Disclaimer: Do Not Own Yu Yu Hakusho

Wit and Courage

Genre: Romance/General/ActionAdventure/Humor/Drama

Rated: M

Pairings: Hiei/Oc, Kurama/Botan, Keiko/Yusuke, Yukina/Kuwabara, Shizuru/Koenma

(Full) Summary: Callie has now been accepted into the life of the Reikai Tantei and now has to deal with all the trials and consequences of such. Not only is she dealing with any hardships of regular life she has to face those problems the group has to deal with. And if facing this mysterious smuggling ring that she is connected with isn't enough she has to come to an understanding of what exactly her feelings are for Hiei.

"Kidnapping ploys, murder schemes, terrifying demons hell bent on destroying the balance of the three worlds…this is our life, monkey, welcome to it."

Warnings: Sexual tension, sexual humor, sex, dark/possessive moments. Oc romance and this is a sequel--you have to read Will and Determination to get where this story is starting from.

Note: This is probably better characterized and written then its prequel. I can be an incredibly sloppy writer and if a story starts off a sloppy then it will continue being sloppy. This will be better in most things. Keiko's last name will be spelled: Ukimura. This is semi-AU. I altered the King's Tournament--it was explained in Will and Determination in one of the author's notes. But I will try to add a detailed segment sometime here

Request: If I can get AT LEAST fifteen reviews for each chapter I will update--the more reviews the faster the update. But I need at least fifteen so I know people are actually interested and reading it.

Updates: I try to update every other Friday.

Chapter One

Down the Rabbit Hole

The airport was crowded, as it usually was during the Christmas season. Outside a blanket of snow was on the ground, spreading out across the city--it was, as some would call it, a Winter Wonderland. It was a gentle and beautiful scene.

Unfortunately the same could not be said about what was occurring within a small group at the small airport.

Yusuke had a small brunette girl in a headlock, his black hair being sprinkled with the white snow that was falling to the ground softly.

"You little…you damn little bitch!" He growled out as he squeezed her neck between his arms.

"You're choking me!" The American girl quaked, her voice box getting squeezed, trying to get out of his powerful arms and hold. "Yusuke!! Let go!!" She whined.

"Come on Urameshi! Dis is the reason why we are no longer allowed in dis airport!"

"Alright." Yusuke began as he released her leaving her to fall down on the ground face first. He smirked as he looked down at the girl, who was squirming dramatically for air. Both of them were covered in scrapes and bruises after their brawl in the airport which left them being kicked out. Kuwabara said it was lucky they weren't taken into custody.

Rolling his eyes he reached down and hauled her to her feet, "Stop being overdramatic."

"You were choking me! I need air to survive!"

He promptly slapped her upside the head and in return he was socked in the stomach. "Ow! Damn it--stop doing that!"

"Stop being an asshole and maybe I will!!" She huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and threw her head to the side.

Growling Yusuke glared at the girl who had been called the love-child between him and Kuwabara. 'This brat is nothing like me!' He thought in a huff as he threw his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest.

The other teen looked between the two wondering if they both knew how alike they were--it was almost like they were siblings.

'I need an aspirin.' Kuwabara thought with a twitch, sweatdropping at the sight of the two mirror-images. He then cleared his throat and looked at Yusuke who looked over and nodded back, understanding the message.

Looking over he sneered at the girl, "Time for you to get use to our life, squirt."

Callie's brown eyes narrowed, "Don't call me squirt…and what do you mean get use to your life?"

"Our life." He corrected before he handed his backpack and her luggage to Kuwabara. He then turned around and pointed to his back. "Hop on."

"Huh?"

"Think of this as a test of sorts. Let's see how you can handle this." He saw her confused look and ushered her some more. "Come on."

The girl looked over at Kuwabara.

He then smiled, "Don't worry about the luggage--I've carried heaver stuff. Go on and hop on Urameshi's back…dis will give you a taste of our world. A different one then the one you got before-hand."

Callie nodded and went up to Yusuke and pulled herself up on his back. His arms hooked around her legs and he grinned back at her, "Now hold on, shorty--this might be a bit weird." And then he and Kuwabara took off.

"HOLY SHIIIIIT!!" She wailed as she clenched his neck, shuddering slightly.

"You alright back there?" Yusuke called.

"I-In a way…" She whimpered. "I was just remembering when I was kidnapped…I was taken the same way and…" The brunette flinched as she remembered what had occurred just a few weeks before hand.

"Bad memories." Kuwabara stated. "But are you alright overall? With dis situation and the fact dat you are on Yusuke's back going faster then any car?"

Callie nodded, "Y-yeah…trust me, the speed and the movement isn't bothering me. Just the memories…I can't believe that I am freaking out like this…"

"You had a traumatic experience." Kuwabara pointed out. "It's alright dat you feel uncomfortable."

"Not that--I mean…I have had a few nightmares, sure, but any bad-dreams I've had recently has been mostly about abandonment. This is the first time I have actually been scared of a memory and this one in specifically."

The two thought for a moment.

"It's probably because you haven't been in a situation yet that has reminded you of what happened that night." Yusuke said, jumping over an alley-way and onto another roof. "Damn Kuwabara--you've gotten better at this."

The orange-hair male smirked, "I've been training like you, Urameshi! Just because I am not as strong as you does not mean that I can't do dis much."

"What do you do for training?" Callie asked.

"Many things…many things that you will be introduced to very soon." Yusuke replied.

"Uh…?" She blinked. "Introduced too…? What do you mean?" A small gasp escaped her throat when the jumped on a rather large building. "This is so cool…"

The team-leader laughed, happy that she was becoming distracted from her bad-memories but then he knew he had to explain what was occurring. She was going to get one hell of a wake-up call. The world she was now entering into was dangerous and terrible--and she was rather innocent and naïve. What she was entering into was dark and cruel.

"I know I probably shouldn't be telling you this without the others--but our 'manager' might be interested in you joining us. With your spiritual-energy you can probably be a decent enough fighter. You will be taught how to mold your energy and how to fight…at the very least to protect yourself." Yusuke explained as they continued to hop from one rooftop to another. 'We should be at her house in about five more minutes.' He calculated knowing that Meiou was a bit of a distance away from the airport.

"Oh." She replied still looking a bit confused at what she was being told--she hadn't taken into account that she might have to fight or work to get accepted into the family.

"You see, runt," Kuwabara began when he saw her confusion. "In our position we make a lot of enemies--as you have seen." At her nod he continued. "And the girls in our group are major targets--also as you have witnessed. Botan and my sister have decent enough power to protect themselves but right now the sole protector of the girls is Genkai…"

"And she is getting on in age." Yusuke inputted, knowing that the woman was loosing her power and strength. He winced, it wouldn't be too much longer before he would have to say goodbye to his mentor and teacher.

Callie looked rather shocked at what she was being told, "Wait…" She shook her head as if she didn't believe what had been said. "Wait…so…you want me to take her place?"

The two nodded making her gape all the more.

"Exactly." The taller male explained. "You have the potential of being a great fighter."

"Now you will not be on the battle-field nor will you be joining us for any missions or any more tournaments should they come up--that will be left up to us." Yusuke stated. "What you will be doing is playing body-guard to the rest. When we go on missions you will be with the girls prepared to fight off any attackers--you will have to be their shield."

She blinked again, "To all of them?"

"You see, runt, Yukina and Keiko can't fight and the others can't hold their own for long…" Kuwabara said. "Not too mention you need to learn so as another episode like dat won't happen again. With you having power we will know everyone is safe."

Callie looked thoughtful, "Why hasn't Keiko and Yukina been taught how to fight?"

"Because…well…it's hard to explain. But they aren't built for fighting. Now I don't mean physically…it's mostly mentally. Now we have taught them some things, like how to escape out of some holds and binds and simple things like that--basically things that will keep them alive for a few more seconds." Yusuke replied, slowing down in his strides as they came up to the city.

"Until you get there." Callie said in awe--this whole scenario was amazing in her eyes. "But why me…?"

"You're spiritually-aware." Kuwabara answered.

She went silent for a moment at this answer before she carefully asked, "Because I can see ghost…I can get powerful?"

"Actually…yes." Yusuke nodded. "Not always but when you are that spiritually-aware you have the ability of reaching into power and becoming what we are…what Kuwabara is. You will be pushed to your limits. You will be trained to be a fighter so as you can actually fight against enemies." Yusuke stated with a smirk. "You're not getting into our life for free."

