Vannen: And we're almost to the point of getting the guys out of their current predicament. Only 11 reviews away from them being released.
Yusuke: I want out!
Vannen: How's it feel to want?
Yusuke: Pretty bad actually.
Vannen: Then keep on suffering.
Hiei: Hn.
Vannen: Yes, he is a moron.
Kurama: You understood him?
Vannen: Of course I did. Oh, and that reminds me. Kurama, you're being let go.
Kurama: I am?
Vannen: Yep, you can thank our wonderful reviewer known as Kayeth for that. She paid a wonderful amount for your freedom. Unties Kurama
Kurama: What did she give you?
Vannen: eats a cookie I'm a sucker for chocolate. If you can't bribe me with that though, I suggest Starburst. I'll do just about anything for a bag ofthem.
Kurama: Well, thank you Kayeth for getting Vannen to let me go. You are wonderful.
Yusuke: Hey! What about me?
Vannen: Actually, I've had a few reviewers say to leave you in that chair for longer then I first said I would. You know, it's actually kind of tempting.
Hiei: Hn.
Vannen: Yes, Hiei, you'll be set free after I get 11 reviews. No worries. Now, to answer questions. Kayeth, I loathe the unabridged version of Les Miserables. It's a wonderful story line but when you have to read 20 pages on the sewers of Paris, 60 pages on battles you don't really care about, and a bunch of other useless junk you tend to despise the book. Yes, I love the abridged version and read it often, but Yusuke is being tortured with the unabridged. Hiei just seems to be tuning it out.
Hiei: Hn.
Vannen: Thought so. Everqueen, for this, Genkai still has the ability to take on her younger form like she did in the Dark Tournament. I know, a little off, but it works for my purposes. That's the beauty of being the author, you get control! Buahaha!
Yusuke: Her laugh scares me.
Vannen: Shut-up dimwit. Anyway, that should do it. Hope you all are enjoying this.
Kurama: Vannen doesn't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Harry Potter. Please, refrain from suing her as she has very little that she'll be able to pay.
Vannen: Thanks Kurama! On with the fic! Here we go!
Part 6
Trolls, Pride, Concussions, Help, and Hatching
Hiei crept slowly along the corridor, his katana drawn and held confidently yet firmly in his hand. The troll he followed had just lumbered into his current passage from an adjoining hall. Luckily, all students had cleared the hallway seconds before the troll had come into it.
With a smirk, Hiei switched the grip on his sword and sprinted forward, tilting the blade into a slight angle in front of him. He lept and brought the blade down onto the creatures shoulder, squinting slightly to help guard his vision against the blood he was sure would follow his strike.
He was thrown back as his katana hit the troll with a resounding ring, as if he had hit steel instead of flesh and bone. Still, the troll bellowed in pain and turned to glare at the small demon dressed in black that had just bruised it.
Growling, Hiei tried again, this time going directly for the throat. He hadn't noticed the spiked club the troll held and paid dearly for it when it smashed into his shoulder and was again thrown into the wall, this time his head slamming against it.
Shortly before the group of fighters had split up, Kurama had seen Harry Potter and his friend Ron Weasley run out of the Great Hall and turn in the opposite direction of the Gryffindor tower. Explaining quickly to Hiei, the fox followed the two boys, wondering what they were up to.
"Harry," Ron whined a few minutes later, fear evident in his shaking voice, "I think the troll's left the dungeon." He was starring fixedly at the wall of an adjoining passage where an enormous shadow showed in the flickering candle light.
"I think you're right Ron," Harry replied, also watching the shadow.
"Quick," Kurama said grabbing their collars and pulling them into an open classroom. The two opened their mouths to speak but Kurama wasn't paying attention. He leaned against the wall, his head turned towards the opening of the door, and his eyes watched the slow troll attentively. As it came nearer, he pulled the two boys against the wall next to him. The large creature went on its way, unaware of the three youth's presence. Instead, it found its way through the doorway on the opposite side of the hall.
Harry thought quickly and crept across the hall, holding his breath. Slowly, quietly, he approached the door, reached out, grabbed it, slammed it, and turned the key that someone had so conveniently left in the lock.
