I only own Kasumi, Akiko, Kiyoshi, and Takeshi.

Kasumi had hit the button on the left of her communicator, hardly even aware of what she was doing, she was so dumbfounded by what she saw. When Koenma saw who it was, he breathed an audible sigh of relief, that went unnoticed by the sixteen-year-old. "Thank goodness you're all right," Koenma said, "Are the others safe?"

"Yeah, yeah, they're right here…" Kasumi's answer was so unenthusiastic and un-Kasumi-like, he began to worry.

"Are you all safe?" he asked again. She nodded, obviously not really listening to him. "So what's the emergency?" he asked, trying to catch her ear.

Still not really paying attention she responded. "What's your definition of emergency? 'Cause if it's that something that something really bad is happening, we don't have one. If it's that something really important is happening, we might." Koenma was happy with this answer, because it told him they were safe. And, although she was unaware of what she was actually saying, it was a question only Kasumi would ask.

"It doesn't really matter. Now tell me, what's going on?"

"If I turn this thing around will you see what we see?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Good." And she turned the communicator away from herself.

And before them lay a sight Koenma couldn't have pretended he had expected, not even in his wildest dreams. It was a lair of some sort. In one corner was a space where someone evidently lived. It contained three ornately decorated chares set around an even more ornate table. Off to one side was what could have passed for anything from a nest to a burrow to a bed, covered by quilts of expensive materials.

But outside that one small area, the place was packed. And with nothing ordinary, too. Stacked several layers high were objects from everywhere imaginable. And, for the most part, they were all priceless, one-of-a-kind items, or else very expensive. Koenma could see that even from the distance at which he was observing them. There was a considerable amount of gold, silver, and other precious metals, of course. But there were also works of art—masterpieces, really—that had been missing for centuries.

So, for several minutes, the five of them simply stared. Koenma was the first to regain his composure. And when he spoke, the four teens finally snapped out of it. "Go. Look through this stuff. But be careful. He could be here somewhere."

"He's not." Kiyoshi suddenly said, "The aura you surely felt from the outside seeming to confirm a presence in here wasn't a single aura. It's the combined aura of many of these objects. It's not the owner we need to worry about; it's the objects themselves. And Koenma… this was nothing more than a challenge. Whoever created this place wanted nothing more than to see if anyone could get through to this chamber. I don't believe they honestly care about these things."

Koenma nodded, trusting his most intelligent team member. "Take pictures of everything you can. Since my last team, these devices have improved some. Open it and hit the camera button. Any pictures you take will automatically be sent back to me." They all nodded, and he flipped his device shut, causing Kasumi's to flash off.

And so they began.

What the team photographed varied. A lot. It ranged from dresses and cloaks and hats to masterpieces to any and every type of furniture imaginable. From strange instruments to objects there only because the person seemed to have liked them to things they had no hope of identifying. From fabrics and quilts to a set of solid gold dinnerware to gems of every shape, size, color, and cut to hundreds of bags of money of origins none of the team could identify.

And they documented it all. Everything from the strange living area to the money and gems to the furniture to the small wooden top that had once been painted in vivid blues and greens. Everything.

When they were finally finished, they took the time to more carefully examine some of the items. Kiyoshi's main interest lay in the demon's living area. And there was also the proof of what Kiyoshi had claimed; that this was nothing more than a challenge and the owner—or thief—had no interest in the objects.

The proof was this: the chairs and table were obviously meant as a display of wealth and standing, and, if they were even used, would have been kept in prime condition. However, the chairs were worn, the stain fading. The gems set into the back and sides had lost some of their shine, and some were even scratched. The top of the table was scuffed and dented, seeming to indicate that, when he was here, the thief often propped his feet up on it.

He also found some fruit pits and apple cores lying beneath the table. They had only begun to mold, not completely decaying yet. The owner had been here recently.

Kiyoshi took careful pictures of all this, to show to Koenma the evidence he had found for his theory, as well as the idea that the guy hadn't left long ago. And once he had taken the photographs, having glanced at the others and seeing dark circles beneath their eyes, he began to realize how truly exhausted he was. He was tired to the very core of his being; his very bones were exhausted; every last ounce of energy in him had been leeched away. So he stumbled, doing the only thing that made the slightest amount of sense: he fell into the nest of quilts where he immediately slipped into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

Seeing Kiyoshi, eyes shut and completely dead to the world, Kasumi, Takeshi, and finally Akiko followed suit. And so it was that, for the rest of the night, the four members of the team slept, approximately two feet apart from each other, in a nest of blankets put together by the person they were attempting to kill.

While his team slept deep in a forest in Makai, Koenma was scanning through the pictures they had sent him. And, although he was nearly as tired as Kiyoshi had been, he couldn't make himself stop. He scrolled through the hundreds, even thousands, of pictures.

And he was absolutely floored.

Many of the pieces he could immediately identify. This one was from Makai at around 1300. That one from Reikai in the 1560s. These from the human world between 1650 and 1700. Those made in Makai, stolen in the human realm circa 1800.

