There was still no sign of Hiei the next day, which was frustrating in a way that I couldn't explain.

"I think he's just afraid of me," I said.

"Well, that means he's not gonna cause any trouble, right?" Yusuke asked.

"He's still a threat, Yusuke," Botan said. "You really should make an effort to find him. I know it's your weekend and you have plans, but he could really-."

I groaned. We were on the roof. It had turned into the regular meeting space for our impromptu Spirit Detective meetings. We met after school so that we wouldn't get harassed by Trunks and Keiko and because it would make it less likely for us to be overheard.

"I'm trying, Botan. But stealth is kind of his thing," I said. "Shuichi said if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be. I found him by fluke last time. He realized I was strong enough to do some damage and he had to reassess. Whatever he's planning will definitely be a pain in the ass."

"I should be able to handle him, right?" Yusuke asked.

"You're high-key underestimating his speed," I said. "I only got one hit off on him, and then he was gone that quick. He means business."

Yusuke sighed. "So we're supposed to sit around and wait for him to start turning people into demons so we can find out where he is?"

"Look, he wants the Forlorn Hope and Orb of Baast. He knows we have them. He probably thinks he can outmatch us so he's going to try to. I think we just have to wait for him to throw down the gauntlet," I said.

I hated the idea of having to do things on his terms, but what choice did we have? Kurama had told us that if Hiei didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. All we could do was wait.

"You really think he's going to?" Botan asked.

"It's what I would do," I said with a shrug. "I think he's probably watching us."

"You think he's watching us?" Yusuke asked.

"In some capacity, especially you, to find a weakness," I said. "He already found mine. Speed."

Yusuke frowned. "What's my weakness?"

"Probably your brain," I said. He glared at me. "I mean that you're inexperienced. How many street fights have you gotten into that have involved a sword? We just need to be careful. Watch our backs. Especially yours because you're a noob."

Yusuke nodded. "So, we're still waiting around for him to make a move?"

"No choice," I said.

"Oh, I hate this," Botan said.

"Me too," I said.

"This is really complicating my life, especially keeping it a secret from Keiko," Yusuke said. "Ever since we kind of started going out after I got back, she's been very suspicious of my movements."

"Can you blame her?" I asked. "It's not my place to do so, but I would tell her if it were me. I don't think I could live with the lie."

The door to the roof opened and Keiko stood there. She looked directly at the three of us. How much of our conversation had she overheard?

"Hey," she said. Keiko looked over to Botan. "Hi?"

Botan smiled at Keiko and then looked at Yusuke. "I agree. I would tell her otherwise things will get even more complicated."

With that, Botan walked past Keiko and down the stairs from the roof. Keiko was frowning.

"What's up? Not gonna yell at me about class are you?" he asked.

Instead of saying anything, she turned on her heel and left the roof, slamming the door behind her.

"What the hell just happened?" Yusuke asked.

"My guess? She only heard enough of our conversation to hear that you're keeping something from her, and then some strange girl she's never met is here telling you that you should tell her the truth so things don't get more complicated," I said. "She probably thinks you're sneaking around with Botan."

"What?! How did you get all that from that?" Yusuke asked.

"You asked me what the hell just happened, and I told you. She's pissed because she's under the impression that you like each other and are kind of together and maybe that's not true," I said.

"Oh, and you really think just telling her about demons and shit is going to make the situation better?" Yusuke asked.

"I mean, just like, ease her into it. Give her a taste of the weirdness of our life so that when you hit her with the Spirit World and Spirit Detective stuff she's not like 'You're a crazy person'," I said. "I mean, we've been friends long enough that eventually you would've figured out my double life. When you're close with people you can't really hide the truth from them."

"Yeah, and let's face it, if I can convince Keiko that Botan is just our assistant and not some lady I'm sneaking around with, I'm probably gonna marry her," Yusuke said. He'd been saying that since we were in kindergarten, that he was going to marry Keiko. Despite all of her protests, Keiko had been uninterested in every boy she ever came in contact with, except Yusuke.

"Just go talk to her," I said. "We can hit the streets in the morning and start looking for Hiei. But take care of yourself."

"I'll do my best," he said. "Go make out with your boyfriend or whatever."

I rolled my eyes. "I was actually going to go see my cousin."

The Punishment Board decided to give Kurama a free pass essentially: he would have to repay his debt to Spirit World somehow, but he was free to continue to lie his life until Spirit World called him to action.

"Your aunt's okay?" Yusuke asked.

I nodded. She was better than okay. The Forlorn Hope had outdone itself. My aunt was ready to take life by the balls now. Just from the few texts we'd exchanged that morning, Kurama had never been happier. I was still adjusting to the fact that my 15-year-old cousin was actually a 3000-year-old demon who was once feared and hunted by people in Demon World and Spirit World, but I was getting there. He still seemed so much just like my weird cousin Shuichi.

