[[OOC: This post is going to be long. Sorry. x__x]]

"Alright, you were each warned." Koenma shrugged as George inserted the tape into the large screen opposite of his own desk. The screen flickered on, and remained the standard bright blue color as the tape was read. The screen turned to snow as the tape began to play.

-The tape-

There were initially three voices. One girl and two boys.

"North entrance is secure."
"South entrance is also secure."
"I have the west entrance covered."

"You guys go in first, okay?"

"What're you so afraid of, it's just a warehouse. Geez. Chill out, Kat." The first male voice teased.

"Ooh, shut up, Takeo! I don't like going into dark places and you know it!" The girl whined as the first boy laughed.

"Both of you need to get serious. If that demon's in there, he's probably heard you and ran off by now." A third, masculine voice spoke up.

"Yeah, yeah." The first boy, Takeo, muttered. "You're way too serious, it's just a D class. Really, no biggie. Look. I'll go get it and I'll call you guys when I'm done, okay?"

"What? Why?" Katsumi questioned, the stomping of her feet in protest clearly recorded.

"It's just a D class. Let him go. No need for all of us to take it down anyway." The second male voice sighed.

"Hmph. Fine, but don't ask for my help, even if you need it." Katsumi said.

"Hey guys, the battery power on these isn't so strong. Let's shut them off for a bit. Give it fifteen then turn your earpiece back on."

"Kay, see you guys in a bit." Takeo spoke as his signal was shut off.

"Katsumi, out."

"Akiko, temporarily signing off."

The tape went silent for about fifteen minutes then audio suddenly picked back up.

.::.

"It's Katsumi, I'm back."
"Welcome back."
"Where's Takeo?"
"I don't know. He hasn't turned his communicator back on yet."

There was a loud, creaking sound, as the metal of the warehouse seemed to have experienced a tremor.

"What was that? Takeo! Are you there?"
"I'm going in."
"Me too, I'll see you inside."

There was more creaking and the sound of footsteps as the two landed inside the warehouse building.

"Urgh. Why is it so dark in here?"
"Um, because the electricity is off?"
"Gee, thanks for that."

Footsteps echoed while Katsumi and Akiko searched in the dark for their comrade. It was dead silent for the next several minutes when suddenly..

"Takeo?" A thud. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you. Why didn't you turn your communicator back on? We were wo--" An abrupt feminine, blood-curdling scream followed by the sound of quickened footsteps.

"Katsumi! What's wrong? What happened?"
"T-T-Takeo." The girl whimpered, her shaking causing static.
"What?"
"H-His arm j-just landed on m-me." The girl shook uncontrollably, her fear didn't need to be seen.
"Stay right there, I'm coming to get you!"

There was another thud and more shaking. "What's going on?" Katsumi whispered to herself, clearly trying her best to hold back sobs. The mental pain she was feeling apparent. There was a shuffling noise and the sound of a body hitting a concrete floor. Another scream.

"Kat, are you okay? Stay still!"

"A-Akiko.."

"What is it?"

"I-I just f-found h-him."

"Unmask your demon energy. It'll be easier for me to find you."

"O-Okay." Katsumi whimpered as she rose to her feet. There was an almost slippery sound then, as her shoes made contact with a puddle of blood. "Oh my god, Akiko, there's b-blood everywhere."

Nothing.

"A-Akiko..?"

A sharp static as the signal for her companion's communicator was disconnected. "AKIKO! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Katsumi screamed, now in full-on panic mode. Her footsteps were frantic and her breathing erratic. "You already took one of my friends!" She shouted blindly to her unknown captor. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE AKIKO TOO!"

The sound of knuckles popping. Then a barrage of different sounds as Katsumi started punching through everything she came across, mostly thick, wooden boxes used for shipping. The demon energy she used to power her fists, provided her a dim form of red light. "Where are you?! Come out and fight me!" She shouted, her fear momentarily replaced by rage.

It took several moments but her footsteps suddenly came to a stop. Another set of footsteps hobbled toward her. "Akiko! You're alive!" The tone of her voice instantly full of relief.

"We have to get out of here." Akiko replied, his voice weak and faint.

"Why are you bleeding, what happened to you?" Katsumi asked.
The distinct sound of blood dripping onto the ground.

"No time, we need to go n--" A sword was unsheathed and bone was sliced through. A cracking as a disembodied skull made contact with the floor then a loud thud as the body followed.

