I raised the rating to M for chapter content. It might be unnoticeable, but I love this story and don't want it removed for any reason.

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho © Yoshihiro Togashi.

The Seibu Project

By Zelia Theb; © Zelia Theb.

Once I woke up, I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't exactly in tip-top shape. Normally I was used to Kuwabara taking the extreme beating, or Kurama having the random stab wounds all over the place. I guess this was my turn.

The area was a far cry from where we previously were. It was damp; drops of water would randomly fall from the ceiling and echo loudly in the water below us. An echo is probably what brought me to. I was ecstatic to hear again. We were on rusted metal catwalks in a barely lit cavern. I could only guess that somehow we had escaped into an entirely different facility housed over a natural aqueduct. I could hear a few distant thunderous rumbles as Kurama explained to me what had transpired.

Kuwabara had, in fact, paid attention to the movements I wasn't even sure I had made. The creature had gotten an eyeful of metal ward and gone haywire, charging blindly into the marines without attacking. Kuwabara had picked me up and ran down the hallway with Hiei and Kurama. Somehow they got lost and ended up in the caverns.

Kuwabara's camouflage was darkened in various spots with my blood. He was still holding me at this point. I could make out dried tear streaks on his face; had I been that close to death? Most likely, I know I sure as hell felt like it. Reluctant to leave the comfort of my friend's hold, I struggled and rolled away from Kuwabara, only to land on my injured thigh.

"Damn it, you lout!" Hiei hissed as I fell with a cry. "Don't drop him on his wounds!"

"I didn't drop him!" Kuwabara argued in return. "He jumped away from me!"

Hiei began to growl in my defense as I grappled for the flaking railing, but I stopped and interrupted him. "I did, Hiei. I can…walk." I faltered in irony to the statement. My body was battered, but luckily nothing was broken. As I continued to stumble along the side railing, my friends watched me closely. Hiei was busier watching the feeble guardrails buckle beneath the weight of nearly my entire being then watching our surroundings, and Kurama held this condescending look about him as if he were angry with the other two for being so careless with me.

"That railing's not sturdy, Yusuke," he warned me.

I looked to him in discomfort, because not only did I hurt, but I was really not in the mood to have him scold me. Mostly because I damn well knew it wasn't sturdy, but I didn't really care since it was better than one of them risking their own hides to carry my ass around. And plus, it wasn't like he was making any motion to act as an auxiliary set of legs, so either he chiding Hiei's butt or already knew that I didn't want to be so pathetic.

"This whole damn bridge thing isn't sturdy, Kurama," I shot back in annoyance. I heard a faint triumphant grunt of victory come from Hiei, but received only a disturbed look from Kurama as he haughtily jerked his head forward, dropping his eyes from my care. At that point I had made a note in my mind to verbally kick my allies' asses after the mission for letting their little spat get in the way of not only our work, but our team morale as well. Being a leader just sucks sometimes.

I eased my grip on the railing, trying to force myself to walk on my legs. Fortunately the guys had done even more minor surgery on me while I was out, so I didn't have to deal with shallow bullets grinding against my muscles. We were vastly approaching a segue, a separation of the catwalk by a thick metal door, a common trait found in movies with underground facilities. We stopped, not to prepare, but because for some reason I yelped like a little girl when a coin-sized spider ran across my fingers on its journey along the edges of the railing.

Hiei looked at me with disdain, he had been watching the railing all along and most likely found it pathetic that I had shrieked because of such a small thing. Kurama stopped, not bothering to look back at me due to his newfound anger for the rest of the group. I wanted to slap him silly and find the little eight-legged bugger and toss it into his hair. I mean…Kurama's awesome in so many ways I can't even begin to describe or list them all…but to have such a callous attitude at a time like this was not something I liked.

If I had taken the time to delve deeper into his psyche then, I would have. Looking back, he probably was hurt that I didn't take him seriously, and also trying to ignore the fear and anxiety of the situation in order to maintain his normally calm, collected, and indifferent demeanor that allowed him to fight and concentrate so well. In fact later on I learned just as much. But at the time he just came off as upset to me, so I didn't think much of it then. I was more concerned with the dilemma of living spiders again.

