Claimer: Chichiro is mine, as well as the storyline, and any other original characters.

Disclaimer: Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Koenma, Genkai, and any other YuYu Hakusho characters used are not mine.

Chapter 3—Latent Talents, Revealed

There was a kind of savage pleasure in her face. Perhaps not pleasure…Perhaps satisfaction. Her eyes were wide, darting to the side with every movement. Focused. Calculated. Taking in everything around her and quickly analyzing it. Understanding.

There was a fluidity to her movements that had not been present in any one-on-one fights she'd taken part of in the past, a seasoned flow to her style…A certain grace.

There was a slash on the left side of her face and blood splattered elsewhere on her cheeks, though it was not her own. Many different, minor scratches littered her skin with a grotesque, somehow beautiful crimson glow.

The woman before him was a warrior, the likes of which he'd never seen. This sadistic spectacle that one would be unable to tear their eyes from, not unlike a train wreck with added finesse, made her true nature bare before the world. That innocent outward appearance, the unfamiliarity with everything around her…It began to make sense when one realized that this was the place she could feel 'at home'. This was where she belonged. This was where she could live.

She was exactly like him.

It was hard for Hiei to concentrate on the battle when Chichiro had been presented to him in such a way. Whatever acknowledgement of her skills had been made before was now inconsequential. Where in single-opponent fights she was mediocre at worst and somewhat experienced at best, in a battle against thousands she was likely unmatched. In a battle where there was no true way to have any technique, when one was faced with such unmanageable numbers, she was a genius.

Admittedly Escque were not the most intelligent or skilled of opponents. One such as Hiei could kill ten or twenty in a single stroke of his sword without invoking the use of any of his demonic power. It was not the number of adversaries she killed, but the way in which she disposed of them.

If he was not so openly unable to feel any kind of admiration for a being outside of himself, one could have suggested that's what he felt toward Chichiro at that moment.

As the last Escque on the battlefield fell, however, and as she stood there grinning wide-eyed, clearly pleased with herself and the outcome of their escapade, that reason for admiration began to fade. She had just begun to run her tongue over her lips to cleanse it of the blood spatter from her fallen adversaries when Kurama spoke her name, likely as a way to introduce conversation. The instant she heard something beyond her own ragged breath and the slash of the sword grasped in her hand, the savage creature within her was gone, and what many would refer to as a 'real' smile showed upon her face once more. The warrior was tucked away again, hidden safely behind what even she may not have recognized as a façade.

"You were brilliant out there," Kurama complimented, stepping over decapitated and dismembered corpses as he headed in her direction. "Have you been training since we last saw you?"

The fox demoness seemed honestly unaware of why he would ask such a question, and replied with a surprised—though delighted—smile, "Uhh, no. Why?"

Kurama furrowed his brow in confusion of his own before he masked his reaction with a mirrored smile, replying kindly, "Never mind. Was that the last of them?"

"Do you see any others?" Hiei growled flatly as he came to join them, irritated at Kurama dancing around the fact that the battle was over with a question and not merely stating it. Then, as if he believed Kurama's powers of deduction left something to be desired, he confirmed coldly, "That was the last of them."

Sighing after Hiei and quickly deciding it would not have been worth the argument to tell Hiei that his question had not been in honest need of an answer, Kurama turned to Chichiro and forced another smile as he said, "Shall we make camp?"

Beyond the crackle of the center fire, their modest camp was silent. There had been a strong breeze earlier in the night, but that had now given way to a certain calm that had settled over the woods. An uncharacteristic calm of a demonic world, to be sure, but Chichiro was too appreciative of it after the battle today to yield to suspicion.

As though it were the middle of summer, the air hung heavily and thickly throughout the forest, hot but not unpleasant besides the humidity. A drop of sweat slipped down Chichiro's scratched face, slicing a clean path through the dirt of battle on her skin before it settled at the edge of her chin, then dropped to the ground. Conscious of it only once it'd left her flesh, Chichiro wiped her chin and then her brow.

"Damn, it's hot in here," she mumbled, though the two men with her in the camp weren't quite sure if she realized and intended it to break the silence or not.

"In where?" Hiei muttered in response. "We're outside, in case you haven't noticed."

"Your powers of perception are stunning," the fox demoness replied with a wry smirk, glancing up from the fire and to the shorter demon across it from her.

"…Hn."

Losing a little chuckle to herself, her eyes dropped once more before shifting sideways to acknowledge Kurama. "You've been quiet too," she noticed. "What's up with you, boys?"

"I wouldn't want to speak for Hiei," Kurama told her, smiling wearily in her direction, "but I'm tired. That was a long battle."

