It's Soko again. Please enjoy the eleventh installment of The Book.

Disclaimer

We still don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. However, we still own our own characters.

And in case you haven't noticed already, things are starting to get weird. Just to warn you. .

Soko's POV

There was something… wrong here. I could sense it. Xhi had once again gone blank and now, Mag had gone catatonic as well. Connor and Jin were on the edge of hysteria, trying to rouse the two girls. Yoko and I stood, both sensing a dark presence nearby. I looked upward. Thick dark clouds blocked out the sky. Lightning flashed, allowing me to see my lover's face through the darkness. He was staring up into the clouds, almost as if he saw something that shouldn't be there. I turned my gaze to where his ended, trying to see what it was that he saw.

A piercing shriek reached my ears. Yoko and I look around to try to locate the source of the noise. It sounded like it came from everywhere. Again the lightning flared. I turned to the sky, as the dark clouds grew red, like the lightning had pierced the sky and made it bleed. Jin and Connor, knowing that Mag and Xhi will not wake, look up, their eyes growing wide. Yoko turned to me and grabbed my arm before running deep into the forest. I easily followed. I knew the other two had grabbed my friends and were on our heels. As Yoko pulled me through the trees, I glanced up at the sky. The clouds were swirling above us. Suddenly, they were thrown apart, creating a whole in the sky. Beyond the swirling red clouds there was only black. From the depths came demons of all kinds. They poured from the sky and fell to the earth like a hellish rain. Fear swept over me and I turned my gaze ahead.

Soon, the demons had infiltrated nearly all of our land. We ran until we came to a horde of them. We tried to avoid them, find another path, but we were cornered and trapped, one situation foxes didn't enjoy being in. I took a fighting stance next to Yoko, ready to fight tooth and claw to defend him. Jin and Connor did the same. I glanced at them. Jin held Xhiko with one arm; she was curled up against his chest. His feet were off the ground and I could feel the wind begin to pick up around him. Connor stood with Mag in his arms. I sensed that he was gathering energy and knew that he wasn't going to need weapons to defend himself. The fiends surrounding our small party grinned and laughed evilly, seeing us as easy prey. One large orange demon led the charge. Yoko and I pulled out our whips as the others followed behind him. I growled and stepped with Yoko. With a flick of our wrists, the first wave of demons fell, sliced into hundreds pieces. More came and Yoko and I continued the fight. We fought back-to-back, cutting down the intruders. At all times we knew where the other was; we had long since perfected our deadly dance and could read each other's movements ten steps ahead. A colossal, towering behemoth approached us. We took a defensive stance side-by-side, ready to move at a moment's notice. He swung an enormous mace, separating Yoko and I for a split second. That moment was all it took for another demon to grab me from behind. I yelped in fear and pain, for my ribs were still tender. Yoko's golden gaze met mine from across the battlefield. He dashed towards me. A horrendous devil with eight arms caught his ankle and dragged him down. Yoko lashed out, attempting to free himself, but the devil held strong. I struggled against the demon that held me. I had to save Yoko!

I searched the forest for the others. I was dismayed to find them captured as well. As a last-ditch effort to escape, I threw my head back against my captor. My skull connected with his face, but his tight hold on my arms didn't falter. I heard the demon growl. Another fiend approached me. His filthy green hand caught my face and roughly forced my mouth open. I fought against his strength, but could do nothing as he brought out a small vile. I watched as the apparition removed the cork top and tilted the open end of the vile to my mouth. I thrashed as wildly as I could, but it did nothing to help me. The purple liquid was poured into my mouth. When the tube had been emptied, the green demon closed my mouth and nose, forcing me to swallow the bitter-tasting concoction. Once it settled in my stomach, I was released. My knees hit the ground as my vision became distorted. I tried to force myself to vomit, to rid my body of whatever they had given me. A foot slammed against my back and prevented me from succeeding. I growled at the demons that stood above me, laughing. I clutched the handle of my whip. I stood as I spun around, killing every demon around me within the reach of my whip. As the remains of their corpses fell to the ground, I lost my balance and toppled forward. My head ached and it felt as though my body was on fire. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked around. Xhi and Mag had been captured and were being given a similar treatment. I heard Yoko call out my name. My head was spinning, but I managed to find my lover's face. He, Connor and Jin were being taken back into the black hole in the sky. Yoko's golden eyes were wide as he stared at me. I felt my strength leaving me. "Soko! No, Soko!", he called, disappearing into the demonic clouds. I try to get up, to follow after him, but I collapse to the ground and lose consciousness as the clouds clear and the sky slowly returns to normal, as if nothing had happened.

