A/N: My apologies for the lack of updates this week. To be honest, I've been playing a video game XD and just haven't gotten on to update. There probably won't be any more updates this week but who knows? The 'mostly dead' is in fact a reference to a movie. Can anyone guess which movie it is?

O/C5: Botan, Yukina, Kuwabara and Yusuke go home leaving Misaki, Hiei and Kurama at the Waters. Amureo starts to come through the barrier and both Hiei and Kurama are affected by his power and Hiei jumps in the water but Misaki holds Kurama back. Through a joint effort, Kurama and Misaki send Amureo back. They return to Koenma's office with Hiei and Koenma says he doesn't know what can be done for him…

"Misaki? … Are you alright?"

Misaki focused outward to see that Koenma was in front of her, staring up into her face.

She grimaced, the throb behind her eyes that had started a moment before becoming worse.

"Koenma, I'm terribly sorry but I fell asleep. I meant to tell you," Botan walked in, yawning a little, "Oh, you're back. How did it go?" she asked cheerily. She saw Hiei at the couch, "Hiei! He's-"

"Dead." George supplied.

"No. Actually I was going to say incapacitated. Besides. He's not all dead. He's only mostly dead."

George looked a little confused, "Mostly dead and all dead?"

"Yeah. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. See he's only mostly dead, which means he's still slightly alive. All dead and well...there's only one thing you can do..." she trailed off.

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

Misaki had to grin, despite the pain in her head which had gotten more annoying, "Go through their pockets and look for loose change."

"Will you two be serious?" Koenma said crossly. "I mean Hiei's life hangs in the balance and all you two can do is quote old movies."

Suddenly the pain slashed through her head and a disembodied voice tried to break through her mind to speak with her. It shrieked in pain and it's language was one Misaki couldn't understand.

Somebody said something to her, but over the noise, Misaki was unable to hear them. She dropped to her knees. Another rip of pain carved through her mind, a third felt like it scratched down her brain.

Coahtu appeared in a flash of flame.

"Get out." She ordered the others, her voice a steel command. Their presence would not be helpful.

Not really knowing quite what she did, Misaki stumbled over to Hiei. The bandana over his forehead had been slashed apart and the Jagan Eye was open and staring at her, watching her every move.

"Stop it!" She yelled into the noise but the howling just grew. "I said stop!" She gathered all of the pain and shoved it from her mind, unleashing it back onto the Jagan.

A scream tore from Hiei's lips but the voice was not Hiei's, sounding distant and uncanny, and Misaki collapsed onto the floor in front of the couch.

...

"Get up! You are killing him!"

Misaki had brought up mental barriers around her mind, blocking out everything so that she did not register any of her senses. She only barely heard the voice which talked to her.

"Ansatsusha. Get up." The voice commanded her, the power behind it threatening and dangerous.

Misaki was forced to stand up just by the sheer power of the voice, swaying once before finding her balance. The voice still shrieked out of Hiei's mouth and his body convulsed.

"Undo what you have done, the Eye was only trying to alert you of what was happening. It is your fault that you did not heed its warning."

"I cannot help him." Misaki replied dazedly, her eyes staring at nothing.

"If you do not-"

"What? What do you have left to threaten me with, Lady of Fire?" Misaki spat, a wave of dizziness sweeping over her as she did so.

Coahtu crossed her arms, her face like stone and her eyes like fire. "Glean what afflicts him." She ordered again.

"You have no control over me."

Coahtu stepped closer, looming over Misaki. "You are weak. Have you truly lost so much power that you are unable to rid him of Amureo's pain? Have you become so human that you cannot even do this?"

The Jagan threatened to break through Misaki's mental shields but Coahtu's condescension held more sway over her than the Eye's pain.

"Human?" A surge of energy swept through Misaki's body as anger boiled to the surface, "You dare to suggest I am human?"

"You are. If you cannot help him." Coahtu glared and the air between them crackled with their emotions.

"Stand." Misaki turned back to Hiei and drew him up off of the couch by enveloping him in her energy and forcing him to rise. She meticulously drew her energy back into her body, cleansing Hiei of the pain. However, as she did not have anywhere to send said pain, it rushed into her body. Her vision blurred.

"Well done, Ansatsusha." She heard Coahtu say.

