I'm back! This chapter took FOREVER to write. But I am really, really, really happy with it! :) I only own Kiyoshi, Kasumi, Takeshi, and Akiko. Oh yeah, and this chapter, I own Mizuko. This is going to get interesting, I promise. This chapter creates a new wrinkle even I, the author, didn't know was coming. Okay, just to clarify, I, as the author, have no control whatsoever over what my characters are going to do. They do it of their own accord and I write it down. To a certain extent I can predict how the story will go... but only up to the point that I have ALREADY WRITTEN. They may BELONG to me, but that isn't the same as them doing what I think they should. They do whatever is most appropriate for them. Thank you for your time.

You can either read this next bit or skip to the story. I just need to rant. I hope no one take offense to this... FRESHMEN ARE STUPID. Not as individuals, but as a general group. They have no idea what their doing or where they're supposed to be going and solve this issue by getting in EVERYONE'S way so that NO ONE can get to where they need to go. And on top of that they don't LISTEN SO THEY CAN FIGURE IT OUT. Sorry if you're a freshmen. I hate freshmen as a group; I hated freshmen and thought they were stupid when I was a freshman. Enough said. Now on with the story.

They had been traveling for what felt like weeks, although in reality it had really only been four days. Kiyoshi had easily led them out of the forest, without any mishaps. But now they were in for a test they hadn't predicted. The path Kurama had led them to was the same one he, Yusuke, and Hiei had traveled. And it included a canyon, heated by a sun too close for comfort. The heat was reinforced by a complete lack of water and wind. Dead heat.

And that created a test of nerves. Not because the actual lack of water and air movement was a problem for the team. But because having no water nearby made Akiko more than a little irritable. And an irritated Akiko was about as safe as an irritated Hiei.

Angrily leading the group through the canyon, Akiko had run out of water. Her element being ice, she need water on a constant basis in order to control it. And being weak, even temporarily, was not something that agreed with Akiko's personality.

So when the three began having trouble keeping up with her quick, angry strides, she snapped. Takeshi had merely paused for a drink of water, only to find Akiko glaring at him and shouting, "You don't need to stop! Keep on moving!" He nodded his head quickly.

However, along with her control of ice, Akiko's sixth sense had diminished due to how dehydrated she was. So when both Takeshi and Kiyoshi yelled, "Duck!" she was surprised and looked around, instead of doing as suggested. Kasumi did the same. But, suddenly, both of them were knocked to the ground. Kasumi by Kiyoshi, Akiko by Takeshi. The boys had tackled them, helping them narrowly avoid having their heads taken off by the six demons flying down over their heads.

When the demons saw that they had missed their prey, they narrowed their eyes. Each had six. Six eyes, four antennae, nine legs, three sets of wings. They were nothing more than monster insects. "Three humans and a demon." Speaking monster insects. The largest, the leader, spoke again, "And the demon is weakened. Very much so." He cackled loudly, revealing five sharp rows of teeth.

Suddenly from behind them came Kasumi's voice. No one had seen her move, she had moved to where she now was so quickly. "Not a human. A throwback. A throwback!"

As Kasumi distracted them, Kiyoshi slunk over to Akiko and Takeshi. "Drink these. And Takeshi's. We can do without. But we need your help. And your ice." Although not happy taking orders or accepting help—the reason she hadn't taken a drink when the others had offered before—Akiko nodded and did as he said.

Then, as they were surrounding Kasumi, Kiyoshi and Takeshi appeared by her side, although they weren't fast in the way Kasumi had been fast. And Kasumi was still angry. "Not a human!" she hollered again. What was with this girl and becoming the demon her genes coded for? "A throwback!"

From next to her, Kiyoshi smiled calmly, coldly. "Not a human. A copycat."

The leader seemed to find this amusing. "A copycat. Also known as a legend, a story, a myth." Turning to Takeshi he added, "I suppose you think you're a demon merely disguising itself with a human aura?"

"No. Why would I want to do that anyway? It would just attract a lot of lowlife scum like yourselves." Takeshi spit on the ground in front of where the massive bugs had landed a few minutes before.

Before they had a chance to respond to Takeshi's open challenge—or insult—Akiko's aura began resonating something fierce from behind them. And the water seemed to have revived it with more force than ever before. Because her anger was boosting it farther than anyone would have imagined. "Weak?" she asked, her voice so quiet a breath of wind could have blown it away. "You think I'm weak? Well not any more!"

