A/N: Did I remember to put a note about Hime? Probably not… It's Japanese for "Princess". Although I usually avoid non-English words, this one was too good to resist (it's pronounced the same as Hiei, but with a "m" sound between the two vowel sounds).

Recap: Everyone is infected! But Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara are (conveniently) immune to the virus. A sick Chuu mistook Hiei for a girl (silly Chuu!), Yusuke and Kuwabara came up with a new nickname for Hiei, Botan read a kinky book in spirit world when she was meant to be researching Puu's behaviour and Hiei and Kurama slept together… You saw that right?

Chapter 6: There Next

"Hey Hime – I mean Hiei – did you remember to pack your purse and your perfume before we left?"

Kuwabara laughed at Yusuke's joke but Kurama forced himself to keep a straight face.

"Chu was very sick, Hiei," he said to Hiei, who looked about ready to fry them all in a blaze of black flames. "And if it's any consolation, people mistake me for a woman all the time."

"I don't understand why they have to call me Hime," Hiei grumbled.

"Because it sounds like Hiei, and it's funny!" Kuwabara answered him.

Kurama smiled sympathetically at Hiei.

"We found out some useful information over breakfast this morning," he said. "The doctors told us they are stationed here because the area up ahead is being guarded to stop infected demons entering. Nobody beyond that point is sick, and if anyone there shows any signs of sickness, they send them to this transporter, which is acting as a mini-hospital. That means the problem is back the way we came, so it at least narrows down our search."

"Yeah, that's right," Yusuke agreed. "So with any luck, we'll find the breach today and we can get you back to your palace by sundown, Hime."

"Hey Hime, how's the dragon in your castle?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hime, have you got a date for the ball yet?" Yusuke asked.

"If you don't have a date yet Hime, Chu said he'd take you!" Kuwabara added.

Yusuke and Kuwabara fell against each other laughing and Hiei started to reach for his sword, but Kurama quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his way forward.

"It's just a little bit of fun, Hiei," he said.

"I don't like it," Hiei replied.

"That's part of what makes it fun for them," Kurama reminded him.

"Come on Hime, put your glass slippers on and let's go," Yusuke said.

Hiei bared his teeth in an angered sneer, his eyes watching Yusuke and Kuwabara as they passed him. Kurama started after them, waving a hand in front of Hiei's face.

"Come on," he said. "The sooner we go, the sooner this mission will be over with. You want this mission to end quickly, don't you?"

Hiei's sneer vanished, his face once more taking on that bewildered look of childlike wonder he seemed to be wearing a lot since contacting the virus.

"What will we do once this mission is over?" he asked, hurrying over to join Kurama.

"We can go back to normality," Kurama casually replied. "Which for me is study and work and for you is a healing chamber for at least a week – you know I really do wish you would have let the doctor give you the antidote."

"He said he hadn't perfected it yet," Hiei replied.

"But it might have helped. Are you enjoying being this poorly?"

"I'm not poorly, Kurama."

"Okay, well, we can talk more about that after we finish the mission."

"We can talk after we finish the mission?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Hiei's agreeableness seemed a little suspicious to Kurama, but a lot of what Hiei had been saying and doing lately seemed suspicious, and so Kurama dismissed the thought. He hoped that it was all just because Hiei was still sick – according to Kuwabara, Chu had been acting just as oddly as Hiei, so strange behaviour was obviously a side effect of the illness – but Hiei's refusal of treatment was a little more difficult to dismiss. Hiei was, of course, very proud and as such he hated to admit that he might have any sort of weakness, but even for Hiei, refusing treatment for a virus was excessively obstinate.

Kurama just hoped that Hiei's stubborn pride would not end up proving to be his downfall.

"Hurry up Hime, I've got exams to get back to!" Kuwabara called back to Hiei.

"You're just taking advantage of the fact that he can't fight back to lay into him, Kuwabara," Yusuke pointed out.

"You're doing the exact same thing!" Kuwabara argued back.

"Not really, because I would say those things to his face even if he wasn't sick," Yusuke replied. "And I would like it if he fought back."

"I think we should go now," Kurama said, stepping between them.

