Chapter 8 – Ping Island
Yusuke wondered why neither Keiko nor Shizuru had realised that the signal the demon compass was picking up was obviously emanating from Ping Island. He had thought that everybody in Sarayashiki knew about the little island: it had certainly been an influential place in his life. It had once been a very popular place, attracting tourists in the summer and locals in the winter. Despite being a small island, it was home to a luxury hotel that included a casino, a dance hall, a cinema, a swimming pool, a gym and a sauna, and there was a small collection of no more than twenty stone buildings beyond the hotel, including a grocery shop and some holiday rental properties. Yusuke's parents had been married at the Citron Hotel on Ping Island and they had taken him there for a holiday when he was five years old; of course, they had taken him off-season when the trip was cheaper, but it had been a memorable event nonetheless.
But Ping Island had been abandoned for close to fifteen years. A tsunami that had only caused minor damage to Sarayashiki Harbour had obliterated the little island, taking the roofs off of most of the little stone houses, tearing down the decorative trees that lined the hotel entrance and breaking almost every window in every building. When it was declared that the damage was too great to fix – and the loss of revenue from missing one holiday season had passed – the island quickly became a place anyone with access to a boat used as an illicit hang-out; Yusuke could still remember the first time he had snuck aboard a boat to visit the island for his first taste of alcohol and his first all-night party. He could not really remember how he had gotten back home afterwards and he spent the entirety of the next day feeling awful, but he still had a fondness for the place.
It was odd that the cat demons had managed to hide there without being caught.
Yusuke kept Puu up high as he neared the island, deciding to sweep over once from high above to see if he could see anything vital from the air. He did not expect to have any difficulty in a physical altercation with any of the cat demons, but he was wary of underestimating their trickery, especially as they had managed to capture and hold both Kuwabara and Hiei. As he passed over the island he saw movement in the gardens of the hotel complex that looked to be several bodies moving around. He continued on to the cliffs before bringing Puu around with the intention of aiming to land in the hotel gardens: but as the spirit beast swooped lower towards the island, Yusuke spotted a body sitting on the crumbling cliff rocks, seemingly tied up. He order Puu to land, shortly finding Hiei, looking oddly peaceful, his eyes closed and his hands, waist and ankles bound by some kind of plant.
Yusuke called out to him as he leapt from Puu, jumping over a few rocks to land on the large flat rock Hiei was sitting on. The plant holding him in place – and apparently keeping him in a state of unconsciousness – was attached to a sticky ball of eyes that were too focused on Hiei to notice Yusuke's approach. Yusuke decided that the key to freeing Hiei would be to destroy the eyes, and so he edged closer, readying himself to grab it and tear it to pieces in his hands.
An instant before his fingers reached their goal he felt the unsettling sensation of being watched. He looked up to see two identical black-haired girls with cat ears watching him from the top of the rock Hiei's back was resting against.
"Where did you little brats come from?" he asked, frowning at them curiously.
One of them held out her hands, revealing that she was holding a little piranha plant, cupped in her palms.
"That's cute," Yusuke said sarcastically. "But if you don't mind, I'm kinda busy here."
The girls smiled and Yusuke made to ask them why they thought his words were amusing, but before he could form the words the little plant spat at his face and a searing pain in his eyes had him staggering back and struggling to breathe. He quickly fought against it, managing to squint through burning, watery eyes to see the other girl throw a handful of petals at Puu. He turned to look up at Puu to gauge the spirit beast's reaction, watching as his eyes drifted shut and he fell – oddly gracefully – forwards. Yusuke had just enough time to let out a curse before his spirit beast's chest collided with him and flattened him against the rocks.
"They got Urameshi, no way!"
Kuwabara stood abruptly as the cat demons returned, two of them carrying Yusuke's limp form and the others dragging an unconscious Puu in a net.
"This is getting out of hand, we gotta fight back, even if they are girls!" Kuwabara declared, summoning his spirit sword.
"Wait!"
He paused as Yukina grabbed his arm with both hands, moving his eyes to the little ice maiden at his side.
"Kazuma, I have to ask you to do something very important," she said.
"I'd do anything for you my love, you know that," he replied without hesitation.
"I need you to make sure the cat demons stay distracted so that I can escape."
"I can do that. Are you gonna go get help? Do you have a way to get off the island?"
"I'm not leaving the island Kazuma, I'm leaving the living world."
