"I have an important mission for you," Koenma addressed his spirit detective team.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked with no enthusiasm in his voice. There seemed to be a spike in business after years of quiet on the home front. Yusuke had been getting bored and restless, but now he was irritated; as the missions seemed to fall one after the other.

"Another…" Koenma took a deep breath and prepared for the tirade that would ensue. "…apprehension," he finished.

"It better not be the same idiots," Yusuke warned.

"Well…"

"Goddamit Koenma! This is the third freaking time!"

"How do they keep escaping?" Kurama asked.

"Well, with their dimensional abilities, we're have trouble containing them," Koenma explained.

"Hn. What you mean to say is that you're incompetent," Hiei interjected.

"I suppose you could look at it that way," Koenma admitted.

"That still doesn't explain why this fool is here," he said, acknowledging Kuwabara. Kuwabara was mostly retried form fighting and only accompanied them on occasional missions. "Babysitting one idiot is enough."

"You say something, midget?" Kuwabara countered.

Hiei glared at him. "You want to lose a limb?"

"Can you reach that high?"

"I see you two have missed each other," Yusuke observed. "But do you mind saving your reunion for later? And why is Kuwabara here?" Yusuke turned his attention back to Koenma.

"Well, they have retreated into another dimension," Koenma replied. "We need Kuwabara so you can actually get to them."

"What can he do?" Yusuke asked, obviously confused.

"Idiot! That stupid sword of his can cut through dimensions," Hiei said, growing more and more impatient by the minute.

"Don't be jealous, Hiei," Kuwabara boasted.

"Hardly," Hiei snorted. "You can barely handle that power, and you're still incompetent."

"I've never seen that spirit sword cut through anything useful," Yusuke replied.

"Shut up!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "I'm the one that cut through that monster when we were fighting Sensui. And I cut the barrier to demon world, remember?"

"Didn't actually see that; I was dead, remember?"

"Boys," Koenma interrupted. "If you're done."

"Oh, yeah. So where are they, anyway?"

"In the makai."

Everyone hesitated. It was dangerous for humans to enter the demon world, even the strongest human alive was still at risk.

"Koenma, is that wise?" Kurama asked cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at Kurama.

"He means you wouldn't last five minutes there," Hiei replied.

"I can take care of myself!" Kuwabara replied indignantly.

"No one implied that you couldn't," Kurama tried to sooth his bruised ego, "but the makai is a dangerous place for any human, even one as strong as you. Koenma, are you sure it's worth the risk?"

"We don't have a choice," Koenma replied. "These demons are hiding in the makai in a dimension that they created. We need Kuwabara to cut down the dimension so that you guys can apprehend them again."

"Well, I'm sick of apprehending these idiots anyway," Hiei spoke up. "The next time I see them they will be eating my katana."

"You are free to dispose of them," Koenma announced.

"If you had let us kill them to begin with, we wouldn't be in this position now," Yusuke sulked.

"Perhaps, although that is a moot point. You have your orders. Any more questions?"

"Yeah, where the hell are they hiding? I'll bet Yomi is stashing them somewhere. Sounds like something he would do."

Kurama shifted uncomfortably.

"What's the matter, fox? Don't like me talking about your best friend?"

"That comment was unnecessary, Yusuke." Yomi and Kurama had settled their differences, but Yusuke looked for a chance to slight him at any opportunity.

"Well, let's just hope it's not in his territory. You know what his favorite dish is."

"What?" Kuwabara asked. He did not travel to the makai with his three friends during the conflict between the three kings and was not aware of the main dispute between Yomi, Mukuro, and the late Raizen.

"Never mind that. And Yomi has nothing to do with it. Believe it or not, both he and Mukuro and very cooperative with the spirit world," Koenma added. "The only king I have problems with is you."

Yusuke glared at Koenma. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Take it as you please."

"Listen, toddler boy-"

"Can we get on with this?" Hiei was anxious to get this over with.

"Yeah, as soon as pacifier breath tells me where the portal is."

"About twenty miles inside the border of your country."

"WHAT! They're in my territory? And you're just now telling me?"

"Yusuke, they just escaped yesterday-"

"Well, let's go, now!" Yusuke practically sprinted out of the office.

They entered the makai through a portal about two miles away from the approximate pinpoint.

"OK, now where the hell are we supposed to go from here?"

"This way," Kuwabara replied, pointing west.

"How do you know that?" Yusuke asked, skeptical.

"Yes, you could be confused again. It happens often." Hiei jeered.

"You know I can sense energy better than any one of us!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Alright, but if it's the wrong direction I'm gonna sock you," Yusuke warned.

When they were within a half mile of the location Kuwabara had indicated he stopped and turned east.

"What is it?"Yusuke wanted to know.

"They're moving," Kuwabara replied. "Must know we're coming."

"Or maybe you don't know what the hell you're talking about," Hiei accused. "As incompetent as ever."

"That's not it!" Kuwabara protested.

"Kuwabara, are you sure-" Kurama started.

"Yes, I'm sure! Why are you guys doubting me like this?"

