Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.
Yusuke and Kuwabara entered Koenma's office together. Kurama and Hiei were already there, waiting for the demigod to give them the details of their next assignment.
"Hello Yusuke, Kuwabara," Kurama said cordially as the spirit detective closed the heavy door behind them.
"Hey, guys!" Kuwabara exclaimed excitedly. He had been rather put out about his exclusion from the last mission, but Yusuke had managed to beat some sense into him.
When he turned around, Yusuke immediately got the sense that there was some tension between the demon half of his team. Hiei had not turned around from his perch on the windowsill and Kurama was carefully avoiding looking in his direction.
"Jeez, who died?" Kuwabara said, obviously picking up on the mood as he flopped down on the long couch next to the red-haired fox demon.
Kurama raised an eyebrow but did not comment and Hiei continued his silent vigil without interruption.
"Man," Yusuke said as he leaned against the wall. "Why is Koenma so concerned with being on time when he can't be in his office on time?"
"Because my time is infinitely more valuable than yours," Koenma said as he stepped into the room and climbed onto his chair. He sat down and began to shuffle the papers on his desk into a few separate stacks as the four teammates waited for their assignment.
"Well, this mission should be fairly expected," Koenma finally said looking up from his desk. "You are to find and subdue a fire demon named Kiosh who is in possession of the artifact I sent you after three days ago." Koenma glanced at Kurama quickly, then lowered his eyes.
"We know that he is in the Ningenkai but we haven't been able to fix his location. That means you're just going to have to keep your eyes open and find him through more conventional means. If any one of you runs into him, contact the others. No heroics here," Koenma said sternly.
"I thought even though he beat Kurama, this guy wasn't that strong," Kuwabara said completely without tact.
Kurama shot him a strangely Hiei-like glare and said something under his breath that although was not Japanese, Yusuke was sure it was not complimentary. Hiei looked at Kurama with surprise for a moment before he burst out laughing. Hiei laughing was a disturbing sight.
"Ahem," Koenma cleared his throat. Hiei stopped laughing and Kurama continued to scowl although now it was directed at the foot of the demigod's desk. "Anyway, the demon was just a lower class, but now that he's been in the Ningenkai for a few days he's considerably stronger, thanks to the pendant."
Koenma continued, "All ningens have reiki but for most it's minimal and inaccessible. However, this demon has been draining this from quite a few ningens and now he is considerably stronger."
"What about the people he drained?" Yusuke asked.
"They've slipped into coma-like states. Once we get the pendant, I suspect we'll be able to release their energy back to them. Kill Kiosh or capture him, but get the pendant. Any questions?" Koenma asked.
No one said anything. "Ok," Yusuke said after the moment of silence. "Let's get going then."
The four of them trailed out the door, but Kurama hung back a moment just outside Koenma's office. "Kuwabara, could I have a word?" he asked softly.
Hiei and Yusuke stood several yards away as Kurama spoke quietly to the orange-haired young man. He had a sincere look on his face as he talked and Kuwabara shook his head several times.
"What's that all about?" Yusuke asked, shaking his head in confusion.
"He's apologizing, idiot." Yusuke was not sure whether Hiei was calling him or Kurama the idiot, but he suddenly remembered the growled remark Kurama had let out a few moments ago.
"What did he say to Kuwabara back there?"
Hiei's mouth twitched slightly in an almost smile. He hesitated a moment before saying, "It is not appropriate for repeating…Besides, it doesn't translate well."
Hiei turned and left Yusuke gawking for a minute. For Hiei to not want to repeat it, it must have been pretty bad.
~*~*~*~
It was fast approaching dusk when they got back to the Ningenkai. The sky was a brilliant orange red with the setting sun over the city. A few tiny stars could just be made out on the eastern horizon. The city seemed strangely muted, the bustle in the streets a distant buzz.
"Ok," Yusuke started. "We should split up. It may take us a while to find this guy." Kuwabara moved to Yusuke's side. "Oh no, Kuwabara. Kurama and Hiei are the telepaths and if one group runs into this Kiosh guy, they can contact each other. Kurama, you're with me."
