A/N: I've made it to the second half of Season Four on YYH. I forgot how awesome Koenma was in his adult form! So, I noticed a discrepancy between the English dub anime second season and fourth season. The anime states Kurama to be 300 years old during the Dark Tournament and then when he's fighting with Yomi said he was over a thousand years old. I'm going with the 300 years old for this story. Thanks for your support!

Chapter Eight:

Kagome stared up in disbelief at the familiar detachment of her old nemesis Naraku. Since she and her allies of the Feudal Era destroyed Naraku did that mean that Byakuya was now an independent youkai? She tried to think back on his abilities — there were quite a few. She remembered illusion was one of his specialities and also teleportation.

Kagome dodged a fireball that Hiei released. "Were you aiming at me or the flying creep?"

Hiei glared at her, his crimson eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Does it matter? It makes no difference to me." The white bandage over his forehead was slightly askew. He didn't seem injured. What was he hiding?

"It makes a difference to me," Kagome cried out. She noticed the familiar gourd in Byakuya's hand. She didn't remember what it did, but she knew it wouldn't be good. "If we're on the same side, I suggest you avoid the gourd!"

"It's been a long time, priestess," Byakuya said with a pleasant smile. "Why don't I quiet down this vertically challenged nuisance?" He opened the gourd in Hiei's direction and a stream of snakes poured out and swarmed in Hiei's direction.

Hiei pulled out his sword and prepared to slice into the slithering hoard.

Kagome held out her hands and sent a burst of purifying holy power towards the poisonous snakes. They vanished from existence, purified of their darkness.

"Impressive," Hiei said sliding his sword back into the sheath strapped between his shoulders.

"Annoying," Byakuya grumbled. He opened the gourd towards Hiei again and this time a vast amount of water shot towards the small fire demon.

Kagome's purification power wouldn't have any effect on water and there was too much of a chance that she might purify the temperamental demon. It had become clear that he meant something to Kurama and Yusuke, though what she didn't really know yet.

Hiei managed to dodge the water, but the brick chunk of the fountain he was standing on vanished. He landed next to Kagome. "I take it that you know this prick?" Hiei asked.

"Old acquaintances," Kagome assured him. "It's been about five hundred years since we last saw one another. His name is Byakuya and his powers include illusion and teleportation."

"Five hundred—," Hiei looked at her with a new found respect. "You look pretty good for an old hag." He ripped off the bandage over his forehead and revealed a third eye. "This should help avoid illusions," he said.

Kagome was sorely tempted to purify the runt for the hag comment, regardless of whatever complicated relationship he had with Kurama and Yusuke. She felt a sense of danger from behind her and dodged another attack by Byakuya. Shards of a broken mirror seemed to rain down around her. She looked back towards Kurama. However, she was afraid her mind was playing tricks. Was it another illusion? Instead of Kurama, she saw a youkai with silvery-white hair, fox ears and a tail in a completely white garb destroying low-level demons disguised as bulls using a green thorny sword strapped to his right hand. She shook her head and saw the red haired Shuuichi fighting back-to-back with Yusuke, but the green sword-like thing was still present. She must have been imagining the silver haired youkai.

"So, I hear you wanted to save the grandchildren of your benefactor," Byakuya said. "I bet you don't even realize who this benefactor really is."

"What do you know about that?" Kagome asked.

"I know that it's a scam. It's an elaborate ruse to force you and the Fox to work together. I thought I'd give you a real treasure hunt," Byakuya said. "After all, you destroyed Naraku and in effect freed me from him."

"Odd way to thank the person that saved you," Hiei said. His hand was a ball of black fire and he leapt into the air towards the hovering origami crane.

Byakuya vanished and reappeared next to Kagome. His crane was gone, disintegrated into ash from Hiei's attack. Byakuya stood behind her, his dark hair billowing behind him in the wind. His arms encircled around Kagome in a bruising embrace. "Come with me, priestess," he whispered in her ear. "Let us go to Demon World."

There was a dark purple-black cloud that enveloped them both with twinkling prisms of stars blinding her in their brightness. She recognized the cloud. It wasn't miasma and there wasn't anything to purify. It was the Meidou. It could be used to destroy matter or transport it.

The world around her vanished. She fell to the cobbled stones at her knees. She didn't know exactly where she was, just that she was underground and that she was alone. Byakuya wasn't there and she couldn't sense anyone else. She hugged her arms across her chest to ward off the chill and forced herself to stay calm.

