Chapter 34: The Fox's Fate
"Yukina?"
Yukina jumped at the sound of her name. She turned from the painting she'd been staring at to see Prince Yusuke standing in the hall, his hands shoved into his pockets.
Yukina was glad that it was the prince before her, not Princess Keiko's parents. She had tried to ask Lady Shizuru earlier about Keiko's condition, but the lady had been unable to give her any sure answers. All Yukina knew was that Lady Shizuru had done as she'd asked and bought Lord Kurama's friend to Keiko.
"Prince Yusuke," she said nervously, studying his face closely for any indication of Keiko's condition. He didn't look as if he were upset.
Had Lord Kurama's friend actually healed Keiko? Yukina couldn't quite believe that was possible. Her aunt's plans had never failed before.
"Someone wants to see you," Yusuke told her.
"Is Princess Keiko all right?" Yukina asked nervously.
A smile split Yusuke's face. "Yeah," he said. "She's getting better."
Relief duelled with fear in Yukina's mind. What would her aunt do when she found out that the princess was still alive?
"That's wonderful," Yukina said, her tone flat. She couldn't muster up enough joy to match Yusuke's pleased smile.
"Yeah, it is," Yusuke agreed. "Come and see for yourself."
Yukina followed Yusuke down the hall to the princess's room, her steps heavier than her slim frame could account for. Keiko was still asleep, though Yukina felt the heat radiating from her body as soon as she stepped through the door. It threatened to wash away the cold that permanently clung to Yukina. That heat had to be a god's power. Nothing else could affect Yukina in such a way.
Which meant…
Yukina turned toward the other person in the room, a short, black-haired male standing by the window. He met her stare with his own, red eyes intense beneath his bandana. His clothing was odd, indicating that he had to be a foreigner like herself. If he were a god, he didn't make his home in Tourin.
But where was the dark-skinned man Yukina had seen earlier? Hadn't that been Lord Kurama's friend? Was this god a shapeshifter?
"How did you know to ask for me?" he demanded.
"Ask for you?" Yukina gave him a baffled look. "I'm sorry, but I did not—" She abruptly cut off her sentence, her mind spinning like a whirlpool. He did not look convinced. "You're…" she began uncertainly.
"Hiei," was the sharp response.
Hiei. He was Lord Kurama's Hiei. She had sent for him, but how had he known that? Had Lady Shizuru told him?
"Kurama must have told you about me," Hiei continued, taking a step toward her. Despite his short stature, Yukina felt intimidated. She edged back toward the door. Yusuke looked between them, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Hiei had referred to the god of life with just his first name, no title of respect. That meant that he knew Lord Kurama well enough to drop the title — plausible if they were in an intimate relationship — or this Hiei was actually a god himself.
Since he'd healed Keiko using fire, Yukina had to assume that he was a god like Lord Kurama.
She remained silent, employing the same tactic she used with her aunt. Dealing with a god — an unrestrained and no doubt powerful god — was just as dangerous as dealing with Aunt Rui.
"Well? Where is he?" Lord Hiei snapped, the words lashing out like a spray of ice shards caught in a strong wind.
"Hey, simmer down, buddy," Yusuke began as Yukina shrank into herself. "Who's Kurama, anyway?"
Lord Hiei swung burning eyes in the prince's direction. It was clearly a reprisal for the prince's disrespect, but Yusuke was entirely unaffected.
"Kurama. Shuichi. Kurama is Shuichi. And he's missing," Lord Hiei bit out.
"Oh. Oh, shit."
Understanding dawned on Yusuke's face as he pieced together the puzzle behind his eyes.
"That damn fox is really a god. And he's one of the major fucking ones." Yusuke laughed bitterly. "First the cat lady, now him. We're totally screwed."
"Not if you find him." Lord Hiei's glare was hot enough to melt the entire island of Kottashima.
Prince Yusuke shrugged helplessly. "I got no idea where he is," he said truthfully. "Believe me, I miss that little bastard. I'd tell you if I knew where he was."