"Right, let's split up," Yusuke said. "That way we can do this twice as fast. To be fair, you should go with Kuwabara today Kurama, and I'll take over guarding Hime."

"I don't need to be guarded," Hiei growled.

"That's probably a good idea Yusuke," Kurama said, ignoring the horrified look he earned himself from Hiei. "It's not advisable for Hiei to get involved in any close combat situations again, and there is a good chance we could run into trouble as we near our goal. With your longer range attacks, you're the best placed of the three of us to keep conflict away from him."

"If he's really that useless, can't we just send him back to a vet or something?" Kuwabara muttered.

"I'm not useless!" Hiei snapped.

"Go with Yusuke, Hiei," Kurama said to him. "We'll each move out parallel to the border up ahead until we find something."

"Right," Yusuke agreed. "Come on Hime, you better walk ahead of me so I can carry your veil for you."

"Veils are worn over the head," Hiei answered him. "Servants hold up trains, which are part of the dress, not veils."

"Well I guess you would know more about these things than me, Hime."

Hiei turned to Kurama, who offered him a small, reassuring smile before turning away from him and starting to leave with Kuwabara. Hiei watched Kurama go until he was out of sight before turning to Yusuke, his eyes doubling in size as he found the mazoku standing on the spot with a finger rammed up one of his nostrils.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked him.

"What does it look like?" Yusuke casually replied. "I've got one of those stringy ones that gets stuck right up over that little ridge where your nose meets your brain, and it's pissing me off, I've gotta get it out."

"I never thought it would be like this."

Yusuke's finger halted and his eyes slowly moved to Hiei.

"Is it even safe for you to put your firing finger inside of yourself?" Hiei asked as their eyes met.

"Don't say it like that!" Yusuke yelped. "I'm not putting my finger inside myself!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"You could fire off and injure yourself."

"Stop talking!"

"Alright."

Yusuke screwed up his face and slowly retracted his finger, looking down at it to admire what he had dug out from the depths of his nostril.

"It's no fun when you're judging me and being weird…" he complained before wiping his hand on his vest.

"You spread germs that way," Hiei pointed out.

"I don't have germs, I'm super-immune," Yusuke reminded him.

"You do have the germs, you can still infect someone else. Just because you have been saved from illness, doesn't mean you can't still cause great harm to another."

Yusuke and Hiei stood staring at each other for a long time, the silence growing almost uncomfortable. Eventually the moment ended when Yusuke turned away and started to walk, and, a few seconds later, Hiei began to follow him.

"I'll have a pint of beer with one of those sweet cherries on a stick. And an umbrella. And some ice. And a slice of lemon."

Shizuru leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the bar to bring herself closer to Botan, who was sitting on a bar stool facing her.

"Cocktail cherries, umbrellas, ice and lemon slices are served with cocktails," she explained.

"But I don't want a cocktail," Botan replied. "I want a beer, and I like all those decorations."

Shizuru leaned back again, opening one of the small fridges under the bar. She retrieved a can of beer and then collected a clean glass from the drying rack, placing each down in front of Botan. Botan pouted a little but found her smile again when Shizuru placed a bowl of cherries, a bowl of lemon slices, a bucket of ice and a stand filled with colourful plastic novelty drink decorations on the bar.

"Knock yourself out," she said.

"Oh goody, this is so exciting!" Botan said, cracking open her can.

"Is this a social call, a business call or are you just here for the free drink?" Shizuru asked.

"Oh all three I suppose," Botan replied, as oblivious as ever to Shizuru's sarcasm. "I came to show you this super new top I got, I came to tell you I still have absolutely no idea what the boys are up to and I wanted the drink to calm me down after spending the morning escaping Puu again."

Shizuru nodded slowly.

"Why is Puu acting that way?" she asked. "What's wrong with Yusuke?"

"Oh nothing, he seems quite radiant."

Shizuru frowned as Botan dropped a small handful of cocktail cherries into her beer.

"The problem isn't Yusuke, it's Puu. Yusuke thought that maybe he was hungry."

"So why don't you just feed him?"

Botan shrugged, squeezing the juice from two lemon slices into her beer.

