It took people weeks to notice Kurama was missing. That was the saddest part of it all. They were all so distant from him now, from each other, that they hadn't noticed for weeks.
In fact, they didn't notice. They were told, by someone else who did notice, eventually.
Kurama was away at college now, and Hiei was in the Makai, and Yusuke was too wrapped up in his failing marriage, and Kuwabara had school too. Kurama used to send letters every two weeks or so to keep up with his friends, preferring them to telephone calls. Yusuke and Kuwabara didn't even remember exactly when these had stopped. They were ashamed to admit that they had stopped really reading them after a while, only having the time and brain power to scan one when they arrived. Yusuke always put his aside, claiming that he'd read it thoroughly later. He ended up losing so many of them, he couldn't even find the last one Kurama had sent. It was gone, like most of the others. Yusuke was never a big reader.
Kurama would have sent letters to Hiei, if you could send letters in the Makai. He knew Hiei wouldn't really have read them, but he would have sent them anyway.
Shiori was the one who realized it had been 4 or more weeks since she'd had even a phone call from Shuichi. Her stepson had been having health problems, pneumonia, and she'd been too distracted. She began to worry. When Shuichi didn't pick up his phone, she worried more. But it was two more days before she was worried enough to phone the university, only to discover that Shuichi hadn't been to class for about a month and a half now. He had missed a test or two, nothing unusual for a college student, and no one had really thought to check up on him. It was odd, that no one had noticed him missing. Shuichi had always drawn attention, with his hair and his eyes and his brain and his skill. People always noticed him. But he'd never had many real friends, and most people had just assumed that he'd had a family problem or something of that nature. None of them knew him very well, and some assumed he'd just decided that it wasn't worth coming to class when he already knew everything. They assumed he chose not to be there.
He was missing.
The police investigated, but couldn't find anything. They couldn't even pinpoint when exactly he'd been taken, only being able to narrow it down to a week. They weren't any help in finding him.
They effectively gave up, though technically the investigation was ongoing. They couldn't find him. He was just gone. Vanished, without a trace.
Shiori couldn't accept that. She had called every number in his address book, seeing if someone, anyone, had heard from him lately. She called his high school classmates too, to see if maybe one of them knew where he was. When she had worked her way through the entire address book without one success, she couldn't think of what else to do. She was at a loss. A week went by, and she couldn't do anything, couldn't find him. She was hiding in his old room, untouched in case he decided to come back, when she had needed to just be close to him somehow. She opened up one of the books he had read to her in the hospital, when it looked like she would be the one to disappear. She was surprised when a scrap of paper came fluttering out, with a name and a phone number written on it. Yusuke, it said.
The name was vaguely familiar, in a long lost way. Shuichi must have brought him to visit her in the hospital once. He hadn't touched these books since, couldn't bear to touch them, he'd said. But he'd left them on his shelf, never touching, but sometimes she would catch him staring at them, his face tight in remembered pain.
Yusuke. And, perhaps, she'd seen him since then. She vaguely remembered Shuichi introducing her to someone named Yusuke at the wedding, but she'd met so many people that day, maybe it was just wishful thinking.
She wasn't really expecting the number to help. None of the others had.
"Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak to Yusuke please?"
"Uh, this is him. Do I know you?"
"Maybe not, but … this is Shuichi's mother."
"Oh! Uh, yeah, I guess I do know you. So, uh, why the call?"
"Please, I don't mean to be rude, but have you seen Shuichi lately?"
"Lately? No, I haven't seen him in … wow, longer than I thought."
"Oh. Nevermind, then. Thank you."
"Wait! What's wrong? Is he in some sort of trouble?"
"He's – He's missing."
"… What?"
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"I'm here to see Hiei."
Mukuro doesn't let her shock at seeing the ex-Spirit Detective show. "And why should I let you?"
"I don't think you understand. I'm not asking. I'm here to see Hiei and I'll damn well see him whether you let me in or not." She hadn't been expecting him to be this serious. Whatever business he had with Hiei, it wasn't pleasant. She got the feeling he'd destroy everything in his path to get to Hiei, and she had just renovated the fortress.
