Disclaimer: disappointments are so disappointing. And I'm supposed to be the realist.

Fall

Oh how they pound,
raising the sound,
o'er hill and dale,
telling their tale

Traditional, "Carol of the Bells"

Chapter Seven: Thoughtlessly, as Predicted

Hiei scuffed the dirt with the heel of his boot. He was getting bored again; he had long since become accustomed to the scent of blood in the air, and it was no longer refreshing. Musing over his seemingly inexhaustible patience—a side effect of being in love, he assumed, and an unpleasant one at that—Hiei glanced sideways at Kurama. The fox was walking with his glance set firmly ahead, not even the smallest dart of his eyes to look at Hiei, much less anything else. Most interesting to note.

Kurama, meanwhile, made sure not to look at Hiei. As the scenery was monotonous and rather boring, he thought it best to play up his mental fragility and stare ahead, blinking as rarely as he could stand to. He figured Hiei would not question him if he seemed ready to collapse at the slightest irritation. He did want to discuss his inner turmoil, really he did, but he wasn't sure how to bring them up and he would be damned if Hiei took the initiative. Instead, he focused all his talents on tracking Miru to the best of his ability. He had little luck, but he thought he had snagged onto something small.

His pace quickened and Hiei, eager for anything different, matched Kurama exactly. Their steps falling in time with one another, the two still made sure not to lock their gazes or even look towards each other. Neither wanted to begin a conversation and a glance into one another's eyes would lead to unpleasant tenseness, which was not necessary just then.

They walked, not in companionable silence, but in a sort of stilted reality for awhile before Hiei became so uncomfortable that he had to speak.

"I assume you've been following an energy trace," he said bluntly. Kurama glanced down and quickly back before Hiei could look at him.

"I have," he responded tersely. He seemed to disapprove of banter and did not speak further.

Having begun speaking, however, Hiei thought of something he had best say before it was too late.

"I think I'd better handle this one."

As expected, the assertion was met with a deep frown. Kurama's eyes suddenly darkened a few shades and he glowered at Hiei, slowing his pace considerably. Meanwhile, Hiei continued walking on as though nothing had been said, which only served to irritate Kurama further.

"How dare you suggest such a thing?" Kurama asked indignantly. "This is hardly your battle to be fought!"

Hiei shrugged. Kurama was being unreasonable, as he had thought—not entirely, perhaps, but he sounded loathe to hear the reasoning behind this statement. Truly, Hiei did not feel much like giving it, but he thought it necessary.

"I know it isn't," he said calmly with ages of practiced nonchalance. "I'm not saying it is. I'm simply saying that between the two of us, I'm the more likely to keep his cool if Miru is even mentioned, much less praised, and we can't really afford another of these random traipses through the wastelands of Hell. We're desperately hoping for simply a trace of her energy and you know it. We don't have time to do this again."

"I don't want to hear your reasons, Hiei," Kurama snapped, a faint flush decorating his cheeks. Whether it was out of embarrassment or anger could not be determined, but Hiei suspected the latter and hoped for the former. A stupid thing to do, really, but his first thoughts were completely free of the rest of his mind, especially the rational part.

The pair walked on for some time, Kurama occasionally taking a sharp turn and seemingly trying to throw Hiei from his trail. Hiei knew that if Kurama really wanted to lose him, he would be long gone, but it still hurt a little to know the thought had had reason to enter his mind. He sensed that Kurama wanted to say something, but he didn't know what, and this was not the best of times to ask.

So they walked.


Yûsuke and Kuwabara milled around for a minute or two, waiting for Koenma to answer them.

He didn't, of course. Yûsuke looked down at him, obviously irritated, and slammed his hands down on the desk. It trembled and startled Koenma from his thoughts, making him jerk his head up to stare straight ahead at nothing.

"Anyone?" Yûsuke asked. "I mean, anyone at all? Other than us 'cause you don't want to send us for some reason, right, so is there anyone—"

"Wait," Koenma said, putting up his hand to stop Yûsuke's flow of banter. "Why wouldn't I send you two? You'd be able to find them as well as anyone, or better. You know them and all, you understand."

