Was the first chapter depressing enough for ya? Well, it's going down-hill from there. This whole fic is like a rollercoaster ride. Ups and downs and twists and turns. It really should be about seven different generes: action/adventure/mystery/

romance/angst/drama/tragedy… on and on and on. I hope you people like this stuff.

Disclaimer: It's not mine.

Chapter two: A strange place to wake up.

Hiei opened his eyes and saw that he was surrounded by vines and plants. Was this the same place he fell asleep? It couldn't be. He knew undeniably that he fell asleep in Kurama's living room. On the floor, in fact. But there he was, in the jungle on some sort of… wait, a couch?!

"Kurama?" he called, sitting up. He saw Yusuke sleeping on the couch opposite him and shook him awake. "Yusuke, wake up."

"Wassamattah- whoa!" said Yusuke. He sat up and looked around. "What's going on here? Are we still at Kurama's house?"

"These are his couches. Kurama!?"

The said demon walked in and instantly the plants were reduced to seeds scattered about the room. "I'm sorry about that. I was trying to stretch my energy to its limits to see how well I would do in battle against Mukuro.

Hiei glanced at Yusuke guiltily. "Actually," he said. "Yusuke and I already came up with a plan and it doesn't involve botony."

"Yeah, but we could still use Kurama's help," said Yusuke. "He could drain her energy and distract her while we power up."

"What is this plan?" asked Kurama. He was already getting a bad feeling about it.

"We're just going to combine our signature attacks," said Yusuke. "My Spirit Wave with Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame."

"You're going to combine a massive amount of spirit energy with a dangerous flame from the underworld which feeds on spirit energy?"

"Yeah, sounds about right."

"You will both be killed."

"Not necassarilly," said Hiei. "The dragon, which I have already proven mastery over, would kill Mukuro, not me or Yusuke."

"The explosion would… Hiei, it's too dangerous! There must be another way. Couldn't you simply use the dragon?"

"It is useless against Mukuro on its own. I already tried to kill her with it."

"I thought you weren't trying to kill her at the tournament."

"Two months ago. I used it against her and she simply cut it in half with her dimensional divide."

"What if we electrocuted her?" asked Yusuke.

"What?" said Hiei.

"Half her body is made of metal. What if we got her wet and stuck an electode to her metal part?"

"All that would do is burn her," said Hiei. "Honestly, Yusuke. She doesn't have a heart beat. Electricity wouldn't kill her."

"Yeah. That's true… I guess we need another plan."

"Our plan is fine the way it is," said Hiei. "We can make a force-field immediately after releasing our attacks and keep the dragon away. It would also prevent us from being killed in an explosion."

"You haven't thought that through, Hiei," said Kurama. "Putting out that much energy and then expecting to be able to make a force-field? That is just plain poor stradegy."

"What do you suggest?" asked Hiei.

"Since you both seem to think I cannot do much besides act as a distraction, I shall put up a barrier of bomb-sheltering plants. They are strong enough to ward off a nuclear explosion. It should work."

"We didn't say you were useless. Don't imply that," said Hiei. "Your plan should work out fine with ours."

"Now we just have to find the bitch and force her back to the Makai," said Yusuke.

"So far, she hasn't attacked anyone outside of Tokyo," said Kurama. "I suggest we travel to Tokyo. Has anyone noticed the pattern of her attacks?"

"Only that she doesn't care about age, race, sex, or anything," said Yusuke. "She seems to kill just whoever happens to be in her way."

"That is true, however, she has a pattern in location of murders."

"What do you mean?"

Kurama pulled out a map of Tokyo proper with dots drawn on it. "The dots represent a murder. Notice anything?"

"She's creating a pentagram," said Hiei.

"Pentacle actually, she's started to circle it," said Kurama. "If you notice, she killed twenty-eight people on each of the lines, going exactly two miles between each killing, three on the intersections all clustered together and now she is making a circle around the star.

"So far, she's killed twenty-one people on the edge of the circle," Kurama continued.

"There's a problem," said Yusuke. "The star is upside-down."

"It is the symbol of the devil," said Kurama. "I believe she plans to kill six-hundred and sixty-six people. Another symbol of the devil. At least, in Christian mythology."

