Inside the kitchen was the fire demon. A tiny trickle of blood rolled down his face and he had his sword drawn as he held himself in the sort of position to fight a great enemy. Only a few feet away, cornered, was a larger rooster.

"I've found the creatures responsible," Hiei commented as the rest of the team began to file in to see him. "These foul beasts are like nothing in the Makai and their technique is unheard of. All the others provide distraction while this one is the real danger."

As if to prove his point, one of the startled hens fluttered through the kitchen, making noise and dropping feathers as it flapped in a mad frenzy.

At this, the two boys who had been the first to enter nearly dropped their bags as they laughed to the point of tears at the small fire demon. After they had their bags placed safely, though honestly nothing was safe in the house with the chickens running around and screeching, the two managed to take a breath long enough to continue laughing.

"Oh no Urameshi, we better call in the Special Defense Force, these are some deadly chickens!" Whether chickens could understand English was one question, but they seemed to understand Japanese as one of the hens launched herself at Kuwabara to prove her truly terrifying. The orange-haired boy shrieked and ran towards the small demon, hoping to use him as a distraction, only to have his plan back-fire and some more hens chase after him.

Before the Detective could respond or even laugh at his friends, he too had become a target and joined the chaos.

"Guess I found where the farms missing animals went..." Sakura mumbled as she placed her bags down on the floor in front of the couch while gently shooing a chicken away from them. "I will be back in a bit with a solution...think you can get these little guys outside?" She spoke to no one in particular, but it was clear her mood had fallen again...though honestly it is probably the reason why she was left unbothered by the fowls.

It took a couple of minutes, long enough for the young woman to return the borrowed tent to Mira and say a goodbye (of course promising to visit again soon), and walk back down the long path back to the road where those who could hear over the yelps of those being chased and the shrieks of those chasing, would hear her calling, sing-song like, {Hunter, come on baby boy. Hunter come here} Over and over.

Eventually Sakura had returned, followed by a large black dog that seemed to be going in zigzags, only sometimes walking in front of her when he spotted a patch of grass he wanted to nibble on.

{Hunter don't eat that, you'll throw up.} The young woman could be heard laughing as she finally got the dog up the hill to thankfully see most of the chickens out of the house running about the yard.

"SUU! Chi-CHI-CHi" Sakura called out, changing her pitch up and down until she had the attention of all the, now hopeful of food, chickens.

{Hunter, take them home!} She gave a small kiss to the dog's nose before it bounded off and behind the chickens, chasing them down the yard, into the road and back to their home.

"Well since there's nothing here...I say we move on to the next area." Her keys were already in her hands as she spoke.

"Right...and where would that be? Binky Breath gave us a list of possible places, so we don't have an actual destination." To prove his point Yuusuke dug into his pockets to pull out the crumpled list which Sakura didn't even want to guess why it was in his pocket.

But, none the less she pointed to one of the names on it, "Here, it's three hours from here...I know the area better than I...excuse the clique...know the back of my hand...and since the Spirit World seems intent on making me revisit my old haunts...as this list proves...my guess is here...I'll be in the car..."

It took about two hours for the three hour trip, the speed of the trip causing the former Detective to consider praying until they safely pulled into a small road next to a field with children playing soccer in orange and blue uniforms. But rather than continuing further down the road, Sakura pulled a little bit off the road and parked so she could safely exit her newly claimed "baby" without worrying about it rolling away without her.

"So, did Botan give us an address to a home for us to use...or are we supposed to drive around until we find a place that screams "Spirit World" to us?" She looked towards the two holding onto all the files to find that her later guess was unfortunately right on the money. "Fucking awesome...Well this place is incredibly small so this at least won't take too long…beside I have a guess..." Sakura slipped back into the car and let it roar to life, lifting her mood just a bit, before spinning around and going back onto the main road for all of five seconds till the next light where she took a right up a windy hill, passing trees, some more trees, a gas station, a few horses, a giant church and its grounds, a restaurant bar and then finally taking a left onto a small road followed by another immediate left, up around a blind turn and into an empty drive way. "Yep...of course I had to be right..." The engine came to a stop and the young woman stepped out of the car onto the gravel driveway with the magnolia tree bending over it, to walk up the stone steps, lifted one large stone to grab a key and unlocked the door to the two story yellow house.

