The next week practically flew by. The dreams at night had taken the same turn that the flash in the kitchen had. They were almost… happy. It was a great relief, even if the dreams seemed to be slightly out of order. Kurama had stopped writing in the dream journal after Tomoe had died. He still didn't want to write anymore than the sentence that he had already.

Kurama continued to have kendo practice everyday after school, though he wasn't making much progress in Kamiya Kasshin-ryu. His mind kept wandering back to the sword style that Tsukayama said didn't exist, but Myojin insisted did. Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu…

He still wasn't sure if he truly was remembering a past life, or was merely going insane.

Other than that, it was a normal week.

Until Saturday.

"Weren't you planning to hang out with some friends today, Shuichi?" his mom asked, when she saw that he wasn't actually leaving.

"Yes…"

"Come on, shoo. You'll have fun."

And with that, Kurama found his coat thrust at him, the door open, and him out of the house.

Kurama wandered, not really wanting the questioning to begin again, but still his feet somehow came to the train station that would take him to Genkai's temple. Sighing, he mentally admitted defeat and bought a ticket.

When he got there, everyone was already inside and working. Deciding to avoid the interrogation for now, he headed for the bamboo forest. Since Kurama was the plant master, Genkai had decided that he would work on getting rid of the dead and sickly stalks last week.

Kurama began his job easily. By coaxing the roots to shrink on the ones that needed to be removed, it was a simple task to bring them down. Then he found one that seemed perfectly healthy, but wasn't. Because the stalk believed that it was fine, it was much more stubborn about its roots than the others, and refused to allow Kurama to use his trick. Eventually, with much convincing on his part, he got the roots undone enough for him to start pushing the stalk down.

It uprooted unexpectedly, and sent Kurama tumbling down a small rise. "Ack!" He tumbled to a stop in front of a old, slightly rusty sword. He glared at the stalk. He could of sworn he heard it snicker. Standing up, he saw that the sword was stuck into the ground at the foot of a grave.

Chills ran down his spine as he stepped forward and dusted off the name on the headstone. "Himura Kenshin…?"

"So you found your grave, Battousai," a cold voice spoke from behind him. Kurama jumped and turned around to see Fujita Goro. "You haven't remembered…?" Only now did Kurama realize that the man was carrying a sword, and only because he began to draw it. He blinked as he felt his own hand fly to his waist. What was he thinking? He didn't have a sword with him! But… this one could use one if you did. Kurama glanced at the sword. His eyes refocused on Fujita as he brought the sword in front of his face and spoke, "Perhaps I shall have to make you."

Kurama ran, snatching the sword as he dashed by. He heard the bamboo behind him virtually explode as Fujita attacked, using a Gatotsu. How did I know that? Was Fujita a part of the past life? And was the past life the one speaking to me?

He burst out of the bamboo grove, sprinting toward the temple. He skid to a stop in front of a surprised Yusuke and Kuwabara. They must have come out because of the noise, Kurama absently thought.

"Kurama? When did you get here?" Kuwabara wondered.

Yusuke shoved the idiot to the side, asking instead, "What's going on?"

"I don't know! Fujita-san's trying to kill me!"

Yusuke blinked. The name sounded familiar…. oh yeah! The Squinty-Eyed Policeman! Yusuke blinked again as said Squinty-Eyed Policeman emerged from the forest. With a sword. Before Yusuke or Kuwabara could even open their mouths to warn Kurama, the fox's right arm swung up, holding a sheath, to block Squinty's thrust.

"Saito."

Yusuke was slightly surprised. Kurama's voice had gone…freaky. It was still his voice, but… different somehow. Older. He also looked more normalwith the sword in his hand. Kurama looked up, and Yusuke drew in his breath slightly. His eyes… were purple? What the…?

Kuwabara nudged him and asked, "Aren't his eyes normally green?" Yusuke whacked him and watched as Kurama turned around to face Squinty. For some reason, he was pretty happy about whatever was up with Kurama.

"So you do remember," he muttered.

"Of course." With that, Kurama (was he?) unsheathed the sword with speed Hiei would be jealous of, and sliced at the other swordsman.

He leaped out of the way, asking as he landed, "Then what's your name?" Kurama paused. His opponent smirked. "You don't remember that yet, do you?" The smirk widened as he noticed swirls of green in the redhead's predominately purple eyes.

"You called me Battousai…" he said slowly, "and you said the grave of Himura Kenshin was mine…"

"Yes," Saito said. He didn't give him the chance to respond before attacking again. Kurama parried, but not quickly enough to avoid getting cut across his chest. He winced, pressing the wound in an attempt to make it stop bleeding. "But you still don't remember enough."

