Warning: Reference to rape in this chappie.
Kurama brushed a strand of red hair out of his face in annoyance, as he kept up his steady past. His chest burned, and his legs ached, but he refused to pause for any reason. He was going to find Hiei. And before anyone had hurt him.
Suddenly he stumbled, and hit the ground hard.
"Kurama!" two voices behind him called in unison.
Yusuke and Kuwabara were next to him in an instant, helping him up.
"Man, I understand trying to catch up with them, but you have to be able to fight once you get there. You need to rest," Yusuke spoke, making sure that Kurama was sturdy on his feet.
"But Hiei..."
"Is a tough ass. Why I bet when we get there, he has those Hanabi dudes as the captives." Kuwabara cut Kurama off.
Kurama took a deep breath, and shook his head.
"We have to keep going,"
"We need to rest." Yusuke objected. "Not long. Just an hour or two, to regain our strength. All right Kurama?"
Kurama hesitated as he studied the tracks. If they rested for an hour they would probably catch up with the group at around midnight, but that was an hour that something could happen to Hiei during... Every moment was precious.
But he could see how exhausted Yusuke and Kuwabara were. If they did find the Hanabi group tonight, as Kurama suspected, the two boys would be too tired to fight.
"All right..." Kurama gave in. "We'll rest for an hour."
"Great," Kuwabara sighed, as he sank to the ground.
*~~~~~~~~~~*
The sun beat cruelly down on Hiei's naked back. His skin burned, and sweat poured down his body in tiny rivers.
He was tired. He was hungry and thirsty. He would have killed for a shower.
But Hiei didn't let any of that show through the mask he wore. He just kept putting one foot calmly in front of the other, taking slow breaths, and urging himself to continue. After all it wasn't like he was just some idiot human. He could take a little pain.
"Take that cloth off of your eye." the order came from behind.
Hiei felt shock wash through him. They couldn't be serious could they? Hands began to play with the knot that tied the cloth around his head.
Hiei brought his own hands up, slapping Xander's away.
"I can do it." he hissed.
Hiei braced himself, as the cloth fell away.
*~~~~~~~~*
As night approached, Kurama could smell the scents of the youkos.
"We're very close," he whispered to Kuwabara and Yusuke.
Both boys nodded, and kept silent. It was important that they didn't get captured now.
Kurama suddenly stopped walking, and both Yusuke and Kuwabara bumped into him.
"What's up?" Yusuke whispered in the darkness.
"Do you hear that?" Kurama questioned, cocking his head to the side.
"Hear what?" Kuwabara asked, cupping his ear.
Kurama motioned for them to follow him, as he shimmied carefully into a tree. Yusuke and Kuwabara followed, having a little more trouble then the graceful Kurama however.
Once they were in the tree, they could see what Kurama was talking about. A few hundred feet away, there was a large bonfire roaring, and hundreds of youkos gathered around it as one talked.
"My fellow Hanabis, our time is at hand! Soon we shall have not only this world, but the world of the humans also! Koenma shall feel our wraith! For years we have toiled at this curse, seeking sacrifice after sacrifice doing as each part of this curse commanded, but now we finally reached the final sacrifice!"
A roar went up through the surrounding youko crowd.
"No one can stop us now!"
The cheer became even louder.
"Not Koenma or his henchman!"
The bonfire seemed to spark with the noise.
"WE WILL RULE SUPREME!"
The night shook with the power
of yells.
Kuwabara and Yusuke glanced at each other.
"I saw we go tell them what we think of their ideas now," Kuwabara grinned, cracking his knuckles.
"No!" Kurama answered a little too sharply. "We have to find Hiei first."
Kurama climbed a little higher into the tree, and looked about.
"I see him!" Kurama spoke, starting to go down the tree. "It looks like he's by himself, but we'll have to be careful."
"All right," Yusuke complied as he followed after Kurama.
Kuwabara took one more glance at the huge youko crowd and then followed.
*~~~~~~~*
Hiei's head was splitting with pain. He was tied firmly to a tree, though at least he got to sit this time. His wrists were rubbed raw, and he wouldn't allow himself the luxury of sleep. He needed to stay awake and on guard.
Hiei took a deep breath, longing to be out of this situation, when a familiar scent hit his nose.
Kurama?
Hiei's head shot up, and he carefully sniffed the air once more. He could've sworn that he had smelled the fox's scent for a moment....
"Hiei..." the beautiful voice of the other youko entered his ears and sounded like music.
"Kurama?" Hiei questioned in a whisper, twisting around trying to see where he could be.
"Are there any guards nearby?" Kurama's voice asked.
