Note: Hello people. This chapter reflects a little of life's uncertainties, it is not a comedy text, or at least it shouldn't.
"Damn it, Kurama!"
Hiei extricated himself from the wrong grip of one of the carnivorous plants. Sorry, babe - it was shouted across the battlefield, Hiei twisted his lip and narrowed his eyes at the amused tone of the request, or the enemy decided to stop attacking and started doing comedy or the fox didn't really want to apologize. He cut off one of the thorny openings of the demonic carnivorous plant, for a moment he imagined it was the fox's neck. For some reason he felt that this fight was a bad joke, a complete waste of time. He kept his eyes unchanged while some hairs reacted to the displacement of air promoted by Yusuke's thrown body. The ex-detective landed, disoriented, beside him.
"This shit doesn't die!" Yusuke grunted as he tried to get up and ignored the whistle in his ears, tried to compose himself. He followed Hiei's movement with his eyes, investing in another useless attack with the sword. "We've been in this ridiculous dance for a long time and this thing doesn't have a scratch on butt!" He stopped talking when he noticed the giant tail coming towards him, it was easy to get rid of the blow, but the movement raised a cloud of fine sand that left him disoriented once again.
Hiei felt his pride break with the blade when it hit the youkai's hard scale. He retreated to the beach with what was left of the sword in his hands "fuck it" the rest of the hilt was thrown out like trash, his ego was kicked in the balls. Just before the breaking line of the waves, he prepared to launch the Black Dragon, but an arm entered in front of him.
"You are going to kill Kuwabara"
Hiei smiled "Two for one" pushed Kurama's arm harder than he should, damn mania to put himself in front of the others.
"Enough of attacking randomly" The fox sent a hard look to the other behind him "We need a plan" He chose to ignore the other's snapping lips. The green irises accompanied Yusuke be thrown into the water in yet another unfounded attack while Kuwabara refused to release the spiritual sword trapped between the scales, no matter how much he was shaken "The ideal would be to attack him from the inside out" Didn't have to look to know that the other demon rolled his eyes.
Hiei interrupted, impatient "I wouldn't mind being swallowed and tearing the guts out of this crap from the inside out, but every time it opens its mouth ..."
"A flamethrower comes out" Yusuke completes the sentence, falling close to Kurama's feet, Hiei was no longer in the sand to hear him. Urameshi was irritated by his burned hair and eyebrows, would barely get rid of the enemy's flaming blow. He accepts the fox's arm to help him get up. "It's a lot of energy that is dissipated over and over again, maybe when he runs out one of us can be swallowed, then it's easy" He couldn't avoid rubbing his hip base.
Kurama opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw Kuwabara rising from the coast with the sword in his hands. Did he get loose? "If Kuwabara's sword got caught between the scales, there was a gap, some opening in the entrance, which was repeated so that it could come loose"
"I didn't understand your reasoning" Yusuke was waiting for the action plan, watching Hiei and Kazuma busy attacking the monster with little result. "Just tell me how to kick this giant lizard's butt"
"This is not a reptile" The ex-detective's attack posture has dissolved, will the nerd give a talk now? Kurama continued, "This type of scale overlay is more like that of a ..." The green eyes widened in epiphany "Pangolin!" Their attention was interrupted by the howling of youkai, apparently it was hit somewhere in head, it didn't hurt him, but it was enough to irritate. In the next second, Hiei was fleeing the curtain of fire that came out of the youkai's mouth, Kurama's eyes froze in the movement of the scales that deformed the perfect shield. Yusuke moved to help his companions, but a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Listen!" His voice was firmer than usual "The overlapping scales offer impenetrable armor, but when they are raised they show the fragile skin underneath, when that youkai uses his evil energy to attack, the scales rise"
"So we need to keep Lord Flamethrower breathing fire, while someone attacks" Yusuke ran towards Hiei while Kurama used a giant root to grab Kuwabara around the waist. Urameshi and Hiei kept the youkai attacking with firepower long enough for Kazuma to be launched under the enemy's back where he slipped the spiritual sword between the scales, hitting the demonic energy core. Fast, easy and clean.