"This one remembers that you are his enemy." Kurama crouched, then leapt into the air, coming down in a Ryutsuisen. Saito swung the sword up and blocked his downward swing, but before Kurama could recover and land properly, he felt the sword stab into his left shoulder.

"Still not good enough, Battousai," sneered the policeman, licking Kurama's blood from his blade. "You hope to fight me like this? As a weak child, weaker even than your years as the rurouni made you?" He spat. "Pathetic." Kurama was breathing hard, and losing blood from both his chest and shoulder. "The only way you have any hope of winning is by becoming the fighter you once were."

Kurama stood, and amber eyes snapped open, glaring at Saito. He sprinted towards the older man. There was a clang as the two crossed swords, glaring into each others' eyes, faces inches apart. They broke away, a surprised look on Saito's face, a calculating spark in Yoko's eyes. After the initial surprise, Saito began laughing softly. "The Demon of Kyoto is now a demon!" He stopped laughing, instead a predatory look on his face. "That's perfect. There's no need for me to hold back anymore."

Kurama's eyes widened as he watched Saito take a step back—and change. The air around him shivered, like it would looking over a fire, and when it stilled, Saito had wolf ears and a wolf tail.

"Then the nickname of "Wolf of Mibu" was also rather accurate. You're not the reincarnation of Saito. You are Saito Hajime, Captain of the Third Unit of the Shinsengumi."

Saito only smirked, and attacked the fox demon, sending him crashing towards Yusuke and Kuwabara. The two were able to get out of the way in time… but neither of them thought of the door they were standing in front of. The door that they had only just repaired.

CRASH!

The door they would now have to repair again.

"KURAMA!"

"Damnit!"

A redheaded, green-eyed, confused figure dug himself out of the rubble. "…?"

"You fix it!" Yusuke yelled, flinging a hammer at him. It connected with Kurama's head with a loud clunk.

"Orororo…"

Looking up from the swirly-eyed redhead, Yusuke glanced around for Squinty. He'd vanished.

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Saito lit a cigarette as he took a roundabout way back to the place his force-issued motorcycle was parked. After the Battousai had reverted, the fight would have been no fun. He let himself smirk slightly as he climbed onto the bike. Now he sounded like that bird-headed idiot.

At least the child was beginning to remember for real now. And the fact that he was a demon was… interesting to say the least.

Koenma stalked down the hallway, cloak swirling behind his teenage form. According to Botan, the whole team would be working on fixing up Genkai's temple from the damage caused by Yakumo for the next few weekends.

"YUSUKE!"

A head poked out of the dining room. "Toddler? What's up?"

Koenma narrowed his eyes. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Yusuke grinned cheekily. Koenma sighed. "Never mind. Get everyone together. I have a new mission for you."

"I can get Kuwa-baka and Hiei for you, but…" Yusuke got a slightly evil glint in his eye. "Kurama's busy."

Koenma waved it off. "Whatever, just as many of you as are here." Yusuke nodded, and went to go get the other two Spirit Detectives.

"Alright," Koenma said as the three sat around the small table placed in one of the larger rooms of the temple. "As Yusuke may or may not have mentioned, I have a new mission for you."

"We get to fight demons, right?" Kuwabara asked excitedly.

"Actually, no. This time, you're to find a spirit." Yusuke blinked, Kuwabara was confused, Hiei didn't care. "This is a picture of him when he was alive," Koenma continued, bringing out an old Edo painting of a man with long, red hair tied up in a high ponytail, narrow, amber eyes, a sword held in front of his face over his right shoulder, and wearing a blue gi and white hakama. Overall, he looked deadly. "Hitokiri Battousai, age fourteen.

"This is the same man at the age of twenty-eight." Koenma brought out another painting, not noticing that Yusuke had looked up when Koenma had said the name of the figure. This painting was of a man with the same long red hair, but it was tied into a low ponytail. He too carried a sword, but this one was instead tied at his waist. His wide, purple eyes were set in a face marred by a cross shaped scar on his left cheek. His pink gi was tied back in order to free his arms while he did laundry, soaking something white in a small bucket. He was looking at the viewer with a very familiar confused expression on his face. "At this point in his life, he went by the name of Himura Kenshin."

Yusuke looked between the two pictures, one deadly, one innocent, yet jaded, and noticed the similarity between the two and one other that he knew already. "And how are we supposed to find this guy?"

"It depends on if he's remembered or not. He should have, but we can't be sure. We don't really know how old he is, but we think he'll look like what he did in his past life. If he's remembered, then he'll have that" Koenma pointed to the scar in the pictures. "on his left cheek. When I judged him, I noticed that he sill had it. Most scars don't actually appear on a ghost—that one did. It's a scar on his soul."