She pursed her lips feeling a bit insulted at that crack, "What do you mean for free?"

True she hadn't expected something like this in return for being allowed to stay with them but she thought that she would have to swear an oath or pledge her life or something--she had no idea that when pleading her life it would be very literal.

"What he means is," Kuwabara stated, glaring at Yusuke for being rather insulting. "Is that if you…er…join dis group and you have the ability to do something you will be forced to do it."

Now that made sense--in a group like this everyone had to use their talents to the best of their abilities to protect everyone else. It was like colony or community of animals she watched on TV. "Alright…I understand." Looking over between the two she pointed out, towards Yusuke, "You're a demon…" Callie then remembered what happened when she was kidnapped. "Oh! You're the king?!"

He laughed, "Somewhat…I can become it if I wanted to and my…ancestral-father was one of the three kings, remember what I told you about the Makai? How it was once divided into three parts and each three parts had a ruler? My father was one of them…then there was the tournament."

"But you turned down the position." She noted as they came upon the city of Meiou.

"For now that is. I want to live as a human for a while before I take over…besides if I do become the king then Keiko will have to live with me there and I want her to spend as much time possible here." He said honestly.

The little brunette was silent a moment, "What's it like in the demon world?"

"It's very dangerous and many places are too toxic for normal humans to breathe in…but there are some places at that are…uhm…" Yusuke struggled for words, hoping not to sound girly. "Well…I guess it's pretty…"

"Haha! You said pretty!"

"I'M GOING TO DROP YOU YOU LITTLE HORSE-SHIT!!"

"DO AND YOU DIE PIG-BANGER!!"

Kuwabara groaned, 'Maybe if I just ignore them they will go away…'


Shiori burst into tears and ran towards the brunette, pulling her close and began to sob in her hair. "You…don't you ever do something like this again!" Her grip was tight on the small girl as she wept and released all her worry, anger, and sadness through her tears, wetting Callie's short hair.

Shame instantly wrapped around her daughter as she was forced to face the consequences of her leaving; a heartbroken mother. Callie looked down, "I-I'm sorry…"

"Sorry just isn't going to be enough this time," She stated as she pulled herself back looked down at her daughter seriously. "We are going to have a long talk about your actions and what happened." Shiori couldn't put into words how furious she was with her daughter but her relief was numbing the mother's fury down.

"Ok…" She said softly very ashamed that she made her mother cry and worry. Her chest began to constrict as the situation slowly began to seep into her mind. She had run away--she had forced her mother to go through such a terrible time period because she was selfish and a coward. Her mother looked haggard and weak, she must have stressed herself sick and she's pregnant.

The small brunette hated herself at the moment, her actions might've caused harm to her mother and new sibling. "I-I'm really sorry…" She apologized again, despite knowing it wasn't going to make too much of a difference.

Shiori sighed as she gave her daughter a pat on the head, "I was told why you did this but that doesn't mean I'm going to accept it easily. But we will talk about it later, as I have said before." She then looked up at the two males, "Yusuke, Kazuma…thank you so much for bringing her back home." She held on tightly to the girl, afraid she would run off again.

"Callie!!" A familiar voice whined and then she was almost tackled down to the ground. Her younger brother, who was about a head-size taller then her, held on tightly to her. "I've been worried! Where were you?! Are you ok? Did you get me anything?"

"Shuichi!" Shiori snapped. "She's just come back from running away and you want to know if she got you something?!"

He had the decency of looking a bit sheepish, "Sorry mom…I guess thinking she got me something was selfish of me."

"Actually," Callie began as she pulled out some bags. "I did."

"Best. Sister. EVER!!" The younger kid cheered as he grabbed what was his and ran up to his room looking forward to opening it.

"You do know this isn't letting you off the hook." Shiori sighed as she took her gift eyeing the bag, "The same with you." She glared at her husband, having a feeling he gave the girl a bit of money so she could buy 'I'm sorry' gifts for everyone to ease up on the punishment.

He laughed nervously as he took his own present, inching back from his angered wife--he had been caught. "T-Thank you sweetie." He opened it and laughed. "Hot-sauce?"

"Homemade hot-sauce and…I-I wouldn't eat it without water daddy…" She warned when she saw him open it. "Daddy…I really don't think that's a good idea!"

He scoffed at her warning playfully as he sniffed the contents--it did smell strong but he wasn't worried. "I love spicy things. There hasn't been anything that has made me gasp for air yet." He used his pinky and scooped up some of the sauce from the cap and ate it. "See?"

The brunette winced, "Three…two…one…"

"Oh…god…" He gasped for air; his eyes watery and his face flushed, and then ran into the kitchen to get some water. His plan on looking macho and smug had backfired--something that tends to happen a lot with males.

"I believe we have learned a lesson, haven't we dear?" Shiori called after him with a grin, quite happy at the misery her husband was going through. It turns out she was a bit revengeful and not the sweet-housewife everyone believes her to be.

She then opened her gift and smiled slightly, it was a very pretty hand woven scarf that seemed to have more Hispanic colors and designs. "All is not forgiven." She said as she pulled it around her shoulder, very much enjoying the gift.

"I-I…well…" The girl fidgeted a bit. "I…" What could she say to any of this? She did a stupid thing and worried her parents sick--she actually made her family cry. A whimper escaped her, her bottom lip trembling as her eyes watered. All her hate for herself came back and she nearly began bawling her eyes out.

'Crybaby-Callie strikes again.' Yusuke thought, knowing that the girl is a bit emotional and would tear up at times.

Shiori saw her daughter begin too look close to bawling and sighed but kept up a smile--these past few weeks have completely winded her and found herself in need of a nap. "It's alright…we'll talk about this later with Shuichi. I'm furious with you and you are in trouble but it's…I guess a different type of trouble. As I said we will discuss it later." She hugged her daughter once more before she spun her around and shooed her out of the door.

"Uh?" The girl blinked.

Shiori had a stern look in her eye again as she pointed out of the house, "I'm not the only one you need to apologize too. You worried everyone…your brother has been blaming himself for your disappearance. It's best that you go and talk to him and everyone else and explain yourself, young lady."

Callie winced, "A-Alright." She held onto the bag of goodies as she was once again ushered out of the door.

"They're at the shrine so you better go and plead for their forgiveness." She then smiled at the two boys. "Thank you once again for bringing our wayward daughter back to where she belongs."

"It's not a problem." Yusuke said with a small sheepish smile of his own. "Actually…all the blame shouldn't be on the runt…she was having a bit of a hard time and we were not only refusing to help her we were actually causing a lot of the problems. We were idiots and we're very sorry."

Shiori nodded, accepting the apology, "Her elder brother confined in me that they got into a huge argument and he actually told her to go back to the states…but that does not lessen her fault. She should not run and worry us like that because of a fight. But don't worry--its not like she will never see the light again."

Callie winced with a small whimper; she was SO grounded for this.

"Now go." She shooed. "I know everyone is worried about her."

Kuwabara gave her a small farewell as they began to take her daughter off to where their friends were. "You know Urameshi…you just might be in trouble as well." He snickered. "You did leave without giving Keiko a goodbye kiss."

The small brunette grinned evilly as well, "You didn't? Well how rude of you. I wonder what she will do to you once we get there."

Yusuke's cheeks colored darkly. "Shut up! I am not whipped or afraid of Keiko! I'm my own man!"

"Sure, sure." The two chortled, obviously not believing him.

"I'm telling the truth!"

"And we believe you! It's just that…oh is that…it is! Keiko-chan!" Callie squealed pointing to the right of Yusuke, waving a bit.

Yusuke promptly squealed and turned around bowing, "Don't hit me! Don't be mad! I did what I thought was best! I'm sorr-" He was cut off by the other two's laughter.

"He fell for it!" Callie was holding her stomach.

"Good one runt!" Kuwabara had tears pouring down his eyes--ah, what a joy it was to make fun of Urameshi Yusuke.

The black-haired Mazoku growled at his two friends, "Shut your damn mouths!! What makes you think something like this was funny?!" He roared pointing an accusing finger at the two, his temper rising. They just continued to laugh and he made a vow to unleash his awesome demon-king wrath upon them in the near future--especially on the brat who seemed to be the more annoying of the two.

How she defeated Kuwabrara in that little competition was beyond him but she managed to piss him off more so then his best-friend.

'Why did I go across the ocean for this thing again?' He wondered as a vein began to pulse under the skin of his forehead, his lips pulling back to reveal his teeth--despite looking pissed off and scary to passer-bys he looked anything but to the two that mattered. 'I swear it! I'M KILLING THESE BASTARDS!!'

