8. Progress

--

Even though Kurama now had solid evidence that Hiei was on their track, he couldn't afford to sit back and leave all the work to the Jaganshi at this crucial stage.

His powers had progressed to the point where he was able to materialize his ki to form seeds. He couldn't produce anything deadly like shimaneki-sou, not yet; just harmless garden-variety flowers. But even harmless garden plants have their uses.

As Karasu and Bui were loading everything into the carriage, Kurama bent down and planted a Makai strawberry seed firmly in the earth in front of the gates.

Like normal strawberries, Makai strawberries reproduced when a mother plant sent out runners from its base. The runners grew along the ground horizontally, sending forth roots at intervals. At the points where the runners took root, new plants grew.

The only ways in which Makai strawberries differed from their Ningenkai counterparts was that their fruit grew to monstrous sizes and their runner systems could extend for miles. Kurama intended to make this particular strawberry plant's runners follow wherever Karasu and Bui took him, so Hiei would have a guide in his pursuit of them.

"Kurama," Karasu called. Bui had already mounted the driver's seat and held the horses' reins.

"Coming," muttered Kurama. He sent a burst of ki into the buried seed, and was rewarded with the faint sounds of new roots expanding rapidly into the moist dirt.

"Let's go," he said as Karasu held the door open for him. If it weren't too bizarre, Karasu would have fancied that he saw a flash of triumph in Kurama's eyes as he climbed in.

When Hiei arrived ten minutes later, he found the house deserted, which he had expected. Before they'd left, Karasu and Bui had taken pains to shield the carriage so that they would not leave their ki signatures trailing after them. Neither had they left any physical tracks. Hiei did not find that surprising, but it certainly frustrated his plans. He wandered outside the gates, thinking of different ways to pursue them.

It was then that he saw the newly grown strawberry plant.

"Hn." He bent down. It reeked of Kurama's ki. Even as he watched, a runner stretched from the base of the plant and began growing tentatively in the direction the carriage had gone. Hiei smirked.

"Faster, plant."

--

In the carriage, Kurama panicked and scooted away from Karasu when he coyly trailed his fingers across Kurama's thigh. Eager to start a conversation to distract Karasu, he opened his mouth and let the foremost question on his mind tumble out: "What kind of emergency forced us to leave in such a hurry?"

Karasu withdrew his teasing hand and brushed his hair back thoughtfully.

"Bui didn't tell you?"

"He never tells me anything!"

"Bui's always so careful," Karasu murmured, more to himself than to Kurama. "Well, it doesn't matter now, as you'll learn the truth later sooner or later."

Kurama leaned in despite himself, listening intently.

"Your friend the Jaganshi has apparently survived. He's hot on our trail right now. I suppose he's come to take you back, even though you are now rightfully mine. He's killed many people in the course of his search."

"Who?"

"Anyone standing in his way, from the looks of it."

"But what happened just now to prompt our hasty departure?"

"Bui saw him in the marketplace."

Karasu smiled at the fierce look of joy on Kurama's face. "Don't think that it will be easy getting away from me simply because Hiei is after you. Bui and I should be able to dispatch him effortlessly if he catches up to us."

Not if I'm helping him, Kurama retorted mentally. Aloud, he asked, "So where are we going?"

"North. To Nekura," Karasu clarified, "who is expecting us. It will take a couple of weeks for us to arrive in Mokuzai, however."

A couple of weeks. That ought to be plenty of time for Hiei to catch up. Kurama prayed he would hurry; he knew that whatever Karasu intended Nekura to do to him was going to be far more permanent than the seals Takara had placed upon him.

"Who were you going to take me to see this afternoon?"

Karasu's face clouded. "I had wanted to go as soon as possible, but Bui has told me that we must wait until we arrive in Mokuzai."

Kurama pursed his lips as he tried to puzzle out the meaning of that. He was rudely interrupted by a sharp jab in the crook of his arm.

"Not again . . ." he said faintly, watching Karasu withdraw the needle.

"It has to be done," Karasu said by way of cheerful apology. "I don't like it when you ask too many questions, Kurama. And now you can't shy from my touch."

