Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.
The hot afternoon sun beat down onto the concrete sidewalk causing the air above it to shimmer. Since the rain the night before, it was very humid and Kurama was sweating beneath the heavy school uniform he wore. If he were not so particular about his appearance, he might have just taken off his jacket, but he would wait until he got home to change.
He wondered if Yusuke and Hiei had found any traces of Kiosh. He did not know if Hiei would actually contact him or not. Sometimes the small demon could be quite vindictive and if he was mad at Kurama, leaving him out of a fight would seem like a suitable revenge to him.
Briefly considering pulling down his barrier to allow him his telepathy, Kurama quickly dismissed the idea. The queasiness of reestablishing the block would not be worth it. In fact, he was not entirely sure he was completely over the last bout of illness. He had not eaten at all today to avoid vomiting again.
He continued his walk home allowing his concentration to wander. The lines of flowers planted along the sidewalk seemed to droop slightly under the sun's intense onslaught and Kurama had to fight the urge to come back with a watering can.
With a forced jerk, Kurama looked away from the flowers. He should be paying more attention to his surroundings but for some reason he felt rather anonymous with his youki all but obscured. It was as though he could actually pretend to himself he was human. It seemed…liberating.
Still, a dangerous demon was still out there and Kurama was not exactly his best friend right now. You don't have to be able to sense youki to pay attention, he scolded himself silently. He glanced up to see a dark flash among the branches of the trees above him. He stopped.
"Hiei?"
He flitted down next to Kurama and started walking as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Kurama sighed as he took a few hurried steps to catch up with him. "I thought you were angry with me," he said nonchalantly.
Hiei did not look up. "It took you long enough. I've been following you since you left that ningen school of yours."
"Any luck with our renegade fire demon?" Kurama asked, choosing to ignore the insults in his last statement.
"Hn," Hiei snorted. "None."
"Where's Yusuke?"
"Visiting that inanimate oaf. I've no idea what he hopes to accomplish," Hiei replied sourly.
Kurama rolled his eyes. "They are friends, Hiei. When one is in trouble, the other worries about him. It is the way human relationships work."
"What is he going to do? That idiot can't hear anything he says. It's pointless."
Kurama could not help but smile at his friend's naiveté when it came to relationships. Even in the demon world, things were not as simple as Hiei would no doubt like them to be. "It is important to Yusuke. No doubt it reaffirms his resolve to stop this demon."
Hiei gave the redheaded fox demon an unconvinced look and without further conversation, the two continued on toward Kurama's house. They reached the tiny yard out front.
"Are you coming in? I'm just going to change and then we can head out again," Kurama said with his hand on the gate.
"Is your mother home?" Hiei asked warily. He disliked contact with ningens other than his companions and avoided it whenever demonly possible.
"Yes," Kurama answered.
"I'll met you at Yusuke's." He liked Yusuke's mother. She never questioned him when he did happened to see her and most of the time she was asleep or passed out.
"Have it your way," Kurama said with a wave of his hand. "I'll be there in a few moments."
Hiei nodded once, curtly before he flitted toward the park. He'd wait there before going to the spirit detective's house. There was no point in getting there before Kurama did especially if Yusuke was not yet home.
He found a comfortable limb to sit on as he watched a ningen child throwing a sort of red disc and forcing a scruffy four-legged animal to retrieve it. It was obviously some sort of sadistic torture to force the animal to repeat such a sisyphusian task and Hiei therefore enjoyed the show.
After a few moments the animal seemed to rebel and was immediately put on a chain. Perhaps not all ningens are as soft as I imagined, Hiei thought as he watched the animal pull the child along. Without the distraction, Hiei's thoughts focused on his current problems.
He had not told Kurama, but Kiosh had not been idle since their last encounter. Yusuke and he had found the body of a human man, dead. It seemed Kurama was right in suggesting the fire demon was gaining more control over the pendant. Now he was not only drawing spirit energy, but life energy as well. It was likely that Kiosh would be significantly stronger the next time they met.
Deciding he had waited long enough, Hiei stood and hurried to the spirit detective's home. Yusuke's window was in rather an awkward place for sneaking in so Hiei decided on the door although he disliked such a forward means of entry.
He opened the door quickly and flitted to Yusuke's bedroom. Yusuke was sitting on his floor playing one of those video game things. When he saw Hiei, he dropped the controller in his hand and stood up. "Hey up for another round?" he asked with a grin.
"Where's Kurama?" Hiei asked flatly.
Yusuke shook his head and answered, "I haven't talked to him since last night."
"He was on his way over," Hiei said as he turned out the door. The kitsune should have been here by now and Hiei immediately had a bad feeling about this.
Hiei hesitated a moment before using his telepathy. If Kurama had lost his telepathic abilities with his youki then any communication Hiei attempted would be a trespass into his mind, something Hiei disliked doing.
Oh well. Kurama! he reached out with his mind. He immediately got a flash of Kurama's mind at the moment. Pain and anger were the overwhelming senses he got. Where are you? he thought with a slight edge of alarm.
Hiei? Kurama's normally crisp, clear thoughts were harder to distinguish now without his telepathy from the rest of his mind. Out of the jumble he could make out his response. Forest, outside of Genkai's temple.
"Come on," he said to the human. "Kurama's found Kiosh." Actually, it was probably the other way around.
A/N: Eep, another fight scene coming up! I'm thinking one more chapter and a short epilogue, then this one is through. This chapter was really light and easy to write so I'm happy with it. I thought, though, I'd end it on more of an ominous note. Erm, I hope I'm still generating interest. Please review.