Okay.. we had a little trouble with this chapter,. but i think it's pretty good, but my opioion doesn't matter! it's all about the fans! i hope we didn't take tooo long. Live you cookies. (that didn't make sense did it?) if what the story said last chapter was true, that hiei only had one week... well, let's just say that that would be the end of the story... please don't bee mad, we don't own yuyu hakusho, but Muna owns kurama and hiei keychains, and i own a bunch of yuyu plusies! other then that, nope nothing.

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where we left off..

"The serum will only last a week and once you wake up, the door will close for you forever, so this is you only chance. And one last thing, in order for you to return with Kurama, you must have him say the last part of the Letter he wrote to you. You know, where it said 'my soul is never far from you'? He has to say it because that is the promise he made between the both of you, but you must NOT say it yourself or it won't work. Understand?"

"I'm no fool." Hiei grunted as the serum was injected into his blood steam and his head swirled in darkness before it gently hit the pillow.

"God speed, Hiei, god speed." Koenma said quietly as he shut the door to Hiei's room as he left, leaving Hiei's body alone as his soul plummled to the entrance of the Void.

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Chapter 3: The Girl and The Bat

"Where...where am I?" Kurama groaned. His body ached all over and his chest was damp from blood. He opened his eyes and saw two violet eyes look back at him. Kurama yelpped and sat up quick. He looked around to identify the two shadows around him.

"Welcome, my little foxy poo!" squeaked the voice of a little girl. I know that voice... Kurama thought. His emerald eyes scanned their faces. There was a little girl, no more than nine or ten, with copper colored hair, fox ears and tail. Her skin was pale, as if she never saw sunlight, and her eyes were a bright slivery color and were as huge as baseballs on her small face. She wore a silver dress that stopped over her knees and the sleeves reached far past her small hands, making her appear as a life sized doll. There was also the shape of a tall slender man with broad shoulders, dark crimson (?) eyes, pointed ears, and long raven colored hair pulled back into a pony tail and pulled through a violet hat with no top. He wore a deep violet vest with matching pants and a long lilac cloth draped over his waist secured by two black belts. Large black wings protruded from his back. He walked over to Kurama, the little girl comming behind him, giggling.

"Hello, Kurama. So nice of you to finally join us." He smirked, kneeling by the side of the bed, comming to level with Kurama's head. the little girl could barely see over the top of the bed, so the man lifted her up be the neck of her dress and placed her on top of the bed.

"Koronue...Is it really you?"

"Of course it's me you knucklehead! Who else would it be?" the man smiled, taking his hand and tracing Kurama's lips."I've missed you so much, Kurama. Did you miss me?" His lips were about a centimeter away from Kurama's, until the girl cleared her throat.

"Kurama-kun do you remember me?" She asked jumping up and down on his bed.

"Yeah I remember you. You're Maldad." He replyed with discust. He remembered how things were before he met Kuronue.

FLASHBACK

"But why, mother? Why do I have marry Maldad? She's awful! Even her name means evil!"

"Now hush, Yoko!" His mother got down on her knees and looked into Her 29 year old son's golden eyes. "I wouldn't want you to marry her either, but we're poorer than dirt. She's the daughter of the clan's leader and if you marry her, you'd be set for life." Her soft hand's ran through his hair, making the boy smile slightly.

"I don't care mother! I don't want to marry her."

"I'm sorry, my son, but the decison has already been made. there's nothung more i can do." She pulled him to her and embraced him, not tightly, for she knew that he wouldn't have been happy abouot it. He could see that she was crying silent tears, then she released him and walked back into their temprorary hut.

The Fox Clan was a group of wandering theives, taking over small villiages and always killing the people who put up a fight, but sparing the young and the innocent. Those survivors usually joined the clan, while it was under the rule of the old leader. But recently, he was murdered while in bed one night, so his son had taken over. He was totally different then his father. His father loved childern, and would never even think of killing anyone who was under the age of 40 (which in ths story, they still look like 16 year olds). He was also kind to all females, young or old. As long as they wouldn't try to seriously injure someone, then they were treated like family. Most of the captives thought that living and travling with the Foxes was better then the lives that they had lead previously.

Now under the rule of the new leader, whose name was Ultimo, all the people of the viliages thy concured must be killed. Many men refused the new command, but they were killed in the dead of night. Most people knew that it wes the leader who had these men killed, but no one said a word, for fear of being killed themselves.

Ultimo also ordered that all of those whose blood did not have any trace of Fox in them, must either leave the clan, or face the penalty of being killed. Most of the people left, including those who were part Fox, but those who were left face endless taxes, brutal beatings and lead horrible lives. Kurama was one of them.

