Disclaimer: By giving up claim on these characters, I am admitting that I am a lonely person with too much free time. I hate being honest.
AN Gomen! Gomen! This chapter is so bad! Its angsty! It's not funny, but angsty! Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean for that to happen! *sobs* I wanted a funny chapter, but this is how it came out. Even my muses were cringing at the complete OOC-ness I have displayed. *pounds on keyboard in distress* Stupid! Stupid! Bunny no baka!!!
Um... also, there will only be one chapter after this. To wrap it all up. Hopefully, it will make up for all chapters lacking humor.
*shameless begging* Go read my NEW FIC (that should be updated soon) Strangers. Also, go see my LIVE JOURNAL (info in bio).
=========================================
Chapter 4
Stealing from Reikai
Kurama looked up from his math homework with a startled frown. He was positive that there had been a tapping at his window - which wasn't too strange, the tree there sometimes scraped against the glass. What had surprised him was an almost silent cry of surprise, and a dull thud seconds later.
The red head cautiously closed his math book, put down his pencil and got to his feet. He was debating whether or not to summon one of his plants just in case, before deciding to use the tree outside his window to ensnare whatever was outside the window.
What he wasn't expecting were the resulting flames.
Kurama gasped and rushed to his window, throwing it open and realizing with relief that it was raining out. Then he recognized Hiei's ki. Seconds later, the soaking wet Youkai crawled away from the trunk of the tree and along the branch he had been trapped on. Kurama helped him inside the house as best he could.
"You poor thing," Kurama said softly, trying not to laugh. He must have a death wish or something, laughing at Hiei.
Hiei was standing in the middle of his bedroom, so wet that his hair was sticking to his head, heavy with water. His clothes clung to him and a pile of water was already beginning to collect at his feet. Once Hiei was sure no more water would land on his body, he boosted his ki and was instantly dried.
Kurama hurried off to retrieve a towel to wipe up the water on his floor.
"I tried knocking on your stupid door, Fox. I spent nearly ten minutes down there!" The fire Youkai glared in a way that caused things around him to spontaneously combust. Unfortunately for Kurama, his just finished math homework went up in flames. Kurama ignored it for moping up his floor to keep the wood from warping.
"Well," he asked once he had finished his task and hung the towel over his desk chair to dry. His math homework was long gone by then. "Did you get the map?"
Hiei nodded proudly. "There was a big display of maps in the front entrance," he said, his whole attitude changing. "There was also a big sign that said "you are here" and it pointed to a place on a map." He pulled out the Reikai map from his Personal Space with a flourish and handed it over.
"Very nice," Kurama said with a smile. The map was perfectly detailed, including little labels that said things like "Koenma's office" and "bathroom #54 (oni only)" and "Library" and "Kings Vault."
"Ohh!" Kurama said with a low whistle. "A library!" His eyes glistened at the thought of the texts that were sure to be hidden in the Reikai library. There was bound to be something interesting there. Something that he could steal... Then he remembered why he had the map in the first place, to steal the mirror. And when he got the mirror he was going to use his life to save his mothers.
Good thing Hiei didn't know that part of the plan. The little demon would kill him himself.
"Kitsune no baka!" Hiei said, snatching the map back. "We're going to the vault, not the library - it's on the other side of the palace! All you need to do is find the safest and fastest way to the vault, how to get in, and back out. You've got two days."
Hiei then turned to dig through Kurama's closet, where all of his new possessions had been stored. He pulled out a pair of black pajamas that looked almost exactly like his normal clothes, changed into them, crawled into Kurama's bed and fell asleep.
"Well," Kurama muttered, staring first at Hiei in his bed, and then down at the map in his hand, and then over at his pile of almost finished homework. "At least Hiei trusts me enough to sleep in my presence. But how am I going to explain my homework to the teacher? "I'm sorry sir, but a fire youkai burned my homework."?"
"Kitsune no baka," Hiei muttered from the bed. "Just do it again."
Well, obviously Hiei had never experienced the horrors of Advanced Trigonometry. Do it again, that would take *hours*!