" "Foolish woman." " Someone nearby whispered in her ear and in her head at the same time.

...

"Put her down on the couch. You don't want to hold her up forever."

Hiei had Misaki by the shoulders so she wouldn't fall forward. He automatically obeyed the commanding voice without thinking about it, laying Misaki were he had been moments before. He couldn't quite remember what just happened.

"The Jagan will have blocked out what just happened," Coahtu said, not realizing she was answering his question, "Though your brain mostly did that. Self-defense mechanism from the trauma."

Hiei looked around. No one else was in the room.

"I sent them away." Coahtu covered Misaki with the blanket George laid on Hiei earlier. Misaki's eyes stared at the ceiling blindly and Coahtu noticed Hiei's questioning glance.

"She does not sleep and as a result cannot become unconscious. Be thankful that your own mind is at least able to grant you unconsciousness. You might wish to change. Your clothes will be in there." She indicated the door where everyone had gone to prepare for the mission that afternoon.

"Live or die?"

"Live. Barely. Your idiotic move did not help matters." She stated. "But to be fair, it was not you. Rather we owe thanks to Amureo for this incident."

Hiei let it go at that and left the room to change.

...

By the time he came back out, comfortably clothed, both Coahtu and Misaki were gone.

"Good riddance," he muttered aloud.

The Jagan Eye objected fiercely. So fiercely in fact that he winced. It rebuked him harshly, reminding him that she saved his life.

Hiei wasn't quite sure who 'she' was, Coahtu or Misaki.

He winced again as the eye told him, loudly. Misaki. 'She' rescued him from Amureo, 'she' saved his life.

"Okay, okay. I get it." Hiei went outside and started running, the Jagan satisfied with his answer.

...

"Zumi, we've got some trouble."

"Coahtu? You know Mistress Misaki doesn't like you coming here."

"Zumi, this situation calls for drastic measures."

"Oh let me guess, Mistress showed up somewhere, Koenma found her, made her go on one of his ridiculous missions and Mistress got hurt."

"That pretty much sums it up Zumi."

Zumi sighed, "I thought so. She was in no condition to show up when she did. What can I do?"

"She needs something for pain."

"Mental, physical or spiritual?"

"I do not know."

"You are so helpful," He said sarcastically.

"Zumi," Coahtu's voice grew edgy.

"Touchie. Give her some ambrosia bread. That should take care of just about anything."

"And just where do you suggest I get this bread." Coahtu ground her teeth.

"And you think Mistress has issues," Zumi said flippantly. "Because, you know, she doesn't make that kind of bread or anything. I would certainly suggest it without hope of fulfilling it."

Coahtu remembered why she never objected to the Ansatsusha forbidding her from coming here, "Zumi get me some or I will fry you."

"Okay, alright. Take some. But only because Mistress needs it."

Her voice was almost kind as she fed Misaki, "Here Ansatsusha. Eat."

...

When Coahtu appeared in Koenma's office, she made everyone leave; Koenma went back to bed, so did Botan. Kurama went home, then to bed.

The next morning, Kurama couldn't stay away. He had a feeling that Hiei was alright, but what about Misaki? He hurried to the detective agency.

Koenma didn't even look up from the paperwork he had spread all over his desk.

"Koenma, where is Misaki? Is she alright?"

He finally noticed the kitsune standing by the door. "Oh! Kurama! Sorry. Stupid paperwork. I hate it. Um. I think Misaki is in her room."

Kurama thanked Koenma; he walked out of the office and turned to the left, remembering the path from when he fetched her the first day of her stay. After walking awhile, he reached her door and knocked, the door sliding open as his fist lightly rapped onto it. Coahtu stood in the frame, looking as if she was about to exit. Her steel-grey eyes were cold and emotionless, her hair flaming down her back.

"Yes?"

"Is Misaki here?"

Her eyes sized him up. "No." She answered after a moment.

"Is she okay?"

Before Coahtu could answer, Kurama heard a voice calling from down the hall.

"Kurama! Oh there you are! Koenma wants you in his office. He just got another mission," Botan came closer as she spotted him.

"I'll be right there." He turned back to excuse himself from Coahtu but the door was already closed and she was gone.

...

