Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, YYH, or the characters. Just my OCs

When Kaiya and Kiense made it back to the villa, their friends had already returned from the mission. "So what did you find out?" Kaiya asked getting straight to the point. When she saw the look on her cousin's face, she grew worried. "Lexi? What did you find?"

Kuwabara, having heard the story on the way back with the others, put his hand on Kaiya's shoulder. "You may want to sit down…" A brow quirked as Kaiya bit back the retort that she was already sitting. He looked over to Kaiya's twin and said, "You too, Mayonaka."

Mayonaka looked at him strangely, but did was he said and took a seat next to Kaiya on the couch. Alexia, too, sat down on a chair opposite from the girls shaking her head and burying her face in her hands. "I take it didn't go well?" Mayonaka pressed a little, though she was getting nervous about how everyone was acting.

"It was an easy entry," Alexia started explaining forcing her voice to stay even. "There were no guards or traps. The computer in the lobby had the worst password system ever. Getting the information was easy."

"Okay?" Kaiya murmured. "So why is everyone acting like someone died?"

Shizuru had been the one to grab the flash drive before they left, and she tossed it to Kaiya now. The girl stared at her like she was nuts before she picked up her laptop that had been sitting on the lamp table next to her. As she slipped the flash drive into the port, Alexia hesitantly spoke up, her voice becoming shaky. "There was a file, and now we know who we're dealing with, what his power is, and where he is."

"Great!" Kaiya exclaimed energetically. "That means we can get back home sooner rather than-wait a minute…" Kaiya's eyes narrowed at some of the files she was reading. She began scrolling through them and reading as quickly as she could. Things weren't adding up so much anymore. "W-What is this crap?" she asked in a gasp.

"That," Alexia said, "would be the combined ideas of both our fathers."

"What are you doing here?" Hiei muttered as he looked out into the sunset. "I thought you'd be training still."

"Hmph," Vegeta scoffed, "as opposed to sitting on my ass doing nothing productive."

"Hn," Hiei growled. "You don't need to know what I'm doing. I already completed my training for the day."

Vegeta rolled his eyes at the fire demon. He knew full well what he was doing. "You're wasting training time pining for my sister," he ridiculed. "Not impressive for a supposed 'warrior.'"

"Pfft. You still know nothing." He ignored the glared he knew Vegeta was giving him. "I'm watching them."

"Who?" the Saiyan questioned. "And how?"

"Jagan," Hiei replied with a shrug. "It allows me to keep an eye on them from a distance. And when I say them, I mean both of our sisters. So far, no danger." Vegeta didn't reply. He just stared at the demon in front of him. "Hopefully they will be home soon. When they return, though, things are going to be different."

"What on Earth does that mean?" the prince snapped, crossing his arms and hardening his glare.

Hiei shook his head. "Just another 'relative' she has to deal with."

Vegeta hated when people were cryptic, and for some reason both Hiei and his friend Kurama seemed to make plenty of statements he considered to fit that category. Something about Hiei's words and expression made it seem like a bad thing, but Vegeta could not figure out what his words could mean. It could mean the obvious thing, that there was another relative of Kaiya's to worry about, but he bit out the word sarcastically enough that the prince refused to assume anything. He didn't feel like asking either. Instead he just joined Hiei in looking out into the sea. His sister's words continued to ring true. Something about this open ocean had a calming effect. If anything, this environment would help him with his meditation.

"So you guys aren't really related," Shizuru stated.

"Well, not by blood," Kaiya explained. "Her dad and Jiro went to college together. We were introduced after I met Jiro and before he got me into those 'classes' and we had only been told we were family after Jiro's death. Lexi grew up calling Jiro 'Uncle Jiro.' So yeah, cousins, but not blood related."

"Makes sense why I hadn't really heard of her until I visited our grandparents on my own," Mayonaka said. "I didn't meet Edward though."

"Neither did I," Kaiya revealed. "I just knew of her dad."

"Kaiya," Alexia said, "be happy you didn't meet him. If what I found is true, I don't know… He doesn't know you. I never mentioned you and Jiro never mentioned you around him, and dad definitely never said anything about you..."

"Yeah," Kaiya muttered in irritation, "he had a habit of doing that, even at my aunt's wedding. Whenever the topic came up, he moved it to something else after saying he'd explain who I was later. I doubt later ever came."