"What's up Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked me, since no one else felt the need to.

"Nothing, a spider just skittled across my hand and I wasn't expectin' it," I explained, trying to be as macho as I could about it.

"Damn, we got livin' spidies again?" he muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. "Guess that means there are some fresh dead bodies and flies around here somewhere…"

"Which means more ghosts," Hiei added. "Hn. How utterly annoying. At least you seem to be the more astute one this time around, Kuwabara." Hiei looked at Kurama in with disapproval. "Can't say the same for you, fox."

"Quiet, Hiei," Kurama retorted with only a slight turn of his head, eyes ruthless and tone full of hate. Another vibration of bass sound rumbled throughout the caverns in warning.

"Quiet?" Hiei perked an eyebrow in interest of the changed mood. He took a stance near Kuwabara, and mockingly inquired, "I hate to say it, fox, but our comrade has a valid point. I don't remember you doing much more than staring straightforward or watching the rest of us to make sure we don't kill the detective."

"That's it," I scolded them, frustrated with everyone's crap. "How the fuck are we supposed to get out of here alive if you all want to kill each other?" I glared at each of them, though really it was Hiei and even moreso Kurama who needed this verbal beating. I gave them a chance for a rebuttal, but they just stared at me. Kurama was trying to maintain his angry composure, and Hiei…Hiei's face was desperately trying not to crack a smile. He always enjoyed a good ass kicking, even if it was directed at him.

"Exactly. It's not like I'm gonna hand out hand-jobs to whomever wins your little debate," I crudely remarked, since it had really looked as though they were fighting over me, "so cut the shit and listen. This time we aren't gonna run in and get our asses handed to us on a rusty silver platter. In fact…" I victoriously rose my head and then sat on the creaking catwalk. "Hiei, you're gonna go with Kuwabara since you two can kick a ghost's behind in like three seconds, and then come back and get me and Kurama…" I directed back over to Kurama, and remarked, "Who's gonna sit on his ass and baby-sit me whether he fucking likes it or not. Got that everyone?"

"Indeed," replied Hiei, whose smirk had all but hidden itself now.

"But…!" Kuwabara rebelled, "Urameshi! What if…?"

"What if what?" I shrugged from my position on the suspended floor. "They're ghosts. They're either pansies or tough military dudes. Just cut 'em all down with your Spirit based attacks, and don't let them play their little distracting mind tricks on you. Kurama's got me covered, and there's more than enough moldy plants in the water below for him to use if we're in trouble. But that ain't gonna happen, because you guys are gonna be on a straight path from us." I changed my tone from demanding to light and caring, because I really didn't want to add to the pissitivity of the situation, and left him with, "Okay?"

He and Hiei nodded, and made their way up to the mysterious door of the segue. Meanwhile, Kurama sat down facing me, but was still averting his eyes angrily through the porous holes of the metal to the darkened waters below. There was a lot of pain and hostility pent up within him, and it was like I could feel it through his aura.

"So, ya wanna talk?" I urged him, intending to deeply listen but still keep an open ear for any not-so-good combat sounds beyond the wall.

His bangs covered his eyes, but I saw those green little things tremble as he looked up at me through his hair. He pulled his sight back to the water like it was a mistake to have looked at me, and there was a still silence in the air. Aside from the fading sounds of Hiei and Kuwabara, that is.

"This sucks," I complained, since that was what I tended to do when I was bored and things became too quiet. Again, I caught Kurama looking at me, and stared him down. Surprisingly, this little act of his wasn't so hard to break, and he fumbled with a wince. I was shocked; Kurama was normally not broken so easily. Emotion fell from him, and soon he was on his knees and embracing me around my arms; taking care not to touch my wounds; and pressed his face to mine while resting his chin upon my left shoulder. I had never expected Kurama to react in such a way, nor had I ever thought he would be so quick to dish out the hugs.

"I am so sorry Yusuke…" he whispered. "As we fled from our enemies, I felt your life force draining from you. You nearly died…and there we were, absconding from the very beings that harmed you. There was no where to direct my vengeance, and no way of going back without leaving you to die. It was…" I learned so much about Kurama then. It was no wonder that during countless other times of peril, my friends, and mainly the more demonic of them, hardly showed more emotion that anger. It was because whatever was pissing them off was right there for them to kill. Not here. Though I suppose now, it is the same for anyone…that's probably why some people can get away with pleading temporary insanity in a murder trial.

