Concerned whispers can be heard in the background: Does Kit know what she's doing? She keeps...updating. If she keeps this up, we're going to start thinking she's a responsible writer. What a frightening world that would be.

By causes and reasons still unknown, his fox had been taken from him.

Now Yusuke had been taken away as well.

Hiei raged.

He roared, he ranted, he screamed. He attacked, he shredded, threatened, and destroyed.

Whatever wards held him trapped within the room remained firm. He could not get out. He was trapped inside, and who knew what was happening to his human outside? Even the jagan could not see past the room's barriers.

When the rage subsided, he sat down in the middle of the destroyed room with his sword, mind now a cold and horribly rational place. Eventually those creatures would return. When they did, they would have but one chance to tell him what they had done to the detective, then they would die. Even if they answered him, they would die – unless he needed them to find Yusuke. If he did need them, then they would die as soon as he stopped needing them.

Night had just begun to fall by the time the door opened.

It was Mila – the bitch who had kept hitting on Yusuke. She kept her head lowered, and refused to meet the scorching fire of Hiei's glare.

It was difficult to continue to glare when the target of said glare refused to look at him, but he continued, nonetheless.

"All is prepared. If you will please follow me, sir," she requested in a whisper, "I will take you to your friend."

And he hadn't even had to cut her.

Yet.

Nodding briskly, Hiei rose to his feet, tucking his sword securely into his belt sash. She didn't try to ask him to go without his weapon – another plus for her. Her death, Hiei decided from somewhere deep inside his cold fury, would be quick and painless.

His anger grew, a throbbing pulse, as he realized just how close their destination was. Two turns and she was leading him through large glass doors and into a courtyard. Dimly Hiei recognized Kurama's touch in the plants there, though he didn't recall him and the fox going into the courtyard when they had stayed at this place.

A circle was formed in the courtyard by the careful placement of more candles than Hiei cared about counting. And in the center of the candles there was a large stone table, dark and smooth and looking as if it had grown out of the ground.

Atop the table lay Yusuke, nude and motionless.

The other snake people stood around the farthest edge of the circle.

"You're supposed to go to him alone." Mila told him, stopping short.

Hiei glared a moment, then entered the circle.

Almost immediately he felt the tingle of magic that meant he had crossed a magical barrier of some kind, but he was far passed caring. He crossed immediately to his human, noticing as he drew close that the detective's breaths were coming with far less frequency than they should.

His hand was trembling violently as he reached out and laid his palm against Yusuke's chest, directly over his heart. Somehow he could feel his heartbeat – slow and languid, but there.

"Yusuke."

A second table appeared beside him, this one smaller and made of wood. It contained a box and an hourglass.

"Now is your chance. You have until the grains stop falling – once the last falls, your human is dead."

A growl in his throat, Hiei lunged at Sylanal – and was pushed back by the wards around the circle.

"In the box you will find herbs, if you wish them." Sylanal informed him, unconcerned. "Our venom has entered his system – but he can be saved with the proper medication. Of course, the wrong medication could serve only to pull the poison through deeper. You could always attempt to pull the venom from his system through your own powers."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Succeed in saving him, and we will allow you to leave in peace. Fail and he will die. We will eat his soul, and then you will suffer the same fate."

Hiei stared at them, fury nearly overwhelming him. They were doing this because it amused them. They had taken Yusuke away because they had nothing better to do. They were playing with them.

"Your time has already begun to expire." Sylanal informed him, eyes alight with the excitement of his little game.

Hiei glowered a moment at the small box containing the herbs. If Kurama were there, there wouldn't be a problem. The fox would smile calmly at the snake bastards and turn away, only allowing his disdain for them shine in his eyes once they were hidden from his enemies. He would turn to Hiei, revealing only to his lover the depths of his anger as he reached for the herbs that only he would know how to use.

Hiei shook his head, furiously. Waiting for, wanting, missing his fox would not help Yusuke. Neither would wishing their positions were reversed. Kurama had been teaching Yusuke the use of herbs; there was a good chance the human boy would have known what to do.