The last thing Kurama felt before falling unconscious was Karasu's long fingers stroking his face.

--

Hiei was losing ground on them. The strawberry runners inched forward at a rate that was incredible to watch, but they still failed to match the speed of Karasu's black horses. Hiei followed at a pace he considered painstakingly slow until nightfall, although that might not have been such a bad thing, as he still needed to recuperate from the minor injuries he had received at Akuma's hands.

Since he also hadn't slept for several days now, he thought, I might as well get some rest and let the damned plant get ahead so I can follow it tomorrow.

He ate a small dinner of bread and preserved meat that he had gotten off the terrified vendor from before, and stretched out under the trees to sleep, keeping his katana close at hand.

While he slept, he had a dream. Or perhaps "nightmare" would have been the more accurate term: Kazuma Kuwabara was walking towards him and emitting an ethereal golden glow.

"You!" Hiei exclaimed. He jumped visibly in the dream, and even his sleeping face twitched unpleasantly. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey," Kuwabara smirked. "You should be on your knees begging for my forgiveness. Don't you feel guilty for just sitting around and watching me die?"

"Hn. I might have been able to save your life if you'd listened to me instead of bawling your eyes out over Yusuke. I should have left you to rot in the incinerator."

"Why, you . . ." Kuwabara took a few menacing steps forward.

"Speaking of which, where is Yusuke?" Hiei interrupted coldly.

"He got to go hang out in Kurama's dreams," Kuwabara said sullenly.

Hiei's ears instantly pricked up. "Where is Kurama right now? How is he?"

"Yeah, about that . . ."

Hiei was unnerved to see a grin unfolding itself across Kuwabara's face.

"You're both really good at hiding your feelings, aren't you? Me and Yusuke never would have guessed that you and Kurama—I mean, I thought Kurama had better taste."

Hiei's hand went to his side, but his katana wasn't there in the dream. "Shut. Up."

Kuwabara was gratified to see Hiei's flush of embarrassment and the throbbing vein at his temple.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Kuwabara laughed unrestrainedly. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm supposed to tell you that Kurama thinks about you all the time, and Karasu is taking him to see some poison specialist named Nekura."

"A poison specialist? Why?"

"I think Nekura has some kind of drug or something that will turn Kurama into Karasu's slave." The grin slid off Kuwabara's face. "You better catch up to them in time."

"Wait—can you or Yusuke come to me every night to keep me updated on their movements?" Hiei could not believe he was asking Kuwabara to visit his dreams on a regular basis, but there it was.

The humor of the request was not lost on Kuwabara. Ah, the sacrifices you make for love, he thought smugly.

He shook his head. "We can watch you guys from Reikai, but we're not really supposed to contact you. This is an exception. Koenma says we can't disturb the natural order of things too much. Or something like that."

"Fine."

There was a moment of silence, broken by Kuwabara clearing his throat gruffly. "Hey, um . . . I just wanted to say . . ."

Hiei looked at him curiously. "What?"

"It was pretty decent of you, uh, what you did for me." Kuwabara stumbled over his words.

Hiei blinked, feeling equally uncomfortable.

"Yeah," he agreed awkwardly.

They stared at each other in silence for another moment.

"When you get back—can you, um, tell Yukina that I miss her?" Kuwabara ventured, eyeing him nervously. The unspoken your sister hung in the air between them.

Hiei's jaw clenched briefly, but realized that he wasn't as dismayed about the fact that Kuwabara knew as he might have been.

Really, he reflected, he had already admitted to himself that Kuwabara would have been good for Yukina. And for the first time, he felt a real pang of regret that Kuwabara would not be around to watch over Yukina in Ningenkai when he, Hiei, could not.

"Hn." Hiei nodded curtly in assent. Kuwabara's face broke out in a shaky, relieved grin.

"I think she misses you as well," Hiei continued. Then, almost as if disgusted with the sentimental turn the conversation , he added cuttingly, "Though I personally wouldn't understand why."

Kuwabara grinned even more widely, taking no offense.

"Hey, you're not that bad of a guy," he said, stepping forward and offering his hand to Hiei. "Kick Karasu's ass, you hear?"

