Chapter Five

Yukina had taken the news of Hiei's death very well, eh, well enough anyway. She collapsed onto the couch, choking back tears and clenching her fists so hard they drew blood. Kurama hugged her, biting his own lip. He could barely take the death of his friend, but seeing Yukina so torn hurt his heart. Yusuke averted his eyes, clenching his fists. Genkai walked into the other room. They could hear dishes clanking and water running. Then she walked back out with a tray full of mugs of tea.

"Thank you, Genkai." Yusuke whispered.

"Thank you."

"Thank you."

Kurama and Yukina took a mug. Genkai sat down and took one for herself.

"Do you know who did it?" Yukina asked.

Yusuke shook his head. "No, we only know it was a demon. One that Hiei could have beaten easily. It was a stupid mistake. He was….. overconfident."

Yukina sighed, wiping tears from her crimson eyes. "I don't believe it."

"But the weird thing is," Kurama added, "His ghost never passed through Spirit World. Botan never took his ghost."

Yusuke nodded, "Yeah, she said there wasn't one. Then some guy showed up and she passed out." He shrugged. "It's a mystery I tell you. But we'll figure it out."

Yukina nodded. "Does everyone else know?"

They nodded.

Kurama closed his eyes for a second. "Yukina, we have something else to tell you."

Yusuke locked eyes with Kurama and nodded.

"He was my brother, I know." The girl said softly.

The two boys stared at her, surprised.

Yukina went on. "I know he didn't want to know. He thought I would be ashamed about who he was, what he has done. But I couldn't be more proud." Fresh tears streamed down her face. "I often found myself wishing he was my brother, and I always felt a familiar sense when I was around him. But then I put two and two together. He would always glare at Kuzuma when he held my hand, or put his arms around me. And he was always watching me with a protective glint in his eyes. I just figured it out but I didn't tell him. He wouldn't have wanted me too. But now…." She sobbed against Kurama's shoulder.

"There, there." Kurama soothed.

They left an hour later, Genkai shooed them out, Yukina being wore out and needing rest from having taken a blow this big. They walked down the sidewalk, both lost in their own thoughts, when a familiar energy wavelength stopped them in their tracks.

They whirled around, seeing someone short in stature, wearing a long black cloak and sporting gravity-defying hair with a white starburst in the middle of his forehead.

"Hiei!" Yusuke cried, joy lighting his face. "Holy crap, man, we thought you were dead!"

"Hiei, how did you come back to life?" Kurama asked.

Hiei said nothing, merely stood there, eyes down.

"Uh…. Hiei?" Yusuke asked, taking a step back, "Are you okay?"

Kurama swallowed hard.

Hiei's hand drifted gracefully to his sword hilt, slowly gripping it. With lightning speed he drew his sword and bellowed a war cry. He raced at the two , brandishing the cold steel with deadly force.

"Hiei! Stop this madness!" Kurama yelled, jumping out of the way.

"WHOA!! Calm down shorty!" Yusuke cried.

That only mad Hiei madder. He bellowed again, charging with more force, more intensity.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but you leave us no choice!" Kurama pulled a rose out of his hair and brandished his whip. He lashed out, slicing through the air. Hiei dodged it easily. The fire apparition stabbed at Kurama, only to be blocked by Yusuke, who mowed Hiei over with a punch.

Hiei did a backflip, landed in a crouch and growled. Then he disappeared.

Yusuke and Kurama locked eyes before dashing off to find Koenma.

They burst through the door both yelling Koenma's name at the same time.

"Whoa! I didn't know I was this popular." Koenma said, spinning around in his chair.

"Cut the crap Koenma, we just saw Hiei!" Yusuke yelled.

"Not saw, got attacked by. He's alive, but he's attacking us." Kurama added.

Koenma stared at them for a second before bursting out in laughter. "Oh-oh-hahahahaha! You guys kill me! Now really, what happened? Who attacked you?"

"HIEI!" the two boys yelled.

"You're serious?" Koenma said, raising an eyebrow.

"Dead serious, Binkybreath!" Yusuke yelled.

Kurama nodded agreement.

"Well, this requires some investigation." Koenma jumped out of his chair and over to a button on the wall. He pressed it, then the TV screen came down out of the ceiling and the remote shot out of a slot in the wall. Koenma grabbed it and turned on the TV, leaping back into his chair. He pressed rewind and Yusuke and Kurama were on the TV, running backwards. They paused, and then Hiei reappeared. Their whole battle played again. Koenma played it and watched along with two of his Spirit Detectives.

"Hhmm, so it is Hiei." Koenma murmured. "Well, you already know what you have to do."

"Find him." Kurama said.

"Let's go bring home Hiei." Yusuke said with sigh.

Saya waited by the portal patiently as Kikiro told her two, fighting back the pain from his last beating. Two bruises marred her pale complexion, the ugly black, yellow and purple clashing against the icy paleness of her cheek and neck. More bruises and welts adorned her body, they were just hidden under her clothes. Her fingers twitched as she tried to mediate the memories away, pushing them down, locking them away in a safe place that she would never open again. The portal came to life, twisting the black and purple and red of the inter-dimension plasma. Hiei walked through, taking off his cloak. He looked around, and spotted Saya. He was slightly surprised she was there.

"Saya," Hiei said. She was sitting down, her hair falling over her face.

She got up silently, still keeping her head down. Hiei looked at her through the corner of his eyes suspiciously.

"I failed. There was someone else with him, someone with skill," he said softly.

"Kikiro will be mad," Saya whispered, a tremor to her voice.

"He won't be able to do anything, he needs you and I."

"That's never stopped him before." Saya looked up, her eyes floating to that customary place that stared just past Hiei.

Hiei said nothing as he stared at the ugly bruises on her face. His demon intuition and his sense of smell told him that other injuries were all over her body. His fingers twitched a bit, but his face held no emotion.

Saya swallowed and turned around. "Come, he will be wanting to know you're back."