Chapter 5: Kurama's Rescue

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. I wish I did, but if wishes were foxes, they wouldn't be endangered. I DO own Caibioshi, though. Warning: May have spoilers! Warning: This chapter has some blood and gore, and it's only because of this chapter that the story's rated PG-13.  Oh yeah... another thing... A few people reviewed and asked if there was going to be shonen ai or yaoi. No. I do not write that kind of stuff. This is just a deep friendship. YOU PEOPLE ASSUME TO EASILY! A BOY CAN HAVE A GOOD FRIEND THAT'S THE SAME GENDER WITHOUT BEING GAY!!! Okay... that's it, except thank you to everyone who reviewed!

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

Kurama slowly closed his telepathic link with Yusuke, unaware of the boy's shouts. All he saw was him, in middle school, picking apart a frog to pieces in science class. He had remembered every single gruesome step of it. The only good part was that it was already dead. There was no assurance of that here. Kurama's mind was numb in fear. He could hardly think. He watched as the scalpel's glow of heat became more evident, and just stared at that for a few minutes. Caibioshi looked up from the scalpel to Kurama's face, which was actually whiter than his hair.

"So, you've figured out what I was going to do, have you not?" Caibioshi's voice seemed to break Kurama out of his trance, and he began to seek help though telepathy again. He searched for Yusuke, and it actually took longer than usual. He finally found him, and sent his message.

"Yusuke, I'm sending an energy signal. I'll keep it up as long as possible." He said, starting to create the signal. He heard the boy protest.

"But, you're warded! I thought that means you can't reach your spirit energy!" Kurama sighed, mentally.

"I know. I'm using my life energy. Hurry! Please!" And the energy was released, but it wasn't in waves, like usual. Kurama was freaked, the energy he sent out was mixed up and totally messy. But right now, he didn't care. He felt it draining away his life energy, and after about two minutes, he stopped, completely drained, and only hoped that Yusuke had found out where he was.

"Hold on Kurama! Me, Hiei, and Kuwabara are coming as fast as possible!"

He closed off the link again. Kurama was so exhausted, he didn't even move when Caibioshi came closer with the scalpel.

"Ah... so you're giving up, is that it?" Kurama was too tired to respond. He rested his chin on his chest, and panted heavily. Caibioshi grabbed a handful of Kurama's hair, and jerked his head back, exposing his neck. The doctor put the point at Kurama's neck, but didn't make a slit. Instead, he moved down just below his collarbone, and made a shallow gash with the hot scalpel from the end to end of the bone. Kurama growled a little, but otherwise remained quiet.

Then, Caibioshi made another slash, just as deep, right above the belt of Kurama's shorts. Kurama growled louder, but that was it. Caibioshi then made a vertical slash, from one wound to the other, making sure to overlap them. As the cuts overlapped, Kurama hissed, loudly.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, please, let me hear one of those! Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun," Kurama chanted over and over in his head, hoping his sensitive ears would be able to catch one of them. No luck.

Caibioshi took the scalpel and began separating skin from muscle. (Is that even possible in humans? I don't know. Hmm... it works with chickens. It works with frogs. It works with other mammals with fur. Good enough for me!) At every inch the hot tool cut, Kurama hissed louder. Unfortunately for him, Caibioshi heard it, and carelessly cut the rest as fast as possible, extracting another yell of pain from the fox. Kurama knew... he was trying to make this as painful as possible for him. Caibioshi folded back the flaps of skin, pinning them down with the pins, which resulted in loud growls from Kurama. (Yes, this is the real process in dissecting a frog. I know. I've dissected one.)

The mad doctor took the scissors and played with them for a while, before stabbing them harshly into the bottom of the wound. Kurama yelped again and growled as Caibioshi twisted the scissors into position and opened them. Caibioshi leaned over and whispered.

"Tell me Kurama. Does it hurt? Can you feel the pain, throbbing like the beat of your heart? Every beat bringing more pain to you? Does it?" Kurama didn't say. His fangs bit into his tongue, drawing blood, but he didn't care. His fingernails created wounds on top of the wounds, but he didn't care. All he knew was the massive amount of pain coming from his abdomen, as he concentrated on his chanting.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun," he repeated, chanting in his head, praying to hear one of them. Again, no such luck.

