Nanashi woke up groggily a few days after the training day Hiei had stolen her books. She still thought he was such a jerk for doing that, and even worse that Kurama backed his play. On the days where she trained with either one of them, they had the book with them and she knew it. She was supposed to train with Hiei today, but was dreading the idea with how tired she was. She got dressed and ready. Her neck felt a little cold, so she just used the big hair clip Aunt Atsuko had given her to use for her date with Kaito, instead of a hair tie. She slipped it carefully into her hair as the clip part was sharper than it should have been. She rack a red line on her finger by accident with it when she first handled it, drawing a little bit of blood. Maybe it was because the hair clip was old. It was still functional. She thought about that date, kind of glad to be out of school to avoid the awkwardness that that was. Video game obsession to say the least...
She went to the kitchen, arriving last to make her own breakfast, coffee included. She was glad that Botan did an emergency run for her to the nearest town to get some more. She found it a necessary start of her day after Kurama had given her that seed at Maze Castle. It was weaker, but did the trick. The more bitter, the better as well.
Kurama and Hiei were done and out of the room by the time she sat down, but Kuwabara was not. "Hey," she whispered to him, hoping against hope neither demon would hear her.
"Morning. What's up?" he said, sounding less tired than she was.
"Switch me today?" she asked softly. "I'm rather exhausted." She bit her lip when asking, hoping he would say yes. He did seem to have a soft spot for women, even her.
"You know that'll leave you stuck with shorty two days in row after tomorrow," he warned her.
"I know," she said, deciding to give up offer. She would just have to go out with Hiei today and try to keep up. She wiped her brow, feeling a little warm. Perhaps it was from the coffee she was drinking.
"Well, if you're cool with that, I'm cool with it," Kuwabara told her, standing up to bus his own dishes.
"Really? Thank you," she said relieved. She ate the rest of her breakfast quickly, hoping the swap would get approved.
'Hurry up,' Hiei's voice cut through her mind. She winced at the intrusion.
Quickly, she put her dishes in the sink and gave them a quick clean and stacked them with the guys' clean dishes. She jogged outside, arriving last.
"Let's go, start running," Hiei told her. She paused, not moving from the bottom of the steps. Kuwabara started jogging off instead. "Where are you going?" Hiei called after him.
He halted. "You said start running, so I did," Kuwabara replied.
"You're not with me today," Hiei said, irked.
"We decided to switch. I thought you knew that since you were just rooting in her mind," Kuwabara explained.
"Which two of you offered that first?" Kurama asked.
"She did," Kuwabara said, pointing at her. "I don't really mind. She looks a little pale today."
Kurama gave her a curious look that made her suddenly nervous. "That's fine," he said, after exchanging a look with Hiei.
Hiei smirked, giving Kurama a nod. "Okay, then, keep running," Hiei told Kuwabara, who took off without another word. Hiei went after him.
Nanashi suddenly wished she had not said anything. "I'm sorry," she rushed out.
Kurama looked at her. "Are you feeling sick? Perhaps you should go to your room and lie down," he offered. His tone was so smooth it made her nervous.
"No," she said, shaking her head.
'Just take the offer,' the wind serpent told her.
"Please, by all means. If you feel like you cannot train with Hiei today, perhaps it's for the best," he said. He turned and walk towards the opposite side of the woods from there. Towards the area she normally went with him to train.
Nanashi shuffled after him, stomach feeling like it was twisting.
'Why don't you just turn around and go nap,' the wind serpent asked her. 'He offered you that chance.'
'I don't think I'll wake up if I do,' she admitted.
'They can't kill you, even if they wanted to,' the wind serpent thought back to her. 'You have to be one of the six on the team for the Dark Tournament. You have to be alive for that. Otherwise everyone is dead before the tournament starts.'
She shook her head, not sure what to say or think beyond that. She found Kurama, not liking how scared she suddenly felt in front of him.
That morning was probably the worst one ever, even compared to ones spent training with Hiei. She struggled to keep up as they went back to the house earlier than usual for lunch. She had hoped lunch would have been at the normal time so she could ask Kuwabara to switch her back, but as Kurama and she finished eating and went back outside, she saw the other two coming in to eat. Kuwabara looked the way she felt, making her feel guilty for the switch.
By midafternoon, the training was just as bad. The bodies of the dead plant demons he had kept sending after lay strewn around her. She burned through all of her spirit energy and reached the point where her legs gave out. She felt so hot and sweaty that she did not think she could make to the evening when she could get back to the house and go back to sleep. Kurama stood before her, looking down at her, arms hanging at his sides. She looked up at him, shaking her head.
