: Muichi Motsu :
: By : Akikazu :
((Dedication)) ((This chapter is dedicated to Vixenia for replying to my pleas of help. Yeah I know more about YYH than I did before!))
: Chapter Six :
The stairs were shorter than he first thought, it only took two minutes of walking down the dimly lit, twisting stair case to reach a strange metal door at the bottom. Kurama looked at it oddly before reaching out a hand to turn the door's handle. It was colder than he had though it would be, but he found no security measures on it.
Curious.
Shrugging off his curiosity Kurama turned the handle and gave the door a slight push inward. The door swung open quietly, as he had known it would. How utterly droll.
Apparently no one had noticed his approach or entry into the room because no one was facing the door, the red headed kitsune used the brief time he had earned to study the situation before him.
There were two scientists a man and a woman, he could tell by the lab coats they wore and the fact that they didn't have a weapon strapped to their sides or backs, at least no visible weapons. Kurama had his doubt about them being completely unarmed.
The male scientist was in his late teens and had dark hair pulled back into a horsetail but into the front was styled with eartails that went to his shoulder. A cigarette stuck out of the corner of his mouth and sunglasses were perched on top of his head. Instead of the traditional white lab coat he wore a black lab coat that stopped below the knee to reveal combat boots. How very entertaining a teenage rebel working as a scientist.
The woman was in her twenties and had bleached hair that barely went pass her shoulder. Kurama noted that her nails were long and painted a bright red that would no doubt match her lipstick. She wore a white lab coat but it barely reached mid thigh, revealing her legs to anyone that wished to look. The rest of the lab coat clung to her body, looking as if it would burst open at her slightest movement.
Also in the room were three guards, each one looked more hideously deformed than the next. The first looked mostly human, with a weight lifters muscle bulk and tan skin. The only obvious proof that he wasn't human was the horns on the side of his head. He had something that resembled a mace in his hand, propped on a shoulder. The second was like a giant toad standing on two legs, green skin and all, he had an ax at his side. The third was a giant with red violet skin and more muscles than any human could bear having. Two yellow, tusk-like teeth stuck out far enough from his upper lip that Kurama could see them even though he was facing the demon's back. This demon had numerous blades and two swords strapped to his body.
Kurama glanced briefly around the room, it was what someone would expect of an evil scientist's lab, tubes and table hear and there, syringes and vials of oddly colored liquid galore. The walls were metal, completely lacking in windows, and the odd wall scone here and there to light the lab. See through pipes ran across the ceiling and into mixer and stuff he didn't have the slightest clues about.
What caught Kurama attention was the large tank on the far wall. The tank was filled with a transparent, blue liquid that was probably partially water. A boy that appeared to be twelve was floating the middle of the tank, a tube ran up the outside of the tank and into the liquid, attached to a mask over the boys nose, it was probably the boy's air source. A halo of dark auburn hair floated around his head, the boy's pale green eyes were slightly open but a film was over them.
The boy's pointed ears and busy, dark auburn tail led Kurama to the conclusion that this was the kitsune kit that he was supposes to rescue. This was Shippo.
"Hey what 'ca doing down here?" A harsh voice demanded.
His presence had finally been noticed.
: Shippo :
None of his captors noticed the other kitsune's approach, he made sure of it. Shippo used the last reserves of his strength to make his body move, all five of his captors turned to watch him. They continued to watch him as the other kitsune entered the room. Shippo watched him take the time to observe everyone in the room, then his eyes went around the whole room and finally rested on him.
The young kitsune couldn't catch the details of what was hopefully his rescuer except his pale skin and red hair. And either he was seeing things or there was a green glint on his eyes near his face, his eye perhaps?
One of the guards stiffened and turned to scowl at the older kitsune in the doorway.
"Hey what 'ca doing down here?"
The kitsune turned to face the guard.
"If pressed for a reason I suppose I'd say I'm on a rescue mission."
: Kurama :
His words hung in the air for a second before everyone turned to look at him. The guards were all scowling at his tone and the almost human looking guard took a threatening step forward. Kurama cocked his head slightly in challenge, daring the demon to take another step.
The female scientist held a hand up to stop the demon, its attention quickly shifted over to her. She had what Kurama guessed was her best attempt at a coy smile on her overly lip-sticked lips, and a gleam in her eyes that he was accustomed to seeing in the eyes of his over zealous fangurls. Kurama's left eyebrow raised slightly, he had not expected to raise the population of his over crowded fan club on this mission. There really was just no way for him to escape these dreadful females.
"Maybe you'd like to stay and we can have a private 'chat'," her voice was thick with suggestion.
If he were a lesser man he would have had to have stifled the urge to throw up.
"No, I'll just take the kit and be on my way."
A frown curved the woman's features.
"Are you sure? There are more pleasurable things we could do."