"Harry," Kurama sighed and followed the boy out of the room, shaking his head. "Wonderful job, but next time, tell me what you're about to do."
"I didn't want to draw attention," the boy replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Well, that takes care of-" Ron was stopped mid-sentence by a high-pitched scream.
Kurama turned and stared. "The girls' bathroom?" he cried and yanked the door open, breaking the lock in the process.
"Hermione!" Ron and Harry yelled as they entered, only to stare up at the towering troll. Luckily, it hadn't noticed them. Unluckily, it had noticed the girl. She was crouched under the sinks and was desperately trying to evade the swinging club of the monstrous beast.
"Move!" Kurama yelled and pulled out his wand at the same time. If he needed a weapon, now was a good time to be carrying one. Muttering a quick incantation, he fired a bolt of lightning at the creature's head, creating a thunderous crack. Thank Inari for the little stick that could manipulate his powerful, yet limited powers. The troll, distracted, turned his beady little eyes on the fox demon.
"How did you do that?" Hermione breathed as she scrambled away from the troll on her hands and knees.
"Explanations later, nowwe need to get out of here," Kurama spun on his heal and pushed the three along in front of him. They were almost to the door when Kurama was lifted bodily into the air. His wand fell out of his hand in his surprise.
"A little help would be nice," he growled as he did a vertical sit-up to avoid being smashed to bits by the club that was swinging towards his head. He winced as he felt his ankle twist painfully in the resulting swing the troll caused by the momentum of its attempt to hit him.
Ron pulled out his wand and aimed it at the troll, panicking when he drew a blank.
"Swish and flick," Hermione coached as she fumbled in her pockets for her own wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron yelled as he did as he was told. The club was torn right out of the troll's hand in mid swing. "Cool," he murmured and in his lack of concentration, the weapon crashed down on its original wielders head. Kurama was thrown a few feet off to the side. Before he could hit ground, he flipped, placed his feet down, and skidded over to the wall.
"What is going on in here? Explain yourselves!" Professor McGonagall cried as she saw the destruction that the troll had caused. Wood from the stalls was strewn across the floor, water was leaking from broken sinks, and pieces of the sink were covering the ground.
Ron and Harry started stammering at the same time and Kurama attempted to sneak out behind the teachers when he noticed that Snape was just entering and had just spotted them. The demon grumbled incoherently under his breath.
"It's my fault, Professor." Everyone stared in disbelief at Hermione as she kept her eyes cast down, as if interested in one of the pieces of wood that littered the floor. "I went looking for the troll and..."
Kurama tuned out the rest of her excuse as he contemplated what was going on. The student that was supposed to be perfect in every way was down right lying to a teacher. Why would she... His thoughts trailed off as his sensitive nose picked up the familiar scent of blood. He glanced at the floor and saw that some was dripping by Professor Snape's robes. His thoughts continued but in a different direction as McGonagall punished Hermione and rewarded Harry, Ron, and himself.
Jin and Touya crept along after the two trolls they were tailing.
"How do you want to do this?" the ice mage asked his over enthusiastic friend.
"I keep 'em buseh, an' you do th' res'?"
"That will work," Touya thought as he nodded and formed a blade of ice across his hand. A slightly cocky grin covered his features as he picked up the pace, Jin matching him as he started to fly.
"'ere we go!" Jin called and zipped forward, pulling wind behind him, knocking both trolls off balance. Touya raced up as one fell to the ground, his sword slicing across the soft tissue at the throat.
"One down," he thought and turned to the second troll. Jin was flying in front of it, dodging the swinging mace with a little difficulty due to the low ceiling of the hall. "He's too close," Touya thought. "This is out of the question," he let go of the power around his blade that kept it frozen. The ice quickly melted.
"A lil' 'elp woul' be noice!" Jin called, unaware that Kurama was yelling the same thing at almost the same time.
"Move!" Touya called as he skidded to a stop in front of the troll. Jin spun in the air and flew to a point behind the ice mage.