"Hey…do you think they made up yet?" She asked, now becoming serious and worried.

"Hiei and Kurama you mean?" He asked and was answered with her nod. "It's hard to say. They both can be very stubborn and they're demons--it takes some time for their anger to be cooled down."

Callie frowned, "But both of them are so…collected!" She cried out not sure if she can believe either of the two loosing their cool. Other then the day that she left where her brother pushed her she had never seen him raise his voice and Hiei might've always seemed a bit short-tempered with her but in truth he was probably just playing with her.

"It's not something you really want to see. I don't think I have ever seen either of them really loose control--I've seen them both transform into their demon-forms, or in Kurama's case; his Yoko personality and it's a terrifying sight."

"But I don't get why they would, you know, fight now! What made them loose control?" She asked as they began to walk down the street, it would take quite a while till they get to where the shrine was located.

"How many times do I have to explain this to you?!" The ever impatient Yusuke snapped. His legs were promptly kicked out from under him.

"Don't get bitchy with me just because you're missing your owner!" The girl retaliated as she held on tightly to the gifts--hoping that no one would be too angry with her after giving them these items.

But in truth she wanted them mad at her--because wouldn't that mean they cared for her in the end? They were worried and angry with her which meant she was accepted into their world.

She prayed so--she knew Yusuke and Kuwabara weren't mad at her nor were they going to push her away from everything.

The brunette was begging to grow anxious as she realized she would be facing her friends after a terrible occurrence and argument. It has been almost three weeks since she's last seen her brother, the girls, and Hiei.

Her cheeks colored a bit as her heart almost seemed to perform a back-flip in her chest. Why did thinking of his face make her react like this?

"Keiko is NOT my OWNER!" Yusuke spat. "Listen--I will only explain this to you one. More. Time! Demons are possessive. You are our friend and comrade…that makes you our property." He held his arms, remembering how he had been hit by a pair of boots after that word when they first explained it.

The girl was not pleased at being 'owned'.

He flinched a bit at her glare and Kuwabara jumped in to defuse her--he was able to control the girl easier. "Runt, in a demon's view you're a possession. Your life belongs to them. Now you're not a slave or toy but…" He ran out of words--it was a difficult thing to explain.

"Just accept our term alright? Possession for demons and possession for humans can be rather different terms. Now shut up and pay attention."

The brunette stuck her tongue out at him and he retaliated by smacking her upside the head, leading her to loose her balance and trip over her own two feet--he instantly caught her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her back to a more balanced position.

"Gods, you are clumsy." She gave him an insulted glare and then he continued. "Let's try--once again--to get back on topic. Demons are possessive beings and once you come into our territory or our family group you're basically stuck. Your life is in our hands. Now while most in the Makai--or demon world--this is very literal. Many will kill those who oppose them and it would be in their right. Now, no one in our group is going to kill you if you oppose us but you're not allowed to leave us." He sighed. "You're now stuck with us….we gave you your only chance of leaving this world it's much to late now."

"Urameshi…it was much too late when she left." Kuwabara corrected with a small grin. "We could've just left her dere but we wanted her back…"

"The moron speaks the truth."

"I HATE YOU URAMESHI!!"

Yusuke pressed the button so as they could use the crosswalk. "So since we are so possessive we can't leave you behind."

"But that doesn't answer the question about Hiei and Kurama." Callie pointed out.

"I'm getting to that moron! You wouldn't have accepted it if I just said your HieTHEIR possession," He had to correct his words quickly though he knew that if Hiei was going to be possessive over anyone it would be of his stupid monkey.

"Can you please stop using the word possession? You've used it like fifty times already." She muttered grumpily.

He rolled his eyes. "Will you just let me finish talking?! Look. Everyone took sides on whether you should leave or be accepted and a small war broke out. Kurama was for you leaving and Hiei had no idea what side he should pick. But once you left Hiei decided to join you being accepted side and then attacked Kurama finding it his fault at the time."

"So basically…it's all my fault." Now the girl looked miserable that she caused two best friends to fight.

"Err…well…" Yusuke stumbled for the correct words. "The situation and the war were centered around you but it wasn't your fault. It was all of ours. We should've been more prepared for what would happen after you stayed with us for a while…we weren't so this huge mess occurred. You had no idea that the war was going on until…what? The day you left?" He asked more to himself then to her as he tried to think when exactly she became aware.

"After that. I thought everyone wanted me to leave." She replied honestly.

"Ok. But do you think you understand now a bit better? They were fighting because of you but it was also stress and a small rift had been between them for some time…" He then shrugged but did not mention that there has been a big rift between all of the group and Hiei. "Who knows? This might actually be good for them."

The brunette nodded, understanding what he meant instantly. "Yeah…fighting can release stress and it will do well for the friendship I believe."

The green light flashed signaling they could walk to the other side of the road. Hurrying over they walked in silence for a moment as Callie contemplated over what had been said. She hoped they two had made up but she almost found it hard to believe that Kurama and Hiei would actually fight each other and she also found it hard to believe they would fight because of her.

She began to nibble on her lip as her thoughts went back to Hiei. What Lily had asked her about made her think…was she interested in him romantically? It felt similar to what she felt for Kuwabara but there was also a huge difference and she had no idea what that difference was.

'I thought of him constantly when I was kidnapped and when I was back at the ranch…but I was pretty jealous of Yukina with Kuwabara before but…' Her head was beginning to hurt. Shaking her head she decided to do what she normally did when feelings and emotions were concerned; nothing.

Just let whatever happens happen and then do something like confessing. The only reason she didn't confess to Kuwabara the exact moment she knew she had a crush on him was because of Yukina and the relationship that was beginning to form between him and the pretty demon.

'But Hiei is absolutely stunning he gains attention easily from other women,' She sighed. 'Ok…now let me see what I feel if I picture him with a woman.'

She pictured it.

She didn't like it.

At all.

'Huh…' Callie blinked. 'Well that is different. I didn't like it.' There was no anger in her voice just a bit of wonder and surprise. 'Maybe I do like him.'

Maneuvering the bag of gifts to one arm she wrapped her coat tighter around her small body as the cold snowy winter wind howled past her. Her teeth chattered against each other--she was not use to cold weather like this. Quite a bit of the snow was brushing down into her clothes and shoes.

Kuwabara laughed and gave her a pat on the head, "I forgot--you're not use to this temperature."

"Nope…" She huffed, licking her lips that were chapping rapidly due to the weather. "Hey, I need to ask you two something about romance."

That earned every ounce of their attention easily.

"Romance?" Yusuke repeated in a horrified-fashion. There was no way his dumb-ass of an adoptive baby-sister/friend was going to be interested in a man! She was going to stay a dumb-ass baby forever! He nearly began bawling much to the other two's confusion, horror, fear, and disgust.

They inched away from the over-protective demon.

"Yeah, romance. I mean…when I confessed to Kuwabara my crush was already gone."

"SHE HAD A CRUSH ON YOU!?" He cried out pointing to the blushing tall-teen.

"Don't scream it!" Kuwabara cried out in embarrassment.

The girl sighed, "Yes, I had a crush on him. I confessed my feelings to him after I was kidnapped and he took me to the shrine."

"You two were alone…did you do anything?" Yusuke asked in suspicion.

It was obvious one had to be a certain height to get what he meant as it flew over Callie's head.

"Urameshi!! I'm Yukina's! I would never even look at another woman! She's all that I need." He sighed dreamily as he pictured his lovely ice-demon. "My sweet love…OH!!" It then clicked within his mind that he hadn't seen her for nearly two weeks and that after so long of being separated he was going to see her again. "Hurry! We need to get back to the shrine so I can see my wonderful snow-bunny!" And with that took off running.

"H-Hey!!" Callie whined loudly after him. "Where are you going?! I NEVER ASKED MY QUESTION!!" But it was obvious that Kuwabara was too love-struck to hear her as he continued running. It was also obvious that Kuwabara was too love-struck to notice all the ice as his shoes slapped against the slick surface and slipped--his arms flail around like a windmill, so fast all you could see were blurs, as he tried to get his balance back.

It was unneeded as he didn't fall; he instead made a face plant into a pole--his lip sticking to the metal.

The two sighed before they began walking over to their friend.