"We kicked Godzilla's ass" Yusuke celebrated as he lay on the beach for a well-deserved rest, his eyes moved from right to left following two friends sitting, one on each side.
"It was really fast, I did a good job" Kuwabara covered the sun with one hand.
"Fast?" Hiei shouted, standing on top of the dead youkai "You can only be kidding, we have been fighting with this garbage for hours" He twisted his face to receive only the attention of the highest unfortunate in the group "Can someone explain to me how two monsters Class A and one of, supposedly, Class S beaten up from a category C? " He spat while ignoring Kuwabara complain that he was not counted as part of the fight.
"Because only one of us use the brains, maybe" Kurama hummed before turning his head away from a thrown rock.
"Get a room, you two" Yusuke muttered as he struggled to relax and enjoy the rest of the sun "And we didn't get beaten, we actually don't have a scratch" He twisted his tongue when he noticed the abrasions on Kuwabara's back, on his left, singed in the fine fabric of Kurama's clothes to his right and finally, in the absence of part of his eyebrows "or almost that" he murmured in disappointment "In truth, I think we traded our head for ass" he gave up playing with the sand between the legs.
"Hiei is right" Yusuke can't help but move his ear in the direction of the sound. Kuwabara continued "I am human, despite being incredibly strong and beautiful, I am still a human, but you are high-class demons ..." Urameshi opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted "It was supposed to be quick, easy and clean, with you three together"
"Rusty" Three pairs of eyes stare at the figure of Kurama with their feet buried in the sand and their elbows on their knees "We are rusty, we don't train anymore, we don't fight anymore, we are stuck in tranquility, monotony and routine" the silence was established for more painful three minutes. The ex-detective wondered why it appeared now, but admitted that there were only truths in the sentence, but didn't think the current situation was bad, can be worse, always can be worse. He began to wonder if it was the maturation of his age that made him enjoy this tranquility.
"So ..." couldn't hide his surprise, blinked brown eyes sequentially "I expected this answer from anyone, no you" Everyone thought that, but only Yusuke had the courage to say it out loud. He received an enigmatic smile from the fox, restarting the uncomfortable silence, then it was possible to hear the cracking of Hiei's throat, a sound that was confused with impatience, or frustration.
"You chose that, Fox"
The spine of the other two froze, from the corner of eye, Yusuke sought Kurama's reaction, who just tipped his head to the side and then turned his attention to the sea. He used these seconds to reflect on the situation, the intelligent friend never misses the opportunity to have the last word, mainly to show that his point is correct from the others. This reflection made him understand that maybe the fox is not sure of anything, the last time he saw him like this was at the first Makai Tournament, he knew that this well was deeper than it looked and that nobody, or almost anyone, has permission to look inside. That routine tension was destroying the group from the inside out, but Yusuke had to agree he was more relaxed, they haven't trained for a while, they haven't really fought in a while, he decided to keep it to himself, after all, it was also his choice to stay in the human world, he was invaded by a sudden rage, abandoning the post of supernatural detective was not his choice, but in the end, he wondered if he really got fired, certainly not, otherwise he wouldn't be on a beach, in the middle of week fighting a youkai. Apparently, the Lord of the Spirit World forgave easy, or forgot easy, but it was more likely that he put his son back in office and tolerated the idea of Yusuke staying alive because he had a much bigger plan going on.
"Let's change the talk theme"
"No, we won't, this needs to be talked about" Kurama interrupted "Are you satisfied?" everyone felt that the question looked like a sharp knife going into the chest, but wasn't sure if the fox stabbed your self or everyone "Are you sure what you chose?" With that sentence, Kuwabara lowered his eyes, he understand that the questions were not for him, in fact, he never had the choice, he was excluded from Makai's affairs as a human being, that he understood and, in a way, agreed . But the anguish of being away from only true friends he was forced to feel, fearful that I may never see them alive again. With no right to object, without the right to choose between his life in the human world or between helping his best friend with what would be his greatest pursuit. A feeling that was always broached, never commented on, reflected if this was the right time to say it.
