Disclaimer: ah, as the year has drawn to a close, and with it…nothing.

Fall

Each time I turn around
There's nothing there at all
So tell me why I feel like
I'm up against a wall

K.T. Tunstall, "False Alarm"

Chapter Eight: Rose of Lines

Feeling as though he had been slowly sliding down the hole for hours, at least, Kurama was more than a little surprised to move his foot down into air rather than more dirt. He stopped short for being so startled, getting himself a nice face full of Hiei's boot when the demon failed to notice his pause.

Hiei, however, noticed full well the change in resistance of his foothold and jerked it back at once, landing him at somewhat of an awkward and most uncomfortable angle. With his one leg bent right up to his chest and his other almost dangling against the wall, Hiei found himself in a most unfortunate position from which to move any further.

"Something's there?" he asked Kurama, hoping the fox would move quickly so he could dislodge his leg.

"No," Kurama replied, "nothing. Nothing's down there."

Hiei frowned. So had Kurama not noticed the foot planted firmly on his head? Or was he ignoring it? Either way, Hiei wanted to get himself down to the ground and he wanted to do it fast. He tried prodding Kurama again, in the shoulder this time, and received no reaction at all.

"Can you get to the ground?" he asked, wondering if that was the problem. Kurama shook his head, not that Hiei could see him, and shrugged.

"I could jump, I guess," he said thoughtfully. "It can't be too far down, can it?"

Hiei snorted. "Well, warn me when you get there."

With a small chuckle, Kurama edged his way down to the very bottom of the hole and let go, falling a few unsteady meters to the ground. After gaining his bearings and squinting into the dark—which helped precious little, as he couldn't see much even with his eyes narrowed impossibly thin—he turned back to the hole and called up to Hiei.

"About four meters!" he called up. "You'll live, but be prepared for the shock impact; you can't position yourself too well at the fall, being so tightly packed in there!"

With a small grunt, Hiei edged his way down to the hole's bottom and, after dangling a second to determine how best to make the leap, let go. His attempt to orient himself midair only partially succeeded, resulting in no broken bones, but a distinctly uncomfortable landing. Having nearly landed on his hands, he was a bit disoriented, looking about with a bewildered expression before figuring out what was going on. He stood and shook out his foot, trying to rid himself of the tingling sensation left in it after his weight had been so suddenly shifted.

Finally successful, he started down one of the two corridors, choosing it completely arbitrarily and waiting for Kurama to either pose opposition or follow him. Neither appeared to be happening, however; Hiei looked back over his shoulder and noted that Kurama had, silently and making use of his litheness, gone down the other hall. With a grimace, he turned and, in an instant, was walking beside his friend into the darkness.

"Sense something?" he asked tersely. Kurama flickered his gaze down to Hiei and back to the blackness ahead.

"I think so," Kurama replied. "You ought to be able to, as well. It's rather strong."

Sighing tiredly and not entirely sure why, Hiei fixed his senses on an unfamiliar and vaguely powerful energy that might or might not be coming from the corridor's end. Nothing hit him for a little while, until, on a whim, he tweaked his senses a bit to allow for more variation, and it slammed in on a massive wave.

"Oh, my…" he trailed off, his step slowing for a moment. "I didn't think she had access to lackeys so powerful."

From what he could tell, Kurama grinned with a dulled sense of irony. "Neither did I, but apparently, she's expanded her resources."

"Hm."

The pair walked forward at erratic speeds, first slowly, as though dreading what they would find, then quickly, as though they wanted to get it over with as soon as possible, then slowly again, then quickly for only a step or two, back and forth with alarming frequency. Finally, the bleak dark was broken by a faint sliver of light indicating a closed door, or at least a large rock. Hiei picked up his pace and reached it first to find that it was, in fact, a door, and a rather nice one at that. Delicately carved with spirals and curls in a most intricate pattern, the whole thing seemed to surround a beautiful sketch of a rose, perfectly simple and made only of lines. Hiei touched it, almost expecting Kurama to scold him for not respecting the thing by leaving it alone, but he said no such thing. On the contrary, Kurama came up beside him and took in the door with a sharp breath. Through the faint light, Hiei could see his companion's expression drawn taught, fury roiling just beneath the surface.

