Another contentious and rambunctious chapter begins...

Recap: Hiei become weirder, Puu turned nasty and Botan wanted adventure.

Chapter 4: Tricky Nymph

Kurama wiped his hair from his forehead, squinting up at the sun, almost willing it to disappear behind a cloud. The weather had been pleasantly cool at the start of the team's journey, but, just as they had reached an impassable part of the path, the sun had suddenly emerged, the clouds had vanished and the wind had died, subjecting them all to a blistering heat as they tried to cut back the overgrown vegetation blocking their progress. Kurama had used his powers to move what he could, but the remainder was dead and rotting plant-life, and as such, it was beyond his control, and so they had been forced to resort to more rudimentary methods of clearing the path: Kuwabara was hacking away with his spirit sword, Yusuke was focussing his spirit energy into his hands and chopping at the blockage, Kurama was using his Rose Whip and Hiei had been using his sword.

Kurama looked down at Hiei: he looked even worse than before. His face was gleaming with sweat, the bandages around his hands were soaked through and his hair was starting to wilt as though he was literally melting. It was unlike Hiei to suffer in the heat, but he was breathless and favouring his right shoulder after just an hour of cutting through vegetation with his sword. Kurama checked that Kuwabara and Yusuke were both preoccupied before sitting down on the thick, gnarled root Hiei had dropped himself onto.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"I can keep up with you," Hiei breathlessly replied, his voice high and hoarse in his exhaustion. "I can keep up with all of you."

"You know, pride comes before a fall," Kurama advised.

"I'm fine," Hiei insisted.

"Those two are working hard, I can easily take you back to Mukuro right now."

Hiei turned to look directly at Kurama, his eyes wide and almost childlike in their wonder.

"I know it's a concept you have great difficulty grasping, but I am concerned about your welfare because I'm your friend," Kurama said, smiling slightly.

Hiei failed to pick up on Kurama's jovial tone or the amused sparkle in his eyes, instead continuing to stare at him with a blend of anxiety and defensiveness in his eyes.

"I can see that you want to stay here with us," Kurama eventually conceded.

"I want to stay here with you," Hiei quietly replied.

Kurama nodded, wiping his hair from his forehead again.

"I understand your motivations," he said.

"Do you?" Hiei asked.

Kurama found Hiei's tone and word choice a little unusual, but decided to pass both off as side effects of his frankly pathetic physical state.

"Yes, of course I do," he replied. "You're worried that the virus that has made you so terribly ill will reach human world and infect your sister."

Hiei tensed, the whites of his eyes suddenly visible all around his ruby irises.

"It's alright, they can't hear us," Kurama assured him, waving a hand in the general direction of Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Kurama?" Hiei said, his voice barely audible.

"Yes?" Kurama responded.

"Where is my sister?"

Kurama turned to look directly at Hiei, finding him looking out across the path at nothing in particular, his expression suddenly strangely neutral.

"Don't you know?" Kurama asked. "I thought you watched her most of the time."

"Yes, I know exactly where she is," Hiei slowly replied, his tone unchanged and his eyes still staring.

"Then why did you ask?"

"I just wanted to know if you knew where she was."

"Well honestly, I don't. I suppose she's still at the…"

Kurama's words faded in his mouth, another sweat passing over him: only this time it was not from the heat of the sun bearing down on them. Was Hiei asking because he had overheard what Kurama had told Yusuke the night before?

"She's probably at Genkai's temple," he finished, trying to sound indifferent about the matter.

"Alone?" Hiei asked.

"Well, she has Yusuke's spirit beast guarding her and Botan visits her regularly…"

"Botan, yes."

Kurama stood up again, wiping his hands down the backs of his legs to clear away the bark chippings that were clinging to his clothing from sitting on the old root.

"I should get back to work," he said. "You continue to rest, don't push yourself."

"I can keep up with you, you know," Hiei called after him as he started back towards the others.

Kurama did not acknowledge Hiei's last remark, mostly because he reasoned that it was just something Hiei felt he had to say to justify to himself and Kurama that he was only so slow and weak right then because of the virus, and that, under ordinary circumstances, he would have been leading the way in cutting back the vegetation.

"This is hopeless!" Yusuke complained as Kurama rejoined him.

