Going Under
By: Cece Williams
((Disclaimer: Well, I do own YYH… (gets wrapped up with Rose Whip and looked at with a challenging emerald gaze) Uh, did I say, "own?" Uh, I meant, I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.))
Cece: Well, here's the toughest chapter I ever had to write.
Yusuke: That's only because Andrea gets…
Hiei: (hits Yusuke with sword hilt) Don't spoil the story, baka.
Kurama: Well, once again, I fear this chapter may be long. Oh, and this is not a songfic with the song by Evanescence. Cece just liked the title.
Cece: (eats popcorn) Read and review!
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Andrea woke up to the sound of thunder outside her window and looked at her clock, which read 1:30AM. She got out of bed, wearing a dark blue PJ set, and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink, only to find that when she flicked the switch, the lights were cut off. "Great," she complained, walking into the kitchen where lightning flashed outside the window... which revealed the shape of a man.
The figure pounced on her and held her against the wall by her arms. Her reflexes taking over, she kicked him between the legs, scratched the man in the face and ran into the living room and reached under the cushion for her revolver. Aiming it into the night and aided by the lightning, she fired a shot, which hit the man in the arm.
Unfortunately, his gun went off at the same time; the shot ricocheted and shot her on the side of her head just as lightning flashed and thunder clapped at the same time she hit the ground. The man looked at her crumpled form on the ground. "You won't even make it to court," he said as he left.
Andrea struggled to stay awake, but she realized that blood was slowly creeping down across her forehead, which felt like a ton of bricks. She didn't want to close her eyes; fear crept into her spine. What if he had now gone after Kurama? She had to warn him! She reached over to where her coat was and tried to reach her cell phone, but she collapsed and she finally passed out, closing her eyes in surrender.
Meanwhile, at Kurama's house, lightning flashed through the window, which made Kurama shoot himself up in his bed. Even in the dark with him just waking up, his emerald green eyes were side open as he looked over at his clock and read 1:33AM. What could have possessed him to wake up at that time of morning? Unless… "Something's wrong," he said as he took a breath. "Youko?"
Youko mentally opened one eye. "Great... you wake me up for what? Little Shuichi scared of the lightning?"
"No! Sense around, baka!"
Youko used his sensitive fox ears as he rubbed his head and looked around but froze when he heard a shot… and he didn't like where. "Sounds like a shot."
Kurama jumped out of bed, hearing Youko's response, and started pulling on a pair of blue jeans and a sweater. He didn't care about his hair at the moment; that would wait. "Feel anything at that direction!"
"It's at your girlfriend's house."
Kurama had already gotten to the front door and opened it when he heard Youko call Andrea his girlfriend… again. "She's not my girlfriend!" he hissed mentally as he raced out the door into the night.
"Riiiiiight. Then tell me you weren't feeling anything for her a week ago?"
"Tell me what you were feeling toward that fox girl during the Tournament?"
"What? I was more worried with getting you with Andrea, thank you."
"That was almost three years ago!"
"And forgive me for saying, but you ain't getting any younger, you know."
Kurama raced down the street to Andrea's apartment. He was hoping it was only Youko's imagination running wild. Somehow, deep down, he knew Youko wouldn't lie about something this serious. "I'll kill you later."
"Uh, how? I'm a part of you."
"I'll figure out a way!" With that, Kurama ran into the apartment, not really paying attention to where he was going.
"Um, watch out for that... girl."
Kurama tripped over something and quickly regained his balance. As the lightning flashed, he looked down to see what he tripped over. It was a pair of legs, and as he looked further up… "Oh Inari!" Andrea was lying like a rag doll on her side, her slightly tangled bobbed hair almost covering her face. Kurama knelt next to her and pulled her hair from her face as the lightning flashed. His eyes widened at the sight of blood on her head and he said her name. No response. Grabbing his cell phone from his pocket, he called 119.
From the other end, a calm female voice answered. "119..."
Right now, Kurama was trying to stay calm, but the sight of his friend on the floor, not answering him, shoved shivers up and down his spine. "Hello, I have an emergency here!"
The female on the other end remained calm, as was her job. "Stay calm, and tell me the emergency, sir," she stated to him.
Kurama took a deep breath. Sure he was worried about Andrea, but sounding too worried wasn't going to help her. "My friend's hurt," he answered into his phone. "Seems like she was shot in her left temple near her frontal lobe."