"Shards of Winter!" a gold light gathered in the calmer demon's hand. He blew into it, a whistle issued and razor sharp shards of ice buried themselves into the trolls throat and face. It tottered where it stood for a moment then started to topple forward.
"Shimatta!" Touya yelled and turned tail, running. His feet came off the floor as Jin swooped down behind him, caught him under the arms, and lifted him into the air and out of the way of the falling troll. Breathing heavily, he thanked his friend.
Yusuke rubbed his knuckles as he poked the troll he had just knocked unconscious with his foot. Genkai was already walking away from the two trolls that lay in the middle of the hallway.
"Come on, Dimwit," she growled and headed out of the dungeons towards the Ravenclaw dorm room. Shrugging, the student fallowed the teacher.
Raven resisted the urge to snap at the person knocking gently on her door. She didn't know who it was, but she wasn't in the mood to entertain. Instead of opening the door as good manners decreed, she ignored it, continuing to stroke the soft fur on the top of her foxes head.
"Raven?" the voice was quiet, calm, and timid. It had to belong to the girl with blue-ish hair, Yukina. If Raven were to alienate her now, the slightly taller girl would be hurt, something the phoenix was sure wouldn't be a good thing.
"Come in," Raven sighed. The door opened and two sets of feet walked in. "Stop," she ordered. "Yukina, who's behind you?"
"Can't you tell?" a voice asked skeptically.
"Now I can. OUT Koenma!" he growled and threw a pillow. "I'm only in the mood to make one person happy today, and it's not you. Tomorrow doesn't look good either."
The miniature ruler squeaked and fled the room. Raven waited for the door to shut behind him and then turned her attention to Yukina.
"Sit down," she offered. "If Alex is where you want to sit, just give him a nudge, he'll move."
"Alex?"
"The cat," Raven replied, still petting the fox Miro. Smiling slightly, Yukina sat on the edge of the bed opposite of where Raven sat on a chair. Alex, who had been on the foot of the bed, jumped into the girl's lap the second she sat down. Yukina giggled slightly and started petting the black feline.
"So, what did you need?" Raven asked, not bothering to dance around the subject.
"I wanted to know if you were okay."
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
There was a pause before the tentative reply came. "You seemed upset with Hiei and Kurama."
"Hiei and Kurama," Raven repeated her voice hardening and her glare deepening. "Idiots," she growled darkly. "They don't think I can take care of myself. Well, those trolls aren't exactly smart, just really tough skinned. I could handle them easily."
"You know Hiei just doesn't want you in the way and Kurama just worries is all," Yukina told her gently.
"Hn, Kurama…" Raven trailed off for a moment, her head coming up as if thinking. "If he weren't so conceited, he would see that I can handle myself and that I might be an asset to their fights."
Yukina was about to respond but was interrupted by a light tenor voice coming from the doorway.
"You're right," Kurama told the phoenix as he leaned against the doorjamb, holding his injured leg off the floor. "I am conceited and, therefore, my judgment in such matters is often impaired. I apologize."
"Who let you in?" Raven snapped angrily.
"Hiei gave me the password last week, remember?"
"Not into the tower, into my room?" Silently, she added a few choice insults that probably shouldn't be repeated.
Kurama didn't answer. Yukina, trying to smooth things over a little, not really realizing why Raven was so angry at the insult she felt was minor, tried to find a change of subject. Noting the group of fighters behind the kitsune, she found one to be missing.
"Where's Hiei?" she asked getting up while still holding Alex and walking to look further into the common room.
"He hasn't come back yet," Koenma responded, a worried tone in his voice.
"He hasn't?" Raven asked curiously, her anger momentarily slipping to the back of her mind. Her blue eyes flashed as she strained her hearing. Indeed, the tower was short one demonic heartbeat. Instantly, she walked out of her room and stuck her head out the entrance of the Ravenclaw tower. She couldn't hear his approach.
"Bet he didn't know about their thick skin…" she pondered and glanced back at the worried looks being cast her way. Before anyone could protest, she ran out of the tower and down the hall, heading for the dungeons.
"If he's getting his butt kicked," she thought with a smirk, "I'm just going to laugh and laugh and laugh."