"Try not to lose focus," Kurama advised. "Don't look at the whole thing, try just focusing on a small part and working your way through there."

"Don't you think it's kinda weird?" Kuwabara asked.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.

"Well, this path was clear until we got here, and now it's so blocked, we can barely see those tyre tracks any more," Kuwabara replied. "It doesn't even look like whatever made those tracks could have got by this mess."

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked.

"Maybe whatever drove out here flew away when it got to this point," Kuwabara suggested.

"Idiot, the tracks went all the way into the trees, and we're still nowhere near the forest!" Yusuke snapped irritably. "But you do sort of have a point. This path is too blocked – like ridiculously blocked. Hey Kurama, do you think someone did this deliberately? Like they saw us coming already and set this up to slow us down?"

"It's possible," Kurama agreed. "Perhaps we should have taken your spirit beast with us. It certainly would have helped for transporting Hiei."

"How many times do we have to go through this: Puu is not a damn taxi!" Yusuke argued.

"But flying sure would have been a lot easier than this," Kuwabara pointed out.

"This would be a lot easier if everyone would shut the hell up and get back to work!" Yusuke snapped.

"Maybe if Hiei did his fair share…" Kuwabara muttered.

"Hiei isn't well," Kurama replied.

"I've never known Hiei make excuses before," Yusuke argued.

"He should use his dragon to clear this," Kuwabara suggested. "If he falls asleep afterwards, I can just carry him. He only weighs like two pounds, and at least if I was carrying him we could all move a lot faster!"

Yusuke began yelling – at no-one in particular – and Kuwabara began yelling back, leaving Kurama trying to call them back into order with a voice he struggled to keep below a shout in order to be heard. After several minutes of pointless arguing, all three fell silent at the sound of an unexpected voice joining them.

"Now boys, let's not bicker!"

"Botan?" Yusuke spat, his head twisting to a quirky angle as his eyes landed on the chipper ferry girl.

"That's right, it's me, Botan!" Botan cheerfully replied. "I've decided to join you as your mission manager!"

"Botan, it's ridiculously dangerous for you to be here!" Kurama said, starting towards her. "Please, you must allow me to escort you back to living world at once!"

He reached out to take her hand but stopped abruptly as a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, gripping onto him almost too tightly for comfort. Kurama looked down at the grimy bandaged hand clutching onto him before slowly letting his eyes wander to the owner of it, finding Hiei glaring at him as though he had just done something unforgivably stupid.

"What are you doing?" Hiei whispered.

"Taking Botan away from here," Kurama replied, trying to gently pull his wrist from Hiei's grip.

"No!" Hiei yelped, tightening his hold. "Don't touch her!"

Kurama narrowed his eyes, his patience starting to wane.

"Don't touch her Kurama!" Hiei insisted. "Don't you see? That's exactly what she wants!"

Kurama yanked his arm from Hiei's hold, casting him a warning glare before moving to stand in between him and Botan.

"Hiei, as you can see, is deliriously ill," Kurama gently explained to Botan.

"Oh dear," she said, peering over Kurama's shoulder at Hiei. "Poor little guy! Well I have some news that might cheer him up! Look who came with me!"

Yusuke squeaked out a noise of sheer horror as he sighted Keiko running towards him, looking flustered and concerned.

"Keiko?" he yelped.

"Yusuke!" she cried out.

"You idiot, what are you doing in demon world?" he said.

"I was so worried about you, I had to come and see you!"

Keiko slowed as she neared the group, aiming herself to throw her arms around Yusuke's neck: but, several feet short of her goal, she suddenly tripped and fell facedown to the ground. Yusuke growled as he saw Hiei's outstretched foot still hovering near where he had tripped Keiko, his anger only rising when he saw that Hiei was showing absolutely no signs of remorse for what he had just done.

"I don't care how sick you are, you've got no excuse for hurting a defenceless girl," Yusuke growled, stomping towards Keiko.

He started to crouch down to help her up, but Hiei pounced at him, shoving him back before he could reach her. Yusuke staggered back a step, his anger giving way to inconsolable rage as he slowly righted himself, fixing his eyes onto Hiei and curling his fingers around to form a fist.