Exchanging a panicked glance, Yûsuke and Kuwabara both stood before the desk and did their best to look imposing. It worked better for Kuwabara, given his height, but Koenma imagined him playing with Eikichi and the effect was somewhat ruined. Yûsuke managed to look imposing and even dangerous, but Koenma knew he had certain authority over the two boys and tried his best not to be fazed.

"I don't think you really want to do that, Koenma," Kuwabara said, his voice rough and low. Yûsuke nodded, his fists clenching and unclenching in a threatening manner.

Koenma met them glare for glare. "And why is that?" he asked shrewdly. Yûsuke and Kuwabara exchanged another glance—they hadn't thought quite that far ahead.

Botan stepped forward bravely, bearing her oar like a weapon. Yûsuke grinned; he had been on the receiving end of that thing a few times, and he knew enough to be intimidated when she was serious. Of course, whether she would seriously hit her boss was questionable…

"Sir," she said firmly, her head drawn up and her eyes narrowed. "I think it would be in everyone's best interest…"

Yûsuke and Kuwabara glanced at one another yet again, confident of their advocate. Surely Botan would get them off the hook.

"…if you sent Yûsuke and Kuwabara to find Kurama and Hiei."

"Cue awkward pause," Koenma said with a grin. "Sorry boys, but if Botan agrees, then I have no choice. See you sometime soon, eh?"

Yûsuke regained his bearings and stomped up on the desk, sending hundreds of papers flying. "What do you mean, you have no choice? Botan is your subordinate! She has to do what you tell her! And she doesn't exactly have power of authority here!"

Koenma's grin widened. "I trust her judgment implicitly," he said with some mocking derision. Clearly, he was getting far too much pleasure out of tormenting Yûsuke in such a manner.

Yûsuke jumped down from the desk and shot dark, menacing glares to both Botan and Koenma before looking angrily at Kuwabara.

"C'mon, Kuwabara," he said huffily. "Clearly, we won't be getting any help here. Let's look for some help in the ogre's lounges."

Kuwabara sniffed arrogantly. "You bet."

As the door slammed shut, Botan looked down at Koenma with some concern. "You know," she said, "they were your best bet for finding Kurama and Hiei. What will you do now?"

Koenma smiled devilishly and tented his fingers.

"Oh," he said confidently, "they'll be back. I'm sure of it."

Botan felt a large sweatdrop sliding down the back of her head.

"…uh huh."


This slow stalking had been going on for long enough, Hiei decided finally. Four hours was plenty; anyway, they had to be close to this new lackey of Miru's.

"You know where you are going, correct?" he asked bitingly, leaving no room for argument. Kurama nodded, but it was sulky, like a child.

"Let's go faster, then," Hiei said. Kurama picked up his pace a little and they moved along at a more comfortable speed. Hiei made sure to keep himself a few steps in front of Kurama, trying to prompt the fox to move faster still, but to no avail. Frowning darkly, but facing the scenery, Hiei matched his pace to his partner's and made a valiant effort not to sulk. It was a partial success, he would decide later.

They walked and walked, and Hiei thought he did a nice job of hiding his bored impatience. Suddenly Kurama stopped, and Hiei might have walked into him or walked past him, had he not been paying attention. As it were, he stopped alongside him and looked up at his face, which was pointing completely away from him.

Kurama was…sniffing the air. Rolling his eyes at the animalistic exhibit, Hiei tried to sense a nearby energy—any nearby energy, not only those that felt threatening. As far as he could tell, he and Kurama were in something of a wasteland as it was. Frankly, he was only trusting Kurama's instincts because he had no other leads at all. None, he reminded himself, so you can't afford to fuck this up.

Hiei grimaced, then smiled a little at the mild humor of the situation. They keyword, he thought, ironically humorlessly, was "mildly."

"Smell anything?" he asked with the tiniest hint of derision. Kurama shook his head, completely serious (or so it seemed to Hiei, which meant it was probably true, of course).