"They won't all fit in the circle. She's killed eighteen people from one point of the pentacle to another going… which direction?"

"Counter-clockwise," Kurama answered.

"If she keeps up her pattern, she won't be able to fit another… how many people?"

"Four hundred and ninety-three," said Kurama. "You are assuming that she will only make this star. I believe that once she has finished the pentacle, she will create an upside-down cross in the center. She is doing this on purpose."

"Why would she make her pattern obvious?" asked Yusuke.

"She wants to kill police officers and NPA agents when they come after her. Which would also make it more difficult for other demons –us- to get near her for fear of being revealed as demons."

"Have you heard from Koenma at all?" Yusuke asked suddenly. "It seems so weird that Mukuro is killing all these people and Koenma doesn't know about it and or isn't getting me to fix the problem."

Suddenly, there was a 'Pop' and Koenma appeared. "Sorry about my delayed arrival," said Koenma who was in teen form. "As you can imagine, with all the murders, Spirit World is backed up with paperwork."

"I don't like your attitude," said Hiei. "You're being flippant about humans being killed."

"On the contrary, Hiei," said Koenma. "I am very upset about this situation. And you are mistaken if you think that Kuwabara doesn't already know what's going on. He's gotten awfully smart in the past few years. I expect him to come crashing through the door at any moment."

As if on queue, Kuwabara knocked urgently on the door. Kurama went to answer it and Kuwabara followed him back into the living room. "You guys thought you could leave me out of saving the world?" he asked. "Not a chance. These are my people that are dying."

"Do you think we don't care because we're demons?" asked Hiei. "In case you have forgotten, two of us are half-human."

"Then why do you care?" Kuwabara snapped.

"I happen to care a great deal when people go around killing humans just because they're pissed off at someone who isn't even involved."

"You mean you? Mukuro's killing people because she's mad at you? She's eating people because you did something to make her mad? What the hell did you do?!"

"I refused to do something for her," Hiei growled. "And I'll thank you not to blame the entire problem on me. I didn't force that… that woman to kill humans. It was her choice."

"Whoa," Yusuke touched Hiei's shoulder. "Calm down. Kuwabara's just baiting you, as usual. Nothing new."

Hiei shrugged Yusuke off. "I will not take full responsibility for this abomination," Hiei hissed.

"Fine, I take it back!" said Kuwabara. "But I never said it was your fault."

Hiei started to say something but Yusuke stopped him by saying, "let it go. It's not worth it."

Hiei responded with a grimace and stood back, staring pointedly in Koenma's direction.

"If you want information from me," said Koenma, "You're looking in the wrong place. You know more about her then I do, Hiei."

Hiei looked away, as if ashamed.

"Anyway… As I'm sure you can all imagine, this is a major problem for Spirit World. My dad is very upset about it. He was thinking of sending out the SDF again but I talked him out of it."

"How did you manage that?" asked Yusuke. "I thought he was pretty much non-negotiable."

"The SDF may be powerful, but they are not powerful enough to kill Mukuro. Especially considering her new power. Divine Flame can consume the soul. That's what I told my dad. Losing souls is not an option. Not on our side anyway."

"What are you going to do with her?" asked Hiei.

"What do you mean?" asked Koenma.

"When we kill her, where will she go?"

"The harshest punishment available. Eternity in Limbo."

Hiei flinched, still looking at the ground. "Eternity?" His voice was very quiet, almost defeated.

"Yes, Hiei," Koenma said in an empathetic voice. "Mass murderers automatically get eternity in Limbo."

"She's damaged."

"Even so, Hiei, we can't tolerate mass murder. If we grated her a pardon because she had a rough life, we would have to make the same allowances for other murderers."

Hiei glared at Koenma. "Rough life? Rough life!? Do you have any idea what she's been through? What right do you have to pass judgement?"

The rest of the team looked on in an embarrassed silence. They were completely bewildered by Hiei's sudden explosion. Moments ago, wasn't Hiei plotting to kill her? Wasn't he saying how much he hated her for what she was doing? Hiei's odd behavior was more then slightly unsettling to his friends.

"I'm sorry, Hiei."

"Don't apologize to me for sending someone to hell! You're god, aren't you?" Hiei sneered. "Your almighty attitude lets you do things that mere mortals such as myself could never do. And don't talk down to me as if I am some lower being. It won't be you who judges me in the end. Only myself."

