Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
This wait wasn't so long, now was it? I tried to write as many pages as there were reviews, I think I've achieved my goal, but you never know. Well, read on and thank you;
Hoshiko Megami
YokoYoukai
MikaSamu
Kuranga108
Agent Dark Moose
IwuvMyKenshyPoo
WARNING:
1. This story will contain Shonen-Ai in later chapters (will be mild), if you don't like it, don't read it.
2. Rated for reasons: Language and future scenes (blood, etc.)!
You have been warned!
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CAPTURED
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Youko looked at Kuronue for the first time in a long while. It was one of those looks where you see someone straight in the eye, unblinking, unwavering. The fox half-smiled, for once it was not a smirk painted on his lips, but a smile.
That was different, Kuronue noted, even if it was only half of a real smile...
"Thanks," The fox said, promptly sitting down. That was the first word that had been spoken in about a week or so... a week or so after Youko explained The Incident to Kuronue. 'The Incident' was what the fox thought of it now.
The bat waved the comment off, "Meh, what're friends for, eh?"
"Hai, true..." The fox let out a light laugh, "Still, seriously this time Kuronue, thanks."
The bat titled his head to the side, mimicking one of Youko's common movements. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. All that shit's behind us now. Are we gonna be goin' back to our old tricks now, 'Rama?"
Youko scowled, "What else would we do?" He knew that what Kuronue had just said was an indirect way to say 'Are you okay?'. "I'm fine. Karasu didn't kill me. See, I'm all healed up." The fox stretched muscles and limbs previously wounded before with easy, limber movements.
"Okay, okay! I get the point, kitsune no baka."
"Hat lover."
"Dammit, Youko! I do not love a piece of pathetic cloth!" The Chimera declared, glaring at the kitsune.
The fox snorted, lifting his chin ever-so-slightly in one of those indigent 'yeah, whatever' kind of stances. "You know you're just about as obsessed with that hat you are with that amulet of yours."
Youko watched as one of Kuronue's hands flew to his chest where the amulet that he carried was covered by his black vest. "So what if I am?" The bat said indifferently, "At least I've got something to be obsessed about."
The youko shrugged his shoulders, "I was only kidding, Kuro. It doesn't even matter."
"Yeah, whatever." The chimera said, crossing his arms. He swept his eyes carefully over all the places where Youko had just a few days before held various wounds. Everything seemed to be healed up nicely. Almost perfectly, except for the long scar that Kuronue knew ran from the kitsune's left shoulder to his mid-right back. That would probably never heal, with Youko's plants or a demon's super-quick healing abilities. The vain fox probably wasn't very happy about this, but Kuronue saw that Youko had quickly gotten over that fact.
What people didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Besides, people didn't notice the back of Youko, only the front. It really wouldn't matter at all.
"So," The bat said bringing up a different topic, "When's our next heist?"
( Chapter Twelve - Wounded )
Yuusuke held in a gasp, but bit his lip. Now that his thought about it, the body laying beside Youko Kurama did sort of look like the bat from the crude drawings littered on the "Wanted!" posters around all of the Makai. Yuusuke had always sort of thought that the chimera would look more... strong and lean than what he was looking at now.
Then again, Yuusuke was also forgetting to take in the fact that the Kuronue on the posters wasn't a wounded unconscious Kuronue such as the one laying before him. Yuusuke raised his eyes to the foxes face as his name was called.
"Yuusuke..." The fox said, actually using the detectives first name this time, "Don't you have any healers in this hideout of yours?"
After the fox made brief eye contact with the Tentai, he turned right back to his injured former companion. The fox was rapidly growing some sort of small, green plant that looked almost like a dandelion and getting juices from the stem. The juices collected into a semi-liquid blob of clear-white stuff in the foxes hand and then the kitsune spread the concoction over the less serious of Kuronue's wounds.
"Yeah... what're you doin'?"
"I'm putting this... 'new skin,' if you will, on the smaller abrasions. Since you have a healer, why don't you go and bring him... most likely her... out here then?"
"Oh... right!" The detective marched off back inside the house as Youko continued the process of putting 'new skin' over the minor cuts or wounds on Kuronue's body.
Yuusuke walked back into the house, went into a closet, and walked down a set of stairs. Once he was underground in the stone hideout part of the 'house,' the Tentai went off in search of both Yukina and Genkai. He figured that they would both be in the area where they kept all their first-aid supplies, as to take in stock of what they did and didn't have.
As Yuusuke marched down the stone hallway, Kuwabara came out and saw the worried, yet determined, expression on his friends face.
"Yo! Urameshi! What's going on? Shrimpy settin' the forest on fire or somethin' like that?"
