies! Mine!" he bellowed indignantly.
"Give up!" Mae ordered, summoning her shadow-daggers and slicing him across the ribs.
"Mine!!!" he screeched, lunging forward and pulling her against his chest, bloodying her shirt.
"No!" she argued, plunging her blade into his throat and dragging downward.
He choked and released her, backing away in a cacophony of furious wails. He backed up enough to fall out of his nest with a surprised squawk. A splat was audible in the silence a few moments later. Then nothing.
"Come on, Ruki," she called over her shoulder.
"Mae!" her sister gasped.
She whirled around to see her sister suspended in the air by a demon with grand, blue-black wings and matching skin. He held a glinting blade to her throat menacingly.