Against his better judgment, Hiei placed his hand on Kurama's arm in a vague attempt to calm him, or just to assure him that he was not alone. Kurama glanced down, surprised and not showing it, and Hiei nearly smiled. Stopping himself at the last second, he showed a face of firm decisiveness, nodding once and reaching for the knob. Not surprisingly, Kurama nodded as well and reached for the knob at the same time, so they nearly touched it together. Kurama reached it first, though, and Hiei was left holding his friend's hand.

There was no electric spark from the contact, and Hiei didn't know whether he was disappointed or merely not expecting anything. They had touched before, and it was not a big deal. No fire had ever been sparked in his belly from feeling their hands brush against one another; in fact, he usually found it a little annoying to be touched, or he didn't notice because it was during a fight. Shaking off the notion that he should be like humans in their romantic notions of undying love and devotion, Hiei withdrew his hand and let Kurama hold the knob for a minute before turning it, pushing open the door.

As there had been every time before, a demon sat on the floor in ratty clothes, dark hair matted with blood and other bodily fluids and in dire need of a wash and cut. It was a girl this time, her eyes tired and sunken and her appearance altogether unflattering. Her skin was a sallow kind of purple, matching the teardrop scars underneath her left eye. If she had a proper shower and a good meal, she might have looked even presentable, but as it were, she looked about ready to die.

"Nice door," Hiei said blandly, showing her the backside of his hand as he gestured to the heavy wood. She looked at him with those horrid eyes and blinked.

"Is it?" she asked, her voice clogged and scratchy, as though unused for some time. "I haven't seen it."

Kurama had sunken himself into the shadows of the room, standing in what might have been called a corner as he eyed his companion and their target. He remained silent, which Hiei was immensely grateful for and at the same time, suspicious of. That could be an extremely good or extremely bad sign.

"Ever?" Hiei asked, not really caring for the answer. He already knew how poorly Miru treated her captives, but based on this girl's energy, she shouldn't have been an easy take. He pondered that as he half listened to her answer.

She hacked a cough and spat out some phlegm before speaking. "No," she said, her voice scratchier but less congested. "M'lady wouldn't let me look."

Unseen, Kurama raised an eyebrow and glanced at her reprovingly. There was nothing to be reproving about, Hiei thought reasonably, unaware of Kurama's expression. The girl was strong, yes, but Miru was undoubtedly stronger, or at least wilier, and it wasn't too hard to reason that she had been captured and forced into submission.

"Did she tell you what was on it?" Kurama asked out of the dark. Hiei glanced over his shoulder warningly, but Kurama paid him no mind and waited for a response. The girl looked towards him, or at least towards his general vicinity, and answered uncertainly.

"A flower," she rasped out. "A rose of lines, she called it."

Hiei analyzed that response as he assumed Kurama did the same. A rose of lines, Miru had said. A rose, well, that was obvious. Not only was it intended to startle and distract both Kurama and himself, but it was undoubtedly intended to represent Kurama in whatever point she was making. The lines were more difficult to dissect, but Hiei thought he had managed. Miru, in her way that, to Hiei's chagrin, he knew he would have found delightful, had it not been inflicted upon the one he loved, probably meant two or three or more things by making the rose of lines and not, for instance, flowers.

A Kurama, then, he thought, made of lines. Kurama made of lines that represented what, relationships? That would mean Miru was going to go after Kurama's friends to get to him, which mean Hiei was in danger, but he wasn't worried about that. What if they represented his lives? Interesting thought… Kurama had two lives that were known to his closest friends, but, Hiei went on to himself, what if she was referring to not only his "fox" and "human" lives, but the many masks he wore in regular life? The wonderful son, the diligent student, the devoted friend, the powerful fighter, the ruthless murderer, the wily thief, the self-absorbed egotist, the altruistic angel, each a different line, a different mar on the perfection that Kurama was supposed to be?

Funny, he thought bitterly. She wasn't supposed to know those things.

"And you've never seen it?" Hiei asked, though he knew the answer. He was asking for more time to figure out—what, he wasn't sure.