Kurama had tried for years to teach Hiei about his beloved plants, but it had been one thing which Hiei had stubbornly refused to give his fox. He had thought it was funny – after all, Kurama spent so much time teasing him, and got so much enjoyment from it, that Hiei had enjoyed having something the fox wanted.

He resolved to acquiesce to Kurama's desire to teach him when (Not if) he was reunited with the man. Kurama could teach him and Yusuke at the same time – it would be entertaining.

And it would happen. Hiei could see it clearly in his mind's eye. He would have them both. Nothing would stop him. He would not allow anything to stop him.

Hiei summoned his power as he ripped the band off his head and Looked at Yusuke. He could see the poison in his system, slowing down the flow of blood, hampering the progress of his heart. The highest concentration of the venom seemed to be gathered in the center of Yusuke's body, the chakra where his spirit energy made its home.

It would be difficult to rid the human boy of the poison without harming him, but Hiei was sure he could. He could do it because he could not allow himself to fail.

He reached for Yusuke arm, slid his hands over it until he found the small puncture wound where the toxin had first entered.

A tiny, sharp flare of power and the wound was reopened. Hiei visualized a thin needle trailing a long strand, and his energy eagerly formed itself to that shape, entering the wound.

He worked slowly at first, working the power down the path of the poison. Where his power touched, the rancid taint was burned away.

He got to Yusuke's shoulder and drew back enough to check his progress. All seemed as well as it could be, though almost half his time had already passed.

Grinding his teeth, Hiei reluctantly allowed his power to split into more needles – there was no other way to have even a small chance of finishing in time, though his control would be diminished, and one slip-up could burn more than the venom.

No, it would not happen. He would not allow it to happen.

He closed his regular eyes, though his jagan remained intent on Yusuke, the gentle glow of the needles burning away the toxin, returning Yusuke's body to himself.

Somewhere outside of himself he was aware of time passing, and he urged the needles to move faster. Careful but fast he urged, desperation growing.

Then, suddenly, the sickly red-green of the venom was gone, leaving Yusuke's blood pure and clean and perfect. Hiei couldn't help but shoot their captors a triumphant smile as he pulled back his power.

"You have failed." Sylanal informed him.

Hiei lifted his lip in a sneer, but the snake man was unrelenting.

"Get up, detective. We'll fight out way out of here."

No presence fell into place beside him. No flare of power joined his own.

He glanced back at the table to find Yusuke just as he had been before. Unmoving, pale. If anything, his breathing had slowed even further.

The last grain of sand began to fall.

"No."

Hiei gathered his energy once more, and plunged as much of it as he dared into the detective.

Hiei stood outside one of the entrances to the well-worn channels through which Yusuke's power ran through his body. He was not, of course, physically there, but he might as well have been for how strong the vision was.

Power channels were different for every person, of course. Predictably, Kurama's channels took the form of a deep, overgrown forest – a maze of vines and trees and who knew what else that the fox alone knew how to traverse. The reason for its complexity was defense, of course. There were many apparitions with the power to take over another's body – if the channels were confusing for them, then they would have trouble using Kurama's power. Hiei's own channels were several series of connecting rivers. Just as maze-like as Kurama's, and very deep, with powerful currents.

Yusuke's channels were cement pipes – like a sewer system. Probably based on an old play area from his childhood. The thought would have made most people feel pity for Yusuke and the way he had grown up.

Hiei didn't have time for that. The last grain of sand had fallen, and he could feel from somewhere outside his body that the snake people were working even now to take down the wards.

Hiei began to run.

It had been surprising to find Yusuke's power channels as complicated as Hiei's own – a pleasant surprise, certainly. But most of the "wrong" turns had a look of newness to them that let Hiei know that they were nothing more than the result of Genkai's training. Most people would not know what the newness meant without being as familiar with Yusuke as Hiei was, but he would have to make a note to himself to take some part of his own in the human boy's training.