"Yukina usually looks after him," she said.

"So what's the problem?" Shizuru asked.

"Well I suppose since Yukina left the temple, she hasn't been able to spend so much time with him, and now he's angry?"

"Is that how spirit beast's work? I thought he only felt things that Yusuke did?"

"Oh, I don't know."

Botan finished arranging an umbrella, a cocktail stirrer and two curly straws in her glass before lifting it to her lips and sipping at it cautiously, squinting as the straws threatened to poke her in the eye.

"Anyway, I thought maybe I should take Yukina up to the temple to visit Puu," she said as she lowered her glass again. "Maybe she'll have a calming influence on him."

"Right, that sounds like a great idea," Shizuru agreed. "You should do that. Instead of coming here, taking free drinks from me and consuming them in a way that scares off customers, you should go and take Yukina to see Puu."

"Alright then," Botan agreed.

Botan and Shizuru watched each other expectantly for several seconds before both slowly started to sense that they had missed something.

"Finish your drink and then go," Shizuru suggested.

"Yes," Botan replied, taking another precarious sip. "Will you come with me, or can I just go directly to your house for her?"

"Do what?" Shizuru echoed.

"Yukina," Botan said. "Do you want to come with me when I collect her, or should I just go myself?"

"I'm working, I can't come with you right now."

"So does Yukina have a key to lock the house when she leaves?"

"What are you talking about? Aren't Mister and Missus Yukimura there right now?"

"Keiko's parents live in your house?"

Botan and Shizuru again stared at each other in varying degrees of confusion, only coming to their senses when the umbrella fell out of Botan's glass, spraying her with cherry and lemon-infused beer. She yelped involuntarily and hurriedly replaced the umbrella and finally realised that Shizuru was waiting for her to say something.

"Yukina is staying at your house, yes?" she said.

"No," Shizuru replied. "You know she's not, you were there two nights ago!"

"Oh… But I thought she was staying with you, in Kuwabara's old room while he is away on the mission?"

"No. Don't you remember? We agreed that she would stay with Keiko's parents, since Keiko's old room is free now that she's staying on campus."

"Oh! Oh well that explains why I couldn't find her living with Keiko or with you!"

Shizuru sighed and leaned forwards again, resting her elbows onto the bar once more.

"I'm worried too, Botan," she said gently. "I'm worried about my idiot brother getting hurt and I'm worried about whatever they're fighting against coming to human world, but we just have to trust them."

"Yes, I know," Botan agreed. "I do trust them, I just hate being left behind all the time and forgotten about when an adventure starts."

"I wouldn't really call what they're doing an "adventure"," Shizuru replied, cocking a half smile. "It's dangerous and violent and frightening. And probably kinda gross too: four boys on the road with no toilet conveniently close by or a decent bed to sleep in… No thanks, that's not the life for me!"

"Oh, me neither, I suppose," Botan agreed. "But I do still worry about Yusuke and Kuwabara."

"Well you shouldn't. They've got Kurama and Hiei with them, right? And those two are smart, and they know how things work in demon world, so just relax. They'll be back before you know it."

"I hope so."

"And if not, maybe we could go with your plan B, and you, me and Keiko could all dress up as soldiers and launch an attack on demon world."

Botan laughed out loud, almost choking on her drink in the process.

"Oh dear, can you imagine us girls dressing up and fighting demons?" she said.

"Worst idea ever," Shizuru said.

"It really was a ridiculous thought," Botan agreed. "But I wasn't thinking clearly. I probably wouldn't have gone through with it."

"You'd have to be mad to think you get away with a plan like that."

Yusuke cried out a curse, and grabbed Hiei's cloak, falling back down behind a rock and dragging Hiei with him. Hiei fell helplessly at Yusuke's feet, stuck there as Yusuke kept hold of his clothing.

"Stay down, we're under attack," Yusuke warned him before letting go.

"How do you know?" Hiei asked, carefully moving himself around onto all fours, being sure to keep himself hidden behind the rock.

"Oh, just a small thing…" Yusuke replied, waving a hand at his leg.

Hiei gasped as he noticed the arrow embedded in Yusuke's left thigh.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

"I'm not really sure," Yusuke replied. "But I have to get it out."