Yusuke glanced at Hiei and noticed that he was looking at the pictures as closely as he himself had. "A scar on the soul?"

"It was caused by something that basically traumatized him, something that stayed with him even into death. And hopefully after, since it might be the only way we can recognize him."

"Do you have any idea of the way that the reincarnation might have begun to remember?" Hiei asked, looking away from the paintings and at Koenma. Yusuke nodded, knowing what Hiei was thinking.

"Reincarnations usually dream about their past lives, before beginning to act like who they used to be. For instance, ours might develop an interest in swords…"

Yusuke began to smirk. "So where do you think we'll find this guy?"

Koenma shrugged. "He likes laundry, try the nearest Laundromat."

Yusuke leaned back in his chair, balancing it on two legs. "I know where he is…." he said, in a sing-song voice.

Koenma leapt to his feet. "What?!"

Yusuke set his chair back down on the floor with a thunk. "OI! Kurama! Get in here!!!"

CLATTERCRASHBANG!

"Oro!"

Kurama came limping into the room, nursing a swollen thumb. "Yusuke, the door's not going to be finished for a while if you keep making me break it…"

Yusuke ignored him, instead turning to Koenma. "Found him."

"You're telling me that Kurama is the reincarnation of Kenshin?!"

Yusuke grinned. "Yep."

During all of this, Kurama had begun to look slightly scared. Hoping that Yusuke and Koenma would get so wrapped up in their conversation (read: argument) that they wouldn't notice him leaving, he began inching toward the door.

Unfortunately, Yusuke decided to fix this… by tackling Kurama. "No you don't! You wouldn't tell us anything, so we had to figure it out for ourselves. GET BACK HERE!"

"Oro!" Kurama scrambled away from Yusuke, and would have made it, except that Yusuke was latched onto his leg. He met the ground with a thud. Before he could attempt to defend himself, Yusuke reached up and ripped the bandage off of his face. Kurama clapped his hand over his cheek, but not before everyone had seen the scar.

Koenma's jaw dropped open, as did Kuwabara's. Hiei and Yusuke looked rather triumphant. Kurama just looked down, hiding his eyes with his bangs, not looking at anyone.

Koenma blinked. "Well, that was easy enough… Surprisingly easy."

Yusuke stood up suddenly. "There's something else. Why were we supposed to find him, anyway?"

Koenma blinked, and tore his eyes away from Kurama's hand. Coughing, he began to explain. "Ahem. Right, you see, we've had a renegade ghost."

"A what?" Yusuke asked, deadpan.

"A spirit who escaped from the Spirit World. Unfortunately for them, their security's not as tight as they lead you to believe." The fox had a slightly evil glint in his eye.

"You would know…" Koenma muttered. Kurama gave him an innocent look, earning a sigh. "Anyway, that's the reason why most ghosts on the living plane exist—they left. "Most of them are harmless. This one, however, is different." Koenma sat at the head of the table. "Occasionally, we have an escapee who has evil intentions. In this case, we know what," He looked pointedly at Kurama, "Or who he's after. So we thought we'd warn him."

Kurama nodded. "Who is it?"

"His name's Enishi. He's after you because…"

"I know why," Kurama interrupted. Koenma decided not to press the subject. At that point, the people gathered heard a ringing coming from Koenma's cloak. He blushed.

"Hold on…" He withdrew a sleek cell phone and flipped it open. "Didn't I tell you not to call me unless it's important? What do you mean the high-security spirit escaped?!" A pause, and Koenma sighed. "Yes, I know that's exactly what you meant. It's a rhetorical question, George." Another pause. "STOP APOLOGIZING! Which one?" A short pause. "Ah. THAT one. He finally managed it? About time, I thought he was supposed to be good." A long pause. "Okay, maybe breaking into a vault is easier than breaking out of one. But why are you defending him?! I don't care if he was a good thief!" Koenma hung up the phone with a snap. "I'm sorry, but it appears that I am needed back in the Spirit World."

With that final sentence, Koenma stalked out of the temple muttering about how big, blue ogres can never handle anything for themselves, especially in a crisis.

After Koenma left, there was a moment where the four detectives sat and looked at each other. Kurama broke the silence, saying, "Well, I better get going…" He made a break for the door.

Yusuke rolled his eyes and tripped him.

"Pathetic," Hiei muttered, standing over the swirly-eyed Kurama.

Kuwabara was holding the second painting Koenma had shown them, and looked between it and Kurama. "You know, they do look alike…"