Disclaimer: I do not own IY or YYH
Lies By Omission
Chapter 14
As night fell, the already dark forest became black as pitch; a heavy silence seemed to fall over the swamp, only broken by the occasional splash as the local inhabitants woke from their slumber.
Kagome gripped her bow tightly, her fingers twitched as her human eyes tried to pierce the inky blackness that surrounded them. She could feel eyes watching them from beyond the small ring of light Shippo's fox fire had provided.
Beside her, Botan shivered, rubbing her arms vigorously; though Kagome wasn't sure if it was due to the chill in the air or to the creepy feeling that was working its way down her spine.
Going with the assumption that the Reaper was more cold than freaked out; Kagome moved up behind Shippo and began quickly rummaging through her bag-which the annoying kitsune had NOT let her carry- until she found the extra sweatshirt she had packed.
She handed the navy blue hoodie to the teal-haired woman.
"Here," she said, "You look cold."
"Oh, uh thank you," Botan said pulling it on; the hoodie was at least two sizes too big for her, the bottom hanging down past her waist and the sleeves falling over the tips of her fingers.
The earthy scent of autumn leaves and hay filled her nose; it was a surprisingly warm and comforting scent.
"Hey," Shippo's voice grumbled, breaking into her thoughts, "That's mine."
"Oh hush," Kagome admonished, "It's not like you need it."
"So…it's still mine," the kitsune pouted. Botan was about to take the garment off when she noticed Shippo's eyes danced with amusement.
"It IS nice and warm," Botan said, making a show of snuggling down into the hoodie, "Would you mind if I wore it for just a little bit?"
Botan gave him her best wide eyed, innocent look, and just for good measure, she even battered her eyelashes at him.
"Uh…"
Kagome hide her smirk behind her hand as Shippo seemed to stumble under Botan's puppy-eyed look.
"Fine," he grumbled, much like InuYasha use to when she wheedled him into doing something that went against his 'big bad demon' persona. "I want it back eventually though, that's my favorite hoodie and I know how woman are with not returning clothing…."
"Of course…" Botan said, giving Shippo a dazzling smile. The poor kitsune blinked a few times before stomping off, muttering darkly under his breath.
Kagome and Botan shared a look then burst out in muffled snickers.
"Nice job," Kagome whispered, "I particularly liked the puppy-eyes."
"Thank you," Botan replied, "They have served me well."
The two women spoke softly together as they moved; distracting each other from the ever growing sense of wrongness that was steadily creeping over them.
Behind them, Kuwabara twitched as something went crashing into the water somewhere off to his left; sparks crackled along his hand as he resisted the urge to draw his Spirit Sword.
"Little jumpy, are we?" Hiei's snide voice said from beside him. Kuwabara jumped at the demons sudden appearance; he barely stopped himself from running over the little ankle biter and nearly ended up falling into the sliming, brackish water for his troubles.
"Dammit Hiei," Kuwabara snapped, "Knock it off, brat."
"I'm older then you are, idiot," Hiei replied. Kuwabara snorted,
"So, I'm still bigger then you…"
"Hn," Hiei replied, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm stronger then you."
"Shaddap," Kuwabara replied, lacking his usual heat. As much as he enjoyed flinging insults back and forth with Hiei; his nerves were getting the best of him. He could feel something out there.
"They won't bother us," Hiei stated, causing Kuwabara to glance at him. "I wouldn't recommend going off alone though, a human like you would be a tasty snack."
"Thanks…"Kuwabara muttered, as the little fiery puissant disappeared off to who knows where. As if Kuwabara had any intention of going ANYWHERE alone in a swamp…a Makai swamp no less? Shoot… despite popular opinion; his sister did NOT raise a fool.
Still, his instincts warned him that danger was near and he had learned over the years to trust those instincts. He would be sleeping with one eye open that night; no question.
It took another hour before Kurama was able to find a large enough patch of dry ground for them to make camp. With an efficiency that surprised him; Kagome wrangled everyone into helping set up camp, even going so far as to pull out a compact tent and pitching it.
Within an hour there was a pot of what appeared to be ramen bubbling over an open fire; the scent alone was enough to make his stomach grumble.
Dinner was a quiet affair as the heavy, ominous atmosphere seemed to be affecting everyone.
Once done, Kagome quickly wiped out the pot and bowls and put them back into her bag.
"So who gets the tent?" Yusuke asked, breaking the silence with a loud belch.
