Author's Note: I've come to a stunning realization…the nights I typically write are all nights when my husband goes out with friends…. I never thought I would be thankful that he was leaving me at home with the kids, but hey, it's getting my chapters written, which I very much enjoy :) Happy New Year to all, and on with chapter 8!
Chapter 8
One word came to Hiei's lips, "Kurama."
Hiei glanced left. He glanced right. He had felt Kurama's aura near him without a doubt. Hiei growled. "Damn interfering fox," he grumbled.
Hiei would have run far away and hidden. No one found Hiei unless he wanted them to. But he couldn't now. Kurama's aura had felt…off. He had felt if fluctuate, and he could only think of one possible explanation: Youko. For one fleeting moment, Hiei panicked. The last time he had felt Youko's aura, his friend's was nearly smothered underneath it.
Regaining his cool, Hiei leapt from his perch, landing nimbly on the ground. He set off, sprinting at full speed in the direction he had felt the burst of spiritual energy. He hoped he wouldn't be too late.
/
Kurama woke suddenly and slapped his neck. He looked down to see a Makai insect, or at least what was left of it, stuck to his palm. Scrunching his nose up, he wiped the remains of the bug on his pant leg. Yawning, he reached his arms high above his head, stretching his stiff muscles.
A quick glance told him it was still the dead of night. The moon was high in the sky, at least, he assumed it was, somewhere behind the massive cloud cover.
Kurama jumped from the sinewy, flexible willow branch; stumbling a bit upon landing, he hit his knee on the hard earth beneath him. He hissed quietly and rubbed his bruised knee as he stood.
Feeling a bit light-headed, Kurama looked around. He realized he hadn't eaten all day, even after that long, exhausting walk. No wonder he was feeling light-headed. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and began to walk deeper into the forest, where he heard a stream gurgling.
He shivered. The night had certainly turned cool.
To his left stood a huge bush, easily seven feet tall. Adorning the bush were several small, red berries. Recognizing them as harmless berries as opposed to poisonous ones, Kurama plucked berry after berry, eating while he examined the area. This would be as good a spot as any to begin harvesting weapons. Seeing a small patch of a multifunctional and particularly vicious plant (at least in his hands) growing from the stream, Kurama waded out.
He sucked in his breath as the cold water rushed over him. His legs quickly began to tingle, starting with his toes and working up to his knees. He picked a few small leaves hastily, and inserted them in his long, red hair for later use.
His teeth began to chatter wildly, and he turned, entirely ready to exit the river. When the hell had it gotten so cold? The temperature had been agreeable enough earlier that evening. He hoped a storm wasn't moving in. That would be the last thing they needed while travelling. But then, he reasoned, it may make it much easier to ambush the clan if they could use the storm to their advantage. The rain would make it much harder to see unannounced guests, the thunder much harder to hear unwanted footsteps. A storm might turn out to be just the opportunity they needed.
His clever strategizing was interrupted as he stepped out of the stream. He froze as cold metal brushed against his throat. Damn it! They must have been spotted crossing the open land when they headed into the woods. He cursed his own stupidity at not setting up a safer camp, and hoped Yusuke and Koenma could manage on their own.
Not waiting to feel the blade slice through his skin, he unleashed his rose whip. The vine quickly snaked out of his hair, efficiently wrapping his enemy up.
Turning, he pounced on his prey, snarling ferociously. He felt Youko struggling to emerge, but pushed his alter ego down roughly. He could handle this on his own.
His eyes widened, and the snarl died. Whatever he had been expecting, it was not this. Wrapped in his whip was a very angry looking Hiei.
Kurama gaped, at a rare loss for words. He had come here searching for Hiei, and Hiei had found him. Coming back to his senses, he called his plant off his small friend.
Hiei stood, brushing himself off. "At least I know you can take care of yourself out here," he muttered darkly. When the last of the dust was gone from Hiei's all black attire, he crossed his arms, gaze fixed on the redhead standing in front of him. Glancing around, he walked a few steps and stooped, picking up his katana. He wiped the dust from the silvery steel blade on his clean pants, dirtying them all over again. He didn't seem to mind, and simply sheathed his katana.
"What?" Kurama asked, still confused. "Hiei, I'm afraid I don't understand. How did you know I was here? Since you obviously did know I'm here, why would you come to me? I thought the last thing you wanted was me by your side here." Even Kurama could detect the bitterness in his own voice, and Hiei didn't miss it, either.
"Hn. It's just as I said: I was coming to check on you. I was entirely ready to send you packing since you can't defend yourself properly. It seems my plan backfired." Hiei didn't look at all happy about this rather unsatisfactory turn of events.
The gravity of what Hiei had just admitted came crashing down on Kurama. "You were…worried about me?" he asked, skeptical.
Hiei had said too much. Stupid meddling fox! "Hn, I wouldn't go that far," Hiei lied nonchalantly. "I just hoped it would help me convince you to go back home."
