Wind Master Jin of the Northern Breeze
Chapter Two
"Kurama." Hiei entered the dimly lit room, blending with the many shadows near-perfectly. However, his intense ruby eyes glowed with determination. He approached the object of his search, finding the fox to be seated on a low bed. He sensed the male had been close to settling down for the night but had room for one last conversation of the day.
"What you did was not necessary, Hiei." Kurama's gaze had fallen to the floor and stuck since the fire demon's entrance. Feelings of weakness continued to overpower his thoughts, but he knew it was for the better that he remained in Spirit World, away from the conflicts.
"I may not be able to completely understand your situation, Kurama, but I have been picking up on your emotions. It would have been more ambiguous had you set off a bomb. Instead you released solar flares in the form of feelings," he paused and upon not receiving a response stated a fact, "It's not like you." The room fell deadly silent and was broken only when the fox moved. His silk clothing purred as he straightened his back and met Hiei's unyielding stare.
"Getting yourself into trouble appears to be a regular for you lately, fox." Hiei's eyes narrowed in question, "Tell me why you didn't defend yourself." The fox had become accustomed to Hiei's demanding personality and no longer felt offended or threatened.
"I tried," Came the soft reply, "But there were two fighters. Both managed to take me by surprise from the shadows. I made a mistake, and I paid for it. My reasoning is as simple as that."
"What were you doing there?" Hiei's cold tone had not lifted.
"I was..." The soft voice faded away. Kurama's eyes focused on the red spheres before him, and regardless of all the years Kurama had know Hiei, and all the occasions he had gazed into his eyes and never felt intimidated or weak he couldn't deny he sensed fear manifesting in the pit of his stomach.
Hiei discovered the alarm, and could hear the pounding of Kurama's heart clearly in his sensitive ears. He took a step back, giving the fox more room. Like a cornered beast, Kurama was dangerous when frightened.
The fox had always been the calm type, never one to go rushing into battle without the correct knowledge, and if he didn't have the knowledge he relied on experience, skill, and strategy.
"It was... a request." Kurama finished, his eyes lowering once more and the green dulling a few shades. Hiei knew that was not the story in its entirety and he hesitated in prying, not wishing to rouse any further jumbled emotions, but he needed to know.
"From who?" The fire demon calmed his flaring eyes and lowered his cord of voice slightly.
"Koenma, but Hiei, you must-"
"Why," Hiei nearly snarled, "Why did he send you alone? That rodent! He should have sent another."
"Such as yourself?" Kurama laughed tenderly.
"This could have been prevented." Hiei near visually smoothed his temper over.
"Koenma didn't see the logic in sending more than one fighter, and he was especially against sending you." Kurama gave him a soft smile, finding humor among the fire demon's seriousness. Hiei placed his hands in his pockets and turned his head away, something that was as close to a pout as Hiei's expressions could become. In reality, the face was more of a glower.
"Come now Hiei," Kurama teased, "Do you honestly believe Koenma would have sent you knowing full well of your temper? He knew once you were there you wouldn't see any reason in returning without completing the mission. It was wise to wait for Yusuke."
"All we achieved was wasting time and having a valuable member of our team injured. The only information we received about them was the fact they're cowardly."
"Hiei, how sweet of you to think I'm valuable," Kurama bowed his head with a tiny chuckle, "But I assure you I am fine. Now that I see Jin will be assisting I don't feel my time and health was thrown away."
"What does that Wind Master have to do with this?" Hiei's pronunciation of Jin's title drew a smile to Kurama's lips. Hiei seemed almost jealous.
"Yusuke's happy with him. There's no one else he can talk to so freely. He's placed trust in all of us, but the kind he has in Jin is different. They have many similarities, whether it's in their personalities or their fighting. Haven't you noticed, Hiei? Yusuke hasn't been nearly as violent as usual. Jin calms him."
Hiei snorted indignantly, "They're both children needing to grow up." He turned away, taking several steps toward the door.
"I think he has all the right to be the way he is. Becoming a Wind Master isn't an easy task, and Jin has been perfecting his techniques for practically his entire life."
"So you're saying you don't think he's any older than the dimwit Spirit Detective?" Hiei looked back at him quickly, his spiky hair brushing back and forth with the swiftness.