"I'd rather not get involve with a woman of your… sort," Kurama said blandly.
The woman's face turned red and the male scientist burst out laughing, clutching onto the edge of the table like it was the only thing keeping him from crashing to the ground in his mirth.
"He dissed you Akemi, but it's not like anyone would take up your offer," he gasped before his laughter once again overwhelmed him.
Akemi gave a very human growl and glared at the man before turning the glare onto Kurama.
"Kill him!" She screamed, not bothering to look at the guards.
The first guard lunged forward and was met with an onslaught of rose petals, each petal delivering a long bloody cut to his person. He was slice into itty bitty fish flakes before he even made it with in a ten foot radius of Kurama.
The big red guard stepped forward as Kurama let the rose petals drift to the ground. He pulled out his two swords with easy and stood, ready to attack. Our greened fox waited calmly as the red skinned demon lost the battle of patience and came after him confidently. Kurama jumped up and over to the left avoiding the swords. The demon grunted and the remainder of blades strapped to him exploded off his body, flying in every direction. Kurama made good use of his thieving speed dodging to the left and right. The demon came after him again and Kurama was forced to cartwheel away, immediately transitioning into a jump to avoid the flying blades.
"You're good," the demon muttered still chasing after the slippery kitsune.
Kurama smirked as he ducked under another blow before jumping onto one of the tables that were cluttered with colorful vials. It was time to add fuel to the fire, metaphorically of course.
"I really only think of myself adequate, if I were at the top of my game you'd be dead, or clueless as to where the kit had disappeared to."
The sword came down harder that normal and the table was smashed in two sending the poor, defenseless vials crashing to the ground. Kurama smiled mockingly at the hulking red demon from another table across the room.
"Now, now, just because I'm telling you the truth is no reason to destroy all those pretty vials full of valuable research. One of them could contain the cure to cancer," Kurama hopped off the table as the sword came crashing down again, then he moved to the side to avoid becoming a pincushion. "We wouldn't want to destroy the cure for cancer, would we? You never know when you'll get the terrible pain that signals the start of some currently incurable disease."
Kurama disappeared again reappearing on the other side of the room as all the floating blades dropped to the ground with a clatter.
"Hey!" The red demon cried indignantly.
Kurama held a purple stone up to look at it curiously.
"You're looking for this?" He asked.
"NO!"
"You're right it's very ugly, destroying it will be considered my good deed for the year and the leaders of the world will give me an official day on the calendar for doing the task."
Kurama let the stone drop to the ground and put his foot lightly on it.
"Don't do that!" The red demon cried desperately.
The red headed fox frowned at the demon.
"You just want to crush the ugly stone yourself, that not very considerate of you as I was the one who stole it."
"Get your foot off of it."
Kurama let his foot crush the rock before quickly removing his foot.
"Oh dear, it wasn't very strong at all."
The red demon gave an ear drum splitting scream that gave Kurama the strong urge to cover his ears with his hands before melting into a big bubbly puddle of goopy redness.
Kurama let his calm mask once more slip over his face before turning to the frog like guard. The frog hefted his ax and Kurama reached into his hair and pulled out a red rose. His actions got a very… interesting reaction.
"A rose, the buffoon thinks he can win with a rose," Akemi crowed.
The male scientist gave her a push off her chair that sent her sprawling to the ground in an undignified heap before he continued his observation of the fight.
The rose in Kurama's hand shifted into its more intimidating form as his rose whip as the frog opened his mouth to say something. Needless to say the guard's mouth snapped shut and he leap forward trying to catch Kurama off guard. The whip in his hand was sent forward easily, the thorns nipped at the frog's right arm. The frog continued on his path as Kurama twisted the whip to dig the thorns into the arm, with a flick of his wrist the arm went flying.
Akemi screamed when the arms landed in her lap, staining her white lab coat with a bluish spray of blood.
Kurama let the whip recoil waiting for the frog guard to regain his sense before dashing in to finish him. The frog found himself ax-less and decapitated in short order, leaving Kurama alone with the two scientists.
"You will be so kind as to let me pass now?" Kurama questioned.
Akemi bit her lip and shook her head stubbornly. The male scientist shrugged and sat back, showing his neutralism.
"Very well then you miss, have sealed your fate. Die."
Akemi opened her lips but only a gurgle came out and then a vine inched up out of her gaping mouth. Second later vines exploded from her body ripping through the thin material of her lab coat to reach up in order to show off their blooming flowers. One vine slithered to Kurama and nudged him, very much like a dog. Kurama absently petted the affectionate vine looking at the carnage it had created.
"You're very lovely," he complimented.
"I compliment your work."
Kurama turned to look at the scientist who was calmly smoking his cigarette.
"I really couldn't stand that baka."
"Is that so."
The scientist grinned and got to his feet.