"Fine, come on in, but don't blame me if he refuses to see you."
Mukuro didn't really expect Hiei to refuse his visitor, though she really wasn't expecting the excitement he barely hid. Hiei was by the mazoku's side in an instant.
"Yusuke."
"Kurama's missing." Mukuro sucks in a breath at that. It took someone very brave and very stupid to kidnap the fox, even in his human state. Hiei's eyes flash dangerously, his hands balled into fists.
"What are you still here for? Let's go," he says, his voice low and dangerous. She should probably be annoyed that he didn't even look at her for permission before leaving with Yusuke, but she understands. She wouldn't be able to keep Hiei from this quest no matter what she tried.
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Yusuke and Hiei search. And search. And search.
The trail is long cold. They are months too late to pick up on scents in Kurama's room. They've got no leads to speak of.
And Kurama is shielded from Hiei's Jagan. They can't find him.
It's probably the stress of this that makes them take so long to tell anyone else that Kurama is missing. They're just so focused on it, on their failure, that it's a week of searching before they remember that they have people to ask for help. That's how they find themselves, exhausted and worried and scared, asking Genkai for help.
Genkai looks like she might kill them on the spot, for not telling her, for forgetting that Kurama matters to the whole group. It's Genkai who calls everyone up to the temple for a strategy meeting, and so it's Genkai's fault that they have to deal with everyone else's worry on top of their own. And it's also Genkai's fault that Kuwabara tries to deck the both of them for not telling him.
And, ultimately, it's probably because of Genkai that they find Kurama. Well, maybe it's because of Kuwabara, but no one wants to give Kuwabara credit for anything.
"Wait, what happened to his cat?" Kuwabara asks, after throwing his big hissy fit.
"What?" is Yusuke's intelligent reply.
"You really don't pay any attention to your friends at all, do you, jackass?" Kuwabara fires back, too mad to be polite. Yusuke flinches, because it's true. Ever since things started to go south with Keiko, he hasn't been able to pay much attention to anything else. "Last Christmas, I gave Kurama a cat."
"You gave Kurama a cat?" Hiei's face says exactly what he thinks of that.
"Okay, so I wanted to give it to Yukina, but it turns out she's allergic!" Kuwabara exclaims. "But it liked Kurama and Kurama liked it, so he said he'd take it."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Yusuke fires back.
"Well excuse me for worrying about whether or not his pet died!"
"If Kurama was taken from his apartment," Hiei cuts in suddenly, "would this cat have witnessed it?"
Kuwabara blinks. "Yeah, probably."
"We need to find this animal." Hiei declares.
"Why? You going to interview it or something? You speak cat now?" Kuwabara's clearly annoyed at both of them.
"No," Hiei bites out, impatient. "But I don't need to." Kuwabara opens his mouth to speak again when Yusuke cuts him off.
"The Jagan! You can use the Jagan!" Hiei nods, once, sharply. It's a one in a million chance, probably, but it's still the best one they've had since they found out. Yusuke finds himself suddenly overflowing with energy. "Let's go find that cat!"
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The cat, it turns out, gives them two valuable pieces of information. The first is that Kurama asked his neighbor to feed the cat for him. Which means that he knew he was being taken.
They don't have the energy to parse that at the moment.
But the cat was in the apartment when the figure that took Kurama appeared. And while the physical appearance has faded, the memory of the energy signature has not.
They have an energy signature. It's not much to go off of.
But it's enough.
It's two more weeks before they find Kurama.
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There's commotion outside. He doesn't so much hear it as feel it, the echoes of explosions vibrating through the soles of his bare feet on the stone floor. His eyes are closed and he is trying very hard to appear as though he doesn't notice anything, as though he is as lifeless, held upright only by the chair he is tied to, as he was before the vibrations. His captor isn't buying it. He didn't really expect him to, but it was safer to pretend. Facing him head on would only bring more pain, and he wasn't strong enough for that at the moment. Pretending was safer.
