Okay, third chappie up I started this fic for fun, but I'm drawing MYSELF into the plotline as I go(which is unusual), as well as trying to develop Kazuki and Takashi. Also, might I add again, that I still don't own YYH, but Naomi and anyone else that I decide to throw into the next few chapters are mine Anywhoooo, I'd love to thank both Sonya-White-Angel and Chanassa for leaving me reviews! I didn't think that they would matter that much(the reviews) but when I see them I feel the need to keep writing! Thanks to them(and the inspirational music of Incubus and the Dixie Chicks(lmao)) I've pretty much got the whole story plotted out! Therefore: Chapter Three->
Chapter Three
Rescued?
Hiei danced through the treetops, never letting his whole weight rest on a limb at any time, jumping from them swiftly, like a deer through a meadow. Only much more deadly. He left Kurama, Yusuke and the baka behind him as he ran, going on through several miles, and though he felt the strange ki of the Kitsune getting closer, he was rather enjoying the cold air blowing in his face, rippling his clothes.
Suddenly a sense of dread came over him and he stopped, dropping to the ground nimbly. He raised his head up, unsheathing his katana and looking around. Though his eyes saw nothing other than a barren space surrounded by rather blackened trees, the other senses were attuned and working. He breathed in to find the air reeked of demons of low class and he growled under his breath. As he moved closer, another pungent scent hit his nose and he was immediately alarmed. Blood...he would know the metallic, almost alluring scent anywhere. It was demon blood, not human...which was good, at least in his point of view. Or maybe it wasn't. Hell...he didn't care much for the ningen anyway.
Coming up closer he noticed the smoldering torches surrounding a huge willow. He stepped cautiously towards the tree, keeping an eye out for any sign of an attack. The scent of blood only got stronger. Hiei stepped forward, then looked down at the blood-soaked ground and to the figure lying there in its own filth. He recoiled at the sight of the young boy, looking no older than 16 at the most, that had obviously been used as the Kitsune's sacrifice.
Immediately he thought of the gang and backing out, he jetted, back-tracking to where his partners were lagging. Yusuke stopped him in mid-stride, still limping a bit himself. "Whoa there, shrimp! Cool it."
Hiei shoved Yusuke's hands from him and backed away. "Leave me alone, fool!" he snapped, with more force than he knew was needed. Yusuke nodded and looked at him warily, his eyes questioning.
"Hiei?" Kurama asked curiously, though his voice was full of concern.
"Just hurry up..." The fire apparition said sullenly. "I've might've found a track on the Kitsune..."
The group's pace quickened surprisingly and soon they were among the grounds again. Hiei couldn't help but smirk as Kuwabara covered his nose and groaned. "What is with this place?" he mumbled.
"It's blood," Kurama stated calmly, though the look in his eyes showed otherwise. With a glance around, he nodded. "The sacrificial grounds of the Kitsune, possibly..."
"Wha..."
"Nevermind that–" Yusuke said, stepping forward. "Uh...guys?"
Hiei appeared at his side, katana still unleashed, just in case. He pointed it down at the dead boy who lay at their feet. "And that would be the sacrifice..." he murmured in an undertone.
Kuwabara strayed back, refusing to lay eyes upon the gore as he paced behind the other three. Yusuke's lip raised in a sort of disgusted pity for the boy and an upcoming hate for the one who had killed him. Hiei stood motionless, not surprised as Kurama kneeled down next to the corpse to inspect the wound, he figured.
Kurama's head spun as he knelt down, the strong scent of blood almost overwhelming to him, him! The legendary Youko Kurama, thief and killer. Yet even those thoughts could not keep it out. He could feel it wafting into his senses and wrapping a ghostly grip around his mind. His stomach lurched slightly, but he did his best to ignore it as he reached out to touch the boy.
The victim had been a vulpess, his bat-like fox ears limp, but furred a dark orange, as well as the tail that lay motionless over his waist. That surprised him, however, as the twin vulpess-demons they had ran into before had two tails... The boy looked no older than a teen, but his age couldn't be told for certain, since he was a demon. Kurama gently rolled the boy over, onto his back, to find the left shoulder and side of his shirt soaked with blood, matting it to the wound. Gingerly, he pulled the fabric away to reveal blood-stained, slick flesh. It looked like a blade had sliced through, the way the wound was clean cut, not jagged. Most likely the demon doing the sacrifice had aimed to pierce between ribs and into the youth's heart. Fighting down waves of nausea, he took two fingers and probed the wound slightly.