"Hey," Yusuke muttered to the girl. "You're in no position to sigh tiredly at him. You're much worse." He reminded as he thought back to all the trouble the klutzy, absent-minded girl had caused him. Really, he didn't think that even Kuwabara could somehow get his tongue stuck in a door-jam.

How Callie managed to pull that off will forever remain a mystery.

Not too mention she had run into many walls and doors and tripped over nothing.

The girl had the decency to blush at her rather hypocritical attitude before she too found herself slipping on the ice and her followed Kuwabara's path directly and then promptly smashed her forehead against the crown of his and forced his lips to smush even more against the frozen metal.

"Sorry!!" She cried, not affected by the hit at all.

Poor Kuwabara was out for the count--not many could probably survive a head-butt against the thick and empty skull Callie.

"Err…" Both brown-eyed individuals looked at each other, then back at Kuwabara, then back at each other. "What now?"


Hiei leaned against the wall and stared out at the snow--he hated this weather. He hated the cold and he hated ice and he hated snow. He wasn't even all that fond of water.

Anything that went against his nature and that reminded him of his other half--and in such his wretched birthplace--was not very accepted in his eyes. To him only ice-cream and his sister were the only exceptions to this hate.

But for some reason this winter was the one he hated the most out of all his years of living--a scenario he found insane and confusing. What about those winters he struggled in the Makai? Where he had to scourge for food and slaughter to survive and to sustain his blood lust? Or what about that oh so joyous time where he returned to the island of the Koorimes and discovered their pitiful existence and found that his plans for revenge had been useless?

His teeth ground against each other as his temper began to rise. 'Dumb-ass of a monkey…' Just the idea of she being the cause of his misery was not surprising (considering how much stress, pain, and misery she caused him when she was here) but it was impossible and idiotic to think that she was the cause of his foul mood. She did not mean that much to him. It was simply idiotic to think that she meant that much to him where she would actually control his mood.

A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed the back of his neck--he could feel stress prickling and building up at his muscles.

'Damn it.' He groaned to himself, understanding that he was in denial of sorts. 'Alright--I miss the primate.' He admitted to himself, and only to himself. The demon winced a bit when he remembered they very last thing that happened between them.

He had forced a drink down her throat and then when she was being faced with a terrible thing he, like a coward, ran away. He didn't even want to picture the hurt and betrayal that probably had crossed her features. The fire-demon was positively ashamed of himself; he's never run away before. And this wasn't even a life or death battle…it wasn't determining the fate of the worlds or anything like that it was just a tiny little human girl with large eyes.

A tiny little human girl with large eyes who was a natural-disaster walking.

The handsome man groaned as images of the moron tripping and killing herself kept popping up in his mind. Now he was being paranoid and worrying about a girl that he might never see again--this was not him, this was not Hiei who was quite possibly the most feared demon within the three worlds.

He's done so many terrors and he's getting freaked out because some ditz miles away was just tripping--he seriously doubted that she was going to kill herself because of a trip and even if she did kill herself it was not his concern.

Hiei groaned once more, his thoughts were turning insane again. He should want to kill the girl not wanting to protect her! What happened to those dark thoughts that would urge, almost purr, for him to destroy things? Why did it stop when she was there but started again when she left?

How could that pathetic stupid monkey have this type of control over him? Nothing has ever been able to stop those voices…

Shaking his head he inhaled again as he tried to control his thoughts about his emotions. He was not use to feelings like this--hell he was still getting use to being in this group of friends and family…now he was facing a hyper-monkey who was making his homicidal tendencies disappear and was being forced to confess to Yukina he was her brother.

It turns out Hiei is not very good at facing matters of the heart and of emotions like this.

Finding his head beginning to hurt as he thought about his feelings he instantly put a stop to it. It was a waste of time and energy to be worried about useless things such as emotions, especially emotions concerning a dumb-ass.

"Onii-san?"

He looked over at his sister, Yukina, "Hn."

Very use to his behavior and rather awful communications skills Yukina just smiled, "You look close to bashing your head against the wall…is there something wrong?"

"No."

"It's been longer then anticipated…they should've been back by now." The girl voiced her brother's thoughts. "You haven't seen Callie in three weeks so it almost seems as if she is not coming back." The girl sighed, now feeling a bit depressed. Where was she? Why hasn't she been brought back by Kazuma and Yusuke?

"Tch. As if I care about that little ape." He sneered.

She smiled a bit, he was very worried about her, it was obvious to the red-eyed young woman. "Onii-san…she will come back to you."

"To me?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"She would make a good mate for you." She smiled brightly, though he knew she was making fun of him. He discovered Yukina had a rather twisted sense of humor especially towards him.

"Excuse me?" Hiei snapped, glaring daggers at his sister. "Good mate? She's a disgusting human! She's a moron who doesn't know left from right! She's weak and anything but mate-material for me!" He ranted.

Yukina's grin, a rather evil grin to Hiei, grew. The demon didn't talk much with anyone and didn't put much emotion into anything…unless he was talking about a certain brunette. Just mention her name or hint something about her and Hiei practically looses his composure and does this…

And then he was left embarrassed because he actually does something rather childish.

"Alright, alright." She stated with a grin, waving off his denial. "You don't want her as a mate. All you needed to do was say 'no'." A small laugh escaped her mouth when his pale cheeks powdered with a tiny, almost unseen, blush. "It's me, onii-san…you can talk to me about how you feel about her."

"I don't feel anything for her."

He was closing himself up once again.

Yukina pursed her lips, 'How does she do it?' She wondered. It has remained a mystery to her on how Callie can bring out so much feeling and emotion from the normally stoic and cold individual. Somehow she was able to make him furious, a bit childish--almost playful, compassionate and so many other things…and the brunette wasn't even aware of it.

She wondered if her brother was even aware of it.

'Yes. He's aware of it.' Her brother was not dense or anything of the sort--he was very aware of it but he just didn't know what his feelings were. 'I don't know what his feelings are.' She thought to herself. 'Could he have a crush on her? Hmm…' It was very confusing and it was probably best not to think any more on it.

"Alright--I will leave you alone." She smiled a bit as she looked out at the weather with some sad eyes. "I hate this weather too."

He looked at her with some confusion but then some understanding and shrugged, "Hn."

Shaking her head in some amusement she smiled at Genkai, "Hello Genkai!" She chirped and then frowned at the woman's look. "What's wrong?"

"Even I had to admit they were cute at first…now they're just as disgusting as the dimwit and Keiko." The elderly woman muttered as she nodded over to Kurama and Botan who were nuzzling and snuggling up against each other.

The three sweatdropped at the fluffy and romantic scene.

"They actually seem more so--Yusuke isn't one for being romantic." Shizuru pointed out, also appearing at the scene. "Though not as bad as my baby bro." She finished as she began to pat herself down searching for a cigarette.

"Sickening." Hiei grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. How could Kurama just throw away his pride like that and become a…that? It was beyond Hiei and he found himself loosing more and more respect for the fox-demon who just worshipped Botan.

"I made some snacks!" Keiko entered the room with a tray of cookies and tea. She then sighed, "You two get a room and the rest of you stop making a show out of them."

Botan blushed a bit, Kurama only looked amused, and the rest still looked rather iffy about the romantic scene.

"My gods, we weren't even doing anything and you all are making it out like we were singing love ballads to each other." The deity of death snapped, still looking very embarrassed about her and Kurama being viewed at as a show of entertainment. "Really! You all are so bored and total perverts!"

"Ah yes…that's what we are." Shizuru stated as she finally found some of her cigarettes.

Botan sighed and reached over and grabbed some of the sweets, "I can't believe how quiet it is without them."

"The dimwit and Kuwabara would be fighting right about now." Genkai noted aloud.

"I HATE YOU!!"

"NO SKIN OFF MY BACK YOU BASTARD!!"

Everyone twitched.

"Guess whose back." They muttered and looked up just in time to see Yusuke and Kuwabara storm into the room screaming obscenities to each other.

"It was your fault that you got distracted in the first place and decided to make out with the pole!!"

"I did not make out with the pole, Urameshi!"

"That's not what the way I saw it!"

"You're just a liar!!"

"I am not!!"

Everyone twitched again as the males stopped in the middle of the room and continued to argue, ignoring everyone else around them that they haven't seen in over a week. They didn't seem very happy and instantly they thought that their mission to retrieve the girl has failed.

