Chapter 2: Kurama's Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Warning: This takes place AFTER the Dark Tournament. It may have some spoilers!!!

"You're CRAZY!" Yusuke yelped, slamming his fist a tree.

"No, I'm not. I'm just making up my mind." Kurama calmly watched his friend's reaction when he had told him what he was going to do.

"Uh uh. You are crazy, Kurama! Don't you remember what happened to those guys from the Dark Tournament? Ya know, the ones that were forced to be like robots and went 'kill, kill, kill, kill,'?" Kuwabara's reaction wasn't much better than Yusuke's. "Brrr... I still get shivers thinking about it."

"So you actually do think?" Hiei asked.

"Shut up, Shrimp!" Hiei gave Kuwabara his famous death glare, but backed down all the same.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about. Kurama made up his mind, and he's going to carry out with it." Hiei crossed his arms over his chest.

"Thank you, Hiei," Kurama said.

"Hn." That was Hiei's answer.

"But Kurama's volunteering to be a test subject! A-a guinea pig!" Yusuke howled.

"I'm sorry, Yusuke, but I see no other way. If I don't do this, my Kaasan is going to die." Kurama looked at the ground.

"Kurama, everyone dies sometime!" Yusuke was desperately trying to get Kurama to change his decision.

"But... now is not the time... I'm sorry, guys, but I've made up my mind."

"No!"

"Kurama!"

"Fox!" Kurama shook his head.

"No. My mind's made up. Kaasan will live."

"And what about you?!" Yusuke was obviously not taking this well.

"..." Kurama didn't respond. This was chaotic. He had filled the rest of the Reikai Tentai in on his situation, after Yusuke had forced it out of him. Unfortunately, they weren't prepared to accept his decision. "Sorry," He said, and quickly left the park.

"Ya think he's serious?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes," Hiei said, looking over to Yusuke, who slumped down by the tree, leaning against it.

"But... Kurama..." He murmured.

"He still has a day to decide, you know." Yusuke shook his head.

"He's not changing his mind. He's determined."

A day later, Kurama quickly made his way to the fountain in the park. He arrived, and saw the man already there.

"Have you decided?" Kurama lowered his eyes.

"Yes."

"So, what are you going to do? Be the subject of my experiment, or watch your poor mother die from disease?" The man smirked, hearing the bushes rustle behind him, thus signaling that Yusuke and Kuwabara were eavesdropping.

"I'll take the potion, and any consequences that come with it." The man's face split into an incredible grin, and he reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle of the potion. He threw it to Kurama, who caught it, and immediately started towards the hospital. He sensed the man followed. He quickly entered his mother's room, and gave it to her. She drank the potion, and within seconds, was completely devoid of the disease. The man smirked.

"Now that you have your half of the deal, you've got to give me my half." He said quietly, so Kurama's mother couldn't hear. The fox replied with telepathy. "Fine."

"Kaasan," He said, out loud. "I'm going to be going somewhere for the next few days. Don't worry about me, okay?"

"Of course, Suuichi," His mother responded. "When are you leaving?"

"Right now." Was Kurama's answer. "I'll see you later, Kaasan."

"Okay, be careful, Suuichi." Kurama walked out of the hospital, the strange man following him.

"Okay, so what's your experiment?" Kurama asked the man, once they were alone in his house. 

"I'll tell you, but first, shouldn't you know my name?" The stranger asked him.

"Yes, I think I should. Who are you?"

"My name is Caibioshi. I, as mentioned before, am a doctor, and a collector of rare potions. The one you gave to your mother was an extremely complex one, made of three Hiroseke stones from a Koorime, a strand of a Golden Youko's hair, and a dragon heartstring. I also experiment with ways to bring and keep out a human's inner demon, and ways to force a demon into their true form." Caibioshi looked at Kurama.

"And is that what you want to experiment with me?" Kurama asked, tucking a lock of his crimson hair behind an ear.

"Precisely. Recently, I've come up with a new potion, and I have to experiment to see how long the effects last, how quickly it works, all the basics." The fox sighed.

"Fine. A deal's a deal. Let's just get this over with." Caibioshi chuckled and reached into his coat, pulling out another potion. He gave the concoction to Kurama, who looked at it in disgust. It was a sick khaki color with dark brown spots in it. He opened the top and quickly drained the bottle.

Immediately, Kurama felt dizzy and lightheaded. He wandered into the kitchen and collapsed into a chair. Quickly, his breath became fast and heavy, as the room swirled around him. He felt himself changing, felt his Youko half being forced into the open. After the transformation was complete, he immediately closed his eyes, and lapsed into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please review!!! It'll get better, I promise!!! I just typed this up real quick, with no ideas on what to do!!!