A/N: Hello once again, Beloved Yu Yu Hakusho Fans!
For those of you who have been waiting for/wanting more of Akari and Kurama, there is a scene that begins towards the end of this chapter and bleeds into the next concerning them exclusively!
Symbols Guide:
* : Written by CM; She writes for Akari and Hiei
3 : Written by Star (supposed to be the 'heart' symbol, but FF doesn't like the 'less-than' sign, so it's a 3 instead); She writes for Toriko/Shikiyoku and Kurama
~!**!~ : A universal transition between scenes or characters, sometimes used to indicate a passage of time, but most often used to transition between major scenes that are happening. As the story progresses, this will evolve into mainly separating the (usually two) scenes happening between authors/characters.
As a general rule, anything in italics is thoughts.
Unless it's used in a sentence like this, which merely indicates emphasis.
"Quotations are usually reserved specifically for telepathic dialogue being transmitted from one being to another, but sometimes this can also mean a character isn't being careful about what they're thinking and anyone with telepathy in the nearby vicinity can listen in without taking any effort."
The only exception to that last rule is for the Shiba Inu dog, Nabu. All of his "spoken" dialogue will be in italics and quotations, but is communicated through body language or dog-like noises, so unless a character is able to translate those they are unlikely to pick up on what he is saying any more than the average person might understand his general moods like aggression (bared teeth, ears back) or excitement (wagging tail).
Previously on Yu Yu Hakusho!
Toriko and Akari make-up for their fight,
after which Toriko heads home as she still feels weak.
Yusuke, Kuwabara, Akari, and Kurama exchange a pleasant moment of banter outside Kuwabara's apartment.
~!**!~
That night at Toriko's house, Maneshi has a slight cat freak-out
and tears around the house madly, ending up sitting upon and chewing on Toriko's hair.
It appears his rampage did little in the way of waking the fire demon sleeping on the window sill nearby...
Hiei had stirred for the briefest of moments sometime when the sun had begun dipping below the horizon. He'd looked outside, checked his surroundings with his Jagan, and then gone right back to sleep again. And he'd stayed that way for a longer time than he'd initially thought he would.
And again, he stirred when the smallest of sound echoed in the room. A single eye opened and glanced around the room, but he saw nothing out of the norm.
So he returned to peaceful slumber.
~!**!~
Akari sat, crosslegged, in front of a television screen, eyes locked and hands gripping the controller tightly. The car on her corner of the screen, only one of four windows, was spinning after being hit with a green shell that she'd yelled at in protest, and she reached beyond the person nearest her and walloped Yusuke on the arm. "You hit me, you moron! What happened to team mates?!"
Kuwabara laughed as his own car passed hers, putting her even further behind in the game. "Too bad you decided to be with the loser!"
"We drew straws, Kuwabara! I was stuck with this moron!" *
Everyone's ears perked as the tell-tale sound of a blue shell began overtaking the main music of the track.
Kurama just smiled, watching Kuwabara whom he had just allowed to zoom past him into first place, the blue shell he'd been holding since very early in the race flying away from his own driver and exploding over Kuwabara's kart with a brilliant blue sphere of color.
"Oh no, was that you, Kuwabara?" Kurama exclaimed sincerely, "I'm so sorry!"
~!**!~
Toriko stirred disappointedly from her dreamless sleep as the sounds of a "midnight freak-out" pulled her farther from her slumber.
Try as hard as she might to get back under the blanket of fog that had settled heavily over her mind, at every attempt her ears picked up a new sound, until finally the bed was jostled by the tiny body she knew was the perpetrator of all the noise.
She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as they would go, even when she felt his tongue scraping on her skin.
He tromped, he meowed, then he finally settled down for what seemed like a blessed moment, albeit a moment in which he decided chewing on her hair seemed like the best idea.
Unfortunately, she was wide awake now and she let out a sigh and allowed her eyes to open, not expecting the darkness of the room that seemed sudden seeing as how the last thing she remembered was the afternoon light.
Her muscles felt more stiff than before and she only tried stretching them out a bit, groaning a little.
Somehow sensing her awakeness, a pair of eyes blinked from in front of her, their glow reflecting what little light there was in the room.
"Yes, I see you. And I'm not impressed."
Maneshi appeared to frown, his whiskers twitching as he stared unblinkingly at her for another moment before rubbing his face on her cheek and then backing up to lay down across from her face.
"No, I can't play with you right now."
He moved a paw and rested it over her lips.
Toriko narrowed her eyes at him, "This changes nothing." She said through the pad of his foot.
Maneshi got up and stared at her some more, as if wondering why she didn't just rise.
Oh right. He'd been made to feel better. But not her.
In that moment of introspection, Toriko managed to shift so that she lay down on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
Maneshi regarded her curiously, then placed a paw on her arm now laying at her side and started to put his weight on it.
Toriko eyed him suspiciously, "Is it not supposed to hurt when you do that?"
He retracted and sat on his haunches and Toriko felt apprehensive at the wheels she could almost see turning behind his large eyes.
Getting up again, he tromped over and lay down on the length of her arm, beginning to purr.
Toriko made a face at him, but said nothing, turning back to look at the ceiling. His weight was not entirely uncomfortable. And actually, for that matter, what little warmth she felt from him kind of...sort of...made the arm feel better? 3
Hiei stirred again, this time after a voice moved through the darkness. He took a deep breath that sounded almost like a contented sigh, but it was cut short as a bone cracked from the way he lay in the window. His eyes slid open and he glanced down at his stomach, expecting to see Maneshi, but wasn't surprised by the lack of cat there. He moved, sitting up straighter and let a leg dangle out the window, stretching the muscles in his thigh very easily in doing so.
He glanced over at Toriko, seeing the cat next to the girl, and felt mild amusement creep its way into a small sneer on his face that disappeared for a moment. But he didn't make any indication to the duo that he had awoken, instead resettling back against the frame of the window.
~!**!~
Akari smiled at the screen as her car again began moving along the track, the satisfying sound of the blue shell hitting someone other than her making a small cackle leave her lips as Kuwabara shouted in anger.
"You always Win! How?!"
"I bet he cheats."
Akari laughed at the boys, passing both of them, putting her behind the fox as she dropped banana peels, listening with glee as someone hit them and spun out.
