A/N: A-yup. Another chapter. Enjoy!

O/C12: Misaki loses an arm, to a dragon and something else undisclosed as of yet as well. Kurama becomes un-entranced and someone comes a'knockin' at the door and the visitor is none other than Coahtu herself.

"Misaki Ansatsusha, you deliberately…" Coahtu's angry voice trailed off, her arms which had been crossed over her chest moments before slipping out of their position.

Coahtu stood at the bottom of the twenty-some-odd stairs that led up to the porch and consequently doorway of the mansion. Her eyes widened at the sight of Misaki, or rather, at the sight of something missing from Misaki. And it wasn't just the absent arm.

"No…No!" Coahtu breathed, "Not now." She instantly knew the exact condition with which Misaki was stricken. Her hair wavered in the evening light as she took a step back, Misaki coming into full view of the darker colors of the evening.

The setting sun reminded Misaki that the next day happened to be when Kuwabara was going to find out just how good of a thief Misaki was. It was the only solace she found in the moment.

"Human creature." Coahtu spat onto the ground next to her, "You disgust me Ansatsusha."

Misaki grimaced at the word 'human,' her state of being thrown into her face.

"Defiled mortal," Coahtu went on heatedly, "You were needed at full strength when facing Amureo and yet you were not even at half-"

"You know the reason for that and you know to blame Koenma, not me." Misaki shot back at her with just as much force, angrily beginning to walk down the stairs towards he.

"There is no fault to be found other than with you. And now when you return to their world, the time when you will most need your strength for you will be sought as soon as it knows…Now there is now other word for you but 'human.'" The word almost stuck in Coahtu's lips. These were grave times indeed.

"Shut up, Coahtu." Misaki's eyes narrowed, coming to a halt not two inches from Coahtu's face.

"You have failed."

"I said shut up, Coahtu!"

"I will. I've had my say and I have nothing else too say." Coahtu turned coldly away and disappeared in a wave of fire.

Misaki's body trembled, half in rage, half in distress as images passed before her eyes.

The Detective Agency swallowed up…everyone trapped inside with no hope of escape…the man who stripped her of her-

"Poor mortal, Ansatsusha."

Misaki knew that voice. But it sounded…different this time… She slowly looked over her empty shoulder.

"Yes. Look at me with those eyes, that expression." His amethyst eyes were guarded as he took a step forward but a sixth sense rang sharply in Misaki's head, telling her to run.

"Mm. Mortal. Such a delicious word." He took another step towards her.

Where could she run? Nowhere fast.

Her gaze flickered towards the house doors. She could not outrun him. Even if she somehow managed to outrun him, she did not have the power to quickly close the door behind her. She was no match in speed, no match in strength and her mind had halted, all activity stopping.

Why did he seem so familiar to her? Tall and sinewy…slicked black hair… Similar in ways to Yusuke, yes, but this man did not remind her of Yusuke. She was drawn to him like she had been drawn to-

"Misaki?" A small, weak voice asked from around the corner as a figure came stumbling into view.

Both Misaki and the man saw Yukina clutching at the first stair, her clothes tattered, her face ashen, her hair in disarray.

"Not good! Really really not good!" Misaki scanned her surroundings a second time but was as unfruitful as she had been the first. Nothing. There was nothing.

"Excuse me, can we help you with something?"

Relief washed joyously over Misaki as she, the man, and Yukina all looked back at the entrance.

Four indistinct shapes were coming into view, still vague from the lack of light within the house.

Kurama was the one who spoke up and all four of them looked dangerous in the half-shadows as the dusk sun cast deep orange and red colors on their faces.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara exclaimed, breaking the suave entrance the guys had made. He bounded down the steps to her and she smiled gratefully at him as he gently supported her small frame.

Yukina smiled her thanks at the large red-haired human.

"What did you do to her?" Misaki asked treacherously before anyone else could say it.

