I have returned. I have decided that, because I am lazy, it will be easier to answer reviews in the chapter. Sorry if you like it the other way, but I really feel like I should reply to my reviewers, but I'm also, as I stated before, very lazy. I only own those four characters, even though they're asleep for all of this chapter… whatever.

Kurama no Miko2003: Yes, poor Takeshi. He'll get in on the training soon. I'm glad you are looking forward to the stuff between Hiei and Akiko; I had fun writing it and I like it, but I wasn't sure how my readers would respond.

Silver Spirit Fox: Glad you think I'm a good writer! It's always good to hear that. As for Death Note… I love that series. So much of the conflict happens only in their heads. And I did find my flash drive, thanks for asking.

animegrlsteph: I'm glad you liked it. But might I point out that it takes almost nothing to make you laugh? Jk.

This chapter focuses more on the past, sorry if you were looking forward to more training. But this chapter is important to the storyline. Italics are flashbacks. And, just as a warning, the flashback does get a bit… graphic. Not terrible, but worse than anything in this story thus far.

Koenma was almost running in circles, searching for the files on the blueprints of the communicators. Takeshi's and Kiyoshi's signals had just disappeared. Then, all of a sudden, a beeping noise filled the room. Rushing to his computer, he saw he was receiving a call from… Takeshi. Thanks god.

When he answered, however, it wasn't the boy. He found himself staring into cold golden eyes set in a pale face surrounded by silver hair. "Koenma." The man before him said.

"Kurama! Where are they?!" Koenma's voice was slightly panicked but he didn't care.

Kurama chuckled darkly at Koenma's tone. "Why would we harm them? They did nothing to harm us."

"But they are working for me. And you three have had some inexplicable issue with me for the past hundred and fifty years."

"Inexplicable? I think not." Kurama's eyes glinted with something akin to both hate and guilt.

Koenma paused, unsure of what to say. Then he burst out, "You will be the death of me, I swear! What are you talking about?"

"Does it really matter? All that matters now is that your team is here. Three of the communicators and all of the trackers have been destroyed. We will probably leave soon. And if you hadn't figured this out, those letters were to show that, while you may held some sway over portions of the demon plane and your agents can survive here, you will never truly control this realm. And if that's the best your special forces team can do to disguise their true auras, your training facilities are far below the standards of those here in Makai."

Koenma bristled at the insult, although the only reason it hit is mark was because of the truth he felt in Kurama's words. It had been Koenma himself who had allowed that standard to fall when Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke had vanished. "Why are you doing this? Would you really kill innocent children?"

Kurama blinked once, thinking over the question. He then said the words he knew would get to Koenma the most. "I would not. They are innocent until they attempt to kill me or bring me in. Then I shall have no qualms, for it was their own decision. Additionally, none of them is a child. Kasumi and Takeshi have long lived in a world where it is survival of the fittest. They have seen that if you don't fight, you will survive but you won't flourish. Akiko grew up in Makai, where childhood often disappears before it begins. Kiyoshi… in fifteen years that boy has endured more pain silently than you have in centuries. He has yet to tell me what it is but I can see that it's eating away at him."

Koenma thought back a moment to what he had learned of Kiyoshi's past. Then Kurama's next words reached his ears. "It's eating away at him more than what you did is eating at you. Because, if they are killed, Koenma, it will be you, not us, who caused their deaths." The golden eyes glared one second longer and then Takeshi's communicator snapped shut.

Koenma sat at his desk for two hours, staring at a blank screen and attempting to process Kurama's words. All that registered was three words: they blame me.

Over and over it repeated itself. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me. They blame me.

After two hours he realized something else. Kurama had changed. His demeanor was now closer to that of the fox demon before his time as Shuichi Minamino than it had ever been while he was working for Koenma. Had Kuwabara's death, Koenma flinched thinking the word, truly affected him that badly? Thinking on those golden eyes and cold expression, Koenma could immediately see that the answer was yes. Kuwabara's death had torn Kurama apart.

But what of the other two? Hiei hadn't cared for Kuwabara, but he had hated Koenma anyway, so that was probably his reason for leaving. Hiei hadn't really needed an excuse. Yusuke appeared slightly unhappy with Koenma. His greeting the day before had lacked the spirit Koenma had come to expect from the ex-spirit detective, even with that grin. Unhappy, perhaps, but not angry, exactly. Neither did he seem to have any desire to come back. Either he was content or there was something holding him back. Kuwabara's death…?

Suddenly it struck Koenma. Yusuke and Kuwabara had only been friends in a loose interpretation of the word. They had always been rivals first and friends second. And, of the two, Yusuke always came out on top in a fight. When he died (flinch), Kuwabara's only regrets had been that he hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Yukina and that he never beat Yusuke in a fair fight.

Kurama on the other hand… Kurama had genuinely considered Kuwabara a friend. And, on top of that, Kurama had been Kuwabara's mentor. In one person's death (flinch), Kurama had lost a friend and student. And a century and a half later, he still hadn't truly recovered.

The toddler's forehead sank lower and lower before finally hitting the desk. They blame me.

Kurama looked out over his den. The golden eyes lingered briefly on each of the other six people in the room. They were all asleep or, in Hiei's case, pretending to be asleep. His eyes rested longest on the boy name Takeshi. Shizuru's descendent.