"What a creep," Shizuru said taking out a cigarette. "I mean, trying to hide your daughter when she's already there. What purpose does that serve?"

Kaiya just shrugged it off. "I don't know. What purpose did it serve to sign my life away to some space tyrant?"

"Good point."

Kaiya continued reading the information and shook her head. "So not only is Alexia's dad the guy we're after, and he's been working with Jiro for a while…but experimenting on psychics?"

Alexia nodded. "Remember those guns that turned your friend into a demon when we found you and your friends camping?"

"Those creepy things?" Kuwabara shouted. "We're dealing with those again?"

Alexia shook her head. "No, we stopped that when we infiltrated that base," she explained. "But the experimentation continued on psychics."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Toshi nearly shouted. "You're telling me that psychics who are demon hunters are being experimented on and turned into demons by demon hunters? That's so counterproductive. I mean, why allow yourself to become something you hate?"

Kaiya shook her head. Nothing was making sense about this, but then as she thought about it she could see it wasn't so much of a stretch. "Jiro is exactly like Frieza…"

"Huh?" Yukina breathed. "What do you mean, Kaiya?"

"I mean, he's experimenting on humans and screwing with their genetics just to see what happens," Kaiya sighed, "just like Frieza did with me. I don't understand how someone who had such an amazing family turned into a monster that randomly got involved with aliens, plotted against a race, became a demon hunter, and then goes after his own children while performing crazy, unethical experiments on unsuspecting people…"

Kiense shook his head. "When you put it like that…"

"So what do we do about my dad?" Alexia asked, breaking the heavy atmosphere. "Kaiya is right. The sooner we capture him and take him to Spirit World for questioning, the sooner we can get back home and put this mess behind us. Then we can focus on whatever Jiro is planning."

Kaiya nodded, but said nothing. None of the others knew what Jiro was planning, well except for her and Vegeta since he happened to be present in her dream when Jiro revealed them to her. She knew he was going after her friends, but he didn't say what he'd do. He just had to act like the cliché villain all the time. It was starting to annoy her.

Remember this feeling, she told herself. Maybe then you can actually fight him.

"So how'd it go?" Yusuke asked as Kurama over a compact communicator. After Kurama had gone to talk to Koenma, he and Kuronue headed to Demon World and alerted the three "kingdoms" telling them to spread the word and warn anyone who they knew was entering the tournament and Enki. Right now, his friend was in Mukuro's former kingdom. He had just gotten done with warning her.

"She was surprised to see me and a stranger and not Hiei," Kurama told him. "She asked where he was."

"Oh man," Yusuke said laughing, "I would have paid to see the look on her face when you said Hiei was staying in Human World."

"I did not tell her about his decision to reside there," Kurama replied. "I merely told her about Jiro's plan and the fact that there is a horde of demon hunters that want to attack when all demons are gathered for the tournament. We will be visiting Yomi next, and then Raizen's kingdom."

"Cool," Yusuke said. "Tell Hokushin to tell Enki and then I guess head back."

Yusuke clamped the communicator shut before lying down on a bed. He was still at Genkai's guarding Mizuki and the twins. The entire day, something had been bothering the three psychics. He guessed it was premonitions, which made sense considering there was a ton of bad stuff about to go down. Mizuki had almost been in the middle of it. The half-mazoku couldn't stop himself from shaking his head. What kind of sick freak would sacrifice his own teammates?

Well, Sensui kind of did something like that, but only because he planned on going down with them. Jiro, he was something else. He was a coward, honorless, and slime. His plan would backfire, though, and then everyone could move on with their lives and continue preparing for androids.

"When did life get so complicated?"

"Talking to yourself, Yusuke?"

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed before opening his communicator. "Koenma? What do you want?"

"I have information," he told him. "Is Hiei around?"

Yusuke shook his head, slightly glaring at the compact. "Why?"

"I really need to talk to Hiei…"

"Is that a smart idea after you sent his girlfriend on a mission that makes him question whether or not she'll come back?"

"Yusuke…it's about Jiro…"

The look on Yusuke's face reminded Koenma that the teen with the bad attitude he had hired to be spirit detective years ago was now part demon with an even bigger and darker attitude. "Koenma…for your sake, you better pray he's in a good mood. If he's not, I don't want to know what he'll do to you. Meet me at the beach."

