Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara followed Koenma down a long, dark hallway. After several minutes, they come across a large set of doors that were just about as large as those at the entrance to the Gate of Judgment. Without anyone doing anything, the doors slowly opened. Inside was an extremely large room that was completely empty, except for a few windows, and a large throne at the far end of the room. Upon that throne sat a giant man, with glasses and a thick black beard who wore expensive-looking clothes. That man was none other than King Enma himself.
"Dad... I've brought them as you requested." Koenma said with a bow. The four boys stared in awe at the King's size, if nothing else, though they could also sense a great authority with him.
"Thank you, Junior." King Enma said to his son. His voice was very deep, and gave off an echo as he spoke. "Good day, Spirit Detectives. If I recall correctly, this is the first time we have met in person."
Yusuke growled. "Enough of this bullshit! You called us here for a reason, now get to the point!"
"Ha. I see that you live up to your reputation as a no-good delinquent, Yusuke Urameshi. Have you no respect, even for the supreme ruler of Spirit World?"
"If you know my reputation, you should know that I don't bow down to anyone." Yusuke stated confidently.
"Yusuke, I don't think it would be wise to pick a fight here." Kurama whispered to the Spirit Detective.
"Yeah, I mean, this is the King Enma!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "Let's listen to what he has to say before we go gettin' ourselves into trouble!"
"Your friends are right, Yusuke." King Enma said firmly. "It would be best for you all to just come quietly."
"And why should we do that? What do you want from us, anyway?" Hiei demanded.
"To put it simply... You have all become a threat to Spirit World, and I won't allow you to run free any further." King Enma explained.
"WHAT?!" The four boys exclaimed in unison.
"What do you mean a 'threat'?!" Kuwabara demanded.
"Koenma!" Yusuke shouted as he walked over to his boss. "You knew this would happen, didn't you? Why the hell didn't you tell us?!"
"Yusuke, you have to understand, my father is the one who makes the final decision. There isn't anything I can do at this point!" Koenma sighed.
"Perhaps you would care to explain why you consider us a threat at this point?" Kurama asked King Enma.
"Forget it, Kurama. The reasons don't matter." Hiei stated. "I, for one, refuse to allow this to happen, no matter what justification they may have."
"It's interesting that you think that, Hiei. Especially since you're the main reason I have to do all this." King Enma said with an amused look on his face.
"Excuse me?!" The fire demon exclaimed.
"I also figured that the four of you wouldn't simply accept things, so I brought some insurance." King Enma snapped his fingers, and suddenly a group of SDF members appeared. However, with them they brought a tied up Yukina, and held a knife to her throat.
"YUKINA!!" Kuwabara and Yusuke exclaimed. Kurama stared with wide eyes, while the look on Hiei's face could only be described as utterly horrified.
"Dad... I can't believe you would do this! Taking a hostage was never part of what you discussed with me!" Koenma yelled.
"Quiet, Junior! This no longer concerns you!" King Enma exclaimed. Koenma backed off. "Now boys, you have a decision to make; will you go to Spirit World jail quietly, or will this young lady have to die for your useless struggle?"
"You monster! How dare you threaten Yukina like this?!" Kuwabara shouted out with rage. "My friends and I haven't even done anything wrong!"
"I find it amusing how you can place your trust into these people, who are always lying to you." King Enma said with a smirk.
"W-what are you talking about? These guys are my pals... Sure they have their secrets, but they would never lie to me!" Kuwabara stated loudly.
"And it's not just to you... They've been lying to this young lady as well." King Enma continued.
"What..." Kuwabara and Yukina muttered in unison.
"Stop..." Hiei said in a voice that almost sounded like he was begging. "Don't say another goddamned word!"
"Hiei..." Yusuke wanted to say something to calm him down, but knew that there was nothing he could say now.
"Perhaps it would benefit you to know, Kuwabara that those three standing next to you know who Yukina's twin brother is."
"No way..." Kuwbara muttered with wide eyes, as he turned his gaze to his companions. The look on their faces was enough of an answer, though Kuwabara still didn't want to believe it. "It can't be true... Yukina's been desperately searching for her brother... How could you guys keep something like that a secret?!"
