Fox in the Chicken Coop
Chapter 10
Here's your double feature! ~
Two days.
Forty eight hours and thirty-nine minutes to be exact, since he was separated from his human half.
The Winchesters had turned out to be surprisingly good at what they do, however, they tended to get sidetracked more often than not when it wasn't something to do with one or the other.
In the process of locating Shuichi, they had salted and burned a ghost, killed three demons and been pulled over for speeding.
Dean was driving of course.
However, they were running out of time and Kurama could feel it. Each day his bones grew weaker and his muscles less flexible.
Which was good, considering it had to have taken the same toll on his other half as it was him.
As it was, they were checking into the collapse of a man with red hair. Third one they've tracked down, the last one ended up actually being a woman and not the man they were hunting.
There was shouting and worried chatter from down the hall, Sam and Dean paused only long enough to look at each other to confirm they were going to poke their noses into the disturbance before taking off, leaving Kurama behind to catch up.
Whatever had caused the ruckus was gone now, though a handful of nurses had gathered around to see what the commotion was.
By the time Kurama caught up to the crowed, Sam and Dean had already vanished, a nurse lay sprawled on the ground, bleeding and one of the doctors kneeling over her to check her vitals.
"How is she?" One of the nurses asked worried, if Kurama had to guess, she was probably friends with the young nurse on the ground.
"She's alive, but a couple of the cuts are close to arteries, we need to get her into surgery quick. Kim, prep the OR, Janice, get a couple orderlies to help me move her, I need a stretcher and neck brace. You, grab some bandages, we need to slow the bleeding down, Laura, I'm going to need blood bags, she's lost too..." The doctor continued on, however, Kurama stopped listening and wished for the thousandth time he had the compact communicator to contact Koenma.
It's not like he could just call him up on a phone, international call or not, it wouldn't reach spirit world.
And it's not like his human contacts knew about spirit world, or if they did, they wouldn't have any better luck getting in contact with them than he had.
Making his way around back through the crowed, Kurama found himself heading back to the car, he was tired and it was likely the boys would return to the car.
He lay there for a moment, staring in boredom at the leather of the seat. He could feel his attention and memory slipping as each minute passed, assuring him they were out of time. However, he couldn't work himself up to care, at this point he wasn't sure he had a reason to live. His mother didn't remember him and his friends were doing well on their own, he wasn't needed.
Then again, when had he ever cared if he was needed? Sentimentalism is what gets you killed, what got comrades killed.
He was starting to think like a dead man, he realised after a moment.
As depressing as his thoughts were, he was still aware he wanted to live, whatever the reason was. It started as a bubbling in his chest and worked its way through him, giving him strength to hold on just a little longer.
Just as well, because the Winchester brothers tossed a struggling, spitting, red-headed form on top of him and slammed the door closed. Shuichi glared down at him from where he lay on his chest and the sound of doors closing alerted him that both the brothers were now in the car.
With the roar of the engine, Dean turned them back toward Bobby's, it was only a couple of hours away and Kurama sent a silent prayer to Inari that they would make it in time.
"Huh, Dean, drive faster." Sam warned worriedly from beside his brother.
Dean glanced in the rear-view-mirror, cursing at what he saw. Both Kurama's had passed out at some point and were growing paler by the minute, the demon looking worse off then the human half.
Bobby's was a blessed sight by the time they finally pulled into the driveway. The older hunter wasn't there to greet them, but it was probably just as well, Dean loved Bobby like a father, however, that didn't mean he wanted to trip over him while carrying the heavy demon into the house.
"Put them in the circle, we don't have much time." Bobby was already putting herbs into a bowl and other things Dean was sure he didn't want to know what they were when the walked into the office.
Doing as instructed, Sam stepped into the circle to place the human of the two halves in the circle. Dean followed suit and placed Kurama down as Bobby had placed the bowl in his lap to wheel over, it sloshed slightly with each turn of the wheel.
"Drou... past..li..e." The demon murdered and Dean bent down to listen closer, only to hear Bobby curse and something clatter to the floor.
Dean had just enough time to turn and see that the herb mixture had spilled across the seal before a flash of blinding light filled the room, followed by an explosion of smoke.
He wouldn't later tell anyone this, but Dean blacked out for a moment. Only a moment, but in that time something felt wrong. Carved from him, reminiscent of hell.
In hell, he remember, remembered the black filled purple eyes that glared scornfully back at him.
Eyes that were his and not his at the same time.
Coughing, Dean stumbled through the smoke to the window and flung it open, turning to where his brother stood trying to see if everyone was alright.
"Well, good new is, it worked, bad news is, your carpet's ruined." Kurama's silky voice coughed through the smoke, it cleared enough for them to see the demon hybrid, only the condition of the rug wasn't what surprised them.
