3. Falls the Shadow

--

After Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei had been forced from Kurama's side in the hospital the previous night, they'd walked into the reception room.

"Hey . . . where is everyone?"

Yusuke looked around in confusion. All the nurses and receptionists that had been flitting around the room when they had entered were gone.

Hiei's face registered shocked realization.

"Get out of here now!" he shouted, darting towards the doors. "And don't breathe the air!"

Completely bewildered and terrified, Yusuke and Kuwabara followed his instructions blindly. They ran for the doors that Hiei had already burst out of, but they weren't half as fast as he was, and they began staggering a little after the halfway mark towards the exit. The reception room was very long.

"Damn it," cursed Hiei, whose knees were also sagging.

Though his preternatural senses had detected the danger and his tremendous speed had gotten him out of the room, he had already taken two or three breaths before he had understood the situation. In this case, two or three breaths were all that had been needed.

The last thing he saw before he slumped over were Yusuke and Kuwabara's prone bodies stretched out on the floor.

--

He was roused by a stinging slap to the side of his face.

"Up," a voice growled. "Get up and watch your friend fight for your filthy little lives."

Hiei instantly jerked upright, though it was rather difficult as his arms and legs were bound tightly.

"Did your mother take it up the ass and shit you out several months later?" he sneered, taking in the leering, misshapen youkai in front of him.

"Enjoy the use of that smart mouth while you can, pal," the other retorted, moving on to slap Kuwabara awake.

They were in a small room, bare except for a large screen in front of them, and the sofa on which they were lying. Hiei discreetly tested his restraints, but the ugly youkai saw him.

Over Kuwabara's nonplussed grunts, he said, "Those are special steel cables Toguro-san checked himself. Even if you managed to fray them, you wouldn't be able to snap 'em before your friend loses and dooms you." He nodded to the screen.

The screen showed a brightly lit indoor arena, where Yusuke and Toguro Otouto were standing across from each other.

"See you later," said the youkai, leaving through a steel door. "Or maybe not," he added gleefully, slamming the door shut.

"They knocked us out with gas back there," Kuwabara growled, wriggling upright. He was having considerably more trouble than Hiei had.

"Astute observation," Hiei snapped. "And it'll likely be the method by which they kill us when Yusuke loses." He jerked his head upwards. "There are vents in the ceiling."

"What do you mean, 'when'?" Kuwabara demanded. "Say 'if,' will you? Stop being so goddamn pessimistic!"

"In this situation, it's only the realistic assessment," Hiei said in a hard voice. "Yusuke's already weak. And he's under a lot of pressure right now. But there is—"

"Shh!" Kuwabara said excitedly; Hiei stopped mid-sentence. Yusuke and Toguro had just rushed at each other, Yusuke yelling like a madman. The fight had begun.

Toguro, who was powered up to about eighty percent, grabbed Yusuke around the legs and picked him up. After swinging him around in the air a few times for the hell of it, he slammed the boy's body into the ground. Hiei's eye twitched as he remembered how Bui had knocked him down in much the same way, breaking his nose and several of his teeth.

"Get up!" Kuwabara bawled.

Yusuke didn't disappoint. He raised himself surprisingly quickly and aimed a Spirit Gun at Toguro, but it practically bounced off his skin.

"What was it one of your teammates said earlier? 'Fight like you mean it.' Come on, Yusuke." Toguro grinned.

"Bastard," Hiei muttered. How dare he throw my words back at him!

"I—want—you—to—die!" Yusuke roared, charging at Toguro with glowing fists.

Toguro parried each one of his blows easily, and retaliated with a powerful punch that sent Yusuke flying into the wall.

"Yusuke!" Kuwabara's face was contorted in pain. Hiei feared his own features greatly resembled Kuwabara's. He certainly shared the other's trepidation.

The rest of the fight continued in the same manner. Toguro laughed at Yusuke's pitiful attempts, and dealt him agonizing blows. To his credit, Yusuke never stopped to catch his breath, but simply kept attacking Toguro.

"I'm beginning to wonder if your heart is really in this," Toguro scoffed. "I guess you just don't care about your friends. In which case . . ."

He picked up Yusuke's broken body, undeterred by the boy's feeble struggles. Turning Yusuke over on his stomach, and balancing him on his own bulging thigh, Toguro lifted up the back of Yusuke's shirt.

"Between the small knobs on top of the human pelvis," he said, looking directly at the camera, "is the iliac spine."

His fingers moved to the approximate location on Yusuke's back, as he paid no heed to his writhing and animalistic cries of wrath and fear.