Kuwabara managed to pull his few affects out of the car and jump out of the car in time to follow her and get a good scope of the small yard (the back yard being larger than the front that was separated by the driveway), two magnolia trees, a well, a stone area off the right side of the house which had another small porch and a fire pit, several gardens and natural cliffs. He allowed himself to appreciate the sight long enough to have it nearly burned into his memory before following Sakura up the few steps, under the enclosed porch and into the house to be greeted by a dining room connected to a bar-kitchen, with a glass door to the other porch. The orange haired boy would have taken a little longer to explore, but a need pressing against the lower half of his abdomen had him rushing about, past the stairs and living room, past a door which was opened to show a room with two windows and into the end of a tiny hall where he had the option to enter the door in front of him, to the left or to the right. Thankfully, he chooses the door to his left and slammed the door shut behind him. Not long after Kuwabara had entered the bathroom, the former Detective walked into the house, plopped his things in in the middle of the living room and dropped onto the nearest couch with a contented sigh.

Noises could be heard coming from upstairs as Sakura walked into the smaller room connected to the large room that "upstairs" mainly consisted of, and smiled as she entered the baby blue, cloud covered room, long enough to allow herself to drop to the ground and lay there smelling the carpet.

After a quick walk-through of the downstairs, Kurama made his way back outside to scout out the grounds of this new building. No matter how calm it had been so far (relatively speaking), they were still on a case and there was no telling when something might attack or where it would come from. Yuusuke and Kuwabara never thought about that though and he couldn't be sure quite where Sakura's mind was and with Hiei off where ever he was now, that left more for the red head to consider.

Sora was the last one to enter the new house, having stopped to cast a low grade concealment on her car once again. Let Reikai wonder how they'd gotten everyone moved in just the one vehicle, a vehicle Koenma probably still didn't even know they had.

Upon entering she paused at the front door and started to slip her pack off but changed her mind just before setting it down and slung it back over her shoulder. Then she wandered deeper into the house to explore.

Finding that they both had thoroughly inspected the first floor of the house (Yuusuke was fooling himself into believing that at the very least), the previous Detective and the Carrot top let their exhaustion grab them and collectively collapsed on the floor (all Yuusuke had to do was fall off the couch) for a good four to six hour nap.

Creaks could be heard coming from upstairs as they closed their eyes, only to be followed by rather soothing, lulling, clumping sounds across them from the stairs. If they had managed to keep their eyes open for a few more seconds, they would have been able to witness an act of kindness from their newest friend as she gently lifted their heads to place pillows below them and threw a light blanket so it landed gently around their legs.

Sakura smiled sweetly at her job before grabbing her keys and facing the only other woman in their group, "I am going to go to one of my old "informants"...see if I can get a feel for anything. Even if there isn't it will just be a nice trip. If you can't reach me I'll be by the train station...there's a trail to the side of it."

"'k, have fun." The words were barely out of Sora's mouth before Sakura had already run out the door. Brown eyes stared after her for a moment then the brunette shrugged and went exploring the house. She contemplated for a moment going after Sakura but decided her time could be better spent in this rare slice of solitude. Even if it only lasted a few minutes.

Ten minutes had gone by and Sakura had found herself lying on a rock by the river surrounded by willows.

"So...that is strange..." A branch brushed onto her shoulder, she nodding and leaned into it, "I'm sorry I don't understand...where were they last?"

After a quick walk-through of the lower level, she returned to the kitchen to grab a drink then made her way back to one of the bedrooms. No one seemed to have claimed either yet (not that the boys had been conscious long) so she entered one at random and proceeded to settle in. Varying shades from the cool color palate adorned the walls, floor and fabric, both of the window treatments and the bedding. The gentle contrast of blues and greens brought a smile to Sora's face as she sat down on the edge of the bed and she spent a moment with her eyes closed, just breathing in the energy and feel of the new location. There was a power that hadn't been in the previous house and she could feel that it extended far beyond the grounds of this property. Neither light nor dark, merely old and immense. The sort of power that has perhaps been dormant for a very long time.

Letting her eyes open again, Sora whipped out her phone and sent a short message then pulled her bag closer so she could dig inside it for her laptop. Among other things, the bag was enchanted with an enlargement charm that allowed her to carry a nearly endless amount. A delicately made gift from a dear friend and former teacher of mystical arts.