The youth's skin was still warm and Kurama felt his lunch from that day threatening to rise. Shakily, he rested his other hand at the boy's neck, not daring to breathe as he checked for a pulse. He had been so sure the boy had been killed but... "Hiei...Yusuke..." he murmured, not taking his gaze away from the scene before him. "He's not dead..."
"What?" All three of his partners piped up at once. Kuwabara, without thinking, rushed forwards, then immediately let out a moan of sickness as he caught sight of the wound. "Oh...that's...ohhh..." he groaned and pulled away, hand at his temples.
"This is great!" Yusuke said, grinning. "This kid's a fox! Part of that Kitsune's clan...we might be able to get information out of him! Maybe we could–"
Kurama had opened his mouth to interrupt, but Hiei cut the other boy off before he could. His tone was icy. "That won't be possible. He's supposed to be dead. It's only a mere fluke that a wound that deep could not've pierced his heart. I'll finish it so we waste no more time pissing with affairs that don't involve us." The Jaganshi had raised his katana to strike a blow to the unconscious vulpess, but Kurama stood up, glaring at him.
"You will do no such thing," he said, tone soft but deadly.
"Be rational, fool!" Hiei snapped, glaring up at his partner. "The boy is an enemy! An offshoot of the others. Like the Kitsune, he shall die."
"Hiei, no," Kurama growled. "We were enemies too, remember? To Yusuke and the Reikai? They didn't kill us, did they?"
Hiei's ruby glare shot daggers but he couldn't really argue against that. Yusuke and the Reikai prince, Koenma, had let both of them live in exchange for becoming Spirit Detectives. "Fine...but I'm telling you. I don't like this..." He resheathed his katana and turned away. "You're dealing with him."
"I expected no less," Kurama replied boldly as he picked the boy up in his arms. "Now...we need to find a place to rest... Yusuke. Do you know where the nearest town is?"
"No, but I'm sure we could find it easily enough. Just follow that path there. Hiei–" Yusuke turned to acknowledge the fire demon, but Hiei was no where in sight. "Hey, three-eyes! Get back here!"
"Let him be, Yusuke," Kurama said, rising. "He's angry at me because he knows I'm right. He'll get over it. He always does."
Yusuke sighed in agreement and annoyance and they began the walk to the village,
Kuwabara making sure he stayed a good pace behind the other two, looking pale and as he might throw up.
A girl, looking about 14, noticed them when they reached the edge of the village, and armed with a drawn bow, hurried over. Her blond hair was pulled up in a careless knot, green eyes sparkling with untrust as they neared.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "Explain yourselves!"
"Hey, listen up, kid–" Yusuke had stepped forward to no doubt pick a fight, but was silenced as Kurama spoke.
"Miss, is there any place we might be able to stay for awhile?" he asked, his tone soft and sincere. "Both Yusuke and this child we found need health care and I can't administer to them while on the road, open to attack."
"Attack?" she asked, her brow rising. "Who are you, and why are you carrying around that fox-demon." She spat out the last two words like getting a bad taste from her mouth.
Kurama nodded, eyeing his partners. "I'm called Shuichi Minamino and these are my friends, Yusuke Uremeshi and Kazuma Kuwabara." He jerked his chin in the direction of the said boys as he spoke their names.
"Yeah...uh...we're traveling...minstrels!" Kuwabara said haughtily and both Kurama and Yusuke sweatdropped.
The girl smirked. "Minstrels? Heh...whatever. Then where are your flutes and banjos?" Her tone was sultry, accusing, sarcastic.
"We don't need flutes and banjos, kid!" Yusuke said, a smug grin on his face. "We sing."
"We do?" Kuwabara turned to him, only to be hit over the head with a fist.
Kurama winced, then smiled at the young woman. "Yes...minstrels... Please, excuse my friends. We were attacked on our way and...I'm sure they're not feeling well. As you can quite tell by their strange...behavior..."
"Quite." The girl looked them over again. "Still, that doesn't explain the fox-whelp in your arms, Minamono."
"We believe he was attacked by the bunch of bandits that got us...he's severly wounded," Kuwabara managed under Yusuke's vice grip.
"And why were you attacked if you're merely minstrels?" Her emeralds were flashing in the excitement of trying these unwanted visitors. "I mean, if that's what you truly are."
"Hush, girl," Yusuke smirked. "We are. They attacked us cause they're hunting us."
"Why?"
"You're just full of stupid questions, aren't you?" He narrowed his eyes. "Because they're fucking bandits, that's why!"