Koenma folded his hands on his desk, "Kurama. Good. I had hoped you hadn't left." He turned to them all to speak as Kurama and Botan walked into the room. "I have another mission for you. It's nothing big. A couple of youkai are smuggling some dangerous items into the Ningenkai. I need you to take them down and bring back the items."

"Um. Okay. Is that all?" Yusuke said, "It sounds easy."

Koenma shrugged.

"What about Misaki? Is she coming with us?" Kuwabara asked.

"I'm afraid not. Fighting Amureo would take its toll on anybody."

"Dealing with who?" Yusuke looked confused.

"Amureo. He's the guy the 'Waters of Amureo' are named after. He's the youkai Misaki sent back through the barrier last night," Botan explained.

"I can't believe she made us leave!" Kuwabara complained, "I heard there was an awesome fight! And I wasn't there!"

"Kuwabara, we were so tired we wouldn't have been any help at all! We might have even made matters worse." Yusuke told him.

Kurama agreed with Yusuke, though it was only to himself. Considering what happened, two more males would not have helped the situation.

"Misaki won't be joining you on this one." Koenma steered them back to the conversation.

"And just who decided that, might I ask."

Everyone turned to see Misaki leaning against the doorway.

"Misaki. You're alright." Kurama felt a little bit of relief.

"So it seems." She walked over to Koenma's desk and sat on top of it cross-legged, leaning over the paperwork as she sifted through it. "So what have we got here toddie, hm? What aren't you telling them?"

"Hey! Stop that," he swatted at her hand, "I just had those organized."

"Oh, but I know you love paperwork," She intentionally messed up the piles more while Koenma tried to fight her off.

As soon as he saw her, Hiei felt a little better. She was alive. The Jagan felt better too, it had been moping around in his head. Its sudden mood change made Hiei wonder if his own emotions were somehow influence by it. Nobody had told him it would do that.

Misaki finished rearranging Koenma's paperwork. "So when do we leave?"

"Right now. But there is no 'we' about it." he told her.

Misaki frowned, "And why not?"

"You're in no condition too."

"Says who?"

Both Kurama and Hiei got a good look in her eyes when she turned around. They were tired, drained. Hiei could literally feel her exhaustion through the Jagan for a moment, but then the feeling was gone though the look in her eyes remained. The Jagan made a noise of indignation. Reaching out through it, Hiei realized that they were being blocked, though he didn't put much effort behind the attempt.

"So she is powerful enough to keep us out."

"There are few who can out thief me on my worst day." Misaki was saying.

"Just how good of a thief are you?" Kuwabara wanted to know.

"Please don't ask her that. You never know what she'll steal to prove she's the best." Koenma told him.

Misaki grinned devilishly and looked at Koenma.

"Oh. Oh. I hate that look. Please don't look at me like that. You know I hate it when you look at me like that." Koenma's face got worried.

"I just got a brilliant idea Koenma."

"Please tell me it has nothing to do with me."

"Oh it has everything to do with you. In two days, you'll find out how good of a thief I am."

"Great." Koenma grumbled. "Just leave the Vault alone this time, okay?"

She smiled sweetly, "If you don't want me to go with them toddie, I won't. I wouldn't want to spoil their fun. Besides, they don't need me to fight a group of class-A youkai."

"I didn't know class-A youkai had any interest in smuggling items into the Ningenkai." Kurama said. "They can't get through the barrier between worlds can they?"

"They can't unless they have other lower-class youkai working underneath them to get the items beyond it." The look on Misaki's face dropped and she turned suddenly to Koenma. "When did you find out about these smugglings?"

"Just this morning."

"What are the chances of Amureo being able to work that fast?"

Koenma hadn't thought of that possibility but he shook his head, "Impossible. There is no way he could have recovered in that short amount of time."

"And yet somehow he even managed to break free from the body he was banished to and almost make it back into the Makai. I would not use the word impossible."

"Why would this Amureo guy want these items?" Yusuke wanted to know.

"That is a very good question. If I'm on the right track, we could be in trouble. Koenma, what are these items? I suppose you have a list of them. You have a list of everything." Misaki began shuffling through his papers again.

"Err…um…"

Finding the one with their mission on it, Misaki began reading. "Smuggling blah blah blah, class-A blah blah blah, priority one blah blah blah…oh…" She got down to the items. "That's what I thought."