"Goodbye, Yusuke Urameshi."

Toguro brought his knee up, and keeping his fingers on the same spot, placed his elbows on either end of Yusuke's body and pushed them down. Yusuke snapped in half, and the camera zoomed in to show the broken ends of Yusuke's backbone poking out of the place where Toguro's fingers had been.

"NOOOOO!"

Hiei was sure that Kuwabara's unearthly howl would haunt him for years to come. Even he had to look away from the gruesome image.

"Bastard," he said again, straining furiously at his bindings. "Bastard."

He thought he felt several strands of the steel cables give way, but then a faint hissing noise reached his ears. Gas was flowing through the vents.

"Kuwabara," he said urgently, "don't breathe. Close your mouth. Hold your breath for as long as you can."

But Kuwabara was oblivious. Tears streaked down his cheeks as he wailed and raged.

Closing his eyes with reluctance, Hiei relaxed all of his muscles, sat perfectly still, and prepared to hold his breath until he lost consciousness. It hurt him more than he'd ever thought it would to leave Kuwabara in the way of imminent death, but he told himself halfheartedly that Kuwabara was in such a state that he was beyond saving, and he could not waste his own energy in futile endeavors to save the human boy.

No, he thought fiercely, I need to conserve all my resources to rescue the only person I can now. Kurama needs me.

And maybe—just maybe—later, he and Kurama could go and wreak vengeance on the one who had inflicted so much misery on them and started it all by inviting them to this wretched tournament.

--

When Hiei woke up, the first thing he noticed was the smell. An unbearable stench of rotting food, sanitary waste, and a host of other things he didn't care to identify assaulted his nose. The next thing he noticed was the texture. He was lying atop a slimy, soggy mound of garbage.

A wave of nausea rolled over him, and he gagged and retched for several minutes before pulling himself together.

He was thankful that at least, he wasn't lying face down.

It was dark, and from the concentrated odor of the refuse, Hiei guessed that he was inside an enclosed compartment . . . an incinerator! Alarm surged within him, as he struggled to break his ropes. He didn't know when the incinerator would be turned on, and being a fire demon, it would take a while before he would sustain any damage from the heat; but if it were long enough, he would definitely suffer.

As he thrashed around in his efforts to snap the cables, he encountered something heavy and rather like a body.

"Kuwabara," he said loudly. "Are you alive?"

No response.

"Hn. I expected as much," Hiei said angrily. "You useless lump."

But none of the fury welling up inside him was directed at Kuwabara at all.

"Damn it!" he yelled, his face actually growing hot with rage. Sweat trickled down his forehead. It was very warm in there.

Suddenly, Hiei was hit by a realization. He was in an incinerator, which burnt things. But some things didn't burn. Some things melted. Like steel.

Hiei summoned black fire to his fists and almost immediately felt the cables on his wrists loosen slightly. After they came off, he held his fiery fists against the bindings on his legs. But it was slow work; it took half an hour for everything to come off.

Why didn't I think of this before? He berated himself mentally. Hiei disregarded the fact that even if he'd thought of it back then, he wouldn't have had enough time to free even himself, let alone Kuwabara. Idiot! I could have saved Kuwabara!

It wasn't just, it wasn't right that the oaf should be causing Hiei so much misery, even in death. He wanted to howl like Kuwabara had, but promised himself that he'd make it up to that lout's memory; and to Yukina, who Hiei suspected (to his chagrin) had returned his romantic feelings.

Keeping his hands ignited, he darted on top of the stinking compost lightly, searching for a wall. When he hit one, he traced a large rectangle with his fists. A rectangular sheet of metal fell out and he was rewarded with sunlight and fresh air. From the sound of chirping birds, Hiei deduced that it was early morning, which meant that he'd spent the entire night in that putrid incinerator. It was a wonder that the stink hadn't finished him off.

He stepped out gratefully and brushed himself off as best he could, though he knew that his clothes would never be fit to wear again, and that lesser youkai would faint at the stench he was currently radiating.

His surroundings were vaguely familiar. The incinerator was apparently behind a large building which, judging by its smokestacks, was the kitchen for the hotel. Hiei knew that the ships were leaving this morning, so his first priority was to get on one that would be going in the same direction as the one Karasu and Kurama had boarded.

Once he took his first step away from the incinerator, however, he realized that he had another matter to attend to.

"Fuck," he muttered to himself.

