A/N: So... Hi thar! /waves ...Yup, it's me. Lotsm. 3 years later and I'm still alive and kicking. Didja miss me? _ _ Ahem. To sum up: Got discouraged with revisions. Life happened. I'm back. :D I don't really have any spare time...But I've been itching to start writing on this again. It'd be fun to get this published. Hey, it happens with Star Trek! My writing style currently is...aged passed the last 7 chapters (it's been 3 years after all) but upon rereading them, I'm keeping them the same because I am NOT starting this process over again. I hope that updates will be *fairly* regular, but I plan on doing one a day for a bit, then spreading them out a bit more. The more reviews I get, the faster the chapters will come out at that point. That's just kinda how it's gonna go. Having readers encourages the inspiration. Anywho, reread the first 6 chapters if you need to (...I had to and I wrote the darn thing) as they won't really take that long to do anyway. :) Lots of love to mah readers! Enjoy!

O/C6: Everything turns out alright but a Spirit Detective's work is never done. The very next day Koenma calls everyone in to send them on another mission: A-class youkai are smuggling dangerous items into the Ningenkai, ones that could restore the incapacitated Amureo to his full, and deadly, S-class power. The group is sent off to the location where the smuggling is occurring…

"Is this really the place?" Yusuke made a face.

The five of them stood in the middle of an abandoned house. In the living room to be exact.

Misaki walked over to the fireplace and ran a finger over the mantel. She scrutinized the dust and wiped it off on her pants. "They couldn't have picked a cleaner spot."

"But it's really dirty in here," Kuwabara spoke up.

Yusuke smacked Kuwabara.

"You baka that's just what she said!"

"No, she said it was clean."

"Quiet." Misaki waved a hand at them as she glanced around the room.

Hiei's eyes narrowed. Someone was watching them. He put a hand on the hilt of his katana.

Kurama flicked out his rose whip.

Misaki's ears were suddenly overpowered by many other heartbeats. Youkai ones specifically. "We're surrounded."

Everyone's eyes swept the room.

"Where? I don't see anyone," Kuwabara's head jerked around.

"Hm. They seem to have figured out how to use one of the artifacts. Smart little youkai."

"They're fools if they think invisibility will keep them from harm." Hiei drew his sword. "Cowards. We've found you. Come out."

Slowly, around the room, youkai began materializing out of thin air. Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Misaki all moved to stand back to back in a circle.

"Misaki Ansatsusha, how kind of you to come. I know someone who is dying to get his hands on you." said one who had a bandana over his mouth.

"Mm-hm. You have some things that don't belong to you. I'm afraid I'm going to have to get those back." She crossed her arms.

The youkai laughed and the others around him joined in, "There's a lot of us, and one of you."

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted, "You're talkin' to a Spirit Detective I'll have you know!"

"Yeah, two of them!" Kuwabara added.

"Like I said," the bandana-guy, they supposed he was the leader, spoke to Misaki, "There's a lot of us and one of you."

"Hiei, how fast are you?" Misaki asked him quietly.

There were over fifty youkai scattered all around them.

"There are too many of them Misaki. One of us could be dead before he killed them all." Kurama told her.

"I can't really trust that Kuwabara and Yusuke will be any good." Misaki sighed, a smile playing at her lips.

"I heard that!" Yusuke said, "I'm the best fighter I know! And Kuwabara's the second best!"

"Yeah well I'm the best fighter I know and Urameshi's the second best!"

The two of the started arguing back and forth.

"Enough! I will not be insulted any longer. Get them!" the bandana-clad leader yelled.

"Hold it." Misaki held up a hand. The numerous youkai who had lunged forward stopped in their tracks, curious. "You still have some things that belong to me."

"You mean this?" the leader pulled something out of his pocket and flicked his wrist towards Misaki. Something that looked similar to Kurama's rose whip, but a little thinner and quite a bit darker, wrapped itself around Misaki's arm.