It was Shuichi, except, he was taller, somewhere between the two brothers height. His hair, though missing the fox ears remained snow-white. His eyes however remained the emerald green of the human half.
"K-kurama?" Sam stammered and the demon looked pensive for a moment before looking down at his hands, his nails were still pointed.
A stricken look came over Kurama's face and a clawed hand snagged a cluster of hair, pulling it before his eyes.
"I-, I lived through the merging." Kurama stuttered, tears welling in the corners of his eyes before he broke down into sobs.
"Hey, it's okay, you could trim your nails and you could pass your hair off as a recessive albino gene." Sam said trying to comfort the crying man, mistaking his tears at the loss of being human and Dean rolled his eyes at his brother's sympathetic words. Like saying mushy crap was going to help the situation.
"It's not that; I'm over joyed. I never told anyone this, but the merging of our spirits was slowly killing me. We were always one person soul and mind, but our energies were always warring against each other. I had only five years left as it was, it's why I had planned on staying in the human world. My friends assumed it was until my human mother's life ran out, however, it was I who wasn't going to live long." Kurama chuckled, sniffing and rubbing the tears off his face with the back of his sleeve, the same clothes Kurama had created while the two sides of his soul had been separated. He now had complete control over his demonic abilities, though not as powerful as he was when he died the first time, he was close to his former glory and would be a challenge to even Yusuke.
Dean was surprised to hear that Kurama might have died and kind of glad for the guy that he wasn't going to kick the bucket soon. Though his mind was wandering, going back to the flash of hell he had.
Shaking his head mentally, Dean licked his lips from where they went dry in his mental wandering. Sam helped Kurama from the floor and Bobby rolled over to pick up the fallen basin.
"Well, now that is over, I have a lead on Death." Bobby said, wheeling over to his desk to set the basin for cleaning later.
"Really? How did you find anything? I've chased my tail trying to come up with something, anything." Sam asked in surprise and Dean couldn't agree more with his brother, something wasn't right about the way Bobby had said it.
"Well, go on Robert, why don't you tell them about our little scandal." The thick accented voice of Crowley purred and they all turned to look at him angrily.
"Bobby, you didn't." Dean said, realizing what had transpired, though it was more like a plea on deaf ears.
"It's the end of the world... What's one little soul matter?" Bobby answered sheepishly.
Dean argued with the demon and Bobby, who could blame him, making a deal with a demon never ended well. However, Sam interrupted his rant to ask if Bobby kissed Crowley and that was the last straw, getting ready to storm out of the room after seeing the proof the demon had on his phone, Dean paused only long enough to answer his ringing phone.
"Hello?" Dean answered, unsure who the number belonged to.
"Dean?" Castiel's voice came over the line, they hadn't seen him since Adam had said yes to Micheal months ago. He had almost given up hope their feathery friend was still alive and wished the angel had called sooner. They could have used the help with Pestilence.
"Cas? Are you alright? We're at Bobby's, mojo over here, we've been worried about you." Dean asked, only for the angel to inform him of his current predicament.
Convincing Bobby to send the angel money for airfare, they decided to wait on going after Death and discuss the warning Pestilence had given just before being defeated.
They had agreed to split up into two teams. Kurama, Dean and Crowley planned on taking a scythe the King of the Crossroads had acquired to go after Death. While Castiel, Sam and Bobby tried to stop the shipment of Croatoan virus Crowley generously tipped them off about.
The six of them were just confirming what to do when Crowley asked Bobby if he was just going to sit there.
"No, I'm going to get up and River Dance." Bobby replied sarcastically and Crowley chuckled.
"Didn't know you had it in you old chap. You really wasted that crossroads deal Robert." Crowley hinted and Dean could see that something was beginning to sink in for Bobby. He didn't know what until Bobby looked down at his legs in surprise and his foot gave a distinct twitch.
"I-, you..." Bobby trailed off in amazement and Crowley smirked.
"I'm a real charitable bloke, just don't tell anyone, I have a reputation to up hold and all." Crowley said before turning toward the Impala. "Well, times wasting boys, let's go kill Death."
Kurama wasn't sure what he thought of having met a real life angel. Sure he had heard about them in stories and rumors, however, it was strange knowing they were real.
Though Castiel hadn't been overly chatty and was almost completely human now. So Kurama wasn't sure what to expect from other angels if this one was about as friendly as a brick wall.
Crowley was more his speed, he had met many a demon just like him. Slippery, con artist who would pull you through a loop faster than a cobra's strike. There was no doubt in his mind the demon planned on using Bobby's soul against the Winchesters and their hodge-podge of a group.
