Chapter 18 – Divisive Action

"How are you feeling?"

Kuwabara, who was sitting in a rocking chair in the corner of the room with his wounded leg immersed in a sawn off barrel of healing fluid, turned to the agitated figure perched on the window at his side.

"I think he's talking to you," Akira whispered as Kuwabara looked his way.

Kuwabara turned back to Kurama, who waited patiently for him to answer.

"I'm fine," he said.

Kurama nodded. Clearly, Kuwabara was anything but fine, but he was surely being proud and probably also trying to appear brave in front of his impressionable son.

"Good," Kurama said. "I'm planning another little battle simulation for later today."

"Do you want me to leave the room?" Akira asked.

Kurama paused long enough to consider just how hollow Akira's offer had sounded before shaking his head.

"It's not a secret this time," he said. "I've told Fubuki and Kaisei about it too. And now I will tell you exactly what I told them: I have arranged for two fighters to come here for the simulation activity and, even though this is just a drill, I expect you to take it seriously and to make an effort to work as a team – which you will need to do in order to defeat your opponents this time."

"Okay."

There was something slightly odd about Akira's tone, but Kurama decided to dismiss it as concern for Kuwabara, who he had attached himself to ever since they had returned to the safe house.

"Are you fully rested and ready for another test?" Kurama asked him.

"Isn't the point of the test to catch us at a time when we might not be fully rested and ready to fight?" Akira asked.

"Don't be cheeky," Kuwabara muttered to him.

"I'm not being cheeky, I just don't really understand," Akira muttered back.

"I want to see you all performing at your best," Kurama said. "And you did pass out from over-exertion when we faced the flayer. If you don't feel that you are able to perform at the peak of your ability, I'm warning you now to go and see Yukina and have her heal any wounds you still have, or else get some rest."

"I'm fine," Akira said.

"I don't think you are," Kurama replied. "I think you're being stubborn or else you're just too proud to ask for help."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Akira said with a shrug. "As long as I have this, I'm always starting any battle with a major handicap."

He pointed at the collar around his neck.

"Then perhaps you should remove it," Kurama replied.

"No!" Akira and Kuwabara both said.

"The ability to take a lot of damage in a fight is admirable, but it's not really helpful or any sort of advantage in the fight we face," Kurama pointed out.

"Hey Tet, could you make me some tea?" Kuwabara said.

Akira slipped off the window frame but stopped there, glancing back and forth between Kuwabara and Kurama.

"Are you going to talk about me?" he asked.

"I need to talk to Kurama about something," Kuwabara answered. "But don't worry, you're not in trouble."

"So you are going to talk about me?" Akira asked. "Is this because I let mom heal me?"

"No, you're not in trouble, it's fine," Kuwabara assured him.

"Mom said it would be okay."

"It is okay."

"…Are you sure I'm not in trouble?"

"Yes, I promise."

Akira gave Kurama a brief, sceptical, glance, before nodding at Kuwabara and leaving the room. Once he was gone Kurama closed the door and moved over to lean against the wall at Kuwabara's side.

"So how are you really?" Kurama asked.

"I can't feel my leg below the knee," Kuwabara replied.

"Well, that's normal," Kurama assured him. "It seems to be regenerating nicely though."

"But really slowly," Kuwabara said.

"That's also normal," Kurama said.

"So, this test you're planning, who did you get? It's not Seaman and Gamesmaster again, right?"

"No. I'd rather not say who it is. I want to at least keep the identity of the opponents as a surprise for your students."

"Heh, they're kinda more like your students now, huh?"

"I suppose it does seem that way. But you've done well with them. I just wish they worked together a little better."

"Yeah, I guess sometimes Akira and Kaisei don't get along."

"Is there any particular reason for that?"

"Kaisei really likes conspiracy theories, and I think he thinks Akira is some kind of weird spy or something."

Kurama smiled.