He didn't give Koenma the chance to answer before he nearly crushed the compact. At this point, he was getting sick of hearing Jiro's name. The bastard was causing too many problems for his friends, his home, and Demon World which had become a second home to the boy. He could only hope Hiei was in a calm, rational mood, but he was sure those qualities only belonged to Kurama and Kuronue.

"You go," Genkai ordered having heard the conversation. "They will be safe."

"Right," Yusuke responded. "Thanks Grandma."

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Hiei exclaimed powering up and attacking Vegeta with his ki-enforced flames. After a while, both of them felt restless and training seemed like the perfect stress relief. The blue flames were spread out, but the ki controlled where they moved. Spread out in five points, the ki forced every tier in the direction of the Saiyan prince.

Vegeta was smirking, appreciating the fact that Hiei managed to control his attacks better than before. It was something he would file away in his mind for Kaiya's training sessions. That would eliminate many of her powers' weaknesses in addition to putting more strength into the attack. He nodded his approval before he flashed out of the way and into the sky, but he still was hit by two of the tiers as Hiei sent the attack to the new spot where he reappeared. He smirked again. Though his strength was still far below his own, the fire demon was starting to use strategy instead of purely fighting on emotion. Focusing ki seemed to subdue his emotional outbursts.

Hiei was about to use his strongest attack, his bandages having been off the entire fight. The wind stirred up around him as the waves splashed in his direction. This was the first time Hiei was going to attempt to control the Dragon's path…or so he thought.

"Yo, Hiei!" The black flames surrounding Hiei's hand dissipated as he scoffed and looked over to Yusuke. His expression darkened when he saw the Spirit World prince with him, in his teenaged form.

"Kill me," Hiei growled sarcastically under his breath.

Vegeta's brow quirked in amusement, as he looked down to the two figures coming towards them. He gently cascaded down to the sand below and observed the two, recognizing Yusuke but having no idea who the brown-haired teenager was.

"What is he doing here?" Hiei snapped, the teenager faltering slightly at his murderous tone.

The teen laughed nervously before saying, "Oh, come on, Hiei…we're cool, right?"

"No."

Yusuke snorted and shook his head. His arms were crossed, but he pointed to the teen with his thumb. "He's got information…on Jiro."

Hiei's eyes narrowed into slits as he glared intensely at Koenma. "Really? Now? After all this time? You people are idiots! Let me guess…it's something that pertains to Kaiya's mission, right?"

Koenma shook his head. "No, not this time, Hiei," he said softly. "And to be honest, I wish we had caught it earlier. If someone had… A lot could have been avoided, let's say. But I think you need to know a few things, and you're not going to like them…"

"Hn," Hiei scoffed. "I never liked anything you had to say, so what makes a difference now?"

Koenma dared to look over to the Saiyan prince, his nerves returning to him. Like Hiei, Vegeta glared harshly at the man, already gathering who he was. The only thing preventing him from attacking him now was his curiosity as to what he had to say.

He sighed and took a deep breath. There was no good way to say it, so he thought he would start with the basic premise.

"Jiro has been plotting Kaiya's death since before she was ever born…"

"That's his power?" Kuwabara questioned. "That's easy."

"No, Kuwabara," Botan reprimanded, "no it's not."

"So he can create barriers and use water abilities," he replied. "Big deal. Haven't we been there, done that? There was Seaman in the Sensui case who I fought and Kaiya fought Mayonaka so we already know how to handle it."

Kaiya just stared at him blankly. "How is it possibly for one to be a genius with engineering but a complete idiot with this?"

"Excuse me?" Kuwabara nearly snapped. "What's wrong with what I said?"

"Kazuma…" Yukina said softly. "You missed the point. Those aren't his only powers. The last one will be the problem…"

"He can paralyze his opponents with their own fears, Kazuma," Shizuru breathed out along with a puff of smoke.

Kuwabara's face felt before he muttered something under his breath. "Well yeah, but fear can't defeat us, not if we don't let it."

"You don't understand!" Alexia yelled. "I've faced his power before and, even if it's a fear you've come to terms with, it can weigh heavily on a person. And it's not just one fear, it's all fears. If someone nearly drowned as a kid, but could swim as an adult and had no fear, it wouldn't matter. So let's say someone like you goes up against him. What have you seen? Death, blood, battles against opponents with immense power? Was there one battle where you didn't have fear?"

