muie5: What do I have to do to get some help around here? Everyone just crashes at my house and doesn't even bother to help out. -rambles on and on-
Kuronue: She needs more sleep...
Yusuke: All she needs is a good knock on the head.
Kuwabara: Urameshi! You wouldn't hit a girl would you?
muie5: And then you eat all my food! Now that is rude! -rambles some more-
Yusuke: Yes...Yes, I would. She is starting to get on my nerves.
Kuronue: Agreed.
-Yusuke and Kuronue hits me over the head with a bat-
Kurama: Now who is going to do the disclaimer?
-everyone looks over at Kurama-
Kurama: -sigh- Fine. muie5 does not own YuYu Hakusho just Kelly, Yumekisu Kageryu, and Heru Mizu
Chapter 5: The Beginning of Warfare
With a smirk, Heru circled back to Kelly with yet another light yank. Blood instantly started to flow down the defenseless human's neck. Instinctively, Kelly tried to get her fingers under the yarn, so that maybe she could try to rip the yarn from her throat. The only thing this action accomplished was to infuriate Heru farther. In turn, Heru jerked hard enough that the yarn disappeared from the surface of Kelly's skin.
Kurama started at Heru once more, but Heru instantly pulled firmly on Kelly's yarn. Blood swallowed the gash while Kelly screamed out in pain. She managed to keep silent throughout the attack, but this was too much. The moment he heard Kelly's cry of anguish, Kurama stopped in his tracks a few yards away.
"I explicitly told you to stay back! I do not intend to decapitate the young lady, but if you insist on trying to attack me, I will have no other alternative," Heru quickly glanced at the group, "So while I have your full attention, I explain this to you miscreants once more. I will leave without killing a single one of you misfits if Kuronue and Youko Kurama comes with me. It is just that simple."
Kurama reverted his rose whip into a single red rose. This prompted a genuine smile from Heru. Pure enjoyment was written all over her face. Kuronue bared his teeth, but Kurama gave him a slight headshake. Reluctantly Kuronue dropped his scythe with a low growl.
"Never…" Kelly gasped out.
"What?" Kuronue whispered as he looked her straight in the eyes with everyone else following suit.
"If they go with you…" Kelly coughed up a handful of blood, "then you'll take them to Kageryu. I won't allow that."
"Foolish girl! It's your life or the life of monsters you don't even care for."
"I don't care! Shuichi could kill you immediately if you were playing fair. But you can't do that, can you? You can't win by fair means alone!"
Heru gave a swift yank on the yarn in response. By now, Kelly could feel the yarn start to dig itself into the muscles of her throat. Kuronue started to move towards Kelly, but Kelly signaled for him to stop.
"It hurts…I have no doubt Heru would cut off my head if I say anymore," Kelly looked straight at Heru, "All I need to do is distract her long enough for Shuichi to take her down," she started to her feet slowly.
"Enough! I am through playing this little game. If you move another muscle, I will decapitate you," Heru warned Kelly as she got to her feet.
"You don't have the guts. If you kill me then you will no longer have any leverage. After I'm dead there will be nothing to stop the others from attacking you."
"Don't tempt me, girl! I could trounce these weaklings without using you as anything," Heru whirled his attention to the others, "Now decide! Will you continue to fight even if it means this girl's death? Or will you come with me peacefully?"
"They will fight!" Kelly declared at the top of her lungs, which resulted in her vomiting up another fist full of blood.
"Kelly, I know what you are doing, but we cannot risk it," Kurama explained.
"Fine. Then don't risk it. I will," Kelly took a shaky step forward as she grabbed the yarn with her right hand.
This movement slacked the yarn enough for Kelly to wrap it around her hand. A grin graced her face as she stared Heru dead in the eyes. Heru pulled slightly on the yarn. All this did was cause the yarn to tighten around Kelly's hand.
"Smarter than she looks," Heru thought with a laugh.
With one last small step forward, Kelly charged Heru. Without a single ounce of hesitation, Heru held tight to the other pieces of yarn and gave up the ability to block Kelly. As Kelly approached her, she placed her hands firmly on the ground. Within seconds, Heru was sprawled out on the ground from a kick square in the center of her face.