"Do you mean the choice of a few years ago?" Yusuke feigned confusion "I was never more sure and more faithful to my decision: to come home and try to organize my life with Keiko" He showed an impatience growing on his left, but preferred to ignore it for now, he takes care of Kuwabara afterwards "I had a lot of doubts at that time, I admit that I was jealous, you seemed to have solved the mess that Makai created in our heads very quickly, and I don't, You seemed to know who you were, and I don't. But now I know very well who I am and I know I made the right choice" That was not a lie, really envied Kurama for having the ability to make the decision quickly, still considering all the hypotheses and circumstances. He thought it was really strange that it came out now.
"I have no doubts about my decision, what I have is a growing anxiety and impatience" Kurama propped his elbows on the sand "I am missing something" Yusuke's loud exclamation did not hold his attention.
"I miss something too, it's hard to know what it is, it feels like that feeling of wanting to eat something" Urameshi rolled the indicator in the air "You are not hungry, you just feel like eating. Eat something different, something you don't know what it is, can be a worldly desire"
"I missed my friends a lot a few years ago" Kuwabara inserted himself in the dialogue, he was impatient with the indifference of others in face of his feelings, especially the past feelings "I felt an enormous happiness when we all joined the gang over again" He threw an arm as if punch the invisible "But unlike you, I don't feel empty, quite the contrary, I feel full of energy, in such an absurd amount that it will overflow at any moment" pretended not to notice the complacent and pious look he received from the fox.
"Stop complaining, you're just bored" Hiei's voice came on for the first time in a long time, he felt the green eyes staring at him behind the red threads, but he didn't care about the scolding air, after all he was sure of the decision he took, he chose to divide his time between the desire to fight, becoming stronger and stronger in the world of darkness and accompanying the fox, ungrateful, in his game with the humans "Terribly bored" He did not bother in hide the scornful smile "I thought you realized that" roller the eyes "During the ridiculous plan you came up with, get something different to do, hit each other until you can't get up" left his place at the top of the dead youkai to face the other three more closely "Find a treasure ridiculous to steal or anything "He stared at the boys in front of him, one by one. Found the green irises last" You are the oldest of us all, you know what it is to be bored, actually I still think: you stay in the human world is the result of centuries of boredom in the Makai "He ignored the intimidating expression" I don't doubt that today's long struggle was a method of escaping the doldrums "He crossed the space between Kurama and Yusuke , gradually disappeared from view. The silence lasted a minute before it was broken by Urameshi's high-pitched whistle.
"Wow, five complete sentences said one after the other" The laughter of the two redheads broke the tension in the room.
"Nine complete prayers, with logical reasoning and with no growl between them" Kurama corrected with a smile.
"We are really crazy, in what world is Hiei the guy who gives advice or a moral lesson?" Yusuke felt confused, more than usual.
"And what is he talking about? We found him playing basketball with a bunch of bad-looking human teenagers. This is fighting boredom" Kuwabara allowed himself to relax his spine. "Summer vacation is coming, it could be an opportunity to get something done" One redhead smiled at the other as they ignored Yusuke get up.
"Yeap, the conversation is good, but I feel like a roasted chicken, toasting in this sun, let's go home for a beer, watch an auditorium program, let's sink into mundane things, like looking for something different to eat" Urameshi stretched and started walking outside from the beach, was interrupted by an interjection sound from Kurama.
"As we left the apartment running, I forgot to tell, the air conditioning broke earlier today" the fox laughed with irony, nothing more mundane than that.
F/N : This chapter may seem a little confusing or disconnected, but I'm starting to pave the way for something bigger. I promise that the next chapter will be more dynamic. Thank you for accompanying me on this insane journey. xoxo