"Yusuke!" Kurama said sharply. "Enough. Please, miss. We're not here to cause any trouble. We merely ask to stay a few nights so we can gather our energy back up."
For a moment it looked like the girl wasn't going to buy into their lie, but she finally nodded, but not before staring Kurama in the eye, her own gaze shining with untrust and a look that wondered what the group was up to. "Yeah. You can stay at my grandfather's dojo for now. He won't mind," she said and turned on her heel, walking away.
"We should follow her," Kuwabara said, rubbing the lump on his forehead and Yusuke snorted. "Idiot..."
After explaining to them that her grandfather was unusually unsound in the head and to watch themselves because he could go off like a mad rooster at times and be overzealous the next minute, the girl, who addressed herself as Naomi, led them into the large dojo. She opened two doors, across the hall from one another, which led into two separate rooms. "Sorry to say that we can't service you for food, but–"
"It's okay," Kurama said, chopping her sentence short with a pleased smile. "Thank you, Miss Naomi–"
"It's just Naomi," she said sharply, tossing her head up like a wild mare might. "Mr. Shuichi." Not giving him the last word, she turned and flaunted back out the door of the dojo.
"She's rather..."
"Blunt." Yusuke finished with a laugh.
"Surprisingly."
"But she's pretty!" Kuwabara spoke up, only to get hit upside the head yet again. "Hey! What was that for?" Yusuke merely smirked and sat down on the nearest bed, watching in slight amusement as Kurama lay the fox-boy down on the other cot and began tending to his wounds. Kuwabara, seeing what Kurama was up to, decided quite quickly that he would go into town to round up some food and Yusuke went with him, to 'make sure the oaf didn't get lost'.
Kurama knelt down by the bedside as he removed the boy's shirt, cleaning the wound thoroughly with soapy water and a cloth, which he had found in the adjoining bathroom. With the better lighting and more time, Kurama found the gash wasn't near as bad as it had seemed. As long as it hadn't nicked the lung or the heart, the youth might come out unscathed. What worried him, however, was the amount of blood he had lost. If this child would've been a human he would've already died from the blood loss...
He spread an antiseptic across the wound, then bound it snugly with bandages, leaving the boy's shirt off for easy access to change the dressings. Then, after tucking the boy into bed, began to tend to his own minor wounds. He didn't notice the slight figure sitting on the windowsill until he spoke.
"Are you happy now?" Hiei's tone was brisk, still holding the touch of anger and arrogance, but his eyes were calmer. "You're going soft, Kurama...softer than you were. He's an enemy; always will be."
"So were we," spoke Kurama, hardly looking up from what he was doing. "How did you get in?"
Hiei snorted at the sudden change in subject, but answered anyways. "You mean through the little wench on sentry duty? She's an annoying little onna." There was silence between the two for a few moments before the fire apparition continued. "She explained to me that you three claimed to be minstrels who were attacked by bandits? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not a minstrel."
"I know that," Kurama murmured, sitting back against the wall and looking his friend in the eyes. "And you know that. But we merely need to lay low for a few days so we can regroup thoughts and decide what we're going to do next."
"What we're going to do next is hunt down that Kitsune and kill him."
"Hiei–" He was interrupted by both Yusuke and Kuwabara bolting through the door, each with a sack in their hands.
"Food! Man, you wouldn't believe the markets at this place!" Kuwabara said, sitting down on the floor and emptying the bags to reveal breads and vegetables of all sorts. "And so cheap compared to back home!"
"I see Hiei's decided to join us," Yusuke said matter-of-factly.
"Hn," Hiei growled, but joined the others on the floor to eat.
—
The screams of his mother's pain filled Kazuki's heart with anger and sadness, recalling, but barely, her slow death. Kita, as she was called, had developed an illness not even magic could completely heal. She was diagnosed with the syndrome shortly after he was born and died 4 years later...
Raidon, his father, was a cold man and married Kita only because she was with his son and therefore was bound with her until the death of one of them. Raidon was never exactly nice to Kaz, but he had never laid a hand on him either. It seemed, however, that after Kita died, Raidon wanted nothing to do with the child and dumped him on the streets one night, leaving him alone. Abandoned. Kazuki still remembered the feelings of fear, loneliness and sometimes anger.
