Elements

By: SanguineFox

Warnings: Eventual yaoi, not now, unfortunately.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm very disheartened to put this in everything that I write.

Chapter 2: Element 1: Found

The green whip lashed out over the shorter teacher, but she dodged quickly only to have the grass tangle up her feet.

"You're getting better, Kurama," Genkai stated dryly, "but you can't always use these cheap tricks to defeat an enemy."

"Who says I want to defeat them, I just have to distract them long enough so I can get away," he readied his rose whip as he watched his master shoot the grass apart.

"There will be many enemies who will continue to chase you no matter what. You may have the spirit of a demon, but the human body is served as a delicacy amongst a few sects of demons. There are many who would pay any amount to have a lick of our flesh."

"That's not disturbing at all," he managed to block a blow.

"You will have to be constantly on guard just to not be eaten. You will want to find the other elements quickly so you're not traveling alone. Who knows? You might even find that lover of yours."

"What?" Kurama had not even… "Ouch!"

"I told you to stay on guard. No matter what, do not allow distractions to get to you."

"That was a low blow," he growled softly.

Taking a deep breath, Kurama, as he become accustomed to being referred to as finally, took his first steps alone into the demon world.

"Okay… I can… do this… right?" he reasoned with himself as he wandered further into the gate that led him into an area dense with plant life, and strangely enough, felt completely at ease. The plants seemed to love him, reaching out to just brush against him before moving from his path as if to bow before their lord.

'Control. You are unconsciously feeding the plants around you, and that leaves a trail of your energy. You need to think of all you demon energy as a light. Picture the green light flowing through your veins. You see it? Good, now bring in all of that light into your core. See the light retracting from you fingers and toes… pull it in until it is all resting in the pit of your stomach. A small light, hiding in the pit of your stomach for only you to use.'

After focusing for a minute, Kurama opened his emerald eyes to see that all of the plants had stopped moving. With a bright smile at his accomplishment from his first training session, the redhead moved on through the forest. Where was he going? He wasn't really certain, but somehow he knew that he was head in the right direction.

The first week flew by as the much stronger redhead was now coming into the first town he had come across, but the second he crossed the threshold, Kurama became very unsure, like a security blanket had been ripped cruelly away. Time alone had seemingly taken a toll on his sanity. The normally social creature was quite frazzled from having no one to talk to other than death whom came in on an oar once to make sure he was alive, which seemed like a rather stupid question coming from the one who ferries the dead.

"Hey, there, pretty little thing," a somewhat busty demoness with expansive leathery wings approached the shorter human.

Kurama had to work hard not to focus too long on the female's breast… or large horns adorning her head along with the long dark green hair… or wings… or extremely long fingered hands… or scaly purple flesh… or the fact that she was wearing practically nothing other than shredded cloth that barely covered her most intimate parts.

"Ahem, h-hello…"

"Would you like to have a drink with me, pretty?"

"Aa, no, thank you, I am… fine…" he tried to slip past her, but she refused to allow him by.

"Ooh, a demon spirit stuck in a human body, how sad."

"H-how did you know?" he looked up at her amazed.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you're not very bright, are you?"

Kurama had to hold back a fight that was starting within him. Not once in his entire life as a human, at least, had he ever been referred to as anything less than absolutely brilliant.

"Don't worry, dearie, there're other humans such as yourself. You have the body of a human, you smell like it, but I can also sense that spirit of yours. I can feel that you posses great strength, but little money, so I have to be moving on," waved her fingers in the air before strutting off, her hips swaying side to side in a way that got every other males attention within view. It must help that Kurama held no particular interest in women.

"Anyway…" he looked about the city. He felt very confident, he had no other embarrassing run-ins the rest of the time, but he had no idea what he was looking for when he was told to find the elements…

Something shook his entire body like a shock of warm energy. Opening his eyes, Kurama looked around, only to see nothing other than a flicker of white light on the other side of the city. A shiver ran down his spine and Kurama blinked to see that everything was back to normal. Everyone around him seemed to resume going about their business.

'So, that was an element,' Kurama instantly headed down the street.

It was half an hour later that a very annoyed redhead was stomping out of what was apparently a bar with his clothing dripping wet with alcohol and spittle.

"Hey, sorry about that, man, but you just came outta nowhere to tell me this."

"I can't believe that I have to go through this with three more people," Kurama grumbled as he tried to wring out some of the liquid in his hair.

"Sorry, Kurama, was it? I don't think that I'm the one that you're looking for."

"Of course you are," a girl with brown hair pulled into pigtails over her shoulders came out of the bar, looking slightly annoyed. "I really do apologize for Yusuke's reaction. Unfortunately, he's normally like that."