"Yes, Kaisei has already shared with me his theory about Akira's behaviour being affected by the cycles of the moon," he said.

"Aw man, he's not still going on about that, is he?" Kuwabara groaned. "I don't get why Fubuki doesn't get mad when he starts talking that way."

"I think sometimes she does," Kurama replied. "She's certainly not backward at coming forward."

Kuwabara slowly looked up at Kurama from the corner of his eye.

"What?" Kurama asked him.

"I dunno, I'm just not sure this is the best time – you know, when the world might be about to end – for you to be chatting up girls," Kuwabara replied.

"I assure you, I am not chatting up Fubuki," Kurama said.

"Well maybe just wait until we've averted the apocalypse before you chase any more skirt."

Kurama gave Kuwabara a flat look and he grinned back.

"So how long is it gonna take for me to get back on my feet?" Kuwabara asked.

"If you keep your leg in the tank as long as you are awake and if Yukina keeps fussing over you the way she does, it shouldn't take much longer," Kurama replied. "However I suggest you continue letting Yukina tend to your leg for several days after the wound has closed over. But I shouldn't imagine you'll have any difficulty fulfilling that requirement."

"Hey, Yukina's my wife," Kuwabara replied defensively. "You're just ogling Fubuki."

"Alright now, let's not draw out this joke," Kurama patiently replied. "We wouldn't want anyone else to overhear and misunderstand."

"Nobody in this house misunderstands the way you've been checking her out."

Kuwabara grinned again and Kurama sighed. The fox demon was glad then when Shizuru entered the room carrying a tray of tea.

"Hey sis, it's not like you to do me any favours," Kuwabara commented as she placed the tray down on a side table beside him.

"Akira made the tea, but didn't want to come back in here to give it to you," Shizuru replied.

"Because he thinks we're talking about him?" Kurama asked.

"Pretty much," Shizuru replied.

She straightened up and gave Kurama a strange look – which was something he rarely saw her do – before continuing.

"You know, sometimes people don't show the best of themselves until they feel safe enough to," she said.

"That's true," Kurama replied. "I suppose none of us do unless we know we can trust other people."

"Exactly," Shizuru said.

"But trust is a two-way street: if someone never reveals at least a part of their true self, they can't ever expect anyone else to do likewise."

"That's a really sensible and mature thing to say. But kids don't think sensibly or maturely."

Any doubt that Kurama may have had that Shizuru was indirectly referring to Akira vanished with her last remark.

"Yes, that's also true," he agreed.

"So maybe just remember that," Shizuru replied.

Kurama smiled.

"I remember the days when you were just the protective elder sister," he said. "And now it seems you're also the protective aunt."

Shizuru smiled back.

"Yeah, I guess I am a protective aunt," she said. "But not without good reason."

Kurama raised his eyebrows expectantly, hoping to finally get some sort of answer about Akira's past from someone who ought to know more about the boy than Kaisei or Fubuki appeared to: but instead Shizuru smirked and continued in a more light-hearted tone.

"Akira's mother would give a hard time if I wasn't."

Kuwabara laughed, but Kurama thought it quite an odd joke to make, given Yukina's gentle nature.

"Well, enjoy your tea," Shizuru said. "I have to go separate Keiko and Kaisei again."

"They're still arguing?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah, I can't even remember what it's about this time," Shizuru replied with a sigh. "Neither of them will admit if they're wrong, and they seem to disagree on everything we do. Last night's game of Trivial Pursuit was a complete disaster…"

Kurama smiled and nodded, remembering then how Keiko had answered that the Himalyan mountains were in India, and Kaisei had corrected her by telling her they were in fact on the border of India. After ten minutes of shouting at each other, Keiko had thrown the box of questions at Kaisei and he had gone out to start his guard shift early just to get away from her.

"Kai doesn't really seem to get how to speak to girls," Kuwabara commented.

"I don't have a problem with him," Shizuru replied.