Yukina looked down a bit, 'Oh…' She then looked over at her brother and saw it--there was a flash of sadness and pain that crossed his features but he hid it instantly. 'Onii-san…' It was obvious to her that he was upset about the turn of events. While he wouldn't have admitted it to anyone else he was hoping for her to return.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" A voice screeched out and then the two were slammed to the ground, revealing a familiar brunette who had been hidden by the two's rather larger bodies. "And what the hell was up with leaving me behind?! YOU MORONIC BASTARDS!!" Callie screamed as she then promptly began to kick them repeatedly.

A stunned look and silence swept over the group as they watched the little human brat beat up their leader and comrade.

"C-Ca-Callie?!" Botan gasped as she shot to her feet.

"One second!" She chirped to her friend before she gave ach males a final kick and to further squash their pride she jumped on their bodies instead of walking around them. "Hey BotanACK!" She gagged when the taller girl threw her arms around her and brought her into a hug.

"Y-You're back! You're actually here!" She wailed. "I-I thought after what we did…how we treated you…you-you wouldn't want to come back."

Callie blinked, "Of course I wanted to come back. I never wanted to leave in the first place." She said honestly as she patted the girl gently on the back, trying to sooth her. "I just thought you all wanted me to leave so I left."

"You shouldn't have left!! You should've just talked to us before you did something so reckless!! You need to talk to people before you do something like this!"

"But when we did talk it sounded as if you all wanted me gone." Callie countered.

"We were stressed and exhausted that night, sweetie." Botan sighed pulling away from her friend. "You were just kidnapped and hurt. We all were at our wits end…gods," She hugged her again. "I don't know who I should be mad at!"

"If I give you a gift will you forgive me?" The girl asked, trying to pull her face away from the bosom of the girl.

"……Maybe." Botan stated slowly.

Callie fumbled a bit in the bag that she had named 'bag of wonder and joyness' and then brought out the one for Botan.

The blue-haired girl kept her friend secured in a one-arm hug and opened her gift.

"Botan…I can't breathe." The brunette gasped.

"Those who make me angry do not deserve air." She stated back simply making Kurama twitch a bit in fear--after all this was his mate…and she was a bit insane. The girl opened her gift and her eyes sparkled. "All is forgiven." And she released the girl who flopped to the ground like a fish out of water, trying to get air back into her lungs.

Botan simply adored her purse.

It took a few more seconds for the overdramatic brunette to pull herself back up, looking a bit haggard. "That was cruel."

"You deserved it." Botan replied back, not taking her eyes from her gift.

"Did you get gifts for everyone?" Keiko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dad handed me money at the airport and said it would be for the best to get everyone a gift…though I gave some money to Kuwabara and Yusuke so as they could be in charge of certain gifts."

"They begged you for the money, didn't they?"

"Yep."

The taller brunette girl looked at her boyfriend who looked to be faking being unconscious so as he wouldn't have to face her wrath. "Yusuke."

He stiffened.

"Where is my gift?"

Callie shared a grin with Kuwabara who was picking himself up, "We were so right."

"Of course we were." He laughed as he went over to her side grabbed his gift for his sister and precious Yukina. He then skipped over to Yukina looking like the love-struck man that he is. "MY SWEET FLUFFY SNOW BUNNY!!" He sang out, dancing around the girl with hearts in his eyes. "I got this for you!"

He then handed her a stuffed animal, a penguin to be precise.

The girl took the creature and looked down at it and almost sighed. It was a creature of snow…

"I know you might not be the biggest fan of the cold." He stated sheepishly making her and Hiei look at him in some shock. "But I remember how much you loved talking about them when we went to the aquarium."

Callie's tanned cheeks colored slightly and Hiei frowned a bit as they remembered what occurred in the elevator all those weeks ago.

"But it really seemed as if you liked them so I got one for you! Besides not all penguins live in the cold. But since that's where they are commonly placed I got you this!" He reached down and then brought out a small bathing suit. "Since you might not like cold I thought he might not like it either!"

Yukina took the small bathing suit with a laugh and placed it on creature and hugged it to her. "Thank you so much." It touched her to know that Kuwabara understood her this much.

"I change my mind--these two are the fluffiest things I have ever laid eyes one." Genkai deadpanned as she watched the two now seeing her mistake in thinking that Kurama and Botan were. 'Kurama is more seductive then fluffy…what the hell was I thinking?'

Kuwabara was then interrupted as his cheek was grabbed and he was brought towards his elder sister. "So baby bro, what did'cha get your big sister?"

"Here!" He squeaked as he handed his sister a CD and lighter.

Releasing her painful hold she looked down and grinned, "Alright! You did a good job in these things! You just got yerself out of being in trouble." She took the lighter and used it on her still unlit cigarette.

"Yusuke…get my gift." Keiko ordered, not moving from her spot on the couch.

"O-Ok, Keiko." He whimpered as he hurried to Callie and grabbed the gift he got for his girlfriend. As he was preparing to give the love of his life his gift Kurama made his way to his sister.

"Callie…"

"Hm?" She looked up at him. "Oh, hey Kurama!"

He looked rather taken aback at her cheerful attitude and that she was calling him by his demon-name so easily. "What…have you…" He fidgeted slightly before he inhaled and steadied his nerves. "Have you been to see mother?"

"Yeah. She sent me here to talk with everyone." The girl then winced. "I think I'm grounded."

"I'll talk to her. This whole ordeal was my fault and you should not be punished." He stated humbly.

"Hmmm…" She appeared to be thinking. "Yeah, I guess it is your fault." Everyone face-faulted at her blunt statement--many thought she would say it wasn't his fault. But then again this was Callie so it wasn't too much of a surprise. "But I don't think I should've given up that easily. It hurt a lot but instead of doing what I normally do and beat the shit out of people I cried and ran home with my tail between my legs."

"That doesn't really ease my guilt up." Kurama sighed out.

She shrugged, "I don't want you to feel guilty. But if I say it wasn't your fault would that help any at all?"

He hated that she could get perceptive and smart at random moments.

"No, no I guess not."

"You'll forget about it soon enough. And besides it almost seems as if this was a good thing." She grinned up at him. "We now know I have a place here and that it just might be a bad thing for me to leave."

As before, she was blindly positive.

"Did you get a haircut?" Keiko asked charmingly as she slowly unwrapped her gift. Yusuke was a nervous wreck.

The girl fingered her hair, "Yeah. It was getting too long…the shorter the hair the better for me." She said wondering why she wanted to know something about her hair.

"It looks very nice on you." She chirped back, pausing in her unwrapping. Yusuke was going to be severely punished for what he put her through and for not taking her and just because she was furious and in a vengeful mood.

"Oh come on Keiko! Open it!" He whimpered like a puppy.

"Sit down." He did as told. "Now stay and be quiet."

Callie and Kuwabara shared another knowing grin.

Kurama took notice, "You three seemed to have gotten closer."

"Ugh," Yusuke then flopped down limply into the couch. "Too close if you asked me."

Instantly some suspicious eyes landed on them.

"Why the hell did it take you so long?" Hiei asked, finally speaking.

"We went to Koenma for plane tickets." Yusuke explained. "The little pacifier-bastard actually gave us non-exchangeable and non-refundable tickets that made us stay there for about over a week! It was torture."

"Quit being such a baby." Callie said as she placed a hand on her hip. "You're the demon king for Christ's sake--you said you went through days upon days, months upon months, of strenuous training that could've killed you instantly. All you did there was wake up early and take care of a few animals."

"Those were not animals!! They were spawns of vile devils!!"

"Gee Urameshi…I thought it was pretty fun." Kuwabara confessed.

"Of course you would. Animals LOVE you…" He grumbled a bit as he sulked like a child.

"Oh yeah." Callie muttered as she brushed past her brother and to Genkai, "I got you two things. But the cheaper one is probably the one you will like the best." She grinned as she handed the elderly woman two items.

Her brown eyes looked at the case of homemade tea and then to the thing in her other hand, "What is this?"

Callie grinned brightly, "Shake it."

She did.

And Yusuke screamed like a girl and shot to the ceiling, clinging to the top desperately, "GET IT AWAY!! GET IT AWAY!!" He wailed.

"What the hell?"

"While staying at the ranch Yusuke had a run in with some of our wildlife." Callie sniggered. "A rattlesnake, which is a poisons snake if you don't know, crawled into his bed and had coiled and fallen asleep on his groin."

The three males shuddered a bit.

"What?" Keiko choked looking close to bursting out laughing.

Callie then brought out a photo with a pose, "TA-DAAA!!" She handed it to Genkai who grinned.