When Kelly returned to her feet, she noticed that the yarn that was around her neck had cut through Heru's clothing and left a cut on her left shoulder. Heru pushed herself up to a sitting position while gripping the other pieces of yarn with all her anger.
"You're stronger than I originally thought," Heru admitted.
Kelly spit some blood out of her mouth, "Now let them go."
"But that little kick of yours did no damage," Heru talked over her.
As Heru got to her feet, she jerked sharply on the yarn till it reached the bone in her hand. Kelly gripped her hand as tears filled her eyes. Yet, Heru tugged one more time. This caused the yarn to cut into her hand bone as it yanked her forward. As her hand was wrenched forward, the yarn around her neck was pulled as well. That was it, Kelly crumpled to the ground with a painful cry.
To everyone's surprise, Kelly managed to get to her feet once more. Her eyes were glossed over with tears and her whole body shook. The majority of her top was covered it the continuous flow of blood. It looked like it took all she had to take a few steps towards Heru.
"I don't care," Kelly coughed up a little more blood, "I won't let you win this," cough, "You can kill me if you want," cough, "but I won't stop."
"Fine," Heru snarled, "Then I will just have to kill you. No more fooling around."
Despite the loss of blood, Kelly threw the first punch.
"You stupid girl! Stop it!" Kuronue commanded.
"Don't…call me…stupid!" Kelly barked as she threw another ineffective punch.
Kelly grabbed the yarn, which now had a great deal of slack, and used it as a whip. The yarn made contact with Heru's chest, but only managed to cut the other sleeve. The top of Heru's kimono fell. All that held the rest of the kimono up was the ribbon tied around her waist.
"You insignificant imp! This was my favorite outfit, and you ruined it!" Heru roared as she grabbed the yarn's slack.
Kelly dropped what little guard she had as the others looked on with surprise. Heru did not notice any of this, due to the fury caused by the loss of her outfit.
"You're…You're a guy!"
Kelly stared at the bare chest of Heru. It was obvious that he had a very feminine frame. Over his left bicep was a ragged x-shaped scar that looked like it did not heal correctly. Other than that scar, there appeared to be no other distinguishing features on her enemy.
Heru's body went up in his blue aura. Without notice, he started to wrap his hand in the yarn till it was completely covered. Kelly stood there, motionless and in awe. She still could not get over the small fact that Heru was not a woman but a man.
It took Heru to rush at her before Kelly finally snapped out of her state of shock. Sadly she did not do it in time. Heru made contact with her abdomen. When he pulled his hand away, a rigged hole to the muscle was left on Kelly's abdomen.
"I'm sick and tired of you people! Lady Kageryu wants Kuronue and Youko, but the rest of you are expendable!" Heru snapped as he punched Kelly in the same spot once more.
"I'm such an idiot. If I just stayed out of the way, Heru would have never been pushed this far. I just killed everyone," Kelly thought as tears rolled down her face and blood flowed freely from all of her wounds.
"I'm surprised she hasn't just keeled over from blood loss yet," Yusuke stated nonchalantly.
"That's it! We need her to complete this stupid mission!" Kuronue thought as he tried to run at Heru even with the yarn wrapped around his wrist.
"Stop it! I'm done being pushed around! I'm so sick of it!" Kelly screamed.
Heru prepared to punch Kelly one final time. Before his blow reached her, Kelly fell to the ground. Her color was pure white. Yet, Heru was not done. He placed his right foot firmly on Kelly's head and started to push down.
"You incompetent little…Death is too good for you," Heru grinned as he pushed harder on Kelly's head.
Kurama and Hiei started to inch towards Heru when they heard someone mumble. Apparently, Heru heard this as well since he scanned the area. Just as he finished the scan, Heru was flipped and landed hard on his back. A tan skinned hand with colorful feathers attached the underside had a tight grip on Heru's right ankle.
Everyone froze as they watched Heru's skin turn an earthy brown. Immediately, Heru started to freak out as he watched the earthy brown spread quickly up his body. When it reached his chest, Heru stopped all movement.
