Okay…I had a nightmare about a rattlesnake ripping out my chest…and uh…this was born. I don't own any yyh characters, though there will be some villains that are mine and blah blah blah…enjoy please!

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It's called the Death Rattle.

The last breath that flows from the dying's lips…

Why is it referred to as a, "rattle?"

Is it because a rattle can sound like rain?

You may be wondering why I even brought rain up into this little query, but it you've heard death, felt it in your bones then you'll notice seconds before your gone, that little rattle the eases from your chest sounds just like the end of a rainfall...

"KUWABARA!" Yusuke's voice shot out as he turned the upper half of his body in a violent twisting motion, just so he could watch his best friend go flying back and land roughly in the dirt, sliding several feet before stopping. Kurama and Hiei both turned, and Kurama tried to go back to Kuwabara, but Hiei barked out, "No! Let Yusuke go get Kuwabara! I can't handle these demons alone!"

Admitting that had been a hard thing for Hiei, but he nodded towards Yusuke, signaling for him to go check on their human friend. Throwing the nameless demon off of him, Yusuke ran to his best friend eyes wide with fear. His chocolate orbs danced around his friend's body as he tried to figure out where Kuwabara had been hurt. Kuwabara had tucked himself into a neat ball and has his eyes clenched in pain. Making a gasping sound Kuwabara looked up at Yusuke, Kuwabara's face white and eyes glassy.

"Where did they hit you…where you hurt?" Yusuke cooed in a soft voice as he let his hands hover over his friend's body, too afraid to touch him for fear of hurting him more.

"I'm….holdin' my guts in…" Kuwabara whispered as he tried to move.

Yusuke stopped him and looked down at his friend's belly. Kuwabara had indeed taken a direct hit to the stomach, and the wound was so big…so bad…that Kuwabara had shoved both his fists in his injuries to prevent himself from bleeding more then he already was. Yusuke reached out and cupped Kuwabara's face in his hands and whispered in a ragged tone, "We're almost done here Kuwabara…we almost got them, and any moment now Mukuro and Yomi will be here. Can you hold on Kuwabara?"

Kuwabara smiled weakly, but Yusuke never got to hear his answer.

A chain suddenly wrapped around Yusuke's neck and he was dragged backwards, kicking and struggling. Kuwabara stared back at him in silent horror, gasping for breath, too close to death to call out for his friend. Yusuke's eyes darted around as he struggled and he saw Hiei and Kurama in the same situation as he was. Yusuke frantically fought the sea of demons that pulled him away from his best friend, but it was no use.

There just had been too many demons!

Where had they come from?

That thought coursed through all four men's minds as they struggled against their attackers. It had been an ordinary day…Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama were waiting at Genkai's shrine to meet up with Kuwabara. They were all excited, even though Hiei didn't show it. Today was a special day. Kuwabara, now graduated from his University of choice had decided to celebrate his special day with his friend's in demon world, a normally impossible task thanks to the miasma in the air of demon world…not to mention a human in demon world was seen as a free snack.

But not today…they had all planned for this day, and with Koenma's help Kuwabara was going to celebrate with his friends. Kuwabara had been real excited, this would be the first time he'd see Yusuke's territory and meet the friends he spoke so highly of-not to mention Mukuro who Kuwabara referred to as, "Hiei's girlfriend." Hiei hated that, and Kuwabara loved to exploit that fact.

Kuwabara had just arrived, and greeted Yusuke with a bear hug when everything went still. The birds got quiet, and the wind seemed to still and thicken with a heavy ominous tension. Not a sound was made, and it was that silence that got all four former detectives on edge. Kuwabara released Yusuke and turned to look at the forest that surrounded the shrine, and that was when the demons attacked…all at once in one great pulsing mass.

The reason for the attack was unknown, but they attacked with the intent to kill. Kuwabara had been unable to fight for the first few moments; he was instead focusing on contacting through telepathy to get help. When he came out of it flashing a thumb's up sign saying he's managed to get Botan, Yusuke has swelled with pride at Kuwabara's advancement in his psychic abilities. But there was still a battle to deal with, and Kuwabara was soon lost in the swell of fighting.

It was easy pickings…but there were so many. They forced the men in a circle…and then Kuwabara was attacked…

…And that is where we are now. With Kuwabara holding his insides in, and his friends being dragged away by thick heavy chains that burned their skin.

"Kuwabara…." Yusuke cried gasping as the chain was tightened around his neck. "Kuwa…Ku…KUWABARA!" Yusuke managed to get his voice louder as he reached for Kuwabara through the throng of demons. He could just barely see Kuwabara now, but he could see the big goofy man…was now curled into a small heap, blood all around him. Yusuke struggled harder, but he felt weaker the more he struggled.