"Screw this!"
Several green shells passed her cart, just missing her each time as she passed the finish line, "2nd place!" in large letters across her small screen. "Losers," she said with a laugh.
"You lost too!" They chimed in unison.
"I demand a rematch!" Yusuke growled for the fifth time today. *
"Oh, I'm sorry, were you wanting to win, Kuwabara? I did not realize that was a stipulation of our partnership." Kurama did not seem as if he was going to back down from Yusuke's challenge, though in the back of his mind he took note of the late hour and knew he would likely call this his last game. "My apologizes. Let's try it again in that case."
~!**!~
Toriko sighed up at the ceiling, "I know you're trying to be helpful, but you're making my arm fall asleep." She lifted her head for a second to see the two glowing eyes regarding her steadily before laying her head back down on the pillow.
She could feel him purring, the vibrations slightly uncomfortable, but more so than that were the pins and needles of her circulation being stunted.
"Maneshi." She practically growled at him. "Get. Off."
His perked ears and bright expression seemed to say, But I'm helping! and he did not move, hoping she could feel how the warmth was good for her.
Toriko was torn between how painful it would be to actually lift him off-he felt heavier than she remembered-and if it was worth it to just let him stay there. 3
Hiei watched the scene curiously, silently amused that the cat was bothering Toriko, who, while she grumbled at him sleepily, made no effort of moving away from the cat. He waited, wondering if she actually would move away, but when she didn't right away, he himself sighed, sliding from the window and stretching languidly before regarding the pair. Should he help or..?
Nah.
He glanced again at the duo before moving from the room, deciding that his dry throat demanded more attention than anything else.
~!**!~
Akari scoffed at Kurama, glancing at him and then over at the gaping Kuwabara. "Maybe teams should be officially disbanded, to avoid arguments."
"You're just saying that because you're afraid my team will kick your butt!"
"Contrary to your words, Kuwabara, that's not the case. I'd just rather not have to worry about who I shouldn't hit."
"You're going to be in last," Yusuke challenged as the countdown began.
"Good luck with that." *
As the race began, it quickly became clear that Kurama had every intention of Kuwabara getting first place, keeping both Yusuke and Akari off of the red-head's kart and summarily keeping himself in second place as well.
With a ring of red shells encircling his kart, he activated another item block and came up with three green shells, unable to stop the small smile that he made.
~!**!~
The pain of the pins and needles grew more than Toriko could bear and she hefted her arm up, Maneshi protesting with a large meow as he was thrown to the side.
Toriko settled back down again after clenching her fingers together several times in an attempt to restore the feeling in her limb.
Without thinking, she returned to her previous position, still sleepily and relatively comfortable again, but within half a minute something bothered her and she woke up again to see that Maneshi had settled back down on her arm.
"Stop," She mumbled, lifting up her arm with the same intentions as before.
This time, Maneshi bit her and her eyes shot open as she rose up in the bed, angrily raising her arm to fling him away.
As she did so, she found that he had latched onto her bandages, his claws imbedded in them and he glared at her from where she held him up off the bed, earning himself a puzzled expression from her.
It didn't really hurt. To have him there. His weight. Her arm had no trouble keeping him there, his weight as inconsequential as always. Her muscle did not spasm, nor did she feel as if it were about to. Granted, any further in and his claws would be doing structural damage to her skin, but they hadn't made it past the wrappings around her arm.
"What...what did you do?" Her mind still addled from the sleep left her with her head tilted to the side and Maneshi glaring at her and refusing to let go. 3
Hiei marched his way down the stairs, arms over his head as he listened to the silence of the house, aside from the girl upstairs. He could almost feel her irritation from here, at the landing at the bottom of the stairs. He turned and looked up, crimson eyes sparkling with amusement before he turned away and looking into the refrigerator for a selection of drinks, including juice and milk, and a bottle of water or two hidden.
He stared at his options, considering, unable to decide between water and juice. His eyes flickered back and forth between them for a few minutes before he decided and reached for the water, since it didn't require finding a glass to drink from. He twisted the lid away from the bottle and put it to his lips, the cold liquid almost freezing his chest as it slid down his throat and settled. He turned and went back up the stairs, slower than his pace when he'd gone back down.
~!**!~
Akari frowned at the screen; she'd started in last, as Yusuke had said she would. But ending in last was not in her objective, so when she earned a red shell, she let it fly, smiling as it struck the boy's cart, sending him into a roar of frustration as she passed by him, giggling.
"You're gonna pay!"
"Only if you can keep up!" she replied, glancing at each player's screen for just a moment, catching Kurama's defenses with a sense of challenge. "You know, you do well in hoarding things, do you know that?" she aimed the question at Kurama, throwing the three green shells she had picked up across the screen in hopes to at least put a dent into them. *
"My natural attraction to shiny objects is the least of your worries." Kurama replied with a smile as he watched her fire the green shells, calculating that at their speed he only needed to move to the right and release pressure on the gas for a second.
Two of the shells shot by him freely, but the third bounced and headed for Kuwabara. Kurama took a moment to set up his own shot and just as the shell grew close enough to be of a concern, he fired a red shell into its path, the two meeting and destroying one another.
~!**!~
"Ge' off." Toriko waved her arm around back and forth once, frowning sleepily.
Maneshi yowled at her as she did so.
"I know. You did something. But whatever it was, get off! Then we can discuss it."
He didn't appear to want to comply as he glared at her.
"Com'on. Offfff." Toriko practically whined at him, her other arm useless by her side.
More glaring.
"I will smack you into this wall so hard you'll forget how to find your food-bowl." She threatened menacingly.
He seemed nonplussed at her statement, as if such a thing would be impossible to forget. 3
Hiei sauntered up the stairs, slowly entering Toriko's room in time to hear a small growl from Maneshi. He sighed, then took another swig from the bottle and sauntered forward, eyeing the small toy on the floor before he picked up, shaking it and smelling the catnip that filled the air that moved, listening to the small bell that was tied to the tail of the toy mouse, wondering why such a toy would be of use.
~!**!~
Akari wasn't surprised that Kurama got away from her with only losing one shell, but she did smile competitively at the prospect. "Shiny things are very wonderful, aren't they?" she added, dragging three bananas behind her still as she considered her options, going through another mystery box on the track.