"Yes, that's one of them." She grabbed a hold of it and jerked her arm down, causing the leader to stumble forward and lose his grip. It wrapped itself up her arm. "Now let me show you how it's really used." She held her hand towards the ceiling, fingers spread out. The black whip began glowing, dark electricity arching back and forth over its surface. Misaki brought her hand next to her opposite ear and then cracked the whip forward, her wrist snapping sharply to release it.

The whip wrapped itself around the leader, part of it still attached to Misaki's arm, and electrocuted him. Misaki sniffed the air.

"Not my favorite of the artifacts. The smell is distasteful."

"Oh that's really gross!" Yusuke covered his nose.

"Alright. We can go. We're done here. We just need the one. They can't restore Amureo without all of the items." Misaki retracted the whip and it slithered back around her arm. It moved like a snake, like it was alive. The leader fell over, burnt to a crisp.

"Um. What about them?" Kuwabara gestured to the other youkai, some glowered fiercely, others seemed not so sure not that their leader was gone.

"Hm?" She turned back, "Oh them. Yeah." Misaki was examining the whip as it slithered over her arm, "You aren't going to try anything, are yah boys?"

The 'boys' grinned evilly, nudging each other to get their courage up.

Misaki pulled something small out of her pocket. It was black and flat, like a coin, and about the size of one. She began flipping it into the air with her thumb, catching it back in her hand and then flipping it up again.

"Oh, I wouldn't look so incredibly pleased with yourselves. Without artifacts to fight with, I'm afraid your A-class status is greatly reduced."

They all reached into their pockets, and their faces suddenly changed into wide-eyed looks of fear.

"That's right. You're unarmed and rather weak now."

The youkai began to back off. But one yelled to rally his companions and lunged forward to strike at Misaki.

"Bad move," her eyes narrowed and she raised her arm again.

Before he knew he was dead, Kurama wrapped the youkai in his rose whip and Hiei slashed him through.

"My thanks."

"I had no desire to smell burnt youkai again. I don't believe any of these know about personal hygiene." Kurama said.

"Hey Yusuke, go ahead and take them out. Have some fun." Misaki smiled, knowing that both Yusuke and Kuwabara were itching for a fight.

"You are speaking my language." Yusuke grinned. He went for the first one and punched it in the face.

"Ah yeah! Time to kick some youkai butt!" Kuwabara shouted, flicking on his spirit sword and hacking through his own opponents.

Both Kurama and Hiei were a sight more graceful than the humans, Hiei stabbing this one and slicing that one, Kurama avoiding an attack and countering with his own.

An immediate brawl broke out as soon as Misaki spoke. Yusuke ducked under the next punch aimed for his head and kicked the attacking youkai into two of its companions, sending them flying backwards into the fireplace.

"Shot Gun!" Yusuke aimed his hand at a large horde of the youkai, numerous blue orbs shooting forth from his index finger. The youkai were immediately obliterated on contact with the spirit energy, black dust all that remained of them. Many of the bullets slammed into the wall of the living room, leaving behind black marks and in several places blasting through to the outside.

Hiei appeared momentarily beside Yusuke, a youkai hot on his heels. "Watch where you point that thing." He made a horizontal slice with his katana and the youkai was dead, Hiei disappearing again in a flash of speed.

"Yes, Yusuke. It would do us no good if your attack injured us." Kurama snapped his rose whip through three enemies in front of him.

"Heheh, sorry." Yusuke put a hand behind his head and grinned.

"Please try to pay closer attention." Kurama requested.

"Hey! I always pay close atten-" His words were interrupted as he was tackled to the ground by a youkai that came from his left.

"Fool." Hiei rapidly slit the five that had surrounded him.

Kurama shook his head, smiling a little.

Kuwabara went back and forth from using his spirit sword to punching his opponents' lights out. He cut a youkai running straight for him from head to torso, the two pieces falling away and another youkai jumping through the opening, aiming a dark boot for Kuwabara's chest. Kuwabara ducked that one but received another kick in the side of his head for his trouble from a second youkai that had been heading for him as the other did. He was jarred for a moment, holding his head with one hand and accidentally carving one of the youkai that attacked him.