"Hiei…" Kurama said. He was trying to make sense of the situation as best he could considering that he was functioning under conditions normal people would crumble under.

"I haven't forgotten that you were going to send me to hell for eternity," Hiei spat at Koenma, ignoring Kurama's plea. "What is your judgement now? Where are you going to send me?"

"Paradise. Eternity in Paradise," said Koenma. "You'll like it there. That's where your mother is."

Kurama grabbed Hiei by his collar in time to prevent the smaller demon from launching himself at Koenma.

"That was bad even for you," said Yusuke.

"And not tactful at all," Kuwabara added, giving a side-long glance to Kurama.

"Do you expect me to just take what he gives me without retaliation?" asked Koenma.

"You're not like us," said Yusuke. "You don't have a mother. You'll never die. Can't you see how that would keep us from trusting you? What are you anyway?"

"I don't have to take this," said Koenma.

"It is a valid question," said Kurama, still trying to calm Hiei.

"I'm more or less an angel," said Koenma, sighing heavilly. "The highest choir. Botan too. But she's in a lower choir. I'm not saying being mortal isn't tough and I'm not saying I understand how you feel. I'm just telling you what I know. And what I know is this; Mukuro will keep killing until she is killed. Insanity such as hers can not be cured nor reasoned with. With that, I leave you." 'Pop' Koenma was gone.

"You can let me go now," Hiei said. "I can't kill him if he's not there."

Kurama released Hiei.

"Man," said Yusuke. "I don't know why I didn't punch him again. He deserved it. Don't listen to pacifier breath, Hiei. He's just as worried as we… er… at least as worried as I am. Don't know if he's as worried as you. I feel like an idiot for wanting to talk to him in the first place. He didn't tell us anything anyway…"

Kurama disagreed. Koenma had given them a piece of the puzzle that didn't fit anywhere. Insanity is not systamatic¸ he thought. I thought we were dealing with rage. This is uncharted territory.

Kurama briefed Kuwabara on the plan. Kuwabara immediately spotted holes. "How are you planning to lure her to Demon World?" He asked.

"Don't know yet," Yusuke said at the same time Hiei said "Using me as bait."

"Hold up!" said Yusuke. "Bait? Nah-uh. Set aside the fact that it is absolutely insane and suicidal to be bait, it's also not your style. Are you trying to get killed?"

Hiei just stared at him.

"Oh," said Yusuke. "You and me need to have a chat."

Hiei said nothing.

"Okay, we'll think of luring her later. What about these bomb-sheltering plants?" asked Kuwabara. "They're supposed to be able to block a nuclear explosion."

"So?" said Yusuke.

"Isn't this explosion going to be spirit and demon energy?"

"What's your point?" asked Hiei.

"Aren't Kurama's plants affected by both those energies?"

"Only mine," said Kurama who was gazing sadly at Hiei. Hiei pretended not to notice.

Kuwabara rubbed his temple as if suffering from a tension head-ache. "Nuclear energy and spirit energy are not the same. It's like trying to block UV rays from the sun with glass. It doesn't make sense."

Kurama finally understood. "He's right. It won't even be a bomb explosion. How could I have missed such a major hole in the plan? If not for Kuwabara, we'd all surely have been killed."

"What do you mean?" asked Yusuke.

"He is right about the energies being different. We need a new plan."

"I already have one," said Kuwabara. "We can't be blown up if we're in a different dimension."

"Did someone forget to feed you your smart pills this morning?" asked Yusuke. "How are we going to get to another dimension?"

"I'll cut us one with my sword. It's easy, I've been practicing."

Kurama looked alarmed. "You've been practicing inter-dimensional travel?" he whispered.

"Yeah, it's not like I can't control it. I can even manipulate time a little."

"Don't tell me that ever again," said Kurama.

"Why not?"

"Manipulate time?" Kurama turned a very pale color. "That is too dangerous. I don't want to hear about it."

"It's just-"

"Nm-hm!" said Kurama. "I don't want to hear about it."

"On that happy note," said Yusuke. "Let's get going."

That's a scary thought. Kuwabara manipulating time. Scares the hell out of me.