A hand fists in his hair, pulling his face sharply up, and his eyes whirl around to meet the aggressors. He doesn't bother to hide the fear. There is some voice in his head telling him to temper it, to maintain some semblance of pride, but he's not overly concerned with that at the moment. He has more important ways to use the tatters of strength he has left.
The face above his twists into a smile, and his hair is released. He lets his head flop back down, saving energy for more important things than holding his head up.
"You're too broken to even think they'll save you, aren't you?" his demon captor sing-songs as he glides across the room. He's right, of course; that's what the demon was looking for in his face. Hope. Hope that the explosions meant escape, freedom, salvation.
He knows not to rely on others to save him.
He hears the demon take something off the wall behind him. He cannot tell what it is, other than something dangerous. He has never seen the wall, but he has felt its effects more than once. He wonders if this will be the last time he has to sit through the torment of this process.
"Shall I end it for you?" his captor wonders aloud. "Or shall I let you live?" He doesn't react. He knows he has no say in the answer, and he is saving his strength. "Perhaps I should just let them take you away. After all, I've done my damage." He breathes evenly, breathes in the smell of the dank room all around him. "But, then again, I could kill you just as they get here. Just as rescue is in hand. Yes, I think I like that." He breathes deeply, in and out, filling his lungs and emptying them again. He feels the stretch of bruises and cuts along his torso, but he keeps breathing.
Even as he feels the cold of the blade along his throat, he keeps breathing.
"No last words?" the voice teases. He breaths in. "They're coming, you know." He breathes out. "Not much time left." Each breath in presses the blade further against his throat, and each breath out relaxes it slightly. He can feel the vibrations getting closer and closer, and he knows his captor can as well. He focuses on that, on the timing of the explosions against his steady, deep breathing.
They wait.
He doesn't know how much time passes between the first explosion and the footsteps. It could be hours, it could be minutes. This room has taken his ability to tell time from him, minute by minute, day by day. He can't even count seconds anymore, can't focus on keeping the numbers in his mind. But he can focus on breathing. He focuses well on breathing. And, eventually, he feels the vibrations change, from explosions on the stories above to footsteps out in the corridor. He feels his captor tense, eyes on the door. He hears the giant, metal doorknob start to turn. He does not know if he feels or hears or just senses his captor smiling, but he knows when the distraction has come. He takes the one moment he has left.
He breathes in.
He breathes in all the strength he has left.
He breathes out.
He breathes out all of his remaining spirit energy into an explosion in his captor's lungs.
His eyes are closed, but he hears the door open as the spores bloom into fully grown mold, clogging every airway his captor has, choking all the air out of him. He feels the sword at his throat dig into his flesh as his captor tenses in his agony. He feels the small trickle of blood that runs down his bare torso, seeping into old wounds. He feels it as his captor desperately tries to draw in air, failing and failing and failing. He both hears and feels the blade clatter to the ground.
He does not breathe in again until his captor follows the sword to the ground. Dead.
Then he gasps, breathing deeply and quickly, suddenly starved for air. He is more exhausted than he has ever been, drained of all spirit energy, battered and bruised and still bound to this chair. And proud. In that one moment, he is so incredibly proud of himself.
He saved himself. He saved himself.
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Yusuke wonders for a moment if this is what it felt like when they went to save him, that one time he was kidnapped. He doesn't think so, because he'd been gone for maybe a day, and they know Kurama has been here for much longer than that. He thinks this must be worse.
It almost feels like old times, the three of them fighting together. But there's an edge here that there wasn't before, because here there is the clear absence of a member of the team. They fought for high stakes before, but it was still – the only real word for it is fun. It was still fun, just to fight. To fight with this group of friends, of highly skilled friends. This, though … This isn't fun.
As they fight their way through the lair, they just follow the direction with the most guards. Kurama is still shielded from Hiei's Jagan, and worse than that, not even Kuwabara can feel any trace of his youki. So they follow the flow of guards to its source, and hope that Kurama is at the center and not just a guard room.