The man didn't answer but his gaze strayed to Yukina and he looked uncertain himself.

"She asked you a question." Yusuke said quietly, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I did nothing to her." He said simply. "I can see you are otherwise occupied at the moment. I'll come back for you later." He disappeared as silently as he had appeared.

Misaki had an urge to punch the air he just left unoccupied, but she kept her fist at her side.

Misaki ran over to the slight Koorime and hovered over her and Kuwabara as he helped Yukina up the stairs.

"Misaki!" She breathed heavily, tripping forward on the last stair.

Kuwabara caught her and set her up straight as Misaki grasped for one of the young girl's hands.

There were scratches on the maiden's face, her kimono was ruined and she looked as if she had just come through a war zone.

"Let's get you inside." Misaki glanced nervously around the landscape as she ushered everyone inside, her body trembling again as she shut the door behind them.

...

Everyone waited impatiently as Yukina cleaned up, changing into another kimono identical to her usual one that Zumi, through Misaki, provided.

They all convened back in the room the guys slept in, sitting on the floor, Yukina as sitting as close as possible to Misaki, though not quite on her lap.

Misaki kept Yukina in front of her shoulder, thinking that the girl would keep attention away from the missing arm for the moment since everyone else was seating across from her while she talked.

"I was at the agency early this morning." She began, her voice confident but quiet, "The whole building shook suddenly and I heard screams from a nearby room. I ran for the screams, thinking that the shaking might have injured some of those inside but I must have gotten hit in the head or something because the next thing I knew, I was waking up with Botan and Koenma hovering over me. They seemed really worried but I was okay." Yukina added the last few words for Kuwabara's benefit as the young man's face was full of concern.

"Koenma said he hated to ask me to do a favor for him. He told me that within minutes, nobody would be able to get out of the agency, though no one could get out anyway because the largest portal they could create under the circumstances was very small. He couldn't leave the agency as his dad would get mad at him and Botan was too big for it, plus the fact that she would have to tend to the dead, seeing as how they couldn't be ferried across the river at that point.

"He told me I had been unconscious for a long while and I was relieved to learn that all of you were securely away already.

"The safest place for me to go, he said, was Misaki's house. Then the whole building shook and it sounded like something was hurling huge rocks at it. An ogre called Koenma away and Botan led me to another room, barely managing to open a portal there. The room began shifting underneath us and the floor cracked open. The bits of the ceiling broke away and fell, sharp pieces hitting us. A big piece started to break just above us and Botan shoved me in the portal."

Yukina paused for a breath and everyone wondered if the Styx Guide was alive.

"She must have opened the portal too high on accident because I fell through the trees. One branch caught me but then it snapped and I fell the rest of the way. I could see the house in the distance and so I made for it."

"That's interesting." Kurama had been regarding her thoughtfully ever since she started.

"You're okay though, aren't you Yukina? Nothing's hurt, right?"

"I'm fine, thank you Kazuma. Nothing's been broken."

Kuwabara got up and knelt in front of her. "I'm here to protect you. Don't worry about a thing."

Surprisingly, everyone was still too occupied with Yukina's story to make snide remarks about Kuwabara.

"Lady Misaki, I need to speak with you privately." Zumi's voice came out of the blue.

Misaki stood and the people around her shifted away as another more vacant room appeared around her.

"Mistress I…Lady Misaki?"

Misaki shook her head to clear it and looked up, "Hm?"

Zumi continued, "Mistress, you can't stay here any longer. Without…" He quickly tried to think of a way to put it delicately but he could think of none and just sighed, continuing, "You being human now and all, the house is under no obligation to protect anyone. If no one is inside, I can keep it safe but I cannot say what would happen if someone comes with intent for harm while everyone is still here."

Misaki echoed his sigh as she sank to the floor, suddenly tired.

"I…have a suggestion though." When Misaki did not disagree to hearing it he went on, "There is enough power left to create one last portal. It'll only be one-way though, I'm afraid."