Misaki, preferring not to fight at the moment and not minding others taking down her share of the enemies, sat down on the dusty couch and crossed her arms, putting the black coin-like object back into her pocket. She waited until only one youkai was left standing.

"Hey Yusuke, do you mind if I talk with that one before you pulverize him?"

Yusuke had the youkai held up by the collar and he shrugged, "You didn't get to have any fun at all. Go ahead and take him." He threw the youkai at her and it stumbled forward and fell before her where she sat on the couch.

"It was disappointing not to get to fight A-class. They might have proven to be a bigger challenge than these idiots." Hiei wiped the blood on his katana off onto the clothes of one of the fallen before he sheathed it.

"Especially if you were dead before you got to attack." Misaki said.

Both Kuwabara and Yusuke looked pleased with themselves.

"Man, that felt good." Yusuke rolled his shoulder, stretching it.

"Males," Misaki rolled her eyes. She sat on the edge of the couch and leaned forward, taking one finger and tipping up the last youkai's chin so that he had to look into her face. She smiled. "Your expression tells me you have a question. Ask."

He gulped and his eyes shifted about nervously, glancing at Kurama, Kuwabara, Yusuke and Hiei each in turn.

"Do not keep me waiting."

"Wh…who are you?"

"Your leader knew me. And I believe you know me as well but you don't want to think that it's true."

He gulped again.

Misaki's face became deceivingly kind, her smile looking like it could drip with sweet, succulent poison any minute, "Do I frighten you?"

"Why have you allied yourself with them?" The youkai blurted out, pointing at Yusuke and Kuwabara before cowering back.

Misaki answered after a second of pause. "Just to see that look on your face." Slowly she stood up, grabbing the youkai by his shirt and lifting him into the air. Her other hand rose until it was centimeters away from his jaw line and part of the whip began slithering onto his skin, circling his neck and resting there, constantly in movement.

"Tell them I have returned. Tell them I have returned with a vengeance. And I do not want to have to deal with petty conflicts. If I am forced to settle said conflicts, I will be very put out. Is this clear?"

The youkai nodded, though it was hard to make out as he was shaking so hard.

"I am told that these creatures called 'mothers' tell their children not to play with their food." Misaki pulled his face close to hers, "But I think it stirs the blood."

The youkai remained helpless, frozen by the reputation of her deeds and terrified of what he heard she could do to him. She took a sniff of the air, raising part of her lip in disgust.

"Bah. You would not taste good, maggot." She dropped him and he collapsed, struggling to get to his feet. "Leave."

The youkai's eyes darted around the room at the others to see if they would stop him.

"Leave now before they decide to kill you." Misaki added.

He scrambled out of the door and away from the house, tripping over himself as he did.

"Remind me to stay on your good side." Yusuke told her, a crooked smile on his face.

She waved a hand to dismiss his comment, "Ah, you don't have any real fear of me because you haven't heard what people think I've done. That one was shaking in his boots because of all the stuff he thought I might do to him. There are things worse than death you know."

"That's a very efficient way of doing things." Kurama noted.

"What is?" Kuwabara wanted to know.

"You see, it is easier to build a reputation by threat and rumor than it is to actually go out and do things yourself. People will begin to make up their own stories after a while." Misaki shrugged.

"But what if you can't actually do what they've said you can?" Yusuke wondered.

"That's the beauty of it. They think you can and they won't come crawling to you with the question because they're afraid that you will if they ask."

"Would you really have eaten that guy?" Kuwabara made a face.

"Ugh. No. Gross. Youkai don't taste very good. Well. Most of them don't." She amended.

Kuwabara wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

"Let's go. We're done here." She turned to leave the way they came.

...

"Oh man that was a great work out! I haven't done fighting like that in a long time!" Yusuke put his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now. I was feeling all pent up." Kuwabara agreed.

"Of course you felt pent up. We haven't had a mission in ages since and virtually nobody at school wants to fight us anymore." Yusuke said. "Though there are a few block-heads who'll keep on trying till the world ends."