As soon as we get out, Hiei promised himself silently.

And then he was there.

He came to an abrupt stop as he reached it – the large and open chamber where Yusuke's power made its home. The place should have been flooded with light and power.

Instead, it was nearly empty.

Hiei crossed the room to the middle, where a large pillar rose from the floor and into the high ceiling. It almost looked to be a natural part of the chamber and, in fact, Hiei would have thought it was had he not caught a sudden flash of reddish green and realized that the pillar had been built by the toxin in its fight to control Yusuke's spirit energy and destroy the detective.

How much time had passed, Hiei wondered as he circled the pillar. Undoubtedly, Yusuke was already dying. Could, in fact, already be dead.

No. Hiei dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred. Yusuke was not dead. He would not allow Yusuke to be dead.

Hiei took a swing at the pillar, and his hand passed through.

Attacking was pointless then.

But something behind the barrier had moved when his hand passed through. Something dark and swirling and strong enough to make his teeth ache. It had to be Yusuke, trapped within the pillar.

Outside, Hiei could sense the candles of the circle beginning to go out, one by one.

An unfamiliar emotion passed over him then – something like panic.

Hiei plunged his hands into the pillar, and met what felt like thick, warm water.

How the hell was he supposed to get it out of there?

The barrier outside was falling. Soon the snake people would come for him. Soon they would take him away and Yusuke would be lost forever.

"Damn it, detective!" he hissed, wetness stinging his eyes as his metaphysical hands fished around within the column. "Don't do this to me. We have to get our fox – you can't leave yet!"

"He's gone, small one." The voice of Sylanal was saying from outside, approaching. "There's nothing more you can do for him."

No. He wouldn't allow it.

"Detective!"

A hand reached through the thick liquid to grasp his own. Hiei closed his fingers convulsively around it and pulled.

The column shattered.

At first there was nothing but a loud rumble.

Then the liquid inside the column came rushing out in a scorching hot flood. Blue-black and sharp and powerful and smelling of Yusuke so strongly that something broke within Hiei as it swept him away, pushing him back out of the chamber, through the channels.

The invisible hand remained in his as he drowned.

Hiei found himself suddenly and rudely shoved back into his own body. It was dark without the candles, and the snakes had surrounded them – were far closer than he would have preferred. Slyanal had his hand on his shoulder, and there were tears on Hiei's face.

"It was a noble effort, little warrior. No one will say otherwise. It will go better for you now if you come peaceably. You have lost the challenge."

"Go fuck yourself." Hiei snarled, clutching at the hand he held in his own.

The snake man frowned, the first spark of anger showing in his eyes. "The agreement was simple - "

Hiei wasn't listening, too distracted was he by the fact that when he had squeezed Yusuke's hand…

Yusuke had squeezed back.

Hiei's head swiveled around and he found himself staring into a pair of eyes that were a deep, swimming yellow.

The eyes were different, but Yusuke's face was the same – deceptively delicate, surprisingly pretty. The dark hair falling around his bare shoulders seemed different, and there was something strange about his ears, but Hiei didn't – couldn't – care because, different though they were, the personality behind those eyes was Yusuke's.

"Detective." He whispered.

Those strange eyes blinked, then shifted to look past him, sharpening into a glare as they fixed on Sylanal.

"I remember you." Yusuke growled, sitting up. His hair fell down in waves, all the way into his lap so that it nearly hid the fact he was nude. It hadn't been that long before. By the sound, Sylanal may have backed up. Hiei didn't know, because he was unwilling to look away from Yusuke. If he looked away, the detective may disappear.

"How is this possible?" The voice of the snake man demanded.

Hiei reached up and brushed his hand against one of Yusuke's ears. It was pointed and set atop his head, covered in a thick, silken black fuzz.

Cat's ears.

"I don't think I like you." Yusuke continued, unconsciously leaning into Hiei's touch.

"You tricked us." Sylanal accused. "We thought you were human."