"It's the chains! The chains are draining us!" Kurama's voice rang out before a demon tugged him by his hair and tried to bite his exposed neck-luckily Hiei managed to stop that with a well-aimed kick.

Yusuke gasped for breath, he felt like he was drowning as the demons closed in on him laughing in a sick delight. And just through the gaps of the crowd Yusuke saw a man. He did not see his face, the man's back was too Yusuke. The man had long golden hair that moved freely with each of his strides. The man stopped right before Kuwabara, standing in the human's blood. Kuwabara who was ghost white looked up at this man, and Yusuke though far away could see his friend's eyes were filled with fear, and this pleading look that Yusuke couldn't name.

Yusuke stopped struggling and let the demons pile up on him at what he saw next.

The man with the golden hair swooped down on Kuwabara, and pulled Kuwabara's blood stained hands from his belly. Kuwabara's mouth opened wide, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as his strand of intestine flopped out of Kuwabara's stomach. And that was when the cavalry arrived.

Yomi, Mukuro, and Koenma himself has been the ones to arrive to help. The demons were gone soon, and as Yusuke got up throwing the chains off him he looked for the man with the golden hair…but he had gone. Faded away into the mass of demons as if he never existed. Yusuke wasted no more time and rushed to Kuwabara's side.

Kuwabara still remained curled up on his side blinking lazily. Kuwabara's red, red, hands were numbly trying to shove his intestines back in his stomach, but to no avail. Yusuke flopped down on his knees next to Kuwabara, his jeans soaking up the taller man's blood. Yusuke helped Kuwabara roll onto his back and pulled the man into his arms, holding him in an awkward embrace as he tried to help Kuwabara put his own guts back in their proper place.

Kuwabara's head flopped over the crook of Yusuke's arm and Kuwabara looked up at Yusuke with wide teary eyes.

They both knew it was going to happen…just one look at each other and they knew it was over for, "the great Kazuma Kuwabara…"

"What did he look like? What did he look like?" Yusuke whispered, begging his fading friend to supply him with any information on the blonde assailant who had decided to aid in Kuwabara's soon-to-be death.

But Kuwabara didn't say anything…he kept making those soft wheezing breaths. He looked confused now, no longer in pain, just confused. "Urameshi…is it…rainin'?" Kuwabara asked his last question as he gave out his last breath, his Death Rattle.

The sound was painful to Yusuke's ears, and at that moment everything inside Yusuke chose to swell up and explode. Yusuke's scream ripped through the air before taking a sharp twist and turned into loud racking sobs. Screaming and sobbing in Kuwabara's neck, Yusuke held the man he'd fought alongside with since the beginning and cried his heart out until there was nothing left. Yusuke's hand held both of Kuwabara's bloody hands, and interlaced between both their fingers were the intestines the two had been trying to shove back inside Kuwabara's body. Yusuke sobbed, and held his best friend tight, knowing this time, "it," wasn't a trick to get Yusuke to fight harder against a man called Toguro. That this time, "it," had really happened…

This time Kazuma Kuwabara was really dead.

The attack now over, several people stared at the scene of Yusuke cradling his friend's body, all wondering what had happened.

Kurama could not make sense of it all…the attack had been so out of a blue, and had ended as soon as Kuwabara's hands were yanked away from his gut. Had this been an attack meant for Kuwabara? Kurama groaned and sunk to one knee his injuries getting to him, and tried to think for the possible answers as to why they were attacked this way.

Hiei just watched Yusuke with his ruby eyes not saying a word. Hiei normally would wear his cold callous mask, but this time he couldn't hide the shock. Hiei had this keen ability to keep track of every second of battle, every minute…every hour. And in exactly 12 minutes and 36 seconds the nameless demons had managed to not only surprise them with their attack, but also kill one of them…kill Kuwabara.

Koenma was in a state very much like Kurama. How had demon's gotten into the human world? Low-level demons could sometimes slip through the cracks and sneak into the human world…but not this many, and not all at once. Koenma counted twenty bodies, at least, but he knew there more he was not seeing, and even more that had escaped. How could all this happen on Koenma's watch?…A question Koenma wished he had the answer for.

Mukuro stared at Kuwabara cocking her head a bit so her bright orange hair would move out of the way so she could get a better look at the scene playing out before her. She was supposed to meet this human today…today had been this human's special day. Hiei had told her about it and acted like he didn't care but Mukuro knew Hiei…and had seen that odd spark in Hiei's eyes. Mukuro had wanted to meet him…the human that had earned Hiei's respect and friendship. And now here she was looking at him, wondering what his face would have looked like if it hadn't been so gray with death.