"We're sending an ambulance now," she informed the redhead. "I need you to see if she's breathing."
Kurama knew better than to try and move her; it would do more harm to Andrea than good. He checked her pulse at her neck and felt a slow heartbeat, which almost froze him in place. "Yes, but barely," he told the dispatcher.
"All right. Now I need you to wrap her in something to keep her from going into shock."
While Kurama looked around in the dark for something to wrap Andrea in, Youko couldn't resist. "How 'bout you?"
Kurama mentally smacked Youko once again and grabbed an afghan from off the couch. He wrapped it around the still figure on the floor. "For once in your life, get your mind outta the gutter!" he hissed inwardly at his kitsune half. He continued to say her name, trying to wake her before the medics arrived. When she continued to stay still, his heart froze in his throat. Had he been too late for her?
Just then, two medics came in the apartment, carrying a stretcher and other equipment. One looked at the redhead in the room and as he commanded him to move, Kurama obeyed. After the medics put her on the stretcher, they proceeded to go down the stairs.
Kurama followed them to the door. There had to be something he could do. "I'm coming, too!" he said, and as they nodded (and didn't need to argue anyway), they made their way to the ambulance and left her apartment.
Fifteen minutes went by, and in the waiting room, Yusuke was reading a magazine while Kurama looked at the floor, trying to piece what he had seen together. Andrea was just fine when he left her earlier that night. Yusuke looked up from the magazine he was reading. "So, what'd you see?" he asked the redhead.
Kurama shrugged, looking up at Yusuke. "Hardly anything. It was dark."
Yusuke's brown eyes narrowed slightly. "I got a bad feeling he tried again."
"I do too." Kurama watched as a doctor and a nurse talked for a few minutes. They nodded and then the nurse went to another room. The redhead tried to figure out what they were talking about, but the conversation had been short.
Yusuke's attention span, however, was short enough. He looked at the nurse as she walked off. "Hey, she's cute," he said.
Kurama didn't even look at Yusuke as he made his comment. "I was more concerned over their conversation then her facial features." He watched as the same doctor looked at a chart with his brow furrowed. What were they talking about? Kurama thought. What is he thinking?
Almost as if his mind were being read, the doctor looked at them, fixing his glasses. He walked into the waiting room and sat down in a chair not far from the four boys in the room. "How are you all related to the patient?" he asked them.
Yusuke pointed at Kurama. "Well, he's her boyfriend…"
Kurama held his index finger up. "Friend," he emphasized. Yusuke was back to himself again. And under normal circumstances, that wasn't good.
The doctor raised his eyebrow, not really wanting to know what they were talking about. "O… Kay," he said hesitantly.
Hiei, who had been sitting in a silence that would make the hospital look like the mall on Christmas Day, looked up from his chair. "We're all friends of the patient," he explained to the doctor.
The doctor fixed his glasses as he looked at the chart with Andrea's name on it. "Well, the bullet grazed her head near her frontal lobe," he started to explain.
Youko rolled his eyes inside Shuichi's head. "Tell us something we don't know already!"
"Patience," was Kurama's mental answer to his kitsune half. He looked at the doctor. He knew how serious Andrea's condition was and what was possible. "Will she live?" she asked the doctor, almost point-blank.
"That's the tricky part," the doctor answered, looking back at Andrea's medical files for a second. "Due to the fact that she had hit her head earlier and also when she hit the floor, she's got a definite concussion." He took his glasses off and looked at them. "She's in ICU at the moment in a stage between stable and critical."
Youko was getting even more upset. Andrea could be worse off, and his human half was just sitting there! "Okay, that's it! He's really getting that Death Tree now!"
Kurama only remained calm. "Youko, he's the only one who can bring Andrea back."
"No, I meant the ex."
"Oh, right. Then go right ahead. As soon as we find him."
As the doctor moved, his nametag came into view and read "Dr. Yamaguchi." He gave the boys a slightly worried look. "But that's not all," he added. "We found some other marks on her, defensive marks." As he saw Hiei raise an eyebrow, the doctor continued his response. "From what I observed, she was probably in a struggle."
That makes sense, Kurama thought. He knew Andrea would never go down without a fight, but with how serious her condition looked at the moment, he wasn't really sure of what else to say, so he kept quiet.
Dr. Yamaguchi looked at a piece of paper while putting on his glasses again. "We managed to get some DNA off of her. It's a male, possibly an intruder."
