"I called Yuusuke."

I looked up. "Shizuru-san."

"Better than letting that one skip about town in the condition he's in." She squatted easily by the bed -- Kuwabara's -- where they'd settled me, glancing back through the half-ajar door. I could hear her younger brother cursing a blue streak, casting various types of aspersion upon the ancestry of the youkai who'd dared to injure the friend of the mighty, the unconquerable Kuwabara Kazuma (himself). There were no auditory signs of Hiei.

"I gave him some food. Turns out he hasn't been eating for two weeks, either." The smile wry, around the perpetual cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth. "I told Yuusuke to shlepp over a few orders of noodles. Shrimp chips and ice cream'll only get us so far, and it looks to be a long night. So what happened?"

I lay back. One thing about this body -- it did heal faster than a regular human's. With Yukina's ministrations, I'd have nothing to show for my massive ki drainage and near-asphyxiation but a few bruises tomorrow. "A variant of a common creature, really. Less than intelligent, but practiced at crafting illusions to draw its prey to itself. It just didn't occur to me. I must be getting soft."

"You're not blaming yourself for God's sake, Kurama. Hiei said there was no way you could have felt it if you didn't know what to look for."

"Hiei said that?"

"Doesn't sound like him, I know." Shizuru paused a moment, rocking back on her heels. "Kurama -- what do you think this is about?"

Yukina poked her head through the door. "Shizuru-san -- they're here."

"Mukage?" Yuusuke asked again.

The Urameshi Team and adjutant steel magnolias (Keiko, Shizuru, Yukina) sprawled about the living room amidst the wreckage of empty Styrofoam takeout containers and chip bags. Not for the first time I wondered what the Kuwabara parental units thought of us. "All those happy young people," no doubt. Ghost-busting and world-saving not included.

Hiei stared out the window, the picture of indifference to those who didn't know him. "Mu as in without. Kage as in shadow. Mu-ka-ge."

"Shadowless," I said. "Some sort of nickname?"

"I don't know." Kuwabara gave an audible snort which Hiei (to his credit) ignored.

"I spent a couple of months down in Sankai," he said. The Makai colloquialism directed the comment at me or Yuusuke, whose eyes widened.

"That's... insane," he said. "I've only been to Nikai." He looked at me for confirmation.

"What the hell are you talking about?" said Kuwabara.

"Yonkai," I said, though the time I'd spent there could have been notated in seconds more readily than in days -- and was not a pleasant memory. Hiei gave me a sideways glance and sniffed.

"You're insane," Yuusuke said. "You're all fucking insane." Keiko gave him a reproving look. "What?"

"Guys?" said Kuwabara.

"It was a while back."

"Will one of you clue the rest of us in?!" Kuwabara half-yelled. Hiei glared at him in annoyance.

"The Makai exists on different levels," I segued in as well as I could. "All three worlds do -- except the Reikai's are occupied by the afterlives, and this world's are mostly cut off from each other because of the low ambient spiritual energy. In the Makai you can portal down to the inner layers: Nikai, Sankai and so forth, but the risk increases exponentially. Mukuro and Yomi's Makai is high civilization in comparison."

"Levels ad infinitum?" Shizuru asked, exhaling smoke. Yuusuke nodded.

"Far as I can tell. Things are screwed up down there. They get smaller as you go, too. It's hard to explain."

"That was last year," Hiei said.

Yuusuke blinked. "Huh?"

"That was last year." Hiei turned. "Nikai's bleeding into Mukuro's country along the lines of the Raschaz marsh. Half of Sankai is bubbling up through the barrier -- it's a war down there. The portals down to Yonkai are gone. I'm not sure it's even there anymore." Yukina gasped.

"Sonna!"

"But that's..." Yuusuke trailed off. He looked as shocked as I felt.

"The fundamental structure of the three worlds," I said. "Why hasn't there been word from the Reikai?"

"No one's paying attention. Maybe around now rumors are starting in the Outer Makai." Hiei shifted to snag a not-quite-empty soba container. "I... felt like finding out what was happening. There's a sense of purpose down there. You feel it, even in the things that don't have minds. And the one word keeps on coming up over and over."

"Mukage," said Kuwabara. Hiei managed a credible expression of non-surprise.

"So I followed one of the less mutated ones," he said. "To see where it was going. I thought it had the best chance of making it out."

"And it came here," Keiko muttered. "I see where this could turn into a problem."

Kuwabara looked around. "But none of you guys have ever heard of the thing? Kurama?"

I shook my head.

"Yuusuke? Man --"

"I have," said Yukina. We looked at her, and she blushed. "I think."

***

"And if we get some of those white lilies in the table settings with little -- Miaka?"