"Good," Yusuke said. "I'm glad you were right about that guy. At your sixth birthday party, I dropped my ice cream on the ground and he gave me his. Good dude."

I rolled my eyes. "See you tomorrow, Yusuke."

Kurama wanted to make sure that everything for his mother was going to be perfect when she returned home. She hadn't been home in months, and when she had been home, she was too sick to do much. I was helping him get all reminders of her illness out of their house and spruce it up so she came home to a place that was bright and happy.

"I appreciate you doing this for me, after everything," Kurama said.

"We're still family, technically," I said. "You were literally willing to die to save your mom. You think I can write you off after that?"

He chuckled. "You were willing to as well."

"Well, as Trunks put it, I have no self-preservation instincts," I said.

Kurama nodded. "So the two of you are actually together then?"

"I guess so," I said. "Not that we've gone out on an actual date, because, you know, someone decided to break into King Yemma's Vault mere days after this revelation, but, yeah. I guess he's technically my boyfriend or whatever."

"Or whatever?" Kurama asked. "Please, try to contain your excitement."

"Look, I spent a lot of time not wanting to like him because everyone just expected us to end up together, so I like him, but I can still be salty about meeting everyone's expectations," I said.

"For as long as I've known you Kairi, I've never many anyone as obstinate as you. Wanting to do the opposite of whatever everyone tells you simply because they told you to do it," Kurama said.

"I thrive on being difficult," I said.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I fished it out.

"Hey, Yusuke," I answered.

"HE HAS KEIKO!" Yusuke shouted.

"Who has Keiko?" I asked.

"Fucking short dude!" he shouted.

"Hiei?" I asked.

"I'm using the demon compass to follow his Spirit Energy to where he's keeping her. We're heading towards the warehouse district! Get your ass here now!" he continued shouting.

"I'm on my way," I said. I hung up the phone.

"What's happened?" Kurama asked.

"Hiei has my friend Keiko," I said. "Yusuke's on his way there now."

My phone buzzed again. I answered it without looking at the screen this time.

"Yusuke?" I asked, turning on my speakerphone so Kurama could hear this time.

"No! It's Koenma! We have a problem!"

"Hiei has Keiko, I know," I said.

"No! Not that! Hiei's used the Shadow Sword to turn over 100 humans into demons! They're in uptown causing a nightmare scene! One of you needs to get in there and stop them. Don't kill them; we can revert them back, but they're attacking innocent people!" Koenma said.

I groaned. So this was Hiei's plan. There was no doubt that Yusuke would go after Keiko because he had to save her and nothing I could say or do would talk him into letting me go after her instead of going myself. While he had Yusuke, he'd send his small demon army out to cause such a mess that I had to interfere, keeping me apart from Yusuke and increasing his chances of getting what he wanted.

"Okay, I'm on it," I said. I closed my phone and held it tightly in my hand, thinking.

"What can I do?" Kurama asked. I looked over to him. "I'm part of the reason you're in this mess. I should help you clean it up. Do you want me to go to Uptown with you?"

I shook my head. I didn't want Yusuke to go after Hiei alone, but there was no way I could clean things up and help him.

"I need you to go find Hiei. Help Yusuke how ever you can," I said.

"And what about the demons Hiei created?" Kurama asked. "Even with your strength, they'll be causing more chaos than you're capable of handling alone."

"I know," I said. I flipped my phone back open and dialed Trunks. "I've got back up."

Uptown was, for lack of a better word, a shit show. The demons were easy to spot, and they were all attacking humans, maiming and injuring them to the point of agony. Thankfully, no one was dead, yet.

I couldn't kill any of them, obviously, because part of them was still human and could be saved, but I could take them out of commission. I'd find one, punch their lights out, and move them to a secure location while, hopefully, Yusuke took out Hiei and got that Shadow Sword back so we could save all these people.

But that took a long time, and with, at last count 102 people attacked by Hiei, it wasn't something I could accomplish quickly and alone.

For the first time ever, I'd called in Trunks and Goten for backup. Trunks lived in Uptown and was aware of what was happening, except the news had chalked it up to rioters. There was an issue though. Trunks and Goten's ability to sense Spirit Energy was abysmal. They could do it, but it took effort. Which meant that separating the demons from humans was going to be a task.

Once we found a rhythm and the boys were able to successfully tell the difference things started going quickly, but not as quickly as I wanted.

"I think we're down to 22," Goten said.

With these few left, finding them was getting to be challenging. Now they were being sneaky and hiding, probably. Most of the chaos had quieted down. The streets were empty, people either hiding in their homes or inside anywhere they could be free from the agents of chaos.

"We've got to keep going," I said. "I know they're getting harder to find but-."

Just then Trunks appeared carrying one on his back.

"Twenty-one," Goten said.