When Kurama heard the word "male," his mind snapped to attention. The only male Andrea would let in her apartment was himself, but that was it. And that was what hit him. She may not have invited him, but Kurama had a sinking feeling that he was in the apartment. "Cross reference it with a Jason Lee Westbrook from Orlando, Florida in the United States," he said, knowing that something wasn't sitting right.
The doctor nodded. "Of course," he said and as he started to get up, a nurse brought him a piece of paper. He nodded as the nurse bowed and walked away. As Yusuke looked at the nurse, Kuwabara clocked him.
Hiei gave Yusuke a look. "Whatever happened to Yukimura?" he asked him.
"I'm still with Keiko," Yusuke answered, almost as if he were offended.
Which was Hiei's intention. "Then why are you checking out the nurse?"
"Looking for an outfit like that for Keiko."
Hiei looked at Yusuke weird as Kurama looked at the doctor, knowing for a fact that there was something he wasn't saying. He was trying everything in the world to hide the worry for his friend inside.
The doctor nodded, feeling what the redhead was feeling. "Excuse me for a moment," he said before he stood up and walked off to another room.
Still having that same feeling, Kurama looked at Hiei. "Hiei, I need a favor," he said to the fire demon.
Hiei's ruby eyes looked up at Kurama. "Yes?" he asked the redhead.
"Can you spy on the doctor for me?"
"I'll need a cover." Hiei looked around for something and found a magazine that Yusuke and Kuwabara were both looking at. Perfect, he thought as he grabbed the magazine.
Yusuke blinked and looked at Hiei. "Hey!"
"I need it." And with that being said, Hiei opened the magazine and unfastened the Jagan to spy on the doctor, who was in another room looking at a piece of paper. As Hiei, through his Jagan, looked around the room, a rapid beeping noise came from out of nowhere. /1/
Kurama jerked upwards as Yusuke sat up, almost asleep. "Keiko, that wasn't me!" he said.
"Doctor!" a nurse called out and walked into the room where the doctor was. "The patient in Room 431 is going into cardiac arrest!" The nurse and the doctor raced out of the room he was in and into another room.
"Wonder where he went to," Kuwabara said as he looked around.
Kurama's eyes slightly widened. Andrea was in Room 431! "That's Andrea's room!" he said, the worry starting to become known on his face. Come on, Andrea, he thought. You have to fight it.
Yusuke's eyes widened as well. "Holy..." he started before Kuwabara popped him.
The doctor came back out of the room, where the beeping had gone back to normal, although slightly slower. He still didn't know that Hiei was still spying on him as he walked into the waiting room and sat down, taking off his glasses.
Kurama looked at Hiei from behind the magazine. "Got anything, Hiei?" he asked him.
Hiei shook his head. "Not yet," he answered as Kuwabara blinked.
Yusuke looked at Kuwabara, cracking a smile. "What's wrong; hospital got you scared?"
Kuwabara had always hated his "tickle" feelings, and this was one of those times. "No, you moron. Something happened," he answered.
"You're telling me," Hiei said from behind the magazine. "Doc's quiet."
The doctor took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Yusuke looked at the doctor. "So, what happened?" he asked. "She's gonna be okay, right?"
Dr. Yamaguchi looked at the four boys and took another deep breath, bracing himself for a great many questions or looks of disbelief. "I'm afraid your friend's taken a turn for the worst," he said. "She's now in critical condition."
Kurama's face paled almost immediately. Andrea was doing just fine and now she was worse? Part of Kurama didn't want to believe it, while the other part of him wanted to know what happened.
"She just slipped into a coma a few minutes ago," the doctor added.
Kuwabara didn't really look any better. "Any chance she'll come out of it?" he asked, hoping the doctor said yes.
"There's no telling due to the concussion she has at the moment," the doctor said, looking at them somberly. "I'm sorry; that's all I can tell you at the moment." With that, he walked away to give them time to absorb what had just happened.
Yusuke looked at Kurama's pale face and blank stare at the floor. "You okay?" he asked the kitsune, but when he didn't answer, Yusuke shook Kurama, trying to snap the redhead out of his daze. "Hey, are you all right?"
Kurama continued to look at the floor. "How could I have let this happen?" he asked mentally.
"You didn't know."
"I should have seen it."
"Look, you can't blame yourself, Kurama."
Which was what Kurama was doing right now. In a way, he felt responsible for not getting to Andrea sooner. And now she was fighting for her life. "I should have..."
"Should have what?"
