thought, flashback, or dream
emphasized word
/telepathy/
"speaking"

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or it's characters.

Chapter 3

Kurama blinked his eyes only to see pitch black. He was lying on his stomach and his entire body felt like a bulldozer had used it as a practice field. The kitsune attempted to move only to find a shooting pain through his arm far worse then what he had expected. With a groan he rolled onto his back and slowly lifted his hand in front of his face. An elegant, human hand was heavily cut by an odd looking rose that stubbornly stayed stuck in the fox's hand even as Kurama carefully shook his hand as he held it upside down and flexed it.

This is ...inconvenient. With a groan, he adjusted his body to minimize the damage when he removed the rose with the other hand and plucked it with a wince. He twirled it in front of his face as he laid on his back. It was a rather interesting and illogical plant. Soft white petals were probably the only thing that was even partially believable. The pure silver stem they grew from was another story together. It has intracately detailed, even the veins that a rose normally had where there, and just as small. Impossibly small for someone who wasn't a master silver smith. This fact was only enhanced by the prism like thorns that seemed to flow out of the silver length. If it wasn't for the scent of snow colored petals and leaves, Kurama would have seriously wondered it his new whip was a real plant

I should have know there would be a side effect, Kurama thought as he ran a fingure over the veins in the petals.

He sat up slowly and began to rip up his shirt to wrap his hand. Taking a cateen from his hip, he placed half the contents on his cloth scraps and gulped down the other half to keep from dehydrating. As he cleaned his wound he found the reason that his arm was so sore. The gash ran around the front of the kitsune's wrist and all the way up his arm in a spiral cut, just missing the arteries.

Glancing around the room, he saw Mia's collapsed body and immediately looked away with a green tint coming to his face.

With a sigh he began to wrap his arm as he remembered why he had the wound at all.

-Flashback in Kurama's Point of View-

I walked next to Mia through the humid woods. It was quickly becoming a fight between my will and my curiosity; my need to search for the enemy and my desire to figure out the girl next to me. Unfortunately, my thought kept going back to the female.

Her thoughts are strong enough even to elude Hiei, revealing a strong will and power, but she gives off no aura -even a living one. This Mia appears to be very young and human, yet she grows at an abnormal rate and has been working for King Enma for over a century. There is no emotion in her tone, and every breathe she takes seems to absorb the energy around her rather that create it. She has little regard for life and is more silent than Hiei. There is no way she's human, yet I have a problem believing she's a demon.

I attempted to glance under her hood, but she just gave me an odd, stare showing neither anger nor joy, pain or relief. Just a strange and unnerving glance that proceeded her pulling her hood down farther so I couldn't see her features. "We're here to examine the area, not my face," she said evenly.

I felt a blush creep over my features and went back to searching the area but soon found myself staring again. But this time it was to no avail. Her hood was tilted just past my vision and it was obvious that she was either ignoring me or she simply didn't care. Perhaps it was a combination of both.

What are you, Mia?

A twig snapped under my foot, dragging me back to reality, only to see that Mia had stopped about a yard back and was heading into a denser part of the woods. I moved quickly to get back to her, but quickly wished I hadn't. No, she wasn't using the restroom, but I might have felt better if she would have been. At least then I could have used the excuse that she was trying to sneak off, but alas, it was far worse.

Mia was hunched over two holes in the ground, each a little over a yard in width and endlessly deep. I flushed bright red and hoped that she would continue to ignore me. Why? Why can't I keep my thoughts in control. It's never been a problem before, I struggled. I'm not attracted to her, yet I keep losing my power to stay focused. even when I nearly fall in a bottomless pit. Wh-

"Kurama! Move Your Pretty Little Booty Before I Do, YOU SILVER-TAILED PUSSY CAT!"

PUSSY CAT! My Youko thoughts took over as my eyes focused on the scene around me. My human side suddenly wished I would have not responded to the insult, of course Youko would have none of that.