My eyes open. My head is pounding. The forest is dark, for even the moon is darkened this night. Shakily, I try to stand up. {Ow… my aching head…} As the world stops spinning, I look around and realize something very strange. {Why am I so close to the ground? Wasn't I taller than this?} I find Mag and Xhi, crumpled together on the ground. {Oh no!} I run over to them, praying that they're alright. I immediately notice something wrong. I gasp. {They've been chibified!}

Mag looks pretty much the same, but at least ten years younger. Xhi is now extremely small. {She looks like a baby elf! Maybe she is…} As I'm looking over them, checking for injuries, a realization hits me like a ton of bricks. {If they changed… then so did you!} I slowly look down at myself. Instead of feet, I see two small furry paws. I spin around to look at the rest of my body. I catch my tail and fall over. I jolt back up. Panicking, I look around. I find a puddle and run over to it. A small silver kit stares back at me on the surface of the water. Frantically, I try to shift forms. I fail. I'm stuck in this body. {I'm a kit again! How are we gonna save Yoko, Jin and Connor like this?! I don't even have thumbs!}

~*~

Xhi's POV

I slowly open my eyes. Everything is dark. {What happened?}I roll over {Strange. I don't remember laying down…} and look around. Mag is laying beside me, just waking up herself. She looks… different. {AHH!} I look down and realize I'm SHORT! Really short! Mag sits up and examines herself before looking back up. "Um… Soko? What's going on?", she asked nervously in her little kid voice. I look around to find our fox friend. "Yah Soko, what the fweak is going on?", I yell, clamping my hand over my mouth as my 'r's came out as 'w's. "Oh no! I can't pwonounce my aw's!" Mag crawls over to me and places her chubby hands on my tiny shoulders. "Oh no! We're babies!", she cried. Tears spill from our eyes. We're tiny and alone. Where's Soko?!

/I don't know how, but I know what's happened to us./ Mag and I looked up as the somewhat familiar voice reached our ears. A fox came trotting over to us, golden eyes narrowed in annoyance. I trembled as the seemingly huge animal approached us. /Chill guys. It's just me./, the voice said again in my head. "Who?", I asked. /Soko./, the voice said again. I looked around. "Whewe aw you?" The fox sat down in front of Mag and I and barked. /I'm the fox!/ I looked at the furry thing. Golden eyes gazed at me with a friendly sparkle. "Soko!", Mag and I exclaimed, jumping at the fox kit and hugging her around the neck. /Ack!/ "Oh my gosh, Soko! You're little too!", Mag said. /So I've noticed./, she said flatly. /That potion must have done this to us./ I sit back and stare at her. "What potion?", I ask. Soko sighs. /You guys were out of it when the demons came and kidnapped the guys. They made us drink this icky purple stuff before they ran away./, the fox explained. "Huh?", Mag and I say together. /WE'VE BEEN TURNED INTO LITTLE KIDS! AND WE HAVE TO SAVE YOKO, CONNOR AND JIN!!!/ We flinch as Soko yells in our minds. "Like this?", Mag asks. /Yeah. I think we should start looking now and try to figure out how to change back on the way./ I fold my little arms. "Nuh-uh! We change back now!", I pout, sounding like a hyper child. They protest but I cut them off. "But Xhiko nutting! We need to change now! Find a way! Hush, Bwiskay!" I silence the yarking creature. I turn and look at my reflection. "I LOOK LIKE AN ELF!", I yell in frustration, which must have sounded pretty funny because my two companions started to laugh. "NOT FUNNY!" I look at myself crossly. I am dressed in dark brown cloth pants and a loose forest-green shirt with a leather brown-ish vest over it and loose boots made with the same material. My ears are also very pointed and my eyes are an icy moonstone color. At the belt around my waist was a miniature wooden flute and what proved to be on further inspection, a bag of rocks and crystals.

/I bet Jin would find you adorable./, Soko teased, her tail wagging playfully. I glare at her. Mag interjects. "Uh Soko, we should get going if we want to save the guys.", she said. "Oh, and I'm hearing you inside my head. Is that ok?" Soko tilts her head. /Yeah. It just means that I'm speaking to you telepathically. You can't really expect a kit in fox form to talk, now can you?/ I nod in agreement before saying, "Bwiskay! Shush!" to the still yarking Skrling. {Wait, what's a Skwling? Is that Bwiskay? Is he a skwling?} I shake off that thought. "Hey! Wait fow me!", I call, running to catch up with Soko and Mag, who have already started walking. "Catch up!", Mag calls. "Mustawd!", I call back. I heard Soko laughing telepathically. /Come on, we have to find them./ I catch up and fall in hurried step with them, which isn't that fast, considering we were tiny.