"Yeah, but you're different," Kuwabara said.

"Because I'm not a girl?" Shizuru asked in a growl. "Chose your next words very carefully, little brother…"

"No," Kuwabara nervously replied. "I meant because you're scary."

"Wow, that's so much better," Shizuru sarcastically replied. "Just be thankful I'm feeling sorry for you right now, because otherwise I'd make it so that you needed to put your whole body in that barrel."

Kuwabara laughed nervously and Shizuru shook her head before leaving the room.

"Well, since you are progressing well, I shall leave you too," Kurama said, stepping away from the wall.

"I was kinda lonely, actually," Kuwabara muttered.

"I'm sure Yukina can't be far away," Kurama replied.

"I dunno, I haven't seen her all day."

Kurama thought that quite odd, but he had noticed that some of the residents of the safe house – primarily Kaisei and Fubuki – were quite messy and lazy and yet the house always looked immaculate, which surely meant that Yukina was rushing around tidying up after, feeding and cleaning for all the others.

"If I see her, I'll tell her to come and sit with you for a bit," Kurama said as he left the room.

He knew that Kuwabara probably wanted him to stay and talk, but he needed to set up the training session he had promised Kuwabara's three students: the two challengers he had arranged for them this time were likely to prove infinitely more demanding that Mitarai and Amanuma had.

Yusuke staggered back, inadvertently stepping on Jin's toes. Ordinarily he would have made a joke about how the wind demon should have gotten out of his way, but his attention was solely fixed on Yomi. Despite what Touya had suggested earlier about how he suspected that the Dark Force had taken over Enki, coming face-to-face with a powerful S-class demon actually under the influence of the enemy was still a shocking prospect. With Enki it had been easy to imagine that it might not be true or that something would happen to rid Enki of the evil before Yusuke and his team ever had to face him: but facing Yomi, with his clothes stained with his own son's blood, was something else entirely.

"That was a very quick change of heart."

Yusuke was unsure if Touya's remark was incredibly brave or ridiculously stupid.

"My son was my responsibility," Yomi replied.

"But you didn't want to kill him a minute ago!" Jin pointed out.

"I didn't want you to kill him," Yomi replied.

"So… You wanted to kill him yourself?" Yusuke asked.

"No, of course not," Yomi replied.

"Then why did you kill him?" Hiei asked.

"Because there was no other way," Yomi replied. "If I wanted to appear honourable, I could tell you that I did it to weaken the Dark Force, to slow the spread of its influence and to save the lives of everyone in this room: but none of those thoughts crossed my mind. I did it because he was my son, he was a proud man and I know he must have been suffering greatly to be under the control of that shameless beast."

"Still, that can't have been an easy decision for you to make," Touya ventured.

"Of course not," Yomi replied. "But this isn't the time for letting emotion rule over common sense. If I had let myself over-think the decision and tortured myself with the thought of what I must do, I would only have empowered the enemy."

"The Yomi I know wouldn't take the death of his own son lightly," Touya said carefully. "Not even if he had made the decision to take his son's life himself."

"I'm not taking this lightly," Yomi harshly responded. "I'm just controlling myself before something else does."

"Seems like a strange thing that the Dark Force would kill an S-class demon that it already had under its control," Jin said. "But then again, the Dark Force is a tricky bastard, and maybe doin' somethin' none of us would expect is just the sorta trick someone controlled by the Dark Force might pull."

"Are you suggesting I am being controlled by the Dark Force right now?" Yomi asked him.

"Surely you can appreciate our hesitancy," Touya hurriedly pointed out. "After all, if the Dark Force was already strong enough to take control of Shura and so many of your men, it's not beyond the scope of belief that it has made a try for your soul too."

"Look around you: I have nothing left," Yomi replied. "I've never fallen to the Dark Force before, and I certainly haven't done so this time. I have no reason to lie to you."

"You wouldn't know if you were lyin' to us if you were bein' controlled by the Dark Force," Jin pointed out.

