AN: Alrighty now, here's chapter 5. As usual, I am extremely sorry about the time it took to post it. Something as dark as this is completely new to me, so I'm kind of learning as I go.

Many thanks go to my beta reader, epk95m, for her excellent suggestions, and for catching the normal grammar mistakes I always seem to make.

Review Responses:

Vespisia: Thank you kindly for the compliments. Suspense is also rather new to me, so I'm glad I'm making it work.

Foxgurl0000: I hope you're feeling better and that things have calmed down for you. I'll just bet that you have several ideas of what's going to happen. Although while at this point in time I couldn't tell you exactly what's going to happen, I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to occur. I hope you're prepared to read some angst, more so than my Savin Me fic, the first of this series. /pauses/ Yes, that was a shameless plug there, please forgive me.

Silverchild of the winds: Thank you, I've been trying to make the chapters at least a decent length. I seem to always create short chapters so I've been working on that. As for Genkai being so accomadating with Hiei and the other two running off to the Makai, I like to think of it as her being rather worried about her pupils (Jin and Touya) and the fact that this virus could begin affecting other demons, such as Yusuke. Besides, she knows that Hiei tends to show he's worried in subtle ways, such as him "escorting" Kurama and Yukina to find a possible cure.

Kurama returned to Hiei and Yukina by nightfall, after picking up some basic supplies and explaining to his mother that he'd be away for some time helping some friends. He refrained from mentioning that said friends were currently suffering from a potentially fatal disease that could, in all honesty, affect him as well. Nor did he tell her that if he didn't find a cure then it could mean the downfall of an entire species. Some things were just better left unsaid.

No, such things were better left a secret. He was not yet ready to reveal his true nature to his mother and to tell her where he was going would unlock the doors he had held shut for so long. The doors that he didn't plan on opening anytime soon.

When Kurama found the clearing where his traveling companions were waiting, he had to pause to look at the picture they made. He barely stopped himself from chuckling. 'And Hiei says they aren't alike.'

Yukina was sitting in the middle of the small glade, animals surrounding her. There were several small songbirds using her shoulders and hands as perches. Yukina spoke quietly to them, giggling every so often.

A quick glance to the side showed Hiei resting against a tree, his head pillowed by his hands and his eyes closed. What amused Kurama, however, was the fact that a few of the bolder critters had lain quite near him, and a few of the birds had actually decided to risk everything and had landed on his knee. Hiei hadn't bothered to shoo them away; in fact, he looked as though he was asleep.

Being as quick and quiet as he could, Kurama dug around in his bag for the camera that his mother had insisted that he bring along. He'd been mildly annoyed at the time, seeing as he was attempting to save the lives of both his friends and his people, but now he was grateful.

'Come on, where are you?' he thought desperately. 'This is too good a chance to pass up. Aha!'

He pulled out the camera in triumph. A furtive look was sent towards Hiei to make sure that he hadn't been found out, but to Kurama's immense relief the fire demon hadn't so much as twitched. Moving as fast as he could, Kurama took four shots, two for each twin. A grin reminiscent of their leader appeared on his lips. 'Yusuke will laugh himself silly when he sees these.' His grin faded as he remembered the current situation. 'Although I seriously doubt there will be any laughing at the temple anytime soon if we don't find a cure soon.' He sighed lightly before entering the clearing.

As he started forward, all of the animals looked over at him before running off into the woods. All except a small bird still perched on Hiei, that is. Yukina stood up to greet him, a small bird returning to land on her as well.

Kurama's voice was rich with amusement. "Well, I see that the two of you have found some new friends while I was away."

Hiei had awoken the moment Kurama walked into the clearing and now opened his eyes to glare at the fox. "What are you…" his voice trailed off as he became aware of the fact that something was on his knee. Dragging his gaze away from his partner's amused stare, he was shocked to see a small songbird sitting quite happily on his knee, looking up at him calmly. He frowned and was about to reach for his katana when he heard the sound of Yukina's happy laughter.

"Oh, how cute." Yukina was delighted. She'd never imagined Hiei to be the type to allow animals to touch him, yet here he was permitting one to rest on him. Granted he probably hadn't known, given the surprised look on his face, but the fact that he wasn't killing it spoke volumes.

Hiei grimaced. He couldn't kill the damn thing now that Yukina had seen it. To do so would only upset her and if there was one thing he hated, it was upsetting his sister. Now he had to get rid of it the hard way.

Waving his hand at it, Hiei was surprised when all it did was follow the arc of his hand before chirping at him. He blinked, unsure of what to do, when the sound of Kurama's barely muffled laughter reached him. Sending a dark glare his way, Hiei decided to put an end to this farce. Standing up quickly, he was relieved to see the bird tumble off of him. His relief was short-lived, however, as the bird righted itself and landed on his shoulder before he had taken more than a few steps.

He froze, dumbfounded. Did the bird have a death wish or something? Closing his eyes, Hiei tried to reign in his temper. He refused to allow a pathetic bird to get the better of him.

When he heard the sound of someone approaching him, he opened his eyes to see Yukina standing next to him extending her hand to the nuisance on his shoulder.

"Come on now, it's time to go home." Yukina spoke softly to it. Hiei had tolerated it so far but it was painfully obvious to Yukina that the little bird had overstayed its welcome.

The bird cocked its head at her before hopping into her hand. It only stayed there for a few moments before taking off for the woods. The bird on Yukina's shoulder chirped and followed suit.

Hiei gave a silent sigh of relief. It was about time that cursed thing left him alone. He leaned down quickly to grab the bag that Genkai had prepared for Yukina, all the while studiously avoiding Kurama's eyes, before walking in the direction of the portal.

"Let's get going already. We've wasted enough time."

Yukina scrambled to catch up to him, leaving Kurama to trail after them, still chuckling softly.

Soon after, there was a pulse of energy as the portal was activated, and then another as it was temporarily sealed.

-_-_-_-

Deep within the depths of the Makai, a broken down castle lay nestled in the shadowy confines of an overgrown forest. But it was underneath a trapdoor that revealed the true nature of this place. If one were to use the ladder and lower themselves into the dark pit, they would discover the caverns below the castle, caverns that had been transformed into a high-tech laboratory. Servants crept through the shadows, hoping with all their beings that they would remain out of sight, and thus out of their master's experiments.

For the past two years, the master had been on edge, having raving fights with his second in command. However, in the last few weeks, both of those in charge had seemed extremely satisfied. Certain remarks were often overheard from within the master's office.

"Things have been progressing well."

"Yes, we'll be ready to enter stage two of the plan within a few days."

"Oh? And how are the test subjects faring?"

There was a hint of malicious humor in the answer. "Oh, very well indeed. Two of them managed to last for four days. The rest only half a day at most."

Maniacal laughter met this statement, causing anyone outside the door to shudder in sympathy for the poor test subjects.

"Excellent, excellent." The voice lowered confidentially. "Now tell me, what about the two subjects I want in particular? Where are they right now?"

"Oh don't you worry about them. It seems they are doing exactly as you predicted. They avoided the two traitors and are currently proceeding through a portal into the Makai." The smarmy voice became even smugger. "It seems they've also decided to bring along a female elemental as well. She could make an interesting test subject, don't you agree sir?"

"A female? Yes, I have not yet seen the effects on a female. This could get even more interesting."

More laughter filled the air as the servants outside scrambled away so as not to get caught eavesdropping.

AN: Well, there you have it. The plot begins to come together as the key players enter the realm of the mastermind behind the virus. If anybody can guess the identities of the villains, I may create a quick cameo in an upcoming fic as a reward for the first few correct answers.

Please R&R!