"Don't touch them!" Hiei snapped. "They're evil witches! Why are you all humouring them? They're hideous monsters, and they will torture you if you let them get close!"

"Hiei, I'm gonna smack you so hard, you're gonna forget your own name…" Yusuke growled in a low voice.

"Hey!" Kuwabara yelled suddenly, momentarily distracting Yusuke from his intentions. "It's Yukina!"

"Yukina?" Hiei muttered, his face paling further still and another layer of sweat glistening over his features.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara called out.

"Kazuma, I was so worried about you!"

Yukina stopped in front of Kuwabara and bowed her head politely.

"What you idiots doing here?" Yusuke asked.

"You're the idiot!" Hiei snapped.

"Yeah, just because nobody came to see you, Hiei!" Kuwabara added. "Maybe if you weren't such a nasty little jerk, you'd have a girlfriend too."

"What is wrong with all of you?" Hiei asked, looking about the others frantically.

"What's wrong with you?" Botan asked him, stepping back from him and eying him over with an air of disgust.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Hiei argued. "I'm the only one around here who's thinking clearly! You're the ones who are mad!"

"Don't listen to him Yukina, he's just mad because he got sick," Kuwabara said, reaching his hands out towards Yukina.

"No!" Hiei yelled.

Kuwabara cried out in pain, snatching back his hands, a cloud of smoke lingering in the air where Hiei had made contact with him.

"What the hell is your problem, Hiei?" he yelled.

He slowly lowered his hands, revealing a red, dry burn on the back of one of his hands.

"That's far kinder than what that witch would have done to you if you had touched her," Hiei said quietly, pointing an accusing finger at Yukina as he spoke.

"Hiei, this virus has really messed you up…" Yusuke said, shaking his head.

"Oh dear, are you sick?" Yukina asked, turning to Hiei.

"Stay away from me, you evil monster!" Hiei warned her, stumbling backwards as she started towards him.

Hiei's back collided with Keiko and he yelped, jumping around to scowl at her. His head whipped around, sweat flying from the tip of his nose as he looked around Keiko, Botan and Yukina, who were all moving towards him.

"Poor little guy, he looks terrible!" Keiko said, reaching out a hand towards him.

Hiei ducked out of her reach, watching her hand with wide, fearful eyes as it moved over the space his head had been occupying only moments earlier.

"Leave me alone!" he wailed.

"Silly thing, let us help you!" Botan said, moving towards him.

"We're surrounded!" Hiei whispered, looking about the tall, gnarled and decaying vegetation bordering the path. "Why is nobody doing anything?"

"He's sick," Yukina said, reaching her hands out towards either side of Hiei's face. "It's okay boy, I can heal you."

"Get away from me!"

A blinding flash of sunlight reflected off of Hiei's sword as he tore it from its sheath and swung it through the air. Yukina stumbled back from him and a spray of blood hit the dry earth around them with a soft pattering sound.

"What the hell did you do?" Kuwabara cried.

Yukina straightened up, revealing a gash that ran from one shoulder to her opposite hip. She took a step forwards but Hiei was upon her before she could act, hoisting his sword up above his head and driving it down hard through her chest. The blade burst out of her lower back and she let out a cry that made the vegetation around them shudder. Hiei awkwardly tugged his sword from her body, stumbling back, his eyes wide and panicked, staring at the blood staining his blade.

"What did I do…?" he whispered faintly.

Kurama stepped forwards and pushed him to the ground, swiping a hand through his hair and outwards, retrieving a blade of grass and slashing it across Botan's throat in one smooth movement.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Yusuke yelled.

"Oh God, that's not Yukina!" Kuwabara yelped, pointing down at the wounded creature ahead of him. "What is that thing?"

Yusuke watched as Botan grabbed her hands to her throat, her appearance slowly fading into that of a noseless, thin-toothed, warty green monster with sparse wisps of yellow hair littering its scalp.

"Wood nymphs," Kurama said, narrowing his eyes as he surveyed the surrounding vegetation. "And we're surrounded."

Yusuke turned to Keiko, a flicker of something alien passing over her features as he regarded her.

"You bastard, how dare you impersonate Keiko?" he yelled.

Kurama elbowed her in the face and she too turned in the same green monster Botan and Yukina had dissolved into.

