A/N: Yo. Another chapter. w00t.

O/C3: The guys meet Coahtu, a woman with fire for hair who seems to be a trainer of Misaki of sorts. Koenma tells them that the Waters are actually a swimming pool and that they have to go undercover to stop the a youkai from breaking into the Makai. An hour has passed since Koenma's final briefing and everyone makes their way to the battle arena they found Misaki in before...

Misaki had gotten to the arena first and had half-heartedly hoped that no one else would come. But everyone did show up; Yukina and Botan first, then Kurama and Hiei and last of all Kuwabara and Yusuke.

At the exact moment the hour arrived, a portal opened. But it was dark.

"Um, aren't we supposed to be able to see the other side?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, under normal circumstances I suppose. But we have to walk through a sort of 'in-between' place in order to reach the right door."

"So you can't just open a portal directly to the Waters." Kurama summed up.

"Right. That would be too easy now wouldn't it?" She looked critically at Kuwabara and Yusuke who had shown up in their swim-trunks, bare-chested, each with a towel over one shoulder. Likewise with Botan and Yukina, save they had swim-suits on. Everyone wore sandals, except Kurama and Hiei who had on their regular clothes.

Misaki chuckled, she wore her usual clothing as well, "If you think this is going to be a walk in the park, prepare yourself," she stepped through the portal and was immersed in darkness.

Misaki paused for a moment, waiting for the others to bustle through the opening. Once everyone had come in, the portal automatically closed behind them silently. The darkness was deep and overpowering. She counted the heartbeats in the black stillness. Everyone was there.

"The two Spirit Detective youkai are adept at being quiet. Well…the youkai and that spirit vessel. For a human he's overwhelming silent. But neither can stop their strange youkai hearts from beating." She could barely hear Kurama and Hiei's breathing—as opposed to the others—but their heartbeats were strong and steady.

No one could see it, but Hiei raised an eyebrow in the darkness.

"I kept forgetting that you can read minds."

"Hn.

"Okay, so you need to follow me. And don't get lost."

"Wait!" Yusuke said, reaching out a hand in the black around him.

Misaki had started to move off, but stopped.

"How are we supposed to follow you when we can't see you?" Yukina asked.

"I can see her just fine," Kuwabara said, "Follow me!"

"Fool. You can't see her. And Yukina can't see you either." Hiei told him.

"Oh. Right."

Misaki sighed, trying to tell herself that they were only human and that she couldn't expect too much from them. Going solo had its perks, one being that you didn't have to deal with people you didn't want to deal with.

"While they are as dumb as they seem, do not underestimate them completely."

"I don't see you as one to defend them. Or anyone else for that matter. And I thought you were still mad at me." Hiei didn't respond, but then again, she hadn't expected him to. She was surprised that he would come to their defense. Then she remembered that the conversation had happened silently and that the two humans in question would never know it took place. Unless she told them.

A silent threat rose into her mind, unformed but still definite. Misaki rolled her eyes; she had no desire to tell them they were actually held in high esteem by their sullen little colleague. The threat remained but wasn't as intense and headache-inducing as before.

While the unspoken words passed between them, Misaki opened her hand and released a ball of bright spirit energy. It floated upwards, suspending itself above and a little to the left of her head, which wasn't actually all that tall anyway. The silvery strands of her hair glinted slightly in the light.

"Better?"

"Yes, much."

"Just try not to trip all over each other." The ball gave off just enough light that Misaki could see about a foot in radius all around her.

The hallway was quite cold and gave one the sensation of being watched all the time. Within a few minutes of walking, Kuwabara and Yusuke had their towels wrapped around their shoulders.

"Misaki, I don't think the temperature is warm enough for the others." Yukina piped up quietly from her side.

Misaki shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts. She had been thinking about Hiei. More specifically, the fact that he was a fire youkai. Her brother had been killed by a fire youkai.

She looked behind her at the others. While Yukina and Hiei were not affected, and Kurama less so than the others, Kuwabara, Yusuke and Botan were all shivering.

"I'm sorry. Just a little farther." She held out the towel hanging over her arm to Botan. Kurama and Hiei both noticed the instant of hesitation from the girl before she reached out and accepted the offering.

"I hope the water isn't cold." Yusuke grumbled.