"And you?" Lord Hiei turned his glare on Yukina.
But at that moment the door of the room opened and Keiko's parents entered, expressions hopeful. Yukina and the little god were forced out of the room by their eagerness to see their daughter. The pair stood in the hall, Yusuke's voice coming faintly through the door as he explained to Keiko's parents that she was getting better.
Lord Hiei continued to stare at Yukina and she shuffled uncomfortably.
"You must know where he is," Lord Hiei accused.
Yukina felt as if she were drowning. She had never thought about what she'd do if Keiko recovered. A large part of her had always doubted that Lord Kurama's friend could save her.
But now he had. And Aunt Rui would be furious when she found out.
"I don't know," Yukina said helplessly, her voice small. "I — don't know." She felt tears sting her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to tell the truth. Everything was coming unravelled and Yukina couldn't conceive of any way that this situation could possibly end well.
Prince Yusuke entered the hall, shutting the door quietly behind himself. He noticed Yukina's timid expression immediately. He turned to Lord Hiei.
"If she doesn't know, she doesn't know," Yusuke said. "Can't you find him yourself? Don't you gods have special powers?"
Lord Hiei glared at him, his arms crossed. "If I were close to him, I might sense his energy," he conceded. "But I'd have to be within a few meters of him."
"Than I'll help you look around the palace," Yusuke offered. "We'll search the whole damn place ourselves."
Yukina let out a small breath of relief. Maybe they'd find Kurama on their own. Maybe she didn't need to betray her aunt any further.
"All right," Lord Hiei said reluctantly, though he turned a suspicious stare on Yukina. A shiver ran up her spine. There was a subtle warning there. A warning that, if he and Prince Yusuke didn't find Kurama, Lord Hiei would return to question her. And he would get his answers one way or another.
Yukina was very familiar with the horrific tactics that those who were determined and ruthless enough might employ to extract information. Though she'd never been subjected to them herself, she'd witnessed more than enough to bring her nightmares.
But Lord Hiei left with the prince without badgering her further. Yukina let her back rest against the wall, fighting the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.
Her aunt would give up now, wouldn't she? There was no way to salvage this situation.
Yukina stared silently down at the deep green carpet beneath her feet. Her aunt's angry words rushed past her like a river of water.
"I should have killed him right away," her aunt hissed. "He must have done something…"
Yukina lifted her chin to see that her aunt was pulling a small box from among their clothing. Her chest tightened.
"Y—you could just let him go," Yukina whispered. "There's nothing more that can be done… no sense in angering the gods any further…"
If they just released Lord Kurama and left Tourin, maybe the gods would leave them alone.
Her aunt turned her chilled stare on Yukina. "He knows too much," she said. "He has to die."
The colour left Yukina's cheeks as her aunt lifted a cloth-wrapped bundle from the box. She pulled the red cloth away to reveal a gleaming silver dagger. It glowed faintly blue along the edge of the blade. The metal was chilled to its core.
A blade infused with the power of the gods that Aunt Rui had killed. A blade that even the god of life had no defence against. The power it contained would fade with use and time, but this one was more than enough to render Lord Kurama helpless.
"D-don't let him suffer," Yukina pleaded quietly. "Please, at least make it quick."
But her plea was ignored as Aunt Rui slipped the dagger beneath the folds of her kimono. She strode toward the door, her back regally straight.
"Stay here, you foolish girl," she said dismissively.
Yukina turned to watch her leave the room. Though her aunt had taken her chill with her, Yukina still felt it lingering in the air.
Had Prince Yusuke and Lord Hiei found Lord Kurama yet? If not…
Yukina pressed her hands to her face, her worries knotting inside her chest and making it difficult for her to breathe.
How could it ever have come to this? The hyruski had only been meant to make the princess sick, not kill her. The cat goddess wouldn't have been killed if she hadn't been nosing around. And the cats… a distraction from Aunt Rui's true goal, the abduction of Keiko's fox.
And now Lord Kurama… The fox who had always looked so happy to see her. Who hadn't ran or hid from her.
