Chapter Four

Kurama unwillingly kept his gaze fixed upon the snarling and snorting dragon above himself, pants gasping from his dry and burning lips with an intensity as he tried to get himself back away from the snarling monster above him.

Each and every time he tried to move away from the beast, however, he was called still by a screeching growl from the creature suspended in the air above him, and the heat intensified almost ten fold. Kurama knew that he had to move, and soon– The pavement was baking his hands, and the acrid scent of his clothes being slowly burnt away by the intense heat was beginning to thicken the air around him. His hair was heavy and hot, cheeks and lips burning and scalding horribly.

The dragon did not seem to be going anywhere, though, much to Kurama's dismay. He dared, for a moment, to take his eyes away from the dragon, and to glance over at his friend.

Hiei stood with a look of immense concentration etched on to his face, hand quivering as he maintained the dark energy pulsing around them. The strain was beginning to show in Hiei's form, as the smaller demon was continually shaking more and more with each passing second, his energy simply a thin strand that was somehow holding back a horrible beast... but only just.

Kurama's attention was jerked back to the dragon above himself by a horrifying and loud snap of the creature's fangs, and as he locked gazes with the monster above himself, the beast seemed to reach the end of its patience.

With another snarl and snap of its massive jaws, it lurched itself forward in the air, closing the gap between itself and Kurama even further. The redhead shrunk himself down into the searing pavement, trying his hardest to muster up enough Reiki to use one of his weapons, not to attack the creature, but to perhaps get himself away from the certain death its touch would deal to him.

Tightly, he closed his eyes and shirked back away from the monster further. He could summon nothing. His body was too weak, too malnourished, and too torn apart mentally to sufficiently pull the energy from his core. He shook his head, feeling the hot pavement burn into his flesh, and the blood begin dribbling from his broken skin. The scent of the blood slowly began to cake the acrid air, and the dragon took several long whiffs of the air, before launching itself in to a frenzy. Kurama cried out as the heat flew to a suddenly searing level, and the beast tore through Hiei's hold, and hurtled itself forward through the space between them.

Just as the dragon was about to scoop Kurama in to its massive jaws, a loud sound exploded from the somewhere else in the area, and the side of the beast's head was slammed with a huge, bright blue blast of energy.The cry of Yuusuke's attack was lost in the dragon's angry and horrifying screeching, its body twisting up into the air as its paws tore at its own face, trying to get the pure energy away from its dark flames. Kurama's wide eyes regarded the scene, before he was suddenly scooped off of the ground, and rushed to the side and away from the dragon's presence.

Glancing up, Kurama could see Kuwabara's concentrated face as he rushed his way over to the alley in which Yuusuke was hiding, hand still on the bottom of his arm from where he had let loose his Reigun on the beast.

"Here ya go..." Kuwabara muttered as he set Kurama on his feet.

Yuusuke turned his gaze to Kurama with a sigh as the redhead accustomed himself to being on his feet once more, eyes screwed in slight concentration for a moment before he turned his eyes back up toward the dragon, which was circling the air in a rage, and then over to Hiei, who was still standing there, just staring up at the beast which was now completely out of his control once more.

"That's not gonna do us much good, is it..?" Yuusuke asked slowly, shutting his eyes and rubbing his forehead as he leaned against the wall.

"No..." Kurama spoke softly, flexing his hands slightly and wincing at the blistering flesh being disturbed.

"Here, lemme take care of that..." Kuwabara muttered, grabbing Kurama's hand and wrapping it as best he could, "Botan left us some cleaning supplies and stuff."

"Where is Botan..?" Asked Kurama softly, looking to the orange haired male with a worried gaze.

"She went to go and speak with Koenma about finding some way to stop this dragon without Hiei, 'cause he's obviously not gonna be a lot of help..." He said, shaking his head.

Kurama pursed his lips, and looked over to Yuusuke, "Someone needs to go and get him... That dragon could circle back around at any moment... We can't let Hiei get killed..."

The boy nodded slowly, "I'll go grab him..." He said softly, glancing up at the dragon tersely for a moment, before launching himself off and toward the frozen Hiei as quickly as he could move.

Hiei's eyes did not stray from their position upon the circling dragon as Yuusuke hauled him up. Kurama strained his eyes to continue watching, and could see Hiei's lips mouth something illegible as Yuusuke brought him back to their hiding place, panting, and sitting the male down against the wall. Yuusuke broke in to a bought of coughing as Kurama slowly moved toward Hiei, eyes half shut.

