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

"This place is creepy," Kuwabara muttered as he and Marissa were walking around the northern shore. The ocean waves were crashing against the shaded rocks. The overcast from the storm, along with the lightning, made the environment eerier than normal. Marissa was shaking slightly, not having seen a storm as bad as the one attacking the small island. The fact that they were searching for psychics experimentally turned demon made Kuwabara's statement ring truer than ever. It was like their group of friends was in a warped sci-fi/supernatural crossover movie.

The teenager shook her head. "That's an understatement," she muttered. "I feel like I'm waiting for something to come out and attack us."

Kuwabara watched the younger girl from behind and smiled a bit. "Hey, don't worry," he said to reassure her. "I'm not sensing anything to close to us. Wherever the demons are going, here is not it."

Marissa looked at the spirit detective in shock. Her spiritual awareness was decent, but the sense barely went past a few feet. "How…how do you know?"

Kuwabara turned around and looked back at the city. "Well, as we came in this direction, whatever demons were heading this way went another way. I couldn't sense where they were going, but if they're all heading there it can't be good."

"We should turn back then," Marissa suggested. "Whoever they're going after is going to need backup."

Kuwabara nodded, trying very hard to pinpoint where the demons were. His spiritual awareness had grown much over the years, but it was not precise. Part of him wished that there was a way to sense where the life forms were. Unfortunately the only one who could in their group was Kaiya, and he was already sure they were on their way to her and Kiense, the two demons on the mission's team. His eyes widened as he thought of something else.

"Oh crap," he whispered. Marissa looked to him questioningly. "We need to get back to the house. Yukina is there…"

Marissa gasped when he said that. She didn't know how any of them could have overlooked that. "Don't worry. We'll head back. If anyone is going after her, Mayonaka and the others can hold them back until we get there."

Kuwabara nodded, feeling frantic. "Let's go."

Vegeta woke up in the middle of the night and groaned softly. He sat up and stretched out his muscles. Looking around to gather his surroundings, he realized that he didn't remember going to bed. Training, he remembered. Being angry, he remembered. Coming back to Capsule Corp., he slightly remembered. Whatever happened between then and now was completely a blur, covered up by both his anger and pent up energy.

He was about to get out of bed when he heard soft snores beside him. The sound made him stop, his eyes wide. Then he looked over to his side and saw a sight that shocked him.

The woman was asleep beside him, covered in the sheets, and she didn't seem to be wearing any clothes.

Vegeta just stared at the wall in front of him, his eyes still widened with a look of bewilderment plastered on his normally hardened face. He looked around the room and found that clothes were strewn about, including his own.

"Oh God," he said as it hit him fully. His shocked became annoyance, and his wide eyes closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The Saiyan got out of the bed and picked up his clothes before silently stomping out of whatever room they were in and heading to his own. It took all of his energy not to make any noise, lest he wake the woman up and have to deal with her. He didn't know how it happened or what he had been thinking when it happened. Was he thinking when it happened? He obviously didn't remember it. Well, it didn't matter now. To him, this was a setback, a one-time thing. He hoped the woman would be smart enough not to bring it up the next day.

It was a mistake.

"Alexia," Toshi said with a sigh, "are you okay? You seem really wired."

Alexia had been trying to keep her emotions in check, a serious look with narrowed eyes disguising the tumultuous trap her mind was becoming. Before now, she never fully understood Kaiya's feelings about Jiro. They had never known each other very well and, from what her "cousin" confided in her, she had never fully trusted him. Still, when the man had gone after her friends, the guilt that consumed Kaiya was as real as aliens were proving to be. Even though everyone tried to convince her that she was faultless, Kaiya still continued to let the guilt break her. Alexia had thought it was pointless to feel guilty regarding another's actions. So why was she feeling guilty now?

She and her father hadn't spoken in years, her leaving his prison of a home. He wanted her to fight, to kill, to use her abilities to wipe out the very people she cared about. It never appealed to her. To her, her special ability was a curse while her father believed it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Great, now Yusuke's sarcasm was inserting itself into her mental tirade. It was another thing that reminded her that her father was the enemy this time, and he was working for Kaiya's. The two of them were going to be a wreck once this whole ordeal was over.

"I'm fine," she lied. "I just…I wish I would have seen this coming. If I had, we could have avoided all of this. I never meant for anyone to get dragged into-"

"Hold it," Toshi interrupted. "You didn't do anything. It's like what we told Kiense when we defeated his alter. It was his alter's crimes, not his. These are your father's crimes, not yours. Plain and simple."

Alexia breathed out a chuckle and smiled sadly. "If only it were that simple to believe."

Toshi frowned slightly but he smiled when he saw Alexia's sad smile become something of a grin. He hoped that his words would help her on some level. He was going to crack a joke before a wave of darkness overcame both of their senses and stopped them from walking.

The two turned when they heard growling and saw five demons behind them. If these demons had been people before, no one would have been able to tell. A few looked like black piles of slime with red glowing eyes, while the other two had more of a reptilian structure.

"Well," Alexia muttered, "at least they look more gruesome than their previous experiments."

On the other side of town, Kaiya and Kiense were standing up against six psychic-demons. They were surrounded by the circle of what looked to be cultivated humans. Kaiya asked Kiense what cultivated humans were telepathically, and he told her that they were humans who had their souls ripped from them, used as mindless slaves to buy time. Unlike the cultivated humans, these beings were in control and looked much more demonic. Their skin was black and coarse; their eyes were glowing six different colors: red, green, blue, yellow, silver, and purple. What significance that had, the two fire demons could not figure, but it was something they both noticed and that alone was a bad sign.

"Why are you doing this?" Kaiya asked looking into the eyes of the silver-eyed being.

"You wouldn't understand, demon," the former psychic rasped, surprising Kiense since cultivated humans had no will or speech. "You chose to aide them. We choose to destroy them."

"You know nothing about the choice I made," Kaiya countered. "Besides, I didn't purposefully become something I hated. You did."

"So you hate the demon blood?" the psychic taunted. "I did not expect that."

"I didn't say I hated it," Kaiya snapped. "I was simply stating that I never made the choice to become something I hate to fight my battles. Anything that made me who I am, where I didn't choose it, I still like it. I would rather use the abilities I was given to be someone I can be proud of. I bet you if you go home tonight, you'll regret it when you look at yourself in the mirror. When I look in the mirror, I can assure you, I'm proud of all of me: human, demon, and Saiyan."

Silver eyes narrowed at her. "You are a lost cause," he told her. "For that, you will not be leaving this island alive."

"What do you get out of hunting us?" Kiense interjected. "Whatever demons caused you pain in the past…all of that is over now. We're just trying to coexist peacefully. Now, you six are strong; there's no doubt from the amount of youkai I'm sensing. Why fight us? Is it just orders?"

The demon with red eyes laughed at that. "The only order was for us six to take you out. The weaker demons have been sent to deal with the rest of the demon filth that accompanied you to the city, including the pretty little ice demon you're so desperate to protect."

"How did you-?" Kaiya started to ask before she glared at the ground. "Jiro…"

The green-eyed demon grinned at this. "Yes, and we were surprised to hear that demons were looking out for one another. I saw enough of demon behavior in the past, when the girl was held prisoner."

"Wait," Kaiya stated as calmly as she could. "You don't really mean you…"

"Yes," he responded. "I was a servant to the crime lord, Tarukane, who held her captive."

"You asshole!" Kaiya exclaimed. "You know what that creep did to her! Don't tell me you actually approve of that!"

"Kaiya, what is he talking about?" Kiense asked, not having heard stories of the spirit detectives' pasts from Mayonaka.

"It's…kind of a long story," she said while looking down. "We don't have time for it now. What I want to know is what these six are planning to do to us since they have us surrounded."

The blue-eyed demon, who seemed to be the only female of the group, stared at her curiously. "I don't like how you said that," she sneered. "What are you planning, demon?"

"I find it highly ironic that you're all calling us demons when you seem to be demons yourself," Kiense scoffed.

"They refuse to accept what they've become," Kaiya stated, "and they're also refusing to admit that they're cowards that need to gang up on others to get the job done. Very unbecoming."

"You bitch," the one with violet eyes whispered. "How dare you say something so-"

"True?" Kaiya finished before the man could make his remark. She smirked when his face displayed pure rage. She mentally commended herself on being able to get under the demon's skin.

"I'll kill you," was all he said before he disappeared from view and reappeared in front of her.

"Now!" Kaiya shouted, her making a dash for the space the psychic had just made for them to escape.

Kiense followed her lead, though he managed to throw a flamed punch to the silver-eyed demon. He had managed to figure out just what the colors meant when he saw the purple energy around their attacker. If they could fall back for just a moment, they could make their plan of attack and then hopefully make it back to the villa before the other demons. He knew just the place to go, too.

"Kaiya, this way!" he called as he took the lead. Ignoring the experimental demons chasing them, Kaiya followed Kiense to wherever he planned to take her. She had to trust that it would be somewhere safe where they could collect their bearings and get over the group sneak attack.