"If you're too tired or feeling sick, go back to the house and rest," he repeated the offer for probably the fourth time today, but his velvety tone set her teeth on edge. She could sense the impatience rolling off him in waves.
She shook her head, rubbing her aching thighs. Her hair tumbled over her shoulder, all messy and part out of the hair clip she put it up in. "I don't think I can get there on my own anymore," she admitted. She really wanted to take his offer, but was scared at what he might do to her or what Hiei might do to Kuwabara if she took the offer.
"Oh, you want help getting there?" Kurama asked her.
"No," she said, trying to stand up. Her legs had other plans, so she slumped back down. "Don't let Hiei be too hard on Kuwabara for this. He didn't have to say yes."
"Oh, so you do care about your teammates after all?" Kurama asked her.
She looked at him incredulously. "Of course I do," she snapped, offended.
"You've got an interesting way of showing it," he commented.
He reached his hand up, making her flinch. He growled under his breath, making her more nervous. He reached up into his hair, pulling out two seeds. One was bigger and darker than the light green ones he used to sow plant demons. The other one was smaller and bumpier, but the same color as the plant demon ones. He tossed them both behind her. They both landed on a large tree behind her. The bigger of the two sprouted into a large, off pink colored flower with four thin vines coming off of its stem where leaves normally would be. The stem was wrapped around the base of the tree. Nanashi heard the sound of wood splitting, cracking, and groaning. She watched as the flower grew larger, the tree it surrounded snapping off at the base of the trunk. The tree fell behind the flower. Once it did, the flower's stem rooted itself in the tree stump, sitting there with vines limply hanging at its side. The look of it mirrored the way Kurama had been standing.
"Are you expecting me to fight that thing?" she asked nervously, looking back up at him. She instinctively reached for the wind serpent, felt it come up to her neck for two seconds, and then disappear. She felt a chill shudder through her body.
"Probably would be best if you did yes, but you can give in and just rest if you want," he permitted. "The flower isn't what you should be worried about though. The other seed it's holding is." She looked over at the flower again, barely seeing the oddly shaped, small, light green seed in the center of the flower. "It's got fungal spores in it. If consumed, it'll render anyone who eats it like one of the plant people from Maze Castle: alive but fearless and impervious to pain. Zombie like if you will. Yet when a person lacks fear or pain, they lack the ability to keep themselves alive in a fight for very long. They would need to be kept preserved long enough to reach the arena, but that shouldn't prove too difficult."
Nanashi looked up at him in shock, mind trying to catch up on his words. "You wouldn't," she said, voice cracking. "Yusuke would know, he'd figure it out," she countered. "He would never forgive you." She cried out when she felt one of the vines wrap around her ankle. It started tugging on her, pulling her slowly towards the flower. She kicked at it with her free foot, digging her hands into the dirt beneath her.
"He's not here to stop it, but yes, if he figured it out, he would be rather upset," he conceded. The vine pulled harder on her ankle. In response, she tried to crawl towards Kurama, who jumped away, setting himself up on a lower branch of a nearby tree.
"Please don't do this," she pleaded, her lower leg aching as it was pulled taunt by the lone vine. She felt something pop in her ankle. She kicked harder at it with her free leg, all while trying to crawl her upper body to the closest tree.
"Don't allow it to happen," he told her. "When you're in a fight an opponent in the arena, you can't just fall back on someone else coming to your rescue. You can only rely on yourself."
She reached the closest tree, hands gripping at its exposed root. She held tight to the root with her left hand and reached her right hand down to undo the vine. She managed to get it off, stomping on it hard and grinding it into the dirt with her foot for good measure. She crushed the bit of it under her foot, smelling the sickening smell of its sap. She breathed a sigh of relief that it just lay there, half limp. She brushed the set of stray hairs out of her face. Her face felt flushed and sticky. She reached up for the hair clip in her hair, undoing it. She placed the tip of the clip in her mouth, careful not to nick her lip. She gathered hair in her hands, placed it all in her left hand, and took the clip from her mouth in her right hand. Before she could get the clip to her hair however, another vine struck.
Make that two vines. Both vines wrapped around her ankles, yanking her so hard, her head fell back on the tree behind her, smarting as it struck. In the few seconds she was dazed, she was dragged away from her tree. She tried to kick and scramble at the vines around her two ankles. No luck. She dug her hands into the dirt, digging her nails and even the hair clip in the ground, but it hardly slowed her down. She was almost to the base of the tree stump that the flower took over. She reached for the wind serpent again, but with all her energy burned off, it came to nothing. "Stop it, please, just stop it," she called out to Kurama. "I'll train, I'll fight, I'll hold my own. I swear."
