Problems in the Present
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Hiei stayed in the tree all that night, his concern for the girl evident in his actions. Her window remained half-open, just as she had left if weeks ago. Her breath was slow and deep, indicating that she was sleeping.
He settled against eh trunk of the broad tree and turned his thoughts to Yukina, where they always strayed. She had become his very reason for living. Just knowing that she may someday have need of him kept him strong, kept him from falling into despair.
With his Jagon, he sought out her energies. She was in much the same state as Kagome, in a dream plagued sleep. What do you dream of? What things could haunt your mind? He wondered. He almost wished that he could sink into the dark depths of sleep himself, but his own dreams were far from peasant. He'd rather just rest where he was, caught somewhere between the conscious and the unconscious. A place where he still had control and awareness, yet relaxed enough to rejuvenate his strength. Hiei hadn't truly slept in years...if you did not count those times he'd passed out from using all his energy to summon the dragon of darkness...which he didn't.
He suddenly found himself thinking of Kurama, and the sudden transformations in his friend that were happening with greater frequency. That's right. That fox owes me some answers. He looked at eh pattern of stars in the sky, to judge the time, forgetting they were different thent he ones in the Makai. Well, if he's asleep, I'll just wake him up. He disappeared from the branch as if he had never been there at all.
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"This is so annoying," Koenma complained. "All these low level demons keep escaping into the human world. I don't understand how they're getting through the barrier."
"There must be a hole somewhere," George the ogre announced.
"I know that, stupid. But why can't we detect the damn thing?"
"Koenma-sir, your language!"
Koenma ignored the blue ogre. "This is the fifth case this week. And the demons are such small fry cases, I've only had to send one of Yusuke's team to clean up each one."
"So what is the big problem?" Boton asked from behind him. "If they are so weak, then why are you so worried?"
"Because there is a hole in the barrier!" he yelled.
Boton controlled her wince and watched the child ruler pace the room. He was severely agitated by these breakouts. More so then usual...As a matter of fact, he'd been more tense and jumpy then she had ever known him to be since...we;;, since they had met Kagome. He rarely left his office now and used Boton to send messages to the guys that he used to bring himself, just to "take a break". He had become so serious and closed off so quickly, he hadn't even found it necessary to tell her what was bothering him.
"You still don't get it, do you? None of your seem to grasp how serious this situation is! Listen to me, Boton. There...Is...A...HOLE...In...The ...Barrier. A HOLE between this world and the human world. A HOLE between the Demon World and the Human World. A Hole that seems to be getting BIGGER. Don't you see? The barrier between the worlds is FAILING!"
Boton gulped. Koenma was serious, and if he was right...She paled and hugged her arms close to herself. She didn't want to imagine the chaos and terror such an event would cause. She shuddered.
"But what could cause-"
"I don't know."
"The barrier has been in place for five hundred years!" she exclaimed. "Surely there must be some theory as to why it has weakened!"
Koenma sighed and slumped down once more at his desk. "I don't know..." He repeated. "I only have my suspicions..."
"What!?" she demanded.
"..." Koenma refused to answer. He rubbed his temples with his childish fingers. He decided to change the subject. "So, how is everyone? How is the new girl?"
"Kagome?" Boton's surprise was comical. "New girl?" she questioned.
"Yes, well, once her responsibilities in the past are over, I fully expect her to take a place on the team. She is quite powerful, you know."
"Well, yes...but..."
"Yes?"
"I just..."
"Hm?"
"Have you even talked to Kagome about this?" she asked.
"Not yet," he sighed. "I was kinda hoping one of you could talk to her..."
Boton blinked owlishly at him. "Yes sir." She liked the idea of another girl on the team, since Keiko and Shizuru couldn't always come on missions. And she liked Kagome. "Do you think she'll want to?"
"I don't know." Koenma realized he had been saying that often and he was getting on his own nerves.
"Everyone seems fine. After yesterday's upset, we really were not surprised kagome skipped one more day of school. I think she was worried for her mother."
"Yes, well, let me know if there are anymore changes or developements."
Taking that as a dismissal, Boton left Koenma's office, hurrying to Kagome's to see her friend and her friend's dog...demon.
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Kurama was almost to the shrine house when Hiei dropped from no where. His angry look was normal so Kurama ignored it.
"Where were you last night?"
That made him smile. "Did you lose track of me, Hiei? That has never happened before."
"Quit playing games, Kurama. You owe me some answers."
"Koenma called me out. I was tracking a lower class demon."
Hiei waited patiently. He knew there was more then that. Kurama's energy had been completely missing.
"It escaped back into the Makia, and I followed."
"Hn."
"Yusuke said something about chasing down a demon the other day too." Kurama looked at his friend. "I have a feeling that you could tell a similar story."
Hiei didn't answer, so Kurama pushed on. "I wonder why there have been so many breakouts."
The fire demon seemed to be deep in thought, so Kurama left him alone. They walked silently to the shrine steps but hesitated to take their conversation up there.
"Kurama," Hiei said suddenly, "you lost control twice yesterday."
Kurama sighed. "Indeed. Youko's feeling have grown toward the girl. He's...taken a liking to her."
"Stubborn fox."
"Yes, well, at least he is content to leave you alone, now," Kurama teased.
"You had to bring that up again, didn't you?" Hiei was blushing and it was pissing him off. "I don't want you to hurt her," he said abruptly.
"Neither do I ."
They looked at each other with a matching resentment. Kurama's eyes sparkled with small gold flecks. "She is not your sister."
"I know that," Hiei hissed out. "But she is still a friend," he admitted. Kurama looked startled, which brought the vivid green back abruptly. "If I could trust you, all of you, to treat her as well as she deserves, I would not feel compelled to give this warning. But since you obviously can not trust yourself, I will say this once, so listen. Do not harm her."
Hiei vanished as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving Kurama to climb the shrine stairs alone. "I would never harm her," he said to himself. "She is special to me. I could not harm her."
I have no intentions of harming the girl! Youko snarled. Their opinion of him had seemed to have stung his pride.
We know your intentions, Shuuichi snickered.
I doubt you would complain, human. You want her too.
It's different! Shuuichi exclaimed. I like the girl! I want to know her, not-
"Enough!" Kurama hissed between clenched teeth.
No! The voices answered back together. That made him stop. That had never happened before. The two together was him. There was no third soul. He was not a separate entity, but a combination of the two. So how had he just yelled at himself?
Kurama sighed. Weren't things complicated enough as it is?