"Yes," he said, throwing Hiei for a bit of a loop. He had just been shaking his head in the negative, hadn't he? So…but…huh?

Oh, Hiei thought desperately, please don't let him be losing his mind again…I absolutely wouldn't be able to stand it! So what to do but ask a logical, straightforward question?

"What do you smell?" Hiei asked.

Kurama let a flicker of a smile grace his features. "Target."

Hiei sighed. "Target like the store?" he asked, this time completely sarcastic. Kurama allowed him a reproving look (or it might have been mock reproving, Hiei wasn't sure) and his smiled returned.

"Target like the target, as in our target," Kurama explained, shaking his head with mild amusement. "Up ahead there, in that tower."

Now completely bewildered and beginning to doubt his own state of mind, Hiei squinted at the land ahead of them and saw, as expected, no tower. Rather than point out this glaringly obvious hole in Kurama's theory, Hiei looked at him skeptically and waited for a response. Maybe something along the lines of "Just kidding!" or maybe "My mistake."

When no such reply came, Hiei felt the need to say something. Or, more accurately, to ask something.

"Kurama?"

"Yes, Hiei?"

"Are you okay?"

"Why, yes, Hiei."

"Really?"

Kurama chuckled daintily and Hiei instantly knew that he was, in fact, very much Not Okay.

"I'm perfectly all right, thank you."

Hiei frowned and glared at the ground from the corner of his eye, folding his arms across his chest in a perfect pout. He muttered something like "Liar," but Kurama didn't press the issue any. It needed to be addressed—in fact, it might have been beneficial to them both if Kurama had pressed it, but he hadn't, and he wouldn't, and there was no getting around that fact.

And so they walked on like children, one stubborn and one stupid, and both more than a little crazy.


Yûsuke and Kuwabara had been wandering the halls of Koenma's castle for a long while; maybe an hour or so. Having long since admitted they were lost, they had also given up on finding their way back, and were walking in aimless circles as they hoped to stumble onto a ferry girl or, if they were lucky, Jorge the ogre. Those ferry girls could be annoying, after all; some were too morbid (what was her name, Yûsuke tried to recall, Ayame?), some were too chipper (some redhead whose name he didn't know), some were too unhelpful (well, there had to be some, even if he had never met them).

Jorge? Highly unlikely. But still, they could hope.

And hope they did, for they had nothing more productive to try.

Some time afterwards, a loud banging noise rattled the halls, coming from a room not terribly far ahead. Exchanging a questioning glance, Yûsuke and Kuwabara took off at a sprint to discover the source of the peculiar sound.

Arriving quickly at the room in question, they were not too startled to see at least five bookshelves lying on the floor, the books they ought to have been holding scattered all about them. Looking awfully embarrassed and standing off to the side, as though he was trying to sink into the walls, was Jorge. He rushed over to them, pleading and pathetic.

"Oh, don't tell Koenma I was in here!" he begged. "He'll fire me for sure, and I can't go back to the wild! They know I worked here, they'll ostracize me for sure, and you know I don't have many other skills besides filing papers and that's not in high demand right now, so I'd be out of the job! Think of my family, I'd have nothing to feed them, I'd be a terrible provider—it's a good thing I don't have a family anyway, but if Koenma found out I—"

Yûsuke smacked Jorge upside the head just as Kuwabara slapped his hand over the ogre's mouth.

"Shut. Up."

Jorge nodded meekly and they released him.

Yûsuke surveyed the damage. "What did you do?" he asked critically. Jorge cowered, crouching down on the floor with his arms raised over his head.

"I was looking for a certain book—"

"Let me guess," Kuwabara said, inspecting the closest fallen shelf. "You climbed up to the top row to get it and the whole thing tipped over, is that it?"

Jorge nodded, blushing lightly and rubbing the back of his neck. Yûsuke rolled his eyes.

"Should've known," he said sagely, shaking his head. "Should've known."

"Why did you repeat yourself just then?" Kuwabara asked suddenly. "We both heard you, are you trying to sound wise or something?"

