thought, flashback, or dream

emphasized word

/telepathy/

"speaking"

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Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or it's characters.

Chapter Two

Kurama was confused. It's warm? He stared blankly at the crackling fire before him. Or it looked like a fire. Actually it was a very good illusion. It gave off the rich aroma of burning wood and wet leaves. The only fault it had was that it gave off no smoke or fumes. But if that was truly the case, then it shouldn't give off heat either. Maybe...it affects the mind directly?...No I would have felt it by now, besides Mia conjured it. Even if she could have managed to pull something off at this level, it would have given off an extremely pronounced shock with her sparse amount of energy. Kurama continued his banter between him and himself for a good while. Needless to say his evil stare at the flames soon caught the attention of the group.

"Um...Kurama?" Yuskue ventured.

Glare.

"Kurama?"

GLARE.

"KURAMA!"

"Huh? Oh, yes Yuskue?"

"Why do you want to kill the flames?"

"What do you mean?"

The detective shook his head. "Never mind."

The kitsune stared for a minute before looking back at the fire. Sure enough, after a few minutes his glare was back.

Yuskue groaned, "It can't be that interesting."

Finally, Kurama sat back against his selected tree. "So, why haven't Kerr and Mia returned form their escapade?"

"They went to go get some food," said Kuwabara. "And I hope that I get back soon. I'm hungry."

Kurama decided to move on. "What is it that you wanted to ask me, Yuskue, while I was studying the flames?"

He blinked. "How did you?" He looked into the fox's intelligent eyes. "Never mind.

"I wanted to ask you 'If Kerr's a Atlantian, why hasn't Japan found him.' I mean, even if they did live under an ocean, something should have shown up on radar or whatever the heck the use."

"Sonar, actually. But the reason is probably because they have a great deal of charms against just that. The Thirians probably took great care in hiding what cites they have left."

Yuskue nodded. "Just curious."

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-30 Minutes Later-

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Kerr came back smiling and talking with a still cloaked Mia. They appeared to be lost in conversation even though the female was was neither talking loud nor looking at Kerr.

The Atlantian gave a small chuckle and looked up at the group. "Food, anyone?"

Mia was carrying a basket -that would be better described as a wooven bowl- that was about a foot in diameter and another two feet deep. Inside it was what it appeared to be a wide assortment of wild berries in varying sizes and fragrant herbs that made the mouth water. How she held it up with those thin arms, no one knew or cared.

"Food!" Kuwabara practically singed as he lunged at the female. But before he could reach her, she had already jumped into the air and landed on his head. The human stood there perfectly still, dumbfounded by the small woman. She jumped off Kuwabara's headlining gracefully about a foot and a half from the fire. Mia held the basket upwards slightly to catch the fruit that had fallen out the woven bowl in her decent.

Standing, she pulled several acupuncture needles from her cloak and gently pushed a few berries about the size of golf balls with lime green skin and aqua colored leaves. Mia strategically placed them around the fire so when she came back around she simply picked up the first one she had laid down. Slowly they had grown into the size of hamburgers. Apparently the berries couldn't tell the heat was an illusion was either.

"Mia," Kerr gasped dramatically, "It's not good to fool mother nature." Sadly, all it earned him a disgusted shake of the head.

"Fine... be that way," he shrugged.

"Hey, Kerr?"

"Yeah?"

"Get down."

"What are you-" his speech was cut off by a groan of pain as his eyes widened. In just a moment, Mia was to her feet, needles halfway pulled out. "No," Kerr coughed, pulling the source of his pain -a dagger- from his shoulder blade. "This one is mine." The Thirian pulled a rod from his belt and it glowed, forming into a spear -blade and all. Before anyone could react he slashed a pour, defenseless tree in half.

Or they all thought is was defenseless until an oddly human scream filled the air and a form rose from the stump.

"Karaz," Mia growled, her relaxed pose suddenly tight.