Kuwabara looked taken aback but looked away. "No…even if I knew we'd win, I still held fear whether it was for me or my friends."

Alexia sighed and looked over to Kaiya. "You would be the one in more danger of suffering than any of us," she stated. When Kaiya seemed confused, she clarified. "Mice, fire at one point, darkness, small spaces, lightning and storms, not to mention Jiro and Frieza and your own death which alone would give anyone nightmares…you have more against you than the rest of us…"

Kaiya nodded in understanding, but still had the look of determination. "It doesn't matter. We have to fight him. Whether he comes after us with our fears or not can't be a concern. We just need to apprehend him."

"I agree," Kiense stated. "We just have to-" A crash of lightning sounded making Kaiya tense before the power in the villa went out. "Shit."

"Okay, this is not helping two of the many fears Alexia just listed…" Kaiya muttered before shutting her computer. Then a wave of something passed over her as she sensed something amiss in the city. Shizuru seemed to look in that direction too.

"What's up sis?" Kuwabara questioned growing increasingly nervous. Shizuru was obviously having another premonition.

"Demons," Kaiya said breaking the intense silence. "Demons in the city…and they were once human."

"You have five minutes to explain yourself," Hiei growled. After Koenma had made his opening statement, the silence on the beach grew intense despite the crashing waves and blowing wind. All of that noise faded into the background. The peace that he normally found in the spot with Kaiya did not seem to quell the rage he was feeling.

"I…I need more time than that," Koenma stated. "It's just like I said…we never caught this."

"You've judged and sentenced him and you're just figuring this stuff out now?" Yusuke questioned sounding exasperated. "That's…that's just stupid. I mean, I know Spirit World is screwed up, but this is ridiculous."

"Explain," Hiei demanded. "Give me another reason to hate that bastard. I dare you."

Vegeta was watching this verbal showdown between the three and realized something through it all. None of those who worked for this man were impressed with his abilities. It was a wonder things got "balanced" at all.

"Jiro has the ability to see the future," Koenma started to explain. "Like Kaiya, he can see visions of something bound to happen. He met her mother, Kagami, in college. There, he got involved with the Planet Trade Organization, which in turn is how he got involved with Frieza. The soldiers, humanoid in appearance so they could blend in, used a fraternity as a cover to train humans in skills needed in the enterprise.

"He then, after joining this club, had a vision that he would have a daughter and she would be his ultimate downfall, and after that Kagami had told him she was pregnant. He didn't want to suffer like he had in the vision, so he made plans. In the vision, he gathered the girl would have demon abilities as well as Saiyan abilities, and that was where he started his plans.

"He demanded the leader of the fraternity to get him in touch with Frieza, though he had no idea what he was like. He hoped to find a way to make sure his daughter wouldn't end him after Kagami refused the idea of an abortion…"

Hiei growled when he heard that word. He found out earlier in the year that whenever it was mentioned, Kaiya would grow sad and weary. She must have already known something about it regardless of how much her mother had told her. Maybe Jiro had said it before. He didn't know. He just never wanted to bring it up to the girl.

"Frieza was interested when Jiro proposed a plan against the Saiyans. At first he had asked him questions about who the Saiyans were, but he could sense Frieza's disdain for the race, so he suggested he destroy them thinking he'd eliminate all of them and not risk whatever was going to happen in his vision. He thought the problem was taken care of then, but Frieza did not destroy Planet Vegeta right away. Instead he made arrangements with the Planet's king to take his son at a later date."

"Of course his plan would backfire," Vegeta scoffed. "No one could have fully manipulated Frieza."

"Exactly," Koenma agreed. "The next problem came when the girls were born. Jiro was not aware Kagami was having twins, and when they were born, he didn't know who would be his undoing. Well, not until he tried something. Due to complications during the delivery, Kagami was unconscious when Jiro paid off the doctors to leave him alone with the girls, no questions asked. At that point, he attempted to kill one of the girls, and that one was Kaiya."

"Hold…up!" Yusuke shouted. "So that asshole actually tried to kill a baby? Who the hell actually does that?"