His weapon lost all special attributes, to become just normal yarn. The rest of the group untangled themselves without a moment to lose. But, just as quickly has it happened, the earthly brown color disappeared and Heru gasped for air.
Kuwabara ran to the unconscious Kelly, now that they were all free. The others surrounded Heru, who was obviously shaken up by what had just happened to him.
"She is still breathing, but it's shallow!" Kuwabara called over to the others.
"Let's just kill this son of a…"
Heru interrupted Yusuke as he got to his feet with some more yarn in his hands. Kurama took out his rose whip, ready to fight. Heru slowly looked at the four that surrounded him. It was painfully clear to him that some of his organs had shut down, and that his energy was redirected to help restore his injuries. There was no way he would win this second round.
"Do you even have the slightest idea where Lady Kageryu is?" Heru asked spontaneously.
"What is your motive behind asking that question now?" Kurama inquired.
"Well, my intelligence tells me that 'Lord Koenma' doesn't know exactly where my Lady is hiding out. Lucky for you, I do."
"You're starting to get on my nerves!" Yusuke blurter out from the frustration that had built up inside of him the entire fight.
"I have to agree. What are you hoping to achieve?" Kurama asked suspiciously.
"I may be what you consider your 'enemy', but I am honorable. It is apparent whatever just happened to me was done by the human urchin. She has beaten me in a fair…fair-ish battle, therefore you have obtained a new teammate," Heru clarified.
"What if we decline your 'company'?"
"I can understand your distrust, but…"
"Heck, yeah, you can understand our distrust! You just tried to freakin' kill us a few seconds ago! What the heck makes you think we would even consider letting you tag along with us?!" Yusuke challenged
"As I have stated before: You don't know where Lady Kageryu is, and I do."
"Can we just hurry up and do something! Kelly is going to die if we don't hurry," Kuwabara reminded everyone sharply.
"I can also help with healing that human. I may not be the best at healing, but I do know how to stabilize her."
"Kurama can easily do that. We don't need you," Yusuke barked.
"If he knows where this Kageryu chick is, then let him come already! Just get working on Kelly, Kurama," Kuwabara more or less pleaded.
"We'll let you tag along, but we will be keeping a very close eye on you," Kuronue sneered as he put his weapon away as Heru did the same.
Kurama transformed his rose whip back into a seed to put in his hair as he walked over to Kelly. Yusuke glared angrily at Heru. Kuronue followed Kurama over to Kelly as Hiei took a few steps back.
"Heru is your name, right? Well, Heru, there is one condition that you must follow when you are with us," Yusuke started with.
Heru furrowed his brows, "What is the condition?"
"You have to wear something else. It's just plain creepy that you are wearing that kimono."
"Are you serious? This is my favorite outfit, and I have others like it as well."
"Heck, yeah! I'm serious!"
"Very well. But I get to wear whatever I want as long as it's not a kimono, correct?"
"That's fine. Just no more girly kimonos."
"Then I accept your condition."
"And of course," Yusuke looked Heru straight in the eyes, "you are to never harm Kelly again."
Yusuke, Kuronue, Kuwabara, and Heru sat around a fire Kuronue had made a few hours ago. Hiei was set up in the shadows, away from the group. Heru informed the group about Yumekisu Kageryu's power that he knew of. It was their way of preparing for the future battle with her. Kurama walked up to the group after several hours of tending to Kelly.
"So how is she?" Kuwabara asked as he looked up at his blood covered friend.
Kurama: "Not so well. If she does survive this, some of her internal organs will not function as they used to. She will not be able to do strenuous activities. I'm guessing that the rest of you have tended to your own minor wounds?"
Yusuke: "Yeah. Kuronue did some bandaging for us."
Yusuke showed the white bandages use around his wrist. Kuronue did the same. Kuwabara showed off his own bandages.
Heru: "I offered to do it, but they unanimously declined."
Kuwabara: "Like we would let you take care of wounds."
Heru: "I understand your concern. I don't expect to have your trust so soon."
Yusuke: "So will Kelly be able to continue to Yumekisu's place?"
