I'm back, once again! I don't know if I've already said this or not, but most of the battles aren't going to be real battles ('cause I suck at writing those). They will be fights within the characters themselves. So, we shall continue now last chapters rather entertaining finish, while I only own Takeshi, Akiko, Kiyoshi, and Kasumi. I'm tired of saying Mizuko, because she is dead, dead, dead, dead, DEAD. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. And, to be honest, Kasumi is a fun character to write about when she gets truly angry. :) The reason the number is so large is that he stole so many things, and there is probably a large number of items he didn't steal that he is being blamed for in the files.

I accidentally deleted the reviews, so sorry I didn't reply to those. Thanks to those of you who did review. Also, on a happier note, I found my flash drive, so that's good.

And you guys, watch those you care about closely. Chances are, there is someone around you suffering silently, because they don't think anyone cares, or they don't want to hurt or burden those they know care, or they simply can't talk about it. Just make sure they know you care about them…

Slowly, with extreme care, the plants slipped off of Takeshi until only one held him, suspended in the air above hundreds of others that would kill him, if given half the chance. Kiyoshi's voice broke into the silence, threatening, frightening, "Never mention my mother again." Then Takeshi began to slowly move back towards the group, the only thing damaged being his pride.

The Kiyoshi seemed to collect himself. He took a deep breath and sat back down, all the emotions that had filled his eyes only seconds before suddenly vanished, to be replaced by disgust, before that too disappeared. And his green eyes went back to looking as they normally did; observant but unassuming and unobtrusive. His next words could barely be heard, but they thankfully came from the Kiyoshi they all knew, not the violent creature who had come very close to killing a friend only moments before. "I apologize, Takeshi. I was out of line. There is no way you could have known about my mother. I do miss her, but not in the same way you miss your mother. My mother died in a car… accident ten years ago." His hesitation told Kasumi that there was more to that story than he was letting on.

But before she could ask about it, Takeshi asked, "How did you do that with those plants? I thought they were being controlled by Kurama."

"They were. They are." He attempted in vain to manipulate the plant again. Then Kiyoshi sighed, looking up at the barely visible sky, and he closed his eyes. He put a hand to his forehead, attempting to organize his thoughts as he said, "I don't know how I did it. I thought I knew how strong I was but this… this says there is more going on with the whole copycat thing than Kurama is telling us. If he even knows himself. Because what I just did should have only been possible for someone at Kurama's power level. And I didn't use nearly enough aura for what was accomplished." He turned to face the others and explained, "If an object is infused with aura, it's difficult to get the aura completely out. But you can overcome it, superimposing it with your own, to manipulate the object in your favor instead. You know that already. I think, because Kurama is so powerful, to overcome his aura even from a distance would be incredibly difficult, for anyone. If he was actually here, it would be virtually impossible. In addition, his plants like him, meaning they'll do what he wants whether he has a strong amount of aura backing them or not. They'll just be more effective the more aura there is."

"I am so confused."

"Basically, what I did shouldn't have been possible. The amount of aura it should have taken would have killed me to produce. Which means that either some weird quirk with the copycat genes, or some outside force was acting on those plants."

Spreading quickly through the demon plane were rumors of how demons—mostly C and D, but sometimes B—were being killed by a group of four. And easily.

The demons that gathered to discuss it were now starting reach the upper echelons of the demon plane's hierarchy. Mostly upper B, but a few A as well. And the few low class demons who had managed to escape, simply because they weren't worth the trouble, were enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame. And those demons spoke of only one of the humans. A male, quiet, without an impressive aura. Or so it had seemed. In truth, he was concealing a good majority of his aura. The most interesting part of it was, he only had one arm. A poisonous purple plant had taken the place of the other.

Rumors were spreading that he was actually a demon, adapted to be able to hide in the human world without attracting attention, even from those with a sixth sense, as well as avoiding attention from the underworld.

At one of these spontaneous gatherings, a hush fell over the demons. Even the arrogant ones classified as A, who probably could have defeated that group, knew it would be stupid to fight these demons. They had been a group for more than a century and a half. But any one of them could have single-handedly obliterated the entire group, their power so outstripped everyone else's.

The tallest said, a small grin covering his face, one that didn't reach his golden eyes, "Ignore us. We just want to hear what you all have to say. Word of a group of three humans and a demon has reached us and we were interested."

The fact that these S-class demons, although they all had strange histories when it came to dealing with humans, were interested created mass chaos among those present and all hell broke loose as the demons attempted to tell their version of events.

What Kasumi did next surprised everyone. She flew off the handle. First at Takeshi and Akiko, and then at Kiyoshi. "You idiots! Takeshi, are you so stupid that you didn't see the pain in his eyes, the hurt behind the rage? And Akiko—you. You sitting there staring at me and glancing at Kiyoshi so calmly. I know you saw that pain. And the fact that you saw that, then calmly allowed him to speak of power. It pisses me off." Suddenly she spun around and faced Kiyoshi. "And you. You. For all your intelligence and good grades and for all you claim to hate stupid people and stupid questions, you are pretty damn stupid yourself. You won't let anyone in, Kiyoshi. You won't let go of your stupid ego for one second. And the only time you did, you made me swear not to tell anyone of it." Kasumi's rant seemed to begin to wind down now, but not because her anger had dissipated. She was simply running out of breath. But then she got a second wind. "No one cares, okay? This twisted expectation you have of yourself, that as a guy you're not allowed to cry is wrong. No one will give a damn about the tears if you cry. All any of us wants is for you to stop hurting so much. You said you didn't think Takeshi could take seeing you the way you were that day. Hell, it's still torturing me. But it wouldn't be so bad if you'd just let it all out." Kasumi let her rage at the others out by firing a shot into the branches. "Whatever fear or doubts Takeshi would obtain from seeing that, however much it hurt me to see that, I can tell that it is absolutely nothing in comparison to what you keep to yourself every single day. And you said yourself that you worried he'd think of it at the worst moments, and might get himself killed. What about you? Couldn't that happen to you, too? Why can't you all just quit being so freaking idiotic?" Kasumi screamed the last part at all three of them, before stopping and panting, completely out of breath.