"I'm fine now," I assured him, although he knew I was just telling him I was alive. I wasn't really fine.

"Yusuke…" he murmured with anxiety, an inflection of sadness on my name. "Don't die. Don't be so careless with your life…" His hold tightened as his hands flattened out on my back, I could feel that he didn't want to let go. It was so…sad; I couldn't help but lift my arms and hold him in return, but as I did so, he shuddered from the contact and I felt a hot tear moisten my cheek.

He was so undeniably human then, though all demons are somewhat when I reflect on it, whether or not they'd like to admit it. Out of respect, I didn't look at his face. Instead I softly asked as he trembled, "Are you crying?" It was like my funeral…except this time I was able to interact instead of float around and be unheard. Kurama let out an unstoppable weeping sigh in response, sharing more of his tears with my face and shoulders. I held him closer; disregarding my wounds as they were no longer of importance, and said, "I'm not going to die, okay? We're all going to be fine." It seemed true enough, I hadn't heard any combat yet from the other two, in fact I could still hear their quiet, steady footsteps and hollow bickerings.

Kurama continued to let his feelings unravel from him, and once again he let out a shiver of emotional hurt along with a wave of confessional ramblings. "Just don't die. I couldn't contain myself if I wanted…this youko would fight to the death if…" There was another shudder and he admitted, "I just care for you so much…"

"I'm not gonna die," I murmured, hoping to put a stop to his confession. I didn't want to hear another one tonight, I didn't want to know that my wild tangent guess about the fighting was right. It wasn't that I…let's just say that it wasn't the time or place to talk feelings with Hiei or Kurama.

"Please don't…" he requested. I heard the remnants of a smile in the statement, but it still came out as tearful weeping.

I'll admit that a tear or two mixed with his, but whether or not he felt it I can say that he probably didn't. It was too much to witness Kurama's breakdown, to feel such a close friend emotionally disintegrate in my arms. I couldn't help but get depressed, but it was all masked by my injuries. I flinched again, and Kurama caught this, easing up on his firm hug but still not letting go.

With a slight sniffle and an attempt to calm himself, he stated slowly in my ear, "There is way that I can take it away…if you want…" My face bent in curiosity, I was certain that most and possibly all of the demonic morphine was gone.

"What is it?" I inquired. From the way he spoke, it seemed as though this healing method was rather unconventional. Turns out that's exactly what it was.

He knelt away from me, hands still on my shoulders and somber eyes seeing into mine. He stated, "It's similar…to an electrical circuit, but with my aura. I have to place my hands near your wounds, and then close the circuit by connecting to you, allowing my spirit to…" He took another deep breath as he gained more of his composure. "…Regenerate you. It might not work completely, and it very may well exhaust me…but you'll be able to walk and not leave a blood trail. It's-"

"Crazy?" I finished for him. "Does that mean you'll start getting cuts and stuff all over your body? Speaking of which, you've got your own stuff to deal with!"

"No…Yusuke," he replied, caressing my shoulders with his thumbs. "It's not like that. It is more similar to Botan's white magic, but it is dark and almost like reverse necromancy. I can regenerate my aura relatively fast, so healing you will not be a problem."

"Okay," I agreed, comprehending what he was trying to explain to me. "So what's this closed circuit stuff again?" I was definitely not expecting the answer he gave me.

"I assume that when you returned to life, Yusuke, it was because someone had transferred their spirit to you through the lips." I nodded, letting out a minor gasp as I did so. It felt very out of place to take a kiss from a close friend.

Another tear ran down his cheek, as he must have thought the same thing. He swept his sleeve over it, and stated, "The injury on your side is the deepest." He placed his hand over it, coursing a sting over the top layer of scabbed flesh, and asked, "Are you alright with this?"

I swallowed hard in preparation, and answered, "Yes. Just promise me that you'll stop before passing out." He shook his head affirmatively and blinked, removing another stray droplet of water from his eyes. His other hand braced itself against my back, and he drew me in, pressing our lips together.