"I believe you are my favorite person in the world right now." She confessed as she looked at the picture of Yusuke who was sweating and gaping down at a rattlesnake that was indeed on his baby-maker. She then looked at the rattlesnake's tail part with another grin, knowing she was going to have so much fun with it.

Yusuke then fell back to the ground, "I HATE YOU!! YOU BITCH!! I WILL KILL YOU!!"

"Uh-huh…" She muttered not believing him. "I have a few pictures that say you won't."

Blood drained from his face, "W-What are you talking about?"

After handing her gift to Kurama, a very nice book, she skipped over to where Hiei was and leaned up by and against him.

"Runt…what are you doing?" Why the hell was she going over to Hiei?

Hiei looked down just as she handed him a photo, "Have fun!" She sang out.

He looked at the photo and smirked, "So…do you have something you need to share with your mate, detective?"

"WHAT IS IT?!" He wailed making a move to get the photo but Hiei threw it towards Kurama who caught it with ease.

Green eyes looked over the picture with amusement and then turned to Keiko, "I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news but I believe that Yusuke has found someone else."

Grins spread around the room and Keiko instantly snatched up the photo only to squeal out in laughter.

"WHAT IS IT!?" Yusuke asked again.

"Yusuke! How dare you cheat on me with your best friend?!" Keiko gasped out dramatically.

Shizuru peered over her shoulder and smirked, "Now all we need to hear is that one of you is pregnant with the other's child, one of you have an evil twin and amnesia, and then soft dramatic music and the soap opera is completed."

"WHAT?!" He ran over to her side and gaped at the sight of him and Kuwabara asleep in the plane. He was holding the guy in a rather loving embrace. Kuwabara's head was on his shoulder by his neck, a hand at his thigh while one of Yusuke's arms was wrapped around his shoulder and the other was holding, quite tenderly, his friend's arm and hand. His head was on top of Kuwabara's.

"W-WHAT?! Whe-when…what the hell…WHAT IS THIS!?"

"You left me all alone up there." She replied leaning against Hiei. "I got bored…so I decided to make you my dolls and have some fun."

He spun around and pointed a finger at the girl, something he did very often, "You bitch!! You're a horrid-horrid child!! Hiei--kill her!"

The demon smirked, "I think not. She now has provided us with days of entertainment."

"Days?" Callie repeated with a grin. She then brought out a DVD. "Try weeks" She smashed the case holding the DVD up on his face and rubbed it. "Feel the power or the DVD. FEEL IT!!"

Hiei tried to swat her hand away but she just continued to press it up against his face. "If I say I feel the power will you get that thing away from me?"

"Maybe." Callie teased back.

"What the hell is that?!" Yusuke gasped.

"What?" She handed it to Hiei, giving him another cheerful look. "You didn't notice Lily videotaping everything?"

"Videotaping everything." It then clicked within his mind. "Oh…gods…" The leader gaped.

A very-very evil and twisted look went on her face as she made sure Hiei was holding onto the DVD tight. "That's right. You and Kuwabara were videotaped the entire time you were there. From riding horses," The evil grins in the group grew. "To the pig…"

Yusuke wailed and instantly tried to get the item from the demon who used his speed to avoid it.

"Yusuke told me you were the fastest in the group. Soooo I decided to let you be my blackmail helper." Callie explained.

Hiei smirked, "I would very much enjoy partaking in this."

"YOU CAN'T!!" Yusuke practically begged as he made another move for the demon.

Hiei, once again, moved out of the way and was back at the brunette's side. Yusuke, in his panic, pulled a Kuwabara and tripped and fell out of the shrine and into the snow.

"You are a very hard person to get a gift for." Callie said as she looked up at the fire-demon. "I was going to get you and ice-cream maker," He gave her a look at this. "But it didn't seem right. Not too mention it was too expensive and too big."

"So I will be your helper?" He asked with some amusement.

"I never said I didn't get you a gift!" She laughed as she rummaged through her 'bag of wonder and joyness'.

"And here all I needed was your wonderful smiling face." He said sarcastically.

"I know I'm your goddess but even my great worshiper needs something even though my gorgeous face is enough." She countered easily before she handed him a book.

Hiei looked at it, "What the hell is this?"

She grinned, "A cookbook!"

"I can see that." He gave her a questioning stare. "Why the hell are you giving it to me?"

"You do know it is courteous to say thank you no matter what the gift." Callie snapped. "Look, you're difficult for gifts so I thought I would cook you something. You need to pick out what you want and I will make it for you."

He raised an eyebrow, "What a joy. I couldn't be happier." He stated dully as he walked over and placed the book on a table.

"Oh please, contain your excitement Hiei. You're a party animal." Callie mocked.

Yukina smiled knowingly. For the past three weeks Hiei hasn't spoken much and now he was mouthing off to the little brunette as if he couldn't get enough of talking.

It was obvious Hiei was aware of the change and he would more then likely be pondering about it later.

There was a rattle and Yusuke squealed and jumped back into the shrine and on Keiko's lap, holding onto her tightly as he shuddered in terror. The brunette gave him a pitying look and rubbed the traumatized man's back--the poor baby.

"Genaki…" Keiko sighed to the woman who appeared to be having a blast.

"I believe I will be making a necklace out of this and carry it everywhere."

Shizuru grinned, "Now that is bad-ass. No one would want to mess with a person who has a rattlesnake's tail on their neck."

"It could be dumb for all I care. As long as it gives me this reaction," She rattled it again and Yusuke jumped slightly--even though he saw her use it the whole ordeal kept replaying in his mind so he has to flinch at the noise, "Then I am very happy."

"So tell me." Callie started, grinning up at Hiei. "Did ya miss me?"

"No."

She face-faulted at his quick and blunt answer. "You know you did!!"

"No."

"Hmm…but that's what Yusuke and Kuwabara said." She said aloud a small pout, wondering if perhaps the two of them had lied to her as a joke. She really had hoped that he had missed her--she really wanted to be missed by him.

"They what?" He growled.

"Well they said that you and Kurama had a fight concerning me and the fact that I left." She confessed not knowing that she was putting her two friends in danger. "So you didn't miss me at all?"

He paused--was there any way that he could get out of answering her? The answer came instantly; of course there was a way. This girl was the most easily distracted creature he's ever seen. He then shoved the DVD in her face, "Didn't you want to watch this?"

"Oh yeah!" She laughed as she grabbed the DVD.

"We're not watching it!" Yusuke spat.

"Lily videotaped it…there are probably plenty of things that will embarrass me." Callie said, hoping there wasn't. She really didn't need to give Hiei any more reasons to make fun of her.

"No." Kurama said as he shook his head, his red mane flopping around a bit. "We need to talk about what has happened and what is going to happen."

"We've told her some dings." Kuwabara said. "But I guess it would be for the best for us to go into more detail about it and for you guys to put more things into the story."

"Not too mention the pills!" Callie stated lightly and instantly the room stilled and went cold. She blinked. "So…it's bad…"

Hiei clenched his fist tightly before he spun around and grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her towards the couch and shoved her down before he promptly took a seat next to her. The girl blinked at him in confusion. "W-What? Come on guys…tell me what's up!" She almost regretted mentioning it--she did not like the mood within the room.

Kurama inhaled and looked down at the girl, "Those pills you are taking, the ones that are to help control your emotions…they're laced with poison."

She blinked and appeared confused as if she didn't understand what he meant before she reeled back in shock, her face draining of color. "What?" She squeaked out softly and instantly her hand grasped onto Hiei's.

Surely they weren't serious.

Surely the situation wasn't very dramatic or dire.

But if that was the case why wasn't Hiei being rude? Why wasn't he wrenching his hand away and telling her she was over-reacting and she needed to hear everything before she freaked out?

Why was his hand actually tightening around her own?

"You're being poisoned." Kurama sighed out weakly. "That time you got so sick was an affect from the poison laced within your medication. You have been taking contaminated pills for the past four months. That was why we freaked out that time at the dinner-party we had."

"The time where you were in my room with the perverted infant." Callie said, nodding as she remembered that incident and how confused she was when her elder brother and Hiei had freaked out at the discovery of her medication. She looked down, thinking for a bit.

Everyone was silent as they allowed her to absorb what she was told.

Her head then snapped up, "T-Then everyone else is being poisoned!!"

"You know about the others?" Botan asked.

The brunette nodded, "Yes. I was told that I, along with twenty-four others, will be taking this to help our depression or whatever the hell we were diagnose with. I was incredibly iffy about joining because it was an experimental drug but Ms. Andrew ushered me to do it."

