Author: I'm back… I am so sorry to have made you all wait so long. Do you all still love me?
Hilu: I bet they do. And I bet they are happy that I am back since you did the last chapter without me at all.
Hiei: She had me which is better!
Hilu: No it isn't.
Hiei: draws katana Yes it is!
Hilu: pulls out weapon No it isn't!
Author: sweatdrops Please don't fight! Enjoy the chapter faithful readers new readers and… well anyone reading!
"Kirana's telepathy"
"Hiei's telepathy"
Hiei's thoughts
"Hiei's Jagan"
Kurama's thoughts
Youko's thoughts
'People talking telepathically with Hiei'
'People talking telepathically with Kirana'
(Author's note)
---------Time and/or location change---------
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Chapter 33
---------With Youko---------
Youko slipped into the building quietly, but knew instantly that at least one of the others did not. There was a huge crash, which would hopefully draw the captors to that room making it that much easier to save Kirana. Once inside he looked around. This room had once been an office, he guessed from the size of the building that some of the warehouse had burned, like many of them do in Makai. Quickly he scanned the room again. There was no one in the room with him. He decided that maybe there would be some information in one of the desks on the kidnappers. Quickly he searched the two desks in the room. There was nothing at all in either one. Sighing he left to search another room.
The next room he walked into was another office. This appeared to have been used. Quickly he searched this room as well. Again he came up empty handed. Then he noticed a book that wasn't dusty like the rest of them, and went to look at it. He gasped when he read the title. Suddenly he understood so much, then Hiei came flying through the wall and landed on Youko.
---------With Yusuke---------
Yusuke tired to open the door, but it seemed that fate had other ideas. Not only was the door locked, but it was stuck too. Yusuke quickly kicked the door in, and at the same time heard a crash from somewhere else in the building. Yusuke figured it was Kuwabara getting into the building so he thought nothing about it and continued to search the room he was in. There was no one in the room, and it looked like no one had been in a while. There was dust caked on everything even the floor.
Once this realization set in he decided to search another room. Then he heard another crash and Youko yelling. Quickly he raced into the room and saw Hiei laying on top of Youko and Youko was yelling. Then Kuwabara came running in and crashed into Yusuke sending him flying into the room as well.
---------With Kuwabara---------
Kuwabara had hoped that the wall would already be partially destroyed, but with his luck the portion of wall he had been told to go through was all perfectly intact. He knew it would be difficult to break down this wall, but he knew that was what he had to do. Quietly he unsheathed his spirit sword and then not-so-quietly broke down the wall. The room he was in seemed rather small to be in a warehouse, but he searched it anyway. There was nothing in the room that was not coated thickly with dust. He decided that this room was a waste.
He then realized this room must not be a part of the original structure because it had not been damaged at all by the fire that had swept through the warehouse before according to Hiei. There was no structural damage or anything that would suggest this room had had any damage to it since it was built. But why would anyone build a room and then not use it, he wondered to himself.
Then he heard a crash and heard Youko screaming. Kuwabara ran quickly to see what the commotion was, and ran headlong into Yusuke sending him flying into the already tangled mess that was Youko and Hiei.
---------With Hiei---------
Hiei slipped gently into the room right after he heard Yusuke and Kuwabara come crashing into the building. He hoped that they would distract the demons in the room enough that Hiei would have the advantage. He quickly and quietly slipped into the room and saw Kirana laying chained to a bed in the corner of the room. She obviously spotted him because she cried out.
"Hiei, behind you!"
Hiei turned around and came face to face with a water demon. Hiei drew his katana, this was the man who had kidnapped his mate and this man was going to pay with his life. Hiei quickly attacked the man and cut him into thousands of tiny pieces in a matter of seconds.
"Next time you feel the need to kidnap someone's mate… make sure it is not mine," Hiei said to the dismembered body of the water demon.
"Impressive Hiei… I had hoped you would kill him for me. You see it saves me the trouble and the energy. But you were wrong. Akuma was not the man who kidnapped your mate… that was me. And unfortunately for you, you will not get her back today. I had to humor Akuma, because I knew he could get me into Reikai, but from there the plan becomes my own. I hope you enjoyed your moment of glory, and I hope you don't take it too hard that I stole yet another thing from you," Yokoshima said calmly.
"You bastard," Hiei said dangerously calm.
"I wouldn't try to attack me… you see that warding cloth on your mate's Jagan… well only I can remove it. There is a special curse placed on that cloth, and if anyone other than me removes it the curse will be implanted into the Jagan, disintegrating it, along with her mind. So you might want to keep me alive at least until you have enough of an upper hand to make me take it off. Now I will be taking the little demoness and leaving you to try to find the other women you brought with you. It was so kind of you to bring me more of your women. Have fun trying to find me," Yokoshima said quietly.
Yokoshima used some kind of explosive to throw Hiei from the room. Unfortunately it was the best way out of a room. Hiei was thrown through a wall and landed right on top of Youko. Youko was taken aback, and yelled at Hiei to get off of him. When the other two Tantei members heard the yelling they ran to the room to help, but arriving one right after the other Yusuke was thrown into the now tangled mass of arms and legs.
"Get off me we have to go after him!" Hiei yelled struggling to disentangle himself from his teammates.
"Go after who?" Yusuke asked finally getting himself free.
"The man who kidnapped Kirana again," Hiei said running to the door.