"Not by much." Kurama smiled, "At least... not inside."
"Figures."
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"Alright, who's ready to go?" Yusuke, surprisingly full of energy for being awake so early in the morning, shouted loudly. No answer came. Yusuke looked around the room, finding Kuwabara crashed on the couch and Jin asleep on one of the two beds in the room. He sweat-dropped, shoulders slouching with the weight of skepticism.
"Ah yes, the great Urameshi team." Yusuke laughed weakly and turned around to face the door. He placed a hand under his chin as he dawned a thoughtful expression, "For once I'm up before six in the morning and the rest of these nitwits are sleeping. Well, maybe not Hiei." He sighed and walked over to Kuwabara. With a smug smirk he casually tipped the tall male off the couch. The sleeping teen hit the floor like a rock, and immediately began flailing in surprise. The blanket flapped about and was eventually tamed. With a yelling growl Kuwabara sprung to his feet. His half open eyes settled on Yusuke.
"Why the heck did you do that, Urameshi?" Kuwabara's tone was thankfully softened with morning grogginess.
"Well good morning Sir Sleeps-a-lot, time to get up. This morning wake-up-call has been brought to you by Koenma Enterprises." Dodging a punch from Kuwabara, Yusuke held a glint of mischievousness in his eyes as he began walking over to wake Jin. He peered down at the sleeping demon, a broad and trouble-guaranteeing grin spreading across his face. He snickered to himself, and reached out toward Jin. He nudged the demon's arm.
"Mnh," Jin's eyes clenched shut and he tried to shoo the intruder away with a hand, "Always gettin' me up to train so early in the mornin', can't it nowt wait 'til later Touya?" Jin snuggled farther down into the bed with a deep intake of breath. Yusuke's insane snickering continued.
"Jin." Yusuke could barely contain himself. He rolled the Wind Master over to face him and looked at the calm expression. Yusuke leaned close, waiting for the bright blue eyes to open. Once more, Jin clenched his eyes shut tightly, before they slowly opened.
"Dah!" Jin leapt, shoving the teen, and at near light speed he scooted backwards until he closed in on the edge. Unfortunately for the Wind Master, a hand caught air and he tumbled backwards off the bed. His bare feet flew skyward before a loud thump sounded as his body made contact with the floor. Yusuke proceeded to laugh hysterically.
"Let's try not to kill each other before the fight." Hiei interrupted, standing in the entrance with his hands in his pockets. Kurama was by his side, as usual, and Yusuke quickly took notice of the bandaged arm. The fox had been wearing long sleeves yesterday, but now he was placed in a more casual outfit. A baggy yellow shirt that was tucked in neatly, short sleeved, and a faded pair of blue jeans concealed his form. Yusuke ceased his laughter and stepped over to them, taking glances at Kurama's arm.
"Only a minor cut Yusuke, nothing to be concerned over." Kurama assured him softly, winking discretely.
"I can see that, but I was wondering what trick you managed to do this time." Yusuke hovered about the redhead as a recovered Jin crawled onto the bed behind him, gasping.
Hiei cut in, "It's not important at this point; we have somewhere to be. If you're going to be slow I might as well leave without you." The bitter tone could have frozen any normal creature's spine, but Yusuke Urameshi was a different story.
"Oh I see. So that means you were just protecting your pretty fox, that's why you said he wouldn't be going." Yusuke ruffled Hiei's hair, indirectly making a stab at their difference in height. Hiei's shoulders rose, his cheeks burning. He seethed in a warning manner.
"Yusuke," Kurama caught his attention, "That is not wise."
"Yeah, yeah..." He waved a hand as if brushing the matter aside. Hiei's hand went to the shaft of his sword, drawing it from the black sheath. Kurama gave an 'Eh' sound and sweat-dropped, stepping to the side. As Yusuke turned and began to walk away, the fire demon took a lightening fast slash with his blade. Yusuke's back straightened and his entire body became stiff, several stands of his hair floating about playfully. Yusuke swiveled around to face his attacker, a disgruntled glare upon his face.
"Maybe next time I'll take more than hair." Hiei returned the glare as he sheathed his sword. Feeling he was done, he turned and left.
An annoyed eyebrow twitched, teeth grinded together, and Yusuke raised a fist before taking a few steps into the hallway.
