On the Scale of Osiris

Chapter Three: Come follow me this night...

It wasn't often that Hiei found himself going to Koenma's office voluntarily... actually, it happened so rarely that he could never remember doing it until now. But yet, here he was, standing voluntarily before Koenma.

"What you're saying doesn't make any sense Hiei." Koenma spoke at last.

Hiei rolled his eyes. Of course it didn't make any sense, that was why he was here after all. If things did make sense he would have killed Karasu off and been done with it!

"Are you sure these are the only two notes he sent Kurama?" Koenma asked at last, gesturing to the two squares of paper on his desk, turned so the verse sides were showing.

"Positive."

Koenma looked at the notes, frowning. He sighed. "And you found these?"

"Locked in Kurama's dresser."

Neither said anything, but both were wondering the same thing. What was Kurama's view on all of this? "He obviously didn't want anyone to know about these." Koenma said at last.

"Obviously."

"And if he was that interested in this... poem, I guess one could call it, then we can only assume that he will be trying to find out what the poem means."

Hiei nodded.

"And that will eventually lead him to Karasu."

Hiei didn't have to nod, this deduction was one he had made himself.

Koenma looked at Hiei closely. "You have to beat him to it, Hiei. Find out what Karasu means by this poem and make sure nothing happens. You won't find the answer here, Hiei. This poem isn't one created in the Makai."

"You know the rest of it then?"

"It's fairly famous, for humans. I'm surprised that Kurama hasn't found it yet."

"What is it then?"

"It's a poem Hiei, four lines long. And it can be found on an island outside of Venice, a small island called "the Island of the Dead"... on a grave stone."

Hiei for his credit, didn't look all that shocked at the information Koenma had just given him. "And what does it say?"

"Just as on the card, Hiei. 'The Nightingale takes wing, its special song to sing, Come follow me this night, My grave will give you light."

"But Karasu does not have a grave." Hiei pointed out.

"Exactly. He does not have a grave... because he is not dead."

Hiei's eyes did widen. Now everything fell into place, like pieces to a human puzzle. "I have to talk to Kurama." And the fire demon flitted away without another word.

"Yes, Hiei, you do have to speak to Kurama. Before he goes back to the site of the Dark Tournament." Koenma spoke to the empty room. He sat back in his chair. "This would have been so much easier if Karasu was a nice, simple, demon, but no, he has to be sadistic, evil, and tricky." Koenma groaned. Nothing was ever simple.

Hiei was almost outside Kurama's school when he stopped. Someone was watching him, someone who seemed to be human but there was just something wrong about the way they felt to him. As Hiei neared the school he stopped, seeing the figure waiting for him, just outside school grounds.

"Karasu."

The human raised a golden eyebrow. "Koenma has better judgment than I thought, if he chose to tell you instead of Yusuke."

"Yusuke knows, but he has no choice to wait until you do something stupid. I have no such restriction."

"You are going to tell Kurama that I exist." the statement was a question and now Hiei was forced to a crossroads. Looking at the other demon, Hiei began to ponder if he should really go that far.

"I don't know." he finally said.

"Why not?" the human Karasu started walking away from the school, knowing that Hiei would follow.

"You still pose to much of a mystery." Hiei said slowly.

"It's not like you to be this open."

"It's not like you to take this much effort for something as simple as a rematch."

"And how do you know that? I went through quite a bit of effort before our first fight, why should this be any different?"

"Because you don't intend to fight him, not this time."

Karasu stopped walking for a few minutes and looked at the black shadow of the fire demon. He started walking again after a few seconds. "You're very perceptive." a pause, "I find it interesting that you haven't used that as a reason to kill me right from the start."

Hiei was suddenly in front of Karasu, making the "human" stop short. "Kurama's human body will not last forever, and sooner than he seems to believe he will be thrown back into the life of a demon. His human feelings will then hinder him."

"Agreed."

"And you know what keeps him here? Love." Hiei spat the word out like poison. "Love for that human mother of his. That emotion will prove to be his greatest weakness." It was Hiei now who started walking, a direction that both Hiei and Karasu knew... toward Kurama's house. "I find it revolting, this emotion. Friendship-," another poisonous word, "-is bad enough when it comes to weakness, and yet sometimes it has proven to serve a purpose. But this endearing love for his mother has always revolted me as I have never been able to understand it. Yet, now, I find something that Kurama may hold more dear... if it is something that he is hiding from his human mother." Hiei looked at the being next to him. "The notes you leave for Kurama he locks away like treasures, where he knows his mother would not pry. I would not have found them, except that I was ordered to search for anything relating to you."

"For someone who does not care for these human emotions, such as love, you seem to care greatly for Kurama's safety."

Hiei smirked. "You, of all demons, should know the answer to that. You know as well as I do, the stories of Yoko Kurama. Friendship is a price I am willing to pay to ensure that when Yoko Kurama returns to the Makai, I can count on that power as my ally." Hiei looked Karasu over carefully, as if making the last calculations for his decision. "I will talk to Kurama, but you're existence will remain something for you alone to disclose to him when you deem it the proper time."

"There is only one more line to the poem." Karasu spoke softly. "You will not have to wait long."