"Is it true?!" Yukina demanded, while still being held by her captors. "Do you really know who my brother is? If you do, please tell me who he is!" None of them answered. "Why? Why won't you tell me?"
"You see? They can't even be honest to their own friends." King Enma stated. Yukina stared at the boys with wide, begging eyes. Hiei looked away. "But don't worry, I can tell you all about your dear brother." Hiei wanted to protest, but knew that there was nothing he could say to stop this. Yukina turned to King Enma hopefully. "After being tossed off the Ice Maidens' floating island, your brother was picked up by bandits. As a mere child, he possessed great strength, and spend most of his time doing nothing but killing. However, as the years went by he grew curious about his people and what had become of his sister. But since he didn't know how to get to the island, he acquired something to help him out; the Jagan."
All eyes turned to Hiei, as both Yukina and Kuwabara started to suspect the truth. "Hiei...?" Yukina muttered. The fire demon had become very anxious. His eyes were wide, and he was nervously sweating as his biggest secret was about to be revealed.
"After visiting Hyouga, and discovering that his twin sister disappeared into the human world, your brother also went to Ningenkai to search for you. There, he stole three treasures from me, along with two others." King Enma sent Kurama a glare. "And after that, he joined the Spirit Detectives, and finally found you at Tarukane's mansion."
Kuwabara gritted his teeth. "It's not true! There's no way that Shorty's Yukina's brother! He may be a jerk, but he wouldn't lie about something so important!" King Enma smirked.
"Hiei... Is it true? Are you my brother?" Yukina stared at Hiei with wide, sad eyes. Hiei clenched his fists, and tried to stop his uncontrollable shaking. He couldn't bring himself to answer. Not after lying for so long. He began to question whether it had been the right choice to hide the truth from her for so long. In the past he had convinced himself that it was, but now that she was going to find out like this, he wished he had told her himself. "Hiei!" Yukina shouted, catching the fire demon's attention. "Please... Just tell me if it's true..." Tears had formed in her eyes, and were ready to fall down her face.
Hiei hesitated, but then closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "It... It's true. I'm your brother."
Yukina let her tears fall, as she accepted what Hiei said. Kuwabara, on the other hand, stared at Hiei with wide, rage-filled eyes. "You... How could you?!" Kuwabara muttered through gritted teeth. "If what you say is true, then you knew she was looking for you! Where you just going to let her run around on a wild goose chase until she would finally give up?!" Kuwabara grabbed Hiei's scarf, and lifted to look in his eyes. "WERE YOU?!"
"It was for the best..." Hiei said, though it no longer sounded like he believed it. "I'm nothing but a no-good criminal. Yukina doesn't deserve someone like me for a brother... "
"I'll say she doesn't deserve you, you TWO-FACED LIAR!" Kuwabara shouted as he punched Hiei. The fire demon staggered backwards, but made no reaction at all.
"Kuwabara stop!" Yusuke shouted as he and Kurama rushed over to restrain their friend.
"And you two... You just let him do this?!" Kuwabara screamed at the two.
"Listen to me, Kuwabara, it was Hiei's choice to keep it a secret. Even though we care about Yukina, it wasn't our place to tell her." Kurama explained. "Now stop this foolishness, and get yourself under control. You should be able to see that King Enma is just trying to turn us against each other."
"Kurama's right!" Yusuke said. "You can bitch at us later! Right now we have to focus on getting out of here."
"Shut up, Urameshi! I don't care what you guys have to say; Hiei's gonna get punished right now for what he's done!" Kuwabara shouted as he struggled out of his friend's grasp, and moved to attack Hiei. The fire demon still didn't respond. He just held his head low and stared at the ground.
"Kazuma, please stop!" Yukina called out.
Kuwabara halted, as commanded, and stared at Yukina with wide eyes. "But... why?"
"It's... alright. I'm not angry at Hiei." Yukina said with a small smile. Hiei looked up at his sister with surprised eyes. "I think I understand why he did it... But even if I didn't, how could I hate him? He's my brother. And all he wanted to do was protect me. I shouldn't be anything less than grateful for everything he's done for me."
"Yukina..." Kuwabara muttered.
