Woo. You know, rainy days are the best for fanfiction...lol. Thanks for reviews: trunks and goten, KyoHana, darksaphire, Kurama's number1 girl, rurouni kitsune, Kitsune, and Ferra. Enjoy!

Clues and Training

"So are you two finally ready?" Hiei demanded.

"Yeah, thanks," Yusuke answered, stretching as he yawned.

"Hn, whatever. Let's go."

"Did you find anything?" Kuwabara inquired.

"No…"

"Damn it, where could he be? I mean he couldn't have gotten far in his condition…" Yusuke said.

"Yes, but if someone abducted him, as I suspect is what happened, he could be anywhere," Hiei pointed out.

"Then how are we supposed to find him!" Yusuke asked irate.

"Just relax Urameshi, getting worked up won't help. I think we should go back to where we fought that A Class and see if there isn't some kind of trail that Kurama left for us," Kuwabara suggested.

"For once I agree with the baka. That's probably our best option for the time being," Hiei commented, surprising the other two Reikai Tantei.

"Well, let's go then, the more time we waste here, the longer it'll take to find fox-boy," Yusuke said, leaving in the direction of the old battlefield.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A few hours later Kurama awoke from his food-induced sleep. Despite the fact that he was covered in the bed's sheets, he felt strangely cold.

O-kay, this is weird, normally a chill comes after you get out of bed, not while you're still in it… Then again, I'm alone, where as the other morning Karasu was… He thought, flushing lightly as that same heat overcame him. Shaking his head vigorously he wrapped the sheets around him tighter. Just where is that guy anyway? Looking around, he found the crow asleep in the corner that he had slept in the previous night.

I guess he's really proving he won't go near me, but then what was earlier about? He contemplated, flushing again at the memory. I think I should wake him up… he decided, trying to shake the feeling he had from the kiss they shared.

"Hey, wake up," Kurama said, gently shaking his shoulder. Once Karasu's eyes were open, he asked, "Why did you sleep over here? Wouldn't it have been more comfortable in your bed?"

"Obviously, but I know you wouldn't have liked it, and didn't I tell you I'm keeping my distance to prove a certain point?"

"Yes, but that doesn't explain earlier…"

"You have a point…but you didn't back away as if it repulsed you…"

Because I didn't… Kurama thought silently to himself, remembering to block off his thoughts so Karasu couldn't hear. "Even if, doesn't that still break your little code?"

"I slipped up, everyone makes mistakes and I already told you how you make me feel."

"Right…anyway, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Judging from the light, I'd say evening," he answered somewhat relieved Kurama changed the subject.

"Wow, that late? I must have been more exhausted than I thought…"

"Indeed. So…do you still think…about your friends?" Karasu asked slowly, knowing he was treading dangerous ground.

"What friends? I know of a few backstabbers that claimed to be 'friends' but none of the real sort," Kurama replied loftily, his back to Karasu as he spoke.

"That was rather cold…"

"So is leaving someone behind whose half-dead and with no way to defend themselves."

"I agree. A day or two ago when you were Yoko you said you wanted to do something other than sit around…is there anything in particular you'd like to do?" Karasu asked, feeling confident after what Kurama had said. Have I finally done it…?

"Training would be nice, so that I can beat those liars without a doubt," Kurama responded.

"That's pretty dark, but who am I to talk? Training it is," Karasu said, leaving.

"I can't exactly leave this room, remember?" Kurama pointed out at the doorway, not wanting to be thrown back again.

"You can for the time being, now come, there's a much larger cavern that will be perfect for our needs," he explained.

"Are you serious? How big is it?" Kurama asked as he followed him out.

"Pretty large, it's a little bigger than the cement part of the ring from the tournament."

"Impressive."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hey you guys! I think I found something!" Yusuke exclaimed closely examining the ground.

"Show me," Hiei ordered, flitting to Yusuke's side as soon as he heard his voice.

"I'm pretty sure that burgundy stuff is Kurama's blood and there's a small trail leading away from that main splotch," Yusuke enlightened, pointing to the base of a large tree.

"It is his blood; I'd know the scent from anywhere. Good work Detective, let's follow the trail until we reach him or it ends," Hiei said, removing the bandana that covered his Jagan to make the process go quicker.

