A/N: I'm hoping that nothing is too confusing. I'm told I am a confusing person rather often.

O/C7: They finish the mission, recovering all of the stolen artifacts and thus preventing Amureo from being returned to full power. Talk about anti-climactic. The group gets back to Koenma's office…

"Koenma's not here. I bet he's playing hookie." Yusuke was up at Koenma's desk, looking over the high piles of paperwork and into the empty chair where the Prince usually sat.

"I am not." Koenma opened the door, George in his wake with another stack of paperwork in his arms.

"Wow, toddie. When did you stop playing hookie?" Misaki crossed her arms.

"Be quiet you!" He tottered over to his desk, sighing as he hopped into the chair. "Ogre, move this stuff so that I can see."

"Yes Koenma-sir."

There was a moment of silence as George cleared the mess onto the floor so that Koenma was able to see.

"So, what have you got for me?"

"All of them." Misaki pulled the black coin out of her pocket and tossed it onto the desk.

"That's interesting." Koenma leaned forward and picked it up, holding it in to fingers as he examined it.

"A little something Zumi came up with a while back. You can destroy it, with the artifacts inside, with no danger of any repercussions. Sort of like a portable black hole of sorts. I've been meaning to go and collect the items for a while. Just, uh, never got around to it. I'm glad I was still carrying it around."

"Zumi? Never heard of him." Yusuke said.

"He's a…friend of mine. Very mechanically minded. A genius about this sort of thing."

"And what about that one?" Koenma nodded towards the whip slithering around her arm.

"I'll keep this one for a while. Nobody can get to it unless they remove my arm first."

"Ogre, take this to be destroyed. And make sure it gets destroyed."

"Yes, Koenma-sir." George held out his hand and Koenma dropped the coin into his awaiting palm. George left, holding the black coin delicately as if it might explode if he jarred it too much.

"Wait…how many artifacts were there?" Kuwabara was looking at the ceiling in deep thought.

"As many opponents as were fought." Misaki told him.

"But you only put that one little thing on the desk."

"…"

Kurama sighed, "Kuwabara, weren't you listening?"

"To what?"

"He was so deep in thought this whole time he probably missed it." Misaki shook her head.

"If that's everything, then you all are free to go. As you can see I have a lot to do." Koenma gestured towards the mounds of paperwork.

"No actually that isn't everything, Koenma. You and I need to have a long talk. Why aren't you telling your spirit detectives about the secret doors anymore?"

Kurama could tell that the 'long talk' was going to consist more of Misaki informing Koenma of whatever news she had to tell him than it was her lecturing him on what secrets he did and did not tell his spirit detectives. Kurama could also tell that it was going to be a private conversation.

"Go on. This is going to be long and lecture-like." Misaki waved everyone else away.

That was all she had to say to get Kuwabara and Yusuke edging for the door. Hiei didn't even argue about it as he turned to go, Kurama following behind.

Misaki closed the door behind the boys, waiting a moment until she was sure all of them had gone a good distance down the hall before sitting down in a chair, leaning back.

"You aren't here to talk about door secrets, are you?" Koenma rested his arms on his desk.

"You're decently perceptive for a toddler, you know?"

"I should be." He snorted, "I've had a few hundred years to work on it… Are you going to take that thing off?" He grimaced at the whip which made her arm appear like a rotating barber shop sign, except black and pale instead of red and white.

"I kind of like it." She admired it for a moment, "Maybe I'll make it into a fashion statement."

"Please don't." Koenma made a face, "It's bad enough that the one is in existence. I can't imagine if youkai suddenly started making copies once they see what it's capable of."

The two grew silent, Koenma waiting for her to say something else.

"I've been able to do a lot of thinking since the last time I saw you." She said finally. "Or rather, I was given a lot of time to think. I guess I never did tell you did I?"

"Tell me what?"

She closed her eyes, "I am not what I once was. When I left you, I felt old. I still do. Old and tired. And weak. I might even go so far as to say that I feel human. Very…very human. You did that." She opened one eye and looked at him.

