Chapter 6: Sagara's Hideout
After explaining the entire situation to Kuwabara, the four of them headed into the woods to search for Sagara and Yasuo.
"Um, I hate to burst your bubble guys, but... how are we supposed to find him?" Kuwabara asked. "I haven't even seen him yet."
The others looked at him, wide-eyed, over their shoulders.
"Demons have excellent tracking abilities," Kurama answered, smiling. "With two demons and one half-demon we'll find him rather quickly."
"Hey, that's great!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "How come you guys never told me you could do that before?"
"We did," Hiei answered, scanning the area for signs of someone passing by quickly.
"Yeah," Yusuke agreed, glaring at Kuwabara. "We told you before but you were spacing out and didn't hear us."
Kuwabara was about to retort when-
"I've found something," Kurama called from up the trail a ways.
Kuwabara and Yusuke came running as Hiei was already beside Kurama.
"What is it?" Yusuke asked.
"It's a piece of Yasuo's shirt," Kurama answered, pulling it off the twig it was attached to. He held it up for them to see before putting it in his pocket.
"And here are some footprints," Hiei added, pointing at the ground before him. "They're definitely Sagara's."
"Great!" Yusuke exclaimed. "Now we can just follow the footprints to Sagara's hideout."
Kurama smiled at him and nodded.
Hiei began to walk, following the footprints and scanning them with his Jagan eye.
The others followed closely behind him.
"Well, I guess that third eye of yours comes in handy, doesn't it?" Kuwabara noticed, nudging Hiei's shoulder with his elbow.
Hiei rolled his eyes and continued with the task at hand. He led the group to a cave at the foot of a mountain a few miles away.
"Well, this must be the place," Yusuke said, walking a few steps ahead of Hiei.
"So, what'd we do now?" Kuwabara asked.
"That's simple, doofus," Yusuke answered, getting a glare from his friend. "We just waltz in like we own the place and take out Sagara."
"Hey! What's the big idea callin' me a doofus!" Kuwabara yelled, angrily.
"Just stating the obvious, pal," Yusuke answered, smirking.
Kuwabara ground his teeth together and attacked Yusuke.
Kurama shook his head at the two and walked up to Hiei, stopping beside him.
"Do you smell anything unusual?" Hiei asked, looking around.
Kurama sniffed the air and joined Hiei's search. "There's someone watching us," he said as Yusuke approached them.
"Someone's watching us?" he asked, looking around.
"Shhhh!" Hiei and Kurama shushed him.
Suddenly, a rather large group of demons dropped from the trees, surrounding them. The demons dropped to fighting stances and prepared to take on the intruders.
Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara dropped to stances as well. Kurama took a rose from his hair and jerked it down, turning it into a whip. Hiei drew his sword. Kuwabara brought out his spirit sword, and Yusuke prepared for a spirit gun.
Sagara sat in a throne in the shadows of a dark room, his legs crossed and his head resting in his hand. "Who are these intruders?" he asked the blue demon before him.
"Youko Kurama, the spirit detective Yusuke Urameshi, and their friends Hiei and Kazuma Kuwabara," the demon answered.
"So, they're coming back for more, eh?" Sagara said, sitting up straight. "They sure are persistent little pests, aren't they?"
"Yes sir," the demon agreed.
Sagara motioned for him to leave and watched him bow and exit. He stood up and walked to a door at the back of the room. He unlocked it and went inside.
The room was small and dark, the only light coming from a single lamp on the table in the far corner. There was a wood-framed bed up against the left wall. The bed itself was very old with a worn marroon blanket covering the creaky, stiff mattress and an musty, flat feather pillow at its head. Sitting at the edge of this bed was a small child with its head down.
Sagara smirked at the child and sat down in the chair that sat by the right wall.
The child was a boy of about five years old. He was dressed in a clean white gi with a matching belt and pants. His small taupe shoes hung about a foot above the floor, and his hands rested lightly on his knees, clutching his pants in restrained anger. Hidden by his thick silver bangs were gorgeous china-blue eyes that were brimming with tears which he held back. His pointed fox ears were alert and aimed at Sagara, waiting for any sudden movement from him.
"Your father is coming to try and rescue you," Sagara spoke up, suddenly. He smirked as the boy's head jerked up and his face brightened.
"Really?" the boy asked, smiling hopefully.
"Mmm-hmm," Sagara agreed, nodding once. "But I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Don't forget that he has to kill me to get to you, my boy."
The boy's head dropped again immediately, and a few tears rolled down his rounded cheeks, landing on his hands.
Sagara stood up and walked over to the bed. He sat down beside the boy and laid a hand on his head. "So, have you decided to help me yet?" he asked, rubbing his tangled silver hair. "Yasuo?"
Yasuo glared up at him momentarily before moving his gaze back to the floor.
Sagara smirked and let his hand trail down to Yasuo's tail, which lay curled slightly around the child's thigh. He pet the tail and smiled as Yasuo began to sway sleepily. "You know, you really should take better care of your tail, Yasuo," he said, picking up the furry appendage. He squeezed it a few times, and Yasuo's head fell onto his lap. He smirked and dropped the tangled silver fox tail. He scooped the boy's limp frame into his arms and carried him off, locking the door behind him.
"Takes care of that," Yusuke said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "So, what now? Do we just go in?"
Kurama nodded and entered the cave, the others following closely behind him.
