Hiei was already up when I awoke

"Do you always sleep this late?" Hiei asked.

Yes," I replied stretching. "Where did they go?"

"They left already. It's difficult to stalk someone when standing five feet behind them the entire time," Hiei said.

"They should be at the castle by now then," I said.

Hiei nodded. "They're making indiscretion their number one priority either. Just a while I sensed a ton of demon energy and then just as quickly it all vanished."

"Then they're doing a stellar job of getting in are they?" I asked.

Just then there was an explosion. It was quite far away close to Kuwabara and Yusuke's spirit energies, but an explosion none the less.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I fished it out and answered.

"Thank goodness! I've been trying to reach you all morning!" Kurama said frantically.

"What's happened?" I asked.

"The Tuguro Brothers!" he said.

I went cold.

"Now is no time for joke, Kurama," I said.

"Do I sound like I'm joking? Tarukonae apparently hired the Tuguro Brothers to come in and torture Yukina. Yusuke and Kuwabara are holding their own for now but they won't be able to stop them on their own." Kurama said. "You need to abandon Hiei and help Yusuke and Kuwabara now!"

"Help? There's no sense in all three of us dying!" I said.

Hiei now had a look of what I expected was concern and bemusement on his face.

"Kairi, you have to go help them save Yukina," he said.

I groaned. "I'm not prepared to fight them."

"You'll have to try, because if you don't and something happens to Yukina, Hiei will kill you if the Tuguro Brother's don't," Kurama said.

"Gee, that's reassuring," I said. I slammed the phone closed and looked to Hiei. "If I leave you alone promise not to kill anyone?"

"No," Hiei said.

"Well, I'm going to take that as a yes and leave you. You see, there's a problem. Please don't freak out," I said.

"What happened, Detective?" Hiei asked.

"Promise you won't freak out first," I said.

"No," Hiei said again.

I sighed. "Have you ever heard of the Tuguro Brothers?"

"The Tuguro Brothers?" Hiei asked.

"An actual yes this time I see," I said.

"What about them?" Hiei asked.

"Tarukonae may or may not have hired the Tuguro brothers to come in and torture Yukina and my partner may or may not be heading straight for them," I said. "So, I'm going to go and catch up to them and stop them and save your sister and my friends and you're going to be good and not kill anyone."

"I'm definitely going to kill someone," Hiei promised.

"Fine. Understandable. Just do me a favor. . . Don't kill any humans," I said. "I know you're a hard ass and I generally regard you as an asshole, but it'll suck if I have to take you back to Spirit World as a prisoner. I mean, you take some getting used to but, I kind of like having you around."

Hiei stared at me for a moment. "Save my sister and maybe I'll return your sentiments."

I nodded. "I think I can do that for you, Hiei."

I sped off toward the castle which seemed to take an eternity, but when I arrived at the front gates I found a massacre. Yusuke and Kuwabara had done a number on Tarukone's henchmen.

The carnage followed as I walked through the corridors. Yusuke and Kuwabara had done a number on Tarukone's guards.

But I could feel a huge mass of energy building not too far off from where I was and it practically made Yusuke and Kuwabara's insignificant.

If I didn't hurry up my best friends were going to end up dead.

I raced through the building and came to two large double door, on the other side of which there was a tom of energy building.

I kicked the doors open and all movement in the room ceased. Kuwabara, Yusuke and Botan all looked back at me in confusion and in the center of the room Tuguro stood. He was a hulk of a man, and on his arm there appeared to be an ugly sword.

"Kairi! Thank goodness you're here!" Botan said.

"Koenma's not an idiot. Once he got wind that these guys were here he sent me right ahead," I said, "which was only like an hour ago but whatevs."

"Kairi. . ." Tuguro said.

"Funny, most guys in your position just call me Detective," I said. "You must be the younger Tuguro and the stick on your arm must be the older one, right? Nice shades."

"Wait a minute! Don't come in here acting like you can just take over!" Yusuke said.

"I'm going to tell you this one time and one time only, Yusuke – if you fight him right now he will kill you," I said. "In fact I'm surprised they're here at all. I didn't expect torturing a little girl or protecting an ugly thing like Tarukonae to be their usual brand of work. Typically they work as hired killers. . . You're at the tippy top of Spirit World's most wanted list for all the things you've done."

"And I suppose you're here to take me in," Tuguro said.

"I feel like it would be easier to just kill you, but to be honest I'm not sure if I can do either of those things," I said. "But I can try."

"WHAT!" Botan and Kuwabara shouted. Tuguro laughed.

"So you're not even sure you can beat this guy?" Yusuke asked.

I shook my head. "I may be can, but Tuguro's always played his strength close the vest. It's massive right and I can probably, maybe beat him if I don't screw up at all, but he's definitely not showing his full power. What I'm sure of is that right now you can't beat him. Let me handle this."

"I hope you've got a plan," Yusuke said.

"I have a plan for if my lack of having a plan fails," I said.

"And if you die?" Yusuke asked.

"Let's just cross that bridge if we get to it and in the mean time hope that we don't," I said. "As for you, Tuguro, let's see if you measure up to all the hype."

"It would be my pleasure," he said.

He charged at me fist raised and jabbed his sword at me. I jumped over his head onto his back and kicked him down into the ground. Before I could even blink, he grabbed a hold of my leg and slammed my down onto the ground as easily as if I were a rag doll.

Okay, that hurt, I thought to myself as I looked up from the ground.

"Perhaps Koenma was wrong to send you," Tuguro said.

"Perhaps, but for the moment I like to think he wasn't." I jumped to my feet and punched him square in the face. Then, he grabbed me and threw me into the ground again.

Note to self: Do not let him grab you anymore.

