((thanks. Yeah, I had to argue them off at 11 so I could go to bed XD))

Kurama nodded after a moment. He could tell she was only telling a half-truth, but he didn't call her out on it. Besides, he had better ways of dealing with that. Slipping a little flavorless liquid in her dinner, if she ate, or her drink, or giving her a quick shot while she was asleep. There were many ways he could make her more comfortable without her freaking out.

He paused when he heard a startled yelp from the backyard, and shook his head. Really? They were already sparring? He sighed, vowing to let them keep their bruises for this, and went to go investigate and see if he needed to pull them apart or not.

Aleron took the blows without flinching, having had much worse, and aimed a roundhouse kick for his shoulder as he backed off. She would normally have gone for the head, but she didn't want to accidentally snap his neck or anything. That wouldn't be fun.

Then she yelped when he saw she owed him a favor. "What?!" she demanded indignantly, starting to move around so he couldn't keep track of her very easily. She nicked her finger, darting behind him and swiping a little across the back of his neck, almost playfully. She kept her powers tightly leashed, so it felt like nothing more than a bit of water. "I didn't ask you to come after me, you idiot! I had a plan!"

{Wow... We just got back an hour ago. O-o I'm so sore and tired XD So much adventure... I learned that asian babies are sooooo cute! Though I couldn't very much understand what they were saying....}

"Yeah, great plan!" Yusuke retorted, staggering forward when he felt what she did to his neck; between that and the kick he had an idea that she had something he wouldn't like in store for a future attack, "Get yourself killed to save your dad- which in turn would have essentially destroyed the world.... Y'know what? It must be so brilliant that it just seems like the dumbest idea of the century!" He began powering up another spirit gun, ready to counter whatever she had coming; he wasn't about to back out of a battle even if it wasn't in his best health interests, and so long as he was fighting he could get his point across. "Look, the fact is, you screwed up. Big time. Sure, you might have had nice intentions, but in the end I saved your ass- and since you got a favor from me when you saved mine, I get one too." It wasn't like Yusuke had ever done well in school, so he knew that his explanation wasn't rocket science.

Yue's eyes narrowed when she heard the yelp, recognizing it as Aleron's and figuring she was doing something worrisome again. The thought half scared her and half frustrated her greatly.... Which was quickly coming a familiar pair of emotions whenever she considered humans- they were just. so. dang. illogical. On every level. "I'm starting to hope that I never understand the workings of their mind...." If she started seeing things the way they did it'd probably be the death of her.
She followed Kurama outside, unsurprised to see what was happening, but her ears drooped as she glared at the two who were sparring. They were already hurt and were already at each others throats again.... And she hadn't even gotten a chance to yell at Aleron herself!
"I do not like violence..." She grumbled as she watched, "But the temptation to strangle them is becoming a very very powerful force." She looked at the fox, "Can I please yell at her now?" Patience was a virtue which she was fast losing.

((lol! Well that makes sense XD))

Aleron glowered at Yusuke. "It would not have destroyed the world! And I might not have died. I figured out a way to take Takeshi's final attack and modify it for my abilities. I might have actually survived the attack, but they wouldn't have. Once I'm finished pounding your ass into the dirt, I'll give you a demonstration."

Her eyes flickered to Kurama and Yue and she grinned briefly. They had an audience now. How cute. She heard Yue loud and clear but she didn't respond to her at all, just focusing on Yusuke. She could feel him powering up so she pricked her finger again, taking a few more drops of her blood and letting them gather on her fingertip. She used his idea, kicking up dirt to conceal herself and moving around swiftly, so even if he could see, somewhat, he couldn't tell where she was. She ducked down until she was directly in front of him, putting her shoulder to his chest before completing the circle in her blood around his neck. "I win."

"As soon as they are done sparring, feel free to." Kurama found himself more amused now than exasperated. They were both headstrong fighters, trying to prove themselves to each other. It was kind of cute, actually. Back when he was Yoko, he'd seen some kits trying to attract mates that way. He wondered if either of them realized that they were essentially flirting.

He sat back to watch, a little impressed. Aleron was smarter than he'd originally given her credit for; Takeshi had correctly marked her as a strategian, although he suspected she would do her best work off the battlefield, planning as a general might. If she continued to improve, she would become a formidable opponent one day, he was sure. Not that they hadn't seen their fair share of those.

"You know, I wonder if they realize what they're doing." Kurama had to share his amusement with someone, and he thought Yue might be a good person to do so with. After all, she would probably be ignorant, based on what he'd seen of her knowledge so far.

{Well, there was this adorable little Asian girl in a grocery store I wandered into, and with my limited Chinese I heard her say 'I want this mama!' before grabbing a huge watermelon off the shelf.... And when she couldn't carry it, I was afraid she'd hurt herself, so I asked her if she needed help.... Next thing I know she gives me the watermelon and starts babbling away- I tell her I don't speak Chinese at this point because I had no idea what she was saying- but her response naturally was 'but you just did!'. Then she drags me over to her mother, who reprimands her and tells her she can't afford the watermelon, and asks me in English to put it back- which I do. Then the little girl smiles at me and says something like 'I'll just try again!' or 'I'll just do it again!'.

