Saturday mornings are nice, aren't they? No alarm clocks, no reason to get out of bed early. Why do I mention this? Because, my dear readers, it happens to be Saturday. It was also nearly ten in the morning, and our dear boys were still asleep. Not for much longer, though. Before they wake up, though, do you remember the comments I made about rough beginnings and difficult middles? Well, my dear readers, what we've been through so far is only the beginning. Saturday marks the beginning of the middle of our story.
Kurama stirred first, his head throbbing in time to his heart beat. With a groan he tried to bring his hand up to rub his head, but both of them were trapped beneath the weight of the two bodies that were with him in the bed. The noise and attempted movement did push Yusuke closer to wakefulness. Blearily, the brown eyed boy looked at the redhead. "You okay?" he mumbled.
"My head hurts," Kurama whimpered.
Yusuke gently brushed the red hair back, "Where do you keep the aspirin?" Motion on the other side of the bed let them know Hiei was awake, too.
"Cupboard by the fridge," Kurama mumbled. Talking made his head hurt more.
Yusuke kissed Kurama's cheek, "I'll be back, okay." Kurama just hummed, trying to minimize the amount of pain he felt behind his closed eyelids. Yusuke carefully slid off the bed, not wanting to jostle the redhead anymore than necessary. He had no trouble finding the aspirin and snooped around a bit, ostensibly looking for a glass to put water in. What he saw made him glad he'd made Kurama go out with him and Hiei. There was little in the way of actual food in the house. Lots of microwave crap, but little else. They were going food shopping later, he swore mentally to himself as he filled a glass with water. If only life would allow that…but I get ahead of myself.
Kurama's head was pillowed in Hiei's lap as the other boy rubbed his temples. Now, if you remember that Hiei wasn't touchy, shocked should be a pretty good word to describe what Yusuke should have been feeling, but last night had revised his opinion of Hiei. He carefully slid onto the bed, "Kurama, I have some aspirin for you." The redhead struggled to sit up, aided in that effort by the other two. "Drink all the water," Yusuke instructed, handing the pills and glass to the squinting boy. Kurama pulled a face as he tasted the tablets before the water washed them down his throat. He drank all the water, as instructed. "Rest for a while," Yusuke added, sliding off the bed, gesturing at Hiei to come with him. "We're going to use your shower, okay?"
Kurama relaxed into the bed, "Yeah. Yusuke…Hiei…"
"Yeah?" they answered in the same breath.
"Thank you for being here."
Yusuke and Hiei exchanged a glance and Hiei answered, "We're glad to be here for you, Kurama."
Kurama relaxed further into the bed, a small smile on his lips. Yusuke and Hiei slipped out of the room, closing the door behind them. Now, I'm sure you're thinking they took a shower together and I'm going to tell you what happened in that wonderful detail you crave. That would be nice, wouldn't it? I'm sorry to disappoint you, but they took separate showers. They both had a lot of issues to work out in their heads. Here's the short rundown: Both were falling for the redhead, and for each other; they'd just had the best sex of their lives thus far with each other and had spent the rest of the night comforting said redhead; they were going to accompany that redhead back to the hospital to visit his mother. That's a lot to deal with when only a couple of days earlier the idea was to seduce the redhead and leave it at that. So, they needed some time to themselves to think. Yusuke showered first and fixed what he could into something he deemed worthy of eating. Another non-punkish quality. Yusuke was picky about his food, so he was a decent cook.
Kurama staggered out of his bedroom about the same time Hiei came out of the bathroom. Yusuke poked his head out of the kitchen. "Feeling better?"
Kurama nodded, "Yeah. Is there any hot water left?"
Hiei nodded, "I prefer cold showers." Another reason for separate showers…Yusuke hates cold showers.
"Thanks," Kurama murmured as he stumbled into the bathroom. Just a quick note of clarification. Kurama is one of those people who really can't even see before he's taken a shower. As the hot water washed over him, he tried to sort out what he could remember of the night before. He vaguely remembered leaving the restaurant, barely able to walk, but he didn't remember getting home or getting into bed. He remembered a dream, more like nightmare, where he'd lost his mother and everyone else. He remembered calling out for Hiei and Yusuke He wasn't fully awake when he'd cried out, but he felt safe when they'd come to him. This was really what he was trying to figure out. Why had he called for the two and why did he feel secure with them? The water pounding on his cotton filled head wasn't helping much, either. But, at least he could function now. With a sigh, he shut off the water, wrapping a towel around himself as he stepped out of the tub. Slowly, he went about his routine, drying his body and then his hair. That accomplished, he realized he had a problem. He'd forgotten to grab clean clothes and his towels were about the same size as those found at a cheap motel. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but with the other two in the apartment, Kurama felt self-conscious. So, wrapping the towel around his waist as well as he could, Kurama opened the door a crack.