Now he was going to die.
Yukina waited anxiously for more than an hour before her aunt returned. She noticed the scent of smoke that clung to Aunt Rui's kimono immediately.
She stood from her chair and faced her aunt, unable to keep her anxiety and fear from showing on her face.
"The god... is he...?" she asked, her voice catching.
"He is dead," Rui said as she crossed the room to return the dagger to its box. It no longer glowed with power. That confirmed to Yukina that her aunt was telling the truth about Lord Kurama's fate.
Yukina swayed slightly, though her aunt did not notice.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
Rui turned to look at Yukina, her eyes hard. "We go home," she said. "We'll have to wait for another opportunity. With all these gods poking around, it's too risky to try anything right now."
Yukina's heart sank. Would this ever be over? Would her aunt ever give up?
"I'm not feeling well," she said. "I'm going to rest."
Her aunt gave a curt nod. Yukina left the room though she did not head toward her own room. She needed to find Prince Yusuke and the god Hiei. Preferably before Lord Hiei came looking for her.
"I told you, no one ever goes down there. The keys aren't even—"
Prince Yusuke's voice cut off abruptly as the small god pushed the heavy door open with no difficulty. Blackness yawned open before him as Yukina joined them.
"Excuse me," she said nervously, lantern clutched in one sweaty hand.
Yusuke turned toward her, one eyebrow raised. "Hey," he said. "What're you doing here, Yukina?"
Lord Hiei's expression was dark with suspicion as he stood on the brink of the chasm, one foot already on the first step leading down into the lowest levels of the palace.
"I know where Lord Kurama is," Yukina said. Her voice trembled as she once more envisioned the god alone in the dark. Still as stone. "But he's... he's dead."
Lord Hiei scoffed disdainfully. Yusuke laughed. But Yukina noticed that both looked just a little uncertain.
"He can't die," Lord Hiei said, tilting his chin up in defiance of her assertion.
"Yeah. Gods are... immortal," Yusuke agreed. "They should be." Yukina guess that, from the troubled expression on his face, he was remembering Koto, the cat goddess.
Yukina couldn't blame both of them for looking shaken. She'd been shaken as well when she'd seen a god die for the first time. Two attributes separated the deities from the mortals. One was the powers they wielded. The other was their immortality. Aunt Rui intended to steal both to make herself and other chosen mortals just like the deities.
"Take me to him," Lord Hiei demanded, heat flaring in his eyes.
Yukina flinched, but she nodded. "He's down there," she said, gesturing toward the void of darkness.
Prince Yusuke grimaced, but Lord Hiei immediately began striding down the steps, seemingly without realising that he was walking into pitch blackness. But then a flickering light burst into being like a tiny exploding star. It bobbed in and out of Yukina's sight as she approached the door. Lord Hiei held a glowing ball of flame the size of an apple in his hand.
"I'll wait here," Yusuke said, eyeing Lord Hiei's retreating form with wariness. "I'll make sure no one goes down there after you."
Yukina nodded, relieved. If her aunt decided to return to Lord Kurama's prison for some reason and found the three of them there...
More innocent people would die.
Yukina slipped into the darkness behind Lord Hiei. Unlike Lord Hiei's boots, her slippers made no sound on the stone steps.
Lord Hiei's voice floated back to her, though he didn't turn around.
"I want to know what's going on here," he said. "And don't bother trying to lie to me. I can read your mind if I want to, though you won't find it a comfortable experience."
The lantern shook in Yukina's hand, causing its light to bounce along the wall.
"Okay," she whispered. Though her voice was quiet, Lord Hiei would have no difficulty hearing it in the silence surrounding them.
If Lord Hiei could read minds, as he claimed, then Yukina had no choice but to tell him what he wanted to know.
But what would Lord Hiei do when he found his fellow god's body? Yukina couldn't imagine how terrible the wrath of a furious fire deity would be, but she was sure to find out very soon.
A/N:
I know this chapter drops off at a bad place for Kurama but please trust me, this does have a happy ending!
