"Well what took you all so long," came the old woman's gruff voice as the large doors to the temple were pushed open. "You'd think you got lost from how long it took you. I'm not getting any younger you know."
"Yeah yeah, we've heard that one before," replied Yusuke, smirking over his shoulder to the rest of the group as he walked in first.
Genkai was sitting in her usual place, on her knees behind the small coffee table in the back of the front room, sipping a cup of green tea from a small cylindrical glass that she kept in her frail, rough hands.
"Good day to you Genkai," greeted Kurama, and Hiei nodded to her with a "Hn" before he flitted away, reappearing across the room under a statue of Kami appropriated against the wall near the window, shaking the rain off of his cloak.
"Hello Kurama. Hiei," she answered with only the slightest smile, her annunciation just as precise and soft as the Kitsune's. "And were is- ah yes, hello Kuwabara."
"Ma'am." That was all Kuwabara said, taking off his wet boots again and walking inside, taking a seat beside the wall on the other side of the room as the fire demon. Ever since the Dark Tournament he had always given Genkai the utmost respect, more so than he gave anyone else. Why was unbeknownst to everyone.
"Well, come on in dimwit," Genkai ordered to Yusuke, smirking a bit as her weary irises lit up with amusement. Yusuke made a face but then took off his shoes and sat down on his knees at the head of the small table, looking over as Kurama came and sat in front of him on the other side.
"Where's the brat," Hiei asked blandly, referring to Koenma. "He'll be here in a minute. Like you, he also doesn't have a decent grasp of time," Genkai answered, setting her empty glass on the table and then looking to Kurama. "I do not think we need to wait for him."
Giving a knowing nod, Kurama glanced from her to Hiei, to Yusuke in front of him, and then over his shoulder to Kuwabara, who appeared to be zoned out, staring down at a spot on the floor with a blank look.
"Kuwabara, we need to have a talk."
This seemed to rouse his attention, lifting his dark brown eyes up to meet emerald, chocolate, jade, and ruby ones all directed towards him.
"…About what?"
"We, well…Genkai and myself have begun to worry," Kurama began, twisting a slender finger in his long forelocks. "We know that there is something that is bothering you, and even your spiritual signature has begun to distort itself. Surely everyone else has noticed this too," he added, glancing at Yusuke who nodded and then at Hiei who scowled and looked away.
-Oh great, here we go…-
"We only wish to help you Kuwabara, that's all."
"So what, is this supposed to be some kind of intervention or something…?"
Kurama blinked, his eyebrows lifting up at Kuwabara's response. "What? No, no, we just want to-"
"Just want to help. Yeah, I figured out that part already."
-Geez, do they really think I'm that naive…?-
"Damnit Kuwabara!!" Yusuke's fist slammed against the table, knocking over Genkai's empty teacup, which fortunately was almost empty. "Quit the crap and start spilling it! You're pissing me off with the 'nothing's-wrong' routine!!"
"Stop it Yusuke," Hiei's low voice suddenly interrupted as he appeared sitting next to Kuwabara, and yet the nigen showed little reaction at all to notice or care. "Let him talk if he wants. Hopefully, he'll decide to keep his dumb mouth shut so his stupidity won't spread to the more intelligent members of our group."
That should get him off, the koorime thought smugly.
"…I don't have anything to say," was the redhead's quiet reply.
The fire demon was once again caught off-guard, expecting at least some sort of retaliation from the insult…something.
"Fool."
Hiei then flitted away, sitting beside Kurama at the table and glaring forward into nothing, obviously irritated beyond words.
It was then that the Kitsune took the opportunity and leaned down to whisper to the koorime quietly. "Hiei, why don't you just use your Jagan? I'm sure it would be able to assist us in finding out what's wrong with him."
"I've tried," Hiei answered, his lips barely moving as he whispered back up to Kurama. "He…blocks it."
"Blocks it?" Kurama had to quickly clap a hand over his mouth, emerald pools darting over to the object of conversation before he sighed, seeing as how he wasn't paying attention; although that did worry him. "How is he able to block it?"
"I don't know Fox," he hissed. "…He just can." Hiei said no more after that, looking towards Genkai as she sighed and folded her arms in front of her chest, sliding her hands into her sleeves. She then stood and walked over to the nigen before sitting back down on her knees on a small mat beside him.
"Kuwabara, it's painfully obvious that something is wrong. Both your inner and outer beings are being affected by this change, and we want to reverse it. Something negative is plaguing your mind and the best thing to do is to tell us so we can help you to forget it."
"Forget it?" Kuwabara's brows lowered and he began to scowl at the ground, his hands clenching into fists in his lap. "I'll never forget it…no matter what anybody's got to say! You guys don't even know what's wrong, so don't start assuming you can help!!"
"Well if you'd tell us maybe we could help genius," Yusuke shouted back, leaning forward against the table with tightening fists of his own.
"The both of you are right, there is no way we can help you…unless you talk to us about it," Kurama added in calmly, his eyes closed.
"Well maybe I don't wanna talk about it! Did you guys ever think of that?! You all're too damn busy worrying about how to help that you're not even considering that I might not want to talk about it! If it was something I thought could be helped I would of talked to you guys a long time ago…"
The rest of the group sat there silently for a moment, some staring at him, some looking away or at each other. What was there to say? He obviously wasn't going to let whatever it was that was troubling him go, so what could they do?
Genkai was the first to speak again. "…Are you sure that you want to remain silent about this and take your troubles on by yourself? Know that we are willing to help, and we won't judge you based on what it is…as we've said, we just want to help."
The nigen's eyes closed and his head lowered down, a heavy deep breath lifting his massive shoulders and then dropping them back down before he braced his hands on his knees and stood up, his face shadowed by red curls.
"There's no way to help…she's gone."
His lids lifted to reveal that his eyes had gotten slightly red and he looked towards Genkai and nodded with a quiet "ma'am" before silently walking out of the room, then out of the temple, the only sounds being that of his footsteps, and the slamming entrance door.
"Well…I'd say that went….good."
"Shut up dimwit."
And he did, sighing heavily and lifting a hand to scratch his head, rubbing his nose afterwards. "So what do you think he meant anyway? Y'know, by 'she's gone'?"
"I don't know," Kurama answered, his own slender hand rising to curve around his chin as he thought to himself, his brows furrowing together. "But…I'm beginning to think that I might…"
They all stared at him expectantly, waiting both patiently and impatiently for his theory before Hiei got a little too impatient. "Well?"
Kurama blinked, getting thrown out of his pondering to glance down at the small koorime before he bit his bottom lip and looked off to the side, shrugging his shoulders. "Well…it still requires some thought…I'd rather not take a guess before I can be sure after all…Genkai, would you accompany me to another room please? I'd like to have a private word with you if it's alright," he said, standing up and stepping away from the table before he looked at the woman.
Genkai nodded then stood as well, walking towards the door on the opposite side of the room as the one Kuwabara walked through before opening it and stepping through, Kurama following after not too far behind, leaving only Yusuke and Hiei.
"Why do you think they had to go off in there," the Spirit Detective asked, not necessarily to Hiei but more or less to himself aloud.
"Hn." Hiei growled, closing his eyes and folding his arms across his chest. "Because the Fox doesn't want me to hear it."
Before Yusuke could so much as look over, the fire demon was gone. "Uh...okay, so I'm here by myself now...Great."