Raven's Pendant
WEIß KREUZ-YU YU HAKUSHO CROSSOVER FANFICTION

Part 9 - the Raven is Among Us

Schuldig looked over the devastation of the Schwartz living room. Couches were upturned and slashed. Stuffing hung out of the brown leather in tufts. Remnants of foliage and gory remnants of youkai were strewn all over the place. A couple of strange youkai in various states of shock and a not quite human Fujimiya Ran lay to one side of the room. A naked, rather sexy Ran...

The German telepath's thoughts zoned out for a moment as he contemplated the Weiß redhead. It took a bit of time for him to rein in his lascivious feelings. He still had too much to do to straighten up this mess.

Gods, I wonder how I'm going to explain this to Nagi and Farfarello...well, scratch the part about explaining to Farfarello...but to Nagi. And how am I going to explain what happened to Kurama? The kid was his friend, as well... Hiei's not taking it very well either...

The runt was gazing so intently into the space where Kurama had been standing moments before. It was as if he could conjure up the missing kid. For all Schuldig knew, he could.

Then Schuldig heard a noise on the side and noted that Ran was stirring. As he looked, the man sat up and stared at scaly, clawed hands with the blankness of shock. He strode over to the swordsman's side and looked into the vacant slit-pupil eyes.

"Ran, are you okay?"

"Ssssschuldig?" Ran asked, distantly, but stopped as he heard himself hiss out the name and felt the flicker of a forked tongue on fangs. His eyes emptied even more, if that was possible.

"Ran..." Schuldig asked again, reaching out with his mind to slam into a wall of chaos. He gasped and surfaced. Now that the Weiß redhead was conscious, he could not compete with the strength he felt in that alien mind. He had no choice. He had to get help. He looked at the tengu-boy that Kurama had held and found the kid unconscious. He knelt down to find shake the youngster carefully but there was no response.

He doesn't look like he'll to be able to drag himself to the Land of the Living for sometime yet...

He turned to the plants. He didn't want to trust an enemy but that seemed a better option than to disturb the brooding fire demon. It was no use. The reptilian was already too far-gone. A few scales and lumps of meat remained of that youkai.

Damned...

As much as he hated to bother Hiei, the runt was their remaining demon expert.

"Hiei? Hiei? I know it might be a little too much to ask this of you right now but...could you help me with Ran?" Schuldig asked.

The fire demon didn't seem to hear so lost in thoughts, Schuldig debated the wisdom of shaking the dangerous youkai.

Poor guy's got his own problems I suppose... I guess he really did love Kurama-chan. Though I wonder what the fox thought of him? He should've known better than to have used that spell...but then it was Crawford's doing in a matter of speaking...

***

What a crazy situation this is...

Hiei felt the magical currents in the room like a chill on his back. He sheathed his sword.

"Kisama, how could I be so wrong?" Hiei cursed as he darted off only to be forestalled by the plants inside the room.

"Fluff-tail!" The red-eyed youkai had yelled.

"Kurama, are you all right?" Hiei asked as he flitted close to the silver-haired youko. The baka ningen was yammering away as well but Hiei was so concerned that he barely heard what the redheaded human was saying much less make sense of the words.

"Who are you? Who is Kurama?" Yoko asked in his deep voice. His golden eyes blinked in confusion. His ears twitched and his tail swished a counterpoint to the words.

"Someone inconsequential no doubt. Let's go, love." Kuronue said in disdain.

"Hn. Kurama..." Hiei murmured.

"Kurama..." Hiei said again. He felt a heavy oppression of the thought processes, though he was fighting it.

Certainly better than the human...

The human was holding better than Hiei expected. Forehead knitted but still conscious, Schuldig was still trying to be cocky in the face of this.

But I have to concentrate on reminding Kurama...

Hiei flitted in front of Kurama forcing the silver fox to acknowledge him.

"Stay out of my way, little one." Contempt again, but this time it was in every line of silver and steeped into the golden eyes.

