Chapter eight: Chelsea Smile (Part One)

It was low but the rumble was what caught my attention.

Yusuke's hold on me slacked as the intensity and the sound of the rumble started to grow into a deafening roar. As the sound grew so did the unexpected vibrations that started from a small tremor to a full blown Earthquake.

I looked up and around to see if I was the only to witness what was going on. Blinking away the tears as fast as possible to clear my vision I noticed the others were also just as aware of the sudden shaking within the room.

"The Hell is that?" Yusuke mumbled just before the sound of something sparking drew my attention back to where the giant screen was. The bright red and bolded words of 'Game Over' upon the screen started to glitch and flash as sparks of red shot from the screen and the slot machine. Was this Amanuma's territory finally collapsing, or did this mean we were too late to stop the tunnel?

"Heads up!" Genkai shouted.

Right at that moment Genkai's warning proved to be much needed as the first explosion nearly took out Kaito who had little time to dodge.

"Shit!" Was the only thing I heard next before strong arms grabbed me around the shoulders and yanked me to the ground, causing a high pitched shriek to escape my lips. As I hit the ground I was overcame with fear that this was how the end was going to start. The only thing that registered within my mind to do was covering my head; close my eyes and bringing my knees to my chest.

Thankfully I was also being protected by whoever had grabbed me and pulled me down. Even though the room around us was literally falling apart I could tell the difference between the Earth shaking and my own. Fear plagued my mind that Sensui's little trick had actually worked and we were finished.

There was one final explosion as a gust of wind swallowed us all whole. The roar of the explosion didn't last long and faded within seconds like thunder. The person who was covering eased up and lifted themselves off of me as soon as the commotion had ceased. The eerie silence left me confused but I did not let my guard down, nor did I stop shaking.

"Hey, Nat, it's okay…" Yusuke's voice brought me out of my thoughts allowing me to uncover my face and look around. The area that was once a nerd's dream room was now the same cave that it was once before.

"Anybody else feel that or was that just me?" Yusuke questioned as I moved to stand on my feet while wildly looking around at everyone.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked while mentally taking head counts of everyone there. With Yusuke and Kaito to my right and Genkai, Mitari with Hiei in behind them to my left I turned around to look at what they were staring at.

There stood Kurama who seemed to not have moved a muscle since the collapse of the room, Amanuma lying face down on the ground, and a small video game console with two controls plugged into it.

"Where did Goblin City go…?" Yusuke questioned.

Genkai took a few steps closer between the Spirit Detective and I before she answered. "When Amanuma died his territory went with him."

I watched as she advanced closer to where the console lay and stopped right in front of it.

"These territory things are really messed up…" Yusuke muttered to himself.

I didn't register that I had started to walk with the others to where Genkai was now standing until I actually had to stop.

"This is where your Goblin City went." Genkai announced. Looking at the small and harmless video game system I realized that this child's gift was quite extraordinary. He was able to create such vivid creatures from Goblin City and make them almost life like. All that he was able to create was derived from a small system that you could plug into your T.V.

"His power must've been very great indeed to create such an elaborate illusion out of nothing." Kaito practically read my thoughts out loud, and as he did my feet started to carry me slowly toward the small body of the Game Master. Before I knew it I had knelt down next to him and leaned forward to examine his body.

Honestly it looked as if he was sleeping but the difference was all in lack of breathing. His chest wasn't moving up and down, there was no exhaling whooshes from his nose or mouth or twitching of his limbs. Just tear stained cheeks and motionless.

"Uhm, Natalie… Are you okay?" Kaito asked hesitantly but I just couldn't answer him. I couldn't physically open my mouth to tell him to fuck off, or even say that I was fine.

I waited a moment to raise a shaky hand and lightly press against Amanuma's neck to check for a pulse. The skin was still warm but there was no thump of a pulse to be found.

'This is a dead body.' I thought those words over and over until the realization hit me causing me to jerk my hand away.

"This is a dead body…" The words slipped out of my mouth in a hushed whisper that I was hoping no one had noticed, but being confined to a small space I doubted that would've been the case.

I caught the sight of someone standing on the other side of Amanuma's body and looked up to see that it was surprisingly Hiei. His face held no emotion as he simply scanned over the child's corpse for a moment before looking over at someone else.

I followed his gaze to see that Kurama was still standing in the same spot as before. From this angle I could not see his eyes as they were hidden behind the curtain of scarlet bangs, but I could see a very prominent and deep frown on his lips.