To me it was really cute, even though I only got the basic gist of it.}

When Aleron had kicked up the dirt, Yusuke had lost sight of her, and when he finally did catch on to what she was doing he'd almost lost it. Luckily he'd spontaneously come up with a solution in his desperation; having a spirit wave technique at the ready- he'd really only powered it up instinctively- more or less muscle memory- but he wasn't about to let that fact out. It made him seem more like a strategist and less like a lucky fool with good reflexes. Regardless, had Aleron tried to finish off her blood spell he'd have released the thing, and the match would have ended evenly.
"It's a draw." He smirked, then plopped down to the ground out of sheer exhaustion; fighting clearly hadn't been a good idea. "I can't believe I tied with a girl!" Incredulousness took over his tone, but he quickly shook it off. "You might not have died, but I took 'might' out of the equation you idiot, and you lived- so you're not getting out of this deal!"

Yue had to stop herself from jumping off the porch and gliding down towards Aleron and Yusuke; she never realized how instinctive flying was to her. If Kurama hadn't spoken, she probably would have ended up hurting herself again; as it was however, his question distracted her from her possible blunder.
She looked back at the duo, taking a moment to consider them and what they'd been doing; since she'd been so concentrated on yelling at Aleron only a moment ago, it took a short while for her to put one and one together. "Well, I can tell from their energy that they like each other a lot even though they both act otherwise-" She finally said slowly, "-But I never would have guessed human attraction to be so similar to our own kind!" She'd traveled around demon world enough to see a thing or two; it was earth that baffled her beyond belief. Thus, she didn't realize the awkwardness of her question when she asked, very wide eyed, "Oh my! They're not going to mate are they?!"

((Oh goodness! That sounds pretty adorable! I wouldn't have been able to understand a thing XD So congrats to you!))

Aleron laughed quietly and shook her head. "Oh, fine, you get your favor. Just nothing humiliating." She grinned briefly before reaching over to wipe her blood off his neck. She thought nothing of it, simply figuring that he'd want her blood off him. Now that they weren't sparring and the adrenaline was wearing off, she had to admit that sometimes using blood spells were kind of icky.

"Hey, at least you get fed," she teased. She was in a much better mood now. She'd have to remember to try sparring with him whenever she was in a bad mood. He could keep up with her.

Kurama stifled his laughter, though his eyes danced with mirth. "No, Yue, I don't think so," he said, a grin tugging at his lips. "I don't even think they realize what they're doing." Which just made it all the more fun. He'd have to consider whether or not it would be worth it to tease Yusuke later on.

Shaking his head again, he slanted a look over at Yue. "If you want to yell at her still, you should probably do it outside, where she doesn't have access to all her kitchen knives." He didn't think Yue would be in any danger, but he also didn't want Aleron to get pissed off again and start chopping something up to take her mind off it.

{Haha thanks... But I'm no Chinese expert, I can only understand simple words and phrases. ^^;

And this is my last post before bed... Gotta get up early tomorrow again >_< Orz... Work is deadly after a long day! XD}

Yusuke smirked triumphantly when Aleron accepted his deal. "Fine, fair is fair, I won't make you do anything crazy." He said- she hadn't humiliated him with her request even though he'd been convinced she would, so he wasn't about to do it either. "But you better still be on your guard! Being as dumb as you were has got to have consequences!" It always did for him anyways...
His stomach gave a huge rumble at the thought of food. That battle had made him hungry again. If eating wouldn't have satisfied Kurama and horrified Yue, he'd have gone to get food right away, as it was he decided to wait for dinner.

Yue looked at Kurama and tilted her head; she didn't exactly get why her question had been funny... Or how humans could like each other and not realize it. Perhaps she would have considered the matter more if the thought of yelling at Aleron hadn't been brought up. She almost went to jump over the railing again, but stopped herself with a grimace and took the long way, going on foot everywhere was so tedious!
Of course, once she got over to the duo she just glared at Aleron; she'd been itching to reprimand the girl all day, but now that she finally had the chance she struggled for words.
"You are very very dumb!" the demon finally exclaimed, "You make.... You make Yusuke look sentient!" She ignored the detective's resentment of that statement- it was true- and it now that she'd gotten started Yue was on a roll. "Humans are terribly frustrating creatures, and you are the worst I've ever met! You acted suspicious and ran off without telling me why- I have not been so angry or worried in all of my years, and I have lived longer than most humans do! And humans have families- they have things that make living happy- demons don't you know! And you wanted to die and throw it all away! Then when we tried to help you, you got mad! And I- I..." She'd sounded very indignant and frustrated at first, but her words had steadily lost power; now she sniffled, suddenly wrapping Aleron in as tight a hug as she could manage with all her bandages. "I do not understand why you humans are so reckless... Please.... I know you can't help being a little bit stupid and crazy... But don't make me worry all the time.... Or I'll lose what little sanity I have left."

{Night night!}

((nighty night! Good luck with work tomorrow! ^^))

Aleron managed to still be amused, especially when she heard Yusuke's stomach rumble, but when Yue approached her her eyes widened. She sat perfectly still for her berating, and then she sighed and returned the hug, gently.