As though those words gave Kerr the needed energy, his eyes grew afire with a frightening and merciless anger. Throwing his spear with deadly accuracy, he attempted to sever the changeling in half only to have it move away at the last second and disappear into another tree.

"Eat up," the ticked Atlantian growled. "He was more than likely a scout so staying here much longer would be unbearably overconfident. We still have a good hour of light, so let's use it." He switched his weapon back into a rod and placed it in it's proper spot as he began to pace.

"I'm going to go scout," came Mia's voice leaving no room to argue in her tone. She gave Kerr and 'are-you-happy-now' look.

He only nodded and picked up a fruit as he scanned the area closely.

"I'll come as well," Kurama voiced, standing as he brushed the dirt off his legs.

The strange girl looked up from under her hood and peered at the kitsune out of the corner of her eye. Finally she retorted, "Do as you please," as she turned heel and left the clearing forcing Kurama to jog to catch up.

Kerr watched them leave, eyes clouded in a distant thought as he chewed.

Yuskue was slightly perturbed by the strange actions of his new companions. I don't get these two. One minute they have one personality and then a different one the next. Sometimes she seems to want to kill him, others she's saving his hide. "With a sighs he spoke, "Hey, Kerr, right?"

"Hm?" he said in a distracted voice that caused the detective to push forward to ask more.

"What exactly is that girl?"

"A legend," he muttered in a still lost voice.

"What kind?"

"An old one," still oblivious apparently.

"How'd it end?"

"... confusion, depression, and death."

Now he was thoroughly confused. "Did she ever recover?"

Kerr turned to him, a sad smile on his lips. "No one has... especially not her."

"How so-"

"I know what you're doing Yuskue. I don't appreciate it and I find it very unwise. To take advantage of someone that you need to trust you later is the most unstable of routes to start our companionship on. I would not be of much help since I've only known Mia personally for a little over a week. I know a little about the facts in her life and the myths and legends she left behind, but I know nothing of the way she thinks and her personal emotions on her current situation -which I also have no clue why she's here so don't ask. If you truly want to know how she feels or thinks, wait about three days and then look directly into her eyes with that intention. It is said that the eyes of her kind are doors to their soul. I personally don't want to know what Mia's soul is like, so I haven't bothered to look."

Yuskue stared blankly at Kerr for a moment. "That was a bit more info. that I was expecting."

"Detective, the size of your brain is-" but Hiei never got the chance to finish his latest insult because at that moment a frantic kitsune with familiar silver coloring and gold eyes ran into the clearing, On his back -unconscious- was Mia whose current status was obviously unstable.

"We have to go. Now." he growled.

But of course, no one moved immediately. That would have been to easy. "What happened to her!" Kuwabara screamed in a screechy voice.

Youko's ears twitched in annoyance. "She took a hit for me...but there's no time to explain. Now Move!" He ran into the opposite clearing. The group wasn't about to argue with the tone the fox had just given them. So as they ran they preoccupied their thoughts with how he could have changed so rapidly with out them noticing,

Suddenly Youko veered left and darted into a cave a mere four yards away. As the group chased him they noticed several odd things about the earth above and around them. The first was it grew a radioactive blue. The second factor was that an odd assortment of plants grew on every surface that didn't glow too brightly. The cave was moist and hot creating a sleepy, sticky atmosphere.

Youko placed Mia against one of the more cushioned walls with an odd gentleness. Collecting some herbs, plants, and flowers around the cave he crushed them into a powder in his right hand and held it under her nose forcing her to inhale the odd mixture.

Mia coughed instantly and then stopped breathing all together.

The fox's face quickly recovered from its horrified look into one of blankness, but the distress in his eyes was unable to be concealed. He stood in front of her and stared at the young, unmoving frame. "Damn it," he murmured, barely audible.

Yuskue and Kuwabara were dumbstruck at their companions death so early in the game.

Kerr was unreasonably pale, "This isn't good."