The items he didn't recognize were either obviously valuable, obviously dangerous, both, or insignificant trinkets, such as the top. But each of those objects still served to interest Koenma. The valuable and dangerous ones made him wonder why they'd never been reported missing. The—let's face it—toys fascinated him for a different reason. There simply for the thief's entertainment, they might be able to tell the prince of the underworld something about the thief himself.

And they did. Unfortunately, they revealed nothing useful. There were many different kinds of puzzles, all well-used, all solved. Also several items—such as watches—had been taken apart then partially reassembled. But it was apparent that the lack of completion was out of boredom with a task too simple, not that he couldn't figure it out. This coupled with the confusing trap outside made at least two things evident: he was very intelligent and the stolen objects meant nothing to him.

The top and other such objects showed that the thief could be entertained in much simpler ways. Not that either of these things helped.

The one thing that came closest to helping was the age of the objects. The oldest he had identified had been reported stolen at around 1100 ad, the newest stolen April 16, 1931. But all this indicated was that the thief had added objects to this collection for a span of eight hundred and fifty years. And, of course, the thief who possessed them now could have stolen them from a stash he discovered, without actually stealing them himself. So in that sense, not even the span of time was certain. But Koenma's gut feeling—which was usually correct—told him that the thief had stolen them from the original and rightful owners himself.

When Kiyoshi woke the next morning, he began searching for the way out. And he couldn't find one. They were trapped.

He was on the edge of panicking when Genkai's voice forced its way into his consciousness, a memory from several weeks previously. "Just remain calm. When dealing with demonic powers, however slight or great, being calm is key. And one thing Kurama told me once—when dealing with plants, listening is crucial. He told me that they are constantly trying to communicate, although very few are physically or mentally capable of hearing them. And I believe, Kiyoshi, that you are one of those few. So just listen."

He did as she had suggested. At first, nothing. Then, eventually, the nothing melted away, forming instead the sensation he got when someone was whispering across the room from him. Not a voice, but a knowledge of someone talking. And that began to fill him. Then, suddenly, he just knew. The key to getting out was… manners. All he had to do was kindly ask the right tree to let them out. But there was peril in this, too. He knew he didn't receive unlimited guesses; his gut told him only six. So when he continued listening, it didn't surprise him that six of the trees identified themselves as different.

He slowly came out of his meditative state, and asked, one tree at a time, "Would you be so kind as to show me and my friends the way out?" After three trees, he was a little nervous, wondering whether he was even asking the correct thing to the correct trees. But on the fourth, his doubts were eliminated by the thick branches that came and grabbed the four team members, alarming three out of their sleep. They were set down softly in the ring outside the trees. Everything was silent.

The time frame fits, Koenma thought furiously.

But a small portion of him fought back. That doesn't mean it was him.

But plants. Plants. And some of those items were stolen by him based on the minute amount of evidence he intentionally left at the scene. And many others he was suspected of having a hand in, but there wasn't any evidence to prove or disprove it.

The battle raging in Koenma's head was suddenly silenced by a high beeping. He flipped open the case and Kiyoshi began speaking. "Send people out here now. The challenge has been proved. Once someone—in this case, us—got inside, other than the owner, the majority of the plants quit defending the place. So if you want the items, you better do it quick."

Stunned, Koenma did as Kiyoshi suggested, after which the boy continued, "He was there recently, by the way. And in case figuring out a personality will help, this guy seems to have admired politeness. What should we do now?"

"Wait."

Kiyoshi nodded, the device flashed, and he disappeared. Koenma's face sank lower and lower until it finally hit the desk in front of him. He groaned. He could think of only three or four thieves who fit the description he had created—intelligent, polite, slightly whimsical, and still free. And only one fit the time frame.

But Koenma didn't want to believe it, not even with all the evidence laid out in front of him.

"The plants have surrendered. They figured out how to get out. They either have someone crazy or a very good listener on that team. I don't know about you two, but I have a feeling this will be far more interesting that we ever anticipated." The tallest man's eyes flashed with both an excitement and a nervous energy.

"And Koenma's not stupid. No doubt that, if not now, soon he'll figure out it was you." The brown-haired one replied.

"Which would be the end of us." The shortest muttered under his breath, but the other two still heard him.

"Nah." The tallest answered, completely at ease, his confidence that they wouldn't be caught tangible. "Last night by listening to my plants, I found that of the four, only one is a demon, although another has a strange control of plants." His grin, revealing sharp teeth, was wicked, as if he knew more about that than he was letting on. "But either way, three are human. And they haven't worked together long."

The shortest's disgust at the thought of being captured had dissipated. "So what you're saying is that they won't be able to hurt us, or capture us, but might be able to pose a threat? The threat of catching up with us?" This silver-blonde one nodded. A malicious grin spread over the face of the shortest man present. "Then this might just turn out to be the most fun we've had in the last fifteen decades."