Watching him pace was starting to be the most annoying thing in the world. Whatever was going on had to be bad, so she said nothing and just watched as the normally stoic fire demon speedily walked back and forth while holding onto a lilac-colored compact. Where she planned on saying nothing, that didn't stop anyone else.

"Come on, Hiei, relax," Yusuke said in attempts to get his friend's attention. "No news is good news, and you said yourself that they weren't in danger before."

"That was before," Hiei countered. Mizuki's eyes widened as he made the remark. "And whatever is going on now…I can't see anything."

The admittance made Yusuke pale. "The only time that happened before…"

"Was when Yukina was kidnapped," Hiei finished, his eyes darkening. "If I don't hear from them in an hour, I'm getting that idiot prince to send me there. Koenma has run out of chances with me."

Mizuki shook her head. It seemed that everything started getting worse for the group when she came to warn them about Jiro's plan. "I'm…I'm sorry, Hiei."

Hiei looked over to the human psychic and she nearly gasped when she saw the burning fury lighting his eyes. "Either you're apologizing because you're responsible, or you're apologizing out of pity. Which is it?"

"Neither," she answered honestly, "but where I'm not directly responsible, I feel like all of this is my fault. Jiro's been attacking more forcefully ever since I told you guys his plan."

Hiei's eyes softened slightly. He didn't care about the girl, but hearing another person try to take responsibility for the spineless Jiro did not sit well with him. "Jiro is a coward," he told her. "He is the one attacking, and none of his actions are determined by yours. He brought this upon himself. Don't make excuses for him."

"O-" Mizuki started to say taken aback by Hiei's words. "Okay…but I still feel responsible."

Yusuke patted his shoulder on her back. "Don't sweat it, kid," he remarked. "Stuff like this happens all the time. You just gotta accept it and move on. Believe me; I'm not innocent. None of us are. Probably the only innocents involved in this are Kaiya and Yukina."

Hiei's expression darkened again before he resumed his pacing. He hated the fact that he couldn't see what was going on. Screw the hour. If he didn't hear anything in fifteen minutes, he was going to burst into Spirit World and demand passage to the Greek city. Whatever conditions Koenma made with Kaiya, whatever time he should be using to train, he didn't care. Making sure his sister and girlfriend were safe…that was all he could think about.

Toshi punched one of the slime piles and it went down without fail. He went straight-faced at how easy this was, but when he heard Alexia's painful cry he looked over to her. She had proposed that he take on the sludge demons, but she opted to take on the two reptiles, and right now she was about to become lunch.

"Alexia!" he exclaimed, getting ready to launch into battle. Before he could, the two other slime piles jumped on him. The slime seemed to be draining him of whatever spirit power he had. He couldn't get them off of him as they began to encase his body. "Damn it."

Alexia looked over to him when he called and became aware of his predicament. She was in the middle of her internal debate when he had called out to her. She knew there was only one way for her to escape the demons, but she hadn't been sure if she was willing to take that chance just for her sake. Now that Toshi was in danger, she didn't have a choice.

"Toshi, cover your ears!"

"Huh?" the seventeen year old questioned. He looked at her serious expression and decided it was best not to question her. Forcing his arms to his ears despite the black slime surrounding them, he did as he was told grimacing when he felt the sludge inside his ears. This is the most disgusting thing I've ever felt.

Now that his ears were covered, Alexia made her move kicking the demon who wasn't holding her in the nose. That distracted the lizard who was holding her enough to elbow his shoulder, effectively dislocating it on contact.

Hearing the lizard roar in pain didn't faze her. Unlike Kaiya, she had gotten into the mindset of assassin, and she was willing to do anything for victory. As the two demons came her way, she opened her mouth wide and screeched as loud as she could.

Waves of sound visibly appeared, though Toshi kept his ears covered. It sounded like a loud car alarm with his ears covered. If he had released his hold, it would probably be much worse. As the sludge retracted from him and the lizards began to bang their heads against the ground, he knew he was right. Eventually the demons stopped their movements and lied dead on the ground. The distant sound of the car alarm had ended.

Toshi determined that it was safe to remove his hands from his ears and looked over to where Alexia was standing. She looked out of it, deep in thought. The younger psychic was just wondering what she had done. "So…how?"

Alexia's expression hardened as she looked hatefully at the dead psychics. All five of them returned to human form when they died. More young men and women died because of their own blindness. "I'm what is known as a 'death siren,'" she told him. "I have minimal control over water, but my main power comes from my voice. What they just experienced was my Song of Death. It's the move I almost killed my cousin with when we were forced to fight in those classes, after she became a Saiyan. Her hearing was so sensitive…I haven't used this power since then."

Toshi watched her spit on the bodies as she callously walked away. Looking back to the dead psychics he shivered. He was very lucky that Alexia had decided to give him warning. "And I thought demons were scary…"

Back with Kiense and Kaiya, the two of them were now panting locked safely inside a church. Kaiya was on her knees trying to catch her breath while her companion leaned against the wall. Both of them were soaked from the storm, the water dripping into pools on the floor.

"I'm surprised you can even come in here," Kaiya said through pants, attempting humor. "Isn't there some rule that prevents demons from going into churches?"

Kiense chuckled and shook his head. "Only if they have malicious intent," he explained, before grinning. "And you're thinking about vampires entering places without an invite."

"Silly me," she breathed as she finally rose from her spot on the floor. "So that means, for example, if I brought Hiei into a church, he'd be okay?"

The fire demon nodded. "Yeah, unless he decided to attack an innocent he would be fine. Why do you ask?"

Kaiya smiled. "It's just nice to know that if the day ever came, we could get married in a church so that my grandmother wouldn't haunt me for the rest of my very lengthened life."

That caused Kiense to burst out laughing. "Oh my God," he managed to get out. "You know Maya said the same thing to me recently. Would it really be that bad if you didn't?"

Kaiya became very serious for a moment and said, "If you had been there when our cousin, Nariko, announced she wasn't getting married in a church when she did get married, you would understand."

"Kind of glad I wasn't." Then he looked outside through the glass of the door. "Now about those demons…"

"Yeah, what was that?" Kaiya asked. "I know he disappeared before he was in front of me, but he didn't move straight, up in flight, or anything like that. I have no idea what happened."

"He used the shadow," Kiense stated.

Kaiya's eyes lit up in realization. "Oh wow, that was Mika's power!" she exclaimed.

Kiense nodded, seeing that the girl was catching on. "His eyes were purple, a color very close to that of darkness. That girl with the blue eyes was calm, though the rain beat down harder when she spoke. I felt the heat coming from the red-eyed one, and I felt the chill from silver eyes."

"Purple, darkness; blue, water; red, fire; silver, ice…they're elementals!"

"Right," Kiense replied. "The color of their eyes reflects their powers, and they seem to be powers possessed by people you've known or know. I'm going to assume the green demon will have abilities like Kurama, as in control of plants. The yellow…I'm sorry, Kaiya, but I have to assume he has electric abilities."

"Of course he does," Kaiya muttered becoming straight-faced. "Because being in this storm wasn't enough."

"I'll deal with him," Kiense said. "He was pretty quiet. I don't know if it was because we instigated the shadow user or if he had nothing to stay. As for the others, both of us should have no problem against the ice and plant wielders."

"Never underestimate their abilities based on type alone," Kaiya scolded. "I know a very strong ice demon, and Kurama has beaten me in spars many times."

"True," Kiense murmured. "But based on type, we'll probably have more of a problem with both the water and fire users. The shadow guy…we can only guess."

Kaiya nodded. She didn't know how they were going to be able to take on six demons, but they were on their own. Hopefully they could take them on by splitting them in half. She was trying to think of a good strategy for dealing with the different types at once, but Kiense surprised her when he asked a question.

"What did green eyes mean when he was talking about Yukina?"

It was a valid question. Truth be told, most of the group, who hadn't been about of the spirit detective team in its early days or who hadn't been told about the events like she had been, were very curious. Whenever she was asked, she usually brushed it off. Now, she didn't see the harm in telling her sister's boyfriend.

"Years ago, before I ever met the guys, heck…before Yusuke even became a demon, there was this guy named Tarukane," she started. "I only know because Hiei told me one time when I was crying. This guy was this rich crime lord who enjoyed using demons to advance his wealth. Somehow, he found out about ice maidens and the fact that their tears could crystallize to form gems. Those hiruiseki stones went for millions in the black market, apparently. The creep tortured her so that she would cry, and one of Yusuke's cases was to rescue her.

"Hiei nearly killed the guy when he finally found her. Tarukane had been trapping her with the use of talismans, and it blocked his Jagan from finding her."

"Why didn't he kill him?" Kiense asked. "I know what the Spirit World laws are, but I still would have."

"Yukina stopped him," Kaiya answered. "He didn't want to be the reason she cried more. Anyways, that green-eyed guy said he worked there and knew about it. If he had had any decency in him, he would have let her go instead of becoming a demon hunter. He pretty much turned the other cheek while a human tortured an innocent demon."

"They don't see us as people, unfortunately," Kiense sighed. "And that means one thing."

"I know," Kaiya stated. "If we want to get out of here alive, we need to kill them."