===
"Okay," Kurama said calmly, "this is our path into the palace..." He pointed at a certain spot along the outside wall. "This is where Hiei said he got in last week, so that's where we'll go. Then we'll head into the palace from this door here. The wards shouldn't activate until Koenma realizes that there are intruders in the palace. Gouki, you'll head off to this part of the palace here," Kurama pointed to the place furthest possible from the Kings Vault - the library. "Hiei and I will get to the vault and meet you here," he pointed to the front doors. "There will be such an uproar that we should be able to get away cleanly."
All the while Kurama had been talking; he had been carefully directing his ki into the grass under Gouki's feet. The grass had grown upward and wrapped itself into the Koukonki's pants. With Kurama's final words, he released his ki from the grass and pretended not to notice as the demons pants fell to his ankles. Hiei had a harder time hiding his laughter. Gouki didn't notice.
With the plan laid out, to which Gouki didn't look to sure of, but he valued life and didn't bother to comment. He just grunted his assessment, pants still on the ground. With Kurama's part said, the meeting was declared over and the three demons departed. But only after Hiei told them that they would steal the artifacts the very next night. And Gouki finally realized that he had been depantsed and turned a very unflattering shade of red. He didn't look at Kurama when he did though - and he disappeared moments later.
Kurama chuckled, sighed and began walking home. He didn't even both to keep to the shadows, so his fan-club of stalker girls found him easily and began- well, stalking him really.
"Shuuichi, what are you doing tomorrow night, would you like to see a movie with me?"
"Shuuichi, how is your mother doing, any better?"
"Oh, poor Shuuichi! Living all alone, would you like to stay at my house?"
Kurama nearly shuddered at that last one. He slowed down, stopped and turned around with his fake smile plastered across his face. "I'm sorry girls," he said with fake regret, "but I was planning to spend time with my mother at the hospital tomorrow night. And I have a visitor from my past staying with me. He went out to get some Ice-cream with a friend, but I promised to meet him back at my house." For some reason, Kurama didn't feel like lying outrageously to the girls again. Usually he would come up with something completely random, like this:
"I'm sorry girls, but I was going to go on a camping trip this weekend to harmonize myself with nature and the world around me. I think its such a waste that people don't commune themselves with trees, don't you?" And then he would walk off, whistling to himself. A few days later, the girls would become nature loving activists, while Kurama would sneak to the Makai and rob somebody blind using only a plant seed.
Irony was such a wonderful thing.
===
"Okay, so... what do I do again?" Gouki asked, scratching his horns in confusion.
Hiei sighed and handed him a map. "Go here." He pointed to the spot labeled 'Library'. "Make as much noise and disturbance you possibly can when you get there. Eat an oni or something."
Gouki's eyes gleamed and he scurried away.
"Let's get the artifacts and get out of here." Kurama said calmly, his voice betraying the excitement he was feeling. He hadn't done a raid like this in years. Since before he came to the Ningenkai. Hiei nodded at his words and they hurried off to the Kings Vault.
"Why they have information maps in the front lobby of the palace I'll never know." He muttered darkly, glancing again at the map in his hand. They followed the twisting hallways deeper and deeper into the palace. They finally stopped outside a large set of doors, with the words "Kings Vault, do not enter" written in bold across them.
Kurama snorted, checked carefully for wards, and simply opened the door. Hiei scanned the inside for wards, darted inside, retrieved the items - faster then Kurama could blink - and landed right back to where he started.
"Let's go pick up the idiot." Hiei sighed, obviously not wanting to. Kurama nodded. They made it halfway to the meeting place before the alarms went off and a child-like voice echoed through the building.
"All hands to section H-3, the library. There is a disturbance..." the voice trailed off. Moments later it was back. "Block every exit, someone has been into the Vault... they've stolen all three of them!"
Hiei grunted, scooped Kurama up in his arms and began running as fast as possible to the meeting place with Gouki.
"Come on," he said loud enough to attract some unwanted attention. "We're done here."
"Yes," Kurama added. "We don't want to linger enough to be caught."
Gouki dropped his oni and followed the two demons out of the palace and back to the Ningenkai. It was amazing that they got away at all. Until when they were meeting the next night - when Kurama declared himself free of the alliance he had set with Hiei.
"I'm sorry," he said to Hiei, "I must withdraw from this alliance." He lowered his eyes and immediately blocked his thoughts so that Hiei couldn't find out why.
"What?" Hiei gasped, shock quickly gave way for anger. "You coward!" He cried, "These years in the human world have made you just like them! Spineless and weak!"