"We're in the kitchen," Yusuke's voice came as if he'd been waiting. "Hurry up and get dressed then come eat.
They didn't even try to peek as the redhead dashed from the bathroom to his bedroom and firmly shut the door. Are you surprised? Kurama was, and grateful. This lack of peeking did much to put how he was feeling in the "good" box in his brain instead of the "weird" box. I'm sure you remember those so I'll spare you the recap. Point is, Kurama felt something in his brain relax as he quickly pulled on clean clothes and joined Yusuke and Hiei in the kitchen.
Okay, nothing happens over brunch and I need to feel you in on a few things so you'll understand what happens next. You remember Hiei's adopted father is a judge, right? You also remember Yusuke's mom has connections to organized crime? Good. How about I clarify these connections? Yusuke's father is currently second in command of the local chapter of the crime syndicate, the Reikai. His father's name? Koenma Daioh. Other than you and me, who knows this? Koenma, Atsuko, and one other person, but that comes up in a while, so you'll have to wait, dear readers. Remember what I said about connections being good things? Well, not always.
Our trio left Kurama's apartment about one o'clock to go to the hospital, Kurama flanked by Yusuke and Hiei. They were about halfway there when a van pulled up next to them. Forgive my lack of detail, but what happened next went really fast.
"Grab them!" And our trio was trapped, gagged and gassed.
"There's three!"
"I know that. We'll deal with the spare later!"
"He's pretty."
"Later. Let's go!"
Now, there was a witness. Remember how I said Kuwabara wasn't terribly smart? What he does next makes me a liar. He runs, as soon as the car is out of sight. He ran straight to Shinobu Sensui with a description of the vehicle, the license plate number and a description of the people who'd grabbed our trio. Sensui sent him to Koenma with strict instructions to give him the same information while he got the cops working on tracking the van.
By two o'clock, Koenma and Sensui were walking into ward four. They walked into Shiori's room without challenge. Mr. Hatakama was there, sitting by her bedside, holding her hand. There's something you should know. Remember how I said it'd be nice if there were some miraculous recovery? Well…how about a non-miraculous recovery? Shiori's body was rallying, the treatment working, and slowly, the cancer was receding. Her collapse and needing to be on the ventilator was basically the cancer making its final attempt at winning. Not to say the battle is over. She's still got a long way to go before she can really even think about leaving the hospital, but it's in the cards.
Anyways, back to the action. Koenma and Sensui walked into Shiori's room without being challenged. All the nurses knew who they were, and, even though they were surprised, they knew better than to say anything. Koenma walked over to the bed and Sensui pulled the door closed behind them.
"Ma'am, my name is Koenma Daioh. This is Shinobu Sensui," he gestured at the other man. "I regret to inform you that our sons were kidnapped and your son was taken because he happened to be with them."
"What?" shot out of Hatakama's mouth. Shiori managed to get more pale.
Koenma shifted uncomfortably. "I am in a position of some influence and Yusuke is my son. He was born illegitimately and doesn't even know he's my son. Sensui is a judge and adopted Hiei. The people who took them are trying to force us to act in a specific manner."
"My baby…" ghosted past Shiori's pale lips.
"Ma'am, they were taken less than an hour ago. There was a witness and he informed us right after it happened. We have the police and other people working on finding them right now." He walked over to Shiori's bedside and placed his hand over hers and Hatakama's, looking her straight in the eye, "I promise you, we will get them back, soon and unharmed."
Shiori could see where Yusuke got his power to charm and reassure people, even if he didn't know this man was his father. She also could feel the determination behind those words. She took comfort in this, closing her eyes and nodding.
Koenma's hand tightened over theirs, "We'll keep you informed." He turned to leave and Sensui followed.
Pausing at the door, the judge looked over their shoulder, "They will be safe."
Again, Shiori saw the resemblance between father and son and took comfort both in their words and the fact that the sons were interested in her son. She liked the fathers. She seems fairly liberal, doesn't she? Happy that her son is being pursued, not just by a guy, but two guys. Well, my dear readers, when you've been as close to death as she has been and have seen the potential happiness the two boys brought her son, you may have the same view. She wanted her son to be happy if she died. She wanted him to not be lonely. And if two guys would keep her son happy and not lonely, then she could accept it. She smiled and nodded at Sensui and the two men left the room, leaving her and Hatakama to cope.
A/N: Well, I know it's a bit short...and I sort of almost forgot to post...I'm writiing chapter 11 and it starts out with ridiculous euphemisms that I woke up giggling about. These next chapters are going to be a bit angsty, but I do keep the tone as light as possible. Thank you for reviewing and please continue :D See you tomorrow.