That hurts...

"I will not let you leave with him, Kurama."

"As you say, little one." Yoko rumbled as he flowed into a defensive pose.

"Don't mind him, let us go. There's treasure to be had." Kuronue said, carelessly tossing a mist ball that covered the room. When it cleared, the pair had vanished without a trace.

***

Hiei stood still sword in his slack hand he stared endlessly into the space the two thieves had vanished. He re-lived the past events obsessively trying to find that piece of missing information that might have clued him to what had just happened.

I should have know that that sneaky fox would've come up with a diversion... He was always the clever one...

Kurama never gave any indication at all that he knew it was Brad Crawford that was Kuronue not Schuldig... He acted quite attached to the ningen...even to the point of matchmaking him to his human aniki... I thought that was a diversion. After all, they were enemies. They couldn't have possibly become involved no matter what. But maybe it had been genuine. Kurama didn't want Schuldig in his way to Crawford? Or to fall in love with him... He cared enough for the ningen I suppose to do that...

And those cold golden eyes...

Even when I was facing Mukuro, I wasn't that apprehensive... What did he do to you, Fox? What did you do to yourself? Do you like it this way? To forget everything but him... To love him again?

No, I won't let you... You told me. Damned it, Kurama! You told me you loved me...I won't let you take that back even if I have to kill Kuronue...

"Kurama..." Hiei sighed.

Then surprisingly, he felt himself being shook out of his reverie.

"Hiei, Hiei-san, I hate to bother you but there's something I need your help with..."

It was that stupid human.

"Hn." Hiei grunted, glaring at the baka darkly.

"Don't give me that." The human was really pushing his luck. Hiei could feel the dragon tattoo burn blackly against his arm at his impotent rage. Rage at Kuronue, rage at his mate for keeping so much of a secret from him...

Baka ningen...

***

"Don't give me that." Schuldig snapped at the dark clad fire demon. He knew he was really pushing it but he couldn't afford to let the guy stew for a while. Ran needed help now. Seeing the Weiß redhead so shook up drove him to distraction.

"Hn." The glare that accompanied the grunt was no deterrent to Schuldig who had worse coming from Aya. He shook the small guy a bit to wake him up. It was not a wise course of decision, the runt's bandaged arm begun to smoke.

Uh...oh...

Schuldig's instinct for self-preservation kicked in, he slowly backed away from the irate fire demon, as the latter's gaze became positively malevolent.

I guess I shouldn't have pressed too hard...

He was about to give up when his eyes accidentally met those blank purple ones.

No, I have to get through to him somehow...Aya's sanity depends on it...

Smack!

Schuldig used his inhuman speed to slap Hiei.

The fire demon's eyes registered shock as he rubbed his hand on the spot where the German hit him. He seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Now, that you're finished sulking around. Can you help me with Ran? It wouldn't help Kurama at all to come to, only to deal with a shell-shocked brother."

"Hn." Schuldig was relieved to see that the implication that Hiei would get his Kurama back seemed to calm the fire demon.

Good, I don't think I can handle it if he took out his frustrations on me...

***

"You, two, are too damned alike, you know." The orange-haired human grumbled. His noisy nature seemed to have revived at the absence of the threat of being incinerated. Hiei was suddenly reminded poignantly of Kurama.

The noisy kitsune no baka had his moments. Scratch that, the kitsune was always noisy, dragging Hiei to join in on the gatherings of the Urameshi-tachi. He discussed his human family and activities in great detail. The fox was determined that his mate should not be left out in his life. It was this that made it more hurtful when Kurama started to keep secrets from him about Kuronue.

"Hn, you too." Hiei grunted back as he knelt beside Ran to check the Weiß redhead.

I suppose that was the attraction...

Setting that qualm to rest, Hiei looked at the ningen Kurama prized so highly as his 'niisan. He noted inhumanly slit eyes.

Correction, former ningen...from the looks of it... Well, I suppose Kurama would be pleased in a way...if not for certain complications...