He held his breath and darted back into the incinerator, clumsily threw Kuwabara's body over his shoulder, and dashed back out, where he laid the body on the ground. Despite their past . . . disagreements, Hiei knew that he couldn't leave his former teammate to rot on top of a heap of trash. He only regretted that he couldn't do the same for Yusuke's body, which had not been in the incinerator with them.

Knowing it was stupid, he checked Kuwabara for a pulse anyway. Nothing. He took a deep breath. Well, it had been worth confirming.

"Damn you," Hiei muttered, glaring at Kuwabara's half-opened eyes. He reached over to lower the eyelids. "I don't know what Yukina saw in you. But," he allowed, in case they were watching him in Reikai, "you probably would have done well by her. Hn. You'd have known, though, if you hadn't, I would have killed you."

He exhaled exasperatedly. "All right. Rest in peace." Then for good measure, as though afraid he was getting soft: "Idiot."

For the second time, his hands held fire. He knelt and placed them on Kuwabara's feet. The flames caught and spread, reducing the body to cinders in minutes.

Hiei clenched his jaw and stared at the ashes a moment, then whirled towards the harbor.

--

Around the ships, he stayed in his too-fast-for-the-eye-to-follow mode, zipping amongst and through people so swiftly that one would only have been able to see him if one were expecting him. After all, it wouldn't do for someone to recognize him. He was supposed to be dead.

With a sudden jolt, he saw Yukina and the other girls standing in front of a boat. Hiei didn't know, but Kurama had left them only minutes ago. He debated the merits of approaching them, still flurrying about to remain invisible, when he saw Yukina discreetly detach herself from the group and walk towards him, eyes wide with disbelief. Amazed that she could see him, he led the way to a secluded area behind a small hill of crates.

When she was completely hidden to all passersby, he stopped moving, revealing himself.

"Hiei-san!" she exclaimed, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure herself that he was real.

"Yukina. Uh." He stepped away from her at almost the exact instant she withdrew her hand. This was not the way he had envisaged his resurrection in front of her.

"Why are you so filthy?" she asked, laughing even as she wiped her hand on a handkerchief. Hiei felt like he could breathe easily again. Apparently her happiness at seeing him outweighed the disgust he knew his appearance and odor must inspire.

"It's a long story. How are you?" he asked, quickly becoming serious.

Yukina's joyful demeanor softened. "I'm fine. Shizuru is also doing well, though Keiko and Atsuko are having trouble with their grief. But what about you? And," her voice dropped to a hopeful whisper, "are Yusuke and Kuwabara alive too?"

"No," Hiei said brusquely, instantly regretting his tone when he saw Yukina's face fall. "But Kurama is still alive," he managed to say in a slightly kinder voice. "I'm going after him."

To his surprise, Yukina's face lit up. "I saw Kurama," she told him excitedly. "He boarded the third ship on the right from ours. It's already left, though."

"What!" Hiei's eyes widened. "Did you talk to him?"

Yukina nodded. "A little. He told me Kazuma was thinking about me until the end." She sounded as though she had a bad head cold.

Deciding it was the right thing to do, Hiei said gruffly, "I found his body afterwards and cremated it."

Forgetting herself, Yukina clasped Hiei's hands. "Did you say a few words over him before you did that?"

"Yes," he said, gently disengaging her hands. "I said that you were proud of him." So that was an untruth, but he had said nice things involving Yukina.

"Thank you, Hiei," she whispered.

"Yukina," he said seriously, "I have to go now. I'm going to get Kurama and bring him back to Ningenkai. But I need you to not tell anyone that I'm alive. Not even the other girls."

"I understand. Wait—I have something to give you." She fumbled in her kimono for a second, and produced a tear gem. "For you. When I heard you had all died. I gave the other hiruiseki to Kurama."

"I can't—,"

"That's what Kurama said. Take it."

He relented and tucked it into the sash at his waist. "Thank you."

"Hiei—be careful."

He nodded, and she turned around and walked away steadily, after offering him one final, quavery smile.

She knows. Somehow, the thought didn't bother him that much. He dashed off to find another ship that had gone the same way as Kurama's.

--

"The voyage will only take half a day," Karasu informed him, sitting on the edge of the bed in the cabin. He grimaced: even though the lower half of Karasu's face was covered by that mask, Kurama was getting quite good at reading his facial expressions. "But even that seems too long to me. I hate traveling over water."

"Prone to seasickness?" Kurama taunted, standing stubbornly on the other side of the bed.

"You could say that," Karasu replied delicately. "I will want this cabin entirely to myself. You will stay with Bui." He raised his voice. "Bui!"