"I don't get it!" Kuwabara wailed. "How did this happen?"

"Wood nymphs are very clever," Kurama replied. "They prey on the desires of men."

"You fail, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snapped, punching out as another nymph leapt down towards him. "You're the sensitive one, you're supposed to warn us about stuff like this!"

"I didn't know there were ugly swamp women in demon world who could make themselves look like Yukina!" Kuwabara protested, summoning his spirit sword and backing away from the plants.

"Don't blame Kuwabara, you hypocrite!" Hiei hissed at Yusuke. "You fell for their filthy tricks too!"

"Hey, in my defence, coming to demon world is something those girls are stupid enough to try!" Yusuke argued.

"You disappoint me the most," Hiei added, rounding on Kurama. "Couldn't you smell their approach?"

"I can't smell anything over the scent of that soa–"

Kurama froze, his face tense. Hiei tilted his head questioningly, and for a prolonged and awkward moment, both held their poses: until Hiei spotted another nymph pouncing at Kurama's back.

"Look out!" he cried, pushing Kurama aside and throwing himself at the demon.

The nymph bit down on Hiei's arm, but he appeared unaffected, stabbing his sword through the nymph's gut and twisting the blade until it opened its jaws. He staggered back, his back colliding with Kurama. He twisted his head around, looking up at Kurama questioningly.

"Keep your back to mine, we're outnumbered," Kurama whispered down to him.

Hiei looked over at Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were also standing back-to-back, fighting off any of the nymphs who got close enough to them. The nymphs had at least stopped trying to disguise themselves, but there was an alarmingly large number of them swarming out of the undergrowth. Yusuke barked out a curse before tucking back one arm, a barrage of energy bullets spraying out of his fist.

Kurama almost stumbled as he realised that Hiei had stopped behind him, and, turning around, he saw Hiei frozen on the spot, staring up at the tiny flashes of light Yusuke was generating. A small smile appeared on his face and he moved one hand to his head, pushing his fingers through his hair.

"Hiei, are you alright?" Kurama asked.

"I can feel the static energy from that attack from this close range…" Hiei slowly replied, stretching his arms outwards in front of himself. "It feels all tingly…"

Kurama redoubled his efforts, striking his Rose Whip through four nymphs, cutting them all down in one move: it was now clear to him that the fight had to end quickly, and once it was over, the path had to be cleared because Hiei obviously needed to go back into intensive care. He made sure to keep Hiei behind him as he continued whipping back their attackers. Hiei mostly stumbled around a little, looking awed and amazed at everything around him, his sword hanging limply from one hand. Kuwabara and Yusuke glanced over at him on more than one occasion, but were mostly too busy fighting off the nymphs to pay him too much heed.

After some time, the hoards thinned, and before long the attack stopped altogether, the slimy green bodies of the wood nymphs glistening in the sunlight, made extra shiny by the blood and viscera coating their fallen corpses.

"Nice going, wonderboy," Yusuke said, slapping Hiei on the shoulder.

Hiei smiled up at him and he flinched in surprise.

"I can't believe I couldn't see that horrible monster wasn't Yukina…" Kuwabara muttered as he powered down his weapon.

"Well, thank goodness Hiei was here," Kurama said.

"Why didn't those bitches have any effect on Hiei anyway?" Yusuke asked. "Is it because he could see through their disguise with his extra eye?"

"As I understand it, psychic ability is no defence against a wood nymph's powers," Kurama replied. "Otherwise Kuwabara would have seen through them too. Their disguise is so complete, I couldn't even smell them: not until Hiei shed their blood, then the stench was unmistakable."

"How did they know to make themselves look like Yukina, Keiko and Botan?" Kuwabara asked.

"Like I said, they prey on the desires of men," Kurama replied, stowing away his Rose Whip. "They had probably been following us for some time, and they had, by then, read our deepest desires."

"So… Which one of us wanted Botan here?" Kuwabara asked.

"Don't look at me!" Yusuke said, shaking his head. "And obviously it wasn't Hiei, since he saw those boogers for what they were all along."

Kuwabara and Yusuke slowly turned to Kurama, grinning slyly.