Hiei shot the spirit detective a death glare from beneath his dark bangs, but didn't complain other than a small 'hn.'
Yusuke and Kurama headed of toward the south part of town while the other two went north. After about thirty minutes of walking with no sign of anything more extraordinary than three-legged dog in the park, Yusuke was decidedly bored.
"Kurama?"
"Yes?" The fox demon continued walking with his face down, watching the flowers they passed, his long red tresses obscuring his face.
"What did you say to Kuwabara at Koenma's office?" Yusuke did not think that Kurama would actually give him a truthful answer, but any conversation was more interesting than walking in silence.
"Oh that," Kurama chuckled. "I'm afraid the translation loses most of its significance, and the reference would be lost on you." He paused. "It was rude; I should not vented my anger on Kuwabara. There was no malice in his comment."
There were a few moments of silence. "Koenma asked you to keep an eye on me."
This did not seem to be a question and Yusuke doubted he could fool Kurama with a lie. "Is that a problem?"
"Do you trust me in a fight?" Kurama asked quietly.
"Of course," Yusuke said without hesitation.
"Then no." Kurama suddenly stopped, mid-pace. His eyes went wide and he gripped Yusuke's sleeve. "They've found him."
~*~*~*~
Luckily, that orange headed bafoon was being quiet. If he had insisted on speaking, Hiei might have considered cutting out his tongue and jamming it up his nose. Hiei walked a good two yards to the idiot's left just so that no one would think he was with him.
That Hiei did not feel Kiosh's ki before the demon attacked was a testament to his growth in strength since he first obtained the pendant. As it was, he sensed the attack just in time to jump out of the way of a huge fireball. He landed in a crouch a few yards away.
Kurama, Hiei reached out with his mind. We found him. Just south of the park. Look for the pyrotechnics.
He dodged again and looked wildly about for the demon responsible for the flying attacks. Kuwabara was on the other side of the small crater in the sidewalk.
Suddenly he saw him, and apparently he had changed quite a bit in only three days. Kurama had not gone into detail describing the guy, but he had said he looked fairly human. That could not truthfully be said of the demon now. He was about eight feet tall with long pointed ears sticking up from his long, bright purple hair. His eyes glowed orange. The silver pendant glimmered against his neck.
Hiei did not have time to stand around and study Kiosh though as he continued a rapid barrage of fireballs at him. He would never get an attack in if the demon could keep up this pace.
Suddenly with a yell, Kuwabara charged wielding his spirit sword. Kiosh smiled and raised his hand to attacking young man.
Abruptly, Hiei realized what was happening. "No, you idiot!" he yelled too late. There was a sudden flash, Kuwabara grunted and fell to the pavement, limply. Kiosh turned to Hiei with a crooked grin, and Hiei could feel that his strength had just increased dramatically.
Kiosh raised his hands to prepare another attack. Hiei prepared another dodge.
"Rose whip!" Suddenly Kurama appear wielding his whip. With a swipe, it wrapped around Kiosh's wrist as Hiei saw Yusuke pulling an inert Kuwabara out of the way.
Without warning, Kurama dropped his rose whip and stepped back with a cry of pain. As Hiei watched, Kurama doubled over. He couldn't see his face, but his hair suddenly shifted from red to silver…then back to red again.
Kiosh seemed to be struggling as well; his brows were knit in concentration. Kurama lifted his bowed head and let out a feral grown. His pained eyes glared at the demon as they shifted between green and yellow. Kiosh abruptly turned and fled, just as Hiei launched himself at him with his katana drawn.
He was gone. Kuwabara lay unconscious in the bushes and Kurama was on his hands and knees, shaking. Hiei landed next to his friend. He looked up to Yusuke.
"That could have gone better."
A/N: Ew, I hate writing fight scenes. This chapter took me longer than I anticipated, but then the chapter was longer than I anticipated…Hm. Oh well, please review and let me know what you think.