Disclaimer: All Yu Yu Hakuho characters do not belong to me. Sadly.

Chapter 9

He shuffled and reorganized the thick stack of paperwork for the fifth time. Bright brown eyes scanned the final page before furiously reshuffling them and beginning all over again. Halfway through he groaned dramatically and banged his fist against the table, his free hand coming up to massage his eyes. For such a young man there were already the tell-tale signs of over-work and fatigue.

He didn't really mind the missions. They kept him busy and delayed the mountains of paperwork everyone seemed to pawn off on him. And besides that, it actually got him outside, keeping himself in shape and active. No, what annoyed him was that every time he was dispatched he was always, always paired up with-

"GOOD MORNING!" The door crashed open, admitting a bubbly blue-haired woman.

Koenma gave an aggravated sigh. "Botan, you re supposed to knock before entering someone's office."

"Oh, but you don t mind!" she chirped, flashing her trademark grin. She lifted a folder into view, identical to the one he had received that morning. "I just got our orders! It sounds exciting doesn't it? Taking down two renegades and bringing them to justice. Oooh, it sounds just like a movie!" She fluttered about the room, suddenly clutching the folder to her chest and sighing dreamily.

Koenma gave her an agitated look. "Its not that simple and you know it. We don t know much about our targets except one is a traitor who was hiding his mage abilities and the other is a Shadow Runner. This is going to be dangerous one way or the other."

She just flipped her hair and played with it, the very picture of a young girl and not the soldier she was supposed to be. "You worry too much. We'll be more than enough to handle two measly mages. It'll be a piece of cake."

"Then tell me why every time you say that something goes wrong." Before she could say anything to disprove his observation, he rose and headed for the door. "Anyway, regardless, we leave in an hour. We should prepare for the worst."

oOoOo

"Hiei, wait up."

The rain had finally stopped, leaving a dead silence in its wake. Some two, three miles away from the charred remains of the camp, Hiei started to notice Yusuke lagging behind. Every time the other man slowed down, Hiei would bark at him irritably and Yusuke would up his pace.

"I'm serious, stop . . ."

Hiei stopped and rolled his eyes in frustration. "What's wrong, now?" He turned back and froze, his body suddenly held fast to the spot. "Yusuke?"

The Jantan was slumped against a tree for support, his breathing coming in rugged gasps. His arms were clenched tightly around himself while his whole frame shook uncontrollably. Faint wisps of his aura curled around him in flickering tendrils, bursting to life and then dying again.

"H-Hiei. I can't . . . can't-" Yusuke gasped sharply then, solid blue eyes lifting to meet Hiei's stare. "It burns! Oh gods help me, it's burning!"

Hiei rushed to his side when the other man fell. He touched Yusuke's shoulder only to recoil at a sharp burst of power and the Jantan's bloodcurdling scream. Yusuke's whole body began to spasm, his back arching clear off the ground, and his muscles clearly straining. His aura became more visible as it swirled around him, and the brighter it became the more he seemed to scream.

At a loss of what else to do, Hiei just reacted. Ignoring Yusuke's screams, Hiei grabbed his shoulders and forcibly pinned him down to keep him from harming himself. Hiei grit his teeth against the sudden overflow of power trying to surge through him, and quickly erected barriers to keep it out.

Thinking fast, Hiei ignored his previous warning and dove into Yusuke's mind, trying desperately to find the source of the problem.

It didn't take long.

Hiei swore vehemently.

The idiot had taken his lessons beyond their limits and had used the techniques he learned to suppress his newly unearthed mage energy. If it had been anyone else, anyone at all, there would have been little to no repercussions. A constant headache perhaps, or possibly fatigue. But with Yusuke it was like trying to stop a tsunami with a wall of rice paper. As a result, with no where else to go the power was burning him from the inside out.

There was simply too much power in too small of a space. If nothing was done immediately it could very well prove fatal.

Hiei made a quick decision and tore down his hastily made barriers. Yusuke's power flooded through him making every nerve ending tingle. Just as before, his own power took it in and instantly minor scrapes and bruises began to repair themselves. Hiei tugged at the energy, bringing as much into himself as he could and began channeling it, dispersing the excess as it came. It was something Yusuke should have been doing on his own, to keep his own high level of active energy from turning on itself. This was something Hiei did every day without realizing. It had become so routine after so many years that he did it instinctively.

But Yusuke hadn't been trained nearly as extensively as he had, and Hiei should have kept that in mind.

As he worked Hiei was nearly overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite well of power that resided within his companion. As quickly as he dispersed the energy more and more flowed to replace it, and with a sudden jolt he realized that this alone wouldn't be enough. Yusuke's energy rejuvenated much too quickly. With a growl he dug deeper, connecting their different energies and building channels as he went.

As the minutes ticked by he slowly felt Yusuke's aura recede as eventually his power finally came down to a manageable level.

Thoroughly exhausted, Hiei broke contact but left the channel that connected their power in place. He rocked back to sit properly, and only then did he realize that his knees ached from kneeling for so long. He sighed and rubbed his face with the palm of his hands before turning back to the Jantan.

While he looked on Yusuke's breathing calmed and deepened. His eyes were open slightly, the irises glazed but otherwise back to normal. After a minute or two his head tilted towards Hiei.

"You saved my life."

It was a hoarse whisper at best, but the Shade's hearing was keen.

Hiei looked away scowling. "You're an idiot. I promised you I'd get you to safety. That's very difficult to do when you're trying to kill yourself."

"Reserved for you right?" He saw the Jantan give a faint grin before slipping completely unconscious.

Cheeky bastard. Hiei stared at the man for a moment, and then settled himself in a more comfortable position. With his sword close at hand, he kept guard the rest of the night.

oOoOo

Kurama was confused to say the least. He used his sensitive nose to follow the trail and let his own observations tell him where his quarry went. It took him past the charred waste where the elemental explosion had taken place. He was interested to note that Hiei's sent was soon partnered by another, foreign one. One of them had bled. An enemy perhaps, or a hostage.

The thought was disregarded. Hiei was never one to take prisoners, it wasn't his style.

As the trail moved on the unidentified man remained, continuously side by side with Hiei's. A comrade? No, Hiei was a lone wolf to the core. He had tolerated Kurama on missions well enough because he knew to give the other mage his space and pulled his weight in a fight. But this . . .

There must have been something that he was missing.

Something suddenly vibrated against his ankle, demanding his immediate attention.

With a sharp sigh, Kurama pulled the ear piece from his boot and slipped into place. "Go ahead."

The radio crackled and a small, but distinctively feminine voice chimed through. "I have some information and new orders from dispatch. Our sources have informed us that the target has been sighted by the enemy, along with a companion. The two of them terminated a whole camp of Jantans. Be advised, the target's companion is a mage of unknown capabilities. Apprehend both target's alive. That is all."

The radio crackled once more before falling silent.

Kurama just stayed there, turning her words over in his head. So Hiei did have a companion. Many questions ran across his mind and no matter which way he looked, he didn't have an answer for any of them.

oOoOo

Author s Note: Nope, definitely NOT abandoned. Alright guys, the reason why this one took such a ridiculously long time (seriously I'll be surprised if anyone is still reading this) is because right after I initially finished the chapter the file got corrupted and I had thought I had to start from scratch. After many nights of frustration and writers block, my boyfriend and I somehow salvaged the file.

Also, this was a difficult chapter to write. It's a crucial moment of the story and I was really worried about how I was gonna pull it off. And I won't know if I did well or not until I get later into the chapters . . . . There's a lot more to come people. And things only get more complicated here on in. –Sharys (still very much alive!)