The smaller demon slowly brought his gaze up to meet Kurama's face, and the they instantly returned to the ground in an ashamed manner.

The kitsune shook his head, kneeling down in front of him and touching his face very softly with bandaged hands. The pain of everything was not nearly as strong anymore, and Kurama's mind felt more clear than it had since the Jagan had forced Hiei to rape him. The other's warm flesh against his burnt fingertips was not uncomfortable– it was soothing. The feeling of the other's Youki coagulating around Kurama's fingers was a comforting thing, and the redhead slowly smiled with his burnt lips, and shook his head.

"Hiei... Please, look at me..?" He asked softly.

"I can't," was Hiei's short and abrupt response, his head pulling away from Kurama's hand, eyes narrowing off at something further down the alley.

Hiei had obviously beaten himself up over this more than Kurama had originally thought as he let his gaze rove over the other's body. He was much thinner than normal, his skin much more pallid and pasty. He obviously had not been feeding himself enough, and he had not been getting enough sunlight, either. The other was ashamed and guilt ridden, and obviously did not think he deserved any sort of forgiveness from Kurama.

Kurama shook his head softly, and leaned forward toward the other male, letting his lips softly touch the other's ear. Hiei jumped slightly at the unusual contact, but was brought still by Kurama's soft and soothing voice.

"Hiei... Please... I forgive you... None of this is your fault, you know? I'm alive. I'm alright. You're here. I'm forgiving you... Can't you find it within you to... forgive yourself..? I–" He was interrupted by Hiei pulling away from him, and trying to get to his feet. He was stopped by Kurama's hand gently upon his arm.

"Kurama!" He snapped softly, looking away with a soft snarl on his face, "I can't DO this. I can't even look at your face anymore... How the hell can you forgive me for letting that happen to you!?" He snapped, looking roughly at Kurama, before falling still at the other's gaze locking with his own, and not letting it go.

"Because I need you, Hiei..." He stated in a soft and firm voice, eyes half shutting as he used the hand on Hiei's arm to pull him closer. The koorime shook his head slowly, moving to try and get away, before he was pulled completely to Kurama, the redhead's arms wrapping softly around Hiei's back to keep him in place within the embrace.

"I need you more than I've ever needed anyone... Especially now, Hiei..? Can't you understand..? I don't hold this against you... I could never hold it against you... You didn't do anything! The jagan is the only antagonist in this situation, and I know you would have never let it do that to me, if you could have stopped it..." He murmured gently.

Hiei remained awkwardly in his arms, unused to such close contact. He kept his gaze focused elsewhere, and spoke softly, "That's just the problem, fox... I wasn't– strong enough to see what it was doing to me... I wasn't strong enough to stop the goddamn thing before it could hurt you..."

Kurama shook his head softly, "I don't hold it against you... But there's nothing I can do for you... Until you forgive yourself... And I get this distinct feeling that that dragon won't give you much time to think..."

Hiei turned his gaze upward to Kurama, watching him silently for a moment. The other was keeping himself cooly controlled, though the redhead could tell he was in intense thought and conflict with himself.

"U-UH! GUYS! I hate to ruin your sweet moment, but WE GOTTA MOVE!" Yuusuke suddenly yelled, looking at them in a panicked manner as Kuwabara stepped away from the entrance of the alley with wide eyes.

Hiei swallowed quickly, jerking himself to his feet and pulling Kurama up after him, and nodding to Yuusuke.

Kurama glanced toward the entrance as they all began their hasty retreat further into the alley, and watched the powerful form of the dragon lunging itself toward the entryway they had hidden themselves within, crimson eyes burning with an intense and deadly anger. Kurama turned his gaze abruptly away, Hiei's arm strongly around his back to keep him steady and running with his weak and injured legs.

Quickly after they took off, the loud sound of the destruction of the alley walls rumbled through the air after them. Kurama could hear the bricks being burned away instantly with crumbling sounds as the dragon tore through the narrow passage after them.

They did not waste any time with their movements. Pacing was not an option, and when they ran out of energy, they ran out of energy, and then death would certainly befall.

The situation seemed hopeless.

Hiei snarled softly to himself while continuing to sprint along, moving them more quickly at random intervals, those speeds being so fast that the surroundings were nothing but a blur.

"We can't keep running..." Kurama murmured softly. He was no stranger to pushing his body far beyond its maximum capability, but the pace at which they were running had already taken its toll, and there was no way that Kurama could keep it up much longer. Each move of his legs sent a biting pain up his torso. His stomach ached and burned more than it ever had after running for a long time, and his breath was searing his already burnt throat as he tried to keep breath pumping in to his aching lungs.