Hiei clenched his fists in rage, trying to keep himself from blowing up right there. Jiro had been as heartless as his own people had been with him. How something like that could have been missed, he had no idea. The next thing Koenma said, though, would shock the fire demon even more.

"Something prevented him, though, and it's the reason this information was hidden," Koenma explained. "You see, Spirit World stays out of affairs regarding soul mates. The laws always stated that for soul mates to find one another, things must happen to push them together or a balance is disrupted."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hiei growled.

Koenma looked over to him with sorrowful eyes. "Everything, Hiei. You see, another thing about soul mates is that they need to stay alive to find each other later, so if any harm befalls them, the other soul sends a defense over dimensions regardless of age or their own knowledge. And that's what happened with Kaiya that day. When Jiro attempted to kill her, demonic flames surrounded her and guarded her, and that is why no one interfered with the information. It was locked tight. The flames that protected her that day came from you, Hiei."

Hiei's eyes widened, mouth dropping open in shock as Koenma said that. Even Yusuke seemed shocked, not even making his usual perverted jokes. Vegeta, on the other hand, did not care about the emotional drivel that was being spoken. He was more interested in finding out how Jiro ended up making his deal with Frieza. So what if the fire demon was his sister's "soul mate?"

"I…" Hiei tried to speak before getting angry again. "He knew, didn't he? He knew from the beginning who I was. He had to have recognized the energy. It's how he knew she had befriended us the first time we met. He knew his daughter was going to end up with a demon."

Koenma nodded. "That's not all." He tried to ignore Hiei's growl and Yusuke's aggravated shout of, "Oh come on!"

"Jiro, at the time, did not recognize the energy. He was only going by his vision of his daughter. The fact that there was another one bothered him, but he decided to do something different with her. He used a scouter and found that she was weak with a normal Earthling power level of two. Regardless of whether or not she had powers, Jiro didn't deem her a threat. So he paid off more doctors to say one of the twins died and kidnapped her himself. That girl was later on sold to a couple in Greece, and later named Mayonaka…

"As for Kaiya, he couldn't touch her. He knew if he did, whatever flames attacked him once would attack him again."

"Hn, I'm glad to know I caused pain to that bastard long before he ever killed Kaiya."

"Yeah…" Koenma muttered. "Anyways, he left her alone with Kagami. After the birth he told her he couldn't be around their daughter, and we'll leave it at that. Instead, she raised her alone, far away from him. In the meantime, because he couldn't destroy her, he decided to discuss his problem with Frieza telling him everything, in detail, about his vision. Frieza in turn demanded he trade his daughter over to him for protection. To do that, he needed her back in his life.

"When Kaiya was eight, she wanted to know he father, and he had visions regarding her desire. He made it easy for Kagami to locate him and then took on the role as an estranged father. He got her to trust him, acting kind to a kid blinded by a desire to meet her father. After that, he convinced her to take 'self-defense classes' which her mother was unsure of. Eventually she gave in because of Kaiya's excitement and need for her father's approval. A year later after that 'training' was when he managed to knock her out and get her to Frieza. He was there when the experiment was performed. He tried to stop it, worried that it would cause the vision to come true. It was when he learned that his first suggestion to Frieza wasn't a complete success. It was also when he found out that Frieza couldn't be trusted.

"His protests were ignored and he was held back by Frieza's men as the experiment was going on. Frieza truly hadn't cared about his vision or what would happen to him. All he wanted was to see what would happen when you inject one alien with another's blood, specifically Saiyan blood he had from the princess his men killed at an earlier date. He wanted to know if he could create a stronger fleet by messing with the blood. He expected her just to get abilities, not to become part Saiyan. The blood didn't coagulate properly being from an alien species and that caused a lot of upheaval, especially for Jiro who Frieza had forced back to Earth. That's…all the information we have…"

"The fact that you can use a word like coagulate when you normally look like a toddler blows my mind," Yusuke said attempting a joke.

Hiei just shifted his glare from Koenma to Yusuke. Before he could comment on his stupidity, Koenma was pressed up against a large rock being choked by the Saiyan prince.

Vegeta was beyond angry. The fact that anyone had this kind of information out there yet did nothing about it was the most idiotic thing he had ever heard beating out the fact that Kakarot had let Frieza go multiple times. He didn't care that he was strangling a "deity."