The two monsters in front of me were easily 20 to 30 feet long. The pair had cobra like bodies and spaded their hoods with dangerous hisses. The larger -a male- one had a more colorful pattern while the smaller -a female- lacked some of the more vibrant oil spill shades on it's neck. Vile looking venom gave an eerie glow in the looming dark as it slipped off their carnivorous teeth.

I felt my mouth hang open. My body was stuck between wanting to run and the desire to fight these powerful creatures. My normally quick acting body was frozen solid even as the giant cobras wheeled back and shot what appeared to be needles of venom from the black hole of it's throat.

A pain ran through my torso, but it wasn't from my offenders, it was from my companion tackling me in the side. We hit the ground hard and I heard the definite sound of the solid poison sinking into varying objects. I opened my eyes, that I hadn't noticed I closed in the first place to see only a great green blur. I felt Mia struggle to get off of me and I realized that such a hard blow to her body probably broke some ribs. I rolled from my belly to my back to only wish I hadn't for the umpteenth time in a row.

Facing the opposite direction was Mia. Her entire back was covered with poison needles that were sinking into her skin at an alarming rate.

I attempted to stand and help her but she spoke in a strong voice, "Stay."

She raised both hands above her head and chanted under her breathe. The light in the area seemed to be pushed away and the darkness drawn closer in an eerie spell that gave off no aura. As the spell continued, the two snakes swayed slightly and the collapsed. Lowering her hands, the shadows returned to normal as the light became steadier.

Mia turned to me with a sigh and tossed me the pouch that she had gained when the team had first met her. She looked up from under her hood and stared at me blankly, and once again I had the uncanny feeling that she had grown again. He pale skin now could make a vampire envious. Her black irises were only enhanced by an array of scars at the base of her neck as she sized me up. "The silver stone is yours," she muttered glancing down again.

I opened the bag only to find that it was not allowing any light in. Timidly, I reached my hand in under, what I expected to be, my companion's hooded gaze. I shifted through hands full of cold stones for several moments until my hand hit something warm. In a hopes of removing her uncomfortable gaze, I clasped my hand around it and pulled the bag away. I stared at the marble no bigger than my thumb with an odd interest as it shifted pale grey colors under it's surface.

"Nice to know you can use it so early," Mia muttered, bringing my attention back to her. "Now, can you figure it out before they wake up?" Suddenly she collapsed, the poison finally setting in. I caught her with one arm, and settled her on my back to carry her. It would be a while before it would settle in that it was normal for her to act in such a manner.

A prick on my hand caught my attention just as I got her situated. Looking down at the marble, I saw it slowly form into a crystal colored rose. My aura began to switch and my skin began to shift into a familiar form. Without thinking twice I picked Mia up with the strength I didn't have previously, and ran back to camp.

-Flashback End-

Why was I so out of character? Kurama thought with a sigh. It's not like me to become immobilized so easily. What is that woman doing to me? Why does her death sting me so bad?

"KURAMA!" came Yuskue's voice from the other side of the wall of stone.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled back, "I'M ALRIGHT YUSKUE!'

"ALRIGHT! Stay right there! I'm gonna blow the wall down!"

"Okay, give me a minute to mo-" but he was cut off as the cave in began to break apart. He could have waited for me to reply at the least.

The dust settled revealing not only a open-mouthed team on the other side but also the two cobras from before shifting upon the rubble.

Slithering against the floor, their scales made mercilessly grating sounds. The female stretched out it's long neck and sniffed Mia's body with a salivating mouth. The male just stared with hungry eyes.

A flame rose in Kurama's throat. Without thinking, the kitsune drew his normal rose-whip and struck out against the cobra, It reared back and hissed a horrible screeching sound. The male soon followed with a much deeper version, but Kurama just stared at them with gold-green eyes.

"Just Drop It, Kurama! A dead body isn't worth you're life!" Kuwabara yelled.