"I know... But there's nothing I can do. The jagan won't help me, and I can't keep the damn thing in control without it..." He said softly, only loud enough for Kurama to hear.

Before the redhead could speak once more Hiei, as if sensing Kurama's weakness, scooped the male in to his arms and picked up his own pace once more.

"H-Hiei... You're weak, too!" Kurama gasped softly, struggling very lightly in a mild protest.

"I'm fine. You wouldn't have made it much further..." He spat softly, snorting and shiffing them up ahead of Yuusuke and Kuwabara.

They were now out in the rubble of that section of the city, running as quickly as they could through the remains of half fallen buildings, and roads with large chunks missing due to the dragon's body coming in to contact with them.

Kurama's ears were met with yet another horrifying roar from the dragon, and he glanced back, seeing that Yuusuke had used another Reigun attack upon the dragon. This one had obviously slammed it straight in the snout, and it reared up with a horrifying screech, claws digging at its own nose as black droplets seared forward from the flames, and hissed onto the pavement below.

"We can't keep this up!" Yuusuke yelled, shaking his head and catching up with Kuwabara, who had began running once more after Yuusuke had made his shot.

Hiei flinched his eyes shut, baring his small fangs in frustration at the events befalling.

"My weakness is going to cause the death of everyone!" He snapped harshly, obviously more at himself than at Kurama.

Kurama shut his eyes tightly, and buried his face against Hiei's chest, one bandaged hand clinging to the front of the remains of Hiei's shirt.

"None of us blame you... And I'm just glad... You're here." He murmured softly into the other's flesh, before falling silent and just listening to the slightly heavy breathing of the others, the pounding of their feet, and the snarling of the beast above them.

"Here it comes again!" Yuusuke's voice called, before a loud cry broke through the air from the hanyou.

Kurama's eyes snapped open, and Hiei abruptly stopped, whipping himself back around and staring at Yuusuke, who had crumpled to the ground after being stabbed deeply in the chest by the dragon's long talons.

The three standing froze at the sight, and the dragon coiled within the air, screeching out its victory over the fallen member of their group.

"Y-Yuusuke!" Kurama cried, and Kuwabara ran abruptly forward, before being forced to back away by an angry sweep of the dragon's tail.

Hiei stared with deadly eyes up at his former weapon, sitting Kurama softly on the ground by Kuwabara.

"Watch out for him..." Hiei muttered softly, before disappearing in a whizz of black.

Kuwabara sank down to his knees, rubbing his forehead and looking over to the redhead, who lowered his gaze to the ground. The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Kurama looked forward once again, watching the scene take place before him.

Hiei's figure could be seen moving this way and that way, just a flicker of the form of his body before it vanished once more. The dragon watched all of his movements with a keen crimson eye, smirk pressed into the flames of its mouth, as it was very confident of its power over Hiei. The koorime did not cease, however, and was inching himself closer and closer to their fallen comrade. He was but a few feet away when a sudden movement by the dragon pushed him almost back to where he started.

The dragon seemed intend upon Yuusuke dying, and there seemed nothing they could do.

The beast had lowered itself closer to the ground, immense body coiling this way and that, like a snake with its head lowered. Within the center of the coil was, of course, Yuusuke... or Yuusuke's body...

Kurama shuddered at the thought, and pushed his weak and exhausted legs to get himself to his feet. He watched tensely, inwardly trying to think of something which he could do to help the other... To help Yuusuke...

Suddenly, the sound of a swish brought Kuwabara and Kurama's attention to directly behind themselves. Botan had just swept herself off of her oar, holding in her hands a small vial.

"I think I have the solution we need." She stated cheerfully, holding out the crystal vial with a smile. The smile faltered after a moment of regarding the other's serious and worried expressions.

"What is that thing?" Kuwabara asked, taking the vial and examining it, as Kurama glanced back to watch Hiei continuing to weave back and forth, the dragon's head seamlessly wafting back and forth with him, grace matched point to point.

"This is a vial of the strongest holy water the spirit world has. There's a chance that if we can get the dragon to swallow it, he'll revert back in to his true form."

"His... true form?" Kurama questioned softly, raising a slender brow at the comment.

Botan elaborated promptly, "A dragon naturally has two forms. There is the pure form, which is the beast you see now, and then there is the true form... That is to say, the form he maintains out of sight, or when he sleeps. He'll be much easier to deal with like that, though this will probably hurt him a great deal, anyway..."