He grabbed the end of the arrow in both hands and started to pull, cursing again as the arrowhead tore at the flesh in his leg.

"Don't pull it!" Hiei cried. "It will tear open a much wider wound if you pull it back out!"

"Well, genius, how else do you suggest I get it out?" Yusuke asked through tightly clenched teeth.

"I-I don't know," Hiei replied. "I've never removed an arrow from a living creature before. Usually they're already dead when I find them."

Yusuke growled, his hands gripping at his thigh on either side of the arrow.

"I think it needs to be cut out," Hiei suggested. "We should go back to the doctors in the medical transporter."

"What a great idea!" Yusuke said sarcastically. "Gee, why didn't I think of that? What a totally flawless plan! Except, wait a minute, we can't do that, because we're under attack!"

Yusuke reached for the arrow again but stopped as Hiei caught his hands midair.

"Wait, I think I have an idea!" Hiei said.

"A better idea than us walking back out into the firing range and looking for a doctor?" Yusuke drawled sarcastically.

"Yes!"

Yusuke pulled a face at Hiei, but lost his train of thought when Hiei grabbed the arrow and snapped off the tail, the movement grinding the arrowhead around inside his leg. He hissed and clenched his teeth and held in another curse, at first allowing himself to roll onto his side as Hiei's hands tugged and pushed at him to manoeuvre him into that position.

"Okay hold still, this might hurt a little bit."

"What?"

Yusuke looked up in time to see Hiei swinging his arms down, his hands barely holding onto a large rock. By the time he realised what Hiei was doing, the rock had already collided with the broken arrow shaft, driving the arrow deeper into his leg. Yusuke cried out in spite of himself, grabbing at his thigh as the arrowhead burst out the back of his leg.

"It worked!"

Yusuke lifted his eyes to Hiei, who was looking inappropriately pleased with himself.

"Though it didn't work very well…" Hiei muttered. "There's not really enough arrowhead through for me to get a hold of…"

He lifted up the rock but Yusuke smacked it from his hand before he could bring it down onto the splintered end of the arrow again.

"It's the best way to remove it," Hiei told him.

Yusuke called Hiei the most insulting string of names he could think of, using the most offensive of curse words he could imagine.

"What's a cack-sacker?"

Yusuke gritted his teeth and raised his wound thigh from the ground, shuffling himself around into a sitting position.

"Try replacing the "A"s with "O"s," he snarled.

"A cock-socker?" Hiei tried.

"Hiei, when this mission is over, I am gonna beat you so bad, you're gonna have to crawl home to Mukuro and beg her to put you in another healing chamber," Yusuke warned him.

"Are you angry because I pushed the arrow in deeper?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke moved around onto his knees, facing the rock they were hiding behind.

"I suppose it maybe wasn't the best idea," Hiei said. "I might have punctured a major artery…"

Yusuke growled again before shifting all of his weight onto his right knee to lift up his left knee from the ground.

"What are you doing now?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke ignored his question, instead moving his leg back as far as he could and then slamming it into the rock, driving the arrow further through his leg. He winced and held in another curse, waiting until he was sure that he was not going to whimper in pain before looking over his shoulder at Hiei.

"Pull it out," he ordered.

"Oh, of course!" Hiei said, leaping towards him.

Yusuke gripped at the rock, which crumbled under the strength of his fingers, and again he held in a cry of pain as Hiei grabbed the arrowhead and pulled the arrow straight out of his leg. Once the arrow was out, Yusuke let himself fall down onto his back until he had caught his breath and stopped sweating, at which point he opened his eyes to find Hiei knelt over him holding his injured leg.

"Hiei?" he said in a low voice. "Get off of me right now, or we're using that plan Kurama had before about one of us being a target for those arrows, and it's not going to be me."

"Just stay still a little longer," Hiei replied.

"Get off me, Hiei!"

Yusuke lifted up his free leg and kicked Hiei off of him, gaining a small measure of satisfaction from the pitiful noise Hiei made as he rolled over, huddling his arms over the point at one side of his chest where Yusuke's heel had made contact. He then carefully stood up, being sure to rest most of his weight on his right foot. He avoided looking down at what lay beyond the rip in his pants, already knowing that seeing a gaping injury would only distract him from what he had to do next.