The pain in my chest returned as I wondered if he felt any regret for his actions, or maybe felt any remorse for how the situation was played out. I hopped that he didn't blame himself for what he had to do though; the only person the finger needed to be pointed at was Shinobu Sensui.

"Kurama," Yusuke had moved to step beside of his friend using the same voice he had from earlier in attempts to calm me down. "don't… blame yourself—" Yusuke flinched back a bit as Kurama lifted his gaze up and the curtain of bangs falling away to reveal a look of anger that I could not put into words. Rage was far too over the top, livid didn't come close nor did loathing. Just pure anger as those evergreen eyes looked straight ahead.

"I have no regrets, Yusuke." The edge with Kurama's voice sent a small shiver down my spine as I watched him turn away and headed forward through the cave. My hands curled tightly into fists, my breathing started to rapidly rise along with a livid fire inside of me.

"Natalie," Genkai's words brought me out of my heated stare from the red-head as I shot my gaze to her. Her face was almost expressionless except for gleam of concern in her eyes. "don't blame him for this."

I stared at her for a moment, hands still shaking and not once did my breathing slow down. Looking back at Kurama I stood up once again while shaking my head.

"He's not the one to blame anyway."

"I don't know what to do; I've never seen him like this before." Yusuke's concerned voice brought me to look at him. I had nothing to say to Yusuke because I was just as lost as he was. I didn't know what it was like to take a life, let alone see an actual corpse. My Grandfather passed away about five years ago but his casket had been closed during the traditional Japanese wake. I was glad that I didn't have to see him in that state, but I also felt like I never really got the chance to say goodbye. Other than that I had never dealt with any other deaths in my life.

"Kaito," Genkai snapped as she assumed back to her serious commander voice. "we will resume the original plan and go outside to guard with Yana and Botan."

Kaito agreed while stepping over the Amanuma's body and picking him up into his arms while walking away with Genkai. I tried once again to swallow the guilt, but it was no use at this point. We split off into our original groups and headed off our separate ways.

"Hey," Mitari's soft voice came from behind me while his hand lightly rested on my shoulder. I looked up slightly as he watched me with concern as we walked. "are you going to be alright?"

Mitari's question made me hyper aware that I must've looked like total shit after my little hysteric melt-down. "Yeah," I reassured while wiping under my eyes to try and get rid of the make-up that built up under them from crying. "just… yeah, I'm gonna be fine."

I gave a tight, closed mouth smile to Mitari before looking away. I felt Mitari's hand drop from my shoulder as he said nothing.

I ended up falling behind everyone and stayed in the back as we advanced. Every so often I would glance up to stare at the red-locks of hair that was in front of me before looking down again. The worry I had for Kurama wasn't going to go away for a very long time.

"It's just up ahead on the right." Mitari called out while motioning with his hand.

A spark of nerves flared up within my stomach so suddenly that I stumbled a bit before making myself continue further. I looked to see if anyone noticed but no one paid attention especially Yusuke who was discussing something with Hiei in hushed tones. I wondered what it could've been about, but realized it was probably about the same person I was thinking about.

Their conversation ended whenever Mitari who was ahead of us all at this point stopped walking. This was the second time I had almost walked directly into Kurama, but being hyper aware of the events that just occurred I had gone still as a statue without even tripping over myself. It was probably not best to add to his ill mood.

"Why are we stoppin' here, pal?" Yusuke asked.

"Just around that bent is the final corridor that takes you to Sensui's lair."

I shifted my gaze to try and get a good look up ahead. This was it; this was when we had our last battle of this war. This was the time where if I wanted to hightail it and turn the other direction, it would be now, but I need to try and save my sister, to end this apocalypse and rescue Kuwabara.

So this would be the time that I would venture on.

"I just wanted to make sure we're ready to face it." Mitari added.

"Like I said," Yusuke started. "why are we stopping?"

Without another word our group advanced forward down the corridor. With each step the walls of the cave grew brighter from the light up ahead. I knew we had reached the center of the cave whenever the light was bright enough for me to see clearly and of course whenever we all stopped to look ahead.

What I saw next was something out of a night terror.

The center of this cave system was so huge that it housed a small body of water that ran off into the opposite side of the entrance we came in. Hovering above the body of water was a massive black hole that flared at the edges with dark red energy.

Demon energy to be exact, but what was inside this hole was what was truly terrifying.