"Are the five of you all that remains of the resistance?" Yomi asked. "Let me join you. This has escalated rapidly and you can't hold it back without more allies."

"Well that was what we came here for, right?" Yusuke asked, looking around the others.

Chu, Jin and Touya looked confused, but Hiei looked sure of himself – which in that moment, Yusuke found quite reassuring.

"It's simple," Hiei said. "Yomi is right that there's nothing left here, and we need to move on to find allies."

"Yes," Yomi agreed. "I will accompany you."

"No you won't," Hiei promptly replied.

Yusuke frowned, any confidence he had felt starting to fade.

"We can't trust you," Hiei continued. "Nor can we trust him."

Hiei shamelessly pointed his sword at Jin, who looked as horrified as Yusuke felt.

"So here's what's going to happen," Hiei said as he lowered his sword to his side again. "Yusuke, Touya, Chu and I are going to continue on to recruit help and to fight the enemy wherever and whenever we encounter it. Yomi and Jin will remain here. Once we have recruited enough allies, we will return. If you are both still here when we get back, we will allow you to join us."

"I don't get it," Yusuke interrupted. "What's the point of making them stay here?"

"Because if they are puppets of the enemy, they won't stay here," Hiei flatly replied. "They will either try to follow us to sabotage our mission or else they will move out looking for more victims. If they are innocent, they will wait here and hold this temple until we return."

"Hold it?" Yusuke echoed. "I thought we all just agreed there's nothing left of it!"

"But it still represents the station of one of Demon World's most powerful beings and as long as it is defended, it shows that Demon World is not yet defeated," Hiei replied.

Yusuke looked up at Yomi and then over his shoulder at Jin: the first looked quite blank and the second looked worried.

"What do you guys think about that?" he asked them.

"I don't think we should be splittin' the group again," Jin said. "I was wrong to leave ahead with Suzuka the way I did."

"Did you know that Suzuka is dead?" Hiei asked him.

Jin solemnly nodded his head, and in that moment, it occurred to Yusuke that he might be about to leave his friend alone with Yomi, who might be an agent of their enemy.

"I will wait here if that is what it takes to gain your trust," Yomi offered. "But time is of the essence, and I will not wait here unnecessarily. If you have not returned within one week, I will set out to recruit my own allies without you."

"That's fair enough," Hiei agreed.

"It is?" Yusuke yelped.

"Yes," Hiei insisted. "Let's go."

"Wait!"

Yusuke was shocked to see that Touya and Chu had actually started to move when Hiei had beckoned for them to leave with him – too many radical decisions were being made too quickly by the group, and he was still not sure that leaving Jin with Yomi was a good idea.

"Shouldn't one more of us stay here?" he asked. "That's what you said, right Touya? Never split the group into a group of less than three members, right? You said a group with just two members was a bad idea, so we can't leave Yomi and Jin back here alone."

Touya gave Yusuke an almost sympathetic look and Yusuke began to suspect that the rest of his team had been strategising without him at some point, presumably because they thought him too naïve to appreciate their demon mentality.

"Yusuke, we have reason to suspect them as being unsafe and untrustworthy," the ice demon explained. "And as such, they no longer are a part of our group. We're not choosing to split the group in this instance."

Yusuke turned to Chu, hoping that at least he would agree with him that what Touya was saying sounded insane: but he looked resigned to acceptance. Yusuke looked at Yomi again – who looked odd, though that could be because he was being controlled by another being or because he had just killed his only son – and felt that it probably was logical to not take the former ruler of one third of Demon World into their number just yet. He then looked over at Jin and felt that walking away from his old friend was a bad idea. Jin was clearly fine and leaving him behind would surely only endanger him in exactly the way the team had agreed they would not do to each other again after learning the hard way from their mistake with Shishiwakamaru.

"Come on Yusuke," Hiei said.

