Part Five: Farewell, Yusuke!
It takes Kuwabara about twelve minutes to calm himself down. Slowly, he extricates himself from Yusuke and slowly stands up. "Are you all right?" Yusuke asks knowing full well what a stupid question that is.
"No, no I am not okay. I stand by what I said before. I wish they would hurt me," Kuwabara says hollowly.
"So I'm guessing there was no pain involved this time either, huh."
"No," Kuwabara answers. In his mind he watches it like a movie play; being pushed down onto the bed by Oto who would in a few moments later sit behind him. Watching Ani's golden eyes sparkle with a twisted delight at his fear and terror…
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke's voice brings him from his thoughts with a start.
"Huh?" he asks.
"You zoned out on me. Man, what in the world happened to you? What did they do?"
That last question only brings back more memories to the forefront of
Kuwabara's mind. His clothing is removed leaving him bare and helpless kneeling on the bed. He doesn't know which is worse; Ani staring at him from the front or Oto being so close behind him. His breathing is quick and raspy and he's sure he's gong to pass out from sure terror. Then, he hears a sound that chills the very marrow of his bones; the rustling of clothes being removed. His head turns and his eyes widen impossibly as he realizes that Oto is now naked and sitting behind him. A frightened sound escapes him as he stares at the muscular demon. "Wh-what are you doing?" he stammers. Oto doesn't answer him he merely moves closer.
"KUWABARA!" Yusuke's yell snaps him back again. He blinks and looks at him. "Would you quit zoning out on me?"
"I'm sorry. You're question just brought the images back," Kuwabara answers looking away from him.
"What happened, Kuwabara?" Yusuke's tone tells the carrot-top that he isn't going to accept him refusing to answer and Kuwabara figures that with Yusuke leaving in a few days there wasn't anything he could do anyway. He swallows and closes his eyes to try and collect his scattered thoughts.
"They had me return here and I was stripped before being pushed onto the bed in a kneeling position. Oto was sitting behind me and I was already freaking out just being naked. That's when I heard him behind me taking his clothes off and I don't think I have ever been so scared as I was when I turned to look at him. That guy is huge and I don't mean height-wise. I seriously thought he was going to rape me…gods that probably would have made me bleed to death…well, that's not the point here, is it? He didn't rape me. He…he…" Kuwabara can't finish and he looks away from Yusuke, "I can't…I'm sorry but I can't. Not this, Yusuke, I can't tell you this."
Yusuke reaches out and gently strokes his shoulders. "Come on, you don't have to worry about me judging you. You're my best friend, Kuwabara. I am not going to think any less of you."
"No? You would think no less of someone who gets violated by their enemy and begs them for it?" Kuwabara demands furiously. His eyes hold so much pain and self-loathing that Yusuke can almost not bear to look at him. "I wanted him to do it, Yusuke! So help me, but I wanted it!" His voice breaks as more tears stream down his cheeks.
A potent rage builds within Yusuke and the trapped demon within screams its fury over not being able to protect its own. He is forced to settle for holding Kuwabara close when he wants nothing more then to wring the necks of the Toguro Brothers and Koenma. "Hush, Kuwabara, it's not your fault," he murmurs feeling his friend tremble against him. He had seen Kuwabara beaten up and bloody but never, NEVER had he seen him THIS close to the breaking point. Kuwabara had always found a reason to keep going but now, now it seemed that there was nothing to look forward to.
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Kurama watches Karasu as he stands close to Itsuki. He doesn't trust the black haired demon as far as he can throw him, which as a human, isn't far. "He worries you, doesn't he?" Itsuki inquires seeing where he's looking.
"You have no idea," Kurama answers, "He's more deadly when he's refraining from trying to kill me then when he's actually trying to end my life." He sees Itsuki's sympathetic smile and knows that the Yaminade has realized what happened without him having to say anything. "It's one thing when you face them at your full capability and anything goes. It is another to be at their very mercy knowing that the only thing that can't happen is that you die. I truly think that is the worst part in all of this. The fact that they can't kill us has opened doors that were better left closed."
"I agree. Koenma has given them more ways to make us regret ever being born then if they had the option to kill us. They wouldn't use such debased tactics had they the choice of killing us off. It seems to be what they lived for…or so it had seemed until now. Now I have begun to wonder if Koenma has only unleashed a worse side of them then what we were privy to. I can't help but wonder how it is that they have slipped into these sort of roles without having knowledge of how to do it beforehand. I do believe that this is what they had hidden from our last meetings. This is the soul extent of what they are capable of when death is not an option. This worries me."
