Hello!!
I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Hiei smirked. He could hear Shazagen pacing in his lair, cursing Kurama, Kuronue, Karasu, and Jeroun for all he was worth. There was a loud growl, a bang, and then the sound of glass breaking. A moment later Shazagen himself appeared, nursing a badly cut, bleeding hand. Hiei's grin grew wider, and he made no move to struggle against the bonds that held him.
"What did you punch this time?" Hiei asked in a bored tone, trying to insult the flustered youkai. Shazagen growled. "The window again? Or did you break a vase?" Hiei was rewarded for his remarks with a punch to the jaw. His eyes narrowed and the Jagan glowed dangerously, but Hiei did nothing.
"Remember," Shazagen said once he noticed the glowing Jagan. "Those bonds are yoki-resistant." The Jagan closed behind Hiei's bandana.
"I will escape," Hiei growled.
"You amuse me," Shazagen said. "There is no escape. Not for you, anyway." He held up the keys to Hiei's bonds, taunting the fire youkai. "Either way, I need information. Your friends-" he spoke the word as if it were a curse "-are hindering my plans for revenge. In short, they are protecting your sister. I need you to tell me what their weaknesses are." There was a moment of silence in which Hiei glared at Shazagen. "I should have known that you would not speak. Tell me, Hiei, and I may reconsider hurting your sister and just kill you."
". . . You'd let Yukina go?"
"Yes," Shazagen lied. When Hiei said nothing more, Shazagen frowned. "Tell me your friend's weaknesses, or I will just kill you, them, and your sister." (A/N: I just realized this is rather cheesy and cliché. Ah, what the heck, who cares?)
"How do I know you'd keep your word?" Hiei asked, keeping his voice even. "Your record speaks against you here, Shazagen. It's said you're not one to keep to your word."
"It's either this, or your sister's death," Shazagen hissed. "So I advise you not to question if I'm trustworthy or not."
"I won't say a thing," Hiei whispered. "You won't get past Kurama, either." Shazagen spat in Hiei's face and left the room. As he walked away, he heard a voice.
"Shazagen-sama!!" Shazagen turned to se a younger oni-like youkai running up to him. "I heard what happened," the youkai explained. "And I thought that instead of asking or bribing him, you should just probe his brain for the information you need."
"And just how do we do that?" Shazagen demanded. "None of us have a Jagan eye or anything!!" The younger youkai grinned. "You have a plan?"
"I have a potion that can read minds," he whispered. "Take it, and then you merely have to be in the room with Hiei to read his mind like an open book."
"I like the sound of this," Shazagen whispered. "Give it to me."
Yukina stood in front of Kurama's living room window, staring out into the yard silently. It was early-the sun hadn't risen yet. Yukina turned slightly as she heard Kuwabara wake up, and a moment later the human joined her at the window.
"Wow," Kuwabara said. It turned out that the thunderstorm that had started the night before had turned into an ice storm. Shards of ice still swirled about outside, propelled by their own force, creating a dance of sorts. (A/N: I know this is probably unrealistic, but hey, we all get crazy weather sometimes. And besides, this is one of those times I call on my power as the authoress to do whatever I want.)
"It's pretty, isn't it?" Yukina whispered a moment later. "It must have gotten very cold last night for it to do this." She frowned suddenly. "I hope my birds are all right."
"I'm sure they are," Shiori said, coming up behind Yukina and Kuwabara. She gave Kuwabara a stern look. "Aren't you cold?"
"Huh?"
Shiori motioned to the lights, which were still out. "The power never came on again last night," she explained. "And we have no heat." Kuwabara took a moment to look at her. She was bundled up in a heavy winter coat, with thin gloves covering her hands.
"Now that you mention it, there's a chill in here," Kuwabara said. He looked at Yukina, who shook her head.
"The cold doesn't bother me," she said. "I'm a koorime, remember?" She smiled sweetly at Kuwabara, who had begun to shiver.
"Oh, dear," she said. "Come on up to Shuichi's room with me and we'll see if he has any winter things that fit you."
"I don't think he would," Kuwabara said, rubbing his arms. Once up the stairs, they peered into Kurama's room. Surprisingly, the fox was still asleep, along with Jeroun, Karasu, and Kuronue. Kurama and Kuronue were propped up against a wall next to each other; Kuronue had his head on Kurama's shoulder. Karasu was curled into a small ball at Kurama's feet, and Jeroun was on his back in the middle of the room snoring loudly. Shiori smiled and walked over to Kurama.
"Shuichi," she whispered. Kurama opened one eye and stared groggily at his mother. "Come on, we need to get you guys bundled up." Kurama looked around the room, taking in the scene before him, and got up, completely ignoring the fact Kuronue's head was on his shoulder. Kuronue simply fell to the floor next to Karasu and continued to snore.