Kuwabara and Yusuke were trailing behind a quietly arguing Kurama and Hiei who were a little ways behind Misaki.

Misaki insisted they head back to Koenma's to tell him they were done with the mission, despite the fact that Botan had appeared and told them she would let Koenma know.

"She must have retrieved all of the artifacts. Otherwise our enemies would have been much stronger than they were." Kurama pointed out.

"You only have her word for it. Do you see her carrying anything besides the most obvious one?" Hiei pointed at her back.

Kurama had to admit that besides the whip-like item which still shifted around her arm, he didn't see any other artifacts on her person.

"We fought over forty of those fools and supposing that they each had an item, where would she put them all?" He argued, crossing his arms.

Kurama tried not to think about it and quickly veered away from that subject, "Does your vehemence have anything to do with the fact that she has to be faster than you in order to steal back all of those items without your notice?"

Hiei didn't answer and Kurama took the silence as a 'yes'.

"I cannot read her thoughts anymore and I cannot use anymore strength when trying because then she would be alerted to my actions."

"And what about it? You weren't going to be able to catch random thoughts forever. She is a telepath. She was eventually going to remember to block you out."

"She will betray us." Hiei said darkly.

"Why on earth would she do that?"

"Give it a week. I believe that was as long as the toddler tricked her into promising. When the week is up, don't blame me when you wake up and find that you were killed in your sleep."

Neither of them spoke for a few steps.

"Hn, she probably had the items with her the whole time and then claimed to steal them back."

"But were would she put them all?" Kurama countered pleasantly.

Hiei ground his teeth.

"If it makes you feel any better, I would venture to guess that the black coin-shaped object that she pulled out of her pocket is some sort of storing device which called the artifacts out of the youkai's pockets and into the coin. They were distracted by her flipping the device into the air and they never saw that they had been neatly and efficiently disarmed."

"And why, pray tell, would that make me feel better, Kurama?"

"Because, Hiei, it means that she isn't faster than you, otherwise she would not have been forced to use such an item."

"Are you two talking about me?" Misaki appeared between them as they walked. She smiled at them both; Kurama smiled back but Hiei just ignored her.

Unfazed by the cold man she went on, "Usually when one is the subject of an argument, one has a tendency to be able to hear what is said. You really should take Kurama's word for it, Hiei. He was actually paying attention.

"Koenma had better still be in his office when we get there." She said absently, looking upwards, "He'll be unhappy with me if he misses out on the latest bit of news."

"What other news do we have to tell him?" Kurama wanted to know.

"Did I say news?" she looked thoughtful, "I guess telling him in person that there are a few less youkai in the world is news of some sort."

Kurama could tell that there was something else. Some other news. He filed it away mentally in the 'questions unanswered' part of his brain.

"Hey look. We're here." Misaki stopped.

"We're in the middle of an alleyway." Hiei scowled.

The rest of them stopped.

"Hey, what are we doing here?" Kuwabara looked around him.

"Oh. So, Koenma doesn't tell you a lot of things. I'm going to have to talk to him about this kind of stuff some time," She shook her head, "Anyway. There are several secret entrances into the detective agency, but you have to know where they are or be with someone who does."

"Like you." Kurama assumed.

"Yes. Like yours truly. Step in." She gestured at the wall.

"Step in where?" Yusuke made a face, "There's no door."

"On the contrary Yusuke, there is. You're not supposed to be able to see it. It's for quick passage and if everyone knew about it, then it wouldn't be a secret."

"I trust you, Misaki," Kuwabara said gallantly.

"Thanks. It's all the trust I need," She said dryly.

He stepped forward into the wall...and slammed his face in it...hard. His nose turned red.

"However, that was in fact just a wall. The door is over here." Her lips twitched with a smile as she walked through the correct part of the wall, followed by Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei.

"Ignorant fool." Hiei said as he stepped through.

"Half-pint." Kuwabara said back, holding his nose.

-lotsm