Wildfire

Chapter eight: As Air to Fire

By Funara

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is the property of other shadowy, rolling-in-wealth figures. I know it's a shock, but don't shoot the messenger. She's too tired to taste good when smoked on a rotisserie anyway.

Notes: It took me almost three months, but I finally got this chapter out. I'm so sorry to all my readers, but if you've stuck it out this long, I hope you're still interested. I love you guys. Merry late Christmas!

And a quick preview—this chapter contains Funara taking scientifically sound concepts and twisting them on a rack for her own purposes. Beware Kurama's long monologues, for they cause Newton and Bohr and Hooke and the rest to rotate swiftly in their graves.

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The early morning wind was strong, and Kurama tightened his grip around the clasps of his cloak. Hiei appeared unruffled, gazing steadily ahead, but Kurama knew the chilly air did not affect only him when Yukina gave an involuntary shiver.

Kuwabara and Yuusuke had promised to meet them at the city gates at sunrise. Kurama hoped they had not forgotten—he really didn't look forward to waiting in the cold for hours.

The minutes passed in silence as the three of them stood waiting. Hiei's gaze was turned towards the land ahead of them. Kurama faced the rising sun, hoping to warm himself up. Yukina alone watched the city gates.

Finally, the sounds of boots crunching on gravel prompted Yukina to focus sharply. "Oh! Yuusuke-san and Kazuma-san are here." Hiei and Kurama followed the direction of her pointed finger.

The two boys in question were approaching the trio with a bizarre mixture of exhaustion and enthusiasm on their features. Kurama thought that he has never seen two individuals with such dark shadows under their eyes grin so broadly.

"Yosh'," began Yuusuke without preamble. He popped a thumbs up to emphasize his good cheer. "Let's get this show on the road." Kurama smiled at his eagerness.

"Kazuma-san," remarked Yukina from the other side of the group, "you look so tired. What did you do yesterday?"

Kuwabara looked abashed. "Eh…well, my family threw a big party for me last night, and Urameshi came too…we were up really late." Hiei snorted. Kuwabara glared at him.

"Party or not, we should get going," said Kurama, casting a glance at the sun. "We want to get in as much travel time as possible."

"Right," agreed Yuusuke. "So say your goodbyes, everyone, and let's—"

"Matte." Everyone looked up at Hiei, who had spoken for the first time since Yuusuke and Kuwabara had arrived. "I have no intention of taking part in a wild goose chase. I don't have that sort of time." He directed his next comment towards Kurama. "Explain where we're going and how you intend to get there."

Yukina looked upset at her brother's cutting tone, but she said nothing. Yuusuke and Kuwabara looked from Hiei to Kurama, their curiosity piqued not so much by the relevant query, but by the belligerent overtones of Hiei's remarks. Kurama's first test as a leader.

The redhead contemplated Hiei for a moment before putting down the bag he carried on his shoulder and pulling out the richly grained Half Box. He held it out for all of them to see.

"I showed all of you this a few days ago," he said. "This is the Half Box. To put it simply, the Orb is attracted to it. Anyone who holds the box will feel a pull on it from the Orb."

"Enchantments?" interjected Yuusuke.

"Yes and no," replied Kurama. "It actually employs a little bit of science and little bit of magic. The principle behind the Half Box is fairly simple: every object in the world can only contain a set amount of energy. When an object exceeds its capacity, it will destroy itself in any number of ways. If it is a human, the human will die.

"Ultimately, the goal of all things, living or non-living, is to maintain a perfect equilibrium between containing enough energy to exist and containing too much energy. This principle powers every single thing that exists. Those that failed to receive enough energy could not exist; those that received too much obliterated themselves."

"The Half Box," murmured Hiei, his earlier contempt forgotten.

Kurama nodded. "The Half Box is exactly that—it is in a state of balance. However, it must be sealed in order to remain this way, because it is impossible to stop the exchange of energy any other way. For a human, it would be impossible. The best we could manage is dynamic equilibrium."

Kuwabara whistled. "That's pretty impressive."

The redhead nodded again, wanting to finish his long-winded explanation. "The only other creation that shares this quality is the Half Room, located in the god Tetsudaite's temple. Sosen no miko has assured me that that room has been sealed off, though, so only the Half Box will remain active."

Yuusuke opened his mouth to ask a question, but Kurama held up a hand. "I'm almost done; bear with me." The young man duly swallowed his query.

"All right, last part, I promise." Kurama smiled. "The most important thing about the Half Box is its ability to locate the Orb. The Orb is almost completely opposite from the Half Box—it is nearing its energy capacity, which is why it's so volatile. It needs something to accept its excess energy.