It's quick. The guards themselves are cheap demons for hire, and not particularly skilled. He supposes that the guards were more for the look of the place, to note that it was occupied, than to actually keep Kurama in. If Kurama got out, no amount of guards would hold him. He was too good at hiding.
There is a small niggle at the back of his head that worries that, maybe, the guards are just here to stall. To alert whoever took Kurama the minute someone came to save him. A part of him worries that Kurama was dead the minute they were spotted.
He pushes that part away and focuses on the fight. They have to get to Kurama quickly, and that particular worry is a paralyzing worry, and not useful. He doesn't want to think about it.
Following the guards finally leads them down a long, dark staircase to a long, dark hallway. He can't sense anything, but he can hear someone breathing in a room about two thirds of the way down. They run down the hall, and he grabs Kuwabara by the back of his shirt before he goes too far. Hiei spares them a brief glance, a moment of hesitation, because they still can't sense any youki from inside the room. He knows that means that Hiei's as worried as he is, because Hiei doesn't hesitate about anything.
Still, they haven't got much time, so he grabs the big, iron handle, and turns it.
The door opens to reveal Kurama, head down, beaten and bruised and bleeding in a hundred different places, with a sword held to his throat. That would make him rush to him, would make Hiei rush to him, too, but the sword is shaking. The sword is shaking because the demon holding it, a surprisingly humanoid one considering all the guards, is apparently choking on thin air. They all just stand there and watch as the blood drips down Kurama's chest, and the demon chokes to death.
It takes until a moment after the demon lies on the ground, dead, before they move. Hiei is the first to snap out of it, and in the blink of an eye he's by Kurama's side. Kurama flinches away from him, harshly, enough to make the chair slide back a pace or two and bump into the dead demon's body. Hiei freezes unsure of what to do.
Yusuke steps forward, finally actually entering the room. He notes now the sutras plastered all over the walls, the ones that hid spiritual energy and blocked Hiei's Jagan. He also notes the ones painted on Kurama's skin, binding his youki inside. How did Kurama kill the demon (because obviously it was Kurama who killed the demon) without his youki? A question for later, he guesses.
He slowly kneels to untie Kurama's legs, trying not to startle him. The moment his hands touch the ropes, Kurama stiffens, breathing in and out rapidly. Yusuke pauses for a moment, before resuming untying Kurama. Just do that. That has to come first, because he can't stand seeing Kurama tied down for another second.
Hiei seems to agree, because he gets to work on Kurama's other leg. He could just do it with is sword, but even he must notice Kurama's discomfort. His concession is doing it by hand.
Soon, but not soon enough, Kurama is free from the chair. He doesn't move, remains seated in the chair, breathing rapidly. He hasn't even lifted his head. Yusuke tries to help him out of the chair, but he flinches away again. Yusuke takes a step back, unsure of what to do. They have to get Kurama out of here, but he doesn't want to be touched. Hiei growls, frustrated, and Kurama seems to shrink into the chair even further. Hiei cuts the growl off, but the damage is done.
"Geez, you guys, don't you know anything about taking care of hurt people," Kuwabara huffs as he finally steps into the room. He shoves past Yusuke, which Yusuke would have decked him for, except that then Kuwabara's in front of Kurama, and speaking in a voice he usually reserves for hurt kittens. "I'm gonna grab your hand now, 'kay Kurama?" Kurama still tenses when Kuwabara does as he said, but he relaxes after a minute. "You good to stand on your own?" The answer is obvious, but it's probably better for Kurama's pride to ask. Kurama doesn't move for a moment, then he shakes his head. "Want me to help you up?"
Kurama's hand clenches around Kuwabara's. Then, he draws in a deep breath, and seems to set about consciously bringing his breathing back to normal. After a few long moments, he finally lifts his head, and stares Kuwabara straight on. "Get. Me. Out." He bites out through clenched teeth.
