X. Aid Unsought
Somewhere in between dimensions feral eyes met a yellow one.
"Are you sure?" Said a whisper of a voice.
"Yes…"
"And so it ends…" It was a sighed and a promise. Both winked out into the maelstrom of the wilderness between the planes.
***
Ran moved quickly as the alarm klaxons rang from all quarters, cursing. He wondered who had made the mistake that triggered them. It better not be any of Sh—Kurama's friends or there will be hell to pay. He had been reluctant to have to do this mission with the Urameshi team underfoot in the first place. This is what happens when you let non-professionals help in this sort of work…
***
"So that's how it's going to be?"
"Hai, 'niichan."
Ran didn't want to question the plan, it got his otouto under his care after all but it split the Weiß team into two and made them work with two others who they haven't even seen in action much less coordinate with. Besides, it was the best compromise they could come up with using both teams' methods.
"Won't it be more effective if the teams were split up along the team lines?"
"Ie, you won't have powers to deal with Sohliel and others of his kind that might be about."
"Hn."
"Please be rational, 'niichan." And that was that.
***
The "plan", as insane as it was, had called for him and Siberian backed by Hiei and Kurama to take on the Estet elders while the others take on Schwartz. It also called for sneaking quietly into the base and assassinating the Estet and the Schwartz. Right now, it might well be scattered to the high winds. Someone had managed to trip the alarm before they got into position. Ran swore again. They had to fight men with guns something the Reikai Tantei had never done and that made Ran very nervous about bringing both Kurama and, surprisingly, Hiei into the fights. He constantly worried about them getting hit by bullets.
"Hn. Dodge fireballs and such." Hiei said close to his ear. He had to remember that Hiei was a telepath as good as if not better than Schuldich. Not that little Jaganashi used his gift other than for communications most of the time and Ran's strong worry must be projecting pretty far.
There were only two corridors they had to go through to their mission objective. He had drawn Hiei as his partner through the corridors. He comforted himself with the thought that they'll be seeing Kurama and Ken at the last juncture. Then realized what Hiei had said.
"Hn." Ran said. That doesn't help much…
He had not much time for thought as the corridor in front of them exploded with Estet guards.
***
Yuusuke ran with Balinese. Of all the four Weiß, he was the unknown element; Hidaka and Tsukyono were at least acquainted with Kurama. Still he seemed a good man in a fight. They had taken down several of the guards with their weapons without getting hurt though with the alarms on. They had taken to speeding through the corridors, time becoming a premium rather than surprise since they have lost that option.
***
The hall of sacrifice was large with a vaunted ceiling. The corridor where they emerge from was far from the altar all the passages were like that. The droning chant of the three went on and on as they climbed the stairs. Kurama felt uneasy. He remembered a part of a private argument before this mission. He knew his brother would have probably dismissed it by now as trivial but bothered Kurama a lot. Kurama knew that Ran didn't believe in the threat presented by youkai despite what the latter had seen and heard. It might be natural considering that he was a child of the modern world, which relied on science. He'd rather have Ran away from the coming battle but his 'niichan was adamant. Nothing was going to keep Ran away from this one short of death.
***
"Ran-niichan, be reasonable, we're probably going against more youkai, demons that have been kept in reserve. You and Weiß have no experience fighting them, you should stay out of it."
"Hn." A death glare accompanied the refusal. It was clear that his big brother wouldn't allow him to go into any danger on his own.
"'Niichan."
"Hn."
Kurama met Ran's eyes glare for glare, letting a bit of amber slip into his.
"Humph, I guess there will be enough ningen with mundane weapons to give us some trouble." Kurama conceded finally, pouting adorably as he did so.
Ran-niichan could kill a basilisk at a glaring competition…
"Hn." Cute pouts won't make me repeal my verdict.
"Hai, I know that that wouldn't work when the matter was this serious but it was worth a try." Kurama grinned at Ran making the latter smile tentatively at him.
***
Kurama hid in the shadows waiting for the rest of their team to show up Ken-kun was beside him waiting for the signal as well. Hopefully no one got caught though with the alarm raised it would be harder for everyone concerned to take out his targets. Something moved in one of the adjacent corridors. It was one of the unaccounted for corridors in the complex probably leading to the Schwartz. He tightened his fingers around his whip.
***
"Omi-kun, where to now?" Kuwabara said trying to be as quiet as he could. They had already made a mistake tripping the alarm by passing a laser beam that wasn't suppose to be there. They had taken care of the consequences of their actions and were now speeding to their rendezvous point with Yuusuke and Youji-san.