The object she earned was only another banana peel, leaving her slightly frustrated because, well, she wanted to win at least once. So she merely launched the other three ahead of her, then let the singular banana peel fall behind her. *
Kurama glanced at the track, choosing not to respond to Akari, as they all four came around the bend for their last lap, Yusuke falling farther behind.
~!**!~
Toriko experimentally shook her arm again, wincing as the movement did jar the rest of her body.
She stopped and stared at Maneshi clinging to her, his eyes dangerous and his ears flat against his skull.
His tail whipped around in the air madly and Toriko could feel that in the moment of pause he scooted his body a bit to try and tighten his grip.
Without thinking, Toriko jerked her arm around violently to her right, snapping Maneshi off of her and sending him flying through the air while she sat there staring at her arm and amazed at how differently it felt from the other one.
For his part, Maneshi expertly twisted himself in mid-air, his eyes taking in the distance and calculating the arc of his trajectory as his body followed his every command.
He ended up retracting his claws as he turned like so much fluid in the air, his feet planting firmly, but briefly onto Hiei's chest and he crouched there, suspended to the side for only a second before he recoiled and launched back towards Toriko.
For her part, Toriko calmly moved her torso backwards so that the riposte of the cat would miss her face, sending him instead to land on the bedspread on all fours, his fur raised as he hissed at her.
"Don't do that again." She responded primly, indicating her arm to him. 3
Hiei stared at the mouse for a few minutes, water bottle just touching his lips as he considered the small object. The scent that rolled from it was a rather odd one, but he supposed it was like a drug to the feline, who had so obviously been playing with it not too long ago.
And the next thing the fire demon knew, the very cat that had torn at this toy was making contact with his chest, and reflexively, he dropped the mouse and hand flew inside his cloak, while the other…
Well…
By the time Maneshi was over by Toriko, water dripped from the fire demon's face, his hair falling in front of his eyes and dripping onto the carpet with the majority of the cold liquid his reflexes had squeezed from the plastic. He even spit a little of it from between his lips, staring forward at the cause of the mess and giving a small huff.
He looked down at the crushed bottle and the wetness on his cloak, and completely gave up. The empty bottle hung by his side, and the only thing he could do was stand there, watching the scene unfold.
~!**!~
Akari frowned as the television screamed "LAST LAP" at the group, Kurama still in utter control from second and Kuwabara still in first, who didn't seem to notice that it was all a part of the fox's plan.
Another mystery box, and three red shells, she threw them across the screen, listening as they honed in on the nearest driver. *
Kurama calmly planted the last two red shells he had behind his kart just as he heard the ones from Akari coming into range. The third was subjected to one of his three green shells and as he approached the next set of item blocks, he switched his driver and his passenger to collect...
...a banana.
~!**!~
As Maneshi's eyes flickered over to Hiei, his fur stood even farther off of his body, his ears going back down over his skull as an ominous silence filled the room.
Toriko caught Maneshi's look and glanced over to see Hiei still standing there. Her good hand snapped up to cover her mouth as her eyes widened and her mouth parted. She got the feeling that whatever had just happened was partially her fault, but it was so hard not to laugh.
"I can get you a towel." She said markedly, forcing the smile behind her hand to go away as she fought off laughing outright. She didn't move as if to actually get the towel though, but the offer hung in the air. 3
Hiei frowned at Toriko, whose entire aura reverberated with amusement that had yet to produce an audible laugh. He glared at the cat, who had bounded off of him. Luckily for Maneshi, it was only water, and he hadn't been holding juice like he had considered, or the other option, where claws could have been involved.
The room's temperature rose as Hiei let his heat energy billow around him, raising an irate brow at Toriko. "No need," he replied simply, the temperature around him continuing to rise, water beginning to turn to steam. "Waste of effort, frankly."
~!**!~
Akari's eyes flickered over each screen, noting how far ahead Kuwabara was from her, but Kurama wasn't near as far. She saw him swap to earn another mystery box, and the image she saw him get made her laugh outright in irony.
And then her object was just what Kurama was likely looking for, but she didn't want to use the blue shell until she knew for sure Kurama wouldn't be the winner. So she held onto it for a bit. *
Kurama sighed audibly, and fired his last two green shells backwards in the hopes that this next block would give him something more-
A green shell. Wonderful.
~!**!~
Toriko's breath caught in her throat a little as she felt rather than saw Hiei's energy wash over the room. If she had been standing, she would have staggered under the wave of heat, but this time her eyes just closed and her hand dropped away from her mouth as she found her lips turning upwards into the small smile that had moments ago threatened to be at Hiei's predicament.
"So that's what you did." She murmured to the cat, who had come up to her thigh and sat down, a paw encouragingly resting on her as she moved her good arm to stroke down his back. 3
Hiei frowned at the girl. What on this plane of existence was she talking about? He let the heat continue to roll off of him, his ruby eyes looking up now at the strands of hair that had been soaked before, now beginning to stand back up in their normal places. As if nothing had happened.
His cloak, however, still felt soaked around his collarbone, so when his hair had dried, he concentrated more on that area, centralizing the wave of heat over his chest, waiting.
And while his energy worked, he glanced back up at Toriko. "Next time, he won't have the chance to bounce away." he said, tone even as if he weren't even threatening the cat.
Of course, there was a very small part of him that didn't mean it.
~!**!~
Akari smiled to herself as she again glanced at each player's screen, waiting until Kuwabara began nearing the finish line before letting the blue shell go, listening as it zoomed across the screen.
"WHY!" Kuwabara bellowed. "EVERY TIME!"
"Sucks to suck, eh?" *
Kurama maneuvered his car in front of Akari and slowed just enough that when he let go of the banana, there was no way to dodge it.
He waiting until just before her kart recovered before firing his last green shell backwards at her to send her spinning off again, buying Kuwabara the time he needed to get his kart back on the track, even though he had to slow his pace again so that he didn't shoot right past his "teammate."
~!**!~
Toriko reached her left hand out to Hiei, eyes still closed, feeling the warmth radiating from him.
"Hiei...come closer." She frowned when the heat did not reach anything further than her palm. 3
Hiei looked back up at Toriko, staring at her for a moment before he realized the amount of relief the heat must have on such tired, sore muscles. He stayed there for a moment, head tilted to the side a bit. He'd just threatened to kill her companion, and she wanted him closer?