"I guess." Though it had been slight, there had been a pause before she responded. Her agreement with him had only been because she knew disagreeing would bring questions. Kurama figured thanks to this that Chichiro was used to lengthy battles and that the one today had been nothing special, the reason why she would not have understood why he thought it had been long.

"So, Chichiro," Kurama began after a short break of nothing but the crackle of the dead, dry logs on their fire, "are you quite sure that you haven't had any training since we saw you last?"

"Quite sure," she replied, taking on a snooty drawl to mimic Kurama's wording. A good-natured smirk was present on her face when he glanced over to her. "I'm sure someone like you knows to trust what I say the first time," she went on, "so I'll take that to mean for some reason that you want me to acknowledge that you noticed something about my fighting today." Mildly impressed, Kurama nodded and waited for her to finish. She did with, "Alright, I'll take the bait—what do you want to ask me about it?"

"I merely realized that you seemed more…experienced with this kind of battle than with the ones we witnessed in Kagura's tournament."

Hiei didn't flinch at the mention, but Chichiro noticed that his gaze subtly shifted so that he could not see the fox demoness any longer even out of the corner of his eyes.

"You mean I didn't suck as bad," Chichiro corrected, humor in her voice. "I know I'm not very good with one-on-ones—"

"That's not what I said," Kurama interjected defensively.

"But it's how you feel," the fox demoness told him, expression pressing him to admit it. "I don't care, I know it's true. It's not my strongpoint. Frankly I don't know why Koenma was mad enough to send me in there rather than somebody else…Guess he was short-staffed or something."

Desperate to make her see that he did not think so lowly of her skills, Kurama pointed out, "You do very well in spars. I've witnessed myself how well you fight Hiei."

"That's just 'cause he sucks," Chichiro jested, obviously not meaning a word of it. Then, she corrected herself seriously, "We've just fought a bunch. It's easier to read somebody when they're a frequent spar partner."

"I don't appreciate the third-person mention," said spar partner commented.

Adopting a look of surprise, Chichiro cried, "Wow! You can still speak!"

Hiei rolled his eyes at her and again looked away from her direction.

Chichiro smirked.

Ignoring their antics, Kurama picked up where they'd left off: "I suppose that's true. But you handled yourself well with Myogie in the tournament, also."

"Ehh, the second form doesn't count," Chichiro responded with a shrug, acting as though said form were a separate being.

"Oh?"

"Well it's just like the way human bodies work in extreme situations," the fox demoness went on to clarify, again showing that strange, warped knowledge of hers; sometimes she was a book of information on both worlds, other times her clueless response to things made it seem as though she hadn't been to either. "You know how they can have moments of extreme strength if they must? 'S not like you count that as their actual strength, right? It's the same for the second form…It's not an accurate representation of my abilities."

The argument was logical enough, Kurama supposed. "Alright, then. It still reveals your potential."

"Whatever." She halfheartedly chucked a twig at him as though to tell him to drop the subject, then collapsed backward into the dirt with a little grunt. "I think I'm gettin' tired too," she mumbled, groggy voice laden with evidence to support the statement.

"Perhaps we should all get some rest, then," Kurama suggested, not expecting any objections, as he cast Chichiro's previous projectile into the flame. "The next wave of Escque could arrive at any moment, or Koenma could contact us with an update for a change in location."

"Yeah, did you bring that atom phone of yours?" Chichiro asked without looking up, instead draping her arm over her eyes as if to block out the fire's light.

"Cell phone," Kurama corrected with the tone of experience. He was used to the fact by now that any time his cellular phone was mentioned, Chichiro substituted 'cell' with some other kind of small or molecular object. "No, I brought the communication mirror. As I've told you, cell phone reception doesn't carry very well between worlds."

"Well it should," the fox demoness grumbled, for whatever reason sounding very bitter about a fact that obviously didn't actually matter or apply to her. "Humans should have figured it out by now…So freakin' behind the times…" But her voice had been trailing off through the entire statement and Kurama knew she was already half asleep. Thus, he didn't answer, and she didn't make any further comment to suggest that she desired one.

Kurama stirred in his sleep as the first clangs rang out in the otherwise silent wood. His body was stubborn enough to keep him asleep through it right up until the moment that Chichiro's body sailed through the camp, breaking a few trees along the way…And not quietly.

"Fuck!" she shrieked, leaping to her feet, ruffled but clearly not hurt badly or worried for her survival despite many new bumps that would certainly bruise. Kurama was too stunned by her casually angry reaction to really respond to the surprise of her entrance. "You jerk, haven't you ever heard of chivalry?"

"Wasn't aware that the definition was losing to a woman," came Hiei's snide voice. Following it, the fire demon stalked into the camp over the broken pieces of the shredded trees, sword at his side but ready for his next attack or defense of an attack of his opponent's—Chichiro.