"Can you handle that?"

Kaiya looked to him and nodded. "I've killed demon hunters before when I was attacked, in self-defense. That's what this is."

"Alone?"

Kaiya froze. No, whenever she had fought the demon hunters before, she knocked out a bunch of them and her friends dealt with the final blow. She didn't have a choice, though. It was a fight to the death; the psychics made that clear. "No," she answered, "but our options are limited now."

"Kazuma!"

Yukina ran to her mate after he and Marissa entered the villa. Weak, low class demons had been attempting to break in, but they had never gotten the chance when the two psychics returned. After the two defeated the demons, the demons returned to human form. Spirit World cleanup was going to have a field day. Koenma was going to have difficulties ruling everything, because the psychics were killed as demons before they reverted to human form. Kuwabara hoped that Kaiya and Kiense wouldn't get brought up on any charges for taking human life. He, of course, did not know about Koenma's deal with Hiei now that the whole truth was out.

"Thanks for the save, baby bro," Shizuru stated.

"No problem," Kuwabara said as he held Yukina in his arms. "It's a good thing we got here in time. Has anyone heard from the others?"

Botan shook her head, looking increasingly worried. "No one's kept us informed. Neither Kaiya nor Alexia answered when we tried them. We tried Kaiya about forty-five minutes ago when Hiei called."

"Shorty called the compact?" Kuwabara asked in shock. "Why not just use telepathy?"

"I don't know," Botan answered honestly before lightning flashed in the house and everyone grew solemn.

"We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we?" Marissa questioned.

"I don't think Koenma meant for any of this to happen," Botan stated, sidestepping the question.

"What is happening, exactly?" Yukina inquired. "I mean, I know we were attacked, but what else is happening?"

"Well, Alexia just killed some demons," Toshi said, him and Alexia having returned to the villa. He looked around the ground and saw many dead psychics. "And the same thing happened…"

"These experiments are sick," Kuwabara muttered.

"So, my sister and my boyfriend are the only ones not accounted for?" Mayonaka asked, fear coming over her features.

"Now, now," Botan said patting the girl's back. "They're still alive. As the chief ferry girl, I can at least tell you that."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

Kuwabara looked around at the ground, silently pitying the dead psychics though knowing they had chosen it. He realized it when he was fighting them. He could feel it in their attacks. Their emotions did not reflect people who didn't know what was happening to them. "Toshi, Alexia, Marissa," he started, "do you think you can hold down the fort here? I'm going out to look for Kaiya and Kiense and make sure they're okay."

"Yeah, we've got this," Toshi said. "Just be careful out there."

"Right." He looked over to Yukina and smiled. "Stay safe." Yukina returned his grin and nodded before he took his leave from the house. Botan took it upon herself to lock the door.

"Are you ready?" Kiense asked. "They're waiting for us outside."

Lightning flickered across Kaiya's face. Her expression of dread was illuminated by the beam. "Not really, but I don't think I ever will be, so let's just get it over with."

Kiense nodded to her before the two of them made their way out the front door. The six hunters were spaced about, each hiding near something related to their element.

"Well, well," the shadow hunter murmured as he stood in the shadow of the building, his feet residing in the shadow as he floated. "Look who finally decided to come out. I hope you enjoyed your moment's peace. Now the real fun begins."

Kiense looked at the six. The fire hunter was standing near a streetlamp that strangely enough held a candle. It illuminated his black face. He was standing closer to the shadow demon and the lightning demon, on his side. On the side where Kaiya was standing were the ice, plant, and water hunter. He was hoping that it would come out like this. Kaiya would have an easier time with those three if she took off in the opposite direction like they had planned.

"We'll be honorable and let you two make the first move," the female, water hunter stated.

"There is nothing honorable about ganging up on two fighters," Kaiya stated. "One on one is how real warriors fight."

"We're just supposed to wait turns?" the red-eyed hunter scoffed. "What a waste of time. No one fights like that. Besides, what would demon trash like you know about honor?"

Kaiya didn't grace him with a response. Her words would only fall on deaf ears. After her memory had been restored to her, she remembered everything Vegeta had ever told her about the Saiyans. They were a true warrior race. The purging was questionable, but from what Vegeta had always said, true battles were fought one on one. Even from the memories she saw of him and Nappa on Earth, they only fought one at a time. Of course, the Earthlings they were fighting needed to pull together to match up to them, but that wasn't an act of cowardice. It was necessity. These hunters could destroy them if all six of them attacked the two of them at once.

"Enough stalling," the ice hunter snapped. "It's time to end this."

"Hold up."

Kaiya had never felt so much relief before than she did at seeing Kuwabara standing there. With him there, the three of them could take on two of them and that would be a better option. "Who is he?" the yellow-eyed demon finally spoke up.

Kaiya and Kiense looked over to him with wide eyes. He sounded calm, kind even, and that was something they hadn't been expecting. The being didn't even sound remotely threatening.

"Kazuma Kuwabara's the name," he answered. "And those are my friends you have backed against a wall. That hardly seems fair. Man to man…that's how real men fight."

"Not another one," the fire wielder growled. "These annoyances are beginning to irritate me."

"That was redundant," Kaiya said under her breath making Kiense chuckle.

"What's so funny, demon?" the shadow user snapped. "Last I checked you were not in the position to laugh."

Kaiya quickly informed Kuwabara on the plan: that she and Kiense had planned on splitting up hoping that the demons would split up after them. Unfortunately, since Kuwabara was not a demon, the hunters probably wouldn't go after him unless he did something to anger them.

"Ouch! What the hell?" the fire demon yelped before glaring daggers at Kuwabara. "You brat! What was that?"

Kuwabara smirked having manipulated his sword to attack from long distance, though somehow keeping it invisible like a move he had seen in a previous battle, the Invisible Slash. He had been working on that move ever since the drama with Jiro had started once again. "That's for me to know, and you to find out."

"Rodney, relax!" the plant guy exclaimed. "He's just trying to rattle you!" Kuwabara took that as the opportunity to attack him too. "Ack! Why you!"

Rodney snickered. "Haha, come on, Eric," he jeered. "He's just trying to rattle you. Ouch!"

Kuwabara kept attacking the two with invisible energy to the point where they broke away from the group and started to go after him. "Run!" he exclaimed causing Kaiya to take off and Kiense to head in the opposite direction. It would take a while for him to defeat the psychic-demons he had just pissed off, but he didn't plan on losing. There was too much at stake.

Kaiya used her speed to her advantage. Fighting with Hiei over the years had made her faster than many. Even Vegeta had commended her on her speed while training before. Her only problem was her offensive streak, and that was something she was working on. Hopefully she had made enough progress to help her through this fight. She still had her "uncle" to confront.

The water and ice fighter were the ones to go after her since they were the closest. The two of them seemed very in sync, which Kaiya observed when they nearly caused her speed to be useless. The woman used her ability to layer the water under Kaiya's feet just for the ice user to freeze the surface. As Kaiya began to slip, she awkwardly took flight to get away from them. She would have to thank Vegeta for teaching her to manipulate her ki.

The ice wielder breathed into his hands creating small arrows that he launched at her. They came at her so fast, she almost couldn't dodge them. It almost reminded her of the Shards of Winter move Touya used often back when she trained at Genkai's. Momentarily lost in thought, Kaiya shook it off. She knew she needed to focus and take the offensive if she wanted this battle to be over. She couldn't run forever.

Something in her mind snapped in that moment. After all the training sessions she had had with Vegeta, he had been trying to bang that idea into her head (sometimes literally). She had always played it on the safe side, and that had gotten her killed. She continued to run and avoid confrontation, but it was there. She wasn't playing the defensive; she was truly running away from her problems, something a Saiyan should never do.

Her fears momentarily dissipated as her eyes narrowed into a glare. She looked down to her two opponents and then landed in the spot right underneath her. She flared her flames at her feet, melting the ice back to water and crossed her arms.

"So," she stated firmly, "what are the names of the people I'm about to beat?"

"A little cocky for someone who just spent the last fifteen minutes trying to escape," the ice wielder taunted. "It's Aethos."

"And I'm Athene," the woman replied.

"Not Athena?" Kaiya asked with a quirked brow.

"My mother didn't want me to have an incredibly common name," she returned. "Wait, why am I telling you this? I'm not getting chummy with a demon."

"Suit yourself," Kaiya nonchalantly countered. "I'm not exactly looking to make friends tonight either. Not with those who think it's okay to torture others because they don't like their lineage."

Kiense had gotten the two demons away from where Kuwabara was fighting. The shadow user seemed too eager, but the one he was assuming to be using electric abilities looked saddened.

"I will end you," purple eyes declared. "And then I'll destroy whoever is left on your pathetic team."

"Most of them are human psychics and Spirit World employ," Kiense retorted, crossing his arms. "Do you really think it's wise to go after those who are so important?"

"If they side with demons, they die," was the reply.

Kiense saw the yellow-eyed hunter shake his head. Then, out of nowhere, an electrical blast shot through the chest of the shadow demon. The demon coughed out blood and slowly fell to the ground. As he returned to his human form, he looked up at the other man. "E-Eiji, why?"