He waited another second, analyzing the frown on her face and the fact that his cloak was now only damp.
But he huffed and complied, moving forward to stand about a foot out of her reach, letting his energy wash over the room entirely, though his eyes flashed to the cat who still stood behind her. "Still just as hopeless."
~!**!~
Akari frowned at the screen, her kart spinning. And again, when the second strike hit her, this time making a small growl of protest. "Oh, now we're playing on teams!" She grumbled, reaching to her left and giving a small shove on his shoulder, making him knock into Yusuke. "You're about as indecisive as a human woman," she grumbled as Kuwabara crossed the finish line, Kurama, and then Yusuke next, leaving her last. "Jerk."*
"Did I not imply that my purpose was for Kuwabara to win?" Kurama's eyes twinkled, but his face remained steady. "I thought for sure I implied very heavily that I intended for him to win this match."
~!**!~
"Mrrrowl!" Maneshi responded to Hiei eagerly, his face perking up even more at the mention of the word. Very hopeless. Yes. Need to be more hopeless. Right now.
Toriko could feel as he came closer that his heat enveloped more of her body, and almost on instinct she moved her legs over the side of the bed and started to get up, her hand still reaching out to him, drawn towards him on some level underneath her consciousness that she didn't fully control. 3
Hiei stood there, not moving any closer nor moving any further from where he stood, eyeing the cat that suddenly seemed very, very happy to be called by "hopeless". But he ignored Maneshi and turned back to Toriko, watching her expression curiously. She seemed almost as if she wanted him to continue to get closer, something he didn't want to do. Why, he didn't know.
"Feel better yet?"
~!**!~
Akari huffed and tossed the controler to the side, onto the nearest cushion that had fallen from the bed and onto the floor."Welp, I think," she glanced over at Yusuke, or rather, on the opposite side of the boy, on the floor. Nabu was curled up, snoring lightly.
"I think I better get going." she finally finished, stretching her arms above her head and legs out in front of her. She hadn't realized just how late it was. "Nabu's had a long day," she joked. *
"I was thinking the same thing." Kurama began, "In regards to ending my stay here." He turned to address Kuwabara as he stood up, "My thanks for entertaining us. And putting us up for the night." He added.
~!**!~
Hiei's question jolted Toriko back to the present and she opened her eyes to find herself standing in front of him. She quickly dropped her hand, thankful that she hadn't accidentally kept going as she was aiming for chest level. She figured he'd gotten enough of that for one night.
She only nodded to answer his question, her head dropping a little bit as the heat kept washing over her. Her eyes closed to half-mast as she felt herself relaxing, basking in the warmth he projected outwards. 3
Hiei raised a singular brow at Toriko, who physically relaxed, shoulders slumping and eyes closing, every single muscle seeming to relax for the first time he'd seen them that way in days. He eyed the hand she had outstretched to him and the distance left between it and his chest. And he didn't mind all of the sudden.
And he stood there, letting the heat slowly rise until he figured it was borderline uncomfortable, at which point he let it thrum throughout the room at a steady rate. Much like a heartbeat.
~!**!~
Akari stood and sauntered over to Nabu, gently tapping his head to gain his attention, but he didn't even twitch an ear. She sighed and scooped her hands underneath his body, supporting his weight in her arms easily. "Kuwabara, tell your sister I said thanks for, uh.." she glanced down at the outfit she still wore, "the help." She turned and picked up her outfit that she'd been wearing the night her and Kurama had ended up taken, not checking for the small seed she still wondered if was there. "And for anything else."
"Yeah, sure."
"I'm gonna stay, cuz I wanna kick your butt in tekken!"
"You're on!"
Akari smiled and turned to walk through the apartment and to the door, taking that as her cue to leave. *
Kurama fell in step beside Akari as she left, enjoying the night air, his own clothing from the night before held in one arm.
"A good day, all said and done." He pronounced quietly as a breeze lifted through his hair.
~!**!~
Maneshi murrled and jumped quietly from the bed to the floor, winding himself between Toriko's ankles in a figure eight pattern before going over and doing the same once to Hiei, disappearing underneath the hem of the cloak and coming out the other side. He paused to look up at Toriko, who appeared to be enjoying this as much as he, he compared her to a stone statue that did not seem keen to move any time soon, then rubbed his head on Hiei's ankle again, starting to purr at him. 3
Hiei looked down at the cat that rubbed on him, though only seeing him occasionally as his body wove from under and out of his cloak. He looked up again at Toriko, suddenly closing his hands on her shoulders and walking her backwards, until she was sitting on the bed again. "That's enough for today," he grumbled, letting his energy slowly recede back into his body, the warmth of the room slowly, as slowly as the breeze moving in from outside, seeped away.
After all, he knew that if she took in too much energy at once, recover too rapidly, she could end up lightheaded, even unconscious.
~!**!~
Akari gave a small nod once, the cool breeze calming the excitement from the day's gaming that had settled as a red shade on her cheeks. "Is this something you guys do often?" she asked curiously, eyes remaining forward. *
"As often as possible." Kurama allowed, pausing before going on, "Which isn't as often as I'm sure they would like. At least not for me." He chuckled, "I can only image they're up as often as Kuwabara will allow, accounting for school work and all."
~!**!~
Toriko opened her green eyes and regarded Hiei thoughtfully before shaking her head a little.
"It is not your energy." She tentatively reached up and rested her fingertips against one of the wrists that had forced her back and down. She could feel even through the sleeves of the cloak how much warmth his skin radiated naturally. "It is your heat." 3
Hiei didn't make to walk away from Toriko, since his heat energy was still slowly pulsing through the room, albeit at a quieter rate and slowing even more by the minute. His head tilted to the side at her words, understanding what she meant, but still considering the moment. He could let his energy pulsate dully through the room, if he so wished, but how long would it take before the relief was just enough to get her back to how she needed to be?
He pulled away, letting his heat continue to roll through the room. But, he found himself wishing he still had water on hand, so he turned to leave the room for a moment, not caring if she followed or not, since the heat would be leaving with him while he went in search of another water bottle…
Almost tripping on Maneshi, who continued to move around his ankles, as he went.