"What did you find Yusuke?" Kuwabara asked, finally reaching the scene.

"Kurama's blood, and there's a trail, so let's get going," Yusuke replied, following after Hiei with Kuwabara taking up the rear.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"You weren't kidding when you said it was big," Kurama commented, staring wide-eyed at the cavern before him. We must be in a mountain somewhere… he thought looking up at the top of the cave that reached up to over a hundred feet and the floor spanning out even further.

"Yeah, the only problem is that there isn't much light, other wise it would be completely perfect," Karasu said.

"That isn't a problem, I can light it up," he said, taking out multiple seeds from his hair and tossing them in different parts of the room. On contact the seeds began to grow, forming buds that produced equal amounts of light, adding a golden glow to the shadowy cavern.

"You didn't tell me you could do that," Karasu said, slightly taken aback.

"You never asked."

"Haha, very funny kitsune," he said dryly. "So how do you usually train? I know it will be much different from how I do."

"When I'm with someone, I normally make a whip without thorns and they use a weapon of choice that won't cause too serious of wounds if it makes contact. But with your bombs, I don't know how that'll be possible…"

"Don't underestimate me before you know what I'm capable of. As I said when we fought, anything I can think of I can make into a real object, so the possibilities are endless. It doesn't necessarily have to be an explosive, they could just all be duds and not harm you except for a few bruises."

"If you say so, just make sure that they don't explode, it took long enough to heal from our fight at the tournament as it is…"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Oh my god…" Kuwabara whispered as the reached the point where Kurama had met up with Karasu.

"Well someone obviously has anger management issues," Yusuke remarked, surveying the scene as Hiei walked over to the corpses of the youkai. "Can you determine what caused their death Hiei?"

"Unfortunately yes, whoever did this knew how to kill with ease. Not only that, but the wounds seem to be caused by explosives of some sort," Hiei replied, worry in his sharp crimson eyes.

"You don't think…"

"We don't know of any other youkai that have those abilities Yusuke…or that have any connection with Kurama."

"You're not saying that Karasu did this and that Kurama's with him are you? He's dead, we all saw him die from that plant Kurama sprung on him at the last second!" Kuwabara insisted.

"With how quickly they remove the corpses from the ring, that plant may not have had time to take the full effect, and thus allowing him to live through it," Hiei explained, keeping almost all of the fear he felt out of his voice.

"If he's really with that psychopath, we need to find him now," Yusuke said, desperation now in his voice.

"The only problem is that his blood ends at this slaughter. The only way that he couldn't leave a trail anymore has to be because that bastard was carrying him…" Hiei stated bitterly.

"Then is there any way of finding him?" Kuwabara asked.

"There should be, since there's a very faint amount of his energy left, and hopefully that won't give out on us. It'll be harder to track, it's much weaker," Hiei answered, starting to walk away in the direction that he felt the energy going.

"Let's try to get this done in the most efficient amount of time possible," Yusuke suggested, following after Hiei.

"Really baka, as if I didn't know that. Don't think that you're the only one worrying…"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"You've become much better since our last fight," Kurama commented, stopping for a second to catch his breath.

"If this was a real fight, you wouldn't pause. If this is really training, it has to be as close to the real thing as possible," Karasu criticized, hitting him harder than he had to further prove his point.

"True, but you didn't have to hit me that hard," Kurama protested, lashing back at Karasu.

"Yes I did, if an enemy catches you off guard, they'll hit you with everything they have," Karasu pointed out.

"I guess you're right…"

"Another opening, you're too sloppy. Are you even taking this seriously or are you just wasting both of our time?" he demanded, kicking Kurama to the ground.

"Your talk is distracting!"

"Enemies will try to distract you as much as they can. Do you know anything at all?" Karasu said, pulling Kurama to his feet. "Now this time, take it seriously, or we'll stop."

"As you wish," Kurama replied with a hint of warning in his voice just before he solidly landed a kick just above Karasu's hip.

"That was a cheap shot and you know it," Karasu muttered just before disappearing.

"You said for me to take it seriously, I'm just doing what you asked," Kurama answered with a smirk.

"Aren't you cute," Karasu remarked, just missing Kurama when he threw one of his fake bombs at him.