"You're youkai now, not human. Get used to it." Hiei said, gruffly, as he shoved a psychic pinprick of light into the chaos, allowing the whirlwind of thoughts to unravel a bit before plunging into the maelstrom. The noise was immense, like the chattering of a million tongues.

What is this?

Hiei looked at the spinning images and saw...himself and Kurama together in the Makai in a small wooded. Kurama was smiling. They were eating a light picnic in the grass. They came gliding into focus.

Can this become true?

Then everything blurred and reformed. Yoko Kurama over his dead form. Kuronue smiled in the background. Yomi and the rest of the brigade Kurama trained ranged on the opposite sides, Chu and the Yoyo boy taking Yomi's side and the rest with Kurama and the bird of ill omen.

What is this? If the first scene is true then...

The storm took Hiei again. He alighted on a hill somewhere in the Makai. He saw himself leaning on a tree, Kurama sitting on the grass with a little black kitsune kit. The most surprising thing, there was Kuronue indulgently sitting on the grass nibbling on a grass stem looking on the scene. Kuronue came up close and Hiei could feel the heated kiss even at his detached view.

Wouldn't Schuldig want to see that...

Hiei figured that he was seeing through Ran's eyes. Everything whirled again. Hiei saw many things in the chaos. He and Yomi ranging against Kuronue...triumphing over the old bat, Kurama killing himself, not willing to live without the bat again...Kurama coming to avenge the bat...Kurama handing a couple of small kits for Ran to hold... A kit dead, Kurama grieving...

These futures...they can't all come true... They're possible though...

Hiei had hit upon the answer.

He sees all that is possible to come true...[1] What a strange gift...and a potentially dangerous one... He could be trapped in his mind until he doesn't know what is real anymore...

Hiei began to slowly spin out the snarl, careful not to damage the mind that wove them. He untangled the lines of prospective futures until they no longer spun out of control. Then suddenly, everything went silent. In that great void that was the man's mind, Hiei saw a glimmer of consciousness.

: Wake up. :

: Who? :

: Hiei. :

: Hiei? :

: Kurama's mate, remember... :

: Hn. :

: Your mate is waiting for you. :

: Schuldig... :

: Aa. :

: But I don't know how. :

: I'll show you. :

Hiei reached out a metaphorical hand and yanked. Then they were back to the wreck of a room with Aya blinking his eyes at Hiei.

"What was...?"

"You're a Seer among other things." Hiei said.

***

"He's like Crawford then...maybe..."

"Not like that fool of a human-bat was but one more powerful than that. He is one who sees all that is to be, to see every path that every choice must spawn. He nearly lost himself in the visions his gift brings. He will need training that I can't give."

"Is he in immediate danger?"

"Hn."

No...

"Then should we be going after Kurama...and Crawford?"

"I think we have to ask the Reikai that. Here come their messengers, now."

"Hiei, what happened here?"

Schuldig looked up at the sound of the feminine voice. He rubbed his eyes involuntarily as he saw a blue haired girl riding a flying oar wearing a pink flowery kimono.

"Hn."

"We felt a huge surge of energy almost up to the Reikai. Is he...?" Botan looked uneasy at Ran.

"No, Kurama managed to Seal him in time. Kurama's unlocking Kuronue's memories probably caused the energy surge. What I don't understand is that Kurama can't remember anything but Kuronue."

"Craw--Kuronue did something to him... He admitted as much to me..." Schuldig spoke up for the first time.

"What?"

"Ummm, Hiei...who is this?"

"Botan, this is Schuldig and Fujimiya Ran. Ran, Schuldig, this is Botan, head ferry girl of the Reikai."

This was met with confused looks from both Ran and Schuldig. Hiei sighed, figuring out that it needed more explanation than this.

"She's the one who ferries the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Now what's this about Kuronue doing something to Kurama?"

"She--what? But we're not dead yet? Aren't we?"

"Hn."