Hiei hesitated, but only for a second, and accepted Kuwabara's outstretched hand. He smirked.

"Can do."

Meanwhile, Karasu injected Kurama with another round of tranquilizers, saying to Bui, "It'll be better if he sleeps until we're in the carriage again tomorrow. He can eat there."

He put Kurama into a sleeping bag under a tent they had erected, and after eating, slid in with him. Karasu brushed his sensitive fingertips across the broad plains of Kurama's high cheekbones, down to where his nails snagged sensually across Kurama's lips. He passed his hands down Kurama's ribs and rested them tenderly on his hips.

Beneath the sadist and contract killer, Karasu was an aesthete at heart. He longed to pluck the bud of Kurama's beauty and pin it to his collar, but he realized that doing so too soon would ruin everything. Karasu therefore withdrew his hands slowly, and resolved to be patient a little longer. Just until they reached Nekura . . .

As Karasu struggled internally, Kurama was dreaming.

"Yusuke!"

"Hey, Kurama." Yusuke grinned at him, though there was a touch of melancholy in his expression. "Koenma can't resurrect me again—at least, not yet—but he let me have this one meeting with you. How are you?"

"Fi—," Kurama started to say untruthfully. He settled for the more honest answer, "Not as bad as I could be. What about you and Kuwabara?"

"Kuwabara's okay. He's with Hiei right now, but he says hi."

"What about you?"

"I'm fine," Yusuke lied. Kurama raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, maybe not," he admitted grudgingly.

"None of it was your fault," Kurama said swiftly.

"Oh yeah? Then whose fault was it?" Yusuke challenged him.

"You could blame it all on me," Kurama offered.

Yusuke laughed weakly. "Thanks, but I have to point out that you're the only one I can't blame, seeing how you're the only one who won a match."

Kurama shrugged. "I'm sure the great delinquent Yusuke Urameshi wouldn't ever let something as petty as technical details get in his way."

Yusuke grinned. "You seem be taking everything much better than Hiei is."

"What about Hiei?" demanded Kurama, who had perked up immediately at his name. "How is he doing?"

"Hmm . . ." A crafty look crept over Yusuke's features. "Well, the way he crushes on you is sooo cute." He puckered his lips mockingly, then dissolved into laughter.

Kurama almost choked on his own saliva. "What?"

"Don't worry," Yusuke said evilly. "Everyone knows. That's the great thing about twenty-four-hour surveillance."

"No—I never—," Kurama stammered.

"Hey, it's not like we disapprove. Better than Karasu, for one thing."

"There is nothing between Hiei and me!"

Kurama's words were truthful, though he might have been more accurate to tack on "yet" to the end of his sentence.

Hiei hadn't bothered to deny Kuwabara's insinuations as Kurama was now vigorously doing with Yusuke. This was partly because Hiei was far more comfortable with unspoken relations (like with Yukina) and his feelings for Kurama had hardly deserved mention. Since Hiei was not the type whose affections—such as they were—demanded immediate attention, he hadn't worried overmuch with public declarations or immediate reassurances.

Kurama's feelings, on the other hand, would have been more urgent if he had allowed it, but he'd wanted to take his time with someone as emotionally remote as Hiei. Now that Kurama's well-being—his very free will—was under threat, however, neither of them could really afford to deal with the matter leisurely any more.

"'S not like he'd wear himself to the bone chasing after Kuwabara or me if we got kidnapped by Karasu." Yusuke smirked. "You should be flattered."

Kurama decided to let it go. Clearing his throat, he asked, "So, what was the purpose of invading my sleep in the first place? I hope you didn't come just to make fun of me."

"Moral support!" Yusuke cried exuberantly. "I'm here to tell you not to kill yourself or anything because Hiei's rushing to your rescue!"

Kurama stared at him. "I already knew that."

Yusuke's face fell. "Damn it. Wait . . . there was something else."

Kurama stared some more.

"Got it!" Yusuke snapped his fingers. "First, if you've been worrying about your mom—," he smirked at the strong "momma's boy" implications of those words (but nobody would deny that was what Kurama was), "don't, because Koenma got George to call her and say that your trip was extended."

A feeble smile broke over Kurama's face.