"Now you're the one not taking this seriously, what happened to your earlier aggression?" Kurama mocked.

"Its right here," Karasu responded, throwing another bomb as a blinder so that he could get to Kurama and slug him to the ground with an all too satisfying thud.

"You suck," Kurama said with spite, narrowly missing his attempted trip on Karasu.

"Actually I don't, you won't let me," Karasu shot back sarcastically as he vanished again.

"Did you have to bring that topic up again?"

"Well, when you were sprawled out on the ground like that, how couldn't a thought from that area come to mind?" he asked, appearing right behind him to say the words into his ear.

"Don't even think of biting me!" Kurama yelled, whirling around in effort to hit him, but he was gone before Kurama's attack could land.

"So you can read minds now?" Karasu inquired dryly from the opposite side of the cavern.

"Well, that's what you would've done before, and since you didn't have a mask to slow you down…"

"True, but you reacted quicker than before, so I still couldn't."

"Only because you have a tendency to appear behind me, so I suspected it."

"And the only reason I do that should be rather conspicuous…"

"Would you stop it with the pointless lecherous comments?" Kurama exasperated.

"I can't have you; I have to rid myself of it somehow, unless, of course, you'd be willing to help me…?" Karasu remarked, giving Kurama a sidelong look.

"All right, I think this has gone way off topic, we're just standing here. Last I checked we came here to train, not argue about your needs."

"That may be, but as I remember, this happened more than once during our fight at the tournament…"

"Yes, but those bastards won't be stopping to chat," Kurama pointed out, attacking him again.

I wouldn't be so sure about that… Karasu thought. "Would you like me to mimic their fighting styles then?"

"That would be helpful."

"It'll be rougher…"

"I already know that! I told you what I wanted, so just do it," Kurama commanded, taking a different stance. Not sure which of his friends he would imitate first, Kurama was more cautious than normal.

"Very well, you've been warned," Karasu murmured, taking off in a sprint in Kurama's direction.

Typical, all of them attack like that; I won't know who it is until he actually hits me with something… Kurama thought, bracing himself. With his first attack Karasu jumped into the air and came down raining punches on Kurama. Now I know, he's imitating Yusuke first, and he's the only one that I haven't trained with… he thought, blocking as many punches as he could, although a few still managed to make contact.

"Can't keep up, can you?" Karasu taunted, dropping down and tripping Kurama so that he fell on his back. "Get up; he won't hit you when you're on the ground." As the "fight" continued, Kurama found that it was getting easier and easier to predict what Karasu was going to do, until it got to the point that he could dodge without thinking. Finally getting an opening, he used it to wrap his whip around Karasu's neck and yank him to the ground.

"Maybe we should quit, I know how the other two fight. That and we both have a decent amount of wounds," Kurama suggested after Karasu got up.

"That's fine with me, but we've managed to get quite filthy fighting in here. There is an underground hot spring farther down the way we came. Would you like to bathe before we eat and rest?" Karasu asked, brushing himself off to prove his point.

"I…guess that's fine, but, um…are there separate pools?" Kurama asked self-consciousness evident.

"Yes there is, and if I remember correctly, there's one that is very secluded from the other ones," Karasu said, leading Kurama to where he spoke of.

"Is there anything else hidden in here that I should know about?" Kurama asked, walking towards the isolated pool.

"Not that I can think of. If you'd like to wait a minute, I can get you something to dry off with and some new clothes."

"Where are you getting all this from?" Kurama asked, mystified.

"I stole it naturally, there's enough higher up demons that have too many things to notice when a few things are missing," Karasu answered, disappearing for a second and re-appearing with a towel and different clothes and a few bandages. "Be sure to clean your wounds fully before you wrap them," he advised, handing him the things.

"Yes mother, I already knew that," he said dryly, stepping behind the rock wall that hid his pool from view.

"Well you seemed to forget obvious things earlier, I was just making sure," Karasu replied sardonically.

"Shut up."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After he was finished and fully clothed, Kurama stepped out from his private bath and found that Karasu was just beginning to bandage his wounds. I should have known he'd take longer than me, being obsessed with his hair and all… he thought, walking up to him. "Need any help?"

"I'll be fine on my own," Karasu replied, wrapping the wound on his shoulder.