"Sorry," she said quietly. "I just needed to make sure he was okay." She didn't say anything else. She didn't need to say anything else, and she didn't want to. She didn't want to admit how much she needed her father.

"Come on. Let's go inside. I need to finish up making dinner for everyone, anyway." She managed a half-smile as she pulled back a little.

Kurama watched the two of them and went over to Yusuke, offering him a hand up. "Let's get you inside," he said quietly. "Genkai and the others are here, by the way." He figured it was only fair to give the detective some warning, at least.

{Actually, I was supposed to have work in the afternoon, and my mom wanted to go shopping- so she wanted to wake me up really obscenely early in the morning so I could help her out.... But she ended up letting me sleep, and then when I woke up my boss found me and said that she'd gotten someone else to cover today... So yeah, I'm having a good day today XD

But I still have work tomorrow I won't worm my way out of...}

Yue took a deep breath; getting all that off her chest had really helped her out. "I feel much better now!" She said, rubbing her eyes and returning Aleron's smile. She let the girl lead her inside, but didn't offer to help out near the stove for obvious reasons; as much as the demon would have loved to learn such things, so much cooking at once would have been too much to handle. So she sat down at the table instead, listening to the conversations around her.

Yusuke swore very violently at the mention of Genkai and the others, proving that despite his sparring match with Aleron he was still doing just fine. "Aw man, I don't wanna listen to that old hag!" He grumbled as they headed inside, "She's gonna have a field day over the fact that I look like a mummy!"
Genkai did indeed look highly amused at Yusuke's condition when he joined them all at the table... Yeah, this was gonna be an eventful dinner.

((Well that's good. Days off are always nice ^^))

Aleron had plates set out on the counter, and she started pulling things out of the oven accordingly. She had chicken, beef, and pork, and sliced everything neatly and quickly. She also had another salad, with extra things on the side, like nuts, extra fruit, and dressing. Then she got out cups and poured herself a glass of iced tea, letting everyone else decide what they wanted.

"Okay, people, I'm not serving you all. Come get what you want. And we're not eating in here, it would be too crowded." She walked down the hall to a dining room, already nicely set up, and took the spot at the right of the head of the table. It was habit by now.

Kurama chuckled and motioned for Yusuke to go first, since he would undoubtedly be very hungry by now. Kurama could wait, he didn't mind. Besides, it gave him time to observe everyone.

He liked to do that in his spare time. Observe people, watch their mannerisms. He found it rather amusing, most of the time. Plus it made it easier to mess with people. Like not telling Yusuke he still had a stripe of Aleron's blood across the back of his neck.

"Finally! Dinner!" Yusuke ran into the house excitedly at the thought of food, and with the wondrous smells wafting through the house, it didn't take him long to find the others. They were all following Aleron with equal anticipation into the dining room; she was definitely a good cook to rouse up so much excitement from so many people. Even Yue, who wasn't hungry in the least had plans to go pick something or other to eat once things had calmed down a bit.
However, Kuwabara had stayed behind in the kitchen and set up a paper plate and bowl next to Loki's, and Yue, who after meeting Loki had discovered a love for the animals of human world, was petting his cat happily.
"Human cats are much cuter than demon ones!" She'd said as the thing nuzzled up to her with a purr, "I cannot help but observe they're a little bit crazy though..."

Kuwabara had just finished cutting up some food on the plate and was in the process of filling the bowl with milk, but he spilled it considerably when he heard Yue's comment.
"My cat's not crazy!" He exclaimed defensively, rounding on the demon as he did so, "Look at that face! Where do you see crazy there? Huh?!"

"Well...." Yue didn't seem the least bit perturbed by Kuwabara's indignation, in fact, she seemed to find it rather funny. "You would grant that Loki here is perfectly sane, yes?" She gestured towards the dog as she spoke, and Kuwabara shrugged in response.

"Uhh, yeah, I guess so." His blatant confusion made it clear he didn't know where she was going with this.

"Well, Loki wags his tail when he's happy and growls when he's angry-" She scratched behind the cat's ears, so that he purred more loudly and helped prove her point, "-But from what I've seen, this kitten wags its tail when it's angry and growls when it's happy. Therefore it must be crazy."

"Yeah well..." Kuwabara scrunched up his face, not sure how to refute such logic. Then he shrugged, "Dangit! I'm too hungry to solve riddles!" He turned and ran off towards the dining room, stopping only to glance over his shoulder and say "Make sure Eiikichi eats his food, okay?"

Yue nodded, but the human had already run off; she scratched behind the creature's ears one last time before putting him on the floor and letting him at his food. She meanwhile got a towel to clean up the mess that the human hadn't; the poor cat was going to get covered in milk otherwise.

{I've no idea if I got the cat's name right O-o I know how it's pronounced, but how it's spelled.... Just a wild guess. XD}

Aleron snorted when she saw everyone grab their food and practically run after her into the dining room. "No need to hurry, geeze," she muttered. "I made enough for everyone."

"You made enough to feed a hungry army," Voron said, practically appearing out of nowhere and kissing the top of her head. He switched to Russian abruptly, and Aleron replied in kind with a little laugh.

"Some people don't speak Russian here," Koenma said, looking at the two. Voron looked awfully familiar, but he couldn't understand why...

