Chapter Four: The Breaking Point

"Stop! Kurama! You can't just walk out on our plan!"

Hiei dashed out of the clearing, leaving Gouki and the human boy behind to sort out amongst themselves who was stronger. He jumped ahead of Kurama and blocked his path. Kurama stopped, eyeing him apprehensively. "Let me past, Hiei."

"What do you think you're doing?" Hiei let his voice be softer than it had back in the clearing, now that it was just the two of them.

"Leaving."

"Dammit, fox, this is no time for you to be calm. What did you mean, withdraw from this alliance?"

Kurama had a unique ability to keep his face impassive that he often used on his enemies, and he was using it now. Hiei didn't like it. "Exactly what I said. I am leaving."

"I don't understand." Hiei thought he knew what Kurama was saying, but he refused to ackowledge it.

"I can't do this anymore, Hiei," Kurama said, with a hint of despair in his exhausted voice.

"Can't do what?" Hiei gestured around them with the sword, trying to find a way to misinterpret Kurama's words. "Is it Gouki? Then we'll kill him together, Kurama, if that human boy doesn't manage it. We don't need him anymore."

"You're deliberately misunderstanding me, Hiei," Kurama said heatedly. "I don't want to be a part of any of this anymore. After I've used the Forlorn Hope to save my mother I'm going to surrender myself to Spirit World."

"What! Kurama, you're out of your mind!"

"No; I'm a spineless coward, as you said so eloquently back in our clearing." Hiei felt a twinge of guilt; he had said those things, in the heat of his first anger. "I don't want any part of these plans. I'm sorry; but I can't do it anymore."

Kurama turned to leave, but Hiei swiftly blocked him. "I won't let you walk out of me like this," he said forcefully. "We're doing this all together. You're with me, Kurama."

"I don't want to be with you anymore, Hiei."

Hiei stared. Kurama's eyes were trembling with unshed tears, but he held his head high and they did not fall. "You've changed," Kurama said softly, and Hiei thought he had never heard his mate utter words with such sadness in them. Until he said his next words: "I can't be with you for another day."

Hiei took a step back. "Fine time to tell me, fox," he snarled.

Kurama's eyes seemed to grow larger only so they could hold more pain. "I don't want to do this, Hiei," he said. "What I used to have with you--I've never had it before. But you aren't the person I loved anymore. All you think about is power." Kurama shook his head. "We don't belong together, not anymore. You can't pretend you haven't felt us growing apart from each other. Just let this be, Hiei."

"You have something that belongs to me," Hiei said coldly.

"What?"

My heart, Hiei thought. "The mirror. Give me the mirror."

Kurama's expression hardened. "No."

"This was my plan," Hiei hissed. "From the beginning. If you're walking out you owe me that much."

"I owe you?" Kurama's face grew angry. "Forget it, Hiei. You used my mother's illness against me. You, my partner--you actually used the life of someone I care for to coerce me into following your plans. I knew the second you did that that it was over. I can't be with someone who would do that."

"What was I supposed to do?" Hiei said, fear and the realization that it was finally happening causing him to speak plainly. "You were slipping away from me. I felt it just as much as you did, and I didn't want this to happen. It doesn't have to," he added, in a last ditch effort. "If you'll give me another chance. We can save your mother and gain the power we need to do whatever we want. You just have to come with me, Kurama."

Kurama shook his head softly. "Come with me, Hiei," he countered.

"What?"

"I can't go your way. I don't want that power, I never did, I don't want to lie and steal and hurt people any longer. I can't come to you. The only way for us to stay together is for you to come to me."

Hiei was silent. Kurama actually took a step forward, trying to physically bridge the distance between them. "Please, Hiei," he pleaded. "We don't have to turn ourselves in. We can just drop out of sight. If you give this up now we can be together and not have to fight for anything anymore. Please."

Hiei stared. He slowly took a step back. "I can't."

Kurama's face became cool and impassive again. He spoke softly. "Then there is nothing left to say except goodbye."

And this time when he turned to leave the clearing, though it broke his heart to do so, Hiei didn't try to stop him leaving. He just watched the place where his fox had been until Kurama had vanished into the forest, and it was like he had never been there to begin with.