Kuwabara turned more fully towards Yukina.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I-I can't tell you," she said softly. "I'm so sorry Kazuma. I think I have a way to make all this stop, but I can't tell anyone what I'm about to do, not even you, because the cat demons could use their plants on you again and find out what I have planned. Please Kazuma, you must trust me."
Kuwabara nodded.
"You don't need to say another word, my love," he said. "I got you covered. I don't need explanations, just to know that you're my sweetheart and – oh, hey…"
Kuwabara lost his focus as Yukina stretched up onto her toes and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said.
"N-no problem," he replied through a blush.
He watched her running away, at first in too much of a daze to consider the circumstances; but the sound of Puu waking up and squawking angrily quickly brought him back to focus and he turned his attention back to the cat demons, ensuring none of them would notice Yukina's departure.
Kurama stood up and straightened his tie, forcing a smile.
"I'm very sorry, but I really must go home," he said to his colleague. "I shouldn't really have come into the office today, but now that I'm finished, I really must go again."
"Thanks so much for coming in to help me out Shuichi," his colleague replied. "You're a real life-saver. If there's ever anything I can do for you, just let me know."
Kurama smiled and nodded, at first feeling vaguely amused by the man's offer: but, as he looked at his colleague's earnest face, a thought occurred to him.
"There is one thing you could do for me, actually," he said.
"Anything, buddy."
"Do you know if there are any islands or land masses or any large rocks at all off the coast from Sarayashiki Harbour?"
"The only island around here is Ping Island, but it's been abandoned for years. Kids go there sometimes to drink and party, there's an old casino still there, but the whole place is a wreck. A storm took it out years ago."
"I see. Thank you, you've been most helpful."
"Aw damn, is your little step-brother out there partying? Is he at that age already?"
Kurama smiled again.
"Something like that," he said.
He gave a single nod of his head and turned, quickly leaving the office. He was still dressed in his work clothing: his formal trousers, shirt and tie and he still had on his glasses, but he did not have the patience to change. Instead he got into his car and drove directly to the harbour, parking at the furthest point away from the commercial boats and quickly locating an unattended rowboat. He jumped into the boat and quickly took himself out of the harbour, aiming towards a distant blip on the horizon that he had previously thought was an offshore installation of some kind.
Although Kuwabara and Hiei had been caught off-guard approaching the cat demons alone, Kurama was confident that the same fate would not befall him, as he was all too familiar with their tricks and he had the expertise required to overcome them. He was also relatively confident that they would not dare attempt to engage him in battle, as Tora, their apparent new leader, had seen him in battle with Yasashi often enough to know that he out-classed every one of them even if they combined their powers and attacked him en masse.
However he suspected that the rebels were more interested in talking to him than fighting, especially as the notes they had left at the Kuwabara house had all clearly had the name "Yoko Kurama" written on them, scored through, and then over-written with the name "Yukina".
Kurama did sympathise with the rebels' cause, but he knew that the main reason he did not want them to come to harm was not because he was an avid supporter of their cause or because he feared the repercussions from bandits in demon world who would learn of losing some of the highest paying bounties around: rather he wanted the rebels to survive and succeed because that was what Yasashi had wanted. She had died for her belief in the rag-tag group of relatively insignificant cat demons that supported her, and – despite being famed for being too playful to be taken seriously – her sacrifice had given her life a level of nobility that only made Kurama admire her all the more.
Perhaps, he mused as he finally neared the small island, Yusuke was right after all. Perhaps his feelings for the rebel leader were deeper than mere curiosity.
Kurama paused, the small rowboat carrying him drifting onwards with the pull of the tide, his eyes scanning over the beach ahead. Ping Island really was a small and forgotten piece of land, but it was not the sight of a rusting taxi overturned on the beach or the bundle of damp and rotting papers by the sand dunes that bothered him: rather it was the vague sense of something ominous ahead. The little wooden rowboat clunked against a rock and he grabbed onto it, tying the boat in place and then jumping out. He had misjudged the water depth, as he found himself immersed up to his mid-thighs, but he continued on undaunted, wading his way to the shore, where he stopped again as he heard a faint squeal of alarm. He turned towards it, the sound of rustling plants and a snapping twig piquing his interest.
He started towards a cluster of what had once been a plantation of decorative trees, broken down by weather and overgrown with weeds and grasses with time. As he neared the plants he heard another, clearer scream and it was followed by a flash of colour somewhere deep within the trees and weeds. He crept towards the movement, shortly realising that it was a young girl, running blindly through the trees. She had a bloody gash down one side of her face and her clothing was torn on the same side, as though someone had swung a sword at her and dealt her a glancing blow.