Blood from her friend splattered across her face as his body was mutilated before her eyes. "A-Akiko. W-Who are you? Why are you doing this? Show yourself already! You've already taken my friends, there's nothing else you can do to me now!"

Silence. Then more static as the final communication device made contact with the ground roughly.

"You want to fight? Just try and touch me, freak!" The girl's voice was distant and fear was in her voice. "STOP HIDING!" Katsumi dropped to her knees, shuffling through her clothes. There was a click and beeping. "K-Koenma, we need he-"

A sword sliced through skin and tissue. Thick blood hit the ground in a series of splats. A guttural sound followed as Katsumi seemed to try to talk with a throat full of blood. She spit the crimson liquid to the floor and again rose to her feet. Her calling device hit the floor and shattered. Her footsteps faded as she ran further away from the last functioning communication device left abandoned on the floor.

The tape was silent for almost five minutes until another, heavier set of unfamiliar footsteps walked by. The sound of someone yanking frantically on a heavy, metal warehouse door echoed.

"Fool." A deep, male voice said then stomped on the girl's still functioning earpiece. The signal blinked for a few seconds, catching one final scream before it went totally silent.

Hiei gritted his teeth and scowled, 'That fool Koenma sent them in blind and they were nearly wiped out, and all he's worried about is his father finding out about it...' The toddler god infuriated the little fire demon for such a callous attitude towards his employees and comrades. It was a poor way to reward faithful service.

Kurama looked grim, "Has there been any progress towards identifying the last voice on the tape?" He asked softly. "You said the girl, Kat, has just awakened. Has she said anything that might be of help? If she is having trouble talking about it, perhaps I might speak with her. I've dealt with things like this before."

OOC: Oh, "words"=talking, 'words'=thinking, and <words>=telepathy. Just wanted to make that clear.

"I tried to speak to Katsumi earlier. Botan did as well. The only thing she said to me was that she wished we hadn't arrived in time to save her." Koenma replied, folding his little arms across his chest.

"And then she tried to rip him a new one." Botan added, looking innocently off to the right. "It took five men to hold her back. That girl packs one nasty punch."

"Yes, well, you can see why I've been keeping my distance. You're welcome to try to talk to her. As far as I know, she's still in the infirmary." Koenma added.

"From what I heard, you deserve a good punch in the face, runt." Yusuke sighed. "I'm no good at calming people down. I might piss her off more if I try to talk to her."

Kurama nodded, "I'll try. Hiei, would you like to come along?" Hiei knew when to keep his mouth shut and he was good back up if the girl did turn violent.

Hiei blinked, he was not good at dealing with people, but he trusted Kurama's judgment so he nodded and followed the fox out into the bustling office. 'Might as well get away from the toddler, before I do something that will land me back in prison.' He thought darkly, fingering his katana.

Kurama didn't even need a guide, he had long ago memorized the floor plans for most of the buildings in this section of Reikai. It paid to be prepared in his former line of work and old habits were hard to break. He pushed open the door to the infirmary and smiled at the oni sitting behind the desk there. "I would like to speak to Katsumi please? Could you point her room out for me?"

Hiei trailed Kurama like the shadow his name implied, silent and unobtrusive. The few onis that spotted him gave him a wide berth, because the expression on his face was far from inviting.

"Katsumi? She has a doctor in there at the moment. He's fixing some of her stitches, but he should be out soon." The nurse said, glancing up at Kurama curiously. "Try not to offend her, she looks rather rough." The nurse sighed, straightening some paperwork. "It's been a struggle to keep her calm today. We actually had to put her in maximum security earlier and just let her beat the wall to exhaust her energy levels. Ahem.. Anyway, it's the last room on the left. Follow that hall." She pointed off to the right then went back to her paperwork.

Kurama nodded and breezed down the hall to the indicated door. He knocked lightly and waited for permission to enter.

Hiei stayed right behind the redheaded fox. He wasn't sure what to expect from this girl. She was some sort of demon, according to the tape and she was obviously very strong and very emotional right now. He loosened his headband enough to open his jagan, without actually uncovering the eye completely. <Perhaps it would be better if I pulled the information from her mind directly.> He slipped the suggestion into Kurama's mind.

