Disclaimer: I own nothing except my brain and my computer. Since Raize lives in my head, I own her too.

Warnings: tiny bit of Kuwa bashing at the very end. Nothing personal, it just seemed funny at the time. :P Mild language, maybe some OOCness... idk. Pairings in later chapters.

A/N: Chocolateluvr13 – my first review! Thanks! ^^ Actually I started a story a while back with this pair, but kinda dropped it when I got stuck in the middle of the first chapter. Sad, huh? -.- So this is it, completely rewritten, revised, and reinvented. Hope ya like it! :)

EDIT: Phyre's brain: it gets better in the later chapters...

Phyre: BRAIN! Come back here!

Phyre's brain: really, it gets better. The first few chapters suck and she hasn't rewritten them yet.

Phyre: brain! That's mean.

Phyre's brain: suck it up; the truth hurts. But hey, it's her first fic (With chapters, le gasp!), so don't murder her. Not yet.

Phyre: brain... get... your ass... back here... nao.

Phyre's brain: time to face the music... hey brainless! You lookin' for me?

CRASH BANG THUMP CRUNCH WHAM THUD.

Phyre: I REGRET NOTHING! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Phyre's brain: oh hell.

…

1. Comic Relief

"Yusuke!" Koenma greeted the detective. "We have a problem."

"What now, pacifier breath?" Yusuke yawned and stretched grumpily. He'd been peacefully napping in an armchair in the living room when Koenma called.

"Find your team and come to Spirit World immediately."

"Fine, fine. Be there in ten."

Kuwabara and Kurama were easy to find. Hiei? Not so much, but they eventually tracked him down just before Botan pulled out her whistle. The fire youkai had been asleep in a tree – naturally.

Three minutes later, they were in Koenma's office, watching the toddler pace nervously across the room and back again.

Yusuke broke the tense silence, fed up with waiting. "Okay, Koenma. You dragged us up here, now what the hell's goin' on?"

"Yusuke, it looks like you'll have another person joining your team," the tot replied with a sigh.

"And this has you worried... why?"

"Well, because -" He was cut short by a crash, then a thud and a surprised yelp from outside. A second later, the door slammed open on its hinges, protesting against a black combat boot attached to a sight that almost made Yusuke faint.

She was dressed in a gray pilot's jumpsuit, sleeves rolled to the elbows. Her figure was lithe and slender, very subtly curved, and she moved with the natural grace of a dancer. But it wasn't any of that, or the waves of fearsome youki radiating off of her, or her stunning, fiery green eyes and snow-white hair that nearly knocked Yusuke unconscious.

She was shorter than Hiei.

By about an inch, if his eyes weren't tricking him. He started to laugh, only to be stopped dead by the cold, murderous glare she shot in his direction.

"Where – you were – the prison guards -"

"- Are in need of some serious ass-kicking boot camp, Ko-enema," the youkai snarled at the spluttering prince. "That... was pathetic."

Yusuke snickered. He liked this one already. "Ko-enema? Better than 'pacifier breath'. I'll remember that one," he muttered to himself.

"Yusuke Urameshi, am I right?" She asked, turning toward him with her hands on her hips.

"You know me?" He blinked.

She snorted. "Who doesn't?"

"Eheh. Sadly, that's a good point," he grinned, scratching the back of his head. He was rewarded by a half-smirk on the youkai's face. "Who're you?"

"Ahem. Yusuke, this is Raize. Raize, your new team."

Raize's foot whacked Koenma neatly in the face, leaving an imprint of the sole of her boot across his nose and cheeks. "I can introduce myself, thank you," she growled. "So who are the other three, Urameshi?"

A redhead stepped forward politely, holding out his hand. "Kurama."

Raize actually shook his hand, taking note of the sharp intellect concealed in mirror images of her own eyes, and reserved something that might've been respect for the fox. "You're an animal spirit. Um... kitsune, am I right?"

He smiled. "You are."

"I see." She tilted her head inquisitively – there was something familiar about that name. She'd heard it before... from... A gasp flew from her throat. "Youko. You're Youko Kurama." Then she laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, I just now realized that. What's your human name?"

Kurama raised his eyebrows. Smart, this one. "Shuuichi Minamino."

"I'll remember it," Raize grinned. "And the others?"

Yusuke sighed. "The dumbass with his mouth hanging open over here is Kuwabara, and Mr. Grumpy in the corner is Hiei."

Raize snickered. "Okay then. Nice to meetcha."

Koenma finally managed to stand up again and was presently brushing himself off. "You realize of course this wouldn't be necessary had you not tried to kill a fellow youkai, Raize," he chided.

She moved like a bolt of lightning, one minute there and gone the next, pinning the toddler up against the wall by his throat four feet off the ground. "He tried to rape me, you idiot!" She snarled through clenched teeth, squeezing him until he let out a strangled squeak. "What would you have done?" Without waiting for an answer, she dropped him in an unceremonious heap and stormed out the door, slamming it behind her so hard the frame cracked.

Yusuke turned wide eyes to Koenma, jaw falling slightly open. "Oh, tell me you didn't, pacifier breath. That's an all-time low, even for you."

Koenma coughed and rubbed his neck. "She was arrested for her own safety, Yusuke, you have to realize that. We couldn't keep an eye on her any other way. See, Raize is a water youkai. If she doesn't want to be found, she won't be, unless her former 'master', the youkai that assaulted her, taps into her slave marking."

"Then why didn't you just arrest her master?" Hiei snarled. He was standing in the corner, deathly still, like the quiet before the storm.

Four pairs of eyebrows arched, surprised at his voice, but only Kurama saw the rigid stillness in him and bothered to wonder what it meant.

Koenma blinked. "We couldn't," he said simply.

"So that's what you need us for, huh?" Yusuke asked.

The tiny prince nodded. "I need you to look after Raize until you find Aidan and either dispose of him or bring him back here. She'll help you with the details, since she knows what he looks like and how to find him."

The spirit detective shook his head as they turned to leave. "I don't know if Raize needs looking after," he grinned. "But I'm leaving this guy's fate up to her."

They caught up with Raize outside, surrounded by unconscious guards. She was perched on a rock, arms wrapped around her knees, perfectly still. A darkly amused smile shadowed her face. "And they wonder why they can't catch Aidan. Hell, they can't even hold me for one night." Her voice was mocking.

"Yeah, well, that's why they hired us," Yusuke answered, leaning against the rock beside her. "So what's the story behind this guy, anyway?"

She jumped lightly to the ground, avoiding his eyes. "I'd... rather not talk about it. I appreciate your concern, believe me, but it's not something I'm comfortable with discussing just yet."

"Oh. Okay."

"Do you have a place to stay?" Kurama asked, before the silence turned awkward.

Raize smiled. "I don't need one, but thanks for asking."

Kuwabara snorted. "So what, shorty, do you sleep in a tree or something?" He was still suspicious of her, most likely because of the uncontrollable youki that had flared around her in Koenma's office earlier.

A wicked grin flashed over her face and suddenly the tall man was on the ground, face-down and groaning. "I'm sorry, exactly who are you calling 'shorty'? And yes, I do sleep in trees. Is there a problem with that? If there is, I'm sure I can kick you out of your house and take over your room in a day or two."

Yusuke snickered. Koenma had been wrong. This girl would be a handful, yeah, but not a problem. If nothing else, she'd be a good source of comic relief.