"Yes, it does seem that way. This sort of punishment usually leaves no physical scars. The wounds are emotional making them a hundred times as deadly. I only hope that we find a way to deal with this before we lose what little dignity we have. I fear the worst for Kuwabara. While you and I only have one person to deal with in terms of physically having more then one body there, Kuwabara has to deal with two and they, like Shinobu, were human once. They jnow how to administer such torture," Kurama murmurs. Itsuki nods his head. When Yusuke left, Kuwabara WOULD be the one in the most danger. He just doesn't know how any of them were supposed to help him.
"As…entertaining as it is to listen to the two of you contemplate our current situation, I fail to see the good it will do us. We are stuck here until we figure out how to get out so I don't think wondering the how, whereto, and why of this situation is helpful to us," Hiei interjects.
"Hiei," Kurama sighs wondering how best to explain this to the fire-demon when obviously he wouldn't get it, "It helps Itsuki and I cope with the situation. We have to analyze the people around us because if we don't do something…we're prone to hyperventilating and that is NOT a good thing." There, simple, blunt and to the point. Hopefully, Hiei would understand that further speculation on the usefulness of their discussion would not be appreciated at all.
"I don't get you at all, fox. Were I in your place, I would be more concerned with figuring out how to keep Karasu at arms length," Hiei remarks.
"Yes, well I have been doing that since I got down here and I have yet to discover a single way to do that without having spirit energy. Unfortunately, I have yet to think of anything." Hiei snorts but doesn't say anything. He wasn't too uncomfortable with the situation although Bui's almost standoffish nature is beginning to make him wonder what the demon's problem was. He hadn't spent more then a few minutes in his presence unless he couldn't avoid it and twice now Hiei has caught him staring at him with an indefinable emotion though it made Hiei feel strangely warm. He tries not to think about it deciding that it really didn't matter what the blue-haired demon's issue was as long as he left him well enough alone.
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Bui watches Hiei from across the room. He is still trying to get a handle on himself. It seemed almost pedophilic for him to be lusting after the smaller demon although it was obvious that Hiei was no mere child. It was probably the innocence of his child-like face and features that made it that way. It was also those features that made him absolutely irresistible to Bui. The ax-wielder grits his teeth before silently leaving the room. This was embarrassing! He had long since passed the age where his hormones couldn't be controlled yet this little demon made it almost impossible to keep from pouncing and ravishing him on the spot. 'Life seems to be full of ironies,' he thinks with an almost bitter smile, 'I lost my pride and my ability to choose my own path, yet years of living with demons who can only be described as the most soulless of monsters, I still feel guilty for my lewd, lascivious thoughts.' He could almost hit himself. This was so much like him to have a crisis of conscience when the others couldn't be bothered enough to mind what was right and decent. He runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. He had to think of a solution to this before it turned from a problem to a catastrophe and taking multiple cold showers a day was not an option. That would only start making the others suspicious and he doesn't want to envision the sort of conversation that would lead to though he has a feeling it would be along the lines of one of them telling him to stop being such a weakling and take what he wants. After all, Hiei did belong to him so technically he WAS his to do with as he pleased. The images of what he COULD do are enough to make him more disgusted with himself. 'Gods, I am becoming as debased as the others,' he thinks, 'this is highly disturbing. I can't take advantage of him…I can't!'
'But you want to,' his mind responds.
'I can't deny that.'
'So why don't you?'
'Because I DON'T take advantage of others.'
'But you WANT to.'
'Shut up…oh, great now I'm arguing with myself. This has to be the universe's most fucked-up way of getting revenge.'
Unfortunately, no matter how much he tells himself NOT to want the fire-demon, his body doesn't listen and it makes him feel more disgusted with himself. He just couldn't win for losing, could he? "What are you doing?" Hagiri asks leaning against a tree watching him.
"Walking," he grits out glaring at the teen. The dark haired human's violet eyes sparkle slyly.
"I don't think that is what you were doing," Hagiri remarks, "So why don't you be honest and admit the truth?"
"I fail to see how it is any of YOUR business!" Bui growls back ready to summon an axe and chop the irritating child into little pieces and scatter him as fertilizer.
Either Hagiri doesn't sense the danger he's putting himself in or he doesn't care because he starts laughing. "You're having a crises of conscience aren't you?" he chortles. Bui scowls at him.