She found Hiei leaning against a wall, unconscious. Blood trickled down his face, soaking the white scarf at his neck. Laughing at his predicament would have to come later. There was a troll on the loose and she didn't know which way it had gone. Down in the dungeons, sound had a tendency to echo in all directions, making it difficult for her to pinpoint the creature's location.
Hiei groaned behind her as he started to wake up. She turned and bent so she was on his level again. Gently, she wiped some of the blood off his face and followed the trail up to the gaping wound on the side of his head. Cursing slightly under her breath at the size of it, she tore a piece of cloth from the hem of her shirt and wrapped it around the injury.
"What are you doing, shojo?" Hiei asked groggily as he pushed her hand away.
"Shut up and hold still," she ordered swatting his hand away from hers and resuming her activities of tying a knot in the makeshift bandage. "Now come on," she commanded and helped him to his feet. "We've got a thick skinned troll to find."
"Back to the dormitory," Hieiordered her.
"Yeah, right!" Raven cried angrily. "I doubt you can walk straight! I'm coming with you."
Glaring at the blind phoenix, Hiei noted the stubborn look on her face and decided he wouldn't argue this time. His balance wasn't exactly the best. "Blasted concussion," he thought darkly and started walking in a staggered line. Raven caught up to him and pulled his arm around her short shoulders. Again he decided against protesting, knowing that if he did, she'd probably let him run into a wall and then laugh her butt off at him.
"Left," Hiei ordered, following the troll's energy signal. Raven turned and helped the fire demon down that hall and many more, following his directions. He took his arm from around her shoulders five minutes later and leaned against the wall, thankful she was blind so she wouldn't see his weakness. The troll was just ahead, lumbering around.
Raven unsheathed one of the dirks at her waist and ran to it.
"Shojo!" Hiei yelled after her, but she ignored him and jumped onto the troll's back. She caught its shoulder and swung her feet up onto it, holding on tight while it spun, trying to see its back and what was causing the small amount of weight there.
"Buh-bye, troll," Raven thought and pulled her knife across its throat. As it started to topple over, she jumped back to where Hiei was. "That was easy," she told him.
Hiei didn't respond. Instead, he caught her around her waist, picked her up, and ran further down the hall. The club the troll had been carrying had almost smashed them to bits.
"Misjudged that distance," Raven said sheepishly rubbing the back of her head once Hiei had set her down a few feet away.
"Hn," Hiei growled and slowly walked off with one hand along the wall to help keep him on his feet, back to the Ravenclaw tower with Raven behind him.
Raven stormed to her room without speaking to anyone, her anger at Kurama and Hiei ad returned on her way back to the dorm. Before anyone could say anything to her, her door was shut, sealed with a layer of ice on the inside to prevent intruders, and she was sitting on her chair, stroking Miro's ears again, fuming at the two demons that were becoming a little too protective of her.
Her door creaked open. Hiei leaned against the jam, arms folded across his chest. Before she could snap angrily at him for coming into her room he demanded, "Baka shojo, why?"
"Why what?" Raven snarled angrily.
"Why'd you come after me?"
Raven didn't respond at first. Instead, she let her mind wander. Why had she gone after Hiei without really thinking about it? She was pissed at him. What had gotten into her?
He's your friend, nitwit, a voice at the back of her mind scolded. He saved your butt more than once and so you felt obligated to repay him. Are you really that dense?
Oh shut-up you, Raven growled silently to the voice. You're making me feel guilty.
"Arguments with your sub-conscious?" Hiei asked aloud.
"Stay out of my head!" the phoenix yelled angrily.
"Learn to shield it," the fire demon retorted.
"I would, if someone would teach me…," she grumbled under her breath, folding her arms.
"Hn. Ask the fox."
"And why can't you?"
"My shields work differently than yours would. Ask the fox." He turned and left her room, closing her door behind him.
"I hate him," she told Miro. The fox just yawned and curled into a tighter ball on her lap.
"Where's Hiei-san?" Yukina asked the next morning at breakfast, glancing around the Great Hall. Raven shrugged, not really in a caring mood.
"Haven't seen him," Yusuke said between mouthfuls of food he was shoveling down his throat at his usual fast pace.