"Me?"

Her eye closed again, "Not that I blame you for it. It's partly my fault, partly my fate. At the time, what you did was appropriate and I suppose I owe you some sort of thanks though I can't quite bring myself to actually say the words to your face."

Koenma flinched a bit, the memory of their last encounter rising to the surface of his thoughts.

"I don't plan on handing this over," she went on, waving the hand with the whip, "Because with it I have some sort of power. Which I am at a loss for. It enhances movement, makes spirit energy easier to channel and overall improves my current state, though each of these things are only improved in the slightest. The only reason I was able to stand up to the Spirit Detectives when you sent them my way was because of a barrier that I used to slow them down. I realized that even it was weak, a reflection of myself, when they only had a basic sort of trouble with it. Had Kurama not been with me when I faced Amureo, I would most likely have died. Or worse." She grimaced, thinking of things Amureo would have done when he found out she could not hold her own against him.

"The only reason you don't have youkai knocking down your door this minute is because of the silly little thing that is my reputation. No one knows that I cannot live up to what the ridiculous stories they've come up with say. This is a warning for you."

Koenma's frown had grown deeper while she talked, "Then we must make sure they do not find out."

"Easier said then done. On a lighter note, did you know that Hiei was a fire youkai?"

"Yes I…you don't think…"

"I am under a bet that I cannot kill any of the Spirit Detectives this week." Misaki said matter-of-factly, "However, if Hiei is in fact the one I have been looking for, the one who killed my brother, I will go after him before the week is out. I still know ways of keeping someone alive, hanging on by a mere shred of existence. There will not be much of him left when I am through but death would be too kind of an end for someone I have been waiting this long for. I will not lose the bet, he will not die. But I would not call it living by any stretch of the imagination."

"Are you finished with your personal vendetta speech now?"

Misaki opened her eyes and regarded the ceiling in thought before nodding slowly once, "Yes. I am." She looked at him, the first time their eyes met since she sat down, "Call it cliché if you like, Prince. I hear everyone is out for vengeance nowadays. However I have reason to believe that I invented the word."

"I would not doubt it, Misaki."

She stood up. "I am grateful for you lending your ear for a while."

"I thank you for your warning."

"I would heed my words, Prince." She turned to leave.

"I will, Ansatsusha."

...

Misaki returned to her room, feeling drained from the conversation and wishing to be alone for a while. But of course, things didn't always go as she liked them too.

"The door opened for me and I thought I might wait until your return."

Kurama was leaning against the wall on the far side of the room, close to where the easel and painting stood. If he had known she would walk in looking as drained as she did, he would not have bothered her. But they were both here now and leaving would seem foolish.

"I'll admit that at first I did not entirely realize just who you were, Misaki Ansatsusha. Or should I say, The Ansatsusha. The first assassin."

The door slid shut behind Misaki, and not knowing what to do she remained in front of it, regarding Kurama cautiously.

"I take it you know a little about my past."

"I do. I have…remembered the stories. There was a massacre early in the existence of the world. Thousands of youkai who died. I am told you were responsible."

"The numbers are probably off. But yes, vessel. I was responsible. I am the Ansatsusha. What do you want of me?"

"What merit would you receive by killing Kuwabara or myself? Hiei or Yusuke?"

"Satisfaction, perhaps more so than merit. But yes, I would gain prestige. Though merit is less important to me than it is to other people."

"Really."

"You wouldn't believe how many youkai would love it if I killed off the Spirit Detectives. They hate Yusuke. And that hate is on you now as well, merely by association. Even if you wished to return to Yoko's old life, vessel, you would have a hard time doing so."

"And why would you receive satisfaction?"

"There is a possibility that your little fire youkai friend killed my brother."

"It is possible." Kurama agreed, "He has killed lots of people."

"But this was not a mere death. This was a torture. My brother burned for several days, completely conscious the entire time, until death finally took him from me. By that time my brother was so far gone that he did not even pass through the Reikai, for Koenma has no record of him. Nor is he residing in the realm of the dead, for I looked there myself.