Yusuke swallowed back his overwhelming urge to turn the situation into a shouting match and instead nodded once at Yomi and then turned one last time to Jin.

"We're coming back for you, okay?" he said. "Just hold on for one week, okay?"

Jin nodded and Yusuke reluctantly moved over to join the others. The remaining four members of the original team of eight continued outside in silence, only stopping once they were beyond the boundaries of Yomi's temple grounds.

"From here we need to make our next choices very carefully," Touya began. "We have very limited time. Within this next week, we must–"

"Well maybe some dumbass shouldn't have set us a one-week time limit!" Yusuke interrupted.

"I didn't set the one-week time limit for us," Touya pointed out.

"I know that," Yusuke replied, before purposefully moving his eyes to glare at Hiei.

"What are you looking at me for?" Hiei sneered.

"You've been making this whole mission way harder than it has to be!" Yusuke snapped.

"On the contrary, I have been trying to deal with things simply and swiftly and it is you who has been hindering our progress by over-complicating every little decision we've been faced with!" Hiei snapped back.

"Bickering only wastes yet more time that we can ill afford to spare," Touya said firmly. "With one week at our disposal, if we don't sleep, we should just about manage to visit both Alaric and Tourin, but we would only have time to visit one specific location in each region. In order to maximise our likelihood of recruiting strong allies, we should agree upon and target those two locations right here and right now."

"Obviously the first thing we should do is visit Mukuro," Hiei suggested. "Her army maybe don't outnumber Yomi's, but they do outclass them: they won't have fallen prey to the enemy the way the men here all did."

"Oh yeah that's a great idea," Yusuke sarcastically replied. "Let's go see Mukuro. Hey Hiei, are you gonna tell her how you cut down one of your own friends without even stopping long enough to breathe before you acted?"

"Do you have a better idea for where we should go first?" Hiei asked him.

"Yeah I do, as a matter of fact," Yusuke replied. "I say the first place we go is my place."

"And why exactly would we do that?"

"Maybe because there are plenty of strong guys back there who could help us, and we know we can trust them!"

"Are you suggesting that we can't trust Mukuro or her army?"

"We came here thinking we could trust Yomi, and look how well that went!"

"Hn."

"And besides…"

Yusuke sighed and turned his head away, but, even turned away, he could see Hiei on the edge of his vision, his red eyes pinpricked and glaring at him, his entire body taut and faintly glowing in evident rage.

"Don't leave that statement hanging, Yusuke," Hiei said in a low voice. "If you have something you want to say, you better say it to me right now."

"Why, because if I don't say it right now I'll be made to say it later, after the Dark Force takes me over?" Yusuke asked sarcastically.

"I didn't say the Dark Force would take control of you," Hiei replied. "But if you keep up this melodramatic behaviour, you will become a prime target to be exploited and possibly controlled by the Dark Force."

"Oh, so you do think I'm gonna join the bad guys, huh?"

"I didn't say that!"

"You might as well have!"

"I could say the same to you! The real reason you don't want to go to Mukuro first is because you don't trust me not to defect to the dark side!"

"You've been talking about joining "the dark side" since the first day we met up for this dumb mission!"

"Mates, come on, you gotta stop this!" Chu interrupted.

"Indeed, this petty bickering is counter-productive to our mission and laying us wide open to attack," Touya agreed.

"Aren't the two of you good mates too?" Chu asked, looking back and forth between Hiei and Yusuke.

"We were," Yusuke moodily replied.

"I haven't changed," Hiei grumbled.

"The hell you haven't…" Yusuke muttered.

"Can we at least agree on the direction we take from here?" Touya pressed. "Once we've done that, we can all discuss this disagreement on our journey there."

"Fine. We're going to my place," Yusuke said stubbornly.

"Waste of time, if you ask me," Hiei snorted.

Yusuke turned to glare at him and, as though to really wind him up, Hiei smirked a lop-sided, condescending smirk as their eyes met.

