"Kurama?" The familiar voice came in a very cocky tone.
The Kitsune Akuma turned and saw the figure leaning against the tree, arms folded. "K-Kuronue?"
"Surprised, Kurama? Surprised that I'm alive? Standing here right in front of you? Don't be. Because, thanks to you...I'm not alive. In your features anyways." Reaching within his pocket, Kuronue pulled out the small pendant and began swinging it around.
Staring at the would-be ghost with painful remembrance, Kurama sank as he held his hands to his heart. "No... Kur---no.."
Stepping from behind the tree in which Kuronue was leaning against, Hiei glared at Kurama. "It's true, you know. Hard to believe I once trusted you. Never again, I'll tell you though." With his step, his katana clinked silently at his side.
Letting go of his grasp, Kurama's eyes fell upon Hiei. "Hiei..." The thought of the gem within his pocket had slipped his mind as he stared at who he had believed were his closest friends. "What are you talking about?"
"Kuronue and I spoke. Quite a bit, might I add. Became quite familiar with each other, that we did... He told me of your past, Ku." Turning away from Kurama, he stepped carelessly. "Why couldn't you tell me of your past? You always had so much trouble, and yet, this stranger told it to me willingly." Hiei shook his head.
"It's just that...that..." Kurama stuttered. He was unable to look either Hiei or Kuronue in the eye straight, and he fiddled with his hands.
"It's all your fault, Kurama. And now you're gonna pay." The pendant that he swung within his fingers, transformed into a scythe blade connected to a chain. When it was swung it would hiss while passing through the thin air.
Hiei pulled his katana from its sheath and before Kurama could react, had moved with his lightning-quick movement, and had the blade pressed against Kurama's throat. The Youko was cornered as his back was pressed against a tree trunk, and he stared into his friend's red eyes.
"You've done nothing but stand in my way from the beginning of when I met you, Ku. It's time that I make my own path, and in order to do that...you must be out of the picture." Hiei pressed the cold steel upon Kurama's neck and blood began to roll upon the blade.
Wincing from the pain and lack of air, Kurama's mind raced. He was unsure of what he could do. Was this how his life would end? By the hand of his best friend? Then...he thought. His mind shifted from the Hiei he knew to the one he had seen in his dream.
As the blade continued upon its path upon Kurama's neck, Hiei pressed harder unflinchingly. It was as if all of his time with Kurama before had never happened, all the stuff they had gone through together never happened. None of it did. They were never friends. Only two Demons. From different sides of the track.
In the flutter of faltering between conscious and unconsciousness, Kurama reached into his pocket and pulled out the gem. He shoved it in Hiei's face, only hoping against the odds that it would have some meaning to him.
Seeing the gem that Kurama had in Hiei's face, Kuronue stumbled to stand straight. "Don't look at it Hiei! It's just a fox trick, he's trying to pull you to his side!!!"
After staring at the gem for naught but a second, Hiei took a step back and drew back his katana. His eyes were wide and his lip quivered.
Coughing, both hands flew to his cut throat and Kurama turned to the tree for support. Blood streamed freely between his fingers and he was obviously having trouble standing up straight. The gem fell from his hands and it landed on the ground rolling a few feet towards from Hiei.
"Don't look at it Hiei..." Kuronue ordered again. But no matter how many times he told the Demon not to look at the gem, the more he ignored his "partner in crime". Growing angry, Kuronue shot a hand out and spread his fingers. The gem flew into his palm and he clenched his fist, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces.
Blinking, Hiei looked from Kurama to Kuronue as if just awakening from a trance. He sneered and with a short cry of anger, charged at Kurama, katana held high.
Unable to return to his senses, it wasn't until the long steel had punctured his body did he realize that, Hiei indeed, was not the one he called friend. Gasping for breath, Kurama bent over the long sword protruding from his lower abdomen. The sticky, warm liquid ran down his front and back, and he fell to the ground glancing at the wavering image of Hiei.
"Hiei...you're not like this..." Inhaling sharply, Kurama's tears of pain fell from his eyes. "You're...my friend...forever...always... If you must kill me to obtain your true life's happiness...then...do it." Pulling the katana from his abdomen, with a large wince of pain, Kurama held it out to Hiei. "Do it, Hiei...if you must."