"Maybe because you don't know where you're going," Hiei replied smugly.

Kuwabara ignored him. "Urameshi," Kuwabara started. "You have to believe-"

"I gave you a chance, and you screwed it up, you've led us on a wild goose chase. All of us can handle ourselves here. We have to cover your ass and you don't even know where you are going!"

"Well neither do you! And I do know where I'm-"

"It's obvious that you couldn't find your way out of a paper bag," Hiei said.

Kuwabara normally took Hiei's comments in stride and even indulged him in their exchanges but occasionally Hiei went too far. This was one of those times.

"Well, tiny," Kuwabara said through clenched teeth, "why don't you use that extra eye on your forehead to find them, huh?"

Hiei glared at Kuwabara. "Fool, you know I-"

"Can't see through dimensions," Kuwabara finished for him. "In fact, neither of you can. I'm the only one who can so why don't you just trust me?"

"It's not that we don't trust you Kuwabara," Kurama started, "We're just concerned that you have switched directions."

"I touldja, they changed directions!" Kuwabara insisted.

"Speak for yourself, Kurama" Hiei spoke up. "I say he's incompetent and useless baggage."

Kuwabara turned on Hiei with a look that neither he, nor any of the others had seen before. It was not only anger, deep, penetrating anger and rage but hurt. He shoved Hiei hard, hard enough to cause him to lose his balance. Hiei jumped up and stuck his katana to Kuwabara's throat. "You gonna kill me?" Kuwabara dared him.

"Touch me again and I will," Hiei warned.

"Would you two knock it off?" Yusuke cut in, irritated. "We have to figure out a way to get to them."

"I just told you!" Kuwabara was practically screaming now.

"Please keep your voice down," Kurama advised. "We don't want to attract unnecessary attention, Kuwabara."

"Yeah, since I can't defend myself and all," Kuwabara replied sarcastically. "Kurama, you're just as bad as the rest of 'em, even worse, you're trying to be all nice about it. At least Urameshi and Hiei are straight up with their insults."

"Kuwabara, that's not what I meant-"

"You don't have to justify yourself to this idiot Kurama," Hiei cut in on Kurama's attempt at an apology.

"Yeah, don't bother. If you guys want to sit here then fine, I'll just go cut them down myself." Kuwabara headed off in the direction that he indicated they were travelling.

"Where the hell are you going?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm going to catch 'em, just like I said."

"Get back here, you're gonna get yourself killed!"

"Hmphf, better off." Even before Hiei got the words out of his mouth he regretted them. In fact, he was starting to despise his entire role in this argument. Everything Kuwabara said was completely logical. He was the only one who could sense their energy through the dimension, and it was likely that they would move once they discovered that they were being followed. And the look on Kuwabara's face, he couldn't get the image out of his mind.

Yusuke whirled on him. "That's enough from you, punk."

"What? You were questioning his judgment just as much as I was," Hiei defended himself.

"But I didn't say no shit like that. That's my friend and your teammate. I know you don't have any friends but you don't have to be an asshole."

Hiei's fists clenched, his face burned and anger swirled in front of his eyes. His eyes stung with unshed tears of anger. "Fuck you, detective!"

"Hiei, Yusuke, please," Kurama interjected. "We all had a role to play in this. We need to go find Kuwabara and apologize."

"Speak for yourself." It was out of his mouth before he could stop it. Truth was he didn't know how to apologize, or even why he felt the need to.

Yusuke was in his face. "One more word and I'm kicking your ass."

Before Hiei could reply they all felt a massive surge in energy; they recognized Kuwabara's energy signal.

"Kuwabara?" Yusuke said in bewilderment. He had never felt such a strong surge of energy.

"That's his Jigen To," Kurama replied. "This way!"

"His what?" Yusuke asked, still confused.

"His special sword you idiot!" Hiei yelled, sprinting off in the direction that Kuwabara had travelled in. Yusuke and Kurama struggled to keep up, but of course they could not.

"You go on ahead Hiei," Yusuke panted. "We'll catch up. Try to keep Kuwabara from doing something stupid!"

While they were running they felt the presence of the four demons they had been tracking.

"He's already got to them," Yusuke yelled, gulping for breath. "Shit, shit SHIT! Hurry, Hiei!"

Hiei didn't need to be told to hurry, it was in his nature.

By the time he reached the open dimension Kuwabara had already cut down two of the demons and was battling a third. The dimension that he opened was a swampy, smelly place. Kuwabara sliced through the gut of a third demon but the fourth was sneaking up on his back. Hiei drew his katana.

"Look out, you fool!"

Kuwabara turned, and was face to face with a demon that was almost twice his size, with sharp claws ready to rip his head off. Hiei swung his sword at the same time that Kuwabara lurched forward with his. Hiei ended up making a horizontal slash through the demon while Kuwabara stabbed it in the gut.

Kuwabara let out a shriek of pain. "Watch where you're swinging that thing, shorty!"

"You should be thanking me! That demon could have killed you!" Hiei shouted back.

Kuwabara was bleeding from a cut on his shoulder that traveled to his arm and his thigh; where Hiei accidently cut him while attacking the demon.