"So, I have the feeling," Kurama sighed heavily as he tried to remove as much liquid as possible.

"Look, Kurama… I want to put this gently…" Yusuke tapped his fingers together as he thought about the best way to put his thoughts, "… I think you're crazy."

Insult after insult, Kurama was starting to wish he had just let Chaos destroy the worlds. "And I think that you are a complete moron," he retorted quickly enough, "but that does not change the fact that you are one of the elements that I have to go all around the demon world and collect."

"Ooh, did you hear that, Keiko? I'm a collectable."

"Yusuke… you're an idiot," Keiko stated blandly.

"Ah, but you love me, don't ya?"

A soft chuckle escaped the redhead's lips as he watched the two lovers walking in front of him fight over yet another pointless thing. Kurama found it very odd that this element was so human, and childish. He wasn't sure what he had really expected of the elements, but he had been referring to the elements as things rather than people, who apparently had others to watch over as Yusuke refused to go anywhere without Keiko, not that Kurama objected. In all honesty, he wasn't sure if he could handle the energetic youth without trying to choke him to death with a vine in only a few minutes.

"Yusuke! You pervert!" a loud smack resounded through the clearing that the three humans had found themselves in.

Half an hour later, Yusuke's cheek was still a shade redder than normal, but the three continued a conversation as if nothing were wrong.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you two end up in the demon world?"

"What you have to understand is that Keiko is fully human and I'm the descendant of a great demon king, I'm not really sure how… but I am."

"Okay, understood," the redhead nodded. He was slightly stunned at the serious tone in Yusuke's voice.

"Well, I was never very popular with the kids at school, I usually hung out alone if Keiko wasn't trying to annoy me into going to school with her."

"School is important."

"Not here! Anyway, there was a huge fight one day when this gang tried to jump me, and I apparently used my powers which I didn't even know I had. That's when this shrimp came up to me and explained what had happened and that Keiko had seen everything. We talked about my options and I decided that I wanted to be in this world more than the human world. Pacifier breath also said that I could have Keiko forget she ever knew me, and she could just move on with her life if I didn't want her to know."

"It's a good thing he let me decide or else I'd kill him. Somehow, even if you had my memory erased, I'd find a way to get back at you."

"So, you came with him over here?"

"Yes," she blinked at Kurama as if it were the most obvious answer that there could be, "I know it doesn't seem it, but Yusuke doesn't really get along with many people…"

"Of course he knows," Yusuke laughed, "the first thing I did to the guy was spit in his face and call him crazy."

"He does have a point," Kurama chuckled softly.

"Hey! You're not supposed to agree with me on that!"

Three broke into a fitful laugh.

"Ah, we can spend the night here," Kurama nodded to a wall of vines and what seemed to be the roots of a giant tree growing over the raised ground.

"Heh? Out here in the open?"

"No," Kurama reached within himself and used that green light in the pit of his stomach. "Here."

Yusuke and Keiko watched in complete awe as the roots parted and brought the sharp vines aside and revealed a large opening in the side of the mountain, brightly lit with glowing plants and multiple silks and furs. It looked strangely comfy even if it was just a cave.

"Um…" the two others stared in complete surprise, "…wow…"

Kurama smiled happily, he had been taking the fruit of the past lives as he was instructed and more and more of his memories were returning. Details from his past as well as fighting techniques started to become more comprehensive.

"That's pretty cool, can you build homes with that, too?" Yusuke laughed as he ran in to explore the whole place quickly.

"I could try if you and Keiko would prefer your own little get away place for the night," Kurama smirked teasingly.

The couple turned bright red, and stammered out that the cave was just fine.

"Great."

"Keiko!" Yusuke ran at his girlfriend and rolled them out of the way of the large demon's attack.

"Are you two all right?"

"Yeah!" Yusuke held the girl tightly to his chest as Kurama quickly finished the ugly creature off with his favored weapon of choice.

It was later that night when Keiko had finally fallen asleep after her demon scare when Kurama admitted his thoughts to Yusuke.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't know where I could leaver her safely. I don't want her getting hurt, either, but she's safer with us than in a lot of the cities we've been through," the human reasoned as he stared into the dying embers of what had been their weak fire.

"I sense more humans in the direction that we're traveling, and if I recall correctly, there should be a village of humans that lives quite peacefully in the forest," the fox racked his brain for memories of the village he had been through.

"…We'll see…" he had a look of complete desperation as he focused on his girlfriend, "It will be for the best, right?"

"I believe there is even more trouble laying in wait while we get closer to collecting all of the elements."

"…Keiko…"

TBC

A/N: I swear, Hiei will be in the next chapter! There is a story in here somewhere.