"We know." Aleron grinned mischievously. "That's why we were using Russian!"

Enjoying the prince's flabbergasted look far too much, she turned to her father and spoke in Russian again, and he shook his head with a smile, picking up his plate and going to get food. Aleron immediately settled down to her own food. She worked hard on this, dammit, and she was going to enjoy it no matter what.

Kurama laughed quietly and shook his head. Yue had a point, sort of. But Eikichi seemed more than happy to be petted and fussed over. He got food of his own.

"Are you going to eat?" he asked Yue quietly, watching her clean up a bit. "Or you could just come sit in the dining room for a while. It would be good practice dealing with humans, after all." Yeah, humans didn't get much worse than the group currently in the house already.

((I think that's how you spell it, or close enough. It doesn't really matter anyway XD))

"I was going to wait until they calmed down a bit..." Yue finished cleaning the milk and washed her hands as she spoke, smiling a bit. "I've spent most of my life in isolation, so large crowds and so much noise at once is really overwhelming- and hungry humans are particularly loud!" Of course, she was less worried about messing up when she knew everyone in the crowd; the chaos was still a bit overwhelming, but it was easier to adapt to. And Kurama was right that it was a good way to learn more about humans- it was also a good way to get out of her natural instincts of being alone. "I suppose I'll have something- Aleron has gotten me addicted to some human foods in my time here, and even though I don't need to eat as often as she does, she makes things hard to resist!" Particularly sweets. Yue had never had sweets back in demon world, and human world sweets were wonderful; the demon had developed quite a sweet tooth because of it.
She had to refrain from petting the cat again as she let the fox lead her down the hall, and found herself reluctant to leave it alone.... But it was probably best to let the little guy eat without so much disturbance.

Once inside the room, she staggered backwards a bit because of all the noise, but after a moment her ears got used to the level of sound and she was able to sit down. After that she helped herself to some rather small portions of the things on the table without meat, and nibbled while she listened to the others blabbering away.
There really wasn't any need that she felt to speak, since she could hardly keep up with all the conversations going on around her as it was. So she maintained silence, only asking about what certain food dishes were when there was one she didn't recognize. Eventually however, one dish in particular hit a nerve that Yue hadn't known she'd had- that dish had been a finely cooked fish.

Upon finding out what it was, she'd stared at it for a good long while, then finally she'd made a face and asked, "So... When you call me 'fishy', you are comparing me to this creature, yes?"

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, wondering what her problem was, "Uh yeah-" he said through a mouthful of food, "-You kinda look like one."

Once again Yue stared at the fish for a good long moment. "how?" She failed miserably to hide the incredulousness in her voice.

"Well, you got fish ears-" Kuwabara replied, also munching on food, "-And you kinda act fishy too, ya know."

Yue twitched her ears- she hadn't thought about that, but humans made the oddest connections it seemed, and how in the world did she act 'fishy'? She hadn't seen the creature alive admittedly, but she didn't think that there was much of a resemblance there either.

"Saying someone acts fishy means you act weird!" Yusuke said, determining what she was thinking from the obvious look on her face, "Now stop asking stupid questions and let me eat!"

((Alright, I'm on my way back to school in a minute so I won't be able to post for an hour, probably a little more. You might be in bed by then, so if you are nighty night!))

Aleron promptly kicked Yusuke under the table with deadly aim. "That was not a stupid question," she chided. "Yue doesn't have the same knowledge base you do, Yusuke. That would be like you asking me what a word meant in English or Russian."

Voron chuckled quietly, shaking his head. He could clearly see that Aleron had a crush on Yusuke. Perhaps he'd talk to the boy after dinner... It would be entertaining, certainly.

Rolling her eyes, Aleron turned her gaze back to Yue. "Ignore them. They don't realize when they're being insensitive. And I don't think you're fishy." With a huff and another weak glare at Yusuke and Kuwabara, she finished off her food and stood, picking up her plate to go wash it.

Kurama had to hide his smile at that. Well, flirting with Yusuke and protecting Yue all in the same minute. That girl either had serious talents or she didn't realize half of what she was doing. He chose to vote for the latter. She was smart, true, but he was fairly certain she didn't know what she was doing with Yusuke. But the look in Voron's eyes confirmed what he'd concluded earlier with Yue.

"Fish is actually quite tasty," Kurama said to Yue. "You should try some. You might like it. This has a very nice flavor to it. And no, I don't think you're fishy either. Those two are just practical jokers."

((And now it says I never posted even though my post is right here... weird...))

{Actually, I didn't see your post at first until I refreshed the page... Weird. O-o Must have been a site glitch!}

Yusuke nearly choked on his food when Aleron kicked him- the glare he sent in her direction said he didn't exactly appreciate getting reprimanded either. "Aw C'mon! I never said being fishy was bad!" He exclaimed, gesturing towards Yue, "But the girl's got fins for ears- ya can't blame me for thinking of fish!"

"Yes well, humans have much more bodily functions than demons have that are necessary for survival-" Yue retorted, slapping the back of his head with her tail since she was too far away to reach otherwise, she was very indignant at this point, "-how would you like it if i called you a dark bag of organs!"