Hiei found himself curious at the fox's concern and the Thirian's worry. "What do you mean, human?"

The Atlantian was now sitting on the floor, rubbing his temples. "Changelings are a Forgotten race."

"Forgotten?"

"A Forgotten race is a race that the Spirit World can't keep track of. My kind are also these way, but oursouls often go to King Enma after we die. Other Forgottens, appear to have no soul, while the rarest have enough power to recreate their own bodies and start over."

"Why should that worry us about the changelings?" Hiei growled.

"A changeling is able to hide in any substance for long periods of time without losing their identities. Also, they have three classes. Minors have to have their heads cut off, Commanders have to be completely incinerated, and Ellites have to have their souls removed. The presence of so many changeling suggests and Ellite under foot, commanding everything."

Kuwabara's head snapped at the last comment, "We can't destroy souls! We're not GODS!"

"That's the problem."

Hiei was more than irritated, "What doesthe girl's death have...to...no."

"Yes, she ca-could destroy souls."

Kuwabara blinked. "She's a god?"

Kerr shifted, "Not really...no one's quite sure what she is. Her soul has a unique structure."

"...Is she Enma's or Binky-breath's kid?" Yuskue put in his two perverted -yet logical in a way- cents.

"No."

"Then what do people call her?"

Kerr switched from foot to foot, glancing at the still absorbed Youko as though he could help him in some way. Even if the fox could have, he was still too absorbed into the girl's limp features to notice the Atlantian's stare.

Before another protest could get moving, Kerr attempted to answer their question. "She's a rare creature. So much so that a name has really never been truly picked because so many believe them to be mythical- even on the demon plain."

"Them?" The detective pushed.

"There are onlytwo of her kind, a Ying and a yang so to speak."

"How could they live for so long then? Their kind would have died out long ago." Hiei growled.

He sighed. "When one dies they are reborn in a ten-year old body with a normal human growing rate with their memories erased."

"Then...what is she doing here?" asked Kuwabara.

"Mia's complications started when King Enma caught her soul before it could regenerate and threatened to destroy it if she didn't bend to his will. Apparently it's been her problem for over good century. Most of which she didn't have a body."

"Who was she before that?" Yuskue quizzed.

"No one really knows for sure. Most people -even Koenma- wonder if she does. But if that was the case, why would she have come here? ...Believe it or not guys, I'm as lost as you."

There was a long silence.

"Kurama?" said the Thirian.

The kitsune looked at him with a raised brow.

"Did you... were you two friends at one point?"

Youko's ear twitchedrevealing his uneasiness about Mia for the umpteenth time ashe looked back at her. "I'm not sure at the moment. The person I keep thinking of didn't even have a similar energy pattern. It's wishful thinking more than likely," his voice was a little more than a whisper.

Yuskue smirked. "Good old childhood friends, huh? Did you get to know her a bit better?" The sudden rise in energy in the room had signaled that the detective had hit a "no-touchy" spot. Everyone glared at him immediately, but none compared to the angered fox's.

With a heartless look, the plant manipulator took a step forward causing the hanyou to go back. Luckily though he never made his point clear because just then, the cave's ceiling collapsed.

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-10 Minutes Later-

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Yuskue coughed in a sad attempt to clear his throat from the dust and rubble lodged in it. "Kuwabara? Kurama? Hiei? Kerr? You guys alright?"

The human's scratchy voice replied here after a minute, "Here."

"Detective," the fire koorime muttered after the dust began to clear. "You worry too much." He stood upon the rubble with his normal eerie grace.

Kerr muttered something illegible and struggled to wedge his spear's blade under the rubble that caught his foot. All in all, it was very amusing to see him do this and still try not to cut offhis foot.

"How 'bout you Kurama? Kurama?" a slight panic rose in his voice. "KURAMA!" He looked to the piles of rock that blocked the way into the cave and out, growing more and more worried every minute. He must be on another side of one of these...but still. "KURAMA!"

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