She stopped the moment she noticed Kurama. The two stared at each other silently and curiously, the moment only ending when a second, identical girl joined the first one.
"Who did this to you?" Kurama asked the injured girl.
Both girls took a wary step back from him.
"I'm not here to hurt you," he assured them. "I'm an old friend. I want to help you."
"I bet you do. You always did."
Kurama looked up from the girls, watching as a scruffy weasel demon emerged from the trees, supporting a limp body over one shoulder. Kurama slowly stepped around the twin cat demons, placing himself between them and the approaching weasel demon.
"How did you get here?" Kurama asked.
He did not know the weasel demon's name, but he did recognise him as one of the henchmen Iruka had been accompanied by when they had met in demon world earlier that day.
"Seems like the rebels did us a favour when they incapacitated the head of the border patrol," he replied. "Because now getting through to this world is easy. And, best of all, all the rebels are on one tiny little island, ready for us to take back."
He threw down the body he had been carrying and as she landed on her back Kurama could not help but notice how alike the little girls she was. A vague memory of a raven-haired cat demon with two tiny identical babies flitted through his mind as he recalled the odd occasions he had met other members of the cat demon rebellion.
"That's a real cute human body you got yourself there," the weasel demon said with a snort. "Doesn't it kill you being trapped in there?"
"On the contrary," Kurama said calmly, sliding a rose from his hair. "This body is far less of a hindrance to my abilities than a fool like you would think."
With a single lash of his rose whip Kurama took the weasel from his feet. He quickly stored his weapon again and knelt down at the side of the fallen cat demon, discovering that she was barely still alive.
"It's not too late, I can save her," he told the girls.
They did not respond but also did not run away and so Kurama quickly began checking through the healing herbs he had at his disposal.
Botan, back in spirit world and once more back into her pink kimono, knocked on the door of the file room. When she received no reply, she opened the door and entered regardless, finding Koneko at her desk.
"Botan," the key keeper greeted her. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
"Give me the file," Botan replied.
"Which file do you require?" Koneko asked.
"Oh stop pretending you don't know what's really going on "Koneko"!" Botan snapped. "Give me the Raspberry Sundae file, or I will take it myself!"
"You need a key to access the files here."
"You need a key. I don't. I've worked as an assistant to the spirit detective. I have a spirit gun. It maybe isn't as powerful as others who have the ability, but I'll wager I can create a blast powerful enough to blow open the security box that file is kept in. Now are you going to give me the key, or am I going to have to make a mess of your pretty little file room?"
Koneko stood abruptly.
"You can't come in here threatening me like that!" she said.
"Give me the key," Botan insisted. "My friends are being held prisoner because of the contents of that file. You must give me the key!"
"I can't give you the key."
"Can't or won't?"
"I don't have the key to give to you."
"Oh I see."
Koneko nodded and sat back down at her desk.
"We're doing this the hard way," Botan added, before pointing her finger at the wall of security mailboxes.
She vaguely heard Koneko plead with her to stop before an almighty blast left the tip of her finger; she had apparently put a little too much effort into the attack as she was taken off her feet and thrown against the opposite wall. She quickly got up again though when she saw all the security doors pop open, diving at the one marked "Raspberry Sundae".
"It's empty," she said as she patted a hand around the hollow interior of the box. "It's empty! Where is the file?"
She looked back over her shoulder at Koneko, who looked worried.
"Where is it?" Botan demanded, retrieving her arm and standing up.
As she turned around, she saw Koneko flee the room, her long pink hair streaming out behind her as she left.
"Hey!" Botan yelled. "You get back here and answer me, young lady!"
She ran to the door and leaned out into the corridor beyond, gasping as she saw the key keeper darting around a corner and out of sight.
"My goodness that girl must have been a cheetah in a former life!" Botan muttered to herself as she summoned her oar.
As a rule, ferry girls were not permitted to fly their oars around the corridors of the temple, but this, she told herself, was an emergency.
At the sound of a knock on the front door, Koenma had to contain a groan of dread. He lifted his head and looked about himself, the sound seeming all the more ominous as another realisation occurred to him.
"Where is everybody?" he asked Keiko and Shizuru.
"Yukina is still upstairs resting," Keiko replied.
"Didn't Yusuke go to check on her over an hour ago?" Shizuru asked.