"I'm called Li Shen, and you would be?"
"A kitsune."
Li Shen turned his back on Kurama with a huff and made his way over to the tank Shippo was floating in. Kurama watched his warily as he also approached the tank. The scientist ignored the stares in his direction and punched in a few codes in the control panel. The tank made a rumbling noise and mechanical arms came out of the side of the tank to hold Shippo up as the water drained out of the tank. Kurama shot an odd look at Li Shen before quickly replacing it with his calm mask.
Li Shen chuckled and shook a slender finger at the distrusting kitsune, "now, now don't look at me like that, I'm only getting the kit out of the tank. It's not like I gave you a reason to not like me since you came sneaking down here."
Kurama's face never changed as he watch Li Shen jump into the tank and slide the air mask off Shippo, leaving the kit free to take in a full breath of air. Ignoring the gasp of the kit Li Shen proceeded to peel the mechanical arms off of him gently removing the kitsune's body before giving the fine piece of technology a hard kick. Shippo stirred fitfully, in his dazed state, as the clank of the metal against the inside of the tank rank through the small space.
"Uh… Sango stop throwing Kagome's cans at Miroku's head," Shippo murmured.
Li Shen chuckled at the small child before continuing with his task of freeing him from the mechanical arms. Kurama waited at the top of the tank, leaning over to watch the movement of the scientist and kitsune kit.
Five minutes later Li Shen pried the last mechanical arm off and hefted Shippo into his arms. Lifting as high as he could the scientist waited a second as Kurama carried the child out of his grasp. He stood still for a second giving his arms time to recover and Kurama time to carry Shippo away from the tank, and then Li Shen nimbly leaped out of the tank and followed Kurama to the table that he had lain Shippo on.
"He should be fine in just a moment, it just a lack of air that's kept him in this state," Li Shen commented.
"What experiments were you and that… person… putting the kit through?" Kurama inquired.
"Hm…" A thoughtful expression crossed Li Shen's face and he was quiet for a second before answering. "Itsuki told us to put him to good use so Akemi wanted to draw out and store his energy and youki she did the research and everything I can't deny that she has some brains in that department, though she is an idiot otherwise." Li Shen added.
The ex-thief kitsune was shocked at what he was hearing, if they had drawn out Shippo's youki then he would never be able to recover and if either Itsuki or Sensui had it the others could be in big trouble.
"So the kit's youki was drained?" Kurama asked.
"No, while Akemi was making a solution to draw out and then drain and store the kit's youki I worked on a different project. You see before I was even met all the lunatics here I was working in the Makai, doing research on youkai species and youkai attributes. I couldn't let Akemi continue with an experiment that could kill the innocent kit so I switched it with a experiment with my own."
Kurama leaned on the table Shippo was resting on and waited for Li Shen to continue his story, it was interesting to say the least.
"As you know most of the higher class youkai have elemental attributes, for example a tengu's being wind and sometimes lightning, or a winter demon with ice and such. Now attributes have a level of power that they can work at, an attribute that needs little power is fire, except for the fires having to do with the demonic flame. Fire is a lesser attribute because it's easy to create, cause even us humans can make fire, and fire is very versatile. Going a step up there is animals, excluding humans and higher demons, because they can be forces into what ever you want to do, all it takes is punishment or a simple mind control spell. And then you've got a whole bunch of other attributes and junk."
"This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with your experiment?" Kurama interrupted.
"I was getting to that," Li Shen sighed before continuing again. "The highest attributes include Jagan, demonic flames, demonic plants, and also included in this rank is the demonic water, it is also called 'heaven's water' because the attribute of water isn't just using water that is already hear this is creating water out of nothing. Now instead of using Akemi's experiment I used my experiment of changing demonic attributes. When this kit was put into the tank he was a red kitsune with the lesser fire attribute, now he has the attributes of demonic water, in time he will be able to hold his own in a battle with a demon such as yourself."
If Kurama was in the form of Youko his ear would be twitching in interest, but as it was a curious glint sparkled in his eyes.
"I've never heard of anything like this before, so what exactly did you do to the kit?"
Li Shen sat to the edge of the table and picked up a clip board, flipping through the pages looking for something. He soon found what he was looking for and with a small sound of satisfaction he turned the clipboard to Kurama.
"The kit is a red kitsune so first I had to strip him of the fire attribute, being in the counterpart of your attribute for too long strips you of the ability to use it. So we put him in the tank and left him in there and after the first week he had no attribute. Then I gave the kit an injection of chemicals that would make him susceptible to the next attribute he came into prolonged contact with. The tank was drained then refilled with demonic water and the kit was put back in and a couple of days later, he's attribute is demonic water."