Gouki, on the other hand, reacted with relief. "I don't mind if he leaves, but hand over the pretty mirror first."
"I can't," Kurama told him, a hard gleam in his eyes. "I have great need for it myself first."
"If you won't give it up, I'll rip it from you!" Gouki yelled, taking a few steps towards the red-head.
And then, they were found. By a boy, holding a tree-branch over his head as though it would keep away the rain. Well, it might for Kurama, but it wouldn't for anybody else.
The next things to happen were a little blurry. The boy introduced himself as Yusuke... Hiei said something about his lack of spirit energy, and Kurama simply left. Hiei caught up with him seconds later.
"I accept you as the one who raised me," the fire youkai said desperately, trying to change Kurama's mind about using the mirror for his mother. "I got the eye for you, so I could find you! Please don't die; I don't want to loose you again!"
"I can't be selfish any more Hiei," Kurama said softly, running a hand through Hiei's soft hair. "I've taken too many lives, and it's only fitting that I give mine to save the one person who changed my hardened soul. She needs me, baby. This is the only thing I can do to pay her back. I needed someone to make the hurt go away. I lost you and it nearly killed me. But if I lost her, I'm almost sure that there won't be a second chance to soften my soul."
"But," Hiei whispered, throwing caution into the winds and lunging forwards to latch around Kurama's waist. "Who will soften my soul?"
"Come fine me in the Makai," Kurama said, stroking Hiei's hair as though he were trying to flatten the spiky locks. "You know where my den is, I bet. I'll be waiting for you there."
Hiei sighed and let go of the red head. "That spirit detective won't let you die." He said finally. "I've seen him a few times in town. He's a punk, but only when he needs to be. If you tell him your reasons for stealing the mirror, he won't kill you." Hiei sighed. "Stupid fox."
"Hey Hiei," Kurama said, starting to walk away already. "How did you know what I was planning?"
"You talk in your sleep, kitsune." Hiei called back. "Always have."
Kurama turned red.
=========================================
Hiei: So mushy, can't stand it...
Kurama: It was so OOC! *falls to knees in distress* NOOO!!!
Hiei: Get it away! Get it away!
That chapter was crap, so please insult me as you see fit.
REVIEW!
.
AN Gomen! Gomen! This chapter is so bad! Its angsty! It's not funny, but angsty! Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean for that to happen! *sobs* I wanted a funny chapter, but this is how it came out. Even my muses were cringing at the complete OOC-ness I have displayed. *pounds on keyboard in distress* Stupid! Stupid! Bunny no baka!!!
Um... also, there will only be one chapter after this. To wrap it all up. Hopefully, it will make up for all chapters lacking humor.
*shameless begging* Go read my NEW FIC (that should be updated soon) Strangers. Also, go see my LIVE JOURNAL (info in bio).
=========================================
Chapter 4
Stealing from Reikai
Kurama looked up from his math homework with a startled frown. He was positive that there had been a tapping at his window - which wasn't too strange, the tree there sometimes scraped against the glass. What had surprised him was an almost silent cry of surprise, and a dull thud seconds later.
The red head cautiously closed his math book, put down his pencil and got to his feet. He was debating whether or not to summon one of his plants just in case, before deciding to use the tree outside his window to ensnare whatever was outside the window.
What he wasn't expecting were the resulting flames.
Kurama gasped and rushed to his window, throwing it open and realizing with relief that it was raining out. Then he recognized Hiei's ki. Seconds later, the soaking wet Youkai crawled away from the trunk of the tree and along the branch he had been trapped on. Kurama helped him inside the house as best he could.
"You poor thing," Kurama said softly, trying not to laugh. He must have a death wish or something, laughing at Hiei.
Hiei was standing in the middle of his bedroom, so wet that his hair was sticking to his head, heavy with water. His clothes clung to him and a pile of water was already beginning to collect at his feet. Once Hiei was sure no more water would land on his body, he boosted his ki and was instantly dried.
Kurama hurried off to retrieve a towel to wipe up the water on his floor.
"I tried knocking on your stupid door, Fox. I spent nearly ten minutes down there!" The fire Youkai glared in a way that caused things around him to spontaneously combust. Unfortunately for Kurama, his just finished math homework went up in flames. Kurama ignored it for moping up his floor to keep the wood from warping.