"I suppose it makes sense," Hiei said, turning his head away from the others. "She's always on your mind lately. You haven't been able to take your eyes off of her."

"I guess you could do a lot worse," Yusuke said with a shrug.

"I still don't get why they didn't at least try to disguise themselves as somebody Hiei liked," Kuwabara said.

"They can only take the form of other women."

Yusuke and Kuwabara froze, both staring at the back of Hiei's head, each silently wondering if he realised exactly what he had just said.

"That's true," Kurama agreed. "That's why they only prey on men. That and because they can't read the desires of another woman."

"So does that mean Hiei only desires men?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke slapped his arm and he flinched back, moaning a complaint.

"Those monsters don't know what I desire," Hiei replied, turning back to face the others. "And they never will."

"Men then," Yusuke said, smirking at Kuwabara.

"You don't know what I desire either, Yusuke," Hiei quietly answered.

"Let's not continue this," Kurama said. "Hiei, I don't know what to do with you: you showed signs of being more coherent than all of us when you uncovered those nymphs, but you lost your cohesion a little during the battle."

"I got distracted," Hiei replied, looking up at Kurama with large eyes. "It won't happen again, I promise."

Kurama narrowed his eyes sceptically.

"Let me prove to you that I can keep up with you," Hiei said quietly.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Kurama asked.

"Saying what?" Hiei asked.

Kurama started to answer him, but Hiei suddenly yelled out and pushed him aside, moving him out of the path of an injured and angry nymph. The nymph collided with Hiei and together they fell to the ground, the nymph biting into the juncture of Hiei's neck and shoulder. He yelled out in pain and Yusuke and Kuwabara quickly tore the demon from him, swiftly ending its life.

"Damn Hiei, are you okay?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm fine," Hiei replied, hurriedly getting to his feet and staggering away from the others.

He stopped a short distance away from them, one hand pressed into the point where the beast had bitten him, his white scarf slowly blossoming scarlet as his blood soaked into it. Kurama moved over to him, carefully taking hold of his forearm and trying to gently pry his hand from his wound.

"Let me see the damage, Hiei," he said. "A bite from one of those nymphs can be fatal."

"I saved your life," Hiei immediately replied.

"Yes, you did," Kurama replied. "Thank you."

Hiei gave a small smile, before pushing Kurama's hand from his arm.

"I'll be fine," he said in an inappropriately light tone. "I'm a lot stronger than you think I am, Kurama."

Hiei turned his back on Kurama, but Kurama was suspicious of his tone and the amount of blood leaking from his shoulder, and so he grabbed a hand at Hiei's cloak, yanking it from his body. Hiei yelped, spinning around to stare up at him accusingly. His hand was still covering his wound, and, without his cloak concealing it, Kurama could see Hiei's bag from the night before, strapped over his shoulders and hanging in front of his chest.

But his stance and the bag and even the fact that his scarf was still swathed around his neck did nothing to hide how much weight he had lost.

"Hiei, let me see that wound at once," Kurama insisted.

"I'm fine, I'm strong Kurama, I don't need you to fuss over me!" Hiei growled, backing away as Kurama began striding towards him.

Despite Hiei's efforts to escape, Kurama closed in on him and grabbed his arm, tugging it down to expose the shoulder he had been covering.

"There, you see?" Hiei said smugly.

Kurama stared at Hiei's shoulder, unsure what to think. His scarf was still wet with blood as was his black vest, and there was even a damp bloodstain on the underside of Hiei's bandaged hand that had been pressed to his shoulder: but there was no sign of a wound.

"Take your vest off," Kurama said quietly.

"That's not necessary," Hiei said, stepping back and trying to wrestle his arm from Kurama's hold.

Kurama stubbornly held on, grabbing Hiei's scarf with his other hand and roughly pulling it loose, ignoring the way Hiei winced and almost choked upon his actions. He flung the scarf down beside where he had already dropped Hiei's cloak, moving his hand to Hiei's vest and pulling it away from his neck to expose the area the nymph had bitten.

Behind him, Kurama heard Yusuke and Kuwabara muttering between themselves, and they were clearly as shocked as he was to find that Hiei's skin was unmarred. There was fresh blood smeared over his shoulder and dripping from his clothing, but there was no sign of any punctures in his skin.

