Disclaimer: I do not own Yuyu Hakusho.

Alright. After such a disgustingly long absence, I would first like to apologize to anyone who liked this story, and decided to abandon it because it was never updated. I would also like to apologize to anyone still reading it, hoping in vain that sometime it will be updated. This chapter has been a long time in coming, and though I am quite proud that I managed to finally spit this thing out, I also feel that the ending left a little to be desired. Ah, well. On a lighter note, this is the longest chapter to date.

Secondly, I would like to thank all the people who reviewed the last chapter, and just the story in general, even when it had been two-plus years since it had been updated.

Thirdly, I would just like to mention that since the last time this was updated, my writing style has changed drastically. Also, this chapter focuses a lot on Yusuke. There was no particular reason for that. That's really just how it came out. I would also like to mention that I just typed this all in one sitting. Though I do have the plot all worked out in my head, every type I post something up, the finer details are basically just made up on the spot, so please forgive me for any inconsistencies that may exist between the chapters.

Lastly, I would just like to mention that the reason I actually sat myself down and wrote this chapter was not because of any reviewers, or anything like that. It was actually because I received an email today telling me that someone with the username ShadowLovers favourited my story. So, if you'd like to thank anyone for this chapter, thank them.

So, without further ado, may I present chapter ten of TDTHF.

The Day The Hiroseki Fell

"Yukina-chan?" Rui asked uncertainly after a few moments. "What's wrong?"

"Either I'm going insane..." she began. "Or the rest of the Reikai Tantei are coming to storm the castle."

Rui got up hurriedly, and moved to the window Yukina was staring out of. Sure enough, there were three ant-sized people running towards the main gate of the keep. Just at that moment, a servant bounded into the room, and bowed hurriedly, crying, "M'lady! Intruders are planning to force their way through the front gate! What are your orders?"

Rui glanced at Yukina and nodded, before addressing the servant Yukina suddenly realized she had seen before.

"Yatsushi," Rui kneeled down, putting her hands on the boy's shoulders. "Call off all the guards. Let the three through; if anyone asked questions, tell them they are personal friends of mine, and will receive punishment if they try to hassle them. Lead them straight here. Got it?"

"Yes, M'lady!" Yatsushi cried, and was gone in flash, back out the double oak doors that led into the room.

Chapter Ten: Castles and Commitments

The keep was much bigger close up, Yusuke decided. As Kurama, Kuwabara and himself approached the giant structure at a dead run, he realized just how much of its greatness had been lost to the distance that they had been standing at before. Despite its size and the many, many, many demons possibly holed up a building that big, Yusuke was determined. Hiei and Yukina were in there. Two very important people to him, despite how much Hiei may deny it. There was no way he couldn't be determined. Though he also couldn't deny the old punk side of him was excited at the idea of a possible fight.

As they approached the gate of the mammoth castle, he noticed the slew of demons, pathetically C class and lower, standing around the front entrance. His heart jumped and his blood pumped faster, and he was unable to stop the smirk from sliding onto his features. How he loved cleaning up garbage.

An unspoken communication passed between the three Spirit World detectives, and they all continued running, coming up on the group of demons impressively fast. The nearest guards looked slightly alarmed at their unaltered pace, but raised battle axes and fists, and whatever weapons happened to be of their particular forte.

Yusuke could feel his excitement rise. This was the kind of thing that the previous years of his life had been full of, even dedicated to. Fighting an unknown opponent. Beating people and getting beaten. It was something that people rarely understood about him; the passion he actually had for fighting. Most everyone only assumed he was a delinquent. One of the reasons his only true friend had been Kuwabara for so long, despite their disagreements, was that he was one of the few people who could understand Yusuke's exuberant love of battle.

The nearest guard to him was looking positively ill at the thought of fighting, but that didn't deter him. This was one more obstacle keeping him from his goal, and he'd be damned if he let the enemy's reluctance to defend himself stop him from jumping this hurdle.

He was ten feet away. The demon raised a spiked club, and gulped.

He was seven feet away. The demon had sweat shining visibly on his forehead.

He was five feet away. His fist was raised, and he saw the demon close his eyes and begin praying. It didn't want to die.

He was two feet away. The demon was awaiting his execution.

He was less than half a foot awa--

"STOP!"

His feet went on automatic at the sudden shout and he stopped, hand still raised, less than two inches from the demon's scrunched up face. He glanced around him, only to find his companions in similar states of complete confusion. Kurama had his Rose Whip in hand, and seemed to have been in the process of cutting one of the demons to pieces, but his whip was only loosely wrapped around the demon's torso, and he was blinking away his befuddlement. Kuwabara's Rei Ken was out, and mere centimeters away from decapitating one of the poor demons, who, noticing his pause, cringed away as fast as his badly trembling legs could carry him.