"Oh yeah…" Keiko said slowly. "Come to think of it, didn't Kurama say he was only going into the office for ten minutes? Shouldn't he have been back by now?"
"Aren't you more concerned about what your boyfriend's doing upstairs with my brother's girlfriend?" Shizuru asked.
"I am now!" Keiko yelped, leaping to her feet.
"Are either of you going to…" Koenma began, watching both girls hurry out of the room. "Answer the door…?"
When he heard two sets of footsteps hurrying up the stairs he hauled himself off the sofa and dragged his feet to the front door, almost already knowing that behind it he was going to find another note from the rebel cat demons, this time no doubt about Yusuke. With a sigh he opened the door, involuntarily letting out a cry of surprise when he found himself face-to-face with Captain Ootake of the SDF.
"Sir, it gives me no pleasure to do this, but I have to ask you to return to spirit world with me," the captain greeted him. "By order of your father."
"Is this about…?" Koenma asked faintly.
"Yes," Ootake replied.
Whether or not the soldier knew what Koenma had been about to ask was debateable, but it was clear to the prince that something serious was afoot in spirit world.
"I'll come with you, but can you please just allow me two minutes to do something first?" he asked.
Ootake looked incredibly suspicious upon hearing Koenma's request, but he nodded regardless.
"If you're not back out here after two minutes, I'm coming in," he warned.
"That's fair," Koenma sarcastically replied.
He closed the door and hurried back into the house, running up the stairs and almost running right into Keiko and Shizuru who had been about to descend the staircase again.
"Ladies, I need to make a little trip back to spirit world," he said.
"But Yusuke and Yukina are gone!" Keiko said. "Is this the cat demons again? When is this going to stop?"
"It's under control," Koenma lied. "I need the two of you to stay here until I get back. Can you do that? I won't be long, I promise."
"Can you get back to spirit world quickly?" Shizuru asked. "Because if not, I think we should go with you."
"Yes, we should all stay together!" Keiko agreed. "Otherwise the cat demons will get us too!"
Koenma held up his hands.
"Trust me, everything is fine," he said. "I just have to quickly go back to spirit world and it's safer if you wait here while I'm gone."
"You won't be long?" Keiko asked warily.
"I don't expect to be," Koenma replied.
"Maybe you should bring Botan back with you," Shizuru suggested. "We're running out of help and we could really use her here with us."
"…Botan went back to spirit world?" Koenma asked.
"You sent her back to get some special spirit world items to help us, remember?" Keiko replied.
"Right…"
Koenma nodded slowly.
"Well then the two of you should definitely just wait here for now," he concluded.
Keiko nodded; and although Shizuru looked less than convinced, Koenma trusted that they would do as he had asked. He turned and hurried back down the stairs and out the front door, quickly shutting it behind himself before Keiko or Shizuru caught sight of the SDF officer awaiting him.
Yukina began to grow increasingly panicked as she ran down the entrance hall of King Enma's temple and was met by chaotic disorder. She was aware that the ogres of spirit world were usually quite frenetic in their work, but they seemed to be especially frantic, as though they all already knew what was going on. She tried to stay focused as she ran on, not really sure where she was going; but luckily she did not have to run far before she found herself running towards a woman in a powder blue kimono with long, flowing pink hair.
"You!" Yukina said, stopping and holding out her arms at her sides to block the corridor.
The woman skidded to a halt and turned around.
"Botan!" Yukina cried as Botan appeared, zooming towards them on her oar. "Oh thank goodness!"
Botan leapt off her oar and stumbled awkwardly to a halt next to them.
"Why were you running away from me, Koneko?" Botan snapped at the pink-haired woman.
"I can't give you the file!" Koneko replied.
"That's not why you were running!" Botan said. "I know the truth. I know that you're really her."
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Oh come on now! You appeared here in spirit world just after the leader of the rebel cat demons disappeared and your job is to look after the file containing all the information on her!"
"That's not completely true! I look after all the secret files, not just the Raspberry Sundae one!"
"Nice try, but I've been doing a little detective work of my own, and although I've had my suspicions, it was all confirmed when I saw how Kurama reacted when he saw you!"
"What?" Yukina asked.
"Kurama is in love with her!" Botan replied, pointing at Koneko.
"No," Yukina said, shaking her head.
"Yes he is, I heard him telling Yusuke! I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, but this is an exceptional circumstance."
Yukina pulled a face at Botan.