"It shouldn't be," Misaki replied absently. She continued on. It paid to be wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt. With shoes and socks of course. Misaki had been down this way all too often to not automatically wear appropriate clothing.

Everyone's minds where wandering and Misaki could hear their thoughts. Of course, some of them she didn't really want to hear. Like Kuwabara's.

He was just thinking about how he could get closer to Yukina without alerting Misaki that he was doing so. He was kind of scared of Misaki, she was rather interested to find out. But it was mostly because of Coahtu's actions and not anything Misaki had done. Yet.

She didn't really want to hear Yusuke's thoughts for that matter either. For the most part they held no significance for her. But Kurama's were kind of interesting. She could sense the second consciousness residing, sleeping almost, silently beneath the first but she didn't invade his mind, reserving some things for privacy unless invited, but she could hear his main thoughts without any effort.

In fact, at the moment, he was thinking about her. Which constituted as an invitation in Misaki's book.

"I feel like I know her from somewhere. I know I've heard of her but she seems quite familiar to me." Kurama frowned.

"You're probably unintentionally recalling suppressed familiarity from Yoko. He and I are…acquainted." Misaki told him.

Misaki could feel his surprise.

Kurama heard her chuckle in his head.

"Sorry vessel, I did not intend to startle you, but the conversation you're having in your head is so much more interesting than anyone else's. And you were thinking about me."

"I have a question for you if you don't mind..."

"Yes?"

He had more than one question for her, and both of them knew it but Kurama was the polite sort and wouldn't push any more than he deemed appropriate. He decided to ask something he basically had the answer too, just to see if she would give him a truthful response.

"When we were retrieving you, as soon as Kuwabara stepped into the clearing, he was unable to move or speak. At some point during the fight, each of us became affected by this strange occurrence."

Misaki knew he wasn't finished and so she remained quiet, only letting him know that she was listening.

"I attacked you in the forest with my rose whip but your skin did not bleed."

"Correct."

"At that point I was frozen where I stood and you somehow gained control of my rose whip and wrapped me up in it."

"This also happened. Truly you have a stunning memory."

Kurama ignored her remark and continued, "You then said that our weapons couldn't harm you in that clearing."

"I suppose I did let that slip didn't I?"

"You had a barrier up around the clearing, one that you either retrieved or destroyed before you came back with us to Koenma."

"Destroyed actually."

"Why?"

"Why did I destroy it or why did I have the barrier up?"

"The latter."

"Privacy is the simple answer."

Kurama waited to see if she would elaborate.

"There are times when I do not enjoy being bothered, and so I can set up a device around a certain area that will, in essence, freeze those who enter its radius."

Kurama still didn't say anything. Even with the barrier, how were they still able to move and speak most of the time? Weapons were not supposed to 'affect' her as she put it, but Hiei's katana did slice through her palm. And if she did not want to be bothered, why didn't she just leave when Kuwabara triggered it?

He may not have intended to actually ask Misaki these things but she heard him nonetheless.

"You all intrigued me, to answer the second question. I recognized you personally right off, though the others did take awhile for me to remember. I wanted to know why you were allied with them, visa versa. And the fact that you all were rather unaffected by the barrier sparked my interest as well."

"We were too strong for it." Kurama noted, having figured this out already. He only thought a moment ago 'how they were able to move and speak most of the time' to see if she would answer it without him actually asking her.

"You, vessel, are too smart for your own good." Misaki caught his little trick once he thought about it.

Kurama felt that if they had been talking face-to-face that she would have waggled a finger at him. Feeling as if she was willing to answer another, he talked to her again.

"Yukina and you appear to know each other well."

"Yes."

"When did you meet?"

"…It was a long time ago. I've known her since she was very small."

"Since she was born?"

"…No."

"How did you meet?"

"If I told you I would have to kill you." Misaki joked, though behind the jest was a grain of truth.

"I apologize. We do not know each other well enough. Perhaps once we know one other better…"

"Perhaps."

"May I ask another question?"

"If you wish. I do not guarantee an answer as you know."

"I noticed that your height changes."

"My height?" Misaki echoed.

"When standing next to Yusuke or Botan, your height is equal to theirs. But when you stand next to Hiei, your height is the same as his. You never grow quite as tall as me, and there is no change at all when you are next to Kuwabara."