"Well, Kurama?" No response. Caibioshi snapped the scissors shut, and Kurama stopped chanting long enough to yell in pain. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

Caibioshi opened the scissors, and moved it into position again. "This must be so humiliating, right?" He slammed the scissors down, and forced another pained yell from Kurama. But within seconds, the scissors were back into position. The scissors were small, but powerful. However, small scissors meant more cuts, and even more pain.

The third time, though, Caibioshi didn't just cut; he slashed along the rest of his stomach, right up to his ribs. The third time Kurama yelled, his vocal cords ripped from the pressure, and he just let his head fall to the side, blood flowing out of his mouth and pooling around his head, staining his hair. His eyes had lost their usual gleam, and the bleeding wound right across his stomach didn't help.

Kurama knew what was going to happen. Caibioshi was going to cut his ribcage open. He really was going to kill him, slowly. Oh so slowly. Caibioshi positioned the scissors, a devilish gleam in his eyes. Kurama closed his eyes, and concentrated on his chanting, that was gradually slowing, as his breathing became faster.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun, Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Spirit sword, Spirit gun... Dragon of the Darkness Flame... Spirit sword... Spirit gun... Please let me hear one of these, PLEASE!" He braced himself for the pain, but continued chanting. " Dragon... of the... Darkness Flame.... Spirit... sword...Spirit... gun, Dragon... of the... Darkness... Flame... Spirit... sword..."

"SPIRIT GUN!"

Kurama's eyes snapped open, as he heard Yusuke's loud voice. But Caibioshi was caught off-guard too. He jumped, and the scissors stabbed Kurama's inside of the rib cage. The fox made a feeble sound, but nothing else, as he watched the rusty metal doors burst out of their frames, revealing Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei, who saw Caibioshi standing over Youko Kurama, strapped onto a table, covered in wards, with a pair of scissors sticking out of his stomach. Yes... a very disturbing sight. Yusuke's eyes widened as he took in the scene.

"You-you sick bastard!" Yusuke shouted, powering up his Spirit Gun again. But Caibioshi only smirked, and violently twisted the scissors, causing Kurama to yelp in pain. Yusuke lowered his hand.

"That's better. If you don't want your friend to hurt more, you'd better stay-" And Caibioshi fell over, a large slit mark appearing on his throat. As Hiei appeared, his hands charred black.

"You came..." Kurama said, before finally going into the blissful state of unconsciousness.

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

"Koronue, are you sure this is the right cave?" Youko Kurama, or his soul, at least, asked. A tall, thin, hooded figure, Koronue, nodded. "Fine," Kurama said, walking in, Koronue following him. Kurama walked deeper and deeper into the labyrinth-like pits of the cave, searching for the lost treasure of Burning Fire. After a while, Koronue assumed lead, but Kurama didn't protest. He just followed the hooded figure deeper into the cave. Mistake number 1.

At one point, it became so dark, it was impossible for the fox to see. So, he just held onto Koronue's clothes, following him. He wondered how his partner could see, but quickly dismissed it when he saw a light at the end of the cave. Mistake number 2. He let go of his partner, walking faster towards the light, passing Koronue along the way. As the two got closer, Kurama  was shocked to find a golden door, blocking their path. He eagerly grabbed the handle, but recoiled in pain. IT WAS HOT! He stared at his burnt hand, but wasn't surprised. This was the treasure of Burning Fire, after all.

Koronue, after seeing Kurama retreat, grabbed the handle himself and pulled. Again, Kurama wondered how he did it, but again, he brushed it off. Mistake number 3.  The door opened, and Kurama was met with a blast of searing heat. He hesitantly looked at the door, mistake number 4, before Koronue stuck out his hands and pushed him in. Right before he fell in, though, A dark figure grabbed his wrist, pulling him away from the door. Kurama looked up to the figure, and gasped, eyes opening wide.

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

AN: *Ducks random items thrown from angry Kurama fans* Please! Stop! I told you, this WILL have a good ending! *Dodges a bowling ball and ten pins* Holy cheese! Where are you people GETTING this stuff!? You're throwing everything but the kitchen sink!! *Dodges kitchen sink* Never mind... If you don't stop throwing stuff, I'll sic Kyoda (my Yami) on you! *Dodges lawn mower.* Okay... *Thinks up another excuse* I'll hurt Kurama even more! *Rain of stuff immediately ceases.* Whew! Review and I'll put up the next chapter! PRESS THE PRETTY BUTTON!!! *Dodges dinner bowl filled with rice* YOU'RE REALLY ASKING FOR IT!