The girl shook her head rather than speak again, and Hiei nodded in contrast. Miru wanted to keep the girl removed from Kurama. She was a bait, a diversion, another obstacle on their journey, but she was not to become involved. Miru probably thought she was going to die, anyway.

Out of the dark came an unexpected voice. "Do you want to?" Kurama asked softly, sentimentally. Hiei raised his eyebrows but did not turn to look back.

The girl raised her head to look at him forlornly and Hiei felt himself pity her a bit. She probably didn't deserve to be locked up like she was, no matter what her life had been like up to this point. Also, knowing Miru, she had probably been down in this cavern for a long while.

"Don't see how it matters," the girl said in a clipped tone. Hiei made a mental note of how friendly—sort of—Kurama was being, despite not having asked the girl her name as he had done with all the others.

Kurama, Hiei saw, his eyes having adjusted to the dark corner, was smiling sadly, his eyes cast down. "No, I suppose not," he said in a quiet voice. Hiei easily heard the disappointment as well. Kurama had wanted to show this girl something special, something he found morbidly beautiful, and she had turned him down rather bluntly. He couldn't be used to such a thing. Not the famous Kurama.

Hiei had half a mind to force the girl out into the hall and hold her there until she fully appreciated just how complex the door's design was, and everything he thought it meant. But before he could even fairly consider that, he needed to know one small bit of information:

"You, girl. What's your name?"

Not said nearly as tactfully as Kurama would have, but it got the point across and that was really all Hiei cared about, anyway. She looked up at him resentfully and shifted her position, crossing her legs and resting her arms on her knees.

"M'lady told me to forget my name," she said. "She calls me Gravatus."

Kurama made a small sound behind Hiei, indicating his disdain. Hiei didn't know quite what the word meant, but he knew it sounded Latin, which meant Kurama probably understood it perfectly.

"All right, Gravatus," Hiei said smoothly, ignoring his companion. "Where is Miru sending us next on this wild adventure?"

Gravatus looked up at him, her pale eyes suddenly watery, and he leaned back slightly, surprised. He had expected her to be one of the more difficult demons to get information from.

"I've forgotten," she said as her voice broke. Hiei rolled his eyes. Oh. Was that all it was? He almost wanted to smack her for getting his hopes up.

"What do you remember?" he asked coldly in a tone that suggested negative repercussions if she did not answer him correctly.

"I…well, I know where Miru is."


Yûsuke idly picked up a book, discovered that the title was in a language he didn't know, and dropped it.

"So, Jorge," he said conversationally. "Feel like helping us get back to Koenma's office?"

Jorge looked up, surprised. He had been fruitlessly trying to get the bookshelf back into an upright position.

"Koenma's office?"

Yûsuke blinked. "That's what I said, yeah…"

"That's another thing," Kuwabara ranted, wandering off to talk about his latest problem with people's speech.

Waving him off, Yûsuke crouched beside Jorge and smiled cheerfully. Jorge edged back a step or two—that smile was kind of creepy.

"So," he said, that grin still firmly in place. "Jorge. Feel like helping out your old buddies?"

"What, you mean you two?"

The smile wavered for a moment before Yûsuke dropped it altogether and looked at Jorge disbelievingly. "Are you serious?" he asked, deadpanning. Jorge nodded nervously. Yûsuke fell over.

"Kuwabara!" he called out as his friend came trotting back.

"What is it?" he asked with a hint of nervousness. He didn't really want to get in trouble with these people, after all.

"Jorge is an idiot!"

"Oh, is that all?"

Taking offense at this comment, as anyone would, Jorge stood up with his fists on his hips and his face contorted into an interesting scowl. Yûsuke and Kuwabara cocked their heads in unison, observing him with identical curious expressions.

"You've got a funny tic in your forehead when you're mad," Kuwabara observed.

Jorge fumed. "Well just for that, maybe I won't take you guys to see Lord Koenma!"

Yûsuke and Kuwabara exchanged a look. That was not a good thing; the ferry girls were probably warned to stay away from Jorge in the library, or at least knew enough to keep themselves in another sector of the palace, which mean they would have quite a time finding another guide.