Kuwabara frowned back at the great beast, and then to Botan once more, "But... Wouldn't it just incinerate as soon as it gets near him?" He asked wearily.

Botan smiled very weakly, "Well... The inside of his body won't be as hot as the outside... Logically, he has to eat, and there's no way that he can eat if all of his food is disintegrated beforeit enters his body."

Kurama knit his brows, and then nodded in understanding, "Meaning... One of us has got to get close enough to get that vial into the dragon's mouth..."

"That's about it." Botan said with a grim nod of her head.

"I'll do it..." Kurama stated softly, taking the vial from Kuwabara and glancing toward the scene.

"Are you crazy!?" Kuwabara exclaimed, grabbing Kurama's shoulder and shaking him slightly, "There's no way you could survive that!"

"Oh, there is a chance... But that chance is slim..." He turned his emerald gaze to Kuwabara, "Think about it... I'm too weak to do anything, or to be of any help to us. You've got all of your Reiki, and you're not hurt. Hiei has the potential, I'm sure, to find a way to call the dragon to order, and Botan... Well, no one can afford to lose the guardian of the River Styx, now can they..?" He spoke softly, and quickly, feeling the smooth crystal with his fingertips.

Botan moved forward slowly, pressing her hands in to Kurama's chest. The redhead winced, but then realized what she was doing, and closed his eyes.

"This won't heal you very much, since you have demon in you... But my white magic should be able to at least heal some of your surface wounds..." She spoke softly, the magic pouring from her fingertips, and soothing the burns and tears upon his body. His fatigue slowly began to subside, and his muscles tensed once more, the pain passing from them as well. The azure haired woman backed away after a moment, "That's all I can do..." she said softly, "please... be careful..." She said gently.

Kurama nodded his head, and turned toward the dragon and Hiei once more.

Kuwabara patted Kurama on the back softly, "You've got this... I know it." He said, before nodding himself and looking back toward the dragon's great form.

Kurama did not waste another moment. As quickly as he could, he dashed forward, using the pointed crystal stopper in the vial to cut a nice wound onto the palm of his hand. The blood spattered forward, and almost immediately, the dragon's gaze whipped from Hiei to the running Kurama, it's mouth opening and then snapping softly shut.

As if stricken by a sudden frenzy, the beast launched itself away from Hiei and Yuusuke, and off toward Kurama. The redhead kept his gaze squarely forward, closing his bloody hand around the crystal vial tightly, to keep it from slipping from his fingers. He could feel the familiar heat rushing after him, and a curse and yell from Hiei, though he could not discern anything further than the loud, "DAMMIT!" coming through the rushing winds of the dragon.

After running for about a minute, Kurama suddenly whipped himself around. The dragon was no more than a couple of yards behind him, and the heat was growing steadily and steadily more intense. The redhead flung forward the arm which held the vial, and watched the blood pour onto the pavement below from the deep cut.

That was all the dragon needed. Its senses seemed to be numbed by the intense want for food. It rushed forward evermore quickly, closing in the feet more and more with each passing second.

The dragon was only a yard away, and Kurama cried out from the heat and pain coursing over his body... As soon as the dragon opened its mouth for a snap, the redhead flung the crystal bottle forward.

He prayed his aim had been true, for his eyes closed directly after that, and he was flung backward by a horrible rush of energy and sound from the beast.

Immediately after he hit the ground, hands found his face, and then moved to sit him up. There was a horrible sound coming from feet away, as if the dragon were being ripped apart.

Kurama did not open his eyes, and merely contented himself to rest his face against Hiei's stomach, for he knew from the scent that it was Hiei who held him.

Moment by moment of the horrifying sound followed, before the screeching seemed to fade into a more vocal tone. The roaring and lashing of the dragon fell into screams, and the sound of something thrashing about upon the ground.

Kurama opened his eyes, and then widened them at the sight before himself.

There, curled up upon the ground was a man. He thrashed and moaned, the thick and scaley wings upon his back shuddering and lashing out at all of the air around himself. Pools of black hair scattered upon the ground around him, his thick tail slamming harshly into the pavement as he drove his fingers more tightly into his scalp, long and slender ears pinned back as his head shook, body struggling to get up but merely falling back to the ground with a sick and dull thud.

Silence came from the man before them for a moment, before a weak panting took over the still air.

"Is this... The dragon's true form..?" Kurama asked slowly and softly.

"Yes." Was Hiei's simple and short reply.

They fell silent for a moment, simply watching the male who twitched weakly upon the ground before them, face buried into the pavement as he whimpered softly, trying to fight the pain within himself.