Nothing happened to impede the vines. She was dragged completely over to the base of the tree stump. The two vines around her ankles rolled up her legs and midsection, locking her hands down against her side. She winced as the sharp edge of the hair clip dug into her thigh. The third vine came down, slipping around her jaw, prying it open. The flower above her loomed down, the small seed tipping precarious above her mouth.
"No," she called out, trying to get her hands free.
She felt the hair clip move in her hand again. She moved it best she could against the vine holding her her hand down. She knew it was working when she smelled the sap of the plant. She cut against it more, working furiously to get her right side free before going at the vine around her jaw. She managed to close her mouth just in time. When the small seed fell from the flower, it merely bounced against her lips and rolled off her face. She kept working her way free of the vines, which seemed once damaged, unusable. Then she crushed the small seed beneath her heel, careful not to inhale too deeply around it. Last, she turned to the flower, stabbing it in the center with hair clip for good measure and ripping it apart with her bare hands. By the time she stopped, her hands stunk from the flower's juices and it was transformed into a heap of pedals and parts by her feet. The hair clip in hand was a tangled mess of ruined metal and plastic.
She panted, standing up straight, still feeling adrenaline surging through her veins. She felt shaky, but not tired anymore. She knew she felt sore, but it did not matter in the moment. She heard Kurama jump from his tree and land on his feet. She turned around and looked at him. He walked over to her. "So you can defend yourself. And use your resources effectively," he commented, a ghost of a smile hanging on his lips. "I can't help but wonder if how you would have managed if you had used a regular hair tie instead of your hair clip today?"
She looked at him, livid. "That would have... would have... That would have been a fate worse than death," she panted over at him. She threw what was once the hair clip at him. It bounced off his chest, but did not slow him down. "I can see Hiei tempted to do something like that, but you?" she asked. Her hands balled into fists at her side.
"We need you alive," he pointed out. He stopped in front of her, looking at her calmly. "Besides, are you certain fungal spores can grow in a seed?"
She felt like something snapped inside of her, popping harder than her ankle had earlier. She attacked him, not thinking, but finding herself falling back on her training with Hiei. She desired nothing more than to hurt him and scare him in turn. She moved as fast as she could, powered by adrenaline and rage. It must have caught him by surprise at first, because her first punch on his jaw landed. It was not the first hit of hers that landed either. He had his own strikes land as well, but he was slow to build up to using intensive force like she started out with.
After a few minutes of the intense, all out fighting, he jumped back, hands up in the air in front of his chest. "Nanashi, this is finished," he said. He dropped his guard when he did that, likely on purpose to get her to defuse herself.
She went after him still, bringing her foot up and booting him hard in chest, trying to aim below his rib cage. Her foot was off the mark to the right, but still made contact and made something crack. He gnashed his teeth, hands coming down to right side, wincing. She stepped closer, hands gripping his shoulders and driving her knee between his ribs, hitting the mark this time. He gasped, half choking as she knocked the wind out of him. He tried to back away, but she kept hold of his shoulders, yanking on the them as hard as she could to shove him down to the ground to her right. She panted and strained with the effort, but drove him to his knees and one hand. The other hand stayed on his right side.
She had him right where she wanted him, not caring yet. She knelt down next to him, wrapping her arm around his neck. "Dead," she panted. She held him for a few seconds longer, but let him let go. She slumped down next to him, panting and shakier now that adrenaline was wearing off. Her body felt more battered and bruised than she could ever remember. She closed her eyes, trying to get her heart to stop racing. "Don't ever do anything like that to me again," she hissed. She heard him groan and then slump. She opened her eyes and looked at him. She looked over at him. "Oh, Kurama?" she inhaled.
He leaning half way up on his left side. His left leg and left arm held him up the most. His right knee was tucked in front of his left leg. His right hand held fast to the right side of his chest. His breathing was shallow. His face was red and swollen when she had hit him in the jaw. "I think you broke a rib, or two. Maybe even three," he told her throatily. He chuckled softly.
"It's not funny," she said, wounded. She felt guilt, looking over at the side of his face. He turned, sitting down on the ground. He dug his left hand into his hair, pulling another seed out of it. He popped it into his mouth and chewed it with his undamaged side of his mouth. "What will that do?" she asked softly.
"We're too far from the house to get at my healing herbs, so it'll help dull the pain and accelerate the healing process with my ribs. Two are certainly broken. The third is likely just bruised," he explained. He danced his fingers along his side. "Aim better when you kick next time."
"What about your jaw?" she asked, still mad at him, but worried about the consequences of her attacking him like she did. Her eyes stayed on his mouth. Her thoughts strayed.