We continue along in the dark. Occasionally, Soko will stop to sniff something. She stops suddenly, sniffing the air. "What's up?", Mag asks. I look at my friends. Soko's fur is standing up. /Get behind me./, she says. A huge demon steps out of the shadows. "Well now, what do we have here?" /Mid class. I'll take him./, Soko says, growling. "Uh, Soko, we'wew like fouw." /Oh yeah…/ Mag spots an herb on the edge of the path. "Confusing herb.", she mutters. She picks it up and throws it at the demon. He gets a good smell of it and stops. "Wait. What?" We, however, run and hide in a tree. "Why you little brats!", he yells angrily. /Ha ha!/, Soko taunts.

~*~

Mag's POV

My heart pounds in my chest as I draw in ragged gulps of air. Feet throbbing, I try to call out to Soko, who is coincidentally turned into a mini-fox and is giving me mental high fives for the move I pulled against the demon. "Wh… Wha…", I pant. {I knew I shouldn't have cut gym class!} "What are… w… we run… ru… oh.", I give up. We run from the tree. I keep up my stampeding pace. We run past tree after tree; bush after bush, and funny looking rock after… um… funny looking rock. A stream bubbling in the distance catches my attention. {WATER!} I am sooooooo thirsty! My mouth feels like sandpaper and the vile taste of the purple, tartly slime-like mixture that I had been forced to gulp lingers in my mouth. Guhlack!

I glance behind me to see mini-Soko had mini-Xhiko on her back, letting her ride her like a pony. Xhi clutched at her fur as the fox raced along behind me. Finally I reach the stream and fall to my knees. I gulp the crystal water greedily. Soko is soon at my side with Xhi. My elf-like friend crawls down from Soko's back and drinks from the stream as well. Soko just watches the forest around us as we drink. I think we are far enough away from mister 'oh, I have pointy feet, red eyes, and poor people skills!' {I bet he hasn't bathed in months! … Years maybe!}

After refreshing ourselves, Xhi (who is so short I have nearly stepped on her twice) spots a small cave in the side of a nearby cliff. We retreat into the opening and hide amongst the shadows. "We need a pwan.", Xhi states while reclining on a rock in exhaustion. /Right./, Soko telepaths. {This hearing but… not hearing thing is weird.} "So," I begin. "What do you propose?" Xhi stares at me cattily, "Fiwst, we need to get out of these fowms!" {I think she is embarrassed by her sprite likeness… or should I say, elf?} Soko curls up into a small ball between Xhi and I, tail covering her little nose, and says, /Who could have thought this would happen?/ With this, I feel a twang of guilt. Hadn't I known something was wrong? I could've told them! "We just didn't know!", Xhi rants.

I sigh. It's now or never. Shyly, I clear my throat, "I…" My voice comes out crackly. "I… I did." Towards the end of my statement, I spoke with deeper conviction. "WHAT?!", both Xhi and Soko gasp. Xhi blushes. I continue. "I… I recently seem to be able to um… how do I put this?… read minds?", I say hesitantly. They just stare. "But," I blurt, trying not to seem like a villain, "I can't do it on command or anything… It just… happens." There is an uncomfortable silence. Then Soko stands and begins pacing. "I knew you could.", she admitted. "I've known it since you first tapped into my mind the first day I met you. It's… it's my fault all of this has happened!" She throws herself to the ground as little fox sobs wrack her body. {Soko crying?! Inconceivable!} Xhi gets up and puts her small white palm up to silence us. "No… I've been having… visions, I guess… of the futuwe and the pwesent… That's how I saved Mag fwom the giant wock." I stare. "But Xhi? You said you didn't remember… your eyes went all foggy and-" "When we wewe… captuwed…", Xhi cuts in. "It all came back to me in one giant whoosh! I wemembew and know… know what I did… what I am…"

I am transfixed. "But… how is it I can tell what we all think?" Soko, now over her fit of tears, half smirks and says, /I think it has something to do with that flee-bitten, raging fur ball you call Hippocrates./ At first, I'm insulted. {I love Hippo.} But soon it all starts to fit. Then it hits me. "HIPPO!", I shout, "He's gone!" I frantically look around. Running outside the cave, I call his name. "Hippo!… Hippo!… Hippocrates!" I dash here and there, around the cave, along the stream, I even venture to the edge of the tree line but… nothing. When I finally return to the cave, I see Xhiko looking sullen and Soko is nowhere to be found.

"Bwiskay is missing too!", Xhi pronounces, looking paler and more delicate that she has in a while. I haven't seen her like this since… that storm last month. A moment after Xhi speaks, Soko trots back into the cave looking composed, but scared. "Right now," she begins, "we have bigger problems. My necklace is gone." Xhi rolls her eyes. "Big deal. We'wew talking about life!" Soko looks offended and sits back on her haunches. "My necklace is no mere trinket.", she snaps. "It's the Crystal of Amiralk ha Slyohlaun!" That shuts both Xhi and me up. I have no idea what the Crystal of Amiralk ha Slyohlaun is, but is sounds very, very important.