Chapter 9: Recovery
Disclaimer: I don't own YYH.
OH! Last chapter, there was a: * after a statement, and I never put the explaination. Okay, Hiei is pretty young for a demon. How I figured this out is because Koorime reproduce every 100 years, and Yukina has no children, therefore she must be younger than 100. And since Yukina and Hiei are twins (duh!) Hiei is as old as Yukina is. So, Hiei must be younger than 100, which, if you think about how old Kurama is, it's pretty young.
~NORMAL POV~
"KURAMA!" Yusuke screamed, seeing the huge ki explosion. Leaving Kuwabara and Hiei behind, he rushed ahead to the cave, hoping, praying, to get there before Kurama's time ran out. Running over crevices with leaps and bounds, he reached the cave just as the explosion receded and it was safe to look in.
"WHOA! HOLY CRAP!" Yusuke shouted as he laid eyes on the most massive flower he had ever seen. The leaves seemed to be made entirely of ice and diamond, twinkling as the weak sunlight filtered through in the enormous hole at the top of the cave. An enormous, bloody head-like bud armed with dagger sharp teeth sat atop a stem wider than a redwood tree trunk. It acted like it had a life of its own, rearing back and roaring, shaking its head while spraying flecks of blood around the cave.
Kurama was lying somewhere in the back of the cave, clearly unconscious. The wound on his chest had opened again, staining the messy bandages with a crimson red. Yusuke stupidly ran towards the fox, paying little attention to the plant. Suddenly, instinct rammed his shoulder against the cave wall as the plant (for lack of better words) bent down and snapped at the young detective.
It kept snapping, and Yusuke kept dodging. Finally, seeing that the tactic wouldn't work, it reared up to its full height, baring its teeth. It took in a huge breath of air and…
"ARGH!" Yusuke screamed, dodging ice crystals that shot out of nowhere. He ducked and rolled, trying to get past the plant that was furiously protecting its master. He sprung off to one side as a barrage of ice shards came out of nowhere and sped towards him. He managed to dodge the initial attack, but the second wave of crystals just barely grazed his side. Yusuke panted slightly, doing a one-hand back flip to avoid being skewered. Thank God Kurama has enough patience to teach me gymnastics.
Paying no heed to his injury, Yusuke continued his defensive maneuvering, doing a somersault here and a flip there. Damn! It has no weakness! Think, Yusuke, think, every attack has a vulnerable point… The plant reared up again, and…
"THERE!" Yusuke shouted, firing a heavy spirit gun blast. The Ice Shard Plant shrieked and writhed in place, shooting even more crystals out of the blossoming bud.
Yusuke continued the assault, firing blast after blast until the plant was lost in icy dust. At last, he decided it was enough and let up, closely watching the dust settle.
"KISAMA!" He cursed, seeing the plant emerge into view, completely unharmed. It wasn't until the dust had completely settled until Yusuke saw what had happened. The plant had grown icy spikes around the base of the bud, giving it a look like it was wearing a spike collar. And then, Yusuke finally noticed. "It-It's even bigger than it was before!" He shrieked, staring with shock at the Ice Shard Plant, which had indeed grown.
Jagged fangs protruded from its mouth, overlapping either the bottom or top jaw. Icy spikes stuck out from the diamond leaves, and when Yusuke thought about it, the head looked more like an overgrown hedgehog than a head-bud-thing.
"DAMN! IT-IT'S FEEDING OFF MY ENERGY!" Yusuke stood there, shocked, and it was only adrenaline rush that shoved him out of danger. Yusuke was scared. Panting heavily, he began loading his spirit gun once more, but stopped halfway. What good is it going to do, anyhow? He thought to himself. If it keeps feeding off my energy, I'm only helping it!
"A-AAH!" Yusuke screamed, feeling a spike embed itself deep into his back. Yusuke turned around, only to see more of them coming his way. Wha-What happened?! He thought, dodging the spikes. But they only swerved and came back at him. Are-ARE THEY TRACKING MY ENERGY?! Yusuke yanked the spike out of his back, wincing as he felt warm blood streaming down his back. But then, he got an idea. So, you wanna track me? A malicious grin appeared. Fine, you can track me.
He ran. Not using his full speed, Yusuke ran just enough to keep a foot or two away from the spikes. Heading straight for the plant, he jumped onto the leaves, using each as a trampoline to bounce his way up to the head. The bud, sensing he was near its teeth, opened wide, ready to devour him.
"YOU WANNA EAT?! EAT THIS, SPIKE-HEAD!" Yusuke yelled, jumping just over the plant's head. And, with the mouth still open, the spikes shot straight through the head and into the cave wall. There, they quivered and eventually stood still.
The great plant swerved from side to side like it was drunk, roaring screams of pain. Yusuke took a spike and slashed it one more time, before it toppled. The spirit detective watched the ice flower fall with little interest, until he caught a flash of red beneath the falling plant.
"KURAMA!" he cried, rushing towards the fox, But sadly, he was too slow. I-I'm not going to make it… Yusuke thought despairingly, and could only watch as the plant fell, sending a mighty tremor throughout the cave.
Yusuke balled up his fists, continuing his sprint where the plant now lay. Using all his strength, he heaved the plant to the side, fear grown worse by its massive weight. There was nothing beneath it, just a small pool of crimson blood.
"K-Kurama?" Yusuke asked, utterly baffled. "Where'd you go?"
"Hn, he's fine." Yusuke whirled around at the deep voice, to see Hiei hanging onto the wall with one hand and grabbing a fistful of Kurama's clothing with the other.
"Hiei! You're okay!" A glare, but a soft one, and then, both collapsed into blissful unconsciousness. (They seem to do that a lot ^^;)
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AN: WHEW! EVERYONE'S OKAY!! YAAAY! Now only the conclusion and I'm done! MEEERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!
~Koganeiro Kitsune