Yuusuke didn't even spare Kuwabara a glance as he continued marching down the passageway.
"No way, Kuwabara! A little birdie, well - maybe you'd call it a big batty, just fell out of the sky. Real hurt too, you know? Gotta go find Yukina and Genkai. Know where they are?" The detective hollered over his shoulder to his companion.
"Yeah... in the first-aid room. I don't see why you need them to help a puny little bird, or bat, 'cause the ones here are really freaky and there's way to many of them anyway."
"Kuwabara, you idiot. I was being sarcastic!"
"Oh... wait! I'm not a baka, or an idiot, stupid!"
"Shut up! If you wanna know what's goin' on, follow me or go back to whatever you were doin' before."
"... Fine." Kuwabara relented and let this fight slide by without pushing it along any farther. "So, is it a bird or a bat?"
"Kuwabara, shut up!"
"Okay, okay! Sheesh..."
As he approached the room where Yukina and Genkai were said to be, and they were there, Yuusuke quickened his pace, barging into the room as Genkai counted of numbers of bandages in a monotone voice.
"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen... fifteen...? Dimwit! You lost my place!" Yuusuke's mentor snapped angrily at her pupil, returning to start at "One..."
"Come off it, Grandma! There's somethin' you and Yukina gotta see!"
"... two, three, four, five..."
"Oh? Really, Yuusuke? Is it important? Is somebody hurt?" Yukina asked, stopping what she was doing.
"...six, seven, eight, nine, ten..."
Yuusuke looked at the petite ice maiden, "Hai! Hurry up Grandma!"
"...eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen... seventeen... fifteen... dammit." Genkai muttered under her breath. The work that had to be done would never be completed if Yuusuke kept interrupting her and Yukina.
"Yes! Exactly! Dammit! This is more important than counting stupid little bandages, you old hag!" Yuusuke yelled at his teacher.
"Do you want to die after all these bandages are used and we don't have any more and you bleed to death? Do you want to die, again?" Genkai retorted to her pupil.
"Not really! But, please, Yukina and Botan have healing powers! Hurry up, I don't want a pissed youko hanging around the house..."
"You do remember that Yukina and Botan's healing powers are limited, right, Dimwit? This had better be good," Genkai muttered to her student, pushing past him. Yukina followed the elder lady and then Kuwabara followed her along with Yuusuke after that.
"Gods, thank you!" Yuusuke sighed.
"I didn't do anything yet, idiot." Genkai snorted, as she approached the stairs to the outside world.
"Do... do you smell that?" Yukina asked timidly, as she started walking up the steps.
"Unfortunately, Yukina dearest, we don't all have super-awesome smelling powers. What do you smell?" Kuwabara asked, curiously, following his 'love' up into the closet.
As Yukina walked towards the front door out of the closet, presumably following the scent, she faulted slightly while answering, "You... don't smell it? It's awfully strong..." She paused, turning her head so her worried red eyes could look past Kuwabara to Yuusuke, "It's... it's blood, Kazuma. Who's is it, Yuusuke? You said something about Youko earlier... did he get hurt? Oh, Karasu isn't here already, is he?" She asked hurriedly, concern filling her words.
Yuusuke looked at the maiden, lightly pushing her out the door, "Nope. It's not Youko... it's someone else. Turn around, Yukina... do you think you can heal him?"
Yukina turned around slowly, her eyes were met with a rather gruesome scene.
On the ground, in front of the youko, was a person. Yukina immediately recognized the chimera. It was indeed Kuronue. She clothing was torn, but she gathered that most of it had been done by the bat himself. The bat's eyes were closed tightly in pain, even while he was unconscious. She was that the kitsune had already taken care of most of the smaller, more manageable wounds, but there were still some serious one along the chimera's body. Kuronue, it seemed, had picked a fight and had ended up on the losing side. His shoulder was bleeding, a long, deep scrape ran across it. This, however, wasn't Yukina' main concern. Littered on the bat's chest and abdomen were several equally-deep abrasions. As she took in a deep breath, she noticed the scent of burnt skin mixed in the with smell of blood. It became obvious then, that these scattered wounds were some kind of burns that cut through the skin... but what exactly could do this, Yukina didn't know.
These... burns... and the cut on the shoulder weren't the only wounds, other cuts and scrapes were also strewn haphazardly around Kuronue's body. Blood was pooling around the bats still form, Youko's thin white clothing was slowly seeping up some of the blood. The foxes hands were red from the crimson liquid, and the foxes expression looked grim, but his eyes still betrayed nothing, Yukina noted as she walked around to the other side of the chimera.
"I... I can try to help him, Yuusuke. Youko-san...? Do you mind?" The ice maiden finally answered, placing her hands over Kuronue's body, but not touching his skin or clothing.