The yellow-eyed demon, apparently named Eiji, sighed. "Because, Katsu, you were losing your humanity. If you had gone through with it, you would have become as bad as the demons who brought you here."

The violet hue disappeared from the boy's eyes, the look over betrayal ever present until his eyes closed and his flaccid body hit the ground. Kiense stared at the dead psychic in shock and turned back to Eiji. "Why?" he asked, repeating the boy's question.

"I did not know what I was signing up for," Eiji admitted. "The other five did, but I had no idea. I never meant to become a demon, nor did I plan on hunting absolutely every demon out there. There are some demon hunters who get it, that there are good demons looking out for our world assisting Reikai with the more problematic ones. When I heard how the girl responded to Eric's story of the ice maiden…I knew. I knew who you all were."

"That's why you didn't speak," Kiense stated causing the man to nod. He tossed him a small, black, cubed device. Kiense looked at him questioningly.

"It's the key to where Edward is located," he explained. "He's expecting the six of us to return once you're all dead."

"Where will you go now?" the fire demon inquired.

Eiji just grinned slightly, his yellow eyes gleaming with mirth. "Perhaps I'll go to Demon World after all," he said jovially. "It's gotta be better than this hellish place."

Kiense chuckled before the man disappeared from his view. That whole thing had definitely been unexpected, but it was welcome. Now that two of the six were out of the way, he could go assist Kuwabara and Kaiya. Hopefully neither of them would have to make a kill they were not ready for, Kaiya especially. He was pretty sure she never had to make that choice before.

Kuwabara had somehow managed to defeat the two guys he was fighting. They were strong, but nowhere near the level of opponents he had fought in the past. Still, it would have been bad had the six ganged up on the two original fighters. The human was glad he got there in enough time. There was no doubt in his mind that Hiei would have destroyed him if either Yukina or Kaiya did not make it home from this. He already made the mistake of leaving Yukina alone. He wasn't going to do the same to Kaiya.

And the guy with the green eyes…he had recognized him and panicked causing him to make innumerable mistakes. The fire guy, Rodney, had just about killed the other guy himself. It would have served him right, though, for saying that torturing demons are okay because they aren't human. Kuwabara had seen more than those two could have hoped to see in a lifetime, and he knew there was no black or white, but gray. If demon hunters could accept that, then there wouldn't be this pointless fighting and bloodshed.

"Kuwabara!"

The human turned to see Kiense running to him looking like he hadn't even been touched in a fight and smiled. "You must have gotten them good."

Kiense shook his head. "Didn't have to." When Kuwabara's eyes filled with questions, Kiense said, "We can talk about it later. Right now we need to find Kaiya. Can you sense where she is?"

Kuwabara focused his energy and could feel tension rising from the opposite direction. "Yeah, I can feel where she is."

"Good," Kiense said, "then let's go before she needs to make a decision she'll regret."

Athene was watching Kaiya and Aethos square off. Kaiya seemed as still as a statue, her fists ready for a fight, though she had her guard up completely. Aethos was observing the girl, walking around her but keeping his distance. He was trying to find an unguarded point. There wasn't one.

No one spoke as the rain continued to beat down on the pavement. The only thing that Kaiya noticed was that the lightning had finally subsided. At least she would be able to fight without her fear getting in the way.

"Your stance is flawless," Aethos praised. "I'm actually impressed."

Kaiya didn't respond to the compliment. She didn't need this guy's ego stroking to know that her defense was impeccable. Instead she was searching for an opening. Despite the opponent's lackadaisical stride, he was prepared for her attack whatever it would be. Aethos frowned when the girl did not respond to him and stopped circling her. The silence between the three people in the town square was more deafening than the rain. It was a true standoff.

But it was growing tiresome for both parties.

Kaiya turned to face the ice fighter and glared at him as he smirked at her. "I asked earlier," she said. "Why are you doing this? We are on the same side. All we want is peace, and the best way for that is to believe that others can change. Have you even been attacked by a demon in the last three years?"

Athene's eyes widened at the question because, when she thought of it, the answer was "no." She had not been paying attention to how long the last demon attack had been. For some reason, though, it made her angry. She wanted answers. "Explain, demon."

"Athene, what are you doing?" Aethos questioned. "Why not just end her? These conversations are just stall tactics."

"There was a tournament three years ago that will be taking place again soon," Kaiya explained. "The winner of the tournament is the law for three years. The winner three years ago mandated that demons coexist with humans instead of attacking them. It's against demon law now to attack a human for the fun of it. I don't want to fight either of you. I would rather coexist peacefully and fight whatever demons threaten to destroy the balance, and I will fight the demon hunters that continue to think torturing demons is okay. We won't harm you if you don't harm us."

"Why should we believe you?" Aethos demanded. "For all we know, you are lying."

"I'm not," Kaiya stated firmly. "If I was, I would have taken advantage of your interest and killed you. Let's be rational, please. It's bad enough I have a twisted relative to fight later. We are seriously just bringing him in to Spirit World for questioning. We never wanted a bloodbath."

"Aethos, I believe her," Athene whispered.

"I don't," was all the man said before he charged at Kaiya.

Kaiya backed into her stance, ready to defend herself, and managed to flip the man before he landed a punch on her. He was on his back, her standing over her with her arms crossed. "If I wanted to kill you, I would blast you right now. You're outmatched in terms of physical combat, and I can beat your ice with my fire. Just surrender and I will gladly walk away from this."

"Never, demon."

Aethos held out his hands forming a triangle with his fingers. He cried out as he forced his spirit energy to his palms, shooting a close-range, ice beam at Kaiya. The hybrid countered by raising her youkai and ki, both containing heat. As the ice made contact with her energy shield, it dissipated, water splashing back on all sides. The psychic-demon just stared at the girl in shock.

Kaiya's eyes were narrowed, though she looked bored. "You done? Because I really feel like this is a waste of all of our time and energy."

"Aethos, please," Athene pleaded.

"Shut up, Athene!" Aethos snapped as he bounced back to his feet. "This demon is going to die, whether she likes it or not."

"Because that's new," Kaiya muttered, under her breath, mentally recounting the time she had died.

She knew that this hunter was never going to listen to her, so she only had one choice. Pulling her hands together, the girl began to power up a rose-colored, ki beam. About to release her attack, Kaiya aimed for her opponent's core. To her shock, someone had beaten her to it.

Kiense had been amazed by Kuwabara's tracking ability. They had gotten to the square just in time. As soon as they reached the locale, they had heard Aethos' declaration. When Kaiya readied herself to attack, Kiense sprang into action. Before the girl could follow through with her attack, the fire demon had blown a hole through the ice demon's core.

"You were saying?" he said cruelly, in response to his threat against his friend.

Aethos coughed up blood which spattered on the ground in front of him. The psychic looked up to the girl, whose ki attack had disappeared, and saw the horrified look on her face. It had never occurred to him that the girl hadn't seen such a gruesome act before but, as he looked into her eyes, all he could see was a childlike innocence.

"Kaiya," Kiense said from behind the demon, "are you alright?"

The girl's face drained of all color as she stuttered an answer. "Y-y-yeah, I-I'm okay…"

Kiense shook his head and sighed. "And you think you would have been able to handle this on your own… At least you won't have to worry about Koenma. If he's going to punish anyone for this, it'll be me."

"Kiense…" Kaiya breathed out awkwardly. She had really thought she could do it, until she saw the flames protrude through the man's body.

"I…I finally see," the psychic rasped as his form became more human. "You…really weren't…lying."

When he fell to the ground, Kiense stepped back. "I hate these sneak attacks," he stated, "but I'm finding them very necessary."

"Aethos…"

The two demons and Kuwabara all looked to the last remaining psychic-demon. She was on her knees, tears cascading down her face. "He…he was my husband."

Though the lightning was over, Kaiya felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her body. She decided to go confront the woman and attempt to comfort her. She ignored both Kiense's and Kuwabara's protests as she knelt down in front of the crying psychic. "I'm…sorry."

The woman chuckled bitterly when she heard the apology. "You're apologizing to me? We should have listened."

"You did listen," Kaiya returned. "You tried to stop him. I know that you're in pain now, but trust me when I say that life goes on. You can move forward from this."

"Unbelievable," Athene whispered. "You truly are an innocent soul, aren't you? You truly believe that all bad things will work out."

"If I didn't, I'd go insane," Kaiya joked with a soft chuckle. "If you knew everything going on in my life right now, you'd probably just commit me for telling such an outlandish story. But yes, I do believe everything will work out. The day I believe it doesn't is the day it won't."

The blue-eyed woman looked up at the young girl, astonished by the girl's words. "You amaze me."

Kaiya smiled slightly before standing up. The woman followed suit. There was a comforting silence, but eventually the silence needed to end.

"Hey," Kuwabara called out, "we need to get going. This mission is almost up."

Kaiya became serious again and nodded. "Right," she responded.

"The good news is no one else has to die," Kiense stated. "We have to bring Edward in for questioning meaning we don't have to kill him." He turned to Athene. "As for you, one of your colleagues decided to take refuge in Demon World given his new appearance. You can choose to join him or you can go back to Japan with them. I'm sure Genkai wouldn't mind housing another demon."