"Hey…eh," Koenma choked out before Vegeta's grip got tighter choking him more. "H-help…"

"No one can help what I'm about to do to you," he said darkly. But in that moment, he was distracted. "And believe me when I say no one wants to."

"Hey, I know he screwed up, but you can't really kill him," Yusuke voiced. "I mean, he's the lord of Spirit World. This teen body of his isn't even real. You'd be wasting energy. Besides, we'd all just be in a lot more trouble."

"H-he's right," Koenma said, though he knew the first part of what Yusuke said was a lie. He knew very well that he could be hurt in that form. Still, he remained quiet, especially when Hiei just snorted and didn't try to disprove Yusuke's statement. He'd have to thank Kaiya later for changing Hiei's outlook on things when she brought in the demon hunter for questioning.

Vegeta glared at the coward in front of him, but released him deeming him unworthy of any attention. "I demand that you call off this silly deal you made with my sister and let us destroy that bastard without qualm."

Koenma sighed in defeat and said, "I wish I could do that. Really I do. In light of this new information, I'd say have at it, but there's a problem." Vegeta's expression demanded he continue. "You see, the mission I gave them…they're already in too deep. The one they're after already knows they're there, and Jiro has already asked him to deal with them."

"I know," Hiei muttered darkly. When he received questioning stares from Yusuke and Koenma, he elaborated. "I've been keeping tabs on the mission with the Jagan. Alexia found information. Her father, Jiro's college friend, is already on them. I wouldn't be surprised if they're in the middle of a fight right now."

Yusuke looked over to Koenma giving him a glare holding slight sympathy. "You better pray they make it back alive."

"I have no doubt they will," Koenma said, "because Kaiya still has yet to be Jiro's downfall."

"Are you sure it was a good idea to leave the girls and children alone back there?" Kaiya asked.

They decided to go out and find the psychics turned demons, leaving the non-fighters behind at the villa. Yukina didn't want to stay back, but Shizuru ended up talking her down as well as Kuwabara reminding her about her condition. Suze offered to stay back with them and the kids, and Mayonaka still had to remain there because of the storm. Botan stayed back as well, so at least they had strength in numbers.

"Don't worry so much, Kaiya," Kuwabara stated. "The girls got this. Besides, Botan managed to keep Keiko safe in one of our first missions. My sister's tough too."

Kiense chuckled slightly and shook his head. "Not to mention they have Mayonaka, Suze, and the kids. They'll be fine as long as they don't leave the building."

"As for us," Marissa stated, "we need to split up. I can feel demonic activity coming from all directions. I say three groups of two. No sense in anyone going off on their own."

Everyone nodded in their agreement. Kiense looked over to Kaiya as another crack of thunder sounded after a flash of lighting passed overhead. From what Alexia had said everyone knew about Kaiya's storm fear, but did anyone know how to deal with it? "Kaiya and I will go searching the east end of the city," he said. "I sense a great deal going on there."

"Right," Alexia said. "I'll head out west with Toshi." When she received Toshi's questioning glance, she sighed. "We all need to go with someone who knows this town in case we run into trouble."

"Oh," was all Kuwabara could say to that.

"That's actually a really smart idea," Marissa stated. "So it looks like I'm going with Kuwabara. We'll check out the northern part of the city."

Kaiya liked the plan, but she caught herself looking back to the villa. She knew that the girls would be okay. Still, she couldn't help but worry about them. Half of them weren't even fighters. Unfortunately she couldn't afford to linger on her concern. They needed to find Alexia's father before the night ended. It was clear he was onto them if he sent his "experiments"out into the city.

That word left a bitter taste in her mouth as soon and she thought it. If she thought about it, she was just like these psychics. Willing psychics did it to themselves, but Kaiya knew how her own father operated. He was the type to keep something like that a secret and lure unsuspecting people to be his guinea pigs. She wondered if the new demons were conscious of the change and if they felt the same way she did when she realized she too was a science experiment.

"Let's split up," Kaiya stated drawing everyone's attention to her. "We need to make sure no innocent people get brought into this."