The armored youkai entered. "Take Kurama to your room. Keep an eye on him."

Bui inclined his head in acknowledgement and indicated for Kurama to follow him. Karasu smiled wearily as the pair of them left. The ship chose to roll violently at that particular moment, and Karasu hurriedly bent over a silver basin on the dresser, fumbling at his mask.

--

The main benefit of being with Bui was that he seemed to be completely uninterested in Kurama. His disinclination for speech was another plus.

Kurama fleetingly wondered why two such unlikely companions were continuing to travel together when their bond to Toguro had been broken. But he had not forgotten their little display of teamwork when Bui had helped Karasu by smashing his fist into the wall to distract Kurama at their first encounter, allowing Karasu to sneak up behind him and caress his neck.

Bui stopped at a door and opened it, allowing Kurama to go in first. By the time he closed the door behind them, Kurama's nimble mind was already racing. He had a whole day with Bui, whom he might not be able to escape from, but from whom he might be able to extract useful information.

"So," he said, sitting down at a chair in the middle of the room. "What do you intend to do the entire day?"

"I need to plan our itinerary for Makai," Bui responded curtly.

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "I thought Karasu was the one in charge here."

He hoped to goad Bui into revealing important details; if he was careful enough, he could coax substantial tidbits from the armored youkai. Also, by occupying his mind with complicated schemes to get out of his current situation, he kept his crushing grief for his teammates at bay.

"We are partners. He trusts me." Bui also sat.

"How come?"

No response. Damn, he'd let his eagerness get the better of him. At least Bui hadn't walked off to "plan our itinerary" yet.

"What do you mean by 'itinerary'? Where are we going?" Bui's phrasing made it sound as though he were running a travel agency.

"There is a certain destination we must reach," Bui said calmly. A queer thrill ran through Kurama at this news. He must mean Nekura!

"I know that you will probably be bored, but I can't chat with you the entire day." Damn again, foiled anyway. "Go into the bedroom and don't disturb me. I will bring lunch to you."

Kurama stared at him, then got up stiffly and disappeared into the bedroom. Bui watched him go, then slipped a hand into the opening between his mask and helmet to pinch the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling that this whim—no, obsession—of Karasu's was going to end up being more trouble than he was worth.

He toyed briefly with the notion of walking into the bedroom and choking the life out of the bloody reincarnated kitsune, but knew he was incapable. It would upset Karasu, and Bui could never bring himself to cause the other sorrow.

Then again, he also found himself strangely sympathetic to Kurama. His fight with Karasu had been spectacular, and Bui was bound to respect anyone who gave Karasu so much difficulty in battle.

Back in his cabin, Karasu was just replacing his mask over his face. He got up with less than his usual grace to empty the basin into the sink in the adjoining bathroom. As he made his way to the door, he had to lean heavily against it to catch his breath.

Birds were never meant for water, with the exceptions of ducks, geese, and the like. Anomalies, Karasu scoffed. He was much happier on the ground, in the air, or "perched" within the branches of a tree. With a smile, he remembered the crushing embrace of Kurama's giant mimosa plant.

He'd lied when he told Kurama he had no interest in horticulture. As a connoisseur of beauty, he admired elegance in all things. Like their cousins the magpies, crows were collectors.

Flowers were the contents of nature's infinite jewelry box: foxgloves were her chandelier earrings, hibiscuses her hat pins, dahlias the gems at her throat. As someone who wielded a whip fashioned from a rose, the queen of flowers, Kurama was the embodiment of nature's beauty. Karasu sighed as he finished rinsing the basin. In a little under a month, perhaps, Kurama would be his completely.

On another ship bound in the same direction, Hiei sat in a dark, enclosed compartment which he had chosen as his hiding place. Thankfully, unlike the other dark and enclosed compartment he had been confined to, this one was eminently odorless, though he stunk enough to more than make up for it.

Kurama, he thought, smiling with grim humor. I'm never going to let you live this down. No one is ever going to forget that I had to chase you down and rescue you like a knight storming the locked tower of some feckless princess.

So you better be alive for me to rescue.

And if he wasn't—well, Hiei was just going to have to think of a whole host of new ways to inflict a long and painful death on Karasu.

--

A/N: I adore this chapter. You should, too. XD

Seriously, it was relatively easy and a lot of fun to write. Chapter four might take longer than a week to be posted, though, because that's when the story really starts to pick up the pace, and I want to edit it obsessively. But keep the love coming in the meantime!

Oh yeah—I forgot to mention that the rating on this might have to be upped in later chapters. Just so you're all forewarned.