I was too slow to keep fighting him at close range. I back flipped to across the room from him.

"Scared, Kairi?" he asked.

"Just a little bit," I said pointing my right hand at him like a gun and charging up for a Spirit Gun. "But to be honest, you're a lot less threatening all the way over here."

"Holy crap! You can use the spirit gun too, Kairi?" Yusuke asked.

I scoffed. "I was detective first obviously."

I shot off the Spirit Gun and held my breath. Much to my dismay Tuguro took his sword and flung it back to me in a baseball like fashion.

"Shit," I said.

It sucks getting hit with an attack. It sucks even worse when you get hit with your own.

"Kairi! Are you okay?" Yusuke shouted to me.

I climbed to my feet, starting feel as bad as I probably looked. I was getting my ass kicked.

"I'm fine. Spirit Energy 101 – never attack someone with an attack that could potentially kill you unless completely necessary," I said.

"You're pretty bright for a kid," Tuguro said.

"I've been in this business a long time, Tuguro," I said. I had to think quickly. Long range attacks weren't helping, I was to slow to attack him at close range and even if I were I wasn't strong enough to overpower him.

What was it you said about saving my sister?

I frowned. Hiei.

And getting on my case right now it? Not the most intelligent thing you've ever done.

You're not being very intelligent either. I'm sure you know a way to beat this over grown beast.

I don't know what to do. He stronger and faster than me.

I'm sure you can think of someway to be stronger and faster than him.

That's when it clicked with me. I'd been learning Kaio-ken technique just yesterday. I hadn't perfected it, but I could definitely use it well enough to kick this guy's ass.

"Oh, no, she's freaking out," Kuwabara said.

"Alright, I'm coming to help," Yusuke said.

"No," I said raising my hand. "I'm going to kill him right now."

Tuguro laughed. "And just how do you plan on doing that?"

"Just like this," I said. I powered up for the technique. I could already feel it straining my body, but I had to push through it.

I only had less than a second to get this right.

"Goodbye, Tuguro," I said.

I jumped up to him and gave him a mighty blow to his neck, and, for extra measure, I sent a flurry of punches his way.

And then it was gone, all of my energy.

I fell to the ground just as Tuguro did.

"Is he dead?" I asked.

"Hell yeah! All his energy is gone!" Kuwabara cheered.

"How the hell did you do that and can you teach me?" Yusuke asked.

"I absolutely will not teach you," I said.

"Are you okay?" Botan asked.

I sat up. "Actually. . . Yeah, I'm alright. I shouldn't be, but I am. I guess I must've gotten it right this time. My dad would be proud."

I climbed to my feet and looked over to Tuguro.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked.

"While, I'm happy he's dead and that Koenma is going to be kissing my ass for the next month for getting rid of those guys it just doesn't feel right," I said.

"What do you mean?" Botan asked.

"It was. . . Easy," I said.

"I'm sorry, but I recall watching you get your ass kicked out there until you pulled out that fancy pants attack there at the end," Yusuke said.

"You don't understand. Tuguro is a fighter of the same caliber as my father and Vegeta and I wouldn't be able to beat them even if I could hold the Kaio-ken technique for an hour. This just. . . doesn't make sense and honestly, I'm a little disappointed."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. That's what I say," Yusuke said.

I looked up at the room looking down over us. Hiei stood there as Yukina dashed out the room.

"Speaking of gift horse, I'll be back," I said. I ran upstairs and found Hiei and Kurama looking down on the others as Yukina conversed with them. "Kuwabara and Yukina seem to have a thing for each other."

Hiei scoffed as I stood beside him.

"I'll leave you two to your conversation," Kurama said bowing out of the room.

"You don't have to thank me for beating him. The giving credit where credit is due thing seems beneath you. But you're welcome anyway," I said. "Also, you mentioned something about returning my sentiments. Think it might be nice for me to hang around or are you fully prepared to cast me aside like I didn't save your sister's life?"

"I am fully prepared to never see you again, Kairi," he said, "but I don't see the harm in your presence."

"I guess apathy is your way of expressing what normal people would consider appreciation and kindness," I said. "Also, I think that's the first time you've actually called me by my name without being a dick. I'm touched."

"Don't be," he said.

"I am," I said. "Also, thank you. How did you know about the Kaio-ken technique?"

"I didn't. I had to say something to keep you from getting killed. I dread the thought of having to leave this up to those two idiots," he said.

"Well, thank you anyway. Sometimes I get pushed into a corner and I have a hard time finding a way out," I said. I looked down at the group again. "So, why won't you tell Yukina you're her brother again?"

"I'm a rogue and a convicted criminal. She's better off not knowing I exist," Hiei said.

"I guess so. It's just I have two brothers and I know my life would suck without them, but she's your sister, so whatever," I said. "However, this has taught me something very important about you."

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"Now that I know you're the bastard child of some ice apparition probably cast out from their world for having a penis I'm betting that some way, somehow you found out you had a sister and got that eye put in to find the hidden Ice Village so you could find her," I said.

Hiei scoffed.

"Alright, so you didn't want to find Yukina. You probably wanted to kill everyone in that village for casting you out then," I said. Hiei rolled his eyes. "Hmm, I once recall you making fun of my skills as a detective. Not so fun now that you see them actually working is it?"

"You're still annoying," he said.

I gave Hiei a wink and my flashiest smile. "It's part of my charm."

[A/N: As this is the end of the Spirit Detective Arc, I feel it was an appropriate place to end this series. But you can totes read more when I post the next series "The Dark Tournament" which will, you guessed it, follow the Dark Tournament Arc.]

[A/N II: For those asking about the romance. . . See the next series. That is all.]