Hello 3

This time we see Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara having a talk while drinking and trying to figure out what plan will work best in order to bring back one of them.


"He what?"

Yusuke's voice raised a few good decibels, bottom of his glass landing on the table with a loud clank. Kazuma jumped a little mildly shocked by the fact that the glass did not shatter on impact. Taking the beer to his lips he blinked a couple of times as Kurama sighed trying to keep the situation at bay as best as possible alongside is nerves. The information finally registered fully for Kazuma who had the exact reaction, beer hitting the table, the content this time overflowing.

Kurama got up just in time to avoid having his work pants soaked in beer while Yusuke appeared to be out of harm's way. A few minutes later with a clean and dry table, they all gathered closer, alcohol infused breaths mixing together in the air between them.

"So let's recap and make sure my dumb brain got it right. You mean to tell me Valery is gone, completely from this world and Hiei did this?" the twitch in his eye was obvious as he let go of the glass in his hand being certain that it would break on a second impact. Kurama just nodded closing his eyes.

"I bet you anything she will return and kick shorty's teeth in." the smile on Kazuma's face was short lived as Kurama looked at his friends leaning back and downing the entire content of his glass.

"She's been gone since late April." He spoke grimacing as the alcohol hit his stomach but did little to calm him down and wash away the bitterness of the words spoken before.

"Late April? We are in fucking June and you didn't bother telling us?" if he were facing someone else, Yusuke would have jumped over the table, taken the person in front of his face by the collar, shook them until dizzy, demanding answers. However that was not an action that could have been performed with Kurama, if he valued his life of course.

He didn't know if he imagined it due to the haze from the countless whisky glasses, but Kurama looked more pensive than usual, eyes focusing on too many scenarios, raw emotions burning visibly in his gaze.

"Is she dead?"

Kurama's chin lifted slightly, fingers tracing the glass rim, looking into Yusuke's eyes, seeing a partial reflection of him. Kazuma was the same. They didn't say it, but they didn't like it, losing a friend, no goodbye, no words, just nothing, but their reaction was the one expected, anger speaking louder than words in this case.

"We might as well consider it like that. She's in a place where we can't get to."

Kazuma smashed his fist against the table, glasses lifting slightly. His eyes were large, he was mad, jaw tight trying to keep at bay insults he wanted to address. Yusuke pat his back a couple of times and smiled.

"Well then we will find a way to get her back."

A ghost of a smile passed Kurama's lips, more out of curtesy than anything else. He had thought about all scenarios, went numerous times to Spirit World after the chaos started settling in and the Gods stopped trying to bring apart all worlds for a girl. In truth he was surprised they even involved themselves, majority hated Valery since she wasn't born one of them, but received the tittle later.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that a demon dared to take one of them away. No matter how you looked at it, no one liked demons. Their queen included. She hated them and was not afraid to show it. She married a demon, she lived in Demon World, did right by them and fought for their cause, but she despised them. It wasn't always like that, it grew steady and gradually.

"If she comes back, she will kill all demons because of what Hiei did. I am still piecing together information as Koenma is not very keen on sharing anything right now, but…"

"Fuck it!" Yusuke got up slamming a fist in his open palm "She won't kill anyone, get your head straight. You can bet your balls she will be angry, probably going to kick Hiei around but she won't kill demons because of this. I'll go talk to Koenma and then we'll arrange a meeting with her got it?"

This time Kurama smiled truly, maybe Yusuke's approach might not have be the best, but he saw him turn events around before with that piercing gaze and confident punk smile.

"Alright Yusuke, we'll do this your way then."

Another bang on the table was heard, all heads in the bar turning their way and turning back scared by the gloomy aura settled at the table as a new question and answer came to life.

"So" Kazuma began "Hiei did this, but why isn't he here now?"

They could see Kurama's gears grinding trying to pick the perfect words in order to relate the information.

"Hiei wishes to no longer see us or know anything about Valery's fate."

Kurama had to lift up his hands trying to silence the loud pair that started a tornado of swears.

"Please, we need to be civil, this is a public place."

"I will be civil with my foot up his ass."

A glare hushed Yusuke up entirely as well as Kurama as Kazuma took the scene.

"What if it were you in her place, or Yusuke, or Keiko? How can we be civil when our friend is Hell knows where?"

But Kurama already knew that. He knew the second he asked them over that he couldn't do it alone anymore. Not with Koenma trying to cover something up, not with Hiei refusing to speak with him. He needed to work together with everyone in trying to discover the truth.