Here's chapter 4. It's kind of short, but Chapter 5 is coming and it's ridiculously long. So read and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. That's it.
It was dark, cold, and exceedingly stressful at the campsite that night. There were no lights, no fire, nor was there dry clothing. Earlier that day, Yusuke thought it would be fun to go for a swim, which was all fine and good until Hiei and Kuwabara's argument led Kuwabara, screaming for his life, to chase after Yusuke, whom he believed would save him from Hiei's wrath. Unfortunately, the Spirit Detective was going to be of no help, so Kuwabara ran to Kurama, who was sitting near the river (since there were few trees by the river, the fox demon figured he'd get better reception on his phone), and knocked the both of them into the water near Yusuke; the resulting splash drenched Yusuke's clothing as well as the pissed-off little fire demon. And, since none of them were to use their powers, and there were no more batteries, and there were no more matches, the boys were left sopping wet in the dark on that evening.
"This sucks," Kuwabara announced, shivering. "It's cold and dark and there's nobody around."
"Like the inside of your head," Hiei retorted.
"Nobody asked you, shrimp!"
"Will you two stop it?" Yusuke snapped. "You're the reason we're in this situation, anyway. If you two could just learn to ignore each other, we wouldn't have this problem."
"The only problem here is that I have to associate with this idiot," Hiei answered angrily, gesturing toward Kuwabara.
"Who're you calling an idiot?" Kuwabara shouted.
"You, idiot."
"You got a problem with me, shorty? Come say it to my face!"
"Hey, both of you! Knock it off!" Yusuke commanded, getting between the two. "Your constant arguing isn't helping anybody!"
"Kuwabara's existence isn't helping anybody," Hiei remarked.
"You certainly ain't no saint," Kuwabara shot back.
"Both of you, shut up!" Yusuke ordered. Exasperated, he turned to Kurama for help. "Any time you want to jump in will be fantastic, really, Kurama."
"I would, but it's a fruitless task," Kurama replied mindlessly, looking at his phone again. It had been two days since he'd heard from his cousin, and it worried him. She always answered her phone.
"Kurama, she isn't going to call. Now get over here and help me keep these two from killing each other."
Sighing, he made a move to get up when his cell phone rang. "I'd love to help, but I've got a call." Grinning, he picked up his phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Shuichi." It was Umi, and she sounded tired. "Sorry, I misplaced my phone the other day and couldn't find it until just now. So what's up? You called like 50 times."
"Where are you? You didn't answer the house phone, either."
"Because I'm out, still."
"Out? Out where?"
"I'm at Master Genkai's temple with Yukina and Keiko."
That was a relief. "What have you been up to that you lost your phone?"
"Um, well, we went swimming the other day, and I left my phone out by the lake."
A blatant look of disbelief came to Kurama's face, and it slid into his tone. "Oh, really?"
"Yeah, really."
"Umi, you can't swim."
"I learned."
"Really?"
"Yes. Sort of. A little bit."
"Whatever you say."
"Don't give me that. Anyway, how's your trip going?"
"Oh, it's..."
"So wonderful words can't describe it?"
"Oh, there are words. Believe me." Kurama sighed. "When are you going home?"
"I should be home when you get home. Or at least, sometime that day." There was a pause. "Why?"
"Our campsite is a little bit south of Master Genkai's temple. If we leave early, we can pick you and Keiko up on the way home."
Oddly enough, there was another pause. "Sure, sounds good," her answer finally came. "Give me a call before you get here, then."
"I'll call you tomorrow as well."
"Yeah, okay then. I'll talk to you tomorrow then."
"Bye," he managed to add before she hung up. He gave a curious glance to his phone before hanging up and putting his phone away. Then, glancing up, he gave an annoyed look to the others. "What're you looking at?"
"We're just interested in your life, Kurama," Yusuke informed, feigning innocence.
"We're going to Genkai's?" Kuwabara excitedly asked. "I get to see my beloved Yukina again!"
"What are they doing at Genkai's?" Hiei inquired, keeping his tone neutral. He suspected that Kurama hadn't noticed those inexplicable burns on his cousin's hands, and wasn't going to alert him to them unless necessary.
"I don't know; she wouldn't tell me anything." Kurama sighed again. "She's probably mad at me for ditching her again."
"Yeah, I bet she and Keiko are having a grand old time complaining about how we just leave them for long periods of time without real explanations," Yusuke commented. "She'll get over it; Keiko always does."
"I suppose."
The next day started off well enough. It was bright and sunny, and, by that point, their clothes had dried. Figuring it would get their minds off their predicament, the boys decided to go for a hike. Their romp through nature proved to be relaxing enough.
Relaxation, however, wasn't happening at Genkai's. This was to be Umi's last day of training with the master, and, needless to say, it was intense.
"Come on slacker, get the lead out!" Genkai demanded.
"Dear Lord," Umi gasped, collapsing to her knees. "How is running around trees and climbing up cliff-faces to help me control the elements?"
"By pushing your body to its limits, you begin to get a sense of your Spirit Energy and then can harness it," Genkai explained. "You cannot even begin to tame the elements if you can't control your own energy."
"Somehow I knew this would be more trouble than it's worth," Umi groused.
"Well, there's nothing you can do about it. So get back to work!"
Just as the sun began to set, Umi and Genkai returned to the temple. The younger of the two hardly crawled back to her room before passing out on the floor. It seemed to her that the three hours that passed between her collapse and when her phone went off was really only three minutes, but she groggily picked up the phone anyway.
"Hello?"
"Hey Umi, it's Shuichi."
Umi's next statement, though snarky in nature, was indiscernible through her pillow, mumbled as it was.
"Are you alright? You sound terrible."
"Sleeping," Umi half-shouted through her pillow.
"At 9:00 at night?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure you're alright--?" Kurama's statement was cut short by loud shouts in the background.
"What happened here?!"
"Looks like an animal ransacked the place."
"It ate all our food!"
"You're worried about food? We have no shelter!"
"Great," Kurama sighed. "No food, no water, no shelter, no fire..."
Umi managed a "what happened?" before her concerns became incomprehensible.
"Some animals ransacked our camp." It was obvious by his pause that he wasn't pleased. "Don't worry, though; it's just one night. We'll be fine." There was another moment of silence. "Umi?" the only response he got was a snore. "I suppose I'll call you in the morning, then--"
"Hold on, Kurama."
Silence. Then: "Master Genkai, please, it's Shuichi around Umi."
"She's fast asleep. Listen Kurama, I need to talk to Hiei."
"Alright, just a moment." There was a pause on the other line while the phone was being transferred, followed by a mildly annoyed, "What?"
"Don't use that tone of voice with me," Genkai ordered. "I need your assistance."
"With what?"
"A student of mine."
"What about him?"