"Right then left." Omi said consulting his map. They skidded to a halt and proceeded more cautiously into the corridor that would lead them into the Schwartz antechamber.
***
"Omi-kun, Kuwabara-kun, how come you're here?" Kurama hissed in surprise as they huddled together in the corridor.
"Omi…" Ken said in half-question.
"We followed the map! We didn't get turned about. I'm positive." Omi said defensively. He was feeling a bit less confident after blundering into the alarm.
"I'm sure you did." Kurama said soothingly. Whatever was going on couldn't be helped.
"What now?" Hidaka-san asked.
"We wait for the rest of the Estet team to show up? Ran-niichan would not be pleased if we had gone on without him." Kurama suggested.
They started when another corridor showed activity but it was only Yuusuke and Youji-kun.
What happened to Ran-niichan that he…?
The thought wasn't finished when Hiei flew in with his 'niichan.
"What in hell!" Ran directed this uncharacteristic outburst to his teammates.
"We don't know how we end up here." Protested Youji.
"Let's figure it out later, the ceremony's been started. We'd better hurry." Yuusuke said. He no doubt was feeling the rise in ki energy enshrouding the summoning hall the way everyone from Urameshi Team.
The joint team didn't need to use their "Chosen One" detectors to know that the bier on stage must be where Aya-chan was.
***
The combined teams of Weiß and Schwartz hurried towards the stage. Ran felt a wave of weakness thrum through his veins as he ran but dismissed it. It must be the demon's blood in him reacting to the ceremony. Kurama looked at him in concern as he faltered but he only shook his head and there was no more time. The teams separated into small groups to deal with the telekinetic Elders of Estet and the guards in the main hall.
Odd that there weren't any other youkai at all in the ranks of guards. He was in the process of slicing one of the guards when the weakness came upon him again and he felt as if his entire being was on fire. He distantly felt his knees buckle and lost his balance, far, far away someone was screaming…
***
"'Niichan!" Kurama shouted as he dispatched the guard with his whip.
Ran was kneeling an aura of intense blue limned his form and he was screaming.
There that was the last of them…
"Everyone take care of the Elders. I'll take care of Ran-niichan." Kurama falling back to hold Ran in his arms. The blue glow traveled up Kurama's arms to enfold him too. Somehow it didn't harm him. Strange, it felt rather warm and welcoming.
Yuusuke nodded, seeing that the blue glow had not harmed Kurama. Youji hesitated but then moved on grimly.
***
One of the chanting Elders saw death approaching and broke off to hurl a wide spray of telekinetic force. Hiei and Siberian zeroed in on him and narrowly avoided being pushed by telekinetic force. Hiei's cat-quick reflexes had allowed him to bypass the wave and slash the man's throat. Yuusuke managed to shoot the woman before she could do anything. The last man was either more cowardly or more cool headed than the rest, he ran away fast as he could to a door where Schwartz must be, chanting all the while. He had only managed to survive a few more seconds as Youji managed to latch a stranglehold with his wire.
All through out these events the glow surrounding Kurama and Ran didn't falter but intensified at each beat of a silent pulse.
Hiei was finally free to use the detector to confirm his dawning suspicions.
Shit! Just as I thought…
"This isn't Aya." Hiei said.
"Sakura." Omi confirmed.
They had been deceived. Hiei ripped the ward off of his Jagan to look at the impenetrable walls for a hidden door. With an illusion master, he didn't want to take the chance that the real door was cloaked, time was running out for Kurama and Ran.
***
Elsewhere, Schwartz was meticulously chanting their version of the rite under the supervision of Sohliel who nearly yawned.
So f'r so good, everythin's fallin' i' t' place…
Sohliel looked at the bier that held Fujimiya Aya with a satisfied smirk on his alien face. It hadn't been all that hard to switch her with Tomoe Sakura. Those old fools didn't even know the first thing about this girl. They didn't even take the time to read her aura that would have saved them from being duped. But no, they were too assured of their destiny. It had been too easy. He sighed in contempt but tightened his grasp on the magical energies in the room. He had given Schwartz the rite to perform and so there they were now. His perception blurred for a moment and on a less aware level, he felt himself chanting with rest of Schwartz.
After this night there would be no more problems about budgeting his resources, of splitting his consciousness. He would be free, free of the contract that bound his soul to servitude to the Cei Lady Bolshai, free to do as he pleased. It had been a hard thing to do to fight the geas that came with the contract but he had done it. He had gotten attached to the Ningenkai's status quo and wished no earthshaking changes even if it meant that he would have great power.