"I don't see how that is any of YOUR business."
"Truthfully it's not but you are such good entertainment."
That only makes Bui even more irritable. "Do you want to be sent back to see Koenma? You are very close to being dead!"
"Am I? Would you actually kill me in cold blood?" His mocking tone tells Bui that he already knows the answer to that question and the blue-haired demon makes the only decision he can at that point, he returns inside. 'Coward,' he thinks to himself, 'you can't even deal with a human child. You're beyond pathetic. It's no wonder you're stuck working for Toguro!' He walks back into the room schooling his features into an aloof mask he'd perfected to hide his disgust and disdain for the demons he was with. He sees that Kurama and Itsuki are still talking to each other but by the lewd expressions on both Sensui and Karasu's faces, they were about to be interrupted. He silently walks to Hiei's side. The smaller demon merely looks up at him expressionlessly.
"Let's go," he says quietly. Hiei doesn't change expressions but he does start walking towards the door. Bui follows struggling to keep his eyes off of the rather tempting view in front of him. The fire-demon was going to be the death of him and he had no idea that he was affecting Bui that much.
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The next two days are rather uneventful…at least for Kuwabara. It seemed that the Toguro brothers were allowing him to spend time with Yusuke. It made the knowledge that the teen was leaving him alone with them all that much worse. He rather envied Hiei and Mitari who seemed to be fairing quite well with their "owners" though he was sure he saw a handprint on the blonde's face before he had argued with Hiei. They were the luckiest of them; Kuwabara gad to admit though it made him wonder why the Toguro Brothers weren't doing anything to Yusuke. He would have thought that they would give anything for a chance to hurt and humiliate him but all they had done was come after him. He doesn't understand it, though he is not ready to actually inquire as to why that is. Some things were better never known. "You're lucky, you know that?" he remarks to Yusuke who is standing and looking out of the window.
"I don't care! Leaving you guys here makes me think I failed somehow,"
Yusuke tells him.
"How could you fail when we didn't have a choice? Yusuke, Koenma made this decision without us. You couldn't have known!"
"I still feel like a failure."
"None of us hate you, Urameshi. We've been through far too much together to hate you for something you have no power to stop."
"I don't want to leave YOU alone! Gods, of all the guys here, I'm most worried about YOU! Kurama and Itsuki can hold their own against Sensui and Karasu but I don't know how you're going to be able to deal with the Toguro Brothers! Gods, I hate that toddler so much right now!"
Kuwabara walks over and gently squeezes his wrist. He gives him a strong smile when the youth looks at him. "I'll be fine, Urameshi. I'll find a way." They both know he's lying but Yusuke also knows that he needs to hear that from him. It meant that Kuwabara was still fighting. He manages a shaky smile.
"You sure?"
"Hey, I've lived through three meetings with Ani. I don't think I'm giving up anytime soon." He only hopes that he can keep up with that promise. Yusuke nods slightly at him and the door opens.
"Let's go, Yusuke," Oto says. The black haired youth looks at Kuwabara once more. Kuwabara flashes him a familiar grin that assures him that he'll keep fighting. He squeezes Kuwabara's hand before turning and walking out of the room. Kuwabara follows a few feet behind him holding his emotions back. He was not going to let Yusuke know how he really felt. The dark haired teen would never be able to forgive himself if he knew the condition Kuwabara was in before he left so he hides it behind the mask of an overconfident fighter. He had spent countless years perfecting it.
Kurama, Itsuki, Mitari, and Hiei are downstairs when they arrive. Kuwabara watches Yusuke hug each of them including Hiei. The fire-demon grudgingly allows it and Kuwabara is almost certain he sees a flicker of emotion within the red orbs. Kurama holds him tightly and he watches Yusuke whisper something in his ear and sees the emerald-eyed teen nod. Yusuke hugs Mitari lightly before walking back over to him. "Stay strong," he murmurs pulling him tightly to him, "You always found a way to endure. Don't let this time be any different."
"I won't," Kuwabara promises knowing full well he'll never be able to keep his word. He only said it for Yusuke's benefit. He knew his best friend all too well. Yusuke heads for the door but takes one last look at them before walking out with Oto. The door closing sounds louder then it should and Kuwabara can't refrain from shuddering.
"Well, that was entertaining," Ani comments from the stairs. Kuwabara turns to face him and the demon smirks unpleasantly. "You are alone now, you do realize this, right? You no longer have anyone to protect you. My, what a predicament you're in, Kuwabara."