"How is that possible?" Kurama asked, turning his head to look directly at Hiei.

Hiei's face was almost uncomfortably close to his, and for slightly longer than seemed appropriate, his big red eyes lingered on Kurama's lips before moving to look into his eyes.

"I'm a lot stronger than you think I am," he said quietly. "You see I have already healed the wound."

"That's… Remarkable…"

Kurama pulled Hiei's vest back into place, pausing again as his nose came close to Hiei's hair. Despite the fact that he was still sweating, the smell of the flowery soap he had washed himself with the night before was still prominent, almost as though the heat of his body was reinvigorating it.

"This can't continue," Kurama growled, stepping back from Hiei and releasing him. "We need to move faster," he told Yusuke and Kuwabara as he retrieved Hiei's cloak and scarf from the ground.

"Fine by me, I'm getting tired of this too," Yusuke agreed. "I'll blast this mess away, and Kuwabara can carry Hiei, and we'll all run the rest of the way."

Kurama held out Hiei's belongings towards him.

"I don't want to be carried," Hiei said sharply, snatching his cloak and scarf from Kurama. "Least of all by Kuwabara."

"I think it's a good idea, Hiei," Kurama said. "If we do this, we will reach the end of these tracks with enough time to storm our enemies' fort and disable their attack before sundown."

Hiei quickly hid himself beneath his cloak and began winding his scarf around his neck, his eyes on Kurama the whole time.

"You think this is a good idea?" he asked.

"Let Kuwabara carry you," Kurama replied.

"If you think I should, then I will," Hiei said. "I trust your judgement."

"Thank you."

Hiei nodded, tucking his scarf into place.

"Pick him up and let's go," Yusuke ordered Kuwabara.

Yusuke then took aim at the vegetation, charging his spirit gun. Kuwabara stomped over to Hiei, eying him over in disgust.

"Okay pipsqueak, how do you want me to hold you?" he asked.

"You're not holding me," Hiei quickly corrected him. "You're just carrying me."

"Right, whatever," Kuwabara grumbled. "On my back or over my shoulder?"

"You will not carry me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes!" Hiei hissed.

"Fine! Get on my back then!"

Kuwabara turned around and Hiei gave one last look at Kurama before jumping onto his back.

"Ew…" Kuwabara muttered. "I can feel his crotch against my spine…"

"Gross, Kuwabara!" Yusuke responded, before firing his spirit gun at the tangled mess ahead of them.

"That's why I don't like carrying him like this," Kuwabara continued, as though he thought Hiei could not hear him. "I like carrying Yukina like this because I can feel her legs around me, but feeling his wad squashed into my spine is just sick."

"What did you just say about having Yukina's legs wrapped around you?" Hiei growled, grabbing a handful of Kuwabara's hair.

"Nothing!" Kuwabara yelped.

"Good," Hiei said, opening his fist and freeing Kuwabara's hair once more.

"Let's go," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara winced as Hiei's hands gripped into the fabric of his shirt at his shoulders, and he took off, running as fast as he could with an angry fire demon on his back, silently hoping that Kurama was right, and that the mission was over by nightfall.

"Ow!"

"Shut-up Hiei, there's no way that hurt you!"

Hiei sneered up at Kuwabara from the ungraceful position he had landed in after being unceremoniously dropped from the human's back.

"Something doesn't feel right," Yusuke said, eying over the enormous transport vehicle stopped ahead of them.

"It's the feeling of knowing that we just wasted another day," Kurama answered him, reaching out a hand towards Hiei.

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked. "We found the vehicle they've been using to take their weapons to spirit world. The breach must be around here somewhere, and if not, the driver ought to be able to tell us where it is after a little "gentle persuasion"."

"Idiot," Hiei scoffed, putting his hand in Kurama's and accepting his help to stand up. "That vehicle isn't equipped for transporting weapons."

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke asked. "It's huge and it came from the weapons shop!"

"Hiei's correct, I'm afraid," Kurama said, holding onto Hiei's hand as he steadied himself on his feet. "It's a medical supplies transporter."

"So they hijacked a medicine bus?" Yusuke asked. "Great, first they start a stupid virus and then they cut off the medicine supply! I'm gonna make those bastards pay!"