She sent an icicle toward the largest bug, too quickly for him to be able to dodge. It lodged itself in his forehead, one end sticking out from either side of his head. "Not weak?" he began, "Your attack didn't even kill—" His insult was cut short by the explosion of the icicle, sending brains and blood and ice flying in every direction.

In a gesture that could have meant her death, Akiko turned her back on the remaining demons. She then said, "I suggest you flee if you value your lives." They looked at her a moment, then at the calm grin on Kiyoshi's face showing he didn't fear them, at Takeshi's determined grimace, and finally at Kasumi's deadly glare and glowing finger.

Then they leaped into the air, flying away from the strange group. Unfortunately for the last one off the ground, killing their leader and running them off wasn't enough for Kasumi. And the Reigun blast she shot at it was more powerful than any she had summoned before.

A shower of blood became the first rainfall the canyon had seen in centuries, and the blue green blood of the insect was quickly absorbed into the parched canyon floor.

Kiyoshi was staring after Akiko. Something he had noticed, something he was sure Akiko had noticed, something he was sure the other had not noticed, was troubling his mind. That icicle hadn't so much shattered as it had exploded. And heat was necessary for an explosion. But when ice and heat met, ice melted, it didn't explode. Akiko's icicle hadn't melted, but sent shards of ice flying in every direction. Which meant something other than ice had been involved in that attack.

And Kiyoshi suspected that it was Akiko's unknown motive for accompanying him and the others into the more dangerous reaches of the demon plane.

Since the day his team had turned off their communicators and disappeared, Koenma had been working nonstop, attempting to keep his mind off of them. He had fallen asleep only once, still at his desk, nodding off from sheer exhaustion. Except those three blissful hours of dreamless sleep, he had thrown himself into his tedious work. Instead of letting others find the files for him, he searched for them himself in order to prolong the job.

And the number of objects astounded him as he continued counting. It wasn't completely accurate for the number of significant items they had recovered, because Koenma was required to file a report for every item he recovered, including items such as the top and the six-inch-high set of completely ordinary nesting dolls. "1682… 1683… 1684…"

Kiyoshi followed the others from a distance of about two meters. Still worried about the scene earlier in the day, his mind attempted to understand the event. He hardly noticed it when they finally stepped out of the canyon into what appeared to be vast rolling hills of purple grass.

"Don't let it touch your bare skin." Akiko said. "My mother and teacher both warned me of this. Growing anywhere and of a violent shade, Do not touch lest in death you would be repaid."

Hearing Akiko recite this verse in a voice touched slightly by what sounded to be fear, Kasumi and Takeshi pulled up their socks and tucked their pants into their shoes. Kiyoshi did the same before retrieving six plastic bags from his pack. Placing three one inside the other, he filled the innermost one with soil. The other three he placed around his right hand. He then pulled several shoots of grass up and replanted them in the bag before sealing each of the six around them.

Seeing the nervously raised eyebrows of the others, he explained, barely looking at them as he packed the deadly plant away into a pocket of his bag. "I don't yet have the ability to summon plants or wield them as weapons. With a specimen such as this, merely growing it at an explosive rate could be a deadly weapon." The others nodded their understanding; Akiko's slightly-tilted head and still-raised eyebrows said she had never met anyone this intelligent who was still so strange.

Back with Koenma…

"1713… 1714… 1715… 1716…"

Passing over the violet, grassy knolls quickly and carefully turned out to be more difficult than the group had anticipated.

Not all of the grass was as short as the shoots Kiyoshi had placed in the plastic bags. Some of them were waist high, or higher. They were all thankful, however, that these plants had not been bewitched or influenced in any way by their adversary.

And, as if Akiko's warning hadn't been enough, the hills were strewn with bodies poisoned by the plants they had so unwisely touched. Skeletons whose flesh had been eaten by the innocent-looking purple blades surrounding them. In her quiet voice Akiko said, "The blades are just that—blades. They can cut very little other than skin, but when they sense that they have sliced into something, they release a poison. It works to turn your aura against you; the more you have, the quicker it kills you." They were getting closer to the center, yet the number of skeletons didn't seem to lessen. "These poor saps obviously didn't have much, to have crawled so far before dying. It's supposedly very painful."

Suddenly, a demon appeared. He was of about Kasumi's height, but more powerful than any of the individuals in front of him, if not the entire group combined. "To cross my master's lands you must prove you are worthy."

Akiko rolled her eyes. "How so? And who is this master of yours, anyways?"

"At least one of you must pick some of this grass." He said, ignoring Akiko's second question.