Kurama glanced around as well, not finding his short friend. Curious, he called down the mental link between them.
What fox?
Where are you? Breakfast is almost over.
I'm not coming down. It's hatching.
The phoenix?
No, the chicken. Even in this way of speaking, Kurama could hear the sarcasm dripping from Hiei's words.
Should I have someone get your homework for you?
Hn.
I'll ask Yukina to. Kurama paused for a moment. How much longer?
Lunch, the fire demon growled.
Mind if I come and see?
Hn.
I'll bring you some food. The kitsune replied kindly and told the group around him what he'd just been discussing with Hiei.
"He has a phoenix egg?" Raven forgot her anger at that little bit of information. "What kind?"
"Yes he does, but I'm not sure which kind. I didn't know that there was more than one breed." Kurama replied hoping to reconcile with the girl.
"They're separated into two groups," Raven told him after taking a drink of apple juice, "blue and red. Red are the most common, the weaker of the two but the brighter and prettier. Blues are stronger and have more magical qualities, as the wizards call them, and are the most sought after but the hardest to find. There aren't many in existence any more."
"Which are you?" Botan asked.
"Blue. One of the few and I'm forbidden to come in contact with any others. I've been labeled 'Outcast' by the Elders of all remaining phoenix colonies, red and blue alike."
A few murmured their sympathies. Kurama watched Raven for her reaction to the group's kind words. She just shrugged them off, not seeming to care.
"She's resigned herself to that fate," he thought. "She no longer seems to care."
Hn. a ghost of Hiei's bitter voice sounded in the fox's mind as if the fire demon weren't exactly paying attention and had only partially removed himself from Kurama's mind. No more thoughts reached him. Hiei remained silent for the rest of the morning.
"Steady, there Kurama," Raven said, placing a hand on his back to help regain his balance as the two entered Hiei's room that day at lunch. The temperature reached at least one-hundred degrees.
Kurama gasped a few times and sat down in an empty chair in the stifling room. He looked at Hiei.
"It needs to be warm for the first few hours of life," Raven informed the fox, noting the questioning glance. "It will take a while for it to learn to produce its own warmth." Hiei nodded at the girl's explanation, staring at the black egg on his desk that had small cracks running through the shell in all directions.
A small clicking noise could be heard from the egg, and more cracks were forming quickly. As the three watched, one set in particular started to widen and a goop covered blue phoenix poked its curved beak out of its former prison. After three or four more minutes, the entire head was visible and the small bird squawked its anger at being stuck as it continued to struggle out of the shell. It wasn't long until the chick had crawled out of the egg and was blinking repeatedly at the three demons that stood around it.
"Moyasu," Hiei murmured as he picked his pet up and used a piece of cloth to wipe more gunk off its small feathers.
A bell sounded overhead, startling the three. "Classes," Raven grumbled and walked out of the room. Hiei and Kurama followed, the phoenix tucked into the white scarf around the fire demon's neck.
Yusuke and the others waited outside the tower, having just reached it as the bell rang. When Hiei came out, the group gathered around him. He growled slightly.
"So, where's the bird?" Yusuke demanded. He was hit upside the head by Genkai and Raven.
Hiei, ignoring Yusuke, pulled the phoenix out of his scarf and showed it to the others, glaring all the time and daring them to touch his pet. Yukina was the only one he would allow to pet it, but the Koorime didn't make the attempt, staying a good distance from Hiei. It was far too hot for her to be around him. Even at the distance of a couple yards, she felt the effects.
"We should get going," Kurama said quietly to the gathered friends. Hiei nodded at him, silently thanking him for getting the bakas away from him. Kurama just smiled kindly and took his place next to his short friend.
Vannen: Well, that worked. I rewrote most of that, added a lot, took stuff away, rearranged things. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Yusuke: I hated it!
Vannen: That's because you're still listening to Les Miserables. Anyway, I have things to do and books to read for English. Have fun!
Kurama: Please push the button on the bottom of the screen in order to leave a review for Vannen.
Vannen: Thanks Kurama! You're great! Listen to the nice fox! Later all!