Kurama sat in an open spot next to Yusuke, "She will have to rest for several, several days. If she lives and gets her strength back then she should be able to."
Heru: "We cannot wait that long. It will only take two days for Lady Kageryu to realize I have failed in my mission. She will send more warriors after you."
Kurama: "We cannot move her before she is healed. We risk killing her otherwise."
Heru: "As soon as she is passed the vital point, we have to leave. The longer we stay here, the more danger we put ourselves in."
Yusuke: "All I know is that we are not going anywhere tonight, so I'm going to sleep."
Yusuke got up and walked away from the group. Kuwabara followed Yusuke example. Hiei quietly walked up to the drowsy fox demon without so much as a noise. Kurama looked up at his friend, as did Kuronue and Heru.
"You need rest," Hiei coolly stated.
"You are correct, Hiei. Nonetheless, I will need to stay awake to watch over Kelly. Just in case she has a turn for the worst," Kurama objected with a weariness behind his words.
"One of us will wake you if she does," Heru interjected smoothly.
Kurama turned his suspicious gaze to Heru. He was a light sleeper, a habit he had from his Youko years, and knew he would wake if Heru made a move. Despite this knowledge, Kurama still did not trust this new 'teammate'. Heru sighed and shook his head; he knew exactly what Kurama was thinking.
"Or you can just stay awake all night," Heru got to his feet and started to walk away from the fire, "It's not like running yourself into the ground is useful."
Kuronue glanced over to Kurama and Hiei, who stood behind his old friend. He wanted to tell Kurama that Hiei was right. That the fox demon did need sleep to regain his energy, but all he could do was look away. He could not even talk to his old partner. Instead, Kuronue got to his feet, with Kurama and Hiei watching his every move, and walked away from the fire to be alone in the shadows.
It was crisp through the entire night, and even as the sun started to rise it was still crisp. Kuronue was leaned against a scrawny tree. He had been there for a few hours now, lost in the thought as he gazed at the sky.
Kuronue was never a fan of the morning. It was relatively rare for him to be up this early; he normally never woke before late afternoon. The only reason he would be up this early was if he was in deep thought. This dawn was no different. Kuronue was lost in his own thoughts as his eyes watched the sky change. He gave a sideways glance down at his bandaged wrist before he let out a sign.
"I finally get a physical body after more than 100 years and that Heru had to go off and damage it," Kuronue hissed into the empty morning.
"Must feel weird to finally have an actual body after that long," came a familiar angering male voice.
Kuronue crooked his head slightly to discover Heru behind him in a new outfit. He now wore a black tank top with tight, dark blue jeans. A silver chain hooked from his right pocket to the silver chained belt around his waist. Kuronue gave an annoyed glare at his unwanted guest. Heru ignored Kuronue's obvious rejection of his company with a sincere smile.
"I'm not going to apologize for that wound, but I will say that I'm glad I did not take your whole hand off," Heru admitted quietly so not to disturb the rest of the group's sleep.
"What on this demon infested world do you want? And what the heck are you wearing?" Kuronue asked sharply.
"Just thought I would come over to see why you are up so early. Plus, I like this outfit. It's another one of my favorites. After all, I am no longer allowed to wear my kimonos."
"So, I'm guessing you don't own anything normal."
"Poke fun all you want."
"Why are you up this early?"
"I'm always up this early. This is normally the time I make my rounds in the prison at Lady Kageryu's palace."
Kuronue turned his attention back to the sky once more. Heru smiled at his own insensitivity. He sat down to the left of Kuronue even though Kuronue's aura screamed for the unwanted demon to go away. After he settled down, Heru looked up at the orange and pink sky as well.
"Forgot that you were a prisoner at Lady Kageryu's. But that was many years before I got there. Maybe a decade or so. I did not mean to bring up such painful memories," Heru disclosed with that same smile that went against what was said.
Kuronue continued to ignore his uninvited guest. Heru's obvious attempt to get a rise from him was not worth an answer. Heru continued to talk, knowing full well that Kuronue started to get fed up.
"Why are you really here?" Kuronue snipped as he turned his irritated gaze on the chatty demon.