"I should have predicated. I should have guessed..."
Through his Jagan, Hiei heard everything and pushed Yusuke away.
Youko tried to say something to snap his Shuichi side out of it. "Well, she couldn't really tell you that her ex would try and kill her the night before."
"But..." But before Kurama could say anything else to Youko, Hiei had smacked him in the face. Kurama blinked in surprise. He knew Hiei had never done that before, and from the looks on Yusuke and Kuwabara's faces, they didn't know, either.
Hiei gave the fox a piercing look, one that meant business. "Get over it, Kurama," he said to him. "It wasn't your fault. You can't predict every attack!"
Kurama knew Hiei was right, but still… he felt he should have done something to help her. "But, I should have..." his voice sounded slightly distant, unsure.
"Possibly, yes, but there was no way you would have known he was going after her tonight. It wasn't your fault!"
Kurama clenched his fist tightly, as if he were battling everyone around him, and looked at Hiei. "You can say that!" he answered, his voice uncommonly raising an octave. "But you don't know! You don't know what it's like to be guilty."
"Maybe so, but I know where to place the blame. It goes to two people: Those who know how to take it, and those who know where it truly lies. And it's not in you."
Yusuke looked at Kurama. He had never seen Kurama so torn up over Andrea before. That was then he remembered when Kurama's mother was in the hospital. Sure it wasn't the same, but how he felt was the same. "You know, if Andrea was awake, she'd slap you into next week," he said to him.
Kurama hung his head, letting his crimson tresses hang down the sides of his head. Andrea was one of the most selfless people he knew. And he knew that Andrea wouldn't want him to worry about her, although Kurama was already past that.
Hiei looked at the fox. "Kurama, it's all right to blame you," he said in a low tone. "There is no one who does not carry scars on his heart, if there were such a person, he would be a shallow bastard." /2/
Youko had a thought; luckily for Kurama, it wasn't anything mate-ish. "You know what her name means?"
"It's American. I haven't studied that yet."
"It means 'courageous.' That means that she's going to look Death in the eye and kick him between the legs!"
Kurama laughed inwardly. That was Andrea; she'd probably cheat Death. But then again, her condition had worsened in such a short amount of time. He looked at Hiei and the others. "So, what'll we do?" he asked just as the doctor walked back in viewing distance.
"We find him and kill him," Hiei answered quietly. He didn't need to have the doctor overhearing everything.
"When we find him, you get first whack," Yusuke said as the doctor walked up to them.
Kurama nodded and then looked at the doctor. "Can we see her?"
The doctor nodded, leading the four boys to the room where their friend lay. "You all may go in, but don't talk as loud."
Kurama and Hiei walked up to the room while Kuwabara and Yusuke walked in and got stuck in the doorway. They looked at each other and sweatdropped.
"Kuwabara, move your fat butt out of the way!" Yusuke said, trying to get in.
"Hey! My butt is not that big!" Kuwabara protested. "You get out of the way!"
"You move it!"
Hiei looked at Kurama. "So which is bigger? Dumb or dumber?" he asked, and at that moment, Yusuke and Kuwabara got out of the doorway. "Hn, idiots."
Kurama walked in the room and took a deep breath. Andrea lay on the hospital bed, an IV in her left arm. Her bobbed hair covered her ears and the monitors beeped in a slow but steady rhythm. A nasal oxygen appliance was hooked up to one of the machines while another dripped fluids into her arm slowly. She looks so peaceful, so serene, he thought as he walked up to the bed.
Yusuke peered his head in and looked on as Kurama sat down in a chair near her bed. "Better leave them alone." Under his breath, he added, "Boyfriend."
Hiei elbowed Yusuke in the gut, which made Kuwabara almost laugh. "Let's go. We'll give you a minute," he told Kurama.
"Thanks, guys," he answered, smiling slightly.
Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke and dragged him away from the room, Hiei following after he closed the door behind them.
Kurama listened to the rhythm of the machines for a minute while he took a deep breath. He still felt at fault for what happened to her. "Hey, Andrea," he said after another minute of silence. "It's me. I wish you could talk back, and then you'd give me one of your snide remarks."
As the monitors and the steady rhythm of the IVs were his only reply, he continued.
"I can't say I blame myself. I had a feeling when it happened. I knew something was wrong with where you were. Youko made some snide remarks of his own about it..." He stopped as Andrea's free hand slid to her side and he looked at it.
