Chickenpox

By: Agent Dark Moose

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When Yusuke and Kuwabara drag Kurama and an unwilling Hiei to the arcade, Hiei catches a terrible disease. That disease is . . . the chickenpox? (oO;)

Disclaimer: I fear that I will never own Yu Yu Hakusho . . . But I know that I own the Nauso Flower! ^_^

~Guide~

~+~ Location Change

*** Time change

_. . ._ Emphasized

~*+*~ Time AND Location Change

Chapter Ten: Nauso Trap

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*From the Top*

TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! MARCH 12!!!! I FEEL SO SPECIAL!!! ^___________^!!! As a gift for you all, I'm updating! (Even though this chapter is Bad. Bad with a capital B. And that includes the title of the chapter, too.)

Alright, before you start begging me, just note that THIS WILL NOT BE A LEMON/LIME/CITRUS/WHATEVER-THE-HECK-YOU-WANNA-CALL-IT!!! Look at the rating; it's PG-13. Under no circumstances am I going to R, and I'm NEVER going to write about sex or anything like that . . . Just go somewhere else if you want that . . . ::twitches::

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Yusuke and Kuwabara stood at the mouth of the cave, scanning it for any kind of traps. Once they were sure that it was safe, the two Spirit Detectives entered.

"This place gives me the creeps . . ." Kuwabara muttered, shivering a bit as they passed the scattered bones of a demon.

"Quit being such a baby." Yusuke replied, brushing a spider web out of the way.

Kuwabara blushed, but stopped whining.

The two continued through the shadowy and maze-like tunnel, every now and then stumbling over skeletons, walking straight into webs, and crashing into unseen walls. (Kuwabara doing the majority of the latter.)

After wandering around for a while, Yusuke smirked. "Seems like that demon's been too busy outside to worry about setting up traps in here."

Kuwabara grinned. "What a slacker."

Yusuke laughed quietly, but then frowned. "It's odd, though. That guy seemed like someone who would worry about his home . . . if you could call this place that. I've just got a really bad feeling about this place . . . like there's something wrong here."

The two of them stopped walking and glanced at each other, worry showing in their eyes.

"I just hope you're wrong, Urameshi . . ." Kuwabara muttered as they continued. "I really hope you're wrong . . ."

***

Eventually, Yusuke and Kuwabara reached a large chamber. It was a lot cleaner than the rest of the place, save for the piles of skeletons that littered the ground. In the center of the room there was a podium made of granite, and something was glowing faintly on it.

Yusuke drew in a quick breath. "The Nauso flower . . . And it's the real one . . ."

The black-haired Spirit Detective made a dash for the flower, grabbing it and yelling in triumphant glee. Kuwabara ran over and looked over his shoulder, also grinning happily.

"We did it . . . Hiei's gonna be safe now . . ." Yusuke said quietly, before glancing over at his friend, his eyes slightly watery. "He's going to live!"

"I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to see the shrimp!" Kuwabara exclaimed as they headed for the exit, but both of them froze when there was a flash of red light. Yusuke glanced down to see the delicate flower fading away . . .

"No . . ." the two Spirit Detectives whispered simultaneously.

A maniacal laughter suddenly filled the room, blaring from some unseen source. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked around wildly, panic showing in their eyes.

They both looked up to see a transparent image of the pale demon, flickering every now-and-then, almost like a recording. His arms were crossed, and he was smirking dangerously.

"Do you, thief, think you could get the Nauso Flower so easily? Naïve fool. Now, watch as my power reveals itself, you pathetic humans!" the demon yelled, spreading his arms. The room was suddenly filled with a bright red light, forcing Kuwabara and Yusuke to shut their eyes tightly. When they opened them, they gasped as they saw that they were surrounded by Nauso flowers, all of them copies.

"Only one of them is real. Good luck trying to find it. Oh, and one more thing . . ." the demon sneered. "Each of the copies is coated with a death poison that you are immediately affected by. One touch, and you'll parish slowly and painfully . . . Happy hunting."

The demon smirked once more before disappearing. Yusuke growled, clenching his fists. They were so close . . .

Kuwabara gulped. "What do we do, Urameshi . . .?"

'Dammit!' Yusuke thought. Time was running out! "Koenma had known that the other flower was a fake when he saw it . . . There has to be something different! . . . But what . . .?"

~+~

Kurama moaned as he opened his eyes, his body in horrible pain. Feeding close to all of his Life Energy to Hiei last night had left him very weak, and almost in the same condition as the fire youkai.

The kitsune forced himself to turn and look at Hiei, whimpering slightly as a spasm of pain shook his body. He reached out and grasped Hiei's arm, clenching his teeth in agony. Kurama drew the fire youkai closer to him before letting go of his arm, sighing slightly, instead settling for just draping an arm around him.

"Hiei . . ." Kurama whispered. Not expecting to receive a response, he closed his eyes.

'I'm going to need a lot of time to recover from this . . . And if Hiei goes through what he did last night again, I won't be able to help him . . .' the kitsune thought. 'It'll be my fault if he dies . . . I can only rely on Yusuke and Kuwabara to get the Nauso flower in time . . .'

"D-don't . . . worry, Kurama . . ."

Kurama looked down in surprise at the sleeping fire youkai in his embrace before smiling. "It's not like I can help it, Hiei . . . I care about you too much to not worry about you."

Hiei didn't respond, obviously, and just kept on 'sleeping'. Kurama slowly reached up to his face and softly caressed the youkai's cheek, a sad looking falling over his features.

'I may as well get some rest. I need it . . .' Kurama thought before slowly closing his eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep. However, before he was completely asleep, he heard a faint whisper coming from Hiei.

"Kurama . . ."

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A/N: That was horrible!!! ! ::bashes herself over and over again with a frying pan:: o_O And it was short! I hope I can make up for it!!!

I've got to go and do my homework, now . . . It's 8:33pm, too. o_o; I have multiple things due tomorrow, too . . . A math sheet and journal page, questions for a story that we're reading, the rough drafts for my articles for the class newsletter, a replication of a mummy, and to top it all off . . . I have a terribly hard playing quiz in band that I haven't practiced yet because I've been to busy working on this story!!! ;-;! I can just imagine, if Kurama was here right now, he'd say something along the lines of, "School first, than pleasure." However, I'd just counter with a "Shut up, you sexy fox . . . Dang, you're right. "

o_o;;; Oh woe is my life.

~Agent Dark Moose