"But if wasting time is something we all want to do then yes, let's go visit Yusuke's friends," he said.

"At least I have friends," Yusuke growled at him.

"Chu, are you happy for us to proceed to Yusuke's tower?" Touya asked Chu.

"Absolutely," Chu replied.

Touya nodded and he and Chu started out, with Yusuke and Hiei falling in line behind them.

"You're being incredibly petty about this," Hiei said.

"And you're not?" Yusuke snorted.

"I don't understand why you're taking everything so personally," Hiei replied. "You've changed. Under the circumstances, that could be construed as suspicious."

"You're the one that's changed," Yusuke shot back. "Or went back to your old ways, depending on how you look at it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean lately, you've been acting like that arrogant little bastard I fought against to recover the Artefacts of Darkness."

"I think the stress of our situation is getting the better of you both," Touya said, looking over his shoulder at Yusuke and Hiei. "Once we get to Yusuke's tower, I suggest we all eat, get some sleep and pack supplies before we move on again. We'll all feel much better after a rest and with our number increased again."

"I guess you're right," Yusuke agreed.

"I'll feel better with people I can trust around me," Hiei added.

Yusuke turned to glare at him.

"Meaning you don't trust us?" he asked.

"No, but there was nobody we could trust amongst Yomi's men," Hiei replied.

Yusuke was sure that Hiei had lied to placate him, but he tried to push the thought aside. Hiei was really getting on his nerves, but he tried to believe that what Touya had said was correct: they were all just feeling under pressure because they had lost three members of their team and could potentially lose a fourth if Jin was not still at Yomi's temple when they returned for him.

Kurama made one last scan of the temple lawn before assuring himself that he had suitably prepared the training session he had planned. There had been no more calls or unusual disturbances since the house fire – or none that had been reported in any way – which had allowed him plenty of time to set something up. It was early evening and the sun was sitting just at the treetops, casting long shadows across the lawn, but as it was still summer time, the air was still and warm. Were it not for the pending Dark Age, it could have been a wonderful evening: but as it was, it was an evening that marked the end of the last day of rehearsals. The following morning, Kurama and the others would be gathering up their nominated persons to move to the safe house.

Kurama had not yet told his mother that he intended to move her out of her home. He had not yet fully planned out how he would explain to her that he needed to take her away from her husband, but he was confident that he could think of something. Getting her there would be far less problematic than keeping her there – something that had already proved to be the case with Keiko and Shizuru, despite both of them being fully aware of why they were at the safe house. With every attack, Keiko panicked and called her parents to check that they were safe. Kurama did not grudge her making multiple phone calls, he just hoped that, once all the others were gathered at the house, phone calls did not turn into rogue excursions back home. Herding the non-fighters around could end up becoming the bulk of the workload for whoever was on guard duty at the safe house.

When Kurama saw a rugged face nodding his head, he knew that the last of his plan had been put into place and it was time to let the three trainees out. He climbed back up the porch steps and opened the door, finding all three of them there waiting for him already. He opened the door wider and stepped aside, indicating for them to move on ahead of him. Kuwabara was still inside the temple – Kurama had excused him from taking part in the training session as it was precious time he needed to spend healing his leg – and, although he had not actually seen her, Kurama assumed that Yukina was with Kuwabara.

As Kurama closed the door again he saw Kaisei signalling to Fubuki and Akira, and, despite his initial concerns that they would not work together, Akira took the lead to go out on scouting duty and Fubuki and Kaisei both slowly descended the porch steps, moving out in opposite directions. Kurama sat down on the top step and watched carefully at the temporarily serene scene ahead of him. He had planted a few basic demon plants to test the three students, but the biggest challenge for them by far would be their two opponents – who Kurama knew he had been very lucky to secure for the evening. He doubted any of the three – not even Kaisei and Fubuki, who had extensive battle experience – would be prepared for what awaited them and, individually, they would not stand a chance against even one of their opponents. They would have to work together – which was something Kurama had already discussed with the two challengers. He had explained to them that he had concerns about Kaisei, Fubuki and Akira and their inability to work together, and he had specifically agreed with the two challengers that they would target this area during the training session by creating situations that would force the three to rally together.