When the fox looked at her, Yukina saw the barest hint of worry settling within the youko's golden eyes. "Iie. Work." He said, sitting back on his bottom, resting his bloody hands on his knees as he sat cross-legged.
The fox watched intently as Yukina set to work, her hands glowed faintly with the power of healing, and she set to work on the deepest burn-like wound, right near Kuronue's stomach. The slightly unnerved Yukina to have the youko's expert gaze following her every movement, but she continued on with her work silently, wincing now and then at a particularly horrible wound.
As she finally got rid of the last burn-like wound on the bat, Yukina sighed softly, falling over backwards from exhaustion. Youko looked up startled as the young woman fell into sleep, but he bowed his head respectfully in thanks and stood up, examining her work.
It was good, he decided. Quite excellent, even. Too bad that she only had so much energy to work with... she could become quite the healer if she trained specifically on this ability.
Genkai walked up behind the fox, "Well, aren't you going to carry him in? He's still got all those cuts that the poor girl didn't get to... bring him downstairs if you don't want him to bleed to death."
Youko turned his head and glared at the older woman, yet did as she said and took Kuronue up in his arms.
"Yuusuke, get Yukina." Genkai barked out demands, motioning for Youko to follow her into the house and then into the first-aid supplies room.
"Genkai... do you really think you should bring him in here? Isn't he somethin' of an enemy?" Kuwabara asked, following the rest of the group as they walked down the stone halls.
"Shut up, Kuwabara." Yuusuke said, carrying Yukina. "Don't you remember Koenma's treaty... Oh! Yeah, you ran when the fox-boy over there bit you... ha. That was funny. Anyway, he's not an enemy right now, Kuwabara."
The psychic looked at the back of the detective's head in confusion, "What? Wait..." His brain processed the information, "Well... but what about when he's not a 'friend' anymore, huh?" He asked.
"Dunno, don't really care right now either..." Yuusuke said, setting Yukina down softly as the came to the first-aid room.
"Set him on the floor," Genkai said to the fox, "Start wrapping up his wounds... don't you have some kind of fancy healing plant? Use it."
Youko complied, not without growling heatedly first, and set to work.
It was at this moment that Hiei, sensing his sister's energy dwindling, decided to make his appearance.
"What the hell is going on here?" He demanded, upon entering the room and seeing his sister on the floor, unconscious.
"Well..." Kuwabara was going to explain before Hiei interrupted him.
"Shut up. I don't need you to figure this out." The Jaganshi snapped, gathering the details. His gaze turned to the fox, who was glaring at nothing while wrapping the last of Kuronue's wounds. "What happened to him?"
"Good job," Genkai nodded to Youko, complimenting his work, then she turned sharply to Hiei, "Don't you think we'd like to know that too?"
Yuusuke suddenly brightened up, raising a finger as if finally remembering something. "The paper!" He said, "The paper on Kuronue's arm! Remember?" The Tentai said, turning to the fox.
"Why?" Youko Kurama asked, turning his eyes to the detective.
"Well... didn't you read it?"
"Hai..."
"So? What did it say?" Yuusuke asked, becoming impatient.
The fox snarled, once again glaring at nothing in particular, "Nothing you need to worry about, Detective. All I know is that Kuronue was forced to work with Karasu, and that the crow will be here not tomorrow, but the day after that."
"And do you trust his word?" Hiei asked, stressing the word 'his'.
Youko turned his gaze to Hiei. "No, I do not trust Karasu... but he's never late nor early. He's always right somewhere when he says he will. He might not seem like it, but Karasu's a man of his word when it comes to certain things like... timing. He'll be here in two days, mark my words."
"What's going on in here?" Botan asked, poking her head into the room, Keiko and Koenma were with her. "Oh... my. Did we miss something here? Did you guys have some kind of... party without us?"
"Does this look like a party?" Hiei practically barked out at Botan. "We don't have time for any stupid jokes now. Karasu's going to be here in two days. Unless you want to die, start to prepare."
Yuusuke raised a brow.
Well, hey, even Hiei has his day to take command.
With that final thought complete, Hiei seemed to vanish from the room. Yuusuke frowned.
He was wrong this time. Well, actually, this isn't something new to us all...
Still. Karasu was coming and Hiei had a point. Yuusuke had already died once before, hence getting stuck working for Koenma, and he didn't like the feeling of being dead. He didn't plan on experiencing the feeling again any time soon.
Off to work they go!
Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho.
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Well, there's that! The end of the school year is drawing nearer and nearer... huzzah! Well, 'two days' means 'two chapters' until Karasu arrives at the hideout. Can't wait, can you? Of course not! Well, until next time, adios! Review! Bye!
Eve