Disclaimer's Note: I don't own YuYu Hakusho. ;_;
Warnings: This is yaoi.
Yeah, that means that one guy will be on top of another guy. You have a problem with that, I don't want your crap. -_- End of story
There will also be rape later one in the story.
Without further ado, enjoy the story.
Chapter One
Kurama stared at the window at where the rain was pouring dismally down on the earth. His mood matched the weather.
Lightning cracked the black sky in half, and blinded him for a moment. He knew he should have tried to go back to sleep, but Kurama was tired of being haunted by the same nightmares over and over.
Nightmares of Hiei.
It had been three weeks with no word from him.
Three weeks since Kurama had tried to tell Hiei he loved him.
Three weeks since Hiei had taken off, leaving Kurama feeling confused and hurt.
And three weeks since nightmares of Hiei had plagued him during the nights.
He felt as though he had fallen to the brink of insanity. Kurama had searched for the fire youko with almost no success. Kuwabara and Yusuke had aided him his in quest, but they had also had no results.
Kurama pressed his hand to his face. He knew he shouldn't have tried to tell Hiei his feelings; Hiei considered emotions a weak point.
Tears pressed hard again his eyes, but a knock suddenly shattered his thoughts of Hiei apart.
"Who is it?" Kurama questioned, wondering who would be visiting this late.
"It's us," a voice Kurama recognized replied.
The redhead composed himself, and hurried to the door.
Yusuke and Kuwabara stood on the threshold, both looking tired, yet worried.
"Koenma wishes to speak with us," Yusuke spoke, trying to suppress a yawn.
"This late?" Kurama asked, a bit surprised.
"It's about Hiei," Yusuke answered a tad hesitantly.
"Yeah, it seems the short fry isn't hiding like we thought he was," Kuwabara continued, yawning and stretching.
"Is he okay?" Kurama asked, as he went for a jacket.
Kuwabara shrugged, and Yusuke didn't reply.
*~~~~~~~~~*
Kurama tried not to look nervous.
He failed miserably.
Koenma was still in his nightclothes when the three boys arrived, accompanied by Botan.
"Oh good you're all here..." Koenma said, somewhat distracted.
"What's up with short stuff? Did he finally piss somebody off enough that they aimed a few attacks at his head?" Kuwabara smirked. "Just kidding," he said added as an afterthought to Kurama.
Kurama didn't reply as he watched Koenma pace nervously.
"There is a group of youkos that call themselves the Hanabis," Koenma suddenly began.
The trio frowned at him, not sure what he was getting at.
"We haven't heard from them for awhile, and we were relieved. They are a powerful group, and we really didn't have anyway to defend ourselves against them. It seems that they were binding their time however."
Kuwabara and Yusuke glanced at each other, and shrugged.
"They practice an odd ritual, 'The Curse of the Thousand'. It's a dark ritual that requires the blood torture and then sacrifice of a thousand youkos. There are many details to each sacrifice, including days, times, stages of the moon, personality of the sacrifice, beliefs of the sacrifice, appearance, powers.... Anything you can think of is named in eventually one of the sacrificial rituals... But it seems that this group is on their thousandth sacrifice."
"But how can that be?" Kurama questioned, surprised. "What will happen if they do unleash the power of that curse?"
"They have been working on the curse for many years, but we believed that would forgot it, as any other group that has attempted it has. As for the powers of the curse..." Koenma shuddered. "They would be unstoppable if they do succeed in their last sacrifice."
"Then let's stop them before they nab the next damn sacrifice," Yusuke said, crossing his arms.
"It's too late. To stop them, you'll have to steal their sacrifice from underneath their noses," Koenma replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Great! We get to fight off a few dumb asses, save some hot chick sacrifice, and be a hero again." Kurama said with a grin.
Koenma stared at him.
"There will be a thousand youkos of greater power then you've fought before guarding the sacrifice. And the sacrifice is no 'hot chick'. It's Hiei."
Kurama felt his heart stop.
"...Hiei?" he whispered.
"I'm afraid so," Koenma replied in a grave voice. "If you don't stop this group from sacrificing Hiei in exactly two weeks... I'm afraid there will be no hope left for any of us."
*~~~~~~~~~~~*
Pain exploded in Hiei's head as one of his captors hit hard across the face.
"Don't even think about escaping bitch.," his attacker hissed.
Hiei snarled in contempt at the youko, but didn't reply. He knew he was outnumbered, and didn't stand a chance. His sword had been taken from him, his hands bound, and oddly enough so was his power. During the day he was commanded to walk, and during the night his legs were also bound.
He didn't know what was going on. A group of these thugs had gained up on him a week ago, and since then they had been marching him all across this world for no apparent reason.
Hiei had been in some bad situations, but this had to be one of the worse. To be surrounded by hundreds of youkos, that were not only powerful, but smart, to have his defenses again, and not having any body know where the hell he was. It seemed to be a pretty much hopeless situation.
But being the fire demon he was, he wasn't going to give in to these idiots without a fight.
Another blow was suddenly delivered to his stomach.
"Sleep bitch."
Hiei shut his eyes, trying to ignore the pain that was eating away at him. He could take pain, yes. But it was beginning to hurt after having not treated wounds for a week, and having no powers to help him. He felt like a damn human.
Sleep began to creep into the corners of his mind, and a name spread through his thoughts as he lost consciousness.
'Kurama...'
*~~~~~~~~~~~*
"How the hell are we going to find these guys?" Yusuke grumbled as he brushed aside a branch from a tree.
"There's a thousand of them. They can't be that hard to spot Urameshi." Kuwabara replied.
Kurama followed behind the two without comment. They had started off after the Hanabis as soon as they could, only waiting to grab essential supplies. The trio was trekking through the vast lands of the demon world, looking for any signs of the demon group.