"I would've thought you'd want my assistance, but it appears I was incorrect…" Kurama commented, leaving once he knew he wasn't needed. Realizing he just declined having Kurama's hands on him, he called the kitsune back.

"On second thought, this will go faster if you help."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Kurama asked with his eyebrow raised.

"You were the one who offered it, so don't imply something about me, when there's possible evidence of the same offence for you," Karasu said, handing him some bandages.

"I offer everyone the same help with this, so don't take it the wrong way," Kurama mentioned, finishing the wound on his shoulder for him.

"Sure you do."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Yes, I'll stop."

He checked to see if there were any wounds on his back that needed help. Finding a deep gash that looked infected he got worried.

"You do know about the one on your back, right?" Kurama asked, looking closely at the wound.

"There's one on my back? I don't feel anything… Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, it looks like it's infected. I'll have to treat it with some herbs so don't be alarmed if you feel a sudden burning sensation," Kurama warned, taking a seed from his hair and after growing it a little he took the leaves from it. After crushing them into a sticky paste he carefully applied it to the wound feeling Karasu stiffen, knowing he was probably biting back a cry of pain. "It'll have a numbing effect after a few minutes, so don't worry," he explained, wrapping the cloth bandage around him so that it covered the entire wound when he was finished.

"It's a good thing you decided to help…"

"It's weird that you didn't feel anything, but at least it'll heal cleanly now."

Yes, and the experience, not including the burning, was like heaven… I thought I'd never feel your touch, especially that low on my back… Karasu thought, reminiscing the feeling as he walked back. Once they reached the room, Kurama noticed Karasu's expression had gone from content to dazed. Thinking it was some side effect of the wound, his worry returned.

"Are you okay? You look really out of it…"

"I'm fine, just tired," Karasu replied in a voice that expressed his words.

"If you tell me where the food is, I can go get it so that you can rest," Kurama suggested, still near the doorway.

"Take the first left and then the first right and you should find it." I just hope he doesn't run off, I don't have the energy to make a barrier…

"Okay, I'll be back," Kurama said, leaving for the food. Upon his return he brought back an assortment of food ranging from meat to vegetables to fruit. "I didn't know what you were in the mood for, so I got a little bit of each of the different groups," he explained, setting it all on the table in the room.

"I'll just have some fruit, I'm not really hungry."

"I don't see how you couldn't be, are you sure you're all right?" Kurama questioned.

"Yes, I just need some rest."

"You're worrying me; this isn't how you normally act."

"You were worrying about me? There's a first," Karasu remarked.

"No I'm serious; you don't look too good either…"

"You never liked me in the first place, why would I look good to you now?"

"That's not what I meant; you look like you're sick."

"I told you I feel fine, your concern is being wasted."

"That's what I said when, in fact, I had a bad fever. Just let me check, okay?"

"If you must," Karasu muttered, finishing the small amount of food he had taken.

"Karasu, you're burning up, that wound must've been something other than what I thought it was. I think you're poisoned…" Kurama said, ticking off the symptoms in his mind, and they all matched up with the ones Karasu was showing. Not feeling the wound, the sudden change in mood, excess drowsiness and lack of hunger all added up to it. "I'll need to heal that with my own energy since I don't have the right herbs to do it with," he explained, starting to take off his jacket.

Cutting off the bandages Kurama examined the wound closer than he had before and saw that it was in fact a poison that was affecting his captor. "This is going to hurt a little bit, but it won't kill you," Kurama cautioned, taking a sharp edged leaf and using it to re-open the wound on his back. Putting his hands over the now gushing injury, he began sending energy in that would destroy the poison and heal the wound simultaneously.

After all the poison was gone, Kurama put the jacket back on Karasu and checked his temperature to find that it had gone down slightly, but still needed something to completely remove it. After getting a small towel and drenching it with icy water he made Karasu lie down and put the cloth on his forehead. "If you rest, you'll be fine in the morning."

"If you say so…" Karasu said drowsily, slipping into sleep quickly.

Awww...isn't that sweet? Kurama playing doctor and helping Karasu out...lol. Finally Yusuke and the others are on the right track, but will it be possible for them to stop what has started between this unlikely pair? lol. Only reading the following chapters will answer that question! Again...I sound like a movie advertisement... Please review!