Shippo stirred on the table and his ears twitched before he cautiously opened his eyes. Pale green eyes slid open to look directly at Kurama then quickly to Li Shen. After taking note of the scientist's garb he struggled to get up but Kurama pinned him down on the table with one hand.
"Do not get up yet, wait until more of your energy returns," Kurama commanded gently.
"B-but he's a-" Shippo was interrupted by Li Shen.
"Listen to the fox, kit. Soon you'll feel a rush of energy and you'll be cleared to move about."
Pale green eyes blinked in confusion before going wide as raw energy spilled into the young kitsune's veins. His fingers and tail twitched with excess energy as he waited to be let up. Kurama's hand removed as he felt the smaller kitsune's body jump with newly found energy. Shippo sat up instantly and after recovering from a moment of dizziness he jumped of the table and let his eyes dart around the room, taking only seconds to observe the dead bodies before moving onto the next sight.
Shippo ran around the room examining everything in sight and touching some of the more curious items. The two elder boys near the table let the kit's explorations continue until a vile of neon green liquid crashed to the ground.
"Whoopsie," Shippo gleefully giggle.
"This is the bad thing about the experiment, you see because of his inactivity he'll have an abundance of energy for a while. I would suggest making him run until he's out of energy," Li Shen suggested.
"I see," Kurama turned in time to grab Shippo before the child could body slam him. "Kit do you not think it is time for us to return to the girl called Kagome?"
"KAGOME! Where is she? I haven't seen her for days! I want my Momma. WHERE'S MY MOMMA?" Shippo cried.
"Momma?" Kurama questioned.
Shippo wiggled out of the red head's grasp and stood bouncing before him, all previous panic and sadness forgotten.
"Yeah, it all started three years ago when my papa was killed the Thunder Brothers. I was going to avenge my papa but the Thunder Brothers kidnapped Kagome and… Wait, I'm not suppose to tell anyone the story!" Shippo shouted.
Li Shen chuckled at the kit's expression before catching sight of the clock on the far wall.
"AH! I'm gonna be late!" He cried.
"Tee hee. Momma's always like that too. You're funny evil scientist guy," Shippo said bubbly.
Li Shen mussed up Shippo's hair before hopping off the table and grabbing a backpack from under the table.
"I gotta go to home kid. The sun rises soon and I have to be home before my family learns I'm missing," Li Shen winked at Kurama, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You'll see me again no doubt, but until then adieu."
With a small wave Li Shen closed his eyes and whispered that they couldn't recognize. His body phased out in a blink leaving Kurama alone with a hyperactive kitsune. Containing a sign Kurama looked down at the once again bouncing Shippo.
"Ready to go kit?" He asked.
"Yup! Are we going to see my Momma now?" Shippo questioned tilting his head to one side a cutely curious expression crossing his face.
"Yes we are kit."
Shippo bounced up and down with excitement his arms pumping wildly into the air.
"Yay!" His expression flashed to pouty. "And don't call me 'kit' my name is Shippo."
"Alright then Shippo," Kurama chuckled.
Shippo grinned and began pulling Kurama to the door.
"What your name anyway mister?"
"You can call me Kurama."
The door to the lab shut behind them leaving only the stairs between the two kitsune and a battle between death and a certain guardian miko.
: End Chapter :
:Author's Note :
The long overdue chapter is finally here! You thought I forgot about you but I haven't! I've been working through the last two lunches and at home to get this chapter up.
Last week (3/21-3/25) was Spring Break and I was at my dad's, the carpet was getting clean so I had no access to the computer.
Kurama is ahead still, so I'm starting to brain storm an idea for a Kagome/Hiei story. If it's really high demand or really close in the 'polls' I could make two stories out of this, actually posted separately with different titles, one with a Kagome/Kurama pairing and the other with a Kagome/Hiei pairing. If this happens it'll start the same but when we get farther the plots would go off in different directions, with a few details changed to suit the pairings in the beginning.
Tell me what you want people! You may actually get it!
The next chapter focuses on Kagome, Sesshomaru (I think of him as Sess-chan or Sessho-kun in my head, it kinda funny), and Epsilon.
: Review Responses :
LKLTB:Eh… the thing is I'm not too sure, originally I thought to out a big battle in here with Sensui dying, but he just wouldn't die! So I have no idea if he's working for a person from one of the shows. He may even be working for a good guy, I have no clue what so ever.
shadowmiko:Your soooooooo welcome.
sesshomaru-obsessed:Yup, I understand completely, my mom helped me out when I got like that, she said people would only care that I had died for so long then they would go on, such love…
purplebabe:Pairings are still under construction, though other than the main pairing they will probably be twisted, heh I love being the author.
Kittypup13:I haven't watched that many YYH episodes so I worry about OOC. I think Aaya from Fruits Basket influenced Kurama in this chapter, you know the whole 'cure for cancer' and 'ugly rock' thing.