"Stay here, you're no use for this next part anyway," he said, stepping over Hiei's bunched over form.

"No!" Hiei yelled.

Yusuke yelped as Hiei tugged at the ankle of his injured leg, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground a little ahead of where Hiei was still knelt. He lifted his face from the dirt and started to curse at Hiei again, but stopped as one of Hiei's arms shot over his head and he saw a faint glow of something, followed by two more arrows dropping to the ground in front of him.

"Idiot, they can see us now!" Hiei said, standing up and grabbing Yusuke's arm, dragging him up.

"How the hell did you do that?" Yusuke asked, pointing down at the blunted arrows lying in a seemingly harmless cross on the ground.

"Keep moving, you fool!" Hiei shouted at him, pulling him on.

Yusuke stumbled after him, regaining his senses as another arrow thumped into the ground just ahead of Hiei's foot. He looked about for the source of the arrows, catching two flashes of movement on either side of them amongst the sparsely placed trees.

"We need cover," he said.

"We had cover before you decided to jump up and show them where you were!" Hiei snapped back.

"This way."

Yusuke grabbed Hiei's arm and turned abruptly, pulling him towards a nearby pool.

"I don't want to go in there–" Hiei began.

"Tough!" Yusuke shouted back, launching himself into the air and yanking Hiei along with him.

They hit the water a little awkwardly thanks to Hiei trying to pull back as Yusuke hoisted him forwards, breaking the surface harshly enough to create a burning feeling in Yusuke's legs – though that was probably also a side effect of having a wound in his leg, he told himself. Hiei immediately tried to swim back to the surface and Yusuke had to grab at his clothes and drag him back under, holding him beneath the water until he saw their attackers moving in the trees near the water's edge. He then started to edge back up, releasing Hiei to aim his finger at one of their attackers, hoping to catch one before he broke the water's surface and get the second immediately after.

Yusuke fired a shot upwards and poked his head out of the water, snarling a curse when his shot missed his intended target. He took aim again, but again he missed as he was forced to forfeit his shot when an arrow dropped into the water, narrowly missing his hip. One of the demons leapt from a tree towards the pool and Hiei reached a hand towards it, nothing of significance happening until the demon hit the water's surface, where his entire body crumpled up with a series of sickening crunches as though he had just collided with a brick wall.

Yusuke made to ask Hiei what he had done – if anything at all – but the fire demon was already hoisting himself out of the water, and so Yusuke followed him, glancing back to watch as the twitching, broken body of their attacker slowly sunk into the pool, blood clouding the water around him. He turned back in time to see Hiei barely avoid being struck with an arrow, and the second of their pursuers leaping down from another tree. Yusuke quickly shot him down with his spirit gun, and even though he took the demon out with one blast, he remained tense, looking about himself and listening carefully for any other potential enemies that might be nearby. Hiei copied his actions, and, on instinct, the two moved to stand back-to-back, moving slowly around in a circle on the spot, each checking carefully for any more signs of trouble. As they both began to feel that the attack was over they slowed to a halt, and finally Hiei broke the silence between them.

"You nearly drowned me."

Yusuke turned to Hiei with a grin, dropping an arm across his shoulders.

"You rammed an arrow through my leg, so let's just say that's us even," he said.

"I was trying to help you," Hiei pointed out.

"I was trying to help you, getting you out of their sight!" Yusuke replied. "And hey, at least I took you into a pool of clean water. I could have dragged you into that dirty puddle instead."

Yusuke pointed at another nearby pool of dubious colour, and together he and Hiei looked over at it.

"That's not a puddle…" Yusuke muttered.

"It's some sort of gateway," Hiei added.

Yusuke aimed his right hand up into the sky, firing off a short blast of energy straight upwards.

"What did you do that for?" Hiei asked him.

"Signal," Yusuke replied. "To Kurama and Kuwabara. It looks like we've found the opening to spirit world."

"We found it?" Hiei asked.

"Yeah."

"You and me?"

"Yeah."