"I'm not a blabbermouth!" Botan snapped.
"I never said that you were," Yukina pointed out. "But Botan, we don't have time to argue! We have to get out of here! It's too dangerous to stay!"
"What are you talking about Yukina?" Botan asked. "King Enma's temple is the safest place in all three worlds!"
"Not for us it's not," Yukina answered. "We have to leave."
Botan frowned.
"Please Botan, you must listen to me," Yukina insisted.
"Did you see a portent of doom with your jagan eye, Yukina?" Botan asked.
Yukina's face twisted but she quickly hid her reaction and covered her true feelings with a lie she knew would get the results she sought.
"Yes," she said. "I saw it all. You and I have to go to demon world."
"Demon world?" Botan echoed.
"Botan, please, we have to go!"
Botan looked less than pleased but she complied regardless and together all three girls started towards the entrance hall of the temple. As they started down the long, high-walled corridor, the double doors leading outside opened far ahead of them and five figures entered the temple.
"Is that Lord Koenma?" Botan said, squinting against the glaring light behind the figures that was casting their features into shadow.
"We should advance with caution," Koneko suggested.
"You've spent the last thirty years hiding with caution," Botan sneered at her. "My friends have all been through hell because of you, Missy!"
"Stop!" Yukina said, moving ahead of the other two and holding out her arms at her sides to stop them passing her.
All three girls watched as the door slowly swung shut, the light adjusting and the figures advancing towards them becoming more clearly visible: whereupon it appeared that Captain Ootake of the SDF was escorting Koenma inside, following by three other SDF officers. Koenma looked over at them blankly at first before a look of horror dawned on his face.
"What are you doing here?" he yelled at the girls. "Get out of here! Now!"
Captain Ootake nodded at his three officers, who all jogged down the corridor towards Yukina, Botan and Koneko.
"Get out of here!" Koenma yelled again. "Yukina, don't let this happen!"
Yukina gulped and stood tall, ready to defend Botan and Koneko by force: but one swipe to her mid-section from a spirit-energy charged arm of an SDF soldier took her off her feet and sent her flying into the wall. Botan called out to her before leaping in front of Koneko.
"Now just wait here!" she said. "I know this girl has caused us all a lot of bother, but that's no reason to arrest her or harm her! She was going to help us return the cat demons to demon world! You just needed to give us a little more time!"
"Sorry Botan, but your time's up," the officer replied.
"You wouldn't strike me…?" Botan said faintly as his hand began to glow with spirit energy again.
Yukina hauled herself to her feet but it quickly became apparent that she had neither the speed nor the strength to reach Botan and stop the SDF officer from attacking her and so, out of sheer frustration, she let out a cry of despair, inadvertently releasing a mass of demon energy. She closed her eyes as she cried, the feeling of the corridor freezing over proving to be a very calming and welcoming sensation to her.
When she opened her eyes again Koenma was lying on the floor, his pacifier fallen from his lips at his side, his body reverted back to his toddler form, all four SDF officers – including the captain – were as incapacitated as Koenma, a mass of powder blue and pink lay motionless next to a vicious blood stain; and standing in the middle of it all was a cat demon with long pink hair and intense blue eyes.
Yukina held her breath as she watched the rebel leader look herself over as though shocked to see her own true form. Her eyes moved from her own body to the fallen bodies around her before she finally looked directly at Yukina.
"What happened?" Yukina asked her.
She smiled.
"You got a lot more powerful, apparently," she said, waving a hand at the frosted floors and walls around them. "Who knew you had such ability?"
Yukina cautiously took a step forwards.
"I tried to stop it," she said.
"No, your timing was perfect," Yasashi replied. "I think the SDF were just about to throw me back into demon world, but I think I'm needed elsewhere."
Yukina moved closer to her, her eyes blurring with tears.
"Why so sad, little one?" Yasashi asked with a smile.
"Because I let you down!" Yukina replied pitifully. "You always helped me – you saved my life right before you yourself were killed – and this was the one time I could do something for you and I failed! I didn't want them to force you back into your own body and eject you from spirit world!"
Yasashi shook her head.
"It's fine, Yukina," she insisted.
"No it's not!" Yukina said.
"Yes, it really is," Yasashi said. "Now do you know where the rest of the rebels are?"
"Yes, they're in the living world, on an island near Sariyashiki city called Ping Island. They've taken Kazuma and Mister Hiei there, and when I left, they had just caught Yusuke too!"
"I see. I think I have a plan. Let's go."