Several hideous faces of lower level demons were growling and screeching as they tried to press against imaginary glass to break free. There were so many demons of shapes, sizes and species that it was too hard to account for them all. Underneath the psychic tunnel was a boat that was directly under said tunnel, and there I found Kuwabara along with a very tall man sitting next to him. The only difference between the two was that one was gagged and tied, while the other was simply relaxing within the boat.

On land is where I found Sensui with his arms resting on the back of a black leather couch while facing an old T.V. I couldn't make out what he was watching, but I had an idea considering that tape had been mentioned so many times before. To the left of him stood another man who had more androgynous features than the other man in the boat. With long teal-green hair that fell down to the middle of his back, and sporting a form fitting tunic looking outfit I bet my money that this was Sensui's assistant, Itsuki.

And there she was, my sister, sitting on the left arm of the leather couch as she filed away at her nails. I found this strange because I knew my sister only ever picked or fooled with her nails whenever she became nervous or agitated.

I wondered what she could've been nervous about, but if I was aiding a mad man who was about to destroy the entire world, I'd probably be a little nervous too.

She had made some changes to her appearance as well; a high-pony tail to hold her long blonde hair, her jacket laid across her lap and sported a light pink crop-top with high wasted jeans. She even changed her black high-heeled boots to brown ankle combat-boots. I was even able to see the bright bruise on her cheek and busted lip that she received earlier from our fight. I couldn't exactly take all the credit for that, though.

This entire picture was so hard to take in no matter how many times I tried to blink it away.

All the way from the middle of the mini lake I was able to hear the muffled screams of Kuwabara who was frantic to grab our attention that the boat started to rock slightly, creating tiny ripples within the water.

I watched as Clara immediately looked up at Kuwabara before snapping her head toward our direction. She almost seemed to be caught off guard with us standing there; immediately getting up from her place on the couch's arm and laying her jacket where she sat.

"We're comin', Kuwabara!" Yusuke yelled back while glaring up ahead at the tunnel's opening. "That's some welcoming party you got in that cesspool, Sensui!"

I shook my head and gulped as I stared at the tunnel. It almost seemed like they were so close to being able to break it that I wondered if we were going to end up having to fight a horde of demons.

My fear was not calmed when I noticed the slight fractures within the imaginary glass that glowed red, causing me to inhale sharply as if one small breath was going to be the straw the broke the camel's back.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?" Sensui's voice spoke up but he did not turn around to look at us unlike Clara.

"I tell you, you can keep your sunsets and crystal blue oceans and snow-capped mountains; just give me the view of the dusk of human civilization and I'm the happiest man alive."

I sneered and gave a heated glare to the back of Sensui's stupid bejeweled head as he continued.

"The mark of true art; it has an impact on those around it. You're witnesses to history my friends…" Sensui looked over his shoulder at us. "and trust me, you couldn't ask for better seats to the end of the world."

Sensui's words weighed heavily on me as the possibility of us losing once again became a greater reality than us wining. The Human World's protection was left to us, and though I had heard the stories of Yusuke and company defeating so many other powerful opponents, I was worried that this battle was going to be too much for us to handle.

"Get me out of this boat!" Kuwabara's muffled voice cried out as he continued to squirm within the boat. From the distance I was at I could hear and see many of the demons laugh and taunt at his words. This seemed to make them more eager to want to escape as they pressed harder on the invisible glass. More cracks and fractures were made causing me to automatically take a step back as if that was going to help.

"In case you're feeling like you've done this before, don't. This is nothing like Maze Castle." Hiei informed.

I remember Genkai speaking about the adventures of Maze Castle, but I also remember when the crazed epidemic of the Makai insects hitting Yusuke's town. Thankfully they defeated the Four Saint Beasts before it could reach Mushiyori City before I was left to defend for myself.

"They've tapped into the true depths of Demon World; ordinary humans will shrivel up just by inhaling its rotten wind."

Hiei's last words sent shivers down my spine at the thought of such a terrible smell. My attention was derived toward the sounds the T.V. was making causing me to squint at the pictures of war dance across the screen. I glanced over at Clara who was not paying attention to the T.V. but to the ground, arms folded over her chest and head tilted to the side. This was a different Clara then who I experienced just hours before.

"We're getting to the real grit of the film, Yusuke." Sensui's words brought my stare back to his head.

"Yippee…" Yusuke's lack of enthusiasm was exactly how I was feeling at the moment as well.

"The finale is in about half an hour." Sensui added. I looked at the screen once again and squinted as I tried to pinpoint what war was being played.

My guess was the Vietnam War simply because of the environment that they were fighting in, the air planes that were flying over the people and shooting at them.