"A suicide mission, eh?" Kasumi muttered sarcastically. Then they all looked at Kiyoshi, who silently pulled his plastic bag out of the pack slung over his left shoulder.

"Like this?" he questioned quietly, in the unassuming voice he always used, that had a tendency to make others feel like he was weaker than was actually true.

The demon in front of them paled visibly, nodding. "You carry a live specimen of the violet poison with you?"

Kiyoshi nodded. Takeshi took a step toward the demon. The demon blinked and there was a sword consisting of nothing but aura at his throat. Although he was stronger than the individuals, he knew he couldn't defeat them as a group. "Kasumi?" Takeshi asked.

Kasumi grinned evilly. "Take us to this master of yours and we might spare your life."

"1851… 1852… 1853… 1854… 1855… 1856… 1857…"

The demon did as Kasumi demanded and soon they had reached a towering building of luminescent green stones. Inside, they were led up a steep flight of stairs before their guide rapped his knuckles on a set of heavy wooden doors, inlaid with silver and gold filings.

Letting himself in, he announced them. "Um, a group outside wishes an audience with you, your highness."

The voice that responded made the group's hair stand on end. It was almost a hiss. "Fine. Show them in."

He gestured to the team to go in, closing the two heavy doors behind them.

Little did they know that entering that room was one of the most dangerous things they could do. Neither did they know that doing so would involve them in a feud that had been existent for centuries before they were born. Neither did they know that stepping into that hall was a catalyst that would set of a chain of events that would lead to Kiyoshi, Kasumi, Takeshi, and Akiko being the most hated and feared group in the demon plane since Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei had disappeared. Neither did they know that entering that room would set off a chain of events making them the four people more demons wanted dead than any others.

Little did they know that entering that room was the action that would make Kiyoshi the most-talked about human in the demon plane since Yusuke had defeated Rando, Suzaku, and the younger Toguro.

"Strange."

"What's strange, Kurama?"

"I placed seeds all over the letter I sent them. The first people to read it are tagged. And they no longer follow the path I gave to them."

"Then where are they?"

Kurama's eyebrows were furrowed. "I think they've entered the palace of Mizuko."

"Mizuko?"

"She is an A-class demon, very violent." Kurama looked somber, almost worried. "I may not get the chance to meet my copycat after all." He looked disappointed.

"We could assist them."

"No. You and Hiei are far too attached to your honor."

"Meaning?"

"Although she isn't as powerful as any of us, she is underhanded, using tactics you and Hiei would never even contemplate. She does whatever it takes to get what she wants, whether it's fair or not. She's a thief like myself, used to covert operations and extreme trickery. The only one of us who would be suited to handle her way of fighting would be me. I long since gave up doing things fairly, unless doing so benefited me, or suited my purpose. I never cared what people thought of me, so long as they feared me and respected me, even if the latter was borne solely from the previous."

"So why can't we take her? I think I missed that part."

"Yusuke," Kurama said sharply, "As Genkai's pupil and Raizen's son you should understand better than anyone that sheer power does not necessarily win a fight! Intelligence is required as well. Especially when fighting someone like Mizuko who uses as much treachery to win a fight as regular old combat skills."

"Then clarify for me; why can't you take her, with me and Hiei as backup?"

Kurama's eyes suddenly lost any light they had contained, shading and hiding his thoughts and emotions. His mouth and nose also settled, creating a mask of perfect indifference. He turned away from the other two, saying, "I'm not stupid enough to think I could defeat her again."

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "So it's Mizuko that hates your guts."

"What?" Yusuke asked, taken aback and slightly confused, but not at all surprised he wasn't privy to all Kurama's secrets, even after a hundred and fifty years.

As Hiei prepared to answer, Kurama's eyes flashed in a silent warning, but Hiei didn't even blink. "There was once a young female demon in Kurama's past. She fell in love with him, charmed him, seduced him. He broke away before anything happened and broke her heart in doing so. Her hurt and anger soon developed into a hateful jealousy of all Kurama had accomplished in the world of thieves. And that jealousy she harbored quickly developed into sheer hatred and resentment."

Kurama's eyes were filled with fire. "I could never stand her personality; she's flamboyant, ostentatious. Never a good quality in a thief. But I was always attracted to her, physically at least. She used that in a fight when I was attempting to steal something from her father. She used it as one of her deceitful techniques. She used my physical attraction to her to seduce me. I managed to escape her that time. But she's more powerful now. I wouldn't be able to begin resister her… charms again, until it was far to late to escape."