Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies…
Warning: contains yaoi and death
Ring around the rosey…
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Kurama dodged the demon's blow, feigning to the left slightly, bouncing off the wall, and flying back at the demon's face. The nine-foot, cat demon brought up its huge paw, slamming Kurama into the wall. When he hit the barrier, red haired demon cringed a little, curling to a little ball in pain.
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Pockets full of poesy…
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"Kurama!" Hiei cried, throwing out his sword in a desperate attempt to help his pained friend. But his own wounds were deep, and he could barely manage to stand, let alone hurt the powerful demon by himself. 'If only Yusuke and Kuwabara were here,' the fire demon thought distressed. 'But, no… they're not. Don't think of what-ifs, Hiei!'
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Ashes, ashes…
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Tossing Hiei aside in a careless sweep, the barbaric cat demon turned its attention back to the helpless Kurama. He swatted him again, throwing him once more to the ground as blood spurted out of the fox's mouth. He didn't even have enough youki to turn into Youko Kurama…
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We all fall DOWN!
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Hiei looked up franticly, trying with all his might to muster up enough strength to help his nearly unconscious friend, but to no avail. The cat scooped Kurama up in one paw pinning the fox up against the wall. Hiei suddenly knew what the cat demon had in mind. "No!" Hiei cried, pulling himself up despite the blood that flew out from his cut in large quantities. Then as Hiei watched, the cat demon grinned mercilessly, and flexed his paws. His claws shot out of his paw and straight into the body of Kurama. The fox demon's eyes opened again, suddenly very wide. And as blood burst from everywhere in his body as the pearl white claws went right through his chest, he fell to the ground, dead.
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Kurama was swimming. 'No,' he thought sleepily. 'It's not swimming…it's more like floating. Careless and free as a bird.'
But he opened his eyes… and everything fell back into place. He was dead, floating above his body slowly as the cat demon that had killed him, released his empty corpse, which fell to the hard ground lifelessly. Well, naturally it was lifeless. If it hadn't been, he'd be even more worried, considering he was up here.
He straightened himself out, so he wasn't facing downwards, which made him remarkably queasy. Things had seemed to slow down when he was dead. His mind flashed quickly over the thought of whether or not it had been the same for Yusuke. He shook his head a grinned a little to himself, smiling at his own foolishness. Here he was, dead as a doornail, and he was wondering whether or not it was the same experience for everyone. Well, he was no stranger to death, his own or anyone else's. A bit sad, really, but there was nothing he could do about it.
The sky seemed to darken a little suddenly, as lightning flashed across the open plane of blue. But judging my the two fighting demon's lack of reaction, Kurama assumed it was something that only he could see, or at least only ghosts and spirits could see. From the center of the torrent of clouds, a slim figure emerged, sitting atop an oar, in a pretty pink colored dress with a blue sash tied around her waist, that went remarkably well with her blue hair.
"Hello, Botan," Kurama said, smiling a little at the girl who floated next to him.
The girl smiled sadly at the dead half-breed. "Hello, Kurama," she said softly, as if trying not to frighten him.
He lay back to look up at the sky, resting his head in the creases of his elbows, left leg crossed over the other. "So, I'm dead, ne?"
"Yes," Botan answer hesitantly. "But it's not permanent."
"Yeah," Kurama said, thoughtfully. "I'm supposed to be reincarnated, right?"
"Uh-huh, but with your particular case, you'll still have the same memories and body as your Youko one. You're basically being reborn, not reincarnated at all. Nothing to worry about!" she said with fake cheerfulness, trying desperately to brighten the redhead's spirits.
"But, Botan," Kurama said softly, still staring up at the sky. "I don't want to remember." 'Not if Hiei doesn't…'
"What was that, Kurama?" Botan said, leaning forward to hear the dead demon's words.
"Nothing," Kurama said, shaking his head and sitting up straight. "Well, it's time to go isn't it?" he said, also doing his best to be cheerful.
Suddenly, a burst of light flashed from the ground, temporarily blinding both the demon and the ferry girl. When they both were able to open their eyes, something odd had happened. A vine had curled itself around one of Kurama's legs and was desperately trying to pull the spirit back down to earth.
"Botan!" Kurama cried franticly, clutching air to try and keep himself from being sucked down to the ground. The blue haired girl grabbed one of his hands, trying with all her strength to hold him up.
But the ferry pilot had never been very strong, and their attempt was fruitless. Kurama's sleeve ripped and he fell through her fingers, tumbling to the earth below. The last she ever saw of the lovable demon was his hand reaching up to her and the fear on his face as he was sucked into the ground.
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"I know he's dead!" Hiei roared at the very frightened ferry girl. "I can learn to except that. But you lost his SOUL too?!?!"
"Now, now, Hiei," Botan said, franticly trying to calm the furious demon down. "It was an honest mistake! Anyone could have made it!"
"Yes," Koenma said, speaking up from his desk. "These things DO happen once in a while, Hiei. I have my best soul searchers out right now looking for him. We'll find him, don't worry!"
He was received by a growl.
"Cool down, Hiei," Yusuke told him. "I know you're feeling guilty about not being able to save Kurama, but I'm sure he doesn't blame you at all! We're all sure you tried your best."
"Yes, and you DID end up killing the target," Koenma put in.
"Who CARES?!?!" Hiei yelled at him. "Kurama's DEAD, and here you are, acting like everything's just fine, so long as the target's dead!"
He stood up abruptly, knocking over a pile of papers, and stomped out of the office, slamming the huge door behind him. Botan stood, intending to go after the mad fire demon, but Yusuke pushed her back down into her chair with one hand. "Let him go. Hiei's just on a guilt trip right now. He'll be better once he sees that Kurama's fine."
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Hiei sat at the top of the tree, foaming in anger. 'Damn them all! And I'm supposed to be the heartless one! They don't care about him at all!'
He looked over at the window into Kurama's old room. 'No, not old,' Hiei thought, correcting himself. 'It's still his room! So long as his soul's out there! We'll find him!'
'Who am I kidding?' Hiei thought, looking back up at the sky. 'Even if he does come back, things will never be the same. Are relationship was strained then. I hate to think how he'll think of me after I've let him die. All because I rejected his love…'
'Don't dwell on the past, Hiei!' he thought yelled at himself. 'It won't do any good.'
Standing up on his tree branch, he looked out over the town, with the bright colors from the houses lighting up the night sky. "We'll find you, Kurama," he mumbled to himself. "We'll find you…"
But they never did
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This is NOT the end! If I fixed it up a bit and things, it might make a good one shot. But because I really hate most one shots, I'm making this one longer! IT IS NOT FINISHED!!!
Actually, I got this idea from the rhyme 'Ring Around the Rosey.' Did you know the rhyme is actually about death? Yeah, it's about the Black Plague in England. A little disturbing to think we sung this joyously as little kids…
If you like this story, you might like some of my other YYH stuff. This one's a little darker then my others, and it's the only one that's actually real yaoi, but hey. Most of my fans are all for Kurama/Hiei, even if my story isn't actually centered on their relationship…
That's all for now!
Dream Fox