To be honest, Kurama couldn't believe this was happening. A few weeks ago, he had been holding Hiei in his arms, thinking that nothing would ever separate them. Now he was on a mission to save Hiei's life.
Kurama wondered how Hiei was. Did he know what was happening? Were they torturing him already?
He was scared.
For the first time in awhile, pure terror penetrated Kurama's soul.
If he lost Hiei... he didn't know what he would do.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*
A kick in the lower back was what awoke Hiei. He groaned, and felt somewhat hoist him to his feet. Hiei blinked wearily as he stared at the demon that had woken him and was now cutting the bindings on Hiei's ankles.
"Get moving bitch," he hissed, prodding Hiei in the back when he was done.
"I have a name you know," Hiei growled.
"Yeah I know." the other male laughed. "It just doesn't matter."
Then he swiftly went to kick Hiei's legs. Hiei jumped up quickly, avoiding the kick.
"Think you're such a tough guy?" the youko suddenly snarled, grabbing Hiei up by the front of his shirt. "You won't be by the time we're through with you, I promise you that Hiei."
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
"Why are these guys walking for over two weeks to sacrifice Hiei?" Kuwabara grumbled, as he gulped down some water.
"It's all part of the rituals," Kurama explained. "They can't just sacrifice him on the spot, because the ritual probably calls for two weeks of torture or walking to their meeting spot or something like that,"
"So why do they want Hiei anyway?" Yusuke asked, as he wiped some sweat off his brow.
"Not sure. I don't know the specifics of this curse," Kurama answered. "Very few are interested in testing it out because it takes sometimes thousands of years to complete. I don't think anybody has ever completed it."
"Don't worry," Yusuke spoke firmly, as they started to walk again. "We'll save him."
"Look!" Kuwabara suddenly called from a few paces ahead of them.
Kurama and Yusuke hurried towards him. They stared for a moment, and Kurama felt a wave of relief wash over him. Thousands of tracks were firmly pounded into the ground in front of them. All they had to do was catch up now.
*~~~~~~~~~~*
"Sleep bitch."
It was the same command that came every night, yet this night Hiei was growing weary of it. He was tired of being beaten, and being called bitch every time he was spoken to. He wanted answers; he wanted to know where they were going... And he wanted to see Kurama.
"Make me," Hiei growled in annoyance.
"You want me to make you sleep?" the youko that seemed to be his personal guard hissed.
He was a tall brute, and had a muscular physique. His eyes were dark a dark ebony, and so was his hair. He wore a long black coat, with a silver shirt and black pants underneath. He was a master of weapons; he had demonstrated that several times by unexpectantly springing a knife from underneath that jacket of his. What his true power was, Hiei did not know...yet.
The others called him Xander.
He had been watching over Hiei night and day, making sure that he did not try to escape or attack.
And right now he was definetly pissed off. He grabbed Hiei by the shirt for the second time that day.
"Believe me I will," Xander hissed, and suddenly Hiei felt a pain shoot through his body.
He looked down in surprise at where Xander was grabbing.
"Very nice," Xander whispered, an odd expression twisting over his face.
He threw Hiei back down on the ground.
"Now take your shirt off."
Hiei was in shock. Was this why he had been taken? To be used as some kind of plaything?
Hiei crossed his arms, and looked away.
"Take your shirt off." Xander commanded again, looking slightly amused.
"No, baka." Hiei snarled.
"Do you want me to help you?" Xander growled. "I guarantee you, you will not come out unscathed."
Hiei hesitated for a moment, and then grabbed the shirt and pulled it over his head. He held his breath, praying that Xander wouldn't come any closer.
He didn't. He looked at the chest that was now exposed to the cool night air, and then turned away.
"Sleep bitch." was all he said.
Hiei complied.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Kurama woke suddenly in the night. He shot up, grabbing his chest, and breathing hard.
He had had another nightmare about Hiei.
Yusuke and Kuwabara were waking from their sleep, and blearily blinking at Kurama.
"Whatsa matter?" Yusuke mumbled.
"We have to keep going," Kurama breathed, looking for his things.
"What?" Kuwabara grumbled. "We just went to sleep!"
"We'll never catch up to them this way!" Kurama snapped.
Yusuke was surprised by Kurama's tone. There was a note of fear there that he had never heard before.
"Okay, okay, chill out Kurama." Yusuke replied, as he began to gather his things too.
"We're not actually going, are we Urameshi?" Kuwabara groaned from where he was still lying down.
"Kurama's right. If we want to save Hiei in time, we're going to need to spend a few nights walking to catch up with them."
Kurama didn't think he had ever felt more grateful then at that moment.
"Thank you Yusuke,"
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
The leader of the Hanabi group was at the end of their little procession, but he could still see Hiei perfectly. He had watched the youko struggle in annoyment and confusion, and laughed at the short man's attempts.
He had been the one to personally pick Hiei out of the possible beings they could have used for their final sacrifice.
"Lord Ash," one of the youkos spoke as he walked in stride with the leader. "Xander says that Hiei has finally fallen asleep."
"Good," Ash replied, as the group began to slow and ready for the night.
"Lord Ash..." the youko hesitated. "No disrespect intended, but why do we need this 'Hiei', surely there were other beings that would have put up less a fight,"
Ash smirked. He knew the greater majority of the Hanabi group was wondering the same thing. Why had they picked such a troublesome youko that had been right under Koenma's nose?
"Do you remember our dear friend Kurama?" Ash questioned, as he stared at the stars over head.
The youko's expression suddenly began thoughtful, and he began to laugh.
Ash nodded, smirking.
"That is why we took Hiei."
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