No let us not lie to ourselves --myself-- it's all for His sake… Heck, I'd have to stop her plan myself, Reikai were such ignorant fools they didn't even know that my liege was a she not a he. What a bunch of weenies… Things were so under control…
It was how matters were when he felt the surge of power in the adjacent chamber.
Damned it! Somethin's gone som'ut wrong…
Sohliel dropped the illusions he wove and gathered his powers to himself. He was even tempted to…but no, not that, never that… If I did that I can never stay here in the Ningenkai any longer…
"Crawford-san, something has gone wrong with the rite. Against all expectations there seems to be a building of power in the other room." Sohliel said in his accent-less voice to Crawford who was free at the moment, the chanting had needed to be alternated between three members or so the instructions said.
"Should we…"
"No, the rite shouldn't be interrupted. I'll go and see." Sohliel knew that without him the magical semblance in the room would vanish into thin air but didn't care. Schwartz would probably attribute it to what was happening in the hall. He flitted out into the hallway as Weiß team ran in to contain Schwartz.
Iffin' Fools…couldn't they figure it out for themselves, Schwartz wasn't behind what was happening now, I had them quietly occupied with the some harmless nonsense…but at least it give me free rein to do what must be done…
***
Sohliel found himself in the room with only the Urameshi team sans Hiei and the swordsman in it. The rest of the Weiß were all rushing Schwartz trying to disrupt the latter's concentration, thinking that would stop what was happening. Tough luck, that wasn't going to stop this. He'll have to do it himself.
The kitsune and the Weiß swordsman were both glowing with a steady blue glow.
I've got to stop Her from coming through… What was that phrase again…
"Avrec kiran…"
Unfortunately the Urameshi team spotted him at that moment and decided to attack him as threat. The ningen swordsman started a slash at him as the other rushed at him. He narrowly dodged their attacks.
Meanwhile, Schwartz was fighting Weiß and the ill-tempered fire demon. Sohliel knew that they were more than a match for the three but was glad that he had took the time to build several fighting reflexes as well as canny tactical mechanisms in his "second body". He still worried. The energies unleashed were disrupting reiki powers to a noticeable degree. But all the same could only spare a glance at his teammates before he blurred back into his fight with the Urameshi team.
A glance especially at him…What a thing to contemplate at a time like this…
From the looks of things, the energies were also disrupting youki powers. The ki balls directed at him were none to steady nor did the flare of the swords. A fact that allowed him to survive while he concentrated counter-phrase.
"Ouresis…"
Fools, there be no time left…got to…
It really wasn't Sohliel's day for time just ran out. On a hidden signal both of the other occupants of the room glowed like miniature suns blinding him for an instant…
***
The pulse of the energies thrummed at the walls of the hall, threatening to bring them down. Then it stopped and in the midst of it all both Ran and Kurama started to levitate.
"Yamero, I am only trying to help…" Sohliel said finally knowing that Bolshai wouldn't have taken kindly to what he had tried to do, once she figured it out.
An' she will figure it out, th' boss-lady's been always a sharp 'un. She is. An' I'm dead a'ways.
"Help? Help him more likely…" Urameshi said sarcastically flinging a fireball in disdain at him.
"Think…Urameshi…isn't a bit odd that there is no power emanating from the antechamber of the Schwartz ceremony?" Sohliel said dodging the Reiki Sword of the other boy.
"Huh?"
"And this girl here isn't Fujimiya Aya isn't she so the ceremony here would have been useless…" Sohliel dodged another fireball.
What kind of fools were these folk?
"So what do we do?" The boy said finally convinced, hauling the swordsman to a stop with him.
A blast of ki energy suddenly barreled into them blowing them into the walls rendering the two Reikai Tantei unconscious.
So much for them…
"isther min!"
Ran floated across the room past Sohliel to the room where Schwartz still fought.
Oniisan (~FINISHED~)
By: silrayn silverwolf
mild SHOUNEN AI/YAOI WeiB Kreuz/YYH crossover Kurama gets a red haired assassin as his older brother. More about brotherly love, though there is a traditional yaoi couple involved. More info inside...
Rated: Fiction T - English - Supernatural - Chapters: 10 - Words: 26,379 - Reviews: 48 - Favs: 16 - Follows: 3 - Updated: 9/30/2001 - Published: 1/4/2001 - id: 164104
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