"Uhh Urameshi, maybe you should just back off before the girls kill ya." Kuwabara mumbled, looking back and forth between Aleron and Yue with a bit of apprehension.

Yue however, was now taking Kurama's words into consideration, and staring at the fish again. Somehow after the previous conversation the thought of eating it didn't seem very appealing.... But it did smell good. And the fox had never lied to her before.... Her tail swished back and forth a bit nervously as she got herself a very small piece and tried it.
"I can't be very fishy.... Because I would not taste this good." She couldn't help but smile a bit.

Aleron rolled her eyes at them, muttering under her breath as she started washing dishes. It would take a while to get through the giant stack of dishes she'd accumulated during her cooking, after all. Oh well. She had her iPod so she'd be fine.

Kurama chuckled quietly and smiled at Yue, finishing up his dinner as well. He got up to gather up the others' plates, for those who were done at least, and see if he could do anything to help.

--------

Nearly a week later, Kurama paused just outside the gates of his school. He was one of the last to leave, and there weren't very many other people around. His eyes narrowed as he looked around, wary. He could feel someone around, someone he didn't recognize, and that usually didn't mean they had good intentions.

A man stepped out of the shadows, sharply pointed ears the only clue to the fact that he wasn't human. "Kurama." He smirked, briefly showing off pointed teeth. "Famous theif and bandit, lowered to siding with the humans and attending human schools. How pathetic."

"What do you want?" Kurama asked, his voice cool. He had the feeling he would be 'asked' to do something illegal. He didn't like that, not one bit.

"You ever heard of the Speculum Mirror?" The demon's smirk widened.

"A mirror that naturally gathers and enhance's the owners energy," Kurama replied warily. "What of it?"

"I want you to steal it for me."

"And why would I do such a thing?"

"Because if you don't, your friends will all be dead. You see, that night you all went out to eat, I sprinkled something in all your food. There's this new virus, you see, that affects demons quite horribly as soon as it's activated. It mutates the cells of demons, you see, until their bodies fail. But it's very painful." The demon snickered. "And as for your human friends, well, we gave 'em a little microchip. All I have to do is press this button and they all die from signals that disrupt their heartbeat. And there's not a thing you can do!" The demon laughed at that. "So what do you say, Kurama? Am I going to press this button, or are you going to be a good boy?"

Kurama's eyes narrowed as he thought furiously. It wouldn't be hard for him to get the Speculum Mirror, he knew that, but he didn't want to give it to this demon. If the demon got his hands on it, it could mean the end of the world. But he didn't seem to have much of a choice. Either he did it, or his friends and family all died. Rock and a hard place.

"Very well," he said finally, quietly. He was still thinking, but best to let the demon think he'd won.

"I thought you'd see it my way," the demon said with a big smirk. "I'll meet you back here in twenty-four hours. If you don't have the mirror by then, I'll start killing your friends one by one until you do." The demon left, laughing, and Kurama glared after him.

((Sorry about the abrupt skip ^^; ))

{It's all good XD There's only so much one can post about food without getting hungry ^^; }

Normally it would have taken a long time for her wing to heal, but whatever sort of plants Kurama had used on her had allowed Yue to heal rather quickly; what normally would have taken quite awhile to heal took only about a week. Which was good, because she hadn't been in the least bit patient for her wing in particular to heal.
Despite her eagerness to get back in the air however, her flying had become rather sloppy. Her wing had been held still so long that it felt odd and almost foreign to use, but she was determined to get the hang of things again, and so spent a lot of time fluttering about, working the stiff muscles out so until they'd feel natural again. She'd probably have worked out too much too quickly, and ended up injuring herself again if given the opportunity; Luckily, her friends had taken precautions against this by introducing her to something that was almost as satisfying as flying: roller blading.
At first Yue had been too terrified to do more than stand there- she hated shoes as it was, and the skates made her feel like she was about to fall over. But Aleron had a lot of patience, as did Loki, and as she began to get a sense of balance and master the movements roller blading became as much of an alternative to flying as the others had hoped. Now, whenever Yue's feet weren't in the air, they were generally on blades; she'd gotten very skilled in a short about of time, and enjoyed racing Loki on their evening strolls. Going that fast was almost as good as flying... But the dog was very fast too despite his size, and generally never lost... Which took some of the entertainment out of racing.

And so time passed.

Generally Yue didn't see the others unless they came to visit,or when she went out to visit Genkai. Since she still didn't dare venture out during the day unless she had to, the demon was always happy whenever someone came to visit; Aleron had school, so she generally spent her days home with Loki- and Voron when he wasn't out on business, but he usually was.
Whenever someone did visit however, Yue noticed a strange difference in their energy; every once in awhile it'd fluctuate strangely and get weaker, but only for a split second, and the changes were so small she simply brushed it off as nothing. If Aleron's past adventures had taught her anything, it was not to worry unless there was real reason.

-----------------------------------------

It was a rainy day in the confines of spirit world. Ogre had run off somewhere- likely to avoid work, and Botan was nowhere to be found. Thus Koenma was stuck with all the paperwork- which he stamped at a furious pace- obviously not caring what he approved. He was just wishing something interesting would happen.... When it did.