"Kuro," Kurama said somewhat wearily, shaking the chimera's shoulder. "Come on, Kuronue. You too, Karasu." Karasu uncurled, and Kuronue swatted at Kurama's hand before opening both eyes.
"K'rama?"
"Come on," Kurama said. When Karasu still did nothing, Kurama aimed a kick at him and earned a scolding from Shiori. "Gomen, Karasu," Kurama apologized with Shiori's prompting. The crow didn't seem to mind as he got up and shook Jeroun awake, swearing that he'd blow the other youkai up if he snored too loudly again.
"You'll keep your bombs to yourself," Shiori told him sternly as Kurama scrambled to find cover. "Come on, Shuu." Kuronue muffled laughter and Karasu smirked at the sound of the nickname. A few moments later Shiori found a coat that was obviously too big for Kurama and handed it to Kuwabara.
"I can find the rest of them something," Kurama said, motioning to Kuronue, Karasu, and Jeroun to show who he meant. Shiori nodded and left the room, saying something about starting a fire in the fireplace to cook breakfast with.
"Does this happen often?" Kuronue asked ten minutes later as the group struggled into the coats that Kurama had found them.
"Not that I can remember," Kurama said. "It usually doesn't rain this close to winter. Karasu, don't blow that coat up, it's the only one we have for you." Karasu stuck out his lower lip, mock-pouting and shoved an arm into the coat. Once bundled up, the group went downstairs.
"All right then," Shiori said, getting up from in front of the fireplace and placing her hands on her hips, trying to look important. "In case any of you haven't gotten the point, there's been an ice storm. None of you are going out until the roads are cleared, and considering the whole town seems to be out of power, that's going to take a while.
"How do you know the whole town's down?" Karasu asked.
"The rain was all over town last night," she said. "It's only a logical guess." Karasu nodded. "Now come here, I'm going to help you all get food cooked for yourselves."
Back in the Makai with Shazagen and Hiei. . . .
Shazagen stared at the bottle of green potion in front of him. The youkai had said that this would allow Shazagen to read Hiei's mind without the use of any tool.
"It only lasts thirty minutes, mind," the youkai's warning rang clearly in Shazagen's head. "So make sure everything is in place." Shazagen sighed. He knew Hiei would be awake, and that was all he really needed, but there was something out of place. He shrugged, grabbed the bottle, opened it, and quickly drank the potion. He frowned after a moment or two.
"I don't feel any different," he muttered, walking down to Hiei's cell. The fire youkai greeted Shazagen with the usual scowl, but Shazagen leaned against the wall and waited for the potion to start working for him.
What is he doing here? Hiei's thoughts rang loud and clear in Shazagen's head a moment later. Why isn't he trying to make me tell him everyone's weaknesses? Something's up. Bastard thinks he can bribe me. Hiei glared at Shazagen, who was currently using his yoki to probe deeper into Hiei's mind. Hiei felt the probing, and although he didn't know what it was, growled and tried to shake Shazagen off. Within a moment, Shazagen found images of the redhead that claimed to be Kurama smiling and laughing with an older woman.
His "mother", Shazagen realized as he probed deeper. He smiled. This stuff works like a charm! And Hiei doesn't even realize what I'm doing!
Damn it, why does he have that, "I'm-beating-you-without-you-knowing-it," smirk on his face? He knows nothing! Hiei snarled and tried to throw Shazagen off again. Shazagen found others, Yusuke protecting his friend, Kuwabara flirting with Yukina (also finding Hiei's loathing within that memory), something Hiei called "sweet snow", Jeroun being stupid, Karasu . . . well, he couldn't find anything for Karasu, save the odd demented obsession he had with Kurama. Satisfied with the information he held, he left the room.
"So, if I can get Kurama's mother, then I've got him trapped," Shazagen said. "Kuronue's pendant . . . if I can get those two down, then I can focus on actually fighting Yusuke and Karasu . . . hmm . . . maybe that crow'd go after Kurama if he was in a life-threatening situation." That was easy enough. "If I can get three trapped, and maybe Jeroun out of the way before the battle-Hiei said he was stupid-then I think I can get to Yukina, to trap the orange-haired one." He had not gotten Kuwabara's name, only the numerous insulting nicknames Hiei had given him. "With the orange-haired one having his life threatened, then maybe that Yusuke will give up to protect them." Complicated, yes, Shazagen knew, but not completely undoable with the resources he had.
Ya know, it's pathetic . . . I don't even understand what Shazagen's saying. I get the point though.
Hiei: hmm . . . maybe you're not as stupid as Kuwabara.
Nagem: WHAT???
Kurama: Down, Nagem. *Is seen holding Nagem away from Hiei* Please review!