Athene sucked in a breath of air, hesitating in her answer. "M-Maybe…maybe I should see what it's like on the other side," she stated before eyeing Kaiya. "If it's really as different as you say, then I want to see it for myself."

Kaiya nodded in understanding. "I hope you can find happiness with yourself. I have to say, being a demon really isn't that bad. You might like it."

The woman smiled sadly at the innocent girl before she disappeared. Once she was gone, the rain stopped immediately startling the three remaining. "I guess they were responsible for the weather," Kiense hypothesized. "The lightning left with the other guy."

Hiei had waited an hour, clenching his teeth and pacing the entire time. He needed answers. He needed to know why he couldn't see anything. He needed to make sure that Kaiya and Yukina were okay.

Spirit World was quiet, no ogres bustling as per normal. Where everyone was, Hiei didn't know. He didn't care. He only had one goal in mind.

He slammed the door to Koenma's office open and saw the majority of Spirit World's staff standing behind the baby deity's desk. No wonder things were so screwed up. For everyone to take a break at one time to watch whatever was flashing on Koenma's screen…Hiei shook his head not wanting to finish his thought.

"Hello, Hiei," Koenma greeted.

"Why can't I see or sense them? What's going on?"

Koenma motioned for him to enter the room. "Just watch. I don't know why you can't see or sense them, but I can assure you they're all right. If you want, you can stay for the duration of the mission."

"I don't need your permission," Hiei growled as he leaned against Koenma's deck and crossed his arms. His eyes widened when he looked at the screen and saw that Kaiya was truly okay and unharmed, and also very wet.

"Okay, what the heck happened here?" Kuwabara questioned. "I only know you guys got ganged up on. What happened, and why were you all standing outside of a church?"

Kaiya sighed and ran her hand through her wet hair. "Well, after we all split up, Kiense and I got cornered by six guys. I irritated the guy with the purple eyes to get an opening for us to run. Kiense said the church would protect us from any demon with malicious intent. Now, what happened to you? You look a mess."

Kuwabara looked to Kaiya nervously before he grew serious. "We shouldn't have left the girls and kids unprotected. Some weak psychic-demons went after them. Marissa and I got there just in time. Toshi and Alexia came back before I left."

"How did Alexia seem?" Kaiya questioned in alarm.

"Not good…" When Kaiya shifted nervously, Kuwabara asked, "What? What do you know?"

"I know her dad is going to use whatever happened tonight against her," Kaiya answered. "Kiense, what happened with your fight?"

"I never fought," the fire demon answered. "The guy with electric powers had no qualms with us, and he killed the shadow guy because he said his 'humanity was leaving him.' It was quite the shock. Sounds like you got to that girl as well. What did you tell her?"

"I told her demons just want to peacefully coexist with humans and that I didn't want to fight either of them," she explained. "I'm…thank you, Kiense. I…I thought I could make a kill, but I can't. I can get a guy down, but I can't bring myself to…to…"

"To do what Jiro wanted you to do," Kiense finished for her. When Kaiya nodded solemnly, he said, "You and Mayonaka will never have to make a kill with all of us around. Jiro will never get what he wanted from you."

Hiei's grip on his arms tightened. They had no idea what Jiro truly wanted from the girls. They all just assumed that his major goal was to make his daughters killers by trading one of them to a tyrant. Instead, he didn't care what happened to one of them. He just wanted Kaiya dead.

"So now what?" Kuwabara asked. "I mean, do we just run into more combat and go to the guy's hideout?"

"No," Kaiya answered. "We go back to the house first and make sure everyone is okay. I mean, I didn't sense any others out there while I was fighting, but after hearing what that jerk said I want to make sure Yukina is okay."

"Yeah, I do too," Kuwabara agreed as he thought back to one of the jerks he had defeated. "By the way, she said Hiei called for you."

"He did?" Kaiya nearly yelped in shock. "W-Why didn't he contact me with telepathy?" Kuwabara answered with a shrug while Kaiya attempted to reach out to Hiei. For some reason, she was met with a barrier and couldn't contact or feel anyone. She groaned slightly, feeling the pain of her attempt, and grabbed her head. Kiense prevented her from falling over. "Something's blocking that power," she informed them. "I don't trust it."

"Neither do I," Kiense murmured. "We need to regroup. Let's go back."

When they entered the house, Kaiya's mouth dropped open seeing all the dead bodies of the psychic. "I swear; Koenma better do a good cleanup job or whoever you guys rented this place from is calling the cops."

"Kaiya!"

Yukina was the first to run over to her and hug her, Kaiya returning the hug. "Hey, Yukina. Are you okay?"

The ice maiden nodded while looking Kaiya over. Kaiya chuckled silently thinking it appropriate that innocent girl would be more concerned about her than herself. It was something the hybrid could relate to. She simply put her hands on Yukina's shoulders and said, "I'm fine, Yukina. Don't worry."

"Oh, right, Kaiya," Botan called out. "Hiei called the compact. He wanted to talk to you. Why didn't you answer yours?"

Kaiya just stared at the ferry girl like she had lost her mind. "Botan, that one is mine…"

Botan looked to the device and then back to Kaiya before smiling jovially and laughing. "Oh, silly me. No wonder I couldn't call you, ha ha ha…"

Kaiya shook her head in disbelief. There was no way someone could be that airheaded in the middle of all of this. "Okay, just let me call Hiei and we can go."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Alexia jabbed.

"What do you mean?" Kaiya questioned.

"Whatever he has to say will probably only distract you from the mission," Alexia pointed out. "It's better to just wait. I mean, it'll give you something to live for, right?"

"Not this again," Kaiya muttered. "Alexia, I don't think like you do. It might distract me; it might not. And there is always something to live for. Even if I called him now, I would still have him, my family, my friends, and my education to live for."

"I love how education made it in there," Shizuru teased. "That's a refreshing change. Baby bro, follow her lead."

"Shut up, sis. You know I've been keeping up."

"You don't need any more distractions," Alexia continued, ignoring the sibling banter.

"I'm fine, Lexi," Kaiya replied forcefully. "Seriously, why are you acting like this?"

"Because I need you to be focused in case I won't be," Alexia whispered in her ear as the Kuwabara siblings continued their argument.

Kaiya turned to look her cousin in the eye. Alexia looked horrible, like she was arguing with herself mentally like Kaiya had done after she found out Jiro was a demon hunter. There was only one other time Kaiya had seen the girl this upset. "You used your power," she said knowingly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not the one the power was used on," Alexia scoffed. "They had it coming. What I'm concerned about is my dad's power. The fact that I needed to use the power…Kaiya, he's going to use the memory of when it went out of control against me. Whatever Hiei has to say to you, good or bad, needs to wait. Whatever he tells you will leave you with a fear. If it's bad news, you'll be worried about him. If it's good news, you'll be worried about getting back to him. Just ignore the news for now. Please. You need to stay focused."

Kaiya shook her head. "Lexi, we're going to get through this. We'll find a way to combat his power. We're going to need to work together if we want to get out of this. He can't attack both of us at once, right?"

"Not to my knowledge, but-"

"So we should be fine. If he attacks you, I'll fight. If he attacks me, you fight. We just need to apprehend him for questioning."

"You make it sound so easy," Alexia sighed.

"That's because I've dealt with much more difficult."

"-you know the internship took up a lot of my time!" Kuwabara muttered. "Now it's become a job, but still. I'm almost done with school. Lay off, sis!"

"Are you guys done arguing about schooling?" Mayonaka whined. "You're as bad as Kaiya was with me, Shizuru."

Kaiya rolled her eyes at the comment. "So what are we doing?" she asked bringing attention back to the end of the mission. "We know where to go."

"We have the key to get there," Kiense said taking out the small artifact.

"Kaiya and I are going," Alexia stated. "Everyone else should stay here."

"I don't think so," Kuwabara spoke up. "Look, I know you have trust issues and that you want the mission to go down perfectly, but has anything happened like we planned? You two need backup. You don't know what this guy has planned."

"Kuwabara and I will join you," Kiense stated, "in case you need us. Hopefully this will go down as we hope."

Tell me about it, Kaiya thought to herself as she looked out the window.

"I have to say, Hiei," Koenma started, "Kaiya really knows how to give a good pep talk."

"Shut up, toddler," Hiei jeered. "It's your fault she's in this mess."

"I won't disagree," the Reikai ruler sighed, "but she is handling herself well. Even though she doesn't like to fight with her abilities, she makes up for it with words. I can see why you two complement each other."

"I don't know what part of 'shut up' you don't understand, but my patience is wearing thin," Hiei huffed. "I need guarantees. She's not going through this again."

"No," Koenma agreed.

"And the tournament?" Hiei pressed.

"You don't have to participate, unless you want to. If that means waiting until she's ready to go to Demon World, then I'll have to live with one less demon fighting for Human World."

Hiei looked over to the small prince and glowered at him. "Jiro."

"He will be dealt with accordingly," Koenma said nervously.