Maldad was the only daughter of Ultimo. She was one of the bossiest little girls in all of Makai, and when she wanted something, her father always let her have it, no matter what it was. If she wanted to kill the girl who was the girlfriend of someone she had a crush on, her father would have some excuse made and have the girl killed the moment that he found out. Most of the childern were frighten by her, but knowing that if Maldad bore any malice towards them, their death was almost certain, they put up with her without any remorse.

Kurama, though, was much braver then the others. Everyone saw clearly that Maldad wanted Kurama for her own, Kurama simply brushed off all of her advances.

Many of the kids questioned him for not fearing death, but he always said the same thing. "Everyone has to die sometime, some sooner than later. If it is my destiny to die now, then so be it, but I will not be forced to love someone that is so cruel to everyone just for the sake of having what they want."

Anyone else who would have said that, nonetheless so manytimes, would have suffered the most painful, bloody, and slow death imaginable. BUt Maldad had so much determination for Kurama, so much lust, that there was noway that she was going to give up. To have that one beautiful body for her self was the only reason why Kurama wasn't dead yet.

So one day, Maldad went to her father, insisting that it was time that she was married, and of course, her father agreed. He told her that she could chose anyone of the young men to be her husband. Just to show how powerful she was, she chose Kurama.

That's where we found Kurama pleading with his mother. After his mother had returned to the hut, the moon had risen and by that light, he went to a deserted feild, and just sat there gazing longingly at the stars. He wouldn't cry, no, he hasn't cried since Ultimo killed his father just to have his mother as a concubine, but mother still refused, even though she was widowed. That's when Kurama vowed that the whole village was going to be killed, no matter young or old, by his hands. It sickened him that they could obey Ultimo with hesatation. Some one like that desurves to die. Kurama wasn't evil, or selfish, he just wanted to put everyone out of their misery. And dying was the only way. If he just killed Ultimo, no doubt that someone else would just take his place, and bestow the wickedness to the innocent as Ultimo had done.

While he was pondering these thoughts, a dark figure had approached him from behind. Kurama smelled the foreign scent, not one of the villiage, but one that smelled like the vast open plains of Makai. He swiftly turned to come to face with a boy, not much older then he was. He wore a simple faded black, almost gray, cloak and had a hat that covered most of his face.

"Who are you?" the young kurama asked, approaching the stranger catiously, hinding a piece of grass under his hand. He saw small black wings sprouting from the stranger's back and the otherboy was smiling slightly.

"I'm a thief whose traveling with my clan to raid some viliages, and yours is next...oups." He said, stumbling over his own feet as he tried to get away. He fell to the ground and scrambled to get away , but winded up pinned down underneigth Kurama.

"Ha! you said something you weren't supposed to didn't you?" Kurama smirked, still sitting on top of the boy, who was squriming.

"Hey, get off! you're heavy!" he shouted, trying to move, but was still pinned down.

"Are you going to run away?"

"Uh, DUH!"

"Then I won't let you go, unless you answer some of my questions. First what is you name, where is the rest of you clan, and why are you alone?"

"Why should I tell you!" the boy answered, on the brink of just plainly killing Kurama, but he had forgotten the fact the he indeed was the one held trapped.

"How else are you going to escape?"

"FINE! Fine. My name is Kuronue, a member of the Bat clan. The rest of them are at the other side of the river, and I'm supposed to be spying on your clan. I'm alone because my clan is partnered up with others that are the same age, but unfortunatlly, I'm the only one who is 30 and younger!" Now will you please get off me!" He said, breathing heavily, Kurama's weight was now beginning to cutt off his resprotory system.

"Promise you won't run away?"

"Promise!" Kurama got off of Kuronue and sat next to him. As he promise, Kuronue did not flee, he instead layed down on his back, staring at the clear sky.

"My name is Yoko, but i'd pefer it if you called me Kurama."

"So... Kurama... why are you out here by yourself? I thought that Foxes never travel alone?(1)" Kuronue asked looking at Kurama's woebegone exspression. "Hmm? What's the matter?"

"Oh..It's nothing that you should concern yourself with. In fact, I'm glad that you decided to take over my village, perhaps you can kill everyone as well." Kurama looked away from the boy, then laying back like KUronue was.

"That's not something in your positoin should be saying. Why do you want everyone to die?"

"Because... Everyone's so miserable, and i know if our leader would be killed, someone else will do the same as he did... So there's no point in trying to save anyone..." He said slowly, closing his eyes and turning to his side. A feeling in his gut told him to get comfortable, he didn't think he would be going home tonight.