Kurama frowned slightly as he sensed a quite remarkable burst of energy from somewhere to his right, deep within the forest beyond the limits of the temple gardens. It was presumably a part of the simulation exercise however, and, correspondingly, Kaisei and Fubuki started off towards it, shortly finding themselves having to tackle some of the plants Kurama had left waiting for them. As they became fully engrossed fighting off and pushing through the plants, Kurama saw Akira return to the centre of the lawn and start to follow them: but something was amiss. He looked as though he was panicking, which contradicted his attitude to the previous training session, which he had dismissed as insignificant. He was running, but really only at a human pace, and even that appeared to be a strain for him as he was sweating and out of breath already. Kurama felt the two challengers approaching, surprised to find them drawing in from his left, after he had distinctly felt the energy surge that must have been intended as their foil come from so very far to his right. They were moving so quickly, they effortlessly caught up to Akira: and at that point, what had started out as an odd situation rapidly deteriorated into a disastrous one.

The first SDF officer landed in front of Akira, who halted so abruptly, he almost fell right over. The second landed behind Akira, who glanced back and forth between them fearfully. Kurama had only ever seen the entire Spirit World Special Defence Force once before – when they had been on hand to kill Yusuke after his fight against Sensui – but he was sure that the two officers they had despatched in response to his request for assistance in setting up a battle simulation were the physically largest Spirit World had at their disposal. Standing between the two of them, Akira looked impossibly small, and, as one had his back to the sun, his large shadow fully engulfed the little emiko, making him look all the more insignificant. Several seconds passed, but Akira remained cowered on the spot, looking back and forth between the two soldiers. The moment only ended when one of the officers made a strange gesture with his hand and Akira turned to fully face him, standing up straight with his arms at his sides. Although he was still clearly anxious, Akira seemed to be forcing himself to relax physically. Kurama started to wonder if what he was witnessing was a demonstration of the weird relationship the boy appeared to have with Spirit World – maybe this was why he had wanted a communication mirror so badly, to keep in touch with his allies there – although whether he was friend or foe to the SDF was as big a mystery as why he was wearing a prison issue collar.

What happened next shocked Kurama so badly, he was temporarily overcome. The SDF officer facing Akira drew back a clenched fist – in a manner that was almost mockingly slow – and then swung a punch forwards, his fist connecting with one side of Akira's face. Having made no attempt to block the blow or even defend against it in any way, Akira was thrown to the ground, whereupon the officer behind him kicked him in the ribs, flipping him over in the air. The two officers then moved in and began shamelessly beating Akira, who continued to do absolutely nothing to defend himself or retaliate. Kurama was well aware of how much damage the boy could sustain, but he was also aware that Akira never took a hit without at least making an attempt to deflect it or else to defend the vulnerable areas of his body. Kurama stood up and made to go over to break up what was happening, but by the time he was on his feet, Fubuki had arrived at the scene and delivered a vicious dropkick to the back of the nearest SDF soldier. As she made to launch another attack on him he turned a hand towards her, sending out a blast of energy that threw her off her feet. She took a moment to shake herself off, but in that moment Kaisei leapt into the fray, attempting to engage the other SDF officer in a fistfight. Again the officer Kaisei faced threw him off with a single energy blast – proving to Kurama that the soldiers were indeed significantly stronger than any of the three students facing them – but both officers then immediately returned to attacking Akira, who was still doing nothing to stop them.

