AN: I only plan on posting this at the beginning of this chapter, but obviously it extends to all consecutive chapters as well: I do not own the YYH characters. The Warren characters, on the other hand, are mine.
I first wrote this story something like 8 years ago, if you can believe it. I stumbled across it recently and read through, barely remembering my own plot. Reading it with fresh eyes opened up areas I realized I didn't explore that I could have. It allowed me to use my own experiences, that I didn't have 8 years ago, to flesh out details that were lacking before. Let's face it, 8 years is also a lot of time to improve my writing skills, also. And, finally, it let me fix plot holes that younger-me didn't realize or care were there.
So, without further ado, please (re)enjoy Into the Rabbit's Den.
Hiei wasn't admitting it out loud, but he had missed the spirit detective, the fox, and the complete and total baka (albeit a brave baka). Sitting at the window was bringing back detestable memories. And the only reason they were detestable was because he had come to enjoy them. Kurama was listening to the other two with a pleasant smile on his face, and Yusuke and Kuwabara were both trying to tell him about their lives without breathing, each talking louder than the other.
Botan peeked into the room, smiling broadly. She had already greeted all of them personally. Even Hiei. Koenma was with her this time. He smiled too, his eyes crinkling and his lips curving up behind his binky. He had recently taken to appearing only in his teen form – he explained it came with the territory now that he was mostly in charge - so he was quite a bit taller than Hiei.
"I'm sorry to call you guys all back here," Koenma sat on top of his desk, knocking a stack of forms to the floor with reckless abandon "but I am happy to see you all again."
"You didn't call us back for a reunion," Yusuke sniped, "so get to the point, binky breath!"
"It is rather time sensitive," Koenma admitted, flipping brown bangs out of his face. "I'm sure you've all heard that there is an uprising of sorts in the Makai. Our defenses are stretched thin as it is, and a terrible weapon was just discovered…"
"What is it?" Kuwabara demanded. "A bomb? A cursed object? What?!"
"A warren," Koenma answered. When Kuwabara looked as though he might ask another question, Koenma waved his hand dismissively.
Kurama cut Koenma off anyway. "A warren...a demon's harem?"
"Not quite a harem," Koenma said, "but, yes, actually."
Yusuke rolled his eyes. "That makes no sense."
"I just need the four of you to get there and get them out safely before they're used," Koenma said. If he glared at Yusuke, at least it could be said that the Spirit Detective wasn't paying enough attention to notice.
"Used how?" Kuwabara asked. "Like...how people are used in a harem?"
It was an awkward question, albeit a fair one.
"This isn't about their virtues," Koenma explained, "it's about the breeding! Hanshoku have been used to breed armies in the past. Intel leads us to believe that something similar is being planned now."
"Wouldn't it take a while to breed an army that large?" Yusuke asked. "I mean, how many times can you get pregnant in a year, right? And then, they're just going to have an army of babies."
"Urameshi!" Kuwabara snarled. "Those are people you're talking about, even if the army will take a decade or tw-"
"Actually," Kurama cut him off, "you said Hanshoku, did you not, Koenma?" When everyone turned to look at him, he continued. "They have shorter gestation periods and depending on the variety of male demons available, the offspring may reach maturity quickly. Even if they weren't particularly strong demons, the sheer number would likely be overwhelming."
"Lovely," Yusuke grumbled. "Guess we've gotta get to work, then."
Sagaku spun a strand of her hair around her finger, knotting it and re-knotting it mindlessly. Not for the first time, she wondered how boredom could be so painful. There was work to do, of course, but given that they couldn't leave the warren not much could be done. And their storage of food was running perilously low. But Papa had told her and her sisters that they would be safe here. He said he was getting help and then they would be safe. She had to believe that.
Usagi rocked their youngest sister, Youji, back and forth.
"When's Papa gonna be back?" Youji asked, sucking on a carrot they'd given her to calm down not too long ago.
"He's going to be back soon," Usagi soothed Youji. "He has to get some guards and then he'll be back."
Youji snuggled closer to Usagi, wrapping her arms around her sister's rounded hips. Sagaku sat up from the flattened mattress to tweak Youji's nose. Youji stuck her tongue out.
She couldn't ask the question she wanted to ask - how much longer until they were safe? Her nerves were quivering despite her boredom. If she answered herself honestly, she didn't think their father was coming back. And she didn't think there were any guards. They could feel faint vibrations in the ground as larger predators prowled the area, and they only had food enough for another day, maybe two if the older girls went without.
"I thought he said the portal would take us there!" Yusuke griped, kicking the ground aimlessly. A puff of dry dust and dirt floated into the air. From the looks of the area, it had once been a flourishing forest. Now it was charred branches and ash.
Hiei remained silent, ignoring Yusuke as his eyes flitted from side to side. The four them had scanned the area already, and they were looking again beginning back at the portal. There was spirit energy here - a very small amount - even if they could not pinpoint the exact location.
Kurama was the first to notice the entrance to the warren, quite by accident. He was pulling aside dead brush from the forest floor and noticed an oddly consistent pattern in the wood.
"Here," he called to his teammates. "It's in the ground."
Kurama pried the round door open. It was heavy but pliable under his fingers and opened silently. It opened to a five foot drop.
"It's like a warren," Kurama mused quietly to his friends, "like a rabbit warren."
Yusuke dropped down the opening first, crouching to squeeze through the narrow hallway. The walls were dirt, but packed firmly so only small, hair-like roots broke through. There was only one way to go, so he led the others on.
Usagi was the first to notice something off as Sagaku took her sisters through a silly little exercise regime they made up. When she stiffened and twitched her nose, Sagaku stopped as well and sniffed the air experimentally.