"What?" Miaka blinked guiltily at her friend's reproving expression.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

"Mm..." Miaka gave a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, Yui-chan. I guess -- I guess I just didn't wake up properly." The feel of the dream still hung over her, lending an aura of unreality even to the catalogues spread over the Hongou living room table.

Why beware...?

"Thinking about Taka, aren'tcha?" Yui sighed unexpectedly, letting her inventory sheet fall to the floor. "Heck. I know he wanted something small, but with all the people your mother invited... I guess a daughter's wedding is a daughter's wedding, no matter whether she says she approves or not."

"Yui-chan..."

"And I agree with her." Yui reached over the table and tapped Miaka's nose. "This is a girl's most special day. Besides, you're the first of us all, and if I have to start playing bridesmaid already it had better be for someone in a really keen dress. Understood? So never mind the boy for once. No one's going to be looking at him anyway."

The two girls stared at each other for a moment, then burst into giggles. Miaka felt her mood lighten by several degrees. That's right. In another month, I'll be getting married to Taka -- right after graduation. And then everything would be all right. They'd be together.

Forever.

"Well, at least I found you a great deal for the flowers." Yui wiped at her eyes and got back down to business. "If we can manage to get these forms filled out. Tell you what -- I hear there's a good DJ playing at Chiquitas tonight. I'll take you there if we get this done, okay? It'll be a girls's night out. We don't often get a two-day weekend."

"This was supposed to be a girls' night out."

"Come on," said Keisuke. "Don't you read the papers? There's some psycho going around slicing people up at night. You and Miaka shouldn't be out by yourselves. I mean, you've got boyfriends and everything."

"So why did you tag along?"

"He's heard about the hordes of girls who trail DJ Xing around the nightboxes," said Tetsuya. "It's useless, of course -- I've seen pictures of the guy, and with Keisuke's looks he's got zero chance at scoring with his fanbase."

"Tetsuya! Hi-doi!"

Taka's fingers twined around Miaka's, and he gave her an affectionate smile. Miaka smiled back foolishly, feeling the familiar quickening in her chest. She was lucky, she knew; more so than her due. No one could possibly deserve being as lucky as she was. Except him. The young man that the boy Tamahome had become deserved all the happiness she could possibly give him -- and she meant to do her very best. She snuggled close to him, taking comfort in his warmth.

"Earth calling the lovey-dovey couple in the back," Yui said drily, "we're here. Remember to pay your share of the taxi fare. And that goes double for you, Yuuki Keisuke."

***

"You were right, sir."

Saitoh looked up at Masada.

"I called the families. One of the other victims -- Hoshino -- also subscribed to the same periodicals. Of the other three, the schoolgirl had a hobby of telling card fortunes for her friends, and the housewife read tea leaves. Both families said they'd seemed unusually moody and withdrawn lately; the girl was complaining about migraine headaches."

"What about the homeless man?"

"Hard to say. I don't think they've even found his next of kin. It's tricky without a name to go on."

"Fujii said they knew his street name, didn't he?"

"Yeah -- 'Newtype.' He was some kind of spiritual advisor for the rest of them." Masada blinked. "You're not saying that these people have some sort of psychic connection, are you, sir?"

Golden eyes regarded him flatly, and Masada swallowed. He knew -- knew! -- that the man was a capable investigator with an impressive success rate (if a somewhat seat-of-the-pants method). If rumor spoke correctly, he was even possessed of a life outside the office. But at such moments he had the eyes of something feral, and unreasonable.

And very large.

"I'm not saying anything of the sort," said Saitoh. "I merely identify patterns. And this qualifies as such." He turned his gaze back to the paper in his hand, cutting Masada off completely.

He might have to call in some favors.

***

There was a lineup to get into the nightclub.

"Mostly girls," Tetsuya muttered. "It's always easier for you, you know." Yui pinched him.

"Not with this guy around," Keisuke said, jerking his thumb at Taka. "Chicks would pay for the privilege of hitting on him in a smoky, noisy environment."

"Oniichan!"

"Not that they'd get anywhere, of course."

"I always feel so damned sorry for them," Yui murmured.

"Yui-chan -- not you too!"

"Not that." Miaka followed Yui's gaze. An old woman was shambling along the storefronts with her back to the wall, toward the front of the line. Her ragged, stained clothing stood in marked contrast to the clubbers' glittering, flimsy outfits, and Miaka thought she was wearing too many scarves for the weather. Grey hair straggled out from under a wool tuque, veiling her face. As if sensing Miaka's gaze, the old woman lifted her head slowly, meeting the young girl's eyes.

Miaka gasped as the world jerked, as if braking to an impossible slowness. All of a sudden the sidewalk faded around her; her friends too, and the sounds of traffic and the towering Tokyo skyscrapers, to be replaced by a city she knew just as well. For a moment the laughing crowd and the bridge decked with colored festival canopies, the lanterns' reflections dancing in the water. But the stars, oh, the stars were the same overhead, and they were whirling...