"The most repulsive thing was that they weren't even fighting for a cause. They were killing out of fear of an idea that threatened their greed." Sensui stated. "It only get's crueler from here, and then it wraps up with a rather beautiful song."

I sneered at his words and mentally agreed with Yusuke's input.

"That's oddly inappropriate…"

"I've always thought it symbolized hope, which is why I timed the tunnel opening whenever the music begins."

Thirty minutes.

Thirty measly minutes before our genocide would begin, and we were suppose to fight him, rescue Kuwabara and stop the tunnel before it got to that point.

I couldn't even physically express my terror at this point, and instead I narrowed my eyes at Clara. Her expression changed from distant to the sinister as a smirk played on her lips. The Clara that attacked me early had returned.

My attention was brought back to the tunnel as more tiny cracks started to form. I heard Kurama gasp along with Yusuke taking a step forward. Thirty minutes, in Hiei's words, were overly optimistic.

"What's the problem?" Hiei spoke causing me to look over at the person he was talking to.

Mitari kept looking forward as his face was scrunched up in a skeptical look. Shaking his head he answered.

"It doesn't make any sense; how is Mr. Itsuki standing up?"

"Well, Mitari, he does have legs." I offered while taking a step forward. Of course I didn't have any room to be making snarky remarks considering my little mishap with my sister.

"But every time I've seen him since I was brought to the cave, he's been sitting in the boat creating the tunnel." Mitari explained.

I looked over to Itsuki while furrowing my eye-brows.

"The portal is alive now; it's out of my control." Itsuki looked over his shoulder as he continued. "At this time it will manifest on its own. Even if I wished to I couldn't stop it."

This was mildly terrifying if we're supposed to be the ones to stop said portal from opening. My attention was brought back to where Kuwabara was within the boat as I noticed movement from the portal. I watched in horror as demon hands, claws and everything in between started to reach out to try and grab out teammate.

"Yusuke, look!" I cried out while pointing to the scene. Everyone from our side quickly looked to where I was pointing, Yusuke in particular shouted for Kuwabara in hopes of him being able to try and move away.

The other man on the boat stood up with ease and casually watched as more demons tried to reach out toward Kuwabara. The young sword wielding psychic tried his best to avoid the hands that tried to grab at him desperately.

"Human flesh let me eat you now!" I heard the distorted voice of a demon yell out.

As Kuwabara continued to dodge the demons Yusuke kept yelling out and instructing Kuwabara to move away as if he wasn't trying hard enough. Kuwabara also shouted back through the gag on his mouth that he was obviously trying to do just that.

"Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck…" I whispered under my breath while reaching up and pulling at my hair through the pony-tail it was in. It was much too stressful to just watch as our friend was frantically trying to get away while we stood there, able to do nothing without Sensui or his lackeys interrupting us.

"Those must be C Class apparitions fighting for his attention. Simple, careless creatures governed by their own appetites." Sensui observed.

I didn't know who to keep looking at; Kuwabara who was screaming about how he didn't want to be eaten by demons, Sensui who looked completely pleased with the sight, Clara who was now watching Kuwabara as well, or my teammates who all had varied expressions of worry on their faces.

I finally settled on Kuwabara who was now being choked as a pair of demonic hands wrapped around his neck.

"Hey, let him go!" Yusuke cried out. I gasped while putting a hand over my mouth at the sight of what was going on. My nerves were causing me to shake once again from the possibility that Kazuma was going to be eaten before we even got the chance to try and save him.

"When the judgment comes you simple apparitions can eat whatever you like." Sensui spoke calmly as he lifted his hand and held it out while forming a small ball of his spirit energy. "Until then don't spoil dinner."

The small ball was sent straight toward where Kuwabara was sitting and expanded into about the size of an exercise ball, if not a bit bigger. The energy alone started to burn the demons causing all of them to shriek and scream in pain as they retreated back within the tunnel. It was strange for me to be thankful that Sensui saved Kuwabara, yet I couldn't be more relieved that he did, even though technically he was just buying Kazuma some time.

Kuwabara was just as visibly relieved as he slouched forward and breathed heavily. I did the same only to bring my attention back to Sensui.

"C Class apparitions are like seeds; abundant and worthless, but one out of every hundred grows into a B Class with brains and strength that could easily surpass humans." Sensui looked over back at our group with a small grin on his face. "Want to tell us first hand Hiei and Kurama?"

Neither responded as I was sure that he was testing their patients; he was sure as fuck testing mine.