"Us?"

"Yes."

"Oh…"

Yusuke grinned, gripping his hand into Hiei's shoulder and pulling him tighter against his side.

"Aw, this is such a touching moment!" he said. "Me and my favourite half pint of bitter, sharing a hug."

Hiei twisted his head around to glare up at Yusuke.

"Move your arm," he warned him.

"Or what?" Yusuke snorted.

"Remove it from my shoulder, or I will remove it from your shoulder."

"Now there's the Hiei I remember!"

Yusuke lifted his arm from Hiei's shoulder, ruffling his hair as he drew his hand back. Hiei quickly ducked out of his reach, glaring up at him in outrage.

"Don't touch my hair!" he snapped.

He then balked as Yusuke lifted his fingers to his nose and sniffed tentatively at them.

"Awesome," he concluded, lowering his hand and wiping it off on his vest.

"What are you talking about?" Hiei asked quietly.

"My plan worked, short stuff," Yusuke replied. "Holding you in that clean water all that time has finally washed out that stupid, girly, flowery smell."

Yusuke laughed as he saw Hiei pale and his eyes grow large.

"This water really is very clean," he commented, moving over to the water's edge. "Well, it was really clean, you know, before that demon bled into it. Pity. Hey Hiei, what happened to that guy anyway? It was like there was something in the water. Did you do something?"

When his question was met with silence, Yusuke looked back over his shoulder to where Hiei had been standing, finding an empty space.

"Hiei?" he muttered, turning around on the spot, surveying his surroundings for any sign of the little fire demon. "Hiei!"

"What can I get for you, young lady?"

"Oh I'm not here to order food, I was here to visit your house-guest."

Botan raised her eyebrows expectantly, silently wondering why Mister Yukimura was pulling exactly the same face back at her.

"Yukina?" she tried. "Adorable little girl with big red eyes and beautiful long blue hair?"

Mister Yukimura slowly shook his head.

"She's staying in Keiko's room, she's a friend of Keiko's," Botan added.

"None of our daughter's friends are staying here," he answered her. "Keiko's not even here herself. It's just me and my wife."

Botan nodded, but inside she was starting to grow concerned.

"Well, alright then, thank you very much for your help," she said, bowing her head politely.

She spun on her heels and darted out of Yukimura restaurant, stopping outside and holding up her hands, looking at her fingers in thought.

"Okay, let's see… Yukina isn't staying at the Kuwabara household," she began, counting off her fingers as she spoke. "She isn't staying with Keiko at the university, she isn't staying here in the Yukimura household and she definitely isn't at the temple, so that just leaves…"

Botan quickly counted her fingers again.

"Nowhere…" she concluded quietly. "Oh dear…"

She summoned her oar and leapt onto it, quickly rocketing into the sky and taking herself back to Keiko's dorm room window. Shizuru had been blindly certain that Yukina was not with her or at her house, so she hoped that Keiko might be able to shed some light onto where the ice maiden might be.

As she neared her destination Botan's breath caught in her throat: on the clouds beneath her, she could clearly see Puu's shadow pursuing her, and gaining on her with every passing second.

Not wishing to tangle with the inexplicably furious spirit beast, Botan spiralled down through the clouds, swooping close to buildings and rooftops in a way she knew a winged creature could not do in the hope of putting some distance between them. She heard Puu call out to her a few times, but she did not dare look back, smiling in relief when she saw Keiko leaning out of her open dorm window. Botan aimed herself straight at Keiko, who barely managed to leap out the way before the ferry girl and her oar shot into the room.

"Shut the window!" Botan screamed, before hitting the back wall and falling to Keiko's bed.

Luckily Keiko did as she asked without hesitation and shut the window, screaming in shock as Puu almost collided with the glass.

"What's going on, Botan?" she asked, looking out at the baying beast hovering outside her window.

"Never mind about him, we have another problem," Botan replied, stumbling from Keiko's bed and pulling shut the curtains to block out Puu's view of them.

"Is it about Yusuke?" Keiko asked.

"No," Botan replied, shaking her head. "It's Yukina."

"Yukina?" Keiko asked. "What does Yukina have to do with any of this?"