~!**!~
"Hm. Too bad," Akari commented, smiling as Nabu shifted just a little in her arms, making her shift her hold on him and her outfit again. "It's a wonder they don't get mad enough at one another to break something," she mused, referring to their tempers and extremely loud behaviours, their rambunctious personalities.
"And… Shizuru?" she suddenly asked, remembering the woman's name only in that moment. "She's pretty… uh.. insightful? Does she do anything?" *
"I believe she has not been told, but I would bet she could easily master Reikibuki. And at a much faster rate than Kuwabara. A high spiritual awareness seems to run in their family, but she has it more than even Kuwabara does." Kurama thought of her wielding an energy sword and the thought actually made him glad to have her on the human side. A few years earlier and she might have been the Spirit Detective of Human World.
~!**!~
Toriko watched him go from where she sat on the bed, visibly leaning forward as his warmth left her, but she did not want to move and leaned back again, a little sigh escaping her mouth as she ruefully watched Maneshi make no hesitation in following the ...demonic radiator.
The relaxation his momentary presence had afforded made Toriko's head droop and she started to fall back asleep where she sat.
Maneshi, as soon as Hiei was out of the bedroom door, leapt up onto the fire demon's shoulders and spread out there, any former thoughts of threats completely gone from his mind. 3
Hiei walked briskly down the stairs, only glancing at the cat on his shoulders with a small glare, still only a bit upset about the water incident. It had been a waste of an entire water bottle. It didn't take him long to reach the fridge, grab the last bottle he could immediately see, and with a single twist had the bottle open and to his lips as he turned and walked back up the stairs without a pause.
So when he returned to Toriko's room, her eyes drooped shut, the heat returned in the room with him, and he only stood there, watching her as he continued to drink from the bottle, downing half of it in a matter of a few seconds.
~!**!~
Akari nodded in understanding, not surprised. After all, the one time Akari had been addressed by the girl, she'd easily picked up on the turmoil she'd felt about the situation, and Akari still couldn't shake the feeling that the moment had given her; slightly nervous about being so easily read and rather curious at the same time.
She stayed quiet as they continued to walk underneath the street lights, the sidewalk oddly empty aside from the two of them. Normally even a human or three would pass by at this time. Perhaps it was because of the cloud cover that there wasn't anyone around.
"Well," she finally spoke up, pausing just before the street corner where she'd have to turn to head home, "I suppose I'll see you in class."
The mere thought of class suddenly put a damper on her mood.
"Maybe no one will be kidnapped over the next few days," she grumbled, more to herself than him, before turning to walk around the corner. *
At her words, Kurama seriously considered offering to walk her home just to be sure, but had she been truly nervous she would not have said it like she had, so he let her go and continued in the direction of his own home, thinking that at this late of an hour he was likely going to be able to slip in and upstairs unnoticed.
~!**!~
Maneshi purred in Hiei's ear without restraint, his tail curling upwards and back down over the fire demon's shoulder with a steady rhythm. He butted his head against the side of Hiei's face, his eyes opening only slightly to see that Toriko was not quite asleep yet. She almost raised her head at Hiei's reentry, but by the looks of things she would soon be asleep. And a very good sleep too, Maneshi could tell. 3
Hiei crossed the room, twisting the lid onto the bottle as he approached the window, pulling it closed and latching it. Then he moved and simply sat in a chair in the room, not really tired enough to go back to sleep just yet. Especially with a loudly purring cat in his ear.
He got comfortable in the chair quickly, his eyes looking around the room, inspecting every inch of it almost as if there were secrets he had yet to discover, or anything of the sort. But it was just a room, and he was sitting in just another chair. He glanced at Maneshi, all irritation gone as he reached up and pat him once on the head. Again, he found himself wondering how he'd gotten into the situation of watching over both girl and cat.
~!**!~
Akari wandered the rest of the way home, eyes on her surroundings just in case, actually passing a few humans on her way. A couple watched her, taking note of her out of place-ness in the late night, but passed by her all the same.
And when she did reach home, she walked through the front door, locked it behind her, and then sat on the couch, Nabu still in her embrace. She unfolded the jeans in her hand and sifted through the front pockets, finding the seed she had inadvertently stolen from the fox demon. "And how on earth did he not notice?"
"Who?" Nabu's sleepy voice asked, but with the twitch his paw gave, she knew he wasn't really awake. *
~!**!~
Maneshi thrummed happily into Hiei's ear for a moment longer before standing and jumping down to the floor, walking curiously over to Toriko.
He lifted himself onto his back legs and balanced himself against the edge of the bed with one paw, reaching for her knee with the other, his expression wanting to know if she felt any better.
Toriko's eyes opened a little as he gently pawed at her and she reached over with a sleepy smile and rubbed her hand over her head between his ears which flattened apart as she did so.
He made the last tiny leap and ended up in her lap where she leaned back a little to give him room, one of her hands going behind her to keep her up while the other stroked his fur.
Despite all of the sleep she had gotten that day, none of it had been restful, given the fits her muscles would wake her with. This time, though, much of that pain was gone, especially from her limbs from where she stood in front of Hiei for a bit. It felt...nice.
"I'm okay." She mumbled as Maneshi reached his head up to her face, his nose and whiskers twitching questioningly at her. 3
Hiei watched Maneshi move to Toriko, not moving anything to say that he had any intention of getting up as well. He simply listened, watched, curiously. At the words Toriko said to Maneshi, he decided to let his heat pulsate just a bit more through the room, keeping it a nice, constant, warm temperature since it seemed to be helping.
Why hadn't he thought of it earlier?
Oh well. It was helping now, and that was all that even remotely mattered. He stretched his legs out, propping his ankles up on the nearest surface, which just so happened to be the end of the bedpost. But it wasn't comfortable, so he let his feet fall to the ground once more, getting cozier into the chair. *
It didn't take much longer for Toriko to realize sitting was not as comfortable as she wished for it to be, and Maneshi hopped out of her lap as she pulled her legs up onto the bed and turned over to her side to lay down. He joined her again, cat-attack over for the night, curling up near the arms that she pulled up by her face. They both fell asleep this way, and fairly quickly too. 3
~!**!~
The last few days had been, in the most basic way of saying so, boring. A bit stressful since Akari had ended up so far behind, she'd had to stay behind several instances for lectures. And, quite honestly, she hadn't minded. It wasn't like anything was going on at the moment anyway, and frankly, she enjoyed a couple of the classes.