"You can see me because you have reiki and Fujimiya-san's got youki, now. Can we get on with it? It's really not healthy to keep Hiei in suspense." Botan said, inching away from the annoyed fire demon.

"Hn." This time it was from Hiei.

"I take it he didn't tell you as he did me? He was certainly gloating about it."

"Hn."

"Hn."

"You too sound like echoes...anyway this is how it was..." Schuldig narrated.


***

The sword pointed at Schuldig's throat dropped away and he heard Hiei curse.

"Kurama-chan, what are you doing?" The words were almost ripped from Schuldig by the concern he had felt for the kid, Hiei's threat forgotten at this development. He didn't know what was happening but there was a deep oppression of his senses as if an external force was dulling his thought processes. He barely noted that Hiei was as frantic as he.

When the plants cleared, what he saw there made him gape.

No wonder Hiei calls him fluff-tail!

It was the first thought his dazed mind had come up with.

The tall, muscular, silver haired and most of all silver tailed figure stood where Kurama-chan had stood.

"Kurama-chan, don't you think the joke's gone far enough? Don't make us all worry." Schuldig drawled, trying to think of a way to get into the Silver Fox's mind to see if he could find the quicksilver presence he had known. It didn't help that he never tried to probe Kurama before.

An oversight I can't correct now...

Schuldig's probe was met with a mirror-bright wall.

"Who are you? Who is Kurama?" The silver fox-man asked in his deep voice. It was all the answer he and Hiei had gotten for their frantic queries.

"Someone inconsequential no doubt. Let's go, love." Kuronue said in disdain.

: Don't waste your time, Schuldig. Youkai have better mental defenses than the puny humans you've been practicing on. : It was just a dark whisper of a thought; barely enough for Schuldig to catch but it cleared the smother on his mind.

He remembers being Crawford. Why can't Kurama?

In a moment, Schuldig said it without much thought. This was Crawford, someone he'd work with for years, a known quantity.

: You remember...why doesn't he? :

Then it suddenly clicked for Schuldig. Suddenly, he didn't need an answer anymore, coming out with his own.

He did something to Kurama…

: Bastard! You didn't change any when you were Crawford. :

A chilling laugh echoed throughout Schuldig's mind.

: You are quite right, clever for a human. I think we would've understood each other in other circumstances. :

: Humans. : The hiss of thought came from the silver haired fox man. It was full of dismissal.

: Humans indeed. : The dark whisper was back in smothering force. Schuldig tried to fight it but it was an overwhelming presence.

So busy was Schuldig with the mental conversation that he barely noted when the mist covered the room and then, Crawford and Kurama was gone.

***

"So, I don't think he actually left you on his volition, Hiei-san." Schuldig had a hefty respect for someone who can roast you with a thought.

"Hn."

"So you're saying that Crawford tampered with the spell somehow?"

"He so much as admitted it to me, don't you think, Botan-san?"

"Hai." Botan said, blushing a bit. She wasn't known for intellectual capacity.

"We have to get him back then. We can let that bastard Crawford get his claws into my otouto."

"He's not Crawford anymore, Fujimiya-san, but I see your point. I'll have to report to Koenma and then we'll see about locating Kurama-san."

"Hn, and how long will that brat decide before we're set loose to go after the old bat?"

"And there is the matter of that kid over there…"

"What kid?"

"The kid over there."

"Oh my! Kakuei-chan." Botan said, bustling over to the boy. Soon a nimbus of blue, surrounded both of them.

"What is she doing?"

"Healing."

"Oh."

"Hn."

After a moment, Botan rose with a satisfied sigh.

"That should hold until I get him to Genkai's."

Meep! Meep!

To Schuldig's amusement, the ferry girl reached inside her kimono to take out, of all things, a cellular phone. She put it to her ear a moment and listened.

"Koenma-sama says that you are all invited to Genkai's for the moment."

"But what about Kurama-chan?"

