Disclaimer: I do not own Hiei, Kurama, Yukina, Genkai, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko or the arsonist. I also do not own anything else from Yu Yu Hakusho.
A/N: In which Genkai is manipulative (as usual) and Yukina makes a discovery.
Saving Private Yukina
Forest Fire
"Hiei-san!" Yukina hurried across the porch of the dojo to greet the fire demon, taking tiny, delicate steps. She paused, eyes widening as she took in what she saw - Hiei, eyes red and weepy, drenched with sweat and carrying a feverish Kurama clad only in a towel. Kurama's hair dripped suds still. She resumed her rush towards Hiei, now annoyed at the hindrance of her kimono.
"Hiei-san, what happened?" She asked, her normally sweet voice filled with concern. "Is Kurama-san--?"
"He collapsed. We were in the... shower. He might have hit his head." Hiei squinted at his sister through the smoke, eyes still stinging. "Why is the mountain on fire?"
Yukina urged him up the dojo steps, swiftly preparing a futon for Kurama. "Arsonists." She said quickly. "Master Genkai is shielding the temple†put him here, Hiei-san." He did so, then sat down a few feet away and kneaded his eye sockets with his fists. Whatever had been on Kurama's fingertips had really hurt. He rubbed at his watering eyes, then tilted his head back with a blank expression. He couldn't cry here. If Yukina saw his hiruiseki
The Koorime, busy fussing with Kurama, spared a smile over her shoulder for Hiei. She covered Kurama's forehead with her hand as she tugged a light blanket into place over the fox. He felt a burst of youki as her eyes fluttered closed. Kurama's eyes fluttered briefly and Yukina's brows furrowed. Then she removed her hand and shuffled over to Hiei's side on her knees.
"Don't be upset, Hiei-san." She said soothingly. "He has a fever, that's all."
Hiei detached his gaze from the ceiling. "What? I'm not upset. I have some... stuff in my eyes." He had no idea what the slime was. Yukina beamed at him.
"Don't be embarrassed, Hiei-san. It's sweet." She looked away as Genkai entered, despite Hiei's sputters of outrage. "Welcome back, Master Genkai."
"I'm serious! I have acid-stuff in my eyes. It was on the fox's fingers"
Genkai's eyes widened curiously. She stepped forward to peer down at the fox's prone form, a slight smirk appearing on her face. "Strange to see you both in such a state of disarray." Hiei hissed at the old woman's humour. Yukina had moved to remove Kurama's hand from beneath the covers. She reached out to remove some of the pinkish slime from his fingers and Hiei grabbed her hand.
"Don't touch it!"
Though Yukina tended to listen to Hiei when he gave her a warning, Genkai obeyed no such law. She crouched, gave a thoughtful sniff, and grabbed Kurama's hand. "You got this in your eyes?" Hiei confirmed this with a curt nod. Genkai sniffed it again and a grin spread over her withered face.
"Yukina-san, what does this smell like to you?"
The Koorime leaned forward cautiously and gave Kurama's hand a delicate sniff. "Mmm... roses." She decided, returning her attention to Kurama's fever. Hiei blinked.
"And what about you, Hiei?" The old woman's eyes glittered with amusement. Hiei sniffed suspiciously from where he was. At first, he did think roses... and then comprehension dawned.
"The fox's hair"
"Right." Genkai agreed, deftly cleaning off Kurama's hand. "Beaten by shampoo." She rolled her eyes, and before Hiei could retort, she moved on. "There's no point shielding. The fire's become magically charged. We have about half an hour before it reaches my back door."
"Oh no" Yukina murmured, red eyes stricken. "But we shouldn't move Kurama until he's well again"
Genkai shrugged. "It's probably the blaze making him ill in the first place. With so many old, powerful trees dying at once" She muttered speculatively, sitting back on her haunches to watch Yukina heal Kurama's fever. "But I can't shield against a magically charged fire with no attacking force behind it."
Hiei experienced a moment's foreboding before Yukina asked in a small voice, "You could, couldn't you Hiei-san?" She fixed the fire demon with a hopeful expression. Protests died in Hiei's throat. He nodded wordlessly. Genkai grunted.
"That's fine, but if you want Kurama to survive, you'll have to actually stop the blaze from coming any closer, as well as suppressing the rest of the fire on the mountain." She noted coolly. "Bringing him closer to the fire has only worsened the effects. As it is, we're lucky he's only got a fever. On Midsummer, we'd have char-grilled Shuichi."
Hiei gave her a look through watering eyes that let her know the information was not appreciated.
"Not to mention the spiritual death of, oh, seventy percent of his body via the local plant life" Genkai added slyly.
Hiei stood up with a loud huff of annoyance and stalked outside. "I hate you." He hissed at the priestess on his way out.
Genkai grinned. "Don't be long."
He walked through what remained of the forest, occasionally crouching in the determined embers to avoid catching the eye of the humans that still ran about with long snake-like tubes that gushed water. Though he'd suppressed all the heat as well as he could, he was tired now, and the flame had indeed become magically charged - it was trying to come back to life, as flame inevitably did.
His eyes still stung. He raised a hand to rub at them wearily, and bent to pick up the hiruiseki that had fallen to the blackened ground with a pitter-pat like falling rain.
The world sagged sideways and went black. (Well, blacker.)
Yukina had sat worriedly by Kurama's side, trying to shield him from the worst of the fire, until she saw a tiny figure dragging another small figure through the smoke. She ran out the back of the temple to help Genkai carry Hiei. The old woman grunted as they carried him into the temple.
"I certainly didn't expect that he'd pass out from a little forest fire."
It was about as close to apology as she got.
So now Yukina sat between the two unconscious demons and tried to make sure that they were both comfortable. Kurama's skin was red and raw, presumably due to his affinity with the burned plant life. She'd applied soothing aloes and chilled the surface of his skin with her own powers, but he'd shown no signs of stirring yet. Hiei showed more signs of life, but these were almost more disturbing than Kurama's lack of movement. The fire demon twitched incessantly, his power flooding over the confines of his skin and drenching the room with heat more intense than even midsummer's day would show. His hands were clenched on his chest, smeared with charcoal dust.
She smiled a little bit as she thought of trying to persuade him to take a bath, given the circumstances when Kurama had fainted. He certainly wouldn't be trusting shampoo any time soon. As another power flare made Kurama moan, Yukina raised her youki a little to try and counteract the heat and keep Kurama comfortable.
Almost immediately Hiei's twitching ceased. His hands unclenched, and a small black pebble clattered to the floor. It glinted suspiciously in the light. Yukina's eyes widened and her hands flew to capture the stone.
She cradled it in both her palms, ruby eyes fixed upon it in disbelief and wonder.
It was not a pebble. It was a hiruiseki. Her brother's hiruiseki, for only the tainted shed blackened tears.
And Hiei had found it on the mountain.
A/N: And so the shit hits the fan with a resounding 'splat'. Please review!