Yusuke and Kurama finally caught up. "You guys ok?" Yusuke gasped. "Kuwabara, what'd you run off for like that?" he demanded.

"Because I got tired of trying to convince you," he replied. "I knew you would come running after me."

"Whatever. What happened to your arm?" Yusuke came closer. "That looks nasty."

"Hiei cut me," Kuwabara answered.

"I saved your life!" Hiei insisted defensively. "You were no match for that demon."

"Oh really? I took down three of 'em and would have got him, too."

"You took them all out Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked, amazed.

"No, I took down the last one, the biggest and strongest," Hiei cut in.

"And almost took Kuwabara's arm off in the process."

"Never mind that. Let me see your shoulder Kuwabara," Kurama stepped closer. "Looks like he got your leg too."

Hiei growled. "I saved that idiot's life. Next time I won't bother." He stormed off.

Kurama observed Kuwabara's wounds. Never before had they seen such a look of concern on his face.

"Can't you bandage it, or put some plants on it?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, but-" Kurama's eyebrow furrowed. He thought better of finishing that sentence.

Kurama extracted a seed from his hair. It grew into a plant with a thick stem. Kurama cut through the stem and twisted the plant, a thick green liquid oozed out.

"What is that?"Yusuke asked.

"A cross breed that contains aloe, benzocaine and an astringent."

"What?"

"Something to clean the cut and relieve the-"

"YEOW!" Kuwabara yelled. "That stings!"

"Do you have to yell?" Hiei had returned and was peering at Kuwabara's injuries; his ruby eyes masking his concern.

"It stings, Hiei. If you hadn't cut me to begin with-"

"Kuwabara, please be still while I bandage you," Kurama admonished gently. He hoped he wasn't showing his worry. The benzocaine was supposed to prevent any pain. And with Kuwabara's high spirit energy, he should have seen some preliminary healing.

Back in spirit world, Yusuke presented his report to Koenma, if you could call it that.

"Well we took care of the demons," Yusuke said matter-of-factly.

"No, we took care of the demons. By the time you and Kurama got there it was over."

"Really?"Koenma was genuinely surprised, one because Kuwabara had actually helped take the demons out and two because he and Hiei hadn't killed each other.

"Well, thank you all. Kuwabara are you OK? What happened?"

"Well-" Yusuke began.

"Nothing. Just a little accident." Kuwabara cut him off.

Koenma wasn't convinced, but he decided to let it go.

"Well if there's nothing else then you all are free to go."

They all turned to leave, except Kuwabara. "Koenma, can I talk to you alone?"

Everyone stopped and looked at Kuwabara. "Sure, what is it?" Koenma perked up. He hoped that Kuwabara would reveal the nature of his injury.

"Could you all wait outside?" Koenma asked, but not asked the others.

"What do you have to say to him that you can't say in front of us?" Hiei demanded. He would rather be ratted out to his face and not behind his back.

"Not what you think, Hiei," Kuwabara replied. "I will tell you all later."

They all turned reluctantly and left.

Outside of Koenma's office, the tension in the air was thick. All three wanted to know what Kuwabara was talking to Koenma about.

"He's probably telling Koenma that I tried to kill him," Hiei spoke up, anger and bitterness seeping through his voice.

"He wouldn't do that, Hiei." Yusuke replied.

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because it's against his code. If he were going to tell on you, he would do it to your face. And he wouldn't snitch anyway. He's not like that."

"I agree," Kurama spoke up, "it was an accident, and Kuwabara is protecting you for some reason."

"I don't need his protection!" Hiei snapped. "If he hadn't stormed in there-"

They were interrupted by Kuwabara leaving the office. They were on him in a flash.

"What's going on?" Yusuke asked.

"What did you tell him?" Hiei demanded.

"Is there something we should know?" Kurama inquired.

"I'll tell ya when we leave here," he answered.

Hiei jumped in front of him. "No, you'll tell us now."

"It ain't what you think, Hiei." Kuwabara walked around him.

Hiei grabbed his arm.

"Shit! Don't touch my fucking arm!" he shouted, shoving Hiei even harder than before.

Hiei didn't even think to strike back. Something about Kuwabara seemed off. First, he never used that type of language, second, his eyes seemed glazed over and third he was hot, very hot.

"What's wrong with you?" Hiei demanded.

"My arm hurts, and you grabbed it!"

"No, not that! You are hot, burning up for a human. And your eyes!"

Kurama walked over the Kuwabara and placed his hand on Kuwabara's forehead. "You have a fever."

"Yeah, I do feel kind of weird."

"Let's get you home so you can rest. Shouldn't have gone running off trying to be hero in the first place," Yusuke finished with a half-hearted attempt at a joke. No one missed the sound of concern in his voice.

"Enough already Urameshi. That's what I want to talk to you about." They all stepped through the portal and landed in a park near Yusuke's apartment.

"What do you mean, Kuwabara?"

"I'm quittin' the team."

Quit? WTF? What prompted this? And why is Hiei acting so strange? Find out next time as The Infection Progresses!