"The Half Box has the same energy capacity as the Orb, so it's the logical choice. Using the Half Box, we can locate the Orb and seal it in the Half Box. And then we can repeat the whole process to find Tetsudaite's temple and the Half Room. From there, we go to Sosen's temple."

"And then?" prompted Yuusuke.

Kurama shrugged. "That's as far as Sosen no miko outlined her ideas."

"It's still a pretty hefty task," said Kuwabara, looking a little doubtful.

"You could stay back with Yukina-san," Yuusuke suggested hopefully.

"Right, and let you take all the spoils."

Yuusuke thumbed his nose at him before traipsing off down the path. At this unspoken signal, Kuwabara turned hastily to Yukina. "Take care while we're gone, Yukina-san."

The delicate young woman smiled. "I will. Have a safe journey." Properly reassured, Kuwabara marched after Yuusuke.

"We should go before they run off without us," Kurama remarked.

"Good luck," said Yukina. "Look after each other."

The two young men nodded and departed, Kurama lifting a hand in farewell. Yukina waved back.

Before they caught up with Yuusuke and Kuwabara, Kurama fell into step with Hiei. "Did I answer your question?" he inquired innocently.

Hiei shot him a dark glance. Kurama grinned. "Yes," he muttered, turning away. Kurama's grin widened.

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They traveled as quickly and as efficiently as they could. As Kurama carried the Half Box, he led the group. The sensation of having an inanimate object exert a pull on him was strange, but he gradually became accustomed to it and became proficient in its use.

When night fell, they stopped to eat and rest. Dinner was less awkward than it could have been—Yuusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama all made attempts at finding a common subject. By the time they'd finished eating, Kurama had learned the sleeping habits of Yuusuke's mother and the eating preferences of Kuwabara's kitten, among other things.

Afterwards, both Yuusuke and Kuwabara announced that they were tired and tramped off to find comfortable resting places. Kurama, not quite ready to go to sleep, decided that he would try to find a creek or stream to wash in.

The search did not last long, as the area was green with plant-life and therefore contained plentiful amounts of water. Kurama quickly found a shallow river away from prying eyes.

Not wanting to expose himself completely to the outside chill, the redhead only divested himself of his shirt and splashed cold water on his chest, rubbing quickly before the cold seeped in. He repeated the process for the rest of his upper body before re-donning his shirt.

Sometime later, Kurama had rolled up his pants legs and begun to wash his aching feet, feeling his body relax in the familiar routine. His gaze wandered across the broad stretch of water before settling on the reflection of the slivered moon. Glimmering in the water, it reminded him of the feeble sunlight glinting off another's sword—though truth be told, the silvery gleam across the river looked more like—

Kurama raised his head quickly, the thoughts connecting. On the far riverbank, as still and solid as stone, sat Hiei, his unsheathed sword balanced on two rocks, his shirt next to them. He did not react to Kurama's discovery of him.

Hiei met Kurama's gaze for a long moment before bending his head, dipping his hands in the water and beginning to wash himself. Kurama tipped his head, studying him, before returning to his task.

Over the course of the day, Hiei had kept himself separate from the others. With the exception of the conversation they'd had immediately after leaving Yukina, every time Kurama had tried to speak with him, he'd responded brusquely and with finality. This cold unresponsiveness was different from the quiet aloofness he had demonstrated a few days ago—or had he only misconstrued it? Kurama thought uncomfortably of his own earlier behavior—he'd touched him freely in what he had then deemed friendly conduct, but in retrospect, it looked as though he had crossed the boundaries of propriety.

Kurama rolled his pants legs down to his knees and trailed his feet in the surprisingly warm water. The heat radiated from Hiei's side, and Kurama glanced over to see his companion holding a steaming stone in the water. He must have heated it in fire, Kurama realized.

"That's convenient," he remarked conversationally. When Hiei looked up, Kurama indicated the rock.

"No," said Hiei, pulling the cooled stone from the water. "It is not convenient." He gathered his belongings. "It's useful." And he disappeared, leaving Kurama before he could ask what the difference was.

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The next day's atmosphere was more pressing than that of the day before—Kurama could feel the pull of the Orb on the Half Box more strongly than before, and their group moved quickly. Nightfall found them at the gates of the city Tendoru, where they decided to stay for the night. Kurama carefully restored the almost-quivering Half Box to his satchel. The Orb was close.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara took over the task of finding them an inn, while Kurama inspected the city closely, hoping to see a sign that would definitively indicate the presence of the Orb. Predictably, he found none among the faces and streets of the poorest district—where, as expected, the two boys had found the most decent inn at the cheapest price.

The old man who ran the hotel introduced himself as Suzuka and waved the group of four up the stairs, telling them to pick whatever room they wanted. Yuusuke and Kuwabara exchanged gleeful looks at having picked a place with such an easygoing owner. They chose the biggest room available and left their traveling pouches there, careful to lock the door.