"Hn." A couple of dark glares accompanied the loud angry grunts in unison.

"Gomen nasai but a few Reikai agents will keep track of Yoko Kurama and the youkai Kuronue… Please accept the invitation. Fujimiya-san still needs to get some control over his new abilities and Hiei would not be suffice to fight against both Kurama and Kuronue." Botan said rather nervously.

It was a tense moment when it looked like Hiei was about to wander off on his own. Schuldig could empathize with the little fire demon.

I'm just his friend but how I itch to get on with it…what more his lover?

However, the brooding fire demon conceded in the end and they were off to Genkai's.

Wherever that may be…



***

Yoko wandered around the apartment looking at the things in this world.

Ningenkai, the world of weaklings...treasures easily taken... No challenge at all for the greatest thieves of the Makai... We will make ourselves rich as kings here... Rulers perhaps...

At the stray thought, something niggled at Yoko's mind something about the words. Suddenly, the world wavered out of focus.

A tall horned figured...feeling of irritation and pity then a small dark figure and a name...Kurama...

Everything wavered back into focus.

"The human world has certainly changed since I last came here." Yoko said at last, still disoriented.

What was that…?

"Are you still thinking of the midget or those humans?"

"No, Kuro, not at all. Do you know how long it took you to reincarnate? All I can seem to remember vaguely is that you took so long that I almost doubted you were ever going to come back…"

"I have no idea, fox. I wasn't there."

"Yes, you weren't." The deep voice wavered a bit before becoming steel again.

"I'm sorry, fox, it was my fault for being so careless but for all it's worth I'm here now. I've come just as I promised and we'll never be parted ever again."

"Aa."

***

We'll never be parted again ever... I'll see to that...

He knew that he and his fox was going to be inevitably parted by his death. The Fox was just too popular and too lecherous to remain unmated for the years he was going to be away. Reincarnation was a chancy thing and took time.

I knew he would find someone else... Someone as good as I was the game he liked to play...then I would lose him... Sure, the binding promise would probably hold him for a while but he wouldn't stay long...

That was where the counter-charm on the pendant came in. He had made that spell to latch onto the caster. It would make his Fox, truly his again, regardless of what had passed in the years that he had been gone.

Something far surer than the lies you fed me... It was all in your game, I knew you valued me for my ability to dance the intricate patterns of the thieving... I know you, too well, my Fox, and I still loved you in spite of that...

It was true, still, and probably will hold true forever.

I will find a way to keep you with me forever...to the next life and beyond...

Yet, something niggled in Kuronue's mind. Something about love freely given, not taken, not as falsely as this. A memory...

"Brad why did you punch Tommy?" A woman asked him. He was much smaller then.

"Because he wouldn't be my friend."

The woman sighed.

"You can't just punch someone just because they won't be your friend. Friendship like love can't be forced..."

Love can't be forced...

I can't force Kurama... I just know I can't...

Bah! Staying in the human world has certainly softened me... What matters is that I have him and he will never leave me...

No matter what Kuronue justified his actions, he still couldn't quite get rid of the doubt that niggled ever so slightly at the edge of his consciousness. He reached out with one hand to caress the curve of his Fox's jaw and with a hard motion brought Yoko into a kiss. Yoko tensed in surprise at his gesture but soon leaned into the kiss.

Yes, this is how it's suppose to be...

The clamor in the Raven's was drowned out and for a moment he content.

Let tomorrow come as it wills, we will be together...for eternity...

~TBC~

Author's Notes:

[1] Got the idea from the Elhalyn Gift (Hastur variant talent that sees all possible futures). This is from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, the novel "Storm Queen".

- I'm really laying the misery on thick. Schu-schu needs a big mess to help clean up so he can impress Ayan, ne? Ayan-kitsune sneezes and goes neko-eared. (A fox going neko? ^^)

- Hai! This is going to be longer. Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter...I live for reviews. ^^

Progress Report:
Some new fics are moving but old ones are stalled...*sigh*