But he was soundly ignored as he glared down the two demons. The female glared at him, obviously not used to something penetrating it's scales. It shoot venom at him that Kurama now easily avoided, now too angry to worry about what would happen if he became poisoned. A tail came around and hit Kurama hard in the side causing him to drop to the ground and dodge roll the next round of needles. With a flick of his wrist, he snapped out again only to have the snake's aura to pick up and repell his attack. It's hood spread wider as it's head reared back, collecting energy in order to strike. Despite his team's pleas and all common since, Kurama stood his ground, preparing to take what he could.

"KKHHHHHHHHHHHHHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" The female wheeled around to see her mate shaking it's head in pain and confusion. Inside it's gaping mouth was one of it's own main fangs, broken off and rammed into it's hard palette. Crouched on it's haunches beneath him was Mia, sucking the poison out of her left hand.

Kurama's body gave a jolt. It wasn't possible, she even smelled dead. Yet there she was, staring at the male with indifferent eyes from under her reraised hood. The lesser colored cobra struck at her only to have the small girl jump on it's head and ram two, long acupuncture needles into it's eye sockets and kill it instantly. The male gave out another hideous screech as he dove at her. Rocks flew as the head collided with the stone floor. As the dust settled, there stood Mia, staring blankly at the fang sticking up through the dead snake's head. Slowly she pulled a vial out of her cloak and began extracting venom from the cobras' fangs.

Slowly the fox walked up behind her. "What...happened?" The rest of the team soon circled around them except for Hiei who watched from the side of the cave.

The young woman finished her job without speaking, and slowly stood to face Kurama with blank eyes.

WHAM!

Kurama took a step back with wide eyes, gently holding the side of his quickly bruising face. Mia stared at him, a slight amount of anger flickering in her eyes as she lowered her hand. She spoke with a clear voice despite the confused and angry faces glaring at her. "Never use an antidote that has a fifty percent chance of killing the person without factoring in the death rate of the poison currently in the person's body, even if it is a cure all and the only thing at hand. Especially if there is a healer in the group."

"You were dying, Mia." Kerr spoke quietly for the dumb-struck kitsune.

She glanced at him. "I should tell you all now, there are only three poisons in these worlds that can harm me. Only one of which can kill me, but it has to sit for over a year, and I have yet to find records of that poison in this current time period." She glanced at the ceiling before pulling her tattered cloak about her. "It's about to collapse," she said, walking towards the now opened, and night covered exit.

---------------------------

No one had bothered to yell at Mia. Something about her talking so much at once at such a confident level had shut them all up. Except for perhaps, Hiei, who just refused to talk to her all around.

Kerr soon healed Kurama's throbbing face when the group found a considerable campsight around what was probably midnight. One by one the group began dropping off to sleep leaving a wide awake Kurama and a dozing Hiei.

Suddenly, the kitsune's head jerked behind him. After a glance around the camp, he seemed confident that everyone was asleep and trotted off silently. A minute later, the koorime started off at a much more leisurely pace and soon began to hear voices.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking of me?" he heard Kurama hiss.

"I'm perfectly aware," came a deep female voice that raised hairs on the back of Hiei's neck.

"Myth, be reasonable! I trust him with my life."

"I only ask you to react if he turns," replied this Myth calmly.

"I will not kill Hiei!"

"He is much too like his grandfather, Axton, Youko."

"I have yet to see how this is a problem!"

Myth growled, "Just watch him." Hiei peeked around a tree to see a tall woman, easily Kurama's height, with flowing purple hair and blood red eyes staring directly at him. For some reason, her stare caught him off guard and he stood there blankly. "It shouldn't be too hard, considering he likes to follow you." And with that her image dimmed and faded like smoke in the breeze.

Hiei came out into the small clearing, sauntering slightly. "So, do you want to kill me now? Or perhaps latter would be more convienent for you?"

Kurama blanched. "I have no intention of-"

"Save it for someone who cares," the demon hissed acidly as he turned away.

Kurama caught his shoulder turned him around to face him with gold eyes "I will not harm you, Hiei. That has never been my intention." With that Kurama walked back to camp, leaving Hiei to contimplate how much he valued his friendship with the fox.