A low, dangerous, animalistic growl filled Yusuke's throat. He bared his teeth and hissed, bearing fangs.

A tail lashed against Hiei's thigh. Yusuke's tail.

"And what the hell's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"Detective…"

Yusuke only glanced at him for the briefest of seconds.

"Give me a minute, Hiei. I gotta deal with these bastards, first."

"Detective."

"What Hiei?"

Yusuke met his eyes again, and stayed there. He seemed to see something that surprised him.

"Hiei, have you…" He hesitated, hand reaching up as if to brush Hiei's cheek, then falling away. "Did they hurt you?"

Hiei couldn't help it. He laughed.

"Lord Sylanal," Mila's voice rang out suddenly, unexpectedly, "Forgive me, but the agreement was made. You have lost. Our chance is gone."

Sylanal made some kind of irritated sound, then…vanished. The girls disappeared moments later.

"What the hell, man?" Yusuke demanded.

Hiei shook his head.

"We need to get out of here."

"Yeah." Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, I think I agree."

He tried to stand, and stumbled. Hiei caught him easily about the waist and pulled him close to his side, inhaling his scent deeply, thankfully.

"What the hell did they do to me?" Yusuke asked, voice losing its confidence, its strength.

"Come on, detective."

"Give me a minute." He breathed.

"If you don't hurry, I'm going to carry you."

Yusuke looked at him with warmth in his eyes and abruptly fell against him, hugging him. Hiei tightened his arms around him, gratefully nuzzling his warm neck.

Behind them, the sun began to rise.

Yusuke could not stop staring at his reflection in the mirror.

Hiei had left him to explore the manor for any supplies that might be useful to them, leaving it to Yusuke to finish repacking their supplies. Hiei seemed to believe that they would not be bothered again, and Yusuke thought he agreed with him.

Still, he couldn't look away from the mirror, nor the stranger within.

Demon.

Hiei didn't even seem concerned about the change, deciding that Yusuke's spirit energy had been changed by coming into such close metaphysical contact with Hiei's own.

"Why are you so upset about this, Yusuke?" Hiei had asked, seeming not to notice that he had used his first name. "You've been improved. This is a good thing."

But…

"I'm sorry."

Yusuke spun at the sudden unexpected sound of the voice, staring at Mila, who stood in a shadowed corner of the room, tears running down her face. She was hard to see, transparent.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

"We just wanted to be real again." She whispered. "We have the power to return at the expense of the souls of others…and you two were so strong. If you hadn't tried to leave, we wouldn't have had to force the ceremony. It would have been so quiet and easy and painless. And we could have come back. We could have left this place." She stopped, a sob catching in her throat. "We could have had our vengeance on he who killed us."

Abruptly she held out her hand, revealing the small bag she held clutched within it.

"Please. Take this. My present for you."

"What…?"

"I really did like you, Yusuke." She smiled. "Please…please be careful. I know you were on your way to Sha'kinn. Please, please turn back. He'll be there by now."

"He?"

"The one who killed us."

"We have to go. We're looking for someone."

She nodded sadly. "I thought you would say that. Then at least promise me you won't go near him. The silver fox. If you hear he's there, then leave. Whoever you're searching for can't be worth your life. Not when your companion fought so hard to save you."

"The fox…youko?"

"Don't say that word!"

Yusuke hesitated, heart in his throat.

"When were you killed?"

"Moments before you arrived." She answered sadly. "It was why our souls appeared so solid to you. Then, once we began to feed from you…" She shuddered, and held out the bag once more. "Please, I can't stay any longer. Please take my gift."

Cold, Yusuke held out his hand to accept the offering. The moment it touched his hand, she was gone.

To Be Continued

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Response to unsigned reviews:

hanahana-chan - better now?

kit-kit - Hiei's past is more importnt to him than he likes to admit...

BballAnimeLover89 - done.

Abi - Well...here you go.

Thanks everyone. Hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to stop and tell me what you thought! Neko Yusuke has returned at last!