Today, though, she'd ended up actually catching up in class, actually keeping up now that, even in math, she'd learned all that she needed to in order to associate symbols she didn't know with ones she did know. And between classes, she'd been set on getting through the crowded halls without instance, but she'd ended up, somehow, talking to Botan on the rooftop.
One thing lead to another, and, well, here she was, standing in Koenma's office, in front of the desk the small prince sat at.
"As I'm sure you realize, since those two are out taking care of that, you two are my only option for this. Hiei simply won't do, because he'd act too rashly, since he's taken it upon himself to care for Toriko."
"So...Recon?" *
Catching up had been a matter of spending the time to do so for Kurama. Getting papers finished and turned in. Doing the backlog of homework that had cropped up. As he had not planned on being away for quite so long, he was not as far ahead in his assignments that it did not take a couple solid hours for him to finish the busy work.
In any case, he almost huffed to himself for he had not yet had the time to get ahead and as he stood here in Koenma's office he seriously considered the notion that he should have made the time.
"Yes. Recon." Koenma repeated, unsure if he particularly cared for Akari to sum it up with such a word, but knowing it fit. "I don't expect you to find anything game-changing, but it needs to be done and I have my people here wrapped up in their own business for the time being." He cleared his throat, "You are also not, as I'm sure you may have guessed, to engage the enemy until we know more."
Kurama did not turn his eyes from Koenma, but he did look peripherally at Akari to gauge her reaction. He assumed that she, along with himself, still had no access to her demonic energy. He also assumed that Koenma knew this and had intentionally given them recon work as it was likely to be the least difficult thing the toddler could offer them.
"The building where you found Toriko. The cave in which you were held. And one new location. You're to scout them out and report back your findings to me." Koenma leaned forward to hand Kurama a slip of paper with the addresses on them. "And no fighting, you two! We cannot afford any mishaps with this mission." 3
Akari listened, giving a brief nod at the prince to show she understood the no fighting policy on this one. Quite frankly, she hadn't planned on fighting unless something absolutely called for it, since she'd been toying with her energy lately and still had nothing. DIdn't know if it was the same with Kurama, but figured that since she couldn't exactly feel his demonic energy next to her, it had to be at least similar to when it had first happened.
"Got it," she said as the prince repeated himself, her eyes moving to look at the paper Kurama retrieved, not catching the addresses before it was out of her immediate sight. She glanced at Kurama, then turned to leave, knowing Botan would be the one to get them out of this world and where they needed to be.*
"I must admit," Kurama started, "I do not remember much of this place or what happened in it. Still."
The two of them were staring up at the tall building before them, the large metal doors an imposing sight to behold. 3
Akari let out a slow breath through her nose as she stared at the building, her mind a complete contrast to Kurama's. "Well," she began, but couldn't think of anything to say other than, "It was Toriko's power. Energy like that can do that, y'know. There's even a moment I don't remember completely."
And it was true. There was a moment where she knew she had been called forward, but between then and when she receded into her own illusion, she remembered only a small bit of talking to Hiei. That was about it. "Let's get this over with," she grumbled, reaching forward and pushing the doors open. Inside, as she had figured it would be, the building was dark.
But it still smelled slightly of charred remains and… blood. It was obvious there were no windows to air out this place, meaning the smell had been simply cooking in the summer air for the past week or so. *
"Abandoned, then." Kurama couldn't help his face squinting a bit as they stepped inside. "Not that I expected any less with no cautionary from Koenma."
He went a bit farther, his eyes letting him see the entire room what with the doors remaining open behind them. Rectangular shaped. Closed off. Concrete floor.
"Is everything still here as you left it?" Kurama called out. 3
Akari meandered inside, nose wrinkled at the leftover smell that told her what Kurama had just observed. She wanted to wander further inside, but there was no need to. She could see every bit of the room, unlike the first time she'd been in here.
But, was it the same? She glanced around, even up at the ceiling.
"Yes." She finally responded, noting the ropes that still hung from the beams overhead, the fan still turning slowly. Even the remains were still in place, left behind like a chew toy that no longer squeaked. "You know, I at least thought he'd clean up after himself," she mused, eyes again training up at the place where Hiei had taken Toriko down. "Ready to leave when you are." *
"If he was not actually here, then I can't see him wanting to leave safety to do so." Kurama let his eyes rove the room from top to bottom and he sighed, wishing not for the first time that day that he had access to his energy so he could make a complete sweep. "I suppose there is nothing left to do here." He turned away and shook his head, thinking that Koenma had better not wanted them to be any more thorough without the use of their energy. 3
Akari nodded, finding the truth behind Kurama's words to be one she should have recognized before speaking on it. She herself considered cleaning it up, but the building was just so far away that it wouldn't matter. The doors took a sufficient amount of strength to open, and it was just standing in the middle of nowhere. No humans were likely to come out here. Not for anything.
At his words of continuing on, Akari turned to leave the building altogether as well, shutting the doors behind them before they turned and made their way across the greater distance into the wooded area outside of town, in search for the tunnels she and Kurama had both been carried from. And surprisingly, the walk didn't take as long as she had thought it would, and in no time at all, they were in the darkness of the cave, flashlights in hand, the beam shining through the room and piercing the darkness that still felt weighed down.
Or perhaps it was her reaction to being underground. She didn't know. *
"I don't remember seeing much after the barrier came down." Kurama admitted here again as well. "In fact, other than the people, it seemed rather barren, though I didn't have long to look."
Their path was straightforward, bending downwards farther into the earth at some point. They made their way carefully as the path was not beaten, but rocky and full of ruts and stones that impeded their progresses.
Eventually the tunnel opened up around them, the ceiling rising higher as they stepped into a cavern.
Kurama let his light shine up and across the room, leading it back down to follow the wall as it met with the ground directly across from them. That's where he assumed they had been held and he made his way around boulders and the like to the area. 3
"Well, that's pretty much how it was, really. You didn't miss much," Akari replied to Kurama, a hand in her pocket as she walked, her feet scuffling just a little to endure she didn't lose footing. And as they walked, she realized just how quick she must have fallen asleep once the others had gotten there, making it easier for her mind to accept that there wasn't any danger. Odd, how it had worked that way.