Team free will, if Kurama remembered the name correct.
He saw indication of a pending betrayal when Crowley first failed to locate Death. However, the demon did eventually manage to follow through with the deal, Death sat in a pizza polar across the street, ironically, from where they parked.
Kurama and Dean both moved with caution, bodies littered the floor like dead flies and the thin man sitting enjoying a deep dish pie unnerved him more than the reapers surrounding Chicago did.
He almost startled when the scythe Dean had held clattered to the floor. If he hadn't been used to Yusuke and Kuwabara's clumsiness, he might have even dodged the nonexistent attacker.
"Dean, Kurama, so nice of you to join me. Please, have a seat." Death said without turning, motioning to the seats across from him lazily before returning to his meal.
Not sure what else they could do and able to tell they were way out of their league, Kurama took the lead, sitting as instructed.
"Have some, the pie here is delicious." Death ordered, serving them each a slice. Dean took a hesitant bite and Kurama mirrored him, agreeing that it was in fact the best pizza he had ever tasted.
"I take it, you're here for this." Death spoke after a long awkward moment.
Kurama had met many a reaper, even Koenma who judged where souls went after they died, but never had he met Death, the one responsible for keeping mortality in line.
"Huh, yeah..." Dean trailed off lamely and Kurama cleared his throat nervously.
"We would like to have it, Sir, however, we've sourly miscalculated our chances of acquiring it from you." Kurama stated as politely as he could. He thought it better not to lie when it was obvious the ring was what they had came here after.
"Indeed you are. Who ever said I wouldn't hand it over." Death smirked taking a bit of pie while the shock of his words wore off.
"So you're going to just hand it over? What's the catch?" Dean demanded to know and Death stared pointedly at him.
"Mind your tone with me boy. I was reaping souls long before your ancestors were even alive." Death scolded, pulling the ring off and setting it on the table between them.
Dean felt like a little kid, remembering times when his dad would catch him being rude to a teacher or being flippant about a hunt.
It just went to prove sometimes you never out grow a good scolding.
"There is a catch, you have to accept something else from me, Dean. Something you shouldn't be without. I dare say it's attributed to that hole in your chest. The one my brother spoke of." Death clarified, not for Kurama's sake, as he had no clue what the head grim reaper spoke of, however, Dean knew all too well.
The hole Famine spoke of, the one he couldn't fill, because he was already dead inside.
Like a part of him had been carved away and he was slowly dyeing from the inside out because of it.
Not unlike Kurama had been earlier in the day.
"The piece of me that got left behind in hell." Dean spoke, startling Kurama as the pause in between answering had been long.
"Right you are. I know you don't believe what Alistair told you while you spent those centuries on the rack, however, he wasn't lying about you being a demon Dean. Though not like the kind you accustomed to facing on a normal basis, I assure you." Death explained and Dean felt his stomach turn.
Why was it the worst parts of what Alistair told him turned out to be the truth? Why was it, that no matter how badly he wanted to forget his time in hell, it still came back to haunt him?
"Is there anything else?" Dean asked, unsure where this is leading. What did it matter if he died now anyway? Micheal already had a vessel and if the other half of Team Free Will failed to stop the Croatoan virus, then he was destined to die anyway.
"You have to end it Dean. The angels told you that to manipulate you, however, because of that, it became true, you are the only one who can end it." Death instructed and Dean gave a sigh of relief, thinking for a split second he was going to agree with Cas and his brother's idea for Sam to say yes.
"Okay, I will." Dean agreed and Death nodded, taking a sip of his near empty drink.
"You will, or die trying. However, there are a few things I would like to discuss before we get down to business." Dean wasn't sure what Death was talking about, but he did have a few questions of his own.
"Why are you doing this?" Dean questioned, trying to make his tone as polite as he could, but curiosity was still there.
"I'm glad you asked, you see, I want this leash Lucifer has around my neck off. Also, I think it fitting punishment for the other half of your soul to be joined with you. Much like your new friend here, he had a habit of taking things that didn't belong to him." Death said, taking another bite of pizza.
"If I might inquire, who was the other half of Dean's soul? There's something familiar about him, but I can't quite place it." Kurama asked and Death whipped his mouth with a napkin, clearing his throat.
"You'll find out soon enough, you are right in the fact you knew this particular demon. Now, before I retrieve that demonic part of your soul, would you like the instruction manual on how to work this?" Death asked, holding up the ring to Dean before dropping it into his out stretched hand.
AN: Just so you all know, I intentionally omitted Castiel from the encounter with Pestilence, it still happened pretty much the was it did in cannon despite that fact. I just wasn't ready to bring him into the story yet.
Please review, I enjoy them a lot! It's nice hearing people enjoy my work.