It was far from an ordinary kiss. I wouldn't even have thought for a moment that Kurama was lying about healing me just to steal a kiss, but if I had, I would have been proven sorely wrong. I felt this intense rush of energy and emotion surge through me, like I was constantly riding down the steep momentous hill of a rollercoaster. I tried to squirm away, not because I felt uncomfortable, but because his demonic aura was so powerful that I felt like my body wouldn't be able to handle it.

After the power came the thoughts. I felt everything that Kurama felt, and I involuntarily wept for him, since he was actually crying through me. He placed a lot on the line by healing me…because I heard every thought of his like he were whispering it through my head with telepathy.

"I'm so sorry, Yusuke."

"Don't die, Yusuke!"

"I didn't want our first kiss to be this way."

His hand moved to my right leg in order to continue the healing process. That's when the thoughts took a strange turn, like the first wave was pure Shuichi and the next was Youko.

"I'll kill them all."

"They'll never find their contorted bodies in the trees."

"They'll know pain far worse than a knife in their side."

I wanted to pull away. I felt like I was intruding upon Kurama's personal journal, and to be honest, I had seen far too much. Hiei always said that Youko Kurama was the most ruthless of them all, and at times I had seen him tear apart an enemy with little remorse. But I couldn't pull away, the grasp was tight and the energy chain could not be broken, it refused to until Kurama's energy dwindled.

His hand meekly traced a line to my stomach and then back to my leg, as it could not lift or pull away. A merger of his soul, the true Kurama spoke to me then. There was no distinct personality, just Kurama.

"They should be alright."

"I can't keep my promise to Yusuke."

"I hope Kuwabara can handle Hiei on his own."

Finally it faded. I could feel my own body as Kurama collapsed into my chest, breath slight and steady like he were sleeping, but with his eyes open and apologetic. He spoke to me this time, with real words, and said, "I apologize…if that was awkward." I blinked at him; what was I supposed to say? I let him continue, "I could not fully heal any of them…but they are no longer deep and you should be able to wa-" He didn't finish as he finally exasperated himself and passed out. I wiped aside both of our tears with my fingers, and readjusted our bodies so that we could move quickly if need be.

It was an amazing technique to undergo. It was no wonder we didn't use it more often, aside from the whole kissing part of it. Disregarding the stab wound on my left leg, my injuries were as shallow as scrapes, it looked like I had a bad fall out of a tree…two days ago. Where Kurama learned something like that, I have no idea, but I considered asking him later in case we ever needed to use it again. I also reminded myself to prompt Botan about teaching us some of her white magic healing techniques, since that was far less extraordinary and awkward.

However, my mind stopped as I was alerted to the heavy thud of my friends' footsteps along the metal. The door yonder had opened, and they fled right to our side, terrified like something had happened. Immediately, Kuwabara exclaimed, "Urameshi! What happened to Kurama! We felt this weird burst of Spirit Energy and came runnin'!"

"Hn," grunted Hiei as he looked at the way I held the redhead. "Kurama just used his energy to fix the detective."

"Huh?" my classmate said, itching his hair. "Why didn't we just do that before?"

I learned then that Hiei also knew the secrets of the technique, or at least had heard of it before. With all of his anger toward Kurama during the past few hours, I never expected him to lie to Kuwabara just to save our feelings.

"Idiot," Hiei rolled his eyes. "For one, you can already see that it incapacitates the healer, unless you lost your eyes somewhere during this mission." Kuwabara growled, but allowed Hiei to finish. "And second, I can't believe that I have to explain to you that Kurama has an affinity for plants."

"That doesn't make sense!" Kuwabara cried out. "He always uses that stuff! Why did it make him pass out this time?"

"Grr…" Hiei grumbled. "In case you didn't know, our detective here was about to die."

"Oh. I get it."

I laughed at this point, and thankfully it didn't bring any pain to my side when I did. I placed a firm grip on Kurama, and nudged him awake so that I could help him to his feet with ease.

"How ya doin'?" I asked him, not entirely amazed that he had regenerated so much energy so quickly. Now using me as a crutch, Kurama stood, and the four of us began walking.

"Better," he muttered, gripping the railing for more support. "Did you two find trouble up ahead?"