"Good."

Koenma observed Hiei as the fire demon's head turned back to the screen. It was hard to believe that after all of the years, almost two years short of a decade, that he had known him he was finally showing a sensitive side. He still had his attitude and strength, but he went from a demon who desired to destroy Human World to one who was now living there for a girl he once thought human. The Reikai prince guessed that was how "soul mates" worked. It didn't matter who they were; they just worked.

He too looked back to the screen waiting to see out the rest of the mission. It was his duty as overseer, after all, to see it through to its entirety no matter the outcome. For his own sake, and for the sake of his spirit detectives, he hoped it was smooth sailing from then on.

A hot shower was exactly what Vegeta needed after the past twenty-four hours. The scalding water relieved any lingering tension he was feeling. He still couldn't believe what had happened between him and the woman, but slowly he was remembering what set him off. The way she had been looking at him, with kindness and understanding, had been what ignited strange feelings inside of him. Whatever it was, though, would not be happening again. He had other things to worry about, after all. The woman was not on that list.

Jiro, however, was, him and all of his misdeeds against the Saiyans.

That troublesome human ridiculed him and undermined his race. He had made an unforgivable deal with Frieza which had ultimately backfired. Planet Vegeta's destruction had been his suggestion for the sole reason that he saw some vision of his daughter most likely with Saiyan abilities and a tail. He hadn't even known much about his race before suggesting its end just like he didn't even really know the girl, his daughter, whom he was so desperate to kill. If Jiro expected to walk out of this conflict alive, he had another thing coming. Regardless of whatever the Spirit World prince had decided, Vegeta wouldn't have listened. Jiro would have been dead in lieu of anyone else's opinion.

Meanwhile, Kaiya was still in Greece fighting for her life, or so everyone believed. Vegeta assumed, if that were true, he would be able to sense her emotions, but he couldn't. His sister was strangely silent. He didn't believe anything was wrong. If anything had happened to her, he would have sensed her pain or fear through the strange, telepathic connection. So, all that meant to him was that she was fine, alive and well, and there was no reason to think otherwise. He could focus on his early morning training in peace.

"Is anyone else concerned that we've been going for almost twenty-four hours without a break?" Kaiya joked as she, Alexia, Kuwabara, and Kiense headed to the central office of the demon hunters. She was trying to lighten the mood before they went into battle.

Alexia just rolled her eyes. "Did anyone ever tell you that your sarcasm doesn't count as humor?"

"Depends on the person," Kaiya retorted smugly. "Usually I don't hear that."

"I can't believe we're almost done here," Kuwabara marveled. "I mean, we just have to fight one more guy and that's it. I thought we were going to be here for weeks."

"Which means only one thing," Alexia told him. "Kaiya and I anticipated this mission to last for weeks also. The fact that it's only been a couple days means this whole thing was planned."

"Jiro knew we were here," Kaiya told them. "So he probably warned Edward and that's why we were led to this point."

"Right," Alexia agreed. "Getting the information was too easy. The attacks were easy. Finding him and being given the key, all too easy. This fight will not be easy."

"That's just the doubt talking," Kaiya pointed out. "We're going to win. I just know it."

"Kaiya is right," Kiense stated. "And then when this is all over, we should plan an actual vacation. I feel like I aged in these last few days."

"You age?" Kaiya teased, knowing full well demons had a significantly long lifespan.

Alexia sighed in exasperation. "More sarcasm…"

Kiense took the key he had been given and saw that the door had a space shaped like a three-dimensional diamond. He inserted the cube into the slot and the door opened instantly revealing two paths. "Both lead to the same place; however, only two can cross through each," Kuwabara said, his awareness cluing him in to the rules of the game.

"He wants to split us up," Kiense gathered. "That bothers me."

"We just have to go with it," Kaiya stated. "If it leads us to the same place, then we should all meet up with him around the same time. Lexi and I will take the right hall; you boys take the left."

Kuwabara and Kiense both nodded to her and silently started walking down the left corridor. Kaiya looked to Lexi and frowned when she saw the girl looking fearfully down the tunnel. "You have to trust me, Lex," she said softly.

"It's not you that I don't trust," was all her cousin replied before they began to walk down the other hall.

Hiei was feeling uneasy. He couldn't help but agree with Alexia; something about this whole setup was way too easy. Edward knew they were coming and probably had some sort of trap waiting for them, and the group had no choice but to willingly enter into it. If they wanted to finish the mission, they had to charge head-on regardless of whether or not they were ready.

He developed a habit of tapping his pointer finger against his arm when nervous, though only those who knew him would have noticed the nervous tick, especially since it only happened when one of two people were in danger (which thankfully wasn't that often). "Hiei," Koenma called cautiously, "are you all right?"

"Fine," the fire demon lied. He just wanted the mission to be over. Screw the traps and this demon hunter. All they had to do was apprehend him. Four against one had to make that easy.

Kaiya and Alexia were the first to enter a dark, metallic room. It almost reminded Kaiya of the throne room on Frieza's ship, though the floor was silver and the walls had a violet hue to them.

"I was hoping you two would be first," a voice said from out of nowhere. Just then, a clear, plasma-like shield was erected and blocked the path to both hallways. "Now, the fun can begin."

The girls looked up on to the stage that seemed to take up the majority of the room. They had to be in some kind of auditorium for meetings and whatever else the demon hunters did. Edward was wearing the black cape that all demon hunters seemed to fashion, though he had his hood down revealing him to his fullest.

Despite not being a blood relative, Edward shared Jiro's dirty-blonde hair; his teal eyes, those that matched Alexia's, were gleaming with both mirth and something Kaiya hadn't seen in a long time. It was the look that Frieza held in his eyes when he beat her, what Kiense's alternate's held when he burned her, and what Jiro's held when he killed her. Great, another sadist, Kaiya mentally muttered to herself. Kiense was right. After this, she was taking a vacation.

"Daughter, it's been far too long," he said in a sickeningly sweet voice that made both girls cringe. "And Kaiya, I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you, though I will take pleasure in eliminating you once and for all."

"Does every villain have to say cliché lines this?" Kaiya mocked. "Seriously, the sadistically veiled threats are kind of old, don't you think? Let's just get on with this. You know why we're here, correct?"

Edward chuckled. "Something about taking me to Spirit World for questioning, but I already know what they're going to ask. I'll tell you now and then you won't even have to worry about taking me in. Your prince will get his answers and I will end both of you and the others that accompanied you here. Of course, I'll start with the demons, like that little girl that's with you. I believe Jiro said that was the sister of your demon boyfriend."

Kaiya's eyes narrowed at the hunter. "Okay, now you crossed a line," she remarked. "Don't even bring Yukina into this. As for your answers, save it. We will be bringing you in for questioning whether you like it or not."

"Ah, determination," Edward mused. "A good quality to have, especially when it comes to fighting, but it won't help you here."

Kaiya didn't react to the words, ready to pounce instead and go on the offensive. The scream of her cousin stopped her in her tracks making her blood run cold. The hybrid lost focus on her attack turning her attention to Alexia who was kneeling in the ground in a fetal position as black smokescreen-like clouds surrounded her. When Kaiya realized the girl was shaking, she knew what was happening and again turned her attention to the attacker.

"How could you attack your own daughter like that?" she snapped.

Edward grinned maliciously and chuckled darkly. "The same way yours could you. The girl is a traitor to me, and in the way. Both of you will just be more collateral damage in the demon hunters' true uprising. It's nothing personal, just business."

"Did Jiro teach you that mantra?" Kaiya murmured in irritation, knowing he probably had. I still don't know how I'm related to that guy, she thought bitterly before she was hit with a large body of water. The water body had felt like one of those balloon clowns beating down on a weak child. Kaiya hated being caught off-guard, but she realized that she needed to concentrate on the fight at hand to get Alexia out of her father's power. Until she could beat the guy, she worried her cousin would be trapped in her fears. Still, that would not stop the optimist from trying to get through to her friend.

Springing into battle, Kaiya managed to punch through the snake-like water bubble in the sky with a powerful punch before landing a few punches on her opponent. She hadn't really fought in close combat before since most of her abilities were long distance. The only times that came close was when Hiei was teaching her the art of swordsmanship and more recently with Vegeta. With what she had learned from both of them, she knew she could defeat this guy easily without her long-range attacks.

Edward was shocked by the speed the girl possessed, as many others were. He was struggling to block her punches, getting grazed by the girl's fists against his shoulders, sides, and face. Fighting this girl wasn't going to be easy; fighting his daughter would be child's play. That meant only one thing: he needed to redirect the attack on Alexia to Kaiya and, to do that, he needed to concentrate.

"Lexi," Kaiya called out to her cousin, "we're going to be okay. Just hang in there. I'll get us out of this."

Edward continued to block the punches while chuckling at Kaiya's futile attempts to break Alexia free from his powers. While she called out to his daughter, her punches had become slightly slower meaning her concentration was not fully on him. He would need to have something like that happen again to distract the soft-hearted girl. Then he would be able to trap her in her own fears and his daughter wouldn't be able to compete. They were in an enclosed space due to his barrier, so the others that had come to the hideout with them wouldn't be able to lend a hand. The plan was perfect.