"Well," he asked once he had finished his task and hung the towel over his desk chair to dry. His math homework was long gone by then. "Did you get the map?"
Hiei nodded proudly. "There was a big display of maps in the front entrance," he said, his whole attitude changing. "There was also a big sign that said "you are here" and it pointed to a place on a map." He pulled out the Reikai map from his Personal Space with a flourish and handed it over.
"Very nice," Kurama said with a smile. The map was perfectly detailed, including little labels that said things like "Koenma's office" and "bathroom #54 (oni only)" and "Library" and "Kings Vault."
"Ohh!" Kurama said with a low whistle. "A library!" His eyes glistened at the thought of the texts that were sure to be hidden in the Reikai library. There was bound to be something interesting there. Something that he could steal... Then he remembered why he had the map in the first place, to steal the mirror. And when he got the mirror he was going to use his life to save his mothers.
Good thing Hiei didn't know that part of the plan. The little demon would kill him himself.
"Kitsune no baka!" Hiei said, snatching the map back. "We're going to the vault, not the library - it's on the other side of the palace! All you need to do is find the safest and fastest way to the vault, how to get in, and back out. You've got two days."
Hiei then turned to dig through Kurama's closet, where all of his new possessions had been stored. He pulled out a pair of black pajamas that looked almost exactly like his normal clothes, changed into them, crawled into Kurama's bed and fell asleep.
"Well," Kurama muttered, staring first at Hiei in his bed, and then down at the map in his hand, and then over at his pile of almost finished homework. "At least Hiei trusts me enough to sleep in my presence. But how am I going to explain my homework to the teacher? "I'm sorry sir, but a fire youkai burned my homework."?"
"Kitsune no baka," Hiei muttered from the bed. "Just do it again."
Well, obviously Hiei had never experienced the horrors of Advanced Trigonometry. Do it again, that would take *hours*!
===
"Okay," Kurama said calmly, "this is our path into the palace..." He pointed at a certain spot along the outside wall. "This is where Hiei said he got in last week, so that's where we'll go. Then we'll head into the palace from this door here. The wards shouldn't activate until Koenma realizes that there are intruders in the palace. Gouki, you'll head off to this part of the palace here," Kurama pointed to the place furthest possible from the Kings Vault - the library. "Hiei and I will get to the vault and meet you here," he pointed to the front doors. "There will be such an uproar that we should be able to get away cleanly."
All the while Kurama had been talking; he had been carefully directing his ki into the grass under Gouki's feet. The grass had grown upward and wrapped itself into the Koukonki's pants. With Kurama's final words, he released his ki from the grass and pretended not to notice as the demons pants fell to his ankles. Hiei had a harder time hiding his laughter. Gouki didn't notice.
With the plan laid out, to which Gouki didn't look to sure of, but he valued life and didn't bother to comment. He just grunted his assessment, pants still on the ground. With Kurama's part said, the meeting was declared over and the three demons departed. But only after Hiei told them that they would steal the artifacts the very next night. And Gouki finally realized that he had been depantsed and turned a very unflattering shade of red. He didn't look at Kurama when he did though - and he disappeared moments later.
Kurama chuckled, sighed and began walking home. He didn't even both to keep to the shadows, so his fan-club of stalker girls found him easily and began- well, stalking him really.
"Shuuichi, what are you doing tomorrow night, would you like to see a movie with me?"
"Shuuichi, how is your mother doing, any better?"
"Oh, poor Shuuichi! Living all alone, would you like to stay at my house?"
Kurama nearly shuddered at that last one. He slowed down, stopped and turned around with his fake smile plastered across his face. "I'm sorry girls," he said with fake regret, "but I was planning to spend time with my mother at the hospital tomorrow night. And I have a visitor from my past staying with me. He went out to get some Ice-cream with a friend, but I promised to meet him back at my house." For some reason, Kurama didn't feel like lying outrageously to the girls again. Usually he would come up with something completely random, like this:
"I'm sorry girls, but I was going to go on a camping trip this weekend to harmonize myself with nature and the world around me. I think its such a waste that people don't commune themselves with trees, don't you?" And then he would walk off, whistling to himself. A few days later, the girls would become nature loving activists, while Kurama would sneak to the Makai and rob somebody blind using only a plant seed.
Irony was such a wonderful thing.