"Fuck you!" the she-demon spat, her voice higher pitched than usual and cracking. Obviously she was upset by the outcome of their apparent spar. "That doesn't mean you have the right to—!"

"Right to what?" the shorter Jaganshi replied, his own voice raised. Kurama noticed then that his trademark cloak was missing and he was only wearing his usual black pants and sleeveless black shirt. "Fight you as an equal, as I would any other opponent?"

Chichiro obviously took a moment to consider this, but said moment was a short one. "Yes!" she cried finally, still flustered. "I'm your comrade, at least don't try to kill me while we're sparring!"

"The training wouldn't be worth it if I held back," Hiei responded calmly, unconcerned by her reaction. "We are very close in fighting level, so neither you nor I would benefit any if either of us did not fight to our full potential."

"Fine, fine," she snarled back, sounding cooled down but still nothing close to calm. "But even if that's true, intent does factor in. Even if you're doing this to let us both practice, doesn't mean you need to intend to kill me…"

"Right, because our true opponents won't have any intent of the sort."

Chichiro bristled and gritted her teeth, obviously just seething before she continued to shout at him. A small sound, a mix of a buzz and a ring, stopped her in her tracks—the communication mirror.

Shaking his head the slightest and glad that the two black-haired demons with him finally had their focus somewhere other than each other, Kurama pulled the small purple device from his pocket. "Yes, Lord Koenma?"

"The Escque are on the move," piped up the shrill voice of the toddler prince. "That means you all should be, too."

"Understood, Lord Koenma," Kurama replied, glancing over at his comrades briefly to make sure their skirmish was actually over. While both appeared severely disgruntled, they were avoiding looking at the other and instead had their focus dutifully on Kurama. "Where shall we head, then?" he went on once satisfied with their current states of mind.

"The three of you should be experienced enough to—"

But before Koenma could finish saying that they should be experienced enough to sense that…Kurama sensed 'that': A massive, radiating wave of demonic energy, unlike anything he'd ever felt. It was not the power of it that astounded him. It was the fact that it came from Escque. For so much power to be given off by creatures like them, their masses must have been...ridiculous, to state it in a way that would not send him into panic. Kurama certainly was not one to lose his cool, but this was beyond even his nerves.

"Never mind," Koenma interrupted himself, looking pleased for some reason that Kurama could not fathom. "I'll check in for an update soon."

And then white noise answered, and Kurama slowly clicked shut the communication mirror.

Outwardly, he was calm. Keeping up appearances was something one such as himself was used to, having to have acted for so many years that he was human. The practice was put to good use now, as his outward calm began to infect his inward panic. The cold, calculating part of his mind—the part, if he had entertained the idea of there being two separate halves within him, one could call 'Yoko'—had already begun formulating a plan for attack. Hiei was a master at the craft of killing. Large groups were Chichiro's apparent specialty.

Nothing to panic about, surely.

"Well," he said as he turned to his teammates, who both looked somewhat paler but determined—perhaps even eager—and feigned quite well that he was just as calm as ever, "we have our orders. Shall we?"

With Hiei walking ahead of them, the three set off. Although the energy signal was strong, it was not close, and they had quite the way to go. The trio did not move quickly just yet, moving at a brisk walk; they would continue on faster when they were closer. "Don't want to waste our energy before the battle," Kurama had said.

Now, the fox demon glanced sideways at Chichiro, having noticed that for the past twenty minutes or so, her eyes had been riveted on Hiei. Eyes flicking briefly to the fire demon, Kurama then spoke up softly in the hopes that Hiei would not hear, "Did something happen between you two?" At Chichiro's honestly clueless look, he elaborated, "You seemed very…heated earlier."

"Ah, it was nothing." She grinned widely. "I just hate getting my ass handed to me, especially by a comrade."

Kurama chuckled and accepted the answer, not asking after it any longer, though silence had fallen only briefly before the she-demon beside him had spoken once more.

"Why has he been wanting to spar so much lately? I mean, I knew he enjoyed it, but it doesn't even seem like it's for practice anymore…Like he doesn't even try." She gazed after the little fire demon then, either giving up or figuring she'd explained herself well enough. There was something almost like depression in her face, but also a longing. Whether that longing was for the Jaganshi before her or a longing to understand him, Kurama was unsure.

"It's just his way of giving you attention," the fox demon replied after a moment's consideration, wondering how Chichiro could say it seemed that Hiei wasn't trying when she'd admitted herself that she'd lost to him quite miserably. "I doubt that Hiei is accustomed to trying to show the people he cares about how he feels for them…Normally he'd just show it by defending them, I suppose, but given the events at the close of Kagura's tournament..."

"It was the other way around," Chichiro continued for Kurama with understanding. "He has to show it another way, I get it, but couldn't he just kiss me like before? All this sparring is tiring me out."