"Prince Koenma!" Ogre suddenly burst into his office, looking wide eyed and fearful, "Someone's broken into the spirit world vault!"

"What?!" Koenma demanded, standing up in his chair. "What was taken?!" There were so many things there that could change the course of history if they got into the wrong hands, or worse...

"It's the Speculum Mirror, sir," Ogre said hesitantly. When Koenma exploded again, he was already half-way to the door.

"Call in Yusuke!" Koenma demanded. "And find out where that mirror is immediately!"

----

Kurama, meanwhile, had been missing for two days. He'd gotten the mirror and had managed to find a way to lock away part of its power with his own. That way, the demon couldn't entirely destroy the world. In fact, the demon was no stronger than an A-class demon. But as soon as it got its hands on the mirror, it struck Kurama down, and he let it happen. To convince the demon of its authenticity.

He was woken by the rain some time later, and he blinked up at the sky blearily. Moving hurt, so he stayed where he was for a while, hoping the ache would go away on its own. He was far away from his home, and he didn't think that anyone would find him. So he managed to get to his feet after a few false attempts, staggering back towards civilization and hoping he would make it without too much effort. Most of his energy was going towards healing himself of his wounds.

Following Koenma's orders, Botan had taken flight to the human world. She flew down from the skies on her oar, taking on her usual schoolgirl guise so that she could barge into the school and find the detective without attracting too much attention. Luckily Yusuke didn't make himself too hard to find, for he was skipping class to pummel in some faces as was his usual daily routine. She walked up to him without fear- there wasn't any time for fooling around at this point.

"Yusuke! Come with me!" She'd exclaimed, grabbing his hand with the intention of dragging him to an isolated place where they could talk, "There's an urgent situation in spirit world!" The boy grudgingly gave in and followed upon hearing this, and so Botan explained the situation of the Speculum Mirror and what it did, as well as what could happen to the world if in the wrong hands.

"Great." Yusuke had grumbled, "Time to save the universe again." His job was fast becoming an incredibly dangerous hobby.... Because beating up punks at high school wasn't dangerous at all. "I'll tell the others." He sighed, looking at Botan, "We'll meet up later."

With a couple of well worded texts, the detective sent the word around.... Oddly though, Kurama didn't answer.... The fox might have been studious, but he was still real quick with typing words on his phone. Even Yusuke found it suspicious that he didn't reply.
"Maybe his phone's dead." He said with a shrug, "Can't trust animals with technology I tell ya!"

-----------------------------

It was after hearing the strange news that Yue was out on one of her evening strolls, skating along absentmindedly with Loki at her side. Her thoughts weren't on racing or observing the curiosities of the human world for once, but rather on Kurama. He'd come to visit her every day, making sure she didn't try to fly too soon and keeping her company.... But then one day he hadn't come... And then the next couple of days he stayed away as well. Yue had told herself not to worry, since the others didn't visit every day anyways, and he could have been busy.... But with the news of the Speculum Mirror worry had begun to grow despite her best efforts to remain positive.

A whine from Loki snapped her out of her daze, and Yue stopped, looking around warily. Something just didn't feel right, like a very dark tension in the air; the dog was looking at her worriedly, obviously wondering what she planned to do. While her initial instincts told her to leave right away, the demon decided to stick around.... Something else was in the air as well.... A familiar energy.... But very... very faint.
Yue began moving forward again cautiously, but as she became more certain of who the energy belonged to she got faster. She'd sped to the edge of the city before she found Kurama collapsed on the ground; he looked terrible- his clothes were torn and he had all sorts of horrid looking wounds. She started to tremble a bit out of shock, and thus nearly jumped out of her skin when a familiar voice spoke to her.
"Well, considering your abilities over energy, it's no surprise you're here." Koenma said, eying Kurama with apprehension. Then he waved his hand, and more spiritual beings appeared, gently picking up the animal demon; when Yue moved forward to stop them out of fear of what they might do, the prince put a hand on her shoulder. "They won't hurt him." He said, "They're going to take him to Genkai's, so that he can get some treatment.... Yusuke and the others are going to meet there soon, as you already know.... Why don't we meet them there too?"
It was obvious from Yue's lack of a reaction that she wasn't very much there anymore; her voicebox had simply stopped working at this point, and she simply let Koenma lead her along, one trembling hand on Loki's back and both eyes on the animal demon.

{I figure you can just skip ahead to Genkai's ^^;}

Aleron had been the last to be informed, and she joged over to Genkai's, also the last to arrive. She grumbled to herself as she slid her shoes off before going into the temple. One look around made her pause and reassess the situation.

"Alright, what's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Kurama's been hurt," Kuwabara answered, looking grave. "Apparently someone stole this mirror from Spirit World, and Koenma thinks the demon used it on Kurama."

Aleron nodded her thanks for the brief explanation and slipped past them, going over to where Genkai stood in the hallway. "Well?"

"Kurama will be fine," Genkai said, her voice tired. "Whoever hit him got him hard. I'm amazed he stayed conscious for as long as he did. He'll need some time to recover, and until he wakes up he won't be able to tell us anything."

"Naturally. How long do you estimate? Any clue?" Aleron raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. Someone had to ask these questions.