Yasashi stepped over one of the fallen SDF officers and Yukina moved into the middle of the fallen bodies, stopping there to look around them all.
"What about these people?" she asked.
Yasashi looked back over her shoulder at the fallen spirit world natives.
"They will be fine," she said.
"Shouldn't we help them?" Yukina asked.
"No," Yasashi flatly replied. "The soldiers are trained to deal with this sort of thing and will be back on their feet in no time. As for Koenma and the girl, I'm still angry at them both for lying to me. If the SDF lock them up for a few days it's no more than they deserve."
"That seems harsh."
"I'll come back and plea Koenma's case, but first of all, I need to get my girls back. Are you coming with me or not?"
Yukina nodded and hurried over to Yasashi's side. Together they ran out the temple and towards a shimmering portal to the living world. As they neared it, Yukina slowed slightly, the idea occurring to her that she did not know where in the living world the portal would lead to; but before she could voice her concerns, Yasashi grabbed her hand and leapt through, dragging the cautious ice maiden with her.
On the other side, they found themselves high above Sarayashiki city and falling rapidly towards the ground. Yukina landed in a sakura tree, falling through branches until she finally reached the ground, whereupon she became buried in pale pink petals. She stood up and began picking petals from her hair whilst casting Yasashi a questioning look, as the cat demon had landed on the pavement completely unscathed.
"I'm a cat," Yasashi said, as though sensing Yukina's unspoken question. "I always land on my feet."
Yukina tilted her head, unsure if that was fact or another or the rebel leader's irreverent jokes.
"Do you think you could use your jagan eye to check the situation on Ping Island before we go there?" Yasashi asked.
"I don't know," Yukina said sadly. "It seems to have a mind of its own…"
Yasashi smiled and stepped forwards to stand directly in front of her.
"Then let's do it together," she said, plucking a sakura petal from the ice maiden's hair.
"How?" Yukina asked.
"Just trust me," Yasashi said, sounding far too casual for Yukina's liking.
She reached out her hands and began removing Yukina's bandana.
"Just relax," she said as she dropped the pink bandana to the ground. "And take my hands."
Yukina put her hands into Yasashi's outstretched hands, looking up at her warily.
"Now close your eyes, relax, and concentrate on Ping Island," Yasashi said.
"I don't want to hurt you," Yukina said meekly.
"Don't worry about that," Yasashi replied. "I'm a lot stronger in this body."
Yukina nodded and closed her eyes, trying her best to relax as she felt the third eye in her forehead opening. She felt the same sickening surge of energy through her body she had felt the last time the jagan eye had opened, an alien presence that made her feel as though she was being possessed by a much more powerful demon. She gripped onto Yasashi's hands and tried to keep her thoughts on Ping Island: and to her surprise, she started to see the island and everyone on it. She saw Hiei, still bound by the plant that had let Tora hypnotise him, she saw Puu, strapped down with vines, Yusuke was tied to one side of Puu and Kuwabara was tied to Puu's other side, both held in place by the same vines that were holding Puu. Unlike Hiei and Yusuke, Kuwabara was conscious, but he seemed unable to free himself. She wondered what he was looking at, and in response to her thought her view shifted to show the rebel cat demons fighting against a band of demons that easily outnumbered them two to one.
She opened her eyes with a small yelp as her body adjusted to the energy from her jagan eye fading.
"What did you see?" Yasashi asked, releasing Yukina's hands and crouching down to retrieve her bandana.
"A group of demons is attacking your friends," Yukina said. "There's too many of them, your friends can't overcome them and Kazuma, Mister Hiei, Yusuke and even Puu are all restrained."
Yasashi nodded.
"I feared as much," she said. "The SDF have never really cared for demon world problems and always look for a quick fix: when I saw they had gotten involved, I was sure they would allow Iruka and his crew passage to the living world because they knew he would remove my girls by one means or another. Iruka's men are not clever or exceptionally powerful, but they are very physically strong so we will need to plan our approach and we will need back-up."
"Kurama, Keiko and Shizuru should still be at Mister Kuwabara's house," Yukina offered.
Yasashi blinked, a slightly awkward look passing over her features.
"What will you do?" Yukina asked her.
"We," Yasashi corrected her. "We will go there and get as much help as we can muster and then we go to Ping Island."
She nodded and then started to walk down the street.
"It's this way," Yukina called after her.
"I knew that!" Yasashi said, spinning around and jogging back.