Kurama was well-adjusted to hiding his reactions, but even he was unable to disguise his surprise for a few seconds. When he had successfully contained his response to this knowledge, he echoed with a controlled, level voice, "Kiss? You two have kissed?"

"Once," she agreed nonchalantly. Twice, her mind corrected, because you couldn't help yourself. But she left that out, figuring it was unimportant. She had noticed Kurama's reaction but chose to put on the act that she had not—Kurama surprisingly did not seem able to tell the difference. "I would think that would be an easier way of displaying affection, right? That seems more normal…"

Still processing this news, Kurama responded quite numbly, "Yes, I suppose. Though Hiei, as I'm sure you have realized by now, is not exactly what I would consider 'normal'." Then, quickly, he went on, "I mean nothing bad by that, of course. Hiei would not be Hiei if he was 'normal'."

Chichiro lost a little grin at that, her smile widening when the aforementioned fire demon seemed to feel her glance on his back and turned to glare at them. "No," she agreed without looking away, "I guess not."

Said glaring fire demon stopped, waiting for the other two to catch up to him before he resumed walking. As he did so, he muttered quite disinterestedly, "Just because I don't have fox ears doesn't mean I can't hear when someone is talking about me. Don't we have more pressing matters to discuss?"

Kurama reflected as he noticed that Chichiro was not bothered at all that the Jaganshi knew, that he really had spent a lot of time in the human realm; though he did not show it, he was somewhat flustered to be found out. "I see no need to discuss the ensuing battle," the ex-thief replied in a level voice, outwardly showing none of his minor embarrassment. "We tend to fight independently, so we don't need to plan our strategy or anything of the like."

"That's not what I meant," Hiei snarled back impatiently, glaring intensely at Kurama despite the fact that his apparent transgression had been minor. "There is a rift open—what are we going to do about that? We can't very well stay by it for weeks fighting off the Escque and Hell-knows-what else it would throw at us."

Now that the fire demon mentioned it, Kurama could sense an irregular energy alongside the Escque. It felt as though it were an enormous life form, gargantuan beyond compare, with no awareness: A rift, a fissure between two worlds that allowed free passage to all creatures that could get to and through it. It was the method that Hiei had used to come to the human realm in the first place so long ago, though admittedly he'd used a far smaller rift to do so.

"Well, I'm out of practice, but—"

Kurama's attempt to volunteer himself for the job was cut short as Chichiro interjected, "C'mon, boys, you must have guessed by now that I have some use outside of multiple-opponent battle, right?"

So she has noticed the difference between group and one-on-one, Kurama noted to himself, wondering then why Chichiro had acted so clueless as to the meanings of his questions earlier in the day.

Hiei continued the conversation before Kurama could think of how to bring it up, however, by muttering curtly, "No, we hadn't. We thought you were useless backup, otherwise."

"Gee, thanks," Chichiro replied, not seeming in the mood to play along and find a snide comment of her own for response. "But you overlooked a pretty large detail then, my friend."

"Does your other talent have something to do with rifts?" Kurama queried with half-hearted sincerity just to get her to spit it out. She seemed to be hoping for some sort of lead-in.

"Yeah," she replied, not sounding enthused with the lead-in that she had been supplied, but not disappointed enough to wait for a better one. "Koenma assigned me to this mission because I've had experience closing nearly all types of rifts. This one seems to be a pretty generic variation, so I shouldn't have any problem doing it."

"I thought that rift-closing took quite a bit of energy?" Kurama pressed, recalling the insane amount of Escque's energy that he had sensed; all three of them would need to be at their peak energy levels to deal with that.

"Hey," the she-demon replied, "better me than you; I'm really not much use anyhow."

Confused by the sad little grin she supplied and why she would say such a thing when she had just commented herself about her talent with larger groups, Kurama attempted to protest.

He was swiftly cut off as Chichiro continued, "The Escque are no problem no matter what energy level you have." Shifting her cat eyes to the side as Hiei gave a nod of agreement, she went on, "But there are also larger foes coming through. You guys can handle them, and I'll take care of the rift and as many Escque as I can."

Again, Kurama was appalled at himself for not having noticed the energy signals sooner—there were entities approaching the rift from the other side as well, preparing to cross into this world. Entities, which had no other name that could be easily translated into a simple tongue like English, were not unlike dragons, worm-like in shape and appearing quite like the Escque to be decaying. They were not pretty creatures, to be sure, but they were very large and quite powerful. Hiei and Kurama would easily be a match for one, or several, but they took concentration and time to kill.

"Understood," Hiei and Kurama agreed at the same time, glancing at each other briefly after doing so. Kurama smirked lightly, though Hiei just glared away from his look an uttered an irritated, "Hn."

Each with their own roles in mind, they set off into the ensuing battle.