"And then from the B Class a handful take the next big leap with intellect close to omnipotence, bodies of huge size and power. Creatures fit for human ledged like the Titans of Greek Myth."

"I'm getting really tired of hearing you talk." Yusuke spat.

That did not stop Sensui one bit. "They are the A Class demons; they're probably watching us now from the depths of Demon World waiting for their chance to rise to glory."

"Spare me the pep rally; you're going to kill people you were supposed to protect!" Yusuke lashed out while taking a step further.

Sensui chuckled. "My job was to protect the universe as a whole," Sensui lifted his arms from the side as if to demonstrate lazily how the entire universe was under his protection at one point. "and that's exactly what I'm doing."

Turning away Sensui walked forward a few steps as he continued.

"I've been trying to enlighten you, Yusuke. Don't you remember the Doctor's words? 'Humanity is a disease'."

These were the same words that Clara had mocked me with whenever we fought, the memory causing me to automatically look her direction as she met with an all knowing stare. She smiled wickedly while shrugging as if to say 'I told you so'. Out of impulse I flipped her off and looked back to Sensui while hearing my sister scoff.

"Killing humans can't be that horrific to you, Yusuke. You would've killed the Doctor if Genkai hadn't stopped you, and Kurama killed a human child."

This struck a nerve within me before I could stop myself from reacting.

"We had to do that, because you set those up!" I snarled at the back of Sensui's head, taking a few steps forward to where I was right beside of Yusuke now. "It was for the greater good, so we could stop you!"

There was silence for a moment, and I could easily feel that everyone had their eyes on my back from my sudden outburst. I paid them no attention as I continued to glare at Sensui. Looking over his shoulder he directed his next question to me.

"And what if every human was bad?"

I scoffed while rolling my eyes. "I don't deal with 'what if's'."

For a second he simply stared at me before another sly grin formed on his lips, grunted as if he understood in his own way what I meant, while fully smiling and turning directly toward our group.

"Mr. Makihara," Sensui spoke a little louder to grab the attention of the stranger on the boat. I looked over to where said stranger was and watched as he flawlessly jumped high within the air and landed on the ground next to Sensui. The sudden jump rocked the boat a bit harder leaving Kuwabara to bear the backlash of the rocking boat.

"That's Gourmet…" Mitari informed.

"Oh, great does he cook?" Yusuke snarky remark almost made me chuckle. Almost.

"If you can kill Mr. Makihara right now, I'll give Kuwabara back to you unharmed." Sensui proposed.

Kuwabara was too eager to agree to this proposal, but I was skeptical. This seemed almost too easy for us to win, but because of that I was afraid Sensui had something else up his sleeve.

"It's your choice," Sensui went on. "if you refuse the challenge I'll deflect any other attacks you make by using Kuwabara as a human shield."

I sneered at Gourmet and Sensui who both seemed smug with the predicament we were in.

"If I were you, Sis." Clara finally spoke while taking a few steps to the side away from Gourmet and Sensui to stand near Itsuki. "You and your little BFF's should probably take up that offer."

As she spoke I was unable to retaliate and instead started to take a few steps back along with Yusuke as Makihara started to advance to our group. As he continued to walk Kurama's voice interrupted my panicking.

"Don't trust Sensui's word. We'll make a push for Kuwabara the first chance we get, in the mean time just play along."

Even though his voice was lowered only for us to hear it, I was glad he was able to get back his cool. At least, I was glad he was able to try and carry on due to our circumstances. I looked to Yusuke who also gave me the same relieved look that I had before looking straight ahead and resumed the serious looks we had before.

Once Makihara had stopped halfway to our group he spoke.

"Touchin' Seaman, you want to save Kuwabara so badly because he saved you, but at the same time you're terrified of Sensui finding out how much your new buddy means to you, aren't you?"

"What?!" Mitari exclaimed as I looked over my shoulder at him with my own confused expression.

"You're scared Sensui's gonna punish you for being a traitor." Makihara continued.

I looked back at the tall man while shaking my head. Where was this coming from? Mitari didn't objectify these claims, nor did he agree to them.

"But you've got a juicer one don't you, Kurama?"

I looked to the side as my red-headed friend's name was mentioned and watched him carefully. He did not make any attempts to show any reactions, and kept his cool the entire time.

"You're a lot more tore up about killing Game Master than Yusuke believes."

The same anger that I had witnessed before was ignited within Kurama's eyes as he narrowed them into a glare. I shared Yusuke's same worried expression as he also looked toward Kurama who was still and silent.