It's horrible. His face is gaunt and bruised and swollen in a way that Yusuke has hardly ever seen on Kurama. While he may have let his opponents beat him up a bit, somehow his face was usually avoided. Hiei would have said it was something about the fox's damn pride. Clearly, that pride had taken a beating in this room.
Clearly, Kurama had taken a beating in this room.
Kurama stumbles as Kuwabara helps him up, and Yusuke steps forward to catch him on instinct. But Kurama flinches into Kuwabara, and Yusuke drops his arms immediately. Kurama doesn't look at him; he just limps out of the room, one arm thrown around Kuwabara's neck. Just before he leaves, he looks back, but not at Yusuke or Hiei. Yusuke follows his gaze to the wall behind the chair, the wall he hadn't even really seen because he was so focused on Kurama, Kurama, Kurama. Now, he sees it, and his blood begins to boil. Seeing Kurama, in the state he's in, had frozen it, but this sight melts it again, until he has magma running through his veins. The wall isn't littered with weapons. In fact, the sword lying on the ground next to the demon that he wishes he could kill again seems to be missing from a decorative set above a disgusting looking fireplace. No, the wall isn't covered in weapons.
It's covered in torture devices.
Clearly, many of them have no practical use in battle. Only in torture would someone have enough time to use these.
The demon had a lot of time to use them on Kurama.
They're all clean, all well cared for, and he feels in his gut that everything here has hurt Kurama while he's been here. That there was not one Kurama was not subjected to.
He wants to burn this place to the ground.
He can feel the energy coming off of Hiei in waves, and he knows that he is not alone in this.
But Kurama turns, suddenly, and limps out of the room. And as much as he wants some kind of revenge, he needs to follow Kurama. He needs to keep him in sight. He may never be able to let him get out of his sight again.
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He can feel his legs trying to give out underneath him, but he keeps walking. He puts one foot in front of the other, over, and over, and over, because he will make it out of this building on his own two feet or he will die trying.
Kuwabara must feel him leaning heavily, must feel how his legs shake, but he says nothing. He is glad. He couldn't explain himself if he tried.
He hears the hurried footsteps behind them, can feel Hiei's assessing gaze as powerfully as Yusuke's worried one, but he does not look back. He walks forward, one foot in front of the other, until he is stepping out of the building and into the light.
He hasn't felt sunlight on his skin since he was brought to this place. It blinds him a bit, but it also warms him in a way he wasn't sure was possible anymore. He feels the plants sing in a way he hasn't in far too long, and he steals energy from them to feed his own. He had forgotten that this was what it was like. He had forgotten what freedom felt like.
He feels the energy sing through him, and suddenly he knows what he needs to do. He waits until they're at the edge of the forest surrounding the fortress, before he stops. Kuwabara freezes immediately, standing and just letting him lean against him. He turns back to face his prison, and his face contorts. He doesn't bother hiding anything in that moment, not the rage, not the fear; every inch of the fallout from his imprisonment shows on his face. He can hear someone gasping in the background, but the world has become white noise to him. He breathes in all the power from the plants that he can steal. He breathes in everything that has been denied to him. He breathes in freedom.
And he breathes out destruction.
The foundation of the fortress shakes and crumbles as plants bloom out of it, wrecking the supports. He watches his jail collapse in on itself, and he smiles. He has time for one thought before the exhaustion takes him.
Good riddance.
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Hiei rushes forward the second he sees Kurama's knees start to buckle. No one can match his speed, so it is him who catches the fox as he finally succumbs to his injuries. Yusuke was a step behind him.
He's done this before, when the fox had been stupid, when he'd let an enemy get too close, when he'd tested the limits of his human body time after time. He is used to the way that the long red hair feels, hanging over the side of his arm, travelling the length of his body. He is used to the way Kurama's head instinctively tilts into Hiei's warmth and strength. He has done this many times before.