"Almost there," Trunks said. "Have you heard from Yusuke or anyone?"

I shook my head. In this case, no news didn't mean good news. The sooner I heard from someone that Hiei had been handled, the more relieved I'd feel.

There was suddenly a lot of commotion a few blocks over. Goten and I took off as Trunks went to put our newest charge out of harm's way.

When we reached the area the screams had come from it was deserted, but there had clearly been an incident there. I scanned around for a while, watching, waiting.

"Where are they?" Goten asked.

A weird feeling sat in the pit of my stomach. "Something feels weird."

And then I heard them. Their zombielike groans started to resonate from the empty storefront and darkened alleys. One by one, the remaining demons emerged, surrounding us.

Goten and I looked at each other and laughed.

"Holy shit, I was starting to think they had a good plan, but they're actually super dumb," he said.

"I know! Let's get them all into one group so we can easily take them out at once. Prayers answered," I said.

We waited until they formed a tight circle around us, no room on the ground for us to go anywhere, but that didn't matter. The Shadow Sword hadn't made them much stronger than they would have been under normal circumstances. This was going to be a cakewalk.

When the first one lunged at us to attack, we went to work. One by one they fell. All of them were concussed and dazed by the end of it.

When Trunks arrived, Goten was putting down the last one.

"Well, this was annoying as hell," he said.

"Agreed," Trunks said. "And you do this all the time?"

I shrugged. "It's a living."

"But they don't pay you," Goten said.

"But it's how I live, so it's a living," I said. "Can you guys get these people to the safe spot? I need to go make sure Yusuke and Kurama handle this Hiei guy."

"Be careful," Trunks said. "Don't throw your life away because it seems like a good idea two days in a row."

"I guess that's a reasonable request," I said.

And I was off, flying to the warehouse districts. It wasn't hard to find Hiei's energy since it clung to every one of his human slaves. I tracked him easily to the warehouse he was in, sensing Yusuke, Botan, and Kurama's energy as well.

When I arrived, Keiko was still unconscious, but the battle seemed over. I saw Kurama sitting there, clutching his bleeding stomach beside Botan who cradled Keiko in her lap.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He saved my life. Hiei almost got me with his sword and here comes Kurama, letting himself get stabbed in the stomach," Yusuke said. "And then he threw his own blood in Hiei's third eye which was pretty badass. How are the streets?"

"Full of unconscious humans who will all have concussions tomorrow," I said. I held my hand out to Kurama and started to use my energy to heal him.

"You're full of surprises, I see," Kurama said.

"So are you," I said. I looked over to Botan. "How's Keiko?"

"She's going to be fine and won't remember any of this," Botan said.

"Good," I replied. "Where's Hiei?"

Yusuke pointed and across the room, he was lying on the ground, completely out of it. Behind him, the Forlorn Hope was smashed to pieces.

"Good job, Yusuke," I said. "I completely expected to come here and save your ass."

"So did I," Yusuke admitted. "But I did it. I shot my Spirit Gun at the mirror and it bounced off and hit him in the back. I win."

"How did you know that was going to work?" I asked.

Yusuke shrugged. "I saw them bounce some lights of mirrors in science class that one day and was like, that might work."

"What?! You mean you risked Keiko's life on a lucky guess?" Botan asked.

"Yeah," Yusuke said.

Kurama chuckled. "All this time we've been thinking you were a strategic genius, but really you're just a lucky fool."

I looked at Yusuke and smiled. "I think a lot of this job involves getting lucky. I think you're a shoo-in."

"You're a shoo-in for both giving me stress," Botan said.

"But who is more stressful?" I asked.

"Still you, easily. Yusuke hasn't jumped intentionally into a volcano," Botan said.

"But did I die? Did I die?" I asked.

"Yes, that's your mantra, isn't it? 'But I didn't die, Botan'," she said.

"Why'd you jump into a volcano?" Yusuke asked.

"This demon threw a guy in. So, I saved him," I said.

"By jumping into a volcano?" Kurama asked.

"Clearly, I am fine; what's all the fuss?" I asked.

"Do you have any regard for your own safety?" Kurama asked.

"No," Botan answered. I shushed her.

"I do, but like, if I can save other people that's what I'm gonna do," I said. "I am my father's child."

"What does that mean?" Yusuke asked.

"She can tell you all about Goku and his exploits later, otherwise we're going to be here all day and probably all of tomorrow," Botan said.

"But just know, my strength is like a drop in a bucket compared to my dad's. Fucking wild," I said. "Trunks's dad too. They could probably blow up a planet if they set their minds to it."

"Blow up a planet? What the fuck does that mean?" Yusuke asked.

"That they could blow up a planet," Botan and Kurama said in unison.

Yusuke stared at me for a long while and then shook his head. "I'm gonna learn some weird shit about you working on this job, aren't I?"

I nodded. "The weirdest shit you can think of."