"No," answered Hiei.

"But we found somethin' kinda gross that you guys might wanna see," Kuwabara reported. "Well maybe you don't wanna see it but I think it might spell out trouble for later."

"Whaddya mean?" I prodded him, sweeping away a web covering the railing for fun. "Did you find an answer to our spider infestation problem?"

"Answer?" Hiei chuckled as much as he could. "No." We had finally hit the door they came from, and when they opened it, we were in a small circular room that looked like more of a silo than a support pillar for the catwalk. It was not a long walk to the other side, in fact it was probably only as big as a classroom. Hiei gestured for us to squeeze through yet another rusted door that at one time could have been electrically powered to slide open, but didn't quite make it this time and was therefore a tight squeeze.

Beyond the narrow opening was yet another catwalk, but webs covered the distance between the railing and flooring. Shadows of black widows and other larger jutted spiders danced across our faces as we walked, since they had made their webs in hanging ceiling lights. The transparent silk became increasingly opaque as we ventured on, egg sacs and wrapped up flies speckled the webs of the dangerous creatures.

"Nasty, huh?" Kuwabara remarked with disgust, trying his damnedest not to touch anything. "We got to about here before we ran back."

I looked at where he pointed, and we had made it to another support pillar in the cavern that was definitely twice as wide as the previous one we trekked through. Hiei jabbed his sword into the seam of the wall and door, and used it as a crowbar to slide it open. The shrieking of the metal friction was merely dissonance to the rather loud tremble in the air. Kurama made mention that perhaps we were getting close to an exit, and that we were hearing thunder from outside.

"Smells funny in here," I remarked as we stepped in. The room was a behemoth compared to the last passageway, except in this one there was more than one exit. Not only was there yet another door nearly perpendicular to the line of sight of the one we entered, but spiraling around the room was a dull gray walkway that served as a ramp to a second and possibly tertiary level. However, it was too dark to see that far up. Visible spider webs with active residents were strung everywhere, a nice accent to the rust and dust of the room.

"Uhh…guys," Kuwabara called from the center of the room. He directed our attention to a series of scientific consoles placed in the middle of the circle. Slouched next to them were unusually giant balls of spun spider silk.

"This does not bode well…" Kurama stated, glancing to Hiei. The tension was seemingly gone, as Hiei took it as a sign of communication and pulled out his knife to cut open the contents of the sac.

"Oh…gross!" Kuwabara shouted loudly as Hiei revealed a decrepit human corpse in the first lump of silk. Their clothing was deteriorating and sticky, but we were sure of one thing…

"That's civilian clothing, guys," I announced. "Check out the rest of them, Hiei. We might have something to bring back to Koenma after all." Hiei complied with the order, and confirmed my suspicion. We found a total of six people, all of them lacking military attire, and one even had a camera slung around his neck. Two of them appeared to have died years earlier than the other four.

Another loud rumble echoed, this time from above, and was followed by a series of flashing and another clap of thunder.

"There's a way out, guys!" Kuwabara cheered, "It's right up there! Let's get this guys camera and run up there!"

Finally, it seemed as thought the four of us were in agreement. While we didn't fancy the thought of exiting into unknown territory during a storm, the fact was, we had a way out. I had thought that maybe we were all in the free and clear, but when I took that maiden step onto the base of the ascending ramp, Kurama had to come back with his observant knowledge.

"I doubt these travelers met their end from small spiders such as these." I held my quick pace, and as he spoke, I was moving up the ramp. I stopped when they looked at me with displeasure.

"What?" I shrugged, leaning over the railing, looking down from nearly eleven feet above them. "Who cares, let's just go!"

It wasn't until the suspended floor beneath my feet collapsed from impact that I understood the concerned look on their faces. I cursed and fell into the pile of rubble, only to look up and see what had crushed the support beams of the lower ramp.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

I love mentioning past works of mine in new works, in whatever way possible. Please enjoy searching for these little tidbits on your own, whether they scream at you or don't. I felt the need to give some of my hardcore fans a bit of a chuckle with the tension of this chapter; so there's a clue for those of you who are keeping track. (-insert random smilie face that Fanfiction dot net would erase for use of symbols here-)

Zelia