Yusuke started to stomp towards the vehicle, but stopped short as something tugged at the back of his shirt. He turned around, finding Hiei glaring up at him as though he was doing something stupid.

"There's a good chance that's a real medical supply convoy," Hiei said. "You can't just force your way onboard and start attacking innocents trying to control the spread of the "stupid" virus."

"Hiei's right, Yusuke," Kurama agreed. "Medical supply vehicles may be large in size, but the interior is quite the opposite. They double as mobile hospitals and ambulances, so don't really have the capacity to store large, long range missiles or weapons."

"Maybe they ripped out all the interior to make room for their weapons?" Kuwabara suggested.

"Not likely," Hiei said.

"You're just disagreeing with me because you don't like me," Kuwabara grumbled.

"Dismantling the interior structure is an option, but not a very practical one," Kurama said. "I think we've followed a false lead, though it is still worth our while to check that nothing is being smuggled on this vehicle and to ask the personnel onboard if a cure has been found yet."

"Yeah…" Yusuke said, raking his eyes over Hiei. "Let's see if they have a vaccine for our little mentalist."

Hiei scowled at him but Yusuke turned away before really noticing, tugging his shirt from Hiei's hand as he did so. All four moved on towards the parked vehicle, which seemed oddly still and quiet, as though it had been abandoned. Yusuke boldly led the way, reaching for the passenger door but stopping, his hand barely resting on the handle when Kuwabara suddenly shouted out at him to stop.

"What is it?" he asked, turning to Kuwabara.

"I dunno, it just all seems really weird and suspicious," Kuwabara replied. "I'm getting a bad feeling, I think there's something really bad in there."

"Then go to the back of the line," Yusuke sarcastically replied.

"We should proceed with caution," Kurama advised.

Yusuke nodded, carefully pulling open the door out wide and peering inside. The door led them to an entranceway, a door ahead of them and a door to their right. Yusuke stepped in ahead of the others, first trying the door directly in front of him, finding it to be locked. He then turned his attention to the door at his side, opening it slightly before stopping short, surprised to hear a series of muffled voices calling out orders.

"What the…?" he muttered, looking back over his shoulder at the others.

Kurama nodded and Yusuke took his gesture to be one of reassurance, and so he opened the door fully and continued along the corridor beyond it. Kurama walked behind him, followed by Hiei and finally Kuwabara, who was still a little apprehensive about being in the vehicle in the first place. All four crept quietly along the corridor, their footsteps light and barely audible against the tin flooring panel. The sound of calling voices still reached them, but the words being spoken were an indecipherable babble, and they were all straining to listen in the hope of making out just a few words.

Yusuke stopped abruptly, causing the others behind him to all halt, Kuwabara responding a second slower than the others and inadvertently walking into Hiei's back, pushing him into Kurama. Hiei glared over his shoulder at Kuwabara, but Kuwabara's eyes were on the reason Yusuke had stopped: someone was standing in the corridor ahead of them, dressed in what looked like a space-suit.

"Hey, you can't come in here!" the figure called out to them, his voice muffled against the transparent plastic shield covering his face. "This is a containment unit, it's too dangerous for you to come in here."

"I'm Yusuke Urameshi," Yusuke called back to him.

"I don't care who you are, nobody comes in here!" the figure answered.

"Damn it!" Yusuke muttered.

"Allow me," Kurama said, stepping past him. "Excuse me, we understand this is a medical transporter, we aren't here to cause aggravation. We're looking for a group of bandits who may have passed this way, any information you or anyone else onboard here can give us would be invaluable."

"This entire vehicle is full of infected bodies," the stranger replied. "There's a virus going around this region, and we're trying to stop it. I can't let you any further in, you might catch it."

"Perhaps if we had some bio-hazard protection suits like yourself?" Kurama tried.

"No can do. Before we can risk taking you into the sterilising room, I need to know you don't already have the virus."

Kurama glanced back at Hiei.

"You might have to wait outside," he said quietly.

Hiei stepped forwards, peering around Yusuke at the suited figure ahead of them.

"Oh, Hiei, I didn't see you there!"

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara all turned to Hiei, who shrugged indifferently.

"Come with me, I'll take you through sterilisation and get suits for you."