"Not only are you riddled with guilt and embarrassed because Yoko Kurama would never be so weak, you can't stand yourself because Natalie saw a side of you that you never wanted her to see."

My jaw dropped slightly from this news as I continued to stare at Kurama. I didn't think his glare could darken, but it did remarkably. Was this true? Was Kurama that upset about what I thought of him after what happened with Amanuma? My brows furrowed together while looking down. I didn't want Kurama to think that I hated him, or that I couldn't trust him after what happened.

"But she's got a pretty big secret of her own, don't you, Natalie?" Gourmet chuckled.

Shocked at his words I looked straight up at him, feeling eyes start to draw their attention to me. He could only be talking about one thing, and unfortunately my sister opened her fucking mouth already to Sensui about it.

My heart started to race rapidly to the point that I felt it beat against my chest; I could almost bet that someone with exceptional hearing was able to listen to it. My palms became sweaty as my hands and body started to shake with panic that started to over take me. I started to silently pray that he wouldn't taunt me anymore; my darkest secret could not be brought up in front of my teammates especially because I knew they wouldn't understand.

I only entrusted certain people with this information because I knew they wouldn't judge me for it; what were Yusuke, Mitari and Hiei going to think of me? Kurama didn't exactly know, because I never out right told him even when he and Genkai had that talk after the incident at the hospital, but I knew he had his suspicions. What were they all going to do if this was brought to light?

"So, what's it like having another personality, kid?"

I heard Mitari gasp from the side and Yusuke snap his head toward my direction from the other side. I couldn't look at him, I couldn't look anywhere other than the ground.

"You're so afraid the others will treat you differently because of your disorder, aren't you? No need to tell me; it's been running through your mind so fast I'm surprised that personality hasn't come out yet."

I was just as surprised that she didn't come out as well; usually situations like these where I couldn't see straight and felt like I was literally dying from the stress she would pop her inconvenient ass out just about now. However, I did not feel anything other than rage and embarrassment.

"Bingo." Gourmet taunted just after I heard Yusuke gasp. I was afraid that if I looked up I wouldn't be able to restrain myself from mauling this guy to death. "That ol' flimsy? Haven't you wondered where he's been since he got out of the hospital?"

"Eating my teammate? That's on my ass kicking list." Yusuke threatened. I looked over at Yusuke from the corners of my eyes to give him a skeptical look. What the fuck was he talking about? There were only two people who I knew were recently at the hospital, and Kido hadn't been released yet. That left the only logical explanation for why Gourmet was able to read our thoughts.

Murota.

The pieces were falling together; Gourmet must've eaten Murota after he was released from the hospital and is now using his ability to mock us with our own private thoughts. Granted Murota was kind of an ass-hat it only fueled my anger more.

As Yusuke started to walk forward he was suddenly stopped by Kurama who laid a hand on his shoulder. My attention was then brought back to my foxy friend who was the one to stop the Spirit Detective.

"I'll take this one, Yusuke, and don't argue. I am not in the mood."

As Yusuke reluctantly agreed I followed Kurama with my eyes as he slowly started to walk forward where Gourmet was. Gourmet kept a neutral face as Kurama stepped up to fight, and that did not settle any concerns that I had. I watched as Kurama reached up to pull out a single rose with it between two fingers. Looking down he said nothing.

It all happened so fast that I wasn't able to keep up with what had actually happened. One minute Kurama was frozen still and the next thing I knew Gourmet's head was literally cut in half, horizontally at the mouth.

I audibly gasped while looking up completely at what had been done. Blood, or at least very dark blood, spewed out from where the cut had been made and Makihara staggered back before falling on his back. I put a hand over my mouth at the disgusting sight.

I wasn't the only one shocked by this; I noticed how even Sensui and Itsuki showed a slight surprise at the events that just unfolded. Clara put a hand over her own mouth as her eyes went wide.

"He took out Gourmet so quickly I didn't see the whip until it was all over!" Mitari stated.

I gulped while thinking of all the times I fucked up by pissing Kurama off (which was a lot, to be honest) but thank the benevolent force up above that he did not hand my ass on a silver platter to me, and that he had the patience of my Grandmother.

Kurama started to take a few steps forward while looking down at the corpse of Gourmet before he spoke.

"Rely on impulse and not even your thoughts can betray you." He spoke. "Now come out, Toguro."

I flinched back and gave a questioning look to Yusuke who was visible shocked at Kurama's words.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? I could smell your stench since we entered the cave." Kurama revealed.