He brought his right hand up to his jaw, rubbing at it gingerly. He sighed. "Bruised as well," he ruled. He looked her over. "You've got a few forming yourself. We'll call it a day, get back to the house, and I can mix you up some healing herbs as well."
"I'm sorry," she rushed out, settling down closer to him. She felt guilty for hitting and kicking him so hard, especially after he told her to stop.
He shook his head, giving her a one sided smirk. He rolled towards her, wincing. He gingerly pushed himself to his feet. She rose up too, feeling like every bone in her body had been pummeled, but not as bad as he had been. Her right ankle did ache the most. When she stood up, she winced, wobbling. He caught her, one hand on her shoulder. She was standing close to him, close enough for her to see how bad his jaw looked. She looked at his hand over his rib cage. She rested her hand on top of his, feeling warm herself. She brought her mouth up to his jaw, not thinking, kissing him softly there.
He turned towards her and then pulled away. "That's not appropriate," he stated slowly, meeting her eyes.
"Oh," she said, looking down. "I wasn't thinking," she excused, feeling her face flush and hot. Her eyes pricked, but she blinked that feeling away.
"Let's head back," he said with a formal tone that seemed a bit more damning than anything else.
She hobble back with him, almost wanting to not accept the stick he found on the ground for her to use as a crutch. When they back to the house, she slumped down on the couch in the sitting room, rubbing at her ankle gingerly. She heard Kurama in the kitchen, starting the kettle and rummaging around. They were back sooner than normal, so Kuwabara and Hiei were still out there. She leaned her head against the side of the couch, feeling her stomach and head swim, overly exhausted. She felt both hot and cold at the same time. She closed her eyes and thought over the day, feeling all mixed up. She was so mad Kurama for what he nearly let happen, but then felt even angrier for his reaction to her kiss. If he was so worried that she would die in the arena or possibly not even make it to there, what did it matter if she did something 'appropriate' or not?
"Hey," she heard Kurama's voice. She jumped, sitting up straighter on the couch. She blinked up at him, eyes a little blurry. "Drink this," he said, offering her a hot mug containing the herbal healing tea he drafted. He had another mug in his own hand. She took the mug from his hand, trying not to touch his fingers. She brought the mug to her lips, blowing on it before sipping from it. He drank from his mug, standing at a formal distance from her. She felt a shiver come over her as if from nowhere. He noticed. "Are you cold?" he asked her.
She shook her head, "no, hot." She took another sip from the tea, wincing as it hit the back of her throat.
He took a deep drink from his mug and sat it down on the end table by the couch. He sat down next to her, bringing the back of his hand to the center of her forehead. "Fever," he sighed. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I did- I wanted to, but it was just I was tired when I woke up," she whined out. "But I had to train. You egged me on to keep going." She shivered again, annoyed at its timing. She tried to drain the tea like he did, wanting now to get away from him. It burned her mouth and smarted in her throat, making that move unwise.
He sighed, annoyance rolling off him in waves. "It's best you finish the tea and go lay down. If you feel any worse, you need to tell me immediately." He stood up, leaving her alone on the couch, taking his mug with him.
She felt worse when he rose up, wanting to hate him so badly right now. She brought the mug to her lips, blowing on it and trying to drink it down fast so she could just get out of there. She rubbed the side of her throat, annoyed that it was tender there. Probably from all the fighting and shouting. She finished the tea and sat the mug down on the end table. Too tired to get up from the couch, she curled up on it, not caring if Kurama or Hiei or even Kuwabara cared. Too miserable to care...
"Oi, wake up," she heard a gruff voice next to her ear. She had not realized she fell asleep. Her head swam as she blinked her eyes open. The light in the room hurt her eyes. It took her too long to realize it was Kuwabara leaning over her. He looked away from her and over behind the couch. "Dude, I really don't think she's faking this," he said.
Her head pulsed. An ache flashed in her mind and disappeared. "Damn it, Fox, she isn't," she heard Hiei's voice from far away.
She heard Kurama swear, surprised he use those kinds of words. He was next to Kuwabara looking her over. His hand came to her forehead, cheek, and neck. "Worse," he ruled. "Hiei, can you take her to the Spirit World? I don't have anything herb or plant wise to help her with this. Koenma does." Nanashi slumped her head back against the couch.
"Why can't you take her?" Hiei's voice cut.
"Because she won't do anything with you," Kurama rushed out. He took a steeling breath. "Because you're the fastest."
Nanashi felt a hand grab her wrist, tugging her. Hiei pulled her up, and then picked her up under his arms. Once they were out of the house, she closed her heavy eyelids, trusting him, even as she wished it was Kurama carrying her.