<Let's try talking first. Rummaging through someone's thoughts makes a bad first impression and we may require her cooperation later.> Kurama thought back at him. The fox wasn't telepathic but he knew how to think loudly enough for Hiei to easily pick up on his surface thoughts. It was a very effective way of communicating and it impressed Yusuke and Kuwabara out when the two demons used it to synchronize their movements in battle. Of course they never told the two boys how they did it, that would spoil the mystique.

Hiei nodded and closed the jagan, but didn't tighten the headband over it. It would stay in place as it was and if he needed to subdue the girl quickly it would be better to have the eye accessible, since they weren't sure what she was capable of.

It was the doctor that answered the door. He was very tall, easily towering over Kurama. He didn't bother to ask who they were or what they wanted though. He merely left the door cracked behind himself and said two words as he passed by, "Good luck."

Katsumi sat on the edge of the hospital bed, nearest to the wall and leaning her head against it for support. Her hair was messy and her blue eyes open and staring blankly at the floor. Stitched wounds and lingering bruises littered most of her visible skin and most likely continued underneath the white, hospital issue kimono. The most notable scars were the remainders of a large wound that once encircled the majority of her neck, along with another wound that at one time almost severed her left arm from the mid-forearm down. Her demon blood would allow these to heal well in the long run, but for now they were very prominent amongst her features. Fresh blood occasionally dotted the bandages newly wrapped around both her hands. Though she appeared meek, her demon energy was also notable even in her weakened state.

Kurama entered the room and bowed politely, "Hello, Katsumi-san. My name is Kurama and my associate's name is Hiei. We need to talk to you about what happened." He had decided to try a businesslike approach first, in the hopes that it would allow the distraught demoness to separate herself from her emotions.

Hiei nodded in greeting and settled himself leaning against the wall beside the door. Kurama was the talker, he was just there as back up.

Her eyes glanced over in the newcomers' direction, but she otherwise didn't acknowledge their presence. Finally, with a small, dry laugh she shut her eyes. "Why should I speak to you?" Her voice was dry and slightly hoarse, very different from the one at the beginning of the tape. She flexed her hands in her lap, allowing the wounds she created from her rampage earlier to reopen. "I'm getting tired of everyone here bothering me. I didn't ask to be saved."

Kurama changed tactics, "Then your friends will have died for nothing." He said in a sharp tone, then his expression softened. "I know how you feel, but if you shut down now we may never catch the one that took them from you." He finished softly, persuasively.

Hiei stayed still and impassive but he knew the signs. The girl was nearly broken by her grief. He didn't have a lot of experience with grief personally, as he had long ago stopped letting anyone get close enough to hurt him with their deaths. He'd seen others like her though, so crushed by grief and guilt that they were nearly useless. It might be kinder to kill her as she seemed to want to die. Better than making her do it herself like a coward. Still, Kurama was right, they needed her to talk first.

"We? I'll find that bastard myself!" Katsumi shouted suddenly, flinging her fist carelessly into the wall to her right. The room shook briefly, but the wall held up. Thank goodness for reinforced rooms. Blood smeared the spot of impact as the stitches in that hand tore beneath the bandages. "I know what you want, but the things I remember are insignificant. It was too dark." She added, though she seemed to know more than she let on. The demon looked down at her bleeding hand and sighed, holding it protectively with her other hand. She could feel the pain. She could feel every stitch that held her body together, but the physical pain was nothing compared to how badly her heart throbbed and ached for her teammates. She looked like a teenager, but this girl was much, much older than she appeared and it was visible through the look in her eyes. She had never felt this broken before in her life.

Kurama raised an eyebrow, changing tactics yet again, "You'll find them yourself."He scoffed, "Why? So you'll be dead too? So it won't hurt anymore? Is that what you want?" He turned away in disgust. "Then you are weaker than I thought you were." He met Hiei's eyes and thought loudly. <Be ready. She may react badly to this.> He threw a last comment back over his shoulder, "Your friends would probably be most disappointed if they knew you were putting your own selfishness ahead of finding their murderer."

Hiei showed no reaction to the thought, but he heard it clearly. He was tempted to say something to the girl himself. Her weakness was unbecoming of a demon. If this was the Makai, she would have already been picked off by stronger foes by now. She radiated pain and grief and self loathing and it was giving him a headache, but he didn't want to block her out in case she might broadcast anything important unintentionally. He was only reading her strongest surface thoughts so she shouldn't notice anything.