Rage did not even begin to describe how Vegeta was feeling after leaving the spirit gang behind. After a long discussion that proved to infuriate him even more, he returned to Capsule Corp. and slammed the door shut behind him. This alerted Bulma, but she remained in her lab to finish her work and plans. Part of her was happy that her parents had gone out again that night so that they would be out of the way while the Saiyan prince had his temper tantrum.

Meanwhile, Vegeta was sitting down on the couch and glaring at a spot on the floor. He hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. His energy was fluctuating as his mood darkened further. Finding out about Jiro's methods and actions that day was not something he needed. He wanted to curse his curiosity, but it was better he knew exactly what he had done so that when he tortured the life out of him, all his crimes were accounted for. He just couldn't believe that this Earthling had gone through all that trouble simply to stop a vision.

Normally, it wouldn't matter to him. Someone trading their kid was not something he cared to be involved with under normal circumstances. It was the fact that he dragged the Saiyan race into it and that the innocent child he wanted to destroy ended up with his sister's blood. That is what had his blood boiling. Everything else, like with the "soul mate" crap, he didn't care about. Still, he couldn't help but think of the conversation that followed the confession.

"How is it that the information was unlocked now?" Hiei asked with a dark tone to his voice.

Koenma, after revealing all the information, didn't think he had anything to be nervous about until that question was asked. He was hoping Hiei would be too shocked to question him on how the file came into his possession. Now he had no choice but to respond. He flashed Yusuke a look that silently asked for his help. Yusuke crossed his arms, his eyes slightly wide, but he answered with a nod and took a few steps closer to the fire demon.

"You see," Koenma started awkwardly, "cases regarding soul mates cannot be interfered with, so the files are restricted until the two souls meet."

"I met her nearly three years ago!" Hiei exclaimed, starting to get angry again. "That means that for three years you've either been sitting on this information or you didn't even know you had it. And Jiro died a year ago! Shouldn't you have punished him based on that file?"

Koenma was nervously twiddling his thumbs growing increasingly anxious. "Ayame was the one who found the information…yesterday."

Hiei's expression became a cross between a blank stare and an irritated glance. "I'm not even going to point out how often you pull this shit, but I am warning you. You make this right, and regardless of this damned mission you sent Kaiya on, you give us the right to defend ourselves against Jiro and his accursed hunters. Are we clear?"

Koenma nodded his agreement. Honestly, if this was how Hiei was going to react, he was getting off easy. "You are all free to defend yourselves from them without consequence. Just, try not to kill anyone who DOESN'T attack you."

Hiei was about to object, but Yusuke decided to pacify the situation. "Yeah, yeah, we got it," he interjected. "Just…seriously, fix your stupid system. This is getting out of hand."

"We'll do our best, Yusuke."

"Your best isn't good enough," Hiei rebuked.

Yusuke sighed and then looked over to where Vegeta had been. "Hey, where'd he run off to?"

After he flew away from the beach, Vegeta ended up at his private training ground, where he had brought Kaiya earlier that week, to let off some steam. He expelled his angry energy, leveling part of the rocky terrain. It hadn't helped to relax him, which is why he returned to Capsule Corp. He didn't know what he could do to expend his heightened energy.

After sitting in the dark for a while, Bulma finally came up from her lab. The house was incredibly dark, but she turned on the hall light which illuminated a path to the living room. When she got in there, she found Vegeta sitting on the couch seething, fists tightened, jaw clenched, and body tense. She honestly couldn't remember a time where she had seen him this angry.

Against her better judgment, she walked over to him. He didn't even react to her presence as she hovered directly behind him. She took one of her hands holding the intention of touching his shoulder but, as soon as she did, she instantly regretted it. She hadn't expected Vegeta to react violently; however, she didn't realize that she startled him.

Vegeta hadn't heard Bulma enter the living room. He didn't even register the glow from the hall light. He was somewhere else entirely, so when the human woman had touched his shoulder, he was on the defense. Grabbing her wrist, he had her pinned to the wall, but was shocked when he recognized his "attacker."

"W-what were you…?" he began to ask. "What the hell were you thinking? I nearly snapped your wrist!"

"S-s-sorry," Bulma nearly whimpered out. "You just looked so tense and out of it. I was just going to ask you 'what's wrong…'"

Vegeta scoffed at her idiocy and shook his head. "Then you ask. You don't grab someone when they least expect it."

He started to let go of her, though he still held onto her wrist. "Noted," Bulma replied softly. "Now, are you okay?"