"If you know as much about my past as you hint that you do, you will know that I disappeared for a long while before reappearing in the Makai once more, becoming a Spirit Detective years after that. I disappeared because I searched. Years I searched, decades, centuries even. And yet I still have no trace of the killer, no more of any lead than I did the day my brother died. I am still alive and the killer is still alive and I will never find him."

"Hiei did not kill your brother."

"You sound so sure of yourself."

"Hiei has not been alive long enough to have done so, if you are measuring time correctly."

"It is likely that I am not for I gave up counting a long time ago."

"You have heard of the forbidden child, have you not?"

Misaki nodded, unsure of what Kurama was driving at, "Yes. Yukina…I…"

Kurama could practically see the light bulb go on over her head. But then her eyes grew tired again. For a moment, Kurama felt almost sorry for her.

"Oh yes. I suppose I hadn't thought of that." "Blinded once again by anger. And I even knew it was too much to hope for." "Yukina is much younger than the time that I spoke of. And Hiei too as a result."

"So you know of their relationship?"

"Siblings? Twins? Yes I know. I knew before the mother knew. I also know that Yukina does not know. And she will likely die without the knowledge, though she search earnestly until the end of the ages, and it makes me sad. There was a time when I could not imagine the world without my brother."

There was a banging on the door behind her before Kurama could ask what she meant by that.

"Ansatsusha, open this door right now." A steely voice called from the other side.

It was Coahtu.

"Go ahead and let yourself in."

"I cannot open it and you know this."

"I do. I didn't want you barging in on me." Misaki didn't turn to face the door. First she told Koenma everything. Then she had practically told Kurama everything she had told Koenma. She did not want to talk with Coahtu. She was tired and would have giving anything at that point to be able to just fall asleep for a good while.

"Let me in or I will burn this down and you shall not have a door at all."

Misaki took a step forward as the door suddenly heated up. Glancing over her shoulder, she witnessed the rapidly changing colors from the natural deep blue as the rest of the walls to a fiery red, waves of heat obviously shimmering around it.

"I can't let you in when you heat it up like that." Misaki retorted, keeping well away from the searing heat.

The door quickly cooled and Misaki opened it, Coahtu standing just on the other side, her steely eyes glaring forward.

"What do you want?"

"You're late for your session."

"I didn't know that you watching me while I fought computerized youkai in the training area was considered a session."

"If you truly wish to return to their world once more, I strongly suggest undergoing these sessions."

"Until you deem me worthy? I'm sorry to inform you that I have already returned to their world and there is nothing you can do about it."

Coahtu's eyes narrowed, "You will come to the training arena and you will be there in half a minute or I shall drag you down there myself." Coahtu briskly left, her feet tapping lightly on the floor as she walked away.

"How do you know that she did not kill your brother?" Kurama wanted to know.

Misaki turned sharply back to face Kurama, something vicious in her eyes, "Because she cannot kill, vessel." She spat the word out of her mouth, "I suggest you keep your pretty head out of places where it does not belong, lest you find your head not so pretty." Misaki stepped back from the door, giving Kurama a clear path out of the room.

Taking the hint gracefully, Kurama stepped away from the wall and moved forward, out of the room. Misaki stepped out into the hallway after he did, though he turned to the left and she right, the door silently closing behind them.

Misaki slowed as she reached the huge doors of the arena. Coahtu was just going inside them herself and Misaki hung back, silently counting to ten before following after.

"Twenty-nine seconds." Coahtu said as Misaki stepped through the doorway. "Don't think I haven't noticed your artifact. It just means that the methods in which you are to re-hone your skills will be at a much higher level."

Misaki did not answer as she made her way to the center of the room.

Coahtu disappeared as Misaki came closer, but her voice drifted down from somewhere above. "We are going to concentrate on mental prowess for now. You will start out with ten individuals, each of varying abilities and classes and you will control them. Your number will increase as time passes."

Ten youkai appeared.

"You might want to begin. I never said they weren't going to be hostile."

The ten youkai charged Misaki.

-lotsm