When she had the computer case out she then proceeded to "get set up" which included running the power cord to the nearest outlet and repositioning herself and about half the bedding, as well as arranging the lighting to avoid glare and rigging the computer to accept internet access through her phone. A useful little trick from an old friend. The computer hummed to life soon after she hit the power button and the welcome screen greeted her before giving way to her desktop, after a few keystrokes to input her password. Almost immediately a couple programs sprang up but she ignored most of them, clicking on a web chat instead. As it loaded her fingers strummed lightly across the keys without hitting any as she decided what to say.

/Hey honey./ Sora typed the words out fully as she always had. /You there?/

The reply was slow in coming but she was patient and after a few minutes more text appeared on her screen. /hi/

/Can you talk?/ Sora replied back and this time the answer was quicker.

/hai/

A smile lit up the brunette's features and she moved the mouse to hit the call button. As it went through and before it could start to ring she grabbed the headphones lying beside her and plugged them in. A ring and a half before the other end answered. When they did the screen flipped first to a black screen and then to a camera. The other end was dim but a light was then turned on and slowly the image came into focus. On the other end of the call was a young brunette and she looked tired but that didn't erase the cheer also on her features.

"Hi," the pre-teen said and waved.

A smile was her first response. "Looks like you're surviving," Sora teased, gaining a quick nod. "Sorry I haven't been able to talk yet, things have been kinda hectic and we're already in a new place but you know how that goes. At least I have plenty to tell you about already. But first, what have you learned since I've been gone?"

And so began a conversation between parent and child, though they behaved far more like siblings, which would span several hours. Shortly after talk of school and general questioning over others' welfare on both ends, Sora launched into a recount of everything she knew occurred over the past couple days. She left nothing out, both because she loved retelling old adventures and because Tanya enjoyed hearing about her adopted mom's life.

Sometime in the first hour Kurama returned inside and took his own tour, peeking his head into Sora's claimed room for a moment which led to him getting a wave from both females plus well wishes from the younger. He went back to the kitchen to check if, and how well, they were stocked which wasn't much of anything, before moving to claim a room of his own. The day had been crazy and long (made even more so by the frenzied car ride) and he'd decided to partially follow his male friends' lead and rest off some of the exhaustion. He ended up in the other upstairs bedroom, not the one Sakura had unknown to him previously entered, and might have been surprised at how quickly sleep overtook him.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara were both rudely awakened by the door being, quite literally, kicked open.

The former Detective squinted at the offending sunlight peeking through the shades and curtains, shocked to see that it was morning. As if in need to prove to himself that the sun was not in the wrong, he glanced above the TV at the glowing box which read 8:30. He allowed himself a few moments to lament the fact that he was up that early before finally realizing that what woke him up was the sound of a door being kicked in. Panic surged through him but was quickly diffused by his friend calmly talking to the "intruder".

"Wait...did you wake up super early and head out to do some shopping?"

Sakura shook her head slowly and proceeded to drag herself and the shopping bag over to towards the TV. A few minutes later she plopped herself on the couch with the remote, and turned the TV on, causing a rather poppy song to fill the air. "I just got back..."

Unsure of what should worry him more, Yuusuke glanced back and forth between the American show and Sakura until he decided to take a crack at what could have possibly kept the young woman out all night, "Cheating on your husband eh?"

Sakura's eyes never left the screen, her face remained completely blank and she spoke quietly, "No...I had left to see if I could get any leads and..." Something apparently interesting happened on the screen and the young woman left her sentence where it was, her only action was leaning forward to try and become a part of what she was watching.

Both men waited for a few minutes, assuming that the young woman would continue, but it soon came quite clear to them that she was completely and utterly absorbed.

In an effort to hear any important information Sakura had gathered, Yuusuke stood and turned the TV off.

Kuwabara though, was over-come by curiosity by what his friend had in the shopping bag and slowly pulled out the three boxes. "What are these...what is...ICarly...V-Vi-cto-rious and Big Time Rush?" His accent and little understanding of the English language came through when he tried to pronounce the names printed on the thick, colorful boxes in his hands. "What the...are these American shows? Um...why are there kids and teens on the cover?"

Before he could inspect the boxes further or before Yuusuke could see them, they were ripped out of Kuwabara's hands and buried in the vice- grip of Sakura.

"Shut up...they're good..."