Hiei looked up towards the sky, from where it sounded like Kurama's voice was coming from.
"No..." Hiei whispered in reply.
Kurama suddenly jumped out of a nearby tree, landing right in front of Hiei.
He knelt silently in front of Hiei, his eyes sad. He cupped Hiei's face with one hand.
"Are you all right?" he questioned in a quiet voice.
"Fine." Hiei answered, trying to sound like his normal self.
He was dying to touch Kurama. He wanted to kiss the kitsune, and hold his body in his arms...
Kurama smiled softly, seeing through his lover's act. He reached down to his hip, and brought out a water flask, from which Hiei began to drink.
"Now to get you out of here..." Kurama whispered, beginning to work at Hiei's restraints.
"Kurama! They're coming back!" a voice that sounded like Yusuke's hissed from the trees.
Kurama bit his lower lip as he desperately tried to get the lock open.
"Kurama, come back tomorrow at sundown. They'll have their meeting and you'll have more time. They'll tie me up on some tree nearby," Hiei commanded. "Even if you got those open in the next minute, we wouldn't have time to run."
Kurama snarled in annoyment, knowing that Hiei was right.
"I'll be back," Kurama said standing. "I promise."
"I know." Hiei answered with a cross between with a smirk and a smile.
Kurama felt tears press against his eyes. Quickly he bent down and brushed his lips against Hiei's before fleeing back to the trees.
*~~~~~~~~~*
Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama fell back a bit so that the youkos wouldn't find them, but not so far as that they couldn't easily catch up with the group tomorrow.
"Sleep..." Kuwabara grinned as he fell to the ground, and began to snore almost immediately.
"Idiot..." Yusuke groaned, and then turned to Kurama. "I'll take the first watch, you can sleep, okay Kurama?"
Kurama nodded his thanks, and also curled up the ground, feeling better then he had felt in awhile. Hiei was safe, and soon would be back in his arms.
*~~~~~~~~~*
Hiei snarled as Xander returned from the meeting, a few other youkos in toe.
"I smell kitsune," a female youko suddenly commented, her nose twitching.
"A kitsune, eh?" Xander said, staring at Hiei. "Have a visitor?"
Hiei turned away, ignoring the question.
Suddenly Xander grabbed Hiei by the skin around his collarbone. Hiei made sure not to wince as Xander's fingernails bit into his skin causing blood to flow down his chest.
"You will answer me when I speak to you boy."
The other youkos where watching behind Xander with knowing smirks on their faces.
Hiei stared at Xander for a moment, and then spat in his face.
"Make me you fool."
In one quick movement, Xander threw Hiei hard against the ground.
The female youko that had spoken early, laughed cruelly. Hiei looked up and noticed that there were six youkos in a circle around him now, five being males.
"You're going to wish you never had done that," Xander spoke in a cold tone.
*~~~~~~~~~~*
When Hiei awoke, every part of his body hurt, and some parts he didn't know existed.
He groaned, and grabbed his head.
Then he opened his eyes and blinked.
Where was he?
It appeared that he was lying in a huge magnificent bed, silk sheets wrapped around his thin body.
With a tentative hand he patted his face. His skin felt clean as though it had been recently washed.
Hiei pulled the sheet up, and looked down at himself. His physical wounds had been washed and bandaged also.
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't mean to startle you with all this."
Hiei jumped a bit, and looked up to see a beautiful blonde youko. His hair was the color of sunlight, and tied carefully at the lower part of his back. His skin was pale, and he looked gentle. He wore a robe of a pale blue silk. But strangest of all, one of his eyes was blue and the other was silver.
"Where am I?" Hiei asked in a wary voice.
"This is an illusion I'm afraid, but I guessed you would be more comfortable even if it wasn't quite real."
Hiei pressed his hand against the bed, and felt a little surprised. He had better be careful with this youko if he was able to create an illusion that even felt real.
"Who are you?" Hiei questioned.
"My name is Ash. I am sorry for what Xander and the others did to you last night. They will be punished for it, I promise."
Hiei winced as the memory came crashing down on him. He quickly regained his guard and looked back up at Ash.
The blonde stepped a bit closer, and Hiei felt his body tense without warning. He winced as pain spiked through his body.
"I mean you no harm," Ash spoke in a gentle voice with a sympathetic nod. "I mean only to check on how your wounds are healing.... may I?"
Hiei nodded, still wincing a little.
With nimble hands, Ash began to unwrap the bandages.
"They seem to be healing nicely. I'll send one of the doctors in to check on you later, would that be alright?"
Hiei stared at Ash.
"Who are you really?"
Ash hesitated for a moment.
"You could say I'm an old friend of Kurama's."