"None at all." Genkai sighed. "Yue is with him at the moment."

"Thanks." Aleron slipped past the old woman and into Kurama's room, looking at Yue and Loki both. Loki trotted over to her quite happily, pressing himself against her legs. "Yue? You holding up okay?" She knew the two had gotten close, even though it had been less than a month since they'd first met. But Yue wasn't hard to get along with, and Aleron couldn't help but worry about her.

Yue didn't answer at first, she just sat there, staring down at her hands- where she twiddled her thumbs restlessly, clearly at a loss as to what to do with herself. The fact that he was going to make it had been a great relief to her; she'd been worried about Aleron a lot too... But somehow this worry had been different.... She wasn't sure how exactly to explain it, but it was a different sort of worry.
Of course, as she sat there twiddling her thumbs, it was not so much over Kurama's condition that she fretted inwardly over so much as what the spirit world prince had told her on the way to Genkai's.
"Koenma.... says that he did it..." She finally mumbled, twitching her tail reflexively. It was true that Yue hadn't known the animal demon for long, but he had a very gentle sort of energy, and he'd always been kind... Perhaps he was a thief, which admittedly wasn't a good hobby, but he wasn't the type of person who'd steal something that could lead to the destruction of the world. There had to be some sort of mistake. Or something they were missing. It bothered her greatly the thought of Koenma being right and the fox having fallen back into his old dark ways.... The stories she'd heard hadn't been ones she'd liked. "But he wouldn't do something like that without good reason." There was conviction in her voice, but she still sounded sad. Clearly she was worried out of her wits.

Yusuke had followed Aleron, wanting to check up on Kurama himself and see how Yue was doing; she was pretty delicate for a demon, and tended to work herself up pretty easily- something like this would possibly drive her over the edge.
Upon hearing her words however, the detective became enraged, and turned on Koenma with a stone hard glare.
"You can't seriously think that foxie boy's gone back to stealing do you?!" His glare only became more angry when the prince looked away guiltily.

"We have footage of him stealing the mirror." He said weakly, "And he no longer has it on his person now.... Yoko Kurama was known for stealing for hire.... Maybe this time just went wrong-"

"Shut up!" Yusuke had to refrain from punching the guy- how dumb could one be? "Kurama's not that guy anymore! He's got a human mother! He wouldn't do anything to endanger her!"
The detective had seen how far the animal demon was willing to go for the sake of his mother's life- there's no way that he'd ever endanger it, much less the entire world's. "Fish girls' right! There's some mistake. And that's all there is to it!"

{nighty night!~ 'tis getting very late! o-o}

((Nighty night!))

Aleron was silent for a few moments. "Unless, of course, he was doing it to protect his mother," she said quietly. "And if the world isn't crashing around our ears just yet, then that means something's wrong with the mirror. If this thing has as much power as I've inferred, then things should be blowing up by now. The fact that they aren't means that the demon either has a greater plan in mind, or it doesn't work somehow."

"She's right," Genkai said. "Most demons would use that as soon as they got it, if they got their hands on such a valuable item. If Kurama did this, perhaps he had a reason for doing so."

"Which we won't find out by standing around here." Aleron turned her gaze to Yue. "Alright. Yue, you're the most sensitive of all of us to energy. I need you to start feeling around for inconsistencies. That much power should draw your attention, even before it's unleashed. If you want to clear Kurama's name, this is the way to do it. We find the person behind this and we get a confession from them. Then we kill them, hand back the mirror, and everything's peachy. Right?" She turned an icy glare on Koenma.

Koenma jerked back a little, stunned. "Um. Well, he did steal an artifact from Spirit World. Again," he said, backing up a little as Aleron's energy flared briefly. "But I'm sure we could work something out!"

"Of course you can." With a sinister-sweet smile, Aleron turned her gaze back to Yue. "Come on, sweets. I know you're upset, but you're doing this for Kurama."

Yue looked at Aleron and Yusuke, and after a moment nodded in agreement to their proposal; anything was better than sitting here and doing nothing but listen to Koenma getting berated by them... Even if it was deservedly so.... Both of them had such vibrant energy, she couldn't help but feel a little better despite it all.... Yet there was that strange fluctuation in their energies again.... They seemed fine though, and mentioning it would only cause more worry if it was nothing.
She shook her head to clear it, taking a deep breath and relaxing her body as she closed her eyes- she wanted to be as alert as possible in case the oddity she was looking for was very far away. Her attention slowly drifted away from those in the room and outwards into the world; there were a lot of humans in the city... And beyond that there were a lot of small plants and animals.... But nothing out of place.... She shouldn't have been having any trouble at all with this if the energy she was looking for was so powerful....
Yue decided to turn her attention away from the human world and towards demon world; the energy that resided there hit her like a wave.... But it wasn't quite the right place- that was only remnants of the energy, it felt too faded to be the actual source. She kept following the trail of energy, surprised that it led her to spirit world.... Almost anyways.... It was more accurately a place in between the two worlds.

Her eyes flew open and she looked at Koenma, "Is there a place between demon world and spirit world?" There was an urgency in her voice- now that she had a good idea of where to go she was having trouble staying still.