===
"Okay, so... what do I do again?" Gouki asked, scratching his horns in confusion.
Hiei sighed and handed him a map. "Go here." He pointed to the spot labeled 'Library'. "Make as much noise and disturbance you possibly can when you get there. Eat an oni or something."
Gouki's eyes gleamed and he scurried away.
"Let's get the artifacts and get out of here." Kurama said calmly, his voice betraying the excitement he was feeling. He hadn't done a raid like this in years. Since before he came to the Ningenkai. Hiei nodded at his words and they hurried off to the Kings Vault.
"Why they have information maps in the front lobby of the palace I'll never know." He muttered darkly, glancing again at the map in his hand. They followed the twisting hallways deeper and deeper into the palace. They finally stopped outside a large set of doors, with the words "Kings Vault, do not enter" written in bold across them.
Kurama snorted, checked carefully for wards, and simply opened the door. Hiei scanned the inside for wards, darted inside, retrieved the items - faster then Kurama could blink - and landed right back to where he started.
"Let's go pick up the idiot." Hiei sighed, obviously not wanting to. Kurama nodded. They made it halfway to the meeting place before the alarms went off and a child-like voice echoed through the building.
"All hands to section H-3, the library. There is a disturbance..." the voice trailed off. Moments later it was back. "Block every exit, someone has been into the Vault... they've stolen all three of them!"
Hiei grunted, scooped Kurama up in his arms and began running as fast as possible to the meeting place with Gouki.
"Come on," he said loud enough to attract some unwanted attention. "We're done here."
"Yes," Kurama added. "We don't want to linger enough to be caught."
Gouki dropped his oni and followed the two demons out of the palace and back to the Ningenkai. It was amazing that they got away at all. Until when they were meeting the next night - when Kurama declared himself free of the alliance he had set with Hiei.
"I'm sorry," he said to Hiei, "I must withdraw from this alliance." He lowered his eyes and immediately blocked his thoughts so that Hiei couldn't find out why.
"What?" Hiei gasped, shock quickly gave way for anger. "You coward!" He cried, "These years in the human world have made you just like them! Spineless and weak!"
Gouki, on the other hand, reacted with relief. "I don't mind if he leaves, but hand over the pretty mirror first."
"I can't," Kurama told him, a hard gleam in his eyes. "I have great need for it myself first."
"If you won't give it up, I'll rip it from you!" Gouki yelled, taking a few steps towards the red-head.
And then, they were found. By a boy, holding a tree-branch over his head as though it would keep away the rain. Well, it might for Kurama, but it wouldn't for anybody else.
The next things to happen were a little blurry. The boy introduced himself as Yusuke... Hiei said something about his lack of spirit energy, and Kurama simply left. Hiei caught up with him seconds later.
"I accept you as the one who raised me," the fire youkai said desperately, trying to change Kurama's mind about using the mirror for his mother. "I got the eye for you, so I could find you! Please don't die; I don't want to loose you again!"
"I can't be selfish any more Hiei," Kurama said softly, running a hand through Hiei's soft hair. "I've taken too many lives, and it's only fitting that I give mine to save the one person who changed my hardened soul. She needs me, baby. This is the only thing I can do to pay her back. I needed someone to make the hurt go away. I lost you and it nearly killed me. But if I lost her, I'm almost sure that there won't be a second chance to soften my soul."
"But," Hiei whispered, throwing caution into the winds and lunging forwards to latch around Kurama's waist. "Who will soften my soul?"
"Come fine me in the Makai," Kurama said, stroking Hiei's hair as though he were trying to flatten the spiky locks. "You know where my den is, I bet. I'll be waiting for you there."
Hiei sighed and let go of the red head. "That spirit detective won't let you die." He said finally. "I've seen him a few times in town. He's a punk, but only when he needs to be. If you tell him your reasons for stealing the mirror, he won't kill you." Hiei sighed. "Stupid fox."
"Hey Hiei," Kurama said, starting to walk away already. "How did you know what I was planning?"
"You talk in your sleep, kitsune." Hiei called back. "Always have."
Kurama turned red.
=========================================
Hiei: So mushy, can't stand it...
Kurama: It was so OOC! *falls to knees in distress* NOOO!!!
Hiei: Get it away! Get it away!
That chapter was crap, so please insult me as you see fit.
REVIEW!
.