Hiei looked around the others before weaving his way past Yusuke and Kurama to stand in front of them.

"For all of us?" he asked. "You'll get suits for all of us?"

The suited demon paused, one hand hanging in the air.

"They're with me," Hiei added, waving a hand over his shoulder at the others behind him.

"What the hell happened to your voice?" the demon replied.

Hiei cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We encountered wood nymphs on our way here," Kurama said. "Hiei was bitten, he may be a little drowsy."

Hiei turned to Kurama, glowering up at him.

"I already told you that monster didn't hurt me," he whispered angrily.

"I'd rather these people thought you were suffering from the effects of the bite of a wood nymph than the virus they are trying to contain," Kurama whispered back.

"Oh…"

Hiei's anger faded from his features and he turned back to the suited demon ahead of them.

"Take us inside," he called out.

"Sure, follow me."

The medical worker turned around and started back in the direction he had come from and Hiei followed after him. The demon led them to a large, brightly lit pure white room, which was so bright, Hiei lifted an arm up to shield his eyes from the glare as they entered, squinting painfully as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the intrusive light. The others squinted and turned from the glare of the lights too, all taking some time to focus. When their surroundings did eventually become clear to them, Hiei slowly lowered his arm again, looking around the room with increasing levels of alarm: at one end of the room there was an open shower, next to which was a drying unit, followed by a sealed glass cabinet of bio-hazard suits like the one the demon who had collected them was wearing, and at the other end was a table with a bright ring of lights above it and a series of trays of complex and cruel medical tools.

"What is this place?" Kuwabara asked warily.

Yusuke looked back over his shoulder, watching as their guide stepped out of his suit and deposited it into a bin. Underneath his suit he wore a white lab coat with embroidered insignia on his shoulders that marked him as a doctor.

"So… We have to shower before we put a suit on?" Yusuke asked him.

"Not yet," the doctor replied. "First I need to test your blood to make sure you're not already infected."

Kuwabara groaned as Hiei suddenly turned and tried to flee, colliding with Kuwabara in his haste.

"Hiei doesn't like needles," Yusuke told the doctor.

He grabbed a handful of Hiei's cloak and pulled him away from Kuwabara.

"Poor little guy," he said, trying to sound as flippant as possible.

Yusuke waited until the doctor had approached the table and turned his back on them before leaning over Hiei.

"Would you relax?" he hissed under his breath.

"I can't let him test me," Hiei whispered back. "If he tests me, then he'll know."

Yususke glanced at Kurama.

"It's for the best," Kurama whispered. "Maybe they have a cure."

"That would be good," Yusuke said, turning back to Hiei. "Let the doc cure you so we don't have to deal with you being such a freak all the time."

"No, you don't understand, I can't do this!" Hiei pleaded, trying to tug his cloak from Yusuke's grasp.

"Now, who wants to go first?" the doctor asked, turning around with a syringe in one hand.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, releasing Hiei and stepping forwards.

"I'll go first," he offered, holding out one arm. "I know I'm clean. My little friend over there just had the virus, so I know what it does, and there's no way I've got it!"

The doctor froze, his syringe poised in the air over Yusuke's arm.

"What?" Yusuke asked him. "Something I said?"

The doctor slowly lifted his eyes to Yusuke's.

"Your friend has the virus?" he asked.

"He had the virus," Yusuke corrected him. "He's still really slow and weak, but he's getting better."

The doctor straightened up, retracting his hands from Yusuke's arm.

"That's impossible," he said quietly.

"No, it's possible," Yusuke replied. "Hiei's definitely been sick, but now he's all better."

"Firstly, if Hiei does have the virus, then by now, all of the rest of you will be infected," the doctor said solemnly. "And secondly, there's no possible way Hiei could be recovering: the virus is incurable. In every case we've seen, it's caused death within a matter of days or else lingered and slowly wasted the patient away. With the latter, the patient may give the illusion of being recovered after the initial illness, but death is always certain."

Next Chapter: Hiei is not the only one infected, and things start to get even more bizarre. Botan is working hard – but gets inappropriately distracted. Kurama and Hiei have an unusual conversation and Puu's behaviour gets out of hand. Chapter 5 – Terrence Nightingale