"The girls do," Kuwabara replied, rolling his eyes. "Duh."
"Hey! Why do they get a tent?!" Yusuke demanded.
"Because they're girls, Urameshi!" Kuwabara exclaimed, never failing to be amazed by his friends lack of decorum.
"Where is your tent, Yusuke?" Shippo asked; his normally warm teasing voice suddenly hard.
"Uh…"
"Exactly," the red kitsune said, emerald eyes glaring at him. "You didn't bring one. Kagome has a tent because she was smart enough to bring a tent and nice enough to share with Botan. Same as she had enough foresight to pack cooking utensils and food so that you would have something warm to eat."
"Okay, okay," Yusuke said, backing down from what appeared to be a touchy subject with the fox, "I was just asking…."
"You're demon Yusuke," Hiei stated from his spot above them in the tree branches of a large cypress-looking tree, "Demons do not sleep in tents."
"Shut it shorty," Yusuke snapped, "Just because you prefer sleeping in trees doesn't mean the rest of us do! Right Kur…ama?"
"Actually Yusuke," Kurama said, putting the finishing touches on the hammock he created using vines, "I enjoy sleeping outside amidst the trees and plants. I do so whenever I come to the Makai. The only reason I did not do so while I was in the Human World was simply for the sake of my human mother. In fact, I use to 'camp' outside every weekend when I was a child. I quit, however, when my plants kept intercepting young women sneaking into my yard. I got tired of wiping their memories…"
"Why didn't you just let them in?" Yusuke muttered, "Think of all the fun you could have had."
Kurama cast his friend a droll look, "This coming from the demon who has dated only one female his entire life," he replied.
Yusuke blushed, "So, what of it?" he retorted, "You haven't dated anyone since you became Suichi… so don't give me that bullshit."
"Chips?" Shippo asked softly, coming to sit next to Kagome and Botan as they watched Yusuke and Suichi argue.
"You have all these woman just throwing themselves at you," Yusuke snapped, "And you don't do…anything. You barely even acknowledge them! And don't try and say it's because you prefer men, 'cause I've seen men proposition you as well with the same damn results."
"Did it ever occur to you Yusuke," Kurama growled, "That perhaps I didn't want just ANYBODY? I had countless lovers as Yoko Kurama… empty, meaningless… I'm tired of just being a notch on someone's proverbial belt!"
"Is it just me," Kagome said softly, leaning closer to Shippo, "Or did this seemingly harmless teasing suddenly escalate rather rapidly?"
"Yea…guess Yusuke hit on a sore spot," Shippo said, popping another chip in his mouth.
"No, not just that," Kagome said, "Yusuke is an annoying lil' twit for sure, but Kurama is more level headed then this."
"Kagome's got a point," Kuwabara said, kneeling down behind them, "I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen Kurama this mad. He knows better than to let Yusuke get to him…."
"We need to break them up before they come to blows," Kagome said, scrambling to her feet.
"Oh c'mon," Botan said, "Kurama has more control then that…"
"Oh yea? How's that for control…?"
Sure enough, the argument had deteriorated even further; Yusuke and Kurama were practically nose to nose, snarling at each other, their aura's crackling with their anger.
Both Kuwabara and Kagome leapt forward as Yusuke's fist reared back; being the faster of the two, Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke from behind.
"Urameshi, stop," he yelled, "What are you doing?! That's Kurama!"
Kagome ducked under Yusuke's failing arms and slammed into Kurama. As she had on numerous occasions with InuYasha; Kagome wrapped her arms around Kurama's waist and tried to use the full body weight to move the taller male.
"Kurama stop, that's your friend!" Kagome yelled, as Kurama staggered under her sudden weight. He stumbled; the loose, damp soil giving way under their weight. Then they were falling….and…
SPLASH!
Luke warm, foul swamp water soaked them from head to toe; Kagome reared back spitting foul water and shaking the disgusting liquid from her eyes.
Kurama came up coughing; his upper torso having been completely submerged in the brackish liquid. His normally vibrant red locks hung down his face in dirty soaked tendrils.
He spit the swamp water from his mouth and glared at the priestess; he could feel mud seeping into his shoes and the clothes.
"Um…heh…" Kagome said; pushing herself off Kurama, unintentionally dunking him again as she attempted to gain her footing against the soft, squishy, muddy bottom and the the knee high water.