And as they stepped into the cavern, her light followed the walls, looking in each "corner" of the room, which really was just rounded upwards rocks and dirt, which explained why she had never actually touched the ceiling when searching for cameras, which obviously hadn't ever been there. After a few minutes, her light shone on impressions in the dirt, where her and Kurama had sat, lay, or shifted around during their stay. "You know, we only stayed overnight, but it felt like a week," she grumbled, remembering just how slow time had passed.
"Wait, did you bring cards this time?" She joked, her light continuing to rove over the cavern, eyes following the beam. *
Kurama chuckled, "I thought they might be too distracting this time around. I should come up with some plant that grows a deck of cards just in case of any future capture with a compatriot that might occur."
He picked up nothing around them, no sign that anyone had been here any more recently than they, again wishing he could reach out and scan with more than just his eyes or his nose.
"If you haven't found anything, I think we're done here." He lifted his light to search for her. 3
Akari regarded the footprints in the room carefully, her light staying trained on the floor as she analyzed the scuff marks where she'd spun to her feet when the barrier had come down, the place where Kurama had walked to her side, then fallen. The places where Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan had stood, all crying their eyes out. The place where Otento and two other demons had stood.
Each place was undisturbed, aside from trails that bugs had made across them. By the time Kurama spoke up, she had already decided that nothing was out of the ordinary. "Yeah. Let's skidaddle," she commented, blinking at the light Kurama turned back on her. Sure, it wasn't right in her eyes, but she still felt as if it were. She turned her own light towards him, glancing at him momentarily before turning it around to the tunnel's opening and continuing out they way they had come. "As for your card plant idea, it won't do any good if the enemy can suppress your energy. Kinda pointless." *
As the started to walk out, Kurama continued the conversation.
"Well, I would have to make a few adjustments, certainly. If the plant could be activated by, say, water instead of my manipulating it with energy." He smiled, "If I can't even spit on a seed, my problems are probably big enough that I would not be worrying after my boredom." 3
A small laugh bubbled from Akari's lips at the mental image of Kurama, who was about as proper as a demon could be, spitting on a seed. "I would pay to see that, mister prim and proper." Of course, she was teasing. She got quiet again as they continued walking, the odd mental image still burned to the forefront of her mind, nagging at her, not leaving.
And by the time they were out in the sun again, she was almost sure she would be scarred by the image for eternity. *
"There are many things one might do to stave off boredom, don't you think so?" He smiled pleasantly as they stepped out into the sun. He fished the paper out of his pocket and passed it to Akari. "Last stop. We'll have to be more careful there I'm sure." 3
Akari smiled in response, but otherwise didn't say anything about his remark.. She turned off the flashlight and continued carrying it down by her side, her other hand retrieving the paper with the coordinates on it for their next location. She studied it, memorized it, then passed the paper back to Kurama. "Let's just hope it's as barren as the last two places." She turned, glancing around herself before taking her fist and actually knocking on a tree, abiding by the human superstition of "knocking on wood".
And then she continued about their way to the place where Koenma had described a rather large, two-story, run down factory. *
"If they've been using their teleporter as a main means of transportation, I imagine there will be few tracks leading to or from the facility. If any." Kurama noted as the got closer and stopped, still behind cover. 3
Akari nodded, standing behind the cover of trees as she analyzed the windows, looking for moving silhouettes. No matter how long she stood there, she didn't see anything out of place. Vines had grown up the sides of the brick, the broken windows were replaced with cobwebs, spiders still spinning webs here and there. She wanted to get closer, to move to another angle, to do something to get a better view.
"I'm circling," she said quietly, not waiting for a reply before making her way through the trees, staying in the shadows, eyes on the building as she moved around to the back of the building. *
Kurama nodded, his eyes staying on the windows and doors as she moved off. He saw no change in the upper rooms as she began to move, and no indication there was in fact anything within the bottom floor either.
There had to be a reason Koenma thought there might be something here and so Kurama continued searching for the signs.
His eyes moved to the main doors, but he could see no one had disturbed them in a long time, and that alarmed him more than anything. It very well could mean that the ones they were searching for did in fact hold base camp at this location. 3
As Akari continued, her feet moving slowly, she realized that the place was quiet. Not the kind of quiet that meant it was safe but…
There were no birds nearby. Her eyes turned to the trees, seeing a lone squirrel looking down at her before running to hide. This could be bad. Her eyes turned back to the building, her body having stopped moving at the realization of the utter silence. She had hunkered down for the moment, eyes searching again and again for any signs of movement. Again, none.
She continued, realizing her energy being sealed away was exactly what was needed in this situation. Her steps were as silent as could be, avoiding all sticks and the like as she found herself staring at the back entrance to the building.
A single door hung, barely attached at the hinges, open and moving with the wind. Wooden, and it creaked with disuse. She frowned, crouching even lower in the brush as she waited on Kurama, knowing he would likely circle around to meet her after his own search of the place.
If this was where Otento was hiding, she didn't want to stick around much longer. *
Kurama waited until Akari disappeared from sight before he began moving around the other side of the building, eyes constantly keeping tabs of the area around him, but hearing and seeing no changes.
"Nothing." He said in a low voice, looking at her questioningly, though he expected a similar answer. 3
Akari glanced to her right as Kurama appeared, then turned her eyes back to the hanging door, the broken windows, still searching for any sign of movement. "No," she replied quietly, then turned to the trees. "But that's the unsettling part. Not even any birdsong."
She took a deep breath, glancing back to the building. "I guess the only way to know is to… go inside…" Her stomach rolled at the thought, especially since her energy was locked away still, meaning if things got bad for whatever reason, she wouldn't be able to help in getting away as easily. "He wanted recon. I guess we can't go back without knowing for sure…" she said as she began moving forward a bit more, slowly as she could, listening. *
Kurama knew by the looks of the door that nothing had gone in or out of it in a long time either.
If the demons they sought truly were inside, they were in trouble already. He did not think they would hesitate to capture them a second time.
But he felt as if they needed to know for sure, otherwise Koenma sending them out there would be for nothing should they return with a simple "don't know" in regards to the location.