"Dammit, Koenma!" Kurama muttered under his breath, turning away from the others and putting his head in his hands, "Damn it all. Why the hell would you do something like this? Did the last time have no effect on you? Did you learn nothing? He's just a boy, for god's sake! Ten years younger than… Dammit, do you want that to happen again?!"

Then, without any warning, all the angry fire in Kurama's eyes disappeared. It was replaced by a blankness devoid of hope. And tears dripped from their corners as the memories he had been unsuccessfully trying to repress for fifteen decades came flooding into his mind.

Botan appeared, cheerful as ever. "It's not a huge deal, but Koenma wants you to go after this demon. We're not sure how strong he is, so we advise you all go together. Now that Yusuke's enlightened us about the ways for demons above class B to get through the force field, we can never be sure…"

She trailed off, unsure of what to say next. Yusuke then said, "Sure thing, Botan. Soon as I finish this movie."

"You would risk humanity… for a movie?!"

Yusuke thought a moment. "Ummm… yeah."

Kurama chuckled. "Aren't we exaggerating a bit, Botan? This demon isn't a serious threat or you'd be panicking right now. And Yusuke, it's a DVD; we can finish it when we get back."

Yusuke sighed and jumped up, "Come on then, let's go."

They found him quick enough but, just as quickly, he escaped through what had to be the luckiest distortion between Makai and the human world ever. They followed him through and, by that point, he had heckled Kuwabara enough that he was irrational and cut through the force field. Seeing no alternative, the other three followed.

Out of nowhere, a couple dozen A-class demons attacked. Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama all took the offensive. But three people cannot keep track of twenty-four, no matter how talented the three are. One of the enemies saw their weak point. Before they could do anything, it was over. He saw what had been done, and he lost all constraint.

Up until that point he had been restraining his aura to an extent, still pretending to be Shuichi Minamino—an ace up his sleeve, that extra power. But seeing what had been done made him forget all that. The fox demon had emerged. And its wrath now trumped almost every other time it had ever been angry.

Yusuke and Hiei continued fighting but together they did only as much as Kurama did alone. When they stopped, every one of the demons was dead. Kurama stood a few feet away from Hiei and Yusuke. He stood completely motionless, the only movement his hair in the cool breeze. His long, sharp, claw-like nails were dripping in blood. Surrounding him were several demons whose hearts had been torn out. By a nearby man-eating plant or by Kurama himself, it was impossible to tell. The ground around Kurama was muddy from excess blood. His cream-colored clothing was spattered with the deep red gore and his hair and face were flecked with carnage. But he hardly seemed to notice it. His voice cracked as he spoke, "I couldn't stop them. I couldn't stop one friend's death. I was right here and I couldn't save him!"

Yusuke took a half-hearted step towards Kurama, just as Kurama fell down next to Kuwabara. The young man's body had been mutilated almost beyond recognition. Deep wounds covered his face and arms where he had turned around to try and defend himself. There were two deep slashes through his chest and one through his back. Blank eyes stared skyward from the place he lay in a pool of his own blood.

Yusuke could feel Kurama's grief. It was so great he knew there was nothing he or Hiei could do. So he stepped forward and winced as he closed the empty eyes. He pulled Kurama to his feet. He then winced again as he picked up Kuwabara's limp form and Hiei led an indifferent, listless Kurama.

Explaining to Shizuru what had happened was fairly easy. She already knew. She looked forlornly at the shredded body that was her younger brother. She sighed and said, "The idiot finally got himself killed. It was bound to happen someday. At least he died fighting; it's the way he would've wanted to die. I only wish it hadn't come this soon." She then turned to look at them and said, "Thanks for bringing him here. It means a lot. Take care, wherever it is you're going."

How Shizuru had known about what they all silently planned on doing, Kurama wasn't sure. Neither did he really care. Everything beyond that was a blur.

He, Yusuke, and Hiei had attended to some last minute business, all together. He remembered waiting outside and listening as Hiei told Yukina the truth. He remembered his vague surprise that Yukina had already known but had been waiting for Hiei to tell her.

He remembered the sound of the slap that sent Yusuke reeling across the room when he told Keiko he was leaving. And the cursing. And Yusuke's apology. His promise to visit and the glistening eyes that suggested leaving Keiko again was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

And Kurama remembered those torturous ten minutes when his stunned brain was attempting to tell Shiori the truth gently. He saw her shock when he let his false identity fade away. And her sad acceptance of what he was saying.

But he remembered everything after Shizuru like it was a movie, as if it had happened to someone other than himself.

"How could you do this, Koenma? No human stands a chance against an A-class demon. Yet you would send three of them with the help of a single B-class demon into Makai unaided? And not send anyone after them when they were facing three potentially violent S-class demons? Then again, I suppose part of that was my fault." Kurama sighed, "Damn it, why'd you hire them in the first place?"

Kurama continued his quiet ranting, "You sent us into that mess. But you didn't learn anything from that mistake. You didn't have to feel that aura suddenly vanish when it shouldn't have. You didn't have to see his body. You didn't have to see the blankness in his eyes. You didn't see the blood, blood everywhere, on everything…"

Then came a voice from across the room. Everyone else had slept through Kurama's rant but Hiei had heard every word. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what would happen. You did all you could."

The only reason these words helped was because they came from Hiei. He had no problem with lying but he would never go to the trouble of lying just to make someone else feel better. Anyone else, Kurama would suspect of lying to make him feel batter. "Thanks, Hiei."

But Hiei was already asleep and soon after Kurama followed suit.