But it has never felt quite like this. It never has never brought him to the verge of angry, sad, relieved tears. He'd respected the fox's wishes to not be touched, he'd put up with him leaning on the oaf instead, but god, he'd needed this. He'd needed to feel Kurama, to know that he was still there. He'd always been able to find Kurama's youki before, whenever he'd felt like searching for it. He'd always been able to just reach out and feel the fox, thrumming with energy and life. It had been torture when Kurama was hidden from him.
He lets himself breathe in the scent of the fox in his arms. He knows it isn't over yet, he knows that there will be more fallout from this, but in this moment, it is okay. As long as he can reach Kurama, there will be a way through.
"What do we do?" Yusuke asks, hovering a little too close. Hiei tamps down on the urge to step back, to take Kurama away on his own, because Yusuke needs to know that Kurama is here as well. He can recognize the urge in others. Besides, Kurama's body is human. He may need human care. "We can't carry him through the Makai like this."
Kuwabara steps forward, but doesn't come as close as Yusuke. The little fire demon still likes to jab at him sometimes, and he's looking awful upset over Kurama. "Don't you have a fortress somewhere we could stay at, runt?"
Hiei scowls at the insult as much as the stupid suggestion. "We're not bringing an injured Kurama into Mukuro's territory, fool." It's just asking for trouble.
"Well, what should we do then?" Yusuke demands. Neither of them knows the Makai like Hiei; it's up to him.
Hiei considers this for a long moment. Kurama's wounds need treatment before they can begin the journey back to the human world, and doing it out in the open, so close to the downed fortress, seems dangerous. Mukuro's was out of the question. There was, of course, another territory close by that Kurama could seek refuge in. The thought of it made Hiei scowl, but it was probably the best option. And they didn't have time to be choosy.
"Yomi. We'll head to Yomi."
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They have surprisingly little trouble on the way. A weak demon or two, drawn in by the scent of Kurama's blood, but no major trouble. At the sight of Kurama in Hiei's arms, the guards let them through. They can recognize the fox demon on sight now, since the tournament.
Yomi's lips press into a thin, thin line when they enter his office. His nostrils flare and his face slams down into a blankness Kurama must have taught him. Without a word, he leads them to a spare bedroom. Fresh bandages, clean water, and other necessities are already waiting, probably called for by the guards. Hiei reluctantly places Kurama on the bed, red hair fanned out around his head, his skin almost the same white as the sheets. Yusuke comes to hold Kurama's hand as Hiei sets about bandaging his wounds. He's had more experience with this than the others, seeing as he's been Kurama's partner for years. They watch him clean and wrap the wounds, unable to do much more for them at the moment. No one speaks.
A stray hair flutters as Kurama breathes in and out. Yomi goes to brush it away from his face, only to have his wrist stopped by Hiei. Yusuke brushes it away instead, and Hiei releases Yomi.
Hiei feels Yomi's attention rake over him, assessing the fire demon. It's not quite his sight, due to the whole blind thing, it's more like his ears listen to each inch of him in turn. Finally, Yomi steps back, and turns to leave. As he exits, he throws "Tell me when he wakes," over his shoulder.
The three settle in for the long haul, because it doesn't look like Kurama will wake any time soon. Hiei perches on the nearest window, keeping one eye out for any attacks that might come. Kuwabara ends up sleeping crosslegged against the wall across from the foot of the bed. And Yusuke falls asleep at Kurama's side, one hand still holding his.
Hiei lasts the longest of the three, but even he eventually drifts off into a light sleep. It had been a long few weeks before they found him, and no one had slept well. No one dreams in that room this night; they are too tired for dreams.
If it were Hiei, he'd be out for perhaps a month in a healing sleep. But Kurama is not Hiei; he is not a demon. He is somewhere between a human and a demon, and there is no telling when he will wake. Hiei had resolved to be awake for it, and it is this more than the watchfulness that helps him fight sleep for so long. But eventually even he can't stay awake any longer.
When his eyes finally open again, in the late hours of the morning, they meet the piercing green he wasn't sure he'd see again.