When Kiyoshi looked at her she stepped backward, stunned by how open his eyes were. He looked so vulnerable. So broken. Those impenetrable green eyes were filled with tears that Kiyoshi still refused to shed. "It could happen to me. I might die because of it. But for a long time now I've been too far gone to care. I'll try to tell you the source of my pain. Maybe you'll understand, but you probably won't. And I honestly don't think I'll actually be able to tell you."

Botan stood outside Koenma's office door, listening to Koenma rant to himself. His team disappearing this quickly was probably the worst thing that could have happened. "Stupidity! Why can't there ever be intelligent and powerful people who are content to do what they're told? It's a serious flaw in human nature. Humans make me so mad! They are far too independent. Arrrrggggghhhhh!" Botan heard a crash and flung open the door.

"Sir, are you okay?" His desk had been overturned and papers fluttered to the ground.

"You heard all of that Botan?"

"Yes, sir. I thought it was best to wait until you were finished." There was an awkward silence. "I have the last six files on Kurama, sir."

"That makes how many?"

"Ummm… We kind of… lost count at around 5,000, sir."

"And what year were you at then?"

"1372."

"Oh, Lord."

"What do you mean?" Kasumi sank to her knees next to Kiyoshi. Halfway through her tirade she had realized what she was actually saying. But she hadn't been able to stop herself. And she definitely hadn't expected Kiyoshi to actually take those angry words to heart.

As usual, Akiko didn't get involved, but watched instead. But not with her usual look of a slight but detached interest. Her face actually looked concerned. Whether about Kiyoshi, or Kiyoshi flipping out and hurting Kasumi, the others couldn't tell.

Takeshi looked guilty at having set off this chain of events. And bewildered as to why Kiyoshi would hurt so much, and avoid letting them see to protect him.

"I have never told anyone about what really happened that day… not even my father…" Kiyoshi mused, trying to put into words the feelings he had kept to himself for as long as he could remember.

Kasumi just listened, didn't try and force him to continue. When he seemed to have forgotten what he was doing, she prompted gently, "What day?"

"The day my mother died, okay?" Kiyoshi snapped, lashing out, naturally using anger to protect himself.

"But why can't you talk to anyone about it?"

Koenma and Botan had quickly discovered that nearly all of the files were completely unhelpful. They were related to Kurama only in the sense that, of the suspects, he was at the top of the list. There were a few inconsequential details about his life before he began stealing, but nothing to suggest where he might hide stolen treasures. Then, of course, the stretch of time he had worked for Koenma.

But in the last century and a half, there had been random sightings of him, for brief periods in different parts of Makai. Plotted on a map, they looked strange. Completely random at first glance, but somehow purposeful when you looked closer. Then Koenma understood. Each of these sightings was a hint for him. A hint telling either where one of the treasure stashes was or where Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei were hiding.

Koenma snorted. Trust Kurama to come up with something like this. Koenma knew Kurama well enough to know that there was enough information for his three missing employees to be found. But Koenma also knew that Kurama had an unnatural ability to analyze just how much information was necessary to figure out a puzzle and he most likely would have only given the bare minimum. His first instinct was to mutter, "Kurama could figure this out." Then he realized that, if not for Kurama, he wouldn't be trying to figure this puzzle out.

"I… I… I just can't." Kiyoshi stuttered. "Because if I told someone what actually happened… if I said it out loud… it would make it real. As it is, part of the time I can pretend everything is as it seemed. But if I admitted it out loud, it would be true forever. I would never be able to escape what I did, even for a moment."

Kasumi reached up to touch Kiyoshi on the shoulder, which was now racked with sobs. But before she could place her hand there to comfort him, she froze, because she heard his next words. He was no longer speaking to her, but debating with himself. His words were whispered, cried, said barely loud enough for the others to hear. But they screamed the reason for all of his pain. "I would never be able to escape the fact that I killed my mother."

After he uttered these words, a silence came over the group, interrupted only by Kiyoshi's occasional sob.

"Well, that was certainly… enlightening."

The look Hiei gave Kurama stated quite clearly that he thought Kurama was insane. Yusuke didn't comment but obviously agreed. Kurama saw these looks and said, "You didn't see the fear in that place, before we uncloaked our energies? As well, as the fear afterwards. Fear of humans, fear of demons." He shook is head in mock disappointment. "What the demon plane has come to. The descriptions were interesting as well."

"But you didn't learn anything significant." Hiei pointed out.

"True. Kind of reminds me of high school. Some of it is fascinating, but none of it is important, interesting, and applicable."

"Then what was your purpose in going? Everything you do is carefully plotted out. Always."

"I'm tired of monotony. For a while I've been giving Koenma very subtle hints. Not that he'll be able to figure them out. His mind doesn't work the right way. Maybe he'll notice the pattern, but there is no way he'll actually figure it out. For that he will need the intelligence of someone who thinks like I do. And then he might figure out that the entire thing is a false lead."

Hiei raised his eyebrows and Yusuke's mouth dropped open. After a few moments Yusuke asked, "Kurama, why can't you tell us about stuff like this before you actually carry it out?