"Yo, Shuichi, do I have to explain to you how this works?"
Kurama felt like smacking Youko, but he could always do that later. "Please, this once, Youko, let me figure it out."
"Okay."
"We're going to find him, the guys and I. We're going to find him and take care of him for you. I don't know when, I don't know how, but we will, and he'll get what he deserves. Till then, please get better." As he held onto her limp hand, Kurama struggled to keep exploding. "I have to go know to give the guys a chance to talk to you. Don't be too hard on Yusuke and Kuwabara, all right?" The redhead squeezed her hand lightly and stood up to walk out of the room.
When Kurama walked out of the room, Kuwabara looked at him. "She any better?"
Kurama shook his head.
"Who's up?"
"Who ever wants to go first," Hiei answered.
"Okay, I'll go." As Kurama nodded, Kuwabara walked in and closed the door behind him. The carrot-haired Tantei sat down in the chair next to the bed and took a deep breath. Maybe a joke would help her come out of it. "You remember that time where Yusuke tried that prank call on you while you and Kurama were watching that movie? You sure did get him good! I don't know how he made it to the bathroom after he hung up..."
There was not even a groan from the girl on the bed, only a steady stream of beeps answered him.
Kuwabara scratched his head. That sure didn't help. "So, uh... we need you back, well, basically so I can ask your advice on Yukina. I guess I should've kept my mouth shut, huh?" He looked around, praying to Enma that Hiei didn't hear that. "Okay, uh, I'll let short round or Urameshi talk to you now. Just get better and..." He looked around and whispered in Andrea's ear, "Help." He petted her on the head and left the room.
Hiei looked up at Kuwabara as he walked out.
"Still not up yet," Kuwabara reported.
Kurama looked at Yusuke, having a feeling that Hiei was going to hurt Kuwabara later on. "Yusuke, will you go next?" he asked him.
"Yep," Yusuke answered and walked into the room. "Hey, Andrea. Um, remember when I first said that a girl couldn't be a Spirit Detective? Well, you sure kicked my butt." He knew that joking wouldn't help her. "Back in the waiting room, Kurama thought it was his fault you were here. Thank Enma Hiei popped him, though knowing you; you'd pop all six tails back in him, wouldn't you?"
Silence answered him, save for the steady beeps.
"So, get better, okay? If not for the team, then do it for the fox with a crush on you." Yusuke blinked and covered his mouth. "You won't tell him I said that?"
Andrea didn't even flinch.
"No problem. Oh, and kick that baby between the legs when you get back, okay?" he said. "Get better; I need some competition." With that he left the room.
Kurama looked at Yusuke as he walked out, and all he got was a shrug.
Hiei looked up at Kurama. "I will go now," he said to the redhead.
Kurama nodded. "Thanks, Hiei," he said as Hiei walked in.
Hiei walked further into the room and looked at the comatose girl. "Andrea... Kurama says that if you talk to a person, they'll come back faster," he said and then looked off. "Stupid ningen superstition probably isn't true."
The same beeps as before were Hiei's only answer.
"Kurama started blaming himself for what happened," he continued. "I overheard. Wasn't supposed to I guess, but with a Jagan, it's kinda hard to stay out of things like this, you know." He looked up again at the bed. "I popped him over the head to get him straight. Probably have to apologize for it later."
The room was silent except for the beeps.
"We're gonna find that sorry bastard, Andrea. And when we do we're gonna kick his cowardly ass." Hiei took a deep breath. "Till then, get back. Somebody needs to help Yukimura keep the Detective in line, and someone needs to help the idiot to not scare Yukina. Unfortunately, you're the only one who qualifies." Hiei thought of the distraught fox outside. "And Kurama, he'd fall apart. You're the only thing tying him down now, 'sides his ningen mother. If you won't come back for anyone else, then you will for him."
Andrea didn't even blink or move.
"You make up an important part of this team, Andrea. We need you. Kurama needs you. Come back, okay?" He turned to walk out but stopped. "Besides, who else would kick the hell outta the Reikai brat." With that, he left the room.
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Author's Notes:
/1/ I think that's when your heart beats really, really fast.
/2/ Hiei said that to Kurama in "Poltergeist Report."
((Looks like things are going under for the team. Will Andrea survive her ordeal, and is this the only other danger she has left? All that in the next chapter.))
Cece: Once again, another cliffy.
Kurama: Maybe we should stop on the cliffhangers for a while.
Cece: I agree. Well, review here.