Kurama is sitting up in bed, propped against the wall behind him. He has freed his hand from Yusuke's, choosing instead to clasp his own together. His face is blank, but his eyes are sharp. Distrustful. His eyes are distrustful.
"Detective," Hiei calls out. Yusuke mumbles something about not being a detective any more, and also couldn't he just have five more minutes? "Oaf." Kuwabara doesn't wake, doesn't move, so Hiei throws something inconsequential at him. It bounces off his temple, waking him.
"What was that for!?" he demands, loudly enough to wake Yusuke properly to laugh at him. Hiei narrows his eyes and jerks his head toward Kurama. He watches the two realize that Kurama is awake.
Yusuke is scanning Kurama's body immediately, looking to see if any of his wounds opened during the night. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything? I could –"
"I am fine." Kurama's voice is carefully controlled, yet sharp in the same way his eyes are. "Where am I?"
"Yomi's territory," Hiei supplies, surprised at the way Kurama bristles.
"The runt here said it would be the safest option," Kuwabara adds.
Kurama looks as though he might disagree. "Why did you not take me to the human world?" he asks, softly but precisely. There's something off about him, something wrong, but Hiei can't quite pinpoint it. But, then again, he knows Kurama was tortured. Perhaps it would be strange if he were completely fine.
"Are you stupid?" Yusuke demands. "You fainted, you were clearly injured, we had to get you cleaned up first. Make sure moving you wouldn't do more harm!" Yusuke does not respond well to worry.
Kurama almost visibly bites down a retort to that, before closing his eyes and nodding. "Regardless, I am safe to move now. I suggest we leave." And with that, he sweeps the covers off and begins to try to stand.
"Woah, wait a minute," Yusuke interjects. "We still don't know if you're okay to move on your own, and we don't want you opening all those wounds up again." Kurama shoots him a stunning glare. "At least accept some help, you proud idiot!"
"I am quite capable of moving on my own, thank you," Kurama says, shying away from Yusuke's touch in a way that is more subtle than the flinches from the day before, but conveys the same message.
"Yeah, but we told that Yomi guy that we'd get him when you woke up," Kuwabara throws in, missing the way it make Kurama stiffen. "You should probably thank him, too, he did put you up for the night after all."
"I will thank him another time," Kurama says in that same sharp, precise tone. It's a tone that dares one to argue with it, and Kuwabara knows enough to back down on this for the moment. "Let's go."
"Leaving so soon?" Yomi asks, suddenly standing in the doorway. Kurama, to his credit, doesn't swear or jump the way Yusuke and Kuwabara do. Nor do his eyes widen in surprise, a reaction even Hiei can't suppress. His only outward reaction is to tilt his head and stare Yomi down. A tense moment passes where no one speaks, before Kurama steps forward.
"Thank you," he says, bowing slightly, "for your hospitality. However, I have been missing from my mother for far too long, and I do believe I owe her my time more than I owe it to you." There's something about the way he says 'my mother' that is off.
"It is because of me you are alive," Yomi muses, not moving from the doorway. Kurama's eyes flash, cold and hard.
"Perhaps," he murmurs, "but one could say the same of her." Yomi's ears twitch slightly. Kurama stares, unwavering. Finally, Yomi nods and steps out of the way, into the hall. Kurama does not run out of the room, not the way Hiei would, but rather calmly walks through the door. The three stand there in shock for a moment, confused about what just happened and how much of it they didn't understand, before following.
It is only when they are all out in the hallway, with Kurama's back fully to Yomi, that he speaks again. "Before you go, I have one more question for you, Kurama."
Kurama stills, but does not turn back to face Yomi. "Which is?"
"You're in the little human's body, Kurama. Why are you in control?" Kurama's jaw clenches and his eyes are as hard as emeralds.
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asks, agitated. "Who else would be in control?"
"This is not your half-human," Yomi states in a voice as cold as Kurama's. Hiei bites back a swear as he realizes what Yomi means. "Youko Kurama is in control."
So that's what was wrong.