"I already explained that to you and everyone else."
Kuronue's eyes turned from irritated to cold. Heru sighed as he got to his feet. He spent the last several minutes with nonsensical chatter which he found a bore now. With one final smile towards Kuronue, Heru looked back towards the group.
"You may not trust my motive for joining your group, but it's true. I'm not a spy leading you into any trap. Or trying to gain your trust so when you're not looking I can stab you in the back. That human…Kelly, right? She beat me somehow, and that is why I'm here. I will help you all as much as I can. As much as you will allow me to help that is. I'm not your complete enemy."
"But you still are our enemy."
"Okay, if you want to think of it that way then fine. I'm still your enemy but on an honorable level. Now good night…well, morning."
With that Heru walked away, which left Kuronue alone with his thoughts once more. Kuronue looked at his wound again before he lay back onto the tree. As he looked up at the sky, he realized that it was odd being back in the demon world. It had been a long time since he was last here. The last memory he had of this place was not a pleasant one.
Kurama shot up from where he was asleep. Immediately, he started to scan the area in the dim light of the early morning. The sound of talking had awoken him from his shallow sleep. After a short scan of the area, his gaze fell upon his old friend on the ground with his hands behind his head and his left leg rested on his right knee in the distance. That stance was an all too familiar one to him. This was how he usually found his old partner before a heist.
Heru, as he sat back on the ground away from the others, saw Kurama inspecting Kuronue. He sighed before he laid back down. "Those two appear to have some issues to work out. I wonder if I should pry. I really don't want them to kill me, though. Guess I'll decide later today when everyone isn't in such a testy mood," Heru thought as he closed his eyes.
Kurama and Hiei were the first ones up. Kurama checked on Kelly while Hiei was still on the boulder he sat on last night. Kurama sat back on his heels as soon as he finished with Kelly's bandages.
"How is she doing?" Heru inquired as he walked up behind his new teammate.
Kurama sighed, "Worse than yesterday."
Heru decided it best to change the subject so that he would not be scolded once again for putting Kelly in this situation. Hiei watched intently as Heru continued to talk to Kurama. It was obvious he did not trust Heru nor did he want to trust him. Kurama felt the same way and it showed plainly on his face.
"So the bat demon's name is Kuronue, right? Seems like you two are close," Heru assumed with a sweet smile.
Kurama furnished Heru a stony glare as he got to his feet. This did not affect Heru as he continued to smile. It was already decided for him to meddle in those two lives.
"Touchy subject, huh? So I guess that means that you two are closer than I thought or use to be."
"That is none of your concern," Kurama answered coldly.
"I'm just trying to discover something about my new companions. I know some about Kuronue from the stories told by guards at Lady Kageryu's. Of course, they only bragged about how they beat him to the point of death on an almost daily basis. I love fighting and killing, but their stories just made me cringe. Yusuke Urameshi is another one I know a little about from the rumors floating around. Let's see, I know very little about Hiei and basically nothing on you and Kuwabara. And absolutely nothing about Kelly. Then again, why would I know anything about a human? I did say all the names right, didn't I? I'm actually not good at remembering names of weak things. Not that I'm calling you guys weak. I'm just…"
"When was Kuronue with Yumekisu Kageryu?"
"It's quite rude to interrupt someone in mid-sentence."
"Answer."
"You seriously need to lighten up," Heru shrugged, "So he never told you? Seems like you two aren't as close as I thought. You should probably ask him yourself…Youko Kurama," Heru suggested as he headed to the north.
"Seems like he knows more about us then he's letting on," Hiei stated from where he sat on the boulder.
"We'll just keep an eye on him," Kurama agreed as he got to his feet.
Kuronue was the last one up. As he made his way towards the group, he noticed that Botan was gone and so was Heru. Then again, Heru being gone was not such a bad thing.
"How is she?" Kuronue asked Yusuke as he walked over to the small group.
"From what I hear, she is getting worse by the hour. Though, I'm surprised a girl like her could even fight like that," Yusuke answered with a glance over to the body lying on the ground next to a burned out fire.