Fubuki and Kaisei joined together and began charging their energy to launch a signature attack they had already demonstrated to Kurama in his first meeting with them: and although it would have been enough to prove a challenge to the two SDF officers, the time they took to charge it proved to be a major disadvantage, as they were knocked down again before they could gather even half the energy they needed to launch the blast. Fubuki got back up and leapt onto the back of one of the soldiers, logical strategy apparently forgotten, and she began punching and kicking at him frantically. Kaisei stood up and paused, but only briefly, before attempting to copy his sister's ill-planned tactic. Both Sato siblings ultimately ended up on the ground again, with Kaisei being knocked out and Fubuki standing up again only to stumble and drop to her knees.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled at the SDF soldiers as they carried on attacking Akira. "He's just a little kid, you assholes!"

When Fubuki collapsed, facedown, onto the lawn, Kurama started down the steps with the intention of intervening, since the SDF soldiers were showing no sign of stopping their assault on Akira, who, without even gathering enough energy to defend himself, would not last long under the constant barrage he was suffering. But, before he had even halved the distance between the porch and the location of the fight, Kurama stopped abruptly as a blast of cold air swept past him and one of the SDF officers was suddenly thrown through the air, landing far beyond where Kaisei and Fubuki still lay unconscious. The second officer had paused to look about himself for what had happened – something Kurama himself was doing as there was no apparent source for the attack – and when both turned back to Akira, as if she had teleported out of thin air, Yukina was suddenly standing over the emiko, glaring up at the SDF officer.

For a protracted moment in time, nothing and no-one moved.

Then, very shakily, Akira pushed himself up to his knees and grabbed at Yukina's kimono, bunching up the fabric and staring up at her fearfully.

"Please," he said. "Please stay out of this."

Yukina ignored him, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the man in front of her, maintaining her stance despite the fact that he was easily twice her height, four times her weight and infinitely more powerful than she was. The SDF soldier gradually got over his initial shock and regained his focus, grabbed a handful of Yukina's kimono just below her throat: but before he could say or do anything else, Kurama dashed forwards and grabbed a hand around the wrist of his hand holding onto Yukina. Yukina continued to glare up at the officer, who was looking down at Kurama.

"Apparently there has been a misunderstanding here," Kurama said carefully. "Why don't we all step back and go indoors to discuss this?"

"I don't take orders from demons," the SDF soldier replied.

He glared at Kurama for a moment before glaring at Yukina and then finally leaning his head slightly to one side to leer down at Akira.

"Or monsters," he added as Akira came into his line of sight.

"We are all allies here," Kurama reminded him. "And the only ones who have used excessive force or behaved inappropriately are you and your colleague."

The SDF officer looked at something beyond Yukina and, when he held that stance, Kurama followed the direction he was looking, seeing the second SDF officer staggering towards them, one hand clutched to one side of his face.

He had bloody wounds on his chest and forearms, but by far the worst was the openly bleeding wound to one side of his head.

"What happened, Shun-Jun?" the officer by Kurama called over to him.

"I don't know…" he replied. "Something hit me – I didn't see what it was – it disappeared as quickly as it appeared."

The SDF officer by Kurama turned to look at him again.

"We're the only ones using excessive force and behaving inappropriately, huh?" he asked.

Kurama looked over the injured soldier again: none of the plants he had placed were capable of inflicting such wounds, least of all to being as powerful as an officer of the SDF. Akira had been on the ground and Fubuki and Kaisei had both been unconscious when the soldier had been attacked.

Something very strange was going on.

Next Chapter: In the aftermath of the awry training session, Akira goes missing. Kurama manages to track him down, whereupon Kurama finally starts to gain some understanding of who and what Akira really is. Meanwhile, in DW, Hiei reveals to Yusuke why he feels so much animosity towards him – and Yusuke is as confused as he is horrified by what he hears. The team then find more cryptic messages from the Dark Force. Chapter 19 – Ticking Tyke Bomb

A/N: So many feels in the next chapter. Some back-story too though and some loose ends should start to tie up.

Seriously, the next chapter is like an excerpt from the Chapter Black video.