On the plus side though; the unnatural fury that had been in Kurama's green eyes bleeding them into Yoko's gold, had faded. Now, the man just glared at her with normal annoyance and possible malice. It was hard to tell with him... Kagome wasn't sure if he had regained his calm...or was just planning on which method of torture he was going to subject her to.
He stood without a word, water and mud dripping from his clothes; pond scum and half rotten leaves clung to his hair.
"Sorry 'bout that, Kurama…" Kagome said, "I didn't mean to…"
Kurama held up his hand, stalling her words; now that the swamps cool night air hit him, he was cold, wet and thoroughly uncomfortable…three things the kitsune HATED to be.
No one spoke as the pair sloshed back to the shore and entered the clearing dripping.
Everyone starred in shock as they saw the two; even Yusuke and Kuwabara were frozen in place. They watched warily as Kurama very slowly walked over to his hammock, stripped off his wet clothes down to his boxers, wrung out his hair, and laid down.
Anger radiated from the kitsune with enough force that even Yusuke was unwilling to approach the fox.
"Y-…yea," Yusuke said quietly, releasing Kuwabara from the head lock he had in, "It probably would be a good idea for everyone to get some shut eye…."
With Shippo's assistance; Kagome stripped out of her dirty, wet clothes and changed into one of the sets of dry clothes she brough. Thank heavens for being prepared. There was nothing she could do about her hair; though it wasn't in nearly as bad shape as Kurama's. Now, for the most part Kagome was dry and reasonably clean; she glanced at her bag and the extra set of clothes she knew was inside.
With a sigh, Kagome pulled an extra blanket and a set of Shippo's dry clothes from her bag; she glanced down at the dry items then over at the pissed kitsune. Did she even dare go over there? Her and Kurama weren't on the best of terms before...now there was no doubt in her mind that he disliked her...
"Here," she said, chickening out and shoving the clothing into Botan's hands, "You give them to him…he's less likely to feed you to some weird man eating plant…."
"What? Are you out of your mind," Botan hissed, shoving the clothing back toward Kagome, "He only tolerates me… I'm so not going over there…."
"I can't go over there..." Kagome hissed back, "I think it's safe to say he hates me now..."
A black blur snatched the clothing from their grasp; a moment later, Hiei appeared briefly in the branches above them. He smirked, raising his brow, silently challenging them to say a word. When no one protested; he disappeared again, taking no small amount of joy in dropping the garments onto his partners face.
"Hiei…"Kurama growled, "I am not in the mood."
"What's the matter fox," Hiei replied with a smirk, "The priestess getting under your skin?"
Kurama growled and sat up; examining what had been unceremoniously dropped onto his person.
The clothes were simple, a black long sleeve shirt and a pair of straight leg jeans; both of which were too large for him, and smelled of that irritating general.
Kurama almost threw the clothes into the swamp just on principle.
"What really eating you," Hiei asked, absently picking at his claws, his tone mocking, "The fact that you let some human wench knock you into the water, or the fact that you let this forest get to you to the point you were about to attack the Detective?"
Kurama paused and glared down at the innocent clothes in his hand; before rolling out of his hammock with a muttered curse.
"I don't know why the hell he suddenly got to me," Kurama muttered, pulling on the pants and cuffing the legs so they didn't drag through the dirt. "Yusuke has always been brash, and this isn't the first time we've had that argument…"
"It's the miasma here," Hiei stated, "For someone so intelligent, you are certainly being stupid. You were the one who warned me to keep my temper here."
"I know that!" Kurama snarled, green eyes flashing gold as once again his temper surged. He closed his eyes and took several slow deep breathes.
"You're not the only one it's effecting," Hiei replied, "The General has become far more reserved the further into this swamp we go; and Yusuke is being even more volatile than normal."
"So all the demons," Kurama muttered, pulling on the over-sized shirt, "And you? Are you experiencing any side effects?"
Hiei starred at him for a moment, blinking slowly. To anyone else, they would have assumed that the imiko simply refused to answer; however, Kurama had been around Hiei long enough to know that he wasn't ignoring the question….he was mentally assessing himself.
"I can feel the foreign effects;" Hiei said slowly, "But the Jagan shields my mind so I do not succumb to them."
"Well whoop-dee fucking-do for you," Kurama snapped; then froze as he realized what he had just said and to who. "My apologies Hiei…that was uncalled for…"
"Hn," Hiei replied his ruby eyes glowing for a moment as he glared at him, "Better watch your tongue fox, else I'll be forced to remove it."