I was very confused as to what Kurama was talking about; I was for sure both Toguro brothers were killed in the Dark Tournament that Team Urameshi had participated in a little over a month ago. Before I could bring this information up, I was surprised and disgusted with what happened next.

The body of Makihara started to flop as the sound of a muffled laugh was heard. The once lifeless body was now sitting up and pushing itself up from the ground and onto its feet. A small spurt of dark blood erupted from the gash where Kurama's whip had cut, jolting the body a bit before the neck started to move. I watched in complete horror as a head full of dark grey hair started to wiggle its way up, the new head flashing its eyes to reveal such an intense yellow before wiggle up again until the head was perched perfectly onto of the decapitate one.

"Good, Kurama," The high pitched, almost nasally voice spoke sending chills down my spine and causing me to take a step back out of fear. "it seems your powers have improved even in your human form, though the red hair isn't nearly as pretty as the silver!" The thing started to laugh boisterously at his comment.

"Guess he missed his Toguro vaccination."

"Gourmet must've eaten it to take on his powers!"

Though Yusuke and Mitari were able to speak I was still taken back by the disgusting scene that just happened before my very eyes.

"Very good, little Seaman, but much to fatties' disappointment I'm the one who got the run of the ship."

Mitari gasped while looking genuinely terrified with what this meant.

"Then… this entire time!—"

"Yes, I play a real good game of pretend."

Toguro then went on to tell the story of how he had survived the attack that his brother, Toguro number two, and started to regenerate within the sea while sending out a signal that was meant for anyone who was strong enough to hear, and also just as evil. He thought he was going to have to wait for years before anyone was going to notice him, but "luckily" Shinobu Sensui was there to find him and promised he would find revenge.

"Isn't that how you remember it, Sensui?"

"When Toguro told me about the many achievements of the new Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi, I could feel the hands of the universe tugging at my arm."

I sneered as Sensui continued.

"In the trial against humanity the defense now had an able attorney. At last I could begin the sentencing."

I shook my head slightly and looked down. It was all thanks to this that Sensui had started his rendezvous with the apocalypse. This thing was what really made Sensui so ready to kill the entire human race and what brought so much destruction and hurt to so many people, my anger had steadily returned.

"Sensui gathered up a bunch of new psychics to carry out this plan, including this brainless oaf."

Toguro then explained how he was able to obtain Makihara's body by tricking him into eating Toguro. Gourmet had no idea what he swallowed and by the time that he did it was too late; Toguro had already gathered up enough strength he was able to completely take over. This brought such a sickening pleasure to him that he couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"That is enough."

I shot my gaze over to Kurama who's stopped Toguro's insane laughter. Kurama then started to walk slowly around the side away from the group. Silence and anticipation filled the air as Kurama held all of our attention, hanging on to see what he would say next.

"You've survived for far too long."

Once Kurama stopped his walking he continued.

"And now it ends."

"Uh oh, the fox thinks he can finish me!" Toguro erupted into a fit of laughter for a second before continuing his boasting. "But I'm better than before, yes, recovering from what brother did to me has made me stronger! Now I can regenerate from anything, even if you pierce my brain and heart I'll still survive; I'm invincible!"

Toguro was sent into another frenzy of maniacal laughter. The laugh was menacing at best, and struck a nerve of fright within me that I couldn't push away.

"And because of this lump I can absorb any powers I want; I'll start with yours!"

Toguro took off running straight for Kurama who did not move a muscle. I started to scream in my head for him to move, but he did nothing as the animalistic grunts and high pitched guffawing echoed over the cave. When Kurama finally decided to move it was a simple gesture of crossing his arms as thick smoke started to pour out of his hands, quickly creating clouds around Toguro and himself.

This surprised Toguro and suddenly stopped in his tracks. The clouds build so quickly and there was so much that in no time flat the two of them were completely engulfed in the smoke.

"Let me guess," Yusuke spoke. "he brought roach spray?"

"No, you fool, it's a smoke screen." Hiei took a few steps to stand on the other side of Yusuke to explain further. "It's one of his older tricks."

"Well, it's definitely working." Yusuke replied.

"But how will we know if he needs help?" Mitari questioned.

How were we supposed to help him if we couldn't see him? I hoped Kurama was going to be able to pull through with some unknown surprise attack that would help him win. The question was, how was going to defeat Toguro if he couldn't be killed?

As the smoke continued to circulate around the two I took a step forward to try and see if I could make anything out, but the clouds were much too thick for any of that.