...

"We can't stay here any longer." Misaki told the others when she returned. "It isn't safe. Zumi is creating a portal for us to the Ningenkai. We'll be better off there than here as long as the conditions at the Detective Agency remain the same."

She was extremely grateful that none of them said anything about her missing arm. She hoped they were too preoccupied to take note of it. Misaki was also glad that no one objected to Zumi's idea. It just made it that much easier.

"We'll get there in time for you to attend school tomorrow." She couldn't help but add, a half-smile on her face.

Yusuke groaned.

"Yukina, I suggest you stay with the rest of us for the time being. I can't offer you protection here. I can't offer any of you protection. Not here." "Not anywhere. I don't even have the luxury of offering myself a shred of protection."

"You have the capabilities to create a portal from the Makai to the Ningenkai?" Kurama asked in low-key wonderment.

"Against all logic, yes. But not I. The house." She indicated the house around them. "Never tried it before. Always used the amulet. But that can only teleport to the Agency offices."

Misaki removed all thoughts from her mind as she remembered Hiei's telepathic capabilities. His face remained stoic, only a small shift of his eyes in her direction letting her know that he had heard her thoughts and had been hearing her thoughts this whole time.

"Mistress, if you all are ready…"

"I believe so."

Everyone stood and the room shifted effortlessly into a huge dome-shaped room. A portal crackled in the middle of the room before them, arcs of energy moving across its surface.

"Zumi, don't let them follow until I know it's clear." She said just loud enough for Zumi to hear.

Ready for the worst, Misaki stepped through the portal.

The house around her was dark, though she could see the front door. There was a kitchen to her right, the open-area living room just to her left.

In fact she stood centimeters away from the low-set table facing to the left, the TV just beyond it. She silently thanked Zumi's careful calculations. Any closer and her calves would have been stuck in the table itself.

Misaki remained still in the darkness, all of her senses straining their limited capabilities to detect anything adverse in the environment.

She took off her shoes, placing them near the front door, long, vertical windows stretching down either side of the door frame. The window behind the TV had long curtains slightly parted in the middle.

Her feet sank into the carpet as she stepped away from the entrances, wiggling her toes in the softness.

There was a staircase almost directly in front of her, several meters away, that led to the second floor.

Everything seemed in order, nothing moving on the kitchen counters, the short dining table and refrigerator undisturbed, the door leading outside in the back of the kitchen still firmly in place and she so quietly made her way upstairs.

Rooms lined either side of the hallway and when she stood about three steps from the second floor, she knew everything was well.

"Alright Zumi." Her body, tensed from the exertion, relaxed as she went back down a couple of stairs and started turning lights on in the downstairs area.

One by one every appeared in relatively the same place Misaki had and then the portal was cut off at the other end.

"You all can stay here as long as you like, there are plenty of rooms and I'll be here. There's always food around."

"That is all you had to say, Misaki!" Yusuke whooped, pumping his fist into the air.

"Dude! Sleep-over!" Kuwabara yelled happily.

"I think that if we do plan on staying here tonight, we should let our families know where we'll be." Kurama pointed out politely.

"Eh. Mom won't care." Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"If you were a gentleman, you'd call her anyway and let her know where you're going to be. I'm going to call my sister." Kuwabara announced.

"Only because she'll beat you up if you don't." Yusuke shot back.

"Shut up, Urameshi!"

"Misaki, where is a phone that I can use?"

"In the kitchen." Misaki told Kurama, "On the counter next to the microwave."

Kurama and Kuwabara walked into the kitchen, dragging a still protesting Yusuke behind them.

"Yukina, let them know that while they can sleep down here if they want, there are mats in the closet." Miaki pointed to a closet in the living room area near the stairs, "But there are bed rooms up here as well."

Misaki forced her feet to climb back up the stairs and she could feel Hiei's eyes staring at her as she left.

-lostm