"Hiei... When I was searching for you, my brother, I admit I was afraid..." Yukina said to the fire demon. "I couldn't help but wonder if you hated me. After all, our people did such horrible things to you, but still accepted me as one of them. I thought that if I ever met my brother he might resent me for it. But I'm glad that you were the one who turned out to be my brother, because I know that you're above such thinking. And even though I didn't realize who you were, I always knew that I could trust you." Yukina gave Hiei a warm smile. The fire demon stared at his sister with a childish expression as he acknowledged that she genuinely loved him.
King Enma growled. The echo of his voice sounded very much like thunder, and instantly attracted the attention of everyone in the room. "You're a fool to trust that monster! He's nothing but a being of utter evil..."
"What the hell are you going on about?!" Yusuke demanded.
"Hiei is descendant of a race of evil demons. You cannot begin to understand the threat they pose to this world in its entirety. However, since Hiei was born unaware of his bloodline, and since when we found him the Jagan had reduced his power, I decided that there would be no harm in letting him live, so long as we could keep an eye on him."
"But clearly something has changed since then..." Kurama speculated.
"Yes. None of you may remember this, but you were introduced to Hiei's father not too long ago. I'm not sure exactly what he told you, Hiei, but it was definitely more than we would like you to know. He even went so far as to take you to his own world. Luckily, Junior had Kurama pursue you, and that gave him a reason to have to send you back."
"Wait... This doesn't make any sense..." Kuwabara muttered. "I don't remember meeting Hiei's father at all!"
"Yeah, I think we would remember something like that!" Yusuke exclaimed.
"Could it be...?" Kurama started. The others turned to look at him with curious eyes. "Did you erase our memories?"
"What?!" Yusuke and Kuwabara exclaimed in shock, while Hiei stared with wide eyes.
King Enma sighed. "I was originally planning to throw you all into jail the moment Kurama and Hiei returned from the other world." The group of boys gasped. "However, Junior insisted that such measures weren't necessary, and convinced me that things would be alright if you simply forgot all that had happened."
The boys turned to their boss. "Koenma... You were trying to help us...?" He didn't respond, and turned his gaze to the floor.
"However, it had come to my attention that the spell we used has failed." King Enma said as he glared at Hiei.
"What..? How did it fail?" Yusuke and Kuwabara wondered.
"I see now." Kurama said. "Things were alright until Hiei shared an important piece of information with me."
"So the dreams I've been having are simply remnants of events that you tried to make me forget." Hiei stated, eyeing King Enma carefully.
"Quite possibly." King Enma replied. "Though to be perfectly honest, I have never before seen a case where this spell failed to completely erase the victim's memory. And that means that you're just as much a threat as I originally thought."
"And what do you plan to do about it now?" Hiei demanded.
"Now... You must die." King Enma said sternly. "And since there is absolutely no chance of your friends letting this go, then they have to die as well."
"And just what do you plan to do to Yukina?!" Kuwabara demanded.
"Well... Even though she is related to Hiei by blood, she poses no threat to us." King Enma replied. "I can arrange for her safety, provided you four simply die quietly."
The boys couldn't argue against that. They knew that if they tried to escape then the SDF would kill Yukina in an instant. And with everyone on such careful guard, there was no way they would able to rescue her.
"You first, Hiei." King Enma said. An SDF member with long, gravity-defying blue hair and large round earrings began to approach Hiei. The fire demon clenched his fists, realizing there was nothing he could do to stop this.
"No... Stop! Please, don't do this!" Yukina called out, as tears once again filled her eyes. Her shouts only made Hiei feel worse. He didn't want her to have to witness his death, but he also couldn't allow himself to be the cause of hers.
The SDF member stood in front of Hiei, looking down upon the fire demon. He gathered aura into his right hand, which would deliver one swift death-blow. Hiei put on a tough face, refusing to allow himself to be vulnerable even in the face of death. The SDF member brought back his hand, preparing to strike, but he stopped.
A heavy aura, filled with bloodlust consumed the room. Fear was instantly struck in everyone, including King Enma. Suddenly, screams, and the sound of bodies being torn apart were heard. The boys looked over at where Yukina was being held, but only saw the shredded remains of the SDF members. Then, without any warning, the SDF member who had nearly killed Hiei was also skewered by an unseen force.
"How troublesome..." A young, but cold voice echoed. "Spirit World always has been a nuisance."