He knew Akari would be able to more easily slip into the opening of the door without setting off any alarm. She would be able to faster remove herself as well. If she saw nothing at first, he would go inside as well.
Kurama followed her, eyes and ears open. 3
Akari slowly moved forward, her feet making no noise as her eyes surveyed every inch of the building the closer she got. Part of the building looked weak, as if it could fall if hit just right, and she found herself making mental note, just in case. And as she moved forward, she found no sounds inside the building immediately. No sign of another being having traipsed through.
So she glanced around inside the hallway that had several rooms lining it, realizing just how many rooms this building must have. And, after her brief pause in the doorway, she continued forward, now standing upright, spine straight and ears twitching in the silence as the wind made small sounds, such as a whistle, through the place.
Her eyes turned to the first room, finding nothing out of the norm. Old mechanisms that were rusted, unused for decades it seemed. She turned to the right, seeing a closed door with a broken viewing window. Again, no one, and many rusted machines.
She glanced back at Kurama, silently telling him all seemed clear, before turning and continuing down the hall, seeing more and more empty rooms. The hall branched to the right ahead, but for the moment, she didn't consider going too far, even though the stairs looked rather tempting to explore. *
Kurama came inside after her, no longer apprehensive about an approach from behind them and more concerned about what lay ahead.
He still heard nothing that might give away someone as being there, and while he may have previously lamented not having access to his demonic energy, he knew now that even if he was capable of using it, it would have been at this time that he masked it anyway for fear of a sweep being used to find him rather than the other way around.
Kurama crept up behind Akari and placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, motioning that he was going to take the right side of the hallway.
"If either of us are found, might as well shout." He murmured just as softly as he could, moving away from her. 3
Akari paused when Kurama's hand touched her shoulder, pulling her to a stop briefly as he spoke. She nodded once, glancing at the left side of the fork in the hall, not minding that he'd chosen. She could almost bet that the right led straight to the front of the building anyway, close to the front doors, and the left… well, she'd just have to see.
As he moved away, she did as well, turning left and surveying the number of rooms she had to look into before it again branched off. A total of eight rooms to inspect, and she didn't want to waste any time, so she cautiously began walking forward, carefully leaning in to look into the first room.
It was empty, save for a single table in the center. Cards on the surface, along with bottles, none of which had dirt on them, she realized. She glanced back at Kurama, but turned and decided to go on anyway, wanting to make sure they wouldn't leave here without definitive answers.
The next room was larger, and even had a door to another room in the far wall. Curious, she stepped inside, looking around at the lab tables that were set up, covered in dirt and insects of all kinds. *
As soon as Kurama went to the right, the hall made a left turn and he paused. Every single room in the hallway, four on either side, had their door closed.
Alarm bells had been going off in his head since they stepped foot in the building and he heaved an inaudible sigh.
Of course every door was going to be closed. Closed doors were more likely to have people behind them.
Kurama crouched, the first two doors on either side preceded by a line of windows and he slipped past them, hearing nothing from either room and moving to the next set, pausing at both to listen for any hint of sound. 3
Akari slowly moved through the room, finding no evidence of anyone having been in this area, aside from perhaps the door that was only ajar across the room. And as she moved closer, she saw that the room inside was darkened, and her hand very lightly rested on the door, palm spread against the wood, and slowly pushed it open to peer carefully inside. Nothing.
She took a deep breath, and turned to move away, but something wasn't right. Something made alarms go off in her head. She glanced around, searching for the source, and was at first glad that there wasn't one.
But her eyes zeroed in on the floor, realizing her footsteps were not tracked in on any dirt or debris. She glanced at the open door behind her, suddenly realizing it had opened without a single sound, as if it had been used when no other door had been.
She stopped breathing, listening to the silence. What had gotten her attention?
There.
She could just make out footsteps, and she could tell by the amount of sound and the direction they came from that it was not Kurama.
"Come on, at least go for the good ones." a voice grumbled, and Akari was slipping inside the door she'd just opened, sliding it shut until it remained ajar, just as she'd found it.
"There are no good ones here. Only hikers."
"The scrawny ones aren't very satisfying, you know."
Three. There were at least three demons, but none of their voices were familiar. *
After this next set of doors, Kurama was going to have to turn around. The hall ended in a wall. He wondered if they were going to have to check upstairs after they rejoined.
The door on the right proved no more fruitful than any of the others, but the left one was not entirely closed and Kurama examined the area. He saw no footprints leading to the door, but why was it open, even if just this crack?
The others appeared undisturbed, and the fact that this one was opened caused Kurama to lightly press a finger onto it.
The door swung inward more easily than an old one should have and Kurama slipped inside, standing up to survey the room.
Nothing stood out to him immediately, though he didn't exactly expect demons to leave the bones of their victims strew about if they had any sort of intelligence.
Unfortunately, he also knew there was someone here, his ears perking for any trace of where they might be coming from. They were watching him, waiting to see what he would do, much like he waited to see how they would respond.
He had to know. Had to know if this was the place their demon nested.
"I know you're there. And you know I'm here. Why not show yourself and get it over with?" 3
Akari waited in the darkened supply closet, listening, her back against the wall and a hand still on the door to keep it from shutting entirely.
And the footsteps got closer, then stopped. Silence ensued for a few minutes, though she figured the demons were still in the hallway. Her breathing was small, just about as quiet as she could make it without holding her breath entirely, knowing demon hearing was much better than a human's.
"You smell that?"
"You mean dirt and human, right?"
"Moron!"
A sound as someone was hit, a dull thud on skin that sounded thick. A frown pulled her lips down. She hadn't thought of her own scent.
"I do now."
Silence. Akari, still trying to figure out if these demons were who she needed to avoid entirely or not, moved further from the door, but kept an eye on the light that filtered through the opening. And the silence seemed to stretch for several minutes, though she knew they hadn't left yet. Even the dumbest of demons knew when they weren't alone once they found a smell to follow.
Her eyes moved behind her as she backed into the opposite wall, feeling something metal jab into her back and make a very small sound. She grabbed the handle, hearing the footsteps move towards the closet.
And as soon as that door opened, she opened the one behind her, turning and dashing to the next room to avoid a knife that had been thrown at her.
"HEY!" *
Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off! -Star