"So, I'm selfish? Isn't the only reason for this pleasent visit to force me into talking and wrench anything you consider 'helpful' from my mind for your own use? Is that not selfish as well?" Her eyes darted over to Hiei, narrowing viciously. She couldn't be certain of his purpose for being present here with the red-headed man, but she did have her suspicions. 'If you're doing what I think you are, you should be able to hear this. If it rids me of your presence quicker, then search through my thoughts. I have nothing to hide.' "The few things I recall are long, dark hair and glowing, red eyes. It was a man, for certain, and he was very..skilled... with a blade." She said honestly, then shut her eyes, probably disrupting any digging Hiei had begun with sudden flashbacks. Takeo's disembodied limb landing on her shoulder, slipping into a pool of his blood, and then watching Akiko's head get sliced cleanly from his shoulders. She could still feel the blood hit her face and the pungent, constant stench of iron. No matter how many times she washed her face, it still lingered.

Hiei scowled, "I don't enter people's thoughts uninvited. It isn't my fault you're loud." He snapped back just as harshly, speaking for the first time since he entered the room. He paused and closed his red eyes for a second as her memories and emotions assaulted him again, but otherwise managed not to show any reaction. "Besides, that isn't why I'm here. I'm just here in case you decided to be stupid." Hiei fell silent, because her emotions were so tied up in the memories she was broadcasting, it was difficult to separate them from his own feelings about the matter. As a result, he felt a little sick from the images, but he wasn't about to let anyone know that.

Kurama shook his head, maintaining his scornful tone since it had gotten more out of her than anything else so far. "It isn't selfish to ask for your help in preventing this from happening to anyone else. The man that did this may still be loose in the Ningenkai. Every minute we delay, someone else could be killed." He turned back to look at her and his tone softened. "We only want you to help us stop your friends' killer. Don't you want to see that happen?" He asked calmly.

"What more do you want from me? I've already told you everything I remember." Katsumi scowled, becoming irritated. "I would never wish this pain on anyone else, but I have nothing left to tell you." Her eyes lowered back to the floor and shut again, her bangs cast a shadow over her eyes and hid the few stray tears the fell from them. "I would give anything, to have that man slaughtered. Anything to tear him limb from limb as he did to my friends." Her shoulders shook as she held back a slient sob.

Kurama hesitantly approached the grief stricken woman. He laid a warm hand on her shoulder gently. "Thank you for your help, Katsumi-san. I'm sorry to have to press you for details so soon after your loss, but you understand the urgency of this matter." He said in a conciliatory tone. "We will not allow this murderer to escape." He promised, his expression grim as he leaned down to look her in the eyes.

Hiei pushed away from the wall and moved a couple of steps closer to Kurama. He felt the fox was unwise to get so close to the woman. She didn't seem entirely stable. He knew Kurama could take care of himself but the fox sometimes took injuries that could have been avoided with a little more caution. Hiei occasionally had to be cautious for both of them. He was prepared to restrain her at a moment's notice if she tried to lash out at the redhead.

"Promise me you won't go after him." Her eyes flickered up to his face as a tear ran down the length of her face. "I will get my revenge. Heh, maybe you were right..I may be a coward after all, but if I have to, I will drag him to hell with me. If it takes every once of my strength, I won't allow him to live." She leaned back and wiped her eyes. "Also, stand farther away. I might accidentally get blood on you." She held her hands in her lap, fully aware that she needed to call for that doctor, once again, to fix up her hand.

Kurama knelt down in front of her and held out his hand for hers, "May I look at them?" He smiled slightly, he had some Makai plants that might work better than Rekai medicine but she'd have to trust him a little bit to let him use them. "I'm not afraid of a little blood." 'as long as Mother doesn't see it.' He qualified the statement silently.

Hiei moved forward to stand at the foot of the bed, the girl had a spark of life back in her voice as she swore her vengeance. Maybe she would live after all. Vengeance could be a good motivator until you found something better. She just needed time before she dealt with the horrific things she had witnessed and experienced. He could help her block some of the memories off temporarily but he wouldn't offer yet.

At first, Katsumi hesitated, flinching away from the seemingly harmless gesture. However, as she stared into his eyes to protest, she couldn't see any hint of ill will within them and had a strange, gut instinct that she could trust this stranger. "What are you going to do?" She asked softly while she held out her bleeding, right hand for him to do what he wanted. After all, there wasn't anything he could do to make her any worse off than she already was.