"I can't find her," Botan explained.

"Didn't you say she was staying with Shizuru?"

"I thought she was, but when I asked, Shizuru said she was staying with your parents, and when I asked them, they said she wasn't there either. I thought she might be here with you."

"No, I wouldn't take her here to the campus, it would be too much for her."

"That's what I thought. So then where is she?"

"Hm… Well, if she's not with Shizuru or at the temple, there's really only one other place she might be, but surely not…"

"Keiko, this is desperate!"

Botan grabbed Keiko's arms tightly, hoping to convey the importance of the situation through the strength of her grip.

"I think she might be the only one apart from Yusuke who can calm Puu down!" she said.

"Okay, well, I guess maybe Kuwabara put her into his dorm room since he wouldn't be using it right now," Keiko suggested.

"Excellent!" Botan cheered. "Let's go!"

She grabbed Keiko's hand and fled from the room, running down the corridor, dragging Keiko with her.

"Do you know which way to go?" Keiko asked her.

"No…" Botan said, slowing to a halt.

"This way," Keiko said, tugging her hand and leading her along a side corridor.

Together they ran through the interior of the university dorm hall, eventually reaching the long, glass-walled corridor that connected the male and female complexes. Both girls looked out the windows as they ran, their eyes quickly locating Puu, circling around the sky, casting enormous shadows across the campus lawns.

"This is so weird, I don't like it!" Keiko said.

"I know, me neither," Botan agreed.

They continued on to Kuwabara's room, knocking frantically on his door and calling out Yukina's name. When their cries were met with silence, they both tried to force the door open before accepting that it was locked and the room beyond was empty. Botan spun around and slammed her back against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor.

"It's hopeless…" she muttered.

"Maybe not!" Keiko assured her. "Um, excuse me?" she called out to a passing student. "Do you know Kazuma Kuwabara at all?"

"Sure, I know Kuwabara," he replied, stopping to talk to her. "Haven't seen him for a couple of days though."

"Has he had a guest in his room at all?" Keiko asked.

"Guests aren't allowed, you ought to know that," he replied.

"We're looking for a friend of his, a small, delicate girl with aqua-blue hair and very fair skin. Have you seen anyone like that around here lately?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"I think I would notice if there was a chick with blue hair walking around our dorms."

"Oh, okay. Well, thank you anyway."

He nodded and walked on, and Keiko turned to Botan.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Where do you think Yukina is?"

"There is one very easy way to find her," Botan said slowly. "But I'm too scared to do it."

Keiko moved back over to Botan's side and crouched down to bring her face level with the ferry girl's.

"What is it Botan?" she asked. "Tell me! I'll help you do it, whatever it is!"

Botan smiled humourlessly as she met Keiko's eyes.

"You mean we could go on an adventure?" she asked.

"Yeah, an adventure," Keiko replied, nodding in agreement. "Why should the boys have all the fun, right?"

Botan's smile faded.

"You might change your mind when you hear what it is…" she said in a low voice.

"Try me," Keiko said.

"Well, I have a demon compass," Botan explained. "If we could acquire a sample of Yukina's hair, we could use the compass to locate her."

"Excellent!" Keiko cried. "Hey Botan, for once you had a really good idea!"

"What do you mean "for once"?"

"So where can we get a sample of Yukina's hair?"

"I was thinking her hairbrush… Which she keeps in her bedroom… In Genkai's temple… Where Puu becomes his most violent…"

Botan and Keiko slowly stood up and crossed the corridor to a nearby window, looking out at the foreboding silhouette of a giant, long-beaked bird sitting on the roof of the girls' dorm building.

"Do you think those boys will appreciate what we're about to do?" Botan asked.

"Probably not," Keiko replied. "Maybe Kuwabara, since he cares about Yukina, but the others probably won't care in the slightest. But we're doing this for Yukina and Puu, right?"

"Right… It's strange, it's unlike Yukina to wander off on her own…"

"Something must have happened to her, Botan. Yukina would never wander off on her own, she's too meek and mild. She's more of a follower. She doesn't go around looking for "adventures" like you, Botan!"