Yûsuke blinked. "I dunno," he said, looking rather confused. "It seemed like the thing to do."

"But why do those old geezers, you know, mentors, why do they do it at all?" Kuwabara asked. "I always thought it was kind of stupid."

"It always bothered me," Jorge added, wondering if they had suddenly gotten over his exploits.

"Yeah…"

Weird.


"Kurama," Hiei said finally, "you know there's no tower up ahead of us."

Kurama glanced down at Hiei, then back at the expanse of land before them. He looked more than a little confused, which Hiei took as either a bad sign or a very bad sign: either Kurama was crazy or he was.

"You don't see it?" Kurama asked, sounding hurt for some reason, as though Hiei had personally offended him. Hiei shook his head, looking a little harder at the fields. Come to think of it, he actually might be able to see the thin outline of a…something…like a tower, or something similar. An apartment? A fortress? Strange…he could've sworn…

Kurama, meanwhile, was looking at Hiei with concern. "You're sure?" he asked again. Hiei squinted, then looked back at Kurama apologetically.

"Sorry," he said, "but I don't see anything but field."

Kurama brightened immediately. "Well, that's good," he said with a small laugh, "because I don't see one, either."

Hiei gaped.

"You look like a fish," Kurama whispered confidentially.

Hiei continued to gape.

"The target is underground, in case you were wondering," he continued, walking on again and headed towards the "tower." "Come along, then! I won't wait all day!"

Shaking himself violently, Hiei bolted after Kurama and walked alongside him until they reached a patch of grass with a distinctly grass-free hole in its center. This sort of demonic grass didn't grow itself well, Hiei recalled. It needed proper love and attention—not likely in this world—or it would stay dead. As might be expected, no one had bothered to re-grow the grass. It was common and fairly ugly, anyway.

Kurama was kneeling beside the dirty patch, nearly elbow deep in the muddy stuff. Hiei watched him wonderingly, unsure as to whether Kurama even knew what he was doing. Apparently, he did, for a moment later, he looked extremely pleased and withdrew his arms from the muck. Nodding to Hiei, he pointed to the ground.

"Right there," he said, jabbing his finger at a specific spot. "Light that right there on fire, and the whole thing will burn down."

Hiei knelt as well and eyed the spot suspiciously. "Are you sure?" he asked, prodding the spot. The dirt all looked exactly the same to him, but Kurama nodded firmly.

"Absolutely," he said, pointing again. "The dirt only goes down so far, you see. This point is covering buried gunpowder, and if you light it, the whole thing will go up in flames and burn away.

Hiei nodded with some hesitation and stood, snapping his fingers and letting his gaze flicker to the tiny flames summoned there.

"So Miru knows I'm traveling with you, then?" he said observantly. Kurama nodded.

"I guess she must. This is a trap, of course. She must think we're not up to taking on the creature living down here."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Great. Just what I need."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

Standing, Kurama backed away a few steps and shielding his face with his arms before giving Hiei the nod. Throwing down the fire on the precise point Kurama had indicated, Hiei leapt out of the way just in time to watch the gunpowder blow the whole thing up, scattering dirt and mud everywhere. Hiei felt a large glob of it land in his hair and glowered.

As the residue settled, the pair walked back to the hole and peered down into it. It was deep, certainly—pitch black, as far as they could both tell, which meant it was too far to jump without a high risk of serious damage or a bad landing. They exchanged an annoyed look before Kurama sat on the edge of the hole and shimmied down into it, bracing himself along the cramped walls to control his fall. Hiei followed shortly thereafter and they began their long descent.


So I thought I'd get a little holiday spirit for once, and use a seasonal song for the lyrics bit. Of course, the original "Carol of the Bells" had nothing to do with Christmas, but it's the only carol I like, so…we'll deal with it, ne? And incidentally, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra has one very cool version of the music for "Carol of the Bells." It's all rock-metal-ish. Check it out if you feel like checking it out.

And I am super extra sorry for taking so long, but college apps are, I believe literally, killing my brain. I swear, I am all essay-ed out.