Kurama smiled his most disarming smile and reached into his hair for the right seeds. He used his other hand to unwrap the bloodstained bandages from her hand. "I'm going to use some Makai medicine." He said as he sat three seeds on the bed and made then bloom into small plants. He pulled a couple of leaves from one of the plants, berries from the second one, and a largish orange fruit from the third. "This may sting a bit at first." He warned apologetically. He crushed the berries and the strange starchy fruit in one hand and rubbed the resulting paste onto her wounds. He expertly wrapped the long thin leaves around her hand and and tied it off. "That should numb them and speed the healing....provided you stop hitting walls." He added with a small wry smile. "Other hand?"

Hiei looked on silently. He was always impressed by Kurama's ability to deal with emotional situations and difficult people. 'Difficult people like me.' He thought with some amusement. The only emotion Hiei was comfortable dealing with from others was anger. He was used to that. It was nice and predictable.

It did sting for a moment, but it wasn't anything too unbearable. Considering that her pain tolerance had doubled over the course of the day, this was nothing. "Thank you, Kurama." Katsumi spoke up quietly, speaking his name for the first time as she offered her left hand out to him. Beneath the soiled bandages a delicate, golden ring remained stationary on the finger between her pinky and middle finger. A small emerald surrounded by a circle of even smaller diamonds was complemented by the white gold band. She had refused to take it off. No matter how hard the nurses pleaded and whined about it being in the way, she wouldn't budge. "You know, the nurses aren't going to like you for doing this. They were rather relieved when I hurt my hands earlier. Not that I blame them."

Kurama laughed lightly as he repeated the process on her left hand. "I'll tell you a secret, they don't really like me anyway." His eyes glittered with mischief as he leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "You see, we once stole half the vault out from under Koenma and his onis' noses. As a result neither Hiei or I are really well trusted around here." Kurama grinned toothily, an expression that would have been more at home on his youko form's face but it still gave him a sort of rakish charm. "Ah, there. They should be fine in a day or two if you leave them wrapped up and avoid moving them overly much." He was back to his usual polite self, like flipping a switch.

Hiei snorted. It hadn't even been that hard to do, though keeping the treasures had proved inconvenient. Hiei was loathe to admit it was probably for the best that Yusuke had stopped him. He had been going down a path that would only have made him loathe himself even more than he already did. Yukina would have been appalled to think that her brother had done such things, not that she had any clue he was her brother. It was the principle of the matter.

"I see. Thanks again." Katsumi said, giving a brief smirk. Having been an employee under Koenma at the time those very artifacts were stolen, she knew quite a bit about that particular case. It hadn't dawned on her until he admitted to it that these two, standing her hospital room, were the majority of those responsible. It all seemed rather obvious now though. Kat also knew that this helpful boy, Kurama, was holding an ancient, vicious demon within him. She had witnessed Yoko's appearance herself during the Dark Tournament and was shaken by his very presence. However, for some strange reason, she wasn't the slightest bit afraid of his red-headed, human form at all. 'Is this nice guy routine some kind of act?' She pondered, searching for something devious amongst his features. In actuality, she probably considered the shorter one, Hiei, more of a threat than his friend.

Kurama smiled serenely. "If you ever need to talk," He leaned forward and looked her in the eyes, "Koenma knows where to find me. I'm happy to listen." He was sincere in his offer. Seeing her grief reminded the fox of how he had felt when he'd seen his partner Kuronue slaughtered. The images still haunted him and it had been more than a century since the other demon's death.

Hiei eyed both of them with an impassive expression. The fox was being unusually compassionate, even taking his human emotions into account. Hiei suspected there was more going on in Kurama's head than he was letting show in his surface thoughts. "We should go, Kurama." He said flatly.

Kurama nodded, "Yes, I should get home." 'Before Mother notices I'm gone.' He added silently.

Katsumi glanced toward the blunt fire demon and then back at red-headed man in front of her as the two briefly talked. She was slightly upset to see them discuss leaving, mostly because Kurama was the only person she'd talk to since she had woken up who actually managed to give her some sense of true comfort. Though she was still torn, battered, and bruised mentally, atleast now she had the beginnings of a firm sense of new direction. She was thankful for that. "Please, pass my apologies on to Koenma. I think..I'll be okay now, with some time." Her blue eyes had a newborn spark within them, it was faint but definitely there.