OoO

Kurama and Yusuke wouldn't be checking off the running of the bulls from their bucket list that day. Destroying bull demons hadn't been on the agenda, but it was reminiscent of their days as Spirit Detectives. Trouble was always lurking around the corner. Kurama pulled out his flask with the the fruit of the previous life elixir. He could end the battle in seconds if he was in his true youkai form — even if it only lasted fifteen minutes.

He sipped some of the liquid and waited for the transformation. He pulled out another seed from the pouch he kept in his front pants pocket. "Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine," he said quietly infusing the seed with his power. A green, thorny sword manifested and wrapped around his right hand and forearm. He and Yusuke stood back to back as they began to decimate the low-level youkai sending them back to the Demon World.

"Just like old times," Yusuke said with an excited grin. "Right, Kurama?"

"Indeed," Kurama said. He scanned the scene for Kagome. He could see that the fountain was in ruins and Hiei looked dazed. "Where's Kagome?"

"What?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama could sense a great deal of dark spirit energy hovering right next to him. Materializing out of nowhere a dark haired youkai appeared. "Don't worry. I'll take you to her," the youkai said.

Kurama reared back his demonic vine sword, but the illusionist youkai teleported out of his reach. The fruit of the previous life elixir still hadn't kicked in. Kurama would have planted the sinning tree inside of the foe if he knew that it was necessary to kill him. He tried to have good reason to resort to deadly tactics. He needed more time to analyze their enemy.

Strong, vise-like arms ensnared around Kurama's waist and he could feel time and space distort around him in a blur of darkness. Then he was reintroduced into a familiar reality. He was somewhere underground in the Demon World. It was still too soon for his elixir to take affect and yet he could feel his body's appearance change to that of Youko Kurama.

He regained his balance and looked around. Kagome wasn't far away and she was staring at him as if she had seen a ghost.

"Inuyasha?" she whispered, her blue eyes wide. She stumbled away and he wasn't sure if it was in shock or fear.

OoO

"What the hell just happened?" Yusuke shouted. Kurama and Kagome were just gone. And so was that guy that was on the floating paper bird. The illusion that had been cast over the bulls had been dispelled and several lower demons walked in circles in a state of confusion.

"It would seem that it was a ploy to capture those two," Hiei said. He reached up and re-bandaged his third eye. "Byakuya was the youkai behind this attack. His motive was their abduction."

"But why?" Botan asked. "I mean, Kurama has been around for a long time. So, I'm sure he has enemies. But, surely, he didn't know that girl."

"That girl is a priestess," Yusuke pointed out defensively. "She's got more spirit energy than Kuwabara. I'd have thought you'd have noticed." His phone began to buzz in his pocket. It was a special type of phone issued to Spirit Detectives that had reception all over the earth as well as in several different dimensions — in example Spirit World and Demon World. Even though he had retired, Koenma had pulled strings to allow him to keep a few gadgets. He pulled out the phone and inspected the caller ID. It was an unknown number. He answered the call anyway. "What do you want?"

"Yusuke, don't be so rude!" Botan scolded.

"Why are you in Spain?" the voice on the other end demanded.

"Who are you?" Yusuke asked.

Hiei snatched the phone from Yusuke and altered the options so that a visual image of the caller would appear. It was obviously a youkai on the other end of the call. "Answer the question. Who are you?"

"I am Sir Slade!"

Hiei narrowed his eyes, his telepathy wouldn't work over a phone. "Who are you really?"

The illusion of an older gentleman faded and a red haired, green-eyed youkai in his prime appeared. A kitsune. "Is Kagome in danger?" he asked. His green eyes were dark with worry.

"It depends. Would you consider being teleported into another dimension dangerous?" Hiei asked. "You wouldn't happen to be familiar with the name Byakuya would you?"

"What? That clone of Naraku?" another voice shouted from the kitsune's end of the call. A dark haired demon with bright blue eyes came into view. "Look, I'm Kouga, King of the Wolves. I'm the one Koenma lost to and your temporary boss, Hiei."

"Hn," Hiei grunted. At least he knew who his and Botan's temporary boss was. If Koenma lost to the King of Wolves, an S-level demon, in a bet it wasn't a big surprise. The King of Wolves was renown for his fierce competitive nature. "And who are you?" he asked the kitsune.

"Shippou, adopted son of the Lord of the Western Lands," he answered.

Hiei and Yusuke exchanged glances. These were big name youkai in the Demon World. "Why did you have Kagome and Kurama embark on a pointless scavenger hunt?" Hiei asked.

