Chapter 12

Gabi sat at the bus stop with her backpack and travel-worthy clothes. Daren had accompanied her to see her off to 'band camp'. She carried a violin case in addition to her backpack. The bus pulled up and the door opened; Yusuke and company walked up beside them to get on the bus. "See you soon, pup." He ruffled her wild hair. As she stepped on the bus, he stopped the boys. "I got something I want you to know, look at me now, boys; you see that girl?" he pointed to Gabi on the bus, they nodded. "That's my whole life right there. If any of you, even you Yusuke, get any thoughts about touching, or hugging, or even talking bad to her, you just remember these words: …….I got no problem going back to prison. I will hunt you down and bring on such a world of pain, every moment of your lives will be like a waking nightmare of torture and suffering-!"

"Daren, what are you doing?" Gabi asked from the bus window, noticing her friends still at the bus stop.

"Nothing sweetheart! You run along now boys, have fun, and remember what we talked about!" he smiled cheerily.

All: (O.o);

As the boys stepped back onto the bus, Kurama looked back at Daren waving to Gabi. He seemed familiar just then… "Kurama, sit down, the bus is moving." Yusuke snapped him out of his trance. The raven head turned to Gabi, "Just out of curiosity, Gabi, has Daren ever been arrested for anything?" She shrugged, causing him to pale a bit. The bus took them into another city nearly a hundred miles away. It was 7:00 in the morning when they left, and 4:00 in the afternoon when they arrived. "Nine… whole… hours! Must pee!" Gabi jumped off the bus and ran away to find a bathroom. The Tantei stretched their legs and waited for a signal from Botan. Gabi's violin case, being only an illusion to fool Daren, disappeared.

Silently, they waited, each laden with a special pack that contained objects of many times the bag's size. Botan walked calmly past them on the sidewalk, and they wordlessly followed. She led them into a telephone booth; one after the other they entered and disappeared. They found themselves in a thick forest. The canopy blocked the sun, but a calm green light shone through the leaves. "This location is exactly thirty miles from the borders of the yokai territory." Botan said, "Jin, Touya, and Chu will arrive shortly via a portal from Reikai. They can lead you to the territory from here. Once you get there, there should be an inn travelers stay at." A small pop sounded behind her, a tall man and a short man both with blue hair stepped out of nowhere. The taller had a Mohawk, and the short kept his hair slicked back, but for his aqua bangs shielding his left eye. An unnatural blast of wind swept through them, and a red blur plowed into Yusuke. "Urameshi!" a red haired man with a horn threw several punches at him.

"Hey, Jin!" Yusuke said, blocking his attacks. Botan took her leave and flew away on her oar. The three new yokai turned their eyes to the blonde girl among them. "Oi, who's the pretty Sheila ya brought wi' cha, Yusuke?" the tall man named Chu asked. Jin flew up in her face, shaking her hand, "Hullo, name's Jin!"

"Dia dhuit." she responded in Gaelic, grinning.

"(Ah! One beetle recognizes another, as they say!)" he smiled and shook her hand even harder.

"(I've been every where, laguage borders are no problem. A country without a language, a country without a soul!)"

Jin laughed and turned to Yusuke, "Finally! Some one who speaks m' language! She your girlfriend or somethin' Urameshi?"

"Heck no!" he said.

"Watch your tongue, Red; I'll rip out your eyes and shove in your back pockets so you can watch me kick the crap out of you." She said, grinning coily.

"She'll do it, she's crazy!" Kuwabara said. Jin twitched his pointed ears, "(But, a true friends eye is a good mirror!)" he said.

"(Many times a man's mouth broke his snose.)"

"(Sassy beauty,)" Her fist collided with his face. Chu roared with laughter, "Fiesty little kitten, that one!" she chased the Windmaster around Chu's legs, cursing in several different languages. The Drunken master picked them both up by their collars, "Enough of that now, lets get goin' before the sun goes down. Maybe you two can get better aquainted over a pint when we get to the inn."

They walked through the forest, making a world of noise. Jin chattered away to Yusuke faster than he could draw a breath to form the words. Hiei stuck to walking in trees to escape the noise of Jin talking, Kuwabara whining, and Chu laughing for no apparent reason. Gabi walked somewhat behind the group, out of sight, out of mind, except for Kurama. "Daijoubu ka?" he asked softly.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, just letting my mind wander." She shook her curls tiredly.

"Where did it take you?"

"The same path over and over, as of late."

"Alright, be coy; I won't dig deeper than you want me to." He smiled, but it faded as her frown stayed. "Tell me; a heavy heart can be a greater burden than any load."

"I – there's too many people here. I'm starting to feel insecure."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me that before you look around, Kurama."

"Believe me, I know these people; rapscallions they all may be, they have good hearts, and would never try to… hurt you. Jin and Touya are ninjas who protect the weak, and Chu, being a drunkard, is not much interested in women."

"It's not them I fear," she drew her arms about her self and shivered slightly. "I have a forbidding sense there is much pain ahead."

"Oi, is that smoke ahead?" Jin said, hovering several meters off the ground to see through the trees. Kurama snapped his head towards the direction Jin was looking, "There is the scent of fire and death in the breeze."

"Lets move!" Yusuke said, and they ran through the trees, swiftly and less noisily than before. They cut through five miles of untamed country before they came to a line of ashen trees, burnt and stripped of leaves. They were at the edge of a small, dilapidated town. The skeletons of building were still smoldering, and here and there were yellow fires of some incredibly flammable fuel or another. The eight companions were silent and grim faced, picking their way through the debris. "No! Don't touch anything!" they turned to Gabi, flushed and trembling. She unsoldered her pack, socks and shoes, and set them on the ground; walking past them into the center of the town, out of sight; Jin spoke, "Wha's she doin', Urameshi?"

"Just let her do what she needs; let her do it her own way." He said, raising a hand to the rest of the group. The blonde teen stood and shuffled in a small circle, surveying the damage, the smell of death, and the heat of dieing flames. Her bare feet were pink and tender on the rough ground, soaking in grime, ash, and blood. She read the memories of the area; images drifted through her mind: men, women, children: all yokai, all of them were innocent. More images came, faster clearer: bigger yokai, stronger came through, burning, destroying, killing, raping females of all ages, devouring their dead victims, decapitating, usurping, crying, dieing, begging mercy, screaming, - she threw herself on the ground and vomited. She didn't stop until she felt the hands holding her hair back from her face. "Yusuke?"

"We heard you screaming your head off, and we came to see what happened." The raven-haired boy said.

"They're all dead," she said, wiping bile from her mouth; those images would give her nightmares for years. "All murdered by them. I think they came from the territory we're going to." She had just noticed the burnt or mutilated bodies around them.

Kuwabara shuddered, "All those people…"

"Dead." Hiei finished. "I scanned the whole town, no one survived; we have to find shelter elsewhere before the sunsets. Kami knows what your incessant din has attracted to our trail." The sun was just turning the western horizon red as he spoke. Feeling the somber gravity of the scenery around them, they adjusted their burdens and picked their way out of the smoldering ruins.

Wow, I suck…