"Well yes." The prince replied, looking baffled, "But he can't be there- the only way for a demon to get there is to die, and even then they are quickly transported to spirit world. It's simply not possible to get into the place without fufilling the requirements and even less possible to stay there for a prolonged period of time."

"There must be a way." Yue insisted. She knew that she wasn't wrong; she might have been worried and sad, but her abilities hadn't changed- she was certain the one they were looking for was where she said he was.

"Well..." Botan looked thoughtful, considering the possibilities since she knew that Koenma wouldn't. "The speculum mirror enhances the user's abilities by naturally absorbing energy around it-" She said slowly, "-maybe it also has the ability to alter that energy.... If it could do that, then it'd explain how that creature was able to stay in between worlds."

"Maybe..." Koenma sighed, grudgingly admitting that it was possible. "But even if that is the case- and I'd like to point out again that such is extremely unlikely- it doesn't provide an answer to how we'd get into the dimension and be able to stay there long enough to take the guy down."

"We don't," Aleron said immediately, starting to pace. She thought better when she paced, and it kept her from punching someone's lights out due to the nervous energy coiling inside her.

"What do you suggest then?" Koenma snapped, watching her go back and forth.

"Well, it would have an advantage there, yes? So we need to bring it out to a more level playing field, where we can fight him. So we need to lure him out with an offering, if you will. Dange a juicy steak in front of a wolf and he'll come crawling out of his hidey hole."

"Okay," Koenma said slowly. "Even if that does work, which I doubt, how will you get him anywhere else?"

Aleron sighed, rubbing her temples briefly. "Energy. We find a spot with a large amount of energy, or we create a lot of energy. The mirror uses the energy around it, yes? So if we offer up a larger amount of energy than where he's at currently, he could come out. Then we can kill him." A brief, savage smile lifted her lips before she turned and walked to the other side of the room.

"How are you planning to do that?" Koenma stared after her, frowning deeply. "Create enough energy."

"Yue and I will do it. We'll find a good spot that's been accumulating energy, and then she can twist it and make it into a big showy affair, and I'll give her my energy if that's not enough to attract his attention." Okay, so it wasn't a perfect plan, but it should work, nonetheless. Should. Hypothetically. Hopefully.

Because if it didn't work she was fresh out of ideas.

Normally Yue would have been against the idea of manipulating energy in such a manner, for enhancing and distorting energy in the manner that Aleron suggested would likely kill many plants and smaller animals; at the same time though, Yue knew that there wasn't any other option for saving her friend, and she considered him more important than her morals or conscience.
"I will try." She said after a moment, "It may be as backwards a plan as any of us have ever seen, but it is the only thing anyone has come up with."

"What do you mean you'll do it?!" Koenma sounded flabbergasted as he stared at Yue, "You of all people should know that distorting energy like could result in the natural state of life never recovering in that area!" He'd always known that Yusuke to be a wild hothead, and Aleron had proven so too- although she admittedly had more intelligence than the first- but Yue had always seemed to have a lot of sense, even if she was rather odd. The prince couldn't believe she was so willing to attempt an idea as wild as this.

"Yes, it is a little bit crazy." She admitted, "But perhaps the crazy mindset of a human is needed to make this situation work." The demon still didn't fully understand humans, but she was slowly starting to learn that their insanity was a method of standing up for what they believed in.... Which was quite illogical.... But at this point she was willing to try anything if it didn't involve doing nothing.

"Besides-" Yusuke interjected, feeling the need to give his two cents, "- I pull crazy stunts all the time, and how many times have I succeeded in saving the world, hmmm?" He smirked devilishly at Koenma, who looked quite frustrated in turn but said nothing- as much as he would have liked to, it wasn't a fact that he could deny.

"If you do the whole energy shebang in the middle of nowhere, the bad stuff won't be so bad." Yusuke looked at Yue, "You can work that out, right fishie?"

"I can manage many things, Mr. Dark Bag of Organs-" She retorted, jumping to her feet in frustration, "-if you stop calling me by the name of an unintelligent water animal!" She had read books about fish after that night and didn't think she was very much like them at all.
Of course, all the detective was really trying to do was distract her from being so worried... And he was doing a fine job.... Though Yue didn't intend to forgive him if he kept using that nickname.

"If you know of an isolated place where lots of fighting once happened... That would work..." She finally said, getting back on track after she'd calmed down a bit, "Places where lots of battles and death have happened are stronger than natural places because of the level of fighting spirit and the residual energy left behind by death...."

"Oh, well why don't you go to the grounds of the dark tournament? Koenma grumbled sarcastically, obviously still not on board with the madness of the idea.

Then to everyone's surprise another voice spoke up. "Hmmm, yes, with the amount of times I've summoned the dragon there you should have more than enough 'battle spirit'."

"Hiei!" Yusuke did a double take, shocked that the midget would willingly meddle in the affairs of humans and come out in the open, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Don't get the wrong idea detective." He stated coldly, sending a hard glare Yusuke's way, "Kurama's much more useful to me than you are, and I'd hate to leave him in the hands of the incompetent." He plopped down on the floor in the corner of the room, not willing to speak anymore on the topic of his reasoning.