"Miaka? Miaka, what's wrong?"

Taka.

The world came back with a rush. Miaka righted herself hastily. No. No, it couldn't be. What was happening to her?

She looked up into Taka's eyes, dark with worry.

"I... I'm all right." She was now, anyway -- and at a loss even to describe the last few moments. It felt like a dream. "I think I'm just hungry." Just a daydream. The line was moving toward the door, and Taka put his arm around her protectively.

Keisuke snorted and seemed about to comment, but was interrupted by a peal of gurgling laughter. Miaka's heart skipped a beat as she realized the old woman was still staring at her, a fey grin plastered over her tired and utterly unremarkable features like a horror movie poster on a school bulletin board.

"Lady red," she crooned. Miaka felt Taka stiffen. "Lady blue. Dance, dance, sweetings, dance, he's coming for you, my sweets. For me too. They want you to go back. They need you but it's too late. It's going to die. It's coming. It's coming -- coming --"

Keisuke had moved closer to them. "Daijoubu sa," he muttered under his breath. "She doesn't know what she's saying." Miaka nodded, but couldn't turn her eyes away. The old woman was rocking to herself now, muttering. A bouncer detached himself from the entranceway of the club and approached her, but she appeared not to notice.

As Miaka passed under the arch of the doorway her head snapped up and she cried out hoarsely,

"Beware, Priestess of the Nine! Beware!"

***

"Real parchment," Keiko said. "I've only seen stuff like this behind glass."

"It's an old medical treatise. Genkai --" Yukina smoothed the skirt of her kimono out absently -- "Genkai gave it to me, way back when. It was written by humans, but in the Makai, I think. She said it would come in useful wherever I chose to live in the end."

Shizuru turned one yellowed page gingerly.

" 'To dispel a minor evil cast in the form of manic energies,' " she read. " 'Take... green moon herb...' Kurama, you have a look. This is more in your line."

I took over. " '...Shizuki and ryuumei with bitter mint and geranium in tincture, knead into the five major solar pressure points of the face and neck, and the three of the upper back. Keep the patient as still as possible during the procedure.' "

"Sounds like a massage," Shizuru said. "Could help the manic energies."

" 'While reciting the following rhyme.' " I paused, mouthing the antiquated syllables before continuing. " 'Light not light, shadeless aye, take to thee, leave none by. Repeat three times per day, and when a significant improvement is noted burn a bouquet of the aforementioned herbs upon the threshold of the house.' And... that's all."

There was a silence.

"Does that actually work?" Yuusuke asked finally.

"Of course it does! It's Yukina-san's!"

"Right. My bad."

"What's this note in the margin say?" Keiko asked.

I peered. The ink was some vegetal red, faded with time almost to the shade of the paper itself. " 'Add. study of invoc. see Mukage & Lay of Nine in Leg. & Demon. Wors. of Proto-Nippon (Takamura-dono). G.' "

"Jackpot," said Shizuru.

"What's Demon Whores of Proto-Nipple?" asked Yuusuke, all hopefulness carefully trimmed from his voice. Kuwabara sniggered anyway.

"Legends And Demonic Worship of Proto-Nippon," Shizuru clarified. "You're in luck, boys -- I've actually read that book. Some of it. It wasn't published all that long ago; maybe eighty, ninety years."

"So what's Mukage?" her younger brother demanded.

"I said some, right? I could find it again. It was at the U."

"Ancient History Club?" I asked. Shizuru nodded.

"While back. I only noticed it in the first place 'cause it stood out. AHC's usually all Chinese, all the time. I could make a call if you want -- couple of grad students run the joint -- "

Hiei watched us silently, his arms crossed. His inquest had crossed over into our world, I realized; Shizuru's and my world of jobs and evening classes and school clubs and libraries. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

As the elder Kuwabara went off to find a phone and Keiko rounded up the others for cleanup duty, I stayed behind.

"A couple of months in Sankai," I said finally. "Was there at all a reason?"

No answer. Ruby eyes regarded me steadily.

"Feel free, of course. But it would be a little unfair to Yukina if you went and died on her now."

"For her."

I paused. This was a non-sequitur. "Sorry?"

"I did it for her. It's the same as when the kekkai came down, Kurama. I get these --" he stopped abruptly. "It feels as if all three worlds are dissolving into each other. Dying."

I stared at him in astonishment. "Why didn't you say anything to the others?"

"Because it's a stupid idea." He turned to the window. "Find out what you can. I'll be back."

He was going to leave. On that note.

"If you need a place to stay, you know where I live," I managed to pull myself together enough to say.

Hiei gave me a withering glance before diving into the darkness.

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