Finally, Yusuke's wandering eyes led him to the source of the disturbance. A very small, human-looking, yet obviously demon boy was standing in the middle of the fray of badly trained "guards." His deep green hair was loosely tied back and trailed down between his shoulder blades, golden eyes with slit pupils and pointed ears the only obviously demon traits about him. His torn and stained clothes denoted his servant's status, but his youki was startlingly high for a mere slave; Yusuke thought that as untrained as the boy seemingly was, he could have been at least a high B class demon.

Glancing around again, Yusuke took in the air with which the other demons greeted him: pure relief. They looked like they wouldn't have been happier to see their own mother after years of forced separation.

"Please," the boy spoke again in his childish voice, directly indicating Yusuke and Kurama, as Kuwabara's opponent had already fled. "Put away your weapons."

Yusuke trained his eyes back in front him, and realized he still had his fist raised to punch the demon still trembling before him. Cautiously, he lowered his fist, the demon heaving a huge sigh of relief, and turned to the boy who had commanded him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurama release the victim of his whip, and with a flick of his wrist, turn it back into a rose. Similarly, Kuwabara cut off the flow of reiki that had been supporting his energy sword's existence. With that done, Yusuke took the initiative to speak, as official leader of the team.

"Who the heck are you?"

He could tell that his delivery left much to be desired (the tic Kuwabara developed under his eye, the small, yet clearly exasperated sigh released from Kurama's mouth), but the question the three of them were wondering was asked.

"Yatsushi is Rui-sama's servant," the boy answered, dipping his head lightly. "And you three are expected upstairs. Please, follow."

And with that, the boy turned and walked into the castle, obviously expecting the Tantei to follow. The three turned to each other, and Kurama spoke with a shrug.

"It would be better to go in invited than to have to battle our way through."

As Kuwabara was nodding at the wisdom of Kurama's words, Yusuke couldn't help but feel a smidge of disappointment. He wanted to fight, darn it! But in turn, he sighed.

"Let's go, then. We don't want to keep this 'Rui' waiting, right?"

Then, taking the front as a proper leader should, Yusuke set his shoulders, and directed the two other detectives as they chased after the boy who had already disappeared into the deep, confusing corridors of the keep.

.-.-.-.

The only thing Yusuke could tell about the trip up the keep was that, well… they were going up. They took so many different turns and staircases that it had even crossed his mind that the demon boy was doing this on purpose, to confuse them so the wouldn't be able to leave. Once he had voiced this thought aloud, the boy he turned to him, looking slightly abashed.

"That is the true reason the castle was made like this," he had admitted. "But Yatsushi isn't doing it on purpose. This is truly the only way he knows of to get to the Conference Room."

Annoyed, Yusuke had butted in. "And why do you talk about yourself like that?"

But the boy had just blinked like he had no idea what Yusuke was talking about.

"Like what?" he had questioned, but Yusuke decided it wasn't worth it, and had dropped the subject.

That had been about ten minutes ago, and now the four of them were traveling in silence, nothing but their footsteps echoing off the never-ending slew of corridors.

Suddenly, Yatsushi stopped, and it was all Yusuke could do to keep from plowing right into the brat.

"What's the hold up?" he said gruffly, after turning around and punching Kuwabara for walking into him ("It's not my fault you stopped so suddenly, Urameshi!" ; "It wasn't mine either, Kuwabaka!").

"We are at the Conference Room," the boy said, simply, indicting a large set of oak doors directly to the right of where they were standing. Turning to face them fully, the boy knocked twice, before speaking towards the door. "Rui-sama? The honored guests have arrived."

A cool female voice sounded from inside the room. "Thank you, Yatsushi. You may let them in."

"Yes, M'lady," the demon boy replied. He hesitated for the briefest moment, then turned to the three detectives.

"Please," he whispered, his golden eyes full of pain. "Please, hear M'lady out first. Don't… don't judge her actions without first trying to understand her reasons."

Yusuke stared into the boy's eyes, watching the emotions swirling around in them. Loyalty: obviously for his mistress. Sadness: For what she had done? Probably. Fear: For what they may do to her? Again, probably. And last, there was something else. Something that took Yusuke a minute before he placed it, because in that mix, it seemed so out of place. Respect. Respect that they could make their own decisions, and maybe a dash of hope that they would give his mistress a chance to redeem herself.

Well, of course, Yusuke thought, that they couldn't just attack without first knowing her reasons. But this boy was pleading with them, simply because of how much she meant to him. She was his just as much as he was hers. Without her, he wouldn't be worth anything. Just in that simple request, he had proved, whether meaning to or not, that there was much more to this situation than what met the eye.

It was then that Yusuke realized that there was no way he could ignore this boy's request. Not matter what his thoughts were going in there, he needed to keep a clear head, and make sure the full story got told. Which also meant restraining Kuwabara (and possibly Kurama, considering the circumstances) until the whole thing was played out accordingly. Sometimes, Yusuke thought, life really wasn't fair.