"Ah," Kurama said. That made sense. "Well, I guess you can give up on that, Hiei, because I have no intentions of leaving the Makai unless it's with you. If you insist on staying here to attempt the completion of this crazy mission, I will help you." Kurama leaned back against a tree trunk. He wasn't cold anymore. Suddenly he was hot—very hot. The heat pressed in on him in an unbearable, suffocating way. Despite this, his legs still tingled from the cold of the stream. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the feeling of vertigo that was washing over him, but this only made matters worse.
Everything seemed to slow down, as if time was being altered. The trees became a green and brown blur. His head pounded. The tingling grew into numbness. The numbness spread. Kurama slipped to the ground, his hands bracing himself. His fingers dug into the dirt, desperately aching to somehow cling to consciousness, but even his fingers and hands were beginning to tingle now.
In his peripheral, he saw another blur, this one black. Hiei.
"Kurama, what's wrong?" Hiei asked, now not bothering to mask the obvious and genuine worry in his voice.
Kurama reached a shaking hand up to his neck—the insect. Fingering where he had been bitten, he could feel a small lump beneath the skin. He tried to dig it out, but his hand, which had now grown completely numb, dropped uselessly to his side, as the numbness spread up to his shoulder.
Hiei examined the spot where Kurama had pointed to. He hissed. Why hadn't he noticed it before? Several red lines were mottling Kurama's perfect, pale skin. Poison.
Luckily, Kurama was an expert with poisons and antidotes. Surely he had brought something with him in his bags.
A cold lump settled in the pit of his stomach. Frantically, Hiei ripped open Kurama's white shirt. Several of the red lines were working their way toward Kurama's heart—Kurama's all too human, beating heart. Hiei's mind raced. His worst fear was going to come true before his very eyes. Kurama's humanity would be the death of him, and there was nothing Hiei could do to protect him.
Kurama managed to rasp something to Hiei, "My bag…back at camp…only about a kilometer away…antidote."
Hiei was seriously worried now. Even the most basic of functions were becoming difficult for Kurama to manage. He nodded fervently and stooped to pick his partner up, but Kurama held a hand up.
Hiei growled in frustration. "Whatever it is fox, this isn't the time! Let me help you!"
Kurama ignored him, and rasped again, "In my neck…dart…need to…get it out."
Hiei bent and examined his friend's neck more closely. Kurama was right he noted as he ran a finger over the area. Buried just beneath the skin was a lump. In a blur, his katana was at his side. He looked at Kurama warily. Kurama merely nodded and exposed his neck more openly to the cold, deadly weapon Hiei brandished.
Hiei gulped. Kurama trusted him that much. He tried to calm down. Everything felt like a distraction. Things he had never paid much attention to before now put him on edge. The wind was blowing too hard; a bird in a nearby tree was making too much noise; the stream beside him was also making useless and distracting noises. Hell, his own breathing was too loud.
With more care than he had ever done anything, Hiei cautiously touched the tip of the blade to Kurama's supple flesh. He looked up at his fox again, knowing this time he would see fear and mistrust. All he saw, though, was absolute, blind faith.
He returned to his task, resolve steadying his blade and increasing its accuracy. With only the tip of the blade, he managed to quickly extract the small, red dart from Kurama's neck. He noted happily that the lines moved at a much slower pace now that the dart was not constantly injecting poison into Kurama's bloodstream. He knew the removal would only slow the poison down, though. It would eventually reach his heart if not treated, and when that happened…Hiei fought off a shudder. He would not allow that to happen. Kurama had saved his life only a couple of weeks ago. He would not let his friend die. He would repay his debt and save his fox.
Wrapping the dart up carefully in a piece of cloth, he pocketed it. Whoever had dared to poison Kurama would suffer; he would make sure of that.
Stooping once again, he now gathered the redhead in his arms. He glanced down at Kurama, who was considerably paler than usual. Not a good sign. Seeing that Kurama was nodding off, Hiei began talking. He couldn't let Kurama fall asleep. He may never wake up. "Don't go to sleep on me, fox," he began. "I need you to tell me what to give you when we reach camp."
Kurama nodded, sleepily. "In my brown bag, there is a leather box. Inside the box are bottles. You need the bottles marked 'antididonai P.', scutum cor', and—do I have a fever?"
At least taking the dart out had improved some of his functions, Hiei noted. He pressed his cheek to his partner's forehead. When he picked his head up, his cheek was sticky with perspiration. "Yes. I'd say about 102 degrees."
Kurama nodded. "Then you will also need the bottle marked 'antipyretic.'"
Hiei clutched Kurama tighter. He would save his partner no matter what. And then he and Kurama were going to have a long talk. Hiei could no longer stand to be so selfish.
2nd A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this! I was going to include getting back to the camp and the talk in this chapter, but it really would have been too long…but since I have it all planned out, I should have the next chapter up very soon :) Oh, if this bothered anyone, sorry about switching from the metric system with the measurements to using Fahrenheit for Kurama's temperature. It's a lot easier to figure out metric measurements, though, because many of them are close to our American units of measurement…Fahrenheit and Celsius are definitely NOT like that (p.s. I used metric in the first place because they are in Japan, after all :) ). (Readers: …No one else paid attention. You're the only type-a Virgo around here…) LOL