"What's what you thought?" Yusuke asked.

"If he is able to assemble the items, it will allow him to take over the body he is in and recover his S-class status." Misaki summed up. "That's not good." She looked at Koenma.

He shook his head. "No. It's not good."

"What I want to know is how they got into my stuff." Misaki made a face.

"Huh?" Kuwabara didn't understand that.

"Well, it takes a certain something to banish an S-class into a human body." Misaki began.

"To be specific, it takes a bit of powering down." Koenma added. "In the end, some artifacts were combined to create an energy-draining device that was then used on Amureo so that subduing him was possible."

"Afterwards, the items were broken up again and I took them for hiding."

"That plan obviously failed." Yusuke snorted.

"I would have hid them in the safest spot but that meant they would all be together. So they went in different places." She shrugged, "All of the good places are in the Makai which just happen to be far away from Amureo."

"Amureo must have remained in contact somehow with youkai in the Makai." Koenma mused, "I don't know why I didn't see that before."

"But how was he able too?" Misaki demanded, though no one knew the answer.

"What are we talking about again?" Kuwabara scratched his head.

"I believe that if you explained in full the situation, they might understand better." Kurama said.

"I suppose that would make sense. Here." Koenma pressed a button and the large screen came down. "Youkai Amureo."

A blue-skinned man appeared on the screen, looking very much like a genie with his poofy pants, bare feet and chest and his long lighter-blue hair in a ponytail on the top of his head.

"Affiliated with water, his powers are amplified when he is in or near it. He does not care for any male, seeing them all as something that could potentially stand in the way of him getting any woman he desires. He has perfected a method of killing men as a result, something complicated that has to do with his aura and attacking them mentally and physiologically. He only recently became an S-class youkai, within the last oh decade or so, and he began breaking out of the lower regions of the Makai, working his way upwards. His plan was to find a way into the Ningenkai and basically kill off all of the males and take all of the females for himself."

Botan took up the story from there. "We did not have very much time to retaliate but we managed to come up with an energy-draining device which would sap him of his power. It was a sort of one-use only idea, we'll never be able to create something like it again but it served its purpose. He was sapped almost completely of spirit energy and life energy and just for good measure we transferred him into a human body in the Ningenkai under special circumstances so that he would stay locked away forever."

"That's a brilliant idea. Just send the guy off packing to the realm he wanted to get to in the first place." Yusuke commented.

"In hind-sight, probably not our best idea." Koenma admitted, "But he was supposed to remain in that body until it died, upon which his soul would be sent here to the Reikai and we could take care of him properly then. It's extremely hard to kill an S-class youkai but we hoped that this method would work."

"I would assume that you placed him in a body that was about to die so he would immediately be sent here." Kurama said.

"That would have been the intelligent thing to do, yes. But not exact doable. Like with you and Yoko, a transfer of the spirit can only be done into a newly conceived child. And so that's what we did."

"So then what happened?" Kuwabara asked.

"The child grew up."

"Alright so what happened after that?" Yusuke specified.

"We watched the child, made sure that Amureo didn't somehow figure out a way to break free." Botan said.

"And yet it happened." Hiei spoke up.

"Yes…um…you see…we lost the human." Koenma said sheepishly.

"What? How can you just loose something like that?" Yusuke demanded.

"Don't know, eheh." Koenma chuckled nervously, "But nothing serious came of it so we left it alone."

"So for all we know, this guy could be rampaging around, killing people?" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Oh no no no. We would know immediately if Amureo had returned to power. Especially since he is in the Ningenkai."

"These…items…if they are brought back together, will they return Amureo's power to him?" Kurama deduced.

"Most likely they will do just that." Koenma nodded seriously.

"Long story short, we need to go and get those items back." Misaki summed up.

"Why didn't you just destroy those items once you used them?" Yusuke pointed out.

"These artifacts are quite potent." Botan told them, "In the right hands, just a touch can be a death blow."

"We don't know what would have happened if we had destroyed them. The damage could have been vast." Koenma shuddered.

"Thus, they had to be hidden, away from hands that could use them so effectively." Misaki finished.

"What are we waiting for?" Kuwabara announced, "Let's go get kick some butt!"

Reviews make me smile!

-lotsm