"Wait." Yusuke stated, not giving the others any time to ask questions. "So that woman urged you to take it?"

The brunette nodded meekly and Yusuke swore loudly. "DAMN IT!!"

"Dimwit, calm down and explain to us who this Ms. Andrew woman is." Genkai stated, trying to calm her protective student down.

"She's my psychiatrist." Callie explained seeing Yusuke was still in a fit of fury, she shuddered slightly at the power the man had--even she could feel it radiating off his body.

"So…it is the psychiatrist." Shizuru sighed.

Honey-brown eyes began to water, "Y-You mean she might be apart of it?!" She had always liked the woman. She was always so gentle and sweet and would always listen to her selfish banter and temperamental rants.

Was all that fake?

"We don't know for sure but we have concluded that it has to be cooperation that is spreading the mediations like this. And each taker has at the very least one thing in common; they have a psychiatrist." Kurama explained and the girl nearly gasped aloud. "Each one is a problem child…its hidden perfectly. No one will question why problematic children are taking experimental drugs."

"S-S-So you don't know who's be-behind it?" She asked softly.

"No." Kuwabara answered honestly. "Because all of this is happening in America we don't know."

The girl bit her lip, "What's going to happen?"

"We need to take you off the medication. We've been trying to find some way and some reason to convince you to stop them without telling you the real reason."

"But…b-but what about everyone else?!"

Kurama shook his head, "At the moment we can't do anything with them. We're trying to first figure out what is going on. If we can figure out that if humans or demons behind this we will be able to take action."

"What difference does it make?!" She sniffed as she wiped her eyes. "If their being poisoned shouldn't they be told?!"

"We can't have so many people discover the Makai and what is going on. Should that happen panic could spread or worse…the humans will actually proclaim war against the demons…a war they could not win." Her brother explained gently. "We really want to help them but we just can't until we know what is going on first off. If its humans they might not know that the plant they are using is poisonous. They might think it a new plant that will be able to help further research of medication for the mind."

"Oh…wait…you mean this is a-a…"

"A plant from the demon-world." Hiei answered earning her attention.

"But then why haven't I heard of any new species of plant? I mean if they found a new plant--"

"It looks like a further evolved species of Poison Oak. Any further evolution of a plant is a huge thing for the scientists but not for the media or anyone else. The properties appear about same to the human eye but the affects are different. You…you can almost say instead of a rash on the skin it makes a rash on the brain." Kurama said.

Callie looked as if she was going to be sick.

Hiei's thumb gently brushed over her knuckles as he tried to calm her down.

"So…the reason I'm bi-polar is because of those pills?" She swallowed any sickness creeping up her throat.

"Yes. The fact that you are spiritually-aware you have actually momentarily kept the affects at bay. But it can only be stressed so far." Her brother continued, sounding very grim.

"I'm guessing because I got sick I've stressed it as far as it can go."

"Correct."

It went silent once more.

"What are the side-affects from taking the drug?" She asked, looking incredibly ill.

"There are many. Your signs are getting violently ill and being bi-polar." Kurama then paused a moment. "That's not the question you were aiming for…"

She shook her head, tears close to pouring out.

"You want to know the outcome."

Now she nodded.

"I'm going to try to be as blunt as possible. I don't want to sugarcoat this situation at all--you want to know?"

"I'm guessing it's a very painful death otherwise you probably would've already just said 'death' simply by now." She whispered.

He really-REALLY hated it when she got perceptive and smart at the most random of times.

"I said that it can be explained as like a rash on the brain or mind…which means that the mentality and sanity will go first before death. And each outcome is different. Everyone has a different mental-strength and physique the process will be faster for some and slower for others and each person, it seems, will suffer different things." He sighed again. "You are incredibly lucky, Callie. Many are suffering worse then being sick and being bi-polar. Many have dubbed this plant as a 'brain-melter'."

"And they're not going to be taken off it anytime soon it seems." She continued for him.

"Yes. I'm afraid it will be too late for many."

"But not all, right? I mean besides me you will be able to save some…right?" She asked hopefully.

"It's hard to say. We don't know what exactly is going on and we don't know how long this is going to take to solve. But right now you need to stay grateful that you aren't suffering like everyone else."

"I-I…I understand…" She didn't understand. She couldn't understand. No mater what she was just unable to full grasp the situation at hand.

Her hand tightened again around Hiei's.

"But…" Callie then looked at her brother. "How…wait…you actually wanted to send me back there without getting any help?!"

'She's angry…good.' They did not like the sad-Callie. They were use to an angry-Callie but not the sad one…at least not to this caliber. "I said things I did not mean. I was angry at you, myself, and the situation--but I never wanted you to return to America. Yes, I thought it would've been best had we figured out a way to not get you into our mess or to erase your memories and handle this situation like that…but I never wanted you to leave."

"So…is it over with? Now that I am stopping with the pills?"

"It should be." Botan nodded. "You shouldn't be able to get any worse."

"Oh." That simple word couldn't describe how relieved she felt. Yes she was incredibly guilty for this thought but she was so happy that she was now finished with this business of being poisoned, at least to the point where her brain was no longer melting.

She wondered if that made her a bad person.

"So…now what?" The girl asked.

"We solve this case." Yusuke answered. "We need you to tell us anything and everything you know about the pills, about your physiatrist…basically ANYTHING you can think of that will prove helpful to us." He then paused. "But we can do that a bit later."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"We will need to talk about it soon but we can't force you to handle too much at once. We'll talk about it at the end of the week once you get back into the groove of things and once we talk a bit more to you about your life. I believe that is acceptable." Botan chimed in.

The brunette sighed, "A-Alright." She ran her free hand threw her hair, gulping down the nausea that had settled in her stomach. She was very scared and she needed to be distracted soon or she just might get sick. "Am I going to need to talk to that Koenma guy about this?"

"Oh, that probably would be a good idea." Keiko stated.

"The monkey had a good idea. Shocker."

"You're still on calling me that!?" The girl hissed as she glared at the fire demon.

"That's your name, isn't it?"

A vein was beginning to throb as she glared dangerously at the man next to her. "My name?!"

"Yes, primate, your name." Hiei stated back.

The girl twitched, "I'm going to kill you."

"Uh-huh." He replied in a bored fashion, not really paying attention to the troublesome girl. "I find that hard to believe--you would never be able to land a finger on me."

A growl escaped her lips all concern and thoughts about being poisoned long gone within her mind. As usual, Hiei had a power to almost control her thoughts.

Was that a smirk growing on his face?

The girl was almost trembling in anger, 'It IS a smirk!! He's still amused at my misery!! KILL THE HIEI!!'

'As I have just stated. There is no way you can kill me.'

She squealed, jumped up, and promptly fell off the couch with a loud thud.

"Don't do that mind-thingy!" The girl wailed as she shot up and pointed an accusing finger at the male. "It's freaky and I don't know how to reply!!"

Kuwabara looked at the girl who was raging like a lunatic and then over to his best friend, "Holy crap…it is like she is the freakish offspring of Urameshi."

It went silent.

"ARE YOU SAYING WE'RE ALIKE!?" Callie and Yusuke snarled as they pointed to each other. "I'M NOTHING LIKE THIS MORON!!"

Everyone wondered if they were aware that they were speaking at the same time and were ignoring it, in denial, or were oblivious idiots.

The group settled for oblivious idiots.

Callie then grunted and placed herself back by Hiei on the couch, her glare set on the leader of this misfit family. One could see electricity shoot from their eyes and connect in an explosion of distaste and annoyance.

Kurama cleared his throat, "I believe it is now time to welcome you into our life."

The girl blinked and looked over at the male--unintentionally loosing the glaring battle with Yusuke--with a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"He means explaining things." Hiei sighed as if it was a bother to explain things to the girl.

"Yusuke and Kuwabara explained things." Callie said as she looked around for something to throw at Yusuke who was celebrating his victory.

"Hn. As if those fools would be able to explain things sufficiently."

"WHAT WAS DAT?!" The orange-haired spat as he glared at his rival, his fist clenched.

Hiei didn't even answer.

"Don't ignore me!!" Kuwabara hissed, getting ready to throw his own rendition of a tantrum.

"Ape." Hiei stated as he looked at the girl. "Our life is difficult and cruel. I almost find it hard to believe that you will survive in it."

"Hey," Yusuke began as he held up his hands. "Don't jump to conclusions, Hiei. I believe the short-stop will be fine. She's seen her own share of dark and twisted stuff. Believe me, the place she was living at was not the happiest of places."