Misaki thought about it. She never really noticed before. Was he right? Well...yes. She remembered looking into Yusuke's eyes at some point, but she did have to look up to see into Kuwabara's in the forest as well as Kurama's. And she did remember she was Hiei's height because he blocked her way to the door.

"So is there any logical explanation for it, or would you have to kill me if you told me?"

Misaki knew he was smiling, "Um. Actually…until you said that, I never really thought about it. It's been a long time since I've been around people of any sort. Maybe it happened before now and I never noticed. It could have to do with what my brother…" She trailed off, thinking more to herself than to Kurama. Which meant that he lost her thoughts as soon as she trailed back into her own mind.

"With what your brother…?"

He asked it a second time before Misaki noticed he was actually trying to talk to her. She was going to respond with 'If I told you I'd have to kill you' but she felt the sudden strong pull of the Waters to her right.

Hiei was following close behind her, making sure that if she took off and left them, he could see what direction she took, so he ran into her when she stopped.

"We're here," she said out loud, pulling herself from Kurama's mind. She turned toward them and made the ball brighter so she could see everyone's faces.

"Alright," she said in a lecture voice.

Yusuke and Kuwabara groaned, recognizing the tone.

"We'll need to fit in here. This means no picking fights and trying to act normal and sociable. If some random youkai comes up to you and starts a conversation, act like you know what they're talking about," She took a breath, "Secondly, no one is going to recognize any of you. It's one of the effects of the Waters but that doesn't mean they won't recognize your spirit energy signature so try to keep that under wraps. One more thing," She looked at the two human boys, "Don't let them know you're not youkai. Any questions, comments, concerns?" She went on immediately, not giving a chance for any such words, "Well, a concern besides the fact that if anyone figures out who you are, you'll be dead before you can even attempt to convince them they're wrong."

"Stop treating us like children," Hiei glared at her.

"The day you stop acting like a child is the day I stop treating you like one," she told him, "And by the way," she looked back over her shoulder at Hiei and Kurama as she reached for the trigger for the portal to open, "Blending in means you're in the water. Swimming." She looked pointedly at their outfits.

"And what about you?" Kurama asked calmly.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much for your concern. And don't act surprised when once I get in there. That will certainly give you away."

"Act surprised about what?" Kuwabara asked.

"They will assume that you know me decently enough for me to bring you here with me. If it looks like you don't know me, they'll be suspicious. And acting surprised at me is a surefire way to put them on that track of thought."

"Just open the door," Botan said impatiently.

Misaki shrugged, "Suit yourself." She opened the portal and stepped through, the others following cautiously behind.

A bright light flashed, and everyone had to blink several times so they could see.

Once everyone's eyes cleared, they realized that the pool was in fact teeming with youkai, but the pool was huge and quite a few more could have fit in comfortably.

There were various youkai splashing around in the water, several jumping off the diving board. A few were scattered around the edge, some sunbathing, others sitting with their feet dangling into the water.

Misaki motioned to her left, "There are locker-rooms over there."

Kurama and Hiei moved off in that direction.

"Misaki!"

"Hey look! It's Misaki!"

"The Ansatsusha? Where?"

"Over here! Hey, when did you get back?"

Youkai swarmed around them.

"When did I ever leave?" Misaki asked with mock-innocence.

"Who is this?" Some of the more brave female youkai spotted Yusuke and sidled up to him.

"He's a new friend, why don't you girls make him a little more comfortable?"

"Gladly," one of them grabbed his arm and the females led him off into the pool.

Misaki chuckled. Much to her surprise, however, some of them grabbed Kuwabara and took him as well. Misaki turned to scoot Botan and Yukina off, but Botan had mingled off and a few younger youkai managed to convince shy Yukina to come with them.

"Okay. I did miss this. I'll admit it. At least, I'll admit it in my head." She smiled at the youkai still around her.

A very tall one with slicked-back black hair reached out his hand like a gentleman, "Would you like to join me in the water, Ansatsusha?"

The other youkai noticed him, but were too busy talking excitedly amongst themselves about her return.

...

Hiei and Kurama came out of the locker room and saw Misaki surrounded.

"That man looks familiar. And I don't trust Misaki for one second by herself."

Kurama suppressed a smile, "Does this have to do with the fact that she has a rather large following here, or something else?"

Hiei didn't answer.