"Please," Vegeta grunted. "I am fine, woman."

Bulma frowned at him before looking at her wrist. He was holding it lightly now, though it was starting to bruise from how he grabbed her. "You don't seem fine," she said. "What happened?"

"It is none of your concern," Vegeta stated as he eyed her wrist. He was surprised that he actually grabbed her hard enough to leave a mark. Narrowing his eyes at the joint, his thumb started tracing the bruises.

Bulma noticed his irritation and said, "Oh, don't worry about that. I should have been more careful. I'm sorry I startled you."

He should have been more aware of his surroundings, he wanted to say. He had been too absorbed in the information he had heard that day. Everything about it made no sense. First, why would a weak human think trusting Frieza would work out in the long run, and second, why would Frieza want to experiment with Saiyan blood? What purpose did he have for making him guard her? The only ones who would know that were long dead, except for maybe Jiro. At this point, though, did it even matter? The damage had already been done and Frieza's desires for the girl no longer mattered. All that was left of the PTO was one lose end that he wouldn't even need to use any energy to break.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Bulma said softly snapping Vegeta out of his thoughts again. He couldn't believe he lost focus like that again. It also shocked him when Bulma took the hand he held and comfortingly rubbed his cheek. "Whatever it is, it will be okay. If it has anything to do with Kaiya, she'll be home soon."

He already knew that from what Hiei had said about how the mission had turned. "I know," he voiced quietly, though he hadn't had any intention of answering.

Bulma smiled at him before moving her hand down to his shoulder. "Would you like something to eat? I can have the bots cook something."

Vegeta wasn't really in the mood to eat anything. He really didn't want to do anything except expend the energy he had. Training obviously hadn't worked, but he did feel a shift in his energy when the woman touched him. Something about her being there with him made him feel a little lighter and less tense. Before he could stop himself, and not knowing what possessed him, he pushed her back against the wall kissing her lips. He was surprised when she responded to him, but he didn't care. Instead, he carried the woman up to one of the many rooms of the compound. No one saw them for the rest of the night.

Hiei scoffed as he heard Yusuke recounting the events of the day to Kurama over the communicator. Genkai and Mizuki were also in the room, though Mizuki's siblings were asleep in another room. Despite the trouble they had had with the girl, Hiei understood her desire to protect and shield her siblings from the danger. He had always tried to do that for Yukina. It reminded him that she was still on that mission. It also reminded him that he needed to talk Kaiya. He did not want to startle her by contacting her through telepathy. To avoid that, he took out a cell phone that Kuwabara had left with him and dialed his girlfriend. Her phone went straight to voicemail.

The logical answer was that Kaiya had her phone off and was in the middle of something else. Hiei didn't want to consider that Kaiya was already fighting. He looked over to the detective who had tossed the communicator aside before he started conversing with the two women. Hiei quietly made his way over to them and when he reached Yusuke he had but one demand.

"Give me the damn compact, now."

Yusuke stared at the fire demon strangely before handing him the Spirit World technology. He made a remark about something "crawling up his ass and dying" which only perturbed Hiei more.

He opened the device that looked like a makeup compact and hit a few buttons. Within moments, a face appeared on screen and it was not the one he was expecting.

"Brother?"

His expression softened considerably while expressing his concern. "Yu-Yukina…" he nearly whispered. "Why are you answering the compact? Where's Kaiya or Botan?"

"They aren't here," the ice maiden replied. "Well, Botan is, but she's downstairs with Mayonaka, Suze, and Shizuru. They're worried about demon attacks and are staying at the ready. I'm with Akio and Kiri."

"Where is the foo-I mean Kuwabara?" Hiei asked in a panic. They couldn't have really left themselves with a weakened defense full of many non-fighters…

"He's out with the others," Yukina explained while frowning. "Everyone sensed demons out in the town. Kaiya said they were once human."

Hiei muttered a curse under his breath so his sister wouldn't hear the word. "I really need to talk to Kaiya. As soon as she gets back, can you tell her to contact me right away?" Yukina nodded and Hiei gave her a curt nod before saying, "Be safe, sister." Then he snapped the compact shut. He really hoped that everything would be okay. If anything happened to his sister or Kaiya that night, Koenma would need to use everything to hold him back.