"Don't worry, kid," he finally said, a cocky smirk on his face. "We're not the bad guys that just go in bustin' ass first, and askin' questions later. We'll make sure to get all details before doin' that."

He ignored the snort he heard from Kuwabara at his statement, and locked gazes with the demon boy, trying to prove his sincerity. Finally, the boy smiled, the mixed emotions leaving his eyes.

"Thank you very much," the boy intoned, bowing deeply at the waist. He straightened and turned towards the doors again, this time pushing one of them open, and allowing the Reikai Tantei to enter the room.

Yusuke, as the first one in, made a preliminary sweep of the room before entering it too far -- one never knew, after all, when one was facing a trap -- but the only thing he saw in the large room, was an overly big wooden table with many chairs around it, two of which were occupied by Yukina, and another Koorime ice maiden who must have been Yatsushi's 'Rui-sama', and a few windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling of the room. Nothing at all out of the ordinary, his mind supplied.

Wait. Yukina?

"Yukina-chan!" he said happily, moving further into the room, allowing Kurama and Kuwabara to see past him.

At his exclamation, Kuwabara practically shoved Kurama out of the way and into the door in his haste to enter the room.

"Yukina-chan!" he sang, running up the room to her, and clasping one of her cool hands in both of his. "Are you alright? What happened? Where's the squirt?"

Yukina smiled at his exuberance before answering his questions.

"Yes, I'm fine, Kazuma-san, thank you for asking. What happened is a rather long story that you will all hear about shortly, and where Hiei-san is ties directly into that."

"So, you must be Rui-san, then?" Kurama asked, addressing the only other demon in the room.

"Yes, that is me," the ice maiden answered steadily, though her eyes were pained, and laced with what seemed to be regret. "Before I start telling my story, I would like to apologize for my actions thus far. I'm not going to make excuses for myself, nor am I going to try and hide from what I've done. If, when all this is over, you see it fit to take me into the custody of Reikai, then by all means, please do so. If nothing is done, than this guilt will surely eat me alive."

Yusuke could tell, not just from her words, or the feelings conveyed by her eyes, but also her posture, and her body language, that she meant every word she said.

Much more to this situation indeed. Yusuke sighed. Seriously. Why was it always him?

Turning to Rui, he said, "Don't get ahead of yourself. Before we even talk about punishment, we have to solve this whole mess first. And Koenma might be able to overlook you having started this whole thing if you also helped to bring peace to it."

Rui gave him a watery smile.

"Thank you."

Yusuke smiled back, a bit embarrassed.

"Nothing to thank me for," he shrugged slightly. "Just the truth."

Rui smiled at him again, this time with a slight laugh. She then turned to the demon boy still standing by the door, waiting to either be excused or put to use.

"Yatsushi," she said, and he was immediately at her side.

"M'lady," he said, inciting her to continue.

"Will you please go to the Planning Room and retrieve the maps for me? You know the ones," she asked, smiling sweetly at the boy.

"Of course, M'lady," he replied without hesitation, and was out the door in less than a second, closing it carefully behind him. Rui gave a wistful sigh as she watched him.

"I found him about fifty years ago," she said to the room at large. "It seemed that he had been beat nearly to death. I never asked about his past; how he ended up that way, or why. I simply healed him, and ever since he has been my self-proclaimed servant. I've told him many times that I see him as an equal, even a son to me, but still insists to do these things for me like he is my slave. He claims it as a life debt, but I really wish he wouldn't force himself like this."

The room was silent for a moment, before Kurama spoke.

"I really don't believe he is forcing himself, Rui-san. He truly just wants to be able to help you in any way he can. I think he believes that this is the only way that he can really be useful to you, and so that is what he does. If every little thing he does is something that you personally want or need for him to do, then he is satisfied."

"I never thought about it like that before," Rui admitted. "Do you think that if I asked him to do something else for me, he would?"

"Of course," Yusuke replied at once. "If it's somethin' you wanted him to do, he'd do it, no questions asked. I'd like to make a suggestion, though."

"Yes?" Rui looked at him questioningly.

"Get someone to train 'im," he answered. "He has amazingly powerful youki, and if he ever took time to polish up his abilities, he could become really strong. Tell him you want him to be a bodyguard, or something. He'd prolly do it, then."

Rui looked dazed. "Yes, thank you. I think I shall do that, then."

She glanced about the room, and shook her head. "When he comes back with the maps, we can get started. Please, take a seat. It shouldn't be long now…"

She trailed off, and the three detectives looked at each other. Looks like they were in for a long day.

-Owari-

Alright. So, that was it. Comments? Criticism? Love letters? Please review. I would like to know if there's anybody who is actually still reading this.

Oh, and one last thing. Even I don't know when the next update will be, but if the last wait was anything to go by, I would suggest not holding your breath.

Thank for reading, and again, please review if you're still reading this!

-Hatoko