"C'mon, Jorge, we were only kidding!" Yûsuke said jovially, throwing his arm over Jorge's shoulder.

"Yeah, now let's get going!" Kuwabara added with a brilliant smile.

Jorge found himself half dragged into the hall and stomped off down the corridor. He nearly missed the frantic footfalls of two young men chasing after him and smirked. There was at least one roundabout way to get to Koenma's office…


Kurama stepped forward, his face grim, and Hiei sensed that he was prepared and even eager to get violent, if need be. He remained in his position between them, equally prepared to stop the two from fighting. Gravatus simply stared at Hiei with owlish eyes, wide and attempting innocence with admirable success.

"Where is she?" Kurama asked in a hardened voice quite unlike his own. Hiei's head jerked up slightly as he was startled by the tone, his eyes a little wider. Kurama must be even angrier than he had anticipated…

Gravatus, meanwhile, had shifted her gaze from Hiei to Kurama upon hearing the dark query, startled and possibly even frightened. Hiei was tensely aware of his order than Kurama not get involved in interrogating this witness, so to speak. He should have reasoned that Kurama had never, to his knowledge, been one to follow orders… Wincing at his own shortsightedness, Hiei took another step forward, placing himself directly and obviously between Kurama and Gravatus. Kurama made a soft sound in the back of his throat that sounded displeased. Hiei ignored it.

Luckily, Gravatus seemed more than willing to comply without struggle. "She's in a large cave," she said plainly, though not as helpfully as Hiei had hoped. "Far off to the northeast. There's a lot of algae around."

"Algae?" Kurama asked sharply, and Hiei heard the small note of confusion behind his words. Gravatus nodded.

"I think she's near water," she said, now trying to be as helpful as possible. "I can give you the coordinates of seven or eight caves in the northeast that I know are—"

But they weren't quite sure what was so special about these caves, as the moment she reached those words, Gravatus collapsed on the ground, twitching violently. Hiei was at her side in an instant and Kurama was there not much after. They turned her over onto her back and tried to hold her head steady; Kurama instinctively felt for a pulse and Hiei rolled his eyes when the fox laid his fingers on her neck. He was far too accustomed to humankind, Hiei thought. He had checked for a human's pulse rather than a demon's central nucleus.

"I think—" Kurama began, but Hiei raised his hand suddenly to cut off any further declarations of her death.

"She hasn't got a pulse?" he asked derisively when Kurama glared at him. The fox blinked, looked down at his fingers, and blushed lightly for a mere moment before putting a hand to his head and closing his eyes.

"My God…" he muttered lowly, shaking his head. Hiei smirked for a second. He considered making a tart remark but decided against it; it wasn't entirely necessary. Kurama knew how stupid he had been.

Gravatus had stopped her thrashing, but twitched spastically. Hiei held her arms to the ground and rested his elbows across her chest, effectively keeping the motion above her waist to a minimum. He gestured towards her legs with a flick of his wrist and looked pointedly at Kurama, indicating that he should hold her down; the fox got the hint and grasped her ankles, pushing them firmly into the floor. They waited for another few minutes for her resistance to stop, and when it did, both released her. Her eyes remained closed and they grew slightly nervous, Hiei in particular. "A damp cave in the northeast" wasn't much of a clue, and if Gravatus failed them, they had no further leads.

"Will she wake?" Kurama asked softly, loosening his hold. Hiei glanced up and shrugged.

"Dunno. I don't know what happened to her."

Kurama sat back on his heels and pressed his palms to his eyes. Rocking back and forth, he said something so quietly, even Hiei missed it.

"What was that?"

Kurama glanced up at him with wet eyes and Hiei resisted the instinct to move away or even flee. Crying demons were dangerous demons, often on the verge of an attack fueled by powerful emotion. Resting his hand on the ground so as to push off and get a jump start if necessary, Hiei waited to hear the fox's words, not sure he wanted to hear them.

Kurama sniffled.

"I'm so sorry…"


"Gravatus" is Latin for "oppressed." I figured I'd break away from Japanese words used as names (titles, really) for a little bit.