"What is that smell?" Sagaku wrinkled her nose. Her grasping fingers caught one of her sister's hands, pulling her in close. The other girls followed, clustering around and holding each other with fingers cold and stiff from fear.
"Sagaku?" Usagi asked, trying not to sound afraid.
"I think it's a fox," Sagaku said. She flexed her hand, releasing her sisters' holds, and pushed to stand in front of them. Usagi and Mazui may be older than she was, but they were soft and fragile with no mind for violence. Sagaku wasn't exactly a fighter herself - all of her instincts screamed at her that flight was much preferred to fight right now, thank you very much - but she was lean and flexible and would do what she had to do.
The fox in question paused on the other side of the thick, wooden door. His sensitive nose interpreted the scents for him.
"It is a warren, literally," he warned his friends, hoping to prepare them for the scent that would follow when the door opened. What he didn't expect was the fist that nailed him in his sensitive nose.
Sagaku twisted to kick at the intruder again, but when her sisters shrieked behind her she lost her balance and sprawled across the ground. The intruder stared at her ruefully with large, emerald eyes. If she had been a flower, she thought, that look would make her wilt.
"We're not here to hurt you," Kurama said. Yusuke chortled at the nasal tone.
"You're not a fox?" Sagaku asked in a small voice.
"Not most of the time," Kurama said, "but sometimes. Your father sent us to escort you to safety."
"The guards!" Usagi caught on, pleasantly surprised to find they could finally leave the dingy room their father had left them in. "Come on girls, quickly, we have to go!"
The room was suddenly a swarm of movement, small hands grabbing the few baskets around and stuffing random assortments of items into them. Only one girl remained still.
"How do we know you are who you say you are?" Sagaku asked quietly.
Behind the red-headed not-fox, she could see three other figures though they were well shadowed beyond the range of the lantern the girls kept in their room.
"You don't," someone growled from the darkness. Hiei could feel the energy of several demons moving nearby, travelling at a steady pace towards them. They did not have time for foolishness. "Company," he added as an aside to the others though Kuwabara was already hustling some of the girls towards the entrance.
Hearing that, Sagaku threw caution to the wind and shepherded the last three of her sisters out of the room. They hurried down the hall after the rest of the sisters, leaving Hiei and Kurama to take the lead.
"Is it safe?" she asked over her shoulder, wondering if she could trust the fox even if he did answer.
"We're going to make it safe," he said calmly.
Hiei and Yusuke stood on the offensive, ready to attack as soon as any of the demons were near enough. Kuwabara was already leading girls through the portal as quickly as he could given the sheer number of them. When Koenma had explained the situation to them, seventeen just hadn't seemed like that many. Now, as the older girls coaxed the younger ones through the portal one at a time, seventeen seemed like sixteen too many.
Jitsu, the father, had sent word to Koenma that someone had leaked the location of his daughters and most of them were nearly old enough to be within a breeding age. While he was able to move their location to a less-known warren, he had to lead some of the demons away. Yusuke wondered why he hadn't just taken the girls directly to the Spirit World.
In the distance, a dark speck began gaining speed and growing larger.
"Quickly, please, through the portal," Kurama urged.
Yusuke aimed carefully. Before he could fire, Hiei disappeared in a dash of black, drawing his katana. The demon fell. It's stronger brethren drew nearer.
"Come on, come on," Usagi pushed one of the last little girls through. Sagaku narrowed her eyes as she watched the men around them tense.
"Hurry!" the tallest one, with curly orange hair, pushed her through so fast that she stumbled over Usagi who had just gone through as well.
The portal was a dizzying array of color that lasted only a second and left Sagaku feeling vaguely like she'd swallowed a slug. Behind them, the men arrived as well and the portal sealed quickly.
"A success?" Koenma asked. It was his way of making sure no one was injured.
"There would have been a fight if we were there any longer, but the highest ranking demon in the area was a B, at best." Yusuke grinned errantly at their leader and winked. "Quick and easy, just the way I like it."
"I'm telling Keiko you said so," Kuwabara muttered.
"Thank you," Usagi bowed to the men. Sagaku and Mazui followed suit. "Thank you for rescuing us."
"Thank your father. He sent word of your predicament," Koenma said.
Sagaku looked around. "Where is our father?"
"He is trying to throw some demons off his trail," Koenma answered, "so he doesn't lead them back to you."
"Papa? Where's Papa? I want Papa!" Youji started to cry. Ririshii, the second youngest, started to cry as well.
"Think before you speak," Usagi chided Sagaku. The two crying children clustered around her.
"I'm sorry," Sagaku murmured and looked down. She hadn't realized the question would make the girls cry, but perhaps she should have known better. If she were a few years younger, she would be crying as well.
"In the meantime," Koenma continued as if there weren't sobbing children in his office, "the boys will be taking you to a temple in the Ningenkai to keep you safe. There are fewer demons there. You will be safe."
"We don't even know them," Sagaku protested at the same time Mazui said, "But they're men," in horror.
"You'll just have to trust us," Koenma said airily, waving his hand as if he had no more time to deal with the scared and frustrated group before him.
"Come," Kurama murmured. "We'll take you to the temple and get acquainted while you all settle." He placed a firm hand on Sagaku's elbow and led her out the door. The other girls followed with little choice.
Sagaku seethed under the surface. She couldn't live with strangers and not worry about her Papa. She didn't know these men and they had no way of knowing that they were safe. But even though there were only four of them, and the girls vastly outnumbered them, there was no doubt in her mind that the girls would not win a fight. At best, maybe they could escape.