Botan and Keiko smiled at each other, but both could still clearly see the anxiety in the others' eyes.

Hiei sneezed and Yusuke immediately muttered something.

"What?" Hiei asked, turning to him.

"You're sneezing because of the stink," Yusuke repeated loudly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei snottily replied.

"I'm talking about you!"

"Maybe your nose is just too close to your own armpit…"

Yusuke turned to Hiei, who was sitting alongside him on a log by the breach.

"What is it with you and body smells lately?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei insisted, looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"You were just starting to smell sweaty and like a real guy, and you ran off somewhere, and when you came back, you smelt like you do now: like flowers and that sticky crap that oozes out of trees!"

"That's just your opinion," Hiei said through a sigh.

Yusuke glared at Hiei, but Hiei had become distracted with a piece of bandage around one of his fingers that seemed to be coming loose. Yusuke was glad when he then sighted Kurama and Kuwabara running towards them, and he stood up, waving a hand to them. Hiei hurriedly tucked his bandage back into place and got to his feet as the others joined them.

"At last," Kuwabara commented, peering into the glowing hole in the ground.

"What is that smell?" Kurama asked.

Yusuke jerked his head in Hiei's direction and Kurama turned to the fire demon expectantly.

"I fell," Hiei said, sounding bored about the whole situation.

"When we get done here, I'm gonna give you a blood transplant the hard way…" Yusuke growled at him.

"What does that even mean?" Kuwabara asked.

"Stick around and I'll show you too," Yusuke offered.

"Is everything alright here otherwise?" Kurama asked, hoping to stop an argument before one really began. "Nobody has tried to attack you here?"

"Just two archers," Yusuke replied. "But we kicked their asses. I got an arrow in my leg, and Hiei shoved it right through and out the other side."

"That's the best way to remove an arrow," Kurama replied.

Yusuke's face dropped and Hiei smiled smugly.

"Well, whatever," Yusuke grumbled. "Check out the hole I've got going right through my leg now!"

He lifted up the torn section of fabric over his thigh, smiling expectantly at Kuwabara and Kurama.

"You exaggerate everything Urameshi," Kuwabara scoffed. "There's barely even a scratch there!"

"Shut-up Kuwabara!" Yusuke sneered. "You're just jealous because you wish this had happened to you so that you could go whining to Yukina afterwards and have her cry over you and heal it for you!"

"But Kuwabara is right, Yusuke," Kurama said.

"What?" Yusuke echoed, dropping his head to look down at the point where the arrow had entered his leg. "Hey, where the hell did my hole go?"

Kuwabara snorted, but swallowed back any laughter as Hiei shot him a disapproving glare. Yusuke poked at the faint red mark on his skin, disappointed to feel that it did not even dent inwards like a real scar from such an injury ought to.

"Hey, I guess my super-powered genes healed it away like they did with that dumb virus!" he concluded, lifting his head to smile at the others.

"Unlikely, but very little has been making sense lately," Kurama commented.

"Let's just do this," Kuwabara said, pointing at the breach. "I want to get back home."

The others agreed and together they moved to the very edge of the breach, standing in a line along it.

"Brace yourself, we could drop into a hive of armed demons," Kurama warned the others. "Hiei, you stay close to me," he added, turning to look down at Hiei at his side.

Hiei nodded in agreement, and together all four leapt through the vortex. On the other side, they found themselves in a poorly constructed stone room, bereft of life or decoration, but clearly part of the hurriedly built fort Koenma had described as existing within spirit world.

"Is there any way we can close that gap?" Yusuke asked, rubbing at his chin as he eyed over the opening they had just passed through.

"Never mind that, I got a more important question…" Kuwabara said. "Why are you guys holding hands?"

Kurama and Hiei turned to each other questioningly, both lifting their hand nearest each other and each looking as surprised as the other to see that they were in fact holding hands, their fingers tightly interlocked and their palms pressed together.

"Dude…" Yusuke muttered.

Next Chapter: The gang move deeper into the demon-built fort, but very quickly encounter more complicated problems than they had expected to. Botan and Keiko make a tragic discovery and Hiei's behaviour becomes even more erratic. Chapter 7 – Too Nice