To enact his plan, he managed to push away from Kaiya getting hit fully by two of her punches. Edward heard the cracks and knew he was going to be sore later once the adrenaline left him. Kaiya nearly stumbled forward but caught herself, her tail bristling behind her as she glared at him. He hated that look, like the girl thought she was a better person than he was when she was nothing more than demon filth and whatever else she was. Catching himself lingering on the thoughts, he took advantage of her silent judgment and increased the force of his attack on his daughter.

Kaiya's features softened and she broke stance when she heard Alexia cry out. The girl was sobbing now, apologizing and pleading for the torment to stop. Caring as always, Kaiya left the perimeter of the battlefield and ran to her cousin's side.

"Lexi, it's going to be all right," she cooed softly, gently stroking the girl's shoulder. "Fight whatever he's attacking you with. You're strong; you know you are."

Alexia could hear everything Kaiya was saying and it did make her feel stronger. Somehow, focusing on the girl's words was making it easier to mentally push away her fears. The dark cloud disappeared around her, and Alexia breathed out a sigh of relief. Then panic took her once more, though not because of an attack. Breaking free had been too easy.

"Kaiya, what-" Alexia turned to look at Kaiya, but gasped instead when she saw the hybrid in the same position she had been in, the smokescreen dancing around her.

"Looks like it's just you and me for now, daughter," Edward said smugly as he smirked at the weakened psychic. "Don't think I plan on letting you leave here alive."

"Like Jiro, you're a real bastard, Edward," Alexia replied bitterly. "Attacking me, attacking Kaiya with so low a move… No matter what becomes of you after today, you are dead to me."

"My sentiments exactly," he retorted with a sinister grin. "Now, let's see if you can measure up to that trash on the ground."

"The only trash there is him," Hiei growled at the screen. "You better not let this one off too."

"He's not going to be killed, Hiei," Koenma reminded him. "But yes, he will be imprisoned in Spirit World. You remember our security, right?"

"Hn," Hiei scoffed, ignoring the subtle dig to his past crimes. "Watch yourself, prince. I would have never gone after my own like this." Koenma couldn't disagree with that. "So I take it that the barrier he erected is what has been blocking the Jagan." The Spirit World prince nodded silently. "As soon as it's down, I demand a portal to get me there."

"I have no objection to that," was all Koenma could say. It would be much better for him if Hiei was out of his office anyway.

Terror…that's all Kaiya could feel as her chest clenched with apprehension. She had never realized how many small, irrational fears she had. What was worse was none of them could hurt her, but she felt anxiety twisting her mind and energy as she grabbed her head to try to push the horrors away. It didn't help that one of her fears was the darkness, the pitch-black abyss of the unknown. She had to force herself not to hyperventilate in the isolation and part of her wondered if Vegeta had experienced similar feelings in his isolation.

Thinking about that time triggered another fear in her. The image of Frieza appeared in front of her but faded in the darkness. She was waiting to be attacked, but an attack wasn't coming. She was trying to remind herself this was all an illusion. Well, that was until she heard her own voice as a child.

It was pretty well known in her family that she had always been afraid that Jiro would kidnap her when she was younger. She never pictured it; it was just something she worried about. Until today, she never knew why, but it was hard to ignore the cries of her child self.

"No, Jiro, let me go!" she heard in the distance. "I was going to class like you wanted. I didn't do anything wrong. Let. Me. Go!"

The sound of a slap resonated in the darkness. "Shut up!" Jiro's voice snapped.

"Where are you taking me?" the child cried.

No answer came as the feeling of a chilling wind wound itself around Kaiya. She didn't know why she was hearing what she was. Despite what Jiro had done to her, she had never feared him hurting her as a child. Her rational mind told her that this couldn't have been a fear of hers. It had to be something else related to her fears.

A repressed memory, maybe, she suggested to herself. It made sense, since she didn't think she had acquired all of her memories. Alexia had made her think that something else was trapped in her mind when she told her she zoned out and that it hadn't been the first time in their many missions together.

That word caused a jolting feeling to zip through Kaiya's heart. Something felt wrong when she thought of that word. She tried not to focus on the word, simply trying to think back on the memory. If it had been a repressed memory, it wouldn't have been seen when her friends scanned her mind. Where she realized it might hold the majority of her fears, she needed to know. She wanted to know.

As she tried to hear her young voice again, she couldn't. Instead, she was transported into the middle of room. The floor and walls were metal. It looked like a room she would have found on Frieza's ship. That fact didn't bother her, though. The scene playing out in front of her was a different story.

There she was, a young child being held down on a metal table by metal bars latched onto her wrists and ankles. It was like an out of body experience watching her younger self struggling to escape. Jiro was nowhere to be seen in the moment. The girl was alone pleading for her father to return and save her, regardless of the fact that she had been brought there, Kaiya assumed, by him.

And then the door opened revealing a smirking Frieza, and the older Kaiya's blood ran cold. She knew she couldn't fight right now as she was not there, unseen by them. The girl couldn't help but glare at Jiro as he entered, a familiar blue man with green hair on one side and some unknown pink blob on his other. From what she had seen of Vegeta's memories, they were Frieza's second and third in command, Zarbon and Dodoria. Kaiya remembered Zarbon from when she was in Frieza's throne room. That, she had thought, was her first memory of Frieza. She was wrong.

"So this is that brat you been worried about?" Frieza said sounding amused. "She's awfully weak for becoming someone's undoing. Are you certain about this?"

"Her power level is higher than other Earthling children, sire," Zarbon informed him smoothly. "Considering how weak their species is, I would not be surprised if she could cause damage to them as well as other weak races."

"Excellent," Frieza remarked. Kaiya barely heard him as she focused on his former statement. His undoing? What the heck…? I-

"Let me go!" the young girl cried while attempting to escape the bindings.

"She's certainly a loud child, isn't she?" Frieza joked. The mental ghost of Kaiya glared at the alien wishing she could punch him for the remark. Then she remembered that was the Saiyan in her talking. The human in her was curious about what was actually happening. "Now, Dodoria, escort Jiro back to Earth. We have work to do."

"With all due respect sir," Jiro interjected, "I would like to stay and see her death. I need to be sure that I won't have to deal with her in the future."

Frieza's laugh was bone-chilling and grated on Kaiya's sensitive eardrums. It was easy to tell how malicious this being was, even if she never learned about his misdeeds. His being exuded evil intent. What exactly had he to laugh about anyways?

"I'm very sorry, Jiro, but that wasn't our arrangement."

Jiro's expression became panicked. "But-"

"You see, the deal was that I was going to take possession of your daughter to keep her away from you, but I never once said I planned on ending her life. No, I have other plans for her. She's going to become one of my soldiers, if she can prove her usefulness, that is. She is already more useful than any being I've found on that pathetic rock you come from."

"But that's not what you led me to believe!" Jiro exclaimed in anger. "I trusted you!"

"Yes, well, I'm sure you won't make that mistake again," Frieza remarked, "because we will never do business again. You are to return to Earth, and you better pray this girl proves useless in purges, because if not, I assure you your vision might still come true. Now, you can choose to accept my mercy or not but, I assure you, if you do not then you won't have to worry about this child being your undoing."

Frieza's threat hung in the air as Jiro held a firm glare while still managing to look flabbergasted. He had just been outwitted by the alien tyrant. Kaiya didn't understand what exactly the vision was, but Jiro seemed very sure she would hurt him. If he hadn't learned by now, she didn't want to fight him. Why would he still continue to aim for her death? They could have been happy if he had just accepted her love for him. If he had been different, their relationship would have been decent. But for some reason, he ignored her desire for a real father and focused on some vision that could have been prevented.

Jiro left with Dodoria following him to make sure he followed what Frieza said to the letter. Kaiya went back to watching herself struggle. She was concerned for her younger self, a small frown forming on her face as she grimaced.

"I said 'let me go!' Let me go right now!" she shouted earning a slap from Zarbon. Kaiya cringed when she watch, flinching back inside of herself before attempting to look again. Now the young version of herself was crying while whispering to be released.

"Now, now, child," Frieza cooed in a sickeningly saccharine tone. "As long as you cooperate, everything will be fine. You're about to join my army, and the first order of business I have for you is to help me with a little experiment."

"E-experiment? W-why do you need my help?"

This is it… Kaiya told herself. She was about to see the experiment that turned her into a Saiyan. Still, she didn't understand why Frieza had wanted to turn her into something he both hated and feared. Perhaps now she would get an answer.

"You see, girl, I have an army made up of many races, and I need to understand is how to repair their injuries," Frieza began to explain. "One thing I've had to deal with was soldiers coming back with mortal wounds that bled out and ended their existence. I'm sure you can understand that is not a desirable outcome, yes?"

"Y-yes," the young Kaiya whimpered out. She was still terrified and shaking.

"One race, however, has excellent healing abilities and I have acquired a sample of their blood," Frieza continued. "And that is why I need your help. Using the blood of another species in a blood transfusion is a gray area that no one has explored. Zarbon."