He continued to claw at his scalp, droplets of black blood coursing down his fingertips as he coughed and sputtered at the obvious pain he was in.

As Kurama watched, he could not help but be stricken slightly with pity– but only slightly. That was merely the ningen compassion shining through his calm disposition.

Kuwabara slowly approached, and when Kurama glanced a questioning glance at him, he spoke.

"Botan took Yuusuke to the Reikai to see what they could do for him... He was still alive, but barely. She says she thinks that he can be helped... He's lived through a lot worse than that..." He then turned his attention down to the squirming dragon. "Is THAT his true form? We could just kill him now."

Kurama shook his head, "No, we can't kill him... We have to try to find a way to get him back inside Hiei... Right?" The redhead glanced at Hiei, who still had not taken his gaze away from the squirming Ryu.

"I'll get him back." Hiei narrowed his eyes slightly, and snarled darkly at the fallen dragon.

Kurama smiled weakly, looking to the now still male before them, and frowning slightly, "Now... What are we going to do with him in the meantime..?" He asked softly.

Hiei pursed his lips, and glanced over to Kurama for the first time since the dragon had fallen, "I have no idea..."

"You... You god damned bastards..." Came a hoarse and rough voice, and all of them turned their attention to the dragon, who had pushed himself up slightly, crimson eyes widened and staring daggers at Kurama, "I'll rip you... to pieces..." He hissed, spitting black blood roughly upon the ground, before convulsing and sinking down once more, giving a horrifying growl of pain as he curled up.

Obviously, he'd be ripping no one to pieces today.

Kurama sighed, leaning against Hiei and shutting his eyes, relaxing for the first time since he had woken up. Though he was not completely relieved of his worries, he was at least happy to have Hiei back with him, and that was enough for him.

A sudden hiss brought him back to his senses, and Hiei's arms protectively wrapped around Kurama as the koorime pulled Kurama slowly back away from the dark flames rolling across the pavement from the fallen body of the dragon. Kuwabara widened his eyes, backing away as well from the dangerous trails of fire that seemed to be encircling him..

"W-What is he... doing..?" Kurama asked in wonder, before watching with stunned eyes as the dragon slowly pulled himself to his feet, almost as though a puppeteer were controlling him, and he was nothing more than a marionette on the strings. His eyes glowed with a fiercely brilliant red as his slender and pale face became engulfed with shadows. His eyes were locked, deeply locked, within Kurama's wide emerald orbs.

"Are you... scared..?" Hissed the ryu in a dark and low voice, chuckle breaking forth from his slightly parted lips as he lifted his head, long strands of the black tresses falling silkily into his eyes. Kurama drew back slightly within Hiei's arms, and the koorime hissed violently at the dragon.

"You stay the hell away from him..." Hiei spat, receiving a dark laugh from the dragon as he stepped forward out of the flames.

"He shouldn't have messed with me, Hiei... And... Who are you to tell me what to do..? You. Have. No. Say. In. My. Life. Now..." With that, another low chuckle broke forth from his pallid lips.

Kuwabara slowly moved to stand in front of Kurama and Hiei as well, drawing forth his Reiken from his energy reserves, "You want them you gotta go through me." He stated in a daring tone.

The laugh that broke forth from the dragon's throat rang through the town in a deeply echoing fashion.

"YOU think YOU can do ANYTHING against ME!?" He laughed, throwing his head back as Kuwabara gave a growl.

"OH... That's FUNNY!" He laughed for a moment more, before suddenly whipping his head forward and throwing his hand out, flames roughly catching Kuwabara in the chest. He then whipped his hand to the side, and the flames threw him roughly out of the way, and slamming him into another building.

"No, Kuwabara!" Kurama cried out, before jerking his attention forward once more as the dragon lunged forward without warning at the two. Hiei defensively moved to protect Kurama, and to try and run away, but before he could get anywhere, the dragon's powerful hands had pried Hiei off and thrown him just as roughly to the side as he had Kuwabara.

Kurama stumbled back, staring over at where Hiei had flown with horrified eyes. He then looked at the dragon, who smiled a wicked smile and stared down at him. Kurama backed away, shaking his head slowly, before turning and dashing off. He knew it was cowardly to retreat, but there was nothing that he could do to defend himself.

As soon as he had gotten a couple of steps away, he was grabbed harshly by the dragon's strong arms, and the sound of his wings pumping thickly filled the air as they both shot off of the ground, a wicked laugh slipping through the fanged beast's lips.