Parallel Worlds

Yusuke knocked on the front door of Kurama's human mother's home. It had been over a week since any of them had seen Kurama; even Koenma was having trouble contacting the fox. The main concern he had was that, according to Hiei, Kurama's bedroom window, which was usually left open for the fire demon, had been locked and bolted. So here he was outside of the Minamino-Kokota household waiting for either Kurama, his mother, stepfather or little brother to answer.

A few moments later the door opened to reveal a warmly smiling Shiori. "Evening ma'am." Yusuke smiled politely, "Just wondering if Shuichi's around. I'm a friend of his from school." He decided to keep it kept quiet that they didn't go to the same school. To his surprise the smile quickly turned into a frown. "Ma'am?"

Shiori crossed her arms. "I want you to leave." She declared frostily. "You're one of the reasons for my son's sickness and I don't want you being around him." She made to close the door but Yusuke put his foot in the door.

"Now hang on just a damn minute." All politeness was gone from his tone, who did this woman think she was?! "What sickness? Where is he? Shuichi!" He called into the house.

Suddenly a man appeared and glowered at him from behind Shiori, but it was not Kurama. "If you don't leave right now I'll call the police." He growls, pulling his wife behind him. Yusuke looked him up and down. So this was Mr Kokota, stepfather to Kurama. He didn't look like much but as he'd learnt quickly in the Makai, don't judge a book by its cover.

"Look mate I'm just looking for Kurama. Where is he?" Almost immediately he could have bitten his tongue as both parents gave him one of the most venomous glares he'd ever seen. "What?"

"Kurama. My Shuichi is in hospital right now due to you." Shiori hissed angrily. "I don't care about your age and the pretend games you play around demons and spirits but I do care that my son has actually started to believe he's a demon and you are partly to blame. He came home a few weeks ago, made me sit down then told me he was actually a thousand year old spirit fox." She held her hand over her eyes. "At first I thought you'd put him up to it but then he continued to tell me…" She dissolved into sobs and turned to her husband.

Yusuke stared at her in disbelief. This was the woman Kurama had put his life on the line to save? This was the woman he'd offered to give up his own soul for? "I…I gotta go." He mumbled, turning around and hurrying away from the freaked up house. "Shit…Kurama." He muttered, running his hand through his hair. "Hospital…" He glanced towards the looming building just as Hiei dropped down next to him. "They've locked him up." He said numbly.

Hiei tilted his head in slight confusion. "Which 'They' are we referring to?" He asked curtly. "Koenma? The ningen authorities?"

"His parents." Yusuke answered, eyes still fixed on the tall white building that now looked like a menacing obstacle between him and his friend and teammate. He could almost feel the double take Hiei did. "I know…of all people to lock him up they were the last I expected."

"Why did they lock him up? Why did he let himself be locked up?" Hiei demanded, pulling Yusuke's shirt down so that they were eye-level.

Yusuke raised his brow at the reaction of the normally stoic fire apparition. Though this was a time of crisis, in his opinion, he couldn't help but be amused at Hiei's concern. "Locked him up because he's mentally unstable." At this Hiei's eyes furrowed in confusion. "He told them he was Youko Kurama and they thought he'd gone mad, insane. Why he let himself get locked up, I couldn't honestly tell you…probably because of his mother."

"You know where he is. Take me to him." It was a statement, not a question, and this statement left no room for argument.

"Hiei I don't even know if that's possible! He's in the loony bin…I think they're not allowed visitors because of violence or something." Despite the fact he was taking his knowledge off films he'd seen he believed they would be very lucky in order to see Kurama. More likely than not Shiori would have warned the doctors about them and ordered that they weren't allowed to see him…the only other option was to…"

"Break in." Hiei finished his train of thought. Yusuke gaped at Hiei for a good minute before snapping his mouth shut. Of course! Hiei and Kurama were expert thieves! He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about the first time they'd come face to face after they'd stolen the three artefacts. Plan of action, phase 1: Approach the doctors and ask for Shuichi Minamino. Should that fail they'd move to phase 2: break in. if that one failed, the only other option was Phase 3: Blast away half the wall and kidnap Kurama.

..::END CHAPTER::..

Not the best standard coming from me, rushed, not very precise…probably a load of mistakes in here…but does anyone really care? I don't expect you to review this, if you read it I'll die of shock. Just another uptake on how Shiori deals with her son coming out with the truth. Not seen another story where he gets locked up for it so…I plan on a lot of hardships, a lot of cruelty, perhaps homophobia depending on my feelings and a character death somewhere among the lines…Kurama's crazy? I said that from the beginning!