"A little less off the top next time! I wasn't looking for a buzz-cut!"
The fire demon suddenly halted, tilted his shoulders back and sent a glower over his shoulder, "And I wasn't looking for a childish game to play."
Yusuke stepped back into the room before turning to Kurama and, in a more serious tone, asked, "Why is he in such a good mood today?"
"He's happy," Kurama laughed kindly as if not understanding why Yusuke couldn't see it, "Hiei loves to fight, but he's mainly relieved I will not be accompanying you."
"I don't see why he's happy about that, you're a great fighter; we all feel safer having you around."
"Never thought I would hear you say something quite like that Yusuke." Kurama's eyes softened and he chuckled. Jin had finally caught his breath, and was on his feet, approaching Yusuke from behind.
"I came to tell you," Kurama began once more, trying not to draw attention to Jin by looking at him constantly, "That you'll be leaving soon, and to prepare before meeting with Koenma. I'll wait for the rest of you, but for now, you'll have to deal with the task approaching." Kurama exited, leaving a baffled Yusuke behind to ponder what he meant. He was referring to the battles when he said approaching task, right? Why did he have that amused gleam in his eyes then? Before the Spirit Detective had gone too deep into his thoughts, two strong arms locked around his waist and lifted him into the air, frightening him half to death as he let out a yelp of surprise.
"Jin!" Yusuke squeaked from loss of air.
"Urameshi!" The Wind Master laughed and set him down after squeezing him for good measure. Yusuke, practically falling over, turned and drew in a deep breath as he regained his composure.
"Thouwht I'd scare you back a bit." Jin yawned, stretching.
"You didn't have to do it so well." Yusuke scowled, holding his chest that was currently straining to hold his heart in place.
"Uppity today so how abowt we snatch breakfast and 'ave a bit to eat Urameshi?" Jin sighed contentedly as Yusuke raised an eyebrow, wondering what the word 'uppity' meant.
"Sure," Yusuke said finally, "Why not."
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"I hope you don't plan on screwing this up, Yusuke." Koenma looked at the teen with eyes that clearly said he didn't have much faith in the success of the current mission.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Yusuke leaned over his boss' desk.
"I know telling you what and what not to do when fighting only holds you back, but I really have nothing to say. This all came about so suddenly we really don't have a choice."
"That's just fine, I've been waiting for a good battle to come along, I haven't had near as much exercise lately." Yusuke's enthusiasm was uncontainable.
"Yusuke you idiot," Koenma stomped one foot onto his desk, "Don't assume this will be like all the other battles you fought! We know hardly anything about these demons and nothing about their strength and power! Don't think this is going to be easy!"
"If it were easy, it wouldn't be any fun." Yusuke smirked. He left the room, leaving an angry Koenma behind.
"Don't leave when I'm talking to you!" Koenma was soon shouting at a closed door.
The teen walked back to the room he had stayed in overnight. As he entered he found Kuwabara sitting on the couch across from Jin, a plate of food in his lap. The meal had hardly been touched. Yusuke soon discovered why.
"And after she healed me, we went to fight the next team, but I don't think I could have made it if it weren't for Yukina!" Kuwabara babbled on. Yusuke's eyes dropped, but he quickly became amused when he noticed Jin was fast asleep, his head tilted back onto the sofa and his mouth slowly opening and closing with each breath.
"Kuwabara!" Yusuke snapped, catching his attention, "Stop boring him to death, no one wants to listen to your continuous talk about your true love!" Despite all the yelling that went around, Jin remained asleep. His plate of food had been emptied, apparently he managed to stay awake long enough to eat, but afterward his body decided a cat nap would be nice. Yusuke walked over to the sleeping demon and smacked his face lightly a few times but didn't receive a response.
"What did you do to him Kuwabara?" Yusuke sighed.
"Hey, all I was doing was making conversation." He crossed his arm resentfully.
"Get up, we're going." Yusuke informed, lifting Jin to his feet and dragging one of the muscular arms around his neck to support the dozing demon.
"But I haven't finished eating yet."
"Just get up so we can leave, I'm sure Hiei is getting angry waiting for us. Eat on the way." Yusuke walked out the door, taking, or rather dragging, Jin with him.
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e. 2-8-06