"Are you willing to be killed as well?" Kurama shot straight up and stared the raven haired boy whose hat was now sheilding his eyes from kurama.

"What?"

"i asked are you willing to be killed as well? If you want everyone to be killed, then that includes you as well, doesn't it? And what about your mother and father? They'd-"

"My father's dead." KUronue turned up his head and looked at KUrama, noticing how his eyes were staring at nothing. "He was murdered by Ultimo, the current leader of the clan, who wanted my mother as some dirty concubine in his harem. When she refused him, Ultimo sent out a fake meassege for my father to investigate some events that were taking place out side of the village, about 10 or so miles from it. So my father, being the loyal soul as he was, went as he was told, but when he arrived, about 30 of our finest warriors was there to kill him. Please don't think of him being weak, on the contrary, he was the strongest person in the village, but still, after a long, brutal battle, his body had betrayed him, his legs had been hit one too many times and he fell to the ground. It was then that they all attacked him at once and they killed him.."

"And how do you know all this?" Kuronue sat up, getting closer to kurama, as if wanting to comfert him.

"I was there." Gasp from KUronue " I saw every last second of it, the worst thing is that he was killed by his best friend." He finally turned to a wide eyed Kurnoue, he blushed slightly, then turned away again. "Please don't worry yourself about it. There's no point in crying over the dead, it's not like it'll bring them back."

Suddenly, he was pulled into a deep embrace. His body shook, never, not since his father died, had he let anyone hold him this tightly, not even his mother, and yet, this boy, a person whom he didn't even knew for more then half an hour, was holding onto him tightly. And kurama didn't even pull away. He instead eased into the embrace.

"If you need to cry, you can." Kuronue whispered into his ear. Kurama gazed up into his eyes, noticing the boy's gentle features, his eyes just stared back into Kurama's golden one's. "Crying isn't a sign of weakness, and although crying won't bring the dead back, nor will it right what is wrong, it will relieve the pain that is trapped inside your heart. I, too, have felt the pain as you have, I know what it's like to lose a person that's important to you, so I've learned that you can always find comfort in someone's arms. I just hope you can find that comfort in me right now." With that said, he held him tighter. KUrama had let out a soft sigh and began to cry silent tears that gathered on Kuronue's cloak

With a whimper, he whispered, ""WIll you be the one whom's arms i will find comfort in always?"

"If need be, yes." ANd that's when the real water works began. Kurama sobbed into Kuronue's shirt for what seemed like ages. All that time, the kitsune had his sadness pent up inside him, locked in a cell within his own heart, for fear that if any were to escape, that he'd be doomed to suffer. How was it that this bat boy, Kuronue, had been able to break through the barrier that not even his own mother was able to get through? How was it that this stranger could get him tocry like that?

It was something in his words, the sincerty in his voice as he spoke those words, and also the look in his eyes. Pity was something Kurama would not tolerate, perhaps for others, but not for him self. Kuronue did not have pity in his eyes, nor was it sadness, it was an indecribable look, one that conveied not only feelings that he once had that were the same as Kurama's, but also of his concerns for kurama's future.

Did Kurama really want to die? Is it possible to hate a single person so much, that you'd kill everyone just to rid the rest of them of their suffering? Kuronue thought There must be another way to do that without needlessly killing innocent people. All of a sudden, Kurama started to speak hoarsly.

"I'm engaged to the cheif's daughter. Noramally, it would be a good thing right?" he spoke through his tears, "But the cheif is evil, and although most of the villiage's peopple know how to fight, no one will stand up to him. I couldn't take it anymore, and i had decided that the whole village deserse to die if they aren't even willing to face the one that causes them so much pain. But then, that would be useless murder wouldn't it?" There was no response, but he could tell that Kuronue was thinking things over deeply.

"How about I help you with you problem?" KUrama looked up to Kuronue, wiping the wet trails that were on his face.

"And how do you suppose you do that?"

"I, to, am the son of a clan leader, and perhaps I can make a deal with my father to capture the village, killing those who follow you chief's orders to defend the village. BUt those who comply, we can spare them, taking them as captives and let them live freely in our band of theives. Will that help?"

"Why are you doing this? what is you reason for helping me ? What are you geting out of this?"

"Let's just say that I have a feeling that one day, you'll become great. And I want to be the one beside you ..."

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I bet you're all pissed off at the fact that it took so long to update, and then leave with a cliffy. You can shoot me now. I might post a nother chapter depending on the reviews, un til then ONHOLD! Taco