Shippou shrugged. "I thought they would have fun. We're old friends of Kagome's and we thought that with all the impressive rumors we'd heard about Kurama that they should meet." He looked towards Kouga and it was obvious that they were both concerned. "Could we solicit you to help find them?"

Yusuke snatched the phone from Hiei. "We're not for hire. Kurama and Kagome are my friends and I'll make sure that they find their way back." He ended the call with a growl. He glared at Hiei and Botan, his hair growing longer and darker as his hidden demonic nature began to flare in his anger. "What do you say we let bygones be bygones and work together?"

There were very few people that Hiei respected in the world. Yusuke Urameshi was one of them. Kurama was the other one. And occasionally, Koenma fell into that category, but not when he put his employment as stakes in a bet. He nodded and then turned to Botan. "Can you return to Koenma and see if you can find out anything about this Byakuya? Surely, there's a record about him. He knew the priestess from the Feudal Era."

"Why do you think he took Kurama?" Botan asked, biting on her lip anxiously.

"I don't know, Botan," Hiei said growing annoyed. Was she only concerned about Kurama? Why did he have to like her? It was so annoying. "He probably stole something from him in his previous life. That's what Youko did. He stole things." Like certain girl's hearts that didn't appreciate him.

OoO

Kurama held up his hands and tried to make himself look less threatening. In his true youkai form he was nearly seven feet tall and his golden eyes were both deadly and intimidating. Though, it wasn't fear he was seeing in Kagome's eyes. "I'm not Inuyasha," he said calmly. "It's me, Kurama. I drank something that caused my youkai appearance to emerge." He wasn't exactly certain that was true. The elixir shouldn't have kicked in for another forty-five seconds. He suspected their location was somehow affecting his demonic energy and altering his appearance. It had happened before on Demon World.

Kagome swallowed nervously and started to approach him, but still kept a careful distance. Her hands glowed a soft pink. "Kurama," she repeated.

"Yes, Kurama," he said.

Kagome looked around their surroundings. "We're underground somewhere, but I'm not sure where. The energies here are intense. Byakuya utilized the power of the Meidou to teleport us wherever we are."

"Where you are, is the Demon World, Kagome Higurashi," Byakuya said materializing before them.

Kurama snatched a rose from his hair and lashed out with his rose whip towards the other youkai. His whip soared right through the illusion, not disturbing it at all.

The image of Byakuya glanced down and brushed his palms over his chest. "I'm afraid your bag of seeds will do little to help you against me, Youko Kurama."

"What do you want with Kagome?" Kurama demanded.

"Not just Kagome! You too, Youko! You took something precious from me. I've decided to take something precious from you," Byakuya said with a cackling laugh. "I will provide you with a true challenge, unlike those two posers on the surface world. Did you recognize your old friends, priestess?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kagome said. She sent a wave of holy power towards the image of Byakuya and his illusion was destroyed.

He reappeared a few feet to the side. "That was rude, priestess! And I was about to reveal the secret identity of your mysterious Sir Slate! Why, he is none other than your adopted son from the Feudal Era all grown up!"

"Shippou," Kagome whispered.

"Shippou?" Kurama asked. Shippou, adopted son of the Lord of the Western Lands, was the strongest kitsune youkai alive. He was the one masquerading as Sir Slate? It certainly was reasonable that his illusion would be strong enough to fool them both, but he was over five hundred years old. How could Kagome be his adopted mother? He belatedly remembered her explanation about time-traveling to the Feudal Era.

"And who is the other?" Kagome asked. "Who is the one that hired Hiei and Botan?"

"Why none other than Kouga, the Wolf King," Byakuya said with a sneer. "I suppose I should thank you and those others for ridding me of Naraku. I've decided to thank you by giving you a true treasure hunt. You are deep below the surface of Demon World within a maze full of challenges. You can choose to work together or separate, but there can only be one winner. If you want to save the one most previous to you that is," Byakuya explained.

Kurama didn't like the direction of this conversation. He was aware of exactly who his most precious person was in his life.

"You can't hurt me! My most precious people don't even live in this time!" Kagome scoffed.

"Oh?" Byakuya asked.

An image of two people appeared before them. One of which, Kurama recognized as his mother, Shiori Minamino. Her dark hair was in disarray and her kind eyes were shadowed in fear. Next to her was a young man, possibly in high school, with hair dark as Kagome's and determined, angry brown eyes.

"Souta," Kagome whispered.

"I thought so," Byakuya said smugly folding his arms over his chest. "Which ever of you manages to find their way out of the maze within the next seventy-two hours wins."