"Aha! I found you!"

I gasped as I heard Toguro call out and cackle once again, but I did not hear anything from Kurama. Another fit of laughter was heard from Tuguro.

"Score!"

I shook my head while putting a hand over my mouth. He couldn't have possibly been taken out already, could he?

I heard a growl coming from Tuguro before he started to rant about how Kurama's body was tricky like his, and continued to laugh while grunting. The sound of something struggling then filled my ears as Toguro continued to cackle.

"That freaks screams are all I hear, either he's beating the Hell out of Kurama or someone's found where he's ticklish!"

I couldn't even reply to Yusuke's theory because the thought of losing Kurama now, the thought of him dying by this parasite was just too much. I felt the wicked sting of tears in my eyes as my vision started to blur my vision.

"That's it I'm going in after him; if it pisses off Kurama he can sue me!"

"Wait," Hiei ordered as Yusuke was about to take off. I looked to the smaller demon and waited for him to continue. "why don't you look to your left?"

I instantly did as instructed and turned to my left. After a moment something irrupted from the side of the smoke screen, and soon the smoke disappeared to reveal a perfectly fine Kurama.

For hundredth time this night I felt relief wash over me and I tried desperately to hide any evidence of tears by blinking them away.

"The deed has been done." Kurama solemnly announced as our group headed toward where he was standing.

"What does that mean? I'd sure like to know who he's screaming at… I've got a few creative ideas…" Yusuke asked as we turned to look at the smoke screen again.

The smoke started to billow away but the screams continued. Once they were completely gone I was struck with such surprise that I had to do a double take.

Toguro was intertwined with a strange tree with dark purple bark, and the shape of a head growing out the side of it. The head looked sorrowful with gapping eye sockets and matching mouth. It looked ominous and completely terrifying as the branches latched onto Tuguro, and dark purple tentacle like things attached all over his face and body. I made a sound of disgust while sneering at the sight.

"What the fuck is that shit?" I broke my silence out of pure bewilderment.

"It's the Sinning Tree." Kurama simply replied.

"The Sinning Tree?" Yusuke pressed on. "Sounds a bit heavy."

"It ensnares your mind with hallucinations of wickedness, while it sucks away your life."

I reluctantly watched as Toguro wiggled and squirmed but was unable to loosen his hold from the Sinning Tree. He kept screaming about killing an imaginary Kurama, and how it was hurting him instead of said imaginary Kurama.

"He still thinks he's fighting, even though he's all wrapped up?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes."

"I don't understand. How were you able to plant that seed if you didn't go near him?" I asked while turning my attention back to my foxy friend.

He did not look at me as he answered, keeping his eyes trained on the image ahead.

"I used my Rose Whip to plant the seed inside of him when I took off Gourmet's skull."

The answer was so simple but with Kurama's voice it had an eerie edge to it. I swallowed the bile in my throat while looking back at Tuguro.

"Well, talk about planting ahead." As Yusuke chuckled I couldn't help but close my eyes and put a hand over my face.

"Please, stop." I ordered and caused him to cease his shenanigans for now.

"Clever," Hiei spoke. "the smoke screen was used only to mask your whereabouts. It was a catalyst for the trees' hallucinations to take effect."

"I didn't want to leave things to chance. The tree won't stop till its host is dead, and as you said Toguro your regenerative powers make you unable to die."

Toguro continued to scream in agony but that did not cover over Kurama's words.

"You will suffer for eternity here, torn between your hate and your agony… then so be it. Rogues like you deserved to be damned."

Author's Note:

Before I say anything else I would just like to take a moment and say that I will more than likely come back to this chapter later and edit it. At this moment in time I don't really like how this chapter turned out, and it was longer than I expected that's why it's in two parts. So, if you see any mistakes or errors, please fill free to let me know because I know they're probably there and I just can't focus enough to edit it. With that being said I do apologize if it's not up to par with the other chapters. In other words; fuck this chapter.

But there it is! Natalie's secret's completely out to everyone (well not everyone, but mostly everyone). How's she gonna handle this? Why did her bitch-ass sister snitch on Natalie? Well, my friends, most of your answers will come in the follow chapters. I'll probably have that posted in 2-3ish days.

I want to say a special thank you to CountingSinfulStars and just like before I will anyone who reviews the last chapter to this chapter because I've been posting a lot this week tbh.

Again, I'm sorry that I can't make this chapter better, but once I regroup my thoughts I promise I will clean this chapter up!