Downstairs, the four young men sat down at a table, eager to order. They had not eaten well while on the road and were understandably hungry. An auburn-haired waitress approached and offered to take their order.

From then on, their luck seemed to run out. There was no sake available, and they had run out of tea an hour ago. Only two different types of vegetables were still in stock. There was no meat or fish. Finally, when the young woman confessed that they didn't even have salt, Yuusuke exploded.

"What the hell kind of place is this! You guys have nothing but water and goddamn spinach roots to eat! I'm going to—"

The waitress winced, but it was a man at another table who turned around and cut off Yuusuke's outburst. "Hey man," he slurred, "don't take it out on poor Koto. Th' whole city's like this." He passed a hand over his purple-blue mohawk before taking a swig out of a bottle.

"I thought there was no alcohol left," Yuusuke accused.

"There isn't," replied the man. "This's old grape juice. 'S closest I could get." He put the bottle down sadly. "Doesn't have the same effect, but if I pretend long enough, it almost feels like it." He extended a hand. "I'm Chuu. Who're you fellas?"

Chuu nodded and shook each of their hands as they introduced themselves. "Travelers, huh," he said thoughtfully. "Well, you came to Tendoru at a bad time. We haven't had supplies in five weeks."

"Why not?" asked Kurama.

"Monks," said Chuu succinctly. "See, we don't have the best growing conditions here, so we need to import a lot of our stuff. We get caravans every two weeks or so, bringing us stuff. Lately, though, none of them have ever made it into the city—they're being attacked."

"Monks did this?" Hiei asked in disbelief. Kurama was pleased to see that even he was interested.

"Yeah," replied the mohawked man. "It's hard to believe—I mean, we've always done well with the monastery near by. They protect us, and we sell them food at good prices. But recently, they've been attacking our supply wagons, and nobody knows why." He shrugged and took a long draught. "Just gotta stick it through. An armed caravan's supposed to be coming through soon, so we might get supplies. But in the meantime, those spinach roots aren't that bad y'know…"

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Hours later, the four of them lay in their room. Chuu had eaten with them, regaling them with stories, and they'd enjoyed themselves for the most part.

Upstairs, however, away from the noise of the barroom, Kurama felt something nagging at him. Chuu had something that had seemed familiar—no supplies…caravans…monks…spinach roots…Kurama felt his eyelids close. Monks…monks and the Orb…

Kurama slept fitfully. Monks dressed in black cloaks and carrying gleaming daggers repeatedly insisted that he'd stolen something from them, but when he denied it, they refused to believe him and set him high atop a mountain of sticks. The roaring of the crowd was deafening as the executioner threw a fiery stone into the heap, and the whole place was awash in grisly firelight…

He jerked awake before the flames could reach him, but he could still hear the shouts of the crowd and see the shimmering flame-light. When moments passed and the visions did not fade, Kurama realized something was wrong—there really was shouting going on. He threw off his covers and hastened to the window and looked out. Below him, the street was aglow with the light of torches, and he could hear the yelling of the angry crowd. A riot, it looked like.

Kurama woke the others. When they'd shaken off the fog of sleep, he pointed towards the window and allowed them to see for themselves what was going on. They lost little time in grabbing their possessions and hurrying downstairs.

The dining room was almost completely empty. Kurama hurried to Suzuka, who was methodically cleaning glasses. "What's happened?"

The old man straightened his brown vest before looking Kurama in the eye. "The armed caravan was destroyed just outside the city gates. The monks set fire to it."

"Holy shit," muttered Kuwabara.

"Are those people planning to get revenge?" Kurama demanded.

"I suppose so," remarked Suzuka. "I don't plan on getting involved." And he continued cleaning his glasses.

The four of them hastened outside and were greeted by an enormous crowd of torchbearers, all of them headed towards the city gates. "Stay together!" shouted Kurama, but it was too late. Yuusuke and Kuwabara had bolted into the first opening in the crowd they'd seen, and effectively disappeared. Kurama cursed.

A moment later, things got progressively worse. Hiei darted into the mass of rioters, and Kurama was forced to follow him, unwilling to lose all his companions. He'd taken scarcely a few steps, though, before a rumbling explosion sounded in the distance, and a brilliant bright light burst from the horizon.

—to be continued—

Yosh'—shortening of "yoshi"; Okay!; All right!

Matte—wait

Notes: And you thought science was pointless. If any of you guys have studied chemistry or physics, you should recognize some of the principles I twisted here. Energy quanta make an explicit appearance, while ionic bonds flit around in the background. :)

Y'know, I thought this chapter was going to be a lot longer. Sorry!

Review!