Before Kaiya could blink, the blue man she remembered blasted a hole through her younger self's stomach, breaking through the skin a bit and causing a large amount of bleeding yet not exposing anything internal. Her mouth dropped open in offense and she was starting to hyperventilate again. She could hear herself screaming, which alone was a haunting sound. And through that whole thing, Frieza was standing there with a satisfying smirk as if her screams were causing him pleasure. If that was the case, why hadn't he attacked her himself? Now she was recalling a time when Vegeta remarked that Frieza's army did his dirty work when he felt it wasn't worth it to sully his own hands. Kaiya shook her head from her aggravating thoughts as well as a dizziness that was threatening to consume her. She was sure that focusing on the fear to see the memory was not how Edward's attack was supposed to work. She just needed to hang on a little longer.

So she continued to watch regardless of the fact that the child version was screaming and whimpering in agony. Zarbon continued to work as Frieza observed the scene with delight. Neither seemed to be bothered by her screams. They were heartless monsters.

The blood transfusion was completed and the crying died down, the child simply gasping for breath and trying to cling to consciousness. Surprisingly the pain was no longer bothering her and the stomach wound was beginning to heal, however slowly. Frieza seemed satisfied by the resulting initiation of the healing process and was about to leave the lab until Kaiya screamed out once again from pain.

Both Frieza and Zarbon watched her and seemed confused. Kaiya shook her head at them. It was their stupid experiment. They should have been prepared for any outcome.

The pain young Kaiya was screaming from was explained when a Saiyan tail formed and grew. The quiet gasping resumed after she acquired the appendage.

Frieza's expression darkened before he made his order. "Zarbon, take a blood sample and see what happened."

"Lord Frieza," Zarbon spoke, "I suggest we get one of the scientists. This is not my area of expertise."

Frieza was irritated by the remark but demanded he hurry up and find someone who could read the results. He returned with some other species of alien Kaiya was unfamiliar with who swiftly took a sample and looked at it under a microscope. The scientist gasped and began to stutter.

"L-Lord Frieza, the experiment yielded some interesting results. Her blood has copies of Saiyan DNA as well as human."

"How is that possible?" Frieza asked in a deceptively calm voice.

"Saiyan DNA must be very strange," the scientist began his attempt to explain. "Their DNA allows them immense strength and excellent healing abilities. Attempting to use their blood to heal this child has given her access to the DNA. The Saiyan blood did not coagulate properly with her human blood. It didn't disappear after it began the process in healing. Instead, it will now coexist with her own DNA. Whose blood did you use? Raditz, maybe Nappa?"

"Neither," Frieza remarked. "I've had this blood stored for a while. It is the blood of the princess the king sent away for weakness."

The scientist paled. Kaiya realized he must have already known that she would be related to whomever was related to the "donor."

"Then she has the DNA of the princess. She is the prince's sister."

The silence in the room was deafening. Kaiya watched as Frieza raised a finger and shot a ki blast. It disintegrated the scientist in seconds. It was starting to bother Kaiya that she had seen more senseless brutality that day than ever before.

"What are you orders, sire?" Zarbon questioned dutifully. Kaiya rolled her eyes and mentally called him an "ass-kisser."

Frieza was quiet, thinking, and then a sadistic grin formed on his features. "Take the experiment to her quarters. I think we can use her against the prince."

The child's eyes flew open when she heard that, something snapping inside of her. She managed to break the metal bolts with her newly acquired Saiyan strength. "I'm no one's experiment!" she shouted. "I'm a person. Take it back."

Amusement flashed across Frieza's features. He didn't even seem to mind that the child was throwing herself to attack him. He simply used his tail to send her flying into a wall. She hit her head hard and began to fade out of consciousness with blood flowing down her back.

"On second thought, she just hit her head pretty hard," Frieza remarked. "I've heard that young Saiyans can experience memory loss after sustaining a severe head injury. I have a better idea for her. Zarbon, hide her tail and then you shall hand Vegeta his new mission when he returns. I want to see how much damage she can take once she's healed, but I tend to get a little excited. Let's see if the prince can keep the princess alive."

The memory faded out as the child lost consciousness. Kaiya could hear the whisper in her mind questioningly calling out the word "mission?" Now she knew why it set her off occasionally, as well as why being called an experiment bothered her. So, Frieza being a fan of irony was all she could take away from that memory. He wanted to use her against Vegeta somehow, but he didn't want him to know she was his sister. If he had killed her, he probably would have revealed to Vegeta that he let another Saiyan die. If Vegeta had found out and kept her on the ship, Frieza would have used her to control Vegeta's actions.

But that never happened.

Instead, Vegeta had saved her from that life of brutality. He protected her from being killed and beaten and then sent her home despite the orders he was given. He had been a good brother and friend to her when she was alone.

Kaiya felt a light feeling in her heart as she focused on Vegeta that pushed back some of her fears. He had sacrificed so much to help her as a child. It reminded her of how she had acted so oversensitive when he attacked her and after from her own self-doubt. From what she had seen in her memory, that was nothing. His words had been true. He was trying to show her her own weakness through example, something like Hiei had done in their training in the past. She hadn't been a disappointment to him. He believed she could train herself to overcome.

Thinking of Hiei also made her feel immensely happy and shielded her from her fears. It didn't make any sense to her. How could happy thoughts fight back against the amplification of her fears, especially when that couldn't help Alexia?

But Alexia couldn't focus much on her words. She wasn't focusing on happy thoughts. Alexia had been consumed by her fears. Maybe, by focusing on her brother and boyfriend, those thoughts had been amplified with Edward's power as well. Kaiya mentally smirked to herself. She had just determined the fallback of her opponent's ability.

Alexia was breathing heavily. Having wasted most of her energy in attempts to fight off her father's ability, she was using up more trying to fight him long distance with her water abilities. The man was cockier than she remembered, but having not seen him for years she wasn't surprised. They had both changed in that time.

She needed to beat him, though. Kaiya was trapped in whatever fears she had and the only way out for both of them was for her to win. The only move she had available was her Song of Death but, with Kaiya in earshot, she was hesitant to use it for she would be affected as well. She wasn't ready to relive their past fight. But they needed to win.

"Kaiya, if you can hear me, cover your ears!" she called out hoping her cousin would hear her.

Kaiya obviously didn't make a move as she was still trying to overcome Edward's attack. The attacker in question laughed in accomplishment. "She can't hear you, Alexia. She's trapped inside of her mind. You should know what that felt like. Could you respond to her when she made her futile attempts to comfort you?"

Alexia was starting to really hate her father. She flashed him a heated glare, but was shocked when a gust of wind passed by her. She turned around only to see that Kaiya was not crumpled on the floor like before. Instead she was in front of her, ready to fight once more.

Kaiya was sweating slightly and focusing on her breathing now that she had gotten ahold of herself. Edward looked confused and angry that someone had broken free from his normal finishing move. "H-how?"

"Depending on that move," Kaiya said sternly, "was the coward's way out. You should realize your move's weakness before you make it your deciding move. A good move is one that's free of weaknesses and gets the job done. It's useless if it can't hit its target. Just some words of wisdom someone close to me has been teaching me lately."

"What weakness?" Alexia asked in shock. She couldn't believe Kaiya had found a way to overcome her fears.

Kaiya nodded curtly. "If someone believes the move to amplify their fears, their fears will be amplified. But if someone focuses on good thoughts and happiness, those thoughts will also be amplified. He only tells his opponent that his attack gets them with their fears so they will focus on those. Again, coward."

Edward glowered at Kaiya for her insult and was about to speak when she interrupted him. "I no longer wish to talk to you, human," she sneered in the same way he called her a demon. She took both of her hands and positioned them out in front of her. "Now, let's see if training with my brother paid off."

Flames shot out of her hand and swirled around creating a spiral. Alexia quirked a brow in confusion. Kaiya was simply using her Swirling Firestorm technique. Even she knew the weakness of that power. What was Kaiya thinking?

Kaiya paused her attack in front of Edward, and the cocky man decided to move to the center of the swirl to attack the hybrid. She smirked, knowing he would do that, and then used her ki to push the flames towards the center of the storm. She sensed some of his energy fade and released him before he would be killed. Edward fell to the floor and the barrier around the lair disappeared.

Kaiya, exhausted from her trials that day, took a deep breath while holding her pose. She smirked at her fallen opponent and said three words. "Torrent of Fire."

Those were the last words she had the energy to say before she passed out from fatigue. Alexia ran over to her just as Kuwabara and Kiense were able to get to them having been trapped by the barrier. Kiense apprehended Edward, cuffing him with the special, Spirit World cuffs Botan had given him. Another entered the scene when a portal from Spirit World opened immediately after the fight.

Hiei had walked out and made his way over to Kaiya, lifting her in his arms. He said nothing, but felt immense relief that she had been okay. He motioned for the others to follow him so they could round up the others. The mission was finally completed.

A/N: And this is now the longest chapter I've ever, but I just wanted to stop dragging the mission along. It's time to go back to the real conflict, Jiro, with some fluff filler in between. Stay tuned for the next chapter, The Aftermath.