He had lived for a full two months alone, surviving on garbage and rainwater, before a young man bearing the symbol of a guard came by him. With calm, gentle coaxing, Takashi had befriended Kazuki, though the boy's fear and untrust of his own kind never left him. Takashi had raised him like a father, teaching him self-defense, though dealing with weaponry was the last thing on the youth's mind. He was more interested in singing, making up songs in his head, never to forget the words nor the tunes. His own mind had kept him alive during those long two months, giving him things to think about, to dream about...
But Takashi had left, just like Kita, and had abandoned him, just like Raidon. Now he was to trust no one. Not ever. He knew it in his heart, but it didn't matter, because he was dead. The unwanted memories of the sacrificial party flowed back to him, try as he might to lock them out. He felt the pain of loss worse than the pain in his chest as the blade slicked through flesh. He felt the blood rushing in his head as it fell from the wound like ruby water. He saw, once again, the darkness edging in around his mind as his body fell limp, useless to him as he died. And to his horror, he heard the screams, blending in with the screams of his mother, yelling, echoing in his head. He felt as if he was dying all over again, but this time, it was much, much worse!
Kazuki jolted upright in his bed, letting out a strangled gasp as pain shot through his chest and arm. He was soaked, but not with blood...with sweat. With slow, painful examination he found that he wasn't dead at all! He was laying on a cot, bandages surrounding his wound, pain flashing through his body with every breath. Why? Why was he still alive...?
Though it was dark he could make out three outlines in the room. Two were laying on the ground, snoring slightly, one leaning against the wall opposite them. But he felt another presence, a more dangerous one. He shifted his gaze to the window only to find himself gazing into cold, red eyes. He let out a trembling squeak.
"I'd keep quiet if I were you, boy." The voice was monotonous, hard, reminding him dreadfully of Nibori and his blood ran cold. He uttered another whimper.
"Hiei!" came the next. It was soft, calm, but also holding a tone of danger. A lamp was turned on and Kazuki could see both men who had spoken...or moreso, youths. The one called Hiei was perched on the windowsill, looking out into the night, but kept sending him glares of warning. Around his forehead, under jet bangs, was a white band and though it was covered, Kazuki shivered, knowing that this being was a Jaganshi.
The other young man was moving towards his bedside slowly, his red hair long but elegant, eyes the color of emeralds shining with worry. "Are you alright?" he spoke, looking into Kazuki's eyes. Kazuki couldn't help but utter another cry as he pushed himself back a bit, his ears flat against his head fearfully. "We're not going to hurt you," the man said softly, stopping his advance and giving a small smile.
Kazuki lowered his gaze to the bed sheets, which he was grasping hard, his knuckles white, as if it was the last thing on the earth.
The boy stepped back, knocking over a pair of trashcans, which clattered to the ground heavily, scaring him more. A younger Takashi neared him, his short-cut auburn hair shining in the semidarkness, green eyes shining with worry and hope. Kazuki cocked his head, stopping, but when Takashi took another step forwards he hissed and spat at him. "It's okay, Fox...I'm not going to hurt you...
"Are you alright?" The red-haired youth's worried tone brought him back into reality and Kazuki shot him a glare, pinning his ears but not replying. "Do you have a name? I mean, I can't just keep calling you boy, or kid..."
"How about I pry into his petty mind?" The one called Hiei suggested coldly and Kazuki decided he didn't like this male. He was Youkai, that was for certain, but he felt a strangeness within him...almost the same strangeness he felt in himself at times.
"Hiei, this is not the time for jokes!"
"Who said I was joking?"
"Hiei!"
The Jaganshi quieted down again and the red-head turned back to Kazuki once more. "I'm sorry...my friend has a temperment problem..." he murmured with a slight chuckle. "If you'd like to know, ningen call me by my human name, Shuichi, but I'm also known as Kurama."
Kurama...why did that name sound deadly familiar...
"Fox?"
Kazuki turned away from him, fear and anger and pain boiling in his mind. Fox. Fox. That's what Takashi had called him! That's what he had been known as...back in the Makai. It was either Fox or Himora, his surname. Never Kaz or Kazuki, as he referred to himself.
"Alright..." Kurama's voice was soft and gentle. "I'll give you your space. Take whatever time you need." Kazuki met his eyes, startling emeralds, once more and Kurama gave him a smile before turning the lamp back off and taking up his place against the wall, next to his still-snoring comrades. Kazuki dared not to take another glance in that Hiei's direction as he stiffly moved onto his side, away from everything, and drifted off into a pain-filled slumber.
Does Naomi remind you of Videl Satan from DBZ by any chance? I didn't notice it till I re-read it...hrmm...hahaha. Well R 'n' R