Hiei nodded before flitting away.

Kurama sat at his desk, yet another square of white paper having his complete attention.

"The Nightingale takes wing,

It's special song to sing,

Come follow me this night,"

Closer to completion, yet not there yet. Kurama frowned, flipping the card over and looking closely at the same crow inscription on the back. Did he really hope these were somehow from Karasu? He now knew that the Yoko inside him did, but if the human Kurama wanted Karasu back from the dead was another story. Karasu murdered, Karasu destroyed, Karasu was in league with those who had wanted to open a portal to the human world and destroy all humankind. Yet, so had Hiei at one time, maybe he still wanted to, and Kurama had found himself wanting to befriend the fire demon. But his feelings which had prevailed even after Karasu's death towards the Quest Class were different. The human Kurama had never encountered such feelings before, and the Yoko Kurama had not felt such feelings in a long, long, time.

"Kurama."

Kurama started, turning to face Hiei. "What is it Hiei?"

"You have some explaining to do."

Kurama's eyes shifted to the two white cards that Hiei held out to him in his hand. "Where did you find those?"

"In the same place you locked them up."

"And you looked through my dresser..."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter? You wouldn't have cared before, and yet this causes you to fear." Kurama cursed mentally, he had forgotten briefly about the Jagan eye. "Why is that Kurama?"

Kurama studied the fire demon. Then something seemed to click. "You know. You know who it is, don't you?"

The demon nodded. "Don't even think that I am going to tell you, Kurama. This is your problem, not mine."

"How did you find out? This poem doesn't show up anywhere in any records for the Makai."

"That's because it's not a demon made poem."

Hiei watched as Kurama's movements began to become more fox-like. He had been right, Kurama was as intoxicated with Karasu as Karasu was with Kurama.

"Where is it Hiei?"

Kurama stalked towards Hiei, causing the fire demon to step back involuntarily.

"Where is it?"

"On an island outside of Venice."

"And what is this island called?"

"The Island of the Dead."

Kurama froze. The island of the Dead??? That would imply... "Who is it Hiei?"

Hiei shrugged. "Most likely, it is the one you expect it is."

Kurama's eyes widened, but before he could speak Hiei had left the room.

Karasu's eyes noticed that there was something different about "his" room later that night, finally pinpointing the disturbance after a few seconds. Someone had burned a message into his desk.

He knows, work faster

"Very well, Hiei," Karasu thought, "I'd wanted to move faster anyway."

Kurama fell into an nightmarish sleep, much later at night than was normal for him. Another oddity was that for once he hadn't finished his homework, but since there was no school the next day, he hadn't really cared about it. He couldn't concentrate, even in sleep. Karasu haunted his every thought. His voice murmured soft words so quiet that Kurama, though he strained to hear what was being said he could not make out the words. Karasu's figure seemed to flutter just on the edge of his vision, and whenever he closed his eyes the sight of Karasu falling dead onto the arena floor played over and over in an endless cycle.

A shadow entered the room though the still open window. As silent as a tomb the demon crossed the room to stand at Kurama's bedside. The fox was sweating, the demon noticed as he placed a white card on the pillow beside Kurama's head. A nightmare. Karasu lightly brushed vibrant red hair, now blood red in the moonlight, away from Kurama's face. Kurama whimpered and mumbled a word. Karasu smiled in the darkness. It was no nightmare that haunted Kurama. It was he that brought Kurama pain in the darkness. Karasu moved back toward the window, as silently as he had come, but stopped just inside the window sill.

"Sleep well, Kurama." he spoke and was gone into the night.

Kurama woke with a start, quickly moving to the window. Karasu's voice. He had heard it. Out of the low whispers which had surrounded him in his sleep came three words, words which he knew he had heard. Sleep well, Kurama. But, looking out into the night, nothing moved. All was quiet, almost too quiet for Kurama's strained senses. Frowning, Kurama turned back into his room and stopped short. He could feel Karasu, now that he wasn't concentrated on anything else. It was as if Karasu had been in his room. Traces of demon energy, Karasu's demon energy still lingered in the air of his room. Ignoring all logic, Kurama knew he had been right all along. Then something caught his eye, as he saw, outlined in the pale moonlight, a card if white paper with the image of a crow. Kurama hesitantly turned it over and looked at the four lines of poetry that stood out against the light color of the card.

The Nightingale takes wing,

It's special song to sing,

Come follow me this night,

My grave will give you light.

That was it then, the poem was finished. Kurama threw human logic to the wind as he allowed only his Yoko instincts to govern his actions. It was clear what Karasu wanted, and Kurama hastened to comply. This would be settled, he vowed, tonight.

Author's Notes:

Rio: And here it comes, the confrontation.

Ryu: By now you all know what to do. You all decide how fast the next chapter comes out. 7-9 reviews and you get what you want.

Rio: Many things will become apparent in the next chapter, such as why Karasu enjoys spiking drinks with blood (something people have asked me about)... details next chapter. Oh, and the bit about the poem and the Island of the Dead is true, but I didn't want to ruin the story for all of you by putting a big disclaimer at the beginning of the story. See you all next chapter!