Yukina looked up at Kuwabara who was still steaming towards her brother, "What did you guys see?"

"It's a place that was for unwanted, unlawful, and unbalanced kids, my sweet." Kuwabara explained all anger instantly melted at the sight of her face. "Once you get the story behind each person it was very dark and depressing."

"It wasn't depressing or dark!" Callie snapped.

"It only seems that way to you because you are immune to it." Yusuke said. "I mean you were rooming with a girl who you said tried to kill herself and her unborn kid four different times!"

Keiko looked positively horrified, "What?!"

Callie narrowed her eyes at him before crossing her arms and slumping against the seat of the couch, "Yusuke it's…" She then stopped. It was horrifying but that had just been apart of her life back at the ranch. All the kids were pretty much use to it. But did that mean it was a dark and depressing place?

"See? When you think about it that place was just…a tear-jerker!! But since you grew up around it you're basically immune to it. Now I'm not saying, Hiei, that it will be easy for her to mold into our life but I believe that out of all the people that we could've gotten she is the best suited." He explained to the fire demon who was looking over the girl.

"Have you seen death?" He asked, his voiced guarded but gentle. He knew of what happened with her parents but he wanted to hear more.

"Hm? Yeah." She nodded. "A few times." She then looked down at her lap. "I hate it…I won't say it's easy or that I am accepting of it--"

"This is one of the reasons why this transition won't be easy." The demon stated. "We deal with death daily. Those who fear death would do good to stay away from us."

Those in the group blinked--Hiei had seemed like he wanted the girl to stay now he was pushing her away?

"I fear death." The brunette whispered honestly. "I'm terrified of dying and what's to come but that doesn't mean I'm going to cower away from dangerous situations! Especially if it concerns my friends!"

His red eyes were unreadable, "You cry a lot, you flinch with any minor affliction of pain, you're a coward, you're over-emotional…do you really believe you can be a part of a life that killing and death is an every day occurrence? Where you will suffer on some level? Where all you believe in will be stretched, questioned, threatened, and destroyed?"

The girl looked very taken aback at these words. Was their life really like this? Some sympathy washed over her and then she found her chin forcibly grabbed.

"I do not want to see pity there." Hiei commanded coldly. "If you pity us then you should not be here."

A rather hurt look crossed her features before her eyes narrowed, "Pity? I don't pity you--but I do sympathize. I understand what you mean by facing your beliefs and seeing them being pushed and broken down."

"How would you understand?"

"When you lived where I did it will happen."

His grip tightened slightly, "Be specific."

Despite his tone, his grip, and his glare Callie was not afraid of Hiei. Something told her that the man who had held her hand gently before when she was told of the poisoning would not harm her intentionally. "I discovered Terra, the girl with the baby that Yusuke was telling you about, hanging in our room. Myself along with two others were the ones who found her hanging limply from the ceiling. I didn't see the first or second suicidal attempt but that third one will forever haunt me…and I never could understand why she would take her life. How one could ask for death. I was then told that she was raped and got pregnant because of that."

"And did that waver your belief on suicide?"

"No." She answered honestly. "It was the fourth attempt. She had snuck a knife in and was crying she was going to carve the baby out of her. Many of the employers had to hold her down to keep her from doing anything. She begged for death…she said a life where something was taken so brutally like that, a life where you are tainted and unwanted, where you have a child that is a symbol of a torture you have faced and that still haunts you every night is not a life worth living."

Hiei was silent as he listened to her.

"She had so many nightmares and was under constant watch. The first night she was back from the psychiatric care I confronted her. She had such a blank and lifeless look to her as if the world had betrayed her…it was that look that made me wonder if death would be a better alternative then facing different things that life threw at you." She swallowed, some tears gathering--but she knew Hiei saw them as a sign of weakness and tried to keep them at bay. "I-I had to think about it for some time but then I decided that in the end I found her wrong." She glared at him. "I thought just because you were afraid of living doesn't mean you shouldn't face it. Just like how I'm afraid of death doesn't mean I won't face it when the time comes."

They glared at each other for a moment before Hiei smirked and released her.

"She passes."

A blank stare crawled up on the girl's face, "Huh?"

"In this group it's not just about strength or power--you need an invincible will-power to face what we go through. Each person here either has to face things up in the front lines or they have to sit back and just watch as things occur--watch their friends and love ones fight to the death."

Callie still looked confused.

"You wouldn't have been able to be in this group unless you had a good strong mental-capability. You faced me down when I had you in a threatening position, you didn't waver as you explained yourself, you were honest, and you were quite strong with your voice and within your mind."

Her face grew hot at his compliments.

The others looked very-very pleased, finding Hiei's test very just and intelligent.

Pursing her lips the girl looked away from him in embarrassment and in a sulky mood. Hiei looked very amused, if not pleased, at her reaction at being tested and tricked.

"Don't act like a brat. You chose this life and I was just making sure you were going to survive."

"What exactly…well…what have you faced or…uhm…" She was unable to word her question right.

"You mean you didn't grasp it when you were kidnapped, gorilla?" He smirked as she screeched in distaste at the nickname. "No, I suppose your moronic-set mind wouldn't grasp any concepts, no matter how obvious it is." He was almost grinning at her insulted face. "Where should I begin?"

Kurama sighed, "He's so cruel to her."

Yukina grinned, "It's because he likes her."

The fox-demon sighed again, "That's what I'm afraid of."

She didn't know if he was being funny or serious.

"Kidnapping ploys, murder schemes, terrifying demons hell bent on destroying the balance of the three worlds…" Hiei counted off, his amused expression only growing at her rather shocked look. "This is our life, monkey, welcome to it."


Author

Hello!! We meet again!! Now in the sequel of Will and DeterminationI hope you have enjoyed the first chapter of Wit and Courage! As usual I will be talking and ranting and explaining things down here so…yes; welcome, welcome.

I hope this is better written then Will and Determination it certainly seems that way. I know there are at least two things I really-REALLY need to work on (and I am, I promise I am trying to get better) and they are switching from present to past tense and the dreaded through/threw.

Now, there should not be another story after this one but no promises. I just might make this a Trilogy. But anyway--this chapter sure was long huh? Now I will be trying to make rather long chapters but each will be different in length.

Hiei was not really ashamed of leaving Callie behind personally (or is he?) he's ashamed he had left a comrade behind and the fact he ran away. Sigh…still not much romance yet. UGH!! GET TOGETHER YOU FOOLS!!

Yes--there is going to be sexual tension, sexual humor, sex, dark/possessive moments and basically all those things I'm better at…for some real strange reason. Why the hell am I good at writing these things? But this is to warn you; this story is defiantly rated M! It just might be a strong M later on.

The pairings are in the "seme/uke" format. That's right--Yukina is in charge.

And Callie will be getting jealous…but in a very different and totally Callie-way. So don't expect her to get all angry and huffy--she will act how she acted when she picture him with another woman. Rather calm and totally aware of it so she acts a bit differently. In other words she admits and accepts it.

What I want to know is if you guys want Hiei to face some jealousy bouts. Please say so in the review! I don't need a reason but I would like to know if you would want some jealous/possessive-Hiei action!

I really hope more and more people come to enjoy Hiei/Callie I've really-really come to love them as a couple.

Now this is important: This story will be very dark later on. Some sad, disturbing, and "sick" things will come up. Also romance will have a huge role in this so this story will be concentrating on the romantic relationships and how they grow (though Hiei/Callie (or as I call it Hielie) will be the main one the others will be looked at and will grow and mature as well). There will just be a lot of things into this story.

It will probably be longer then Will and Determination as well. I also have two separate ideas for an ending. One is rather sad but it leaves a third story open and one is pretty happy and still leaves the door open for a third one.

Just don't be surprised when this story begins to grow darker compared to the first one, alright?


Next Chapter: The watching of the embarrassing video, Kuwabara is now being let in on a family secret of his beloved, and Callie is being shown a world unlike her own and finding herself coming to rather startling conclusions.

"Do you think you can embarrass them?" Botan asked in disbelief.

"I bet I can ruffle Hiei's feathers a bit. But only he seems to have the ability to embarrass her…Yusuke seems right in that she doesn't have dignity so if something embarrassing happens she will only blush a bit and then just be normal…and sometimes not even blush." The blonde cleared her throat. "Oye! Go make-out or mate or whatever already so we can get going along with our plans of watching the video!"