"Though I agree," Kurama went on, "There is something familiar about him."

They watched as she took his hand and the whole group moved towards the water. The other youkai jumped in, but Misaki hung back to sit down at one of the tables. The man sat down beside her and they seemed to be talking.

...

A youkai female popped her head out of the water and pointed over at Hiei and Kurama.

"What's with them?" she asked Misaki.

Misaki stood up and undressed, revealing her swim suit underneath.

"What did she ask?"

"She wants to know why you two aren't blending in," Misaki told the fire youkai angrily.

"They're new at this," Misaki explained.

"First time here for them, huh?"

"Yup."

Another female's head appeared and she turned to her friend, "I think he's kind of cute."

"Which one?" the other asked.

"They're both cute," the second giggled.

"Go and introduce yourselves," Misaki prompted.

"Are they with you, Misaki?" a third wanted to know.

All three of them giggled again and Misaki headed for the diving board. She glanced at Hiei and Kurama as she walked off; they were in the water.

"Good, took them long enough." she went to the end of the line and waited for the show-offs in front of her to finish.

"Misaki, show us something worthy!"

Misaki smirked and got onto the end of the board, "What am I? A side-show for your personal amusement?"

The youkai laughed, "Not at all. Just give us something we can enjoy."

She made a deep sweeping bow, "My only thought is to entertain you."

Several other youkai laughed as they tuned in to the conversation and a few of the others in the pool stopped what they were doing to watch her.

"Well?" one of them asked impatiently.

Misaki grinned as she turned and walked to the back of the board, knowing that the guys were watching her as well. So she did enjoy showing off. So sue her. She only did it because they were there.

She took a deep breath and turned. She ran to the edge of the board, bounced down hard and jumped high over the water. She heard cheering as she twisted her body a few times in the air, flipping quickly afterwards so that her head faced the water before straightening out, diving jackknife style down into the water, making hardly any splash at all. The water felt cool against her skin. Just because she had been by herself for a long time didn't mean that she had given up on swimming and diving. It was one of her relaxation activities. She had worked on that particular dive for a while but she was a bit rusty.

Misaki came up by Yusuke. The girls around him squealed as she splashed water at them. They started pelting her with questions.

"Misaki, we missed you!"

"Why did you have to go and leave us all of a sudden?" one pouted.

"Yeah, you didn't even give us any warning, just poof, off the face of the earth."

"What was up with that?"

"Oh I just had some business I had to take care of," Misaki evaded their questioning.

"Hey Misaki! Can we steal you for a moment?" a couple of voices called from a ways a way.

"Sorry girls. Keep him company," Misaki grinned savagely and swam elegantly towards the owners of the voices.

For the next few hours, everything went on as it usually did at the Waters. Splashing, playing, everyone enjoying themselves and, for once, there weren't any fights; partly because Misaki was there. The youkai began to get tired or bored, so they started leaving. The man who had taken Misaki's hand earlier and Misaki talked in the deep end of the water, watching the last few youkai leave.

"Those two look to me as if they're planning something," Hiei said under his breath.

Kurama kept his opinion to himself, but looked at the pair Hiei was grumbling about, "He does seem familiar to me; the slick black hair..."

"Hn. Yusuke." Hiei responded.

Kurama took a good look, and then shrugged, "That's probably it. I guess everyone with hair like Yusuke's will look like Yusuke to me anymore."

...

The man reached over to Misaki and ran his fingers through her hair once, "Guess I'd better be going too." He got out and dried off.

Misaki dove back under the water to the shallower end of the pool. The girls were saying goodbye to Yusuke, Kuwabara was attempting to work on his tan, and Botan and Yukina were having a water fight. Misaki called them all over.

"So now what?" Kuwabara asked.

Misaki gave him a blank look.

"He means what do we do now? Obviously none of those youkai were the one we were looking for because none of them are left." Hiei crossed his arms.

Misaki looked over at him, "I knew the moment we walked in that he wasn't here. Could you not tell?" "Partly because it would have been rather obvious if he had been here. He isn't known for his subtly."

Hiei narrowed his eyes.

"So what do we do now?" Yusuke repeated the question.

"We wait." she said simply.

"And what if he doesn't show up?" Kurama wanted to know.

"Oh he will. Trust me. He will."

Slicked-back black hair. Try saying that five times fast…

-lotsm