In order to explain away the time he'd spent at the Dark Tournament, Kurama had informed his mother that select students in his science class, among whom he had numbered, had been invited to a week-long seminar on biotechnology.

The funny part, though, was imagining a blue oni lying to Shiori over the phone about her son, who in reality had been kidnapped by a homicidal rapist. Kurama thought that finding his situation funny meant that his sense of humor had become seriously twisted, and he pinned this on the extended period of time that he had spent in Karasu's company.

"Also," Yusuke added more seriously, "you have to make your strawberries grow faster. Hiei's falling behind."

"They are growing quickly." Kurama frowned.

"Not quickly enough. You guys are still traveling faster." Yusuke looked vaguely troubled.

"Don't worry," Kurama reassured him. "I have another plan that I have yet to put into motion. The farther north we go, the cooler the climate . . . and the Todakidare grows in cool climates."

"Huh?"

"The Fruit of Past Life," Kurama clarified.

Yusuke's face lit up. "The Fruit of Past Life?" A grin unfurled itself over his face like a triumphant war banner. "Karasu has no chance against Youko Kurama."

"That's what I thought," Kurama said amusedly.

"See, it's these moments of brilliance that you get that make me glad it was you and not me or Kuwabara who got kidnapped by that freak," Yusuke said admiringly.

Kurama grinned at the left-handed compliment, though it diminished when Yusuke's outline began to blur and fade.

"I have to go now . . . be careful, Kurama. And stop beating yourself up over us, because Hiei isn't . . ."

With those words, and another of Yusuke's characteristically cheeky smiles, the dream ended. Kurama woke the next morning feeling almost cheerful.

He lay in the tent after Karasu had risen and concentrated. He tried injecting even more ki into his Makai strawberry, and with a feeling of relief, he felt his seals give way even further, allowing the strawberry runners to grow at an increased rate.

At that point, Karasu reentered. "Come and eat."

"Aren't you just going to tranquilize me again?" Kurama retorted, his good mood quickly dissipating.

"Not today," Karasu said. "In any case, I'd do that after we'd gotten into the carriage. And I need to redo your hair. I took out the plaits for you last night."

Kurama scowled at his smile but followed him outside.

--

Miles behind, Hiei allowed himself a small smirk as he rose and saw the strawberry runner extending far beyond his range of vision. Wherever the runner had paused to send forth roots and a new plant had shot up, succulent strawberries the size of his fist gleamed amongst the leaves. It appeared that Kurama had been thoughtful enough to provide for his breakfast.

--

"We're going to a marketplace today," Karasu informed him over breakfast.

"For supplies?"

"And something else as well." Karasu did not elaborate. Bui remained characteristically silent. This troubled Kurama.

Half an hour later, after Karasu had allowed Kurama to wash himself quickly in a nearby creek (and kept himself from watching with great difficulty), styled Kurama's hair in another ridiculously fanciful manner, and they had packed their things, they set off again.

The horses appeared to be preternaturally strong, as the night's rest had refreshed them enough to go on again after traveling nonstop for hours, with only sparse wild grasses for sustenance along the way. They were actually pawing at the ground, impatient to be off.

Karasu seated himself across from Kurama, gazing openly at him and smiling slightly. If it had been anyone else, Kurama would have described the expression as "lovesick." But in Karasu's case, he thought, the prefix "love-" did not apply.

As they sped towards their next destination, and Hiei pursued, someone else also followed. His bright green eyes shone triumphantly. He was far closer than Hiei was.

A/N: Shimaneki-sou—the deadly grass Kurama used against Roto in the Dark Tournament

Hmm, reviewers are asking lots of questions. I think most of them will be answered in the course of the story, but I'll respond to two right now. First of all, this story has well under fifteen chapters but more than ten, and I won't tell exactly how many because I like surprises.

And as for the two Toguro brothers . . . well, they're not important to this story, but I feel obligated to tie up this loose end. It appears that Toguro Otouto kills his older brother in the manga, though Kurama and the others later discover that Toguro Ani managed to survive. This fic doesn't deviate from that point.

I'm really sorry that it took me so long to update this chapter; RL issues got in the way. XP