"What do you mean again?" Youko asked.
Hiei did not answer. He had to know if Yokoshima was lying about kidnapping the other girls. He got to the safe place they had made for the girls and Hiei cried out in rage. They were gone.
"What the HELL happened!" Youko screamed when he discovered that his mate was missing.
"He kidnapped them all. I told you this was not a good idea! But would you listen to me? NO! You had to do things your own way! I knew that having them along would not turn out good. If my little sister dies because you insisted they all come along you will die as well!" Hiei said ranting on Youko.
"HIEI JAGANSHI! Do not threaten my mate!" an annoyingly cheerful voice scolded the fire demon.
"Botan?" Youko asked confused.
"Yes Botan… who did you think I was the tooth fairy?" she asked coming out from behind the bushes next to the safe place.
"But… didn't he kidnap you?" Kuwabara asked confused.
"Who this guy?" Keiko said dragging out the body of a lower class demon with help from Yukina.
"Thank Enma you are okay," Hiei said pulling his sister into a hug.
"Of course we're okay. He was lower class, and I was not about to get kidnapped… especially not when you need our help to save Kirana… where is Kirana?" Yukina asked.
"Well… I defeated the water demon, but unfortunately the other demon had plans of his own and took Kirana somewhere else. I don't know who he is or what he wants with her… I don't know how to save her. And when we do, we have to keep him alive long enough to take the warding cloth of Kirana's Jagan. Apparently there is a curse on the cloth and only the person who put it on can take it off or the curse will eat the Jagan from the inside destroying the brain in the process. I don't know how to even find her… she has spirit chains on, and so I have no way of tracking her," Hiei said sounding defeated.
"The other demon was a demon of fear," Youko supplied.
"How do you know that, Fox?" Hiei asked his friend.
"I found a book in one of the rooms I was searching. It was King Enma's Book. The Book Of Life. It was marked to Yokoshima… half demon of fear and half fox demon. And the other marked page was… Kirana's page. He knows everything about her… everything," Youko said also sounding slightly defeated.
"Why didn't Koenma tell us the book was stolen?" Botan asked.
"Because everyone was all too worked up about Kirana being kidnapped… we have to get her and that book. How do you defeat a demon of fear… I mean he will trap us in our deepest fear, right?" Yukina said.
"Yeah… we will have to come out of our fears ourselves, and then help those who can't do it on their own. But the first step for that is to admit to ourselves and each other what we are afraid of," Kurama said before anyone realized he had changed.
"I am not afraid of anything!" Hiei said firmly.
"I am afraid that I will be alone again. I am terrified that I will lose the family I have come to love, and the brother and mate I adore," Yukina said softly.
"I am afraid that Yusuke will go on a mission and never come back to me," Keiko said tears forming in her eyes.
"I m afraid that I will never be able to have a family of my own… children… because I am dead already, and that because of that Kurama will stop loving me," Botan said softly.
"I'm afraid that I will wake up and find out that my dear sweet snow angel does not love me, and that I am alone and will remain that way," Kuwabara said walking over to Yukina and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I am afraid that I will lose the family I have finally come to truly cherish and need now that all parts of that family have been blended," Kurama said before allowing Youko to take over again.
"I am afraid of… nothing," Youko said.
"Youko… Honey… please admit your fears. For me, and Kirana. We won't be able to help you if you don't tell us," Botan said trying not to cry.
"I am… afraid… that because of my own temper I will… lose… the people… that I… love," Youko said whispering the last word.
"I am not afraid of anything, because I am not a coward!" Hiei insisted.
"Please Onii-sama, please tell us what you are afraid of. Being afraid does not make you a coward. Not facing you fears makes you a coward," Yukina said walking over to Hiei and looking in his eyes.
"I am not afraid…" he said unconvincingly.
"Hiei we are all scared of something, and we all admitted it," Keiko said.
"No, Keiko… we haven't all admitted it. But I am admitting mine now. I am scared that because of what I am I will lose you Keiko. I am so afraid that I will not be able to protect you and the rest of my friends. The thought that any of you would die because I wasn't being what I should be… terrifies me. Like when I thought Kuwabara had died at the Dark Tournament… I had never been so scared… I was so scared that because I could not find it in me to kill Toguro all of you would die. Nothing scares me more," Yusuke said softly, pulling Keiko into his arms.
"I am scared of losing the heart I just found," Hiei said softly turning away from the group, a single tear gem falling to the ground.
Yukina walked over and picked up the gem holding it carefully in her hands. She looked down at it and smiled. She walked over to her brother and took his hand in hers. Placing the gem in his hand she whispered, "Onii-sama, if you don't want to lose it then don't. You know you have all of us, and we will not let anyone get away with taking a member of our family. Losing Kirana is part of all of our biggest fear. Don't worry Onii-sama we will find her."
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Author: That was really emotional…
Hilu: Yeah it was, but it was really good.
Hiei: Why do you torture me?
Author: What do you mean Hiei?
Hiei: I am not afraid of anything!
Author: sighs Oh, Hiei… of course you are, and that sentence was perfect. You did just recently find your heart and emotions, and now you don't want to lose them.
Hiei: Whatever you say Author.
Hilu: I wouldn't argue with her if you do you get tied up to a chair for a few days.
Hiei: sweatdrops
Author: I wouldn't do that to Hiei… well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Review please. Ja ne!