Yomi was blind…but not deaf, in fact his hearing was the best around. He shuddered inwardly and outwardly at Yusuke's scream. Yomi could recall Kurama's enthusiastic voice retelling him of Yusuke's fights in the dark Tournament. Yomi had noticed the drop in enthusiasm and pitch in Kurama's tone when the normally hard-to-read and level headed Kurama had spoken of a cry Yusuke had given when Toguro injured Kuwabara. Kurama had sounded put out for the rest of their conversation, the mere memory of Yusuke's agonized voice had haunted the fox so much. And now Yomi was hearing this cry himself and finally able to grasp and understand the absolute feeling of dread caused by Yusuke's moans.

When Yusuke was spent with his crying, he stroked Kuwabara's face and looked up at the sky. Yusuke couldn't help but think it should have been raining. But no, it was not raining, the sun was bright, and a few clouds artistically graced the pale blue sky…but it should have been raining. Remembering Kuwabara's last words, his question of if it was raining made Yusuke stomach turn and his heart break all the more. He pulled Kuwabara to him in a desperate hug and buried his face in Kuwabara's chest willing for there to be a heart beat. However, there was no heartbeat and Kuwabara's head just flopped back in a lifeless manner, his face turned skywards kissing the sky…

It took a long time to get Yusuke to let Kuwabara go.

Yusuke had stopped crying for good by then, and stared blankly at his friends. And after that Yusuke never cried again. Not at Kuwabara's wake though plenty of others did. Kuwabara's old gang showed up and blubbered like big babies instead of grown men. Shizuru cried herself sick on Yukina's shoulder, who cried just as hard if not twice as much. Kurama shed a few silent tears, and bowed his head in respect, and though Yusuke didn't see Hiei cry, he knew the short demon had done so. There were so many tears, but Yusuke had cried all of his.

Even when Kuwabara was cremated and the next day Shizuru handed Yusuke the urn, Yusuke did not cry. He accepted the urn, and returned to demon world with Hiei and Kurama, not looking back once. As far as Yusuke has been concerned his reasons for visiting the human realm had died with Kuwabara. He placed the urn in Raizen's old vault where Raizen had kept his greatest treasures. Yusuke locked everything he had of Kuwabara's away into that vault…Letters, photographs, birthday cards, Christmas cards…even a napkin that had Kuwabara's new cell phone number scribbled on it, all went into the vault with the urn, never to be released from the vault again.

For the next five years Yusuke would try to find this man with the golden hair…but only seeing him from behind didn't help Yusuke give a good description to anyone who Yusuke thought could have the answer as to where this killer was now. Yusuke could describe everything about the man with the golden hair though…everything he had seen.

Yusuke could describe how the man's knuckles had gone white when he grabbed Kuwabara's wrists and tugged the bigger man's hands away from his deep and bloody wound…

Yusuke could describe how the man shook a little as he was thrown off balance as Kuwabara tried to tug away, and free himself...

Yusuke could even describe how when the man had stood up his shoulders had rose and then sunk with a sigh, causing several strands of his hair to slide over his shoulders before tangling against the man's back…

It was on the fifth year that Hiei put his hand on Yusuke's shoulder, and whispered, "Let it go."

Yusuke had shot his eyes away from the vault he had been staring at, the same vault that held all of Kuwabara's belongings…and his ashes. Yusuke had changed over the five years. His brown eyes were dim, and held an intense anger that only his victims would take notice of before death. He no longer looked the same, with his long ragged black hair, and the strange markings that tattooed over his skin. Yusuke could have suppressed his demon form if he had wanted, but the day Kuwabara died Yusuke had stopped caring, and now looked a lot more like Raizen then ever before.

Yusuke stared up at Hiei, and then looked over to Kurama who was waiting for them at the door.

"Is it raining?" Yusuke asked softly.

"It's the anniversary…time to go see Kuwabara's grave…Shizuru will be expecting us." Kurama said softly.

"Is. It. Raining?" Yusuke asked again voice more forceful.

"No…" Kurama finally answered casting his eyes away from his friend.

"It never rains on his anniversary," Hiei whispered as he let his mind get swept up in the memories of a man that had once called him shrimp.

"It should be," Yusuke muttered darkly as he got up and turned his back on the vault knowing it was time to go pay his respects to his friend who had been gone these five long years.

Why is it the good die so young?

Their blood staining our streets, hands, and clothes that vibrant red?

When you think about it, what is death really?

Is death that cold breathy rattle you make as you breathe your last breath, or is it perhaps that cold numbing feeling that comes over those that are left behind?

End of chapter 1

Yes…there's more and here's a preview:

When returning from Kuwabara's grave Yusuke finally sees the yellow haired man again, the one that took his friend. And now with the man's face, Yusuke is ready to go after his friend's killer only to find when he gets home, Kuwabara's ashes are gone.