Then, he was gone, only the soft swaying of leaves indicating where he had passed.
Kurama sighed, and flopped back into his hammock. That had been close; had it been anyone else…Kurama was sure Hiei would have simply slit their throat and called it a day. He was fortunate that Hiei considered him a 'friend'.
In any case, Hiei was right. He needed to watch himself; if the swamp was affecting their moods… then things could get out of hand very quickly.
The idea…unnerved him. He prided himself on maintaining his cool and being the 'calm, rational one'… he did not fly off the handle with just a little teasing; even if it was a slightly sore subject.
A very sore subject...
He closed his eyes and sighed; his hand going up to absently rub the pendant around his neck. He had thought that he had moved on… Unfortunately the Meikai (1) god Kaiki had shown him how NOT over his partner's death he really was.
Kuronue's death still weighed heavily on his heart; as the feared bandit Yoko Kurama, he hadn't been allowed to properly mourn, less he be thought weak and challenged.
The soft emotions he felt for the bat demon were something he was unfamiliar with as Yoko. So, instead, Kurama had buried the memories of his dearest friend and past lover.
Yet, now, as a human… he experienced the grief as if it had just happened yesterday rather than a hundred years ago.
Thrice damn that manipulative, shape-shifting Kaiki for dredging up memories better left buried. His death had been too quick; Kurama should have drawn it out more… made the Meikai god regret ever sullying Kuronue's memory.
Taking another calming breath; Kurama stilled his mind. It wouldn't do for him to get wound up over things he couldn't change.
He let his energy flow outward, sinking into the earth and trees; listening to the soft sounds of the swamp lull him to sleep.
He came awake with a start; body tense, ears straining to hear...something... What had woken him?
He could remember a pair of violet eyes staring at him, wide and imploring. Run Kurama, save yourself...The words echoed in his head; the familiar voice almost enough to make his eyes burn.
He'd been dreaming of Kuronue's death again; his guilt at being unable to save the one person, who meant the most to him, caused his unconscious to replay the events over and over in his sleep.
He settled back for a moment; trying to calm his harsh breathing.
Only a dream, he thought, you're jumping at ghosts…
Still…the swamp was eerily quiet. Nothing made a sound; there were no insects buzzing, so breeze moving through the trees… everything had become utterly still.
No… that wasn't accurate. He could hear the soft crackling of their campfire; it's warm glow doing little to chase back the blackness of the swamp.
Kurama rolled out of his hammock and padded over to the fire on silent bare feet. Surprisingly, it wasn't Hiei who was awake and moving… it was Kuwabara who sat tending the fire, watching the edge of the tree line as if he thought something was about to come charging out of the blackness and attack them.
"Kuwabara," Kurama said softly, "What are you doing up?"
Blue-grey eyes filled with unease turned to regard his friend,
"Couldn't sleep," he replied, "We're being watched."
Kurama glanced out in the direction Kuwabara was looking; though the human psychic could be a flake at times, the man's instincts were superb. If he said there was something out there watching them; then there was a good chance something was indeed out there watching them.
"Have you seen anything?" Kurama asked, "Or it is just one of your feelings?"
Kuwabara glared at Kurama for a moment; "Just a feeling," he growled, "But I know something is out there."
"I have no doubt," Kurama said, holding his hands up in surrender, "I just wanted to know if it's gotten close enough for you to actually see it."
"No…it hasn't gotten close," Kuwabara said, "It's been circling us all day… never coming close."
"It's probably just some of the local wildlife then," Kurama said, attempting to sooth his friend, "Probably just curious. You should try to get some sleep, Kuwabara. I'll keep watch."
Reluctantly the big human laid back down, his back to the fire; though Kurama could tell he did not sleep.
Kurama let his eyes linger on the shadows just outside their ring of fire-light. What followed them into the swamp?
He too could sense something out there in the darkness of the swamp; though he couldn't tell what it was. This was the Kuronuma after all; there was no telling what sort of nasty creature followed them.
Unease slithered down his spine; the predator in him did not enjoy being hunted.
A/N:
(1) Meikai: According to the wiki… this is the Netherworld another underworld created for demons. However, when Yakumo and the other Meikai gods went to war with Reikai (and lost) the Meikai was absorbed into the Reikai and the gods banished. This is from Yu Yu Hakusho Movie: Poltergeist Report.
~Yay another chapter done...and so soon after the last. I hope you enjoyed it. As always please REVIEW!