"Yuusuke! It's an emergency!!! Koenma needs us!" Kurama flicked a concerned glance towards the slight figure on the bed.

"Kiso! What is it this time? Another escapee?" Yuusuke quickly stood up and overturned his chair. Hiei flinched when the seat landed with a crash. Yuusuke and Kurama ignored it, their attentions focused on the problem at hand. Namely, what were they going to do with Hiei? Hiei ignored their probing looks and stared at the door, waiting for his hero. It didn't take long for him to appear.

"GODDAMMIT!!" Kuwabara pushed his way into the room, soaking wet and dish washing bubbles were perched unbecomingly on his orange head. "Botan!! Why'd you have to go and scare me like that?"

"Gomenasai, Kuwabara-chan!" a sweet voice answered. "But it really was an emergency and when I saw Kurama-kun through the kitchen window..." The voice came closer, and Hiei's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when this "Botan" appeared.

He wasn't surprised because this "Botan" was a very pretty girl, nor at the fact that she had lovely pink hair. It wasn't even that she was wearing a kimono that matched her hair perfectly. It was the oar. That and the fact that the oar was *floating* and that she was sitting on it with her toes a good eight inches off the ground. _And_ the oar was propelling itself to follow Kuwabara into the room. Even worse was that this entire scene was too, *too* familiar for Hiei. A clamoring noise filled his head, drowning out the conversation that swirled around him.

The room spun, and Hiei fainted for the second time that night.

"Hn." The figure grunted. "Took you long enough to get here."

"W-who are you? And where are we??" Hiei-chan sat up and slid on his rear to retreat a few inches. He peered into the shadows, trying to see "not-him's" expression.

"I'm you of course. We're in your.. I mean MY head." With those words, the figure threw back his concealing hood to reveal a grim faced expression. "And don't you pass out again! You and I need to talk."

"B-b-b-but..." Hiei-chan spluttered.

"Geez," Hiei growled. "I can't believe you and I are the same person! You're such a little wimp!"

"I'm not a wimp!" Hiei-chan snarled back, his voice a perfect match for the darkly threatening tone that his mirror had used.

To Hiei-chan's surprise, the other one smiled, small fangs glimmering in the dark. "I guess you're not, after all. Hn. I guess you haven't totally forgotten *everything*."

"What do you want?" Hiei-chan asked, suddenly awfully sure he knew exactly what "not-him" wanted.

"To go back, of course. Don't be dense. You've been hanging around that idiot Kuwabara too much, since you're..._I'M_ obviously not at y-MY peak."

"Don't call Kuwabara-kun an idiot! He's smart and he's brave and he's nice and--" Hiei-chan shouted back.

"I'll call him anything I want." Hiei cut in smoothly. "Now back to yo-MY little problem..."

"There isn't any problem! I LIKE Kuwabara-kun and YOU can stay here forever for all I care! You're mean and nasty and you deserve to get stuck here!" Hiei-chan screamed, then in a lightning-fast move worthy of his previous self, blinked towards the large mirror. Without a backward glance, ignoring the startled shout of "HEY YOU COME BACK HERE!", he slammed against the mirror and...

...woke up to find Kurama holding him. Again.

"This is getting to be a habit, Hiei," Kurama teased, hiding the worry in his green eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes. I'm sorry." Hiei struggled back up and shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Hey, you okay shorty?" Kuwabara asked, and Hiei-chan looked over to where his hero hovered nearby.

"Uh-hn," he nodded his head and smiled.

"Mnn.. Excuse me?" Botan's voice broke in, hesitant but worried. "But...Koenma needs to talk to you all..."

With that, everyone turned from Hiei to watch Botan pull out a remote control from her sleeve. She turned around and pointed it at a blank wall. She pressed a button, and with a second of static, the wall revealed a huge two-dimensional Koenma-head glaring at them over his pacifier.

"What took you so long?" He snarled at Botan, then ignoring the girl's splutters, continued, "We've got a problem."

"Obviously," Yuusuke muttered, earning him a black glare from Koenma's beady eyes. Yuusuke smiled cheekily then shrugged.

"Ahem. Anyway," Koenma glared at them all again as though daring them to interrupt. "As I said, we have a BIG problem. A powerful youkai is loose, and we're not sure where he is."

"Who is it, Koenma?" Kurama's soothing tones seemed to pacify the upset toddler.

"His name is Yokosu. He's an upper level A-class youkai, dangerous, crazy and starving. My guess is that he's somewhere in the Ningenkai looking for something to eat."

"Better check out the ramen and okonomiyaki shops then," Kuwabara put in, unable to resist.

"NOT FUNNY!" Koenma blasted over the snickers. "This is serious. I want you to find him, bring him back here for punishment and make sure he doesn't get a hold of some nice and tasty Ningen. IF he feeds before you guys catch him, the shit will really hit the fan."

"Okay, we're on it." Yuusuke announced, "Got a visual for us?"

"Yes." Koenma's face blurred out and was replaced by a...

"A PINK SLUG??" Kuwabara shouted. "Yokosu is a giant earthworm? What the hell!"

Koenma reappeared, "He's no earthworm. He's a damn parasite with one hell of an appetite and you'd better find him quick bef-- Wait. We've got his location pinpointed." Koenma disappeared again and a map of the city came on screen.

"Hey, it's the park!" Yuusuke came closer to the wall, and stabbed a finger at the blinking pink dot. "It's close to where I took Hiei when we skipped schoo--oops." He turned his head to look over his shoulder. Kuwabara was wildly shaking his head and Hiei was staring at him with big eyes. He rolled his eyes towards where Kurama was standing and a large sweat drop rolled down Yuusuke's cheek. "Ehe-heh. Kurama... I meant.. uh..."

"We'll talk about this later, Yuusuke." Kurama's voice was calm, but a tic beat wildly under his eye.

"Yuusuke, would you mind getting your finger off my nose please."

Koenma asked, and Yuusuke jumped back. Botan snickered and got back on her oar.

"Well, I'll see you guys there!" With a wave to everyone and a wink at Hiei, she flew out of the window -- which was fortunately open.

"Well. Uh, let's get going then." Yuusuke slithered towards the door, a safe distance from a decidedly steamed looking Kurama.

"Uh, problem. Who's going to stay with Hiei?" Kuwabara pointed out, even as enjoyed the sight of Yuusuke getting stabbed by Kurama's knife-sharp killing glares.

"I'm coming with you!" Hiei jumped off the bed to stand next to Kuwabara. "I'm not staying here."

"Yes, you are," Kuwabara announced.

"No, I'm not," A frown worthy of his former self manifested on Hiei's face.

"Hey, we don't have time to argue." Yuusuke yelled impatiently. "Hiei, you can come along only if you SWEAR you're going to keep out of the way. You're wounded and you've not in the best shape." Then, trying to forestall Hiei -- and Kurama's -- protests, "Hiei, *Kuwabara* can't do his job if he has to keep an eye on you. Kurama, he'll be fine. He's not totally helpless and with you, me and Kuwabara taking the slug on, this'll be a short fight."

Kurama opened his mouth to argue when he caught Hiei's eye. Hiei was looking stubborn and Kurama knew that it was pointless to even try and convince the little koorime to stay.

"Fine. Let's go then." Kurama nodded curtly, and silently swore to himself that *HE* would be looking out for Hiei, no matter what.